June 6, 2025 • 52 mins
The heart of the culinary industry isn't found in offices or award ceremonies – it's at the stove. Chef Brent Weathers proves this with every dish he creates and every truth bomb he drops in this refreshingly honest conversation about what really happens behind kitchen doors.
Unlike many of his contemporaries who chase titles and management roles, Brent deliberately chose a different path. By remaining "titleless," he gained something far more valuable: direct mentorship from renowned chefs, opportunities to travel for pop-ups and restaurant openings, and the freedom to focus purely on craft. "I'm literally living my dream," Brent shares, explaining how his happiness comes from cooking rather than administrative duties.
Through his social media series "Brentflix" and "Massaclass," Brent exposes the dysfunction that plagues professional kitchens – from improper food storage to careless handling practices. His unflinching documentation serves a crucial purpose: showing aspiring chefs the unvarnished reality of an industry often glamorized by television.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I know a guy who went on Food Network.
You know first one out.
You know hashtag celebrity chefon the profile Hello Food Fam.
(00:23):
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiatini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on-site atIbisages Studios, where food
(00:44):
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more info atthewalkintalkcom.
Today's guest is someone whodefies every industry stereotype
and does it with quiet power,sharp insight and an
unapologetic honesty.
Chef Brent Weathers isn'tchasing titles or clout, he's
(01:04):
chasing truth.
A self-describedunder-the-radar chef with
Michelin-level experience, brenthas worked behind the scenes in
everything from restaurantopenings to cookbooks, to
pop-ups and festivals.
But what sets him apart isn'tjust the food, it's his voice
Through social media.
Through his social media series, brentflix and raw behind the
(01:26):
line footage, brent calls outdysfunction, exposes neglect and
shines a light on what's reallyhappening in the kitchens all
across the country.
He's not loud, he's real.
He's not trying to be viral,he's trying to be heard With
humor, humility and a deeprespect for the craft and a big
grounding in faith.
Brent reminds us that the heartof this industry isn't in the
(01:48):
office.
It's at the stove, where thefire is literal and the passion
is personal.
Let's welcome Chef Brent to theprogram.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
How you doing my man, my goodness, that was the best
thing I've ever heard.
That was wonderful man.
Thank you.
That's a heck of anintroduction.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, man, with your stature, your online prowess and
oh crap.
No, man, you know, listen, I'vebeen following you for a long
time.
You're good people and I likeall the stuff that you're doing,
thank you.
You've said some stuff, you getinto some stuff, like you, you,
you get into some things andbasically you've said that
you've won by staying in thekitchen and avoiding the stress
(02:29):
of titles.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I did Even.
I just said it, but I won'ttake it back anyway.
But you know, if you work witha chef, with all this experience
(02:56):
, the purpose of working with orunder a chef or a restaurant
that's been around for a whileis so you can actually work with
the chef.
So I don't, you know, I don'twant to.
My condition, my situation atthe time, was if you worked, if
you had titles and stuff, youwasn't able to work directly
with the chef.
So the chef that I was workingfor, he traveled quite a bit, he
did pop-ups.
We opened up restaurants, wehad a cookbook open.
I was there for all of that.
Now, had I had to be behind adesk and go to meetings, I would
(03:16):
have missed all that.
So it's kind of like it remindsme of the gangsters, where they
all have the same stories Likehey, you know, I used to be the,
I used to drive Mr.
You know, whatever the mobboss's name is, you know, and
that's how the guy got his firstgig.
He just drove the boss around,he had the umbrella, he held the
guy's umbrella Maybe, helpedhim count money, you know, and
(03:38):
he just heard, as he's drivingthe gangster around, he heard
the conversations he saw, the,he got the ins and outs of the
racket.
You know what I mean.
And so in my situation where Iwas at, I end up winning because
I had zero title, zeroresponsibility and I was able to
go on the road and get awaywith, you know, leaving and
(03:59):
going on for two weeks wherethere was a chef's cuisine.
I had to be at the restaurant,you know.
And, and also, too, I justdon't like um, and these days if
you're a chef, you don't justcook food, you gotta babysit,
you gotta.
You know the fact that, as agrown adult will call in sick
and say I have a headache.
(04:20):
That would drive me insane.
And I'm literally living mydream.
My dream was to go to work,deal with food and go home, and
I was always working two jobsbecause I had to, you know, pay
off bills and I had a turntablehabit and had to.
You know what I mean.
So I was already doing two jobsanyway, working all day long,
where some people say, hey, man,get the title, that way you can
(04:43):
work less.
Well, I was like.
Well, I wasn't, I don't know, Ijust always was wanting to cook
.
That's my thing and I don'twant to do nothing with no
paperwork, if that means youhave to For my happiness.
My happiness was cooking allday and it was 14 to 16 hours
and I was happy.
You know what I mean?
No, it worked for me.
(05:04):
So when I say I won, I'm the onethat, with God's help, I was
traveling and I was in and outthe Beard House and we opened up
a restaurant that had aMichelin star and I ended up
doing pop-ups and festivals andstyling people out and
consulting.
So I had the.
I got the most out of it.
I had zero title and I got themost out of it.
(05:25):
Did I get the title and I gotthe most out of it?
Did I get the most money?
No, but guess what?
I'm happy.
I'm literally I'm not saying itto take it like that I
literally I'm literally thethird time living my dream.
My dream is go to work, cook,and now I've gotten into editing
.
So I'm really a mess now, butyeah, I'm literally living my
(05:46):
dream in your brent flicksvideos, you pull back the
curtain.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh yeah, on a lot of kitchen dysfunction.
What got you into doing thatstyle?
First of all, explain the videostyle and tell us how you got
into it first of all, norestaurant in the world is
perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Everyone has something and there's different
levels of carelessness.
It could be the way something'slabeled, it could be the way
the tape was cut, it could bethe rotation of sauce and stocks
and whatever.
There's always something goingon in the kitchen some major,
some not major.
So I've seen this all my career.
(06:23):
But the restaurant I'm at nowis the worst I've ever seen any
kitchen I've ever been at.
I told the chef, I made apromise to him that I want to be
there, so basically I couldn'tquite leave.
And then I was like, why is itthat no one else is caring
around here?
And so it was always driving meinsane.
(06:45):
Like five, six years ago, I gointo work, the tuna's not
wrapped correctly, nothing'siced down, and it was driving me
crazy every single day.
And so what I ended up?
You know I bring it to people'sattention and no one seemed to
care and it was driving meinsane.
I started finding out thatbecause I was already posting
things on social media, becauseI got into it how I got into it,
(07:06):
and I'm like you know what.
These guys are not going todrive me crazy.
I want to share my pain withthe world, no matter what comes
from it, because the restaurantsI worked at before, we post the
beautiful stuff.
We post the great pictures.
We post the apron with thechefs looking all good and stuff
.
We post the apron with thechefs looking all good and stuff
.
We post the good stuff, but theworld doesn't see the bad.
(07:28):
We have all these people goingto culinary art school and they
don't know the real deal.
I don't think.
And so what I want to do is letpeople know.
Hey, look, just because yourUncle Eddie said that you're a
good cook, he only said thatbecause he was hungry and you
cooked some spaghetti meatballs.
He said, oh, you should be achef one day.
And then he saw Emeril.
He said bam, a couple of times.
And now you want to be onChopped.
(07:48):
And your aunt was like, oh man,you should be on that show, you
should be a chef.
And because it looks flashy onTV, in real life there's some
ugly stuff.
So what I do is the very firstepisode of my wife videos.
This is what happened.
Episode of my why videos.
This is what happened Someonetook their gloves off in the dry
(08:09):
storage.
Dirty gloves is left there.
I'm like what on earth?
I had labels in my hand.
I just decided to, instead ofpicking everyone else's crap up
all the time, driving myselfcrazy, I decided to put why on
it with a question mark on thelabel, thing.
The label, and I put Y on it,question mark, put it on the
(08:31):
glove and I left it.
So now my style was likeanytime I saw something really
backwards, I would just put, Iwould just label.
I had the Y label and I wouldjust put the sticker on.
Like you know, the open Detonmustard in the dry storage or
the things are not closed right,or scoops in the flower bin, I
just put Y and I just put it onthere.
(08:53):
So when he or she came acrossit, they were like it says Y and
I was like, okay, let me fix it.
That's how it started off.
And then that video went very,very well.
People in the comments weresaying, yeah, I thought I was
the only one that saw this inthe kitchen, or that drives me
crazy, or I've been there before.
I've been there before, and soI just started this series and
(09:15):
from that day like a year ishago till today, I've been seeing
nothing but neglect andpatheticness, and when I see it
I kind of call it out.
But the restaurant I work at isso so out of whack.
No one seems to care, and whenI post it they think it's funny.
So it's like you guys aren'tsupposed to think it's funny,
I'm supposed to fix it.
(09:35):
You know, like this is.
You know why are you guysletting this stuff slide?
And none of the managementmanagement has no more spine,
there's no courage left, there'snothing.
And so even the main guy waslike oh Brent, your videos are
the funniest thing I've everseen.
Dude, it's your restaurant.
I'm posting it for the world tosee.
It's not supposed to be funny,anyway.
So I have on my social mediawhere it says highlights if he
(10:00):
or she wants to look at the bestof, I have Y number one and Y
number two and they can just goup.
I think.
No, it goes up to like four ofthem, I think and they can just
click on it and see what I gothrough for the last year and
some change, and it turns outI'm not the only one, but I just
want to show the good, bad andugly, but Chef you're there,
You're seeing the issues, You'reseeing employed there.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I mean, how come you just?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, I know you want flexibility but how come
you just don't take the placeover, clean it up and get it
moving?
Uh, there's, there's thefoundation's terrible.
If I, if I did that I have I'dhave no one on my side.
We had a bunch of people.
So this is what happened.
That place was never like thatbefore and so everyone was was
strong.
We had so much talent from thenew york, from new york
restaurants uh, killerrestaurants down here in in uh,
(10:50):
dallas, and there was a lot ofpeople that cared.
And then, like, once the mainpeople start, stop, they quit
and they just kind of moved away.
Whatever, um, we got, theystarted hiring anyone that
walked through the door.
So if I took it over, I'd beoutgunned, I'd be overstressed,
I'd lose my hair, my heart.
There's time, you know, I'moutnumbered.
(11:11):
Now I just can't just go to inthis situation.
I'm deciding to stay.
Actually, it's gotten a littlebit better too.
It's like if I do a before andafter video, you know it's not
as crazy because you knowthere's parts of the restaurant
was really insane, but it'sgotten a little bit better
because people know when I walkaround, it kind of like oh wait,
hey, brent, what did you seethis time?
You know.
(11:31):
So they kind of fix it.
I'm outnumbered.
There's only a few of us thatreally, really care, and there
was a time when they hired likefive or six people with not that
much experience and the waythey got hired was very.
