Join Chef Chris Williams as he takes us on a captivating journey into the depths of Southern cuisine and the cultural heritage that shapes it. With a blend of personal stories and culinary wisdom, Chris shares insights on what makes South Carolina’s food scene truly unique.
• Introduction to Chris Williams, a chef and restaurant owner from South Carolina
• Significance of Gullah Geechee heritage in Southern cooking
• The importance of history and family in culinary identity
• Chris’s experience competing at prestigious food championships
• Insights on how to find inspiration and adapt in the kitchen
• The message of passion, heritage, and community in the culinary world
Don't miss this enriching conversation!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Chris.
And here we are again, ChrisWilliams, right here in this
place to be what's up.
And here's the thing.
Here's the thing Right away.
I saw you hooting and holleringwhen you were down on the thing
yesterday when you werecompeting.
You were getting the crowdhyped up, weren't you?
Yeah, man, that's what it's allabout.
That's what it's right, becauseif they're here watching,
they're Tell us what you do.
My name is Chris Williams.
I'm from Columbia South.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Carolina.
I am a chef and restaurantowner of a restaurant called
Roy's Grill.
Type of food Well, wespecialize in barbecue, burgers,
cheesesteaks at the restaurant.
Okay, but as far as other typesof cuisine, I mean, I can do
whatever you need as far ascatering goes.
Your only limitation is yourimagination.
That's right.
We can do just about anything.
Been doing this all my life,man.
(00:47):
Been getting paid to cookalmost 30 years.
Right, I know I might not looklike it.
Yeah, you look young, but I'vebeen getting paid to cook for a
long time.
My grandfather passed and I hadthe opportunity to name the
restaurant, so I wanted to nameit after him to kind of honor
him.
You know what I'm saying.
(01:07):
Okay, that's a good name.
Good, I like that.
Yeah, I'm also a South Carolinachef ambassador too.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Okay, right on.
What does that mean exactly?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, that is an honor that once a year.
They award maybe three to fivechefs every year with the honor
of being a South Carolina chefambassador.
What that really means is werepresent our state and we
represent the governor atcooking engagements, speaking
engagements, cooking demos, youname it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
media, press-related stuff Nice, Just kind of getting
the word out about SouthCarolina culinary and about our
chefs man, that must mean thathe knows a lot about the South
Carolina traditional cuisinedating back in history.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So you've got to have some sort of a knowledge of
that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Huh, I'm not a historian, but growing up in it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I saw, I know it, I lived it.
I breathe by experience.
You are somewhat of anhistorian, by experience, I mean
, I don't lead with that title,you know, of course that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
But I'm sure there's historians out there that would
track you down to getinformation to create to keep
their historian status going.
Finding people like you who arerooted right, because the
traditions, the actual culinarynow, when you live there, grow
up there, have roots there andgo back there.
Your palate speaks for that.
It does.
Now you can try and replicateit right.
I can go to.
(02:15):
I can go to asia and learnasian food right with the best
of them, but I didn't grow up inthat.
So to have the root of that, tohave that that part of my blood
is different.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That means something man.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's where it comes out of your hands, that way.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, and there is no American history or American
food scene or history withoutSouth Carolina history and South
Carolina food.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's correct.
Charleston Cleary, that wholearea, played a big part of that.
That's it.
Everything came through there.
Everything, everything camethrough there, everything man,
you said it right there is noSouthern cuisine without South
Carolina Period, no cuisinePeriod.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
We got drinks coming.
We got drinks coming in.
You're drinking.
We're not drinking alone.
People, let's go, thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Thank you, Cheers man Cheers, cheers to it.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Cooking and booking baby.
Booking them appointments, book, booking them clients cooking
all day.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So, let's talk about the competition too, because
we're here at the World FoodChampionships.
You obviously had to get a pathto get here.
So what did that look like?
Where did you do yourqualifying for the golden ticket
?
What category are you in?
What did you make?
Give us all the details.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, as far as qualifying, I didn't have to do
the qualifying route this yearbecause I competed last year and
I got second place in mycategory.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
So if you make it that, automatically brings you
in.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, if you make it to the top ten, you
automatically get grandfatheredin.
So I placed second in sandwichlast year.
I placed fifth in sandwich theyear before and second place put
a bad taste in my mouth.
Man, I'm not going to lie, soI'm just going to switch
categories all together.
I switched to rice this year.
(03:50):
Yeah, so you know I didn't makethe finals, okay, which
probably tells me I probablyshould have stuck with sound.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It was a good experience and I wanted to do
rice because I wanted to dosomething that meant something
to me.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Right your rice look.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Content was all there and I really think if I had the
opportunity to really explainconceptually what I did on the
plate, it would have made senseBecause, to a judge me, just
turning in a plate and I gotSpanish moss and cotton and okra
and all this stuff on it andshrimp Like what the hell?
Why okra and all this stuff onit and shrimp like what the heck
(04:25):
?
Like what, why?
But those are things that meansomething to me and to my folks
and to my history and myheritage.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Um, historically, you're not representative of
where you're from.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's indigenous, indigenous stuff, exactly
exactly, I'm from the lowcountry in south carolina, you
know what I mean.
And uh, gulagichi is ourheritage and that's what's left
over from our West African slave, our ancestors.
Yeah, they brought that overand the descendants of those
West African slaves were GullahGeechee.
So what that means to eatGullah.
(04:52):
To eat Geechee means to eatwhat you can catch, eat what's
fresh, what can we grow livingoff the land?
So we eat a lot of okra, we eata lot of tomatoes, you know
what I mean.
We eat a lot of game, you know.
And rice before, before, thiscountry was growing and
profiting off of cotton, tobaccoand indigo.
(05:14):
Rice was the cash, the firstcash crop of this country.
You know charleston, southcarolina, is actually called the
city that rice built.
So that's why I wanted tochoose uh rice and I actually
used carolina gold rice.
That's the rice that my africanancestors actually brought and
on top of that, bro, here's tonot being a historian yeah, yeah
(05:35):
yeah cheers to not being ahistorian, just taught us like
carolina gold rice was broughtover here with my African
ancestors during the MiddlePassage.
They would braid the grains ofthe Carolina gold rice and the
seeds of the okra in theirbraids so that the slavers
wouldn't find it.
And when they got here, theones that made it fortunately
(05:58):
they were unbraided, unraveledthe hair and sowed their seeds.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So that's how they were able to bring that African
grain of rice here, you knowwhat I mean and, like the,
that's such, that is suchimportant history.
It was purposeful.
Right, it was purposeful,because that is not what you're
saying right now is somethingthat we think is so American.
