Epicurious Entertains NYC 2009: A Chat with Mario Batali

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You've written seven books, right,

you're about to come out with your eighth?

Yep. You have done a multitude

of TV shows, including Improv, which I think is like

the wildest, craziest thing. A little silly.

You have 13 restaurants, Yes.

Two children, Two children.

a lovely wife, A happy wife.

what could you possibly want next?

So, is there any goal you haven't achieved?

Many. Really?

I want my children to grow up and be geniuses

and happy in whatever they do.

That's the most beautiful--

That's an ongoing goal in life.

Not, nothing is unachievable, but I think the idea

that we're interested in now, our next project,

is actually a giant Italian grocery store

called Eataly, (gasps) Oh!

opening in the Toy Building, next summer.

Right, so, right on 23rd Street

and in Manhattan? 23rd and Broadway

and 5th Avenune, where they all, across from the Shake Shack

as like, we like to say it. Oh, I see, I see.

And do you, eventually, would you like

to have those across the country?

Well, I don't know if every city's ready for 'em,

but maybe four or five.

Wow, that's fantastic. They're gonna be big.

It's like 60,000 square feet.

There'll be five restaurants in each store.

The vegetable counter will have

a little 16 seat Vegetable Restaurant, vegetarian, vegan.

Wow, you're going there?

The fish restaurant'll have An Italian going vegan?

like, kind of an Esca. Uh huh, uh huh.

It'll be interesting to see. Uh huh.

Chef, you have so many amazing meals

and so many opportunities to cook for people,

who were you the most nervous

about cooking for in your lifetime?

Out of all the people-- In the early days,

it was for Marco Pierre White Oh!

because I was terrified of the poor, of the guy.

As are many people,

Right. he's a terrifying person.

Now, he's an old friend of mine

and we actually hang out Oh.

and enjoy each other's company.

I would say, the people I'm most nervous about,

when I cook for, are other cooks.

Uh huh?

Famous people don't bother me, they don't make me nervous.

Generally, they eat what I want to make.

Other cooks are maybe a little more scrutinizing,

Yeah. but I'm not even

that worried about them; I'm very happy about them being in.

We like to cook for each other.

What about the best meal?

If you could say there was like, oh my God, the best meal,

I just remember that, you know, roast pork in Spain, or,

I mean, is there like one-- There's, there's categories

in geography, I would say. Yeah?

One of the best meals that I can remember in my whole life

was at a place called The Flower Drum,

which was a Cantonese restaurant in Melbourne.

Melbourne, Australia?

Melbourne, Australia and they started

with magnums of Krug from the early '60s

and then paired whole animals from the smallest,

which I believe was a small abalone, up to an entire pig

with mags and double mags

of spectacular French and Australian wine.

This is a

Chinese restaurant? In a Chinese restaurant.

Yeah, it was unbelievable. I've never heard of it.

But that said, I've had really great tacos

and Taqueria San Jose Number Two on 19th and Mission

in San Francisco Oh.

that rival its excellence.

It's all about the day that you're out.

It is. It's the food

that's being made right in front of you.

It's something that captures that mood and that moment

and that very freshness to it.

Right, it's about the context

in which you've eaten it. Right

So, if there's one last food or meal that you would eat

before your dying days, what do you think it would be?

It would be a meal that takes a thousand days to eat

(laughing)

because I would want to stretch it out

and I would have several courses every day

with several wines and I would be forced to take up

with the old SST, what do they call that, the Concorde?

Oh, yeah?

And, I would fly all over the world to have this meal,

Oh my God. to stay ahead of the sunset.

Oh, (laughs) boy, you've thought this out,

I'm impressed. I have, a little bit.

This is a good answer, I must say.

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