March 9, 2020 • 27 mins
In episode 14 Brandon and Sebastian talk food, philanthropy, and business with one of Miami’s top chefs! Find out what Chef Adrianne says was one f the best questions ever asked to her.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez, who are
kids helping kids. And thank you Enrique for that amazing intro.
And today we are going to be talking to not
only an amazing chef, but she is also an author,
a business owner, of philanthropist and overall an amazing person.
Brendan and I would like to give a warm welcome
(00:23):
to Chef Adrian Calvill. Thank you guys, thanks for having me. Um,
It's such an honor to be here. I'm actually kind
of at a loss for words for actually sitting here
in front of you guys, because I've watched you grow
up and do such amazing things. It's inspiring. Really, we've
been well, she's been supporting us for the last five years.
And five years ago, uh, me and Brendan looked way different,
(00:46):
Yes you did, so. It's it's really wonderful to watch
you guys grow up and just doing such wonderful things
like you know, kids helping kids, but student's going to
be young men helping kids right like this is awesome. Yeah,
and we are so excited to speak to our local
Miami girl chef Adrivo, you know, because we love our
Miami peeps. Yes, Miami has our own culture and so
(01:09):
just thank you for being here. Let's do this. I'm
happy to be here. So as we know, you're a
chef and a couple of years ago we went to
your restaurant and you gave us like the best dinner ever.
Thank you. Was super good and me and specially enjoyed it.
It's probably one of our favorite dinners. Later if it
was a ranked top ten, probably be number one. And
(01:30):
our grandparents, let me tell you, our grandparents go like
every anniversary and every time they get they get like
a big dessert and they always bring it back to
us because you know, we like desserts, and we just
ate the whole thing because it's delicious. And speaking of cooking,
I'm I'm a pretty good chef. Really, Yes, I can
(01:52):
make the mic drop what mic drop? I can make
the best eggs, and I make eggs with ham and
cheddar cheese on top, and I can make well, I'm
not a master. I'm making pancakes yet, but my mom
teaches me, and she didn't teach me with the eggs
and how to cook. And I'm just saying I'm a
(02:14):
great chef now, okay, so that if you're great already,
imagine in a couple of years. But you know you're
gonna take over the food scene as well. Yes, well
you could teach me how to cook, you sincere than
I forgot to I forgot to say my joke. Okay, okay,
I got banned from the Secret Cooking Society for spilling
all the beans. I have to say your face actually
(02:39):
saying the joke. The build up was awesome. If you guys,
probably better than the joke, that's how good it was. Yeah.
And if you guys don't get the joke, well you're
spilling the beans like you're spilling the truth. And it's
a secret society. I probably just made it unfunny. No, no, no,
you didn't. It was funny. The delivery and the joke
were both funny. Thank you. Um, you know my brother
(02:59):
was and like he wants to learn how to cook more,
so you know you should do. You should like I
have like a cooking class for like moms who can't cook,
because our mom can't really cook. That is like you
said that, but no, well, imagine moms who can't cook,
come sign up for chef Adrian Class. If you do
sign my mom up. I'm just kidding, Mom. You make
(03:23):
the best rice, pancakes and breakfast, great cheese. Yes, you
make a lot of good great cheese. And she's just
a good bread. Yes, that's important. We have like this
loaf of bread, but it's it's thick bread and it's
super soft, and it's it's super good. Yeah. You have
(03:45):
to start with good, like a good foundation, good ingredients,
and that's how you make a great dish. Yeah. Well,
I like eating my great cheese with like American cheese
and melted me too. I don't like fancy cheeses and
my grilled cheese. I like American cheese, a good soft,
buttery bread and that's it. And if you do cheddar cheese,
it's like sharp. It makes it like you take a bite,
(04:06):
it's like too sharp, it's chalky, it doesn't melt the
same way. You just need American cheese, American cheese from
the American cheese in America. Yeah, you know that. At Cracked,
my other restaurant, we do all our burgers with American
cheese just because of the melting factor. So you guys
are onto something. You know what you like, that's good.
So we's the difference between the melting factors and the
(04:27):
cheese is the oil to solid ratio and the milk ratio.
So like cheddar cheese will have more oil and dry
product versus milk, which is the actual milk is what
makes it um melty pliable. So cheddar cheese doesn't have
milk hardly, it has oil and then it has the
actual milk solid which makes it hard exactly and that
(04:48):
chalky taste. Okay, um, sign me up for your class
because I am learning so much, right, I think we're
learning about cheese. So you so, as we know you
have four books. How how did it feel be an author?
An author? Well, I love writing, I love telling stories.
I love talking about whatever you're passionate about, whether it's
(05:08):
cooking or or sports or whatever, teaching, whatever it is.
But when you write about it, there's something that makes
it stay a conversation unless you're recording it, Um, it
goes away. But a book is forever, you know, and
you could give it as a gift. Um. And a
cookbook happens to have a ton of pictures, so it
captivates people on another level as well. And usually people
(05:28):
won't even cook out of it. They just have it
because they like to learn. They like they like the
idea of thinking that they're going to cook, and they
never do that has a cookbook like just like in
the corner combinants. I've never seen him like take it
out like everyone else. That's really true. Well, one of
my teachers at my elementary school when I'm in sixth grade,
not an elementary school anymore, she gave me a kids
(05:51):
cookbook and I just read. I just read it really cookly. Well,
I was learning and I kept telling my mom, can
we cook it it? And she was like maybe another day,
but like when it was maybe the other day, she
said maybe another day, another day and another day and
another day. Yeah, that's how that's kind of how it works. Well,
(06:11):
my mom's the cookbook. She tells me how to make pancakes.
There you got. Mom is a living cookbook and she
doesn't make him from like a box. She makes it scratch.
That's a big deal. Whis a big deal? Yeah, we
should make a pancake cookoff, Yeah, yes, against the real
chef and a mom. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea.
