November 4, 2025 • 53 mins
The Banter
The Guys look a gift horse in the mouth….and it was delicious!
The Conversations
The Restaurant Guys catch up with more fun people at the Southern Smoke Festival 2025 in Houston, TX in their third episode recorded on location
Joaquin Rodas’s passion was ignited by his work in Chicago and being inspired by some great New Orleans chefs, he made his way to Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits in New Orleans where wine paired with great food and music elevate the experience.
Colby Rasavong is the Executive Chef of Bad Idea, an East Nashville restaurant serving Lao-French cuisine that was named one of the Best Restaurants in America by the New York Times in 2024 and a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in the 2025 James Beard Awards.
Caroline Schiff is an award-winning Chef and cookbook author based in Brooklyn, NY. She was named a Food and Wine Best New Chef ’22 and is a James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef Finalist. She is currently working on writing her second cookbook Daily Dessert with aspirations to bring her first restaurant to life- a classic diner.
Lee Anne Wong is an acclaimed chef, restaurateur, and TV personality best known for her standout run on Top Chef (Season 1) and her culinary leadership in destination-worthy kitchens from New York to Hawaiʻi.
After early roles at culinary icons like Jean-Georges and Melia Meliá, she helped launch the original Top Chef empire as a supervising culinary producer.
Lee Anne later moved to Hawaiʻi, where she opened the popular Koko Head Café.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mark (00:59):
Hello everybody and welcome.
You are listening to theRestaurant Guys.
I'm Mark Pascal and I'm herewith Francis Shot.
Together we own stage left incapital Lombardi restaurants in
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
We're here to bring you theinside track on food, wine, and
the.
Francis (01:12):
Finer things in life and the inside track is what we
will be bringing you today.
This is the third and finalinstallment of the shows that we
recorded in person down atHouston at the Southern Smoke
Festival It was a tremendous,tremendous experience for us,
and we talked to some great guyswho coming up later in the show.
We have Joaquin Rodas.
(01:33):
He owns Bachanal Fine WineSpirits in New Orleans.
It is a liquor store.
Come, restaurant come.
They don't have any fuckingrules in New Orleans.
So that's what they have thereand it's super awesome music.
Have a great time.
We have Colby Rasavong who ownsBad Idea, my favorite named
Restaurant of all time.
That's a Lao restaurant inNashville of all places.
He said, Lao Bet you didn't knowwhether there was a Lao
(01:55):
restaurant in Nashville.
Uh, Caroline Schiff.
her book is Daily Dessert.
It's in the works.
It'll be out soon.
Uh, and she's gonna open a dinerin New York City and we talked
to her all the way down inHouston, Texas.
And Leanne Wong of, uh, top ChefFame, she's a partner at at
Cocoa Head Cafe in Honolulu, inHawaii.
Uh, she also had a restaurantthat was affected by the recent
fire, a super interestingconversation with her, and we
(02:17):
hope you stay tuned for thoseguys.
But in the meantime, you have toput up with us for just a few
more minutes.
Well, I, I wanna start outtoday, if that's all right with
you, Francis.
one of the things that Francisand I really enjoy is we enjoy
going out to other restaurants.
And so you'll hear anecdotes onthis show of us going out to
other restaurants and some ofthe things we see and, and don't
see, and of course, things thathappen to us in our own
(02:39):
restaurants, but.
Last night I went out to arestaurant here in New Jersey.
That was lovely.
It was really just Okay.
We had a lovely time, great timewith friends.
The, the wait staff was great.
it was just a lovely afternoonat this restaurant when a guy
your size says lovely.
It's a little bit weird, I gottabe honest with you.
It's just a little odd, but goahead.
(02:59):
It was lovely, but lovely.
I get it.
I get it.
You know, we had, we had somewine, we had some cocktails.
Everything was, everything wasvery good.
a, it's an Italian restaurant,and this, they have this great
Amaro list.
Oh yeah, Amaro.
Okay.
So, you know, I, I love Amma andFrancis and I have a new
favorite oh, Amma cocktail.
It's funny, I talked about thislast night as well at the
(03:20):
restaurant I went to.
Please finish your story.
I got one.
Go ahead.
So.
I look at their tomorrow listand this, this drink that we
love is called the Shake Rado.
We had it at Jackrabbit Phillydown in in Charleston the last
time we were there.
Awesome.
Drink.
Delicious, by the way, we'vebeen drinking tomorrow for
years.
Never did it.
And, and it's like you're, it'slike that restaurant around the
corner from me that you neverwent to for years, and you're
(03:40):
like, why did I never come here?
It is amazing.
So.
It.
They don't have bra, right?
So I tell everybody at the tableabout the Shake Rado, and I'm
like, ah, you know, we've doneit with other Amara.
Let's explain what a Shake radois.
Okay.
So basically you just take acold bottle of of Braulio and
put it over ice and shake thecrap out of it, and then just
(04:01):
pour it back out into a martiniglass.
It's a martini glass on Nick.
And, and Braley is veryspecific.
It has the right amount, it hasa certain little bit of sugar.
It's got the right amount ofbitter and it's got kind of an
alpine nose to Yeah, verytininess to it.
F and so, because it's got theright amount of sugar and cons,
it has a little forms.
It looks like an espressomartini.
You got that little foam on thetop and it doesn't work with
(04:22):
other things except for Browley.
Uh, it, uh, we tried it withlike five other tomorrow and it
didn't work anyway, so theydon't have Rollo on the list.
Yep.
Okay.
So I'm like, ah, sorry guys.
I was gonna show you this coolthing.
I can't show you this coolthing.
So we order dessert, we ordercoffee, blah, blah, blah.
The waiter comes out.
Now, I don't know if heoverheard me and I don't think
(04:43):
he did.
Okay.
Uhhuh with a bottle of brow Leoand six shots of brow Leo for
us.
What?
What?
I thought they didn't have it.
They didn't.
He's like, oh, we have thisgreat tomorrow.
I wanted you to try.
He didn't hear what you said.
So now.
I do a little double take, andmy friend said, the expression
on my face was one of like, wow,hooray.
(05:05):
And one of, oh, should I ask?
And did you, what do you think?
I know you, I know you wellenough.
So you had shake her autos lastnight.
So I said, so, I said, would youmind just taking these and
shaking'em really hard and, and,and bringing him back.
And for the next 15 minutes, myfriends who are also your
friends by the way.
Yeah.
(05:25):
Said, just sat, I wasn'tinvited.
Everyone should know.
Just, just sat there and said.
Oh, let me see if I can retellthis story.
So the waiter comes over, bringsMark a free thing.
He says Not good enough.
So I, I That's great.
So they spent the next 15minutes making me feel like a
douche or making them shake the,the bra.
(05:47):
But it was, but did they loveit?
It, of course, they loved it.
It's spectacular, spectacular.
But it was one of those momentsof.
I know this is a little douchey.
Yeah, I know it's a littledouchey.
Yeah, but, but we have thismoment in time.
We have to have it.
And so we had it and we had ourshake Rados and everybody now is
in love with Shake Rados and thewaiters in love with Shake
(06:08):
Rados, and I'm a little bit of adouche.
Unbeknownst to you, last nightwe went out with our friends,
Corey and Megan and other of ourfriends that That you're your
friends to?
Yep.
Corey and Megan.
We met Ed and my sisterFrancine.
Well then I went out withAnthony and Theresa.
And Kevin Charlotte because ifyou're gonna say all their
names, I'm gonna say all mynames.
Lets.
Split, let's switch next week.
(06:28):
So we went to San Patricio,which is Jack McGarry's
restaurant in Jersey City.
Fantastic Bar restaurant.
We had a great time.
And then afterwards we went tovisit our friends at the Archer.
Great bar, the Archer Bar, andthey usually have bra.
So I went with our friends whohad also never had a shake.
Rado, Uhhuh crazy, probably atthe exact same moment.
(06:49):
I went by the bar and I said tothe bartender, who's also a
friend, I said, um, I can't sayhis name'cause Marco yell at me.
Um, and I, I said, uh, I won'tyell, but I'll make fun of you
as our friends.
Mercilessly made fun of me lastnight, so, so I said, do you
have any brow, Leo?
And they were.
Out of Lio.
Ah.
And he said, well, why do you,can I bring another marrow?
I'm like, nah, maybe it mightwork with others.
(07:09):
But I, I, it doesn't work withmany and it works with Lio.
I wanna have Shake Rado.
He's like, what's a shake?
Rado?
And I told him, so we had asimilar experience except you
got your shake Rados and Ididn't, and I, and you were at a
place that normally has it.
And I was at a place thatdoesn't have it.
Yeah, that's wild.
Crazy world.
Very, very interesting.
Uh, shake Auto Land out thereor, alright, so here's what
you've learned as we're on ourway into the festival in Houston
(07:31):
where you will learn so muchmore at Southern Smoke for our
final episode, shake Rado Brow,Leo Romero, which is one of the
more expensive ams, but it's,it's an expensive bottle of
America.
You can sub in other ones.
It is really a lovely thing forthe waiter to bring us.
It's, it's, and just throw insome of.
Shake the hell out of it andstrain it off like it's an
espresso martini or something.
You'll be shocked as we were.
(07:52):
I promise.
You'll be shocked.
Yeah.
And again, that was JackrabbitPhilly, where, where we had it
the first time.
It was really good.
Awesome.
And also Archer Bar and uh, SanTric in Jersey City.
You now have some barrecommendations from the
restaurant guys.
So go there, support ourfriends.
and you can always find out moreabout
us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
We'll be back in just a momentwhere you're gonna hear us down
in Houston, Texas.
the-restaurant-guys_4_10-04 (08:13):
Hey guys, though we are in downtown
Houston, we found yet anotherowner, bar owner.
Chef owner, interesting guy fromuh, new Orleans.
Joaquin Rodasas is the foundingchef and managing partner of
Bachanal Fine Wines and Spiritsin New Orleans.
It's an interesting story andhe's here to tell it to us
today, and a really good name.
Yeah, Baal.
Great.
It's a really great name.
(08:33):
I can't take credit for thename.
All right.
It's a fantastic name.
Alright, so tell us the originstory of Bachanal and you're, I
mean, everybody pretends to be amodern day speakeasy, right?
You were a, a speakeasy forreal.
Like the cops turned up andstuff on a Friday night.
Is that a problem?
On a Friday night at 8:30 PM I,I didn't even know the health
department worked on a Fridaynight at 8:00 PM I, especially
(08:55):
in New Orleans, I mean, youknow, who works overtime in New
Orleans?
Yeah, absolutely.
Or you made somebody mad who youweren't supposed to make mad.
Well, so tell us what happenedand, and how you became the
savior of the neighborhood andthe bane of the local police.
So, Boal started out our, ourfounder, uh, and spiritual still
to this day really.
Uh, who drives a lot of the,the, the aesthetic decisions is
(09:17):
our, our, unfortunately, hepassed away our founder Chris
Rudge.
So he, he got a bug, uh, he gota bug under his belt.
He wanted to open a wine shop, a29-year-old kid, not the usual
career path for a 29-year-old,800 square foot, um, wine shop.
And that's what it was for avery long time.
And then Hurricane Katrina.
(09:39):
Knocked a shed in the backyarddown and the neighborhood kind
of, uh, really, uh, got behind.
Chris helped him clean it up.
And one of the neighbors was alandscape architect and said,
you know what?
I got some trees.
I'm gonna help you here.
I got some trees.
Wait, so was he, was, was theoriginal wine shop damaged
significantly in, at, in thestorm at all?
(09:59):
So it escaped the ravages ofHurricane Katrina.
So Bachanal is in, uh, abuilding that was built in 1809.
It's one of the St Sturdiestbuildings in the entire, uh, new
Orleans.
I think.
It's a really old building.
Um, so yeah, that building wasunscathed.
Uh, it was like a, a carport inthe back.
A humongous carport.
Collapse got cleaned out.
Uh, people had always wanted togo in the backyard and smoke
(10:20):
weed mm-hmm.
While they're drinking wine.
But now, you know, it gotlandscaped.
People brought over tables.
The neighborhood really kind oflike chipped in and it was like,
Hey, I got this stuff I wasgonna throw away, but I just
bring it over here and everybodyjust hang.
It just turned into a hangout.
A lot of musicians in NewOrleans after Katrina,
specifically, the bars andrestaurants that they had gigs
at were not open.
(10:41):
Right.
So they needed somewhere to gobus and.
Bachanal on Sunday nights wasthe place to go.
And same with chefs that therestaurants weren't open yet, so
they would pop up in thebackyard.
So this is a wine shop.
It's a wine shop.
And I don't really mean to likeparse the little edges of the
law here.
Yeah.
But as far as I know, wine shopsaren't really allowed to.
(11:03):
Open the bottles of wine andsend people in the backyard with
the band.
Is that correct?
Yeah.
They're also not allowed to lettheir patrons smoke weed in the
back either.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh, no, no, absolutely.
I like you guys, by the way.
I'm telling you right now.
No, we, um, it's funny'cause I,I was one of those pop-up chefs.
I was a friend of Chris'sbefore.
I had my own establishment downthe road and he was, we were
really good friends.
We were the only 20 somethingswith establishments and so we
(11:26):
were dear friends.
after Katrina.
We just ran into each other andhe said, why don't you start
popping up, uh, in the backyardof Buck?
And I said, great.
So what would you, would youbring a grill and just grill in
the backyard?
Huh?
Or did they have kitchenfacilities or No, no, no, no.
What kinds of food?
