[00:00:00.000]
[00:00:04.652]
[ Indistinct conversations, clattering ]
[00:00:07.364]
[00:00:12.744]
♪♪
[00:00:20.251]
-My plate is an empty canvas,
[00:00:22.003]
and, you know, I can draw from it.
[00:00:25.548]
I fell in love with the symphony of it,
[00:00:29.844]
the way and the dance of it.
[00:00:32.097]
I just wanted to do something with food,
[00:00:34.432]
but I was not too sure where I was --
[00:00:36.601]
you know, which way I was gonna go,
[00:00:38.269]
and now this is where I am.
[00:00:41.689]
-What the immigrants are looking for today --
[00:00:43.066]
a better life for their family, for their children --
[00:00:45.527]
That was back then in 1956 for us.
[00:00:47.862]
[ Indistinct conversations, laughter ]
[00:00:49.614]
We went into a refuge camp, a political refuge camp,
[00:00:53.076]
and I realized that we would not go back to see Grandma,
[00:00:58.123]
and so I think, at that moment, my passion for food
[00:01:02.001]
was born almost then.
[00:01:04.712]
I wanted to retain those memories, those flavors,
[00:01:08.091]
and throughout my life, I would bring them with me by cooking.
[00:01:12.929]
-When I came into the building, it was really humbling.
[00:01:17.809]
Grey is located in a Greyhound bus station
[00:01:20.603]
that was built in 1938 during the Jim Crow era,
[00:01:23.898]
so it is a segregated building.
[00:01:27.193]
I know the people who were in this space
[00:01:29.362]
going to ride the bus,
[00:01:30.738]
sitting in that little tiny back waiting room
[00:01:33.366]
did not think that someone like me would be a co-owner
[00:01:36.578]
or be in this space at all running it.
[00:01:39.581]
-I started cooking when I was 17,
[00:01:42.292]
and then I came to Four Seasons Chicago,
[00:01:44.586]
and I was 10 years with them
[00:01:46.546]
as executive chef in three properties,
[00:01:49.799]
but my father always said, "The higher up you go,
[00:01:52.927]
the further removed you get from what made you great."
[00:01:55.680]
And at the end of the day, this is what we do --
[00:01:57.849]
We cook.
[00:01:59.184]
♪♪
[00:02:07.901]
♪♪
[00:02:16.951]
♪♪
[00:02:25.668]
♪♪
[00:02:34.385]
♪♪
[00:02:43.102]
♪♪
[00:02:51.819]
♪♪
[00:03:00.620]
-So, Mom, what do you think?
[00:03:02.080]
This is to see you as a matriarch...
[00:03:03.915]
-[ Laughs ]
[00:03:05.416]
...hear your story.
[00:03:08.711]
-I never thought that I would do what I did
[00:03:11.631]
how I did it when I did it.
[00:03:14.092]
If I had to do it over again,
[00:03:16.010]
bet your ass I'd do it over again just for you and Christos.
[00:03:19.097]
[00:03:21.808]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:03:23.893]
[00:03:27.397]
♪♪
[00:03:32.694]
♪♪
[00:03:37.865]
I didn't care about money 'cause I knew
[00:03:39.617]
I was gonna make it because I believed in myself.
[00:03:43.413]
Why shouldn't I do what I love?
[00:03:45.331]
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
[00:03:46.874]
♪♪
[00:03:49.460]
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
[00:03:51.087]
Don't you dare take food that doesn't belong.
[00:03:53.423]
♪♪
[00:03:57.760]
You've got tonight's special up there yet?
[00:03:59.345]
-Yeah, it's up there. -He said, "Tomato wine."
[00:04:02.098]
Wrong answer. Tomato basil.
[00:04:03.808]
♪♪
[00:04:07.186]
All you need is just a touch. -Yeah.
[00:04:09.314]
-And go from side to side instead of over the salmon.
[00:04:12.317]
♪♪
[00:04:19.991]
-Lobster. -Megan, what do you need?
[00:04:21.534]
-Spinach pie!
[00:04:23.411]
-You got the spices, everything?
[00:04:25.371]
Liquor? White wine?
[00:04:27.999]
[00:04:31.085]
[ Sighs ]
[00:04:32.670]
Tonight is a burger night. You understand?
[00:04:35.465]
Don't screw up tonight, 'cause guess what.
[00:04:37.550]
You're going to McDonald's.
[00:04:39.010]
♪♪
[00:04:42.555]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:04:45.224]
Coming to work every day, loving the restaurant,
[00:04:48.519]
loving people, and loving to see my kids happy --
[00:04:52.023]
That's all I care.
[00:04:53.316]
♪♪
[00:04:59.530]
[00:05:01.074]
I didn't have a life, and to keep it afloat,
[00:05:05.162]
I went in from 8:00 in the morning,
[00:05:06.580]
and I'd go home at 10:00, 11:00 at night,
[00:05:09.541]
not seeing my kids because I couldn't afford to stop.
[00:05:15.255]
-There's no doubt that there is still a glass ceiling
[00:05:17.257]
for women in all kinds of industry --
[00:05:18.967]
and especially in the culinary world.
[00:05:20.969]
You know, over half of the graduates of culinary schools
[00:05:23.388]
are women, yet less than 7% of women
[00:05:26.266]
own restaurant businesses in this country.
[00:05:28.560]
-I was doing stages and apprentices in France
[00:05:32.397]
when I got eight rejection letters from,
[00:05:35.525]
you know, eight chefs that said,
[00:05:37.527]
"We don't take women in our kitchens."
[00:05:38.945]
That was only 20 years ago.
[00:05:41.656]
So I was ready when I became an executive chef.
[00:05:44.284]
I was ready, and I could hold my own with all these guys.
[00:05:46.912]
Kind of like being on the streets
[00:05:48.538]
and like street fighting, you know, in a kitchen.
[00:05:51.583]
-I can tell you of a story of going to Paris once
[00:05:56.087]
for a client that wanted a wedding cake
[00:05:59.257]
and walked into an all-male kitchen,
[00:06:02.344]
where they looked askance and said,
[00:06:04.429]
"Oh, my God. What is this?
[00:06:06.223]
Who are you? A woman?"
[00:06:08.642]
And when we were finished, they were enthralled.
[00:06:11.603]
They had a bottle of champagne and toasted us.
[00:06:15.357]
And I think that's what women have to do.
[00:06:17.192]
They have to prove it all the time, unfortunately.
[00:06:20.403]
-I grew up in Southie, last of seven kids, no money.
[00:06:23.782]
I remember reading "Gourmet" magazine,
[00:06:25.951]
and that kind of was the armchair travel for me,
[00:06:28.578]
because you were reading about Provence or Italy,
[00:06:31.373]
and you were just dreaming about it.
[00:06:34.000]
So I went to Italy. I think I was 22.
[00:06:36.753]
And I learned how to cook from this woman, Nita, in Tuscany.
[00:06:42.133]
Didn't speak a word of English,
[00:06:43.385]
and I didn't speak a word of Italian.
[00:06:46.554]
She taught me how to make Bolognese sauce,
[00:06:49.015]
gnocchi, you know, when to pick the basil, everything.
[00:06:53.061]
She was so self-sufficient.
[00:06:54.104]
I mean, I've never seen that.
[00:06:55.939]
And everyone respected the nonna, the mama.
[00:06:59.276]
-Women excel in cooking.
[00:07:01.444]
This is what we do naturally.
[00:07:03.113]
And behind every great French chef
[00:07:07.325]
was a grandmother or a mother.
[00:07:10.287]
You look at individuals like Bocuse and Girardet,
[00:07:13.832]
and they always learned to cook from their mothers.
[00:07:17.294]
They learned to cook from their grandmothers
[00:07:19.254]
in their own family restaurants and bistros and inns.
[00:07:24.426]
-In a little town outside Pula,
[00:07:26.428]
the town that I was born in, was a courtyard,
[00:07:29.431]
and in that courtyard was my grandmother,
[00:07:31.182]
my grandfather's sister, brothers.