No, carolina cold rice,everybody thinks that's American
(06:21):
no, I think that's so.
American.
That's an original.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
African grain right.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So so that was brought here and then put down
in the ground, and now it'sAmerican Right, but it didn't
start from America.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
No, it didn't.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
A lot of Southern cooking was robbed of that.
Yeah, we can talk about a lotof things, and I'm a huge
advocate of this I am.
One of the shows I was workingon is just that literally
calling out the theft ofSouthern, especially black,
american or soul food cookingthat was robbed, and just take
it.
But it's chefs like you, though, that'll bring it back to light
(06:54):
and educate.
So that's why we have to showthe burnt-hands.
Perspective is to cover allavenues of the restaurant
industry and all the shit thatcomes with it.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And I think it's dope what y'all are doing bro.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, thank you, bro, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And I think it's dope what y'all are doing, bro.
Yeah, thank you, bro.
I appreciate that.
I think it's dope, man, becausea lot of people don't get to
hear those stories and a lot ofpeople wouldn't have gotten to
hear me say what I just said toyou guys.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Sure, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And we're barely cracking the surface of what
we're really talking about, whenwe're really just scratching
the surface.
We just scratched the head offthe pimple.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The puss ain't even losing out yet that's not even
coming out the gate.
So you have just given us a lotof insight as a historian,
right?
So, going back to the roots ofyour cooking, your taste, where
you get influenced, whatinfluences you when you're
cooking or creating, coming upwith something for your
restaurant?
What's your biggest?
When you're down in the dumps,when you get a writer's block,
(07:44):
what do you call it right, what?
Where do you go?
What?
Where do you go find yourinspiration to come out of that?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
home, home, home.
I'm from bamberg county, southcarolina, a little rural town
called olah.
You know what I mean.
My subdivision is bigger thanmy neighborhood, bro.
Wow, I grew up on the dirt road.
We raised chickens, pigs, cows.
We grew our own vegetables.
So, like when I get in a blockand I don't know what to do but
I go back home, I think aboutsome of those crops being my, I
would help my grandfather.
(08:09):
So sure, I think about some ofthose fields I helped them plow
and then someone yeah, it putsit on your mouth you have a real
, actual farm, right like yougrew up.
I mean, I think about watchingmy grandmother make them
buttermilk biscuits, you knowwhat I saying and fry that
chicken in that skillet.
And learning the technique,which I didn't know it at the
time, but I was learning andliving Gullah Geechee heritage
(08:33):
in real life.
You know what I mean ExactlyBefore, farm to table was a fad.
That's what I'm saying, bro.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's a necessity it's so refreshing to hear you say
this because it goes back to mything is, if you cook what you
truly lived, your food is goingto be famous, if you will, just
because you're representingsomething that no one else can
capture.
A lot of people have eaten, alot of people have cooked, a lot
of people have farmed.
(09:00):
A lot of people understand thelifestyle, but not a lot of
people know how to put it alltogether at once Exactly.
You know what I mean and that'swhat you're doing and that's
what we do.
I do the same thing with myItalian here, yeah, so I'm doing
a lot of regional stuff.
I get inspired.
I'm American-Italian, so I wasborn here.
My family's all from Italy.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I was born American proudly, but I go to Italy when
I need inspiration for differentregions for the same reasons, I
get the history and all thatstuff when I go home.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I'm from New Haven Connecticut originally.
I go there when I want to getinspired by other Italian
American cooks so going home iswhere it's at.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Going home is where it's at man and staying tapped
in to the culture and stayingtapped into the food scene,
because I mean, like, cominghere, you see the innovation and
the excitement around all thesechefs and the things that
they're coming up with, bro, andit's refreshing.
You know what I mean.
(09:55):
It gives you a breath of freshair, like I get inspiration from
other chefs.
Every day Just watching some ofthe things that come up.
I'm inspired by you right now.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I'm inspired by you right now, what you're telling
me gives me inspiration to goback now and learn more about my
heritage, if I can, becauseyou're inspiring me to do that.
So if we don't inspire eachother, man, we're sitting here
drinking beer like fools.
You know what I'm saying We'lldrink beer, but we ain't fools
no, not by a long shot, not by along shot.
So you have a really uniquechef coat.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Let's hear about this .
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Tell me about this Well, I wasn't in the military.
My brother was.
Okay, my brother's an Armyveteran.
He passed away a couple yearsago.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know, and my girl , Ms Ave, she's also, she's a
service member as well.
She's here today, Okay.
So happy Veterans Day to herand everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
To his veterans and Veterans Day to her and
everybody.
That's a veteran.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But the history of this jacket is she had it made
for me after my brother passed.
You know, I think she gave itto me as like I don't want to
say a birthday or Christmas giftand just surprised me with it.
She took some old uniforms andjust had it made, and in memory
of James Michael Carter man, youknow, that's when he rose,
that's when he fell, so I have ahat, that kind of matches.
(11:07):
But you know I'm a rep bro, I'ma rep my team.
You know I try to bring himwith me to all of my
competitions.
A lot of times when I competeI'll bring a little candle and
I'll light it.
You know what I mean.
He's here with you, he's herewith me, bro.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
That's a great story, bro.
Keep it going, man.
Yeah, bro.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So that's what this jacket is all about.
And shout out to all of I don'tknow who I'm looking at, but
shout out to all of our servicemembers, whether it be Army,
navy, marine, coast Guard, spaceForce, whatever that is.
Shout out to you guys too.
But without you guys, wewouldn't be able to do what we
do.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Exactly, and I'm a veteran myself.
So all to the veterans.
Happy Valentine's Day to youtoo, bro.
Thank you, my man.
We appreciate your service man.
Thank you guys.
Let's do something fun.
Real quick, what's up?
Let's do something fun.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Let's get it.
Let's get the list.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
First thing come to mind type deal first thing come
to mind all right, they're notall that crazy.
You can take them as crazy asyou want.
Go crazy with them.
Let's spend a little bit, let'sturn it up a little bit yeah,
we do, we do, we go all over theplace.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
All right, the one kitchen tool you can't live
without, besides knives a castiron skillet I watched you cook
yesterday with that skillet.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I can't do it without it.
You make some of the best castiron in the world in South
Carolina.
Smithy, shout out, smithy inCharleston South.
Carolina.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I want a Smithy now we need a Smithy let's link up
after this alright cool.
What puts you in the mood?
More the smell or the visual?
Ooh, ooh, we're talking aboutcooking.
If we talk about something else, more the smell or the visual
Ooh, ooh, we're talking aboutcooking.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
If we're talking about something else, it ain't
gonna be the smell, unless it'sgood.
