David Greene is obsessed with Rose Previte

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0:21You know, for those of you who listen religiously to this show, or for those of you who don't, I spoke in an earlier episode with Mari Povich about his obsession with golf. And we talked a little bit about his relationship with his wife, Connie Chung. And they had actually done an episode of Mari's podcast together. I found it really touching. It was sweet. It was risky because when you're interviewing your spouse, you have no idea what the hell is about to happen. Like, you know, there you are behind microphone. What are you going to ask? What are they going to ask you? And so I decided just to just lean in to this risk and interview my own wife.

1:05I am married to Rose Previtt. She is an incredibly inspiring restaurateur, just a creative artist in the restaurant space. She loves bringing people together around a table. She loves taking old buildings and turning them into magical gathering spaces. I'm just in awe of her. I married way up, as you are about to find out very clearly for yourself. I took the plunge and interviewed my own wife, and here's that conversation.

1:40Rose Prevett, in our 18 years of marriage, have I ever interviewed you? Is this a first? It's not quite 18 years, to be exact. But no, you have not. We have only been on microphones together at one time. Yeah. And we were being interviewed, so it doesn't count. Okay. So this is the first time I'm interviewing you. Mm-hmm. That anyone else can hear. This is fun. Mm-hmm. This is fun. Because you often do make fun of me and say that I'm interviewing you in our conversations about, you know. You can when you want information from me that I'm not willing to give you. And then you go into, like, David, the interviewer, who knows how to ask really good questions and get answers out of people they don't want to give you.

2:15Yeah. You have trained that on me a few times, yes. Yeah. And you love it. Mm-mm. Nope. For purposes of introduction, I make a show about obsession, and I probably should not make a show about obsession without at some point having my wife on the show. I don't know why. I don't think I'm really obsessed with that much. Well, I was saying more like because I should be, you should be my obsession in life. Oh, no, I don't want to be your obsession. That would be unhealthy. I mean, in the right kind of way, it would be healthy. You want to obsess about your love for your partner. I don't know. I don't know if you do.

2:51I've always seen that get weird. So I think we're doing, we're okay. Okay. I think you're like a little obsessed with me, but like in a healthy way, not in a - Moderate obsession. Not in a weird way. Okay. Well, I should probably tell the world who you are. Like you're not just my moderate obsession and my wife. Oh, you mean who I am as in like what I do? Well, you're my favorite travel partner. You're my muse. You're the most important person in my life. But in addition to all of that, you're a very accomplished restaurateur. you have the award-winning restaurant Maidan in both Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

3:24which was on all the best of new restaurants lists in the country I'm allowed to be your publicist because I'm married to you you have Souk another fabulous restaurant in D.C. and Medina and yeah you're pretty cool so I'm happy we're doing this thanks I'm so scared about what's coming next yes go ahead I mean I think the value we can bring to this enterprise to the people who listen to this it's like navigating our our obsessions with our work um and how they relate and interact with our marriage i think i mean i assume it's a struggle that many people can relate to um and work-life balance and how we've dealt with that because i feel like you and i are particularly committed to obsessed with our jobs.

4:17And it has been hard at times to figure it out together. Yeah, I think that's fair. I'm impressed we always have figured it out. Should we have a therapist? Should we have our therapist on? Should we have called them? One of our multiple therapists? Yeah, should we call them in for this session? All of the therapists from over our years? We should have thought ahead because that's also half the reason we're still here. It is, yeah. And we should talk about that. Well, let's start with your job because I think, and you tell me where I have this right and wrong, like that your obsession when it comes to being a restaurateur and in that industry is you seem obsessed with building spaces.

4:55I mean, I have benefited from the cooking that you and your family did together when you were growing up and being married to a Sicilian Lebanese person. I eat a lot of good food and I know you've been cooking with your parents and your brothers forever. So the culinary side of it is there, but I feel like building spaces out of old ass buildings that don't look like they could be restaurants is kind of your thing. Is that fair? Yeah. I like a forgotten building or something that someone only saw as a factory or a warehouse or something. For whatever reason, I see them as restaurants or spaces to bring people together over food and beverage.

5:37And you know this is not something that we mortals see. Like, I mean, when we walked into that townhouse in Washington, D.C., like an old townhouse that had— It was in bad shape. It was in bad shape. It had been a crack house in the 80s. It was a crack house in the 80s. There was a coffee shop in there, sort of. There was a coffee shop that was leaving. Yeah. We saw it on, like, the end of its time. But you took me in there. There were wires hanging out of the walls. No, it was in bad shape. Yeah, it hadn't been touched up much. It's 100 at the time was like 140 years old, had been built in like 1887.

