WEBVTT - Jeff Goldblum 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.720 Welcome to River Cafe, Table four, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:05.440 and Adami Studios. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:10.680 Can you hear me? 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.720 I can hear you, Darling? Can you hear me? 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:14.800 I can Darling. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:20.160 Tonight, I'm talking to my friend Jeff Goldbloom. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.680 I'm in LA and my closet with a couch. 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:25.840 You know I don't have a closet with a couch, 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.920 but I'm going to get one tomorrow. Yeah, note to self. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:31.280 I recommend it. 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.199 We're miles and miles apart, but through food, through movies, 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.600 through politics, through memories, we're really close. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.080 Let's start. Let's not waste any of this magic, and 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.080 let's let's start the Let's turn on the chef. Are 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:47.839 we starting? Are we? 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:51.120 Yeah? We could start the only thing. I'm a chef 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.920 and I have a restaurant. But I may not be 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.040 the best interviewer. So you can say, Ruthie, you're doing 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:57.520 a bad job. Start all over again. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.320 Okay, you're already an excellent interviewer and you can't possibly 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.600 make a mistake more to a bad job. I think 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:04.399 you're fantastic. 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.120 So I'm going to ask you if you would read 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.600 the recipe that you've chosen. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:14.720 Oh should I should? Kick it off with it. I 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.120 certainly will. So I've got this book in front of 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.000 me and I've turned to I've dog heared the slow 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:24.240 cook fennel. Well, there's not much to reach. It's like 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.800 a high coupe. I see, ready, here's my You don't 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.319 like it, you can say, take take two. Well wait, 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.640 I haven't taken one yet. Just a second. Okay, here's 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.080 take one. You know how many takes Stanley Kubrick would 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.039 do sometimes for a movie, No, tell me famously eighty seven? 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.760 What if I wish I would have worked with him. I 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.240 love his movies, and he made movies around your neck 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:47.960 of the woods there. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:50.919 Yeah, okay, come on, read the recipe. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.160 You are a good interviewer. I like when the interviewer 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:58.440 claps your hands and says, come on, get come on there. Okay, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:07.560 here it goes. Slow cooked fennel serves six six fennel bulbs, 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:17.280 five tablespoons olive oil, five garlic cloves peeled. That's it. 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:19.280 That's as much as I have on the page. Is 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:19.560 that it. 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.840 You've just read the ingredients. Now go down to the method. 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.359 Oh okay, okay, okay, so so far, so good. 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.720 And also I think it says, fennel cut into eighths, doesn't. 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.800 It No, I pride myself on my reading skills. It says, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.360 serve six six fennel bulbs. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:40.240 Okay, your reading skills are really good. Now just go 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:41.160 down to the method. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:42.880 Here's what it says. Well, here's what it says on 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.920 the rest of the page. Says in the River Cafe kitchen, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.880 we all have an opinion on the color of the fennel, 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.600 brown or pale, but we agree on the classic rule 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.360 that they should be cooked long enough so that you 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.280 can cut them with a fork. New paragraph. Cut each 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.320 fennel bull vertically into eighth So here we go. This is. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:08.079 Keep the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the fennel, garlic, 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.480 and some sea salt and black pepper, and cook over 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.960 a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, or 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.760 until the fennel begins to brown. Add sufficient boiling water 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.560 to come barely one quarter of the way up the fennel. 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.880 Then lower the heat simmer uncovered until the fennel is 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.839 very soft, which will take twenty to thirty minutes. Stir 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:37.520 occasionally and add a little more boiling water if necessary, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.400 but there should be no liquid at all when the 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:45.800 fennel is cooked. End of page and the recipe. What 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:46.480 do you think of that? 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.320 I think it's beautifully red and very clear. Why of 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.360 all the recipes and all the books did you choose 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.040 the cook fedel. It's one of my favorite things to eat. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.440 But I'm interested as to why you chose it. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.920 I'm you may not know this about me. I'm easy 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.520 to please. This is all the height of cookery, and 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:06.080 this is all the most delicious things in the world. 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.040 But I'm easy to please, and I like all food. 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.800 There's anything I kind of haven't tried, wouldn't try and enjoy. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.839 It looks great to me. Look at that. My mouth 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.240 is watering as I look at this picture. How'd you 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.200 come up with this? This your recipe? 