>> rose: welcome to the program. it is the end of summer, and we're looking back at some of the best moments on this program. tonight, food, an encore presentation of my conversation with ken friedman and april bloomfield of the spotted pig. >> it's super important to have, you know, a partner like april that kind of doesn't forget that it's not about the next project. it's about the last project. it's about making sure each plate that goes out to the people that chose to come to our restaurant is perfect. >> if ken had his way, he'd be opening 20 restaurants a year -- >> why 20? why not 30? >> probably 100. we ground each other and that's the nice thing. >> i was at the culinary institute of america to give a speech to this young cook, and i said, guys, remember one thing.

you always have to be-- to be a great chef you have to have three ingredients in your backpack-- you have to travel, you have to get contammed in a wise way, and never, ever forget about where you come from. but you have to have three ingredients-- humility, passion, and dream. >> cuisine has changed a lot in the last deca or so, last generation. chefs have a-- definitely a bigger voice than they did maybe a generation ago, and i think diners are looking for restaurants, where they can experience something singular. >> rose: all about food when we continue. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: american express. >> rose: additional funding provided by:

>> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: ken friedman was a successful music executive with no experience in the food world, and then heicied decided to open a restaurant. after jamie oliver spruced him to a young british chef named april bloomfield, he knew he had found his partner. together they opened the spotted pig in new york's west village in 2004. it was an immediate hit. and it continues to maintain its immense popularity more than a decade later. the "new yorker" has called it, "a place where normal people go to feel like celebrity celebrities go to feel like normal people." here's a look behind the scenes. >> i spent my whole life in clubs as a musician, putting on

shows in clubs. un, you're standing up in a club and you're looking at the band or looking at the d.j., or looking at hot girls. restaurants are kind of like clubs for grown-ups. you still get to mingle with people and meet new people but you eat instead of take drugs. it's my midlife crisis restaurant, you know. and it's made for people like me that don't ever decide where to go till five minutes before, that don't dress up-- i'm wearing a jacket now. that's a big deal-- so are you, charlie. but when i finally decided that i wanted to quit the music business and devote my energy and the the remaining bit of money i had to opening what became the spotted pig, i needed a great chef. >> you know i got a call from him, do you want to do this pub in new york. and i was like i don't know new

york at all. i don't have any idea who you are. but, listen, i'm ready to try something new. so whenever you get a supply of artichokes, it's so wonderful. >> she just really believes and respects ingredients, and she believes if you have only three or four on the plate make each one the best possible. the way i cook at home and the way i cook in the hamptons is like i learn from her. just buy the best ingredients, that's the secret. >> slightly bitter. the other thing is i think it's just a casual setting, you know. we have an amazing place. it's got great energy, and people can eat delicious food in a casual, relaxed environment. >> like most of us, april gets obsessed with certain things. right now she's just sort of obsessed with chickens. >> i am slightly obsessed with chickens. >> i mean, at first it was pigs

for both of us. >> we feed off each other. and not just ken, yo, you know. staff, too. >> she's the greatest partner i could have. and i've done a couple of things without her, and i realize, i don't want to do anything without her. she's just a better partner to have and i'm more proud of what we're doing when she's the one making the food. >> rose: so here's the guy who decides he wants to own a restaurant. >> yes. >> rose: and therefore he knows marian bartly, because he knows something about restaurants and the idea of you came from whom? the idea of april? >> well . >> rose: was it mario? >> i think i asked james. >> rose: you said that. >> he said there's two people, your friend peter, and peter didn't want to do it-- >> and peter asked me, and then jamie gave my number to ken.

>> rose: but then you came here and mario and ken took you around to a the lot of different places. and about halfway during that tour, you were sold. >> i was sold before just because we started e-mailing back and forth. "a," neither one of us know how the hell to e-mail. we're both-- sorry i pushed sent before i should have. we're like bumbling idiots. >> did you receive it? no, i didn't. resend. >> so already it was like a kindred spirit. she and i, we would go driving together. we both have the worst sentence of direction in the world so it was the same. so i was sold before we met. >> rose: how do you divide up the responsibilities of a restaurant? >> i'm usually kitchen kind of back of house. but i have a lot to do with-- you know, like plate wear and things. we bounce ideas off really. >> rose: and you simply are the person who is there out front, knowing and making sure

