The Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1469 - Adam Perry Lang

Adam Perry Lang is a chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is the owner of APL restaurant in Hollywood, CA.

Joe RoganhostAdam Perry Langguest

May 4, 20201h 57mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Chef Adam Perry Lang On Surviving COVID, Steakhouses, Knives, Craft

Joe Rogan talks with chef and restaurateur Adam Perry Lang about the devastating impact of COVID-19 on restaurants, using Adam’s Hollywood steakhouse APL as a case study. Adam explains how he pivoted from full-service dining to 10–15% capacity takeout and charity cooking for frontline workers while struggling with rent, loans, and staff cuts. They dive deep into the craft and science of dry‑aged beef, steak cooking methods, knife making, and ethical meat sourcing, revealing how much true “art and craft” lives behind a great restaurant. The conversation also ranges into fly-fishing, bowhunting, media’s effect on chef culture, and the difficult ethical balance between public health and economic survival.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

COVID forced restaurants to pivot fast or die.

Adam went from a full team to 10–15% of normal business with just a handful of staff, shifting to curbside, delivery, and large-batch meals for hospitals, while deferring rent and navigating confusing PPP loan rules.

Purpose and motion help manage crisis stress.

Instead of freezing in uncertainty, Adam copes by “head down and cook” — focusing on feeding frontline workers and his neighborhood, which sustains his morale and keeps a core team employed.

Great steak is built in the dry-age room, not just the pan.

Dry-aging relies on tightly controlled air flow, temperature, and humidity plus a “friendly mold” culture Adam carries from room to room, producing unique flavors and tenderness far beyond typical 30–60 day aging.

Cooking technique must match the meat and desired outcome.

Adam avoids slow-cooking long-aged steaks (they turn livery), prefers extremely high heat for dry-aged crust, treats ultra-aged or Wagyu beef as small, rich tasting portions, and modifies methods for lean wild game vs fatty grain-finished beef.

Tools, especially knives, are extensions of the chef’s craft.

Adam hand-makes his steak knives with a bladesmith, obsessing over steel, heat treatment, and longevity; he even prices them just above the felony theft threshold as a deterrent, underscoring how much he values his tools.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

For me, it’s just head down and cook, try to help people, and then we’ll figure it out later.

— Adam Perry Lang

At the end of the day, people have to eat. The world’s gonna be different, probably not the same at all for my business. But what choice do I have?

— Adam Perry Lang

Cooking bounces between art and craft… the art is when you have no boundaries, the craft is when you make it consistent every night.

— Adam Perry Lang

There’s a certain number of hours you just cannot avoid. You have to have the knife in your hand for thousands and thousands of hours before you’re really starting to cook.

— Adam Perry Lang

What kind of world do we have in front of us the way it’s slated right now? We don’t even know.

— Adam Perry Lang

Impact of COVID-19 on restaurants, staff, rent, and PPP loansPivot to takeout, charity meals, and feeding frontline healthcare workersScience and craft of dry-aging beef and cooking perfect steaksKnife making, blade steel, and the importance of tools in cookingEthical meat sourcing, animal stress, and grass-fed vs grain-finished beefFood as art vs craft; how Food Network and celebrity changed kitchen cultureFly-fishing, hunting ethics, and parallels between culinary and other crafts

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