Bobby on the beat. Okay, welcome to Bobby on the beat. Today's guest, somebody who's been a friend of mine for a very long time, it's Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. She's had a storied career, both in the restaurant business and of course on Food Network, show after show, hit after hit. I always say one of the best vocabularies when it comes to food, period. Welcome, Alex. I did look you up on something. Okay. And the fact that you were born in St. Louis is a fact I do not know. Yeah. How she got arrested.com. I always think of you living in the 50s on 7th Avenue. Yeah, I was born in St. Louis. My dad was teaching at Washington University. My parents had just gotten PhDs together at Yale. Did you throw up already? I can't wait to talk about your mom. My mom and dad, 10 days old, they packed me up and we moved to Manhattan. And my dad was like, yo, we're gonna live in Forest Hills. And my mom was like, we're not living in Forest Hills, we're living in Manhattan. So they duped it out and they rented an apartment on 55th and 7th. But how old are you when that happened? 10 days old. So people are like, you're from St. Louis. And I'm like, guys, I didn't even have time to eat a butter cake. Yeah. You know what I mean? Or some frozen custard. Yeah, some fried ravioli, nothing. Do you ever go back there? No. I mean, nothing against it. This is what I wanted to have him laughing. This is what's gonna happen? Yeah, you're gonna giggle all the time. You just gonna eat the eggs right away? Yeah, what were we supposed to do? No, eat them. Was there some ritual? No, I won't eat them. No, I want you to eat them. You've had these eggs. You know I have. At Gato, when Gato was alive and well prior to COVID. But I've identified your particular egg scrambling style. Is it French? What? No. Listen, you got some French DNA because we all know you went to fancy French school. Someone was like, you make a mean salad. So I'm gonna send you to French school. And you like that? The French Culinary Institute. You come from this Italian-American family, you want a shelly. Mmm, it's so good. Yeah, it's toast with tomatoes on it. We'll talk about that later, but... You come from this Italian-American New York family, but you cook French food. You never really gave a hug to the Italian vernacular. Why? You know the Judy Rogers and the Zuni Cafe? Yeah, one of the best copels ever written. Yeah, my mother edited it. She did? Yes. Oh, your mother. Your mother put me in therapy before I knew you. I don't like to hear that. It's a true story. How has therapy been for you? I think you're doing really well. It's up and down. I knew your mom before I knew you. Like most of us of a certain generation in the food world. Because she was one of the most well-known and feared cookbook editors in the world. I remember going in and pitching her a book. And she... Pitching her a book idea. And I was on my, I don't know, six book or something. Well, that's all the time we have for today. Yeah. And she was like, okay, so tell me the idea. She had a bunch of people at the table with me. Like I was nervous because her, she was, she had a reputation of being very tough. I thought that the meeting was going incredibly well. And I was like, oh wow, this is Guantasheli. Like likes my stuff. Yes, that's true. I was into this. That's true. The meeting went on for like an hour and a half. And she was like very intense and like very like in depth in her questioning and like what it meant to me and what this book was gonna be like and how I saw it happening and this and that. I had had some successful cookbooks prior to this. She knew I could sell cookbooks at some level. The longer you talk about my mother the more I drink, go ahead. At the end of the meeting, she's like, this is a wonderful, wonderful pitch, great idea. I mean, we're not gonna do it, but I wanna wish you a lot of luck. I was like, wow. I just got thrown out of the publishing office. I remember. What do you think happened? My mother said, that Bobby Flay, wow. Before I knew you, that Bobby Flay, wow. Can he cook some food? And I had not eaten in any of your restaurants. She said, can he cook some food? And he's taking what Mark Miller did and I think he's got a touch of Robert Del Grande. Wow. She like identified. He's the Southwestern Kings. Right, she identified in her literary minded way all the threads of your cooking rooted in the books and repertoire of the chefs that she felt you were channeling. And she said, can he cook so much? That's so nice. You can really love that. Cause let me say, my mom had some choice words for a lot of other chefs that you know, my mother would come home and say, well, that guy's nice, but he's so homely. What are we gonna do with that? So I stopped saying my last name at parties. Cause it was just like, your mom, your mom. No, she wielded power and fear. She said, your mom declined my book. So I'd go to a party and I'd say, I'm Alex Guarnachelli and people would say, your mom declined my book. So I met you at Bar-O-Marie-Can. You