(06:34):
So the cookbooks, when you made one, wely like, after
you made the other one, you're like right away, like
I need to make another one. No, actually, they kind
of happened organically. I did the first one never thinking
I was going to do one in the first place,
and then the second one was like, Hey, this was
really cool, let's do it again. Uh. And then from
the second one to the third one, it took like
five years. Um, but I felt like my career really
(06:57):
kind of changed and elevated. I learned a lot in
those five years. I grew as a chef, and then
when I had something to say again to my audience,
that's when the next book was born. Um, and not
just me as a chef, but I think that's when
social media kind of took off. Instagram was born and
stuff like that. So, um, the food scene itself, the
way people interacted with people, it changed, so we wanted
(07:19):
to document that. And then the fourth was a two
volume thing. So no, the fourth one was one we
can't talk about in a kids podcast. The fifth one,
UM was two volumes because it was so much. It
was a hundred recipes and it was too big. So
we get volume volume one and volume two, and they're
just gorgeous, and I think that that those two books
(07:40):
are more like coffee table books because you flip each
page and it's like, well, those are pretty dishes, you know.
I don't think anybody will cook them. Do you put
like you imagine them? You just imagine eating? Yes, exactly.
Do you even put your secret recipes? Yes, that's the thing.
So if there's like one person, if there's one in
a million that is going to cook that recipe from
(08:01):
whichever book, I want them to feel so good about
themselves that they're going to be like, whoa, I love
this food, I love what I did. I love cooking. Um,
so I definitely write the recipes to the best best
of my ability. That's good. That's very good that you're
putting like your your own recipes out there for other
(08:22):
people to try and cook. It's experiment. If they don't
like it, then they don't have to do it, but
if they do, they can from that. Well. Yeah, and
I encourage people to be like, Okay, well I love
spicy food myself. So yeah, So like a lot of
my recipes, the heat level is a little bit elevated,
you know. But if you see that, for example, I'm
(08:44):
not going to put a whole tablespoon of crushed red
pepper flakes. Well, don't put it in there. It's gonna
be real spicy, but your dish will still come out delicious.
It's a it's an option exactly, yea. And things are
not an option though, like flower Now, you're right, Baking
is a science. By the way, if you're off just
a little bit, you can ruin a whole dish. It's
completely different than cooking. I feel like baking has to
(09:06):
be harder or like, what's your opinion on it? Making
or cooking. No, you have to be more um what's
that word precise? But you have to be really diligent
about everything that you do. You can't be like this creative,
whimsical person that it's I'm gonna add a little bit
of this and a little bit of that and this
beautiful thing is gonna come out. No, you have to
pay attention to every single detail, have the patients to
(09:28):
measure everything out properly, um, and not cut corners because
if you do, you ruin your your product. Where cooking
you have a little more room to to be creative
and it's leeway, you know, to do it your way,
a little more freedom when it comes, but baking there's
no there's no leeway, there's no freedom. You have to
really follow the recipe. And as we all know your
your career, like why not is this roof? And and
(09:53):
and I have a question if you went back in time, yes,
and you saw yourself at the child, what would you
tell yourself? This is one of the best questions I've
ever had. And I've done a lot of interviews. Yeah,
this is good. Um wow, okay, um, I guess believe
(10:17):
in yourself from the beginning. Um. There is a lot
of times, even when I was younger, that I questioned,
like I didn't have the confidence to be like I
thought that there was me out here in Kendall and
this I was twenty two when I opened my first restaurant,
no backing. It was just what the restaurant was. I
was earning and putting it back into my business. And
(10:38):
I thought, there's me, and then there's all the other
chefs and all the other great restaurants, you know. And
people would talk to me about the food and tell
me how great it was. And even though I was
on TV and I had my books, I was still
looking at myself as like me, the other chefs me,
the other chefs, and I would say, hey, you know
you are the other chefs. You know, believe in yourself
and that that thinking came from being you know, from
(11:01):
from little from a child where you kind of look
at yourself in school and you're like, hey, am I
part of the cool kids? You know you're you are
the cool kids. You know you are. You have to
believe that from the beginning. Yeah, And speaking of other chefs,
did you ever have like a chef to inspire you
to start cooking, to start cooking? You know, no, because
I originally wanted to go into journalism. Um, but cooking
(11:24):
really came from my mom. Like you guys with your mom.
You know, I watched my mom cooked dinner every night
at my house, and instead of wanting to go play outside,
I wanted to watch my mom cooked dinner. That's the thing.
And even though I didn't want to be a chef,
I was like captivated by what she was doing and
the smells and and just chopping garlic and onions, watching them,
for example, fry and oil. That smell and watching her
(11:46):
do that so happily for the family got me. It
touched me in a way that I'm like, oh my god,
I love this. I really love what it not just
the dish at the end. I love what it does
to everybody. I love the smell that makes the house
like you know, it makes it gives the house a
happy smell. The food is a good vibe, good vibes. Yeah,
what was your favorite Like, what was your favorite meal
(12:07):
that your mom made for you? Oh? I didn't have
a favorite meal, actually all of it. Um. I have
a funny story. I would have a doll that I
named him Mikey. So since I was like six years old,
Mikey was like two foot doll, beautiful little you know,
like a little doll whatever, and my mom would make
this cake that was so delicious that I would say, Mom,
(12:28):
it's Mikey's birthday, can you please make him a cake?
You know. And the thing was that it was Mikey's birthday.
Every week I a cake. I was about to ask,
was Mikey's birthday every week? Yes, that's exactly what's going on.
So it went on for so long though that for
a few years later, my mom was like, Okay, this
has a stop. It's not Mikey's birthday every week, so no, Well, no,
(12:51):
it's a doll. No that that was over, like, you
know a few years after that, Well, my mom actually
used to cook cake. She well, she made this transformer
cake and I don't know how old I was turning,
but it was. It was the best cake. And but
then she stopped. But because people don't have time to
be baking cakes. We don't have all the time in
(13:11):
the world. Baking cake is the process, as you said,
it's science, yes exactly. But you see how you had
that wonderful memory. You were like, hey, you know, that
was the best cake. Like I did the same thing.
