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Luke’s Diner: Road Tripping with Rocco · I Am All In with Scott Patterson

0:00
Speaker 1: I am all in again. How let's just do.
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Speaker 2: Luke Steiner with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast, Hey.
0:23
Speaker 1: Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am on and Podcast one eleven productions.
0:26
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio Media, iHeart Podcast one on one interview with the
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Speaker 1: one and Only rock O Dispirited. He has starred on
0:37
Speaker 1: numerous television shows. Most recently, he received two stars from
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Speaker 1: The New York Times as chef of the critically acclaimed
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Speaker 1: Standard Grill in New York City. He is a James
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Speaker 1: Beard Award winning chef, an author of fourteen count on
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Speaker 1: fourteen books, including three number ones New York Times bestsellers.
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Speaker 1: Welcome Rocco.
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Speaker 2: Hey, thank you so much, love love being here. Thanks
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Speaker 2: for the great introduction. I think we're up to fifteen
1:06
Speaker 2: books as of March. Nice and thank you so much.
1:11
Speaker 2: Nice to be here.
1:13
Speaker 1: Take us back to the start, rock O, when you went.
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Speaker 2: Back to the start, back to the start.
1:18
Speaker 1: Culinary school. Given how many chefs are self bought now
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Speaker 1: these days, right, would you still recommend culinary.
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Speaker 2: Yes, it's very different. So would you say that self
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Speaker 2: taught includes learning via Google and YouTube? Yeah? Okay, so yeah,
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Speaker 2: so a lot of chefs are teaching themselves how to
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Speaker 2: cook now just by watching chef's cook on YouTube and Google.
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Speaker 2: It's a great way to learn, you know, visual. I'm
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Speaker 2: a visual learner and worked well for me as a kid.
1:42
Speaker 2: But for me as a kid, visual learning meant you
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Speaker 2: had to go work in a restaurant, pay your dues,
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Speaker 2: and you know, burn and cut yourself every day and
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Speaker 2: work that twelve hour shift so that some guy would
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Speaker 2: feel bad for you and teach you a few things.
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Speaker 2: And you know what, it's a great way of learning.
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Speaker 2: It certainly worked for me, and cooking, you know, change
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Speaker 2: my life for the better. I don't regret a minute
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Speaker 2: of it. But I love that you can go on
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Speaker 2: YouTube now and learn how to do anything, absolutely anything.
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Speaker 2: You can't learn how to act though. I don't think
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Speaker 2: you can learn how to act by watching a YouTube
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Speaker 2: video right.
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Speaker 1: No, no, no, And too many people try yes work
2:20
Speaker 1: out for them.
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Speaker 2: You can get a lot of people don't understand it's
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Speaker 2: a real skill. I'll tell you a funny story. I
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Speaker 2: worked with Nancy Banks, who is you know, somewhat well
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Speaker 2: known acting coach, because I was so nervous on live TV.
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Speaker 2: I had to learn how to act, but play the
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Speaker 2: part of myself, and I used a real acting coach
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Speaker 2: who worked with major stars, and at the time she
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Speaker 2: was working with a couple of actresses from Sex and
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Speaker 2: the City, you know, like a big time acting coach,
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Speaker 2: and you know, it is just getting them to pay
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Speaker 2: attention to you is difficult. Much. Let's take you on.
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Speaker 2: And you know, she put me through a number of
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Speaker 2: exercises and scenarios and we would create you know, mock
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Speaker 2: Today show sets and have people play Al Roker and
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Speaker 2: Katie Kurk and go through all this just so just
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Speaker 2: so I could feel comfortable being me in a room
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Speaker 2: and or on live TV, which is obviously very different
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Speaker 2: than being in a room.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, that interview situation, that scenario is very
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Speaker 1: nerve wracking. It really really that's you know, that's the
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Speaker 1: toughest part of the job. The acting comparatively is like, Okay,
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm trained for this, let's go. You get
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Speaker 1: some nerves every once in a while because yeah, you know,
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Speaker 1: you want to deliver the big emotions or whatever. But yeah,
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Speaker 1: you go on these big talk shows. It's like, yeah, you.
