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 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here
and I've got a special guest in studio with me,
Jason Karen. This is a return appearance for you on
Food for Thought.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Buddy, it is thank you for having me again.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Jason Karen is the owner operator of Post nineteen seventeen,
both in Reading and Lexington. Now, Jason, when you were
in here last time, did you have Lexington then?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Lexion just opened this July.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So in terms of this show Food for Thought, what
we're talking about here.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Is breaking news, breaking news, right, I love that, Hey,
j that is breaking news on Food for Thought. When
when did Lexington open?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
We opened the July eighteenth.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Wow, so midsummer Midsummer? Uh huh? Now, how's it going
so far?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great? You know, whoever's home in Lexington who didn't go
away for vacation has been in and they've become regulars already.
It's amazing. It's a really great time.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, Lexington is one of those towns, right, there's a
lot of loyalty from the locals. So is it a
tough nut to crack, so to speak.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
No, once they walk in, they're blown away, and they
sit down and they have fun. We all go say hi.
We've had a lot of repeats already. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's funny. You mentioned once they come in and see
the space. Isn't your wife Lisa the designer?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well, she's gonna kill me. I don't know who Lisa is, but.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Laurie, did I say, Lisa Laurie?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I'm sorry, It's okay, Yes, she is a designer.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
AJ you want to edit that for the West Coast
fied just in case. So, your wife Laurie is the design.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She designs everything, she puts it all together. Yeah, she's
a very big part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Because I know one of the big parts of the
story in reading at Post nineteen seventeen is the actual
space and the design wasn't it the bank or something?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
There was a post office.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's again aj for the West coast. It was a
post office. I'm such an idiot I get up at
three o'clock.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I don't blame you, I would be okay.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So it was a post office, correct? And so how
difficult was it to design?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
For me? It was very easy?
Speaker 5 (02:29):
I know.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I just kept asking are you sure? Are you sure?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
That?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You must have faced a lot of challenges A with
the town, B with the space, you.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Know, actually Reading and Lexington. The building specters have been great.
You know, the town has welcomed us with open arms.
We didn't have much. As long as you follow the
rules in any situation, you move along quite easily. So
we were very lucky in that.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
And now what were you and Laurie doing before post
nineteen seven?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, LORI owns tread so to Jim in Reading and
won in Winchester, and I was consulting Avery restaurant consulting
for about eight years beforehand. And we actually walked into
the space in twenty nineteen, right before this thing called
COVID happened, and then we were blessed not to buy it.
(03:18):
And then we saw it again and took it and
bought it. So it was it was very very lucky
timing and blessed. How great it's been so far.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, you just sparked my attention now on tread what's
the deal there? How long has tread been there?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And well she just celebrated her tenth year anniversary, and yeah,
it's it's a treadmill. I'm sorry, it's a bicycle studio.
She's gonna kill me. Spin studio.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's gonna kill me first. Why can't you get this right?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's literally, Lisa, it's yeah, I'm surprised if we were
alive at beginning a phone call. Ye, it is one
house away the first studio. It's a spin studio. She
has the whole town, all surrounding towns. She's like the
mayor of Reading. Everybody knows. She gives back to the community.
(04:15):
And then tread on the mill, which is right across
from the train station, is a it's like a stations.
They have treadmills and work on weights. And then she
has a one in Winchester that does a fitness room
and a spin studio in it as well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
So that's something else we have in common. My wife,
Michelle when I met her, she owned a women's fitness
center in Wellesley for like twenty years. Chances are she's probably.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Probably with Laurie a small community.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the food
at Post nineteen seventeen and the concept. How do you
I'm always fascinated by the business end. How do you? Okay,
now you're looking at a restaurant, how do you decide
what your concept has to be and what your space
wants to be like? And the food you're gonna serve?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, you close your eyes and you're throwing it.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I love steak I've been a steakhouse guy. I was
at Flemings for ten years where we met.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
See, I didn't know that, and.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I this is what this is what I love. I
love to go to this type of restaurant. I'm pretty
good at it. So we make everything from scratch. We
make sure it's all gluten free, which is amazing, and
everything is the best that it can be. We buy
the best ingredients and we make it every day. The
(05:41):
chefs are there now prepping and it's amazing the team
that I've been able to put together.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The one thing I remember about Flemings is giant portions. Right,
that was amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Okay, all right, now, aj the producer of this radio
program has been to your restaurants a couple of times,
right A James, Oh it's phenomenal. Okay, Well there's Jason
the owner talk about it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I mean, the steak was. I can't say enough good
things about it, Like it was perfectly done. I had
pot stickers for my appetizer. Those yeah, buckets of joy. Yeah,
it was so much fun, So I could go on
and on. It was a phenomenal experience. My waiter was
so great.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, you've been bragging a lot about the waiter and
you don't remember his name. Well, unfortunately I didn't get
his name. But we think we've landed on who.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I think it might be. Sebastian. He's very popular. He's
moved to Lexington, well had a hair.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Oh he's not Redding anymore.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You can come to Lexington. I can have to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
You have to go to Lexing. Then you've been to
Redding twice. Now you got to follow Sebastian wherever he goes.
That's what I'm told. Well, at least you got a
raving review of Yes, that's always good to hear, right.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It is nice to hear because you hear all the
other ones. Don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I always go out of my way if I leave
a restaurant and I felt as though the servant was outstanding,
I go out of my way to find the manager
or the owner and say, by the way, that was
a great hire, you know, because they deserve it. They
deserve it. All right, we've got to take a break.
But here's the story behind the story. Jason and I
and Kiss One, Await and iHeart and All Modern, which
(07:16):
is a wayfair store, are teaming up for a second
meat to Eat event. It's something I invented several months ago.
The first one went awesome. It's at Marcus Street in Linfield.
All Modern. We're going to talk about the event and
how you can be there up next.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Then you're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought once again.
Billy Costa here with Jason Karen talking of a post
nineteen seventeen. Two locations, the original in Reading and the
newer one in Lexington is there a difference between them
or the menus exactly the same, Jason.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The menus are exactly the same. The uniforms, the decor,
They feed off of each other. We really try and
focused on trying to keep the brand the brand, you know,
to start to build a project.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Now, I know the original and reading we talked about
was a post office before it came became post nineteen seventeen.
What was the space in Lexington?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It was multiple restaurants beforehand, and it was closed for
about three and a half four years when we're healing over.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, I'm sorry, you took over multiple locations.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well it was multiple locations in the same spot.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Oh yeah, but it's like a mall let or something.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No, no, no, no, it was just one restaurant after the
other kind of went through there.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Wow. Yeah, And you're loving Lexington.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
We love it. I mean it's the quintessential small town.
It's really really great. So we're having fun, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You're looking at aj the producer of this radio program.
She's been to Redding a couple of times. She loved it.
You have to sell her now on Lexington.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Oh well, Sebastian's there, That's all I have to sell
Oh yeah, done, all right, that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Was easy, okay. I talked about this a couple of
minutes ago. Months ago, we did an event. It was
the first one we decided to do something with All Modern,
which is at Market Street in Lynnfield. That's another cool place. Yeah,
I've seen it and the way it works, it was
very simple. I had a couple of different chefs. My
Rocket was there. He owns and operates Salem Waterfront Hotel.
(09:18):
I had Andy Husbands from the Smoke Shop. He's a
world champion barbecue. Yeah, barbecue chef. And you know, people
are just invited to come. Ninety plus wine sellers is
serving wine. You have a glass of wine, You meet
and greet, you mingle with people, and then we sit
down and we talk about the industry, talk about the business.
And by the way, the restaurants serve food, so you're
(09:41):
having great food, you're having a couple of glasses of
wine and really good conversations. So we're doing it again
September thirtieth, and again it's going to be at All Modern,
which is a wayfair store and it's right at Market
Street in Lynnfield. And you need to keep listening to
kiss and keep an eye on iHeart because we're going
to be announcing the details really soon on how you
(10:04):
can get your tickets. Jason, just so you know, because
you're on board for this second one, I am the
tickets for the event. The first one sold out in
about a minute and a half, so long, so you're
the guy this time.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I'm giving you he's over a minute and a half
then I don't know. Yeah, no, I'm giving you the
entire stage. You don't have to share it with anybody.
But you are going to bring your wife Laurie, right
because she's the designer and it is all modern and
we want to talk to some degree about design.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah. No, she's very excited about it. We're ready to
rock and roll. Lynn Fields, our neighbor. We love the
folks there, so we're excited to bring some food and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah. And it's it's short and sweet. It's usually like
six to eight. You have any ideas on what you'll
be serving that night.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, I mean, just like when we go to the
events for north Shore Magazine, we come in with some
file at and some great so we'll probably do a filet,
surf and turf kind of fun little deal to really
spark everybody's chest.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's it's really a nice event, and everybody's very friendly,
and you look at it at everybody and they're all
talking and laughing. And then at one point, you know,
they can gather around the outside of the room where
they can sit down. We'll have seating and then you
and I will be up on stage and with your
wife Laurie. And uh, what's Laurie's background in terms of design?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
She went to school actually that was her One of
her majors was was designed. So she flips houses, She
designed all her gyms. She she does it all. So
it's one one stop shopping with her.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So you must have a beautiful home.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
She has a very beautiful home. It's uh, it's like
a resort.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Really, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
If it was warm out, we could go there and
go swimming right now, if you wanted to skip work
for the rest.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Of the day.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Okay, So she designed the whole house. Yeah, God, that
must be nice.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yeah, she she's got a she's got a knack for it.
