Drew Nieporent, I'M NOT TRYING TO BE DIFFICULT: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches
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[0:45]True Neeperant is the author of, I'm not trying to be difficult, stories from the restaurant
[0:50]trenches.
[0:51]True, one of America's most respected and celebrated restauranters is the founder and inspiration
[0:56]behind the myriad restaurant group, which opened and operated Nobu New York, Nobu London,
[1:01]Tribeca Grill, Rubicon, Corton, Batard, Daily Burger at Madison Square Garden, and many
[1:07]more.
[1:08]Neeperant's groundbreaking first restaurant, Montreshe, earned three stars from the New York
[1:12]Times, and kept that rating for 21 years.
[1:15]He has partnered with Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, and Francis Ford Coppola, among others.
[1:20]He has also won multiple James Beard awards.
[1:24]Welcome Drew.
[1:25]Thank you so much for coming on totally but to talk about I'm not trying to be difficult
[1:28]stories from the restaurant trenches.
[1:30]Congratulations.
[1:31]Thank you, Zippy.
[1:32]Thank you very much.
[1:34]As a lifelong New Yorker and Hampton's person, all the restaurants you mentioned, I feel like
[1:39]I've been to a one point in time for another even like the della famina days and all of
[1:44]that.
[1:45]Thank you for feeding me and so many others along along the way.
[1:50]Thank you.
[1:51]I spent a number of years.
[1:53]You know, towards the end of the book, you said something that just stated with me so
[1:57]much is, at this point in your life, you're worried that you're going to be forgotten
[2:02]and you've come to peace with it and with your life.
[2:06]But you can sense on the page that you are literally like sort of working your way through
[2:10]how you feel about life, like as you conclude the book.
[2:14]Just jump in with that.
[2:15]Tell me how you're feeling about it.
[2:16]Well, you know, here's the way it is.
[2:18]I mean, I never kept all my eggs in one basket.
[2:22]In fact, I had like 40 baskets and it was just the tremendous career doing this and that
[2:30]and going here and there and being actually pretty conservative, considering the restaurant
[2:34]business is very volatile, very difficult.
[2:38]I did all kinds of things and you probably, you know, went to these places, but you know,
[2:43]I looked at the four seasons, Paul Covey, Tom Margotai.
[2:48]I want to be those guys or the 21 Club, you know, like becoming an institution.
[2:54]And the problem is, this generation has a very short attention span.
[2:59]It's always about the next, the newest, the latest years ago when I saw how much press tacos
[3:07]and pizza and, you know, all this crap food was getting.
[3:12]I was like, holy mackerel, like I've worked my entire career to refine food and put it
[3:17]out in a beautiful setting and, you know, these people are making a hamburger and it's
[3:23]getting as much press as I'm getting.
[3:25]So, so I, but I've come to grips with it.
[3:27]I understand it.
[3:29]You know, I, I'm not sure I, I can rationalize it.
[3:33]It's not, it's not the way I thought it was going to be.
[3:35]I saw it, you know, and, and, you know, no boost to operating, it's 31 years.
[3:39]So it's not like I don't have anything.
[3:41]And I, I do the hamburgers in Madison Square Garden now for 12 years.
[3:45]I'm out last to John George Vongerick and Charlie Palmer, Andrew Carmelini.
[3:49]So, you know, I, I, I'm still in the game.
[3:51]Let's put it that way.
[3:52]You're absolutely still in the game.
[3:54]Yeah, but truthfully, like, like I wrote this book, I read it.
[3:58]I just read the audio book this week.
[4:01]And as I'm reading it, I'm like, nobody knows any of this stuff.
[4:05]And I'm not so certain people are going to care, but I appreciate being on with you and
[4:09]appreciate the fact that you have some, you know, previous experience at my places.
[4:14]No, I think people are going to care.
[4:16]It's a story, it's a coming of age through food story.
[4:19]And it might only do weave in all the restaurants and the glamour and the behind the scenes of,
[4:25]oh, Donald Trump paid more for this job.
[4:27]And this chef went to this place and this betrayal.
[4:30]But it's also a very personal story of your parents and your relationship with your body
[4:36]and your health and your family and your marriage.
[4:40]I mean, there's so much in here.
[4:42]I feel like everyone's going to find a little piece of something that relates to them.
[4:45]I swear from your list.
[4:47]I really hope that's the case.
[4:49]Thank God.
