July 31, 2025 • 40 mins
The salient point of this podcast episode centers on Chef Ricardo Castro's unwavering dedication to his craft as he navigates the culinary landscape. Ricardo, a classically trained chef with Puerto Rican roots, exemplifies the spirit of resilience and creativity, as he shares insights into his journey and the innovative techniques that define his approach to baking. In this conversation, we delve into the intricacies of laminated dough, exploring the transformative potential of croissants and cinnamon buns, which he reimagines with exceptional artistry. Ricardo's commitment to quality, devoid of shortcuts, underscores the heart and soul he infuses into every creation at Chef and the Baker, a beloved establishment within the Tampa food scene. Through his narrative, we witness the trials and triumphs that shape not only his professional life but also his personal ethos as a creator and a leader in the culinary world.
Takeaways:
- Chef Ricardo Castro embodies a profound dedication to his craft, emphasizing the importance of hard work and creativity in the culinary arts.
- In the realm of baking, particularly with laminated dough, Chef Castro showcases innovative techniques that elevate traditional recipes to new heights.
- The journey of a chef is often fraught with challenges, yet resilience and passion are crucial for overcoming adversity in this demanding industry.
- Collaboration and mutual respect between Chef Ricardo and his wife, Chef Rosanna, enhance their culinary endeavors and foster a successful partnership.
- Chef Castro illustrates that exceptional baking requires not only skill but also a deep understanding of the science behind the craft.
- Through his experiences and struggles, Chef Ricardo Castro exemplifies the commitment necessary to succeed in the competitive world of culinary arts.
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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, the
hustle, and the heart of the industry.
We're the official podcast forthe New York, California, and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit, the US Culinary
Open at Napham, and the NorthAmerican media platform for the Burnt
(00:22):
Chef project, recorded at IbisImages Studios, where food photography
comes alive and I get thefirst bite.
Find out more info atthewalkand talk.com.
if you've been following theshow, you might remember when chef
Rosanna Rivera joined me in studio.
Her story, her hustle, herflavor, unforgettable.
(00:42):
And sitting just off the micthat day, her hubby, chef Ricardo
Castro.
Now he's back, but this time,he's not staying quiet.
Ricardo's a force.
Classically trained PuertoRican roots and one of the sharpest
minds in the kitchen.
He and Rosanna have built chefand the baker into something the
Tampa food scene can't stoptalking about.
(01:03):
But what I respect most.
He's all about the craft.
Zero shortcuts, all heart.
He's not just here to talk.
He's here to cook.
We're talking croissants andcinnabons, but not the usual kind.
He's flipping the script withsome skills that show just how far
laminated dough can go.
Let's get into it.
Chef Ricardo Castro, you'renow on the mic.
(01:26):
Thank you.
Thank you, man.
It's been a while since you'vebeen here, and you know what?
I was trying to lose someweight, but that's not gonna happen.
It ain't happening.
You.
Wrong day for that.
No, it was a wrong day for that.
Dad picked the wrong week tostop eating croissants.
All right, let's talk a littlebit first about what you did here
today.
(01:46):
We talked on the phone.
Hey, Chef, what are youbringing to the studio?
Ah, you know, cinnamon bunsand, you know, croissant.
I said, okay.
No, that's not what it was at all.
It was, you know, cinnamonbuns, croissants, three different
kind of croissants, bread,like, all sorts of stuff.
(02:06):
I'm glad you did.
Yes, yes.
But can you talk a little bitabout what you brought here today?
Like, first of all, for thefoodies and the people who are into,
you know, hearing this stuff?
What did you do?
You know, we did croissants,we did croissant in different styles,
and I think that's What Iwanted to highlight today was actually
(02:31):
the utilization of laminateddough in different shapes for different
things.
Crossroad is an obvious, youknow, you roll that little triangle
and then you get a nicebeautiful kind of layers to go through.
But we did this panocopita croissant.
Just that little Greekinspired into the French.
(02:54):
No.
Then we also did the chat shoecaissant and a different shape.
This is actually a roundcroissant and it's the same dough.
I haven't changed anything.
And.
But it's feel for, like, savory.
Now we're doing the tomatosauce and a nice egg on the top oozes
out the egg yolk.
(03:15):
And then we just wanted to dosomething really sweet, which is
the cinnamon buns, I think.
You know, as I mentioned, cbs,you know, cinnamon bun Sundays is
what's happening in Sheriffand the Baker, starting already last
Sunday.
And it's.
I believe it's becoming ahumongous trend in Tampa.
(03:38):
Cinnamon buns do not typicallyget the respect that they deserve.
You get them at the local gas stations.
They're everywhere.
Right.
You know, kids get them inschool sometimes, but this isn't
like those kind of cinnamon buns.
These are badass.
I don't know.
There's no other way to do it.
Like John.
You know, I'm looking at.
(03:59):
I'm looking at some of John'sphotography work from.
From the shoot.
And I mean, look at that.
I mean, look at that.
I want to just take a bite outof that iPad.
That's on purpose.
There's an obsession that Ihave with real cinnamon buns.
I'll tell you a little story.
When I was younger, I wasstudying at the Culinary Institute
(04:21):
of America.
I went to a Cinnabon store andI sat down in one of the stools,
and I was literally looking athow they did the cinnamon buns.
I was eyeing the proportions.
I was eyeing.
What did they add that I don'tadd how different it is.
(04:44):
And they got their own thing going.
And they always had, everybodyknows Cinnabon here.
But I wanted to create goodingredients, high quality flowers,
cinnamon bun that you cannotget anywhere else.
And that's what we just created.
You know, there was a questionthat I was going to ask you today,
(05:06):
but I have the answer already.
What's the most common mistakepeople make when they're trying to
master croissants?
And you know what it is?
I'll tell you.
Oh.
How to say it.
That's the number one thingthat's correct.
Croissant that's right.
Yeah.
They always looking for the,the, the American way to say croissants
(05:29):
and stuff like that.
No, that's not, that's not the way.
Usually that.
John, you remember back downat Fort Lauderdale, croissant, Is
it still there?
No kidding.
So I used to, I used to sellthem produce 20 plus years ago.
And the owner of the shop is,he's, he's Belgian and his name's
Bernard.
I hope he's still alive.
(05:50):
I haven't seen him in amillion years.
But he said to me, because Iwould say croissant.
No, no, no, no, it's.
And he would, and he would dothis thing with his, like if he.
People don't see me, I'm, I'm,I'm doing this thing with my wrist.
And here, like you hold it, alittle spoon on a T, you know, and
then you turn that wrist.
(06:11):
Yeah, it's croissant.
Okay.
All right, Bernard, I got you.
All right, so.
All right, man, let's talkabout this cbs.
All right.
Yes.
What if I go to your place ona Sunday?
What am I expecting?
What do you.
So part of the obsession forme was how do I present cinnamon
bunting to the people wherethey can actually feel they cannot
(06:31):
guess these anywhere else?
So I basically proof on thespot and I bake on the spot.
And when I see through thewindow in the bake shop, that is
going, that tray, the lasttray that I baked down to like three,
I've start baking the other ones.
(06:52):
So what I'm trying to get hereis you need to taste the cinnamon
buns the way I taste them inmy kitchen.
And then your world is goingto change.
I believe that's what we have achieved.
So at 10 o' clock, we open.
We open at 8 o' clock on Sundays.
At 10 o' clock is where thefirst cinnamon buns come out of the
(07:13):
kitchen.
Last week there was a line.
So every single week I'mexpecting there's going to be a beer
line.
Now last time, and I didn'tset this during, while we were cooking,
we created classic clothchocolate cinnamon buns.
But also we did a blueberrysmear for half of the cinnamon buns
(07:34):
we were selling.
And I could tell you we soldthat like in four hours.
