Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to whine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Resk you by
the Box Center. I am excited for the show this week.
So many of you know Billy and I have a
television program called Dining Playbook. We also have a television
program called Meet Boston with Billy and Jenny, which is
just entering its second season, and I know we've talked
about it on the show. We've had some of our
guests involved with the show. This year, we have a
(00:43):
bunch of new Hubsters. Hubsters are what we call our
correspondence on our television show that tells us everything you
would ever want to know about Boston from every possible
different perspective. And we have a lot of new personalities
that we're excited to introduce you to this year. One
of them is is you can find on Instagram as
Lizzie's Underscore Bakery l Izzies Underscore Bakery, and her name
(01:06):
is Lizzie Johnson. No relation, Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's nice to have you on the program.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Hi, Jenny, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So people may have seen Lizzie on the Food Network.
You may have read about her and Best of Boston
as you've had Best at Boston Wedding Cakes twenty one,
twenty three, twenty four, and probably you know more and
beyond different accolades, and you make such extraordinary cakes. You
were such an artist and so we've loved watching you
(01:34):
create content. We loved watching you in the Food Network,
and so we were so excited when you decided to
come on as one of our hubsters. So tell us
a little bit about your background and how you went
to become a content creator and somewhat of such influence
in this space.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, no, thank you so much. I'm really excited to
be a Hubster this season. But yeah, I say on
Lizzie's Bakery, it's a home based bakery. We're located in
Active but you know, we specialize deliveries and everywhere from
Boston to all the way to Rhode Island. We're literally everywhere. Yeah,
we specialize in custom cakes, wedding cakes, desserts for any occasion.
(02:12):
I'm also a mom to two crazy and fun boys
or ages three and six, So we're definitely in the
thick of it all with trying to grow a business,
trying to you know, have routines in our family and
just where I always say we're surf thriving instead of
just surviving, we're sur thriving right now. Yeah. I'm actually
(02:34):
from the West Coast. I grew up in Las Vegas
and I moved to Boston about almost eight years ago
with me and my husband. And what I love about,
you know, not only showcasing my cakes on my social
media on mostly my Instagram. I love showing like where
we go in Boston because I'm kind of exploring Boston
(02:55):
every day myself, and especially when I do cakes, especially
when I do cake deliveries. Wherever someone wants a cake,
I that's kind of where I go. And if it's like, oh,
I'm going to go to Quincy, mass And we usually
go stop by and eat somewhere there because we're already
there doing.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
A delivery, and that's great. We're able to put you
on assignment to be able to showcase some new places
that you may not have checked out, being a fairly
new Bostonian. But I urge everybody to go on Instagram
to check out these cakes. Now, were you an artist
prior to finding the baking space or did you know
which came first?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
So I'm actually in like the advertising marketing background before
I got into cakes. So it actually helped me, like
with my degree, you know, like promoting my business because
I had these skills already with marketing, you know, but
no type of creative. Literally, I tell myself, like, I
have no creative I until I started getting into cakes.
(03:51):
Where that's where my creative outlet started shining.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Oh my gosh, well it is. It is certainly shining.
And I hear you on the thriving. Is that wait,
what do we call it?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah, sur thriving. We're sur thriving, not just surviving.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I hear you on the sur thriving. We have two
girls exactly the same age as yours, So the hustle
is is certainly real. And then we decided to add
something else to your point by bringing you on into Hubster.
The first episode has aired this weekend, and you can
actually watch it tonight at nine pm on Nesson. So
tell us where you went for a couple of your spots.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, So, I mean I mainly focus in the North
End and I was I was able to film a
North End bakery crawl or bakery tour with this guy
Pat who owns a tour called Cocktails and Canoli's. And
that was a lot of fun because I go to
the North End often because it's just like a go
(04:47):
to when you know, my friends come to visit. You know,
that's where all the good food is. And but during
this tour, he showed me a lot of things about
the North End that I have no idea, and I like,
am so pumped to show people well because all these
different little secrets and pockets of the North End that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Know on whatever thing to go. Oh, that's so great
and from your perspective is so we're going to kind
of keep you in this sweet area. We're gonna tend
send you to all different places throughout Boston, but we're
going to keep you in the sweet space because it
seems like no one knows it better.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Than you do.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So what were some of the highlights that you found
on the tour.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
So one of the best highlight highlights was, so there's
Brico restaurant in the North End. But if you go
down this like skinny alleyway on Hanover Street, right next
to the restaurant, there's this place called Brico Panetaria, which
is their bread bakery, and no one could see it
from like the street because it's hidden in this alleyway.
And he showed we went there and we got to
(05:46):
go behind the scenes on how they bake most of
their bread. For a lot of the restaurants in the
North End, they also have you know, breads and pastries
that you can buy just as like a local customer.
So that was really cool because I had no idea,
didn't even know that was there. Which also there's a
Breco bed and breakfast above the bread bakery.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Like I didn't know that at all. Those really quite
Frankie Deepest Squally who has a bazillion different restaurants in
this area and basically owns the North End. But yes,
we've been in there before and we got to do
a Masterrella Cheese poll with their head, you know, She's
and baker and it was so much fun. So I'm
glad you got to check that out. So, Lizzy, for
(06:28):
folks who are interested in following you and certainly ordering
cakes from you, because I promise you you'll never have
a more exquisite, memorable cake, how did they get in
touch with you? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
So you know, follow me on Instagram Lizzie's Underscore Bakery.
That's where I show a lot of my recent work.
I'm always posting on my Instagram stories of places I
go with my kids or restaurants that I go to.
And then you can go to my website Lizzie'sbakery dot
com to order a cake if you ever need anything,
and yeah, that's where you can find me.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Awesome, Well we can all. You can also find her
as part of Meat Boston this second season and definitely
check her out tonight at nine pm or on demand
on Nesson. Thank you so much, Lizzie for joining the
show today. We look forward to doing some more segments
with you over the coming year.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Perfect, Thank you, Jenny, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Okay, and coming up, we've got a very special guest,
also a Hubster, but happened to be in relation with
my co host, mister Billy Cossa, So you don't want
to go anywhere. We'll be back with more Food for
Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweet.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Hey, everybody, welcome back into Food for Thoughts brought to
you by the Box Center. I am particularly excited about
this next guest on our program. So we just heard
from Lizzie, who is a fantastic baker and one of
our great new hubsters on Meat Boston on nesson this
next guy, I've known for quite some time, twenty years
to be exact, and over the course of those twenty years,
(07:59):
I have gotten close to him because he is one
of the fantastic three sons of my partner, my co host,
the co host on this program, Billy Costa. Chris, it's
so good to have you on the program.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Jenny, Hi, it's so good to be here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So, I mean, the nice part is there's a lot
of people who have listened to Billy over the years,
have heard you on the morning show and have heard
him talk about you for years. But we're so excited
to have you on Food for thought, and Billy decided, yeah,
it might be a little weird if I have him
on the program, So I think it's better if you do.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
My dad and I have done enough talking over the years,
so I'm much more pleased to be talking to you.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Jenny.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Okay, good, good. I think we'll have plenty of fun.
So I you know, what's so great is I mean,
I've known you since you were I don't even we
don't know how old you are at this point, but
like you were in high school, maybe even middle school.
I mean, there were times where I used to babysit
you and your brothers, but you've become like family. It's
been so amazing watching you grow. And when we when
we were thinking about how we wanted season two for
(09:04):
me Boston to go, you know, I was going to
call him up and I was like, listen, I was like,
Chris is, like Chris is the ultimate hubster. Like look
at all he's doing, Look at all the things that
he's doing. And it's been really cool to have you,
mainly because I get to look at you and look
at the next generation of Costa and in so many
ways it feels like what I'm talking to you and
(09:25):
watching you. I'm watching the next iteration of your dad,
which feels pretty cool. So people that don't know you,
there's plenty of people listening from now Maine to Florida
on this signal who don't know you and don't know
enough about your background. So why don't you tell us
a little bit about how you have evolved into the
space of content creation, which is certainly a very different
(09:46):
way than a lot of the folks on the program.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Well, well, first off, really great intro, and thank you
so much. As you mentioned, you and I have become
family over the years. You're like my big siss and
you know, obviously growing up with my father being Billy
and being such a legend and in the Boston media,
you know, I've learned a lot since I was a kid,
and this these past few months in particular have been
(10:13):
have been almost surreal and really cool in a way.
Since you and my father asked me to participate and
meet Boston, I just I just think it's such a
cool experience to to be able to work with you guys, right,
I think of both of you ass total legends in
the in the New England media scene, and having grown
up around the two of you, uh and learning so much.
It's it's awesome to be able to hang out and
(10:34):
work and have fun together. With that said, you're exactly right.
