The real purpose of cooking isn't what you think it is: Chef Brent Weathers

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Today's guest is someone who defies every industry stereotype and does it with quiet power , sharp insight and an unapologetic honesty . Chef Brent Weathers isn't chasing titles or clout , he's chasing truth .

A self-described under-the-radar chef with Michelin-level experience , brent has worked behind the scenes in everything from restaurant openings to cookbooks , to pop-ups and festivals . But what sets him apart isn't just the food , it's his voice Through social media .

Through his social media series , brentflix and raw behind the line footage , brent calls out dysfunction , exposes neglect and shines a light on what's really happening in the kitchens all across the country . He's not loud , he's real .

He's not trying to be viral , he's trying to be heard With humor , humility and a deep respect for the craft and a big grounding in faith . Brent reminds us that the heart of this industry isn't in the office . It's at the stove , where the fire is literal and the passion is personal . Let's welcome Chef Brent to the program .

You've said some stuff , you get into some stuff , like you , you , you get into some things and basically you've said that you've won by staying in the kitchen and avoiding the stress of titles . What does that mean ?

My condition , my situation at the time , was if you worked , if you had titles and stuff , you wasn't able to work directly with the chef . So the chef that I was working for , he traveled quite a bit , he did pop-ups . We opened up restaurants , we had a cookbook open . I was there for all of that .

Now , had I had to be behind a desk and go to meetings , I would have missed all that . So it's kind of like it reminds me of the gangsters , where they all have the same stories Like hey , you know , I used to be the , I used to drive Mr . You know , whatever the mob boss's name is , you know , and that's how the guy got his first gig .

He just drove the boss around , he had the umbrella , he held the guy's umbrella Maybe , helped him count money , you know , and he just heard , as he's driving the gangster around , he heard the conversations he saw , the , he got the ins and outs of the racket . You know what I mean .

And so in my situation where I was at , I end up winning because I had zero title , zero responsibility and I was able to go on the road and get away with , you know , leaving and going on for two weeks where there was a chef's cuisine . I had to be at the restaurant , you know .

And , and also , too , I just don't like um , and these days if you're a chef , you don't just cook food , you gotta babysit , you gotta . You know the fact that , as a grown adult will call in sick and say I have a headache . That would drive me insane . And I'm literally living my dream .

My dream was to go to work , deal with food and go home , and I was always working two jobs because I had to , you know , pay off bills and I had a turntable habit and had to . You know what I mean . So I was already doing two jobs anyway , working all day long , where some people say , hey , man , get the title , that way you can work less .

Well , I was like . Well , I wasn't , I don't know , I just always was wanting to cook . That's my thing and I don't want to do nothing with no paperwork , if that means you have to For my happiness . My happiness was cooking all day and it was 14 to 16 hours and I was happy . You know what I mean ? No , it worked for me .

So when I say I won , I'm the one that , with God's help , I was traveling and I was in and out the Beard House and we opened up a restaurant that had a Michelin star and I ended up doing pop-ups and festivals and styling people out and consulting . So I had the . I got the most out of it . I had zero title and I got the most out of it .

Did I get the title and I got the most out of it ? Did I get the most money ? No , but guess what ? I'm happy . I'm literally I'm not saying it to take it like that I literally I'm literally the third time living my dream . My dream is go to work , cook , and now I've gotten into editing .

So I'm really a mess now , but yeah , I'm literally living my dream in your brent flicks videos , you pull back the curtain .

But the restaurant I'm at now is the worst I've ever seen any kitchen I've ever been at . I told the chef , I made a promise to him that I want to be there , so basically I couldn't quite leave . And then I was like , why is it that no one else is caring around here ? And so it was always driving me insane .

Like five , six years ago , I go into work , the tuna's not wrapped correctly , nothing's iced down , and it was driving me crazy every single day . And so what I ended up ? You know I bring it to people's attention and no one seemed to care and it was driving me insane .