Anything anybody wanted.
It really was like, uh, a reallyfree place for a chef to like,
(11:46):
if, if you worked at a burgerjoint, but you really loved
French food.
That was your popup.
And that was one of the bestthings about Oh, that's cool.
The setup there.
It was.
And so he sold the wine and thechefs took the money for the
food.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's, I bought it, boughtme a pickup truck one day, you
know, I was gonna say, you knowwhat that's called?
That's called the partnership?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what it's called.
You know what else?
It's called a fucking party.
(12:07):
That's, that's called And you'retalking about New Orleans here.
Those people know how to party.
Yeah.
So, I'm sorry, where'd you saythat?
A pickup truck one, uh, it wasTales of the Cocktail, which is
a, uh, cocktail convention.
Oh yeah.
New Orleans pretty big.
Yeah, we box.
So, um.
I picked the Sunday of Tales,which is the last day of tales.
Wow.
On purpose.
'cause I knew there was a lotof, I, I made so much money.
I bought a pickup truck in cashfrom that one.
(12:28):
That's awesome.
Pop up.
What year was that?
That was in 2010.
I'm only mad because we were atTales in 2010 and we didn't know
about your party.
If you do that again, when youdo that again, you have to let
us know.
this goes on for how long beforethe cops turn up and shut you
down you know, post Katrina2006, 2009, 10, that's when I
come on board.
And that's when we move it fromjust one night a week to five
(12:50):
nights a week.
Uh oh.
And that's when it starts to getmore notoriety.
The mayor came.
Two weeks before we got shutdown.
Um, and so once we're, you know,we're feeding 200 people a night
and, um, you know, on a Friday,8:30 PM uh, almost, almost
locked arm, arm to arm, uh,NOPD, quality of life officer
(13:13):
with the police officer health,uh, state health department, and
a fire marshal.
Altogether all together showedup, you know, showed with
cameras and because you werebreaking all those different
laws.
Well, that's what I found out.
That's it.
Yeah.
We weren't actually licensed tohave any live entertainment.
Mm-hmm.
By then we had band five nightsa week.
Wow.
Uh, I had a full kitchenprogram, uh, you know, six
(13:36):
nights a week.
We were cooking for up to 200people a night.
I, we didn't have a license forpreparation, or kitchen was not
licensed at all.
Uh, and so they, you know, wehad to go get legal.
It took about eight months andthe interim.
So you were close for eightmonths?
No, actually, so my job, uh,kind of took it back to the old
school.
And actually at the time, um,food trucks were really starting
(13:58):
to Yeah.
Kind of come in into their ownin New Orleans.
So I said, you know what, we cansell a lot of wine as long as
there's food.
So we invited our friends thathad food trucks Oh, that's
great.
To pop up there.
And then every once in a whileI'd rent one from them and I'd
cook and mm-hmm.
So, yeah, it, we just kind oftry to keep the party going.
That was the name of the gamewas just keep the party going.
So when, when, listen, the nameof the game in the restaurant
(14:18):
business is keep the partygoing.
Yeah.
So when, right.
That's what we gotta do.
That's what we do through everymajor disaster in our lives.
Keep the party going.
Absolutely.
So when did you get legal in2011?
Late 2011.
Took us about eight months.
we have a fully licensed, we arenow the poster children, like
the city shows us as an exampleof compliance, and we have every
(14:42):
license you can think of now,right?
We have a catering lake license,catering, food license,
on-premise, off-premise.
Everything every we are, we'reso legal.
It's not even funny anymore.
Well, and so tell us about theparty today.
we really wanted to have you onbecause I think it's a really
interesting concept.
So it's still, you're servingfood, but you are a wine store,
but you're still a bar.
Absolutely.
How does it work?
(15:02):
What's it like to visit yourplace?
So when you walk through, you'regonna come in through the wine
shop, uhhuh.
You're gonna come into about an800 square foot, uh, So all the
windows are blocked in, it's abrick building and a very old
brick building.
So it feels like you went into acellar, uh, even though you're
at ground level.
Mm-hmm.
About four to 500 selections ofwine are gonna be all displayed
on the walls.
(15:23):
You're gonna grab your bottle ofwine.
Somebody's gonna guide you.
There's a refrigerator withcheeses where you pick your own
cheeses.
If you want a cheese plate or acharcuterie plate, pick it out.
You pay for everything at thecounter.
We give you a number, and wesay, please go out back and pick
a table.
Everything is first.
Come, first serve.
There's no servers.
It's all counter service.
(15:43):
So you pick your bottle of wineas well.
From the, from the, absolutely.
Who buys the wine?
Do you have a serious winebuyer?
Are you serious about wine?
What's the look story there?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Our, our, some are.
Wine buyer, director of our wineprogram, uh, Katie Singer.
She's actually here, maning thetent right now pouring wine.
Ah, because you're not, yeah.
Yeah.
So she's over there manning thetent and, uh, she's fantastic.
She's been with us for eightyears and awesome.
(16:05):
We're very, very blessed to havesome, the most amazing wine
professionals in the countryreally working with us because
we're kind of like a reallychill place where you can have
fun with that.
And what are you doing here atSouthern Smoke?
How'd this happen?
I mean, huge, huge fan of Chris,uh, shepherd and obviously his
wife, uh, Lindsay and, uh,Caroline s is a really good
(16:26):
friend of mine.
She works for Southern Smoke aswell.
Mm-hmm.
She's lived in New Orleans foryears.
Um, and she connected, uh, sheconnected us and I've been like,
just like very impressed withthe amount of outreach and, and
how much energy and intentionthey put behind supporting our
industry.
And they just keep finding newand better ways to support.
(16:47):
Our service industry.
And it's something that's like,you know, very kind of left,
we're left to our own devices ina lot of ways and they, they do
an amazing job of bringing ourflight to the, the world and
having them donate money to helpus.
Right.
So.
Awesome.
Well that's, that's great.
It is.
It has been a pleasure meetingyou here today.
Thanks.
Excited, uh, this event isspectacular.
(17:08):
We're gonna talk to Chris inactually just a few minutes.
Well, uh, when you're in NewOrleans, you should visit Akana.
It's a hello party and a greatplace to pick up a bottle of
wine.
Joaquin, thanks for talking tous.
My pleasure guys.
Thank you so much for nicechatting with you.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks very much.
Really good talking.
Take care.
That was fun.
the-restaurant-guys_3_10- (17:23):
Well, the great chefs keep rolling in
here in Houston, Texas.
Uh, but they're not all fromTexas.
Colby Rasavong is executive chefat Bad Idea, uh, wine focused
restaurant in East Nashville.
he was named Food of Wine's,best New Chef's 2025 class and
it's a pretty interestingrestaurant, so we really wanted
to get you into talk about it.
Yeah, totally welcome.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Super excited.
(17:43):
So you are Laotian.
Yes.
And your restaurant has Loatianinfluences?
It does.
Has a lot.
A lot.
Never been to a Laotianrestaurant.
Can you tell us about the Foodof Laos and how it expresses
itself in bad idea?
Great name, by the way.
For a restaurant or terrible?
Either.
Either a great name or, or aterrible name, just so you know.
If your restaurant sucks, it's aterrible name.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If your restaurant's great.
(18:04):
It's a fantastic name.
Yeah.
So good.
Good on you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's actually been, uh, a giftand a curse.
You know?
It, it's, I never thought I'd bewalking down the street and
people would just yell, Hey,your bad idea.
That's great.
Uh, but yeah, the restaurant inLao Food, you know, when we
started the restaurant, we weretalking about the food I wanted
to cook.
You know, I was, I was homesickat that point in time.
(18:24):
And, you know, I, I spent myentire career working in French
kitchens, Southern kitchens,and.
Cooking other people's food and,and, and I had a chance to
finally cook my own.
And, you know, we had to deepdive into it.
And, and the flavors that Imissed the most were the ones I
grew up eating as a kid.
And a lot of those flavors aresimilar to, you know, the area
around it.
You know, Laos is very coolbecause it's landlocked just
like Tennessee, where I'm at.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, you know where we gotCambodia, Thailand, China.
(18:46):
Vietnam, uh, over there.
So you have a little bit ofinfluence from all of those
little, countries and regions.
So it makes something that'skind of like the powerhouse of
it all.
You have the sour, the umami,the, the saltiness and, and the
balance of it all.
It's a very rich, cuisine.
what would you say defines Laocuisine?
that makes it distinct fromthose other cuisines around the
area?
Mm-hmm.
(19:06):
So when you, when you reallykind of deep dive into it,
you'll notice, you know, Thaicuisine is a little bit sweeter
in certain regions, whereasCambodian's a little bit sour.
Uh, Vietnam is very punchy withtheir fish sauce.
In Laos, it's, it's morerounded, you know, it's, it's,
it's more of a palette of like achef, the cuisine is you get
everything.
Uh, as opposed to just asingular, uh, so everything in
every dish kind of thing, youget all those components in
(19:28):
every dish.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
why Nashville, Tennessee and isthere, a Lao population in
Nashville that was there tosupport you or are you bringing
this to.
People who've never seen itbefore and intRodasucing people
to novel stuff.
Uh, it's a little bit of both.
You know, what we do at therestaurant, uh, isn't something
I've ever really seen anywhere.
You know, we have a lot ofFrench influence, uh, with I can
(19:48):
you background?
I've been to a lot ofrestaurants.
I've never seen it anywhere, soI, I'm eager to try it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, you know.
Uh, in Nashville or outside ofNashville?
There's Murfreesboro, which hasthe second largest LA population
in the country.
Okay.
Ah, so it was actually home forme.
You know, when I came back itwas, it was coming home and I
was excited to give themsomething that, is that where
you're from?
Exactly.
Okay.
So you, so you leave Tennessee,you go to Charleston.
(20:10):
Mm-hmm.
You work for Husk, you work fora couple other places?
I do in Charleston.
Why come, why did he come backto Tennessee?
What, what pulled you back?
Actually, you know, I, I workedfor Sean Brock for a long time.
in 2020 I moved back to help himopen his restaurant Audrey, in
June.
Okay.
And so when I was there, youknow, I was noticing the boom
that Nashville was having and I,I really wanted to have my own
footprint in that city becauseit gave me so much.
(20:32):
That's great.
Yeah.
Was it a bold move?
I assume there are Laorestaurants in Murfreesboro
mm-hmm.
And around Tennessee that are,that are patronized by Lao
patrons, right?
Mm-hmm.
Um, you have basically anAmerican restaurant heavily
influenced with your LAOinfluences.
Mm-hmm.
Um, was that.
Are people surprised by that?
Is that like a, a seen as a newthing there or how, how did the
(20:54):
people react when you did that?
You know, it was, it was, it wasvery scary, right?
Because it is a new thing.
No one's really doing it, sothere's no one for me to really
lean on or ask questions beyond,you know, the, the normal
restaurant things.
Uh, but when it came to thefood, I was, I was really
surprised and overwhelmed at thereception that we had.
You know, we, we had Laofamilies that came in and, you
know, they understood what, theycouldn't recognize what was on
(21:14):
the plate, but they understoodwhere we were going.
You know, we've had guests crybecause they, they now see, you
know, a role model for theirchildren.
Because, you know, for me, whenI was growing up, you didn't see
Lao chefs.
You didn't see Lao movie stars.
Right.
You didn't, you didn't seeanybody that you could look up
to.
Um, and so when they come in,they see that for their children
and know that there's a betterpath forward for us.
Um, and then Americans come inand they eat the food and you
(21:35):
know, they recognize what itlooks like, but then they eat it
and they don't reallyunderstand.
They're like, what the hell isthat?
So they're, the food looksAmerican, but tastes la Exactly.
Yep.
Or vice versa.
Or vice versa.
It'll look Lao and taste veryAmerican in a way.
That's wild.
Yeah.
and a lot of these restaurantsthat we're interviewing chefs
on, we've been to theirrestaurants.
Mm.
What, is it a fine dining vibe?
Is it a, is it more communityvibe?
Is there, is, does beverage playa role in your, in your
(21:56):
restaurant?
Um, no.
It's a, it's a very casual, uh,relaxed atmosphere.
We have a very large space.
Uh, we're in a renovated church.
Um, so we, we wanted to makesure that everybody felt
comfortable coming in.
You have tables where you canhave, you know, a nice dinner
that's a little bit more quietand secluded for, you know, you
and your guests.
But then, you know, there's agreat lounge area where you can
have small bites and, you know,just really turn up and, and
have fun with, you know, acouple bottles of really
(22:18):
delicious wine.
Old banks and old churches.
Yeah.
Make some of the best restaurantspaces in the country.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I just, there's justsomething about it.
Yeah.
(24:15):
So listen, we wanna, we want toask, especially the chefs who've
come to Houston from far away.
Mm-hmm.
Um, kind of as final question.
What brought you to be involvedin this festival?
What's your relationship withSouthern Smoke?
Why are you here today?
Yeah, well this was, you know,uh, like you said earlier, I was
very fortunate to win, uh, bestnew chef for food and wine this
year.
And, you know, they have thebest new chefs come, uh, and do
(24:36):
this festival.
They have us do, uh, food andwine in Aspen.
So I felt like it was anobligation, but I'm very excited
to be here.
because of the great impact thatI'm seeing and, you know, I'm
learning so much about thefoundation that I never really
knew, uh, before.
Awesome.
Well, it's been a pleasure totalk to you and, uh, I want to
want to get to Tennessee to tryyour restaurant.
Amazing.
Please, please.
