Those two together, that strong team that has a common vision, a common goal and building relationships with the suppliers. And thats so, so important. Make sure you have relationships and youre supporting the suppliers so they can continue to do what they do. You know, we do exaggerate in america all the time. So now we are locavore, you know local food and now we get totally crazy with organic to the point where i have been to restaurants where they practically come and introduce you to the carrot. That carrot was born on the 7th of may, we named it hilda. We can get exaggerated. Too. Rose great chefs for an hour captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose let me start off. Tell me what makes what makes a great restaurant . How do you well, what makes a great restaurant i dont know exactly. A great restaurant i think is where the owner and the chef gives all the love he can. Rose when does your day start . Ooh, sometimes 8 00, sometimes 9 00, sometimes 7 00. Rose whats the first thing you do . Oh, it changes a little bit. I stop at the office for 15 minutes and then i go down and look if everything is holding and look rose see i had this impression of all of you at the fish market at 4 00 a. M. Everyday saying these are the finest and the freshest and youre poring over the fish, picking them up and deciding only this is good enough for my customers, my clientele. Oh, of course, we are a very aware and we do buy the best and i think what makes a great rest vaunt the cooking also. Of course the service, the ambience, and for that we buy the best, we dont wake up at 4 00 in the morning because we finished at midnight every night. But we rely on suppliers from all over the country and new york city also and they give us rose everybody here has a passion for food, fair . You could not be the best yes. Rose and is there a passion to please . Absolutely. If you dont this passion forget it, dont go in this work. Rose man, man, man, man. Why . Well, it was tradition, im trying to change the tradition now. Its changing slowly. I think if you go into their kitchens youll see women and theyre coming up through the ranks. Rose you see more and more female chefs in the kitchen . Yes, and they work very, very hard, as hard as a man. When they become a chef the pressure might be a little bit too hard you become a chef when youre 30 or around that age and a woman may want to get married or have children so it scrambles a bit the career. But thats not always the case. laughter rose i know this sounds naive. Do you cook every meal . Are you there just watching . I watch. I cook many of them but definitely we have a lot of help. Rose but just the main course i work at station with the fish. Rose especially with the fish . If i went around, do each of you have one thing you would rather prepare than anything else . Mark . I would say i really enjoy working at all. What i really is try to oversee everything and make sure you see everything that goes out so you catch mistakes that might occur before they hit the dining room. Rose like what . Someone not doing something the way you want it. Someone not looking as nice the way you like it. A kitchen is hustle and bustle, not like cooking at home. Thats why many people rose laughs thats why people think they want to be chefs. They enjoy too cook. Its more of a its like a sport in a sense. Theres an energy the kitchen. Theres team work, its demanding and theres timing. Everything for a table of six has to come up at the same time. I think its more like war than a sport. Rose what do you mean war . Well, off sense we talk about being in the trenches and its highly pressured its intense and doesnt stop until its over. Its not like a sport where you can say i played two sets of tennis, im out of here. You work like a team. Its the same athletic ability of moving the pots, many times i feel like i felt when i used to play football. Youre getting your adrenaline is flowing because tables are coming in and theres a famous person out there and a personality out there. So its an exciting profession. We all share the responsibility to motivate. Rose to motivate the people around you. Exactly. And we need the pressure to be able to move on. If the restaurant we are not warmed up and when the restaurant is full then everything goes fine. New yorks vibrant, boisterous exciting place to be and some of the best chefs in the world are based here. So ive always thrived on that level of competition and i got a email from one of the chefs from new york last week back in the u. K. Saying chef ramsey, the chefs in new york want the meat off your bones. Rose laughs so theyre getting ready. Rose you said have at he . Yeah, i think you know, im 38 years of age, im far from my sellby date and im very passionate about what i do and i i know what it takes to get it right. Rose what is it most people dont understand about getting it right . Good question. They take customers for granted and they dont feel that level of confidence from day one. And wlp its a fine Dining Experience or a restaurant you have to understand the word long jeffty and understand putting that confidence in the customers. The first visit is crucial but the second, third and fourth is absolutely paramount. Not becoming too fussy and in a way understanding the customers needs where very few chefs ever get to put themselves in the customers perspective. Is it 50 food and 50 that . That whole other thing beyond food . Its a balance and, you know, understanding that sort of fine attention to detail, its not just about the food and the decor. You pick up the phone and make a reservation. To the cost, to the ingredients, to the seasonalalty and not too fussy. Nothing worse than walking through the restaurant, charlie, and seeing things that are finicky and precious that look great but dont deliver that imagine that i can you have to get out of food. Rose im not one to ask this but is gordon spreading himself too thin . laughs i have just under a thousand staff and my staff are just absolutely bowled over at the thought of coming to new york and working here. Rose so youll brick them here to get started . Without a doubt and recruit. Rose but you have to bring your guys to make it start . Without a doubt. We have to have that key truck churl management setup. But i set up a restaurant Training Skills Center for waiters. So im always ahead of my game. The discrepancies in the food and i will never give a customer a chance to jump on that bandwagon and secondly i wouldnt do