I can look at a big pile of food to
make something. She can look at her room and make
it beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's a good combination. Does she hire herself out as
a designer.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
She does design on a dime, is what. She has
a little website.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, that's popular right now, all kidding aside.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
No, it is. She's a genius. So it's if.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You get a designer that doesn't make you spend a
fortune and can show you how you don't have to
spend a fortune, that's important. Yeah, okay, so now what
I need you to do? Both restaurants similar menus, right,
rhetick and lexingten walk us through somebody's first night at
Post nineteen seventeen, Like we walk in, I'm guessing we're
(12:36):
going to start with a wine or we're.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Going to walk in. We have an amazing cocktail list.
We hit I try to cover everybody's aspects, so tequila, bourbon, vodka, drinkers,
or we have a lot of non alcoholic because that's
a very big important mocktails. Mocktails we have one that's
trust the bartender and usually they love it. So now
(12:59):
how does network, Well, the bar kind of depends on
what the mood of the bartender is and he makes
he creates, kind of puts these juices together and people
love it. So we're excited about that we do have
an award winning wine list in the I think it
was a Ward of Excellence from Wine Spectator, So yeah, yeah,
that's a national And then I tell people kind of
(13:20):
start at the top because you're gonna comeback. So pick
out what you think is your favorite. Crab cakes and
the Wagu dumplings are probably one and two, followed by
the Lamb crab cakes.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I'll be going there for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, it's all crap. People ask what my special
in my ingredients are. It's all crap.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I'm glad you brought up crab okay, because I've got
a pet peeve. Okay, and hopefully you're going to solve
it for I love it. You're going to change all
restaurants who are serving crab or crame cocktail or crime cakes. Okay,
when serving crab, especially a crab cocktail at crab Cake,
it should always come with cocktail sauce.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Now, a crab cocktail, yes, I would agree with that. Okay,
a crabcake. Wait till you have our our Cajun lobster sauce. Okay,
you won't even know what cocktail saw.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I'm glad you said that. I'd be happy to have that,
but why not both?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Well, cocktail has a distinct flavor, and I think when
a warm crabcake comes out, a cocktail sauce and the
horse radish might conflict with some flavors.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Okay, Okay, I guess.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I'm not saying no, but we could do a little
taste test.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, I promise I'm not going to ask for cocktail
sauce because you'll probably get pissed from no.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I'll bring it out. Hey, listen, as long as you're
not asking for a one, I'm fine.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Never in a steakhouse ask for a one sauce. The
chef will come out of the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Oh it's it's bad.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, bad? All right, So you got us through the appetizers.
You're suggesting the crab cake or the wagu dumplings or
the lamb lollipops. Those are the tops of joy.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
All right?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
What's next? This is our first visit to nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We're steakhouse. We use brand wet age beef USDA Prime,
so I'm a New York strip kind of guy. One
of our most popular dishes is our ten ounce filet
paired with a bike stuff lobster tail. It flies out
the window, surf and turf. If you're a seafood lover.
We have a great Chilean sea bass, actually Chilaian sea
(15:22):
bass cooked over a nice bed of roasted beets and
an apricot and fig u sauce on top.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh I'm going there.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Or we have a giant chicken parm It's really I
don't know why I'm doing if somebody can see it.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
But it looks pretty big though, I mean based on
your hand placement, pretty.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Big it is. And then our sides are great. We
have a street corn that's off the cop You.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Know what I love about street corn. It's very messy.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It's messy, but you just gotta dive. You have to
pick it up. We do all the work for you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Shave it off.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Shave it off.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh god, I love that because every time I order it,
my wife Michelle will say, Okay, you're you're gonna make
a maybi and a and then I don't want to
sit there and shave the.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Corn shaved off. Great heirloom carrots, Brussels sprouts. Of course.
Sometimes my wife Laurie, she'll get a chop salad, a
side of mushrooms and the dumplings and that's her dinner.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So you don't have to have a steak every time.
You can come in with the girls and have appetiser
as Martini's or have the guys nine for steaks. It's
it's the menu built for multiple visits, in multiple flavor.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Do you have anything gluten free on the menu.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Ninety nine point nine percent of the menu is gluten free.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh my god, honey, if you're listening, my wife is
gluten free.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Come on in. She'll love it.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
She oh gone, I gotta tell her soon you may
see me within twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
She'll she'll fall in love.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Dessert, anything special, We make.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Everything in house. We have got a great New York
style cheesecake. We have a fried ice cream which is
gluten free, a key Line torte which is kind of
light and light and fluffy, so you know, simple, easy.
We don't go crazy with desserts. We'll get to that point.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
But entertainment, we do live music in running yeah, really yeah,
we have.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So we have an outdoor seating we call it to deck.
We do live music outside on Thursdays from five thirty
to eight thirty, and then every Sunday is two to
five Sunday Funday and whether rain or shine, the music's
always on.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I'm so glad you brought that up, the live music
and the outdoor seating. I now have five new questions.
Unfortunately we have to take a break, but I'm gonna
get my questions in right after the break. Does that
work for you, Jason, I'm here all right, Well take
a break. It is Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa.
We've got Jason Karen here from post at nineteen seventeen,
two locations, obviously Reading, but now Lexington. What's the address
(17:45):
in Lexington.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Twenty seven Wealtham Street.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Okay, we'll get my questions in right after the break.
Please hang it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in Swedes.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Hey. Guys, welcome back to a Food for Thought. This
is so cool. Jason Karen is here from post nineteen
seventeen in Reading and in Lexington. Right before the break, Jason,
you talked about the outdoor seating and the live music.
Because you have outdoor seating. Can you bring a dog? Sure?
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Really, it's all right, it's outdoors. Can't go inside with
the dog.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
No, no, no, no, you never can.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I mean that's a rup will still try, but.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, no, no, no, no no. My dog tight Is.
He's a good boy. He's fine with outside seating and
we always have to take him to dinner. So I
had to ask, what nights do you have live music?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So Thursday nights we do five thirty to eight, thirty
five to eight because it starts to get a little
cooler now. Then Sundays two to five. That works, it's great.
We have a little lunch menu. On Sundays you get
a nice, great burger. We open a twelve and it's
a great Sunday Funday, come in, have a burger. Football
will be on TV now, Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, football season NFL. It's all common.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Wow, it all sounds good to me. Is there a
website people should go.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
To post nineteen seventeen dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And the hours at both Reading and Lexington.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
They marry each other, but we're open every night Tuesday
through Saturday and both locations and then Sunday in.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Reading and only because I need to score some extra
bonus points with your wife, Laurie. What's the name of
her fitness centers again?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
And where Tredding so it's a tread, tread on the
mill and tread on East.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Now, is there a membership? You have to pay by
the month?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
How does it all work? She does class by, she
does monthly memberships. She she really accommodates all needs. That's
pretty amazing what she's done. You know what, I'm thinking,
this is the perfect night. You know, you hit tread
sign up if you have to join, sign up for
a membership, have a wonderful workout, right, and then on
head over to Post nineteen seventy. It's a block away
(19:50):
outdoor city.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
You don't even have to shower, rightsay right outside. You
know what, man, you're gonna be dancing anyway. You know
you're gonna work up a sweat with the band. So
I'm just saying, that's a perfect night right there.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It is?
Speaker 5 (20:01):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Is there a good duo?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Is there a website for tread tread dot com? And
another reminder, Jason and I and his wife Laurie are
going to be teaming up for a meet to eat
event September thirtieth. Mark that down right now. Just keep
listening to Kiss, keep your eye on iHeartRadio, and we'll
be giving you all the details on how you can
get your tickets to join Jason and I and his
wife Laurie at All Modern at Market Street in Lynnfield.
(20:27):
Because I got to tell you the minute I announce it,
it's going to sell out in less than a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And I think I'm coming with some great food and
maybe some gift certificates. But oh god, I don't know
if I'm allowed to say that, no gift certificate. Tell
anybody right away, aj can I get a gift certificate?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Go visit to Sebastian and Lexington and check out the
new Post nineteen seventeen in Lexington. Jason, great to see you,
Thanks for having me. I will take a break, we'll
be right back.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey, guys.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So welcome back to Food for Thought. Now. When we
first started, Jenny and I started Food for Thought, it
was basically a food show where we showcased restaurants, we
talked about the food industry, the challenges of the food industry.
But over the course of time we've kind of veered
away from just food and we'll do lifestyle, will do
health and fitness, basically information that you may find as
(21:21):
food for thought. Well, it so happens that the month
of September is Drug Addiction Awareness Month. And I don't
have to tell you I've had some experience in my
family with addiction and with the treatment and recovery. But
this is very cool. I've got Kevin Stevens on the phone.
