Tosh Show - My 3-Star Michelin Restaurateur - Donato Poto

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Daniel is joined at a table for two by Providence restaurant co-owner Donato Poto for a chat about culinary school in Europe, working on cruise ships, and running one of LA’s most prestigious fine-dining establishments.

Hey guys. It's me, Daniel. Do me a solid. I don't ask for a lot, but like and subscribe to this podcast. Also, you could rate it. Highly, I would appreciate. Maybe even write a review. Maybe we'll become best friends. Providence once served one of my producers a date that had been dehydrated and then rehydrated. Was that really worth the trouble? Yes, we do this every goddamn day. Tosh Show Tosh Show Tosh Show We rolling? We're on.

All right. Hey, welcome to Tosh Show. I'm Dan. Good to be here. Eddie, how are you? Good. I'm here, too. It's nice to be here.

What, Jesus. That was horrible. I've been practicing that for weeks. That was bad. Hey, Eddie, your son gave me an e-bike. A little mini-e-bike. I used to take it on tour all the time.

Yeah. Put some surf racks on it. But I recently gave it away. There's too many e-bikes in the garage. So I gave it away. Your son gave it to me because he said he felt like a bear riding a little tiny bike. He didn't like the way it. It's tiny.

I got on it. It doesn't feel natural. Whatever. So I liked it. It was good for travel. But anyway, I got rid of it. I gave it to Pierre. And Pierre loves it.

Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah now it's his bike i just wanted you to know that your son's gift uh is now uh in possession of pierre speaking of which i keep asking him to come back on the show love to have him back i say the fans want him people want to hear what he's up to they love his his french perspective on american culture but uh he says to me he's like i got to get you got to pay me i go what wow i don't pay anyone he's like i don't pay anyone he's like i I need money.

I'm buying houses. He's getting a little real estate empire over in France. Okay. But, uh, yeah, he wants me to pay him. I don't know. Let's call him and ask why he won't be on the show. Bonjour, my friend. Bonjour.

So, va? So, and you, uh, Pierre, are you in New York? I'm in New York, yes. I'm in my office with Eddie and Pete and John and Dylan, and they want to know what, They want to know what we have to do to get you back on the podcast. I don't know. How much do you pay? How much money do you want to come back on the...

I've never done this. I don't know. Give me a fair amount. I need to pay my house now. Here, we've paid no one ever anything. So whatever number you come up with will be that... Yeah, but I'm not anybody. No, I know.

I know anybody, you know. But that's what you're not. I mean, what about, I can't pay you in sweaters. That was, that's not good enough. Yeah, it's not good enough. The sweaters. And they're too small anyways. Okay.

I'll, I'll get bigger sweaters. What about a thousand dollars? How much? A thousand dollars? That's it? A thousand dollars an hour? Let me, let me get back. I will talk this weekend.

I'll be back this weekend, my brother. We talk. Okay. So, so, but, you. You think it has to be a... You need to be paid to come back on this show. Well, I need to make some money, yeah. I understand, but I'm going to be honest with you.

The reason that a lot of people come on the show is that it potentially opens up opportunities which result in money down the road. Now, I know that's not fair. That's true. That's true. I got a free Dijonese at Lockhees. Oh, wow.

That's a free Dijoness for my French friends. fries because the guy was like, are you the guy from show? Wow, the Bernice is for me. So he gave you a free, what, French fries? No, the sauce that goes with the French fries. Oh, that's not very good.

All right. This weekend, my brother. Okay, okay, okay. Bye to the team. Okay, goodbye. Okay, bye. Boy. Hardball, man. Ah.

I tell you what, if we all coughed up 500 bucks, we could probably get them on the show. But I don't know if Dylan will do it. Dylan? What if we had like people could, like listeners, can contribute? You want me to ask our listeners to give money to Pierre to be on the show? No, I can't do it.

I won't do it. I won't do it to my listeners. Listeners, you don't give us a single cent unless it's for Eddie's tour or my tour or our new Patreon page. Yeah. Besides that, or merchandise. Or if you see me out and, you know, you, you know, you want to pick up the tab for my lunch.

That fine. But other than that, do not spend a cent on us. Free swag. Or if you have a company and you want to send us free stuff, sure. Do that. But I don't want you to give money. Not in these current times. I know what will make Peter come on this show.

Today's guest. Having another European talk down about France. and how great Italy is. Oh, ho. Enjoy. School's in full swing, which means I am making extra trips around town, dropping the kids off of school, then picking them back up. Honestly, thanks to Upside, I welcome all the trips.

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Would you like sparkling or poor people? No, sparkling, please. Poor people. Don't start, man. Do you always go sparkling? For a while now, yes. I used to be flat. I have a two-year-old and a six-year-old,

and my two-year-old just refuses to drink still. She'll say, ah, it's sparkling. And I'm like, I love this. There we go. I'm raising the most bougie kids ever. You know, the thing is, I have a water station in my home. It's a purefricade, but it can do bubbly, instant hot, cold, or whatever. So we just drink sparkling water every day.

constantly. I can't get enough of it. But I used to drink flat and I didn't see much of a difference and then I wanted to see the difference between sparkling waters from one to another. And so, you know, between Perrier and Pellegris and all the rest, Mountain View, whatever, there is a big difference. Yeah.