So now this coming up Sunday,we're gonna do banana Foster's cinnamon
bun.
So if it wasn't good enough,now it's even better.
Let me tell you something.
John just made this face ofecstasy and he doesn't say two words.
(07:57):
He doesn't make facialexpression, nothing.
So the fact is this man willbe at your shop.
I'm just going to tell you that.
So listen, you've said somethings today, and I don't know if
the average person who's not abaker knows them.
You said it's going to grow.
You said proofing, you saidsome things that are specific to
(08:17):
your workflow in your life.
Can you explain some of that?
Sure.
Every dough that you create,whether it's for bread or cinnamon
buns, in this case, orincluding octocroissants, there is
a bulk fermentation that happens.
So you make the dough, thenyou put it on a bowl or you put it
on a plastic ball or whatever,and then that got to grow double
(08:40):
its size.
Then you flatten that up, orwhat people used to call back in
the days, you punch that doughand then it creates the, like it
slows down the fermentation.
And then you can go ahead andcreate your shapes, what we call
cotton shape.
And then you have to proofwhich is the second fermentation.
(09:05):
And this proofing is going tocreate the size of what you're looking
for.
The cinnamon buns, we wantedthem to be large.
These are not your grandma'scinnamon buns.
This is humongous.
Even the pictures don't givethe truth of it.
But what we're trying tocreate is that you can go in there,
(09:27):
get not just the best cinnamonbun, but the best size of the cinnamon
buns that you ever gotten.
It is about trying to exceedexpectations and probably just, just
calm my obsession aboutcinnamon buns.
Chef, first of all, you'rePuerto Rican.
(09:51):
Born and raised, okay?
But you're, you're cookingclassical stuff and you're not just
a baker, you're also a chef.
Correct.
Talk about that.
So when I grew up, my mom usedto make wedding cakes and pastries
and cookies.
And for me it was, you know,very entertaining to work with her
(10:14):
and then do all these amazingcakes that she used to do and be
that person next to her.
Now when I decided to takethis industry into a professional
industry, I went to theCulinary Institute of America and
I went for the culinarymanagement program as opposed to
(10:37):
what my mom wanted, which wasshe wanted me to do baking and pastry.
Now I'll tell you therationale on a young 18 year old
guy.
Why would I do pastry orbaking or pastry if that comes natural
to me?
And obviously there's a lot ofpeople way better than me.
(10:58):
I'm not trying to say I'm the best.
But in reality, that was mytrain of thought.
So I said, you know what, I'mjust going to become a chef and at
the same time, with theknowledge I have of baking a pastry,
it should be fine.
And that's exactly what I did.
I got a managed culinarymanagement bachelor's degree at the
Culinary Institute of America.
(11:19):
You can say all cooking is a science.
Baking and pastry, take it toanother level.
Now we're looking at thescience of how things are created,
meaning those are createdbecause you cannot.
I mean, the science of corn,for example, doesn't.
In a, in a saute, a pan andcaramelizing, that's just called
(11:42):
the Maillard reaction.
But there's nothing about itto create a dough.
For example, how long did ittake you to nail the perfect croissant
when you started and how didyou feel about it?
I think most of the chefs thatmake croissant kind of, I mean, in
(12:05):
the same train of thoughts.
And the answer is I'm stillnot there.
It's like if you tell MichaelJordan throwing that free throw,
is that going to be 100% there?
He'll be like, yeah, pretty much.
But it's not 100% science.
Can I get better?
(12:25):
I know myself.
I'm my biggest competitor.
Yes, I can get better.
So basically, I'm still not there.
Is the answer Michael Jordan,by the way, who is the goat?
And it is no one else.
But Michael Jordan, by theway, will also compliment all the
(12:46):
people that came before him.
Yes.
Just as moments ago.
Yes.
Senor Ricardo.
Chef, you said, hey, listen,there's way better people out there
than me.
Big time, I think.
John.
John, are you looking?
John, we might have the goatright here.
I'm just saying it could be.
It's a possibility.
By far.
(13:06):
By far.
Okay.
I do have people that I lookup to.
They're fantastic.
Chef.
Actually one of them bysurprise myself, I learned that he
was actually Puerto Rican.
Antonio Bashore, if he'slistening to it, for me, he's the
goat in terms of croissants.
So about a year ago, Florida,we got hit pretty bad with back to
(13:30):
back storms, hurricanes.
Listen, I have a lot of peoplein the industry that got hurt real
bad with that.
I mean, you're in one of them.
Everybody suffered.
Some people worse than others.
Correct.
You had just basically juststarted, chef and the baker and something
terrible happened to youduring this, you know, mayhem.
(13:53):
Mayhem with the storms approaching.
Correct.
Can you share a little bitabout that?
Yeah, sure.
We opened the South Tampa, chef.
And the Baker we open it, Iwill say two weeks before Helene
hurricane that destroyed theinside of the store.
I had to like throw away like,like literally two weeks old coolers
(14:16):
and things like that and thenstart all over.
But then it came.
Milton.
There was a second hurricaneback to back.
Literally I think it was twoweeks in between.
And I had an accident where Iactually lost a little piece of one
of my fingers.
And I don't know if it wasanxiety that wasn't paying attention
(14:40):
or it was that the employeeswere trying to do stuff, you know,
with me and, and I payattention to them as opposed to the
machinery itself.
Well, yeah, unfortunatelythat's what happened.
It was not able to be put back.
So I guess for the rest of mylife I'm going to be with nine and
(15:04):
three quarter fingers.
It just goes to show that thisindustry is, is built on people who
love a specific or particularcraft, a creative craft.
And you're embodying that.
You and your wife are like thedynamic duo of chefs.
(15:28):
Both high, high level, highend, doing big things, great career,
still going.
How are you separating two chefs?
Because chefs have egos.
Two chefs in the same place,married, business deals, all sorts
of things.
And you guys like, on thesurface you seem pretty good.
(15:49):
I'm impressed with you two.
Genuinely.
I think, I think is aboutrespect is the number one thing.
I respect what she does and Iknow what she does good and sometimes
better than me.
And then at the same time sheunderstands the boundaries of where
she can play against me interms of, you know, I'm a better
(16:10):
baker, she's a better chef andthat we respect.
And I ask her for questionsand try to make her inclusive of
what I'm doing.
If it is culinary in the sameway, even though she's a terrific
baker, she will ask me aboutsomething that she wants to do in
terms of bakery.
That's the number one thing.
The other thing is just to beable to turn off our minds when we
(16:33):
go into our leisure time,which doesn't always match with your
home, doesn't mean that.
But sometimes we go in ourvacation and we're able to turn that
off, that little drive intokind of creations and we love to
try other chefs creations andmatch it up with ours and at the
(16:57):
same time give the recognitionwhere it's deserved.
We are always, or at least I'malways looking to her every single
time.
She's, she's, she comes outwith an idea and I look at it as
a business side, as a chefside, not as A husband side.
So there's.
(17:17):
There is somehow a switch whenwe can go back from husband and wife
to business and sometimesbusiness partners.
The name of your bakery iscalled Chef and the Baker.
Obviously, you've got momentum.
Things are happening, and youguys are growing.
How do you.
How do you personally measurewhen a concept is truly working?
(17:37):
Is it as simple as, hey, look,there's a big line outside.
You know, that will be the.
The Instagram part of it.
If there's a line outside,Instagram is happy.
That's a very good, importantpart right now on business nowadays.
But obviously, the bottom lineis one of those that tells you whether
(17:58):
you're doing good or not.
And then we always look forthat simplicity, because it is not
about Chef Ricardo in thatbakery doing that cinnamon bun.
It's about Nancy.
It's about Mario.
It's about all these beautifulpeople that work with us creating
(18:18):
what I designed.
But people are eating itthinking that I'm the one baking
it.
It's about consistency.
