0:00

You're listening to Ruthie's Table four in

0:02

partnership with Montclair. Hi.

0:13

Everyone, Welcome to the River Cafe. I

0:15

can't think of a nicer place to be on the sunny

0:18

spring morning than here. We

0:20

have a live audience for this very special episode

0:22

that features Sarah Jessica Parker,

0:25

hosted by Pause Lucy Rogers. Enjoy

0:27

the interview and we'll be taking questions later.

0:34

The first time that Sarah Jessica Parker

0:36

and I spoke, the tables returned.

0:39

She was on the phone in the River Cafe

0:41

kitchen and I was on a beach in

0:43

Mexico. It was

0:46

really hard to hear her with the noise of pots

0:48

and pants, the crashing waves

0:50

of the Pacific Ocean, but her dazzling

0:53

warmth travel the six thousand

0:55

miles. If the phone connection was

0:57

poor, the friendship connection

1:00

instant. Last Sunday,

1:02

she was in the River Cafe with her family and

1:04

I was there with mine. They were sitting

1:07

on Table one, just a few feet from the pink

1:09

wood oven, close to the drama

1:11

of the kitchen, and there she was

1:13

dazzling and warm. How does

1:15

all this work, Ruthie, How do you make sure

1:17

that Matthew's ravioli comes out

1:20

at the same time as my asparagus.

1:22

Banya Kouten. This kitchen,

1:24

she said, feels like the inside of

1:26

a pinball machine, with energy

1:29

bouncing between the different stations.

1:32

How do you all have the energy

1:35

to do both lunch and dinner?

1:38

Now? I suppose if I went

1:41

backstage to Plaza Suite,

1:43

the play that Sarah is doing here with

1:45

her husband, Matthew Broderick, I

1:47

would have similar questions. How

1:50

does this work, Sarah? What do

1:52

you do if someone forgets their lines?

1:55

And how do you all have the energy

1:57

to do a matinee and an evening

2:00

performance? Today? We're here,

2:02

not miles apart, inches apart,

2:04

two friends together, surrounded

2:07

by all of you great people. What a connection?

2:11

Thank you?

2:13

So here we are. Did

2:16

you ever work in a restaurant? No?

2:18

But I say this knowing how hard

2:20

it is. I think I would really love to be a server.

2:23

Like I really think that

2:27

this summer she is, and

2:29

you I.

2:30

Was, we were really admiring your service

2:32

to the day because I said to the girls, I was like, I'm

2:34

not sure that I've seen servers move this

2:37

fast a long time.

2:39

Because Sunday is a very

2:41

busy day for you guys, right, like a specially.

2:44

That day was a really busy day.

2:46

And I was saying to somebody and I said,

2:48

you know, I don't get to come to the River Cafe very

2:51

often. I don't live in London, and to

2:54

myself, to Matthew, it's.

2:55

Like a very it's a it's like a special

2:58

thing.

2:59

It's like something you earn or

3:01

maybe you work toward or you pine

3:04

about, and then you visit it and you're

3:06

not sure if you made it all up, like

3:08

is it possible that you joined

3:11

a sort of cult, like a kind of thinking

3:14

about it?

3:15

Can it be?

3:17

And then you come here, My

3:19

hand gout it is and

3:21

the kitchen really is. It's

3:23

extraordinary to watch. It is like a pinball

3:25

machine, but it's like there's

3:28

such precision about it.

3:29

And I love watching the.

3:31

Chefs talk to each other quickly and passing

3:33

or actually come together to speak.

3:36

I don't know, it's amazing and it's

3:39

it's glorious. We were thrilled to be here, really

3:41

well.

3:41

We're thrilled to have you and I. When we first

3:44

did the completely open kitchen, you will

3:46

remember after the fire, Richard Air,

3:48

who's a director of theater came

3:50

in and I said, Richard, isn't

3:53

it just like theater watching

3:55

everyone around? And he said, actually,

3:58

with me, it isn't. It's like ballet m and

4:00

he said because watching people everybody.

4:03

You can't shout in an open kitchen. I mean, sometimes

4:06

raise your voice, but basically you're

4:09

moving around to speak to people about

4:11

if you need to. Usually there's a kind of

4:13

communication.

4:15

And this time I had the ravioli with

4:17

the spinach and the ricotta and those

4:19

tiny gorgeous porcini mushrooms that

4:21

are like a surprise.

4:22

They don't talk about that as much.

4:25

And we ordered

4:27

two and I was like, my daughter said, do

4:29

you think we can order another one?

4:30

James Welk said, can we order another one? Which just seems

4:33

so like.

4:34

Gluttonous and decadent

4:36

and greedy. And

4:39

then I was like, you know what, yes, And if

4:41

anybody says anything, I'll just say we'll

4:44

take it like I'm sorry that

4:46

we're being so like

4:48

real like animals about

4:51

this, but it's a kind of it's

4:53

good to think of it as this kind of once in a

4:55

lifetime.

4:57

It's just incredible.

4:58

One of the things I think that you'll probably

5:01

everyone in this room would think about, was that in

5:03

Sex and the City and the way you

5:06

talk about food the joy So

5:08

many conversations were over

5:10

food, and it was the pleasure of food. It was

5:12

enjoying food as a way of communicating

5:15

and being together, which we you know, we

5:17

all feel here that we a restaurant

5:20

is a place where you share, you know,

5:22

food you're sitting down at the table or at home

5:24

with your children. Yeah, and so how is

5:26

that working in Sex and the City and

5:28

doing was that from you?

5:30

I always love food scenes.

