Despite being one of the most celebrated chefs in the world—and hanging out with Anthony Bourdain—Eric Ripert still has a recurring nightmare. It involves his former boss, the legendary Joël Robuchon. When I interviewed Ripert last month for the Washington Free Beacon, we chatted at length about his recent memoir, 32 Yolks, his philosophy behind Le Bernardin (three Michelin stars, four New York Times stars), and his experience working for Robuchon in Paris.

“Violence was in many ways everywhere [including the kitchen]. But Robuchon was not like that,” said Ripert of his time at Jamin in the early 1980s. “At the same time he dealt with a bunch of 20-25 kids, my age and older, but like in their mid-20s at max, and he was trying to create discipline and an environment that was basically a good environment to create the most perfect food you can create.”