that everything is okay. >> yeah, i mean-- yeah. and sometimes a lot less, and sometimes a lot more. >> rose: and doing the planning ahead and those kinds of things. for new restaurants or how to make spotted pig better. >> it's super important to have a partner like april that kind of doesn't forget that it's not about the next project. it's about the last project. it's about making sure each plate that goes out to the people that chose to come to our restaurant is perfect. i sometimes suffer from getting bored with things we have now and want to do the next thing. and it's super important to be like, no, no, we committed to this one. >> rose: you keep him grounded. >> that's best thing about our relationship. if ken had his way, he'd be opening 20 restaurants a year -- >> why not 20? why not 30? >> probably 100. we ground each other, and that's the nice thing, and i think we both know element elements and d of play with that a little bit. >> rose: you probably have a lot of ideas how to cook and you

probably send them right to her, don't you? never, never, ever, ever. the thing about-- you know-- >> apparently he cooks the best chicken liver, but i've never eaten. and the tob lobster tacos i've heard are amazing but i've never eaten them. >> rose: didn't you send a memo and say what about this-- >> it was for kosher hot dogs and to few burgers. and i was like this is not going to happen. >> i'm not the right person. if you want you want is tofu dogs and things-- i was trying to lose weight and healthy. you don't go to a real chef and say can you come up with a tofu dog. >> rose: what is a gastropub? >> it's a pub that chefs took over in the early 90s and they didn't have a lot of money and they took these pubs that were going out of ps, and they put a great chef in there and they the created these really exciting,

warm environments to go hang out with your friends every night. ken was slightly obsessed with those, i think, and wanted to create this place where he could bring his friends. >> rose: has the menu changed a lot? >> not really, no. yeah, i mean, we still have the delicious burger on there. it changes seasonally. we buy everything from the market so, that dictates . >> the market means the union square farmer's market. not the stock market. >> rose: did you once want to call it the prod gill pig? >> the prod gill pig, yeah. >> rose: how did that go over? >> most of my friends department know what that meant. they went to dictionary.com to look it up. and it didn't-- basically, spotted pig is just such a visual name and it just-- when i told-- when i told april for one, you liked it. and mario, who was, is my friend, helper, adviser. he loved it. so we chose spotted expig it's

worked. >> rose: so you went from pigs in the beginning, then chicken and now this boong is about vegetables. >> it is. >> rose: hearty meals from the garden. a girl and her dpreens. >> i love vegetables. >> rose: is that a new affair? >> no, no, a very long affair. i grew up eating nejitables. my nan cooked amazing vegetables. and i fell in love with vengitables at the river cafe and you have to go to the pig to know i have this love affair, not just with pig but the vegetables. i wanted to create this book to show the the other side of me. >> rose: you were at the river cafe in london when they found you. you and ruthie were a powerful combination then. >> yes, with rose. i had a great time. i was running chefs and writing menus, and i was in my element. but i was ready for a different life experience, andented to eat different foot and meet new people and ken offered me this opportunity, andening ken was in

kind of his midlife crisis, and we ceend of just held hands and jumped together and created this amazing thing. >> rose: midlife crisis? >> yeah, i had this classic-- at age 40 i was in the music business and i didn't want to come home from work and play music anymore. i was kind of bored. and i was the guy that always threw the parties and cooked chicken liver and lobster tackose, and people kept saying, "you should open a restaurant." and people always do, and you think right. and i thought why don't i try that. i don't want to be the guy who looks back on his life and says i wish i had done that thing i really wanted to do. i thought how bad could it be? i didn't have kids or wife or a mortgage. i could live a couple of years on the money i saved-- although i did spend it all when we went over budget on the pig, of course. >> rose: but you have a lot of friends in the music business. >> yes. >> rose: and they are part of the clientele, cl jay z, or

bono. your friendsshipships are deep n the music business. >> i didn't know i would find anybody as great as april, but i kind of wanted a chef to be involved and have it be around the food. i didn't want it to be a hip music place for six months and everyone goes on to the next hip place. >> rose: so, therefore, the way you ensure that doesn't happen is have a damn good chef in the kitchen. >> yeah, because ultimately when you go out to dinner, you go, "i feel like great chinese tonight or great indian tonight or great burger." you don't really go, "i want to go and see great celebrities." you might do that once once or twice but if people are going to come back again and again it's for great food and cocktails and wine lists. >> rose: did he walk in one day and say i want to give you 50%? we're partners, i fend on you, you're indespencible to me or did you say give me 50% or i'm

