December 15, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of Quality Living With Peaceful Support, host Amanda Whittemore interviews Chef Austin, who shares insights from his career at top establishments like the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, and the Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge on the Rogue River. They discuss Amanda’s bold approach to getting hired, Austin’s conflict resolution skills, and the importance of preparation and adaptability in the kitchen. Austin highlights the value of recognizing employees’ strengths, learning from failures, and fostering creativity. He defines quality as delivering thoughtful, memorable experiences that build loyalty and finds peaceful support through nature and supportive relationships. The conversation explores how strong leadership and a nurturing environment contribute to both personal well-being and professional excellence.
Host: Amanda Whittemore; Producer: Amanda Whittemore
The opinions expressed here are those of the individual participants. Curry Coast Community Radio takes no position on issues discussed in this program.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Thank you, KCIW
listeners,
everybody out there in radio land,
or I should say radio space, radio airwaves.
Yeah. We are here on the Quality Living
with Peaceful Support show.
I'm Amanda Whittemore.
I'm your radio character.
And as you do know me in person,
I very much love being the character. It's
(00:36):
a lot of fun.
And we get to do pretty much anything
we really choose to in life, not just
here on the radio show. However,
we do often invite different guests here into
the radio station.
Downstairs from the block trumpet,
we have our own little special whole entire
radio show
(00:57):
and studio. If you guys have not been
inside KCIW radio station, make a tour,
get the kids down here,
grandkids,
all of it. And and I'm talking about
the elders when I say grandkids,
of course.
And mostly, this is a all volunteer ran
donation based radio program
(01:18):
where we get to have a couple of
minutes of quality
to give thanks to our community and people
who make our lives better.
And today, I'm really honored to introduce to
the Curry County and our global audience because
there is a link at kciw.org
that you are welcome to share with your
(01:39):
friends and family. They can listen anywhere in
the world.
However, I really want to introduce you all
to
a very important person to me and one
of my mentors and someone who has really
helped evolve
the way
of living with truest quality
at heart.
And
I'll have a whole lot more to say
about this. I want to introduce you all
(02:00):
to Austin.
Are you with us? Hi, everybody. Yeah. Yes.
I I am with you. I am with
you. Thank you, Amanda.
My name is Austin. Thank you all for
having me and, listening to me and inviting
you on your program.
Absolutely.
I'll give a little bit of background, then
I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions.
(02:21):
Listeners, what really did happen was I got
to work at one of our most fanciest
places here in town,
and that is the Tatooine
Lodge up there in Gold Beach,
up the river
with paddles and canoes and hot tubs and
fancy dining.
And Austin was the executive chef at the
(02:42):
time
and probably one of the best bosses I've
ever had
as far as ethics, integrity,
dignity,
and timing.
There's so much I learned from Austin that
I felt to stay in contact with him
throughout these years. It's been quite a while
since we've done that together.
And so much has evolved in our lives,
and I thought it'd be fun to have
(03:03):
an update and hear where it is that
life has brought you and what's going on
in your world.
Yeah. That's great.
I I I think before I can even
get into that, though, I mean, obviously, working
with Amanda was memorable in so many ways.
But I think probably the most memorable way
was the way that you actually ended up
at the lodge,
(03:24):
and and ended up taking a position there.
Because,
if you could just tell that story, Amanda,
it's one of my favorites.
Okay.
So I had left the fire station. I
was working at the CFPA,
and it was the day of the fair.
And I just dressed up like a cowgirl,
you know, I had my boots on, my
pants, my hat, the whole, like, to the
(03:46):
tee.
And I was talking with one of my
former,
bosses and he looks at me and he
says, well, what are you doing right now?
And I said to him, I'm actively looking
for employment.
You know, I'm working on my next career.
And he looked at me like,
you're here at the fair. Like, seriously, kid?
Like,
(04:06):
really? And I I thought to myself, you
know what? I better get in the car
right now, and I better pull out my
list because I did have a list. I
just hadn't gone to the places yet. So
I walked right into the Tutu Tin Lodge,
not even thinking of how I was dressed.
And I just And I'm I'm pretty sure
it was, like, right in the middle of
dinner too. Probably right at 05:15, like, the
busiest time ever, the one time that you
(04:28):
don't wanna show up.
Yeah. And,
they brought me back for an interview and
asked, you know, what am I looking to
do? And I said, well, what do you
need help with?
And Yeah. Yeah. I I think the thing
I remember most is, yes, the, the
the the fair
cowgirl outfit,
(04:48):
and this very, very confident woman walks in
and says, this is the most beautiful property
I've ever seen. I wanna be a part
of what you're doing here. And she reached
out and shook my hand, and I was
like, I have no idea what her experience
is, where she comes from, if she's ever
worked in hotels or restaurants before,
but this person's a must hire.
(05:08):
And then, of course, once I actually sat
down and talked to Amanda and kinda figured
out a little bit more about her, obviously,
she was a perfect fit for us up
there.
But yeah, I always I always think of
that story when I think of Amanda because
it was just such a random,
way to meet somebody. And then obviously, you
know, working together for you for what I
I don't know how long we worked together,
(05:29):
a year, year and a half. Very memorable
experience as well. So fun. Yeah. And one
of this is even funnier. Ben and I
were just here. So Ben just decided to
be a co host on this show, believe
it or not. Nice. That's amazing.
I'm sure you remember
when we first started working together. Like, this
is how awesome Austin is. He saw the
(05:50):
beneficial like, he could see the future of,
like, the benefits and
the ability of the people that were
in his presence and what they could achieve.
Maybe they weren't doing it right then, but
he knew how to navigate and direct us.
And so Ben and I actually didn't get
along
because we had really strong personalities and we
(06:11):
really wanted the job done correctly.
The the way you thought the job, each
of you had your own idea of how
the job should be done. It was it
was very different.
Right. And Austin actually had to cut the
fire,
and you brought both of us back into
the office. And he's like, look,
you guys
need to get along,
(06:31):
and, you know, you need to agree to
disagree.