That Big Mac that you'reeating nowadays, what is that 50
years later or something like that?
Does it look and taste thesame way as the inventor that created
(18:38):
the Big Mac?
And he didn't make it.
He didn't make a million, youknow, burgers.
Somebody did.
And that's exactly when wecall that a success.
Last week, we had Chef ThomasManzik here in the studio, and one
of the things that hementioned, because I asked him a
similar question, and he said,if they're performing and I'm not
(19:03):
there, I've won 100%.
You, sir, are the creator ofwhat your team is preparing and putting
out, and therefore, they arean extension of you.
In essence, it is youpreparing and cooking and baking
and everything that you putout through the extension of your
(19:24):
team.
That's leadership and a great team.
And Rosanna still is a lot inthe employees, particularly, she
wants the employees to bebetter than us, because there has
to be a moment in time thatone of these employees is going to
come in and say, chef, nextflavor should be butter pecan.
(19:48):
I don't know.
My mind thinks that way.
They need to think the same way.
I'm thinking, so if they canalready beat me on that, I mean,
they're the ones that reallycarry the business.
At some point, they have totake the torch.
They do, big time.
And it is extremely proudmoment for us when we see that change.
(20:10):
We love it as a family.
You and Rosanna have seennational spotlight moments, but you're
rooted locally now.
You're here, you're Tampa.
At this stage, what mattersmost, Recognition, stability, legacy.
So that's an interesting question.
(20:30):
We actually were part of thefood network in 2019.
We beat Bobby Flay show.
Chef Rosanna beat Bobby andshe was everywhere in Tampa, in the
news.
And we did literally did likea little PR moment then.
(20:51):
I was obviously, I was a loseron that campaign, but I actually
was part of many things thatshe was actually going over there.
And then I did during thepandemic, I did Disney plus and we're
doing like cakes, somethingfood Tastic was the name of the show.
And all these things broughtus still back to Tampa to be able
(21:14):
to say, this is our city, thisis where we shine.
This is where people know aswe've been here since 2013.
People may remember theprevious restaurant used to be called
Piquant.
We are the same owners of chefand the baker.
And so if you like Piquantback then and you go to chef and
(21:35):
the baker today, there's a lotof similarities on the things that
we're doing.
Even yesterday, somebody onthe Glaser foundation was talking
about that power salad, whichis a salad that we still make today,
and it started in 2013.
If you could talk to a youngerversion of you, fresh out of CIA,
what would you tell them aboutwhat's coming?
(21:57):
The you need to be veryresilient, which I am pretty pretty
much very resilient, but moremeaning trying to.
To pass this resiliency tomore people under your belt.
I think that is what I will tell.
Can you pass that resiliencyattitude to the new generation?
(22:23):
That this is what I will tellto that little young Ricardo, because
it will make you more successful.
More people understand howhard it's going to be and how.
How much we actually going tohave to put of our families and our
little time and our vacationsto be able to be where we at.
(22:43):
I'm going to add something foryou to that.
You need to remind him aboutthe catering van and the fire.
Oh, God.
What happened?
I actually was doing adelivery one day on one of our minivans.
We used to use a minivan for delivery.
(23:04):
And I had a delivery ofcroissants and bread and things like
that.
And I also was taking somecatering items from one location
to our warehouse.
As I'm driving in North 275 onthe Howard Franklin Bridge, people
kept honking at me and I wasgoing slow and I was on the right
(23:27):
side or the right lane.
So I'm like Think, thinkingwhy they keep, you know, honking
at me, you know, and then they.
They will pass and.
And I will be like, you know what?
If you.
If you want to go faster, justtake the other lanes.
I'm doing the right thing.
Slow cars going to the right side.
Well, all of a sudden,somebody from the third lane actually
started honking at me.
(23:47):
And that's when I realizedsomething's wrong.
So once the Howard FranklinBridge finished going north, I stopped
right there in the shoulderdown the little.
The glass on the other side ofthe passenger door.
Then a big flame came insidethe minivan, and I got scared.
(24:14):
Of course, I grabbed my hatand never leave my hat behind.
Cell phone.
And ran out of the car.
Look back probably like 30seconds to a minute, and my seat
is full of fire.
And the car has 15 foot flamesup in the air.
And 275 smell like a French bakery.
(24:35):
I mean, it was just everywhere.
In a situation like that.
Leave the gun and take the cannoli.
All right?
Leave the hat.
Leave all that stuff, man.
You know, get the goods.
Get the goods.
What are you talking about?
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, so the van catches on fire.
That was a huge event in yourculinary life.
But then you had a situationwith, like, hot oil.
(24:58):
What was that?
Actually, this happens before.
I was actually 12 years old,getting ready to go to camp, summer
camp.
And then all of a sudden,there's this big pot of oil on top
of the stove, and my sister isright next to it.
So I'm thinking she's gonnacook with it.
(25:19):
And then I see smoke comingout of that oil, and I'm like, no,
no, no, you can't do that.
So my sister, younger than me,so I grab the paint, and then I move
to the side, towards the righthand to go to the sink and throw
the oil in the sink.
And then all of a sudden, allthe oil came into my hand, my leg,
(25:45):
my calves, and the rest.
Just history.
And you still have some ofthose cars today?
Yes, right there, actually.
You can see where the oil wasdripping down on the side of the
arm still.
And I'm, like, about to be 51on August 28th, so.
(26:06):
I know a lot of chefs.
I have 10 years of, you know,in the restaurant experience.
You, sir, have had your shareof crazy accidents.
Horrible ones at that.
Yeah.
Why do you stay in this business?
What made you stay?
(26:29):
The reason I stay, becausethis is what I was meant to be.
I was supposed to be a chef.
I was supposed to be a baker.
And I want to Keep doing it.
And I'm not going to stopuntil literally I decide by myself
when I'm going to stop.
That's what people callretirement nowadays.
(26:50):
But what I'm looking for is tocreate and put what's in my mind
on a plate, on a bakery basket.
I want everybody to have thesame look at bakery items the way
I look.
God damn.
Kids make fun of me becauseemployees want to tell me that I
(27:13):
need to be in a bubble wrap.
They're.
But they see the passion, theyunderstand what I'm trying to do.
So I'm trying to put that incontext where people can get the
passion.
You know, a lot of times whenwe share historical moments of our
lives that were very emotionalat that time when they occurred,
(27:37):
it really dredges up a lot ofold feelings.
Yeah.
But even more so to people whoare what you would call a creative
people who, you know, chefsare a creative.
Singers, musicians, artists,photographers, all of these people
are creatives and they have apassion that is in them.
(27:57):
And the way that it comes outis in whatever that art form that
they have is whatever thatskill set is.
That's how they come out.
You happen to have multiplecreative skills.
Yes.
You're a baker, you're a chef.
You can say those are similar,but they're really not.
(28:19):
No.
But you're a musician, youplay multiple instruments and you
come from a family of peoplewho are musicians and creatives.
It's a DNA thing for you, correct?
Yes.
In terms of the baking and thecooking come from my mom as a baker.
(28:42):
Fantastic chef, by the way.
And my grandma was actuallyalso culinary chef as well, but not
like studied.
She was just in the school.
I mean, in her house.
A lot of people don't knowthis part of the story.
My mom used to do what used towent to high school and doing home
(29:04):
ed.
And the instructor wasactually Chef Rosanna's grandma.
We did not know these when wegot together.
Wow.
So then all of a sudden my momsees Rosanna's mom and they already
know each other from like 1960s.
Had no idea, obviously.
(29:26):
So there's a lot of historywithin both of us DNAs in the cooking
and baking side, in themusician side.
I have an.
I had an uncle that was thedrummer for a salsa band, One of
the actually the number onemost popular salsa band in Puerto
Rico called the Gran Combo dePuerto Rico.
