ing. yes for those of you tuning in for "parts unknown" i've got something even better planned for you. well, almost. an important film about the most important chef in america that maybe you've never heard of. he was the uber celebrity chef and then he disappeared. join me as we explain the life, times, milestones and mysteries of jeremiah tower, the last magnificent.

i have to stay away from human beings because somehow i am not one. everything that is real for me is what is hallucination for others. the hardest thing about life is having to face the terrible reality that every day is not to be like one's dreams and hopes of what some future day might be. let the flesh grow old, crumble. what are my great expectations and what have i done.

♪ >> most people would not know who jeremiah tower is. and sadly. he's, at least in my book, considered the father of american cuisine. >> during the '80s and early '90s, he was one of the major names in this country. he was on the front of

magazines, known all over europe. >> the very first thing i heard about after i heard about was chef tower. he was the smart guy, the sexy guy and the innovative chef which was what everyone wanted to know about. >> in the 7'70s alice waters opens ches peniece. >> 1972 jeremiah tower walks in to ches peniece. jeremiah tower's menus made it the place that everybody wanted to go. a complete reevaluation of not just american food and ingredients but food. >> but at the end of the day he transcended that. he became something bigger than

ches peniece and god bless their little heart. >> jeremiah, in many ways, at stars defined what a modern american restaurant could be. >> that was when the restaurant tour became sexy. that's when the chef came out of the dining room. that's with the energy became as important as the food. >> it was a game chammer. >> in my view we should know who changed the world. we should know their names. >> it was odd that he was sort of burned so bright and then just disappeared. you couldn't pick up a book on collection of great chefs of america he's there. and then he's gone. strange. >> all i knew about where he was and what he was doing was just hearsay. >> jeremiah just left, it was

like crumbs of the story of jeremiah everywhere. >> i had hadn't thought about him for years and years. >> everybody said no, i didn't hear from him. i think he's in mexico. i think he's rebuilding houss. god knows what except what he was supposed to do, running restaurant, being a chef. >> who is this person, this jeremiah person? >> i've known him over 40 years. i'm one of his oldest friends yet i don't know jeremiah. nobody knows jeremiah. >> there's a locked room inside jeremiah tower. i sure haven't been there. i don't believe many people have.

>> the kind of day one cannot tell the past from the future. who said escape is not beneficial? there was several things that i fell in love with on that beach. that moment, that afternoon i was completely free. there was no one to say no. it was a family vacation and the great barrier reef. i had wandered off by myself. i saw this great big fisherman

so i went over and said hello. he met a fire. i remember sort of being fascinated too by it knife. i didn't wield a knife but i sort of touched his hands while he was holding the knife as he instructed me to. and we cooked the barracuda. i remember it was a very exotic smell and the smoke from the fire and the sizzling skin on the barracuda. he had taken some things from the jungle and rubbed them all over it. i don't know what. by that time it was night and when you're by yourself and you're six or whatever it was, i don't think i'm making it up that i still remember thinking where are my parents and maybe i'll never see them again?

and he was full of stories about abor aboriganies and then it became birds and bees and then he said we're going to eat some lizard. at which point he said and of course what about your little lizard and showed me my little lizard and told me what it was for. so i said lizard. and he said we're going to eat iguiana and my little lizard and we're going to eat an iguiana? in some twisted way, it all became one. it was like a big stamp on my brain. then he took me back that hotel where my parents were having cockta cocktails. they were like oh, how charming he spent the day at the beach.

thank you, nick. and i was astonished i could be gone all those hours and that was it only comment. i thought wait a minute. i'm on my own here. i better take care of myself. you know the worst thing that ever happened to me was i wasn't an orphan. >> there was nerve that one couldn't touch with jeremiah. those sad places were places that he kept very well hidden. and some people who touched it, lost him at that moment. anyone who tried to delve dee r er into those sad places, those

hurtful places was not welcome. i think it must have grown from that child hood experience and maybe a sense of rejection and sadness that he simply didn't want to face. [ "america" by simon and garfunkel ] can i cross it off yet? almost. and. now. the volkswagen atlas. with available digital cockpit. life's as big as you make it. let's get the lady of the house back on her feet. and help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks. yaaay! the complete balanced nutrition of ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals.

ensure. always be you. this beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken! hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. t-mobile's unlimited now includes netflix on us. that's right. netflix on us. get 4 unlimited lines for just $40 bucks each. taxes and fees included. and now netflix included.

your privacy makes you myt number 1 place to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. because the things you love the most can stink. and try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. breathe happy with febreze. a heart attack doesn't or how healthy you look. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack.

be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. every day, on every street, in every town, across america. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town... well, your town. that's why american express is proud to be the founding partner of small business saturday. a day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. so, on november 25th get up, get out, and shop small. some asked me recently what

my father was like. i said he was a peck. complicated guy. basically my father and i couldn't stand each other. it wasn't just the mistresses. i didn't like him because he put my mother down so much. he put her down tremendously. my mother was a roaring alcoholic and she was a very talented, very artistic woman. great cook but destroyed herself with alcohol. >> jeremiah and our dad came from a family of three. there was mary, the oldest sister and then my father, jonathan, and then the youngest, jeremiah. it was this fine line between deep respect for their parents, fear, and then sadness. their parents a lifestyle and a way of doing things and the kids

were just kind of brought into that. it grand palaces and grand hotels and servients and grand food and privilege. >> elaborate elegant trips that were long. the photo on i think it was the queen mary looks like they're getting on the titanic in the upper class section. there was this air of fancy trips that seemed to have been lost in this day and age. >> it wasn't just it card with master tower on the deck chair that absolutely impressed me. apart from the rumble of the ship's engines and the wind rushing by, that was about the only noise. the sound of the cup as he put

it on the saucer and handed it to me. and he said consemay? so there i was feeling a little queazy and i drank this clean, meaty broth and felt absoloutly a new person. made me fall in love immediately with first class. >> well, the child hood was a fascinating one because they exposed him to culture around the world, to travel at a very high level, the glamorous level. >> i've been a gypsy all my

life. went to england, went to school in france, then back the united states. by it time the '50s came along, early '50s and i been in planes and trains and cars. my father was providing this amazing travel. we would get are had dressed up. all these ships going around it world. but when we were traveling i was left by myself. there would be a whole section of cold food, cold salmon, cold pheasant and on and on and on. almost anything but of course that wauz one of 10 or 12 sections on the menu. 24 rack of lamb called gods of

honor. for was always lobster. i would order and i would eat. there was nothing else to do. i couldn't play shuffle board. running through a maze. that rr what it was like to look at the menus. but off in the distance i could see this great big vast bush filled with caramel cream with spun sugar all over it. from early on i think food was my best pal, my companion. >> what was missing was that link the parents has got to have with a child for the child to be normal and i don't think jeremiah that. >> my parents were always doing something else. but it richness of what was put in its place, meaning spending

three months in my own suite, i much preferred the hotel room to my parents, for sure much. you the king and you're in your own kingdom. lonely, no. alone, yes. the funsh time of my life were in grand hotels. i wasn't allowed down at the bar and all that sort of thing but the dining room and the upstairs and my room and the corridor, that was my dominion. i was in charge. but what was much more fascinating was going to the kitchen. all these pots and the heat and the steam and the smells oh, what's that? what's that? where is that coming from?