And after that meeting, Ben and I became
like best friends, and we still are.
Yeah. So I wanna thank you. That's great.
Ben is actually another person that I'm still
in touch with from those days. So that's
amazing that he's gonna be joining you on
the radio program. Yeah. Yeah. I was, like,
hoping he could be here tonight
for this interview, but he couldn't make it.
(06:53):
But he will in the future.
I'm so excited about all that. So for
you and your executive chef and the way
that you handled business, like,
timing was everything. There was no
reason
for error. There was no time for error.
And
to have everything clean and everything of a
certain level of excellence,
(07:15):
to thrive to be better every day
really shined quality beyond belief. And it was
so alleviating
to have
a higher up, like, the boss, the main
the the shock caller say, hey, this is
how we're operating.
It's very rare
to have people care
and enforce it. And so it was such
(07:37):
a relief. And I think Ben and I
were maybe the only two people who really
appreciated
the seriousness
with the amount of fun that you gave
us. Like, you gave us freedom,
but you were like, as long as we
did good. I loved it. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure. I mean, as long as,
you know, we had we had our our
structure, we had a plan every day.
(07:59):
You know, we we always knew, and the
great part of Altitude is it was guest
only back in those days with COVID and
everything. So,
you know, we we had a pretty good
idea of how many guests we were gonna
have, and what services they were gonna be
with us.
So, you know, there there was a lot
of opportunity to be prepared because as you
know, Amanda, you know, in in restaurants, things
go wrong. No matter what you do, no
(08:19):
matter how prepared you are, things are gonna
go wrong every every night. And, so kind
of preparing as best we can so we
could,
kind of adapt
to those trying situations. I think, you know,
certainly made the quality of service,
you know,
at that high level. But also, it gave
us time to be creative and think creatively
(08:42):
and problem solve situations
that we probably wouldn't have had as much
time to think about,
had we just been kind of running around
and reactively dealing with problems as they emerged.
Right? Right. Yes. Yes. With the with the
perception of being proactive.
Yes. Very much so. We had a good
team. I really liked our team. I liked
(09:02):
the time. I think Kyle, for sure, he
was a big part of Yeah. That excellence.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, in in a lot
of it, you know, that that hotel
starting with the Van Zandt, but and then
and then Kyle taking over after, you know,
working as as a young man for the
Van Zandt and just kind of maintaining that
spirit of, you know, excellence,
(09:24):
at the lodge, which is it's such a
great thing because, you know, the lodge is
beautiful, but it's also, you know, 55 years
old or something like that. So it's a
very old building. It doesn't have all the
bells and whistles that, you know, fancy luxury
hotels in Napa and other areas have. Mhmm.
But the quality of service that you get
there is really second to none. And and
that, I credit to Kyle.
(09:44):
Absolutely. Well and your background tell us a
little bit about your background.
So my my background is, you know, I've
been I've been working as a chef for
many, many years.
Before Touton, I was I was over in
Hawaii. I was on the Island Of Lanai
working for, Four Seasons Resort there.
And I was there for a couple years.
(10:05):
I was with Four Seasons for six years
total in Jackson Hole and then in in
Hawaii.
And then COVID happened, so I kinda ended
up back in Oregon and and wasn't real
sure what to do. You know, I just
wanted to be at home during the pandemic
and,
you know, discovered this, this beautiful little lodge
in the middle of nowhere. And, obviously, once
I visited the property,
(10:25):
I think it was very similar to your
situation, Amanda. I kinda fell in love with
it and, you know, stayed for two and
a half years. And, you know, since then,
I I've been in Portland. I opened a
a large, Taiwanese restaurant up in Portland. I
was there for about three years. And then
most recently, I'm down in Lake Tahoe. I'm
working at the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe.
So, yeah. It's, it's I I love to
(10:48):
work, obviously. I I move around for for
jobs a lot.
But mostly, the reason I I I love
to work is the people I get to
work with. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. And that's what
makes it really all the different characters, all
the different personalities,
and learning how they tick or, like, what
moves them or how to
how to create the infrastructure that just really
shines that superstar team.
(11:10):
Yep.
Yep.
Yeah. I I always like to say that
everybody's good at something. Mhmm.
And it's the job of a manager to
put people in positions where they're gonna be
successful. And if you can do that well,
you know, sky's the limit.
That's really well said. That's very true. Absolutely.
Because a lot of people, they, you know,
instead of look yeah. Find what your strengths
(11:31):
are and go with it.
Yep. No time to mess around. Who and
if I remember, there's something I can't remember
exactly what it was or who it was.
There was a special school or a teacher
or somebody, like a famous chef or or
something that you interacted with?
Maybe
professionally? Yeah. I I definitely I've worked for
(11:53):
a number of famous chefs. When I was
in Lanai, I was working at a Japanese
restaurant called Nobu.
So Nobu Matsuhisa is the very same famous,
Japanese chef,
has incredibly,
you know, famous restaurants all over the world
now.
So so that was great. But I've I've
been privileged enough to work with, you know,
a lot of amazing chefs. And then also,
(12:16):
you know, get to meet and work with
some of,
you know, you know, the some of the
legendary chefs in in the culinary world. And
it was, you know, probably a month ago,
Thomas Keller was in our restaurant. Oh. And
it it was great to finally meet him,
someone who I've been reading his cookbooks for
years and worked with so many people who
have worked at his restaurants and never actually
met him before. And he was here, and
(12:36):
it was really great to see someone that
was just probably the most legendary chef in
American cuisine.
So down to earth. He was there taking
pictures with the team
and and fist bumping everybody. And, you know,
he just made special time to actually spend
time in the kitchen. And he was just
here on vacation. He just came in to
eat breakfast, but ended up spending half a
day just kinda hanging out with the staff.