That's what food does to people. You get a lot
of memories from eating good food. Yes, I'm sure people
take pictures of the Yeah. Yeah. One time we went
(13:33):
to this restaurant. I don't know it's called, but we
got like like I forgot, like no, we gotta, I
forgot like a big thing of me. And every time
we're just like taking pictures right here, and like everyone
got yeah Peter, looker, oh I love Peter in New York. Yeah. Yeah,
(13:54):
it was, and they're baking is like really good, the
best It was like it was big bacon, like regular
crunchy bacon. No no, No, it's almost like pork belling. Yeah, exactly.
And I don't know what we got forgot? What do
we get the bacon? I think the tomahawk tomahawk with
the big bone and everything. Everyone was just taking pictures,
(14:16):
of course, because that's you know, picture worthy. People eat
with their phones first, you know, your phone has to
take the picture and then you can dig in your
your food eats first, that is true. Everyone likes to
take pictures and put it on your Instagram of course. Yeah,
with the Instagram. Do you think it made your like like,
(14:37):
I don't know how to say, did it Did it
like make your career? Like? Um? I think that it
gave people a view into um, like it gave people
a view and insight into my daily life. So I
think that definitely helped. People. Always wondered before chefs you
had to read about them in the newspaper. You had
to hear about them on TV or you know, watch
(14:58):
them on TV. And that happened if you and far
in between. It was um you would find out on
Thursdays or Sundays what restaurants were opening, and you had
to be a big deal to be in the paper.
But now every single person has access to their favorite
restaurants and their favorite chefs, and they you don't just
have to find out about what they're cooking. You can
find out about how they came up with the recipe,
where's the inspiration from, how they're serving it. Two guests,
(15:20):
So it's kind of like you get backstage access, you know,
behind the scenes to to what's a day in the
life of a chef. And I think people really really
like it. Um it's grown exponentially. I remember when I
opened my Instagram and I was like, Okay, people like this,
and then um I did Chopped, and then I did
beat Bobby Flay and then you know, it's just one
(15:41):
thing after the next, and people just want to watch,
they want to learn, and and some people just are
in it for the food, and some people are in
it because they like what you're doing. In general, they
don't even want to cook, you know. Well I like
watching cook shows with my dad. Yeah, and I just
see like people making It's food like well therapeutic, you know,
like people love watching because of how it makes them feel,
(16:03):
relaxes them. But at the same time, it like wraps
you up completely makes you want to go out and cook.
And speaking of cook shows, what do you think about
the kids cooking shows that we see on TV. Do
you feel like these shows are helping to helping encourage
kids to want to follow their passion for either like
(16:24):
cooking or for what they like or love. Absolutely, I
love watching this. Um. I think that it's just the
same as sports. For example, if you put your kid
in in a sport, this is the same thing they
have to train. If you see these kids on Chop Jr.
Or the Baking Championships or whatever, these kids are practicing
at home after school. They're reading about their studying, you know,
(16:46):
their their competition. They're learning about cooking in general. So
they're learning about the sport quote unquote you know, and
then they're going on stage kind of like going out
on the field and performing to the best of their
ability and hopes to achieve something. So I think there,
it's awesome. I think, um, there, it's showing this generation
like my generation didn't have that. UM but like, hey,
(17:08):
get with it from a young age because you know,
it goes by in the blink of an eye. So
if you can start believing in yourself from the beginning, uh,
and then focusing and actually putting yourself out there. Only
wonderful things can happen from there. Like you're putting yourself
in the best possible place for the best possible opportunities.
So I'm a fan. Yeah, well, you have to practice
(17:29):
every single yeah day to get better. You're not going
to just wake up one morning and be like I'm
gonna go. I'm gonna go junior. Yeah, do you have to,
Like maybe I could sign up for chop Junior. You
should maybe like two years like to learn how to
I feel like you could do it now because I
feel like out to cook, you would probably just talk
(17:49):
and win. Yeah, I'm gonna just talk to me like
I don't know what I made, but here try it's
a good food. Um say one of your jokes the
beans and chop. Yeah, and yeah, I think so I
don't get chopped. As a kid, there was no cooking
shows for kids. No, No, there was like Emerald. Emerald
(18:11):
came out when I was a kid, so I would
watch Emerald live, you know, and that was fun. I
just thought, oh my god, you know, that's such a
distant thing, like from what I could ever do or be.
I'd never you know, I didn't want to be a chef.
So that was just a fun thing to watch. I
would love him. I would love watching him go baym
and make something that was um like fun to eat.
It wasn't pretentious food, it wasn't food that was like
(18:31):
really fancy. It was just really really good food. And
I love that. I feel like food like a food
that's not really fancy but really good. Or sandwiches. Oh yeah,
I don't know why. It's just like it's not fancy,
but you can make them fancy and you can make
them really good. And there's a big outlet there to
be creative time. And have you reached all your all
(18:52):
of your goals that you want to accomplish? Yes, um
I did. I Like people are like, well, what's next?
I don't know. I you know, like talking about putting
yourself in the best possible position for the next opportunity.
I just hope I could keep on cooking for people
and one door opens another door and and hopefully I'll
just keep on cooking and using food as a platform
(19:12):
to do big, big things. You know. Yeah, and if
you could cook, well, obviously we know that you're a chef,
but if you didn't have you okay, let me face this.
Have you cooked some? Have you never? Oh? My god,
I'm not how to say it. Are you getting nervous
on me? No, I'm just trying to I'm just trying
to find them. If you could cook something that you
(19:32):
haven't cooked ever, what would be mm hmm. You're full
of good questions today. That's good. Yeah, that's a good one.
I just I don't know. I've cooked a lot of
different things. And the things that I stay away from
our because I don't want to ever cook them, So
I wouldn't want to cook them. What would you not
(19:55):
want to cook? M hmm? Okay, Like deer, you know,
like venison is a big thing. Like chefs love to
cook that. But if I can't because I think of
Bamby and the deers are so cute and stuff, I
just can't, you know. Or rabbit. I don't cook rabbit
because funny, you know. Yeah, yeah, I mean these are
(20:16):
things it's I just can't. There's some animals that you
can't cook. Yeah, And like I'm by no means vegan
or anything like that. I believe in the supply chain.
