November 13, 2025 • 28 mins
Kevin Boehm, famous restauranteur, is here celebrating his new memoir, "The Bottomless Cup"!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the Mercedes Benz Interview Lounge.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Got a question for you. Are you a fan of
the Food TV Network?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, how come?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Because it's yummy?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It combines my two favorite things.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What food and TV? Okay?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Yeah, see, I think that network is good and bad.
The good part is it highlights a lot of things
we never would have known about in our everyday experiences
with restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Isn't that and cooks and food?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
The bad thing is I think it shows restaurants in
that business in a light that's not real.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It really isn't. So. Kevin Bame is here.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
He's got this book out called The Bottomless Cup, of course,
endorsed by one of my favorite people, Will Jadara.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We were talking about that earlier.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Kevin covers his life, how he got where he is,
and you're going to find out in a second where
he is and you're gonna be amazed. But also, there's
nothing wrong with highlighting the fact that the restaurant business
is full of these gifted, get very damaged people. And
I think that's the ree and it's great. I mean,
I don't know, Kevin, explain this to us and talk
to us about this book. Well, first of all, I
(01:06):
tried to strip all that Food Network varnish off of
it inside my inside my book.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I wanted to get to the truth.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
But yeah, damaged people are really good at the restaurant
business because if you if you've had real trauma in
your life, getting like twenty plate pickup or getting quadruple
sat in the station, it's like, so what.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And what does that stuff mean?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A twenty plate.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Pickup, twenty plates, twenty plate pickup means you're on the line,
a chef is calling for the food and you're like,
you have to cook eight of those twenty dishes and
get him up in a window, okay. Or quadruple satus
you get sat with four tables within like five minutes, wow.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Which was always exciting. I worked at a restaurant for
four years, so I could have some damage.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Going on, but it was applebeans, right whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I'm not the same as these very high you know high.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I wanted at the restaurant to be so slammed. It
felt like I was flying the plane and right before
I crashed it, I pulled the nose up and I
survived it. It was an adrenaline rush that I love it.
Gave me like the shot of dopamine. And at the
same time that's a sign of a somewhat damaged person.
A somewhat damaged person, I know. But you're You're in
(02:16):
a room full of them right now, so you can't
own this. You're you're my favorite people. Oh I loved
you said something to me in the room down the
hall of the Sandals Caribbean Green Room. If you must
ask for my name, you said something. This book opens
with this, and then the story begins. Can you share
that with everyone?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
The first line of the book is in the summer
of nineteen eighty nine, halfway through a Western omelet and
a cup of coffee, I found out that I wasn't
really Kevin Bam. So it opens with a mystery of sorts.
An older gentleman found me in Springfi, Illinois, took me
out to breakfast and said, your whole childhood's alive. Got
a story to tell you? Whoa who was this gentleman
(02:56):
turns out he was my father?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Whoah, my god?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Who else has hard nibbles right now?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Oh? Seriously, that's awesome. I mean, not for you, I
mean you know what, it's awesome for writing a book.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, what was your first reaction when he said that
I'm your father.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Well, we didn't really use the word process back then. Yeah,
but I was processing. I remember a server came up
and it's like, would you like more coffee? And I'm like,
would you get the heck out of my face?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Because I was.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I was rewinding all the stuff that had happened in
my life and it was starting to make sense to wow. Wow,
But looking back nineteen eighty nine eighty nine, one of
the most important moments of your life probably, yeah, And
what it ended up doing was it gave me permission
to kind of follow my dream because I just felt
(03:44):
like I could. I there was no guardrails in my
life anymore. So, you know, I went to college, and
if you really want to feel like a moron, have
two of your housemates at college be a future astronaut
and a future Pulitzer Prize finalist. When was Dave Eggers.
One was MIKEB. Hopkins, one of the most important astronauts
(04:04):
in history. So I got there. I already thought maybe
that I wasn't that smart, and then I really thought
that I wasn't that smart. Sea I'd either have used
a roommate to be honest. Oh thanks, well, ok, Kevin, Okay,
let's let's let's let's let's go fast forward here.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You've opened restaurants in ten incredible cities in America. Name
them go oh Jesus, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seaside, Florida, Springfield, Illinois,
Saint Petersburg, Florida, Nashville, Denver, Okay, Silicon Valley, James Beard
winner and nominee. How many times I was in the company.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We've been nominated twenty two times.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I was nominated five times for Best Restaurant Tour in
America and I won in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Right, how many dinners have you served in your restaurants?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Like ten or twelve million? Served like two million people dinner?
The number is eighteen million.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh, there you go. That's how I missed it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
So opening a restaurant and it's a fascinating thing. At
what a ballet And there was actually a special our
friend Will they were talking about opening his one of
his incredible restaurants here in New York City. It was
called seven Days I think seven days and days out.
And so they give you the last seven days before
the opening of this restaurant, and it's the anxiety you
(05:16):
get for them is like incredible. But the feeling of
opening this restaurant for you, what's that like? Is it
like it's definitely another rush of sorts. Well, I talk
about this in the book that I was bipolar, but
a bipolar denier and when I opened up a restaurant,
I would get this dopamine rush from opening and I'm like, Oh,
that's happiness. Great, give me more of that. So why
(05:38):
does this kid from springf Illinois end up opening up
fifty restaurants over the last thirty years Because, like a
heroin addict, I kept wanting that rush again of opening.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Up a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So you know, Anthony Burdain was great at talking about
the shenanigans going on in kitchens. Right, he was the
head shenanigish if there's such a word there is now.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He was awesome. I mean I had dinner with him once.
He was amazing. Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
So how crazy have you seen it or have you
participated in these antics that happen back of house in restaurants? Well,
I was an aggressive drinker and I was very good
at it. Right, Tequila Kevin was definitely a verse. So
you were effed up on the line. No, no, no.
As a chef, never during work was I messed up.
(06:22):
I was only after so service was very important to me.
So during service I was straight as an arrow. Right,
I wouldn't I wouldn't hit it. In my restaurant in
Springfield when I put on Stevie wonder As, that was
the shift from me being completely sober to pouring myself
a mega pint of cabernet. Okay, and then then the
(06:42):
antics would flow. And then you'd be up all night.
You go to the after hours places, or you'd just
go home and drink.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
What would you do. I'll give you the schedule. Okay.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I would get up in the morning, I would run
six miles. What time about six or seven am?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I'd go to the restaurant. I would work till about
three o'clock in the afternoon. Then I would go home.
I would change clothes, I'd come back to the restaurant.
We'd close about midnight. I would drink till three in
the morning, and I would do it again. I only
had to sleep like three hours a night. I was
a maniac. It sounds like I do not miss that guy.
