February 20, 2024 • 35 mins
On episode eight of the Between Bites podcast, Nina Compton and Larry Miller are joined by Prince Lobo and his mother Dr. Biruk Alemayehu, owners of the Ethiopian restaurant Addis NOLA.
Hear about Biruk's move from Angola to Louisiana when Prince was only two, staying afloat during the struggles of Covid, and expanding to a new space on Bayou Road in the Seventh Ward.
Get a history lesson on Addis' special Ethiopian coffee roasting ceremony and the origin behind Prince's honey wine sourced from his personal Queen Bee Hive in New Orleans.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
What would a big.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to another edition of Between Bites with Nina
Compton on Larry Miller.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
We're brought to you by Caesar's New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And available on your Pelicans podcast network today.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Nina, who do we have with us?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We have Prince from Addis Nola and his beautiful mom.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Prince Lobo in the house. Welcome, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
We're happy to be here in the in the building.
Glad to be with you guys. You know, I feel
like we always cross paths. We've we've we've done some
work in the past, but now we here chopping it up,
hanging out on the on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Let's let's do something.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Yes, and thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
We are so excited because your story is so beautiful
and I think the world needs to know.
Speaker 7 (00:58):
The story of the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
And you know, we met before the pandemic, and you know,
we went through a lot of hard hardships and you know,
supporting each other. So I think this is a beautiful
time to talk about the restaurant and life in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
I think we had a good time, even you know,
want to want to take back to the chance that
you did the Black History Month collab in February, and
I came in here and I was like, you know what,
just getting my feet wet and not knowing what was
going on, and but like you know, in the back
budging down that leg of lamb like looking like that question.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know. But it was such a good time.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Right now, obviously, I'm joined by my amazing mother, Brooke
alamayehu uh and and her name is Amaharak.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Obviously we're Ethiopian. Uh.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
That's some of where her culture is coming from. It
means blessed. I see the world.
Speaker 7 (01:53):
Wow, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
So we gotta we got to talk about some of
that go.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You know, Larry's a good It's a good time, you know.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So yeah, man, we're like I said, we're just happy
to be here. News has been fun. Man, it's been
a great time we've been. I've been raised. I was
raised here. She brought me here from West Africa and Gola.
When I was two years old, as a baby, I
was sick. You know, I'm thinking husky right now. Yeah,
I mean, you can see I got the hips on
me right now. But when I was a baby, I
was sick and it was her big sacrifice, big decision
(02:24):
when I was a baby, to make that big change
to just come by herself, you know, in her in
her thirties, to bring me to bed Rouge, Louisiana, which
she had some friends here, and then from there, you know,
twenty eighteen, I made my sacrifice, leaving my I wanted
to be a pilot. I wanted to be airlined. But
I have my head in the clouds, you know what
I mean. I was had my head in the clowns
(02:45):
as a kid. When I got older, I was still
dreaming and then wanted to be a pilot. I had
a chance with United, and then I left to open
I decent Old, this amazing Ethiopian restaurant, highlighting her culture
here in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So that's that's what that's about, you know.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
And you guys moved to a new location. It's been
a year, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We just made a year quick. Yeah it was quick.
It came back quick. You know.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
It's like the industry is interesting, you know, because it's
like things happened quick, but they also happened slowly, you
know what I mean. So it's like I don't know
whether we've been in it for five years or fifteen.
You know what I mean, It's like I feel like
it's like being a grown man baby, you know what
I mean for the restaurant, because it's like we started
twenty eighteen. We just moved to double the space by
your road, historic neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You tell me, let them know, let him know.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
About so we.
Speaker 8 (03:34):
The idea, of course, has been in my mind all
the time, but we started, you know, like seriously to
consider twenty eighteen. I started to look the place in
this place popped up on South brad So we you know,
lease the space. I believe we signed like Sember twenty three,
twenty eighteen, and we opened the restaurant in March.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
So we're from concept in December to full break and
mortar in March.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, and so you know space in two.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
Twenty Yeah, we were planning to celebrate. You know, everything
crashed down, yes, but you know the two years make
us really stronger, as you you know did with us.
Also collaboration and all hospitality come together, and so we
were able to make it through.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
And the two thousand and twenty one we had an.
Speaker 8 (04:37):
Opportunity to really you know, come to the other places,
you come to us and ask as if we can
honor this space on by road.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
And how are you feeling about the move now since
we made it in retrospect, how you feel about it?
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I do feel now, all right. The hospitality business you know,
until you.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
You know, go through the Yeah. Yeah, soo. We took
the leap in twenty twenty one, even though two years
we were basically operating in that you know, survival mon Yes,
so it was not an easy task, but it took
me six months to really think about the process or
as a family together, we did and we got in there.
(05:25):
We rented the space in twenty twenty two, I believe,
and we were operational in twenty twenty two, November twenty
twenty two, so we've been in a space now for
a year.
Speaker 7 (05:35):
Yeah, and it's a beautiful space.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
It is it is really it is just trying to
flatter No, no, no, It really feels very authentic. And
I think that I love the touches that are very personal,
and I think that makes the restaurants so special. So
when people come in, they are just and they want.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
To embrace it.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I think it's very unique that you know, there are
not many Ethiopian restaurants in this city.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Yeah, I feel like half of the people who are
coming we have we're having to show them how to
use the food. It's handheld food. You know, you're using
this flat bread to eat it. The food, it's it's
a beautiful experience. It's really about community and family is
kind of what we're doing here on the podcast. Just
talking about some amazing stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And I remember when when my friend and I went
for lunch and you made the dish with the seeds.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
Oh yeah, this is about because that is so so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Now we're tapping into. So now what we've done.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
What we've done is tap into some of the West
African context. Like I said, I was born in Angola,
mother's ethiop and we got the mix right, So we
got East Africa, West Africa. Now we're in the South,
you know what I mean. So I call myself the
Southern African. You know what I mean coming to America,
you know what I mean, coming to New Orleans. And
so what we started to do now is tap into
(06:55):
the West African influenced.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
The food is crazy. Goosey is a fruit.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
That comes from most Nigeria, and actually the fruit itself
is poisonous, so you can't eat it, so you have
to use the seeds themselves. They kind of feed off
of some of that poisonous They have a little bit
of a bite to them. But we turned that into
a powder, use that into a bell pepper, purple onion,
booyon bass that we start with kind of like our
(07:21):
own you know, uh uh, you know, our own little
roo type of situation. And then from that base, we're
adding in the goosey melon seeds. They thinking and they
kind of restructure themselves into make like almost a protein.
And so when you do that, and we had some
spinach to it as well, So that flavor in that
dish is just like something that you've never tasted before.
It's it's out of like, uh, you know, a fairy
(07:43):
tale story. It's one of my favorite new things that
we're doing at the restaurant. I try to come up
with new stuff every now and then. You know, news
is full of gray food. Obviously, I'm sitting across one
of the best chefs come on.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And one of the best and.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
And so you know, we just try to have some fun,
you know, I think that's important. What we do is amazing,
So having fun, I think at having that at the
core is one of the most important things.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And I love that it's a it's a family affair
that everybody is involved in it. I met your sister
when I went last time, and it's just I love
that when you go to restaurants where everybody is involved,
like you go to Dookie Chase, where everybody is involved
and it's very tight.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
And it's what.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Gives that feeling if you're hosting those people, your family
in this restaurant exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And I think that's what we do so that we
got Pops. He's on the line. I can't get him
off of it. I'm trying. A man is pushing.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Sixty you know what I mean, He's pushing the sixty something.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
He just doesn't want to get off the line. I'm like, dude,
you can't, you know, I do.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
I impart my ways on the kitchen from a distance,
from a far away, and two of my through my
sisters now in the kitchen with him.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It's just them.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Nobody else is just them running that operation, which is crazy, right.
