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October 13, 2024 • 42 mins
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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 wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thoughts, brought to you
by the Box Sector. I have a couple of great
friends and fantastic restaurant tours coming on the show this week,
just to give you an idea of some great places
that you can check out. These are people that I've
known and respected for a very long time. We've actually
had Gensiskin on the show before. She and her husband

(00:43):
Josh own Leamora and also owns Punchbox Bowls right both
in Brookline. Jen, I've actually known a lot longer than
most chefs because we have a familial connection, which is
always nice. Jen, thank you so much for coming from
coming to the program.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Thanks for having me Jenny, It's always great to connect
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So great to connect with you. So I like to
start these shows where we sort of get to know you,
get to know a little bit of your background. One
thing I do know about you is the restaurant business
has been a part of your life since you were
a little girl.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Am I right?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
You are right.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I started in the restaurant business when I was fifteen,
so it goes way back.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
So so, okay, so you were what were you? Were
you working in a restaurant, like, tell me a little
bit about your history and was it something that you
immediately felt connected to.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
So I always worked in restaurants, basically just to pay
the bills. My family owned retail stores, as you probably remember,
clothing stores and souvenir shops. And I broke away from
the family business and decided to go out on my
own and work in restaurants. So I started doing food
running and bust carrying me Betrays upstairs at Station one

(02:05):
in Lilymouth, and then all through college I always worked
in restaurants. I bartended, served, did pretty much everything front
of the house, never back up the house though, well,
I I well.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Then you've got married and then that was all taken
care of. But we'll get to that in a minute.
But I'm curious, you know, growing up in sort of
the retail space, did you find similarities between the two
industries or did it feel like a complete diversion from
what you've grown up with.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Well, one thing, my mom, who's my mentor. I have
seen her work since the day I was born, and
seeing her run her retail stores really influenced me and
how I run my restaurants. I see a lot of overlap. Basically,
work twenty four to seven, you don't have holidays off,
So I think it's that constant grind that's very similar

(02:56):
between retail and restaurants.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, And I would say the other piece is is
kind of that the interpersonal piece, right, like the connecting
with your patron in a way that I think is
there's so much, so much energy that goes into us.
Both you're you're releasing so much energy, and I'm sure
you're also absorbing so much energy from all the people
you see every day.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Absolutely, there has to be a reason that we do
restaurants and them and we work in retail, and it
is that human connection. It's that high you get just
from making people feel good. And I saw that growing up,
and you know today just that's why we do it,
because it just becomes a kind of passionate experience.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah. Well, I love your mom so much, and you're right,
I can only imagine what it was like watching her
just just you know it is.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
It's a grind, it's.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Working constantly, there's not a lot of breaks. So I
understand why that ethos is something that came so naturally
to you. So okay, so in college you are working
in restaurants, paid the bills and you know, been doing
it for years now and then kind of keep.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
Going on the trajectory and when you met Duff.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, so after college, I was looking, you know, just
to serve in a restaurant while I found quote unquote
a real job and I ended up managing a restaurant.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
They did not need a server.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
This was out and conquered at a place called Igo Bistro,
and you're on a Storetoon was the chef there, montef
Medeb the owner. So it was a really fantastic place.
I know, I can't believe I started back there right
out of college and I started and I was a
manager instead of a server, So that kind of got
my seat wet. And then later in life, after I

(04:42):
met Josh.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
We were we.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Always say we are arranged marriage because our grandmothers were
best friends and our moms grew up together. However, not
really arranged. He always wanted to open a restaurant, always
wanted to work in restaurants, and so he got the
taste of it actually coming into I Go Bistro and
helping me prep because I was trying to get on

(05:04):
a Storetoon's good side, and she had a great influence
on him, and he felt like, oh my god, this
is what I want to do. I want to switch
from the front of the house to the back of
the house. And so then he went on to do that,
and I was like, hmm, maybe I'll let him do
the restaurant things and I will start looking elsewhere. So
I actually, I don't know if I'm sure you know this,

(05:25):
but I was a teacher for seven years before we
opened Labourne.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
See, I love that too, because I think that sometimes
the paths in life are they're not direct. And I
think it brought you back to this place, and then
you went on to I want to talk about sort
of your wine education, because that sort of came afterwards.
It wasn't necessarily a natural trajectory, but I think it
gave you so much of what makes your story so rich.
And I think one of the reasons why people love
you so much is that connection, which obviously is a