Over the last i'll call it five years, my partners
and I have have built a business that started in
New England and is now starting to grow its roots
beyond the New England borders. That is in the collectible space,
so really sports collectibles, memorabilia, trading cards, baseball cards, basketball cards,
(10:58):
football cards, Pokemon are everything under the sun. And that
business is called Card Vault. So our first location was
at Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place. We opened a second
location at Foxworth's Casino, and then last year we opened
our third location at TD Garden right at the entrance
of the Garden. And you know, that business has continued
(11:19):
to grow and our community and customer base has grown,
and we've now kind of finalized our plans to go
beyond New England and across the country and international even
we'll be opening our fourth location at American Dream Mall
in New Jersey hopefully in the next few months here
and then you know, the limits are the limits are off.
We're talking New York, in Dallas, in La and San Francisco.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So but don't break it down for us like people
who are not collecting cards, people who are not familiar
with the process. What does it look like? And go
back actually a little bit farther to the very first
time when you were sort of using social media platforms
to do this. How did this idea come about? And
break it down a little bit for people who aren't familiar.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, good question. So, in fact, the business started and
kind of came about because I've been a collector since
I was a kid. I've collected cards since I was
five years old, right, My dad and mom used to
take me to the local card shop and I would
rip packs and collect my favorite players and you know,
Chase No mar Garcia, Power, Rookie cards and Pokemon cards
(12:28):
and what have you. And then about five years ago
we started this business actually as a streaming company. So
there's this this phenomenon called box breaking, where folks from
around the world will join a live stream and they
will watch a breaker. In this case, our business open
(12:48):
boxes and packs of cards on a live show and
sell those packs and boxes and provide almost like a
live shopping experience to the customer.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
So if you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Came on to one of our live streams and you
wanted to buy a pack or a box of cards,
You put your order in and then our breaker will
open that for you in real time on camera and
then shift you the contents of your box. So not
only are you able to shop online and instantaneously see
you know, what your purchase kind of yields, but you
also have the added benefit of having a room full
(13:18):
of people, in some cases hundreds, if not thousands of
people kind of cheering you on and watching, you know,
kind of what happens. And then as a breaker, And
you know, when we started the business, I was the breaker,
the only breaker. You're you're really in charge of kind
of being the entertainment and providing an entertaining experience and
hosting the show and walking people through the process. And
(13:39):
so that's where we started, and the business sense has evolved. Yeah,
So then we made a decision. Once we realized, hey,
this makes sense, we decided let's well, let's do everything.
Let's not just do the box breaking and the live
streaming experience, but let's kind of up level the entire
retail experience in this space. Because for anybody that's listening
(14:01):
that's familiar with, you know, the local card shop or
local hobby shop or trading card space. Traditionally, you know,
those local shops are much more mom and pop, a
little bit dusty, a little bit cluttered, a little bit confusing,
maybe intimidating. So that's what we set out to build
was a really up leveled, upskilled, clean, educational, and you know,
(14:24):
friendly environment.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And there's been some extraordinary trading that has taken place.
So give us some of the examples of ones that
have taken place over the past panful of years since
you launched the business.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, well, I think as an industry, right, we've seen
some incredible things happen. You know, the sports card space
has been in the spotlight more so over the last
five to ten years than it has in its history,
and its history goes all the way back to you know,
pre war times, you know, nineteen tens, late eighteen hundreds.
But there have been some remarkable sales, not not just
(14:58):
in the industry, but also at card Vault. You know,
we've acquired a couple of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey
Mantle Rookie cards, which is probably the most iconic card
in existence cards and let me take a step back.
Cards and sports cards in particular. A big component of
our world is what's called grading, similar to you know
(15:21):
coins and coin condition grading, where a grading company will
inspect a card and they'll grade it for its condition,
how centered it is, what are the corners look like,
how's the surface, you know, the coloring, et cetera. The
Mickey Mantle card, the nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle card.
There are three copies in existence that are in gem
mint condition with what they call PSA ten. Those cards
(15:45):
are each worth about thirty five million dollars. So just
to give you a sense of like the top end
of the market and how serious things can get and
what Card Vault aims to do and what I think
is so great about our company is well for kind
of the experience for everyone. So we have you know,
we have cards in that realm available for the most
(16:07):
advanced and you know, high profile collectors in the world.
But then we also offer an experience for folks that
are just trying to collect their favorite player right and
spend a few bucks, So we kind of offer that
whole spectrum. So that is you know, kind of one
of the more exciting sides of our business. Certainly you know,
thirty million dollars Mickey Mantle cards and Bonus Wagner cards
(16:30):
that are worth one hundred million, and you know.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
There's opportunity for everybody to get involved. So okay, So
for folks who are interested, how do they connect with
you on a day to day basis as it relates
to Cardvolves.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, so everything that we have going on can typically
be seen on our Instagram page, So at card vault
Us is our main Instagram page. And then if you
want to see the world of breaking as it pertains
to our business, you can also visit at card Vault Breaks.
Breaks is in like a lunch break, but that is
(17:07):
those are the two main pages for the business.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
And I've loved watching, I mean, as you do events
throughout the city at the various stadiums and arenas. I mean,
the crowds line up, I mean, it's one of those
things that you I just I bet for you. It's
felt surreal to watch how much this has sort of
struck a chord with so many people that you don't know,
but coming to some of the greatest places in the area,
(17:30):
and at least from my perspective, watching how much this
has taken off has been I'm just so proud of
everything that's happened. We're going to take a break. When
we come back, we're going to talk a little bit
about what has been like to have mister Billy Cousta
as a dad and how that's transitioned you into being
able to be really confident in the media space.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
We're going to take a break.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
We'll be back with more Food for Thought in just
a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in
sweetes Hey.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Everybody, welcome into Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box. I'm so excited to have Chris Kossa as
our guest on the show this week of Cardball. We
just talked a little bit about the background, a little
bit about what people can experience when they get involved.
But I want to talk a little bit about the
relationship with you and your dad and kind of what
you've learned from him over the years, because it's true,
like you talked about him as a legend in the media.
(18:17):
To me, he's been one of my greatest teachers, you know,
taught me everything that I've learned over the past twenty
years and so many other people. But I wouldn't necessarily
say that it's the natural trajectory for someone to be
as comfortable in front of people and on the camera,
you know, just because they are your dad. But you
are so comfortable. But I want to know from you, like,
(18:38):
first of all, what was it like having Billy as
a dad, What were the good the not so good,
and what was it that sort of propelled you to
a place where you felt like this was an area
that you were going to be able to enter, both
for me Boston, which is the program that we're going
to talk a little bit more about, but also from
what you're doing with Cardboard, because it takes a very
specific presence to do what you're doing and seemingly so effortlessly.
(19:03):
I also have to say we have to include your
mom and there, because she's one of the most tremendous
people too, and I know a lot of this comes
from her.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, of course, Well, it has been a kind of surreal,
Like I mentioned in the first break growing up with
you know, my dad being who he is, and obviously
being in Boston, even going to school, growing up in Boston.
You know, all of my friends, their parents are driving
them to school, and you know what are they listening to. Well,
they're listening to my dad on the radio. So you know,
(19:29):
kids are showing up a tool and they're hearing my
dad talk about my life and our life, and so
it is surreal and you don't really appreciate it, or
I guess you could say you take it for granted
growing up. But what I will say, over the last
four or five years, as I've started to create a
lot more of my own content and I've had to
watch my own content, I have now realized how much
(19:50):
of my father is in me, and how much I
take and have taken from watching my father over the years.
You know, obviously, growing up, you know, my friend friends
and family and mother would tell me how I'm the
one that looks like my dad, and I'm the one
that acts like my dad, and I'm the one with
my dad's mannerisms, and you know, sure, yeah, is it
a blessing? Is that a curse? Who knows? But now
(20:10):
that you know I've started to create my own content,
you really realize how much you've picked up on your
entire life watching a legend do his job and grow
up around you know, my father in the TV studio,
in the radio studio and show many of the things
that I am clearly emulating by accident in a way.
So that's been really cool to kind of develop.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, and as the person on the other side, to
be able to sort of see the way that you
guys work together and talk together has been awesome. So
to be able to have both the platform or you
visiting the media show and now you coming on as
a part of our TV show is just it's so
great and it feels really effortless, which is so nice.
We're going to take a break. We'll be back with
more Food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Welcome back to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. Chris Costas or I want to talk
a little bit about meat Boston. So we have you
as one of our new hubsters for season two, one
of twenty one folks who are in the area creating
really interesting content throughout our city. So tell us a
little bit about what it would like to get into
this space. There's a specific format that you're following, so
(21:17):
it's a little bit different than what people are experiencing
from you on Instagram kind of you know, just you
sort of talking off the cost. There was a little
bit more I guess strategy involved of creating this piece
that you put together. So how did that feel? And
tell us about some of the places that you went to.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, first off, it's it's been amazing so far. Right
we're one episode in and that will air very soon.
But kudos to you and the Meat Boston team because
there was a real emphasis on making sure that what
we create is ours right and that we follow our
own style and the way in which we already create content,
(21:54):
which I think is is you know, really really great
because it makes it comfortable for all of the creators
and that you guys are bringing on board with that said, yeah,
there's definitely a little bit more structure than than normal.