We talk about business, we don't, you know, the family business.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We don't think.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
We don't talk about that enough, you know, just to
have people together, you know, y'all are doing it, and
then myself in the front and some people who are
considered to be my family. It's a beautiful thing, you know,
and it's it's a different type of rewarding practice that
happens whenever you have people that you really, really, really
care about in that same space.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Obviously you gonna fight, we'renna tussle, We're gonna wrestle, you
know what I mean. You know what I mean. But
you can't go nowhere.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
Mama is always that's the core.
Speaker 8 (09:28):
Yeah, well at the end, you know, somebody with wisdom,
you know something. But also we have to be open,
open minded for the new ideas and new generation. That's
the only way we can't really incorporate the idea of
the you know, the new generation that's come on, and
we can't move forward that way.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
And all of these recipes are yours.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
Most of them.
Speaker 8 (09:51):
And we have seen a new coming from Prince, yes,
but most of yeah, the original ones are from me.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I grew up eating it, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What we that like now, you came to bad and
Rouge to go to school, yes, and you get to
bad Rouge from Africa, East and West Africa. It's not
like that in bad rooms culinary wise, food wise, yeah,
it's not like when you first got there. Now you
got the stress of going to school, but you also
(10:19):
have a family and you're eating.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Did you go out eat or you just cooked your
food at home. My family never went out to eat
when I was a kid.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
Yeah, well in my case it's different.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
You know, I came from West Africa, lived there six years,
but before that I was living in Europe.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
So I have a mixture of culture and you know,
craziness and idea, and I'm always open to new opportunities.
Speaker 8 (10:47):
But I always loved, you know, the food that grew up,
of course, and so whenever we had an opportunity, we
had a family.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Ethiopian families battle who used to go and eat.
Speaker 8 (10:59):
I never cooked it at home because there is no
ingredients like the air, for example, you cannot find it
easily here. Now it is available widely, but back then,
when we came in twenty twenty, there was no opportunity
to get to put our hands. So I would go
take him with me and eat whatever is available with
my in my Ethiopian prince, and I guess that's where
(11:21):
he got hooked. Also within that food and the coffee ceremony.
And although because Pony all other people, you know he
has seen growing up in Battle Rouge.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Yes, you know, he have seen dusk.
Speaker 8 (11:35):
And so that and so the reason why I really
come with the idea of opening restaurant here, when I
started to travel to different parts of the United States,
I see so many Ethiopian restaura in other places. Of course,
there is more Ethiopians in other places, but there is
not here.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
But at the same time, I really wanted to offer something.
You know what, I grew up eating two people in
Orleans and this is a food mecas.
Speaker 8 (12:01):
So that was the idea, you know, really bringing something
that I grow up so I don't forget it.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes, no, it is and you pass it along.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yes, and it is something that is like I said,
it's so special. And the coffee ceremony, you don't see
that anyway. And when we were able to do that
at our restaurant during Black History Month, you know, it
was so special for me to see my guests so excited.
And you know, the whole plan was to introduce my
(12:30):
guests to your restaurant so they would come, and they
were a lot of them did go to your restaurant
and tell people about this, the ceremony, the coffee ceremony.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Well, talking about those pot looks, we call them mahabers, right,
the word you'll probably forget and never remember for the
rest of your life. But Marbar is just people coming
together once a month. We did, and I grew up
getting hot boxed in the house with the coffee ceremony,
meaning they would take green coffee beans and roast them
on a little skillet in a house that couldn't be
bigger than the room that we're sitting right now, and
(13:00):
it's twenty people in there. It's punched in like sardines,
and it's just like you know, you sit in this
smoke and you're getting high off the essence of the
coffee bean, the smoke of the coffee bean.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
So what it's about. It is just a thousand year
old ritual.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Coffee's the second biggest commodity on the face of the earth,
besides court. It's a big thing, but a lot of
people don't know where it comes from. It's crazy, it actually,
they say. The story is called a goat herder and
his goats were getting high off of the beans and coffee.
The coffee beans. They're fruit. It's a cherry that's growing
from a tree.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
People don't know that. They took the tree, brought it
to a priest.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
The priest said, what the heck is this through in
a fire boom. The coffee tree is getting roasted. The
beans are getting roasted in this church. And so that
was the moment inside the church. The smoke, the fumes
of the roasting coffee beans is what set called these
heart on fire in the twelfth century, thirteenth century, and
that's became the origin the story of the coffee ceremony.
A thousand years later in households were still doing it
(13:50):
today to highlight Caledy.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I do it now. It came growing up hating this process,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
And it's like it doesn't matter two in the morning,
if it's a gathering, if it's a wedding, you don't
leave the gathering unless somebody does a coffee ceremony. It's
a spiritual blessing. We do it in the restaurant, you know,
per request. We try to do it every other day
at least just to put that good or that good
spirit in there.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And it's a special thing. Our coffee is like.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Espresso, really strong. We just put the ground straight into
this jabina. It's like a traditional clay coffee pot. They
rest to the bottom and you just pour over the top.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You know. It's some good.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Coffee, some of the best coffee in the world, and
it's a really dope experience. We had a chance to
do it for us as fest a couple of years ago.
I just came back from Houston. We did it in
Honeyland as well too, with a friend of ours. So yeah,
it's a good time. It's a good time.
Speaker 8 (14:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
I grew up.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
You know, as a kid, your family does something sometimes
you don't like it. I never liked it when they
did a coffee ceremony. I was like, why do you
have to do it three times a day? But now
you know, when I smug it, it just reminds me back
home and it brings the memory.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
And so that's the strange. We have to keep it going,
you know. And it's and how often.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Do you guys go back to Africa.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
So we last time we went was we came back
twenty twenty two, so.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Two years ago, two years ago.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, this time two years ago. It's a great time
to go.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
The air just smells like spices, it smells like roasted coffee,
It smells like you know, goats in the streets walking around,
you know what I mean, people selling mangos on the street.
It's a crazy it's incredible place. They say, the land
the cradle of life, Lucy. Some of the oldest human
bones were found out there too, you know. So if
we can find an excuse to get you guys to
sneak on the on the plane to get over there.
Speaker 8 (15:29):
Yeah, the best time to go is Christmas time, which
is January seven. Also is you know orthodox of the
people in different times Christians. So we do celebrate that
Julian calendar which falls on January seven, and also two
weeks after that, we do have e Fiffany, which is
like a celebration.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, that's the same day, same thing, same thing is
your Do you have a Marty girl, you have Carnival in.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
A way, yeah, no, what.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
Eft which is like a celebration of baptism and so
it is similar to Martira, It is not. It is
a religious you know, festivity, but we do. Also it's
outside with the umbrella, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Ye.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah, so it's a three day celebration. Outside.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Yes, so it's in January.
Speaker 8 (16:26):
Lso two weeks after it's around January twenty first, was.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
There anything, Well, this is a loaded question that bothered
you raising this child in America, and as he did,
he maybe try and go too far in his rebellious
stage and come in wearing New York Yankees hat and
saying he wanted to only watch American football.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
That's really a very hard question to ask. Why sitting
by me? Yeah, high school?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I mean he was a very good child, you.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Until high school?
Speaker 8 (17:04):
Yeah, so you know, I would like to I always
say to go to everybody. I would like to jump
high school because it was it was like everything I
didn't plant to him, it just disappeared.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Oh there there was.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
No way that I could go through him and make
him understand this is not admissible. So one of the
time I had to just drop him at the airport
so his dad can't pick him up.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
And so he can see. So he can see, you.
