For Grace (2015) - full transcript

What'd you say. Two-four?

This is soup scallop,
he wanted the veg.

It's frustrating,
but it's been frustrating for three years.

My most comfort zone
is in the kitchen, of course.

Do I like this kitchen?
No, I hate it. But...

The space, it's a big
limiting factor.

'Cause if the space was bigger,

we could certainly expand on our food that we want to expand on.

We can't push forward
without the extra hands.

And we're very short-staffed
in the front house, too.

We don't have a manager.



We haven't had a manager
in six months.

And Michael's our expediter.

He should be up-selling
all of our wine right now.

He should be making the restaurant money.
But what's he doing?

He's forced to stand there
and expedite for us

because we don't have
an expediter.

'Cause they're not going
to hire it. They won't hire.

They want more,
but they don't want to give more.

We're still a restaurant
that has six coffee cups,

that's it, you know,
we're still a restaurant

that doesn't have
the ample amount of silverware

to feed our patrons
every night.

Now, you walk out of here,
you're paying over $200 a person

for an experience.



We better damn well
be giving that to them.

So, this is it.

We're looking at
5,500 square feet, up top,

um, which we'll use all for the restaurant, kitchen, storage.

After looking at 80 to 100
different spaces in Chicago,

obviously it was exhausting.

It suits what we wanted to do,

and the location just
kept getting better and better

over the last year or so

with pre-existing restaurants
that are our neighbors now.

It's just...
This row of Randolph is just gonna be unique.

It's a huge opportunity.

I mean, we get one shot
to make a great restaurant.

So we have to put
150 % into this space

from now until the day we open,

and then, we even have to
do even more.

Because once the doors open,
it's even more important.

You want this to be the best
restaurant in Chicago?

I want it to be the best
restaurant in the country.

That's the goal.

We know we can do it.
I think we have...

We have a lot of the key people.

We have the talent,
we have the know-how,

we have the drive.

You know, a lot of
sleepless nights

thinking about...
what's gonna happen.

How am I gonna get this done?
There's a lot of...

There's a list of
a million things

that need to get accomplished
in the next eight months.

How confident that
you'll meet that point?

Not confident at all.

I mean, I say, if we say
eight months,

I think we'll hit maybe the eight and a half,
nine-month mark.

He's very disciplined.

And that comes off right away.

I mean, one of the things that
I remember about him is...

he has an impression about him.

He's fit, he exercises,
he lifts weights, he runs.

His hair is always clean cut.

He's like a...

He's just solid, right.

Everything about him
gives that persona

that he's just...

Meticulous, and detail oriented,

and ready to go.

Well, his reputation is
brilliant.

I mean, I've eaten his food
many, many times

and he's just such a huge
force to be reckoned with,

as far as his talent goes.

His food is very thoughtful,
it's thought out. It's very...

incredible concentration
of flavors.

And the look is beautiful.
Beautiful, beautiful look.

He has a sensuality
with food and a touch that...

you can't teach.

He has a way with people
that's...

You know, I think that
naturally he's calm.

He's a natural teacher,
he's a very good teacher.

He never got frazzled.

He was always very calm.

No matter what.
Under the most pressure.

"We're going to get it done.
Don't worry, chef.

We'll make it happen."

Like, that's very rare
in the cooking world.

I think you'd be foolish
not to be scared of failing.

It's like Mike Tyson,
you know.

Like he's scared to death
to step in that ring

because he doesn't wanna lose.

It's the same thing for me.

I don't wanna lose.

I'm putting everything
on the line.

Not only that,

I have 16 employees that depend on what we do on a daily basis,

on the choices that we make.

That's a huge burden
to have on your shoulders.

When I first took the job
at Avenues,

not meeting Michael yet,

and I just read
his last name, I said,

"Muser. Oh, my God.

This is gonna be
some French fuck.

Goddamn, some stuffy French guy
that I'd have to work with."

European.

Cousin Muser.

That's all I could think about.
And I'm like,

"Oh, this is gonna suck."

So... But it was
completely opposite, so...

Even when we're not
getting along,

and we're on opposite ends
of the spectrum,

I still love the guy,
you know what I mean?

I think that's when you know
you got something good.

And we've reached a point where we can definitely go there

under any circumstances,

and there's no topics
that are off the line.

We have a lot of
same interests.

You know, wine, and food,
and motorcycles, and girls, and...

Well I like girls, he...

You moved to Chicago in 2000
to work for Charlie Trotter.

What do you think
of your old boss?

Cooking at his level like that,
Charlie Trotter, come on.

I mean, you can't say
anything bad about the guy.

He's an incredible chef.

He's been doing what he's been doing for 20 years.

Twenty-five years, so...

If I'm doing what he's doing
in 25 years...

awesome.

Curtis had a great
training ground

in the sense that Charlie Trotter was known before, almost,
anyone else

for just getting the most
unusual, exotic,

specialized, precious
ingredients.

And so, there was really
the sense of

the ingredient
was very, very important.

And that was well before
farm-to-table

became something that every
gastro-pub did, right.

Alinea also had wonderfully sourced ingredients.

But there also was a high degree of,
sort of, manipulation to 'em.

Like what can you
do creatively?

What can we do with foie gras other than serve it as foie gras?

What can we dehydrate
or make into a powder

or make into some other thing

that's gonna surprise you,
you know, when you bite into it.

What Curtis Duffy
has done since then...

His personality is not to be,
you know, sort of science-y

for the sake of science-y.

Whereas Curtis' stuff tended to be plated fairly traditionally,

as opposed to using a lot of
unique, crazy service-ware,

but he also still
brought that creativity to it.

How can I make
these ingredients sing

maybe in a way that they
haven't sung for anyone else.

We gotta hustle, we gotta hustle.
I'm gonna read this real quick.

Uh, five o' clock,
we got a deuce for table 25.

FMB, professional SVP,
US chairman

at the... At the what?

Calorie Control Council. Wow.

And this is on Courtney's
request to be here tonight.

She just wants to wish
chef well on his new venture.

And Tom and Courtney are obviously people
we want to keep close to our sides, so...

Nine o' clock,
a deuce at table 44.

"We would love a window table,
if possible.

Looking forward to dining
for the last time

with Chef Curtis at Avenues.

We have a reservation."

No avocados here.
The guest is a lawyer.

They enjoy sparkling water.

The attorney's office is on
Wacker Drive.

He attended Ohio State
University in 1988.

They've been here a lot.

Okay.

- Pumped up.
- Ten times.

Ten times.

Any questions about
any of the resos?

We're good? Awesome.

Pretty awesome.
Last service, right.

It's pretty incredible.

I've walked away from a lot of
restaurants through my career.

Never closed one though.

Hopefully the last one
that I close.