5:32

I think it initially it was

5:35

initially in place I think probably

5:37

from either Candice's original

5:39

source material or Darren

5:43

Starr wrote that first coffee shop scene,

5:45

which I think was just a great meeting

5:47

place to sort of talk about the themes

5:49

of the of each episode, like get the

5:51

headline out, and then each person

5:54

those kind of archetypal characters would share

5:56

points of view, so we knew where

6:00

where everybody stood, and it allowed for controversial

6:03

conversation or titillating conversation.

6:06

But I will say this that Cynthia

6:09

Nixon, who is a dear

6:11

friend of mine, and we've been working together since we

6:13

were little girls. We've known each other, so

6:16

we.

6:16

Were eleven or ten.

6:18

She was a child actor also, and

6:21

we would always audition together. She

6:23

often got the part. But we played

6:25

siblings when I was very young. We

6:28

played sisters on records.

6:30

They used to do records of stories,

6:33

and we played Laura and Mary Ingalls,

6:36

and then we played siblings of

6:38

We played children of Vanessa Redgrave in a

6:40

movie. But Cynthia and I

6:43

in those coffee shop scenes, we always eat.

6:45

Yeah, we always eat, and we

6:48

always need to like reprop

6:51

our plate, and

6:53

then when we finally wrap, they'll always

6:55

they always said to Cynthia, me and Cynthia,

6:58

do you guys want to take.

6:59

It to go again today? Yes,

7:02

we do.

7:04

So we really like those scenes, and we very

7:06

much go back and forth about what you can they'll send

7:08

the menu in advance now now that we all

7:10

have the phones and things, and because

7:13

they want you to order an advance for props to have everything

7:16

ready and multitude, you know, multiples of

7:18

it. So we'll go back and forth. Would

7:20

you order are you going to order? They all order that, So

7:22

you ordered that and we can share. So

7:24

the food is the lines are

7:26

blurred.

7:27

The joy of food. Yes, yes,

7:31

was something that we are all

7:33

thinking about. How we combine,

7:36

you know, food, and I think it's it's changed. You

7:38

find that your daughters are different now in terms

7:40

of their attitude.

7:41

Yeah, I mean I

7:44

I never was very disciplined about it.

7:46

I just wasn't.

7:49

I think I'm not really

7:51

good at like denying myself something.

7:54

And I think also I was

7:56

a dancer for so long and running around,

7:59

so it was I was able to

8:01

be that way. It's certainly not the same now.

8:03

But I also just I

8:05

had girls. I just

8:07

was so I didn't want

8:10

them to have a relationship

8:12

with food that was

8:14

antagonistic or they felt like this

8:16

was their enemy and that they were

8:18

going to have to sort of like stake

8:20

out a position with food. So when

8:23

I was growing up, we weren't allowed sugar in the house, and

8:25

we were allowed to cookies, and we weren't allowed the chocolate.

8:27

And of course all we did the minute we

8:30

moved out was buy Entimate's cakes

8:32

and cookies, and you know, and

8:34

I didn't want that. So in

8:36

our house, we have cookies, we have cake, we have everything.

8:39

And I think as a result, you

8:41

kind of have a healthier relationship and my

8:44

daughters will have the figures they have and hopefully

8:46

they'll be healthy in their athletes and they

8:48

enjoy food, and they have different palettes,

8:50

and you can't make someone like something they don't

8:53

like or want.

8:53

And I hope that they.

8:58

I hope that they can maintain their

9:00

affection for the experience and

9:03

their delight in taste

9:06

and find their own ways to have

9:08

that be healthy for them.

9:10

And your son. For

9:13

food, it was fantastic

9:16

to beat. All three of them are just you know, involved

9:19

in the food and talking about the food and asking

9:22

questions about food.

9:23

On Sunday, Matthew

9:25

cooks.

9:26

We both cook every single day, every

9:28

day, every single day.

9:30

Every day. We probably eat dinner as

9:32

a family every

9:34

night.

9:35

If I'm shooting or he's doing to play, obviously

9:37

that shifts around. We always have

9:39

dinner Sunday night. But one

9:41

of us, if we're home, cooks

9:44

every single day, and

9:47

we love to cook. And it's boring

9:49

to keep saying to each other what are we gonna eat? What are we gonna

9:51

eat? Are you going to go to the grocery store? Am I going to

9:53

go to the market. But it's kind of

9:55

just.

9:56

What we do.

9:57

Yesterday, I what did

9:59

you last night? Last night,

10:02

we went to a restaurant in Chinatown.

10:04

Really quickly after the show.

10:07

But I had made during the day, I made lamb

10:09

stew and Matthew made a white bean

10:12

soup, so we knew.

10:14

We have that.

10:15

I'd actually was bringing some to my son, but

10:18

I like to have it in the fridge for matinee

10:21

days. And but

10:24

we cook every night because I

10:27

don't know why we never we never understood

10:29

order. We didn't get ordering in in time, and

10:31

now we're too old to under.

10:33

We don't have I don't know how to use.

10:35

A a thing,

10:38

and every now and then

10:40

we're really beat.

10:40

Well, say should we you know?

10:42

But I'll still call a restaurant order,

10:46

we pick it up or they deliver it. But

10:49

but we love cooking.

10:50

I don't know why.

10:51

Do you think that's part of the drama. Do you think it's part

10:53

of theater, part of being an actor that

10:56

it's separate from what you do?

10:58

Is it a time? I know that when I was working,

11:01

I would always come home and everybody

11:03

says, sit down and relax. And I found

11:05

the most kind of relaxing thing to do is

11:07

to cook, to.

11:07

Be in the kitchen. It is.

