Speaker 1: Welcome to River Cafe, Table four, a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and Adami Studios.
Speaker 2: In front of the camera and behind it. Danny Houston
Speaker 2: has spent his life in movies. Danny's son of John Houston,
Speaker 2: grew up watching Russia's traveling to film locations and meeting
Speaker 2: all the great actors, later directing, producing and acting in
Speaker 2: films and television series Mister North, Fade to Black, The
Speaker 2: Constant Gardner Succession, and much more. I knew Danny loved food,
Speaker 2: but nothing could have impressed me more than one of
Speaker 2: all the River Cafe recipes he chose. While basically toast toast,
Speaker 2: or rather, as the Italians call it, brusquetta, was what
Speaker 2: made me want to cook Italian food when I first
Speaker 2: tasted it in Florence in nineteen seventy one. Danny and
Speaker 2: I have much to discuss today as we sit here
Speaker 2: in the River Cafe, food, music, family, cookie, traveling. Then
Speaker 2: we'll go inside across the green and have a piece
Speaker 2: of briskinna.
Speaker 3: I will read the recipe of a brusquit for four people.
Speaker 3: It would be four thick slices of bread from sour
Speaker 3: dough loaf, one garlic clove, very good olive oil, a
Speaker 3: state bottled extra virgin olive oil. You heat the griddle
Speaker 3: pan or you chargrill it until it's very hot, and
Speaker 3: you toast the slices and until they're dark but not
Speaker 3: burnt on both sides. You remove the slices from the
Speaker 3: grill and you rub them lightly with a garlic clove.
Speaker 3: You season with salt, black pepper, and you drizzle it
Speaker 3: very generously with olive oil. And that is it.
Speaker 2: Thank you, so as I was saying, why did you
Speaker 2: choose a piece of brusquette with olive oil?
Speaker 3: It is one of my early memories being in Rome
Speaker 3: as a child. I remember going to a restaurant called
Speaker 3: the Kukuruku by the Tiber. There was always a lot
Speaker 3: of attention Townan's love children. It would be the phone
Speaker 3: books would be brought out so I could sit higher
Speaker 3: in the chair, and the bluskit that would come out,
Speaker 3: usually rather vigorously scratched, really with with with the garlic clove,
Speaker 3: and out it would come. It's one of my early memories,
Speaker 3: as I said, diving into these wonderful kazari show pieces
Speaker 3: of bread and it would just stimulate my appetite as
Speaker 3: it does today.
Speaker 4: And so you were you were actually born in Rome.
Speaker 3: I was born in Rome. My father was making a
Speaker 3: film called The Bible. It was long. It was a
Speaker 3: long pre production and post production, rather well known book.
Speaker 3: Yesk yeah, yeah, but here was that nineteen sixty two.
Speaker 3: My love of food really started right there.
Speaker 4: Did you eat out a lot, a lot of your
Speaker 4: food in restaurants?
Speaker 3: Yes, we ate out a lot beautiful restaurants. And the
Speaker 3: connection towards children, as I said earlier, the phone books
Speaker 3: on the chair and the tension, I mean, the star
Speaker 3: at the table is the kid, and they you know,
Speaker 3: they squeeze your your your cheeks, which you can get
Speaker 3: a little annoying after a while, but the attention is
Speaker 3: on you. What do you what do you? You know, what
Speaker 3: does the kid like? And great joy drive by everybody
Speaker 3: if the child is happy. Yeah, I had I.
Speaker 2: Had some friends who came from New York and they
Speaker 2: rented a house in Tuscany and they had a two
Speaker 2: year old child. One year old child, put her in
Speaker 2: the bed and woke up in the morning she's gone,
Speaker 2: I mean she's gone. And they completely understandably panicked. And
Speaker 2: you know what those days didn't have mobiles and went
Speaker 2: to the neighbor's house to call the police. And they
Speaker 2: walked into the neighbor's house and they're sitting in a
Speaker 2: high chair with their daughter, you know, eating breakfast. Because
Speaker 2: they had seen them arrived the night before. They thought
Speaker 2: the baby might be hungry. The parents would be sleeping,
Speaker 2: so they just came in and took the baby and
Speaker 2: took care of her, you know, and that was you know,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just such a different idea of the
Speaker 2: child as the center of the of the story. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And there's an expression at times, the bonnacle bianet,
Speaker 3: which is mean as good as.
