WEBVTT - Eric Ripert is Chef Par Excellence 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.640 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:11.600 Thing from My Heart Radio. French chef Eric Repair is 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.480 the culinary virtuoso behind one of New York City's flagship 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:22.640 fine dining establishments, the Temple of Seafood. Le Bernardin. Repair 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.239 has kept the restaurant at its peak for three decades, 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:32.519 consistently earning three Michelin stars in addition to the accolades 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.960 he's earned for La Bernardin. Repair himself has been honored 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.720 as Top Chef in New York City and Outstanding Chef 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.720 in the US by the James Beard Foundation. He is 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.440 also the author of numerous cookbooks and a New York 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.240 Times best selling memoir, and he hosted the Emmy winning 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.480 TV series Avec Eric. All of this on top of 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:01.520 his charitable work feeding the hungry with City Harvest. Born 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.839 in the South of France, Chef Repair has a long 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.839 and storied history with food. I wanted to know when 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:14.120 he first fell in love with gastronomy. Actually it's linked 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:19.600 to eating because as a young kid, I was always 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.360 in the kitchen of my grandmothers, always in the kitchen 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.160 of my mother and my I had the Italian grandmother 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.800 one from province. They were cooking salt food and I 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.319 love the vibe in the kitchen and the smell and 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.440 the ingredients everywhere, the colors. I was going to the 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.360 markets with them. They didn't want me to cook. That 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.760 was allowed only to look and eat, and it's what 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:45.679 I was doing. And I wanted to become a chef 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:49.280 because I thought I would be in that environment. Those 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.640 kitchens were very dreamy, and it was in the south 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.800 of France, where you know, everything smells good. Old arms 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.560 are strong, and you smell the melons and the basil 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.880 and every think as as this fantastic smell and look. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.440 And I was four or five. I was obsessed with cooking. 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.240 So when I was in school, instead of doing my 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.640 homework at night, I was looking at cookbooks. So as 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.960 you can imagine, I had bad grades. And then when 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.960 I was you should be ashamed of yourself here right then, 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.520 I was fifteen, and they called me at the principal 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.280 office and they said, that's it's for you. You can't 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.800 we have to find what they call a vocational school. Sure, 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.680 and I was like, same here, I want to be 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:33.080 a chef, that's it. And I went to culinary school, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.680 thinking that I would be in those dreamy kitchens and 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.040 and so on. And then I started to learn the craft, 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:41.880 and on the beginning is a bit boring because it's 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:47.359 very academic, so I was not necessarily too excited. What 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:48.880 was the school? What was the first when you went 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.960 to Perpinion, which is in the south of France at 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.840 the border of with Spain almost And then when I 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.800 started in latour d round nineteen two and I'm seventeen 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.919 years old, that's a real, real kitchen with like thirty 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:08.560 fourty guys cooking, and and I'm like amazed and terrorized, 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.560 and I make all the mistakes in the world, but 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.440 I love it. And it's maybe that the moment. Maybe 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.680 you're right, it was not when I was a kid. 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.880 It was jin Paris nineteen When you're actually doing it, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:24.280 not studying it, I'm really into it, like like with 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.120 my entire body and soul, and I'm giving everything. But 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.840 when you see the Julia Child documentary that I loved, 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.000 when she talks about her training and France, no women, No, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.160 it was no woman at the time, And for you, 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.640 the same thing, yes, because the kids, First of all, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.240 it was not a job that that was attractive, like 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.360 you were going in the kitchen because you were a 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.000 bad student, or you were dysfunctional, you had problems, and 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.680 your parents were like all the men in the kitchen 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.920 with thos, go to the kitchen. At least you would 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.240 have food. And and there was also very uh how 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.760 can I say physical, like we had we didn't have 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:04.960 the technology that we have in kitchens today. So it 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.000 was very hot and the pants were like super heavy, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.080 and actually I burned myself. I burned my entire leg 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.480 with like fifty gallons of lobster bisk or something. I 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.480 mean like it was it was like so heavy I 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.160 couldn't even lift it. So it was not an environment 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:26.159 that women were really attracted. Then the media made the 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.120 idea of cooking in professional kitchens kind of romantic, glamorous, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:35.120 but even today it's not that romantic and glamorous. It's 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.960 really like it's tough now if it's it's all men 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.560 back then, and you were two doors. When you're a 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.559 young man, you're seventeen and you've only been in cooking 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.600 school for a couple of years, how did they treat you? 