August 30, 2025 • 40 mins
We dive into our first-ever Ask Me Anything episode, tackling questions from our audience that range from serious industry insights to hilarious personal preferences. This is UNCENSORED, so be ready to hear it all. LOL
• Early career challenges, including difficulty advancing in the kitchen
• The most overused ingredient in modern cooking
• Chef Tony's approach to difficult customers
• Death row meal choices revealed
• Best advice for industry newcomers
• Maintaining menu innovations
• The challenges of bartender-customer interaction in the age of smartphones
• Chef Tony admits to his meltdown moment in the kitchen
• The best flour for pasta making at home
And even some hot takes on dating crazy women and body part preferences are in this one. Thank you all for your questions, and we will be doing these once a season now as well!
Make sure you submit your questions when we post them again on IG!
Welcome to the show! Burnt Hands Perspective
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*The views and opinions on this show are meant for entertainment purposes only. They do not reflect the views of our sponsors. We are not here to babysit your feelings, if you are a true industry pro, you will know that what we say is meant to make you laugh and have a great time. If you don't get that, this is not the podcast for you. You've been warned. Enjoy the ride!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We are ready this is going to be a fun one we have
never, done an AMA or ask meanything.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, AMA is ask me anything.
So in the social media world alot of people do these, where
you submit your questions and wejust randomly answer them.
So we got a lot of questions.
We're going to try and getthrough all of them, but we've
never done this.
It's technically ask usanything, not ask me anything.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So AUA, right, so it's ask us Anything, which is
cool because we actually put itout for a lot of people and I
can't believe I'm actuallyhumbled on how much response we
got.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It was really cool it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So we got a lot of questions that came in and
they're pertaining to everythingfrom ass and titties to cooking
, to recipes, to how do I dealwith this, that and the other.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Customer service Customer service.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Being a bar customer, we got everything we uncovered
today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So this is actually exciting for us because we don't
get to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, and I don't even know if I can answer some
of the questions.
I might not just know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, we're coming to the end of the first year of
the podcast, so this isappropriate timing, I think,
because people haven't reallygotten to ask us anything, so
okay, so we're going to let youstart with yours and we're going
to start with some, cause wehad it on Facebook and Instagram
, so we have them all pulled up.
We're going to just go throughthem randomly, so I will let you
start on your page, and thenwe'll switch to this one, which
(01:37):
has the more scandalousquestions.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
All right, so we'll start on mine.
So do you want to read them?
You want me to read them.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I'll let you read them.
Oh, they're pertaining to you.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Let's talk about who they are, and let's go down the
list and let's see if we havesome redundant questions.
I'll answer one and then we'llpass, because I've already
answered that type of thing allright, so this is a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Um can you share a particularly challenging
experience you faced whiletraining or early in your
kitchen career?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
who's that from?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
this is from alexis.
Okay, so alex, chef, alex.
Um, so we'll start with thatone she three, so we'll bang
through these real quick.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It's not, chef, it's a different one.
Oh, it's a different one.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, all right, so can you share a particularly
challenging experience you facedwhile training or early in your
kitchen career.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Wow, yeah, my God.
You know it was so long ago,when I had an early kitchen
career, that everything I'vedone since then has been so
crazy.
So again she's asking me if Ihad anything back in the day
that went crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Challenging.
What was your most challengingthing when you were early in
your career?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Trying to advance.
Trying to advance was the mostchallenging thing I had to do
when I was young, because nomatter how good you did or how
hard you worked in the chefworld, it's hard to advance
because there's a differencebetween someone falling out
where you can fill in their spot.
That's the biggest problem.
Number two is when you workhard.
A lot of chefs and owners takeadvantage of that and they want
(02:55):
to keep you there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Burn you yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So, instead of advancing, it was really
challenging leaving from onestation to the next, because if
you perfect one station, nobodywants to take it off.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's hard.
They keep you there and Iunderstand that now as an owner.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
it's when you have someone really good at a station
.
Yeah, the biggest challenge iscoming off of that and going
somewhere else for the owner orthe chef because you're so good
at it.
So one of my biggest challengesgrowing in the chef world was
advancing up in the ranks.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, all right.
What ingredient do you feel isoverused in modern cooking?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Wow, that's a good one.
I didn't look at thesequestions, by the way, before,
so I don't have much study time.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We wanted this to be pretty raw.
I wanted to be real and rightup front the most overused
cooking ingredient right now.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Man, that's a good one, because I'm only speaking
about Italian food.
I haven't really seen what'sgoing on.
Man, that's a good one, becauseI'm only speaking about Italian
food.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I haven't really seen what's going on.
Well, just what?
Yeah, I mean, what one do youthink that people even think is
overrated, that everybody putsin things?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think truffle.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, I was going to say truffle.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Truffle is something that's I love truffle, though
Truffle is amazing when you havea white Alba truffle and you
shave that bitch.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, I love truffle.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now all the other truffle-infused things is
totally overused, totally a lotof it's fake.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, it's not real truffle.
Yes, okay, so I agree with thatone.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
There's a huge difference between me loving
truffle and using it oneverything shaving or
truffle-infused everything else,everything Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
All right, that's a good one If you can make one
request to every guest who Okay,Understand, read the room and
be patient.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Understand where you're at, understand what you
want and understand that thismay not be the place or wherever
you are may not be the placethat you want, so don't blame
them.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Okay, all right.
All right, it's from Lori.
All right, how does a personwho works with so much yummy
food find discipline to maintaina healthy physique?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's something that's in you.
So the the glory of thatquestion is is I have the
ability to make very deliciousthings that are healthy, where
most people couldn't get thatsame savory or umami flavor out
of food.
But I have the skill and theaccessibility to make healthy
food taste really fucking good.
So it's a matter of your, andit's also a matter of what you
(05:11):
give a shit about yourself.
You know You're going in, I'mgoing, I'm in my 50s now, so you
have to kind of live.
You're either going to give into that or you're going to try
and combat that.
That's where you're at.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Okay, all right.
With so many demands on yourtime, how do you carve out
enough time to actually work out?
So this is a good one Causeyou're right, it's really hard.
It's very hard, so it's reallyhard.
Your schedule is so weird,right.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Working out consistently, like most people
who get up at 4 AM.
Lori actually is one of thesepeople.
She goes, I know her.
She goes to the gym fouro'clock religiously every
morning and I know this becauseI watch her post.
She, she's one of those people.
So good job on that.
I can't do that because at 4 amI'm just winding down from my
body's in REM or something atthat point.
(05:53):
Yeah, you're not.
So it's hard for me.
Depending on my schedule as abusiness owner and everything,
it's really hard to consistentlyhave a workout plan.
You're doing a lot of bodystuff in your own house.
You're going to the gym wayless than you normally should,
but you get there.
So the bottom line is you justhave to make the time.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, all right, this is from Susan, so this is one
we can both answer, becausewe've actually had this
discussion.
If you were on death row, whatwould your last meal be?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
My death row meal would be a Sunday ragu, meaning
slow braised pork, slow braisedsausage, the beef, everything.
Even throw a brussel in there,maybe a meatball, slow cooked
tomato sauce with a pack of theor rigatoni pasta beautiful
(06:37):
pecorino Romano Locatelli thatthat would be my last death meal
without a question, all rightso my choice is the best steak
you can get on the planet withlobster drenched in butter and
mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That is my.
That is my ultimate meal and Ihonestly you know I eat that
meal a lot yeah, that's good,that's a good one, and I
honestly eat that meal a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, that's good.
That is actually a meal I eaton a regular.
If I had to die with that, Iwouldn't be mad.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I would not be mad.
I wouldn't be mad at it.
That would be probably.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
yeah, I would be asking where the pasta is, but
hey, Well, that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I was not raised that Italian, I was raised Midwest.
No, but All right, so this isfrom Daniel.
So what's up, bro?
The question is, what did youdo when COVID was here?
Did you have to shut all theway down for a few months?
How did you handle that?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, covid was a bitch man, as we know.
I mean, we hear that word andit's like fuck.
But I'm going to tell you therestaurant industry, I felt
really slighted, I felt attacked, I felt persecuted.
You know what I attacked?
I felt, um, persecuted.
Yeah, you know I'm saying, andit was, it was horrible because
you're watching the rest of theworld kind of maneuver, but the
restaurants and bars we got hitlike, like, like it was meant to
(07:36):
be yeah like it was.
It was to me at the time matter.
It felt like they were justtrying to eliminate restaurant
life period from the world.
And, um, we had absolutely zero.
We had nothing.
Luckily we had stuff in.
We had nothing.
Luckily we had stuff in placeto get some sort of funding.
We got, just like everybodyelse did in business.
But I think the restaurantindustry took the biggest hit.
(07:57):
There was places that were openfor decades that closed down
because we couldn't make itthrough.
So I just did the best I could.
I went down to a very bareminimum and I followed any
guideline.
They gave me an opportunity toat least sell something.
I went to the best part ofdoing it.
If they said you could havecurbside service, well I made a
damn festival out of it.
If they said we had to have sixfeet apart, well, I made it six
(08:19):
feet between you.
It was cool and I tookadvantage of it.
Anytime they said there was anew rule, instead of succumbing
to it and closing down andgetting mad at it, I just made
the best of it because peoplestill wanted to do it.
So if they gave me anopportunity to do it, I took
advantage of it.
We put our partitions up.
We made it fun.
I had the lines we didreservations for people caring.
(08:41):
I did anything I possibly couldbased on whatever little shit
they gave us to try and surviveon.
Yeah, I just capitalized on andsaid I got to do this, yeah you
guys did a great job with it,so it worked out well.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
All right, William, All right.
Why are you hating on biscuitsand gravy man?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Biscuits and gravy sucks.
Let me tell you something thisain't the Civil War, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Why do you hate them so much though?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Why do I hate them?
Because let me get to this.
Ain't Dunkirk.
You know what I mean.
I didn't just save a bunch ofpeople in World War II and we're
eating on the ship.
