Rerun: Nancy Silverton (609)

38:01That is better, H-E-L-P, as in princeofwales.com slash howlong. Hey, Chicago. Class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast. So why wait to find your new fave footwear? Step into a local Crocs store and step into your new look. Try it. Style it. Make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up. It shows off. First Day Fits handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest Croc store today. I was just there, but you know, it's just interesting, you know, I mean, it's really easy to take a brand and not watch over your brand. But my feeling is if I'm going to go to the trouble of being a busy person, then I need to take after and look after what I have.

38:58And so I do. And, you know, you go to these places where we have very competent chefs that are leading them. And yet things slip and things change and they don't even know they're changing. You know, I was looking at this chicken dish that they do at one that's the same as in Kispaka because it's a Kispaka that I opened. And it's a dish that is, you know, a chicken dish, half a chicken that's served on bread, chicken toast, you know. Yeah, classic. And I would say, wow, this looks so much better here. I mean, the version, because the chicken is the right size, I find the one that we use in Los Angeles way too big and all different reasons.

39:38Then I go to taste it and it's like, why is there brown sugar in this dish? And one of the cooks decided that the sauce needed brown sugar, right? So the chef obviously wasn't tasting the food or didn't notice. but you know i need to travel halfway around the world to realize they're putting brown sugar in the sauce but at least i bring it back so that when people go to my restaurants in around the world they know that they've eaten that dish somewhere else and that's not true i think with a lot of other restaurants or empires that sometimes i'll go to it's like okay that guy's dialing in because if they knew what was happening here they'd be pretty right ashamed the continuity I mean, I guess that's the thing that you have to think of when you're scaling on this global level.

40:24You kind of have to think like a Din Tai Fung, you know, where people know and expect these dishes. The focaccia de reka has to taste the same as it does everywhere else. You failed, you know? Yep. Brown sugar and the roast chicken. That's fucked up, if you ask me. I don't know much about cooking, but that sounds fucked up, even to a layman. Right. Hopefully his punishment was swift and severe over there. No, it was just that don't put brown sugar in it. How about I put it this way? It was swift. Okay. You took care of business. You took care of business. So even though you are very busy and you are traveling the globe and you are taste testing in Saudi Arabia, why did you start a podcast?

41:11Yeah. You know, everything I don't usually have an idea of some. I don't look at myself as an entrepreneur. You know, the few things that I do that don't have to do with my immediate, say, one restaurant and ends up being a second restaurant or a cookbook or a podcast is the idea to me. And if I think it's a good idea, it's like, sure, I'll do that. And that was what was with the podcast. So as you know, my co-hosts, Lori Ochoa and Ruth Reichel are good friends of mine. And Ruth Reichel comes to Los Angeles, except for this year, had been coming to Los Angeles for three months for the past eight years to get away from the cold of New York.

41:54She's been wintering here. Yeah, yeah, she's been wintering here. And then Lori and Ruth and I are all very good friends. And we walk together and we talk about exactly the nonsense and unscripted versions of what is on the podcast. So what had happened is Ruth, I think it was a year, yeah, last time she was here, I guess, was talking to Lori and I and saying that she was in the midst of formulating a podcast with another co-host on a completely different subject. And she was just not into it, really had cold feet about it. And so she kind of was asking the advice of her son, who is someone that she really trusts his opinion of what today's world and what people of today really want.

42:42And he said to her, nobody cares about this podcast that you want to do. What people would really love to be would be that fly on the wall when you and Nancy and Lori are taking your walks. And so that's how it was presented to me. She went back to the people that were going to do the podcast and said, I don't want to do that podcast. But what do you think about this idea? And they loved it. So she came to Lori and I and said, look, what if we did this podcast? Obviously unscripted, but just talked about whatever it is we talk about on the walk and see how it goes. And that's really how it came to be.

