Paul Price

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Wait, this is a soda? Yeah. And it has protein? 10 grams. No sugar? Zero. And it actually tastes good? It's Sky Pop. Sky Pop Protein Soda delivers the refreshing taste you want from a real soda. Crisp and delicious with 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and just 45 calories. So you're not choosing between great taste and real benefits. You're getting both in every sip. Skypot Protein Soda. Reach for the sky. Get your Skypot Protein Soda now at Target, Walmart, or Kroger. Zach, nice vacation spot. But without T-Mobile 5G home internet, it's scary here.

0:43Don't open it. Relax. I ordered T-Mobile 5G home internet with same-day delivery, powered by DoorDash. Nothing to be afraid of. We're saved. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet delivered the same day, powered by DoorDash. Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line. Plus taxes and fees. Same day delivery for most internet eligible customers. See if it's an option during checkout. Ruthie's Table 4, presented by Sky. I always like clothes because I liked how they made me feel. And I feel like, you know, kind of you look good, you feel good. I think there's something to that because I think it gives you confidence.

1:20It's a way to express yourself. I love when people dress up. They've got a look and a style and their own joie de vivre on how they kind of pull it all together. And there's so many ways to do that, of course.

1:37Trying to think of how to talk about my newest friend, Paul Price, I sought some help from his oldest friend and the person who brought us together, the film director, Andrew Durecki. He wrote, Dear Ruthie, I first met Paul during freshman year at Princeton. He was handsome, poised, and about a thousand times more stylish than any other student we were with. Paul is a tastemaker and a creator. As he's reshaped my perception of what life can be, he is also reimagining legendary brands in the world of fashion, now Burberry, and making them newly relevant. An obvious adjective to describe Paul is elegant, but it's not nearly enough of a word.

2:25It's his mischievously funny wit, his creative mind, and deep compassion for and curiosity about people that sets him apart. I know you're going to love him. This is from Andrew. That's really sweet. We were out last night. That reminds me of, you know, the Adventures of Tom's Story. I haven't finished yet. Oh my God, it's not done. this is back to me now oh it's back to you what Andrew didn't mention but I know really well is that Paul loves food and he loves to cook that was our first connection some months ago over dinner at the River Cafe it was the beginning of a conversation and the beginning of a friendship and as Andrew says I know I'm going to love him so now what were you going to say about well it's like hearing your own eulogy right and it's that was very sweet Andrew thank you it means a lot to me actually I get a little teary on that it reminds me of you know the adventures of Tom Sawyer when he remember he went he went he and Huck Finn they ran away and they faked their deaths everyone thought they drowned in the town yeah and he thought everyone hated him and yeah it was a bad boy and all this and so they went back to town to see what was going on and they perched up to a tree and it was his funeral and he was hearing the eulogies about himself and what people were saying about him weren't anything that he thought that they thought and he was like oh wow i actually am loved i'm actually i'm liked actually there are qualities about me that are great so anyway you know that that was very sweet there was also that movie remember that movie it's a wonderful life isn't that also with jimmy stewart when he comes back or he's about to kill himself that's right that's sweet and then all the things so we don't hear enough but well thank you you did hear for your kind words.

4:15That's very sweet and I feel the same about you. Yeah, and it's the beginning and we love Andrew. We have to tell more about that. You grew up in this house of, you know, Serbian, Croatian, Julia Child, sitting down to dinner, having lunch. Which is all I like to cook. And my brother likes to cook as well. Did they entertain? Yeah, a lot. They did. So do you remember, would you like the kid that stood on the stairs on the cinder? I used to stay on the stairs and this is when people would smoke inside and you could smell the smoke. I sort of liked that smell my parents didn't smoke but yeah they would let their I remember one time my mom said oh it's so boring like you you sit next to the same person all night so she came up with this idea which no one had done at the time where she had she had 16 people over for dinner and she had four tables of four oh and everyone had to move a table seating after each course but now they do it all the time but at the time so for her to map it all out and who's going to sit next to who and she sort of was known for these sort of rotating parties she sounds really cool and she would plop like big plants in the middle of the table like a giant like you know fern you know tree yeah and they're all it's quite chic yeah it's 1970s and she'd light them with 70s she'd light them with you know christmas tree lights which was sort of the time yeah felt very ahead of his time what did your dad do but you said he had stores he was uh he was a traveling shoe salesman and then he started doing shoes in this department store called the two swabbies and then the shoe concession started doing better than the rest of the store so he bought the store so then he would go into all these little towns like Walla Walla Washington and Lewiston and Boise Idaho and Billings Montana and take over the general stores and they were sort of like sort of discount stores before that time and then my mother was really into my dad my dad was doing okay and so we We were sort of a big fish in a little bit.