It'll take you out of the mood.
Take you out of the mood, thattwerk when it's different though
Alright, we got off track.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Could you repeat please?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, let me repeat the question what puts you in
the mood?
More the visual or the smell ofthe dish To create the visual
man, the visual all?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
right, because I may add something to change the
smells, you know, what I mean Imay go to a different region of
the world with it.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Okay, I like it.
Cool, all right.
The worst position in thekitchen.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Cook-wise, work-wise, work-wise.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Cook-wise.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, I told you, these things have angles, man,
these questions.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Fuck On a weekend.
Yeah, I'm going to say thesalad guy, bro, either salad or
the prep guy, okay, not prep.
I'm going to say it's a tiebetween salads and apps, man,
okay.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
They're getting their head beat in Every time.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Nothing goes down without them.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Alright, so the best position in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The best position in the kitchen.
I'm going to say pointWhoever's quarterbacking the
line, expo.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
That seems to be the crowd favorite.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I like Expo man because the flow and the tone of
your kitchen depends on theExpo.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
That seems to be the crowdfavorite.
I like Expo man because, likethe flow and the tone of your
kitchen is depends on the Expo,sure, the kitchen is as strong
as he is.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's right, you know, he knows how to sell
around what and all that othershit.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So Expo bro, I like it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Word All right, your favorite ingredient, and it
could be a it doesn't have to beso much of a spice.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Any ingredient.
What do you like to work withthe most?
One thing you could not livewithout Rice, bro, just rice,
yeah, I love that Is that, or Iwas going to pull out okra.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah rice, yeah rice.
I mean, I can live without okrainside of rice.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, you know, but like I,gotta have rice, bro.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I got to, I love it.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
We know what your roots are, so what other cooking
method intimidates you the most?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
intimidates nothing, it is less style ranch or style.
None of it.
All of it excites me.
I like doing the shit I don'tknow how to do.
The shit I don't understand isthe shit I want to learn and
conquer.
Okay, so like I'm not afraid,like ask me hey, what's your
favorite thing to cook?
That's my answer to shit.
I don't know how to cook.
You know what I mean?
Teach me something.
The day I stopped being astudent is the day I need to
(15:07):
figure out something else to do.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Sure, so I'm going to answer that question.
Yeah, but it also scares me tocook.
Want to know why, though?
What's that?
Because I can't fucking speakit.
I don't know what the hell itis.
I don't know how to talk thatlanguage at all.
So the ingredients and the wayto say them is what intimidates
me, yeah.
But the food itself and theprocess nah man, so it's not the
food.
It's the language.
Announcing this stuff is likeshit, Tong, tong, tong.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't know how to say it no, yeah, right, so it's,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Thai food has me on another level, when I eat Thai
food, bro, I'm going to tell youwhat them flavors Right.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And that heat, yeah, and that acid?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Oh man, I'm getting hungry.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Just the combo bro, like to say legit might be a
question.
All right, let's see.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
All right, well, we'll see, we got a few more
left.
All right, your favorite fastfood restaurant.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Rush's Okay, rush's R-U-S-H apostrophe S.
That's a local burger spot wegot at home.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So it's a local joint .
Man Rush's is probably going tobe my favorite fast food spot
Love it.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Okay, if your kitchen was a car, what kind of car
would it be?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Your kitchen at work.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
If my kitchen at work was a car, what would it be?
84 Chevy Monte Carlo SS withthe T-tops?
Baby, oh nice, you went deep.
You know your kitchen well.
I love that kitchen With theT-tops.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That kitchen is fun.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Right with the T-tops , we might have 412s and 215s in
that thing.
I like it.
It's bumping.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oh yeah, that's it, man.
I gotta get to your kitchen.
Bro, let's go Between that andthe cast iron.
It's a wrap.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
We're going there, all right.
Baking, yes or no?
Yes, okay, I like that.
I love baking man Really.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I'm not a baker, but I have a certain amount of
desserts and things that I thinkI do exceptionally well and I
like to make them.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, I love it.
Hit me off with one.
Yeah, what's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, I'm glad you said that.
Well, with me being a SouthCarolina chef ambassador, they
paired us.
They paired each chefambassador with a farmer so we
could do our promo video, andthey paired me with a peach
farmer the largest peach farmerin the Southeast.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Hold on one second During the harvest next year.
If you're with this guy linkedup, I want to get with you when
I'm coming down there.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
He loves peaches South.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Carolina peach In that season to me is one of the
most delicious things you canhave Off of vine it starts
around.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I want to say June-ish.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
What's the best?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
time for that Peak season, that's sweet running
down your face.
I want to say in the summertime, man.
I want to say in the middle ofthe summer, with the watermelons
bro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I'm talking about peaches, though.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean around July-ish.
Okay, good, so I'm coming.
Okay, he wants to.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I want to come down there with the podcast with the
crew and do a show on SouthCarolina cuisine, because we
found our guy, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We found our guy Because peaches South Carolina.
You know who's considered thepeach state Georgia.
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, but I don't agree.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
We grow more peaches than Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
But I don't agree with that, because South
Carolina peaches are fuckingproper.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Bro, we got the largest peach farm in the
Southeast.
Wow, the largest peach farm inthe southeast, maybe, maybe,
maybe this is, I think it mightbe the second largest in the
world, next to some uh farm outwest so georgia does have its
place in the peach world.
That's not even play, of courseit does the south?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
carolina peaches to me.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, I know I tell you what I love that so so back
to your original question eithera peach cobbler I can make with
peaches or my.
One of the desserts we make atthe restaurant is a façade bread
pudding with a spiced rumdrizzle that we make.
But for that chefambassadorship, when they paired
me with my guy Jason out ofTitan Farms, I took some of
their peaches and I kind ofcaramelized, bruleed them and
(18:59):
baked them on top and into mydessert and that's actually on
my chef ambassador card, like mypromo card.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That dish is on it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, it's that dish, so it's funny.
You asked me that we need that.
That was a good question.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
We're going to South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Hey team we're going to South Carolina.
Hey, south Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Who.
I'm looking at.
I keep receipts.
You said you coming.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I keep receipts.
Man, we coming, we come withthem, all right.
So random Gloves, or wash yourhands.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Potato, potato.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Totally random.
Wash your hands, man, that'swhat I'm talking about Wash your
hands.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm old school.
Wash your hands, man.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Keep your hands clean .
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Do you know the owner ?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, gloves, go to school.
Wash your hands, man.
Keep your hands clean, do youknow the owner?
Yeah, gloves give themisconception of cleanliness,
you know how many people I seewear gloves and don't change
them.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And don't change them they change them no difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And their hand is white dripping sweat, and
they're scratching it andputting another pair of gloves
on?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, it's right there.