It's gonna be hard, sorry.

We achieved a lot of great
things in this restaurant.

I don't know. I'm speechless,
to be honest with you.

I've written down
couple of pages of stuff,

but, you know, I speak from my heart from this,
but I'd rather speak to you

without having to read stuff
that I've written, so...

It hasn't been
the most restful week, for sure.

It's been a lot of sleepless
nights, lot of laying in bed,

just lot of thoughts
going through my head.

You're constantly around these people for 12-plus hours a day.

These people that you
grow to know,

you become intimate with them,

you're with them all the time,

you know, even more so
than your families.

It's like
ending a relationship,

you know,
you put all the energy and effort into it,

and all of a sudden,
it's gone.

Service, please.

Last beef, guys.

Last beef.

Last beef, guys.

You know, we look back
at the style of food

that we put out
every single day,

and what it means,
about that definition.

Grace, gracefulness,

and graciousness that
we offer to our guests,

and extend to our guests.

It's all about that one word.
"Grace."

Take care.

Take care.

- See you in a bit.
- All right.

- See you guys down there, yeah?
- Yep.

Do you need the keys?
I don't need keys anymore.

- See you, chef.
- Good night.

- Take care of yourself.
- Yeah, I will.

Good night, chef.

- Good night, see you.
- See you!

Going down?

Twenty four?

Okay.

Okay. Hang on one second

'cause I'm gonna
read these dimensions out to...

The boys are kicking ass, Mike.

They already have
a 3D rendering of this space.

We're looking at,
for as far as workable space goes,

actual square footage,

the actual square footage
we're working at 4,400.

This is our first official meeting with them after hiring them.

You know you start to get excited about the possibilities.

That's essentially why we ended up going with an empty box,

because it's essentially
our canvas.

At this point,
we can make it as complex,

or as simple as we want.

It's definitely a marathon,
for sure.

You gotta train like it is.

So, we do things
on a daily basis.

We try to get a little bit
done each day,

and by the end, it's obviously
gonna come together.

The pressure will come once we get a schedule down,
I think.

Yeah, you know,
we have to start hitting deadlines

and things like that when we
know that

X, Y, and Z needs to be here.

Yeah, we'll be under a little bit more pressure than we are now.

For sure.

What are you doing
on Thursday?

Nothing. Getting caught up on
some emails and stuff like that.

I ought to check in
with my wife

'cause I haven't' seen her
in three days.

Pretend like I'm still married.

Yeah, so I'm free tomorrow.
What's up?

Everybody really respects him

because he's a talented chef
and a great person.

And I used to work at Trotter
with him for, like, two years.

So we're like,
next to each other in the hot line at Trotter.

He was a great guy,
just head down

and just worked really,
really hard.

That's what he does
right now too.

He's a chef, like two-star
Michelin restaurant.

And I know he wanna, like,
get his third star.

And some day
he's going to get it.

Hey, how are you?

Good, how are you?

This is my friend Jackie.
This is Curtis.

So there's a lot of
constant struggle,

physically and mentally,
what happens in the kitchen.

You take a lot of baggage home.

And you sleep on it,
talk about it with your spouse.

You know, me and Yvonne
have this rule

when we get home,
we try not to talk about work,

and be husband and wife
when we come into the door.

It hardly happens.
It hardly happens.

I do the same thing.

Never talk about work.

My wife asks me, like,
"So, how was your day?"

"Well, it was good, you know.

I fired somebody.

Had a great dinner."

And that's part of our day,
I'm done talking about work.

Well, I think the low point
is separating from

Kim and...

Moving in that direction
has been difficult.

Not just me, for the girls,
for her.

I think the high point for me

has been the concentration
on this restaurant.

It's always... I'm finally
being able to...

build the dream restaurant
that I always wanted.

It just happens to be
at the worst fucking time.

I am surprised that he's
succeeded so well, yes.

But does it surprise me
that he did succeed, no.

'Cause he's always been,
you know, goal-oriented.

From all that we have
went through in our lives,

whether together as a family,

or him on his own, or whatever,

the tragedy set me back
a few notches.

And he was striving forward.

I don't know how he feels,

emotionally now,

of the whole situation.

But he's doing so well,

and I'm so proud of him.

He's always...

set his mind to something,
he's always achieved.

What I'm showing here is...

there are a number of ways
to do this.

In the same amount of space
that is ten-feet-two,

we could put two Traulsen
reach-in refrigerators.

Financial side of it is...
Freaks me out a little bit.

How much we're going to
spend on this restaurant

knowing that we have to financially pay back with a percentage.

So, do I want to spend
$500,000 on a kitchen? No.

This size of a kitchen,
yes, this is what we had to do.

You know, we can go back
and change a few things,

negotiate further, but...

every time we negotiate,

two weeks.

Two weeks, and it takes three
weeks to do the bid,

it takes two weeks to go back
and re-figure it out,

so now we're waiting for that.

It's just, it's a waiting game.

Today we're basically just walking around the merchandise mart

looking for tabletops

and table bases.

Unfortunately because Curtis

has this obsession with this
particular type of linen

that he wants to use
in the dining room,

the table bases are
extremely important now

because they're going
to be exposed

'cause the linen's gonna be really tight.
It's gonna wrap up underneath the table.

Do you feel like,
if you sat at that table, chef,

your feet would get
tangled up

and be banging
into those legs?

You essentially
have to ask yourself,

if you notice them
during your experience,

then that's a fail.

Well, then we fail. 'Cause, yeah,
your feet are going to hit this for sure.

You know what I mean?
Thanks, D, peace out!

Planning that's aesthetically pleasing to us takes a long time to figure out.

The other thing
to remember too is...

Fucker!
What is wrong with you?

Oh, my God!

And we're not sold on this for
our dining room carpet, I'm not.

I think it's too dark.

Too dark?

What about that one?
That's just black, right?

If you had told me
three months ago

what we would end up
paying for dining room chairs,

I would've said, "You're insane.
There's just no way."

The reality is the world of chairs is not what I thought it was.

And chairs
are fucking expensive, man.

They are really pricey.

How many chairs?

Uh, we bought 90.

How much did you pay for them?

A lot.

We paid a lot.

It's embarrassing.
I mean, I dunno it's...

We paid a lot.

We paid more than what
I thought we were gonna pay.

We paid more than $600.

We paid $1,000 a chair.

$1,000 a chair,
that's a lot of money.

That's damn near
$100,000 on chairs.

Can we call SML to find out
if they have our plans

and are they in that process,

and when can we expect
a number from them?

'Cause if that number
comes back at $350,000,

then it's going to be a process of "Take this out,

move that there."

We're gonna be back
at square one.

- Not at square one.
- Close.

