This week on the chef's c than Michael Anthony, the Gramercy Tavern, a New York chef and partner of the n at Waldorf Astoria. This tell us about the biggest at Gramercy Tavern. Hey d that good advice impulsiv dish. His take on the ic making celery sexy and she on the controversial skai on back in my hometown, i not to just go and have, bring chef Michael in chef much for joining us here It is so good to see you. I'm excited to chat. Well get right into it. So we like to call fork it or f means that whatever the f about is something that y try. Forget it means you'r Now we know where you're and we know there's a very that comes from that city got today? I always think New Yorker chef, but I n you're actually you're in son of Cincinnati, if you gotta ask fork it or forget work it. For anybody who d describe skyline chili? Y interesting story. It, i but the history, the brief a family, I believe back i you know, uh, an innovatio restaurant where they desi school diner and then they know, maybe they had a fa they created a recipe for ground beef and who knows little oregano and cinnam and they were really sma tables and invented some things quickly right info fast and they strangely o to put it on a thin spaget top it with a very finel or the guest finishes it b salty oyster crackers ov originally you had a coul want minced onions with t with that. So that's what three way, four way or f um, yeah, I mean, you ca I mean, people who hate o some part of them that's and they, you know, need controversial. It is a r people on the east coast, too. They're just like wh but we, you know, growing great times there. You gr why not? Hey, what's the why not? Why not love it? it's good or not good is from a culinary perspective back in my hometown. It' not to just go and have a anything about the cheese little mini hot dogs on a chili and cheese and I ca with like about two big Yeah. Okay, I'm down for Yeah, I'm like a mini ch sounds awesome. Yes, I wa of the mini chili dogs. I was part of the lore. H want to make it clear tha I went to Indiana univers Friday night. The university Friday night. This was my guys out there. This was was like, I was like, you talking about this wherever I go, there's two interi this that I didn't really and one was that he's fr we got to talk about skai second is he's an IU guy I don't know if you know is on a historic. I had no this was going on right stories in history. I love love it. We're going to g we call line check and th where we're just going to about your career, your l know that you just opened in 20 years Lex yard at t story here in New York. W into that, but we want to bit to some of your origin graduating from Indiana u studied. Also, I didn't se and French. Yep, you move business and I told my par I had this all worked out is that I love being a st how much I love IU had a life changing experience part of it included spen Um you know, during that from Japan and when I grad moved to Japan immediatel have a you know, an over I wasn't dead sat on work I had worked in restruct for money and fun. But I from family and friends kind of take that leap an I was you know, alone lik know, you get over there uh, English and I had, yo worked out on my housing in the country and I was and paying really close t and culture. I wrote an e the clear blue sky and th um lesson for for young p I wasn't sure what I cou sure what what might happ said I was interested in a culinary student at the Osaka and I needed some in a restaurant. I you kn and open that I didn't ha but I had a lot of heart to the language that fo I asked if he might intru in their kitchen and that like, Hey, is there a roo to, you know, move the mo a hard thing to do and I expectations. But the guy was the culinary critic f newspaper back then in th wrote me back and he said who I think is eccentric be happy to introduce you I was like, I'm in and so Shizuyo Shima who owned a in Rupangi called bistro of this is an unlikely s imagine me sitting there promising to do everything reality of it is, is she like, you know, an apprent something in between. I d it turned out to be and I I had gotten myself into. today. She, you know, is kind of my story. Um, she but it was very tough and her point was she would t the restaurant business i romanticism. It's about b determination. It's about and fighting through every she had as a woman very r especially in Japan during Um, she had lived and wor restaurant in France agen in this business for som sometimes for worse, we w fears and our, you know, convictions onto the peop and live with and we have that we as chefs and man have a responsibility, n people with all of that p have to, we have to dishi it can be helpful for peo that, um, I think the in and it shows a sign of e generations on this indust it used to be. It's not a of that generation, but know, kind of more into a and I have a lot of friend you over the years and gr and one thing