11:10

It's we always wonder

11:12

about the post meal part, like

11:14

we're always like, wow, now we have to do all this, you

11:17

know, all the cleaning and stuff, so that

11:19

that kind of punctures some of the kind of healium

11:23

of it. But I don't

11:25

know if it's so much

11:27

relaxing as it. It's just kind of

11:29

what we do. It's like what's expected, what else?

11:32

What else is the family going to do if we

11:34

don't get in the kitchen. And in New

11:36

York, like here in London, you can run

11:38

out at the last minute.

11:40

You can make a meal quickly.

11:43

It's not as like

11:46

it doesn't seem as such a big effort

11:49

in a way, and

11:51

often things just taste better

11:54

than if you're ordering it. In our opinion,

11:56

we I mean not that we don't think of ourselves highly

11:58

as like chefs or anything like that, But I

12:01

don't know. Our children always,

12:03

I will say, they always say like, wow, we're

12:05

really lucky. We get to eat have dinner every

12:08

night.

12:08

When you're in a play, do you eat before

12:11

you before the performance? Are after?

12:13

I enchurgef so

12:16

is it?

12:16

Did you go on stage hungry?

12:17

I mean a little bit.

12:19

I'll have yogurt bananas.

12:22

There's these eggs here that I'm in love with that

12:24

I go mad for the ones I

12:26

want to put my suitcase, but I know I'm not allowed.

12:29

They're called burfer.

12:31

Yeah.

12:31

They have those orange yolks that are just oh

12:34

my god, oh my god.

12:36

So we go through a lot of those.

12:38

I eat those bananas. I'll have

12:40

some lamp stew or barley

12:43

and some meat.

12:44

I love your rashers. Here, your

12:46

bacon, streaky bacon and

12:49

kofta.

12:50

From our local butcher is really nice.

12:54

I think it's time for our first question from

12:56

our audience, which said is

12:58

going to read.

13:00

I used to work at the River Cafe and every

13:02

night I felt like customers had a different

13:04

collective character. Saturday

13:07

night was different from Tuesday night, and

13:09

it was not the same every Saturday night, but it

13:11

would become a kind of dominant vibe.

13:14

And then I started working in theater and

13:17

in my mind it was exactly the same. And

13:19

I wondered what your experience of London

13:22

audiences has been and are the different

13:24

to American audiences.

13:26

Well, you've described it so beautifully,

13:28

whether it's in America, in New York

13:30

City or here. This sort of I

13:33

always say, like, what time did they all get

13:35

together and decide who they were going to be tonight?

13:37

Like it's a conspiracy that they work so

13:39

beautifully together. And it

13:41

is a range and a Saturday night can be

13:44

boisterous and civilized or boisterous

13:46

and out of control and sort

13:48

of behaving I'm going to say poorly

13:50

in quotes, but not really but just more talkative.

13:53

And but.

13:55

Generally speaking, the audiences here have been really,

13:58

really lovely and very hospitable.

14:00

And we weren't sure because this is a very American

14:03

play by a

14:06

real American playwright writing about

14:08

kind of cultural familiarity

14:11

to Americans, especially New Yorkers, But they've

14:13

been absolutely wonderful. I

14:15

think they've

14:18

they've proven to be really great

14:20

listeners, like sincerely great listeners,

14:23

but they do seem to have psychically

14:27

agreed upon something, and I don't understand

14:29

it, Like these people probably couldn't

14:31

agree about anything else. If you remove

14:33

them from the theater, like as a whole, maybe

14:36

they could.

14:36

I don't know.

14:37

But it is unique, and that

14:39

is in a restaurant. Don't you think that we can say,

14:41

Yeah, you can sort of put the same food

14:44

at the same time, the same with

14:47

the same team. Yeah you can go home at ten

14:49

o'clock and think I'm a failure. You

14:51

know because it did. You really

14:53

think this was one of the greatest nights in my

14:55

life.

14:55

Yeah, this is so hard to it

14:58

is, and it's I think the

15:00

human part of all of this is

15:04

the thing that's just hard to pin

15:07

down. Like you can't do

15:09

the same show. You have a good show and you're

15:12

trying to sort of always mimic that, or

15:14

in the kitchen you'll have a great and

15:16

you're always trying to but it is human,

15:18

So it's never going to be the same.

15:20

It's never going to last as long.

15:21

The pause isn't going to get a laugh

15:24

or maybe it will or And

15:28

I think that's what makes it

15:30

so exciting for a diner

15:33

or hopefully for an audience.

15:34

Is they are very much a

15:36

part of it.

15:37

They are a significant

15:41

fifty percent of the relationship. Is the

15:43

diner to your chefs and your servers

15:45

and you and us with our audience,

15:48

our playwright, our words, our director, and

15:50

this audience like they have to be our

15:53

partner for the night, and they show that

15:55

in various ways.

16:02

Did you know the River Cafe has a shop. It's

16:05

full of our favorite foods and designs.

16:07

We have cookbooks, linen, napkins, kitchen

16:09

ware, toad bags with our signatures,

16:12

glasses from Venice, chocolates from

16:14

Turin. You can find us right next

16:16

door to the River Cafe in London or

16:18

online at shop Therivercafe

16:21

dot co dot uk.

16:35

So, Sarah, you've just made

16:38

punturel lromado with Sean.

16:40

There is something to me about

16:43

Puntaurel salad that it really

16:46

it blows my mind. And it's very

16:48

hard to get in New York. For anybody who lives in New York.

16:50

Puntorella is like contraband, like apparently

16:53

it's not allowed or and when

16:55

it is, there's like you have like four days to

16:57

enjoy it. And to

17:00

have it here sort of like at your

17:02

whim to meet is such decadence.