it was exciting. it staff adopted me. those were my favorite times. those twhur favorite things in my life. before i read books, i read a menu. now the most beautiful radishes in the world. >> to me menus are a language under themselves. i've been collecting and reading them since i was 10. composing and acting them out since i was a teenager. they spoke to me as clearly as any child hood fantasy novel. reading an old menu forms in my mind's eye the era, the sensibility of the restaurant or the chef, eve tn the physical details of the dining room.

i can picture the guests even when i don't know who they were. sometimes i can conjure up an entire evening, a three-act play orchestrated around the food. and from my own past, it's the menus and the food that are the fixatives for the memories. more great camera features and more power. and more than just unlimited data, we give you unlimited plans with hbo included for life. because you deserve more entertainment. and more spokespeople. talking like this, saying the word more. at&t. it's time for more. am i too close? i feel like i'm too close. get the iphone 8 and with all at&t unlimited plans, get hbo for life. only from at&t. hey, it's me, your dry skin. i'm craving something we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture and keep us protected. we've got to have each other's backs

and fronts. cerave. what your skin craves. and fronts. so we know how to cover almost we've anything.st everything even a "red-hot mascot." [mascot] hey-oooo! whoop, whoop! [crowd 1] hey, you're on fire! [mascot] you bet i am! [crowd 2] dude, you're on fire! [mascot] oh, yeah! [crowd 3] no, you're on fire! look behind you. [mascot] i'm cool. i'm cool. [burke] that's one way to fire up the crowd. but we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ( ♪ ) more people shop online for the holidays than ever before. (clapping) and the united states postal service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. ( ♪ ) because we know, even the smallest things

are sometimes the biggest. even the smallest things ♪ come seek the royal caribbean. ♪

throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh? hey? i paused it. bam, family time. so how is everyone? find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi.

my whole life is a bit schizophrenic. you have to understand my child hood was split betweeng boardin school, camp, and my mother at home entertaining. winter inboa boarding school in england, trz rr no heat, the showers are cold. everything is gray. the only exotic experience you could possibly have was rubbing up against somebody else. everything is stripped of luxury or exoticness intentionally by it english in those days thought it built character. the whole english structure was about manners and that's the way

my family was. but at the same time i was the same person who was a complete outlaw. nameless and gray, having no shape since it is all encompassing. a shift in fog. the pain of realizing the need for secrecy and that i was forever to live behind a wall in a closet doing wrong but not wrong. >> i knew when we started rooming together. those were days when you to be very careful. you had hto be careful about th law and police and disapproval in general. it was a complicated double life that most of the people i knew led. i said finally jeremiah, you don't need to be secretive with me and i think that relieved an enormous amount of tension

between us. i don't know if anyone ever addressed that with imhad before. >> the first impression one had with jeremiah is that he was one of the more glamorous people and he was avidly interested in food and cooking and he was a very good cook. we learned that very early. he used to make things, even during freshman year out of hot plate and his refrigerator in the dorm. >> looking back my family's plan was that i would end up at harvard because tarts rr it answer to everything. you're a harvard man and for my grandfather and his father and my father all went to harvard. i thought i'll do architecture maybe. it was really in searinior year when we moved off campus that i started seriously cooking for my friends. ♪

i'd been reading -- i was 16. so i decided i'd start at the beginning of my cuisine and cook my way through it. typical drink of the yuck -- yukatan. >> michael and jeremiah no money and therefore went shopping in these places and bought all kinds of thingsyard never eaten like kidneys and hearts and things like that that were very cheap and made the most fabulous things. it was the world opening. >> we imps are videsed in the kitchen. artists passing through cambridge and i remember allen ginsburg and robert kreely and others. >> i never cook for one person. i always cook for about 10. why cook one little octopus and

cook four and have it for a few days. >> remember this was a turbulent time. we were very alienated from the war mongering and the cultural heritage of the 1950s. that was represented to jeremiah was the food that was put in frupt of us in various inh instituti institutions. ♪ >> it was the height of the student revolution and all my friends complaining one of these days you have to get off your as and become a revolutionary. i said i am too busy cooking. sglm back to the department. what do i do? open champagne and eat smoked salmon. that was my revelation. >> jeremiah's company and these occasions.

he was always interested in enhancing the moment, throw the dice and saying well, if we're going to have this kind of an evening, let's make the company audacious, let's make the conversation audacious. >> and the subject of molotov cocktails came up and i said i know how to make those. >> we emptied the bottles and filled them up with gasoline and i tore off a scarf, stuffed them in a top and put them in a tiffany shopping back. i threw one against the brick wall. it bounced and came right back at me. rolled down the street into the storm drain and exploded and i said that's enough for me. let's go back to dinner. i go with anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way."

i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro.com.

the last day of school my alouns stopped. 28 years old, never worked. so i was broke. july fifth, 1970, trip across america. america is proving too much for

me so when i get a whiff of the west, i decide to take some drugs. my imagination explodes especially on hash. ♪ >> he really did not know what to do. and we had gotten to know alice waters. we were sitting around in our apartment and jeremiah was there and saying i'm going to go to hiihad and maybe i'm going to go cut vines in the napa valley, do something. and i said what you're really good at is cooking. why don't you just call alice. we know she's looking for someone to work with. just go over there.

one thing to talk about is how disconnected restaurants were. people were unaware of who inchefs were. there were not even fax machines at the beginning of this story. so a lot of what happened in individual cities and areas was very self contained. and then up in berkeley was this little restaurant that opened in 1971. had a bumpy road at the beginning but over time became, for a number of reasons, a very important restaurant in this country. >> i didn't really know anything about ches puniece in berkeley. when he saw the ad in the newspaper, he said go do it. if i hadn't been so broke, i would never have paid any attention. so it was alice waters' little dream restaurant.

