Cooking Up Character with Chef Chris Scott

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Kreatures of Habit Podcast

Episode: Cooking Up Character with Chef Chris Scott
Host: Michael Chernow
Guest: Chef Chris Scott
Date: October 1, 2025

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Overview

In this candid, energetic episode, Michael Chernow sits down with acclaimed chef Chris Scott to explore the culture, challenges, and camaraderie of the restaurant industry. Their conversation flows between war stories from the kitchen, the transformative power of routine and habits, leadership lessons, and changes within hospitality since the pandemic. With humor, vulnerability, and hard-earned wisdom, Chris and Michael reveal what truly builds character in and out of the kitchen.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Heart of Restaurant Life: More Than Chefs and Food

• Chris Scott reflects on the underappreciated people that hold up restaurants: porters, servers, pregnant staff supporting families abroad, etc.

  "It takes place in restaurants, but it doesn't have anything to do with chefs. ... All of us proudly holding that restaurant up because that's what we do." (00:00)

• The Pull of the Industry:
  Even after stepping away multiple times, Chris is always drawn back by the energy and camaraderie of kitchens, describing it as both art and brotherhood.

  "Cooking is where I lose myself and find myself all over again." (05:58)

How the Pandemic Changed (and Didn’t Change) Restaurants

• Post-pandemic Promises: Many restaurant groups spoke of reform—better treatment for staff, improved diversity, and greater awareness of mental health and substance abuse.
  But Chef Scott notes, “A lot of restaurants, I think, really wanted to change but probably didn't know how.” (03:48)

• Real Change Comes from Individuals:

  "The real change started happening individually...I've seen a lot more chefs become sober. ... But that necessarily wasn't done by a restaurant group." (05:01)

Work Ethic, Humility, and Restaurant Mentality

• Picking Up the Broccoli: Michael and Chris discuss how humility is baked into the true restaurant technician:

  "You're never too good for shit, you know? ... You see a piece of broccoli that hit the floor, grab that piece." (09:13, Michael)
  "One, two, three." (10:07, Chris, echoing the ingrained response)

• Teamwork and Survival:
  The kitchen is a “sink or swim” environment, demanding everyone help out and perform under extreme, often chaotic pressure.

The Double-Edged Sword of Success and “Hollywood Syndrome”

• As chefs rise, the ego can take over (“the Hollywood syndrome”). Chris recounts his own check by a mentor, who taught him that fundamental skills and passion matter more than accolades.

  "You're not too good to grab ... grab broccoli, right?" (10:09, Michael)
  "Taste your food. Pay attention. If it's broken, fix it now..." (28:57, Chris on his mentor's tough-but-loving lessons)

The Intensity, Diversity, and Drama of Restaurant Work

• They compare the restaurant world to "The Bear" TV series, highlighting both the accuracy and irony of glamorizing kitchen chaos—while the industry strives to move past its toxic traditions.

  "Everything that you're trying to move away from and make changes about, you know, you're like putting up on a pedestal." (19:54, Chris)

• Memorable War Stories:
  From kitchen fights and freak accidents to literal “shit pipes” bursting during service, both share stories of relentless chaos and humor.

Leading with Respect: Supporting the Whole Team

• Both emphasize the importance of truly supporting teams—not just in words but in actions:

  "You're the backbone of this event. I wouldn't be able to do this without you ... you deserve to eat just like the motherfuckers outside." (22:27, Chris)

• Michael shares that he scrapped “family meal in sheet trays” for staff and let his team order directly from the menu, a gesture of dignity and appreciation.

Restaurant vs. Retail: Why Hospitality is So Hard

• 19 people for a $120 check: Michael breaks down how a single meal requires exponentially more coordinated labor than most retail transactions, underscoring the razor-thin margins and people-intensive nature of the business.

  "That's why the restaurant business is so fucking difficult." (51:46, Michael)

Management and Culture—Freedom vs. Fear

• Successful restaurants run on trust, autonomy, and mutual respect—not micromanagement.

  "Management actually add a level of pressure and fear on top of the intensity that most people don't appreciate." (46:41, Michael)

• Chris echoes that large restaurants often talk about progressive change but rarely deliver, while smaller, tight-knit teams tend to have the most loyalty and lowest turnover.

The Trauma Bond and Lifelong Friendships

• Both reflect on lifelong friendships formed in the crucible of service.

  "The trauma bond that keeps you close and together..." (54:01, Chris)

• Chris reminisces about hard nights followed by decompressing over PlayStation and cookbooks:

  "Cookbooks are everywhere, you know, so in between games, I'm reading Charlie Trotter's Brand New shit, you know, and being inspired and ready for the next day." (54:41, Chris)

Career Evolution & Giving Back

• Chris’s Next Chapter: Shooting his first film, “What’s Left”—stories about the everyday lives of restaurant staff, aiming to honor voices beyond chefs.

  "It's a series of short films that revolve around the human condition of people that work in the kitchen... all of us proudly holding that restaurant up because that's what we do." (56:52)

• Michael’s Approach to Business:
  Bringing hospitality to every field, even personally calling his customers.

  "Those customers that I call are there for life...they know that there's a person behind it that cares." (60:27, Michael)

Habits, Routines and Life Lessons

• While this episode didn’t structurally dwell on morning or evening routines, both stress the fundamental role of hard-won habits—humility, consistency, and leading by example—in shaping lasting success and happiness.

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Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

• On the Reality of Change:
  "A lot of restaurants, I think, really wanted to change but probably didn't know how. ... The real change started happening individually." (03:48, Chris)

• On Humility and Teamwork:
  "You're never too good for shit, you know?" (09:13, Michael)

• On Mentality in the Kitchen:
  "It is 100% a sink or swim environment." (13:17, Michael)

• On the Ironies of Restaurant Media:
  "Everything that you're trying to move away from and make changes about, you know, you’re like putting up on a pedestal.” (19:54, Chris on The Bear)

• On the Power of Listening:
  "You talk way too fucking much. And every time you open your mouth, you put your foot in your mouth... Just shut up and listen, dude." (37:56, Michael's mentor's advice)

• On Endurance and Stamina:
  "Cooking is a young man's game... you gotta have that stamina" (56:52, Chris)

