The North End's Wicked Craft Co.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome to Cindy Stumpo Toughest Nails on WBZ, and
I'm here tonight with Sammy and I'm also here with
the owner of Wicked Craft Company.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Right, that's correct.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
What your name?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
My name's Steve, Steve Bisson. I'm the owner and operator,
so I run Wicked Craft as the general manager as well.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Okay, what is wicked Craft, Buddy.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Wicked Craft is it's Kraft Cocktails, craft beer, and all
the food comes out beautifully presented and crafted. But the
wicked is everything we do is kind of over the top,
very big, big day party brunches Saturday and Sunday. All
the food and all the drinks are presented, and there's
a lot of lights and energy inside the place, so
a big atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
So what is it a restaurant, bar, restaurant?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I would call it a lounge. It's definitely a restaurant,
you know, five to nine and then nine o'clock. Turn
the week we turned the lights down and the music up.
And on the weekends Saturday brunch and Sunday brunch, the
music's up immediately. A lot of energy, but great kind
of more breakfast style food. So it's kind of a lounge.
I would call it a little bit of a mix

(01:00):
between kind of bar and restaurant.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
And the location is we.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Have fifty four Salem Street, very first restaurant on Salem
Street in the North End, next to Chase Bank.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
So now let me ask you a question. Did you
grow up down the North End or do you just
pick that location?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I did not grow up in the North End.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I grew up you know of Italian? Are you telling?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm a little bit of a mix of everything, so
small percentage Italian, not enough to call myself Italian.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Though, Okay, so we can't give you enough of that,
but it's okay.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I grew up just south of the city Deadam Westwood line.
But I've been working in the city close to the
last ten years.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So you're a dead and Westwood boy on the border.
So were joined up at school.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I went to Saverian Brothers.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Fortunate enough to go Severian and.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
My father went there to forced me to go. He
said that kind of changed his life, and he was
adamant that I go, whether I liked it or not,
so it ultimately I did. I met some of my
best friends, I learned a lot, and yeah, I can't complain.
I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
So okay, and you're how old now?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
I just turned thirty in February.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Wow, year old and this is your first restaurant.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's my first restaurant.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, and you opened it how long ago?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
December seventh to twenty twenty one. We just celebrated three
years you.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Opened the congratulations right, So you opened up right in.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
COVID coming out of it and I time, did I
think perfectly? We got a couple months of restrictions.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's still the out you had the
outdoor seating and all that.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
We got that the first year and they did not
give that to us again in the north.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeahsho yeah. Christian Silvestri, all those guys, do you have
a restaurant background.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
It's a funny story. I kind of did everything, you know, reverse,
instead of getting all the experience first, I got a
lot of education. Was fortunate enough to get my undergraduate
degree at Loyal University in PR and advertising. I minored
in marketing, and then I came back home and I
wanted to get my master's degree and I went to
Berkeley's Business program in Valencia, Spain, and got a degree

(02:49):
in Global Entertainment and music business, so I kind of
thought I wanted to manage artists. I'm very passionate about
music and entertaining and bringing people together, and I thought
that that was kind of where my career path lied.
But I came back from that and realized that the
live space is more where my you know, passion lies.
Growing up, I was always organizing parties in high school

(03:12):
and college, making sure we had big speakers and a
good guy to grow ratio and people were going to
show up. And I really get a lot of enjoyment
of off of seeing people having fun and enjoying kind
of an atmosphere together. And so I realized that instead
of just music, kind of the whole scene of creating
a space was where my true passion lied. So I

(03:33):
actually hadn't worked in the restaurant industry until after I
came back from getting my master's degree, and so my
first kind of step into the entertainment and nightlife and
hospitality industry was I took a job in security. Because
I had no experience, nobody would nobody would hire me.

(03:55):
So I went to an open house job fair for
a big night entertainment group at the Grant and I
went in there looking for a management position. They didn't
have any available at the time, but I also didn't
have any experience, so I took a job in security.
But they said they liked my enthusiasm and they said,
after six months, you can become eligible for our manager

(04:16):
and training program. And that's what I intended to do.
I told him that and I took the job. So
the one thing about security is that was the first
kind of step. You do a lot of watching. You're
looking at people and you're paying attention, and so I
was there to learn. I watched all the managers. I
watched you know, the security managers, the nightlife floor managers.
I was just paying attention to everybody as much as

(04:37):
I could, and that was kind of a good foundation
for me. I went on to get more experienced later,
but that was kind of the first step.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
So, but you threw yourself right in. Yeah, I liked it.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
I learned like that. Yeah, I learned exactly what you
just explained. That's how I like to learn. Just jump
in and do it. Yeah, knowledge creates action, Action creates
more knowledge. Action, knowledge knowledge action. That's what you did.
So that was my chance so you added. Now my
son said, Mom, I need you to have Steve on
your show. You need But by every time he's there,

(05:10):
he comes back with like, his place is so cool,
but come with me, Come have dinner with me down there.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so tired. I'm
so tired. Right And as you know, we're at a
studio on a Saturay night many nights, right, So, but
he loves it. Sam, have you been in there yet?
I have not, so we need to get Sam in there.

