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It's hard when you have an established restaurant to make changes so you have to move slowly. When I reopened Spago four years ago, I reduced the portions so they could have all three courses. Desserts used to be less popular because the main course portions were so big. JS: But in LA they don't really eat desserts, do they?
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I'll still prepare it on request but we have to move forward and not stay the same. We used to have Kaiserscharrn on the menu at Spago. WP: I don't really have a favorite but I crave certain things like dark chocolate – it has to be really dark, at least 65/70%. The restaurant is no longer there so the painting is in my house. For our San Francisco restaurant in a hotel we needed something for a big wall so I asked Robert Rauschenberg if he had any leftover paintings. I knew Andy Warhol and I asked him to design a menu cover and a wine label for Spago but then he went into the hospital and didn't come out. And we've commissioned a new artist for the New York restaurant – Alex Israel. We have nine pieces by John Baldesarri at CUT in LA. WP: Yes, we have good art in all of our restaurants. Are you involved with the interior design and choosing art for your restaurants? JS: I noticed there are original Damien Hirst artworks on the walls at CUT. We're also bringing in our newest wine from California, our Pinot.
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WP: We're introducing new meat from Snake River Farm in Idaho where the cattle provide a taste which is a cross between American and Japanese meat so it's richer than American prime beef but not as rich as Japanese. JS: Are you here this week to introduce anything new on the menu? Also, I think any country that has a specific cuisine like French or Italian for instance is more difficult. JS: Back across the ocean to CUT at 45 Park Lane, your only European venture. And for breakfast they liked rubbery scrambled eggs. WP: We had a double entrecôte for two which takes forever to cook well done so we turned the lights down and served the steak slightly pink but they saw it was pink and wouldn't try it. JS: Did you try to educate diners in Indianapolis? It was a fancy French restaurant but most of the people ate steak well done. They took me to the speedway but Indianapolis wasn't exciting. I always loved auto racing so when I was offered a job in Indianapolis, I went. WP: I went first to Hotel de Paris in Monaco, then to Maxim's in Paris and to New York. That was my inspiration and he's really my mentor because it was there that I saw that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Before that he was the president of an insurance company. He started to cook professionally when he was 50 years old. was a great chef, not a conventional one. Wolfgang Puck's Mini sliders made from Wagyu beef. Today, I like Heston Blumenthal who has a really interesting way of presenting his food, Grant Achatz in Chicago and a young Mexican Chef at the Bel Air Hotel in LA. We had everybody visiting from Queen Elizabeth to Picasso. The owner was 72 years old but he had such passion and the best ingredients. WP: When I was 19 years old, I worked in a restaurant in the south of France called Baumanière. JS: Speaking of other chefs, who provided inspiration early in your career and are there any now who you admire? I only go where there's something new so I go to the Bel-Air hotel because Hugo always makes something new. WP: Exactly, that's why I always say change is good. JS: That must make it even more important for you to stay competitive and fresh? Now we have a lot of exciting restaurants, great wines so our whole food and wine industry is world class whereas 30 years ago there were a few restaurants that were world class or very good.
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When I came to LA, everything was imported in cans or dried we did not have fresh basil. We play it by ear by how the weather goes, what's available locally. JS: How often do you change the menu at Spago?