So that's been a fun process to follow. But for
our first episode, we focused on Fenway Park and the
Lenox Hotel, two of my favorite places in Boston. And
(22:16):
I'm not just saying that because of the episode. You know,
when the team and I kind of put our heads
together on what the first episode would look like. Fenway
Park was the obvious first stop, right, Hey, what what
are the places that you would visit when you're visiting
Boston for the first time. Well, family parks at the
top of that list. And luckily, you know, going back
(22:36):
to our conversations around card Vault, we have a lot
of experience and a great relationship with the folks over
at Fenway Park. We've hosted events there, We've partnered with them,
we've done pop ups there. So you know, I immediately called
my friend Carrie, who is the vice president of event
for the entire ballpark, and you know, she brought us in.
We did a behind the scenes tour. We talked about
(22:57):
all the amazing things going on at Fenway Park, all
the incredible different types of events you can expect to
see at Fenway Park, not just baseball games, and we
got to behind the scenes look. So that was really
fun because it's you know, it's a group of people
that I have a great relationship with, so we were
able to have a lot of fun with it. And
then it was a really seamless transition to you know, well,
(23:19):
where do you stay your first night in Boston, And
you know the answer for that is the Lenox Hotel.
You know, Dan and the team over at the Lenox
are so amazing, and the building and the facility is
so incredible. So going over there and being able to
film content and have fun with it and put our
little spin and flare on it was was definitely a
(23:39):
good time. And I think, you know, hopefully the episode
or the segment of the episode kind of highlights why
those two places are so important when it comes to
Boston as a city.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Oh, we hope that everybody watches the show, and yes,
you will see not only how well Chris sort of
educates us in two of these places, but how he
connects us to them. I mean, I'm sure for you
kind of to Fenway. And I think one thing that
your dad has also done very well is is never
forgets about his roots, Like never forguests where he comes from,
and never forgets that, like there is something so amazing
(24:10):
about entering into Fenway Park, even if you've been there
a thousand times. And so I'm sure for you to
have done events there, remembering when you were a little
kid showing up at your first game, you know, and
then going there every single year after. I think I
know that that's something that you do too, and that
definitely came out with you and Carrie. And yes, Carrie
is a great friend of the show and it was
so nice to have her on episode one of season two. Okay,
(24:32):
so I want to talk a little bit about Boston
in general. You're now traveling throughout the country doing a
variety of different things with card Vault, and I think
you know, there are times and instances where Boston gets like,
you don't want to say, a bad mess, but like
a little bit of one. And I love to be
able to see that you're traveling all over really being
another voice for Boston. Where do you think Boston kind
(24:54):
of lands on the scene from a national standpoint as
it relates to things to do, culinary seeing that kind
of thing.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, I think Boston is the most if you want
to say, well rounded city in America. And I think
you know, it not only gets an unfair or I
would say gets underrated across the country, but I think
we also take it for granted as Bostonians ourselves, right, Like,
there is so much that our city gives and offers
that not a lot of other cities in the country.
(25:23):
Do we have incredible sports and incredible pedigree when it
comes to our sports teams. Fenway Park great example, Boston Garden,
great example, Jillette Sadium, great example. These are venues that
are like dripped in history, specifically Fenway, right. And you
travel the country and I've done so, you know a
number of times looking at other venues for events and
spending time in these ballparks, there is nothing like Fenway Park.
(25:47):
So the sports component is number one. We have that
tradition that no other city has, which I think I
think is incredibly important. But then the history, right, We're
one of the most historic cities in the world, let
alone in the United States, And I think as Bostonians
we often overlooked at and take it for granted because
you know, listen, we live here, right, so you know,
it's not like all of us are going and walking
(26:08):
the Freedom Trail and taking duck tours every day. That's
tourist stuff. But the reason those things exist is because
our city is so incredible. And then the food, and
it's no surprise that you and my dad have been
doing food television in the Boston market for so long
and had so much content to be able to create
because it is one of the best food cities and
(26:29):
food destinations on planet Earth. I mean, we have the
best seafood, the best sushi, some of the best Italian food,
some of the best culinary creations. Like it's there's nothing
like it, you know. Obviously New York has a has
a great food scene. In Chicago's a great food scene,
but Boston is right up there, neck and neck, so
it's specially I agree.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, it is a very special place. And I love
that you're saying that. I love that you're promoting Boston
as you travel the country. So Chris, adore, you love
that you're a part of this program. You back on
this radio show to talk about your other episodes. Make
sure that you check out nesson. You can do this
on demand. You can do this on their streaming app.
You can do this at nine pm on Sunday tonight.
You can see Chris Costa and his first episode of
(27:12):
being Our Hubster on Meat Boston. I adore you give
your beautiful wife Hannah, big hugging kiss for me, and
thank you for doing this.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Love you, Jenny, love you.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, we got more food for that coming up.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Welcome back to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. So we've been talking a little bit
about Meat Boston, our program that has been on now
for a year. We're starting our second season. But then
we've had Dining Playbook, which has been on for twenty years.
Or Billy and I have been doing food television for
twenty years. And you know the obviously, we showcase all
(27:48):
things new, we showcase all the trends, We showcase all
of our great chefs and restaurant to our friends in
the industry. And then there's the folks that we've been
covering regularly for all of those twenty years. And one
of the great chefs of Boston and who has spent
certainly time elsewhere but is doing so much as it
relates to the culinary scene in our area is Robert Siska,
(28:11):
And so he's a culinary director and partner of Himmel Hospitality.
You know Himmel Hospitality from so many of their great spaces.
Thank you so much, Rob Robert for being on the
show with us today.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Yeah, of course, anytime. Good morning and thanks for having
me of course.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So okay, so folks know, I think probably Grilled twenty
three if you're a steak person the most. But you
have a number of different restaurants within Himmel Hospitality, and
one of which is turning fifty this year. So give
us a little background on the restaurant group.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Yeah, so him Hospitality, you mentioned growth twenty three. Of course,
the Bank Seafreit Steak is one of our newest ventures.
And then be Schu Dimidiz just celebrated fifteen years last
year last year, and then Harvest and Cambridge, which is crazy.
Celebrating huge milestone fifty years this year is pretty pretty crazy, spellay,
fifty to fifty years. And you know, so many different
(29:04):
chefs throughout Boston have worked at Harvest too, which is
pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Oh. I think that is such a special piece of
it is how you have been able to bring up,
you know, within your group people who are now doing
really interesting things, which I think speaks to sort of
the closeness of the industry in Boston. So I want
to know a little bit of a background for you.
For some of the listeners who aren't familiar You've been
with Himmel Hospitality for a chunk of time now, but
(29:31):
give us a little bit of your brief background.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Yeah, so I moved originally from New York City. I
worked at Le Bernard M three Michelin Star restaurant in
New York City, and then I left New York to
open up the Strodomody in two thousand and nine. So
I've been been in Boston for fifteen years now, Bond sixteen.
And it's been such a crazy scene, food scene change
from two thousand and nine to now. There's just so
many great restaurants open up, you know, and between the
(29:57):
four restaurants and the Himial group, there's a lot. We
have a lot to share this year coming up too,
which is exciting.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh my god. You guys never stop. I don't know
how you don't stop, but somehow you don't. And the
Himmels are, you know, of the most kind of tried
and true to this industry and to this city and
have been so loyal from a philanthropic perspective, but also
just from a you know, kind of also pushing the
envelope as it relates to what people can experience from
(30:24):
the culinary scene here in Boston. So obviously we know
that you have incredible stake at Girl twenty three. But
one of the things that I think so great about
you guys is the partnerships that you have with your
vendors and purveyors. So talk a little bit about why
that's so important to the ethos of your group.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
You know, it's all in like Farms of Table came
out years ago, it's something that we still you know,
we still hone into a lot of the restaurants. Brand
Beef is a huge partner of ours from Girl twenty
three for many years now, and you know, I know
Eric Brandt, Chris Emo's best friends our brand and just
such a great family and such a great story and
their quality of their beef that know we use in
(31:05):
at Grill and then now we've kind of really worked
them into the Bank's the banks sequent mistake. Even beef
throwing and a Harvest are also using Brand Beef, which
you know, Allen Brothers is the big partners of ours,
Island Create Wolves Fish. You know, we really I work
very closely with all the vendors to make sure we're
getting the best possible quality products you can.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and the quality is so important and I think
the customer really cares about quality in a way that
maybe they haven't before, or certainly to the extent that
they haven't before. And I think that is also something
that's nice is I think historically maybe your beef story
was really solely at the Grill, and now you have
(31:46):
opened it up so that people can enjoy a little
bit of everything when they're coming into all of your venues.
What do you think what was sort of the mission
behind that, And I know that changes fairly recent just
the fact.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
That it's just such a great story with Bram Beef
and Chris Emmel and it's you know, girls known for
host steaks and how great they are, and that's why
we really wanted to share that story within all the restaurants,
and especially at the Banks. Know we're known for our
seafood at the Banks, but now we have great steaks
and you know, we even put the same cooking equipment,
you know, which is a boiler at the Banks as
(32:21):
Grill twenty three. So if you you know, say you
have a lot of family members that really want great
seafood and you know we have great seap at Grill also,
but you can get the same great steaks at the
Banks as well.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, and real great opportunity to sort of showcase these
partners across different footprints. What's nice about three of your
four locations is they're very they're in very close proximity.