It's trapping it in and peopledon't get it.
That's no good.
Yeah the question do you knowthe owner?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm him.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So what about that?
When they come in yourrestaurant?
When they come in yourrestaurant?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
how many people?
Oh, I know the owner Well, Imean, at my restaurant it's like
a family cheers type of thing.
So everybody.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
They kind of all know you anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, like 50-75% of the people.
They know me, whether it befrom a magazine article they saw
, a news station they saw, orbeing here or just the things I
do in the community.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
But they don't know you like that.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
They don't know me like that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's what I get a lot.
I get a lot of publicity aswell yeah, rewards and all that
stuff.
And they come in and they thinkthey know you a.
Then you go out there, thisperson knows you.
They want you to come to thetable I drop my.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I drop my tongs, I go out to the table and I don't
know that and I turn the coin,I'm like, no, I'm not, I'm not,
I'm busy.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know because you don't know what
to say and I really got to cookI really really do you want
your food right?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
yeah I got a job to do, all right.
And if you could cook withanyone, who would it be?
Who would it be?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Doesn't have to be famous.
Nah, I know what I want to say.
I'm just trying to pause before.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I cry up here in front of y'all my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I would love the same thing.
I will go into detail, but Imight start.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
We'll catch you at the next round.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Listen to me, we're going to do that.
When we cash in on that receipt, south start.
Yeah, we'll catch you at thenext round.
Yeah, let's keep going.
Listen to me, we're going to dothat, but my grandma.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
When we cash in on that receipt South Carolina yeah
, we'll do that, then We'll gointo that.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's right, that's where that comes in, but my
grandma man, let's be a showlike that.
Well, I inspiration myelevation.
All of it man.
All of it Good.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Well, I love the history.
I love the history.
I think that's stuff thatpeople need to know more about.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
They do, man we have historians in Virginia.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
We've had an episode that'll be out.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
in the four years that we went over a lot of
things in Virginia, you Rightafter us, it was Virginia as far
as the population of slavesimported into this country.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So Virginia's important too.
Tidewater area, all watershed,All the oysters, the whole deal
yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And it's oyster season back home now.
Like I had oysters on myturn-in tray, so like they
really needed an explanation asto why they saw what.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
They saw what the combo was.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Everything that was on that plate was regional to
where we are.
I picked Spanish moss out ofthe trees in Charleston.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I literally picked cotton out of the fields in
Orangeburg.
You know what I mean.
I had Jefferson red rice, tiara, black rice, some Carolina gold
, some charred okra on there.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I'm glad you're saying that I'm a final round
judge tomorrow and the next dayfor all the final rounds.
Okay, dope, it helps me get theperspective to look at these
plates and wonder.
Okay, there's Spanish moss inhere.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Maybe there's a reason why, Well, look at the
whole story Like look at it as apicture I personally collected
that I'm in somebody's fieldpicking their cotton.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
No one's watching right now.
They can't see.
But see all those people downthere in the red right there,
yeah, yeah, your food comes downthe red carpet and that's where
the judges sit.
They're judging your food.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, and it's blind judging.
They don't know.
They're just looking like what.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
The final round, judges were up on the stage and
you get to explain it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, you get to talk .
This year is different andyears prior.
I don't feel bad about it, butjust the fact that I was able to
come here, I was able tocompete, Do it and I was able to
share myself, my history, myfamily and my heritage with
(23:37):
essentially the world.
Like I won, bro, you did win.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
We both won.
Because I'm inspired by this,I'm really looking forward to
working with you a little bitand feeling your roots and
learning from you, man.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Really Moe, we can do it.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Because I teach people all the time.
It's my job.
I own two restaurants, I have85 friggin' employees in the
back of the house pretty much,and I'm constantly trying to
pass on the education.
Yeah, I can't do this forever.
No, bro, you know what I mean,and nobody the people before me
couldn't do it forever.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
And now I'm there forever.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
They're past there forever now.
They're where they were whenthey told me I can't do this
forever.
They're past that now.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Now they're right, they're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, but they're counting on here right now
because we can talk all day.
Man, you've got a lot to say.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I swear bro.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So I want to end this right now by saying what do you
have to say to anyone coming upin this game in the restaurant
world?
And I'm not talking abouteveryone who has that dream of
being this big, fancy chef.
I'm talking about themotherfuckers in the struggle
right now, trying to bear withthe fact world and they're
questioning it.
But you know they shouldn't,because they got it.
Yeah, what do you tell them?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Sometimes it's not about quitting, it's not about
giving up bros.
It's about learning how topivot, like what you're doing
right now.
It might not be working rightnow, but you may need to switch
it up a little bit.
Don't give up on it, like ifyou have some dreams and some
ideas not dreams but if you havesome ideas you were thinking
about when it kind of on thefence on.
If it's in here, bro or ma'am,if it's in here and you feel it
(25:11):
and it resonates with you,follow it, because that's when
you start to gain momentum,that's when you start to get
money.
Don't, don't chase the money.
You know what I mean.
Chase your passion for and yourlove for this business, for
this industry, for this game,because if you don't have a
passion for it and if you don'tlove it, it's not going to work,
because it's hard, it's rough,it's difficult.
(25:32):
You know what I mean.
You need a good support system.
You need all of those things.
So stay focused, keep going,learn how to pivot and lean on
your support system.
You've got to have one.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Right on, bro.
I appreciate that and that'sexactly what I tell people.
We feel the same way and that'swhy we are where we are and
pivoting is the hugest thing inthis industry, because this
industry is always pivoting onyour ass.
Always, bro, and if you ain'tpaying attention it's going to
pivot you right out the back.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The automation, the AI, is coming guys.
It started to hit the kitchen,you know what I mean, but it's
really going to start to comefull circle here in the next
five to ten years, man.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
So they really start to get serious about what you're
doing, man pay attention toyour hands pay attention
perspective for a reasonautomation, ai, they can't get
burnt, and if you don't getburnt you don't learn.
We can always stay ahead.
By that we can beat.
Animation we can do it.
The automated we can beatbecause these hands have to do
it.
You do and, like you said, allthat history you talked and all
the history, I know what sheknows in her industries.
(26:25):
Everything, everything we talkabout comes from here in the
heart.
And, like you said, don't worryabout the money If your passion
is what you're following themoney's going to come.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
It'll come.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
It'll come.
Don't worry about the money.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, chase the vision, chase your heart.
Chase your heart and yourvision, man.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
My man pleasure meeting you.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Cheers man.
We're checking out right now.
