Ruthie's Table 4

It was in our private dining room three years ago when I wrote to Ridley Scott asking if he’d be the first guest for a podcast idea I’d had about food and memories. Ridley wrote back saying, ‘Yes Ruthie but I’m directing Gucci. ’ A year later, ‘Yes Ruthie but I’m directing Napoleon. ’ A year later, ‘Yes Ruthie but I’m directing The Bee Gees. ’ Then a few days ago, whilst sitting in the River Cafe...

Quite often, people say to me, ‘I couldn’t possibly have you to dinner, you’re the chef of the river café, cooking for you would be overwhelming.’ That’s how I feel about introducing Sir David Hare. How do you write for one of the greatest writers of our generation? Whether he's scripting acclaimed plays like Skylight, Plenty, Stuff Happens, or movies like The White Crow, Denial, or The Reader, Da...

Tina Fey has been on Ruthie's Table 4 before and she is, in fact, our first returning guest.  When we first met, she spoke about food being a major part of her life, but she only brought one half of her team. The other half, Jeff Richmond, is here with us now. A composer, producer, director, Jeff is Tina's creative partner, and he's her husband. He says he does all the cooking. Tina and Jeff have...

Jane Hartley was the American ambassador to France and Monaco, and now to the Court of Saint James. In the two years she has spent in the United Kingdom so far, Jane has had two monarchs, three prime ministers, four chancellors, and a late-stage pandemic. She has the qualities necessary for the role in abundance: leadership, resilience, duty. I know her as a close friend, and though I always intro...

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a gala dinner at the National Theatre. The host of my table, Yana Peel, said she was sitting me next to a young filmmaker who had recently won a BAFTA. Then I met an artist whose work had just been exhibited at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Los Angeles, and is about to be shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Then I met a champion volleyball player who,...

If you find yourself on a mountain needing a ski jacket, going to a party needing something beautiful to wear, or in Paris or Milan craving perfect  fish, the man to meet is Remo Ruffini, CEO and Chairman of Moncler co-owner of Langosteria restaurants in cities all over the world. Remo is dynamic, elegant and a visionary, putting sustainability at the heart of the company. His leadership is a mani...

We've only just met, but I'm confident Claire Saffitz and I will be friends  Claire shares the challenges of baking and life in general. She's a star in a new era of food writers who are experts in their knowledge, passionate about their craft, rigorous about their work. Claire majored in history and literature at Harvard, then one day, almost by accident, she became the host of her own cooking sh...

My brother, Michael Elias, a writer and director tells me when visitors come to the set of a film, nothing stops. The only exception is if they are athletes. Maybe it’s because everyone thinks, if pressed, they could act, sing or dance, but never run a race, ski downhill or score a goal. When Gary Lineker, one of the great footballers of our time, walks into The River Cafe everything stops.  He is...

Thinking about Laura Dern coming here today, I scrolled through three years of text messages. It's a story about making plans and choosing restaurants to go to. As usual, most of our ideas were aspirational, adapting around our families, movies, cooking and travel. Laura is fun, curious and  smart, hanging with the crew on set. She has memories of her grandmother and describes her parents as heroe...

I may not know what makes a good comedian, but I do know what makes a good father.    When Judd and I met in London — where his daughter Maude was playing the lead role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret — he told me this was the eighth time he'd seen it in three weeks.   While I don’t know what makes a good comedian, Judd certainly does. His advice to kickstart your writing: think of a topic and write do...

Sam Taylor-Johnson is a close friend and director of Back To Black , the story of Amy Winehouse. Checking in with her during filming, she always reassured me it was intense. It was challenging. It was exhilarating. But, the best part was working with Marisa Abela. One night a few months ago, Sam called me at home to tell me Marisa was in The River Cafe and could we send her a glass of champagne? W...

Imagine going to a close friend's birthday, months after the death of your son. Imagine realising it was too soon and telling the man you're talking to who you hardly know, why you need to leave. He takes your arm and insists on seeing you to the lift. Then he goes down with you until you get to the street. This becomes a ten minute walk to the car park. A climb up the stairs, him holding your han...