Speaker 8 (17:32):
Know, how much opportunity exists in this country. So he
kind of share really opportunity right to give him.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
So for those who missed it, she shipped me back
where I came from fifteen years old. I mean and
for me, like I said, it was just getting on
the boat back to Africa. It was a difficult time.
I mean, like I said, rebellion, I played football, so
I felt like I knew everything, you know, and you know,
(17:59):
I just I was in it, you know. And I
really wanted to see the American dream, you know. I
like to say, the prisons of Moonda for real, and uh,
and she should be back.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I went back.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I went back to some moon and I learned why
I was here in the first place. I learned while
I was here in the first place. Man, it was
I went to my goals. And you know, growing up,
one of the things that we always say, it's a
funny joke, is like as a kid, she used to
always tell people, oh, yeah, he's from Angola, and they'd
be like, oh my god, I'm so sorry because we
know I'm going to be the prison and.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
So it's like, no, it's not it's not the prison.
It's not the prison.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know, you got in prison.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You gotta reassure people, man.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
So that bringing was definitely special, just me and her
for the most part, and going like having hardship, you know,
you learn, you know, you learn who you were you know,
I was fighting to find out who I was, to
see how much how much space the world would give
a little African kid in in in Louisiana, and I
didn't get much. I got in trouble often. I cause
a lot of recus, you know, rucus. And the thing
(19:04):
is we're able to take that and turn it into
something positive, you know, with the restaurant and put like that,
could step forward, that energy forward to do something to
really share what we do, who we are.
Speaker 7 (19:14):
You know, that's great.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
Yeah, she had enough of you and said.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, send me up. You know, I'm not trying to
go back anytime.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Ethopia is cool and go is a little bit more
difficult man, definitely by myself.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah. Yeah, it's like that was a good.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Age to you teach him.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yes, smiling, she enjoyed it. You can see we're sending
them out, we're setting them out, you know.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
So yeah, so tell us about the honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Oh now we're talking. There's a really cool thing.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
And I'll give to this to you specifically because there's
a story. You know, there's fables where we come from.
We like stories, you know, we uh. And the story
is that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. They
say this is the origin of the Solomonic gynais in Ethiopia.
We know a guy named Ross Tafari. Okay, that's his
birth name. It's also the culture that we celebrate Bob
(20:14):
Marley's movies coming out soon.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
That we celebrate because Ross is the king.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Tafari is his name, and he was the they say,
the last descendant of the Queen of the King of
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Them to their meeting, they had an engagement.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
With that engagement, they shared coffee, they shared spices from
both parts of the world that they come from, and
they had honeywine. After their wedding. They said they shared
a bottle of honey wine underneath the full moon, and
that coined the term a honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's where that came.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
From, and that's where it comes from. So you know,
I know y'all are still in y'all's honeymoon stage and
I'm bringing I brought yealla.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I've brought y'all a bottle to celebrate some of that.
It's special.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
They say it's the original wine in the world before
we were using wedd and white grapes. We know honey
bees were just making, you know, honey in their hives.
The rain season in Africa, the water mixes with the
honey and it ferments during the dry season. You walk around,
you you know, imagine ten thousand gonna put you in
a scenic area.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And in the Sahara of Africa, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You walking around, you just step your foot, one step,
another step, and you walk into a gord of a
beehive and you're wondering if the bees are going to
mess you up, but they're not.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Because they've left and what's left is honey. You take
a sip, you grab the.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Horde of honey and you take a sip and you're like, damn,
that tastes good, but you can't find your way home.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
What has happened and you're stumbling your steps.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
You're the first human being on earth that has discovered
alcohol and in Africa, that's what we believe.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That's what I believe has happened.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
It's actually the first time I told that story, but
that's what I believe happened. And that's what honey wine is, right,
It's it's a product of bees and we discovered it.
The first fermented alcoholic beverage, and we're trying to bring
some of that history, some of that story back in Europe.
They had it too, though they had they called it
me me don't sound sexy, though it don't sound like
(22:17):
it tastes good, you know what I mean. So we
call it tedge Edge. You gotta kind of spit with
the tea a little Bit'm gonna wipe off the mic
after we've done. And Edge and that's a honey wine
fourteen percent alcohol. We make it in the restaurant. I
have bees in my backyard that'll actually be able to
harvest some of the honey from in the spring.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
With the Jesus Christ they trying to the bees will
will hold on. They'll they're they're pretty resilient, you know.
They can warm up.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Their body temperatures themselves just by batting their wings like
strong enough, you know. But a lot of the bees
they'll swarm and try to find another warmer place or leave.
That's happened to my bees in the past. They just
got the hell hello byt of there. They said, we
ain't paying, were tied at this place, you know what
I mean, amenities aren't that great, and we're leaving like
(23:12):
I'm kidding, you know, but we're still able to make
some wine from that. So we take that honey we
fermented thirty days. Or I have something this one's uh
six months wo so really really smooth, really clean. You
got the sweetness from the honey. Uh, but says fourteen percent.
So it's gonna put you on your butt if you want,
you know.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Thank you. How do you drink it? You don't drink
a big full glass.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Normally.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
What they say tedg is jealous. It's very jealous. They
don't want you to mix once. Once she starts seeing
you mixing with some other stuff, it's gonna it's gonna work.
It's gonna work. We have something called a burly. It's
like it looks like an upside down wine glass. The
design literally is like it's heavier at the bottom as
a bulb and then skinny at the top. I think
to prevent it from if you get to too turned, spinning,
(23:59):
spilling the drink, or even flies from flying in there.
And you normally will hold it like with two literally
two fingers and sip it like that. So yeah, man,
this stuff is special. They call it the golden nectar
in history. Like I said in Europe, mostly kings and
queens could only afford it transportation. Honey was expensive, so
literally only nobles people of notability could enjoy this, and
(24:20):
the Commonwealth they didn't have a chance to drink anything.
I mean, beers came around, but as they were such
a fan of the wine, they started to use what
just grew in their backyard, which was grapes.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So they used what.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Was common, what was more affordable, and honey to this
day is still the most expensive raw product to use
to make wine with, even more than you know, grapes.
I know certain regions obviously will be more expensive, but
honey by itself makes a really nice beverage.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Man, so y'ell enjoy.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
They will have a little sip tonight.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So with your honey bees in the backyard. This fascinates
me because I've looked at I've thought about doing.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It, really, but it seems like a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I was worried about the weather we have here
with some extreme heat and then some for us extreme cold.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I mean it got under forty five degrees the other day.
That's freezy.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, the.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But there's also uh areas you're supposed to put it
in southeast facing or in the shade or something.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
It just seemed like a lot of work. How did
you decide?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Did you just throw high out there or you got
into it and learned everything ahead of time, Like.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Most things that getting chip ships to Africa, it's like,
let's just jump on you like opening a restaurant.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Let's just jump three months out. You know, we got it.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
And I think that's been the kind of the story
of our life, like we don't know where we're going,
we don't know where we're taking it, but let's get
let's take it there anyway, you know, let's let's let's
let's get our head and bust our ass. But hey,
we had fun in the process. So I think that
was a great experience for me. But I had some sense,
some BT sense is what I call. One guy named
Bruce out in town, out in Lakeview, he has he
has three bees in his backyard, got a little guarden,
(25:59):
and so he kind of got me.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Y'all know.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Bruce came for the for the killab Actually he was
one of the guys who taught me. And yeah, I
think I think they're the only thing is you just
got a minuit to the ninety percent of a beehive
is actually all women, if you know.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Uh, so you gotta be careful ten percent of dudes
and they have no purpose.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
But then just protecting the queen, you know, literally like
a modern day and age. So with that, you gotta
check on them like every two weeks, make sure they're
not growing too fast, because if there's not enough space
for them, then they'll leave, you know what I mean.