6:11Fun fact, the building permit was dated on my birthday in 1887, which is how I knew it was my house. And I, yeah, I saw it. I can't explain. It's like a weird thing where you just kind of like connect with the building in a like spiritual way. And I could envision what I wanted in that space. and then it's kind of just like I become obsessed with like finding the people to help me create it because I do know that I can't do it by myself. I see the thing, but I can't like put in the HVAC. I can't paint the walls, but like I do know what color they're supposed to be and, you know, where all the things are supposed to go.

6:48But I do know it takes a village to build these buildings. But I love the gathering of the humans in every aspect, like gathering the people to build it and then gathering the people to come support it. And why the old kind of collapsing spaces? I mean, you've done that old townhouse where you call it, you felt like it was home. We lived above your restaurant in the apartment above. Upstairs. Yeah, which was insane. I thought it was going to be romantic to live above the store. It was. My grandfather had lived above his grocery store. It was romantic. And it was like, you know, our immigrant success story was this New Jersey Italian grocery store.

7:23He lived above it. I used to spend my summers there and I thought it was great. Are you suggesting I didn't feel that romance? Like it was there. I don't think you did. No, no, no, no, I did. It was... You were gone a lot. You were working a lot. We're going to get to that. You were hosting Morning Edition at the time, so you had a crazy schedule. You were getting up in the middle of the night. Like when I was going to bed, because I had just closed down, you were going to work like at like three in the morning, which was a very crazy time. I don't think a lot of people would have signed up for that.

7:49But we did it. I think it would have been easier as like a single person to live above the restaurant. But I level building. Like I have no connection to new construction. I feel that like, you know, all my woo-woo, but I do think like energy comes in these old spaces of the people that have lived there, it being built in a more old-fashioned way, less by machines, more by people's hands. So there's like a transference of energy that I think carries over the years. And I felt something when I walked in that building. I've always felt something when I walked into all of my current buildings. And I think what's cool is that as the people show up, they feel something too.

8:27They don't know what it is. Not everyone has these words like energy, blah, blah, blah, but I don't have a better way of describing it actually. But you put so much, like you become obsessive when you're building these places. Yes, I put my soul into it. There's no doubt about it. Like it is not just a business transaction. These projects are very personal for me. I think I've done better after the first one, after Compass Rose in 2014. I think I've grown and been able to separate myself a little bit more. But the first one I did lose myself in like a hundred percent. But I mean, you still, you insert your soul.

8:56You insert, occasionally you insert my soul into this enterprise. I mean, I'm thinking about Medina, your cocktail bar in Washington, D.C. Oh, yes. Yeah. We were living in Los Angeles at the time, even as you were. Yes. Like 2021, 2020. Well, 22, 23. Right. And we woke up one day in L.A. as you were building this space, Medina, in Washington, D.C. And as if I had nothing else going on on a Saturday, which I might not have, but you were like, we need to go to the fabric district in L.A. I mean, I think they call it that officially, but it is where you just go buy raw fabric that's not been made into anything yet.

9:29Right. And like I had no idea why you wanted to go to the fabric district. No, but you went along with it and I appreciate that. I did. And then take me through the day we visited like 15 or 16 different, mostly like Persian owned. Well, our favorite one ended up being a like 40 year old business with this older gentleman who happened to be Persian. And he bought all the fabric at like estate sales. So there was a limited amount of all of it. and what I like is like the lack of symmetry and sameness. So I like to put a bunch of mix match things together. So he was the perfect store for me because the other stores you would buy like a hundred yards of the same thing.

10:04And in fact, I think at one point after a couple hours of collecting fabric from all the stores and then finding our favorite guy, I think at some point when he told me how many yards he had, I don't think in yards. So I just kept like being like, oh, maybe we need a few more yards. And at some point you did stop me and say, Right. Rose, what he's saying is that you have bought as much fabric as three football fields. Like you could lay it down and it would cross three football fields. And that was the imagery I needed. So we were done. Yeah. Yeah. We were done shopping. That was enough. Yeah.

10:36But we weren't actually done because you then, I think, let it out that this fabric needed to be in Washington, D.C. to stay on timeline within like the next 24 hours. Right. And you were flying to dc and so i i being the problem solver i am the producer i was like clearly we're going to go to ups we're going to deliver like nine large rolls of fabric which did not fit in our jeep they were sticking out the back of our jeep on the freeway here in la and we went to ups and i thought that we had solved this problem they said that they would send these nine rolls of fabric for like fifteen hundred dollars overnight to washington dc it was like two hundred a ream or something.

11:17It was insane. And that would have been taken care of. It would have been more than the fabric. You did not accept this proposal. No, I don't. And I think also that's like, I think half of my success of being an entrepreneur and most entrepreneurs' success is based on the fact that they don't take no for an answer or they just don't take the first thing, the first offer, if it's not the best offer, right? You have to negotiate. I knew that I could get that fabric in two suitcases and just take it on the plane with me. And then I wouldn't have to pay the$1 ,500 at most. I'd pay like 200 all in, in baggage fees.