came in and you were making your little potato chip and blue cheese dip. Like you had that fluffy blue cheese dip. Remember that? Yeah, I do. So you came in. Pay the rent. Yeah. On every table. I mean, I was wearing elastic waist pants having eaten six bowls of the stuff. You were maybe shucking oysters. So I went over and I said, I'm Alex Guarnachelli and it's nice to meet you. And you said, I know you and your mom declined my book. And I was like, it's the blue cheese dip is really delicious. And that was the end of that. So what do you think happened with my mom? My mom said, I'm gonna put every author I have through their paces in a way that they're not gonna like. She said, and he's a fully formed person. He knows who he is. He has a sense of himself in his own voice. And I can't do anything with that. She was not right about that. I think she thought you already, a lot of the things that she would have rewritten would have actually done a disservice to what she felt you already knew about yourself. And that so few chefs did. And she said it to me repeatedly. She said, oh, that Charlie Trotter with his books. I almost fell asleep when he was talking. But you, she said, you knew who you were in a way that. Oh, I see what you're saying. Listen, we all evolved. I particularly evolved. You grabbed my first cookbook of my show. Oh, I love this book. This book is from 1994. This book is so... This is book number one. And I've written, I'm working on my 19th book. This is... You're just showing off now. Is that what you do here? I'm just trying to give you some finalize books. You know the situation. I think the number one reason why I love your first cookbook so much is because I imagine if my mother had edited it, that I wouldn't have loved it so much. This is Bobby Flay raw. My idea that what my mother didn't want to touch of you is what is most precious. Even though you got a little like, you got a little Italian on us. You got a little Frenchy going on. You do some fruity fancy stuff right now. You know what I'm saying? This, which camera can see the sweater vest and the boy band haircut. I bought this cookbook. I was working in French restaurants. I was working in a restaurant where we didn't use chilies and we didn't use garlic. Where were you working? I was working at Guisevois in Paris. In Paris. He doesn't allow any garlic in his cooking at all. No garlic, no peppers and no chilies. None. There's no garlic in the building. So he doesn't do any South of France cooking? There's no garlic in the building allowed. Really? So the president of France came to eat lunch and he said, I want the brandade, which is the salt cod, garlic and cream. With garlic and aloe. Yeah, a cream, right. This is the president of France at the time. And I'm thinking like, we're not gonna, we can't make this. So he sent someone to the store and bought a head of garlic. And I had to make the dish. I had to wear two pairs of gloves, cook the brandade, the garlic, cut it and then throw away the cutting board that I cut the garlic on. Like that's how hardcore. So I get a book like this, which has, you know, you're like spraying chili oil and chipotle. And I'm like, whatever is, what is chipotle? I had never eaten most of these chilies. I had been cooking without garlic. And I just thought, this guy's so bold. So I never really paid attention to the name of the book, just your name, not the name of it. And years later, when our mentoring relationship began, I went to your office. So I went down to the lobby and I said, I don't know where Bobby plays office. And he said, it's his company. And it's called Bold American Food. And I thought, this feels like a 360 moment. Cause I didn't know you when I bought this book. So this was the only way I could know you. And I just, I thought you were just so sassy that you should just watch out. You're right. Let's talk about you, enough about me. Okay. So I'll never forget. I know what you're gonna say. When I called you. Yeah. And I was like, I'd like to have a cocktail with you. And we went to this private club called the Norwood club in New York city and we sat down and we ordered a cocktail. And you looked at me and you were like, what do you want with me? I mean, literally. You know. And I was like, well, I'm not sure. I mean, I know who you are. I know your pedigree. I've watched you sort of scamper around the food network here and there. And you were doing a show at the time that I thought was frankly, really poorly produced. It was so bad. You know, this is back in the early food network days of it's cable television. So some things are good and some things aren't good. It was so bad. There was something about you that made me feel bad for the situation that you were in. And I thought to myself, this is a person who is incredibly skilled, very intelligent, very smart. They're making her try to balance a cutting board on her like lap. This is ridiculous. I said to you like, I have a production company and I've been at the network for a while. I have a little juice there. And sometimes