I started finding out that because I was already posting things on social media , because I got into it how I got into it , and I'm like you know what . These guys are not going to drive me crazy . I want to share my pain with the world , no matter what comes from it , because the restaurants I worked at before , we post the beautiful stuff .

We post the great pictures . We post the apron with the chefs looking all good and stuff . We post the apron with the chefs looking all good and stuff . We post the good stuff , but the world doesn't see the bad . We have all these people going to culinary art school and they don't know the real deal . I don't think .

And so what I want to do is let people know . Hey , look , just because your Uncle Eddie said that you're a good cook , he only said that because he was hungry and you cooked some spaghetti meatballs . He said , oh , you should be a chef one day . And then he saw Emeril . He said bam , a couple of times . And now you want to be on Chopped .

And your aunt was like , oh man , you should be on that show , you should be a chef . And because it looks flashy on TV , in real life there's some ugly stuff . So what I do is the very first episode of my wife videos . This is what happened . Episode of my why videos . This is what happened Someone took their gloves off in the dry storage .

Dirty gloves is left there . I'm like what on earth ? I had labels in my hand . I just decided to , instead of picking everyone else's crap up all the time , driving myself crazy , I decided to put why on it with a question mark on the label , thing . The label , and I put Y on it , question mark , put it on the glove and I left it .

So now my style was like anytime I saw something really backwards , I would just put , I would just label . I had the Y label and I would just put the sticker on . Like you know , the open Deton mustard in the dry storage or the things are not closed right , or scoops in the flower bin , I just put Y and I just put it on there .

So when he or she came across it , they were like it says Y and I was like , okay , let me fix it . That's how it started off . And then that video went very , very well . People in the comments were saying , yeah , I thought I was the only one that saw this in the kitchen , or that drives me crazy , or I've been there before .

I've been there before , and so I just started this series and from that day like a year ish ago till today , I've been seeing nothing but neglect and patheticness , and when I see it I kind of call it out . But the restaurant I work at is so so out of whack . No one seems to care , and when I post it they think it's funny .

So it's like you guys aren't supposed to think it's funny , I'm supposed to fix it . You know , like this is . You know why are you guys letting this stuff slide ? And none of the management management has no more spine , there's no courage left , there's nothing . And so even the main guy was like oh Brent , your videos are the funniest thing I've ever seen .

Dude , it's your restaurant . I'm posting it for the world to see . It's not supposed to be funny , anyway . So I have on my social media where it says highlights if he or she wants to look at the best of , I have Y number one and Y number two and they can just go up . I think .

No , it goes up to like four of them , I think and they can just click on it and see what I go through for the last year and some change , and it turns out I'm not the only one , but I just want to show the good , bad and ugly , but Chef you're there , You're seeing the issues , You're seeing employed there .

We had so much talent from the new york , from new york restaurants uh , killer restaurants down here in in uh , dallas , and there was a lot of people that cared . And then , like , once the main people start , stop , they quit and they just kind of moved away . Whatever , um , we got , they started hiring anyone that walked through the door .

So if I took it over , I'd be outgunned , I'd be overstressed , I'd lose my hair , my heart . There's time , you know , I'm outnumbered . Now I just can't just go to in this situation . I'm deciding to stay . Actually , it's gotten a little bit better too .

It's like if I do a before and after video , you know it's not as crazy because you know there's parts of the restaurant was really insane , but it's gotten a little bit better because people know when I walk around , it kind of like oh wait , hey , brent , what did you see this time ? You know . So they kind of fix it . I'm outnumbered .

There's only a few of us that really , really care , and there was a time when they hired like five or six people with not that much experience and the way they got hired was very . It's a long story how they got hired and there's no passion behind it .

So if I decided to tell people like even the other day , this guy's you know tasting sauces with his fingers and double dipping back and forth to the hollandaise , and if I say something , I'm the bad guy and they don't want to listen and it's really bad . Like it's just what they say the crazy people took over the asylum .