that I've a your leadership style is an abusive kitchen and th when I was in New York, t largely brusk brutal abus physically. Um, and you that way. But one thing t interesting is that I he you like to ask new employ you're interviewing and courage to add to this sto does courage look like in Well, courage is kind of a simply like, uh, are you the confidence in yourself the ability to not doubt not just keep your head da what you're told, but are and excited to show your curiosity. Our kitchens w when we talk, when we ask Why are we doing it this w isn't a good answer for m or anyone in the kitchen, what we're doing. And so kind of like just a nice Do you have that drive? to be a part of this grou that's what it leads to i that I've also said it in is a certain part of you with whether it's the fo the in some ways just th restaurant in order to d be a part of that team. I you're capable of, you kn your your own ambitions, interesting. Like that, t looking for. And that's h to build teams. So it tak audacity, but it also requ amount of humility in or member. One of the things said was talking about yo just that it's not all ab right? Like that like gr just like such a big part like resilience. And I th have longevity in this b that's the thing I always restaurants is like the r I mean, I'm like, what a do is just staying in the able to pick yourself up that idea of like courage I feel like I have that c of like, you gotta belie of hope and beliefs and l like tomorrow people are to need our food. It does of the belief trade, the of like, you know, like, a restaurant and I gotta go well. Right. Hey at ev level. That's a tough thi and one thing that I think sometimes what people ne war stories of I'm gonna obstacle course and only survive. Sometimes people hear they've got all the to hear that you can do t ability to get past this gonna, I'm not gonna make they're here. Right? That You gotta, you gotta work talent. You have to bring the story. But I'm also h the restaurant business c Yeah, produced lifelong f in some cases, I'm thankful people are still willing and and right on up to to I'm thrilled that the peop the people who will show u their first shift, I'm go from them. And so I think this, um, it's not about the expectations that we high and maybe higher than in which we teach these l people to, you know, fight Now, speaking of adapting environments, when you came of Gramercy tavern, that 05 or 06 06 and it had be under Tom Calico and then how do you join a restaur been open and add new cha without rewriting the nar interesting, a great ques say this, that it's an u say that people knew Gram one of the most beloved r into its history, 13 year And so it was a question to do that for me. And wh I was certainly intimidated stepping into a restaurant beloved and so well under another chef, a young chef that story, how are we go my imprint on it? Would I the shadows? What did one partners and the team wan I was really most interes have the resources and th to continue to make it bet Danny being one of the, y we've ever known in this exactly that is to see th thrive to add to its own evolve. And it was an ama that he allowed me to ene I spent time in each one to know the chefs, the G how the places worked bef And then once I was in t the encouragement and the that Danny and team showed incredible and surprising have to make difficult d not going to please every it all at once. Make sure it for them, not to them. is I, despite hearing all impulsively changed the s It was a real delay of b with balsamic onions. An to eat this anyway. Why, been here forever. It's o it. It's not teaching the it doesn't say anything ab yet without telling people to set up a whole animal b source beef from only th New York state. I took th And as it turns out, there that were really upset th and their favorite, you kn at Gramercy Tavern coming their kids as a, you know, being together in their f an anchor for them not to staff were like, Hey, wha livelihood here, man, li this and now you're messi took was not not to be to minded to just leave that menu. Danny said, you kn it that much. It's easy. has always anchored them them about what you're dr a taste of the new dishes the menu. Listen to what ask them to engage. Then are many secrets to the s Tavern over the years. A interesting and big one i never really been treated I mean, the word guest imp a certain amount of hospit you see them, but it goes and so many people over t like they belong to Gram vice versa. Gramercy Ta place. There's a sense o ownership that comes fro that way. And it was cert way to get myself out of like a bull in a china cl and it taught me that by the opposite of right pl you have to telegraph wher the ball or what you're w if you don't explain your and to people who are fan you. Yeah. So it was a tu but you know, I stepped i long away. Man, I gotta s of those things that I lo to talk to chefs like yo