The longer that we wait,
the longer our doors are closed,

we're spending money that there's no revenue coming in.

We're spending
a lot of money right now.

When do you think it's going to open now?
You said "late spring."

I have no idea.

June, July.

We might as well
wait till 2013.

At this point, fucking,
let's not rush anything.

Let's just build
brick by brick,

you know, door by door,
hinge by hinge, nail by nail.

Let's do a nail a day.
Let's fucking take our time.

Obviously, we're talking about
opening up a restaurant.

But we've got a brand
that we wanna represent.

We got a demographic,
a target audience hat we want to cater to.

Um, and we've got
a certain style,

and aesthetic
that we really wanna present.

The differentiation thing,
for us, is that

Dennis Ray Wheaton said in Chicago
Magazine when he wrote Curtis up...

Uh, he said that as Curtis
comes from Charlie Trotter's,

and then he was with Grant
for a long time,

and he said that Curtis is the bridge that connects the two.

That was brilliantly said,
and brilliantly written.

So, he's this middle version
of that.

That connects him
to the Alinea thing.

The thoughtfulness,
the intensity, the concentration,

the gravity of
every single plate

that leaves the kitchen, fine,
we're tied to that,

but the performance
aspect of it, we're not.

He's still got that piece of...

classic, traditional,
all-about-the- ingredients Charlie Trotter aspect to it.

Is that representing
you properly?

You're not talking
a lot right now.

No, it's fine.
You're saying it all.

So, as much as people
wanna draw connections to,

and say, "You know what I mean,
he's that guy from..."

'Cause Alinea is such,
this monster,

- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.

it's so hard to get out
of its shadow.

Part of the story is

watching the rise of this
new and different animal.

One of the tough questions
that he has to feel all the time

is why leave, why'd you leave,
what was wrong?

I don't know if I'm often
happy with your answer

'cause it's not always positive.

But the idea...

Can we package it
in a way that

essentially what we had
was a caged tiger before?

I'm not even joking.
If you added

three more feet to the other
side of this table on the width,

that's the size
of the kitchen.

We had limited staffing.

I mean, extraordinarily limited staffing regiment.
It was...

Going into work every day
with your boxing gloves on.

I needed to fight
for every single...

So, to be positive...

It's that, you know...
It's like...

That's how I
personally feel, right.

It's like I look at him
and I go,

"Dude, if you think my kid
was badass before,

wait till you see him when he designs his own kitchen

and gets to play
with his own toys.

And has nobody to ask
or deal with.

And just spreads his wings
and just starts freaking out."

That's gonna be exciting.

Charlie Trotter became this
mecca for young chefs

and really has an incredible
alumni list

of people running kitchens
who came from his kitchen.

Curtis was one of
these people who,

Charlie Trotter was very influential in these cookbooks,

you know, It just looked
beautiful, sounded amazing.

Looked really difficult
to make.

And this cookbook turned out
to be a great recruiting tool.

Curtis Duffy read
the Charlie Trotter cookbook,

and was really
blown away by it.

And came up, and went to the kitchen,
and said he wanted to work there.

And one of the things
that amazed him

was that when he got
in the kitchen,

they were actually making
the stuff

that looked like the stuff
in the cookbook.

And it was like,
"Oh, this isn't just for show,

this isn't the showpiece for
the book,

this is what they're doing
every single day."

And just the level that they
were making these dishes at

really kind of... It was a big defining moment,
I think, for Curtis.

-How are you?
- Hi, there.

Hi.

Get the fuck outta here!

I wrote you a check
for $50,000...

You better get out of
my sight.

Get the fuck outta here!

Get the fuck outta here!

It could have been maybe
a year or so after he had left,

he was contacted by...

It had to be some legal folks,
you know, attorneys or something,

about a class action suit that had been brought against Charlie Trotter.

And it had to do with labor.

I still, to this day, don't
remember signing anything

that says, yes, I want to
be a part of this.

That's where I was so shocked when I got the letter in the mail.

Like a check.

I don't remember signing and agreeing to be a part of any lawsuit.

There were two lawsuits filed.
The first one was the kitchen staff

basically saying that they were
being paid a certain amount,

but they weren't getting any overtime and
they should've been getting overtime,

and so they were
being underpaid.

There was also a lawsuit
from the front of the house

saying that there were not...

They were not only
working these long hours,

but they weren't receiving all their tip money,
their service money.

I don't think anyone had to
sign on for this lawsuit,

but people who had been there
a certain amount of time,

were said, "Okay, you receive
X amount of money,

because this lawsuit
was settled."

At the time when I got
the check, I was at Trio.

And I was making
the same amount of money

I was making at Charlie's
which was $400 a week.

You know as a cook in a city this big,
you're scraping pennies.

So, you know,
I wanted to travel extensively,

and get the knowledge abroad,
and dine at all these great restaurants

that I've only looked
up to and emulated.

So I felt like here's an
opportunity to take this money,

and do exactly that.

I mean, Charlie Trotter
felt like he was right.

He did things in a certain way,

and he felt like everyone
who worked for him owed him

because he gave them the opportunity to work at Charlie Trotter's.

And so, if they complained
about it, or if they sued him,

or were part of a suit,
or accepted settlement

as part of a suit that they
hadn't filed in the first place,

they were kind of dead to him.

Get the fuck out of here!

Um, you know, I felt a bit disappointed,
but I can see his point.

I'd probably feel the same way.

Do I respect him as a person?

No. I've dealt with him for three years,
he's a monster.

But...

From a respectful level,
the way he ran a business,

and the way he ran a restaurant,
and the way the food was operated,

you can't take that away from him,
I still respect him for that.

Dropping off plans, and...

You know, hopefully in about 58 days,
we'll actually get a permit.

It's a big step, I mean,
having the permit drawings ready,

I mean, that's a big chunk
of our project,

that makes it serious,
you know?

I mean, this is like...
We're set with this now.

We're going for it.
This is the permit that we're going to get.

I'll feel better
when it's built.

Then I'll probably sleep
a little bit better.

But, yeah, no,
it's a major step.

This is actually the first time
I've been back in the kitchen

since I left Avenues,
it's a great feeling.

Um, Phillip Foss has been nice enough to allow us to use his kitchen

to prep for 800 people
that the event's for.

We're trying to balance the dish
with fat, acid, herbal notes,

and textural component.

So we think of...
Fatty component's gonna be squash,

that's been roasted
and caramelized,

another fatty component's
gonna the coconut, of course.

And then we think of acidity,

we're making a vinaigrette
with kumquats and Buddha's hand.

So that's gonna add as a counter balance to the fatness.

We got the pickled
hon-shimejis,

we got herbal note from five different herbs that we're using.

And just the texture
that we're getting from

the whipped herbs
that we're using

is gonna bring another fatty
mouth-feel to your palate

without actually
having to add fat to it.