11:49And I would get it to DC myself. I mean, that was a leap. Like, I mean, extra bag fees are like$75 sometimes. And you had nine of them. Like it was, this was not clear that this was going to be cheap. No, you know, we take United a lot. I know I got some free bags. But I was not coming with you. You were proposing that you were going to carry nine suitcases full of fabric. So we just went to Marshall's and got those duffel bags. We did. And then I think maybe where it was a little difficult for a minute was, you know, it was warm. We don't have air conditioning. We live in Venice Beach. So we maybe tried to lay out the fabric on the floor of our very small apartment.

12:17Layout. Let's just explore what laying out the fabric means because these rolls, these tubes would not fit in suitcases. No. So we did have to take all of the fabric off of the rolls. Correct. Then. In 80 degree heat. In the house, the very small house. And then all it on the floor. And then we had to refold it essentially to fit into the suitcases. Yeah. And it worked. And what was it, like eight or nine duffel bags? all of which I think, again, all in were$200 or$400 still bargain compared to what they were offering us. You helped me get it there. And then I got it off myself thanks to those carts at the airport.

12:52And then when I got to the restaurant, other people helped me. It wasn't that hard. The big question, do they not sell fabric in Washington, DC? They do. That is true. There's not like a wholesale district in the District of Columbia. That's like what they have here in Los Angeles. There's fabric. You could have made this. Yeah, but it's like the challenge and the sweat, and there was a lot of sweat, almost tears. Again, this goes to my thing. It added like energy to these otherwise inanimate objects, right? Like I do think - We were adding energy. We were sweating in the library, in the living room.

13:26And effort and dedication. And I do think a friend of mine, Maria, always likes to call me a psychic shopper. I actually never heard that. Yeah, Maria always says, you like sometimes just buy something. You don't know why, but you know, like I didn't have a rhyme or reason. 20 years with you now makes so much more sense. Yeah, psychic shopper. You don't, like, sometimes it just doesn't make sense, but you just know, like, I need that. And then later it will make sense. Yeah. And all of that fabric, I mean, think about it. There was barely a rhyme or reason, but if you walk into Medina in Washington, D.C.

13:52right now, it is all hanging from the walls and the ceiling. And it's as if everyone else thinks we intended it. Like, oh, she must have picked that fabric out of a catalog. No. Look what we did. So my dehydration and sweat and, like, all of that almost prior now. Part of the space. Part of the space. Yeah. And people love it. And I don't think it would be as special if we had just bought like uniform fabric out of a magazine or offline and, you know, just did it the way that so many people do things, which is just the easy way. You laugh. Yeah, never do it the easy way. So your project in Los Angeles that opened Maidan LA recently, it was like all of what we're talking about on crack, I think.

14:34You visited an old factory. Well. I went with you and walked in and I think I had gotten to know you enough where I walked into this old factory that was shutting down. I was like, oh shit, she's going to try and put a restaurant in here. Well, I just, yeah, I wasn't actively looking, right? Like we are at this time, but this is 2019. So we're bi-coastal. There's a real estate company in DC that knows that, knows the restaurants in DC. So approached me about looking at some property they had bought on West Jefferson Boulevard in this like West Adams neighborhood, which is really near Culver City, which is where we are right now.

15:06So I wasn't even looking. I was brought to the building. And then it looked like the vision I've had in my head for about 10 years of a marketplace, like a market that felt like the markets around the world that we went to. Like when you were covering Russia and we were traveling all over the place, we went everywhere. We went from Asia to the Middle East to Mexico and everybody has these cool, amazing marketplaces. but they all have like high ceilings and they're very big. And in the middle of DC, it's very hard to find such a building. But in LA with so much industry, you know, they have all these old factories.

15:37And this one happened to be a very old factory because of, do you remember what they made? They made leather books for coin collectors, I think. The books that coin collectors used to put their coins. That's literally all that was in there. Yeah. Very narrow focus. I mean, one of the only factories in the world that did that, right? There were only like three in the US. Didn't we meet the owner when we went to visit them? Yeah, he was nice. And he was supportive of you opening a restaurant? Yeah, I wanted to make sure it hadn't been pushed out or something. I didn't want any bad energy, so I had to check.

16:07And clearly he had inherited the building, made a fortune on the sale, and was moving to Seattle very happily. But what did you do in this old factory? I mean, you built a space. Oh, I made the market, yeah. I mean, it took years and you would not. It was 2019, so then COVID happened. We put it on ice, restarted the process in 2022, and then got delayed due to supply chain delays also because of COVID. So COVID was like a through line of delays. And we just got it open five months ago, but it did take, I mean, it's 10 ,000 square feet. And it did take that long construction-wise. There are a lot more regulations in California than I'm used to, but also it's just a lot more square feet than I'm used to.

