August 15, 2025 • 42 mins
Chef Lee Aquino embodies a remarkable fusion of culinary expertise and dynamic leadership, overseeing seven distinct dining concepts in the vibrant St. Petersburg area. In this conversation, we delve into his journey from humble beginnings at Shoney's to becoming a pivotal figure in the culinary scene, where he balances artistic expression with the pragmatic demands of restaurant management. Throughout the episode, we explore the intricate relationship between creativity and consistency in the kitchen, as Chef Aquino emphasizes the importance of surrounding oneself with talented individuals who contribute unique perspectives. He shares invaluable insights on mentorship, the evolution of culinary styles, and the significance of cultivating a culture that prioritizes trust and collaboration among kitchen teams. As we engage with Chef Aquino, his relentless passion for the culinary arts and commitment to excellence become evident, offering inspiration not only to aspiring chefs but to all who navigate the complexities of the food industry.
Chef Lee Aquino's culinary journey is a testament to the intricate relationship between passion and profession. From his humble beginnings at Shoney's on Amelia Island, where he mastered the art of cooking eggs to order, to becoming a pivotal figure in the vibrant dining scene of downtown St. Petersburg, Chef Aquino exhibits an unwavering commitment to his craft. His culinary philosophy is rooted in a harmonious blend of rustic French techniques and contemporary flavors, allowing him to cultivate an innovative dining experience across seven distinct restaurant concepts. Each establishment carries its unique identity, yet all resonate with Chef Aquino's signature touch. His dedication to fostering a vibrant kitchen culture and building trust among his team exemplifies the leadership qualities necessary for success in the culinary industry. As he shares anecdotes from his formative years, listeners gain insight into the resilience required to thrive in a demanding and ever-evolving landscape. Ultimately, Chef Aquino's narrative serves as an inspiration for aspiring chefs and culinary enthusiasts alike, encouraging them to embrace their individuality while contributing to the larger culinary tapestry.
In the latest episode of the Walk and Talk podcast, Chef Lee Aquino elaborates on the multifaceted nature of his work as a culinary director overseeing multiple restaurant concepts. He discusses the importance of finding the right individuals to lead each kitchen, emphasizing that successful teamwork is essential in creating unique dining experiences that cater to diverse palates. Chef Aquino's culinary creations, such as the lobster French toast and the pastrami-spiced lamb tenderloin, reflect his innovative approach to cuisine, highlighting the significance of balancing tradition with modern culinary trends. Throughout the conversation, he reflects on the invaluable lessons learned from working in high-pressure environments, underscoring the necessity of adaptability and creativity in the kitchen. The episode delves into the challenges faced by chefs in today's fast-paced culinary world, shedding light on the importance of mentorship and guidance for the next generation of culinary professionals. Chef Aquino's insights resonate deeply with listeners, offering a glimpse into the heart of a chef who not only creates exceptional dishes but also nurtures a thriving culinary community.
As the episode unfolds, listeners are treated to an exploration of Chef Lee Aquino's culinary ethos, which emphasizes the significance of building relationships within the kitchen and understanding the nuances of flavor development. He candidly shares his experiences of managing chaos, whether it be from unexpected kitchen challenges or the pressures of high-profile culinary events. Chef Aquino's perspective on leadership revolves around trust and collaboration, illustrating how effective...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You've just stepped inside theWalk and Talk podcast number one
in the nation for food lovers,chefs and storytellers.
I'm Carl Fiordini, your host,shining a.
Light on the flavor, thehustle and the heart of the industry.
We're the official podcast forthe New.
York, California and Floridarestaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow
Summit, the US Culinary Openat nafm and the North American Media
(00:21):
platform for the Burnt Chefproject recorded.
At Ibis Images Studios wherefood photography comes alive and
I get the first bite.
Find out moreinfo@thewalkandtalk.com he grew up.
On Amelia island, but ChefLiacrino's first taste of kitchen
life wasn't in fine dining.
It was behind the actionstation at Shoney's in Ferdinanda
(00:42):
beach making omelets to order.
It's where he learned peopleorder their eggs like cocktails,
precise, personal and full of personality.
From there, he began his chefjourney into Jacksonville's country
clubs and hotels beforestepping into a role that would put
him at the heart of downtownSt. Pete's dining scene.
Today, he's the culinary forcebehind two properties and seven distinct
(01:03):
concepts.
The Birch Wood Inns, Birch andVine, the Canopy Pastry Production
and the grand ballroom.
Plus, out on St. Pete Pier,teak Pier, Tiki and Driftwood Cafe.
Multiple concepts, multipleteams, all under his watch, each
one carrying a distinct voiceyet tethered by his touch.
Lee's food lives in that rarespace between rustic French training
(01:26):
and the adaptability tomodernize with approachable flavors.
Plastic people crave apersonality that's put in front of
TV cameras, podcasts at theheart of Savor St. Pete, cooked at
the James Beard House and inkitchens from the Tampa Bay Lightning
and Buccaneers.
But behind the polished platesis a craftsman who weathered the
grind of country.
Club and hotel kitchens.
He learned that leading ismore about trust than control.
(01:49):
And before we dive in, I wantto take a moment to thank our friends
at the California Restaurantshow for their incredible partnership.
Glenn Paul, Jerry lashara, JoeAmy, Tom Meck, and so many more.
You made last week's show anabsolute success, Pooch.
Will and I were on the floorall three days meeting amazing people
shaping our industry's future.
I just have to give a specialthanks to Metro for sponsoring our
(02:12):
Day One recap.
Your support makes it possiblefor us to bring these stories to
life and to our remote team.
Glenn and Jordan, your behindthe scenes production efforts kept
this whole machine running.
Today we're sitting down inour Lakeland studio not just to talk
about recipes or menus, but tounravel the mindset of a chef who
builds culture acrosskitchens, who sees the city skyline
(02:33):
as his dining room, and whobelieves every plate is a chance
to start a conversation.
Chef Liquino.
Welcome to the podcast, Chef.
What a day.
Carl.
It's been amazing.
I mean, really, right?
I mean, you put in like a.
You basically put in a fullshift over here.
It's good.
You got the all hot andsweaty, which is not, you know, not
(02:56):
known for it.
You, you know, I've heard that before.
Yeah, I've heard that before.
Without question.
In house, we have a special guest.
We have the chef put Riverawalk and talk.
Personality extraordinaire.
What's up, Dougie?
I'm well, man.
(03:16):
Well, I'm so excited to be here.
It was a little last minute thing.
We worked some things out withMonument and we're going to be at
the hardware show tomorrow,which is cool.
And a lot of people have beenasking me why hardware?
And it's a one billion dollaroutdoor cooking industry and we're
looking to tap into that industry.
So hit us up.
Beeps all right, first things first.
(03:39):
Today we have the original NewOrleans old style nectar cream soda.
It's given me the go to makeit happen.
Like, I'm refreshed.
We're in Florida, 6,000degrees outside.
Everybody can attest to thisin this.
Who's sitting in this studio space?
It's hot.
(04:00):
Anyhow, Lee, baby boy, we didstuff today.
Let's go into the first dish.
All right, the first dish youcan find at the Birch and Vine, downtown,
St. Pete, ground level.
It's a beautiful play on alobster French toast.
So basically it's going to bea cold water lobster tail that's
poached.
(04:20):
We go ahead and deep fryawesome thick cut brioche, and then
we pair it with a little bitof a chive of spuma, some fresh cut
scallions and some nice loveon top of that.
For the.
Hold on.
For those people out therethat don't know what a spooma is,
what is it?
It's a pair of shoes.
(04:45):
It's a spuma sweats.
It's actually Spanish for foam.
So a spuma, you see it on packaging.
A spuma.
You know, it's like seeingfragile on your packaging too.
So just another term for a phone.
So I have my leg lamp on order.
It's on the way.
(05:06):
It's Amazon.
It's coming out.
It's a major prize.
It's a major prize.
It is for Gile Johnphotography today Your dishes, it
was stinking beautiful.
And that was the first dish.
You did two more.
What was the next one?
The one after that would haveto be the half a chicken.
The half chicken we deboned,we just left in the little drumstick
there.
That way you can just grabthat little sucker when it comes
(05:28):
to your table, and you canjust twist and have, like, a little
chicken drumette, little tasteof what you're about to have.
That's been on top of abeautiful risotto, Aji panca, Peruvian
pepper sauce, little bit ofsimple charred scallions and blistered
tomatoes.
Simple, delicious little spice.
Little sweet little earthinessto it.
(05:49):
Dish 3.
Dish 3 was a beautiful productthat came from Aussie Select.
It was a nice lamb tenderlointhat was fabricated with pastrami
spice.
Beautiful color on the inside.
Smelled amazing as soon as youopened it.
We paired that with a littlebit of pumpkin puree with toasted
(06:11):
rye.
We also shaved a little bit ofgoat cheese truffle over the top
of that, toasted bispitas, andthen we made a caper berry mustard
relish over that.
So basically, this was gonnacall it a lamb strami over pumpkin
on rye.
If you saw it on a menuanywhere, you saw it here first.
True story.
And I'm feeling like, youknow, obviously our audience consists
(06:35):
of foodies, people who lovefood, and then there's a lot of industry
folks.
So at the end of this, whenthey see these images of the dishes
that you put out today, I feellike everybody's gonna flip.
Oh, man.
John, you're a magician, man.
You are a magician.
I mean, the first one was thelobster dish, and that literally
has, like, three to four components.
And I was like, oh, man, Idon't know.
(06:55):
But I just.
You.
It tastes great, and you makeit look amazing, so kudos.
Appreciate that.
Yeah, I'm excited, actually.
You think you get those on tonight?
No.
Yeah.
Shaking the head.
All right, Lee, you had thisomelet station, Epiphany.
(07:18):
Oh, man.
Yeah.
Take us back to Shoney's, baby.
Oh, boy.
Okay.
High school times, man.
There was this chef guy.
His name was Chef Jeff.
I think we've all known a ChefJeff in our life.
Okay.
So he actually operated acatering facility out of the back
of Shoning.
And, well, you know, Thursdaynights was breakfast for dinner,
and then he had Saturday and Sunday.
