Chez Panisse

“It's true.”

“And I think what really has created this long life for the restaurant is the fact that we don't have one person who is the main chef of the restaurant. We have two people, and they share their job, They work three days, and then they're paid for five. And it a…”

“I think it was three 95.”

“I see myself as a really good cook. And I see myself as a great critic and taster. And I'm not a chef, chef.”

“We formed a corporation, and we had people that Brought money. Bought stock in this. And that helped us to run the restaurant. But I also gave shares to the people that were instrumental.”

“We started writing their names on the cafe list. That this came from Bob Kennard's farm. That this came from Dal Porto's ranch. That this was Mas Masamoto's peach. And identifying the people who were growing and raising the food, we became in a way co-producer…”

“I just couldn't imagine, knowing how franchises work, that there would ever be a way. ... Feels like selling out. I hate to use that term too, but it feels like I'm doing it just to make the money.”

“And my parents mortgaged their house.”

“We had the good luck to get a kind of bridge loan from some wonderful friends of the restaurant that are helping us get to the point where money comes from the government to pay people.”

“He ends up plucking half, half of the mushrooms out of his bucket, And I remember he chops them up, sautes them up in the back of a restaurant, and she tries them, he tries them, we try them, and I remember Chef Alice Waters was like, man, these are delicious.”