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[playing tango]

[Anne-Sophie] I’m a chef. I mean, I don’t really attach an importance to the fact uh...

woman or male chef. We are all chefs.

That’s really the problem to enhance women chefs. That means we categorize them.

[Angela] Yeah, I remember growing up and going back and crying and my mom goes:

“Why are you going back?” I said: “I just need to do a year, Mom.

Once I’ve done a year, then that’s it. That opens every door to me.

I’ve proved myself.” And, you know, and I did.

[Amanda] I always say that I wasn’t really ever harassed because I was a woman,

I was just harassed ‘cause I was a human and chefs are like, equal opportunity assholes.

They’ll harass anybody they see who’s weaker than them.

[Ivy] There’s no time if you’re slammed on a Friday night to say

“I’m sorry I called you a fucking whore. Shut the fuck up.

Take the dick out of your ass and get this shit done.”

[Suzanne] When I walk in, I’m gonna respect you,

but I’m gonna command the respect back.

And once we kinda are on the same page, then we’re good.

[playing tango]

[seagulls cawing]

[jazz music]

[Victoria] Pick up squash, please? It’s gonna be for Table 21.

- Angel? Can you help me with the uh... tempura? - [Angel] Yeah.

[Victoria] Uh... And guys? Pass me the two terrines right now,

so I can put them on a plate, OK? So they can temper.

Women have been cooking forever. Women have been the one that cooked

for the chef or the man that became a chef.

Usually it’s like, “Oh, my mom used to cook this for me.”

And I was like, "OK so women have been cooking all this time,

but you can’t make it to the professional side?"

That is the irony of this, you know what I mean?

It’s not like you always recall your dad cooking for you.

- Burger medium is three. - Burger medium, three.

- Bar 4 is summer squash, no uni. - Bar 4 is summer squash, no uni.

I’m not sure whether things have improved for women that much in the kitchen.

The fight and the struggle and the complaints are still the same.

We are a little bit more like the chervil on the salad.

We are some kind of garnish because it looks good.

You know? Like people need to see that you’re promoting women.

OK, Victor. You’re going tartare, yes?

I’m from Chile. Santiago, Chile.

My mom raised me to believe I could do whatever I wanted to do.

Probably that was her mistake.

- Uh... Matteo, have you touched base with table 11? - Not yet.

Because his order fired the wrong food and also they were waiting, OK?

- I spoke with him. - So can someone tell me what’s going on?

Uh... He wants his cod.

- Great. He’s a pescatarian, but we ordered duck. OK. - [cook] Yeah.

- He did not order duck. - Huh?

-He didn’t order the duck. -That’s what I’m saying. Dan ordered a duck.

- Yes. - Anyways, seat 1, seat 2 is bok choy.

Seat 1, seat 2 is squash. Seat 3, seat 4 carpaccio.

- Go all the way on 23. - [cook] 23.

Vito, you have the... the face of death. This is a restaurant. Shit happens, OK?

Chumley’s was first opened in 1922.

You know, Hemingway and all these famous writers would come here and basically hang out.

[Victoria] Ordering duck. Order fire carpaccio, tartare.

My dream is to have my own restaurant

and express myself with more freedom than I have here.

Like a blank canvas for me to paint.

It’s how do I express myself on a plate.

[Amanda] I’m behind you.

Can I get the three carrots on 305, please?

Dirt Candy is an all-vegetable restaurant in Manhattan on the Lower East Side.

[waiter] Alright, guys. OK, so this is the Brussels sprout tacos. Be careful...

[Amanda] What we do here is we celebrate vegetables.

There’s restaurants that are vegetable forward, but they still serve a little meat,

but we are the only ones who have taken huge leap of faith and said:

“Just come to the restaurant for the vegetables.”

With the fennels on the bottom layer, we have the carta di musica,

which is really just fancy Italian for cracker.

Then we have some caramelized yogurt, caramelized fennel,

ginger cream, cherry purée, dehydrated...

I think you have too much butter and not enough salt.

- Not enough salt, too much butter? - In this.

This is fine. A little bit more salt would be fine.

Only because you’re compensating for the vegetables.

Overcooked. Too salty.

You could have tried to be better on camera.

-Uhm... Wait, OK. My question was... -Just say “Yes, Chef.”

- Yes, Chef. - Yes.

I’m proud to be a woman chef.

There’s a huge number of women chefs cooking

and we just don’t talk about them.

And yet somehow people still think they’re actually

aren’t a lot of female chefs or women chefs

because they’re not really the ones written about.

And they’re not the important ones.

And so that’s the uphill battle.

If you don’t keep talking about us,

then we’re not gonna have a place.

We’re gonna keep getting pushed aside.

You can start with this. Big table. Just put it down in the middle.

My big issue with the industry is in the media.

There’s sort of been this refusal to celebrate female chefs.

You see this over and over again on the...

the big awards and the best new chefs list, best new restaurants.

They tend to be male chefs.

It’s always like, one woman and nine men on a cover.

The reason women don’t have those kinds of restaurants is because

they tend to open more mom-and-pop restaurants

because they’re only able to get a little bit of money.

Without that financial backing, it’s really hard to get on those covers.

It’s hard to win those awards

and so this cycle just goes and goes and goes

and women keep getting left out of this conversation.

[Anita] That’s really the old boys’ club.

If you’re not white, if you’re not straight, if...

you know, you don’t really fit into a uhm...

a gender norm, of course you’re angry.

And the media really likes to celebrate young, tough dudes

with a lot of like, tattoos.

What’s cool is, “Hey, look at the giant tattoo

I got to cover the giant scar I had.”

[Charlotte] Why do I think all the guys get the attention?