(12:58):
So,
it was really amazing to see someone at
that level just so incredibly down to earth
and so appreciative
of all the people that do the hard,
nasty work in in the hospitality business. It's
so true. There's so much behind the scenes
that, you know, when everything goes all shiny
and polished and exactly to the order's request,
(13:18):
the guests, you know, say all these things
to this cute little human standing in front
of them and they come back and they
just present this, you know, shiny diamond and
they have no idea
the crud worked its way out of to
be so shiny.
I always like the analogy of the swan
where you've got it peaceful on top of
the water, and then underneath the water, the
(13:40):
legs are just going wild.
That is so true.
Oh,
man. I love that. That's a really good
one. Listeners, we are talking with Austin, an
executive chef, a I would like to say
a pretty famous chef of in this area
and
from Hawaii to Tahoe
(14:01):
and with with a lot of integrity and
dignity. Like like, you know, you don't like,
a lot of people don't understand the difference
between
being stern
and,
reprimanding
or
giving directions or orders, which is totally different
than yelling and being a And, you know,
I don't care what anybody says.
(14:21):
But I really I don't even know if
I'm allowed to say that on radio, but
I would probably get beeped out.
For sure,
I know that there's a difference, you know?
And a lot of people don't understand that
when they're doing a bad job,
it's important for somebody to say, hey, it's
not all bells and whistles and pretty roses.
Like, you're not doing a good job. You
need to, like, do something different. And it's
(14:43):
constructive criticism. And I think you're really excellent
at that, and I really appreciate your role.
Well, yeah. Thank you.
You know, I I I also I I
taught culinary school while I was working at
the Touton as well when I was over
in Bend. That's right.
And, I I always used to tell my
culinary students that, you know, failure is the
(15:04):
best teacher.
And it's one of those things that you
it kinda makes you take a second and
think about it. But if you're open to
learning from your mistakes,
there there's no better teacher,
than than trying and and failing at something.
And and I would say that most of
the things that I've learned how to do
well have come after many, many failed attempts
(15:24):
at it.
Right. Right. Especially in the kitchen.
Especially at the kitchen, and especially with cooking.
Right? I mean,
when when you start out with a recipe
and you start to build a menu and
things like that, and you start testing. I
mean, you have those moments where it's you
think, oh, man. There's there's this this this
season's gonna be a disaster.
(15:44):
This menu is awful. Oh. And then, of
course, by the time all the testing and
everything and all all the months of hard
work are over, you end up with some
things that you're really proud of and people
really enjoy.
But, it definitely it is, it is difficult.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. There's a lot of moving
parts. Unbelievable
amount of
detail.
(16:04):
More detail, more detail. Tons more detail.
Yep. But I mean, the great thing is
you get to see that with people too,
where you have people that you meet and
they come in and and maybe they're they're
not real motivated at first or they're not
very just good at their job or they
don't notice the things they need to be
noticing.
And then a lot of times, those people,
you know, they they grow.
And seeing that metamorphosis of a person growing
(16:28):
into, like, a true professional,
is really rewarding as well. So
yeah.
Nice. And how long are you at the
Ritz Carlton for?
TBD.
I I just moved down from Portland,
two and a half months ago. Okay.
So,
I'm here for, at the very least, a
(16:50):
year,
but hopefully longer. I I do love this
area down here. I, you know, I I
love Oregon. Oregon is home.
But my wife and I, you know, after
living in the city for the last three
years, we we're definitely ready to be back,
you know, a little bit closer to nature,
and it's great being in the mountains and
back in and back in this area. So,
we'd like to stay for longer.
Right. Yeah. Good. Well, I hope you get
(17:11):
to. I really do. Sounds like you're in,
like, just the perfect I mean, I love
that area. I grew up around there, those
parts. Yeah. It's just heavy. That's like you
did. Yep. Yeah.
We have a special question we like to
ask our guest on the Quality Living Show.
We like to ask, what does or how
does or can you describe
the word quality
(17:32):
to you?
Sure. I mean, quality to me personally is
it's almost an experiential
thing. Mhmm.
When when you're providing something of quality to
something, you're you're providing them an experience. Even
even if it's something that's basic and simple,
but but it's something that's thoughtful. It's something
(17:53):
that's genuine, and it's something that people remember.
Mhmm. And then they get this idea of,
hey. I had this really quality meal or
I bought this really quality jacket, and you
remember kind of in in our culture the
brand that it came with, you know. Whether
whether it's to Tout and Lodge or, you
know, a Ritz Carlton or or a clothing
company, you remember the quality and you remember
(18:14):
the brand and it brings you back over
and over again. And as long as you
continue to provide
that kind of same experience
each time,
I mean, that's how you create, you know,
lifelong customers, sometimes lifelong friends.
But, yeah, I I would say that quality
is very much something that you remember, and
it's an experience.
(18:34):
Wow. That's so phenomenal. I love it. We've
we're at, like, our hundredth show,
and we really have never had repeated answers.
And that was another unique, super individual answer.
I love it. Experience. Cool. Yeah.
My family lives up in that area. And
my sister, she I don't know if you
remember. She's the fitness instructor. She's, like, big
(18:54):
stage bodybuilder,
like, gets people show ready. Yep. She goes
up to Tahoe all the time for shows.
And I would like to get a group
of them to go up and enjoy a
meal of yours, like, so they could have
the experience and have that quality moment. How
would I tell them where or how or
when they could enjoy some of your creations?
(19:14):
Sure. Absolutely. I mean,
you know, I can kinda we could take
this offline later, and and I can give
you some more specific details. But, I mean,
the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe is located right
at North Star, where it's 7,000 feet. So
we're the only ski in ski out resort
in the area. And, yeah, we've got, you
know, six or seven different restaurants here in
the hotel. So they,
they would have a lot of options should
(19:35):
they come choose to dine with us. And,
definitely let me know if if they are
leaning that way, and I'll set something up.
Nice. Exciting. That'd be very fun. And I've
I've got a team of chefs that would
just love to build them some,
some personal menus.