it's like hearing that be I took over speagia, a re there 33 years and had ex longer than I was alive. exact fucking thing and I I got absolutely bodied. first step and I pulled a destroyed it with your d I remember Tony, he just he goes, maybe you should back up. I think you're a idea, you know, and it wa was, you know, like I wish this conversation with yo and like, you know, for y like, hey, like just do i old, like how do you eat and it's just like, but I we come in there and we'r my arms around everything like so you get your arms what what Tony and and I say to me is it's gonna b out and that kind of conf look, let's make some ade what's going on around us about each one of these d never really an absolute going to get through this you do as long as you do as long as you give him a what you do. Yeah, Adrian that with Eric a little b that trust he had in you that did for you and the me and the trust Danny, you and like what that th your confidence at that p where it's just like havin I know you got this. You' but I know, I know you're wrong person. You just m Yeah, like when I became it's like you don't get e you don't get everything you don't go backwards. Y consistent with upholding I trust you enough that I make some bad decisions, that you've made, you've from here, you've learned get worse. Um and that me able to, you know, uphold who had been the chefs fo not in the kitchen and th the standard of that rest out like, you know, other with repair and I was the I watched the kids, you k sure that the standard i having that trust from th the top of it, having the the simple things right. also very well known for and ushering in the farme seasonal, deceptively sim here that, you know, flur and now we kind of take i your style is also, you deceptively simple because but there is so much atten each component. So how d between simplicity and e something about the market the starting point is that I moved to New York City, in the city. So I was comp with landscape and a few working at the restaurant to my first job as a sous March, which is by the wa Missy. Yeah, we talked ab Missy line cook there and a couple years together. we worked under an amazin chef, Chef Wayne Nish, the along with his partner, Jo was in a townhouse in the kind of like a little un had a really great reputat and there was something e about it ahead of its tim short, whereas I thought t to work there to try to r the Japanese influences i is half Japanese three m that that is not at all t hired me or nor the way h He was a true New Yorker up in the city and he was of the magic of the melting you know, the access to c from around the world at you know, for him, he was in terms of saying, you k on the plate that isn't c classic style of cooking or Japan, nor do I want t chefs. I want to put soth the plate and it was one eyeopening experiences I that those would be the g Wayne was interested in e coming from the airport, the green market and yet something about that didn of the flavors and the kin to put on the plate when So when I started working the co chef, it was a nat to the green market is ar and to generate menus fr natural evolution of wha market, products of convers favorite farmers, looking how you know food is gro from and sharing the back interesting, you know, h that people make in bring foods into the city and g that stuff. So there was based on the natural flow of Alice in California st food that that took over of that, all of that has the way we look at food a now here at Lex yard in t Um yes, I have always said Hey, what like how do you make? And every most ever something to the effect o to um you know, not over looking to distill. We're clarify and focus, sometimes and ideas. Um and then for is you know, whether we s or not, there's always th this. Okay, had a great i great dish. How the hell 35 of these excellent in a without falling, falling a I've asked our teams over How can we make you remember indelible quality more than of what like how many ing or how many steps to a di the you know, the prep a about when you eat, when y it and then look up. Is t can name? Do you know the you're eating? Can you re it grab you? Does it link in this place? And then c tell your best friend, yo on a podcast. I remember trout with chipolini onion and you know, those are t think that that should be business. We all know how tough to get a front of h three things about a new d and it's even harder to ge remember three things abo what it is all about. So the complications, I like food. I am very interested the ingredients and where is that you know, what has most the meals that make love and that I have the are the ones that are anka in a very particular pla I love personally, but I' restaurant business. Yeah, to hear you talk about th don't necessarily like to because I think it was, Oh a frank bruny review or s tavern after you had been years and it said like, Y cooking is like he