WEBVTT - Michael Elias 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.200 Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:05.600 Adamized Studios. 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:10.719 Michael Elias is impressive, an actor, director of movies and television, 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:14.960 a writer of novels and screenplays, a black belt in karate. 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.799 He is generous, funny, he has great ethics, and he 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.319 is a fantastic cook. They tell me that I fell 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.240 in love with him the moment we met. Michael Elias 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:37.040 is impressive, and Michael Elias is my brother. Michael. The 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.519 recipe that you've chosen is ricotta alfhourno. Would you like 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:42.120 to read it? 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:48.120 Ricotta alfhourno and takes a handful of fresh mint leaves, 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:53.440 basil and parsley. You need five hundred grams of buffalo ricotta, 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.560 one hundred and twenty millileaters, double cream, two eggs, one 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:02.360 hundred fifty grams of parmesan, and black olives. Preheat the 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.399 oven to one hundred and ninety degrees centigrade. Coat the 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.679 bottom and sides of a round spring formed tin with 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:15.199 butter and parmesan. Put their herbs in a food processor 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.800 with half of the ricotta and cream, and you blend 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.640 until bright green. Add the remainder of the ricotta and cream. 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.720 Add the eggs one by one, season with sea salt 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:33.000 and black pepper. Finally, fold in the parmesan spoon into 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.840 the tin and spread the olives over the top. Bake 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.160 for twenty minutes the torch the rise and have a 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.440 brown crust, but still be salt in the center. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.480 I was very pleased that you chose this recipe, and 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.360 I checked today because I was one hundred percent sure. 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.320 But in nineteen eighty seven, the first day, September tenth, 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.519 that we opened the River Cafe, this recipe, this dish 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.120 we caught to Alfoorna, was on the menu. And so 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.440 it does take us right back to the history and 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.680 to the early days before we go into our childhood, 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.480 your childhood. Would you tell me about the first days 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:23.720 of the River Cafe. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.840 Well, I remember the River Cafe as a place that 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:29.239 made great hamburgers. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.079 Careful, I always tell Viva it was an Italian restaurant 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:32.520 from days. 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:37.600 Oh well, it evolved into an Italian restaurant, and it 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.600 had a sensibility in the beginning that was Italian that 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:46.480 only could be increased with the edition of Italian dishes. 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.760 So goodbye to the hamburger. The croissants and the French 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.919 fries which I miss. I still miss. They were great. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.320 So that was my introduction to the River Cafe and 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.399 probably the next time I came back was full blown Italian. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.920 Was so wonderful to see all these this is for 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.760 the first time, and including the ricotta alfourna, which I 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.640 probably had at a family dinner that you cooked, and 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.560 here it was on the menu. And then the next 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.680 thing I know, it was on a recipe and I 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:19.600 could make it, and I made it all the time. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.519 I think that Ken, you're being kind of modest, because 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.880 really your involvement in the River Cafe in the early 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:31.480 days was so supportive to rosen To myself. You made 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.800 baseball hats and T shirts from la You were constantly 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.560 on the phone sending people to this tiny little restaurant 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.280 in the middle of nowhere. I remember you wrote a 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.000 review of it. Do you remember that? 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.320 Absolutely? And I remember the baseball caps and T shirts 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.320 that I had printed up with the menu, and I 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.320 would arrive in London with a steamer trunk full of 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:57.040 T shirts and baseball caps. I was the Willie Lowman 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.720 of the of the River Cafe. I saw it get 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:05.240 bigger and bigger. The food always was great, but it 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.280 was such an exciting place, and it was designed by 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:13.920 Richard Richard Rogers, so it was just stepping into a beautiful, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.000 beautiful world of the most delicious food and wonderful people. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.680 It was something to be supported, and not only in 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:24.200 our family but all our friends. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.159 And you were actually also not just an amateur because 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.960 you were involved in restaurants in Los Angeles, weren't you, 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.080 with Mamaison and Spago and other restaurants. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.000 Well, I invested in two restaurants in my life, one 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:41.240 financially Spargo and the other emotionally, The River Cafe, and 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:46.440 they both paid off until I found out that I 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.200 was the only investor in Spargo who didn't know that 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.040 you could eat there for free. So I eat all 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:53.360 my bills beautifully. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.599 We grew up in a town about as far away 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:04.120 from London or from Los Angeles or the glamour of 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:08.320 Spago or other restaurants. Where do you think that came from? 