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Thank you.
We'll see you in South Carolina, bro.
We're going to catch up on thatwe're coming down.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I got that receipt.
You can hold me to it.
We're going to South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Skyler's over there saying we're going Right, all
right, cool, all right.
Ciao for now, guys.
Thank you.
All right, Chris.
And here we are again, ChrisWilliams, right here in this
place to be what's up.
And here's the thing.
Here's the thing Right away.
I saw you hooting and holleringwhen you were down on the thing
yesterday when you werecompeting.
You were getting the crowdhyped up, weren't you?
Yeah, man, that's what it's allabout.
That's what it's right, becauseif they're here watching,
they're Tell us what you do.
My name is Chris Williams.
I'm from Columbia South.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Carolina.
I am a chef and restaurantowner of a restaurant called
Roy's Grill.
Type of food Well, wespecialize in barbecue, burgers,
cheesesteaks at the restaurant.
Okay, but as far as other typesof cuisine, I mean, I can do
whatever you need as far ascatering goes.
Your only limitation is yourimagination.
That's right.
We can do just about anything.
Been doing this all my life,man.
(00:47):
Been getting paid to cookalmost 30 years.
Right, I know I might not looklike it.
Yeah, you look young, but I'vebeen getting paid to cook for a
long time.
My grandfather passed and I hadthe opportunity to name the
restaurant, so I wanted to nameit after him to kind of honor
him.
You know what I'm saying.
(01:07):
Okay, that's a good name.
Good, I like that.
Yeah, I'm also a South Carolinachef ambassador too.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Okay, right on.
What does that mean exactly?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, that is an honor that once a year.
They award maybe three to fivechefs every year with the honor
of being a South Carolina chefambassador.
What that really means is werepresent our state and we
represent the governor atcooking engagements, speaking
engagements, cooking demos, youname it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
media, press-related stuff Nice, Just kind of getting
the word out about SouthCarolina culinary and about our
chefs man, that must mean thathe knows a lot about the South
Carolina traditional cuisinedating back in history.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So you've got to have some sort of a knowledge of
that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Huh, I'm not a historian, but growing up in it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I saw, I know it, I lived it.
I breathe by experience.
You are somewhat of anhistorian, by experience, I mean
, I don't lead with that title,you know, of course that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
But I'm sure there's historians out there that would
track you down to getinformation to create to keep
their historian status going.
Finding people like you who arerooted right, because the
traditions, the actual culinarynow, when you live there, grow
up there, have roots there andgo back there.
Your palate speaks for that.
It does.
Now you can try and replicateit right.
I can go to.
(02:15):
I can go to asia and learnasian food right with the best
of them, but I didn't grow up inthat.
So to have the root of that, tohave that that part of my blood
is different.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That means something man.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
That's where it comes out of your hands, that way.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, and there is no American history or American
food scene or history withoutSouth Carolina history and South
Carolina food.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's correct.
Charleston Cleary, that wholearea, played a big part of that.
That's it.
Everything came through there.
Everything, everything camethrough there, everything man,
you said it right there is noSouthern cuisine without South
Carolina Period, no cuisinePeriod.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
We got drinks coming.
We got drinks coming in.
You're drinking.
We're not drinking alone.
People, let's go, thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Thank you, Cheers man Cheers, cheers to it.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Cooking and booking baby.
Booking them appointments, book, booking them clients cooking
all day.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So, let's talk about the competition too, because
we're here at the World FoodChampionships.
You obviously had to get a pathto get here.
So what did that look like?
Where did you do yourqualifying for the golden ticket
?
What category are you in?
What did you make?
Give us all the details.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, as far as qualifying, I didn't have to do
the qualifying route this yearbecause I competed last year and
I got second place in mycategory.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
So if you make it that, automatically brings you
in.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, if you make it to the top ten, you
automatically get grandfatheredin.
So I placed second in sandwichlast year.
I placed fifth in sandwich theyear before and second place put
a bad taste in my mouth.
Man, I'm not going to lie, soI'm just going to switch
categories all together.
I switched to rice this year.
(03:50):
Yeah, so you know I didn't makethe finals, okay, which
probably tells me I probablyshould have stuck with sound.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It was a good experience and I wanted to do
rice because I wanted to dosomething that meant something
to me.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Right your rice look.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Content was all there and I really think if I had the
opportunity to really explainconceptually what I did on the
plate, it would have made senseBecause, to a judge me, just
turning in a plate and I gotSpanish moss and cotton and okra
and all this stuff on it andshrimp Like what the hell?
Why okra and all this stuff onit and shrimp like what the heck
(04:25):
?
Like what, why?
But those are things that meansomething to me and to my folks
and to my history and myheritage.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Um, historically, you're not representative of
where you're from.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's indigenous, indigenous stuff, exactly
exactly, I'm from the lowcountry in south carolina, you
know what I mean.
And uh, gulagichi is ourheritage and that's what's left
over from our West African slave, our ancestors.
Yeah, they brought that overand the descendants of those
West African slaves were GullahGeechee.
So what that means to eatGullah.
(04:52):
To eat Geechee means to eatwhat you can catch, eat what's
fresh, what can we grow livingoff the land?
So we eat a lot of okra, we eata lot of tomatoes, you know
what I mean.
We eat a lot of game, you know.
And rice before, before, thiscountry was growing and
profiting off of cotton, tobaccoand indigo.
(05:14):
Rice was the cash, the firstcash crop of this country.
You know charleston, southcarolina, is actually called the
city that rice built.
So that's why I wanted tochoose uh rice and I actually
used carolina gold rice.
That's the rice that my africanancestors actually brought and
on top of that, bro, here's tonot being a historian yeah, yeah
(05:35):
yeah cheers to not being ahistorian, just taught us like
carolina gold rice was broughtover here with my African
ancestors during the MiddlePassage.
They would braid the grains ofthe Carolina gold rice and the
seeds of the okra in theirbraids so that the slavers
wouldn't find it.
And when they got here, theones that made it fortunately
(05:58):
they were unbraided, unraveledthe hair and sowed their seeds.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So that's how they were able to bring that African
grain of rice here, you knowwhat I mean and, like the,
that's such, that is suchimportant history.
It was purposeful.
Right, it was purposeful,because that is not what you're
saying right now is somethingthat we think is so American.
No, carolina cold rice,everybody thinks that's American
(06:21):
no, I think that's so.
American.
That's an original.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
African grain right.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So so that was brought here and then put down
in the ground, and now it'sAmerican Right, but it didn't
start from America.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
No, it didn't.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
A lot of Southern cooking was robbed of that.
Yeah, we can talk about a lotof things, and I'm a huge
advocate of this I am.