(21:42):
Kevin Stevens, one of the best hockey players that ever
played in the NHL. He happens to be a kid
from Brockton, Massachusetts, and he's on the phone.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Kevin, You there, Yeah, Billy, how are you? How are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I'm doing fine. I'm sure over the years, Kevin, you
and I probably met or crossed paths because well, you know,
a Brockton kid makes it big in the NHL. That
doesn't happen often, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Kevin.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Yeah, I've been listening to you for a long time.
I can remember way back in the day and with
Philly cost it was kiss one to wait back in.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Any was It still is kiss one the wait, It
just happens. The kiss one of wait is now part
of iHeart And we are on WBZ News Radio right now,
which is also a part of iHeart.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yeah, I remember listening to it for a long time.
You do a great job.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Well, thank you so much. And I was a big
fan of yours and still am. You know, one of
the coolest things. And I forgot you played several years
alongside Mario lemiute. Weren't you as left winger?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Yeah? I was lucky enough, so I played on his
left side for probably six years I played. I played
with him for nine or so, but I played. I
played on his line for six years. We want a
couple of couple of Stanley Cups back to back. In
ninety one ninety two and then ninety three was our
best team with We should have won that year too,
but we uh, you know, we went two Cups together.
Lucky enough to play with him. I played with Gretzky
(23:05):
in New York too, So whoa I played. I played
with a lot of pretty good tentiment. It was been
very lucky.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I got to tell you something, Kevin, Between Gretzky and Lemieux,
I'm guessing you had.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
A pile of assists, all due respect.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Yeah, yeah, that was the other way around. We all
know that. So they they packed up this and I
just I just went to the net with my stick
down hopefully, uh or yeah, you put in enough to
give it to you another time. Those guys, those guys
are so good they can pick who they want to
pass it to, so you better put it in the net.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
But you also you also spent a few years with
the Bruins, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I spent one year with Boston. That was That was.
That was the year that I kind of after I
got hurt and the addiction kind of was it was
it wasn't It wasn't the best time and for me
to come here, but but it was, you know, obviously
it was. It would have been a great would have
been a great experience, but but you know, things, things changing,
things happened. It was there was it was always my
(24:07):
team here to play for the Bruins. And we actually
beat the Bruins both times. We went to one of
the Cup that beat him, and we beat him in
the Eastern Conference, So they were you had.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
To go there, right, Kevin, You had to go there. Yeah,
we actually beat They.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Were a pretty good team back then.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Who was on your line in Boston when I was.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
There was Oats and Neely and then I played I
played mostly with those guys, and you know, we were
supposed to do a lot better we did. We came
out of the gate kind of slow, and then you know,
we hung around and stuff like that. But when you
when you get trained to a team and you know,
the expectations are high, and we didn't reach those expectations.
So I got traded to l A in the middle
of that year, and then I always played the probably
(24:46):
played forty five fifty games and they went the best games,
but could have been. Yeah, I wish it could have
been better. Adams is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, not to mention cam Neely. Wasn't it like a
fifty two goals scorer or something?
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, nearly was. He's one of the best powerful
wards back then in the league. And he was a
phenomenal player and flucky enough, you know, Like I said,
we played against those guys who battled with him, and
I got a chance to go over and play with him,
and it was fun. And you know, any anytime you
can come home and play in your hometown, it's nice
and they have you know, it's it's it's Boston is
(25:20):
a great sports city. You know, it's one of those
cities that your team were.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Playing for Oh yeah, and who knew? Cam Neely, president
of your Boston brant, good friend of mine. Every year
we team up with him for his comics Come Home,
which by the way, is coming up again in November
in the TD Garden. But you briefly mentioned while you
were in Boston that's where and how you ran into trouble.
Can you tell your story, Kevin?
Speaker 5 (25:44):
Yeah, you know what happened. It was. I am twenty
eight years old and I've never I knew nothing about addiction.
I knew nothing about anything. I knew nothing about, you know,
any kind of any kind of addiction, any kind of thing.
So it was it was actual. See I were, I
was in Pittsburgh. You know, we're going for our third
Stanley Cup, was you know, And I was a big
(26:06):
part of the thing. I was getting fifty goals. I
was scoring a lot of playoff goals. And then one
night we're in New York City with the guys on
and it's just like any other night. Someone handed me
something and when someone now I know it's cocaine. I
had no idea what cocaine was. Twenty like, I was
twenty eight, never did a drug in my life, never
(26:26):
knew about anything. I decided. I made a twenty second
decision Villa that night, so like should I do this
or shouldn't I do this? Right? Yes, I ended up
doing I ended up doing it, and then that ended
up changing the past my life for the next twenty
four years. It didn't happen overnight, but I made a
decision one one decision, and that's why I kind of
talked about kids and stuff. I made one decision that
(26:49):
changed the whole path of my life. You know I
would it would have been a wholly different if I
said no one of that. And then you know, it's
just in about two months after that, I ended up.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Kevin, do me a favor. Hold that thought, okay, because
we have to take a break, but we're going to
get the rest of your story. And the good news
is September is Drug Addiction and Awareness Month, and you've
got a great program going on and the big gala
coming up. So we're talking to Kevin Stevens. We'll take
a break, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in swedes Hey.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Guys, welcome back. It is food for thought. Billy Costa
here and before the break we were talking to Kevin
Stevens played for the Boston Bruins, played for the Los
Angeles Kings, obviously so many other teams. It was a
line made of Mario Lemieu alignemate of Wayne Gretzky the
great one and Kevin one of the greatest players to
ever play the game. And now Kevin is heavily involved
(27:49):
in treatment and recovery. And I mentioned at the top
of the show the month of September is drug Addiction
Awareness Month, and Kevin, what exactly does that mean? When
you hear it good you can wear Awareness month.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Yeah, I think it's huge really because just because it is,
it's a month we can kind of look at and
it's about awareness, right because, like like I said, I
made a decision that night in New York City, a
twenty second decision, right, And I made a choice that night,
and you know now, you know now it took me
twenty years to get over. It took me twenty years
to get over that one decision. And I think the
(28:24):
biggest thing is awareness is that we have to get
it out there to all the kids, and it's it's
you can't even try it these days. These days, I
got twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty five year old kids,
and you can't make one bad decision on a Saturday night.
You cannot, You cannot even try because it's just it's
really about awareness. You got to know, right, You have
(28:45):
to know that fentanyl can be an eating You have
to know that. And the biggest thing for me, for
anybody that's in the recovery world, is to get it
out there and talk about it because it's you need
to know a lot of people don't know about this all, like, like,
oh yeah, I didn't know any about when I was
twenty eighth, I didn't know any Like I didn't even
know what the word addiction wants.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
You know, well, you know idea, Kevin. They say, when
it comes to treatment and recovery, if you work it,
it works. So what worked for you.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
For me? You know, my daily routine is, you know,
I I believe in alcoholics Anonymous. You got me sober,
you know that. And I have a lot of friends
that that help me help me every single day stay sober.
I go to I go to at least four meetings
a week and I and I go to a lot
of men's meetings that are just you know a lot
of my friends and I just I have to put
(29:38):
this first in my life. When you when you when
you become an addict, and you become addicted, you know,
the only way you can you can tackle those things
if you if you take take point of first in
your life and you get up every day and you
find a way to stay sober for twenty four hours.
And that's that's what I try to do. And the
way I do it is through alcoholic through meetings to
other people, through a higher power and all the stuff
(30:00):
that I had no idea about. I know, what, what's
the higher power? Right? What's that? Well? What how do you?
How do you how do you get that? How do
you how do you have someone help you? Like, how
do you can reach out to help? You? Know? All
those things are so big.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Well, you're very involved Kevin with Power Forward. What is
that program? And talk to us about it?
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Yeah. Power Forward is a program that my sister, my
sister Kelly Wilson, who really runs the whole show, and
she's the one that kind of makes this thing work.
And I just, uh, I'm the guy that's kind of
right there with her. But we what it is is
when I was in treatment, I was kind of like,
what what's the best? How can we you know, what
what what's the hardest thing? When you get out of treatment?
(30:40):
I felt you know where to go? Like everybody always
like when they when they're ready to get releaship, but
where are they going to go? So what we do
we are for people housing four to six weeks of
housing for for people like for people that get out
of treatment. And I think it's really honestly, I I
I remember being in treatment and when you're getting out
and all these people to people to you know, they
(31:01):
don't have anything right when you go in, when you
go in to treatment that you run your last life.
You know, you don't have the family, you're pretty much
borrow your family, you don't have any money or rock
bottom right, yeah, it's rock bottom, right, you hit rock bottom.
And now as I've always felt like where what can
we do to help? And I think this gives them
more and six weeks of in the sober houses and
(31:23):
get their life back on the order. And you know,
we've had a lot of successes to think great, it
really has. It's been one of those things that it
really ticked off, and like you said, we're having that
galax a tem of twenty five and it's all about
you know, raising money. That's you know, it's like we
can't do anything well the people raising or raise of
money for the foundation.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So you've got you've got a power Forward gala coming up.
When is that and where is it? And how people?
How can people get there?
Speaker 5 (31:48):
Yeah, it's because Cemer twenty sixth. It's in the in
the Seaport Hotel, it's in Boston and it's it's the Galla.
