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Michelin Comes to NYC | Inside Track · The Restaurant Guys

• 1:12
  Mark: Good morning, Francis.
• 1:13
  Francis: Hey there.
• 1:15
  Francis: You with a star in your eyes.
• 1:18
  Francis: Why are you singing at me?
• 1:19
  Francis: Man?
• 1:21
  Francis: I'm singing.
• 1:22
  Francis: Stop singing at me because the Michelin guide came out, the French red guidebook Lan is now in New York, and this has been long awaited and, and did somebody
• 1:32
  Mark: tell you you should sing at me?
• 1:33
  Francis: I don't know.
• 1:34
  Francis: Stars was the theme because anybody who told you you should sing it here.
• 1:38
  Francis: He is in big trouble with me right now.
• 1:40
  Francis: It's a talk radio station.
• 1:41
  Francis: I think the, I think Bruce Johnson is gonna be, uh, coming after me for singing on talk radio.
• 1:45
  Francis: I don't think that's allowed, but the Michelin Guide is the most respected guide in all of Europe, and it is in every city in Europe.
• 1:52
  Francis: And, uh, it has never been in the United States before and it's been much touted
• 1:57
  Mark: starting with New York City,
• 1:58
  Francis: and they've started in New York City.
• 1:59
  Francis: They've just come out with the, the Michelin guide.
• 2:02
  Francis: Now, the way the Michelin guide works.
• 2:04
  Francis: Is they have professional reviewers that review places several times.
• 2:07
  Francis: They have a staff that keeps going on, they review all year long.
• 2:10
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 2:11
  Francis: And then you get your Michelin rating at the end of the year and what you get is on the, if you even to get listed means you're worth worthy of notes.
• 2:19
  Francis: It's a really
• 2:19
  Mark: big deal to get listed in Lahee, Michelin,
• 2:21
  Francis: and then for the very best restaurants in any given city or country.
• 2:25
  Francis: 'cause there's a Michelin guide to France, there's a Michelin guide to Paris, there's a Michelin guide to different regions of different countries.
• 2:30
  Francis: Yeah.
• 2:31
  Francis: But to get reviewed at all, to get mentioned at all is, is a mark of honor for,
• 2:35
  Mark: for years, the Michelin Guide said, no restaurant in the United States is good enough to possibly make our guide.
• 2:40
  Mark: We're not gonna bother, uh, reviewing the restaurants and,
• 2:43
  Francis: yeah.
• 2:43
  Francis: Well, that, that's bunk.
• 2:44
  Francis: There were always restaurants here that could make it, but were there always restaurants here that could get stars?
• 2:48
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 2:49
  Francis: Because unlike.
• 2:49
  Francis: People think, well, if it didn't get any stars, it wasn't a good review.
• 2:52
  Francis: Even getting mentioned in the Michelin guide says, you're, you're a good restaurant,
• 2:55
  Mark: right?
• 2:56
  Mark: One, one star is, is a, is a great place,
• 2:59
  Francis: right?
• 2:59
  Francis: If you are in, if you are in, uh, in Europe and you see a one star restaurant, a Michelin one star restaurant mm-hmm.
• 3:04
  Francis: Which is different than the star ratings for hotels.
• 3:06
  Francis: I mean, there are five star hotels there.
• 3:08
  Francis: It's all kinds of different stars.
• 3:09
  Francis: But the Michelin Star, a one star Michelin restaurant is, is not an inexpensive place.
• 3:14
  Francis: And, and we should tell you too, Michelin only goes up
• 3:17
  Mark: to three.
• 3:18
  Mark: Right, so there's a mention which is zero.
• 3:20
  Mark: Which is a very, which is an honor.
• 3:22
  Mark: Which is an honor.
• 3:23
  Mark: There's one, which is a pretty special restaurant, right.
• 3:25
  Mark: Michelin one star restaurants are serious restaurants.
• 3:27
  Mark: Okay.
• 3:27
  Mark: And, and how that's defined is a one star restaurant is highly respected by savvy travelers.
• 3:33
  Mark: Right?
• 3:33
  Mark: Okay.
• 3:34
  Mark: Then there's a, uh, two, which is next, and that is described as, uh, worth the detour, and then three, which is their highest rating, and it says it's worth a special trip.
• 3:44
  Mark: And for some people they mean.
• 3:45
  Mark: Worth a special trip to Paris from the United States,
• 3:48
  Francis: which Mark and I have done actually now.
• 3:50
  Francis: Michelin surveyed 507 New York restaurants in all five boroughs for the New York Guide, which uh, sells for 1695, which is cheaper than the French guide.
• 3:59
  Francis: there were 39 restaurants that won stars.
• 4:01
  Francis: That's fewer than half as many s have stars in Paris, which has ten three stars among the 580 places listed.
• 4:08
  Francis: And London only has a total of 34 restaurants with stars.