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:08.760 What was it? 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.560 Can you describe the early memories you have of food 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:13.320 in our house. 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.160 Well, we grew up in the Catskill Mountains and we 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.760 had a family in New York City, and the food 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:26.440 in our families. Our grandparents was Kosher Eastern European Jewish food. 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:27.640 They were Hungarian. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.839 They were Hungarian, Yeah, Rosy and Sam. She was a 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:36.400 great cook. She made these beautiful red stuffed cabbage and 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.840 roast chickens, and she ground all the meat for whatever 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.200 she was making herself. And my father had six sisters 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:51.000 and they all cooked. They made grandma's recipes, and so 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:56.200 everybody loved food, and we always had big family dinners 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.640 in the backyard under the trees. It was wonderful. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:03.760 Our grandmother's mother was a very passionate cook, wasn't she. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.719 I remember two stories. She came to see you for 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.880 her first grandson from New York, which is quite an 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.599 arduous trip, and she traveled and her mother put you 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.719 in the crib and put you in a beautiful little 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.320 outfit and everything. And when she rang the bell and 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.680 came in, our mother said to her mother in law, 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.440 would you like to come and see the baby? And 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.200 she said, apparently, let's eat first. So I think that 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.200 that was that one, and then the other one was 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.719 that she would bring her own rolling pin to roll 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:34.719 out the strudles. 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.080 I think what was different for us, at least was 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.520 that our father, Fred, who gone to medical school in 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:47.400 Europe in Germany and Switzerland, was actually rather sophisticated in 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:51.680 terms of food and came back with the European tastes. 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.159 I'm not saying he taught my mother these recipes. Could 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.279 barely boil water, but we had sour brotten, we had 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.840 tippers and eggs and onion and for a Sunday breakfast, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:07.360 egg plant palmerjan. So we had really interesting food growing up, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.440 and I think we all demanded it for the rest 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.440 of our lives. And I think he was an influence 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:13.080 in that. 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.200 You've described cooking at home, the meals that you had 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.040 with our parents, the detail really of the kind of 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.480 food that our grandmother cooked, the experiences of eating in 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:29.320 her house. And when you left all this home life 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.600 that you had in Woodburn you went to college in Maryland. 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.920 What was it like leaving home and having to fend 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.119 for yourself food wise? Was it a segue into something 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.000 that was easier? Did you seek out food or did 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:45.120 you try different foods? 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.520 So Annapolis, Maryland was the home with the crab and 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.239 the oyster. You could go down to the docks and 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.240 eat both. Then moving to New York, I found out 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.520 I couldn't afford any of those things because I was 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.960 a struggling actor or the concept of restaurants. Most of 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.040 them were on afford and we depended on the kindness 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.840 of friends who were in the publishing business and they 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.119 had expense accounts and they would take us to lunch 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:10.520 and that was wonderful. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:11.720 What year was this. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.360 It was in the early mid sixties. I was working 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.800 in off off Broadway Theater, the Living Theater. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.120 You were living in New York and you were acting 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.960 in New York, and then you went to Europe and 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.400 was that a revelation of what the food would be 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.600 like outside of the United States. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.000 Well, my first stop was London to see you and Richard, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.000 and in those days, we of course had great meals 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.840 at your apartment. And I remember being introduced to Greek 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.160 food because you used to love to go to Soho 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.320 and you had favorite Greek restaurants. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.320 That's right, right, yeah, we did. Also it was what 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.960 we could afford in those days. I think it was 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.439 called Jimmy's. It was on Wader Streets, one of the 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.920 first restaurants which it took me to and he went 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.640 down these stairs and it was just incredibly noisy and fun. 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.720 It was a days when you could either eat fancy 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.320 British or French food, or you could go and have 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.720 a great time and noise and pay very little. But 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.520 it would be Greek or Italian or you know. And 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.200 then you went to that very foreign country called Los Angeles. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.080 The Living Theater went on to Paris, and I went 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.520 back to New York and resumed my life as an actor, 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.599 then eventually made my way to Los Angeles, where I 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:26.560 had a writing career. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.520 Was that a big change in going from the food 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.760 of New York to the food of Los Angeles. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.160 I think I went in nineteen sixty nine, and yes, 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.040 it was very different. First of all, there were these 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.000 enormous supermarkets that were open twenty four hours a day, 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:48.280 and I had never seen so many fruits and vegetables, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.640 and they were like giant warehouses, brightly lit, and you 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.840 going at four o'clock in the morning and buy food. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.920 And then there were Mexican restaurants, and as I said, 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.320 you know, I met my first talk of the farmers 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:07.040 market with this wonderful Mexican restaurant, and that became my love, 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.520 I would say, Mexican food Mexican. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.160 Yeah, I remember you took us to that place in 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.840 Santa Barbara that was a roadside super Rica, super Rika 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:18.040 super Rica, which. 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.520 Was made famous by Julia Child saying this is the 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.080 best Mexican restaurant on the West Coast, and she was right. 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:26.720 That was a fat day. Or because you get up 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.240 really early on Sunday morning, you drive to Tijuana, you 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.320 could drive to Rosa, Rita Beach where they had a 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:40.480 little restaurant that served broiled quail and the most exquisite 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:42.359 baked potatoes. 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.600 I remember you took us there. Remember that when Richard 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.520 was teaching you Sela, we drove down very well. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:53.000 There was a basque restaurant in Tijuana that was very famous, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.520 and another one called Caesars, which where they invented caesar salad, 0:10:57.960 --> 0:10:59.760 so they would make us caesar salad for you at 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.760 or at your table and then go home. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:08.360 But you saw the evolution from probably sixty nine through 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.400 the eighties and nineties of the food scene in California, 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.920 whether it was San Francisco with Alice Walters or as 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.360 you said, La with Wolfgang Puck. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.240 That's the thing about Los Angeles food, and there are 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.520 chefs who bring in everything, and they're not afraid and 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:28.040 they figure out these incredible combinations. I think it was 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.920 Wolfgang Puck who changed the world. I mean he really 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.199 did to open a first class restaurant and serve pizza. 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.880 Not only that, it was revolutionary, and he was also 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.000 the first one to say I'm going to use Pacific 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.360 influences in the food. So all of a sudden you 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:50.880 got the Japanese influence and the Chinese and very subtle 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.840 into this what was basically an Italian restaurant. Also, I 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.800 think he was one of the first celebrity chefs. He 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.800 would bring you something or the waiter would say, Wolfgang 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.840 wants you to try this, and people would melt. You know, 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:05.800 movie stars and he never saw a movie. 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.480 He was in the restaurant the other day. He came 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.960 after such a long time. He came in and we 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.199 were all so excited to have Wolfgang, who has restaurants 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.400 in every country and restaurants in every airport. And I 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.600 said to him, Wolfgang, I want to be like you. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.840 I want to have forty restaurants. And he said, Ruthie, 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:27.680 I want to be like you. I want to have one. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.000 And he was so so charming and He has been 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.080 a huge influence. And I remember eating with you at 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.640 mam Maison, which was a very fancy French restaurant, and 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:40.560 saying that his next one was going to be a 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.040 pizza place, and we were all completely mystified, but you 0:12:44.120 --> 0:13:03.400 know he did it. When you moved to Los Angeles 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:09.440 and you described the foods markets and the Mexican food 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:14.840 and discovery of artichokes and avocados, and the sun and 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.280 the farms and the markets, what was your work like 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.520 and what were you doing there. 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.520 I was a comedy writer and I wrote a variety shows, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.480 Glenn Campbell, The Mother's Brothers, Leslie ugham Is at the 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:31.480 same time writing sitcoms for All in the Family, Mary 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.000 Tyler Moore. I was a pretty busy fellow with my 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.400 partner at the time. At the same time, I was 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.400 writing television, which I considered a day job and I 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.319 loved it, but I always knew that I wanted to 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.880 do something by myself, so I started writing screenplays. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.920 Can you tell us about the movies that you've made? 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.320 Yeah. The first one was The Frisco Kid with Gene 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.960 Wilder and Harrison Ford, and it was about a young 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.200 rabbi who comes from Poland to America at the time 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.720 of the gold Rush, makes his way across the country 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.120 to San Francisco. And then I teamed up with Steve 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.520 Martin and we wrote The Jerk, and then my partner 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:12.560 and I, Rich Eustace, wrote Young Doctors in Love. And 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.240 then I had my passion project, as it were, which 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.960 was a movie, a screenplay about two jazz musicians, which 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.760 I wrote and insisted that I direct, and I attracted 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.520 Jeff Goldblum and Forrest Whitaker and made this movie called 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.840 Lush Life. We ate well from that point on. I mean, 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.520 there was no restaurant in LA that we couldn't afford. 