It's like, you know, this is the food chain, this
is what we are. We have our teeth are made
for a certain reason with the like what are these
called not things? What are muller nose? Yeah? Those those
(20:36):
are because we're meant to eat meat. Well, would you
eat like deer but not cook it? No? I also
don't eat deer because I think I just think of
the little baby animals. Well, I like to like stay away.
I'm not vegan like you said, but I like to
stay away from like eating meat every day because it's
bad for you and you're King's moderation. Yeah, you have
(20:59):
everything in mudder Asian number one and number two. In anything,
whether it's meat or vegetables or dairy, whatever it is
that you're buying, you always have to know where you're
buying it from. And all my restaurants we do everything
is sustainable, free range, grass fed. Um, so we're not
buying product that's bad for you. You're getting the best
(21:19):
of the best exactly, because at the end of the day,
we are what we put into our bodies. And people
always ask us how do we balance school, being a
kid and having a business. Well, how do you how
do you balance having several restaurants in life? Um, you
have to make time for for having a good time.
You see, Like, just like as a kid, you know,
(21:40):
you have to make time for school, you have to
make time for your friends and your family, you know,
and then do what you love and be passionate about it.
And there is always time, because I always say, um,
until you're really really busy and you're stretched to the limit,
you don't have a value of time. You wouldn't believe
how much time people waste generally, Like, there's so much
time people waste us sitting down doing nothing or just
(22:03):
you know, staring at their phones or watching TV or
binge watching things that are never gonna like fulfill a dream,
get you anywhere. And that's fine to do on a
certain day. You should, hey, binge watch a series one day,
but don't do it all the time, you know. Um.
But for me, I like, I close all my restaurants
on Monday, no matter what, Like even if it's a
chance to make money, I'm like, no, there's a day
(22:24):
that me and my whole staff will have off no
matter what. The restaurants reset and I'll go fly somewhere,
I'll go, I'll stay home if I want to, I
go check out a new restaurant. Uh, sometimes I just
need a day to go to the spa, and you
know it's me day and every day and off day,
so I make it. It's always been since we open
till now. Even my my new restaurant that's about to open, Redfish,
(22:46):
we're closing on Mondays. And that was part of the deal.
I'm like, hey, everyone needs a day to decompress because
you'll go nuts. So you have to have your core
values in they they're not negotiable. You keep that and
you'll be good. It's it's a rule, like when you
close on Monday. It was like, that's all because usually
westaurants are open on Monday and that's industry day. Actually,
(23:08):
everybody who's in the hospitality industry goes out on Mondays.
So nothing. They respect it. I tell him, you know,
I work every other day as much as I possibly can,
So if you want to enjoy a Chef Adrian property,
you're gonna have to not do it on a Monday.
Have a free day on Monday. Yeah. Well, besides being
(23:28):
an amazing chef, um are you? You are also a
big philanthropist. Do you think that business and philanthropy should
go hand in hand? Very much? I think that's very
very important. When I didn't have much, I still gave.
I still made it a point to give. Now that
I have a little more, I still it's I have
to give even more. I think that if God blesses
us with, if we're on the receiving end, then it
(23:51):
is our duty, our purpose to give back and to
serve serve a higher purpose, you know. Um, I think
I believe that God gives us and blesses us so
that we can then use that to help others. We're
not just here to be like, oh my God, here, yes,
let's uh, let's just reap everything and not help and
turn turn our cheek if we see other people in need,
or you know, like how when you guys, you know
(24:14):
you help, live like Bella, you know stuff like that. Um,
I'm with St. Jude and live like Bella. You know
things so many other I do a lot of different
schools and things like that because we have to. We
have to use what we've been blessed with to help
for greater purpose. And it's great to help. If you
have everything in the world, you should give back because
(24:36):
no matter what, there's always kids who are going who
are struggling worse. And if you don't get something and
you say, and you you're having a bad day. There's
other kids with like cancer way worse. Yes, I mean,
and you have to think that you're always an example
to somebody else. So where is this world going to
go if these are people are just takers? You know,
(24:57):
I think it's going to turn real bad. You have
to have people that are like, oh my god, I
want to be just like him because since he was little,
he was helping. And you know that's believe it or not,
you guys are doing a huge thing for people that
are watching you. Guys, um and even if they don't
know you, you're going to be a story to somebody else.
They're going to talk about you. And when they talk
about you, that's just like jaw dropping awesome, you know.
(25:18):
So that's why that that's a why you know, people say, well,
why that's your wife. You gotta help. You have to
be here to serve a better, bigger purpose. Yeah, and
you never know if one day will need help. So
that's that's always had tables always turned somehow, and just
by giving back. It doesn't have to be money. It
(25:39):
could be like a pair of socks, like how we
want to um, a shelter after Hurricane Norma hit and
we gave like five thousand socks away to people who
are on the shelter because they didn't have socks on.
And it was it was it was a good experience
because we helped a lot of people and just seeing
(26:01):
their smells. Yes, it's rewarding, isn't it. That's not a
money thing. It's rewarding to see that you did something
like that. And those people needed socks. And sometimes those
socks maybe meant more in that moment than twenty dollars,
you know, because they needed socks their feet were cold
or wet, or they just didn't have access to socks
in the in the moment, and that was like wow,
(26:22):
thank god. And when it gets cold at night, I'm
gonna get cold, you need how to you need have
to like some like socks on the warm up. Yeah,
and our socks are very cozy. Yes, I know I
have a few. Well, I'm not trying to promote it
right well, sameless shameless plug. Well, you guys should go
buy your socks right now, or you canning socks Stockholm
(26:46):
there there you do your own commercials and everything. I'm
going to tell you another joke is okay? Yes, Why
do I Why don't eggs tell each other jokes? Because
they'll crack up? What is it? Is it at my clothes?
You're very close actually, because they cracked each other up.
You basically stole my punch line. Sorry. Sorry, now I
(27:09):
don't have any more egg joke, I mean cookie joke.