Look, biscuits and gravy to meis the most ridiculous gluttony
on the planet.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, it's a biscuit, that's just You're just
spitting it out, not even a goodbiscuit.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The gravy is just fucking flour and cream.
It's the sausage and it makesyou burp all day.
I'm not down for it.
Man, you sit down and eat thatdamn thing in the morning.
I can't understand it.
I don't like it.
It tastes like shit.
I don't like biscuits and gravy.
We're not in the trenches.
Like I said, that's somethingyou eat during a famine.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
No to biscuits and gravy.
Let's move on.
Sorry, william, all right,sergio, why do you think gnocchi
isn't more popular in the US?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
That's a good question, because it's really
not all that popular in Italyeither.
In certain regions it is atcertain times of year.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
But it's not this big ongoing thing where people are
just going crazy for gnocchi.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's filling, I love it.
It wasn't accepted in America alot, so it was never introduced
properly.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
So when you eat a really good gnocchi dish like
when we make gnocchi here I onlymake it once in a while because
it's time-consuming and takes alot of work.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So to make gnocchi really, to really emphasize it
for what it is, a lot of peopledon't know how to do that and
they present it wrong.
So when people eat it they'renot getting the right experience
experience so they kind of getturned off to it, got it.
But when you have gnocchi doneproper, it's fucking amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
One of my favorite things.
It is delicious.
It is my favorite, all right,justin a supporter from denver
phoenix, so both all right, cool, get it justin.
All right.
What was the dish you made thatmade you want to be a chef, and
what dish made you and helpedyou, like, elevate your career?
What was a dish that you feltput you over the top?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
when I was young and when I was young 16-something I
was in a culinary program thatkind of turned me on to this
side of the industry.
I loved cooking.
I always loved food.
My father was a chef, myfamily's a big cooking family.
But what got me into theservice end of it?
It was a contest.
I entered as a youth in ajunior chef competition in
(11:07):
Boston and I won a dish with myscallop dish.
That's still on my menu today.
So it's just, it's seared U10scallops with a beautifully done
risotto and then a sambucaglaze with candied fennel, and
that's something.
That winning.
That is what brought me intothe okay, this is cooking, and
(11:27):
now this is competition formyself.
Chefing that right then, backwhen I was probably 16 years old
or something like that, iswhere I realized it.
It took some time from there aswell, but that would be the
turning point.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
That's crazy, and it is.
I don't think many people knowthat that that dish that's on
the menu today was from when youwere 16.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that's on the menu today was from when you
were 16, yeah, yeah, that'spretty cool, and there's been
other people impersonating her.
I've seen scallops and stuff,other ways people add cream.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They had their own style but this is something I
did on my own back then and it'sstill no business for a 16 year
old to be putting that out.
Try it okay, uh, when is thenorfolk market deli opening?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
can't tell you you have to tune in for that.
No, we're looking at stay tuned.
We're shooting for the fallhere 2025, september, october,
hopefully uh, framby street, getready okay and we are putting a
lot of work into it.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It's gonna be amazing all right, get ready for that
mike.
Okay, scott, um, build me theperfect dinner start to finish.
And what wine are you drinkingwith it?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
perfect dinner.
Wow, that's a big question,because perfect for everybody is
different uh-huh for you, myperfect dinner is my perfect
dinner to me when I go out is awell rounded experience as far
as covering all bases.
I like sea, land, air.
I like them all, okay.
So for me, a perfect dish wouldstart typically with a seafood.
(12:39):
I always like to start with aseafood, something cold or crudo
, okay.
With that, I would like afrangicorta or a um, any type of
rosé, uh, preferably a grenachebased rosé.
Okay, non-sparkling and um, sothat would be like a tuna crudo,
you know, scallops crudo, ormaybe even a seared, um, charred
(12:59):
, octopus, something like that.
Start moving on.
I'm going right in the pasta.
I like a pasta course as mynext course, small one,
something that isn't reallymeat-based, something a little
bit more tomato-y, somethinglight, or if they have a light
ragu, maybe a duck or a lamb,something like that, and with
that I'm going with a Barberaright out the gate.
(13:19):
I'm going to go something aBarbera or a Nebbiolo, but on a
lighter side, like a Gatianar orsomething like that.
Now, moving into the dinner,it's going to be something big.
Like you, I want to.
I want a nice hearty steak, apiece of veal, I want some lamb,
I want something big.
That's perfect for me goingfrom the sea to the land and
(13:39):
then, with that duck being inthe air in that pasta, try and
incorporate that somewhere.
If there's no steak or if it'ssomething like that, I do like a
good roasted chicken or apheasant or something like that.
That's perfect to me.
And again, I'm going to go witha Brunello, depending on the
meat, or a Nebbiolo in theBarolo range or something like
(14:00):
that.
That, to me, is my perfect.
If I'm going to go French,depending on the bird, the game
I do like a Chateau Noir to pop.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Okay, and that's that All right.
So you were talking so much.
I need you to put your codeback in to get your phone back
on.
I was wrapped up in the food ittimed out on me.
All right, here we go, give meit back.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Here we go.
That was a good question, okay,all right, so this is for
Janine.
So there's a couple ofquestions.
One have you ever created adish that totally flopped?
What was it?
Yes, a million.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Here's the deal.
I can't tell you what it isbecause there's been a lot and
the only way to succeed and getbetter is to fail first.
So I have a lot of failures toget to where I was.
And what I mean by failures isit probably didn't meet my
palate.
It might have met someoneelse's and been happy with it,
but it didn't meet mine.
So a lot of them flopped beforeit even got to the table with
(14:53):
me.
That's why I learned I'vedesigned a system for myself
many years ago that when I makemy specials, I create them in my
head.
I put them on paper.
I get my ingredients.
Never do I put one on the menuand taste it first.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, you always do it without tasting.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So the first time I make my specials is when the
first customer rings it in.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
So has that ever flopped before?
And I pulled it off?
Yes, but I can't really recallwhat it was, but it has happened
.
Okay, all right, I'm prettygood now at managing where I'm
at.
So, yes, janine, that's Janine,right?
This is Janine yeah, so yes.
I have flop on a couple.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Well, her other question have you ever had a
meltdown in the kitchen?
Gordon Ramsay style.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yes, absolutely.
You don't get to where you areby managing without having to do
that.
These are all steps.
These are parts of the course.
They're all part of it.
I threw a hot pizza at someonethat came out of the brick oven
wrong and it was ripped in themiddle and I just took it off
the peel and threw it across theroom and it wrapped across and
burnt them and all that shit.
(15:53):
So fuck them.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Oh good, Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
But anyway, yeah, there's a lot of things.
Yes, that happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Okay, not anymore, but it did.
Okay, it did.
If your life had a soundtrack,what would your theme song be
during dinner service?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Oh shit, it depends on the night and the service.
What did you say?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Skylar said back that ass up, back that ass up.
Call me Big Daddy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of songs.
It depends on the mode and theminute.
Everything from Crazy Train,from Ozzy to Danzig Mother, to
Throw that Ass in a Circle, toDon't Stop Get it, get it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I don't know.
There's all kinds of stuff.
Okay, they're all good.
And lastly, if your kitchencould talk, what would it say
about you?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
This motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, this kitchen's yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
This motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
The first kitchen has a different voice.
The first kitchen was thisguy's a criminal.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, kitchen was.
I've had a different.
The first kitchen was thisguy's a criminal.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, this one's just this guy's crazy.
That's perfect.
All right, janine, thank you.
Okay.
So this is pamela um.
I would be interested inknowing how one is able to
secure an investor in order togrow their business.
Also, at times, I lose theinspiration, so what's the
inspiration?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
that's a good one, pam.
So pam's a pam's a good friendtoo.
Uh, great comment comment greatquestion.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, that one's good .
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Securing an investment is very hard in the
restaurant business becauseeverybody it depends on why
they're trying to invest in you.
If you can sell yourself to theinvestor, that's one thing, but
the investor has to havesomething in it for themselves.
Her or he has to have somethingin it for them.
So typically that's monetary.
Secondly would be clout,reputation.
(17:27):
So a lot of people use theirmoney for clout and a lot of
investors, unfortunately, goingto the restaurant business
looking for some sort of clout.
So if you're, you have to havesomething interesting enough for
an investor to want to be partof, meaning they're going to get
financial gain back.
Firstly and secondly, they haveto have something cool enough
to make them look like theinvestor quote unquote they have
(17:47):
to look like the guy or thegirl who who's behind the scene.
So create something that isenticing and people will want to
invest in it.
Um, when you lose inspiration,what I do is I travel and I go
to other chefs, friend or foe.
I'll go to restaurants.
I don't like to remind myselfof why I don't like it and what
I'm doing is right.
That's number one.
And then I also go to otherrestaurants that are really good
(18:09):
to inspire me to step my gameup.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay, I like all of those, and we actually did do a
whole investor episode in seasonone.
So if you go back to season onetwo, you can listen to that,
because that was a whole episodejust on that.
So that was all the ones onyours, okay, all right, so we'll
move to the Instagram questionsfrom our burnt hands
perspective Instagram page.
So the first question, and youcan answer this however you see
(18:33):
fit why is Tony so damn sexy?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
God damn it.
I don't what happened was.
I have nothing to do with that,you had nothing to do with that
.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I have nothing to do with that.
You had nothing to do with that.
I have nothing to do with that.
That's all my parents, I guessI have nothing to do with that I
don't know what the hell totell her.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
That's a question.
I guess it's funny.
I don't know, and that's Brooke.
So you know, brooke.
Well, I appreciate thecompliment, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I have nothing to do with that ass and I was like no,
I'm totally asking thatquestion, just to see.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
It could just be the Cosmos lining up, it could be
Alright.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
so and then this is another one kind of in that
realm from our boy Casey over atBorn United, which is really
funny.
Unrelated comment, but veryimportant to him to get this
answer.
Two part comment.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Alright, first question Buckle the fuck in.
I can guarantee this is goingto be a good one First question
ass or boobs, Ass?
All day.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Casey, you have to let us know if you agree with us
too.