'Cause they probably want it more than we do.

“Look at me, look at me, look at me. The big swingin' dick scenario.

Like I’m large and in charge and I’m fuckin’ fabulous and I’m killing the game.”

I remember when Kitchen Confidentialcame out.

I did read it in the first year of college and I found it very exciting

because it sounded like a... a... a ride. Like a wild ride.

You know, everyone’s partying, they’re living in these crazy houses together

in the middle of L.A. or New York and making it happen

and all the strife and struggle. But the strife and struggle sounded super sexy.

They’re badasses. They’re party animals. They’re sleeping with everybody.

They’re doing tons of drugs and they’re getting away with it.

It adds a touch of melodrama to our industry that we eat like crazy.

[classical string music]

[Anita] There’s a saying that men cook for glory and women for love.

And if we do, it’s because of how we were raised and of that social construct.

But as a chef, you really wanna be judged on your work, you know?

Your gender really has nothing to do with it.

Order in VIP a pierogi and a tartare.

I’ve been running this restaurant 17 years.

I mean, on some level it was a compulsion. I felt compelled to do this.

We’ve been bombarded by images of

what it means to be female and what it means to be male.

You know, growing up in the Midwest was difficult for me.

I consider myself gender non-conforming.

I didn’t like wearing dresses. You know, I was a tomboy.

I came from a very food-obsessed family,

and, you know, on some level it was sort of the best part of my childhood.

So it’s interesting that I’ve... I’ve turned that into a life.

I got three foie's in the window.

[Amanda] Anita Lo is one of the most amazing chefs in this country.

You know, Annisa was this really well-respected restaurant in the city.

It had at one point Michelin stars.

It had three stars from the New York Times

and she defined a certain place for female chefs in this industry.

[Victoria] The first time that I heard about Anita Lo at Annisa was through my ex-father-in-law.

He was always trying to get me to come to New York

because it’s like, “You see? A woman can run a kitchen.

A woman can have a restaurant. You should come to New York.”

And I was like, “OK, it sounds amazing, but she is like,

the one.”You know? It’s like one woman that is running a restaurant.

I think it would have been really helpful, you know, to have a role model.

You know, I’d never worked for a female chef.

Uhm... There weren’t a lot of them out there,

especially in fine dining, which was what I wanted to do.

There weren’t, you know, people of color or gay people.

So, I felt a deep responsibility to be a mentor.

You know, I think that’s probably important for some young women

to see that it’s possible, yeah.

[Suzanne] And Em, as soon as you can, can you pick up for Booth 1, please?

Alright, Justin. We got a soca, a burger and a lamb.

[cook] Fritter, squash.

One burger going to 15. Other burger going to table 13.

- Let’s get that mac up right now. - Yes.

- Let’s get that rice right now inside of that pan. - Yes, Chef. Got it.

I’m not gonna tell you how to run your kitchen.

I’m not gonna tell you about what kitchens are better than other kitchens,

but I’m gonna tell you how I run my kitchen.

Working in the industry for 10 years before opening this restaurant, I realized that

there were lots of voids in the kitchens that I worked in.

And that was not seeing enough women.

Order up, Chef. Mac.

- Yup. Going to table... Booth 1. - Order up.

I thought, “Wow. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could create

a space that they can come and gain some skill sets.

We can run the kitchen, dominate the kitchen in a very male-dominated industry.

- May I have that cornbread, please? - Yup. Cutting it right now.

[Suzanne] Hands, please? One soca going to table 14.

I’ve been operating this restaurant for about three years.

Myself and my husband, Johnnie.

Myles is here quite regularly. He knows the staff.

When we opened the restaurant, friends would come and

take him on a stroll in the neighborhood if he was crying.

Customers would take him if I was on the line.

He was on my back, strapped to my back when I was cooking.

- What colors today? - We’re a small restaurant, like any mom and pop.

'Cause that’s really at the end of the day what we are.

[Johnnie] That’s the one? Yeah.

[Suzanne] It’s a very personal space.

Can you pick up this mac & cheese going to booth 1, please? Thank you.

Yeah, being a woman of color, I’m not gonna be,

you know, that stereotype that you expect me to be.

The first thing my father said is: “No daughter of mine

is gonna go and work for some white person in their kitchen and cook their food.

I don’t want that for you. I didn’t do that.

I don’t want you to be working as someone’s slave.”

You look at the images and the history of the mammy characters.

The nannies that, you know, are always kept in the back that prepare the food,

take care of the children and the roles of black women and what we’ve been known for.

You know, I’m part American. I’m... I’m part Canadian.

I’m dual citizen. So it’s a part of my history

and it’s also a part of the history of what I know of diners

and the sit-in movement in the Deep South.

You know, when I think about what my life would’ve been like if I was,

you know, living in, say, the South in the United States

in the 1950s opening up a restaurant as a black woman with a white husband?

This shit would not happen.

I often get asked to do pastries and I’m like...

Well, sometimes I get asked to do pastries or desserts for events and I say:

“Do I look like a pastry chef? I’m the fish girl."

I’ve been a chef for approximately 12 years.

And it’s been about a year and a half, two years, since I haven’t

been in a traditional restaurant environment.

When someone says: “You’re a woman chef", I don’t really hear that.

I just hear ‘chef’. Chef is a chef is a chef.

I left the industry to find a way to make my own company.

I wanted to fund it myself, build it myself and make it happen on my own.

I was more emotionally burnt out, I think, than... than physically.

I was tired of being the money maker for somebody else.

Everybody’s just trying to make a buck. No one really cares as much as they used to.

Fuck you. I’m out.

