Top Chef's Philip Frankland Lee on Receiving a Michelin Star

So when did you know that you wanted to be a chef? Like how long have you been like really into cooking? Because you're a young guy. By the way, congratulations on the Michelin stars. Thank you. That's giant, right? In the world of chefs, that's the fucking thing, right? Yeah, I mean I dedicated the last probably 15 years of my life just to trying to get a Michelin star. And when I found out this year, they had me on a Zoom call. They kind of lied to me. What they did is they said, first of all, I said, you're not getting a star this year, just so you know. But we want to send someone to the restaurant in Los Angeles and we have some interview questions we want to ask you about how it was to operate during COVID. And I said, well, I'm in Austin, but I can fly back. And they're like, no, no big deal, don't fly back. Just zoom in. So I zoom in and they have my wife, who's our pastry chef and my business partner. She's at the restaurant and so is my brother, who is the chef of Sushi Bar and Montecito and our chef at Pasta Bar. And they're all three there just in the restaurant. And I'm at my house here in Austin and I'm on Zoom. And they start asking us some random questions about, you know, how is it, you know, what's it like being open and what if the, you know, pitfalls you had to overcome. And then out of nowhere, they just go, oh, and I have one extra question. Congratulations. Two of your restaurants are getting Michelin stars. Oh, they snuck it in on you. They snuck it in and I'm on, and the thing is, I'm on a Zoom. And so I was like, wait, what? What did she say? Like, I couldn't hear and everyone, and I thought we had just gotten one. And then it turned out, they said, no, no, no. And I said, wait, which restaurant? And they said, Sushi Bar, Montecito and, and Pasta Bar. And I just started. And Pasta Bar is in LA? Pasta Bar is in LA. And I just started crying. Wow. Yeah, so. I was just reading on the history of the Michelin star and that it was really back in the early days of travel. They had a book which show you where you can get your car repaired, where you could refuel and then where you get something to eat. Yeah. And then people got really obsessed with the where to get something to eat part. And then it became a separate entity. It was never, I don't think they ever set out to become the world's standard on cuisine. I don't think that was ever the point. The point was we have to give you a reason to buy tires and that reason is to drive. And so here's some things to drive to. And so that's what the one star, two star, three star, you know, delineations have to do with is this one is worth, you know, a stop. This one's worth a detour and this one's worth a journey. And so that's how you get one star, two star, three star. So one star means if it's on your way stop, that was over 100 years ago. Now one star means, you know, fly there. But three star means like upend your life and go figure, like go find that place. What's that? Who's got three stars? Here in America, not many people McDonald's. Yes. I think they have four stars actually. Is there is there anywhere in America that has three? Yeah, a couple of places like what the French Laundry has three stars. Okay. That's the place where Gavin Newsom got in trouble, right? I watched a video on that. Not on that, but on Bourdain when Bourdain I think it was the old show. I think it wasn't even I think it was no reservations. Yeah. And he went to French Laundry. It was pretty fucking incredible. Yeah. I've only got to eat there once, but it's I mean, it's a it's an institution. Is that good? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's it's for a long time. It was the restaurant in America. The? It was the restaurant. And isn't it kind of a weird spot? Like you got to travel. Yeah, but that's part of sort of the allure of not to say they wouldn't be a three star restaurant without, you know, having that that part of traveling. But three stars is when you're worth the journey. And so you could be in like Himalayas or some shit. Yeah. I mean, a lot of some of the three star restaurants around the world are not in, you know, they're not in strip malls. They're not in city centers. They're you know, they've bought ranches. They've bought, you know, they have land. Al Bouli was on the top of a mountain. Where's Al Bouli? Well, that's been closed for a long time, but that was in Spain. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I mean, they're saying it like I know. I don't know. Listen, let me into your world. I don't know what you're talking about. What's Al Bouli? So that was Farin Adria. They they were named best restaurant in the world several years over. It was really the restaurant that really brought what became known as molecular gastronomy. The all the food that's that, you know, Jamie would probably look at and say, this is what what am I looking at? This doesn't look like food. This looks like interesting abstract art. But, you know, they think, you know, today you have restaurants where, you know, you'll get literally a balloon that's brought out to the table and you eat the suck the helium out and eat the balloon. And that's, you know, one of the courses. Oh, wow. Twelve iconic dishes of Al Bouli. So this is like fancy dining and this is like it's beyond fancy dining. Some are from Jamie's lineage would look about this. If you asked him, is that like, what is this? And you didn't tell him it was you wouldn't think that was food. Yeah, Jamie's done it. I could tell already. So see your chin that that is see your chin delicious. Do you like see your chin? Of course. You just tried octopus recently and OK. I feel bad eating octopus because I found out fucking smart. That's what I thought. I was like, I'll try it so I can say I tried it. But there but there, you know, they're so fucking good. They're very good. But there are murderers. I mean, they murder everything. I'd rather have macaroni and cheese and steak or oh my God, macaroni and cheese. I was just saying I'd rather have something else.