It's gonna you know, we're gonna honor Marti Wallas, who
you obviously work the mayor here and you know he's
he's big in the sobriety world. Yeah, bigger recovery. Now
he's the h lp A president, which that huge like
(32:09):
in my world too with the hockey and so tomorrow
we thought mine would be the perfect person and he
and he is, you know, so it's great to have
him going to be there. But it's just it's just
gonna be a great night. You know, there's a lot
of we're gonna have celebrities, all my hockey buddies will
be there, you know. It's just gonna be a good
uh good night for to raise some money, have some fun,
to see some friends. You know, it's gonna be We've
(32:31):
always had a golf tournament. We've had two years at
the golf tournam and so this is a first Gallon event.
But uh, you know, we're looking forward to it. It should
be uh, it should be a lot of fun. And
like I said that, for for us, it's about raising money.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Man.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
We have to. The only way we can move forward
is if we raise money. So hopefully we get enough
people out there to support us and take it to
the next level.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So it's funny, Kevin, not funny, but sad. I'm looking
at some staggering numbers that Power Forward as a program
was getting three requests aer week for sober Living scholarships
and now you're getting like thirty requests a week. That's
a ninety increase.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Yeah, it's really grown, Billy. You know, It's just it's
really about just getting it out there, just like anything else,
right whenever you start something out And like, you know,
I think we got something pretty unique because I think
you know, a lot of places don't have the sober
Living scholarships. I think sober living is a huge part
of people's success. It gives them, you know, the hardest
thing to do if you kind to stay sober is
(33:29):
go back to the place that came from, Right. You
can't go back to that street corner. You can't go
back to that house where all those people are still
use it and all the people are still doing the
same thing. You know, thirty sixty days in treatment, you
come out. It's not like the world change, right, It's
just you're going back into the same spots. And if
you do that, you have no chance. So I think
we give people a chance to kind of move on
(33:50):
with the life. And it's it's been good. We've had
a lot of success, a lot of good people and
you know, and just.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, Kevin, I've been over and over again. When it
comes to treatment and recovery, the most important element is
the sober living.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Yeah, No, it's huge because sober living gives you an
opportunity to go into a house, right and live with
twelve fourteen other guys and like it, just to talk sobriety.
You know, the best way to have success is to
be around people that are trying to do the same
thing you're doing. Right, That's the only way it doesn't work.
You know, you can't go sit hang out with people
that are using drugs that they're drinking all the time.
(34:31):
You know, you can't. You can live your life, you
can pop. You know people are you know, you just cannot. Like,
the only way it works is if you do is
you hang with people to try to do the same
thing you're doing. And I think it makes it so
much easier to be you're in a house for fourteen
guys that are trying to do the same thing you're doing.
You can get the meetings together.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
You have that.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
You know, the Fellowship of AA is huge. That's a
big part of it. You know, people people helping people,
and that's what we try to do. That's that's the
biggest thing about alcoholics. You know that you know to
put your hand out and try to help a newcomer
in the whole thing. And that's all we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Before we go to break, I'm going to give some
people some food for thought. How about this opioid overdose
is killing one hundred and ten thousand people every year.
Alcohol related diseases killed ninety five thousand people every year.
That's over two hundred thousand people a year dying from
substance use disorder. It's unbelievable. Twelve people in the US
(35:27):
will die from an opioid overdose in the next hour.
These are real numbers and they are staggering. And by
the way, one more six people a day die in
Massachusetts from opioid overdoses. And wow, what's the best way
for people to reach And I know we're going to
go to go to break, and I want to talk
(35:48):
about another program that you're involved with that involves dogs,
which I'm very impressed with. But before we go to break,
let's get in early out there. Let's let people know
where can they go to get all things? Power Forward?
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Yeah, power forward twenty five dot com. That's uh, that's
the website. That's what we have everything on. That's so
you can find everything about the galery and find everything
about to SOB Believing. Everything anything we do is on
that on that website.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
And the gallop, by the way, is coming up September
twenty fifth at the Seaport Hotel. You still skate at all, Kevin, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
Scale a little bit. My uh, my boys skate a
little bit. My older ones still they played. They both
played hockey Yale, so they they skate a little bit. Still.
I get on the ice a little bit, like. I
still work for the Penguins, so I do some development
stuff with that.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
You're a scout, right.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm uh, I'm all Pittsburgh.
So it's kind of like, you know, I try to
get that team across the finish line, but it's not.
We're going through the rebuild, just like the Bruins are,
so we'll see what happens. Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Are you scouting your own kids?
Speaker 5 (36:50):
No, my kids. I scouted my kids for a while.
That was the best job in the world, and I do.
My job is really scout free agent college free agents.
So I was able to watch my kids played for
eight years over there, you know, four reach and I
was able to go to a lot of their games
and see see the guys you're playing against and see
them and then you know, it was a great way
to have a job and then actually watch my kids
(37:12):
play hockey. So that was that was pretty good. But
my job's good. It's a good job. I love working
for the Penguins. It's a good organization. That's yeah. That's
where I kind of grew up. That's where I know,
I know the best and uh, but it's been a
lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well impressive enough they're going to Yale and also impressive
they're playing hockey at you know, we got to take
a break. When't we come back. I want to talk
about the Doer program because it does involve dogs, and
I love that Kevin Stevens is on the phone. We'll
talk more right after the break.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweet Hey.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. We've got a
few minutes left. We've got Kevin Stevens, one of the
greatest players that ever played in the NHL. He spent
some time with the Bruins on cam Neely's line. By
the way, was also a linemte with Mario Lemieux and
with the great one Wayne Gretzky. And now he's involved
as a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But he's also
involved in treatment and recovery and addiction. And it is
(38:12):
September is Drug Addiction Awareness Month, and Kevin, before the break,
we were talking about Power Forward and another program that
you support and it's called the Doer program that involves dog.
Talk about that.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yeah, the dog thing is something. It's pretty good bag
because we're not well. We actually got we got trained dogs,
trained by professional trainers and we were able to put
them in sober houses for a weekend or we usually
do weekends right now. We pop them in sober houses
and we all know it. You know, dogs are great,
right dogs?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Dogs?
Speaker 5 (38:44):
You know, dogs don't put a smile on your face
and change your life. It's pretty good because you know
when you put that dog in that house, that that
puts the responsibility on all the people there to take
care of that dog, to walk the dog, feed the dog,
give him a little bit of you know, it gives
him that. You know, they can think through what they're
going to do all day and they have a dog they
have to take care of, you know, so they puts
(39:05):
them on the schedule where and the dog's great. You
know what's what's better than waking up to a nice
dog sitting there and you know, the fully trained dog.
It's not going to be jumping all over the place.
It's just it brings happiness. I think dogs just put
a smile on everybody's face. And if you can't, you know,
you can't get happy when you see a dog. I
think it's been a very successful program, very good. And
(39:27):
you know, you never heard a bad word about a
dog in a slowerhouse. I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
And I got to tell you something, Kevin. Dogs know
things that we don't realize. They know by the way
they know sickness. They can sense it, they can smell it.
So if they know somebody's in trouble, they will be
there for that person. They'll just lie right next to
him or her.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Yeah, they can feel that someone's hurting, right, that's the
best thing about dogs. It's amazing when you're hurt and
you see someone that's down and down and out a
little bit, and that dog was over there. It's pretty amazing.
How these dogs, you know, they just they just know,
you know, just uh. Yeah, it's really been successful. It's
been great, and it's something my sister Kelly came up
with the idea, and it's been really good.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, it's amazing. If I'm having a down day and
I just lie on the couch and I want to
chill somehow, my dog Titus knows and he walks over
and just plops right on my chest as if he's saying, yeah,
don't worry, dad, I got this. I'm here for you.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
Yeah. Yeah, it's true. I got to. I got two
dogs the same thing. You know.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
So how can people go about using or benefiting from
the door program and possibly have dogs come to the
shober houses.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
Yeah, I think they can do the same thing. To
look at powerful that website Powerful twenty five dot com
is one of the has everything for you and it
shows you what the dogs actually where they are and
what they do and how they're going to work in
and you know, it's just we have a lot, like
we're we're doing a lot of different things. It's just
it's been it's been a it's been an amazing thing.
And this gallop thing and we have our Galilee to
(40:56):
Carroll and it's just it's just really really really is
it's been. It's been something. You know, just we have
so many people helping. You know, you got a committee,
you guys that come in that do this thing for
nothing to help you raise money on a committee and
its just it really is it's really been. Uh, it's been.
It's been great because we have so many great people
we see and talk to every every week we have
(41:16):
a meeting and we talk to these people, and you know,
it's just do we just have great people trying to
help us. There's always always, you know, you find out,
you know, in this world you know of sobriety, there's
so many people that want to help. And you know,
and especially the people that are in the addiction, you know,
they know how hard it is to get sober. They
know what it is to be a newcomer and how
to get how you have to move forward. And uh,
(41:39):
but with the Gallas, like I said September twenty fifth,
it's just huge for us because that's how we that's
how we help people. Right If we we can't raise money,
we can't help people.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
You know, one more time on the website, it's power
Forward twenty five.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Power Forward twenty five dot com. Go on there you
can find it all.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Kevin, thank you so much, A real pleasure talking to you, buddy. Thanks,
good luck, Hey, coming up next sixty minutes
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 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here
and I've got a special guest in studio with me,
Jason Karen. This is a return appearance for you on
Food for Thought.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Buddy, it is thank you for having me again.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Jason Karen is the owner operator of Post nineteen seventeen,
both in Reading and Lexington. Now, Jason, when you were
in here last time, did you have Lexington then?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Lexion just opened this July.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So in terms of this show Food for Thought, what
we're talking about here.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Is breaking news, breaking news, right, I love that, Hey,
j that is breaking news on Food for Thought. When
when did Lexington open?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
We opened the July eighteenth.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Wow, so midsummer Midsummer? Uh huh? Now, how's it going
so far?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great? You know, whoever's home in Lexington who didn't go
away for vacation has been in and they've become regulars already.