And two, so this is one for theguys out there.
You know, yeah, this will beentertaining.
All right If said female isgorgeous, talking 10 out of 10,
eyes smile, great credit score.
Glad you put that in there, uh,but is an absolute psycho like
(19:50):
a stage five clinger, might havea drinking problem and has two
different baby daddies.
Is she still worth taking tobed?
ah well, my question is this Itold you it was gonna be a good.
This is a two-part thisparter.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
This is so bad.
This is a two-parter.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Like we said, this was Ask Me Anything, so this is
literally anything, Do you?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
know this stuff about her before you take her to bed.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's the question.
Okay, if the question is yes,fuck, no, run, run, run.
It ain't worth it.
Go get the fuck out of there.
Let them be crazy and pretendit never happened.
Number two pretend you don'tknow about it and take her to
bed and fuck shit out of her andthen deal with the crazy.
Number three you don't knowabout it and then you get
(20:35):
victims, and then you getwrapped into that shit and now
you're pussy blackmailed.
And now that's a whole otherproblem.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's a whole hashtag, hashtag.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
That's a whole hashtag.
That's a whole hashtag.
So now you're in trouble, sothe best suggestion for me in my
age now, learning life.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Finally.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Back the fuck off of that crazy bitch.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Because she may be a 10 in bed, but she might be a
one when it comes to yourmentalness and what the fuck's
going to happen after?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, mental health matters.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Go with what you know and get the fuck away from the
crazy bitches.
Ten or not, I don't give a shit.
Bitches, be crazy, hey listen,that's a Trojan horse.
You know what I'm saying?
That's a Trojan horse.
She comes in all pretty andshit and you don't know what's
inside that motherfucker, it's aTrojan pussy Right, exactly
Sorry.
I'm telling you Like in Troythey put out the inside of that
(21:22):
thing.
It killed the whole fuckingworld.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
It killed everybody.
Fuck that.
That is a good okay.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And I know Trojan horse is for me.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
That's it.
Good question, dude.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Thank you, casey, you're awesome.
Thanks for bringing the life tothe party.
All right, so now we're goingto go back the other direction,
back to the restaurants.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Okay, let's reel it back in.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
All right.
Have you ever had a thoroughlyunpleasant customer?
You could not please, and howdo you deal with a situation
like that?
Now, this happens a lot.
I've been a witness to it andI've also been on the other side
of it, so you go ahead withyours first.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, we have it often it happens a lot and nowadays I
just ignore it.
I don't care If you don't likeeverything that's been done.
Right there's with the teamhere nine times out of ten.
Yes, if they're still unruly,get the fuck out.
Don't come back.
There are so many people thatwant to enjoy life and enjoy
time and I don't need yourtoxicity.
(22:14):
My team doesn't need yourtoxicity.
We are all professionals, weall love what we do, and if you
are unruly or you don't likewhat you like or you are
demanding, then get the fuck out.
Period.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Just get out.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Don't come back, I will escort you nicely out the
door Somewhat nicely.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Somewhat Depends on the situation.
It means I don't touch you.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
You know what I mean Sometimes.
I didn't say the verbal wordingout the door isn't going to be
any better.
No, but listen.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I don't care, get out , get the fuck out.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's how I deal with it.
We don't letthink it, we justwalk it off.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
No, just cut it off.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Get out buy.
We have proper things to dohere we don't have time for your
shit.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Life is too short.
No, exactly, life is short.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You're here to enjoy yourself, and so is everybody
else.
No one wants to hear yourproblems.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Especially if they're done Now.
If they're not done, right, wewouldn't have this.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I mean some people go out looking for that kind of
situation Like they go out tomake trouble and they want to
just bring their bullshit.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
They just bitch all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
They don't care, they don't care where they're at, it
doesn't matter.
So I think restaurant ownersand service staff need to stop
taking it personally, becausethey're going to do that to
anybody.
It's not you, it's not therestaurant.
They're going to do it toanybody.
It's how my bullshit.
But your bullshit is mybullshit, so it's a whole
situation.
So just tell them, yeah, justtell them.
(23:29):
Good, don't pay, just fuckingleave, don't come back, right?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
beat it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Because probably anyone around them knows that
they're an idiot anyways andthey're not going to take their
word for it, so that's fine, Allright.
So we are moving to the otherInstagram questions.
Some of these are more on, soget out of our debauchery for a
second.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I like the debauchery though.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I know it is fun.
All right, if you had to give.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
This is Danny Chef D If you had to give anyone advice
in our industry from yourexperiences, what would that be?
Listen, stop acting like youknow everything at a young age.
Listen.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, listen, pay attention, ask questions, be
repetitive in the knowledge youhave.
Don't just own it, walk awayfrom it and act like you have it
Actually utilize.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
it All right, that's a good one, all right.
So, melvin, what was your?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
first memory that solidified your love of food,
growing up in food.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Growing up.
There's no first memory.
It was all a memory.
Yeah, it was all memory.
So I come from a very, veryfood influenced family and if
they weren't and didn't know it,yeah, I felt it growing up.
So the italian traditions in myin in the household were
amazing.
I love them.
Uh, and that was my influenceis to continue on with that for
my own reasoning.
They may not have known thatwas even happening, they could
(24:47):
have just been eating dinner inyour, but for me it was very
influential for when I waslittle okay, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
All right, so this is evan, so we love it.
All right.
Best dining experience you'veever had.
Do you have a?
Do you have a time?
I have?
I have one that was like astandout because it was
different I can't answer that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I've had so many fucking pleasurable experiences
over food because that's where Igo to, that's my happy place,
so I don't have one.
I have a bunch that are sofucking good, but it depends on
the person, the people, the time, the timing, what was going on
the food itself.
There's a lot of reasons tojudge that.
Overall, I've had too manyamazing meals with amazing
(25:27):
people to say there's one thatoutweighs the other.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Okay, I'm going to go with New Orleans, because that
was probably my top, one of mytop meals, really.
So yeah, that was Chef PhillipLopez, who used to be here with
me at Club Soda.
Went down there, saw him and hedid a very different style one,
seating, a night type serviceSure, type service, and it was,
you know, 15 dishes, a littlemore on the molecular side,
(25:49):
right, but everything had flavorand was quality meat like, had
a lot of substance to it, itwasn't like the frou-frou, you
know whatever, and they had thewine pairings and that was
probably one of the mostdifferent experiences where
literally every dish was good.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So I think that was those are hard, because
sometimes you get the ones thatjust fail and they're just like
too much everything he did well,that's good that you can
pinpoint that I can pinpointthat and I mean, like you know,
yeah, there's a lot of sothere's a lot, everything, all
the all the things that wentaround it, yeah, is what made it
happen and and I could think ofone restaurant that I liked,
that I you know, and it's notcrazy because you would think,
(26:21):
being a chef, it'd have to be amichelin crazy and those crazy
and those are fucking amazingtoo.
Don't get me wrong, but I haveto say that one of my favorite
restaurant experiences was myfirst time going to Fiola Mare
in.
Dc in Georgetown.
That's an amazing Italianrestaurant, but just the food
and how it came out the firsttime I went there was a really
good twist on how I'd neverreally seen it before.
It was delicious and I loved itand it inspired me.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Okay, all right cool.
Amongst many other All right,so let's go.
Mario, what's the ideal ratioof semolina to 00 flour or pasta
?
Do you have an ideal ratio?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well here, good question, right there.
That's different becauseeverybody makes pasta
differently, but there's only somany ways you can make fresh
pasta.
Now we're going to talk abouttwo different things real
quickly.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I know we're on time, but this is a good point to
make.
When it comes to making, we gotthree more questions after this
.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We're going to get through them.
We got them.
So when you're making pasta,you're either using an extruder
or by hand at home, or using alittle hand spun or a KitchenAid
attachment.
Let's go with that.
Let's go with what people aremaking at home with the 00.
I don't use two flours.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
They're two different courses, which means they're
going to absorb liquiddifferently at different speeds.
Okay, and you're going tooverwork one to match the other.
This is what I found out in mytime.
So if I use 00 flour, it's all00 flour.
You're going to get a fluffy,silky, really nice unworked
thing.
If you're going to use semolinaonly, you're going to need some
(27:49):
sort of extruder with pressureto really break down those.
Semolina is a lot more coarse,it has a lot more.
It needs a lot more pressure toabsorb liquid quickly without
overworking the dough.
If you use semolina, you haveto sift it through with your
flour.
So if you're going to usedouble zero, sift it through a
sifting and then take yoursemolina, sift it the same way.
(28:12):
Typically it's two, two halfhalf.
Okay, two eggs, two cups offlour, half teaspoon of oil,
half teaspoon of salt.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Now we need to do an episode on just pasta,
apparently.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Okay.
So if you're using a cup ofsemolina and a cup of 00, your
semolina flour is not going toabsorb as fast as the 00, pay
attention and you're going tohave a chewier, more rubbery
type of product in the endbecause that semolina is going
to work against the 00.
The 00 is going to work againstthe double O.
(28:46):
Okay, the double O is going toabsorb all your egg and all your
oil first, and then whatever'sleft is going to go into
semolina and you have to use alot of pressure and a lot of
rolling or kneading to get thatsemolina to accept the double O
flour as fast.
So my recommendation to you isgo with one or the other, and if
you're making stuff at homewith a rolling pin and going
through a machine or a cutter ora fucking pasta machine, go
(29:13):
with one or the other.
You don't have enough force andpressure to match the semolina
with your double O.
You'll get a much moreconsistent product if you
typically just go with double Oat home we just go and do a
pasta episode.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
That's my opinion, that's my experience.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
That's my advice.
People can look at me and sayit's wrong.
Well, cool, right on.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So these last few are fun, so they'll be quicker.
Alright, so bikers across thenation.
What is the most inspiringplace you've ever eaten?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I think I just mentioned that with Fiolamare
was a good one.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Inspiring is a little different.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, yeah, no it's a good question because, like I
said, chefs will pinpoint onething and say it because it
remembered them.
But for me it's not that easy.
