Red's Kitchen + Tavern, Harvey Traveler, Hook + Line & Alcove

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought withBilly and Jenny, brought to you by
the Box Center. For more thanfifteen 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 restaurantsand giving you the inside scoop on where
to whine, dine and spend yourtime. So get ready, it's Food
for Thought giving you something to chewon. Hey, guys, welcome into

(00:24):
Food for Thought. Billy Costa here, excited to be here. My first
show after the holiday season. Thankgod that's over. No, I'm just
kidding. Anyway, We've got ahuge show. We've got a guest coming
in and out. We're going tostart with my buddy Francois, because Francois
has a story to tell, anevent going on, and he has breaking

(00:46):
news Aja. So Francois works withthe Reds Kitchen and Tavern organization, right
Franzois, Yes, my friend,how are you? And if you're picking
up on his French ex solm,that's because he is from Quebec, Canada.
Yes, sir, how'd I doon my accent? You do well?

(01:06):
You do well? You're talking infriends with me. So word is
and we can't give any specifics,but I know Red's Kitchen in Tavern is
on Route one. The original isin Salem, Massachusetts, and you operate
the one over the borders in NewHampshire. What part of New Hampshire that's
Seabrook, Newhampshire. Okay, beautifulSeabrook, New Hampshire. And there's a

(01:30):
rumor there may be a new Red'sKitchen in Tavern opening up someplace. Yeah,
but we can't say for sure where. None. Now, all the
contracts were signed, and hopefully Ididn't get you in any trouble with the
company. No, I'm always alittle bit in trouble. That's my job.
So you and I met for thefirst time last year. A little

(01:52):
inside story. Francois is the sonin law to my good buddy Raymond Bork,
one of the greatest hockey players thatever played the game. What were
you thinking when you connected with rayBork's daughter? Do you realize if you
screw this up? He's Ray Bork. He's one of the toughest guys on

(02:13):
the planet. I know, Iknow, but I guess I did.
Well. It's been eight years andhe's a big is a big peppy bear,
you know. So I think weconnected through the French language and French
culture. We're both from Quebec,you know, he's from Ville Saint Laurento.
But it's I guess that that's wasabounding and kind of like you know,

(02:36):
full circle. Both moved to Bostonand just like Mary's daughter, so
that's the best thing that could happen. And yeah, it's great family.
Over the years, I've been fortunateenough to do a bunch of stuff with
Ray Bork. I'm good friends withcam Neely. Through the years with the
Bruins and the Big Bad Bruins andRay Bork, we became friends to some

(02:57):
degree. I've been to his home. He has a wonderful wine collection,
his wine cave downstairs, and ishe I know he's invested in Tresca restaurant
in the North End. Yes,so he's involved with the Red Kitchen in
Tavern in Seabrook. Yes, inSeabrook and like obviously like the new ones

(03:17):
that coming soon as well. Andit was Ray Bourk who actually called me
last year to ask me if Icould talk to you about this big event
you have going on at Red's kitchenand tavern. Before we get to that,
you know that AJ had a dateat your place recently. I mean

(03:38):
it did go good. I wentfor breakfast and it was phenomenal, But
afterwards it turned out the guy wasnot such a good guy. So you
have to go maybe for dinner withsome cocktails that i'd be, you know,
better than bacon and exit. Yea, yeah, he was on a
first date for breakfast date. Bythe way, AJ the executive producer of
this trail, But who goes onour first date for breakfast? I thought

(04:00):
it was a unique idea to gofor breakfast. I love breakfast. It
was it wasn't bad until I foundout he had a girlfriend. Then that's
when things took a turn. Butit's also one of the best breakfast plays.
Yeah, it was, and aroundit was a great suggestion. I
loved it well. Originally Red wasfamous for its breakfast Did you go to
the same one? I went toRoot one? Yeah, and so Francois

(04:24):
is in Seabrook and I'm sure it'sa beautiful place. But you've done your
version of American idol? Is itcalled New Hampshire Idol? Uh, it's
seabrook Idole. I started with Seabrocaddoat Rest Kitchen like on Lafayette Street.
We started like three years ago.So we are at season three right now.
Uh. It's really legit, likecopypaste of what is American idol.

(04:46):
It's to keep like, you know, all the community musical community around like
alive and give it a chance tojust like drive to new artists and even
an older artist just like to givethem, give them a chance. Short.
Oh so this is the first thethird season at thirteen, you're already
a couple of rounds in, right, Yeah, we're going to start at
Round three is next Tuesday. Soit's every Tuesday of January till the thirty

(05:12):
the thirty yeth sorry for the final. So it's going well, really happy
again, super smooth, great people, great talents around. So you're drawing
a good crowd, which is important. It's jam pack every night. You're
pulling in some decent talent, decenttalent, really crazy good talent. And
it's really like the palette of talentis like from country to like almost classic

(05:34):
or like gospel. Sometimes it's reallybeautiful. I love it, you know,
it's it's it's really important to meto cover as music is music,
so we'd cover great great music toevery facet of the of the word.
Now as Reds go, is themenu similar at all the reds? Are

(05:56):
they identical? How does that work? The main is a little bit friend
in you in the on roote onethey don't do pizza. So Seabrook as
pizza as delicious pizza by the way, and I'm really fancy about pizzasa.
This one is really good. Reallyyou should. He's looking at me and
saying, Oh, this is mynigga's date coming. You know, pizza
makes a lot more sense aj fora date, you know what I'm saying.

