April 17, 2024 • 23 mins
Legendary chef Mario Carbone stops by to tell us all about the 3rd annual Carbone Beach event in Miami, FL!
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
You know, New York City is a very special place,
and there are there are people who are just a
part of the New York City fabric. And even though
he tries to escape and go to Miami, all the
entire uh, Mario Carbone is just a part of New
York City. You are just like the Empire State Building.
I mean, you know, not as tall, that's sure, the
(00:23):
Empire State Building. No, no, no, you don't know this
because you work too hard the most incredible restaurants and
of course now sauce in a jar. You know. The
thing is is you are to New York City in
the culinary scene. I mean it's major, and you do
(00:43):
you even stop to think about I'm sorry, am I
buttering your biscuit too much? Uh? No, you can butter
my biscuit.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, I mean when I stop and think about is
the food that we serve is Italian food, born in
New York. So it's really important to us. It's it's
not necessarily that food that you find when you're traveling
abroad in Italy. The food that we serve at Carbone
is New York Italian food, right, So to be the
sort of standard of that when you're either either coming
in as a tourist or you're going out for that
(01:11):
like quintessential New York night. That's something that we preach
at the restaurants and something that is really really important
to me as a born and raised Italian New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well it is, it just is, and I and wear
it proudly. I mean, you've worked hard for this in
your team, you guys, you're hard working. Restaurant business is
not for the fate of heart. No.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
No, it's not going to be replaced by AI anytime soon. No,
and nor should it be.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, but looking at what you do here, not only
with Carbone, but you have many restaurants here in New
York City. But is Carbone your baby still?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Carbone is definitely my baby. It's my you know, my
family's name, and the one that I probably when I
walk into I get the most sentimental, sort of nostalgic
feelings of still right now because.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I remember we used to go to that restaurant when
it was Roccos whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, Rocco. That was a fun in the twenties. You know,
God knows what was going on in the neighborhood back then,
right and uh, and still, you know, if those walls
could talk kind of place. You feel it, you feel
you feel it when you're in the room. You're like,
there's something to something about this room.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is it haunted?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Probably Danielle will be there immediately, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So uh And when I was a kid, we used
to come to New York and my dad would drag
us to the Four Seasons. I mean, when I was
a kid, was older, and of course I hated going
because I was like, I didn't want to put a
suit on. You know where coat and tie? Is it
cot and Tye? Still it's not Cot and Tye. Still No.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But that's the project that I'm probably most proud of
because of how difficult it was to resuscitate that, you know,
knowing that we were sort of younger guys going in
at this New York American stalwarth you know, the most
one of the most important dining scenes in American food history,
so that the job was huge. It was like handing
(02:58):
a young fashion design this storied old house and being like,
you know, don't mess it up, you know, don't upset
the customers that still love it. But knowing your job
is to bring new blood into this thing.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's amazing this is restaurant. It has a pool. It's
a pool room. Yeah, I was like it. It doesn't
smell like an old chlorine in here. It's actually the
only restaurant in America where the inside is landmarked. It's great. Wow. Yeah, go,
I mean it's one of those New York stories. Will
you say?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Go?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Am I going to be able to get in? If
I go? No? Probably not great?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, but we can can We are allowed to call you.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
No, you shouldn't call me. We're just kept out forever.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Okay, Yeah, we'll get your contact. And there are restaurants.
There are restaurants in any city in America. There are
different there's just a difficult table to get to snag.
I have two friends here who would love to have
an easier job at getting.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
A reservation at Carbone. Okay, you want to meet him?
Hold on, how do you? How do you work this thing?
Scary like? She'll guests one and two? Uh, it's the
VIP list girls, Meg and Audrey. You've heard the reviews, right, yes,
go cry about it. Cry about it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'm pretty sure that they just did a review of
Luccali where they said that the spicy pasta there was
better than mine.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I think is that what you said? Hello Meg Audrey, Hello,
Hello Mario Carbone. It is an honor.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Did you not say that Mark Spicy pasta was better
than mine?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I take it back, I take you.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I'm sorry you didn't think I saw that. You thought
I missed that one. Go cry about it. I cried
about it. Okay, Look Meg and Audrey, you're both here, right,
Okayga's coming back in. Okay, she's coming back in. Okay.
(04:56):
Look if we guarantee you a reservation one the hardest
restaurants to get a reservation, and will you be kind
to Mario and his restaurants please? Of course, we waited
twenty four years for our reservation at Carbone and we
still can't get back in. So I am willing to
do whatever it takes to be able to get a
(05:17):
standing table there.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Whoa whah whah, this got crazy table.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Any So, okay, So you're both here now right? I
was shooting high. Okay, I don't think everyone's here. Well, look,
just be nice. He's sometimes. You know, you get more
in life if you're polite. But you know I love you.