(29:49):
And he was a drummer, as wecall in Spanish, El timbalero.
So that was my uncle and in mydad used to play with other Bands
that were also super popularand they were traveling around the
world.
This one was called TommyOlivencia or Roberto Rowena.
And he was a bass player forthose two bands.
(30:12):
Right now my brother is theowner of a band here in Tampa that
we've been having for 13 years.
I sometimes go and help them,but I'm so busy I cannot.
I actually cannot go there.
Altar and.
And it's called A Son de Plana.
And it is Puerto Rican stylemusic that we do mostly during the
(30:33):
Christmas time, but it'sactually gets hired all year round.
Did you meet Rosanna in Puerto Rico?
How did your family.
What's that dynamic?
How do they know each other?
And then you come here?
No, actually we met in Tampa.
We did not met in Puerto Rico.
We were in the same places atthe same time during the years, but
(30:55):
didn't know each other.
Whatever they call that sixfeet of separation.
Separation.
We had that in Puerto Rico, actually.
I was actually one of thechefs at a law.
I don't know if it's a clubfor lawyers in Puerto Rico and her
dad used to go there as a lawyer.
(31:16):
I had no idea who he was.
Obviously back in days, wecame to met here in Puerto Rico at
the Art Institute of Tampa.
So your families knew eachother from Puerto Rico?
Correct.
And you met here.
That's amazing.
That is crazy.
Yeah, we didn't know.
We were like, literally at onemoment in time, I'm actually with
Rosanna's grandma and I'mchanging a light bulb.
(31:39):
At their house here in Lake Wales?
Actually, no, in Lakeland.
And at that moment in time, Ididn't know.
So when.
How do we figure it out?
Was when all of a suddenRosana's grandma passed away.
If you Puerto Ricans, youknow, your parents are obsessed with
the.
The obituaries.
So my mom asked right away,oh, what's her name?
(32:03):
You know, when she passed away?
And I tell her the full name.
And she was like, wait, what?
And I'm like, yeah.
And she was like, you got tobe kidding me.
I'm like, no, where is she from?
I'm like, well, she used togive classes in Ponce, which is a
southern part of Puerto Rico.
(32:24):
And then she goes, no way,this can be true.
And asked me to tell her the name.
And I said, well, her name is Hilda.
And that's when she realized,oh my gosh, that was my home ed culinary
instructor when I was a little girl.
And that's when she goes like,wait, her mom name is Hildeen?
(32:47):
I'm like, actually, yeah, shetold me only people that knows her
calls her that.
She's like, yeah.
And then later on, I think itwas on Father's Day, we all got together
and they saw each other forthe first time.
You know, you have this thing.
You have family members thatare musicians.
You have family members thatwere, you know, of that restaurant
life.
(33:08):
All of them told you, don't dothese things.
And here you are.
You did all of them.
Yeah.
You're a rebel.
Yeah, Actually, when I wasyoung, I actually wanted to learn
how to play guitar.
And my dad was, like, reallygood at playing the bass player and
all these, you know, music.
(33:28):
Music bands that I mentioned.
So I said, hey, dad, you wantto teach me how to play guitar?
I got guitar.
And he goes like, no.
I said, why not?
And he goes, well, I don'twant you to lead that life.
And then I became a chef thatworks on the holidays, and I became
musician by myself, but I hadto teach myself how to play guitar.
(33:51):
This is the same way I taughtmyself how to bake.
A lot of people think I wentto college for that.
And I took two classes,actually, I could name three classes,
total about four hours orwhatever that.
Usually the classes are fouror five hours each of baking and
pastry.
That's it.
I never took a bread class.
(34:12):
I never took a croissant class.
None of that.
You were taking that all your life?
Well, what I was doing,though, When I was 17, I was waking
up at 3am in the morning to gowork, actually at 2am in the morning
to work at 3am on the Frenchbakery in Puerto Rico.
(34:33):
So I actually have a chef.
His name was Chef Rudy.
I don't even know his lastname, which was from Austria.
And he taught me a lot aboutwhat the bacon and pastry was all
about.
So I actually.
What I did have was experiencethat I took and learned.
And I'm very good aboutlooking at something and saying,
oh, I could do that, and ifnot, I could figure it out.
(34:57):
And I don't know what it isthat it becomes easy.
And that's a family jokebecause everybody, every single time
mom goes like, hey, we'regonna do this cake.
I'm like, oh, yeah, you justdo this, this?
And she goes like, of courseit's easy for you.
But that.
That's the reality of baking.
And pastry for me, is awesomefor everybody.
It's just for me, that's theway I see it.
(35:18):
And then it's probably like amusician like John Baptiste can see
a piano and A guitar.
And Alicia Keys can play pianoand guitar and all these other things
probably in that little part.
So, believe it or not, one ofthe things that I started doing this
even before I really dove inextremely hard on baking and pastry
(35:39):
was actually fruit carving.
I will see the people inThailand doing soaps, and I'm like,
that sounds like fun.
And here I am trying to do alittle flower.
And so.
And then I did a watermelon something.
I started doing potatoes, andthen I started doing all kinds of
stuff.
And all of a sudden, that's myother part of doing fruit carving.
(36:04):
I just found out today aboutthe musician stuff.
But I knew.
And I knew because you'renever without your fedora.
Never.
I've never seen you without afedora, ever.
Customer has asked me if Isleep with it.
And they're always a different one.
I mean, you've got some goodtaste with the hats, man.
(36:25):
I have 48 total hats.
Actually, no, 52 photo hatsright now.
The last ones I got.
I mean, what's that rotationlook like.
Between fedoras, baseball capsand newspaper boy hats?
Is literally like 30.
(36:47):
I mean, 60% federal.
As a man, 20.
And I call the newspaper boyhat a guinea hat because, you know,
let's see.
All the time, like, I have my.
Like, they're picky blinders.
I love that.
Yeah.
Like, my growing up.
My family's Italian, New York, whatever.
And growing up as a kid,everybody wore those things.
(37:08):
And I have some, like, mydad's and my uncles still.
I love them.
They're great.
Yeah.
Fedoras come from my grandpa.
My grandpa used to be a limodriver in Puerto Rico.
So he used to always have a fedora.
And I don't know, I alwaysliked him, and I never stopped.
I've never seen you in abaseball cap.
I'm just saying, literally.
And I'm, you know, we've seeneach other, but it's only been a
(37:31):
fedora.
It's always a fedora, and it's never.
Been the same one.
I'm just saying.
And I think I go into myincognito way without a hat.
That's where most people don'trecognize who I am.
Who's that guy?
Chef Ricardo.
You've had a pretty amazingculinary life, a life in general.
(37:51):
You've done a lot of stuff.
You're still going, which ispretty amazing.
In spite of all of thestruggle and real heartache and challenge.
What's next?
What are you and yourbeautiful wife going to do now?
Well, probably right now.
(38:12):
We're pushing harder than ever.
Most people don't know, butRosanna's sister is what I would
call a mad ass.
She used to be the CEO forKrispy Kreme, so I have a lot of
respect for her craft and howmuch she knows about the business
(38:33):
side, that I don't know.
She used to be the CEO for abrand called Small Sliders.
That is.
It's amazing.
And right now we're kind oftrying to figure it out, something
that's going to happenprobably before the year is over.
And it has to do with allthese brilliant people.
(38:54):
So Rosanna is going harder inher catering brand, obviously, as
well with Chef and the Baker.
We going really hard with Chefand the Baker.
Really new things are going tohappen in the vicinity and we're
excited, super excited toshare with the Tampa community and
(39:15):
who knows, maybe more other places.
Would be great to meet her.
Oh, yeah, you should meet her.
She's fantastic.
She has a great amount ofexperience and I look up to her in
so many different levels.
She sounds sincerely amazing.