(06:17):
I mean, hey, yeah,I'll go for pizza next time.
By the way, you mentioned pizza. You know a Dave Portnoy from Barstool
Sports. He does this thing wherehe travels the country looking for great pizza
and this past week it was abig story Joni's Pizza in Chelmsford, mass
He gave the highest score of anyother place throughout the state of Massachusetts.

(06:38):
Really yeah, So you may wantto contact the Portnoy over at barstool and
have him come in and check outyour pizza and seabrook Okay, good,
I'm just saying it's pretty good.He's got a huge following. So if
he comes into your joint, ohyeah, to try your pizza, that's
you get a big bump. Youknow what. Right now, Joni's was
just a little pizza place in chelmI don't even know where Chelmsford is.

(07:01):
Okay, now it's a three hourwait to get a pizza at Jonie's and
Chelsford just because Portnoy showed up,just because. Okay, so you've got
the seaber Titol going on. We'regoing to take a break because I want
to know who the judges are.I want to know what the talent has
been like. I want to talkabout what the prize is and what winning
could mean to some of the contestants. So we're going to take a break.

(07:24):
It is Food for Thought, BillyCosta here, and we'll continue the
conversation right after the break. You'relistening to Food for Thought, brought to
you by the Box Center and SalemWaterfront Hotel in sweets Hey, guys,
welcome back. Billy Costa here.It's Food for Thought. And when Jenny
and I first started this show,food for thought. It was simply about

(07:45):
food and restaurants and chefs and tosome degree, lifestyle, and over the
last several months or so, we'vekind of expanded it. You'll find almost
any topic on this show. Whoknows, maybe someday we'll change the name,
but for now we you aren't talkingfood to some degree because I have
my friend Francois here from Red's Kitchenand Tavern. He operates the one in

(08:09):
Seabrook, New Hampshire. And youhave your third season now of the Seabrook
Idol. Now my first question is, since it is the third season the
previous two winners, do they comeback as defending champions or how does that
work? No, they don't,so, but what we do the first
year, like it was Mika Peterson, So she comes back at the end
of the second season, she cameback at performance and we give them a

(08:33):
price. We give her like agolden album like for like you know,
a winner of like the first season. So we'll do the same thing with
Lauren Mahoney who won last year.Eighteen years old. Great talents. Wow,
she's going like really she? Imean, she is one of the
best singer that we had like sofar in the three season that we were

(08:56):
on and she's coming back like fora performance the final. This is what
we do. Maybe one year we'lldo like I don't know, all the
winners like champions. Yeah, yeah, So describe the physical setup at RIGS
in c Brooks. Where is allthe performing taking place. So the performing
is in the restaurants. We haveapproximately one hundred and fifty people that can

(09:18):
sit in so there's a beautiful stationin front all the three judges. As
you mentioned judges. We have reallygreat judges. I have like John Savannah
from Tina Turner and Van Morrison andkeyboard players in Tina's band. Yeah it
was Tina's band. Pat Badger wasthere last year from Extreme. From Extreme,
I have like Justin Gage, whoused to work for the Fortune and

(09:41):
fifty worked with Marcus two Worth.He invented the peanut and snoopyr Oh I
thought you might he invented the actualpeanut. No no, no no,
but he worked with them for that. So is there is on board for
like the creative and more like youknow, the marketing side of music.

(10:05):
Now as Captain Ray Bard come inat all ever, he comes like once
a year to say like hi toall the participants, you know, and
just like we do a video withhim to just congratulate all the people.
They've been pre selected. Now,how many contestants in each round? So
we started with fifteen, we're goingto be now at eight and it'd end
up with only three. So wehad a free show fifteen for the competition

(10:28):
to competition pre selected. But howmany auditions so to speak for idle fifteen
at the beginning when we started thefirst night, it's fifteen people. So
now this coming Tuesday night would beround three eight and you've got eight contestants
and eight contestants. So is itall different types of music? It's really

(10:48):
like wide open for every people people. So it could be pop music,
it could be blues, it couldbe folk anything. We have a little
boy like he wrote, he writeshis own song. He is a country
guy. Uh, he's still likeit's I think it's like seventeen years old
and it's all over the place.Really I love it. It's just good

(11:11):
music. And that's why there's apreselection. We want to sell like the
best, one of the best,so they can compete together. So we
have a real competition now is itopen to the public or you have to
buy tickets in the audi there's noticket you can go, you just reserve.
Please call at the Red Seabrook tomake sure that you have a great
table. But it's really like you'regonna love it. You're gonna love it,

