Joe Rogan Experience #1487 - Janet Zuccarini & Evan Funke
Joe Rogan (host), Janet Zuccarini (guest), Evan Funke (guest), Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Janet Zuccarini, Joe Rogan Experience #1487 - Janet Zuccarini & Evan Funke explores elite LA restaurateurs confront pandemic chaos, passion, and survival Joe Rogan talks with restaurateur Janet Zuccarini and chef Evan Funke about running their acclaimed LA restaurant Felix during the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent protests/riots.
Elite LA restaurateurs confront pandemic chaos, passion, and survival
Joe Rogan talks with restaurateur Janet Zuccarini and chef Evan Funke about running their acclaimed LA restaurant Felix during the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent protests/riots.
They detail the financial fragility of the restaurant industry, constantly shifting regulations, and the scramble to pivot to takeout while negotiating with landlords and banks.
The conversation also dives deeply into Evan’s craft of handmade pasta, ingredient sourcing, fire cooking, and the philosophy behind authenticity in Italian cuisine.
They close by reflecting on broader societal breakdowns—from policing to government leadership—while insisting on remaining optimistic and adaptive in order to survive.
Key Takeaways
Restaurant economics are fragile, even for successful operations.
National average profit margins are around 4%, many restaurants have less than a month of cash, and COVID-19 exposed how quickly even acclaimed spots can be pushed toward closure when revenue drops to zero.
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Survival requires rapid adaptation, not waiting for normal to return.
Felix reinvented itself as a takeout-and-kit operation in 48 hours, created at-home pasta and steak kits with detailed instructions, and aggressively renegotiated leases and construction timelines to stay alive.
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Regulations are complex, inconsistent, and often unclear for operators.
Janet describes wading through overlapping state, county, and city rules—17+ page health documents with vague language like “consider” and unrealistic requirements—while receiving almost no warning about reopening timelines.
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True culinary craft demands long apprenticeships and restraint.
Evan spent months in Italy making pasta 10 hours a day, values traditional, minimally manipulated cooking over flashy techniques, and believes consistency and deep repetition are what separate great chefs from trend-chasing cooks.
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Ingredient quality and terroir are as critical as chef technique.
Felix imports specific Italian flours, sources vegetables from multiple microclimates, and uses particular wood combinations for grilling; Evan argues 90% of cooking is the ingredient, 10% is technique, and the chef’s job is often “not to screw it up.”
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Leadership in restaurants is as much about people as food.
Both guests and staff are treated like family: Evan talks about acting as a father figure to employees, bailing people out of jail, and training staff to diffuse difficult guests by listening instead of taking things personally.
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Crisis is accelerating a shakeout and a generational reset.
Janet predicts many new, undercapitalized, or already-struggling restaurants will close permanently, opening cheaper leases for younger operators and effectively creating a “survival of the fittest” restructuring of the industry.
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Notable Quotes
“This business has always been disgusting. And if you don’t love this business to the core, it’s fucking terrible.”
— Evan Funke
“Food cannot taste better.”
— Janet Zuccarini (to Evan, after first tasting his cooking)
“Ninety percent of cooking is ingredients, ten percent is technique.”
— Evan Funke
“The pandemic really showed the inherent weakness of this industry that we run on razor-thin profit margins.”
— Janet Zuccarini
“There is no restaurant life without restaurant death.”
— Evan Funke
Questions Answered in This Episode
How should governments redesign relief and regulation specifically for the economic realities of independent restaurants?
Joe Rogan talks with restaurateur Janet Zuccarini and chef Evan Funke about running their acclaimed LA restaurant Felix during the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent protests/riots.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What’s the right balance between honoring culinary tradition and innovating new dishes in a post-pandemic dining world?
They detail the financial fragility of the restaurant industry, constantly shifting regulations, and the scramble to pivot to takeout while negotiating with landlords and banks.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How can diners better support restaurants in ways that go beyond simply buying food—e.g., understanding pricing, tipping, and takeout choices?
The conversation also dives deeply into Evan’s craft of handmade pasta, ingredient sourcing, fire cooking, and the philosophy behind authenticity in Italian cuisine.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Will the shift to at-home meal kits and elevated takeout permanently change what guests expect from top-tier restaurants?
They close by reflecting on broader societal breakdowns—from policing to government leadership—while insisting on remaining optimistic and adaptive in order to survive.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What lessons from the restaurant world’s crisis response could apply to other fragile, high-touch industries like live entertainment or retail?
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Transcript Preview
Da-da-da and we're rolling. Janet, Evan, what's up?
Joe.
Hey.
How are you guys? Good to see you.
Nice to see you.
Good to see you.
Strange times.
The weirdest times ever.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
But Felix is still intact. The restaurant's there.
We're still here.
We will survive.
Yeah. We were talking about restaurants that have been just destroyed-
Yeah.
... over the rioting and the looting and the chaos. And you guys, you got lucky. You dodged a bullet.
We did.
Very happy to hear that.
Well, I think Abbot Kinney got a bit of warning and all of Abbot Kinney boarded up and so we boarded up and the National Guard is still there today.
(laughs) What the fuck? (laughs) So strange.
It's so wild.
It does, it doesn't make any sense. Like if you told me that something happened in LA and people were rioting, I'd be like, "Well, if it happened in LA, it kind of makes sense that people are upset." And then you said, "But they're smashing businesses and, and, and destroying restaurants and destroying small stores and family-owned businesses." I'd be like, "Well, wait, why? Why are they doing that?" Like there's no rhyme or reason to this.
It doesn't make any sense.
Well-
I, I understand-
Yeah.
... why people are pissed.
Put that fucker up there. Evan, come on. We're just talking about it.
Evan.
How's my level?
(laughs)
(laughs)
You're good.
Good? Better? All right.
Yeah, it's uh, I mean, it is what it is. There's nothing we can do about it now, right? It is-
Well, but I also think there's been, you know, thousands and thousands of peaceful protestors-
Yes.
... out there. So th- and the press is really not focusing on all the peaceful protests, which is our right to protest.
Mm-hmm.
And there's gonna be, you know, a, a bad apple everywhere and then you're gonna get, you know, hundreds of people that... And I think you were, you were saying, uh, you know, on your la- last podcast, it's a bunch of young people that don't know where... Yeah, where's your iPhone made, where are you gonna get your shoes made from? And they're not thinking about that. They're just thinking free running shoes-
Yeah.
... and this is fun and we've been locked up and like, let's get out there.
Yeah, for 10 weeks-
Yeah.
... they've been in their house watching TV.
It's the perfect storm of cr- of craziness, right?
Yeah.
A disease we thought was gonna kill everybody and then so everybody shuts down. Then it turns out it doesn't really kill nearly as many people as we thought, but we still have to be shut down. And then like, "When do we get to go back to work?" And then all of a sudden, "Hey, you guys can open up." Like you guys got no warning.
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