So basically, I’m a non-traditional chef.

I’ve always wanted to own my own restaurant,

but I don’t have half a million dollars.

Where am I even gonna think about getting that?

In the meantime, what do I do?

[jazzy music]

[Angela] I never thought that cooking would explode the way it has.

Chefs are on TV. Chefs have become these superstars.

People suddenly look at cooking and restaurants as sexy.

You know, 30, 40 years ago, everyone used to think

you only wanted to be a chef because you were thick.

- Shut the fuck up. - [cook] Yes, Chef.

- One spaghetti of lobster. - Yes, Chef.

- One scallops. - Yes, Chef.

Now, would you like me to fuckin’

- email that to your Blackberry? - No, Chef.

- Move your ass. - Yes, Chef.

[Angela] New order. One rabbit du jour, one crab du jour.

- Follow one cod, one rump du jour, ça marche. - [cooks] Oui.

[kitchen noises]

[Angela] No oil on top of this. Service, please. Let’s go. Table 16.

[Oscar] One veg, two coming?

[Angela] I’ve been a chef probably for the last 30 years.

My main mentor was Gordon Ramsay.

You know, I started with him uhm... probably when I was about 23, 24,

and then worked for Gordon for about 17 years in various restaurants.

Right. How long, guys?

- 10 seconds on the rabbit pappardelle. - Yeah.

When I started working they had... all had a bet.

They all said you know, give... she’ll do two days, two weeks, two months, whatever.

'Cause there hadn’t been a woman who had worked there for a full year anyway

and they just didn’t think anyone would last.

I mean, it was nuts and you know, I constantly... I used to look at my week and think,

God, I haven’t had a bollocking, I haven’t been shouted at and I’d then sort of get to

Thursday and then suddenly it would happen and I’d be like, “Oh my God. Here we go.”

And my aim was to always to try and get to Saturday without a bollocking.

And eventually you did, ‘cause you got better.

[Angela] Ça marche. One eel, one egg truffle, to follow two egg truffle.

How long for the ham?

[Angela] I used to just think Gordon was mad

when he used to kick off and stuff.

I just don’t see the point.

There’s times where I’ve got so angry and, you know,

and I can feel my face getting red and my neck and stuff

and then I’m like “Oh, my God.” And then you’re so stressed for the next hour.

It’s not worth it.

Service. Oh, you’re there.

Where’s the other one? We need two.

Let’s go, please. You’re going to

table 14, yeah?

[Angela] My first Michelin star was at The Connaught Hotel.

We opened at The Connaught after there had been a hundred years of male chefs.

You know, and there was uproar. People were so...

There were some people that hated the fact I’d gone in there.

I mean, I had this amazing receptionist at the time, Lydia,

and uhm... this guy kept coming and every time he came he moaned and complained.

And he was an old regular that came for years

and he rang up and he said: “Is she still there?”, talking about me.

Lydia goes: “Yeah, yeah. Angela’s still the chef.”

“Oh, well I’ll have a table” and then what I loved about Lydia, she goes:

“Why do you want a table? You don’t like it here.

You like The Connaught, but you don’t like the fact we’re here.

You don’t like Angela, so why do you want to come and upset yourself?"

You know, and I thought, “Brilliant!”

Where we’re sitting now is Murano.

So, Gordon and I opened Murano in 2008

and then uhm... 2011 I bought Gordon out of our partnership and now I’m my own boss.

Right. Service, please.

[Angela] But the amount of people that will go,

“God, it’s calm. Isn’t it?" And,

“Why aren’t you shouting and swearing?”

As if that’s what they expect and I go, “We don’t do that.”

And you know... And people will go: “Oh, go on, shout at them”,

you know, and it's like, “What do you want?”

Right. Let’s get plates out, Martina. How long on that guinea fowl cod?

[Angela] That doesn’t mean to say that I’m not direct in my approach when things go wrong.

Why is the food going cold? Why is the food not hot at the table?

Why did they wait? You know, come on.

But I don’t need to swear and shout at them

to get those answers.

Let’s go. Table 5. Lovely.

[rhythmic music]

[Ivy] A kitchen is not exactly the most hospitable place for a woman

or for anybody who has any kind of thoughts about equal rights

or you know, fair treatment.

It’s not a place for the faint of heart.

Hello there. Welcome to 86'd Mondays. I’m your host, Ivy Knight, and

tonight is the first ever preserved fish battle.

[Ivy] I’ve been hosting events for eight years at the Drake Hotel.

- So take a station over there. That’s fine. - [man] OK.

I was a cook for 10 years.

At the 5 year mark, I realized I didn’t have the proper temperament

to be a head chef and I wanted to write.

So I spent the next 5 years in kitchens sort of working towards getting out of them.

The thing that I rallied against was how much we were exploited as cooks

and how much work was expected of us for so little pay.

Yeah, I’ll bring out two spoons. The spaghetti that was taking me a long time.

[Amanda] It is a tough place to work, and I think because you’re cooking,

you’re playing with fire, things go wrong a lot and fast.

Please. Please. One tower. Just figure out something.

Any kind of pockys. Anything. I don’t care.

I just need the tower. No, just give me anything.

Five minutes on 15.

[Charlotte] It’s a very high-stress environment. Hot temperatures.

Like, you know, you’re standing in front of a 400, 500 degree oven for hours

in the middle of summer with no air conditioning.

You’re frustrated, exhausted.

And the environment is so volatile that the worst of people can come out.

[Victoria] What do you need? Let’s not do this. -Nothing.

-What is it that you need? What does he need? -Nothing.

Since you screwed up already, I really don’t wanna

know anything else, OK? Thank you.