(11:31):
You're gonna have a great night andyou don't need again tickets. We
have giveaways like tickets for the KavaTheater north Shore Theater. Also, they
who are Cancer Comedy Club is doingwell. They're getting a lot of big
names a lot too. Yeah,what's the prize for competing, like the
grand prize? So the grand prize, we give you a thousand dollars cash

(11:52):
you start with that. You're gonnaplay at the Saint Patrick's Parade. It's
sponsored by Mikey Puto, who's elseone of the judges on Idol. It
was like Lfo manager, like multiplatinum, Like, oh yeah, sir.
After that, you're going to beon in studio with j P.
Soarro, who's our mc PBJ recordsponsored for a video professional video in studio

(12:18):
one of your cover songs or oneof you know, original that you're going
to have to play with a sessionphotographer with the Patriots. Photographer Robert Hare
is sponsoring a photoshoot which you whichis so talented, great great pictures,
so you can use that which isprobably like a fifteen hundred, two thousand

(12:41):
dollars so and a musician and beyondJones Ruby and Mark Lawhorn gives you one
entire show on your life of music. So there's a lot at stake in
this competition. There's a lot,man, I'm telling you. At the
end, it's not only about themoney. It's about the exposure to people
that you wiel meet talk with,and all the judges giving you all the

(13:03):
advice what to correct, what's good, what's not. They are legit people.
It's a small competition, but witha big exposure, I'm telling you,
and everyone like end up like onDrew mcholland WBZ show last year,
like few of them were there.Because people are really talented, so you
really want There's things, there's thingsthere, there's meat around the bone,

(13:26):
you know. So now the lineupis confirmed. Now it's locked up.
So when do you start auditioning peoplefor next year's Idle? Mostly we start
in October, okay, and theshow takes place. It takes place in
January just after the other day.So there's a night where everybody can come
in an audition. Yeah, Imean they don't audition, they send videos.

(13:46):
Oh okay, so you send videosto redcbrouck idlegmail dot com. So
if you want to participate for nextyear, that's the email you send your
performance and yeah, we start Octoberpromotion promotion promotion, which start normally like
first week, first Tuesday of January. So everybody they're tending out for the

(14:07):
competition. They're gonna get that.But don't forget it is a restaurant and
bars. So give me some tips. On the menu. One of the
best items on the man The ballsare awesome. The balls they have like
Harvest balls that I had two daysago, delicious. The pizza again are
really good. They have the ribsteaks also really super good. They have
new tack holes like lately that thisis on the menu. Everything is like

(14:31):
it's it's fresh, it's like bylocal, great cocktails. The staff is
awesome. I really appreciate, likeyou know, having the drivers family,
uh, letting me putting that showon there. And you must have brought
this idea to them, right,I brought this idea to them, my

(14:52):
buddy, like JP Saara, who'sour hem C. You did one season
in Burlington with the Marriot, whichI was one of the contestant. First
time that I probably like, waita minute, you're a musician. Two,
yeah, musician two. So Iplay all over the place in Massachusetts,
Canada. I'm going to play inthe Caribbean soon too. I'm going
to say Martin's for two shows.That's what I do for a living.

(15:15):
I'm a producer. And what kindof music do you play? I play
outsort of music. I play goodmusic. That's there's only one kind of
music. There's good and bad andbad, but play. I'm trying to
stick with the good one. Sois it pop, is it folky?
It's all of them. That's whyI play Nina Simone, I play you
two. I play Frank SINATROI ifyou want me to, I play like

(15:37):
Spanish music. Sometime I can playa rock I love Marshall Tucker. I
opened for Bad Badger for his tributeband at the north Shore Theater many times.
Blue Ocean, So I love Eagles. So what's your instrument of choice?
So I'm a singer basically alanned Idid like six years of classical.

(16:00):
So when you sing and perform,do you have a band with you?
I have a band and I havea solo. The band is brand new
in the US. I used tohave my band in Canada when I moved
here eight years ago. But yeah, I'm going back as March second to
play with them like in Canada,which I really appreciate because I means the
guy they're so talented. Great,all right, So a couple of things

(16:22):
before I let you go. Francoise, So you're in the third week of
seabrook Idol. Yes, you've narroweda town to how many contestants? Eight
will there so there'll be at leastone more week after this. There's two
of the weeks, so we havea five weeks, so the final will
be three contestant on the January thirtieth. And where do people go if they
want to reserve a table to beYou go to rest Kitchen website Facebook or

(16:45):
you can check like all the informationthere, or you can call right away.
And where the artist or performers goif they want to sign up for
the next seabrook Idol again, Yougo to Red's seabrook idol at gmail dot
com. Don't forget that it's forthe next year, So we start in
October for arresting the new talents.Now, I've been around ray Bourg and

(17:07):
Christiana several times and I know thataround the house they only speak French,
right, we only speak I meana lot, a lot. That's secret
weapon. So if you're doing theholidays at the Barkhouse or is it all
French? Are you talking in Frenchor it's both? It's always both,
always been both. I only speakingFrench to my my baby girl, she's

