The Grey Believes in Full Albums, Jazz, and Ambient Sounds

1. When you shift from the chaos of dinner service to cooking at home, what song helps you reset?

Johno Morisano: “Romeo and Juliet” from Dire Straits’ album, “Making Movies.”

2. If you could DJ a party with only songs that shaped your career as a chef, what three tracks would never leave the setlist?

Mashama Bailey: I’d do a Rakim/Ruck-type song, something very old school; I’d do a Beyoncé song; I’d do Wu-Tang “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)”; and I’d probably do a Mary J. Blige song from the “Drama” era.

3. What’s your approach to the music program in your restaurant?

JM: I build playlists that span the music genres that have been important to me. Rock, soul, hip-hop, Motown, belters, country, et cetera, but also different eras of music: swing, British Invasions 1 & 2, West Coast rap heyday, grunge, et cetera.

MB: I really like Aretha Franklin in a restaurant. I like Chaka Khan. I like that cool, soulful voice.

Follow-up question: When you open a restaurant — in Paris or elsewhere — do you think about music from the very beginning? Do you get the staff involved?

MB: We usually start with Johno — he has the bandwidth to make the set lists. Then it expands to the staff, and the staff informs and enforces the music in the space. In Paris, we listened to a lot of R&B and old-school — Diana Ross, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding. In the morning, it’s that softer, women-in-the-morning vibe; in the evening, it switches to classic rock, sometimes to ’90s R&B. A lot of American music is being played in Paris restaurants right now.

4. Do you believe certain ingredients “sound” a certain way?

MB: Definitely ambient sound. I think onions sizzling, or searing a piece of meat, is musically related. And there’s the clanging of spoons and tongs — it adds percussion and rhythm. You get into a rhythm with how fast things are searing versus how fast you’re chopping or stirring — it becomes a dance in the kitchen.

5. What was your first live music show or concert that you attended?

JM: A Flock of Seagulls.

MB: New Edition at Madison Square Garden. Then I saw Roy Ayers not long after. I also saw Diana Ross pretty young.

6. What is the one dish on your current menu that feels like a perfect song — timeless, balanced, and hard to improve?

MB: Chicken Country Captain. I don’t know how or why that dish fell into my orbit, but it did. I never get tired of it and I never want to change it. It’s a melting-pot dish — okra, eggplant, curry, served over rice — and it ties back to what the group represents and what I represent. It comes and goes, but it’s basically always on.

7. What genre of music would you compare your cooking style to?

JM: Guitar rock.

MB: Jazz. It’s interpretive, not straight-up narrative cooking, and not straight-up soul food — it’s a nice melting. So, jazz.

8. Podcasts or music in the gym?

JM: Music.

MB: I used to be music, and now I’m getting into podcasts.

9. Catching up with an old friend at a restaurant, do you choose karaoke, a vinyl bar, or a piano bar?

JM: Piano bar.

MB: Neither … probably a vinyl bar.

10. What’s your one wish for music in restaurants?

MB: I wish people played whole albums — just play the entire album.

JM: That it contributes and doesn’t distract.

11. If your cooking career had liner notes, what would the hidden track be?

MB: People might be surprised — I’ve been listening to Leon Bridges. I like his first album more. The second I use as background; it’s more contemporary/jazzy but not as emotional.

12. What pantry items — and vinyl albums — would you bring on a desert island?

MB: Vinyl albums: Stevie Wonder (“Songs in the Key of Life” vibe), DeBarge, Al Green’s “Greatest Hits.” Pantry: Salt, pepper, cornmeal, paprika.

JM: EVOO, Martin’s hot sauce, anchovies, De Cecco pasta, “Nebraska” (Bruce), “Making Movies” (Dire Straits), “Tapestry” (Carole King), and “Straight Outta Compton” (N.W.A.).

13. Digital, vinyl, CD, or cassettes?

JM: Vinyl.

MB: A decent amount of CDs and a good amount of vinyl — probably more CDs than vinyl.

14. What do you value most in restaurants?

MB: The people — the staff.

JM: Complete experiences.

15. If you could eat through a city for a day, where would you go?

JM: Tokyo.

MB: New York.

16. What’s your favorite place to get a pizza in your city?

JM: NYC: Lombardi’s. Savannah: Vittoria. Paris: Oobatz

MB: Savannah: Vittoria Pizzeria. I don’t have a favorite pizza place in Paris yet — there’s a spot everyone is talking about and I need to go.

17. Favorite cookbook?

JM: Anything by Lidia Bastianich.

18. Favorite music video?

JM: “Money for Nothing.”

19. Your ideal dinner party guest, dead or alive (must be a music person)?

JM: Bruce Springsteen.

20. The one thing you can’t resist splurging on when you go out?

JM: Wine.

MB: A really good cocktail — I’ll pay $20-$22 for a good one. I get cheap about wine, so I like when other people buy the bottle. I’ll also splurge on an expensive starter because that’s where the interesting components are, and it’s what I remember most.