6:06It's not a big deal, though, to start all these stores all over. I mean, that was quite a thing. Yeah, so we had like 12 or 17 or something, and I'd work for him in the summers and on the weekends. So then my mother, my dad, she liked Yves Saint Laurent. So my mom would be like, my dad would be like, okay, you can buy two to three outfits of Saint Laurent a season. Yeah. So my mom would then take me to Seattle. She'd take me out of school. I'd go to the shops of Saint Laurent with her, the department store. So my mother came up with this brilliant idea that they had all this excess inventory with Marshall Field, which was the store that.

6:41And she said, how do you get rid of that? Oh, we sell it. So she said to my dad, you should offer them pennies on the dollar of all these designer clothes and we'll sell them in Spokane and I'll be in charge of them called the clothes rack. So my mom opened up this, the first kind of discount designer shop in this weird little town. Half the people, well, most people didn't even know what they were looking at. Yeah. But that's sort of her way. So I used to, all the shipments would come in and I'd go to my dad's warehouse. My mom would be, of course, take the first pick of stuff, which was a heaven for her.

7:16To still have them. Where are they? I wonder. Well, my niece just got a lot of my mom's clothes and she said, Uncle Paul, you should see this. She has all these Saint Laurent things. Tell me about clothes. Tell me about your love for fashion. Yeah, my mother was always into it, obviously. And I always liked clothes because I liked how they made me feel. And I feel like, you know, kind of you look good, you feel good. And I know that sounds a bit, you know, vapid. No, it doesn't. But I think there is something to that because I think it gives you confidence. And it's something you just, and it's a way to express yourself.

7:54and I love you know I love when people dress up and I'm gonna dress up it means you know they've got a look in a style and their own show out of Eve on how they kind of pull it all together and there's so many ways to do that of course and it all you know I like all kinds of style so I love that when I was I was I was running top shop for a couple years and I remember there was a someone who worked for me and you know it's fast fashion and we were selling a lot of things and whatever there was i think there was we were at a dinner at the other table there was a bunch of brain surgeons no no we were we were an off-site and in the other room there were brain surgeons literally and then we're in the other room talking about you know t-shirts and skirts and she comes out and we were she goes oh my gosh there's like brain surgeons in the other room it just really makes you think like like we're just not doing anything of value and we're like we're like so like silly this industry that we're in and i said hold hold on so i go back into the room everybody you know blah blah just you know not blah blah meg just said this thing and i said i said you know i go we may not be brain surgeons but we are bringing confidence to 14 year old boys and girls like they they are able to basically afford something at great value that's made well that looks good and makes them feel good and it's their self-expression is one of the first things that they can express themselves with i said i think we should be proud of that yeah i think that's important you know i know that when i've had a hard day sometimes i just go and i try on something to wear because it makes me oh that could be that person or maybe i'd like to be if i wear that that's interesting and then you know you sort of see if you go to you know aesthetically and people are so nice.

