@ForkReport - Hour 2

Cont. Guest- Brian Palko, Regional Operations Director; and Samuel Alexander, Executive Chef of Lazy Dog Restaurants at LA LIVE. Chef Tyler Wells- Executive Chef of nationally-recognized LA restaurant All Time.

Cont. with Chef Tyler Wells

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Nielsa Adri. You'relistening to kfi EM six forty the four
Purport on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey everybody, it's the four Purport
all Things food, beverage and beyond. Happy Saturday to you. A beautiful
another beautiful day on the weekends herein southern California. That reminds us why
we pay such horrible taxes, becausethis is the only thing that makes it

(00:22):
worth it is how beautiful it ison a daylight today. Get out there
grilling. Maybe be up by thepool, Go have a picnic somewhere.
Go to the beach, just notone with you know, human stuff floating
in it. That type of thing. You find the clean one. Go
enjoy yourself, be with the family, have a good time. Get out
in an air conditioning restaurant. Howabout going to Lazydog. How about that,

(00:45):
So we are talking about lazy Dogrestaurants right now, we're going to
get into their campfire club as well. I'll explain why that is a deal
to be had by all. Somethingthat if you've got a family, this
is a way to take care ofyou. If you're you know, young
profession and you've got one close byand you want to get lunches and dinners
and things like that. It's alsoa great deal. And to tell us

(01:06):
more about that is the regional operationsdirector Brian Palco and executive chef Samuel Alexander
of the LA Live location. AllRight, gentlemen, we've got a lot
of good stuff in front of us. These have been I've been eyeing.
These are the deviled eggs that aredeep fried topped with candy bacon. Chef,

(01:27):
you want to walk us through this? Will I take a bike?
Yeah? It's one of my favoritedishes that we have. Do you frite?
Oh? Man, deviled eggs isdefinitely not something that every place has,
and we, you know, talkedabout loving to do things that are
outside of the box, and man, that's good. We took it.
Yeah, we took it and weadapted it. There's some candy bacon on

(01:48):
there, which you can get fullstrips of too and the restaurant if you
want, and it's a very deliciousblend of flavors. You know, candy
Bacon was my nickname in prison.Do you think that's a coincidence, Chef,
I don't think so. If youlook familiar didn't you do a nickel
upstate at a four yard No?Okay, go ahead, just check me

(02:12):
all right? Are you going onlineright now? You can go do four
reporter on Instagram and we'll go livewith some of the stuff. All right,
Brian, why don't you tell usabout the Campfire Club real quick so
people understand what that is. Yeah, the clubs and the memberships that we
that we offer is an amazing wayfor us to connect with our with our
regulars, our guests, you know, people that are fans of ours already.

(02:37):
And we started with our our BeerClub and that was one that we
started with years ago. We broughtyou some of that as well to kind
of check out and see the offeringsof that. And that's a quarterly club
that we offered. And then withthat, then we started our Campfire Club
that offers another way just forgets toconnect with us and uh and and that
have that value with offerings of TV, dinners, appetizers, beverages about a

(03:01):
fifteen dollars a month value and it'sfive dollars a month. That's great.
Yeah, it's a really cool wayfor us to connect with guests and for
them to to that. Like Isaid, are already, they're already fans
of ours, and this is anotherway for us is to continue that that
conversation, that connection with them,so they come in and there's always something
to surprise them and to bring theminto the restaurant. In the first month

(03:23):
alone, you can save almost thirtybucks or something, right, Yeah,
yeah, I mean it's it's itliterally is a no brainer. It's a
great savings. I love that.And the concept of the TV Dinners.
Explain to people what those are becauseI love that. Yeah, the TV
Dinners are something that started around twentytwenty. We're trying to you know,

(03:43):
just get you know, take ideasand throw them on the wall and see
what sticks. And TV Dinners isone of them. They just took off.
We make them in house, theywe freeze them and then we deliver
them to our guests and they arethe same delicious things, no preservatives,
everything is scratch and put in thoseTV Dinners just like they are in the
in the restaurant. This dish here, chef that is the shrimp yockey soba