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.640 Well interesting because the recipe came for somebody who really 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.560 influenced my cooking and my partner rose in the River 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:32.720 Cafes cooking. Richard's mother, daughter Rogers, who came from Trieste 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.360 and from Florence, came to London just before the war 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:41.599 Second World War, and she kept her cooking tradition really 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.160 close to her and taught many many people how to cook. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.440 And one of the interesting things about the way she 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.040 cooked was the way she cooked and weigh Italians cooked vegetables, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.520 cooking the feedle slowly and olive oil and garlic, but 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.880 then adding water makes it all melt and absorbed the 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:03.279 juices intensifies a flavor. So I learned this recipe from 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:05.000 my mother in law, Dada Rogers. 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:05.920 What's her first name. 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.080 Her name was Ermine Garda, but they called her data. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.320 So who does the cooking? Do you cook for your children? 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:13.920 Do you cook? 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.680 Well, that's funny. My wife now Emily, with whom I've 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.160 been for about ten years. She was Emily Livingston. We 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.839 got married four years ago. She's now Emily gold Bloom. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.400 She's from Canada. Her mom is French from nant and 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.279 she's very close to her mom. Her mom is a 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.680 kind of wonderful cook, you know, makes creps and all 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.320 kinds of things. She prides herself on her cooking. And 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.360 they love their food over there, and that family loves 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.479 their food. And Emily, she was in the Olympics. She 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.240 early on got the bug to be a gymnast, and 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.640 she studied some Bulgarian coach star and took her to 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.400 Russia for most of the years between eleven and sixteen, 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.120 much to her mother's anxiety, but she wound up being 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.880 the Pan American champion and then she was in the Olympics. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.039 And now she has taken the cooking and learning some 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.800 of her mom's recipes. She's been cooking, baking bread craps 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.080 and croked monsieur and croke madam and so she cooks. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.560 We had breakfast this morning and she cooked some scrambled 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.160 eggs with cheese in them, and then she made oatmeal. 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.000 See I I'm easy to please. I can have this 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.200 every day. It was kind of sweetened with maple syrup. 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.400 And she has this French butter that she likes to 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.880 put a little in and had some cheese seeds in 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:30.520 it like that. That's what why I had this morning. 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.080 Did you grow up what did your parents cook? What 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:38.240 was food like at home? 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.240 Well, that's funny. I grew up in Pittsburgh. My dad 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.640 was I think like your dad was. Wasn't your dad 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:45.200 a doctor? 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:46.240 Yeah? 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.600 My dad was a doctor also, and his parents were 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:54.240 from Russia and my mom's parents, her dad was from Austria. 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.960 My dad's dad was named Kavartsik and changed it to 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.600 gold Bloom anyway, in our house, we had four kids, 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:06.119 the doctor and Missus Goldblum, and she used to cook. Yes, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.080 this is the fifties sixties in America, so this is 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:15.880 meat loaf time. There was, you know, canned vegetables that 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.920 were popular at the time. They even introduced us to 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.480 one nights that they went out to Swanson's TV Dinners. 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:23.520 TV Dinners. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.600 Yeah, Swiss steak and all that stuff. But she would 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.560 make things. I remember this. She had a recipe for 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.320 potato salad. My mouth is watering now and I'm getting 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.200 a little nostalgic about it. She used to make it. It 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.320 was her own thing. It was mayonnaise and potatoes and 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:41.320 celery and olives. She had these green olives, the kind 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.520 of you get with pimentos in them. I love that. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.000 But she would make also this spaghetti. I'll tell you, 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:48.880 I love this thing. It was spaghetti, now that I 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:50.800 know it. I don't think she called it this bolonaise. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.880 I think she said, with meat sauce. And she put 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:58.040 it in a great big kind of translucent green bowl, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:03.920 dark green bowl. Geez. I loved that so much. That 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.880 was great. And then we got a barbecue outside. They 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:08.920 liked to put steaks on the grill, and they went 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.320 on cruises and stuff. You can imagine, the doctor and 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.239 they went to Las Vegas for some you know doctor, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.120 you know, getaways and cruises and that kind of stuff. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.120 Come back from Haiti with a couple of items, you know, 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.480 and they paid in a shuffle board court on the 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.520 cement in our backyard. Can you believe it? I was 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.360 the only you know, it was a blue collar neighborhood. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.960 All the other kids in school were kids of steel workers. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.440 I was a fish out of water already, a very 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:39.080 strange boy in a strange family. I think. Then they 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.360 had a little wet bar, I remember, and every couple 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:43.200 of weeks they would have the chair news come over 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.840 to play bridge, and I would listen from my upstairs bedroom, 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.240 you know, just hear sounds going on. We were supposed 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:49.840 to be asleep. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.679 But it is interesting that food and memory so are 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.240 memories of our childhood. You're remembering the costain the green ball. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.080 You remember it was in a green bowl, and you 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.080 remember the is very strong for all of us, is 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.080 the memory of our child is listening to our parents dinners, 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.760 you know, when we're supposed to be in bed wondering 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.800 did they eat different food for their grown up friends 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.800 as opposed to what beate around the table. When did 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.600 you start becoming aware of other cultures, other food and 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.160 rest Did you go with two restaurants with your pre 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.520 That must be being a bad interview When did you 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.320 become aware of other food culture? 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.960 You're a very good interviewer. I like that multipart question. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:30.280 I'm going to answer all of them. I can. 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.400 I was about to ask a multi part question. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.720 I'll give you a doctor's excuse. You're doing very well. 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.839 So here's your multipart question. And the first part that 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:41.760 I want to talk about is the restaurants we went 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.240 to in Pittsburgh, and there weren't many, but we would 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.560 go to well this is of course the beginning of 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:48.640 you know, fast food stuff. And I remember there's a 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.319 place called Eaton Park that we used to go and 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.720 get some stuff and eat in the car. And they 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.920 had chipped ham that people from Pittsburgh will know that. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.720 We used to come home and make kind of sloppy jos, 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.440 but with this chip ham that we put barbecue sauce 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.080 with his stuff that was kind of delicious. Then there 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.320 was this pizza place on Saturdays we watched scary movies. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.800 Chili Billy, Cardilly and my older brothers they were starting 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.280 to drive, and they would go to this place called 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.560 the Junction and Pizza and bring back this square cut pizza. Man. 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.480 I loved that. And then we would all go out 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:26.920 to Tambalini's restaurant, an Italian so called restaurant. I remember 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.200 that's the first time I tasted this thing called a 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.839 caesar salad. There was some hard boiled eggs in it, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:35.080 and I thought that was spectacular. And then we would go, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.920 wait a minute, wait a minute, go there was this one. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.240 There must have been others. There was one Chinese restaurant. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.400 I think it was bill Uns, and you know, we 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.200 would go on a once a month or something like 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.079 that on a Sunday night and it was I think 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:52.200 Cantonese and just you know, very kind of standard fair. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.480 But I thought that was great too, you know, like 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.360 I say, every eating adventure was great. And then we 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.400 went on vacations. We would go to getting a station 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.440 wagon and all go to Atlantic City and get that 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.760 saltwater taffy on the boardwalk. And we went to New 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.560 York City once. That was in fourth grade, and we 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.760 went to Grantwich Village at the time, and had our 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.000 pictures done, our portraits done by some artists, you know, 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.160 beat nick artist on the street. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.080 On the street. Hey, the first person I've ever met 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.200 that had one done on the street. Oh no, I 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:25.880 had one in the Piazza Navona once. 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.520 Yeah, it was. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.040 It wasn't sophisticated at all. Do you know what, Jeff. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.320 It's so similar to kind of my growing up because 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.480 my father would take us from upstate New York once 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:41.120 a month, and what we would do is we would 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.160 go see the big ships in the harbor at a 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.960 docked like the Queen Elizabeth. Then he would take us 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.400 to a musical in the afternoon, and then we would 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.520 go to sam Goodies do you remember that music store, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.440 and we would buy the record from the musical. So 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.280 if it was I don't know, West Side Story, whatever 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.400 it was, you'd buy the record and then we would 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.840 we would have a restaurant meal, and then we would 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.880 go home and then we would just play the record 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.480 over and over and over until I knew every single song. 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.000 You're talking about now. We did grow up similarly. My 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.240 parents both sort of flirted early on in their youth 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.840 with a theatrical career some kind before it was going 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.480 to be a doctor. Da da da, And so they 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.480 were fans of the arts. They used to go on 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.040 their own to New York and see Broadway shows and 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.480 come back with the records, the cast albums of West 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.680 Side Stork and Fiddler on the Roof and My Fair 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.880 Lady and all those things. Yes, and I would listen 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.720 to it over and over learn it. But yeah, very similar. 