I I've been around the worldand I get inspired easily by a
lot of places, so you go back toitaly.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I go to italy for inspiration yeah, but it's a
specific restaurant yeah, Ican't I can't say.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
But inspiration comes to me in the whole experience.
So I'd have to say going backto italy, um, or anywhere
indigenous to where I'm looking,if I'm in hawaii, I'm eating
indigenous product to hawaii.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I get inspired by that okay, all right, this is
one um patrick, all right.
So this is for me, it's.
Of all my varied careers, whatwas my favorite and why?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
This goes to you.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So most Well, we've had like again.
You've had different careers.
I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I've just had a lot of different careers, but you're
selling all of them, so it's agood question.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
They all came together for this.
So it kind of all came together.
But I mean, most of you know, Imean I was in restaurants for a
long time design, television,media and now marketing.
And honestly, I think when andthe reason we're doing this show
like the restaurant businesswas my favorite because it was
the one that I felt the mostenergized and the most complete
(30:56):
myself.
You don't have to put on afront, you can stand behind the
bar and be a smart ass you can,you know but you're making
people happy and you getdifferent interactions every
night and it's not as monotonous.
Even though the tasks aremonotonous, the people aren't.
So it was something that alwayskept me excited and I never
felt run down by it.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
No, wave is the same.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
No, it's never the same and it's always a good time
.
So, like out of like, literally, you know, being on live
television, yes, that's anamazing career.
Was it my absolute favorite?
No, so career, was it myabsolute favorite?
No, so that's probably weird tomost people because they
probably think that's thecoolest thing, but it's, it's
not.
So probably the restaurant.
So, patrick, just answeringthat, um, another one, patrick
is um for you, which this one isactually pretty funny.
(31:35):
If you weren't a restaurateur,what would you be doing?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
as a career, I'd be fucking ride my motorcycle and
raise in hell.
End of story.
Is that a career?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
yes, that's your career.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You may not have a good long-term plan you may not
have a 401k If I wasn't in therestaurant world.
What would I be doing for acareer?
Motorcycle, something I'd beworking on, bikes, doing
mechanicals on bikes Doingsomething Customizing, building,
selling, rebuilding I'dprobably be locked into the
motorcycle world.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You'd be doing more in the motorcycle space.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
All right.
Well, that one All right.
So we're going to go to theburnt hands one.
The other one on this waspeople that are kind of newer to
the show, don't know ourlineage.
So it was what was your firstimpression in 1999 when we met
each other, of how either crazyor stupid we were at that time?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I don't know if I can nail the impression.
I don't know if I can do that,but I remember when we first met
we were both very active as faras just being very outgoing
Worked hard worked a lot, so Ithink we clicked really fast
right away.
You know what I mean and um,and that was that.
I mean we became friends veryquickly and and had a respect
(32:51):
for each other the whole waythrough and we've always
maintained that.
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
I think that's a it's a good question, but I don't
think a lot of people like minewas more your sense of humor,
because a lot of people don'tsee that as much, because you're
working, you're serious thetime and we always have to be
serious and professional.
So total goofball, totalgoofball.
Like doesn't take muchseriously, I don't take much
seriously, but we cover it upwell.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You got serious and light.
We were young, we were in ourearly 20s when we met yeah 20.
Yeah, 20.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
So I mean Sam, I am.
So my friend told me when I gotinto the biz, if you get to the
nine month point you're in itfor the long haul.
What point did you realize youwere in it for the long haul?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
When I realized I couldn't do much else with such
ease.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Meaning.
I was in it for a long time andI just thought it was a job.
I left the industry and Icouldn't make it right.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I couldn't make ends meet.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I was doing stuff.
I was getting myself in trouble.
I ended up doing things thatyou probably shouldn't be doing,
ended up going to jail.
I've had all kinds of shit thathappened wrong when I wasn't in
the kitchen.
So it kept you that happenedwrong when I wasn't in the
kitchen.
So when I got back into it iswhen I realized this is where
I'm supposed to be.
So I think I realized that.
Sam, to answer that question, Irealized it when I wasn't in it
, not when I was.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Okay, that's a good way to put it.
I like that All right.
So, steven Wright, my bigquestion is that some of my
friends have as well and this isgood for bartenders to weigh in
on on the bottom too, to weighin on on the bottom too Going to
a bar and sitting down andgetting a drink, and your
bartender's just going to assumethat you're going to sit on
your phone.
Same goes for dinner.
The whole time, for your entireexperience.
The bartenders don't have anycommunication with you after
(34:34):
dropping your drink off.
Are restaurants concerned aboutthis as customer service, or is
it the new norm?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Oh, good question.
Yeah, I think it is the newnorm and I think that's just
society and I think, stephen, Ithink the best way to anyone,
for anyone, to interact is toliterally sometimes people have
to be told what to do yeah and Ithink, if you look right at the
bartender, any bartender wouldbe cool and find you to be
intriguing.
If you, if you were to just say,hey, listen, tell me a little
(35:01):
bit about yourself.
Man, I don't need to pry oranything, but I just don't want
to be on my phone.
I'd rather have a personalexperience.
You can do that in a way of notfeeling like you're trying to
hit on a woman if she's abartender, or prying into a
man's life.
It's quite simple Just say hey,listen, I'm not a phone guy man
, you don't have to get crazywith it.
But I think a lot of bartendersare so used to being ignored
(35:24):
that they are programmed to nottalk to people and bother them
anymore.
I don't believe that's aproblem of the fucking bartender
.
I think it's a problem of theguest.
The guest and you, stephen, area victim of it, because when
you go there, the bartender isjust now so used to being a
certain way that it's falling onyou.
Yeah, and I think that's theproblem.
So I think if you break thecycle with them, you're going to
(35:44):
find nine times out of ten thatthey're going to be kind of
like oh, you want to talk?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Well, most people do want to.
But I mean, I've been in thatsituation too where I will
literally put my phone face downand sit there with them and
wait and try and have aconversation, like I'll keep
trying to interject or askquestions and they don't want to
talk.
Well, here's another thing,bartender.
Having a bartender who is notsociable and trying to make you
(36:09):
feel like a more whatever valuedguest or whatever the
conversation is, frustrates thehell out of me, and there's a
lot.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
here's a problem I have.
When there's a when you're,when I go out, I'm social.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
If I travel, I go to bars.
If I'm in a hotel, I hang outat bar places.
If there's a good lookingbartender a woman, right, I'm
sure it works the same way foryou guys.
When there's a good lookingbartender, I'm not always trying
to fuck you.
You know what I mean Not everyguy is trying to fuck you every
single time.
Look, you're beautiful, got it.
You're cool, got it.
I've been around, I've had myshare of beautiful women.
(36:38):
But just because you'rebeautiful and I'm sitting at the
bar doesn't mean I'm talking toyou because I'm trying to fuck
you, or I'm trying to take youhome, or I'm trying to bring you
upstairs in my room.
It's not the case, just tryingto have an actual conversation A
lot of women bartenders,especially now, don't give you
the time of day.
They don't want to talk to you.
They just walk away as ifeverything you're doing is
(36:59):
trying to talk.
You're, I'm not so relax.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Relax and yeah, I think you have to initiate on
both sides, but I like thesuggestion.
Just tell them I don't want tobe on my phone tonight what you
got, all right.
So last question, we're gonnago with Krista.
So how do you stay innovativeand fresh with your menu?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
You don't.
It's very hard.
After doing it for 30 years andafter 13 years of specials and
after three years of this placebringing specials, you do run
the well runs dry right, yeah.
So, being innovative, you haveto go find it.
You have to dig deep downinside and realize what you do.
And you always have to rememberthat people are coming in
(37:36):
because of what you offer andyou don't have time to stop.
So it's more driven out ofnecessity than a lot of times
where it's so fun to just paintyou know what I'm saying we run
out of necessity than a lot oftimes where it's so fun to just
paint.
You know I'm saying we run outof that.
You know it happens witheverybody.
Songwriters, uh, entertainers,we all go through this where we
have to put away everybody'sexpectation of us and find it
(37:57):
within ourself to put it out.
And that's when I start gettinginnovative, is when I start
realizing I want to cook tonight.
Yeah, you know what?
I mean for, so Can you read thelast part of that question real
quick.
No, I closed it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Hold on, yeah, just how you stay innovative and
fresh with your menu.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
So that's yeah, yeah, so it's not as easy as you
think.
So staying innovative and freshis within yourself.
You have to always.
I have to, not you.
I have to always remind myselfthat people are coming here
because of what it is we do andthat's what drives me, that's
what keeps me innovative is like, okay, I've got to stay up with
that.
I have to stay up with that, orelse I become irrelevant, and
(38:33):
that's no good.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
That's good.
So this is, yeah, the firstAMA-style podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, we can keep going.
Should we do this again, youguys?
Speaker 1 (38:40):
have to let us know.
Should we do it again, Make acomment.
We'll put up another thing fornext season.
We'll do.
Maybe we can try a new one aseason.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, let's do it.
But you know, what I thinkwould be fun too is if we get
some interaction, as always, hit, subscribe and follow and like
and share and all that stuff.
We like it.
But if you could, we'd like todo this live.
It would be fun to have peoplecalling in.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Actually that would be fun or doing it live in the
actual restaurant doing it liveactual crowd here, like doing it
and having people shout outquestions yeah, that would be
there were a lot more questions.
Um, we can't get to them allbecause we can't go on for hours
.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I mean we could but we'll do another, we'll do
another one.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
We had another like 10 questions that we didn't get
to, so we'll do those in thenext one, but yeah, if you send
them in, I think it was.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
It was fun it's just a little bit different.
It's a little more personableand you get to see my point of
view as a chef when you come inhere.
A lot of people have thesequestions.
I get questions every day.
All the time and I'm surprisednobody asks me the fucking real
question everybody asks all thetime.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
What real question.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
What does a chef?
What do you eat?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Where do you eat?
Where do you eat or?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
what do you cook at home?
I try not to cook at home ever.
I don't like to, and here's thereason why I'm so used to
having a team behind me, aphenomenal team.