And so I had a little omelettestation out there in front of people,
(07:41):
and you had the simpleingredients or what have you, but,
man, I didn't realize how hardit was to cook eggs, especially in
front of people, when you havenever cooked anything before.
Eggs are like cocktails.
I mean, why.
How does that even work?
You know, you have.
When you get good at what youdo and you're in front of your guests,
like a good bartender would be.
(08:02):
People flock for their bartenders.
They know what they like, theyknow how they like it.
I had that kind of demand withpeople with breakfast.
People in the morning are like.
They're creatures of habit, man.
You step out the bed, probablythe first foot, the same foot every
day out of your bed, put thesame pant leg in.
And that's the parody I foundbetween, you know, making cocktails
(08:23):
and making breakfast for people.
Lee, you've been doing this along time.
Sure.
We've actually known eachother for a long time now, too.
Probably coming up on 10 years almost.
Yeah, yeah, solid.
Yeah, something like that.
But you started at Shoney's.
You started with this omelet station.
Is there anything that youlearned then that you're applying
(08:45):
to, you know, your today's role?
Absolutely.
I got to have the face to facecontact with my guests.
Not only that, I got to seethe reactions to things.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Ihad, like, the whole setup going.
I would have, you know, thebehind the back flips.
I would do all these crazytricks, like.
Like a hibachi AMA guy.
Right.
(09:06):
So having that frontinteraction with people and wanting
to do better, put on a bettershow, knowing how they like their
eggs, whether it was, like,you know, burned or just beautiful
and basted with butter, I justlearned quick.
And I learned, you know, notthe hard way, but literally trial
by fire, because if theydidn't like it, they would tell you
right to your face.
(09:27):
I've witnessed that myself.
I've seen it.
I know what happens.
The Amlokai gets abused, rightor wrong.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, hey, let's just.
Let's go to a Mother's Day at,like, a buffet somewhere.
You want to.
You really want to feel the heat.
You want to just, you know,have a bunch of very angry mothers
at you, then burn theiromelets and find out, you know, the
(09:50):
omelet guy and.
The walk guy, those are theguys that can stand alone, especially
if there's no tickets.
You just call them from Expo.
Those two guys are the guysthat I would go to war with on my
side.
There you go.
Yeah.
And you got to be able to talkto these people, too.
You know, you got to have alittle bit of Banter.
Like you are a bartender, you know?
Exactly.
(10:10):
Definitely.
You know, one thing I'venoticed, Chef, from.
From just studying you and.
And studying the.
And just seeing what you're doing.
Your style of cooking is nowkind of continental in a way.
Is that you coming up withthat, or is it just the fact that
you spearhead so many brandsthat you have to kind of become continental
in the way you cook?
Yeah.
Representing all thesedifferent types of concepts, you
(10:34):
know, you could lose yourself.
Man.
I remember when I was a youngchef, I had my executive chef.
I was chasing this dream ofhaving, like, this white coat, white
apron, the white tote hat.
You know, it's going to belike all.
All that stuff.
Right.
And he sat me down and toldme, that's not me.
That's not my personality.
So he told me to go findmyself on a plate, and then I had
(10:56):
to, like, really figure outwhat that meant.
And that meant, you know,figuring out what I want to do, what
my perception is, what mypersonality is, and find that concept
that I can emulate.
Well, there's some breadcrumbs there.
Right?
You're talking about right now.
You're overseeing what, seven concepts?
Yes, sir.
And those concepts all have to separate.
(11:20):
They each have to have theirown identity.
How are you managing that?
I think the first step is tofind individuals that have these
type of personalities andskill sets, and that's not always
easy to match the certain concepts.
So not one of the restaurantsor concepts is the same as the other,
(11:41):
so it's hard to match and pairthat up.
But when you find it, youknow, it's like a combination to
a lock.
It just clicks and works.
Yeah, but inspiration, menu inspiration.
Where's that coming from?
7.
Seven concepts.
It's not one concept.
(12:01):
It's not like, oh, we have ourfirst unit, and we're doubling up
on a second unit.
Same menu.
You have seven different concepts.
So, yeah, you have people in place.
Are you allowing them toactually, you know, put their own
menu stamp on some of thestuff, or are you guiding them?
Yeah, that's what I'm there todo as a culinary director.
I've been the chef, the souschef, the dishwasher.
(12:24):
I am entrusting theseindividuals, these professionals
that we have decided to worktogether, and they're putting their
own personal touches to it,and then I'm actually just guiding
them to success.
So if it's a concept, conceptforward, if it's going to be fine
dining, if it's going to befast casual, then that's their concept.
(12:46):
And then we're workingtogether while they're building their
menus and building their teamsand doing some special events along
the way as well.
If you weren't doing this,what would you be doing?
I'd probably be a contractor.
I would just be.
I can't have idle hands, man.
I got to work.
I can't have downtime.
I just like to, you know, whenI found myself, pedal to the metal,
(13:07):
I'm good with my hands.
I'm good mentally, and I'mgood with instructing others on how
to get, you know, jobs andfocuses accomplished.
You don't burn out from it, man.
You know, I've seen a lot ofpeople burn fuses, and unfortunately,
some of them never came back.
I think I burned quite a bitof fuses in my fuse box.
(13:28):
But I'm lucky enough that if Ihave, I have a support from, you
know, family, friends, otherpeople, chefs that would pick me
up and keep me going, youknow, isn't that a choice?
Isn't it a choice to burn out?
You know, listen, I'm not.
I'm not.
I'm not.
(13:49):
I'm not from the kitchen, right?
But I am from the industryfront of the house, starting, right?
And it's the same sort of vibe.
We're all going through thesame rush.
We're all dealing with thesame tickets that get blown.
You know, it's the same pass, right?
And in the end, we choose togo out with the cats that are going
(14:12):
to be up, you know, until 8 o'clock the next morning.
That's what we do.
It's a choice.
How do you mentor somebody orguide somebody away from those choices,
or do they have to just kindof go through it, learn it, so they
understand it?
Yeah, I think you have to.
I mean, you can tell somebodyto do something, and I'm probably
that person, or I have beenthat person.
(14:32):
If you tell me to dosomething, I'm not, I'm gonna do
it.
I'm actually gonna do it.
Don't touch that handle.
It's hot, man.
I want to know how hot it isand how much I can hold on to it.
So, I mean, with certainindividuals, you just have to read
the.
Read the field a little bit better.
Let them.
Let them find out.
Let them, you know, let themtry to test the water a little bit
and let them find out.
And then I'm not gonna do an Itold you so moment there, because
(14:55):
I've.
This has happened to me somuch in my life that, you know, I
Don't need somebody there tosay, I told you so.
I'm saying, you know, okay, sothat happened.
So let's move forward, andlet's not have that happen again.
Okay.
Puji.
Yes, sir.
Thoughts?
I think that we kind of gotoff the subject of that question,
in a sense of where you actslike, don't we control it?
(15:18):
Can we control the burnout?
Yes.
At the end of the day, I thinkthe pressure stacked against people
aspiring to be a chef, provingto themselves, proving to their loved
ones that they picked theright career path.
And I think.
I think a lot of chefs thesedays weren't really worried about
the going out or partying tillthe wee hours kind of things that
(15:38):
we did back then and there.
I think a lot of people noware realizing that there's AI around
the corner, there's all theseadvancements in the kitchen, and
just in.
In any industry, really.
But right about now, I thinkthere's a lot of people that have
dedicated that good 10 to 15years that are on the cusp of saying,
am I really?
Should I go this far?
And that's the decision rightthen there.
(15:59):
When you have to realize ifyou're going to burn out or not.
And then from that point, it'skind of luck, in my opinion.
It's about relationships andfostering those relationships with
people that can pull you up tobe in food media or be a culinary
director of seven different concepts.
You know, those kind of placesright there, it's chessboard rather
than culinary skills oranything like that.
(16:20):
And some people don't havethose skills to move those chessboards.
And those, to me, are thepeople that are going to say, I'm
jumping off the porch head first.
After 10, 15 years in thisindustry, I could make a decision
on my career.
I'm going to stick with this.
And those are the people, tome, that burn out where they don't
get to the plateau they thinkthey could get to.
And it's a.
It's a tough place to be.
Yeah, I don't think a lot ofpeople understand they do have a
(16:41):
choice, and that's very toughbecause we're doing the same thing
over and over.
And that's like, in a lot of industries.
So you get so wrapped up in it.
I mean, it's always said it'sjust food.
It's not life or death, butthat's not the way we handle it usually.
And I think nowadays with ayounger generation coming in, they're
talking about it, they'retalking about they got choices they're
(17:02):
different than the mentalityof when you and I were coming in
and that old regime of things.
And I think it's great, Ithink it's a great evolution of an
industry that needed to betalked about and I'm glad there's
banter out there about it.
It's crazy to see the newergeneration and how they embrace life.
(17:25):
You know, just have a 17 yearold daughter and seeing how she embraces
life and then seeing how kidsembrace life in this culinary industry
because they're learning fromus, but on a different level, whether
it be social media, chef'stable, Netflix, whatever it is, they're
learning from there ratherthan learning from a book or an encyclopedia.
How we had to do when we werejust dreaming, wanting to be this,
(17:45):
you know, a chef as kids.
I think one of the biggesttakeaways from all of this is if
we, if you can explain tosomebody who's younger coming up
how time is so importantbecause that's really what it boils
down to.
You.
You know, I was, I have 10years of restaurant and I would say
the last three or middle, themiddle ish to the end was debaucherous.
(18:11):
Like I was living that lifeand I wasted three, three years of,
I don't remember half of it,you know.
So you come to a place where.
That'S way behind me, youknow, wife, kids, doing all that
stuff and I see younger peoplenow who, you can tell they're on
(18:33):
the cusp.
They got that, they got thatlittle twinkle, right?
They got that spirit wherethey want to go out.
You know, they're going to go,you know, they're going to just suck
it all down.
People like that.
I want to tell them, like,hey, you know, pump the brakes, bump
the brakes.
You're, you're gonna waste,you're gonna look back and go, oh
my God, I could have done somuch to advance myself, my family,
(18:55):
start a fan, whatever.
Like you waste that time,it's, you can never get it back.
I think honestly we've come tothe point where we're all men because
I think that we think that wayin me trying to, you know, when I,
when I say of kind council or.