It's amazing. It's a really great time.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, Lexington is one of those towns, right, there's a
lot of loyalty from the locals. So is it a
tough nut to crack, so to speak.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
No, once they walk in, they're blown away, and they
sit down and they have fun. We all go say hi.
We've had a lot of repeats already. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's funny. You mentioned once they come in and see
the space. Isn't your wife Lisa the designer?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well, she's gonna kill me. I don't know who Lisa is, but.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Laurie, did I say, Lisa Laurie?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I'm sorry, It's okay, Yes, she is a designer.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
AJ you want to edit that for the West Coast
fied just in case. So, your wife Laurie is the design.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She designs everything, she puts it all together. Yeah, she's
a very big part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Because I know one of the big parts of the
story in reading at Post nineteen seventeen is the actual
space and the design wasn't it the bank or something?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
There was a post office.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's again aj for the West coast. It was a
post office. I'm such an idiot I get up at
three o'clock.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I don't blame you, I would be okay.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So it was a post office, correct? And so how
difficult was it to design?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
For me? It was very easy?
Speaker 5 (02:29):
I know.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I just kept asking are you sure? Are you sure?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
That?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You must have faced a lot of challenges A with
the town, B with the space, you.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Know, actually Reading and Lexington. The building specters have been great.
You know, the town has welcomed us with open arms.
We didn't have much. As long as you follow the
rules in any situation, you move along quite easily. So
we were very lucky in that.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
And now what were you and Laurie doing before post
nineteen seven?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, LORI owns tread so to Jim in Reading and
won in Winchester, and I was consulting Avery restaurant consulting
for about eight years beforehand. And we actually walked into
the space in twenty nineteen, right before this thing called
COVID happened, and then we were blessed not to buy it.
(03:18):
And then we saw it again and took it and
bought it. So it was it was very very lucky
timing and blessed. How great it's been so far.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, you just sparked my attention now on tread what's
the deal there? How long has tread been there?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And well she just celebrated her tenth year anniversary, and yeah,
it's it's a treadmill. I'm sorry, it's a bicycle studio.
She's gonna kill me. Spin studio.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It's gonna kill me first. Why can't you get this right?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's literally, Lisa, it's yeah, I'm surprised if we were
alive at beginning a phone call. Ye, it is one
house away the first studio. It's a spin studio. She
has the whole town, all surrounding towns. She's like the
mayor of Reading. Everybody knows. She gives back to the community.
(04:15):
And then tread on the mill, which is right across
from the train station, is a it's like a stations.
They have treadmills and work on weights. And then she
has a one in Winchester that does a fitness room
and a spin studio in it as well.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
So that's something else we have in common. My wife,
Michelle when I met her, she owned a women's fitness
center in Wellesley for like twenty years. Chances are she's probably.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Probably with Laurie a small community.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the food
at Post nineteen seventeen and the concept. How do you
I'm always fascinated by the business end. How do you? Okay,
now you're looking at a restaurant, how do you decide
what your concept has to be and what your space
wants to be like? And the food you're gonna serve?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, you close your eyes and you're throwing it.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I love steak I've been a steakhouse guy. I was
at Flemings for ten years where we met.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
See, I didn't know that, and.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I this is what this is what I love. I
love to go to this type of restaurant. I'm pretty
good at it. So we make everything from scratch. We
make sure it's all gluten free, which is amazing, and
everything is the best that it can be. We buy
the best ingredients and we make it every day. The
(05:41):
chefs are there now prepping and it's amazing the team
that I've been able to put together.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The one thing I remember about Flemings is giant portions. Right,
that was amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Okay, all right, now, aj the producer of this radio
program has been to your restaurants a couple of times,
right A James, Oh it's phenomenal. Okay, Well there's Jason
the owner talk about it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I mean, the steak was. I can't say enough good
things about it, Like it was perfectly done. I had
pot stickers for my appetizer. Those yeah, buckets of joy. Yeah,
it was so much fun, So I could go on
and on. It was a phenomenal experience. My waiter was
so great.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, you've been bragging a lot about the waiter and
you don't remember his name. Well, unfortunately I didn't get
his name. But we think we've landed on who.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I think it might be. Sebastian. He's very popular. He's
moved to Lexington, well had a hair.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Oh he's not Redding anymore.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You can come to Lexington. I can have to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
You have to go to Lexing. Then you've been to
Redding twice. Now you got to follow Sebastian wherever he goes.
That's what I'm told. Well, at least you got a
raving review of Yes, that's always good to hear, right.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It is nice to hear because you hear all the
other ones. Don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I always go out of my way if I leave
a restaurant and I felt as though the servant was outstanding,
I go out of my way to find the manager
or the owner and say, by the way, that was
a great hire, you know, because they deserve it. They
deserve it. All right, we've got to take a break.
But here's the story behind the story. Jason and I
and Kiss One, Await and iHeart and All Modern, which
(07:16):
is a wayfair store, are teaming up for a second
meat to Eat event. It's something I invented several months ago.
The first one went awesome. It's at Marcus Street in Linfield.
All Modern. We're going to talk about the event and
how you can be there up next.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Then you're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought once again.
Billy Costa here with Jason Karen talking of a post
nineteen seventeen. Two locations, the original in Reading and the
newer one in Lexington is there a difference between them
or the menus exactly the same, Jason.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
The menus are exactly the same. The uniforms, the decor,
They feed off of each other. We really try and
focused on trying to keep the brand the brand, you know,
to start to build a project.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Now, I know the original and reading we talked about
was a post office before it came became post nineteen seventeen.
What was the space in Lexington?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It was multiple restaurants beforehand, and it was closed for
about three and a half four years when we're healing over.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, I'm sorry, you took over multiple locations.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well it was multiple locations in the same spot.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Oh yeah, but it's like a mall let or something.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No, no, no, no, it was just one restaurant after the
other kind of went through there.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Wow. Yeah, And you're loving Lexington.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
We love it. I mean it's the quintessential small town.
It's really really great. So we're having fun, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You're looking at aj the producer of this radio program.
She's been to Redding a couple of times. She loved it.
You have to sell her now on Lexington.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Oh well, Sebastian's there, That's all I have to sell
Oh yeah, done, all right, that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Was easy, okay. I talked about this a couple of
minutes ago. Months ago, we did an event. It was
the first one we decided to do something with All Modern,
which is at Market Street in Lynnfield. That's another cool place. Yeah,
I've seen it and the way it works, it was
very simple. I had a couple of different chefs. My
Rocket was there. He owns and operates Salem Waterfront Hotel.
(09:18):
I had Andy Husbands from the Smoke Shop. He's a
world champion barbecue. Yeah, barbecue chef. And you know, people
are just invited to come. Ninety plus wine sellers is
serving wine. You have a glass of wine, You meet
and greet, you mingle with people, and then we sit
down and we talk about the industry, talk about the business.
And by the way, the restaurants serve food, so you're
(09:41):
having great food, you're having a couple of glasses of
wine and really good conversations. So we're doing it again
September thirtieth, and again it's going to be at All Modern,
which is a wayfair store and it's right at Market
Street in Lynnfield. And you need to keep listening to
kiss and keep an eye on iHeart because we're going
to be announcing the details really soon on how you
(10:04):
can get your tickets. Jason, just so you know, because
you're on board for this second one, I am the
tickets for the event. The first one sold out in
about a minute and a half, so long, so you're
the guy this time.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I'm giving you he's over a minute and a half
then I don't know. Yeah, no, I'm giving you the
entire stage. You don't have to share it with anybody.
But you are going to bring your wife Laurie, right
because she's the designer and it is all modern and
we want to talk to some degree about design.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah. No, she's very excited about it. We're ready to
rock and roll. Lynn Fields, our neighbor. We love the
folks there, so we're excited to bring some food and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah. And it's it's short and sweet. It's usually like
six to eight. You have any ideas on what you'll
be serving that night.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Well, I mean, just like when we go to the
events for north Shore Magazine, we come in with some
file at and some great so we'll probably do a filet,
surf and turf kind of fun little deal to really
spark everybody's chest.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's it's really a nice event, and everybody's very friendly,
and you look at it at everybody and they're all
talking and laughing. And then at one point, you know,
they can gather around the outside of the room where
they can sit down. We'll have seating and then you
and I will be up on stage and with your
wife Laurie. And uh, what's Laurie's background in terms of design?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
She went to school actually that was her One of
her majors was was designed. So she flips houses, She
designed all her gyms. She she does it all. So
it's one one stop shopping with her.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
So you must have a beautiful home.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
She has a very beautiful home. It's uh, it's like
a resort.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Really, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
If it was warm out, we could go there and
go swimming right now, if you wanted to skip work
for the rest.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Of the day.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Okay, So she designed the whole house. Yeah, God, that
must be nice.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yeah, she she's got a she's got a knack for it.
