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What’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten in Los Angeles?

Those tacos weren’t bad. The sad truth is that when I’m in L.A., it’s usually for two days and I’m working, and I’m alone. Before I had the job I have now, I would go out and eat by myself all the time and I was just some schmo with a book, eating, but now I’m afraid that in my business, people would look at me and think I look sad and pathetic, so I don’t ever do it. Is Ago still around?

It is.

I had a nice meal there. The best meal I had in L.A. in the last couple years is the turkey burger I had today.

Wow.

Obviously, there are amazing restaurants all over L.A. The meal I would like to most have in L.A., but haven’t had the chance, though maybe I will this week, because I’m going to stay longer, is The Bazaar, José Andrés’ place. I’ve been to Minibar in D.C., and it was just staggering. Have you had dinner at The Bazaar yet?

I have, yes. That’s a real experience.

I’m sure, if it’s anything like Minibar.

Can you ever imagine opening your own restaurant?

No fucking way. Never. No, actually, people ask me that once in awhile. I don’t understand how restaurants make money, to be honest. It looks like such a desperately difficult business, which is why my love and respect for chefs is so deep. It’s like becoming a priest. You do that, like a calling. Of course the people that do it are addicted to it, like a drug. Many of them, anyway. I’ve thought about being a professional chef. I don’t need that kind of aggravation. You have to be there 16 hours a day. I do work hard when I’m working. I do work hard, but I don’t want to work that hard. That being said, I do think if I were to going to open a restaurant, I would open a gastropub.

In New York?

Yeah, maybe even in Brooklyn. It just seems like it’s the kind of place I like to go to. It’s a casual place. They have lots of great beer. The chef can be creative, to a certain extent, but it’s not fussy. The Spotted Pig is everybody’s favorite one in New York.

Is that your favorite one too?

Well it’s definitely one of my favorite places. It’s great. I like the salad with the crispy pig’s ear, the devils on horseback, that stuff is fun.

Who’s a person you’ve never cooked with that you would most like to cook with?

Julia Child, but she’s dead.

Somebody who’s alive.

Cook with, like in my house?

It can be anywhere.

Wow, where to begin. I mean, how could you limit that to one person? That’s really what my partner and I do for fun. We have friends over, we blast the stereo, drink wine and cook all day. I’d rather do that than eat at restaurants. There’s almost no good chef who I wouldn’t want to do that with. I want to do it with all of them. I had a barbecue this summer with Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, Geoffrey Zakarian and Mark Murphy, and a bunch of our friends, and it was a blast. It taught me something, though. When you invite chefs over for a barbecue and they offer to bring food – which they always do – Chris Santos showed up with a cooler the size of a coffin. Their sense of scale – Chris runs a restaurant called Beauty on Essex, which is about 10,000 square feet on two levels, and does a staggering number of covers every night. It’s giant. So he shows up with like 20 racks of baby backs, and a ton of shrimp. Amanda had piles of chicken thighs, and all of them kept saying, “Why are your platters so small?” Because this is not a restaurant.

There are lots. Chris Cosentino, I would love to cook with. Jamie Oliver would be fun. Ina Garten, I’ve never met her. We’re on the same network. I’ve never met the woman.

That’s amazing.

All of the Chopped judges. Alex [Guarnaschelli] came too. I don’t know, Daniel Boulud? Zak Pelaccio would be great. He’s kind of New York centric, the Fatty Crab guy.

Right.

He’s amazing. That kind of food, lately, has been my favorite, food where the second they put it down, I inhale all of it. That sort of spicy, tangy, sweet, crispy, funky, pan Asian fusion stuff, I kind of can’t resist that. So let’s make it Zak.