So I know, I'm sure you get your steps in
going from place to place, really kind of taking over
the beautiful back bay at Boston. But I want to
move to Cambridge for a second. You mentioned fifty years
for Harvest. For folks who haven't been there, tell them
(32:55):
a little bit about the space and some of the
you know, like you mentioned, so great names came out
of that, out of that restaurant, and I know you're
still doing such great things there.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yeah, fifty years. I mean names like Lydia Shire, Barbara Lynch,
Frank l'collin, Sarah Malt and all those chefs over the
years have worked have worked at Harvest, which is which
is such a great story. And you know, as you say,
we know HIML group. We never stop and we're constantly
trying to push the envelope and recreate things. And we
have a lot of exciting things going on this year,
fifty years of Harvest we are going to be doing,
(33:27):
you know, a chef dinner where we're going to invite
a lot of chefs that have previously worked at Harvest.
We're inviting them back to the restaurant to you know,
celebrate some great dinners. We have a beautiful patio there
which we were going to try to you know, fix
that up a little bit. But there's a lot of
new exciting things, possibly to bar menu, possibly tasting menu,
all the new exciting things that are going to have
to Harvest this year for fifty years.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Oh. I love the idea of celebrating with some of
the chef's past and there's something very cozy about that space,
and it feels very much like a like an elevated
neighborhood restaurant, you know, one that you can go into
many times a week where the bartender knows your name.
And I guess that's true of all of your places,
which is certainly true. One of the things that you know,
(34:10):
I know, is pretty impressive about Himmel Hospitality is how
long folks have been with you. You know, you see
a lot of shifts within the hospitality industry, but you
have folks that have been working with you guys for
a very long time. What do you think it is
about sort of the ethos of the restaurant group that
has enabled that long term connection and commitment, you know.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
So it's a little bit of every It's a lot
of different things that go on, and we're constantly you know,
we value our team members and we really want to
create the best best experience and best best time for
our team members at the restaurant group, you know, we're
constantly revisiting our packages and our healthcare and just different
different things that people people are looking for, especially now
(34:54):
in twenty twenty five. You know, we have butchers at
Real twenty three that have been been with us for
twenty five years, chefs at all four restaurants, some have
been with us almost twenty years, you know, and since COVID.
All the chefs at Banks, Grill, Dstro all have been
with us since since COVID. So it's it's exciting, it's nice,
you know. And and I, like you said about back day,
(35:14):
it's like I spend my time running around between all
the restaurants, and I do get my steps in, so
I do go back and forth, and I try to
see everybody every day if I can. Obviously I can't
all the time. But be in that back base so close.
I do make it to all the restaurants when I can.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, and I think that commitment just comes through is
why your clientele is so loyal. I want to talk
about the holiday coming up. I know Valentine's Day is
a big one for everybody, but certainly for the restaurant industry.
So what are you doing in particular for Valentine's Day.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Valentine's Day at All four is a little bit different.
Grill is a lacarte with some great, great specials, which
you know, we've kind of done that over the years
and people love Grill Estro and Harvest. Every year we
usually do a prefix menu set or tasting menu, usually
a set five to six course tasting menu at all
the restaurants, which is which is amazing, and then also
(36:06):
at the Banks similar we're doing a la carte, but
we're also doing a tasting menu at Banks as well,
which we did New Year's Eve, which was which was
which is great. People loved it, so we kind of
want to try to do the same thing at the
Banks this year.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yeah. I think it's a lot of fun for chefs
like you to be able to do something like that
and craft them and I love sort of learning and
hearing about the process that you know, we've you and
I've spent plenty of time together, and I get to
know a little bit about what that process looks like.
And it's not it's not ever the same. And I
think that's one of the things that makes HIMML hospitality,
you know, so tried and true, is that you're always
(36:41):
pushing the envelope in so many different ways to create
the greatest dining experience that people can have. So Robert,
thank you so much for joining us. Tell people how
is best to sort of get in touch with you guys,
make our reservations, all those things.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Anyway, the website we have so all four restaurants epics websites,
and we have a Hammelf Hospitality page also so you
can definitely on any of our information on there, which
would be great. But we're very lively in the back
day and then Cambridge, so come and see us.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
And I think the nice part about when you say
come and see us, is Robert is there. Like Robert
is not you know, sort of a missing you know,
culinary director and partner. He is peasant all the time
and is more than happy to connect with, you know,
with everybody that comes to the door. So Robert, Happy
early Valentine's Day to you. Hopefully you guys all make
reservations in advance, because I know those definitely fill up.
(37:32):
But I look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
All right, thank you, Jeny, thanks for having me. Good
talking to you.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Thanks so much, Jeff. We'll be back with our last
break of food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center, and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and
sweet Hey, it's.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Our last break of food for Thought brought to you
by the awesome Box Center. We are actually in full
swing of shooting Me Boston this season two, and we're
actually headed to the Box Center to be able to
talk with his executive director Casey coming up in the
coming week, so we'll be able to tell you lots
of exciting new news there. But from a culinary perspective,
which is something that Billy and I have spent a
(38:09):
fair amount of time focused on for the past twenty
years together. The James Beard Awards are of the most
sort of coveted and exciting things that come down the
pipeline around this time every year and then the awards
are given out in Chicago every year closer to March.
So those nominations have just come out this past week,
and I want to make sure I share some of
(38:29):
them with you because a lot of them are great
friends of ours. And listen, we promote all restaurants. Not
every single restaurant is going to be able to get
a James Beard nomination, and obviously they changed throughout the year,
but it's really nice to pay homage to the ones
that have just because they you know, this is so
much notoriety surrounding this award and a lot of these
guys are our friends. So Outstanding Restaurant Tour nomination this
(38:53):
year in the New England area. Douglas Williams of Meta
is one of the nominations, which we're so excited about.
There's all also Honey Road in Gray j and Burlington, Vermont,
and we're excited for both because this is you know,
they're all so talented. Now. Outstanding Chef one of the
nominations comes to us from Somerville, Massachusetts. So we've had
(39:15):
Cassie on the show before. Cassie Puma is the owner
and chef at Sarma and so she is now nominated
among all the chefs everywhere coming to us from our area,
which we're excited about some of the outstanding restaurants that
were nominated Havana and Bar Harbor, Maine. That's a track
for those of your coming to Bosom, but it's well
worth it and beautiful. And then Oberlin in Providence, Rhode Island,
(39:36):
which has had received a number of different accolades, a
couple of other folks who want to make sure that
we showcase persimone in Providence, Rhode Island for outstanding hospitality.
And then this really great Indian restaurant in South Portland
called taj Indian Cuisine if you are a fan of
the best New Bar, Equal Measure is one of the
(39:59):
one that is up and on there run by Jackson
Cannon owned by Garrett Harker. A great other restaurant tour
in the area. And then also Marii, which is a
Thai restaurant in Brookline that Billy and I visited this
season as well. And so then there's a bunch of
different chefs that are up for Best Chef. So that's
a little bit different than Outstanding Chef, so Outstanding Chef
(40:22):
is on a national platform. Best Chef is on kind
of a regional platform. And some of the names that
you may have heard on this program before, like John
De Silva of Chickadee or Quasi of Comfort Kitchen, or
Aaron Miller of Urban Hearst. She's in our cookbook and
Aaron Miller makes biscuits that are more beautiful than anything
(40:43):
you have, more delicious, more beautiful, more delicious than anything
you have ever tasted before. And then also on that
list is Aaron Miller, sorry, Rachel Miller from night Shane Noodlebar,
no relation but two. Miller's doing great things. And then
Michael Surpa of Select Oyster Bar that's been around for
over a deck and it's a very special, special small
place also in the back Bay. I really just mainly
(41:05):
mentioned the ones in Massachusetts there, but there's a slew
of others from Vermont, from Rhode Island, for Maine, from Connecticut,
and you know, they're all doing excellent, delicious things. So
definitely make sure that you check out some of those
spots so that you can, you know, add them to
your list. And it is just it's nice to be recognized,
(41:26):
it's nice to be able to celebrate all the great
things that our culinary industry is doing, certainly in our region,
and we look forward to that, and of course in
March when those winners come down, we'll share those with you. Anyway,
So we hope that all of you tune into this
first episode of season two of Meat Boston. You'll be
able to see Chris and Lizzie, two of the four
Hubsters that are on episode one, and Billy and I
(41:47):
get to go to the Boston Public Library, which is
a special place for us, among other places, to show
you with things that we think you should do your
first trip to Boston. Okay, I'm done talking. Hope everybody
has a good rest of the weekend and we will
see you with more food for thought brought to you
by the box Huenter next week. Thank you.