Speaker 4: Bread, as good as bread.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you grew up as good as bread. Tell
Speaker 2: me about your father and food, because I grew up
Speaker 2: with John Houston. I know, the young chef in my
Speaker 2: restaurant is cooking today, also called Danny, when I told
Speaker 2: him you were coming.
Speaker 4: You know, loves your work.
Speaker 2: He knows every movie you've been in, and he knows
Speaker 2: about your grandfather and your father and you and.
Speaker 4: Say, this family. Can you tell us about this family?
Speaker 3: Certainly, certainly my grandfather Walter Houston, marvelous actor, My father
Speaker 3: John Houston, master director and actor. My sister Angelica once again,
Speaker 3: tremendous actress and the best friend and sister that one
Speaker 3: could possibly have. And she's my angel, and we I
Speaker 3: can say with great confidence that we all love food
Speaker 3: and wine. My father designed the label for a Muton Rothschild,
Speaker 3: which was a superb year. He shared that with other
Speaker 3: artists such as as Matisse and Warhole. Yeah. And I
Speaker 3: remember in Spain, let me Danny taste this. It's it's
Speaker 3: called a DESPATCHO.
Speaker 4: Did you know your grandfather?
Speaker 3: I never met my grandfather. I only met him through
Speaker 3: the film. Is that my father would show me. There
Speaker 3: was always a big sort of plava made out of
Speaker 3: bringing the projector out, and sometimes the film would rip
Speaker 3: be spliced back together and and there'd be the sort
Speaker 3: of beam of light that would cut through the cigar smoke.
Speaker 3: And there was my grandfather.
Speaker 4: And treasure and that I remember with the gold shaking,
Speaker 4: shaking memory.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And I mean I thought he was those characters.
Speaker 3: I thought he was the gold prospector. And then films
Speaker 3: like Dodsworth and and my father did at the u
Speaker 3: beginning of an evening, he'd he'd he'd make the sound addressing.
Speaker 4: He did.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, Yes, see a mustard oil, vinegar and a
Speaker 3: little dash of sugar. Sugar, yeah, which is which is
Speaker 3: something that I've tried to reproduce and I can't quite
Speaker 3: get it right, Not like he not like he did.
Speaker 3: There was some magical thing that he did and I
Speaker 3: can't reproduce.
Speaker 4: What do you cook other food? That?
Speaker 3: That was? That was his his gesture before a meal.
Speaker 4: What about drinks? Did he have a cocktails?
Speaker 3: Well, Martini was a dry lemon twist. But depending on
Speaker 3: where we were, what country were we were, the cocktails
Speaker 3: would would differ. In For instance, I remember in Mexico
Speaker 3: when he was making a film called Under the Volcano
Speaker 3: Malcolm Lowry with Albert Finney. We would watch the daily
Speaker 3: Russia's whatever he shot that the previous day. We'd watch
Speaker 3: it in the evening and I used to make him cocktails.
Speaker 4: You made the cocktail? Yes, an age for you.
Speaker 3: Then Danny very young, and he would I remember him
Speaker 3: in Mexico. He was having kuba libres and I'd make
Speaker 3: him a rum and coke and I handed to him
Speaker 3: and he'd say, no, no, no, the coke should only
Speaker 3: color the rum.
Speaker 4: We have to make a drink for your father. And
Speaker 4: so who cooked in your house?
Speaker 3: My mother cooked.
Speaker 4: She was born in India.