(05:53):
teacher is something that's so so important. And I love
the on a connection because I think that she has
just such a maternal vibe. And I know this was
a while, like you know what, this point a while ago,
but I can imagine.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
That that was still so much a part of who
she was.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
And I love that she has such an influence on you,
and I hope you didn't do it still keep in touch.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
We don't really I would say she was more of
an influence for Josh, especially on the culinary side of things.
I felt really badly for her because she was not
only was I. I started as an assistant manager at
Igo Bistro. I was thrown into becoming the general manager
shortly after I started, and looking back, I feel so

(06:40):
badly for her that she had to deal with this
very inexperienced manager at the time, and that's really where
I learned, like you developed a little bit of a
thick skin.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Okay, okay, well, well, I love that connection because she's
certainly one of one of our favorites as well as
the two of you. So so I think I'm going
to take a break because we want to talk more
about specifically about the restaurant. So Lamora has been has
just celebrated, Am I right? Celebrated twenty years?

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yes, I can't believe it will be. I can't believe
it'll be twenty one this December.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
It's crazy. I can't believe it. We actually celebrated our
twenty years at the same time. So your twenty years
of Lamora and twenty years of Billy and I working together,
which bet felt very the share, it very very kismet.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
So we're going to take a break.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
We'll be bout with danzis get in just a minute.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Sweet Welcome Back to Set, brought to you by the
Box Center. So, Jen, I love getting the history, and
I do love that it wasn't necessarily.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
A totally direct path.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
But after teaching you guys came together, wine became a
part of your life. And then I'm guessing, Lamora, but
why don't we back up and you tell me a
little bit about it in your own words.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
So Josh and I two days after we got married,
we went to Italy so he could learn firsthand from
an Italian chef how to cook Italian food. He just
loved Italian food. And I ended up kind of being
farmed out to be a nanny at a winery Marquisi
d Barolo. And that is really where I developed my

(08:17):
first kind of experience with wine and love of wine
and that you know, connection with different families over there
in the wine business. So it was not a direct
path we came back. I was teaching for about seven years,
and it wasn't until we opened Lamora, or Josh really
opened Lamora, and I was brought back into restaurants that

(08:38):
I furthered my wine connections and wine career.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
And then and so you are a somalier, which I
know is for some people they know a lot about
because of recent movies and recent conversation. But that's a
major rigorous education. And and and with that right away,
and were to you kids at that point, like how
did you get all this done?

Speaker 3 (09:05):
I don't know. It's so funny. I remember when I
first started. I went through the VU program and I
did a class and the kids were really little then,
and that was kind of my night out. I would
go to my wine class when I loved that. But
it wasn't till later that I became certified saw Malier
with the Quartermaster saw Malier's right before COVID. It was

(09:27):
March of twenty twenty when I it was literally everything
was coming to a head. But in the meantime, I've
also been doing the program for Diploma Wine and Spirit
Education Trust, and I feel like I am always studying.
I have a big test coming up this month actually,
And it's just constant. You're just always learning, and luckily

(09:48):
I get to travel a lot so I can learn
firstthand but it's just it's constant. Rules change, winds change,
so you're always having to, you know, to keep in
the now on it. But at least it's wine.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
It's a lot of fun, it is. And I know
that you guys travel a lot throughout the world and
you do some both exercise and wine tours, which I love.
I know you do to some of those bike tours
through various places, So you're right, it's a constant education
for you, And I think the nice part about being
a patron in your restaurant is you get to kind
of embody all the things that you've been learning and
studying about for so long. Okay, So Leamora and Punchbule

(10:24):
are the two spots that people can find you and
Josh at and Brookline, But there's a lot that you
do outside of your restaurants too. I know that I
was lucky during the pandemic to be a part of
Let's Talk.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Women in Boston as well. Why don't you tell folks
about the organization?