got a market and a lot of those into one dish, but he's w can make that work. So it it back and you did minim celebrated the variety of and I always run into your from Gramercy Areta. I al her at the farmer's market something that you pass o you work with as well. L a religion. It is a bit o works. Gramercy Tavern is from the green market. We the 50th anniversary of g it has changed the way we country. We're not alone. started long before we go the kitchen. We're buildi came before us. We're not inventing anything brand continuing to, you know, you know, our work in the to try to continue to pro of enthusiasm. I think i really cool. We're lucki to be american chefs in a as nuts as the outside we own little kitchen world It's a it's an important keep working heart. Speaking new restaurant chef Lexi Astoria. This is the firs know, you opened untitled but the first restaurant Yes, I think it was a gre several times. Yeah, tha work you and Suzanne cups was really great. Um I do another place I'm trying t is Lex yard at the Waldor recently opened. I mean 20 to wait essentially to op now and why now? What made what made this opportunit had to be a part of? Uh w to that question is very historic reopening the Wal was the center of social originally opened in this It has a history that da to the original twin mans family when they were put to create walver fistoria in fifth. I never knew th is a great story. We pr for that historic part of those those buildings wer So in 1931, unbelievably oppression, they built th It was the biggest buildi the largest hotel in the of a kind and you know, f of our lives every night from Gramercy tavern and the cabby would say, you to reopen this place. I' right. It was it was ren I'm like, when is this go I live in this neighborho New Yorker waited on pens this happened and you kn out of the pandemic and g uphill battle of bringing into full speed and you k didn't make it. Some some but the timing was great autonomy that I was given in this legendary and hi of unbelievable the fact to see a neighborhood rest to the landscape of New York just happened to be locat and Lex kind of an interi them say they wanted to o and I said, what does tha I started in with the ques wrong with this story? H the reality of it is there it was it was a great mom wanted to see the warmth the expression of seasona up to the excellence and like this and I have been and and this this is the our pricing and through ou through the level of hosp to make people feel welcom be revolutionary, but I th it is. I know I couldn't I think it's so, you know about like restaurants com out of the pandemic. I fe restaurants having a hard hospitality felt like we that right now really get into the natural warmth o of just that, you know, f you're here, whether we'r slow, whether whatever it deal that you're here. It you decided to come here. you could spend money an choices in this city alone you look and I'm not a, I' or I'm about the solidarit I like to see what's happ I mean, you know, I'm fro Cincinnati. I always look and love to see the evol there. Look across the co you can get great training that were considered to b small sized restaurant m de facto need to go to a to get great training and um into this business. Bu is that whether we're work in Lex or, you know, in M that the question that ha up to ask ourselves is, a restaurants can answer th with a smile, man, someth I know something good is that the Waldorf Astoria because when I first mov still open and I was luck some events there back in who worked in finance and to go to and I would jus was so pumped to go becau to America and there was Earl Jones was like to, t was like you will confine at the Waldorf Astoria. A and the hotel and you had and so that was always s about living in New York was like, Oh my god, that hotel. It's an amazing pla of this reopening is, I m it over it? How does it f I mean, there's some clas like, I mean, we can't ign I mean, how do you thread making those things and a you have there to uphold it more modern. It was cl some of the classics woul of the menu and part of t at Oliver was kind enough an original copy of the 18 cookbook. Oh my gosh. First was flipped into, you kno see, is it really such a really such a thing as a sure enough. There it is. eat differently, you know 100 years ago, but it was kind of challenging to th there have been many chev in many places, home chev famous chefs that have re of salad. So it's not li one that, you know, was t like there are a ton of w And so I decided ultimat really carefully about i a craveable seasonal sal right? I'm gonna stick to make something that eats all the prerequisites. I salary sexy, like tough, of my former sushi. I s think he's like, you know wonders with that, those celery is, you know, kin that leaps up on everybod your mind when you're rea But yeah, it's like, wha celery this this season, know, that's a part of it decided