So I'm trying to build something right now and I don't want to tell another job spot that like , hey , I only got a month and a half left to only work here . So I'm just hanging out trying to do the best I can .

to the same ingredients . You know , when you look at the back of the French Laundry Cookbook 11 Madison Park Cookbook they show you where to get this stuff from and it turns out everyone here in Dallas has the same thing . So it's good to see a lot of different chefs make mistakes or kill it , you know , do a great job of what they're doing .

And I don't know , let me know that I'm not that far off , like I'm just as talented . There's times where I've cooked something , we're on the road and these people are coming back for seconds and thirds .

And so , you know , when you talk like that , especially doing festivals for like thousands of people and whatever , and these guys are like , hey , I have the longest line , it lets me know that I'm doing something right .

And you know , know , we're all hey , dude , it's all the same thing , like when all these kitchens are the same , different players , different scenarios , but it's all the same . I don't know from the things that I've learned and the things I realized , like you know what ? Like this guy right here is a James Beard award-winning chef , but he's miserable .

This guy right here just got canned . This guy's chef of the cuisine over here , but at this free Michelin restaurant , but he had enough . When I meet people on the road and all these different experiences that they have , we all sit back and we talk after the fact and sometimes the majority of them aren't happy .

I've learned to , after meeting all these people and traveling , what makes you happy , what really makes you tick ? Is it a taco stand ? Do you want to do something ? Burgers , are you a ramen type of guy ? Because at one point when we left culinary , culinary art school , we thought that it was all about fine dining .

And then you start meeting these guys after so , so long and they they're tired of it . You know , and sometimes it took me to go on the road to talk to these people to realize what's really , really important . Some of these guys are like you know they're , they're private chefs now or they work at a country club . They're just over it .

You know they work at a hospital . They're just over the awards .

Um , so I was . I mean , I was born . I was born this way . I grew up in church . You know , I believe in God . I want to to go to heaven , that kind of stuff . So I'm a dead , dead serious person and I'm a goofball .

So if I have something to tell somebody that's very , very serious , there's probably some humor in there by default , maybe the way I deliver it or maybe the way I compare something I don't purposely like . Okay , cool , let me insert a joke here and this , will you know , mellow out the . This is how I talk , you know , and so that's just who I am .

But it's very important to let people know like , hey , dude , it's not supposed to be this serious . You know , whatever you're into in life , like cooking for sure , like we're supposed to have fun , that's the core of it . Like , feel free to have fun . If you have a personality , feel free to show it . Some .

Some chefs are very um , they're very strict and don't talk too much in the kitchen and I was like that's gonna drive me crazy . But um , I think it's also it's important to say what I'm saying and if there's some humor in there it kind kind of knows out the intensity of it , it softens the blow a little bit .

Bobby Flay legit chef , like you know . Gordon Ramsay , legit , like you know , they cooked their brains out for years . Guy Fieri , I don't know , 15 , 20 years and the rest of them 20 years plus . So these guys are like , notably like legit celebrity chefs Emeril , legit , right .

And then nowadays it's gotten carried away because as soon as someone gets on television or as soon as someone gets on TikTok and they have a few viral videos , they'll immediately change their profile to celebrity chef and when they do that , it gets them more gigs . It makes them feel a certain type of way and I don't , it's just terrible , like I don't .

I wish that wasn't the case , because I think the worst thing that happened to a cook really is those cameras . You know , like I'm glad that we have TV entertainment with cooking and stuff like that on it , but nowadays , right , when someone gets on TV , a lot of these chefs , it messes with their minds a little bit . They become Hollywood .

You know , I've met a lot of people that I refuse to name drop on my Instagram , but my goodness , there's a lot of people where being in front of the camera ruined them and they're getting agents they're paying for . You know , some of these guys are paying for followers . I'm like dude , either you got it or you don't . Why are you paying ?