• On Lifelong Impact of Hospitality:
  "There are so many lessons around what we do on a day to day basis that have nothing to do with food." (60:54, Chris)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–05:00 – Intro, importance of unseen restaurant staff, what drives people back to kitchens
• 05:00–11:30 – How the pandemic shifted (and didn’t shift) industry mindsets; art and camaraderie in food
• 11:30–17:00 – Humility, teamwork, responding under pressure, war stories from the line
• 17:00–22:00 – Kitchen chaos, The Bear, the contradictions of industry reform and media
• 22:00–25:00 – Respecting non-headline staff, generosity in leadership, and “family meal” philosophy
• 25:00–33:00 – Mentorship, fundamentals, handling success, and “Hollywood syndrome”
• 33:00–41:00 – Ego checks, learning from business mentors, knowing when to listen
• 42:35–47:00 – Sober recovery, intrapreneurship, and empowering teams
• 47:00–52:00 – The pain of micromanagement, pressure in different sized restaurants
• 52:00–54:56 – Restaurant vs. retail, people economics, owning a small restaurant
• 54:56–56:52 – Trauma bonds, friendship, decompressing after service
• 56:52–62:00 – Chris’s filmmaking project, hospitality lessons applied elsewhere

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Final Thoughts

This episode isn’t just for industry insiders—it’s a revealing, funny, and generous look at what it takes to survive and thrive in high-stakes environments. Michael and Chris’s stories, advice, and reflections offer food for thought for anyone striving to master their craft, build character, and forge real connections. The world of restaurants is messy, beautiful, and demanding—much like the rest of life.

Follow Chef Chris Scott:
Instagram: @chefchris512
Upcoming projects: Film (“What’s Left”), second cookbook (“The B Sides”)

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Transcript

[Chef Chris Scott]

It takes place in restaurants, but it doesn't have anything to do with chefs. Doesn't have anything to do with food. It doesn't have anything to do with a chef's point of view. You know, it's about the everyday life of your fisherman friend, of your boy Sonny. You know, like the shit that he does that. That pulls at his heartstrings, the stuff that he does when no one's looking. You know what I mean? Because there's a million stories that are like that of your porter, of your server, of the girl who's pregnant and working because she has to, who's sending money back home to her home country. You know, like all these stories, but all the while, all of us proudly holding that restaurant up because that's what we do.

[Michael Chernow]

I'm Michael Chernow and this is the Creatures of Habit podcast. Our habits will make us or break us. It's just that simple. I've lived on both sides of the tracks and have learned that the decisions we make on a consistent basis truly define who we are as human beings. On this show, I will be interviewing some of the most inspiring, motivating and high performing humans I've encountered to share their daily habits, routines and rituals that help them stay on top of their game and ultimately happy. So sit back, relax, and pay attention, because what you hear over the next 30 to 45 minutes could potentially change your life. Let's go. So, chef, we are. We went to the same culinary school. Pretty excited to see that. You don't see the French Culinary Institute much these days.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

It changed its name to like, like 25 times. Right. So now I think it's like the International Culinary Center. Is that what it is? Icc.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah. It went from like that to Peter Comps to all kinds.

[Michael Chernow]

When did you go to FCI?

[Chef Chris Scott]

92.

[Michael Chernow]

Okay, so you were there before? I was, yeah. I loved that. School was such a. It was such a grind. It was such a hustle. And some of the chefs there were just. They took it very seriously, especially cooking in the restaurant. Did they have the restaurant when you were there? Let Cole.

[Chef Chris Scott]

That was this, I think the second or third year.

[Michael Chernow]

Okay.

[Chef Chris Scott]

I think, yeah. It was just kicking off.

[Michael Chernow]

It was. I mean, man, they.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

Like, that whole experience was great. I got lucky that when I went there, Cornell had partnered with FCI and brought a lot of Cornell professors from their hospitality management program to offer a hospitality management sort of restaurant management program. And so I was able to also hop into that. So that exposure was great.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

But before the cameras were rolling. We were just talking about the world of restaurants and where restaurants are now in New York. And I'm sure, you know, it vibrates out of New York as well. But New York is a hotbed for restaurants. I think there's 24,000 restaurants in New York City.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Something like that. Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

And something like a thousand restaurants open or close a month in New York, and that is just a staggering number. Right. Like, people say that the restaurant business is the hardest business, and I've spent my majority of my life and career in that business. I think you have, too. So what do you think has changed since the pandemic? Because I think the pandemic has made the mass that just. Just really shook the ground.

[Chef Chris Scott]

I think a lot has changed. But also during that time, there were a ton of fronts going on at the same time, you know, and I'll explain that is that a lot of people talked a good game when they were talking about, you know what? We're going to change up our ways. We're going to switch it up. We're going to, you know, think more about our employees and treat them better and this and that. But, you know, I was still on the ground, you know, during all that time in restaurants, in ghost kitchens and stuff like that. And I would still visit friends. You know, I would still reach out to them. And, you know, a lot of restaurants, I think, really wanted to change, but probably didn't know how. You know, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt a little bit. You know, a lot of the people still were, you know, getting messed with. You know, as far as the racism, the sexism, their pay rate, the amount of time that they were there, the amount of pressure that was going on. I think that the changes came really once we started kind of getting back into it, because there was that break, and then there was that staggering. Okay, now I'm gonna try to walk this new walk that no one has ever done before in restaurants, at least in my time. And I've been doing it for 38 years. And I think it got to the point where they were just kind of like, you know what? Fuck this. You know, I'm not going to work for less. I'm not going to have someone treat me this way or put me in this box or whatever. And I think that the real change started happening individually. You know, I think since then, I've seen a lot more chefs become sober. I've seen a lot more chefs really put their mental health first. But that necessarily wasn't done by A restaurant group. I think that was done by boots to the ground individuals who just had enough, you know, and needed to make change. Now, I was talking to you about the parts of the industry that people love, you know, because, like, just like you, I walked away from it twice. Probably the first time about 22 years ago when my daughter was born and I took some time off and I worked in a cheese shop for a year, and all the clientele and chef friends and stuff would come in and we would catch up and they would talk about things that were happening that day or last night. And the energy sucked me back in. I couldn't be on the bench. I needed to be a part of that. But now with my new information about cheese and my knowledge about all that, now I felt a bit stronger. Almost like the Highlander when he kills someone and he sucks in all that power, you know, I was like the cheese Highlander almost, but. But now, you know, like, I did it again, probably around Covid, but then I was able to dissect the parts that I love. You know, first and foremost, it's the art. The art of it. I always say cooking is where I lose myself and find myself all over again. You know, it's within those walls, within that circuit is where I'm able to express emotion and love and feeling and all that through the platform of food, either through the storytelling or the ingredient, maybe a taste or two, you know, but you can kind of see the energy on the plate with the colors and the origin of that grain or that rice or the story about that seafood or where I got that, you know, pink blueberry from, you know, like, all of that sort of has its place in there. So the artistry, first and foremost, the camaraderie, when it's right, you know, I think in 38 years of working in food, maybe I have 10 ride or die good friends that I would drop everything for. And just wherever you need me, you need me to prep with you, you need me to come and watch your kids, you need me to help you move, pick up a couch, you know, like. Like those. Those individuals, those guys who were with you when you weren't shit, you know, and saw you on the. On the rise or vice versa, you know, those people that never let. Let what it is that we do get in the way of our friendship, you know, even with all the success that I've had, I have close friends who don't give a shit, you know, like, to me, to them, I'm still.