So when I find the great sparkling water, I'm like, Jesus. Topochico, you like Topochico? Topichico is pretty good. Oh, that's an intense bubble. Pretty good. That's an intense bubble. Let's get closer to Perrier almost. I can't drink Perrier if it's in a plastic bottle. No, plastic, forget it.

But my favorite one is Badois. Oh. I know it's French, but hey, whatever. Okay. You turn a blind diet of the French. Do you believe in ghosts? No. Originally from southern Italy off the Amalfi Coast, what was your childhood like? Paradise.

It was, huh? When did you leave? I was a kid, actually. I left my house at 14. I want to go to culinary school because I thought there was a way to see the war. The way to learn languages, a way to not to be stuck at school until 40 years old. I was good at school, and they wanted me to be a doctor. And I'm like, I didn't know how to say no.

I was very shy. When you say they, you're talking about your parents. Of course, my best people in the best people in the world, your parents, right? I didn't want that. I didn't know what school brought me afterwards and how long I was going to stay there. So I saw some people that they were coming back in town during the holidays and they had money and they spoke languages and they were free and they were traveling and I'm like, that's a great life. I want to learn that. And so with my cousins,

I went to a culinary school in Pestum nearby Salerno. I signed up without telling my parents. And then when it was time to go to school for real, I said, I'm going there and they were not happy, but I did it anyway. Now, did they pay for it? No, actually, culinary school in Europe, in Italy at that time, they wanted you to go to a school for a job where you could work, not just to go to school until 40. And so they basically paid me. It was worth like a pack of cigarette a day. You hear that, America?

You wonder why they have the best food there. They're letting you go learn how to make, for free. Now, they pay you. They pay you. Exactly. How often do you go back to your hometown? Lately, at least once a year, if not twice. Oh, that's lovely.

Yeah. You should go there, man. It's too much of a circus for me to travel. I hate it with my kids and it's like, ugh. You've got to be positive. Just go. All right. Come on, man.

I was married in Italy. You were? Mm-hmm. With an Italian girl? No. Uh-oh. I know. The Florida trash.

Florida, okay. There are some nice people in Florida. I mean, she's fine, but she's not an Italian princess. That's for sure. You got married to a Florida girl. I go to a French one. Do you imagine? Well, no one is perfect.

What can I tell you? How long have you been married? Today? 35 years. It is today? Today. Oh, my goodness. Happy University.

Unbelievable. 35 years. Yeah. You think you'll go another 35? I hope so. You guys still make out? Of course, every day. Every day you make out.

I love to hear. Come on, man. I love to hear that. I don't know. Sometimes my wife is like, eh, that's enough. I'm like, oh, I thought we should give a little smooch in front of the kids. Yeah, but who chose to get married in Italy? You or her?

Her. See, she's smart. Well, I gave her the option. I said, you can get married anywhere in the. the world, but we have to have under 20 people. Well, in Italy, you can invite the whole town. No, I didn't. I didn't know the town. What?

We were at Borgo Centro Pedro. No way. Yeah, that's not too far from where I am from. Oh, I loved it. Yeah, no kidding. So nice. It's gorgeous. The food, everything good, everybody's sweet.

Wow. Yeah. Lucky you. How many languages can you speak? Four, and if you count Neapolitan, five, because Neapolitan is another language. No, I don't count it because of it. I didn't know that. I'm going to list a few things.

I want you to tell me which country does them the best. Okay, are you ready? We'll start with a simple one. Food. Italy. Wine? Italy. Cheese.

France. Fashion. Italy. Cinema. Shit. America. Art. Art.

Italy, man. Comedy. Comedy, United States. Thank you. There you. It's the only one I cared about. I think he was, I think he batted a thousand there. You threw some bones to the French, and I thought that was, that was nice.

Yeah, you gave them the cheese. Yeah. Even though I was born where the buffalo mozzarella is from, but still, France, they're the shit for cheese, man. I think that's what their bumper sticker says. Were you always into food as a kid? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I was.

I mean, in Italy, when I was a kid, when you were. growing up. My mother would tell me, I'm going shopping. You better look at the sauce. If it burns, it's your fault. You're not going to eat. So I was there around the food area cooking and trying to help out. So yes, I was. How did you decide you wanted to get into the restaurant business? Culinary school first. While you're doing culinary school, they send you to restaurant to train and stuff like that. And more than just cooking, I wanted to travel and see what other people, what other country were doing in regards of food. When I went to school, I I had to make a decision.

Am I going to carry on cooking or I'm going to go into dining room and do whatever? And so at that school, we're teaching a little bit of everything. So you're on that side of it. Can you cook? Yes. Well? Not professionally anymore.