But I can't cook at homeanymore, because that means I've
got to clean and mess.
Yeah, I've got to shopping.
No, no, no, fuck all that.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Oh, alright.
Well, that was it, we did it.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Alright, sounds good.
Boom, oh, we missed.
Oh, we missed God we haven'teven been drinking, that's the
problem.
That's the problem.
Yeah, that's all right, allright.
Listen, appreciate you allCheck us out, keep it going.
Thanks for the one year ofawesomeness and ciao for now.
Ciao.
We are ready this is going to be a fun one we have
never, done an AMA or ask meanything.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, AMA is ask me anything.
So in the social media world alot of people do these, where
you submit your questions and wejust randomly answer them.
So we got a lot of questions.
We're going to try and getthrough all of them, but we've
never done this.
It's technically ask usanything, not ask me anything.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So AUA, right, so it's ask us Anything, which is
cool because we actually put itout for a lot of people and I
can't believe I'm actuallyhumbled on how much response we
got.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It was really cool it was really cool.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So we got a lot of questions that came in and
they're pertaining to everythingfrom ass and titties to cooking
, to recipes, to how do I dealwith this, that and the other.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Customer service Customer service.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Being a bar customer, we got everything we uncovered
today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So this is actually exciting for us because we don't
get to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, and I don't even know if I can answer some
of the questions.
I might not just know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, we're coming to the end of the first year of
the podcast, so this isappropriate timing, I think,
because people haven't reallygotten to ask us anything, so
okay, so we're going to let youstart with yours and we're going
to start with some, cause wehad it on Facebook and Instagram
, so we have them all pulled up.
We're going to just go throughthem randomly, so I will let you
start on your page, and thenwe'll switch to this one, which
(01:37):
has the more scandalousquestions.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
All right, so we'll start on mine.
So do you want to read them?
You want me to read them.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I'll let you read them.
Oh, they're pertaining to you.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Let's talk about who they are, and let's go down the
list and let's see if we havesome redundant questions.
I'll answer one and then we'llpass, because I've already
answered that type of thing allright, so this is a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Um can you share a particularly challenging
experience you faced whiletraining or early in your
kitchen career?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
who's that from?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
this is from alexis.
Okay, so alex, chef, alex.
Um, so we'll start with thatone she three, so we'll bang
through these real quick.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It's not, chef, it's a different one.
Oh, it's a different one.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Okay, all right, so can you share a particularly
challenging experience you facedwhile training or early in your
kitchen career.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Wow, yeah, my God.
You know it was so long ago,when I had an early kitchen
career, that everything I'vedone since then has been so
crazy.
So again she's asking me if Ihad anything back in the day
that went crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Challenging.
What was your most challengingthing when you were early in
your career?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Trying to advance.
Trying to advance was the mostchallenging thing I had to do
when I was young, because nomatter how good you did or how
hard you worked in the chefworld, it's hard to advance
because there's a differencebetween someone falling out
where you can fill in their spot.
That's the biggest problem.
Number two is when you workhard.
A lot of chefs and owners takeadvantage of that and they want
(02:55):
to keep you there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Burn you yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So, instead of advancing, it was really
challenging leaving from onestation to the next, because if
you perfect one station, nobodywants to take it off.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's hard.
They keep you there and Iunderstand that now as an owner.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
it's when you have someone really good at a station
.
Yeah, the biggest challenge iscoming off of that and going
somewhere else for the owner orthe chef because you're so good
at it.
So one of my biggest challengesgrowing in the chef world was
advancing up in the ranks.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, all right.
What ingredient do you feel isoverused in modern cooking?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Wow, that's a good one.
I didn't look at thesequestions, by the way, before,
so I don't have much study time.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We wanted this to be pretty raw.
I wanted to be real and rightup front the most overused
cooking ingredient right now.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Man, that's a good one, because I'm only speaking
about Italian food.
I haven't really seen what'sgoing on.
Man, that's a good one, becauseI'm only speaking about Italian
food.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I haven't really seen what's going on.
Well, just what?
Yeah, I mean, what one do youthink that people even think is
overrated, that everybody putsin things?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think truffle.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, I was going to say truffle.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Truffle is something that's I love truffle, though
Truffle is amazing when you havea white Alba truffle and you
shave that bitch.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, I love truffle.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now all the other truffle-infused things is
totally overused, totally a lotof it's fake.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, it's not real truffle.
Yes, okay, so I agree with thatone.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
There's a huge difference between me loving
truffle and using it oneverything shaving or
truffle-infused everything else,everything Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
All right, that's a good one If you can make one
request to every guest who Okay,Understand, read the room and
be patient.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Understand where you're at, understand what you
want and understand that thismay not be the place or wherever
you are may not be the placethat you want, so don't blame
them.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Okay, all right.
All right, it's from Lori.
All right, how does a personwho works with so much yummy
food find discipline to maintaina healthy physique?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's something that's in you.
So the the glory of thatquestion is is I have the
ability to make very deliciousthings that are healthy, where
most people couldn't get thatsame savory or umami flavor out
of food.
But I have the skill and theaccessibility to make healthy
food taste really fucking good.
So it's a matter of your, andit's also a matter of what you
(05:11):
give a shit about yourself.
You know You're going in, I'mgoing, I'm in my 50s now, so you
have to kind of live.
You're either going to give into that or you're going to try
and combat that.
That's where you're at.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Okay, all right.
With so many demands on yourtime, how do you carve out
enough time to actually work out?
So this is a good one Causeyou're right, it's really hard.
It's very hard, so it's reallyhard.
Your schedule is so weird,right.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Working out consistently, like most people
who get up at 4 AM.
Lori actually is one of thesepeople.
She goes, I know her.
She goes to the gym fouro'clock religiously every
morning and I know this becauseI watch her post.
She, she's one of those people.
So good job on that.
I can't do that because at 4 amI'm just winding down from my
body's in REM or something atthat point.
(05:53):
Yeah, you're not.
So it's hard for me.
Depending on my schedule as abusiness owner and everything,
it's really hard to consistentlyhave a workout plan.
You're doing a lot of bodystuff in your own house.
You're going to the gym wayless than you normally should,
but you get there.
So the bottom line is you justhave to make the time.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, all right, this is from Susan, so this is one
we can both answer, becausewe've actually had this
discussion.
If you were on death row, whatwould your last meal be?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
My death row meal would be a Sunday ragu, meaning
slow braised pork, slow braisedsausage, the beef, everything.
Even throw a brussel in there,maybe a meatball, slow cooked
tomato sauce with a pack of theor rigatoni pasta beautiful
(06:37):
pecorino Romano Locatelli thatthat would be my last death meal
without a question, all rightso my choice is the best steak
you can get on the planet withlobster drenched in butter and
mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That is my.
That is my ultimate meal and Ihonestly you know I eat that
meal a lot yeah, that's good,that's a good one, and I
honestly eat that meal a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, that's good.
That is actually a meal I eaton a regular.
If I had to die with that, Iwouldn't be mad.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I would not be mad.
I wouldn't be mad at it.
That would be probably.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
yeah, I would be asking where the pasta is, but
hey, Well, that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I was not raised that Italian, I was raised Midwest.
No, but All right, so this isfrom Daniel.
So what's up, bro?
The question is, what did youdo when COVID was here?
Did you have to shut all theway down for a few months?
How did you handle that?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, covid was a bitch man, as we know.
I mean, we hear that word andit's like fuck.
But I'm going to tell you therestaurant industry, I felt
really slighted, I felt attacked, I felt persecuted.
You know what I attacked?
I felt, um, persecuted.
Yeah, you know I'm saying, andit was, it was horrible because
you're watching the rest of theworld kind of maneuver, but the
restaurants and bars we got hitlike, like, like it was meant to
(07:36):
be yeah like it was.
It was to me at the time matter.
It felt like they were justtrying to eliminate restaurant
life period from the world.
And, um, we had absolutely zero.
We had nothing.
Luckily we had stuff in.
We had nothing.
Luckily we had stuff in placeto get some sort of funding.
We got, just like everybodyelse did in business.
But I think the restaurantindustry took the biggest hit.
(07:57):
There was places that were openfor decades that closed down
because we couldn't make itthrough.
So I just did the best I could.
I went down to a very bareminimum and I followed any
guideline.
They gave me an opportunity toat least sell something.
I went to the best part ofdoing it.
If they said you could havecurbside service, well I made a
damn festival out of it.
If they said we had to have sixfeet apart, well, I made it six
(08:19):
feet between you.
It was cool and I tookadvantage of it.
Anytime they said there was anew rule, instead of succumbing
to it and closing down andgetting mad at it, I just made
the best of it because peoplestill wanted to do it.
So if they gave me anopportunity to do it, I took
advantage of it.
We put our partitions up.
We made it fun.
I had the lines we didreservations for people caring.
(08:41):
I did anything I possibly couldbased on whatever little shit
they gave us to try and surviveon.
Yeah, I just capitalized on andsaid I got to do this, yeah you
guys did a great job with it,so it worked out well.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
All right, William, All right.
Why are you hating on biscuitsand gravy man?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Biscuits and gravy sucks.
Let me tell you something thisain't the Civil War, all right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Why do you hate them so much though?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Why do I hate them?
Because let me get to this.
Ain't Dunkirk.
You know what I mean.
I didn't just save a bunch ofpeople in World War II and we're
eating on the ship.
Look, biscuits and gravy to meis the most ridiculous gluttony
on the planet.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, it's a biscuit, that's just You're just
spitting it out, not even a goodbiscuit.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The gravy is just fucking flour and cream.
It's the sausage and it makesyou burp all day.
I'm not down for it.
Man, you sit down and eat thatdamn thing in the morning.
I can't understand it.
I don't like it.
It tastes like shit.
I don't like biscuits and gravy.
We're not in the trenches.
Like I said, that's somethingyou eat during a famine.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
No to biscuits and gravy.
Let's move on.
Sorry, william, all right,sergio, why do you think gnocchi
isn't more popular in the US?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
That's a good question, because it's really
not all that popular in Italyeither.