[Michael Chernow]

Chris from Coatesville, you Know, I gotta stop you there for one second because I had this thought and I wrote a note actually in my phone today. I'm born and raised in Manhattan. Spent my whole life here for the most part, outside of the last five years, where we now live in upstate New York. But I've never, ever stopped wearing a backpack and taking the train. Never. I always wear a backpack, right? And I always take the train, right? And I had this thought today that I was like, damn, man. Like, not much has changed in my means of transportation since 12 years old or whatever it's been since I started taking the train, right? And I wrote in my. In my note, I was just like, you're never too good for shit, you know? And I think that mentality, specifically coming from working in restaurants as a technician, right? Like, if you are passionate about that world, it is ingrained in you that if you are walking by a station in the kitchen and you see a piece of broccoli that hit the floor, grab that piece of broccoli, man.

[Chef Chris Scott]

One, two, three.

[Michael Chernow]

Grab it, man.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right?

[Michael Chernow]

Like, it's nothing that, like, you're not too good to grab. Like, why, you know, grab broccoli, right? You're walking through the dining room and you see a table filled with plates that need to get removed, and you see a busboy full to the max. You walk over and you grab the plates, right? You grab the plates, of course. And I think it's the same thing with wearing the backpack and riding the train. It's like we're taught that skill in the world of restaurants that, you know, like playing on a team and never, you know, I'm not. And you know as well as I do, not everybody is this way, Right. But I do believe that the real ones are that way. And I feel like that has been such a gift to be able to walk through life with now as a father, you know, as a husband.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

And also as a business owner in another. In another arena for me, right? I'm always gonna pick up the broccoli.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Absolutely.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, I'm just, you know, and so I just felt. I feel like that, like, as you were saying that, you know, you are Chris and you've had a lot of success, tv, restaurants, all of it. And. But at the end of the day, you've been able to keep this I am Chris energy, right? The guy that was cooking 21 years ago is the same guy that is out there today.

[Chef Chris Scott]

You know, I mean, don't sleep. I mean, there. There are times, and I think it happens To a lot of young chefs, when we go through, I like to call it the Hollywood syndrome, you know, where you think it's more about you than about what you're putting on the plate, you know, I mean, we all go through that, you know, and there's this one part about being on TV and, you know, finally sort of having that platform, you know, Like I was talking about how it's an art and I think like with any kind of art history, you know, that we want our stuff to be out there. It's like Erykah Badu said it a long time ago. She said, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit, you know, and that's the truth, you know. You know, so with that art in place, I think that I'm able to really build a foundation of everything else, you know, and it grows organically, you know, like the way that I even approach that broccoli now, I try to teach that to other people, you know. I mean, the one thing that I'm learning sort of now that I'm, you know, almost 40 years in, is a lot of that work ethic is sort of self taught, you know, like you can't really, like, you can lead a, a horse to the water, but you can't really get them to kind of pay attention to the things that you pay attention to, you know?

[Michael Chernow]

Well, the one thing in the restaurant business that I know to be true is it is 100% a sink or swim environment. Right. Like, if you are not seeing what other people are doing and following suit, right. You, you, you are going to be removed.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right. Get down and lay down.

[Michael Chernow]

Right. It's like, it's one of those things. Right? Because.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

There's not that many places in, in life where, you know, there's a three hour to four hour, if you're lucky, period of time where it is potentially 95 degrees. Weapons everywhere, non stop action and activity, multiple different personalities, 100%. And you're forced to perform in that environment. Hot, dangerously loaded with weapons.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right, right, right, right.

[Michael Chernow]

A lot of different personalities and a lot of people that end up working in restaurants end up there as opposed to seek it out.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Sure.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, like I, I worked at a restaurant in Soho when 18, 19 years old and a prep cook stabbed another cook.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Wow.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, and it was crazy. Yeah, it was crazy.

[Chef Chris Scott]

I've never seen anything wild. I mean, I've seen fights, but no one ever picked up, you know, a knife. The wildest thing I ever saw there was a portable deep Fryer on the table, sort of like a makeshift. And this dude was carrying all this shit in a bus tub. And the bus tub, of course, was cracked or whatever. And he's walking and he's trying to catch himself, and he's. He's contorting his body to kind of not let his shit fall. And while he's doing it, he's close to the edge of the table where the fryer is. He catches on to that, and the fryer oil hits him from the waist down. All that. I mean, the yell that I heard was like, I can still hear it to this day. I've never seen that brother ever again in any kitchen. This was back in Philly, smaller circuit. And back in Philly, you would work with the same cats, two, three, four, five spots. You know, Never saw this dude ever again. You know, I'm sure he was like, you know what? Fuck that.

[Michael Chernow]

Yeah. I mean, look, I have seen. I have been involved in, you know, situations in restaurants. I mean, like, people watch the Bear, right? And that show is fascinating for people. Massive hit, right? Yeah, and it's a massive hit because the intensity of working in and for let alone opening a restaurant, but the intensity of working in a restaurant is hot. It's just hot.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Do you watch the Bear?

[Michael Chernow]

I have not watched the Bear. I've watched a few episodes of the Bear, but it's kind of, you know, people like, what do you mean you haven't watched the Bear? I'm like, honestly, I've lived the Bear.

[Chef Chris Scott]

I live it. Right?

[Michael Chernow]

So, you know, it's not. It's a. They. There are a lot of, like. When I opened up my third restaurant in Williamsburg, meatball shop, we had.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Great spot, by the way.

[Michael Chernow]

Thank you, man.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

Friend and family night. Packed to the gills. 300 people showed up for this thing. And mid service, things were going pretty well because we kind of had our flow. We had the restaurant on the Lower east side for at least a year.

[Chef Chris Scott]

We.

[Michael Chernow]

We had just opened up the restaurant in the Westville. So that opening went well and so we felt good about how things were moving out of the kitchen. All of a sudden, I hear a scream from the prep kitchen downstairs and I'm like, oh, damn. And it wasn't just like a. It was a.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Like, I'm hurt kind of.

[Michael Chernow]

Yeah. It was just like, oh my God scream.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Oh, wow.

[Michael Chernow]

And the four inch drain pipe. And if you come from the world of restaurants, you know what a 4 inch pipe is. There's only one thing that comes through a 4 inch pipe. And that is shit, friends. And typically when you're in the basement or the ground floor of a building, that 4 inch pipe is the same 4 inch pipe that is used for all the apartments upstairs. So that four inch pipe burst. And there was shit on there everywhere.

