Music Good afternoon, Michael Malice here. Let that be your welcome for the next hour. I don't even know what we're going to be talking about today with my next guest, but I know we're going to have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun, probably entirely at his expense. Joining us today is Chef Andrew Grohl. you are restaurant tour and still are for many years. One of the ways you got famous was starting a crowdfunding for people who got lost their jobs because of the restaurant industry because of the COVID-19 nonsense. People have seen you as a judge and a bunch of food network shows. Food network is currently about to go the way of the dodo because they're're trying to sell it along with CNN and other things and no one's buying. And now people have seen you on all sorts of shows doing commentary. I met you on gut felt where a couple of times we're on together. Had a lot of fun. I don't even know where to start. How did you make that transition from talking about food to talking about politics and culture? I've always been into politics. I was a junkie growing up in Jersey, political junkie, but never thought that it would be anything I'd get involved in. I was, I went to a small liberal arts college up in Maine, which one? Yeah. Yeah. Most people don't know. So I don't even say the name of the school because it's got seven students And I was basically trained to just protest capitalism up there so That that actually pushed me I only did two years there ended up in the restaurant industry But was always involved kind of like politically hardcore libertarian and when the pandemic hit I'd been doing all the like food network stuff running, and I tried to keep my mouth somewhat shut, but it was time I didn't care anymore. And then when I just thrust myself out there, everyone was like, oh my God, you're not a crazy hardcore liberal. This is wild. And then, you know, I proceeded to get canceled. Okay, now I'm, every time this comes up, I get triggered because there were so many spots that I loved and they were destroyed from COVID for no reason. I'm gonna talk about them now and you could appreciate this too. When someone pulpens a restaurant, it means it's, maybe it's different when you're Gordon Ramsay, but for most people, it's their heart and soul. This is their baby. They're putting everything into, this is their passion.

They're trying to make something special. This is their art. And I don't even think I'm exaggerating for many people. Like this is how they create something magical. And there's my travel hack, and I've said this before, if you go to any city, go to the weird ice cream store because that weird ice cream store is probably going to be in the cool neighborhood.

So that's a quick way to figure out where you should be hanging out.

And I do this in every city, cream store is probably going to be in the cool neighborhood.

So that's a quick way to figure out where you should be hanging out.

And I do this in every city, and the best one happened to be New York. It's called ice and vice, and it's gone. And a fan sent me a drawing of it. It hangs in my bathroom. It's gone. A Zenkichi, which was my favorite restaurant of all time. It's a hidden door in Williamsburg.

Children not allowed.

Every table looked like an Oriental Express train car

and they pulled down a a curtain for privacy. It's gone. So, so many places and the thing is you remember 2008, all the corporations got bailed out by, you know, both parties, but all these mom and pop and young artists and establishments were destroyed and it's like too bad and for no effing reason. Not only were they destroyed, we were vilified. Oh, that's right. We were the grand, we were, if you were a restaurant tour, you were an enemy and you were an enemy of the state and you were an enemy of the people. So if you even brought up, I remember where it started for me, it's funny, right?

People knew my politics and they kind of knew that I was very much about liberty and like, very into it within the industry. And there were a lot of people of the similar mindset, especially in food and restaurants. Like, Anthony Bourdain kind of set a new way for just free thinkers in the restaurant industries. It was like the punk rockers who then opened restaurants and then we're in this like weird

anarchist libertarian space.

And all of those people supported me and agreed with the same thing, but they were so afraid to say anything. And I'm like screw this. And I remember posting one thing all I said is why is it that we're being vilified as restaurants? And I just got crushed. Like, you don't care about anybody's health.

I'm never going to your restaurant.

You're the worst business owner in the world.

And in all these other restaurants,

tourists are writing me and they're like,

it's wild that we're the enemy right now. And I said, okay, well, you should say something and they're like, no, we're not gonna say anything. Like, heck, no, we can't. Nobody would say anything.

Nobody would talk.

And we just took it.

They did, I didn't.

I just, you know, I fought back.

And now what you're left with is a landscape

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