Ruthie's Table 4

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, comedian, television host, director, a prolific writer with four novels, three autobiographies and countless columns in national papers. But should you ask, as I've been doing, the people who know him really well. What Stephen is best at, they will answer, being a friend. As for me, I love this man. All he stands for, and quite simply who he is.And I would change the FDR prayer. I would say, ‘Dear Lord, we all need Stephen Fry. Please do not make him tired tomorrow’.Listen to Ruthie’s Table 4: Stephen Fry in partnership with Moncler – out now.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 the large pink Guston. It was hard to tear him away as he spoke about the painting and what it meant to him. A half hour turned into more than an hour as we talked about art we looked at, architecture we lived in and food we cooked. We agreed we would continue the conversation on Ruthie's Table 4 when I came to New York.So here we are, this time in Fischer's house, connected through a love of Beckham, food, film, Guston and each other. Life is good.Listen to Ruthie’s Table 4: Fisher Stevens in partnership with Moncler – out now.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 cooking the food of different countries. But you know what? We're a lot alike: Two chefs with much to share.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 New Look, with Juliette Binoche. Not that she has only worked onscreen. Emily was one of the first employees of the River Cafe, back in 1989 when being 17 and totally inexperienced was no obstacle to being a waiter. Together in The River Cafe today we're going to talk about food, memories and cooking a goose while studying in Russia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, when Ruthie has a question about fair policies for the people who work with her or how to think about expanding or contracting The River Cafe, or whether it would be possible to do exchanges with their best chefs, Danny is the person she calls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 to Niddo almost daily, always to be greeted with a strong embrace from Karen, who would go back to her kitchen and cook the best breakfast: eggs Mexicana, rancheros, tortillas, fresh breads, oatmeal, cheese omelettes, avocado.Ruthie and Karen kept in touch, but it was only a weeks ago that she returned to Niddo for the first time in four years. And so, here today not from The River Cafe but from a studio in Mexico City, three good friends back in the most beautiful of cities—a warm and irregular world.Ruthie's Table 4 is made in partnership with Moncler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 bringing the WildKitchen to his film sets.Ruthie's Table 4 is made in partnership with Moncler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 for privacy information.

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 met last spring when I was invited to a lunch. Now, walking into a lunch party late can be awkward—conversations stop, chairs are adjusted, introductions made. But there I was, seated next to Will and all was right with the world. He was here in London filming Barbie and I was just off to New York, but we promised to continue the conversation. And that’s what we’re doing today, on Table 4. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Italy, discovering local restaurants - and most of all a passion for each other. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mala Goanker, businesswoman, writer and founder of SurgoCap, sits down with Ruthie to discuss her work in public healthcare, growing a farm in Sussex and the science of food in forming memories.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The MoMA is arguably the best museum in the world. Art-historian and director, Glenn Lowry, joins Ruthie to talk about the importance of great food in museums, the recent Ed Ruscha exhibition, and the influence of French cooking on his life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bear is the number 1 hit show of 2023. Writer, producer and show-runner, Joanna Calo, joins Ruthie to discuss creating menus for television, growing up with a communal kitchen and the importance of female representation in kitchens on screen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trudie Styler, film producer, actress, activist and farmer, joins Ruthie to talk about their shared connection of the food, wine and history of Tuscany.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ralph Fiennes, actor, writer, director and one of five children talks to Ruthie about the roles he has played in his long career and the important role food has played in his life. Listen to two good friends talk together.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After meeting Scott Galloway for lunch a few months ago, Ruthie invited the podcast host, best-selling author and professor of marketing to join her on Table 4. Claiming he had little interest in food, the hour was spent looking at his life through his mother’s cooking, meals with his children, and an experience in The River Cafe involving the holding of hands. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ruthie and J.J Martin, founder of Milanese lifestyle brand La Double J, meet for the first time and immediately discover how much they have in common - most of all a passion and admiration for everything Italian. If you'd like to send Ruthie a message for the 100th Episode Lister Q&A, send a voice note to: +447983396982 For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a best-selling, prize-winning author, historian and broadcaster. In this episode, Ruthie talks to him about the food of Georgia, the Montefiore family tree and his most recent book, The World: A Family History of Humanity. If you'd like to send Ruthie a message for the 100th Episode Lister Q&A, send a voice note to: +447983396982 For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ruthie sat down with Linda Evangelista in New York to discuss growing up in Canada, a shared love of fresh produce, cooking with family and how to prepare the perfect gnocchi. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To celebrate the launch of their new book, Ruthie sat down with co-authors Massimo Bottura & Lara Gilmore at Refettorio Felix in London for a special live recording of Ruthie’s Table 4. They discussed their new book Slow Food, Fast Cars, the importance of regionality and seasonality, family traditions, trusting your palate, community kitchens and, amongst other things, a very famous lemon tart. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jon Gray and I met last May on the Chanel Connects podcast. We spoke about family, our cookbooks, Ghetto Gastro, collaborating with creative partners, food activism, and more. Today, I’m happy to say, the tables are turned and he is my guest on Ruthie's Table 4. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Ruthie talks with Es Devlin about her visionary stage designs for Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Yves Saint Laurent, The Crucible, U2 at the Sphere, and much more. She also shares her love of food and explains why a restaurant—and the world—is a stage. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to season three of Ruthie's Table 4! We've got a great group of people ahead but we are going to start the season with a good friend, a great director and a great lover of food, Wes Anderson.I have a few philosophies in life, one of which is to always say yes to Wes Anderson. Ruthie, should we get a sheet from upstairs cupboard and screen Fantastic Mr. Fox outside in the garden tonight? Yes, Wes. Ruthie, shall we try again for the fourth time to make a perfect Bellini? Yes, Wes. Ruthie, how about if we invite all the kids and friends and watch Grand Budapest Hotel before it opens in your living room in London? Yes, Wes. And most recently, Ruthie, I'd be happy to do a podcast with you but, could we do the interview by emailing questions and answers back and forth to each other over a few days or weeks? Yes, Wes. So, here we are, Wes Anderson with Wes Anderson. A little strange, but as always, I said yes. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All of us at Ruthie's Table 4 are delighted to announce the return of Season Three of the podcast launching next Tuesday 17th October! Until then please enjoy the re-broadcast of this interview with Ed Ruscha. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the final episode of season two, we’ll hear from Tina Fey, Mel Brooks, Adwoa Aboah, Rick Rubin, Wolfgang Puck & Yotam Ottolenghi.Over the course of this season, we’ve spoken to 34 guests for Ruthie's Table 4—talking about food, family, and memories. We’ve had conversations in Los Angeles, New York, Cannes and, of course, at home here at The River Cafe in London. To mark the end of Season Two, we’ve complied some of these conversations together. So please join us at Ruthie’s Table 4.We're going on a short season break but will return in the Autumn with Season Three. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the course of this season, we’ve spoken to 34 guests for Ruthie's Table 4—talking about food, family, and memories. We’ve had conversations in Los Angeles, New York, Cannes and, of course, at home here at The River Cafe in London. To mark the end of Season Two, we’ve complied some of these conversations together. For Part One, we’ll hear from Gwyneth Paltrow, Jamie Oliver, Ian Wright, Dame Judi Dench, Vanessa Kingori & Mariella Frostrup. So please join us at Ruthie’s Table 4. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was originally broadcast as part of the limited art artist series from 2022. Sam Taylor-Johnson is an artist, photographer, and film-director - and she has been a friend of Ruthie’s since the day they met at the Tate gallery in 1998. Listen to their memories of children, food, music and art from this episode of Ruthie's Table 4's. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For years, I've wanted to sit at his table and talk to Nick Allott. I imagine we would talk about the musicals he's produced- Les Miserables, Cats, Carousel, Hamilton - what he's doing now, his political battle to save theatres during the pandemic, and the great love for his best friend, the late, writer and restaurant critic Adrian Gill. Today, Nick is not a guest in The River Cafe, but a guest on Ruthie's Table 4, and we are here to talk. Theater and food. Food and friendship. At Last. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm often asked if it's intimidating cooking for celebrities who come to The River Cafe. My response is that the guests who really worry me are other chefs. It's a bit like that today as I'm about to interview the interviewer, Mariella Frostrup. I was once the subject with Mariella. She wrote in her introduction ‘Despite such eloquence, Ruthie is a disaster of an interviewee.' Intimidated. Why would I be? Join us on today’s episode of Ruthie’s Table 4. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In September, The River cafe will be 36 years old. One of the pleasures of having a restaurant for so long is watching the second generation—now even a third generation—of our early customers grow up. Adwoa Aboah's parents, Charles and Camilla, have been part of the River Cafe Family since we opened. And Adwoa has gone from a child eating pasta, butter and cheese, and then playing on the garden outside, to not only one of the world's foremost fashion models, but a formidable woman focussed on the political and social issues so relevant now, especially to women. After her own struggles with mental health, she founded the organisation Gurls Talk —a safe space for girls to access resources, share experiences, create community, and feel less alone. It is both moving and exciting to have her here today, past and present, child and adult, friend and family. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author of books on Art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, French history, and now Foreign Bodies explores medical history - Simon Schama is one of the broadest and most influential historians of our time. His television series - ‘Civilisation’ ‘ The Story of the Jews’ and ‘The Power of Art’ have reached millions of viewers. The world knows this about Simon Schama, but I know something else - Simon is passionate about food, obsessed with the quality of ingredients, an excellent cook who thinks nothing better than preparing a meal for his family. What a man. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ian Wright does many things I could never dream of doing. He used to play for football for Arsenal in front of thousands of people and now is a television pundit in front of millions. But we do share a lot, as well. Concern for healthy eating for children, advocacy for social justice, a fairer society, and an end to racial discrimination. Today on Table 4, we're going to get to know each other better, discussing all of this and more. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we're here at the Cannes Lions Festival and have swapped the River Cafe kitchen for a galley on the most beautiful boat in the harbour, which I'm happy to say is safely tied up. Bob Pittman is a captain, sort of, as he is of so many great things. He created MTV, which changed the way we listen to music, and most recently iHeart Media, which changed the way we listen to everything else. Bob believes in stories. He has often said that everyone has one great story to tell and today it's our turn to hear his. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My friend Mary McCartney is a filmmaker. She's a photographer. She's a writer, and she's a cook.She comes from a family of creatives who are also passionate eaters, and she has continued the beautiful legacy of her mother, Linda McCartney, who taught her the importance and the beauty of good food and cooking for people you love. I can't think of anything nicer than being with this wonderful woman on a sunny Friday afternoon in June recording podcast together.Listen to Ruthie's Table 4: Mary McCartney - out now.Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths is smart, she's funny and she's kind. She's a beautiful poet and a photographer, whose black-and-white images evoke for me, Dorothea Lange. Her latest book, Promise, tells the story of two Black sisters growing up in New England during the Civil Rights movement, the story of food at the table and food in the kitchen. For food is important to Eliza. Today in The River Cafe, we will talk together about friendship, memory, writing and love.Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jemma Sbeg and I met for the first time just a few days ago in the River Cafe. She was introduced to me as the most exciting podcaster today - not great for my ego. Distance keeps us apart. She lives in Sydney. I live in London and we're in different stages of our lives for sure. But that doesn't seem to matter. We both love talking to people, we both love eating delicious food, and we both love pondering situations and finding solutions.Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Elias is impressive. An actor, director of movies and television. A writer of novels and screenplays, a black belt in karate. He is generous, funny, has great ethics, and, he is a fantastic cook. They tell me that I fell in love with him the moment we met. Michael Elias is impressive, and Michael Elias is my brother. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bella Mackie and her family have been close friends for 30 or so years. And when you're close to a family, you're close to their food. We all spent summers footsteps away from each other's homes in the Val d’Orcia, swimming, walking and attempting to read novels between long lunches, late dinners, Negronis in the piazza piena Montepulciano Bella is no longer just the daughter of our friends. She is my friend. When she and her husband Greg come to the River Cafe, they know the food they want to eat, the wine they wish to drink, and they always request a quiet table. Ask any young person working in the restaurant about Bella's books, and they'll tell you that Jog On helped them through a crisis or How to Kill Your Family was one of those books they could just not put down. Welcome to Table 4, Bella. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When I phoned Frank Gehry to ask him to do this podcast, he immediately said yes. And I’m not the only one Frank has said yes to. Ask around and the stories are the same—Frank giving a million dollars for an arts education in underserved communities along the Los Angeles River, or overseeing a program for mentoring children in underperforming elementary schools. His philanthropy is based on personal relationships, and I think his architecture is, too. Every time a new Frank Gehry building opened, Richard and I would make a pilgrimage to visit them—the Disney center in Los Angeles, the Louis Vuitton building in Paris, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. But one summer, in 2008, all we had to do was walk 10 minutes from our house to Hyde Park, because he had built a temporary pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery. He designed the timber-and-glass structure with his son Sammy. For those few months, we met there almost daily, to watch the sunset, to listen to people play music, to eat, and drink. This brave and beautiful structure made the park a better park and, for the summer, London a better city. Today, I have traveled from London to Los Angeles, not to see a Frank Gehry building but to see my dear friend, Frank. Will we have a good time? As always with Frank Gehry, the answer is yes.  Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ Thumbnail photograph: © Alexandra CabriSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food is key to life. And today, more than ever, journalism is also key to life. Our guests, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel are two brilliant, inspiring journalists who bring us news, analyse news, and present news, helping us determine our lives and the choices we make. They're smart, they're warm, they're funny, and they tell me they are always hungry. These two journalists crave food. This chef craves journalism. Join us on today’s episode to hear us talk about food, memories and more. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yotam Ottolenghi and I were introduced years ago by a mutual friend, Ari Sharpio. “Ruthie,” he said, “you’ve got to meet this guy. You think the same way.” Yotam and I believe in the people we work with, valuing them and their creativity. We also share a food geography. Mine, an Italian landscape of the Renaissance, his farther east, a beautiful Biblical landscape of desert and sea. We both live and work in London—a city far from where we were born. As a chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur, Yotam has pioneered a new approach to Middle Eastern cooking, while changing the way we shop and eat with his inviting gourmet markets. Sitting here in The River Cafe today, we will talk about separation and connection, Eastern and Western, food, family, friends and thinking the same way. Listen to Ruthie’s Table 4: Yotam Ottolenghi today. Please rate & review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I first met Olivia over food one night in the river Cafe, she was with Maggie Gyllenhaal, and they had just wrapped filming for their movie the Lost Daughter in Greece. It is not an exaggeration to say they pretty much ordered everything on the menu. We immediately got into talking about feeding our kids, cooking, and inflicted distance from family when working. This was a conversation that could have lasted for hours, but I had to go back to the kitchen and she needed to finish her lemon pasta before it cooled down. Today we are here in the River Café and she is the one cooking the lemon pasta - we are going to pick up where we left off a conversation with a woman, I admire respect and adore. Lucky me. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our previous episode, we spoke to Jamie Oliver about childhood, moving to London and getting started in television. On today’s podcast, we'll be talking about his school-meals campaign, but not before we send him back into the River Cafe Kitchen after a 20-year absence to prepare a River Cafe classic.For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I can't say how many times when arriving at The River Café in a taxi, the driver will turn around to me and say, ‘Is this the restaurant where Jamie Oliver cooked?’ The other day, one even informed me that The River Café was owned by Jamie, and I thought, why correct him? He is the prodigal son or the brother, who knows when he walks in the restaurant, he is home.For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few months ago, I shared a panel with Vanessa Kingori, celebrating International Women's Day. Listening to Vanessa, it became apparent that it really wasn't necessary for me to be there. It was her views on social justice, women in business, creativity and leadership that everybody wanted to hear. Most of all, me. Her path towards Chief Business Officer of Condé Nast International is a story of a young girl from Kenya climbing heights in a British world through sheer intelligence, motivation and determination. This we all know. But for me, the revelation was Vanessa talking about the food of her family, her culture, and especially the cooking of her grandmother. Today we will hear more about memory and food, change and connectivity. As always, I will listen to Vanessa with awe, respect, and admiration. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of my most cherished possessions is a River Cafe menu with the word YUM painted on it by Ed Ruscha. Ed is an artist, friend - and cook, but we really bond over words; words as art, words as books, words as recipes, words as love. Our worlds and words converged recently when he had an exhibition at the Tate and The National Gallery - a first for an artist. We celebrated with lunches, dinners and breakfasts together. Ed has a little garden behind his studio in California, its conditions are dry and dessert like, but he grows the most amazing fruits and vegetables there. He is the first guest on Table 4 to bring his own recipe to read – a cactus omelette. We will discuss art and food, food and YUM. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Mann and I met through architecture. On a trip to London about 25 years ago, he asked to visit the Lloyd's Building, designed by my husband, Richard Rogers. For us, it was an honour. For if Michael was a fan of Richard's architecture, Richard was a huge fan of Michael's movies. In fact, when watching Ali, Miami Vice or Collateral, my arm would be constantly squeezed. Not due to a dramatic moment of fear or tension or mystery, but at the way the buildings, streets, airports, bridges and interiors, even elevators, were portrayed on screen. Over long dinners, Richard and Michael often compared making a movie to making a building. Michael once said, ‘Well, at least, Richard, in a building, you can say to a client, if you remove a column, the building will fall down. Try saying that about a scene to a producer.’ Of all the movies Michael has made, though, the one that I consider the greatest is 60 seconds long, shot entirely underwater in a swimming pool. Michael and his wife, Summer, with their children, swimmingly, wishing a happy birthday to Richard. No architecture in this movie—just love.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watch Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, listen to The 2000-Year-Old Man, read his autobiography, All About Me, and you will know why. But for me, having known Mel for 25 years, ‘funny’ is not the first word I would use to describe this extraordinary man. Fiercely proud of his children and grandchildren, the first one to pick up a phone to a friend in trouble, refusing an award in opposition to the Iraq War and waiting to accept it later from President Obama. To Mel, food and wine are crucial—many of his life's important moments occurred in restaurants. And, as for wine, he will tell you himself. Today at his home we are together. Lucky me. We're going to talk about movies, family, memories and more. And be prepared to laugh because Mel Brooks is indeed funny.For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you were in London in November 2020, then you might have been, as I was, lucky to see ‘Fly in a League with the Night’ by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at the Tate Britain. A retrospective of 70 of her works from 2003 to the present. Forced to close after two weeks due to the pandemic, the show reopened in November 2022 - the first time the museum has done this. Lynette is a writer, a painter, and as I discovered, a magical baker. Today, after a visit to the pastry kitchen, we’re here to talk about writing, painting & cooking - all the ingredients to make something beautiful. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to: Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Austin Butler is a winner. He beats me at cards, knows how to cook a wild salmon on the grill, and when we had a dinner every Sunday night for a year always arrived with a new book he was reading, a piece of pottery he’d made or a rare bottle of tequila. We first recorded this podcast in 2021 but wanted to play it for you again in case you hadn’t heard it – it's one of my favourites, just like Austin. For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On Ruthie’s Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruthiestable4 Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For any podcast enquires please contact: [email protected] For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favourite shows. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.