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Speaker 3: Have to be you, yes, exactly, to be you and
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Speaker 3: you and you need to be as funny as the
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Speaker 3: character they wrote for you, or it's interesting or is
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Speaker 3: good looking, or its charming, you know, and that's that's
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Speaker 3: it's all order, because they're good writers out there, you know.
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Speaker 2: Luckily, luckily or maybe unlucky for us, we're we're always
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Speaker 2: playing ourselves and you know, the charming host of the
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Speaker 2: and the guy in the room is making and everyone
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Speaker 2: feels good. Which is also a very difficult role to
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Speaker 2: play because I don't know if you know this, but
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Speaker 2: most chefs like to be in the back of the house, quiet,
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Speaker 2: with their heads down. We like to focus on the work, you.
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Speaker 1: Know, right, Sure, let's talk about growing up. What was
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Speaker 1: your favorite dish?
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Speaker 2: Sure? Yeah, So I grew up in Jamaica Queens, which
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Speaker 2: is one of the five boroughs of New York City,
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Speaker 2: in a you know, like an Italian American household that
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Speaker 2: was at like level nine point eight every day, you know,
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Speaker 2: with the Italian the bad Italian dialect, screaming at top
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Speaker 2: tops of lungs, going to the live chicken market, you know,
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Speaker 2: crazy crazy Italian farmhouse lifestyle in the middle of New
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Speaker 2: York City. This is in the seventies, and you know,
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Speaker 2: so this this incongruency was very severe because outside of
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Speaker 2: my house was New York City, right, which was as
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Speaker 2: modern as anything got. And then inside my house we're
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Speaker 2: living like in the eighteenth century. We had rabbits and
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Speaker 2: chickens in the backyard. You know, this is wild stuff,
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Speaker 2: but it was, you know, it was filled with a
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Speaker 2: lot of love. It was filled with a lot of
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Speaker 2: great food. And so I was, you know, introduced and
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Speaker 2: fell in love with great food at a very early age.
5:08
Speaker 2: I didn't realize what was happening until I started to
5:11
Speaker 2: need to work. You know, when I say need to work,
5:13
Speaker 2: I wanted to buy the new pair of pro Kids
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Speaker 2: with the two stripes, and those are nine to ninety
5:19
Speaker 2: nine at the time, so you know, my mom would
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Speaker 2: put me through it to get a pair of those,
5:23
Speaker 2: and she's like, you still have soles on your feet,
5:26
Speaker 2: but you don't need new shoes. There's still soles on
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Speaker 2: the bottom of your existing shoes. That was that was
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Speaker 2: the measurement if you still had sold you know. So basically,
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Speaker 2: I was told at an early age, if I want
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Speaker 2: to upgrade my lifestyle, I'd have to go out and work.
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Speaker 2: So I ended up working in restaurants. Best thing that
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Speaker 2: ever happened to me, and at eleven, I started working
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Speaker 2: in the pizzeria for fifty cents an hour, and all
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Speaker 2: the Italian ice I could eat was the best job
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Speaker 2: I think to this day that I've ever had. Was
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Speaker 2: amazing because when you get to eat all the Italian
5:56
Speaker 2: ice you want, or when you're in charge of serving
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Speaker 2: Italian ice, you have access to the blue Italian ice.
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Speaker 2: The blue Italian ice is the bubble gum flavored ice.
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Speaker 2: It is the best Italian ice there is, and there's
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Speaker 2: never enough of it. I don't know what your experience
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Speaker 2: is with Italian ice, but the blue it's hard to get.
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Speaker 1: I like cherry cherry, okay, lemon lime or cherry cool.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there was always lemon, the yellow, right, there
6:20
Speaker 2: was the blue, and there was the red, the cherry.
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Speaker 2: So there's a lemon, bubble gum and.
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Speaker 1: Cherry right right right.
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Speaker 2: And Sal was the guy who hired me, and you know,
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Speaker 2: I learned a lot from him. He's a great guy.
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Speaker 2: Great guy.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. You think being a great chef is mostly
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Speaker 1: born talent or did you pick up these skills over time?