It's a long story how they gothired and there's no passion
behind it.
So if I decided to tell peoplelike even the other day, this
(11:53):
guy's you know tasting sauceswith his fingers and double
dipping back and forth to thehollandaise, and if I say
something, I'm the bad guy andthey don't want to listen and
it's really bad.
Like it's just what they saythe crazy people took over the
asylum.
So I'm trying to buildsomething right now and I don't
(12:15):
want to tell another job spotthat like, hey, I only got a
month and a half left to onlywork here.
So I'm just hanging out tryingto do the best I can.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
But at the moment you've worked with Michelin star
chefs, festivals and pop-ups.
How's that range of experienceshaped your view on really what
the most important things in thekitchen are?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, I just realized that the most important thing
is, I think, happiness, for forme, you know, I've, you know,
I've seen a lot of cool thingsin the, from New York, different
pop-ups over there, differentdinners from the Beard House and
all the way to California, allthroughout Napa Valley, multiple
times, and I just noticed likeI have the same access to the
(12:57):
same ingredients.
You know, when you look at theback of the French Laundry
Cookbook 11 Madison ParkCookbook they show you where to
get this stuff from and it turnsout everyone here in Dallas has
the same thing.
So it's good to see a lot ofdifferent chefs make mistakes or
kill it, you know, do a greatjob of what they're doing.
And I don't know, let me knowthat I'm not that far off, like
(13:25):
I'm just as talented.
There's times where I've cookedsomething, we're on the road
and these people are coming backfor seconds and thirds.
And so, you know, when you talklike that, especially doing
festivals for like thousands ofpeople and whatever, and these
guys are like, hey, I have thelongest line, it lets me know
that I'm doing something right.
And you know, know, we're allhey, dude, it's all the same
(13:46):
thing, like when all thesekitchens are the same, different
players, different scenarios,but it's all the same.
I don't know from the thingsthat I've learned and the things
I realized, like you know what?
Like this guy right here is aJames Beard award-winning chef,
but he's miserable.
This guy right here just gotcanned.
This guy's chef of the cuisineover here, but at this free
Michelin restaurant, but he hadenough.
When I meet people on the roadand all these different
(14:09):
experiences that they have, weall sit back and we talk after
the fact and sometimes themajority of them aren't happy.
I've learned to, after meetingall these people and traveling,
what makes you happy, whatreally makes you tick?
Is it a taco stand?
Do you want to do something?
Burgers, are you a ramen typeof guy?
Because at one point when weleft culinary, culinary art
(14:29):
school, we thought that it wasall about fine dining.
And then you start meetingthese guys after so, so long and
they they're tired of it.
You know, and sometimes it tookme to go on the road to talk to
these people to realize what'sreally, really important.
Some of these guys are like youknow they're, they're private
chefs now or they work at acountry club.
They're just over it.
You know they work at ahospital.
They're just over the awards.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
You've amassed a pretty large following on social
media.
There's clearly humor in whatyou do.
What is your method forbalancing what's actually
important and happening in theindustry?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
and humor, yeah well, I didn't know I was funny until
I watched one of my live videos.
I mean, I always had friendssay that I was funny and but one
day I played.
I went on Instagram live and Iwas babbling and I went back to
play it and I was like, oh man,I started laughing at my own
jokes because I forgot half thestuff I was saying.
Um, so I was.
I mean, I was born.
(15:26):
I was born this way.
I grew up in church.
You know, I believe in God.
I want to to go to heaven, thatkind of stuff.
So I'm a dead, dead seriousperson and I'm a goofball.
So if I have something to tellsomebody that's very, very
serious, there's probably somehumor in there by default, maybe
the way I deliver it or maybethe way I compare something I
(15:48):
don't purposely like.
Okay, cool, let me insert ajoke here and this, will you
know, mellow out the.
This is how I talk, you know,and so that's just who I am.
But it's very important to letpeople know like, hey, dude,
it's not supposed to be thisserious.
You know, whatever you're intoin life, like cooking for sure,
(16:10):
like we're supposed to have fun,that's the core of it.
Like, feel free to have fun.
If you have a personality, feelfree to show it.
Some.
Some chefs are very um, they'revery strict and don't talk too
much in the kitchen and I waslike that's gonna drive me crazy
.
But um, I think it's also it'simportant to say what I'm saying
and if there's some humor inthere it kind kind of knows out
(16:34):
the intensity of it, it softensthe blow a little bit.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, how do you feel about celebrity chefs?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
That's a horrible title because unfortunately,
just because you're ontelevision, nowadays you can be
on Chop one episode.
People say, oh, I'm a celebritychef, and then people in the
city they'll milk it and thenthat person will get a bunch of
catering gigs and they were thefirst one to go home.
So you have, like you know, guyFieri was a legit chef.
(17:03):
Bobby Flay legit chef, like youknow.
Gordon Ramsay, legit, like youknow, they cooked their brains
out for years.
Guy Fieri, I don't know, 15, 20years and the rest of them 20
years plus.
So these guys are like, notablylike legit celebrity chefs
Emeril, legit, right.
And then nowadays it's gottencarried away because as soon as
someone gets on television or assoon as someone gets on TikTok
(17:28):
and they have a few viral videos, they'll immediately change
their profile to celebrity chefand when they do that, it gets
them more gigs.
It makes them feel a certaintype of way and I don't, it's
just terrible, like I don't.
I wish that wasn't the case,because I think the worst thing
that happened to a cook reallyis those cameras.
You know, like I'm glad that wehave TV entertainment with
(17:49):
cooking and stuff like that onit, but nowadays, right, when
someone gets on TV, a lot ofthese chefs, it messes with
their minds a little bit.
They become Hollywood.
You know, I've met a lot ofpeople that I refuse to name
drop on my Instagram, but mygoodness, there's a lot of
people where being in front ofthe camera ruined them and
(18:11):
they're getting agents they'repaying for.
You know, some of these guysare paying for followers.
I'm like dude, either you gotit or you don't.
Why are you paying?
I'd rather earn it.
Like I've been paid a dime onany of my social media platforms
.
I'm on jail Two of them.
They got me in jail Instagram.
I'm still kind of free a littlebit, but you know, I just don't
(18:34):
understand.
Like you're paying for thisattention.
You had these, the majority ofthese guys, 90% of these chefs
you see on TV.
They see all the time they'rejudging and they're on some type
of a, they're hosting orwhatever.
There's a whole agent and thoseagents put those guys on to you
know.
So I'm like my goodness, like Imean, are they doing anything
(18:54):
wrong?
No, but I just hate the factthat you'll meet a celebrity
chef out and about and noticelike, look at you, like they
just forgot.
They forgot what it was to washdishes.
You know what I mean.
Like some of these chefs havebeen on TV, they just forgot
where they came from.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I know a guy who went on food network.
You know first one out.
You know hashtag celebrity chefon the on the profile.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Funny stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Really funny stuff.
I agree with you a hundredpercent.
You have said in the past,everyone forgot the purpose of
working with a chef.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, I, you know, I think when we were younger it
was like, you know, a lot of uswanted a mentor, or we had one,
or we there was a certain personthat we just had to work with
or for, and a lot of these guyswe got on, we got on planes, we
got in, whatever the case was,we we wanted to travel across
the globe just to work with acertain chef, and I mean, of
(19:55):
course, find out your own style,but, like when we started
cooking, we don't knoweverything.
The whole purpose of me workingwith a guy for 20-plus years is
just, you know, be quiet, behumble, say yes, chef, and just
listen to what you know.
He or she had to say you know,and to learn and absorb some of
that game.
You know.
He or she had to say you know,and, and and to learn and absorb
some of that, that game youknow, for two or three or four
(20:15):
years, some some people 15 years, and then they finally move on.
But I think it's kind of coolto work with someone who you
know, that you respect, that hasa good reputation, to like
break down some things.
Maybe there's some chefs theyknow how to work the front of
the house.
They know how to look at theseating chart.
They know how to go about whenyou're calling out tickets and
(20:36):
expediting.
They know how to, when to firecertain things, when to
mid-course some people there'san example to look at Some chefs
they can expedite and cook atthe same time.
And some chefs these days theyjust expedite.
And some chefs these daysexpedite.
If that, they just literallywalk around and have their
presence known.
I was like man, you guys forgotwhat it was to cook Because as
(21:00):
a kid you just want to grow up.
I mean, I thought you just wantto grow up and be a chef one
day and then you finally getthese opportunities and then you
just love being behind the deskand walking around, not working
, no more.
But I think it's kind of coolfor a young chef or someone
young, someone who's new intothe industry you can be 46 years
old, 35, to just like work witha chef.
(21:21):
That's passionate and if you dothat, you can.
There's a lot of benefits inthat.
You know I've learned a lot fromdoing that, you know, so I
think it's kind of cool to workwith someone who's you know if
I'm, if I want to play guitarone day and and uh, jimmy page
and slash um are hanging out andthey they're about to go on the
road and they need somebody, Idon't know.
It's kind of cool to have a jamsession with them, like see how
(21:44):
long they probably just picktheir brain a little bit, you
know, and and kind of developyour own style, you know, maybe
your style, just to play the Cchord the whole time.
And that works, because some ofthese country guys they play
the C chord and they haveplatinum records just off of
three chords.
And you have people like Slash,who that's not going to work
for him.
He does a whole solo.
He does a whole.
(22:07):
You know he really rips it andyou can find out like, okay, I
like this stuff a lot, I learnedso much, but I'm not sure
that's quite my style.
Let me see what I want to do.
I don't know.
I think it's kind of cool, butunfortunately some people don't
have an identity.
They think that whatever thechef says is right and then they
end up copying and mimickingwhat the chef did, if that means
(22:28):
yelling at people and throwingthings and belittling them, and
that's that's what they ended updoing and some don't.
Some, like you know, I disagreewith that.
But yeah, I think it's kind ofcool to work with somebody in
your craft that has experienceand you know they can.
You can learn a lot.
You can't learn this on yourown, really.
You know you can, but it'sbetter if you have a dope chef
to work with.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Chef Brent, you're an African-American fellow, I am.
You have one of your segmentsthat you do on your channel is
called Massaclass.
I have to tell you, when I sawthat, I think that was what
prompted me to reach out to youto get you on the show, Because
I thought it was number one.
(23:09):
The comedy part of it isamazing and I just think it's
terrific humor.
I think what you do fordelivery and intent with it is
fantastic.
Why don't you explain what thatis exactly?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
All right.
So Brent Flix was just retakingvideos manipulating things I
saw off the internet and if Iposted anything in the kitchen
like those live videos, it wasjust like a regular video.
I'm hanging out.
So the first, gerald Sunbright,according to Michelin, the
first African-American with aMichelin star.
I'm hanging out with him.