(05:31):
But Sammy, you not. You don't really go down the
northing very much, do you not?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Really?

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Now? Why is that? Being an Italian girl with one
hundred percent Italian dad?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Usually because there's never just like three or four of
us that want to go somewhere. Usually there's ten to
fifteen of us. So it's not the easiest to get
for all of us to eat together like that.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Really. Yeah, even if you call Frankie and say.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
I don't like to do that unless it's someone's birthday
or something like that, I'm not.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Going to do that.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
And how many people does your restaurant hold?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Capacity? Is forty nine? As many restaurants in the North End.
It's a small, smaller restaurant, but we've done an awful
lot with it. So it's do.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
You want to make that You want to make the
restaurant bigger, or you content with that right now in
that location.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
We're in the process of trying to get the money together.
I got a small loan, but we're looking for other
investors to open up a new concept. I have the location.
I can't tell you too much about exactly where it is,
but it's a good location. It's a very very good location,
and looking to do something about two and a half
times the size. I think going too big is not good,
but something a little bit bigger. We aut grew the

(06:33):
forty nine seats pretty quick, so something little.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Filling those forty nine tables.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
All the time, not all the time. You know, you
have those nine seats, forty nine seats in the restaurant. Okay,
I would love forty nine tables, but you know, you
have your slow days. But you know, for the most part,
we're we're we're busy. So and I like, what's your food?
I'll tell you no, Actually, we wanted to be something different.
So all the other options in the North End are Italian.

(06:59):
We want to do something opposite, so it's more like
New American cuisine, big emphasis on the cocktails instead of
the wine program. And it kind of started as to
be a kind of a beer garden. That was the first.
That was the idea. And there's a lot of plants
in the place, so that was.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Kind of the word coming for the liquor the food.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
They're coming in for both, absolutely coming in for both.
But it started as kind of a beer place instead
of a wine place in the North End, and it
very quickly had the cocktails come over. That's the most
popular thing. But we have phenomenal food as well.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
So so give me, like, what what's a dish? Which
the most popular dish there?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
I mean, we have we have a little bit of everything,
but the very popular dishes for dinner are we have
a Tarioki glaze salmon that's very popular, you know, sirloin
steak for brunch, the chicken and waffles. We only do
brunch to two times a week, but the chicken and
waffles outsells all of our dinner items. And we're we're open,
you know five days.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
You ever had chicken and waffles?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
No, what is so good that was my chef's idea,
so I got to give him chicken and waffles.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
It's the thing you see more down South than you
see it up here. But like it's literally like like
fried chicken on top of waffles.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
It is so good, sounds like crazy, and then you
put your syrup on top of it. Okay, it sells
so all right, Well someone will pick it up and
bring into my house, will be okay.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's all weekends, weekends, Saturday and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
So now you've got another business plan that you're working
on and you're trying to raise investors.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Working on it, the meeting with some people. I'm supposed
to talk to some people after I leave here today.
You know, it's been kind of a slow and steady process,
but we're moving in a good direction. When I open
Wicked Craft, the entry investment was very low because the
pandemic was, you know, in full swing, and everybody was
desperate to sell their liquor licenses. We got a big

(08:44):
discount on the liquor license. No one wanted to open
a restaurant, so we negotiated and you know, next to
free rent and if you ask me, and.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Now now hold that thought for one minute, I'm Sody
stumping you listen to Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio
ten thirty. It'll be right back and welcome back to
City Stumbo Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. Okay,
let's keep going.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
So the entry you know, the amount of money it
costs to open a restaurant coming out of the pandemic.
You know, it's not the same things are back. So
I was fortunate to have a very low entry cost
on the first to choose. Then, well, that was my opportunity,
you know. I saw that, and I spent the pandemic
kind of getting the money together and looking at locations
and filling my lack of experience gaps. But I knew

(09:27):
that that was the right time.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
So I took it. Were your parents behind you?

Speaker 2 (09:32):
My family's very supportive. I mean, the most supportive thing
that they've done is give me an education and advice
for the most part. But they've contributed in ways that
they can. But it's been a lot of people that
know me supporting me, a lot of you know friends.
I haven't had anything to show until now, so the
only people that would invest are people that knew me
and kind of believed in me, and now we have

(09:55):
kind of numbers and things that.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, now you can back up exactly exactly now you
have walked the walk. Yeah, so now you can talk
the talk. You need that, right, you have to have
that behind you. So it's an easier for the second
race on the new place.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Still still challenging, but we're working. We're working on it.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
It is I mean, we've just had some crazy market
of course. Yeah, so like it's like everybody's been like
whoo so when anything starts coming down. But I do
have a question off the record for both you guys.
Did I hear that they finally have opened up a
country music bar in Boston? Is that a story?