I want you to rip the hell out of everyone.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
No, you.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Literally one that the Olympics and we were huge fans.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All right, we're gonna set it up. We're going to
choose a night where I'm in the kitchen and I'm
gonna make sure that you have a perfect meal.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look at that.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Also, you're doing God's work with Teresa as well.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I'm sorry, I thank you. Teresa is amazing. Yes, okay, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We heard that you have a Carbone Beach pop up
in Miami.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We would love to come to that as well.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Wow, I didn't realize I was Santa Claus. I tell
you what. That's why he's here today. We're here to
talk about Carbone Beach. And I bet, I bet if
you're just nice, you'll get it. That's what I gonna do.
Be nice. It's all good, you know. I love you.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, or we'll go cry about it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
We would love to see you in Miami, Megan Audrey,
the VIP list girls, we love you. You have a
beautiful day, and I'll talk to you soon and I
owe you a date out work. Wait tell, I said, Hill,
tell you easy. Right there you go. So if you're wondering,
turn out if you order who they are just gonna
follow vip list girls n y C on Instagram. I
(06:58):
think they're awesome there, I know. But when you have
food critics come in, usually they're hidden, they don't tell
you who they are.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
The funny thing about the food critic is, in this
day and age, people's opinions are so powerful that it's
really sort of minimized the food the professional food critic. Right,
because if you have a huge following and food is
your thing, like you're, you're a food critic now like
you're you can move the needle on restaurants.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You can.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You can you can cause a stir, you can get
a line, or you can hurt a business like these.
These followings are huge, so it's it's over time, it's
minimized the power of the professional food critic.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
There you go. You know, how do you Brian can't
stop eating? Ye?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
He just got married.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
He's the greatest guy. I don't know if I know one.
Oh you you got to get him in there. He's
just the nicest guy and he always is nice. He's yeah,
you know, he doesn't eat bad restaurants. What how much stock? Okay, okay,
can you speak into a microphone? How much stock do
you put in Google?
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Ratings because Scary refuses to eat at places that are
less than a four point three.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, if it's four point three or below, he wants
So we use all of those things as tools at
the restaurant. So in our sort of weekly meetings with
each general manager and chef, will pull up all of
the reviews that we can get our hands on. You know,
some of them are and you can filter through them,
you know which ones are genuine, which ones aren't, because
there's there's really useful information in those. You know, if
they had an experience that was good or bad, like,
(08:22):
that's something that we should know about. So we don't
avoid them.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We print them all out and we look at them
weekly and and we use it as a tool.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You know, if you go to a restaurant and something's
not right to you, say something, I believe they want
to hear that from you because it's good for them.
So don't be shy. Yeah, we want to get it right.
I mean, you're a paying customer. I mean we want
you to leave happy. And you know, even during the
course of a meal, if something didn't go right, there's
still while you're still there, there's still a chance to
(08:51):
recover that you know that that guest scary when when
is such of you were a paying customer. No, I'm
still paying its free food all the time. It's just
such a little hort. What was one accent?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
But my question is, you know, you know Major Food
Group is the parent group of course along with rich
Teresi and of course known for Teresa. You've got Carbone
and he's got Teresi. But do you guys ever criticize
each other's dishes? Ever add stuff to the same. I
think this could use a little bit more of this,
or maybe you should drop that. And how do you
guys work together on that? Because you guys are two
(09:20):
legends in.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The we we thank you. We definitely trust each other
very very much. So we basically use each other like
as like a board of directors. Like if it's Teresa,
he's he's he's driving the ship, he's coming up with
what the concepts are, what he wants to serve. But
then he'll use me as like a fresh set of
eyes to come in and say what do you think
about that? Because he trusts my opinion and vice versa.
(09:41):
So if i'm you know, what we try not to
do is is collectively work on something. That's where it
might get kind of contentious. It's like you're doing this,
I'm doing that. And then and then I come in
as a as a as a final sort of set
of eyes and say, yeah, I think that's great, or
here's what I would do with it. Because we trust
each other.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Last time I saw you, you were having to are at tercy. Yeah,
and you you you put a bite of something in
your mouth and you're like, hmm, you didn't see me
excited about it. I probably made it a note and
I made that up. I made is fabulous.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Can I say something non food related? So you you
have great you have great clothes. I know you have
a line for men. Now you have a line for
women as well, But do you have a skincare line?
Because your skin is perfect?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You have to you have to stand over the pot
of boiling pasta? Is that what it is?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Believe it?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I don't believe in. No, No, is this one? Is this?
The man? Which one? Which one? I'm thinking of a pasta? Yes?
Oh yeah, if you get it right, if you get
it right, well, I don't know what game we're playing,
but that's what I'm thinking of a pasta. The instructions
are in the title.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Jimmy Fallon played this.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yea, he stole it. I was please don't do this
on your show. It's lame, but he did it. Anyways,
I'm now thinking of Aposta. I I get nothing else.
You have to write it downstairs, you know, or at
least text it to somebody. Yeah, don't look in a
way the other way. I mean, how many gosh, how
(11:10):
many different pastas have you been boiling in your lifetime?