43:19I've never listened to a podcast. and for the same reason I don't listen to my music in my car, I don't know how to access a podcast. Okay. Have you ever listened to your podcast? Never. I'm getting turned on. Very cool. I'm embarrassed that I've listened to my own, but I've since not. I don't do it anymore. There's no point. And it's fun because a lot of times people love to sit around and gossip with their friends and catch up, But in today's busy world, it's hard to find the time to do that. And a podcast really does sort of create an excuse or a reason to do it because, you know, you can make some bucks around it.

43:59And people really do just love hearing the hens clucking at the end of the day, right? Yeah, it is. It's lovely to take the time to sit down with Lori and Ruth. Even Lori, who lives in the same town, I don't see enough. You know, so it is fun. Quick detour. You mentioned you had a cocaine story, and I would like to hear it. Okay, so my cocaine story is this. First of all, luckily, it wouldn't happen today because I'm not a cocaine user, but I am very comfortable and free to say that I was at one time. That makes three of us, so go ahead. My cocaine story is when in 1985, I was getting ready to move to New York, and I decided to have a garage sale and sell everything.

44:49and well, to get rid of it and then buy money to get some cocaine. So I sold my, this is when you have perjure's remorse. I sold my copper Pavoni espresso machine for probably$125. And I really regret it. I wish how much cocaine could you buy for$120? That's that. I mean, in that era, probably more obviously, but that's kind of, that's kind of the thing about cocaine is it has sort of stayed the same price adjusted with inflation the whole time. Like it's always been kind of expensive and that's why people like it. Oh, how do you, what's it called? How do you buy it? Like in a, I mean, I don't mean eight, eight ball.

45:37You could get an eight ball or a gram. Eight balls, a big boy. That's for you. And that was one eighth of an ounce. that's 3.5 grams if we're speaking in baking terms for you no but how else would you like let's say when you let me try to think of other drugs that one would buy that was the only drug that i like i mean i didn't i never tried lsd or mushrooms or anything like that but wait how did you buy a gram is that how you bought a gram yeah yeah yeah how much is a how much was a grandma coke 60 60 80 bucks depending on the quality chris all right yeah i mean in my in my day it was 40 but it was stepped on.

46:12So 60 is probably better. Wow. You weren't getting a lot. That's for sure. No. And I wish I... So whenever I see a Pavoni, old school, one handle machine, I just... That's my... It's like, wow. If I only didn't sell it for cocaine, I would have still... Every time you see that copper espresso machine, you start getting a little post-nasal drip. Yeah, you bought it. You start talking about starting a band. Yeah, that's right. trying to organize my play load 85 that is primo cocaine using years la in 85 yeah you know bready sinelis era less than zero where did you work what were you doing then i was working at uh oh i was working at spago restaurant and um i was moving to new york to re do the menu with my then husband uh mark peel at maxwell's plum in new york okay okay that sounds that sounds about right then i think for that yeah it was appropriate it was appropriate for that area era not appropriate anymore but it was not age appropriate for me anymore or appropriate anymore but yeah it was definitely appropriate for my era for that time i wanted to talk to you about clothes because i know you are into clothes and i remember seeing you on tv a couple years ago in like a wild kind of Marnie look.

47:35So I just wanted to know, you seem like you'd really be shopping, so I would love to hear more about some of your habits. How much money have you spent at Com? More than I spent at Com? Much more than I spent on cocaine. How about that? That is a really good point. I think, you know what? Financially, I think that I should get back into Coke. It'll save you money? And give up my obsession. But you know what? I guess it's one addiction right yeah yeah one addiction leads to the next i think i gave up coke and i got addicted to shopping where do you shop in la or they just bring it to you at this point i'll tell you where i shop in la and the other part that's dangerous about it is the owner of the shop is a super i mean really one of my closest friends and so the problem is it's like you go to your friend's house and you go in and uh you um visit and then you leave and it doesn't cost you i go to my friends to say oh and i leave two thousand dollars a poor um in the hole but i'll tell you something that got really bad in during around 19 i mean 2020 2020 when i couldn't go to shops one thing i did discover it and i'm and i'm really good at finding but then i have to grab the teenager to actually buy it because i don't know how to buy but shopping on the internet and buying designer, like, you know, vintage Gucci dresses are fantastic.

