I know how old hat it is to say that Charlie Rose is a terrible interviewer, but it almost seems as if he's getting worse with every passing year.Last night he had Tom Colicchio on his program. And, at first, I thought he was an excellent choice for Rose's program.
Not because of Colicchio's genius in the kitchen -- or because of Top Chef. It was an inspired choice because Colicchio has been one of the few New York chefs who has been really out in front of the financial crisis (with the addition of Halfsteak to Craftsteak, and the frugal fridays at Craft).
As one of the smartest and most articulate players in the food business (who actually still runs a business, day to day) I would have really liked to get Colicchio's take on how the restaurant business (particularly the NYC market) has been affected by the economic downturn. Clearly, the restaurant scene is never going to be the same. Restaurants are drowning.
So... how are they coping? Who is going to survive? How are costs being kept down? Are the behemoths of the business (the Batallis, the Flays, etc.) in serious trouble? What about the little guys?
But the big question for a guy like Colicchio (who made his name on a return to simplicity) was, will there be a mass return to the basics? Will the gaudy dining experiences of the last few years give way to more sane restaurants (at better prices)?
These are all very, very basic questions. (And the answers to most of these are, obviously, "Of course everybody's in trouble" ... but then most pros would just let Colicchio expound.) Rose did not ask a single one.
Instead, he treated this interview like it was 2006 -- "Who is your greatest influence?" and "How did you fall in love with food?" kind of questions.
Dude -- the general public knows Tom Colicchio. He's super famous. I might ask those sorts of questions for a longer piece (or in general background), but at this particular moment, Colicchio might have some extremely illuminating stuff to say.
It was a waste of everybody's time.