Where are we at with
the rest of the stuff?

Julienne squash,
we're doing tomorrow.

- Or is that done?
- Shave...

We're just gonna shave it...

- Today or tomorrow?
- Tomorrow.

As young chefs who's trying
to make a name for themselves,

are always going to be
cast upon the shadow

of someone who
they've worked for.

I had an amazing time
working for them,

but, you know...

Every article that comes out

I don't want to be mentioned with Grant Achatz and Alinea,
and all that.

Because it's about
Grace at this point.

It's not about where I've been.
It's more about what we're gonna do.

Grant had the same thing
with Thomas.

You get tired of seeing Grant Achatz associated with Thomas Keller.

And I know he got tired of it.

Heard him say it many times.

Not an article didn't come out

that didn't have The French Laundry attached to it.

Okay. At some point
that starts to get old,

when you're trying to have your own identity,
you know, as a restaurant.

By most people, Alinea is

the best restaurant in Chicago.

By some, the best
restaurant in the country.

Those are his ambitions.

So now, he needs to
bump me out.

He needs to surpass me.

In order for him
to achieve his goals,

he needs to jump over me.

I'm okay with that.

Chase it down,
I did the same thing.

As the mentor,

if the protege never
surpasses the mentor,

the mentor didn't do
that good a job.

So, if Curtis comes
on the scene,

comes up with something
that is new,

attracts enough attention,

to achieve a status that's
higher than Alinea has achieved,

I win too.

There's no losing.

I mean, we're always
early to these events.

Curtis always wants us here at least two hours ahead of time,

set up and ready to go.

One of my first dishes
for Grace too, so...

It's gotta be perfect.

I haven't seen the dish yet.

So I'm a little concerned
that it's not gonna work.

The idea is that the bubble
sits in the glass,

and then they get to pop it,
and then kind of work through that.

I think when the bubble
hits the glass,

I don't know if the bubble
is gonna be able to sustain it.

You know what I mean?
I think the bubble's gonna pop.

Seven hundred
and ninety-nine more.

So you have butternut squash,

a little piece of Buddha's hands whipped herbs,
and smoked coconut,

with a breath of lemon tea.

When you lift that
coaster up,

you're gonna get a little bit of smoke,
some lemon tea breath.

Wanna say hi to the camera?

- No.
- No?

Aside from rock musicians,
and policemen, and firemen,

who are putting their lives out on the line on a daily basis,

you'll be damned to find a profession that is more taxing on the individual

and creates itself
for failed marriages,

for drug addiction,
for alcoholism,

for losing control
of one's life.

And it's from as early
as you can stand to get up,

'til as late as you can
stand to stay awake.

You almost start to shut down
and shut out everything,

at least for me.

Not spending time
with your wife,

not communicating
with your family.

If I were to walk out of here tonight,
eleven o' clock at night,

go home, go to sleep,

I would wake up tomorrow
feeling guilty.

Because I didn't put in the amount of time that was required

to run one of the best
restaurants in the world.

Conversely,

my girlfriend would really like it if I came home at eleven o'clock tonight.

And I'm sure Curtis can
speak to this directly.

We've all been through it,
when you're in a relationship,

and you're a chef
working at this level,

it's incredibly difficult.

In fact it's basically
impossible.

It's just not fair
to someone else to say,

"Let's date, you can have
two and a half hours a week."

Especially if they're not
in the industry,

because then, what,
they're going to bed at ten o' clock.

to get up at 6:00 a.m.
to go to work.

And it's like, "Okay, well,
I'll meet you at 4:00 a.m.

to make a bowl of cereal
for you when you..."

You know,
what do you do?

Lot of people who don't work in this business don't understand

why you can't do things.

You know,
why can't you go have drinks with me on Friday night?

Well, because we're working.

Why can't you... Oh,
can you meet me at 3:00 a.m.?

That's when I can go have a drink 'cause we're closing.

So it's hard.

People who don't work in this business,
who never have, don't understand it.

You know, I tell cooks
who come in to Alinea...

Before they're hired, I say,
you're basically getting in a relationship.

Like, you need to really think about working here because

you're basically getting
married.

And...

you're gonna devote 14-16 hours of your day to Alinea.

And it's gonna leave you very
little time for anything else.

If you have dog,
find somebody to feed it.

If you have a girlfriend,

good luck.

You need to take out
your garbage,

you might want to pay somebody to do that 'cause you won't have time.

As we started to grow apart,

it became very difficult
to talk.

And I think that's ultimately
is what separated us

was the lack of communication,

and being to talk
because

I was never there.

And when I was there,
it's like,

it's not the thing you wanna do,
is deal with problems

because you want to spend time
with somebody.

But it's not what you wanna be
doing is talking about issues.

This is gonna be
the first Christmas

that I don't get to wake up to hear them running around the house,

all excited about the Christmas presents and things like that.

So, it's gonna be painful.
I can tell you that right now.

It's not gonna be
a fun day for me.

I don't have an answer on
how to deal with it

because this is
the first time for me

and I have to learn how to deal with it as time goes on.

I wanna see them.
I wanna continue to experience that,

but right now
it's not possible.

Johnstown, Ohio,
is a rural setting.

It's 20 minutes from Columbus

and it's 20 minutes
from the Amish country.

So there's a lot of farm area out here,
it's very wide open.

It hasn't changed much.

It's still the small
little borough.

Not a lot of restaurants
in Johnstown.

This is what amazes me about Curtis,
there wasn't anything here

to say, "Boy, I'd like
to be in culinary school

for this reason,
because of this and this restaurant."

It's a big area,
but its still got that small-town,

you know, everybody knows
everybody's business.

Everybody knows you,
everybody...

You know,
especially when you've been here for so long.

When you experience something
very dramatic in your life,

you tend to forget a lot of
things from your childhood.

A lot of those memories
I either push away or hide,

or I don't remember at all.

We weren't wealthy,
we were pretty poor.

And I think that's where I get
a lot of my drive is because

I never wanted to live
the way that I lived

when I was younger.

It was a tough childhood.
They were very strict.

My dad would kick my ass
all the time.

All the time. And my mom,
the same way.

Actually my dad was a cop
for a while as well.

And my uncle, both were cops.

And I think, had them not
both of them been cops,

I probably would be in jail.

I was headed up to
a football game here in town,

he threw a ball or something,
hit me in the back of my head,

next thing you know,
we're wrestling around on the ground.

One thing led to another,
ended up being good friends, you know?

He was the guy in class that,
you know,

he had olive skin,
and all the girls liked him,

and I was kind of the short,
tubby kid that, you know,

I figured, well, if I hang out
with the good-looking guy,

maybe I'll get
one of 'em gals too.

