>>Female Presenter: We are so thrilled to
welcome Chef Anthony Bourdain and
his team here to Google New York.
You all may know him
from his Emmy award winning show No Reservations
where he
pretty much does everybody's dream job including
mine.
Of traveling the world and eating whatever
the hell he wants.
Including some things that there's no way
you could pay me enough, I think, that you
actually
eat.
There you go.
He has a second show debuting on the
travel channel in November called The Layover,
which is
described as a high octane travel series that
follows him to cities around the world as
he gives viewers the
inside scoop on where to eat, where to drink,
and what to do on the 24-hour
layover.
He has written several books including Kitchen
Confidential, A Cook's Tour, and Medium Raw,
which I see a lot of you guys have in the
audience.
These are
books that made many people, including myself,
decided
never to eat fish again on a Monday.
In case you don't know why, it's because apparently
that's where all the crap from the week before
goes to the Monday specials, so don't eat
it.
He's joined today by his Emmy award winning
team from No Reservations and the Layover.
We have, starting right here, Tom Vitale,
an Emmy nominee,
producer director of No Reservations and on
the Layover.
Zach Zamboni, to his right is a two
time Emmy winning director of
photography for No Reservation and also the
director of photography for the Layover.
And obviously Chef Anthony
Bourdain is right next to him in case you
don't know who
that is.
[audience chuckles] And Todd Liebler to his
right who is a two time
Emmy winning director of photography of No
Reservations.
So we've asked Chef Bourdain to run the discussion
here today so I have no idea what they are
going to talk about but I have a feeling it's
going to involve food and travel, and possibly
his girlfriend, Paula Deen I don't know; we'll
see.
[audience laughs] Thanks
>> Chef Bourdain: Now there's an idea.
Thank-you.
So what we'd like to talk about today
is making things.
We make things and with the people on
this stage make -- along with a much larger
group of
people, equally hard-working, make No Reservations
and the
new series.
I guess why it's us up here rather than
Lydia Tenaglia or Chris Collins or Sandy,
or Eleanor or all the
people in post production, editing, sound,
color correction
or all these other incredibly [chuckles] vital
components of the
show.
The reason these guys are up here is because
we
spend -- we just talked about -- we spend
about 200 days
a year with each other on the road.
We're the principal
road team for No Reservations.
We spend a lot of miles,
a lot of time, a lot of drinks, a lot of poop
jokes.
[laughter] And
so, I thought we'd talk today about how we
do what we do.
And really, why -- you know, I joke about
it, but I mean
it.
For me, the worst thing about the show -- in
a
perfect world, I would not be on it.
I would not be on
No R You see the world as I see it.
I would
go.
I would see it.
I would narrate the show and it
would be told through my point of view , but
I would really not
like to not see my stupid face up there.
If you imagine
the show without me in it, I think it would
still be the
best God damned travel and food show on travel
television ever.
[audience cheers]
And so, the question of the day is, how come
it's just so
fucking good?
[laughter] Tom Vitale, producer, director,
perhaps you
can explain like the process.
How does it all begin?
Like, a typical show such a thing exists.
>> Tom: Tony is picking on me because he knows
I'm terrified
of public speaking.
[laughter] How does it all begin.
We start
about a month before we go out.
>> Anthony: Generally I'll pick a
spot.
>>Tom: Tony picks a spot.
You have an idea sometimes a film that reminds
you of a place.
You give us some direction and we go
out find interesting locations, interesting
people,
interesting things to do and the rest sort
of takes care of
itself in a strange way
>>Tony: Really so anybody can do it?
>>Tom: Yes.
[laughter]
>> Tony: you can follow Tom Vitale, at
TV superstar.
That's his Twitter feed, by the way.
At Zach
Zamboni.
>>Zach: Yes, Tony.
>>Tony: Surely it's not that simple.
Come on, the show
looks amazing.
Look at all the other shows that try
to be like us; they suck.
The meal scenes, they're all sitting there
like mummies.
Welcome to my home.
Guy.
Please
enjoy our food.
[laughter] You know, they're the photography
is ugly, the lighting if any seems spectacularly
inept.
There's no human dimension.
It's all
happy horse shit.
Everything's great . Please
help me understand, why are we so damn good
Zach
Zamboni.
>>Zach: We got heart, man, we got heart.
That's you, me,
these guys, post people, editors -- everybody
involved's got heart.
We try to do something good,
you know, and we've got skills -- yeah, for
sure.
[laughter]
But I think -- I do think we got heart.
We're
trying to do something.
>> Tony: Heart explains why, I think, why
particularly, you know, meal scenes with people
seem
to work a little bit better.
You know what?
I've
often said, you know, we -- that we take the
time --
you know, we drink with people.
You know, that
we're not alcoholics -- we're television
professionals.
[Zach clears throat] [laughter] Drinking with
our subjects and the
people who host us on the show certainly helps.
But
I think it's a function of -- we spend the
time with
the people.
We're not just gang rushing some poor
rice farmer.
You know, and saying, "Okay, the
scene's starting now.
Get Tony out of the trailer.
I go in.
I sit down, I take a couple of bites.
"Mmm, good" and back to the trailer.
The 4-minute scene
represents about how long, what do you think?.
Typically Laos show
for instance.
Maybe it's a four, five, six minute
meal scene.
How long did it take you guys to get those
shots, and how much do you shoot between your
two or three cameras
because you operate a camera as well for a
show
like that.
>>Todd: We're probably there two to
three hours before you're even there, because
we're
shooting the prep with the food which is actually
a
great way to get involved with the family.
Because
you know, as a lot of you probably know, a
lot of
stuff happens in the kitchen.
You know, that's
where the hearth is.
So we go in there and have a
relationship often incredibly nonverbal, right?
Because as people on the crew know, my grasp
for
foreign languages is incredible [ laughter].
You
know, we go into the kitchen and we are just
taking
an interest in what they're doing.
And that
immediately, I think, just opens them up to
us.
And of course
we're open to them because we're trying to
just get
in there.
>> Tony: I mean, you're in the kitchen
often in a very tight space with somebody's
grandma.
She's not used to having other people in the
kitchen
other than family to start with.
She's certainly
not used to this -- especially when you're
talking
about the mountains of Laos -- this invading
army of
hulking white people from America with cameras.