Are we talking about just noodle or preparation? Don't get
is there a sauce involved. It's just a pasta. It's
it's it's it's a dough and you make up it's
just shape. Okay, all right. I'm just trying to get
(11:31):
my bearings here in this game. Like Mario let me,
I'm gonna put it up to my forehead, which I
don't know how that it helps. But I'm thinking of
a pasta and I wrote it down. If you get
it right on the first try, we will talk about
Carbone Beach. You don't need us anyway, We'll pretendu you do.
I'm thinking of posta. I'll just think it through. Don't
(11:53):
get all crazy. Just blurt something out what pasta am
I thinking of this? Music is stupid? You're thinking of Fuzili?
Oh god, it was Reggaetoni.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
And now we can't talk about Carbone all right, guys,
Well thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
The whole reason he sauce a third year of Carbone
Beach at in South Beach. American Express of course, thank
you to our partners at Americas begged you to come
back again. They love you. The first year it was like, okay,
we're going to try to recreate great meals on a beach,
which is not easy to do.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
No, they were like, can you get real talent to
do this? And our first act was Andrea but Jelly.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
We were good friends with his son. I'll tell you
got to now have him at the beach this year anyway.
So tickets of course at Carbone Beach dot com. If
you're a Platinum card member, you have early access to
tickets for the four night affair. So it's four nights
on the beach. What's the difference between each night? So
different performer each night is the main difference. The meal
is basically the same from each night, and it's really
(13:08):
just so people are coming and going during the course
of the weekend. So just trying to have an extended
weekend for those who are aren't going to be there,
maybe all four nights. Do we know who's the performers?
Are you? If you're an I know who they are?
So you're not going to as.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
What about one of them?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Could you give us one of them? I don't think
I'm allowed to, then, don't you'll do a rhymes with yeah?
I'm thinking of a performance? Is share performer? Sharon needs
to do carbon Beach and I love that we're friends
(13:44):
with her. Can we get her own? I would love that.
I would love that. She costs a lot of money.
I will try that out. Well, let's let's see what
we can do. Okay, okay, so a different performer each night? Now?
Is the menu the same every night? The menu the
same every night?
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What are you serving up?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
It's a It is an extravagant it's like basically carbone
meets like remember the medieval times restaurant.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, it's like like a big turkey.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
It's like an extra It's like gilded plates and giant, giant,
amazing portions.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Of food and you call the women wenches. The they
do that, don't you do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There's a caviar like caviar stations and giant ice sculptures,
and it's really over the top.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
It's very like Roman Empire love that caviar stations. All
this is there. Is it sold out already? People? People
want to know if it's already.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
A couple of the days are sold out, but there
are still tickets available for the others. Okay, I think
Thursday and Sunday, Friday and Saturday or Saturday definitely sold out.
I think Friday's getting close, and then Thursday and Sunday
is still available.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So go to Carbone Beach dot com. It's pretty easy
find out for yourself. A question the origin of Aposta
dish carbonara? Yes? Is it really from guys who used
to work in the coal mines? No?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So the origin create me from it because I know
I'm wrong. The origin of carbonara the American soldiers. So
the American soldiers that were in Italy were given bacon
and eggs as a good American, as good American rations
to make their breakfast. There became an abundance of these
American soldiers food rations in Rome, and the Roman chefs
(15:25):
took bacon and eggs and made carbonara out of it. Wow,
So the origin of that dish goes back to the
American the American soldiers in Rome.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Once again Americans taking credit for everything we do. That's
a great story, though, Yeah, what have you What do
you learn? What do you love about the history of food?
I mean, do you get you're creating incredible dishes all
the time with your team, But what about the history
of food? Were you like a food history nerd at
some point in your life?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I think you know, each project that we do is
I like to go down a pretty thorough research rabbit hole.
I like to try to make myself an expert on
whatever that topic is, and I do a ton of reading,
pulling old menus, trying to make something. You know, because
what we do is theater. It's the closest thing to
a restaurant is theater.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You know. It's the exact same actors every day at
the exact same time, putting on the exact same performance
for a different group of people. Wow, it's theater, and
we try to set a really believable stage. In carbones case,
it's sort of like the Rayleiota era nineteen fifties, nineteen
sixties New York City in the grill, it's it's mad men,
(16:37):
mad men, you know. And so to set a really
believable stage, you got to do your homework. You got
to make sure that everything is right. The uniforms are right,
the menus are right, the fonts are right, the sound
is right. And to do that, that's a research project.