If they sometimes you can have like vomites which will
like feast on the young.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
It sounds pretty dramatic, but you got to look out
for those.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
So keeping them at a high altitude as well. It's
like a really cool thing.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
It's a fun project. I think it's one of those
things where it's.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Like, you know, we have visited as remember family, and
obviously I threw it in her backyard. I'll let the recognize,
but family, they come in like, oh my goodness. The
bees during the daytime, you can kind of see them
getting active, you know, getting outside of the high they're
really they're literally harmless. Even like I go around them
without like a bee suit. Now if I'm not like
(27:11):
putting my hands in it, but I'll just like you know,
minitorment check them and.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Make sure they're good.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
So I think it'd be a fun project, you know,
if you got it. I don't know if you got
your hands full with a.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Lot of stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But now I'd love to just go out there and
see it. Yeah, I will wear the beasts.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And if you have a garden bees, if you just
by putting bees around them, thirty percent you have a
thirty percent higher yields of whatever you have in your garden.
Just like from one season to the next, it makes
a huge difference. Right now is the season to actually
get bees. You can get them shipped to your house
like Amazon package. They're like Italian bees. They're you know,
very docile and really relaxed.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Do you ever freak out about like a couple of
years ago when we had the killer bees? Yeah, coming
upwards the US, they can take over your high You
name your bees.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Mostly I think the Queen was always the one that
I named, you know what I mean, I just called
my baby.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That's my baby.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Just the New Orleans thing with them, man, And like
I said, they're actually really sweet and kind. You learn
to respect them. They can check your vibe. They give
you a vibe check. If they're not like really messing
with you. They'll be like, all you need to back
up today, you know what I mean, I'm not really
feeling what you got going on, all right, And so
it's actually cool and it's it's almost like a meditative practice.
Honey by itself if you're ever into apocalypse, for anybody here,
(28:27):
if you're ever in apocalypse, honey is the only thing
that will get you through, literally if you have nothing else.
It has water content ninety two minerals and it never
spoils as a key.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
So if you.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
Literally only have honey, like you'll be straight. Your honey
bees might literally save your life one day, and it's
going to save the planet as well to you. So
some some some fun facts, Man.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Princes the Family. How a y'all feeling about this this
season coming up? Y'all are feeling good.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's it's one of.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Those things where the little victories we've had over the
last three years coming out of the pandemic too, you know,
all of a sudden, you feel like, okay, good, we're back,
and then you're like.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Well, we're not back yet.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
People aren't traveling or people aren't going out as often.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
But it's better than it was.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know, six months, six months and six months. But
we're very positive about the future and what it can be.
I mean, it's just an incredible city to be in.
We're fortunate that almost everybody who lives here is just
cool and wants to have a good time and get
along with everybody. And we put out a good enough
product for entertainment and food and beverage that people want
(29:41):
to come visit us, and most of those people.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Are pretty cool and I you know, I you know,
we travel quite a bit and people always say, man,
I can't wait to come back to Neons.
Speaker 7 (29:51):
I love Neurons. So that's a great thing to live
in this city.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
You know, it's a sense of pride to say that
we live in Nerns and you know, people have never
met a single pusson it says I don't like Neons.
Everybody's like, I can't wait to go back. I love
the people, I love the music, I love the food.
So it's like such positive energy about this city and
it really says something about you know, the people that Yeah,
(30:17):
it's really the people that bring people here.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Can you think of anything your mom has done that
You're like, that's so Louisiana right there.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Look at you.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, oh man, I.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Gotta say, you know, like I said, when with the
season coming up, all the other festivals that we have,
you know, if it's a French Quarter festival or whatever
it is, uh jazz Fest, you know, esens Fest, she
gets busy, you know what I mean. Mom gets busy.
She's not she's not sleeping, she's popping out. She's trying
to get into it. That's you know, I feel like
that'says as new ones as you could get. You know,
she might she might catch a second line or two.
(30:51):
She might she might bust a.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Move on the second line, you know what I mean.
And you got to catch it too, because she likes it.
She likes to play east. She got she had a nice.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Little grace, a little little stick, so you gotta gotta
look out for it for the two steps in my
bus in.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
The middle, all right.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
You know, you know I said, definitely be happy to
catch catch one of those. What you guys, with any
of these things coming up, you know, it's a big season,
so it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
It's gonna be a great time.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Many And as we wrap up, what is what's your
highlight for twenty twenty four?
Speaker 7 (31:22):
What are you looking forward to?
Speaker 6 (31:23):
What's new?
Speaker 7 (31:24):
What's what should we now?
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Oh well, our first year in this new space was
really to kind of understand our customer the space. Yes,
you know what to expect because we came from the
small sport. Yes, and so this year really we want
to emphasize the space as an event space.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
You know what, if big, big group is.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Coming, we want them to feel like, yeah, you can
come and we take.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Care of you.
Speaker 8 (31:51):
And we want to continue to you know, produce our
traditional food of course, including also the food that things
came up, so to make sure that the newly people
don't feel like excluded or the people who never tested
our food don't feel excluded. Like Prince, we have a
good so which is a West African food. So we
try to really understand the city more and more and
(32:14):
kind of get into that city spirit. You know. Also
it's traditional Ethiopian food, but we are part of the
city public and me as a professor for thirteen years
before I open this restaurant, I feel like I am becoming,
you know, one of the new linings. Yeah, so I
(32:36):
learndered a lot from my students.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I was going to say, which is harder running a
restaurant or dealing with students use.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Such both of them.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
They do have their process, you know, can't you know,
students really to make sure that they are doing what
they're supposed to do. The restaurant really understanding the customer,
to make sure that we do what they want us
to want what we want them to make feel that
this space is part of you.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Know what I was thinking when I went to college.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
None of my professors could have gone into hospitality and
been as friendly as you.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
So maybe you were that cool professor.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
No, the opposite.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
They come to the restaurant, they're like, oh, yeah, I
knew not to come with no mess. She was put down,
elbowed down, not not playing. You know, if you in class,
we in class. What we're doing, man, So you know
we're excited, you know, just to run in a business.
(33:38):
What we do is special. You know, it's like in
many ways it's icond of That's why you know, I
walk around and I get a yell to yell enough
this stuff down the street because every every chance, every
people that we serve, all the people that we look
that we have in a space, it's a special connection
that we have with the city and the things that
we do. We're looking forward to doing more of that.
Myself actually just got engaged.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Man, crazy. I mean you would know the rude boy,
you know what I mean, the bad you.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Know, like to go from where I am to be
in this place. I'm super lucky, bro, super blessed, and
so yeah, you know, looking forward to that for me
and more success, more blessing, more piece, same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
For you guys. What's y'all think? What's y'all think for
this year?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
We're gonna.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
We're gonna watch the Pelicans dominate. Oh yeah, we're gonna,
you know, just have We live in New Orleans.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
It's just it's a fun city.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Man, It's fun.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You know. Everybody's got to work or do something or
feed people or go out to eat.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
We get to do all.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
That in a really much better environment than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
And it's just the truth. Guys, Thank you so much
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
We love eating at your restaurants, We love seeing your smile,
we love getting and and just again, best of luck
and continued success. We love having you as part of
our extended New Orleans family.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
That's right, that's right, the same to you guys. Know,
it's been a pleasure to be here. And I know
you're gonna keep killing it, keep taking over, keep leading away.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Man, you have so much love, so much.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Love to check them out and buy your road honey time.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Thank you so much, We love you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wait yeah, great, wait for remember big wait for
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Everybody go wrong
What would a big.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to another edition of Between Bites with Nina
Compton on Larry Miller.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
We're brought to you by Caesar's New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And available on your Pelicans podcast network today.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Nina, who do we have with us?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We have Prince from Addis Nola and his beautiful mom.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Prince Lobo in the house. Welcome, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
We're happy to be here in the in the building.