(17:30):
four years old, but among themselvesthey speak English. But I will yell
at her sometime in French. Couldyou say better? Could you say this
in French? As we go tocommercial, can you say, uh,
we're going to take a break,but we'll be right back of upon suppose
we'll be right back. You're listeningto Food for Thought, brought to you

(17:52):
by the Box Center and Sale inWaterfront Hotel in Swedes. Hey, guys,
welcome back Billy Costia. Here it'sa fruit thought. I told you
right at the top of the showthere's going to be a pack show.
So Francois just left. I promisedhim I would mention his sponsors for the
Seabrook Idol which is going on atRed Kitchen and Tavern, and hopefully I
can read my scribbling Bork Foundation,the Ray Bork Foundation, Ghibli's that's my

(18:18):
buddy Alan Gibly Brady's place, LindaChurcott, Delarius Salon Mayzone Stik, which
is aj You've been to Mazon aSteak because Francois's wife runs it, right,
Yeah, I've been there many timesand also the North Shore Theater so
there and now I've got my buddyDave here. Harvey Traveler, right is

(18:38):
the name of the company. Theboat show is going on or has been
going on all week, wrapped upearlier today at the convention Center. It
just gets better every year. AndI'm telling you something, if you haven't
been, you're going to start makingplans for next year's boat show. It's
everything you need to know about boats. But it's more than that, as

(18:59):
all the lifestyle stuff going on there. They have a lot of stuff for
the kids if you want to bringthe whole family. They had Twiggy the
water what was surfboarding squirrel. I'mnot making this up. This was not
a stuffed animal. Okay, it'sa living, breathing squirrel. David,
Am I making this up? Yeah? I saw it. Yeah. And

(19:22):
they've got a pool there that hejust kind of boards around on skis and
everything. They've got a beach club. It's an incredible thing. So the
boat show was amazing again this year. And Dave, you had a boat
show story you wanted to share quickly. Oh, I'll tell you a fun
story. So as you're talk aboutall the kids that are running around the
place, it's a great opportunity forfamilies to come in. All kinds of
new brands and various other things inthere that you can check out. My
friend had his brand new sailboat ondisplay last year. Came right over from

(19:47):
France. It's a Benton Two's aBenetto. Can you know it's French because
it sounds like justin Fradu And anyways, so he's got a sailboat in there,
brand new, is on display.Right before he put in the water,
they asked if they could put itin the things that Sure some more
and they taped the toilets up becausethe kids sometimes use the bathroom as they're
going around. Sure, mom,I gotta go pee, and so he
and I went on the boat togo check it out, and the woman

(20:10):
who was the salesperson didn't realize thathe was, you know, the owner,
and we knew him, and sowe're walking around. I come out
and I said, hey, youknow, something's wrong with our toilet.
It's broken. And she was justlike totally floored that someone might have actually
used the toilet. But they dotape them up so the kids don't use
them. As you're talking about it, I don't know, I thought still
used it. Well, no,no, it was a joke. So
basically I said, hey, something'swrong with your toilet is broken. And

(20:33):
anyways, that's my friend Chris.He started a really great company. His
wife, great sailor. She wonFi Gali a couple of years ago on
the boat. Oh good, Yeah, all right, we got to take
a break, but I've got Davehere and he had well you had a
whole thing set up at the boatshow. Yes, sir, you've got
an amazing little company going on,and we'll talk about it right after the
break. You're listening to Food forThought, brought to you by the Box

(20:53):
Center and Sailing Waterfront Hotel and sweets. Hey guys, welcome back to Food
for Thought. Cost Here we're havingsome fun. It was great to have
Francois in from Seabrook, New Hampshireand the Seabrook Idol and Red's Kitchen and
tavern. I've got my friend Davenow Dave Everett right from Harvey Traveler.
What is Harvey Traveler and where didthe name come from? Because you're featured

(21:15):
at the boat show. Yes,sir, so we're at the boat show.
We're selling luggage. The company iscalled Harvey Traveler. We named the
company after a rescue dog named Harvey, who's a travel everywhere with us.
So we stamped his name on thebags. And so he's the mascot so
to speak. Yes, sir,okay, So, so we saw luggage
accessories, you know, toiletry kits, started selling all kinds of sweatshirts and

(21:37):
hats and things that go with thebrand. Merch merchandise. How did you
end up in luggage though? Yeah? So I was always looking for a
really good quality Duffel bag. Neverreally could find one that was at a
decent price and that could you know, go along with my type of lifestyle
where I throw it in the backof a rusty truck and it makes it
down to the cape er and atucket or something those lines. And so
I decided, you know, tryand manufacture a couple of them up with

(22:00):
some guys. These bags are actuallymade in Columbia and they're shipped up and
we send them out to people allacross the country. And you've got all
kinds of shapes and sizes. Well, I've got a few Harvey traveler bags
in my collection, so to speak. But you've got everything from garment bags,
the small Duffel bags, the mediumsize, the large Duffel bags.
Yep. And how did it start? Like, yeah, well, I