So people leave an experience that they've experienced at a
restaurant and not really knowing what it was. They loved
about it. The food was great, but there's so much
other stuff going on, Like like Mario's talking about, it
(17:00):
is it's a theater here, it's a stay, and it
is lighting, it is the smells, it's there was a
restaurant we used to go to, I forget where they
made it very clear, do not wear Colonne or Perfuma
to our restaurant because they were afraid it would compete
with the food. Right. The thing is if you walked
in smelling and they would sniff you and they asked
(17:21):
you to leave. Seriously, a woman at front that sniffed
you before you walked into the restaurant. Yes, don't cloud
up this food with your shut out. Number five, Well,
what happened to the people who naturally smell like garlic,
like some people we know. I think it's more like
the man made scent like gardic.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Cutting MutS with scissors brilliant, I will, that's instagrammable, friends,
are you?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
But you can't you can't just cut any moods with scissors? Well, no,
the moods that we cut with scissors is freshly made mozzarella,
so it's like basically newborn mutsa. We make it exactly
when you order it, so it's kind of it's really stringy,
so you can't cut it with a fork and knife.
It's it's too stringy, it's too soft and brand new,
(18:09):
so we use scissors to cut it. If you if
you try cutting any other cheese with scissors, you're gonna
it's gonna look strange. But that's why we use it.
That's why we use it, and that's kind of how
you get that that that pull effect from it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's a baby and you know, back in the day
when the old chefs in Italy would get gas, that's
where they term cut the cheese came from. Mario knows,
they all, they all know. Okay, look, let's talk about
the sauce. The sauce is right there.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I love how he rot on each jar, he writes,
he wrote a little bit about each sauce, like this
is Carbone four cheese. He wrote, Carbone four cheese will
excite your palate with the sweet and flavorful blend of
one hundred percent Italian tomatoes and four classic Italian cheeses,
slow cooked to bring out a richness and flavor. This
four cheese sauce will have everyone craving for more.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Did you really write that she's very good at that?
Did you write? I wrote every one of those book So,
of course, Carbone it's right there. You can't miss it.
Hit it. Uh, if you want to go to Carbone
Finefood dot com you can buy your sauces, or go
to Carbone Beach dot com to get on the beach
(19:23):
for everything has my name, our lady of Roco dot com.
You've got a lot of websites. Yes. Uh. When did
you decide to come up with your own line of clothing?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Uh? So I think the real impetus was that this
day and age guys my age dress horribly at the restaurants.
It's just it's just not acceptable. I think that they
buy really expensive hoodies and they think that they're wearing
nice clothes to dinner. And it got me worked up
(20:00):
guilty because women put tremendous effort into getting ready to
go out, and guys this day and age, especially guys
like my age and younger, don't care at all. They
put on a hat and a hoodie and they come
to the restaurant and it makes me crazy, So.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You ask them to remove the hat at the table.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I try not to cause a scene as much as
I'd like to, So I thought the best way to
affect that was to try to take the fan base
of the restaurant, the fan base of the things that
I do, and put something together that would make that
would be comfortable for them, but would make sense in
the dining room, and hope to even remotely affect.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
What's going on out there. Because it's just not it's
not cute, it's not it's not cue. I'm glad you
said something about that. It's bad. Yeah, yeah, but you
should have your store in the front and force them
to buy your clothing. Then they may come to Suvero shop.
So you don't sell hoodies, that's what you're saying. We
do not sell.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, and you just have a woman's line now right?
You just how long ago did you start that?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, it's it basically, it's it's it's virtually unison, so
women buy it. Definitely Leans men's wear, but women do
buy it, so it's not a full fledged women's women's line. Now,
got a question?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Can you please ask mister carbon how to reheat penny?
I'm a mom of three young toddlers. It's a bitch
to reheat penny because it heats all hard. Maybe make
less penny. Why make a truckload of kids? And if
(21:35):
she's saying reheat, she made it already. This is true.
Reheating pasta is kind of a weird thing. I would
start with maybe portion control, good control. This is the
segment where it takes a couple of minutes to make penny,
it's gonna take almost as long to reheat it. It's true.
It's true. By the way, ya, let me speak to
(21:56):
mister Carbone. Not a good idea. Sometimes you put a
dish on the menu, people don't it. Sometimes the answers
are not what you're looking to hear. Sometimes, All right,
let's recap. Let's recap, shall we, of course, all things
Carbone and incredible, incredible restaurants here in New York and
beyond us. I know you. Just my my family in
(22:20):
Dallas love so that. They said we went to Sodel's,
your guy, Mario. I said he didn't have a restaurant
in Dallas, but yes he does.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
You do.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Of all places, Dallas, Texas. Now they finally get great bagels.
All right, So if you want to go check out
year three thanks to American Express, it's back with Mario
Carbone at Carbone Beach. Go to Carbone Beach dot com
and you are a platinum card member. They like you more.
I'm kidding. And of course the sauce. We love the sauce.
(22:49):
And I always have jars in my house flavors of
this sauce. That's a lot. And he has no problem
if you want to doctor it up, feel free, get creative,
get nuts. But Mario, we love you. Thank you for
coming in here. Thank you so much for having me.
It's always a pleasure. I think we've abused you, Enougher,
(23:09):
That is right. You weren't very kind to that mother.