[4:50]You know, I was so moved, as I mentioned, you know, being a New Yorker, but the,
[4:54]your, your experience with 9-11 and being a restaurant owner during that time,
[4:58]you're not, you know, being tapped into so many of the different places and having had
[5:03]Monteshae there for so long and everything, how you felt and getting on that train being like,
[5:09]I've got to get there.
[5:10]And then all of a sudden realizing, no, no, no, I've got to get home.
[5:13]And then feeding all the workers, like, just tell me a little bit more about that day
[5:17]because I hadn't heard that story.
[5:19]Yeah, well, that, you know, everybody, obviously everybody has a 9-11 story.
[5:25]My 9-11 story is actually quite interesting because, you know, at the time I lived in
[5:30]in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and I took the train to the World Trade Center.
[5:33]That's, that's the way I got to work.
[5:35]So in 93, they had bombed somebody tried to bomb the Trade Center.
[5:41]And that was a very difficult moment.
[5:44]So now it's 2001 and the same things kind of occurring.
[5:48]I said to my wife, get me to the train.
[5:50]I got on the train.
[5:51]They stopped the train and Rutherford made us all get out, which probably was,
[5:56]probably the smartest thing in New York, you know, stopping traffic into New York,
[5:59]especially into lower Manhattan.
[6:02]And once I figured out what was going on, I know there was going to be catastrophic downtown.
[6:08]And I got downtown in a neighbor of mine.
[6:11]He goes, you know, you probably have a lot of food where we've got to do something with that
[6:17]food, you know, and they're these, these rescue workers.
[6:21]So I didn't really, that wasn't, you know, like the first thing that came to mind,
[6:25]the first thing that came to mind was, am I going to be able to be open?
[6:29]But that was, you know, they literally stopped the traffic below 14th street.
[6:35]I had to get a credential.
[6:37]I was friendly with a captain, this guy had a moment, David Mamet's cousin or something.
[6:43]And we, we, we came down and this credential got me down every day.
[6:47]And eventually, you know, it's in the book, the, the most interesting story that I would
[6:53]remember was George Bush, George Bush is going to come to ground zero.
[6:58]Okay.
[6:59]So I get down there and everyone, you know, I could see Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer,
[7:03]Giuliani, I saw everybody, but I was trying to figure out where is George Bush going to talk.
[7:09]And you know, there was no, you know, there was no sense space, but I had lost some weight.
[7:15]And I was able to get, I lifted myself on this broken land post, which had a very small
[7:21]poster conference.
[7:22]And then suddenly like right after that, there's Bush like literally 30 yards in front of me.
[7:28]And he's got a bullhorn.
[7:29]And behind me, there was a truck where these construction workers were on the back,
[7:33]by the hood of the truck.
[7:34]And he does the bullhorn and he starts to begin.
[7:36]And you can't hear him.
[7:37]So the guys behind me, they go, we can hear you.
[7:40]Just like that.
[7:41]And the next thing, you know, he goes, well, we hear you in America.
[7:45]Here's you and these people and, you know, okay, I got back to my office.
[7:50]This was the greatest speech in presidential history.
[7:54]Was they couldn't hear him on the, but nobody, that's, I mean, literally that.
[7:59]So I have like a far as gumpian life.
[8:02]I was, I was in Atlanta in 1974 for Hank Aaron's when he broke Babe Bruce record.
[8:08]You know, even yesterday, you know, I had, there were no bull and
[8:12]Mayor Adams came in and he's kind of keeping a low profile these days.
[8:16]I used other book, believe it or not, to be, the book is actually, it's like,
[8:21]it's almost like a third of my life.
[8:24]And you know, I read the book and I was like, oh my God, did I forget this?
[8:27]Did I forget this?
[8:28]Did I forget this person?
[8:29]And so not that I'm going to write another book.
[8:33]But you know, I had just, I've been fortunate because I've had all these moments
[8:37]and they're good stories.
[8:39]And you know, but being the rest retour at, I knew right away when I was a kid,
[8:45]I was going to do that.
[8:47]So being a rest retour, you're always, you know, the doors are open and hundreds of people
[8:51]are coming in and, you know, it is just this tremendous action.
[8:56]But 9-11, you know, I mean, for everyone was very problematic, obviously.
[9:00]But the pandemic subsequently, you know, 2020, that was probably worse.
[9:06]A strange way.
[9:07]It was probably worse.
[9:09]No, tell me.
[9:11]Well, because first of all, the government, I don't thought the government that much.
[9:16]This day you could do it.
[9:17]This way you couldn't do it.
[9:18]This day you could, you know, put a table outside.