[00:07:33.852]
It was a real family courtyard, and all the sustenance,
[00:07:38.064]
all the food that we ate, most of it,
[00:07:41.151]
was either grown or harvested.
[00:07:43.278]
We had the grain, the olive oil.
[00:07:45.697]
I was a little helper. Run around.
[00:07:47.324]
"Go get me this, go get me that."
[00:07:49.409]
I consider myself almost a conduit for a culture.
[00:07:54.164]
I carry the Italian tradition
[00:07:56.374]
from my native country to America.
[00:07:58.668]
-"Ciliegine," so they say, right?
[00:08:00.462]
-La ciliegine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:08:02.505]
-Then you hear a bunch of people say,
[00:08:04.299]
"Oh, I just want to cook like my grandmother
[00:08:05.967]
or my nonna."
[00:08:07.969]
It seems to me that the goal should be
[00:08:10.138]
for every chef, male or female,
[00:08:12.682]
to be cooking like a female chef.
[00:08:16.186]
-People will say, "Well, you know,
[00:08:18.730]
if you want to cook, if you're a woman, just do --
[00:08:21.191]
you know, cook pasta or just do something very rustic."
[00:08:24.652]
They don't look that women could be
[00:08:26.279]
a Jean-Georges or Thomas Keller.
[00:08:28.490]
They don't look at that like this.
[00:08:30.200]
♪♪
[00:08:38.166]
I'm looking at Anne-Sophie Pic.
[00:08:39.793]
I'm looking at Elena Arzak --
[00:08:41.920]
those great chefs that are female in Europe
[00:08:44.506]
that have three Michelin stars.
[00:08:47.050]
Et voilà.
[00:08:48.676]
♪♪
[00:08:53.640]
-Last year, we celebrate 25 years of the Michelin stars,
[00:08:58.645]
and, you know, for us, it's an honor.
[00:09:00.855]
♪♪
[00:09:07.195]
You will see that there are more men
[00:09:09.614]
than woman that are famous.
[00:09:11.366]
But, for me, this is a social question.
[00:09:13.410]
This will change with time.
[00:09:15.537]
Sometimes I was the only woman in the kitchen,
[00:09:18.289]
or there was one or two more,
[00:09:20.333]
but the focus and the purpose was the same --
[00:09:23.211]
doing as good as possible.
[00:09:26.214]
-Yeah, as a woman, of course, it was harder for me
[00:09:28.383]
because men thought women in the field was a joke,
[00:09:33.680]
but when you find a woman that could establish her own self
[00:09:39.060]
and don't care about what people think,
[00:09:42.021]
you just go at it.
[00:09:45.650]
Customers that come into you every day
[00:09:48.153]
are not coming only for your food --
[00:09:50.363]
They're coming for you.
[00:09:53.074]
-She's quite the lady.
[00:09:54.534]
A mother and a businesswoman.
[00:09:57.495]
-Come on, guys. Use your head.
[00:09:58.705]
There's 75 people coming for a party.
[00:10:01.040]
If you let them take two spaces up, we're screwed.
[00:10:03.960]
Just make sure they're for the function,
[00:10:05.837]
but do not let them park the way they want.
[00:10:08.256]
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
[00:10:09.507]
Oh, does anyone want to do dishes?
[00:10:12.302]
-It's like coming home 'cause she's always
[00:10:14.971]
welcoming and hugging, and she's just always there.
[00:10:17.932]
-Penne up, guys?! -Yeah, right now.
[00:10:20.727]
-Well, I sent you a text.
[00:10:22.103]
Did you not read my goddamn text?
[00:10:24.147]
I know you're busy, I know it's...
[00:10:27.192]
I know, baby. I know.
[00:10:28.735]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:10:30.820]
Everybody saw Val going to work every day,
[00:10:33.698]
seeing the smile, "how are you doing?"
[00:10:36.451]
But they never knew what a mess I really was.
[00:10:39.996]
♪♪
[00:10:41.915]
I used to drive Reservoir from my house to come to work.
[00:10:47.253]
I'd stop at the reservoir.
[00:10:50.548]
[ Voice breaking ] And I would look up, and I'd say,
[00:10:52.342]
"Please, God, just give me strength."
[00:10:55.428]
[00:10:59.057]
The minute my right foot went into this door,
[00:11:02.894]
I forgot about everything.
[00:11:04.521]
Debt collectors coming to knock on my door.
[00:11:07.106]
I said, "Go screw. You'll get your money when I have it."
[00:11:09.817]
I just blocked them out.
[00:11:11.236]
I didn't care.
[00:11:12.820]
All I thought was, "I have to make it work.
[00:11:15.823]
I have to make it work."
[00:11:17.867]
♪♪
[00:11:26.334]
With a divorce, with kids, bills, loans,
[00:11:30.838]
I became a bull, and I kept on going.
[00:11:33.258]
♪♪
[00:11:42.892]
-I have to tell you, I didn't think I was making a career.
[00:11:46.604]
At the age of 50, I had breast cancer,
[00:11:49.649]
and I was in chemotherapy here in New York
[00:11:52.569]
several times a week.
[00:11:54.571]
And so I felt I had nothing to lose,
[00:11:58.324]
and we always wanted to come back to Manhattan.
[00:12:00.660]
We knew the city, and we loved the city.
[00:12:03.371]
And we found this wonderful space,
[00:12:05.623]
and so we now, as we say, live above the store.
[00:12:09.085]
[00:12:11.421]
New York City is a unique space
[00:12:13.256]
because you have a mixture of ages,
[00:12:17.135]
sexuality, a lot of artists, a lot of young people.
[00:12:20.054]
And I always say -- Get younger friends.
[00:12:21.598]
It keeps you younger.
[00:12:24.392]
I also had a friend in New York who had a bakery, and he said,
[00:12:28.771]
"Nobody's doing beautiful and delicious wedding cakes,
[00:12:32.525]
but if you can come up with an idea,
[00:12:34.611]
you could probably take over the city."
[00:12:38.197]
And so, my first cake...
[00:12:40.074]
The ladies that lunch saw the cake,
[00:12:42.493]
and one ordered it for The Carlyle.
[00:12:44.996]
And as soon as The Carlyle had it, The Pierre found out,
[00:12:48.207]
The Plaza found out, and all the hotels said,
[00:12:51.294]
"Hey, there's a new kid in town."
[00:12:53.340]
[00:12:54.840]
And, of course, they discovered it was a 50-year-old woman,
[00:12:58.135]
which made it even more interesting for me
[00:13:01.179]
and challenging for them.
[00:13:03.390]
-I got offered this job to come and be chef
[00:13:05.976]
and co-owner of The Spotted Pig.
[00:13:07.644]
I got brought over on a whirlwind weekend
[00:13:10.230]
with Mario Batali and Ken Friedman,
[00:13:12.774]
and Ken was like, "Oh, if you're
[00:13:14.484]
the right person for the job, Mario will give me the thumbs-up
[00:13:17.362]
or some sign in about 30 seconds."
[00:13:19.489]
And I think he could probably see
[00:13:21.450]
that I was very focused in my career,
[00:13:23.535]
and he also noticed the burns on my arm,
[00:13:27.330]
and apparently he thought I was fearless.
[00:13:31.126]
About 3 months later, 4 months later, I moved to New York.
[00:13:34.546]
-Now, to those new allegations of sexual misconduct
[00:13:37.215]
rocking the food industry.
[00:13:38.967]
-Sexual-harassment accusations
[00:13:40.677]
against the owner of New York City hot spot The Spotted Pig.
[00:13:43.763]
-More women and more allegations against Mario Batali,
[00:13:46.600]
and now the accusations
[00:13:47.684]
are escalating.
[00:13:48.768]
Eataly, the Italian marketplace chain
[00:13:50.562]
where Batali is part owner, has removed all of his cookbooks
[00:13:53.273]
and all of his products,
[00:13:54.357]
including his signature sauces,
[00:13:56.067]
which have his face on the label.
[00:13:57.986]
-The Me Too movement, it is growing.
[00:13:59.654]
-This has been a very powerful movement.