I cook at home for my friends and my family. But no, I professionally no. Okay. Because you would need a lot of details and I'm done with that. I would have to start all over. But I was really shy when I was a kid and I couldn't really, I was like, oh my God. I'm going to say this.

And then when I was on my own outside of my country, I had to deal with doing my own laundry, buying my own things, trying to find my own apartment, and, you know, deal every day with my own life outside of my country. Being an adult. You know, 15, 16 years old was like, damn, it's young. So, but you start and learn to talk.

And so I start to talk and I never stopped since. I'll keep talking. You worked at some of the finest hotels, Villade Est. Villa d'este. And Hotel George Sank? Hotel George Sank, yeah. How old are you when you're working there? 20s?

No, early than that. I was 17, 18 years old. Was that fun? Fantastic. I was the king, man. I was like a dead age among the most amazing people in the world. Villa Desta is by far

one of the most gorgeous place you can ever be. It's on the Lake of Como in Chernobyl. Oh, do you say the Lake of Como? You don't say Lake Como? Oh, that's so, the lake of Como sounds so much better. Because I translated from Italian to English. I appreciate it.

How did you go from these wonderful experiences, the most beautiful places on Earth, to a cruise ship? Why you ask me those questions? I just want to know. The trajectory of your career is amazing. I just didn't, I didn't quite understand the cruise ships, but you were talked into working on a cruise ship. So I was in Paris at the Georgia Sank and some friends of mine from Switzerland they came to Paris and they go, you know what?

We're staying here a couple of days. We're meeting some headhunters. They chose us to go and work on cruise lines in Florida. And that's it. And so I met this guy and he was bugging me every day, come and work with us, come and work with us. And after a while, he said, why don't you want to come? I'm going to Munich in Germany.

I'm going to learn German and then I'm going to go back to Italy. And he goes, Germany can wait, come with me, let's go. And so I decided to do that. And I went to Miami, I went to Nassau, I took a boat, and I started to do cruise lines around the Caribbean and all around those areas. Then I moved towards Alaska and the Mexican Costiera. Did you like being on a cruise ship?

Yeah, it was. What was your room like? My room, there was no room. It's like smaller than this damn place here. Was it underwater? Yes. Was there any windows? No.

No, and you had like bank beds and one here, one there and... And you enjoyed this? Yeah, but I didn't care. All right, no, I'm just, I want to know your mindset. You know, you get up and you see the wall right in front of you, see, and you see everything. Have you been on a cruise since you've worked on a cruise? Never. Why?

You should have done that. I'm going to go back one day. Really? It was awesome. I enjoyed it. I've never been on a cruise. So I don't know. I don't know.

I've never been on. I met so many people. Well, yeah, you're all. You're a few. You're smushed in with people. Three hours a night, who cares? Do you hear about those two bigans? They're stuck in a slide.

Right now there's a cruise ship. Yeah, I saw that. They're wedged inside. Yes, I saw that. Too much. I don't know how. I think it's a large issue. I don't know.

It's got to be. No, but my boat was, we were 600 crew members and 1,200 passengers, who was a city. I don't like anything you're saying about that. Okay, so it was because of a cruise ship that brought you to. to Los Angeles. Yes. You would come to Los Angeles. You had docked, whatever, in Long Beach.

I would dock in Long Beach, correct. Very good. You'd rent a convertible. Oh my God, yes. You'd drive around. You're reading my mind or what? No, I'm just saying that was like your first glimpse of Southern California. 100%.

And then you were bitten by a bug or somebody just offered you something. No, I enjoyed what was going on here. And some people were offering me very good options to stay here with sponsoring me with visas and things like that to work and I thought that's not a bad idea. Let's see California life sounds good. This is in the 80s? This is mid-80s. Talk to me about all the cocaine.

Oh, everywhere. Everyone was happy. I hear it's making a comeback. The 80s was crazy. It was unbelievable. There was money everywhere. And then somebody just offered you the opportunity to go to business with them to open. Is this how Providence started? No, no, no, no. I was working for an Italian gentleman by the name of

Piero Selvaggio and Valentino and so far and a few others. And then he had a very casual restaurant called Primi that he just opened in 1985. And so he offered me a few months after it was open to work there with him. And I started and a few months later, he goes, can you run the restaurant? And I start to be a manager there and I spent quite a few years in that restaurant. And I met a lot of people in town at that time the food industry was not as it is now

now it's much more open there's a lot of diversity but in the 80s we were selling Italian food people that had no idea what rocola was or what risotto was it was different

the restaurant industry has changed so much over the past 30 years for the better or the worse I think for the better because now there is more freedom people they are

they accept creativity much more than the 80s and 90s. At that time, you were stuck with a specific way of cooking, a specific way of food, and many ethnicity that were not allowed to shine. They were considered like, oh, it's cheap food. We don't really need to get very fancy into that type of cooking. Were you naive to it at the beginning,

or did you know going in that this is a very hard business owning and running a restaurant. Like, everyone says it's the hardest thing in the world to do. It's not the hardest thing. Okay, but you've heard that before, right? I keep hearing it. Just from you now.