I'd rather earn it . Like I've been paid a dime on any of my social media platforms . I'm on jail Two of them . They got me in jail Instagram . I'm still kind of free a little bit , but you know , I just don't understand . Like you're paying for this attention . You had these , the majority of these guys , 90% of these chefs you see on TV .

They see all the time they're judging and they're on some type of a , they're hosting or whatever . There's a whole agent and those agents put those guys on to you know . So I'm like my goodness , like I mean , are they doing anything wrong ?

No , but I just hate the fact that you'll meet a celebrity chef out and about and notice like , look at you , like they just forgot . They forgot what it was to wash dishes . You know what I mean . Like some of these chefs have been on TV , they just forgot where they came from .

certain chef , and I mean , of course , find out your own style , but , like when we started cooking , we don't know everything . The whole purpose of me working with a guy for 20-plus years is just , you know , be quiet , be humble , say yes , chef , and just listen to what you know . He or she had to say you know , and to learn and absorb some of that game .

You know . He or she had to say you know , and , and and to learn and absorb some of that , that game you know , for two or three or four years , some some people 15 years , and then they finally move on . But I think it's kind of cool to work with someone who you know , that you respect , that has a good reputation , to like break down some things .

Maybe there's some chefs they know how to work the front of the house . They know how to look at the seating chart . They know how to go about when you're calling out tickets and expediting . They know how to , when to fire certain things , when to mid-course some people there's an example to look at Some chefs they can expedite and cook at the same time .

And some chefs these days they just expedite . And some chefs these days expedite . If that , they just literally walk around and have their presence known . I was like man , you guys forgot what it was to cook Because as a kid you just want to grow up .

I mean , I thought you just want to grow up and be a chef one day and then you finally get these opportunities and then you just love being behind the desk and walking around , not working , no more .

But I think it's kind of cool for a young chef or someone young , someone who's new into the industry you can be 46 years old , 35 , to just like work with a chef . That's passionate and if you do that , you can . There's a lot of benefits in that .

You know I've learned a lot from doing that , you know , so I think it's kind of cool to work with someone who's you know if I'm , if I want to play guitar one day and and uh , jimmy page and slash um are hanging out and they they're about to go on the road and they need somebody , I don't know .

It's kind of cool to have a jam session with them , like see how long they probably just pick their brain a little bit , you know , and and kind of develop your own style , you know , maybe your style , just to play the C chord the whole time .

And that works , because some of these country guys they play the C chord and they have platinum records just off of three chords . And you have people like Slash , who that's not going to work for him . He does a whole solo . He does a whole .

You know he really rips it and you can find out like , okay , I like this stuff a lot , I learned so much , but I'm not sure that's quite my style . Let me see what I want to do . I don't know . I think it's kind of cool , but unfortunately some people don't have an identity .

They think that whatever the chef says is right and then they end up copying and mimicking what the chef did , if that means yelling at people and throwing things and belittling them , and that's that's what they ended up doing and some don't . Some , like you know , I disagree with that .

But yeah , I think it's kind of cool to work with somebody in your craft that has experience and you know they can . You can learn a lot . You can't learn this on your own , really . You know you can , but it's better if you have a dope chef to work with .

The comedy part of it is amazing and I just think it's terrific humor . I think what you do for delivery and intent with it is fantastic . Why don't you explain what that is exactly ?

And another gentleman named Tyler that got Florida , got Orlando , knife and spoon , the Michelin star . So I'm hanging out with them . And then I say you know what ? Because I was thinking about the master class that you're aware of , like you know , gordon Ramsey and all these guys and comedians and Steph Curry .

They're talking about how they do things and it's called master class . So I was like I have a lot of crap to get off my chest right . So I was like I have a lot of crap to get off my chest right . So I was like , how about if I ? I'm going to call my friend up and he has the same birthday as I do ? I'm going to call him up .

I'll say , hey , man , can you take that master class and take that T out and put two S's in there Like master ? And he just , he didn't flinch , he just went ahead and did it . And he's white . He did it with no problem whatsoever .