• 4:11
  Francis: Only one.
• 4:12
  Francis: Gordon Ramsey earns three stars.
• 4:14
  Francis: We have a number of three star restaurants in New York now.
• 4:16
  Francis: This is a big deal for these restaurants.
• 4:18
  Francis: Yeah, it's huge.
• 4:18
  Francis: I mean, this is international acclaim in, in New York and probably in the country.
• 4:22
  Francis: the most respected, review is the New York Times, and that goes up to four stars and four stars in the New York Times makes you one of the best restaurants in New York, which of course makes you one of the best restaurants in the country.
• 4:34
  Francis: But if you're outside New York, you, you're not, that that guide isn't even available to you.
• 4:38
  Francis: Um, and the Zago Guide is a very important guide, but that's a reader's choice poll.
• 4:42
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 4:43
  Francis: And as regionally and regionally biased in
• 4:45
  Mark: some ways.
• 4:45
  Francis: For sure.
• 4:46
  Francis: And the standards for the restaurants in Ohio are different than they are from, from Ohio.
• 4:49
  Francis: Diners, no shot on Ohio are different than the standards of diners in Manhattan.
• 4:53
  Francis: You know?
• 4:53
  Francis: So, and you can have a 29 point hotdog stand
• 4:56
  Mark: that, that was a small shot on Ohio.
• 4:58
  Francis: Not really.
• 4:59
  Francis: It was a little one.
• 5:00
  Francis: Not everyone, come on, tell the truth.
• 5:00
  Francis: Not on everyone in Ohio, but No, but you can, you can have.
• 5:03
  Francis: A casual restaurant that gets 28 points'cause it's the best of category.
• 5:07
  Francis: Whereas a three star Michelin restaurant is super high in silver service has to be perfect in every way.
• 5:12
  Francis: Perfect service.
• 5:13
  Francis: And there
• 5:13
  Mark: are many, many, many criteria criterion.
• 5:16
  Mark: Criteria.
• 5:17
  Mark: Criteria yes.
• 5:19
  Mark: Mm-hmm.
• 5:19
  Mark: That go into, picking these Michelin three star restaurants.
• 5:23
  Mark: And the Michelin guide is very, very tightlipped about what?
• 5:28
  Mark: Each of these criteria are,
• 5:29
  Francis: and, and one of the reasons that it became so popular in France and, and became so respected is that in France where everything is corruptible and everyone is sub subject to being bribed, okay, you've offended, offended the people from Ohio and the people from France.
• 5:42
  Francis: Let's see, we're four minutes into the show.
• 5:44
  Francis: Go get in France.
• 5:45
  Francis: Does anybody else you got anyway, but the, well, the in.
• 5:48
  Francis: France, though they say that the Michelin guides are incorruptible, like where you can buy the government, you know?
• 5:54
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 5:55
  Francis: That the Michelin reviewers are incorruptible and I, and because the French take their food very, very seriously, um, in New York, we have, and the question is, will this guide have traction in New York?
• 6:05
  Francis: Will we pay at any mind?
• 6:07
  Francis: And, and early reviews are at least among foodies.
• 6:09
  Francis: People are really paying a lot of attention.
• 6:11
  Francis: Everybody's paying attention to it.
• 6:13
  Francis: Um, the, the three star restaurants in New York are Elaine Dcos at the Essex House.
• 6:18
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 6:19
  Francis: John George Larna, Dan and per se, uh, and that's it.
• 6:23
  Francis: Okay.
• 6:24
  Francis: For all in New York.
• 6:24
  Mark: That's all.
• 6:25
  Mark: And those are some, some very, very serious restaurants.
• 6:28
  Francis: Extraordinary restaurants.
• 6:30
  Mark: Okay.
• 6:30
  Mark: Just so you know how important this, these types of things are to these restaurants.
• 6:34
  Mark: A.
• 6:35
  Mark: They mean a, a plethora of people trying to get reservations to these places.
• 6:39
  Francis: People will be calling from Paris to these restaurants tonight to try and get in a month from now and hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands and thousands of, and we'll book their plane reservations based on whether or not they get a reservation.
• 6:49
  Francis: Correct.
• 6:49
  Francis: And this is right in our backyard, everybody, but make your reservations early and, and,
• 6:52
  Mark: and, and they're talk, they're talking this New York Times article that I'm reading right now that I'm, that I'm looking at, uh, of, of owners crying.
• 7:01
  Mark: Because they got three Michelin stars.
• 7:03
  Mark: Yeah.
• 7:03
  Mark: Crying and
• 7:04
  Francis: crying and getting boat catalogs sent to their house houses.
• 7:08
  Francis: Well, you know, the thing is, it doesn't mean a lot of success, but it's not just that.
• 7:11
  Francis: It means that your restaurant's booked forever and always.