That is a weird and
terrifying thing to people particularly hill
tribe
region of Laos.
I keep using that as example
because that was probably -- I'm trying to
think of
where we appeared as most shocking apparitions,
you
know?
[laughter] So you know you go into a room
with cameras,
everything changes.
Everybody gets weird.
And I
think part of the struggle -- I think one
of the
things that you guys particularly do really
really
well that makes all the difference is the
time spent
to A: let people get over that shock.
The fact
that you're in -- it's often you.
You're in the
kitchen with grandma.
She's bumping you out of the
way.
You smiling at each other.
You're expressing
willingness to try things.
You're open to the
experience.
You're clearly appreciative of what's
going on and interested.
You know, people are proud
of their food, wherever they are.
Just about
everywhere in the world, people are proud
of their
food.
It means something.
It reflects their history, their family
history, their ethnic history, often a long
story of
struggle and deprivation to arrive at these
dishes.
It means a lot.
They tend to like it wherever you
go when a guest is willing to smile and try
it and
be open to it.
But I think the time you put in with
petting the family dog, playing with the kids.
>> Todd: Milking the yaks.
>> Drinking the local rot gut.
Because let's face it, a lot of these situations,
in almost all of them, somebody is fermenting
or
distilling something cloudy in a backyard
somewhere
in a 55 gallon drum.
>>Todd: Which they are very proud of
>>Tony: The willingness to drink that
makes a big, big difference in how things
are going
to go.
So there's that.
[laughter] You know, I talk about
time.
But then again, this is a hand-crafted
outfit, you know?
This is -- you know, we're not
Target.
We're Hermès . It takes a long damn time
to make the bag.
[laughter] But at the end of the day, okay,
it's expensive.
It's a damn nice bag.
[laughter]
>> Zach: Yeah, I think -- I mean, yeah,
it's like the Japanese craftsmen that believes
they're part of what they make.
I think we go in
like that.
We know our signature is on this thing
we're making.
We're not -- we're making this thing
that represents us and we put -- we standby
it, you
know.
>>Tony: You ever watch a show, you ever make
a show, and
later -- I mean, to me it's really really
important.
Whatever I did yesterday.
I know the feeling of
waking up looking in the mirror and going,
"oh,
God --," like, whatever I did yesterday was
really, really, shameful
and embarrassing.
[laughter] Story of a lot of my life.
I guess I determined
whenever I decided to go on television to
not be, you
know, really I would love to make a joke about
The
Chew right now.
Should I?
No. [chuckles] You
know, I just -- I'm constitutionally unable
to wake
up to in the morning.
To know that I'm going to
wake up tomorrow morning.
"Jesus, God, that show we did
was really cynical, and cheap, and stupid.
I don't care if people liked it, it sucked."
Have you ever woken
up in the morning after seeing a show that
you made
and thought, "oh, man."
>>Tom: I think that's one of the
amazing things about working on this show,
we all
feel so proud like Zach said.
The product we put
out there.
I mean, it's just very special.
There's
so many other people who work on shows that
you just
like you say you don't get to go home and
feel
really proud of what you do.
It's kind of awesome.
>> Tony: You knew this was coming too?
What about the Romania show, Tom?
[laughter] Here's the
problem for me on the show is that, on the
one hand,
it's a good thing.
Like, if the show goes really
really badly, we tell that story anyway, you
know?
And if it goes really badly and it's an utter
misery
for me because I found out painfully one of
Tom's
early masterpieces, apparently that's pretty
damn
entertaining.
[laughter] Do you care to tell --. How badly
did that shoot go?
>> Tom: It went pretty badly.
I can't
just any other episode that's gone -- everything
--
it was a perfect storm.
Everything was so bad that
it end up being so great in the end.
[laughter] Ultimately, I
think it was a fair accurate representation
of our eight or
ten days there.
Ultimately -- so I can go to bed at
night and sleep with an easy conscience because
again, that's a fair representation of what
we saw
during our time there.
It may not be all of
Romania and we certainly did not go out to
assassinate
a country.
>> Zach: We tried to do right.
We had
the intention of doing right by those people
>> Tony: At the end of the day, that was
a funny shit though.
>> Zach: We tried.
We tried.
I just want to say anecdotally,
this guy, when it starts raining, right?
We're in
the middle of nowhere.
We got no cover.
No trees
no nothing.
It starts raining.
>> Tony: And I'm always, "this scene is
over.
We're screwed.
Time to move to plan B."
>> Zach: "shit," and he goes "yes!"
>> Tom: Bad weather makes for good TV.
>> Zach: And he's just like as soon as
things go off the track naturally "this is
perfect.
>> Tony: He starts to smell Emmy.
>> Tom: That's one of the things I
learned about this show.
There is no script.
We
don't do multiple takes of things.
If Tony says
something or one of the people we're filming
says something and we didn't catch it for
some reason we're
shooting a food insert.
We don't ask them to say it
again.
I think that's very important.
It lends that feeling of immediacy to the
show.
It doesn't feel scripted or forced.
>> Tony: What do I hate most on the
show?
The walk in and the good-bye.
That way back
when, we would do what's called "the walk
in".
It was, "Okay, Tony, stand outside the house
and this is the scene where you walk in and
you meet your hosts."
Worst case scenario, "We'd like to do that
again."
Boy -- it's impossible to feel any more of
an asshole
[laughter] than warmly introduce yourself
to somebody and
then "I'll be right back to do it again."
[laughter] Or only
thing worse is, "Thank you so much for the
meal and
letting me in your home, good-bye."
And then you
got to go back and do that again."
[laughter] So we just
don't -- we don't do it.
The whole organism is
created to never have that kind of artificiality.
So favorite shows --
Favorite show for you to watch
and then favorite show of yours to make?
Is there a
difference?
>> Todd: Sure there is.
Haiti was just
unbelievable, because I think, as I believe
Lydia was
saying or someone, we were just running on
all
cylinders there.
>>Tony: You won an Emmy for that one, didn't
you?
>>Todd: I, I, think so
>>Tony: Might that weigh heavily on your--.
[laughter]
>> Todd: You know, I was asked, "is
there something you want to push forward?"
And I
said, "yes."
So that was I think amazing.
Every
step of the way I would watch it.
Pretty
overwhelming.
Very, proud.
>>Tony: So favorite show?