49:08So much better than contemporary. And I got addicted to buying Gucci vintage dresses. But again, I can't buy it because I'm afraid I'm going to press the wrong button in something, you know, it's like I ordered 10 of them or something. So I buy them, but I find them and then I grab someone to buy it for me. Is this on the RealReal? No, I don't. Well, no, some do, but I don't really find it on there. I find them on websites like Vestiae and First Dibs and Farfetch'd. I always forget that First Dibs has clothes as well as furniture and objects de art. Yeah, and I learned about it. It's funny that you said it because the first thing I ever bought on first dibs was the most fantastic vintage isemiyaki piece that is a art piece.

50:00And I bought it on first dibs and it is breathtakingly beautiful. But my shop in LA, it's called Noodle Stories. It's on Thursday. Oh, yeah, yeah. I know Noodle Stories. I've been there before. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Most beautifully curated shop of women's clothing that I've ever really been in, that every single thing you want. And a lot of the brands are brands that maybe other people have. She doesn't have any designer brands. There's no, you know, Dior, no Gucci, no Prada, anything like that. But they're all, I love her Japanese, you know, I love her Italian choices.

50:43But they might be choices that other people have, but just the way they're curated. And she doesn't overbuy. And you don't have to peel apart the racks to find things. And everything in that store says, buy me. And you do. Yeah, it's funny you say that because I've been in that store a few times just because it looked good. You know what I mean? From the street. Yep. And it does. I can tell that you shop there, if that makes sense, after being there a couple times. But it is. Can you explain the name? Because it's very confusing to me. Well, I was going to say, if you know the owner of the store, this would be a great name for your Korean pasta restaurant, your Koreatown pasta restaurant.

51:24That's true. You know what's funny? You just made me think of this. When I first started shopping there, and this is years ago, 20 more years ago, 25 years ago, I would get denied by my credit card company all the time because they couldn't imagine somebody was spending that much money at a noodle store. 3 ,800 on ramen? I mean, you're not David Chang. What's going on here? We're flagging it. She's Korean. And Noodle Stories is a... I've asked her a million times and I knew, but it's like a little... It's not like a fairy tale or it's not like a... It's a type of little story. So I wonder if it's like jingles or it is something.

52:08Like a little limerick or something? Something like that, a noodle story. or it's a, yeah, it's something like that. Now I'm ashamed that I can't remember which, because she's told me and told millions of people that asked. Do you live in Hancock Park? Yeah. Okay, okay. So you live right near the restaurants? I live on Van Ness, yeah. I live on the last street possible that I'm allowed to brag and say, oh, yes, I live in Hancock Park. Oh, that's a good trick. Yeah, what would you call the next? Then what's bordering you then? So, well, and it's not like Hancock Park is just a noticeable name that people know to a certain geographic area.

52:47But really, it's Windsor Square. So there's like Hancock Park, Larchmont Village. They're all different streets. I'm Windsor Square, and I am the last street in Windsor Square. What do you think about the changing face of Larchmont? Can't get a parking spot. You know what I'm saying? You can't get a parking space, but you have 25 choices of what coffee you want to drink. I mean, how many more coffee places? Well, look, I take more of an offense to the Lavon fucking scone cookie, personally. But the coffee choices are abundant, I would say. I mean, no one's going to Groundworks, though. Come on, that doesn't count.

53:27Oh, I got to go get them. Yeah, of course you do. Of course you do. You know, the coffee and ice cream, there's three gelato slash ice cream places. That's a lot. Jenny's, Salt and Straw, all that shit. And Bacio, something Bacio. It's Kiss of Something. It has two names, though. But LeVan Cookie Place, it's open until, I believe, 11. Because I drive by every single night, and I'd like to see how a business is on the street. Oh, I am opening on that street, too, I should say. I am, Gina. I'll tell you what I'm opening. but there's always a crowd in there. In New York, it's insane. The one in New York is lying out the door all the time.