But when I talk to young chefsjust about the industry now, you
know, when, when I was comingup in the industry, there was, you
know, a couple of hot shotsthat we thought we were hot shots
(19:16):
and we were pretty talented,what have you.
And then there were the,there's one or two nerds that were
just in there and this was allabout that.
And we always mocked them, butwe knew that those kids were going
to be execs one day.
They were going to be great.
They weren't surpass us, butthey didn't want to have fun.
They wanted to engulfthemselves in the industry.
These days, these kids are allengulfing themselves in the industry
(19:37):
and they're going headfirstinto it.
And they don't drink and theydon't go out and they don't do all
these different things.
It's just kind of a different generation.
And kids are influenced by waydifferent stuff than we ever were
influenced by.
And it's just kind of bafflingto me.
But it's cool.
I hope we don't hit a brick wall.
Yeah.
I sit on a board for PinellasTechnical Culinary here in Pinellas
(19:59):
or in Pinellas county, back inSt. Pete, and I'm lucky enough to
interact with a bunch of the students.
And man, you know, they.
They have their textbooks.
That's great.
But like, you know, they don'twant to do that.
I had to.
I downloaded TikTok becausethat's how they told me they were
learning how to cook.
And I was just like, no, I'mnot downloading that.
And like, it's one more socialmedia platform.
(20:20):
I had to see what the heckthey were talking about.
Now I checked it out and whatnot.
But then I since haveuninstalled it, by the way.
So don't try to find me.
Okay.
Or send me anything on TikTokat 5 in the morning with like your
crappy lasagna or somethinglike that.
But I have to evolve and seewhat this generation is doing.
And then I have to understandotherwise, coming from the old regime,
(20:42):
from where we were, I mean,it's just not going to be a good
result for me or my team ifI'm in that position.
So that's very interesting.
Rustic French meets modern craveability.
That's your style, chef.
Tell me about how you foundyour place, your style in culinary.
(21:02):
Once I had that conversationwith my executive chef, he, you know,
pointed that to me about mydream was to have the white chef
coat, white hotel hat and allthat stuff.
I went out to California and Ifound a French chef that actually
emulated this thing.
And I staged out there forabout, I don't know, two weeks to
(21:24):
three weeks out in la.
And he had modern techniques,but, you know, the old French, the
classics never die.
It's like great music, but hewas doing cool stuff.
You know, it was liquid Nitrogen.
It was, you know, usinghydrocolloids, but, you know, not
bastardizing the mother saucesand stuff like that.
And I thought it was really cool.
(21:44):
So after that, I kind of gotthe gist of whatever my process was
going to be on a plate.
Now I could just substituteingredients on those plates to understand
who I was.
I mean, you're talking about California.
It's a great starting place,and it's a great segue into where
we were.
Walk and talk media last week.
Pooch.
(22:05):
Talk about it, baby.
How was that, first of all,coming from Guess from central East
Coast, Guess what?
We were all coming from thisside of the world of the United States.
Just getting there.
It's a whole new world.
It's different time zone.
You're.
You're gaining more time whenyou get out there.
So you.
You leave like, you know thatthey're early in the morning.
You're adding another three tofour hours to your day.
And it's just a whirlwind offlavors and fun out there.
(22:27):
Especially when you go to theCalifornia restaurant show and just
to meet some cool things, youknow, shout out to Preston Lee.
He's texting me right nowwhile we're on the podcast.
I was like, hey, man, we're onthe podcast.
But we met Preston Lee out there.
We met Sean Walshelf, who wasamazing, amazing podcaster and really
inspirational in what he'sdoing out there.
And it was great to meet him.
We had just missed each otherat the NRA National Restaurant show,
(22:49):
and we got to finally meet himout there.
And it's just always great togo out there and just be inspired
by different, you know, I wantto say different flavors, because
it's the same flavors we allutilize now.
It's kind of cross fusion ofeverything, but at the same time,
it's just done a little bitdifferent and just really intrigued.
We got to eat some truffles.
We got some really cold organ truffles.
(23:10):
I've never had Oregon truffles before.
They were pretty good.
Just seeing different stylesof chefs.
The west coast chef isinfluenced by so many different things.
And I always, you know, alwayswas influenced in coming up in my
career by Australia, because Ialways felt like they were doing
things first.
And I was like, cool.
It's the beginning of the dayin Australia.
(23:31):
But now that I go, when moreand more I go out to the West Coast,
I realize that they get toabsorb everything and they're the
last call.
And that fusion, to me ispretty dope.
I had a blast that was myfirst time in Cali.
And first of all, our Sherpa Fiona.
Chef Fiona, thank you just forbeing just cool as hell, man.
(23:57):
I can't wait to go back.
I didn't think I was going tofeel that way, to tell you the truth.
As it turns out, I want to goback, but I want to explore next
time.
I want to get out there alittle bit.
Went to Anaheim, which was great.
Anaheim's awesome.
The O.C.
Yeah, we're in O.C.
baby.
But I, I want to get like alittle bit past there, you know,
I want to see, I want to seesome of the non Disney esque art
(24:19):
here.
It was very manicured.
Yeah, well, you know what it is.
So we're here in Tampa.
Orlando's right there.
And if you ask me, the Disney,Orlando area, it's the same cutout,
same feel, same vibe, samelook as the Anaheim Disney area.
I thought it was fascinating.
I swear I felt like I was, youknow, driving through Dr. Phillips
(24:45):
area or something like that.
But what a great experience.
And we met a lot of amazing people.
Speaking of Disney, the, youknow, the head of culinary over there
at Disneyland is John State.
Had a wonderful interview with him.
Learned so much from him andkind of just the protocol of how
things go over there.
Pretty dope.
What was interesting aboutChef John State is that you were
(25:07):
doing all the interviews and Ikind of butted in and I got to do
something, which I'm not gonnasay it was like a bucket list thing,
but I thought it was cool.
Mickey Mouse.
Yeah.
So Pooch is sitting there,we're doing interviews.
He's got the corporate cheffor Disneyland at the booth.
And it was, I was last.
(25:27):
It was the last question.
And I said, pooch, wait, wait,hold on.
You know, and I took the, tookhis card with the, with the question.
And I was like, all right now,Chef, go ahead and tell me what your
favorite food is.
And I did this thing.
And let me tell you somethingas listen, Nerd factor times 1000.
(25:49):
I get it.
But I enjoyed the hell out of it.
And so did he.
He put a smile on it was magical.
I'm just saying I think heenjoyed being able to not have to
be so stiff.
You know, normally we go intothese corporate kind of interviews.
He's kind of have.
And he was able to be himself.
And he.
I felt, it felt good to getthat out of chefs.
And I mentioned that a lot oftimes before.
(26:09):
Chefs are four walls closingin on them.
We're able to bring things outof Them that normally most people
can't at Disney.
Listen, if you're looking fora Mickey.
Mouse guy, I can do it.
I'm just saying I'm putting itout there.
Yeah, I think you waited forthe right delivery to drop that.
That was amazing.
That was good.
Good for you.
It was.
I felt great about it.
I. I was representing my kids.
(26:31):
Speaking of representing mykids, I was the one doing the right
side up pineapple suits in inCalifornia and that was a hit.
It was a.
You and Ian hit the home runon that.
Shout out to Ian, man.
Total shout out to Ian.
He's a good dude.
He's totally good dude.
Blake, you've cooked on TV atSavor St. Pete.
Like, you win these things.
(26:51):
You even did some stuff at thebeard house.
How do you prepare yourselfand your dishes for high, visible
moments like that?
Basically, you can go aheadand try to mise en place out your
whole mindset, but it's nevergoing to happen that way.
So you just have a good ideaof what you think about when you
need to show up.
And you say that I've woncompetitions and I have or whatever,
(27:13):
but I would say I just showedshow up to compete no matter what.
So if that awards something,then great.
But I'm always going to be outthere competing and then the results
are going to be tellstorytelling as well.
So, yeah, I mean, you just.
Just say what it is.
I just show up and.
And gunsling and that's cool, man.
That's that far.
But, well, it's like that.
That's.
(27:34):
That's its own skill setbecause not everybody can do that.
Some people have to really.
Managing chaos is a.
The best skills that you canhave in the world, and that's kind
of being a shuffle andespecially like Hunter in the competition
world, you know.
So, yeah, I've been told Ilive in chaos and I think I do a
pretty good job on managing it.
So do you feel like you love.
It and you need it?
(27:55):
You know, the silence iswhat's maddening to me.
I cannot stand silence.
I need to have pots and pansbanging something, kicking a timer,
going off or what have you.
The silence is maddening for me.
You know, in this industry,the thing that we call this industry,
and I'm sure you have so manypeople that are subordinate to you
and rules, rules, rules,rules, rules, rules.
What is a rule that you enjoy breaking?
(28:16):
Let's just say, you know, thepeople that you trained with that
you were lucky enough to learnfrom whatever had these, like, habits
they Were trying to break youof or try to develop these habits,
right?
So I'm just thinking, like, Ihave this bad habit of I keep my
towels always nice and folded, okay?
But I put them in my back pocket.
Now, my chefs that havetrained me would do, you know, horrible
(28:38):
things to me if they ever sawthat my pockets or that I had clean
towels in my pockets, becausethat's just an oxymoron.
It's a.
It's a dirty pocket.
You put money in your pocket,your pockets are dirty.
Da, da, da.
Why would you do that?
You're cleaning things, andyou're putting it in your pocket.
Okay, I get it.
I understand.
So I try to do better, becauseif I see my guys doing that, then
I'm like, damn, they learnedthat from me, man.
I gotta.
I gotta do better.
You know, I gotta get that.
(28:59):
Break my own habit there.
So, you know, it's likeputting up a mirror reflection there.
And I'm sure there's other badhabits that, you know, I've adapted
to or what have you, but I.
Trying to put the mirror upwith myself and then my other people
and say, man, did they do thator did they get that from me?
I mean, we'll see what happens here.
So, chef, tell me somethingthat nobody prepares for, being a
(29:21):
chef.
You know, you can prepare forall these different things in your
life.
What being a chef, somethingthat nobody prepares for.
Balance.
Trying to understand balance.
Not even in the world, but inyour world, personal, professional,
and everybody else's worldsthat you have affected, Whether it's
(29:42):
your team of people and guesswhat, your guest as well.