And so Masterclass is me giving my two cents to get things off my chest , because at one point I wanted to have a podcast just to talk about things that couldn't stand . Like . Why are you saying Eggs Benny when you can clearly say Eggs Benedict To me ? I don't know . Just talk correctly .

People are labeling Chicken stock and it'll say CHX , and I'm like yo , like you know , you're bragging about all these books you have . You're talking about how you want to go to France so bad but you sound like you're working a pool hole , like , is there any way ? You can just talk correctly .

So I have a lot of things in life I'm going to get off my chest and majority of it's culinary , and I just decided to call it masterclass . You know , just playing around with what was going on and letting people know that I'm different From the . You know I'm a low key . There's a movie Crap Kirsten Slater , pump Up the Volume , yeah , and that's just .

You know he had an underground Radio show in his Dorm room or whatever , and that's kind of . You know he had an underground radio show in his dorm room or whatever , and that's kind of like what I do man ?

I just put my camera up and I just mouth off for a minute and a half Sometimes some are shorter , some are longer and I just get things off my chest and I say what I got to say .

I do it without cursing and I do it without name dropping and I try not to put too many people on the spot , but I will say things that people understand and relate with . Masterclass is me being verbal , getting things off my chest , talking about things that people can relate with , and sometimes it's the cooking technique . I'll show how I do a consummate .

It can't go wrong . The tomato water run I did last week . That's pretty cool . I thought it was cool Cause I showed seven different techniques in a tomato and have flipped each one of them in for different results . So yeah , I don't know , I'm just . It's just me having fun If it gets really , really big .

Uh , you know we were gonna , he , I were going to start a podcast , a second like a just like a , like a for fun thing , where the whole thing is spoken in old school hip hop phrases Like everything would be something to do , and I cause you know , you and I had a conversation the other day , you know , in our pregame , and I think that you two would ,

just you guys would be hitting home runs left and right .

You can't just read the bible and go to church , clock in and clock out , and then be heathen when you , you know , go to work . So , um , what helped , what helped me out a lot at work is , I mean , you know , we sit here and we talk about , well , we need to respect the ingredient Mother Earth . No , god spoke that .

Like God , you know , look at the dragon fruit , look at the lobster , god spoke that . So it's like it's kind of cool that you walk into that , walk-in , you see all that produce . God spoke , god had everything to do with that . You know what I mean . And so it's like it's kind of it's an honor to cook God's what God created , what God spoke .

And you know , and when I deal with impossible people and I , you know there's times where , before I clocked in , I had to read the Bible . I think , you know , I had to have a small little church service . I had a CD with some acapella singing , I would put it in .

I would listen to a few church songs , get my mind geeked up to deal with really evil , messed up people . And then I'd have to read something out of . I had to read something about turning the other cheek . I had read I believe it's colossians .

And there's another verse where it talks about like when your boss tell you , it says master , but when , when your boss tells you to do something , do it like if god told you to do it . So I'm about to clock into this job , work 4 pm to 12 30 in the morning , and it's filled with immoral , lazy , whatever it is people .

And so God is the only reason why I was able to work with impossible people Like the guy I work for . He's really impossible , but the only reason why I mastered I can work with him for this long , because everyone's like , how do you work with a guy for so long ? Well , you know you have to read the Bible .

You got to think about heaven , you got to pray a lot , you know . So , um , the reason why I can , I move the way I move , is literally because I know that you know if you pray and be specific in prayer . You know God will have my back . So , um , I don't know , that's just how I it's . I don't know . This is just um . I appreciate what God has done .

God created all these people in work and some of these people . They're crying out for help and I've had a lot of Bible studies at work . I've had a lot of . We had a lot of talks . I've shown things that we've made . I was like man , this is crazy . God created this . The reason why I can work in this industry another 25 years is because of God .

If I wasn't reading something in the Bible before I clocked in , I'd be really screwed , amen . What advice would you give to young cooks who just genuinely feel burnt out ? You know , they kind of hit the wall , maybe in a bad head space . What are you telling these cats ? Because I cook , because I love it , I love people .