16:47And then to make it like multiple kitchens, essentially, because you have, there's seven businesses, three are mine, four are rent for me. and it was my biggest design project yet, the biggest build for sure, most challenging build for sure, but it definitely came out like I wanted. Is there ever a downside when you're focusing so much of your energy as a restaurateur on building spaces? Do you overlook things that can go wrong? A million things. We had so many construction overages, So every design project, every build has overages, but I've never done anything bigger than 3 ,200 square feet.

17:29So I had no idea how many more costs would be associated with 10 ,000 square feet of construction overages. So the initial price tag kept going up and up and up in a nerving way. And dealing with that was unexpected. I guess I should have expected it, but I had no idea. And yeah, you have to overlook some other stuff. It's never going to be perfect. We open without every little thing done just for the sake of time and money. We're like, let's just get it open and we'll tile that hallway later or something. And those imperfections kind of drive me crazy, but we'll get to them eventually. On my fifth project, I know it doesn't have to be perfect the day you open.

18:05The first time I didn't know that, but now I'm okay with it. What's your greatest fear about this new space in LA? I mean, I have so many. To pick one of the greatest is so hard. We always fear that people won't come, right? Like that's just every restaurateur's fear as you build it and nobody shows up. It's like that, like 16 candles, right? Don't you have a birthday party and nobody comes? Like that feeling. And they have been, people have been showing up since we got there. So the worst fear has not been realized. It's been wonderful. I think one of the challenges is that it's a new neighborhood for food and beverage.

18:38There's not a ton of concepts. So people don't, you don't have like a mass of people who come thinking it's a night out on the town. We're going to bar hop or something. Like it's not that kind of neighborhood. So that's adding some challenges like during the week. So it's busy around the weekends. But Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are proving to be a little bit more of a challenge to get a car-based population to stop, especially as gas prices are like through the roof, like to make an extra stop on their way home. But it's your, you've done this before. I mean, this is like your restaurant from D.C.

19:04But it's not. I mean, it's so much bigger. And it's a new concept that no one's ever done. Like truly, there's nothing like it. Like there's food halls and there's restaurants. But this is kind of like five things in one. You can order food 10 different ways. You can take it to go. You can sit down. You can order from a QR code. You can have a full meal I made on, hostess, bartender, server situation. But sometimes people's heads sort of explode when you give them too many options. So there's only like sometimes people are like, I'm confused. You're just confused because I'm not telling you exactly what to do.

19:34I'm actually saying, go with God, like figure it out, have fun. And I think in a more like screens-based society, when I say to people like talk to strangers, Sometimes they're just like, no, just write it down or something. I'm like, no, like go ask somebody what to do. Like it's kind of this idea that I'm forcing connection, but the space is built already like a beautiful community. The neighborhood has been very welcoming and shows up like every day. I feel part of it was like we were living here so many years. I didn't feel like we had totally, we had great friends, but not like a community.

20:04Like I build community in these spaces. And once we decided we were going to be here for the long haul, I had to build something because that's where, that's how I build community. Yeah. No, I think you really do build communities, not just spaces. Oh, no. No, that's where the people, there'd be nothing. I wouldn't just build a building and walk away from it. I got to fill it with people. Do you have questions about my work obsession? Oh, your work obsession? I don't know. I'm just thinking about, you know, we've been on this journey. I mean, our marriage has been so focused on your journey and your profession.

20:34I feel like I've always set my priorities aside, you know, in the marriage to make sure that you, you know, in all these years were getting everything. that you wanted in building each restaurant. I mean, do you want to start at the beginning? Do you want to start with the fact that I was 23 when I met you and I was your waitress at a bar in Capitol Hill, and I thought you were 40 because you walked in in a suit and a tie, and I was barely out of college, so I had never even met anybody that went to work in a tie. And you already had an amazing job at 26 years old because you were actually 26, not 40, but I didn't know the difference back then.

21:08I only looked 40 because of the suit, right? I mean, I looked young. Yeah, your hairline had nothing. It was just the suit. And so I, yes, hon, like your job determined everything. I thought I was going to move to Mexico City after a brief internship in Washington, D.C. And I was going to go perfect my Spanish and live in Mexico City. But I fell for you at said dive bar in Capitol Hill. Despite the tie. Despite the 40-year-old suit and tie. And we stayed six years because you had this amazing job. You were at the time the youngest White House correspondent to ever be in the press corps, which is amazing.

21:44And you were on Air Force One every other day doing cool stuff. So it didn't feel like taking you away from my whimsical Mexico City experience was the right thing. And I loved a lot of things about DC as well. I mean, I made my own friends. I have my own job, but I didn't, at that time, it wasn't what it is now. Remember, like we were eating chicken fingers and quesadillas. There were no really nice restaurants like there is now. There wasn't as much of a nightlife like there is now. Also, I was really happy with the chicken fingers and quesadillas for the record. You're a simple man. I was not.