In certain regions it is atcertain times of year.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
But it's not this big ongoing thing where people are
just going crazy for gnocchi.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's filling, I love it.
It wasn't accepted in America alot, so it was never introduced
properly.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
So when you eat a really good gnocchi dish like
when we make gnocchi here I onlymake it once in a while because
it's time-consuming and takes alot of work.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So to make gnocchi really, to really emphasize it
for what it is, a lot of peopledon't know how to do that and
they present it wrong.
So when people eat it they'renot getting the right experience
experience so they kind of getturned off to it, got it.
But when you have gnocchi doneproper, it's fucking amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
One of my favorite things.
It is delicious.
It is my favorite, all right,justin a supporter from denver
phoenix, so both all right, cool, get it justin.
All right.
What was the dish you made thatmade you want to be a chef, and
what dish made you and helpedyou, like, elevate your career?
What was a dish that you feltput you over the top?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
when I was young and when I was young 16-something I
was in a culinary program thatkind of turned me on to this
side of the industry.
I loved cooking.
I always loved food.
My father was a chef, myfamily's a big cooking family.
But what got me into theservice end of it?
It was a contest.
I entered as a youth in ajunior chef competition in
(11:07):
Boston and I won a dish with myscallop dish.
That's still on my menu today.
So it's just, it's seared U10scallops with a beautifully done
risotto and then a sambucaglaze with candied fennel, and
that's something.
That winning.
That is what brought me intothe okay, this is cooking, and
(11:27):
now this is competition formyself.
Chefing that right then, backwhen I was probably 16 years old
or something like that, iswhere I realized it.
It took some time from there aswell, but that would be the
turning point.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
That's crazy, and it is.
I don't think many people knowthat that that dish that's on
the menu today was from when youwere 16.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that's on the menu today was from when you
were 16, yeah, yeah, that'spretty cool, and there's been
other people impersonating her.
I've seen scallops and stuff,other ways people add cream.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They had their own style but this is something I
did on my own back then and it'sstill no business for a 16 year
old to be putting that out.
Try it okay, uh, when is thenorfolk market deli opening?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
can't tell you you have to tune in for that.
No, we're looking at stay tuned.
We're shooting for the fallhere 2025, september, october,
hopefully uh, framby street, getready okay and we are putting a
lot of work into it.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
It's gonna be amazing all right, get ready for that
mike.
Okay, scott, um, build me theperfect dinner start to finish.
And what wine are you drinkingwith it?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
perfect dinner.
Wow, that's a big question,because perfect for everybody is
different uh-huh for you, myperfect dinner is my perfect
dinner to me when I go out is awell rounded experience as far
as covering all bases.
I like sea, land, air.
I like them all, okay.
So for me, a perfect dish wouldstart typically with a seafood.
(12:39):
I always like to start with aseafood, something cold or crudo
, okay.
With that, I would like afrangicorta or a um, any type of
rosé, uh, preferably a grenachebased rosé.
Okay, non-sparkling and um, sothat would be like a tuna crudo,
you know, scallops crudo, ormaybe even a seared, um, charred
(12:59):
, octopus, something like that.
Start moving on.
I'm going right in the pasta.
I like a pasta course as mynext course, small one,
something that isn't reallymeat-based, something a little
bit more tomato-y, somethinglight, or if they have a light
ragu, maybe a duck or a lamb,something like that, and with
that I'm going with a Barberaright out the gate.
(13:19):
I'm going to go something aBarbera or a Nebbiolo, but on a
lighter side, like a Gatianar orsomething like that.
Now, moving into the dinner,it's going to be something big.
Like you, I want to.
I want a nice hearty steak, apiece of veal, I want some lamb,
I want something big.
That's perfect for me goingfrom the sea to the land and
(13:39):
then, with that duck being inthe air in that pasta, try and
incorporate that somewhere.
If there's no steak or if it'ssomething like that, I do like a
good roasted chicken or apheasant or something like that.
That's perfect to me.
And again, I'm going to go witha Brunello, depending on the
meat, or a Nebbiolo in theBarolo range or something like
(14:00):
that.
That, to me, is my perfect.
If I'm going to go French,depending on the bird, the game
I do like a Chateau Noir to pop.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Okay, and that's that All right.
So you were talking so much.
I need you to put your codeback in to get your phone back
on.
I was wrapped up in the food ittimed out on me.
All right, here we go, give meit back.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Here we go.
That was a good question, okay,all right, so this is for
Janine.
So there's a couple ofquestions.
One have you ever created adish that totally flopped?
What was it?
Yes, a million.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Here's the deal.
I can't tell you what it isbecause there's been a lot and
the only way to succeed and getbetter is to fail first.
So I have a lot of failures toget to where I was.
And what I mean by failures isit probably didn't meet my
palate.
It might have met someoneelse's and been happy with it,
but it didn't meet mine.
So a lot of them flopped beforeit even got to the table with
(14:53):
me.
That's why I learned I'vedesigned a system for myself
many years ago that when I makemy specials, I create them in my
head.
I put them on paper.
I get my ingredients.
Never do I put one on the menuand taste it first.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, you always do it without tasting.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So the first time I make my specials is when the
first customer rings it in.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
So has that ever flopped before?
And I pulled it off?
Yes, but I can't really recallwhat it was, but it has happened
.
Okay, all right, I'm prettygood now at managing where I'm
at.
So, yes, janine, that's Janine,right?
This is Janine yeah, so yes.
I have flop on a couple.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Well, her other question have you ever had a
meltdown in the kitchen?
Gordon Ramsay style.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yes, absolutely.
You don't get to where you areby managing without having to do
that.
These are all steps.
These are parts of the course.
They're all part of it.
I threw a hot pizza at someonethat came out of the brick oven
wrong and it was ripped in themiddle and I just took it off
the peel and threw it across theroom and it wrapped across and
burnt them and all that shit.
(15:53):
So fuck them.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Oh good, Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
But anyway, yeah, there's a lot of things.
Yes, that happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Okay, not anymore, but it did.
Okay, it did.
If your life had a soundtrack,what would your theme song be
during dinner service?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Oh shit, it depends on the night and the service.
What did you say?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Skylar said back that ass up, back that ass up.
Call me Big Daddy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of songs.
It depends on the mode and theminute.
Everything from Crazy Train,from Ozzy to Danzig Mother, to
Throw that Ass in a Circle, toDon't Stop Get it, get it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I don't know.
There's all kinds of stuff.
Okay, they're all good.
And lastly, if your kitchencould talk, what would it say
about you?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
This motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, this kitchen's yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
This motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
The first kitchen has a different voice.
The first kitchen was thisguy's a criminal.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, kitchen was.
I've had a different.
The first kitchen was thisguy's a criminal.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, this one's just this guy's crazy.
That's perfect.
All right, janine, thank you.
Okay.
So this is pamela um.
I would be interested inknowing how one is able to
secure an investor in order togrow their business.
Also, at times, I lose theinspiration, so what's the
inspiration?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
that's a good one, pam.
So pam's a pam's a good friendtoo.
Uh, great comment comment greatquestion.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, that one's good .
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Securing an investment is very hard in the
restaurant business becauseeverybody it depends on why
they're trying to invest in you.
If you can sell yourself to theinvestor, that's one thing, but
the investor has to havesomething in it for themselves.
Her or he has to have somethingin it for them.
So typically that's monetary.
Secondly would be clout,reputation.
(17:27):
So a lot of people use theirmoney for clout and a lot of
investors, unfortunately, goingto the restaurant business
looking for some sort of clout.
So if you're, you have to havesomething interesting enough for
an investor to want to be partof, meaning they're going to get
financial gain back.
Firstly and secondly, they haveto have something cool enough
to make them look like theinvestor quote unquote they have
(17:47):
to look like the guy or thegirl who who's behind the scene.
So create something that isenticing and people will want to
invest in it.
Um, when you lose inspiration,what I do is I travel and I go
to other chefs, friend or foe.
I'll go to restaurants.
I don't like to remind myselfof why I don't like it and what
I'm doing is right.
That's number one.
And then I also go to otherrestaurants that are really good
(18:09):
to inspire me to step my gameup.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay, I like all of those, and we actually did do a
whole investor episode in seasonone.
So if you go back to season onetwo, you can listen to that,
because that was a whole episodejust on that.
So that was all the ones onyours, okay, all right, so we'll
move to the Instagram questionsfrom our burnt hands
perspective Instagram page.
So the first question, and youcan answer this however you see
(18:33):
fit why is Tony so damn sexy?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
God damn it.
I don't what happened was.
I have nothing to do with that,you had nothing to do with that
.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I have nothing to do with that.
You had nothing to do with that.
I have nothing to do with that.
That's all my parents, I guessI have nothing to do with that I
don't know what the hell totell her.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
That's a question.
I guess it's funny.
I don't know, and that's Brooke.
So you know, brooke.
Well, I appreciate thecompliment, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I have nothing to do with that ass and I was like no,
I'm totally asking thatquestion, just to see.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
It could just be the Cosmos lining up, it could be
Alright.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
so and then this is another one kind of in that
realm from our boy Casey over atBorn United, which is really
funny.
Unrelated comment, but veryimportant to him to get this
answer.
Two part comment.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Alright, first question Buckle the fuck in.
I can guarantee this is goingto be a good one First question
ass or boobs, Ass?
All day.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Casey, you have to let us know if you agree with us
too.
And two, so this is one for theguys out there.
You know, yeah, this will beentertaining.
All right If said female isgorgeous, talking 10 out of 10,
eyes smile, great credit score.
Glad you put that in there, uh,but is an absolute psycho like
(19:50):
a stage five clinger, might havea drinking problem and has two
different baby daddies.
Is she still worth taking tobed?
ah well, my question is this Itold you it was gonna be a good.
This is a two-part thisparter.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
This is so bad.
This is a two-parter.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Like we said, this was Ask Me Anything, so this is
literally anything, Do you?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
know this stuff about her before you take her to bed.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
That's the question.