Speaker 2 (10:35):
I know they have what's the name of the place,
Nash Bar downtown, but I don't know if there's another one.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
You're thinking of line dancing and all that.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
So that's in Fenway and it's like a certain night
of the week maybe Loretto's.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, So it's not really like Charlie walk said that
he just opened up one. I was just wondering if
Boston not like.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well, I mean there's I mean maybe, but I wouldn't
really consider how about the moon country.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
I try and stay very very on top of what's opening,
and I take the team to go check any new
places out and I haven't heard of anything recently, at least.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
How did you build your team?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
How I built my team? I think the most important
part of it starts with my chef, Danny. His real
name's Gaetano. He's Italian, but everybody calls him Danny Danny
de Simoni. And I was very, very fortunate to get
connected with him. Early on, we were struggling to find
a legitimate chef. You should have seen the people that
were coming in for interviews. Who wants to work? You know,

(11:31):
I'm opening a new restaurant and it's heard of me.
But I found his resume online and gave him a call,
and he called me back and he came in, and
I was very impressed. He owned a restaurant for twenty
three years, LaVita, Mia and Saugus, and it only closed
down because of the pandemic. And my only opportunity was
to open because of the pandemic. And we just connected
at the right time. And he's been with me since
day one and still with me now, and he's done

(11:53):
a lot for me, and I consider him not only
a talented chef, but a great friend, and he's got
a lot of ideas beyond just the food. He suggested
we put the tree. I got a tree in the
middle of the restaurant and we were trying to think
of what to do with that space there, and that
was his idea. So he's been a big, big part
of the place and had my back through a lot
of ups and downs and people coming and going. So

(12:13):
that was the first one. And my bar manager, Katerina Januzzi,
she was a friend of mine before she came to
work there, and I try and not have friends work
for me at all. It's you know, not a good
thing and it can get complicated. But you know, it
would have been a mistake not to have her in there.
She's very, very talented, she's young, she's a smart, you know,
young female who understands our market. We've got a lot

(12:34):
of women who come in there, and she's a huge
asset to the team, and you know, I just decided
that it would have it would have been more of
a mistake not to bring her in than to bring
her in. So really the two of them have kind
of been the backbone with me of the place, and
they've been with me. Danny's been with me for almost
four years and everyone calls her CJ. But Katerina, she's
been with me, I think for close to three years now.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
You think you got a big personality me, yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Ah, I like to make it about the business, so
I don't know. I wouldn't say that I have a
big personality.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
So when you're in the restaurant and you talking to people,
you hang in, you stay. You know, I've got friends
on many restaurants down there, right, and they're very engaged
with the clients. They've built their clientele, same face as,
same people. And it's always been like that down the
North End. Once you have your favorite restaurant, that's where
you go.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
It was like that forever and it's still like that.
So if I like your personality, i'd be in your restaurant.
I liked your personalit. I went to your restaurant, right, absolutely.
I didn't like anybody's personally, like the Daily Catch, But
because I like the fry klamari so good so much,
I didn't care about anybody's personal because the only place
I was going to get my fried calamari.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Right, It's great if you can have both, though, and
I try and always make it about the business. You know,
I don't want to especially trying to expand you don't
want everyone to think, oh, wicked Craft is just Steve
Steve Steve. I wanted to be able to, you know,
survive and last after we move on from there. But
I am always there. The thing is, I'm not hanging
around drinking. I'm working. I run it as a general manager,
so I socialize with people, but in between helping people

(13:59):
clear tables and eating people at the door, I hosted
for the first year, and I did. I worked security,
basically checking IDs on the weekend and stuff, just because
we weren't necessarily busy enough to need anybody else. And
you know, when you're building it, you want to make
sure everything goes perfect. So I was the only one
I trusted to be up there. But as we grew,
I've hired other people, but I still stay very, very involved.
Maybe I'll have a drink Sunday Sunday night after brunch,

(14:21):
you know, that's it.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
But other other than that, you know, opening in the restaurant,
were you drinking and partying and then did you open
the restaurant and say I'm not drinking a party. I
got a business to run.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Well.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
I touched not to be drinking and partying when I
even when I would go out when I was when
I was getting my mat, I would go out to
check out these clubs and rest get inspired. I'm really
you know, I love an atmosphere. You have to have
good for drinks, you have to have good service port
and that's what people see, That's what people are going
to see. When so I liked we go to the clubs.
I was there kind of just checking out the atmosphere,
and of course I'd have a drink, but I wasn't.