9:47But tell me how you decide what to wear when you get up in the morning. Well, it's funny. I always wear Burberry, but I sometimes mix it with other things, which I think is great because that is what Burberry is. You can wear it all or you can mix it. Do you have huge cupboards full of clothes? I have quite a few clothes. That's nice, yeah. And you keep them from... I do. When I moved from L.A. back here, I got rid of a lot. And then I'm thinking, why did I do that? you know because everything comes back into fashion you know what i'm thinking but anyway but i do try and shake it up you know i don't want to get locked into one thing where oh there he's wearing that outfit again yeah so i try and like change when will you wear that suit again yes when will you wear it again do you think actually it's it's uh it's wool so this will probably be the last time i wear it for probably till next october yeah and then i'll wear it with jeans you know jeans so beautiful but would you would you think about if you wore something today would you think well I'm not gonna wear it tomorrow the next week or the oh no I think about how often you change I change it no I don't want the same look I try to change it up and make it interesting I think you also I feel obligated to show people yeah people demonstrate you can wear things in a different way and also I think it's funny if you're working with somebody yeah oh what are you wearing today yeah yeah so when we're in the boardroom and we're chatting is sometimes everyone's looking to see what everyone's wearing yeah it's kind of fun and there's certain people that sort of how long does it take you to get dressed in the morning to decide you open this cupboard i decide when i'm brushing my teeth yeah i have my electric not to get too personally here but too much information but i have my you know my two minute electric toothbrush i open my closets and i'm like okay like let's see and some days you start with the jacket some days you start with the pants some days you're like what do i really want to wear oh I want to wear this sweater okay now build an outfit around it so it's like somebody oh I haven't worn those silk pants let's figure out what to do with those so I mean dressing up is it's great and especially when you go to another city it's so nice to walk around and see what people are doing and how they're wearing and you know you go to Tokyo and the Harajuku girls and they're all like I was just there it is such an inspiration it's like wow you really put a lot into this and you look great I mean yeah it's like when someone really makes the effort it's like you just have to appreciate it and you know I'd rather have one great thing than a lot of things yeah me too do you have something that you look at this is my treasure or this is what I would never like your mother and her Saint Laurent perhaps Do you have something that means a lot to you?

12:35I have a few ties of my father's, which I wore one the other day, which was really fun. So I love that. I have a few old Burberry things that I really love, like a suede coat or Burberries I have. I have a dress that I know is my safety dress, though. What is it? It's actually Yves Saint Laurent, and I've had it for so long, and it's nothing. It's just a gray sort of flannel, just really simple dress that I love. but I know that and I thought I'd lost it I really was I thought it's gone and I had to sort of talk myself through that a lot thinking it's okay with you, you'll be okay it's only a dress, it doesn't matter and meanwhile every time I opened a cupboard here I thought I'd left it here because I'd changed I looked at home, we looked for it and then actually I went to, I was shopping and someone said you know you left a shopping bag here are you serious?

13:27Yeah, two months ago and you never picked it up and I opened it up but there it was and I thought isn't that amazing oh it was really nice because there are things that you just feel secure I know there are things that I feel slightly secure makes me feel safer yeah I mean some things a few but otherwise and also sort of what you wear when you don't when you don't see anyone yeah when you don't yeah

14:00Sky Pop Protein Soda offers four delicious flavors with big taste and real benefits. Light, refreshing, and ready for wherever your day takes you. It's anytime protein that helps you reach higher. Sky Pop Protein Soda. Reach for the sky. Get your Sky Pop Protein Soda now at Target, Walmart, or Kroger. What was it when your mother said this is your ticket, education is your ticket out? when you went when you left and you went to Princeton was that you know you didn't have those grilled lamb sandwiches for lunch and you had did you make that world for yourself or did you know it's interesting so I was I was I mean just I was in a small town and so I get I get to college and suddenly I'm around all of these amazing kids who I didn't grow up with so I'm with the Andrew Jareckis who are, you know, interesting family and, you know, like, you know, educators and, you know, parents are doing interesting things and the kids have traveled and they're really smart and they're like, you know, all these things.

15:05And my friends were great from home, but the breadth of friendships was just astronomical for me. so i would you know my friend angelo's mother was head president of lincoln center so i would go i'd go off to some party and this and that so anyway so my first grades would come through the first and they go straight to the parents not because they're paying the bill my mom and dad would call them you're a straight a student and now you you've got uh two c's a b and an a minus like what is going on and I said well I'm I'm part of my education I think should be the people that I'm meeting and you have to allow me to do these things and whatever and they said no no that's just not I said well I said just think about it I said I can't just I go I'm learning so much from all these other these people and these are going to be friends I have for life which is you know Andrew being one of them and um anyway so they called me two days later they go okay here's the deal you can get b pluses and a minuses but he has to come in at a minus or you know that's it so i kind of struck a deal with them to do that so what does that mean what did you have to do to did you just have to do fewer parties or fewer trips to really i just focused a little bit more i didn't do fewer i'm not a fewer type of person yeah i can see that excessive yeah that's all right It's okay.

16:32It's okay. But when Andrew described you going into your room, he said, because we didn't print that one out, but about going to parties. Oh, gosh. Hilarious. Tell me about that. Because immediately, the portrait he painted of you is the one that I sort of got from the first night we met, which is you, first of all, like me, you really like being surrounded by all kinds of people. But you like being a host. Yeah, I do. You like being the person that people come to rather than go to. Is that right? That's true. And how did you do that in college? What did you? Well, I remember the first time that Andrew, Andrew was like a year behind me, actually.