• 7:13
  Francis: Um, it, it means that you have achieved the respect of your peers at the highest level by the most respected guide.
• 7:19
  Francis: Hey, here's an interesting thing here.
• 7:21
  Francis: We have a first.
• 7:22
  Francis: Uh, per se is owned by an American born chef.
• 7:25
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 7:25
  Francis: Thomas Keller, first American chef to get three stars.
• 7:28
  Francis: Other interesting things of note now, uh, LA Bernadin.
• 7:31
  Francis: The chef and co-owner is Eric Repair, who's French and John George and, uh, Elaine DKAs are all French.
• 7:38
  Francis: Uh, Elaine Dcos has a three star restaurant in Paris and a three star restaurant in Monaco, and now a three star restaurant in New York, making him the first chef in the history of the world to have three, three star restaurants for a total, that's nine stars, and he didn't get'em one at a time.
• 7:52
  Francis: Nine Michelin Stars.
• 7:55
  Francis: Plus he has other lesser starred properties in hotels, in other parts of the world.
• 7:59
  Francis: He's amazing actually.
• 8:01
  Francis: Mark and I had one of the best meals of our life in the best meal of my life in, in, uh, ATCO in Paris at his place in Paris.
• 8:06
  Francis: two stars.
• 8:07
  Francis: what do we have two stars.
• 8:08
  Francis: Danielle
• 8:08
  Mark: Masa.
• 8:09
  Mark: Yeah.
• 8:10
  Mark: Bole and Danube.
• 8:11
  Francis: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Francis: Danube is a beautiful Austrian restaurant.
• 8:14
  Francis: these are also great, great restaurants.
• 8:16
  Francis: Now four restaurants got two stars.
• 8:19
  Francis: Okay, so you're in the top eight if you got two stars, right?
• 8:21
  Francis: That's pretty So,
• 8:22
  Mark: so again, I, I think that, that people look at stars and they think of New York Times stars or they think of some of the other, uh, magazines or newspapers that they read for stars.
• 8:29
  Mark: Michelin Stars three is the absolute most you can get.
• 8:32
  Mark: And it is a special restaurant that places you in the top
• 8:35
  Francis: four
• 8:35
  Mark: restaurants in New York City and it, it Places you in the top three or 400 restaurants in the world.
• 8:40
  Mark: In the world.
• 8:40
  Mark: Oh, even fewer than that.
• 8:41
  Mark: I fewer than that.
• 8:42
  Mark: Yeah, sure.
• 8:42
  Mark: Uh, now two stars.
• 8:45
  Mark: Danielle Masa, Bole, Dan.
• 8:47
  Mark: Okay.
• 8:47
  Mark: These are spectacular restaurants.
• 8:50
  Mark: Top 10 restaurants in Manhattan, and they are two star restaurants.
• 8:53
  Mark: And just if you were to give a ranking, that's only eight.
• 8:56
  Mark: So two of the top 10 restaurants in Manhattan are one star restaurants.
• 9:00
  Francis: You know, when we come back, I wanna talk more about what, what the one star restaurants are, because I often find when I travel that well.
• 9:06
  Francis: Not only because of budget, but because they're very interesting what falls into the one star category?
• 9:11
  Francis: Because I think you can get somewhat more casual dining in, in a broader definition.
• 9:14
  Francis: Whereas, I mean, I think to be two or three stars, you need to be in a somewhat formal environment mm-hmm.
• 9:19
  Francis: And, and makes making the one star restaurant more accessible and I think a little more interesting.
• 9:22
  Francis: And there are some very curious choices in the New York guide.
• 9:25
  Francis: So stay tuned and we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that.
• 9:27
  Francis: after the break, you're listening to the Restaurant Guys, You are back with the restaurant guys, mark Pascal and Francis Shop.
• 9:32
  Francis: We're talking about the big news.
• 9:33
  Francis: Big news in the restaurant world.
• 9:35
  Francis: The Michelin Guide for New York has just been published.
• 9:38
  Francis: The Michelin Guide for Europe for all the major cities in Europe has always been the final arbiter.
• 9:41
  Francis: The ultimate arbiter of.
• 9:43
  Francis: Restaurants in that city, in that country, wherever.
• 9:46
  Francis: And the first time they've reviewed restaurants in New York.
• 9:49
  Francis: We have four, three star restaurants out of all of New York, four, two star restaurants out of all of New York, and about 30 one star restaurants out of all of New York.
• 9:57
  Francis: And the One Star restaurants have some very interesting choices, don't you think, mark?
• 10:00
  Mark: Oh, I definitely do.
• 10:01
  Mark: There are some that I.
• 10:02
  Mark: Totally agree with and say, wow, this probably could have been a two star.
• 10:06
  Mark: This is a great restaurant, places that I love.
• 10:09
  Mark: Uh, a lot of the restaurants, a lot of my favorite restaurants in the city are in this one star area.
