WEBVTT - Austin Butler 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.920 Welcome to Rivercafe, Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:05.600 Adami Studios. 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.520 Austin Butler is a winner. He beats me at carts, 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:11.760 knows how to cook a wild salmon on the grill, 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.920 and when we had a dinner every Sunday night for 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.840 a year when he was filming in London, he always 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.440 arrived with a new book, he was reading, a piece 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.040 of pottery he just made, or a rare bottle of tequila. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.240 We first recorded this podcast in May twenty twenty one, 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.880 but we wanted to play it for you again in 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:32.640 case you hadn't heard it. It is one of my 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:37.640 definite favorites, just like Austin. If you like listening to 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.840 Ruthie's Table four, would you please make sure to rate 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:47.320 and review the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:58.800 or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. My favorite 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:03.160 line in this conversation is when Austin Butler refers to 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:08.480 his and my relationship as family. Austin arrived here from 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:14.360 filming Baz Luhrmann's movie Elvis, playing Elvis himself. London was 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.360 just out of COVID lockdown and leading an immediate tradition 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.440 we decided to have dinner at my home every Sunday 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:28.160 night with the same small group of friends. Austin would 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.480 turn up early and cook with me, and this is 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:36.680 what we did every Sunday for thirty nine weeks. Austin 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.280 is a brilliant actor, a beautiful singer, a poet, and 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:51.720 a true friend. And Austin is my family. So Austin, 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.320 you and I are here in the River Cafe to 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.880 talk about food, our memories, travel and a lot more. 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.520 But maybe we should just start with Australia. 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:05.440 I was in Australia for a year and a half. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.080 I was making Elvis with Basil Rman. 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.079 Did he have food on set? Did you sit down 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:12.640 to meals? 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.560 Yeah? Well, we did this thing. 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.480 It's I'm realizing it's a very European sort of thing 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.239 where you have these rolling lunches, which basically means you 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.160 don't have a lunch break. You eat while you're filming. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.119 And I actually kind of like it because it keeps 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:40.720 the momentum of filming. And so while we were filming 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.239 a lot of times it was just I was eating 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.639 for It was like gasoline, you know, I was eating 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:55.440 for energy. I just gathered making the most thing black hand. 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:02.560 And then when we wrapped, Bas and I were at 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.120 his house and there was a small group of us, 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.640 and it was the night that we wrapped it was 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.119 it was the first time that he and I both 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:10.040 sort of were able. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.000 To go, ah, we did it. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.520 You know, we've been working on this for I've been 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.640 at times for about two and a half years at 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.200 that point, maybe three years. He'd been doing this for 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.440 long or five or eight years or something. And we 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.080 we just we danced until the sun came up. We 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.520 just yeah, well we had a little group there, but 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.000 we we just put on vinyl records and we just danced, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.400 and we ate oysters and we just we just lived life. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.400 It was like this feeling of letting our hair down. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:42.480 And then the sun started to come up and and 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.200 Bas looked out and he lived across the street from 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.120 the sea, and he said, should we go swim in 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:49.920 the ocean right now? And this is the night that 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.240 we wrapped the film, and so we both we were like, yeah, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.520 let's do it. So we ran across the street and 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.920 we jumped in the ocean. And it's like five and 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.640 morning now, and we swam in the ocean, and so 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.280 the sun's rising, and I was gonna not go that 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.240 night as well, and I said, I said, Baz, I 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.119 can't believe I was going to go to sleep tonight. 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.720 And he started singing nessa dorma and he goes, no 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.680 sleep tonight, No sleep tonight, and he starts singing this 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.080 opera and I hadn't really heard that song, and he 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.320 was telling me the story of the opera and then 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:22.720 he said, I'll play it for you when we get 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.680 back to the shore. And he went back to the 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.480 shore and I kind of took a second from myself 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:29.560 in the ocean where it's just me. I just watched 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.560 the sun rise, and I sort of processed all that 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.120 we had done. And you don't know the final outcome 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.520 of a film. You hope that you did everything you 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.719 possibly could and you gave every bit of your soul, 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:43.640 but you don't know how it's going to be received. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.000 But at that moment, I just kind of processed all 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.320 that we had, the work that we had done, and 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:50.920 the joy and the love that we'd put into it. 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:52.440 And I sort of had that moment. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.599 And then as I sort of slowly walked back the shore, 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.279 I look at Baz and he's holding a speaker above 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.799 his head like John Cusack can say anything. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:01.120 And he's playing nessa. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:05.120 Daughter, the Pavarieti version, and it's blaring at like five 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.760 point thirty in the morning now on the beaches of 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.640 the Gold Coast. It was so magical and cinematic. And 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.600 then we made breakfast. What was that we made? We 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.120 looked in the refrigerator and thought, okay, what can we make? 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:21.920 Because he and I both had been working so hard, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.200 and there's this thing about filming where you're there's so 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:29.560 many responsibilities that other people end up almost treating you 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.320 like you're a child. In many areas, they walk you 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.080 to the bathroom. You know, if I said i'm when 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:35.600 I go to the trailer, they walk me there and 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:37.760 to make sure I don't get lost. They treat you 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.320 like you can't do anything, and they bring you your food, 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.880 and so you're very spoiled in many ways. But there's 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.400 something so relieving about that moment when you're finally able 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.520 to do something for yourself. And and so he and 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.080 I that was our moment. We opened the refrigerator and 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.160 we saw that, Okay, we got eggs, we got asparagus, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.800 we got some spinach, there, we got some tomatoes, we 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.400 got some farmers and cheese. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:01.960 What can we do? And so we kind of just 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:02.919 made this breakfast. 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.040 And there's this loaf of bread, and so we cut 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.000 off bits of this bread and we toasted it and 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.839 just made this delicious meal. And that's one of the 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.279 most glorious memories of my life. Was like after we 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.880 finished this thing that was so terrifying and daunting, and 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.640 that we gave it everything we could and then then 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.719 we just sat there and as the morning sun sort 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.520 of laid down on us and ate that breakfast, and 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:25.360 it was so glorious. 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.000 It's it's about memories, isn't it. It's about the time. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.200 And what about Tarantine? Now? Was he interested in food? 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:34.400 Yeah? Yeah. 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.839 Remember one night we were we were doing night shoots 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.880 and it was about three in the morning. He had 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:48.160 this amazing crape maker come and make crapes and we. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:49.560 Were eating these amazing crapes and. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.560 He said, he said, Austin, you know, my thing is 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.560 I want to give everybody such a good experience on 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.880 this job that their next job sucks. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.400 And it was such a wonderful thing. 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.360 So every every night there would be some new food 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.039 thing that he would, he would organize, so you just 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.360 had this thing to look forward to. And and the 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.080 other thing that he did was after every hundred rolls 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.480 of film, which, believe it or not, this was the 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.880 first time I had shot anything on film, because everything 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.640 since I grew up was on digital essentially with every 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.240 person that I had worked with, and so that was 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:29.520 really special just hearing the sound of the film going 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.080 through the camera when you're sitting in the car. But 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.000 every hundred rolls of film, you'd throw a party and 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.600 it would have a theme. So he'd have you know, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.240 Groppo would come out and so everybody and they'd be 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.520 singing these songs, and or Margarita's would come out and 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.120 he'd have a mariachi band or so every hundred rolls, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.320 whether it be ten in the morning or you know, 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.600 three in the morning, it was something to look forward to. 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.920 I think that does actually give people a kind of 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.240 commitment to the person you're working for. You know that 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.520 they're taking care of you, know they're thinking about you, 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.320 they're recognizing that you're working hard and that you want 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:10.760 to give them something back. It's a lot, doesn't it. Yeah, 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.280 When you lived by yourself and you once told me 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.240 that you chose a house in Los Angeles because it 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:18.880 had a pizza oven. 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:20.160 Oh that was great. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.400 Yeah, there's this beautiful house that had belonged to Gary 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.320 Oldman before and he had built a pizza oven. And 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:34.240 I became obsessed with learning how to make the perfect 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.600 fire and this pizza oven, the specific type of wood 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.320 and exactly how to lay it. And I got one 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.520 of those laser temperature gauges so I could make it 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.760 a thousand degrees and learn how to make the pizza 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.319 sauce and the dough and everything. And it was actually 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.840 Christmas that I made the most pieces, I think, and 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.160 the first couple kind of came out rough and then 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.680 and then started to get really into the zone of it. 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:59.320 And it was amazing to me. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:00.080 How you have I. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.040 Asked, you could cook a pizza? 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.640 Yeah, and that he in that heat thirty seconds for 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.680 forty five seconds, and you can cook a whole pizza. 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.320 Yeah. So I cooked pizzas for. 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.319 My whole family, and such a great experience just getting 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.480 to feed them and the special thing of all kind 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:16.920 of being around the fire and and we had this 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.160 table out there and it sort of looked like the 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.120 Secret Garden as well in his backyard and cooked all 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.920 these pizzas, and then I started getting into other things. 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:27.480 I thought, what else can I cook it this fire? 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.360 And there's a restaurant in la called Pacha that is 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.720 in Laurel Canyon that makes this salmon on a cedar plank, 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.080 and so I thought, I want to learn how to 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:38.439 make that. 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.160 And so I ended up getting these. 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.160 Cedar planks and soaking them in water and putting the 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.280 salmon on top and seasoning it and sticking it in 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.199 the wood fire. It came out so incredibly. 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.880 This is something solitary. When I talked to Michael Caine, 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.400 he said that he'd loved to write a book Yeah, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.160 to a Garden, and he liked to cook because doing 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:03.440 a movie, you are surrounded by hundreds of people surrounded 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.760 whatever you're doing. You just describe being walked to the 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.040 bathroom or trying to find your trail. There's always someone around. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.240 And then he chose three solitary things that you can 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.640 do on your own. So it sounds like maybe that 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.800 cooking was something that you could do without. 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.760 Absolutely it makes you feel self sufficient. 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.880 Yeah, and also giving back to the people that you 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:24.559 want to feed. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:32.400 Absolutely, it becomes my love language in a way. I 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.280 cook so much for the people around me. I'll look 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.200 into their eyes when they're eating it and try to 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.040 see if they love it as much as they say 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.880 they do, and try to figure out ways of making 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:42.319 it better. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.520 And it sounds the way you're talking about it, like 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:46.239 a performance. 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:47.160 Yeah. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.040 Do you think there are parallels between acting or performing 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.400 or singing and cooking looking into people's eyes and seeing 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.800 how they are responding to your performance. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:14.760 Absolutely grilled white peaches with amoretto. Serve six six ripe 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.560 white peaches, one vanilla pod, two tablespoons cast of sugar, 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:24.040 one hundred and twenty milli liters amoretto, preheat of into 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.520 one hundred and ninety degrees celsius. Heat a grill pan 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:31.400 until very hot. Cut each peach in half and remove 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.880 the stone. Place the peach halves cut side down on 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:40.559 the hot pan, and grill until slightly charred. Remove from 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.959 the pan and place face up on an oven proof dish. 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.480 Slice the vanilla pod lengthways and put with the sugar 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:54.280 into a mortar pound until the vanilla pod is broken 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:58.360 up and combined with the sugar. Scatter the vanilla sugar 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.720 over the peaches and pour over half off of the amaretto. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.000 Bake for ten minutes or until the peaches are soft, 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.920 had the remaining amaretto, and serve hot or cold with 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:11.360 a spoonful of crim fresh. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:12.800 Thank you. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.080 That sounds delicious. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:22.320 Austin amaretto and Italian liqueur peaches grilled. Is that anything 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.120 to do with any food you grew up with in California? 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:26.120 Yeah? 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:31.760 So I was born in Anaheim, right near Disneyland, and 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.040 we used to have these We used to have trees 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.400 in the backyard that it wasn't We didn't have peaches, 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.120 but we had grapefruit trees and we had an orange 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.400 tree in the backyard. And so like the smell of 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.160 fresh fruit. I remember my mom picking it and us 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.640 having this fresh fruit and the kitchen and these lemons 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:52.319 and grapefruit. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:54.959 So that's that's sort of what that made me think of. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.200 Did your mom? Was she a good cook? 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.840 She was a great cook, and especially as the years 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.920 went on, I remember eating a lot of fish sticks 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.199 and you know, the things that you'd get in the 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:11.760 freezer aisle, and little corn dogs that she would make. 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.360 Because when I was born, she wanted to be a 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.600 stay at home mom, and she was a dental high 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:24.679 genist at the time, and then she ended up starting 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.720 daycare out of the house, and so she would watch 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.840 the children of the mothers who taught at the school 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:31.839 right right around the corner that I eventually went to 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.160 elementary school there, and so so we always had little 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.520 children in the house, and so she had to make 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.520 these meals that were really quick and easy. So as 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.720 a kid, I just remember eating those and tuna fish 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:48.480 sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and so nothing 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.280 really gourmet at all. And then as the years went on, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.839 she became vegetarian, and then she became vegan, and then 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.880 she got really into making special things with portobello mushrooms 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.000 and bell pepper's stuffed with gooscous or. 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:03.959 Things like that. 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.000 So she got a little bit more into it later on, 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.840 But when I was growing up, it wasn't extremely healthy 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.800 in the house. It was it was kind of efficient meals, and. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:15.120 She's probably working so hard. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.120 She was working so much, and I mean there was 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.040 twelve kids in the house sometimes and yeah, all different ages. 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.200 And when I was when I started going to elementary school, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.080 we lived around the corner from that same school, and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.960 I would walk home every lunch and she'd have a 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.120 peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting for me, and we 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:39.120 watched this home decorating show called Surprise by Design, and 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:41.280 then we would we would come up with things that 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.280 we were going to do around the house, and so 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.120 we we'd lay a brick path in the backyard or 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.520 plant little flowers or that sort of thing. We'd get 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.320 inspired by this show, and I just remember how excited 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.640 I was to walk home every day and just eat 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.160 the sandwich that she made for me, and how specially 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:57.440 that was. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.240 It was a beautiful memory of your mother something for 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.920 you and going home for lunch. That's that's Would you 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.800 have dinner as well? Would you all sit down to 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.080 dinner or was that Well? 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.800 My parents divorced on I was seven, and a lot 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.600 of my memories go back to that time because it 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.320 was when sort of the stability of family split up 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:22.960 and my dad moved into this this person that he 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:26.840 worked with, He moved into their garage and they had 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.520 sort of a converted garage and we had a tiny 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.600 little miniature fridge and that was that was where we 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.880 kept all our groceries, and we had air mattresses that 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.680 we slept on and we put them down at night, 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:39.640 and then we put them up and we'd put down 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:40.720 a table during the day. 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.840 And so it was this one room. 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.240 That was our entire house, and it was just this 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.240 old garage and there was a treadmill in the corner 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.480 that was their old treadmill, and we would we would 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.000 make food there, and so we shared their kitchen betther 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.720 than that. We had sort of just this one room. 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:03.160 And I started cooking as a kid because with my 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.840 dad had he had work and so he would say, hey, 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.560 I'll pay you two dollars if you'd cook dinner tonight, 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:11.760 and so as a way that I could stock up 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.880 money as a kid was cooking dinner. And there was 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.000 like three staple things maybe, and one of the main 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.240 ones that I remember is burritos. We'd make Dennison's chili 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.560 bean burritos, which this can of beans with some sour 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.200 cream and cheese, and I haven't eaten one of those 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.920 in years, but we used to eat that every night. 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:34.520 And then a special occasion would be getting a five 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.720 dollars pizza from down the road or something like that. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:38.880 So those were that was like the idea of a 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.480 fancy meal was ordering a pizza out when I was 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.080 a kid, which I think then years later coming to 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:49.080 a place like like your restaurant here, going to French 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.080 laundry for the first time or something like. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.200 That, was was so felt. 