Now it's not. You work hard, but you need to have passion. You need to use your heart and you need to enjoy what you do. It's just, I had people coming to my restaurants on and off and they're telling me that they hate their job and they're lawyers or marketing people or whatever.

So you never gotten burnout in a restaurant. Not burned out. No, never. I had, when I started, people that were telling me, you're nuts. Get out of this thing. You're crazy. Why you want to do this? You are young. Just do something else. I mean, I can go and get a job anywhere I want if I want to. Do you yell at people? Do you scream? Do you swear at your employees? Do you, like, lose your temper?

No, I'm not Gordon Ramsey, man. No, okay. I didn't know me. No, no, no. I was kidding. Gordon Ramsey, a good friend is, but on TV. I know. He pretends to yell. But, I mean, in general, you've, you've, the rest of, restaurant business tends to be kind of... Tense. Yeah.

And gets people all worked up. Well, and you're doing fine dining. Does fine dining elevate the tension? It does, but if you work in fine dining, you need to be mentally controlled. Because you need to go fast. But at the same time, people cannot see that. You need to go mentally fast and be proactive

before something happens. You cannot allow to be reactive and scream and shout. to make the guests hear that because they're not coming there to spend lots of money and hearing you arguing with other employees. Lots of money.

Yeah. Providence. Do you think it's expensive? Compared to other restaurants in town, yes. Okay. Compared to other restaurants in the world at this standard that we are, no. If I'm going on a fancy date with my wife

and we'll be going there very soon, what should I expect to drop with a single wine pairing throughout the meal? How much should I be prepared to spend? A single wine pairing with your dinner? Yeah, all the bells and whistles. Taxing tips included? Yeah, and I like to tip pretty big.

Okay, so over 600. Oh, that seems downright affordable. What's the role of a restaurateur besides dimming the lights? Ooh, I dim the lights every day, but I've been teaching everyone. They are doing such a great job. Do you have any say over the menu? Not as much, because my partner is a brilliant, incredible, smart guy, and he's incredible with food, and he knows a lot. You guys have partnered together at the very beginning?

Yes. You've been together for how long? How long has Providence been open? 20 years. 20 years. Yeah, but we used to work together before in another restaurant. That's where we met. Does he like you?

I think so. That's nice. Mike, do you like me? I don't know, if you hear the show, just say yes, yeah? You have three Michelin stars. Yes. Congratulations. You just got your third one. Yes. And that's a huge deal.

In the restaurant business, it is. It is. Especially because nowadays, restaurants are a fashionable thing. Chefs are a fashionable things. Going to restaurants and letting other people know, look where I'm going. It's a fashionable thing. So, yes, three-star means a lot. How many three-star Michelin restaurants are in Los Angeles? Two. We are, and this year we were, us and so many, another restaurant,

a small restaurant of 14 seats, Spanish. we are the first two restaurants in the history of Los Angeles to get three stars. Pretty good, huh? It's pretty good. I think there are 16 in the whole country. 16, three stars in the whole country? Yep.

It's pretty incredible. Do you have any idea when a diner is actually a Michelin reviewer? I wish. Do you have a protocol if you suspect someone could be? Sure. Every day, every day that comes in. I have no idea if Daniel Tosh comes there and maybe this guy is on, he has a show and then boom, he's a,

a Michelin guy. That's how it is. You never know who they are. What pressure came with the extra prestige of another Michelin star? Good question. Knowing how to keep that third star, that's the pressure. Every day, like, okay, now we got the third one. Shit, how are we going to keep it?

You can lose stars? Yeah, easily. Oh, man. So you work hard every day to gain one, two, and then, you know, the highest achievement, which is three, that becomes just a standard. Let's forget who Michelin is. It's the standard that they actually show into the wall that you should reach. But once you reach it, you're like, oh my God, wow, I am up there now.

I cannot go higher than the sky. But then you need to know how to walk on those clouds that are very light. And you might drop and the next, without knowing it, you think that you're doing a great job every day. But you need to keep pushing it like if you're still having two and you're looking for the third one. because if you think that you made it, next year you lose it. And that's, to some people, it's insanely dangerous. Yeah. Mentally, because they're going to think, oh, my God, I'm no longer good.

The guests are thinking that we are no longer good. What are we going to do? How are we going to do it? And it's not easy. So that's the pressure. Do you support Michelin? Like, do you have Michelin tires on your car? I don't know what tires I have.

I don't even look at what tires I have. I don't care. Okay, okay, fine. But what if Michelin, tire company goes out of business. Yeah. Does that mean the star business of restaurant reviews? Does that end or is it a separate entity?

I don't think so because Michelang Guide, they have their own business. Okay, so they make money on their own. I'm surprised you don't support their tires, though. I bet you if you did, they would have what, four stars? Well, they might make sure you keep those stars. That's all I'm saying. I should ask them. Providence once served one of my producers a date that had been dehydrated and then

rehydrated. Was that really worth the trouble? Yes, we do this every goddamn day. Yeah, it's like life. You know, you kill somebody, you bring it back to life and be smiling again. It just tastes better after it's been dehydrated. He adds that extra stronger flavor. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I believe you, I just have no idea what I'm even talking about.