[00:14:01.656]
A new ABC News/"Washington Post" poll
[00:14:03.617]
revealing an estimated 33 million American women
[00:14:07.078]
have been sexually harassed.
[00:14:08.663]
♪♪
[00:14:15.712]
-With all the things that have happened with Me Too,
[00:14:19.174]
I think lots of us in the industry are having
[00:14:20.926]
a conversation where I started really looking at my career
[00:14:24.930]
and thinking back to things that had occurred 30 years ago.
[00:14:28.308]
There was a hotel that was brand-new
[00:14:30.101]
that was pursuing a Michelin star,
[00:14:31.645]
and I had come from France and had a great résumé.
[00:14:34.522]
And one of the sous-chefs on the other team
[00:14:38.401]
was very direct about his interest in me
[00:14:41.321]
that went beyond being a working colleague.
[00:14:44.407]
And on a daily basis,
[00:14:46.993]
they started turning the lights off
[00:14:49.079]
when I would be in the walk-in.
[00:14:50.830]
And the sous-chef from the other restaurant
[00:14:53.083]
would come into the walk-in, and I would try to make myself
[00:14:57.087]
as small as possible within that space
[00:15:00.423]
and try to get out of the space as quickly as possible,
[00:15:03.510]
and everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious.
[00:15:06.554]
And after work, I would have one of the other cooks leave with me
[00:15:11.017]
because this fellow would be waiting outside.
[00:15:13.311]
I decided that what I would do is, I would go
[00:15:16.398]
to work 3 hours before my shift started,
[00:15:19.567]
and I wouldn't punch in, and I would go,
[00:15:22.696]
and I would do all of my mise en place on my own time
[00:15:26.574]
so that my station was completely set up.
[00:15:28.827]
And then I would ask one of the other cooks,
[00:15:30.745]
if I happened to need anything, to go into the walk-in.
[00:15:34.165]
And then this situation came to the attention
[00:15:39.504]
of the executive chef of the hotel.
[00:15:41.631]
He called me into his office and wrote me up
[00:15:45.802]
and said I was antisocial and all I wanted to do was cook.
[00:15:50.223]
And I remember sitting there
[00:15:51.641]
and being very clear about saying, like,
[00:15:54.519]
"This person is coming in the walk-in,
[00:15:56.062]
and they're touching me,
[00:15:57.522]
and people are turning the lights off,
[00:15:59.482]
and this person's waiting outside
[00:16:01.401]
when I'm leaving work at night, and I'm not comfortable,"
[00:16:04.654]
and being told that it was my problem.
[00:16:07.115]
And I think of that now, and it's insane.
[00:16:10.076]
It was humiliating.
[00:16:11.911]
I lasted about 2 more weeks, and I knew I couldn't stay there
[00:16:15.165]
because something worse was going to happen.
[00:16:18.335]
I would hope, at this point, if that were happening
[00:16:21.129]
to a young woman that there would be zero tolerance,
[00:16:24.341]
and that the person that was asked to leave
[00:16:26.760]
would be the person who was causing the discomfort,
[00:16:30.472]
not the person who was the victim of the actions.
[00:16:34.059]
-I switched over, and I worked for a female,
[00:16:37.520]
and it was like a completely different experience.
[00:16:40.648]
It was like, "What do you want to cook?
[00:16:44.319]
What kind of cook are you? What kind of person are you?"
[00:16:47.655]
[00:16:49.699]
-Mash, mash, rice! Go!
[00:16:52.452]
Eggplant Parm, girlfriend.
[00:16:53.953]
My strength are my staff.
[00:16:56.331]
-Thank you. -They inspire me,
[00:16:58.792]
because without them, I couldn't have Val's.
[00:17:03.004]
You're good. You're good.
[00:17:05.090]
You're good. Keep it going.
[00:17:07.050]
How I first got involved in this business
[00:17:11.137]
was, when I was very young,
[00:17:13.223]
my dad and mom had 12 seats in a little diner.
[00:17:19.437]
I used to go there and sit at the first stool,
[00:17:22.774]
and I would just watch him interact with customers,
[00:17:26.528]
and he would just give it all out to them.
[00:17:29.447]
-Once in a while, I would see her --
[00:17:31.408]
a little pretty [Speaking Greek]
[00:17:33.368]
a little tiny girl,
[00:17:35.620]
running down to see her mother or her father.
[00:17:37.914]
You know, she loved being the -- trying to work.
[00:17:41.084]
[00:17:44.045]
-The diner was an interesting place
[00:17:45.964]
because all kinds of people came in there -- wealthy people,
[00:17:49.968]
blue-collar workers, college professors, students.
[00:17:54.222]
And they all loved coming there
[00:17:56.516]
because it wasn't just the food --
[00:17:59.727]
the way they were talked to with respect.
[00:18:01.938]
They were listened to.
[00:18:03.606]
Val connects with people the same way her father did.
[00:18:07.318]
[00:18:09.446]
-He's the one that showed me
[00:18:12.031]
that when you give with your heart, it comes back.
[00:18:16.411]
There was no obstacles between him and work, either.
[00:18:19.747]
He came as an immigrant, didn't know how to speak,
[00:18:22.459]
didn't know how to say "hello" in English,
[00:18:25.253]
but because of his hard work, he provided for his family.
[00:18:29.883]
He worked hard, and he did well.
[00:18:32.177]
♪♪
[00:18:39.225]
My father wanted me to learn Greek.
[00:18:42.854]
So from 8 years old, I'd go to Greece from June,
[00:18:47.901]
the minute school's finished, until Labor Day weekend.
[00:18:51.196]
We'd be back home.
[00:18:52.739]
[00:18:54.991]
My last trip was 1976.
[00:18:58.578]
I was 16.
[00:18:59.829]
What the hell do you know at 16?
[00:19:02.749]
I picked up the phone in Greece. It was funny.
[00:19:04.626]
I said, "Dad, I'm getting married."
[00:19:08.004]
He said, "Good girl!"
[00:19:09.797]
He said, "You found a nice Greek boy."
[00:19:12.217]
[00:19:15.136]
I get married.
[00:19:16.888]
I come back to the States.
[00:19:19.307]
And we started to work and help Dad, help Mom.
[00:19:24.562]
Things changed.
[00:19:26.105]
[00:19:28.399]
At that time, George, my brother,
[00:19:31.569]
had never worked a day of his life.
[00:19:34.155]
I think he was 18.
[00:19:36.616]
-Val was a worker. Val was.
[00:19:39.702]
Val worked a lot, you know.
[00:19:41.955]
And George, you know...
[00:19:43.581]
well, he worked, but not that much.
[00:19:46.334]
He kind of had it a lot easier.
[00:19:48.002]
[00:19:50.588]
-At that point of my life, my father was successful.
[00:19:55.426]
He had five pizzerias.
[00:19:57.762]
He had buildings.
[00:19:59.472]
He had plazas.
[00:20:01.224]
And he had a son and a daughter.
[00:20:04.227]
[00:20:07.438]
Well, the son got married,
[00:20:11.025]
and they manipulated my mother and father.
[00:20:16.739]
And my brother was handed the business
[00:20:21.828]
that I worked from a young child.
[00:20:25.123]
♪♪
[00:20:32.839]
♪♪
[00:20:40.013]
From that young age, I had a vision.
[00:20:43.183]
I had a vision just to keep working.
[00:20:46.603]
I have nothing, but I will make something.
[00:20:49.940]
♪♪
[00:20:55.737]
-The Culinary Institute of America
[00:20:57.405]
was launched in 1946 by two women,
[00:21:00.617]
but ironically they didn't even accept
[00:21:02.828]
female students until 1970.
[00:21:05.914]
-How do you do?
[00:21:07.040]
This is Eleanor Roosevelt speaking.
[00:21:10.127]
Now, there is one word that we're going to use
[00:21:14.131]
over and over today, Mrs. Roth.
[00:21:16.758]
I think we ought to get it straightened out right away --
[00:21:20.428]
exactly how the word should be pronounced.
[00:21:23.723]
How do you say c-u-l-i-n-a-r-y?
