Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here
and well it so happens. The Red Sox had their
Fenway opener this past Friday, and the story prior to
the game was all the new food items that you
could pick up in Fenway Park and around Fenway Park.
And one of the things that jumped out at me
(00:41):
is they now have a lot of gluten free and
or dairy free food options both in the park and
around the park some of the outside concessions and stuff.
So that got me thinking and I said, hey, wait
a minute, I know my friend Paul Centuro happens to
be gluten free and happens to be starting a new business.
(01:02):
It's all about gluten free dairy free food. So what
do you know? I got Paul in the studio. Hey, Paul,
how's it going, buddy good, Billy, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. Now it's called Sugar and Sound Bakery.
How did this start? Just for a love of baking.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I got laid off from my job, my business job,
back in September, and I always baked and I never
thought about starting a bakery. And my wife one day.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Was like, you should start selling your stuff. Your stuff's
really good.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And as anybody else, I'm a self sabotager. I have
imposture syndrome. So I never believed that anybody liked my
stuff and my stuff was any good.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So that we must have been telling you that they like.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yes, But I have a hard time on believing people,
especially like my friends, that like I feel like we
just hey, this is good.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Being nice, right exactly? Well, I can tell you that
you've got a bunch of different items that you brought in,
and one of them is a cinnamon Cayman cake. Yes, yes,
And I'm gonna tell you. And even though you're my friend,
is that really a fire art? It is just nothing
ever happens in us, no, nothing at all, So even
they knew I was eating the cinnamon, but it's one
(02:06):
of the best pieces of cake I've ever had, one
of your original products. Yes. Yeah, So I'm doing loaf cakes.
I did.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I've been doing rum cakes for a long time, but
I'm doing loaf cakes now, different flavors of red velvet.
I'm doing a chocolate chip one. I'm doing the cinnamon
roll one. So every week it's a scratch made on
demand bakery. I put up a menu every Sunday and
people have from Sunday to Wednesday to DM me on
my Instagram or come on to the website to order
(02:37):
and then I deliver or they can pick up.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Now I'm going to take a wild guest, Paul, you
are gluten free. I am. I am gluten and dairy free.
I been. When did you find that?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So about twenty years ago. As you know, my history
is I have a kidney transplant. I'm eleven years post
my kidney transplant, and while I was waiting for my
kidney transplant for over ten years, I did dialysis, and
my dialysis was at home, and I relate my dialysis
to becoming gluten free. I don't think that is what happened,
(03:06):
but it's around the same time you think it contributed.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Correct, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So at that point I started going gluten free, and
it was hard.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
It was hard to.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Find a place to go out to eat that was
dedicated gluten free. You have to really search it. There
weren't a lot of bakeries. And then over the last
ten fifteen years there's been a lot of places that
have come out, especially my friend Jennifer Lee going Jennifer
Lee's on the TV show exactly. So all of my
stuff come is all natural. I get my eggs from
a farm in the Little ten It's called Theo's Market Gardens,
(03:38):
and all my other stuff is organic. I'm using either
sugar or honey for the sweetener. Excuse me, that's the
fire alarm. But trust me, there's no They.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Don't want me to be on this interview. But how
are they saying in the streamio the fire alarm goes off,
the building's on fire. It's okay, yeah, no, okay, So okay,
So how many different items are you making up?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So right now, I'm making cookies and cake. So I'm
posting two cookies every week along with two cake flavors,
and then they'll switch up the following week. So I'm
working on bagels, I'm working on breads, I'm working on
muffins now, but I'll expand my repertoires we get more
busier and people demand things.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And I asked you, when did you find out and
how did you find out? And I'm asking because well,
my wife, Michelle is there gluten free. She's intolerant, but
she's not celiac. Correct. Yeah, I'm intolerant.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And again, around the same time I was diagnosed with
my kidney disease and I was on dialysis. That's kind
of where anything found out that I was, you know,
gluten free. Where after eating gluten for my whole life
and dunking the pieces of bread into the sauce, like
when my mom made sauce one day, it just started
to bother me and then at that point it just
(04:47):
got worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, yeah, and we should probably mention five minutes
into the interview that you're making all of this at home. Correct, Correct?
Speaker 4 (04:56):
I have a.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Not shipping yet, but right now is just delivery and
pick up, so they can pick it up at my
house or I can meet them somewhere in the Massachusetts area.
Like Metro West, North Shore, Boston and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Now, do you have neighbors that think something strange is
going on? No showing up to I bribe them.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I bribed them a lot with everything that I make,
it goes over there. A lot of my neighbors have
kids and they're always when when are you gonna bake again?
When are you gonna bake again? So that's I bribe them.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And this is what's so cool about this show Food
for Thought. With me and with Jenny Johnson, we rotate,
so to speak. In the middle of our conversation, Maureen
Woodwood just kind of walks in from Woodman's, Uh, hey, Mareen,
how you doing.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I'm doing great. How you doing, Billy?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I'm doing just fine. You're just back. You're out of
town at a big food show.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
I just went.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I got actually I went for a shower in Chicago,
and I was amazed at the food scene and the
biggest thing I was amazed at, you know, being the
birth of the fry clam.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
In Chicago.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Pizza is beyond advertised and hot dogs, and I was.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Saying, this is a national food show.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
This was just walking around Chicago that I noticed and
what I was thinking, was are fried clams really that
well known in Boston like pizza is known in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, Woodman's in Essex, did you really invent the fried clam?
There seems to be some sort of a rivalry up
there in the North Shore.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
We absolutely invented the fry clam.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
It's documented, and we just recently got a hold of
Bessie Woodman's marriage certificate, which one of the great great
grandchildren were holding, and we put it up on the
wall at Woodman's. So when people come this year, our
one hundred and eleventh year, we have a copy of
the original marriage certificate that says on July third, Chubby
(06:50):
and I fried the first fry clam in Essex, Massachusetts.
And it's hanging with a pitcher of Bessie to the
right of the pickup window. And we kind of made
it look a little bit like Angemima, like she's the
original pancake person. Instead we have the original fried clam woman.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So there's no argument anymore, there's no more debate. Woodman's
in Essex, Massachusetts is the inventor of the fry clam.
We're going to take a break, We're going to continue
the conversation. A lot going on at Woodman's. Did you
say one hundred and eleven years? Oh, and Paul Santoro
is still talking gluten free, dairy free. He's got a
fabulous new business he's operating out of his house. We'll
(07:28):
deal with that more coming up next.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Then by you're listening to Food for Thought, brought to
you by the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in
sweets Hey, everybody.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa here and
I've got Maureen Woodman in studio. Now, welcome back, Mareene.
And we've got Paul Santoro. Interesting story and this was organic.
Paul was in here talking about his new business, which
is called Sugar and Sound Bakery. What's the sound mean?
It's music. So I always do a playlist when I bake.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
And because my wife's been in the music industry for
thirty years, we love music together. We don't really watch
a lot of TV on the weekends. We just try
to put the radio on and put our record player on.
So that's kind of like the part of the SOT
you're not watching the White Loader.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I am not. I am not. I definitely am not.
I should mention by the way, that I've worked with
your wife, Shylene for thirty plus years and she's fabulous.
We miss her here. He used to be in this
building all the time. Now she just pops in. I
miss her too when she travels. Yeah, she's a big
executive and I no so anyway, Okay, so we're talking
about gluten free and I asked you a few minutes ago,
(08:35):
when did you realize that you were gluten free? And
I ask that because I used to have a videographer camp.
You don't camp, and you know, we would go on
shoots at different restaurants and he would eat everything inside,
just love eating food, love great food. And then overnight
became a full bone blown celiac. Like he could have
(08:55):
a bite of food with gluten in it and have
to go to the hospital, right, And I couldn't understand
how can that happen? I'm not a doctor, but hey,
like what I've heard is that your body changes every
seven years, whether it's because of some traumatic injury or
a disease. That's happened for me.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Again, I don't know why it happened or when it
exactly happened. I know it was around the time when
I was doing dialysis from my okay so and again
I was doing dialysis home where I had fluids sitting
in my abdomen and that was sitting on my stomach,
and I felt like that was the cause of like
because of the trauma that was happening to my stomach
every day from doing the dialysis. I felt like that's
(09:35):
why happened and caused this to change.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Because it it did seem back then. I don't know
righty years ago that all of a sudden, gluten free
was in everybody's vocabulary, right, And I'm like, when did
this become so prominent? And like I said, my wife
is gluten free. She's intolerant, he's not celiac, but she
cheats occasionally, but it's a real factor in her life definitely.
And they're off the air, Mareen. When you walked in
(10:00):
you started a conversation with Paul. I mean, obviously Woodman's,
as I believe, has always been or had gluten free
items on the menu.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Right, correct, So again I was telling Paul the story.
I don't think a lot of people know that. And
I would say, if I had to guess, somewhere between
when the Internet started let's say like nineteen ninety nine
and two thousand and one, everyone got a website. We
knew that we were gluten free, but by accident, there
was a few doctors that lived in Manchester by the
(10:29):
Sea in the late sixties. They were in charge of
the Celiac newsletter, not Positive If if it was Brigham
or mass General. It was one of the big hospitals
in Boston back then, and they knew that we were
Celiac friendly because one of their children actually had a
Celiac disorder and they started a Celiac newsletter. Wait, you know,
(10:52):
we're talking almost fifty five sixty years ago before anyone
was aware of allergies or glue intolerance or even the
word gluten because back in the sixties, a lot of
people didn't have preservatives in their food product.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Everything was natural, right.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah, So when the food started to morph and people
started to get more and more sicknesses and allergies, so
we kind of stumbled upon the gluten free diet rage
or the Cops diet.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Rage because more people were asking.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Yeah, we jumped on.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
By then, we had a website, so people were actually
emailing in and asking questions. We didn't market it to
be who we were. We have always been serving corn flour.