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to whine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Resk you by
the Box Center. I am excited for the show this week.
So many of you know Billy and I have a
television program called Dining Playbook. We also have a television
program called Meet Boston with Billy and Jenny, which is
just entering its second season, and I know we've talked
about it on the show. We've had some of our
guests involved with the show. This year, we have a
(00:43):
bunch of new Hubsters. Hubsters are what we call our
correspondence on our television show that tells us everything you
would ever want to know about Boston from every possible
different perspective. And we have a lot of new personalities
that we're excited to introduce you to this year. One
of them is is you can find on Instagram as
Lizzie's Underscore Bakery l Izzies Underscore Bakery, and her name
(01:06):
is Lizzie Johnson. No relation, Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's nice to have you on the program.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Hi, Jenny, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So people may have seen Lizzie on the Food Network.
You may have read about her and Best of Boston
as you've had Best at Boston Wedding Cakes twenty one,
twenty three, twenty four, and probably you know more and
beyond different accolades, and you make such extraordinary cakes. You
were such an artist and so we've loved watching you
(01:34):
create content. We loved watching you in the Food Network,
and so we were so excited when you decided to
come on as one of our hubsters. So tell us
a little bit about your background and how you went
to become a content creator and somewhat of such influence
in this space.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, no, thank you so much. I'm really excited to
be a Hubster this season. But yeah, I say on
Lizzie's Bakery, it's a home based bakery. We're located in
Active but you know, we specialize deliveries and everywhere from
Boston to all the way to Rhode Island. We're literally everywhere. Yeah,
we specialize in custom cakes, wedding cakes, desserts for any occasion.
(02:12):
I'm also a mom to two crazy and fun boys
or ages three and six, So we're definitely in the
thick of it all with trying to grow a business,
trying to you know, have routines in our family and
just where I always say we're surf thriving instead of
just surviving, we're sur thriving right now. Yeah. I'm actually
(02:34):
from the West Coast. I grew up in Las Vegas
and I moved to Boston about almost eight years ago
with me and my husband. And what I love about,
you know, not only showcasing my cakes on my social
media on mostly my Instagram. I love showing like where
we go in Boston because I'm kind of exploring Boston
(02:55):
every day myself, and especially when I do cakes, especially
when I do cake deliveries. Wherever someone wants a cake,
I that's kind of where I go. And if it's like, oh,
I'm going to go to Quincy, mass And we usually
go stop by and eat somewhere there because we're already
there doing.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
A delivery, and that's great. We're able to put you
on assignment to be able to showcase some new places
that you may not have checked out, being a fairly
new Bostonian. But I urge everybody to go on Instagram
to check out these cakes. Now, were you an artist
prior to finding the baking space or did you know
which came first?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
So I'm actually in like the advertising marketing background before
I got into cakes. So it actually helped me, like
with my degree, you know, like promoting my business because
I had these skills already with marketing, you know, but
no type of creative. Literally, I tell myself, like, I
have no creative I until I started getting into cakes.
(03:51):
Where that's where my creative outlet started shining.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Oh my gosh, well it is. It is certainly shining.
And I hear you on the thriving. Is that wait,
what do we call it?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah, sur thriving. We're sur thriving, not just surviving.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I hear you on the sur thriving. We have two
girls exactly the same age as yours, So the hustle
is is certainly real. And then we decided to add
something else to your point by bringing you on into Hubster.
The first episode has aired this weekend, and you can
actually watch it tonight at nine pm on Nesson. So
tell us where you went for a couple of your spots.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, So, I mean I mainly focus in the North
End and I was I was able to film a
North End bakery crawl or bakery tour with this guy
Pat who owns a tour called Cocktails and Canoli's. And
that was a lot of fun because I go to
the North End often because it's just like a go
(04:47):
to when you know, my friends come to visit. You know,
that's where all the good food is. And but during
this tour, he showed me a lot of things about
the North End that I have no idea, and I like,
am so pumped to show people well because all these
different little secrets and pockets of the North End that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Know on whatever thing to go. Oh, that's so great
and from your perspective is so we're going to kind
of keep you in this sweet area. We're gonna tend
send you to all different places throughout Boston, but we're
going to keep you in the sweet space because it
seems like no one knows it better.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Than you do.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So what were some of the highlights that you found
on the tour.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
So one of the best highlight highlights was, so there's
Brico restaurant in the North End. But if you go
down this like skinny alleyway on Hanover Street, right next
to the restaurant, there's this place called Brico Panetaria, which
is their bread bakery, and no one could see it
from like the street because it's hidden in this alleyway.
And he showed we went there and we got to
(05:46):
go behind the scenes on how they bake most of
their bread. For a lot of the restaurants in the
North End, they also have you know, breads and pastries
that you can buy just as like a local customer.
So that was really cool because I had no idea,
didn't even know that was there. Which also there's a
Breco bed and breakfast above the bread bakery.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Like I didn't know that at all. Those really quite
Frankie Deepest Squally who has a bazillion different restaurants in
this area and basically owns the North End. But yes,
we've been in there before and we got to do
a Masterrella Cheese poll with their head, you know, She's
and baker and it was so much fun. So I'm
glad you got to check that out. So, Lizzy, for
(06:28):
folks who are interested in following you and certainly ordering
cakes from you, because I promise you you'll never have
a more exquisite, memorable cake, how did they get in
touch with you? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
So you know, follow me on Instagram Lizzie's Underscore Bakery.
That's where I show a lot of my recent work.
I'm always posting on my Instagram stories of places I
go with my kids or restaurants that I go to.
And then you can go to my website Lizzie'sbakery dot
com to order a cake if you ever need anything,
and yeah, that's where you can find me.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Awesome, Well we can all. You can also find her
as part of Meat Boston this second season and definitely
check her out tonight at nine pm or on demand
on Nesson. Thank you so much, Lizzie for joining the
show today. We look forward to doing some more segments
with you over the coming year.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Perfect, Thank you, Jenny, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Okay, and coming up, we've got a very special guest,
also a Hubster, but happened to be in relation with
my co host, mister Billy Cossa, So you don't want
to go anywhere. We'll be back with more Food for
Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweet.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Hey, everybody, welcome back into Food for Thoughts brought to
you by the Box Center. I am particularly excited about
this next guest on our program. So we just heard
from Lizzie, who is a fantastic baker and one of
our great new hubsters on Meat Boston on nesson this
next guy, I've known for quite some time, twenty years
to be exact, and over the course of those twenty years,
(07:59):
I have gotten close to him because he is one
of the fantastic three sons of my partner, my co host,
the co host on this program, Billy Costa. Chris, it's
so good to have you on the program.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Jenny, Hi, it's so good to be here.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So, I mean, the nice part is there's a lot
of people who have listened to Billy over the years,
have heard you on the morning show and have heard
him talk about you for years. But we're so excited
to have you on Food for thought, and Billy decided, yeah,
it might be a little weird if I have him
on the program, So I think it's better if you do.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
My dad and I have done enough talking over the years,
so I'm much more pleased to be talking to you.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Jenny.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Okay, good, good. I think we'll have plenty of fun.
So I you know, what's so great is I mean,
I've known you since you were I don't even we
don't know how old you are at this point, but
like you were in high school, maybe even middle school.
I mean, there were times where I used to babysit
you and your brothers, but you've become like family. It's
been so amazing watching you grow. And when we when
we were thinking about how we wanted season two for
(09:04):
me Boston to go, you know, I was going to
call him up and I was like, listen, I was like,
Chris is, like Chris is the ultimate hubster. Like look
at all he's doing, Look at all the things that
he's doing. And it's been really cool to have you,
mainly because I get to look at you and look
at the next generation of Costa and in so many
ways it feels like what I'm talking to you and
(09:25):
watching you. I'm watching the next iteration of your dad,
which feels pretty cool. So people that don't know you,
there's plenty of people listening from now Maine to Florida
on this signal who don't know you and don't know
enough about your background. So why don't you tell us
a little bit about how you have evolved into the
space of content creation, which is certainly a very different
(09:46):
way than a lot of the folks on the program.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Well, well, first off, really great intro, and thank you
so much. As you mentioned, you and I have become
family over the years. You're like my big siss and
you know, obviously growing up with my father being Billy
and being such a legend and in the Boston media,
you know, I've learned a lot since I was a kid,
and this these past few months in particular have been
(10:13):
have been almost surreal and really cool in a way.
Since you and my father asked me to participate and
meet Boston, I just I just think it's such a
cool experience to to be able to work with you guys, right,
I think of both of you ass total legends in
the in the New England media scene, and having grown
up around the two of you, uh and learning so much.
It's it's awesome to be able to hang out and
(10:34):
work and have fun together. With that said, you're exactly right.