We're talking about chaos.
We're talking about multiple units.
We're talking about just this.
This restaurant life.
I remember a time a couple ofyears back, I showed up making a
call, and I think you had aninspector there.
Your pipes blew, you know, thewater main or whatever the hell happened
(30:06):
there.
And there was like three orfour other things that were happening
across the.
Across the boundaries orborders of the restaurant.
So the pier is about, I don'tknow what, a half a mile away, things
were happening there.
You're at Birchwood, and it'sliterally flooding out.
(30:26):
And I think your cooler was down.
I think your cooler went down, too.
I don't remember if that wasthe right time, but all of these
things happen to you, and ithappens to.
Everybody in the business.
How are you dealing with that?
You know, it's one bite at a time.
You know, I. Geez, yeah, Icould be doing a wedding tasting
in The.
In our grand ballroom facility.
And I can have so muchpotential clientele, guest money
(30:47):
up there ready to, like, youknow, book, if they haven't already.
Well, guess what.
The toilet's gonna overflow.
What's the staff gonna do?
Chef, we need you.
Okay, there's something else.
Awesome.
Okay, Maybe a fire, a pipebust downstairs, and nobody knows
what to do because there's nowater cutoff.
And yada, yada, yada.
These things are not justgoing to happen in threes.
Whoever the hell brought thatup, that's great.
(31:10):
That just means watch outafter three.
Okay?
If you can't take threepunches, then stay down.
All right, well, I'll tell you what.
Was remarkable about that day,because, you know, I was doing my
thing.
I walked up, and you know me,I'm, you know, I'm just cool cat.
I'm not letting things stressme out.
Neither do you.
I.
You know, we're talking like,you gave me time.
You actually sat with me for aminute, and then you're like, hey,
(31:33):
Carl, listen, by the way,look, there's a water pipe that burst,
and then you.
Start going down the checklistof things.
That you're doing, and I'mlooking at you, and I'm like, why
did you.
Why didn't you kick me outlike any other respectable chef would
have?
Like, hey, not today, dude.
Get the hell out of here.
So, like we mentioned earlier,living in chaos, you know, these
(31:55):
things are going to happen.
Like I said, you can't takethree punches, then you just stay
down.
And you just have to let theseinstances, no matter what they are,
let them happen.
Let people figure it out.
Let the damage do itself, andpeople see how they react, and they
learn.
Before I get into it now, youknow, if it's severity, if somebody's
on fire, I'm definitely goingto put them out.
(32:15):
But if I'm freaking out,everybody's freaking out.
If somebody's freaking out andI'm not freaking out, I pull them
aside, talk to them in a nicetone, and say simply, I don't know
why you're freaking out, butnone of us are freaking out.
Please take five.
Kids are walking.
(32:35):
I think that listening to thatpart, you.
I've learned a lot from youand that I think I realized where
my take three punches and notget back up is.
And it was because the NewOrleans system is crumbling right
before our eyes.
James Beard award winners arelosing their restaurants.
(32:55):
But when I had that epiphanythat I didn't want to do it anymore
was like when our third orfourth boil water advisory of that
week and everything that wehad cooked and everything that we
had prepped had to now bedisposed and done all over again.
And I thought at the third,couldn't be anything more.
We did it again and we did itagain and made me realize that I
(33:17):
was living in third world country.
But I, I, I just, you justhaven't make me have epiphanies and
realizations.
And for Carl to ask me how Ifelt about that, it's like I used
to thrive on living in the chaos.
And I think that now we have adifferent type of chaos.
And I think that when you findpeople that can kind of balance the
(33:40):
same chemistry, we come upwith superb work.
Like California, you know,it's just, you have to be been born
in the chaos, baptized in it,figure out how to crawl the hell
out of there, and then nowadapt that chaos and everything you've
learned to a higher purpose, Iguess you would say.
I don't know if that makes anysense, but it made sense to me 100%.
(34:01):
I come from chaos too.
At, from the workplace, athome, like, it's abs.
Abject chaos.
We go to California, it's fun.
It's not chaos at all.
Even with hurdles, doesn't matter.
Nothing compared to some ofthe stuff that you go through inside
(34:23):
of a building like that, youknow, inside of a restaurant, hotel,
whatnot.
For what our deliverables haveto be.
Obviously there's stuff goingon behind the scenes that the people
who run and operate the show,yeah, they have chaos.
Like they're dealing with thechaos, but it's different than what
we have, and we just have toshow up and, you know, be stars,
(34:46):
you know, and I don't meanthat in that kind of way, but just
be the town, be the talent,have fun, and make great content,
great media.
Chef.
Seven different concepts,obviously, all throughout your year,
your years, and through your career.
How do you stay motivated?
Today I watched you, you makethree dishes.
Everything was creative,everything was brilliant, everything
(35:06):
tasted amazing.
I was just blown away by thefact that you just caraway into the
pumpkin puree to like, to givethat flavor of a piece of rye bread.
I kept wanting the bread, notreally the texture, but it changed
my, like, it made my brainthink there was supposed to be bread.
When I'm actually taking,tasting a puree, you know, how do
you stay creative like that?
(35:26):
Man, you know, sometimes Ican't even cook a grilled cheese
sandwich without saying I'mbowing out.
Like, how do you say?
I say that creative.
And, you know, I'm a firm believer.
I don't know the.
The back of the house, nomatter what, doesn't matter what
type of amenities you have.
If you're working with me, Iam setting the toast.
Excuse me.
I'm setting the tone, and I'msetting the pace, no matter what.
(35:50):
So whoever that first chef is,that's in the morning, flicks on
those lights, turn on theburners, and do all that stuff.
That's great.
But now you gotta doconsistent things, bring it forward.
And then being creative aswell, that's.
That's not everybody's forte,you know, when I'm balancing teams,
I understand that.
Sometimes you just don't needa creative.
(36:10):
Sometimes you just need a production.
Maybe you just need somethingin between.
Maybe you need a dreamer.
Maybe you need somebody that'snot a dreamer, you know?
But it's what you're gonnafind out there and surround yourself
with that's gonna make me do better.
So I've had individuals that have.
We've worked together, and,man, I've needed little pieces from
this chef, that chef, this chef.
(36:31):
And then for me, I'm justwired differently.
I just keep moving.
I just bounce around, and I'vegot great ideas.
I'll do these ideas, thingswith my people or get in a circle,
and I'll be like, okay, cool.
Banana.
And then pooch, you say lobster.
And then John, you say shallots.
And then Carl, you saysomething there.
And then we make a dish, right then.
(36:52):
And peppermint oil.
Peppermint oil.
Boom.
But then it's like throwingsomething at a dartboard.
Why not just have fun about that?
And, like, not talking aboutfood in the kitchens drives me nuts.
I know when it's footballseason, man, I get it.
I like football, right?
But, like, I don't need to seeall my people out on their phones
doing the things.
Whatever.
I don't care.
It's about, like, what you hadfor dinner last night.
(37:15):
I don't give a shit.
I need to hear that.
I need to hear about, like, food.
That's why we're there.
We're getting a.
We're there to get paid to dosomething, a service for other people,
okay?
And if we're not excited aboutfood and we're just talking about,
like, you know, whatever elseout there.
And I just use football as anexample, because that's seasonal,
and I get it every time.
So we just need to stayfocused and the topics that motivate
(37:39):
us, because that's what we'rethere to do, we're due to.
We're there to do theculinary, the food and be consistent.
I think you touched onsomething that I think every aspiring
chef or even aspiring leaderneeds to hear about being in the
kitchen, is that it alwaysdoes not have to be creative.
If we have a mission, we havesomething to do.
I don't need to know aboutthis new technique that I saw.
Well, it may make thingsfaster, but showing everyone how
(38:00):
to do it is going to sloweverything the F down.
So, like, it just.
I think people get themselvesblackballed in those type of situations
where people never want toactually create with those people
ever again or be in thekitchen or be on a team with those
people ever again, becausethey're always trying to be this
creative, impressive person.
A lot of time, it's just aboutconsistency in getting the job done.
(38:22):
And that's what's going to gofar than.
Farther than any of your creativity.
You know, you.
You will have theopportunities to be creative if you
just shut up and do what yougot to do.
Yeah.
Too many moves on a plate.
If that's your pickups.
Oh, my God.
If that's one of yourindications there, the pass of the
expo and you got more than,like, four moves on the finished
plate, man.
Power to you, because that'snot going to feel like plate.
(38:44):
You cut all night on a Friday,Friday, Saturday night.
So count your moves.
Count your moves, and thenunderstand if that end result is
actually there.
I mean, when I do these hugebanquet parties and stuff like that,
I'm like, lining up my team.
You right handed?
And the web.
One of the moves, the white.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
That's got to be one of themoves in this place and that.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, are you righthanded, left handed?
(39:04):
Are you whatever?
Like, these are important things.
Yeah, yeah, I count, man.
I have that.
No, most people can't count.
Like, I thought we were at 62,nowhere at 63.
We need to know exactly whatnumber we're at right now.
We have so many of thisgarnish, so many of that.
Yeah, it's just a good war story.
Shop good to be here.
Yeah, absolutely, Chef.
You're the mayor of St. Pete,culinarily speaking.
(39:27):
All right.
You've done it all.
You're doing a ton of stuffout there.
I would say greater Tampa Bay area.
Don't argue with me.
I'm just saying 20 years fromnow, young chefs, insane.
Pete, they're going to mentionyour name.
What do you hope that they'regonna say about you.
Relentless.
Just relentless about this craft.
I'm wired differently.
(39:48):
I don't understand why, butwhether it's creative outlook or
on my feet for X amount ofhours in a day, but leading by example,
you know, I was there.
I showed up every day, andmaybe I had a cook tell me that Chef
Lee was composed of IPA beersin the refrigerator, different flavors
(40:08):
of hummus and dull knives anddusty cookbooks is what he told me.
Now, that was only, like, 10years ago, so I hopefully have evolved
from, you know, the hummus andthe IPA beers and stuff like that.
Getting older, man.
They don't go well together.
But hopefully in 20 years, I'mnot even sure what people would say
(40:28):
about me as my craft.
I mean, I wear my.
I wear my legacy in my apron, man.
You know, I'm single, dude, whatever.
