Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week, we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
I'm here today with Chris a Mondola, chef and owner
of Forage, located on North Charles Street in Baltimore. Welcome
and thank you for being here. Tell me about how
you got started with the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I was actually looking to leave Baltimore, so I was
kind of burnt out on the Baltimore restaurant scene. I've
moved here in twenty thirty means it was like the
first time ever in my life. I really jumped from
job to job to job, and it was very frustrating
working with some of these owners and operators around here.
So I was actually looking to move back to DC.
(00:43):
I had worked in DC for a while and I
ended up talking to one of my chef friends that
had this little twenty six seat restaurant over in Hamden,
and he was like, oh, you know, I really want
you to take the restaurant because he was leaving to
go open another restaurant and he was trying to sell
it to me, you know, for like one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars and I was just at that point
(01:04):
in time, like I didn't really have any investors or
you know, that kind of capital or anything like that.
And you know, I talked to a couple of people
and tried to get some people to invest, and nobody
really wanted to invest, and you know, went back to
him and was like, look like, I can't you know,
I'm just not gonna be able to come up with
those funds and ended up talking to his investor for
(01:27):
his new restaurant. Make a long story short. He was
basically like, look here, I'll, you know, give you the restaurant.
You can pay me off as you go. You know,
I don't want any involvement in it. I don't want
anything to do with it. He failed, though, I'm taking
the restaurant back, and I was like, oh great. You know,
so I had got my hands on a restaurant, you know,
and I was like, well this is awesome, and didn't
(01:48):
have any working capital. So I ended up taking on
a couple credit cards and ended up opening the restaurant
with a couple of credit cards. And it was very,
very challenging, but more or less that's how we got
the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, well, tell everybody what is the story of Forge,
Like as far as your menu, what your philosophy is,
what the vision is. I'm looking at a lot of
these dishes and they just look amazing. What is the
concept of the restaurant?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, the concept of the restaurant is very We focus
on very seasonal foods. We strictly cook with the seasons.
We do a lot of forging, you know, for wild
products throughout the spring and summer and fall. We just
kind of base our menu off of, you know, what
the farmers and forgers have available. We kind of go
about things a little bit differently than a lot of
(02:41):
other restaurants still write their menu and then source the products.
We source the product and then write the menus. So
and then we just keep everything changing. I believe that
there's fifty two seasons a year, you know, and every
week has something new and something to be excited about.
Product comes in, brought, it goes out, and keep the
(03:02):
menu rotating.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I mean, would you consider this is just like a
farm to table restaurant? I mean, I know that's term
is used a lot. Would you consider it that, Yeah,
you could say it is. I hate that verbiage. So yeah, okay,
we're referred to us as that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
But when you have like large corporations talking about their
farming the table menu and then they have like pineapple
and mangos or whatever the case may be on it,
it's like, where did that come from? Around here? You know?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And so because you promoted as seasonal, you're saying the
menu is always changing, right, so you could go in
at any time and see all new different dishes throughout
the months throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh absolutely, If you were to come in one week
and then maybe two weeks later, there's definitely going to
be different things on the menu.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Is that a challenge running a restaurant as a chef,
as a staff, just having to updated all the time
or is it not as difficult as some people might
think because most restaurants they've got their standard standard menu.
They might roll in a couple of menu items in
and out throughout the year, but for the most part,
(04:14):
it stays the same. Is that a challenge to add
so many new dishes throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It can definitely be a challenge, you know, it forces
us to be creative. I mean, obviously we have those
like staple dishes. They come and go with the seasons,
you know, but then we fill in with like whatever
we're feeling that year, you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Know very much. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So what are your
most popular dishes there? Tell me it looks amazing. We're
going by the way, we're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say are probably two most popular dishes are
one we do a mushroom stew just kind of showcase
mushrooms as the season goes on. So it's like this
real nice, hearty stew. It's actually a wild dish. To me,
I never meant it to be kind of one of
our staple dishes, but it's one of those dishes that
stays on the I knew all year long. Yeah, And
I think the coolest time of year for that dish
(05:04):
is August or like late summer when all the wild
mushrooms are really in full full effect, because that dish
it changes so much throughout the year just based on
what wild mushrooms were getting without really ever changing, you know,
summer months, like we could have like up to seventeen
different from and mushrooms in this dish, and the flavor
(05:25):
of it is just there. There's nothing that I've ever
tasted that really compared to it, it's it's wild. And
then our other one is we do a mushroom crab cake.
