Hey, I'm Curtis Stone and I'm sitting here at Calina at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills having a delicious breakfast.

Oh yeah, it's really good. With Nikki! Nikki Novak here for Young Hollywood at the Four Seasons Hotel in Calina with, who better to dine with than Curtis Stone? Great to see you.

Nice to see you, Nikki.

We're having a nice we have a little breakfast served here for us. Right. Little brunch going on. And then there's a green goddess juice cause I want to be more of a goddess and I don't know what the heck yours is, so. How'd it taste? Should we have a taste?

Cheers.

Cheers. Oh. So can you tell what's in that because you're such an expert?

It's definitely something with berries. Um, I'd say it's strawberry. Yeah. It's a little bit acidic.

Okay. Let's say um In a good way? A Hercules, you're you're a goddess. I'm a Hercules, this is a Hercules juice. So we have a little sort of a game for you. Okay. It's it's cooking and dining do's and don'ts.

Yep.

Get your Hercules juice on for this one.

I need it.

Okay. So we're gonna give you some scenarios and you tell me what you your thoughts are if you think it's okay or not. Is double dipping ever okay?

I think it's fine. I actually do. Yeah. As long as you know the people.

Should we dip into the cinnamon buns?

Yeah, come on. Look, if you're if you're in a room with strangers, no, double dipping's not okay, but if you're with they look a little shady. Right. If you're with your family or some you know, friends, don't worry about it.

Okay, something you're cooking and something iffy falls into a pot of stew you're cooking for a group. What do you do?

You just fish it out and check out what it is.

What if you can't find it?

If you can't find it, you've got a problem. You know, it depends where you're cooking. If you're on a construction site. My kitchen's pretty clean, so.

Thank you so much. And such a gentleman too. Eating in bed, do or don't?

It's a great place to eat.

What if it's like something like crumbly and messy?

You just have to change the sheets the next morning.

Okay. Or that day. Do you believe in the three second rule?

Mhm.

Have you done it?

Mhm.

What about five seconds? How many seconds until it's not okay?

Depends on the floor. You know, but you most floors, I'd give it three seconds and it's okay for me. I wouldn't drop something on the floor and cook it for a guest, of course, course in my restaurant.

And last but not least, you threw something in the garbage, something that good. It's delicious. You threw something in the garbage. Maybe a nice piece of cake that you didn't want the extra calories. You're really hungry, sitting on the top. Fishing it out, is that okay?

I'll eat off the floor once in a while, but I won't eat out of the garbage can. That's where you That's where I draw my line.

That's where Curtis draws the line. So Top Chef Masters, you're going into season five.

We are. This season we're bringing it back to Los Angeles. Uh there's so much going on in the food scene in LA right now. There's there's you know, of course LA is the home to all sorts of interesting people.

Who would be like your dream guest? Like let's say a celebrity. Let's say an actor or somebody.

Oh. We had um Sugar Ray Leonard last season. And I I'm a huge boxing fan and we also had Dita Von Teese and everybody watched the Dita Von Teese episode and said, you couldn't control it. Like you you were really embarrassed and you were really nervous around her. And I was like, I was a lot more nervous around Sugar Ray Leonard because I totally geeked out.

And I know last season on the show, the finale. I know who I was rooting for, but it was like two opposing sort of styles and I know one was sort of the more precise, the more I would say comfort food and the other was more like the more thrilling. And then they both had to cook a dish, like a love letter to somebody. What would be your thrilling food, your love letter food, and your comfort food? Your favorites.

Ooh, good question. Um, so my thrilling food, I think it would be something really spicy. A lot of chili, a lot of spice, um, and probably a pasta. Seafood pasta, chili, lots of garlic, lots of lemon, so big abrasive flavors. Um, a love letter. I actually think of something that you share and you know, I I I love cooking seafood and I love cooking from my veggie garden, but to me the most romantic dish you could ever serve is to put something onto a plate and then just sit there and enjoy it with someone. So I'd cook some beautiful extravagant seafood, lobsters and crabs and all those jewels of the sea and treat it really simply with some champagne and some parsley and lemon and you know, we'd just do that. Comfort. Oh, you know, to me it's a pot pie. Right. Or something heartwarming, you know? Um, short ribs are something that I'd never cooked before and I love that slow braise and the house is filled with the smell of, you know, what you've been cooking.

I'm gonna throw one more at you. Angry food.

Angry food? Yes. Out of angry food, I'd do something really different. I'd do something uh quite particular, like a lemon tart with beautiful fine pastry around the outside and

That'll calm you down and the person that eats it.

That's right. It absolutely.

So you have a new book coming out as well?

I do. What's for dinner, delicious recipes for a busy life? Right. You know, for me, your life brings up different challenges depending on the day of the week. So, on Mondays, you ate and drank too much on the weekend, so you've got to pull it back together. So, I've called Mondays Motivating Mondays. So, it's a collection of recipes that are healthy, delicious, but, you know, light and good for you. Tuesday is a crazy day in the office, so for me it is anyway, and I think for a lot of people. So, I've called that Time-Saving Tuesday. One-Pot Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, um, Five-Ingredient Friday, Dinner Party Saturday, and um, Family Supper Sunday.

I need this book. It'll organize my whole life, I feel like, not just my kitchen.

Right. Exactly. It's like, you know, you get those uh underpants that have the days of the week on it. It's for those people that like to be organized and they can get through the week nice and simply.