She needed to know the truth. The truth hurts, Mario.
Thank you
You know, New York City is a very special place,
and there are there are people who are just a
part of the New York City fabric. And even though
he tries to escape and go to Miami, all the
entire uh, Mario Carbone is just a part of New
York City. You are just like the Empire State Building.
I mean, you know, not as tall, that's sure, the
(00:23):
Empire State Building. No, no, no, you don't know this
because you work too hard the most incredible restaurants and
of course now sauce in a jar. You know. The
thing is is you are to New York City in
the culinary scene. I mean it's major, and you do
(00:43):
you even stop to think about I'm sorry, am I
buttering your biscuit too much? Uh? No, you can butter
my biscuit.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, I mean when I stop and think about is
the food that we serve is Italian food, born in
New York. So it's really important to us. It's it's
not necessarily that food that you find when you're traveling
abroad in Italy. The food that we serve at Carbone
is New York Italian food, right, So to be the
sort of standard of that when you're either either coming
in as a tourist or you're going out for that
(01:11):
like quintessential New York night. That's something that we preach
at the restaurants and something that is really really important
to me as a born and raised Italian New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well it is, it just is, and I and wear
it proudly. I mean, you've worked hard for this in
your team, you guys, you're hard working. Restaurant business is
not for the fate of heart. No.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
No, it's not going to be replaced by AI anytime soon. No,
and nor should it be.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, but looking at what you do here, not only
with Carbone, but you have many restaurants here in New
York City. But is Carbone your baby still?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Carbone is definitely my baby. It's my you know, my
family's name, and the one that I probably when I
walk into I get the most sentimental, sort of nostalgic
feelings of still right now because.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I remember we used to go to that restaurant when
it was Roccos whatever.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, Rocco. That was a fun in the twenties. You know,
God knows what was going on in the neighborhood back then,
right and uh, and still, you know, if those walls
could talk kind of place. You feel it, you feel
you feel it when you're in the room. You're like,
there's something to something about this room.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is it haunted?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Probably Danielle will be there immediately, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So uh And when I was a kid, we used
to come to New York and my dad would drag
us to the Four Seasons. I mean, when I was
a kid, was older, and of course I hated going
because I was like, I didn't want to put a
suit on. You know where coat and tie? Is it
cot and Tye? Still it's not Cot and Tye. Still No.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
But that's the project that I'm probably most proud of
because of how difficult it was to resuscitate that, you know,
knowing that we were sort of younger guys going in
at this New York American stalwarth you know, the most
one of the most important dining scenes in American food history,
so that the job was huge. It was like handing
(02:58):
a young fashion design this storied old house and being like,
you know, don't mess it up, you know, don't upset
the customers that still love it. But knowing your job
is to bring new blood into this thing.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's amazing this is restaurant. It has a pool. It's
a pool room. Yeah, I was like it. It doesn't
smell like an old chlorine in here. It's actually the
only restaurant in America where the inside is landmarked. It's great. Wow. Yeah, go,
I mean it's one of those New York stories. Will
you say?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Go?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Am I going to be able to get in? If
I go? No? Probably not great?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, but we can can We are allowed to call you.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
No, you shouldn't call me. We're just kept out forever.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Okay, Yeah, we'll get your contact. And there are restaurants.
There are restaurants in any city in America. There are
different there's just a difficult table to get to snag.
I have two friends here who would love to have
an easier job at getting.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
A reservation at Carbone. Okay, you want to meet him?
Hold on, how do you? How do you work this thing?
Scary like? She'll guests one and two? Uh, it's the
VIP list girls, Meg and Audrey. You've heard the reviews, right, yes,
go cry about it. Cry about it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'm pretty sure that they just did a review of
Luccali where they said that the spicy pasta there was
better than mine.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I think is that what you said? Hello Meg Audrey, Hello,
Hello Mario Carbone. It is an honor.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Did you not say that Mark Spicy pasta was better
than mine?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I take it back, I take you.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I'm sorry you didn't think I saw that. You thought
I missed that one. Go cry about it. I cried
about it. Okay, Look Meg and Audrey, you're both here, right,
Okayga's coming back in. Okay, she's coming back in. Okay.
(04:56):
Look if we guarantee you a reservation one the hardest
restaurants to get a reservation, and will you be kind
to Mario and his restaurants please? Of course, we waited
twenty four years for our reservation at Carbone and we
still can't get back in. So I am willing to
do whatever it takes to be able to get a
(05:17):
standing table there.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Whoa whah whah, this got crazy table.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Any So, okay, So you're both here now right? I
was shooting high. Okay, I don't think everyone's here. Well, look,
just be nice. He's sometimes. You know, you get more
in life if you're polite. But you know I love you.