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Speaker 2: Great question, Yeah, a little bit of both. I think,
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Speaker 2: like most things, it's a little bit of both. There
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Speaker 2: are some natural, naturally occurring gifts that you need, which
6:46
Speaker 2: is like, you gotta like people, and you gotta like
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Speaker 2: to cook for people. One of my cats wants to say, Hi,
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Speaker 2: you gotta like to cook for You gotta like to
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Speaker 2: serve people. You can't be bitter about the service to
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Speaker 2: other people, right, You got to find that you know
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Speaker 2: perfectly in line with your core value system. And if
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Speaker 2: you love you know, cutting your finger and burning your
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Speaker 2: hand and lighting your hair on fire and cooking something
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Speaker 2: and walking it out to your table to serve someone,
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Speaker 2: then you know the job is perfect for you. And
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Speaker 2: I can tell you from birthual experience it's a very
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Speaker 2: fulfilling role and a great way to feel a lot
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Speaker 2: of love for the public and a great way to exercise,
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Speaker 2: you know, the mind, body, soul, hand skills, brain skills.
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Speaker 2: There's a lot. There's a lot going on and cooking
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Speaker 2: it's very very interesting and multi sensory.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is a people business, isn't it. I
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Speaker 1: mean you really have to love, you know, making people
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Speaker 1: happier and giving them that great dish and going out
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Speaker 1: and asking did you love it?
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Speaker 2: Yeah? You got you gotta love comping stuff too, right,
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Speaker 2: I'm sure, you've never asked for it, but you gotta
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Speaker 2: love comping stuff. Oh my gosh, you don't like it, Okay,
8:03
Speaker 2: I'll take it off your check. You got to be
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Speaker 2: able to say that very easily and very convincingly.
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Speaker 1: Tell me, what's your favorite story about comping. Who's the
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Speaker 1: most famous person if you want to bust them that
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Speaker 1: you had to comp.
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Speaker 2: Famous people don't ask for comps. No, they're usually very
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Speaker 2: gracious and yeah, they usually tip very well, and they're
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Speaker 2: very gracious, and they ask you to cook whatever you want.
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Speaker 2: Many of them. There are some that are, you know,
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Speaker 2: allergic to gluten and dairy, and they don't realize that
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Speaker 2: pasta is all gluten. There's some funny stuff happening out there,
8:42
Speaker 2: but you can't make me name names. You can't make
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Speaker 2: me name names. One of my favorite celebrity cooking experiences
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Speaker 2: was with Robert de Niro, who came into Union Pacific
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Speaker 2: and asked for Dega Station's like, make me a Dega
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Speaker 2: Station menu. That's when you leave it up to the chef,
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Speaker 2: you know, you just chef goes crazy and he fell
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Speaker 2: asleep during the meal. It was amazing. It was amazing
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Speaker 2: cooking for him and so heartbreaking. But then I found
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Speaker 2: out from his lady friend Grace, that he had, you know,
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Speaker 2: narcolepsy or something. She's like, don't worry, do he does
9:14
Speaker 2: this everywhere? It's not you, it's not you. I was like, Oh,
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Speaker 2: the chairs too comfortable? Is it too serene and quiet
9:21
Speaker 2: in here? Yeah? But he was super generous. He came
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Speaker 2: back a lot is, you know, very generous with tipping,
9:27
Speaker 2: really appreciated great food, would let you cook whatever you
9:30
Speaker 2: wanted as low maintenance as they came wonderful.
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Speaker 1: So what's the one ingredient that we don't all should
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Speaker 1: be using more of in are cooking to bring out flavor?
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Speaker 2: Butter? Every butter. You can't be afraid of butter. You
9:43
Speaker 2: should go out and buy as much grass fed butter
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Speaker 2: as you could afford and put it in everything, on
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Speaker 2: everything if you want food to taste good. And then
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Speaker 2: the next one is salt, as much salt as your
9:53
Speaker 2: heart and palate can handle. And then MSG is another
9:57
Speaker 2: way to really boost flavors is essentially powdered seaweed, So
10:02
Speaker 2: don't be afraid of it. It's you know, it was
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Speaker 2: obviously maligned in the seventies and a lot of people
10:07
Speaker 2: claim that that was, you know, a part of a
10:09
Speaker 2: you know, anti Asian thing. I'm not sure what the
10:13
Speaker 2: truth is, but turns out that real, real, naturally occurring MSG,
10:17
Speaker 2: which is essentially dried seaweed leaves, is totally fine and
10:21
Speaker 2: doesn't is not harmful at all. Okay, but you know,
10:24
Speaker 2: here's a little secret. Go get dashi powder which has
10:28
Speaker 2: pombu and bonito flakes in it.