[00:21:28.186]
-Europeans usually say "cul-linary,"
[00:21:31.481]
and we in America are more apt to call it the "cul-inary"
[00:21:35.569]
or the "cul-inarian" arts.
[00:21:37.571]
♪♪
[00:21:41.825]
-I went to the Culinary Institute of America,
[00:21:43.493]
where there was still a lot of older instructors
[00:21:46.496]
who were used to kind of the male students only.
[00:21:50.750]
I actually had one instructor who told me, you know,
[00:21:52.502]
"You should still be in Mississippi barefoot
[00:21:54.045]
and pregnant right now. You shouldn't be here
[00:21:55.463]
at the Culinary Institute of America."
[00:21:57.174]
-Culinary right now is where the finance world
[00:21:59.759]
was in the '80s.
[00:22:02.220]
The rules were all created by men.
[00:22:04.973]
The industry was dominated by men.
[00:22:07.434]
Women were really treated like outsiders.
[00:22:11.229]
-A lot of the traditional culinary world
[00:22:14.024]
was based on a European model.
[00:22:15.483]
So I think that's one reason, perhaps,
[00:22:18.445]
that the industry has been male-dominated, male-oriented.
[00:22:22.949]
In the time of Escoffier,
[00:22:24.951]
he really established the brigade system,
[00:22:27.162]
which was kind of based upon the idea
[00:22:29.623]
of a military structure,
[00:22:31.291]
so that you had sort of a leader
[00:22:32.959]
and then branches of leadership coming down from the top,
[00:22:36.129]
but there was one chef who was in charge.
[00:22:38.632]
-I am the president of the Central New England,
[00:22:41.218]
or Joseph Donan Chapter, of Les Amis d'Escoffier.
[00:22:44.638]
It's "The Friends of Escoffier" --
[00:22:46.932]
the man who basically organized classical cuisine.
[00:22:51.186]
My dad, Stanley James Nicas,
[00:22:53.480]
he was the president for a number of years.
[00:22:57.359]
My dad had a great respect for people
[00:23:00.487]
who didn't let things happen to them,
[00:23:05.367]
took charge of things, and made sure that things would get done.
[00:23:08.536]
♪♪
[00:23:13.833]
-I didn't have a clue what the Escoffier Society was.
[00:23:17.170]
Your dad just called at 12:00 on a Friday lunch.
[00:23:19.881]
"Val, Val, I just want you to know --
[00:23:22.884]
I'm going to induct you,"
[00:23:24.511]
and I was like, "Induct me, Stanley? In what?"
[00:23:29.266]
-Les Amis d'Escoffier did start as a man's club.
[00:23:34.646]
There are a few chapters in the U.S.
[00:23:36.314]
that are not allowing women.
[00:23:38.733]
You know, I would suspect that those would change.
[00:23:42.195]
-Being a chef in France was equivalent
[00:23:43.738]
to being a rocket scientist.
[00:23:45.448]
They had little commis, little boys,
[00:23:47.200]
that were probably 12 to 14
[00:23:49.244]
that were just dropped off by their parents and said,
[00:23:50.954]
"Just want to make them chefs."
[00:23:53.039]
[00:23:55.625]
-It was very classic.
[00:23:57.252]
It was commis. It was chef de parties.
[00:23:59.671]
It was poissonniers, entremetiers, sauciers.
[00:24:03.216]
You know, Cook One, Two, Three, Four, Five.
[00:24:05.760]
It was a brigade.
[00:24:07.053]
It was a French brigade.
[00:24:08.638]
-Most of them were young men who had a big ego,
[00:24:12.475]
and whose mothers had felt, "Well,
[00:24:14.936]
if he's not gonna be a doctor, he'll be a chef."
[00:24:17.105]
[00:24:20.275]
-So, that very traditional model created a lot of male chefs
[00:24:24.321]
who, of course, were inspired and nurtured by their mothers,
[00:24:27.157]
grandmothers, aunts, you know, other family members
[00:24:29.492]
who did the traditional cooking at home.
[00:24:31.119]
♪♪
[00:24:40.378]
-I think the Greek culture, we always like to feed people.
[00:24:44.049]
My mom making spinach pie.
[00:24:46.343]
My father roasting a leg of lamb.
[00:24:48.595]
So being that way at home,
[00:24:52.307]
I brought it into the restaurant here.
[00:24:56.519]
-Definitely having all these recipes given to me
[00:24:59.105]
from the older generations, from my grandparents,
[00:25:01.983]
my grandmother, my mother --
[00:25:04.194]
That's how young chefs grow.
[00:25:07.364]
They gain knowledge from their grandparents in the kitchen.
[00:25:10.533]
They're from Northern Greek villages,
[00:25:12.118]
so basically they didn't have much up there.
[00:25:14.579]
They had to produce everything they had out
[00:25:16.790]
of what they had on the land.
[00:25:19.084]
And I try to use the most wholesome and simple ingredients
[00:25:22.670]
that I can to a dish because that's how I was brought up.
[00:25:25.965]
-You can make honest and clean food.
[00:25:29.177]
That's how I call it.
[00:25:30.678]
We have to take all the processed food out of our lives.
[00:25:34.265]
The ancient Greeks, they used to eat a lot of beans,
[00:25:38.061]
a lot of greens, a lot of fish.
[00:25:41.356]
Starting from there, going to my grandmother's,
[00:25:46.152]
that's the nature in my cuisine.
[00:25:48.446]
[00:25:53.159]
-Alice Waters said it best --
[00:25:55.078]
"If we celebrated food for what it should be celebrated for,
[00:25:58.540]
women would naturally rise to the top."
[00:26:00.708]
♪♪
[00:26:08.758]
-I arrived at Chez Panisse in July 2003,
[00:26:12.137]
and it was basically like a pilgrimage.
[00:26:15.348]
It opened new doors for me.
[00:26:17.475]
You know, when you have those connections with food,
[00:26:19.644]
it's very personal,
[00:26:21.312]
and you just kind of stop, and you have this moment,
[00:26:24.023]
and it's a very loving connection.
[00:26:29.362]
To use local farms,
[00:26:31.030]
I think it's really important to support local agriculture.
[00:26:34.159]
It's gonna taste better,
[00:26:35.660]
and it's good for the environment.
[00:26:37.454]
You know, it's less carbon footprint than buying
[00:26:39.497]
lamb from New Zealand.
[00:26:41.875]
And even go one step further to having a restaurant on the farm
[00:26:46.796]
and to have it all be self-sustainable and symbiotic.
[00:26:50.758]
[00:26:54.304]
-My mom, everything that she cooked at home was very fresh.
[00:26:58.057]
Some of the item were coming from a garden in Brittany.
[00:27:01.102]
Some others were just, you know, the farmers' market every day.
[00:27:04.898]
So understanding the purity of the ingredient,
[00:27:07.859]
you understand where the food come from.
[00:27:09.903]
The food is the core of the ecosystem, you know?
[00:27:12.489]
So we have that responsibility as chef and human to do that.
[00:27:17.660]
-The food industry is really going through a revolution,
[00:27:20.705]
and it's being led by the female chefs.
[00:27:23.416]
♪♪
[00:27:32.467]
The "Time" magazine article in November of 2013 ran,
[00:27:36.137]
the title of which was "The Gods of Food,"
[00:27:38.681]
and they looked at the most influential people
[00:27:40.642]
in the food world of all time
[00:27:42.894]
and neglected to mention any female chefs.
[00:27:45.939]
-I mean, I thought this surely is a sensational piece
[00:27:48.149]
to sell magazines
[00:27:50.860]
because how embarrassing to just put out a story
[00:27:55.490]
that says, "Well, there weren't any female."
[00:27:57.575]
I mean, to have that editor come back
[00:28:00.036]
and to even be interviewed by "Eater"
[00:28:01.913]
and just completely double-screw himself was, like...
[00:28:05.208]
I think that's what made people be like, "Are you kidding me?"
[00:28:07.710]
♪♪
[00:28:15.552]
♪♪
[00:28:23.351]
♪♪
[00:28:31.150]
♪♪
[00:28:39.158]
-I mean, there's a lot of brilliant people
[00:28:40.618]
that should have been in there.
