Meet Boston & Broadway Restaurant Group

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You are listening to Food for Thoughtwith Billy and Jenny, brought to you
by the Box Center. For morethan 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 hottestrestaurants, and giving you the inside scoop
on where to whine, dine andspend your time. So get ready,
it's Food for Thought giving you somethingto chew on. Hey, everybody,

(00:22):
welcome into Food for Thought, broughtto you by the Box Center. I'm
Jenny Johnson and of course mister BillyCosta is not here today. But I'm
really excited because today I'm going tobe focused on a new project that Billy
and I have been spending an enormousamount of time planning along with my incredible
team. We have recently launched abrand new show called Meat Boston with Billy

(00:44):
and Jenny in partnership with the organizationMeat Boston. So I'll give you a
little background of Meet Boston itself.The organization, it's a group that is
responsible for bringing Taurus to the cityof Boston. Now, this is bringing
people from New England, this isbringing people from around the country, and
this is also bringing people from aroundthe world, and this organization has done

(01:07):
such a spectacular job of really puttingBoston on the map where it deserves,
certainly where Billy and I think thatit deserves. And so this idea.
Martha Sheridan, the CEO, andI had been talking like, how do
we most effectively tell the story thatis Boston, And we felt like the
best way to do it was tobe across every single possible demo and showcase

(01:29):
it from their perspectives. Obviously,Billy and I know the city very well
from a lot of the work thatwe've done over the you know, me
the past two decades and him thepast I don't know, at least four
maybe, but we thought it wasa great opportunity to sort of tell Boston
from a number of different perspectives.So we enlisted a bunch of very talented
content curators and we named them theHubsters, you know Boston the hub giving

(01:56):
them, giving them that little nickname. And they now go out and perform
what is already their area of expertise. They are already influencers within the market.
They are already kind of connected tothe pulse that is Boston, and
then they get to use their ownpersonalities, their own perspectives and tell the
story. So I'm very excited becauseone of the Hubsters is in studio with

(02:20):
me right now, and his nameis Aj Hernandez, and we have known
of each other for a very longtime, and I guess that's how Boston
is. It's pretty small, butwe really only met in kind of connecting
with this project. So I'm excitedto know a little bit more about you.
I do know that you're not fromBoston, which I said is probably

(02:40):
what makes you so cool, becauseyou hail to us from the West Coast
from California. All right, soAj, give me a little background.
When did you come to the cityand talk about what was your coming into
the influencer space. Yeah, soI moved. I've been in Boston for
almost twelve I guess twelve going onthirteen years now, which is really crazy.

(03:00):
So I moved here in the summerend of summer of twenty eleven for
college. So the classic like movedto New England for college and then got
a job, you know, fellin love, never left sort of story.
So I've been here represents but Bostonis very much home for me.
Now, I kind of have alwayssaid that, like I was born on
the West Coast, but like Ishould have been born on the East Coast.
It just fits my vibe a lotmore. I think, well,

(03:23):
actually play on that, like,tell me about that vibe, because I
think what it is cool about youis that you did grow up in a
very different place with a very differentvibe. So sort of compare and contrast
the two. And what was itabout Boston that really always made it feel
like home for you? Yeah?I think for me, I've always been
sort of like a city boy athard Like I came from a suburb of

(03:46):
la It was a big suburb,but still very much like the city was
far away, you know what Imean. But I think what I loved
about Boston is that it sort ofmarries the two, Like it has that
very small town feel which we alwaystalk about, but it still is sort
of that big city. And soI think those two parts of my identity
sort of just melted together perfectly here. And I just I don't know,

(04:08):
like I love the change of theseasons, I love the charm of the
city. It's just it's kind ofhard to explain or put into wards.
What makes like where I grew upin Boston so different. You're doing a
good job without saying like, justlook like there's so much more history here.
But but you're a storyteller. AndI think that's one of the things
that has become so clear to usin your work with me Boston is you

(04:30):
love people and you love to telltheir stories. Right, So what and
when did the influencer space become yours? Yeah? So I started using social
media when I moved here. Itkind of as like a digital diary to
kind of keep my family and friendsback home up to date on what I
was doing. So I was justsort of like posting like I'm eating this,

(04:50):
I'm doing this, I'm hanging outwith my friends here, And like
you said, I'm a storyteller atheart, but I'm also a performer at
heart. So I think part ofme liked some of the attention I started
to get when people started like likingthe things I was posting. So I
was like, I'm gonna keep doingthis a little bit more. And then
one day a brand reached out tome. It was like, hey,
you know, we're launching in thismarket. We're looking for guys who are