Come on on.
(24:56):
Yeah, Colby, it's great.
Very nice to meet you, sir.
Pleasure.
Nice to meet you guys.
Thanks.
Thanks for chatting with us,brother.
Yes, of course.
Thank you guys.
Yeah,
the-restaurant-guys_4_10- (25:03):
Let's see here.
We are back again.
This time, not on the savoryside.
We have a pastry chef with us.
We have come all the way fromBrooklyn, New York and New
Brunswick, New Jersey to meet upin Houston, Texas with Caroline
Schiff.
She's an award-winning chef incookbook author based in
Brooklyn.
She was named Food and Wine'sBest New, uh, chef in 22.
Is that right?
Yep.
Best new Chef in 22.
An outstanding pastry chef.
(25:24):
Finalist.
she was at Gage in Tollner for along time and she's currently
writing a new cookbook, which weare excited to hear all about.
Yes, yes.
Caroline, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me.
This is so fun.
What brings you all the way fromBrooklyn down here?
I could say the same thing aboutus in Jersey, but how did you
end up here?
Mean?
You know, Southern Smoke is anincredible organization.
Chris Shepherd, I've known for acouple years now and like what
(25:48):
he does and what the.
Organization does is incredibleand so crucial Yeah.
For our restaurant communityand, um, now more than ever,
frankly, now more than ever.
And when he's like, Hey, youwanna do this every year?
I'm like, absolutely.
So what are you doing down here?
So today I'm actually doing a.
(26:10):
Demo on the Yeti stage, which isgonna be super fun.
It's taking place at six 30 ifyou guys can get away.
What are you demoing?
I am making a giant bakedAlaska.
How giant?
Ah, like, like yay big.
Like around like, your arms canhardly get your arms around it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a, I like that.
Yeah.
(26:30):
So Baked Alaska was one of yourwe'll call signatures at Cajun
Tollner, right?
Yes.
So tell us what, what made itthat and why you thought that
was such an important dessert todo there?
Um, well, you know, gage andTollner, uh, if you know it, and
for people who are not familiar,this is a, legendary New York,
steak and chophouse.
Yeah, the oysters, the, theSteakhouse of Brooklyn is Gage
(26:52):
and Tollner.
Well, hundreds, 150 years old.
Close for a little while back,going back to like, you know,
the original one was like 1870s,and you know, the current
location opened in the 1890s.
and operated until, uh, 2004, Ibelieve.
(27:12):
2004 is correct.
Um, good.
Yes, I got my, got my trivia,um, when it shut down, but the
place was totally preservedbecause it's a landmarked
interior.
and what was your role when,when you went in there?
So I was the executive pastrychef.
And, um, the partners who ownit, they did this incredible job
just restoring it, bringing itback to its can.
(27:34):
Can you talk to me aboutcrowdfunding, opening a new
restaurant?
What's up with that?
I, well, so I, I haven't doneit, I mean, G had toner.
That was part of the formula,right?
Were Yeah.
Yeah.
They, the partners did crowdfundfor that.
And I think, um, you know,raising money for restaurants is
very difficult.
And I think that, um, also, likethis event proves as well as
(27:58):
that, the general public, thecommunity, they get very excited
about restaurants.
They really wanna be a part ofit.
Yes.
So you can take in smallerchunks of money if you opened,
open it up to the general publicand you know, it can get you, it
can get you what you need.
So, that work to g in Tollnerand it also, um, really engaged
(28:20):
the community.
Mm-hmm.
So people were very excited andthey really got like, excited
about like the history of it.
it really became this restaurantthat was really part of like,
you know, the, the neighborhoodas somebody who was going to
Brooklyn, you know, 40 Sundays ayear for my entire childhood,
gage and Toner was one of thoserestaurants that was Yeah.
Was and is again, iconic.
(28:41):
Yeah.
and so you come in as pastrychef, what do you do there?
Yeah.
so I was, there for the openingand, um, we were supposed to
open March, 2020.
Mm-hmm.
So that didn't happen.
so it got pushed, until indoordining was loud in New York
again, which was April, 2021.
So we had kind of like gotten tothe point where we were about to
(29:03):
open and then the city shutdown.
So there was this, this.
Period of like, oh my God, likewe did all of this work and, and
then just lights out.
Um, but so when we were able toopen, it was like so joyful, so
exciting.
And, the menu that I came upwith, I tried to really think
(29:28):
about, You know, the history ofthe restaurant looked at old
menus, and, I really wanted to,do it justice and really be
informed by those old menus.
And also just like the era thatit, you know, was established.
So Victorian era, like, what wasgoing on?
(29:50):
So how did you do that?
What did you put on the menu?
So the baked Alaska went on themenu, and this is a Victorian
era dessert.
Mm-hmm.
The story goes, and, you know, Ithink it's pretty true that,
baked Alaska was invented in the1860.
Uh, we can, we can fact checkthat.
(30:12):
Um, at Del Monaco's also, that'swhat Max Tucci says.
He was on a few weeks ago.
Also in New York.
He says Baked Alaska came fromDel Monaco's.
Yeah.
And it was, invented to,commemorate the United States,
um, The acquisition of.
the Alaskan territory from theRussian Empire.
So it's this like very like of atime and place dessert.
(30:35):
And it's, dramatic and it's, Iwas gonna say more importantly,
big and it's, you light it onfire.
Yeah, that's what it's like.
You light it on fire.
I have a blowtorch.
I'm gonna be blowtorching later.
You guys should come.
Love it.
You can flambe it.
All of these.
It's so fun.
gage and Tollner is a verycelebratory restaurant.
Yep.
So, um, I felt like it reallyfit the space and, and what
(30:58):
people were coming there for.
And it just love really, I love,one of the things I have a lot
of respect for too, you're,you're a pastry person, right?
You are pastries of your life.
You love, you love desserts.
But there's a little cheesetasting on the Gage and Ulner
menu.
Absolutely.
In a former life you worked in acheese shop.
I did.
That seems to have informed whatyou put on the dessert menu.
(31:18):
It does, it does.
I love cheese.
Um, when I was a young linecook, this was like my first
job.
well, I was, I wasn't even likea proper like line cook yet.
I was like an intern, a kitchenintern, which is how a lot of
people start out.
Sure.
If you don't go to culinaryschool.
So I'm interning a couple days aweek, whenever they need help
(31:40):
with like prep or whatever.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm like running back andforth to the restaurant and then
I'm like, okay, well I need tomake money.
So I work at a cheese counterand, I loved it.
Yeah, I mean it was just, it wasgreat.
And, um, you learn so much.
You have wonderful interactionswith people, uh, help helping
(32:00):
them pick out, you know, acheese board and that kind of
thing.
Well, I, I love when a pastrychef is not afraid Cheese can be
part of dessert too.
Just this.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
For sure.
So what, uh, is going on nowwith Caroline Schiff?
You've left Gage and Tollner.
What's the, what's the plan?
What, what are you I'm writing acookbook.
my publisher is Abrams based inNew York.
(32:23):
They are absolutely wonderful.
And, uh, the book is calledDaily Dessert, and the idea is
that Not only is it okay to havedessert daily, but it's such a
nice ritual and thing to do foryourself.
And, um, it doesn't necessarilyhave to be a special occasion or
(32:47):
any big reason.
It's just like, you know, it'sfour o'clock, I'm gonna stop,
I'm gonna.
Disconnect for a moment.
Mm-hmm.
I'm going to treat myself to alittle something.
So all of the recipes aredesigned for, you know, all
different kinds ofcircumstances, but all of the
recipes are, designed so thatthey're really accessible and
(33:07):
approachable.
I really want to talk to youabout something that.
Is changing in the world.
Yes.
And for the worse, like a lot ofthings in the world are changing
for the worse.
Uh, I'm seeing fewer and fewerpastry chefs in restaurants.
Yeah, that's true.
More and more somebody is apastry chef line cook.
(33:28):
Yep.
More and more somebody's, you,you better have some other
responsibilities.
'cause we can't afford to pay apastry chef.
You know?
And if, and if there is a pastrychef.
The desserts are better.
Be 20 bucks each.
Yep.
Because that's the, the only way20 bucks.
Right.
20 bucks plus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh,'cause that's the only wayto, to afford to have a pastry
chef in this day and age.
(33:49):
And that is to the detriment ofgreat restaurants and Yeah.
Average restaurants across thecountry right now.
Absolutely.
And I'm sure.
You've discussed this and heardfrom plenty of chefs and
restaurant owners about this,that, you know, the, when you
look at the math of a restaurantand, you crunch your numbers,
(34:10):
it's bad, bad math.
It's bad math.
It doesn't, it, it really veryrarely works uhhuh.
And it's so, your margins are sothin and you are just always
operating.
so close to that, that line.
And, um, unfortunately, pastryis usually the first thing to go
mm-hmm.
(34:31):
Because people have this like,well, you know, well you can't
get rid of meat.
Okay.
Then, so, you know, you can'tget rid of the, the, the meal,
you know?
Right.
If it's a restaurant, so wheredo you cut cost?
Yeah.
And you can cheat and have yourline cooks make creme brulee and
say, okay, go and listen.
I love cran brulee.
Mm-hmm.
And there are line cooks thatmake great desserts.
(34:53):
and getting other people in thekitchen involved in other
departments, I think is verycool and very, really smart.
But these, you know, full pastryprograms, it is an expense for a
restaurant.
And so it works, you know, insuper fine dining because people
are willing to, Pay hundreds ofdollars per person.
(35:15):
Um, but yeah, a lot of likeeveryday spots just don't have
pastry departments anymore.
So you heard it here, support apastry chef get dessert.
That's correct.
That is correct.
So do the right thing.
Order dessert.
Uh, alright.
A little birdie told, told mesomething and you're gonna tell
me if it's true or not.
Okay.
I heard that Caroline Schiff isworking on opening a classic
(35:36):
diner in New York City.
Something that is on the, it'son the to-do list, um, working
on fundraising right now.
Great.
Obviously, have you thoughtabout crowdsourcing?
yeah, definitely.
It's a totally a strategy.
Um, but, you know, so in thosekind of stages right now, and,
(35:56):
gonna finish the book first.
Okay.
But, um.
Lots of desserts, lots of pie,lots of cake.
Um, and well, I think there'snothing that New York City needs
more now than a classic diner.
I just want, you know, I thinkrestaurants should be places
where anybody can go and youwanna go all the time.
(36:18):
And it should be like, okay, Igo for, I stop in for breakfast
twice a week and you know, thisis where we always do Sunday
brunch and this is like our, oh,you know, Tuesday dinner that's,
the night we go out and thatkind of thing.
And really being like part ofpeople's like routines and
community I think is really,important for a restaurant.
(36:38):
Well, if that happens, we'll belooking forward to going.
We love, we are from New Jersey.
We love a diner.
I will make sure that you guyshave.
Great counter seats and slicesof pie.
Love it.
I love it.
Good coffee because that's thebest spot Francis for when he
got married.
Uhhuh, he had a giant pie barfor his pie, for his dessert.
Genius.
Genius.
His dessert pie bar and Irishcoffee.
(37:00):
Oh, so I had all the pies linedup.
My whole staff was there and youcould come in and, and get, you
get a slice of pie, some schlog.
And an Irish coffee on your wayout the door.
Perfect.
So we have great respect forpastry chefs around here.
Caroline Schiff, thank you fortaking the time to talk with us
in the restaurant.
Thank.
Thanks, Caroline.
Thank you so much for cominghere with us.
This is great.
Thank you.
Great.
Thanks so much.
Take care.
the-restaurant-guys_3_10-04- (37:35):
So our next guest is Leanne Wong.
Leanne is an American chefrestaurateur television
personality.
she's involved behind thecameras and in front of the
cameras.
She's got her own restaurants,and Leanne Wong was on the first
season of Top Chef Season one.
Mm-hmm.
And if you recall, therestaurant guys were covering
Top Chef season one.
So what we used to do is thenight after the finals.
(37:58):
Whoever won.
would come on our live radioshow right afterwards.
So here's a little tidbit thatyou don't know.
We were rooting for Leanne thewhole season one.
Mm-hmm.
You are our favorite.
Thanks.
And we thought.
She should have won.
I should have beat a, I shouldhave beat a steak in a fricking
martini glass.
I tell you that much.
(38:19):
I hear you.
I hear you.
I steak and mashed potatoes in amartini glass and I made lamb
risotto.
You're gonna dig me for trufflerisotto.
So for truffle oil.
Come on.
You know what happened?
I onto it.
This needs to have left animpression.
Hold onto it.
Everyone's like, oh, you went tothe final four?
I was like, no, I was justnumber four.
They sent a three to finale thatyear.
Yeah, three to the final thatyear.
That's right.
I was rocking.
(38:39):
Anyway, it's uh, and peopledon't realize, okay.
It is personal.
Yeah.
Sticks with you.
It's not business it withpersonal.
This is our lives dude.
It sticks with you, man, butyou, but you stayed with a Top
Chef for a while and you helpedpRodasuce other top chefs going
forward.
You got really involved withstuff you forgave them's so
good.
It's obvious you forgave them.
What was interesting was, youknow, top Chef, we shot that
first season back in 2005.
Yep.
And while there were othershows.
(39:01):
Happening like Next FoodNetwork, star and Hell's
Kitchen.
Um, those were in studio shows.
So this was the first sort ofreality culinary show that was
like out in the field.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As well as in a studio.
Right.
Um, and so at the time, culinarypRodasucers were very used to.