17:06And so Andrew, I was seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him that well, but I could tell that he appreciated. He was in a singing group and he was very creative. And anyway, and so I wanted to throw a great party in my room and my dorm room, you know, they weren't that big. But I said to my roommate, I said, let's throw a cool party. And I said, so we cleared out all the furniture. which was kind of unheard of. And then I went into New York. Where did you put it? Somebody else's room? I think we put it in the, across the room's room or something. Yeah, it was like a lot of furniture anyway, but anyway.

17:40And then I said, let's go into a theatrical design shop in the 40s in New York. Yeah. And theatrical lighting and things. So at the time, this is 1981, there are rope lights, the ones that go, but now you can give them, back then it was like you could only be it if you were in a theater thing so i bought rope lights that went all the way around the room and then i got a fog machine uh a dry ice machine and then the theme was where where are bright colors you can be seen through the fog so it was like a fog party in the room i played disco and whatever and it was i don't know why it was sounds so basic at the moment andrew's is he came over he goes who is this guy yeah and i used the i used the calvin klein underwear and i went color xeroxes just came out and i rolled them up and i put them on everyone's door and it was like over the over the i wasn't out or gay at the time but i put it the invite over the the guy's crotch and his underwear and it was quite compelling he said cocktails at five yeah anyway and you were a freshman you always need a good invite were you a freshman i was a sophomore for that time wow you always need a good tell me about invites i agree with you by the way yeah i agree with you so i learned about invites when i used to go to this club area in new york which was eric good's club yeah and he always had a great invitation and um i did a party at my house in London about 2014 and I sent everyone got a pill bottle and it said it was for my my partner at the time is a Fletcher's birthday you know Baba said open the open the pill open the bottle and drop the pill into a hot glass of water to to see what the dress the dress code is and so you got a pill and you dropped it in the water and it fizzed i mean this took about a couple weeks of research to figure out how to do this it fizzed and then to the top of the glass is a little piece of of mylar and it says be good uh be good or be bad but be beautiful and that was the dress code and it was a heaven no this was in london and that was a heaven and party what was that means to heaven oh so you're either good or beautiful and then i had two ladies i had two there were two twins in the in the entrance of my place and they would look at you in units and they had they looked exactly like them they had these little sort of banged fringed wigs on and they'd look at you and they go in unison they go hello ruth and first she had us on release i don't know why but we had a release hello ruth you're going to hell and then they gave you a ticket you'd have to go downstairs and i had the whole bottom of my house in hell where they go you know hello richard you're going to heaven and so then we kept everyone separated from heaven and hell and then we opened it up after about an hour and then heaven and hell mix did you you decided who did you pre-plan it who was going to hell no they decided oh they just decided on the look.

21:02Yeah, the twins in purgatory. And what if you came dressed to look good, but you went down to hell? I think maybe that was a fact. That was kind of okay. I'm not sure everyone in heaven always looks like they're probably heavenly. Maybe they're not. Can't judge a book by their color, can you Ruth? Why did you go into retail then? Was that part of your... So it was my dad. I sort of grew up doing that. Was that a sort of thing that your mother and your father... My dad, really, and then I would work. My friends would, you know, do normal kid things, and I'd sort of go work for my father on the weekends.

21:30I mean, I would do normal. I mean, I can understand why you did. I mean, I don't think, I just think that probably at Princeton and that kind of trajectory. But it was great. It's like me going into restaurants. Yeah. Why do we do that? How do we choose? So, you know, I'd sometimes work in the warehouse or I'd work in the shoe department or I'd follow as buyers around. With your dad, yeah. At the popcorn counter. Popcorn. And so when I was like, A, I ran the popcorn counter. What was that? That was buttery, hot, salted popcorn. So my dad would come home, we'd always have a dinner. You know, the four of us would sit at dinner.

22:02Mom would light the candles. She'd make some kind of dinner. Then there'd always be conversation. My dad would be like, so I'm hearing from Molly, the head cashier, that you're putting in three pumps of butter into the popcorn, and you're only supposed to be putting in one pump of butter. He goes, why are you doing that? I go, well, it tastes better. Tastes better. And he said, but you realize that it's 10 cents a bag, and the butter is the most expensive ingredient. So if we do that, we're going to have to raise the price up to 25 cents. And he said, it's completely your choice. I will do what you decide.