54:06Now that they legalize marijuana, 11pm is prime cookie eating time. You know what I mean? I just find those cookies... I'm a big dessert head and I love a baked good. I tried those finally after years because I walked by once and there was no line. I got three or four different ones. I just didn't realize... I didn't eat all of them, Nancy. Relax. but I just didn't know if, I didn't realize that they were just scones. Like that's literally, I mean, I know there's probably It's a knife and fork. Yeah, it's a technique. I like a more regular sized cookie. Maybe even a little crispy, if I have to be honest.

54:41So I was taken aback by the popularity after I tried them. But I'm opening up, do you know who Phil Rosenthal is? Yeah, of course. Somebody feed Phil. And that's his show, and he was the creator of Everyone Loves Raymond. Known foodies. Yeah, Phil don't have to work much. Phil doesn't have to work much. Phil Rosenthal decided, and he is an investor of all my restaurants, and he's an investor of many other people's restaurants, because that's sort of his passion. His passion is food, and he loves to help people do what they want to do. But he wants his own restaurant that he wants to name after his parents, who are no longer alive, Max and Helen.

55:26OK, so he not only wanted to honor them with a diner, but he himself wants a place that from seven o 'clock in the morning till nine o 'clock in the evening, he can go in and order an open face turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. And so if he wants to have that and it's not available, the only alternative is to open your own. so he's opening up a at the old it was called Le Petit Greek it's a little space there so I'm going to help the menu oh that's fun okay that seems like a light lift for you but see I don't really know what a diner is because I'm from Los Angeles so I know what a coffee shop is yeah no a diner is east coast but I don't know really what what's the difference between a diner and a coffee shop and I actually hate I actually don't really like diners they're romanticized on the East Coast too much as a place where you would go in high school and drink coffee and sit there with your friends.

56:26I think a diner vibe is Swingers, Fred 62, Cafe 101. Those are kind of our LA diners. Aren't those coffee shops? No, those are diners. I just think that the traditional one to me is like an East Coast kind of tri-state area. Yeah, me too. You go get a patty melt, some onion rings, a cup of coffee. Yeah, but you can get that at Swingers also. Now, the New Yorker just did, not just, but maybe the last couple months, did a very interesting little article. A writer did a great piece on diners. And what she was saying, because it was a - Was it Hannah? Was it Hannah Goldfield? I don't think it was Hannah, because she does the reviews.

57:07I think it was actually a piece. Okay, like a long form. Yeah, but one page, long form. Yeah, but it wasn't a review of a specific place. And what she was saying was this. What's a diner? Okay, the popularity of diners now. But in actuality, she said, and she said she's very nostalgic for the diners, but in actuality, she said two really definite components of a diner. One is there never should be a line. And the second thing is food should never be great. Okay, I like that. I like that. I like where we're going. Oh, and I told Phil that. And he was like, I want a line and I want the food to be great.

57:43But I thought that was interesting. So your objection was to all these sort of gourmet diners, right? Yeah. That you don't want. But I think you sort of do want. Like, why would you not want a better version of scrambled eggs? Like, why did the scrambled eggs have to be brown and overcooked and on a flat top instead of, yeah, have scrambled eggs and bacon. But why can't they be perfectly cooked? I agree with you. Soft. I agree with you. I think it depends on the dish and how long it takes to whip something up. Obviously, a scrambled egg, all the menut is easy. Yeah, and not a$25 version and no truffles or anything.

58:22I'm not saying that, but don't you want it kind of like slightly better? Yeah. But she was adamant. It shouldn't be better than good. I back that. I think the magic of the diner is you want the food to come out a little faster than it should. Yeah. And you kind of want it now and you're ready and you want to get in, get out and leave. Good point. And you're willing to sort of sacrifice 10 % of quality. Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, you can do that. So then when you are, say, creating the food and you make something like you scrambled eggs, what do you do? And you say, ooh, these are too good. Down at a – yeah, make them a little worse.