My usual schedule is like 6 days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day.

I think pressure sometimes can get to you.

And if you have an unbalanced life, you’re gonna be an unbalanced human being.

That is obvious that we’re not the most balanced bunch, you know what I mean?

After that bok choy, give me a tartare lonely, OK?

[Ivy] If you can’t keep up, get the fuck out.

There’s no time for thoughtful chats about beet rude.

Fuck off. Just get it done.

So unfortunately, these can’t go out. It’s too late.

I’m sorry, but they have to come together. You guys have to count.

It’s one mini vegan, two regulars, all at the same time.

I can’t send out to one half of the table some food and not the other half.

You know, people say the oil, the knives, I mean... You know, people exaggerate that.

They think everyone’s walking around with a knife and just ready to stab.

I mean, you know, I... You know, it’s hard but Christ alive, we’re not...

you know, it’s not like that. I mean, at least not in any kitchen I’ve worked in.

- Hi, Ivy! - Hi. So we’re gonna start in like, four minutes.

I’m ready to rock and roll.

OK, here’s how it’s gonna go.

The culture is similar to

frat boy culture or hazing culture.

The newest cooks are the ones who are picked on,

and as you fight your way up through the ranks,

then eventually when you’re in power you just repeat the same cycle of abuse.

They break you down to build you back up.

Or they continue to break you down to keep you down, so you know your position.

- One bread pudding. - Bread pudding.

- Livers are ready, yeah? - Got it. Yeah.

I didn’t come from that. I chose not to put myself in that circumstance

and so why would I do that in my own kitchen?

- Still hot? - Yup.

- Just came out. - Yeah. Alright.

I don’t think... I could be wrong,

but I don’t think that in the corporate world 9 to 5,

that it’s typical for a guy to throw a woman over...

over a table and to pretend to, like, simulate fucking her from behind,

but that happens all the time. Or it happened to me all the time.

I wasn’t crying and calling up a rape counselor because

it was part of the culture.

I basically turned into a little shithead guy.

I just wanted to be accepted and part of the team.

[Anita] I did feel like I had to be one of the boys.

But on some level I also grew up feeling like I wasn’t one of the girls, so...

You know, I certainly... You know, I was never the femmy girl.

So, I was already such an otherthat I’m so used to not being...

part of... any situation that...

you know, by the time I got to the kitchen, I was just an... it was just old hat.

[Charlotte] “Have you ever been assaulted? Have you ever been sexually harassed?”

I’m like “Yeah, of course. It’s sort of a part of the language of the kitchen.”

When I had my first chef position, I was like

“I’m gonna hire only 18 year old boys. They’re gonna do all the heavy lifting.

I’m gonna make them like, put that down, pick it up, put it...

You know, I was... That was my mentality when I first... I was 23.

[Charlotte] Oil and vinegar shrimp and smoked shrimp with kimchi. Enjoy.

[Charlotte] I’m just gonna hire hot guys to do all my work for me.

And I’m just gonna be like this, you know.

I’m gonna have a... a harem of young men.

I developed a bit of a language where I was verbally harassing people.

Very flirty, very open and very like, physical, touching people like...

So I realized that that dialogue and that language of in...

Like, what I trained and what I saw, as soon as I had the power

to be in charge and to lead, I used that same language.

But I didn’t even think about it as being a negative thing.

And then I realized that I’m also a part of the problem.

Enjoy. Crackers. You’re in, you're golden.

Yeah, I was assaulted by my sous-chef.

And I should be clear it wasn’t sexual assault.

He just hated me as a person. I don’t think it mattered that I was a woman.

I think it was a Saturday night service. It was midnight. We were finally closing.

It had been a brutal service and he told me to take apart my stove

and start scrubbing it down,

and I said: “No. There’s no way I’m doing that.

That’s just you... That’s just something you’ve made up as a punishment

and there’s no way. I don’t get paid to do this shit.”

So I was talking back to him. And he started tell... saying: “Yes, you are. Yes, you will.”

And I... I screamed at him and I said: “Go fuck yourself.” And I walked away

and he came running after me and he threw me down.

And he had a clipboard and he...

The clipboard was jammed under my neck like this and I couldn’t breathe.

And all I could see was his face and the giant vein

on his forehead just pulsing and his red face screaming.

And I was kicking out ‘cause I was against the counter

and I was kicking out and I finally connected with his knee, I think.

I connected with some part of his leg and he let me go and I ran out the door.

And I told the owner the next day. I sat down with her.

I was still, like, shocked that this had happened

and I started crying and she said: “Suck it up.

Get... What’s wrong with you? You should have done what he told you to do.”

I was in the wrong and I didn’t respect him and he could do whatever he liked.

[Amanda] If we don’t talk about these things, it’s never gonna get better.

It’s hard to talk about it. It’s not always fun being the first person to talk about it.

Uh... But you have to.

How do other people learn if you don’t talk about it?

[rhythmic music]

You know, assault is wrong. Sexual assault is wrong. Abuse is wrong.

I’ve had many conversations. I was actually asked to speak

about a chef that uhm... was accused with assault uh... not long ago,

and I said, like: “Listen, I can’t speak to this because

this person that I know has never assaulted me.

This person has always supported me as a mentor, as a colleague.”

So, it’s very complicated.

We have heard a lot of these stories about this kind of behavior in kitchens.

The only way that’s gonna change is if chefs change it.

The chef who was in that kitchen has to dictate the culture of that kitchen.

[guitar music]

- Hi. Hi. - Hello to mama?

- Hi. - Hello, mom.

- Hi. Come. Let’s go inside. - OK.

[Suzanne] Do you wanna see Kid Chocolate? Have you seen the work that Daddy did?