Okay, if the question is yes,fuck, no, run, run, run.
It ain't worth it.
Go get the fuck out of there.
Let them be crazy and pretendit never happened.
Number two pretend you don'tknow about it and take her to
bed and fuck shit out of her andthen deal with the crazy.
Number three you don't knowabout it and then you get
(20:35):
victims, and then you getwrapped into that shit and now
you're pussy blackmailed.
And now that's a whole otherproblem.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's a whole hashtag, hashtag.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
That's a whole hashtag.
That's a whole hashtag.
So now you're in trouble, sothe best suggestion for me in my
age now, learning life.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Finally.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Back the fuck off of that crazy bitch.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Because she may be a 10 in bed, but she might be a
one when it comes to yourmentalness and what the fuck's
going to happen after?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, mental health matters.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Go with what you know and get the fuck away from the
crazy bitches.
Ten or not, I don't give a shit.
Bitches, be crazy, hey listen,that's a Trojan horse.
You know what I'm saying?
That's a Trojan horse.
She comes in all pretty andshit and you don't know what's
inside that motherfucker, it's aTrojan pussy Right, exactly
Sorry.
I'm telling you Like in Troythey put out the inside of that
(21:22):
thing.
It killed the whole fuckingworld.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
It killed everybody.
Fuck that.
That is a good okay.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
And I know Trojan horse is for me.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
That's it.
Good question, dude.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Thank you, casey, you're awesome.
Thanks for bringing the life tothe party.
All right, so now we're goingto go back the other direction,
back to the restaurants.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Okay, let's reel it back in.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
All right.
Have you ever had a thoroughlyunpleasant customer?
You could not please, and howdo you deal with a situation
like that?
Now, this happens a lot.
I've been a witness to it andI've also been on the other side
of it, so you go ahead withyours first.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, we have it often it happens a lot and nowadays I
just ignore it.
I don't care If you don't likeeverything that's been done.
Right there's with the teamhere nine times out of ten.
Yes, if they're still unruly,get the fuck out.
Don't come back.
There are so many people thatwant to enjoy life and enjoy
time and I don't need yourtoxicity.
(22:14):
My team doesn't need yourtoxicity.
We are all professionals, weall love what we do, and if you
are unruly or you don't likewhat you like or you are
demanding, then get the fuck out.
Period.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Just get out.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Don't come back, I will escort you nicely out the
door Somewhat nicely.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Somewhat Depends on the situation.
It means I don't touch you.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
You know what I mean Sometimes.
I didn't say the verbal wordingout the door isn't going to be
any better.
No, but listen.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I don't care, get out , get the fuck out.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's how I deal with it.
We don't letthink it, we justwalk it off.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
No, just cut it off.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Get out buy.
We have proper things to dohere we don't have time for your
shit.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Life is too short.
No, exactly, life is short.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You're here to enjoy yourself, and so is everybody
else.
No one wants to hear yourproblems.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Especially if they're done Now.
If they're not done, right, wewouldn't have this.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I mean some people go out looking for that kind of
situation Like they go out tomake trouble and they want to
just bring their bullshit.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
They just bitch all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
They don't care, they don't care where they're at, it
doesn't matter.
So I think restaurant ownersand service staff need to stop
taking it personally, becausethey're going to do that to
anybody.
It's not you, it's not therestaurant.
They're going to do it toanybody.
It's how my bullshit.
But your bullshit is mybullshit, so it's a whole
situation.
So just tell them, yeah, justtell them.
(23:29):
Good, don't pay, just fuckingleave, don't come back, right?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
beat it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Because probably anyone around them knows that
they're an idiot anyways andthey're not going to take their
word for it, so that's fine, Allright.
So we are moving to the otherInstagram questions.
Some of these are more on, soget out of our debauchery for a
second.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I like the debauchery though.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I know it is fun.
All right, if you had to give.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
This is Danny Chef D If you had to give anyone advice
in our industry from yourexperiences, what would that be?
Listen, stop acting like youknow everything at a young age.
Listen.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Okay, listen, pay attention, ask questions, be
repetitive in the knowledge youhave.
Don't just own it, walk awayfrom it and act like you have it
Actually utilize.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
it All right, that's a good one, all right.
So, melvin, what was your?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
first memory that solidified your love of food,
growing up in food.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Growing up.
There's no first memory.
It was all a memory.
Yeah, it was all memory.
So I come from a very, veryfood influenced family and if
they weren't and didn't know it,yeah, I felt it growing up.
So the italian traditions in myin in the household were
amazing.
I love them.
Uh, and that was my influenceis to continue on with that for
my own reasoning.
They may not have known thatwas even happening, they could
(24:47):
have just been eating dinner inyour, but for me it was very
influential for when I waslittle okay, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
All right, so this is evan, so we love it.
All right.
Best dining experience you'veever had.
Do you have a?
Do you have a time?
I have?
I have one that was like astandout because it was
different I can't answer that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I've had so many fucking pleasurable experiences
over food because that's where Igo to, that's my happy place,
so I don't have one.
I have a bunch that are sofucking good, but it depends on
the person, the people, the time, the timing, what was going on
the food itself.
There's a lot of reasons tojudge that.
Overall, I've had too manyamazing meals with amazing
(25:27):
people to say there's one thatoutweighs the other.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Okay, I'm going to go with New Orleans, because that
was probably my top, one of mytop meals, really.
So yeah, that was Chef PhillipLopez, who used to be here with
me at Club Soda.
Went down there, saw him and hedid a very different style one,
seating, a night type serviceSure, type service, and it was,
you know, 15 dishes, a littlemore on the molecular side,
(25:49):
right, but everything had flavorand was quality meat like, had
a lot of substance to it, itwasn't like the frou-frou, you
know whatever, and they had thewine pairings and that was
probably one of the mostdifferent experiences where
literally every dish was good.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So I think that was those are hard, because
sometimes you get the ones thatjust fail and they're just like
too much everything he did well,that's good that you can
pinpoint that I can pinpointthat and I mean, like you know,
yeah, there's a lot of sothere's a lot, everything, all
the all the things that wentaround it, yeah, is what made it
happen and and I could think ofone restaurant that I liked,
that I you know, and it's notcrazy because you would think,
(26:21):
being a chef, it'd have to be amichelin crazy and those crazy
and those are fucking amazingtoo.
Don't get me wrong, but I haveto say that one of my favorite
restaurant experiences was myfirst time going to Fiola Mare
in.
Dc in Georgetown.
That's an amazing Italianrestaurant, but just the food
and how it came out the firsttime I went there was a really
good twist on how I'd neverreally seen it before.
It was delicious and I loved itand it inspired me.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Okay, all right cool.
Amongst many other All right,so let's go.
Mario, what's the ideal ratioof semolina to 00 flour or pasta
?
Do you have an ideal ratio?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well here, good question, right there.
That's different becauseeverybody makes pasta
differently, but there's only somany ways you can make fresh
pasta.
Now we're going to talk abouttwo different things real
quickly.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I know we're on time, but this is a good point to
make.
When it comes to making, we gotthree more questions after this
.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We're going to get through them.
We got them.
So when you're making pasta,you're either using an extruder
or by hand at home, or using alittle hand spun or a KitchenAid
attachment.
Let's go with that.
Let's go with what people aremaking at home with the 00.
I don't use two flours.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
They're two different courses, which means they're
going to absorb liquiddifferently at different speeds.
Okay, and you're going tooverwork one to match the other.
This is what I found out in mytime.
So if I use 00 flour, it's all00 flour.
You're going to get a fluffy,silky, really nice unworked
thing.
If you're going to use semolinaonly, you're going to need some
(27:49):
sort of extruder with pressureto really break down those.
Semolina is a lot more coarse,it has a lot more.
It needs a lot more pressure toabsorb liquid quickly without
overworking the dough.
If you use semolina, you haveto sift it through with your
flour.
So if you're going to usedouble zero, sift it through a
sifting and then take yoursemolina, sift it the same way.
(28:12):
Typically it's two, two halfhalf.
Okay, two eggs, two cups offlour, half teaspoon of oil,
half teaspoon of salt.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Now we need to do an episode on just pasta,
apparently.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Okay.
So if you're using a cup ofsemolina and a cup of 00, your
semolina flour is not going toabsorb as fast as the 00, pay
attention and you're going tohave a chewier, more rubbery
type of product in the endbecause that semolina is going
to work against the 00.
The 00 is going to work againstthe double O.
(28:46):
Okay, the double O is going toabsorb all your egg and all your
oil first, and then whatever'sleft is going to go into
semolina and you have to use alot of pressure and a lot of
rolling or kneading to get thatsemolina to accept the double O
flour as fast.
So my recommendation to you isgo with one or the other, and if
you're making stuff at homewith a rolling pin and going
through a machine or a cutter ora fucking pasta machine, go
(29:13):
with one or the other.
You don't have enough force andpressure to match the semolina
with your double O.
You'll get a much moreconsistent product if you
typically just go with double Oat home we just go and do a
pasta episode.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
That's my opinion, that's my experience.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
That's my advice.
People can look at me and sayit's wrong.
Well, cool, right on.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So these last few are fun, so they'll be quicker.
Alright, so bikers across thenation.
What is the most inspiringplace you've ever eaten?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I think I just mentioned that with Fiolamare
was a good one.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Inspiring is a little different.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, yeah, no it's a good question because, like I
said, chefs will pinpoint onething and say it because it
remembered them.
But for me it's not that easy.
I I've been around the worldand I get inspired easily by a
lot of places, so you go back toitaly.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I go to italy for inspiration yeah, but it's a
specific restaurant yeah, Ican't I can't say.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
But inspiration comes to me in the whole experience.
So I'd have to say going backto italy, um, or anywhere
indigenous to where I'm looking,if I'm in hawaii, I'm eating
indigenous product to hawaii.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I get inspired by that okay, all right, this is
one um patrick, all right.
So this is for me, it's.
Of all my varied careers, whatwas my favorite and why?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
This goes to you.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
So most Well, we've had like again.