You have no children.
What have you.
So what I do is, you know, Ihate to say it, I'm selfish, but
I do it for me.
But then I do it for my guestas well.
So, Chef, I got to give youyour flowers, man.
You really have opened my mind up.
(40:51):
I haven't been back.
I haven't been on the podcastin a while, and I'm glad I came back
to able to be here when you'rehere, because you really opened my
eyes and made me think, andthat's really why I enjoy being a
part of this and meeting newchefs and learning from.
Appreciate you coming back.
Yeah, Chef, it's been goodgetting to cook for you guys and
chat and shop and all that,and, you know, it just feels kinetic,
man.
So thank you for the day.
(41:12):
That was really nice.
All right, so look, first ofall, I appreciate the fact that you
and wifey drove all the wayfrom New Orleans to come out a day
early.
We got stuff to do tomorrow,but day early to be on the show.
Lee, you're a freaking monster.
Appreciate you, dude.
John, as always.
Pictures are freaking stupid.
(41:33):
We did have guests today andother guests in the house.
We had Alexia.
We had her mom, Lourdes, andJoanne from Gala group, and stay
tuned for that.
I put it at the end becausefor the real ones who listen to the
end know that big things are coming.
And I know who some of youpeople are who listen to to the end.
I want to give a shout out toFiero Group, the Fiero Rainmaker,
(41:57):
and Pete over at Fiero.
Love the.
Love you guys.
All right, guys.
Oh, hey.
So how do we find you people?
Instagram.
Bad Leroy Brown.
Oh, yeah.
And I'M at foodie patootie.
All right.
Hey, guys, again, appreciate y'.
All.
We are out.
You've just stepped inside theWalk and Talk podcast number one
in the nation for food lovers,chefs and storytellers.
I'm Carl Fiordini, your host,shining a.
Light on the flavor, thehustle and the heart of the industry.
We're the official podcast forthe New.
York, California and Floridarestaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow
Summit, the US Culinary Openat nafm and the North American Media
(00:21):
platform for the Burnt Chefproject recorded.
At Ibis Images Studios wherefood photography comes alive and
I get the first bite.
Find out moreinfo@thewalkandtalk.com he grew up.
On Amelia island, but ChefLiacrino's first taste of kitchen
life wasn't in fine dining.
It was behind the actionstation at Shoney's in Ferdinanda
(00:42):
beach making omelets to order.
It's where he learned peopleorder their eggs like cocktails,
precise, personal and full of personality.
From there, he began his chefjourney into Jacksonville's country
clubs and hotels beforestepping into a role that would put
him at the heart of downtownSt. Pete's dining scene.
Today, he's the culinary forcebehind two properties and seven distinct
(01:03):
concepts.
The Birch Wood Inns, Birch andVine, the Canopy Pastry Production
and the grand ballroom.
Plus, out on St. Pete Pier,teak Pier, Tiki and Driftwood Cafe.
Multiple concepts, multipleteams, all under his watch, each
one carrying a distinct voiceyet tethered by his touch.
Lee's food lives in that rarespace between rustic French training
(01:26):
and the adaptability tomodernize with approachable flavors.
Plastic people crave apersonality that's put in front of
TV cameras, podcasts at theheart of Savor St. Pete, cooked at
the James Beard House and inkitchens from the Tampa Bay Lightning
and Buccaneers.
But behind the polished platesis a craftsman who weathered the
grind of country.
Club and hotel kitchens.
He learned that leading ismore about trust than control.
(01:49):
And before we dive in, I wantto take a moment to thank our friends
at the California Restaurantshow for their incredible partnership.
Glenn Paul, Jerry lashara, JoeAmy, Tom Meck, and so many more.
You made last week's show anabsolute success, Pooch.
Will and I were on the floorall three days meeting amazing people
shaping our industry's future.
I just have to give a specialthanks to Metro for sponsoring our
(02:12):
Day One recap.
Your support makes it possiblefor us to bring these stories to
life and to our remote team.
Glenn and Jordan, your behindthe scenes production efforts kept
this whole machine running.
Today we're sitting down inour Lakeland studio not just to talk
about recipes or menus, but tounravel the mindset of a chef who
builds culture acrosskitchens, who sees the city skyline
(02:33):
as his dining room, and whobelieves every plate is a chance
to start a conversation.
Chef Liquino.
Welcome to the podcast, Chef.
What a day.
Carl.
It's been amazing.
I mean, really, right?
I mean, you put in like a.
You basically put in a fullshift over here.
It's good.
You got the all hot andsweaty, which is not, you know, not
(02:56):
known for it.
You, you know, I've heard that before.
Yeah, I've heard that before.
Without question.
In house, we have a special guest.
We have the chef put Riverawalk and talk.
Personality extraordinaire.
What's up, Dougie?
I'm well, man.
(03:16):
Well, I'm so excited to be here.
It was a little last minute thing.
We worked some things out withMonument and we're going to be at
the hardware show tomorrow,which is cool.
And a lot of people have beenasking me why hardware?
And it's a one billion dollaroutdoor cooking industry and we're
looking to tap into that industry.
So hit us up.
Beeps all right, first things first.
(03:39):
Today we have the original NewOrleans old style nectar cream soda.
It's given me the go to makeit happen.
Like, I'm refreshed.
We're in Florida, 6,000degrees outside.
Everybody can attest to thisin this.
Who's sitting in this studio space?
It's hot.
(04:00):
Anyhow, Lee, baby boy, we didstuff today.
Let's go into the first dish.
All right, the first dish youcan find at the Birch and Vine, downtown,
St. Pete, ground level.
It's a beautiful play on alobster French toast.
So basically it's going to bea cold water lobster tail that's
poached.
(04:20):
We go ahead and deep fryawesome thick cut brioche, and then
we pair it with a little bitof a chive of spuma, some fresh cut
scallions and some nice loveon top of that.
For the.
Hold on.
For those people out therethat don't know what a spooma is,
what is it?
It's a pair of shoes.
(04:45):
It's a spuma sweats.
It's actually Spanish for foam.
So a spuma, you see it on packaging.
A spuma.
You know, it's like seeingfragile on your packaging too.
So just another term for a phone.
So I have my leg lamp on order.
It's on the way.
(05:06):
It's Amazon.
It's coming out.
It's a major prize.
It's a major prize.
It is for Gile Johnphotography today Your dishes, it
was stinking beautiful.
And that was the first dish.
You did two more.
What was the next one?
The one after that would haveto be the half a chicken.
The half chicken we deboned,we just left in the little drumstick
there.
That way you can just grabthat little sucker when it comes
(05:28):
to your table, and you canjust twist and have, like, a little
chicken drumette, little tasteof what you're about to have.
That's been on top of abeautiful risotto, Aji panca, Peruvian
pepper sauce, little bit ofsimple charred scallions and blistered
tomatoes.
Simple, delicious little spice.
Little sweet little earthinessto it.
(05:49):
Dish 3.
Dish 3 was a beautiful productthat came from Aussie Select.
It was a nice lamb tenderlointhat was fabricated with pastrami
spice.
Beautiful color on the inside.
Smelled amazing as soon as youopened it.
We paired that with a littlebit of pumpkin puree with toasted
(06:11):
rye.
We also shaved a little bit ofgoat cheese truffle over the top
of that, toasted bispitas, andthen we made a caper berry mustard
relish over that.
So basically, this was gonnacall it a lamb strami over pumpkin
on rye.
If you saw it on a menuanywhere, you saw it here first.
True story.
And I'm feeling like, youknow, obviously our audience consists
(06:35):
of foodies, people who lovefood, and then there's a lot of industry
folks.
So at the end of this, whenthey see these images of the dishes
that you put out today, I feellike everybody's gonna flip.
Oh, man.
John, you're a magician, man.
You are a magician.
I mean, the first one was thelobster dish, and that literally
has, like, three to four components.
And I was like, oh, man, Idon't know.
(06:55):
But I just.
You.
It tastes great, and you makeit look amazing, so kudos.
Appreciate that.
Yeah, I'm excited, actually.
You think you get those on tonight?
No.
Yeah.
Shaking the head.
All right, Lee, you had thisomelet station, Epiphany.
(07:18):
Oh, man.
Yeah.
Take us back to Shoney's, baby.
Oh, boy.
Okay.
High school times, man.
There was this chef guy.
His name was Chef Jeff.
I think we've all known a ChefJeff in our life.
Okay.
So he actually operated acatering facility out of the back
of Shoning.
And, well, you know, Thursdaynights was breakfast for dinner,
and then he had Saturday and Sunday.
And so I had a little omelettestation out there in front of people,
(07:41):
and you had the simpleingredients or what have you, but,
man, I didn't realize how hardit was to cook eggs, especially in
front of people, when you havenever cooked anything before.
Eggs are like cocktails.
I mean, why.
How does that even work?
You know, you have.
When you get good at what youdo and you're in front of your guests,
like a good bartender would be.
(08:02):
People flock for their bartenders.
They know what they like, theyknow how they like it.
I had that kind of demand withpeople with breakfast.
People in the morning are like.
They're creatures of habit, man.
You step out the bed, probablythe first foot, the same foot every
day out of your bed, put thesame pant leg in.
And that's the parody I foundbetween, you know, making cocktails
(08:23):
and making breakfast for people.
Lee, you've been doing this along time.
Sure.
We've actually known eachother for a long time now, too.
Probably coming up on 10 years almost.
Yeah, yeah, solid.
Yeah, something like that.
But you started at Shoney's.
You started with this omelet station.
Is there anything that youlearned then that you're applying
(08:45):
to, you know, your today's role?
Absolutely.
I got to have the face to facecontact with my guests.
Not only that, I got to seethe reactions to things.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Ihad, like, the whole setup going.
I would have, you know, thebehind the back flips.
I would do all these crazytricks, like.
Like a hibachi AMA guy.
Right.
(09:06):
So having that frontinteraction with people and wanting
to do better, put on a bettershow, knowing how they like their
eggs, whether it was, like,you know, burned or just beautiful
and basted with butter, I justlearned quick.
And I learned, you know, notthe hard way, but literally trial
by fire, because if theydidn't like it, they would tell you
right to your face.
(09:27):
I've witnessed that myself.
I've seen it.
I know what happens.