they listen to things that I have to say. Sometimes. Yeah. When you be interested in working with us and you're like, all right, you were so like, what do you want with me? Like what could you possibly want? So overwhelmed. It's pretty overwhelming to be sitting alone with you anywhere. I don't know what that means. It means that it's alarming. My point of view is I had a massive anxiety attack. You see it differently. I had a massive anxiety attack. I had to go to the restaurant and do a bunch of stuff. Before you met me? Yes. I was like prepping, but I was like kind of burning stuff and like dropping stuff on the floor. And I was like, I'm not having a useful day. So I went home and tried on my entire closet. Like the whole closet was on the floor. And I was like, well, it's the last outfit. So we're doing this. I ran down there. I was late, even though my only goal in life was to go to the meeting, but I didn't have the confidence to get there peacefully on time. But did you like that meeting that we had? It was one of the top 10 most exhilarating moments in my entire life. Yeah. So I always think you always like diminish it. Or you think that I was. No, I don't diminish it. Or that you thought maybe I was either diminishing your intentions or myself and neither thing was happening. I'll tell you something interesting. Actually, we went to go look at that space the other day, the Norwood Club. I went to look at it like two weeks ago. You did? Yeah, because it's for sale. The whole building? Oh, you just buy in buildings now? No, well. You want to open a restaurant? Do I want to open a restaurant? Yeah. Will I? I don't know. Why would you do that? Why'd you do such a thing? Because I am. It's in my blood, Alex. No, it's your hometown. It's my hometown. You don't feel right. I don't know where to go when I leave the apartment building. Yeah, it's like you wore the wrong underwear to a really, really long wedding, right? And you're like, damn, if I had only just chosen differently, you'd probably feel a little squirmy and weird in your skin. Let me tell you something, my friend. I want you to go to the top of the biggest mountain and drink like a coconut milk latte and just let the wind blow through that cat mania years and just take a breather. Really? Yeah, I do. Chapter two. Keeping those eggs, I'm going to show you how I made them. Bobby on the beat. All right, let's make some scrambled eggs from my restaurant, Gatto. These are legendary. We're going to start by making the romesco sauce. These eggs are going to have romesco and some boucheron cheese running through it. So first, let's make the romesco sauce. This is a very interesting sauce, one at a time, in the same oil. Every ingredient. We're going to start with the garlic and tomatoes, the marcona almonds, the yellow peppers, the anchovy chilies, actually a little bit of day old bread as well, helps you thicken it all up. We're going to put it all into a food processor with that flavorful oil, a little bit of honey, a little more vinegar, and just a splash more honey, salt and pepper. Put in the food processor and you have one of the best sauces in the world, the mesco sauce from Spain. We're going to make some toast because we're going to serve it on tomato toast, these scrambled eggs. Nice and crispy, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. These are some cherry tomatoes that I slowly cooked in olive oil, garlic and some fresh thyme. And then we're going to crush the tomatoes and just slather it right on top of that delicious toast. So good, make sure there's a chew in the middle. Little chives for some brightness, and we'll put that on the side. Let's make the scrambled eggs. Okay, very important. Cold pan, creme fraiche, butter, put the eggs over it with just a little pepper first, then we're going to cook them until they're nice and soft and custardy. We're going to add a little romesco, a little bit of the Boucheron cheese chives, and then some salt at this point. And then we're just going to marble it through. We're going to plate it, get it out of the pan before it keeps cooking, get it plated into a nice looking dish, and then some chili oil on top, serve it with that delicious tomato toast, and you have the best scrambled eggs for dinner ever. Bobby on the beat. You like them? Delicious. You've had these before. I have eaten these at Gato many a time, and the eggplant. You would come here a lot. Yeah, I wanted to support you. I knew you were down there, like in that glass cage with everybody staring at you. I went there protectively. I didn't really go there to eat. Let's fast forward. So we meet, you agree nicely to let me produce you. We create a show called Alex's Day Off. I wanted to call it Alex Delicious, and they thought it was, I don't know, inappropriate. Two rated X for Food Network, maybe a little racist. And we did a bunch of seasons of that show, which was fantastic, because it showed what a great cook you were. But then it led to your, in my opinion, one of the most important things that you did