You guys dehydrate a date, then you rehydrate. Yes. There are machines that, they do that for you. Okay, well, it's a good machine. You having to buy new equipment in the kitchen just to do all these wacky things? Yes, we have lots of wacky machines at Providence. How often do you guys change your menu? Fairly often.

The protein might not change. We might have, I don't know, Wagyu, for example, for a few months, but all the things around it, the sauces, the vegetables, whatever comes with it, they do change seasonally. So the same menu, exactly the same, might last a couple of weeks, three weeks, and then some dishes they start to change little by little. If you have the ability in the kitchen, will

you cater if a customer has a request for something that's not on your menu? Yes. If it's in the same style, in the same standards, if they ask you for a burger, we might not do it. Okay. But if they want something that we have to go out

of the way and get like, I don't know, squab or, you know, venison or whatever. Yeah, of course. And if they want to make any changes to something on the menu, do you guys say we don't do any of that? Very little of that, as little as possible. But if it doesn't change

the taste of the dish, we might be able to do that. What's the desserts like currently? This week, what do we got for desserts there? Well, we have, because right now it's mango season, so we have an incredible mango sorbet with some shizzo granita and a variety of citrus compote.

And then we have an incredible chocolate dessert. Okay. But the chocolate at Providence are the star of the desserts, in addition to all the pedi foods that we serve because our pastry chef, Mac, he is amazing. And he buys raw cocoa beans. You know, we roast our own cocoa beans and we do chocolate ourselves.

So all the chocolates are made in-house from scratch. So there is a lot of different chocolate desserts that we do. It's great. It's the best. It's amazing. Amazing. How come fancy restaurants are always located in just kind of random parts of things?

town next to a closed party city store. Because when we got that place, they swore to us that that area was going to be booming. It was going to be the new Beverly Hills. What do you want me, man? It was 20 years ago. Oh, that's so funny. They told me you're going to see. Around here is going to be gorgeous.

Palm trees everywhere, new buildings, blah, blah, blah. Still waiting for it. Yeah, your restaurant is the reason that anyone goes to the area. That's so, that you're the beacon. We are definitely a destination. That is, yeah. Look at you, like, I don't need the fancy. Have you ever considered because of your success to be like, oh, let's move location, let's go to Beverly Hills or any of that.

No, because why? Do you think, I don't know. I don't know. I don't like Beverly Hills people more than where I am now. Well, you like the people better, but let's let's like everybody. I am a restaurant guy, man. Yeah, I know. You have to say you like everybody.

I know, I know the drill. But let's be honest. I feel like you don't really have. have to cater to everyone because only a certain group really go to this restaurant. I feel like you're allowed to shun a certain group of people. No, let me tell you why. I give you an example. You've got to listen to this.

I will listen. Okay. We cater to people that they have lots of money, but we also cater to people that love great food. Some of the people that come and tell me they're not shy. Look, I've been saving money a certain amount every day to make sure that after quite a few month. I can come and spend it at your restaurant because you guys are awesome. So I love those kind of people too. Okay. I have people that spend a shit lot of money and I'm like, wow, good for you. You're lucky. But if not, the others are as important. Because I've seen

like rich people, like Jerry Jones owns the Dallas Cowboys. And I watch him on television. He was like taking an egg McMuffin from McDonald's and just dumping salt on it. I'm like, even though he's a billionaire, he eats like an idiot. Well, you don't want to get into that with guests that they're coming to the restaurant. Hardest part of opening a restaurant. Hardest part is not to open is to keep it open because it's fun to open a restaurant. You talk to designers, you buy plates, glassware, all sorts of cool things. You get up in the morning and say, oh, what's going to happen today, where we're at, permits and things like that.

The permits are a pain in the ass. But other than that is once you open, that's the hardest part afterwards. Let me talk about Providence Place. There's so many different styles and sizes. It's just got to be a nightmare for the busers in the back, the dishwasher. Yes, but we have an incredible amount of people taking care. I have a guy. I have a guy.

I have a guy that we have felt, and we just put cloth in between each plate. And that's all he does, the whole night long. To make sure that they don't scratch, they don't look, whatever. Does he take pride in his work? Of course. That's great. Yeah. But, you know, my partner, Michael, is a plate junkie.

I mean, he keeps buying plates every day. What do you spend in plates? No, you don't want to know. You're going to make me, I'm going to leave here, I'm going to cry. So just let him buy plates. He knows. He goes, ah, don't look at the price. Oh, man.

It's just a world to hurt when you're opening a restaurant. Your restaurant opens at 545 today. 545, correct. Why do you have to be there so early? There is a line. The people coming in, they want to come even earlier. I understand that, but you have to be there at what time? One o'clock.