The Amlokai gets abused, rightor wrong.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, hey, let's just.
Let's go to a Mother's Day at,like, a buffet somewhere.
You want to.
You really want to feel the heat.
You want to just, you know,have a bunch of very angry mothers
at you, then burn theiromelets and find out, you know, the
(09:50):
omelet guy and.
The walk guy, those are theguys that can stand alone, especially
if there's no tickets.
You just call them from Expo.
Those two guys are the guysthat I would go to war with on my
side.
There you go.
Yeah.
And you got to be able to talkto these people, too.
You know, you got to have alittle bit of Banter.
Like you are a bartender, you know?
Exactly.
(10:10):
Definitely.
You know, one thing I'venoticed, Chef, from.
From just studying you and.
And studying the.
And just seeing what you're doing.
Your style of cooking is nowkind of continental in a way.
Is that you coming up withthat, or is it just the fact that
you spearhead so many brandsthat you have to kind of become continental
in the way you cook?
Yeah.
Representing all thesedifferent types of concepts, you
(10:34):
know, you could lose yourself.
Man.
I remember when I was a youngchef, I had my executive chef.
I was chasing this dream ofhaving, like, this white coat, white
apron, the white tote hat.
You know, it's going to belike all.
All that stuff.
Right.
And he sat me down and toldme, that's not me.
That's not my personality.
So he told me to go findmyself on a plate, and then I had
(10:56):
to, like, really figure outwhat that meant.
And that meant, you know,figuring out what I want to do, what
my perception is, what mypersonality is, and find that concept
that I can emulate.
Well, there's some breadcrumbs there.
Right?
You're talking about right now.
You're overseeing what, seven concepts?
Yes, sir.
And those concepts all have to separate.
(11:20):
They each have to have theirown identity.
How are you managing that?
I think the first step is tofind individuals that have these
type of personalities andskill sets, and that's not always
easy to match the certain concepts.
So not one of the restaurantsor concepts is the same as the other,
(11:41):
so it's hard to match and pairthat up.
But when you find it, youknow, it's like a combination to
a lock.
It just clicks and works.
Yeah, but inspiration, menu inspiration.
Where's that coming from?
7.
Seven concepts.
It's not one concept.
(12:01):
It's not like, oh, we have ourfirst unit, and we're doubling up
on a second unit.
Same menu.
You have seven different concepts.
So, yeah, you have people in place.
Are you allowing them toactually, you know, put their own
menu stamp on some of thestuff, or are you guiding them?
Yeah, that's what I'm there todo as a culinary director.
I've been the chef, the souschef, the dishwasher.
(12:24):
I am entrusting theseindividuals, these professionals
that we have decided to worktogether, and they're putting their
own personal touches to it,and then I'm actually just guiding
them to success.
So if it's a concept, conceptforward, if it's going to be fine
dining, if it's going to befast casual, then that's their concept.
(12:46):
And then we're workingtogether while they're building their
menus and building their teamsand doing some special events along
the way as well.
If you weren't doing this,what would you be doing?
I'd probably be a contractor.
I would just be.
I can't have idle hands, man.
I got to work.
I can't have downtime.
I just like to, you know, whenI found myself, pedal to the metal,
(13:07):
I'm good with my hands.
I'm good mentally, and I'mgood with instructing others on how
to get, you know, jobs andfocuses accomplished.
You don't burn out from it, man.
You know, I've seen a lot ofpeople burn fuses, and unfortunately,
some of them never came back.
I think I burned quite a bitof fuses in my fuse box.
(13:28):
But I'm lucky enough that if Ihave, I have a support from, you
know, family, friends, otherpeople, chefs that would pick me
up and keep me going, youknow, isn't that a choice?
Isn't it a choice to burn out?
You know, listen, I'm not.
I'm not.
I'm not.
(13:49):
I'm not from the kitchen, right?
But I am from the industryfront of the house, starting, right?
And it's the same sort of vibe.
We're all going through thesame rush.
We're all dealing with thesame tickets that get blown.
You know, it's the same pass, right?
And in the end, we choose togo out with the cats that are going
(14:12):
to be up, you know, until 8 o'clock the next morning.
That's what we do.
It's a choice.
How do you mentor somebody orguide somebody away from those choices,
or do they have to just kindof go through it, learn it, so they
understand it?
Yeah, I think you have to.
I mean, you can tell somebodyto do something, and I'm probably
that person, or I have beenthat person.
(14:32):
If you tell me to dosomething, I'm not, I'm gonna do
it.
I'm actually gonna do it.
Don't touch that handle.
It's hot, man.
I want to know how hot it isand how much I can hold on to it.
So, I mean, with certainindividuals, you just have to read
the.
Read the field a little bit better.
Let them.
Let them find out.
Let them, you know, let themtry to test the water a little bit
and let them find out.
And then I'm not gonna do an Itold you so moment there, because
(14:55):
I've.
This has happened to me somuch in my life that, you know, I
Don't need somebody there tosay, I told you so.
I'm saying, you know, okay, sothat happened.
So let's move forward, andlet's not have that happen again.
Okay.
Puji.
Yes, sir.
Thoughts?
I think that we kind of gotoff the subject of that question,
in a sense of where you actslike, don't we control it?
(15:18):
Can we control the burnout?
Yes.
At the end of the day, I thinkthe pressure stacked against people
aspiring to be a chef, provingto themselves, proving to their loved
ones that they picked theright career path.
And I think.
I think a lot of chefs thesedays weren't really worried about
the going out or partying tillthe wee hours kind of things that
(15:38):
we did back then and there.
I think a lot of people noware realizing that there's AI around
the corner, there's all theseadvancements in the kitchen, and
just in.
In any industry, really.
But right about now, I thinkthere's a lot of people that have
dedicated that good 10 to 15years that are on the cusp of saying,
am I really?
Should I go this far?
And that's the decision rightthen there.
(15:59):
When you have to realize ifyou're going to burn out or not.
And then from that point, it'skind of luck, in my opinion.
It's about relationships andfostering those relationships with
people that can pull you up tobe in food media or be a culinary
director of seven different concepts.
You know, those kind of placesright there, it's chessboard rather
than culinary skills oranything like that.
(16:20):
And some people don't havethose skills to move those chessboards.
And those, to me, are thepeople that are going to say, I'm
jumping off the porch head first.
After 10, 15 years in thisindustry, I could make a decision
on my career.
I'm going to stick with this.
And those are the people, tome, that burn out where they don't
get to the plateau they thinkthey could get to.
And it's a.
It's a tough place to be.
Yeah, I don't think a lot ofpeople understand they do have a
(16:41):
choice, and that's very toughbecause we're doing the same thing
over and over.
And that's like, in a lot of industries.
So you get so wrapped up in it.
I mean, it's always said it'sjust food.
It's not life or death, butthat's not the way we handle it usually.
And I think nowadays with ayounger generation coming in, they're
talking about it, they'retalking about they got choices they're
(17:02):
different than the mentalityof when you and I were coming in
and that old regime of things.
And I think it's great, Ithink it's a great evolution of an
industry that needed to betalked about and I'm glad there's
banter out there about it.
It's crazy to see the newergeneration and how they embrace life.
(17:25):
You know, just have a 17 yearold daughter and seeing how she embraces
life and then seeing how kidsembrace life in this culinary industry
because they're learning fromus, but on a different level, whether
it be social media, chef'stable, Netflix, whatever it is, they're
learning from there ratherthan learning from a book or an encyclopedia.
How we had to do when we werejust dreaming, wanting to be this,
(17:45):
you know, a chef as kids.
I think one of the biggesttakeaways from all of this is if
we, if you can explain tosomebody who's younger coming up
how time is so importantbecause that's really what it boils
down to.
You.
You know, I was, I have 10years of restaurant and I would say
the last three or middle, themiddle ish to the end was debaucherous.
(18:11):
Like I was living that lifeand I wasted three, three years of,
I don't remember half of it,you know.
So you come to a place where.
That'S way behind me, youknow, wife, kids, doing all that
stuff and I see younger peoplenow who, you can tell they're on
(18:33):
the cusp.
They got that, they got thatlittle twinkle, right?
They got that spirit wherethey want to go out.
You know, they're going to go,you know, they're going to just suck
it all down.
People like that.
I want to tell them, like,hey, you know, pump the brakes, bump
the brakes.
You're, you're gonna waste,you're gonna look back and go, oh
my God, I could have done somuch to advance myself, my family,
(18:55):
start a fan, whatever.
Like you waste that time,it's, you can never get it back.
I think honestly we've come tothe point where we're all men because
I think that we think that wayin me trying to, you know, when I,
when I say of kind council or.
But when I talk to young chefsjust about the industry now, you
know, when, when I was comingup in the industry, there was, you
know, a couple of hot shotsthat we thought we were hot shots
(19:16):
and we were pretty talented,what have you.
And then there were the,there's one or two nerds that were
just in there and this was allabout that.
And we always mocked them, butwe knew that those kids were going
to be execs one day.
They were going to be great.
They weren't surpass us, butthey didn't want to have fun.
They wanted to engulfthemselves in the industry.
These days, these kids are allengulfing themselves in the industry
(19:37):
and they're going headfirstinto it.
And they don't drink and theydon't go out and they don't do all
these different things.
It's just kind of a different generation.
And kids are influenced by waydifferent stuff than we ever were
influenced by.
And it's just kind of bafflingto me.
But it's cool.
I hope we don't hit a brick wall.
Yeah.
I sit on a board for PinellasTechnical Culinary here in Pinellas
(19:59):
or in Pinellas county, back inSt. Pete, and I'm lucky enough to
interact with a bunch of the students.
And man, you know, they.
They have their textbooks.
That's great.
But like, you know, they don'twant to do that.
I had to.
I downloaded TikTok becausethat's how they told me they were
learning how to cook.
And I was just like, no, I'mnot downloading that.
And like, it's one more socialmedia platform.
(20:20):
I had to see what the heckthey were talking about.
Now I checked it out and whatnot.
But then I since haveuninstalled it, by the way.
So don't try to find me.
Okay.
Or send me anything on TikTokat 5 in the morning with like your
crappy lasagna or somethinglike that.
But I have to evolve and seewhat this generation is doing.