• 10:14
  Mark: And remember that, that Gid Melan, or the Michelin Guide has very rigid rules as to what allows a place fall into one category or another.
• 10:23
  Mark: They're published.
• 10:25
  Mark: Nowhere.
• 10:26
  Mark: Right?
• 10:26
  Mark: Nowhere can you know what exactly you need, except that to go from one star to two
• 10:30
  Francis: star, except that you know, when you talk about a three star restaurant, you're talking about fresh flowers and you're talking about a lot of real estate.
• 10:36
  Francis: You're talking about
• 10:37
  Mark: silver silverware and you're talking about That's right.
• 10:39
  Mark: Silver is supposed to in the field, crystal glassware,
• 10:41
  Francis: but you're also talking about a lot of real estate.
• 10:42
  Francis: You're talking about I don't wanna be sitting very close to my neighbor.
• 10:45
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 10:45
  Francis: If I'm paying, if I'm in a three star restaurant.
• 10:47
  Francis: Right.
• 10:47
  Francis: I, I'm thinking that my conversation
• 10:49
  Mark: is my own.
• 10:50
  Francis: Exactly, and I'm sitting in a very comfortable chair very far away from my neighbors.
• 10:55
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 10:55
  Mark: There's another restaurant in here that, that I, I wanna discuss quickly that fell into one star category.
• 10:59
  Mark: And that's craft, that's a restaurant with a really great wine list.
• 11:03
  Mark: Does have a little bit of real estate, does have some pretty special food.
• 11:07
  Mark: Do you think that they could have fallen into two or do you think they belong at one?
• 11:10
  Francis: Hmm, interesting.
• 11:11
  Francis: Craft is an interesting restaurant.
• 11:12
  Francis: When they first opened up, they were, uh, their idea of that restaurant was they would put the main ingredients down and you would combine what sauce you wanted with what main course in there.
• 11:20
  Francis: Yeah.
• 11:20
  Francis: I'm glad
• 11:20
  Mark: they don't do that anymore.
• 11:21
  Mark: Yeah.
• 11:21
  Mark: They quickly abandoned that.
• 11:23
  Francis: Uh, no.
• 11:23
  Francis: I think that craft in, in New York is, is a one star restaurant.
• 11:27
  Francis: How,
• 11:27
  Mark: how about Nobu
• 11:28
  Francis: Nobu?
• 11:29
  Francis: I don't know.
• 11:30
  Francis: I, I, the fact of the matter is I don't think that I have enough of an expertise in Asian cuisine.
• 11:34
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 11:34
  Francis: To say whether I think it's, it's two or three stars.
• 11:37
  Francis: I, I think it's interesting, but, you know, New
• 11:39
  Mark: York restaurants, you know, if you like it or not,
• 11:40
  Francis: I think it's interesting.
• 11:41
  Francis: Quality of food is really high.
• 11:42
  Francis: I'm, I'm happy with it in the one star area.
• 11:44
  Francis: I really am happy with it.
• 11:45
  Francis: In the one star area, are there some restaurants that you think should have gotten stars that notable exceptions?
• 11:50
  Francis: Terrell, Roger, Roger De Gorn.
• 11:51
  Francis: Roger de Gorn is the sommelier.
• 11:53
  Francis: Major D there.
• 11:53
  Francis: See for me,
• 11:54
  Mark: Terrell.
• 11:55
  Francis: Two stars Could have been two stars, two star restaurants.
• 11:57
  Francis: Could have
• 11:57
  Mark: been two star re I see.
• 11:59
  Mark: I love it.
• 11:59
  Mark: It is revolutionized the cheese course in the United States and, and I dined there within the last, I don't know.
• 12:06
  Mark: I was gonna say, but more importantly, we're not just talking'cause,'cause like Ed Michelin doesn't look back on on your historic significance at all.
• 12:12
  Mark: but Chantrell is a great restaurant with lots of real estate, a very important wine list, one of the best sommelier in the country, some of the best service you receive.
• 12:20
  Mark: The food is always perfect.
• 12:21
  Mark: Terrific.
• 12:22
  Mark: The, the, the menus are handwritten.
• 12:24
  Mark: The dining room is simple and elegant in, in a script that can only be defined as Crell.
• 12:28
  Mark: Chantrell.
• 12:29
  Mark: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:30
  Mark: Okay.
• 12:30
  Mark: That's, that's their script.
• 12:31
  Mark: When you get a menu,
• 12:32
  Francis: it's handwritten and it's done in script.
• 12:35
  Francis: But here's what I don't understand.
• 12:37
  Francis: Peter Luger, which is the steakhouse in Brooklyn, which has admittedly very good stakes, They offer you some whipped cream with your dessert, some schwag that got a Michelin one star and Chanterelle, didn't I?
• 12:46
  Francis: It's a shame.
• 12:47
  Francis: Something's wrong there.
