Chrissy Teigen Recalls “Terrifying” Experience During First Time Taking John Legend to a Fancy Dinner

Chrissy Teigen, David Chang and Joel Kim Booster dropped by The Hollywood Reporter‘s studio during the Sundance Film Festival, where they discussed their new food series, Chrissy & Dave Dine Out. 

While Teigen and Chang have an extensive background in the culinary industry, as Teigen is a best-selling cookbook author and Chang is one of the nation’s most recognizable restaurateurs, Booster was the only one of the trio who did not share a passion for food prior to the series. 

“Part of the role that I sort of fell into was as audience surrogate because I don’t have a background in food. I don’t have a super developed palate. I didn’t have a huge interest in food,” the actor-comedian explained to THR. “I grew up really poor. We didn’t go out to eat a lot. We had very humble meals at home, and we’ve talked a lot about that, and I learned a lot through this show.” 

Booster shared that even after achieving fame and being able to afford to eat at nice restaurants, he “was always really intimidated” to do so. During his time filming Chrissy & Dave Dine Out, Booster had his first-ever fancy meal at Michelin-star restaurant Providence. 

Teigen said that seeing Booster’s palate “open up” while having his first tasting menu was a special moment for her as well. “It was really cool to be able to see somebody experience something like that for the first time where so much love goes into their whatever eight plates.… It’s really cool getting to witness that,” she said.

Chang had a similar reaction to seeing Booster’s appreciation for food grow. “For me, it was also awesome just to see this part of your life that was not activated now [be] part of your life,” the chef told his co-star. 

Teigen recalled feeling just as new to fine dining as Booster during her first time at a fancy restaurant. “I took John [Legend] to Jean-Georges when I was 20 years old, and I remember the margarita that he ordered was $58,” she said. “I was just blown away when it came out. It came out on a little dish and had little salts and everything.” 

Though it was Teigen’s decision to take now-husband Legend to the New York City restaurant, she was concerned it would go awry. “My heart broke because I knew then that my card would probably decline,” she admitted. “I ended up going to the bank and getting cash because I was so, so scared that it would decline, so I ended up getting out like $800 cash. Our meal there was beautiful and wonderful, but the fear that went into having it…oh my God, I’ll never forget that feeling in my entire life. It was terrifying.” 

With Chrissy & Dave Dine Out premiering Jan. 24, the cast are thinking about their next goals for the year. For Teigen, her priority lies in balancing self-care while raising her four children. “I want to take care of myself so that I can wake up and not have regrets of missing out on something they did,” she said. “The physical time is something, but mentally it’s a lot. And I have a little girl that’s about to walk. I have a boy that’s just a mush that does nothing. I have another boy that’s so into sports and a girl that is just absolute perfection in a girl form. And to divide your time and your brain space for them is really difficult.” 

Chang mentioned having similar goals as a father of two, desiring to spend more time at home. “I’ve got two young boys, and the past year was a lot more travel, a lot more work on the road. And I sort of got used to staying home [before that]. So I’d like to figure out how I could work and be home.” 

As for Booster, he has a very specific goal in mind: “I’d like to be engaged [to boyfriend John-Michael Sudsina] by the end of the year. He’s not going to watch this. He’s not online at all, so I feel safe saying it!” 

Watch the interview in full above. THR’s studio during the Sundance Film Festival is sponsored by Heineken, Hyundai, Bogner and SIXT.