Speaker 3 (10:40):
So the organization was formed by Roheini Day, a restaurant
tour in Chicago, really looking to collaborate with women during
the pandemic ways to get through all of the things
that we were trying to figure out, especially at the beginning.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
And what she really.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Discovered was she needed to create kind of this collaboration
of women at first restaurant tours and now it's grown
to women owners in food and beverage who join together
and basically just support each other we politically, socially, economically.
And I always say it's my village. It's my village

(11:19):
of women that basically whenever I have an issue or
anything comes up in the restaurant and I have a question,
we put it in the list served and ask away.
The really cool thing is, well, we're going on five
years that we will be together as a movement this
coming January. So very cool.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
Wow, it is so cool, and it shows the camaraderie
that takes place in this industry. And I think one
of the things that Billy and I have been really
passionate about promoting over the past twenty years is how
much goes into making this industry operate in a and
efficient and effective and a war in an inviting way.

(12:01):
Also how expensive it is. I mean, certainly during COVID
we tried so so often to sort of explain why
things were the way that they were, and I think
too often people just aren't as informed about how much
goes is do it. I think they think, you know,
it's a cool industry to be a part of, and
it's you know, there's all these amazing perks. And I
think what's been really interesting, from at least from the

(12:24):
vantage point of Billy and myself is to be able
to see just the commitment that all of you make
to this industry, but to have a group of them
in to be together, to be able to talk about
and and have a forum, to be able to answer
the questions that you guys made that come up you
know all the time. You know, while I'm not directly
in the restaurant owning space, it's been such a pleasure

(12:44):
to get to know so many of the nuances that
go on.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
So uh, it's a really great organization worth checking out.
I know, you guys do events throughout the year and
ways to connect with folks, which is fantastic.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then for you know, you and I sat on
the MRA board for a little while together, and now
you're the secretary of the MRU Mass Restaurants United, And
is that tell me a little bit about that organization?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
So that too, I mean I would say like, if
you're looking to get something done, ask a busy person
to do it, because I am in awe of the
people that are part of this organization. Nancy Caswell in particular,
she was the president, now she's the treasurer. And this
woman is busy and she runs the restaurant single handedly.

(13:28):
She is unbelievable. So I feel like I am now
surrounded by this even bigger village and network that is incredible.
And like I said, they're just I mean, we're just
banned together. I guess what happened during COVID that you know,
I want to kind of talk about is I Basically,
before COVID, I never thought restaurants wouldn't be relevant. I

(13:50):
was like, this is a career that I can embrace.
We will everybody's always going to need to go out
to eat. You go, you celebrate your birthdays, your anniversaries,
you need a place go. We have weddings, we have myths,
the there's there's never going to be a time where
restaurants aren't going to be important. And then we found
out during COVID, Oh my god, like we had to

(14:11):
close and it was It's the scariest thing that's ever
happened to me. And I think that it really has
created this crazy impact on restaurants that it's changed. There's
like a beast me and An asked a team now
and it's just life is really different in restaurants.

Speaker 6 (14:31):
M So, the so the catalyst for change really was
COVID or was it a combination of of some different
things and and and what are some ways that you're
helping to kind of like drive this message forward and
what are some of the big concerns.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I mean, it's really an an And first of all,
it was a staffing concern, and staffing is still a
major issue as well. I think people realize, like, when
you work in restaurants, you are working, like I said
twenty four to seven, and you know, especially if you're
the front of the house of a restaurant, when you
arrive at whatever time your shift starts to the time
your shift ends, you're on stage, you are literally being

(15:12):
You're moving, you're grooving, you're busy, you don't have any downtime.
So it really creates an impact on the individual. And
I think during COVID, when everybody got to take a
step back and realize, oh, this is what nights and
weekends are like, it was really hard to get back
and to go back into the service industry. And I
think we realized that and just you know, there had

(15:36):
to be a change. A lot of times that what
happened was we didn't have enough people to work, so
we had to use QR codes in restaurants. And from
that too, I mean, I think the whole food chain.
You can see when you go to grocery stores. Food
is really expensive, prices have shot up everything. There's just
so many more costs involved. And I don't know why

(15:57):
COVID was the catalyst for that, but it's just really
it was always hard to run a restaurant, but now
it's really really hard to run a restaurant.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
And so I know, staffing is obviously something that we
talk about often being a major concern and everyone hoping
that it was going to kind of bounce back, and
it really didn't. You know, what are some of the
things that you guys are are sort of talking about
and focused on right now.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
So what happened with we In order to get people
to come back to restaurants, we had to really change
the pay scale a bit and pay people to work,
especially in the kitchen, a lot more than they were
making before. I remember back in the day, like when
Josh was first starting in restaurants, he was it was
almost like a stage type of thing. You made like