One of the shows I was workingon is just that literally
calling out the theft ofSouthern, especially black,
american or soul food cookingthat was robbed, and just take
it.
But it's chefs like you, though, that'll bring it back to light
(06:54):
and educate.
So that's why we have to showthe burnt-hands.
Perspective is to cover allavenues of the restaurant
industry and all the shit thatcomes with it.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And I think it's dope what y'all are doing bro.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, thank you, bro, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And I think it's dope what y'all are doing, bro.
Yeah, thank you, bro.
I appreciate that.
I think it's dope, man, becausea lot of people don't get to
hear those stories and a lot ofpeople wouldn't have gotten to
hear me say what I just said toyou guys.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Sure, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And we're barely cracking the surface of what
we're really talking about, whenwe're really just scratching
the surface.
We just scratched the head offthe pimple.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The puss ain't even losing out yet that's not even
coming out the gate.
So you have just given us a lotof insight as a historian,
right?
So, going back to the roots ofyour cooking, your taste, where
you get influenced, whatinfluences you when you're
cooking or creating, coming upwith something for your
restaurant?
What's your biggest?
When you're down in the dumps,when you get a writer's block,
(07:44):
what do you call it right, what?
Where do you go?
What?
Where do you go find yourinspiration to come out of that?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
home, home, home.
I'm from bamberg county, southcarolina, a little rural town
called olah.
You know what I mean.
My subdivision is bigger thanmy neighborhood, bro.
Wow, I grew up on the dirt road.
We raised chickens, pigs, cows.
We grew our own vegetables.
So, like when I get in a blockand I don't know what to do but
I go back home, I think aboutsome of those crops being my, I
would help my grandfather.
(08:09):
So sure, I think about some ofthose fields I helped them plow
and then someone yeah, it putsit on your mouth you have a real
, actual farm, right like yougrew up.
I mean, I think about watchingmy grandmother make them
buttermilk biscuits, you knowwhat I saying and fry that
chicken in that skillet.
And learning the technique,which I didn't know it at the
time, but I was learning andliving Gullah Geechee heritage
(08:33):
in real life.
You know what I mean ExactlyBefore, farm to table was a fad.
That's what I'm saying, bro.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's a necessity it's so refreshing to hear you say
this because it goes back to mything is, if you cook what you
truly lived, your food is goingto be famous, if you will, just
because you're representingsomething that no one else can
capture.
A lot of people have eaten, alot of people have cooked, a lot
of people have farmed.
(09:00):
A lot of people understand thelifestyle, but not a lot of
people know how to put it alltogether at once Exactly.
You know what I mean and that'swhat you're doing and that's
what we do.
I do the same thing with myItalian here, yeah, so I'm doing
a lot of regional stuff.
I get inspired.
I'm American-Italian, so I wasborn here.
My family's all from Italy.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I was born American proudly, but I go to Italy when
I need inspiration for differentregions for the same reasons, I
get the history and all thatstuff when I go home.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I'm from New Haven Connecticut originally.
I go there when I want to getinspired by other Italian
American cooks so going home iswhere it's at.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Going home is where it's at man and staying tapped
in to the culture and stayingtapped into the food scene,
because I mean, like, cominghere, you see the innovation and
the excitement around all thesechefs and the things that
they're coming up with, bro, andit's refreshing.
You know what I mean.
(09:55):
It gives you a breath of freshair, like I get inspiration from
other chefs.
Every day Just watching some ofthe things that come up.
I'm inspired by you right now.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I'm inspired by you right now, what you're telling
me gives me inspiration to goback now and learn more about my
heritage, if I can, becauseyou're inspiring me to do that.
So if we don't inspire eachother, man, we're sitting here
drinking beer like fools.
You know what I'm saying We'lldrink beer, but we ain't fools
no, not by a long shot, not by along shot.
So you have a really uniquechef coat.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Let's hear about this .
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Tell me about this Well, I wasn't in the military.
My brother was.
Okay, my brother's an Armyveteran.
He passed away a couple yearsago.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know, and my girl , Ms Ave, she's also, she's a
service member as well.
She's here today, Okay.
So happy Veterans Day to herand everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
To his veterans and Veterans Day to her and
everybody.
That's a veteran.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But the history of this jacket is she had it made
for me after my brother passed.
You know, I think she gave itto me as like I don't want to
say a birthday or Christmas giftand just surprised me with it.
She took some old uniforms andjust had it made, and in memory
of James Michael Carter man, youknow, that's when he rose,
that's when he fell, so I have ahat, that kind of matches.
(11:07):
But you know I'm a rep bro, I'ma rep my team.
You know I try to bring himwith me to all of my
competitions.
A lot of times when I competeI'll bring a little candle and
I'll light it.
You know what I mean.
He's here with you, he's herewith me, bro.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
That's a great story, bro.
Keep it going, man.
Yeah, bro.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So that's what this jacket is all about.
And shout out to all of I don'tknow who I'm looking at, but
shout out to all of our servicemembers, whether it be Army,
navy, marine, coast Guard, spaceForce, whatever that is.
Shout out to you guys too.
But without you guys, wewouldn't be able to do what we
do.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Exactly, and I'm a veteran myself.
So all to the veterans.
Happy Valentine's Day to youtoo, bro.
Thank you, my man.
We appreciate your service man.
Thank you guys.
Let's do something fun.
Real quick, what's up?
Let's do something fun.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Let's get it.
Let's get the list.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
First thing come to mind type deal first thing come
to mind all right, they're notall that crazy.
You can take them as crazy asyou want.
Go crazy with them.
Let's spend a little bit, let'sturn it up a little bit yeah,
we do, we do, we go all over theplace.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
All right, the one kitchen tool you can't live
without, besides knives a castiron skillet I watched you cook
yesterday with that skillet.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I can't do it without it.
You make some of the best castiron in the world in South
Carolina.
Smithy, shout out, smithy inCharleston South.
Carolina.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I want a Smithy now we need a Smithy let's link up
after this alright cool.
What puts you in the mood?
More the smell or the visual?
Ooh, ooh, we're talking aboutcooking.
If we talk about something else, more the smell or the visual
Ooh, ooh, we're talking aboutcooking.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
If we're talking about something else, it ain't
gonna be the smell, unless it'sgood.
It'll take you out of the mood.
Take you out of the mood, thattwerk when it's different though
Alright, we got off track.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Could you repeat please?
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, let me repeat the question what puts you in
the mood?
More the visual or the smell ofthe dish To create the visual
man, the visual all?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
right, because I may add something to change the
smells, you know, what I mean Imay go to a different region of
the world with it.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Okay, I like it.