(22:21):
mean honestly, like we started withone Duffel bag of kept it very simple,
very simple weekender. And then theinteresting thing about doing these shows,
the consumer shows. We do boatshows, car shows, ski shows.
The customers ask for different types ofbags, Oh could you do this?
Could you do this? And soall these bags have been created as a
result of, you know, customerrequests. In the next year, we
come out with something new that they'veasked for, and then all of a
sudden it starts to tell, itstarts to sell. And yeah, but

(22:45):
what I love about you, Dave. I find you very interesting and here's
one of the reasons. So here'sthe New England Boat Show, right,
hundreds of boats of all sizes,everything from small inflatables to like forty six
forts center consoles, million and ahalf dollar boats. Right. It's just
a giant place, right, withall kinds of vendors. And somehow your

(23:11):
booth at the boat show is moreimpressive than anybody else. Thank you,
Like it's really a cool booth,Like you had an antique road store or
something in your booth. Yeah,it's a Bagotti tribute and it actually you
drove it there. I did.Yeah, Now, what year is this
vehicle? So it's based off ofnineteen twenty eight. It was actually built
sometime in the sixties. We don'thave all the records from when it was

(23:33):
built. I acquired it from someonein Connecticut and I've been using it for
the car shows in various places thatwe go to, and it just it's
a great promotional vehicle. Now thisis an open air road store. I
mean there's no hood, there's notarp, but there's no Yeah, and
you drove it to the boat showfrom where I live in the seaport,
so it's garage and so just droveit down the road, leaked about a

(23:56):
gallon of oil on the way over, but still still made it. It
was pretty cold. Actually, he'snot kidding because I don't know if they
know this yet, but it wasleaking oil at the convention center. Am
I lying? There's like a puddleof oil. But you brought a carpet
to put underneath it. That's correct. Yeah, I've been putting a lot
of stop leak in it. Eventuallyyou have to have some steel or something
replaced. Prom But you're a bigboater. Yeah, I love boating.

(24:18):
I see you out on the water. You've got a beautiful center console by
the way, yep. Harvey traveleron the side, yep. So give
us some tips places you love togo when you're cruising around in your boat.
And you always have a bunch ofpeople on your boat too. It
seems like everybody knows Dave. Whatwe do is we go out. We
got to the Harbor islands. Ilove exploring them. Anchor a little inflatable
that will bring with me, bringsome people onto the islands. We'll explore

(24:41):
a lot of history in those islands. Met up with a great guy named
Dave Waller. He owns the GravesLighthouse. Oh yeah, you've been out
there. Yeah, there's Tom fromHowkin' Line, brand new restaurant. We're
gonna have him and in a minute. So he knows that that will do
fishing, would do all kinds ofstuff out there with my friends and family
and customers, and yeah, soit's a lot of fun. I've been
to every single Harbor island and Ialways tell people there's so much about Boston

(25:03):
Harbor that people don't know that havelived here their whole life. Do you
know. There are a lot ofpeople who have lived here their whole lives
have never seen the city from thewater, And to me, that is
sad because it's such a beautiful portcity. So let's say you're hanging around
on a Saturday, hopping around onyour boat. Give our listeners two or
three hot tips, because I've gotone coming up. Give us two or
three hot tips in terms of wherethey should go to eat right now,

(25:26):
because that area of Boston, theseaport, the harbor, even the East
Boston side now are exploding. Yeah, there are a lot of really great
restaurants. The real house is great. Davio's is fantastic reel house, both
in Seaport and then over in EastBoston, and then you can see the
city from the other side and youcan get one of the red top boats
or one of the ferry boats togo right over. And then if you

(25:48):
want to go out and explore theharbor, you can just hop on one
of the ferries will take you outto Spectacle Island. You can hang out
there for a day. It's acouple mile walk around the perimeter of the
islands. Absolute beautiful views of thecity and you don't have to boat.
You can just hop on the ferry. Look, that's what people don't realize.
The water taxis. And now Imet the guy again from the electric
boats where you can charter yourself ortake it out with a bunch of friends
with a captain. They'll go anywhereand they can drop you off anywhere.

(26:11):
You could take a water taxi.We did it once. We did a
bar hop, restaurant hop, andwe booked the water taxi for the night
and we just went from one placeto another. Okay, we're just gonna
get a drinking an app and thatwe got to move. We go to
another place. We had a greattime, great time. Okay, So,
Harvey Traveler, where do people findyou? Where do they go to
get stuff and order stuff from you? Absolutely? Harvey Traveler dot Com,

(26:34):
Instagram, Harvey Traveler, simple asthat, yep. And before we go
to break, I got to givea shout out to my friends chucking in
Legassi who own multiple marinas all overthe harbor, including Fan Peer yep.
And they also operate a yacht HavenInn and Marina or I got married,
yes, uh, And I gottatell you I still call it one of