Proudest of
that one.
>> Tom: Right now.
Most fun show to
do.
Well, the India show we did a making of.
So we
had two crews on.
A lot of friends.
It was a lot
of fun, you know?
You know, all my stuff hit the
editing room floor but what am I gonna do
It's not about me.
>>Tony: Your favorite show you're
proudest of and then the show that was the
most fun
to shoot.
>>Zach: So hard to say.
People ask
that a lot.
There's moments we have together making
a show that are just incredible moments.
Like, that
little rail -- the railroad thing -- Cambodia,
riding scooters in Laos.
>> Tony: Stone on top of this moving
platform built out of wood that they jury
rigged and put on rails together like with
a little putt putt
lawnmower engine moving farmers from the rice
paddies.
We were post dinner and we might
have beamed up a little bit.
>> Zach: And it's his moment, you know.
>> Tom: The sun was setting, you're
blowing through these rice fields.
Together after a
rainstorm with the beautiful fresh air.
So what we're getting paid right now.
>>Tony: Your favorite show.
You're
proudest of and then most clever to shoot.
>> Tom: I think I would have to agree
with Todd about Haiti as being one of the
ones I'm most proud of.
It was a very difficult shoot.
There was a lot of heartbreak spending time
with
these people and then we get on the airplane,
disappear, and come back here and they're
left there.
That was pretty
rough.
But it was also an amazingly magical place.
It was enchanting.
It was something really
enchanting about it.
It was just so intense.
>>Tony: What are the most fun shows.
>> Zach: You got to say Rome here, come on
>>Tom: I think Rome was a really fun show
>> Tony: Rome is the show I'm the most
proud of.
>>Zach: That's an amazing --
>>Tony: Because we did -- it all started -- this
group we're sitting around in a hotel lobby
somewhere talking about films we like and
how we
could do -- you know, I think the driving
mission of
this show is that whatever worked last week
--
whatever we did last week no matter how well
it was
received, how successful it was, how much
the
ratings were, how much people loved it, whatever
we're going to do next week we want to try
really
really hard to undermine completely what we
did last
week.
We want to present a moving target.
We don't
want ever for the network to be able to say,
"I think I figured
out what the hell you guys are doing.
Let's do more
of that."
Because by the time they figured that out
we will have moved onto something else.
We spend a
lot of time sitting around having a few cocktails
thinking, "What is the most fucked up thing
we can
do?"
[laughter] And I don't know which one of you
guys said,
"Let's do a food show all in black and white."
That's how good we are.
We can make food porn in black
and white.
And we started talking about the early
neorealist Italian films that one percent
of
our audience might have seen.
[chuckles] We went out and did the just about
the stupidest thing you could do on travel
and food.
We
made it all black and white show.
Lit.
We never
light.
>> Zach: And they said no way.
They
said that was.
>> Tony: It is -- for me it is my
proudest moment because it was just so stupid.
And
it looks so beautiful.
And the work you guys did.
And the editing.
It looked -- the music,
everything, everything worked exactly better
than we
could have imagined when it all came together.
That
first Tuscany show that everybody hates, that
was a
fun show to make.
>> Zach: That was a fun show to make.
[chuckles]
>> Tony: Okay, what about worst?
Just
lowest moment.
What's the worst thing about making the
show.
I mean, we have the best jobs in the world.
Everybody says so.
And it's true.
What do we do
for a living?
We travel around the world eating and drinking
to
excess making incredibly self-indulgent television
any way we damn please [laughter] with
as little creative interference as I think,
most people --
very few people are able to do what we do.
>> Todd: Since we're talking about Italy
>> Todd: The Sicily show which I think
was Season 2 or 3, we had a picture that was
very
self-involved.
And it was.
>> Tony: Helicopter she no come.
Ooh,
we're going to swim with the turtles today.
The
turtle was sick.
Nothing worked.
>> Todd: How about the sea urchin scene?
Oh, that was last week.
>> Tony: Everything.
It was desperation as
everything.
As each day goes by and we don't know what
to do.
So we just had to make it up.
>>Todd: Mmm Hmmm.
So that was tough.
>> Tony: I jumped off a cliff into water of
indeterminate depth.
>>Todd: That was cool
>> Tony: That was a measure of our
desperation.
[laughter] Spinal injury, it's always
entertaining.
That will get us five minutes.
[laughter]
>> Zach: Bat caves and Bill Murray, those
are my two worst moments just the worst
>>Tony: Bill Murray?
>> Zach: Remember that?
Went in there
did all the sun path work and everything was
perfect.
I had it silk screened, because it was all
glass.
It was this giant
restaurant's all glass looks out on the Hudson.
Perfect cloudy day.
>>Tony: Oh that's right and Bill Murray was
--
First of all, we were supposed
to.
I'm supposed to shoot with somebody for dinner.
>>Zach: My hero and it was horrible
>>Tony: First, you got to understand this
about Bill Murray.
If you want to make like Ghostbusters 3 and
give him
like 30 million dollars apparently he has
no agent, he has
no attorney.
You call an answering machine
somewhere and leave a message and maybe you'll
hear
back five years later.
[laughter] So this, he just doesn't
behave -- you don't reach out to his people,
right
And I was supposed to have -- and someone
else
shooting with me, a meal scene in the Hudson
valley and they fell through.
The chef of the place said, "How about Bill
Murray?
Do you want
Bill Murray on the scene?".
He showed up the next day.
I think he hitchhiked to
the scene.
He just walks in.
The whole time I'm sitting there like I
have no idea what I'm saying.
I know my lips are
moving.
I'm just sitting there talking to him.
The
cameras are rolling.
I'm thinkin', "I can't believe Bill Murray
is
on my show.
This is so cool.
Why is Bill Murray on my show?"
And then just as Bill launched into a
rare moment of personal reflection.
>>Zack: Oh I know
>>Tony: I don't know
the most meaningful.
I think it was the most
meaningful, tearful moment of his life, what
happened?
>>Tom: The sun went behind the clouds
>>Todd: No, the sun went into his eyes.
>>Zach: Nobody would make me nervous
like that, it was just because it was Bill
Murray.
But I did sun path to know exactly where the
sun was going to be and I'd hung some silks
up on the
windows so if it came out I would be able
to drop it
in time so it would be direct sun right on
his face.