And, yeah. That'd be so fun. I'm gonna
have to oh, it's for her birthday. Her
(19:55):
birthday is November 20.
That would be so cool.
Right? Yeah. That that would be perfect timing
too.
I don't, you know, I don't recommend coming
during the height of the ski season because
we're just
so busy,
that that, you know, it's I I don't
want the the quality of service is the
same. It's just it's it's very, very busy
(20:16):
and kinda chaotic. So,
they will get definitely more, more personal service,
personalized service, I'll say, if they come before
the snow.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna have to do that
afterwards. I'll have to get a gift certificate,
get it all lined up so she could
get up there and enjoy one of your
creations.
Yeah. Yeah. Just let me know. Yeah. Absolutely.
(20:36):
So we also have another question
that we like to talk with our listeners
about here on the Quality Living Show.
And ladies and gentlemen, listeners out there, if
you have any questions, you can call (541)
661-4098,
speaking about questions or you can email
contact@kciw.org.
(20:58):
And our other question is
peaceful support.
How does that
work in your world? Where do you see
it? Sure. Yeah.
I I think peaceful support,
you know, talking about Lake Tahoe and, you
know, Gold Beach and Curry County. I think
peaceful support for me, you know, a lot
(21:18):
of it comes to my environment.
Obviously, working in the hospitality industry, you know,
it's it's busy and it's chaotic and it's
loud and, you know, there's inherent conflict in
your day to day.
So I think one of the things that
I always love to be around is when
I get out of work, you know, can
I look at a beautiful river? Can I
look at beautiful mountains and trees? You know,
(21:40):
is is there are there magical things I
can see outside of work that kinda just
make me kind of forget about everything and
make me realize why I'm doing what I'm
doing and why I'm living where I'm living.
So that's that's definitely one of one of
the big things for peaceful support for me
is just the actual environment I live in.
But then second, of course, is the people
I surround myself with. Oh, yeah. That that's
(22:02):
exactly
Those are winners right there. And, you know,
that's that's really real. Some of us forget
about, like, what are we surrounding ourselves with?
Who are we surrounding ourselves with? That's a
big one.
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any goals that
you're working on at the moment or any,
like, big projects coming up or?
I don't think I have any big projects.
(22:24):
Obviously, I'm I'm new to my my new
property here in Lake Tahoe, and so I
have a lot of learning to do.
You know, Ritz Carlton has a very set
way of doing things. And while I've been
with hotels like the Four Seasons and stuff
in the past,
you know, Ritz Carlton and Marriott are are
a very specific international brand. So,
I think just learning my new role and
(22:45):
getting to know the staff is probably my
big project right now. Oh, yeah.
How many how many people do you have?
I think we have
around 70,
kitsch
dishwashers
and cooks and and those types of people.
The entire property, so it's a 180 rooms,
and we have around 300 employees total. Phenomenal.
(23:08):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. A little bigger than Tooten.
Yeah. Take it take it's taking me longer
to learn names.
Right.
Exactly.
I have a really funny memory that just
came to mind,
and I was having,
well, I was having a moment. Like, you
know how you all, everybody, I'm sure we
can relate, when you have those days, like,
(23:30):
just that one day that is just piling
up on you and there's just no escaping
it.
Austin was the coolest ever. He actually gave
me a plate. He said, do you wanna
go outside and break this? And I said,
yes.
And I've never done that before. I just
walked outside,
and I just smashed it, and it and
I picked it up, cleaned it up, swept
(23:51):
it up. But it that release was, like,
the most amount of peaceful support I've ever
had.
So
That's that's really funny. And it's it's funny
you bring that up too because in the
years since then, I I actually,
you know, I I've I've started,
taking kind of like boxing classes. Oh. I'm
not I'm not I'm not fighting anybody. I
(24:12):
just I just feels good a couple days
a week to just go and hit the
bag for forty five minutes. And it was
something I never would thought I would do,
but it's the exact same thing is, you
know, I started to explore these ideas of
there there's some some frustrations in our lives
that are justified.
Mhmm. And you can't just say, I need
to calm down. I need to not be
upset about this. It's gonna bug you, and
(24:33):
then it's gonna fester. And then it just
kinda piles on and piles on and piles
on. And so it's something that I've been
working on is, like, how do I deal
with this justified anger? Uh-huh.
And and one of the things was, yeah,
go out in the garage and and break
a plate.
Or eventually, I was just like, it's a
lot less messy if I go and and
just and beat on a boxing bag for
(24:53):
a while.
Yeah. For a while, I was breaking breaking
eggs in our garage
to,
to to get the release. And and my
wife wasn't a real fan of that because
it smelled horrible and it made a huge
mess. So so the boxing has been a
better solution.
Epic. And you get a little fitness and
your heart feels better and you got some
physical activity.
And I get to take care of myself
(25:14):
a little bit. Yeah. So it's been nice.
I love it. Oh, man. I'm so grateful
and so thankful.
And,
if anybody,
out there, any of us listeners, if you
wanna go to the Ritz Carlton, you're totally
welcome in the South in the North Shore.
Right?
Yep. It's in the North Shore just outside
of Truckee. And then, of course, there's one
(25:35):
in there's a new one in Portland as
well.
Portland.
Really?
Yeah.
Interesting. Yeah. That's not too far. It's fun
for us to get out of town a
little bit as much as I love Brookings.
I love the area. I'm so grateful for
this magical little piece of heaven.
You know, it's It is a great area.
I miss it all the time. Yeah. Right?
(25:56):
Right. Yeah. It's weird. It's like
you're in it and you're like, alright. There's
not there's nothing to do, but there's so
much to do. It's just
just an interesting place. I'm pretty grateful.
And, you know, someday, you and me and
Ben and Kyle and the rest of the
kids are gonna have to have a Tatutin
reunion,
(26:16):
get together for a meal or do something
fun, you know, like, just a big, purposeful
gathering.
Yes. Most definitely.