You know, dumpin stir shows andthere mm-hmm.
(39:22):
There wasn't, there wasn't atype of culinary pRodasucer for
the type of show that Top Chefwas doing.
Right.
You were inventing it.
And Katie Christ was our, uh,culinary pRodasucer on season
one, and I felt so bad for her'cause she, it was like her and
an assistant and that was it.
Um, and then they, I was at thetime working at the French
Culinary Institute pRodasucingevents and continuing education.
(39:45):
So they thought, they're like,oh, this is kind of a natural
fit, and she can give usperspective as like a
contestant.
Um, and so they brought me intoconsult on season two, uh, and
then gave me the supervisingpRodasucer job, uh, for the
finale, which was out in, on BigIsland.
Mm-hmm.
And that was my first time inHawaii as an adult.
Yeah.
And so after we shot the show.
(40:07):
I flew over to Oahu to reconnectwith my family, and that was
like, right.
Wow.
That's so cool.
That was literally the firstbite of like, call it the aloha.
Right, right, right, right,right.
A lot because I was living inQueens.
I'm like, sure.
I'm like New York forever.
Right.
How old were you when you movedoutta Hawaii?
Oh shit.
30.
30.
No.
What moved out of Hawaii thefirst time?
What moved me out?
I, I was chasing a boy.
(40:30):
Okay.
Mm.
And I needed a life.
I was 36, uh, living in thecity.
All my friends were gettingmarried, having babies moving
out to Westchester.
Mm-hmm.
And Jersey and Long Island.
And I was like, I need a life.
And I didn't wanna, like at thetime, I didn't wanna open a
restaurant in New York City.
Mm-hmm.
It's very hard to open arestaurant in New York City.
It's very hard for a minoritywoman to open a restaurant in
New York City.
So interesting.
(40:51):
Well, especially then, um, Iwent to, I went, I did big fish,
smaller pond, but mm-hmm.
It was a place that I had beentraveling to Hawaii about a year
and a half before I moved there.
And so I was doing popups andcollabs and so the, the culinary
community in Hawaii welcomed meright away, which was really
lovely.
and yeah, 13 years later I'mstill there.
(41:12):
Alright.
So you said it was really hardto open a restaurant in New York
and we all know that's the case.
I mean, it's hard to open arestaurant in Jersey, but.
I have heard that it's evenharder to open a business in
Hawaii.
Is that, was it easier for youor did you just have a knack for
it or, uh, I, thankfully, um, Ipartnered with a chef who, uh,
had an established business.
He had a very successful dinnerrestaurant for 12 years, and he
(41:34):
was moving that restaurant to aspace down the street.
And so he wanted to sublease hisspace, turn it into a breakfast
joint.
I said, well, let's not just doa greasy spoon, like let's do
upscale brunch.
Let's do creative brunch.
We can sell cocktails, we cankeep the liquor license.
Like we can make it a thing justbecause at the time, there
weren't, you know, there were alot of, there were some
(41:55):
breakfast cafes in and aroundHonolulu, but you know, they
dealt with very classicbreakfast.
A lot of sweet things like, youknow, classic American
breakfast, or you're eating it.
You know, you're, or you'reeating like a local MoCo out of
a styrofoam container in aparking lot.
Mm-hmm.
Uhhuh, it's like one of the twouhhuh.
Um, and so it was an opportunityto not only sort of create these
(42:15):
new style brunch classics, um,as I like to term our menu, uh,
but also, you know, we, we havemimosas, we've got Bloody
Mary's.
Right, right.
It's a good time.
And I think what started as this48 seat restaurant in this one
room, um, we've now moved downthe street and taken over the,
the partners bigger space.
Um, it was just such a speciallittle cafe because of the
(42:40):
energy in the room.
Yeah.
You know, and we had like akitchen beer fund, so at anytime
somebody would tip the kitchen,kitchen would light up, bang on
pots and Oh, that's great.
They'd who, that they'd choo fortips and like, I love that.
These guys would make bank onthe weekends.
That's great.
That's great.
I love it.
So, so the restaurant, did youuse a lot of Hawaiian?
(43:00):
I mean, it's a whole differentpallet of foods available in
Hawaii.
Uh, whole different pallet offood.
And I think what I was able todo was bring my sort of personal
experiences from New York and mytravels and infuse that.
With using local Hawaiianingredients and being from New
York I was, I was overly andabundantly committed.
I still am to showcasing localpRodasuct.
(43:21):
Mm-hmm.
Hawaii is a state that importsover 95% of its food supply.
Right.
Wow.
It will, it will never, ever besustainable unless.
The chefs, the restaurateurs,the hospitality industry Set the
example.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, we are, that's, that's,listen, we, we live in New
Jersey Yeah.
Where we grow for five months ayear.
And we don't grow for sevenmonths a year.
Yeah.
So you gotta figure it out.
(43:42):
You gotta figure it out.
I mean, it's, and we have one ofthe most beautiful microclimates
in the world.
Mm-hmm.
Um, year round.
And so we're able to groweverything.
And I think it's.
You know, it's, yes, it's moreexpensive.
Yes, it's more of a pain in thebutt to get, you know, just
distribution's a little bitharder.
But I think committing to yourcommunity, committing to your
(44:02):
neighbors, committing to foodthat is inherently fresher, that
hasn't been sitting on a boatfor two weeks.
Um, tell us the name of therestaurant.
Cocoa Head Cafe.
So at Cocoa Head, is it mostlytourists?
Is it mostly locals?
No, we are 60 to 70% locals.
That's great.
So, and that, that they honestlykept us alive during COVID.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And one of the things that Ijust, I see so many restaurant
(44:25):
people miss is you can't do italone.
No.
Okay.
You can't a, you can't be adestination.
If you're the only goodrestaurant around, B, you can't
have good suppliers if otherpeople aren't buying from good
suppliers, right?
You, that all has to happen asa, as a group, and fostering
(44:45):
relationships with other peoplein your area is part of the
deal.
I just think that, you know,and, and don't get me wrong, I
love caviar.
I love all the the good stuff,and we occasionally use luxury
imported ingredients in our, onour menus, but.
You know, if I am a, if I'm atourist and I'm visiting
somewhere, I wanna eat local.
(45:06):
Yeah, yeah.
I wanna taste the ingredientsthat are grown there.
I wanna taste the food that hasgrown there.
If it's, if I am stunned, wehave the busiest Cheesecake
Factory in the country.
I can't believe it.
Can I tell you, I all the, inthe same line, I go to
Manhattan, New York, and there'sthe Cheesecake Factor and
there's all the chains there,and I'm like, how do they
survive?
(45:26):
Who comes from wherever the hellyou are in Bumfuck.
And you come to New York to goto the same place you go to and
bum farm.
Listen, honestly.
So like, uh, like sometimesOlive Garden is a fancy meal.
'cause you don't have OliveGarden in your, in your
hometown.
Yeah.
But I don't think that's who'sin the garden.
But you know what I mean?
Like, it's just, it, it, it isdemographic.
It is access.
And so I feel like what'sinteresting to me is a lot of
(45:49):
people when they travel, they,they stay safe.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
They stay safe, you know?
Yeah.
And yeah.
I, I'm like, be adventurous.
Yeah.
Get into it.
Try the things that are grownhere.
Try something you've nevertasted before and if you only
have it once, then you can sayyou've tried it and if you don't
like it, what have you Wasted?
What have you, you spent 10minutes.
There's a McDonald's on theSean.
A guys.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, there's a McDonald.
(46:09):
You can, you know, it's beenthere.
I remember living there in theeighties and I'm against it.
That's all I'm saying.
I'm, I'm against it.
Do they sell the Burger Royale?
They do indeed serve the BurgerRoyale.
Alright, so, uh, let's talk.
Go ahead, mark.
Well, I wanna talk a little bitabout, we cannot talk to you and
not talk about, you know, 10years into your run.
A devastating fire comes andtakes your restaurant.
(46:33):
I am very fortunate that thebuilding was all it took.
You know?
Right.
Uh, there's a lot of otherindividuals in our community who
are still homeless.
Uh.
I cannot talk to you about likethe, the actual tragedy of the
people that we've lost.
I've, I live in a neighborhoodthat floods.
My house is flooded, the river'sbeen in my house twice.
the flood comes and there'snothing you can do to stop it.
(46:55):
But there's something so muchscary about a fire.
I'm sorry, thousand percent.
I just, thousand percent.
Yeah.
Um, you know what was amazing isthat in those first few days,
our community, uh, rallied.
Mm-hmm.
The government was not around.
Yeah.
Locally and nationally.
Federally.
That's insane to me.
We had no response.
Um, yeah.
(47:16):
Yeah.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonnachoose my words really carefully
here.
Um, but the, you don't have to,you're among friends.
Uh, it was a complete failuremm-hmm.
On behalf of our local andfederal government.
Yeah, I get it.
I was one of, of, of hundreds ofpeople who volunteered.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, I'll be honest.
(47:38):
Being involved in, in foodrelief and all that was great,
but like nobody gave me thechance to process my loss.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, and that was really, reallyhard.
I think being just so heavilyinvolved in.
disaster relief and not lookingafter myself, my family, my
(48:01):
employees, because I was busylooking after everybody else.
Um, and it took a good, youknow, part of why I am here at
Southern Smoke is because Ineeded help.
I needed, I needed mental healthcare, um, and nobody was
checking on me.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Same.
(48:21):
We're check, we're checking onyou now.
Right?
And they're like, we're, we'relate.
Are you good?
Um, we're late.
I'm sorry we're late.
No, it's not, but we're checkingon you now.
It's not.
Um, but it, you know, that,that's why organizations like
Southern Smoke are so importantbecause it really is about
industry looking after its own,you know?
Yeah.
And, uh, it's a cause I believein so fiercely.
(48:43):
Um, we were able to.
I mean, they have donated over$400,000 to Hawaii Maui Relief
Fire Fund through both emergencyfund and mental health resources
for our employees.
Um, and that's incredible.
You know, and, and so, you know,Lana is gonna take years to
rebuild Los Yeah.
Los Angeles.
And it's such a beautiful area.
Los Angeles, Asheville.
(49:03):
Mm-hmm.
All the Texas, all thesecommunities that are
experiencing natural disaster ormanmade disaster.
It's like it will take years.
Decades to rebuild.
Yeah.
And how do we put that togetherpiece by piece, you know?
And so as hospitality, we'reconstantly asked, yearly,
weekly, daily, can you guys dothis event?
(49:27):
Yep.
Can you guys do that event?
Can you donate your time, yourmoney?
This, like the rest of the worldlooks to the hospitality
industry to lift everybody up.
Yep.
To be there and support, youknow?
Yep.
And so it's just been a verychallenging.
A few years since COVID to findlike where, where like is the
rest of the world gonna, likewhat if restaurants went away?
(49:47):
You know?
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I think, I thinkthere was a reckoning of that
when COVID and I thinkrestaurants and restaurant
employees really, I think we, werose in how much the public
values us and values ouremployees.
Everybody from the dishwasher tothe porter especially in the
Northeast, we were closed for solong and we were without
restaurants and.
And I think that in the publicmind now, and I think one of the
(50:10):
reasons this is so successfulwith the public is people know
that we're a part of theircommunity and our small
businesses help to build thatcommunity.
Uh, Leanne, you, you bring up areally important point though, I
think, and you know, I'm gonnatalk a little outta school here.
The government isn't there whenthere's also no oversight on
(50:33):
insurance companies when theemergency comes.
Yeah.
Right.
They're, they're not there.
Right.
Okay.
And you're relying on.
The kindness of other people.
Okay.
And luckily for me, lot of greatfriends, lot of great people.
just something that happened in,in our home, okay?
There was a government programfor, mortgage relief, In 2021
(50:54):
when my house flooded.
That mortgage relief camethrough this past May.
Yeah.
Okay.
Here's your grant to help youthrough 20, 21.
Five years late.
Guess when I didn't need that?
Mortgage relief?
Yeah.
2025 I'm fine.
But if you had been on the brinkin 2021, if I had been on the
brink in 2021, that that wellintention program that was there
to help people and I love it andit's great, but it wasn't there
(51:17):
when I needed it.
It would've gotten to an emptyaddress.
And that's why we need thingslike Southern Smoke and that's
why we need people like you.
To be out there.
So lean what people need it themost.
Lean, I wanna tell you, it's allimportant stuff we're talking
about, but I also wanna say, Ifinally got to eat your food
today.
Oh, thanks.
I've been watching you cookfood, food, food for years, and
(51:39):
your food is awesome.
Thanks.
So, so freaking delicious.
Thank you.
So what's next?
It's been a crazy year.
I mean, I've been on the road,uh, for the past month and a
half.
I cook the Emmy's in la.
I went to Japan to check on therestaurant in Osaka.
Did did a menu change for theevening.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I just shot a show in laWhat's a show?
(51:59):
What show?
Uh, 24 and 24.
Oh, great.
Yeah.
We show crazy endurance test.
Uh, I, I go shoot TOC next week.
Excellent.
Yeah.
So A TOC is next.
Shooting for TOC starts inOctober.
Amazing.
How crazy Do you know when thatlike, like that's the thing that
people don't understand.
So a show like TOC happens andthen you guys all gotta all hold
(52:20):
it in.
No results, no nothing until itactually airs.
We're busy, ill be honest.
It's like you finish a show, youbreathe a sigh of relief and
then you go back to work.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we're wa you know, it's likethe fall is the busy time.