(04:08):
so yeah that is good. Yeah, yocky soba noodles, deep fried shrimp,
walk fried shrimp, and our shrimpsauce that's delicious, and this one
this is all the same dish.Oh no, that one next to it?
You have the Korean ribby vimen Bopthat is a top seller for us
as a company wide and it's agaser jong spice teriyaki and shave rabbi over

(04:31):
rice and marinated veggies. So yougot that nice Korean spice and that heat
coming there and is it no?Go ahead you want? Okay, let's
gee whiz, We're not that close. No, she's up in my food
before I even get to taste it. Now, are you using a velveting

(04:51):
process on that that beef there atall? Are you? Like? No?
I just sha shaving it. Thatis delicate and lovely. It is
very it's very uh, very delicateand very tender. Yeah. It just
really just that that the way itkind of pulls apart on your tongue,

(05:13):
and the flavor is right on everythingfrom the carrots and what is the spinach
and the like in here? Oris that no? What is that?
Yeah? That's our spinach? Ohit is Okay. I like to pile
things up, you know, sowhen i'm I don't always have the separate
and I'm like, wait a second, what's hiding under there? And then
in between that and the incredibly voraciousuh producer Kayla getting into my food.

(05:36):
One never knows. And this here, you've got beautiful. It looks like
some tune over there. And thenyou've got this gorgeous sexy beast in front
of me. Yeah, that oneright there in front of you is a
tuna on crispy rice. Wow.We uh put terry abby sauce and then
put umami sauce, a little bitof frey, Cockee seasoning, Alapano,

(06:00):
very delicious sushi grade Ahi top cellaras well, especially in the summertime.
Nice. You get that cool flavorfrom the tuna and it's a it's a
little bit of a wild ride.Yeah, you know that a lot of
people don't think about that, butspicy foods and in a lot of cultures
that you go to that have heatis they'll have heat in their food.
And part of that is is thatit kind of motivates us to start to

(06:24):
sweat a little bit and react,which cools you down. So that along
with these beautiful beverages, what doyou have there, chef, So we
have our huckleberry lemonade. I'll beyour huckleberry. The coke has a coconut
cream inside of it, and thena cucumber was the cucumber cucumber lemon.

(06:45):
So, wow, that looks thatlooks lovely. I'm gonna grab a little
bit of this cucumber lemon. Yeah. We just rolled out a brand new
are any BEV offerings just to givegas. Yeah, something just really fresh
and they can in it with asour twisted soda. So we have a
couple of different variations of our twistedsodas. That's one of them with a

(07:06):
coconut lime cream we make in houseand just a different way to experience a
coke. And then we also havean offering right now that we're doing lunch
offering that we're doing with our roadtrip bowls, which a lot of these
items in front of you are aroad trip bowls, like the shrimp Jack
of Salva Noudy Bowl. And sowith that plus one of our Ana beverages,

(07:27):
fifteen dollars before four o'clock. Wow, that's great. Yeah, I
really love the forward thinking when itcomes to that value. And I know
that that's a big lazy dog restaurantkind of mantra to make sure that you
can continue to do that night.As a consumer, appreciate that a lot.
That's why Lazy Dog is a goto. You know. As far

(07:48):
as flavor and variety, Let's faceit, there the more variety you get
sometimes, Chef you know this theworst, you'd still get two dishes that
people like. But I have foundthat everything is a hit. If it's
not a hit, it doesn't stayon the menu. Yeah, we we
do a good job of taking youknow, top sellers and pushing them.
And also, like I said,we love to experiment with things. Chef

(08:11):
Gabe loves to you know, throwrandom things out there. And you know,
we have a fall menu coming up. I'm excited to see you know
what those what those things are.But it's just a way that we can
connect with you know, like talkingabout the roagibwles. You know, like
that's our way of taking you,you know, all over the world.
You know. So we have theKoream Bob, we have the Shrimp Hockey
Soba, we have the Mediterranean ChickenBowl and all those things that we just

(08:33):
want to you know, introduce newflavors right here in downtown l and they're
not in name only. I meanreally, it's one thing for people to
just give it that name and saythat, but I can taste the flavors
are there, the authenticity is there, using great ingredients, and again it
makes for a powerful, powerful combination. All right, So you can find

