had the good fortune to work in some of
the best restaurants the formative
restaurants California cuisine I’m
starting out of mom a zone under
Wolfgang Puck this is qual I was going
to school here at Cal Poly Pomona I went
on to help open Michaels in Santa Monica
then Chez Panisse in Berkeley finally I
opened Spago as a chef de cuisine again
under Wolfgang Puck I guess you could
say in the culinary world
I am OG and og right um my feeling my
belief what I was taught and what I
firmly believe to this day is that
ingredients should speak for themselves
so we don’t anthropomorphize vegetables
but say they should express themselves
they have individual textures flavors
colors and they contribute each each
individual thing contributes to a dish I
tell cooks that dish really beautiful
dish should look like an unmade bed with
fine Linens
should look disheveled a little messy
you know as if it fell from heaven a
what’s not sexy squeeze bottles don’t
like squeeze bottles you know those
lines and squiggles not so we opened
camp in LA and La Brea bakery in 1989
and we wanted to do everything ourselves
we went to directly to farmers ranchers
fishermen get the very best ingredients
LaBrea bakery was opened because we
wanted to make our own bread and the
economics of making your own bread for a
single restaurant so we open debate and
that did very very well financially we
won a lot of awards I’m very proud
LaBrea bakery was sold 16 years ago and
Campanile a was sold about four and a
half now there’s this guy sitting at the
end of the couch middle-aged a little
overweight Saturday night who is this
guy this is my my kids were wondering
I’ve got to do some what am I going to
do now I’ve done a lot I knew a few
things one I’m passionate about food and
I’ve loved a really energetic working it
the excitement the energy the
athleticism the choreography of a
working I feel passionate I feel
evangelical about food that people
deserve that people want good food no
matter what station in life no matter
who you are and free
I’m tired of cooking for rich people
I’ve done that so what what am I going
to do well I know a few things I’m not
going to do I’m not going to have a
Maitre D’ and I’m not going to have a
wine steward I’m not going to have a
wine list so because I want to bring I
want to I want to create food that is
accessible to everyone it is true over
the past 30 years that incomes have been
stagnant or declined a higher percentage
of our incomes are being taken by
healthcare by housing so how are we
going to do this my wife suggested
perhaps seafood restaurant seafood cooks
very quickly but then but how are we
going to trim all those costs to make it
accessible to a working-class
middle-class families and I’m talking
about good food we have to I have to do
things at one-third the price that I
used to do at Campanile a right right
now I’ll just go spoiler alert the most
expensive thing on my menu is the same
but there’s a few keys we came up with
some ideas there’s a few things let me
see if I can make this thing work now
okay we’ve got oh this explains a lot
let’s see if something were bras we did
not invent bras but we’re carrying them
further a broth carries flavor it can do
it can carry flavor in a low-fat
low-salt environment it can be healthy
it’s delicious it’s complex it can have
texture and it can be produced in large
quantities long before you ever even
thought about lunch second element how
are we going to what are we going to do
with it no restaurants are very
complicated restaurants are very complex
restaurants are very archaic this is the
most archaic business I think in the
world this cofee a whose heyday was in
the 19th century could walk into any
restaurant you know a good restaurant
and be comfortable in 20 minutes
you know antoine Karim whose payday was
in the 18th century would feel the same
way we have better lighting we have
better ventilation and hopefully we have
a little bit better hygiene but it’s the
same thing it’s exactly the same thing
for hundreds of years
well maybe see those those are steam
kettles let’s see there many restaurants
many hotels have seen kettles but
they’re huge and they’re in the back
they’re the size of small jacuzzis
two-person jacuzzis and they make things
in vast quantities I wanted to do them
in small quantities I want to do them up
front in front of people
they’re fast they’re clean they’re
efficient the the boiler is in the back
produces high high-pressure steam it
comes up through one of those little one
of the pipes in there and the
condensation goes out the other end you
never move them they clean in place they
bring water to a boil in 45 seconds
you can have a lunch done in under five
minutes so what is the third element the
third element is the business model
because you can make great food you
can’t deliver it you’re not in business
a high-end restaurant spends half of its
labour cost on garnish I know I’ve done
them I’ve done the numbers so we
eliminate the garnish where we
concentrate on we concentrate the talent
the creativity and the production in a
central commissary where we can buy in
bulk where we can get the quantities
where we can get the qualities that we
want we can oversee it and we can
produce the exactly what we want and
then send it out to satellite locations
it’s called the old hub-and-spoke that’s
what we’re going to do that’s what we
are doing and we can have then have very
small footprint locations in the
satellites 500 square feet and the food
is prepared upfront in front of people –
people can see exactly what they’re
going to get look let’s be honest the
world is going casual the white
tablecloth restaurant is moribund you
know there will always be a few multiple
michelin-starred restaurants out there
and they’re great and I love them and I
it’s the same dance I’ve done before
this to me is very exciting here let’s
look let’s look back at the kettle’s I
they’re great I love them they’re built
solid they hardly ever break down and um
see now I got distracted it’s like these
they’re beautiful um so you know II
can’t
the world is going casual it’s not we’re
not just extending casual Fridays to the
rest of the week it’s even people who
can afford to spend to $200 a person
they want to do it in jeans there’s a
reason there’s so much reclaimed wood in
restaurants these days hmm just relax
you know and nobody has time nobody is
so rich well very few people are so
richer they have more than an hour for
lunch we’ve got to get back to work we
have very short attention spans and you
know why right it’s the cell phone it’s
back there it’s a good thing or
otherwise I’d be looking at kittens
right now um so that’s what we’re doing
and that is what I’m passionate about
just to recap we do not need to spend a
lot of money to have very good food we
can do it by thinking about what we’re
doing creating the the avenues for what
we’re doing and creating a new paradigm
in the restaurant business because the
restaurant business as an archaic
business is not going to be able to pay
a living wage until productivity
increases and we have to pay a living
wage we have no choice I am passionate
about that I am passionate about good
food I’m passionate about healthy food
and I’m passionate about treating people
properly and paying a good wage and we
have to do it and the way I’m doing is
creating a new pathway to create to
bring good food to people at a good
price and make it healthy make it
delicious
now I’ve answered my questions I only
have one question
left if you’re not working what do you do on Saturday nights