So you go through the holidays,you get through the madness of
holidays and it's like kids onspring break and then yeah.
(52:42):
And then it's basketball seasonand TLC's back on.
Get your brackets ready.
Well lean what I'm gonna tellyou, the world is a better place
when you are cooking food forpeople.
It really is.
That's awesome.
Well, thank you so Muchs.
Well thank you.
Thanks for Well, well I enjoy itand I'm really, um, again, happy
to be here with Southern Smokewith dozens of other chefs who
are just equally committed and,and we are really pleased that
you took time out of your Yeah,thank you.
(53:03):
Important day today to come andtalk with us.
Thank you.
Alright, go, go feed some hungrypeople.
All cheers guys.
Thanks Ian.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
Thanks, take care.
Hello everybody and welcome.
You are listening to theRestaurant Guys.
I'm Mark Pascal and I'm herewith Francis Shot.
Together we own stage left incapital Lombardi restaurants in
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
We're here to bring you theinside track on food, wine, and
the.
Francis (01:12):
Finer things in life and the inside track is what we
will be bringing you today.
This is the third and finalinstallment of the shows that we
recorded in person down atHouston at the Southern Smoke
Festival It was a tremendous,tremendous experience for us,
and we talked to some great guyswho coming up later in the show.
We have Joaquin Rodas.
(01:33):
He owns Bachanal Fine WineSpirits in New Orleans.
It is a liquor store.
Come, restaurant come.
They don't have any fuckingrules in New Orleans.
So that's what they have thereand it's super awesome music.
Have a great time.
We have Colby Rasavong who ownsBad Idea, my favorite named
Restaurant of all time.
That's a Lao restaurant inNashville of all places.
He said, Lao Bet you didn't knowwhether there was a Lao
(01:55):
restaurant in Nashville.
Uh, Caroline Schiff.
her book is Daily Dessert.
It's in the works.
It'll be out soon.
Uh, and she's gonna open a dinerin New York City and we talked
to her all the way down inHouston, Texas.
And Leanne Wong of, uh, top ChefFame, she's a partner at at
Cocoa Head Cafe in Honolulu, inHawaii.
Uh, she also had a restaurantthat was affected by the recent
fire, a super interestingconversation with her, and we
(02:17):
hope you stay tuned for thoseguys.
But in the meantime, you have toput up with us for just a few
more minutes.
Well, I, I wanna start outtoday, if that's all right with
you, Francis.
one of the things that Francisand I really enjoy is we enjoy
going out to other restaurants.
And so you'll hear anecdotes onthis show of us going out to
other restaurants and some ofthe things we see and, and don't
see, and of course, things thathappen to us in our own
(02:39):
restaurants, but.
Last night I went out to arestaurant here in New Jersey.
That was lovely.
It was really just Okay.
We had a lovely time, great timewith friends.
The, the wait staff was great.
it was just a lovely afternoonat this restaurant when a guy
your size says lovely.
It's a little bit weird, I gottabe honest with you.
It's just a little odd, but goahead.
(02:59):
It was lovely, but lovely.
I get it.
I get it.
You know, we had, we had somewine, we had some cocktails.
Everything was, everything wasvery good.
a, it's an Italian restaurant,and this, they have this great
Amaro list.
Oh yeah, Amaro.
Okay.
So, you know, I, I love Amma andFrancis and I have a new
favorite oh, Amma cocktail.
It's funny, I talked about thislast night as well at the
(03:20):
restaurant I went to.
Please finish your story.
I got one.
Go ahead.
So.
I look at their tomorrow listand this, this drink that we
love is called the Shake Rado.
We had it at Jackrabbit Phillydown in in Charleston the last
time we were there.
Awesome.
Drink.
Delicious, by the way, we'vebeen drinking tomorrow for
years.
Never did it.
And, and it's like you're, it'slike that restaurant around the
corner from me that you neverwent to for years, and you're
(03:40):
like, why did I never come here?
It is amazing.
So.
It.
They don't have bra, right?
So I tell everybody at the tableabout the Shake Rado, and I'm
like, ah, you know, we've doneit with other Amara.
Let's explain what a Shake radois.
Okay.
So basically you just take acold bottle of of Braulio and
put it over ice and shake thecrap out of it, and then just
(04:01):
pour it back out into a martiniglass.
It's a martini glass on Nick.
And, and Braley is veryspecific.
It has the right amount, it hasa certain little bit of sugar.
It's got the right amount ofbitter and it's got kind of an
alpine nose to Yeah, verytininess to it.
F and so, because it's got theright amount of sugar and cons,
it has a little forms.
It looks like an espressomartini.
You got that little foam on thetop and it doesn't work with
(04:22):
other things except for Browley.
Uh, it, uh, we tried it withlike five other tomorrow and it
didn't work anyway, so theydon't have Rollo on the list.
Yep.
Okay.
So I'm like, ah, sorry guys.
I was gonna show you this coolthing.
I can't show you this coolthing.
So we order dessert, we ordercoffee, blah, blah, blah.
The waiter comes out.
Now, I don't know if heoverheard me and I don't think
(04:43):
he did.
Okay.
Uhhuh with a bottle of brow Leoand six shots of brow Leo for
us.
What?
What?
I thought they didn't have it.
They didn't.
He's like, oh, we have thisgreat tomorrow.
I wanted you to try.
He didn't hear what you said.
So now.
I do a little double take, andmy friend said, the expression
on my face was one of like, wow,hooray.
(05:05):
And one of, oh, should I ask?
And did you, what do you think?
I know you, I know you wellenough.
So you had shake her autos lastnight.
So I said, so, I said, would youmind just taking these and
shaking'em really hard and, and,and bringing him back.
And for the next 15 minutes, myfriends who are also your
friends by the way.
Yeah.
(05:25):
Said, just sat, I wasn'tinvited.
Everyone should know.
Just, just sat there and said.
Oh, let me see if I can retellthis story.
So the waiter comes over, bringsMark a free thing.
He says Not good enough.
So I, I That's great.
So they spent the next 15minutes making me feel like a
douche or making them shake the,the bra.
(05:47):
But it was, but did they loveit?
It, of course, they loved it.
It's spectacular, spectacular.
But it was one of those momentsof.
I know this is a little douchey.
Yeah, I know it's a littledouchey.
Yeah, but, but we have thismoment in time.
We have to have it.
And so we had it and we had ourshake Rados and everybody now is
in love with Shake Rados and thewaiters in love with Shake
(06:08):
Rados, and I'm a little bit of adouche.
Unbeknownst to you, last nightwe went out with our friends,
Corey and Megan and other of ourfriends that That you're your
friends to?
Yep.
Corey and Megan.
We met Ed and my sisterFrancine.
Well then I went out withAnthony and Theresa.
And Kevin Charlotte because ifyou're gonna say all their
names, I'm gonna say all mynames.
Lets.
Split, let's switch next week.
(06:28):
So we went to San Patricio,which is Jack McGarry's
restaurant in Jersey City.
Fantastic Bar restaurant.
We had a great time.
And then afterwards we went tovisit our friends at the Archer.
Great bar, the Archer Bar, andthey usually have bra.
So I went with our friends whohad also never had a shake.
Rado, Uhhuh crazy, probably atthe exact same moment.
(06:49):
I went by the bar and I said tothe bartender, who's also a
friend, I said, um, I can't sayhis name'cause Marco yell at me.
Um, and I, I said, uh, I won'tyell, but I'll make fun of you
as our friends.
Mercilessly made fun of me lastnight, so, so I said, do you
have any brow, Leo?
And they were.
Out of Lio.
Ah.
And he said, well, why do you,can I bring another marrow?
I'm like, nah, maybe it mightwork with others.
(07:09):
But I, I, it doesn't work withmany and it works with Lio.
I wanna have Shake Rado.
He's like, what's a shake?
Rado?
And I told him, so we had asimilar experience except you
got your shake Rados and Ididn't, and I, and you were at a
place that normally has it.
And I was at a place thatdoesn't have it.
Yeah, that's wild.
Crazy world.
Very, very interesting.
Uh, shake Auto Land out thereor, alright, so here's what
you've learned as we're on ourway into the festival in Houston
(07:31):
where you will learn so muchmore at Southern Smoke for our
final episode, shake Rado Brow,Leo Romero, which is one of the
more expensive ams, but it's,it's an expensive bottle of
America.
You can sub in other ones.
It is really a lovely thing forthe waiter to bring us.
It's, it's, and just throw insome of.
Shake the hell out of it andstrain it off like it's an
espresso martini or something.
You'll be shocked as we were.
(07:52):
I promise.
You'll be shocked.
Yeah.
And again, that was JackrabbitPhilly, where, where we had it
the first time.
It was really good.
Awesome.
And also Archer Bar and uh, SanTric in Jersey City.
You now have some barrecommendations from the
restaurant guys.
So go there, support ourfriends.
and you can always find out moreabout
us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
We'll be back in just a momentwhere you're gonna hear us down
in Houston, Texas.
the-restaurant-guys_4_10-04 (08:13):
Hey guys, though we are in downtown
Houston, we found yet anotherowner, bar owner.
Chef owner, interesting guy fromuh, new Orleans.
Joaquin Rodasas is the foundingchef and managing partner of
Bachanal Fine Wines and Spiritsin New Orleans.
It's an interesting story andhe's here to tell it to us
today, and a really good name.
Yeah, Baal.
Great.
It's a really great name.
(08:33):
I can't take credit for thename.
All right.
It's a fantastic name.
Alright, so tell us the originstory of Bachanal and you're, I
mean, everybody pretends to be amodern day speakeasy, right?
You were a, a speakeasy forreal.
Like the cops turned up andstuff on a Friday night.
Is that a problem?
On a Friday night at 8:30 PM I,I didn't even know the health
department worked on a Fridaynight at 8:00 PM I, especially
(08:55):
in New Orleans, I mean, youknow, who works overtime in New
Orleans?
Yeah, absolutely.
Or you made somebody mad who youweren't supposed to make mad.
Well, so tell us what happenedand, and how you became the
savior of the neighborhood andthe bane of the local police.
So, Boal started out our, ourfounder, uh, and spiritual still
to this day really.
Uh, who drives a lot of the,the, the aesthetic decisions is
(09:17):
our, our, unfortunately, hepassed away our founder Chris
Rudge.
So he, he got a bug, uh, he gota bug under his belt.
He wanted to open a wine shop, a29-year-old kid, not the usual
career path for a 29-year-old,800 square foot, um, wine shop.
And that's what it was for avery long time.
And then Hurricane Katrina.
(09:39):
Knocked a shed in the backyarddown and the neighborhood kind
of, uh, really, uh, got behind.
Chris helped him clean it up.
And one of the neighbors was alandscape architect and said,
you know what?
I got some trees.
I'm gonna help you here.
I got some trees.
Wait, so was he, was, was theoriginal wine shop damaged
significantly in, at, in thestorm at all?
(09:59):
So it escaped the ravages ofHurricane Katrina.
So Bachanal is in, uh, abuilding that was built in 1809.
It's one of the St Sturdiestbuildings in the entire, uh, new
Orleans.
I think.
It's a really old building.
Um, so yeah, that building wasunscathed.
Uh, it was like a, a carport inthe back.
A humongous carport.
Collapse got cleaned out.
Uh, people had always wanted togo in the backyard and smoke
(10:20):
weed mm-hmm.
While they're drinking wine.
But now, you know, it gotlandscaped.
People brought over tables.
The neighborhood really kind oflike chipped in and it was like,
Hey, I got this stuff I wasgonna throw away, but I just
bring it over here and everybodyjust hang.
It just turned into a hangout.
A lot of musicians in NewOrleans after Katrina,
specifically, the bars andrestaurants that they had gigs
at were not open.
(10:41):
Right.
So they needed somewhere to gobus and.
Bachanal on Sunday nights wasthe place to go.
And same with chefs that therestaurants weren't open yet, so
they would pop up in thebackyard.
So this is a wine shop.
It's a wine shop.
And I don't really mean to likeparse the little edges of the
law here.
Yeah.
But as far as I know, wine shopsaren't really allowed to.
(11:03):
Open the bottles of wine andsend people in the backyard with
the band.
Is that correct?
Yeah.
They're also not allowed to lettheir patrons smoke weed in the
back either.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh, no, no, absolutely.
I like you guys, by the way.
I'm telling you right now.
No, we, um, it's funny'cause I,I was one of those pop-up chefs.
I was a friend of Chris'sbefore.
I had my own establishment downthe road and he was, we were
really good friends.
We were the only 20 somethingswith establishments and so we
(11:26):
were dear friends.
after Katrina.
We just ran into each other andhe said, why don't you start
popping up, uh, in the backyardof Buck?
And I said, great.
So what would you, would youbring a grill and just grill in
the backyard?
Huh?
Or did they have kitchenfacilities or No, no, no, no.
What kinds of food?
Anything anybody wanted.
It really was like, uh, a reallyfree place for a chef to like,
(11:46):
if, if you worked at a burgerjoint, but you really loved
French food.
That was your popup.
And that was one of the bestthings about Oh, that's cool.
The setup there.
It was.
And so he sold the wine and thechefs took the money for the
food.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's, I bought it, boughtme a pickup truck one day, you
know, I was gonna say, you knowwhat that's called?
That's called the partnership?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what it's called.
You know what else?
It's called a fucking party.
(12:07):
That's, that's called And you'retalking about New Orleans here.
Those people know how to party.
Yeah.
So, I'm sorry, where'd you saythat?