• 12:48
  Francis: It's a shame.
• 12:49
  Francis: Although those guys at Peter Luger, you know what I mean?
• 12:50
  Francis: I wouldn't mess with them.
• 12:52
  Francis: If you're listening to me.
• 12:54
  Francis: Maybe they paid
• 12:55
  Mark: the right bill, if you
• 12:55
  Francis: know what I mean.
• 12:56
  Francis: You're listening to the restaurant guys, the Michelin Red Book is the preeminent restaurant review book in the world.
• 13:02
  Francis: And there hasn't been one in the United States before.
• 13:04
  Francis: They've come to America and they're starting with New York.
• 13:06
  Francis: And some
• 13:07
  Mark: real surprises, I think and, and some surprise with who was included and some surprises with who was left off.
• 13:12
  Mark: And Francis and I, were just talking a moment ago about a restaurant called Sean Trail.
• 13:16
  Mark: Which was left out of this guide crazy.
• 13:18
  Mark: And, and we believe could be crazy, could be a two star restaurant, is is very close, in my opinion, to Bole and Danielle and, and Right, right in that same league.
• 13:27
  Francis: And I, and I can't understand how a restaurant like that was, was left off.
• 13:31
  Francis: and Peter Luger, which is, you know, I mean, it's a great place to go for a downscale steak and pretend like you're a mafioso, you know, but it should not have a mission.
• 13:38
  Francis: Doesn't belong.
• 13:39
  Francis: Doesn't belong.
• 13:39
  Francis: You know, another interesting, uh, of course I'm going, I'm buying the guide.
• 13:43
  Francis: You know, you have to have it.
• 13:44
  Francis: Have to have it.
• 13:44
  Francis: Yes.
• 13:45
  Francis: But another interesting, um.
• 13:47
  Francis: Inclusion was, a restaurant called it Uni United States in French, which is this little restaurant on the Upper East Side that is near, uh, the office of a wine importer, where we do business a lot.
• 13:59
  Francis: And I go in there for a casual meal all the time.
• 14:01
  Francis: We started by a father and son, open kitchen, a little nothing of a restaurant, a Very elegant, very good food.
• 14:07
  Francis: I recommend that highly.
• 14:08
  Francis: It's gonna be, you know what I hate about this?
• 14:10
  Francis: It's gonna be hard for me to get into a uni.
• 14:12
  Francis: Very popular now.
• 14:13
  Francis: A Ta Zuni, which is always popular in the neighborhood.
• 14:15
  Francis: Yep.
• 14:15
  Francis: But I can't imagine now.
• 14:17
  Francis: It was, it was specific to the neighborhood and those in the know, and you could, you could pop in and get a reservation last minute at ta Zuni almost any night.
• 14:24
  Francis: You might not get exactly the time you wanted.
• 14:26
  Francis: And now with it tasini having a star, you're not gonna be, I'm not gonna be able to get near place.
• 14:30
  Francis: It's a big
• 14:30
  Mark: deal.
• 14:30
  Mark: Francis and I have been talking about this for the whole show.
• 14:32
  Mark: It's a big deal.
• 14:34
  Francis: Yeah.
• 14:34
  Francis: Can we, you know, when they come to Jersey, when we want to get ourselves a star or to Yeah, that'd be great.
• 14:39
  Mark: I, I would be very, very proud of a Michelin star.
• 14:42
  Francis: Yeah, me too.
• 14:43
  Francis: Or would be.
• 14:43
  Francis: Well, you have, uh, another surprising star for me was Cafe Gray.
• 14:47
  Francis: Greg Coons got a star, uh, Nobu got a star, Nobu Matza, which, uh, who had a, has a beautiful restaurant downtown and WD 50 Willie d friends who, got a star.
• 14:57
  Francis: Yeah.
• 14:57
  Francis: When his very interesting restaurant downtown.
• 14:59
  Francis: It is interesting, but I, but I can't stand the food.
• 15:01
  Francis: Yeah, sorry.
• 15:03
  Francis: He's really Willy Wiley.
• 15:04
  Francis: Wiley Do Friends is actually, and Wiley's actually on the cutting edge of, of cuisine.
• 16:35
  Francis: He really does push the envelope and, yeah.
• 16:37
  Francis: And Mark doesn't like an envelope push that much.
• 16:39
  Francis: You gotta jump off the edge.
• 16:40
  Francis: Sorry.
• 16:41
  Francis: Well, I, I, I, we recommend
• 16:43
  Mark: that wi I don't want seaweed mixed with my steak and cinnamon cloves.
• 16:48
  Mark: Ah, too much,
• 16:49
  Francis: too much, too much.
• 16:50
  Francis: Get outta here.
• 16:51
  Francis: No, whatever.
• 16:51
  Francis: You can, whatever you feel like, you can find some something that you're looking for on the Michelin guide, which I think is.