That guy's been retired.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I was gonna say, when did what happened to make
you realize I can't do this anymore?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, there's a rock bottom moment. You know what was it?
If you.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Suicide attempt, Wow, that's bottom. If you if you can
survive rock bottom, which most people don't, it's a gift
because if you can come out of it and you
can say, wait a second, that wasn't just a bad night.
And I'm going to be as ambitious about my mental
health and my happiness as I've been restaurants all these years.
(07:48):
And that's what happened. I wrote a list of twenty
things that I had to do to change my life,
and they were pretty big things, and I did them.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Was oh my god.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Really, I didn't walk a dining room for like six months.
That was the hardest thing. Restaurant had always been my
life's blood, and I had to take a moment away
from my restaurants. But there were a lot of things
on there. Stop drinking, like go to the Hoffman Institute,
get therapy for the first time in my life, get medicated.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
How long ago was this? Generally four years ago?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
So Kevin Bain is here. The book is called The
Bottomless Cop. I cannot wait to crack this book open.
By the way, it's not all about just being totally damaged.
There's fun stuff that happens when one is damaged, like
living in your car. That's not fun. You were living
in your car. Yeah, it wasn't a great car to
live in. It was a Suzuki Samurai, oh, with with
(08:41):
a ripped with a riffed soft top. It was like,
I lesbian wouldn't even drive that. So anyway, so you
were in your Suzuki Samurai with a ripped top. How
did you end up living there?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well? How did you lose everything else?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, first of all, I say in the book, you
know that the first time you live in your car,
you think this is going to make a really good
book some days. The second time you live in your car,
you think there's probably not going to be a book.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Okay, but how'd you end up in this?
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Kevin?
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Well, So I drop out of college, I go down
there and I think I'm going to work in restaurants.
Nobody hires me. I ended up working in an amusement park.
I move in with a guy who works at the
amusement park catch him stealing from me, and his name
was on the lease, so I had to move out.
I had no money, and I'm living in living in
my jeep, and like most of the time, I would
(09:27):
get out and get my sleeping back out and I
would sleep on the beach. And one night I woke
up and because a woman was screaming at her kids, says, hey,
get away from that. And I woke up, like, what's
the scary thing that she's screaming about? And the scary
thing was me, Oh, you were fat. Oh wow, she's
recoiling a horror because you're saying, get away from the
homeless guy.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So how did you get out of your car?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Well, I had this idea to write this beautiful piece
of fiction that was my new resume. I wrote this resume.
Then your lies all lies, all lies that were all
restaurants that have mysteriously gone out of business so they
could call for a reference check.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Wow, And I walked into the.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Most fine dining restaurant in town and I was flailing
in the interview. He asked me, he goes Kevin, what's
your favorite grape bridle? I don't know what grape bridle?
Was Welch's there, you know, like that's what I should
have said. And the owner came by and she pinched
my cheek and she goes, I like this one Mike
hired this one. God, he goes, I guess you got
the job kid. What an angel she came down?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Is she Alice?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Alice Masker? She made my angel? Hey Alice, Hi, Alice?
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Where you are?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's awesome?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Okay, so, uh the fun in the kitchen, it's crazy.
It's a rollercoaster that never stops. It's like sitting in
an electric chair if you're working the line or that's
about right. So what things did you want to stop
down and just laugh your ass off it? But you
didn't have time. Like it's the craziest things there. There
was a line cook when I worked at my first
(10:51):
restaurant named Tom, and Alice was He goes, guys, whatever
you do, keep alcohol away from Tom. Tom was our
best line cook. Well it was kind of like, you know,
don't give Hannibal lect or anything sharp right now. It
was like keep it away from him. And Tom walked
up to the new bartenders like, yeah, you know, I'm
gonna I need to make a bourbon sauce for this
(11:12):
apple pie I'm doing, and he gave him a bottle
of bourbon, and halfway through the shift, Tom fell on
the line with an empty.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Bottle of bourbon.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh that's hilarious, Kevin. My favorite text just came. My
favorite text. I never knew Kevin Bacon on a restaurant.
I lived in a car.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
It's Kevin.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
No, let's talk about my rolling footloose Kevin Bain, but close. Yeah,
can you tell.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Us about your oven blowing up like in your first restaurant?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
My very first service, I reached down to put a
piece of bread in the oven and the pilot light
had gone out, and the oven blew up my face
and caught my hair on fire. And so my first
service lasted about thirty five minutes. An ambulance came took
me to the hospital. Oh no, And I knew it
was bad when the guy who's room, there's a grandpa
in the room with me and his grandson walked in.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
He looked at me and he was like, WHOA, what
happened to that guy? I was like, uh.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Oh, So my second service, my face was completely scabbed
and I had to shave my head and you.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Actually showed up and presented yourself to people that way.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's the restaurant business.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Hey, well, let's talk about the dangers in the kitchen.
Gandhi asked the question you always ask our favorite chefs.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I think every chef has the same scar. I
want to know if you have it. Do you have
a burn mark on your forearm anywhere?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I dope because I wasn't on the line that much.
But I do have a pretty wicked scar from shucking
an oyster where I stabbed my where I stabbed my
hand where I have this wicked scar.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Okay, see you got one. Yes, shucky oysters is a
dangerous business. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I don't think about how chaotic and dangers it actually is,
though to be in a restaurant, unless you've been in
a restaurant and been in the industry. And I think
everybody should work in a restaurant for a year of
their life. You learned so much.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
That was a hot take on subway takes recently, was it. Yeah,
it was like everybody should be required to work in
a restaurant. Really, do you want a little dose of
humanity because you have to learn how to deal with everybody.
The good people and the bad people, and I've seen
them both.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Man.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
This is front and back of house. Front end, back
of the house. So there's a place downtown called Walkers.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
It's this. It's great old Irish pub restaurant. I used
to go there.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
That was our living room. We did lunch and dinner
and stay there and drink and eat all day. One day,
this host wasn't there, and a couple walked in. I
said to my friend the bartender, my friend the waitress,
I'll take care of them.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I know how to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Got some got some menus, sat them at a table,
and so would you like some water?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What kind of water you want? You know whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
The guy looked at me and said, do you even
know what you're doing? You don't look like you should
be even working here. Who are you?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
We come here every day? Are you new here?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
You just got a rude it's naughty to me. And
I just put the menus down and I walked away.
I will never be able to do this. People are mean.