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.479 Where they were they mentors and they helped you or 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:51.080 did they was like the military, and they were all 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.120 sharing at you all the time. No, it was really 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.560 very much like the military, except that the military sometimes 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.719 I never understood the logic of what we were supposed 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.640 to do because it was mandatory to be a military 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:05.919 in fruence for one year. But in the kitchen it 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.680 was the same, except that it was a logic. But 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.560 they were screaming at you, and the way they were 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:16.960 educating you was through humil humiliation, so you were going there, 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.920 they were breaking you and then the idea was to 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.640 rebuild you and make you a champion. Of course, in 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.560 the process we were losing so many good people because 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.240 it's not the right way to do it. But it 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.240 was being kicked in the bud, being punching the shoulders, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.880 being insulted all day long, and so only with through 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.599 a process. Yeah. But the other difference between and the 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.160 military was at the end of the day, with the 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.200 morn works was over, you had a nice Sam and 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.119 Moose at the restaurant, not in the military, know, Sam 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.920 and Moose at the military. Not really How long we 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.320 went to jan two years? Two years? And where did 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.719 you go from there? I went to a restaurant called Jaman. 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.919 The chef was Royal Roberchan. He was considered at the 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.880 time the best chef in the world with another chef 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:05.480 in Switzerland. Fredit are they They were like no competition 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.040 with those two guys, like very different styles. But Roby 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.160 Shan was like wow, And for me it was a 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.960 revelation when I when I met him, I was like, 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.880 oh my god, Okay, now we're talking. And so two 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:23.400 years you're only now nineteen years old. Yeah. So when 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.160 you go to the kitchen with Robert Shan, what what 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.039 do you have that he wants? Why does he want 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.800 you in that kitchen? He wants young people because we 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.680 are more flexible, we don't have badabits. I had been 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.000 training lad around the classic way, so I know my basics. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:45.520 I described that. So the basic the Blue Noon Blue 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.080 is more like how can I say? It's a cotton 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.599 place of school for people who are going to cook 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.479 at home. It's not a school that prepares you to 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.240 be in a professional kitchen like where I'm I am evolving. 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.800 If we can make an analogy, I'm going to formula 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.960 one and the other one is for you know, on 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:10.120 Sunday driving your caspas something. So so it's it's no comparison. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.320 But Robbie Shawn wanted to have someone who knew the 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:19.240 basics because without the basics, you cannot really build and 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:23.560 evolve with more the precision that he wanted and for 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.400 him was very important to have a young kid that 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.680 was referred from my old chef to him. So he 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.720 said probably the chef said, okay, so repair his discipline. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.520 He's not gonna answer. He's gonna work hard. He's going 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.560 he master this and that he wants it, and he 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.000 wants it. He wants to be there, which is always critical, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.320 Which is always critical, of course. I mean I always 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.840 think about what is the space that I go into 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.720 in my profession that calms me and makes me feel 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.440 very centered. You can do a play and you can 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.640 be very still, and you wonder what their response and 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.320 after a very still response during the performance, they erupted 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.200 into applause. They're sobbing, and they're you know, it's very strange. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.880 But for you, is that what this world became was 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.960 a place where things made sense to you. You found 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.160 out how it was home. Yes, when I entered the kitchen, 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.440 I was very familiar, even if it was very extreme. 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.560 The conditions of work, you know, like working sixteen to 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.080 eighteen hours a day, I think thirty thirty minutes break 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.280 and a little bit to it. I mean we were 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.080 all skinny like that and white like ghosts. But we 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.520 had the passion and we knew we were doing something 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.440 very special. I love the rigor at the time that 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.640 in that kitchen, that the discipline and the rigger and 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.800 the beautiful place, the challenge of course all the time 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.400 we were challenged, and the beautiful plates that we were 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.600 doing and sending, and and then we had the feedback 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.760 actually from the clients right away. I mean clients were 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.640 saying it's good, or clients sometimes we're living a little 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.440 bit of food in the plate and were terrorized because 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.439 the chef will go crazy, like if someone was living 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.680 in it was famous for looking at every plate coming back. 