17:08

This is a print role but I've

17:11

never seen it in its natural

17:14

state to.

17:15

Be smaller, because we went in last

17:17

week we were and they were huge.

17:20

Massive heads of it. It's actually

17:22

checorea, you know what.

17:23

It's like a checorea plant, and

17:26

so you can either use the outside leaves

17:28

and just chopp them up and boil them as a vegetable

17:31

and then this is like the bulb in the middle.

17:34

Oh wow, it's interesting.

17:37

Wow, the whole plant. Oh, my god,

17:39

inside it is. These things are like fingers.

17:41

So what you generally do is just well you can cut

17:43

them off or pull them off.

17:44

Do you have to soak them or anything?

17:46

Yeah, the soaks all in the soaking,

17:49

right, this goes in ice water,

17:51

and it goes in ice water for about an hour and

17:54

then it turns into bear

17:56

with me, coller.

17:57

No, you're okay, Oh you're here.

17:58

It's kind of will crunch you like this

18:01

and.

18:03

See I see you cut it, just put it

18:05

in nice water. So the dressing,

18:08

I'll make.

18:08

The dressing for one.

18:11

I'll put a tiny bit but whatever

18:13

you want, don't don't don't change anything

18:15

on my account.

18:16

What is that beautiful chili? Chili?

18:19

Gorgeous fine chili, like a tiny

18:21

bit.

18:22

And then.

18:24

These anchovies are really.

18:27

Chevies are so beautiful.

18:29

A bit more peppering.

18:29

I'll just touched my.

18:30

Hands

18:33

probably about that much olive. This is actually making

18:36

it's going to be super well dressed.

18:37

Oh my god, it's gorgeous.

18:39

Yeah, this is just your dressing.

18:40

Oh so gorgeous.

18:42

And it is literally simple.

18:43

Now how dry? Did I get them dry enough? In your estimation?

18:46

Okay?

18:47

But I mean heaven as

18:50

you like as much vinegar as you like.

18:51

Really, yeah,

18:58

So Sarah read the recipe and

19:00

I just tell you that it's

19:03

absolutely divine.

19:04

And it was on Sunday. Two

19:07

heads of puntarell. Am I saying it correctly? Puntarell,

19:10

five salted anchovies cleaned, and

19:12

your wonderful chef used Spanish

19:15

anchovies, two tablespoons

19:17

of red wine vinegar. One garlic clove

19:19

chopped. And then she did this gorgeous thing with

19:22

her knife where she sort of smeared

19:24

Sean's right, Sean. I'm sorry, Sean.

19:27

She sort of took her knife and mashed

19:29

it and made

19:32

it a wonderful kind of misery. One

19:34

garlic chove chopped as I've had, two dried chilis,

19:36

one teaspoon of black pepper, four tablespoons

19:39

of extra virgin olive oil. And

19:41

then to prepare the puntarell, fill a bowl with ice

19:43

cold water, adding a few ice cubes.

19:46

Pull the hollow buds from the puntarel

19:49

heads. I guess once they're out

19:51

of that and nice and clean and crisp, slice

19:54

the buds very thinly lengthwise and

19:56

place in the water to crisp until they curl

19:58

up.

19:58

This will take about.

19:59

An hour, Add the

20:01

garlic to the anchovies with the crumbled chilis

20:04

and the pepper at the olive oil. Spin

20:06

dry the punterrell and

20:09

place in a bowl and mix with the anchovy

20:11

sauce.

20:12

Per perfection, per

20:15

perfection. I'm

20:17

curious about when you first had pontourel. That

20:20

purel was Cincinnati.

20:21

In Cincinnati and no, well,

20:24

I moved to New York when I was a very little girl.

20:26

But we

20:29

can talk about the vegetables that were available in Cincinnati.

20:31

But the first time we had it, there was a wonderful

20:34

little restaurant that didn't last very

20:36

long, and it was on McDougall,

20:39

and I

20:41

can't remember the cross Street, right

20:43

off of sixth Avenue, and it was on

20:46

the menu and I just Matthew and I actually

20:48

just read the ingredients or the description

20:50

and we thought, well, of

20:53

course we'll try it. And it was absolutely

20:55

beautiful, and so then we sort

20:57

of like we're chasing

20:59

it. I guess a wee bit like truffles, like

21:01

waiting for that moment you.

21:02

Know, yeah, that is Italian food.

21:04

You have it, then you say goodbye.

21:06

Yeah, that's what makes it so especial.

21:09

Yeah, But going back to Cincinnati,

21:12

tell us about eight children.

21:14

I'm one of eight, yes, and in

21:17

Cincinnati at that point we

21:19

had only six. My mother

21:21

was pregnant with the

21:23

baby girl when we moved to New

21:25

York City. We moved to New York City in nineteen on January

21:28

first of nineteen seventy seven, so

21:30

I've lived there most of my life. My

21:33

real father is from Brooklyn, born and raised,

21:35

so we spent some time before that in

21:37

Brooklyn visiting and visiting

21:39

my grandparents on my father's side.

21:43

But food was for

21:46

a lot of my siblings. We

21:51

think and talk and

21:54

share feelings, thoughts,

21:56

experiences with food. I would

21:58

say in some way it dominates our relationship,

22:01

like it's the it's

22:03

the thing that we I would say, maybe

22:05

with books as well, but food probably

22:07

even more so. And we

22:10

all have a different relationship with it. Some

22:12

of us cook, some of us don't. Some

22:14

of us have money to explore restaurants

22:17

that would be more rarefied, and some don't.

22:19

But food is.

22:24

And always has been in my memory, this

22:26

destination and I

22:28

always want to.

22:32

Have something I've never had.