You heard it here first few folks. Elvis Duran is
going to come Matred d at Boca Restaurant. He's going
to be amazing. You see, I'm a great like guy
walking around and make sure everyone's good. But I can't
handle mean people. But there are people who come to
(14:04):
your restaurants who are just evil. They let me know
the meanest celebrity that ever can dude, Roger Waters was
the meanest person. Really, what the meanest He walked into
the restaurant and we were getting his table set and ready,
and my partner just said to me, he goes, hey,
how was San Diego last night? And he just like
(14:28):
put his hands on the host stand and looked us
and he goes, would you just give me my effing table.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
At that point? Would you not say? You know what? No,
I don't think I want you in here. I don't
want to serve you.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I said, yes, sir mister Waters, of course you would. Wait,
who is Roger Waters?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So you're better than me. I couldn't even handle McDonald's
because people were nasty to me and yelling at me
about a you know, a file of fish and we
had a lot of issues.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
The kindest person ever, and I got to serve him
several times. Covin, The restaurant business is a tough business.
You seem to have navigated at well. Congratulations, who's that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Obama, no offense.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
It was the nicest of everybody.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Oh, he's just he who was a prince. I mean
so many, so many nice, incredible people.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
You get more nice than not nice, Yeah, more nice.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Than not nice.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I want to talk before we talk about you being
attacked by a bobcat. I need to ask you a question,
and anyone and everyone listening right now. You can apply
this to your your your industry, or your family, whatever.
And it's about mental health. You've sort of skated around
and sometimes through the mental health bush, and I want
to know more about it as it applies to you,
(15:45):
because I know this is a universal conversation. And I
remember fifteen years ago talking about mental health on our show.
It was almost like it. You would whisper it, like
back in the nineteen seventies, you would never say breast
cancer out loud. It was breast cancer, right, mental health.
Thank God, we've pull the rug up. We don't have
to brush it under there anymore. Talk about how it
applies to you, Yeah, I mean generationally, I mean the
(16:05):
generation before us was so repressed, and so I wanted
to break the chain. My mom was bipolar, My mom's
mom was bipolar, and Unfortunately, for the first fifty years
of my life, I didn't grab the low hanging fruit.
I never went and got therapy. I went got therapy
once when I was twenty six, and she told me
that I might be bipolar, and I told her to
(16:27):
f off, and I walked out of the room because
I was such a denier of it. So when I
finally went in and I got medicated, it's the one
regret I really have in my life. It was like, Kevin,
you idiot. You could have done this twenty years ago.
And so we talk about gyms all the time. There's
the workout culture is massive. We don't talk enough about
(16:47):
mental health and talking to somebody. Your relationship with your
therapist is different than any relationship you'll ever have. And
my therapist said very early on, she said, Kevin, there's
no winning at therapy. You don't need to make me
like you, just tell me the truth. And that relationship
for me has been so beneficial. So the combination of
that and getting medicated, and so that's my purpose in
(17:10):
life moving forward is talking to people about how happy
I become because I threw the kitchen sink at my
own happiness and I have pillars for my own happiness. Now, One,
do I have purpose in my life? And is my
reasoning behind that purpose a noble?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
One?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Is it not for vengeance or ego or capitalism?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Two?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Do I encounter the people that I like and love
while I'm doing that purpose? And three? Do I like
myself as the protagonist in my own story? So your
story in this book tells us how through your journey
it does conquered or at least admitted to needing to
conquer a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Of these things. One dred percent.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So what is it about the restaurant business that attracts
this crazy crowd of people who are just definitely edgy?
A lot of people and I don't know how to
describe I mean, you can better describe it. Well, I
found my people when I went into restaurants. I go,
wait a second, these people know a lot about food
and want and art and music and they're dangerous. I
(18:11):
was like, and they go out till three in the morning. Yes,
I'm in, give me more. And so I loved them.
I had this instant love affair with them and I
was just like, Yeah, these are my favorite people on earth.
And I think they're still my favorite people.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
On Earth.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
It's fun and you can make good money. And it's
like throwing a party every night, and you guys come
in and mess it all up and we clean it
up and we do it again the next day.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
That's my life.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Wow, No days the same. I think every single restaurant,
no matter what the restaurant is, could have a reality
show and I would watch it all of them.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
You're there, you go, My life in a nutshell. My
friend Michael Ealy's an actor. Oh yeah, I'm super handsome fella.
He was at a play here in New York and
the play with the stage was a basketball court, and
he at the end of the play and there's a
man in an apartment who had supposedly bet on the game.
At the end of the play, Michael Ealy gets the ball,
he takes a twelve foot jump shot, he makes it.
(19:04):
They celebrate. Play ends. First night, Philip Seymour Hoffman came
to see the play and when Michael left out the
side door, Philip Seymour Hoffman standing there with his arms crossed,
and he goes, what.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Happens if you miss it?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And Michael goes, it's a different ending, and he goes,
what's the other ending, he goes, you got to come
in a night when I miss and when he told
me that story, I was like, that's my life. I
don't know if the women at table forty three are
going to have the best night of their life. I
don't know if they're going to catch their hair on
fire on the candle. But I've written both endings, so
I'm a script writer every night and I don't know
what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I love that part.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So nine to five would kill you. This is what
you need. You need the diversity and.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
The I'd already be dead.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Okay, Oh wow, I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You don't know if I worked If I yes, if
I worked in a cubicle at you know wherever, that's
just not for me. You know I was not I
was not wired for that. Well, in a restaurant isn't
not for everyone as well? You know it's yin yang.
Hey talk about hospitality. Do you actually explain to people
(20:09):
what hospitality is versus good food in a restaurant? Hospitality
is how you make people feel, as Will Gadera says,
services black and white. Hospitality is color, which is really beautiful.
I tell a story all the time. Of a man
who came out on his anniversary and he brought a
bottle of nineteen sixty one Chateau la Fete Rothschild with
(20:29):
him and it was represented his dad being there that night,
because that was his dad's gift on his wedding night,
and this is his twenty fifth anniversary. I opened the
bottle to decant it before everybody showed up, and it
was corked, and the man cried hysterically in front of me,
and I was like, hey, what if we replace it
with one of these other bottles, And he's like, no, no, no,
They're going to know that ninety seven silver Oak is
(20:50):
not the sixty one lafeet. I go, I know a
guy down the street. A guy down the street sold
me a bottle of sixty six la feet for one
hundred bucks. I came back, threw away, I decanteda sixty six,
threw it away, rinsed out the bottle of sixty one,
put it in the decanter. Just then the people showed up.
We poured the wine for everybody. He told the story
of his father. Everybody cried, and everybody talked about the
(21:13):
greatest glass of wine they ever had in their entire life.
And the man came up to me and he whispered,
my ere. He goes, you're a beautiful liar young man.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Oh, my dad would have loved this. That's hospitality. That's hospitality, yes, wow.