• 16:57
  Francis: The, the most important guide to have hit New York since Ziat became popular, you know, 15 years ago.
• 17:03
  Francis: It's all the buzz.
• 17:05
  Mark: Welcome back.
• 17:06
  Mark: You're listening to the restaurant guy, mark Pascal and Francis Shop.
• 17:09
  Mark: You forgot my name.
• 17:11
  Mark: No, I didn't.
• 17:11
  Mark: I just forgot my name.
• 17:12
  Mark: I wanted to, I wish that I forgot your name.
• 17:15
  Mark: Sadly.
• 17:16
  Mark: You're the guy next to me almost every day in the radio station.
• 17:20
  Mark: And then, oh, look at that.
• 17:21
  Mark: You're the guy next to me again in the office.
• 17:23
  Francis: Alright then, uh, what are we talking about this hour?
• 17:25
  Francis: We are talking about, um, food allergies.
• 17:28
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 17:28
  Francis: Which is an interesting topic that came up last night because we had someone in the restaurant, and this is really weird because usually people who have severe food allergies, like nut allergies and shell shellfish allergies, they're very cognizant of, of what's going on there.
• 17:41
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 17:41
  Francis: And, uh, we had a situation in the restaurant where someone.
• 17:45
  Francis: Ordered food.
• 17:46
  Francis: And just as it was about to hit their table, her husband said, wait a second, honey, you can't eat that.
• 17:52
  Francis: the waiter had clearly explained in the specials that there was a clam aspect to the dish.
• 17:56
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 17:56
  Francis: And I guess the woman hadn't paid attention.
• 17:58
  Francis: Really.
• 17:59
  Francis: I mean, and.
• 18:00
  Francis: Ordered it.
• 18:01
  Francis: And then when her husband saw it come out with a clam in it, he was, you know, he almost tackled the waiter.
• 18:04
  Francis: He did
• 18:05
  Mark: a little, little, little panic attack.
• 18:06
  Francis: But food allergies and restaurants are serious
• 18:08
  Mark: business, very, very serious.
• 18:09
  Mark: And, and we take them very seriously.
• 18:10
  Mark: And, and what Francis neglected to mention was the person was the wife of a, a very important political figure in, in the state of New Jersey.
• 18:17
  Mark: So it could have been really ugly, ugly headlines.
• 18:19
  Mark: Ugly, ugly press for us.
• 18:21
  Mark: I don't
• 18:21
  Francis: wanna make a headlines that way.
• 18:23
  Francis: But, um, the idea of food allergies and, and if you own a restaurant, you really need to take them very seriously because you know what the, the possibility of you killing someone is very small.
• 18:31
  Francis: But it's there, you know, making someone very seriously ill
• 18:34
  Mark: if you have, if you have any kind of allergy at all.
• 18:36
  Mark: And, and one of the things that, that we ask people to make very clear is, is this something you don't like or is this something you're allergic to?
• 18:43
  Mark: Right?
• 18:43
  Mark: Because something you're allergic to.
• 18:45
  Mark: We, like, we, we send up the flag and that goes to.
• 18:48
  Mark: Every single person in the kitchen.
• 18:50
  Mark: We talk about every single ingredient in the dish.
• 18:52
  Mark: there's no, room for error once you tell us that, that you have a food allergy to something.
• 18:57
  Francis: And I don't think, and I've worked in restaurants where they don't take it as seriously as all that, but if someone has an allergy in particular, a nut allergy.
• 19:03
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 19:04
  Francis: Um, and some allergies are more difficult to deal with and people who have the, i, I feel bad for, we work.
• 19:08
  Francis: Very, very, hard to deal with people who have egg allergies or gluten allergies, but if you have a nut allergy or a shellfish allergy, the way to deal with that as a restaur is simply, what we do is the waiter tells the captain and all the busers.
• 19:21
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 19:21
  Francis: It also goes back into the kitchen, the hot side, the cold side.
• 19:25
  Francis: It gets marked on every dupe.
• 19:26
  Francis: Nut allergy, nut allergy, right?
• 19:28
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 19:28
  Mark: Yeah.
• 19:28
  Mark: We're, we're trying very hard.
• 19:29
  Mark: but you've got to, as the customer, you've gotta make it abundantly clear.
• 19:33
  Mark: And frankly, when you make your reservation.
• 19:36
  Mark: A, a little note of, I have a nut allergy.
• 19:38
  Mark: Then again, when you arrive in the dining room, a a mention to your waiter, I have a nut allergy, you wanna be repeating that like you're in the, in the emergency room and somebody's gonna about to give you penicillin and, and you're allergic to it.
• 19:50
  Mark: You want to be telling people constantly the things you're allergic to and the things that you need to avoid.
• 19:55
  Francis: And also if you are out there and you have dietary restrictions of any sort, whether it be allergy or a health concern.