walking out of here. >> no, i asked for what i felt i deserved. so i approached ken to be equal partners at the spotted pig, and any projects moving forward. i think you have to value your work. >> rose: value yourself. >> and value yourself. and ken appreciates, you know, what we do and, you know, said no problem. >> rose: it was a no brainer, wasn't it? >> it was aicism negotiation. she said, "i think we're equal partners." i said, "yes, we are." that was pretty much the except of it. the lawyers did paperwork and stuff but it was simple. >> rose: expansion. you started-- john dory at one location over on 11th avenue. that didn't last-- how long, a year? >> eight months. >> rose: eight months. so how can you two being as smart as you are screw it up? >> i just think we made bad judgment. i think every business person can make a bad judgment once in a while, and i think we should have listened to our instincts. >> rose: your instincts said maybe not before you opened? >> i think my instincts --

definitely that was my biggest learning curve with the first john doar. i didn't speak up. i was too much in the background. i didn't like space, and i didn't like the area, and i have to take full responsibility of that. and now i do speak up. so that was my learning curve through the failure of the first john dory. >> rose: and it's also important if you realize you're in a mistake get out as a matter of fact you can. >> yes, and we did. we cut our losses and decide to move on. we knew the concept would work. we knew we loved it. >> rose: what was the concept? >> the british seafood concept, fish restaurant. so we finally got a space on the corner of 29th and broadway and decided to move it there. >> rose: and then the breslin came along or was that before? >> that was before. >> the breslins was right after we closed the first john dory, and we made this deal with the ace hotel, the late, great, alex cotterwood, who i have known forever. he said i'm coming to new york

and doing an ace hotel, this huge 300-room hotel at the corner of 29th and broadway. and we thought 29th and broadway. really. one thing he said is look up. wow, these are amazing buildings here, good point. yeah, so we-- we had never done anything. i mean, we we'd had one big success, one restaurant that had just closed. we were still licking our wounds from that. and he said i want you to do 24-hour room service and a lobby and a huge kind of gastropub. so we did it. and it's been amazing for us. >> rose: you put john dory in next door. >> luckily, it was seamless. we closed the john dory and there was a corner space, the lease was about to become available and thank god we worked out. and we still believed in the idea of a kind of british seafood place. if people in america think british sea foods is fish and chips, they don't know there's a whole great tradition.

all the seats are bar stools. >> we made it a bit more casual. i don't know. it's such a great people-watching space. it's right on the corner. it's perfect. >> rose: and then the salvation tal taco. >> that was a detour ken kind of made a deal with, and i don't know. i was ready for a change, i think, with some tacos. he doesn't like tacos. i love them. >> rose: and then there's pacificca in san francisco. how did that happen. >> tasco is a mythical-- i went to college in berkeley, and i could never get in the back room, it was a legendary place. >> rose: there was a pool table in the back room. >> and there was all kinds of stuff going on in the back room. >> rose: it seems to me the ambience and the feeling of physical property, you can't make a restaurant if you have bad food. but if you have good food, it can enhance the restaurant. >> it can turn something good into something great.

>> rose: is there a trend in the restaurant business today? i was talking to danny myer and he was talking about fine dining casual was sort of a phrase he used? does that make sense to you? >> i think so, yeah. >> rose: what's happening? give us a sense of how you see where the restaurant world is. >> i mean, right now, i think people want a relaxed environment. i don't think they want all the thrills, but i think they want the attention to detail. i think they want that kind of refind-- you know, the refind food on the plate. the refined glasses but not 12 glasses or, you know, 10 sets of cutlery, or somebody standing there very stiff. i think they want that kind of parred down, and just refind and casual, yeah. >> rose: are you growing as a chef? >> yes, all the time. >> rose: how are you growing? >>un, i grow just by sometimes watching my chefs interact, and, you know, kind of watching what they're coming up with and what they have-- you know, their

finger on the pulse. and, you know, by going out to eat, traveling, you know, just doing events with other chefs, just different-- you know, just kind of, you know, seeing just different stuff and being open. >> rose: does it feel exciting for you to fire up the stove and do something that comes out of your own mind and heart and hands. >> yes, of course. >> rose: is the the feel of food sensual for you? >> it's everything. it's the smell. it's the sight. it's the touch. it's all those things combined. i love cooking. if the day i don't like cooking, that's the day i'm going to stop, i think displ. >> whoa, whoa, whoa! stop? >> exactly, you'll have to find areas different partner. but i've been doing this a long time. i've been cooking since i was 16, and i love it. there's never a dull moment. i never get bored. i'm not one of those people. >> rose: but it's all in the kitchen for you. >> yeah, but i'm still-- i still have as much passion and as much