[Chef Chris Scott]

On the food and everything.

[Michael Chernow]

Everywhere. Oh my God, everywhere. And luckily, luckily the 4 inch pipe was low. So the majority of the cleanup was on the floor.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Kind of contained a little bit.

[Michael Chernow]

But what I'm telling you, by the time I got down there, there was about an inch and a half to two inches of shit everywhere.

[Chef Chris Scott]

It was still coming.

[Michael Chernow]

It was, it was coming out of the pipe. Wow. And obviously we had to shut down service. So, like that, that scene where like the toilet explodes. There's a scene where the toilet explodes in one of the restaurants. I was like, yep, that. I know that, that feeling, man. You know. So do you watch the Bear?

[Chef Chris Scott]

I've never not watched one second of it. People are also shocked. See, but here's my thing with it now. The Bear came up. I think it came out right around when Covid also came out. So here's this whole scenario and I look at, I pay attention to people. Like, I'm a watcher. I watch how you talk, I watch how you walk. I watch the body language, shit coming out of your mouth, things that are going through your head, the whole nine. So the Bear comes out in the midst of the change of restaurant business is brutal. There's drug abuse, there's sexism, there's racism. We need to change our stuff. Food and Wine magazine brings in all new people. Eater brings in all new people. Now you see more diversity. Like, we're on our way. Then here comes the Bear. And now everything that we hated and we want to change now on the TV screen like, oh my God, I love it. Like, yo, make up your fucking mind. You know what I mean?

[Michael Chernow]

I never thought about it that way.

[Chef Chris Scott]

You know, it's like everything that you're trying to move away from and make changes about, you know, you're like putting up on a pedestal. And don't get me wrong, the bear is true to form. It is what you see on the TV and sometimes even worse. But it's just like it baffled me. What do you really want? What is it that we are seeking as individuals? Are we really trying to move away from this? Because I would look to people of color and we were sort of like just waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know, like, this can't be real, you know, like really, you're gonna give me what I'm asking for. Finally, you know, like, that's. That's not real. And then after that, because, like, for. For quite a time. I mean, I have colleagues that got legit good jobs and still have them. During COVID when this changeover was happening, they needed to change the view of the Food Network. They needed to put faces that represented more diversity. Some of them cats still got jobs. Not knocking that at all, you know, but it came to a point where all of a sudden, we weren't getting the jobs. And I was actually sitting down with a producer one time, and he's like, yeah, you know, it's not really the same anymore. Like, we're not really looking towards that demographic of people. Like, we've moved on as you knew we would. Wow. And that's sort of like, you know, that's when the other shoe dropped. Now we're kind of back to normal, you know, so, like, the whole thing about the bear. And I get it. Art imitates life, imitates art, you know, but, yeah, man, that's. That's. That's my bear story, you know, I think.

[Michael Chernow]

I think that it's really interesting. There's so many different aspects of what I miss in the world of restaurants. I am inherently a people dude. You put me on the corner of the worst block in Watts, and you put me at the White House, and I am going to walk away with friends. That is just who I am. Of course, I was born.

[Chef Chris Scott]

That's our nature. That's our nature. Totally. I was telling some guy the other day, and it was after we closed up shop, I was doing an event last night, and we're breaking down whatever, and normally, like, they'll put out any extra food on cheat trays and leave it out for staff, the dish guys, whoever, but I'm plating it up for them, you know? And the guy comes over, he's like, no, no, no, no, no. You don't have to do all that. Like, nah, I have to, you know, because this is for you, you know, and you're the backbone of this event. Like, I wouldn't be able to do this without you washing the dishes, lugging all that shit up from the eighth floor, you know, like, this happened because you were here with me and you deserve to eat just like the motherfuckers outside, you know? So I'm going to hook you up.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, you say that, and all I can remember and think about is, you know, at every restaurant, I. We never made family meal. And Sheet trays. We just didn't. I always let people just order an item off the menu. And that was a big expense, obviously, right? But for me, being a guy who worked in restaurants for so many years before I opened my own, I was every, you know, at night I'd be eating out of a tin, out of a tin. And I'm like, man, we spend so much energy making this experience so awesome for the guests that walk through the door right at the end of the night, I'm, I'm giving a plastic spoon, right? You don't even have forks on the.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Damn table, eating it with your fingers. Sometimes I'm taking a big scoop of.

[Michael Chernow]

Some lasagna that you, you know what I'm saying? Like, so, you know, it's interesting how that dynamic and that dichotomy is. Right. Like, but I will say, you know, there's something about getting through a service in a restaurant that just kicked your fucking ass that it, you can't really, I mean maybe, you know, maybe it's like playing a really hard game, but typically a football game, a basketball game, any kind of game that where it's going to kick your ass is like an hour.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right?

[Michael Chernow]

You know what I'm saying? Some of these, some of these services and for people that don't have never worked in a restaurant, in a busy restaurant specifically, you know, this thing can start at 6:30 and not end until midnight.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right?

[Michael Chernow]

Where you are just balls to the wall and you are grinding. Whether you're in the back, whether you're in the front, you are just non stop, heads down and mistakes are made.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Sure.

[Michael Chernow]

And you got to work through them on the fly. It's not like you have time to just figure out how to like make up for your mistake. You are just continuing to step forward, right.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Gotta be able to pivot.

[Michael Chernow]

Now, now, right now, right now there's no, like one dish comes out of the kitchen and you just sat, you just plated all the other, all the other dishes. One dish comes out, somebody's sitting at that table, they don't get what they want. That person is now sitting there while there are other people at the table are eating. So you gotta figure out a way to get that food out of the kitchen. In like when it normally would take with tickets on the board and 15.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Minutes to get something out.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Now you got two, you got about.

[Michael Chernow]

A minute and a half, right. To make that person happy.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Absolutely.

[Michael Chernow]

Because the other thing in the restaurant business is, and now more so than ever before, everything that comes off the Line over the past is now a photo shoot. It is being photographed and publicized every time. We used to be prepared for that shit, right? They'd be like, yeah, New York magazine's coming in to take image, you know, to shoot you shit, sure. Now every single person that has a cell phone in New York City that is interested in food is Pete Wells. And taking a picture of it and sharing what their thoughts are, right? And so there are so. It's so easy, so much easier to fail than it is to really succeed, you know?