(23:44):
And another gentleman namedTyler that got Florida, got
Orlando, knife and spoon, theMichelin star.
So I'm hanging out with them.
And then I say you know what?
Because I was thinking aboutthe master class that you're
aware of, like you know, gordonRamsey and all these guys and
comedians and Steph Curry.
They're talking about how theydo things and it's called master
(24:04):
class.
So I was like I have a lot ofcrap to get off my chest right.
So I was like I have a lot ofcrap to get off my chest right.
So I was like, how about if I?
I'm going to call my friend upand he has the same birthday as
I do?
I'm going to call him up.
I'll say, hey, man, can youtake that master class and take
that T out and put two S's inthere Like master?
And he just, he didn't flinch,he just went ahead and did it.
(24:25):
And he's white.
He did it with no problemwhatsoever.
And so Masterclass is me givingmy two cents to get things off
my chest, because at one point Iwanted to have a podcast just
to talk about things thatcouldn't stand.
Like.
Why are you saying Eggs Bennywhen you can clearly say Eggs
Benedict To me?
I don't know.
(24:47):
Just talk correctly.
People are labeling Chickenstock and it'll say CHX, and I'm
like yo, like you know, you'rebragging about all these books
you have.
You're talking about how youwant to go to France so bad but
you sound like you're working apool hole, like, is there any
way?
You can just talk correctly.
So I have a lot of things inlife I'm going to get off my
(25:08):
chest and majority of it'sculinary, and I just decided to
call it masterclass.
You know, just playing aroundwith what was going on and
letting people know that I'mdifferent From the.
You know I'm a low key.
There's a movie Crap KirstenSlater, pump Up the Volume, yeah
, and that's just.
You know he had an undergroundRadio show in his Dorm room or
(25:32):
whatever, and that's kind of.
You know he had an undergroundradio show in his dorm room or
whatever, and that's kind oflike what I do man?
I just put my camera up and Ijust mouth off for a minute and
a half Sometimes some areshorter, some are longer and I
just get things off my chest andI say what I got to say.
I do it without cursing and Ido it without name dropping and
I try not to put too many peopleon the spot, but I will say
(25:54):
things that people understandand relate with.
Masterclass is me being verbal,getting things off my chest,
talking about things that peoplecan relate with, and sometimes
it's the cooking technique.
I'll show how I do a consummate.
It can't go wrong.
The tomato water run I did lastweek.
That's pretty cool.
I thought it was cool Cause Ishowed seven different
(26:17):
techniques in a tomato and haveflipped each one of them in for
different results.
So yeah, I don't know, I'm just.
It's just me having fun If itgets really, really big.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I probably got to change the logo and I totally
just took the master class logoand you know I glitched it, but
yeah, I think the name in and ofitself, just what you're doing
with it, brilliant.
I have to get you connectedwith my uh, with my guy man,
sean rivera we call him poochand uh, I think you two would
get along like probably too well.
Uh, you know we were gonna, he,I were going to start a podcast,
a second like a just like a,like a for fun thing, where the
(26:55):
whole thing is spoken in oldschool hip hop phrases Like
everything would be something todo, and I cause you know, you
and I had a conversation theother day, you know, in our
pregame, and I think that youtwo would, just you guys would
be hitting home runs left andright.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
For sure that's dope.
I like it, like that.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, for sure, I'm going to consider that done.
You talk about faith.
You talk about God.
How do your beliefs shape theway that you move through the
food world and handle all ofthese challenges?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Well, it's just, you know, when you read the bible
and you read, uh, old testamentstories, you read psalms and
proverbs, you read, uh, theparables and how jesus did
things, whatever, and if you'rea believer, the idea is that,
like you know, you gotta havesome follow-through at some
point.
You can't just read the bibleand go to church, clock in and
clock out, and then be heathenwhen you, you know, go to work.
(27:49):
So, um, what helped, whathelped me out a lot at work is,
I mean, you know, we sit hereand we talk about, well, we need
to respect the ingredientMother Earth.
No, god spoke that.
Like God, you know, look at thedragon fruit, look at the
lobster, god spoke that.
So it's like it's kind of coolthat you walk into that, walk-in
(28:09):
, you see all that produce.
God spoke, god had everythingto do with that.
You know what I mean.
And so it's like it's kind ofit's an honor to cook God's what
God created, what God spoke.
And you know, and when I dealwith impossible people and I,
you know there's times where,before I clocked in, I had to
read the Bible.
I think, you know, I had tohave a small little church
service.
I had a CD with some acapellasinging, I would put it in.
(28:31):
I would listen to a few churchsongs, get my mind geeked up to
deal with really evil, messed uppeople.
And then I'd have to readsomething out of.
I had to read something aboutturning the other cheek.
I had read I believe it'scolossians.
And there's another verse whereit talks about like when your
boss tell you, it says master,but when, when your boss tells
(28:53):
you to do something, do it likeif god told you to do it.
So I'm about to clock into thisjob, work 4 pm to 12 30 in the
morning, and it's filled withimmoral, lazy, whatever it is
people.
And so God is the only reasonwhy I was able to work with
impossible people Like the guy Iwork for.
(29:15):
He's really impossible, but theonly reason why I mastered I
can work with him for this long,because everyone's like, how do
you work with a guy for so long?
Well, you know you have to readthe Bible.
You got to think about heaven,you got to pray a lot, you know.
So, um, the reason why I can, Imove the way I move, is
literally because I know thatyou know if you pray and be
(29:36):
specific in prayer.
You know God will have my back.
So, um, I don't know, that'sjust how I it's.
I don't know.
This is just um.
I appreciate what God has done.
God created all these people inwork and some of these people.
They're crying out for help andI've had a lot of Bible studies
at work.
I've had a lot of.
(30:01):
We had a lot of talks.
I've shown things that we'vemade.
I was like man, this is crazy.
God created this.
The reason why I can work inthis industry another 25 years
is because of God.
If I wasn't reading somethingin the Bible before I clocked in
, I'd be really screwed, amen.
(30:36):
What advice would you give toyoung cooks who just genuinely
feel burnt out?
You know, they kind of hit thewall, maybe in a bad head space.
What are you telling these cats?
Because I cook, because I loveit, I love people.
I may not like where I'm at,and some places are really
insane and so there's no harm inlike.
You know what I got to leave upout of here.
(30:56):
I can't finish my one year here.
I got to protect my peace.
Nowadays we say mental health,but when you and me were growing
up, it was on something like wewould say I got to take care of
myself.
I can't do it, or we would saysomething of that nature but you
have to take care of yourself.
So if you're burnt out, youknow there's no harm in like you
know what.
Let me just take a break fromrestaurants.
(31:17):
Let me work at this butcher'sup the street, let me fillet
some fish, let me go to WholeFoods or let me go to a grocery
spot and just work behind thecounter.
I mean, do something totallydifferent.
Some people, they stop, theyend up becoming security guards
and they take a break.
You know, they fall out ofcompassion, their construction,
(31:38):
they, you know, they play guitarthe whole time.
Because you know, you and meboth seen a lot of chefs that
had a whole different skill setoutside of cooking and some
people was like you know what?
I need a break.
There's no harm in taking abreak.
It can be a year, two and ahalf, five years, and the
reality of the matter is you cantake a 10-year break and when
(31:59):
you come back it kind of is likeriding a bike.
On some level I have to cook.
I'm not going to be corny but,like you know, cause some chefs
on TV they'll say somethingstupid, like it's very spiritual
for me.
I want my food to hug you.
My, my food is going to hug you.
I don't know about all that,but I do know that like this is
(32:21):
what makes me tick.
I love the cook, I love theexperiment.
I love to cook.
I love the experiment, I love.
I'm a mad scientist at heart,you know what I mean and so I
love being around food.
I've had.
I've been places before whereI'm like yo, I can't do this no
more.
I can always cook with me.
Personally, I can always cook,but sometimes it depends on who
(32:42):
you're cooking with, because tome, this is the best industry in
the world.
I don't see how anyone doesanything else.
On the flip side, it's theworst industry in the world.
If you have to deal withimpossible people, what you do
is just there's no harm inleaving.
Take a break.
If your wife has.
I know a few people where theirwife does very, very well.
(33:02):
I would say I had to take abreak.
It was messing with my mind.
I'm going to travel with mywife as a doctor at the such and
such.
I'm going to hang out with hera little bit and do some private
chef work and take care ofmyself.
Yeah, if you burnt out or if youjust See there's this mindset
(33:23):
of like, okay, cooking there'sfrowned upon, if you give up, I
don't want to quit because Idon't want, what will my friends
think of me?
Take care of yourself, that'sthe most thing that's important.
I can't speak for you, but Iknow for a fact you've seen some
people burnt out to where theyturn to drugs and they're
drinking.
And they're different peopleand there's a lot of.
(33:44):
I lost a lot of chef friends.
I had to make sure I don'tstart crying.
Let's see here.
One year I lost.
I'm not going to do that, I'mnot going to count the numbers,
but it's a lot of cooks playingwith their nose on and off drugs
drinking.
I had a friend of mine.
She drunk herself to death.
And if your job is causing youto drink and smoke all the time
(34:10):
and turn to drugs, yo dosomething else.
Like you know, like you don't,you can, you can express.
You don't have to be at arestaurant.
You know what I mean.
Like do cater or something,drop off some fajitas at the
local uh, daycare or something.
Like you know, express yourself, some type of you know, and
nowadays people are cooking athome.
They got a YouTube channel.
There's no rules.
(34:31):
Do what makes you happy.
I don't know.
You have to do what makes youhappy.
And people want to cook forother people and they're so
obsessed with stupid awards Iwas like, well, I don't want to
give up.
I don't want my friends to thinkthat I sold out.
Dude, it's okay.
I had friends of mine thatstopped what they were doing to
(34:51):
work at a chain and I just askedthem a simple question hey, my
man, are you good, are you happy?
Well, I mean I sold out.
Well, what do you mean?
Well, I work at this such andsuch down the street and it's uh
, dude, it's not selling out.
You have a family, don't you all?
Right then, like you know, yougotta do what's best for your
(35:12):
family.
You know, like your kids don'tcare about no award.
James beard is dead.
You know, those michelinbrothers are dead.
It's a bunch of other peoplerunning it.
You know what I mean.
And it's business.
We have to pay what?
Uh, michelin?
2.9 million dollars to comedown here to hand out awards
because we had to have awards.
So bad.
I don't care about no award, Ihad a Michelin star in my hand
(35:35):
and I couldn't even post it.
I had a picture about the endof the post.
I had a voiceover andeverything.
I scratched it.
I was like it's not even myquote, I don't care.
That doesn't make me happy.
What makes me happy is cooking.
This is what makes me happy.
I was told to do make familymeal for banquets a week ago.
I made it.
I was nervous, I didn't know it.
(35:57):
People hold me to a higherdegree.