>> it has to be a lot of fun and that's why we always have music and dancing and people eating with their hands. very -- a lot of informality. >> a bunch of these berkeley students kind of hippies. it was a place for -- it was a coffee house. there were no chefs involved early on. alice, her boyfriend was a film guy. shee she'd been to france a couple times. >> she had this epiphany, she'd been to france, fallen in love with the food. basically i want to make this little restaurant with my friends. >> she was not a scholar in cooking the way jeremiah was. jeremiah used to love reading

ancient cook books and intreesss on food. alice was more of an instinctionual cook. >> 1972 jeremiah walks into chez paniesse. >> they said to me when i got to the kitchen door, no come back torrow. so ient back and said no, i was supposed to be here at 6:00. it's 6:10. i want my interview. and alice turned to me and said do something to the soup. it was a pot of soup like this and i salted it and put some cream in it and they were like wow. you better come back tomorrow. >> he became an accidental cook, really. heant intended to be a chef but given the opportunity to walk in to a kitchen and take it over,

he kind of rolled up his sleeves and said okay. i'm going to take all these memories that i have of eating in grand restaurants and try and translate it on to the plate. >> my first day on the job i was left alone in the kitchen. no alice, nobody. except this beat nick drummer, willy bishop. he knew all it levels. draw chalk on the soup and say make soup to here. i also loved the food that chez panisse represented which is south of france bistro selling vermuth and roast chicken. that wasn't enough for me. this also goes everywhere with me. ancient version of it. >> very quickly i realized

everything that had gone before in my life, menus, all the experiences with food and hotels and travel, cook books, my education were finally going to come into play. >> he began to mix and match from it different cultures he'd been exposed tootoo make ana dashs expeerment. >> i thought the food could be more dramatic. so i started making it more alluring, more theatrical. >> the creation of the menu was a feet. aagain the french chefs and he did a week of escoffier, which was a nightmare in the kitchen. it was so hard, so complex, so difficult to execute that i remember at the end of the week

i was completely wiped out. >> jeremiah imposed this sort of almost traditional french classical identity to chez paniesse. and the two of them together pushed it to this level and from there it exploded. >> every night was an adventure. cooking with a full opera in the kitchen and drinking champagne. it was really far out. he was trying a lot of experimenting. for me it was really a revelation because i was cooking by the rules and he told me how to just forget about the rules.

>> did i ask if he wanted to go that way? no. you've got few hours on sunday to come up with menus for five days. do the shopping list, make the call. i was just doing what i thought we to do. >> when he got his stride, i would say and doing the most incredible meals based on 100--year-old recipes and it's as if he appeared on the scene and sprung forth from zeus's head fully formed. alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there."

talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. this beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken! hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. ...has grown into an enterprise. that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. now, i'm earning unlimited 2% cash back

on every purchase i make. everything. what's in your wallet? ♪ and it might be hard ♪ what ito handle ♪ve got ♪ but like the flame that burns the candle ♪ ♪ the candle feeds the flame topped steak & twisted potatoes at applebee's. eatin' good in the neighborhood. t-mobile's unlimited now includes netflix on us. that's right. netflix on us. get 4 unlimited lines for just $40 bucks each. taxes and fees included. and now netflix included.

which egg has better taste only eggland's best. and is the only egg i'll serve my family? eggland's best. better taste, better nutrition, better eggs.

may fifth, 1974, now feeling my powers at last, ones i have always known were there but could never feel. i can spend them graciously now they are found. pulling all it strings of those about me, essential giver and taker away. >> alice had had the knack of picking out people who were really amazing for chez paniesse. and jeremiah was one of those people. alice, at that time i think was in luv with jeremiah. >> i will never understand their relationship. they actually had an affair.

jeremiah, why? >> jeremiah was an irresistible person and had many affairs with people over the course of his life. >> i just remember thinking he is the coolest guy i've ever seen and looking rounld and realizing that virtually everyone in that room, male or female, wanted to sleep with him. he was like everyone else in the room was gray and he was glowing red. just so juicy and sexy and intriguing. >> it was the early 7'70s and w were a little tipsy and high. and the it restaurant was a very sexy place. people were flirting across a crowded table. >> i think in the beginning alice thought if she could sleep with him had, she'd make him straight and the rest of us used to just laugh at the flirting. but then the flirting would

still go on and create this marvelous dynamic in the kitchen. >> i was working 90 hours a week at chez paniesse. you have no time to patrol for a sex partner, so you just sleep with each other. why not? >> they would fight and bicker and then they would makeup. >> there was great sexual tension between them and i do know from experience in restaurants that can be great valuable fuel unless it explodes. and i think that it did both of those things. >> up until the 1976, chez paniesse in berkeley was a celebration of france and the regions of france and i been doing festivals of brittany and champagne. and then it suddenly made sense to me to get rid of france. why don't we do a celebration of

it region called california? so i wrote the menu, the california regional dinner. it was all in english which was the first time and we did california wines, which was the first time we focussed on those completely. and put on the dinner. >> it was all >> jean-pierre: it was all local ingredients. i mean, it was starting to name the farm, starting to name the famers, and also using everything we could find. >> jeremiah: and the press jumped all over it and the "wine spectator" said that, "this was the match that started the fire of the revolution that then occurred in america called, you know, the new american cuisine." >> mario: the first thing they did is celebrate local ingredients. that was, above all, the most important thing is to say, "listen, our scallops are better than the scallops in france. our oysters are at least as interesting as the oysters from wherever in france." and when you went to the fancy french restaurants in the '70s,

sole from dover.etting dover that was the most important thing. jeremiah brought petrale sole to ble with t same reverence and the same celebration of its unique location. and that's where the movement changed. that's when suddenly everyone realized, "we don't have to apologize that our artichokes come from castroville. we don't have to apologize that we're using dungeness crab. we actually should be celebrating them and high-fiving everybody." and that movement was exactly that. and it, to a certain extent, is still moving around the country right now. now you talk about new nashville. you talk about places maybe people weren't going to go, and they're excited because there's a unique flavor there that speaks of the way the wind smells and the water tastes in the stream. and that is the celebration that became what california cooking is. >> anthony: our stuff is good, too, and it deserves to be named and attributed and sourced in much the same way that they source and identify french cheeses, wines, or other products. he wrote menus that sold that notion, that confidently said, "american product, [ bleep ] yeah."