22:34And he goes, why don't you think about overnight? Because if you think that your popcorn is that much better that you're going to get 25 cents a bag, then I'll take the price up and we'll see how it works. Are you eight? Eight. Wow, that's a different idea. So next night at dinner, my dad goes, have you thought about your popcorn? And I go, yeah. And he goes, what do you want to do? Well, as good as my popcorn is, I just don't think, I think 25 cents is a bit expensive. So I think we should just do one pump. My dad goes, I think that was a good choice, but I'm glad you thought about it. Yeah, but maybe, do you think now?

23:07So I kind of got the bug. Yeah, you got the bug. You got the bug. That was the bug. And then I'm out of school. I went to the training program at Bloomingdale's, which is a department store. I know Bloomingdale's. I love Bloomingdale's. It's a bit sort of like Selfridges. We liked it. Yeah, but kind of Bloomingdale's in New York was kind of, do you think? It was theatrical. and there's burgdorf but then burmy and bloomingdale's is on lexington and third yeah 59th and it was fun it was kind of and it was theater yeah it was very theatrical we would take countries and do a whole theme of the store in china or whatever you did a management retail training course right what was that like work in the store a little bit and you'd be like as a you know they put you into in my case they put me in the china silver department or they so you didn't work in clothing I want so I wanted to yeah so Marvin Traub was the he was the CEO at the time he's like a legend yeah yeah yeah and he said his office behind the talent apartment on the sixth floor anyway so I was like I was obsessed with George Armani at the time these American gigolo just come yeah I was like obsessed with George Armani and I was went up to his office every day I said to his assistant I'd like to speak to mr.

24:17trout I'm sorry he's not available I went up every day and finally mr. Trapp overheard me it wasn't that he was ignoring me I think he was genuinely busy is that that Paul Price kid that's like whatever like coming here like what are you doing coming up here all the time I go I really need to speak to it's really important I you put me in the wrong department I'm in the train because like I know who you are I go I owe you put me in the wrong department he goes you're in China and silver it's just he goes no we know exactly where we're putting you I go no no no no no you don't understand I have an affinity for men's designer i should be in there at the men's designer area around george armani and he goes mr price let me let me give you a little lesson i go what's that mr trump he goes if i put you into the george armani department you would look at the suit and you go like oh well i really like that suit so i think we should buy those and i really like that shirt i really like that tie and he goes you would just personalize everything he goes i bet you now that you're in china and silver that you're learning about the upper east side lady and that she likes to have gold on her plates and that she likes china versus porcelain that she likes silver plate versus sterling that she like he goes you're learning about your customer and he goes you need to learn about your customer not about your own personal affinities for things and he was absolutely right he was right now you learn about your customer you know that how of course how long did you stay in that department for before?

25:42For six months and then they moved me into ready to wear. Then they got me into the clothing part because they knew I wanted to do that. So I learned what I had to learn. I think those kind of people in your life are so crucial. Yeah he was amazing. He's passed away but he years ago I was at some conference living in London. I was working at Burberry and he was there. Yeah. And I went up to him. I said Mr. Traub you're not gonna you know I'd lost my hair at this point. Yeah. I know Mr. Traub uh you won't remember me. He goes I know exactly you're the kid from China. You're the kid from China. It's over.

26:11Paul Price. I go, yeah. And he goes, how are you? I said, I'm at Burberry now. He goes, I would, he goes, wow, you guys are doing such great things. I said, well, why don't I bring you by the office? I'd love to give you a tour of the showroom and this and that. So I did. Yeah. And it meant the world to him. I thought he felt like sort of a sense of pride. Yeah. One of his underlings is doing something interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's nice when you. Yeah, that's nice. Did you eat well in New York? New York, you can always find something to eat, I think, for not a lot. You'd go down to, you know, the Lower East Side at the time, and you could, you know, I forget the names of some of these places, Kafka or whatever it was.

26:46Would you cook, though? I would cook a little bit. I didn't cook as much in New York. Was that Kaposte's? How did New York feel at that? Yeah. No, that was right in the middle of it. And I was really lucky with someone I was sort of seeing at school, sort of under wraps. but he was with the gay men's health crisis and i was getting ready to graduate and this was 80 what was the height of the age 84 and it was just kind of surfacing and he handed me all these brochures his name is bill george's thank you bill i've since thanked him at dinner at zuni cafe in san francisco and he said read these brochures he goes the we don't know what this is but you need to read these brochures and follow these roles and I did and I think he probably helped me yeah yeah so which is great I think New York in the 80s I guess I knew it I never lived in New York but I know that those different cycles even being there right now yeah I think New York goes through these phases doesn't it remember the you know the great times the hard times the people who've been there.