Speaker 3: She was born in Indian luck now yeah, just under
Speaker 3: the Himalayas. Then during the partition they moved to London.
Speaker 2: Did she bring that culture with her or her parents?
Speaker 2: Did your grandparents cook Indian?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: Did they come as well?
Speaker 3: Yes? They did? Well, my my my grandmother. It was
Speaker 3: always a spicy doll, was Mati Rice Sogpanier. But I
Speaker 3: also remember digestive biscuits and uh television, you know, Dad's
Speaker 3: are Army and those those kind of programs.
Speaker 2: As you grew up with different cultures Indian, your father
Speaker 2: being American and Italian.
Speaker 4: Yes, and was that all mixed you think in your
Speaker 4: palette of the early years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. I spent a lot of time in Galway
Speaker 3: in Ireland growing up, and we drive to Kanamara Bay
Speaker 3: and have oysters. I would have a little glass of guinness.
Speaker 4: What age would this be?
Speaker 3: Very young?
Speaker 4: What age?
Speaker 3: Oh? Preteens? But Kannamara Bay you could really taste taste
Speaker 3: the sea in those and in those oysters, the mutinous
Speaker 3: Shannon waves and that wonderful breeze. And I learned to
Speaker 3: swim in Calamara, the very freezing much much much to
Speaker 3: everybody's horror. But but Betty O'Kelly would hold hold my
Speaker 3: my body up with her hand, and that's that's how
Speaker 3: I learned how to swim. Many memories with my father
Speaker 3: and in Saint Clarence and Galway. Uh interesting guests, you know,
Speaker 3: mister Fuller, Robert Mitcham, Lauren Bacall. I remember falling in
Speaker 3: love with with with with Ava Gardener at a restaurant
Speaker 3: at Montpilly Square.
Speaker 4: She did, you know she lived in.
Speaker 3: And lunch with my mother and and Ava. And after
Speaker 3: the lunch I said to my mother, again barely a teenager, Mom,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm in love and she she just clipped me
Speaker 3: in the back of the head and she said, of
Speaker 3: course you.
Speaker 4: Are a gardener, for christ, what's not to love?
Speaker 3: She was. She was dressed so casually. She was wearing
Speaker 3: doctor showls and just sort of you know, she she
Speaker 3: was hardly hardly any makeup. But the combination of her
Speaker 3: and the and the food that made me a little dizzy.
Speaker 3: I was sent to boarding school in England, must have
Speaker 3: been about eleven twelve years old. I mean the boarding
Speaker 3: school I had was quite tame. It was in Somerset,
Speaker 3: compared to other people's experiences. Mine was very, very tame
Speaker 3: and a summer set Millfield, Millfield.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: Okay, it was a way for me to claim my independence.
Speaker 3: But yes, a stark difference.
Speaker 4: What was the food like? Dot ghastly?
Speaker 3: Yeah. I remember I was sitting next to a girl
Speaker 3: who was from India and her food looked much better
Speaker 3: than mine, and I asked why and they said, she's
Speaker 3: a vegetarian. Okay, well I'll be a veget at school,
Speaker 3: I'll be a vegetarian. So I still don't eat a
Speaker 3: lot of meat. My weak spot is or you know, figs.
Speaker 3: That is a comfort place for me. But I'm not
Speaker 3: a big, big meat teacher. But the moment I I
Speaker 3: finished school and started cooking, my forte was cooking for.
Speaker 2: Two as a method of We've talked a lot about
Speaker 2: seducing a woman with food as a.
Speaker 3: Method of seduction. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but yes,
Speaker 3: as as a method of seduction, and it was.
Speaker 2: Very sexy having a mad cook few. I have to say,
Speaker 2: I do think there is something as a woman. This
Speaker 2: just is a scene in Michael came when I talked
Speaker 2: to Michael in an interview and we looked. We talked
Speaker 2: about the ip Crisfild and there's a scene where he
Speaker 2: is a spy and an agent and he's a great
Speaker 2: kind of figure. But there's this very moving scene where
Speaker 2: he actually cooks for the woman and she and he
Speaker 2: does seem more interested in chopping the carrot than even
Speaker 2: you know, the first kiss.