was, you became the judge on Chopped. Like, I know there are other people there, but you were the center square, so to speak, and you changed the game in terms of vocabulary and cooking and judging, and like this, we hadn't seen anything like that yet. Thank you for telling me about my whole career. I love this podcast. You come on, he tells you your life story. I'm like, all right, I'll leave. Because I'm observant, and I've watched you very carefully. You created most of it, let's be honest. I mean, you're more than a mentor. You're like a curator in my personal museum, and you're like, take that painting down. Here's what I did for you. I see, here he is. So, all right, tell me what you did with my life. So I was driving my car down the road, and you were on the side of the road, and your car was not running. And I stopped, and I took out the jumper cables, and I connected my car to yours. I jump-starred your car, and you left and did great things. I really believe that's what happened. All right, that's a cute story. And it continues to happen. It's the truth. It was a cute story. You were the first person that were like, you could do this, and I was like, no one ever said that to me before. You're amazing. You're one of a kind. So are you. Okay, thank you. But I think if you didn't tell me that I could, in the beginning, I would have never done it. I want you to watch this clip, because I'm trying to make Jimmy V, the most important food critic in America. You know Jimmy V. I love Jimmy V. Best eyebrows in America. We sent him to Faco's. Have you been there? The pork store? Yeah, on Bleakestream. Love. Bobby on the beat. Jimmy V, America's food critic. I'm freezing my a** off here in New York City today, outside of Faco's Italian specialty store. This place has been in business for over 100 years. I think there was originally a pork store in Brooklyn. All the great Italian ingredients are supposed to be in this place. The fresh mozzarella, the fresh mucs, when you touch it and the milk comes out. Beautiful. Muah. I've lived here most of my life. I've never been here once, but I do have a very high bar for Italian specialty foods. Let's check it out. Mel's really, really good in here. Look at the breads. Okay. So this is like an old school Italian pork store where you can see all the sausages made. How are you? I'm doing great. Can I get a mozzarella, but I want to, I would like to eat it here, like a fresh mozzarella. Is that salted? Nice. Did you see that? Look, look at that. That's what you want to see. Nice and it's warm even. Oh, money. Look at this. All over me. That's awesome. We'll do the Italian special, however you guys make it. I want, you know, and whatever bread you guys put it on, whatever you think it should be on, the super sod and the salab, you make everything in-house. Okay. This is going to be a fun one. Good road trip here today. Tepper from the sandwich, a couple slices, just the taste of the super sod, please. The sweet super sod. This is the sweet super sod. That's awesome. Okay. So yeah, then that is, that's how you slice it. We'll do a prosciutto ball. There you go. You don't even have to wrap it. We're just going to eat it. Right out of the fryer, just because it's real, the prosciutto rice ball. It's going to be ugly bite, but I'm going in. I'm speechless right about now. I apologize. I know I'm supposed to be saying something. That is a really excellent bite. You can taste the regote that's nice and fresh. The seasoning, perfect. You got the crunchy outside. I'm going to put a little sauce on it just because. We'll be dining al fresco for the sanguiche, or sandwich. This is not a six foot hero, by the way, but this probably will feed a family of four. All I need is a little glass of chianti. Look at that. The roasted peppers. Let's go. Going to give it a shot. This thing is dense as hell. Taste of vinegar, the oregano that they put on the dressing. The bread they get in Brooklyn. Would prefer a little bit more crunch if I want to be critical, which I guess I should be. But if you're in the mood for an Italian sandwich, hero, hoagie, whatever the hell you're going to call it, you cannot go wrong here. This is the real, real deal. Ciao bella. Bobby on the beat. I guess my job is in jeopardy. You have any critiques for Jimmy V? Yes. Okay, go ahead. Never use the word excellent. Why? Because it doesn't mean anything. That's true, like delicious. Delicious, at least I know for sure that you love it. Excellent, sounds like when you get a good grade on a paper, so it sounds very antiseptic. Okay. I'd like some more erotic language from Jimmy V. I'd like to see him take off his glasses. Really? I'd like to see his eyes. Okay. I'd like to see him look into the camera and connect. I feel there's a wall. The Alex Guanashili media training. And also, but his best attribute is not obvious, which is Bobby that having eaten at your table for many years, he is talking to you, which is gonna make him the best critic in America. He's talking to you. Yeah. I know he's nothing but well-meaning. And