The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1487 - Janet Zuccarini & Evan Funke
CHAPTERS
Riots, looting, and keeping Felix safe in Venice
Joe opens by checking in with Janet Zuccarini and Evan Funke during the early-2020 chaos of protests, riots, and looting. They describe boarding up on Abbot Kinney, the National Guard presence, and the confusion of businesses being targeted.
Reopening with no notice: staffing whiplash and conflicting regulations
The conversation shifts to the sudden reopening announcements and how unworkable they are for restaurants. Evan and Janet explain how hard it is to recall staff, interpret overlapping city/county/state rules, and plan without any timeline clarity.
17 pages of COVID rules: masks, shields, logs—and why it feels absurd
They dig into the reopening guidelines and the practical weirdness of enforcement. The trio debates masks + face shields, customers masking between bites, ambiguous wording, and whether people will comply or even be policed.
Why restaurant economics break at 60% capacity
Janet and Evan explain razor-thin margins and why reduced seating doesn’t reduce fixed costs. They frame the pandemic as exposing structural weaknesses in the industry and the need for creativity just to break even.
The craft behind Felix: handmade pasta, ‘toothsome’ al dente, and regional authenticity
Joe pivots to what he loves: Felix’s food—especially the handmade pasta. Evan describes the pasta lab, the connection between pasta maker and diner, and how Italian regional traditions shape texture and cooking style.
How Felix happened: Janet’s Abbot Kinney dream and recruiting Evan at the last second
Janet tells the origin story of launching her first LA restaurant and losing a chef late in the process. A referral leads her to Evan; a remote call from Morocco, a Toronto cook test, and their shared language around ‘casalinga’ cooking seals the partnership.
Flour, wheat, and ‘baker’s lung’: the hidden hazards of pasta-making
Evan and Joe explore flour choices, American wheat processing, and digestibility differences between handmade and machine pasta. Evan shares the occupational reality of breathing fine double-zero flour and developing ‘white lung/baker’s lung.’
Apprenticeship in Italy and the long ladder: mastery, consistency, and “no shortcuts”
Evan describes training in Bologna, learning through repetition, and why depth matters more than job-hopping. Joe draws parallels to comedy—how foundational grind work is unavoidable for real mastery.
Janet’s restaurant empire meets COVID: expansion plans, debt, and laying off 700 people
Janet explains her long, conservative build in Toronto—buying buildings, building a stable base—then describes the shock of 2020. She details opening a $9M restaurant for one day, shutting everything down, and the stress of furloughing hundreds.
Restaurants as a massive employment web—and the fight for relief
They broaden to the macro picture: restaurant employment, the supply chain, and the Independent Restaurant Coalition’s advocacy. Janet emphasizes how closures cascade to farmers, dairies, winemakers, and commercial real estate.
Hospitality and leadership: being a ‘parent’ to staff, handling complaints, and firing customers
Evan explains the modern chef’s role as businessperson, mentor, and culture-setter. They discuss difficult customers, the psychology of hospitality, ignoring Yelp, and the idea that you can’t please everyone—sometimes you ‘fire’ customers to protect standards.
LA dining culture, Michelin politics, and why word-of-mouth beats stars
Evan argues LA is the best place to cook in the U.S., despite historically being dismissed by Michelin. They unpack Michelin’s fine-dining bias, how inspectors operate, Felix’s demand (booked out), and why the real judge is the dining room.
The to-go pivot: pasta kits in 48 hours and staying alive through adaptation
They describe how Felix rapidly became a takeout/delivery operation without being set up for it. Pasta kits, instructions, and packaged proteins became a new revenue stream—and unexpectedly highlighted Felix’s pizza too.
Steak ‘voodoo’: violent heat, wood-fire technique, sourcing, and terroir
Joe presses Evan on the ‘best steak’ he’s ever had, leading to a deep dive on technique and sourcing. Evan explains high-heat intervals, resting, T-bone vertical-on-the-bone cooking, wood choices (almond and oak), and how terroir applies to vegetables and meat.