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.080 In New York, we went to this place called the Cattleman. 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.320 I think it was a touristy kind of steak restaurant. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.320 We'd get take home and they'd wrap it up in 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.920 some aluminum foil thing in the shape of a swan 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.360 or something. I remembered. I thought that was unusual. 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:50.880 Do you take your kids to restaurants? Because I think 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.040 it's the image of restaurant now so different for me, 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:57.600 my parents eating out in the restaurant was a special occasion, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.280 and now I just see the way my kids and 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.760 kids and families eat out like all the time. Do 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:05.360 you take your kids to restaurants? 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.600 I agree, it's probably too much. And I'll bet with 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.160 your sensibility. You love the home style cooking and I 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.000 do too. And especially during this last COVID period, it's 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.240 forced us to eat less in restaurants. We weren't doing 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.480 it much before. We have a nice home life and 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.800 a nice culinary home life. I like meals with the kids. 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:24.560 I love breakfast with the kids, and we have dinner 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.120 with the kids. It's really great. But before that, we 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.360 had gotten together with my sister and gone to a 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.560 restaurant and I'll bet you would like here. Maybe you 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.720 know it in Los Angeles, Musso and Franks, but we 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.720 would go there. It's a kind of traditional restaurant. They 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:37.640 say it's the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles. And we'd 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:39.640 go with the kids and my sister. They have a 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.480 menu that doesn't say sorbet. They still call it Sherbet, 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.760 you know. And then we would go to a couple 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.360 other places, but not many. But things are just opening 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.320 up now. And we went just this last weekend with 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.240 the kids for the first time in a long while 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.840 to Craigs, who kind of built an outdoor place and 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.840 they're kind of Italian and this and that, and they 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.240 had a good time there. But the kids like food. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.800 It's so interesting to see the kids eat and what 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:06.439 they like. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.559 You know, did you ever work in a restaurant? 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:11.880 I never, did you know? I was so lucky. I 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.480 have an unusual story. As soon as I decided to 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.280 become an actor, I went to New York, lived there 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.440 four years, studied with Sandy Monizer, and then as soon 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.720 as I finished school, even before I started school, I 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.520 kind of happened into work and started to work, and 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.040 have worked steadily for these last four decades or so 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:32.680 without ever having to take another straight so called job, 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.480 except for one week I sold pens and pencils on 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.960 the phone, but I'm too sensitive for that. I wound 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.840 up in the hospital. I don't know, maybe related or unrelated, 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.200 but anyway, that was the last time I did something 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:45.480 not having to do with that or music. You know, 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.440 I played music these days and go out and they 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.360 give us some money for playing music. But I do 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.120 all of it just because I love it. That's why 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:52.000 I ever did any of it. 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.680 Now because restaurants, I just think that actors do gravitate 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.680 to working in restaurants because they are theatrical, aren't they? Restaurants? 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:01.480 Even and if you're in a bad mood, you have 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:02.960 to be in a good mood, or if you don't 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.120 like the customer, you have to pretend you like the customer. 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.240 And also dramatic things happen in restaurants. I always say 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.400 people do very private things in a public space. And 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.800 Michael Kaine said he never ever did a movie without 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.480 doing the deal first in a restaurant. He said, all 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.280 the movie deals were always made over lunch. But did 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.600 you find that or is your generation different with restaurants 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.880 for you working lunches, or is it always just pleasure? 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.680 It's been many different things. It has been a lot 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.280 of business. There's a hotel near here near my house. 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.200 I've been in the same house for thirty five years, 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.440 and there's a hotel near here that has a very 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:43.080 nice place, and I've had many meetings there with people 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.720 on movies that I'm going to do and projects that 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.520 I'm going to do, or just to meet people or 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:52.160 talk about things. And yeah, that's happened a lot and 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.560 private things. And I like kind of you know, restaurants 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.320 that are casual in a way where you feel very 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.800 free for you know, and counter a human encounter that 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:06.080 can be freewheeling, isn't so stuffy, you know. I like that. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.840 But I'd love to come now and see you and 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:09.760 go to the restaurant. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.120 You know what, we could put a piano in the 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.440 River Cafe and we could play the piano and say 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:16.880 we have a beautiful place for a piano. 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.200 I would love to because I know you opened Sylvia's 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:21.800 and you've got live piano music there. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:23.800 Yeah, we just closed Sylvia's. 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:27.200 Why what happened? 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.320 It's a long story, but it was just a small 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.720 little space that they gave us for a short time. 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.920 The landlord's It's sweet. It was named it after my mom. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:36.040 Oh, Sylvia. 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:36.520 Yeah. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.600 He was also an was Shirley. My mom was Shirley. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.080 Shirley. That'd be a nice name for a little restaurant, Shirley's. Yeah. 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.360 So Sylvia's won't be your cooking there. And you took 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.000 the piano that you were using there and you may 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:48.520 put it back. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.720 I'm going to maybe move it into the River Cafe. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.480 I just wanted to ask you about well, first of all, 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.320 movies and food. When you're working, do you stop for food? 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.640 Do you care about what you eat on set? When 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.760 you're in the theater, do you eat before the play, 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:09.879 after the play? What's the relationship between food and more? 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.000 Very interesting, Well, I think I have a system like 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.479 a hummingbird in some way myself. So I if anything, 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.679 I can run out of steam. I need foods. So 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:22.879 on the set these days, and there's a lot to 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.879 talk about it, different kinds of cruise and places you 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.280 shoot movies where they have different things. You know, in France, 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.240 I've made movies and they have a bottle of wine 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.080 on the table and they take a nice leisurely lunch. 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.040 But in this thing I just did, I did the 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.359 thor thing. And in Australia and they have a walking lunch, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.480 meaning nobody takes a break, and there's food that comes 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.480 around and you just eat as you go. But these days, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.959 I like, you know, when I'm acting, I need fuel 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.280 and the best kind of fuel. So I'm still experimenting 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.760 with you know, whole grains, carbs and. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:55.440 Thank you's outside. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.480 I know I'm in my backyard. Did you see that? 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.800 You saw it on radio? Here's my backyard. 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:02.760 Do you grow vegetables there? No? 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.400 Well, you know, I wish I was like you. I'll 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.800 bet or my friend ed Begley Junior and had a 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.879 whole garden and could really eat just from his backyard. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.520 But no, what we've got is I'm walking you back? 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.080 Is I want to show you this low quat tree. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:20.600 Yeah, I know about low quots. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.440 That's an orange tree that there's nothing. 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:27.360 Now now it's cutting in and out. 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.840 That's good. Hey, you know what I came upon speaking 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.400 of that fennel recipe, you know, tell me, I came 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:38.560 upon a poem by Longfellow from eighteen forty two called 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.720 The Goblet of Life that has a little snippet about fennel. 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.600 You want to hear. It's just a few lines. It 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.679 goes like this, above the lower plants, it towers the 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:52.520 fennel with its yellow flowers, and in an earlier age 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:57.719 than ours, was gifted with the wondrous powers lost vision 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.080 to restore. How about that? 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.840 Oh? Well, fedel is a very romantic It is because 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.119 it has these incredible leaves. You can have a fedal herb, 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.000 you have the bulb of fenel, you have the stalks 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.800 of fennel. It does feel long fellow ish. That's interesting. 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.720 But food is romantic, I mean it is talking is romantic. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.440 When you were talking about Kubrick, I was thinking about 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.080 food in movies, you know, and I was thinking about, Okay, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.439 this will put me in my generation. But the kitchen 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.480 scene and the big chill and the scene around the table, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:34.119 and also this is a multi question question, but also 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:38.960 the Budapest Hotel is about eating and sleeping and food 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.440 and the politics and it's just it's all fits, doesn't it. 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:43.439 It's so interesting. 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.280 I love movies about food. I'm thinking about Tom Popol 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:49.320 off the top of my head. You ever see that movie? Yeah, 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.639 But West, of course is a person like you, of 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:57.280 terrific sophistication. And during the filming of Grand Buda Post Hotel, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.200