A pickup truck one, uh, it wasTales of the Cocktail, which is
a, uh, cocktail convention.
Oh yeah.
New Orleans pretty big.
Yeah, we box.
So, um.
I picked the Sunday of Tales,which is the last day of tales.
Wow.
On purpose.
'cause I knew there was a lotof, I, I made so much money.
I bought a pickup truck in cashfrom that one.
(12:28):
That's awesome.
Pop up.
What year was that?
That was in 2010.
I'm only mad because we were atTales in 2010 and we didn't know
about your party.
If you do that again, when youdo that again, you have to let
us know.
this goes on for how long beforethe cops turn up and shut you
down you know, post Katrina2006, 2009, 10, that's when I
come on board.
And that's when we move it fromjust one night a week to five
(12:50):
nights a week.
Uh oh.
And that's when it starts to getmore notoriety.
The mayor came.
Two weeks before we got shutdown.
Um, and so once we're, you know,we're feeding 200 people a night
and, um, you know, on a Friday,8:30 PM uh, almost, almost
locked arm, arm to arm, uh,NOPD, quality of life officer
(13:13):
with the police officer health,uh, state health department, and
a fire marshal.
Altogether all together showedup, you know, showed with
cameras and because you werebreaking all those different
laws.
Well, that's what I found out.
That's it.
Yeah.
We weren't actually licensed tohave any live entertainment.
Mm-hmm.
By then we had band five nightsa week.
Wow.
Uh, I had a full kitchenprogram, uh, you know, six
(13:36):
nights a week.
We were cooking for up to 200people a night.
I, we didn't have a license forpreparation, or kitchen was not
licensed at all.
Uh, and so they, you know, wehad to go get legal.
It took about eight months andthe interim.
So you were close for eightmonths?
No, actually, so my job, uh,kind of took it back to the old
school.
And actually at the time, um,food trucks were really starting
(13:58):
to Yeah.
Kind of come in into their ownin New Orleans.
So I said, you know what, we cansell a lot of wine as long as
there's food.
So we invited our friends thathad food trucks Oh, that's
great.
To pop up there.
And then every once in a whileI'd rent one from them and I'd
cook and mm-hmm.
So, yeah, it, we just kind oftry to keep the party going.
That was the name of the gamewas just keep the party going.
So when, when, listen, the nameof the game in the restaurant
(14:18):
business is keep the partygoing.
Yeah.
So when, right.
That's what we gotta do.
That's what we do through everymajor disaster in our lives.
Keep the party going.
Absolutely.
So when did you get legal in2011?
Late 2011.
Took us about eight months.
we have a fully licensed, we arenow the poster children, like
the city shows us as an exampleof compliance, and we have every
(14:42):
license you can think of now,right?
We have a catering lake license,catering, food license,
on-premise, off-premise.
Everything every we are, we'reso legal.
It's not even funny anymore.
Well, and so tell us about theparty today.
we really wanted to have you onbecause I think it's a really
interesting concept.
So it's still, you're servingfood, but you are a wine store,
but you're still a bar.
Absolutely.
How does it work?
(15:02):
What's it like to visit yourplace?
So when you walk through, you'regonna come in through the wine
shop, uhhuh.
You're gonna come into about an800 square foot, uh, So all the
windows are blocked in, it's abrick building and a very old
brick building.
So it feels like you went into acellar, uh, even though you're
at ground level.
Mm-hmm.
About four to 500 selections ofwine are gonna be all displayed
on the walls.
(15:23):
You're gonna grab your bottle ofwine.
Somebody's gonna guide you.
There's a refrigerator withcheeses where you pick your own
cheeses.
If you want a cheese plate or acharcuterie plate, pick it out.
You pay for everything at thecounter.
We give you a number, and wesay, please go out back and pick
a table.
Everything is first.
Come, first serve.
There's no servers.
It's all counter service.
(15:43):
So you pick your bottle of wineas well.
From the, from the, absolutely.
Who buys the wine?
Do you have a serious winebuyer?
Are you serious about wine?
What's the look story there?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Our, our, some are.
Wine buyer, director of our wineprogram, uh, Katie Singer.
She's actually here, maning thetent right now pouring wine.
Ah, because you're not, yeah.
Yeah.
So she's over there manning thetent and, uh, she's fantastic.
She's been with us for eightyears and awesome.
(16:05):
We're very, very blessed to havesome, the most amazing wine
professionals in the countryreally working with us because
we're kind of like a reallychill place where you can have
fun with that.
And what are you doing here atSouthern Smoke?
How'd this happen?
I mean, huge, huge fan of Chris,uh, shepherd and obviously his
wife, uh, Lindsay and, uh,Caroline s is a really good
(16:26):
friend of mine.
She works for Southern Smoke aswell.
Mm-hmm.
She's lived in New Orleans foryears.
Um, and she connected, uh, sheconnected us and I've been like,
just like very impressed withthe amount of outreach and, and
how much energy and intentionthey put behind supporting our
industry.
And they just keep finding newand better ways to support.
(16:47):
Our service industry.
And it's something that's like,you know, very kind of left,
we're left to our own devices ina lot of ways and they, they do
an amazing job of bringing ourflight to the, the world and
having them donate money to helpus.
Right.
So.
Awesome.
Well that's, that's great.
It is.
It has been a pleasure meetingyou here today.
Thanks.
Excited, uh, this event isspectacular.
(17:08):
We're gonna talk to Chris inactually just a few minutes.
Well, uh, when you're in NewOrleans, you should visit Akana.
It's a hello party and a greatplace to pick up a bottle of
wine.
Joaquin, thanks for talking tous.
My pleasure guys.
Thank you so much for nicechatting with you.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks very much.
Really good talking.
Take care.
That was fun.
the-restaurant-guys_3_10- (17:23):
Well, the great chefs keep rolling in
here in Houston, Texas.
Uh, but they're not all fromTexas.
Colby Rasavong is executive chefat Bad Idea, uh, wine focused
restaurant in East Nashville.
he was named Food of Wine's,best New Chef's 2025 class and
it's a pretty interestingrestaurant, so we really wanted
to get you into talk about it.
Yeah, totally welcome.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Super excited.
(17:43):
So you are Laotian.
Yes.
And your restaurant has Loatianinfluences?
It does.
Has a lot.
A lot.
Never been to a Laotianrestaurant.
Can you tell us about the Foodof Laos and how it expresses
itself in bad idea?
Great name, by the way.
For a restaurant or terrible?
Either.
Either a great name or, or aterrible name, just so you know.
If your restaurant sucks, it's aterrible name.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If your restaurant's great.
(18:04):
It's a fantastic name.
Yeah.
So good.
Good on you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's actually been, uh, a giftand a curse.
You know?
It, it's, I never thought I'd bewalking down the street and
people would just yell, Hey,your bad idea.
That's great.
Uh, but yeah, the restaurant inLao Food, you know, when we
started the restaurant, we weretalking about the food I wanted
to cook.
You know, I was, I was homesickat that point in time.
(18:24):
And, you know, I, I spent myentire career working in French
kitchens, Southern kitchens,and.
Cooking other people's food and,and, and I had a chance to
finally cook my own.
And, you know, we had to deepdive into it.
And, and the flavors that Imissed the most were the ones I
grew up eating as a kid.
And a lot of those flavors aresimilar to, you know, the area
around it.
You know, Laos is very coolbecause it's landlocked just
like Tennessee, where I'm at.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, you know where we gotCambodia, Thailand, China.
(18:46):
Vietnam, uh, over there.
So you have a little bit ofinfluence from all of those
little, countries and regions.
So it makes something that'skind of like the powerhouse of
it all.
You have the sour, the umami,the, the saltiness and, and the
balance of it all.
It's a very rich, cuisine.
what would you say defines Laocuisine?
that makes it distinct fromthose other cuisines around the
area?
Mm-hmm.
(19:06):
So when you, when you reallykind of deep dive into it,
you'll notice, you know, Thaicuisine is a little bit sweeter
in certain regions, whereasCambodian's a little bit sour.
Uh, Vietnam is very punchy withtheir fish sauce.
In Laos, it's, it's morerounded, you know, it's, it's,
it's more of a palette of like achef, the cuisine is you get
everything.
Uh, as opposed to just asingular, uh, so everything in
every dish kind of thing, youget all those components in
(19:28):
every dish.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
why Nashville, Tennessee and isthere, a Lao population in
Nashville that was there tosupport you or are you bringing
this to.
People who've never seen itbefore and intRodasucing people
to novel stuff.
Uh, it's a little bit of both.
You know, what we do at therestaurant, uh, isn't something
I've ever really seen anywhere.
You know, we have a lot ofFrench influence, uh, with I can
(19:48):
you background?
I've been to a lot ofrestaurants.
I've never seen it anywhere, soI, I'm eager to try it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, you know.
Uh, in Nashville or outside ofNashville?
There's Murfreesboro, which hasthe second largest LA population
in the country.
Okay.
Ah, so it was actually home forme.
You know, when I came back itwas, it was coming home and I
was excited to give themsomething that, is that where
you're from?
Exactly.
Okay.
So you, so you leave Tennessee,you go to Charleston.
(20:10):
Mm-hmm.
You work for Husk, you work fora couple other places?
I do in Charleston.
Why come, why did he come backto Tennessee?
What, what pulled you back?
Actually, you know, I, I workedfor Sean Brock for a long time.
in 2020 I moved back to help himopen his restaurant Audrey, in
June.
Okay.
And so when I was there, youknow, I was noticing the boom
that Nashville was having and I,I really wanted to have my own
footprint in that city becauseit gave me so much.
(20:32):
That's great.
Yeah.
Was it a bold move?
I assume there are Laorestaurants in Murfreesboro
mm-hmm.
And around Tennessee that are,that are patronized by Lao
patrons, right?
Mm-hmm.
Um, you have basically anAmerican restaurant heavily
influenced with your LAOinfluences.
Mm-hmm.
Um, was that.
Are people surprised by that?
Is that like a, a seen as a newthing there or how, how did the
(20:54):
people react when you did that?
You know, it was, it was, it wasvery scary, right?
Because it is a new thing.
No one's really doing it, sothere's no one for me to really
lean on or ask questions beyond,you know, the, the normal
restaurant things.
Uh, but when it came to thefood, I was, I was really
surprised and overwhelmed at thereception that we had.
You know, we, we had Laofamilies that came in and, you
know, they understood what, theycouldn't recognize what was on
(21:14):
the plate, but they understoodwhere we were going.
You know, we've had guests crybecause they, they now see, you
know, a role model for theirchildren.
Because, you know, for me, whenI was growing up, you didn't see
Lao chefs.
You didn't see Lao movie stars.
Right.
You didn't, you didn't seeanybody that you could look up
to.
Um, and so when they come in,they see that for their children
and know that there's a betterpath forward for us.
Um, and then Americans come inand they eat the food and you
(21:35):
know, they recognize what itlooks like, but then they eat it
and they don't reallyunderstand.
They're like, what the hell isthat?
So they're, the food looksAmerican, but tastes la Exactly.
Yep.
Or vice versa.
Or vice versa.
It'll look Lao and taste veryAmerican in a way.
That's wild.
Yeah.
and a lot of these restaurantsthat we're interviewing chefs
on, we've been to theirrestaurants.
Mm.
What, is it a fine dining vibe?
Is it a, is it more communityvibe?
Is there, is, does beverage playa role in your, in your
(21:56):
restaurant?
Um, no.
It's a, it's a very casual, uh,relaxed atmosphere.
We have a very large space.
Uh, we're in a renovated church.
Um, so we, we wanted to makesure that everybody felt
comfortable coming in.
You have tables where you canhave, you know, a nice dinner
that's a little bit more quietand secluded for, you know, you
and your guests.
But then, you know, there's agreat lounge area where you can
have small bites and, you know,just really turn up and, and
have fun with, you know, acouple bottles of really
(22:18):
delicious wine.
Old banks and old churches.
Yeah.
Make some of the best restaurantspaces in the country.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I just, there's justsomething about it.
Yeah.
(24:15):
So listen, we wanna, we want toask, especially the chefs who've
come to Houston from far away.
Mm-hmm.
Um, kind of as final question.
What brought you to be involvedin this festival?
What's your relationship withSouthern Smoke?
Why are you here today?
Yeah, well this was, you know,uh, like you said earlier, I was
very fortunate to win, uh, bestnew chef for food and wine this
year.
And, you know, they have thebest new chefs come, uh, and do
(24:36):
this festival.
They have us do, uh, food andwine in Aspen.
So I felt like it was anobligation, but I'm very excited
to be here.
because of the great impact thatI'm seeing and, you know, I'm
learning so much about thefoundation that I never really
knew, uh, before.
Awesome.
Well, it's been a pleasure totalk to you and, uh, I want to
want to get to Tennessee to tryyour restaurant.
Amazing.
Please, please.
Come on on.
(24:56):
Yeah, Colby, it's great.
Very nice to meet you, sir.
Pleasure.
Nice to meet you guys.
Thanks.
Thanks for chatting with us,brother.
Yes, of course.
Thank you guys.
Yeah,
the-restaurant-guys_4_10- (25:03):
Let's see here.
We are back again.
This time, not on the savoryside.
We have a pastry chef with us.
We have come all the way fromBrooklyn, New York and New
Brunswick, New Jersey to meet upin Houston, Texas with Caroline
Schiff.
She's an award-winning chef incookbook author based in
Brooklyn.
She was named Food and Wine'sBest New, uh, chef in 22.
Is that right?
Yep.