(26:55):
the best secrets in town. Ifyou've got friends coming in from out of
town, out of state, theyneed a hotel, skip the hotel called
the Yacht Haven in I'm telling youit is a sweet place. Ten rooms
in all. In the end,every room is completely different. Okay,
we got to take a break.When we come back. One of the
hottest new places in the seaport districtright there at Fan Pierre and it's called

(27:18):
Hook and Line. We've got themhooked on the show. It's next one.
You're listening to. Food for Thoughtbrought to you by the Box Center
and Salem Waterfront Hotel in Swedes.Hey, guys, welcome back to Food
for Thought. Billy Costa here.I love this kind of show. I
told you at the start it wasgoing to be a packed show. And
we had Francois. We just hadDave from Harvey Traveler. He was involved

(27:40):
in the boat show this past weekin Boston. And what happens a lot
when you've got a cooking show goingon, The previous guests hang in because
they want to hear what the nextguest has to say. And that's the
case right now. So Dave isstill hanging out in the studio, and
I've got Tom Slazenger Gualatti. DidI say that? Right? Tom?
You're close. I loved it whenit was just Tom. That's fine,

(28:03):
you know, let's just stick thereTom. This past October, right,
Tom opened a new place right onBoston Harbor. So now you've got another
place to go to and it's rightat Fan Pier and it's called Hook and
Line. And if you're listening andyou didn't know, that would be sad
that. Jenny Johnson and I havea TV show called Dining Playbook. It's

(28:26):
all about food and travel and restaurantsand chefs, and we actually shot our
show there the other day. Butwe've known you for a while, Tom,
because you also have al cove overby the garden. I just sent
a group of people there for theMadonna show this past week. They said
it was sensational. So welcome in, Tom, Thanks for having me.

(28:47):
But your history goes way beyond that. Which did you work Eastern Standard for
a while? Yeah, in thefirst couple of months it was opened in
the original location. Yeah, soI worked there for three and a half
years. Have you seen the newone yet? And Garret Harker, he's
opening four places in one building.It's an amazing story. It's pretty incredible.

(29:08):
So you worked Eastern Standard? Whereelse? I opened craig on Maine
and ran the park program there,high accolades Craigie on Maine. That was
super intense. Tony's fantastic chef,Yeah, and really great, great restaurant.
And then I opened and ran IslandCreek Oyster Bar for six years as
the gen the one Netmark fabulous restaurant. Yeah. Boy, you try to

(29:32):
get a seat at that restaurant beforesocks game or a concert or something.
Yeah. But anyway, right now, you've got hooking line, right there
at Fan Pierre, and I shouldmention right at the top, attached to
hook and Line, you've got amarketplace, uh, And we'll get to
the marketplace in a second. Firstof all, what made you think you
wanted another restaurant? I did somuch work. I didn't Billy, but

(29:56):
my commercial real estate broker said,we've got this one spot in the seaport
that I think you'll love. Andyou know, I felt like that neighborhood
really was in the process of havingBoston restaurants to our takeover the restaurant scene
down there, but there were somany restaurants that weren't front, that weren't
local. Yeah, and I feltlike we needed more more local representation in

(30:17):
the seaport. The interior of HokanLine jumps right out at you. Who's
the designer rule Jane Architects principally aresidential architecture firm, and the only two
restaurants they've ever designed are Al CovenHooking Line. Well. And it's funny
too, because I know they weretrying to create and I didn't know this
in advance, but I did someresearch after I left, and you were

(30:37):
trying to create a sense of homein the restaurant, and that's what the
interior design company was trying to do. And after I left and got in
my car, I called home toMichelle and I said, I got to
tell you, it feels right likehome, just like home. So they
accomplished the mission. Yeah, aton of like cozy, intimate spaces in
a relatively large restaurant. Now,I know it was very cold, although

(31:02):
you've got a lot of glass andthe views are magnificent. You're overlooking the
Ica, you're overlooking Boston Harbor.It's a great spot. But because it
was cold, I couldn't help.But notice, will there be outdoor dining
as well? There? Yeah,there's another hundred seats about the one hundred
seats just shy. But yeah,David sitting behind you now from Harvey Traveler
and he keeps his boat in Bostonin Harbor, and he's like, oh

(31:23):
my god, this place sounds phenomenal. You've already been there, Dave when
the other night. Yeah, itwas fantastic, great service. Everybody came
over making sure that the meal wasgood, great staff. Thank you.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Soyou open in October. How's it going
is it meeting your expectations, exceedingyour expectations. It's been awesome that neighborhood

(31:45):
is not a part of the cityI felt super connected with before deciding to
do this, and everybody's been incrediblywelcoming and we're just getting to know people
over there, and yeah, Ithink we're meeting our expectations, if not,
if not, going beyond them.So talk about the mission at Hook
and Line. What were you thinkingwhen you opened it? Well, so