I think a great critic to me is nothing but well-meaning. I agree with that. I don't wanna hear from a critic who isn't. All right, so let's talk about your current life. Oh, okay. You have so many shows. First of all, I met Brooke on one of your shows. You did? In Arizona. Supermarket Stakeout. Supermarket Stakeout. It was the outside of Phoenix or something. You agreed to go all the way out of your way to Phoenix, Arizona to be a judge on one episode of my show, which was really, really generous of you. You do my shows all the time. It's not the same, okay? You know what I'm saying? They were like, we're gonna ask Bobby if he would like to come. I was like, do not ask him. I do not want, please don't ask him. Don't, I don't. And they were like, we're asking him. It's too late. Gladly. And look at what happened. You met your partner. Yeah, Brooke and I, we were the two judges on that episode. I didn't even know who she was, honestly. And then we actually started talking there, but then we didn't really talk for another year after that. It was just one of those moments. And then COVID happened. The whole world kind of went to their corner, so to speak. Yeah, I think a lot of relationships are like that, right? Like you come in and out of seeing somebody. Oh, there you are again. How do you feel about the kitchen canceling? I wasn't on the kitchen for all the years. Right, but you were there at the end. I was there for the last five or six years, I guess. Well, that's a long time. I think the chemistry of the combination of people was weirdly magical. Like at first I was like, does this work? And then it just kind of does. And I think it was, you could relax. You could lean into the instruction. You could learn about a whole meal in pieces from four or five different people stylistically. I think it's a show that ended up being an enduring expression of the DNA of what Food Network is. I'm so sad to see it go. I loved it. I loved doing it. I know you did. I did. Because you didn't really, I hate to put it this way, but you didn't need to do that show. Like you had so many other shows, but you really wanted, I'd always hear in your voice like how happy you were about doing that show. I love it. Because they weren't like, you have two pieces of shrimp in three minutes, make a croquambos. You know what I mean? Which I love doing too. I love competitions. And you liked your co-hosts. Oh yeah. I mean, all of them for different reasons. And I was really jealous that you got to go to Italy and shoot Ciao House. Gabe is. I was like, how dare they? Excuse me. I want that show. Who had Bobby and Jada in Italy. I know. That literally won like 96 Emmys. And literally was like, it was literally like the king and queen of the world went and had like pistachio gelato on the street together like it was nothing. Excuse me and Gabe for hanging out with a bunch of people in Tuscany. You know what I mean? It was a cool show. Bobby and Jada in Italy was the most beautiful show that has ever been made on Food Network. Thank you. Do you not agree? Well, we made it. I mean, we produced it. And I believe that it was incredibly beautiful, but I appreciate that. If there are comments for this post, I want everyone to comment that Bobby and Jada in Italy is the most beautiful show. Fight me in the comments. Did you enjoy being in South Beach? I did. Yeah, it's beautiful there. How many years have you done it? Technically 12 years, but it feels like longer. Did you do a demo this year? I did. What'd you make? Stuffed peppers with rice and vegetables. Stuffed peppers. Yeah. I always make something different every year. I feel like, you know, you get in a groove with these demos and you just default. Like let's just do the spaghetti with the blah, blah, blah. But I was like, no. Do you like those demos? I love them. I love the electricity of a live audience. Do you do Q&As and stuff? I do only questions, because I think it's boring otherwise. Do you? Yeah. I'm actually going to show you mine, because I do like, I put microphones in the audience so that there's back and forth, but I always say to them, answer a question at your own risk. Because people get up there and they want to like rip out. You know, it's like they've had a couple of cocktails, mojitos, it's Miami. No, that only happens at your demo, Bobby. Bobby on the beat. Bobby's an OG. He's been with us for all 25 years. Anybody seen a Bobby play demo before? Yeah. Yeah. Lisa, I call him the demo king. Yeah. He's the best. You guys are going to do this. This is your hand in this. Ladies and gentlemen, come on up to the stage. Let's go South Beach. Give it up to one lonely five. Bobby's the best. So, come on, guys. Come on. Come on. Come on. So it's a light South Beach up a little bit. Thank you so much for making this event. Just something that we always look forward to every single year. At my demos, if you've never been there before, we have two microphones. Please ask questions when we go through this. We talk about the restaurant, the shows, group therapy, whatever