fire that i did when i was 16. and i love the fact. >> rose: you look about 16. >> i love the fabt they still have that. and i hope that kind of comes through with the people they work with. >> rose: so what's your ambition? >> to keep excited, you know, keep on doing projects that are exciting and interestin interesd new, not just recreate stuff and do new things. >> rose: italy's most talked about chef is ranked third in the world. it is famous for advancing traditional italian recipes with modern cuisine. he's here with a new book. "never trust a skinny italian chef." here is a look. >> i'm born and i grew up in the

land of food. i learned since i was a kid to think very quickly. as the romans they were saying-- think quick, do it very quick, but slowly. have a very quick thought but do it slowly because you lose a lot of time to do something. they interpret what i'm thinking. and they know what i'm thinking. so here we go. we dropped a lemon tart. >> rose: that's very nice. that's a nice promotion piece for the book. >> thank you. >> rose: but why the title? >> because -- >> yawz because you're skinny? >> no, the title came out in a trip in los angeles, 2001. we went to-- two friends invited

us for a dinner and we walk into the kitchen and there was some big display. never trust a skinny italian chef. and everybody laughed. and i was looking at myself and saying, what? they have to trust me. i'm a skinny italian chef. so i was like i'm going to do my best to have everyone trust me. but the thing is take distance and stay always grounded. irony is very important. to laugh about yourself. to laugh about things, not to take yourself-- you know, we are cooks. >> rose: why did you decide to write this book? >> why? because, you know, my colleagues, my-- the great colleagues, the people i respect the most, they were pushing me. "come on. sign the contract. you have to put tblak and white

your idea. when you talk at the conferences, people are listening to you. you influence people." so yeah, you know-- so at one point i said, "okay, i'm going to write a book." and then step by step, my wife, you know, we were trying to put down ideas and one after the other after the other after the other, and in the boorks there is the story of my 28 years of career. >> rose: you pay tribute to a french chef elaine decasse, a spanish chef, feron audreya, and an italian mother, your mother. >> i know. it's like in a small glass like this, i compress all my gastronomic life. it's like i did pasta and beans. pasta and beans is the most popular plate you can have. like beans, past and beans. pasta with bean sauce, and my mom was always telling me about

putting apartment john into the beans. when you make past and beans. it's so good. but at the end, i compressed this gastronomic life into a glass. at the bottom, you have, like, this creme roal. you know the french. they use royal. cheeseburger, royal with cheese. royal. so just pig skin, beans, and a little bit of fois gras. and you have layers of things, and it reminds you in the palette, all this flavor that comes from the past, from the normal, from the country, and then you arrive at one point i finish the glass with the air of rosemary. here at the bottom, there is royal, air of rosemary, so something that disappears in one second because rosemary-- but in

the middle, instead of pasta, i put parpegano crust, as my mom afs telling me, sliced very thin. >> rose: is she responsible for you becoming a chef? >> yes, she is. she is the one always pushing me to do things and follow my passion, to not to listen to anyone, to trust myself. >> rose: i assume there's an easy answer to this, but why not rome? >> because it's not about the the place are you. it's about who you are. it's about what you have to express. you know, i felt so comfortably modern-- and modern is the town of slow food and fast cars. there is a place where maserati, lamb burr genie are built.

people come from all over the world to mr. ferrari, or to buy a maserati. why don't they come, if i have the right idea, so we decide to open there. it was cheap. we had enough fr what we had to do. and it's the land of parmegano, balsamic vinegar. in my vein, there is balsamic vinegar. >> rose: what is the expression, avi pervia? >> make simple the difficult things. >> rose: ah, that's a life story. >> yeah, that's a life story. make look simple-- even a plate

like-- it's a very complicated expression, how to create the perfect sardine, but it's like it's the most simple thing, one sardine. and that sardine, heaven. and it makes simple. i don't care about show how great we are. this is contemporary cuisine. contemporary cuisine is no more about fireworks or magician playing to show that we canning take off some rabbit from the hat. but it's attic. put the attic close to the static. >> rose: put the attic close to the static. >> yes. that's why i'm so close with my artesian and farmer cheese maker, fishermen.

they deliver fantastic ingredients to my restaurant that i used to transfer emotion. and. >> rose: transfer emotion. >> i think the book is about that. >> rose: interest emotion. >> yeah. when you chew a parmegiano crust, it's emotion. guback to your childhood. i see people cry eating the potato truffle. it's a potato inside a potato, that it's like so emotional, like people like really get. >> rose: at what point did guto work for ferran? >> it was 2000. >> rose: and how did you get a job? >> ferran came to my restaurant. he came to my restaurant.