• 20:01
  Francis: Or you're a vegetarian or you keep kosher or any of those things.
• 20:03
  Francis: When you go to a, a restaurant, especially, uh, if it's a nice restaurant, if you're going well in advance, I know you're going to an expensive restaurant.
• 20:11
  Francis: You know, people think, oh, well I don't wanna be a pain and tell them about this on the, On the phone in advance.
• 20:15
  Francis: It is really no skin off my nose.
• 20:18
  Francis: To a week in advance, a day in advance.
• 20:21
  Francis: Know that you're coming in, look over things and maybe even come up with some alternative solutions for you.
• 20:25
  Francis: And maybe the nuts are added to the sauce at three o'clock in the afternoon and I can say, you know what?
• 20:29
  Francis: Hold some of that sauce aside for when that this person comes in tonight with a walnut allergy.
• 20:34
  Francis: Exactly.
• 20:35
  Francis: It, it is, it is fairly easy for me to give you as many options as I can if I have a little bit of notice, right?
• 20:41
  Francis: Seven 15 on a Saturday night, right?
• 20:43
  Francis: I, I, you know, every, we're firing on all cylinders, and I can't stop the chef from turning out 400 dinners and say, oh, by the way, what can we, what do, let's think about the sauce.
• 20:52
  Francis: What can we do except for nuts?
• 20:54
  Francis: And you know, I have a lot, we have a lot of clients who are vegetarians and we always have vegetarian selections on the menu.
• 20:58
  Francis: But when we have someone who's coming in specifically to say, listen, I've been there and I'm bringing my girlfriend, my daughter, my niece, my son who's a vegetarian, what
• 21:06
  Mark: can you do?
• 21:06
  Mark: Well, you, you give us some time to think about it.
• 21:07
  Mark: You give us some time to, to, to allow our creativity to, to come to the fore rather than you want to see how we react in, in kind of an emergency situation.
• 21:17
  Mark: Francis and I had had somebody call us.
• 21:19
  Mark: Just a few days ago and say they were, they were allergic to latex, which, uh, you know, is something that we hadn't, hadn't been confronted with before.
• 21:27
  Mark: And they, and they, unfortunately, they called us about 20 minutes before they wanted to come into dinner, and there was just nothing we could do.
• 21:33
  Mark: Some of our, some of our prep cooks are using latex gloves when they're handling some of the product, and frankly, I don't know what's been touched by latex who hasn't.
• 21:41
  Mark: To, for us to know a hundred percent for sure.
• 21:44
  Mark: We would've had to have some notice and, and prepared a specific meal for that specific person.
• 21:49
  Mark: And so we recommended that that person not come into dinner.
• 21:52
  Mark: Believe me, I don't like to recommend that people don't come into dinner.
• 21:55
  Mark: Please, please
• 21:55
  Francis: don't give me a hundred dollars, as always said.
• 21:57
  Francis: Well, but the other thing that, that, chefs and I know that a lot of restaurateurs and restaurant professionals listen to this show.
• 22:02
  Francis: When you get someone who says they have an allergy and look, are there some patrons who just don't like something and say they're allergic when they're not?
• 22:07
  Francis: We know that that happens.
• 22:08
  Francis: But when someone says they have an allergy, you need to take them at their word, and you need to be very vigilant and to all you kitchen professionals out there, no secret ingredients, okay?
• 22:17
  Francis: Right.
• 22:18
  Francis: No secret ingredients from your staff.
• 22:20
  Francis: Doesn't mean you need to give the recipe out of everything you have, but if you are using a shellfish stock to give that, that added oomph to your, to your fish dish, you might
• 22:29
  Mark: get some oomph that you're not looking for.
• 22:31
  Mark: You might
• 22:31
  Francis: get some oomph in an ambulance.
• 22:33
  Francis: No secret ingredients and I can't tell you that very often.
• 22:37
  Francis: That's what happens when things go awry.
• 22:39
  Francis: Yeah.
• 22:39
  Francis: Is the wait staff doesn't know.
• 22:40
  Francis: And if you're a kitchen professional and you're a chef or you're a cook and you slightly change a dish and the wait staff, you've gone over with the wait staff, what's in it, and then you add nuts, ground up nuts to it as your secret ingredient.
• 22:50
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 22:51
  Francis: You must communicate it.
• 22:53
  Francis: As a wait staff, when someone tells you they're allergic, you go back to the kitchen just in case we had a slight change in a recipe you think you may know, but check it with everybody.
• 23:00
  Francis: Yep.
• 23:00
  Francis: Double.
• 23:00
  Francis: Because that's a mistake you don't wanna make.
• 23:01
  Francis: You gotta
• 23:01
  Mark: double and triple check.
• 23:02
  Francis: You're listening to the restaurant guys, Well, I wanna talk with you with the holidays coming up about a, an urban myth.