(05:13):
in the influencer space, and I, you know, I think that this
sort of industry, if you will, is very saturated with female creators,
and so this brand was looking forguys in particular. So I did this
one project with them, and Ihad a lot of fun doing it,
sort of helping them tell their storythrough my own POV. And then it's
sort of snowballed, and yeah,it's it's It's been a lot of fun.
I met a lot of really coolpeople. I've got to try a

(05:34):
lot of really cool things. I'mjust having a lot of fun with Well,
you are having fun and that comesacross so clearly. So you were
on our first episode of Meet Bostonand one of the first hubsters that anybody
saw in launching this big project,And why don't you tell folks where you
went first? I have to say, did you hear who I said as
the sponsor of this show off thetop? I didn't? The Box?

(05:57):
Oh well that could not be moreperfect. My friends at the Box of
your buddy at the Box Center.So okay, I just gave that one
up. But one of the placesthat you went to was the Box Center.
You step down with our dear friendJoe Spalding, and oh my god,
you gave us so much insight.So tell folks about what makes the
Box Center so special. Yeah,So the Box Center, the Wang Theater
in particular, is one of thetop theaters in the world, as I

(06:17):
learned from from my friend mister Joe. But what's really cool about the Box
Center is that I believe they're theonly, definitely I think, the only
theater in the city that has likelike a living theater that has like a
Hall of Fame there sort of operatingat the same time. And so they've
done this really cool job of creatingthis exhibit that celebrates sort of the lifeblood

(06:38):
of our you know, musical cultureand heritage, and Boston plays a big
part in that music history. Ithink that's a story that has been ontold
or largely ontold, and I thinkpeople, if they, you know,
make the time to sort of learnabout it and go visit the space,
they're going to be really surprised athow much rich culture and history there is
mentored history. That's exactly what Imean. You walk into those theaters,

(07:00):
right and certainly the Box Center,and you're like transported back in time and
they have done, like you said, with sort of that living Hall of
Fame, such a beautiful job ofbeing able to showcase how much has taken
place in the arts here in Boston. And I'm sure you talk to Joe.
They also give back so much asit relates to children in the community
and other artists. All Right,so we're going to take a break.

(07:23):
We'll be back with more Food forThought. We got Aj here. We're
going to talk more about his segmentbecause he checked out one of the most
fabulous hotels in our city. We'llbe back in just a minute. You're
listening to Food for Thought brought toyou by the Box Center and Salem Waterfront
Hotel in sweets. Welcome back toFood for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center. I got Aj withme here in studio, and it's so
nice to be with you in theflesh because now I've been watching you on

(07:46):
our program, I've obviously been watchingyou on social media for so long.
You did such a good job oftelling the story of the Box Center,
which obviously is very important to us. Okay, so I mentioned you went
to a lovely hotel, So tellus about the hotel and what the experience
was like, yeah, so Igot to stay at the Ritz Carlton Boston
right in downtown, which was reallyreally just lovely from top to bottom.

(08:07):
But I think what makes this particularhotel so special is like it's really just
steps away from all the action inthe theater district. I mean you literally
like walk out the door maker rightand make a quick left and you can
see like the opera you know,the opera house, and so it's it's
really fantastic in that regard. Imean, the rooms are gorgeous. I
mean it's just luxury at its best, right. The food on site is

(08:30):
fantastic. They also, you know, you get direct like access to Equinox.
It's it's a really just like topnotch, so is it. And
when you said it's access and sortof its location within the city, it's
like part of the heartbeat. Ohabsolutely, you know, so you're you're
constantly being entertained with your eyes nomatter you know, the lights out of
the window flashing, you know,the buzz right, you're right by the

(08:52):
calm and you're right by the guardknow you you really truly can't. It's
such a special place. I'm gladyou had a good time there. Okay.
So also on the phone, wehave one of our other hubsters.
We have Shem on the phone,who you see online as Sugar and Stamps.
Chem. How are you? Thanksso much for being here, Hi,
thanks for having me. Well,you also did a fantastic job.