I. I can't wait to actuallymeet her.
And I think I might.
I think those two sisters are powerful.
(39:36):
I know.
And you guys are a hell of a trio.
All right, listen, we're goingto be in California for the California
Restaurant show from the 3rdto the 5th, and we're at booth 6:33.
How do people find you, by the way?
You can go intochefandthebaker.com we're actually
online and also in Instagramat Chef Underscore and the Baker.
(39:58):
Oh, yeah.
And don't forget to check outhospitality bites with Ms. Colleen
Silk.
That is our first podcast thatwe brought in under the Walk and
Talk media umbrella.
We are still stoked becausethere are more coming.
And John, again today.
Freaking amazing.
I'm gonna post some stuff thatyou had put put out there, and it's
(40:21):
gonna be bad as.
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, the
hustle, and the heart of the industry.
We're the official podcast forthe New York, California, and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit, the US Culinary
Open at Napham, and the NorthAmerican media platform for the Burnt
(00:22):
Chef project, recorded at IbisImages Studios, where food photography
comes alive and I get thefirst bite.
Find out more info atthewalkand talk.com.
if you've been following theshow, you might remember when chef
Rosanna Rivera joined me in studio.
Her story, her hustle, herflavor, unforgettable.
(00:42):
And sitting just off the micthat day, her hubby, chef Ricardo
Castro.
Now he's back, but this time,he's not staying quiet.
Ricardo's a force.
Classically trained PuertoRican roots and one of the sharpest
minds in the kitchen.
He and Rosanna have built chefand the baker into something the
Tampa food scene can't stoptalking about.
(01:03):
But what I respect most.
He's all about the craft.
Zero shortcuts, all heart.
He's not just here to talk.
He's here to cook.
We're talking croissants andcinnabons, but not the usual kind.
He's flipping the script withsome skills that show just how far
laminated dough can go.
Let's get into it.
Chef Ricardo Castro, you'renow on the mic.
(01:26):
Thank you.
Thank you, man.
It's been a while since you'vebeen here, and you know what?
I was trying to lose someweight, but that's not gonna happen.
It ain't happening.
You.
Wrong day for that.
No, it was a wrong day for that.
Dad picked the wrong week tostop eating croissants.
All right, let's talk a littlebit first about what you did here
today.
(01:46):
We talked on the phone.
Hey, Chef, what are youbringing to the studio?
Ah, you know, cinnamon bunsand, you know, croissant.
I said, okay.
No, that's not what it was at all.
It was, you know, cinnamonbuns, croissants, three different
kind of croissants, bread,like, all sorts of stuff.
(02:06):
I'm glad you did.
Yes, yes.
But can you talk a little bitabout what you brought here today?
Like, first of all, for thefoodies and the people who are into,
you know, hearing this stuff?
What did you do?
You know, we did croissants,we did croissant in different styles,
and I think that's What Iwanted to highlight today was actually
(02:31):
the utilization of laminateddough in different shapes for different
things.
Crossroad is an obvious, youknow, you roll that little triangle
and then you get a nicebeautiful kind of layers to go through.
But we did this panocopita croissant.
Just that little Greekinspired into the French.
(02:54):
No.
Then we also did the chat shoecaissant and a different shape.
This is actually a roundcroissant and it's the same dough.
I haven't changed anything.
And.
But it's feel for, like, savory.
Now we're doing the tomatosauce and a nice egg on the top oozes
out the egg yolk.
(03:15):
And then we just wanted to dosomething really sweet, which is
the cinnamon buns, I think.
You know, as I mentioned, cbs,you know, cinnamon bun Sundays is
what's happening in Sheriffand the Baker, starting already last
Sunday.
And it's.
I believe it's becoming ahumongous trend in Tampa.
(03:38):
Cinnamon buns do not typicallyget the respect that they deserve.
You get them at the local gas stations.
They're everywhere.
Right.
You know, kids get them inschool sometimes, but this isn't
like those kind of cinnamon buns.
These are badass.
I don't know.
There's no other way to do it.
Like John.
You know, I'm looking at.
(03:59):
I'm looking at some of John'sphotography work from.
From the shoot.
And I mean, look at that.
I mean, look at that.
I want to just take a bite outof that iPad.
That's on purpose.
There's an obsession that Ihave with real cinnamon buns.
I'll tell you a little story.
When I was younger, I wasstudying at the Culinary Institute
(04:21):
of America.
I went to a Cinnabon store andI sat down in one of the stools,
and I was literally looking athow they did the cinnamon buns.
I was eyeing the proportions.
I was eyeing.
What did they add that I don'tadd how different it is.
(04:44):
And they got their own thing going.
And they always had, everybodyknows Cinnabon here.
But I wanted to create goodingredients, high quality flowers,
cinnamon bun that you cannotget anywhere else.
And that's what we just created.
You know, there was a questionthat I was going to ask you today,
(05:06):
but I have the answer already.
What's the most common mistakepeople make when they're trying to
master croissants?
And you know what it is?
I'll tell you.
Oh.
How to say it.
That's the number one thingthat's correct.
Croissant that's right.
Yeah.
They always looking for the,the, the American way to say croissants
(05:29):
and stuff like that.
No, that's not, that's not the way.
Usually that.
John, you remember back downat Fort Lauderdale, croissant, Is
it still there?
No kidding.
So I used to, I used to sellthem produce 20 plus years ago.
And the owner of the shop is,he's, he's Belgian and his name's
Bernard.
I hope he's still alive.
(05:50):
I haven't seen him in amillion years.
But he said to me, because Iwould say croissant.
No, no, no, no, it's.
And he would, and he would dothis thing with his, like if he.
People don't see me, I'm, I'm,I'm doing this thing with my wrist.
And here, like you hold it, alittle spoon on a T, you know, and
then you turn that wrist.
(06:11):
Yeah, it's croissant.
Okay.
All right, Bernard, I got you.
All right, so.
All right, man, let's talkabout this cbs.
All right.
Yes.
What if I go to your place ona Sunday?
What am I expecting?
What do you.
So part of the obsession forme was how do I present cinnamon
bunting to the people wherethey can actually feel they cannot
(06:31):
guess these anywhere else?
So I basically proof on thespot and I bake on the spot.
And when I see through thewindow in the bake shop, that is
going, that tray, the lasttray that I baked down to like three,
I've start baking the other ones.
(06:52):
So what I'm trying to get hereis you need to taste the cinnamon
buns the way I taste them inmy kitchen.
And then your world is goingto change.
I believe that's what we have achieved.
So at 10 o' clock, we open.
We open at 8 o' clock on Sundays.
At 10 o' clock is where thefirst cinnamon buns come out of the
(07:13):
kitchen.
Last week there was a line.
So every single week I'mexpecting there's going to be a beer
line.
Now last time, and I didn'tset this during, while we were cooking,
we created classic clothchocolate cinnamon buns.
But also we did a blueberrysmear for half of the cinnamon buns
(07:34):
we were selling.
And I could tell you we soldthat like in four hours.
So now this coming up Sunday,we're gonna do banana Foster's cinnamon
bun.
So if it wasn't good enough,now it's even better.
Let me tell you something.
John just made this face ofecstasy and he doesn't say two words.
(07:57):
He doesn't make facialexpression, nothing.
So the fact is this man willbe at your shop.
I'm just going to tell you that.
So listen, you've said somethings today, and I don't know if
the average person who's not abaker knows them.
You said it's going to grow.
You said proofing, you saidsome things that are specific to
(08:17):
your workflow in your life.
Can you explain some of that?
Sure.
Every dough that you create,whether it's for bread or cinnamon
buns, in this case, orincluding octocroissants, there is
a bulk fermentation that happens.
So you make the dough, thenyou put it on a bowl or you put it
on a plastic ball or whatever,and then that got to grow double
(08:40):
its size.