[9:23]There was just a lot of uncertainty.
[9:25]And then they were closing open, closing open, especially in New York.
[9:28]Eventually, when the dust settled, I tried to take the grill.
[9:32]This incredible restaurant that I had run for about, you know, 30-plus years.
[9:36]You know, we used to be able to seven days a week, lunch, and dinner.
[9:40]There was no staff, because in the restaurant business, everyone headed for the hills.
[9:45]So the staff, you know, they were unemployed.
[9:49]And they all took jobs that they were offered.
[9:52]And there was one point where I looked down, I was like, I don't even have a chef.
[9:55]I don't have a manager.
[9:56]I don't have waiters.
[9:57]And I was like, yeah, I'm not.
[10:00]let this close me. So I reopened and, you know, I always give it a good shot, but the
[10:06]pandemic was worse. I mean, not 11, you know, was so such a small area, like, you know,
[10:15]contained. I remember leaving one night and, you know, just I was a, I was midtown as like,
[10:22]it's like, you know, you're midtown. There's nothing, nothing's happened there. So how come
[10:27]they're so affected by this incident? But it was good. You know, the country came together,
[10:32]but the pandemic was worse. And what's funny was, I was actually in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
[10:37]which I bet you've been to one of the greatest places on God's green earth. And you know,
[10:44]it's funny because I've done a charity there for like 20 years. It's very big charity brought in
[10:48]18 chefs at one point, the best chefs in the world. So I'm like, oh, I wonder if I put that in the book.
[10:54]So I'm reading. And because for the pandemic, I was actually in Jackson, came back for Jackson
[11:01]and they had closed all the restaurants. And then I went to Katz's deli because it was St. Patty's
[11:07]day and every good Jew gets squirmed the St. Patty's day. And I was like, this is horrible. I can't
[11:13]smell it. I can't taste it. And those were the symptoms of COVID, but we didn't know that then.
[11:18]So I had COVID right away, didn't really, you know, I wasn't that sick. Thank God.
[11:24]Well, like, you know, that whole thing was, that was very difficult. That was the worst part
[11:27]that I think. And not to just talk about all the negative times in your life because there were
[11:31]so many victories and successes in happy times, but you have a terrible catastrophic stroke had to
[11:39]relearn how to walk that only got like a page in the whole book that could have been the book.
[11:43]You know something? I came home one night. And I've always, I love eating. And I, you know,
[11:49]my weight fluctuated quite a bit over the years. I ran the New York Marathon. So, you know,
[11:54]you can't be a fatty to run the New York Marathon. But I just killed over. I mean, I just,
[12:00]and luckily my wife upstairs heard, you know, I grabbed a chair and she heard the noise.
[12:07]And then they proceeded to put me on a gurney. They took me to a hospital. I lived now in
[12:13]pure month of New York right on the Hudson River. The hospital they took me to had no stroke
[12:17]unit. So they had to put me back into the ambulance to go to the Bronx. I probably should be dead.
[12:23]But the car lodge apparently behind my ear. And honestly, I had, I didn't have a clue that I was
[12:30]having a stroke. I had no idea. And then, you know, it's in the book. It's in the book. There was
[12:37]sort of a relearning of everything. And this happened about seven years ago.
[12:43]What's funny, it was I was in the hospital for a procedure yesterday or two days ago.
[12:47]And I said, I had aphasia from my stroke and they go, what do you mean? You speak fine. And I
[12:55]realized like I use the word aphasia because I didn't really understand that that's when you can't
[12:59]speak well. Or you have lost a memory. But the one residual thing for my stroke is if I'm watching a
[13:10]movie or TV and somebody cries, I like I fall apart. I like it just comes on me. Like I
[13:20]emotionally, it's an amazing thing. It's like a sort of happy that it happens because it feels like
[13:27]very strong in my body. But I don't know how, you know, something in my brain sees this emotion
[13:34]and I become emotional. So, but yeah, you're right. You know, this stroke I got, I put to the side
[13:42]well, I cry pretty much anytime anybody cries on screen. Anyway, it's like my baseline. So I don't
[13:48]know what part of the brain, but I clearly need to, you know, straighten that part or something.
[13:55]So with all of this experience that you've had, all these ups and downs and openings and closings
[14:01]and everything, can you like go out to eat a restaurant without taking apart every little detail?
[14:08]Like, do you go? Like, do you like to, can you enjoy it? Do you like to go out to eat? Like, what is
[14:13]do you have time to do that? Like, tell me about your relationship now to restaurants?