58:59I'm too good at making eggs. We got to tone this down. We got to fire this guy. He's too good. He's too good back there. These cage-free eggs are too delicious. Let's get some smart and final shitty eggs in here. Let's get some Cisco eggs. I guess that growing up in the South, our diner was Waffle House, which isn't a diner really, but it has the same conventions as a diner. It's got a counter. It's got bad breakfast-leaning food. So that's kind of what I equate. When you Google Diner, you get Waffle House comes up. Interesting. There was a coffee shop because they called it a coffee shop. When I was growing up here, it was called Ships.

59:38Ships. great name and it was on la cienega and i don't know what say pico or olympic or something like that and there was a second one in westwood a much long much after the first and they had a toaster on the table but they make something called a ship-shaped burger which was just a patty melt but they called it a ship-shaped burger and they ground their meat fresh every day and I still taste that patty melt that still for me is the bar of all patty melts is that ship shaped burger but see they called it a coffee shop it was called ship's coffee shop and it had a wonderful neon sign this feels like an LA difference honestly to me I think it really is the same thing but I think LA called it something different just the semantics on the east coast or in Atlanta maybe that is the east coast is it was there anything called a coffee shop or did you only have diners there was only diners there's a jewish deli or two but mostly yeah i mean mostly maybe that's a diner when phil says a diner he means a coffee shop then yes i think i mean i caught because a coffee shop a coffee shop where you can get breakfast all day right yeah yeah you gotta have breakfast all day yeah i'm a breakfast all day i would eat breakfast for lunch every day if i could but over here in korea it's a little tough get a nice shitty bagel well speaking Speaking of a nice neon sign over there.

1:01:03Have you ever been to Courage Bagels? Of course. I haven't. I refused to go. Why? Because you didn't like the line. No, I'm not waiting in line for a fucking bagel. I'm just not doing it. Oh, come over. I'll get you one. They are fantastic bagels. No, I'm sure. I'm sure. They're just that good. They're just that good. So what do you do when you boycott a bagel place, which, by the way, hurts nobody but yourself? Then what do you do with Sam's Bagel? and where do you go then? He has water for breakfast, so it doesn't really apply to him. You have an English muffin? Oh, an English muffin sounds good.

1:01:37No, I love bagels. I live most of the time in New York City and I'm good. I get my fill in New York, I think, and I don't need to go to one of the worst blocks in LA and wait in line at 7 in the morning. Well, I'm going to try to get those bagels. They're delicious. I think you can skip the line, Nancy. If I can skip it, you can skip it. But I want it. He doesn't wholesale. And I have to convince them that I need those bagels. See? And then you would say, I'm not going to Max and Helen's because their bagels are too good. Yes, exactly. Yeah, exactly. The bagels over there are too good. I cannot patronize that cursed place.

1:02:13Okay. Well, I mean, what is your take on the milkshake, speaking of diners? So that's another thing. It's like, I feel like, you know, growing up, I didn't go to coffee shops with my parents. Well, I shouldn't say that. We went to one in the San Fernando Valley. It was called Dupars. Classic. And my dad called Dupars. Yes. But I wasn't brought up on milkshakes and things like that. I never had them. I think I had my first ice cream sundae at Baskin-Robbins when I was like 13 years old. And my friends that took me were horrified that I had never had a sundae before because I wasn't allowed to eat sugar, really.

1:02:49So I don't have that milkshake. Desire. I mean, it's a good thing. No, no, no. I love that. I love the idea. What I don't like about them now is just like I wouldn't like Coke. I don't want to drink my calories. However, I think it's really important to get the right one. So I did order to start practicing and I will because it's got to have the right thickness in the straw. It can't be so thick you can't get it through the straw, but obviously not water. It's got to be cold. But I got what I think are the two components that are going to make it better than maybe not giving any thought to it.