22:34

Always, But did your mother did

22:36

she cook? What were meal times like?

22:38

And she cooked? We had dinner every single

22:40

night. We all seven, eventually

22:43

all eight.

22:45

My mother would probably say

22:47

that she really didn't care. She

22:50

didn't enjoy cooking. She didn't come from a family

22:52

that enjoyed food. And I

22:54

think with eight kids, yeah, it

22:56

was it was work

22:59

versus joy. But

23:03

simultaneously she loved

23:05

food. And she,

23:08

as a young woman, went off to New York City as an

23:10

employee of Procter and Gamble, which is a big

23:12

company in Cincinnati, Ohio. You know, like a lot of

23:14

girls straight out of college, got a job at

23:16

Procter and Gamble and was sent to New York to be a

23:18

salesperson. And her

23:20

first stop was always Chinatown, Always

23:23

Chinatown. She loved Chinatown. She

23:25

loved Chinese food. She loved anything that was

23:27

different. And there was a place

23:29

in the sixties, this would be in the fifth fifties,

23:32

yeah, late fifties, mid to late fifties,

23:34

and there was a place called Dave's

23:36

Lunchonette that was a very

23:39

famous place

23:41

you just stopped by and had an egg cream after

23:44

having Chinese food. And

23:46

so she of course she grew up reading

23:48

The New Yorker. The librarians from the time she was

23:51

a little girl would save her the weekly New Yorker.

23:53

So she would read about food, and she

23:55

would read about Chinatown, and she would read

23:57

about places in the outer boroughs. And

24:00

so for her, food was this thing

24:03

that was

24:05

part of another life that she hoped to

24:07

give all of us. And

24:10

so even though she didn't like cooking, and she cooked,

24:12

you know, three meals a day, we all helped with breakfast,

24:15

lunch, and breakfast and dinner lunch in the summers.

24:18

Did your mother work? Did she manage

24:20

to feed seven and eight children

24:22

every day and work or

24:24

did? She was a school.

24:25

Teacher up until

24:28

a few months after I was born, and then

24:31

I think that was her last year. She

24:33

taught second grade. At the time,

24:35

we lived in a very little city

24:38

in southeastern Ohio. This was before Cincinnati.

24:40

It was in the foothills of Appalachia actually,

24:43

And so she taught second grade, but her students

24:46

could be anywhere from seven to fourteen years old,

24:48

depending upon how much time they've been afforded

24:51

to be in school. And

24:54

so she stopped teaching for many

24:56

many years, and just not

24:59

just she was a which she consumed all our

25:01

time. And then she started her own

25:04

preschool. For many many years, she had

25:06

her own school in New Jersey. It was

25:08

a sort of Montessori. She's

25:11

a progressive educator and

25:13

she retired from that about ten

25:16

years ago, and she

25:19

just came to London to visit. My

25:22

father passed away a year ago, so she's

25:25

newly.

25:26

Was there anybody helping her? Did your father ever go

25:28

and your stepfather ever go in the kitchen? And did

25:31

everybody help?

25:32

Everybody?

25:33

It was our job school, do your homework

25:35

and then help get the dinner.

25:37

Yes, well, we came home from school, we

25:39

did some homework sort of, and

25:42

then we wed ballet classes,

25:45

and so we'd come home from ballet, then we'd all

25:47

jump in and help in the kitchen. We

25:50

all had jobs before and after

25:52

dinner that wasn't necessarily connected

25:54

to cooking. It was cleaning, putting things

25:56

away, sweeping, loading

25:59

the dishwa unloading the dishwasher, helping

26:02

with laundry.

26:03

Yeah, but even

26:06

though.

26:06

It was labor, we

26:09

all came out of that house for

26:11

the most part, really

26:13

loving food and willing to try

26:16

anything. And

26:18

if I travel sometimes

26:21

I say I'm only going to try, like I'll take a job.

26:23

I think, well, I'm really taking this just so I can go

26:25

eat this. And

26:28

you know, if you are on a holiday and

26:30

you go trying to find restaurants, and I do

26:32

endless months.

26:33

Of research like where where, where, where

26:35

where?

26:36

And then you get to your destination and you'll try

26:38

to ask people and they'll send you the place that everybody

26:40

else in the hotel is going or everybody else, and I'll

26:42

say, no, no, no, no, please, where do you eat, mister

26:44

concierge, Miss concierge, where

26:47

do you eat?

26:47

Where do you eat?

26:48

And they won't tell me because they think we want

26:50

this stacked food fancy,

26:53

you know, And so I'll

26:55

just follow the employees home. Yeah, I

26:58

literally follow them home, and then

27:00

I see where they live and their communities

27:02

and their restaurants, and that's where

27:04

I go, and that's where I shop hardware

27:07

stores.

27:08

You know, maybe you could just stay with the employees.

27:11

But that's where so many tos

27:14

and just yeah, because you know, what, does that make

27:16

sense?

27:16

If used to always go to bookstores.

27:19

You get into Verona or it's a little town

27:21

in the south of Spain or Italy,

27:23

and he'd always, for some reason, he would always think

27:25

that people who worked in bookstores

27:28

would know would know where to eat, right,

27:30

and probably where they like to do. Those

27:32

places that means it's.

27:35

I think finding that local experience.

27:39

It completes the experience

27:41

in a way that sometimes you can't have if you don't

27:44

know. You know, like when a local person

27:46

gives you directions and you realize, oh, they're giving

27:48

me directions without realizing how

27:50

little I know. You describe

27:52

to someone how to get on bleaker, you'd

27:54

have to say, listen, bleaker.

27:55

Is going to go left and right and up and down.