>> jeremiah: that was so successful that, you know, i took the bit between my teeth and ran. >> sharon: it caused tension when jeremiah changed the type of food that was being served. yes, it did. it made him more in control of what was being served, and always, it was alice's restaurant. but he was the chef and it brought new people in. it brought reviews. >> jeremiah: the problem was, it wasn't making any money. i mean, it was broke. you need to fill the restaurant with people who wouldn't complain that a four-course menu costs $6.50. i have to find the public that understands. that was basically my feeling. and that's why, you know, i wrote to james beard and said, "you've got to come and see us." and of course, he had huge press coverage, you know, with his syndicated newspaper columns. so he was very powerful. and he loved to help out young chefs. if they were male and cute, he liked to help even more. chez panisse became nationally famous because james beard said

it was, of the four restaurants in america he loved, this new place called chez panisse was one of them. well, then all hell broke loose, you know? >> sharon: the restaurant changed from the berkeley people to the wine people, and then to, as someone said, the white patent-shoed people. >> andrew: it got a little bit away, i think, from what the original vision of that restaurant was for alice waters and a number of the other people involved with it. and it became a little grander, maybe for some of them, a little more intellectualized than they would've liked. it definitely became more expensive than they thought it would be. >> clark: alice and her egalitarian bohemia wanted to gather rosebuds as they lay and put them in a lovely dish and drizzle some honey on it and eat it. and jeremiah tower wanted to put on whites, have a glass of champagne, have his nostrils are, you know, and have the spoons and the whisks at the ready. >> alice: when people were

flying in in learjets for chez panisse, i mean, it -- you knew that it'd gotten -- it was time to stop. it's one of those uncomfortable situations when you've asked people for help and they gave you too much help. >> james: i've often heard him say his philosophy is, "i aim for the crown, but i always know the guillotine is in sight." jeremiah left panisse and went on to create his new life. >> jeremiah: they needed a story, so they started to make a war between us in the press, but it just wasn't there, until she showed me the proofs, the galleys of the first book, "the chez panisse cookbook." and she had taken all my menus, all the dinners, all the special events that i had dreamed up, written the menus for and cooked, and said that she did it. so my name was at the beginning of the book in the acknowledgments, "thank you, linda. thank you, jeremiah.

thank you, jason. thank you." i can still feel the outrage, you know? what do you mean thanks to jeremiah tower? we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture and ep us protted. we've got to have each other's backs and fronts. cerave. what your skin craves. and fronts. the unpredictability of a flaree may weigh on your mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go, and how to work around your uc. that's how i thought it had to be. but then i talked to my doctor about humira, and learned humira can help get and keep uc under control... when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,

serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. raise your expectations and ask your gastroenterologist if humira may be right for you. with humira, control is possible. [burke] abstract accident. seen ♪ video-it. covered it.c we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

no, it's mothballs. i? finally found my good suit! show me the american music awards. show me video of the year. showe artist of the year. show me rock of the year. i remember those guys. yeah, the one on the right still owes me five bucks. xfinity x1 gives you access to moments from the american music awards just by using your voice. catch the encore performance by bebe rexha featuring florida georgia line, only with xfinity on demand.

>> james: i did a piece in "town and country" called "american cuisine comes of age." and i wrote about chez panisse and what was happening, you know, with alice waters and so forth. and i get this scathing letter in the mail from jeremiah tower. >> jeremiah: "dear mr. villas, i noticed in your very interesting article that you mention me as her peripatetic disciple. the her, of course, referring to alice waters. if you had done your homework, you would know that you have fit the shoe on the wrong foot, as it were. and whereas i do not object to a little scandal, i am considerably sobered by the thought of what goes down in history. yours sincerely, jeremiah tower." >> jean-pierre: a lot of people ask me the question, who is the father or the mother of california cuisine? the question is not that simple. i mean, it's not. it's more complicated than that.

>> andrew: you know, where he began and ended and where alice began and ended, it's something i think that people will probably debate forever, to some extent. >> jeremiah: should i have swallowed my pride about the whole thing of becoming a joan of arc of american cuisine? um, yes, but the pride is too big to swallow, quite frankly. i mean, no, i'm not going to do that. why should anyone get away with never giving credit when it's due? >> man: his public fights with alice in print, in public, really did him much more harm. >> jonathan: i think there was a real feeling in our community that you know what? jeremiah, just shut up. >> ken: i sort of agree with jonathan waxman. if he hadn't gone to chez panisse for that job, you know, i don't know where he would be.

>> ruth: and part of what's remarkable about her is that she could have a jeremiah walk into her kitchen and enable him. not everybody would've done that. >> clerk: and, you know, maybe the reason that more people don't know who jeremiah tower is, is because he was eclipsed by a lot of other people, who were mad at him because he pissed a lot of people off. and so, as this story got told and retold, he kind of got left out of it. and that was partly his own doing. >> ken: what it became suited everybody and helped to make alice what she is today, but the idea that he was wronged in some kind of way, i mean, again, he left.

>> jeremiah: "if anything is worth doing," my hero lucius beebe once said, "it's worth doing in style and on your own terms, and nobody goddamn else's." i want to be like him, the last magnificent, the randy and dandy boulevardier, the eminently polite, generous, witty and kind gentleman, who simply relished a civilized evening on the town over a hot bird and a cold bottle. >> james: lucius beebe was a very wealthy, uh, dandy from boston, kicked out of both yale and harvard, mainly for showing up dead drunk in the morning in a top hat and tails and a cane. went to new york and got a job as a journalist on the "new york herald tribune," i believe. and singlehandedly, that man created what was known as cafe society.

>> jeremiah: his column in "gourmet magazine," called "along the boulevards," describes a life i want to recreate. i worship the photographs of gable, gary cooper, van heflin and jimmy stewart in white tie at romanoff's bar in los angeles. i want a place where the young princes of ken russell's "the music lovers" can rub elbows with bankers and dancers and musicians, where fur coats can be flung aside, with the seeming carelessness of dietrich onstage. in short, a place that is charming and perfect. >> james: jeremiah lives in a dream world. he lives in a pipe dream. he lives in an edwardian world. he lives, basically, in the 19th century. and this is part of that dream, i think that jeremiah had, that he created as a child. you know, having to protect himseland protect himself from li. that world of perfection that i think he ce closest to

probably was stars. >> michael: stars, i think, was the embodiment of a vision that had been developing over time. very, very different from panisse. >> jeremiah: it reminds me of the first house i ever walked into in merida. well, this will be my sixth house, i think. and you can see it right away, exactly what you would do, because it's just telling you what to do. do a couple of renderings, put it on the market. >> john: at some point during the early '80s, jeremiah decided he wanted to open a restaurant in san francisco. and locating it in the civic center surprised me because it was a very long, drab, musty, horrible space. >> steven: stars was located in the middle of a block, right by city hall and right by where a

lot of the city offices were. i remember him telling me that he wanted people to go through this alley. and the alley was a mess. it was dirty. it was everything that the word alley means when you -- when you think of the word alley. there's people sleeping in the street. there's garbage blowing down it. it was -- it wasn't well lit. >> james: we all went over with these hard hats, you know, and go into this place. well, you wouldn't have believed it. there were rats, literally rats running around. and he had a cane, and i think bid was hitting a rat, you know? but i remember jeremiah with these investors, you know, and i remember him pulling out a piece of sample carpeting that had stars on it, you know? and pulling out some tablecloths and some napkins, match covers. he already had this going in his brain, in this place, and we were saying, "this'll never work. there's no way that anybody could ever transform this into a great restaurant." stars was surrounded by vulgarity. people urinating out in the alley, drug dealers still out

there, and so it didn't bother jeremiah. inside his little palace, he was building this thing. >> jeremiah: september 1983. my choice of site is thought to be downright suicidal, but when i look at the mess of construction every day, i remind myself of the wonderful dignity of trains like the 20th century from new york to chicago, of what it was like to dine in those mahogany and nickel cars, as they flashed through the countryside of the united states, and of all my travels. >> gregg: stars was the ocean liner that jeremiah traveled on, not that he did any of that consciously, but he, i think, was recreating a childhood vision of what a restaurant could be, what a place could be where people wanted to come and be and dine and have those perfect experiences. >> james: and, of course, you went board the ship and you moved into a dream world. you completely blocked out reality.