27:57I'm like, do San Francisco is very different? San Francisco, I feel like I've lived in all cities I've lived in at really good times. And when I was in San Francisco, it was in the 88 to 2005. So that was after Bloomingdale's. You moved to... After Bloomingdale's, I moved to San Francisco. Why did you do that? Because I met this man, Mickey Drexler, who made the Gap. Is that the Gap? Yeah. So Mickey had heard about me at Bloomingdale's, And he said, oh, I've just taken over Banana Republic and we want to convert it from a safari. It used to be a safari. It goes into a modern clothing company. So Mickey hired me as his first merchant.

28:37So I moved to San Francisco and I didn't know anybody. And it was really exciting. You know, San Francisco is known for its food. Yeah. Oh, certainly. And I remember going to Zuni Cafe for the first time and Judy Rogers was the chef. I knew her. Yeah. And I remember having that roasted chicken and the Caesar salad. And the bread salad, right? Yeah. She did that kind of bread. Which I've learned how to do. We make it here. We put it in one of our cookbooks. It's incredible. Yeah. And to me, that was one of the greatest meals I ever had. And so after I left Gap for 12 years, I opened up an events business with my brother.

29:16Oh, did you? Where? In San Francisco. And we did parties and things. but Judy hired us to do her Christmas decor for the first, it was, she never done it. And she said, Oh, I'm going to give you guys your first job. It was like, wow. So we did a kind of old fashioned Christmas tree. You know, it was like a spindly old Charlie bound tree with big lights and whatever reason, but it was like, you know, quite rustic and cute and appropriate. Anyway. So we had to set it up on a Monday night because they were closed on Mondays or Sunday night. I don't know. It was late. and they were relaying the kitchen floor with this red wax so it wouldn't leak down below or something i don't know anyway and she had all of these ropes around the kitchen she goes whatever you do just don't go into the kitchen because the wax is wet it hasn't been laid so cut to late at night my boyfriend at the time mark we had a samoya dog a big white fluffy like husky and he comes by he goes oh I'm coming by to see you guys and so he knocks on the window you know on market and he had the dog and I did so I didn't realize that her name was Daisy that she was there so I'm like doing some and I see these like red paw prints of wax all over the entire restaurant can you imagine so I was freaking out so we were like trying to get the wax off we did and whatever I go oh my god this is a disaster it's our first job and I was with my brother we were just my brother it's a disaster so I came clean I know the next day cuz Judy didn't close up that night I go Judy I go I hope you like what we did I said but I have to tell you I said my dog got into the restaurant by mistake and her footprints are all through your kitchen in the wax and she goes you get an A plus for design and you get an A plus for honesty and it's honor that Daisy is forever immortalized in our kitchen so my dog's footprints are in the Zuni kitchen I don't know if they're still there but it kind of makes sense that you went into events because you're such an eventful person did you not want to stay in that it's all right then I missed it and then I sort of missed retail and then I love what I do so yeah but Berber is it tell me about what you do so I'm in charge of the product in the business so I'm the the chief merchant is right and i just make sure that my my team and i we work with the design team and the product development team and the sourcing teams whatever to make sure that what gets designed and what eventually gets bought and what's presented is is the things that are right for the brand that tick the boxes of fashion but also are commercial and to balance sort of the the commercial you know what our customers want yeah who what does your customer want back to mr.

32:12job and understanding what that is so you know we'll you know and we'll say to our design team for instance um i need uh five different beverages yeah and they'll give us a water and a tea and a wine and whatever and they're like well you know what maybe the tea the tea is a really good one so let's do three flavors of tea and not do water and you know maybe we should have glasses that we should have a green tea glass and we should have a black tea glass and we should have a blah blah and then you know so you sort of create stories around the product and I'm pretty good I think at picking the thing on the table that's going to sell yeah more than the other so I can kind of say this is going to do better than that um and we should buy more of that than that um don't always get it right but you know over time you kind of you you know it's i'm sure you kind of know what's going to sell on your menu yeah yeah and you're thinking about and also i think people always say where did you get the idea for something and i said there's no ideas in my work you know it's about a progression from right of course it's but you know if i said we make a an almond tart with you know paris then in the summer we might put strawberries on it you know and if we put strawberries, we might marinate them first or else we'll just do them stuck in.