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, the one. At least back in my time, and I'm talking, like, mid-90s, everything was about, like, flavor and precision and knowing your timing. And in the heat of the battle, like, not forgetting the fundamental steps. One of my mentors, his name is Al Paris. He's probably pushing 70 now he's back in Philly. Sweet guy. And when I was young, he taught me the love of the game, of course, about, like, how to braise, how to sear, how to do this or that. But he always told you the why, you know, and he was like this spiritual, hippie, dippy guy, but who was also down with jazz and the brand new heavies. And he was the chef back in his time, he was the chef of the Mondavi Vineyard out in San Fran, you know, so he's cooking for, like, Art Blakey and cats like that, and pretty much lived a full life and then comes back home to Philly, where he meets a young version of me, you know, and it was all about, like, know your fundamentals and. And, you know, feed the people with love and, you know, but there was two. Two stories with. With him is that it's a busy night. The guy on saute is doing fish. The guy on grill's doing meat. I'm in the middle with sauces and. And veg. And the dudes would pass me the plates or they would pass me the proteins. I would put it on the plate, hook up the veg, put it in the window. Chef would check it, and it will go out. So I'm doing that, and it's busy as fuck. And he takes the plate, and he's like a loud, short Italian guy, and he takes the fucking plate and he slams it on the ground right away. Dishwashers come. They're cleaning it up. He bangs his hand on the table. Give me two more. Right? Do it again. Takes the plate again, slams it again.

[Michael Chernow]

Wow.

[Chef Chris Scott]

At this point, the dude on saute is looking at me like, yo, whatever the fuck you're doing wrong, get it right, because I don't have much fish left in my drawer, so get it together, bro. You know?

[Michael Chernow]

And how old are you now?

[Chef Chris Scott]

I don't know, like, 24, 25, you know? And so, like, now I'm shook. Like, all right. The guy to my left is mad at me. Chef is pissed at me. Let me do this again and put it up. And as I'm putting it up, Chef bangs his hand in the window and comes closer. And he's like, yo, you haven't tasted shit. You haven't seasoned nothing. Your sauces are broken. And you're just giving it to me because I'm screaming, you need to pay attention no matter how busy we get, you know? And back then, it wasn't about, like, the look or whatever. He wanted his shit, right? And more than that, he wanted me to know that what I was doing was wrong. It wasn't just the act of slinging it out, you know? It was like, no matter how fucking busy we are, dude, taste your food. Taste your food. Pay attention. If it's broken, fix it now. If you need more veg, you got a prep dude over there. Scream for it or run off the line real quick and do something, but don't have my shit fucked up, you know? Like, that's. That was Al, you know? And to this day, man, I'm grateful for everything that he's taught me. Mostly about the love and the why and the romance of why we do what we do. And that's honestly what keeps me driven. And the older I get, the more that I focus in on another story. So he wasn't big on, like, events, you know, he wanted to come to work. He wanted to do good food. He wanted the people in the neighborhood to know that this spot was the shit. And then he would go home to his wife and kids. You know, he wasn't about, like, being in the magazines and all that. He wasn't about all that public facing shit. But I was the Hollywood syndrome. So I would say, chef, let me do the events that they're inviting you to. He would say, okay, cool. And I was just a line cook. And I would go to these events, like a Baldor produce competition or whatever, and I would go there and battle executive chefs in Philly. And sometimes I would win. So I would come back flexing, like, oh, you can't stop me. I'm the man. Fuck you. Look at my medals. You know, like, talking shit. And one day, Al saw me, and he's like, oh, man, congratulations. Man, you did a really great job. Cool, cool, cool. So listen, here's the special for tonight. I need you to go change your clothes, come back up, and then bang out a Bernays. This, this, and this. I'm like, yeah, chef, no problem. I go downstairs, I come back up. He sees me, like, maybe an hour later. He's like, yo, you got that Bernays? I. I want to taste it. And I said, nah, Chef, I don't. And then enough. And he's loud. Right then and there, he got beet red in my face, and he goes, because you don't know how every. Everything stops. You don't know how you want to walk around thinking that you're the shit. You want to walk around bragging. You want to walk around like you're fucking Big Dick Johnson, you know? You know, oh, I won this, I won that. And you can't even do the fundamentals. You can't even make me a fucking hollandaise sauce. You know what I mean? And you think that you're the shit.

[Michael Chernow]

Not an easy sauce to make, by the way.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Not. But it is one of the hundred percent, 100%. So he was on me, like. Like, basically, do you grow within this. These parameters that I keep you in, but within here, know your shit, you know? And that's sort of how I train my cooks now. Like, I always tell a story. Do you really think Phil Jackson taught Jordan anything about basketball? He didn't. Probably what he did let him do, he let him exist within these four walls, you know, get down. You want to score fucking 20 to 40 a night, go ahead. You want to fucking slam dunk? You want to have competitions with guys on your team, cool. But you know what you're not going to do? You're not going to fucking gamble to where it fucks with my practice or the team. And you're not going to beat up my players. You're not going to go to practice and fucking punch Steve Kerr in the face and all that. You know what I mean? So that's the boundaries. I'll pull you in. Do your 40 a night. Do whatever the fuck you want to do. Do a Nike commercial, I don't give a fuck. But you get too close to the guardrail, I'm gonna pull your card.

[Michael Chernow]

There was a book that I read, this guy, Tim Grover, who coached Jordan, Kobe and Dwyane Wade.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Oh, wow.

[Michael Chernow]

He was there. There, like, mental coach and worked with them on. On fitness, too, but. But he really was like, they're sort of like their. Their mental health Guy. And, and he wrote this book called Relentless. You got to read this book because it talks about. He shares about how crazy those guys were, I'm sure. Just. Just relentless, like, you know, and. And you're right. Jordan got checked a lot. Exact of his.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Exactly.

[Michael Chernow]

Intensity and ego.

[Chef Chris Scott]

You know, I think about it all the time. I'm sure you. You saw that documentary on Netflix. I guess it was about the three seasons when they did the three peat.

[Michael Chernow]

Oh, God. Yeah. And they were about to go the last dance.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah. And they were about to go to the playoffs. And Dennis Robbins like, yo, I need some time off. Like, who the fuck asked for time off when you're about to go into the playoffs? You know? But Jackson was like, all right, take a couple days and then come back. But when you come back, be on. And he came back and was the shit. I think that that's just like you were talking about how there's so many different personalities. That's how you manage that, you know? Like, he knew. He knew that that would probably cause a riff on the team, like, oh, how come he gets special treatment? How come he gets to go to Vegas? You know what I mean? But some people need that.

[Michael Chernow]

I had a. I have a good story. Two year, three. Two or three years after. Probably three years after we opened the meatball shop, you know, you were in the city then, like the meatball shop kind of took off. Like, oh, it blew up. It was nuts, right?

[Chef Chris Scott]

Absolutely.

[Michael Chernow]

And it was so hard for me, even though I was working 18 hours a day, straight up, 18 hours a day, seven days a week, probably for three years straight. You know, it just was not. It was a non stop thing. I remember, you know, when you're successful in our business, everybody wants a piece. Everybody wants to. Everybody wants to. You know, people throw money at you. Let's do this, let's do that. What's the next thing? This net. So I remember, you know, we had. We had raised some money and we were sitting in a board meeting. I never thought I'd be in a board meeting. Board meeting. I'm like, yo, man, I'm a kitchen restaurant.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Exactly, dude.