you want to guys do. We're going to make a scrambled egg tostada with romesto sauce and butcheron sheets. I asked a weird question, my sir, but this one is actually like, make sense? All the weird question answers have lined up. In May, I'll be finishing culinary school and I end up graduating in May. Are you looking for a job? Maybe. I've been cooking since I was three, so. OK, would you cook with you at three? Well, I would cook at three. That's the consistency, so it's almost like a test of which should win. You have a question. Whoa, I like the candle. Thank you, man. Old school 80s. Old school 80s? I think so, right? People might think that I'm you and you are me. No. I would not wear those sunglasses. I'm going to take shit off. No, no, I don't want to try those on. We have the romesto sauce and then I'm going to use some butcheron cheese, which is a goat cheese. Not so much a question, but my wife would have her way. She'd have a picture of you. Yes. A po-po-pe. She's asked a weird. Shelly, how hot is the headboard? Sit down. Beautiful scrambled egg tostada. Let's take some more questions. I'd like to try what you just said. You want to try it? OK. Be right there. It's amazing. Thank you. Competing on triple threat. Who are you cooking against last? I would go against Brooks first, because I want to get that out of the way. I would go against Ayesha second, and I would go against Vltagel third. And the reason why I would go against Vltagel third, Michael is the most courageous chef in the world. He is not afraid to try anything, but not everything worse than he was into. He'll try to take like an anchovy chili and turn it into a banana or something. Here he is. He knows I'm up the most. That's what happens. I'll see you guys soon. Bobby, thank you for coming up for me. I really appreciate it. You will see him next season. You know what? Tell Michael, sit down. We're going to keep going. Hi. Jay Margolis. Hey, Jay. What's up? Michael Simon came here. He asked me to mention how he eats you in a bowl for an irregular thing. He's full of s***. I make a living playing golf against Michael Simon. I'm Bobby, playing for Great Day. Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Bobby! Bobby on the beat. You've done stand-up. It is like that. It's almost like you have to be not a stand-up comic there, but you're running a live show with a live audience. And it's not just making a good dish and teaching people how to cook something. It's hard. My last question for you is, what do you want to do next? How do you keep yourself happy about doing the next thing? Well, I think that's a first thing is I have maybe a few mentors in my career. And you said to me a long time ago, whenever you're on TV, remember your daughter is watching you. I know you feel that way about your own daughter. Yes, we both have daughters who are opinionated. Yeah, my daughter's like, Mom, what was that? Oh, yeah. I mean, Sophie does the same thing. My daughter's like, don't cook dinner. I will. I don't want you making dinner. I'm like, all right. In any event, so I think about what my daughter, what I want her to see in me as the example. I think about making my mentors proud, quesadvaya. I wanted to be a marine biologist. So I really kind of want to go on a marine. And then cook the fish? Well, I always joke that instead of tagging the squid and labeling them, I got a deep fryer. And I don't. So I would like to go on a marine biology expedition and learn about the tagging the fish, not eating them, just like about their swimming patterns. I love dogs. And I want to, I feel senior dogs, they really, they crush me, senior dogs that. So I kind of like that. I think, yeah, I really like that. And I like therapy because my therapist is very rich and I am still damaged goods. You know what I'm saying? I'm in there for life. I'm in the office. So I'd like to take some classes at a school's social work and maybe be a therapist in my next career. Really? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, how long can I earn a living from cooking shrimp in a helicopter with five? Try it for as long as you want to. Do you think so? Yes. You have one of the best voices in the business. And you also have the skills to back it up. You have told so many people that as my mentor that people actually believe it. Well, because I'm right. I don't want to go on beat Bobby Flay and say that I want you to get beat anymore. And I'm not doing it anymore. You're tired of making me the punching bag? I'm not interested at all. So I go out there now and they're like, tell Bobby, go over there and scratch him. And I'm like, I hope you win. I love you. Do you think you should have another show like just B Bobby Flay, B-E. Ooh, I like that. B Bobby Flay. That's your next show. It sounds like Gordon's new Netflix show. No, it doesn't. Thanks for being here. You're the best. Love you. Love you. Thanks for watching, everybody. If you liked it, make sure that you hit like and subscribe. We'll see you next time on Bobby on the Beat. Bobby on the Beat.