(09:13):
I wanted to make sure that Ibrought somebody from episode one, which was
Aja, and episode two which wasyou and and so you we were focused
on SOUTHI uh for this episode two, really giving people a behind the scenes
of everything and everyone that people canexpect when they're headed into SOUTHI really kind
of a behind the scenes look atthis awesome neighborhood. So so, Shem,

(09:35):
how was your experience checking out SOUTHI, which I obviously know you've been
to many times before this show.Absolutely, I love South you know,
it's such a violent neighborhood, andit was just so unique being there,
being able to film something so innovativeand unique. I loved exploring some of
the lesser known businesses that I maybewouldn't have popped into on my own,

(09:58):
and so it was just it wasa fun till day walking around the neighborhood
talking to some of the business owners. I mean that was probably one of
my favorite parts. Sem. Youalso did such a great job interviewing.
I was saying to Aj that hereally captured the story of the Box Center
so well by talking to its executivedirector in a way that really made it
feel like you were sitting in aliving room with him, and Shem you

(10:22):
did very much the same. Sotell us about the business you were visiting.
So I was lucky enough to visitMicro Plant Studio, and you know,
it was so wonderful to sit downwith the founder and owner, Julio,
who you know, created the Southe Gym, and he was able
to talk to me a little bitabout what they did, how he started
the business. And if you haven'tbeen to Microplant Studio, it is such

(10:46):
a beautiful shop, such a beautifulstorefront. They changed the displays as the
seasons go, and it's just likea haven for plant enthusiasts. It's so
screen you can shop for plants,you can hire them for some of their
services, so if you're out oftown and you are looking for, you

(11:07):
know, someone to babysit your plantswhile you're gone. It is just such
a cool concept, such a goodgod. I mean, if I could
tell you how many times I've lefttown to come home to a lot of
dead plants. I've been really upsetabout it. It is such a nice
niche that they've found. And that'sone of the things that's so great about
Southie is like everybody's there to kindof like help you out. It feels

(11:28):
like one big extended family. Okay, and you also went to may May.
We have known the owners for avery very very long time and so
happy to see all the cool thingsthat they're doing there. What did you
guys do? May May? Wasincredible. I got to actually attend one
of their dumpling making classes, soI mean everything from you know, handfolding

(11:50):
techniques to searing the dumplings and entasting them. Such a cool experience.
I think it's so great for ifyou know, you're looking for an extr
angel gift to give someone, orlooking for a date night, or even
just like a solo you know,check yourself out on date. I think
it's such a cool concept to beable to make one of your favorite foods

(12:11):
and enjoy them. I love it, and I love that people are doing
that now. I mean, eventhough COVID is now such a thing of
the past. I think people arestill enjoying being able to do those things,
remembering what it was like when wecouldn't. And Irene is so talented.
I mean, she has made sucha mark in this community for starting
with a food truck a million yearsago when you guys were probably still in

(12:33):
school. So now having this awesomespace. So I'm glad you guys could
check it out. I talked toAj in the beginning a little bit about
his background, seem can you tellus a little bit about how becoming part
of this influencer space in Boston happenedupon you. Yeah, so, I
am a photographer and digital content creator. I'm actually also a nurse by profession,

(12:56):
but I've always had a passion forphotography. I've always loved travel,
and that's kind of how I gotstarted. It just kind of started out
as more of a passion project sharing, you know, my love for both
of these things through my travel blogand then my Instagram accounts, and you
know, just started out sharing mylove for those couple things. Prior to

(13:20):
Boston, I lived in San Franciscoand that's kind of where my story started.
And then when I moved to Boston, it was just so incredible having
this wonderful community of people that justkind of welcomed me with open arms.
And it's been so wonderful to beable to get to know the people that
are part of the Creator community here. I mean that is something that also

(13:43):
Aj and I were talking about behindthe scenes, and something I have to
say has made me so unbelievably excitedabout this project is we you know,
this is its first of its kind. Right, Influencers have existed for the
past decade to some extent. Imean they've really existed before that, because
some would say were influencers just beforethat was a word. But people that
are telling the story in the socialmedia space is something that's very new.

(14:07):
And the fact that you guys allhave connected in a way that has created
kind of this own group friendship isnot necessarily what we have experienced historically with
everyone, and so it makes usfeel so good about you all and about
how you're all sort of helping oneanother out. I mean, we have
this chat that like we we talkback and forth about all the time,

(14:28):
and it's like, hey, ifyou need any help, I'm out here
shooting today, or you know,it's just it shows such camaraderie in the
space that I think sometimes I worriedwas going to be competitive, and and
sure, a little competition ever hurtanyone, But like it is much more
of a family. It feels likemuch more like an extended family than I
anticipated, which is so cool.Is that how it feels to you?
Aj? Yeah, And I thinkSham, I think you kind of like

(14:50):
hit like the nail on the headin terms of saying like it's it's a
passion product. I kind of feellike we're all coming from a very similar
place where this is something that we'relike passionate about, and so maybe it's
the shared passion for storytelling that issort of like bringing us all together and
it's something that we're sort of bondingover, if you will. But yeah,