That's another thing that most people don't think. Because it's
corn flour, people think it has gluten, but that's not true.
Corn flour is made from corn maize and corn maize
(11:50):
has no gluten and it's way more money.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Well, I got to tell you another story that always
I always remember when we start talking about gluten free
years and years ago. I don't know if you know
a call It in Christina from Nebo Restaurant now their
original Nebo you know it probably used to be over
by the Boston Guard Correct And I remember we went
there to do a shoot and this was years ago,
Jenny and I and I think at the time it
wasn't even Dining Playbook. It was our previous show TV Diner,
(12:16):
and we were going there because call It and Christina
were showcasing and this is you know, mostly pasta and
pizza were mostly showcasing their gluten free menu. And I,
you know, I'm gonna sound food ignorant, but I didn't know.
I'm like, Jenny, what does this mean? Like I need
to know what to say, what not to say. But
(12:38):
that's how far back they went with the gluten free menu.
I think I had my first gluten free food at
Nebo And by the way, it's a fabulous restaurant.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And it probably comes from their background, their Italian background,
coming from Italy or where. We were talking off there
about going to Italy and being able to eat gluten
your dog.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, if you're gluten free, you can eat pasta and
stuff in Italy exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I think I think it's because it's not processed
the US government or the US worker the makers of
the food. In the flower process, there's stuff so much
that it causes that glutent analogy.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So Maureen at Woodmands in Essex, by the way, fabulous
restaurant in the warm weather's coming, so you have fabulous
outdoor seating as well. But at Woodman's like, how much
of them men? You can you get gluten free from it?
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Everything is gluten free. Even our clam chowder is gluten free.
So another interesting tidbit that I don't think the average
person knows, kind of like going with the semolina flower
that's in the original pasta that wouldn't have the gluten,
like the corn maze when the trans fat came, which
was also in the early two thousands lard, which we
(13:44):
got like everyone was on us for serving lard. Everyone
thought that lard has trans fat. It doesn't lard again,
all natural beef tarlow is actually what lard is.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
And all the.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Other people were frying in pretend oil that had so
many fillers and so many preservatives in it that there
was gluten in all of the veggie oils or all
these other things. So we won again by accident, even
though people were screaming at us that lard had transfat,
(14:18):
lard has zero transfat.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And you were saying off the ear to Paul that
it seems more and more now you almost have to
have gluten for you at a restaurant. You're getting a
lot more people asking for.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
It, right absolutely, And I think because Woodman's is so
well known that we're gluten free, the only thing at
Woodman's that really isn't gluten free would be the role
of the lobster roll, and we offer it is no,
it's a Chelsea roll. Hamburger roll is a Pana Dosi roll. Okay,
(14:51):
gelfa shoe is on us for that. But we have
that secret recipe from Chelsea that has the sugar in
it because we know that sugar goes so well with
lobster mayl right, But every other thing on our product,
and then of course our puffy onion rings that were
really known for.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Those are battered.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So if you came in, we will do mealed onion
rings at Woodman's when it's not too too busy.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
You have to request that. And the meal.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Rings are completely gluten free. But the signature Woodman rings,
which I would say would be our number five item
fry clams, clam chowder, lobster rolls, onion rings probably our
fourth most popular would be our onion rings that we're
known for. But we will do mealed rings, especially off
season shoulder season, no problem in the summer if we're
(15:39):
really cranking, I mean cranking, you know we're talking. That
line is an eighth of a mile long down the street.
There may be it's that's not a bad thing. We
always say the line is the heartbeat of the business.
What will we do if the line didn't show up?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And I can attest those rings. The gluten free rings
are amazing.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And when you have a line that long, it becomes
both a and a social experience because you can do.
Meet and greets in the line, meet new friends. All
you'll have for life or something. And you all have
one thing in common. You all love Woodman's in Essex.
How many years?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
One hundred and eleven years.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
How did it start?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
So back in nineteen fourteen, Bessie and Chubby Woodman purchased
that land from a friend. Chubby originally was a cable
car driver and somebody got him upset and he ended
up quitting his job that day and he said, I'm
going to go down. And he lived with this guy
named Booboo, and Booboo put him in the store and Boobo.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Chubby and boob Boo. That's really true.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
And they had what we look at it like today,
kind of like a rich Dales or a sundry store
where they sold chewing gum and Chubby would go fishing
and'd sell some fish, and Bessie made donuts and they
did all these kind of fun things. But it was
also like the hangout. You know, we're talking dirt roads
and cable cars going down the causeway on the water.
(16:59):
Just imagine that we're flooding all the time. I always
try to figure out how exactly did the cable car
go by when we had a flood tide.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Still trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
God, you have such an amazing family history and family
tree that must be a cool thing. We do have
to take a break. I have to be honest with
everybody listening. I didn't plan on making the whole show
about gluten free, but I knew I had Paul coming in,
and then Maureene came in and it became an extended in. Paul,
your company again is Sugar and Sound Bakery correct dot
(17:27):
com correct, and they can order online correct and come
and get it.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yep, come and get it. I can deliver it within reason,
no delivery charge right now. And you brought a bunch
of stuff. I got to tell you. Aj had some
of the cinnamon cake. I had one of the cinnamon cake.
We both devoured it. And I know you've got cookies
and muffins. We'll talk more about your line perfect. But
Ed Sheeran was supposed to be a big deal at
One Men's. That's the elephant in the room, Maureene. We'll
talk about that next.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to a Food for Thought Billy
Coy and again I've got Paul Santoro and studio. Welcome again, Paul.
Great to see you. I've known Paul for years and
he's got this great baking company. Sugar Insound Bakery dot
com is where you want to go. Write that down
when you look at some really good gluten free, dairy
free bake goods. They are delicious earned. Maureen Woodman is
(18:18):
here and okay, so you and I Maureene spoke several
times last week. The big buzz started around ed Sharon.
He was going to Ipswich on Friday night, which he
did and he performed in the makeshift pub, which I
thought was a really cool story. He performed in the
pub and they knocked it down the next day. But
I talked to you and you actually texted me and said, oh,
(18:38):
he's coming to Woodmans tomorrow on Saturday, and then he
did what happened.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So last week it started probably Wednesday, leading up to
that Friday event in Ipswich, and we started to get calls.
Everybody came, you know, all the big caddy escalades showed
up to Woodman's.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
They came in with Mark Fitzgerald.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Mark and I worked together years ago in two thousand
and eight when we did Grown Ups.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Remember Woodmans was in Grown Ups.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
So Mark and I have done probably seven or eight
different movies are renting the parking lot over the years.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
He's like, look, can we come into Woodmans.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
We don't know if you're going to be able to
open to the public, clothes to the public. You know,
what are we going to do?
Speaker 5 (19:15):
I don't know. If we can, We'll get you some money.
We won't get you some money. You just got to
be ready to fly.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
I'm like, I got it, Mark, We'll do whatever you want.
In the meantime, everyone at Woodman's is so excited. We
started to hear the buzz about this phone pub and
ipswich and cars are all over the place.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
They're going.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
So we went day in. First it was people could come,
Then it was dress up the family. No, nobody can
come get in the thing. Oh, now he's coming at
eight o'clock in the morning, he's coming at eleven thirty.
Can you handle it? We were like, we got it,
whatever you want. Nine thirty Friday night, we get a
phone call after the big Hoopla that went on in Ipswich,
and it was, hey, we got to bump somebody tomorrow
and it's gonna be you because we didn't get to
(19:52):
go to Crane's Beach and now with the weather forecast,
we're going to film.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
At Crane's Beach at eight o'clock. We didn't rain. It
didn't rain till about eleven thirty.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Oh okay, so we were We ended up being the
eight to eleven thirty times slot and we got bumped.
And then he said to my husband, but if we
can get there at eleven thirty, can we still come?
We were like absolutely. That day we get a call back.
He still paid us for not coming, and Mark said,
I have a lot of exciting things coming up to
the notth store and Maureen, you know, I know where
(20:22):
you are and we will get back to help you out.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So that's how it all ended, and he ended up
going to Strega in the North End. Anyway, that was
the Ed Sheer and Buzz last year. It was a
big story. We were all over at Lisa and I
go on BCTV every morning and Ed Sheer and showed
up at the BZTV studios and did the weather forecast
so that's going to be a part of the video.
We got to take a break. I've got Mauren Woodman,
(20:45):
I've got Paul Santuro. We'll talk more about gluten free,
dairy free, and I want to know all the hottest
items on the Woodman's menu. It's all up next stand by.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought, having a lot
of fun. I've got Maureene Woodman from Woodman's, the award
winning Woodman's in Essex, Massachusetts. Paul is here. He's got
a new company out of his home by the way,
Sugarinsound Bakery dot Com. Go there. He's got some fabulous stuff.