Junior High, you have to
take certain classes.

Home economics was one of the classes that everybody had to take.

Part of your curriculum.

Well, as a guy, you look at that and go,
"This is gonna suck."

Because I was into
skateboarding,

I was into heavy metal music,
and I was just like...

This is not what I...
I don't want to iron,

I don't want to learn
how to sew something.

But when it would come
to cooking,

my teacher, Ruth Snider,
would see this sparkle in my eye

about like we're gonna
cook today.

And I was really excited
about it.

Home EC room
has always been here.

And this is where I
first met Curtis.

Probably in the late '80s,
I believe it was.

He was in the sixth grade.

This is the room.

I can just picture Curtis,
I remember him,

especially as a sixth grader,

being at the back table,
and we were making paddle pizzas.

And he just was so
engrossed in working,

and working with the food.

He could be a little
ornery at times,

and never disrespectful though,
never, ever, ever disrespectful.

No, it's funny.
Some people can't even sew.

Some people don't know
how to iron their stuff.

But every time I iron a shirt,
I always think about Ruth Snider.

Always.

He kind of led the group.

He would be the one...
He was the go-to person, you know.

Somebody didn't know how to do something,
it was, well, Curt will know.

He really wanted certain things done a certain way,

and that was Curtis'...

I think that's what's gotten
him as far as it has.

Is how, you know,
he just really likes to have it done

absolutely the best way
possible.

She was such a great teacher
in that sense of...

you know, very patient
with everybody.

And just the sweetest lady you would ever meet.
Ever. She's incredible.

He had a rough start
before he came here.

Okay, that I do know.

I really feel that he thought that it was a safe place for him to be.

And that he knew that things
would be okay in here,

at least for that 40 minutes.

In the eighth grade,
the students would be able to choose...

Like I would say, "Okay,
you're doing a main dish this week."

He always had that extra flair,

or the extra, you know,
let's try this.

And he had that ability
about him

that other kids would kind of
follow along then,

and say, "Okay,
if that's what you think we ought to try."

Then I moved on to
High School.

And at that point
Home Ec was optional.

So, you could take it
or not take it.

And I opt to take it.

When he learned how to cook,
and when he was old enough to get a job,

it really did change him.

He had more of a direction.

So, I'd already started working
in a restaurant full time.

And my focus was like, "This is it.
This is what I want to do.

I'm going for it."

The first time I met Curtis
was in the kitchen

in the pavilion
at Muirfield Village.

I mean just different than any other young person that comes in.

He separated himself
from the rest of the pack there,

and he just had a yearning.

He just wanted to learn, learn, learn.
He was a sponge.

So I went directly from
school to work.

And I worked from,
like, 3:30 to 11:30.

So by the time I got home
after the commute,

it was twelve o' clock,
twelve-thirty.

I didn't spare a lot of time
for the family, at the time.

I didn't see him anymore.

He was either working or...

Doing his competitions
at school.

Mmm-hmm.

The summer of '94,

I'd just finished high school.

My parents had been
going through some rough times.

So they decided that
they wanted to separate.

And...

Mostly my mom's decision.

It was a game to both of 'em.

It was a game
that they were playing

with each other's lives.

You know, they started going through...
I mean, basically through a divorce.

So, um...

My dad didn't want it,
my mom did.

My dad had started
taking some anti-depressant.

And he seemed to be doing
really well.

And decided to really just
stop taking it.

You're not supposed to stop medicine like that.
Cold turkey like he did.

You know, you're supposed to
slowly wean yourself off.

So it started messing
with his head a lot.

I'd walk into the kitchen,
or I'd walk into the house,

all the lights were off,

and there would be pills
on the counter.

Just kind of randomly,
just like spilled out.

And there were times
when I couldn't wake him up.

He wasn't stable.

He was a very unstable person
at the time.

The day of their
wedding anniversary,

Dad tried one more time

for my mom to drop the divorce.

He had come up to the apartment in the morning with roses,

and a card,

and said,
"Give this one last chance."

She said no, she was going
through with the divorce.

He left, she went to work.

But he had already had it planned out,
what he was gonna do if she said no.

She went to work
and it was about lunch time.

Her and Angie were walking
over to McDonald's for lunch.

And Dad pulled up in a brown car
and had a sawed off shotgun.

Bought an old car,

ripped the insides out of it,
took all the door handles off,

all the window rollers off,
the locks off, everything.

Once you were in,
you couldn't get out.

Made my mom get in the car.

Threatened to shoot
her friend Angie.

And Angie took off running,
and he grabbed my mom, put her in the car.

Drove 40 miles back out to the house where he was living.

At the time, the house,
you know...

It was completely
barricaded in.

He had set everything inside
to where you couldn't see in.

And I wanna say Angie and a police officer came to the school,

to get me out of school 'cause they
weren't sure where Dad had taken Mom.

We weren't sure
what he was gonna do.

So they were gathering
us all up.

I had a police officer knock at my door,
and said, "You need to come with me."

This was probably
two o' clock in the afternoon.

And I asked what was going on.
Why? What was going on?

And he explained to me that my dad had come to take my mom hostage.

And they're out at the house
and I need to be out there.

The police officers took me,
and Angie, and my daughter,

to a safe house

until he could be located,
until they could be located.

And of course there was a phone
there, so I called Dad's house.

And that's where they were.

So I called and I talked
to my mom.

Tried to talk to my dad,
but my dad wouldn't talk to me.

I actually promised...

I promised my mom that I would get her out of there.

And that I loved her.

She told me to stay away.

And I just promised her
I would get her out of there.

and then he hung up
the phone.

Hey, this is Bear.
Me and Jan aren't home right now.

Leave your name and number.

We'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Later on.

Bear, this is Sergeant Mason,

you need to pick up the phone
and talk to me right now.

I need to know that everything
is all right in the house.

Bear, Sergeant Mason.
You need to pick up the phone and talk to me.

Bob, you promise me that you were coming out.
That everything was okay.

The person placing the call
has hung up.

I was literally
down the street,

about a quarter mile,
about three houses down.

In a hostage situation,
it's a give and take negotiation-type thing.

From what I understood, he was
constantly asking to talk to me.

I don't know why.

And I still struggle with that today.
I don't know why.

I can hear the radios
of the police officers.

or the detectives
that were there.

All I remember is hearing shots fired,
shots fired, shots fired.

The end happened very quickly.

-

Close the doors,
close the doors.

My dad had shot my mom,
and then shot himself.

Basically it had ended
in a murder-suicide.

Fourteen-fifteen
hours later.

I remember being very confused.

A lot of it was
very confusing to me

because, you know,
it was planned out extremely well.

I think of my dad's
calling hours,

I can remember my brothers.