[Michael Chernow]

You know what I'm saying? Like, board meeting. I just didn't know. My ass or my elbow.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

So I'm feeling flexi. You know, the restaurants are crushing. You know, could we cook meatballs on Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, you know, Chelsea Handler, Good Morning America, like, all this shit. And we're in this board meeting and it's me, my partner Dan, this guy that we had Brought on. Who's a legend in the restaurant business. Older guy, founder of Ruby Tuesdays. He came in with money for a meatball shop and some managers, you know, executive team or whatever. And I didn't know it, but I was vocal. I was probably talking out of my ass. Right. Chances are I'm 30, 29, 30 years old, thinking my shit doesn't stink. Of course. And so after the meeting where I feel like I performed really well, you know, Sandy. Older guy, he goes, hey, can I take you out for a cup of coffee? I'm like, absolutely. I'm thinking, we're gonna sit down. He's gonna be like, man, I'm proud of you, dude. I'm proud of you, young blood. You know, like, I'm thinking that this dud going to just, like, pat me on the back.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Sure.

[Michael Chernow]

He sits down with me and he goes, can I be frank with you? And I was like, absolutely. He goes, do me a favor. Next time we have one of those meetings, shut the up. And I'm like, white as a ghost.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Stunned. You're stunned.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, scared to death, like, you know, he's like, you talk way too fucking much. And every time you open your mouth, you put your foot in your ass. You put your foot in your mouth.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

Like, just shut up and listen, dude.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

You are a talented kid. You don't need to be heard. You need to listen.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right.

[Michael Chernow]

Because the only way you are gonna get to where I am is by observing and listening. And sometimes we need to be right sized. Right. And that was an experience for me. Just like you had an experience with your chef, right? Where this dude just, like, had. Had, really. And by the way, this guy is a legend, and I am grateful for him, and he is a mentor. But that one piece of advice, that moment was monumental for me in my life.

[Chef Chris Scott]

It stayed with you to the core.

[Michael Chernow]

Every time I'm talking.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yep.

[Michael Chernow]

In a. In a business environment, I hear his words say, shut the fuck up.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yep.

[Michael Chernow]

And I'm like, do I need to be. Do I need to be like. And. And I apply it to other areas in my life, you know, where, like, sitting at the dinner table with my wife, she's telling me about something. It bothers me. I have the option to tell her, actually, the first thought that came to mind and express that, or be like, yo, dude, shut the fuck up.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yep.

[Michael Chernow]

You don't need to. You don't need to go ahead and do.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right. Exactly.

[Michael Chernow]

Like, this is an opportunity for you to just have reverence, you know, like.

[Chef Chris Scott]

You'Re married for a long time.

[Michael Chernow]

20 years.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah, I'm going on 12 years. But yo, I mean, that, that's, that's, that's how you do it, you know, in marriage and in life, you know, you choose those battles. I think that we have enough experience and wisdom in our belt, you know, that we speak when we need to, you know, like, if something needs to be said or someone needs to hear something in particular, you know, then we speak on it. I mean, even now, you know, like, I'll, I'll be in meetings just like that, you know, and, and, and still feel some kind of way about being there, you know, like, like, dude, I'm, I. Why am I even here? You know, it's, it's sort of like dealing with, with like the after effects of, of like imposter syndrome or whatever, you know? But, but yeah, man, like, I learned so much from observing, from watching how they play. Like I said, I'm a watcher, you know, I even watch how they fuck with each other, you know, like, who's playing who here? You know, I'm the spectator sitting in this fucking Fortune 500 room with all these fucking suit and tie motherfuckers, you know, watching y' all game each other, you know, and I'm picking up all the subtleties that I can carry back into my world, you know, and try to master it there.

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[Michael Chernow]

Back to the pod. So I worked in this restaurant in the East Village for eight and a half years before I opened up meatball shop. I got hired there when I was 20. I got sober there. Frank gave me a second chance.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Nice.

[Michael Chernow]

He was the catalyst to change in my life. I mean, he personally didn't change my life. But when he told me, you're fired unless you get sober, that was the first time I heard that word in an echo chamber. And that job was everything to me.

[Chef Chris Scott]

That was your rock bottom.

[Michael Chernow]

That was my bottom. August 2, 2004. And he, you know, he said, look, dude, you can't have your job back as you know it, but you can come here at 8 o' clock in the morning and clean with the porters and I'll pay you hourly. Yeah, you got to get sober.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

And that's what I did.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

And he gave me my job back pretty quickly because I haven't had a drink since that day. And I was down deep, you know, overdosing on heroin. Like, bad. I mean, it was bad. You know, our business is. Is a hotbed for substance abuse. It just.

[Chef Chris Scott]

All free. That's the craziest shit of all, is that it's fucking free.

[Michael Chernow]

Yeah.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah. You know.

[Michael Chernow]

Yeah. No, so. So. But I worked for this guy for eight and a half years, and I worked five years sober, five and a half years sober in that restaurant. And he ran that place like, I don't know if anybody can do it, but the way he ran and continues to run. They're still open, Frank. Little Frankie's supper now. Daddy's Pizza. He's got a few others that are opening up. He's got restaurants now in Italy. He let the staff run the restaurants.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Wow.

[Michael Chernow]

And that is why I was able to work there for as long as I did, because I was essentially a. Intrapreneur is the term, I think, Right. Where, like, you are.

[Chef Chris Scott]

You.

[Michael Chernow]

Are you. You. You kill what you eat.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

And I was able to do that there. And that's what I like about being an entrepreneur is man. Yes, all the weight is on my back, but when we kill it, we eat it, you know? And I love that about the hunt of being an entrepreneur. But if I was to go back to the world of restaurants. I don't think that I would come to the table with all these sops and, you know, everybody, you know, like, I know that the times have changed. You know, everybody's gotta sign in for their breaks and hours have got to be checked every, you know, like it's got to be done right. But everybody that I worked with in that restaurant, small restaurant, maybe 40 seats plus a bar, everybody worked there for decades. There are still people that, that were hired there before me and are still there now. Yeah, years and years. And they love their job. And the reason why is because a. There was never. There was actually one instance where there was some racism in there for sure that I was very well exposed to. But it was in. It was in a different way. It was the South American guys just hating on the white dudes, you know, and we like. So there was that dynamic that was just like, you know, it was a weird thing there, but it didn't last that long. But there's something about the pressure that you have to endure. Working in a restaurant, especially a busy one, is intense when there's added weight and added pressure from these managers that walk around and are always looking over your shoulder and, you know, checking you out every night and making chicks. Yeah. Asking you about your wine sales and this and that. Like, it doesn't make you inspired to want to go out there and crush it. It actually, it's already a pressure intense zone. So give the freedom and support the team. I think one thing that gets twisted in the world of restaurants is the support. Like management actually add a level of pressure and fear on top of the intensity that most people don't appreciate. They don't want somebody up their fucking ass.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah, that micromanagement bullshit is whack, you know, but that's just what I was saying to you in the beginning. Like, people talk a good game when they were talking about, oh, we're gonna get rid of this, these old school ways and the methods and we're gonna promote freedom and inspiration. No, you're not. You're not.