“Across a garden from where Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and I are sitting, people are having Sunday lunch in The River Cafe . Walking into the room you hear the rise and fall of conversation and laughter, friends and families connecting over food. At age 37 Vivek was appointed as the youngest Surgeon General of the United States by President Obama and is now serving a second term with President B...

The first time that Sarah Jessica Parker and I spoke, the tables were turned. She was on the phone in The River Cafe kitchen, and I was on a beach in Mexico. It was really hard to hear her with the noise of pots and pans, the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. But her dazzling warmth travelled the 6000 miles. If the phone connection was poor, the friendship connection was instant. Last month, sh...

If you're in politics, being outgoing, engaging and caring is part of the job. And these are the words often used to describe the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, and first Lady Tammy Murphy. But having been close to Phil and Tammy for as long as I have, I know this is truly who they are. In 2008, Phil was the finance chair for the Democratic National Committee and as Americans abroad, we supp...

There is a well-known cartoon in The New Yorker magazine depicting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his pyjamas, on his knees next to his bed, saying a prayer for his wife, the most active first lady in history. ‘Dear Lord, please make Eleanor tired tomorrow’. I can imagine the friends and family of Stephen Fry saying the same prayer, for there's very little Stephen doesn't do. Actor, comedi...

Fisher Stevens and I were recently brought close together by one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Philip Guston, and one of the greatest footballers, David Beckham. Last September he was in The River Cafe with the producers of Beckham, the series he directed for Netflix. We agreed to have breakfast at my house and the next morning he arrived. Walking up the stairs, Fischer stopped at t...

In a profession that is ever changing and always challenging, Eric Ripert is an inspiration. He's been the chef, and co-owner, of New York's legendary Le Bernardin for more than 30 years. He is a mentor to many, and someone who so many chefs look up to.  Today, I'm here in New York with him at his Michelin three-star temple to fish and seafood, talking about us living in different cities, while co...

I’ve known Emily Mortimer since she was six. Her parents were close friends—John, a playwright and barrister, and Penny, a fly fisher and tennis player, who managed the no small feat of smoking while playing the game. What Emily does now is impressive—she's an actor, a writer, and director, known for such films as Notting Hill, The Pursuit of Love, Newsroom, Match Point, and Apple TV’s latest, The...

Restaurateur Danny Meyer opened Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern in New York more than 30 years ago and proved values matter. One could not only treat staff with the respect they deserve, but make customers happy. Happier, as they say, when they leave than when they arrived. Danny then launched  Shake Shack  in 2001, a hotdog stand in Madison Park. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, wh...

When Ruthie found herself living in Mexico City for four months in 2018, her regular world of London, work, family and friends became irregular. She was thrust into a city with new people, new language and new food. Then one day someone suggested she meet at Niddo, a small restaurant recently opened by Karen Drijanski and her son Eduardo Plaschinski. From that moment her mornings changed. She went...

When you ask Guy Ritchie to do a podcast, you don't just get Guy Ritchie the director—you get Guy Ritchie the food lover. Before sitting down with Ruthie, there he was in the garden at The River Cafe, setting up his WildKitchen cooking rig to grill a ribeye steak for all the chefs. He then joined Ruthie to talk wine, creative process, how he measures success, fishing, how he cooks his steaks, and...

Last Wednesday, 24 hours after being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in ‘ Maestro ’, Carey Mulligan arrived at The River Cafe . She joined chef Sian Owen in the kitchen to cook scallops, and sat down with Ruthie to discuss her celebrated career and the foods she loves. Listen to Ruthie’s Table 4: Carey Mulligan in partnership with Moncler.   See omnystudio.com/listener...

When Will Ferrell said he'd be my guest on Ruthie's Table 4, I expected some laughs, some great stories, but not ‘Happy Birthday’ in Swedish. Everyone seems to love Will, whether they worked with him or, of course, watched him on screen in those classic comedies, Elf  and  Anchorman and many more. We do have a mutual friend,  Saturday Night Live  creator and producer Lorne Michaels, but we first m...

Today, a Ruthie’s Table 4 first, our first couple interview. Recorded on location in New York, actors Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell join Ruthie to discuss their lives through food. Mathew grew up in Wales eating Cawl and Kerri started her career aged 15 where she had to fend for herself. They now live together with their children in Brooklyn and share a love for sage pasta, travelling through Ital...