I don't remember any reaction
from Curtis.

There was...

nothing really there.

It seemed like he was
almost in a dream state.

Like, is this really happening?

I mean,
that he just hadn't grasped the severity of the situation yet.

I just remember he'd just...

The dark circles under his eyes.

And he was going through
the motions

at that point.

My mom's funeral
was in Colorado

because my grandparents
wanted her there.

The communication was lost
between us,

as an entire family,

and people who were dealing
with the arrangements.

She was literally on her way
to the airport,

and we were able to get
on the phone with somebody

to be able to bring her back

to a very random funeral home

where we could at least
say goodbye.

So, the last memory
I have of her

is very...

It's very cold.
It's not warm.

I know my mom had goosebumps.

That's the only thing
I can remember.

She was on a gurney.

A pretty gurney.

Yeah, she had goosebumps.

I wasn't able to make
the funeral in Colorado.

And from what I understand,
and see pictures,

that it was very beautiful.
Um...

And I'm glad she was able
to have that there.

Unfortunately I missed it
by a day.

I couldn't get out there.

Didn't have the funds
to do it.

I was at least able to see her
before she left.

It just wasn't the most
pleasant setting.

I remember writing a letter
that I gave him that day,

and asked him not to open it
till he got home.

Because I know that as a young man,
he needed his privacy.

But I also wanted him to know that he was not out there all alone.

And that he was not forgotten.

I think that was probably
a turning point,

even though we were close
to that point,

I think it was something where

I kept in touch with him
a little bit more.

I just felt so devastated
for him.

I remember going
into the house

and literally couldn't be in the house for 10 seconds at a time

because the tear gas was so
strong, you couldn't breathe.

It was just like
it hadn't hit him.

We went to the house and it still didn't seem like it hit him yet.

When Curt's mad, he always...

He always just kind of
stayed reserved.

He just wouldn't speak to you,
you know what I mean?

That's the type of person he is.

I felt like he was bewildered,

and I was trying to basically put his heart at ease,
you know?

I actually found this
notebook at his house.

It was a letter
that I never got.

He had finished...
I could show you if you like.

It's, um...

There's a page in there
that's addressed to my brother.

There's a page in there
that's addressed to my sister.

And there's a page
that's addressed to my mom.

But none of them were written
except for me. Except for mine.

Do you think we could see?

Yeah, of course.

I found this at the house
when I went back.

But I'd put it away
for a long time, of course.

It says, "This is dad.
I'm telling you from my heart that you...

You are a very special
young man.

And I wish I could tell you
how proud of you I am.

But words do not cover it all.

You'll be a great chef,
no doubt in my mind.

You'll be one of the best
in the world someday.

Please don't ever say you can't
because that is not a word,

but can is,

and I know you can.

Your life is just beginning.
Try to do all the right things in it.

Make sure if you ever get
married and have children,

that you show them and your wife all the love in the world.

Always take time
to be with them

and show them love.

Your wife should be...

Your wife should be shown
the most love of all.

Take time to talk to her
and hear what she has to say

because she will be the most
important person in your life.

I ask you, Curt, to look back

and see how many,
many wrong things

you have seen me do.

And please don't walk
in my footsteps.

Because you will be in
a world of pain, hate,

and sure won't be loved
and won't be able to show love.

I know you have it in you,
so please

show it to your loved ones.

Everybody needs it.

You can't survive without it."

I need a minute.

"I love you, son.

Signing off for now.
We'll talk another day.

Remember I love you son,
and always will.

My love, your dad."

We've been staring at it on paper for, like,
eight months now.

When you walk in,
it's hard not to smile like an eight-year-old child.

'Cause you see
the actual, physical

wall structure of what
you put in your head.

I don't know, man,
it's pretty cool.

If I go down that hallway,
it's a very gradual ramp

that goes up into
the dining room.

If I'm gonna go
into the lounge,

I go step, step, up...

It's progress
and it's one step closer

to getting into this space
and opening this restaurant.

So, how can you not
be excited about it.

It's a lifelong dream, so...

Every single day
it's a new step.

We're at The Chef's Garden

which is located five hours east of Chicago in Huron, Ohio.

They're here to serve
and provide us

with ingredients that
you can't find anywhere else.

The purpose of coming here to
The Chef's Garden this weekend

was really to get the team
away from the city.

And get the team back together
in the kitchen.

Over the past few months,

that sense of reality is starting to sink in quite a bit.

So it's intensifying
these moments

that we're having now. I mean,
it's really starting to get real.

Five seconds. Stand by.

Well, it is one of the most
highly anticipated

restaurant openings
in the country.

And it's happening
right here in the West Loop.

It's called Grace, and it will
be helmed by Chef Curtis Duffy.

And he's here with us this morning.
So give it up for him right now.

Good morning.

Thank you, thank you.

That's a pretty nice intro.

It's fantastic.
Thank you.

Does that put
the pressure on you?

A little bit,
yeah, absolutely.

Okay, so this
has got to be

one of the most highly
anticipated openings

across the whole country.

How are you holding up
under all that pressure?

I'm good. We just started
menu development yesterday.

So we're excited about
getting back into the kitchen

and really start to hone in
some of the dishes

that we've been thinking about
for now a year or so.

Can you tell us
an exact date?

- 'Cause I know the opening's been pushed back a bit.
- Yes!

We're pushing for
the late October.

But probably the first week of November
is what we're really gonna focus on.

So, we really close,
we're really close.

Why so many delays?
'Cause it was supposed to open up in June, right?

Yeah, there are
so many delays.

They are just obstacles
that we have to overcome

within all the subcontractors
and things like that.

There are unexpected things.

You try to foresee
a little bit of 'em,

but some of 'em
you just can't.

I wish sometimes the
subcontractors had the same

drive and mentality
as a chef does.

Where it's like you do what it takes to get it done all the time,

whether you stop
to take a break or not,

it's not even an option.

They blame it one person,

who blames it on the next,

which goes on in this
big circle of,

"I can't do this
until this guy does this."

"I can't do that
till this guy does this."

"And this guy can't do that
until that guy does his stuff."

And they're all pointing
fingers.

And, well, what do I do?

I worry about him.

I know that being a chef
has taken its toll,

personally on his life.

And I hope he knows that

in a drop of a hat if he
would call and say,

"Ruth, can you come to Chicago?
I need you here."

I would drop everything
and I would be there.

I just feel very fortunate that
I can look upon him as a son.

I really do.
That completes the life.

The day that Grace opens or when he has family and friends night,

or whenever he wants me there,

if he wants me there both times,
I will be there both times.

I'd wash dishes
if he'd needed me that night,

to wash dishes.

If he needed me to set tables
that night, I would...

Whatever he would need done,
I would do for him.