he had a meal. he called me to the table and he said, "you want to come?" and i said, "when?" "next season." and i said yes. i left everything and went there. i was attracted in the beginning to understand the whole new techniques that were coming out. it was 2000, so it was not like now. so it was really into crazy new technique that they were, like, changing the perspective, but actually, when i arrived there, i realized that it was not about technique. it was about freedom. freedom of expressing yourself. in that moment, i understood that a great chef can express yourself with the potato or a parmegano crust.

not just caviar on lobster or white truffle. today i was at the culinary institute of america to give a speech to young cooks, and i said, "guys, remember one thing-- you always have to-- to be a great chef you always have to have three ingredients in your backpack. you have to travel. you canv to get contaminated in a wise way, not a wild way, because you never, ever forget about where you come from. but you have to have three ingredients-- humility, passion, and dream. humility keeps you grounded. you cope learner if you are 25, 35, 55. you keep learning and evolving. passion, this is a very hard job. it's not about being a rock star. it's about being, you know, just hard work every day and a little bit of talent.

that's the point. and passion, when the other people are, like, enjoy-- your friends are enjoying, you know-- you are there, and working. every day. and dream is the most important thing. if you can dream it, as ferrari will say, you can make it. >> rose: take a look at these dishes and then we'll move on to some other things. the first thing is-- take a look. these are images from the book. the memory of a mortadelobaloney. >> the memory of a baloney sandwich. very easy. i was back from ferran. gastronotic critics and other colleagues said what is he going to do. baloney foam is going to be right there. but i went so deep into those memories of when my mom was--

she made getting the baloney sandwich in my backpack going to school saying, "manja, manja! you never eat. you have to eat. that's a tribute to my mom and to my first 14 years -- >> take a look. thithis second image is-- oops. i dropped the lemon tart. >> this is one of the most important plates, and the story was fantastic. that night, we were ready to serve, me and my pastry chef, japanese, who was, like, the most incredible picnic, you know, fantastic and at the point we were ready to serve he dropped one of the two lemon tarts on the counter on, the plate, half on the plate, half out. and he was like ready to kill himself. un, the japanese, it was missing

something, it's like waaaa! and i said takk, don't kill yourself. it's so beautiful. look at that. you capture the moment. that's poetry in everyday life. that means if you keep that space open for poetry, from all the obligation you have, you have that space, you can imagine a beautiful, broken lemon tart. so we rebuilt 22 tarts in that moment. in the perfect way, they precision, the imperfection in a perfect way. it became an icon. international cuisine. >> rose: number three is the five ages of apartmen apartment. maybe this is the most important dish. it became the dish of the decade 2001, 2011, and that is the way

to express my territory, and i started reflecting about that, and about text. and after, you know, in '98, i met umberto panini, this incredible visionary man who was-- he is a cheese maker, and he said, after the meal, i have to tell you something. the plate was great, but start thinking about the aging process more than the text. so that means be more respectful for the process of the indpreegds than to show you-- how great are you on technique. from that moment, i start exploring the aging process, and doing my own experiment, and pringing the cheese on a different level and express that-- the slowly passing of the timing on the aging process. 24, 30, 36, 40, 50, you see the

the time that is pazzing. that's the fog. that's the autumn, that's the winter and the summer. that's -- >> the next one is the crunchy part of the lasagna. >> that-- this is another emotional dish. it's the corner, the experience of-- the corner of the lasagna that when grandmother arrives and brings the big pan of lasagna, you have experience-- experience-- like every other kids, that corner, little burn, that everyone knows that is the best part of the lasagna. >> rose: all right, let me talk about art, too, before-- art has a place in the kitchen. art has a place in the restaurant. art has a place in your soul. >> art is the highest way to

communicate. it is the highest point of the thought, of human thought. and art makes visible invisible. and art became for us our landscape of ideas. and my wife introduced me to contemporary art. and, you know, together we are living every day in the-- our-- surrounded by art, by thought, and, you know, from the glass of water to the power-- the power-- the the powder of a 2,000-year-old vase. i drop on the floor saying i'm not defeating my past. i'm starting and rebuilding my past with a contemporary mind. that's my cuisine, exactly my cuisine. i look at my past in a critical way, not in a nostalgic way, to

bring the best from the past into the future. this is exactly what it is, my cuisine. >> rose: it's great to have you here. >> thank you very much. >> rose: fabulous to have you here. the book is called, "never trust a skinny italian chef." better than reading the book-- but you should read the book-- and then you will be more encouraged to go to the restaurant-- if you can get in. >> come on! you can come. you know, we're going to push you in. we're going to push you in. >> rose: thank you. >> thank you. >> rose: cory lee is here, a james beard award-winning chef and owner of venorks in san francisco. david chang has called it the best restaurant in america. a 33-course tasting menu reveals the recipes, inspiration and principles behind his cuisine. here is a look.