1:03:26And one is I bought Fox's You Bet syrup for the chocolate rather than like Hershey's syrup. And then I bought Horlick's malt rather than Carnation because I know Horlick's malt products. And I am going to experiment. Okay, so you're going to be in the lab experimenting with some milkshake. All the old people of Los Angeles are rejoicing right now when they hear you say these words. Because young people don't know any of the things that you're talking about right now. Liz, our chef here, by the way, who is Korean, and she's young in the sense that she's almost 40. She never heard of Horlicks and never heard of Foxes, you bet.

1:04:04I mean, I've never heard of them. I mean, I've sort of heard of it, and I'm very much into food, but it's a little before our generation. Yeah. Which is fine. Yeah. Speaking, you mentioned neon signs. I wanted to know why chefs feel the need to have a shitty neon sign inside of their restaurant. I don't know because it's like, what else? They need to have fake vintage metal signs too. There won't be a neon. Like when you see a message written, like a text, like a handwriting or something like that. You've seen it before. I think the Casa Maria Luigia has that sign when you enter the lobby. And I think Funky has one as well.

1:04:42It's something that needs to change. Is it the investors that you have to appease them? What do you think it might be? Yeah, well, also, again, it's that trend. You see it somewhere, and maybe the first time you see it, it's like, oh, that's a throwback. That is cool. And then, but it's the same as like, when did the ampersand become so popular? That's a great question. That feels like something we have to blame on the graphic design community. I feel like they began using it as a tool versus a... I feel like the ampersand, but that's true. I agree with that, Chris. I feel like the ampersand sort of came around the same time where restaurants had to be called a word and a word or something involving provision house.

1:05:28You know what I mean? Or like this is an eating place establishment and you have to say the year that it was built. You know, 2019 eating house and shop. S-H-O-P-P-E. We just have small larder essentials. They're all locally sourced, of course. yeah that's I can't wait till you open Nancy's larder and shop I think that's you can have that one for free how do you spell shop again S-H-O-P-P-E like an apothecary in the 1800s yeah exactly ye olde ye olde where you go get your unicycle repaired or something like that do you remember the last person you comped a meal for The last person I comped a meal for?

1:06:17Yeah. The last person I comped a meal for was the night before last. And that was for Alessandro. Alessandro has a little sandwich shop in Florence called Eno. And Alassane and I did an event together at Ojai Valley Inn. He made sandwiches from Eno and gave a little sandwich demonstration. And I made sandwich cookies and a sandwich salad. And he came back to L.A. and he came into the pizzeria for dinner. Well, okay. Follow-up question. What is a pizza sandwich? Is that just kind of? No, a salad sandwich. Oh, salad sandwich. Salad sandwich. The salad sandwich is a stacked iceberg wedge. So instead of it being cut into a wedge, it's a baby head of iceberg that's cut horizontally and stacked like a sandwich.

1:07:17That sounds pretty good. Protein style. Yes, protein style. Speaking of, what's your in and out order, Nancy? We're in the lightning round now, if you couldn't tell. We are in the lightning round. And that I have never gone to physically myself gone to an In-N-Out burger. And yes, I have had a bite of one. And that's because they, they, somebody brought them back to work one time, or we used to buy In-N-Out for the staff when they did a good job because they love In-N-Out. And my feeling about In-N-Out is I don't get it. But there's certain things I don't get because there's two things that are really important to me.

1:07:51One is the grind of the meat and the flavor of the meat. I like a meat that is coarse to ground, that is loose, kind of packed together. And this goes back to the days of ship shape, by the way, and that it has a component of dry age in it because I like a certain bit of funkiness. So I taste the beefiness of the patty. I know that smash burgers and we do do a version of smash burgers that are at Spaca on Monday and Tuesday nights. And they're popular. I prefer a larger patty with the option of getting it cooked. Very, very, very rare. And that you get it at In-N-Out. And then from there, I like my tomato to be carefully chosen.