I may not like where I'm at , and some places are really insane and so there's no harm in like . You know what I got to leave up out of here . I can't finish my one year here . I got to protect my peace . Nowadays we say mental health , but when you and me were growing up , it was on something like we would say I got to take care of myself .

I can't do it , or we would say something of that nature but you have to take care of yourself . So if you're burnt out , you know there's no harm in like you know what . Let me just take a break from restaurants .

Let me work at this butcher's up the street , let me fillet some fish , let me go to Whole Foods or let me go to a grocery spot and just work behind the counter . I mean , do something totally different . Some people , they stop , they end up becoming security guards and they take a break .

You know , they fall out of compassion , their construction , they , you know , they play guitar the whole time . Because you know , you and me both seen a lot of chefs that had a whole different skill set outside of cooking and some people was like you know what ? I need a break . There's no harm in taking a break .

It can be a year , two and a half , five years , and the reality of the matter is you can take a 10-year break and when you come back it kind of is like riding a bike . On some level I have to cook . I'm not going to be corny but , like you know , cause some chefs on TV they'll say something stupid , like it's very spiritual for me .

I want my food to hug you . My , my food is going to hug you . I don't know about all that , but I do know that like this is what makes me tick . I love the cook , I love the experiment . I love to cook . I love the experiment , I love . I'm a mad scientist at heart , you know what I mean and so I love being around food . I've had .

I've been places before where I'm like yo , I can't do this no more . I can always cook with me . Personally , I can always cook , but sometimes it depends on who you're cooking with , because to me , this is the best industry in the world . I don't see how anyone does anything else . On the flip side , it's the worst industry in the world .

If you have to deal with impossible people , what you do is just there's no harm in leaving . Take a break . If your wife has . I know a few people where their wife does very , very well . I would say I had to take a break . It was messing with my mind . I'm going to travel with my wife as a doctor at the such and such .

I'm going to hang out with her a little bit and do some private chef work and take care of myself . Yeah , if you burnt out or if you just See there's this mindset of like , okay , cooking there's frowned upon , if you give up , I don't want to quit because I don't want , what will my friends think of me ?

Take care of yourself , that's the most thing that's important . I can't speak for you , but I know for a fact you've seen some people burnt out to where they turn to drugs and they're drinking . And they're different people and there's a lot of . I lost a lot of chef friends . I had to make sure I don't start crying . Let's see here . One year I lost .

I'm not going to do that , I'm not going to count the numbers , but it's a lot of cooks playing with their nose on and off drugs drinking . I had a friend of mine . She drunk herself to death . And if your job is causing you to drink and smoke all the time and turn to drugs , yo do something else .

Like you know , like you don't , you can , you can express . You don't have to be at a restaurant . You know what I mean . Like do cater or something , drop off some fajitas at the local uh , daycare or something . Like you know , express yourself , some type of you know , and nowadays people are cooking at home . They got a YouTube channel . There's no rules .

Do what makes you happy . I don't know . You have to do what makes you happy . And people want to cook for other people and they're so obsessed with stupid awards I was like , well , I don't want to give up . I don't want my friends to think that I sold out . Dude , it's okay .

I had friends of mine that stopped what they were doing to work at a chain and I just asked them a simple question hey , my man , are you good , are you happy ? Well , I mean I sold out . Well , what do you mean ? Well , I work at this such and such down the street and it's uh , dude , it's not selling out . You have a family , don't you all ?

Right then , like you know , you gotta do what's best for your family . You know , like your kids don't care about no award . James beard is dead . You know , those michelin brothers are dead . It's a bunch of other people running it . You know what I mean . And it's business . We have to pay what ? Uh , michelin ?

2.9 million dollars to come down here to hand out awards because we had to have awards . So bad . I don't care about no award , I had a Michelin star in my hand and I couldn't even post it . I had a picture about the end of the post . I had a voiceover and everything . I scratched it . I was like it's not even my quote , I don't care .