So Myles, come, come. Let me show you. Let me show you. Let me show you Mommy’s kitchen.

See? So here’s the sink.

So this... So we’ll be doing dishes here and then we’ll have the food that comes up here.

Here’s a working refrigerator.

This is gonna be a steam table.

- This is Mommy’s shiny new kitchen. - Yeah.

Isn’t it nice? It’s a lot smaller. It’s quite different than the other one, yeah?

So there have been some changes.

[Suzanne] We had to close our doors to Saturday Dinette unexpectedly.

We’ve had some real problems with our landlords and we had to break our lease early.

Come on let’s go.

[Suzanne] Saturday Dinette was going to be a support

while we were building out, but now with that financial support gone,

our thought has to shift a bit.

We have to really re-think how are we going

to fund the opening of a new project?

I love you. Keep going. Alright, I’ll call you later.

Kid Chocolate really is Johnnie’s baby and he’s

been doing all the renovations through this whole process.

It’s uh... Yeah, it’s been a journey, but that’s the Dinette

and this is Kid Chocolate.

Such a shame.

There’s so many good things about that space.

You know, it was 3 years of... of my life.

And that may not seem like a lot of time, but it was definitely such an important time.

My son was almost born in that... you know, in that restaurant.

I’ll always have a connection to the space.

[Suzanne] That was my everything. That was my baby.

- Hi. How are you? - Good, thanks.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- Have a good day. - You, too.

- [man] What’s up, Chef? - [Anita] Hey, how are you?

- Good. How are you? - [Anita] Good.

[Anita] There’s just so many moving parts in a restaurant.

One month some... you know, 50 thousand dollar piece of equipment could go down,

and... you know, do you have that or not?

You know, we don’t really get into this to be business people

or even to make money on some level,

but, uh... if you don’t, you can’t... you can’t cook.

But it’s always stressful.

You know, even when you’re doing well, it can be stressful.

So I’ve announced that uhm... we’re going to be closing at the end of May.

You know, we’ve got four weeks left.

You know, I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years.

I’d like to see what else I can do.

[Amanda] Anita was so important in this city and we wanna make sure that uh...

female chefs aren’t a dying breed.

We have to keep pushing it for more and more recognition

uh... so that other female chefs who are coming up behind us

realize that there is a place for them in this industry.

We tend to write women chefs out of the history of chefdom.

The most famous uh... woman chef who was uh... written out of

uh... history is Eugénie Brazier,

who was one of the uh... grand mèresof uh... Lyon.

That was the 1930s. 1933 or so.

Eugénie Brazier had gone to Paris and she had

three restaurants and she ended up with like, six Michelin stars.

Hugely celebrated.

And then time goes on, time goes on, da-da-da.

This is... That was a number of years ago,

Alain Ducasse gets his sixth Michelin star,

and everyone writes about him being the first person in history

who has ever gotten six Michelin stars.

But she was actually the first. And...

So, that’s what I mean when women are written out of history.

We’ve forgotten that part of it.

[calm piano music]

[Anne-Sophie] When I started working, I didn’t really care about all the women.

I just wanted men recognize me as a chef.

But now, uh... I feel that we have to be more...

Uhm... all together the women in the kitchen to be more solidaire.

I have seven uh... Michelin stars.

I have three Michelin stars here in Valence.

In France, I’m the only woman to have three stars

and in the world uh... there is only six women to have three stars or more.

It’s 25 years I am in the kitchen,

but I was not a chef from the beginning.

I uh... decided to return home

uh... after my studies because I wanted to learn how to cook.

When I decided to return,

I could not imagine it would be so hard, so difficult

because I, I could not imagine my father passed away a few months after I came back.

The 30s or the 40s uh... with my grandfather,

it didn’t make a difference between a woman or a man in the kitchen.

After, during my father’s period, it was different.

I was uh... how to say at the beginning, very uhm...

uh... respectful for history and uh... I was afraid to do something wrong.

Then I gained more self-confidence. It was little by little. Step by step.

I have the palette, so it was something, a reference for me what was important.

Something I was sure of was that.

[Anne-Sophie] But technically, uh... I had to learn so many things.

No.

- [Laura] How many lamb on there? - [waiter] I’ve got one lamb.

- [Laura] Rump? Du jour? - Not du jour. No. À la carte.

Ça marche, uh... six covers. Table 14. Two squash, one risotto à la carte, one eel,

two rabbit à la carte, one radishes. To follow, two beef,

- one brill, one lamb à la carte, one monkey. - [cooks] Yeah, yeah.

[Angela] Historically, a kitchen brigade, which is basically

the kitchen team that follow those French traditions.

Oscar is the head chef, so, his overall responsibility for everything.

Um... Sous chefs you have Martina and Emily.

[Emily] Can you make sure there’s nice and salted, the water and it’s boiling, yeah?

[Angela] And then you have guys underneath that are all the chefs de partie.

They’re the ones that then run the sections.

The meat and fish, pastry, garnish and larder.

They should be able to do it all.

I think it’s changed a lot now.

I’ve never said to anyone, “Call me Chef.”

I’m more than happy... I mean, Oscar calls me Angela. Laura calls me Angela.

- [Angela] Service. - [Martina] Service, please.

[Angela] Let’s go.

[Angela] I certainly don’t worry about it. I’m happy being called Angela,

because if we want things to change and we want people to be treated equally,

I think that’s partly to do with how you run it and how you work in a kitchen.

Lemon. Let’s go. Wait.

[Ivy] The brigade system is based on the military and that is

obvious if you looked at it from a distance,

they look very similar, the military and the kitchen world.