22:11I was like, I was like, oh, New York bars and restaurants are better. And then I finally got myself to New York in 2008 while you were out covering the Obama campaign because again, you cover elections, you cover presidents. And you were not a restaurateur yet, we should say. You were - I'm not. I had a master's in mobile policy and I was working, I got a job at the New York City Council so that I could go finally experience New York, which I had always wanted to do while you were gone for many, many months covering. It was very helpful to you in grad school, like, you know, You read my papers.

22:40I mean, among other things. Yeah, but I mean, you were gone. Like when you covered an election, you were gone for months at a time. So to the point that when I got this job, I got myself to New York. I put your stuff in a U-Haul with my brother. Sure did. And I sent you the address. You said, this is where you live now when you're off the campaign trail. I was like, I'm not leaving you, but I am leaving this town. Your things are at this address in the East Village. Come if you want to. I mean, like it was kind of to that point. and the girls I worked with didn't even think you existed for the first couple of months.

23:09They're like, she's got a fake husband, this poor girl. You did show up to cover the economy for a year and in less than a year, after I was just getting settled, you come home with another dream job. Like, oh, well, I know I had that White House stand and I know I just got to cover the recession from New York City. But now, remember how, your exact words, remember how I always want to be a foreign correspondent and remember how it's really hard to be a foreign correspondent these days because they're like closing bureaus to save money. And remember how we love adventure. And wouldn't you want to move to Moscow, Russia?

23:40I mean, that was a good pitch, wasn't it? Like, I feel like. Yeah, you know me. So you like hit all of my soft spots. But like, dude, never in my life did I want to live in Russia. I'm all Mediterranean descent. I was never meant to live in the cold, let alone one of the coldest places on earth. And I think it was actually just being a little bit naive. And I did love adventure. And we were young enough that I was like, okay, we're going to do this. But I did have to give up New York and a job I liked and just blindly got on a plane and left with you. And, you know, it's it's as we have done years of therapy over this.

24:13I say that very seriously to everyone. I feel like there are some lessons there in managing and managing your obsession. Like I was obsessed with being a foreign correspondent. You really were. No, I really was. And I think the thing I missed that we've talked about, like with our therapist over the years is not appreciating how lovingly you were trying to make my obsession a reality. And that was the that's the hard thing that we've talked about. Like it, you know, I like checked all the boxes. I was like, I had the conversation. Like I said, Rose, is this an adventure that we should take together?

24:52Is it OK with you? I wouldn't want to do this if it wasn't OK with you. And you were like, yes. But like the yes meant so much more than yes. Which we know now. Yeah. The yes meant I know how much you obsess about this. And you litigated for a very long time that like I said a thing and you took me at my word. But in my family and in my cultural background, it isn't so much. It's not that you're lying when you give an answer, but you're always giving the answer. You know the audience wants you to give them. Because it's in especially Lebanese culture, like it's a very, it's the way that you are hospitable.

25:25like you tell people yes like to disappoint them is unhospitable or not nice right I also grew up in Ohio like with some very good midwestern niceties and there's a lot you don't want to disappoint anybody and yeah I wanted you to read between the lines I wanted to say Rose this is actually not good for you I don't really want you to give up living in New York you've always wanted to do that I don't really it's like to me the yes was you were going to follow up with like like taking control and taking care of me. And then instead you took me at my word and I was on a plane to Moscow, like December, no, October 31st.

25:59And we landed November 1st and it was snowing. But I also think that wouldn't have been, even if we ended up going like for me to just like show you that I recognized. Yeah. You didn't get it for many years. And that's where, that's where I feel like, I don't know. It's feeling seen. Like I didn't feel seen. I know this is more common. now to say these words, but even back then, it was kind of long ago now. Like, and in our age back then, I wasn't quite 30. Like we weren't even losing words. Like I don't feel seen, but I didn't at all. And you didn't see me. I don't think you were just like this.

26:33I am so, you are so like, I know what I want and I'm going to go get it. And in my history with you, you always do. You always get the job. I think there's so much like the fact that we could work through things like that around an obsession that is mine was mine i don't know it's like it you and i talked to our friends who are younger couples all the time we talked to our friends who have gone through divorce like it's those moments that like if you can work through them and figure out sort of this understanding with therapy and stuff like that then you've grown together and if you can't like then maybe you you know you move on to someone else and it's not the right relationship But like we say, I say this all the time when I talk about that period and how we've grown from it.

27:19Like you have to recommit to the person you're with like every day. Like fall in love again every day. Because we change and we evolve and we grow and we learn things about each other. And if you're not open to that kind of stuff, then it's just not going to work. We also like grew up together. But like we have started this very young, which a lot of our friends didn't meet or start dating so young, right? We just did. We didn't have control of that. And so I do, I mean, at least I kind of grew up with you, right, as an adult. So did I. I was 26 when we met. I was still growing up. You had a little more life experience than me, though.