10:30
Speaker 1: Let me let me ask you this question. Yeah, so
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Speaker 1: you published a cookbook in the last year. Was that
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Speaker 1: always a big dream of yours to get a cookbook
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Speaker 1: out there with your name on it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So, my dad was a carpenter who wanted to
10:43
Speaker 2: be a lawyer. He was an intellectual, you know, who
10:46
Speaker 2: grew up during the war and depression in Italy, who
10:49
Speaker 2: really had bigger ambitions. So he came to America hoping
10:52
Speaker 2: he would become a lawyer and write books. That was
10:54
Speaker 2: always his dream. He was the kind of guy who
10:56
Speaker 2: borrowed books and self studied his way through high school.
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Speaker 2: You imagine a person doing that today, borrowing books, not
11:03
Speaker 2: even buying books, not even library, going to friends and
11:07
Speaker 2: borrowing books. And so his dream was to write books
11:10
Speaker 2: and be a published author, and so, you know, as
11:14
Speaker 2: a proxy for my dad, it was a dream of mine.
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Speaker 2: It wasn't the dream for me, because the dream for
11:19
Speaker 2: me was always running a restaurant, opening a restaurant, being
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Speaker 2: the chef. But I remember asking my dad about it
11:25
Speaker 2: when the opportunity came up, and he was like, you
11:27
Speaker 2: have to do it. The most important thing you can
11:30
Speaker 2: do is to write about what you do and tell
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Speaker 2: people what you do and share what it is that
11:34
Speaker 2: you do. Because it's one thing to do, it's another
11:37
Speaker 2: thing to be able to tell people why you do it,
11:39
Speaker 2: how you do it. And he really, you know, he
11:42
Speaker 2: really infected me with the writer's bug, and so it
11:46
Speaker 2: was a great moment for me. And you know, fifteen
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Speaker 2: books letter later, I can tell you it's you know,
11:51
Speaker 2: probably my favorite part of our business as chefs. Now
11:54
Speaker 2: we get to do a lot of different things with
11:55
Speaker 2: a lot of spokes in our wheel. We get to
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Speaker 2: do you know, TV and live appearances and cooking restaurants
12:02
Speaker 2: and obviously social media craziness and write books. And writing
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Speaker 2: is great because it's the only time we can memorialize
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Speaker 2: what we do. You're lucky you get to you get
12:12
Speaker 2: to be in a film, or TV show, and it's
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Speaker 2: there forever. You can't erase it, right, it's whether you
12:17
Speaker 2: like it or not, it's there forever. But for us,
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Speaker 2: we serve a meal and it's eaten and it's gone forever.
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Speaker 2: So writing a book is a way to mitigate that
12:26
Speaker 2: for us. Right, So it is, it is. It is
12:29
Speaker 2: a great time.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, favorite memories of cooking, favorite, favorite memories, favorite memories.
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Speaker 2: So it's pretty gruesome one. But it's cooking in the
12:37
Speaker 2: backyard with my mom, my uncle, my grandmother. And it
12:44
Speaker 2: was a big lesson for me because it was the
12:45
Speaker 2: day I realized that our our pets were also our food.
12:50
Speaker 2: But I remember tasting these foods that my grandmother was
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Speaker 2: grilling that were formerly our pets and realizing, how, you know,
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Speaker 2: how delicious this fresh food was. That I was young
13:01
Speaker 2: enough to be horrified by what was happening and old
13:03
Speaker 2: enough to appreciate how great, you know, having fresh food is.
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Speaker 2: So that's a pretty big memory. And I remember my
13:10
Speaker 2: grandmother let me turn the meats on the grill, and
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Speaker 2: of course I assumed they were chicken, and they weren't.
13:19
Speaker 2: There were other things, other things that you might have named,
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Speaker 2: you know, And so that was pretty good. My grandmother
13:26
Speaker 2: is in most of my great memories when it comes
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Speaker 2: to food. She was it could have been, you know,
13:31
Speaker 2: a stand up comedian kind of character. Did you have
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Speaker 2: a grandmother like that?
