[AUDIENCE MEMBER] How do you
feel about the predominance
of competition shows
versus Julia Child-style
to go back in time
''cause, you know,
from a personal standpoint,
you learn more when
someone is demonstrating
on how to do it
rather than competing.
[EVAN SMITH] You know, I'll say,
I will occasionally land on,
what is the name of the woman
who's like a country chef,
red hair?
(audience murmuring)
[AARÓN SÁNCHEZ] Ree Drummond,
and then Trisha Yearwood
is the other one.
[SMITH] Right, so
occasionally that show pops on
and I'm like, I'm actually,
I'm learning, I mean
you make a great point,
those shows teach you a lot more
than the competition
shows sometimes.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, what, those are
what you call the dump stir,
dump and stir shows 'cause
everything's being--
[SMITH] Not the dumpster
shows (crowd laughing)
[SÁNCHEZ] No no no no, I know,
[SMITH] Right.
[SÁNCHEZ] I said
that really quickly.
Thank you for correcting me.
[SMITH] Dump and stir.
[SÁNCHEZ] But you dump and stir,
those are called.
But it's very interesting
'cause one of the things
I learned on Food Network
is that
people at home wanna learn
from women when it comes
to cooking like that.
They don't wanna learn from men.
[SMITH] Really?
[SÁNCHEZ] So if I
have a show that
does that dump, stir and cook
chances are that the
audiences don't want to learn
from a man. They just feel,
have more confidence
from a woman.
[SMITH] Is it because
the audience is more
apt to be female
than male of those shows?
[SÁNCHEZ] Probably, probably
yeah, they skew like if
always tell you like what we,
as TV people we love the 18
to 49 demographic of women.
[SMITH] Right.
[SÁNCHEZ] That is like the
one that gives you longevity.
Women give you longevity no
matter what. (crowd laughing)
But that's, you know, that's--
[SMITH] You did that very well
there. [SÁNCHEZ] Thank you.
[SMITH] Good. Ma'am?
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi
Aarón, I would like to know
what is the favorite food and
the name of the restaurant
of where you've eaten
that favorite food?
[SMITH] Oh, that's a
great, that's a great idea,
like where does the famous
chef like to go out to eat?
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yes.
[SÁNCHEZ] Oh yeah.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] --or would
you even share least favorite?
[SÁNCHEZ] No, I
wouldn't say that
but I just think what I like to,
I mean, for instance,
I eat every other food
except Mexican
food when I go out.
Very seldomly, 'cause I
eat Mexican food at home
or when my family cooks it.
[SMITH] Right.
[SÁNCHEZ] But, if
we're talking Austin,
I could eat Uchi every day.
I love Uchiko, I
love those flavors,
something that's
completely foreign
and a departure from where--
[SMITH] So you come here enough
that you feel like you
know the restaurants here,
you know the restaurant culture?
[SÁNCHEZ] Absolutely, I think
Austin is one of the most,
it's the best food
city, I think, in Texas.
I'm gonna get a lotta crap for
that but it's true, I mean.
(audience clapping)
[SMITH] Right, exactly.
Yes, everybody everybody in
Lubbock is gonna be really upset
to hear you say that, right?
[SÁNCHEZ] (laughing)
Exactly, exactly.
[SMITH] Lubbock, where
high cuisine at the moment
is a Torchy's opened, right?
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, exactly.
[SMITH] Yeah.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi, Chef.
[SÁNCHEZ] How are you?
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] What
was your biggest obstacle
as a young chef and how
did you overcome it?
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, I think
my biggest obstacle was
you know, figuring out
what my own style was
and making sure that
I didn't regurgitate
my mentors' teachings.
That was a really
big struggle for me.
Like there was a great
chef named Charlie Trotter
[SMITH] Yeah.
[SÁNCHEZ] And Charlie
Trotter you always knew--
[SMITH] That a big
New York guy, right?
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah,
no he was Chicago.
[SMITH] Oh Chicago, pardon
me, Chicago there, right.
[SÁNCHEZ] And he was a guy
that he had a
particular plating style
and every time one of his
chefs opened a restaurant
you knew he had
worked for Charlie
'cause he had this one style.
So developing my own style
was one of the hardest things
I had to figure out.
[SMITH] And at what point
in your career did you feel
like you had your own style?
[SÁNCHEZ] Oof, it took,
it took ten years of
actually doing it,
owning restaurants, by the way,
to figure it out, you know?
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] And I
have another question.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, sure go.
[SMITH] Quickly.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] I
recently started working
at a Mexican restaurant.
Being Latina, I've never
really cooked Mexican food.
What's your biggest advice
being in a Mexican restaurant?
[SÁNCHEZ] Go travel
to Mexico, go travel.
Go to the markets, go to
a small village and say,
"Who's the best cook in town?"
Make yourself available and
help her make tortillas,
and make the stew or grind the
chiles or whatever it takes.
[SMITH] Yeah.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
Thank you, Chef.
[SMITH] Are you seeing more
interior Mexican influences
in American Mexican restaurants?
[SÁNCHEZ] I think
the regionality
is at the all-time high.
Now, restaurants
are specializing on
particular regions
of Mexico.
[SMITH] That's a new--
[SÁNCHEZ] That's
huge for us, yeah.