>> tony: people would pull up and it'd be kind of a neighborhood where you would second guess yourself walking down the street. you'd pull up to these doors that had beautiful brass handles, star on them. you couldn't see into the restaurant, but you walked up this stairway and the dining room would be revealed to you with each step you took. people were transported from this kind of dirty, dusty alley up to this incredible dining room that just seemed like you were on another planet all of a sudden. >> steven: bam, the room opened up. big, long 80-foot bar, i think it was, was on your left. on the right, you had the open kitchen, all this activity.

and everyone could see everybody come in. >> ken: you could see everybody from everywhere. you could see every seat from every seat. >> john: the different elevation in dining areas. it was like a stage. >> martha: high ceilings, white walls, um, bright light, very glamorous. >> mario: 100 yards away, you could smell the magnificent fragrance of the wood-burning stove and the wood-burning pizza oven. >> steven: and you just went, "i'm going to have a great time now." >> mario: stars was a theatrical experience. stars was at once the symphony, at once the ballet, at once the most delicious thing you've ever eaten. but there was an energy to it. there was an excitement to the meal that was way beyond the food. suddenly, you're in a place where you're dying to be there. you're -- you're happy to be

there and you're ecstatic about everything else, including your plate, but not only what's on your plate. >> ruth: this notion of the rest of the restaurant that you're -- you're a part of a play and they are the other players are at the tables around you. it's a different kind of idea of what a restaurant can be. >> steve: the open kitchen, this idea that the chef and the cooks are on stage was really revolutionary at the time. >> mario: now you know where -- was, now you know where saute is, you know where grill is, and you can have favorites. and you see mark franz off in saute, you're like, "i know that guy. mark franz is on the line. i know exactly what the dish is going to be," so it empowered the customer to love and know the chefs as, like, little rock stars. >> tony: people thought, "oh my god, you can actually have a blast eating out," and it can be your entertainment for the evening, instead of having dinner and then going to the

movies. your entertainment is having dinner. >> mario: and watching the excitement of new dishes come on and watching whether they were complicated and had five different farms on one list or whether they were just one brush stroke that was something so remarkable and simple that it defied you in its purity. the language was very clear. the font was very straightforward and the menu was a pure inspiration. >> mark: it was always looking for that, but we always called it the note. we would go on trips and we would say, "have you heard, you know, have you, have you felt, have you tasted that note?" that's why chefs cook, is for that. simon and garfunkel ]

the volkswagen atlas. with available pedestrian monitoring. life's as big as you make it. anyone ever have occasional constipation,diarrhea, gas or bloating? she does. she does. help defend against those digestive issues. take phillips' colon health probiotic caps daily with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes? wow! try phillips' colon health.

this beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken! hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. it's a lot easier to make decisions when you know what comes next. if you move your old 401(k) to a fidelity ira, we make sure you're in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. ♪ oh and at fidelity, you'll see how all your investments are working together. because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. ♪ just remember what i said about a little bit o' soul ♪

( ♪ ) more people shop online for the holidays than ever before. (clapping) and the united states postal service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. ( ♪ ) because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest. for every social occasion. so the the broom said, "sorry i'm late. i over-swept." [ laughter ] yes, even the awkward among us deserve some laughter. and while it's okay to nibble in public, a lady only dines in private. try the name your price tool from progressive. it gives you options based on your budget. uh-oh. discussing finances is a big no-no. what, i'm helping her save money! shh! men are talking. that's it, i'm out. taking the meatballs.

>> mario: as a cook, he was a creator and a leader, but as an overall package, he was someone that so thoroughly understood and probably still understands the nature of the exchange between the restaurant and the customer. >> wolfgang: he knew every socialite in san francisco, everybody who was somebody who came to san francisco had to go to stars. and jeremiah knew all of them. >> james: the great socialite, denise hale, was throwing incredible parties there, i mean, very highfalutin fancy dinner parties, night after night after night.

>> mike: but of course, she brought in a large amount of business because if denise was there every night, everybody else had to be there every night. the countess of yugoslavia, baryshnikov. >> james: sophia loren was there, pavarotti was there, all the people in the opera world. >> steven: a lot of the politicians would come over from city hall, the chief of police, and they would be there at 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning having a beer. >> mark: gorbachev. i cooked dinner for gorbachev. >> tony: run dmc and the beastie boys and their entourage come in and had everybody just going crazy. we didn't mind having punk rockers there. we didn't mind having spiked-haired people there. we didn't mind having, you know, the elite of the elite there because everybody had their position in the restaurant. >> james: you know the ocean liners, you always had first

class and cabin class. the thing about stars, it was just like that. >> tony: the socialites could look around and go, "oh look at, i'm mingling with regular people." >> martha: totally in control. and you, of course, you loved that. you wanted to see him. you wanted to see who was touching your food, who was making it, and who was directing the rest of the guys in the kitchen. i think jeremiah was a celebrity chef. he was one of the first. >> alexandra: it was like a conductor walking through with an orchestra, and that's what he would do. d he usually h a gla of champagne in his hand, and if he

didn't, somebody brought it. literally was watching a superstar in his stature, in how he spoke with people and i just remember globs of people that wanted to try and get to him, you know, and then he would disappear into the kitchen, and then you kind of saw him doing this and doing that. >> clark: he was the first kind of chef in america to do something truly flat out self promotional. he was a part of that dewar's ad. he was a dewar's profile. this is about fabulous people and their fabulous lives and this is their scotch. and this was a chef? before this, you know, if you were a chef, your mom didn't tell anybody. >> ruth: it's the place where the chef and the restaurateur start trading places. >> anthony: you know, in the old days, you didn't know who the chef was. the chef was a servant. >> john: he was becoming a really well-known personality. >> ken: i think what he really got was the idea that a restaurant is a work of art. it's a piece of art.