(16:49):
very low hourly because you knew you were learning from
incredible chefs for basically like an education for them. And
I think that's changed. I mean, people are making a
living working in restaurants and that is so important and
it's the only way to sustain restaurants. So we're paying
the back of the house a lot more as a result,

(17:11):
and we're even you know, there's kitchen fees you'll see
on checks, so they too, like on a busy Saturday night,
they can see what it's like to make a little
extra money. However, you know, I'm sure that there's this
ballad initiative that's coming up in November and that is
really going to again estimate the restaurant industry, especially independent restaurants,

(17:36):
and we're really nervous about this ballot passing.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Oh so I want to talk more about that. I
know obviously I've been studying this. I know it's question
five coming up in the coming weeks. I want to
take a break so we can talk more about it.
We'll be back in just a minute.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thoughts, brought to you by
It's the Box Center and Sale in Waterfront Hotel in.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Sweet Welcome back to sup that that brought to Bay
Center than the skin of La More. Unpunchble is my guest.
So Den, we were talking about question five, Can you
tell me a little bit about it.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Absolutely, it's a ballot initiative. It's coming up. It's ballot
number five that would eliminate the tip credit. The tip
credit is in place now, So what we do is
the tipped employees can earn an hourly wage that's below
the state's minimum wage. Right now, it's six seventy five

(18:29):
an hour, and as long as they are earned, tips
bring them to the minimum wage. So they always make
fifteen dollars per hour. If they don't, the employer pays
the difference. What that means is anything above whatever they
make in tips goes to the front of the house staff.
They are not allowed to share those tips with any

(18:52):
non service facing individuals in the restaurant. This ballot initiative
would eliminate the tip credit. It would bring them all
up to minimum wage within five years. And when that happens,
they will then be kind of the restaurant I guess
prerogative will be that they can share the tips with

(19:15):
the front of the house and the back of the
house as well. So currently non tips employees.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
So what and what would this do to the restaurant industry?

Speaker 3 (19:28):
So there may issues. For one, servers and bartenders widely
pulled on this issue, do not want this to pass
because they're currently making well above minimum wage. They make
twenty thirty forty plus dollars an hour, and they're really
concerned because there have been studies that when people think

(19:51):
that someone's making minimum wage or a fair wage, they
will not tip, and so as a result, they'll make
less tips if as passes. In addition to that, they
also will need to share their tips the back of
the house because for you know, they've been studies as
well and kind of figured out the finances of this.

(20:13):
And for every full time employee, So for a front
of the house employee who's working forty hours a week,
we will be paying as restaurants an additional eighteen thousand
plus dollars per full time employee. So just for my
small restaurant of Lamora, that'll meet an additional eighty thousand

(20:34):
dollars a year that I have to make up. And
I know, I hate to say it, you know, sorry,
go ahead.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
No, but I say, like, with these costs, what happens
is it's impossible to continue to run the restaurant. I
want to talk to you a little bit more about it.
We're going to take a break. We'll be back with
more food for thought.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
In just a second, 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 (20:57):
Then the skin is our guests and Food for Thought
brought to you by the Box under So, Jen, I'm
still trying to sort of understand it, and I sometimes
I often find these ballots they're really hard to sort
of decipher, and you know, what exactly is it saying
and and and and and and what is the fallout
from making this decision? You know, we all kind of
walk up to the ballot and sort of want to
do the right thing that we deem to be the

(21:18):
right thing. And yes, sometimes they're very confusing. So you're
talking about what will end up being added costs to
the restaurants based on this bill, talk a little bit
more about what the fallout would look like, both from
the restaurant perspective and then also as the consumer's perspective.

(21:40):
Who we know enjoy a lot of your all of
your amazing restaurants.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
So basically, you know, there we are one surprise expense
away from closing. Unfortunately, the profit margin or I always
say the non profit in restaurants, it is just so small.
So some like this is going to have a cyclical
effect because the only way that we'll be able to

(22:05):
continue to stay open is to raise prices, which no
one wants to do. They're already really high. Lower jobs,
we're not going to be able to have as many
front of the house staff on as well. And also, unfortunately,
like even the wages in the back of the house,
which we've worked so high hard to raise, those are

