Wolfgang Puck is, without hyperbole, chef to the stars. Every year since 1994, the Austrian-born chef has catered the Governors Ball, the official Oscars afterparty, serving hordes of hungry Hollywood A-listers. His flagship restaurant, Spago Beverly Hills, is similarly celebrity-magnetic.
Puck’s empire is extensive, spanning restaurants, hotels, and catering operations around the world. But spend a quiet hour speaking with him, alongside his son Byron Lazaroff-Puck, and it’s apparent that the VIP fanbase hasn’t gone to his head. Every passing person is greeted like a friend, while his soft Austrian accent remains ever-present.
For our Firsts & Lasts series, he shares the appeal of a family vacation, weighs up villa versus hotel, and tells the story of plying chef Nobu Matsuhisa with Dom Pérignon on a trans-Pacific flight.
What was the first place that you traveled to that changed the way you saw the world?
When I was 17 or 18, I went from Austria to France, and that changed my life. Before that, I didn’t know if I was going to be a chef – I might have been a truck driver, because my friend was a truck driver, and he made a lot of money, and I was making very little as a cook. But when I went to France, it changed my life.
I went to Provence, to a restaurant called [L’Oustau de] Baumanière. There, the owner was so passionate. Before, I never knew people could be passionate about the ingredients, what they cook, and about hospitality. And Mr Tullier at Baumanière really combined them amazingly. He used to bring people in the kitchen – George Pompidou, Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Deneuve. And as a young chef – I thought, “oh my God, I want to be like him.”
Can you remember what you ate on that trip?
The thing I remember is lamb. Milk-fed lamb – it was so amazing, so tender, and so delicious. That and gratin dauphinois – we ate that a lot. The first few months I said, “oh my God, this is so good,” but after six months eating the same, it got a little boring.
What was the first hotel that really wowed you?
The Hôtel de Paris in Monaco. It’s this great old hotel with the doorman out front with the people coming with the Rolls-Royce, the Bentleys, all the fancy cars. And the ladies were all dressed up, and it was a thing I never saw where I grew up. That was the first hotel which really changed the way I thought about hotels.
Can you remember the first time you flew business or first class? How did it feel to do that?
That must have been a long time ago… but I do remember one flight from Japan, from Tokyo back to LA in the ’90s. Nobu is a good friend of mine, and we were on the same flight. At that time you could still bring food and wine onboard with you, so I told Nobu to bring sushi and I would bring champagne – but I knew All Nippon Airways served Dom Perignon in first class. We were sat so far apart, so we asked the flight attendant if we could sit on the floor in the traditional way, and they laid out a blanket for us.
We were surrounded by Japanese businessmen in suits and ties, and we were these two young people – no one knew who we were then – in jeans and T-shirts, laughing, eating sushi, and drinking champagne and good red wine. I remember I took my shoes off and I had a big hole in my sock. I will always remember that flight. It was the coolest thing.
What was the first time you traveled alone?
I’ve traveled alone since I was a kid – I moved out of my parents house when I was 14. My first big trip was the one to France. I was good at geography in school, and I remember checking the train route… Innsbruck, Zurich, Neuchâtel, and finally Dijon. I still remember seeing that train station and thinking “Oh, I know exactly where we are!”
When you arrive at a hotel, what is the first thing you look for? What matters to you?
I look for a manager out on the floor. That’s really the most important thing, which very few people do today. The manager of a hotel sits in the office and looks at the computer. For me, being greeted by the right person makes all the difference in the world. It’s so [great] to have someone greet you by name with a smile.
And what is the first thing you look for on a menu?
I always hope that the menu is not too big. I’m always nervous when the menu is big – how are they gonna cook to order? Especially if it’s a small restaurant. I also always look for what’s local. If I’m close to the water, I generally will order fish, even if they don’t fish right outside the hotel, hopefully it’s from around there somewhere. I was in a very nice hotel in Austria recently, and Austria has a very good food pantry but they didn’t have local fish, only Dover sole. I said, “We’re going to London. I don’t want to eat Dover sole in Austria.” It was probably frozen and it’s not the same.
What was your last vacation?
My last vacation was actually a great one. It started really well – we [Wolfgang and his son Byron] did our tasting menu in Spago Istanbul. We stayed for a few days in Bodrum at the Maçakızı Hotel, which is a very nice hotel. We were supposed to stay at the Maxx Royal, where we have a restaurant, but they forgot to book us in and then sold out!
After that we went to southern France and my wife rented a house through a friend of hers, just outside of Saint Tropez. My sister came, my nephews came with their babies, so we were like eight or ten. We brought our chef, and we had a beautiful terrace overlooking the sea, so we ate there every night, and the kids went out to the clubs. It was a really nice vacation, and I liked not being in a hotel where everybody spends so much time in their room.
I used to come on vacation to Europe for 10 days, and half of the time I was on the phone with the restaurants. When I turned 60, I said no more. If the place burns, they will call me and if something gets messed up, what am I going to do? We have great people who we can trust. One of the important things in any business is teaching people the right way to act if we are there or not.
Do you have a last ritual before you check out of a hotel?
I check rooms now much more than I used to. I remember I used to give clothes to a cleaner and they’d come back in a bag, and I’d just pack whatever is hanging there. One time I spilled something on a little Loro Piana jacket, so I gave it to the cleaner. The next morning, I checked out and I didn’t think about it. Maybe two or three weeks later I thought, “Jesus Christ, where’s my jacket?” I called the hotel and they said, “Sorry, we didn’t find anything.”
When was the last time you fully relaxed?
Right now?