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Speaker 1: No?
13:35
Speaker 2: Funny, though mine was so funny. We don't have another
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Speaker 2: funny person like that in our family anymore.
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Speaker 1: No, God, who was a funny person in our well?
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Speaker 1: I guess it was my dad. My dad. My mom
13:46
Speaker 1: and dad together were actually pretty funny. They were they
13:48
Speaker 1: were great storytellers. Yeah, we had a couple of jokesters
13:53
Speaker 1: in my family.
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Speaker 2: And Mira and Ben Stiller, by any no, not that
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Speaker 2: that funny. That Can you imagine growing up with those
14:01
Speaker 2: those people as your parents?
14:04
Speaker 1: I worked with you, did I worked with one of
14:08
Speaker 1: the No, no, the daughter the daughter? Oh okay, yeah,
14:13
Speaker 1: I knew the daughter and I worked with her, and
14:16
Speaker 1: I think we're in an acting class together. And oh wow,
14:18
Speaker 1: Yeah she was very funny. Not surprising, I'm sure.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So either they laughed a lot at home or
14:25
Speaker 2: they were in tears all the time. I'm not sure,
14:28
Speaker 2: right exactly? So, lots of lots of favorite moments in cooking.
14:32
Speaker 2: Another one is when my mom would make bread and
14:36
Speaker 2: she would give me the little scraps that didn't make
14:38
Speaker 2: it into the loaf. And for some reason, this crazy
14:42
Speaker 2: woman let me fry those scraps that was barely tall
14:45
Speaker 2: enough to reach the stove. That's not the first thing
14:47
Speaker 2: you teach a kid how to fry in hot oil,
14:49
Speaker 2: but she let me do that. And you know, I
14:51
Speaker 2: never burned myself, thankfully. Can you imagine how having your
14:56
Speaker 2: kid walk up to a stove with a pot of
14:57
Speaker 2: frying oil and throw you know, she would make me.
15:01
Speaker 2: She would say, shape it however you want, and I
15:03
Speaker 2: would make little dinosaurs and you know, cows and horses,
15:05
Speaker 2: and then we would throw it in the you know,
15:08
Speaker 2: ready to flame out hot oil. It would immediately fry
15:12
Speaker 2: and brown. And then she would while it was hot,
15:14
Speaker 2: she would douse it in honey or powdered sugar. Is
15:17
Speaker 2: so good. It's fried dough, you know, right right right,
15:21
Speaker 2: bunnel cake.
15:21
Speaker 1: And so in this episode a road Trip to Harvard,
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Speaker 1: Laura l I takes your daughter Rory on that road
15:27
Speaker 1: trip to go visit Harvard University. She's what sophomore in
15:30
Speaker 1: high school, but she wants to go to Harvard. Do
15:32
Speaker 1: you think you think it's worth trying to pack meals
15:35
Speaker 1: for a road trip or just hit the drive through
15:37
Speaker 1: on the way.
15:38
Speaker 2: Well, you're talking to a guy who was raised with
15:40
Speaker 2: semi literate Italian gangsters, you know. For so we always
15:43
Speaker 2: had meals packed. We had we didn't have meals. We
15:47
Speaker 2: had elements of a meal. We had a piece of parmesan,
15:51
Speaker 2: We had hunka parmesan red jihano, a piece of caci carlo,
15:55
Speaker 2: which is the big ball of mozzarella that they hang
15:58
Speaker 2: from the ceiling in the garage. You know, you don't
16:00
Speaker 2: know what it is until they open it one day
16:02
Speaker 2: and you realize it's cheese. They take a silk ro
16:05
Speaker 2: soad from the ceiling of the garage, covered in mold,
16:08
Speaker 2: and they throw all that into a bag, you know,
16:10
Speaker 2: not plastic, and then my mom would grab a knife
16:13
Speaker 2: and some bread, and that was normal life for me.
16:17
Speaker 2: So and I have to say that those were, you know,
16:21
Speaker 2: to this day, the best road dishes I ever had.