But you can find it in all sorts of restaurants,
like a Wendy's, for instance. People have always asked me,
what's my greatest deal of all time? Here I kind
of jokingly say Wendy's. I go to this Wendy's in
carlon Ville, Illinois, nineteen ninety seven. I walk in the
(21:42):
door and there's a woman perched to the front. She goes, gentlemen,
welcome to Wendy's Hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I go, thank you. I've never seen a matre dt
a fast good restaurant be poor. Thank you, Joan.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
I walk up to the front and the guy up
there tells me about the spicy chicken sandwich, like he
was working at a Michelin three star restaurant.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
How did he describe this chicken?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Sea was like, sir, we have a brand new spicy
chicken sandwich and he's going to light you up today.
And I was like, okay, fine, I'm in let's do it.
And so then when we go sit down, the woman
who was greeting was wiping the errant penne pastas from
the superbar into a napkin, and then she refilled my
water with a pitcher and I looked at the guy
(22:20):
next to me. I go, what the hell is going on?
He goes, I think we're dying. I think we're dining
at the greatest fastood restaurant in history. So I went
and I asked for the manager, and they goes, there
are a problems, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I go, no, no, there's no problem. And he comes
out and I.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Said, sir, I just got to tell you, you've got
the best fast food restaurant I've ever seen. And he goes, well,
as you could see, we're very proud of it. And
they had won like the Golden Wendy's Award as the
best Wendy's in America. And I came out of there
and I was like, Okay, everybody does cover versions. Most
people don't have a job that's unique to themselves. And
(22:54):
I started thinking about the Beatles. You know, the Beatles
were the standard bearer of every song they'd ever done
up till with a little help for my friends and
if you listen to Joe Cocker's version. Even the Beatles
said it was a superior version. And so I went
back to my restaurant that night and said, hey, guys,
we're just doing cover versions, but we're gonna do the
best cover version anybody's ever seen. And so I still
get inspired by that guy Wendy's who just said I
(23:16):
got the same a frame building, I got the same menu,
but I'm going to mind something unique out of it
is the.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Quality that you cannot teach people, but when you see
it in someone, you're like, that's it. That's what I
want to hire. As far as hospitality goes.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I asked two questions when I interview somebody, and the
first one is do you really like to take care
of people? And I know when somebody's be asking me,
and you know. The second question I ask is just
would you have for breakfast this morning? Because I just
want to hear him talk, But it's kindness.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Can you talk?
Speaker 4 (23:48):
And can you sell me that you're kind because that's
what you want to feel like when you're out to dinner,
it's like somebody's on your side, because bad things will happen.
Right you walk in and They're like, we're running twenty
five minutes behind, but they go, sorry, we range twenty
five minutes behind. That's not good. But if you say,
I am so sorry, we're twenty five minutes behind. But
I'm gonna walk you to the bar. We're gonna find
you a little space. I'm gonna get you a drink
(24:10):
and bear with us and be patient. I'm gonna get
you down as soon.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
As I can.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
That makes the biggest difference in the world.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, yeah, So who in this room do you think
is selling kindness versus is actually just kind?
Speaker 5 (24:21):
You are so kind, You are so kind, and you
and I are fast friends. All right, almost has an
edge to him, but I like it. Oh he is
all Oh, you know nothing yet it's a razor. I'm
like a Windy's chicken sandwich.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
You just wait.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I have to tell you who this gentleman is. This
is Kevin Bain and his book The Bottomless cop I
cannot wait. I'm gonna rip into it today. We were
begging for early copies because God forbid we spend a.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Dollar on our own.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
I have my coffee now, and if I would love
for you to sign it, and I just love that
everything you talked about today. Even though it's very front
centric and hospitality of centric, it can apply to everything
you are doing in your life. As you drive to
work and listen to this ab so frekinglutely, you will
find that with almost everyone we interview in this room,
and if they do not deliver that to you, then
(25:13):
we didn't do our job to get it out of them.
But we didn't have to do anything. It was effortless
with Kevin because you were just this is this book.
It's you gave us some great examples. But I know
there's a lot more left to uncover here. It's a
lot of nuggets in this book. And so, like I said,
you know, when I started this process, I wanted to
get to the truth. And fortunately my life's been pretty entertaining.
(25:36):
I say in the book the beginning of the book,
I've force gumped my way through life. I've got to
encounter a lot of interesting people. And listen, all of
us in this room are the sum of everything that
we've ever encountered, everyone and everything. And so I'm really
glad that I went through all that stuff because now
at fifty five years old, I'm super happy and life's
(25:57):
been interesting and I'm grateful on audible.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Is it available on audible?
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Audible comes out November twenty fife.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Do you narrate it?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I narrate it. Have you sad for that?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yet?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I do? I have sat for that all of a sudden.
It's a rough thing. I had to do that myself,
and I do all kinds of voices in it. So
there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's different than reading.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I tell him, I tell it.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
I tell him Mike Jagger story in there where like
Jagger and Ron Wood came into the restaurant one night
and and you know, I get Mick a glass of
white wine and I say, mister Wood, can I get
you something? He's like, is there any way you could
get me a red Bull?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And I.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Sure, mister Wood, until we didn't serve red bull? So
I ran two blocks away to a nightclubs like ninety
degrees outside. I come back and I'm pouring the red Bull.
He's like, I'm sorry, I'm gonna sugar free red bull.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So I love it.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Thank you for coming in here today again, I tell
you now. We're going to post this at Elvis Duran
show on Instagram as well, so you'll see it later
if you have to revisit us at the Bottomless Cup
by Kevin Bain, A memo of secrets, restaurants, and forgiveness.
And you've covered all three of those bases very well today, Kevin,
is a pleasure to meet you.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Thank you absolutely. I think you're all kind people. I
think we are too.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
You know, three of us have been together for thirty
years during the show, thirty years. How many restaurants are
open for thirty years? A few, I've I have a
restaurant's been open twenty three years. See, I can't believe
you're over fifty. You look much younger than that. The
same thing, where do you know what it was?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The luxury of the Sandals green room?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
I know? Did I tell you?
Speaker 4 (27:34):
It revitalized me. It's tropical in there, folks. It's a
massage and you're not being touched. Guys, there's a massuse
in there. There's somebody making fresh green juice.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It was remarkable. The sounds of the waves here in
midtown Manhattan fagulous. And we can't what jewel was in there.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
So you know, this is another thing, you know, Kevin,
a famous man who has lived in his car one
of your games. It needs to be people who have
lived in cars at one point.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
We'll do it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Can I come back and co host sometimes? Guys you
can host, will take today off. It's all you. Oh yeah,
I love it. Wait, you go to the restaurants and
you be me, and I'll be you this as well.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Your restaurants will shut it.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. What we do here, yeah, what we do here
is much easier than what you do in your restaurants.
Guarantee you, Kevin, thanks again, thank you for coming in.
