Book excerpt: "Table 4 at The River Cafe" by Ruthie Rogers

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Ruthie Rogers is overmuch much than the co-founder and cook down the Michelin-starred River Café successful London. She besides hosts the podcast Ruthie's Table 4, successful which she invites celebrated names to stock their nutrient memories.

And now, she has incorporated those interviews into a caller book: "Table 4 astatine The River Cafe: Conversations astir Food and Life" (published by Gallery Books), which features actors, musicians, artists, athletes and politicians reminiscing astir the comforts of food.

Read an but beneath from Oscar-nominated histrion Austin Butler, and don't miss Seth Doane's interrogation with Ruthie Rogers connected "CBS Sunday Morning" March 22!

"Table 4 astatine The River Cafe" by Ruthie Rogers

Austin Butler

Shortly aft helium completed filming Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Austin arrived successful London to sprout the World War II bid Masters of the Air. This was successful the play erstwhile the Covid-19 lockdown had lone conscionable been lifted and radical were reacclimating to socializing. My person Kadee Robbins decided to commencement a caller tradition, hosting a tiny radical of friends for a play Sunday dinner. We did truthful for twenty-nine weeks. Austin, a Californian acold from home, became portion of this group. He is household to maine now.

It was challenging trying to determine which section of this publication Austin Butler should beryllium in. Tradition? This would beryllium fitting and successful grant of our ritual dinners and paper games. Or Family? Because Austin genuinely is simply a portion of mine. When helium comes to visit, we don't spell retired much, mostly shopping, cooking, and eating together, arsenic household does. But successful the extremity we chose this chapter: Discovery. Because, rather simply, being with Austin is, for me, ever a discovery.

When helium returned to The River Cafe for the podcast, helium work our look for Grilled White Peaches with Amaretto.

***

I was calved successful Anaheim, close adjacent Disneyland. We had grapefruit trees and an orangish histrion successful the backyard. So the odor of caller effect evokes memories of my ma picking lemons and grapefruit and bringing them into the kitchen.

When I was born, she wanted to beryllium a stay-at-home mom; she was a dental hygienist astatine the time. But my parents divorced erstwhile I was seven. She ended up starting a time attraction retired of the house—she'd ticker the children of the mothers who taught astatine the simple schoolhouse astir the country that I yet went to. We ever had small children successful the location and she had to marque meals that were truly speedy and easy. Things you'd get successful the freezer aisle, similar food sticks and maize dogs. Nothing truly gourmet astatine all.

As the years went on, she became vegetarian and past vegan. She got truly into making things similar portobello mushrooms and doorbell peppers stuffed with couscous. But erstwhile I was increasing up, it wasn't highly steadfast successful the house. It was businesslike meals. She was moving truthful much. When I started going to simple school, I would locomotion location each time for luncheon and she'd person a peanut food and jelly sandwich waiting for me. We'd ticker this location decorating amusement called Surprise by Design and travel up with things that we were going to bash astir the house. We'd get inspired by the amusement and laic a ceramic way successful the backyard oregon works small flowers. I conscionable retrieve however excited I was to locomotion location each time and devour the sandwich that she'd made for me.

My dada moved into the store of a idiosyncratic helium worked with. It had a small miniature fridge wherever we kept each our groceries. We slept connected aerial mattresses astatine nighttime and pulled them up during the time to marque country for a table. There was a treadmill successful the corner. We shared our landlord's kitchen, but otherwise, we had conscionable this 1 room.

I started cooking arsenic a kid due to the fact that my dada had to work. He would say, "Hey, I'll wage you $2 if you navigator meal tonight." It became a mode for maine to banal up wealth arsenic a kid. We'd spell to Costco and bargain nutrient successful bulk. I'd marque burritos with Dennison's chili beans retired of a tin and immoderate sour pick and cheese. A peculiar juncture would beryllium getting a $5 pizza from down the road. Years later, coming to a spot similar The River Cafe oregon the French Laundry, I felt retired of my element, due to the fact that $5 sounded similar a batch for a repast erstwhile I was a kid.

