$10,000 bottles of wine! 15 hour workdays! All-night cocaine benders! Psychotic head chefs! It's Season 4 of Tales of Taboo!

This week, we're exploring the high-octane world of high-end dining: the kinds of establishments that (literally) inspire books like Sweetbitter and movies like The Menu, where reservations are impossible and Chef is spelled with a capital C.

I kick us off by telling MY most absurd tales as a diner in fancy restaurants: a college friend's outpatient rehab in Chicago, the development of a weird friendship with a 69 year old British man, doing edibles with famous restauranteurs at the Beatrice Inn...

Then (starting at 11:43), we hear from current and former employees on the other side. In New York, confessors include the former events manager at a 3 Michelin star restaurant in Flatiron, a former waitress at another 3 Michelin star restaurant in Midtown, a former hostess at The Standard and Bowery Hotel's restaurants + The Waverly Inn, a former champagne slinger for a downtown cocktail group, and a line cook at a Lower East Side restaurant owned by a very young celebrity chef. In London, confessors include the former sommelier at Daniel Humm's Davies and Brook + another unnamed 2 Michelin star establishment, and a former waitress at two different Michelin star restaurants in Mayfair and Shoreditch. Elsewhere in Europe, a former assistant manager tells tales about an abusive executive chef at a Japanese Michelin star spot that was the first in its country.

Fine dining is controversial and divisive. It's glamorous escapism with a very grim underbelly; a way to create community, yet isolate a huge number of people who cannot afford it; facilitate artistic expression and pump pretentious bullshit. These nuances are why this world is so taboo - and enticing - and deserves to be discussed. Welcome back.

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Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Audio production by Isabel McMahon & WTF Media. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro. GOT A SECRET TO GET OFF YOUR CHEST? Share your own confession - or thoughts and feedback - at [email protected].