Off the air. We started talking about your Woodman's food
truck Marine. When did that start?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
So in Actually, we went to the original food Truck
Show in DC. I think it was about two thousand
and four, and we had never been to one of
those food truck festivals. We took a plane ride down there,
about four or five of us, and I was like,
we're going to get a food truck. Well, we went
back and forth, and we went through ups and downs
in that business.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
A lot went on.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Food trucks are a lot more money than I think
people think they are, so we kept saying, we need
a food truck. So here we are this over one
hundred year old restaurant, trying to keep up with the trends,
trying to make sure that we can keep generations coming
to Woodman's. So we had the family meeting and it
was like, look, we could do all these different things,
(21:58):
but if we get a food truck, we're going to
bring in all those kids from Boston that went to
college here that are now working all over the place,
who don't even know who we are. These kids have
come from Kansas or Wisconsin or who knows where they
came from.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
They don't know Woodmans.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Like you think everybody knows Woodmans until you really go
out there and someone's like, I never heard of Woodman's.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I came from Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
So we thought the food truck was kind of like
going on a little fishing exposition. We'll throw the food
truck out there, see who we can bring in. Maybe
that will bring us more customers to Woodman's, and maybe
that will bring us more customers to our clambake cave.
Where did you get the truck we had? We called
food Bonger of the World. Guy was out in California
and he did some research and he recommended a gentleman
(22:43):
that is up in Alden, New York, the original cheesecake place, right,
And we called him up and we did everything on
the computer.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
We drew the food truck.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
It's twenty eight feet long, it's twelve feet wide, think it's.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Fourteen feet high.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It just comes under the mass dot license weight limitation.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Put in a couple of frylates.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Want to make sure that we could do everything, but
we also wanted to do food truck food. Want to
make sure we could do some tacos on there, fry
clam tacos.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So what do you have on the menu.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
So basically on the menu we have some Mexican street
food that is gooes with Woodmans though so using the
fried clam taco as opposed to a chicken taco. Right.
We do a fried green tomato salad which is absolutely delicious.
But what we found after a full year of research
last year when we launched the truck, everyone wants Woodman's food.
(23:39):
So the days that I do the most money is
when I do fried clams, clam chowder, and lobster rolls.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Take my money, will you? Is there anything write better
than a fried clam? Now there the people who invented it.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I found out that there really isn't anything better in
the world than a fried clamb.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Oh man. So when you are invited to graduation parties
and birthday parties and such, are you always expected to
bring food?
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Yes, everyone expects us to bring.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
So now you can just bring the truck.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Yeah, we can bring the truck.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
The one thing with the truck is we're actually right now,
we're trying to get a drone video on the truck
to help our customers. So when you call up and say, hey,
I want the truck in my yard, we're trying to
get something that's almost like a I call it like
a deed map, where it shows what the truck would
look like on your property.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Because the truck can't be tilted. The truck really can't
go up a hill.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
The propane has to be flat, have to have six
feet on each edge for the truck to open up
and the doors to access. So again, it's still food,
right apples to apples.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
But it's not catering.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's not a restaurant, it's not a function hall, it's
not shipping.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It's food truck food. So it's a little bit different,
but it's still food.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Well, I can't wait. Is there music on the truck?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Yes, we have all kinds of music. Got we have
a lot of good music that comes from Kiss.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
When I wait, I was going to say, you gotta
make Kiss. Want to wait? Your number one preset? Do
you know what that means? That means okay? And by
the way, if you take a picture of yourself with
the number one preset Kiss, I think we're giving away
prizes occasionally or something like that. We got to be
the number.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
One truck is a lot of fun and it definitely
gave Woodman's youth for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, Saturday mornings, you're doing a party with a truck
Kiss Top thirty countdown never hurts good music, nothing but hits.
I'm just saying Paul again. People that want to get
your baked goods so they.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Can go into the website, fill out the forum inquiry
form and just say this is what I want to
order all my weekly bake goods, what my flavors are
going to be are going to be on the website.
There's a separate page for that. So each week I'll
throw up on a Sunday the new menu. So this
week coming up, we have a carrot cake option, we
have a.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
We have a you're gonna have to keep the cinnama.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Now that's gonna I'll rotate that in. We're gonna do
just a plane chalk cookie with pink frosting for Chapel Roane.
I'm I'm trying to do based on Yeah, so it's
gonna be the pink pony chip.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Ah, that's a good idea, So good thoughts. I know
it's it's my wife's that's her marketing brain right there.
I gotta ask, are you affected already in a big
way by the prices Yes, that we see so much
about on the news.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, especially with gluten free flour and vegan butter. They're
double the cost of regular butter right now. So the
good thing is I'm doing such small batches. I'm not
wasting a lot of money, and my prices are reasonable.
So for a slice of cake, it's anywhere from six
to six fifty six dollars to six fifty if it
comes with like a frosting and something I charge a
(26:43):
little extra. My cookies are five to five fifty depending
on the ingredients and what's inside. But I've been able
to keep them reasonable just because I'm doing small batches.
I'm not doing a large quantity. So if somebody orders
for that week, that's what I bake. I don't bake
anymore or any less than what people are ordering.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Okay, we got to take a break, and when we
come back, Marine, I'm going to ask you the same
question in terms of prices and how it's impacting and
or affecting Woodman's. And I want you to walk us
through the menu at Woodman's for the sake of those
people who A haven't been and b haven't been in
a long time, just to remind them to just how
fabulous it is. It's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa,
(27:19):
and we'll take a break and we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Saleing Waterfront Hotel in Swites.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Hey, folks, so welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy
Costa here having some fun with Marine Woodman from Woodman's
in Essex and with Paul Santuro from Sugaransound Bakery dot com.
Mark that down. When you think you need some gluten free,
dairy free baked goods that are baked fresh in home
talk about home fresh, home Fresh, go to Sugaransound Bakery
(27:52):
dot com. Okay, Marine, I was talking to Paul right
before the break about the economy and about the price
of things and how it affects his business, and I'm
sure in a lot of ways it affects yours as well.
Give us some examples.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
So what we're thinking for the twenty twenty five season,
what we're going to focus on more this year is
actually sales right, direct sales. We're the last four years
after COVID, we had to worry about direct labor right.
There wasn't enough help or we were paying the help
needed to get more money. What we're seeing now is
(28:25):
the prices are going to go up so high that
it's completely out of our control. We don't know where
we're going to go. We don't want to compromise our product.
We still want to give you that absolutely wonderful feeling
when you come to Woodman's. The same clams, the same
tartar sauce, everything exactly the same. We really don't want
to dumb down our product. We want to keep it there.
(28:47):
And what we're kind of prepared for is that people
are still going to come in and spend what they
were spending, but maybe they're going to share plates more,
and we're okay with that. You could always share plates
at Woodman's. But what we don't want to do is
take our food down. The other thing that we're seeing
is that the shellfish industry is being affected in many,
(29:07):
many different ways, whether it's insurance or safety regulations. So
that's going to put a massive increase on lobster and
steamers or what we call hard shells.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Sands changes day to day.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Shellfish is definitely commodity driven. You know, a lot of
people will argue with us that market basket lobsters are
so much cheaper than our lobsters. Well, our lobsters are
not pounded. Another thing that I could talk about forever
and ever pounded lobsters and lobsters that sit in water
like an aquarium and just keep sucking down water until
they're bloated, and they don't have that good taste, and people.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Say, why are the lobsters so good? At Woodmands.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
The lobsters are good at Woodman's because they came right
out of the salt water and that's like real salt,
and they're not puffy and extended like a sponge.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
She tells it like it is a day.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
But people want to know that. The other thing is
what does that mean?
Speaker 4 (29:59):
That means that they bought those lobsters when they were
at a shorter price. We buy our lobsters on a
daily price. They come in that day. We have our
own lobster men at Woodman's and we make sure that
we're going to put out the best products. So, you
know what, I look at us kind of like disney World.
Do you want to go to disney World and get
like a cheaper disney World?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Not really.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
If you're coming to Woodman's, you're coming to Woodman's and
you're going for the whole nine yards, Well.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You really came here ready today, you're ready to go.
I love this absolutely, you know. Well, you're coming up
on two big seasons, the wedding season and I think
a larger catering season in the warmer weather.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Right absolutely so, right now this is our huge time
that we start selling. We sell right now till probably
around June, and then from June, July, August and September.
September has really become a bonus month for us in
the catering as well as the restaurant. But what we
do the most in the wedding industry in the catering
division are rehearsal dinners. And if you want to slam dunk,
(30:56):
I'm telling you right now that food truck, the sham
pain wagon out of Newberry Report, and the Whoopee wagon,
there's your champagne wagon.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, this is news, breaking news. A champagne wagon has
that come right out of Woodman's No, we have.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
We just sub partner with them, and you get those
three trucks in your yard. And if you're looking for
something that nobody else has, you're looking for something where
your rehearsal dinner can mingle. You know, that's always the
stress of a rehearsal dinner. Yeah, you're got to figure
out how to bring these two families together. Don't just
stick eight people at a table and hope they talk
to each other. Once you bring that food truck in,
I forget it. These people are walking around the yard,
(31:36):
they're drinking their champagne. They're having a fried clam.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
They're throwing some champagne and they stop arguing much. In
the wedding.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
You don't even need tables and chairs. It's all stand
up food. You can save yourself on all the rentals.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Makes me want to get remarried.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I've been married twenty three years and it makes me
want to get remarried. The remembry the same person. But
I want to have another party. I need new stuff
to write. Yeah, well, how do.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
You You actually want to make a mini food truck
show in your yard and all you need is three trucks.