Best new Chef in 22.
An outstanding pastry chef.
(25:24):
Finalist.
she was at Gage in Tollner for along time and she's currently
writing a new cookbook, which weare excited to hear all about.
Yes, yes.
Caroline, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me.
This is so fun.
What brings you all the way fromBrooklyn down here?
I could say the same thing aboutus in Jersey, but how did you
end up here?
Mean?
You know, Southern Smoke is anincredible organization.
Chris Shepherd, I've known for acouple years now and like what
(25:48):
he does and what the.
Organization does is incredibleand so crucial Yeah.
For our restaurant communityand, um, now more than ever,
frankly, now more than ever.
And when he's like, Hey, youwanna do this every year?
I'm like, absolutely.
So what are you doing down here?
So today I'm actually doing a.
(26:10):
Demo on the Yeti stage, which isgonna be super fun.
It's taking place at six 30 ifyou guys can get away.
What are you demoing?
I am making a giant bakedAlaska.
How giant?
Ah, like, like yay big.
Like around like, your arms canhardly get your arms around it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a, I like that.
Yeah.
(26:30):
So Baked Alaska was one of yourwe'll call signatures at Cajun
Tollner, right?
Yes.
So tell us what, what made itthat and why you thought that
was such an important dessert todo there?
Um, well, you know, gage andTollner, uh, if you know it, and
for people who are not familiar,this is a, legendary New York,
steak and chophouse.
Yeah, the oysters, the, theSteakhouse of Brooklyn is Gage
(26:52):
and Tollner.
Well, hundreds, 150 years old.
Close for a little while back,going back to like, you know,
the original one was like 1870s,and you know, the current
location opened in the 1890s.
and operated until, uh, 2004, Ibelieve.
(27:12):
2004 is correct.
Um, good.
Yes, I got my, got my trivia,um, when it shut down, but the
place was totally preservedbecause it's a landmarked
interior.
and what was your role when,when you went in there?
So I was the executive pastrychef.
And, um, the partners who ownit, they did this incredible job
just restoring it, bringing itback to its can.
(27:34):
Can you talk to me aboutcrowdfunding, opening a new
restaurant?
What's up with that?
I, well, so I, I haven't doneit, I mean, G had toner.
That was part of the formula,right?
Were Yeah.
Yeah.
They, the partners did crowdfundfor that.
And I think, um, you know,raising money for restaurants is
very difficult.
And I think that, um, also, likethis event proves as well as
(27:58):
that, the general public, thecommunity, they get very excited
about restaurants.
They really wanna be a part ofit.
Yes.
So you can take in smallerchunks of money if you opened,
open it up to the general publicand you know, it can get you, it
can get you what you need.
So, that work to g in Tollnerand it also, um, really engaged
(28:20):
the community.
Mm-hmm.
So people were very excited andthey really got like, excited
about like the history of it.
it really became this restaurantthat was really part of like,
you know, the, the neighborhoodas somebody who was going to
Brooklyn, you know, 40 Sundays ayear for my entire childhood,
gage and Toner was one of thoserestaurants that was Yeah.
Was and is again, iconic.
(28:41):
Yeah.
and so you come in as pastrychef, what do you do there?
Yeah.
so I was, there for the openingand, um, we were supposed to
open March, 2020.
Mm-hmm.
So that didn't happen.
so it got pushed, until indoordining was loud in New York
again, which was April, 2021.
So we had kind of like gotten tothe point where we were about to
(29:03):
open and then the city shutdown.
So there was this, this.
Period of like, oh my God, likewe did all of this work and, and
then just lights out.
Um, but so when we were able toopen, it was like so joyful, so
exciting.
And, the menu that I came upwith, I tried to really think
(29:28):
about, You know, the history ofthe restaurant looked at old
menus, and, I really wanted to,do it justice and really be
informed by those old menus.
And also just like the era thatit, you know, was established.
So Victorian era, like, what wasgoing on?
(29:50):
So how did you do that?
What did you put on the menu?
So the baked Alaska went on themenu, and this is a Victorian
era dessert.
Mm-hmm.
The story goes, and, you know, Ithink it's pretty true that,
baked Alaska was invented in the1860.
Uh, we can, we can fact checkthat.
(30:12):
Um, at Del Monaco's also, that'swhat Max Tucci says.
He was on a few weeks ago.
Also in New York.
He says Baked Alaska came fromDel Monaco's.
Yeah.
And it was, invented to,commemorate the United States,
um, The acquisition of.
the Alaskan territory from theRussian Empire.
So it's this like very like of atime and place dessert.
(30:35):
And it's, dramatic and it's, Iwas gonna say more importantly,
big and it's, you light it onfire.
Yeah, that's what it's like.
You light it on fire.
I have a blowtorch.
I'm gonna be blowtorching later.
You guys should come.
Love it.
You can flambe it.
All of these.
It's so fun.
gage and Tollner is a verycelebratory restaurant.
Yep.
So, um, I felt like it reallyfit the space and, and what
(30:58):
people were coming there for.
And it just love really, I love,one of the things I have a lot
of respect for too, you're,you're a pastry person, right?
You are pastries of your life.
You love, you love desserts.
But there's a little cheesetasting on the Gage and Ulner
menu.
Absolutely.
In a former life you worked in acheese shop.
I did.
That seems to have informed whatyou put on the dessert menu.
(31:18):
It does, it does.
I love cheese.
Um, when I was a young linecook, this was like my first
job.
well, I was, I wasn't even likea proper like line cook yet.
I was like an intern, a kitchenintern, which is how a lot of
people start out.
Sure.
If you don't go to culinaryschool.
So I'm interning a couple days aweek, whenever they need help
(31:40):
with like prep or whatever.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm like running back andforth to the restaurant and then
I'm like, okay, well I need tomake money.
So I work at a cheese counterand, I loved it.
Yeah, I mean it was just, it wasgreat.
And, um, you learn so much.
You have wonderful interactionswith people, uh, help helping
(32:00):
them pick out, you know, acheese board and that kind of
thing.
Well, I, I love when a pastrychef is not afraid Cheese can be
part of dessert too.
Just this.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
For sure.
So what, uh, is going on nowwith Caroline Schiff?
You've left Gage and Tollner.
What's the, what's the plan?
What, what are you I'm writing acookbook.
my publisher is Abrams based inNew York.
(32:23):
They are absolutely wonderful.
And, uh, the book is calledDaily Dessert, and the idea is
that Not only is it okay to havedessert daily, but it's such a
nice ritual and thing to do foryourself.
And, um, it doesn't necessarilyhave to be a special occasion or
(32:47):
any big reason.
It's just like, you know, it'sfour o'clock, I'm gonna stop,
I'm gonna.
Disconnect for a moment.
Mm-hmm.
I'm going to treat myself to alittle something.
So all of the recipes aredesigned for, you know, all
different kinds ofcircumstances, but all of the
recipes are, designed so thatthey're really accessible and
(33:07):
approachable.
I really want to talk to youabout something that.
Is changing in the world.
Yes.
And for the worse, like a lot ofthings in the world are changing
for the worse.
Uh, I'm seeing fewer and fewerpastry chefs in restaurants.
Yeah, that's true.
More and more somebody is apastry chef line cook.
(33:28):
Yep.
More and more somebody's, you,you better have some other
responsibilities.
'cause we can't afford to pay apastry chef.
You know?
And if, and if there is a pastrychef.
The desserts are better.
Be 20 bucks each.
Yep.
Because that's the, the only way20 bucks.
Right.
20 bucks plus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh,'cause that's the only wayto, to afford to have a pastry
chef in this day and age.
(33:49):
And that is to the detriment ofgreat restaurants and Yeah.
Average restaurants across thecountry right now.
Absolutely.
And I'm sure.
You've discussed this and heardfrom plenty of chefs and
restaurant owners about this,that, you know, the, when you
look at the math of a restaurantand, you crunch your numbers,
(34:10):
it's bad, bad math.
It's bad math.
It doesn't, it, it really veryrarely works uhhuh.
And it's so, your margins are sothin and you are just always
operating.
so close to that, that line.
And, um, unfortunately, pastryis usually the first thing to go
mm-hmm.
(34:31):
Because people have this like,well, you know, well you can't
get rid of meat.
Okay.
Then, so, you know, you can'tget rid of the, the, the meal,
you know?
Right.
If it's a restaurant, so wheredo you cut cost?
Yeah.
And you can cheat and have yourline cooks make creme brulee and
say, okay, go and listen.
I love cran brulee.
Mm-hmm.
And there are line cooks thatmake great desserts.
(34:53):
and getting other people in thekitchen involved in other
departments, I think is verycool and very, really smart.
But these, you know, full pastryprograms, it is an expense for a
restaurant.
And so it works, you know, insuper fine dining because people
are willing to, Pay hundreds ofdollars per person.
(35:15):
Um, but yeah, a lot of likeeveryday spots just don't have
pastry departments anymore.
So you heard it here, support apastry chef get dessert.
That's correct.
That is correct.
So do the right thing.
Order dessert.
Uh, alright.
A little birdie told, told mesomething and you're gonna tell
me if it's true or not.
Okay.
I heard that Caroline Schiff isworking on opening a classic
(35:36):
diner in New York City.
Something that is on the, it'son the to-do list, um, working
on fundraising right now.
Great.
Obviously, have you thoughtabout crowdsourcing?
yeah, definitely.
It's a totally a strategy.
Um, but, you know, so in thosekind of stages right now, and,
(35:56):
gonna finish the book first.
Okay.
But, um.
Lots of desserts, lots of pie,lots of cake.
Um, and well, I think there'snothing that New York City needs
more now than a classic diner.
I just want, you know, I thinkrestaurants should be places
where anybody can go and youwanna go all the time.
(36:18):
And it should be like, okay, Igo for, I stop in for breakfast
twice a week and you know, thisis where we always do Sunday
brunch and this is like our, oh,you know, Tuesday dinner that's,
the night we go out and thatkind of thing.
And really being like part ofpeople's like routines and
community I think is really,important for a restaurant.
(36:38):
Well, if that happens, we'll belooking forward to going.
We love, we are from New Jersey.
We love a diner.
I will make sure that you guyshave.
Great counter seats and slicesof pie.
Love it.
I love it.
Good coffee because that's thebest spot Francis for when he
got married.
Uhhuh, he had a giant pie barfor his pie, for his dessert.
Genius.
Genius.
His dessert pie bar and Irishcoffee.
(37:00):
Oh, so I had all the pies linedup.
My whole staff was there and youcould come in and, and get, you
get a slice of pie, some schlog.
And an Irish coffee on your wayout the door.
Perfect.
So we have great respect forpastry chefs around here.
Caroline Schiff, thank you fortaking the time to talk with us
in the restaurant.
Thank.
Thanks, Caroline.
Thank you so much for cominghere with us.
This is great.
Thank you.
Great.
Thanks so much.
Take care.
the-restaurant-guys_3_10-04- (37:35):
So our next guest is Leanne Wong.
Leanne is an American chefrestaurateur television
personality.
she's involved behind thecameras and in front of the
cameras.
She's got her own restaurants,and Leanne Wong was on the first
season of Top Chef Season one.
Mm-hmm.
And if you recall, therestaurant guys were covering
Top Chef season one.
So what we used to do is thenight after the finals.
(37:58):
Whoever won.
would come on our live radioshow right afterwards.
So here's a little tidbit thatyou don't know.
We were rooting for Leanne thewhole season one.
Mm-hmm.
You are our favorite.
Thanks.
And we thought.
She should have won.
I should have beat a, I shouldhave beat a steak in a fricking
martini glass.
I tell you that much.
(38:19):
I hear you.
I hear you.
I steak and mashed potatoes in amartini glass and I made lamb
risotto.
You're gonna dig me for trufflerisotto.
So for truffle oil.
Come on.
You know what happened?
I onto it.
This needs to have left animpression.
Hold onto it.
Everyone's like, oh, you went tothe final four?
I was like, no, I was justnumber four.
They sent a three to finale thatyear.
Yeah, three to the final thatyear.
That's right.
I was rocking.
(38:39):
Anyway, it's uh, and peopledon't realize, okay.
It is personal.
Yeah.
Sticks with you.
It's not business it withpersonal.
This is our lives dude.
It sticks with you, man, butyou, but you stayed with a Top
Chef for a while and you helpedpRodasuce other top chefs going
forward.
You got really involved withstuff you forgave them's so
good.
It's obvious you forgave them.
What was interesting was, youknow, top Chef, we shot that
first season back in 2005.
Yep.
And while there were othershows.
(39:01):
Happening like Next FoodNetwork, star and Hell's
Kitchen.
Um, those were in studio shows.
So this was the first sort ofreality culinary show that was
like out in the field.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As well as in a studio.
Right.
Um, and so at the time, culinarypRodasucers were very used to.
You know, dumpin stir shows andthere mm-hmm.
(39:22):
There wasn't, there wasn't atype of culinary pRodasucer for
the type of show that Top Chefwas doing.
Right.
You were inventing it.
And Katie Christ was our, uh,culinary pRodasucer on season
one, and I felt so bad for her'cause she, it was like her and
an assistant and that was it.
Um, and then they, I was at thetime working at the French
Culinary Institute pRodasucingevents and continuing education.
(39:45):
So they thought, they're like,oh, this is kind of a natural
fit, and she can give usperspective as like a
contestant.
Um, and so they brought me intoconsult on season two, uh, and
then gave me the supervisingpRodasucer job, uh, for the
finale, which was out in, on BigIsland.