-[Oscar] Repeated sauces Parparadelle and risotto à la carte.

[all] Oui.

[Victoria] Even though I may not like the military,

I don’t know if it’s whether because I come from Chile or not, but...

it’s so structured, but it makes so much sense.

Careful with the salt. Add a bit of lemon. Yeah. That’s a little heavy on the seasoning.

[Victoria] I would say it’s about how you command, right?

So there is a chief of command,

that will be your Chef de cuisine.

There is hierarchy.

Uhm... You listen to one person

and that person says yes and no and that’s what it is.

There’s no room for “Oh, let’s just talk about it.”

- [Amanda] Where’s Jason? Jason. - [Jason] Yes.

- Do you have your zucchini batter set up? - Yes.

It’s done? I’d like you to take out the stove and have it set up.

Heard.

I think actually that brigade, hierarchal system is great.

I think it gives structure. I think it’s terrific.

You know exactly who your boss is.

You know what the chain of command is.

No. Too many. You’re only... You’re ever only allowed

to carry three things at the very, very most.

The staff that I’m getting is much, much younger.

I have like 19 year-olds and 20 year-olds and

this is college for them and structure isn’t a bad thing.

[Amanda] Jem, don’t leave your towel on your counter. I will remind you of that.

[Amanda] But I also tell everybody, it’s just a job. I’m gonna yell at you.

It’s gonna feel really tough and in five minutes it’s done.

[Anita] For me as a young person, when I went into that militaristic brigade system,

it was a good time in my life to have that kind of structure. And I was happy for it.

That being said, I don’t think I was that welcomed as... as a female.

The first course is yellowfin tuna crudo with avocado s’rug... s’rug,

crispy chickpeas and aleppo pepper. We’ve got aleppo pepper downstairs.

So just have that on your station.

[Anita] It was very difficult learning how to uhm...

be a manager. It was one of the most painful things.

You know, we’re supposed to nurture and uh... we’re not supposed to lead.

[Anita] OK, I would put them in... What I would do is put them in, uh...

- the... the four ounce molds. - [cook] OK.

[Anita] Not too much. It should be about the mushroom. It’s not about the pastry.

Male chefs they want to be there, you know.

“We are the chef. We do everything. We shout, we...”

I don’t want to work like this.

When I did that I was not concentrating on the real things.

For me the real thing is the taste.

[ANNE-SOPHIE] To be precise, I’m very precise and I want

people to be precise and they need to be precise.

Don’t grate your finger, Omri. We love your fingers.

And remember, give me the cookies and cream with rum.

- Not the one that doesn’t have rum. - [Omri] The rum. Yes.

- Omri? - Yeah.

- Are you OK? - Yeah.

I would appreciate the tone to be a little bit different.

Yes, rum, OK, yes, OK? Cool.

- Yes, Chef. - Wonderful.

I’m not gonna be disrespectful, but I’m gonna be very direct.

No, you don’t wanna flatten it out, Omri, man.

Man, it’s like let it flow naturally, you know? You don’t wanna...

[Victoria] I see a lot of... you know, like a double standard.

If I am tough and serious and direct,

I’m gonna be more criticized instead of if I was a man.

If I were a man, no one would say anything, but because

I’m a woman they’re like: “Oh, she’s so difficult.”

You're supposed to be nicer. You're supposed to be softer. You're supposed to be sweeter.

[Victoria] Omri, Next time, don’t ever... You need way more color.

- Yeah. - No, on this side.

There’s not enough color. I’ve said that to you before.

Make sure you get good color. You need the garlic oil,

- so pay more attention to it, okay? - Yes.

It’s something so simple as a waffle and it’s kind of

funny and ridiculous that at least

- you need to make sure that the cooking is right. - Yes, Chef.

Because if not, it’s also funny, stupid and

- poorly executed, OK? - OK.

[Angela] In London, there’s four restaurants that I’m associated with.

Murano’s the, if you like, the figure head.

Then we have two café Muranos. And then we have Merchants Tavern.

It’s East End so it’s a bit more quirky, but brilliant food.

[Angela] Why is it with the mayonnaise and lemon?

- Is that what they’ve put on the menu? - [cook] Yeah.

Does it actually say "Haggis croquettes with lemon and mayo"?

- Yeah. - I’m gonna kill him.

You know, everyone presumed... you know, the Midas touch,

but actually it’s not as easy as everyone thinks.

[indistinct] in that, and it’s not cooked, Joe.

[Angela] With more competition, fewer staff, higher rents and raises,

lots of things that are contriving to make it harder and harder daily.

- Guys, you need to have here, We’re missing the sauces... - [cook] Yes.

- For the side plates. - [cook] Yes, Chef.

We’re missing the under plates. I’ve said these are too small.

It’s like repeating myself every day. No.

People do have this misconception about when they go to a restaurant,

I think they just think they’re just paying for the actual food on their plate,

and maybe the tip to their server.

But really, the price of the meal,

it’s like you’re renting that table for the night.

They see a busy restaurant and they think you’re making a lot of money.

We do. We take in a ton of money at Dirt Candy. Probably close to like,

somewhere between $180,000 and $200,000 a month.

It also costs me about $180,000, $200,000 a month to run the restaurant.

You wanna take the wine and you wanna smell it.

Show him how to uh... swirl the wine so he opens it up.

Smell it a little bit. Now, it’s... it’s gonna... Release it. Try not to do it too much.

Alright, now. Yeah, but get close. Put your nose in. Don’t be afraid. Get close.

[Amanda] We made a couple of really big changes.

We’re trying to up our game and we’re now stepping into fine dining.