I've been to a party baby shower where they had
Riverview pizza from Ipswich, lobster rolls from the Lobster Lover
Truck out of Gloucester, and the champagne girl.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
It was a slam dunk who doesn't like pizza lobster rolls.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh my god, it's two of the best things on earth. Absolutely,
So how about the food truck? How do people get it?
And what's the ideal situation for the food truck?
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Everything is the same at Woodman's. Just go to Woodman's
dot com click on the catering page. You'll see all
the different divisions that we do. Then you'll see the
food truck page. We just actually put the new menu
up for twenty twenty five and we're just working on
We're going with it. It's our second season of having
the truck, and the truck is just adorable. When you
(32:48):
go online, you're gonna see it. It's just so adorable.
It has everything you could imagine. It has the story
at Chubby and Bessie. It has the menu, it has
the track lighting, it has the music with kiss want
to Wait on it? Of course, it even has Christmas
music in there.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Gamming in there. We're okay with that. We're family.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
But I think that the food truck is fun. The
catering is fun. You know, we're getting ready. We've been
with Gifford's ice Cream now for I don't know, maybe
fifteen years, and we're starting to we'll open the ice
cream store right around Mother's Day. Mother's Day's really are kickoff.
Even though we're open year round. We're so holiday driven. Right,
it's Mother's Day, it's Memorial Day, it's Father's Day, it's
(33:32):
fourth of July. Then it's just summer and it's Labor Day.
Then it's Columbus Day. You know we love holidays.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Let's say somebody wants to have the food truck come
to a little party or something. How is that priced.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
The food truck is priced right now. It's going to
go out for thirty five hundred dollars. On the thirty
five hundred dollars, you could accommodate somewhere between thirty and
forty people. We won't serve more than seventy five people.
So what we'll do is, if you go over that
minute on pricing, we'll do a per person charge. We'll
also customize the menu because we're only going to have
(34:07):
three or four things on that truck, and we're hoping
the truck sits on your property for about two hours.
So let's say it's a welcome party for the wedding.
And I know, Billy, you've done enough weddings with the
kids now, so you know the deal. And sometimes on
the welcome party, your guests might be landing and they
can't quite get there right at the time.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
So we have to make sure that if the party
starts at.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Four, but somebody's flying into Logan Have four thirty, that
we can still serve them at five thirty.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
Or six.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
So we're figuring that truck's going to stay for two
hours and then you kind of can go up again.
It's not like catering. It's not like this goes out,
that goes out. This is more like a come up
to the window. It's almost like Woodman's on wheels in
a weird way, right, which is what we call it
eltor we call the truck Wow, Woodman's on wheels.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
But you have that scene like a little.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
It's like a pickup counter, just like it is at
Woodman grabbing, grab and go.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Definitely, what's the biggest event you've ever catered.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
The largest event that I've ever catered in my life
was when Data General and EMC merged and that was
four thousand. The second largest one that I've ever been
responsible for was the nineteen ninety nine All Star event
at Fenway that was five thousand people and we split
that with Legal Seafood. At the time, it's and then
(35:25):
I would say those are my two biggest. Once I
did a fifty year Harvard reunion that was over thirty
five hundred in the yard. Those were my biggest biggest ones.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Today is it like one hundred percent of the time
they always have to have lobster.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Yeah, back in the day everyone had lobster.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
And again I think, just like this thing with Chicago,
this pizza, hot dog thing, lobster is probably I would
say lobster and clam chowder are more significant to Boston
than fried klam. But after I came off this little trip,
I'm going to work really high to make sure that
fry clams are right up there.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Like Chicago pizza, do.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You do the hot or the cold lobster roll?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
We do the cold lobster roll.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
We will pull the lobster and put hot butter on
it if you would like that. But Woodman's way is
truly sugar, vinegar, mayonnaise, lobster chelsea roll.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That's it. Now. Can somebody request in their lobster roll
claw meat only or will they get yelled at?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
No.
Speaker 5 (36:25):
If it's off season.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
It's a big claw meat guy.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
If it's off season, we're pretty good with what we
do because we can really customize to you. But when
we're doing two or three thousand people in a two
day thing, everything is pre done, pre ordered, getting ready.
My brother Stevie, it works so hard. Those are his
two jobs, just ordering lobster and clams.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
How's your coleslaw?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
The coal saw is amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
That sounds crazy. It's one of the most important things
for me.
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Their coal saw is so crunchy. Again.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
Going to Paul's business one of the things that I
would recommend, which people don't. I always think that really
good cooks are just like really good chemists. There's no
different than a formula, which equals a recipe. Our recipes
have not changed. They have not changed.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
You've been listening to the culinary stylings of Maureen Woodman
from Woodman's in Ssex. We also have Paul Santoro with us.
We've only got a few minutes left after the breaks.
I want you guys to have your final thoughts, okay,
and make sure everybody knows how and where to find you. Again.
It's a Food for Thought. By the way, we're coming
up on sixty minutes. That's one of the shows, part
(37:37):
of the shows I love. But we're going to take
a break. It's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa and
we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Hey guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Just a
few minutes left. Traditionally, we ask our guests for their
final thoughts things we may have missed during the course
of the conversation. Paul Santurro is here from Sugar and
Sound Bakery dot com. You want to go there for
some awesome gluten free and dairy free baked goods. Final
thoughts from you, Paul, I just think that the it's
(38:09):
everything is scratch made, So I think the to emphasize
that everything's made to order. So you place an order,
the cutoff is each week on Wednesday. It's going to
get made that Friday and delivered to you that next
day or the same day, so everything's going to be fresh.
As people know, gluten free and dairy free items don't
last long. They last a couple of days, so you
(38:30):
know that I'm going to give you the freshest thing
I can do, whether it's going to be delivered that
day or picked up that same day or the next day.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
So I think that's the big thing I want to
emphasize is that everything's going to be fresh, everything's made
to order. It's not going to be sitting in the
fridge for a couple of days and then you're going
to order and pick it up. You're placing your order,
You're making it, and then I'm delivering it.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
I'm only making as much as people are ordering. I'm
not making abundance of stuff.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
And is it a hope of yours to someday move
into a location. No, I don't want to happy doing
what you're doing. I would do a food truck. I
wouldn't do I wouldn't do a berg problem to Marine
Woodman before you get.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
The truck, big stickler on a work ethic, and I
believe that nobody can match my work ethic if I
hired somebody, so I'd rather just do it myself.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I believe it. Maureene, you have a food truck.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
Say you I have a food truck.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
My advice to Paul is, if I was going to
do it again, because the truck is so expensive, I
would get myself a food trailer, which is really the
way to go for Paul to start. It's a smaller investment,
has the exact same delivery, same results, where you're going
to be completely in control. You can design it to
hold your food specific before you go out, invest in
(39:33):
the truck, and then all you need is a pickup
truck and a hinge and off you go.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You just thrive around and you have a pickup all
let's have you don't. I don't, but I'm looking for
a new car and I'm trying to get in before
the tariff, So we'll see how that goes, Okay, Maureene
Woodman's final thoughts.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
So my final final thought is this, if you're looking
for somewhere to bring your great grandmother, your grandmother, your husband,
your granddaughter, your children, and some friends, come to Woodman's.
You will have an absolutely wonderful time. The food is there,
the locations great, the yard is fabulous. We have all
kinds of fun stuff coming for the season, which really,
even though we're opening year around, it's Mother's Day to
(40:07):
Columbus Day, and my goal at Woodman's is really this.
I want you to drive away and say I can't
wait to come back, or I want you to drive
away and say I can't wait to tell my friend
about this place, because this thing is absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
You mentioned Mother's Day. Do you do something special on
Mother's Day?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Mother's Day everyone gets a flower.
Speaker 4 (40:27):
That's what we do, and we'll have the largest lobsters
you could possibly get.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
But on Mother's Day we sell more lobster rolls and
on Father's Day we sell more.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Boiled And let me ask you, how come Father's Day
is not as big a deal as Mother's Day when
it comes to.
Speaker 5 (40:39):
Restaurants, Well, at Woodman's it is. It's in our top three.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Hear so at Woodman's it's always Mother's Day, Father's Day
and July third, those are the top three days at
Woodman's and depending on weather, they can all teether right
around the same exact money.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
You also have Easter coming up.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Anything big going on Easter will be ready to go.
We just put in a new POS system from our
friends at Toast, which are very Toast, very conducive to
the Beverly Farms area. That's where they come from, some
of the sales girls. So our goal right now is
to have the Toast system up and running because Easter
will be one of our really large days and it
(41:17):
happens to fall on kids Vacation week along with Patriots Day,
so it's gonna be a very weird fall.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
So we're going to have a.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
Busy Uh well, I always say, on Saturday before holiday,
we get the in laws. On the holiday, we get
the laws, and on the day after we're going to
have Patriots Day.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
So we're going to go all over quickly.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
The website all Things Woodman's.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Woodman's dot com, nice and simple www dot Woodman's dot com.
Phone number is best phone number nine seventy eight seven
six eight six four five one.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
And Paul, how about how they reachuce just through the
website It's Sugarinsound Bakery dot com or on the Instagram
which just Google it because it's way long. I couldn't
make up my mind. All right, we got to get
out of the way, you know. I up next to
is sixty minutes. You can't get in there where. It's
kind of a big show. Okay, sixty minutes up next.