We just want to thank you for being here on
our podcast today and thanks for having me guys, thank
you for making some good food. Thank you if you
just heard Are You Kidding? Podcast with brothers Sebastian and
Brandon Martinez who are kids Helping Kids
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez, who are
kids helping kids. And thank you Enrique for that amazing intro.
And today we are going to be talking to not
only an amazing chef, but she is also an author,
a business owner, of philanthropist and overall an amazing person.
Brendan and I would like to give a warm welcome
(00:23):
to Chef Adrian Calvill. Thank you guys, thanks for having me. Um,
It's such an honor to be here. I'm actually kind
of at a loss for words for actually sitting here
in front of you guys, because I've watched you grow
up and do such amazing things. It's inspiring. Really, we've
been well, she's been supporting us for the last five years.
And five years ago, uh, me and Brendan looked way different,
(00:46):
Yes you did, so. It's it's really wonderful to watch
you guys grow up and just doing such wonderful things
like you know, kids helping kids, but student's going to
be young men helping kids right like this is awesome. Yeah,
and we are so excited to speak to our local
Miami girl chef Adrivo, you know, because we love our
Miami peeps. Yes, Miami has our own culture and so
(01:09):
just thank you for being here. Let's do this. I'm
happy to be here. So as we know, you're a
chef and a couple of years ago we went to
your restaurant and you gave us like the best dinner ever.
Thank you. Was super good and me and specially enjoyed it.
It's probably one of our favorite dinners. Later if it
was a ranked top ten, probably be number one. And
(01:30):
our grandparents, let me tell you, our grandparents go like
every anniversary and every time they get they get like
a big dessert and they always bring it back to
us because you know, we like desserts, and we just
ate the whole thing because it's delicious. And speaking of cooking,
I'm I'm a pretty good chef. Really, Yes, I can
(01:52):
make the mic drop what mic drop? I can make
the best eggs, and I make eggs with ham and
cheddar cheese on top, and I can make well, I'm
not a master. I'm making pancakes yet, but my mom
teaches me, and she didn't teach me with the eggs
and how to cook. And I'm just saying I'm a
(02:14):
great chef now, okay, so that if you're great already,
imagine in a couple of years. But you know you're
gonna take over the food scene as well. Yes, well
you could teach me how to cook, you sincere than
I forgot to I forgot to say my joke. Okay, okay,
I got banned from the Secret Cooking Society for spilling
all the beans. I have to say your face actually
(02:39):
saying the joke. The build up was awesome. If you guys,
probably better than the joke, that's how good it was. Yeah.
And if you guys don't get the joke, well you're
spilling the beans like you're spilling the truth. And it's
a secret society. I probably just made it unfunny. No, no, no,
you didn't. It was funny. The delivery and the joke
were both funny. Thank you. Um, you know my brother
(02:59):
was and like he wants to learn how to cook more,
so you know you should do. You should like I
have like a cooking class for like moms who can't cook,
because our mom can't really cook. That is like you
said that, but no, well, imagine moms who can't cook,
come sign up for chef Adrian Class. If you do
sign my mom up. I'm just kidding, Mom. You make
(03:23):
the best rice, pancakes and breakfast, great cheese. Yes, you
make a lot of good great cheese. And she's just
a good bread. Yes, that's important. We have like this
loaf of bread, but it's it's thick bread and it's
super soft, and it's it's super good. Yeah. You have
(03:45):
to start with good, like a good foundation, good ingredients,
and that's how you make a great dish. Yeah. Well,
I like eating my great cheese with like American cheese
and melted me too. I don't like fancy cheeses and
my grilled cheese. I like American cheese, a good soft,
buttery bread and that's it. And if you do cheddar cheese,
it's like sharp. It makes it like you take a bite,
(04:06):
it's like too sharp, it's chalky, it doesn't melt the
same way. You just need American cheese, American cheese from
the American cheese in America. Yeah, you know that. At Cracked,
my other restaurant, we do all our burgers with American
cheese just because of the melting factor. So you guys
are onto something. You know what you like, that's good.
So we's the difference between the melting factors and the
(04:27):
cheese is the oil to solid ratio and the milk ratio.
So like cheddar cheese will have more oil and dry
product versus milk, which is the actual milk is what
makes it um melty pliable. So cheddar cheese doesn't have
milk hardly, it has oil and then it has the
actual milk solid which makes it hard exactly and that
(04:48):
chalky taste. Okay, um, sign me up for your class
because I am learning so much, right, I think we're
learning about cheese. So you so, as we know you
have four books. How how did it feel be an author?
An author? Well, I love writing, I love telling stories.
I love talking about whatever you're passionate about, whether it's
(05:08):
cooking or or sports or whatever, teaching, whatever it is.
But when you write about it, there's something that makes
it stay a conversation unless you're recording it, Um, it
goes away. But a book is forever, you know, and
you could give it as a gift. Um. And a
cookbook happens to have a ton of pictures, so it
captivates people on another level as well. And usually people
(05:28):
won't even cook out of it. They just have it
because they like to learn. They like they like the
idea of thinking that they're going to cook, and they
never do that has a cookbook like just like in
the corner combinants. I've never seen him like take it
out like everyone else. That's really true. Well, one of
my teachers at my elementary school when I'm in sixth grade,
not an elementary school anymore, she gave me a kids
(05:51):
cookbook and I just read. I just read it really cookly. Well,
I was learning and I kept telling my mom, can
we cook it it? And she was like maybe another day,
but like when it was maybe the other day, she
said maybe another day, another day and another day and
another day. Yeah, that's how that's kind of how it works. Well,
(06:11):
my mom's the cookbook. She tells me how to make pancakes.
There you got. Mom is a living cookbook and she
doesn't make him from like a box. She makes it scratch.
That's a big deal. Whis a big deal? Yeah, we
should make a pancake cookoff, Yeah, yes, against the real
chef and a mom. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea.