[Michael Chernow]

Right. You know, especially for the bigger establishments.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right. You know, and I think that those bigger establishments have more deeper pockets to get people up in there to where you can build that kind of culture that they want. You know, like, you don't have to be up someone's ass because X amount of bottles of wine weren't sold. Or, you know, one guy is getting in trouble because he was doing some deep cleaning and now he's being penalized. For working, you know, two hours more. You know, like, dude, he's doing it for you, you know, because he has pride in his station, his work, this place, but none of it is his.

[Michael Chernow]

The other, really. So I think also, like, as we're talking about just sort of the difficulties of restaurants, right? Like, you know, I kind of describe it to people this way. This is what makes restaurants different than most every other business, specifically a retail business, because the restaurant is a retail business, right? You walk into a clothing store. J. Crew, right? You walk in a J. Crew, you got. You're like, all right, I'm going to. I want to go. I need a pair of pants. I want to spend, what, 80 bucks, 90 bucks? So that's your check, right? The check is somebody walks through the door. Guarantee, probably check at a J. Crew is like 120 bucks. I would imagine that's the average, right? So $120 check every single time somebody walks through the door. When I say check for people who don't understand because they don't work in restaurants or haven't worked in restaurants, that's just the average order value, how much money each person spends that comes to the restaurant check. And so that check is 120 bucks. They're going to walk in the door. Maybe there's a security guard at the front door. Maybe not. Most of the time, you just walk right in. You walk to the section, you look around, you try to find your thing. You grab a pair of pants. Maybe somebody walks. Maybe somebody's on the floor that walks over to you and says, hey, like, can I help you? You looking for anything particular? Da, da, da. You know, oh, no, I'm just browsing. You take a pair of your pants, you go to the fitting room, you try on your pants. Maybe somebody says, oh, those look really good on you. Those look really good on you. You should. Those are primo. Let me grab you one more thing to, you know, see if that'll match with that. You say, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not, right? So the experience is, you walk in the door, maybe there's a security person at the door, or maybe there's somebody there to greet you. But 90% of the time, there's not. You grab your pants, chances are somebody will touch you along that journey of exploring the store, and then you bring it over to the cashier, you ring out, and you're out the door. So you now have interacted with one to maybe three people max, right? $120 check in a restaurant. Somebody walks in the restaurant. Full service restaurant. $120 check. There's a host always at night, right? That host is going to greet you. That host is going to, most likely, if your table is not ready, send you over to the bar to go grab a drink. There's typically three people behind the bar. That's four people right out the gate, right? Host, three bartenders and a bar back. So maybe five people. Then you grab your drink, you get walked over to your table, you sit down at the table. Busboy rolls over, pours water for everybody. Six people. Server comes over to your table, talks to you about the menu. Seven people. You order your food. Server walks over to the pos, puts in your order, that gets spat out to the kitchen. Seven people. Thirteen people that are interacting with this $120 check. You eat your food. Busboy grabs your dishes, puts them into a bus station. Somebody then brings that bus tub down to the dish pit. Four people downstairs. Seventeen people. There's a manager in the back. There's a manager in the front. 19 people. 19 people have to be involved in that $120 check. Whereas in a retail apparel store, one to three, max. That's why the restaurant business is so fucking difficult.

[Chef Chris Scott]

It's hard. It's hard.

[Michael Chernow]

You know, I'm saying, like, that's why it's so hard to make. Make money in the restaurant business. You know, when I tell people I had 13 restaurants, at one point in New York is 700 employees, right? That's a lot of employees, right? But what they don't understand is that one restaurant typically requires 30 to 50 people, depending on the size. And if it's a huge restaurant, there's 150 people working there.

[Chef Chris Scott]

And even that's not enough, you know, because then you got the call out some people on vacation or some people just aren't that good, you know, It's. It's. It's always something, man. I mean, when we had our spot out in Brooklyn, this was before investors, and it was me and my wife, and I'm talking after you pay rent and property tax and quarterly tax, you know, and labor, you know, and all that shit, man, like, you barely had enough to go to Jetro on your own because you definitely couldn't afford fucking Baldor, you know what I mean? You were taking your car with your gas money to Baldor off of your sweat.

[Michael Chernow]

To Jetro.

[Chef Chris Scott]

To fucking Jetro. Loading shit on a fucking cart in the summertime, or even worse, in the wintertime, when the parking lots filled with snow so here you go with this fucking cart through the snow to your car, back to your spot to unload it. Maybe you got a dishwasher to help you, you know, and then you start prepping, you know.

[Michael Chernow]

It's a tough game, man. It's a tough game, bro, but there's nothing better. There's nothing better. There's no better feeling that I can recall than getting through a hectic night and sitting down with the team, if the team is aligned and high fiving right. Like. Yeah, that's a real feeling, man. It's a real feeling.

[Chef Chris Scott]

It's real. It's real. I mean there, there's, there's the, the trauma. Bond. Bond that keeps you close and together, you know, and then there's that real authentic, like I said, it's probably about 12 people that I'm still in touch with, you know, and we've, I'm sure back in the day, like we would be on the, on, on the fucking line. If I'm working fishing and you're working meat, I'm already battling you to see which specials are going to sell more after that. Then we're going to the bar. After that we're going either to your place or my place, getting high as shit, playing PlayStation till 4 o' clock in the morning. But cookbooks are everywhere, you know, so in between fucking, you know, games, I'm reading Charlie Trotter's Brand New shit, you know, and being inspired and ready for the next day.

[Michael Chernow]

I remember I worked in this restaurant. I would get sent out to the Hamptons in the summertime to go work at these restaurants out there. And I was working in this restaurant in the summer and you know, it's late night out there. So these were, you know, sometimes they convert into like a little nightclub, whatever. But we would get out of work at 4. It was late, late night joints. And I'm still, he's still a very good buddy of mine, this dude Damon, and one of the craziest dudes you've ever met in your life. Just. You meet some of the most interesting wild people in the world of restaurants. Right?

[Chef Chris Scott]

For sure.