(32:06):
you know, so you you mentionedmy work history, but my family's history
in the business. I have gottenthere. You haven't gotten there. But
my uncle was actually at the boatshow yesterday. Chris was there. This
was at the boat show. Ishe a boater? He's a voter.
We talk of the famous chef Chrisslash Girl who had East Coast Grill.
He had the Blue Room. Imean, what a history. And he's

(32:29):
not working anymore. He's just livingthe dream. Yeah, he's just boating
Sport mass So you remember he hadthe restaurant at the back Eddie. Oh,
the back I went there several timesand yes, oh my god,
I forgot about the back Eddie.It's yeah, and it's right by the
Giant Bridge and the view is magnificent. It's not there anymore, it's still

(32:52):
there. His gm that he soldit too many years ago, still owns
and runs it. There's a hottip. And what town is it in
again? Westport, Mass Okay,beautiful spot, awesome restaurant. Okay,
I'm glad you brought that up.So hook in Line for me, in
many ways, is like a combinationof my work growing up in Westport fishing

(33:12):
with my dad and my uncle,but working at the Back Eddy and then
a lot of Island Creek and youknow, and and the great hospitality we
delivered there and the approach to greatproduct that Tony Tony instilled upon me.
And so it's really a it's reallya collection of my work. Well,
we got to mention your chef Marksina. Oh, he's fantastic. I'll tell

(33:34):
you something. I mean, themenu overall is magnificent. The great thing
about Jenny and my show Donny Playbookis when we shoot at a restaurant,
well, you guys always bring outthe you know, the highlighted dishes so
to speak, and we get topick and choose. And I was told
in advance, wait until you trythe fried clams. They live up to
expectations, far exceeded expectator. Idon't know how Marked did it. I

(33:59):
didn't want to ask him, butthey were so light and fluff. I
could have eaten three bowls of thosefried clams. Come on back. We
got plenty, oh I planned to. We may be back this weekend in
fact, so okay, but youtalk about the menu, yeah, so,
uh, you know, we havethe we have the New England classics
like the fried clams were discussing,but we also wanted to really put an

(34:20):
emphasis on fish sourcing and really allowfish to highlight, to be highlighted.
So it's uh, you know,it's kind of similar to a steakhouse in
the menu format and that all thefishes a la carte and you order sides
for the table. But we're bringingwood fire back to the city. Uh,
and that's really a huge emphasis ofthe restaurant. There is a fourteen
foot wood would fire grill, bigraw bar. Yeah. And that's very

(34:45):
comforting too. I said, itfeels like just like home. And when
you walk in you see all thewood logs ligned on. Again. I
got to brand one. He hasa brand that you put right on the
end of the log. You know, it's just the little things that count,
you know what I mean. I'msorry I got excited about the log
branding. Okay, but okay,so talk more about the menu because you

(35:06):
have a marketplace right well it's attached. Yeah, so the market you know,
when we went and toward the spacethe first time, it was like
a beautiful may day, you knowwhere this where the tempts were like seventy
like just the perfect Maynea. Andthere's a little park green space in front
of the restaurant and there are probablythree or four hundred people just having their
lunch there. And I said,we need to we need to do something

(35:29):
where people can like come in quickly, grab a lobsterle and go sit in
the park. And so we createdthis market space. It's got the Fred
Klamshak menu to it, but italso has fresh fish available and the butcher
for the restaurants working out of themarket so you can go in and say
hi to Rachel and say what's thefreshest piece of fish that came in today,
and cook a beautiful piece of swordfishor striped bass at home then and

(35:51):
the menu looks beautiful and colorful andthe glass cases show all of the high
quality seafood. But you do lobsterrolls, rolls, fried clams, fish
and chips, chicken sandwich. I'myou know. Mark and I had a
big argument over whether or not todo hamburgers or hot dogs in the restaurant.
Yeah, yeah, I think Iwon out. So we got hot

(36:12):
dogs everywhere with fire grill hot dogs. Hot dogs in the market. Wow.
And you have a lot of specialtyitems too on the shelves. And
you have merch. Oh yeah,we got plenty of march. Dave,
You're gonna be so jealous. Hegave me a cooler bag. Oh boy.
And you know, if you're aboater, you can't have enough cooler
bags. You know what I'm talkingabout. Do you have cooler bags?

(36:34):
Dave? And your collection? Sure, making a couple of them. It's
a difficult space. Yet he's yet, he's very competitive and oh yeah,
ILO's got a bunch of really goodones. So sticking with the leather duffels
and yeah, yeah, I'm enjoyingmy cooler bag. Or I got home,
honey, we got another cooler bagthis guy. I can't wait for
boat season. Fill it up.At the market. But you know it
was genius. I think when youchose the location, you were just talking

(36:55):
about it a couple of minutes ago. And when you look out the way,
the Seaport District overall is a verybusy place, especially in the spring
and summer, but I think thatwalkway out in front of your restaurant Hooking
Line is probably the busiest of allareas of the entire Seaport. I mean,
the people traffic is insane over there. You're gonna do really well,

(37:19):
but thank you, Hop and alot of people may not realize it.
Tom, you're also a somolier.Yep. We're going to get to that
in a minute, because we dohave to take a break. But we've
got Tom here from Hooking Line atthe Seaport District in Boston and H and
L Market. I remember the namewhich is attached to the restaurant, So
we'll take a break. It isFood for Thought, and we've got one

(37:39):
more break to go, so hangout. You're listening to Food for Thought,
brought to you by the Box Centerand Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Hey, guys, welcome back toFood for Thought. Billy Costa here.
We're hanging out with Tom Slesinger.You know, Tom, it was so
easy. When I first met you, it was just Tom, and I
thought it was Selessenger, but thenyou told me it's slave and Gualatti.