There is no doubt in my mind,
I will be there.

It's 4:00 a.m. and we're at Acadia restaurant in the South Loop

working on menu development
for Grace restaurant.

Chef Ryan McCaskey
was very generous

in allowing us to step into
his kitchen.

Basically handing over
his restaurant to us

and letting us come in here.

We're working on a central dish that's based around four ingredients.

We have sunchoke,
we have mustard, we have celery,

we have onions.

We typically take sunchoke,

and peel them
and cook them in a way

that, to me,
was very boring always.

I always thought why
do we get rid of the skin?

We use potato skins,
we use a lot of different skins when we cook.

My thought process was let's
poach it, sous-vide it,

try to get some flavor into
the sunchoke,

and then let's fry it
and see what happens.

And the result
ended up being...

Because there's natural sugar
in the sunchoke

it became sticky.

It had this really nice chewy texture,
crispy at the same time.

Then we started thinking of what else
we wanted to use within that realm.

First thing that came to my mind was celery and mustard.

We're taking the ricotta,
it's actually goat milk ricotta

so we wanted
a sour note to it.

What we've done with our onion
is also roasted the onions.

We burn them completely,

dry 'em and then turn them
into an oil,

and then we also blacken
some other ones that we keep.

One side of it is charred and one side of it is cooked through.

So we take four major
components,

usually no more than five,

and try to expand
on that ingredient,

and see how many different techniques we can use for that element.

Once we get back into the kitchen it will be refined even more.

It just needs to be
a little bit more balanced.

So it needs to have a little bit more fat throughout the dish,

and a little bit more acidity
throughout the dish.

I think each of it is styled
and they have...

Right now we're
gonna call our potential hires,

and see if they're still interested,
and then offer them positions.

- Hello, chef.
- Good morning, how are you, sir?

Very good, chef, how are you?

Fantastic.

Well, I'm calling you
to let you know,

and ask you if you're still interested in a position at Grace.

- I am, chef.
- Okay.

Well, then I wanna say,
"Welcome aboard."

Oh, man.

- Awesome. Thank you, chef.
- You're welcome.

And I'd like for you to keep it very confidential that you're hired as well.

Okay, chef.

- Thank you.
- My pleasure, thank you.

Okay, chef, I look forward
to meet you.

Okay, we'll talk to you soon.

- Okay. Bye.
- Thanks, bye-bye.

Super enthusiastic.
Really excited.

We've been waiting on a truck that's been late for four days now.

And when it shows up,
the shit is just in total chaos.

Some of these major boxes that
have all the equipment inside

had fallen
on top of each other, so...

Trying to assess the damage
as they come out.

We're spending hundreds and hundreds
of thousand of dollars on this kitchen,

and it's just like...

To me it seems like,
"Eh, just another kitchen."

You know what I mean.
And it's not.

Can you just, it's
kind of right here,

your first name, last name
and then he lists it here.

Okay. Have fun.

I'm Elsa,
nice to meet you.

Jordan, nice to meet you.

This is your restaurant,
so walk around. Go see the kitchen.

Stone went in on the
countertops of the kitchen.

It's breathtaking.

It's absolutely beautiful.
So walk around,

see the bathrooms and stuff.

It was the largest piece of
glass that can be tempered.

And we had three large pieces
brought over here.

We have to take 17 people from
zero to 150 miles an hour

in, you know, these
next two weeks.

The expectation on behalf of the people walking in through that door

is that they're gonna be
at that level.

So if they're not,
then shame on me.

And shame on chef,
so we just can't let that happen.

All we're doing today is going
over the employee handbook

talking about, in general,
just Grace philosophy.

What we do here,
how we got here,

our expectations of you.

Our goal is to achieve the highest level of culinary and service status

without pretense, snobbery
or presumption.

Instead every moment
in our service pattern,

every gesture we make,

every ingredient we place
on a plate,

every drop of wine
we pour in a glass,

comes from on honest
and genuine place.

We are never cold or robotic,
dry or insincere.

This is not a job.
It cannot be.

It represents much more
than that.

Our ability to achieve these standards does not represent what we do,

but who we are.

There are 50 billion restaurants in the city of Chicago.

And you traveled here
and chose us.

And for the prices that we charge,
it's even that much more of an honor.

What an unbelievable thing.

They gotta know,
they will know

that we are faithful,
that we are gracious

about their presence and their participation in our dining room.

Good afternoon.
Thank you for calling Grace.

This is Amy.
How may I help you?

Certainly. For one?

Any food allergies or dietary restrictions that we should be aware of?

Oh, certainly.

You said four people.
What time would you like to come in?

Okay. Wonderful.
Thank you so much. Bye.

Yeah, Ava's lost
four teeth now.

I was there for her last one
which was last week.

Unfortunately I'm not able to
be there

and put that stuff under her pillow that she thinks is the Tooth Fairy.

I remember the conversation
we had with Ava

when we told her that I wasn't
gonna be living there anymore.

It was pretty upsetting for her,
of course, and then...

Um, Eden.
Yeah, actually she just thinks I work a lot.

When I leave at night time
after I tuck 'em in bed,

You know, I tell them

that I'm going back to work,
and I'm leaving.

I'm thankful Curtis cooked the
turkey in our new oven.

And I'm thankful all of our health and success in the future, yeah.

- Cheers.
- Hear, hear.

- Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
- Happy Thanksgiving

Thirty-two, thank you.
Thirty-two.

At home I do practice
by myself

giving a full description to the mirror or with my brother.

I practice on my standing point,

and, you know,
speaking out loud and clearly.

But not too loud where I'm
bothering the next table.

Gonna be 14, 12 to 16 hours.

Kitchen life, yeah.

Is that normal for cooks?

When you work
at restaurants like this, yes.

When you're trying
to be the best

you sacrifice your sleep, family, friends,
your social life

to become the best.

Yes, I miss my friends,

but at the same time I'm trying
to get somewhere in my life.

And I know what I have to do
to get there.

So, this is part of it.

So I keep pushing, and pushing,
and pushing till I do.

You know, you eat with your
eyes first.

And it's very seductive,
you know.

From the linen, to the china,
to the ambiance.

And then the flavors.

And it all comes together,
it's like poetry.

Well, I have a son and decided
to come see how well he cooks.

When he was young,
he didn't eat a whole lot of food.

He was kind of finicky.

Very proud, very impressed.
I've been getting very full.

The food is out of this world.

Coming from a small town
Louisiana,

to come eat food like this,
it's pretty amazing.

Give me a kiss.

- Only on camera.
- Yeah!

We love what we do.

Every night's been such a stress fest.
You sit and you're thinking to yourself,

at some point I'm just gonna
start crying like an idiot.