(15:11):
I agree, the sort of communitythat we've built already, and like
the short time that we've been togetheris really remarkable and just really fun to
see and be a part of andgetting to know different creators and sort of
their povs, and you know,it's been a really awesome experience. Well,
I think what's been cool is youguys have like left the egos at
the door, and you're all hereto be able to do what exactly the

(15:31):
point of this program is, whichis to tell the story of a city
that we obviously all love so much. I have to point out that these
are you know, for the mostpart, these segments are being shot on
iPhones, right. So it's whatI say, it's it's first of its
kind. It's because we're really bringingtogether what was traditional television and what is

(15:52):
now sort of modern social media,and we're melding the two. So in
addition to telling the story from differentdemos, different people's backgrounds, we're also
telling the story from two kind ofdifferent ways of media. So how shem
has the experience been for you?I mean there's different things like you have
to do, you have to holdthe phone in a different way, you
have to you know, be interviewingin a way that's a little bit different

(16:15):
than your typical reels. How's theexperience fell to you, Sham Yeah,
absolutely so. It was definitely alittle bit of a learning curve shooting content
for a different platform, right.But at the same time, what I
really loved was, you know,having the ability to create it from our
point of view and how we wouldtypically share our content. I think that's

(16:37):
you know, that's what brings eachone of our unique perspectives and our unique
touch to this show. So true. AJ, how about you, Yeah,
I'll say, like the For me, I think the hardest thing was
like shoot horizontally and not vertically.There were so many times where I would
like get excited and get out myphone and be like, oh no,

(16:59):
I have to reshoot that because Ijust like was so used to shooting it
for like exactly, Yeah, Iwas so used to shooting it for like
Instagram or TikTok. But yeah,I just I think it's it's sort of
you guys have given us sort ofthe agency to tell the stories, like
chem said, the way that wewould sort of talk about things on social
media, and I just think it'ssuper refreshing to sort of meet the viewers

(17:22):
or meet the audience where they areright like this is how people like to
consume a lot of their media now. And so I think what you and
Billy Meet Boston have done to sortof just like tell the stories in this
way, it's really innovative. It'ssuper cool, and I hope people are
loving it as much as we have. We have had unbelievable feedback, and
I hope you guys have two.We're going to take a break when we
come back. I want to hearwith some of the things you guys are

(17:44):
most excited about in the city thatprobably we'll see at some point I meet
Boston. We'll take a break withFood for Thought and be back in just
a minute. You're listening to Foodfor Thought brought to you by the Box
Center and sale in Waterfront Hotel andsweets. All right, guys, this
break is a quick one, soto make sure it gets some good contents
from you. So, so Agy, I want to know what are some

(18:04):
of the things that you're really excitedabout, and how has shooting the show
helped change, hopefully for the better, your perspective on Boston. Yeah,
so, I mean, and thisis crazy, but I recently tried Cane's
Donuts for the first time, ifyou can believe it, Like I had
never been. So I got togo in and like taste all of their
holiday donuts over the break and itwas like a hundred percent lived up to

(18:26):
the hype. Whatever the best Ithink another you know, I'm I'm personally
like love telling stories of like minorityowned or like businesses in the city,
and so I think I am excitedto get the opportunity to sort of dive
a little bit more into in tellingthose stories and uplifting those voices. But
yeah, just being part of theshow has sort of I think I've been
challenged to challenge my own POV ifthat makes sense, Like I yeah,

(18:52):
it's just been it's been like aneye opening experience to do this on like
a little bit on a bigger scaleand be part of this group. So
yeah, and I think when peoplesee reels, you know, there's the
time constraints exactly how much you cansay in a particular amount of time.
The nice part about this is it'sa little bit more extended, right,
You can actually spend the time witha person, and then you go back.

(19:14):
This is sort of behind the scenesthat no one really understands. You
go back and you edit all thatfootage and you say, this is the
most important component to what I learnedtoday, and it is. You guys
are all storytellers, but this isfine tuning your storytelling skill in a way
that's different. All right, So, chem what kind of things are you
excited about? So I love poppinginto unique experiences around the city. And

(19:36):
so one of the new thoughts thatI was able to check out was actually
in Conquered. But it's a inmy only supper club. They have a
fine dining, five course prefix menuon Monday nights, and so this concept
is so unique. I feel likethey are now popping up in Cambridge very

(19:56):
soon. So really exciting. Andwhat's the name? Tell me, tell
me the name about the of theconcept again, the supper club is called
Bonami and it's a husband and wifeteam that has started up five course prefix
facing menus on Monday nights and Conqueredand they're about to surging pop ups here
in Cambridge as well. That isso awesome. I mean, that's the