You guys are awesome. Thank you,
Live from the Mercedes Benz Interview Lounge.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Got a question for you. Are you a fan of
the Food TV Network?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, how come?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Because it's yummy?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It combines my two favorite things.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What food and TV? Okay?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Yeah, see, I think that network is good and bad.
The good part is it highlights a lot of things
we never would have known about in our everyday experiences
with restaurants.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Isn't that and cooks and food?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
The bad thing is I think it shows restaurants in
that business in a light that's not real.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It really isn't. So. Kevin Bame is here.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
He's got this book out called The Bottomless Cup, of course,
endorsed by one of my favorite people, Will Jadara.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We were talking about that earlier.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Kevin covers his life, how he got where he is,
and you're going to find out in a second where
he is and you're gonna be amazed. But also, there's
nothing wrong with highlighting the fact that the restaurant business
is full of these gifted, get very damaged people. And
I think that's the ree and it's great. I mean,
I don't know, Kevin, explain this to us and talk
to us about this book. Well, first of all, I
(01:06):
tried to strip all that Food Network varnish off of
it inside my inside my book.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I wanted to get to the truth.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
But yeah, damaged people are really good at the restaurant
business because if you if you've had real trauma in
your life, getting like twenty plate pickup or getting quadruple
sat in the station, it's like, so what.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And what does that stuff mean?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A twenty plate.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Pickup, twenty plates, twenty plate pickup means you're on the line,
a chef is calling for the food and you're like,
you have to cook eight of those twenty dishes and
get him up in a window, okay. Or quadruple satus
you get sat with four tables within like five minutes, wow.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Which was always exciting. I worked at a restaurant for
four years, so I could have some damage.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Going on, but it was applebeans, right whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I'm not the same as these very high you know high.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I wanted at the restaurant to be so slammed. It
felt like I was flying the plane and right before
I crashed it, I pulled the nose up and I
survived it. It was an adrenaline rush that I love it.
Gave me like the shot of dopamine. And at the
same time that's a sign of a somewhat damaged person.
A somewhat damaged person, I know. But you're You're in
(02:16):
a room full of them right now, so you can't
own this. You're you're my favorite people. Oh I loved
you said something to me in the room down the
hall of the Sandals Caribbean Green Room. If you must
ask for my name, you said something. This book opens
with this, and then the story begins. Can you share
that with everyone?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
The first line of the book is in the summer
of nineteen eighty nine, halfway through a Western omelet and
a cup of coffee, I found out that I wasn't
really Kevin Bam. So it opens with a mystery of sorts.
An older gentleman found me in Springfi, Illinois, took me
out to breakfast and said, your whole childhood's alive. Got
a story to tell you? Whoa who was this gentleman
(02:56):
turns out he was my father?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Whoah, my god?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Who else has hard nibbles right now?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Oh? Seriously, that's awesome. I mean, not for you, I
mean you know what, it's awesome for writing a book.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, what was your first reaction when he said that
I'm your father.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Well, we didn't really use the word process back then. Yeah,
but I was processing. I remember a server came up
and it's like, would you like more coffee? And I'm like,
would you get the heck out of my face?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Because I was.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I was rewinding all the stuff that had happened in
my life and it was starting to make sense to wow. Wow,
But looking back nineteen eighty nine eighty nine, one of
the most important moments of your life probably, yeah, And
what it ended up doing was it gave me permission
to kind of follow my dream because I just felt
(03:44):
like I could. I there was no guardrails in my
life anymore. So, you know, I went to college, and
if you really want to feel like a moron, have
two of your housemates at college be a future astronaut
and a future Pulitzer Prize finalist. When was Dave Eggers.
One was MIKEB. Hopkins, one of the most important astronauts
(04:04):
in history. So I got there. I already thought maybe
that I wasn't that smart, and then I really thought
that I wasn't that smart. Sea I'd either have used
a roommate to be honest. Oh thanks, well, ok, Kevin, Okay,
let's let's let's let's let's go fast forward here.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
You've opened restaurants in ten incredible cities in America. Name
them go oh Jesus, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seaside, Florida, Springfield, Illinois,
Saint Petersburg, Florida, Nashville, Denver, Okay, Silicon Valley, James Beard
winner and nominee. How many times I was in the company.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We've been nominated twenty two times.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I was nominated five times for Best Restaurant Tour in
America and I won in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Right, how many dinners have you served in your restaurants?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Like ten or twelve million? Served like two million people dinner?
The number is eighteen million.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh, there you go. That's how I missed it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You don't know.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
So opening a restaurant and it's a fascinating thing. At
what a ballet And there was actually a special our
friend Will they were talking about opening his one of
his incredible restaurants here in New York City. It was
called seven Days I think seven days and days out.
And so they give you the last seven days before
the opening of this restaurant, and it's the anxiety you
(05:16):
get for them is like incredible. But the feeling of
opening this restaurant for you, what's that like? Is it
like it's definitely another rush of sorts. Well, I talk
about this in the book that I was bipolar, but
a bipolar denier and when I opened up a restaurant,
I would get this dopamine rush from opening and I'm like, Oh,
that's happiness. Great, give me more of that. So why
(05:38):
does this kid from springf Illinois end up opening up
fifty restaurants over the last thirty years Because, like a
heroin addict, I kept wanting that rush again of opening.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Up a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So you know, Anthony Burdain was great at talking about
the shenanigans going on in kitchens. Right, he was the
head shenanigish if there's such a word there is now.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He was awesome. I mean I had dinner with him once.
He was amazing. Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
So how crazy have you seen it or have you
participated in these antics that happen back of house in restaurants? Well,
I was an aggressive drinker and I was very good
at it. Right, Tequila Kevin was definitely a verse. So
you were effed up on the line. No, no, no.
As a chef, never during work was I messed up.
(06:22):
I was only after so service was very important to me.
So during service I was straight as an arrow. Right,
I wouldn't I wouldn't hit it. In my restaurant in
Springfield when I put on Stevie wonder As, that was
the shift from me being completely sober to pouring myself
a mega pint of cabernet. Okay, and then then the
(06:42):
antics would flow. And then you'd be up all night.
You go to the after hours places, or you'd just
go home and drink.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
What would you do. I'll give you the schedule. Okay.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I would get up in the morning, I would run
six miles. What time about six or seven am?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I'd go to the restaurant. I would work till about
three o'clock in the afternoon. Then I would go home.
I would change clothes, I'd come back to the restaurant.
We'd close about midnight. I would drink till three in
the morning, and I would do it again. I only
had to sleep like three hours a night. I was
a maniac. It sounds like I do not miss that guy.
That guy's been retired.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
I was gonna say, when did what happened to make
you realize I can't do this anymore?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, there's a rock bottom moment. You know what was it?