Of course, as soon as he started talking
about that, the sun came out wrong place.
It was
totally in the wrong place.
>>Tony: Oh I remember.
And because of that
So it was like this.
Well,
Tony I never told anyone about this before,
after
that childhood tragedy, that was the moment
I
decided to become an --. And suddenly I see
Zach running through the back of the scene
[laughter]
>> Zach: They came out and it was just
like this piece of sun that had worked its
way
around everything I had put up and it was
right
there, right in the worst place possible.
I
remember.
>> Todd: Your worst moment?
Single worst
moment?
You weren't the guy who wired up the inside
of the MIG ? The jet.
We spent thousands of
dollars for me to go up in a Russian fighter
plane.
They rigged up the interior with tiny little
cameras.
It was a new
shooter.
It wasn't anyone on this stage.
We go up we do the whole thing
barrel rolls lots of comedic footage of me
struggling to not blow chunks.
We land . We hadn't
turned the camera on.
[laughter] Sweet.
>> Todd: Not me.
I'm responsible for
other breakdowns.
>> Tony: The worst lowest moment.
>> Todd: Well, I think the one you keep
picking on now three seasons later is just
my -- I
knocked over a dish and or 2
>>Tony: or 12.
>>Todd: A gross
>> Tony: It was a classic moment.
You know,
Todd, you have many virtues but Nijinsky-like
grace is not one of
them.
What was it called?
I forget the name.
Pa dang restaurant?
>>Todd: Pa Dong
>>Tony: Where they in Indonesia,
right?
Where they stack basically all of the dishes
in a huge triangular formation in the window
and
underneath it are the mother sauces meaning
the
buckets of the back up.
You know, basically the
restaurant's entire food supply for the day.
And
he's filming closeup and the mic hits one
of the
plates.
The whole thing comes down.
Everything
shatters.
Everything falls in.
All of the village
elders are sitting there waiting for their
food.
Of course it's classic television and we've
used that clip at least four times in
further shows.
[laughter]What made it great for me was that
years later we're in like rural Szechuan province
in
China -- it was up in the mountains, Hunan
or Szechuan, we're up in the mountains.
Singaporean or
Malaysian tourist and they see Todd and they
start
pointing at him, [laughter] "Mr. Clumsy man."
Your worst
moment.
>> Tom: Brazil shoot was really really
rough.
>> Tony: I mean I make you more
miserable than anybody I think.
If anybody bears
the full brunt of my unhappiness, self-doubt,
self-loathing and misery, it's you.
You pretty
much -- you have a pretty wide menu to select
from
here.
>> Tom: Brazil where you hurt your back,
Zach had the 104 degree fever.
We were stranded on the island.
That was rough.
>> I like the part where we're
waiting on the plane and we're like four hours
by boat from anywhere.
Waiting on this little island in the Amazon.
You
know, it's late and these couple of other
like
Europeans or Americans show up on the tarmac
who we
hadn't seen out in the jungle at all.
We turned to our
guide and say, "Who are they?"
Oh, yes, they too
are waiting for their plane.
They come every day.
[laughter] "Oh man."
Let's hear questions from you guys for
any at all.
Please.
>> Male #1: How are you doing?
So I have
two questions.
One's for Anthony.
One's for
everybody else.
The first question is with all the
shooting and the traveling and the book writing
and
whatever, do you even get a chance to cook
anymore
and if not, do you miss it?
The second question is,
on location, which one of you has the most
fortitude.
[audience chuckles]
>> Tony: Okay.
I don't get to cook
much.
Very, very, very, very, rarely do I get to
cook either
at home or on the road.
I'm actually really -- some
of my happier moments on the show are when
I get to
cook, either on camera or better yet off camera.
One
of the reasons I like Tuscany.
Because we all
rented a villa -- it was very -- talk about
self-indulgent.
The idea was to make a show about us making
a show.
It was a show about us going staying in a
fabulous
villa on the a hilltop on Tuscany and then
making a show about the process of living
in a fabulous villa [laughter] But the fun
part
for me was I got to cook off cam.
You know, we do
these little pot luck things.
I got to cook pasta.
That always makes me happy.
The second question was--.
>> Male #1: Which one of you has the most
fortitude on location?
>>Todd: Tom.
>> Tony: It's @TVsuperstar.
It's
his Twitter handle by the way.
Far, far and away this guy is
up at 6 o'clock in the morning.
He's a slave
driver.
He pushes his crew really, really hard.
But he's also up earliest, out there.
If it's really really stupid and suicidal
and incredibly hot and we don't really need
the footage, he's
going to go out and do it anyway, by himself
if necessary.
He's going to go all night
long and in between that, he'll be fretting
and
worrying and going out and scouting locations.
And he just goes
and goes and goes.
>> Todd: Mobs in Thailand.
Shooting at your
trains in India.
Being attacked by Gila monsters.
[laughter]
>> Zach: He always smiles every morning.
I look forward to that.
Every morning Tom, big smile.
"Good morning, guys.
Hey guys.
I love this job."
>>Tom: Just another day at the office
>>Zach: We're crippled.
>> Tony: So without a doubt, it's Tom.
>> Male#2: Thanks, guys for being here.
I'm sorry, I'm recording this.
My wife, Lisa, is back home in Mountain View.
I'm from the Mountain View office and she's
a former Googler,
huge fan.
So I'm kind of channeling her right now and
here
enjoying your presence.
>>Tony: Hi [laughter]
>>Male #2: I'm sure she would say hi
if she was here.
I just want to say seems like you
guys are doing exactly what you want to be
doing.
What you love.
She's somebody who's still trying to
find that.
She's actually a really talented Italian
American cook and chef, somebody I think should
just go to culinary school and do it.
I think she's maybe afraid or not
sure about what dream to pursue.
So any advice for somebody whose looking to
find what they love.
>> Tony: Short answer on the cooking is
hey, before you spend money on a cooking school
go
work in a restaurant even for free if necessary.
Work in a busy restaurant.
Give yourself enough
time to understand how hard it is, how little
money you'll be making, how long it will take
you to pay back that student loan.
Just how difficult and unglamorous it
is.
And how insane you have to be to find a home
--
you know, there are two types of people.
People
who love the restaurant business and thrive
on that
sort of insanity and adrenaline and futility
and
inequity [laughter] and the pressure and the
heat.