16:24
Speaker 2: I remember being very embarrassed by it, but then when
16:27
Speaker 2: we were hungry, it paid off. You know, when we
16:29
Speaker 2: were hungry on the side of the road and we
16:30
Speaker 2: had food and everyone else was looking for a McDonald's,
16:33
Speaker 2: it paid off, so definitely. Always always a good idea
16:36
Speaker 2: to pack food. I'm gonna say yes, always a good
16:38
Speaker 2: idea to pack food, never a bad idea to have food. Handy.
16:41
Speaker 1: Let's let's create or you create the perfect drive through menu.
16:46
Speaker 1: What would be on that menu?
16:48
Speaker 2: Drive through?
16:50
Speaker 1: Drive your car, drive through?
16:51
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, so hot fried chicken, ready to eat, hot
16:55
Speaker 2: fried chicken, pizza for sure, cavear bump, cold champagne, uh cold,
17:05
Speaker 2: good champagne, Moet level minimum. Wow, yeah, you want to
17:10
Speaker 2: come on this trip? Yeah? Maybe a little? We should, Yeah,
17:15
Speaker 2: we should. You know, in Italy, I think they're called
17:17
Speaker 2: what are they called in Italy? The roadside gas stations
17:21
Speaker 2: with the like three star Michelin food, the auto Gazetto
17:24
Speaker 2: or whatever. I'll think of it in a second, but
17:26
Speaker 2: they already existently. Apasta bar would be nice with some fresh.
17:31
Speaker 4: Uha amatri chana or carbonara, or the one with just
17:39
Speaker 4: butter and parm fredo.
17:51
Speaker 1: Have you ever planned a road trip around specific food
17:54
Speaker 1: stops restaurants.
17:56
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, absolutely yeah. So when I went to the
17:59
Speaker 2: Culinary stupid Ma. You had to drive through a place
18:02
Speaker 2: in Connecticut that's famous for some great pizzerias and so
18:06
Speaker 2: a pizza is one of them. And so whenever I
18:10
Speaker 2: go that way for whatever reason, there's usually a stop there.
18:15
Speaker 2: But I basically, I would say, plan most things around
18:18
Speaker 2: the food stops that are going to happen, you know,
18:21
Speaker 2: so I'll pick I'll pick routes based on, you know,
18:25
Speaker 2: what restaurants I know are on the way, or what
18:28
Speaker 2: butcher shops or seafood markets are on the way. And
18:32
Speaker 2: you know, certainly in Italy they're always thinking about food
18:37
Speaker 2: and their next meal and what they have to buy
18:39
Speaker 2: to supply their you know, resupply the provisions in the house.
18:42
Speaker 2: So they're always working around, in and around food stops.
18:46
Speaker 2: And it's a great way to live, great way to live.
18:49
Speaker 2: And those are skinny people, by the way. The people
18:51
Speaker 2: that think like that right there are the ones that
18:54
Speaker 2: have to stop at McDonald's because they didn't plan. Those
18:56
Speaker 2: are the ones who are eating too much.
19:01
Speaker 1: Any particularly I mean, I mean, I'm sure you're biased
19:04
Speaker 1: to Italy or New York, but any particular countries that
19:07
Speaker 1: you've taken food excursions on that you particularly love, I
19:11
Speaker 1: would recommend absolutely.
19:13
Speaker 2: Thailand was an early one in my chef career, about
19:17
Speaker 2: twenty years ago. I remember going from a sort of
19:24
Speaker 2: you know, first year college student to a graduate student
19:30
Speaker 2: in a few days in terms of spice, because they,
19:33
Speaker 2: you know, the spice in the food, and Thailand is
19:35
Speaker 2: so at such a high level that you have to
19:38
Speaker 2: get used to it really quickly. And I remember my
19:39
Speaker 2: body physically convulsing and meat sweats and all kinds of
19:44
Speaker 2: crazy things happening. But the food was so delicious that
19:47
Speaker 2: me and my two other chef friends just loved it
19:51
Speaker 2: and just kept going and kept pushing forward, and you know,
19:56
Speaker 2: basically built that entire trip around which street vendor, which
20:00
Speaker 2: restaurant we were going to go to next. There's so
20:02
Speaker 2: much food in Thailand, and all of it is so
20:04
Speaker 2: good and so fresh. It's still, you know, still basically
20:07
Speaker 2: a farming society, so everything they eat is is raised,
20:11
Speaker 2: you know, locally, and fresh you know, that week, that day.