>> when i was asked what kind of restaurant it was, my first answer was it's an american restaurant. it's open to the influence of all different kinds of cultures. the book is about a menu, and hopefully we can convey the experience of dining. it's the most revealing thing about you, about a culture, where you come from, how you live, what's important to you. they go hand in hand. it's really about finding yourself in your work, and understanding that there's meaning in finding yourself in your work. >> rose: i'm pleased to have cory lee at this table for the first time. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> rose: a friend of david chang's is a friend of mine, and david has said remarkable things about you. what influence has he had on

you? >> he's had a big influence on me. he's someone who really struck out on his own in a very original and new way. this was 2004. at the time i was living three blocks from the original restaurant. and he came from the same background that a lot of us did, being line cooks in fine dining and trying to make it happen in new york city. and he just went his own path. he decided to do something that he was really passionate about, and create his own style, and really cook for people. and he broke down all the barriers in fine dining, i think, and that happened in a very exciting time for restaurants and for diners. >> rose: the amazing thing about you-- and this may be true for a lot of great chefs-- is that you have worked with some of the great chefs. you worked in great restaurants. >> yeah, i was fort enough enough to have to have amazing teachers and mentors.

there's a difference between a teacher and a mentor. but i've been fortunate where each chef i worked for invested in me and cared what i was doing next outside of their own kitchen. they would send me to the next restaurant. >> rose: describe your cuisine. >> it's a tough one. and i think a big part of the reason why i wrote that book was this attempt to explain not only to an audience or to our staff but to myself, really what we're doing in this restaurant. it's definitely not a cuisine that can be summed up with a couple of words, although, i think a lot of people look for the very easy term or genre. it's a restaurant that's american for me. and it's modern in the truest sense, in that we're trying to create a new experience for people, an experience that can only have better restaurants. but ultimately, it's an american restaurant specific to san francisco. >> rose: what's the korean influence? >> there's a lot of seasoning that takes a cue from cor18

questionsine, some of the fermented pepper sauce and soy sauces. we season with those things instead of just salts. it's about deep flavors instead of just seasoning. and there's also the korean aesthetic which is very transparent. i don't think things are manipulated in a way you can identify what they are. there is a humbleness to korean aesthetics which i think is different and unique in asian cuisine. and we borrow from all those things and we're influenced by all those things and we're inspired by them as well. >> rose: it also explains how asian flavors, idea ideas and aesthetics can harmonize with western ones. >> it's the harm harmonization of those different cultures. 35%, 40% asian, most of them are

cantonese chinese. and there's an assimilation in san francisco that i think is unique to that city. >> rose: david said about you, he said there are many paths to success and cory's path is perfection. there's no better cook technician on the planet pound for pound. he is one of the best chefs on earth. we like having things like that said about us, but is that true? is an essence of you at the core is this pursuit of perfection? >> i think it's not so much a pursuit of perfection. it's a pursuit of feeling like you're doing something you believe in, whether that's perfect-- i'm not sure if that is the most important thing. i think there are things that we do that i know isn't perfect but i feel good about it. and i can commit myself to that. and it'st really has to do with the commitment. you have to be able to commit yourself with your work. and the first step to that is believing in what you're doing. and i've been fortunate where i

felt that. i think my entire career. >> rose: why this book now? >> i finally have something that we can document. un, that's an important first step. you have to want to say something. over the last five years, i think, we started to carve an identity for ourselves. it's an opportunity to reach a larger audience than we can fit in our restaurant. it's great for the staff. they can see that their work is something beyond what they just make every day, and it's far reaching. it's a good moral booster for them. and it just felt like the right time to work on a book. >> rose: it's structured around a 33-course tasting. >> it, but we actually don't serve a 33-course tasting menu. that's too much. >> rose: that's too much, of course,. >> it really is. you can't keep someone engage nard long. >> rose: nor should you. >> but i explain a little bit in the book where-- you know, i don't think anyone looks at this book and wants literally a

tasting menu. it's not about that. almost like meditation on a menu, talking about the dishes, the ingredients, and influences. if there are a few more courses to make the book work, who is counting? >> rose: this is the love of food you have. >> it's the love of food, but also the love of craft. >> rose: craft. >> yes. >> rose: so someone comes to you and they say i want to be a chef. and you say the most important thing to have is the love of craft. and they say, "what does that mean?" what would you say? >> that means making something over and over, repetition, working with your hands, and that being a rewarding experience. it can't be about owning a restaurant one day because that might not happen. it can't be about any any kind of notoriety because that's a by-product of doing something well. you really have to find satisfaction in coming to work every day, and doing the same things over and over.