And then,
there are normal people.
And you need to find out
before you go to school.
So I'm all for pursuing
your dream, but I think it's a good idea to
go find
out early, you know, before you invest in
that
dream -- either time or money.
Find out what that
means.
You know, if there's a downside, you know,
I
don't know how we all got this gig.
I think it was,
you know, I mean, were you pursuing your dream>
[laughter]
>> Tony: Yeah, me too.
>> Male #2: Thanks, guys.
>> Tony: It's selfish though.
I mean,
let's face it.
You know, being married to any of us
would be difficult.
We're away a lot.
And I think
it's also -- I mean, what do you talk about
with
your friends.
When you come back.
When you have a
life like us, who do you talk to?
Your friends from
high school -- my friends from high school
or I used
to work with in the kitchen only 11 years
ago, 12 years ago.
So what
did you do last week?
Saw a Yankee game, went out
for a beer.
Normal stuff that actually sounds pretty good
for me.
What did you do?
Me and Zach and Todd and Tom all
sitting on top of a dune in an empty corner
of the Arabian
Peninsula smoking some hash [laughter] looking
out over the
vast expanse of desert.
Then we got together with
these Bedouin dudes playing drums and hanging
out for hours.
[laughter]
Then we were like in a war.
You know.
How do
you -- you're not doing anybody a favor by
telling
them that, you know, what I mean?
So it is kind of.
We do live in a kind of freakish bubble when
you
come back.
Or at least I do.
You know, what do you
say.
>>Tom: So alienating
>>Tony: Alienating
>> Zach: They always want to know what
you're up to.
I always want to talk to them about
normal stuff.
Let's talk about fishing.
Give me
something normal to talk about.
>>Tony: So you never want to rub it in.
>> Zach: Talk normal stuff.
>> Tony: But you keep that secret.
You
know what I'm saying?
You have this amazing amazing
thing happen.
Let's face it.
Amazing, amazing
things happen to us all the time.
Do you tell
people.
>> Todd: You know, I'm always asked,
"Where is your favorite place?"
Hands down I say
Brooklyn, you know?
[cheering]
>> Tony: Totally run for office, dude.
[laughter]
>> Todd: City council.
L-I-E-B-L-E-R Yes.
>> Female #1: So my question for you is,
"Would you eat Andrew Zimmern?"
No, that's not my question.
[laughter] But
you're actually thinking about it.
>> Tony: Andrew is a good friend, put it
this way, if we're on a lifeboat long enough
and
he's not keeping up with the rowing, slow
braise . [laughter]
>> Female #2: My real question is, you get
your dangerous situations, the bat cave was
scary,
riots, someone brings out a vat of alcohol
with dead
birds in it.
What are you gonna do?
When do you say "no?"
When do you say
"uh-uh, I'm not doing this."
Like, you're in
danger, or.
>>Zach: Tom never says no
>> Tony: When do we say, "Okay, we're
not doing it?"
>>Tom: I can't think of a time.
It's
strange when you're shooting and you're there
with a
camera we're making a show.
You cease to become yourself.
You're not yourself
anymore.
You're not a regular human being.
You
just have to just do it.
Because any time you close
yourself off to any opportunity.
When you have --
you're so lucky enough to be there in the
first
place, you know?
You'd be a fool to say "no" to
anything.
>> Tony: We've been -- looking back
there, I've done some really really stupid
things on
the show that I probably wouldn't do again,
but you
know, I'm a dad now.
I probably wouldn't -- I
wouldn't make the jump off the cliff for sure.
Other
than that, you're in a situation.
Violating your
deeply held principles about what to eat for
instance -- is it a pet or is it food?"
[laughter] I do have
deeply held principles there.
Is it repulsive to me
or is it even rotten?
I'm going to eat it rather than
offend my hosts, I'm going to try it.
Sometimes
that ends badly.
What did you say, man?
You're
another knuckle head.
You're hanging out of helicopters; going out
on cliffs, doing stuff Just seeing him in
Iraq when
we're -- I'm in the rear hatch of a Russian
helicopter of dubious airworthiness where
the hatch in the back
opens up.
I'm strapped in; I have a tethered cord and
I'm there on the thing and it's wind
coming.
These guys are hanging out way further.
Just looking at him with a camera, my palms
were
sweating.
So I know you don't say no.
I haven't
seen you.
>> Todd: I'm not sure if this is the
right double negative, but like suspend disbelief,
because you're doing things and you're thinking,
"Well, that rail car in Cambodia, that goes
off the
rails and we're going at 50 miles an hour,
it's not
going to be a pretty show."
But you just have to
pull back from that and just be there in the
moment
and not think of the consequences of that
moment [chuckles].
>> Tom: Looking into the camera really
helps.
It takes you.
>> Tony: So what's my excuse ? I think it
goes back to alcohol.
>> Male #3: My wife frequently tells me if
I were to be reincarnated, I would want to
come back as you, Tony.
So probably true.
And I
wanted to ask since you said yourself you've
got a pretty
good gig, good life, you guys feel blessed,
who would you like
to come back as.
>> Tony: Seriously?
I would like to
come back as Bootsy Collins, [laughter] or
somebody who plays bass guitar as well as
Bootsy Collins.
Like Flea or
>>Male #3: I figured it'd be rock and roll
>>Tony: Flea or Larry Graham.
I would play funk bass from like early James
Brown and the Famous Flames or Parliament
Funkadelic.
I would play funk bass, incredibly
well.
I would throw it all away for that honestly.
If I could just play bass at all.
No -- really,
really, really well.
That to me seems like something
I would -- I wouldn't mind cheerfully coming
back but I don't think I'm going to get that
lucky [laughter]
>> Female #2: Hi.
Thanks so much for being
here today.
So I've two questions.
One is about
Iceland.
The other is about Peru.
So the first one
is -- so Iceland is somewhere I've always
wanted to
go, but after seeing your show, I'm not so
sure.
Because it just sounded like everything tastes
so
terrible.
So my first question is: is there anything
there that any of you
ate that tastes good.
>> Tony: There is good food there and there
are good restaurants.
>>Female #2: What is it.
>> Tony: They have, you know, European
and new Scandinavian cuisine.
It's very exciting on the
fine dining end.
The everyday food is pretty decent.