Over the last i'll call it five years, my partners
and I have have built a business that started in
New England and is now starting to grow its roots
beyond the New England borders. That is in the collectible space,
so really sports collectibles, memorabilia, trading cards, baseball cards, basketball cards,
(10:58):
football cards, Pokemon are everything under the sun. And that
business is called Card Vault. So our first location was
at Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place. We opened a second
location at Foxworth's Casino, and then last year we opened
our third location at TD Garden right at the entrance
of the Garden. And you know, that business has continued
(11:19):
to grow and our community and customer base has grown,
and we've now kind of finalized our plans to go
beyond New England and across the country and international even
we'll be opening our fourth location at American Dream Mall
in New Jersey hopefully in the next few months here
and then you know, the limits are the limits are off.
We're talking New York, in Dallas, in La and San Francisco.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So but don't break it down for us like people
who are not collecting cards, people who are not familiar
with the process. What does it look like? And go
back actually a little bit farther to the very first
time when you were sort of using social media platforms
to do this. How did this idea come about? And
break it down a little bit for people who aren't familiar.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, good question. So, in fact, the business started and
kind of came about because I've been a collector since
I was a kid. I've collected cards since I was
five years old, right, My dad and mom used to
take me to the local card shop and I would
rip packs and collect my favorite players and you know,
Chase No mar Garcia, Power, Rookie cards and Pokemon cards
(12:28):
and what have you. And then about five years ago
we started this business actually as a streaming company. So
there's this this phenomenon called box breaking, where folks from
around the world will join a live stream and they
will watch a breaker. In this case, our business open
(12:48):
boxes and packs of cards on a live show and
sell those packs and boxes and provide almost like a
live shopping experience to the customer.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
So if you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Came on to one of our live streams and you
wanted to buy a pack or a box of cards,
You put your order in and then our breaker will
open that for you in real time on camera and
then shift you the contents of your box. So not
only are you able to shop online and instantaneously see
you know, what your purchase kind of yields, but you
also have the added benefit of having a room full
(13:18):
of people, in some cases hundreds, if not thousands of
people kind of cheering you on and watching, you know,
kind of what happens. And then as a breaker, And
you know, when we started the business, I was the breaker,
the only breaker. You're you're really in charge of kind
of being the entertainment and providing an entertaining experience and
hosting the show and walking people through the process. And
(13:39):
so that's where we started, and the business sense has evolved. Yeah,
So then we made a decision. Once we realized, hey,
this makes sense, we decided let's well, let's do everything.
Let's not just do the box breaking and the live
streaming experience, but let's kind of up level the entire
retail experience in this space. Because for anybody that's listening
(14:01):
that's familiar with, you know, the local card shop or
local hobby shop or trading card space. Traditionally, you know,
those local shops are much more mom and pop, a
little bit dusty, a little bit cluttered, a little bit confusing,
maybe intimidating. So that's what we set out to build
was a really up leveled, upskilled, clean, educational, and you know,
(14:24):
friendly environment.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And there's been some extraordinary trading that has taken place.
So give us some of the examples of ones that
have taken place over the past panful of years since
you launched the business.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, well, I think as an industry, right, we've seen
some incredible things happen. You know, the sports card space
has been in the spotlight more so over the last
five to ten years than it has in its history,
and its history goes all the way back to you know,
pre war times, you know, nineteen tens, late eighteen hundreds.
But there have been some remarkable sales, not not just
(14:58):
in the industry, but also at card Vault. You know,
we've acquired a couple of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey
Mantle Rookie cards, which is probably the most iconic card
in existence cards and let me take a step back.
Cards and sports cards in particular. A big component of
our world is what's called grading, similar to you know
(15:21):
coins and coin condition grading, where a grading company will
inspect a card and they'll grade it for its condition,
how centered it is, what are the corners look like,
how's the surface, you know, the coloring, et cetera. The
Mickey Mantle card, the nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle card.
There are three copies in existence that are in gem
mint condition with what they call PSA ten. Those cards
(15:45):
are each worth about thirty five million dollars. So just
to give you a sense of like the top end
of the market and how serious things can get and
what Card Vault aims to do and what I think
is so great about our company is well for kind
of the experience for everyone. So we have you know,
we have cards in that realm available for the most
(16:07):
advanced and you know, high profile collectors in the world.
But then we also offer an experience for folks that
are just trying to collect their favorite player right and
spend a few bucks, So we kind of offer that
whole spectrum. So that is you know, kind of one
of the more exciting sides of our business. Certainly you know,
thirty million dollars Mickey Mantle cards and Bonus Wagner cards
(16:30):
that are worth one hundred million, and you know.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
There's opportunity for everybody to get involved. So okay, So
for folks who are interested, how do they connect with
you on a day to day basis as it relates
to Cardvolves.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, so everything that we have going on can typically
be seen on our Instagram page, So at card vault
Us is our main Instagram page. And then if you
want to see the world of breaking as it pertains
to our business, you can also visit at card Vault Breaks.
Breaks is in like a lunch break, but that is
(17:07):
those are the two main pages for the business.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
And I've loved watching, I mean, as you do events
throughout the city at the various stadiums and arenas. I mean,
the crowds line up, I mean, it's one of those
things that you I just I bet for you. It's
felt surreal to watch how much this has sort of
struck a chord with so many people that you don't know,
but coming to some of the greatest places in the area,
(17:30):
and at least from my perspective, watching how much this
has taken off has been I'm just so proud of
everything that's happened. We're going to take a break. When
we come back, we're going to talk a little bit
about what has been like to have mister Billy Cousta
as a dad and how that's transitioned you into being
able to be really confident in the media space.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
We're going to take a break.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
We'll be back with more Food for Thought in just
a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in
sweetes Hey.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Everybody, welcome into Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box. I'm so excited to have Chris Kossa as
our guest on the show this week of Cardball. We
just talked a little bit about the background, a little
bit about what people can experience when they get involved.
But I want to talk a little bit about the
relationship with you and your dad and kind of what
you've learned from him over the years, because it's true,
like you talked about him as a legend in the media.
(18:17):
To me, he's been one of my greatest teachers, you know,
taught me everything that I've learned over the past twenty
years and so many other people. But I wouldn't necessarily
say that it's the natural trajectory for someone to be
as comfortable in front of people and on the camera,
you know, just because they are your dad. But you
are so comfortable. But I want to know from you, like,
(18:38):
first of all, what was it like having Billy as
a dad, What were the good the not so good,
and what was it that sort of propelled you to
a place where you felt like this was an area
that you were going to be able to enter, both
for me Boston, which is the program that we're going
to talk a little bit more about, but also from
what you're doing with Cardboard, because it takes a very
specific presence to do what you're doing and seemingly so effortlessly.
(19:03):
I also have to say we have to include your
mom and there, because she's one of the most tremendous
people too, and I know a lot of this comes
from her.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, of course, Well, it has been a kind of surreal,
Like I mentioned in the first break growing up with
you know, my dad being who he is, and obviously
being in Boston, even going to school, growing up in Boston.
You know, all of my friends, their parents are driving
them to school, and you know what are they listening to. Well,
they're listening to my dad on the radio. So you know,
(19:29):
kids are showing up a tool and they're hearing my
dad talk about my life and our life, and so
it is surreal and you don't really appreciate it, or
I guess you could say you take it for granted
growing up. But what I will say, over the last
four or five years, as I've started to create a
lot more of my own content and I've had to
watch my own content, I have now realized how much
(19:50):
of my father is in me, and how much I
take and have taken from watching my father over the years.
You know, obviously, growing up, you know, my friend friends
and family and mother would tell me how I'm the
one that looks like my dad, and I'm the one
that acts like my dad, and I'm the one with
my dad's mannerisms, and you know, sure, yeah, is it
a blessing? Is that a curse? Who knows? But now
(20:10):
that you know I've started to create my own content,
you really realize how much you've picked up on your
entire life watching a legend do his job and grow
up around you know, my father in the TV studio,
in the radio studio and show many of the things
that I am clearly emulating by accident in a way.
So that's been really cool to kind of develop.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, and as the person on the other side, to
be able to sort of see the way that you
guys work together and talk together has been awesome. So
to be able to have both the platform or you
visiting the media show and now you coming on as
a part of our TV show is just it's so
great and it feels really effortless, which is so nice.
We're going to take a break. We'll be back with
more Food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Welcome back to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. Chris Costas or I want to talk
a little bit about meat Boston. So we have you
as one of our new hubsters for season two, one
of twenty one folks who are in the area creating
really interesting content throughout our city. So tell us a
little bit about what it would like to get into
this space. There's a specific format that you're following, so
(21:17):
it's a little bit different than what people are experiencing
from you on Instagram kind of you know, just you
sort of talking off the cost. There was a little
bit more I guess strategy involved of creating this piece
that you put together. So how did that feel? And
tell us about some of the places that you went to.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, first off, it's it's been amazing so far. Right
we're one episode in and that will air very soon.
But kudos to you and the Meat Boston team because
there was a real emphasis on making sure that what
we create is ours right and that we follow our
own style and the way in which we already create content,
(21:54):
which I think is is you know, really really great
because it makes it comfortable for all of the creators
and that you guys are bringing on board with that said, yeah,
there's definitely a little bit more structure than than normal.