slowly, it evolves because there's a creative aspect of cooking at a certain level but it also comes down to what you make with your hands. >> rose: and that's a tactile, satisfying feeling. >> oh, absolutely. there's something about making something, making something that you feel has done well, serving it, and immediately getting that satisfaction. that's the great thing about restaurants is there are moments of success all day long and all night long when you're feeding people. >> rose: tell me about your biography. you came from south korea. >> yes, so i had a pretty transient upbringing. my father of an engineer. he was sent kind of all around the world, and we moved several times growing up. i came here when i was fairly young, but my father was then-- moved back to south korea because of the company he was working for. and then from then on, my family was kind of split up.

my sisters, my mother, my father stayed in korea, and i stayed in america. and that's when i started working in restaurants and eventually traveled abroad, working in restaurants. >> rose: paris? >> paris, london, came back to new york. >> rose: always teaching yourself what? >> i think it was honing a work ethic that was really the backbone of anything that i would do later on. i think i had that instilled in me at a fairly early age. it was this idea of you have to put in the work if you're going to get anything out of it. and pursuing it, not waiting for someone to just teach you and pick you up and give. >> rose: you can't wait for it to come to you. >> no, i don't think you can. >> rose: you can't. it goes beyond cooking and becoming a chef. >> absolutely. >> rose: it goes to life itself. >> i agree, absolutely. >> rose: how is cuisine different today when you go around the world?

>> well, cuisine is-- has changed a lot in the last decade or so, last generation. chefs have a-- definitely a bigger voice than they did maybe a generation ago. and i think diners are looking for restaurants where they can experience something singular. >> rose: i do, too. >> they go to a restaurant because of a chef or because of the style of food that that restaurant is cooking-- not just to participate in some kind of lifestyle experience where they're pampered for a couple of hours. they really want something that's unique. that he want to see personality in their dooking. and that's something new. that's something in the last generation or so. >> rose: i'm look at thomas keller saying about you, "cory's thoughtfulness reflected his desire to excel at what he was doing. he was that rare, precocious talent who took the long view and was more than willing to pay his dues." >> well, i mean, by today's standards in this world where i think chefs are becoming younger

and younger, and if you're a chef and you want to open a restaurant, it's-- you have more opportunities now than before. and certainly over the years, i had opportunities before i opened mine. i felt i wasn't ready, and there were times when i was offered a suis chef or management position, and i knew it was time to leave and go to the next restaurant. becausented-- once you make that transition to being a chef or chef owner or a sous chef, you can't go back. >> rose: why aren't you in new york? >> there are-- you know, i always thought i'd open a restaurant in new york. and actually, when i told thomas i was leaving the french laundry, i came to new york to look for restaurant spaces. and one place i looked at-- the the first place i looked at was this old space in soho. and i used throog when i was a teenager and i loved that place and it was a very special place for me. but it was actually the day that lehman brothers went under, so

it was a very volatile time in new york city and it made me take a step back and question why am i going to new york? why i do feel the need to open a restaurant in new york? and the more i thought about it, it just didn't make any sense for me. i had been working in california for about 10 years at that time. i had relationships with purveyors who knew what i wanted. i had relationships with chefs who were coming to the restaurant, who were coming to our restaurant. there were people who wanted to work when we opened. it was crazy to give all that up. and, you know, i look back and, i think if we opened in new york twould have been a very different restaurant. >> rose: benu means what? >> the phoenix bird in egyptian mythology. and the phoenix bird, as you know stands for long life, regeneration -- >> the long view is always there for you. >> exactly. and starting a new restaurant, a new business, which is a very risky venture, you aspire to have longevity. ask for those of us who kind of