(20:18):
other thing is that there's never there'snever the stories never end. I mean,
everyone within their own divisions are constantlyevolving. Anyway, you both are
so awesome. Thank you for joiningthe show. We look forward to seeing
all the amazing stories that you guysare creating in the months ahead. We
want to make sure everyone tunes innine thirty on Saturday mornings, nine thirty
on Sunday nights and a couple timesduring the week. Aj Thank you,

(20:41):
Thank you, Sam, Thank you, Thanks Jenny, and coming up we
have since we're focusing on SOUTHI thisweek, we have the owners of a
big SOUTHI restaurant group as our guests. You're listening to Food for Thought brought
to you by the Box Center andSalem Waterfront Hotel and Sweets Welcome back into
Food for Thought brought to you bythe Box Center. It's a good show
this week because we're talking about somethingnew. But I'm very excited because I'm

(21:03):
connecting with somebody I've known for avery long time and one of the most
celebrated restauranteurs in our area, someonewho has brought so much excitement to hospitality
in Boston, Eric Allenbach and hisfantastic chef partner Nick Dixon. Hi,
guys, how are you great?How are you doing, Jonny? I'm
good. So already in the show, we've had a couple of our hubsters,

(21:26):
these kind of local influencers who aretelling the story of hospitality for our
new program Meet Boston. And asI've mentioned, we have our show this
weekend airing all about selfie. Andit would be impossible for me to do
a radio show or a television showabout selfie without featuring you guys from your
restaurant group. So Broadway Restaurant Grouphas a number of different restaurants. Eric,

(21:51):
you really were on the scene beforeselfie kind of made its mark,
so I kind of want you topaint the picture. However many years ago
it was when you were there onBroadway, kind of looking at spaces and
sort of how it's transformed since.Sure. I think I discovered the neighborhood
South Boston by the first well,the second restaurant I ever owned was Lucky's

(22:15):
Lounge on Collinger Street and four pointChannel, which is on a street which
is really the beginning of where SouthBoston starts. And I got to know
the demographics most of my customers atnight because the seaport wasn't there yet.
We're all coming from South Boston,so I kind of got familiar with the
market by doing that. And thenI moved to west Ford Street in South

(22:38):
Boston because I really loved the neighborhoodand I noticed while I was living there,
I had no place to go outto eat, but I thought was
good. So it was kind ofthat simple and then a space and time
opened up. In twenty eleven,I hadn't been in this neighborho in a

(23:00):
while because I went to Atlantic Cityto open Santa and Game On. I
was just not living here anymore.And then I drove after being away for
two years, I drove down WestBroadway and there was a huge for Leaf
nine in a pay Less shoe storeat four twenty five West Broadway. Into
my shock, I pulled over andcalled and the landlord actually answered the phone,

(23:25):
which was this is usually rare,and said, hey, I'll I'll
meet you at the space. SoI just sat in my car and met
him. And it was really loveat first sight. It was like a
feeling in my gut. I can'texplain. And the first person I called
was Nick. And then and thenthere's a picture that we look at at

(23:48):
every anniversary. It's me and Nickstanding in the pay Less shoe store,
you know, with a drop ceilingand carpet and saying, the kitchen's going
over here and this is going overhere. And I honestly, when we
went to open that and we startedbuilding in twenty eleven, opened in twenty
twelve, that restaurant was built tobe like the intention of what we were

(24:14):
going to do hadn't happened. Sowe really tried to do everything we loved.
Nick did all the food that heloved, all the food that we'd
made together in other restaurants, andthen I wanted the entertainment components. We
put a stage in the back,and I really built that to be the
only restaurant. I would kind ofya, well that's not what happened,

(24:36):
okay, But that restaurant was ahuge success. And then it was really
that restaurant and then opening others thatreally turned this neighborhood into a place where
you could get any of the foodthat you wanted. So talk about how
that expanded. Yeah, so Iremember, honestly I didn't. I thought

(24:57):
it was unreal, especially how busywe were when we opened. And then
on Sundays we had the Sunday Sundaything here, which I was unaware of
because usually I rested on Sundays,I didn't go out, and so I'm
like, wait a minute, there'sa busy Friday, a busy Saturday,

(25:18):
and a busy Sunday. Sunday isusually the slowest night in restaurants. And
then there was a Panasia sushi restaurantacross the Street, and I started as
soon as I learned that the Sundaything was regular, I started to go
over there and watch the Patriots gameand talk to the owner, and I
just knew we needed to do anotherspot. And then and then Loco happened.