So that's been a fun process to follow. But for
our first episode, we focused on Fenway Park and the
Lenox Hotel, two of my favorite places in Boston. And
(22:16):
I'm not just saying that because of the episode. You know,
when the team and I kind of put our heads
together on what the first episode would look like. Fenway
Park was the obvious first stop, right, Hey, what what
are the places that you would visit when you're visiting
Boston for the first time. Well, family parks at the
top of that list. And luckily, you know, going back
(22:36):
to our conversations around card Vault, we have a lot
of experience and a great relationship with the folks over
at Fenway Park. We've hosted events there, We've partnered with them,
we've done pop ups there. So you know, I immediately called
my friend Carrie, who is the vice president of event
for the entire ballpark, and you know, she brought us in.
We did a behind the scenes tour. We talked about
(22:57):
all the amazing things going on at Fenway Park, all
the incredible different types of events you can expect to
see at Fenway Park, not just baseball games, and we
got to behind the scenes look. So that was really
fun because it's you know, it's a group of people
that I have a great relationship with, so we were
able to have a lot of fun with it. And
then it was a really seamless transition to you know, well,
(23:19):
where do you stay your first night in Boston, And
you know the answer for that is the Lenox Hotel.
You know, Dan and the team over at the Lenox
are so amazing, and the building and the facility is
so incredible. So going over there and being able to
film content and have fun with it and put our
little spin and flare on it was was definitely a
(23:39):
good time. And I think, you know, hopefully the episode
or the segment of the episode kind of highlights why
those two places are so important when it comes to
Boston as a city.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Oh, we hope that everybody watches the show, and yes,
you will see not only how well Chris sort of
educates us in two of these places, but how he
connects us to them. I mean, I'm sure for you
kind of to Fenway. And I think one thing that
your dad has also done very well is is never
forgets about his roots, Like never forguests where he comes from,
and never forgets that, like there is something so amazing
(24:10):
about entering into Fenway Park, even if you've been there
a thousand times. And so I'm sure for you to
have done events there, remembering when you were a little
kid showing up at your first game, you know, and
then going there every single year after. I think I
know that that's something that you do too, and that
definitely came out with you and Carrie. And yes, Carrie
is a great friend of the show and it was
so nice to have her on episode one of season two. Okay,
(24:32):
so I want to talk a little bit about Boston
in general. You're now traveling throughout the country doing a
variety of different things with card Vault, and I think
you know, there are times and instances where Boston gets like,
you don't want to say, a bad mess, but like
a little bit of one. And I love to be
able to see that you're traveling all over really being
another voice for Boston. Where do you think Boston kind
(24:54):
of lands on the scene from a national standpoint as
it relates to things to do, culinary seeing that kind
of thing.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, I think Boston is the most if you want
to say, well rounded city in America. And I think
you know, it not only gets an unfair or I
would say gets underrated across the country, but I think
we also take it for granted as Bostonians ourselves, right, Like,
there is so much that our city gives and offers
that not a lot of other cities in the country.
(25:23):
Do we have incredible sports and incredible pedigree when it
comes to our sports teams. Fenway Park great example, Boston Garden,
great example, Jillette Sadium, great example. These are venues that
are like dripped in history, specifically Fenway, right. And you
travel the country and I've done so, you know a
number of times looking at other venues for events and
spending time in these ballparks, there is nothing like Fenway Park.
(25:47):
So the sports component is number one. We have that
tradition that no other city has, which I think I
think is incredibly important. But then the history, right, We're
one of the most historic cities in the world, let
alone in the United States, And I think as Bostonians
we often overlooked at and take it for granted because
you know, listen, we live here, right, so you know,
it's not like all of us are going and walking
(26:08):
the Freedom Trail and taking duck tours every day. That's
tourist stuff. But the reason those things exist is because
our city is so incredible. And then the food, and
it's no surprise that you and my dad have been
doing food television in the Boston market for so long
and had so much content to be able to create
because it is one of the best food cities and
(26:29):
food destinations on planet Earth. I mean, we have the
best seafood, the best sushi, some of the best Italian food,
some of the best culinary creations. Like it's there's nothing
like it, you know. Obviously New York has a has
a great food scene. In Chicago's a great food scene,
but Boston is right up there, neck and neck, so
it's specially I agree.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, it is a very special place. And I love
that you're saying that. I love that you're promoting Boston
as you travel the country. So Chris, adore, you love
that you're a part of this program. You back on
this radio show to talk about your other episodes. Make
sure that you check out nesson. You can do this
on demand. You can do this on their streaming app.
You can do this at nine pm on Sunday tonight.
You can see Chris Costa and his first episode of
(27:12):
being Our Hubster on Meat Boston. I adore you give
your beautiful wife Hannah, big hugging kiss for me, and
thank you for doing this.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Love you, Jenny, love you.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, we got more food for that coming up.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Welcome back to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center. So we've been talking a little bit
about Meat Boston, our program that has been on now
for a year. We're starting our second season. But then
we've had Dining Playbook, which has been on for twenty years.
Or Billy and I have been doing food television for
twenty years. And you know the obviously, we showcase all
(27:48):
things new, we showcase all the trends, We showcase all
of our great chefs and restaurant to our friends in
the industry. And then there's the folks that we've been
covering regularly for all of those twenty years. And one
of the great chefs of Boston and who has spent
certainly time elsewhere but is doing so much as it
relates to the culinary scene in our area is Robert Siska,
(28:11):
And so he's a culinary director and partner of Himmel Hospitality.
You know Himmel Hospitality from so many of their great spaces.
Thank you so much, Rob Robert for being on the
show with us today.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Yeah, of course, anytime. Good morning and thanks for having
me of course.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So okay, so folks know, I think probably Grilled twenty
three if you're a steak person the most. But you
have a number of different restaurants within Himmel Hospitality, and
one of which is turning fifty this year. So give
us a little background on the restaurant group.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Yeah, so him Hospitality, you mentioned growth twenty three. Of course,
the Bank Seafreit Steak is one of our newest ventures.
And then be Schu Dimidiz just celebrated fifteen years last
year last year, and then Harvest and Cambridge, which is crazy.
Celebrating huge milestone fifty years this year is pretty pretty crazy, spellay,
fifty to fifty years. And you know, so many different
(29:04):
chefs throughout Boston have worked at Harvest too, which is
pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Oh. I think that is such a special piece of
it is how you have been able to bring up,
you know, within your group people who are now doing
really interesting things, which I think speaks to sort of
the closeness of the industry in Boston. So I want
to know a little bit of a background for you.
For some of the listeners who aren't familiar You've been
with Himmel Hospitality for a chunk of time now, but
(29:31):
give us a little bit of your brief background.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Yeah, so I moved originally from New York City. I
worked at Le Bernard M three Michelin Star restaurant in
New York City, and then I left New York to
open up the Strodomody in two thousand and nine. So
I've been been in Boston for fifteen years now, Bond sixteen.
And it's been such a crazy scene, food scene change
from two thousand and nine to now. There's just so
many great restaurants open up, you know, and between the
(29:57):
four restaurants and the Himial group, there's a lot. We
have a lot to share this year coming up too,
which is exciting.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Oh my god. You guys never stop. I don't know
how you don't stop, but somehow you don't. And the
Himmels are, you know, of the most kind of tried
and true to this industry and to this city and
have been so loyal from a philanthropic perspective, but also
just from a you know, kind of also pushing the
envelope as it relates to what people can experience from
(30:24):
the culinary scene here in Boston. So obviously we know
that you have incredible stake at Girl twenty three. But
one of the things that I think so great about
you guys is the partnerships that you have with your
vendors and purveyors. So talk a little bit about why
that's so important to the ethos of your group.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
You know, it's all in like Farms of Table came
out years ago, it's something that we still you know,
we still hone into a lot of the restaurants. Brand
Beef is a huge partner of ours from Girl twenty
three for many years now, and you know, I know
Eric Brandt, Chris Emo's best friends our brand and just
such a great family and such a great story and
their quality of their beef that know we use in
(31:05):
at Grill and then now we've kind of really worked
them into the Bank's the banks sequent mistake. Even beef
throwing and a Harvest are also using Brand Beef, which
you know, Allen Brothers is the big partners of ours,
Island Create Wolves Fish. You know, we really I work
very closely with all the vendors to make sure we're
getting the best possible quality products you can.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and the quality is so important and I think
the customer really cares about quality in a way that
maybe they haven't before, or certainly to the extent that
they haven't before. And I think that is also something
that's nice is I think historically maybe your beef story
was really solely at the Grill, and now you have
(31:46):
opened it up so that people can enjoy a little
bit of everything when they're coming into all of your venues.
What do you think what was sort of the mission
behind that, And I know that changes fairly recent just
the fact.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
That it's just such a great story with Bram Beef
and Chris Emmel and it's you know, girls known for
host steaks and how great they are, and that's why
we really wanted to share that story within all the restaurants,
and especially at the Banks. Know we're known for our
seafood at the Banks, but now we have great steaks
and you know, we even put the same cooking equipment,
you know, which is a boiler at the Banks as
(32:21):
Grill twenty three. So if you you know, say you
have a lot of family members that really want great
seafood and you know we have great seap at Grill also,
but you can get the same great steaks at the
Banks as well.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, and real great opportunity to sort of showcase these
partners across different footprints. What's nice about three of your
four locations is they're very they're in very close proximity.