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.200 He wanted to date everything. Yeah, and if someone was 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:15.040 leaving something, it was a disaster. That's interesting. Yeah, it 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:19.800 was interesting, I'll say. But anyway, in those kitchens, it's 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.040 control chaos. It looks like it's chaotic, But the more 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.120 control chaos is happening, and the more pressure you have 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.280 when you know what you're doing, you have this kind 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.800 of revelation and you kind of like do things and 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.280 in a very heroic way. And it was. It was 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.040 like that, and it's still to day for me. When 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.120 I entered the kitchen and it's like lunchtime, it's one o'clock. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.199 You have to feed every everyone in the dining room 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.679 good food, obviously, but in a timely manner, in a 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.360 clean plate and making sure that the food goes to 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.800 the person that has ordered that plate and so on. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.920 It's an entire process, right, and I get sucked in 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.560 to the process. I love it. There was a restaurant 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.040 I worked in. It was called Enophelia. It was on 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.520 the Upper West Side and it was a real frontier 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.920 because there was almost nothing up there in the upper 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.440 eighties and nineties, back in this is back in the eighties, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.520 and then the streets up there, way up in the 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.240 nineties on off of Broadway and Amsterdam and Columbus, there 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.760 was very little that was good in This guy opened 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.960 a place where the wine list was what was featured. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.959 The food was very good. It was very small, and 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:28.440 we would come to work at three thirty or four 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.800 o'clock have the shift meal. They'd make us all a 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.360 meal to eat and then when the when the shift 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.800 was over, I was a service bartender. I made all 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.200 the cocktails for the table. There was no bar. When 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.800 we were done, we would sit down and the owner 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.680 was lovely man, and he'd say he and the manager 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.160 knew what the stock was to choose. You could choose 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.040 a really nice bottle of wine. No, not the most 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.600 expensive bottle, but you could have a forty bottle of 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.880 wine back then or fifty. Oh yeah, he was very nice. 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.240 The owner was a lovely guy, and he was never there, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.280 and he'd say to the manager yes, and the manager 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.200 would open the bottle of wine. He'd pour us all 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.600 a drink. And then they would dump all the money 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.800 on the table that we made the money to divide 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.240 between the waiters, bus boys and the service partender. And 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.240 then they would roll a joint. They drove the biggest 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.160 joint they could, the size of a flashlight. And then 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.360 they would smoke pot, drink wine and count the money. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.240 And I remember it was like the greatest experience. Yeah, 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.440 you don't do that, Aberna. In No, we don't up 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:30.480 the coins. But in France also it's it's again like 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.920 the military. You don't drink alcohol you don't smoke joints, 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.920 you don't work, you just yeah, you have this incredible 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:45.240 level of discipline and and that's it. Now when you left, 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.400 Robi Shan, how many more restaurants in Europe did you work? 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.000 And what year did you come to the United States? So, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.280 Robbie Shan, I do one year. Then it's so hard. 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.360 I have to do my military duties. So I go 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.360 see him and I said, I have to leave. Unfortunately 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.440 it's mandatory, and he says, don't worry about it. I'm 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.240 going to send you to the Eliza. You'll cook for 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.840 me around president of friends at the time, I have 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.240 the connections, don't worry and you did no, I want 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.560 to get out of there. And I'm like, I need 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:11.840 to get out of there and said, no, no, no, 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.520 I thank you so much. I have I have already 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.480 my connections. Thank you appreciate. And I'm thinking I'll never 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.360 see this man again in my life. I'll move on 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.280 somewhere else, learn something else. On my last day of 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.040 my military dude is he called me and said to me, 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.000 I heard that is your last day. Do you want 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.160 to come back and you're going to be the chef 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.240 person you extracting, Yeah, he knew about I don't know 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.640 how we knew, but you know. And I said, you know, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.720 sir chef, I need to think about it. I had 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.600 a girl friend and so on. I said I need 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.040 and he says, oh, for sure, think about it. You 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:50.160 have thirty seconds. And I was like what as I 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.600 said yes, and I went back to Paris and I 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:54.959 did two more years with him. So I worked with 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.559 Robbie Shawn for three and something else. Then, Um, we 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.719 did the military service. You will into the military. I 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.400 did my Yes. I thought you were gonna tell me 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.520 that's when you dumped the lobster best on yourself deliberately. No, no, no, no, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.760 did you get out of I did the military service? 