20:15
Speaker 2: So Thailand's good. If you're gonna build, if you're gonna
20:17
Speaker 2: build a vacation around food, Thailand. Bangkok Hang Mine a
20:21
Speaker 2: great one. We didn't make one stuff that was a
20:24
Speaker 2: little strange where we ate a snake. Uh. They made
20:28
Speaker 2: us eat the green vial first with soju and then
20:32
Speaker 2: they sauta the meat and then they fried the bones.
20:35
Speaker 2: It was crazy. I'll never do that again. Don't ever
20:38
Speaker 2: do that.
20:39
Speaker 1: If someone suggests that, say, no, what kind of snake
20:42
Speaker 1: was it?
20:42
Speaker 2: You know, you know, a poisonous one. I remember it
20:44
Speaker 2: was alive and it was very poisonous. They needed an
20:47
Speaker 2: expert snake handler.
20:48
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Yeah. And why did you feel compelled
20:52
Speaker 1: to eat it? There was some kind of pressure on
20:55
Speaker 1: you to eat this.
20:57
Speaker 2: I was just going with the flow. My friend I
20:59
Speaker 2: was in Thailand and it was you know, it's a
21:02
Speaker 2: it's a favorite. It's a heavy favorite for all taurists.
21:05
Speaker 2: I'm sure I saw it on TV. I saw Anthony
21:08
Speaker 2: Bourdain do it on TV, probably you know, or Andrew Zimmern,
21:11
Speaker 2: and I thought, I gotta do that.
21:12
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta have a snake. I gotta eat
21:15
Speaker 1: a snake.
21:15
Speaker 2: At one point, and they kept telling you it makes
21:17
Speaker 2: you strong, makes you strong. I still don't know what
21:18
Speaker 2: they're talking about. But didn't make me strong, made me queasy.
21:24
Speaker 2: All right.
21:24
Speaker 1: Last question, if you were to come into Luke's diner, okay,
21:28
Speaker 1: we would you order?
21:29
Speaker 2: Oh that's a hard one. Remind me what did Luke
21:32
Speaker 2: Stander serve other than sass and beauty and a lot
21:37
Speaker 2: of sass. So so for me, a couple of classics
21:41
Speaker 2: in the diner world are a no frills burger that's
21:47
Speaker 2: basically a burger and a bun and you're done. Patty
21:50
Speaker 2: melts or a tuna melt. This is a piece of
21:53
Speaker 2: rye with you know, overly mayonnaise, tuna salad and some
21:58
Speaker 2: you know American cheese melt it on top. Great, great
22:01
Speaker 2: combination of flavors. I think a shake is important to
22:04
Speaker 2: be able to get at a diner. And then when
22:08
Speaker 2: you're just sick of the world and you're tired of
22:10
Speaker 2: people's opinions and you don't care what's trending, an omelet,
22:15
Speaker 2: cheese omelet. You should be able to get a good
22:16
Speaker 2: cheese omelet and a diner for under ten bucks. That
22:19
Speaker 2: doesn't exist anymore. I don't know what's going on near you,
22:22
Speaker 2: but by me and New York diners don't even aren't
22:26
Speaker 2: even around anymore. So, but a great omelet, a great omelet.
22:30
Speaker 1: Needs to be a revival.
22:31
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, for sure, is there a Luke's diner
22:33
Speaker 2: in real life? Should we open one?
22:35
Speaker 1: We could talk, Let's talk.
22:38
Speaker 2: It's got history it's a known quantity.
22:40
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I've just been trying to do
22:43
Speaker 1: that for twenty five years. But let's let's talk about it.
22:47
Speaker 2: You never know when you've met the right person.
22:50
Speaker 1: You never know, you never know. So the standard grill
22:53
Speaker 1: is still going strong.
22:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything's going well, still going strong. I am Oh.
23:01
Speaker 2: I want to tell you about a thing that I
23:02
Speaker 2: do that I never talk about because it's a very
23:04
Speaker 2: word of mouth thing. But I wrote a book called
23:06
Speaker 2: The Pound a Day Diet in two thousand and nine.
