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Just when you thought that it wasn’t possible for John Tesar to be any more bluntly honest than he’s already been in the past, an interview with the outspoken chef published yesterday at Playboy proved that there is no hot-button topic that Tesar isn’t willing to tackle.
In the interview with Playboy.com’s Alyson Sheppard, Tesar touched on everything from Anthony Bourdain to the $15 minimum wage to, of course, Leslie Brenner. More candidly, the chef admitted his own fondness for smoking pot, and a bizarre support of presidential candidate Donald Trump’s views on immigration.
Never one to shy away from offering his opinion, you’d think that Tesar’s rants would have alienated at least some of the diners who line up to indulge in his dry-aged steaks at Knife.
Instead, the chef says that the response has been “99.9% positive.” “There’s only been one hater, the rest have been extremely respectful and complimentary. It’s been very uplifting,” Tesar told Eater Dallas. “It feels good to finally tell the truth. I answered everything as honestly as I could. There’s more, but it’s great for now.”
Addressing his newly-announced affinity for smoking pot, Tesar says that he paid the $225 fine for marijuana paraphernalia and had the charges dropped. “It was a clean pipe and an angry cop,” according to Tesar. “But it’s cool, pot should have been legal 20 years ago. Jagermeister, on the other hand, should be illegal.”
Tesar also explained his agreement with Donald Trump on immigration. “I think I speak for a majority of the cooks, chefs, and owners who aren’t well-known or famous and work hard every day in this business and are frustrated with politics, bullshit, and lies about our industry,” he says. “I am not a racist but we do need to address immigration. It’s a necessary conversation. Everyone is pink on the inside, but you have to pay your medical bills and taxes otherwise it’s just not fair.”
He also notes that he and “The Donald” are from the same New York neighborhood, and that Tesar knew Trump’s father. “I believe that The Donald is playing to an audience,” he says. “I am not in that crowd.”
Whether or not Tesar has a future in political punditry, you can always count on him to offer a hot take on plenty more than just Leslie Brenner. Perhaps we'll soon be seeing him on MSNBC and that reality show he's got in the works. Either way, the full interview is definitely worth a read.