• 23:09
  Mark: We've talked about a lot of different things today, huh?
• 23:12
  Mark: allergies, because I had the Michelin guide, we're, we're all over the place because we had.
• 23:15
  Mark: We had a lot of stuff we wanted to talk about for just a little bit of time.
• 23:18
  Francis: I had, I had m and m's for breakfast.
• 23:20
  Francis: Um, there is an urban myth.
• 23:22
  Francis: Have you heard the urban myth that there actually only exists 100 fruitcakes in the world?
• 23:26
  Francis: Have you heard that?
• 23:27
  Francis: And we just give the fruitcake from one person to another.
• 23:30
  Francis: I can't
• 23:30
  Mark: stand fruitcake.
• 23:31
  Francis: I don't understand.
• 23:32
  Francis: I, I gotta tell you, I'm a restaurant professional and I'm an eater.
• 23:36
  Francis: I can't understand why anyone would eat.
• 23:38
  Francis: A fruit cake.
• 23:39
  Francis: You know what's worse than eating a fruitcake?
• 23:40
  Francis: What?
• 23:41
  Francis: Giving one to somebody else.
• 23:43
  Francis: It's just wrong.
• 23:44
  Francis: Or how do you feel about re-gifting fruitcakes?
• 23:46
  Francis: Listen, in the Wall Street Journal, uh, four fruitcake manufacturers recently petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to cut the serving size of fruitcake by two thirds.
• 23:55
  Francis: Now they can't.
• 23:56
  Francis: Exactly how much you eat, but it, what that does is it all their nutritional information is based on the serving size.
• 24:03
  Francis: Right.
• 24:04
  Francis: Uh, now a serving size in that category, which is a heavy cake, is 4.4 ounces.
• 24:09
  Francis: Right.
• 24:09
  Francis: Four ounces.
• 24:09
  Francis: That's about the right, you know, if you slice yourself a piece of fruit cake, it weighs like 30 pounds.
• 24:13
  Francis: Right.
• 24:13
  Francis: Okay.
• 24:13
  Francis: Yes.
• 24:14
  Francis: Um, and that packs over 400.
• 24:17
  Francis: The fruitcake manufacturers want the FDA to have the fruitcake size, the, the, the serving size be cut to 1.5 ounces.
• 24:25
  Francis: So like a, like a thumbnail worth of fruitcake.
• 24:27
  Francis: Here you go.
• 24:28
  Francis: Yeah.
• 24:28
  Francis: And they're like, uh, the fruitcake manufacturers say, um, that four ounces is overindulgent and unhealthy.
• 24:34
  Francis: Yes.
• 24:34
  Francis: Gentlemen, it is.
• 24:36
  Francis: Um, uh, Bob McNutt.
• 24:38
  Francis: No jokes, please.
• 24:38
  Francis: President of Collin Street Baker in Corsicana, Texas says our fruit cake is like a fine wine.
• 24:44
  Francis: You take a taste and it kind of leaves you with this long, nice finish.
• 24:47
  Mark: And his buddy al dried fruit.
• 24:49
  Mark: Oh my God, Francis, can I, can I just tell you something?
• 24:52
  Mark: Do, do you know how many calories are in a portion of fruitcake?
• 24:54
  Mark: That, for me, how many?
• 24:56
  Mark: Zero.
• 24:56
  Mark: Right?
• 24:56
  Mark: Because I don't eat it at all because I'm not touching
• 24:58
  Francis: this stuff.
• 24:59
  Francis: Yeah, I, but I, I think that they want it to be, I, come on, nobody eats one ounce of fruitcake.
• 25:05
  Francis: I mean, either you don't eat it at all, or you have about four ounces, right.
• 25:08
  Francis: I recommend you don't eat it at all.
• 25:10
  Francis: I'm on the, I'm
• 25:11
  Mark: on the
• 25:11
  Francis: donated at all.
• 25:11
  Francis: And this is just, this is just another example of, of businesses trying to get one over, trying to get one over.
• 25:16
  Francis: So when you look at the package, say, oh look, only 80 calories.
• 25:19
  Francis: And so what I would like to say to these fruitcake manufacturers as a result of this petition, we're saying on the air that fruitcake is not only bad, it's bad for you.
• 25:28
  Francis: That's right.
• 25:28
  Francis: 400 calories.
• 25:29
  Francis: If you're brave enough to eat it, I say it's not worth it.
• 25:32
  Francis: No way.
• 25:32
  Francis: Choice is up to you.
• 25:33
  Francis: But uh, don't send me any for the holidays anyway.
• 25:36
  Francis: You're listening to the restaurant guys.
• 25:37
  Francis: I'm frank.
• 25:38
  Francis: To shot, and I'm Mark Pascal.
• 25:39
  Francis: We are the restaurant guys, central Jersey 1450.
• 25:42
  Francis: The time is 12 noon.