[Michael] So, like I was saying in those training, like,

you guys bring a certain element of your personality

that is something that you should continue to focus on.

[Amanda] We’ve had a front of house consultant, Michael Cherry,

the general manager at Annisa come in and work with us.

Our servers have gone through weeks and weeks of training

and we’ve sort of all been like, re-learning all the recipes and how to make them more precise

so that we really are consistent and how to slow down a little bit

so that we’re doing a better job.

Alright. So now I’m waiting for one, two, three more towers.

We are not going down tonight. We are not going down.

We are at 92 and we are not going down.

- No, leave all that. - Oh, shit. Tower.

Tower goes to 301. Adam, you will follow.

Not 301. Yes, 301. Oh well, they went.

[Amanda] We have a lot of growing pains.

Just sort of figuring out how this whole new system works.

While we do sort of wanna get new customers in,

we also wanna make sure that we don’t offend everybody

who we used to have, and it is this delicate balance.

[Travis] Thank you, folks. Really appreciate your patience. Sorry about that, guys.

So this is your salad course. Uh... So we have these in tiers.

Bottom tier would be your vegetables. Your middle is your lettuce. With every lettuce...

With every salad you have lettuce and then on top are our croutons or breadsticks,

so uh... I’ll go one by one. So, on the bottom you have some hon shimeji mushrooms

and a mushroom milk, aguachile, cucumbers and some melon.

Uh... I wanna see white truffle, let’s push white truffle and let’s push fish today.

Angela needs the whole truffle for tonight’s dinner.

[Oscar] Um... So make sure, please that everything is nice and clean, OK?

[Angela] You can’t rest on your laurels.

It’s not about white tablecloths.

It’s not about glassware and fancy pictures.

It’s about the consistency of that food on the table.

But you know, sometimes everyone’s now trying to be so different from it

you know, you’ll go somewhere and you know,

you’ll be lucky if you get a glass, never mind a napkin.

And I’m going bloody... I’d quite like a tablecloth and I’d like not to be sitting next

to the table like this so I can actually hear what I think.

And maybe I’m old, but you know...

That’s not to say there’s not a place for everything else,

but I think there still is a place for

fine dining for want of a better word, shall we say.

[Anne-Sophie] My father, he, he trained me to taste.

Every time we share a lunch or a dinner he was making some remarks on what he was eating.

[gentle piano music]

[Anne-Sophie] This is a lot of flavors.

So each member of the team really has to really understand

where I want to go. It’s not so easy. It’s more complex to transmit.

Alright! I just smashed it to get all that butter and brown sugar

just like, I don't know, so good. How are you guys enjoying the tasting so far?

- [man] Oh, it’s awesome. - Awesome. Have you been here before?

- We have, but not for the tasting menu. - It’s really great.

- Yeah. - Alright. Now we’re ready.

[Amanda] The funny thing with a restaurant is...

it’s actually not always about the food. It’s about the whole show.

- [cook] And then we have our lemonized cream. - [man] Awesome.

[Amanda] I feel like going out to eat should be like a party.

This is my party and you’ve come to my house and I throw a party every night

and hopefully you like it and hopefully you have a good time.

I loved having dinner at the table with my family. I have a big family.

So for me though the memories of food have less to do with the actual food

and more to do with all the circumstances surrounding it,

which is a big part of this restaurant.

I hope we’ve managed to give you a really good time.

Yeah, your tasting hasn’t even gotten good yet.

- You’re actually at the bad part. - The bad part?

- It gets really good. - Time will tell.

This journalist goes, “Do you think you could write me 400 words, Angela?”

And I went “No!” I said...

[Angela] I like the camaraderie in a kitchen. I like the banter.

Not to say everyone’s a saint. You know, we all take the mickey

out of each other and we have a laugh about things.

- Thank you. - No, no. Not at all.

- Absolutely superb. - Good. Yeah. No, no, no.

[Angela] And I like seeing customers having a great time,

and you’ve been part of that.

When you know that someone’s had a wonderful time in your restaurant.

They’ve enjoyed the service. They’ve enjoyed the food and they’re very happy about it.

That’s a very good feeling.

- See you later. - Bye bye.

[humming]

OK. How are we looking?

[Charlotte] As a chef that has worked for other employers for many years,

I wanted to have my own opportunity to showcase what I wanted to do and how I’d do it.

And I was like, well I’m gonna throw a dinner party and see if people wanna come.

So people are calling these pop-ups, underground. They’re top secret.

They’re exclusive or whatever. I keep going back to that word

because they’re not totally on the grid.

And that makes them have actually a bit more panache.

- Hi. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Valerie. - Pleasure to meet you.

[Charlotte] So tonight for example, the majority of the guests that are coming,

I have no idea who they are. Like they’re just signing up.

- Hello, I’m Tammy. - I’m Robin.

It’s like, Dear, so-and-so,

I’m having this lovely dinner, I’d love for you to be a guest.

Here’s a... like a website link to this email to make a reservation. Come if you can.

Any allergies across the board? No? Excellent.

The bathroom’s there. There’s a more intimate bathroom upstairs if you need to make out or

take your shirt off or something like that, but in the meantime,

that’s probably gonna do for now.

[Charlotte] I think people probably wanna have like an interactive experience.

They just... They don’t wanna just pay for dinner. It’s like...

the evolution of a dinner and a show

is now the dinner and the show is together.

- Yes, thank you. - [Valerie] Bon appétit...

Guys, dig into it! Don’t be shy. Don’t be shy.

Cheers. Happy uh... holidays. Uh... Pre-holidays. Ey! Ey! Ey!

[waiter] There is another table that would really love to meet you if possible.

OK. Yeah. Yeah.