That doesn't make me happy . What makes me happy is cooking . This is what makes me happy . I was told to do make family meal for banquets a week ago . I made it . I was nervous , I didn't know it . People hold me to a higher degree . When I'm doing all these live videos I call people up for their cooking techniques or whatever . I made what I made .

I kind of forgot what I made , but I made something . The dishwasher came back and was like Brent . He doesn't talk about food at all . He said , Brent man , that food over there was stellar . He gave me their two thumbs up . I've never seen him smile that hard ever . He was like Brent .

That was beautiful food , man , that's the best thing I've ever had out of here . You know what ? That was my award For someone to be like yo , that's the best thing I've ever had and I wanted to go box . I want to take someone home . That's what makes me happy . That's my thing right there .

You know , I had to almost help back the tears because you said , like I'm black , 6'3" , 260-something pounds , and I had to hold back tears , all because a dishwasher that was like 20 years old said that's the biggest thing I've ever had out of here . You know , hey , listen , I was humble . I was humble .

It was definitely a different time than we're living in now . And you know , at the end , bro , listen , if you're going to , if you've got a field , if you have to have the fields , it's okay , there's nothing wrong with it .

And , by the way , if there's anybody listening out there that does need any resources or help , or you know , in terms of , you know , mental health awareness , check out theburnchefprojectcom . These cats are great and they're from Europe , they're coming over here to North America and they just provide so many resources for so many people in our industry specifically .

So you know , with that said , Chef , like you're a big dude , Shed a tear baby , it's okay .

If I remember , I'll share that post with you when we're done with this . But I have some videos , some go-to videos of yo , it's okay , we're a whole human , let's cry . You know what I'm saying . I say hold back the tears , but I was like it was a touching moment . You know , that's all . And there's no harm in Dude .

A dog needs acceptance , a dog wants encouragement , a dog wants to be noticed . So if a dog wants to be noticed , we just think of human ones . My issue with those goofy awards Is that , you know , is that really what's important ?

Because I've seen these guys get these awards and it messes with their brain If they don't get the same award the next year or they go from three stars to two stars . It messes with them . And there's quite a bit of chefs . They call up the Michelin guys and say , hey , don't bother , come over here , Don't ? They go from three stars to two stars .

It messes with them . And there's quite a bit of chefs . They call up the Michelin guys and say , hey , don't bother , come over here , Don't rate us , don't do nothing , we're not interested . You know , and I personally I don't move that way .

Some people they feel like , because the reality of the matter is they get an award and at first they take a bunch of pictures and they post it on their social media thing . It could be from Michelin , james Beard , an Emmy , an Oscar , tony , it could be all those things .

As soon as they win it , it's posted and people , we want our peers to be proud of us , but on the flip side I want my heart to be proud of me . I don't want to be like you know high blood pressure and you know hate the industry .

All because I'm trying to , you know , make , make my , my , my colleagues and my , my , my , you know mentees and mentors happy . You know I I think you can mess with your mind a little bit and with me , the way I'm wired . I just don't . I just don't think that's extremely important . I come from winning places , man .

I've I've worked at restaurants where we just had five-star , you know , diamond and all these awards and plaques on the wall and best of this and best of that . I'm so used to it . To me , different restaurants , different situations , I just don't . That shouldn't be what drives you . Some people cooking drives People cook for the wrong reasons .

I think it's kind of cool to go back to the core of what you cook for , and it shouldn't be over no war . But that's just my two cents .

So that was my first time is amazing . So that was my my first time , uh , experiencing how a michelin level chef operates . And I'm talking about , you know , we were there for a photo shoot and to do some some video work and whatnot .

Um , honestly , the guy was a machine and every single yeah , every action had a purpose and every action had something to do with cleaning as you go and building and beautiful and being clean and having the system and being clean again . Like , like I'd never seen that before . I mean I worked with great chefs .