If you.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Suicide attempt, Wow, that's bottom. If you if you can
survive rock bottom, which most people don't, it's a gift
because if you can come out of it and you
can say, wait a second, that wasn't just a bad night.
And I'm going to be as ambitious about my mental
health and my happiness as I've been restaurants all these years.
(07:48):
And that's what happened. I wrote a list of twenty
things that I had to do to change my life,
and they were pretty big things, and I did them.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Was oh my god.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Really, I didn't walk a dining room for like six months.
That was the hardest thing. Restaurant had always been my
life's blood, and I had to take a moment away
from my restaurants. But there were a lot of things
on there. Stop drinking, like go to the Hoffman Institute,
get therapy for the first time in my life, get medicated.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
How long ago was this? Generally four years ago?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
So Kevin Bain is here. The book is called The
Bottomless Cop. I cannot wait to crack this book open.
By the way, it's not all about just being totally damaged.
There's fun stuff that happens when one is damaged, like
living in your car. That's not fun. You were living
in your car. Yeah, it wasn't a great car to
live in. It was a Suzuki Samurai, oh, with with
(08:41):
a ripped with a riffed soft top. It was like,
I lesbian wouldn't even drive that. So anyway, so you
were in your Suzuki Samurai with a ripped top. How
did you end up living there?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well? How did you lose everything else?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, first of all, I say in the book, you
know that the first time you live in your car,
you think this is going to make a really good
book some days. The second time you live in your car,
you think there's probably not going to be a book.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Okay, but how'd you end up in this?
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Kevin?
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Well, So I drop out of college, I go down
there and I think I'm going to work in restaurants.
Nobody hires me. I ended up working in an amusement park.
I move in with a guy who works at the
amusement park catch him stealing from me, and his name
was on the lease, so I had to move out.
I had no money, and I'm living in living in
my jeep, and like most of the time, I would
(09:27):
get out and get my sleeping back out and I
would sleep on the beach. And one night I woke
up and because a woman was screaming at her kids, says, hey,
get away from that. And I woke up, like, what's
the scary thing that she's screaming about? And the scary
thing was me, Oh, you were fat. Oh wow, she's
recoiling a horror because you're saying, get away from the
homeless guy.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So how did you get out of your car?
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Well, I had this idea to write this beautiful piece
of fiction that was my new resume. I wrote this resume.
Then your lies all lies, all lies that were all
restaurants that have mysteriously gone out of business so they
could call for a reference check.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Wow, And I walked into the.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Most fine dining restaurant in town and I was flailing
in the interview. He asked me, he goes Kevin, what's
your favorite grape bridle? I don't know what grape bridle?
Was Welch's there, you know, like that's what I should
have said. And the owner came by and she pinched
my cheek and she goes, I like this one Mike
hired this one. God, he goes, I guess you got
the job kid. What an angel she came down?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Is she Alice?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Alice Masker? She made my angel? Hey Alice, Hi, Alice?
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Where you are?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's awesome?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Okay, so, uh the fun in the kitchen, it's crazy.
It's a rollercoaster that never stops. It's like sitting in
an electric chair if you're working the line or that's
about right. So what things did you want to stop
down and just laugh your ass off it? But you
didn't have time. Like it's the craziest things there. There
was a line cook when I worked at my first
(10:51):
restaurant named Tom, and Alice was He goes, guys, whatever
you do, keep alcohol away from Tom. Tom was our
best line cook. Well it was kind of like, you know,
don't give Hannibal lect or anything sharp right now. It
was like keep it away from him. And Tom walked
up to the new bartenders like, yeah, you know, I'm
gonna I need to make a bourbon sauce for this
(11:12):
apple pie I'm doing, and he gave him a bottle
of bourbon, and halfway through the shift, Tom fell on
the line with an empty.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Bottle of bourbon.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Oh that's hilarious, Kevin. My favorite text just came. My
favorite text. I never knew Kevin Bacon on a restaurant.
I lived in a car.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
It's Kevin.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
No, let's talk about my rolling footloose Kevin Bain, but close. Yeah,
can you tell.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Us about your oven blowing up like in your first restaurant?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
My very first service, I reached down to put a
piece of bread in the oven and the pilot light
had gone out, and the oven blew up my face
and caught my hair on fire. And so my first
service lasted about thirty five minutes. An ambulance came took
me to the hospital. Oh no, And I knew it
was bad when the guy who's room, there's a grandpa
in the room with me and his grandson walked in.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
He looked at me and he was like, WHOA, what
happened to that guy? I was like, uh.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Oh, So my second service, my face was completely scabbed
and I had to shave my head and you.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Actually showed up and presented yourself to people that way.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
That's the restaurant business.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Hey, well, let's talk about the dangers in the kitchen.
Gandhi asked the question you always ask our favorite chefs.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I think every chef has the same scar. I
want to know if you have it. Do you have
a burn mark on your forearm anywhere?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I dope because I wasn't on the line that much.
But I do have a pretty wicked scar from shucking
an oyster where I stabbed my where I stabbed my
hand where I have this wicked scar.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Okay, see you got one. Yes, shucky oysters is a
dangerous business. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I don't think about how chaotic and dangers it actually is,
though to be in a restaurant, unless you've been in
a restaurant and been in the industry. And I think
everybody should work in a restaurant for a year of
their life. You learned so much.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
That was a hot take on subway takes recently, was it. Yeah,
it was like everybody should be required to work in
a restaurant. Really, do you want a little dose of
humanity because you have to learn how to deal with everybody.
The good people and the bad people, and I've seen
them both.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Man.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
This is front and back of house. Front end, back
of the house. So there's a place downtown called Walkers.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
It's this. It's great old Irish pub restaurant. I used
to go there.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
That was our living room. We did lunch and dinner
and stay there and drink and eat all day. One day,
this host wasn't there, and a couple walked in. I
said to my friend the bartender, my friend the waitress,
I'll take care of them.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I know how to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Got some got some menus, sat them at a table,
and so would you like some water?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What kind of water you want? You know whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
The guy looked at me and said, do you even
know what you're doing? You don't look like you should
be even working here. Who are you?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
We come here every day? Are you new here?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
You just got a rude it's naughty to me. And
I just put the menus down and I walked away.
I will never be able to do this. People are mean.