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.040 But at the same time, eating in a restaurant for 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.640 me is I always ask the question could I make 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.160 this at home? And La has so many ethnic restaurants 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:49.760 now Cambodian, Laotian, Mexicans of every region, and Chinese and Japanese, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.040 and that I can't make at home, and I wouldn't 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.400 even try. And that's the fun of going out in 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:55.239 Los Angeles. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.240 How did you handle food as a director? 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:03.400 On one movie set, I insisted on we all eat together, director, writer, 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.040 all the crew, actors, and we talk about what we're doing, 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.440 and I think that communal experience is important in the creation. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.280 I hate it when everybody goes off to their dressing 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.040 rooms and has their sandwiches or whatever they have. I 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.400 wrote a French film and visited the set and they 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.320 took a French lunch. They took two hours. Yeah, it 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.880 was great. At a certain point, I think I was 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.760 finished with television and I decided to write novels. 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:30.520 You know, we talked about the way you ate when 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.840 you were making a television show, and we've spoken about 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.360 the way you prefer to eat when you're directing a movie, 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.920 all which involve a lot of people. You know, you're 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:45.120 feeding people, you're eating with people. But writing a novel 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.600 is a very solitary experience. Here it's you and your laptop. 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.240 Somebody asked me my writing schedule, and I say, it's 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.240 doing everything I can to avoid writing until there's nothing 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.440 left to do, and then I start writing. And I 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.560 put in three or four hours. And one of the 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.560 things that I like to do is shop for food, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:08.360 cook and then write. So you're correct, writing is a 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:11.160 solitary thing. And if you write at home in a 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.840 home office, you're only a few a few feet from 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.000 the refrigerator. That's a place to go, and that's the 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.400 place to go when you can't think of the next sentence. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.120 You can always find the next piece of cheese. So 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:26.920 it's for me, it's sometimes that's a distraction. So that's 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:28.760 that's my process. 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:29.960 Tell us about the books. 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.960 My most recent book is about a young policewoman in 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.960 a queen's homicide detective trying to find the killer of 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.800 her father, who was an abortion provider and he was 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:47.080 assassinated by an anti abortion terrorist like other doctors, and 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:51.560 at the same time, she's investigating murders that may emanate 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:56.360 from a women's shelter, and somehow I managed to combine 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:01.000 the two. I like to write about what my characters eat. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.760 I feel it's just as important as their size, the 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.919 color of their hair and eyes, and their character. So 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:11.479 I write a lot about food, and the writers who 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.880 write about food attract me. I think it's very important. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.880 So when you're writing a book and you're thinking about 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.840 the character and you're putting them through the day or 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.560 their work, and you have really interesting food scenes and 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:28.119 the way they seek food, is that important to you? 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.400 Yeah, If she goes to her boyfriend's house and he's 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.520 a cook, and I always say, well, what would I 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:35.960 cook from my girlfriend when she came over? What would 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.200 lead us? You know? Would we have a shower before 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.880 we cook? And so that's important. And I talk about 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.879 the lousy food she eats when she's has to be 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:47.480 on a steakout and she's got a foot long submarine 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.040 sandwich that she can only eat half of and a 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:57.200 lousy soda that's bubbling in her stomach. And so that's 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.280 important to me. I don't like it when I read 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.320 a novel and they say we stopped for dinner and 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.440 then moved on. Well, what did you have dinner? Yeah? 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.439 Do you think that your parents understood you a passion 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.160 for food? I mean when you would go home having 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.119 been in Paris and London and la and cooked and 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.480 eaton and then you would go visit them at home. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:19.920 How did that work? 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.400 Well? I think I'm undemanding as long as it's good. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:28.520 And I think Sun returning home from college from Europe 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:33.040 from anywhere two daughters too. Parents want to make the 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.439 best food for them, and they and they did. And 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.879 the summers in Woodstock when we had fresh corn and 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.159 people would put the water on the stove and have 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.760 it boiling, so that when they came back from the 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.639 corn stand, which was at the edge of a corn field, 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.679 they would just tear off the cover and throw the 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.000 corn in. And they were almost like contests who could 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.520 have the freshest corn, And they were tomatoes and farm 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.800 stands with such a part of our life in the summer. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.280 You took farm to table, That's what it was. We 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:12.040 never used the expression. And then they became. Then there 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.399 was a period when there were these kind of I 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:22.240 don't like the word boutique farmers who made the who 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:27.280 grew the vegetables for Wolfgang and the other restaurants that followed, 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:33.760 and of course everything was baby vegetables, baby carrots, baby asparagus, 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.560 baby ripped untimely from the soil. Who come to. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.200 Your plate growing up in Woodstock were actually I probably 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.000 grew up more in Woodstock and you'd already left. But 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.680 when you came back you became very close to the 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:52.160 artist Philip Guston, and I know that he also loved 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.720 to eat, and a lot of his paintings reflect having 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:59.639 overeaten a kind of viver love of food, and he 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.600 loved and I was wondering whether you might describe eating, 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.719 or cooking or just being with Philip Guston in those days. 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.520 He loved very simple food. He loved those big hamburgers 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:16.480 and fries, and he also loved some new sophisticated food. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.159 The last time I saw him was in San Francisco 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.720 in nineteen eighty when they had a retrospective and I 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.960 went to San Francisco and there was a big dinner 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.520 for him and invited me to come to this. And 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:29.800 then he took me aside and he says, I'm coming 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.000 to La after this, and I want you to arrange 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.359 a dinner party for me. I said, I'm happy to. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:42.800 He said just comedians. He said, no art critics please. 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.920 And Philip was a funny guy. Did well, you know he. 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.119 Died, oh before he came to before Yeah, he died 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:57.520 actually tragically. He died in our house having dinner, yeah, 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:01.040 with our parents. Something that I think our father really 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:05.000 never recovered from that. That Philip the heart attack. 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.439 Yeah, well, our father was a doctor and it was 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.680 such a massive heart attack for eating, smoking, drinking hamburgers 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.280 and fries and everything else, and that he couldn't he 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.760 couldn't save his life. And it really affected him and 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:23.399 they were really close. I think that was that Fred, 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.560 our father, lost his best friend, So that was really sad. 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:55.280 Michael, you've talked about eating in restaurants, about eating in 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:59.200 our parents' house, but you really haven't talked about, as 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.000 I said in my n touch in the fact that 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.280 you are a really good cook, and so what is 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:05.960 cooking like for you at home? 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.359 I think what I like to cook is from you, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:14.719 and it's a connection to you, which is risotto. And 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.040 I think I make really good risotto and it's from 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:24.040 your recipe. The Amarone risotto is my favorite, and it's 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:29.359 just connects us. It's about showing love for somebody you 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.720 love and feeling loved by somebody who cooks for you, 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.080 who loves you. And I've had those two experiences of 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.000 cooking for my son when I was a single father 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:47.040 and cooking the things that he loved, and marrying Bianca Roberts, 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:51.520 who is a great cook, and everything she cooks is 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.400 with love for me. She has the experience of living 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:59.640 in France and Switzerland, and she makes the best French dishes, 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:04.840 and her blanket a veal is something that is special 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.720 for me. So those are two things. So that's my 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.679 connection to food. And sometimes it doesn't matter what it is. 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:17.359 It's just a way of showing and getting the warmth 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:19.760 and comfort of somebody who you love. 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.439 I think we've talked about food is a memory, food 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:28.880 is history, food is family, food is friends and travel, 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:34.000 Food is life, and food is death. Food is also comfort. 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.520 It is comfort is the comfort we have when we're alone, 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:42.360 or we're sad or in pain, or it's just been 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:45.360 as simple as a hard day of just a hard day, 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.119 or maybe even a hard couple of hours. And so 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:51.879 a question that I always ask everyone else, so I 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.879 would like to ask my brother is what would be 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.919 your comfort food? Michael Elias? 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:04.440 I think my comfort food would be our aunt Florence's 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:07.280 cheese Blinzers. What is a blinsa? 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:09.639 I know what a blinsa is, and you know, but 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.040 there might be a whole lot of people out there 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:13.880 that do not know what a blinsa is. 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:21.040