[Michael Chernow]

And we would get done with work. And he was a fisherman.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Oh, wow. So.

[Michael Chernow]

And we were out in Long island, right on the water.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

And so we would get done with work, throw back a bunch of booze and we would go fishing at the Shinnecock Canal. I'll never forget it. We would go fishing for bluefish and striped bass and, and porgy from like 5:30 in the morning until 10:00am and, you know, we were not up to anything good, of course, but, like, those. Those, you know, like, you know, take that fish back, right? You know, like, there's a piece of me that will never, ever not want to be in the world of restaurants at some level. You know, now I live in upstate New York, and I know I can bring flavor up there. You know, there's like, there's a lot of people like me who have moved up there. In the pandemic, it was a lot less expensive to live there with a lot more space, and now it's way more expensive because of the pandemic. So a lot of wealthy people have moved up there, but there's just. There's just nothing up there that. That has anything like what I'm used to in the world of restaurants.

[Chef Chris Scott]

I mean, people like us, we can easily work that room like you were talking about, from the hood to the White House. I just think, because no matter what scenario that we're in, we don't really necessarily need to code switch or change up for whoever it is. We bring our genuine selves to the table. And because we're giving people, we're also giving of our spirit, of our experience, of our words, our wisdom, you know, And I think that's, you know, like, although I always say that cooking is a young man's game, you know, because you gotta have that stamina, you know, not only to be on the line to work all those hours, all the lifting, you know, the ice buckets, the fucking changing of the fish, you know, hauling out the fucking trash cans, staying up to 4 o' clock in the morning and still with the strength to go fishing and still be at work by noon the next day, you know, like all of that. But now, like. Like now I'm making my first film, you know, it's called what's Left. And we start shooting next month, and I got a team of people that were doing it. But it's. It's a series of short films that revolve around the human condition of people that work in the kitchen. It takes place in restaurants, but it doesn't have anything to do with chefs, doesn't have anything to do with food. It doesn't have anything to do with a chef's point of view. You know, it's about the everyday life of your fisherman friend, of your boy Sonny, you know, like the shit that he does that. That pulls at his heartstrings, the stuff that he does when no one's looking. You know what I mean? Because there's a million stories that are like that of your porter, of your server, of the girl who's pregnant and working because she, she's had, she has to. Who's sending money back home to her home country. You know, like all these stories, but all the while, all of us proudly holding that restaurant up because that's what we do, you know, so there's, there's. I have, I have three films. One in the process of being done, two more waiting in, in the wings. So once that's out, maybe I'll have you come to, to one of the things we're gonna be shooting October 22nd to the 27th.

[Michael Chernow]

I love it, man. I'd love to. I'd love.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Yeah.

[Michael Chernow]

I mean, and when I really think back on it, even though there was some years there that were really, really hard, both sober and inactive addiction for me, probably more hard times sober, quite frankly. I was born to be in a restaurant, you know, I was born to be in a restaurant for sure. It's. I've brought so much of the world of restaurants and the thought process and the ethos and the energy to this business. You know, people think I'm crazy, but you might be. I'm crazy, but I spent a lot of my time calling customers that buy our products. And people are like, what do you, like, what do you mean? You call? I'm like, I open up the computer, I look at my orders, I read their phone number, I pick up the phone, push the buttons, and I say, hey, this is Mike, the owner of the company. I just want to introduce myself to you and thank you.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right?

[Michael Chernow]

And had I not been working in restaurants for most of my life, I would never think that that would be an asset. But by the way, those customers that I call are there for life. They are there now. Not only do they know, not only do they love the product, but they know that there's a person behind it that cares.

[Chef Chris Scott]

Right?

[Michael Chernow]

And that's what we do in the world of restaurants. And that's, it's just, it's just that simple.

[Chef Chris Scott]

We're giving people. We are giving people. I mean, that, that's, that's, that's. That, that is what we do. Like, it's, it's. There are so many lessons around what we do on a day to day basis that have nothing to do with food, you know, because we, we do it all.

[Michael Chernow]

Chef Chris Scott. Man, this was awesome, dude. I really, I loved this conversation and it is inspiring me to get more restaurant people on the podcast because I think it's fascinating for people to hear these stories. I think people obviously love the restaurants. There's also a real sort of fascination with this, the mysterious component of them being the hardest business in the world. And there's a lot of warriors that have worked in the industry for so long, like you and I, that have a lot of great stories to tell, for sure. And people love them. How can, how can the audience follow along your journey?

[Chef Chris Scott]

Instagram chefchris512 I'm constantly. If you're on there, then you can kind of track everything that I'm doing, from pop ups to the movie that I'm doing, getting ready to write my second cookbook called the B sides to where the premise of that is finding inspiration even through the shit that we're going through, you know, still finding inspiration to put something beautiful on the plate even when we're struggling.

[Michael Chernow]

Ladies and gents, I loved that conversation. I could literally sit here and talk to Chef for, I'm sure, hours and hours on end, and we probably wouldn't. Yeah, we wouldn't have. We wouldn't have a need to stop. So that's always a good sign that the energy is right. Look, the world of restaurants is very special, especially in a city like New York, Philadelphia, where food is consumed at an alarming rate and everybody is a critic. And like I said, you know, environments where it's hot as hell, weapons everywhere, lots of personalities and things need to be like, in order for things to be successful, it needs to move in unison, in harmony, like a symphony. And I'm so lucky to have experienced a lot of that over my years in the business, and I'm sure Chef has too. You know, one thing that I'll leave you with, cooking for me these days is way simpler than it was in my days of restaurants. I use really great ingredients with good olive oil and salt. That is all you need, friends. Really great protein, really great seasonal fresh vegetables, and really awesome olive oil. For me, it is either Spanish or Greek olive oil. Those are my two favorite regions for olive oil and awesome salt. And that's all you need to make a delicious meal to put a smile on everybody's face. I promise you, that's it. That's really all you need. And if you're a pepper person, maybe a little bit of pepper. But I, I like olive oil and salt. I love the world of restaurants. I really loved sitting down with Chef Chris Scott here and just jamming about the world of restaurants. And I'm sure it was a really compelling and interesting conversation. For you guys to listen to as well. So I'm gonna ask you to pay a little rent here. All I'm gonna ask you to do is share the podcast. Share it, share it, put it on your social media. Follow Chef Chris Scott. Tell your friends about this episode, send it to a friend, send it to your family. It really means a lot when you share the episodes. And if you're feeling super generous, I always say five star rating and review would be very, very, very much appreciated. I love doing the podcast. I love doing the podcast. It really, really. It fills my cup. And I think you listening to the podcast fills yours as well. I hope you're having an amazing day or night, whatever time it is, you're listening to this thing. And until the next one, y', all, peace.