You've had different careers.
I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
I've just had a lot of different careers, but you're
selling all of them, so it's agood question.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
They all came together for this.
So it kind of all came together.
But I mean, most of you know, Imean I was in restaurants for a
long time design, television,media and now marketing.
And honestly, I think when andthe reason we're doing this show
like the restaurant businesswas my favorite because it was
the one that I felt the mostenergized and the most complete
(30:56):
myself.
You don't have to put on afront, you can stand behind the
bar and be a smart ass you can,you know but you're making
people happy and you getdifferent interactions every
night and it's not as monotonous.
Even though the tasks aremonotonous, the people aren't.
So it was something that alwayskept me excited and I never
felt run down by it.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
No, wave is the same.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
No, it's never the same and it's always a good time
.
So, like out of like, literally, you know, being on live
television, yes, that's anamazing career.
Was it my absolute favorite?
No, so career, was it myabsolute favorite?
No, so that's probably weird tomost people because they
probably think that's thecoolest thing, but it's, it's
not.
So probably the restaurant.
So, patrick, just answeringthat, um, another one, patrick
is um for you, which this one isactually pretty funny.
(31:35):
If you weren't a restaurateur,what would you be doing?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
as a career, I'd be fucking ride my motorcycle and
raise in hell.
End of story.
Is that a career?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
yes, that's your career.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You may not have a good long-term plan you may not
have a 401k If I wasn't in therestaurant world.
What would I be doing for acareer?
Motorcycle, something I'd beworking on, bikes, doing
mechanicals on bikes Doingsomething Customizing, building,
selling, rebuilding I'dprobably be locked into the
motorcycle world.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You'd be doing more in the motorcycle space.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
All right.
Well, that one All right.
So we're going to go to theburnt hands one.
The other one on this waspeople that are kind of newer to
the show, don't know ourlineage.
So it was what was your firstimpression in 1999 when we met
each other, of how either crazyor stupid we were at that time?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I don't know if I can nail the impression.
I don't know if I can do that,but I remember when we first met
we were both very active as faras just being very outgoing
Worked hard worked a lot, so Ithink we clicked really fast
right away.
You know what I mean and um,and that was that.
I mean we became friends veryquickly and and had a respect
(32:51):
for each other the whole waythrough and we've always
maintained that.
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
I think that's a it's a good question, but I don't
think a lot of people like minewas more your sense of humor,
because a lot of people don'tsee that as much, because you're
working, you're serious thetime and we always have to be
serious and professional.
So total goofball, totalgoofball.
Like doesn't take muchseriously, I don't take much
seriously, but we cover it upwell.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You got serious and light.
We were young, we were in ourearly 20s when we met yeah 20.
Yeah, 20.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
So I mean Sam, I am.
So my friend told me when I gotinto the biz, if you get to the
nine month point you're in itfor the long haul.
What point did you realize youwere in it for the long haul?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
When I realized I couldn't do much else with such
ease.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Meaning.
I was in it for a long time andI just thought it was a job.
I left the industry and Icouldn't make it right.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I couldn't make ends meet.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I was doing stuff.
I was getting myself in trouble.
I ended up doing things thatyou probably shouldn't be doing,
ended up going to jail.
I've had all kinds of shit thathappened wrong when I wasn't in
the kitchen.
So it kept you that happenedwrong when I wasn't in the
kitchen.
So when I got back into it iswhen I realized this is where
I'm supposed to be.
So I think I realized that.
Sam, to answer that question, Irealized it when I wasn't in it
, not when I was.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Okay, that's a good way to put it.
I like that All right.
So, steven Wright, my bigquestion is that some of my
friends have as well and this isgood for bartenders to weigh in
on on the bottom too, to weighin on on the bottom too Going to
a bar and sitting down andgetting a drink, and your
bartender's just going to assumethat you're going to sit on
your phone.
Same goes for dinner.
The whole time, for your entireexperience.
The bartenders don't have anycommunication with you after
(34:34):
dropping your drink off.
Are restaurants concerned aboutthis as customer service, or is
it the new norm?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Oh, good question.
Yeah, I think it is the newnorm and I think that's just
society and I think, stephen, Ithink the best way to anyone,
for anyone, to interact is toliterally sometimes people have
to be told what to do yeah and Ithink, if you look right at the
bartender, any bartender wouldbe cool and find you to be
intriguing.
If you, if you were to just say,hey, listen, tell me a little
(35:01):
bit about yourself.
Man, I don't need to pry oranything, but I just don't want
to be on my phone.
I'd rather have a personalexperience.
You can do that in a way of notfeeling like you're trying to
hit on a woman if she's abartender, or prying into a
man's life.
It's quite simple Just say hey,listen, I'm not a phone guy man
, you don't have to get crazywith it.
But I think a lot of bartendersare so used to being ignored
(35:24):
that they are programmed to nottalk to people and bother them
anymore.
I don't believe that's aproblem of the fucking bartender
.
I think it's a problem of theguest.
The guest and you, stephen, area victim of it, because when
you go there, the bartender isjust now so used to being a
certain way that it's falling onyou.
Yeah, and I think that's theproblem.
So I think if you break thecycle with them, you're going to
(35:44):
find nine times out of ten thatthey're going to be kind of
like oh, you want to talk?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Well, most people do want to.
But I mean, I've been in thatsituation too where I will
literally put my phone face downand sit there with them and
wait and try and have aconversation, like I'll keep
trying to interject or askquestions and they don't want to
talk.
Well, here's another thing,bartender.
Having a bartender who is notsociable and trying to make you
(36:09):
feel like a more whatever valuedguest or whatever the
conversation is, frustrates thehell out of me, and there's a
lot.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
here's a problem I have.
When there's a when you're,when I go out, I'm social.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
If I travel, I go to bars.
If I'm in a hotel, I hang outat bar places.
If there's a good lookingbartender a woman, right, I'm
sure it works the same way foryou guys.
When there's a good lookingbartender, I'm not always trying
to fuck you.
You know what I mean Not everyguy is trying to fuck you every
single time.
Look, you're beautiful, got it.
You're cool, got it.
I've been around, I've had myshare of beautiful women.
(36:38):
But just because you'rebeautiful and I'm sitting at the
bar doesn't mean I'm talking toyou because I'm trying to fuck
you, or I'm trying to take youhome, or I'm trying to bring you
upstairs in my room.
It's not the case, just tryingto have an actual conversation A
lot of women bartenders,especially now, don't give you
the time of day.
They don't want to talk to you.
They just walk away as ifeverything you're doing is
(36:59):
trying to talk.
You're, I'm not so relax.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Relax and yeah, I think you have to initiate on
both sides, but I like thesuggestion.
Just tell them I don't want tobe on my phone tonight what you
got, all right.
So last question, we're gonnago with Krista.
So how do you stay innovativeand fresh with your menu?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
You don't.
It's very hard.
After doing it for 30 years andafter 13 years of specials and
after three years of this placebringing specials, you do run
the well runs dry right, yeah.
So, being innovative, you haveto go find it.
You have to dig deep downinside and realize what you do.
And you always have to rememberthat people are coming in
(37:36):
because of what you offer andyou don't have time to stop.
So it's more driven out ofnecessity than a lot of times
where it's so fun to just paintyou know what I'm saying we run
out of necessity than a lot oftimes where it's so fun to just
paint.
You know I'm saying we run outof that.
You know it happens witheverybody.
Songwriters, uh, entertainers,we all go through this where we
have to put away everybody'sexpectation of us and find it
(37:57):
within ourself to put it out.
And that's when I start gettinginnovative, is when I start
realizing I want to cook tonight.
Yeah, you know what?
I mean for, so Can you read thelast part of that question real
quick.
No, I closed it.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Hold on, yeah, just how you stay innovative and
fresh with your menu.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
So that's yeah, yeah, so it's not as easy as you
think.
So staying innovative and freshis within yourself.
You have to always.
I have to, not you.
I have to always remind myselfthat people are coming here
because of what it is we do andthat's what drives me, that's
what keeps me innovative is like, okay, I've got to stay up with
that.
I have to stay up with that, orelse I become irrelevant, and
(38:33):
that's no good.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
That's good.
So this is, yeah, the firstAMA-style podcast.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, we can keep going.
Should we do this again, youguys?
Speaker 1 (38:40):
have to let us know.
Should we do it again, Make acomment.
We'll put up another thing fornext season.
We'll do.
Maybe we can try a new one aseason.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, let's do it.
But you know, what I thinkwould be fun too is if we get
some interaction, as always, hit, subscribe and follow and like
and share and all that stuff.
We like it.
But if you could, we'd like todo this live.
It would be fun to have peoplecalling in.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Actually that would be fun or doing it live in the
actual restaurant doing it liveactual crowd here, like doing it
and having people shout outquestions yeah, that would be
there were a lot more questions.
Um, we can't get to them allbecause we can't go on for hours
.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I mean we could but we'll do another, we'll do
another one.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
We had another like 10 questions that we didn't get
to, so we'll do those in thenext one, but yeah, if you send
them in, I think it was.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
It was fun it's just a little bit different.
It's a little more personableand you get to see my point of
view as a chef when you come inhere.
A lot of people have thesequestions.
I get questions every day.
All the time and I'm surprisednobody asks me the fucking real
question everybody asks all thetime.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
What real question.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
What does a chef?
What do you eat?
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Where do you eat?
Where do you eat or?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
what do you cook at home?
I try not to cook at home ever.
I don't like to, and here's thereason why I'm so used to
having a team behind me, aphenomenal team.
But I can't cook at homeanymore, because that means I've
got to clean and mess.
Yeah, I've got to shopping.
No, no, no, fuck all that.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Oh, alright.
Well, that was it, we did it.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Alright, sounds good.
Boom, oh, we missed.
Oh, we missed God we haven'teven been drinking, that's the
problem.
That's the problem.
Yeah, that's all right, allright.
Listen, appreciate you allCheck us out, keep it going.
Thanks for the one year ofawesomeness and ciao for now.
Ciao.
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