You heard it here first few folks. Elvis Duran is
going to come Matred d at Boca Restaurant. He's going
to be amazing. You see, I'm a great like guy
walking around and make sure everyone's good. But I can't
handle mean people. But there are people who come to
(14:04):
your restaurants who are just evil. They let me know
the meanest celebrity that ever can dude, Roger Waters was
the meanest person. Really, what the meanest He walked into
the restaurant and we were getting his table set and ready,
and my partner just said to me, he goes, hey,
how was San Diego last night? And he just like
(14:28):
put his hands on the host stand and looked us
and he goes, would you just give me my effing table.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
At that point? Would you not say? You know what? No,
I don't think I want you in here. I don't
want to serve you.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I said, yes, sir mister Waters, of course you would. Wait,
who is Roger Waters?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So you're better than me. I couldn't even handle McDonald's
because people were nasty to me and yelling at me
about a you know, a file of fish and we
had a lot of issues.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
The kindest person ever, and I got to serve him
several times. Covin, The restaurant business is a tough business.
You seem to have navigated at well. Congratulations, who's that.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Obama, no offense.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
It was the nicest of everybody.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Oh, he's just he who was a prince. I mean
so many, so many nice, incredible people.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
You get more nice than not nice, Yeah, more nice.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Than not nice.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
I want to talk before we talk about you being
attacked by a bobcat. I need to ask you a question,
and anyone and everyone listening right now. You can apply
this to your your your industry, or your family, whatever.
And it's about mental health. You've sort of skated around
and sometimes through the mental health bush, and I want
to know more about it as it applies to you,
(15:45):
because I know this is a universal conversation. And I
remember fifteen years ago talking about mental health on our show.
It was almost like it. You would whisper it, like
back in the nineteen seventies, you would never say breast
cancer out loud. It was breast cancer, right, mental health.
Thank God, we've pull the rug up. We don't have
to brush it under there anymore. Talk about how it
applies to you, Yeah, I mean generationally, I mean the
(16:05):
generation before us was so repressed, and so I wanted
to break the chain. My mom was bipolar, My mom's
mom was bipolar, and Unfortunately, for the first fifty years
of my life, I didn't grab the low hanging fruit.
I never went and got therapy. I went got therapy
once when I was twenty six, and she told me
that I might be bipolar, and I told her to
(16:27):
f off, and I walked out of the room because
I was such a denier of it. So when I
finally went in and I got medicated, it's the one
regret I really have in my life. It was like, Kevin,
you idiot. You could have done this twenty years ago.
And so we talk about gyms all the time. There's
the workout culture is massive. We don't talk enough about
(16:47):
mental health and talking to somebody. Your relationship with your
therapist is different than any relationship you'll ever have. And
my therapist said very early on, she said, Kevin, there's
no winning at therapy. You don't need to make me
like you, just tell me the truth. And that relationship
for me has been so beneficial. So the combination of
that and getting medicated, and so that's my purpose in
(17:10):
life moving forward is talking to people about how happy
I become because I threw the kitchen sink at my
own happiness and I have pillars for my own happiness. Now, One,
do I have purpose in my life? And is my
reasoning behind that purpose a noble?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
One?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Is it not for vengeance or ego or capitalism?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Two?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Do I encounter the people that I like and love
while I'm doing that purpose? And three? Do I like
myself as the protagonist in my own story? So your
story in this book tells us how through your journey
it does conquered or at least admitted to needing to
conquer a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Of these things. One dred percent.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
So what is it about the restaurant business that attracts
this crazy crowd of people who are just definitely edgy?
A lot of people and I don't know how to
describe I mean, you can better describe it. Well, I
found my people when I went into restaurants. I go,
wait a second, these people know a lot about food
and want and art and music and they're dangerous. I
(18:11):
was like, and they go out till three in the morning. Yes,
I'm in, give me more. And so I loved them.
I had this instant love affair with them and I
was just like, Yeah, these are my favorite people on earth.
And I think they're still my favorite people.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
On Earth.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
It's fun and you can make good money. And it's
like throwing a party every night, and you guys come
in and mess it all up and we clean it
up and we do it again the next day.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
That's my life.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Wow, No days the same. I think every single restaurant,
no matter what the restaurant is, could have a reality
show and I would watch it all of them.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
You're there, you go, My life in a nutshell. My
friend Michael Ealy's an actor. Oh yeah, I'm super handsome fella.
He was at a play here in New York and
the play with the stage was a basketball court, and
he at the end of the play and there's a
man in an apartment who had supposedly bet on the game.
At the end of the play, Michael Ealy gets the ball,
he takes a twelve foot jump shot, he makes it.
(19:04):
They celebrate. Play ends. First night, Philip Seymour Hoffman came
to see the play and when Michael left out the
side door, Philip Seymour Hoffman standing there with his arms crossed,
and he goes, what.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Happens if you miss it?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
And Michael goes, it's a different ending, and he goes,
what's the other ending, he goes, you got to come
in a night when I miss and when he told
me that story, I was like, that's my life. I
don't know if the women at table forty three are
going to have the best night of their life. I
don't know if they're going to catch their hair on
fire on the candle. But I've written both endings, so
I'm a script writer every night and I don't know
what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I love that part.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So nine to five would kill you. This is what
you need. You need the diversity and.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
The I'd already be dead.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Okay, Oh wow, I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You don't know if I worked If I yes, if
I worked in a cubicle at you know wherever, that's
just not for me. You know I was not I
was not wired for that. Well, in a restaurant isn't
not for everyone as well? You know it's yin yang.
Hey talk about hospitality. Do you actually explain to people
(20:09):
what hospitality is versus good food in a restaurant? Hospitality
is how you make people feel, as Will Gadera says,
services black and white. Hospitality is color, which is really beautiful.
I tell a story all the time. Of a man
who came out on his anniversary and he brought a
bottle of nineteen sixty one Chateau la Fete Rothschild with
(20:29):
him and it was represented his dad being there that night,
because that was his dad's gift on his wedding night,
and this is his twenty fifth anniversary. I opened the
bottle to decant it before everybody showed up, and it
was corked, and the man cried hysterically in front of me,
and I was like, hey, what if we replace it
with one of these other bottles, And he's like, no, no, no,
They're going to know that ninety seven silver Oak is
(20:50):
not the sixty one lafeet. I go, I know a
guy down the street. A guy down the street sold
me a bottle of sixty six la feet for one
hundred bucks. I came back, threw away, I decanteda sixty six,
threw it away, rinsed out the bottle of sixty one,
put it in the decanter. Just then the people showed up.
We poured the wine for everybody. He told the story
of his father. Everybody cried, and everybody talked about the
(21:13):
greatest glass of wine they ever had in their entire life.
And the man came up to me and he whispered,
my ere. He goes, you're a beautiful liar young man.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Oh, my dad would have loved this. That's hospitality. That's hospitality, yes, wow.