it unless i knew we had the stuff to pull it off. Rose steve wynn who you admire greatly is opening up wynn resorts. At the opening about three or four weeks ago he has great chefs, probably would have loved to have had you. He has one rule, though the chef has to be there. Uhhuh. Yes. Rose elaine decass has a number of restaurants. Hes on your list of top ten . Without a doubt. Somebody asked me on the plane yesterday if youre such a handson chef, who does the cooking when youre not there . The same people that do it when i am there. Rose laughs how do they get where they want to go if theyre not given the reigns from time to time. So i am comfortable with what were doing and i can guarantee the level of perfection. But i said to this person who asked me that question, can i ask you a very important question and he said yeah, whats that . I said youve got the most amazing suit on. He said its armani. I said how much . He said a thousand dollars. I said when you bought it did you ask if gorgio stitched it . Rose laughs and thats the same level of peck answer the in my restaurant rose you can train people to be as good as you are . Of course you can and i dont have the insecurities about them becoming better or just as good as and if my team win three michelin stars themselves and i set them up in business, im over the moon. Im complete. Rose tell me how you train them. Because training people and understanding how to run a restaurant is a key to both these television shows. On the one hand you have an ae prynne thys thing where youre judging would be chefs and the other youre looking at restaurateurs and sayings failing. Rose your restaurant is failing and this is why. Yeah. Rose tell me about training a chef. Because you work at the side of some of the best in the world. Yeah, i got my butt kicked in as well at the same time. Rose because you werent the learning price . Yeah, because that level of expertise, for goodness sake, is something you cant be give an script and read the following or it will happen so you have to live it. Eat, drink, sleep and understand it. Cooking is like reading medicine. You never stop learning and you dont have a four five year stint in one good kitchen then it happens. Youve really got to live it. I was very fortunate with marco white and the rue brothers in london but i wanted to become french. I wanted to get impregnated from an early age and understand their culture so i was in paris for three years and got my butt kicked each and every day. But its the price you pay for that level of insight and perfection. Rose what did you have to learn about cooking . Flavors. Rose flavors . Like penal in the music say its the sound . You connect with that flavor and i never wanted to be in a situation where i found an ingredient that i was intimidated by. Whether its a roasted porcini or the most amazing golden caviar from a sturgeon. I wanted to know how to craft and to perfect and understand it properly. Rose if you were going die tomorrow god forbid what would you want for your last meal on earth . That was a question that photographer melanie due nay posed to 50 of the worlds greatest chefs. Their answers along with their portraits are compiled in this new book called my last supper. She joins me along with four of the chefs. Eric repair, marcus samuelsson, wily dufresne, and tom akins, chef and owner of tom akins restaurant. I am pleased to have them here. Congratulations. This is this book is getting good reviews these are the questions what would be your last meal on earth . What would you drink with the meal . Would there be music . And who would be your companions . Exactly. And people like marcus were salmon, salmon, salmon. So i thought what i am i going to do . How am i going to photograph him . I know, hes gorgeous, im going wrap imup in salmon. laughter keep it simple. Rose but where did the idea comele from for you . Well, the idea came i photograph many different types of people politicians, authors, writers, but i have the most fun with chefs. They were willing to do anything and as i photographed them laughter and she means everything laughter and as i started to photograph them more and more i realized they were open to anything and i started notice how they eat and they dont necessarily eat the food that they present in the kitchen. Rose they dont eat fancy. Exactly. They really dont. Rose they eat simple. They eat simple. So i basically just decided to ask a question that they often are asked whats your last supper on earth. Rose let me ask that question, last supper on earth. Toasted bread, country bread, shaved truffle and a good bottle of bordeaux. Rose what year . I would im fine with 82. laughter rose even 2005 would be okay that would be my last supper. Mine would be a fabulous piece of aged beef, four weeks old. Rose four weeks old . Aged beef is that the magic time . Yeah, very, very simply roasted with very nice homemade chips, preferably cooked in duck fat and then, again, with a nice bottle of red. For pudding id have probably my mothers rhubarb crumble with not traditionally made custard but in england we have this custard called birds custard which is tin custard and its something ive always had from my childhood and i love it. Even eating it cold is just the tops. Rose who would cook it . Myself. Rose yourself. Youd cook it. Would you prepare it . I would prepare parts of it. Rose wlald you want . Eggs, eggs, and more eggs. Rose you said scrambled softly loosely . What was the word you used . Very loosely scrambled, the way my mother taught me to do it. Rose laughs me, too. And what else . There would be eggs, poached eggs with hollandaise, there would be a steak with somber haze in and scrambled eggs. Basically breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rose you would not allow ketchup near your eggs . Much to my fathers horror i dont mind ketchup with my eggs. laughter rose go ahead. I was raised on the west coast where we ate a lot of fish so i would love to have some grants. Gov lox, simple crisp bread, mustard on top and a very very simple. It doesnt work that great together but it doesnt matter i would love a bottle of bordeaux. I know it would be good. Actually, when i asked marcus about the food he said food doesnt matter. Remember . Its such a big question, actually. So i think you would have so many other things to think about and for me what i draw from my swedish side, what i draw from the ethiopian side of me and i think salmon, lox, and then a good bottle of wine. Rose