Kitchen Confessionals with Scott Conant

What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood, joined by famed chef, Mr. Scott Conant.

Famed chef. I'll take that.

What would you like me to call you?

You can call me whatever you want. I answer to pretty much anything. I'll take that.

What's the worst thing you've ever been called?

I can't say it. I can't.

I'll beep it out for you.

I've been called a son of a And that's just Twitter. Don't even make me go into Facebook. Right? I've been called all kinds of things.

Okay, we here at Young Hollywood love you.

Thank you.

We love your food.

Thank you. Thank you.

Last time we were with you, we were in one of your restaurants here in Beverly Hills. You're back. What are you doing back in our town?

I literally just flew in. So, literally. My arms are killing me.

Welcome back, Scott.

So, uh yeah. I'm we're doing a dinner at Vibiana with the James Beard Foundation. So, me and Curtis Stone and a bunch of other chefs are doing an event tonight and we're uh prepping everything and getting it all ready. So,

Have you been in this space before, by the way?

I've seen it. I've seen it. Yes, once. It's amazing. It used to be a church. Right. And I think they burnt lots of sage, so all the, you know, all the bad stuff is out. We'll leave that out 'cause as a as a as a former Catholic, I probably shouldn't say those things. Let's go.

Now, how often do you get out of a kitchen to put on events of this nature?

Things like this don't happen that often. This is a lot of work.

I know, that's why we're talking to you because it doesn't happen very often.

It's a lot of work. It's it's going to be about 250 people. Yeah. We're doing two courses. Curtis is going to do two courses as well. So, yeah, a lot of stuff. It's a lot of work to get to get that accomplished.

Now let's talk about it. James Beard Foundation. You've been awarded

I have.

one of these prestigious

I have.

awards back in the day.

Back in the day for uh I opened a restaurant years ago and we were we won best new restaurant in the country. We also won best new restaurant design. Unbelievable. Look at how grand this space is. I mean, I really, when I walked in the first time, I couldn't believe what a beautiful space. Isn't this great? Look at this.

Now, these Confessionals. That's confessional. These are confessionals.

Okay, you go sit in one. You don't want to hear

Let's do it. Wait, let's do a confessional. You know how this works?

Hello? Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. It has been 35 years since my last confession. I hope you don't have a lot to do. Because we're going to be here for a while.

Well, get to Chopped. Of course. I mean, does that just keep you very, very busy or no?

It is, you know, there's two spin-offs of Chopped that we do also. So, there's Chopped, Chopped Junior, and then Chopped After Hours. And so, all those things, we just got picked up for a total of eight more seasons. So, we are truly that's a machine that just keeps on going. It's unbelievable. It really is.

Last time, you said the worst ingredient was lamb testicles. Or someone's testicles? Someone's?

It was an I'm not proud of all the things I've done, but you got to make a living.

Is that still the worst thing?

The worst thing for me was durian. Hands down. But eating duck's testicles at like 8:00 a. m. with a cup of coffee, still.

Duck?

Duck's testicles, yeah. And the damn duck just keeps moving. It's you know, it's hard to get a good bite. Chef, with his human. Did you ever hear about the the rabbi that walked into the confessional? He sat down in front of the priest, just like this, and he says to the priest, Father, I've sinned. I met this young woman. She was 24 years old. She did things to me that I've never had done before. It was unbelievable. And the priest says, well, forgive me for asking, but you know, you're not Catholic. Why are you telling me this? And he says, are you kidding me, Father? I'm telling everybody.

So, the great thing about the show is that they've turned the tables though on you guys. And you guys have to cook now.

We have to cook that stuff. And it's I I'll tell you, we have the most fun. We have such a good time doing it. Clearly, it's not the intensity of a competition, right? Because we're not being judged and we're not being chopped and all that stuff. It's more of us just kind of cooking and having fun. I I think we get to see the culinary prowess of our our other judges that are our colleagues so to speak. And it was great because I'm the only Chopped judge who's never been chopped. So, Bruce Kalmon is here from Union in Pasadena. Phenomenal cook. Great chef. So, he's doing some other events, but then he's going to come and just help us plate up. And he's a friend and and just a good guy. So, he's making a little lasagna yet the back there.

Lasagnette.

Lasagnette.

I don't even know what that is, but

It's lasagna. It's a little lasagna. Lasag

Let's do it. Lasagnette. Now, you are part of the event as well. We'll talk about your role on the stage.

So, I'm I'm part of the reception, beginning. Okay. Yeah. And we're going to have a table set up and we're just handing out little tasters. And I I serve this dish at both restaurants. I have Needa Company Possabar downtown. Okay. At the Grand Central Market. Yep. And then I have Union Restaurant in Pasadena. And this is the Union version which is uh Porcini Lasagnette pasta that we make. The noodle's texture is like the like the pepperoni. Okay. You know what I mean? Like the curly noodles. Yep. And then uh beautiful PMP mushroom, fresh herbs, garlic, chili, and a little bit of mushroom stock. And then I finish it with some Pecorino Romano cheese. Okay. And then a splash of this aged sherry vinegar. It smells amazing. My philosophy is like if we're going to do a pasta with mushrooms, it should really scream mushrooms.

I would think when someone asked you to make food for 250 people, that would make someone run away, but no.

No. I I have a lunch tomorrow for 450 people.

Push hard. There you go. Around. Awesome. Perfect. Young Hollywood after dark.

A little finish of olive oil. That's it. I'm all skin and bones over here. I got to go out and eat some.

Judge me like he did on Chopped. And you won Chopped. What are you talking about?

You're right, I did.