We'll see you
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here
and well it so happens. The Red Sox had their
Fenway opener this past Friday, and the story prior to
the game was all the new food items that you
could pick up in Fenway Park and around Fenway Park.
And one of the things that jumped out at me
(00:41):
is they now have a lot of gluten free and
or dairy free food options both in the park and
around the park some of the outside concessions and stuff.
So that got me thinking and I said, hey, wait
a minute, I know my friend Paul Centuro happens to
be gluten free and happens to be starting a new business.
(01:02):
It's all about gluten free dairy free food. So what
do you know? I got Paul in the studio. Hey, Paul,
how's it going, buddy good, Billy, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. Now it's called Sugar and Sound Bakery.
How did this start? Just for a love of baking.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I got laid off from my job, my business job,
back in September, and I always baked and I never
thought about starting a bakery. And my wife one day.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Was like, you should start selling your stuff. Your stuff's
really good.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And as anybody else, I'm a self sabotager. I have
imposture syndrome. So I never believed that anybody liked my
stuff and my stuff was any good.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So that we must have been telling you that they like.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yes, But I have a hard time on believing people,
especially like my friends, that like I feel like we
just hey, this is good.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Being nice, right exactly? Well, I can tell you that
you've got a bunch of different items that you brought in,
and one of them is a cinnamon Cayman cake. Yes, yes,
And I'm gonna tell you. And even though you're my friend,
is that really a fire art? It is just nothing
ever happens in us, no, nothing at all, So even
they knew I was eating the cinnamon, but it's one
(02:06):
of the best pieces of cake I've ever had, one
of your original products. Yes. Yeah, So I'm doing loaf cakes.
I did.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I've been doing rum cakes for a long time, but
I'm doing loaf cakes now, different flavors of red velvet.
I'm doing a chocolate chip one. I'm doing the cinnamon
roll one. So every week it's a scratch made on
demand bakery. I put up a menu every Sunday and
people have from Sunday to Wednesday to DM me on
my Instagram or come on to the website to order
(02:37):
and then I deliver or they can pick up.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Now I'm going to take a wild guest, Paul, you
are gluten free. I am. I am gluten and dairy free.
I been. When did you find that?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So about twenty years ago. As you know, my history
is I have a kidney transplant. I'm eleven years post
my kidney transplant, and while I was waiting for my
kidney transplant for over ten years, I did dialysis, and
my dialysis was at home, and I relate my dialysis
to becoming gluten free. I don't think that is what happened,
(03:06):
but it's around the same time you think it contributed.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Correct, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So at that point I started going gluten free, and
it was hard.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
It was hard to.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Find a place to go out to eat that was
dedicated gluten free. You have to really search it. There
weren't a lot of bakeries. And then over the last
ten fifteen years there's been a lot of places that
have come out, especially my friend Jennifer Lee going Jennifer
Lee's on the TV show exactly. So all of my
stuff come is all natural. I get my eggs from
a farm in the Little ten It's called Theo's Market Gardens,
(03:38):
and all my other stuff is organic. I'm using either
sugar or honey for the sweetener. Excuse me, that's the
fire alarm. But trust me, there's no They.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Don't want me to be on this interview. But how
are they saying in the streamio the fire alarm goes off,
the building's on fire. It's okay, yeah, no, okay, So okay,
So how many different items are you making up?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So right now, I'm making cookies and cake. So I'm
posting two cookies every week along with two cake flavors,
and then they'll switch up the following week. So I'm
working on bagels, I'm working on breads, I'm working on
muffins now, but I'll expand my repertoires we get more
busier and people demand things.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And I asked you, when did you find out and
how did you find out? And I'm asking because well,
my wife, Michelle is there gluten free. She's intolerant, but
she's not celiac. Correct. Yeah, I'm intolerant.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And again, around the same time I was diagnosed with
my kidney disease and I was on dialysis. That's kind
of where anything found out that I was, you know,
gluten free. Where after eating gluten for my whole life
and dunking the pieces of bread into the sauce, like
when my mom made sauce one day, it just started
to bother me and then at that point it just
(04:47):
got worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, yeah, and we should probably mention five minutes
into the interview that you're making all of this at home. Correct, Correct?
Speaker 4 (04:56):
I have a.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Not shipping yet, but right now is just delivery and
pick up, so they can pick it up at my
house or I can meet them somewhere in the Massachusetts area.
Like Metro West, North Shore, Boston and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Now, do you have neighbors that think something strange is
going on? No showing up to I bribe them.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I bribed them a lot with everything that I make,
it goes over there. A lot of my neighbors have
kids and they're always when when are you gonna bake again?
When are you gonna bake again? So that's I bribe them.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And this is what's so cool about this show Food
for Thought. With me and with Jenny Johnson, we rotate,
so to speak. In the middle of our conversation, Maureen
Woodwood just kind of walks in from Woodman's, Uh, hey, Mareen,
how you doing.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I'm doing great. How you doing, Billy?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I'm doing just fine. You're just back. You're out of
town at a big food show.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
I just went.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I got actually I went for a shower in Chicago,
and I was amazed at the food scene and the
biggest thing I was amazed at, you know, being the
birth of the fry clam.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
In Chicago.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Pizza is beyond advertised and hot dogs, and I was.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Saying, this is a national food show.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
This was just walking around Chicago that I noticed and
what I was thinking, was are fried clams really that
well known in Boston like pizza is known in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, Woodman's in Essex, did you really invent the fried clam?
There seems to be some sort of a rivalry up
there in the North Shore.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
We absolutely invented the fry clam.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
It's documented, and we just recently got a hold of
Bessie Woodman's marriage certificate, which one of the great great
grandchildren were holding, and we put it up on the
wall at Woodman's. So when people come this year, our
one hundred and eleventh year, we have a copy of
the original marriage certificate that says on July third, Chubby
(06:50):
and I fried the first fry clam in Essex, Massachusetts.
And it's hanging with a pitcher of Bessie to the
right of the pickup window. And we kind of made
it look a little bit like Angemima, like she's the
original pancake person. Instead we have the original fried clam woman.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So there's no argument anymore, there's no more debate. Woodman's
in Essex, Massachusetts is the inventor of the fry clam.
We're going to take a break, We're going to continue
the conversation. A lot going on at Woodman's. Did you
say one hundred and eleven years? Oh, and Paul Santoro
is still talking gluten free, dairy free. He's got a
fabulous new business he's operating out of his house. We'll
(07:28):
deal with that more coming up next.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Then by you're listening to Food for Thought, brought to
you by the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in
sweets Hey, everybody.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa here and
I've got Maureen Woodman in studio. Now, welcome back, Mareene.
And we've got Paul Santoro. Interesting story and this was organic.
Paul was in here talking about his new business, which
is called Sugar and Sound Bakery. What's the sound mean?
It's music. So I always do a playlist when I bake.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
And because my wife's been in the music industry for
thirty years, we love music together. We don't really watch
a lot of TV on the weekends. We just try
to put the radio on and put our record player on.
So that's kind of like the part of the SOT
you're not watching the White Loader.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I am not. I am not. I definitely am not.
I should mention by the way, that I've worked with
your wife, Shylene for thirty plus years and she's fabulous.
We miss her here. He used to be in this
building all the time. Now she just pops in. I
miss her too when she travels. Yeah, she's a big
executive and I no so anyway, Okay, so we're talking
about gluten free and I asked you a few minutes ago,
(08:35):
when did you realize that you were gluten free? And
I ask that because I used to have a videographer camp.
You don't camp, and you know, we would go on
shoots at different restaurants and he would eat everything inside,
just love eating food, love great food. And then overnight
became a full bone blown celiac. Like he could have
(08:55):
a bite of food with gluten in it and have
to go to the hospital, right, And I couldn't understand
how can that happen? I'm not a doctor, but hey,
like what I've heard is that your body changes every
seven years, whether it's because of some traumatic injury or
a disease. That's happened for me.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Again, I don't know why it happened or when it
exactly happened. I know it was around the time when
I was doing dialysis from my okay so and again
I was doing dialysis home where I had fluids sitting
in my abdomen and that was sitting on my stomach,
and I felt like that was the cause of like
because of the trauma that was happening to my stomach
every day from doing the dialysis. I felt like that's
(09:35):
why happened and caused this to change.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Because it it did seem back then. I don't know
righty years ago that all of a sudden, gluten free
was in everybody's vocabulary, right, And I'm like, when did
this become so prominent? And like I said, my wife
is gluten free. She's intolerant, he's not celiac, but she
cheats occasionally, but it's a real factor in her life definitely.
And they're off the air, Mareen. When you walked in
(10:00):
you started a conversation with Paul. I mean, obviously Woodman's,
as I believe, has always been or had gluten free
items on the menu.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Right, correct, So again I was telling Paul the story.
I don't think a lot of people know that. And
I would say, if I had to guess, somewhere between
when the Internet started let's say like nineteen ninety nine
and two thousand and one, everyone got a website. We
knew that we were gluten free, but by accident, there
was a few doctors that lived in Manchester by the
(10:29):
Sea in the late sixties. They were in charge of
the Celiac newsletter, not Positive If if it was Brigham
or mass General. It was one of the big hospitals
in Boston back then, and they knew that we were
Celiac friendly because one of their children actually had a
Celiac disorder and they started a Celiac newsletter. Wait, you know,
(10:52):
we're talking almost fifty five sixty years ago before anyone
was aware of allergies or glue intolerance or even the
word gluten because back in the sixties, a lot of
people didn't have preservatives in their food product.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Everything was natural, right.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Yeah, So when the food started to morph and people
started to get more and more sicknesses and allergies, so
we kind of stumbled upon the gluten free diet rage
or the Cops diet.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Rage because more people were asking.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Yeah, we jumped on.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
By then, we had a website, so people were actually
emailing in and asking questions. We didn't market it to
be who we were. We have always been serving corn flour.
