Name: Top Chef's Philip Frankland Lee on Receiving a Michelin Star
Uploaded: 2022-01-18T18:06:52.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Top Chef's Philip Frankland Lee on Receiving a Michelin Star' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-01-18. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Top Chef's Philip Frankland Lee on Receiving a Michelin Star' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-01-18. Transcript available.

- The Joe Rogan Experience.
- So, when did you know that you wanted to be a chef?
Like, how long have you been, like, really into cooking?
'Cause you're a young guy.
By the way, congratulations on the Michelin stars.
- Thank you.
- That's giant, right?
In the world of chefs, that's the fuckin' thing, right?
- Yeah, I mean, I dedicated the last probably 15 years
of my life just to trying to get a Michelin star.
And when I found out this year they had me on a Zoom call,
they kind of lied to me.
They kind of, what they did is they said,
we wanted, they said, first of all, I said,
you're not getting a star this year, just so you know,
but we want to have, send someone to the restaurant
in Los Angeles and we have some interview questions
we want to ask you about, you know,
how it was to operate during COVID.
And I said, well, I'm in Austin, but I can fly back.
They're like, no, no big deal, don't fly back.
Just Zoom in.
So I Zoom in and they have my wife,
who's our pastry chef and my business partner.
She's at the restaurant and so is my brother
who is the chef of Sushi Bar in Montecito
and our chef at Pasta Bar.
And they're all three there, just in the restaurant
and I'm at my house here in Austin and I'm on Zoom.
And they start asking us some random questions
about, you know, how is it, you know,
what's it like being open and the pitfalls you had
overcome and then out of nowhere, they just go,
oh, and I have one extra question.
Um, uh, congratulations.
Uh, two of your restaurants are getting Michelin stars.
- Oh, they snuck it in on you.
- They snuck it in.
And I'm on, and the thing is I'm on a Zoom.
And so I was like, wait, what, what did she say?
Like I couldn't, I couldn't hear.
And, and everyone, it, and I thought we had just gotten one.
And it turned out, they said, no, no, no.
And I said, wait, what, which rest, which restaurant?
And they said, sushi bar Montecito and, uh, uh, and pasta bar.
And, uh, I just started-
- And pasta bars in LA?
- Pasta bars in LA.
And, um, I just started crying.
- Wow.
- I was just reading, uh, on the history of the Michelin star and that it was
really back
in the early days of travel, they had a book would show you where you can get
your car repaired,
where you could refuel, and then where you can get something to eat.
- Yeah.
- And then people got really obsessed with the where to get something to eat
part.
And then it became a separate entity.
- It was never, I don't think they ever set out to become the world standard on
cuisine.
I don't think that was ever the point.
The point was, we have to give you a reason to buy tires, and that reason is to
drive, and
so here's some things to drive to.
And so that's what the one star, two star, three star, you know, delineations
have to
do with.
Is this one is worth, you know, a stop, this one's worth a detour, and this one's
worth
a journey.
- Oh.
- And so that's how you get one star, two star, three star.
So one star means, if it's on your way, stop.
That was over a hundred years ago.
Now one star means, you know, fly there.
But three star means, like, upend your life and go figure, like, go find that
place.
- And what's that?
Who's got three stars?
- Here in America, not many people.
- McDonald's.
- McDonald's, yes.
I think they have four stars, actually.
- Is there anywhere in America that has three?
- Yeah, a couple places.
- Like what?
- The French Laundry has three stars.
- Oh, okay, that's that place where Gavin Newsom got in trouble, right?
I watched a video on that, not on that, but on Bourdain, when Bourdain, I think
it was
the old show.
I think it wasn't even, I think it was No Reservations.
- No Reservations, yeah.
He went to French Laundry.
It was pretty fucking incredible.
- Yeah, I've only got to eat there once, but it's, I mean, it's an institution.
- Is that good?
- Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I mean, for a long time, it was the restaurant in America.
- Mmm.
The?
- It was the restaurant in America.
- And isn't it kind of a weird spot?
Like you've got to travel?
- Yeah, but that's part of sort of the allure of, and not to say they wouldn't
be a three-star
restaurant without, you know, having that part of traveling, but three stars is
when you're
worth the journey.
- Mmm.
- So you could be in like the Himalayas or some shit.
- Yeah, I mean, a lot of some of the three-star restaurants around the world
are not in, you know,
they're not in strip malls.
They're not in city centers.
They're, you know, they've bought ranches.
They've bought, you know, they have land.
El Bully was on the top of a mountain.
- Where's El Bully?
- Well, that's been closed for a long time, but that was in Spain.
- Oh yeah?
- Yeah.
- So, I mean, there's-
- You're saying it like I know.
I don't know any of this.
Listen, let me into your world.
I don't know what you're talking about.
What's El Bully?
- So that was Farinadria.
They were named best restaurant in the world several years over.
It was really the restaurant that really brought what became known as molecular
gastronomy.
The, all the food that's, that, you know, Jamie would probably look at and say,
this is,
what, what am I looking at?
This doesn't look like food.
This looks like interesting, abstract art.
But, you know, they figure, you know, today you have restaurants where, you
know, you'll
get literally a balloon that's brought out to the table and you eat the, suck
the helium
out and eat the balloon.
And that's, you know, one of the courses.
Oh, wow.
12 iconic dishes of El Bully.
Mmm.
So this is like fancy dining.
And this is like-
It's beyond fancy dining.
It's art.
Someone from Jamie's lineage would look about this and-
Yeah.
If you asked him, is this, like, what is this?
And you didn't tell him it was, you wouldn't think that was food.
Yeah.
Jamie's not into this.
I could tell already.
Is that sea urchin?
That, that is sea urchin.
Oh, delicious.
Do you like sea urchin?
No, of course he doesn't.
Of course he doesn't.
I just tried octopus recently.
And?
Oh, okay.
I feel bad eating octopus because I found out how fucking smart they are.
I know.
That's what I thought.
I was like, I'll try it so I can say I tried it, but.
They're, but they're, you know.
They're so fucking good.
They're very good.
But they are murderers.
I mean, they murder everything.
Yeah, I'd rather have macaroni and cheese and steak or.
Oh my God.
Macaroni and cheese.
I was just saying, like, I'd rather have something else.