(14:52):
It wasn't about partying, you know. I just enjoyed being
in the spaces and I got a lot of you know,
enjoyment from that. So I never I would never say
I was, you know, partying, But I love the energy
and the atmosphere that the clubs and the bars and
the restaurants create.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
So so, what was it like in your own head?
Like basically breaking into the North End as like the
new guy that is an Italian.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh, good question, Sammy, I like that one.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I came in very respectfully, you know, with my head down.
I tried to meet as many people as I could.
We bought the liquor license from Damien, who owns Carmelina's
on Hanover Street, and so you know, I just always
was very respectful and came in there to just do
something that I thought was needed in the North End,
an alternative, something different. Wasn't really trying to compete with anybody,

(15:39):
and met no disrespect. But I've always just been focused
on doing a good job. And a lot of people
early on might have said, oh, I don't know if
they're bringing the right crowd in here. We got the
music up and all that, but we don't have any
problems over there. I think we've we've shown, you know,
over the years that so let.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Me ask this question. Sure was the Frankies and all
the other guys. Were they welcoming to you guys or
they were like, okay, we don't know who this kid is.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
They came by and said hello before we open. Whether
that was a welcome or a warning.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
The warning days of going, but so they did come in,
they said welcome and what we wish you the best and.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
They stopped They stopped by outside early on, but yeah,
they never saw it finished. So they're welcome in anytime,
of course.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
But no one's that the competition hasn't com really come in.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Well, I've had a lot of different restaurant owners and
people stop by down from the North End. Yeah yeah,
but you know, you know Christian from I know Christian. Yeah,
he's been in a lot. A couple other other people
have stopped by.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
But that's a good thing. Christian comes in, he says, Hi,
frank he's so busy down there. He's got how many
restaurants he's dealing. Frankie's a very very good friend of
my very close friend. But he's going one hundred miles now.
He's that guy is just never going to stop. He's
he's got his big culinary school that he has. He's
you know, he's just he's he's just unbelievable. Like he said,

(17:01):
he's going to heaven because he's going to be the
doormain of heaven and he's going to throw his pockets up.
That's how he's started as a dormant. And when you
see that, right, he's that as a club owner, as
a dormant, as a club owner. Look at where he
is today, right, very very inspiring. Correct, And that's how
you should look at a guy like that that, you know,
if this is your form of what you want to

(17:21):
do for your living and own restaurants and keep growing them.
But if this Witchcraft has got this thing to it,
I'm wicked Witchcraft. I'm sorry, Wicked Craft. Why would you
stay with that brand and keep opening up more?

Speaker 2 (17:37):
So? That is absolutely the plan. That's the wicked Craft Company.
I think that we could do more of those. It's
very New England. But I think what the city of
Boston needs more urgently is a different concept, and it's
the idea that I have and that we want to
open next. It doesn't need another wicked Craft right now.
We want to do a little bit of step above.
So Wicked Craft, I tell everybody it's a fun place,

(17:59):
not a fancy place. We're looking to do something a
little more high end. I don't want to say too much,
but something a little more high end. Go after a
little bit of an older market, you know, thirty to
sixty five wicket crafts, really you know twenty one to
forty forty five. Want to do something elevated, and I
think that the city desperately needs that and needs it.
It's soon, So I want to do that first, and
then I'm very open to doing more Wicked Crafts.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
So you want to change your demographics of age, I.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Think we want to. I think I want to create
something that we'll have some crossover. But you go to
certain places, different days for different occasions, right, I think
we want to do something a little bit higher end,
lower the music a little bit, and attract an older
audience in a different part of town.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Well, that thought we're going to break. I'm city stumping you.
Listen to Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio, and welcome
to Toughest Nails. I'm City Stumpo, and I'm here with
Sammy and I'm here with.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Who Steve Bisan.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Okay, we're gonna put a Sony as your ask name
on the show.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
To be as in Boston isso n okay, So go
ahead that in so looking to do something higher end,
you know, I think people talk about Wicked craft they
talk about you know, really good places, is feeling like
it has a Miami vibe or New York vibe. I
think what they mean when they say that is not
necessarily Miami or New York, but the level of you know,

(19:13):
kind of energy, experience and the energy in the atmosphere,
the level is at a different level. It doesn't feel
like Boston. There's a lot of great places in Boston.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
There's to be a lot of more great places that
don't exist.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Anymore, and I think, and I think they need something
new and fresh. And you know, Boston's a major city
for education and healthcare, and I don't know why it's
not more of a stop for entertainment and dying. And
I think that needs to change. And I've had a
lot of opportunities to People have asked me to go
up in something in Atlanta or Miami, but those places
don't need more. Boston needs more. And I'd rather be

(19:46):
here and make a bigger impact. And I'm from here too,
from from Massachusetts. I'd like to I'd like to see
good things for the city. So that's that's what we're
trying to do. And I think I know exactly what
people want and exactly what the city needs, and that's
what we want to bring forward.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Is your goal to have like five, ten twenty restaurants?
Like what's your overall goal?