Glad to be with you guys. You know, I feel
like we always cross paths. We've we've we've done some
work in the past, but now we here chopping it up,
hanging out on the on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Let's let's do something.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Yes, and thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
We are so excited because your story is so beautiful
and I think the world needs to know.
Speaker 7 (00:58):
The story of the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
And you know, we met before the pandemic, and you know,
we went through a lot of hard hardships and you know,
supporting each other. So I think this is a beautiful
time to talk about the restaurant and life in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
I think we had a good time, even you know,
want to want to take back to the chance that
you did the Black History Month collab in February, and
I came in here and I was like, you know what,
just getting my feet wet and not knowing what was
going on, and but like you know, in the back
budging down that leg of lamb like looking like that question.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
You know. But it was such a good time.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Right now, obviously, I'm joined by my amazing mother, Brooke
alamayehu uh and and her name is Amaharak.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Obviously we're Ethiopian. Uh.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
That's some of where her culture is coming from. It
means blessed. I see the world.
Speaker 7 (01:53):
Wow, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
So we gotta we got to talk about some of
that go.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You know, Larry's a good It's a good time, you know.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So yeah, man, we're like I said, we're just happy
to be here. News has been fun. Man, it's been
a great time we've been. I've been raised. I was
raised here. She brought me here from West Africa and Gola.
When I was two years old, as a baby, I
was sick. You know, I'm thinking husky right now. Yeah,
I mean, you can see I got the hips on
me right now. But when I was a baby, I
was sick and it was her big sacrifice, big decision
(02:24):
when I was a baby, to make that big change
to just come by herself, you know, in her in
her thirties, to bring me to bed Rouge, Louisiana, which
she had some friends here, and then from there, you know,
twenty eighteen, I made my sacrifice, leaving my I wanted
to be a pilot. I wanted to be airlined. But
I have my head in the clouds, you know what
I mean. I was had my head in the clowns
(02:45):
as a kid. When I got older, I was still
dreaming and then wanted to be a pilot. I had
a chance with United, and then I left to open
I decent Old, this amazing Ethiopian restaurant, highlighting her culture
here in New Orleans.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So that's that's what that's about, you know.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
And you guys moved to a new location. It's been
a year, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We just made a year quick. Yeah it was quick.
It came back quick. You know.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
It's like the industry is interesting, you know, because it's
like things happened quick, but they also happened slowly, you
know what I mean. So it's like I don't know
whether we've been in it for five years or fifteen.
You know what I mean, It's like I feel like
it's like being a grown man baby, you know what
I mean for the restaurant, because it's like we started
twenty eighteen. We just moved to double the space by
your road, historic neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You tell me, let them know, let him know.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
About so we.
Speaker 8 (03:34):
The idea, of course, has been in my mind all
the time, but we started, you know, like seriously to
consider twenty eighteen. I started to look the place in
this place popped up on South brad So we you know,
lease the space. I believe we signed like Sember twenty three,
twenty eighteen, and we opened the restaurant in March.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
So we're from concept in December to full break and
mortar in March.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, and so you know space in two.
Speaker 8 (04:15):
Twenty Yeah, we were planning to celebrate. You know, everything
crashed down, yes, but you know the two years make
us really stronger, as you you know did with us.
Also collaboration and all hospitality come together, and so we
were able to make it through.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
And the two thousand and twenty one we had an.
Speaker 8 (04:37):
Opportunity to really you know, come to the other places,
you come to us and ask as if we can
honor this space on by road.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
And how are you feeling about the move now since
we made it in retrospect, how you feel about it?
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I do feel now, all right. The hospitality business you know,
until you.
Speaker 8 (05:01):
You know, go through the Yeah. Yeah, soo. We took
the leap in twenty twenty one, even though two years
we were basically operating in that you know, survival mon Yes,
so it was not an easy task, but it took
me six months to really think about the process or
as a family together, we did and we got in there.
(05:25):
We rented the space in twenty twenty two, I believe,
and we were operational in twenty twenty two, November twenty
twenty two, so we've been in a space now for
a year.
Speaker 7 (05:35):
Yeah, and it's a beautiful space.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
It is it is really it is just trying to
flatter No, no, no, It really feels very authentic. And
I think that I love the touches that are very personal,
and I think that makes the restaurants so special. So
when people come in, they are just and they want.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
To embrace it.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
I think it's very unique that you know, there are
not many Ethiopian restaurants in this city.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Yeah, I feel like half of the people who are
coming we have we're having to show them how to
use the food. It's handheld food. You know, you're using
this flat bread to eat it. The food, it's it's
a beautiful experience. It's really about community and family is
kind of what we're doing here on the podcast. Just
talking about some amazing stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And I remember when when my friend and I went
for lunch and you made the dish with the seeds.
Speaker 6 (06:26):
Oh yeah, this is about because that is so so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Now we're tapping into. So now what we've done.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
What we've done is tap into some of the West
African context. Like I said, I was born in Angola,
mother's ethiop and we got the mix right, So we
got East Africa, West Africa. Now we're in the South,
you know what I mean. So I call myself the
Southern African. You know what I mean coming to America,
you know what I mean, coming to New Orleans. And
so what we started to do now is tap into
(06:55):
the West African influenced.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
The food is crazy. Goosey is a fruit.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
That comes from most Nigeria, and actually the fruit itself
is poisonous, so you can't eat it, so you have
to use the seeds themselves. They kind of feed off
of some of that poisonous They have a little bit
of a bite to them. But we turned that into
a powder, use that into a bell pepper, purple onion,
booyon bass that we start with kind of like our
(07:21):
own you know, uh uh, you know, our own little
roo type of situation. And then from that base, we're
adding in the goosey melon seeds. They thinking and they
kind of restructure themselves into make like almost a protein.
And so when you do that, and we had some
spinach to it as well, So that flavor in that
dish is just like something that you've never tasted before.
It's it's out of like, uh, you know, a fairy
(07:43):
tale story. It's one of my favorite new things that
we're doing at the restaurant. I try to come up
with new stuff every now and then. You know, news
is full of gray food. Obviously, I'm sitting across one
of the best chefs come on.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And one of the best and.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
And so you know, we just try to have some fun,
you know, I think that's important. What we do is amazing,
So having fun, I think at having that at the
core is one of the most important things.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And I love that it's a it's a family affair
that everybody is involved in it. I met your sister
when I went last time, and it's just I love
that when you go to restaurants where everybody is involved,
like you go to Dookie Chase, where everybody is involved
and it's very tight.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
And it's what.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Gives that feeling if you're hosting those people, your family
in this restaurant exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And I think that's what we do so that we
got Pops. He's on the line. I can't get him
off of it. I'm trying. A man is pushing.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Sixty you know what I mean, He's pushing the sixty something.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
He just doesn't want to get off the line. I'm like, dude,
you can't, you know, I do.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
I impart my ways on the kitchen from a distance,
from a far away, and two of my through my
sisters now in the kitchen with him.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It's just them.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Nobody else is just them running that operation, which is crazy, right.