I can look at a big pile of food to
make something. She can look at her room and make
it beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's a good combination. Does she hire herself out as
a designer.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
She does design on a dime, is what. She has
a little website.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, that's popular right now, all kidding aside.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
No, it is. She's a genius. So it's if.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You get a designer that doesn't make you spend a
fortune and can show you how you don't have to
spend a fortune, that's important. Yeah, okay, so now what
I need you to do? Both restaurants similar menus, right,
rhetick and lexingten walk us through somebody's first night at
Post nineteen seventeen, Like we walk in, I'm guessing we're
(12:36):
going to start with a wine or we're.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Going to walk in. We have an amazing cocktail list.
We hit I try to cover everybody's aspects, so tequila, bourbon, vodka, drinkers,
or we have a lot of non alcoholic because that's
a very big important mocktails. Mocktails we have one that's
trust the bartender and usually they love it. So now
(12:59):
how does network, Well, the bar kind of depends on
what the mood of the bartender is and he makes
he creates, kind of puts these juices together and people
love it. So we're excited about that we do have
an award winning wine list in the I think it
was a Ward of Excellence from Wine Spectator, So yeah, yeah,
that's a national And then I tell people kind of
(13:20):
start at the top because you're gonna comeback. So pick
out what you think is your favorite. Crab cakes and
the Wagu dumplings are probably one and two, followed by
the Lamb crab cakes.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I'll be going there for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, it's all crap. People ask what my special
in my ingredients are. It's all crap.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I'm glad you brought up crab okay, because I've got
a pet peeve. Okay, and hopefully you're going to solve
it for I love it. You're going to change all
restaurants who are serving crab or crame cocktail or crime cakes. Okay,
when serving crab, especially a crab cocktail at crab Cake,
it should always come with cocktail sauce.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Now, a crab cocktail, yes, I would agree with that. Okay,
a crabcake. Wait till you have our our Cajun lobster sauce. Okay,
you won't even know what cocktail saw.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I'm glad you said that. I'd be happy to have that,
but why not both?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Well, cocktail has a distinct flavor, and I think when
a warm crabcake comes out, a cocktail sauce and the
horse radish might conflict with some flavors.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Okay, Okay, I guess.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I'm not saying no, but we could do a little
taste test.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, I promise I'm not going to ask for cocktail
sauce because you'll probably get pissed from no.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I'll bring it out. Hey, listen, as long as you're
not asking for a one, I'm fine.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Never in a steakhouse ask for a one sauce. The
chef will come out of the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Oh it's it's bad.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, bad? All right, So you got us through the appetizers.
You're suggesting the crab cake or the wagu dumplings or
the lamb lollipops. Those are the tops of joy.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
All right?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
What's next? This is our first visit to nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We're steakhouse. We use brand wet age beef USDA Prime,
so I'm a New York strip kind of guy. One
of our most popular dishes is our ten ounce filet
paired with a bike stuff lobster tail. It flies out
the window, surf and turf. If you're a seafood lover.
We have a great Chilean sea bass, actually Chilaian sea
(15:22):
bass cooked over a nice bed of roasted beets and
an apricot and fig u sauce on top.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh I'm going there.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Or we have a giant chicken parm It's really I
don't know why I'm doing if somebody can see it.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
But it looks pretty big though, I mean based on
your hand placement, pretty.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Big it is. And then our sides are great. We
have a street corn that's off the cop You.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Know what I love about street corn. It's very messy.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
It's messy, but you just gotta dive. You have to
pick it up. We do all the work for you.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Shave it off.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Shave it off.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh god, I love that because every time I order it,
my wife Michelle will say, Okay, you're you're gonna make
a maybi and a and then I don't want to
sit there and shave the.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Corn shaved off. Great heirloom carrots, Brussels sprouts. Of course.
Sometimes my wife Laurie, she'll get a chop salad, a
side of mushrooms and the dumplings and that's her dinner.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So you don't have to have a steak every time.
You can come in with the girls and have appetiser
as Martini's or have the guys nine for steaks. It's
it's the menu built for multiple visits, in multiple flavor.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Do you have anything gluten free on the menu.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Ninety nine point nine percent of the menu is gluten free.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh my god, honey, if you're listening, my wife is
gluten free.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Come on in. She'll love it.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
She oh gone, I gotta tell her soon you may
see me within twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
She'll she'll fall in love.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Dessert, anything special, We make.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Everything in house. We have got a great New York
style cheesecake. We have a fried ice cream which is
gluten free, a key Line torte which is kind of
light and light and fluffy, so you know, simple, easy.
We don't go crazy with desserts. We'll get to that point.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
But entertainment, we do live music in running yeah, really yeah,
we have.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So we have an outdoor seating we call it to deck.
We do live music outside on Thursdays from five thirty
to eight thirty, and then every Sunday is two to
five Sunday Funday and whether rain or shine, the music's
always on.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I'm so glad you brought that up, the live music
and the outdoor seating. I now have five new questions.
Unfortunately we have to take a break, but I'm gonna
get my questions in right after the break. Does that
work for you, Jason, I'm here all right, Well take
a break. It is Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa.
We've got Jason Karen here from post at nineteen seventeen,
two locations, obviously Reading, but now Lexington. What's the address
(17:45):
in Lexington.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Twenty seven Wealtham Street.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Okay, we'll get my questions in right after the break.
Please hang it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in Swedes.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Hey. Guys, welcome back to a Food for Thought. This
is so cool. Jason Karen is here from post nineteen
seventeen in Reading and in Lexington. Right before the break, Jason,
you talked about the outdoor seating and the live music.
Because you have outdoor seating. Can you bring a dog? Sure?
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Really, it's all right, it's outdoors. Can't go inside with
the dog.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
No, no, no, no, you never can.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I mean that's a rup will still try, but.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, no, no, no, no no. My dog tight Is.
He's a good boy. He's fine with outside seating and
we always have to take him to dinner. So I
had to ask, what nights do you have live music?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So Thursday nights we do five thirty to eight, thirty
five to eight because it starts to get a little
cooler now. Then Sundays two to five. That works, it's great.
We have a little lunch menu. On Sundays you get
a nice, great burger. We open a twelve and it's
a great Sunday Funday, come in, have a burger. Football
will be on TV now, Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, football season NFL. It's all common.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Wow, it all sounds good to me. Is there a
website people should go.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
To post nineteen seventeen dot com.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And the hours at both Reading and Lexington.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
They marry each other, but we're open every night Tuesday
through Saturday and both locations and then Sunday in.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Reading and only because I need to score some extra
bonus points with your wife, Laurie. What's the name of
her fitness centers again?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
And where Tredding so it's a tread, tread on the
mill and tread on East.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Now, is there a membership? You have to pay by
the month?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
How does it all work? She does class by, she
does monthly memberships. She she really accommodates all needs. That's
pretty amazing what she's done. You know what, I'm thinking,
this is the perfect night. You know, you hit tread
sign up if you have to join, sign up for
a membership, have a wonderful workout, right, and then on
head over to Post nineteen seventy. It's a block away
(19:50):
outdoor city.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
You don't even have to shower, rightsay right outside. You
know what, man, you're gonna be dancing anyway. You know
you're gonna work up a sweat with the band. So
I'm just saying, that's a perfect night right there.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It is?
Speaker 5 (20:01):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Is there a good duo?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Is there a website for tread tread dot com? And
another reminder, Jason and I and his wife Laurie are
going to be teaming up for a meet to eat
event September thirtieth. Mark that down right now. Just keep
listening to Kiss, keep your eye on iHeartRadio, and we'll
be giving you all the details on how you can
get your tickets to join Jason and I and his
wife Laurie at All Modern at Market Street in Lynnfield.
(20:27):
Because I got to tell you the minute I announce it,
it's going to sell out in less than a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And I think I'm coming with some great food and
maybe some gift certificates. But oh god, I don't know
if I'm allowed to say that, no gift certificate. Tell
anybody right away, aj can I get a gift certificate?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Go visit to Sebastian and Lexington and check out the
new Post nineteen seventeen in Lexington. Jason, great to see you,
Thanks for having me. I will take a break, we'll
be right back.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey, guys.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So welcome back to Food for Thought. Now. When we
first started, Jenny and I started Food for Thought, it
was basically a food show where we showcased restaurants, we
talked about the food industry, the challenges of the food industry.
But over the course of time we've kind of veered
away from just food and we'll do lifestyle, will do
health and fitness, basically information that you may find as
(21:21):
food for thought. Well, it so happens that the month
of September is Drug Addiction Awareness Month. And I don't
have to tell you I've had some experience in my
family with addiction and with the treatment and recovery. But
this is very cool. I've got Kevin Stevens on the phone.