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.199 You did? Yeah? What you do in the PA? Come 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.760 you cooked? So they put me in the kitcher and 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.640 I was supposed to cook for the officers of the 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.680 whatever I was. And the food was so disgusting. I 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.199 had never seen that. They burned spaghetti is in the water. 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.559 I have never seen spaghetti is burning in water. It's 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.880 not possible. Well they did it. So I went to 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.000 see the general and I explained to my situation. I 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.320 was a young kid, and I said you know, I 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.600 don't mind to do it, but you know I can't 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:41.400 cook shoot food. And he said, I'm going to send 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.160 you to the commandos. What do you think of that? 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.480 So I look at him and I said, sir, look, 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.760 I'm so skinny. I can't do the commandos. And he 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:51.760 was laughing and said, what do you want? You would 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.720 be my waiter? I said yeah, So I became his 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:56.560 waiter for one year. I was the waiter of the 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.520 general and then I went back to and then he 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.440 sent me to do you to do us. So after 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.800 the military serviation, you go back with Robert Shaw. Right 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.760 after that you come to the States where there's more European. 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.040 So after two years, I want to get out of 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.200 rubbish from and I want to go to Brazil. So 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.920 I love Brazil and at the time, I'm like, I 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.320 find it very exotic, and I have a lot of 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.840 friends there, and you know, I'm thinking it's gonna be 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.160 a nice and it's gonna be a big party as well, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.040 and I'm gonna have a good time. So I went 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.120 to see Robbie, you're very young at this time. I 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.080 want a party. And when I told him, he said, no, no, no, 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.440 I'm not sending you in a vacation, no way. So 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.560 I said, I would like to go. He said, truly 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.880 something else that's in Spain. He said, Spain. It is 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.240 you live in Andorra, which was between friends and Spain. 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.080 It's it's basically Spain. So I said to him, I said, well, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.920 don't ask me, tell me where I'm going. And he said, well, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.360 go in vacation. When you come back, I send you 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.440 to Washington, d CEA. I worked at the Water Hotel. 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:03.520 No what year nine, way after Nixon scandal, of course, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:05.840 but I am at the Water Hotel. They have a 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:11.000 very good restaurant called Jean Louis French. It was probably 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.240 one of the first French chef celebrity in the US. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:20.080 And from Robbie Strom kitchen, which is basically like the army, 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.520 like Catholic school. Almost I end up in Woodstock where 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:29.440 we're smoking cigarettes in the kitchen and different nbnce tiny kitchen. 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.440 I learned a lot with him. He was extremely creative, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.080 as I recalled. Because I lived in Washington for three years, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.160 I went to college there. I went to g w 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.240 first nineteen seventies six or nineteen seventy nine. I left 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.840 and you go there in eighty nine, and you are 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.600 in what is now the more of the modern Washington. Washington. 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:49.680 Then when I went, it was still a very quiet, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.400 sleepy backwards when they make maybe three restaurants. It was 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.640 sleepy too. Because I was bored to death and I 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.040 wanted to come to New York. I was like, there's 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.920 no way where you went. So Washington a year and 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:07.160 enough because I had the visa, uh student visa eighteen months. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.200 So I did my visa and then I came to 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.600 New York and I worked downtown with David Boulet for 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:19.040 short period of time, and then I started at Lebanon Lebernard. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.960 And let's face it as like the Temple of restaurants. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:23.960 I mean, many of them have come and gone. I 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:25.720 remember that I worked. One of my first jobs in 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:27.400 New York was I worked at the least like court 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.600 Pasque Pascal, who was the pastry chef. I worked for 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.160 Gi Pascal. I know him, he was my pastriy chef. 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:35.760 He said that the people from the court pass gave 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.440 him the name. She said to him, oh you can 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.840 have the name. And and and g who was a 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.360 man who he loved me. He loved me. He was 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.960 a very loving person. He was a very loving He 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:49.640 would walk up to me and he put his hand 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.000 on my face and said, oh, leck, I want for 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.960 you to come to work every day. For me, I 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.600 worked at the place delivering the pastries to uh look 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.880 renowl pronounce like all the old school sign of the dove, 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.080 all these. I delivered the pastries from Geat in a 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.479 truck to the restaurants. So I worked with him. Well, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:15.439 Bernarden is all those spaces are gone? Bernardan is still here. Yeah, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.280 I think we were still here and we're still relevant 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:22.320 and so on, because we basically question ourselves every day 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:28.119 and we push ourselves and we have no ego about 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:32.040 our accolades or anything like that. Whatever was yesterday doesn't 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:36.080 exist anymore. Every morning we start again, and we want 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.800 to create an experience for the clients. For the people 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.040 who come. We want to push to envelope with our cooking. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.840 We want to create an ambience in the dining room 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.840 that is very warm, considering that we are for fine 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.959 dining restaurant. We want people to laugh. We want people, 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.119 if they want to scream, scream. We want the dining 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.000 room to be loud and so so we we always evolve. 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.320 We changed decre since I am there three times, keeping 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.280 some iconic items like the ceilings. You are a part 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.480 owner in the restaurant, yes, you're not just a chef 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.919 under contract. And as a part owner, obviously you have 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:13.920 control over and that's in the back of the house, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.440 so to speak, and you have some significant control over 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.160 the front of the house as well. Yes, of course, 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.640 the fabric on the chairs, the flowers on the tail 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.400 as you have some say yes. And then we work 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.720 really well as a team with my business partner. It's 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.800 it's really it's really a great pleasure to work together, 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.520 which is I think very important to have partners that 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.960 are aligned with the vision. Alberada is evolving all the 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.560 time because we first of all, we refused to have 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.119 signature dishes because the day the day you have a 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.240 signature dish, you don't evolve anymore. And as you know, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.400 New York is pretty quick and fast. If you don't evolve, 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.600 you behind the next day. The second is stop. That's it, 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.720 it's over. We just have the passion and we want 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:06.399 to do new things. Chef Eric Repair. If you enjoy 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.399 culinary conversations, check out my episode with the author of 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:15.320 in defense of food and cooked Michael Pollen, Amazing things 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.080 happen at the table, and you know, as you give 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.920 up cooking, you give up eating together. And when when 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.920 you start going to the microwavable meal, everybody gets their own. 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.919 And there's something about eating from the same pot that 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.760 puts people on the same page psychologically, I think, and 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.520 we give that up and increasingly we're eating alone. We're 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.320 eating in the car of American food gets eaten in 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.200 the car right now. Um, we eat alone way too often, 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.800 and so we're losing. It's not just about the food. 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.760 I mean, food is important, but there are the institutions 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.440 that come with it. To hear more of my conversation 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.600 with the author, Michael Pollen, go to Here's the Thing 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.600 dot org. After the break, Eric Repair and I discussed 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:13.639 the unparalleled importance of dessert. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:17.400 listening to Here's the Thing. For a chef working at 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.560 the level that Eric Repair does, the standards that le 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.639 bernardin must be excellence, and not just in food, but 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:30.119 in presentation, design and hospitality. I asked Repair what he 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.639 thinks are the hallmarks of good service, and in particular, 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.680 what makes a good waiter. A good waiter is someone 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:43.840 who's passion it and rocks hard and understand that he's 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:48.199 here to create an experience for the clients. That's a 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.000 good waiter. Of course, he has to have a good 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.320 relationship with the kitchen and be knowledgible about the food 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.159 and so and the wines and so on. But we 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.600 are in a hospitality business. People come to the Banner then, 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.679 not to have a waither star or chef star. No, 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.240 we are here to make your experience the best we can. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:13.240 And the way there has to be very generous in 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.680 this way, you know, has to be very given as 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.960 to read also the client really well, you may come 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.119 to the Bernarda and it could be a date and 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.200 you in love and so on. The way there shouldn't 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:28.720 be in the middle, and we say, right, we leave 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:30.600 us alone. You've been really you've been reading my mind 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.280 because right before you came, we were talking about over service. 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.000 Yeah no, you don't want that. But you may be 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.520 also celebrating a business deal. Okay, so it's the way. 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:45.560 There should be a standing stay away. But if you 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:48.639 have foodie and you traveled, and you you save money 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:53.320 and and you're looking at everywhere, and the waiter should 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.520 see that and then read your mind and know that 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.480 you want interaction and you want to talk up food 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:02.919 and you want to potentially visit the kitchen and what 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:06.399 the hell? Yes, the waiter should be invisible until you 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:11.399 need them. So, without naming the part of town you 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.280