Epic. Well, it's that time already. I wanna
say thank you, Austin, for sharing and having
beautiful memories and keeping the quality and integrity
out there in the in the eatering world
of the hospitality realm.
(26:38):
Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Amanda.
Listeners, thank you for listening to me. And,
yeah, this was this was really fun. Epic.
Thank you so much. Kaye signing off.
Alright. Bye bye. Bye.
Thank you, KCIW
listeners,
everybody out there in radio land,
or I should say radio space, radio airwaves.
Yeah. We are here on the Quality Living
with Peaceful Support show.
I'm Amanda Whittemore.
I'm your radio character.
And as you do know me in person,
I very much love being the character. It's
(00:36):
a lot of fun.
And we get to do pretty much anything
we really choose to in life, not just
here on the radio show. However,
we do often invite different guests here into
the radio station.
Downstairs from the block trumpet,
we have our own little special whole entire
radio show
(00:57):
and studio. If you guys have not been
inside KCIW radio station, make a tour,
get the kids down here,
grandkids,
all of it. And and I'm talking about
the elders when I say grandkids,
of course.
And mostly, this is a all volunteer ran
donation based radio program
(01:18):
where we get to have a couple of
minutes of quality
to give thanks to our community and people
who make our lives better.
And today, I'm really honored to introduce to
the Curry County and our global audience because
there is a link at kciw.org
that you are welcome to share with your
(01:39):
friends and family. They can listen anywhere in
the world.
However, I really want to introduce you all
to
a very important person to me and one
of my mentors and someone who has really
helped evolve
the way
of living with truest quality
at heart.
And
I'll have a whole lot more to say
about this. I want to introduce you all
(02:00):
to Austin.
Are you with us? Hi, everybody. Yeah. Yes.
I I am with you. I am with
you. Thank you, Amanda.
My name is Austin. Thank you all for
having me and, listening to me and inviting
you on your program.
Absolutely.
I'll give a little bit of background, then
I'm gonna ask you a bunch of questions.
(02:21):
Listeners, what really did happen was I got
to work at one of our most fanciest
places here in town,
and that is the Tatooine
Lodge up there in Gold Beach,
up the river
with paddles and canoes and hot tubs and
fancy dining.
And Austin was the executive chef at the
(02:42):
time
and probably one of the best bosses I've
ever had
as far as ethics, integrity,
dignity,
and timing.
There's so much I learned from Austin that
I felt to stay in contact with him
throughout these years. It's been quite a while
since we've done that together.
And so much has evolved in our lives,
and I thought it'd be fun to have
(03:03):
an update and hear where it is that
life has brought you and what's going on
in your world.
Yeah. That's great.
I I I think before I can even
get into that, though, I mean, obviously, working
with Amanda was memorable in so many ways.
But I think probably the most memorable way
was the way that you actually ended up
at the lodge,
(03:24):
and and ended up taking a position there.
Because,
if you could just tell that story, Amanda,
it's one of my favorites.
Okay.
So I had left the fire station. I
was working at the CFPA,
and it was the day of the fair.
And I just dressed up like a cowgirl,
you know, I had my boots on, my
pants, my hat, the whole, like, to the
(03:46):
tee.
And I was talking with one of my
former,
bosses and he looks at me and he
says, well, what are you doing right now?
And I said to him, I'm actively looking
for employment.
You know, I'm working on my next career.
And he looked at me like,
you're here at the fair. Like, seriously, kid?
Like,
(04:06):
really? And I I thought to myself, you
know what? I better get in the car
right now, and I better pull out my
list because I did have a list. I
just hadn't gone to the places yet. So
I walked right into the Tutu Tin Lodge,
not even thinking of how I was dressed.
And I just And I'm I'm pretty sure
it was, like, right in the middle of
dinner too. Probably right at 05:15, like, the
busiest time ever, the one time that you
(04:28):
don't wanna show up.
Yeah. And,
they brought me back for an interview and
asked, you know, what am I looking to
do? And I said, well, what do you
need help with?
And Yeah. Yeah. I I think the thing
I remember most is, yes, the, the
the the fair
cowgirl outfit,
(04:48):
and this very, very confident woman walks in
and says, this is the most beautiful property
I've ever seen. I wanna be a part
of what you're doing here. And she reached
out and shook my hand, and I was
like, I have no idea what her experience
is, where she comes from, if she's ever
worked in hotels or restaurants before,
but this person's a must hire.
(05:08):
And then, of course, once I actually sat
down and talked to Amanda and kinda figured
out a little bit more about her, obviously,
she was a perfect fit for us up
there.
But yeah, I always I always think of
that story when I think of Amanda because
it was just such a random,
way to meet somebody. And then obviously, you
know, working together for you for what I
I don't know how long we worked together,
(05:29):
a year, year and a half. Very memorable
experience as well. So fun. Yeah. And one
of this is even funnier. Ben and I
were just here. So Ben just decided to
be a co host on this show, believe
it or not. Nice. That's amazing.
I'm sure you remember
when we first started working together. Like, this
is how awesome Austin is. He saw the
(05:50):
beneficial like, he could see the future of,
like, the benefits and
the ability of the people that were
in his presence and what they could achieve.
Maybe they weren't doing it right then, but
he knew how to navigate and direct us.
And so Ben and I actually didn't get
along
because we had really strong personalities and we
(06:11):
really wanted the job done correctly.
The the way you thought the job, each
of you had your own idea of how
the job should be done. It was it
was very different.
Right. And Austin actually had to cut the
fire,
and you brought both of us back into
the office. And he's like, look,
you guys
need to get along,
(06:31):
and, you know, you need to agree to
disagree.
And after that meeting, Ben and I became
like best friends, and we still are.
Yeah. So I wanna thank you. That's great.
Ben is actually another person that I'm still
in touch with from those days. So that's
amazing that he's gonna be joining you on
the radio program. Yeah. Yeah. I was, like,
hoping he could be here tonight
for this interview, but he couldn't make it.