When I'm doing all these livevideos I call people up for
their cooking techniques orwhatever.
I made what I made.
I kind of forgot what I made,but I made something.
The dishwasher came back and waslike Brent.
He doesn't talk about food atall.
He said, Brent man, that foodover there was stellar.
(36:18):
He gave me their two thumbs up.
I've never seen him smile thathard ever.
He was like Brent.
That was beautiful food, man,that's the best thing I've ever
had out of here.
You know what?
That was my award For someoneto be like yo, that's the best
thing I've ever had and I wantedto go box.
I want to take someone home.
(36:39):
That's what makes me happy.
That's my thing right there.
You know, I had to almost helpback the tears because you said,
like I'm black, 6'3",260-something pounds, and I had
to hold back tears, all becausea dishwasher that was like 20
years old said that's thebiggest thing I've ever had out
(37:01):
of here.
You know, hey, listen, I washumble.
I was humble.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
We all want to have some acceptance.
We all want to have some, youknow, backslaps Everybody does,
even though sometimes we're allwell, not everybody, but you
know you, me, a lot of others wedo have a rough exterior and we
did grow up with people sayingsuck it up, Don't be a sissy, Do
it this way, Do it that way.
(37:27):
It was definitely a differenttime than we're living in now.
And you know, at the end, bro,listen, if you're going to, if
you've got a field, if you haveto have the fields, it's okay,
there's nothing wrong with it.
And, by the way, if there'sanybody listening out there that
does need any resources or help, or you know, in terms of, you
(37:52):
know, mental health awareness,check out theburnchefprojectcom.
These cats are great andthey're from Europe, they're
coming over here to NorthAmerica and they just provide so
many resources for so manypeople in our industry
specifically.
So you know, with that said,Chef, like you're a big dude,
(38:14):
Shed a tear baby, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Oh no, I have no problem crying and I was just
making a point like because Iwas trying to keep it cool.
That's what I was trying to say.
I post on my master class abouthey, it's okay to cry.
I have a cowboy's jersey on.
I say hey, it's okay to cry andI say, if you need help crying,
I have some video footage foryou.
If I remember, I'll share thatpost with you when we're done
(38:39):
with this.
But I have some videos, somego-to videos of yo, it's okay,
we're a whole human, let's cry.
You know what I'm saying.
I say hold back the tears, butI was like it was a touching
moment.
You know, that's all.
And there's no harm in Dude.
A dog needs acceptance, a dogwants encouragement, a dog wants
(39:00):
to be noticed.
So if a dog wants to be noticed, we just think of human ones.
My issue with those goofy awardsIs that, you know, is that
really what's important?
Because I've seen these guysget these awards and it messes
with their brain If they don'tget the same award the next year
(39:21):
or they go from three stars totwo stars.
It messes with them.
And there's quite a bit ofchefs.
They call up the Michelin guysand say, hey, don't bother, come
over here, Don't?
They go from three stars to twostars.
It messes with them.
And there's quite a bit ofchefs.
They call up the Michelin guysand say, hey, don't bother, come
over here, Don't rate us, don'tdo nothing, we're not
interested.
You know, and I personally Idon't move that way.
Some people they feel like,because the reality of the
(39:41):
matter is they get an award andat first they take a bunch of
pictures and they post it ontheir social media thing.
It could be from Michelin,james Beard, an Emmy, an Oscar,
tony, it could be all thosethings.
As soon as they win it, it'sposted and people, we want our
peers to be proud of us, but onthe flip side I want my heart to
be proud of me.
I don't want to be like youknow high blood pressure and you
know hate the industry.
(40:02):
All because I'm trying to, youknow, make, make my, my, my
colleagues and my, my, my, youknow mentees and mentors happy.
You know I I think you can messwith your mind a little bit and
with me, the way I'm wired.
I just don't.
I just don't think that'sextremely important.
I come from winning places, man.
(40:23):
I've I've worked at restaurantswhere we just had five-star,
you know, diamond and all theseawards and plaques on the wall
and best of this and best ofthat.
I'm so used to it.
To me, different restaurants,different situations, I just
don't.
That shouldn't be what drivesyou.
Some people cooking drivesPeople cook for the wrong
(40:44):
reasons.
I think it's kind of cool to goback to the core of what you
cook for, and it shouldn't beover no war.
But that's just my two cents.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Well, I'll tell you what I don't disagree with you.
I will tell you that I, we, Iwill tell you that John and I
John is my number two here atWalk Talk.
He's also our resident, youknow, badass photographer, food
photographer.
We went to a Michelinrestaurant in Orlando called
(41:17):
Camille and Chef Tung, who'sover there this guy is amazing.
So that was my first time isamazing.
So that was my my first time,uh, experiencing how a michelin
level chef operates.
And I'm talking about, you know, we were there for a photo
shoot and to do some some videowork and whatnot.
(41:38):
Um, honestly, the guy was amachine and every single yeah,
every action had a purpose andevery action had something to do
with cleaning as you go andbuilding and beautiful and being
clean and having the system andbeing clean again.
(42:00):
Like, like I'd never seen thatbefore.
I mean I worked with greatchefs.
I mean I've worked withliterally thousands of chefs and
I've seen a lot, but not likethat.
And I don't know if it's justbecause we were there with the
cameras or whatever, but like,at the end of the day, man, like
, what these cats are doing isserious.
So if chasing a star or a beardpushes somebody to do that kind
(42:27):
of work.
I mean, I admire that, althoughI do understand what you're
saying about, like you know,just chasing it to chase it or
whatever.
But people have differentmotivations and I don't I don't
begrudge anybody who goes afterit.
You know who wants to do that.
Um, yeah, I mean I guess youknow if, if you're happy being a
creative and making beautifuldishes and having the dishwasher
(42:51):
give you an attaboy and a smile, man, it is beautiful.
I mean, it's a great feeling,some other level of feeling by
chasing, you know, some sort ofan award, more power to them, as
long as they don't hurtthemselves doing it, or, or, you
(43:13):
know, cast their family to theside, or their friends or or
themselves, for that matter, tothe side in order to get there.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And I've seen a lot of that.
That's I think.
I think.
I think that's a pretendance of.
I guess I'll explain thatbetter.
I've seen a lot of that and I'mpretty sure you've seen that
too, where things are just like.
You know, one dude he came towork one day looking crazy and
they say what happened to himand they say he went home
yesterday and she tookeverything kids and all the
(43:42):
furniture he took off because heloves work and food more than
he loves, you know, the family.
And sometimes we don't.
We forget about balance.
We forget about, like you know,we're not supposed to be
spending life this way.
You know, six, seven days aweek and these long, crazy hours
in our family and our kids aresuffering and all that kind of
(44:02):
stuff.
I don't have any kids, I'm justsaying I've sat back and seen
people where their lives aregetting just tortured and then
what happens is the majority ofthe people that there's a lot of
Michelin-starred chefs or chefsthat work in Michelin
restaurants.
They're like you know what?
We just want to take a stepback.
We want to have a chicken spot,we want to have a sandwich
(44:24):
joint, we want to.
We're over it, we're done, youknow, and these guys, the
majority of these guys, say thesame thing it's like dude, it's
just too much.
A lot of people say it was justtoo much, you know, and
especially if you don't have theright kind of team, they just
won't even do it, you know.
So I've seen, and you've seenit too, like when they stop and
just open spot.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I was just going to say ramen spot.
You totally read my mind rightthere.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Totally read my mind.
You know, because you've seenit.
They all want to do somethingcasual.
The food that we eat after work, it ain't no caviar.
And don't get me wrong,sometimes there's a caviar chain
somewhere and we're all doingbumps.
But it's like there's a lot ofchefs that when we get through
cooking at that nice, nice, nicerestaurant and all that white
(45:12):
table linen and all of ourexpensive stuff, we go somewhere
and we're getting greasyburgers.
Even on a day off we're goingto a restaurant.
That's like, you know.
After work we're going to eatsome, we're getting fast food,
we're eating greasy tacos,greasy pizzas, and it seems like
that's what makes chefs happy.
So, if you notice, thomas Kelleropened up Ad Hoc, you know.
(45:32):
Dan Ballou did that burgerjoint.
Grant Atkins opened up thelow-key Royster.
You know they come to the foodthey do over there.
It's nice food, but it's a stepback a little bit, you know.
And then it got to the pointwhere the casual made more sense
.
And if you notice a lot of threeMichelin restaurants, they kind
of or excuse me fine diningrestaurants.
(45:55):
They're like you know what?
Let's just be a little bit moreapproachable.
Some spots were like hey, youcan't eat here without a jacket
and they kind of stripped thatmindset away.
No one does it no more.
That mindset away, no one doesit no more.
I'm pretty sure there's placesthat do it and some of these
Michelin dudes, they just stopwhat they're doing.
They had enough and they're ona boat.
They're private chefing.
One dude I know he does nothingbut pasta videos and bread
(46:18):
videos.
He does the whole food.
He does the whole.
Hey guys, today I'm makingdonuts and come with me as I go
on a wild ride to Sugar Town.
I'm like, oh crap, but you knowthat person, that's a person's
way out.
I guess you know here, see,that's what they're doing.
You know they're doing like heyguys, welcome to my school.
(46:39):
What did I teach you today?
How to make canals.
I'm like crap, you know.
But that makes them happy.
They're done.
They want to take matters intotheir own hands.
So you got to protect yourpeace.
And if you're burnt out, I meancook.
Okay, maybe you need to cooksomewhere else, take a break.
I know people that work atFrench Laundry and they stopped
what they were doing to work ata hash type of house, you know,
(47:00):
like Waffle House type of spot,because they needed a break.
Take a break.
Needed a break?
Take a break.
There's more to life thancaviar and foie gras.
I think it's probably.
I need to be assured, I need tolet's do it.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
There's more to life than you know.
But at the same time, we thinkthat's the ultimate style of
cuisine.
But guess what?
There's a long line of peopleat a barbecue joint.
Long line of barbecue barbecue,croissant, donuts, tacos,
burgers pizzas.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Some of the best food photography that we've done
have been badass, beautifulsandwiches, and that's the truth
.
Yeah, it's just what it is.
You got to tell me what is nextfor you.
Is it more pasta videos?
Are you going to do apparel?
I mean, is it just comedy,which I think you should
probably stick with the comedy alittle bit.
We need more of that.
But what do you?
(47:49):
What do you?
What's next for you, man?
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Everything you just said.
Today I posted a souffle videothat I was really happy with.
So more souffle videos, morebacon.
My goal is to let people knowhow easy it is and not to
overthink things.
I would love to have a talkshow like a David Letterman late
night, conan O'Brien late, latenight show.
That would be dope that's mydream to be a chef for a late
(48:12):
night show maybe we can dosomething together on that.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
I would be, I think, blessed to put it together how
do we, how does everybody findyou?