(21:42):
Kevin Stevens, one of the best hockey players that ever
played in the NHL. He happens to be a kid
from Brockton, Massachusetts, and he's on the phone.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Kevin, You there, Yeah, Billy, how are you? How are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I'm doing fine. I'm sure over the years, Kevin, you
and I probably met or crossed paths because well, you know,
a Brockton kid makes it big in the NHL. That
doesn't happen often, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Kevin.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Yeah, I've been listening to you for a long time.
I can remember way back in the day and with
Philly cost it was kiss one to wait back in.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Any was It still is kiss one the wait, It
just happens. The kiss one of wait is now part
of iHeart And we are on WBZ News Radio right now,
which is also a part of iHeart.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yeah, I remember listening to it for a long time.
You do a great job.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Well, thank you so much. And I was a big
fan of yours and still am. You know, one of
the coolest things. And I forgot you played several years
alongside Mario lemiute. Weren't you as left winger?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Yeah? I was lucky enough, so I played on his
left side for probably six years I played. I played
with him for nine or so, but I played. I
played on his line for six years. We want a
couple of couple of Stanley Cups back to back. In
ninety one ninety two and then ninety three was our
best team with We should have won that year too,
but we uh, you know, we went two Cups together.
Lucky enough to play with him. I played with Gretzky
(23:05):
in New York too, So whoa I played. I played
with a lot of pretty good tentiment. It was been
very lucky.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I got to tell you something, Kevin, Between Gretzky and Lemieux,
I'm guessing you had.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
A pile of assists, all due respect.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Yeah, yeah, that was the other way around. We all
know that. So they they packed up this and I
just I just went to the net with my stick
down hopefully, uh or yeah, you put in enough to
give it to you another time. Those guys, those guys
are so good they can pick who they want to
pass it to, so you better put it in the net.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
But you also you also spent a few years with
the Bruins, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I spent one year with Boston. That was That was.
That was the year that I kind of after I
got hurt and the addiction kind of was it was
it wasn't It wasn't the best time and for me
to come here, but but it was, you know, obviously
it was. It would have been a great would have
been a great experience, but but you know, things, things changing,
things happened. It was there was it was always my
(24:07):
team here to play for the Bruins. And we actually
beat the Bruins both times. We went to one of
the Cup that beat him, and we beat him in
the Eastern Conference, So they were you had.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
To go there, right, Kevin, You had to go there. Yeah,
we actually beat They.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Were a pretty good team back then.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Who was on your line in Boston when I was.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
There was Oats and Neely and then I played I
played mostly with those guys, and you know, we were
supposed to do a lot better we did. We came
out of the gate kind of slow, and then you know,
we hung around and stuff like that. But when you
when you get trained to a team and you know,
the expectations are high, and we didn't reach those expectations.
So I got traded to l A in the middle
of that year, and then I always played the probably
(24:46):
played forty five fifty games and they went the best games,
but could have been. Yeah, I wish it could have
been better. Adams is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, not to mention cam Neely. Wasn't it like a
fifty two goals scorer or something?
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, nearly was. He's one of the best powerful
wards back then in the league. And he was a
phenomenal player and flucky enough, you know, Like I said,
we played against those guys who battled with him, and
I got a chance to go over and play with him,
and it was fun. And you know, any anytime you
can come home and play in your hometown, it's nice
and they have you know, it's it's it's Boston is
(25:20):
a great sports city. You know, it's one of those
cities that your team were.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Playing for Oh yeah, and who knew? Cam Neely, president
of your Boston brant, good friend of mine. Every year
we team up with him for his comics Come Home,
which by the way, is coming up again in November
in the TD Garden. But you briefly mentioned while you
were in Boston that's where and how you ran into trouble.
Can you tell your story, Kevin?
Speaker 5 (25:44):
Yeah, you know what happened. It was. I am twenty
eight years old and I've never I knew nothing about addiction.
I knew nothing about anything. I knew nothing about, you know,
any kind of any kind of addiction, any kind of thing.
So it was it was actual. See I were, I
was in Pittsburgh. You know, we're going for our third
Stanley Cup, was you know, And I was a big
(26:06):
part of the thing. I was getting fifty goals. I
was scoring a lot of playoff goals. And then one
night we're in New York City with the guys on
and it's just like any other night. Someone handed me
something and when someone now I know it's cocaine. I
had no idea what cocaine was. Twenty like, I was
twenty eight, never did a drug in my life, never
(26:26):
knew about anything. I decided. I made a twenty second
decision Villa that night, so like should I do this
or shouldn't I do this? Right? Yes, I ended up
doing I ended up doing it, and then that ended
up changing the past my life for the next twenty
four years. It didn't happen overnight, but I made a
decision one one decision, and that's why I kind of
talked about kids and stuff. I made one decision that
(26:49):
changed the whole path of my life. You know I
would it would have been a wholly different if I
said no one of that. And then you know, it's
just in about two months after that, I ended up.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Kevin, do me a favor. Hold that thought, okay, because
we have to take a break, but we're going to
get the rest of your story. And the good news
is September is Drug Addiction and Awareness Month, and you've
got a great program going on and the big gala
coming up. So we're talking to Kevin Stevens. We'll take
a break, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in swedes Hey.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Guys, welcome back. It is food for thought. Billy Costa
here and before the break we were talking to Kevin
Stevens played for the Boston Bruins, played for the Los
Angeles Kings, obviously so many other teams. It was a
line made of Mario Lemieu alignemate of Wayne Gretzky the
great one and Kevin one of the greatest players to
ever play the game. And now Kevin is heavily involved
(27:49):
in treatment and recovery. And I mentioned at the top
of the show the month of September is drug Addiction
Awareness Month, and Kevin, what exactly does that mean? When
you hear it good you can wear Awareness month.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
Yeah, I think it's huge really because just because it is,
it's a month we can kind of look at and
it's about awareness, right because, like like I said, I
made a decision that night in New York City, a
twenty second decision, right, And I made a choice that night,
and you know now, you know now it took me
twenty years to get over. It took me twenty years
to get over that one decision. And I think the
(28:24):
biggest thing is awareness is that we have to get
it out there to all the kids, and it's it's
you can't even try it these days. These days, I
got twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty five year old kids,
and you can't make one bad decision on a Saturday night.
You cannot, You cannot even try because it's just it's
really about awareness. You got to know, right, You have
(28:45):
to know that fentanyl can be an eating You have
to know that. And the biggest thing for me, for
anybody that's in the recovery world, is to get it
out there and talk about it because it's you need
to know a lot of people don't know about this all, like, like,
oh yeah, I didn't know any about when I was
twenty eighth, I didn't know any Like I didn't even
know what the word addiction wants.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
You know, well, you know idea, Kevin. They say, when
it comes to treatment and recovery, if you work it,
it works. So what worked for you.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
For me? You know, my daily routine is, you know,
I I believe in alcoholics Anonymous. You got me sober,
you know that. And I have a lot of friends
that that help me help me every single day stay sober.
I go to I go to at least four meetings
a week and I and I go to a lot
of men's meetings that are just you know a lot
of my friends and I just I have to put
(29:38):
this first in my life. When you when you when
you become an addict, and you become addicted, you know,
the only way you can you can tackle those things
if you if you take take point of first in
your life and you get up every day and you
find a way to stay sober for twenty four hours.
And that's that's what I try to do. And the
way I do it is through alcoholic through meetings to
other people, through a higher power and all the stuff
(30:00):
that I had no idea about. I know, what, what's
the higher power? Right? What's that? Well? What how do you?
How do you how do you get that? How do
you how do you have someone help you? Like, how
do you can reach out to help? You? Know? All
those things are so big.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Well, you're very involved Kevin with Power Forward. What is
that program? And talk to us about it?
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Yeah. Power Forward is a program that my sister, my
sister Kelly Wilson, who really runs the whole show, and
she's the one that kind of makes this thing work.
And I just, uh, I'm the guy that's kind of
right there with her. But we what it is is
when I was in treatment, I was kind of like,
what what's the best? How can we you know, what
what what's the hardest thing? When you get out of treatment?
(30:40):
I felt you know where to go? Like everybody always
like when they when they're ready to get releaship, but
where are they going to go? So what we do
we are for people housing four to six weeks of
housing for for people like for people that get out
of treatment. And I think it's really honestly, I I
I remember being in treatment and when you're getting out
and all these people to people to you know, they
(31:01):
don't have anything right when you go in, when you
go in to treatment that you run your last life.
You know, you don't have the family, you're pretty much
borrow your family, you don't have any money or rock
bottom right, yeah, it's rock bottom, right, you hit rock bottom.
And now as I've always felt like where what can
we do to help? And I think this gives them
more and six weeks of in the sober houses and
(31:23):
get their life back on the order. And you know,
we've had a lot of successes to think great, it
really has. It's been one of those things that it
really ticked off, and like you said, we're having that
galax a tem of twenty five and it's all about
you know, raising money. That's you know, it's like we
can't do anything well the people raising or raise of
money for the foundation.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So you've got you've got a power Forward gala coming up.
When is that and where is it? And how people?
How can people get there?
Speaker 5 (31:48):
Yeah, it's because Cemer twenty sixth. It's in the in
the Seaport Hotel, it's in Boston and it's it's the Galla.