(06:34):
So the cookbooks, when you made one, wely like, after
you made the other one, you're like right away, like
I need to make another one. No, actually, they kind
of happened organically. I did the first one never thinking
I was going to do one in the first place,
and then the second one was like, Hey, this was
really cool, let's do it again. Uh. And then from
the second one to the third one, it took like
five years. Um, but I felt like my career really
(06:57):
kind of changed and elevated. I learned a lot in
those five years. I grew as a chef, and then
when I had something to say again to my audience,
that's when the next book was born. Um, and not
just me as a chef, but I think that's when
social media kind of took off. Instagram was born and
stuff like that. So, um, the food scene itself, the
way people interacted with people, it changed, so we wanted
(07:19):
to document that. And then the fourth was a two
volume thing. So no, the fourth one was one we
can't talk about in a kids podcast. The fifth one,
UM was two volumes because it was so much. It
was a hundred recipes and it was too big. So
we get volume volume one and volume two, and they're
just gorgeous, and I think that that those two books
(07:40):
are more like coffee table books because you flip each
page and it's like, well, those are pretty dishes, you know.
I don't think anybody will cook them. Do you put
like you imagine them? You just imagine eating? Yes, exactly.
Do you even put your secret recipes? Yes, that's the thing.
So if there's like one person, if there's one in
a million that is going to cook that recipe from
(08:01):
whichever book, I want them to feel so good about
themselves that they're going to be like, whoa, I love
this food, I love what I did. I love cooking. Um,
so I definitely write the recipes to the best best
of my ability. That's good. That's very good that you're
putting like your your own recipes out there for other
(08:22):
people to try and cook. It's experiment. If they don't
like it, then they don't have to do it, but
if they do, they can from that. Well. Yeah, and
I encourage people to be like, Okay, well I love
spicy food myself. So yeah, So like a lot of
my recipes, the heat level is a little bit elevated,
you know. But if you see that, for example, I'm
(08:44):
not going to put a whole tablespoon of crushed red
pepper flakes. Well, don't put it in there. It's gonna
be real spicy, but your dish will still come out delicious.
It's a it's an option exactly, yea. And things are
not an option though, like flower Now, you're right, Baking
is a science. By the way, if you're off just
a little bit, you can ruin a whole dish. It's
completely different than cooking. I feel like baking has to
(09:06):
be harder or like, what's your opinion on it? Making
or cooking. No, you have to be more um what's
that word precise? But you have to be really diligent
about everything that you do. You can't be like this creative,
whimsical person that it's I'm gonna add a little bit
of this and a little bit of that and this
beautiful thing is gonna come out. No, you have to
pay attention to every single detail, have the patients to
(09:28):
measure everything out properly, um, and not cut corners because
if you do, you ruin your your product. Where cooking
you have a little more room to to be creative
and it's leeway, you know, to do it your way,
a little more freedom when it comes, but baking there's
no there's no leeway, there's no freedom. You have to
really follow the recipe. And as we all know your
your career, like why not is this roof? And and
(09:53):
and I have a question if you went back in time, yes,
and you saw yourself at the child, what would you
tell yourself? This is one of the best questions I've
ever had. And I've done a lot of interviews. Yeah,
this is good. Um wow, okay, um, I guess believe
(10:17):
in yourself from the beginning. Um. There is a lot
of times, even when I was younger, that I questioned,
like I didn't have the confidence to be like I
thought that there was me out here in Kendall and
this I was twenty two when I opened my first restaurant,
no backing. It was just what the restaurant was. I
was earning and putting it back into my business. And
(10:38):
I thought, there's me, and then there's all the other
chefs and all the other great restaurants, you know. And
people would talk to me about the food and tell
me how great it was. And even though I was
on TV and I had my books, I was still
looking at myself as like me, the other chefs me,
the other chefs, and I would say, hey, you know
you are the other chefs. You know, believe in yourself
and that that thinking came from being you know, from
(11:01):
from little from a child where you kind of look
at yourself in school and you're like, hey, am I
part of the cool kids? You know you're you are
the cool kids. You know you are. You have to
believe that from the beginning. Yeah, And speaking of other chefs,
did you ever have like a chef to inspire you
to start cooking, to start cooking? You know, no, because
I originally wanted to go into journalism. Um, but cooking
(11:24):
really came from my mom. Like you guys with your mom.
You know, I watched my mom cooked dinner every night
at my house, and instead of wanting to go play outside,
I wanted to watch my mom cooked dinner. That's the thing.
And even though I didn't want to be a chef,
I was like captivated by what she was doing and
the smells and and just chopping garlic and onions, watching them,
for example, fry and oil. That smell and watching her
(11:46):
do that so happily for the family got me. It
touched me in a way that I'm like, oh my god,
I love this. I really love what it not just
the dish at the end. I love what it does
to everybody. I love the smell that makes the house
like you know, it makes it gives the house a
happy smell. The food is a good vibe, good vibes. Yeah,
what was your favorite Like, what was your favorite meal
(12:07):
that your mom made for you? Oh? I didn't have
a favorite meal, actually all of it. Um. I have
a funny story. I would have a doll that I
named him Mikey. So since I was like six years old,
Mikey was like two foot doll, beautiful little you know,
like a little doll whatever, and my mom would make
this cake that was so delicious that I would say, Mom,
(12:28):
it's Mikey's birthday, can you please make him a cake?
You know. And the thing was that it was Mikey's birthday.
Every week I a cake. I was about to ask,
was Mikey's birthday every week? Yes, that's exactly what's going on.
So it went on for so long though that for
a few years later, my mom was like, Okay, this
has a stop. It's not Mikey's birthday every week, so no, Well, no,
(12:51):
it's a doll. No that that was over, like, you
know a few years after that, Well, my mom actually
used to cook cake. She well, she made this transformer
cake and I don't know how old I was turning,
but it was. It was the best cake. And but
then she stopped. But because people don't have time to
be baking cakes. We don't have all the time in
(13:11):
the world. Baking cake is the process, as you said,
it's science, yes exactly. But you see how you had
that wonderful memory. You were like, hey, you know, that
was the best cake. Like I did the same thing.