Their traditional holiday food is
probably the worst in the world.
[laughter] But you're not
going to have to eat that unless you want
to.
My
problem with Iceland is it's tiny.
I mean, as far
as, you know, there's one big city.
It's not that
big.
Eight bars.
Basically you're going to be
doing a lot of drinking.
Unless you were into
hiking and outdoorsy shit which I'm totally
not into.
>>Female #2: You can jog around in 5 days.
>>Tony: Cross country skiing, hiking, mountain
biking --
sounds like hell to me.
Rock climbing -- then it's
a wonder land.
It's incredibly beautiful country
filled with spectacular natural vistas.
Big deal.
[laughter]
>> Female #2: Did you ride the horses there?
>> Tony: Yeah, I rode the little horses.
>>Female #2: The glide is really smooth.
>>Tony: Cute
horses.
Lot of drinking, lot of marinating in hot
tubs in hot springs.
More drinking.
>> Female #2: Then you guys made a really
funny commercial at the end.
Yeah, that was
hilarious.
>> Tony: Not my favorite place.
Peru,
completely awesome.
>> Female #2: So I was in the Amazon earlier
this year.
I want
to know about that fermented--.
The woman, you showed her I have to say when
you showed her spitting into the cup and making
-- I was grossed
out.
Which is hard for me --.
>> Tony: Very very traditional all through
the Andes
mountains.
If you're going to be hanging out in
rural mountain regions of Latin America, you
will be
drinking that stuff and likin' it.
>> Female #2: What did it taste like.
>> Tony: Sort of like --
>> Todd: Saliva.
[laughter]
>> Tony: Like if you've ever had pulque in
Mexico.
It's sort of a sour milk.
With beer
with a sour milk component.
[laughter] Not that bad.
>> Female #2: Sounds good.
Okay, thank you.
>> Female #3: Hi again.
I have a bunch of
close friends that are not here that were
like "you have to ask about Rome" because
that's their favorite.
Cacio e pepe dish
that you ate, where was it at?
>> Tony: The restaurant's name is Roma
Sparita
>>Tom: I believe so
>>Tony: in Costavel district.
Roma Sparita
>> >>Female #3: I'm going.
Thanks.
>> Tony: Go.
By all means.
Over here.
>> Male #4: Unfortunately, I'm less
traveled than some of my coworkers so I'm
just going straight to the heart.
Anthony, any
bar recommendations in the neighborhood.
>> Tony: Here in New York?
>>Male #4: Oh, absolutely.
The Village?
>> Tony: I don't get out to bars much
anymore.
One of the -- you know, my favorite dive
bar closed down.
I like the distinguished La Camba
lounge on -- it's ninth avenue -- I'm sorry
eighth
avenue and right around 30th.
Right next to where
Papaya King used to be.
38th.
That is a
sinister awesome, you know, late afternoon,
late
night drinking bar.
You know, it has sort of a
vaguely Latino tiki kind of a thing going
on.
It's really one of the last true dives in
the area
in an increasingly yuppified world.
>> Male #4: Thank you very much.
>> Male #5: Thanks again for coming here to
talk to us.
I think a few years ago you once said
your perfect meal was going to be a bowl of
pho in Saigon.
A very similar question to what you were saying.
So
when you were in New York, where would you
go for
such a meal.
>> You know, that's a thing.
When
you've had really good pho in Hanoi or Saigon,
it really kind of
ruins it for you here.
[laughter] There are places that have decent
pho but I need pho in context now.
I'm not happy eating it in New York.
I want to be
on a low plastic stool.
I want -- I need the roll
of toilet paper on the table.
The little toothpick
dispenser.
This sort of grimy bottle of fish sauce.
I need the condiments there.
I need the chop
sticks.
The dirty spoons.
The tissues on the ground.
And I need Vietnam
outside.
I need to smell those smells and see
Vietnam.
It's part of the experience for me.
So I
just -- I'm not having as much fun.
I don't -- I
never go out for pho in New York anymore.
It's why maybe I'm so
happy when I get it over there and I am ridiculously
happy getting it there.
That's an interesting questions since we're
all world travelers here.
Your go to international
dish.
Of all the things you've eaten, the one that
you had probably be happiest to do again.
>> Tome: My favorite is still Nona Josepina's
ragu
in Naples with grandma cooking meat and tomato
sauce for ten hours with her
right there chain smoking the whole time.
[laughter]
>>Tony: What about you?
>> Zach: I can't answer it.
There's too
many little--.
>> Tony: Oh, pick one -- c'mon.
>> Zach: I can't.
In China we've had
some incredible meals.
In Spain, in Italy we've had
just incredible meals.
It's too hard to pick.
>> Todd: My short-term memory is only
working now so that two bowls of risotto we
just had
in Croatia pretty incredible.
>>Tony: 12 hours they're
making this ragu of ox tail or something.
Then they
stir in the rice.
Oh man.
That's good.
>> Tony: Yeah.
Over here.
>> Male #5: Thank-you for being here, I just
have two
very easy questions.
But if I don't ask, I'll
probably regret it in at least a decade.
So in the
spirit of that man's wife whose energy I'm
also sort
of channeling [laughter].
I don't know where he is.
So to speak.
Have you ever considered having an apprentice
even
just for one episode.
A special contest where
someone gets to join you.
>> Tony: We've done it.
>> Male #5: So the next question is, can
you do it again and can that be me.
>> Tony: Where would you choose to go if
you were -- if you had to pick a spot to take
us.
>> Male #5: That's a good question.
So
you've been to a lot more places than I have.
I'd
actually like to try South Africa.
There are other
places in Africa that I'd like to go.
I'm fairly
well-traveled for my age and I love to eat
too.
I like the places that are really off the
beaten path as I'm sure do as well.
>> Tony: There's a real risk to this you
know, by the way.
We did solicit a contest winner to take us
to their choice of place.
>>Male #5: I saw that a few years ago.
>>Tony: And
man these people got so much shit from our
home team.
Poor guy from the Philippines who is his life's
dream.
I
think he'd emigrated as a child.
He knew very little
of his country.
Yet he'd been once.
He was desperate,
yearning to reconnect with his family from
whom he'd
been separated, his culture.
He single handedly convinced me to
take the show to the Philippines.
Man, he got
dumped on so bad by his country men.