So I know, I'm sure you get your steps in
going from place to place, really kind of taking over
the beautiful back bay at Boston. But I want to
move to Cambridge for a second. You mentioned fifty years
for Harvest. For folks who haven't been there, tell them
(32:55):
a little bit about the space and some of the
you know, like you mentioned, so great names came out
of that, out of that restaurant, and I know you're
still doing such great things there.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yeah, fifty years. I mean names like Lydia Shire, Barbara Lynch,
Frank l'collin, Sarah Malt and all those chefs over the
years have worked have worked at Harvest, which is which
is such a great story. And you know, as you say,
we know HIML group. We never stop and we're constantly
trying to push the envelope and recreate things. And we
have a lot of exciting things going on this year,
fifty years of Harvest we are going to be doing,
(33:27):
you know, a chef dinner where we're going to invite
a lot of chefs that have previously worked at Harvest.
We're inviting them back to the restaurant to you know,
celebrate some great dinners. We have a beautiful patio there
which we were going to try to you know, fix
that up a little bit. But there's a lot of
new exciting things, possibly to bar menu, possibly tasting menu,
all the new exciting things that are going to have
to Harvest this year for fifty years.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Oh. I love the idea of celebrating with some of
the chef's past and there's something very cozy about that space,
and it feels very much like a like an elevated
neighborhood restaurant, you know, one that you can go into
many times a week where the bartender knows your name.
And I guess that's true of all of your places,
which is certainly true. One of the things that you know,
(34:10):
I know, is pretty impressive about Himmel Hospitality is how
long folks have been with you. You know, you see
a lot of shifts within the hospitality industry, but you
have folks that have been working with you guys for
a very long time. What do you think it is
about sort of the ethos of the restaurant group that
has enabled that long term connection and commitment, you know.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
So it's a little bit of every It's a lot
of different things that go on, and we're constantly you know,
we value our team members and we really want to
create the best best experience and best best time for
our team members at the restaurant group, you know, we're
constantly revisiting our packages and our healthcare and just different
different things that people people are looking for, especially now
(34:54):
in twenty twenty five. You know, we have butchers at
Real twenty three that have been been with us for
twenty five years, chefs at all four restaurants, some have
been with us almost twenty years, you know, and since COVID.
All the chefs at Banks, Grill, Dstro all have been
with us since since COVID. So it's it's exciting, it's nice,
you know. And and I, like you said about back day,
(35:14):
it's like I spend my time running around between all
the restaurants, and I do get my steps in, so
I do go back and forth, and I try to
see everybody every day if I can. Obviously I can't
all the time. But be in that back base so close.
I do make it to all the restaurants when I can.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah, and I think that commitment just comes through is
why your clientele is so loyal. I want to talk
about the holiday coming up. I know Valentine's Day is
a big one for everybody, but certainly for the restaurant industry.
So what are you doing in particular for Valentine's Day.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Valentine's Day at All four is a little bit different.
Grill is a lacarte with some great, great specials, which
you know, we've kind of done that over the years
and people love Grill Estro and Harvest. Every year we
usually do a prefix menu set or tasting menu, usually
a set five to six course tasting menu at all
the restaurants, which is which is amazing, and then also
(36:06):
at the Banks similar we're doing a la carte, but
we're also doing a tasting menu at Banks as well,
which we did New Year's Eve, which was which was
which is great. People loved it, so we kind of
want to try to do the same thing at the
Banks this year.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Yeah. I think it's a lot of fun for chefs
like you to be able to do something like that
and craft them and I love sort of learning and
hearing about the process that you know, we've you and
I've spent plenty of time together, and I get to
know a little bit about what that process looks like.
And it's not it's not ever the same. And I
think that's one of the things that makes HIMML hospitality,
you know, so tried and true, is that you're always
(36:41):
pushing the envelope in so many different ways to create
the greatest dining experience that people can have. So Robert,
thank you so much for joining us. Tell people how
is best to sort of get in touch with you guys,
make our reservations, all those things.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Anyway, the website we have so all four restaurants epics websites,
and we have a Hammelf Hospitality page also so you
can definitely on any of our information on there, which
would be great. But we're very lively in the back
day and then Cambridge, so come and see us.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
And I think the nice part about when you say
come and see us, is Robert is there. Like Robert
is not you know, sort of a missing you know,
culinary director and partner. He is peasant all the time
and is more than happy to connect with, you know,
with everybody that comes to the door. So Robert, Happy
early Valentine's Day to you. Hopefully you guys all make
reservations in advance, because I know those definitely fill up.
(37:32):
But I look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
All right, thank you, Jeny, thanks for having me. Good
talking to you.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Thanks so much, Jeff. We'll be back with our last
break of food for Thought in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
It's the Box Center, and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and
sweet Hey, it's.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Our last break of food for Thought brought to you
by the awesome Box Center. We are actually in full
swing of shooting Me Boston this season two, and we're
actually headed to the Box Center to be able to
talk with his executive director Casey coming up in the
coming week, so we'll be able to tell you lots
of exciting new news there. But from a culinary perspective,
which is something that Billy and I have spent a
(38:09):
fair amount of time focused on for the past twenty
years together. The James Beard Awards are of the most
sort of coveted and exciting things that come down the
pipeline around this time every year and then the awards
are given out in Chicago every year closer to March.
So those nominations have just come out this past week,
and I want to make sure I share some of
(38:29):
them with you because a lot of them are great
friends of ours. And listen, we promote all restaurants. Not
every single restaurant is going to be able to get
a James Beard nomination, and obviously they changed throughout the year,
but it's really nice to pay homage to the ones
that have just because they you know, this is so
much notoriety surrounding this award and a lot of these
guys are our friends. So Outstanding Restaurant Tour nomination this
(38:53):
year in the New England area. Douglas Williams of Meta
is one of the nominations, which we're so excited about.
There's all also Honey Road in Gray j and Burlington, Vermont,
and we're excited for both because this is you know,
they're all so talented. Now. Outstanding Chef one of the
nominations comes to us from Somerville, Massachusetts. So we've had
(39:15):
Cassie on the show before. Cassie Puma is the owner
and chef at Sarma and so she is now nominated
among all the chefs everywhere coming to us from our area,
which we're excited about some of the outstanding restaurants that
were nominated Havana and Bar Harbor, Maine. That's a track
for those of your coming to Bosom, but it's well
worth it and beautiful. And then Oberlin in Providence, Rhode Island,
(39:36):
which has had received a number of different accolades, a
couple of other folks who want to make sure that
we showcase persimone in Providence, Rhode Island for outstanding hospitality.
And then this really great Indian restaurant in South Portland
called taj Indian Cuisine if you are a fan of
the best New Bar, Equal Measure is one of the
(39:59):
one that is up and on there run by Jackson
Cannon owned by Garrett Harker. A great other restaurant tour
in the area. And then also Marii, which is a
Thai restaurant in Brookline that Billy and I visited this
season as well. And so then there's a bunch of
different chefs that are up for Best Chef. So that's
a little bit different than Outstanding Chef, so Outstanding Chef
(40:22):
is on a national platform. Best Chef is on kind
of a regional platform. And some of the names that
you may have heard on this program before, like John
De Silva of Chickadee or Quasi of Comfort Kitchen, or
Aaron Miller of Urban Hearst. She's in our cookbook and
Aaron Miller makes biscuits that are more beautiful than anything
(40:43):
you have, more delicious, more beautiful, more delicious than anything
you have ever tasted before. And then also on that
list is Aaron Miller, sorry, Rachel Miller from night Shane Noodlebar,
no relation but two. Miller's doing great things. And then
Michael Surpa of Select Oyster Bar that's been around for
over a deck and it's a very special, special small
place also in the back Bay. I really just mainly
(41:05):
mentioned the ones in Massachusetts there, but there's a slew
of others from Vermont, from Rhode Island, for Maine, from Connecticut,
and you know, they're all doing excellent, delicious things. So
definitely make sure that you check out some of those
spots so that you can, you know, add them to
your list. And it is just it's nice to be recognized,
(41:26):
it's nice to be able to celebrate all the great
things that our culinary industry is doing, certainly in our region,
and we look forward to that, and of course in
March when those winners come down, we'll share those with you. Anyway,
So we hope that all of you tune into this
first episode of season two of Meat Boston. You'll be
able to see Chris and Lizzie, two of the four
Hubsters that are on episode one, and Billy and I
(41:47):
get to go to the Boston Public Library, which is
a special place for us, among other places, to show
you with things that we think you should do your
first trip to Boston. Okay, I'm done talking. Hope everybody
has a good rest of the weekend and we will
see you with more food for thought brought to you
by the box Huenter next week. Thank you.
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