That's what food does to people. You get a lot
of memories from eating good food. Yes, I'm sure people
take pictures of the Yeah. Yeah. One time we went
(13:33):
to this restaurant. I don't know it's called, but we
got like like I forgot, like no, we gotta, I
forgot like a big thing of me. And every time
we're just like taking pictures right here, and like everyone
got yeah Peter, looker, oh I love Peter in New York. Yeah. Yeah,
(13:54):
it was, and they're baking is like really good, the
best It was like it was big bacon, like regular
crunchy bacon. No no, No, it's almost like pork belling. Yeah, exactly.
And I don't know what we got forgot? What do
we get the bacon? I think the tomahawk tomahawk with
the big bone and everything. Everyone was just taking pictures,
(14:16):
of course, because that's you know, picture worthy. People eat
with their phones first, you know, your phone has to
take the picture and then you can dig in your
your food eats first, that is true. Everyone likes to
take pictures and put it on your Instagram of course. Yeah,
with the Instagram. Do you think it made your like like,
(14:37):
I don't know how to say, did it Did it
like make your career? Like? Um? I think that it
gave people a view into um, like it gave people
a view and insight into my daily life. So I
think that definitely helped. People. Always wondered before chefs you
had to read about them in the newspaper. You had
to hear about them on TV or you know, watch
(14:58):
them on TV. And that happened if you and far
in between. It was um you would find out on
Thursdays or Sundays what restaurants were opening, and you had
to be a big deal to be in the paper.
But now every single person has access to their favorite
restaurants and their favorite chefs, and they you don't just
have to find out about what they're cooking. You can
find out about how they came up with the recipe,
where's the inspiration from, how they're serving it. Two guests,
(15:20):
So it's kind of like you get backstage access, you know,
behind the scenes to to what's a day in the
life of a chef. And I think people really really
like it. Um it's grown exponentially. I remember when I
opened my Instagram and I was like, Okay, people like this,
and then um I did Chopped, and then I did
beat Bobby Flay and then you know, it's just one
(15:41):
thing after the next, and people just want to watch,
they want to learn, and and some people just are
in it for the food, and some people are in
it because they like what you're doing. In general, they
don't even want to cook, you know. Well I like
watching cook shows with my dad. Yeah, and I just
see like people making It's food like well therapeutic, you know,
like people love watching because of how it makes them feel,
(16:03):
relaxes them. But at the same time, it like wraps
you up completely makes you want to go out and cook.
And speaking of cook shows, what do you think about
the kids cooking shows that we see on TV. Do
you feel like these shows are helping to helping encourage
kids to want to follow their passion for either like
(16:24):
cooking or for what they like or love. Absolutely, I
love watching this. Um. I think that it's just the
same as sports. For example, if you put your kid
in in a sport, this is the same thing they
have to train. If you see these kids on Chop Jr.
Or the Baking Championships or whatever, these kids are practicing
at home after school. They're reading about their studying, you know,
(16:46):
their their competition. They're learning about cooking in general. So
they're learning about the sport quote unquote you know, and
then they're going on stage kind of like going out
on the field and performing to the best of their
ability and hopes to achieve something. So I think there,
it's awesome. I think, um, there, it's showing this generation
like my generation didn't have that. UM but like, hey,
(17:08):
get with it from a young age because you know,
it goes by in the blink of an eye. So
if you can start believing in yourself from the beginning, uh,
and then focusing and actually putting yourself out there. Only
wonderful things can happen from there. Like you're putting yourself
in the best possible place for the best possible opportunities.
So I'm a fan. Yeah, well, you have to practice
(17:29):
every single yeah day to get better. You're not going
to just wake up one morning and be like I'm
gonna go. I'm gonna go junior. Yeah, do you have to,
Like maybe I could sign up for chop Junior. You
should maybe like two years like to learn how to
I feel like you could do it now because I
feel like out to cook, you would probably just talk
(17:49):
and win. Yeah, I'm gonna just talk to me like
I don't know what I made, but here try it's
a good food. Um say one of your jokes the
beans and chop. Yeah, and yeah, I think so I
don't get chopped. As a kid, there was no cooking
shows for kids. No, No, there was like Emerald. Emerald
(18:11):
came out when I was a kid, so I would
watch Emerald live, you know, and that was fun. I
just thought, oh my god, you know, that's such a
distant thing, like from what I could ever do or be.
I'd never you know, I didn't want to be a chef.
So that was just a fun thing to watch. I
would love him. I would love watching him go baym
and make something that was um like fun to eat.
It wasn't pretentious food, it wasn't food that was like
(18:31):
really fancy. It was just really really good food. And
I love that. I feel like food like a food
that's not really fancy but really good. Or sandwiches. Oh yeah,
I don't know why. It's just like it's not fancy,
but you can make them fancy and you can make
them really good. And there's a big outlet there to
be creative time. And have you reached all your all
(18:52):
of your goals that you want to accomplish? Yes, um
I did. I Like people are like, well, what's next?
I don't know. I you know, like talking about putting
yourself in the best possible position for the next opportunity.
I just hope I could keep on cooking for people
and one door opens another door and and hopefully I'll
just keep on cooking and using food as a platform
(19:12):
to do big, big things. You know. Yeah, and if
you could cook, well, obviously we know that you're a chef,
but if you didn't have you okay, let me face this.
Have you cooked some? Have you never? Oh? My god,
I'm not how to say it. Are you getting nervous
on me? No, I'm just trying to I'm just trying
to find them. If you could cook something that you
(19:32):
haven't cooked ever, what would be mm hmm. You're full
of good questions today. That's good. Yeah, that's a good one.
I just I don't know. I've cooked a lot of
different things. And the things that I stay away from
our because I don't want to ever cook them, So
I wouldn't want to cook them. What would you not
(19:55):
want to cook? M hmm? Okay, Like deer, you know,
like venison is a big thing. Like chefs love to
cook that. But if I can't because I think of
Bamby and the deers are so cute and stuff, I
just can't, you know. Or rabbit. I don't cook rabbit
because funny, you know. Yeah, yeah, I mean these are
(20:16):
things it's I just can't. There's some animals that you
can't cook. Yeah, And like I'm by no means vegan
or anything like that. I believe in the supply chain.