(06:53):
But he will in the future.
I'm so excited about all that. So for
you and your executive chef and the way
that you handled business, like,
timing was everything. There was no
reason
for error. There was no time for error.
And
to have everything clean and everything of a
certain level of excellence,
(07:15):
to thrive to be better every day
really shined quality beyond belief. And it was
so alleviating
to have
a higher up, like, the boss, the main
the the shock caller say, hey, this is
how we're operating.
It's very rare
to have people care
and enforce it. And so it was such
(07:37):
a relief. And I think Ben and I
were maybe the only two people who really
appreciated
the seriousness
with the amount of fun that you gave
us. Like, you gave us freedom,
but you were like, as long as we
did good. I loved it. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure. I mean, as long as,
you know, we had we had our our
structure, we had a plan every day.
(07:59):
You know, we we always knew, and the
great part of Altitude is it was guest
only back in those days with COVID and
everything. So,
you know, we we had a pretty good
idea of how many guests we were gonna
have, and what services they were gonna be
with us.
So, you know, there there was a lot
of opportunity to be prepared because as you
know, Amanda, you know, in in restaurants, things
go wrong. No matter what you do, no
(08:19):
matter how prepared you are, things are gonna
go wrong every every night. And, so kind
of preparing as best we can so we
could,
kind of adapt
to those trying situations. I think, you know,
certainly made the quality of service,
you know,
at that high level. But also, it gave
us time to be creative and think creatively
(08:42):
and problem solve situations
that we probably wouldn't have had as much
time to think about,
had we just been kind of running around
and reactively dealing with problems as they emerged.
Right? Right. Yes. Yes. With the with the
perception of being proactive.
Yes. Very much so. We had a good
team. I really liked our team. I liked
(09:02):
the time. I think Kyle, for sure, he
was a big part of Yeah. That excellence.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, in in a lot
of it, you know, that that hotel
starting with the Van Zandt, but and then
and then Kyle taking over after, you know,
working as as a young man for the
Van Zandt and just kind of maintaining that
spirit of, you know, excellence,
(09:24):
at the lodge, which is it's such a
great thing because, you know, the lodge is
beautiful, but it's also, you know, 55 years
old or something like that. So it's a
very old building. It doesn't have all the
bells and whistles that, you know, fancy luxury
hotels in Napa and other areas have. Mhmm.
But the quality of service that you get
there is really second to none. And and
that, I credit to Kyle.
(09:44):
Absolutely. Well and your background tell us a
little bit about your background.
So my my background is, you know, I've
been I've been working as a chef for
many, many years.
Before Touton, I was I was over in
Hawaii. I was on the Island Of Lanai
working for, Four Seasons Resort there.
And I was there for a couple years.
(10:05):
I was with Four Seasons for six years
total in Jackson Hole and then in in
Hawaii.
And then COVID happened, so I kinda ended
up back in Oregon and and wasn't real
sure what to do. You know, I just
wanted to be at home during the pandemic
and,
you know, discovered this, this beautiful little lodge
in the middle of nowhere. And, obviously, once
I visited the property,
(10:25):
I think it was very similar to your
situation, Amanda. I kinda fell in love with
it and, you know, stayed for two and
a half years. And, you know, since then,
I I've been in Portland. I opened a
a large, Taiwanese restaurant up in Portland. I
was there for about three years. And then
most recently, I'm down in Lake Tahoe. I'm
working at the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe.
So, yeah. It's, it's I I love to
(10:48):
work, obviously. I I move around for for
jobs a lot.
But mostly, the reason I I I love
to work is the people I get to
work with. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. And that's what
makes it really all the different characters, all
the different personalities,
and learning how they tick or, like, what
moves them or how to
how to create the infrastructure that just really
shines that superstar team.
(11:10):
Yep.
Yep.
Yeah. I I always like to say that
everybody's good at something. Mhmm.
And it's the job of a manager to
put people in positions where they're gonna be
successful. And if you can do that well,
you know, sky's the limit.
That's really well said. That's very true. Absolutely.
Because a lot of people, they, you know,
instead of look yeah. Find what your strengths
(11:31):
are and go with it.
Yep. No time to mess around. Who and
if I remember, there's something I can't remember
exactly what it was or who it was.
There was a special school or a teacher
or somebody, like a famous chef or or
something that you interacted with?
Maybe
professionally? Yeah. I I definitely I've worked for
(11:53):
a number of famous chefs. When I was
in Lanai, I was working at a Japanese
restaurant called Nobu.
So Nobu Matsuhisa is the very same famous,
Japanese chef,
has incredibly,
you know, famous restaurants all over the world
now.
So so that was great. But I've I've
been privileged enough to work with, you know,
a lot of amazing chefs. And then also,
(12:16):
you know, get to meet and work with
some of,
you know, you know, the some of the
legendary chefs in in the culinary world. And
it was, you know, probably a month ago,
Thomas Keller was in our restaurant. Oh. And
it it was great to finally meet him,
someone who I've been reading his cookbooks for
years and worked with so many people who
have worked at his restaurants and never actually
met him before. And he was here, and
(12:36):
it was really great to see someone that
was just probably the most legendary chef in
American cuisine.
So down to earth. He was there taking
pictures with the team
and and fist bumping everybody. And, you know,
he just made special time to actually spend
time in the kitchen. And he was just
here on vacation. He just came in to
eat breakfast, but ended up spending half a
day just kinda hanging out with the staff.
(12:58):
So,
it was really amazing to see someone at
that level just so incredibly down to earth
and so appreciative
of all the people that do the hard,
nasty work in in the hospitality business. It's
so true. There's so much behind the scenes
that, you know, when everything goes all shiny
and polished and exactly to the order's request,
(13:18):
the guests, you know, say all these things
to this cute little human standing in front
of them and they come back and they
just present this, you know, shiny diamond and
they have no idea
the crud worked its way out of to
be so shiny.