- They’ve been here a number of times. - Okay. Oh, there they are.

We’d actually been trying to plan. We were like,

“Annisa’s closing. We have to go. We have to go."

- Are you, are you guys in the business? - We’re all at The Pig.

-We’re all... Yeah. -Oh, you’re all at The Pig. Oh, yay.

- I never met somebody like you. - I’m not going anywhere.

-I know you’re not. You can come visit me anytime. -You can always call me.

- [Anita] Get back. Yay. - [man] Thank you very much.

[Anita] Thank you. Oh.

Oh. Oh, you don’t have to do that. Yeah. Thank you.

That’s a little heartbreaking.

[Anita] Oh, well, thanks for coming in. - Thank you very much.

[Anita] Yeah.

- Hi. We just wanted to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

- It’s been a dream to come to this restaurant. - Awesome. Awesome.

- How’s everything so far? - Oh, it’s phenomenal.

[Anita] Yeah, it’s been kind of sad to see all these customers come by and...

But just every day, like it’s just... “We’re so sad to see you go.”

I wrote on Facebook that the best chef in America is closing tonight.

- Oh, thank you. - For me you are.

Oh, thank you.

How is it going?

Let’s do this. Selfie.

I was never comfortable for me to actually have to be that public persona of Chef Anita Lo.

And it... it’s kind of a relief.

You know, yes, there’s a lot of people that do this their entire lives and

you know, die doing it and I just... I... That’s not me.

It’s time for the younger generation to step up.

Alright, so for patties tonight we’re doing beef,

spiced apple parsnip is our veggie.

Uhm... We’ve got the ube pie. We have the three individual

and then we also have a slice of this once we get to that point.

- [waitress] OK. - [Suzanne] Uh...

[waitress] We could do red wine with this maybe?

- [Suzanne] Yeah, that would be great. - Just red.

[Suzanne] Yeah, red wine with that. Um...

Let’s really, really, really... Let’s push the sides.

The sautéed greens, the tostones, the patties,

those add-ons just to get our tickets up a bit.

[Suzanne] So Saturday Dinette has closed.

Kid Chocolate’s not ready to go.

I was offered an opportunity to come and work

as co-executive chef at the Gladstone Hotel.

-No, I only have one... only one thing. -Bigger? More?

Yeah, more.

[Suzanne] You know, I think I was known for what I was doing for Saturday Dinette.

Now people can know me for doing something quite different at,

you know, a very well-established hotel.

So right now, as a family, my income from the Gladstone is the

only income that we have coming in.

So that’s a bit of a strain on us.

Thank you, guys. Have a good night.

I’ll see you. Bye, guys.

[Anita] I’m not quite sure this is my favorite dish, but this is certainly the dish that

I’m going to be known for, which are the foie gras soup dumplings.

I opened with that. We still have it on the menu.

My father was from Shanghai, which is where the xiaolongbao, the soup dumpling, comes from.

I put some foie gras in it and uh... put some seared foie gras on top

and for the soup part, I used one of my mother’s recipes based on a red cooked meat,

which is something she would make us for dinner every once in a while.

- Alright. Done. - Yeah! Woo!

Alright. You served me well for 17 years.

[Anita] Food is certainly emotional, like, because we’ve had those ties

to mom and nourishment and it’s identity.

You know, there’s so many things that you know, could be your,

you know, Proustian Madeleine, you know.

[Victoria] I find the meaning of a lot of things when I cook. Everything makes sense.

I make this sauce, I love the color and I smell and it took me to somewhere.

So I get transported to not necessarily something that I ate,

but it’s something that brings me home.

And I’m in love with what I do.

So, it is my constant lover.

I haven’t given up. It’s the only person-thing that I haven’t really,

you know, “Oh it’s too much. I’m done.” It’s what moves me.

Thank you, everybody. Thank you for sticking out to the end.

It means a lot to me. Good luck with everything.

- Thanks, Chef. - I will always be here should you need anything.

And now sing.

[all laughing and singing]

♪ As we go on ♪

♪ we remember ♪

♪ all the times we shared together ♪

♪ As our lives change ♪

[all laughing]

Cheers. Thank you.

Yeah, having more women in... in kitchens is definitely changing something,

but I think we can’t solve this problem from just our side.

Just having more women in kitchens isn’t gonna do it.

You know, when you talk about solving something it...

there’s usually like a system, you know, uh...

that uhm... that is complex, that needs to be addressed.

Yeah, I would love to be able to change that... that culture.

I’m doing my best.

[Suzanne] Let’s use these to go into a mango crème, but I want thicker.

[Suzanne] Kitchens are not diverse enough.

My whole goal, my whole dream is to offer training, and right now the focus is women.

I know that I can only ask myself,

what have I done today in order to make this come about?

This is personal for me.

I’m sorry.

It’s... It’s kind of like the job that needs to be done,

but we believe in you. You can do it.

It’s just sharpening your knife skills. That’s what it’s all about.

All you think about is brunoise, brunoise, brunoise.

[Amanda] If there’s a woman at the top, she’s probably had to go through a lot to get there.

And if they’re of my generation or around my generation, my feeling is that they, uhm...

probably are nicer and they’re trying to run a better kitchen

‘cause they’ve known what happened in the past.

At the same time, I have heard stories of female chefs in the city

who aren’t that nice and who aren’t that easy to work with, so... you know.

What I want and hope for isn’t necessarily true.

We will ruin our industry if we don’t fix this problem. We have to make it less macho.

We have to start celebrating uhm... good kitchens.

Happy places to work that are really supportive of their workers.

A restaurant is a way to show to people that we love them.

[music playing]