(22:27):
going to have to come down in order to make
it up. So it's going to have a negative impact
on jobs and impact on how servers can stay in
their livelihood, and also on customers and on the restaurant operators.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
And do you feel like the message is being understood.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
No, I think the ballot is. I mean, the way
this ballot is written, it's really confusing. I mean, I know,
if I read it without knowing anything, I think right
off the bat, of course, yes, you want everyone to
make minimum wage. We want everyone to make minimum wage.
Servers make minimum wage front of the house staff. That
is the minimum that they can make. What they do

(23:08):
now is they make a lot more. And I think
the only way for people to become informed is they
need to ask about it. Every restaurant that you go to,
talk to the servers, talk to the bartenders, talk to
the chefs, and you'll see, I mean, I haven't talked
to anyone that I work with that works for me,
or even going out to eat last night, I had

(23:30):
not talked to anyone in the service industry who doesn't
want a no vote on question five.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
And so, where where does this? Where does this? Where
where has this come from? If it's not if it's
not even the restaurant staff who wants this to happen.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
So it's from an advocacy group out of California and
they've just come into you know, they had got signatures
and were able to get on the ballot. They've been
a little shifting in the way they've done things. But
you know they they're not even from that. They have
no idea what the restaurant culture is like here, and

(24:12):
everybody's really happy with the way things are. Boston is
booming city. I mean, I love your cookbook like a
Taste of Boston. It just shows the foundation of the
city and restaurants.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Well, I appreciate you talking to us about this because
you know, as a program, we don't take a political stance.
We don't oftentimes talk about political issues, but what we
do do is we'd like to bring to like the
nuances that are a part of the hospitality and restaurant industry.
And this feels like from the conversations that we've had
a major, major one. And so all I will say

(24:48):
is the second what Jen just said, talk to the
folks that you're that that own the restaurants, that work
at the restaurants that you're eating at, and and be
more informed sort of going into going into November. And anyway,
I'm thinking of you guys. I appreciate you giving me
a little bit of education on it. And yes, thank
you so much for referencing the cookbook, because I do

(25:10):
want to bring that up. So in celebration of our
twenty years of Billy and I working together and promoting
the hospitality industry, we decided to put together a cookbook
that has sixty chefs, sixty on recipes, and sixty stories.
So we you know, you probably can tell from us
talking to a lot of the chefs. We consider so

(25:31):
many of the steps both in this book and on
this radio show and on our television show to be
our dear friends, the people that we have. We've worked
hard to be able to promote on our end and
were it felt amazing to be able to have all
of you in one space.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
So, Jen, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
If you've had a chance to see it yet. It
just came out so but it was so great to
have you and Josh as a part of it.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
I mean, I am like, it's an honor to be
part of this book and I have seen it. I'm
holding it right now and read. I mean, it brought
me to tears what you wrote about us. And like
you said, you and Billy have worked together for twenty years.
Josh and I have had Lamora for twenty years. You
have been some of our biggest cheerleaders and we can't
thank you enough. And it's just a very special relationship

(26:15):
I've always had with you. So I feel honor.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Well, oh, I feel the same. And it felt so
nice to be able to hold it in my hands
and look through and see your faces and anyway, So
it's a great thing to be able to have as
a gift or enjoy as a gift or but mainly
it's to be able to celebrate the hospitality industry. And yes,
it's called the Taste of Boston and it's coming on us.
You can get it anywhere you get your books. But Jen,

(26:38):
thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on the show.
Want everybody to check out Leamora. Tom Brady called it
his favorite bolonets in the entire world, which I ended
up writing in that book too, so it's definitely worth
worth checking out in Punch Bowl as well, both in Brookline.
What's the best place for people to get.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
In touch with you, Jen, I mean either of the restaurants,
but they can always reach out by email, my cell phone.
Anything I am here for you know, and I would
love to talk more about this ballad initiative too. If
people have questions, please reach out to me.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh awesome, and definitely make sure to yeah, talk to
your restaurants that you dine out all the time. Anyway, Jed,
thank you so much. We'll talk soon, all right, Thanks Jenny.
We got more Food for Thought coming up in just
a minute.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you buy
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Welcome back into Food for Thoughts brought to you guys
Box Center. This is another one of my buddies. Dmitri Silakis,
he is the CEO of zeniav Greek Hospitality has a
number of incredible restaurants, very celebrated restaurants in the area
that we're going to talk about, and they're all steeped
in Greek culture, greeculinary, Greek American is who he is