I always like the analogy of the swan
where you've got it peaceful on top of
the water, and then underneath the water, the
(13:40):
legs are just going wild.
That is so true.
Oh,
man. I love that. That's a really good
one. Listeners, we are talking with Austin, an
executive chef, a I would like to say
a pretty famous chef of in this area
and
from Hawaii to Tahoe
(14:01):
and with with a lot of integrity and
dignity. Like like, you know, you don't like,
a lot of people don't understand the difference
between
being stern
and,
reprimanding
or
giving directions or orders, which is totally different
than yelling and being a And, you know,
I don't care what anybody says.
(14:21):
But I really I don't even know if
I'm allowed to say that on radio, but
I would probably get beeped out.
For sure,
I know that there's a difference, you know?
And a lot of people don't understand that
when they're doing a bad job,
it's important for somebody to say, hey, it's
not all bells and whistles and pretty roses.
Like, you're not doing a good job. You
need to, like, do something different. And it's
(14:43):
constructive criticism. And I think you're really excellent
at that, and I really appreciate your role.
Well, yeah. Thank you.
You know, I I I also I I
taught culinary school while I was working at
the Touton as well when I was over
in Bend. That's right.
And, I I always used to tell my
culinary students that, you know, failure is the
(15:04):
best teacher.
And it's one of those things that you
it kinda makes you take a second and
think about it. But if you're open to
learning from your mistakes,
there there's no better teacher,
than than trying and and failing at something.
And and I would say that most of
the things that I've learned how to do
well have come after many, many failed attempts
(15:24):
at it.
Right. Right. Especially in the kitchen.
Especially at the kitchen, and especially with cooking.
Right? I mean,
when when you start out with a recipe
and you start to build a menu and
things like that, and you start testing. I
mean, you have those moments where it's you
think, oh, man. There's there's this this this
season's gonna be a disaster.
(15:44):
This menu is awful. Oh. And then, of
course, by the time all the testing and
everything and all all the months of hard
work are over, you end up with some
things that you're really proud of and people
really enjoy.
But, it definitely it is, it is difficult.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. There's a lot of moving
parts. Unbelievable
amount of
detail.
(16:04):
More detail, more detail. Tons more detail.
Yep. But I mean, the great thing is
you get to see that with people too,
where you have people that you meet and
they come in and and maybe they're they're
not real motivated at first or they're not
very just good at their job or they
don't notice the things they need to be
noticing.
And then a lot of times, those people,
you know, they they grow.
And seeing that metamorphosis of a person growing
(16:28):
into, like, a true professional,
is really rewarding as well. So
yeah.
Nice. And how long are you at the
Ritz Carlton for?
TBD.
I I just moved down from Portland,
two and a half months ago. Okay.
So,
I'm here for, at the very least, a
(16:50):
year,
but hopefully longer. I I do love this
area down here. I, you know, I I
love Oregon. Oregon is home.
But my wife and I, you know, after
living in the city for the last three
years, we we're definitely ready to be back,
you know, a little bit closer to nature,
and it's great being in the mountains and
back in and back in this area. So,
we'd like to stay for longer.
Right. Yeah. Good. Well, I hope you get
(17:11):
to. I really do. Sounds like you're in,
like, just the perfect I mean, I love
that area. I grew up around there, those
parts. Yeah. It's just heavy. That's like you
did. Yep. Yeah.
We have a special question we like to
ask our guest on the Quality Living Show.
We like to ask, what does or how
does or can you describe
the word quality
(17:32):
to you?
Sure. I mean, quality to me personally is
it's almost an experiential
thing. Mhmm.
When when you're providing something of quality to
something, you're you're providing them an experience. Even
even if it's something that's basic and simple,
but but it's something that's thoughtful. It's something
(17:53):
that's genuine, and it's something that people remember.
Mhmm. And then they get this idea of,
hey. I had this really quality meal or
I bought this really quality jacket, and you
remember kind of in in our culture the
brand that it came with, you know. Whether
whether it's to Tout and Lodge or, you
know, a Ritz Carlton or or a clothing
company, you remember the quality and you remember
(18:14):
the brand and it brings you back over
and over again. And as long as you
continue to provide
that kind of same experience
each time,
I mean, that's how you create, you know,
lifelong customers, sometimes lifelong friends.
But, yeah, I I would say that quality
is very much something that you remember, and
it's an experience.
(18:34):
Wow. That's so phenomenal. I love it. We've
we're at, like, our hundredth show,
and we really have never had repeated answers.
And that was another unique, super individual answer.
I love it. Experience. Cool. Yeah.
My family lives up in that area. And
my sister, she I don't know if you
remember. She's the fitness instructor. She's, like, big
(18:54):
stage bodybuilder,
like, gets people show ready. Yep. She goes
up to Tahoe all the time for shows.
And I would like to get a group
of them to go up and enjoy a
meal of yours, like, so they could have
the experience and have that quality moment. How
would I tell them where or how or
when they could enjoy some of your creations?
(19:14):
Sure. Absolutely. I mean,
you know, I can kinda we could take
this offline later, and and I can give
you some more specific details. But, I mean,
the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe is located right
at North Star, where it's 7,000 feet. So
we're the only ski in ski out resort
in the area. And, yeah, we've got, you
know, six or seven different restaurants here in
the hotel. So they,
they would have a lot of options should
(19:35):
they come choose to dine with us. And,
definitely let me know if if they are
leaning that way, and I'll set something up.
Nice. Exciting. That'd be very fun. And I've
I've got a team of chefs that would
just love to build them some,
some personal menus.
And, yeah. That'd be so fun. I'm gonna
have to oh, it's for her birthday. Her
(19:55):
birthday is November 20.
That would be so cool.
Right? Yeah. That that would be perfect timing
too.