(08:54):
out more by going to Lazydog Restaurantsdot com, Lazydogs rest dog Uggs,
Lazydog Restaurants dot com and finding outmore there. And if you get down
to the LA Live locations, besure to say hi to Chef Samuel Alexander
Brian A pleasure to meet you,Thanks for popping in and it's nice to

(09:16):
see you. And big love tothe folks at Lazy Dog and always taking
the time to come in and sayhello. Yeah, we appreciate it,
Thank you, thank you. Don'tbe strangers. We will all right back
with bor So go nowhere. You'relistening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra
on demand from KFI AM six forty. All right, there's been this whole
thing about Chipotle's Brita Bulls. We'vetalked about it here on the program.

(09:39):
So folks on TikTok with Nuts,they started this trend where they'd film Chipotle
employees making their burritos. You remember, they claimed that the portions were getting
smaller. They called it the Chipotlephone method, and it blew up on
social media. The problem was itwas a little rude to the employees and
they weren't happy about being filmed allthe time, and it made them stress

(10:01):
them out, and that sucks.You know, they're not the CEO or
anything. However, Chipotle's CEO bruexcuse me, Brian Nickel swallowing a fried
devil egg still I think, steppedin and he said the portion size haven't
changed it all. He assured everythingeverybody that you want more of something in

(10:22):
your bowl, just ask. Youdon't need to pull out a cam or
anything like that. While to settlethe debate once and for all, a
Wells Fargo analyst named Zachary Fadom,he took his team and put matters in
his own hands. They ordered awhopping seventy five burrito bowls from eight different
Chipotle locations in New York City.A lot of burrito bowls, right.

(10:46):
They even brought them back to theoffice for lunch, so everybody got a
little taste. But here's the kicker. The analysis found that portion sizes were
all over the place, no consistencies. Weighed roughly the same whether ordered in
store or online, but some locationsgave out bowls that were this is pretty

(11:09):
insane, over a third heavier thanother other bowls, so thirty three percent
heavier than other bowls depending on locations, So a bridal bowl that's almost twice
as heavy in one place compared toanother. The median weight they found was
about twenty one point five ounces,but there were extremes, like one bowl

(11:31):
weighing twenty seven ounces and another onlyfourteen ounces. Chipotle's chief corporation affairs officer
Lori Shakolo, she said to CNNthe ball sizes might vary depending on how
many toppings you choose and whether youask for more or less of certain ingredients.

(11:52):
She stuck to the line that Chipotlehasn't changed its portion sizes overall,
but consistency is going to be kingright, That's what we want at any
restaurant, especially at a chain restaurant. I would imagine if you get a
burger at McDonald's that its weight andconsistency and all of those things are going

(12:13):
to be is not going to havethat kind of swing between twenty seven ounces
and fourteen ounces. So you needto control costs. That's why you have
consistency in these change too much waste. It's a problem portion sizes aren't consistent.
You're gonna have problems both ways.Either you're putting too much on there

(12:35):
and you're not gonna make enough moneyin your margins, or you're gonna put
too little on there and people aren'tgonna come in. So despite all the
drama going back and forth, Chipotleis doing pretty well. Their scale grew,
their sales grew by seven percent lastquarter, even outpacing giants like McDonald's,
So it seems like that brito boldbait hasn't hurt them too much.

(12:56):
But it does show you one thing, and that is if you find a
location that treats you right, maybethat's the location for you. Because inconsistency
seems to be the name of thegame when it comes to Chipotle still untill
they figure that out or you know, humans aren't making this stuff. When

(13:18):
it's robits, it will be consistentacross the board, but for now,
with humans involved, apparently there's awhopping swing of about thirty three percent heavier
in some locations are more ingredients thanin others. You're listening to the Fork
Report with Nil Sevedra on demand fromKFI AM six forty. Hey, everybody,

(13:39):
it's the Forek Report, all thingsfood, beverage and beyond. Essentially,
if you're new to the program,Every Saturday, we have three hours
to just celebrate food. That's theagenda, just celebrating food, the people
that make it, the culture behindit, cooking at home, going out
to eat, all of these things. We said day one, well over