when you look at where food is going, is it headed any particular way . We all know every chef says its about how good the ingredients you have. From alice waters forward. Cooking is a simple equation no matter if its fine dining at our level, casual dining or even fast food. Its about product and execution. You need to have that quality product. And you need to have people will execute it. So its trying to bring those two together, that strong team that has a common vision, a common goal and building relationships with the suppliers. Thats so, so important. Make sure you have relationships and youre supporting the suppliers so that they can continue to do what they do. People like diane sinclaire who does our butter in vermont. Rose your what in vermont . Our butter. She has seven cows and she supplies with us butter and making sure we support her. Keith martin whos in pennsylvania. Hes our lamber. People like this are so, so important to what we do and the quality of what we do and without them chefs would be hard pressed to have the stature they have now. I hope the whole farm to table, farm to plate is happening now, working closely with parmers. In many cases, like french laundry, we have our own garden. We have almost three acres planted today so were producing our own food as well. Rose fresh laundry will always have the deepest place in your start always. Its a place for me, which is imagine cam. Which has a strong legacy from the previous owners and i hope that continues because i know i wont be there forever and whoever takes it over from my hands i hope they continue that legacy and continue to build it as a great restaurant. Rose how often are you in the kitchen . As often as i can be. Rose but does the demand of all this and all this its interesting, because when i opened, my life changed. I had a chef du cuisine in new york and a chef du cuisine and my life changed and i started to realize that no longer was the the old definition of chef accurate. The old chef last generation had one restaurant, one menu, one kitchen, they spent their whole time. The perfect example is andre. Today chefs have many more students so we have to look at that and analyze it, be responsible to it and say okay, how can we impact our team . How can we hand down to them what we have . The opportunities that we have . What that means is writing a book, for example, jeffrey, whos our chef at bird flu shon wrote bird flu beauchon cook book. Rose if i mention three of them, you tell me what they share in common. Theres five chefs we have working for us. What they share in common its certainly common vision but its the determination to go in everyday and do a little bit better than the day before. Continuously progress and evolve the philosophy and culture that is so dear. Rose thats true about anything. Exactly. And i dont think thats a great secret. Rose whats your favorite feel . Thats an easy one. Its been asked several times. Rose im sure. I take no pride in the question. Roasted chicken. Rose mine too one of those things that creates so many i think it stirs so many emotion in me. Rose as roasted chicken. Exactly in the purest form. Thats exactly what i would say even though im i love fish but roasted chicken it takes me to places where ive been before. Its an emotional thing. Food has reference points and food like roasted chicken has reference points. Rose celebration, wedding, birth and that touchs you inside. Thats what i love about food like a roegsed chicken or mashed potatoes. Sometimes oatmeal. Rose you can get up in the morning and somebody makes oatmeal better than youve ever tasted before. Exactly. Rose what do you want your legacy to be . I hope my legacy one that has been impact to feel a lot of different people that has enabled them to learn something from me, to help them do their jobs better. From a guest point of view from our guest i hope that they have memories you remain me of a coach. Youre like john wooten. You have a philosophy of life. It could be about football or cooking or any aspect of it. It is what kind of principles will get there. You say about cooking dont give up is a central tenet of success as a chef. Dont give up. But there are so many parallels with sport franchise. As a young player, as young cook i was in the mix for 30 years then your knees start to go, you cant stand on your feet for 15 hours a day so you pull a way and you start to mentor. You start to give more back to that young steam they can do again what youve done. My dad never envisioned any of his children doing that. I didnt want to sit behind a desk. This was 1999 and i was like, well most of my friends miserable at their desk jobs working in sweet or law and im going to pursue something that i at least enjoy doing, and that was cooking. Rose you liked it . I liked it. Rose what did you like about it . That you could work with something and get better at it and sort of just taste and youre creating something, using your hands. Its something that was just the direct polar opposite of what i was doing in college or what i was being groomed to do which i had no idea. Cooking was something i felt i had had an honor in. It was like a real craft. If i had more dexterity i would have been like a i dont know, a cooper or Something Like that. Rose or a surgeon. Yeah, a surgeon. Rose laughs so youre you went about cooking and you got a series of jobs, including japan. Yes. Rose and how influential was that . It was life changing. Life changing. Rose life changing. Yeah. I had a small stint teaching english in japan and i promised myself id go back to japan to do it right and to absorb the food culture and to stay there almost a year. It changed the way i viewed food. Food didnt have to be good just for the fine dining level and that was one of the misconceptions that i had about food that you could only eat well in fine dining restaurants in new york, for instance. And in japan from cheap restaurants to very fancy chai secchi restaurants everything was cooked with so much passion, a very ingredient driven and it was good. Everyone cared about food. It was a cherished thing. Rose they love food in japan and they practice the art of cooking to a high level. Rose its amazing. People that travel japan need to stay there longer than a week. They need go there for at least three weeks and soak up tokyo and other cities, osaka and tokyo. Theres a lot to learn, particularly about food. Rose one of the things thats clear about you is that you have a passion for chefs, period, and yo