1:08:40It tastes like a tomato. I like more pickles and a certain pickle than the pickle they put on. I mean, I can go on and on. I like my spicy Calabrian mayonnaise I put on rather than their secret sauce. So it's like, I don't get it. Is the best burger in LA than the one, is that the one that you make at your house? Or is there a restaurant that's able to check all these boxes for you, give you a thick patty so you can get a good sear on it, but it's still rare in the middle, all that stuff. or is it just you at your house? Well, I do like them at my house. I have to say I am partial because I get it seasoned the way I want.

1:09:18I get, again, the pickle I want. So I wouldn't say that, but where else do I love them? I'm just trying to think off the top of my head in LA because it's not that I go to restaurants all the time and get hamburgers, although I love hamburgers. But like in New York, Minetta Tavern, that's great. Yeah, the Minetta Burger, that's one of my wife and my favorite. favorite things whenever we go to new york we have to go get the burger it's just what you do and jg melon burger is also a really good one in new york yeah i'm sure you've had that something about it yep okay beautiful yep um yeah i wanted to know your thoughts um you've you've been making and eating bread and pasta your whole life but you've managed to achieve a a you've been snatched this whole time what is your secret to staying trim and consuming all this stuff in a gluten-free world that we're living in well you know i i think that probably if i had to say what that is is that i don't overeat so yes i taste everything but i don't necessarily finish everything mama knows when to stop yeah bread and butter no bread and butter is really hard bread and butter you put a loaf you put a loaf of sourdough in front of me it's game doesn't get better than that i don't have that kind of willpower yeah well chris chris has you know maybe you can do the thing where you you accidentally quote unquote pour your diet coke all over the food and it ruins you can't eat the bread anymore because you spilled on something like that right yeah oopsie um nancy are there any people that order things from you from the restaurant directly that is maybe off menu like a cool celebrity friend or a close friend where you have to like make them a special thing that is not normally on the menu for the the the average customer you know off the top of my head the only thing that comes to mind is because we have these three restaurants you know next to each other a close friend say more than say a celebrity but say a close friend that's eating at one of the restaurants but really wants one thing from the other i will tend to sneak them that other thing you know yeah yeah i've i've i've had the pleasure of enjoying that one time when i was eating dinner with redacted but we we were able to get martinis at quiespaca one time and i won't tell anyone that oh wow what a privilege that is a privilege i don't think i have that power to do that that's above my pay grade yeah i know this guy jason he said i could get a martini here is that true or i want to be able to do it well you know you do a deal with sweet green and then we'll make it happen nancy yeah okay thanks just kidding i did invest i did invest though you know i did um invest with their uh whatever you call it what do you call it an ip stock the ipo yeah i ipo'd them you're on the you're on the ground you're on the ground floor of big salad we like that about you yeah um have you ever done any cooking for award shows i know you you said you were at spago a while ago and i I know he does a lot of stuff like that, but have you ever had to do anything like that or had the privilege of doing something like that?

1:12:28For award shows, yeah. And that's only because certain shows have used a restaurant as their self. Canteen. Yes. Post-victory, we come over to you. Yeah, so what's the last kind of celebrity thing? The last kind of celebrity thing was about a week ago-ish. When were the Grammys? Yeah, a couple weeks ago. That was like two weeks ago or so. Yeah, so we had two dinners that we hosted. Both was the night before. One was for a record label. Of course, you're going to ask me who were the stars. Oh, there's one guy that eats here all the time. Now, what's his name? I want to say, like, in his name is like big or fat or something.

1:13:13He was up for a Grammy. Jelly Roll? No. Big pun. Killer Mike? Was it Killer Mike? Yes. Killer Mike. Well, there's no fat in there. Sorry. Well, there's a reason your head went there, Nancy, and it's not because he's so slim. Okay, but he's a good customer. He was killing them breadsticks is what we're saying. Killer Mike and Killer Mike's label because there was somebody else. They bought out the Osteria, but we catered a big free party for Spotify. Oh, nice. Oh, nice. Okay. So you're getting that streaming platform money. And then you're going to ask me who performed. And of course, all I can say is, oh, he's really famous.