[00:28:41.911]
I'm glad I wasn't in that article
[00:28:43.580]
because there are women chefs,
[00:28:45.206]
and there are women who've been in the kitchen a lot longer
[00:28:49.669]
than I have who deserved more press than David Chang.
[00:28:54.340]
-I was like, "Oh, that's Dave Chang
[00:28:55.883]
and, you know, René," and I love them very much.
[00:28:59.804]
You know, I'm good friends with Dave.
[00:29:01.931]
So I didn't really kind of think of it like that
[00:29:03.766]
until people had started kind of, you know,
[00:29:06.477]
saying, "This is really wrong.
[00:29:07.937]
Why are there no women on there?"
[00:29:10.315]
So, you know, it did kind of make me think.
[00:29:12.567]
Yeah. -It's just cooking and working.
[00:29:14.569]
And who knows, you know,
[00:29:16.988]
if you're ever gonna be successful?
[00:29:18.656]
Because there's a lot of us out there
[00:29:20.658]
trying really, really hard... -Yeah, exactly.
[00:29:22.619]
-...and only a few, like, you know, are making it.
[00:29:26.456]
I think there's more conflict, I think, for a woman
[00:29:31.044]
to make that decision to really dive into this profession.
[00:29:36.424]
-I think, but the women that do, like,
[00:29:38.092]
dive into it full-force are very successful.
[00:29:40.928]
♪♪
[00:29:45.433]
-In the '80s, we started to have a family.
[00:29:50.772]
Joanna was born, my daughter.
[00:29:54.984]
My husband and myself, we opened pizzerias.
[00:29:57.278]
We opened five pizzerias.
[00:30:00.281]
[00:30:02.575]
Then Christos came along.
[00:30:04.452]
[00:30:07.372]
My husband -- great man, loved him to death.
[00:30:11.293]
He didn't want anything that I wanted.
[00:30:16.423]
I just couldn't take being ripped apart between kids,
[00:30:20.760]
family, husband.
[00:30:24.806]
I needed to find me.
[00:30:27.184]
♪♪
[00:30:29.019]
So, I was 29, two little kids,
[00:30:34.357]
and in the Greek culture,
[00:30:36.151]
you don't say you're just getting divorced.
[00:30:38.069]
[00:30:41.364]
I went to Mom and Dad's house, explained to them
[00:30:45.285]
that I have to get out of this marriage.
[00:30:49.915]
And they looked at me and said,
[00:30:54.502]
"You've been in it for so many years.
[00:30:56.379]
You have to fix it."
[00:30:58.715]
I heard what they wanted, closed the door,
[00:31:03.303]
and I went on my own.
[00:31:05.305]
♪♪
[00:31:14.522]
-Unless you have a partner, husband or wife,
[00:31:19.069]
that works with you, then you can share the burdens.
[00:31:23.073]
-We had 30 years great together in business,
[00:31:25.075]
and it grew, and, you know...
[00:31:26.952]
But he wanted to retire,
[00:31:28.411]
and I was just in the beginning of kind of,
[00:31:31.081]
you know -- and the TV and the books,
[00:31:33.416]
and I said, "I'm not gonna retire in Italy."
[00:31:36.169]
I couldn't have.
[00:31:37.754]
It would have meant putting me in a prison
[00:31:40.340]
to be away from all of that,
[00:31:41.925]
and I knew that I wouldn't have been happy as an individual.
[00:31:45.470]
-It's such a 24-7 job, you know?
[00:31:47.764]
I used to be the last person that I took care of.
[00:31:50.558]
And I've learned that I need to take care of myself first,
[00:31:53.436]
as well, because I'm not gonna be
[00:31:55.689]
as good for everyone else if I'm completely depleted.
[00:31:59.067]
-If I was to have kids, I would need someone
[00:32:02.070]
who was very supportive and very independent, I think.
[00:32:05.949]
There's always gonna need to be one parent
[00:32:08.326]
that is going to work a lot,
[00:32:10.870]
and I would obviously be that parent,
[00:32:13.331]
and I would be away weird hours,
[00:32:16.209]
so I would really need someone who was super-understanding
[00:32:19.713]
and that was willing to, you know, do that.
[00:32:24.384]
-My support system in my life of Val's Restaurant
[00:32:28.847]
was my mother and father.
[00:32:30.890]
They took care of my kids from the minute
[00:32:33.226]
I left the house in the morning.
[00:32:35.729]
Wake up 6:00.
[00:32:38.773]
I would take Joanna to school, come back home, feed Christos,
[00:32:44.237]
and take him to Yaya's house, who was my mom.
[00:32:47.115]
[00:32:51.036]
I didn't hold it against my parents
[00:32:53.538]
because I knew how bad
[00:32:55.081]
they felt to give everything to my brother.
[00:32:58.626]
They realized they were wrong to think
[00:33:01.921]
I couldn't handle the business because I was a woman.
[00:33:04.841]
♪♪
[00:33:13.683]
...with the jumbo-stuffed shrimp,
[00:33:15.435]
and keep it to the menu.
[00:33:17.103]
So, how is the chowder? I need chowder.
[00:33:19.856]
I always used my voice to expedite the orders,
[00:33:24.194]
so doing that for at least 12 years,
[00:33:30.533]
my vocal cords got tired,
[00:33:32.994]
and so now I have a raspy kind of voice
[00:33:36.873]
from using my voice in the business.
[00:33:40.585]
Constantly talking, constantly giving orders,
[00:33:46.174]
but this is the business.
[00:33:47.467]
You got to talk.
[00:33:48.802]
You've got to move. You've got to do it all.
[00:33:51.930]
But now that we have the POSi, I don't have to talk anymore,
[00:33:54.682]
which is nice.
[00:33:56.309]
I got toasted, right, guy?
[00:33:58.603]
Leslie?!
[00:34:00.146]
[00:34:03.149]
-I was 7 when we opened up over here,
[00:34:05.652]
and then I was, I think, 15
[00:34:08.613]
when I first started actually working,
[00:34:10.782]
so between the years of 7 and 15,
[00:34:13.493]
I'd be riding my Rollerblades around here,
[00:34:16.204]
throwing pieces of dough at,
[00:34:17.872]
like, the dishwashers and, like, the delivery guys.
[00:34:21.209]
She rarely had time to be able to say,
[00:34:23.420]
"All right, Christos. Let's go.
[00:34:26.089]
I'm gonna take you to a Red Sox game."
[00:34:28.341]
And you could tell, you know, she wanted to be there.
[00:34:32.303]
She just felt that she couldn't with this business.
[00:34:35.473]
And is that to say, you know, I care less for her?
[00:34:39.310]
No. Obviously not.
[00:34:40.770]
I understand the sacrifices.
[00:34:42.814]
♪♪
[00:34:52.323]
-Knowing what I went through,
[00:34:55.368]
Christos watched me growing up,
[00:34:59.247]
and he didn't care for this field then.
[00:35:03.626]
He would always say, "Why can't you be home with me?"
[00:35:07.130]
But it's nice to see my son
[00:35:10.925]
be there for me now.
[00:35:14.596]
And here's a picture of when we went to the beach
[00:35:18.016]
every Fourth of July,
[00:35:20.101]
and we closed down for almost a week,
[00:35:22.562]
and that was, like,
[00:35:23.855]
the best time for us to bond as a family.
[00:35:28.985]
-What do you think in terms of that fine line
[00:35:32.655]
between giving it your all in work and career
[00:35:36.242]
and then being a mother
[00:35:37.869]
and trying to have a family and...
[00:35:40.413]
-I just -- I loved it.
[00:35:43.208]
I missed being the mother that -- You know,
[00:35:46.044]
I see other mothers taking their kids here and there.
[00:35:49.047]
I think I did a lot of that with you,
[00:35:51.007]
even though I was always at the restaurant.
[00:35:54.552]
But I think now, with me getting a little older
[00:35:58.223]
and you kids getting a little older --
[00:35:59.891]
I think I'm gonna enjoy my life after
[00:36:03.311]
'cause now it's my turn to enjoy you kids.