That's another thing that most people don't think. Because it's
corn flour, people think it has gluten, but that's not true.
Corn flour is made from corn maize and corn maize
(11:50):
has no gluten and it's way more money.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Well, I got to tell you another story that always
I always remember when we start talking about gluten free
years and years ago. I don't know if you know
a call It in Christina from Nebo Restaurant now their
original Nebo you know it probably used to be over
by the Boston Guard Correct And I remember we went
there to do a shoot and this was years ago,
Jenny and I and I think at the time it
wasn't even Dining Playbook. It was our previous show TV Diner,
(12:16):
and we were going there because call It and Christina
were showcasing and this is you know, mostly pasta and
pizza were mostly showcasing their gluten free menu. And I,
you know, I'm gonna sound food ignorant, but I didn't know.
I'm like, Jenny, what does this mean? Like I need
to know what to say, what not to say. But
(12:38):
that's how far back they went with the gluten free menu.
I think I had my first gluten free food at
Nebo And by the way, it's a fabulous restaurant.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
And it probably comes from their background, their Italian background,
coming from Italy or where. We were talking off there
about going to Italy and being able to eat gluten
your dog.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, if you're gluten free, you can eat pasta and
stuff in Italy exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
And I think I think it's because it's not processed
the US government or the US worker the makers of
the food. In the flower process, there's stuff so much
that it causes that glutent analogy.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So Maureen at Woodmands in Essex, by the way, fabulous
restaurant in the warm weather's coming, so you have fabulous
outdoor seating as well. But at Woodman's like, how much
of them men? You can you get gluten free from it?
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Everything is gluten free. Even our clam chowder is gluten free.
So another interesting tidbit that I don't think the average
person knows, kind of like going with the semolina flower
that's in the original pasta that wouldn't have the gluten,
like the corn maze when the trans fat came, which
was also in the early two thousands lard, which we
(13:44):
got like everyone was on us for serving lard. Everyone
thought that lard has trans fat. It doesn't lard again,
all natural beef tarlow is actually what lard is.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
And all the.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Other people were frying in pretend oil that had so
many fillers and so many preservatives in it that there
was gluten in all of the veggie oils or all
these other things. So we won again by accident, even
though people were screaming at us that lard had transfat,
(14:18):
lard has zero transfat.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And you were saying off the ear to Paul that
it seems more and more now you almost have to
have gluten for you at a restaurant. You're getting a
lot more people asking for.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
It, right absolutely, And I think because Woodman's is so
well known that we're gluten free, the only thing at
Woodman's that really isn't gluten free would be the role
of the lobster roll, and we offer it is no,
it's a Chelsea roll. Hamburger roll is a Pana Dosi roll. Okay,
(14:51):
gelfa shoe is on us for that. But we have
that secret recipe from Chelsea that has the sugar in
it because we know that sugar goes so well with
lobster mayl right, But every other thing on our product,
and then of course our puffy onion rings that were
really known for.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
Those are battered.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So if you came in, we will do mealed onion
rings at Woodman's when it's not too too busy.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
You have to request that. And the meal.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Rings are completely gluten free. But the signature Woodman rings,
which I would say would be our number five item
fry clams, clam chowder, lobster rolls, onion rings probably our
fourth most popular would be our onion rings that we're
known for. But we will do mealed rings, especially off
season shoulder season, no problem in the summer if we're
(15:39):
really cranking, I mean cranking, you know we're talking. That
line is an eighth of a mile long down the street.
There may be it's that's not a bad thing. We
always say the line is the heartbeat of the business.
What will we do if the line didn't show up?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And I can attest those rings. The gluten free rings
are amazing.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And when you have a line that long, it becomes
both a and a social experience because you can do.
Meet and greets in the line, meet new friends. All
you'll have for life or something. And you all have
one thing in common. You all love Woodman's in Essex.
How many years?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
One hundred and eleven years.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
How did it start?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
So back in nineteen fourteen, Bessie and Chubby Woodman purchased
that land from a friend. Chubby originally was a cable
car driver and somebody got him upset and he ended
up quitting his job that day and he said, I'm
going to go down. And he lived with this guy
named Booboo, and Booboo put him in the store and Boobo.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Chubby and boob Boo. That's really true.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
And they had what we look at it like today,
kind of like a rich Dales or a sundry store
where they sold chewing gum and Chubby would go fishing
and'd sell some fish, and Bessie made donuts and they
did all these kind of fun things. But it was
also like the hangout. You know, we're talking dirt roads
and cable cars going down the causeway on the water.
(16:59):
Just imagine that we're flooding all the time. I always
try to figure out how exactly did the cable car
go by when we had a flood tide.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Still trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
God, you have such an amazing family history and family
tree that must be a cool thing. We do have
to take a break. I have to be honest with
everybody listening. I didn't plan on making the whole show
about gluten free, but I knew I had Paul coming in,
and then Maureene came in and it became an extended in. Paul,
your company again is Sugar and Sound Bakery correct dot
(17:27):
com correct, and they can order online correct and come
and get it.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yep, come and get it. I can deliver it within reason,
no delivery charge right now. And you brought a bunch
of stuff. I got to tell you. Aj had some
of the cinnamon cake. I had one of the cinnamon cake.
We both devoured it. And I know you've got cookies
and muffins. We'll talk more about your line perfect. But
Ed Sheeran was supposed to be a big deal at
One Men's. That's the elephant in the room, Maureene. We'll
talk about that next.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to a Food for Thought Billy
Coy and again I've got Paul Santoro and studio. Welcome again, Paul.
Great to see you. I've known Paul for years and
he's got this great baking company. Sugar Insound Bakery dot
com is where you want to go. Write that down
when you look at some really good gluten free, dairy
free bake goods. They are delicious earned. Maureen Woodman is
(18:18):
here and okay, so you and I Maureene spoke several
times last week. The big buzz started around ed Sharon.
He was going to Ipswich on Friday night, which he
did and he performed in the makeshift pub, which I
thought was a really cool story. He performed in the
pub and they knocked it down the next day. But
I talked to you and you actually texted me and said, oh,
(18:38):
he's coming to Woodmans tomorrow on Saturday, and then he
did what happened.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
So last week it started probably Wednesday, leading up to
that Friday event in Ipswich, and we started to get calls.
Everybody came, you know, all the big caddy escalades showed
up to Woodman's.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
They came in with Mark Fitzgerald.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Mark and I worked together years ago in two thousand
and eight when we did Grown Ups.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Remember Woodmans was in Grown Ups.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
So Mark and I have done probably seven or eight
different movies are renting the parking lot over the years.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
He's like, look, can we come into Woodmans.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
We don't know if you're going to be able to
open to the public, clothes to the public. You know,
what are we going to do?
Speaker 5 (19:15):
I don't know. If we can, We'll get you some money.
We won't get you some money. You just got to
be ready to fly.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
I'm like, I got it, Mark, We'll do whatever you want.
In the meantime, everyone at Woodman's is so excited. We
started to hear the buzz about this phone pub and
ipswich and cars are all over the place.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
They're going.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
So we went day in. First it was people could come,
Then it was dress up the family. No, nobody can
come get in the thing. Oh, now he's coming at
eight o'clock in the morning, he's coming at eleven thirty.
Can you handle it? We were like, we got it,
whatever you want. Nine thirty Friday night, we get a
phone call after the big Hoopla that went on in Ipswich,
and it was, hey, we got to bump somebody tomorrow
and it's gonna be you because we didn't get to
(19:52):
go to Crane's Beach and now with the weather forecast,
we're going to film.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
At Crane's Beach at eight o'clock. We didn't rain. It
didn't rain till about eleven thirty.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Oh okay, so we were We ended up being the
eight to eleven thirty times slot and we got bumped.
And then he said to my husband, but if we
can get there at eleven thirty, can we still come?
We were like absolutely. That day we get a call back.
He still paid us for not coming, and Mark said,
I have a lot of exciting things coming up to
the notth store and Maureen, you know, I know where
(20:22):
you are and we will get back to help you out.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So that's how it all ended, and he ended up
going to Strega in the North End. Anyway, that was
the Ed Sheer and Buzz last year. It was a
big story. We were all over at Lisa and I
go on BCTV every morning and Ed Sheer and showed
up at the BZTV studios and did the weather forecast
so that's going to be a part of the video.
We got to take a break. I've got Mauren Woodman,
(20:45):
I've got Paul Santuro. We'll talk more about gluten free,
dairy free, and I want to know all the hottest
items on the Woodman's menu. It's all up next stand by.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought, having a lot
of fun. I've got Maureene Woodman from Woodman's, the award
winning Woodman's in Essex, Massachusetts. Paul is here. He's got
a new company out of his home by the way,
Sugarinsound Bakery dot Com. Go there. He's got some fabulous stuff.