27:57

You have to give them those So when you get to

28:00

local, you're like having their experience.

28:02

I asked quite a few actors whether when

28:05

they took a part, whether they would not

28:07

so much choose the part that's kind of

28:09

extreme. It's the

28:12

restaurants were there. But they quite

28:14

a few of them did research before going

28:17

to shoot a film in Budapest or

28:19

Venice or wherever they were before

28:21

they went to find out, you know, where to

28:23

eat. Yeah, because it's important, isn't it. When I think

28:25

it maybe a movie to feel part of the

28:28

community.

28:28

Yeah, wherever you can market I think,

28:31

wherever you get to travel for whatever reason,

28:34

if you can somehow try to embed

28:36

a little bit in

28:39

the local flavor of a community.

28:43

I don't know. Sometimes I'll I've

28:45

been.

28:45

You know, for work, you have to travel a lot,

28:48

and you do like these things like press junkets,

28:50

you know, and especially in the old days, they do these

28:52

big grand world tours and

28:55

you'd be given a guide, which was all wonderful

28:57

and I was super grateful, But then I

29:00

would just say to the guide like, no, stop the van,

29:02

now, stop the van.

29:03

Now, I want to get out here.

29:05

They're like, well, there's just houses here, and I

29:07

was like, yes, exactly, I just want to see the

29:09

houses, you know, I don't know, you feel

29:12

like you're seeing

29:14

something versus the same boulevard

29:16

with the fancy shops and

29:18

the fancy restaurants.

29:21

Time for our question from our audience.

29:24

What happens on an airplane you have a

29:26

long distance flight, because I

29:28

cannot imagine the cuisine exciting

29:30

you. Do you bring your own food?

29:33

Depends on the airline. Like I

29:35

think a lot of the Asian airlines have really,

29:38

really really good food air

29:40

lingis. I love their food, but

29:43

I will bring I always have snacks

29:46

in my bag. I always have meat sticks

29:49

that I love.

29:50

Like you know, healthy, no

29:52

not.

29:55

I'll bring stuff that I think will get me

29:57

through a flight that might

29:59

have that I might there might be dubious.

30:02

I might have some feelings and concerns.

30:05

I might.

30:05

I can't bear the idea of being hungry.

30:07

I just like meaning, let

30:10

me rephrase that. If

30:12

I can help that not

30:15

be true, I will. I will keep up my end,

30:17

you know what I mean. So, but I

30:19

don't mind trying anything on an airline.

30:22

I was, you know, in the old days, what I was telling when we used

30:24

to do these big press junkets. We

30:26

were always flying to Japan, and I will say that

30:28

food on Japan airline

30:31

was like what, I'm.

30:33

Just stay up just to eat. They're like, would you like to rest?

30:36

And I was like, absolutely not, I would like to

30:38

eat, and they just and then start the next offering,

30:40

like what else is on this menu?

30:45

If you like listening to Ruthie's Table

30:47

for would you please make sure

30:50

to rape and review the podcast

30:52

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple

30:54

Podcasts, Spotify, o, wherever

30:57

you get your podcasts. Thank

30:59

you. When

31:06

I was growing up, we all went to restaurants for a

31:08

special occasion, you know, a birthday and anniversary

31:12

and my mother just being possibly too tired

31:14

to cook. But it was a rare occasion

31:16

that we went and here in the River Cafe. We

31:18

see people coming in for Saturday

31:20

lunch, Sunday lunch, early dinners,

31:22

late dinners, and kids are ordering and

31:25

there is a breadth of children and young

31:27

people eating out.

31:29

Yeah, and that they're more used

31:32

to it than I ever was. I mean, it was such a

31:34

big deal to eat out for us growing up, and

31:36

we certainly get to and we get to travel in

31:38

a way that my family didn't take vacations.

31:41

We didn't go on a holiday, not

31:43

until much later. And then it was you know, you're

31:45

sharing a house with another family

31:47

and you're still cooking all your meals. You wouldn't

31:49

you know. We would go to the outer

31:51

Banks of North Carolina. This was forty

31:55

years ago more oh

31:57

more, and it was this sort of very

32:01

pristine, not very popular

32:03

destination. And so

32:06

the big deal for us was that we would get crab

32:08

and throw down newspaper and you know, and

32:11

that was a big deal.

32:12

That was like eating out.

32:13

But but my children when

32:15

we when they came to London to visit,

32:18

we went out the first night and

32:21

they're like, oh my gosh, we'ven't been to a restaurant.

32:23

In so long.

32:24

It's so exciting to be at a restaurant, so

32:26

it's still exciting, but it's something they're definitely

32:28

more familiar with it than I ever was.

32:30

And you a child.

32:31

I mean, I think one of another sumaries that we

32:33

both like our neighborhoods. You know that we like

32:35

a neighborhood. Ye I liked neighborhood.

32:37

I love neighbors And.

32:37

You know when we when we moved, it's

32:40

not where I live is in quite the West

32:42

Village, but it

32:45

in the sense it doesn't have a perhaps a lot of the

32:47

character that you have, but it is a

32:49

place that you want to be involved in. So they call

32:51

up, you know, we called the local theater and said we're.

32:53

Here, Yeah, what can we do?

32:55

Or you I know, you do that with your neighborhood.

32:57

Yeah, and your neighborhood, being the West Village,

33:00

is probably full of restaurants.

33:03

We do.

33:03

Do you go to the same place over and over?

33:05

We do? And especially.

33:09

You know, after the pandemic, we were really

33:12

concerned. There were a lot of small businesses

33:14

and restaurants included in that that were not

33:16

part of larger consortiums that were really

33:19

really struggling.