You know what I mean,
so... I said to every single one of them,

if you bring to me every day,

drive, and focus, and positivity,
and energy, and work ethic,

if you bring that to me,

then what we will give back to
you is a thousand times that.

If you need a ride and I got a car,
you'll have it.

If you need money, and I got it,
you'll have it.

If you need support,
if you need to learn something,

if you, you know, whatever...

'Cause most of them haven't seen their
significant others or done anything.

To be here till four
in the morning,

and turn around and see them
here at eight

doing fucking laundry.

How do you say thank you,
to those kids?

You can't. You just can't.

I'm grateful, I'm thankful.

Trying not to be emotional
about it.

But for me it's a dream
come true.

All right, this is, uh,

what I've worked
so many hours for.

So many days away
from my family.

I wanna say to you guys,

from the very bottom of my
heart, thank you.

Thank you very much
for being part of this team.

Being a part of opening
this restaurant.

And the journey towards
something great.

I'm blessed to have
a business partner, Michael,

to support me 100 %
in every decision that I make.

But mostly as a friend,
first and foremost.

'Cause I know he has
my back, 100 %

and I'm thankful for that.

What he said.

I don't know what else...
Yeah, exactly. Ditto.

I don't know, I can't.
How am I supposed to say it, I can't.

So, yeah...

Be good, do good,
try hard, okay.

That's it.

All right...

I'm nervous as hell.
I'm anxious.

I'm overwhelmed
with excitement.

It's hard to sit back
and realize

that this is the day
that all those thoughts

and all the time,
everything that you sacrificed for this moment,

I don't think about that.

But I have to step back
at some point today,

and try to enjoy this moment

'cause this is everything
we've worked for.

And you're going to be pretty
excited to see Ruth as well?

Yeah.

Good luck, daddy.
We love you. Good night.

"Good night, Daddy,
we love you. Good luck."

That's awesome.
Just awesome.

Push, push, push.
Pairings, pairings, pairings,

Captains,
my Cadillac salesman,

let's see pairings
all night tonight on that.

Let's see some real
sexy pairing sales.

Move fast. Move fast.

This is our business. Ready.
This is what happens.

And this is what's gonna happen
to us forever from here on now.

These five o' clocks,
to six-thirty resos, they gots to go.

They gotta go.

Push, push, push.

At 5:30, we have a one-top.

He's a conductor,
he is a big fan of ginger ale,

not so big on
food descriptions.

He's a regular at many of the other restaurants that we've dined.

Let's befriend him and show him
how warm and gracious we can be.

At 6:00 p.m.,
we have three tables.

Two deuces and a three-top.

The first deuce,
Juan Florez.

He's a line cook
over at the Trump.

Mr. Florez is also a Marine.

He served in Afghanistan
and Iraq.

I have a soft spot for taking care of those who've done those things.

Let's take very, very, very
good care of him.

And champagne, on me, please.

7:00 p.m., another two-top.

A Chicago-based foodie who's always looking for the next new meal.

Fond of Twittering.

Pulls out her phone,
pay attention.

8:30 p.m.,
a two-top at table one.

What's this name?

No Facebook. Doesn't turn up
anywhere on the Internet.

Somehow figured out a way to score a reso here on our opening day.

Why do I say that?
'Cause we're so hot? No.

If anybody who was here
on opening day

saw how many times
the phone rang?

You had to call, like,
a thousand times just to get through.

For somebody like that
to try so hard,

try that hard to get
a reso here on opening night

and not exist on the Internet
is weird to me.

And then at 9:30 p.m.,
our final two-top.

Table 11, Ruth Snider.

This is Chef Duffy's
Home Economics teacher.

Very close
and personal friend of mine.

No check to them,

champagne 'em,
the whole nine.

All right. Let's go.
Have fun.

Okay.

Stay focused.

We got two caviar?

Service...

Two caviar, table four.

I'll take those right back.
Hands, please.

Thank you.

Four beef and a
chestnut on deck?

Take hands, please.

Ruth has always been there.

You know,
she's always been there.

She's there for support and...

You know,
that's hard to ask somebody to be there for support.

If you need anything,
if you need a place to live,

if you need money,
if you need...

Whatever you need,
I don't care what it is,

I'm there for you.

To have that and feel that
from somebody is, you know,

it's pretty special.

A true friend.
Ruth Snider's a true friend.

Oh, my God...

- Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you.
- How've you been?

- I'm just so happy for you.
- So awesome.

Hi. How are you?

- Good to see you.
- You too!

This is just so elegant.

Wow.

So elegant.

Oh, we do get to
see the kitchen!

Oh, my, thank you, sir.

- Thank you.
- Well, enjoy...

Thank you, thank you.

Amy. Great, Amy.

- Welcome to Grace.
- Thank you.

I know Chef Duffy's very excited to have both of you in tonight.

And you'll be able
to really get the nice...

Oh, this is wonderful.

We need one more for Snider.

I'm gonna take care of that.

Let me see.

Two of your best pieces, chef.

Your best ones. If you need
to fire more, fire more.

These are your two
best ones, chef?

- They're oiled and salted.
- Yes!

I want him to know that I'm proud of him for being the man he is.

Not the chef,
not all of this wonderful restaurant,

I'm proud of him for him.

But I'm so thrilled
that his dream has come true.

I mean, all his hard work,
and we've talked, he's sacrificed.

You know, there's been things
that have happened

that he has sacrificed
to get to this point.

She's special because she was able to see somebody that was...

Was not in a place to, one,
financially,

buy things that I needed to
buy for school.

And I was constantly
in trouble.

And I think she was the lady
that looked past that

and could see something unique

or special or whatever
you want to call it,

and nudge me, guide me in
that direction.

I'm just... It's just...
It is just awesome.

I am just so, so proud of him.

He really... He means
a lot to me, he really does.

So, he's like a son.

Clock out and go home,
everyone.

Please go home. 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.
Two o' clock tomorrow.

It was a good night,
but don't get all crazy

'cause tomorrow we have more.

It's gonna get crazier.
And then Friday, then Saturday.

Yeah.
It would be nice to understand happiness. Sure.

I mean, I'm happy, of course,
but...

Balance is what's missing.

In this lifestyle
there is no balance.

You can't be great
at something

and put a 100 % into everything without sacrificing something else

because I'm so hungry
for the professional,

yet I'm so hungry
for the personal.

But this kind of
overweighs it

for some reason.

I'm Candace. I'm calling
from the Michelin Guide.

We are calling you
with some amazing news.

You are being awarded three
Michelin stars for Grace in the new edition.

Oh, my God.

- Congratulations.
- All right. Thank you.

- All right, bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.

We did it.

Yeah, buddy.

We did it.

Yeah.

Let's go tell the kids, huh.

Three stars, guys.