(38:00):
Did I say that? Right?Deli Gwadelli got We got a few minutes
left, Tom, okay, Andwe've been talking about hooking Line, your
newest place and h and L Marketover there in the Seaport district. I
didn't know this. Dave just broughtit up. You have dog treats?
Yeah? One of our regulars,old an old friend of mine who I
met working at Eastern Standard, haslives in the neighborhood and has a beautiful

(38:22):
black lab and she made dog treatsfor the market. Are they always available?
Yeah? Oh god, I'm bringingTitus the Wonder Dog yet please?
Okay, can we talk about Alcovefor a couple of minutes. How long
has Alcove been opened? Now?Alcove turned five in October and that's called
love Joy wharf. Yep, boy, what a memory. Huh. You're
killing it and we love it becauseit wasn't always available. But now there's

(38:43):
a big dock out in front ofyour restaurant over by the State Police right
and over by the locks where aboaters can go into the Charles River and
a small portion of that dock ispublic and you can pull in with your
smaller boat and just dock and havedinner. And I've done it a couple
of times. I love when peoplebring their boats to the restaurant. It's
awesome. You just get off,you go in, you get back on,
and you go talk about the menuat Alcove. Yeah, So Alcoves

(39:06):
are New England neighborhood spot. ChefMark is the is the chef there.
He's now the executive chef of thegroup for him, and he's been bringing
some fun stuff to the to themenu. He's doing a beautiful crab crusted
halibate dish that's with like a greenpapaya salad and bamboo rice's green curry,
super yummy lamb cuff sta. Sohe's brought a lot of sort of Mediterranean

(39:29):
flavors to the menu and and hisown style. And you know what,
your bartenders are always outstanding. Well, I guess I shouldn't even call them
bartenders. They're mixologists or scientists ofbooze. But your drinks are always good
and always very creative at Alcove,and I'm sure it's the same at Hook
and Line. So talk about yoursomolier thing. I'm sure that's coming into

(39:52):
play with both restaurants. Yeah soI am. I'm the beverage director for
the whole restaurant group. Yeah soI oversee both cocktail programs as well as
the wine program. And that's that'sfrom my history. You know. I
was on the bar at Eastern Standard, I helped Tony with the with the
wine program at Craig young Man.I wrote the wine listed Island Creek.
How do you decide which ones?Why does to carry? What tastes good?

(40:13):
Okay, it all tastes good.No, I mean you look common
to alcohol for Hooking Line after along day's work, I'll drink anything,
Yeah, fair enough. No,I mean you got to think about it
as like you have people who loveoky buttery chardenay, and you got people
who like really crisp white wine,and you need to create offerings that exist
within the spectrum of that. Giveme a hot tip for a crisp white
mousquede. So small little part ofthe Lowire Valley Old fossilized oysters like steed

(40:37):
eds, and it's usually relatively cheap, young light crisp. You should be
able to get it in a storefor like under fifteen bucks. A bark.
I'm boring when it comes like,I don't have a drink or cocktail
that I really like. So Idrink white wine a lot. Yeah,
and like I've been drinking for twoyears, cap Saven you block. Yeah,
I don't even know if I likeit. Like, That's why I'm

(40:59):
looking for someone who knows to tellme I want a nice crisp, not
Oki, not bottery, but anice crisp white wine. We're gonna get
you onto Moose today, Moose goodDay, all right, any particular ones
or my favorite producer is Michel Delamo. But really as a as a category,
there's a lot of quality. Okay, So I'm going Moose Good Day.
Yeah, alcove. What are thehours over there? Love Joy Warf

(41:20):
Garden noon to ten? And howabout the new hooking line? Not new,
it opened in October, but sothe market's open eleven to seven every
day of the week, and therestaurant's now five to ten Monday through Saturday.
And we'll open for lunch and Sundaysin March, so no lunch,
no Sundays yet yet, but everynight, every night, all right,
and we'll be doing brunch. Andwe do brunch at Alcove now Sunday out

(41:43):
eleven on the weekends and we'll dobrunch it. Ok again, do yourself
a favorite, folks, get toHooking Line or H and L Market.
You will love it. We're outof time. Thank you so much.
Great to see you Tom, Greatto see you Dave Harvey traveler, and
thanks again to French Wais from Seabrook, New Hampshire and the Reds Kitchen and
tavern. We can go. I'llsee you bye bye. Oh sixty minutes up next