Off the air. We started talking about your Woodman's food
truck Marine. When did that start?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
So in Actually, we went to the original food Truck
Show in DC. I think it was about two thousand
and four, and we had never been to one of
those food truck festivals. We took a plane ride down there,
about four or five of us, and I was like,
we're going to get a food truck. Well, we went
back and forth, and we went through ups and downs
in that business.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
A lot went on.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Food trucks are a lot more money than I think
people think they are, so we kept saying, we need
a food truck. So here we are this over one
hundred year old restaurant, trying to keep up with the trends,
trying to make sure that we can keep generations coming
to Woodman's. So we had the family meeting and it
was like, look, we could do all these different things,
(21:58):
but if we get a food truck, we're going to
bring in all those kids from Boston that went to
college here that are now working all over the place,
who don't even know who we are. These kids have
come from Kansas or Wisconsin or who knows where they
came from.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
They don't know Woodmans.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Like you think everybody knows Woodmans until you really go
out there and someone's like, I never heard of Woodman's.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I came from Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
So we thought the food truck was kind of like
going on a little fishing exposition. We'll throw the food
truck out there, see who we can bring in. Maybe
that will bring us more customers to Woodman's, and maybe
that will bring us more customers to our clambake cave.
Where did you get the truck we had? We called
food Bonger of the World. Guy was out in California
and he did some research and he recommended a gentleman
(22:43):
that is up in Alden, New York, the original cheesecake place, right,
And we called him up and we did everything on
the computer.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
We drew the food truck.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
It's twenty eight feet long, it's twelve feet wide, think it's.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Fourteen feet high.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It just comes under the mass dot license weight limitation.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Put in a couple of frylates.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Want to make sure that we could do everything, but
we also wanted to do food truck food. Want to
make sure we could do some tacos on there, fry
clam tacos.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So what do you have on the menu.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
So basically on the menu we have some Mexican street
food that is gooes with Woodmans though so using the
fried clam taco as opposed to a chicken taco. Right.
We do a fried green tomato salad which is absolutely delicious.
But what we found after a full year of research
last year when we launched the truck, everyone wants Woodman's food.
(23:39):
So the days that I do the most money is
when I do fried clams, clam chowder, and lobster rolls.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Take my money, will you? Is there anything write better
than a fried clam? Now there the people who invented it.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I found out that there really isn't anything better in
the world than a fried clamb.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Oh man. So when you are invited to graduation parties
and birthday parties and such, are you always expected to
bring food?
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Yes, everyone expects us to bring.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
So now you can just bring the truck.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Yeah, we can bring the truck.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
The one thing with the truck is we're actually right now,
we're trying to get a drone video on the truck
to help our customers. So when you call up and say, hey,
I want the truck in my yard, we're trying to
get something that's almost like a I call it like
a deed map, where it shows what the truck would
look like on your property.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Because the truck can't be tilted. The truck really can't
go up a hill.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
The propane has to be flat, have to have six
feet on each edge for the truck to open up
and the doors to access. So again, it's still food,
right apples to apples.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
But it's not catering.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's not a restaurant, it's not a function hall, it's
not shipping.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
It's food truck food. So it's a little bit different,
but it's still food.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Well, I can't wait. Is there music on the truck?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Yes, we have all kinds of music. Got we have
a lot of good music that comes from Kiss.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
When I wait, I was going to say, you gotta
make Kiss. Want to wait? Your number one preset? Do
you know what that means? That means okay? And by
the way, if you take a picture of yourself with
the number one preset Kiss, I think we're giving away
prizes occasionally or something like that. We got to be
the number.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
One truck is a lot of fun and it definitely
gave Woodman's youth for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, Saturday mornings, you're doing a party with a truck
Kiss Top thirty countdown never hurts good music, nothing but hits.
I'm just saying Paul again. People that want to get
your baked goods so they.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Can go into the website, fill out the forum inquiry
form and just say this is what I want to
order all my weekly bake goods, what my flavors are
going to be are going to be on the website.
There's a separate page for that. So each week I'll
throw up on a Sunday the new menu. So this
week coming up, we have a carrot cake option, we
have a.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
We have a you're gonna have to keep the cinnama.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Now that's gonna I'll rotate that in. We're gonna do
just a plane chalk cookie with pink frosting for Chapel Roane.
I'm I'm trying to do based on Yeah, so it's
gonna be the pink pony chip.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Ah, that's a good idea, So good thoughts. I know
it's it's my wife's that's her marketing brain right there.
I gotta ask, are you affected already in a big
way by the prices Yes, that we see so much
about on the news.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, especially with gluten free flour and vegan butter. They're
double the cost of regular butter right now. So the
good thing is I'm doing such small batches. I'm not
wasting a lot of money, and my prices are reasonable.
So for a slice of cake, it's anywhere from six
to six fifty six dollars to six fifty if it
comes with like a frosting and something I charge a
(26:43):
little extra. My cookies are five to five fifty depending
on the ingredients and what's inside. But I've been able
to keep them reasonable just because I'm doing small batches.
I'm not doing a large quantity. So if somebody orders
for that week, that's what I bake. I don't bake
anymore or any less than what people are ordering.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Okay, we got to take a break, and when we
come back, Marine, I'm going to ask you the same
question in terms of prices and how it's impacting and
or affecting Woodman's. And I want you to walk us
through the menu at Woodman's for the sake of those
people who A haven't been and b haven't been in
a long time, just to remind them to just how
fabulous it is. It's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa,
(27:19):
and we'll take a break and we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Saleing Waterfront Hotel in Swites.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Hey, folks, so welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy
Costa here having some fun with Marine Woodman from Woodman's
in Essex and with Paul Santuro from Sugaransound Bakery dot com.
Mark that down. When you think you need some gluten free,
dairy free baked goods that are baked fresh in home
talk about home fresh, home Fresh, go to Sugaransound Bakery
(27:52):
dot com. Okay, Marine, I was talking to Paul right
before the break about the economy and about the price
of things and how it affects his business, and I'm
sure in a lot of ways it affects yours as well.
Give us some examples.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
So what we're thinking for the twenty twenty five season,
what we're going to focus on more this year is
actually sales right, direct sales. We're the last four years
after COVID, we had to worry about direct labor right.
There wasn't enough help or we were paying the help
needed to get more money. What we're seeing now is
(28:25):
the prices are going to go up so high that
it's completely out of our control. We don't know where
we're going to go. We don't want to compromise our product.
We still want to give you that absolutely wonderful feeling
when you come to Woodman's. The same clams, the same
tartar sauce, everything exactly the same. We really don't want
to dumb down our product. We want to keep it there.
(28:47):
And what we're kind of prepared for is that people
are still going to come in and spend what they
were spending, but maybe they're going to share plates more,
and we're okay with that. You could always share plates
at Woodman's. But what we don't want to do is
take our food down. The other thing that we're seeing
is that the shellfish industry is being affected in many,
(29:07):
many different ways, whether it's insurance or safety regulations. So
that's going to put a massive increase on lobster and
steamers or what we call hard shells.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Sands changes day to day.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Shellfish is definitely commodity driven. You know, a lot of
people will argue with us that market basket lobsters are
so much cheaper than our lobsters. Well, our lobsters are
not pounded. Another thing that I could talk about forever
and ever pounded lobsters and lobsters that sit in water
like an aquarium and just keep sucking down water until
they're bloated, and they don't have that good taste, and people.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Say, why are the lobsters so good? At Woodmands.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
The lobsters are good at Woodman's because they came right
out of the salt water and that's like real salt,
and they're not puffy and extended like a sponge.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
She tells it like it is a day.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
But people want to know that. The other thing is
what does that mean?
Speaker 4 (29:59):
That means that they bought those lobsters when they were
at a shorter price. We buy our lobsters on a
daily price. They come in that day. We have our
own lobster men at Woodman's and we make sure that
we're going to put out the best products. So, you
know what, I look at us kind of like disney World.
Do you want to go to disney World and get
like a cheaper disney World?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Not really.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
If you're coming to Woodman's, you're coming to Woodman's and
you're going for the whole nine yards, Well.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You really came here ready today, you're ready to go.
I love this absolutely, you know. Well, you're coming up
on two big seasons, the wedding season and I think
a larger catering season in the warmer weather.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Right absolutely so, right now this is our huge time
that we start selling. We sell right now till probably
around June, and then from June, July, August and September.
September has really become a bonus month for us in
the catering as well as the restaurant. But what we
do the most in the wedding industry in the catering
division are rehearsal dinners. And if you want to slam dunk,
(30:56):
I'm telling you right now that food truck, the sham
pain wagon out of Newberry Report, and the Whoopee wagon,
there's your champagne wagon.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, this is news, breaking news. A champagne wagon has
that come right out of Woodman's No, we have.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
We just sub partner with them, and you get those
three trucks in your yard. And if you're looking for
something that nobody else has, you're looking for something where
your rehearsal dinner can mingle. You know, that's always the
stress of a rehearsal dinner. Yeah, you're got to figure
out how to bring these two families together. Don't just
stick eight people at a table and hope they talk
to each other. Once you bring that food truck in,
I forget it. These people are walking around the yard,
(31:36):
they're drinking their champagne. They're having a fried clam.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
They're throwing some champagne and they stop arguing much. In
the wedding.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
You don't even need tables and chairs. It's all stand
up food. You can save yourself on all the rentals.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Makes me want to get remarried.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I've been married twenty three years and it makes me
want to get remarried. The remembry the same person. But
I want to have another party. I need new stuff
to write. Yeah, well, how do.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
You You actually want to make a mini food truck
show in your yard and all you need is three trucks.