Cool, all right.
The worst position in thekitchen.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Cook-wise, work-wise, work-wise.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Cook-wise.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, I told you, these things have angles, man,
these questions.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Fuck On a weekend.
Yeah, I'm going to say thesalad guy, bro, either salad or
the prep guy, okay, not prep.
I'm going to say it's a tiebetween salads and apps, man,
okay.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
They're getting their head beat in Every time.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Nothing goes down without them.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Alright, so the best position in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
The best position in the kitchen.
I'm going to say pointWhoever's quarterbacking the
line, expo.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
That seems to be the crowd favorite.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I like Expo man because the flow and the tone of
your kitchen depends on theExpo.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
That seems to be the crowdfavorite.
I like Expo man because, likethe flow and the tone of your
kitchen is depends on the Expo,sure, the kitchen is as strong
as he is.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's right, you know, he knows how to sell
around what and all that othershit.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So Expo bro, I like it.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Word All right, your favorite ingredient, and it
could be a it doesn't have to beso much of a spice.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Any ingredient.
What do you like to work withthe most?
One thing you could not livewithout Rice, bro, just rice,
yeah, I love that Is that, or Iwas going to pull out okra.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah rice, yeah rice.
I mean, I can live without okrainside of rice.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, you know, but like I,gotta have rice, bro.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I got to, I love it.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
We know what your roots are, so what other cooking
method intimidates you the most?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
intimidates nothing, it is less style ranch or style.
None of it.
All of it excites me.
I like doing the shit I don'tknow how to do.
The shit I don't understand isthe shit I want to learn and
conquer.
Okay, so like I'm not afraid,like ask me hey, what's your
favorite thing to cook?
That's my answer to shit.
I don't know how to cook.
You know what I mean?
Teach me something.
The day I stopped being astudent is the day I need to
(15:07):
figure out something else to do.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Sure, so I'm going to answer that question.
Yeah, but it also scares me tocook.
Want to know why, though?
What's that?
Because I can't fucking speakit.
I don't know what the hell itis.
I don't know how to talk thatlanguage at all.
So the ingredients and the wayto say them is what intimidates
me, yeah.
But the food itself and theprocess nah man, so it's not the
food.
It's the language.
Announcing this stuff is likeshit, Tong, tong, tong.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I don't know how to say it no, yeah, right, so it's,
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Thai food has me on another level, when I eat Thai
food, bro, I'm going to tell youwhat them flavors Right.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And that heat, yeah, and that acid?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Oh man, I'm getting hungry.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Just the combo bro, like to say legit might be a
question.
All right, let's see.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
All right, well, we'll see, we got a few more
left.
All right, your favorite fastfood restaurant.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Rush's Okay, rush's R-U-S-H apostrophe S.
That's a local burger spot wegot at home.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So it's a local joint .
Man Rush's is probably going tobe my favorite fast food spot
Love it.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Okay, if your kitchen was a car, what kind of car
would it be?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Your kitchen at work.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
If my kitchen at work was a car, what would it be?
84 Chevy Monte Carlo SS withthe T-tops?
Baby, oh nice, you went deep.
You know your kitchen well.
I love that kitchen With theT-tops.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That kitchen is fun.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Right with the T-tops , we might have 412s and 215s in
that thing.
I like it.
It's bumping.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oh yeah, that's it, man.
I gotta get to your kitchen.
Bro, let's go Between that andthe cast iron.
It's a wrap.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
We're going there, all right.
Baking, yes or no?
Yes, okay, I like that.
I love baking man Really.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I'm not a baker, but I have a certain amount of
desserts and things that I thinkI do exceptionally well and I
like to make them.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, I love it.
Hit me off with one.
Yeah, what's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, I'm glad you said that.
Well, with me being a SouthCarolina chef ambassador, they
paired us.
They paired each chefambassador with a farmer so we
could do our promo video, andthey paired me with a peach
farmer the largest peach farmerin the Southeast.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Hold on one second During the harvest next year.
If you're with this guy linkedup, I want to get with you when
I'm coming down there.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
He loves peaches South.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Carolina peach In that season to me is one of the
most delicious things you canhave Off of vine it starts
around.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I want to say June-ish.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
What's the best?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
time for that Peak season, that's sweet running
down your face.
I want to say in the summertime, man.
I want to say in the middle ofthe summer, with the watermelons
bro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I'm talking about peaches, though.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean around July-ish.
Okay, good, so I'm coming.
Okay, he wants to.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I want to come down there with the podcast with the
crew and do a show on SouthCarolina cuisine, because we
found our guy, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
We found our guy Because peaches South Carolina.
You know who's considered thepeach state Georgia.
All right.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, but I don't agree.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
We grow more peaches than Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
But I don't agree with that, because South
Carolina peaches are fuckingproper.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Bro, we got the largest peach farm in the
Southeast.
Wow, the largest peach farm inthe southeast, maybe, maybe,
maybe this is, I think it mightbe the second largest in the
world, next to some uh farm outwest so georgia does have its
place in the peach world.
That's not even play, of courseit does the south?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
carolina peaches to me.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, I know I tell you what I love that so so back
to your original question eithera peach cobbler I can make with
peaches or my.
One of the desserts we make atthe restaurant is a façade bread
pudding with a spiced rumdrizzle that we make.
But for that chefambassadorship, when they paired
me with my guy Jason out ofTitan Farms, I took some of
their peaches and I kind ofcaramelized, bruleed them and
(18:59):
baked them on top and into mydessert and that's actually on
my chef ambassador card, like mypromo card.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
That dish is on it.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, it's that dish, so it's funny.
You asked me that we need that.
That was a good question.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
We're going to South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Hey team we're going to South Carolina.
Hey, south Carolina.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Who.
I'm looking at.
I keep receipts.
You said you coming.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
I keep receipts.
Man, we coming, we come withthem, all right.
So random Gloves, or wash yourhands.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Potato, potato.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Totally random.
Wash your hands, man, that'swhat I'm talking about Wash your
hands.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm old school.
Wash your hands, man.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Keep your hands clean .
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Do you know the owner ?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, gloves, go to school.
Wash your hands, man.
Keep your hands clean, do youknow the owner?
Yeah, gloves give themisconception of cleanliness,
you know how many people I seewear gloves and don't change
them.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And don't change them they change them no difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And their hand is white dripping sweat, and
they're scratching it andputting another pair of gloves
on?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, it's right there.
It's trapping it in and peopledon't get it.
That's no good.
Yeah the question do you knowthe owner?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, I'm him.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So what about that?
When they come in yourrestaurant?