(14:01):
a decade ago on this program,that the local economy rises and falls on
the hospitality industry. And whether wego out and eat and explore these things,
you don't, they go away.The economy dumps, so does the
culture, so does life as weknow it. Zombies will rule the earth.
That's just my theory. Believe itor don't. So that is what
we do every Saturday. So thanksfor joining us on this gorgeous Saturday before

(14:26):
the Fourth of July coming next week, so we've kind of it's weird,
we're kind of bookending you have liketwo weekends of fourth of July this year
because we've got a lot of peopleleft are out on the road still maybe
going somewhere and taken next week offas well, all those things. So
we want to introduce you to someone, Chef Tyler Wells, and he's the

(14:48):
executive chef of the nationally recognized LaRestaurant All Time brand new book The Cookbook
of All Times of All Time,and it has recipes store where he's cooking
advice from this neighborhood restaurant chef.Welcome to the program, Thanks, thanks
for having me. So what isa neighborhood restaurant? What is your definition

(15:09):
of that term? It's a greatquestion. I just think it's a It's
a place you can go. Youcan go for breakfast, you can go
for lunch, you go for dinner. Everybody pretty much. I mean,
it really is the idea of thecheers. It's a place where you're whether
you come four times a week,whether you've never been there, you come
in, you feel welcome, youfeel like it's your place, you you

(15:31):
know, you identify with, Youjust feel comfortable. That's why would do
it. You're on the eastern sideof Los Angeles, yep. And there
is a you know, a specificvibe in that neighborhood. A lot of
people, you know, reference theeastern parts of LA. As you know,
everyone wants to compare everything to NewYork. I don't know why they

(15:52):
do that, that's why we're herein LA. But they'll say, like,
you know, the Bronx vibe orcertain parts of New York a large
contingent of hips. But also you'vegot writers, artists, you've got even
politicians living in the area. Socreating a home a neighborhood restaurant, what
was one of the key things forthe vibe before you even got into the
food. Yeah, I think justauthenticity. You know, I think a

(16:18):
lot of restaurants have an idea orsome dogma around where this kind of restaurant,
we want to serve a certain thing, we want to make a certain
food. We just came to itwith, you know. We want to
feed people. We want people tofeel warm, welcome. We want to
have crazy integrity with our ingredients,and we want to cook food that people
can understand and just be nice.So food that people can understand, approachable

(16:45):
food when chefs sometimes compete to makesomething more chefy, and how can we
you know, put stinging nettle onthe menu, which has its place of
course, the adventure and all thosethings things, what do you put in
or take out? I mean,are you subtracting things? Are you adding

(17:06):
things? How are you building amenu like that that remains approachable? Yeah,
I think it's really addition by subtraction. I think the way we work
is, you know, if youcook really quite simple, it's going to
fall back to your ingredients. Andwe work really hard to source the best

(17:30):
that we can find or the thingsthat we really prefer, based on obviously
flavor, seasonality, relationships. Youknow that we buy from farmers that we
like, farmers that we know,same as true of wine, of coffee,
of all the things we do,we just it starts at origin,
you know, in a cliche andeveryone will tell you this, but our
job's quite easy. I mean,I didn't grow these lettuces, but whoever

(17:55):
did that. They're incredible and they'vedone all the hard work. We just
have to clean them and keep themfrom and make sure we rotate them.
You know, we're using them asquickly as possible and dressing them responsibly,
and you know, it's a reallysimple equation. I feel like we kind
of found a niche. We founda place that that every I feel like
a lot of restaurants were looking fora different niche, which is you know

(18:18):
a little more. I don't know. I just want to say a theme,
but a style, right like Iwant to cook chore infusion or whatever
it is, and we just wantto cook food. I want to cook
the kind of food where you caneat four or five six times a week
and you feel great and you're happyand it's just easy. You know,
it's funny you describe like one ofmy not a pet pee, but you

(18:41):
describe something that I truly believe inlife, and that is if everybody is
doing their job with love and focusand dedication, then that's how the system
works. Absolutely. You drop theball one like you said, you don't.
You don't make the lettuce. You'renot growing these things. But somebody
that is growing them is with thesame love that you're going to use to