We talk about business, we don't, you know, the family business.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We don't think.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
We don't talk about that enough, you know, just to
have people together, you know, y'all are doing it, and
then myself in the front and some people who are
considered to be my family. It's a beautiful thing, you know,
and it's it's a different type of rewarding practice that
happens whenever you have people that you really, really, really
care about in that same space.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Obviously you gonna fight, we'renna tussle, We're gonna wrestle, you
know what I mean. You know what I mean. But
you can't go nowhere.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
Mama is always that's the core.
Speaker 8 (09:28):
Yeah, well at the end, you know, somebody with wisdom,
you know something. But also we have to be open,
open minded for the new ideas and new generation. That's
the only way we can't really incorporate the idea of
the you know, the new generation that's come on, and
we can't move forward that way.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
And all of these recipes are yours.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
Most of them.
Speaker 8 (09:51):
And we have seen a new coming from Prince, yes,
but most of yeah, the original ones are from me.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I grew up eating it, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What we that like now, you came to bad and
Rouge to go to school, yes, and you get to
bad Rouge from Africa, East and West Africa. It's not
like that in bad rooms culinary wise, food wise, yeah,
it's not like when you first got there. Now you
got the stress of going to school, but you also
(10:19):
have a family and you're eating.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Did you go out eat or you just cooked your
food at home. My family never went out to eat
when I was a kid.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
Yeah, well in my case it's different.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
You know, I came from West Africa, lived there six years,
but before that I was living in Europe.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
So I have a mixture of culture and you know,
craziness and idea, and I'm always open to new opportunities.
Speaker 8 (10:47):
But I always loved, you know, the food that grew up,
of course, and so whenever we had an opportunity, we
had a family.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Ethiopian families battle who used to go and eat.
Speaker 8 (10:59):
I never cooked it at home because there is no
ingredients like the air, for example, you cannot find it
easily here. Now it is available widely, but back then,
when we came in twenty twenty, there was no opportunity
to get to put our hands. So I would go
take him with me and eat whatever is available with
my in my Ethiopian prince, and I guess that's where
(11:21):
he got hooked. Also within that food and the coffee ceremony.
And although because Pony all other people, you know he
has seen growing up in Battle Rouge.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Yes, you know, he have seen dusk.
Speaker 8 (11:35):
And so that and so the reason why I really
come with the idea of opening restaurant here, when I
started to travel to different parts of the United States,
I see so many Ethiopian restaura in other places. Of course,
there is more Ethiopians in other places, but there is
not here.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
But at the same time, I really wanted to offer something.
You know what, I grew up eating two people in
Orleans and this is a food mecas.
Speaker 8 (12:01):
So that was the idea, you know, really bringing something
that I grow up so I don't forget it.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes, no, it is and you pass it along.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yes, and it is something that is like I said,
it's so special. And the coffee ceremony, you don't see
that anyway. And when we were able to do that
at our restaurant during Black History Month, you know, it
was so special for me to see my guests so excited.
And you know, the whole plan was to introduce my
(12:30):
guests to your restaurant so they would come, and they
were a lot of them did go to your restaurant
and tell people about this, the ceremony, the coffee ceremony.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Well, talking about those pot looks, we call them mahabers, right,
the word you'll probably forget and never remember for the
rest of your life. But Marbar is just people coming
together once a month. We did, and I grew up
getting hot boxed in the house with the coffee ceremony,
meaning they would take green coffee beans and roast them
on a little skillet in a house that couldn't be
bigger than the room that we're sitting right now, and
(13:00):
it's twenty people in there. It's punched in like sardines,
and it's just like you know, you sit in this
smoke and you're getting high off the essence of the
coffee bean, the smoke of the coffee bean.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
So what it's about. It is just a thousand year
old ritual.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Coffee's the second biggest commodity on the face of the earth,
besides court. It's a big thing, but a lot of
people don't know where it comes from. It's crazy, it actually,
they say. The story is called a goat herder and
his goats were getting high off of the beans and coffee.
The coffee beans. They're fruit. It's a cherry that's growing
from a tree.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
People don't know that. They took the tree, brought it
to a priest.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
The priest said, what the heck is this through in
a fire boom. The coffee tree is getting roasted. The
beans are getting roasted in this church. And so that
was the moment inside the church. The smoke, the fumes
of the roasting coffee beans is what set called these
heart on fire in the twelfth century, thirteenth century, and
that's became the origin the story of the coffee ceremony.
A thousand years later in households were still doing it
(13:50):
today to highlight Caledy.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I do it now. It came growing up hating this process,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
And it's like it doesn't matter two in the morning,
if it's a gathering, if it's a wedding, you don't
leave the gathering unless somebody does a coffee ceremony. It's
a spiritual blessing. We do it in the restaurant, you know,
per request. We try to do it every other day
at least just to put that good or that good
spirit in there.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And it's a special thing. Our coffee is like.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Espresso, really strong. We just put the ground straight into
this jabina. It's like a traditional clay coffee pot. They
rest to the bottom and you just pour over the top.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You know. It's some good.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Coffee, some of the best coffee in the world, and
it's a really dope experience. We had a chance to
do it for us as fest a couple of years ago.
I just came back from Houston. We did it in
Honeyland as well too, with a friend of ours. So yeah,
it's a good time. It's a good time.
Speaker 8 (14:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
I grew up.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
You know, as a kid, your family does something sometimes
you don't like it. I never liked it when they
did a coffee ceremony. I was like, why do you
have to do it three times a day? But now
you know, when I smug it, it just reminds me back
home and it brings the memory.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
And so that's the strange. We have to keep it going,
you know. And it's and how often.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Do you guys go back to Africa.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
So we last time we went was we came back
twenty twenty two, so.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Two years ago, two years ago.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, this time two years ago. It's a great time
to go.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
The air just smells like spices, it smells like roasted coffee,
It smells like you know, goats in the streets walking around,
you know what I mean, people selling mangos on the street.
It's a crazy it's incredible place. They say, the land
the cradle of life, Lucy. Some of the oldest human
bones were found out there too, you know. So if
we can find an excuse to get you guys to
sneak on the on the plane to get over there.
Speaker 8 (15:29):
Yeah, the best time to go is Christmas time, which
is January seven. Also is you know orthodox of the
people in different times Christians. So we do celebrate that
Julian calendar which falls on January seven, and also two
weeks after that, we do have e Fiffany, which is
like a celebration.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, that's the same day, same thing, same thing is
your Do you have a Marty girl, you have Carnival in.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
A way, yeah, no, what.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
Eft which is like a celebration of baptism and so
it is similar to Martira, It is not. It is
a religious you know, festivity, but we do. Also it's
outside with the umbrella, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Ye.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah, so it's a three day celebration. Outside.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Yes, so it's in January.
Speaker 8 (16:26):
Lso two weeks after it's around January twenty first, was.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
There anything, Well, this is a loaded question that bothered
you raising this child in America, and as he did,
he maybe try and go too far in his rebellious
stage and come in wearing New York Yankees hat and
saying he wanted to only watch American football.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
That's really a very hard question to ask. Why sitting
by me? Yeah, high school?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I mean he was a very good child, you.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Until high school?
Speaker 8 (17:04):
Yeah, so you know, I would like to I always
say to go to everybody. I would like to jump
high school because it was it was like everything I
didn't plant to him, it just disappeared.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Oh there there was.
Speaker 8 (17:17):
No way that I could go through him and make
him understand this is not admissible. So one of the
time I had to just drop him at the airport
so his dad can't pick him up.
Speaker 6 (17:28):
And so he can see. So he can see, you.
Speaker 8 (17:32):
Know, how much opportunity exists in this country. So he
kind of share really opportunity right to give him.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
So for those who missed it, she shipped me back
where I came from fifteen years old. I mean and
for me, like I said, it was just getting on
the boat back to Africa. It was a difficult time.