Well, my name is Brent.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Weathers.
So if you google that, thingswill pop up.
Brent Eats Food is my Instagramand I think Brent Flix is my
TikTok and Brent Weathers is myFacebook and Brent Weathers is
YouTube, as well, so yeah, andwe're going to get down with it.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Look, it was really great having you on the program
today.
We're going to do more with you.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Stay on the line and I'm going to catch you here
shortly.
Okay, look forward to it, man.
No-transcript.
I know a guy who went on Food Network.
You know first one out.
You know hashtag celebrity chefon the profile Hello Food Fam.
(00:23):
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiatini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on-site atIbisages Studios, where food
(00:44):
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
Email us to learn more info atthewalkintalkcom.
Today's guest is someone whodefies every industry stereotype
and does it with quiet power,sharp insight and an
unapologetic honesty.
Chef Brent Weathers isn'tchasing titles or clout, he's
(01:04):
chasing truth.
A self-describedunder-the-radar chef with
Michelin-level experience, brenthas worked behind the scenes in
everything from restaurantopenings to cookbooks, to
pop-ups and festivals.
But what sets him apart isn'tjust the food, it's his voice
Through social media.
Through his social media series, brentflix and raw behind the
(01:26):
line footage, brent calls outdysfunction, exposes neglect and
shines a light on what's reallyhappening in the kitchens all
across the country.
He's not loud, he's real.
He's not trying to be viral,he's trying to be heard With
humor, humility and a deeprespect for the craft and a big
grounding in faith.
Brent reminds us that the heartof this industry isn't in the
(01:48):
office.
It's at the stove, where thefire is literal and the passion
is personal.
Let's welcome Chef Brent to theprogram.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
How you doing my man, my goodness, that was the best
thing I've ever heard.
That was wonderful man.
Thank you.
That's a heck of anintroduction.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, man, with your stature, your online prowess and
oh crap.
No, man, you know, listen, I'vebeen following you for a long
time.
You're good people and I likeall the stuff that you're doing,
thank you.
You've said some stuff, you getinto some stuff, like you, you,
you get into some things andbasically you've said that
you've won by staying in thekitchen and avoiding the stress
(02:29):
of titles.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I did Even.
I just said it, but I won'ttake it back anyway.
But you know, if you work witha chef, with all this experience
(02:56):
, the purpose of working with orunder a chef or a restaurant
that's been around for a whileis so you can actually work with
the chef.
So I don't, you know, I don'twant to.
My condition, my situation atthe time, was if you worked, if
you had titles and stuff, youwasn't able to work directly
with the chef.
So the chef that I was workingfor, he traveled quite a bit, he
did pop-ups.
We opened up restaurants, wehad a cookbook open.
I was there for all of that.
Now, had I had to be behind adesk and go to meetings, I would
(03:16):
have missed all that.
So it's kind of like it remindsme of the gangsters, where they
all have the same stories Likehey, you know, I used to be the,
I used to drive Mr.
You know, whatever the mobboss's name is, you know, and
that's how the guy got his firstgig.
He just drove the boss around,he had the umbrella, he held the
guy's umbrella Maybe, helpedhim count money, you know, and
(03:38):
he just heard, as he's drivingthe gangster around, he heard
the conversations he saw, the,he got the ins and outs of the
racket.
You know what I mean.
And so in my situation where Iwas at, I end up winning because
I had zero title, zeroresponsibility and I was able to
go on the road and get awaywith, you know, leaving and
(03:59):
going on for two weeks wherethere was a chef's cuisine.
I had to be at the restaurant,you know.
And, and also, too, I justdon't like um, and these days if
you're a chef, you don't justcook food, you gotta babysit,
you gotta.
You know the fact that, as agrown adult will call in sick
and say I have a headache.
(04:20):
That would drive me insane.
And I'm literally living mydream.
My dream was to go to work,deal with food and go home, and
I was always working two jobsbecause I had to, you know, pay
off bills and I had a turntablehabit and had to.
You know what I mean.
So I was already doing two jobsanyway, working all day long,
where some people say, hey, man,get the title, that way you can
(04:43):
work less.
Well, I was like.
Well, I wasn't, I don't know, Ijust always was wanting to cook
.
That's my thing and I don'twant to do nothing with no
paperwork, if that means youhave to For my happiness.
My happiness was cooking allday and it was 14 to 16 hours
and I was happy.
You know what I mean?
No, it worked for me.
(05:04):
So when I say I won, I'm the onethat, with God's help, I was
traveling and I was in and outthe Beard House and we opened up
a restaurant that had aMichelin star and I ended up
doing pop-ups and festivals andstyling people out and
consulting.
So I had the.
I got the most out of it.
I had zero title and I got themost out of it.
(05:25):
Did I get the title and I gotthe most out of it?
Did I get the most money?
No, but guess what?
I'm happy.
I'm literally I'm not saying itto take it like that I
literally I'm literally thethird time living my dream.
My dream is go to work, cook,and now I've gotten into editing
.
So I'm really a mess now, butyeah, I'm literally living my
(05:46):
dream in your brent flicksvideos, you pull back the
curtain.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh yeah, on a lot of kitchen dysfunction.
What got you into doing thatstyle?
First of all, explain the videostyle and tell us how you got
into it first of all, norestaurant in the world is
perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Everyone has something and there's different
levels of carelessness.
It could be the way something'slabeled, it could be the way
the tape was cut, it could bethe rotation of sauce and stocks
and whatever.
There's always something goingon in the kitchen some major,
some not major.
So I've seen this all my career.
(06:23):
But the restaurant I'm at nowis the worst I've ever seen any
kitchen I've ever been at.
I told the chef, I made apromise to him that I want to be
there, so basically I couldn'tquite leave.
And then I was like, why is itthat no one else is caring
around here?
And so it was always driving meinsane.
(06:45):
Like five, six years ago, I gointo work, the tuna's not
wrapped correctly, nothing'siced down, and it was driving me
crazy every single day.
And so what I ended up?
You know I bring it to people'sattention and no one seemed to
care and it was driving meinsane.
I started finding out thatbecause I was already posting
things on social media, becauseI got into it how I got into it,
(07:06):
and I'm like you know what.
These guys are not going todrive me crazy.
I want to share my pain withthe world, no matter what comes
from it, because the restaurantsI worked at before, we post the
beautiful stuff.
We post the great pictures.
We post the apron with thechefs looking all good and stuff
.
We post the apron with thechefs looking all good and stuff
.
We post the good stuff, but theworld doesn't see the bad.
(07:28):
We have all these people goingto culinary art school and they
don't know the real deal.
I don't think.
And so what I want to do is letpeople know.
Hey, look, just because yourUncle Eddie said that you're a
good cook, he only said thatbecause he was hungry and you
cooked some spaghetti meatballs.
He said, oh, you should be achef one day.
And then he saw Emeril.
He said bam, a couple of times.
And now you want to be onChopped.
(07:48):
And your aunt was like, oh man,you should be on that show, you
should be a chef.
And because it looks flashy onTV, in real life there's some
ugly stuff.
So what I do is the very firstepisode of my wife videos.
This is what happened.
Episode of my why videos.
This is what happened Someonetook their gloves off in the dry
(08:09):
storage.
Dirty gloves is left there.
I'm like what on earth?
I had labels in my hand.
I just decided to, instead ofpicking everyone else's crap up
all the time, driving myselfcrazy, I decided to put why on
it with a question mark on thelabel, thing.
The label, and I put Y on it,question mark, put it on the
(08:31):
glove and I left it.
So now my style was likeanytime I saw something really
backwards, I would just put, Iwould just label.
I had the Y label and I wouldjust put the sticker on.
Like you know, the open Detonmustard in the dry storage or
the things are not closed right,or scoops in the flower bin, I
just put Y and I just put it onthere.
(08:53):
So when he or she came acrossit, they were like it says Y and
I was like, okay, let me fix it.
That's how it started off.
And then that video went very,very well.
People in the comments weresaying, yeah, I thought I was
the only one that saw this inthe kitchen, or that drives me
crazy, or I've been there before.
I've been there before, and soI just started this series and
(09:15):
from that day like a year ishago till today, I've been seeing
nothing but neglect andpatheticness, and when I see it
I kind of call it out.
But the restaurant I work at isso so out of whack.
No one seems to care, and whenI post it they think it's funny.
So it's like you guys aren'tsupposed to think it's funny,
I'm supposed to fix it.
(09:35):
You know, like this is.
You know why are you guysletting this stuff slide?
And none of the managementmanagement has no more spine,
there's no courage left, there'snothing.
And so even the main guy waslike oh Brent, your videos are
the funniest thing I've everseen.
Dude, it's your restaurant.
I'm posting it for the world tosee.
It's not supposed to be funny,anyway.
So I have on my social mediawhere it says highlights if he
(10:00):
or she wants to look at the bestof, I have Y number one and Y
number two and they can just goup.
I think.
No, it goes up to like four ofthem, I think and they can just
click on it and see what I gothrough for the last year and
some change, and it turns outI'm not the only one, but I just
want to show the good, bad andugly, but Chef you're there,
You're seeing the issues, You'reseeing employed there.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I mean, how come you just?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I mean, I know you want flexibility but how come
you just don't take the placeover, clean it up and get it
moving?
Uh, there's, there's thefoundation's terrible.
If I, if I did that I have I'dhave no one on my side.
We had a bunch of people.
So this is what happened.
That place was never like thatbefore and so everyone was was
strong.
We had so much talent from thenew york, from new york
restaurants uh, killerrestaurants down here in in uh,
(10:50):
dallas, and there was a lot ofpeople that cared.
And then, like, once the mainpeople start, stop, they quit
and they just kind of moved away.
Whatever, um, we got, theystarted hiring anyone that
walked through the door.
So if I took it over, I'd beoutgunned, I'd be overstressed,
I'd lose my hair, my heart.
There's time, you know, I'moutnumbered.
(11:11):
Now I just can't just go to inthis situation.
I'm deciding to stay.
Actually, it's gotten a littlebit better too.
It's like if I do a before andafter video, you know it's not
as crazy because you knowthere's parts of the restaurant
was really insane, but it'sgotten a little bit better
because people know when I walkaround, it kind of like oh wait,
hey, brent, what did you seethis time?
You know.
(11:31):
So they kind of fix it.
I'm outnumbered.
There's only a few of us thatreally, really care, and there
was a time when they hired likefive or six people with not that
much experience and the waythey got hired was very.
It's a long story how they gothired and there's no passion
behind it.
So if I decided to tell peoplelike even the other day, this
(11:53):
guy's you know tasting sauceswith his fingers and double
dipping back and forth to thehollandaise, and if I say
something, I'm the bad guy andthey don't want to listen and
it's really bad.
Like it's just what they saythe crazy people took over the
asylum.