Speaker 2 (20:07):
I think I'd like to ultimately get into real estate
at a certain point, but I do have plans to
open more restaurants. I filed a national can be one
and the same. That's why I thought it would be
a good idea. I filed a national trademark for this
new concept, and it looks like there aren't any conflicts
with it. So the plan would be this that this

(20:29):
concept goes through. I'd like to open the first one
in Boston, but I think the idea would work very
well in Las Vegas, So I absolutely am thinking about
stuff like that. I also think another Wicked Craft in Salem,
Massachusetts would be would be a big hit. And that's
a great location. You have the school there and there's
a lot of tourists and it's by the water. So
I absolutely time.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
So restaurants get a bad rep where they say it's
one of the hardest businesses to be successful at what
do you think.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
I think it's there's a lot of restaurants, and I
think it's very hard to stand out as a good one.
But I think that the good ones, you know, can
do well, and you still have your challenges. You still
have a lot of people who've never worked a day
in a restaurant that have no idea what they're talking about,
that have all these expectations and complaints, but you smile
through it and you do the best that you can.
I think the rewards are a lot greater than the negatives.

(21:18):
You know, if you can do it successful and you
have a good team around you. It's when you don't
have a good team that it can be stressful. But
I think the rewards all the people that you meet,
getting to celebrate people's birthdays, bachelorette parties. I've had six
people propose at Wicked Craft, So watching people get engaged,
you know, that's very rewarding. And you know, I've met
a lot of athletes and rappers and it's just you know,

(21:39):
the negatives are there and it's difficult, but if you
have a good team around you, I think the positives
outweigh it.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
How long did it take you to start making a profit.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
This past year? The last year, so I mean really
around the two year mark. But the past year has
fortunately very good for us, and you're nervous you weren't
going to there, you know, listen, I think absolutely. I
remember early on, you know, I was I run it
as a general manager, so I first and foremost collect

(22:08):
a salary check. And I remember early on, especially in
the winters early on, skipping a check if this place
was going to be successful, and I believe that it's
what people wanted and it's what I wanted for the city.
I only opened something that I wish other people at
open with the parties, the day party brunches, and so
it's a good.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Thing they didn't because now you're successful at it.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
So maybe I.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Believed in it. I believed in it. But until you
see the place packed, and until you see, you know,
the place profitable, you you wonder, and you doubt, and
and you know, not taking a check because you believe
in the bigger pictures is tough, and you just hope
that you're going to get there. You hope that you're
going to get there. And so yeah, I mean the
last year we've we've we've been doing very well and
I just renovated the ceiling. We just were always trying

(22:50):
to keep the place relevant and always upgrading the menu,
and so I have no plans but to continue with that.
We got some big things coming. So hopefully you live
in the North End too. I don't live on the
North End. I lived downtown by the Boston Common, but
close enough to be have to be close by.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
What was the challenge that you faced when you started this.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
I'll be honest without saying too much. You know I
brought in the wrong people. I brought in some of
the wrong people early on.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
We've all done that, so you're not alone there.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
And you know, listening to listening to other people. You know,
I hired somebody as kind of a consultant in the
GM when I first opened, and I ran it as
the assistant general manager, and I took their lead because
I'd never opened a restaurant before and I wanted to
be successful. But you know, they made a lot of
mistakes and fought me on a lot of things that
I knew were right, and it really it really hurt
the place early on when you're trying to build a reputation,

(23:42):
and if it wasn't for you know, me getting enough
confidence to say, you know, I'm going to take over
this now. You know I can do it, and getting
rid of them and doing what I know needed to
happen for the for the business. You know, they were
fighting me on bringing in the plants and having the
music up, and I as soon as I got as
soon as I got rid of that person, we started
to see some success. And the one thing that they

(24:03):
said to me that I'll never forget is I was
trying to do the day party Saturday and Sunday, especially,
turn the music way up. I put club lights in
and we're popping one hundred dollar bill confetti every bottle
that goes out, every round of birthday shots. And he said,
you can't do that. It's the North End and I said,
I said, that's exactly why we have to do it.
And Sunday brunch is our most popular day of the week.
It's booked out, you know, several weeks at a time,

(24:24):
and that's because we got the music up, the club lights,
the confetti. So, you know, listening to the wrong people
when you know better. Sometimes you just got to take
the leap and do what you feel is right.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
That's right. Don't listen to people. Listen to yourself.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
End the story, right.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
I don't listen to people, never have, never will, I won't.
I want to do things my way. We're going to
do things my way, and if I fall down, then
I only have me to blame. Right, when somebody else
pushes you down, then you kind of blame that person.
So but remember you can only we have so many
hats all day to right, it gets to a point where, okay,