Then you flatten that up, orwhat people used to call back in
the days, you punch that doughand then it creates the, like it
slows down the fermentation.
And then you can go ahead andcreate your shapes, what we call
cotton shape.
And then you have to proofwhich is the second fermentation.
(09:05):
And this proofing is going tocreate the size of what you're looking
for.
The cinnamon buns, we wantedthem to be large.
These are not your grandma'scinnamon buns.
This is humongous.
Even the pictures don't givethe truth of it.
But what we're trying tocreate is that you can go in there,
(09:27):
get not just the best cinnamonbun, but the best size of the cinnamon
buns that you ever gotten.
It is about trying to exceedexpectations and probably just, just
calm my obsession aboutcinnamon buns.
Chef, first of all, you'rePuerto Rican.
(09:51):
Born and raised, okay?
But you're, you're cookingclassical stuff and you're not just
a baker, you're also a chef.
Correct.
Talk about that.
So when I grew up, my mom usedto make wedding cakes and pastries
and cookies.
And for me it was, you know,very entertaining to work with her
(10:14):
and then do all these amazingcakes that she used to do and be
that person next to her.
Now when I decided to takethis industry into a professional
industry, I went to theCulinary Institute of America and
I went for the culinarymanagement program as opposed to
(10:37):
what my mom wanted, which wasshe wanted me to do baking and pastry.
Now I'll tell you therationale on a young 18 year old
guy.
Why would I do pastry orbaking or pastry if that comes natural
to me?
And obviously there's a lot ofpeople way better than me.
(10:58):
I'm not trying to say I'm the best.
But in reality, that was mytrain of thought.
So I said, you know what, I'mjust going to become a chef and at
the same time, with theknowledge I have of baking a pastry,
it should be fine.
And that's exactly what I did.
I got a managed culinarymanagement bachelor's degree at the
Culinary Institute of America.
(11:19):
You can say all cooking is a science.
Baking and pastry, take it toanother level.
Now we're looking at thescience of how things are created,
meaning those are createdbecause you cannot.
I mean, the science of corn,for example, doesn't.
In a, in a saute, a pan andcaramelizing, that's just called
(11:42):
the Maillard reaction.
But there's nothing about itto create a dough.
For example, how long did ittake you to nail the perfect croissant
when you started and how didyou feel about it?
I think most of the chefs thatmake croissant kind of, I mean, in
(12:05):
the same train of thoughts.
And the answer is I'm stillnot there.
It's like if you tell MichaelJordan throwing that free throw,
is that going to be 100% there?
He'll be like, yeah, pretty much.
But it's not 100% science.
Can I get better?
(12:25):
I know myself.
I'm my biggest competitor.
Yes, I can get better.
So basically, I'm still not there.
Is the answer Michael Jordan,by the way, who is the goat?
And it is no one else.
But Michael Jordan, by theway, will also compliment all the
(12:46):
people that came before him.
Yes.
Just as moments ago.
Yes.
Senor Ricardo.
Chef, you said, hey, listen,there's way better people out there
than me.
Big time, I think.
John.
John, are you looking?
John, we might have the goatright here.
I'm just saying it could be.
It's a possibility.
By far.
(13:06):
By far.
Okay.
I do have people that I lookup to.
They're fantastic.
Chef.
Actually one of them bysurprise myself, I learned that he
was actually Puerto Rican.
Antonio Bashore, if he'slistening to it, for me, he's the
goat in terms of croissants.
So about a year ago, Florida,we got hit pretty bad with back to
(13:30):
back storms, hurricanes.
Listen, I have a lot of peoplein the industry that got hurt real
bad with that.
I mean, you're in one of them.
Everybody suffered.
Some people worse than others.
Correct.
You had just basically juststarted, chef and the baker and something
terrible happened to youduring this, you know, mayhem.
(13:53):
Mayhem with the storms approaching.
Correct.
Can you share a little bitabout that?
Yeah, sure.
We opened the South Tampa, chef.
And the Baker we open it, Iwill say two weeks before Helene
hurricane that destroyed theinside of the store.
I had to like throw away like,like literally two weeks old coolers
(14:16):
and things like that and thenstart all over.
But then it came.
Milton.
There was a second hurricaneback to back.
Literally I think it was twoweeks in between.
And I had an accident where Iactually lost a little piece of one
of my fingers.
And I don't know if it wasanxiety that wasn't paying attention
(14:40):
or it was that the employeeswere trying to do stuff, you know,
with me and, and I payattention to them as opposed to the
machinery itself.
Well, yeah, unfortunatelythat's what happened.
It was not able to be put back.
So I guess for the rest of mylife I'm going to be with nine and
(15:04):
three quarter fingers.
It just goes to show that thisindustry is, is built on people who
love a specific or particularcraft, a creative craft.
And you're embodying that.
You and your wife are like thedynamic duo of chefs.
(15:28):
Both high, high level, highend, doing big things, great career,
still going.
How are you separating two chefs?
Because chefs have egos.
Two chefs in the same place,married, business deals, all sorts
of things.
And you guys like, on thesurface you seem pretty good.
(15:49):
I'm impressed with you two.
Genuinely.
I think, I think is aboutrespect is the number one thing.
I respect what she does and Iknow what she does good and sometimes
better than me.
And then at the same time sheunderstands the boundaries of where
she can play against me interms of, you know, I'm a better
(16:10):
baker, she's a better chef andthat we respect.
And I ask her for questionsand try to make her inclusive of
what I'm doing.
If it is culinary in the sameway, even though she's a terrific
baker, she will ask me aboutsomething that she wants to do in
terms of bakery.
That's the number one thing.
The other thing is just to beable to turn off our minds when we
(16:33):
go into our leisure time,which doesn't always match with your
home, doesn't mean that.
But sometimes we go in ourvacation and we're able to turn that
off, that little drive intokind of creations and we love to
try other chefs creations andmatch it up with ours and at the
(16:57):
same time give the recognitionwhere it's deserved.
We are always, or at least I'malways looking to her every single
time.
She's, she's, she comes outwith an idea and I look at it as
a business side, as a chefside, not as A husband side.
So there's.
(17:17):
There is somehow a switch whenwe can go back from husband and wife
to business and sometimesbusiness partners.
The name of your bakery iscalled Chef and the Baker.
Obviously, you've got momentum.
Things are happening, and youguys are growing.
How do you.
How do you personally measurewhen a concept is truly working?
(17:37):
Is it as simple as, hey, look,there's a big line outside.
You know, that will be the.
The Instagram part of it.
If there's a line outside,Instagram is happy.
That's a very good, importantpart right now on business nowadays.
But obviously, the bottom lineis one of those that tells you whether
(17:58):
you're doing good or not.
And then we always look forthat simplicity, because it is not
about Chef Ricardo in thatbakery doing that cinnamon bun.
It's about Nancy.
It's about Mario.
It's about all these beautifulpeople that work with us creating
(18:18):
what I designed.
But people are eating itthinking that I'm the one baking
it.
It's about consistency.
That Big Mac that you'reeating nowadays, what is that 50
years later or something like that?
Does it look and taste thesame way as the inventor that created
(18:38):
the Big Mac?
And he didn't make it.
He didn't make a million, youknow, burgers.
Somebody did.
And that's exactly when wecall that a success.
Last week, we had Chef ThomasManzik here in the studio, and one
of the things that hementioned, because I asked him a
similar question, and he said,if they're performing and I'm not
(19:03):
there, I've won 100%.
You, sir, are the creator ofwhat your team is preparing and putting
out, and therefore, they arean extension of you.
In essence, it is youpreparing and cooking and baking
and everything that you putout through the extension of your
(19:24):
team.
That's leadership and a great team.