I mean, like I said, rebellion, I played football, so
I felt like I knew everything, you know, and you know,
(17:59):
I just I was in it, you know. And I
really wanted to see the American dream, you know. I
like to say, the prisons of Moonda for real, and uh,
and she should be back.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I went back.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I went back to some moon and I learned why
I was here in the first place. I learned while
I was here in the first place. Man, it was
I went to my goals. And you know, growing up,
one of the things that we always say, it's a
funny joke, is like as a kid, she used to
always tell people, oh, yeah, he's from Angola, and they'd
be like, oh my god, I'm so sorry because we
know I'm going to be the prison and.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
So it's like, no, it's not it's not the prison.
It's not the prison.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know, you got in prison.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You gotta reassure people, man.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
So that bringing was definitely special, just me and her
for the most part, and going like having hardship, you know,
you learn, you know, you learn who you were you know,
I was fighting to find out who I was, to
see how much how much space the world would give
a little African kid in in in Louisiana, and I
didn't get much. I got in trouble often. I cause
a lot of recus, you know, rucus. And the thing
(19:04):
is we're able to take that and turn it into
something positive, you know, with the restaurant and put like that,
could step forward, that energy forward to do something to
really share what we do, who we are.
Speaker 7 (19:14):
You know, that's great.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
Yeah, she had enough of you and said.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, send me up. You know, I'm not trying to
go back anytime.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Ethopia is cool and go is a little bit more
difficult man, definitely by myself.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yeah. Yeah, it's like that was a good.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Age to you teach him.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yes, smiling, she enjoyed it. You can see we're sending
them out, we're setting them out, you know.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
So yeah, so tell us about the honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Oh now we're talking. There's a really cool thing.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
And I'll give to this to you specifically because there's
a story. You know, there's fables where we come from.
We like stories, you know, we uh. And the story
is that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. They
say this is the origin of the Solomonic gynais in Ethiopia.
We know a guy named Ross Tafari. Okay, that's his
birth name. It's also the culture that we celebrate Bob
(20:14):
Marley's movies coming out soon.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
That we celebrate because Ross is the king.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Tafari is his name, and he was the they say,
the last descendant of the Queen of the King of
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Them to their meeting, they had an engagement.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
With that engagement, they shared coffee, they shared spices from
both parts of the world that they come from, and
they had honeywine. After their wedding. They said they shared
a bottle of honey wine underneath the full moon, and
that coined the term a honeymoon.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's where that came.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
From, and that's where it comes from. So you know,
I know y'all are still in y'all's honeymoon stage and
I'm bringing I brought yealla.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I've brought y'all a bottle to celebrate some of that.
It's special.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
They say it's the original wine in the world before
we were using wedd and white grapes. We know honey
bees were just making, you know, honey in their hives.
The rain season in Africa, the water mixes with the
honey and it ferments during the dry season. You walk around,
you you know, imagine ten thousand gonna put you in
a scenic area.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And in the Sahara of Africa, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You walking around, you just step your foot, one step,
another step, and you walk into a gord of a
beehive and you're wondering if the bees are going to
mess you up, but they're not.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Because they've left and what's left is honey. You take
a sip, you grab the.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Horde of honey and you take a sip and you're like, damn,
that tastes good, but you can't find your way home.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
What has happened and you're stumbling your steps.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
You're the first human being on earth that has discovered
alcohol and in Africa, that's what we believe.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That's what I believe has happened.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
It's actually the first time I told that story, but
that's what I believe happened. And that's what honey wine is, right,
It's it's a product of bees and we discovered it.
The first fermented alcoholic beverage, and we're trying to bring
some of that history, some of that story back in Europe.
They had it too, though they had they called it
me me don't sound sexy, though it don't sound like
(22:17):
it tastes good, you know what I mean. So we
call it tedge Edge. You gotta kind of spit with
the tea a little Bit'm gonna wipe off the mic
after we've done. And Edge and that's a honey wine
fourteen percent alcohol. We make it in the restaurant. I
have bees in my backyard that'll actually be able to
harvest some of the honey from in the spring.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
With the Jesus Christ they trying to the bees will
will hold on. They'll they're they're pretty resilient, you know.
They can warm up.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Their body temperatures themselves just by batting their wings like
strong enough, you know. But a lot of the bees
they'll swarm and try to find another warmer place or leave.
That's happened to my bees in the past. They just
got the hell hello byt of there. They said, we
ain't paying, were tied at this place, you know what
I mean, amenities aren't that great, and we're leaving like
(23:12):
I'm kidding, you know, but we're still able to make
some wine from that. So we take that honey we
fermented thirty days. Or I have something this one's uh
six months wo so really really smooth, really clean. You
got the sweetness from the honey. Uh, but says fourteen percent.
So it's gonna put you on your butt if you want,
you know.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Thank you. How do you drink it? You don't drink
a big full glass.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Normally.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
What they say tedg is jealous. It's very jealous. They
don't want you to mix once. Once she starts seeing
you mixing with some other stuff, it's gonna it's gonna work.
It's gonna work. We have something called a burly. It's
like it looks like an upside down wine glass. The
design literally is like it's heavier at the bottom as
a bulb and then skinny at the top. I think
to prevent it from if you get to too turned, spinning,
(23:59):
spilling the drink, or even flies from flying in there.
And you normally will hold it like with two literally
two fingers and sip it like that. So yeah, man,
this stuff is special. They call it the golden nectar
in history. Like I said in Europe, mostly kings and
queens could only afford it transportation. Honey was expensive, so
literally only nobles people of notability could enjoy this, and
(24:20):
the Commonwealth they didn't have a chance to drink anything.
I mean, beers came around, but as they were such
a fan of the wine, they started to use what
just grew in their backyard, which was grapes.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So they used what.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Was common, what was more affordable, and honey to this
day is still the most expensive raw product to use
to make wine with, even more than you know, grapes.
I know certain regions obviously will be more expensive, but
honey by itself makes a really nice beverage.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Man, so y'ell enjoy.
Speaker 7 (24:48):
They will have a little sip tonight.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
So with your honey bees in the backyard. This fascinates
me because I've looked at I've thought about doing.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It, really, but it seems like a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I was worried about the weather we have here
with some extreme heat and then some for us extreme cold.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I mean it got under forty five degrees the other day.
That's freezy.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, the.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But there's also uh areas you're supposed to put it
in southeast facing or in the shade or something.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
It just seemed like a lot of work. How did
you decide?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Did you just throw high out there or you got
into it and learned everything ahead of time, Like.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Most things that getting chip ships to Africa, it's like,
let's just jump on you like opening a restaurant.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Let's just jump three months out. You know, we got it.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
And I think that's been the kind of the story
of our life, like we don't know where we're going,
we don't know where we're taking it, but let's get
let's take it there anyway, you know, let's let's let's
let's get our head and bust our ass. But hey,
we had fun in the process. So I think that
was a great experience for me. But I had some sense,
some BT sense is what I call. One guy named
Bruce out in town, out in Lakeview, he has he
has three bees in his backyard, got a little guarden,
(25:59):
and so he kind of got me.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Y'all know.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
Bruce came for the for the killab Actually he was
one of the guys who taught me. And yeah, I
think I think they're the only thing is you just
got a minuit to the ninety percent of a beehive
is actually all women, if you know.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Uh, so you gotta be careful ten percent of dudes
and they have no purpose.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
But then just protecting the queen, you know, literally like
a modern day and age. So with that, you gotta
check on them like every two weeks, make sure they're
not growing too fast, because if there's not enough space
for them, then they'll leave, you know what I mean.