I want you to rip the hell out of everyone.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
No, you.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Literally one that the Olympics and we were huge fans.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All right, we're gonna set it up. We're going to
choose a night where I'm in the kitchen and I'm
gonna make sure that you have a perfect meal.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look at that.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Also, you're doing God's work with Teresa as well.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I'm sorry, I thank you. Teresa is amazing. Yes, okay, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We heard that you have a Carbone Beach pop up
in Miami.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We would love to come to that as well.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Wow, I didn't realize I was Santa Claus. I tell
you what. That's why he's here today. We're here to
talk about Carbone Beach. And I bet, I bet if
you're just nice, you'll get it. That's what I gonna do.
Be nice. It's all good, you know. I love you.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, or we'll go cry about it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
We would love to see you in Miami, Megan Audrey,
the VIP list girls, we love you. You have a
beautiful day, and I'll talk to you soon and I
owe you a date out work. Wait tell, I said, Hill,
tell you easy. Right there you go. So if you're wondering,
turn out if you order who they are just gonna
follow vip list girls n y C on Instagram. I
(06:58):
think they're awesome there, I know. But when you have
food critics come in, usually they're hidden, they don't tell
you who they are.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
The funny thing about the food critic is, in this
day and age, people's opinions are so powerful that it's
really sort of minimized the food the professional food critic. Right,
because if you have a huge following and food is
your thing, like you're, you're a food critic now like
you're you can move the needle on restaurants.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You can.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
You can you can cause a stir, you can get
a line, or you can hurt a business like these.
These followings are huge, so it's it's over time, it's
minimized the power of the professional food critic.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
There you go. You know, how do you Brian can't
stop eating? Ye?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
He just got married.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
He's the greatest guy. I don't know if I know one.
Oh you you got to get him in there. He's
just the nicest guy and he always is nice. He's yeah,
you know, he doesn't eat bad restaurants. What how much stock? Okay, okay,
can you speak into a microphone? How much stock do
you put in Google?
Speaker 5 (07:56):
Ratings because Scary refuses to eat at places that are
less than a four point three.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, if it's four point three or below, he wants
So we use all of those things as tools at
the restaurant. So in our sort of weekly meetings with
each general manager and chef, will pull up all of
the reviews that we can get our hands on. You know,
some of them are and you can filter through them,
you know which ones are genuine, which ones aren't, because
there's there's really useful information in those. You know, if
they had an experience that was good or bad, like,
(08:22):
that's something that we should know about. So we don't
avoid them.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We print them all out and we look at them
weekly and and we use it as a tool.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You know, if you go to a restaurant and something's
not right to you, say something, I believe they want
to hear that from you because it's good for them.
So don't be shy. Yeah, we want to get it right.
I mean, you're a paying customer. I mean we want
you to leave happy. And you know, even during the
course of a meal, if something didn't go right, there's
still while you're still there, there's still a chance to
(08:51):
recover that you know that that guest scary when when
is such of you were a paying customer. No, I'm
still paying its free food all the time. It's just
such a little hort. What was one accent?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
But my question is, you know, you know Major Food
Group is the parent group of course along with rich
Teresi and of course known for Teresa. You've got Carbone
and he's got Teresi. But do you guys ever criticize
each other's dishes? Ever add stuff to the same. I
think this could use a little bit more of this,
or maybe you should drop that. And how do you
guys work together on that? Because you guys are two
(09:20):
legends in.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The we we thank you. We definitely trust each other
very very much. So we basically use each other like
as like a board of directors. Like if it's Teresa,
he's he's he's driving the ship, he's coming up with
what the concepts are, what he wants to serve. But
then he'll use me as like a fresh set of
eyes to come in and say what do you think
about that? Because he trusts my opinion and vice versa.
(09:41):
So if i'm you know, what we try not to
do is is collectively work on something. That's where it
might get kind of contentious. It's like you're doing this,
I'm doing that. And then and then I come in
as a as a as a final sort of set
of eyes and say, yeah, I think that's great, or
here's what I would do with it. Because we trust
each other.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Last time I saw you, you were having to are at tercy. Yeah,
and you you you put a bite of something in
your mouth and you're like, hmm, you didn't see me
excited about it. I probably made it a note and
I made that up. I made is fabulous.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Can I say something non food related? So you you
have great you have great clothes. I know you have
a line for men. Now you have a line for
women as well, But do you have a skincare line?
Because your skin is perfect?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You have to you have to stand over the pot
of boiling pasta? Is that what it is?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Believe it?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I don't believe in. No, No, is this one? Is this?
The man? Which one? Which one? I'm thinking of a pasta? Yes?
Oh yeah, if you get it right, if you get
it right, well, I don't know what game we're playing,
but that's what I'm thinking of a pasta. The instructions
are in the title.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Jimmy Fallon played this.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yea, he stole it. I was please don't do this
on your show. It's lame, but he did it. Anyways,
I'm now thinking of Aposta. I I get nothing else.
You have to write it downstairs, you know, or at
least text it to somebody. Yeah, don't look in a
way the other way. I mean, how many gosh, how
(11:10):
many different pastas have you been boiling in your lifetime?