33:20

I'm sure you all had it here as.

33:21

Well, and it was so easy

33:24

to be supportive

33:27

because there are neighbors and we know

33:29

their family stories or the stories of the restaurants,

33:33

and we knew, you

33:35

know, the collateral damage, Like if

33:38

something closes, it's not just

33:40

that, it's everything around it that

33:42

kind of lives and breathes off of it. And

33:46

so it's it's very easy to

33:48

do it, not just out of you

33:50

know, desire to be a good citizen

33:52

in a neighbor, but because it's

33:54

one.

33:55

They're wonderful restaurants.

33:56

They're wonderful restaurants, and some

33:58

are old and not inventive at all,

34:00

you know, they're not like rethinking

34:03

or deconstructing Italian food, but they've

34:05

been in business since nineteen seventy eight,

34:08

you know. And then there's newer

34:10

chefs that are doing really exciting things.

34:13

And then you've got your local little

34:15

delis and bodegas and

34:18

everything in between. And it's

34:20

a real privilege to live among them

34:23

and to say that we are patrons

34:26

and that we mean it.

34:27

You know, there's so much to talk about. Can

34:29

you tell us about the wine?

34:31

Yes?

34:32

So I was

34:34

asked now six years ago, seven

34:36

years ago by these two

34:38

young gentlemen in New Zealand, producing

34:41

Savinyar Blanc out of the Marlboro region, which is

34:43

not that surprising if

34:46

I would like to work with them a partners them when

34:48

I was absolutely confounded because I

34:51

didn't know anything about the wine

34:53

business except that one of the reasons

34:55

my husband and.

34:56

I like to travel is to taste local wine.

35:00

I thought, like most of us, that you have

35:02

to come from generations of wine

35:04

families, and the language

35:07

I thought I would never understand, and I thought

35:09

it was really only.

35:10

For the rarefied few.

35:12

But they said no, and I said, well, if you'll let me

35:14

really learn and really

35:19

be as informed as possible, that we can start

35:21

talking about it. And of course they did, and it's been

35:23

an amazing, an amazing experience.

35:26

We're in our six vintage

35:29

on our Savenye Bloc. It's been picked in the top

35:31

one hundred wines in the world for

35:33

the second time. It's

35:36

won all sorts of awards, Like I don't

35:38

say this about my acting work ever, Like I wouldn't

35:40

say like I've won it, because I know how you

35:42

haven't. But but I'm

35:45

so proud of this because we worked really hard

35:47

and it's been The Savenyon Blanc

35:49

has been so beautifully received, and

35:51

our rose has been beautifully received,

35:53

and we've never I think done below

35:56

a ninety three and wine spectator, which is

35:58

a big deal in our business.

36:00

And we're about to launch our Pinon Noir, which

36:03

is oh, it's so gorgeous.

36:06

So it's been amazing and I really love them

36:08

and I love the wine. So yeah, we

36:11

just keep working really hard and I do all the blendings

36:14

and it's been incredible.

36:15

It's been a great education.

36:17

If we were to say in this

36:20

conversation that food is fun

36:23

and it's exciting, and it sustains

36:26

us, and we share it and we cook for our children

36:28

as an expression of love. It's

36:31

also comfort if you do

36:33

need comfort. Is there a food that you would

36:35

turn to, Sarah.

36:36

Jessica far Yes, I would

36:38

say that.

36:41

Pork chops,

36:43

And I would just

36:45

describe them more specifically as

36:47

saying, thin cut pork chops

36:50

on the bone, not fancy,

36:52

not from your

36:55

most special

36:57

butcher, but from Christiiti's like

37:01

simple, put them in the pan with.

37:03

All oiled salt and pepper and.

37:06

Heavens.

37:07

I just I don't know why I love it. My brother loves

37:10

them too.

37:11

But bringing up a

37:14

very close competitor is probably lamb chops,

37:16

which I make probably two or three times a week. I

37:19

make pork chops at least twice a week, and we here,

37:23

I've made lamb.

37:24

How do you make your lamb chops?

37:26

I'm kind of embarrassed because it's not but

37:30

we use.

37:31

I use because I do the lamb chops. We

37:34

use carry gold butter, an'yone know carry

37:37

gold butter. There's

37:40

so much unsalted butter in London. It's kind

37:42

of hard to find the salted. So

37:45

I use carry gold butter and just a touch

37:47

of olive oil so the butter doesn't burn. And

37:49

I salt and pepper the baby lamb chops

37:51

and I throw them in and that's it.

37:53

And they are just that. You can

37:56

taste all the fat. You can smell the fat

37:58

when it's cooking. And we

38:00

eat a lot of lamb in Ireland, and I've

38:02

buy bought lamb here.

38:03

From our local butcher. You go two or three times

38:05

a week.

38:06

You have a house in Ireland, yeah, it

38:08

tell us just about.

38:09

It's way up in County Doneygall, so

38:11

it's way up northwest and my

38:14

husband's been going there since he was a little boy

38:17

and I've been going there since we

38:19

were together, which was thirty years, and we

38:23

finally bought our own little house because

38:25

he shares his family home

38:27

with his siblings and they have all grown children and

38:29

they have children, and

38:32

so yeah, we.

38:32

Go there a lot. What is the food, like, the

38:35

best potatoes?

38:36

It really is like a cliche, but it's true,

38:38

the greatest, greatest, greatest potatoes ever, especially

38:40

if you're there for the new potato season is seven

38:44

carry gold butter.

38:46

York cabbage.

38:47

I don't know what it is about a York cabbage that

38:49

blows my mind.

38:51

Lamb lamb lamb lamb lamb lamb lamb.