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.000 I felt so out of my element in a way 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.640 when I first started going to really nice restaurants, because 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.200 you know, five dollars sounded like a lot for me 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:01.120 when I was a kid. 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.760 Would you do the shopping or would he order out? 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:04.240 Would you? 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.240 We would always we'd usually get a costco as a kid, 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:12.200 yeah and yeah, we'd get food and bulk and then 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.679 and make meals out of that. And then at a 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.280 certain point, I think when I moved I moved out 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:25.280 when I was seventeen, and I started wanted to learn 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.000 how to make food and wanted to know how flavors 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.240 fit together. And I started making some money, and so 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.359 I started trying restaurants in La Or and then I 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.119 worked in New York for the first time, and that 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.560 was really eye opening because you know, just getting to 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.960 try great little Italian restaurants. And I remember going to 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.760 Roberta's for the first time, which is this restaurant in 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:47.760 Brooklyn and a friend of mine who owned all these 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.800 restaurants in la he said, this is the restaurant that 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.600 made me want to open a restaurant. And uh so, 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.840 going to Roberta's and and trying there and it feels 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.720 a lot like here, where you feel like you're home, 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.879 you know you're and I realized I have a lot of. 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:06.679 Instability in my life. 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.000 There hasn't been a lot of continuity in many areas 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.840 of my life since I was young, just because I 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.960 travel a lot, and even the nature of doing a 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.840 film or a TV show, you sort of make a 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.280 family of the entire crew and then it splits up. 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.879 And through therapy, I sort of realized that that was 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.960 that I was almost like reliving my childhood of my 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.840 parents getting divorced, for you know, many years of making 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.360 a family and then it splits up, and you make 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.080 a family and it splits up. And so I'd seek 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.919 out ways of having stability and consistency and most of 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.280 that for me while on location, whether I was in 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.800 Vancouver or New Zealand or Australia or here in London 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:55.720 or wherever I was, I would find restaurants that became 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.200 my second home and I'd get to the point where 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.680 I'd go there every day and the staff then knew 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.679 me and I knew them, and suddenly it felt like 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.359 there was there was this thing that was separate from 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.119 my work, that felt like home. 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:11.520 Even if I've woken up with. 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.800 Anxiety, or if i feel sad or I feel overwhelmed, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.560 I go to a restaurant, I think what you've created 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.280 here is so beautiful because I feel it here as well. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.359 I'll come here with a book and you know, and 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.480 I get to see you, and I get to read, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.080 and I know the people who work here, and that 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.720 goes even deeper because you and I have a family relationship. 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.879 Beyond that, I think I always say that in an 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:39.800 irregular world, we do need regular things. And I think 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.080 even if we have you know, your life, you know, 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.800 the way you describe it is very moving and very 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.800 honest and a revelation of who you are. But I 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.560 think that even if you have a consistency and you 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.600 have those foundations and you have that life, it's still 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.200 we seek out. You know, you talk to people about 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:05.919 the Sunday lunch, people going home for Sunday lunch or 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:10.399 Friday night supper, or Christmas the Christmas lunch has to 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.040 be the same every year, and so food does mean that, 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.240 doesn't It gives you a sense of stability. And I 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.199 always wanted a restaurant to feel like home. You know. 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.160 That is a place. I'm always amazed that people will 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.320 come to a restaurant even if they've had a really 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.320 bad day, you know, or something bad has happened. 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.600 Sometimes we need it on those days the most. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:31.720 Yeah, that you come. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:32.280 This morning, I. 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:34.320 Could hardly leave the house. I just felt anxious for 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.760 some reason. And then I got myself. I just said, 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:39.399 you know, I just got to get to the cafe. 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:41.879 And once you get there, then suddenly there's life around 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.000 you and it sort of buzzes and you feel humanity 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.000 wash over you and things that are happening outside of 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.639 your own experience. And then you eat delicious food and 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:53.320 that really helps. 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:06.760 Did you eat pizzas in Italy when you went on 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.000