It's kind of a play on a you know, traditional
Maryland crab cake, but we use Line's made mushroom rather
than crab because it has a very similar texture to crab.
(05:45):
The way we cook it, we give it a very
similar flavor profile. It kind of replicates a crab cake
without without having crab in it.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, it sounds delicious. Chris, you mentioned when you were
working in other restaurants it would frustrate you to to
work there with other chefs, with other owners. What was
it that you wanted to do that you wanted to
bring to your restaurant that wasn't happening when you were
just working for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I think it was more people's commitment to using local
and sustainable foods. It's obviously a lot more expensive to
deal with small farms and stuff like that, and you know,
they would say they wanted local, sustainable foods, but then
you know they would kind of backtrack on that, and
you know, it just wasn't wasn't what I was about.
You know, I think supporting those local farms is important
(06:34):
for the community, absolutely, the local farms.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So and how long has Forged been around? I didn't
get that part. When did you guys open?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We opened December of twenty seventeen, so about seven and
a half years now.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Very cool, very cool. And as you look ahead to
the future, and I assume things are going well now, yes, yeah, yeah,
going great, fantastic. So and where do you see the
future of Forge going And are there any do you
have any new initiatives or can you give me a
new insight on some new dishes coming?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
We're excited to be going into Well, we're in spring
right now. Spring is one of my favorite times a
year to cook summer, get tomatoes in here and all
the summer fruits and super excited about that. And got
a couple things in the pipeline that I can't really
talk about yet.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But yeah, So you're in Baltimore, North Charles Street.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Right yep, in station north seventeen oh nine North Charles Street.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And is there anything else you want our listeners to
know about your incredible restaurant?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Not off the top of my head, It's.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Okay, very cool. At what about socials? Where can they
find out more? Of course the website.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Instagram, Yeah, website is forged eatery dot com and then
Instagram is probably we're mainly most active and at Forge
dot eateriy.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Can't wait, man, We're gonna head there, my wife and
I and I'm sure everybody listening to try your delicious
organic food, natural food from the local farms. Can't wait.
Chris Amandola, chef and the owner are Forged. We are
there in Baltimore. Check out your food. Thank you for
your time, sir, Thank you. You've been listening to iHeartRadio's
Maryland Business Spotlight
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week, we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
I'm here today with Chris a Mondola, chef and owner
of Forage, located on North Charles Street in Baltimore. Welcome
and thank you for being here. Tell me about how
you got started with the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I was actually looking to leave Baltimore, so I was
kind of burnt out on the Baltimore restaurant scene. I've
moved here in twenty thirty means it was like the
first time ever in my life. I really jumped from
job to job to job, and it was very frustrating
working with some of these owners and operators around here.
So I was actually looking to move back to DC.
(00:43):
I had worked in DC for a while and I
ended up talking to one of my chef friends that
had this little twenty six seat restaurant over in Hamden,
and he was like, oh, you know, I really want
you to take the restaurant because he was leaving to
go open another restaurant and he was trying to sell
it to me, you know, for like one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars and I was just at that point
(01:04):
in time, like I didn't really have any investors or
you know, that kind of capital or anything like that.
And you know, I talked to a couple of people
and tried to get some people to invest, and nobody
really wanted to invest, and you know, went back to
him and was like, look like, I can't you know,
I'm just not gonna be able to come up with
those funds and ended up talking to his investor for
(01:27):
his new restaurant. Make a long story short. He was
basically like, look here, I'll, you know, give you the restaurant.
You can pay me off as you go. You know,
I don't want any involvement in it. I don't want
anything to do with it. He failed, though, I'm taking
the restaurant back, and I was like, oh great. You know,
so I had got my hands on a restaurant, you know,
and I was like, well this is awesome, and didn't
(01:48):
have any working capital. So I ended up taking on
a couple credit cards and ended up opening the restaurant
with a couple of credit cards. And it was very,
very challenging, but more or less that's how we got
the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, well, tell everybody what is the story of Forge,
Like as far as your menu, what your philosophy is,
what the vision is. I'm looking at a lot of
these dishes and they just look amazing. What is the
concept of the restaurant?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, the concept of the restaurant is very We focus
on very seasonal foods. We strictly cook with the seasons.
We do a lot of forging, you know, for wild
products throughout the spring and summer and fall. We just
kind of base our menu off of, you know, what
the farmers and forgers have available. We kind of go
about things a little bit differently than a lot of
(02:41):
other restaurants still write their menu and then source the products.