And then I have to understandotherwise, coming from the old regime,
(20:42):
from where we were, I mean,it's just not going to be a good
result for me or my team ifI'm in that position.
So that's very interesting.
Rustic French meets modern craveability.
That's your style, chef.
Tell me about how you foundyour place, your style in culinary.
(21:02):
Once I had that conversationwith my executive chef, he, you know,
pointed that to me about mydream was to have the white chef
coat, white hotel hat and allthat stuff.
I went out to California and Ifound a French chef that actually
emulated this thing.
And I staged out there forabout, I don't know, two weeks to
(21:24):
three weeks out in la.
And he had modern techniques,but, you know, the old French, the
classics never die.
It's like great music, but hewas doing cool stuff.
You know, it was liquid Nitrogen.
It was, you know, usinghydrocolloids, but, you know, not
bastardizing the mother saucesand stuff like that.
And I thought it was really cool.
(21:44):
So after that, I kind of gotthe gist of whatever my process was
going to be on a plate.
Now I could just substituteingredients on those plates to understand
who I was.
I mean, you're talking about California.
It's a great starting place,and it's a great segue into where
we were.
Walk and talk media last week.
Pooch.
(22:05):
Talk about it, baby.
How was that, first of all,coming from Guess from central East
Coast, Guess what?
We were all coming from thisside of the world of the United States.
Just getting there.
It's a whole new world.
It's different time zone.
You're.
You're gaining more time whenyou get out there.
So you.
You leave like, you know thatthey're early in the morning.
You're adding another three tofour hours to your day.
And it's just a whirlwind offlavors and fun out there.
(22:27):
Especially when you go to theCalifornia restaurant show and just
to meet some cool things, youknow, shout out to Preston Lee.
He's texting me right nowwhile we're on the podcast.
I was like, hey, man, we're onthe podcast.
But we met Preston Lee out there.
We met Sean Walshelf, who wasamazing, amazing podcaster and really
inspirational in what he'sdoing out there.
And it was great to meet him.
We had just missed each otherat the NRA National Restaurant show,
(22:49):
and we got to finally meet himout there.
And it's just always great togo out there and just be inspired
by different, you know, I wantto say different flavors, because
it's the same flavors we allutilize now.
It's kind of cross fusion ofeverything, but at the same time,
it's just done a little bitdifferent and just really intrigued.
We got to eat some truffles.
We got some really cold organ truffles.
(23:10):
I've never had Oregon truffles before.
They were pretty good.
Just seeing different stylesof chefs.
The west coast chef isinfluenced by so many different things.
And I always, you know, alwayswas influenced in coming up in my
career by Australia, because Ialways felt like they were doing
things first.
And I was like, cool.
It's the beginning of the dayin Australia.
(23:31):
But now that I go, when moreand more I go out to the West Coast,
I realize that they get toabsorb everything and they're the
last call.
And that fusion, to me ispretty dope.
I had a blast that was myfirst time in Cali.
And first of all, our Sherpa Fiona.
Chef Fiona, thank you just forbeing just cool as hell, man.
(23:57):
I can't wait to go back.
I didn't think I was going tofeel that way, to tell you the truth.
As it turns out, I want to goback, but I want to explore next
time.
I want to get out there alittle bit.
Went to Anaheim, which was great.
Anaheim's awesome.
The O.C.
Yeah, we're in O.C.
baby.
But I, I want to get like alittle bit past there, you know,
I want to see, I want to seesome of the non Disney esque art
(24:19):
here.
It was very manicured.
Yeah, well, you know what it is.
So we're here in Tampa.
Orlando's right there.
And if you ask me, the Disney,Orlando area, it's the same cutout,
same feel, same vibe, samelook as the Anaheim Disney area.
I thought it was fascinating.
I swear I felt like I was, youknow, driving through Dr. Phillips
(24:45):
area or something like that.
But what a great experience.
And we met a lot of amazing people.
Speaking of Disney, the, youknow, the head of culinary over there
at Disneyland is John State.
Had a wonderful interview with him.
Learned so much from him andkind of just the protocol of how
things go over there.
Pretty dope.
What was interesting aboutChef John State is that you were
(25:07):
doing all the interviews and Ikind of butted in and I got to do
something, which I'm not gonnasay it was like a bucket list thing,
but I thought it was cool.
Mickey Mouse.
Yeah.
So Pooch is sitting there,we're doing interviews.
He's got the corporate cheffor Disneyland at the booth.
And it was, I was last.
(25:27):
It was the last question.
And I said, pooch, wait, wait,hold on.
You know, and I took the, tookhis card with the, with the question.
And I was like, all right now,Chef, go ahead and tell me what your
favorite food is.
And I did this thing.
And let me tell you somethingas listen, Nerd factor times 1000.
(25:49):
I get it.
But I enjoyed the hell out of it.
And so did he.
He put a smile on it was magical.
I'm just saying I think heenjoyed being able to not have to
be so stiff.
You know, normally we go intothese corporate kind of interviews.
He's kind of have.
And he was able to be himself.
And he.
I felt, it felt good to getthat out of chefs.
And I mentioned that a lot oftimes before.
(26:09):
Chefs are four walls closingin on them.
We're able to bring things outof Them that normally most people
can't at Disney.
Listen, if you're looking fora Mickey.
Mouse guy, I can do it.
I'm just saying I'm putting itout there.
Yeah, I think you waited forthe right delivery to drop that.
That was amazing.
That was good.
Good for you.
It was.
I felt great about it.
I. I was representing my kids.
(26:31):
Speaking of representing mykids, I was the one doing the right
side up pineapple suits in inCalifornia and that was a hit.
It was a.
You and Ian hit the home runon that.
Shout out to Ian, man.
Total shout out to Ian.
He's a good dude.
He's totally good dude.
Blake, you've cooked on TV atSavor St. Pete.
Like, you win these things.
(26:51):
You even did some stuff at thebeard house.
How do you prepare yourselfand your dishes for high, visible
moments like that?
Basically, you can go aheadand try to mise en place out your
whole mindset, but it's nevergoing to happen that way.
So you just have a good ideaof what you think about when you
need to show up.
And you say that I've woncompetitions and I have or whatever,
(27:13):
but I would say I just showedshow up to compete no matter what.
So if that awards something,then great.
But I'm always going to be outthere competing and then the results
are going to be tellstorytelling as well.
So, yeah, I mean, you just.
Just say what it is.
I just show up and.
And gunsling and that's cool, man.
That's that far.
But, well, it's like that.
That's.
(27:34):
That's its own skill setbecause not everybody can do that.
Some people have to really.
Managing chaos is a.
The best skills that you canhave in the world, and that's kind
of being a shuffle andespecially like Hunter in the competition
world, you know.
So, yeah, I've been told Ilive in chaos and I think I do a
pretty good job on managing it.
So do you feel like you love.
It and you need it?
(27:55):
You know, the silence iswhat's maddening to me.
I cannot stand silence.
I need to have pots and pansbanging something, kicking a timer,
going off or what have you.
The silence is maddening for me.
You know, in this industry,the thing that we call this industry,
and I'm sure you have so manypeople that are subordinate to you
and rules, rules, rules,rules, rules, rules.
What is a rule that you enjoy breaking?
(28:16):
Let's just say, you know, thepeople that you trained with that
you were lucky enough to learnfrom whatever had these, like, habits
they Were trying to break youof or try to develop these habits,
right?
So I'm just thinking, like, Ihave this bad habit of I keep my
towels always nice and folded, okay?
But I put them in my back pocket.
Now, my chefs that havetrained me would do, you know, horrible
(28:38):
things to me if they ever sawthat my pockets or that I had clean
towels in my pockets, becausethat's just an oxymoron.
It's a.
It's a dirty pocket.
You put money in your pocket,your pockets are dirty.
Da, da, da.
Why would you do that?
You're cleaning things, andyou're putting it in your pocket.
Okay, I get it.
I understand.
So I try to do better, becauseif I see my guys doing that, then
I'm like, damn, they learnedthat from me, man.
I gotta.
I gotta do better.
You know, I gotta get that.
(28:59):
Break my own habit there.
So, you know, it's likeputting up a mirror reflection there.
And I'm sure there's other badhabits that, you know, I've adapted
to or what have you, but I.
Trying to put the mirror upwith myself and then my other people
and say, man, did they do thator did they get that from me?
I mean, we'll see what happens here.
So, chef, tell me somethingthat nobody prepares for, being a
(29:21):
chef.
You know, you can prepare forall these different things in your
life.
What being a chef, somethingthat nobody prepares for.
Balance.
Trying to understand balance.
Not even in the world, but inyour world, personal, professional,
and everybody else's worldsthat you have affected, Whether it's
(29:42):
your team of people and guesswhat, your guest as well.
We're talking about chaos.
We're talking about multiple units.
We're talking about just this.
This restaurant life.
I remember a time a couple ofyears back, I showed up making a
call, and I think you had aninspector there.
Your pipes blew, you know, thewater main or whatever the hell happened
(30:06):
there.
And there was like three orfour other things that were happening
across the.
Across the boundaries orborders of the restaurant.
So the pier is about, I don'tknow what, a half a mile away, things
were happening there.
You're at Birchwood, and it'sliterally flooding out.
(30:26):
And I think your cooler was down.
I think your cooler went down, too.
I don't remember if that wasthe right time, but all of these
things happen to you, and ithappens to.
Everybody in the business.
How are you dealing with that?
You know, it's one bite at a time.
You know, I. Geez, yeah, Icould be doing a wedding tasting
in The.
In our grand ballroom facility.
And I can have so muchpotential clientele, guest money
(30:47):
up there ready to, like, youknow, book, if they haven't already.
Well, guess what.
The toilet's gonna overflow.
What's the staff gonna do?
Chef, we need you.
Okay, there's something else.
Awesome.
Okay, Maybe a fire, a pipebust downstairs, and nobody knows
what to do because there's nowater cutoff.
And yada, yada, yada.
These things are not justgoing to happen in threes.
Whoever the hell brought thatup, that's great.
(31:10):
That just means watch outafter three.
Okay?
If you can't take threepunches, then stay down.
All right, well, I'll tell you what.
Was remarkable about that day,because, you know, I was doing my
thing.
I walked up, and you know me,I'm, you know, I'm just cool cat.
I'm not letting things stressme out.