Are we talking about just noodle or preparation? Don't get
is there a sauce involved. It's just a pasta. It's
it's it's it's a dough and you make up it's
just shape. Okay, all right. I'm just trying to get
(11:31):
my bearings here in this game. Like Mario let me,
I'm gonna put it up to my forehead, which I
don't know how that it helps. But I'm thinking of
a pasta and I wrote it down. If you get
it right on the first try, we will talk about
Carbone Beach. You don't need us anyway, We'll pretendu you do.
I'm thinking of posta. I'll just think it through. Don't
(11:53):
get all crazy. Just blurt something out what pasta am
I thinking of this? Music is stupid? You're thinking of Fuzili?
Oh god, it was Reggaetoni.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
And now we can't talk about Carbone all right, guys,
Well thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
The whole reason he sauce a third year of Carbone
Beach at in South Beach. American Express of course, thank
you to our partners at Americas begged you to come
back again. They love you. The first year it was like, okay,
we're going to try to recreate great meals on a beach,
which is not easy to do.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
No, they were like, can you get real talent to
do this? And our first act was Andrea but Jelly.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
We were good friends with his son. I'll tell you
got to now have him at the beach this year anyway.
So tickets of course at Carbone Beach dot com. If
you're a Platinum card member, you have early access to
tickets for the four night affair. So it's four nights
on the beach. What's the difference between each night? So
different performer each night is the main difference. The meal
is basically the same from each night, and it's really
(13:08):
just so people are coming and going during the course
of the weekend. So just trying to have an extended
weekend for those who are aren't going to be there,
maybe all four nights. Do we know who's the performers?
Are you? If you're an I know who they are?
So you're not going to as.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
What about one of them?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Could you give us one of them? I don't think
I'm allowed to, then, don't you'll do a rhymes with yeah?
I'm thinking of a performance? Is share performer? Sharon needs
to do carbon Beach and I love that we're friends
(13:44):
with her. Can we get her own? I would love that.
I would love that. She costs a lot of money.
I will try that out. Well, let's let's see what
we can do. Okay, okay, so a different performer each night? Now?
Is the menu the same every night? The menu the
same every night?
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What are you serving up?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
It's a It is an extravagant it's like basically carbone
meets like remember the medieval times restaurant.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, it's like like a big turkey.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
It's like an extra It's like gilded plates and giant, giant,
amazing portions.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Of food and you call the women wenches. The they
do that, don't you do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There's a caviar like caviar stations and giant ice sculptures,
and it's really over the top.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
It's very like Roman Empire love that caviar stations. All
this is there. Is it sold out already? People? People
want to know if it's already.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
A couple of the days are sold out, but there
are still tickets available for the others. Okay, I think
Thursday and Sunday, Friday and Saturday or Saturday definitely sold out.
I think Friday's getting close, and then Thursday and Sunday
is still available.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So go to Carbone Beach dot com. It's pretty easy
find out for yourself. A question the origin of Aposta
dish carbonara? Yes? Is it really from guys who used
to work in the coal mines? No?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So the origin create me from it because I know
I'm wrong. The origin of carbonara the American soldiers. So
the American soldiers that were in Italy were given bacon
and eggs as a good American, as good American rations
to make their breakfast. There became an abundance of these
American soldiers food rations in Rome, and the Roman chefs
(15:25):
took bacon and eggs and made carbonara out of it. Wow,
So the origin of that dish goes back to the
American the American soldiers in Rome.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Once again Americans taking credit for everything we do. That's
a great story, though, Yeah, what have you What do
you learn? What do you love about the history of food?
I mean, do you get you're creating incredible dishes all
the time with your team, But what about the history
of food? Were you like a food history nerd at
some point in your life?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I think you know, each project that we do is
I like to go down a pretty thorough research rabbit hole.
I like to try to make myself an expert on
whatever that topic is, and I do a ton of reading,
pulling old menus, trying to make something. You know, because
what we do is theater. It's the closest thing to
a restaurant is theater.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You know. It's the exact same actors every day at
the exact same time, putting on the exact same performance
for a different group of people. Wow, it's theater, and
we try to set a really believable stage. In carbones case,
it's sort of like the Rayleiota era nineteen fifties, nineteen
sixties New York City in the grill, it's it's mad men,
(16:37):
mad men, you know. And so to set a really
believable stage, you got to do your homework. You got
to make sure that everything is right. The uniforms are right,
the menus are right, the fonts are right, the sound
is right. And to do that, that's a research project.