38:53

The eggs, the rashers, any

38:57

root stuff there is really

38:59

good. We don't We're not there

39:01

enough to take care of it

39:03

and really earn it, you know, someday,

39:06

someday.

39:07

But yeah, white

39:09

toast, white toast, baby batch.

39:11

Anyone know what a baby batch is?

39:13

No, it would be forbidden

39:15

in my house growing up, Like we were not allowed to have white bread

39:18

growing up. It's just bread

39:20

slices, like the kids

39:22

like it. You make sandwiches for when company comes

39:24

over. But there's a beautiful brown soda

39:26

bread there that you just get it in the Oh my gosh,

39:29

that we eat crazy and that we can get in the

39:31

States.

39:32

We can get a bunch of the food in the States.

39:33

Now I'm going to get

39:35

carry go butter Grease is my Grease

39:38

is my favorite place outside of any place

39:40

else. It's maybe

39:43

the food, and I think there's nothing

39:45

better than a Greek salad in grease and lamb

39:48

chops, But I just think the people,

39:51

the history, the culture, the art, the

39:54

way it looks. Just seeing

39:57

Grease for the first time and

40:01

seen white against blue, against sky

40:03

against the sea.

40:06

I don't know. I think,

40:09

I don't know.

40:10

It's probably a place that I would spend many

40:13

many months a year if I could, like

40:16

everywhere.

40:17

Yeah,

40:19

you have been part of so many award

40:21

winning productions over the years, whether

40:23

it's film or television or

40:26

theater. I would love to hear

40:28

about one of your favorite celebratory

40:30

meals.

40:31

Well, it happened to be my brother's birthday,

40:33

but that was coincidental. But he's

40:36

my oldest brother and he's kind of very important

40:38

figure in our lives growing up. And

40:41

I had been like researching

40:43

for a really long time Georgian and Russian

40:45

restaurants in Brooklyn. But like the real

40:48

stuff, like because there's a massive

40:50

Georgian and Russian community, as you guys

40:52

probably know in Brooklyn, and.

40:53

It's way way, way, way way out, like.

40:56

You know, could be thirty stops on the train,

41:00

but you make like a pilgrim.

41:01

It's like a big deal.

41:02

Well it was for me, and I had been researching

41:04

and researching, and then this day appeared

41:06

and I was like, this is the day I'm going to do it. So

41:09

I called my brother Pippin because he's one of the

41:11

siblings that goes crazy for the food like me, and

41:14

I said in Matthew, like, let's just do

41:16

it. And so we went out on this long

41:19

train ride, which was fantastic because

41:21

you're under and over and

41:24

we had Georgian.

41:25

Food, deep deep, deep deep

41:27

Brooklyn.

41:28

And it was my brother's birthday,

41:30

so it was really great. And he

41:33

had to go around the corner and buy you know, spirits

41:35

or wine or something. But that

41:37

was an unbelievable meal. Unbelievable

41:41

meal. Yeah, it was everything.

41:45

That's what I could think of.

41:47

I just wanted to ask about the joy of

41:49

going to a restaurant that's comforting, like

41:52

jeans jeans.

41:54

Did you say jeans? Who is that oh,

41:57

hi, Jeans.

41:58

As in a restaurant.

41:59

Yeah, Jeans

42:02

is a wonderful restaurant

42:04

on Eleventh Street in the West Village, very near

42:06

Sunny and Country, seemingly.

42:10

A little bit like not

42:12

fancy room.

42:13

It's this beautiful room, terribly

42:15

low ceiling, one of the prettiest bars

42:17

you'll ever see in New York City. It's got marble steps.

42:20

You walk down to it, and this gorgeous bar

42:22

greets you. That's been around for however

42:24

long this is due the math, I can't do it

42:27

famously good bartender. Locals

42:30

sit there and eat and the food is like

42:32

veal, scallipini, you

42:34

know, tomatoes, sauce. But they

42:36

are one of those places that remember

42:39

when you did the thing with Danny Meyer and

42:41

he talked about how these restaurants in

42:43

New York put out the stained the steel

42:45

platter with the cold vegetables on the ice cubes.

42:47

So you get to your table and it's got big radishes

42:50

and carrot sticks and cellar hearts of celery

42:52

and fennel.

42:53

Is gorgeous.

42:54

It's like easy, wonderful,

42:57

and everybody in there is an

43:00

older group and they're so

43:02

lovely, but all say.

43:04

You know, we're going to go see your show.

43:06

You know, we read about the book

43:08

or you know, they're very community oriented

43:11

and it's a wonderful place and we go

43:13

there a lot on Sunday nights, like if we're meeting

43:15

other people, if we're not going to invite people

43:17

to our house for dinner, we'll go to Jean's.

43:19

Okay, we have to go to Jean's beautiful

43:21

cocktails.

43:22

Shall we eat? Okay?

43:25

Thank you, thank you so much,

43:27

thank you, thank

43:35

you for listening to Ruthie's Table for in

43:38

partnership with Montclair.

43:48

Ruthie's Table four is produced by Atamei

43:50

Studios for iHeartRadio.

43:52

It's hosted by Ruthie Rogers, and it's

43:54

produced by William Lensky. This

43:56

episode was edited by Julia Johnson and

43:59

mixed by Nigel Appleton. Our

44:01

executive producers are Fay Stewart

44:03

and Zad Rogers. Our production

44:06

manager is Caitlin Paramore, and our production

44:08

coordinator is Bella Cellini. This

44:10

episode had additional contributions by

44:12

Sean Wynn Owen. Thank

44:14

you to everyone at The River Cafe for your

44:16

help in making this episode.