(25:41):
We wanted to do specialized food there, and then dur Enough the very
similar. Our landlord also had thedollar Store, Dollar City it was called,
and it was huge. I meanit was like fourteen thousand square feet

(26:02):
and that was Loco was second,and then cop O that that came about
because the Dollar City was well andhow and how at that point can you
possibly say no to that? Soyou have Lincoln, you have Loco,
you have Copo. And then alsoHunter's Kitchen came next. That's right Daring,

(26:22):
right before the pandemic. It wasan Irish pub called The Junction,
which was mostly what Selfie was.It was almost like there was a lot
of pubs in town that all kindof had a really casual American menu without
much thought into it. So andduring the pandemic, the Junction couldn't sell

(26:44):
food. And Nick and I weredoing that together because we actually liked the
idea of an Irish pub with reallygood food. But then when we realized
the junction really did not sell food, that we were going to be able
to sell food during the pandemic,and you were able to pivot. So
I mean, I think that's what'sone of the great things that you've been
able to do, is you've beenable to create memorable spaces that do a

(27:06):
variety of different things. We checkedout Coppo on our second episode of Meat
Boston. We're going to take abreak and come back and also chat with
Nick and talk about why some ofthe food makes such a different difference in
the experience inside your restaurants. We'llbe back with more Food for Thought in
just a minute. You're listening toFood for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel inSwedes. Back here on Food for Thought

(27:27):
brought to you by the Box Center. Eric Alimbach and Nick Dixon of Broadway
Restaurant Group, who are I sayresponsible for making Southie the neighborhood that it
is today, and they have createdso many inventive restaurants. Obviously, the
food's delicious, but also the experiencesthat people are having in there are just

(27:48):
what's kind of made it so thatSOUTHI has had this, you know,
sort of extra pulse to it thatit didn't always have, or certainly didn't
have when I started in the industry. So Eric, we got a little
bit about your background. Obviously youare now such a celebrated and storied restaurant
tour we'll touch base on some ofthe other restaurants that you've opened that aren't
in Southie, but for the mostpart, we're going to focus on SOUTHI

(28:08):
right now. And so, ChefNick, you were a part of all
of this sort of walking through,seeing all the spaces, coming up with
some of the culinary plans, ofcourse, but give us a little bit
about your background and actually how didyou and Eric meet. I actually got
hired at a job fair, probablyaround like two thousand and three, and

(28:32):
I worked for Eric in Beacon Hillat Harvard Gardens. I started out as
a line cook there, became asoux chef, and then I needed a
little change because I had grown uphere, and I moved out to Vegas
worked for Chef Michael Mina out there. I did that for a while,
and then when I got homesick anddecided that I had enough of the fun

(28:53):
and the fright lights of Vegas.I texted Eric and was just you know,
hey, you got any opportunities.I'm moving back in a few months,
and you you know, he welcomedme with open arms, and you
know, I went into Lucky's,which was total, total culture shock.

(29:17):
I went from you know, finedining at MGM into this amazing dive bar,
which happened to be the last placeI was before the night before I
moved out to Vegas. And thenyou know, he kind of just opened
up the kitchen to me, andyou know it was just like just you
know, cook whatever you want andjust cook great food. So I also

(29:40):
love it. I love the pieceof it that took you away from Boston.
And then inevitably, as everybody hasthat paying they're like, oh no,
no, no, no, Igot to get home, homesickness sets
in, and thank god it did, because what an awesome partnership it's been
since. So we talked about thevarious restaurants in SOUTHI where we're kind of
focused on right now. Distinguish themenus for me if you can from Lincoln

(30:03):
to Coppo from Hunters and of courseLoco in there too, So we totally
wanted to do. We knew wewanted pizza, and we did a lot
of research of what type of pizzasthat we liked, and we ended up
doing a wood fire Neopolitan style pizzaand we just fell in love with it.
You know, chrispy eggshell crust,you know, just you know,

(30:26):
really fluffy and delicious. And wealso incorporated a wood fire grill into the
restaurant. So you know, thebasis was built around those two items and
more just comfort food and you know, everything from like braze short ribs,
the seared scallops. You know,I think the ultimate goal was just whatever

(30:51):
we're going to do, we're goingto try to have it be the best
version of it. So like theburger at Lincoln has won Best Burger a
couple of times in the Battle ofthe Burger. The wings are arguably the
best wings that you know that arearound. You know, they're they're spicy
wings that get roasted off in theoven. They're just very addictive. Every

(31:17):
chef that comes into Lincoln ends upjust like telling me that they just love
the wings better than everything else.And and you know, the brunch is
a huge focus at Lincoln. It'sdefinitely become uh, you know a big
part of our identity and it hasbeen since like the first brunch that we
ever opened. But yeah, justtrying to come up with fun, new,