uproot our lives and move to san francisco to start this project, the idea of the phoenix bird resonated with us. >> rose: what does it it mean for san francisco that you're so close to the tech community, to silicon valley? >> i think it's a very important part of the dining culture in san francisco. not just the dining culture, the curlt of san francisco has become an area synonymous with innovation, newness -- >> the future. >> embracing new things, open mindedness, the future, and it's this hub for this new world. and then there's also the very pragmatic aspect of it, where we have an industry that can support all these restaurants, and that's very important, too. so i think it's a very exciting time for san francisco, and we're very lucky to be working as chefs there. >> rose: i'm going to take a look at some things and you have describe them. number one is the 1,000-year-old quail egg. there it is. >> that's the first course in the tasting menu. >> rose: that's number one. >> it's-- it's an egg that's

preserved through having a high ph. it's almost the opposite of acidity. it has a very high ph. proteins, and we serve it with a very classic soup. >> rose: number two is lobster. >> basically, a liquid center dump ling. >> rose: beggar's purse is number three. >> beggar's purse is made from acornz, and the three things around an oak tree-- acornz, pigs that are fed on acorns, and black truffles that grow along the roots of oak trees. it's the synergy surrounding the oak tree. >> rose: do you love pigs as much as david chang does? >> how could you not. >> rose: when you say, "how could you not," what does that mean? >> the flavor of pork is such a

round flavor that marries with seafood, vegetables, other meat. it's not gamey like lamb, not as intense as beef. it's almost like seasoning for me. >> rose: the number four is oyster pork belly. >> that's a variation and probably one of the more tech cag things we do the restaurant. it's a variation of a traditional korean dish that upon upon combines oyster kimchi, and pork. and we make a kimchi stock and turn spt into a pliable sheet and wrap everything around that. >> rose: you said your mother was horrified when she realized you were serving kimchi on your menu. >> not horrified but pleasantly shocked. >> rose: why would she be shocked? >> well, i had a hard time with kimchi when i was growing up. it's a vu a very pungent thing,d living in a small apartment when

it's hot and smelling that very intense, fermented aroma of kimchi, it's overwhelming. and even as a person around it all his life, it's a very intense aroma. >> rose: number five is ice dish on ice. >> this is a really simple dish. ice fish on a frozen and shaved dache. it's a very simple dish and it's inspired by the the idea of a japanese aesthetic -- >> which combines simplicity and beauty. spring porridge with sea urchin. >> this is a california local cooking. we have rice from the sacramento delta. asparagus, sea urchin from santa barbara. things that come into season. >> rose: tell me about the importance of how food looks. >> you know, my relationship with food aesthetics has changed over the years. and now for me it's about trying

to present things in a natural form. you know, how do you make something look delicious but not make it look like there are 20 chefs in the back of the kitchen with tweezers and the knives manipulating these things? and that's a challenge. it's a challenge but it's also an important thing to let food present itself. but i think it's very important. >> rose: you have also said about your cook style that it evades definition. but has it changed over time? >> it has. i think when we first opened, i had one foot in this kind of european-style of cooking and the other foot was in an area that was exploring, and over the years, and some of this has to do with just get something more confidence. i've been more interested in exploring how eastern and asian greens can work in the context of a western menu form at. >> rose: do you want to own a korean restaurant? >> i do. i do. it's something. >> rose: just because that's who you are? >> it's who i am.

it's a cuisine that really resonates with me. i feel like it's been poorly represented abroad, and i feel like there's a lot of potential there. >> rose: what does it mean to be the good well ambassador of soecialg-- seoul, korea? >> it's honor more than anything, and basically what it means is you're there as a resource for them if they ever need to contact you for some kind of counsel on food or promoting food in seoul, centered around tourism. >> rose: is this a third michelin star-- what's that about? is it a recognition of quality? is it about a unique approach to food? is it about satisfied patrons? i mean, customers? >> you know, for me, and this is probably not what you'd expect, and this is not something i think i would have said before i received three stars, but in some ways, it's a very western

and european valuation of what we're doing. >> rose: a validation. >> a validation. not because that's what makes me feel good about the work i'm doing. but the michelin guide is such a traditional french dpied and for them to say a restaurant like mine serving the kind of cuisine we do is three stars and worth that journey, there's some validation there. >> rose: congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> rose: it's great to have you on this program. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: i look forward to seeing you in san francisco at some point.

captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: american express. >> rose: additional funding provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide.

man: it's like holy mother of comfort food.ion. woman: throw it down. it's noodle crack. patel: you have to be ready for the heart attack on a platter. crowell: okay, i'm the bacon guy. man: oh, i just did a jig every time i dipped into it. man #2: it just completely blew my mind. woman: it felt like i had a mouthful of raw vegetables and dry dough. sbrocco: oh, please. i want the dessert first! [ laughs ] i told him he had to wait.