(27:52):
that he brings a very authentic Greek sense to our area.
So Dimitri, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 5 (27:59):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
All right, so go through the left. You have well, Alka,
I was going to do it, but you'll do it
better than I will. Tell me. Tell me all the
thoughts that people can annoy, all of the amazing, great
food that you're offering to our area.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Definitely. It started off with Greco, the fast casual Greek
street food eatery. We are up to seven locations now
between Boston and DC. We have cross Sea in Back Bay,
which is the regional wine bar cuisine, amazing, amazing vibin
and concept there with a really cool European inspired cocktail
bar Tekat in the alley. Last year we opened Bar Vlaha,

(28:36):
which focuses on the cuisine of Central Greece and the
roots of Greek food and hospitality in our culture, and
in about less than a month we'll have Kaya in
the South End as well, which is a coastal Greek
concept focused on the islands of the Aegeans.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
I mean, I think one of the things that Billy
and I love about all of your venues is the
authentic nature with which you experience and every single bite
and also just the atmosphere around you. And I think,
you know, we're lucky to be in Boston where there's
a lot of diversity of cuisine types, but it's not
always done to such an authentic, you know, nature in

(29:14):
the way that you do. Bar Blaha is one of
my husband and my favorites, and it also I think
one of the cool things about it is not only
getting kind of this cultural experience and education, but you
also feel like you're in somebody's home. And I don't
mean that like in a trite way. You really do
feel like you're dining at a place that feels very

(29:37):
comfortable and has a great neighborhood vibe. I'm assuming I'm
not the only person that says that.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
Not at all. You know, that's one of our main
points of our concepts, you know, we want people to
feel that, you know, we're telling a story when we
do these restaurants, and the best thing we can do
is is, you know, turn strangers into friends. So mission
of our concepts, missions of all our restaurants and if
it's the fast casual or one of our sits down
the concepts. You know, we definitely want people to feel
welcomed and taking care of.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Well.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
They definitely do. I know. Additionally, I don't know how
because you must sleep at some point, but I don't
think they're probably, But you're also involved in a number
of different organizations. I know that you also are on
staff at Boston University.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Tell me more about what.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
You do there.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yes, So it's probably the most rewarding thing I do
right now is being a professor for the School of Hospitality,
you know, where we experience innovation. And I'm there literally
just teaching these students about my journey and my story
and you know, my transition from investment banking into you know, hospitality,
how I grew up in the industry. And you know,

(30:46):
when you have ninety five students who come to your
class and are just like having discussions with you about
you know, what you're doing and it's really I don't know,
it's the best feeling I get right now because it
just feels so rewarding. And you know, having these entrepreneurs
and this mindset at that age, it makes me wonder
was I like that when I was like seventeen eighteen nineteen.

(31:06):
So it's great to have that dialogue. And actually I'm
learning a lot from them. You know, I had to
do assignments based on my restaurants, and it's a really
great dialogue for the whole semester. It's my second year
and BU has an outstanding program with hospitality, and I
like how they're just not focused on you know, just
restaurants and hotels and tourism, but more just the experience
and innovation in the industry. And it's leading for a

(31:28):
lot of entrepreneurship. And I love that.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I love that so much. And I think you definitely
were like those seventeen eighteen years a year old a
little bit. It's harder to know it. It's harder to
know it when you're in it. But that's so great
that it feels so rewarding, and I know that, you know,
we actually just talked to Gensiskin, who you know, is
also a very very involved person in a number of

(31:53):
different areas. And I'm always kind of blown away by
how much you all get done in a day to
day basins, day to day basis and almost and also
how much you give back. So I know that, you know,
philanthropy is a big piece for you guys, and you're
always at you know, all the events sort of supporting
a lot of nonprofits in the area. And then you
too are also part of an organization that's really focused

(32:18):
on sort of supporting hospitality as a whole.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
Is that right, Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, I'm part
of the VP of the m r U, the Massachusetts
Restaurants United right now, and we are a voice for
our staff, for you know, for legislator, for our communities,
you know, things that you know, our staff and our
industry needs. We go out there, we research, we educate,
and we really are that voice. You know. We have
platforms that can reach a lot of people, and we

(32:42):
come into contact with so many people in our businesses.
We're also looking at network for ourselves as well, and
you know, we tackle everything and anything, and it's all
sort of from the pandemic where it was nice as
you restaurants come together not only to support their own
but to give back to their communities as well.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Wow, and what are some of the pressing pieces? I
know COVID was obviously substantial for all of us, but
in a very different way for the hospitality industry. So
what are some pressing concerns right now?