I mean I've worked with literally thousands of chefs and I've seen a lot , but not like that . And I don't know if it's just because we were there with the cameras or whatever , but like , at the end of the day , man , like , what these cats are doing is serious . So if chasing a star or a beard pushes somebody to do that kind of work .

I mean , I admire that , although I do understand what you're saying about , like you know , just chasing it to chase it or whatever . But people have different motivations and I don't I don't begrudge anybody who goes after it . You know who wants to do that .

Um , yeah , I mean I guess you know if , if you're happy being a creative and making beautiful dishes and having the dishwasher give you an attaboy and a smile , man , it is beautiful .

I mean , it's a great feeling , some other level of feeling by chasing , you know , some sort of an award , more power to them , as long as they don't hurt themselves doing it , or , or , you know , cast their family to the side , or their friends or or themselves , for that matter , to the side in order to get there .

You know , one dude he came to work one day looking crazy and they say what happened to him and they say he went home yesterday and she took everything kids and all the furniture he took off because he loves work and food more than he loves , you know , the family . And sometimes we don't . We forget about balance .

We forget about , like you know , we're not supposed to be spending life this way . You know , six , seven days a week and these long , crazy hours in our family and our kids are suffering and all that kind of stuff .

I don't have any kids , I'm just saying I've sat back and seen people where their lives are getting just tortured and then what happens is the majority of the people that there's a lot of Michelin-starred chefs or chefs that work in Michelin restaurants . They're like you know what ? We just want to take a step back .

We want to have a chicken spot , we want to have a sandwich joint , we want to . We're over it , we're done , you know , and these guys , the majority of these guys , say the same thing it's like dude , it's just too much .

A lot of people say it was just too much , you know , and especially if you don't have the right kind of team , they just won't even do it , you know . So I've seen , and you've seen it too , like when they stop and just open spot .

But it's like there's a lot of chefs that when we get through cooking at that nice , nice , nice restaurant and all that white table linen and all of our expensive stuff , we go somewhere and we're getting greasy burgers . Even on a day off we're going to a restaurant . That's like , you know .

After work we're going to eat some , we're getting fast food , we're eating greasy tacos , greasy pizzas , and it seems like that's what makes chefs happy . So , if you notice , thomas Keller opened up Ad Hoc , you know . Dan Ballou did that burger joint . Grant Atkins opened up the low-key Royster . You know they come to the food they do over there .

It's nice food , but it's a step back a little bit , you know . And then it got to the point where the casual made more sense . And if you notice a lot of three Michelin restaurants , they kind of or excuse me fine dining restaurants . They're like you know what ? Let's just be a little bit more approachable .

Some spots were like hey , you can't eat here without a jacket and they kind of stripped that mindset away . No one does it no more . That mindset away , no one does it no more . I'm pretty sure there's places that do it and some of these Michelin dudes , they just stop what they're doing . They had enough and they're on a boat . They're private chefing .

One dude I know he does nothing but pasta videos and bread videos . He does the whole food . He does the whole . Hey guys , today I'm making donuts and come with me as I go on a wild ride to Sugar Town . I'm like , oh crap , but you know that person , that's a person's way out . I guess you know here , see , that's what they're doing .

You know they're doing like hey guys , welcome to my school . What did I teach you today ? How to make canals . I'm like crap , you know . But that makes them happy . They're done . They want to take matters into their own hands . So you got to protect your peace . And if you're burnt out , I mean cook .

Okay , maybe you need to cook somewhere else , take a break . I know people that work at French Laundry and they stopped what they were doing to work at a hash type of house , you know , like Waffle House type of spot , because they needed a break . Take a break . Needed a break ? Take a break . There's more to life than caviar and foie gras .

I think it's probably . I need to be assured , I need to let's do it .

We need more of that . But what do you ? What do you ? What's next for you , man ?

That would be dope that's my dream to be a chef for a late night show maybe we can do something together on that .