27:58Like I had nothing. I came out of the cornfields and like met you. To me, you had had a much more worldly life than I had had at that point. And I was sort of enamored by it. And I thought your job was really romantic and exciting. And I was always proud of you and believed in what you were doing. Like your journalism was so pure. And it was hard to ever say no to anything because I believed, and I do believe so much in good journalism. You were telling people stories. Back then, it was like the Bush presidency, and we thought it was bad, you know. But we did at the time. And you telling these truthful stories to people was inspiring.

28:34And I was very enamored. and, um, but we changed a lot along the way and we could have quit a bunch of times, but we didn't. Yeah. I had someone tell me the other day when they heard how young we were, when we got together and I always joke about like the hard times in casual conversation, though I'm happy to talk about the serious stuff, but in that day and he's like, wow, you guys don't have kids. And I was like, no, he's like, it's really extraordinary for a couple that doesn't have kids to stay together through hard things. And he's like, that must mean that you guys really want to be together.

29:06And I was like, this is like a random person. I had just met him too. And I was like, I guess so. Yeah, I think it's true. Everyone just says, hey, we're staying together for the kids. And you hear that all the time. We didn't have that. We could have just peaced out a long time ago. Yeah, and I think that the kid decision that we made has allowed us to continue obsessing about the things in our careers that we love. Yeah, but that was also, we talked about that. That was part of the decision. You were going so hard after your obsessions with your job. At the time we were even talking about it, you had just gotten the morning edition job, another dream job that you had always wanted.

29:44And I had just opened Compass Rose. And I really thought I could open a restaurant and then have a baby. And then as soon as it was open, I'm like, no, I really like this. I like this a lot. I found myself, I really, that might sound cheesy, but I have been following you. Let's be honest. Like I had been making every life choice around your job obsession of the day. And you didn't, again, you didn't ask me to, you didn't tell me to, you didn't force me to. Without knowing it, I was just going along with it. I was not speaking up for myself. I was not saying what I really wanted. I was not raised to speak up and say what I really wanted.

30:20And so you always had such a strong, clear vision and mission. And I was like, okay, well, I'll just follow this super successful, nice guy around. and I lost myself until I found restaurants, until I found Compass Rose. And then once it started, I was addicted. I was obsessed. I did not want to give up what I had built. I loved it. I loved having people in every day. I love being the boss. I mean, no one loves being the boss every day, but you know, I loved being in charge. I loved creating and I loved the people, the connections I was making. And I knew I'd have to give it up if we had a kid and I was not about to give it up.

30:57no I it's fine I don't know if you've gotten this as we've been hanging out with friends who do have kids after we made the decision there was a phase where I feel like I would see the joy of our friends having kids and I there was like I didn't regret our decision but it was more curiosity like are you and I missing something that we should have experienced but I don't like now I'm in a phase where I feel like we have so many friends with kids who are saying to us like oh my god you guys like seeing what you're both doing and rose you building these restaurants and charging hard like it part of me wishes that we didn't have kids i'm like don't really want to that's up to you i think all of our friends like are happy you know i don't know though i mean there's like a lot of people now speaking up a little bit more loudly about like i love my kid but i don't love being a mom or i don't love being a dad but i'm also gonna be are when you're obsessed.

31:53And part of the reason I knew I'd have to give up the restaurant was because you were not going to give up your job. And I watched my family do that where my mom had babies and took care of all of us and gave up everything so that my dad could do whatever he wanted. And I was not about to do that either. I mean, I would have given up some, we would have, you don't think so? You're not convinced? Absolutely not. When you do something, you do it all the way. At that time you had a very big job and you were doing it 150 % and I knew I was going to have to be the one. Well, you, I feel like you identified this when When I left the kind of full-time job at NPR, Russia invaded Ukraine not long after.

32:30Sure did. And I just went. Like you couldn't even think about there was going to be a war and you weren't going to be there. Yeah. That's insane, actually. Well, in that part of the world, too, because I have some Ukrainian family roots and I covered Russia. I felt called, but it was also an obsession with the adrenaline of being in a conflict zone. Yeah, we've talked about it. Your love of action and excitement and storytelling under pressure, it was the conflict that seemed to be, of all the conflicts you've covered, the one that was most appropriate for you. But you had just left NPR. I literally was like, finally, this guy is going to stop just running off to war zones.

33:14But as the person obsessed with his job and his career, you found a way to get there. And I couldn't believe it. Most people wouldn't. You didn't even have a news agency that you were tied to at the time. And before you know it, wearing a car driving to Pasadena, I'd buy you a flak jacket, which I did not love at all. But I saw the same person who always goes after the job. And to be very fair, I think you're right. I don't disagree with you when you, you know, I've always trusted your judgment. Like, I don't think your judgment's been off. I don't think you've run to the wrong thing or whatever.