[SMITH] Hi.
[SÁNCHEZ] Ma'am.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER]
In your opinion,
how imperative do you think
culinary school is
for a young chef?
[SMITH] Great question.
[SÁNCHEZ] Great question!
Here's the deal, I don't
like how much it cost.
(audience laughing)
I send my kids, my
scholarship recipients to ICC
in New York City.
It takes $60,000 for
me to send one kid
for an 11-month program.
But granted, I put them up.
[SMITH] Right, you're
paying everything.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, I'm
doing the whole thing,
so it's expensive.
And I think what needs to
happen for culinary schools is,
first of all, I
think it's necessary.
[SMITH] So if you had
unlimited money (Aarón chuckles)
and you had the choice, no no,
but if somebody had unlimited
money and they wanted,
this is a really
important thing.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah.
[SMITH] So if the
money wasn't the issue,
take that off the table
there's value in going.
[SÁNCHEZ] I think there's value
in going if you
don't have the money.
I just don't like
people going into debt
to doing the business
where you gonna come out
and you gonna make
$40,000 a year.
I think it's unfair for,
to set that expectation.
But I do think what
culinary schools need to do
is they need to give
you a base curriculum
to learn the basics like
the stocks, the sauces,
knife work, et cetera.
And then you should be
allowed to specialize
in your niche of food,
of the food world.
'Cause now you can
be a personal chef,
a food stylist,
recipe developer.
You can be all these different
people in the food world
without having to work in
a restaurant like I have.
'Cause chances are, young
people going to restaurants
they hate it, they have
somebody screaming at them
the hours are too long, they
don't make enough money,
and then their love of
food goes by the wayside.
[SMITH] Yeah.
[SÁNCHEZ] Cultivate that,
I think culinary schools
need to be more honest
about all these
different directions
of the food world
you can go into.
[SMITH] Good, thank you
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, thank you.
[SMITH] Last question. Hi.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi.
My original question
was similar to hers
in that I work for a
culinary department locally
and we find that
there's huge pressure,
huge pressure from the
industry for the students
not to complete a program.
[SMITH] That's interesting.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] And just
whether it's their hours
and you know they
need the money or
so how could I speak
to the industry
and what could I ask
the industry, you know,
how do I build
partnerships in that?
[SÁNCHEZ] That's
a great question.
I think the best thing that's
happened, to be honest,
I think is that now
internships are paid
which I think has to happen.
[SMITH] Right.
[SÁNCHEZ] 'Cause that
creates an opportunity
for abuse of people's time.
[SMITH] The only
people who can afford
to take unpaid
internships are often
upper middle class white kids.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, exactly.
[SMITH] You're doing it wrong
if that's the only source
of unpaid labor you know,
of labor you have, right?
[SÁNCHEZ] Absolutely, and I
just think that's incorrect
and I think what ends
up happening is I think
you have these people, you know,
young kids going into our
restaurants to do internships,
for instance, and I think
they just wanna collect names
so they wanna be, "Oh, I
worked for Aarón Sánchez."
And then what ends up happening
is that the industry people
get scorned 'cause then now
these kids are going around
saying that they
really worked for us
when in essence all you did
was just do a two
month internship.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] STAJ-ing?
[SÁNCHEZ] Yes, STAJ-ing,
and then now all of a sudden
you "worked for me."
So I think it goes both sides.
I think what needs to
happen is there needs to be
a better dialogue from the
schools and the instructors
and the people that
are doing the career,
the career advancement
and stay in touch with us.
You know, 'cause we
always need good cooks,
and we always need young people
that are excited about food.
[SMITH] Is there a
workforce shortage
in the restaurant business?
[SÁNCHEZ] Oh absolutely, 100%.
And you know, a lot
of it has to do with
we're regulating
people's nationalities
and making sure that
everything's on the up and up
and that has a huge effect,
you know what I mean?
[SMITH] Yeah.
[SÁNCHEZ] You know so,
that could turn into a
political conversation.
[SMITH] Oh, I'd say,
everything is about politics
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah yeah yeah
we don't have to get there.
But it's like, you know,
I just think there needs
to be a better dialogue
between the leaders at
culinary schools to the chefs.
[SMITH] Thank you. Okay,
so we're about to end.
I want to ask one last
question of our guest.
So you go back to El
Paso from time to time?
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah, of
course, I was just there.
[SMITH] Okay, where do you
eat when you're in El Paso?
[SÁNCHEZ] Oh my Lord!
I go to Chope's
to have gorditas.
I go to Chico's Tacos to
have my guilty fast food,
which is the most, have you
ever had a Chico's Tacos?
It's literally two
flautas submerged
in this murky tomato cheap sauce
with even cheaper cheese, and--
[SMITH] You're slumming.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah,
somehow it works.
[SMITH] Yeah. (chuckling)
[SÁNCHEZ] And then I
remember I did a show where,
"Taco Trip," where I went
and saw how it's made
and I wish I never did it.
[SMITH] Never seen it,
exactly. Too much information.
[SÁNCHEZ] Yeah
yeah yeah! Exactly!
[SMITH] All right give
Aarón Sánchez a big hand,
thank you all very much.
(Audience clapping and cheering)