When they come in yourrestaurant?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
how many people?
Oh, I know the owner Well, Imean, at my restaurant it's like
a family cheers type of thing.
So everybody.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
They kind of all know you anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, like 50-75% of the people.
They know me, whether it befrom a magazine article they saw
, a news station they saw, orbeing here or just the things I
do in the community.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
But they don't know you like that.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
They don't know me like that.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's what I get a lot.
I get a lot of publicity aswell yeah, rewards and all that
stuff.
And they come in and they thinkthey know you a.
Then you go out there, thisperson knows you.
They want you to come to thetable I drop my.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I drop my tongs, I go out to the table and I don't
know that and I turn the coin,I'm like, no, I'm not, I'm not,
I'm busy.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know because you don't know what
to say and I really got to cookI really really do you want
your food right?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
yeah I got a job to do, all right.
And if you could cook withanyone, who would it be?
Who would it be?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Doesn't have to be famous.
Nah, I know what I want to say.
I'm just trying to pause before.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I cry up here in front of y'all my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I would love the same thing.
I will go into detail, but Imight start.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
We'll catch you at the next round.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Listen to me, we're going to do that.
When we cash in on that receipt, south start.
Yeah, we'll catch you at thenext round.
Yeah, let's keep going.
Listen to me, we're going to dothat, but my grandma.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
When we cash in on that receipt South Carolina yeah
, we'll do that, then We'll gointo that.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's right, that's where that comes in, but my
grandma man, let's be a showlike that.
Well, I inspiration myelevation.
All of it man.
All of it Good.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Well, I love the history.
I love the history.
I think that's stuff thatpeople need to know more about.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
They do, man we have historians in Virginia.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
We've had an episode that'll be out.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
in the four years that we went over a lot of
things in Virginia, you Rightafter us, it was Virginia as far
as the population of slavesimported into this country.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So Virginia's important too.
Tidewater area, all watershed,All the oysters, the whole deal
yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And it's oyster season back home now.
Like I had oysters on myturn-in tray, so like they
really needed an explanation asto why they saw what.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
They saw what the combo was.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Everything that was on that plate was regional to
where we are.
I picked Spanish moss out ofthe trees in Charleston.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I literally picked cotton out of the fields in
Orangeburg.
You know what I mean.
I had Jefferson red rice, tiara, black rice, some Carolina gold
, some charred okra on there.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I'm glad you're saying that I'm a final round
judge tomorrow and the next dayfor all the final rounds.
Okay, dope, it helps me get theperspective to look at these
plates and wonder.
Okay, there's Spanish moss inhere.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Maybe there's a reason why, Well, look at the
whole story Like look at it as apicture I personally collected
that I'm in somebody's fieldpicking their cotton.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
No one's watching right now.
They can't see.
But see all those people downthere in the red right there,
yeah, yeah, your food comes downthe red carpet and that's where
the judges sit.
They're judging your food.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, and it's blind judging.
They don't know.
They're just looking like what.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
The final round, judges were up on the stage and
you get to explain it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, you get to talk .
This year is different andyears prior.
I don't feel bad about it, butjust the fact that I was able to
come here, I was able tocompete, Do it and I was able to
share myself, my history, myfamily and my heritage with
(23:37):
essentially the world.
Like I won, bro, you did win.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
We both won.
Because I'm inspired by this,I'm really looking forward to
working with you a little bitand feeling your roots and
learning from you, man.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Really Moe, we can do it.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Because I teach people all the time.
It's my job.
I own two restaurants, I have85 friggin' employees in the
back of the house pretty much,and I'm constantly trying to
pass on the education.
Yeah, I can't do this forever.
No, bro, you know what I mean,and nobody the people before me
couldn't do it forever.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
And now I'm there forever.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
They're past there forever now.
They're where they were whenthey told me I can't do this
forever.
They're past that now.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Now they're right, they're not doing it anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, but they're counting on here right now
because we can talk all day.
Man, you've got a lot to say.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I swear bro.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So I want to end this right now by saying what do you
have to say to anyone coming upin this game in the restaurant
world?
And I'm not talking abouteveryone who has that dream of
being this big, fancy chef.
I'm talking about themotherfuckers in the struggle
right now, trying to bear withthe fact world and they're
questioning it.
But you know they shouldn't,because they got it.
Yeah, what do you tell them?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Sometimes it's not about quitting, it's not about
giving up bros.
It's about learning how topivot, like what you're doing
right now.
It might not be working rightnow, but you may need to switch
it up a little bit.
Don't give up on it, like ifyou have some dreams and some
ideas not dreams but if you havesome ideas you were thinking
about when it kind of on thefence on.
If it's in here, bro or ma'am,if it's in here and you feel it
(25:11):
and it resonates with you,follow it, because that's when
you start to gain momentum,that's when you start to get
money.
Don't, don't chase the money.
You know what I mean.
Chase your passion for and yourlove for this business, for
this industry, for this game,because if you don't have a
passion for it and if you don'tlove it, it's not going to work,
because it's hard, it's rough,it's difficult.
(25:32):
You know what I mean.
You need a good support system.
You need all of those things.
So stay focused, keep going,learn how to pivot and lean on
your support system.
You've got to have one.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Right on, bro.
I appreciate that and that'sexactly what I tell people.
We feel the same way and that'swhy we are where we are and
pivoting is the hugest thing inthis industry, because this
industry is always pivoting onyour ass.
Always, bro, and if you ain'tpaying attention it's going to
pivot you right out the back.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The automation, the AI, is coming guys.
It started to hit the kitchen,you know what I mean, but it's
really going to start to comefull circle here in the next
five to ten years, man.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
So they really start to get serious about what you're
doing, man pay attention toyour hands pay attention
perspective for a reasonautomation, ai, they can't get
burnt, and if you don't getburnt you don't learn.
We can always stay ahead.
By that we can beat.
Animation we can do it.
The automated we can beatbecause these hands have to do
it.
You do and, like you said, allthat history you talked and all
the history, I know what sheknows in her industries.
(26:25):
Everything, everything we talkabout comes from here in the
heart.
And, like you said, don't worryabout the money If your passion
is what you're following themoney's going to come.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
It'll come.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
It'll come.
Don't worry about the money.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, chase the vision, chase your heart.
Chase your heart and yourvision, man.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
My man pleasure meeting you.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Cheers man.
We're checking out right now.
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Thank you.
We'll see you in South Carolina, bro.
We're going to catch up on thatwe're coming down.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I got that receipt.
You can hold me to it.
We're going to South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Skyler's over there saying we're going Right, all
right, cool, all right.
Ciao for now, guys.
Thank you.
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