Q&A with Doug Anderson

Well, that’s the book on you—the hunt is exciting, and then you get bored, and you bail.
I don’t think that’s true, and I’m not going to comment on why the businesses aren’t around anymore. I think there is an element of truth that when you get older, you start to believe your own bulls**t. And you start making a lot of mistakes. You start to think what you’re doing is interesting or fascinating or relevant or commercially viable, and then you find that it’s maybe not the case.

So that was your bad?
Well, I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to talk about it. I just won’t. But I think everybody does the same thing: Everybody is engaged in believing their own bulls**t. But I would say that that charge against me—that I lose interest after a couple of years—is absolute bulls**t. Untrue. There are things that I’ve maintained my interest in for decades now. They haven’t changed an awful lot. I hate to admit it, but they haven’t expanded an awful lot. The music I like or the literature I read or the paintings or the films I like. I think that the rap on me and commitment, it doesn’t bother me if somebody says it. Frankly, I don’t give a f**k, but I don’t think it’s true.

Have you learned anything from your last two closings that are applicable?
Of course. Just listen to people, and watch people constantly. See if they’re happy and if you’re giving them what they want. A lot of it has to do with quitting drinking.

Are your taste buds shot since you quit drinking?
They’re probably better now. My drink of choice was always inexpensive red wine, and all I tasted was red wine and cigarettes for years. Whiskey and red wine, depending on the day and my mood. And when I was younger, [I] took everything except LSD, and that was only because I hated hippies so much. But I started feeling paranoid and frightened of everything.

How long have you been clean?
Two-and-half years. You get infatuated with that s**t, but then you get bored. And having kids obviously made it too dangerous.

When this place opened, why were you telling everybody in the press that you were just a waiter and you were concentrating on playing guitar in your band?
Well, I pretty much am just a waiter here. I love the door now because business is going well enough that it takes more than one person at the door. I am an employee, and I’m completely committed to this restaurant and to doing whatever I can do to make it a better restaurant. So yeah, I can’t help thinking about it. I do the music, of course, and I had a lot to do with what this restaurant turned into. But this is my wife and Steve’s place. And I mean, look at me, what else am I going to do? Who else am I going to work for? Who else will listen to me if I tell them I’m playing Suicide at 8:30 on a f**king Wednesday night? Nobody else would listen to me, so I’m not going anywhere.