23:09
Speaker 2: Did very well, and for the book, my publisher said
23:14
Speaker 2: that it's a great title, but we don't believe you.
23:16
Speaker 2: You got to prove it that it works, because losing
23:18
Speaker 2: a pound a day is based on diet science. But
23:21
Speaker 2: it's you know, it's hard to do and hard to prove.
23:23
Speaker 2: It's based on the science calorie deficit. If you reduce
23:26
Speaker 2: people's consumption thirty five hundred calories a day, thirty five
23:30
Speaker 2: hundred calories egal to one pound of fat. So the
23:32
Speaker 2: science was, if I can get you down to something below,
23:35
Speaker 2: you know, thirty five hundred calories, you would lose a
23:39
Speaker 2: pound a day. And most Americans eat four thousand and
23:41
Speaker 2: seven thirty calories a day, so it leaves leaves you
23:44
Speaker 2: about twelve hundred and fifty calories to work with. So
23:47
Speaker 2: I put twelve people on the diet. It worked ninety
23:50
Speaker 2: eight percent success, and I've been doing that diet for
23:53
Speaker 2: those people and more ever since. So I never talk
23:57
Speaker 2: about this because it's you know, it's very private, personal
24:00
Speaker 2: and word of mouth y. It's a little expensive, but
24:03
Speaker 2: I want people to know that I do that, and
24:05
Speaker 2: then I'm still very active in the health of wellness
24:07
Speaker 2: space because they haven't because COVID kind of disrupted everything,
24:10
Speaker 2: as you know, and it disrupted the health and wellness
24:13
Speaker 2: business side of my business and where it's back and strong,
24:17
Speaker 2: as strong as ever.
24:18
Speaker 1: Did you ever consider going to Miami?
24:21
Speaker 2: I have many times.
24:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like like a lot of a lot of chefs
24:24
Speaker 1: did a lot of restaurants during COVID. After COVID, they
24:27
Speaker 1: were like, we're out of here.
24:29
Speaker 2: Huh. Yeah. There are two problems for me. One is
24:31
Speaker 2: that I'm you know, born and raised, intrepid New Yorker
24:34
Speaker 2: and I'm under the delusion that I won't be happy
24:37
Speaker 2: anywhere else. And I know that's not true, but I'm
24:39
Speaker 2: you know, still, I still believe it and I need
24:44
Speaker 2: you know, I need someone in Miami to make an offer,
24:48
Speaker 2: create an opportunity, you know, something, something right, right. I'm
24:51
Speaker 2: down there every year for soby. This is the big
24:53
Speaker 2: food festival. Have you been to that? No, you should come,
24:56
Speaker 2: you should come. Okay, that's every year in February. Oh
24:59
Speaker 2: nice out Beach Wine and Food Festival. It's the biggest
25:01
Speaker 2: in the country. Sixty thousand people attend. Yeah. So I
25:05
Speaker 2: go down there every year. I talk to people and
25:07
Speaker 2: nothing's ever materialized. But you never know, I don't know.
25:10
Speaker 2: The night is still young.
25:12
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for company.
25:14
Speaker 2: Welcome.
25:15
Speaker 1: This was this was very very illuminating. And I'll be
25:20
Speaker 1: in touch, you know, and you have to come back
25:23
Speaker 1: on you please promise. The great gusts we didn't even
25:26
Speaker 1: even get into it really very much. But there's a
25:29
Speaker 1: lot more here, a lot more meat on the bone
25:32
Speaker 1: here anyway, Rock Oh, thank you so much. Everybody, go
25:37
Speaker 1: buy the Standard Grill in New York City if you
25:39
Speaker 1: want one of the best meals from one of the
25:41
Speaker 1: best chefs in the world. Rock Oh, thanks so much.
25:44
Speaker 1: And that's going to wrap it up here. Thank you, everybody.
25:48
Speaker 1: Keep the downloads coming, keep the cards, and letters coming
25:51
Speaker 1: the best fans on the planet. Where you lead, we
25:55
Speaker 1: will follow Stay Sicket dot j. Hey everybody, and don't forget.
26:26
Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
26:30
Speaker 1: and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.