And Rosanna still is a lot inthe employees, particularly, she
wants the employees to bebetter than us, because there has
to be a moment in time thatone of these employees is going to
come in and say, chef, nextflavor should be butter pecan.
(19:48):
I don't know.
My mind thinks that way.
They need to think the same way.
I'm thinking, so if they canalready beat me on that, I mean,
they're the ones that reallycarry the business.
At some point, they have totake the torch.
They do, big time.
And it is extremely proudmoment for us when we see that change.
(20:10):
We love it as a family.
You and Rosanna have seennational spotlight moments, but you're
rooted locally now.
You're here, you're Tampa.
At this stage, what mattersmost, Recognition, stability, legacy.
So that's an interesting question.
(20:30):
We actually were part of thefood network in 2019.
We beat Bobby Flay show.
Chef Rosanna beat Bobby andshe was everywhere in Tampa, in the
news.
And we did literally did likea little PR moment then.
(20:51):
I was obviously, I was a loseron that campaign, but I actually
was part of many things thatshe was actually going over there.
And then I did during thepandemic, I did Disney plus and we're
doing like cakes, somethingfood Tastic was the name of the show.
And all these things broughtus still back to Tampa to be able
(21:14):
to say, this is our city, thisis where we shine.
This is where people know aswe've been here since 2013.
People may remember theprevious restaurant used to be called
Piquant.
We are the same owners of chefand the baker.
And so if you like Piquantback then and you go to chef and
(21:35):
the baker today, there's a lotof similarities on the things that
we're doing.
Even yesterday, somebody onthe Glaser foundation was talking
about that power salad, whichis a salad that we still make today,
and it started in 2013.
If you could talk to a youngerversion of you, fresh out of CIA,
what would you tell them aboutwhat's coming?
(21:57):
The you need to be veryresilient, which I am pretty pretty
much very resilient, but moremeaning trying to.
To pass this resiliency tomore people under your belt.
I think that is what I will tell.
Can you pass that resiliencyattitude to the new generation?
(22:23):
That this is what I will tellto that little young Ricardo, because
it will make you more successful.
More people understand howhard it's going to be and how.
How much we actually going tohave to put of our families and our
little time and our vacationsto be able to be where we at.
(22:43):
I'm going to add something foryou to that.
You need to remind him aboutthe catering van and the fire.
Oh, God.
What happened?
I actually was doing adelivery one day on one of our minivans.
We used to use a minivan for delivery.
(23:04):
And I had a delivery ofcroissants and bread and things like
that.
And I also was taking somecatering items from one location
to our warehouse.
As I'm driving in North 275 onthe Howard Franklin Bridge, people
kept honking at me and I wasgoing slow and I was on the right
(23:27):
side or the right lane.
So I'm like Think, thinkingwhy they keep, you know, honking
at me, you know, and then they.
They will pass and.
And I will be like, you know what?
If you.
If you want to go faster, justtake the other lanes.
I'm doing the right thing.
Slow cars going to the right side.
Well, all of a sudden,somebody from the third lane actually
started honking at me.
(23:47):
And that's when I realizedsomething's wrong.
So once the Howard FranklinBridge finished going north, I stopped
right there in the shoulderdown the little.
The glass on the other side ofthe passenger door.
Then a big flame came insidethe minivan, and I got scared.
(24:14):
Of course, I grabbed my hatand never leave my hat behind.
Cell phone.
And ran out of the car.
Look back probably like 30seconds to a minute, and my seat
is full of fire.
And the car has 15 foot flamesup in the air.
And 275 smell like a French bakery.
(24:35):
I mean, it was just everywhere.
In a situation like that.
Leave the gun and take the cannoli.
All right?
Leave the hat.
Leave all that stuff, man.
You know, get the goods.
Get the goods.
What are you talking about?
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, so the van catches on fire.
That was a huge event in yourculinary life.
But then you had a situationwith, like, hot oil.
(24:58):
What was that?
Actually, this happens before.
I was actually 12 years old,getting ready to go to camp, summer
camp.
And then all of a sudden,there's this big pot of oil on top
of the stove, and my sister isright next to it.
So I'm thinking she's gonnacook with it.
(25:19):
And then I see smoke comingout of that oil, and I'm like, no,
no, no, you can't do that.
So my sister, younger than me,so I grab the paint, and then I move
to the side, towards the righthand to go to the sink and throw
the oil in the sink.
And then all of a sudden, allthe oil came into my hand, my leg,
(25:45):
my calves, and the rest.
Just history.
And you still have some ofthose cars today?
Yes, right there, actually.
You can see where the oil wasdripping down on the side of the
arm still.
And I'm, like, about to be 51on August 28th, so.
(26:06):
I know a lot of chefs.
I have 10 years of, you know,in the restaurant experience.
You, sir, have had your shareof crazy accidents.
Horrible ones at that.
Yeah.
Why do you stay in this business?
What made you stay?
(26:29):
The reason I stay, becausethis is what I was meant to be.
I was supposed to be a chef.
I was supposed to be a baker.
And I want to Keep doing it.
And I'm not going to stopuntil literally I decide by myself
when I'm going to stop.
That's what people callretirement nowadays.
(26:50):
But what I'm looking for is tocreate and put what's in my mind
on a plate, on a bakery basket.
I want everybody to have thesame look at bakery items the way
I look.
God damn.
Kids make fun of me becauseemployees want to tell me that I
(27:13):
need to be in a bubble wrap.
They're.
But they see the passion, theyunderstand what I'm trying to do.
So I'm trying to put that incontext where people can get the
passion.
You know, a lot of times whenwe share historical moments of our
lives that were very emotionalat that time when they occurred,
(27:37):
it really dredges up a lot ofold feelings.
Yeah.
But even more so to people whoare what you would call a creative
people who, you know, chefsare a creative.
Singers, musicians, artists,photographers, all of these people
are creatives and they have apassion that is in them.
(27:57):
And the way that it comes outis in whatever that art form that
they have is whatever thatskill set is.
That's how they come out.
You happen to have multiplecreative skills.
Yes.
You're a baker, you're a chef.
You can say those are similar,but they're really not.
(28:19):
No.
But you're a musician, youplay multiple instruments and you
come from a family of peoplewho are musicians and creatives.
It's a DNA thing for you, correct?
Yes.
In terms of the baking and thecooking come from my mom as a baker.
(28:42):
Fantastic chef, by the way.
And my grandma was actuallyalso culinary chef as well, but not
like studied.
She was just in the school.
I mean, in her house.
A lot of people don't knowthis part of the story.
My mom used to do what used towent to high school and doing home
(29:04):
ed.
And the instructor wasactually Chef Rosanna's grandma.
We did not know these when wegot together.
Wow.
So then all of a sudden my momsees Rosanna's mom and they already
know each other from like 1960s.
Had no idea, obviously.
(29:26):
So there's a lot of historywithin both of us DNAs in the cooking
and baking side, in themusician side.
I have an.
I had an uncle that was thedrummer for a salsa band, One of
the actually the number onemost popular salsa band in Puerto
Rico called the Gran Combo dePuerto Rico.
(29:49):
And he was a drummer, as wecall in Spanish, El timbalero.
So that was my uncle and in mydad used to play with other Bands
that were also super popularand they were traveling around the
world.
This one was called TommyOlivencia or Roberto Rowena.
And he was a bass player forthose two bands.
(30:12):
Right now my brother is theowner of a band here in Tampa that
we've been having for 13 years.
I sometimes go and help them,but I'm so busy I cannot.
I actually cannot go there.
Altar and.
And it's called A Son de Plana.
And it is Puerto Rican stylemusic that we do mostly during the
(30:33):
Christmas time, but it'sactually gets hired all year round.
Did you meet Rosanna in Puerto Rico?
How did your family.
What's that dynamic?
How do they know each other?
And then you come here?