Speaker 3: It's very well, it's a very central thing, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Bibet's feast. Yeah, many films use that as a visual
Speaker 3: language because of course you can't taste the food through
Speaker 3: the screen, but you can only imagine what it tastes like.
Speaker 4: So what would you cook when you were young?
Speaker 3: Man? What I what I what I think is fun
Speaker 3: is is sort of necessity is a mother invention. And
Speaker 3: so you go back home, it's not been premeditated, necessarily,
Speaker 3: and you open the purgency what's there? And you whip
Speaker 3: it up? And this something about the improvisation also searching
Speaker 3: for a pleasant accident. I sort of translate that to
Speaker 3: my work as well to acting. You're you're looking for
Speaker 3: the for the unexpected, and sometimes you whip something up.
Speaker 3: You've got some carrots and chop them up finally and
Speaker 3: you throw them in with the with with with the garlic,
Speaker 3: and uh, and you've discovered another another type of acting.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's it's it's something that wasn't that wasn't written
Speaker 3: and and and and certainly not pre premeditated that you
Speaker 3: discover that gives it a feeling of reality and truth.
Speaker 3: And the person that you're working with also discovers something
Speaker 3: else because of it, and it becomes a wall a dance.
Speaker 4: Do you like to eat when you're filming?
Speaker 3: Yes? And no. I mean food for me is the
Speaker 3: past and the present and and that anticipation right before
Speaker 3: you eat of something, of something unexpected, and in a
Speaker 3: way it takes me away from from my work. To
Speaker 3: combine it with work for me as for me as difficult.
Speaker 3: I remember having lunch with my father and Orson Wells
Speaker 3: in l A and Orson eating a lot, and I
Speaker 3: could see my father looking quite concerned and maybe even
Speaker 3: a little.
Speaker 2: Phobic about what that was going on too long, that
Speaker 2: he was was unhealthy or.
Speaker 3: Just it was it was unlike not onlike today. It
Speaker 3: was a hot day, and he was eating too much,
Speaker 3: and it's just I could see I could see it
Speaker 3: making my father a little a little queasy. He didn't
Speaker 3: particularly like sharing dishes. He didn't like it when his agent,
Speaker 3: Paul Kohner, used to plunge his fork into his whatever
Speaker 3: whatever he was eating. He liked to keep it separate.
Speaker 4: But man was he a big man, tall, big.
Speaker 3: Heart, personality, generous and loved a fine a fine meal,
Speaker 3: and a good restaurant. I remember I remember going to
Speaker 3: Alfredo's with him in Rome and his delight when the
Speaker 3: Golden fourk and Spoon came out. No, he absolutely loved
Speaker 3: loved food, and loved dining, and loved spending time with
Speaker 3: with with people and celebrating. But at times, at times
Speaker 3: he liked his own space.
Speaker 4: Did you spend time growing up in La?
Speaker 3: Not growing up? But I spent time I was in
Speaker 3: La in my twenties. I like the California Palette. It's
Speaker 3: it's it's again, it's freshness, it's those great salads and
Speaker 3: talking about accidents. How the caesar salad came about some
Speaker 3: stale bread and anchovies and a couple of leaves and parmesan. Really,
Speaker 3: it's wonderful when something occurs like that. And I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't know how you came across, how you came
Speaker 3: across this location and how it developed, but maybe possibly
Speaker 3: there were a series of unexpected surprises that came your way.
Speaker 2: Yeah. When we opened here, it was a Duckham's oil refinery.