I don't, you know, I don't recommend coming
during the height of the ski season because
we're just
so busy,
that that, you know, it's I I don't
want the the quality of service is the
same. It's just it's it's very, very busy
(20:16):
and kinda chaotic. So,
they will get definitely more, more personal service,
personalized service, I'll say, if they come before
the snow.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna have to do that
afterwards. I'll have to get a gift certificate,
get it all lined up so she could
get up there and enjoy one of your
creations.
Yeah. Yeah. Just let me know. Yeah. Absolutely.
(20:36):
So we also have another question
that we like to talk with our listeners
about here on the Quality Living Show.
And ladies and gentlemen, listeners out there, if
you have any questions, you can call (541)
661-4098,
speaking about questions or you can email
contact@kciw.org.
(20:58):
And our other question is
peaceful support.
How does that
work in your world? Where do you see
it? Sure. Yeah.
I I think peaceful support,
you know, talking about Lake Tahoe and, you
know, Gold Beach and Curry County. I think
peaceful support for me, you know, a lot
(21:18):
of it comes to my environment.
Obviously, working in the hospitality industry, you know,
it's it's busy and it's chaotic and it's
loud and, you know, there's inherent conflict in
your day to day.
So I think one of the things that
I always love to be around is when
I get out of work, you know, can
I look at a beautiful river? Can I
look at beautiful mountains and trees? You know,
(21:40):
is is there are there magical things I
can see outside of work that kinda just
make me kind of forget about everything and
make me realize why I'm doing what I'm
doing and why I'm living where I'm living.
So that's that's definitely one of one of
the big things for peaceful support for me
is just the actual environment I live in.
But then second, of course, is the people
I surround myself with. Oh, yeah. That that's
(22:02):
exactly
Those are winners right there. And, you know,
that's that's really real. Some of us forget
about, like, what are we surrounding ourselves with?
Who are we surrounding ourselves with? That's a
big one.
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any goals that
you're working on at the moment or any,
like, big projects coming up or?
I don't think I have any big projects.
(22:24):
Obviously, I'm I'm new to my my new
property here in Lake Tahoe, and so I
have a lot of learning to do.
You know, Ritz Carlton has a very set
way of doing things. And while I've been
with hotels like the Four Seasons and stuff
in the past,
you know, Ritz Carlton and Marriott are are
a very specific international brand. So,
I think just learning my new role and
(22:45):
getting to know the staff is probably my
big project right now. Oh, yeah.
How many how many people do you have?
I think we have
around 70,
kitsch
dishwashers
and cooks and and those types of people.
The entire property, so it's a 180 rooms,
and we have around 300 employees total. Phenomenal.
(23:08):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. A little bigger than Tooten.
Yeah. Take it take it's taking me longer
to learn names.
Right.
Exactly.
I have a really funny memory that just
came to mind,
and I was having,
well, I was having a moment. Like, you
know how you all, everybody, I'm sure we
can relate, when you have those days, like,
(23:30):
just that one day that is just piling
up on you and there's just no escaping
it.
Austin was the coolest ever. He actually gave
me a plate. He said, do you wanna
go outside and break this? And I said,
yes.
And I've never done that before. I just
walked outside,
and I just smashed it, and it and
I picked it up, cleaned it up, swept
(23:51):
it up. But it that release was, like,
the most amount of peaceful support I've ever
had.
So
That's that's really funny. And it's it's funny
you bring that up too because in the
years since then, I I actually,
you know, I I've I've started,
taking kind of like boxing classes. Oh. I'm
not I'm not I'm not fighting anybody. I
(24:12):
just I just feels good a couple days
a week to just go and hit the
bag for forty five minutes. And it was
something I never would thought I would do,
but it's the exact same thing is, you
know, I started to explore these ideas of
there there's some some frustrations in our lives
that are justified.
Mhmm. And you can't just say, I need
to calm down. I need to not be
upset about this. It's gonna bug you, and
(24:33):
then it's gonna fester. And then it just
kinda piles on and piles on and piles
on. And so it's something that I've been
working on is, like, how do I deal
with this justified anger? Uh-huh.
And and one of the things was, yeah,
go out in the garage and and break
a plate.
Or eventually, I was just like, it's a
lot less messy if I go and and
just and beat on a boxing bag for
(24:53):
a while.
Yeah. For a while, I was breaking breaking
eggs in our garage
to,
to to get the release. And and my
wife wasn't a real fan of that because
it smelled horrible and it made a huge
mess. So so the boxing has been a
better solution.
Epic. And you get a little fitness and
your heart feels better and you got some
physical activity.
And I get to take care of myself
(25:14):
a little bit. Yeah. So it's been nice.
I love it. Oh, man. I'm so grateful
and so thankful.
And,
if anybody,
out there, any of us listeners, if you
wanna go to the Ritz Carlton, you're totally
welcome in the South in the North Shore.
Right?
Yep. It's in the North Shore just outside
of Truckee. And then, of course, there's one
(25:35):
in there's a new one in Portland as
well.
Portland.
Really?
Yeah.
Interesting. Yeah. That's not too far. It's fun
for us to get out of town a
little bit as much as I love Brookings.
I love the area. I'm so grateful for
this magical little piece of heaven.
You know, it's It is a great area.
I miss it all the time. Yeah. Right?
(25:56):
Right. Yeah. It's weird. It's like
you're in it and you're like, alright. There's
not there's nothing to do, but there's so
much to do. It's just
just an interesting place. I'm pretty grateful.
And, you know, someday, you and me and
Ben and Kyle and the rest of the
kids are gonna have to have a Tatutin
reunion,
(26:16):
get together for a meal or do something
fun, you know, like, just a big, purposeful
gathering.
Yes. Most definitely.
Epic. Well, it's that time already. I wanna
say thank you, Austin, for sharing and having
beautiful memories and keeping the quality and integrity
out there in the in the eatering world
of the hospitality realm.
(26:38):
Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Amanda.
Listeners, thank you for listening to me. And,
yeah, this was this was really fun. Epic.
Thank you so much. Kaye signing off.
Alright. Bye bye. Bye.
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