No, actually we met in Tampa.
We did not met in Puerto Rico.
We were in the same places atthe same time during the years, but
(30:55):
didn't know each other.
Whatever they call that sixfeet of separation.
Separation.
We had that in Puerto Rico, actually.
I was actually one of thechefs at a law.
I don't know if it's a clubfor lawyers in Puerto Rico and her
dad used to go there as a lawyer.
(31:16):
I had no idea who he was.
Obviously back in days, wecame to met here in Puerto Rico at
the Art Institute of Tampa.
So your families knew eachother from Puerto Rico?
Correct.
And you met here.
That's amazing.
That is crazy.
Yeah, we didn't know.
We were like, literally at onemoment in time, I'm actually with
Rosanna's grandma and I'mchanging a light bulb.
(31:39):
At their house here in Lake Wales?
Actually, no, in Lakeland.
And at that moment in time, Ididn't know.
So when.
How do we figure it out?
Was when all of a suddenRosana's grandma passed away.
If you Puerto Ricans, youknow, your parents are obsessed with
the.
The obituaries.
So my mom asked right away,oh, what's her name?
(32:03):
You know, when she passed away?
And I tell her the full name.
And she was like, wait, what?
And I'm like, yeah.
And she was like, you got tobe kidding me.
I'm like, no, where is she from?
I'm like, well, she used togive classes in Ponce, which is a
southern part of Puerto Rico.
(32:24):
And then she goes, no way,this can be true.
And asked me to tell her the name.
And I said, well, her name is Hilda.
And that's when she realized,oh my gosh, that was my home ed culinary
instructor when I was a little girl.
And that's when she goes like,wait, her mom name is Hildeen?
(32:47):
I'm like, actually, yeah, shetold me only people that knows her
calls her that.
She's like, yeah.
And then later on, I think itwas on Father's Day, we all got together
and they saw each other forthe first time.
You know, you have this thing.
You have family members thatare musicians.
You have family members thatwere, you know, of that restaurant
life.
(33:08):
All of them told you, don't dothese things.
And here you are.
You did all of them.
Yeah.
You're a rebel.
Yeah, Actually, when I wasyoung, I actually wanted to learn
how to play guitar.
And my dad was, like, reallygood at playing the bass player and
all these, you know, music.
(33:28):
Music bands that I mentioned.
So I said, hey, dad, you wantto teach me how to play guitar?
I got guitar.
And he goes like, no.
I said, why not?
And he goes, well, I don'twant you to lead that life.
And then I became a chef thatworks on the holidays, and I became
musician by myself, but I hadto teach myself how to play guitar.
(33:51):
This is the same way I taughtmyself how to bake.
A lot of people think I wentto college for that.
And I took two classes,actually, I could name three classes,
total about four hours orwhatever that.
Usually the classes are fouror five hours each of baking and
pastry.
That's it.
I never took a bread class.
(34:12):
I never took a croissant class.
None of that.
You were taking that all your life?
Well, what I was doing,though, When I was 17, I was waking
up at 3am in the morning to gowork, actually at 2am in the morning
to work at 3am on the Frenchbakery in Puerto Rico.
(34:33):
So I actually have a chef.
His name was Chef Rudy.
I don't even know his lastname, which was from Austria.
And he taught me a lot aboutwhat the bacon and pastry was all
about.
So I actually.
What I did have was experiencethat I took and learned.
And I'm very good aboutlooking at something and saying,
oh, I could do that, and ifnot, I could figure it out.
(34:57):
And I don't know what it isthat it becomes easy.
And that's a family jokebecause everybody, every single time
mom goes like, hey, we'regonna do this cake.
I'm like, oh, yeah, you justdo this, this?
And she goes like, of courseit's easy for you.
But that.
That's the reality of baking.
And pastry for me, is awesomefor everybody.
It's just for me, that's theway I see it.
(35:18):
And then it's probably like amusician like John Baptiste can see
a piano and A guitar.
And Alicia Keys can play pianoand guitar and all these other things
probably in that little part.
So, believe it or not, one ofthe things that I started doing this
even before I really dove inextremely hard on baking and pastry
(35:39):
was actually fruit carving.
I will see the people inThailand doing soaps, and I'm like,
that sounds like fun.
And here I am trying to do alittle flower.
And so.
And then I did a watermelon something.
I started doing potatoes, andthen I started doing all kinds of
stuff.
And all of a sudden, that's myother part of doing fruit carving.
(36:04):
I just found out today aboutthe musician stuff.
But I knew.
And I knew because you'renever without your fedora.
Never.
I've never seen you without afedora, ever.
Customer has asked me if Isleep with it.
And they're always a different one.
I mean, you've got some goodtaste with the hats, man.
(36:25):
I have 48 total hats.
Actually, no, 52 photo hatsright now.
The last ones I got.
I mean, what's that rotationlook like.
Between fedoras, baseball capsand newspaper boy hats?
Is literally like 30.
(36:47):
I mean, 60% federal.
As a man, 20.
And I call the newspaper boyhat a guinea hat because, you know,
let's see.
All the time, like, I have my.
Like, they're picky blinders.
I love that.
Yeah.
Like, my growing up.
My family's Italian, New York, whatever.
And growing up as a kid,everybody wore those things.
(37:08):
And I have some, like, mydad's and my uncles still.
I love them.
They're great.
Yeah.
Fedoras come from my grandpa.
My grandpa used to be a limodriver in Puerto Rico.
So he used to always have a fedora.
And I don't know, I alwaysliked him, and I never stopped.
I've never seen you in abaseball cap.
I'm just saying, literally.
And I'm, you know, we've seeneach other, but it's only been a
(37:31):
fedora.
It's always a fedora, and it's never.
Been the same one.
I'm just saying.
And I think I go into myincognito way without a hat.
That's where most people don'trecognize who I am.
Who's that guy?
Chef Ricardo.
You've had a pretty amazingculinary life, a life in general.
(37:51):
You've done a lot of stuff.
You're still going, which ispretty amazing.
In spite of all of thestruggle and real heartache and challenge.
What's next?
What are you and yourbeautiful wife going to do now?
Well, probably right now.
(38:12):
We're pushing harder than ever.
Most people don't know, butRosanna's sister is what I would
call a mad ass.
She used to be the CEO forKrispy Kreme, so I have a lot of
respect for her craft and howmuch she knows about the business
(38:33):
side, that I don't know.
She used to be the CEO for abrand called Small Sliders.
That is.
It's amazing.
And right now we're kind oftrying to figure it out, something
that's going to happenprobably before the year is over.
And it has to do with allthese brilliant people.
(38:54):
So Rosanna is going harder inher catering brand, obviously, as
well with Chef and the Baker.
We going really hard with Chefand the Baker.
Really new things are going tohappen in the vicinity and we're
excited, super excited toshare with the Tampa community and
(39:15):
who knows, maybe more other places.
Would be great to meet her.
Oh, yeah, you should meet her.
She's fantastic.
She has a great amount ofexperience and I look up to her in
so many different levels.
She sounds sincerely amazing.
I. I can't wait to actuallymeet her.
And I think I might.
I think those two sisters are powerful.
(39:36):
I know.
And you guys are a hell of a trio.
All right, listen, we're goingto be in California for the California
Restaurant show from the 3rdto the 5th, and we're at booth 6:33.
How do people find you, by the way?
You can go intochefandthebaker.com we're actually
online and also in Instagramat Chef Underscore and the Baker.
(39:58):
Oh, yeah.
And don't forget to check outhospitality bites with Ms. Colleen
Silk.
That is our first podcast thatwe brought in under the Walk and
Talk media umbrella.
We are still stoked becausethere are more coming.
And John, again today.
Freaking amazing.
I'm gonna post some stuff thatyou had put put out there, and it's
(40:21):
gonna be bad as.
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