it's an extension of yourself, of himself. >> jeremiah: obviously, i was drawing on all of my experiences over the world growing up. all had to be one experience. stars was like a rowboat. and the whole staff was in the boat. we're all pulling together. we're all going in the same direction. you knew exactly which direction you were going in and no one had to say anything. we had amazing teamwork, which meant that, you know, i could push it obsessively to the edge all the time. you have to be a little bit obsessive to be a successful restaurateur, and i was as obsessive as anyone. >> james: i can see him night

after night, always standing at the corner of the kitchen, like a great impresario, watching everything, every dish that came out of there, he'd see. every dish. >> mike: he had this air of authority about him. he would stand at the end of the bar, usually with a glass of champagne in hand, and survey all before him. >> john: jeremiah was fully at home at stars. this is, i think, what he had aimed for all along. this was wholly his. >> mark: it's not real. it's just a -- it's fictitious. it's a painting. it's something out of a movie. i don't even vision reality, i envision the movie of it, because it's sort of romantically replayed in my mind, and i'm sure that's what most people think of, when they think of stars. >> mario: i don't know what went wrong. i was gone by that time, and i just remember going back, and it's as if you went to where the

louvre was, and it wasn't there anymore. how did this go? >> john: after stars closed, he never made contact again. he really just disappeared. i don't even think any of us knew for sure what had happened at stars. at the time, i had always assumed it had to do with some kind of expression of that restlessness, where he could never be satisfied with what he had already done. but in this case, it was very clear that he had simply left, and he had left everyone behind. >> james: i don't know. there's just so much hidden with jeremiah. it's taken me 40 years to learn these things.

apparently, all hell was breaking loose in those restaurants. there were -- jeremiah said, "there are people out to get me," and there were people out to get him. he never talked about it. all of that was churning, festering inside of him. >> mark: to go out in that dining room every single night and face your worst demons is amazing. >> ruth: he -- i think created his own doom. >> michael: maybe it's for the best that he shed all of that over time. uh, if he's content, i certainly hope he's content with it. i'm not sure. >> mario: it is always with dismay when i see that jere's not on the scene right now. the cautionary tale, of course, is, or the lesson, is you have to keep working. you must keep doing something or you will just eventually fade away.

>> anthony: you know, j.d. salinger, did he ever write another book? really? it largely explains his immortality. there will always be peoe reading "catcher in the rye." if he'd written some really crappy book that let everybody down 30 years later, um -- i see nothing wrong with walking down the beach for the rest of my life with people wondering what it might've been like if i'd come back. >> gregg: whether that's all that's left to life for jeremiah, i don't know. i hope not. >> mark: it was him against the [ bleep ] world. still is. it still is him against the [ bleep ] world. >> jeremiah: the only escape is change. let the flesh grow old, crumble. what are my great expectations and what have i done?

well, that remains to be seen. okay folks! let's get the lady of the house back on her feet. and help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks. yaaay! the complete balanced nutrition of ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. always be you. who lived in a shoe. she had so many children she had to buy lots of groceries.

while she was shopping for organic fruits and veggies, burglars broke into her shoe. they stole her kids' mountain bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped her with homeowners insurance. she got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a mountain bike juice delivery service. call geico and see how affordable homeowners insurance can be. call geico t-mobile's unlimited now includes netflix on us. that's right. netflix on us. get 4 unlimited lines for just $40 bucks each. taxes and fees included. and now netflix included. i d...changed everything... you switched to the capital one quicksilver card. and how do you feel? [sighs] like a burden's been lifted. those other cards made you sign up for bonus cash back. then they change categories on you every few months. then you had to keep signing up! you...deserve...better. now get out there and keep earning that 1.5% cash back

on every purchase everywhere. thanks, doc. i'm not a doctor. what? [whispers] time to go. what's in your wallet?

or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com.

>> andrew: november 3rd, all of a sudden there was a tweet from "the new york times" saying something to the affect of, "jeremiah tower announced as new chef at tavern on the green." >> florence: the story went up online on monday and all hell broke loose. nobody could believe it. this is so out of left field. >> man: people were buzzing about it and talking about it, and all the blogs were going crazy and twitter went kind of nuts. >> anthony: i mean, my first reaction was of course, "holy [ bleep ]." second was, "why?" why would jeremiah tower come to new york to work in one of the biggest, most thankless operations going, one that has just had a high-profile opening that landed with a big, horrifying thud? >> andrew: here's a guy who's been basically out of the profession as a working chef for 15 years, never operated a restaurant in new york city. it just seemed incredible to me.

it seemed like something you'd see in a movie, but would never happen in real life. >> florence: and yet, here he is, finally, coming to new york. i think you have to be excited. my hope is that it's going to be a homerun. do i think that will happen? i think -- i think there's a chance it will. >> ken: you know, stars was like the velvet underground. it wasn't really around long enough. it was only there, i don't know how long, but it wasn't ma -- very many ars. and then, he kind of disappeared without a trace. there's clearly unfinished business. >> jeremiah: that quote from proust, "work while you still have the light." i wanted to see if my light was still on. if you had seen stars, then you'd know what tavern has to become. this is a great theatrical setting. its bones are perfect, and i know exactly what we have to do. the big challenge at tavern is to bring it back to a place

where everybody can enjoy it. >> andrew: so jeremiah has mentioned that back in the day when he was at stars, that he always thought of stars and tavern on the green as cousins, is the word he used, because they were both among the top grossing restaurants in the united states. they -- both places had sort of a grandeur to them. they were both very dramatic spaces. >> anthony: you know, back in its golden years, warner leroy owned tavern. he was this pt barnum like, uh, impresario. >> florence: it was a hub for events, but it was certainly not a place new yorkers went for dining. >> andrew: it was reopened with two restaurateurs from philadelphia at the helm, who had done nothing of a comparable scale. they brought in katy sparks, who's been a chef in new york for decades. >> florence: the bottom line is, the reviews were devastating. >> andrew: so now, here we have him coming to tavern on the green, which is really rudderless without a chef at the helm the last two months. there is this very sort of sense of deja vu, although you're going back 30-something years. >> jeremiah: in a restaurant,

everything has to be in balance, in sync, giving the same message, so everybody dive in and let's start cooking. somewhe t of my past was this feeling that the show must go on and it'd better be a damn good show. i've always been an obsessive person. i mean, when you really do something fantastic and it works beyond your dreams, there's no greater high. and then the monster is unleashed. >> alexandra: too many new locations at the same time, so too many, too much, too soon, too fast. >> ken: i remember there was a stars palo alto and there was a stars cafe, and then he opened another building down the