You're not
Filipino enough.
I could have done better.
My
grandma's food was better.
He got a lot of crap for
that.
The buffalo dude.
We did it basically four
times.
The flip side of people taking their food
very personally and being very proud of it,
is they get very
pissed off when they think somebody else from
their team
hasn't represented well.
So there is a dark side to
that job.
You had a second question?
Or.
>> Male #5: The second question was can it
be me.
[laughter]
>> Tony: Over here.
>> Female #4: Thank you so much for coming.
I have a question about music because you
talk about
how much you love music.
I'm curious who would you
see play live if you could see any touring
band
that's out today.
>> Tony: Out today.
>> Female #4: Yeah.
>>Tony: Out today.
[laughter]
>> Female #4: Or favorite album of the last
year or so.
>>Tony: Of last year, the Rome album, Daniele
Luppi, Dangermouse and Norah Jones, . Jack
White, I think is amazing,
amazing album.
It was like--.
I just saw the last
episode of Breaking Bad season 4 and it closes
with
the song from that album and like this show
wasn't
awesome enough, my head just completely exploded.
[laughter] So
that would be the album for me of the past
year.
As far as who to see live,
I've never seen Pearl Jam.
I'd like to see Pearl Jame before it's all
over.
Yeah.
Who do you?
Who do you want to see?
>> Todd: Pavement
>> Tony: Pavement?
>> Todd: Yeah.
>>Zach: You know, I've never seen Yo Yo Ma.
>>Todd: I've seen him!
[laughter]
>>Tony: You
>>Tom: Lady Gaga
[laughter]
>>Tony: Over here
>> Male #6: I first wanted to just thank
you guys for what you do.
My wife and I had our
first kid this year so we're on travel hiatus.
So
it's kind of like the methadone for our travel
addiction for us to be
able to watch your show.
So thank you very much.
I
was just curious -- between going to a place
that
most people have never been or going to a
place that
maybe a lot of travelers have been to and
trying to
show a new angle on it which do you prefer
or find more exciting to do?
>> Tony: One demands the other.
Especially as we do this year after year.
Quite
frankly, if we do a Rome show, an Italy show
and a Provence show
in short order.
I'm putting on what, eight, ten pounds.
That's eight to ten pounds we're putting on.
There's no way.
It'll kill you.
The sheer abundance of
wonderfulness.
[laughter] It's physically just kicks the
shit
out of you, all that good food.
Also, you start to
get -- it's -- it becomes boring for the viewer,
I think, if
it's just one fantastic experience of the
other.
So
I think we very deliberately pick especially
after a show
where there's lots of good stuff, lots of
beautiful
scenery, it's a comfortable show, we're deliberately
looking for some place
where both food is a struggle and, as importantly,
whatever we're going to be talking about is
going to
be a struggle.
Like, we're not sure how we're going
to feel about this.
We're not going to be -- there
are no clear cut moral issues.
You know, Haiti,
Liberia, you know, it's not misery tourism.
We're
going in looking to do a happy show everywhere
we
go.
But we're looking for places where we're going
to be, I think, pressed or challenged.
I think we're
doing that very deliberately over the last
couple of seasons.
Otherwise the show will become boring.
We will
become boring.
Frankly, you enjoy your fantastic
bowl of fettuccine carbonara a hell of a lot
more
when you've just gone been to a country where
people
are really, really struggling for very, very
little to eat.
>> Male #6: That also answers my wife's
question for how you managed to stay so thin.
So
twofer.
Thank-you very much.
>>Tony: Thanks.
Question over here
>> Female #5: In your book Kitchen Confidential,
you talk about how it's tough to
be a woman in the cook kitchen.
You really respect women, you kind of keep
up.
you
Obviously, you guys are a bunch of dudes.
Not a lot
of women going on up there.
Do you find that
it's -- [laughter]do you think that that's
changing?
There are a lot of popular female chefs, is
that changing more and more?
>> Tony: I feel that any answer I would give
you
would be patronizing.
I think I should probably refer you to
the head of our company, Lydia Tenaglia or
our executive producer, Sandy Zweig Or any
woman who made this
show, who run the show, who oversee the show.
We are
all products both literally and figuratively
of --
this is a women-run operation.
[laughter and cheering] So the whole genesis
of
this show in fact started out when I met Lydia
Tenaglia and her new husband Chris Collins
who just
got married ten seconds earlier and we went
out to
make a cooks' tour together for Food Network.
I met them they
were people walking backwards in front of
me with cameras across Southeast Asia.
This whole team, this whole company Zero Point
Zero.
And
this whole enterprise came out of that very
tiny
personal relationship.
So and over the years, you
know, as it has happened over the last few
years
we're together the most, but we work with
a lot of
women basically doing your job as shooters,
assistant
directors.
So.
Just an ugly accident that we're
all dudes up here now.
>> Male #7: So before there's like a
million and one celebrity chefs, who was your
favorite
80's chef like on the old 80's show PBS?
>> Well, I revered Julia child.
I
think Julia Child the most single important
person in American gastronomy was Julia Child,
without question.
She changed the world;
not professionally trained.
Made the world a better
place, you know?
I grew up with a generation where
every refrigerator had a copy of her book
on top.
Everyone had seen the shows.
Everybody was a better
person.
Not only a better cook, but a better person
and a better eater, which means better person
in my
view, post, Julia.
Jacques Pepin.
You know, Jacques Pepin tells
you this is how you make an omelet.
The matter is
settled as far as I'm concerned.
>>Male #7: His daughter would disagree and
she corrected him many times.
It was great.
When they do a show together
it's great.
>> Tony: Jacques could write about everything.
That's one of the great joys of the show we
had
Jacques Pepin on the show.
I just worshiped his work.
You know, I would have loved to have Julia
Child on
the show.
I looked up to her a lot.
>> Male #7: Yeah, she was my favorite too.
>> Zach: Black and white food show first come
first served, just sayin'--
>> Female #6: Hi.
Thank you for coming.
I
actually have a question for the production
team.
When you're out shooting, do you always get
to eat what Anthony gets to eat?
What about places like elBulli?
>> Zach: Tom.
>> Todd: We actually ate out by the
dumpsters.
You know, one of the nice things about
working in a kitchen is often you'll find
some very
nice, you know, chefs that will pop something
in
your mouth.