(25:00):
I need to breathe here, don't make my mistake, Like
I ran everything right, and eventually you get to a
point where if you're running everything, you can't scale up.
So you got to trust other people's.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
That's my mentality behind not being the main face all
the time at wiki craft. I wanted to be able
to succeed when I move on. You don't want it
to just be about you. I have other great people
there and they can run again.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
And that's true because if you want to sell it
and you're not just you, well we're buying you. No,
you're buying the restaurant that has a reputation with good
help that's running the restaurant. By the way, how hard
is it to get good help right now?

Speaker 2 (25:39):
People ask me that an awful lot, and it was
very difficult early on. But now I haven't hired a
new bartender in over two years. I haven't hired a
new server in over two years. I have a lot
of the same kitchen staff for the last you know,
two three years. My chef's been there since day one.
You find good people and you make sure you treat
them as well as possible and keep them close.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
And I mean, you realize that there's just not good
guys and women on every street corner anymore.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Right exactly, So when you find somebody you know, treat
them well. I always tell everybody you know. They say, oh,
this is my boss. I say, I'm nobody's boss. We
work together without me, it doesn't work without you, it
doesn't work. I'm shoulder to shoulder with everybody all the time.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Time.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
You don't work for me. We work as a group.
We work as a team and need them to do.
Don't ever say you work for Sidney Stumble because you
don't work for Sidney Stumbo, because it is. It's a team.
But that those days are I'm the employer or the employeer,
you know what I mean. Like that's my grandfather's generation.
Like get out of that world, right, just it is
a team. But I do hear. Look, there's a lot

(26:38):
of restaurants we walk into. I'm like, well, why can't
we sit there? There's ten open tables. We don't have
enough staff to fulfill those tables. I'm like, ah, okay,
well that makes sense, yeah, so can we sit there? Anyways?
And like make the way to go over there when
they have a chance. No, we have to keep that
part of the restaurant closed. So that's still a big
problem out there.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
For a lot of people. Absolutely, I have been fortunate
and having a small restaurant to you know, helps with that.
But you know, we when you get a good person,
you grab them and I think the words spread. You know,
we're busy. There's there's good money to be made there
and it's a good positive environment and I think people
are drawn to that. So that's something I really work
hard to to maintain.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Now for me, growing up my whole life, I could
be down the North End and always feel safe down there. Always.
Everybody still has that feeling down there, Yes.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
I think so. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
I think it was a time of girls walking up
Panova Street drunk. No one's taking advantage of earth. They
got somebody stepped in and got a home.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
You don't really hear it around there in the city.
That's not where you hear it. Do you hear it?
South End?

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Southe What do you mean, like when you hear things
that are happening, You don't hear anything happening about the
North End.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
So try to clarify that, Sammy, I mean you don't
hear bad things happening down the North End, correct, So
everybody's watching everybody there to make sure.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
There's only somebody outside. That's the difference.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
Like everything in South and South End is so spread
apart art that you like, there could be a bouncer here,
but then you're not seeing that one for like another
six miles.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Okay, the same, there's.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
Always somebody outside talking somewhere in the North End. That right,
You always feel like there's some You feel safe because
everything is still.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Close, okay, but it's also that people are much more
weird down there. So what I'm saying to you is
I've seen over the years, over the years, over the decades,
a girl your age could be walking down the street
absolutely drunk, and no one's gonna take advantage of her.
Some father's gonna step up, one of the older guys
gonna say, okay, let's get this girl home to safety,

(28:35):
and okay, let's hold that thought. I'm going to break.
I'm gonn hold my own thought. How's that I'm Sidney
stumping you.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
Listen.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Toughest Nails on WBZ will be right back and welcome back.
To Toughest Nails on WBZ and I'm Sidney Stumpo and
I'm here with Samantha and I'm here with Steve. Yeah,
you're gonna have to keep introducing you.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
So that's fine.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
I like it. Okay, be people want to hear you boys. Okay.
So with that being said, yes, my whole life, I
felt safe down there, and I still feel safe down there.
Is it's still that? So you both say it's still
the same.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
So let's say somebody walks outday your place to drive. Now,
that's not thing like you are responsible for people right
leaving your restaurant, your bar too drunk.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
We're responsible for everybody that comes into the restaurant and
everybody that leaves for it. So we're very mindful of,
you know, people's condition. And it's a very female friendly
place too. I have flowers and plants everywhere. I have
a guy at the door on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday for two reasons, only to maintain the capacity, check
IDs and make sure that there's nobody in there harassing
any of the girls. We have a lot of groups