In the morning. Well, I get there in the morning. As soon as I'm done here, I mean, I'm going to go to work. I know you are. 10 o'clock, 10.30. I've never been in this office so early. At your level of restaurants, how hard is it to staff? Not as hard as a regular restaurant where it doesn't have Michelin Star ambitions,

just because a lot of people want to come and work. So we have an incredible amount of resume where I can kind of choose the right. people for it. But somehow, I mean, luckily enough for us, we've been very lucky, maybe because of how we treat people, how respectful we are, towards our employees, et cetera. I have about 10% of the employees that have been there since day one. As a matter of fact, some of them have been following me from other restaurants where I used to manage before. And so maybe the last person we hired was a year ago and there was only one. So everybody's between five and 20 years. You take care of them. It's good. Now, you as a restaurant,

are allowed to refuse service to anyone. Is that true? It's true. I've always seen that on like bars and restaurants. So have you ever been like, we're not going to serve you, sir, or ma'am? Very rarely happened a few years ago. In the last, I would say, five, six years, not really.

But before we had people that they were obnoxious and some of them, I did have to tell them, listen, you've got to leave. because they were using obscene languages fairly loud among themselves. They were like, what do you mean? I cannot say what I want. They say, no, they're just, and sometimes there were kids around them, and they were like, no, not here.

You know, people are spending too much money to hear your BS. And they're like, who do you think you are? I'm like, nobody, but you just need to leave. Do you have security? No, but I have guys that they know how to help me out. Okay. They got those funny ears. I know people.

Do you? I bet you do. Has anyone ever tried to dine and dash? at Providence? Yes. They actually did. You know, for 20 years, I think a couple of times. And then a other couple of times where people, unfortunately, they just didn't have the money.

Uh-huh. And they're like, what do you want me to do? Describe them racially. I don't remember racially where they were from. They spoke English, man. They were not Italians for sure. I'm teasing. Italians don't wait.

They just leave. I think I've stood up from a restaurant before because I'm always used to Pete just taking care of stuff for me. And I've just walked, and my wife's like, what are you doing? You haven't paid. I'm like, oh, all right, my fault. Name a fast food restaurant that you've ate at. I don't need a fast food.

I know you don't. You've never had any? I've been in Los Angeles since 1980, generally in 1986. I have never been to a fast food. You know, Remy, he went to in and out with Julia Child. No. Yes, he did? No, I've never been to one.

I've never been to a fast food. You've never been to a fast food restaurant. No, I swear to God, never. I believe you. Yeah. What about a chain restaurant? Have you ever had dinner at a chain restaurant? You ever ate at Chili's?

No. Oh, man. Why, you like Chili's? Well, I did as a kid. I, you know, I lived in Orlando for a bit. In Florida, there's a Chili's, it was nice. I think I went in there one time and applied for a job. I didn't hire me.

Well, I've been to a cheesecake factory. Oh, you've been to a cheesecake factory. There you go. That's a big chain. That's such a menu. Do you look at that menu and do you just marvel at it? That cheesecake is good. Cheesecake is delicious.

Yeah, I tried some fried calamari, but they were not bad. That was a long time ago. I love it. I love it. Do you go the extra mile for some of your big A talent that comes in? No, not for the A talent. You don't. People like you, I don't know.

No, no. Me, I'm a C talent at best. But I'm talking, you know what I'm talking. Yeah, I know. A George Clooney comes in. You make sure that everything goes perfect. Okay, no matter how much I love George Clooney. There are people that on and off, they've been saying,

do you know who you're talking to? Oh, I love when people say that. And do you know who those people are? And I'm like, yeah, I know. And one day this lady was insisting, you know, she was like, do you know who I am? Do you know who you're talking to? So I stopped.

I said, excuse me, guys. It was on the other side of me. Can you help me out? Can you help this lady out? She has no idea who she is. I said, maybe you should ask your mother. She might know who you are. Oh, you're like, what?

But no. Who was she? Do you know who she was? No, I didn't care. I know you didn't care. Did you know who she was? No, I don't know. No, I just, I told her that I couldn't give a reservation.

Whomever if is somebody more known publicly doesn't really make a big difference. I try sometimes to figure it out in the best way I can to promise to prioritize people, especially people that they've been supporting us for 20 years since they won in the good and bad time. You cannot keep an eye of regards towards people that they've been cherishing that restaurant coming there every, month or so some people they've been there over 200 times in the in 20 years we've been there 200 times a lot and they've been bringing all the people there that's nice a little a little extra care of course john how many times have you been to providence twice twice yes that's nothing compared to these people that have been there 200 times why don't you support a little more often

sorry did i say twice i meant 200 times 200 oh yeah but john is a nice guy I sure but he's a bit much Dylan laughs just because he's not in the butt of a joke Hey Dylan Dylan you ever been to Providence? I have not. Oh, shocking. Oh! Hey Dylan, you ever had fast food?