street. and then he was all over asia. and -- >> jerry: i honestly expected to see a ferris wheel on the corner, you know, jeremiah-land. >> ken: he was opening all these stars everywhere, you know, while the original stars was probably kind of falling apart while he was on a plane going off to the new stars. >> mike: we saw less and less of him, and that was also a change in, you know, because stars wasn't stars without jeremiah there, not quite. >> tony: you take such a strong personality out of the environment, none of us could mimic what he did, although all of us would love to be able to, we just couldn't. >> ruth: ultimately, restaurants are businesses. and it doesn't matter how brilliant your restaurant is, if it fails as a business, it fails. >> steven: you know, some people told me that jeremiah lost stars. he didn't lose stars. i think stars lost jeremiah. ♪ but like the flame that burns the candle ♪ ♪ the candle feeds the flame

topped steak & twisted potatoes at applebee's. eatin' good in the neighborhood. we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? full-bodied. the unpredictability of a flaree may weigh on your mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go, and how to work around your uc. that's how i thought it had to be. but then i talked to my doctor about humira, and learned humira can help get and keep uc under control... when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. raise your expectations and ask your gastroenterologist if humira may be right for you. with humira, control is possible. thanks, i used masterpass. master...pass? yes! masterpass! pass! pass! was it expensive? priceless. masterpass by mastercard. the modern way to pay. this beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken! hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful.

that menu. >> jeremiah: the lobster in here and a little bit of caviar on top, and they'll pour the hot

soup in at the table. >> mark: you have to be able to create a team, pull together a group of people that, one, know how to cook, two, understand what it is you want, and three, are able to make that happen. >> jeremiah: everybody taste, please, so that we know what the standard is. so this is our benchmark. okay? >> clark: when you think about all the famous chefs -- ducasse or robuchon, thomas keller -- none of those famous people could do tavern on the green. it has to be an american. it has to be somebody who's schooled in the old ways, but not stuck in them. it has to be somebody who will command great respect. and who else has that all together, plus the ability to do volume and to put on a show? jeremiah. >> andrew: whether or not the owners want that influence from him beyond the kitchen, that relationship needs to be calibrated, you know, at every restaurant where the chef is not also the owner.

>> jeremiah: why are these limes so nasty? dump them. horrible. that's unacceptable, guys. you can't, you can't -- >> bartender 1: no, no, of course, absolutely. >> jeremiah: you know what i tell the kitchen is, how much would you want to pay for that? >> bartender 1: i wouldn't pay for that. >> jeremiah: would you put it in your mouth? would you put it in your drink? >> bartender 2: no. >> jeremiah: we're asking people to pay for it, so -- but anyway, you know, you know this. >> andrew: when jeremiah opened stars, it was his baby. that being said, he's not the owner, but i think he is someone who definitely has ideas about what a restaurant should be, how the phone should be answered, how many flowers should be in the dining room, how the waiters should address their customers. >> jeremiah: you know, you have to put cocktail napkins down. when i said that the other day, the dining room manager said to me, "well, we'll bring it up at the next ops meeting." so the ops meeting was five days in advance, then they'd have the meeting. then it would take a couple of days to memo it out and everything. i mean, what are you -- ten days to use the [ bleep ] cocktail napkins?

no. no, no, no, no. i said, "do you have cocktail napkins?" "yeah, we have them." "get me the goddamn cocktail napkins on the table." tavern needs that kind of power in it. >> anthony: he's a control freak, as all the great chefs are. he can't stand in that dining room and look across the dining room and see some waiter with a -- with, you know, with a dirty jacket. that's going to hurt him. he's going to go home unsatisfied. it'll be eating at him all day. >> jim: we definitely were a little bit concerned about, can you work for two 50 year olds not from new york who, you know, are sort of the underdog in this whole thing? because if you can't, then that wouldn't work. as long as, you know, we all know the boundaries of who's doing what, and jeremiah has carte blanche in the kitchen, he is our executive chef. and i think jeremiah understands that ultimately, david and i ha carte blanche in the rest of the restaurant.

>> samantha: he's been a great leader. everyone's been so excited about this new menu, so it's really exciting to see it come to fruition, and then also, to read a good review for it. >> samantha: it's from "the daily news" saying a drastic improvement. it's nice to see. it looks like things are turning around. >> jeremiah: what was the worst food in new york, according to the same reviewers, just got three stars, and they said it would be four stars if the waiters hadn't been inept. a blend of american bigness, new york authenticity, retro romance, and just a little fantasy to suit the still-magical surroundings. well, if i could write, i would've written that myself. >> customer 1: this is just great. >> jeremiah: fantastic. >> customer 1: great. >> jeremiah: thank you. >> customer 2: oh, how nice to meet you. >> jeremiah: nice to meet you. very much. >> customer 4: thank you. >> customer 5: glad you're

turning it around. >> jeremiah: it's a pleasure. all right. >> customers: thank you. >> anthony: the beast, the religion of any restaurant, is consistency. the food has to be the same every single time. it has to be as good. that requires eternal vigilance, meaning the ability to stand in that incredibly busy kitchen with hundreds of meals going out all around you, and you're aware of every plate. you're looking at eyes in the back of your head. i detect a lamb chop that's not right. tavern on the green? we're talking thousands of meals. it's impossible to make great food when you're doing the -- those kinds of numbers. it's a chef killer. >> jeremiah: you're burning

that. you think you're going to use that? what's it for? >> cook: this is for the -- anything from this that i can salvage? >> jeremiah: no, you've burned it. i told you to keep your eye on it and you burned it. >> wolfgang: what you know when you run such a big restaurant, you need a lot of people to do their job just right. >> jeremiah: how could he be on that station and have no clue what he's doing? >> cook: actually, i don't know. >> jeremiah: the chef de cuisine had actually let him crash and burn, meaning he was put on a station, not shown how to do it, uh, didn't know what he was doing. and that's inexcusable. you're actually working against us all, because you are thinking you're working against me, and that includes everybody. >> anthony: i would go in, fire the entire top level. you know, anybody who's not a

loyalist is out. i can't believe you're listening to reasons why it didn't happen all day, especially in a place that size, where you're just hemorrhaging. >> jeremiah: a bad morning. >> cook: bad morning? why? what's up? >> jeremiah: lots of things. shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. hey, it's me, your dry skin. i'm craving something we're missing. the ceramides in cerave. they help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture and keep us protected. we've got to have each other's backs and fronts. cerave. what your skin craves.

and fronts. our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground.

♪ come seek the royal caribbean. ♪ really? really?

really? really? really? see zero in a whole new way. get zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. now with the people first warranty.

stars. and obviously not as good as one could've hoped for, you know? "new chef hardly towering." so i'm better than katy sparks, but not that much better. "tavern on the green's menu has improved with its new chef." and then in the text, it tears it to pieces. could you give me a -- heat up a gratin. i want to taste it. >> florence: he's got ranks of critics waiting in the bushes to ambush him. he's going to have to face that. >> jeremiah: this got by everybody here. take that one back. i want to see them cook a little bit more.