I moved retired erstwhile I was seventeen. I started wanting to larn however to marque nutrient and however flavors acceptable together. So erstwhile I started to marque money, I started trying restaurants successful L.A. and New York.

There hasn't been a batch of continuity successful galore areas of my beingness since I was young, due to the fact that I question a lot. Even the quality of doing a movie oregon a TV show, you marque a household of the full formed and unit and past it splits up. Through therapy, I realized that I was astir reliving my childhood—you person a household and past it splits up. So I'd question retired ways of having stableness and consistency. So erstwhile I'm connected location, whether successful Vancouver oregon New Zealand oregon Australia oregon London, I find a edifice that becomes my 2nd location and I get to the constituent wherever I spell determination each day, and the unit knows maine and I cognize them.

Suddenly, it feels similar determination is this happening abstracted from my enactment that feels similar home. Even if I've woken up with anxiousness oregon I consciousness bittersweet oregon overwhelmed, I spell to a restaurant. I'll travel with a publication truthful I get to read, and I cognize the radical who enactment there. This morning, I could hardly permission the house. I conscionable felt anxious for immoderate reason. Then I thought, "I've got to get to The River Cafe." Once you get here, abruptly there's beingness astir you and it benignant of buzzes. You consciousness humanity lavation implicit you, things that are happening extracurricular of your ain experience. And you devour delicious food. That truly helps.

For a time, I lived successful a beauteous location successful Los Angeles that had belonged to Gary Oldman. He had built a pizza oven and I became obsessed with learning however to marque the cleanable pizza, utilizing a circumstantial benignant of wood. I got 1 of those laser somesthesia gauges truthful I could marque it a 1000 degrees. Learned however to marque the pizza condiment and the dough from scratch. The archetypal mates of pizzas came retired benignant of rough. Then I started to get truly into a zone. It's astonishing to maine however accelerated you tin navigator a pizza, successful 30 oregon forty 5 seconds.

Then I thought, "What other tin I navigator successful this fire?" There's a edifice successful Laurel Canyon called Pace that makes this salmon connected a cedar plank. I thought, "I privation to larn however to marque that." So I got these cedar planks. You soak them successful h2o and enactment the salmon connected top, seasoning it and sticking it successful the wood fire. It came retired incredibly.

One of the champion trips I ever took was to Italy, astir apt 4 years earlier Elvis. Spent a period conscionable road-tripping with my woman astatine the time. We started successful Milan, drove to Portofino, and went to Cinque Terre and hiked betwixt the small villages and visited the vineyards.

Then we drove to Florence, and aft that, to a small furniture and meal successful Tuscany. It was tally by this beauteous Italian pistillate and her husband. They had 2 daughters. One of the daughters would play soft successful the day and you'd perceive it reverberating done the vineyard. The pistillate would bring focaccia up and we'd devour it astir the excavation successful the afternoon. One night, her hubby had caught a chaotic boar, truthful she prepared it for america and it was conscionable perfectly divine. One of their daughters was dating a young antheral who was eighteen years old, fractional Israeli and fractional Italian. He told me, "You know, I'm a pilot. I tin alert you if you privation maine to."

I said, "Wow, that would beryllium cool." But I was thinking, "I'm not putting our lives successful this eighteen-year-old kid's hands." The adjacent night, his ma came to meal and she was successful the Israeli Air Force. She said, "You know, he's really a precise bully pilot." So I thought, "You lone unrecorded once." He offered to alert america to Elba, wherever Napoleon was exiled. I said, "Let's bash it. I'll wage for gas. I'll wage for the plane."

We ended up getting successful the car. Turns retired helium couldn't thrust a car, though helium could alert a plane. So I drove america all: maine and my girlfriend, him and his girlfriend. We drove up to the small backstage country of the Florence airport. He went to a store and pulled out, by hand, a four-seater Cessna. We went done each the preflight checks and took off. It felt similar riding successful a go-kart. I couldn't perceive him astatine all. It was static successful the headphones and I saw panic implicit his face. I was thinking, "He's the lone idiosyncratic who tin onshore this plane."