Speaker 5 (33:13):
Well, when if people familiar are not there's a Balot
question out there, Balot Question five that aims to raise
the minimum wage for servers and bartenders. You know, this
is something that could sound good on paper, but through
research what we've done and myself operating in DC, we
see that it's not. And you know, my restaurants voice
and a lot of these operators in the in the MRIU,

(33:34):
it's we listen to our staff. We ask our staff
what do you want? You know, and when they say
they're concerned, and you know back of the house is
concerned and they they make enough money or more and
they're just in fear that it's going to create a
different system. They're they're scared, and that worries me when
I have staff that's scared. But one important I don't
think it's the public's you know, responsibility to pay our staff.

(33:54):
You know, there's labor laws that protecting, which I love.
So everybody should be making the minimum wage in our restaurant,
no matter tipped or not tipped, which I think is
the most secure thing you can do right now. And
it's been in Massachusetts that way for a while. But this, this,
I think, this, this vallet question is going to ruin
hospitality when I have to automatically put a gratuity on
a table. You know, I don't want to be embarrassed.

(34:17):
In Europe, we don't do that, you know. I don't
want to see that, and they have very different you know,
cost livings out there, so it's very different to operate.
But I don't automatically want to swipe off a gratuity
or a service fee. It's not the public's responsibility, you know,
it's ours. We We have you know, formulas, and we
and labor costs, and we know how to stop our restaurants.
But as soon as I have to make the public

(34:38):
pay for staff to go out, it ruins hospitality and
I don't feel comfortable, and when my staff is not
wanting it, you know, it's something that I'm fighting, and
I'm very, very vocal in a no vote on question
five for those reasons.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
And you know, Jen actually brought this up so the
audience is sort of familiar, and she urged people to
kind of talk to the staff restaurants that they dine
out at, like, are what are you are you feeling
like the way that it's written is confusing or what
is what? What sort of feels like the biggest concern.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
I don't think people understand the impact that's going to
have when it's written in a way that sounds oh
my god, one fair. Yes, that sounds great, let's do
it for everyone, but it's not. It's hurting the operators
and it's hurting existing staff. You know, this could work
for certain concepts that are more fast casual oriented, bakery
cafe style that don't have as much operation as a

(35:31):
full service restaurant or someone who just goes out there
and centers their model around this, But to have existing
business owners change their model who pay percentage rent on
sales and serve and automatic service charges will will increase that.
You know, it hurts and you'll see a lot of
mom and pop shots closed. You know, I operated in
DC and friends of I had to close the restaurants

(35:51):
after their initiative path because they could no longer staff
their restaurant, they could no longer afford you know, the
support staff in our system has been wonderful, people of immigrants,
of locals, of students, and you know, a lot of
people will lose their jobs, you know, because we won't
be able to afford the support systems in the restaurant
managers will be burnt out. You'll see more QR codes.
And for me, someone who teaches hospitality and in who's

(36:13):
passion is hospitality, it takes the hospitality out of dying.
There's no more social enjoyment of food and drink. There's
no more none of that. You'll run into QR codes
and burnt out people and close restaurants. And it's sad.
It's frightening that something that sounds so good could be
so impactful in negative way.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Well, I appreciate you sending some light on it for us.
And you know, like I said before, we don't typically
you know, like we're we certainly aren't like don't take
the political stance. But what we do BUILDY and I
do for the past twenty years is try to shed
light on the nuances and the intricacies of this industry
and in whatever way we can to be able to
support its both infrastructure and its ability to continue to

(36:55):
do what it does so well. And so what do
you say, Like is the message for people who are
looking to know more or don't quite understand.

Speaker 5 (37:04):
Definitely educate yourselves. There's so many resources out there, just
be careful of them being misleading. This organization is not
from Massachusetts, so we do things differently here. You know,
we're very proud people were proud Bostonians, people from Western
mass brickshires or whatever. We are in Massachusetts, but in
when we're I think leading and innovation and hospitality. You know,
we have so much to be a benchmark for that.