I have, yeah. Everybody that's on the show gets a gift, okay? Now, normally I just walk around my house and I grab something. It's just something from my house that I don't want anymore and I give it to the guest. Gee, you do the same as I do. Okay, but listen, this is the first time

I'm giving something that I actually wasn't sure I wanted to give away. But I was like, nah, this is the right person for it. My friend, Justin, he's a French guy, don't hold it against him. But he came to visit me in Tahoe. And he brought me a gift. And I thought, this was super sweet. This was really nice. It was expensive.

I looked it up right in front of them, see how much it costs. It's like 700 bucks. What? Yeah. But I said, I go, they're not that comfortable. I put them on, but I didn't, I've never worn them. But I put them on. So I got you.

I was like, this is perfect for you. These are Valentino's. Whoa. What? Yeah, I got you some Valentino slippers. You're kidding? No, I'm not kidding. And you can tell that they've never been.

Oh, my God. You love them, right? This one looks expensive, man. No, it's nice. Maybe they bought it in Istanbul for 20 bucks. No, no, these are real. Hey, and you know it's a good slipper when it comes with its own bag for each one.

It looks gorgeous. Well, anyway. Are you sure you want to give it to me? I have to give it to you because you're my guest. Then let's say you'd give it to me because it's my anniversary. I give one to your wife, one to you. You guys hop around together. You're funny.

That's nice of you. But there you go. I get that off my desk. You're going to love that. You are amazing. Oh, my God. Please get those off the desk. I will.

Okay, excuse me. Throw them on the floor. Jesus. Can people a DoorDash from Providence? Oh, this guy is driving nuts. No. No. But, hold on.

What? They could during COVID. They could? Yes. You really? You never came there during COVID? No. You lose the, if I'm going to shell out the money, I want to sit there and I want to, I want all the bells and whistles.

We made food that it was perfect, and then you would bring it home, and you could call your friends and say, I am the chef. Look what I made. Okay. Here's what's good with, if you guys were doing that during the pandemic, is that your box is. Your boxes could be so small. Yeah, we had tons of boxes. Foulding boxes in the bag. Yes.

You ever look at Yelp? Every day. You read reviews? I do, and I answer people, too. What do you think? I park cars, I bus tables, I serve wine, I serve food. You park cars? Well, if I need to.

I don't think you've ever parked a car in the past 20 years. I have a great valet, but if I would have, if there is a problem there, I will definitely park cars. Do you guys have an A in your window? A plus. Come on, man. Are we still doing those letters that in Los Angeles? Yes. The health department is...

How often is the health department popping in? Every two, three months, four months, something like that, three, four times a year. You give them a little something? Yeah. Ow! You greased the wheels a little bit? Sure, I give them a little smoked fish. What's the most overrated restaurant in Los Angeles?

Go ahead, tell me. Oh, my God. Are you serious? You won't answer it. Of course I'm not going to answer, I know. I know you're not going to answer. But here's why. Everyone is trying, even the people that they're not really opening a restaurant for food

and they're not as talented as many other chefs, they're doing something good in order to be busy. Even if they attract people that they don't care about food and they are busy, chapeau, man. Besides your own, name a restaurant or two that you love going to. I have a lot. First of all, I'm not a faithful guest. I didn't ask your favorite. I just said, no, no, I'm not a faithful. guy because there are so many restaurants opening every day,

so I try them, I try to go out a lot in different restaurants, yeah. Some favorite ones. Felix as an Italian restaurant. Another Italian restaurant, Antico Nuovo. Parks, barbecue, as Korean restaurant. Kato is very, very good. Hayato, unbelievable, Japanese restaurant downtown. What about Connie and Ted's?

How long has that been around? 10 years now. I'm a fan. My wife had a house near there, so I used to just always, I would always just get food to go because I don't need to sit inside. But now, Connie, does which restaurant is more profitable for you, huh? Is Connie and Ted's, does that do more money for you or is it Providence? Well, it depends the way you look at.

You spend more money at Providence by buying incredible food from all over the world, but also we're buying great products of Connie and Ted's because we buy all. only fresh wild fish and stuff like that. So it's a New England seaboard house. It's just lovely. Yeah, but Providence, we have many more people working, so it's, you know, labor cost is higher. And we do this, you know, beautiful-looking food

and guests are spending much more money, obviously. How tight-knit is the fine dining world? You ever have famous chefs in your restaurant? All the time. Does that make you nervous or do you... No, it makes you proud. Okay. that people, you know, of the same business,

they come and visit you and they... What if they're foes? Fos. Not friend. What if they're like... Do you have enemies in the fine dining world that are like... No. I mean, I don't have enemies.

Is there places that you don't like and you don't get? No, I mean... Why are they so popular? Some of them, but lucky them. That means they're doing something good. Okay. How tough is it to get a reservation? Nowadays, a little harder than before.

How far? out should you try to make a reservation? Well, you can make it technically up to two months ahead with the reservation system that we have. You can go ahead today and make it two months from today. Somebody comes in and just hands hands the, your host, our host is a $100 bill. So can I get a table? Is that going to work or no? No.