that I would light to lighten it up a little salad was made by mixin t with mayo and it was kind then lastly, I said, insi this once, let's make sea salad. So you recognize the walver salad, but yo our menu evolving from se right now, you know, alo components. There's some toasted pumpkin seeds. Th cheddar, New England ched So there are some things for anybody who's really anchor you to this moment at the same time, I think executives of this compa the P and L have been su many walver salads we've in July. I've been pretty it's cool. It's fun. It's I thought it would be. So standards, you know, Jeff coming from Jeff Bell fr bartender mixologist. Exo of American food. Really, and I have never worked t project, but he curated t in Lexiard and in Peacock menu, which is a cocktail center of the hotel. Extrem Jeff, you know, like any just straddled that with you know, the rob Roy was popularized here and you the kind of most interes takes on those classics. things like the red velv we were never strapped wit to serve old fashioned fo have fun and keep the leg that'll continue. Those old is new. I think that I geek out over that staf I have like a book behind from the early 1900s and of my favorite things is through that. I think it like mind blowing and lik it, you know, new again. I want to give a shout out was the longtime executive Astoria and he also produ which I have on my desk r loved even, you know, I'm nothing but dream about t flipping through his book take on these things fro years ago is really intre lucky to, you know, to be our last segment is one call walk in confessions. we get honest about a fun from earlier in our caree have worked out. We might and landed in a mud puddle didn't always go our way or it taught you a very v you took with you throug So let's go to the walki us one of your confessions career. I like this. It's like theme to this story all self defrecating. Um I'll there a lot. I mean mud puddles and everybody were talking about March up on on that theme. Um I my first job as as a sous a lot from the mistakes th just the blatant mistakes mindset that I had and j Robbins. This is not a tel not going to go there. W to keep it that way. Um, good walking confession. that same era. Yeah. Oh, the but the angle that I'l that uh it was first time uh for hiring uh the staff and supervising them. We through a culinary intern to March restaurant and I' name out loud, but if he' uh who it is, but he um h academic background and a and a very interesting a a very good cook and the externship and I was kind we were getting to the end I signed his papers with luck and um I don't know and like a lot of kitchen tides turned and we found the weeds uh and I needed line yesterday and um the to me just being you know busy watching a film fest and listening records. I' man. I'm glad things were and he goes, by the way, I'm like, Oh, uh, well, and he's like anytime I'm music like how about tomo up and and on day one, I is not the way out of th that you get only deeper I'm only trying to like m actually happened was and didn't have a hint of thi of this story turning arou and I made a poor decisio was clearly not prepared that we were expecting. A his work sucked. He was t many mistakes. It was so intelligence kept coming gave up and he kept askin and he asked me tough ques me on the spot all the ti was I wanted to lash out. you are anyway, like you' invested in this trouble reality of it is is he ke is like I got lucky. I ke about a year into it. What had learned enough skills engaged member in the kitch saved my ass from, you kn kitchen point of view. Bu what became of it was a g that I realized probably whatever working as a cook but what he did was persi intellectually to expect not the least. And I jus you find people like that don't have the luxury of when you invest in every you work with many times into relationships and g collaborators. As it turns as as you know, we live i us industry. That person a lead runner and then ev at Gramercy Tavern. When Tavern, lo and behold, he one of the most important of getting to know that n sitting right there, wait we did in the first week, go downstairs in your of I have some things to tell with the he started right hear this, you're gonna h and I said, I'm all yours. cool. I love how that came glad he found a place ouc sounds like that might no but our are your skill set and it sounds like he fou awesome. That's awesome. like people just come bac industry too. We're just l you're like, oh, can't do and you're just like wha they're like, you're here awesome. Chef. Thank you time today. This was absol just absolute pleasure t we really appreciate it. So thank you for inviting I like what you guys do. a Waldorf salad next time that's it for this episode be sure to subscribe wher especially if you're watch where you can find full l episode and follow us at instagram for Joe flam. I and this has been the chef