(37:26):
I don't want to ruin this. You know, we're the
voice of our staff. You know, I would not be
going out there and saying vote no if my staff
and company with concerns.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
Educating ourselves is the best way to be so, Dimitri,
thank you so much. I appreciate your support and for
being on the show, and we'll talk soon.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
Definitely, thank you so much. Have a great day.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront hotel and sweet.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Okay, it's our last break. The food for thought brought
to you by Box Center. When I was chatting with Jen,
I mentioned Billy and I have just launched a cookbook,
and I want to take a couple of minutes to
talk about it because it is pretty exciting, and I
think that anybody listening would love to at least take
a peek to see. It's somebody that they would enjoy.
If you're a foodie, if you're a Bostonian, if you
like the cooker, you know someone that likes the cooker,

(38:09):
you just care about sort of the hospitality industry at
all in the Boston area, this might be a good
gift for you. So Billy and I decided that we
wanted to somehow mark something celebratory for the fact that
we've been working together for twenty years, which still feels
completely bananas for me to say out loud. It doesn't
feel possible, But we have clocked a lot of hours.
We have done a lot of radio shows, we've done

(38:31):
a lot of television shows, and we've spent a lot
of time with the chefs and restaurant tours in Boston
and beyond. So we partnered with Meat Boston, which is
the organization that brings tourists to the city of Boston.
They are such an impactful arm at making sure that
Boston is a city that people from all over the
world want to come to, and so they wanted to

(38:52):
celebrate hospitality as well. So we partnered together with them,
and we had the unique opportunity of bringing sixty chefs,
sixty recipes, and sixty stories written from our perspective of
knowing these talented chefs and restaurant tours for the past
twenty years. And it's a great kind of coffee table
style book, and the sort of insert right off the

(39:15):
top just to give you an idea, says thank you
to everyone who has made the past twenty years possible,
from the chefs, to the wait staff, to the restaurant tours,
and to the many viewers who have come on this
journey with us, and of course to our families who
have reminded us there's nothing better than being around a
table with those you love. So that is sort of
the introduction to the cookbook. And you'll see gorgeous photos

(39:35):
from Brian Samuels, who's a very talented food photographer. You
also see the great photos of the chefs, and then
you get to hear a little bit about the specific
stories that we have of them. Some are you know,
sort of near and dear to our hearts from a
lot of the charities and chef supports, to some really
funny stories that I feel like only we know, but
now we have the opportunity to share. And so this

(39:59):
book has certainly been a labor of love, and we're
excited to finally have it in our hands right in
time for the holidays. So you can go to meet
Boston dot com slash cookbook if you are interested in
getting it there, you'll see some of the pictures on
there before you get it, and then the other option
is to get it on Amazon. So the title of
the cookbook is A Taste of Boston, the definitive cookbook

(40:21):
of the city we love. So if you just go
to Amazon and type in a Taste of Boston Cookbook,
it'll pop up and you'll see Billy and my mugs
right there on the cover. But I think what's really
cool is that if you are a foodie, or if
you're a person that spends any time in the city,
you've certainly dined at these establishments, and I think if

(40:42):
you own cookbooks at home at least this is from
my experience. What I find is that there's a few
recipes in the book that we enjoy right and like
you kind of earmark them or put a piece of
paper in them. What's cool about this is these are
some of the favorite recipes of some of the best
chefs in Boston. So you're actually getting a cook book

(41:03):
where I think you will enjoy all of them. And
it's broken up into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, an
easy way to do it. And you know, there's everything
from Joanne Chang with her Boston cream Pie, to Anna Thortoon,
who we talked about on the show earlier, to Jody
Adams and her racotta Yoki. We have Tony Souci and
the squash tortini, and Tiffany Faison, Karen o'conowitz, Chris Himmel

(41:27):
from Grilled twenty three. There's a great ribby and a
butter poach lobster that we actually made with Chef Robert
Ziska the other day. And then there's some more intricate ones.
There's a bread pudding which is made famous by Eastern
Standard on the cover, we have some stuff from Legal Seafood,
obviously hugely celebrated. Jed and Josh, who were on the show,

(41:47):
did the salt cod potato cakes and ooh are they delicious.
They are just so, so so yummy. Anyway, feel free
to get a book if this sounds like something that
is of interest to you, and anyway, thank you so
much for being a part of the show. Think we'll
see you next time. We'll be back with more food
for Thought next week.
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