[00:36:06.397]
[00:36:08.233]
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
[00:36:09.400]
[00:36:12.237]
Are you done?
[00:36:13.905]
[00:36:15.365]
Gigi.
[00:36:17.158]
-I don't remember us sitting out here that much growing up.
[00:36:19.577]
-I worked.
[00:36:20.745]
I don't think we sat out here much.
[00:36:25.708]
But...
[00:36:29.170]
I think it's now nice that I can enjoy it
[00:36:31.506]
with my grandbaby, my grandbaby.
[00:36:34.968]
But...
[00:36:36.010]
Huh? Yeah.
[00:36:39.347]
-[ Babbles ] -Yeah.
[00:36:40.265]
That's yours. -Gigi.
[00:36:42.475]
-Gigi. Is that for you or Gigi?
[00:36:44.519]
[00:36:46.813]
I wouldn't want to see you go through what I went through.
[00:36:49.524]
[00:36:53.027]
-Our society has a mentality where the man is the provider
[00:36:56.781]
and the woman stay at home, but that needs to change.
[00:37:00.034]
For people that are pregnant or, you know,
[00:37:02.537]
getting married and all that, I think often their boss
[00:37:07.834]
or whoever make them feel that they're wrong to do this.
[00:37:10.712]
If you can't be at work 18 hours a day, and if you want to be --
[00:37:15.174]
you know, have babies, just go have babies.
[00:37:16.884]
-[ Speaking Spanish ]
[00:37:19.762]
-I spent some time with Elena Arzak in Spain,
[00:37:23.308]
and, you know, she has beautiful children.
[00:37:25.935]
And it's beautiful the way we are talking
[00:37:27.353]
about balancing life, about,
[00:37:29.772]
you know, going to work and working very hard
[00:37:32.567]
and traveling and having kids and all that.
[00:37:35.028]
Everything is possible.
[00:37:36.362]
-In Spain, when the woman have her baby,
[00:37:38.573]
they have maternity leave. Then they come back.
[00:37:40.575]
And this has been happening
[00:37:42.910]
in effect since always, and, you know,
[00:37:45.955]
it's good to keep these women because they cook very well.
[00:37:49.334]
And we prefer they stop for a while,
[00:37:51.002]
and then they come back, no?
[00:37:53.963]
-I ask Danny all the time, "How do you balance your,
[00:37:57.383]
you know, worklife and homelife,
[00:37:58.926]
and he has always said
[00:38:00.136]
there's no such thing for him as balance.
[00:38:02.347]
It's all about picking and choosing,
[00:38:04.807]
being in the right place at the right time,
[00:38:06.851]
and when you are there, being all there.
[00:38:10.647]
Years ago, it used to be understood
[00:38:12.732]
that if you joined a restaurant,
[00:38:14.942]
you were committing yourself to a certain lifestyle.
[00:38:18.029]
Ask to go on a vacation with the family,
[00:38:20.448]
the chef says, "No. I'm sorry. I have to work."
[00:38:23.409]
Would you be able to celebrate birthdays or holidays
[00:38:26.537]
on Saturday night because the family is getting together?
[00:38:29.248]
The answer was simply no.
[00:38:31.042]
And now if you look at the flexibility
[00:38:33.961]
that these policies offer our restaurants,
[00:38:37.006]
people are actually able to start families and thrive.
[00:38:40.927]
-I'm 35 years old now,
[00:38:42.387]
and I've been cooking for about 12 years.
[00:38:45.640]
And, yes, one day, I want to have a career and a family,
[00:38:48.935]
and I do think it's possible.
[00:38:50.853]
[00:38:52.856]
Working with Mike is great
[00:38:54.149]
because he allows you to make those decisions.
[00:38:57.611]
The company really pays attention to,
[00:39:00.238]
you know, life outside of work.
[00:39:03.617]
-I was probably in a kitchen for 10 or 12 years
[00:39:05.327]
before I even decided to have a kid.
[00:39:06.786]
And I gave birth the week before I turned 40,
[00:39:10.373]
and it was pretty jarring because now, all of a sudden,
[00:39:13.376]
you got to take care of a little baby and work.
[00:39:16.213]
So I took 2 weeks off.
[00:39:19.257]
I was breastfeeding and butchering.
[00:39:20.759]
You know, it was pretty demanding,
[00:39:25.639]
but I always felt like if I'm a success,
[00:39:28.183]
my kids will love me for working as hard as I do.
[00:39:32.687]
-Yeah. -People are gonna like it.
[00:39:34.606]
Do you like the size?
[00:39:35.982]
You think this is a good size for an appetizer?
[00:39:38.443]
-I think it's good. Yeah.
[00:39:39.903]
-When I opened the first restaurant, I had one child.
[00:39:43.657]
I became pregnant, and I worked all of those 9 months.
[00:39:46.701]
And from the kitchen, I went into the dining room.
[00:39:49.537]
Then I ended up with my big belly at the bar.
[00:39:52.791]
And ultimately, my daughter came into the formula,
[00:39:55.919]
and I stayed home, but I needed to go back to the business
[00:39:58.588]
because this is what I loved, this is what I needed.
[00:40:00.423]
We had loans we had to pay.
[00:40:02.092]
And I went to the pediatrician.
[00:40:04.803]
There were no psychiatrists then.
[00:40:06.179]
I didn't know about psychiatrists.
[00:40:07.639]
And I said, "Listen, I have this torment in me.
[00:40:10.267]
I have this uneasiness. I have this beautiful child.
[00:40:14.688]
I'm a mother. I want to stay with her all the time.
[00:40:17.732]
And yet, I have this business, and I'm passionate about it,
[00:40:20.652]
and I want to do that, and I need to do that."
[00:40:22.487]
And he looked straight in the eyes,
[00:40:23.947]
looked me straight in the eyes, and he said,
[00:40:25.782]
"Children want happy parents. Make it happen."
[00:40:30.245]
-I wasn't ready to do this earlier.
[00:40:32.414]
I was a mother of three little girls.
[00:40:33.915]
I lived in the suburbs.
[00:40:36.418]
It's very difficult to devote yourself
[00:40:38.128]
completely to a career like this
[00:40:40.630]
because it's a 7-day-a-week, long hours.
[00:40:43.550]
I sleep with a pad and pencil next to me.
[00:40:45.552]
I make notes in the middle of the night --
[00:40:47.762]
something I might forget, something I want to remember.
[00:40:50.849]
It's very difficult to do that and raise a family
[00:40:53.601]
and be a full-time parent.
[00:40:56.855]
-When I did get divorced, 1992,
[00:41:00.483]
I not only got the business --
[00:41:04.279]
I also had all this debt
[00:41:08.783]
of almost $500,000.
[00:41:13.163]
My ex-husband declared bankruptcy.
[00:41:15.790]
Now it was up to me to either declare bankruptcy
[00:41:19.127]
or go ahead and just fight the fight.
[00:41:21.713]
It was like, "No way in hell am I going bankruptcy."
[00:41:24.591]
So everybody came after me.
[00:41:27.218]
Bill collectors calling me.
[00:41:29.220]
I had lawyers serving me papers.
[00:41:31.723]
[ Sighs ] My credit was terrible.
[00:41:35.477]
With all the creditors calling me --
[00:41:37.103]
I had Liz, a manager.
[00:41:39.356]
She would always take my phone calls.
[00:41:41.399]
She would screen them for me, and then she'd say,
[00:41:43.902]
"These are the ones you have to call."
[00:41:46.196]
-There were no roadblocks that were gonna stop Val.
[00:41:48.615]
-I'm going out!
[00:41:50.116]
-Her energy was unlike anybody else's
[00:41:52.035]
I've ever worked for.
[00:41:53.828]
-Watch your backs, Erica. -Oh, sorry.
[00:41:55.413]
-She put everything she had into it.
[00:42:00.126]
1990, when I opened Pizza Palace, up to 1996,
[00:42:05.590]
coming from nothing to something,
[00:42:08.760]
I felt kind of happy because I built it all by myself.
[00:42:12.097]
I had good girls working for me at that time.
[00:42:14.933]
[00:42:17.143]
And I needed to open something bigger.