1:13:58And he was up for the top record. Who would that be? Piano. Drop some names. Piano? I think. John Baptiste? Yes. Nice work, Jason. He tickled the keys. That's nice. So they put a piano. and where was this though this was at a um it's a new space that has not been complete yet but almost completed it's a fantastic space it was an old what what did they do there some kind of manufacturing of something it's enormous do you know a place called the san vicente bungalows oh yeah chris is a member okay so they want to make it the equivalent of the san vicente bungalows for the music industry where is it nancy where is it it's in hollywood interesting i feel like i've heard something about this maybe and it's just it's not this was the first event they had there and only it's only finished like three quarters of the way but it's very very impressive what they've done there nice and spotify put a lot of money into this event yeah spotify puts a lot of money into a lot of things less podcasts nowadays unfortunately but yes i'm glad they had a great party yeah that's funny you said that because my daughter used to worked up until december for well it's whatever the the part of the company that was called spotify churnin or churnin spotify where it had something to do with you know um utilizing um content and the whole podcast part of it and they've kind of dissolved that part of it as you said yeah so no longer for Spotify, but up until December, she worked for Spotify.

1:15:45The rich get richer. So there is a chance that your daughter has listened to our podcast then at least. I'm going to ask her, what's the name of your podcast? It's called How Long Gone. Gone? G-O-N-G? G-O-N-E. How Long Gone? How Long Gone? I'm going to ask her. Like the radicchio is all gone. That kind of, to use it in a sentence. Oh, now? Oh, you brought it down to my terms. now I can relate to it. Yeah, we have to kind of bring it down to your terms. Luckily, I know everything about food and podcasting. So if only I was a teen, you could hire me to sort of navigate you through life. So wait, tell me the name of the podcast again.

1:16:25How Long Gone. How Long Gone. Actually, I reached out to Ruth Reichel a while ago to see if she wanted to come on this podcast and she politely declined. So Ruth, if you're listening, suck it. Yeah. I'll tell her not to I'll tell her to rethink it but I wonder if it has anything to do with no she doesn't have another podcast she has print I listened to her on Julia Louis-Dreyfus's podcast and she was a really good guest on that episode I liked it a lot I'll remind her that you're really fun to talk to and it's not like the it's not like the other pods i don't think you asked me yeah it's not that yeah we're not like those other guys yeah we don't we don't ask boring stupid questions but also on the other side of the coin we don't ask you about the thing that you're on the show to try and plug um so that is all the time for you nancy thank you so much for so the so the book um the book is out when the book came out in november in november by the way it also is my first book out of 11 that was on the new york times bestseller oh congratulations and you know what that's a big thing i didn't realize i mean i knew it's very bad on it but i didn't realize how much clout it gives you first for instance right away they called me and they do a column called in the know or something i don't know whatever it is they interview people that are on new york times bestseller but that was like that was immediate but also the publisher also already wants to know okay what's the next book once you're on the new york times booklet you've got to get a book out really fast right after and it's like really i just i just did a book leave me alone i want to do anything but make a book yeah yeah that's exactly exactly okay the book is out uh and we can eat at all of your fine dining establishments all over the greater los angeles area even in even in saudi arabia yep or singapore or singapore london or mexico soon to be Lanai and Washington DC let's go move over Nobu the empire is expanding all right nobu is like I don't know how many 104 he's on Mars he's on the moon he's the first sushi place on the moon but he can't make a budino like you that's right no but thank you Nancy we've been fans for a long time and I'll see you at Moza for some mozzarella well I would love to meet you in person Yes, for sure.

1:19:00We can set it up. Bring a Coke with you, okay? I don't care about cocaine anymore, but bring that giant Coke. I'm curious. I'll bring you the new flavor. That's my gift to you. Oh, great gift. I'll slip you something of either that martini at Quisbaca or one of the forbidden dishes in one of the restaurants. Forbidden dish sounds great. Forbidden dish sounds like a new Coca-Cola flavor. All right, Nancy, thank you for joining us. We'll talk to you soon.

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