So I'm trying to buildsomething right now and I don't
(12:15):
want to tell another job spotthat like, hey, I only got a
month and a half left to onlywork here.
So I'm just hanging out tryingto do the best I can.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
But at the moment you've worked with Michelin star
chefs, festivals and pop-ups.
How's that range of experienceshaped your view on really what
the most important things in thekitchen are?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, I just realized that the most important thing
is, I think, happiness, for forme, you know, I've, you know,
I've seen a lot of cool thingsin the, from New York, different
pop-ups over there, differentdinners from the Beard House and
all the way to California, allthroughout Napa Valley, multiple
times, and I just noticed likeI have the same access to the
(12:57):
same ingredients.
You know, when you look at theback of the French Laundry
Cookbook 11 Madison ParkCookbook they show you where to
get this stuff from and it turnsout everyone here in Dallas has
the same thing.
So it's good to see a lot ofdifferent chefs make mistakes or
kill it, you know, do a greatjob of what they're doing.
And I don't know, let me knowthat I'm not that far off, like
(13:25):
I'm just as talented.
There's times where I've cookedsomething, we're on the road
and these people are coming backfor seconds and thirds.
And so, you know, when you talklike that, especially doing
festivals for like thousands ofpeople and whatever, and these
guys are like, hey, I have thelongest line, it lets me know
that I'm doing something right.
And you know, know, we're allhey, dude, it's all the same
(13:46):
thing, like when all thesekitchens are the same, different
players, different scenarios,but it's all the same.
I don't know from the thingsthat I've learned and the things
I realized, like you know what?
Like this guy right here is aJames Beard award-winning chef,
but he's miserable.
This guy right here just gotcanned.
This guy's chef of the cuisineover here, but at this free
Michelin restaurant, but he hadenough.
When I meet people on the roadand all these different
(14:09):
experiences that they have, weall sit back and we talk after
the fact and sometimes themajority of them aren't happy.
I've learned to, after meetingall these people and traveling,
what makes you happy, whatreally makes you tick?
Is it a taco stand?
Do you want to do something?
Burgers, are you a ramen typeof guy?
Because at one point when weleft culinary, culinary art
(14:29):
school, we thought that it wasall about fine dining.
And then you start meetingthese guys after so, so long and
they they're tired of it.
You know, and sometimes it tookme to go on the road to talk to
these people to realize what'sreally, really important.
Some of these guys are like youknow they're, they're private
chefs now or they work at acountry club.
They're just over it.
You know they work at ahospital.
They're just over the awards.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
You've amassed a pretty large following on social
media.
There's clearly humor in whatyou do.
What is your method forbalancing what's actually
important and happening in theindustry?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
and humor, yeah well, I didn't know I was funny until
I watched one of my live videos.
I mean, I always had friendssay that I was funny and but one
day I played.
I went on Instagram live and Iwas babbling and I went back to
play it and I was like, oh man,I started laughing at my own
jokes because I forgot half thestuff I was saying.
Um, so I was.
I mean, I was born.
(15:26):
I was born this way.
I grew up in church.
You know, I believe in God.
I want to to go to heaven, thatkind of stuff.
So I'm a dead, dead seriousperson and I'm a goofball.
So if I have something to tellsomebody that's very, very
serious, there's probably somehumor in there by default, maybe
the way I deliver it or maybethe way I compare something I
(15:48):
don't purposely like.
Okay, cool, let me insert ajoke here and this, will you
know, mellow out the.
This is how I talk, you know,and so that's just who I am.
But it's very important to letpeople know like, hey, dude,
it's not supposed to be thisserious.
You know, whatever you're intoin life, like cooking for sure,
(16:10):
like we're supposed to have fun,that's the core of it.
Like, feel free to have fun.
If you have a personality, feelfree to show it.
Some.
Some chefs are very um, they'revery strict and don't talk too
much in the kitchen and I waslike that's gonna drive me crazy
.
But um, I think it's also it'simportant to say what I'm saying
and if there's some humor inthere it kind kind of knows out
(16:34):
the intensity of it, it softensthe blow a little bit.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, how do you feel about celebrity chefs?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
That's a horrible title because unfortunately,
just because you're ontelevision, nowadays you can be
on Chop one episode.
People say, oh, I'm a celebritychef, and then people in the
city they'll milk it and thenthat person will get a bunch of
catering gigs and they were thefirst one to go home.
So you have, like you know, guyFieri was a legit chef.
(17:03):
Bobby Flay legit chef, like youknow.
Gordon Ramsay, legit, like youknow, they cooked their brains
out for years.
Guy Fieri, I don't know, 15, 20years and the rest of them 20
years plus.
So these guys are like, notablylike legit celebrity chefs
Emeril, legit, right.
And then nowadays it's gottencarried away because as soon as
someone gets on television or assoon as someone gets on TikTok
(17:28):
and they have a few viral videos, they'll immediately change
their profile to celebrity chefand when they do that, it gets
them more gigs.
It makes them feel a certaintype of way and I don't, it's
just terrible, like I don't.
I wish that wasn't the case,because I think the worst thing
that happened to a cook reallyis those cameras.
You know, like I'm glad that wehave TV entertainment with
(17:49):
cooking and stuff like that onit, but nowadays, right, when
someone gets on TV, a lot ofthese chefs, it messes with
their minds a little bit.
They become Hollywood.
You know, I've met a lot ofpeople that I refuse to name
drop on my Instagram, but mygoodness, there's a lot of
people where being in front ofthe camera ruined them and
(18:11):
they're getting agents they'repaying for.
You know, some of these guysare paying for followers.
I'm like dude, either you gotit or you don't.
Why are you paying?
I'd rather earn it.
Like I've been paid a dime onany of my social media platforms
.
I'm on jail Two of them.
They got me in jail Instagram.
I'm still kind of free a littlebit, but you know, I just don't
(18:34):
understand.
Like you're paying for thisattention.
You had these, the majority ofthese guys, 90% of these chefs
you see on TV.
They see all the time they'rejudging and they're on some type
of a, they're hosting orwhatever.
There's a whole agent and thoseagents put those guys on to you
know.
So I'm like my goodness, like Imean, are they doing anything
(18:54):
wrong?
No, but I just hate the factthat you'll meet a celebrity
chef out and about and noticelike, look at you, like they
just forgot.
They forgot what it was to washdishes.
You know what I mean.
Like some of these chefs havebeen on TV, they just forgot
where they came from.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I know a guy who went on food network.
You know first one out.
You know hashtag celebrity chefon the on the profile.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Funny stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Really funny stuff.
I agree with you a hundredpercent.
You have said in the past,everyone forgot the purpose of
working with a chef.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, I, you know, I think when we were younger it
was like, you know, a lot of uswanted a mentor, or we had one,
or we there was a certain personthat we just had to work with
or for, and a lot of these guyswe got on, we got on planes, we
got in, whatever the case was,we we wanted to travel across
the globe just to work with acertain chef, and I mean, of
(19:55):
course, find out your own style,but, like when we started
cooking, we don't knoweverything.
The whole purpose of me workingwith a guy for 20-plus years is
just, you know, be quiet, behumble, say yes, chef, and just
listen to what you know.
He or she had to say you know,and to learn and absorb some of
that game.
You know.
He or she had to say you know,and, and and to learn and absorb
some of that, that game youknow, for two or three or four
(20:15):
years, some some people 15 years, and then they finally move on.
But I think it's kind of coolto work with someone who you
know, that you respect, that hasa good reputation, to like
break down some things.
Maybe there's some chefs theyknow how to work the front of
the house.
They know how to look at theseating chart.
They know how to go about whenyou're calling out tickets and
(20:36):
expediting.
They know how to, when to firecertain things, when to
mid-course some people there'san example to look at Some chefs
they can expedite and cook atthe same time.
And some chefs these days theyjust expedite.
And some chefs these daysexpedite.
If that, they just literallywalk around and have their
presence known.
I was like man, you guys forgotwhat it was to cook Because as
(21:00):
a kid you just want to grow up.
I mean, I thought you just wantto grow up and be a chef one
day and then you finally getthese opportunities and then you
just love being behind the deskand walking around, not working
, no more.
But I think it's kind of coolfor a young chef or someone
young, someone who's new intothe industry you can be 46 years
old, 35, to just like work witha chef.
(21:21):
That's passionate and if you dothat, you can.
There's a lot of benefits inthat.
You know I've learned a lot fromdoing that, you know, so I
think it's kind of cool to workwith someone who's you know if
I'm, if I want to play guitarone day and and uh, jimmy page
and slash um are hanging out andthey they're about to go on the
road and they need somebody, Idon't know.
It's kind of cool to have a jamsession with them, like see how
(21:44):
long they probably just picktheir brain a little bit, you
know, and and kind of developyour own style, you know, maybe
your style, just to play the Cchord the whole time.
And that works, because some ofthese country guys they play
the C chord and they haveplatinum records just off of
three chords.
And you have people like Slash,who that's not going to work
for him.
He does a whole solo.
He does a whole.
(22:07):
You know he really rips it andyou can find out like, okay, I
like this stuff a lot, I learnedso much, but I'm not sure
that's quite my style.
Let me see what I want to do.
I don't know.
I think it's kind of cool, butunfortunately some people don't
have an identity.
They think that whatever thechef says is right and then they
end up copying and mimickingwhat the chef did, if that means
(22:28):
yelling at people and throwingthings and belittling them, and
that's that's what they ended updoing and some don't.
Some, like you know, I disagreewith that.
But yeah, I think it's kind ofcool to work with somebody in
your craft that has experienceand you know they can.
You can learn a lot.
You can't learn this on yourown, really.
You know you can, but it'sbetter if you have a dope chef
to work with.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Chef Brent, you're an African-American fellow, I am.
You have one of your segmentsthat you do on your channel is
called Massaclass.
I have to tell you, when I sawthat, I think that was what
prompted me to reach out to youto get you on the show, Because
I thought it was number one.
(23:09):
The comedy part of it isamazing and I just think it's
terrific humor.
I think what you do fordelivery and intent with it is
fantastic.
Why don't you explain what thatis exactly?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
All right.
So Brent Flix was just retakingvideos manipulating things I
saw off the internet and if Iposted anything in the kitchen
like those live videos, it wasjust like a regular video.
I'm hanging out.
So the first, gerald Sunbright,according to Michelin, the
first African-American with aMichelin star.
I'm hanging out with him.
(23:44):
And another gentleman namedTyler that got Florida, got
Orlando, knife and spoon, theMichelin star.
So I'm hanging out with them.
And then I say you know what?
Because I was thinking aboutthe master class that you're
aware of, like you know, gordonRamsey and all these guys and
comedians and Steph Curry.
They're talking about how theydo things and it's called master
(24:04):
class.
So I was like I have a lot ofcrap to get off my chest right.
So I was like I have a lot ofcrap to get off my chest right.
So I was like, how about if I?