(19:03):
apply them, to combine them,to season them, and that's where you
get the best outcome. Somebody dropsthe ball in the line and it garbage
in, garbage out. Exactly,the whole thing kind of falls apart.
So you know, when you're whenyou are a restaurant tour, you're faced
with an never aning series of challengesthat are either you know, you have

(19:26):
a product that's maybe starting to spoil, and waste is a huge issue.
Margins are raised within of course,so then you have to look at it
and go, okay, well,financially, I need to find a way
to use this. But ethically that'svery short sighted, and I think it's
a really challenging proposition because you wouldbe very clever and very crafty about how
you position ingredients, what you use. Some things costs a lot more than

(19:49):
others, so you need to usea small amount, you know. How
you finesse those things together, Ithink is really crucial. But the end
of the day, for us,like we just we lead those values when
it makes zero financial sense, andfortunately it's made long term financial sense.
But you're exactly right, if somethingin the supply chain or something in the
chain falls off, you know,it's only as strong as its weakest link.

(20:12):
Yeah, you know, it's funnyyou say that about not being wasteful.
That is a burden of yours asa chef and an owner and someone
that's overseeing with partners and the likeof everybody in house. But I went
to a restaurant once and they servedwhat I refer to as resurrected fries.

(20:37):
I knew they were probably made theday before, and they didn't want to
toss them out, and then theythrew them in the fryer and they were
horrible. I don't know what itsaved them, but I will never ever
walk back in that restaurant again.And it wasn't going to kill me.
No, were they going to harmme? No? But did it put
their best foot forward? No?And that's really hard. People don't understand
the tiny margins of restaurants, right. Yeah, you know, there's a

(21:03):
short there's a short sightedness that's reallyeasy to fall into of like the thing
in front of me. You know, as a I was a cook many
years ago and I was telling Iwas telling Kayli took a long time away
from cooking it, and it gaveme some real perspective. But I still
know what it's like to be aline cook and being so deep in the
weeds on a Friday night and cookinga steak and looking at it and going,

(21:26):
I know this is overcooked, butI've got five steaks behind it,
and it's timing up with with thedinner for six other people, and you
still send it out, and youknow, our our sort of cultural code
allows anyone in the restaurant, froma server to a food runner to a
dishwasher to call it out and say, hey, that's overcooked. Fix it

(21:48):
because because you know, and Ican't say it always works, but it
works a lot. But it's asystem. It's a system, and everybody,
everybody takes the responsibility for it.And I think, you know,
it's so heartbreaking, particularly with animalproducts, which we take so seriously.
You know, an animal gave itslife for us to be able to cook
it, for you to be ableto eat it, and I don't take
that lightly. And it's so devastatingto see something go wrong or to see

(22:12):
something overcooked. But it's even moredevastating to try to pass that off onto
someone and think like they're not goingto notice. So, you know,
that question of integrity in a businesswith you know, very very fine margins
is very difficult. Is It's reallydifficult, But to your point, you

(22:33):
got to do it. Yeah,I feel the same way when it's when
it's meat, there's something I mean, all waste is waste, but there
is something about that, you know, the kind of the Native American ethic
that it's like someone an animal died. There is an extra weight on that.
All right, we'll come back andtalk more with Chef Wells as we

(22:55):
talk about the new cookbook, TheCookbook of All Time? Can you can
get this on your website? Right? Yeah? Absolutely, get a local
bookstore. We don't actually sell it. We sell it at the restaurant,
but we tend to refer people tolocal bookstores. Yes. With other business
mini on the East Side. Theremore than most, let's say, all

(23:17):
time los Angeles dot com. Alltime los Angeles dot Com is where I'm
going to direct you. We'll talkand eat we come back. The food
is stunning, absolutely stunning, andyou can tell that it is incredibly high
quality. So we'll talk about thatwhen we come back and taste it.
So go nowhere. You're listening tothe Fork Report with Nil Savedra on demand

(23:40):
from KFI AM six forty. Hey, everybody, Neil Savadri here for you,
a friendly neighborhood Fork reporter, happyto be with you on this beautiful,
beautiful Saturday before the fourth and July. It is gorgeous. This is
why we live here in southern California, and I'm chatting right now with chef
Tyler wells At talking about his newcookbook, The Cookbook of All Time,

(24:03):
and the restaurant is All Time onHillhurst Avenue in Los Felis, twenty forty
Hillhurst Avenue in Los Angeles, ninezero zero two seven and really the you
can see the vibe if you goto All Time los Angeles dot com.
All Time los Angeles dot com.But just a taste, just a taste.