[14:17]No, I adore going out to restaurants, but I'm idiosyncratic about this one thing because I know
[14:25]it's the success of what I do when I know a customer. And most of the customers, I've gotten
[14:32]to know over the many years how most of them were pains in the ass. But I mean by that is like,
[14:39]they made a point. Like, whether it was about, we like to sit here or whatever they're,
[14:46]you know, they would, they would like to drink a certain way, the food a certain way, whatever it
[14:50]was. But they, they kind of let me know who they were, right? So when I go to a restaurant now,
[14:56]honestly, the only thing that bothers me is I don't want to be anonymous. So, you know, sometimes
[15:03]I make a reservation in my name. They know who I am. Oh, that's great. Okay. Sometimes they even
[15:08]pick up the check, which is even better. You know, but, but it drives my wife up the wall that,
[15:16]you know, like, like, but like even the waiter, when you, when the person is waiting on you
[15:22]knows that you opened a restaurant, let alone 40, they're not going to hose you. I mean, you know,
[15:29]honestly, and if they do, that's a really bad restaurant. But when I go to a restaurant, I never
[15:37]want to have a bad experience. I am, there are some people they go out. They don't know what the
[15:42]menu is. They don't know what the prices are. And actually, you know, only one person pays the bill.
[15:48]So, you know, they order expensive food and, you know, it's like one thing after another,
[15:53]I'm paying the bill. So I study the menu. I look at Yelp to see interior shots. I read one or two
[16:03]reviews just to get an idea. And then, like, you know, there's this beautiful place,
[16:08]gorgeous place right on the river Hudson River in Dobbs Ferry. It was a charthouse years ago.
[16:15]It's called Path Moon. And it's, it's got reasonably good food, but they have a $40 brush
[16:23]for two courses, which is not cheap, but that's a good price because they're very expensive.
[16:28]So of course, I say to my family, you know, look at the $40 brush. We're going to order what we want.
[16:35]And they fight with me, but they're not paying the bill. So of course, they don't, you know,
[16:41]there isn't that caring, but truthfully, I go everywhere. I travel. My life is, I wake up in the morning,
[16:51]what am I going to have for breakfast? Where am I going to go for lunch? What am I going to make
[16:55]for lunch? Am I going to go out for dinner? Now, like most people these days, I've taken the
[17:04]which is like, it was epic and everything. And I normally wouldn't do that, but I had done bigger
[17:11]and I'm on the treadmill every day. I'm pretty much, but I was eating every day,
[17:16]bagels, potatoes, rice, pizza, Chinese food, everything that puts weight on, you know,
[17:23]35 pounds. So now I have to be very strategic where I go. You know, best place to go is?
[17:31]Nobu for sashimi, which is great because you know, I have heaven in there, but I have a tremendous
[17:40]curiosity. I respect everybody. And quite frankly, it doesn't mean I honestly believe, and this is a
[17:46]true fact. I believe that it's my generation, whether Danny Meyer, myself, Richard Melman and Chicago,
[17:55]and several other people, obviously, but we raised the bar. He made the whole experience,
[18:01]whether it was service, food, ambiance, we made it better. And we also had the guests, best interests
[18:11]at heart. We did it on behalf of the guests. So I really believe we raised the bar. So now it's
[18:19]very, very hard to get a bad meal. You literally have to like be stupid to have a bad meal.
[18:29]You know, it's like New York, especially, I mean, it's unbelievable, the variety. And now,
[18:35]you know, restaurant week is, I think it's the next two weeks or something. So restaurant week,
[18:40]it used to be like, it started in 1992. It used to be $19. Then it was a penny a year, 1993,
[18:47]you know, now I think it's it's something stupid like 60 bucks. So it's not a bargain anymore.
[18:52]So I look at the menus for restaurant week, because I'm cheap. I mean, I want a bargain, you know,
[18:59]but once in a while, you'll see something, you know, what's funny about this is, okay, you know,
[19:03]restaurant week, $30, $30, right? For $45 for lunch or something. And then you go on the website,
[19:13]and they have a lunch for $35 all the time. Even mealos, which you know, mealos is really expensive.
[19:22]They have a $35 lunch all the time. And they're packed, by the way, you know. So what I'm saying to
[19:30]you is, yeah, I love to go out, but I search high and low for good deals.
[19:34]Love it. So what would you say to aspiring restauranters, my husband's cousin is
[19:42]owns a bunch of restaurants in New Jersey. He's like an up and coming young chef.