I'm going to call my friend upand he has the same birthday as
I do?
I'm going to call him up.
I'll say, hey, man, can youtake that master class and take
that T out and put two S's inthere Like master?
And he just, he didn't flinch,he just went ahead and did it.
(24:25):
And he's white.
He did it with no problemwhatsoever.
And so Masterclass is me givingmy two cents to get things off
my chest, because at one point Iwanted to have a podcast just
to talk about things thatcouldn't stand.
Like.
Why are you saying Eggs Bennywhen you can clearly say Eggs
Benedict To me?
I don't know.
(24:47):
Just talk correctly.
People are labeling Chickenstock and it'll say CHX, and I'm
like yo, like you know, you'rebragging about all these books
you have.
You're talking about how youwant to go to France so bad but
you sound like you're working apool hole, like, is there any
way?
You can just talk correctly.
So I have a lot of things inlife I'm going to get off my
(25:08):
chest and majority of it'sculinary, and I just decided to
call it masterclass.
You know, just playing aroundwith what was going on and
letting people know that I'mdifferent From the.
You know I'm a low key.
There's a movie Crap KirstenSlater, pump Up the Volume, yeah
, and that's just.
You know he had an undergroundRadio show in his Dorm room or
(25:32):
whatever, and that's kind of.
You know he had an undergroundradio show in his dorm room or
whatever, and that's kind oflike what I do man?
I just put my camera up and Ijust mouth off for a minute and
a half Sometimes some areshorter, some are longer and I
just get things off my chest andI say what I got to say.
I do it without cursing and Ido it without name dropping and
I try not to put too many peopleon the spot, but I will say
(25:54):
things that people understandand relate with.
Masterclass is me being verbal,getting things off my chest,
talking about things that peoplecan relate with, and sometimes
it's the cooking technique.
I'll show how I do a consummate.
It can't go wrong.
The tomato water run I did lastweek.
That's pretty cool.
I thought it was cool Cause Ishowed seven different
(26:17):
techniques in a tomato and haveflipped each one of them in for
different results.
So yeah, I don't know, I'm just.
It's just me having fun If itgets really, really big.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I probably got to change the logo and I totally
just took the master class logoand you know I glitched it, but
yeah, I think the name in and ofitself, just what you're doing
with it, brilliant.
I have to get you connectedwith my uh, with my guy man,
sean rivera we call him poochand uh, I think you two would
get along like probably too well.
Uh, you know we were gonna, he,I were going to start a podcast,
a second like a just like a,like a for fun thing, where the
(26:55):
whole thing is spoken in oldschool hip hop phrases Like
everything would be something todo, and I cause you know, you
and I had a conversation theother day, you know, in our
pregame, and I think that youtwo would, just you guys would
be hitting home runs left andright.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
For sure that's dope.
I like it, like that.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, for sure, I'm going to consider that done.
You talk about faith.
You talk about God.
How do your beliefs shape theway that you move through the
food world and handle all ofthese challenges?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Well, it's just, you know, when you read the bible
and you read, uh, old testamentstories, you read psalms and
proverbs, you read, uh, theparables and how jesus did
things, whatever, and if you'rea believer, the idea is that,
like you know, you gotta havesome follow-through at some
point.
You can't just read the bibleand go to church, clock in and
clock out, and then be heathenwhen you, you know, go to work.
(27:49):
So, um, what helped, whathelped me out a lot at work is,
I mean, you know, we sit hereand we talk about, well, we need
to respect the ingredientMother Earth.
No, god spoke that.
Like God, you know, look at thedragon fruit, look at the
lobster, god spoke that.
So it's like it's kind of coolthat you walk into that, walk-in
(28:09):
, you see all that produce.
God spoke, god had everythingto do with that.
You know what I mean.
And so it's like it's kind ofit's an honor to cook God's what
God created, what God spoke.
And you know, and when I dealwith impossible people and I,
you know there's times where,before I clocked in, I had to
read the Bible.
I think, you know, I had tohave a small little church
service.
I had a CD with some acapellasinging, I would put it in.
(28:31):
I would listen to a few churchsongs, get my mind geeked up to
deal with really evil, messed uppeople.
And then I'd have to readsomething out of.
I had to read something aboutturning the other cheek.
I had read I believe it'scolossians.
And there's another verse whereit talks about like when your
boss tell you, it says master,but when, when your boss tells
(28:53):
you to do something, do it likeif god told you to do it.
So I'm about to clock into thisjob, work 4 pm to 12 30 in the
morning, and it's filled withimmoral, lazy, whatever it is
people.
And so God is the only reasonwhy I was able to work with
impossible people Like the guy Iwork for.
(29:15):
He's really impossible, but theonly reason why I mastered I
can work with him for this long,because everyone's like, how do
you work with a guy for so long?
Well, you know you have to readthe Bible.
You got to think about heaven,you got to pray a lot, you know.
So, um, the reason why I can, Imove the way I move, is
literally because I know thatyou know if you pray and be
(29:36):
specific in prayer.
You know God will have my back.
So, um, I don't know, that'sjust how I it's.
I don't know.
This is just um.
I appreciate what God has done.
God created all these people inwork and some of these people.
They're crying out for help andI've had a lot of Bible studies
at work.
I've had a lot of.
(30:01):
We had a lot of talks.
I've shown things that we'vemade.
I was like man, this is crazy.
God created this.
The reason why I can work inthis industry another 25 years
is because of God.
If I wasn't reading somethingin the Bible before I clocked in
, I'd be really screwed, amen.
(30:36):
What advice would you give toyoung cooks who just genuinely
feel burnt out?
You know, they kind of hit thewall, maybe in a bad head space.
What are you telling these cats?
Because I cook, because I loveit, I love people.
I may not like where I'm at,and some places are really
insane and so there's no harm inlike.
You know what I got to leave upout of here.
(30:56):
I can't finish my one year here.
I got to protect my peace.
Nowadays we say mental health,but when you and me were growing
up, it was on something like wewould say I got to take care of
myself.
I can't do it, or we would saysomething of that nature but you
have to take care of yourself.
So if you're burnt out, youknow there's no harm in like you
know what.
Let me just take a break fromrestaurants.
(31:17):
Let me work at this butcher'sup the street, let me fillet
some fish, let me go to WholeFoods or let me go to a grocery
spot and just work behind thecounter.
I mean, do something totallydifferent.
Some people, they stop, theyend up becoming security guards
and they take a break.
You know, they fall out ofcompassion, their construction,
(31:38):
they, you know, they play guitarthe whole time.
Because you know, you and meboth seen a lot of chefs that
had a whole different skill setoutside of cooking and some
people was like you know what?
I need a break.
There's no harm in taking abreak.
It can be a year, two and ahalf, five years, and the
reality of the matter is you cantake a 10-year break and when
(31:59):
you come back it kind of is likeriding a bike.
On some level I have to cook.
I'm not going to be corny but,like you know, cause some chefs
on TV they'll say somethingstupid, like it's very spiritual
for me.
I want my food to hug you.
My, my food is going to hug you.
I don't know about all that,but I do know that like this is
(32:21):
what makes me tick.
I love the cook, I love theexperiment.
I love to cook.
I love the experiment, I love.
I'm a mad scientist at heart,you know what I mean and so I
love being around food.
I've had.
I've been places before whereI'm like yo, I can't do this no
more.
I can always cook with me.
Personally, I can always cook,but sometimes it depends on who
(32:42):
you're cooking with, because tome, this is the best industry in
the world.
I don't see how anyone doesanything else.
On the flip side, it's theworst industry in the world.
If you have to deal withimpossible people, what you do
is just there's no harm inleaving.
Take a break.
If your wife has.
I know a few people where theirwife does very, very well.
(33:02):
I would say I had to take abreak.
It was messing with my mind.
I'm going to travel with mywife as a doctor at the such and
such.
I'm going to hang out with hera little bit and do some private
chef work and take care ofmyself.
Yeah, if you burnt out or if youjust See there's this mindset
(33:23):
of like, okay, cooking there'sfrowned upon, if you give up, I
don't want to quit because Idon't want, what will my friends
think of me?
Take care of yourself, that'sthe most thing that's important.
I can't speak for you, but Iknow for a fact you've seen some
people burnt out to where theyturn to drugs and they're
drinking.
And they're different peopleand there's a lot of.
(33:44):
I lost a lot of chef friends.
I had to make sure I don'tstart crying.
Let's see here.
One year I lost.
I'm not going to do that, I'mnot going to count the numbers,
but it's a lot of cooks playingwith their nose on and off drugs
drinking.
I had a friend of mine.
She drunk herself to death.
And if your job is causing youto drink and smoke all the time
(34:10):
and turn to drugs, yo dosomething else.
Like you know, like you don't,you can, you can express.
You don't have to be at arestaurant.
You know what I mean.
Like do cater or something,drop off some fajitas at the
local uh, daycare or something.
Like you know, express yourself, some type of you know, and
nowadays people are cooking athome.
They got a YouTube channel.
There's no rules.
(34:31):
Do what makes you happy.
I don't know.
You have to do what makes youhappy.
And people want to cook forother people and they're so
obsessed with stupid awards Iwas like, well, I don't want to
give up.
I don't want my friends to thinkthat I sold out.
Dude, it's okay.
I had friends of mine thatstopped what they were doing to
(34:51):
work at a chain and I just askedthem a simple question hey, my
man, are you good, are you happy?
Well, I mean I sold out.
Well, what do you mean?
Well, I work at this such andsuch down the street and it's uh
, dude, it's not selling out.
You have a family, don't you all?
Right then, like you know, yougotta do what's best for your
(35:12):
family.
You know, like your kids don'tcare about no award.
James beard is dead.
You know, those michelinbrothers are dead.
It's a bunch of other peoplerunning it.
You know what I mean.
And it's business.
We have to pay what?
Uh, michelin?
2.9 million dollars to comedown here to hand out awards
because we had to have awards.
So bad.
I don't care about no award, Ihad a Michelin star in my hand
(35:35):
and I couldn't even post it.
I had a picture about the endof the post.
I had a voiceover andeverything.
I scratched it.
I was like it's not even myquote, I don't care.
That doesn't make me happy.
What makes me happy is cooking.
This is what makes me happy.
I was told to do make familymeal for banquets a week ago.
I made it.
I was nervous, I didn't know it.
(35:57):
People hold me to a higherdegree.
When I'm doing all these livevideos I call people up for
their cooking techniques orwhatever.
I made what I made.
I kind of forgot what I made,but I made something.
The dishwasher came back and waslike Brent.
He doesn't talk about food atall.
He said, Brent man, that foodover there was stellar.
(36:18):
He gave me their two thumbs up.
I've never seen him smile thathard ever.
He was like Brent.
That was beautiful food, man,that's the best thing I've ever
had out of here.
You know what?