We source the product and then write the menus. So
and then we just keep everything changing. I believe that
there's fifty two seasons a year, you know, and every
week has something new and something to be excited about.
Product comes in, brought, it goes out, and keep the
(03:02):
menu rotating.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I mean, would you consider this is just like a
farm to table restaurant? I mean, I know that's term
is used a lot. Would you consider it that, Yeah,
you could say it is. I hate that verbiage. So yeah, okay,
we're referred to us as that.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
But when you have like large corporations talking about their
farming the table menu and then they have like pineapple
and mangos or whatever the case may be on it,
it's like, where did that come from? Around here? You know?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And so because you promoted as seasonal, you're saying the
menu is always changing, right, so you could go in
at any time and see all new different dishes throughout
the months throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh absolutely, If you were to come in one week
and then maybe two weeks later, there's definitely going to
be different things on the menu.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Is that a challenge running a restaurant as a chef,
as a staff, just having to updated all the time
or is it not as difficult as some people might
think because most restaurants they've got their standard standard menu.
They might roll in a couple of menu items in
and out throughout the year, but for the most part,
(04:14):
it stays the same. Is that a challenge to add
so many new dishes throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It can definitely be a challenge, you know, it forces
us to be creative. I mean, obviously we have those
like staple dishes. They come and go with the seasons,
you know, but then we fill in with like whatever
we're feeling that year, you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Know very much. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So what are your
most popular dishes there? Tell me it looks amazing. We're
going by the way, we're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say are probably two most popular dishes are
one we do a mushroom stew just kind of showcase
mushrooms as the season goes on. So it's like this
real nice, hearty stew. It's actually a wild dish. To me,
I never meant it to be kind of one of
our staple dishes, but it's one of those dishes that
stays on the I knew all year long. Yeah, And
I think the coolest time of year for that dish
(05:04):
is August or like late summer when all the wild
mushrooms are really in full full effect, because that dish
it changes so much throughout the year just based on
what wild mushrooms were getting without really ever changing, you know,
summer months, like we could have like up to seventeen
different from and mushrooms in this dish, and the flavor
(05:25):
of it is just there. There's nothing that I've ever
tasted that really compared to it, it's it's wild. And
then our other one is we do a mushroom crab cake.
It's kind of a play on a you know, traditional
Maryland crab cake, but we use Line's made mushroom rather
than crab because it has a very similar texture to crab.
(05:45):
The way we cook it, we give it a very
similar flavor profile. It kind of replicates a crab cake
without without having crab in it.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, it sounds delicious. Chris, you mentioned when you were
working in other restaurants it would frustrate you to to
work there with other chefs, with other owners. What was
it that you wanted to do that you wanted to
bring to your restaurant that wasn't happening when you were
just working for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I think it was more people's commitment to using local
and sustainable foods. It's obviously a lot more expensive to
deal with small farms and stuff like that, and you know,
they would say they wanted local, sustainable foods, but then
you know they would kind of backtrack on that, and
you know, it just wasn't wasn't what I was about.
You know, I think supporting those local farms is important
(06:34):
for the community, absolutely, the local farms.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So and how long has Forged been around? I didn't
get that part. When did you guys open?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We opened December of twenty seventeen, so about seven and
a half years now.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Very cool, very cool. And as you look ahead to
the future, and I assume things are going well now, yes, yeah, yeah,
going great, fantastic. So and where do you see the
future of Forge going And are there any do you
have any new initiatives or can you give me a
new insight on some new dishes coming?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
We're excited to be going into Well, we're in spring
right now. Spring is one of my favorite times a
year to cook summer, get tomatoes in here and all
the summer fruits and super excited about that. And got
a couple things in the pipeline that I can't really
talk about yet.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But yeah, So you're in Baltimore, North Charles Street.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Right yep, in station north seventeen oh nine North Charles Street.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And is there anything else you want our listeners to
know about your incredible restaurant?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Not off the top of my head, It's.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Okay, very cool. At what about socials? Where can they
find out more? Of course the website.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Instagram, Yeah, website is forged eatery dot com and then
Instagram is probably we're mainly most active and at Forge
dot eateriy.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Can't wait, man, We're gonna head there, my wife and
I and I'm sure everybody listening to try your delicious
organic food, natural food from the local farms. Can't wait.
Chris Amandola, chef and the owner are Forged. We are
there in Baltimore. Check out your food. Thank you for
your time, sir, Thank you. You've been listening to iHeartRadio's
Maryland Business Spotlight
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