(24:26):
Now, do you work with yourwife? Yeah, we own the
restaurant together. God bless you.Look at you and you're still smiling?
Is she still smiling? Generally?Yeah? Okay, I really do,
and I find I really do respectit because I think I can work with
my wife. I mean we workclose enough as it is now, But
that is not easy. I meanyou got to really dig somebody's vibe and

(24:49):
who they are as a human being. Yeah, for sure, to be
around them that much. Yeah,we've definitely put some work into staying in
our lanes, but but learning wherewe collaborate extremely well where we don't.
So just taking some work. ButI think everybody's got their strength and everybody
does their things. Absolutely. Ikind of run the daytime business coffee in

(25:15):
the daytime vibes, and she hasa deep background in front of house service
and wine. There's a ton aboutfood, so she's very well suited to
running the night business, which isa little more it's a little higher touch,
it's a little more intimate than thedaytime. Daytime is just rowdy and
fun, and nighttime is really elegantand just really lovely, good looking couple.

(25:36):
It's another reason to hate you thatyou have talent too. That makes
the rest of us in the worlddisgusted. That's okay, that's very common.
So what is this here in frontof you that is so gorgeous?
The colors here, So those areJapanese sweet potatoes with a sort of a

(25:56):
We call it a Romesco sauce,but is probably our most requested recipe that
everybody says the books, in thebook, And so we make ramsco with
pumpkin seeds instead of nuts, andwe keep bread out of it just to
be friendly to everyone's allergies and breakdown whatever sauce is. Yeah, it's
it's a kind of a Spanish stylesauce that originated I don't even know when,

(26:19):
but it's basically used to use yesterday'sbread. You put some chili's in
it, you put some high acidvinegar in it, maybe some lemon juice.
You just blend it all together andyou throw in some stale bread at
the end to to firm it up. But generally it's got almonds in it.
So we just kind of replaced acouple of those things to steer clear
of a lot of gluten free folksout there, and it's kind of a

(26:41):
fun challenge. So sauce fro Mescolittle chili crist with the dried onions,
some sesame seeds, a couple ofdifferent red chilies that is so balanced,
not only in that flavor, butthat cloudy texture that really soft, smooth
inside up against the toothsome nature ofits skin, and then the crunch of

(27:08):
those nuts on top. Some sesameseeds in there. It looks like as
well, but all all the waythat you know, the flavors is one
thing, but man, those texturesare on point. Chef, thank you
those Once again, we get thetomatoes from a place called Millican Farms,
guy named Chris Millican, And youknow I can't take credit for that,

(27:33):
Like we just cook them and theycome out of the ground. I mean,
I mean the work they do setsthe entire stage for that dish,
and we just put a little lipstickon it. You know, we barely
gotten into the book. Can youstick around one more segment off the top
here. I'm really enjoying talking toyou, and I feel like it went
by so quick, and I wantedto get in some because I did the
artists and bread and some of thethings that you have here as well.
So stick around. We'll be backmore with Chef Wells from All Time on

(27:57):
Hillhurst and Los Phelis on the easternside of Los Angeles. You know,
you can get there from just aboutanywhere, the five and the one on
one all of there, so greatlocation and great day trip if you're listening
in Orange County or something to comeout. Lots of cool things, places

(28:17):
to shop, bookstores and the like. So you can do it too far
and go to a bookstore and getthe cookbook of All Time and then you
can go have brunch, lunch orwhat have you at All Time. All
right, we'll be back with more, So go nowhere. You've been listening
to the Fork Report, you canalways hear us live on KFI AM six
forty two to five pm on Saturday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.