[19:47]And they name one of his places. The Agio pasta ramen.
[19:51]Oh, yeah. What's his name? I went, you did Robbie Felice.
[19:55]Yeah, Robbie Felice, of course. And I just went to the pizza place in Westwood.
[19:59]Oh, a stir.
[20:00]Real delkrendo or some astrayodil.
[20:02]Fender.
[20:03]Yeah, yeah.
[20:04]So, but he's pretty established.
[20:06]Well, it hasn't been that long.
[20:08]I mean, I was at Biasio before he opened it
[20:11]his first restaurant with my husband.
[20:13]When we were, I think still dating
[20:14]and he was getting the paint off the walls
[20:16]and we were like trying to paint it
[20:18]and get it ready to open.
[20:19]So I've watched this whole evolution.
[20:21]extraordinarily talented.
[20:23]And Oscar Ramen is kind of one of the kind.
[20:26]Now, if you read the book,
[20:28]he did.
[20:29]Yes, what?
[20:30]He's probably a pain in the ass.
[20:32]Good boy.
[20:34]But you know, and I had some communications with him,
[20:38]but I had more communications with his partner.
[20:41]But I went to pass the Ramen
[20:42]because my son actually lives in Montclair.
[20:45]And it was great.
[20:46]I mean, and also the crescendo was great.
[20:49]So he's very talented.
[20:50]And I would tell you, so many like him
[20:53]who has good experiences, he has to make good choices.
[20:57]The other thing I would explain to you,
[20:59]and I learned this the hard way,
[21:00]because I got hosed in a way about it.
[21:03]You never know when you hit a brand
[21:04]because I was getting three stars at Montclair
[21:07]and great review of Tribeca Grill
[21:09]and I'm Robert De Niro's partner.
[21:10]And then I opened Nobu.
[21:14]And you have to understand it's in the book.
[21:16]Nobu now there's 56 around the world.
[21:19]But back then, you know what Nobu said?
[21:21]No.
[21:21]Didn't say it once.
[21:23]Didn't say twice.
[21:24]He said it three times.
[21:26]And now he's worth about $300 million.
[21:29]So, and I got, you know, the title of the book
[21:33]is I'm not trying to be difficult.
[21:35]But guess what?
[21:36]You know, you can tell us we're sharing, you know,
[21:39]time together.
[21:41]I'm pretty strong minded.
[21:42]So like, you tell me to do something.
[21:44]It's like, I'm gonna do the probably,
[21:46]if it's the right thing, but not my, you know,
[21:48]like in the restaurant business journey
[21:49]and tell me what do I know?
[21:51]I have the experience, right?
[21:53]So the problem is you get bullied, things happen.
[21:57]And I had a lot of restaurants.
[21:58]So I was like, okay, you know, you go your way.
[22:01]I'll go my way and, but here's what I'm trying to get to.
[22:06]The brand.
[22:07]It's a dirty word.
[22:09]And, you know, other people have several restaurants
[22:12]and they're not all called one thing.
[22:13]Like John George Vangerickman has like 60 restaurants.
[22:16]Daniel Belude, why everything's Belude,
[22:19]but Belude South North East is in one house.
[22:22]He has a little box and a little great sense in place.
[22:25]And he's a great guy.
[22:26]But so what I would say is Robby probably at some point
[22:31]in my, he might be bored by it.
[22:32]But if he has a brand and pasta ramen is a pretty good brand,
[22:35]he should duplicate that in other places.
[22:39]That's my advice.
[22:41]Other people, other people by the way,
[22:42]if you had said, you know,
[22:43]Jones, Joe's and, you know,
[22:46]Paul's dad or something, that was big up.
[22:49]You know, tone just be content with one place
[22:55]if it's making money.
[22:57]Because the only thing I would say is I didn't care about
[23:01]whether I made money or not.
[23:03]I just wanted to be really good.
[23:04]And guess what?
[23:06]I always felt if I did a good job, I'd make money.
[23:11]That's the way I felt.
[23:12]And unfortunately, that's not the way it works.
[23:15]So I held restaurants for years
[23:17]that were either breaking even or losing money.
[23:21]But, you know, they were critically acclaimed.
[23:23]They had three stars, you know,
[23:24]Rubicon and San Francisco.
[23:26]I love that.
[23:27]But I didn't know California was a communist country.
[23:29]I didn't know, you know, I couldn't make any money there.
[23:32]But I had a great time.
[23:33]And, you know, I'm a valley, I mean, you know.
[23:36]So anyway, it's, you know, he's great though.