(31:41):
inventive ideas, and that's what Lincoln'sBrunch is all about. It's just
like, how do we create somethingnew this week? How do we keep
driving the ball forward with it?And then when you walk in and then
when you walk into Coppo right nextdoor, menus totally different. So what
do they what can people experience there? Yeah, Eric has an amazing passion

(32:04):
for Italian food. That's what hegrew up with his mother cooking, and
you know, the meatballs at Cappowere kind of framed around the idea of
his mom's meatballs. When he wasdoing the neighborhood meeting for the restaurant,
he was actually you know, hebrought his mom's meatballs and was serving them
to the people in the neighborhood.And so yeah, it's just kind of

(32:28):
like a red sauce Italian restaurant.There's there's not a particular region that we
focus on. It's more of likewhat is it, what's the Italian food
that we love And a lot ofit comes from just Italian red sauce classics.
But again we have a wood firepizza oven there, so we do
a thin Roman style pizza. Wehave a wood fire grill, so all

(32:51):
the steaks and the fish, someof the shellfish come off of that wood
fire grill. And again we justtake that same mentality like if we're going
to make chicken parm it's going tobe the best chicken parm around. You
know, we want we want tocontend with the North End. And of
course there's also Loco, which isMexican Fair by hostile Mexican Fair with some
really inventive seafood in there, youknow, a tuckeria style with an oyster

(33:15):
bar. And and then and thenHunters came about, So tell us about
Hunters. Yeah, Hunters is oursouthern Southern comfort restaurant. You know,
we we built this beautiful wood panelspace and you know, one of the
lines when we were not a line, but a conversation that just happened and

(33:35):
Eric was like, look at whatwe just built. We're trying to figure
out the cuisine, and he goes, look what we just built. We
built this beautiful wood restaurant, andhe's like, wood is comfort and He's
like, so just just go withit and go with the southern menu.
And that's what we did, andwe hired Lambert, and Lambert, you

(33:55):
know, ended up beating Bobby Flaywith his gumbo that he learned from his
mom. Yeah, it was amazing. We had this crazy party there.
We didn't know if he was goingto win and anyone and it's just been
it's been an amazing ride ever since. So you know, things like chicken
chicken cutlets that get breaded and panfried and basted with a bunch of different

(34:16):
herbs and some duck fat and garlic, and then we top it with an
amazing gravy. You know. Thebiscuits are homemade from the Coppo Pastry Kitchen.
Those get baked to order. Likeit's pretty wild. Again, we
tried to do everything the hard way, so you know, we don't want
to we don't want to do abiscuit that's just sitting on a on a

(34:37):
shelf. We want to like firethe biscuits off when the guests come in,
so you get like this hot,steamy biscuit. Well it is,
I mean, it's so true.It's the attention to detail that you guys
place and I don't think it's yes. I mean, it's definitely the harder
way, but I like to thinkof it as like you are cutting no
corners. I know that you workwith Erica and Mike disc In in terms
of designing the spaces. She's soincredibly talented and they're such a great team

(34:58):
together, and we've walke that transpirein all of your spaces and then as
you've expanded and evolved in Charlestown aswell. But let's stick to Selthie for
another minute, because the show thatwe focus on this week for Meet Boston's
Episode two is really to give theflavor of Southee, right. So this
show is aiming to take a bunchof different people from a bunch of different

(35:20):
demographics and really sort of paint thepicture of what their Boston is so that
everybody can enjoy what they connect toin terms of what they would like to
experience when they live or come orvisit to Boston. So talk about the
demo of the people that you seeinside the restaurants. I know it varies,
but paint the picture for us,because, like I've said, nobody
really has their finger on the pulseof this neighborhood more than you guys.

(35:43):
All right, I can take thisone. I think it's actually changed over
time. But there's there's two twomoments that I want to bring up.
One was the seven eleven on ourstreet. Like the owner I ran into
two years after starting the restaurant groupand they said, they're you know,
the volume has gone up twenty timesbefore because there was nothing on the block.