33:29And it's a kind of, it's not like, oh, I have an idea for a new flavor of ice cream. I mean, sometimes you do, but it mostly is. It's an evolution. Don't you find that? And don't you also think that, you know, people come to your restaurant and they, you know, they want certain things that they can count on, but they also want something new and different. And it's sort of, at what point, you know, we always sort of grapple with this. It's like, at what point do you move on? and like because you know for us yeah it we have a lot a lot of locations and it's sort of like if it's your local location you have to keep it fresh and alive and interesting so we're always like how do we keep it interesting yeah yet also yes we have new versions of trench coats we've got you know whatever it may be so it's fun it's like a no it's it's a architecture of sorts of an assortment of things.

34:24What if your soda actually did something for you? Introducing Sky Pop Protein Soda. Sky Pop Protein Soda has 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and real delicious soda taste. Sky Pop Protein Soda. Reach for the sky. Get your Sky Pop Protein Soda now at Target, Walmart, or Kroger. Which has been so good. And I'm starving if you are. I'm starving. So I think that the last, I think if I always say, you know, food is about what you've described as your, you know, your really warm portrait of your parents on foodies. It's also, you know, hosting and making people feel better, but it also is comfort.

34:59So I suppose I might have an idea, a clue of what you might choose. But if you were thinking about comfort, food to go to when you need comfort, is there something that in your memory or your relationship, or would it be that chicken pot pie? So I'm starting up a group with my friends and it's called Death Row Meal. It'll be once a month and there'll be like 12 of us. And you cook what you would have on death row if you were granted your death row meal. Yeah. Meaning your last meal, basically. I know, yeah. I mean, we're just making it a bit more. No, no, no, no, no, no. And sort of like my last meal, I guess, would be my most comforting.

35:38Yeah, what would that be? So it would be like I would do, I mean, to go fancy, I would have calvier because that would be really nice. I mean, that wouldn't be my go-to because that's expensive, but I would, you know. And I would do a porterhouse steak on the grill with a chimichurri sauce homemade. What is that sauce? It's with mint and serrano peppers and oregano and vinegar and oil and chilies. I say chilies. Anyway, it's just like a nice mix of that. It's Argentine. Yeah, Argentine. And then I would do a mashed potato, creamy mashed potatoes. Lots of butter. Then you would put three times of butter.

36:16Or I'd do a twice stuffed potato, which is also good. I would maybe do that instead. And then I would have probably asparagus. And then I would have a peach and raspberry pie with my secret ingredient, which is Southern Comfort. Southern Comfort. I soak the peaches and the raspberries in Southern Comfort. And then I drain that. And then I dim the pie. And then it, like, explodes with flavor. Delicious. So I think it would be something quite basic. That's a meal. Very American. That's a basic meal. Very American. And then I'd have a cheese. I'd probably have a final cheese dessert. Yeah. And then they'd electrocute me and I'd be done.

36:49No. I don't want to end on that. No, no, no. And then you'd have your party about going to have a meal. No, no, no. We're never going to die. We're going to keep on eating. And we're going to eat now. Thank you so much, Paul. I loved you, Ruthie. Thank you, darling. I love you. I love you, too, babe. Well, I love you. Thank you so much. Thank you. You're the best. Thank you.

37:11Ruthie's Table 4 is proud to support Leukemia UK. Their Cartwheel for a Cure campaign raises funds for vital research and more effective and kinder treatments for acute myeloid leukemia. Please donate, and to do so, search Cartwheel for a Cure.

37:35Ruthie's Table 4 was produced by Alex Bell, Robbie Hamilton and Zad Rogers with Andrew Sang and Bella Selimi This has been an Atomize production for iHeartMedia

37:50What if your soda actually did something for you? Introducing Sky Pop Protein Soda Sky Pop Protein Soda has 10 grams of complete protein zero sugar and real delicious soda taste sky pop protein soda reach for the sky get your sky pop protein soda now at target walmart or kroger game night rush or any night of the week really genius keeps every order moving from online ordering to your kitchen to the front counter big league reliability for any business that's genius this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human