[23:40]You know, one day that he's terrific.
[23:42]So tell me how you're related to him.
[23:44]He's my husband's cousin.
[23:47]Wow, great, great.
[23:50]Thank you.
[23:52]So if you, if readers take away one thing from the book,
[23:55]if you're like, I will have succeeded
[23:57]if they take this away from the book, what would that be?
[23:59]Tell the truth, be honest.
[24:02]Be honest with the customer, be honest with the staff.
[24:05]Don't steal, don't womanize, don't drink too much.
[24:08]I drink, but don't drink too much.
[24:10]That's not one thing, but it's like an ethic.
[24:13]And perhaps as a restaurateur,
[24:16]know what you're talking about.
[24:18]I mean, you know, like nothing supplants my knowledge.
[24:23]But I don't think I'm smarter than anybody else.
[24:26]All I'm saying is I had great experiences
[24:29]when I was younger or laid that into work experiences.
[24:33]I part laid that into Cornell.
[24:36]When I found that Cornell really wasn't gonna further
[24:39]my education, I furthered my education.
[24:42]And I would just tell you, it never ends.
[24:45]Like today, I'll read a book,
[24:47]whether it's about the restaurant business
[24:48]or a musician or somebody in life, politics, whatever.
[24:52]And I'm learning because the learning process never stops.
[24:56]So always be learning.
[24:57]But the takeaway for this book is this was right
[25:02]or early in my life, I knew.
[25:05]My life was gonna be about food and restaurants.
[25:08]I didn't know that every time I opened a restaurant
[25:11]with somebody so talented, they're looking at me like,
[25:15]you know, why should I listen to you?
[25:18]You know, and by the way, I'm really easy.
[25:20]I'm easy to get along with.
[25:22]So that's the other part of the equation.
[25:24]Like if you're too easy, they'll push you over.
[25:26]You know, they'll take advantage of you.
[25:28]So I don't let people take advantage of this.
[25:30]But I have a theory that I don't believe anybody
[25:34]takes a fight with somebody they think they can lose to.
[25:38]So it's as simple as, you know,
[25:40]if you're a big person, you're gonna pick a fight
[25:42]with a smaller person.
[25:43]But like when I need some people,
[25:45]I can tell, for whatever reason,
[25:49]they're gonna try to engage me in some strange way,
[25:53]you know, this usually an investor
[25:55]or real estate person or something like that.
[25:57]But you know, so I, you know, and it's in the book.
[26:01]I mean, even an opportunity to go to Las Vegas,
[26:04]De Nirot set it up, he went.
[26:06]I mean, to my face, he's like cosin Bob De Nirot.
[26:09]I was like, you know, and then that episode
[26:12]actually worked against me because I came back.
[26:15]I told De Nirot exactly what he said to me.
[26:18]But he's, you know, for whatever reason,
[26:19]De Nirot probably thought I made it up or didn't believe me.
[26:22]But in other words, at the end of the day,
[26:25]that never helped me that I told the truth.
[26:27]But I believe in telling the truth.
[26:30]Amazing.
[26:31]I believe in also, and well, all of those things,
[26:33]but also in always learning.
[26:36]And I feel like, you know, this podcast and so many of them
[26:39]are like, it's all like a masterclass
[26:41]and you can never stop.
[26:42]So thank you.
[26:43]I've learned a lot from you and from the book
[26:45]and from this conversation.
[26:47]So thank you so much.
[26:49]So one day, I expect to call from you,
[26:52]which is Drew, I already have a reservation at no go,
[26:55]but I'm just letting you know.
[26:57]You know, because honestly, like when I know somebody's
[27:01]coming in, we can even make it a better experience.
[27:04]Oh, okay.
[27:05]The problem is, the problem is, this is always in,
[27:08]and I know you have to go, but this is always the question
[27:11]I get, oh, you're the owner of Nobu, right?
[27:13]I get, yeah, yeah.
[27:15]Do you own all the Nobu's?
[27:17]And I go, you're just going to have five people.
[27:19]So anyway, Debbie, thank you very much.
[27:23]Oh, thank you.
[27:24]This is such a pleasure.
[27:25]Thank you so much.
[27:27]You too.
[27:28]Thank you.
[27:29]Bye bye.
[27:29]Thank you for listening to totally booked with Zibi,
[27:32]formerly mom's don't have time to read books.
[27:35]If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review,
[27:38]follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens, and spread the word.
[27:42]Thanks so much.
[27:43]Oh, and bye the books.