>> anthony: if you're a food critic in new york, you're kind of not allowed to like tavern to start with. tavern will never be cool, ever. >> jeremiah: these look tired. they're horrible. look at that. anyone who read that review this morning will be looking at this dish and we're just producing the worst we ever have, so i'm drawing a line in the sand here, gentlemen. we are not going to prove that "the post" was right. >> mark: i hope they give him some time, because, you know, you can't just go in there and save the world all at once. it doesn't happen that way. it's going to take months. it could take years. >> jeremiah: re-plate this. >> man 2: the biggest problem is when people start to not believe you, then you're screwed 'cause it's just one person after another starts falling away. >> jeremiah: "you can't help hoping that jeremiah tower will rescue tavern on the green if you've ever seen a movie about an aging rogue coming out of

retirement for one last heist, con, caper, battle, boxing match, or in this case, a 700-seat restaurant that combines certain qualities of each of those things. the story and scenery are so perfect that somebody should really make a movie out of it. but right now, the fun stops when the food arrives." oh, this is just too good. friday morning, we had a meeting. i had all my files and all the menus. i'd seen the owner jim come in. i hadn't seen him since the review in "the new york times." and then he said, "you know, we've given you all the leeway because you didn't want to be micromanaged. and this is the result. so now, we have to actually monitor you and we're going to take charge of the food." i thought to myself, "really? these are the ones who asked me whether lamb had both white and dark meat." these are the people who are going to take over the food for [ bleep ] sake. i am sitting at the meeting thinking, "why am i listening to this crap? these people are losers." and i took my files and the

garbage can was right there, and i just threw them into the garbage can. i said, "oh, obviously, we're not needing these any time soon. if we can't improve this situation, then i'm not coming back." so then, i got a text from jim on sunday, the owner saying, "uh, are you quitting?" and i texted him back saying, "um, no, i'm not quitting. would love to make it work and i'm not quitting. jim, i am not quitting." the lawyers saying, they claim to be so befuddled by the whole thing, still in shock. so of course there's a problem. the same problems with alice, you know, and doyle. when there's something wonderful to be done, if you're not right there with me, then get out of the [ bleep ] way. "this behavior is beyond our comprehension." well, of course it is. they don't have a clue. "rumors about you quitting are already at eater. i thought you were way beyond this, jt, really." shut the [ bleep ] up and get to work. there is no excuse to not

endlessly continue to try and make everything that you want to do as wonderful as your vision. i mean, i don't know any other way. anyway, i seem to piss people off a lot. [ phone ringing ] i think it's jim. jeremiah speaking. jeremiah speaking. i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. copdso to breathe better,athe. i go with anoro. copdso to breathe better,athe. yr own wa♪ copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'llo my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains

two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro.com. t-mobile's unlimited now includes netflix on us. that's right. netflix on us. get 4 unlimited lines for just $40 bucks each. taxes and fees included. and now netflix included. ...has grown into an enterprise.

that's why i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. now, i'm earning unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase i make. everything. what's in your wallet? this beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken! hm!? here come the accents. blueberries and pumpkin. wow. and spinach! that was my favorite bite so far. (avo) beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. why did you take credit card debt on? second kid.

private school. medical bills. moving costs. solid ground. a personal loan from sofi is a smart way to consolidate credit card debt. certain borrowers cut their credit card interest rates 42% and increased credit scores 17 points on average. borrow up to $100,000 with low rates and no hidden fees. find your rate in just two minutes, and take on your debt at sofi.com.

the owners of tavern on the green are done with me. "they say the damage is done," that's from michael, my lawyer. "they called me back. they are not moved by attempts to keep you on. need to craft an exit strategy." i should've known that they were unreliable. early on, i just knew not to put too much faith in human beings, you know? and a huge amount of faith in what human beings can do, but not always in the way they do it. and here's an email from josh, one of my sous chefs at tavern.

"i wanted to thank you for the time you spent at tavern. it was an amazing opportunity to be able to work for you. i started cooking in '93, and you were one of the most influential american chefs at that point. thanks for being a cool guy, too. it sucks if you find out your hero is a dick. the mood at -- is down at tavern, of course. all the chefs and most of the cooks know that we were right on the cusp of something wonderful. we were so close to making that place what it could be." very true. "thank you for everything, chef. joshua." how very nice. my childhood painting by augustus john of one of his -- one of his illegitimate children. it's from my early childhood,

and i've known it all my life. looking at the world and saying, "[ bleep ] you." in a way that a little could -- would think it, but probably not know what to say. so i identify with that, too. that's the look i know what i'm thinking, and one of these days, i'll express myself. well, now i have my lucky charm mascots. i guess that means i really am leaving new york. maybe i'll do a -- dine every land and write a book called "how to be a well-mannered idiot." >> james: i look for the crown, but i always knew the guillotine was in sight. and he got the guillotine again. he's been getting the guillotine

his whole life. how many of us search for the crown? not many. jeremiah does. but he knows that guillotine is waiting. >> anthony: it takes a certain kind of person to keep coming back. it takes a romantic, honestly. jeremiah was very much maybe the last, certainly the most important bridge between the old world and the new. a lot of the people who came after didn't have that really deeply felt romantic connection to the traditions, classic service and ingredients. >> james: we need jeremiah tower in this world, if for nothing else than to teach, not just about cooking and everything, but about his style. it's a beautiful style, something that elevates him, brings us out of the muck, that brings us out of the mediocrity and out of the vulgarity in which we are forced to live. and i think that's what jeremiah spent so much of his life doing,

is blocking out vulgarity. >> mario: he was a natural, generous, joyous creature. there were tough days and lawsuits and someone sending their food back, but that doesn't break down the heart of a real chef. a real chef knows that their work is good. >> anthony: we hadn't seen his kind before, certainly not from someone who cut his widest swath. and, uh, i think it'll be a long time before we see his kind again. >> james: is jeremiah a lonely man? oh god, yes. god, he's a lonely man. all innovators are lonely. all creators are lonely. all artists are lonely. you don't lead a life like jeremiah, you don't take the chances for the guillotine that he does without being a lonely man. and he made his mark. that takes loneliness.

that's the way i think jeremiah's always lived.

>> anthony: in september 2017, hurricane maria devastated the american island of puerto rico. at the time of this writing, 12 days after the hurricane, almost 95% of the islands residents are still without power, and close to half don't have clean water. just months prior, we shot an episode there hoping to capture the staggering economic crisis that puerto ricans were already dealing with. so now we have to ask ourselves, can the island ever rebuild? and what is our spsibility, as americans, in making that a reality? ♪