What about what if it's $1,000? I still don't think so. Well, they're going to make them wait at the bar and then give them a dessert or an appetizer. Oh, that's nice. If your partner came to you and said, hey, I think I'm done, would you be done with it? Or would you find someone? I would try to convince him that he's not done. Okay.

And I know he's not done. Well, okay, I didn't mean to plant a seed. We've been great partners for 20 years. And he's amazing and he's extremely talented. And I think he can still shine quite a bit in front of the eyes of a lot of people. All right, Donato. Thank you so much for being on the show. It was such a pleasure.

Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Enjoy your slippers. Yes. I want to thank Donato for being on the show, and I can't wait to head over to Providence. I'm going to bring, what's her name? Your wife.

No, no. Amanda. Okay. Yeah, that's a little agreement. We have. I take her on a fancy date once every six months. My wife every month. No, I'm going to take my wife.

We have a great time. Donato said he's going to give us one of the nicer tables. Okay. You ever asked for the nicest table in a restaurant? I haven't. I have. I don't necessarily call it the nicest table. I say, do you have something private?

Not near a bathroom? I've done that before. I don't like to be near a bathroom. I agree. You think it'd be the opposite with me. It's true. All right. Let's plug some stuff.

Eddie's got some tour dates and I've got a bunch of tour dates. You know we're getting ready to go on a big tour. What kind of tour? The World Tour. Whoa. Now we're doing like 70 or 80 dates next year and I'm doing them in places that you wouldn't think I would want to be. Okay? That's just a little hint.

Are you talking about the panhandle of Florida? I'll be there. You're talking about Virginia Beach? You know I'm going to be there. There's all kinds of wacky places that I'm going. Now, do I consider Virginia Beach wacky? No, that's not wacky. Wacky.

I'm going to go to D.C. Ooh. I got to get there. I got to make change. That I'm straight. Yes, we can. Let's do it. No, we didn't.

That would be my campaign slogan. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. We don't have to. nothing's changing not for the better nope uh anyway my house still for sale in Tahoe things are falling apart in my life apparently what about uh what's your name old uh our resident in the guest house Amanda my wife's cousin we got any new potential suitors we do have some new calls oh let's let's hear who's called in hey Tosh uh my name's Michael I uh am six foot one

I live in New York, and I go between L.A. and New York for work. Now, I'm pretty good looking. I'm pretty tall, and, you know, I like to have a good time, go out in nature, all that good stuff. I will say that I would be really interested to date Amanda. Now, technically, I am gay, but figured I could go back and forth between L.A. and New York, and, you know, be straight over there and gay over here. Okay. If that all works out, let me know.

I mean, I think legally, I have to keep his name in the hat. Right. Just because he's gay doesn't mean that he shouldn't be allowed to find love. Exactly. You think he's using Amanda as a way to get out here to hang with you. Oh, you're saying that maybe he and I end up together physically. Oh. So then now this is.

bad all of a sudden i fall in love with this guy but he's gone half the time but he's only going to be he's only he said he's going to be straight when he's here and gay in new york that he's coming for amanda too but we don't know we don't know i like him sounds like him sounds like a nice piece of person he sounds great he's good looking six one you know seemed funny the only downside is that he's gay and i don't even like telling somebody that their downside is is that they're gay that's not what i mean i'm just meant in relation to being my wife's cousin's husband right it would be helpful if you weren't gay definitely it's a wrinkle we didn't expect we got another one oh it's okay thank goodness because i i think i think she would actually be a disappointed if her only option

was a gay man that just lives out here part time but you know if you were gay uh and you lived in two places, New York and L.A. Would you rather be gay in L.A. or New York? That's just a good question. Wow. Yeah. Both are great places to be gay. I'll tell you where you don't want to be gay.

Where? Between L.A. and New York? Every place between New York and Los Angeles. Miami? Well, that's not between. Below. That's below. Get a map, Dickhead. Come on, John. John.

Ohio school system. Next thing you're going to say Seattle. Seattle's not in between. Okay? We're talking about as the crow flies. Right. What's the most gay-friendly city as the crow flies from New York to Los Angeles? Because you don't hit Chicago.

Telleride. Telluride. They had one week. It was pretty gay, though. Yeah. We went to tell your ride during gay. ski week, and it was, uh, it was just beautiful. Yeah.

It was beautiful. That was fun. Anyway, are you saying you had another call? I do. What do you got? Cool. This is a prepaid collect call from. Jim.

An inmate at Florida Correctional Institute. This call is subject to recording and monitoring. Okay. All right. So this guy's in jail, but he's in jail in Florida, which is where Amanda's from. Yeah. So, yes, maybe same circles at one point. It doesn't seem like he's going to have the means to provide.

Can you buy horses with cigarettes? I mean, yeah. What position does he have in the yard? I wonder if he's faithful. I don't know. I mean, he's got... You're allowed to be gay for the stay, right? I think that's...

Both of these callers, their sexuality could be an issue. Ah, not a great week. Well, hopefully next week. See you.