That was my award For someoneto be like yo, that's the best
thing I've ever had and I wantedto go box.
I want to take someone home.
(36:39):
That's what makes me happy.
That's my thing right there.
You know, I had to almost helpback the tears because you said,
like I'm black, 6'3",260-something pounds, and I had
to hold back tears, all becausea dishwasher that was like 20
years old said that's thebiggest thing I've ever had out
(37:01):
of here.
You know, hey, listen, I washumble.
I was humble.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
We all want to have some acceptance.
We all want to have some, youknow, backslaps Everybody does,
even though sometimes we're allwell, not everybody, but you
know you, me, a lot of others wedo have a rough exterior and we
did grow up with people sayingsuck it up, Don't be a sissy, Do
it this way, Do it that way.
(37:27):
It was definitely a differenttime than we're living in now.
And you know, at the end, bro,listen, if you're going to, if
you've got a field, if you haveto have the fields, it's okay,
there's nothing wrong with it.
And, by the way, if there'sanybody listening out there that
does need any resources or help, or you know, in terms of, you
(37:52):
know, mental health awareness,check out theburnchefprojectcom.
These cats are great andthey're from Europe, they're
coming over here to NorthAmerica and they just provide so
many resources for so manypeople in our industry
specifically.
So you know, with that said,Chef, like you're a big dude,
(38:14):
Shed a tear baby, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Oh no, I have no problem crying and I was just
making a point like because Iwas trying to keep it cool.
That's what I was trying to say.
I post on my master class abouthey, it's okay to cry.
I have a cowboy's jersey on.
I say hey, it's okay to cry andI say, if you need help crying,
I have some video footage foryou.
If I remember, I'll share thatpost with you when we're done
(38:39):
with this.
But I have some videos, somego-to videos of yo, it's okay,
we're a whole human, let's cry.
You know what I'm saying.
I say hold back the tears, butI was like it was a touching
moment.
You know, that's all.
And there's no harm in Dude.
A dog needs acceptance, a dogwants encouragement, a dog wants
(39:00):
to be noticed.
So if a dog wants to be noticed, we just think of human ones.
My issue with those goofy awardsIs that, you know, is that
really what's important?
Because I've seen these guysget these awards and it messes
with their brain If they don'tget the same award the next year
(39:21):
or they go from three stars totwo stars.
It messes with them.
And there's quite a bit ofchefs.
They call up the Michelin guysand say, hey, don't bother, come
over here, Don't?
They go from three stars to twostars.
It messes with them.
And there's quite a bit ofchefs.
They call up the Michelin guysand say, hey, don't bother, come
over here, Don't rate us, don'tdo nothing, we're not
interested.
You know, and I personally Idon't move that way.
Some people they feel like,because the reality of the
(39:41):
matter is they get an award andat first they take a bunch of
pictures and they post it ontheir social media thing.
It could be from Michelin,james Beard, an Emmy, an Oscar,
tony, it could be all thosethings.
As soon as they win it, it'sposted and people, we want our
peers to be proud of us, but onthe flip side I want my heart to
be proud of me.
I don't want to be like youknow high blood pressure and you
know hate the industry.
(40:02):
All because I'm trying to, youknow, make, make my, my, my
colleagues and my, my, my, youknow mentees and mentors happy.
You know I I think you can messwith your mind a little bit and
with me, the way I'm wired.
I just don't.
I just don't think that'sextremely important.
I come from winning places, man.
(40:23):
I've I've worked at restaurantswhere we just had five-star,
you know, diamond and all theseawards and plaques on the wall
and best of this and best ofthat.
I'm so used to it.
To me, different restaurants,different situations, I just
don't.
That shouldn't be what drivesyou.
Some people cooking drivesPeople cook for the wrong
(40:44):
reasons.
I think it's kind of cool to goback to the core of what you
cook for, and it shouldn't beover no war.
But that's just my two cents.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Well, I'll tell you what I don't disagree with you.
I will tell you that I, we, Iwill tell you that John and I
John is my number two here atWalk Talk.
He's also our resident, youknow, badass photographer, food
photographer.
We went to a Michelinrestaurant in Orlando called
(41:17):
Camille and Chef Tung, who'sover there this guy is amazing.
So that was my first time isamazing.
So that was my my first time,uh, experiencing how a michelin
level chef operates.
And I'm talking about, you know, we were there for a photo
shoot and to do some some videowork and whatnot.
(41:38):
Um, honestly, the guy was amachine and every single yeah,
every action had a purpose andevery action had something to do
with cleaning as you go andbuilding and beautiful and being
clean and having the system andbeing clean again.
(42:00):
Like, like I'd never seen thatbefore.
I mean I worked with greatchefs.
I mean I've worked withliterally thousands of chefs and
I've seen a lot, but not likethat.
And I don't know if it's justbecause we were there with the
cameras or whatever, but like,at the end of the day, man, like
, what these cats are doing isserious.
So if chasing a star or a beardpushes somebody to do that kind
(42:27):
of work.
I mean, I admire that, althoughI do understand what you're
saying about, like you know,just chasing it to chase it or
whatever.
But people have differentmotivations and I don't I don't
begrudge anybody who goes afterit.
You know who wants to do that.
Um, yeah, I mean I guess youknow if, if you're happy being a
creative and making beautifuldishes and having the dishwasher
(42:51):
give you an attaboy and a smile, man, it is beautiful.
I mean, it's a great feeling,some other level of feeling by
chasing, you know, some sort ofan award, more power to them, as
long as they don't hurtthemselves doing it, or, or, you
(43:13):
know, cast their family to theside, or their friends or or
themselves, for that matter, tothe side in order to get there.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And I've seen a lot of that.
That's I think.
I think.
I think that's a pretendance of.
I guess I'll explain thatbetter.
I've seen a lot of that and I'mpretty sure you've seen that
too, where things are just like.
You know, one dude he came towork one day looking crazy and
they say what happened to himand they say he went home
yesterday and she tookeverything kids and all the
(43:42):
furniture he took off because heloves work and food more than
he loves, you know, the family.
And sometimes we don't.
We forget about balance.
We forget about, like you know,we're not supposed to be
spending life this way.
You know, six, seven days aweek and these long, crazy hours
in our family and our kids aresuffering and all that kind of
(44:02):
stuff.
I don't have any kids, I'm justsaying I've sat back and seen
people where their lives aregetting just tortured and then
what happens is the majority ofthe people that there's a lot of
Michelin-starred chefs or chefsthat work in Michelin
restaurants.
They're like you know what?
We just want to take a stepback.
We want to have a chicken spot,we want to have a sandwich
(44:24):
joint, we want to.
We're over it, we're done, youknow, and these guys, the
majority of these guys, say thesame thing it's like dude, it's
just too much.
A lot of people say it was justtoo much, you know, and
especially if you don't have theright kind of team, they just
won't even do it, you know.
So I've seen, and you've seenit too, like when they stop and
just open spot.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I was just going to say ramen spot.
You totally read my mind rightthere.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Totally read my mind.
You know, because you've seenit.
They all want to do somethingcasual.
The food that we eat after work, it ain't no caviar.
And don't get me wrong,sometimes there's a caviar chain
somewhere and we're all doingbumps.
But it's like there's a lot ofchefs that when we get through
cooking at that nice, nice, nicerestaurant and all that white
(45:12):
table linen and all of ourexpensive stuff, we go somewhere
and we're getting greasyburgers.
Even on a day off we're goingto a restaurant.
That's like, you know.
After work we're going to eatsome, we're getting fast food,
we're eating greasy tacos,greasy pizzas, and it seems like
that's what makes chefs happy.
So, if you notice, thomas Kelleropened up Ad Hoc, you know.
(45:32):
Dan Ballou did that burgerjoint.
Grant Atkins opened up thelow-key Royster.
You know they come to the foodthey do over there.
It's nice food, but it's a stepback a little bit, you know.
And then it got to the pointwhere the casual made more sense
.
And if you notice a lot of threeMichelin restaurants, they kind
of or excuse me fine diningrestaurants.
(45:55):
They're like you know what?
Let's just be a little bit moreapproachable.
Some spots were like hey, youcan't eat here without a jacket
and they kind of stripped thatmindset away.
No one does it no more.
That mindset away, no one doesit no more.
I'm pretty sure there's placesthat do it and some of these
Michelin dudes, they just stopwhat they're doing.
They had enough and they're ona boat.
They're private chefing.
One dude I know he does nothingbut pasta videos and bread
(46:18):
videos.
He does the whole food.
He does the whole.
Hey guys, today I'm makingdonuts and come with me as I go
on a wild ride to Sugar Town.
I'm like, oh crap, but you knowthat person, that's a person's
way out.
I guess you know here, see,that's what they're doing.
You know they're doing like heyguys, welcome to my school.
(46:39):
What did I teach you today?
How to make canals.
I'm like crap, you know.
But that makes them happy.
They're done.
They want to take matters intotheir own hands.
So you got to protect yourpeace.
And if you're burnt out, I meancook.
Okay, maybe you need to cooksomewhere else, take a break.
I know people that work atFrench Laundry and they stopped
what they were doing to work ata hash type of house, you know,
(47:00):
like Waffle House type of spot,because they needed a break.
Take a break.
Needed a break?
Take a break.
There's more to life thancaviar and foie gras.
I think it's probably.
I need to be assured, I need tolet's do it.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
There's more to life than you know.
But at the same time, we thinkthat's the ultimate style of
cuisine.
But guess what?
There's a long line of peopleat a barbecue joint.
Long line of barbecue barbecue,croissant, donuts, tacos,
burgers pizzas.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Some of the best food photography that we've done
have been badass, beautifulsandwiches, and that's the truth
.
Yeah, it's just what it is.
You got to tell me what is nextfor you.
Is it more pasta videos?
Are you going to do apparel?
I mean, is it just comedy,which I think you should
probably stick with the comedy alittle bit.
We need more of that.
But what do you?
(47:49):
What do you?
What's next for you, man?
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Everything you just said.
Today I posted a souffle videothat I was really happy with.
So more souffle videos, morebacon.
My goal is to let people knowhow easy it is and not to
overthink things.
I would love to have a talkshow like a David Letterman late
night, conan O'Brien late, latenight show.
That would be dope that's mydream to be a chef for a late
(48:12):
night show maybe we can dosomething together on that.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
I would be, I think, blessed to put it together how
do we, how does everybody findyou?
Well, my name is Brent.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
Weathers.
So if you google that, thingswill pop up.
Brent Eats Food is my Instagramand I think Brent Flix is my
TikTok and Brent Weathers is myFacebook and Brent Weathers is
YouTube, as well, so yeah, andwe're going to get down with it.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Look, it was really great having you on the program
today.
We're going to do more with you.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
Stay on the line and I'm going to catch you here
shortly.
Okay, look forward to it, man.
No-transcript.
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