If they sometimes you can have like vomites which will
like feast on the young.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
It sounds pretty dramatic, but you got to look out
for those.
Speaker 5 (26:43):
So keeping them at a high altitude as well. It's
like a really cool thing.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
It's a fun project. I think it's one of those
things where it's.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Like, you know, we have visited as remember family, and
obviously I threw it in her backyard. I'll let the recognize,
but family, they come in like, oh my goodness. The
bees during the daytime, you can kind of see them
getting active, you know, getting outside of the high they're
really they're literally harmless. Even like I go around them
without like a bee suit. Now if I'm not like
(27:11):
putting my hands in it, but I'll just like you know,
minitorment check them and.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Make sure they're good.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
So I think it'd be a fun project, you know,
if you got it. I don't know if you got
your hands full with a.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Lot of stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But now I'd love to just go out there and
see it. Yeah, I will wear the beasts.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
And if you have a garden bees, if you just
by putting bees around them, thirty percent you have a
thirty percent higher yields of whatever you have in your garden.
Just like from one season to the next, it makes
a huge difference. Right now is the season to actually
get bees. You can get them shipped to your house
like Amazon package. They're like Italian bees. They're you know,
very docile and really relaxed.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Do you ever freak out about like a couple of
years ago when we had the killer bees? Yeah, coming
upwards the US, they can take over your high You
name your bees.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Mostly I think the Queen was always the one that
I named, you know what I mean, I just called
my baby.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
That's my baby.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Just the New Orleans thing with them, man, And like
I said, they're actually really sweet and kind. You learn
to respect them. They can check your vibe. They give
you a vibe check. If they're not like really messing
with you. They'll be like, all you need to back
up today, you know what I mean, I'm not really
feeling what you got going on, all right, And so
it's actually cool and it's it's almost like a meditative practice.
Honey by itself if you're ever into apocalypse, for anybody here,
(28:27):
if you're ever in apocalypse, honey is the only thing
that will get you through, literally if you have nothing else.
It has water content ninety two minerals and it never
spoils as a key.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
So if you.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
Literally only have honey, like you'll be straight. Your honey
bees might literally save your life one day, and it's
going to save the planet as well to you. So
some some some fun facts, Man.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Princes the Family. How a y'all feeling about this this
season coming up? Y'all are feeling good.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's it's one of.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Those things where the little victories we've had over the
last three years coming out of the pandemic too, you know,
all of a sudden, you feel like, okay, good, we're back,
and then you're like.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Well, we're not back yet.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
People aren't traveling or people aren't going out as often.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
But it's better than it was.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know, six months, six months and six months. But
we're very positive about the future and what it can be.
I mean, it's just an incredible city to be in.
We're fortunate that almost everybody who lives here is just
cool and wants to have a good time and get
along with everybody. And we put out a good enough
product for entertainment and food and beverage that people want
(29:41):
to come visit us, and most of those people.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Are pretty cool and I you know, I you know,
we travel quite a bit and people always say, man,
I can't wait to come back to Neons.
Speaker 7 (29:51):
I love Neurons. So that's a great thing to live
in this city.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
You know, it's a sense of pride to say that
we live in Nerns and you know, people have never
met a single pusson it says I don't like Neons.
Everybody's like, I can't wait to go back. I love
the people, I love the music, I love the food.
So it's like such positive energy about this city and
it really says something about you know, the people that Yeah,
(30:17):
it's really the people that bring people here.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Can you think of anything your mom has done that
You're like, that's so Louisiana right there.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Look at you.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah, oh man, I.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Gotta say, you know, like I said, when with the
season coming up, all the other festivals that we have,
you know, if it's a French Quarter festival or whatever
it is, uh jazz Fest, you know, esens Fest, she
gets busy, you know what I mean. Mom gets busy.
She's not she's not sleeping, she's popping out. She's trying
to get into it. That's you know, I feel like
that'says as new ones as you could get. You know,
she might she might catch a second line or two.
(30:51):
She might she might bust a.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Move on the second line, you know what I mean.
And you got to catch it too, because she likes it.
She likes to play east. She got she had a nice.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Little grace, a little little stick, so you gotta gotta
look out for it for the two steps in my
bus in.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
The middle, all right.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
You know, you know I said, definitely be happy to
catch catch one of those. What you guys, with any
of these things coming up, you know, it's a big season,
so it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
It's gonna be a great time.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Many And as we wrap up, what is what's your
highlight for twenty twenty four?
Speaker 7 (31:22):
What are you looking forward to?
Speaker 6 (31:23):
What's new?
Speaker 7 (31:24):
What's what should we now?
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Oh well, our first year in this new space was
really to kind of understand our customer the space. Yes,
you know what to expect because we came from the
small sport. Yes, and so this year really we want
to emphasize the space as an event space.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
You know what, if big, big group is.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Coming, we want them to feel like, yeah, you can
come and we take.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
Care of you.
Speaker 8 (31:51):
And we want to continue to you know, produce our
traditional food of course, including also the food that things
came up, so to make sure that the newly people
don't feel like excluded or the people who never tested
our food don't feel excluded. Like Prince, we have a
good so which is a West African food. So we
try to really understand the city more and more and
(32:14):
kind of get into that city spirit. You know. Also
it's traditional Ethiopian food, but we are part of the
city public and me as a professor for thirteen years
before I open this restaurant, I feel like I am becoming,
you know, one of the new linings. Yeah, so I
(32:36):
learndered a lot from my students.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I was going to say, which is harder running a
restaurant or dealing with students use.
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Such both of them.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
They do have their process, you know, can't you know,
students really to make sure that they are doing what
they're supposed to do. The restaurant really understanding the customer,
to make sure that we do what they want us
to want what we want them to make feel that
this space is part of you.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Know what I was thinking when I went to college.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
None of my professors could have gone into hospitality and
been as friendly as you.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
So maybe you were that cool professor.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
No, the opposite.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
They come to the restaurant, they're like, oh, yeah, I
knew not to come with no mess. She was put down,
elbowed down, not not playing. You know, if you in class,
we in class. What we're doing, man, So you know
we're excited, you know, just to run in a business.
(33:38):
What we do is special. You know, it's like in
many ways it's icond of That's why you know, I
walk around and I get a yell to yell enough
this stuff down the street because every every chance, every
people that we serve, all the people that we look
that we have in a space, it's a special connection
that we have with the city and the things that
we do. We're looking forward to doing more of that.
Myself actually just got engaged.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Man, crazy. I mean you would know the rude boy,
you know what I mean, the bad you.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Know, like to go from where I am to be
in this place. I'm super lucky, bro, super blessed, and
so yeah, you know, looking forward to that for me
and more success, more blessing, more piece, same thing.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
For you guys. What's y'all think? What's y'all think for
this year?
Speaker 3 (34:17):
We're gonna.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
We're gonna watch the Pelicans dominate. Oh yeah, we're gonna,
you know, just have We live in New Orleans.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
It's just it's a fun city.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Man, It's fun.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
You know. Everybody's got to work or do something or
feed people or go out to eat.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
We get to do all.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
That in a really much better environment than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
And it's just the truth. Guys, Thank you so much
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
We love eating at your restaurants, We love seeing your smile,
we love getting and and just again, best of luck
and continued success. We love having you as part of
our extended New Orleans family.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
That's right, that's right, the same to you guys. Know,
it's been a pleasure to be here. And I know
you're gonna keep killing it, keep taking over, keep leading away.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Man, you have so much love, so much.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Love to check them out and buy your road honey time.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Thank you so much, We love you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wait yeah, great, wait for remember big wait for
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Everybody go wrong
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