So that's always a big perk of the job.
But we tend to eat what Tony eats.
Sometimes a
little cold after we're done.
>>Tony: If it's bad, they're definitely
eating it.
It's like, "you want me to eat that?"
OK, Dude.
Why don't you guys try some.
>> Zach: It's very rare that we don't
eat.
>> Tom: People treat us very well.
>> Tony: You've all sat down at Robuchon.
Sometimes the chefs if they
have time and they have the facilities, they
will make a point of, "okay, what
about you guys?
You're sitting down.
You're
getting the full treatment."
First time we shot at elBulli with Lydia and
Chris, okay, they didn't get to
sit down and eat all 40 courses, but they
did get to
stand up in the kitchen and get like 12 of
them in short order which was
pretty cool.
>>Zach: At Chibaa, we've eaten at some incredible
places.
>> Tony: On the other hand, this is a weird,
you touched on something really unusual that
I've
noticed.
Television people and camera people in
general, they all behave as if they're part
of some
weird international union.
Meal time is meal time.
They could be on their way to Robuchon knowing
full
well if they just wait an hour, an hour and
a half
they could eat the most amazing French meal.
They're still eating the bag of snacks and
the hotel-made
crummy sandwich.
Every meal it's as if it's
their last.
You load up for breakfast every day, right?
You're eating that crummy breakfast at the
hotel , every time.
Whatever nasty
snack or crew meal has been packed by the
field
producer, you're eating it.
Or they'll stop for lunch
in some horrifying place.
"we're about to go off to
this incredible wonder land of food -- why?"
Why is
that by the way.
[laughter]
>> Tom: Food is fuel.
And like you
say, we have to spend a lot of time with people.
There's just not time for eating.
I mean a few bites here and there.
We don't sit down and have
a full meal when we're working there are other
things to be done.
>> Zach: Yeah, you never know when your
next meal is going to be.
[laughter ]
>>Zach: You really don't.
I mean, it
could be eight hours.
It could be eight hours
later.
And then, we'll sit down and we'll have that
incredible meal at Robuchon.
But it will be a long stretch.
>> Tony: Alternately the worst thing for
me is when-- This happened --. We did this
show in China where this happened
every single day.
We're on our way to a scene.
It's brown food.
We're going to be doing brown food.
It's not very
visually interesting.
It's good but it's going to
be brown.
And on the way we stop off at our local
fix.
Oh we'll stop here, you guys need crew meal;
we'll stop here.
And you end up at a restaurant and it's like,
"oh my God, this food is like amazing."
So the crew is
sitting around eating this fantastic food
and I know
I'm going to sit down eating eight courses
of brown
food afterwards.
It's so hard to resist.
>>Zach: Actually you were asking me what one
of my favorite meals was.
It was that one.
[laughter] It was.
I'm not kidding.
That
was incredible.
>> Female #7: That's awesome.
Well, so this
lifestyle, it seems totally crazy and not
sustainable.
Not that I want the show to go
anywhere.
But I was wondering what was the
long-term plan for the show, if any.
>>Tony: I'm going to keep doing it as
long as it's fun and as long as I'm interested.
We
talk about this.
What can we do next that's
different?
As long as we can figure out a way to
make next episode, next season interesting
to us.
Honestly we
don't really care about the audience that
much [chuckles].
Because if it's not
interesting to us, if it's not challenging
to us, if
it's not fun for us, why would it be fun for
anybody
else?
So I mean, I think at this point, you know,
if you guys turn to me in the lobby one day
and
say, "you know what?
I think we've gone as far with the photography
as
we can go.
I don't know where else we're gonna go.
" If I turn to you guys and I say, "you
know, this travel and eating thing, I just
want to go home, get a place with a yard
and grow tomatoes."
I think we all would sort
of say, "that's when we'll stop."
But until then, as long as
it's fun, as long as it's interesting, as
long as we
can figure out something new, and interesting
frightening to the network to do next week.
Until then, we'll keep doing it.
>> Todd: No, we're not going to film you
growing tomatoes.
>> Tony: No.
Reality show.
No.
Over here?
Couple more.
>> Female #8: Hi.
So a few months ago, you
said something kinda mean about Paula Deen
and she kind
of fired back at you and I was just wondering
if you
two ever made amends or --.
>> Tony: We don't hang out together, you
know?
No.
I mean, listen.
I never meant to say
"this is the worst person in the world or
the worst
person in America."
As a business person, I actually have a lot
of
respect for her.
The story arc of her life is pretty
damn impressive.
I just don't like the show and I
think that the food she prepares on the show
is
provably bad for the country.
[laughter]
>> Tony: You know, my show -- I do
dangerous stuff on the show.
You know, you seen
me smoking on the show, drinking to excess,
eating
unhealthy food.
The difference between my show and
her show, my show comes with a parental advisory.
[laughter]
And I'm only suggesting that maybe hers should,
too.
>> Male #8: So, thanks for joining us
today.
I wanted to also first say I play bass so
it's great to hear you say you want to come
back to
life as a bass player.
So I have a few questions.
First one is, if you were on Iron Chef, who
would
you want to compete against and don't say
the new
guy because he's easier to beat.
And then, what
would you secret ingredient be.
>> Tony: Tough one.
Who are the Iron Chefs
these days?
>>Male #8: Batali.
Flay.
>>Tony: I'm not going up against Batali.
He'd kick my ass.
>>Male #8: The new guy is Mike Symons, I think.
>>Tony: Symon would kick my ass.
Flay would kick my ass.
>>Male #8: Cat Cora, right
>>Tony: Cat Cora would probably kick my ass,
too.
I was never that great a chef. [laughter]
Honestly.
I'm not going on.
Like, I've often said on Top Chef, where I'm
a
frequent judge, I might through age, guile,
experience, hustle, street smarts and pure
bull shit
be able to weasel my way, four or five episodes
in
before I got the chop.
But I would not ever be a
finalist or anywhere close on Top Chef.
What would
my secret ingredient be?
Pork.
[applause]
>> Male #8: That's a good one.
And then one last question
since no one asked and here you are at Google.
Do you guys use
any of our products?
What are your favorites?[laughter]
>> Tony: Yes.
Yes, I do.
In fact, I
believe we all use the Google family of products.
[applause and laughter]
>> Male #8: Thank you.