It's like, you know, this is the food chain, this
is what we are. We have our teeth are made
for a certain reason with the like what are these
called not things? What are muller nose? Yeah? Those those
(20:36):
are because we're meant to eat meat. Well, would you
eat like deer but not cook it? No? I also
don't eat deer because I think I just think of
the little baby animals. Well, I like to like stay away.
I'm not vegan like you said, but I like to
stay away from like eating meat every day because it's
bad for you and you're King's moderation. Yeah, you have
(20:59):
everything in mudder Asian number one and number two. In anything,
whether it's meat or vegetables or dairy, whatever it is
that you're buying, you always have to know where you're
buying it from. And all my restaurants we do everything
is sustainable, free range, grass fed. Um, so we're not
buying product that's bad for you. You're getting the best
(21:19):
of the best exactly, because at the end of the day,
we are what we put into our bodies. And people
always ask us how do we balance school, being a
kid and having a business. Well, how do you how
do you balance having several restaurants in life? Um, you
have to make time for for having a good time.
You see, Like, just like as a kid, you know,
(21:40):
you have to make time for school, you have to
make time for your friends and your family, you know,
and then do what you love and be passionate about it.
And there is always time, because I always say, um,
until you're really really busy and you're stretched to the limit,
you don't have a value of time. You wouldn't believe
how much time people waste generally, Like, there's so much
time people waste us sitting down doing nothing or just
(22:03):
you know, staring at their phones or watching TV or
binge watching things that are never gonna like fulfill a dream,
get you anywhere. And that's fine to do on a
certain day. You should, hey, binge watch a series one day,
but don't do it all the time, you know. Um.
But for me, I like, I close all my restaurants
on Monday, no matter what, Like even if it's a
chance to make money, I'm like, no, there's a day
(22:24):
that me and my whole staff will have off no
matter what. The restaurants reset and I'll go fly somewhere,
I'll go, I'll stay home if I want to, I
go check out a new restaurant. Uh, sometimes I just
need a day to go to the spa, and you
know it's me day and every day and off day,
so I make it. It's always been since we open
till now. Even my my new restaurant that's about to open, Redfish,
(22:46):
we're closing on Mondays. And that was part of the deal.
I'm like, hey, everyone needs a day to decompress because
you'll go nuts. So you have to have your core
values in they they're not negotiable. You keep that and
you'll be good. It's it's a rule, like when you
close on Monday. It was like, that's all because usually
westaurants are open on Monday and that's industry day. Actually,
(23:08):
everybody who's in the hospitality industry goes out on Mondays.
So nothing. They respect it. I tell him, you know,
I work every other day as much as I possibly can,
So if you want to enjoy a Chef Adrian property,
you're gonna have to not do it on a Monday.
Have a free day on Monday. Yeah. Well, besides being
(23:28):
an amazing chef, um are you? You are also a
big philanthropist. Do you think that business and philanthropy should
go hand in hand? Very much? I think that's very
very important. When I didn't have much, I still gave.
I still made it a point to give. Now that
I have a little more, I still it's I have
to give even more. I think that if God blesses
us with, if we're on the receiving end, then it
(23:51):
is our duty, our purpose to give back and to
serve serve a higher purpose, you know. Um, I think
I believe that God gives us and blesses us so
that we can then use that to help others. We're
not just here to be like, oh my God, here, yes,
let's uh, let's just reap everything and not help and
turn turn our cheek if we see other people in need,
or you know, like how when you guys, you know
(24:14):
you help, live like Bella, you know stuff like that. Um,
I'm with St. Jude and live like Bella. You know
things so many other I do a lot of different
schools and things like that because we have to. We
have to use what we've been blessed with to help
for greater purpose. And it's great to help. If you
have everything in the world, you should give back because
(24:36):
no matter what, there's always kids who are going who
are struggling worse. And if you don't get something and
you say, and you you're having a bad day. There's
other kids with like cancer way worse. Yes, I mean,
and you have to think that you're always an example
to somebody else. So where is this world going to
go if these are people are just takers? You know,
(24:57):
I think it's going to turn real bad. You have
to have people that are like, oh my god, I
want to be just like him because since he was little,
he was helping. And you know that's believe it or not,
you guys are doing a huge thing for people that
are watching you. Guys, um and even if they don't
know you, you're going to be a story to somebody else.
They're going to talk about you. And when they talk
about you, that's just like jaw dropping awesome, you know.
(25:18):
So that's why that that's a why you know, people say, well,
why that's your wife. You gotta help. You have to
be here to serve a better, bigger purpose. Yeah, and
you never know if one day will need help. So
that's that's always had tables always turned somehow, and just
by giving back. It doesn't have to be money. It
(25:39):
could be like a pair of socks, like how we
want to um, a shelter after Hurricane Norma hit and
we gave like five thousand socks away to people who
are on the shelter because they didn't have socks on.
And it was it was it was a good experience
because we helped a lot of people and just seeing
(26:01):
their smells. Yes, it's rewarding, isn't it. That's not a
money thing. It's rewarding to see that you did something
like that. And those people needed socks. And sometimes those
socks maybe meant more in that moment than twenty dollars,
you know, because they needed socks their feet were cold
or wet, or they just didn't have access to socks
in the in the moment, and that was like wow,
(26:22):
thank god. And when it gets cold at night, I'm
gonna get cold, you need how to you need have
to like some like socks on the warm up. Yeah,
and our socks are very cozy. Yes, I know I
have a few. Well, I'm not trying to promote it
right well, sameless shameless plug. Well, you guys should go
buy your socks right now, or you canning socks Stockholm
(26:46):
there there you do your own commercials and everything. I'm
going to tell you another joke is okay? Yes, Why
do I Why don't eggs tell each other jokes? Because
they'll crack up? What is it? Is it at my clothes?
You're very close actually, because they cracked each other up.
You basically stole my punch line. Sorry. Sorry, now I
(27:09):
don't have any more egg joke, I mean cookie joke.
We just want to thank you for being here on
our podcast today and thanks for having me guys, thank
you for making some good food. Thank you if you
just heard Are You Kidding? Podcast with brothers Sebastian and
Brandon Martinez who are kids Helping Kids
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