Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Photo: copyright Columbia Pictures
The stars were out last week for New York City's red-carpet premiere of Julie & Julia, opening this Friday, August 7. Zagat Buzz was also there, and we scored some tasty quips from the likes of chef Anthony Bourdain, restaurateur Drew Nieporent (Corton, Nobu), our own Tim and Nina Zagat, and writer Julie Powell, the real-life “Julie” of the film. To see photos from the event, click on the names.
Zagat Buzz: What do you think TV chefs today could learn from watching reruns of The French Chef?
Anthony Bourdain: Cooking skills. They could actually learn how to cook. And humility. A desire to communicate by raising people up and making them better, rather than just making them feel better about themselves. Julia made everyone want to be better and cook better, and she would convince them that they could. We need more of that.
ZB: How did she influence you as a chef?
AB: As a human being I think she influenced people who never knew her name, never saw her show and never read her books. We all eat better today because of her. The entire industry as we know it, and the celebrity chef industry...all of that is due to her. I was influenced by Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was on my mom’s refrigerator when I was a little kid. It influenced the way I grew up and my entire value system.
ZB: Who do you think should play James Beard in his biopic?
AB: I don’t want to see that biopic. I think they should turn the Beard House into a methadone clinic. You know, something useful.
ZB: How has Julia Child affected your career as a restaurateur?
Drew Nieporent: I used to come home from grade school and watch [in his best falsetto] Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet, so she was part of the reason I got into the business in the first place.
ZB: Did Julia Child eat in any of your restaurants?
DN: She used to come into Montrachet and she came to Nobu. I was having lunch with her once at Nobu, and she reached over with her chopsticks for the sushi and she just froze. She was frozen for like 60 seconds, and I thought, oh my God, she’s going to die here at Nobu, but luckily she was alive, it was sleep apnea or something...True story.
ZB: Which dish was the most challenging for you in Mastering the Art of French Cooking?
Julie Powell: There were different kinds of challenges. There
were technical challenges like they show in the movie, where I bone a
whole duck and stuff it with pâté and sew it back up – that was
technically challenging and really exhilarating. The real challenges
were slogging through stuff that you just know is not going to be good,
like doing 10 aspic recipes and knowing they are all going to
stink. It would take this enormous effort of will just to get up and do
the next steps...I mean that was the part where I was like, “Why am I
doing this again?”
ZB: What dishes did you feel like you really mastered?
JP: I’m pretty damn good at omelets. My beef bourguignon comes
out very reliably now. I loved the baked cucumbers; I do that all the
time.
ZB: What’s your favorite NYC restaurant at the moment?
JP: At the moment it’s Prune.
I think it’s just good honest food. You can just tell that there’s no
B.S. about Gabrielle Hamilton. Her attitude is, “I’m going to put
food that interests me on the table, and you’re going to eat it.” And I
love that because it’s anti-trendy and anti-mediocrity.
ZB: Where are you going to dine to celebrate the film release?
JP: My family and I are going to Sammy’s Roumanian, and pour lots of schmaltz.
ZB: I understand you have some great Julia Child memories.
Tim Zagat: We knew her for a long time.
ZB: Did she contribute to the early surveys?
TZ: She liked what we were doing, and of course we loved hearing that from her.
Nina Zagat: She also gave us a lot of ideas on places to include.
TZ: She traveled a lot, and she always found places that we had never heard of.
ZB: What do you think is the most inspiring thing about her life story?
TZ: I think she took fear out of the American cook. People felt that if she could cook, they could. She would do something like drop an entire leg of lamb on the floor, brush it off and say things like, ‘The germs will be killed by the stove.’ That made people feel relaxed.
NZ: The point about cooking is to be relaxed and for it to be fun.
ZB: Who would you like to see play James Beard in his biopic?
NZ: [Laughs] Someone very big!
–Kathleen Squires