It's gonna you know, we're gonna honor Marti Wallas, who
you obviously work the mayor here and you know he's
he's big in the sobriety world. Yeah, bigger recovery. Now
he's the h lp A president, which that huge like
(32:09):
in my world too with the hockey and so tomorrow
we thought mine would be the perfect person and he
and he is, you know, so it's great to have
him going to be there. But it's just it's just
gonna be a great night. You know, there's a lot
of we're gonna have celebrities, all my hockey buddies will
be there, you know. It's just gonna be a good
uh good night for to raise some money, have some fun,
to see some friends. You know, it's gonna be We've
(32:31):
always had a golf tournament. We've had two years at
the golf tournam and so this is a first Gallon event.
But uh, you know, we're looking forward to it. It should
be uh, it should be a lot of fun. And
like I said that, for for us, it's about raising money.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Man.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
We have to. The only way we can move forward
is if we raise money. So hopefully we get enough
people out there to support us and take it to
the next level.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
So it's funny, Kevin, not funny, but sad. I'm looking
at some staggering numbers that Power Forward as a program
was getting three requests aer week for sober Living scholarships
and now you're getting like thirty requests a week. That's
a ninety increase.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Yeah, it's really grown, Billy. You know, It's just it's
really about just getting it out there, just like anything else,
right whenever you start something out And like, you know,
I think we got something pretty unique because I think
you know, a lot of places don't have the sober
Living scholarships. I think sober living is a huge part
of people's success. It gives them, you know, the hardest
thing to do if you kind to stay sober is
(33:29):
go back to the place that came from, Right. You
can't go back to that street corner. You can't go
back to that house where all those people are still
use it and all the people are still doing the
same thing. You know, thirty sixty days in treatment, you
come out. It's not like the world change, right, It's
just you're going back into the same spots. And if
you do that, you have no chance. So I think
we give people a chance to kind of move on
(33:50):
with the life. And it's it's been good. We've had
a lot of success, a lot of good people and
you know, and just.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, Kevin, I've been over and over again. When it
comes to treatment and recovery, the most important element is
the sober living.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Yeah, No, it's huge because sober living gives you an
opportunity to go into a house, right and live with
twelve fourteen other guys and like it, just to talk sobriety.
You know, the best way to have success is to
be around people that are trying to do the same
thing you're doing. Right, That's the only way it doesn't work.
You know, you can't go sit hang out with people
that are using drugs that they're drinking all the time.
(34:31):
You know, you can't. You can live your life, you
can pop. You know people are you know, you just cannot. Like,
the only way it works is if you do is
you hang with people to try to do the same
thing you're doing. And I think it makes it so
much easier to be you're in a house for fourteen
guys that are trying to do the same thing you're doing.
You can get the meetings together.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
You have that.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
You know, the Fellowship of AA is huge. That's a
big part of it. You know, people people helping people,
and that's what we try to do. That's that's the
biggest thing about alcoholics. You know that you know to
put your hand out and try to help a newcomer
in the whole thing. And that's all we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Before we go to break, I'm going to give some
people some food for thought. How about this opioid overdose
is killing one hundred and ten thousand people every year.
Alcohol related diseases killed ninety five thousand people every year.
That's over two hundred thousand people a year dying from
substance use disorder. It's unbelievable. Twelve people in the US
(35:27):
will die from an opioid overdose in the next hour.
These are real numbers and they are staggering. And by
the way, one more six people a day die in
Massachusetts from opioid overdoses. And wow, what's the best way
for people to reach And I know we're going to
go to go to break, and I want to talk
(35:48):
about another program that you're involved with that involves dogs,
which I'm very impressed with. But before we go to break,
let's get in early out there. Let's let people know
where can they go to get all things? Power Forward?
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Yeah, power forward twenty five dot com. That's uh, that's
the website. That's what we have everything on. That's so
you can find everything about the galery and find everything
about to SOB Believing. Everything anything we do is on
that on that website.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
And the gallop, by the way, is coming up September
twenty fifth at the Seaport Hotel. You still skate at all, Kevin, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (36:20):
Scale a little bit. My uh, my boys skate a
little bit. My older ones still they played. They both
played hockey Yale, so they they skate a little bit. Still.
I get on the ice a little bit, like. I
still work for the Penguins, so I do some development
stuff with that.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
You're a scout, right.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm uh, I'm all Pittsburgh.
So it's kind of like, you know, I try to
get that team across the finish line, but it's not.
We're going through the rebuild, just like the Bruins are,
so we'll see what happens. Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Are you scouting your own kids?
Speaker 5 (36:50):
No, my kids. I scouted my kids for a while.
That was the best job in the world, and I do.
My job is really scout free agent college free agents.
So I was able to watch my kids played for
eight years over there, you know, four reach and I
was able to go to a lot of their games
and see see the guys you're playing against and see
them and then you know, it was a great way
to have a job and then actually watch my kids
(37:12):
play hockey. So that was that was pretty good. But
my job's good. It's a good job. I love working
for the Penguins. It's a good organization. That's yeah. That's
where I kind of grew up. That's where I know,
I know the best and uh, but it's been a
lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well impressive enough they're going to Yale and also impressive
they're playing hockey at you know, we got to take
a break. When't we come back. I want to talk
about the Doer program because it does involve dogs, and
I love that Kevin Stevens is on the phone. We'll
talk more right after the break.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and sweet Hey.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. We've got a
few minutes left. We've got Kevin Stevens, one of the
greatest players that ever played in the NHL. He spent
some time with the Bruins on cam Neely's line. By
the way, was also a linemte with Mario Lemieux and
with the great one Wayne Gretzky. And now he's involved
as a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But he's also
involved in treatment and recovery and addiction. And it is
(38:12):
September is Drug Addiction Awareness Month, and Kevin, before the break,
we were talking about Power Forward and another program that
you support and it's called the Doer program that involves dog.
Talk about that.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yeah, the dog thing is something. It's pretty good bag
because we're not well. We actually got we got trained dogs,
trained by professional trainers and we were able to put
them in sober houses for a weekend or we usually
do weekends right now. We pop them in sober houses
and we all know it. You know, dogs are great,
right dogs?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Dogs?
Speaker 5 (38:44):
You know, dogs don't put a smile on your face
and change your life. It's pretty good because you know
when you put that dog in that house, that that
puts the responsibility on all the people there to take
care of that dog, to walk the dog, feed the dog,
give him a little bit of you know, it gives
him that. You know, they can think through what they're
going to do all day and they have a dog they
have to take care of, you know, so they puts
(39:05):
them on the schedule where and the dog's great. You
know what's what's better than waking up to a nice
dog sitting there and you know, the fully trained dog.
It's not going to be jumping all over the place.
It's just it brings happiness. I think dogs just put
a smile on everybody's face. And if you can't, you know,
you can't get happy when you see a dog. I
think it's been a very successful program, very good. And
(39:27):
you know, you never heard a bad word about a
dog in a slowerhouse. I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
And I got to tell you something, Kevin. Dogs know
things that we don't realize. They know by the way
they know sickness. They can sense it, they can smell it.
So if they know somebody's in trouble, they will be
there for that person. They'll just lie right next to
him or her.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Yeah, they can feel that someone's hurting, right, that's the
best thing about dogs. It's amazing when you're hurt and
you see someone that's down and down and out a
little bit, and that dog was over there. It's pretty amazing.
How these dogs, you know, they just they just know,
you know, just uh. Yeah, it's really been successful. It's
been great, and it's something my sister Kelly came up
with the idea, and it's been really good.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, it's amazing. If I'm having a down day and
I just lie on the couch and I want to
chill somehow, my dog Titus knows and he walks over
and just plops right on my chest as if he's saying, yeah,
don't worry, dad, I got this. I'm here for you.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
Yeah. Yeah, it's true. I got to. I got two
dogs the same thing. You know.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
So how can people go about using or benefiting from
the door program and possibly have dogs come to the
shober houses.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
Yeah, I think they can do the same thing. To
look at powerful that website Powerful twenty five dot com
is one of the has everything for you and it
shows you what the dogs actually where they are and
what they do and how they're going to work in
and you know, it's just we have a lot, like
we're we're doing a lot of different things. It's just
it's been it's been a it's been an amazing thing.
And this gallop thing and we have our Galilee to
(40:56):
Carroll and it's just it's just really really really is
it's been. It's been something. You know, just we have
so many people helping. You know, you got a committee,
you guys that come in that do this thing for
nothing to help you raise money on a committee and
its just it really is it's really been. Uh, it's been.
It's been great because we have so many great people
we see and talk to every every week we have
(41:16):
a meeting and we talk to these people, and you know,
it's just do we just have great people trying to
help us. There's always always, you know, you find out,
you know, in this world you know of sobriety, there's
so many people that want to help. And you know,
and especially the people that are in the addiction, you know,
they know how hard it is to get sober. They
know what it is to be a newcomer and how
to get how you have to move forward. And uh,
(41:39):
but with the Gallas, like I said September twenty fifth,
it's just huge for us because that's how we that's
how we help people. Right If we we can't raise money,
we can't help people.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
You know, one more time on the website, it's power
Forward twenty five.
Speaker 5 (41:53):
Power Forward twenty five dot com. Go on there you
can find it all.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Kevin, thank you so much, A real pleasure talking to you, buddy. Thanks,
good luck, Hey, coming up next sixty minutes
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