(36:07):
And then the next one which westarted to see was the real estate
listings that right near Lincoln, Coppoand Loco like in the listings. So
and then realtor started to come inand thank us because the west side we
used to be called the lower endof South Boston, and it was not

(36:29):
the coveted part of South Boston tolive in down by the water, down
by the beach. The east side. The east side really had the only
two big restaurants that were in thistown. So there was no restaurants down
here, and we didn't have thewater. But the price per square foot
in the West Side, right fromtwenty twelve and we opened till now has

(36:50):
gone from three hundred dollars a footto nine hundred a foot. But who
are the people that are inside therestaurants, like, give me an idea
of the demos, like it doesit vary? You got your twenty something
and you got your forty somethings,you got your families. We have about
twenty seconds left. Erek. Ohsure, it's a melting pot. I
mean, there's the old families thatlive here, but we become the most
coveted neighborhood to live in, postcollege, first job, money in your

(37:15):
pocket, first apartment, twenty twoto twenty eight. It's so true.
And then I think I see morepeople staying longer because you've made it so
appealing, and why would people wantto leave anyway? Chef Nick Eric,
I love you both so much,so happy for all your success. We'll
have you back because the crazy thingis you keep opening more and so there's
plenty more to talk about there.I hope you guys have a great day

(37:37):
to day. Thanks so much forjoining us, you too, Thanks you,
thank you. All right, well, have more food for thought in
just a minute. You're listening toFood for Thought brought to you by the
Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel insweets. All right, last break of
food for Thought brought to you bythe Box Center, wanted to sort of
recap everything because when something new happensand when you kind of create something that's
ever been created before, it's kindof confusing. So Billy and I,

(37:58):
who have been working together for almosttwenty years, have had food television shows,
right, So we had TV Dinertogether, and then we had Dining
playbook together. We have Dining Playbooktogether, and we knew at some point
over the past couple of years thatthere was a new show brewing, but
we didn't exactly know what the programwas going to be. And so I
had the pleasure of knowing and workingwith Martha Sheridan, who runs this organization

(38:20):
called me Boston. So this organizationis what is responsible for bringing people to
our city. So what does thatmean. It means they tell the story
that is Boston to people outside ofNew England, to people outside of this
country, to people all throughout theworld. Right, So what makes Boston
the city that would want to behosting things like the FIFA Games or you

(38:44):
know, the World Cup or allof those really awesome things that you see
coming to Boston. Martha and herteam are really responsible for putting Boston on
the map in that way and soshe came to me and she said,
listen, I know you create content. So how do you create some content
that's going to be telling the storyof Boston in a number of different ways?
And so I thought to myself,Well, we have these things called

(39:06):
influencers that we obviously all follow,or most of us follow if we use
Instagram or Facebook or any of thedifferent social media platforms, and they're telling
their own stories. Now, withsocial media, there's a very specific kind
of rubric that people use in orderto tell those stories. They're typically very
short, they're typically very beautiful,and they're a different kind of edit than

(39:28):
what you see typically on the televisionshow. And so our television show tells
the story with like a little bitmore depth and maybe just a little bit
longer. And so what we decidedto do was bring together these interesting content
curators. And trust me, ittook us a long time to go through
all of them, mainly because there'sso many of them. But what we

(39:49):
really wanted was we wanted people thatwe felt like would create a very tight
knit, inclusive, friendly, supportivegroup. And we are so lucky because
that's exactly what we did. Sowe pulled together twenty of these content curators,
and we kind of told them howto tell the story from a television
perspective while still being able to usetheir own unique spin to storytelling. So

(40:12):
we send them out. Sometimes theypick the spots and sometimes we picked the
spots, the different places throughout thecity. The goal is is that you
can now experience your own city,or Boston as a city that you're coming
to visit, in a myriad ofdifferent ways. So it's everything from food
to fashion, to fitness, tolifestyle, to culture to history. You
heard aj talk about the history ofthe Box Center. You heard Shem talk

(40:36):
about Selthi, which is, forall intents and purposes, a pretty new
neighborhood for all of us in Boston. And you heard, you know,
Chef Eric sort of talk about howselthy has evolved over the course of the
past, you know, really decade. And so that's the aim of this
show, and I think so farwe've only put together two episodes, but
we've aired one and we had unbelievablefeedback. One of the coolest things just

(41:00):
recently, when we had that snowstorm, we saw on social media that there
were a couple of Hubsters. Aswe call them who were out for a
Walksham was one of them and theyhappened to run into another Hubster and then
they sent us all pictures and itwas like, we've created this community within
a community for the greater good oftelling the story that is Boston. So

(41:20):
we hope that you all tune into get a little bit of a fresh
perspective of the city that you alllove and know so well and see what
you think. So it's on Nesson. It's on every Saturday at nine thirty
right after Dining Playbook. It's DiningPlaybooks on Saturdays at nine. Meet Boston
is at nine thirty and then it'salso at Sunday Sundays at nine pm,

(41:43):
and Meet Boston is on at ninethirty pm on Sunday. So we hope
you check it out and you canfollow us on Instagram at Let's Meet Boston
and we tell a lot of thosestories there. Anyway, hope everybody has
a great rest of the weekend,and now it's time to say goodbye.
We will see you next time withmore food for thought.