[00:42:21.189]
I just drove through town,
[00:42:22.982]
looking at different opportunities
[00:42:24.901]
that I could open a little family restaurant.
[00:42:27.362]
-You know, sitting at the bar then,
[00:42:28.655]
I said, "Val," and she says, "Yes, honey."
[00:42:31.699]
I said, "You want a restaurant?"
[00:42:34.035]
And she says, "What?"
[00:42:35.286]
I says, "You want a restaurant?"
[00:42:37.539]
She always wanted one.
[00:42:40.125]
-He said, "I think your lucky day is today.
[00:42:43.962]
Cricket's down the street just closed."
[00:42:47.298]
-I wanted somebody to go in there
[00:42:49.175]
I didn't have to worry about, you know,
[00:42:52.011]
and I thought Val was the person.
[00:42:54.806]
-He said, "All I want to know -- Is it a yes or a no?"
[00:42:58.726]
I said, "It's definitely a yes," with no money,
[00:43:03.148]
with bills, with two kids, little.
[00:43:07.610]
I said, "What did I just say? Oh!"
[00:43:10.530]
I needed money, and I was reaching out to everybody.
[00:43:13.867]
I walked into this bank.
[00:43:16.286]
I went to give my hand.
[00:43:18.955]
He didn't reach out.
[00:43:20.623]
He said, "There is nothing I can do for you.
[00:43:24.669]
There is no money that I can lend to you."
[00:43:27.589]
I got in the car, and I left.
[00:43:30.258]
I was in shock.
[00:43:32.635]
-I think this is an important subject
[00:43:34.304]
to talk about that it's just,
[00:43:36.306]
often, we're not given the chance
[00:43:40.685]
that perhaps male entrepreneur have.
[00:43:45.190]
-I'm a kid from Southie
[00:43:46.691]
in a housing project, zero education.
[00:43:49.027]
Who is gonna give me money?
[00:43:50.987]
I had an angel investor who happened to be from Hyde Park,
[00:43:54.574]
and he lent me my first $50,000.
[00:43:58.536]
He just loved the idea that I was from South Boston
[00:44:00.580]
and I wasn't a criminal.
[00:44:04.626]
And then it just trickled down from there.
[00:44:07.712]
-I was, in a sense, lucky that the business
[00:44:10.590]
that I opened was with my husband.
[00:44:13.092]
Whenever we needed some fundraising,
[00:44:16.179]
or whenever I wanted an extension or whatever --
[00:44:18.765]
And I particularly recall one time my husband was really ill,
[00:44:22.936]
and I had to meet with the bankers, and I said,
[00:44:25.980]
"Ill or not, you're coming because, otherwise, by myself,
[00:44:28.233]
it's not gonna happen."
[00:44:30.109]
Now, I wasn't a chef by then, you know?
[00:44:32.362]
And then, as we were going to Italy every vacation,
[00:44:35.114]
I would go in the kitchens with different chefs
[00:44:36.741]
that I admired in Italy and apprentice.
[00:44:40.328]
"Maybe the Americans would like the polenta that we make.
[00:44:44.123]
Maybe they would like the risotto."
[00:44:46.209]
And I began inserting things that I would cook at home.
[00:44:49.587]
And before you know it, you know, you have a following.
[00:44:52.590]
The journalists began to come up,
[00:44:54.300]
and in 1981, I became the chef.
[00:44:57.011]
I mean, James Beard came.
[00:44:58.513]
Julia Child came.
[00:45:00.974]
-Julia Child was an inspiration
[00:45:02.809]
for two generations of chefs now.
[00:45:05.895]
[00:45:08.189]
And she was on television, and it was just so exotic.
[00:45:11.901]
No matter what she was making, it was exotic.
[00:45:14.988]
-We're roasting this chicken today on "The French Chef."
[00:45:19.826]
[00:45:22.120]
-Chicken Marsala.
[00:45:25.206]
Okay?
[00:45:26.749]
Come on, Donald. Let's go, babe.
[00:45:28.918]
I'm ready.
[00:45:30.211]
When I first started this business,
[00:45:32.463]
I found a couple of friends that gave me money
[00:45:35.800]
through Visa cards and from their savings.
[00:45:39.095]
That was the beginning of putting everything together
[00:45:42.307]
to make the restaurant happen.
[00:45:44.309]
[00:45:47.979]
So, that's when I said, "I'm gonna go to a bank.
[00:45:51.190]
He eats 6 days a week in my restaurant.
[00:45:54.485]
He knows how hard I work.
[00:45:56.571]
I'm gonna go to him and just see what he can do for me."
[00:46:00.742]
And I went, and this guy was my savior.
[00:46:04.120]
-I knew she had deep character.
[00:46:06.456]
And she had a love for her business and a commitment
[00:46:09.042]
which doesn't come through in someone's FICO score.
[00:46:12.462]
Her credit was really challenging.
[00:46:15.131]
I think she was paying back some of her former husband's bills.
[00:46:17.634]
She had children
[00:46:18.968]
and obviously was struggling to make ends meet.
[00:46:22.430]
She was gonna succeed regardless of the hurdles
[00:46:24.724]
put in front of her, and I think she had a vision
[00:46:26.976]
that sometimes you need to have in this business.
[00:46:29.854]
You see yourself down the road as a success,
[00:46:31.981]
and you find a way to get there.
[00:46:34.233]
She knows how to get the most out of her employees.
[00:46:36.277]
-Oh, good boy.
[00:46:37.779]
-♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
[00:46:38.905]
-Knows how to take care of her customers.
[00:46:40.490]
And she has this personality that just won't quit.
[00:46:42.158]
-Make a wish.
[00:46:43.951]
He took me to different financing businesses,
[00:46:47.872]
and I found my first $150,000,
[00:46:51.417]
which, to me, was like,
[00:46:52.919]
whew, a million.
[00:46:54.462]
[00:46:57.256]
I had good friends who all came down here
[00:47:00.093]
and worked for nothing.
[00:47:01.636]
One was a police officer.
[00:47:03.513]
One was a plumber.
[00:47:04.722]
One was an electrician.
[00:47:07.350]
All I had to do was feed them and put out a keg of beer.
[00:47:11.437]
They're the ones who helped me put this place together.
[00:47:15.858]
-I love the way that your mother started.
[00:47:20.697]
And she gave not only to her family
[00:47:23.825]
and the whole society around,
[00:47:25.910]
and she didn't give only money or jobs.
[00:47:29.664]
She was like an idol for them, believe me.
[00:47:33.376]
If you ask people, I believe that this is the first thing
[00:47:35.878]
that they're gonna tell you.
[00:47:37.672]
-As you get bigger...
[00:47:39.173]
I mean, we employed 10 people back then.
[00:47:42.260]
Now we employ 90.
[00:47:43.845]
So, as you get bigger, it gets harder.
[00:47:47.306]
And because of this business, you become stronger.
[00:47:51.144]
How are you? -Good.
[00:47:52.311]
-You ready to rock 'n' roll? -Yep.
[00:47:53.855]
-I have to protect not only me --
[00:47:56.441]
I have to protect my staff,
[00:47:58.651]
because they make a living here.
[00:48:02.989]
-I started working for your mom, Val,
[00:48:04.699]
in February of 1994 at the old Pizza Palace.
[00:48:07.618]
Everybody here is like my brother and sister
[00:48:09.370]
that I never had.
[00:48:11.038]
You know, even growing up, the last 20 years,
[00:48:13.666]
I've probably spent more time here
[00:48:15.001]
than I have at my own house.
[00:48:17.378]
[00:48:39.484]
-I grew up as a foster kid, you know,
[00:48:43.196]
moved town to town, city to city.
[00:48:45.156]
And Val took me in when I was younger 'cause I needed a job.
[00:48:48.659]
You know, I needed to save money to go to school.
[00:48:50.369]
Really, like, showed a lot of respect for me.
[00:48:52.705]
-We are family. We fight like family.
[00:48:55.541]
We love like family.
[00:48:56.626]
We do everything like family.
[00:48:58.044]
Like, this is family.