Neither do you.
I.
You know, we're talking like,you gave me time.
You actually sat with me for aminute, and then you're like, hey,
(31:33):
Carl, listen, by the way,look, there's a water pipe that burst,
and then you.
Start going down the checklistof things.
That you're doing, and I'mlooking at you, and I'm like, why
did you.
Why didn't you kick me outlike any other respectable chef would
have?
Like, hey, not today, dude.
Get the hell out of here.
So, like we mentioned earlier,living in chaos, you know, these
(31:55):
things are going to happen.
Like I said, you can't takethree punches, then you just stay
down.
And you just have to let theseinstances, no matter what they are,
let them happen.
Let people figure it out.
Let the damage do itself, andpeople see how they react, and they
learn.
Before I get into it now, youknow, if it's severity, if somebody's
on fire, I'm definitely goingto put them out.
(32:15):
But if I'm freaking out,everybody's freaking out.
If somebody's freaking out andI'm not freaking out, I pull them
aside, talk to them in a nicetone, and say simply, I don't know
why you're freaking out, butnone of us are freaking out.
Please take five.
Kids are walking.
(32:35):
I think that listening to thatpart, you.
I've learned a lot from youand that I think I realized where
my take three punches and notget back up is.
And it was because the NewOrleans system is crumbling right
before our eyes.
James Beard award winners arelosing their restaurants.
(32:55):
But when I had that epiphanythat I didn't want to do it anymore
was like when our third orfourth boil water advisory of that
week and everything that wehad cooked and everything that we
had prepped had to now bedisposed and done all over again.
And I thought at the third,couldn't be anything more.
We did it again and we did itagain and made me realize that I
(33:17):
was living in third world country.
But I, I, I just, you justhaven't make me have epiphanies and
realizations.
And for Carl to ask me how Ifelt about that, it's like I used
to thrive on living in the chaos.
And I think that now we have adifferent type of chaos.
And I think that when you findpeople that can kind of balance the
(33:40):
same chemistry, we come upwith superb work.
Like California, you know,it's just, you have to be been born
in the chaos, baptized in it,figure out how to crawl the hell
out of there, and then nowadapt that chaos and everything you've
learned to a higher purpose, Iguess you would say.
I don't know if that makes anysense, but it made sense to me 100%.
(34:01):
I come from chaos too.
At, from the workplace, athome, like, it's abs.
Abject chaos.
We go to California, it's fun.
It's not chaos at all.
Even with hurdles, doesn't matter.
Nothing compared to some ofthe stuff that you go through inside
(34:23):
of a building like that, youknow, inside of a restaurant, hotel,
whatnot.
For what our deliverables haveto be.
Obviously there's stuff goingon behind the scenes that the people
who run and operate the show,yeah, they have chaos.
Like they're dealing with thechaos, but it's different than what
we have, and we just have toshow up and, you know, be stars,
(34:46):
you know, and I don't meanthat in that kind of way, but just
be the town, be the talent,have fun, and make great content,
great media.
Chef.
Seven different concepts,obviously, all throughout your year,
your years, and through your career.
How do you stay motivated?
Today I watched you, you makethree dishes.
Everything was creative,everything was brilliant, everything
(35:06):
tasted amazing.
I was just blown away by thefact that you just caraway into the
pumpkin puree to like, to givethat flavor of a piece of rye bread.
I kept wanting the bread, notreally the texture, but it changed
my, like, it made my brainthink there was supposed to be bread.
When I'm actually taking,tasting a puree, you know, how do
you stay creative like that?
(35:26):
Man, you know, sometimes Ican't even cook a grilled cheese
sandwich without saying I'mbowing out.
Like, how do you say?
I say that creative.
And, you know, I'm a firm believer.
I don't know the.
The back of the house, nomatter what, doesn't matter what
type of amenities you have.
If you're working with me, Iam setting the toast.
Excuse me.
I'm setting the tone, and I'msetting the pace, no matter what.
(35:50):
So whoever that first chef is,that's in the morning, flicks on
those lights, turn on theburners, and do all that stuff.
That's great.
But now you gotta doconsistent things, bring it forward.
And then being creative aswell, that's.
That's not everybody's forte,you know, when I'm balancing teams,
I understand that.
Sometimes you just don't needa creative.
(36:10):
Sometimes you just need a production.
Maybe you just need somethingin between.
Maybe you need a dreamer.
Maybe you need somebody that'snot a dreamer, you know?
But it's what you're gonnafind out there and surround yourself
with that's gonna make me do better.
So I've had individuals that have.
We've worked together, and,man, I've needed little pieces from
this chef, that chef, this chef.
(36:31):
And then for me, I'm justwired differently.
I just keep moving.
I just bounce around, and I'vegot great ideas.
I'll do these ideas, thingswith my people or get in a circle,
and I'll be like, okay, cool.
Banana.
And then pooch, you say lobster.
And then John, you say shallots.
And then Carl, you saysomething there.
And then we make a dish, right then.
(36:52):
And peppermint oil.
Peppermint oil.
Boom.
But then it's like throwingsomething at a dartboard.
Why not just have fun about that?
And, like, not talking aboutfood in the kitchens drives me nuts.
I know when it's footballseason, man, I get it.
I like football, right?
But, like, I don't need to seeall my people out on their phones
doing the things.
Whatever.
I don't care.
It's about, like, what you hadfor dinner last night.
(37:15):
I don't give a shit.
I need to hear that.
I need to hear about, like, food.
That's why we're there.
We're getting a.
We're there to get paid to dosomething, a service for other people,
okay?
And if we're not excited aboutfood and we're just talking about,
like, you know, whatever elseout there.
And I just use football as anexample, because that's seasonal,
and I get it every time.
So we just need to stayfocused and the topics that motivate
(37:39):
us, because that's what we'rethere to do, we're due to.
We're there to do theculinary, the food and be consistent.
I think you touched onsomething that I think every aspiring
chef or even aspiring leaderneeds to hear about being in the
kitchen, is that it alwaysdoes not have to be creative.
If we have a mission, we havesomething to do.
I don't need to know aboutthis new technique that I saw.
Well, it may make thingsfaster, but showing everyone how
(38:00):
to do it is going to sloweverything the F down.
So, like, it just.
I think people get themselvesblackballed in those type of situations
where people never want toactually create with those people
ever again or be in thekitchen or be on a team with those
people ever again, becausethey're always trying to be this
creative, impressive person.
A lot of time, it's just aboutconsistency in getting the job done.
(38:22):
And that's what's going to gofar than.
Farther than any of your creativity.
You know, you.
You will have theopportunities to be creative if you
just shut up and do what yougot to do.
Yeah.
Too many moves on a plate.
If that's your pickups.
Oh, my God.
If that's one of yourindications there, the pass of the
expo and you got more than,like, four moves on the finished
plate, man.
Power to you, because that'snot going to feel like plate.
(38:44):
You cut all night on a Friday,Friday, Saturday night.
So count your moves.
Count your moves, and thenunderstand if that end result is
actually there.
I mean, when I do these hugebanquet parties and stuff like that,
I'm like, lining up my team.
You right handed?
And the web.
One of the moves, the white.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
That's got to be one of themoves in this place and that.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, are you righthanded, left handed?
(39:04):
Are you whatever?
Like, these are important things.
Yeah, yeah, I count, man.
I have that.
No, most people can't count.
Like, I thought we were at 62,nowhere at 63.
We need to know exactly whatnumber we're at right now.
We have so many of thisgarnish, so many of that.
Yeah, it's just a good war story.
Shop good to be here.
Yeah, absolutely, Chef.
You're the mayor of St. Pete,culinarily speaking.
(39:27):
All right.
You've done it all.
You're doing a ton of stuffout there.
I would say greater Tampa Bay area.
Don't argue with me.
I'm just saying 20 years fromnow, young chefs, insane.
Pete, they're going to mentionyour name.
What do you hope that they'regonna say about you.
Relentless.
Just relentless about this craft.
I'm wired differently.
(39:48):
I don't understand why, butwhether it's creative outlook or
on my feet for X amount ofhours in a day, but leading by example,
you know, I was there.
I showed up every day, andmaybe I had a cook tell me that Chef
Lee was composed of IPA beersin the refrigerator, different flavors
(40:08):
of hummus and dull knives anddusty cookbooks is what he told me.
Now, that was only, like, 10years ago, so I hopefully have evolved
from, you know, the hummus andthe IPA beers and stuff like that.
Getting older, man.
They don't go well together.
But hopefully in 20 years, I'mnot even sure what people would say
(40:28):
about me as my craft.
I mean, I wear my.
I wear my legacy in my apron, man.
You know, I'm single, dude, whatever.
You have no children.
What have you.
So what I do is, you know, Ihate to say it, I'm selfish, but
I do it for me.
But then I do it for my guestas well.
So, Chef, I got to give youyour flowers, man.
You really have opened my mind up.
(40:51):
I haven't been back.
I haven't been on the podcastin a while, and I'm glad I came back
to able to be here when you'rehere, because you really opened my
eyes and made me think, andthat's really why I enjoy being a
part of this and meeting newchefs and learning from.
Appreciate you coming back.
Yeah, Chef, it's been goodgetting to cook for you guys and
chat and shop and all that,and, you know, it just feels kinetic,
man.
So thank you for the day.
(41:12):
That was really nice.
All right, so look, first ofall, I appreciate the fact that you
and wifey drove all the wayfrom New Orleans to come out a day
early.
We got stuff to do tomorrow,but day early to be on the show.
Lee, you're a freaking monster.
Appreciate you, dude.
John, as always.
Pictures are freaking stupid.
(41:33):
We did have guests today andother guests in the house.
We had Alexia.
We had her mom, Lourdes, andJoanne from Gala group, and stay
tuned for that.
I put it at the end becausefor the real ones who listen to the
end know that big things are coming.
And I know who some of youpeople are who listen to to the end.
I want to give a shout out toFiero Group, the Fiero Rainmaker,
(41:57):
and Pete over at Fiero.
Love the.
Love you guys.
All right, guys.
Oh, hey.
So how do we find you people?
Instagram.
Bad Leroy Brown.
Oh, yeah.
And I'M at foodie patootie.
All right.
Hey, guys, again, appreciate y'.
All.
We are out.
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