Mm-hmm.
And that was my first time inHawaii as an adult.
Yeah.
And so after we shot the show.
(40:07):
I flew over to Oahu to reconnectwith my family, and that was
like, right.
Wow.
That's so cool.
That was literally the firstbite of like, call it the aloha.
Right, right, right, right,right.
A lot because I was living inQueens.
I'm like, sure.
I'm like New York forever.
Right.
How old were you when you movedoutta Hawaii?
Oh shit.
30.
30.
No.
What moved out of Hawaii thefirst time?
What moved me out?
I, I was chasing a boy.
(40:30):
Okay.
Mm.
And I needed a life.
I was 36, uh, living in thecity.
All my friends were gettingmarried, having babies moving
out to Westchester.
Mm-hmm.
And Jersey and Long Island.
And I was like, I need a life.
And I didn't wanna, like at thetime, I didn't wanna open a
restaurant in New York City.
Mm-hmm.
It's very hard to open arestaurant in New York City.
It's very hard for a minoritywoman to open a restaurant in
New York City.
So interesting.
(40:51):
Well, especially then, um, Iwent to, I went, I did big fish,
smaller pond, but mm-hmm.
It was a place that I had beentraveling to Hawaii about a year
and a half before I moved there.
And so I was doing popups andcollabs and so the, the culinary
community in Hawaii welcomed meright away, which was really
lovely.
and yeah, 13 years later I'mstill there.
(41:12):
Alright.
So you said it was really hardto open a restaurant in New York
and we all know that's the case.
I mean, it's hard to open arestaurant in Jersey, but.
I have heard that it's evenharder to open a business in
Hawaii.
Is that, was it easier for youor did you just have a knack for
it or, uh, I, thankfully, um, Ipartnered with a chef who, uh,
had an established business.
He had a very successful dinnerrestaurant for 12 years, and he
(41:34):
was moving that restaurant to aspace down the street.
And so he wanted to sublease hisspace, turn it into a breakfast
joint.
I said, well, let's not just doa greasy spoon, like let's do
upscale brunch.
Let's do creative brunch.
We can sell cocktails, we cankeep the liquor license.
Like we can make it a thing justbecause at the time, there
weren't, you know, there were alot of, there were some
(41:55):
breakfast cafes in and aroundHonolulu, but you know, they
dealt with very classicbreakfast.
A lot of sweet things like, youknow, classic American
breakfast, or you're eating it.
You know, you're, or you'reeating like a local MoCo out of
a styrofoam container in aparking lot.
Mm-hmm.
Uhhuh, it's like one of the twouhhuh.
Um, and so it was an opportunityto not only sort of create these
(42:15):
new style brunch classics, um,as I like to term our menu, uh,
but also, you know, we, we havemimosas, we've got Bloody
Mary's.
Right, right.
It's a good time.
And I think what started as this48 seat restaurant in this one
room, um, we've now moved downthe street and taken over the,
the partners bigger space.
Um, it was just such a speciallittle cafe because of the
(42:40):
energy in the room.
Yeah.
You know, and we had like akitchen beer fund, so at anytime
somebody would tip the kitchen,kitchen would light up, bang on
pots and Oh, that's great.
They'd who, that they'd choo fortips and like, I love that.
These guys would make bank onthe weekends.
That's great.
That's great.
I love it.
So, so the restaurant, did youuse a lot of Hawaiian?
(43:00):
I mean, it's a whole differentpallet of foods available in
Hawaii.
Uh, whole different pallet offood.
And I think what I was able todo was bring my sort of personal
experiences from New York and mytravels and infuse that.
With using local Hawaiianingredients and being from New
York I was, I was overly andabundantly committed.
I still am to showcasing localpRodasuct.
(43:21):
Mm-hmm.
Hawaii is a state that importsover 95% of its food supply.
Right.
Wow.
It will, it will never, ever besustainable unless.
The chefs, the restaurateurs,the hospitality industry Set the
example.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, we are, that's, that's,listen, we, we live in New
Jersey Yeah.
Where we grow for five months ayear.
And we don't grow for sevenmonths a year.
Yeah.
So you gotta figure it out.
(43:42):
You gotta figure it out.
I mean, it's, and we have one ofthe most beautiful microclimates
in the world.
Mm-hmm.
Um, year round.
And so we're able to groweverything.
And I think it's.
You know, it's, yes, it's moreexpensive.
Yes, it's more of a pain in thebutt to get, you know, just
distribution's a little bitharder.
But I think committing to yourcommunity, committing to your
(44:02):
neighbors, committing to foodthat is inherently fresher, that
hasn't been sitting on a boatfor two weeks.
Um, tell us the name of therestaurant.
Cocoa Head Cafe.
So at Cocoa Head, is it mostlytourists?
Is it mostly locals?
No, we are 60 to 70% locals.
That's great.
So, and that, that they honestlykept us alive during COVID.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And one of the things that Ijust, I see so many restaurant
(44:25):
people miss is you can't do italone.
No.
Okay.
You can't a, you can't be adestination.
If you're the only goodrestaurant around, B, you can't
have good suppliers if otherpeople aren't buying from good
suppliers, right?
You, that all has to happen asa, as a group, and fostering
(44:45):
relationships with other peoplein your area is part of the
deal.
I just think that, you know,and, and don't get me wrong, I
love caviar.
I love all the the good stuff,and we occasionally use luxury
imported ingredients in our, onour menus, but.
You know, if I am a, if I'm atourist and I'm visiting
somewhere, I wanna eat local.
(45:06):
Yeah, yeah.
I wanna taste the ingredientsthat are grown there.
I wanna taste the food that hasgrown there.
If it's, if I am stunned, wehave the busiest Cheesecake
Factory in the country.
I can't believe it.
Can I tell you, I all the, inthe same line, I go to
Manhattan, New York, and there'sthe Cheesecake Factor and
there's all the chains there,and I'm like, how do they
survive?
(45:26):
Who comes from wherever the hellyou are in Bumfuck.
And you come to New York to goto the same place you go to and
bum farm.
Listen, honestly.
So like, uh, like sometimesOlive Garden is a fancy meal.
'cause you don't have OliveGarden in your, in your
hometown.
Yeah.
But I don't think that's who'sin the garden.
But you know what I mean?
Like, it's just, it, it, it isdemographic.
It is access.
And so I feel like what'sinteresting to me is a lot of
(45:49):
people when they travel, they,they stay safe.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
They stay safe, you know?
Yeah.
And yeah.
I, I'm like, be adventurous.
Yeah.
Get into it.
Try the things that are grownhere.
Try something you've nevertasted before and if you only
have it once, then you can sayyou've tried it and if you don't
like it, what have you Wasted?
What have you, you spent 10minutes.
There's a McDonald's on theSean.
A guys.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, there's a McDonald.
(46:09):
You can, you know, it's beenthere.
I remember living there in theeighties and I'm against it.
That's all I'm saying.
I'm, I'm against it.
Do they sell the Burger Royale?
They do indeed serve the BurgerRoyale.
Alright, so, uh, let's talk.
Go ahead, mark.
Well, I wanna talk a little bitabout, we cannot talk to you and
not talk about, you know, 10years into your run.
A devastating fire comes andtakes your restaurant.
(46:33):
I am very fortunate that thebuilding was all it took.
You know?
Right.
Uh, there's a lot of otherindividuals in our community who
are still homeless.
Uh.
I cannot talk to you about likethe, the actual tragedy of the
people that we've lost.
I've, I live in a neighborhoodthat floods.
My house is flooded, the river'sbeen in my house twice.
the flood comes and there'snothing you can do to stop it.
(46:55):
But there's something so muchscary about a fire.
I'm sorry, thousand percent.
I just, thousand percent.
Yeah.
Um, you know what was amazing isthat in those first few days,
our community, uh, rallied.
Mm-hmm.
The government was not around.
Yeah.
Locally and nationally.
Federally.
That's insane to me.
We had no response.
Um, yeah.
(47:16):
Yeah.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonnachoose my words really carefully
here.
Um, but the, you don't have to,you're among friends.
Uh, it was a complete failuremm-hmm.
On behalf of our local andfederal government.
Yeah, I get it.
I was one of, of, of hundreds ofpeople who volunteered.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, I'll be honest.
(47:38):
Being involved in, in foodrelief and all that was great,
but like nobody gave me thechance to process my loss.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Um, and that was really, reallyhard.
I think being just so heavilyinvolved in.
disaster relief and not lookingafter myself, my family, my
(48:01):
employees, because I was busylooking after everybody else.
Um, and it took a good, youknow, part of why I am here at
Southern Smoke is because Ineeded help.
I needed, I needed mental healthcare, um, and nobody was
checking on me.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Same.
(48:21):
We're check, we're checking onyou now.
Right?
And they're like, we're, we'relate.
Are you good?
Um, we're late.
I'm sorry we're late.
No, it's not, but we're checkingon you now.
It's not.
Um, but it, you know, that,that's why organizations like
Southern Smoke are so importantbecause it really is about
industry looking after its own,you know?
Yeah.
And, uh, it's a cause I believein so fiercely.
(48:43):
Um, we were able to.
I mean, they have donated over$400,000 to Hawaii Maui Relief
Fire Fund through both emergencyfund and mental health resources
for our employees.
Um, and that's incredible.
You know, and, and so, you know,Lana is gonna take years to
rebuild Los Yeah.
Los Angeles.
And it's such a beautiful area.
Los Angeles, Asheville.
(49:03):
Mm-hmm.
All the Texas, all thesecommunities that are
experiencing natural disaster ormanmade disaster.
It's like it will take years.
Decades to rebuild.
Yeah.
And how do we put that togetherpiece by piece, you know?
And so as hospitality, we'reconstantly asked, yearly,
weekly, daily, can you guys dothis event?
(49:27):
Yep.
Can you guys do that event?
Can you donate your time, yourmoney?
This, like the rest of the worldlooks to the hospitality
industry to lift everybody up.
Yep.
To be there and support, youknow?
Yep.
And so it's just been a verychallenging.
A few years since COVID to findlike where, where like is the
rest of the world gonna, likewhat if restaurants went away?
(49:47):
You know?
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I think, I thinkthere was a reckoning of that
when COVID and I thinkrestaurants and restaurant
employees really, I think we, werose in how much the public
values us and values ouremployees.
Everybody from the dishwasher tothe porter especially in the
Northeast, we were closed for solong and we were without
restaurants and.
And I think that in the publicmind now, and I think one of the
(50:10):
reasons this is so successfulwith the public is people know
that we're a part of theircommunity and our small
businesses help to build thatcommunity.
Uh, Leanne, you, you bring up areally important point though, I
think, and you know, I'm gonnatalk a little outta school here.
The government isn't there whenthere's also no oversight on
(50:33):
insurance companies when theemergency comes.
Yeah.
Right.
They're, they're not there.
Right.
Okay.
And you're relying on.
The kindness of other people.
Okay.
And luckily for me, lot of greatfriends, lot of great people.
just something that happened in,in our home, okay?
There was a government programfor, mortgage relief, In 2021
(50:54):
when my house flooded.
That mortgage relief camethrough this past May.
Yeah.
Okay.
Here's your grant to help youthrough 20, 21.
Five years late.
Guess when I didn't need that?
Mortgage relief?
Yeah.
2025 I'm fine.
But if you had been on the brinkin 2021, if I had been on the
brink in 2021, that that wellintention program that was there
to help people and I love it andit's great, but it wasn't there
(51:17):
when I needed it.
It would've gotten to an emptyaddress.
And that's why we need thingslike Southern Smoke and that's
why we need people like you.
To be out there.
So lean what people need it themost.
Lean, I wanna tell you, it's allimportant stuff we're talking
about, but I also wanna say, Ifinally got to eat your food
today.
Oh, thanks.
I've been watching you cookfood, food, food for years, and
(51:39):
your food is awesome.
Thanks.
So, so freaking delicious.
Thank you.
So what's next?
It's been a crazy year.
I mean, I've been on the road,uh, for the past month and a
half.
I cook the Emmy's in la.
I went to Japan to check on therestaurant in Osaka.
Did did a menu change for theevening.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I just shot a show in laWhat's a show?
(51:59):
What show?
Uh, 24 and 24.
Oh, great.
Yeah.
We show crazy endurance test.
Uh, I, I go shoot TOC next week.
Excellent.
Yeah.
So A TOC is next.
Shooting for TOC starts inOctober.
Amazing.
How crazy Do you know when thatlike, like that's the thing that
people don't understand.
So a show like TOC happens andthen you guys all gotta all hold
(52:20):
it in.
No results, no nothing until itactually airs.
We're busy, ill be honest.
It's like you finish a show, youbreathe a sigh of relief and
then you go back to work.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we're wa you know, it's likethe fall is the busy time.
So you go through the holidays,you get through the madness of
holidays and it's like kids onspring break and then yeah.
(52:42):
And then it's basketball seasonand TLC's back on.
Get your brackets ready.
Well lean what I'm gonna tellyou, the world is a better place
when you are cooking food forpeople.
It really is.
That's awesome.
Well, thank you so Muchs.
Well thank you.
Thanks for Well, well I enjoy itand I'm really, um, again, happy
to be here with Southern Smokewith dozens of other chefs who
are just equally committed and,and we are really pleased that
you took time out of your Yeah,thank you.
(53:03):
Important day today to come andtalk with us.
Thank you.
Alright, go, go feed some hungrypeople.
All cheers guys.
Thanks Ian.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
Thanks, take care.
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