33:48But it is amazing that as soon as you got out of it, like our wedding, I wasn't, I was determined it might not happen. Because I thought if there was a conflict anywhere in the world, you would go. Or at least all of our guests would go. Well, at least we scheduled our wedding on a non-election year. Uh-huh. You were smart about that. Yeah, we're not the only ones. A lot of people, reporters at the time, were like planning weddings around election. We couldn't have gotten married in an election year. You wouldn't have been there. I would have been, I would have prioritized. That's what I'm saying.

34:17And I don't say this with malice. Like I have an enormous amount of respect. It's just that I did grow resentful at times, right? But it was always when I was giving something up. And in that case, I was just really nervous because you were going as like a one-man show to a war zone. Before you always had a big company backing you up and like emergency lines and lots of people watching you. And then all of a sudden, you're just going to go by yourself. But you did. I did. For multiple months. Is that okay? I don't think that one was super okay, actually, but we've worked through it. You told some beautiful stories.

34:50I mean, what is the take home for you from our journey and how we've managed these obsessions that we've kind of brought up? My take home? yeah what does it say about us that we're still sitting here still in my view falling in love again every day um we've worked through some hard shit like yeah vulnerability is not my strong suit but we're working on it called a therapist um no i think you're my person like i mean this is we are partners in this life. And I can't imagine it, you know, without you. But I also think it's like we have a rare set of, you know, things we love in life that even transcend normal affections and compatibilities.

35:41We have all that. But in addition, I think we have a drive and a love for what we do and mutual respect for what the other does to make space for it. And we know that comes with sacrifice and I think we're good at making sacrifices for each other, which a lot of people aren't. I agree. Oh, great. Would we get more downloads if we got a big fight or something? Oh, interesting. Do you want to fight? Do I try? Kind of.

36:12I do want to finish off with some more fun obsessions. We have some of those. Yeah. Yours are embarrassing. I don't know if they're fun. Is that what we're going to talk about? I mean, I had a few I wanted to ask you about, but I mean, would you like to start? Your SoulCycle session that I think your listeners probably already know about. Maybe. You had to have said that by now, right? I think so. I've done like 1 ,800 SoulCycle classes. David, you could have put like 10 children through college with the money that you've spent on SoulCycle. But we didn't have kids. So I can still I'm allowed to SoulCycle.

36:42It's wild. You started in 2016. It is the year 2026. Yeah. That is how long you've been. There's something in that spinning studio. You're no G, man. I love my instructors. I love the feeling of community. I love the exercise. I love the music. And there's a lot of hot girls in tight clothes. But it's cool. Not about that. And that's what you need. It's really about, it's about that feeling of community and sweat. Okay. Yeah. I just tried to tell myself, how much is a heart? You know, his heart is healthier because of this. Yeah. That's priceless. And that too. So I try not to think about the thousands of dollars you've spent there.

37:12Yeah. Please, somebody send him a t-shirt. Yes. Go ahead.

37:17I want to bring up, well, let me ask you. Let's see if we come to the same conclusion. What is your weirdest obsession when it comes to eating? Oh, eating? I know what you think I'm going to say. What do I think you're going to say? I think I'm deeply obsessed with popcorn. Yeah, that is what was on my mind. I've actually said it on this show before, another episode. Oh, yeah. I remember that. Teg Notaro, the great comedian, she shares your obsession with, I don't even know what to say, half popped popcorn. Half popped popcorn. It is so weird. Better than the fluffy white part is what's left over that only gets half popped.

37:51That's where all the flavor is. And I will dig through, embarrassingly dig through in the movie theater, a lot of popcorn to get to the bottom. Like noisily, like people will hear. It's not just a general scoop to get a little popcorn. It's like it literally you're excavating. But I don't even know. It's almost like I black out almost. You do? I guess I have to have it. It's the most obsessive behavior I see. I did it in the airport that one time. One of my most successful scavenging. It's like I'm a scavenger. It is. It's the kind of animal that needs this food. And don't stand in your way. Like if I put my arm in to get a little regular popcorn, it's like - Well, if you also take one of mine, I'll get really mad because you don't appreciate them like I do.

38:27And they're like gold. They're hard to find. That time in the airport, that Chicago popcorn company that's all over the airport. In O 'Hare, yeah. I did finally one time succeeded in getting a woman to go to the bottom of the popcorn machine, pull out this little drawer that has all the hot popsies, and she gave me a bag of them. And she was the only one - Wait, this is the tray that catches the like non-popped popcorn? Yeah, they're at the bottom if you ask. But she was the only one. I got denied. Isn't that shit dirty down there? Like old grease? No, it's just like a filter. It's not on the ground.

38:53And you like pull it out and it's like a little tray full of half-pot popcorn. She put them in a bag for me. I was so happy. Because that's like industrial size. That's not like at home where I just have like a pot. No, it's crazy. I don't know if it's the crunch, the flavor. I also realized the other day, I even associate popcorn with comfort. I was really sad the other day. And I wanted popcorn. It's like my comfort food too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Popcorn is, but that just the half pop though. I mean, yeah, I could give away the rest, but if you just give me the half pop, I will eat the other stuff, but like, I don't love it.