But you can find it in all sorts of restaurants,
like a Wendy's, for instance. People have always asked me,
what's my greatest deal of all time? Here I kind
of jokingly say Wendy's. I go to this Wendy's in
carlon Ville, Illinois, nineteen ninety seven. I walk in the
(21:42):
door and there's a woman perched to the front. She goes, gentlemen,
welcome to Wendy's Hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I go, thank you. I've never seen a matre dt
a fast good restaurant be poor. Thank you, Joan.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
I walk up to the front and the guy up
there tells me about the spicy chicken sandwich, like he
was working at a Michelin three star restaurant.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
How did he describe this chicken?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Sea was like, sir, we have a brand new spicy
chicken sandwich and he's going to light you up today.
And I was like, okay, fine, I'm in let's do it.
And so then when we go sit down, the woman
who was greeting was wiping the errant penne pastas from
the superbar into a napkin, and then she refilled my
water with a pitcher and I looked at the guy
(22:20):
next to me. I go, what the hell is going on?
He goes, I think we're dying. I think we're dining
at the greatest fastood restaurant in history. So I went
and I asked for the manager, and they goes, there
are a problems, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I go, no, no, there's no problem. And he comes
out and I.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Said, sir, I just got to tell you, you've got
the best fast food restaurant I've ever seen. And he goes, well,
as you could see, we're very proud of it. And
they had won like the Golden Wendy's Award as the
best Wendy's in America. And I came out of there
and I was like, Okay, everybody does cover versions. Most
people don't have a job that's unique to themselves. And
(22:54):
I started thinking about the Beatles. You know, the Beatles
were the standard bearer of every song they'd ever done
up till with a little help for my friends and
if you listen to Joe Cocker's version. Even the Beatles
said it was a superior version. And so I went
back to my restaurant that night and said, hey, guys,
we're just doing cover versions, but we're gonna do the
best cover version anybody's ever seen. And so I still
get inspired by that guy Wendy's who just said I
(23:16):
got the same a frame building, I got the same menu,
but I'm going to mind something unique out of it
is the.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Quality that you cannot teach people, but when you see
it in someone, you're like, that's it. That's what I
want to hire. As far as hospitality goes.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I asked two questions when I interview somebody, and the
first one is do you really like to take care
of people? And I know when somebody's be asking me,
and you know. The second question I ask is just
would you have for breakfast this morning? Because I just
want to hear him talk, But it's kindness.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Can you talk?
Speaker 4 (23:48):
And can you sell me that you're kind because that's
what you want to feel like when you're out to dinner,
it's like somebody's on your side, because bad things will happen.
Right you walk in and They're like, we're running twenty
five minutes behind, but they go, sorry, we range twenty
five minutes behind. That's not good. But if you say,
I am so sorry, we're twenty five minutes behind. But
I'm gonna walk you to the bar. We're gonna find
you a little space. I'm gonna get you a drink
(24:10):
and bear with us and be patient. I'm gonna get
you down as soon.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
As I can.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
That makes the biggest difference in the world.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, yeah, So who in this room do you think
is selling kindness versus is actually just kind?
Speaker 5 (24:21):
You are so kind, You are so kind, and you
and I are fast friends. All right, almost has an
edge to him, but I like it. Oh he is
all Oh, you know nothing yet it's a razor. I'm
like a Windy's chicken sandwich.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
You just wait.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
I have to tell you who this gentleman is. This
is Kevin Bain and his book The Bottomless cop I
cannot wait. I'm gonna rip into it today. We were
begging for early copies because God forbid we spend a.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Dollar on our own.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
I have my coffee now, and if I would love
for you to sign it, and I just love that
everything you talked about today. Even though it's very front
centric and hospitality of centric, it can apply to everything
you are doing in your life. As you drive to
work and listen to this ab so frekinglutely, you will
find that with almost everyone we interview in this room,
and if they do not deliver that to you, then
(25:13):
we didn't do our job to get it out of them.
But we didn't have to do anything. It was effortless
with Kevin because you were just this is this book.
It's you gave us some great examples. But I know
there's a lot more left to uncover here. It's a
lot of nuggets in this book. And so, like I said,
you know, when I started this process, I wanted to
get to the truth. And fortunately my life's been pretty entertaining.
(25:36):
I say in the book the beginning of the book,
I've force gumped my way through life. I've got to
encounter a lot of interesting people. And listen, all of
us in this room are the sum of everything that
we've ever encountered, everyone and everything. And so I'm really
glad that I went through all that stuff because now
at fifty five years old, I'm super happy and life's
(25:57):
been interesting and I'm grateful on audible.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Is it available on audible?
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Audible comes out November twenty fife.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Do you narrate it?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I narrate it. Have you sad for that?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yet?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I do? I have sat for that all of a sudden.
It's a rough thing. I had to do that myself,
and I do all kinds of voices in it. So
there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's different than reading.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I tell him, I tell it.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
I tell him Mike Jagger story in there where like
Jagger and Ron Wood came into the restaurant one night
and and you know, I get Mick a glass of
white wine and I say, mister Wood, can I get
you something? He's like, is there any way you could
get me a red Bull?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And I.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Sure, mister Wood, until we didn't serve red bull? So
I ran two blocks away to a nightclubs like ninety
degrees outside. I come back and I'm pouring the red Bull.
He's like, I'm sorry, I'm gonna sugar free red bull.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So I love it.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Thank you for coming in here today again, I tell
you now. We're going to post this at Elvis Duran
show on Instagram as well, so you'll see it later
if you have to revisit us at the Bottomless Cup
by Kevin Bain, A memo of secrets, restaurants, and forgiveness.
And you've covered all three of those bases very well today, Kevin,
is a pleasure to meet you.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Thank you absolutely. I think you're all kind people. I
think we are too.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
You know, three of us have been together for thirty
years during the show, thirty years. How many restaurants are
open for thirty years? A few, I've I have a
restaurant's been open twenty three years. See, I can't believe
you're over fifty. You look much younger than that. The
same thing, where do you know what it was?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The luxury of the Sandals green room?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
I know? Did I tell you?
Speaker 4 (27:34):
It revitalized me. It's tropical in there, folks. It's a
massage and you're not being touched. Guys, there's a massuse
in there. There's somebody making fresh green juice.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It was remarkable. The sounds of the waves here in
midtown Manhattan fagulous. And we can't what jewel was in there.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
So you know, this is another thing, you know, Kevin,
a famous man who has lived in his car one
of your games. It needs to be people who have
lived in cars at one point.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
We'll do it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Can I come back and co host sometimes? Guys you
can host, will take today off. It's all you. Oh yeah,
I love it. Wait, you go to the restaurants and
you be me, and I'll be you this as well.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Your restaurants will shut it.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. What we do here, yeah, what we do here
is much easier than what you do in your restaurants.
Guarantee you, Kevin, thanks again, thank you for coming in.
You guys are awesome. Thank you,
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