(29:34):
of girls that come in there because they feel safe
and comfortable and they can hang out, and that's a
big part of my business and that's something that you know,
I want to maintain. And we're very conscious of people's
safety in there and the city. The city will hold
you accountable for anything as well. But it's just not
good to have anything happening to people coming from your place.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
It's kind of crazy, like they took away the sidewalk
summer as you can't have the outdoor seating anymore. And
it's like one of the the safest place in Boston
as far as I'm concerned. But you guys all got tortured.
The other past of the city didn't get tortured, and
you guys got tortured political and non political in your opinion.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
You know, let me tell you this and then you
answer the question. Okay, So there's a patio space that
we were granted, just like the saying the old owner
was granted in front of Chase Bank. It's a right
around the corner from us. It's like a five to
six step walk around the corner and it's not taking
up any parking spaces and it's not taking up any
sidewalk space. And they granted that to us the first

(30:35):
year twenty twenty two, and then never again when they
took away from everybody else. But there's no reason that
we shouldn't have a patio space there. Chase Bank likes it,
the building owner approved it, and we did a beautiful,
beautiful job with it, had no problems, followed all the
rules and regulations, and they still won't give it to us.
So I think it's a lack of common sense for sure.

(30:56):
If you think it's more than that, then maybe it is.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Have to them. I'm sorry, but like I don't think.
I don't think the North End is getting a fair
play down there. I really don't. And there's no problems
that come out of the North End, so you can't
say you never.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
You never hear that the North End pull's a rough crowd.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Ever never, so it went, it went, It couldn't happen
down there. There's still some old school values down there
that you will follow the old school values, but not
to give the North End when they have no problems
down there, but you have problems with Seaport, you got
problems and self that you got problems in other parts
of the city and they get certain things, which is

(31:34):
not fair.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Well, I actually recently met with Josh Kraft, who's running
for mayor.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
He came in, came into the restaurant and he was
just asking, you know, as a as a restaurant owner,
what are some of the issues that you see and
what would you like to change? And I just mentioned,
you know, just common sense stuff. I would just like,
you know, common sense. Let's let's focus on.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
No common sense isn't so common anymore?

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Absolutely, Okay, I want to make sure it's evident, but
you know, just we'd like to focus on things that
people want, not things that people don't want. And there's
no reason why I shouldn't at least have the opportunity
to have a patio in a space that's not taking
up any sidewalk space or any parking spaces, and that
we did a beautiful job with, you know, in years prior.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
So like a little if we try to look it
on the flip side, and let's go to Hanover Street.
Let's stay off of Salem Street for a minute, right,
because that's a side more of a side street. Right,
you're coming down Handover. It's pretty tight. It is pretty tight.
You have cow's going this way and that way. It's

(32:35):
not a one way street and then people are just
trying to double park.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
It's tough. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
However, they could do what Newberry Street does in the summer.
It's like once a month they shut down all of
Newberry Street and they make it walking only. Why can't
they do that like twic Why can't they do that?

Speaker 1 (32:50):
In they they could, because you could. We do it
for the feast, right, we do it for the feast, right,
And the truth is taking uber down the North End.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Most people are walking down there anyway. Nobody really wants
to work. What's called what it is? Nobody really wants
to park in the North End.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
It correct, it's pain, you know, Seemmy, that's really a
great idea. I don't know why they don't do that.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
They do open Newberry like once a month in the summer,
they shut down the entire street and that block many
different ways.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well maybe that's how they see it right now, is
because of all the weekend feasts and they're already closing
down streets the whole summer pretty much that they've given.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
Finding they look at as the North ends always busy
and the rest of the city is not consistently.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Busy like that.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
So what take away from the North End.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
Maybe if you think it's political. I've never seen the
North End the weekend dead ever in my life.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
I've never seen the norther It's winter and I'm twenty
three years older.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Winter, summer's always busy.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
That's why I picked the location, because.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
It's always busy's pretty busy the holidays, and it does,
it does.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
And if you can't get to here, you go here,
go here, you go here, you go here, you go here.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, but I have to always think outside the box
when I'm always thinking about something. Is they do let
us shut down so many streets for the feast that's
every Friday, Saturday and Saturady Sunday.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Open Newbery effects so much more than with the North
End effects. Why, because you have you have all the
way from Arlington to what's the end? Gee, what's the
I'm tired to think about the streets on Newberry, so
all the intersecting streets. Yeah, get get affected on Open
Newbery on that Sunday.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
So open Newbray just means we're just gonna open up
the whole street.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
No park talking only to no cars can go like this,
So you either have to go mass Ave or you
have to go to where the commons and.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
When they open up New Rey Street like that, so
make it really busy down there, and everybody just walk
into the stores, walk into the restaurants.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
And they do that how many.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
Times I think they do like once or twice a
month in the summer, like every Sunday. They do it,
like they do it for like an entire day. You're
gonna tell me that doesn't affect traffic.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Problem.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
But it's a Sunday, right, so.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
It's all longer street than what Hannover is.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. You've got to
make the city. To me, that should be an every
Sunday thing down down the Very Street and the Hanover
Street should be just close it down, just close it.
Let people park on the side streets, let them take
their ubers, let them come in, and it's a block
party in the summertime. Look, we got eight weeks in Boston.