Speaker 2: My husband and his partners, architectural partners decided because we
Speaker 2: were living in Paris for four years, he did the
Speaker 2: Pomperty Center and we came back and didn't want to
Speaker 2: be in the center of London in office buildings, so
Speaker 2: found this site and tried to create a community. And
Speaker 2: so the community was built on the idea there would
Speaker 2: always be someplace to eat. And we were reviewing different
Speaker 2: ideas for restaurants that wanted to come here, cafes really,
Speaker 2: because there's a tiny space.
Speaker 4: And I said, you know what, maybe I'll do it.
Speaker 4: And that's what happened, you know. And then I did
Speaker 4: it with my friend Rose Gray. And then the rest
Speaker 4: is just like you say, any idea that it is then.
Speaker 2: Or an accident, an accident of birth, an accident a place,
Speaker 2: an accident of creative activity sometimes takes you somewhere else.
Speaker 4: Have you ever worked in a restaurant?
Speaker 3: No, I haven't. I would love to. I to. I
Speaker 3: actually have a sort of a fantasy which I'm sure
Speaker 3: will probably never be fulfilled, but I would love to
Speaker 3: own a restaurant by the beach and catch of the day.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I know that's got to be a lot
Speaker 3: of stress, especially to maintain a certain standard. You can't
Speaker 3: let it go the same way as a film director. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, you've got to be probably a little obsessive
Speaker 3: and in charge and seeing every seeing every detail, otherwise
Speaker 3: things could fall apart. But my fantasy is sort of
Speaker 3: some sort of.
Speaker 4: Hammock where what country would that be?
Speaker 3: It would be it would be it would be well,
Speaker 3: you know, the Mediterranean certainly, or Mexico, Mexico.
Speaker 2: I lived in Mexico for four months. That's two years ago.
Speaker 2: I lived in Mexico City and my husband had an accident,
Speaker 2: so we stayed there for four months and I loved it.
Speaker 2: I just as a place that I want to return
Speaker 2: to again and again. Where were you in Mexico? Is
Speaker 2: that with your family?
Speaker 3: Yeah? My father had a house that you can only
Speaker 3: get to my boat. This is when he gave up ireland.
Speaker 3: He became very minimal. He leased some land outside of
Speaker 3: Puerto Arta that you could only get to on a
Speaker 3: on a boat, on a panga. And there he had
Speaker 3: a chef called.
Speaker 4: Archie and very Mexican Mexican.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, Archie. Archie was Filipino, and he now
Speaker 3: has a restaurant in part of art which is which is,
Speaker 3: which is delicious? Actually, sadly he's not with us anymore,
Speaker 3: but his wife, his wife wife runs at Archies restaurant,
Speaker 3: and part of our what was And in a way
Speaker 3: it's my definition of complete luxury, eating fine food and
Speaker 3: drinking delicious wine in the tropics, you know, and the again,
Speaker 3: the freshness, the papayas, the mangoes, the avocados, and the fish.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's where you could open your restaurant.
Speaker 2: What's clear in your stories and our lives is that
Speaker 2: you know, food is memory, food is sharing, Food is comfort.
Speaker 4: What would that food be that is a comfort food?
Speaker 3: Well, I have one of my one of my weaknesses
Speaker 3: is waking up in the middle of the night and
Speaker 3: tiptoeing to the kitchen just cutting a piece of bread
Speaker 3: and dunking it into a little saucer of olive oil
Speaker 3: and adding adding some salt and and and secretly literally
Speaker 3: eyes closed, enjoying the combination of tastes. I suppose that
Speaker 3: sort of brings us back to to our brusqueite, where
Speaker 3: it's it's it's. It is so much about those first
Speaker 3: things that you ate when you when you were a child,
Speaker 3: and and and a certain kind of regression, uh, momentary
Speaker 3: regression which which makes you feel cozy and at.
Speaker 4: Home and safe, Yeah, safe and comfort. Thank you, Danny.
Speaker 4: Let's thank you so much.
Speaker 2: To visit the online shop of The River Cafe, go
Speaker 2: to shop the River Cafe dot co dot uk.
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