[00:48:59.504]
My husband is vacuuming.
[00:49:01.714]
He doesn't even work here, but he's vacuuming.
[00:49:04.091]
-He certainly is.
[00:49:05.885]
-So, what made you come today? -Me.
[00:49:08.221]
[ Laughter ]
[00:49:10.473]
-All I see is business, business, business.
[00:49:13.226]
So, when you start small, and you see customers,
[00:49:17.605]
and they're so happy with you, you want to get a little bigger.
[00:49:20.358]
Enjoy.
[00:49:22.318]
I called a good friend.
[00:49:24.695]
I said, "I need a bank to open Val's function room."
[00:49:28.533]
He said, "I'll bring him there."
[00:49:32.036]
I said, "You don't want me to go to the bank?"
[00:49:33.663]
"You're a big shot now.
[00:49:34.705]
Now I'm bringing the VPs to you."
[00:49:36.374]
The first guy that came in...
[00:49:37.959]
[ Gasps ]
[00:49:39.460]
I looked again.
[00:49:40.503]
I go, "Holy [bleep]
[00:49:43.297]
What the hell is he doing?"
[00:49:45.132]
The guy, 5 years ago, when I needed the money,
[00:49:47.176]
he didn't even acknowledge me.
[00:49:48.678]
He didn't even look at me.
[00:49:50.596]
He didn't even say "good morning."
[00:49:53.850]
Well, guess what.
[00:49:56.394]
Karma is a bitch.
[00:49:58.729]
Five years later, who comes in?
[00:50:01.065]
Mr. [bleep]
[00:50:03.317]
Mr. [bleep]
[00:50:05.278]
"I'm Valerie James, but I think we met before."
[00:50:09.532]
And he looked at me, and he said, "We have?"
[00:50:13.661]
I said, "You don't remember me, but I will never forget you.
[00:50:19.500]
I do not want your money today.
[00:50:21.836]
I want you to sit, have lunch,
[00:50:25.256]
enjoy the atmosphere, and have a good day."
[00:50:29.676]
[00:50:29.677]
-People are pushing for gender parity,
[00:50:32.013]
and they're mobilizing industries
[00:50:34.265]
to really look at the pay gap
[00:50:36.267]
and any obstacles to advancement.
[00:50:38.853]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[00:50:40.647]
-Being the first female Iron Chef, you know,
[00:50:42.524]
that knocked down a bunch of barriers.
[00:50:44.526]
And I've gone out and done all the things
[00:50:48.154]
that most of the top male chefs have done.
[00:50:51.157]
I've created a brand.
[00:50:52.325]
-Iron Chef Cat Cora.
[00:50:53.743]
-Please welcome Cat Cora.
[00:50:55.453]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[00:50:57.205]
-The whole concept of working your way
[00:50:58.331]
up the ranks is like...
[00:50:59.457]
That is kind of old-school, you know?
[00:51:01.709]
That's why those statistics don't show the women
[00:51:05.046]
doing totally different sides of this industry.
[00:51:07.382]
Like, let's say they get into media.
[00:51:09.217]
That's what's really reshaping everything right now.
[00:51:11.761]
♪♪
[00:51:12.804]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:51:14.514]
♪♪
[00:51:21.729]
♪♪
[00:51:26.943]
-One more tuna?
[00:51:28.945]
-Now, doing a dinner like this here,
[00:51:32.991]
it's unbelievable...
[00:51:34.409]
with Christos, my son, as the head chef,
[00:51:37.620]
and my daughter, Joanna, next to me.
[00:51:39.706]
-First course was the Petit Chablis.
[00:51:41.624]
The second course is the Riesling.
[00:51:44.544]
♪♪
[00:51:49.716]
-I don't know why the function room is not ready.
[00:51:52.260]
-Yeah, I know, honey, but you don't need silverware here.
[00:51:54.429]
Yeah.
[00:51:55.805]
Noreen. -Yeah?
[00:51:57.557]
-Help Katie put that on, and make it look pretty.
[00:51:59.476]
You're good now. Now the room is ready.
[00:52:01.478]
I had a heart attack.
[00:52:02.979]
♪♪
[00:52:08.610]
You guys know what to do.
[00:52:11.070]
Just don't be nervous, 'cause I can see it all over you guys.
[00:52:14.574]
Really, you guys are gonna kick it through.
[00:52:17.118]
-Yes, Val. Yes, Val. -All right.
[00:52:19.329]
You ready? -Yep.
[00:52:20.663]
-This is good for you for culinary, right?
[00:52:22.665]
-Yes. -Good.
[00:52:23.708]
-And my hug. -I love you.
[00:52:24.751]
-We're in line for hugs.
[00:52:26.419]
Hold my drink. Thanks, Val.
[00:52:28.463]
-I love you, honey. -I love you.
[00:52:29.547]
-Don't be nervous. -I know.
[00:52:30.632]
-All right?
[00:52:31.674]
Who's coming to my table? -Me.
[00:52:33.343]
-Me. -Oh, good.
[00:52:34.761]
♪♪
[00:52:39.516]
-Coming together as a family to host this dinner
[00:52:42.769]
makes me think of how my mother started out
[00:52:44.854]
and all that she faced...
[00:52:46.940]
everything she had to overcome to get to this point.
[00:52:51.986]
The restaurant is secondary to the woman who built it.
[00:52:55.323]
♪♪
[00:52:59.369]
[ Applause ]
[00:53:01.913]
♪♪
[00:53:07.710]
-I mean, this is a huge honor for us.
[00:53:09.295]
And Val's my mother.
[00:53:11.089]
You know, she built this place 25 years ago,
[00:53:13.383]
and I don't think she ever thought
[00:53:14.509]
that we'd be able to do this.
[00:53:15.552]
-No crying here.
[00:53:18.012]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:53:19.681]
-You all did a wonderful job here.
[00:53:22.725]
Oh!
[00:53:24.185]
♪♪
[00:53:29.482]
-She's like, "Turn the heat up."
[00:53:31.067]
-Yeah. -Poor thing.
[00:53:32.360]
-[ Laughs ]
[00:53:34.237]
What I want is a basting...
[00:53:37.574]
Family means everything to me,
[00:53:40.243]
and I carry that same philosophy in my restaurant.
[00:53:44.789]
I just love to see everyone happy.
[00:53:47.875]
♪♪
[00:53:54.882]
♪♪
[00:54:01.639]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:54:04.517]
-Half of the pig is hanging down.
[00:54:07.437]
♪♪
[00:54:14.944]
♪♪
[00:54:21.200]
-Yep.
[00:54:22.535]
You ready?
[00:54:23.703]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[00:54:25.830]
[00:54:27.790]
[ Glasses clinking ] -...to have you all here.
[00:54:29.459]
-Health and happiness. -Cheers.
[00:54:31.586]
-Thank you. -Cheers.
[00:54:34.213]
-Cheers, Mariella.
[00:54:37.091]
-So, what do you think?
[00:54:38.801]
My first film, and it's on you. -Yeah.
[00:54:41.971]
[ Voice breaking ] You're gonna make me cry now...
[00:54:44.265]
just because I...
[00:54:46.851]
When you told me you wanted to do this,
[00:54:48.645]
I was a little taken by that, because every mother
[00:54:53.524]
should work hard for their kids 'cause that's what happens.
[00:54:58.571]
Life is a rotation of fathers and mothers
[00:55:02.992]
and grown children that become us.
[00:55:06.287]
And I remember when you were young, you said,
[00:55:08.414]
"Oh, no. I'm never gonna be like you."
[00:55:10.541]
Well, guess what, my girl.
[00:55:11.626]
You are.
[00:55:12.794]
♪♪
[00:55:18.091]
-Mom. -I love you.
[00:55:20.259]
-I love you.
[00:55:21.636]
♪♪
[00:55:27.433]
[ Dog barking ]
[00:55:28.768]
-Gigi.
[00:55:30.853]
♪♪
[00:55:39.529]
♪♪
[00:55:48.246]
♪♪
[00:55:57.171]
♪♪
[00:56:05.888]
♪♪
[00:56:14.647]