(35:25):
We're lucky, if we're lucky to enjoy ourselves. And then
the rest of the year we go back into the house.
We don't come back out right. Let us just tear
it up.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
You know.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
You go to Miami and people my age are out
there dancing, having a great time, and you bring me
back to Boston. It's like, oh my god, so depressing,
so gray, so this, so that. And then when I'm
in Florida, I'm like, I'm full of crazy life, right,
what's that?

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yah?

Speaker 1 (35:49):
I am, Let's go, let's go. You are so it's
you want to make it. Give us the eight weeks
here of all ages to go enjoy themselves.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
There's enough.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
My mom and dad they were in their eighties, you know,
up until like it was five years.

Speaker 4 (36:05):
It's actually so much fun eating outside when we could
like that, because you.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Know what, it's the food. Everything tastes better eating outside
because you're outside. How's that? It just tastes better. There's
more fun and you're outside. And I think since COVID,
we don't really want to be inside. There's a generation
of people. I don't really want to be around lots
of people inside anymore. I don't. It's just become it.

(36:30):
Since COVID, it just became like I'd rather be outside.
And that's why I love Florida because I can eat out.
We're always eating outside.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
The atmosphere on the North End outside is beautiful. All
the old buildings thousand percent. Yeah, I mean it's just
a shame.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
And the way a great talks, they sound like me,
if not worse, worse accent than mine.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Right, authenticity, But I think it should be a little
bit more case by case. Does this make sense? Does
this interrupt traffic?

Speaker 3 (36:55):
You know?

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Not every restaurant is on Hanover Street. You know, what
about these side streets? You know? I mean I think
chow Roma if you've been there, they have it in
North Square. They have a beautiful patio. They grant them that.
I don't know if what the licensing granted. Yeah, and
it's what's a shame? Is uh? What is it? Mother?
And is they have the most beautiful patio at the
top of the street. They just close down. I think

(37:16):
they're redoing something. I don't I don't want to speak
about it, uh if it's not supposed to be known,
but I know that they're they're working on something else.
But I don't know that it's going to be a restaurant,
sit down restaurant. But they had the most And.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Then you got Verano opening up a new restaurant. He's
opened up a chicken cutlets, but as cutlets.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
That's right next to right next to Straga.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
I think we're one overs are There are a lot
of Northern restaurants that do brunch or not a lot.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
I know Brico, does I know.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
That Straga definitely does. You know stragas one for sure,
and they do a good job of the party. You know,
brunch atmosphere, I know, what is it North Street Grill?
They don't. I think it's more of like a breakfast
thing than brunch, but I think a lot of it
is not. It's not not a brunch area, so that's
another reason why we wanted to do something different.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, it's not a brunch areo, why would that be.
It's not a brunch area.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Well, it's a lunch area. But when you think about brunch,
it's more like, to me, brunch is more like, let's drink,
let's let's wader out.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Okay, Oh I see, Oh I'm sorry. Your generation thinks
brunch is drinking. My generation went to the Marriot and
thought brunch was eating a bunch of food sausages, eggs, this, that,
blah blah blah. So now brunch has become.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
With a glass of alcohol, with a glass of champagne.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Oh no, I never had a glass of alcohol in
my life. Okay, hold that thought. I'm Sidney Stumpbowing. He
lists the Toughest Nails in WBZ News Radio ten thirty.
I'm gonna go get you based, Okay, Welcome back to
Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. And I'm
here with Seaming, I'm here with Steve. Steve tell people
where the restaurant is, how to make reservations, where they
do walk in service, blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Go for absolutely. Wicked Craft located at fifty four Salem
Street in Boston's Noise first restaurant next to Chase Bank.
It's a lounge restaurant and we do a phenomenal dinner
during the week and Saturday night Friday Saturday and brunch
Saturday Sunday Big Brunch party. You can make reservations on
our website at wickedcraftco dot com, or you can go

(39:15):
to our Instagram wicked Craft bos and there's a link
right in the bio where you can go to Open
Table make reservations on Open Table as well. I will
be there. We'd love to see you. Thank you so
much for having me on today.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
We really gave a pleasure, love having you. Everybody, have
a great, safe weekend. Try out his restaurant. You've got
nothing to lose, only something to gain, and we will
see you next weekend. Ciddy Stopbo Tups Nails on WBZ
NewsRadio ten thirty