So people leave an experience that they've experienced at a
restaurant and not really knowing what it was. They loved
about it. The food was great, but there's so much
other stuff going on, Like like Mario's talking about, it
(17:00):
is it's a theater here, it's a stay, and it
is lighting, it is the smells, it's there was a
restaurant we used to go to, I forget where they
made it very clear, do not wear Colonne or Perfuma
to our restaurant because they were afraid it would compete
with the food. Right. The thing is if you walked
in smelling and they would sniff you and they asked
(17:21):
you to leave. Seriously, a woman at front that sniffed
you before you walked into the restaurant. Yes, don't cloud
up this food with your shut out. Number five, Well,
what happened to the people who naturally smell like garlic,
like some people we know. I think it's more like
the man made scent like gardic.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Cutting MutS with scissors brilliant, I will, that's instagrammable, friends,
are you?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
But you can't you can't just cut any moods with scissors? Well, no,
the moods that we cut with scissors is freshly made mozzarella,
so it's like basically newborn mutsa. We make it exactly
when you order it, so it's kind of it's really stringy,
so you can't cut it with a fork and knife.
It's it's too stringy, it's too soft and brand new,
(18:09):
so we use scissors to cut it. If you if
you try cutting any other cheese with scissors, you're gonna
it's gonna look strange. But that's why we use it.
That's why we use it, and that's kind of how
you get that that that pull effect from it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's a baby and you know, back in the day
when the old chefs in Italy would get gas, that's
where they term cut the cheese came from. Mario knows,
they all, they all know. Okay, look, let's talk about
the sauce. The sauce is right there.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I love how he rot on each jar, he writes,
he wrote a little bit about each sauce, like this
is Carbone four cheese. He wrote, Carbone four cheese will
excite your palate with the sweet and flavorful blend of
one hundred percent Italian tomatoes and four classic Italian cheeses,
slow cooked to bring out a richness and flavor. This
four cheese sauce will have everyone craving for more.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Did you really write that she's very good at that?
Did you write? I wrote every one of those book So,
of course, Carbone it's right there. You can't miss it.
Hit it. Uh, if you want to go to Carbone
Finefood dot com you can buy your sauces, or go
to Carbone Beach dot com to get on the beach
(19:23):
for everything has my name, our lady of Roco dot com.
You've got a lot of websites. Yes. Uh. When did
you decide to come up with your own line of clothing?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Uh? So I think the real impetus was that this
day and age guys my age dress horribly at the restaurants.
It's just it's just not acceptable. I think that they
buy really expensive hoodies and they think that they're wearing
nice clothes to dinner. And it got me worked up
(20:00):
guilty because women put tremendous effort into getting ready to
go out, and guys this day and age, especially guys
like my age and younger, don't care at all. They
put on a hat and a hoodie and they come
to the restaurant and it makes me crazy, So.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You ask them to remove the hat at the table.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I try not to cause a scene as much as
I'd like to, So I thought the best way to
affect that was to try to take the fan base
of the restaurant, the fan base of the things that
I do, and put something together that would make that
would be comfortable for them, but would make sense in
the dining room, and hope to even remotely affect.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
What's going on out there. Because it's just not it's
not cute, it's not it's not cue. I'm glad you
said something about that. It's bad. Yeah, yeah, but you
should have your store in the front and force them
to buy your clothing. Then they may come to Suvero shop.
So you don't sell hoodies, that's what you're saying. We
do not sell.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, and you just have a woman's line now right?
You just how long ago did you start that?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, it's it basically, it's it's it's virtually unison, so
women buy it. Definitely Leans men's wear, but women do
buy it, so it's not a full fledged women's women's line. Now,
got a question?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Can you please ask mister carbon how to reheat penny?
I'm a mom of three young toddlers. It's a bitch
to reheat penny because it heats all hard. Maybe make
less penny. Why make a truckload of kids? And if
(21:35):
she's saying reheat, she made it already. This is true.
Reheating pasta is kind of a weird thing. I would
start with maybe portion control, good control. This is the
segment where it takes a couple of minutes to make penny,
it's gonna take almost as long to reheat it. It's true.
It's true. By the way, ya, let me speak to
(21:56):
mister Carbone. Not a good idea. Sometimes you put a
dish on the menu, people don't it. Sometimes the answers
are not what you're looking to hear. Sometimes, All right,
let's recap. Let's recap, shall we, of course, all things
Carbone and incredible, incredible restaurants here in New York and
beyond us. I know you. Just my my family in
(22:20):
Dallas love so that. They said we went to Sodel's,
your guy, Mario. I said he didn't have a restaurant
in Dallas, but yes he does.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
You do.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Of all places, Dallas, Texas. Now they finally get great bagels.
All right, So if you want to go check out
year three thanks to American Express, it's back with Mario
Carbone at Carbone Beach. Go to Carbone Beach dot com
and you are a platinum card member. They like you more.
I'm kidding. And of course the sauce. We love the sauce.
(22:49):
And I always have jars in my house flavors of
this sauce. That's a lot. And he has no problem
if you want to doctor it up, feel free, get creative,
get nuts. But Mario, we love you. Thank you for
coming in here. Thank you so much for having me.
It's always a pleasure. I think we've abused you, Enougher,
(23:09):
That is right. You weren't very kind to that mother.
She needed to know the truth. The truth hurts, Mario.
Thank you
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