I've been to a party baby shower where they had
Riverview pizza from Ipswich, lobster rolls from the Lobster Lover
Truck out of Gloucester, and the champagne girl.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
It was a slam dunk who doesn't like pizza lobster rolls.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh my god, it's two of the best things on earth. Absolutely,
So how about the food truck? How do people get it?
And what's the ideal situation for the food truck?
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Everything is the same at Woodman's. Just go to Woodman's
dot com click on the catering page. You'll see all
the different divisions that we do. Then you'll see the
food truck page. We just actually put the new menu
up for twenty twenty five and we're just working on
We're going with it. It's our second season of having
the truck, and the truck is just adorable. When you
(32:48):
go online, you're gonna see it. It's just so adorable.
It has everything you could imagine. It has the story
at Chubby and Bessie. It has the menu, it has
the track lighting, it has the music with kiss want
to Wait on it? Of course, it even has Christmas
music in there.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Gamming in there. We're okay with that. We're family.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
But I think that the food truck is fun. The
catering is fun. You know, we're getting ready. We've been
with Gifford's ice Cream now for I don't know, maybe
fifteen years, and we're starting to we'll open the ice
cream store right around Mother's Day. Mother's Day's really are kickoff.
Even though we're open year round. We're so holiday driven. Right,
it's Mother's Day, it's Memorial Day, it's Father's Day, it's
(33:32):
fourth of July. Then it's just summer and it's Labor Day.
Then it's Columbus Day. You know we love holidays.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Let's say somebody wants to have the food truck come
to a little party or something. How is that priced.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
The food truck is priced right now. It's going to
go out for thirty five hundred dollars. On the thirty
five hundred dollars, you could accommodate somewhere between thirty and
forty people. We won't serve more than seventy five people.
So what we'll do is, if you go over that
minute on pricing, we'll do a per person charge. We'll
also customize the menu because we're only going to have
(34:07):
three or four things on that truck, and we're hoping
the truck sits on your property for about two hours.
So let's say it's a welcome party for the wedding.
And I know, Billy, you've done enough weddings with the
kids now, so you know the deal. And sometimes on
the welcome party, your guests might be landing and they
can't quite get there right at the time.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
So we have to make sure that if the party
starts at.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Four, but somebody's flying into Logan Have four thirty, that
we can still serve them at five thirty.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
Or six.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
So we're figuring that truck's going to stay for two
hours and then you kind of can go up again.
It's not like catering. It's not like this goes out,
that goes out. This is more like a come up
to the window. It's almost like Woodman's on wheels in
a weird way, right, which is what we call it
eltor we call the truck Wow, Woodman's on wheels.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
But you have that scene like a little.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
It's like a pickup counter, just like it is at
Woodman grabbing, grab and go.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Definitely, what's the biggest event you've ever catered.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
The largest event that I've ever catered in my life
was when Data General and EMC merged and that was
four thousand. The second largest one that I've ever been
responsible for was the nineteen ninety nine All Star event
at Fenway that was five thousand people and we split
that with Legal Seafood. At the time, it's and then
(35:25):
I would say those are my two biggest. Once I
did a fifty year Harvard reunion that was over thirty
five hundred in the yard. Those were my biggest biggest ones.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Today is it like one hundred percent of the time
they always have to have lobster.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Yeah, back in the day everyone had lobster.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
And again I think, just like this thing with Chicago,
this pizza, hot dog thing, lobster is probably I would
say lobster and clam chowder are more significant to Boston
than fried klam. But after I came off this little trip,
I'm going to work really high to make sure that
fry clams are right up there.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Like Chicago pizza, do.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
You do the hot or the cold lobster roll?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
We do the cold lobster roll.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
We will pull the lobster and put hot butter on
it if you would like that. But Woodman's way is
truly sugar, vinegar, mayonnaise, lobster chelsea roll.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That's it. Now. Can somebody request in their lobster roll
claw meat only or will they get yelled at?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
No.
Speaker 5 (36:25):
If it's off season.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
It's a big claw meat guy.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
If it's off season, we're pretty good with what we
do because we can really customize to you. But when
we're doing two or three thousand people in a two
day thing, everything is pre done, pre ordered, getting ready.
My brother Stevie, it works so hard. Those are his
two jobs, just ordering lobster and clams.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
How's your coleslaw?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
The coal saw is amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
That sounds crazy. It's one of the most important things
for me.
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Their coal saw is so crunchy. Again.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
Going to Paul's business one of the things that I
would recommend, which people don't. I always think that really
good cooks are just like really good chemists. There's no
different than a formula, which equals a recipe. Our recipes
have not changed. They have not changed.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
You've been listening to the culinary stylings of Maureen Woodman
from Woodman's in Ssex. We also have Paul Santoro with us.
We've only got a few minutes left after the breaks.
I want you guys to have your final thoughts, okay,
and make sure everybody knows how and where to find you. Again.
It's a Food for Thought. By the way, we're coming
up on sixty minutes. That's one of the shows, part
(37:37):
of the shows I love. But we're going to take
a break. It's Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa and
we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Hey guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Just a
few minutes left. Traditionally, we ask our guests for their
final thoughts things we may have missed during the course
of the conversation. Paul Santurro is here from Sugar and
Sound Bakery dot com. You want to go there for
some awesome gluten free and dairy free baked goods. Final
thoughts from you, Paul, I just think that the it's
(38:09):
everything is scratch made, So I think the to emphasize
that everything's made to order. So you place an order,
the cutoff is each week on Wednesday. It's going to
get made that Friday and delivered to you that next
day or the same day, so everything's going to be fresh.
As people know, gluten free and dairy free items don't
last long. They last a couple of days, so you
(38:30):
know that I'm going to give you the freshest thing
I can do, whether it's going to be delivered that
day or picked up that same day or the next day.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
So I think that's the big thing I want to
emphasize is that everything's going to be fresh, everything's made
to order. It's not going to be sitting in the
fridge for a couple of days and then you're going
to order and pick it up. You're placing your order,
You're making it, and then I'm delivering it.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
I'm only making as much as people are ordering. I'm
not making abundance of stuff.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
And is it a hope of yours to someday move
into a location. No, I don't want to happy doing
what you're doing. I would do a food truck. I
wouldn't do I wouldn't do a berg problem to Marine
Woodman before you get.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
The truck, big stickler on a work ethic, and I
believe that nobody can match my work ethic if I
hired somebody, so I'd rather just do it myself.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I believe it. Maureene, you have a food truck.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
Say you I have a food truck.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
My advice to Paul is, if I was going to
do it again, because the truck is so expensive, I
would get myself a food trailer, which is really the
way to go for Paul to start. It's a smaller investment,
has the exact same delivery, same results, where you're going
to be completely in control. You can design it to
hold your food specific before you go out, invest in
(39:33):
the truck, and then all you need is a pickup
truck and a hinge and off you go.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You just thrive around and you have a pickup all
let's have you don't. I don't, but I'm looking for
a new car and I'm trying to get in before
the tariff, So we'll see how that goes, Okay, Maureene
Woodman's final thoughts.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
So my final final thought is this, if you're looking
for somewhere to bring your great grandmother, your grandmother, your husband,
your granddaughter, your children, and some friends, come to Woodman's.
You will have an absolutely wonderful time. The food is there,
the locations great, the yard is fabulous. We have all
kinds of fun stuff coming for the season, which really,
even though we're opening year around, it's Mother's Day to
(40:07):
Columbus Day, and my goal at Woodman's is really this.
I want you to drive away and say I can't
wait to come back, or I want you to drive
away and say I can't wait to tell my friend
about this place, because this thing is absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
You mentioned Mother's Day. Do you do something special on
Mother's Day?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
Mother's Day everyone gets a flower.
Speaker 4 (40:27):
That's what we do, and we'll have the largest lobsters
you could possibly get.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
But on Mother's Day we sell more lobster rolls and
on Father's Day we sell more.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Boiled And let me ask you, how come Father's Day
is not as big a deal as Mother's Day when
it comes to.
Speaker 5 (40:39):
Restaurants, Well, at Woodman's it is. It's in our top three.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Hear so at Woodman's it's always Mother's Day, Father's Day
and July third, those are the top three days at
Woodman's and depending on weather, they can all teether right
around the same exact money.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
You also have Easter coming up.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Anything big going on Easter will be ready to go.
We just put in a new POS system from our
friends at Toast, which are very Toast, very conducive to
the Beverly Farms area. That's where they come from, some
of the sales girls. So our goal right now is
to have the Toast system up and running because Easter
will be one of our really large days and it
(41:17):
happens to fall on kids Vacation week along with Patriots Day,
so it's gonna be a very weird fall.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
So we're going to have a.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
Busy Uh well, I always say, on Saturday before holiday,
we get the in laws. On the holiday, we get
the laws, and on the day after we're going to
have Patriots Day.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
So we're going to go all over quickly.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
The website all Things Woodman's.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Woodman's dot com, nice and simple www dot Woodman's dot com.
Phone number is best phone number nine seventy eight seven
six eight six four five one.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
And Paul, how about how they reachuce just through the
website It's Sugarinsound Bakery dot com or on the Instagram
which just Google it because it's way long. I couldn't
make up my mind. All right, we got to get
out of the way, you know. I up next to
is sixty minutes. You can't get in there where. It's
kind of a big show. Okay, sixty minutes up next.
We'll see you
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