But it was lone that helium couldn't fig retired however to power a definite power truthful that we could perceive each other. Once helium figured that out, bid came upon the airplane. Then helium told me, "It's a unsafe landing spot successful Elba due to the fact that you person to alert successful this zigzag pattern." So I went backmost to thinking, "Oh, God, we're trusting this eighteen-year-old."

We ended up zigzagging done the mountains of Elba and landing safely, thankfully. We ate pasta with him and his woman that time for lunch. They flew back. We stayed and rode astir connected Vespas and ate pasta astatine each these antithetic beaches connected Elba. Went to the vineyards that Napoleon utilized to spell to. He came backmost 3 days later, picked america up connected the plane, and we flew backmost to Florence. It was magic.

I did Once Upon a Time successful Hollywood with Quentin Tarantino. On 1 nighttime shoot, astatine astir 3 successful the morning, helium had this astonishing crepe-maker travel and marque crepes. As we were eating them, helium said, "Austin, you cognize what my happening is? I privation to springiness everybody specified a bully acquisition connected this occupation that their adjacent occupation sucks."

So each night, determination would beryllium immoderate caller nutrient happening that helium would organize, to springiness you thing to look guardant to. The different happening that helium did was, aft each 100 rolls of film, he'd propulsion a enactment and it would person a theme. So grappa would travel out, oregon determination would beryllium margaritas and a mariachi band.

When we wrapped Elvis, Baz and I were astatine his location successful Australia with a tiny group. It was the archetypal clip that helium and I were some capable to go, "Ah, we did it." We enactment connected vinyl records, danced, ate oysters, and conscionable lived life.

Then the prima started to travel up and Baz looked out. He said, "Should we spell aquatics successful the water close now?" We ran crossed the thoroughfare and jumped successful the ocean, astir 5 successful the morning. I said, "Baz, I can't judge I was going to spell to slumber tonight!" He started singing "Nessun dorma" to maine and going, "No slumber tonight. No slumber tonight." I hadn't heard that opera truthful helium told maine its story. Then helium said, "I'll play it for you erstwhile we get backmost to the shore."

I took a 2nd for myself successful the ocean. I watched the prima emergence and processed each that we had done. Then, arsenic I dilatory walked backmost to shore, I saw Baz holding a talker supra his caput similar John Cusack successful Say Anything. He was playing "Nessun dorma," the Pavarotti version, blaring astatine 5:30 successful the greeting connected the beaches of the Gold Coast. It was truthful magical and cinematic.

Then we made breakfast. We looked successful the refrigerator and thought, "Okay, what tin we make?" There's this happening astir filming wherever you person truthful galore responsibilities that different radical extremity up astir treating you similar you're a child. They locomotion you to the bathroom. They locomotion you to your trailer. You're precise spoiled successful galore ways, but there's thing relieving astir that infinitesimal erstwhile you're yet capable to bash thing for yourself.

So Baz and I astatine breakfast—that was our moment. We opened the refrigerator: "Okay, we got eggs, we got asparagus, we got immoderate spinach, we got immoderate tomatoes, we got immoderate Parmesan cheese." We made this large meal and chopped disconnected bits of a loaf of bread. Just a delicious meal. Then we conscionable sat determination arsenic the greeting prima laid down connected us. It's 1 of the astir glorious memories of my life.

Austin, what is your comfortableness food?

My mother's nary longer here. She passed distant erstwhile I was twenty-three. After a large week, oregon if I'm feeling truly overwhelmed, I'll marque a peanut food and jelly sandwich. It brings backmost that comforting sensation.

Excerpted from "TABLE 4 AT THE RIVER CAFE" by Ruthie Rogers. Copyright © 2025 by Atomized Studios Limited and The River Cafe, Ltd. Reprinted by support of Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC.

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