39:24Like I love the kernels. Yeah. That wedding that one time, that was also another big machine. Which wedding? Walker's wedding. At the end of the night, I got someone to give me the kernels and put them in a cup and I ate them all the way home. Everyone should know that that's the way to your heart. Yeah. I found you like a company that made half pop popcorn. Shockingly, they went out of business. Shockingly. I think I'm the only one. You think I would keep them alive, but no, I was, might've been the only one that was eating them. But yeah, thank you for your efforts. Next weird obsession. When we got on airplanes, I, they give out the little wet wipes, wet net.

39:56What do we call it? What are those? Antiseptic wipes. Antiseptic wipes. No one gets more excited to grab those from a flight attendant. You often ask for multiple ones. You often make sure that I have one so you can take it from me. And we sit down in an airplane seat and you go at it. like I'm surprised you're not cleaning like other passengers' faces because you're literally like tray table, like seat. I'm not a germ phobe though. Like I work in a restaurant. No, I clear other people's plates and glasses. If you had a phobia to germs, you could not work in a restaurant. You couldn't be in a restaurant as much as I am.

40:27No, I don't mind people, but I like to sleep on planes and I don't want the thought of cozying up to someone's sweaty head that was just on that seat before you. Just knowing I've disinfected it is like comfort and helps me sleep. and the tray tables are vile, like they're vile. And again, I was a long time bartender. Like I had the satisfaction of cleaning my bar top at the end of the night. I do feel that when I clean the, I don't want to clean it. We're paying a lot of money for a plane ticket. I don't think I should have to clean it. But the fact is they don't clean them anymore. So I just do it.

40:56Even one time I do keep those wipes in my bag. I mean, you can buy them. It's not like we're so cheap, I won't buy these. I don't know why, but if I'm in the store, I won't think to buy them. But if I'm on the plane, I will grab extras from the flight attendant. it. But you know, the one time I fell, I was opening Medina. I know exactly. And I had really bad shoes on. I was in an alley, get going into our car. Anyway, I tripped and I really screwed up my knee. I was bleeding and it was dirty and I had nothing on me, but one United antiseptic wipe. It might've kept me from getting an infection because I used it to clean up my wound.

41:30That's pretty amazing. I mean, United should know how handy. Speaking of these white square like products. You and your family are obsessed with Kleenex. Like all of us who have married into your family, it is probably the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. It's a medical condition. We have sinus problems. It's genetic. That's why we all have it. Like being married to you, being married to all your siblings, live like going to your parents' house in Ohio. It is like there are Kleenex everywhere. Because we have a condition. It's not nice to make fun of people's medical conditions, David. What is the medical condition you're dealing with?

42:05So sinus strain, it's like we have sinus problems. I don't notice that you have sinus problems more than any other human sinus problems. Well, I don't publicize it like we are right now. No, but also tissue, like, you know, traveling, a lot of, we'll be at a Spanish restaurant in Spain. They don't just have napkins. They'll have a box of tissues on the table, especially in the Middle East. Tissues are handy to have around. But like you use them a lot. I have a sinus problem. You and your brothers. I wake up in the morning and I find piles of tissues in our beds between us. That's just gross. No, you don't.

42:34No, I do not do that. That is disgusting. I do not do that. It's very strange. Okay. Moving on. Okay. Any obsessions you want to bring up before we close? Anything you want. That like planning travel calms you, that you are like obsessed with travel planning. Like if we even say like offhandedly, we might go to the beach on such a day. Like you will have everything like a triptych from AAA, like in the old days, just like laid out within minutes. Like you can't stop yourself. I love the United Airlines app. As soon as you bring up a trip, I am on it. You can't stop yourself from plane tickets.

43:08You get the ground transportation, ferry tickets. We just did that in Argentina. It's very calming to me. Is there a trip you want to take that you want to tell me about right now? I would not start right now because you literally would finish. I literally would not finish the show. Where do you want to go? Travel planning, SoulCycle, football, the Pittsburgh Steelers are your obsession. I mean, that's just a fact. That's great. These are all great. These are just top of mind ones. Way less weird than Unpopped Popcorn. No. I love you. Love you too. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for having me. I hope this was fun for you.

43:38Very.

43:46David Green is obsessed as a production of Campside Media. It is hosted by me, David Green. Our senior producer is Lane Rose. We are mixed by Ewan Leitrimuen. The executive producers of Campside Media are Vanessa Grigoriadis, Matt Scherr, and Josh Dean. Special thanks to our operations team, Ashley Warren and Sabina Mara. If you have an obsession you would like to share, hope you do, you can send us an email. The address is obsessed at campsidemedia.com. That's obsessed at campsidemedia.com. And hey, if you enjoyed the show, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Really appreciate you listening.