May 8, 2024 • 40 mins
As we wrap up this flavorful exchange, dive into the nitty-gritty of running a small yet vibrant restaurant, from the complexities of seating arrangements to the refreshing stories of vacations that rejuvenate the soul. Chef Ray and Chef Sarita, not just partners in life but also in the kitchen, give us an intimate look at how they keep their love and menu fresh, stirring in a blend of creativity and shared culinary aspirations. It's a tale of passion, grit, and the art of cooking that will leave you hungry for more than just their next innovative dish.
Thank you Chef Ray, Chef Sarita and team Cello!!
https://www.cellolenox.com/
Thank you to our listeners!!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chef James (00:14):
Hey everyone, welcome to Chef Sense.
I'm your host, Chef Massey,Alright.
So today on the podcast this isawesome I've got Chef Ray, Chef
Sarita from Cello in Lenox.
Thank you both for finding timeto be here, because this is
awesome.
I've got Chef Ray, Chef Saritafrom Cello in Lenox.
Thank you both for finding timeto be here, because this is
great.
Chef Ray (00:29):
Thank you, we're going to go for a chat for this.
Chef James (00:31):
Oh, okay, for what?
Chef Ray (00:33):
Not weed and morals.
Chef James (00:34):
Okay, there you go.
Let me know I can follow behindyou for the morales.
I'm still searching for mine.
Chef Sarita (00:39):
Yeah, me too.
Chef James (00:45):
I can't show you no.
No, we don't do that.
I know that.
Have you met?
Chef Sarita (00:47):
John Wheeler Forager.
I have not.
I have not, is that?
No, it's not Nicole's dad, okay, okay.
Chef James (00:50):
He has the Berkshire Mycological Society here.
Chef Sarita (00:53):
He does mushroom walks and stuff.
Chef James (00:55):
He does yes and he's fantastic and I've connected
with, actually got matzah takeiin so I was able to shave that
on ramen bowls, miso, what youknow, your broths or whatever,
but anyways he's a greatresource if I don't have time to
get out there.
Anyways, what drove you intoour amazingly insane world of
the culinary arts?
Chef Ray (01:17):
um, that's a long story okay um, I grew up young
with a young mother and mygrandmother made amazing food.
Okay, so that you know, satwith me, yep, and my mom.
I watched progress to makegreat food eventually when she
was 17 or 18.
Chef Sarita (01:35):
He said that to her in person yesterday.
She was not doing a great job.
Chef Ray (01:40):
So, I have a backcountry upstate New York
food situation and she actuallyhas a better story than I do.
Chef Sarita (01:50):
I was born in Columbia in South America.
Chef James (01:52):
I saw your menu too.
How amazing.
Thank you Really sorry yeahthat one was super fun.
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (02:00):
So my parents were born in the same area but
actually ended up growing up incompletely different areas,
which is interesting because mydad's side of the family is
black and they're super mixed.
Then my mom's- side of thefamily is more.
You know, her father was adoctor.
His ancestors are German.
There's like a little bit ofGerman and Italian on that side.
And my dad.
You know it's like African,spanish, french on his side.
(02:22):
So he grew up on the coast.
So all of like the seafood, thecoconuts, the coconut soup, the
stews all that kind of thing umthe bacalao that all comes from
my dad's side and then I have acompletely different culinary
experience on my mother's side,but both my grandmas were
amazing cooks, so okay that's,and was there like formal
(02:46):
training for that?
Chef James (02:47):
Or I mean you guys just worked your ways up in
kitchen.
Chef Ray (02:49):
I was formally trained .
I went to CIA, unfortunately,because it costs way too much
money.
Chef James (02:53):
Yeah, it is, I mean great institution, but man, it
sure is it was fun, I don't wantto pay for it anymore.
Chef Ray (03:02):
She's a great cook and didn't do that.
Chef James (03:07):
Right, she's a great cook and didn't do that right,
right, yeah, and I think youknow I've always been one where
it's, you know, an education iswhat you make of it.
Exactly, you know, I, I camefrom the school of hard knocks,
right, you know, and, and I Ilearned at a very young age.
I came in about 91, 92 into theindustry, but like it was all
about being a sponge walkingwith humble feet, yeah, and they
paid you with knowledge.
Yes, they didn't pay you money.
Chef Ray (03:27):
If you were willing to listen.
No, no, you wouldn't.
No, I mean, I was Still.
Chef James (03:31):
You got a meal, though, yeah, right right, yeah,
you know, get a, grab abreadstick.
Chef Ray (03:39):
But you know it's something much.
Chef James (03:41):
Eat some rice.
I'm tied, well you know, andthat's kind of the way it is.
So, looking at Cello, do youguys want to go into your
division?
And you're just up on your year, right?
Chef Ray (03:51):
Yeah, and so congratulations, that's a big
deal.
Yes, thank you.
Chef James (03:55):
Yeah, do you want to go into that?
A little bit Like the backstoryof Cello and how that got.
Chef Ray (04:00):
The backstory essentially is the fact that I
worked at noodle for seven yearsYep, I was the sous chef for
two and the CDC for five years.
Okay, and I left.
I went to lantern to try tomake Pittsburgh a little better.
Right, didn't work out, it'shard yes.
Yes, went to cantina.
(04:21):
It wasn't great for mepersonally, but it's okay.
Um, and I was just helping myfriend at Bosque and some
regulars texted me Just a textDo you want to reopen the
restaurant?
I was like, yeah, I do.
Chef James (04:40):
It's very special and we had already been in
conversation about workingtogether.
Chef Sarita (04:46):
We had talked about it before cantina and catering
thing.
Chef James (04:51):
And you guys are an amazing team, by the way.
Thank you, yeah, absolutely.
Chef Ray (04:56):
So it was an offer and I said, hell yeah, let's do it.
Get to support local farms.
Good products make fun foodevery day.
Chef James (05:04):
Yeah, you worked hard under bjorn.
I mean you did, ray.
I wasn't in there as much as Ishould have been.
You were there, though Iremember you.
But yeah, but it, you guys andwhat you were doing there were
an example to the entire regionand let alone, I think, even
challenging many otherrestaurants I think creativity,
yeah, I think I don't want togive ourselves too much credit,
(05:27):
but the restaurants are gettingbetter around us.
Chef Ray (05:29):
They should, and I love that and that pushes us,
and it pushes us too.
That's good.
Chef Sarita (05:34):
Because sometimes, you know, it's easy to get a
little bit lazy.
It's funny because we're somotivated, we're so pumped,
we're so like go, go, go all thetime.
Like go, go, go all the time,and then once in a while we're
like that's a really good menuand then we get like a little
lazy and then we'll go somewhereelse that maybe wasn't so good
before or they've had like somedownfalls, and we have this like
standout dish and you're likewhoa, yeah, oh, this place is
(05:54):
getting better, this was gettingbetter.
Like we can't afford to getlazy and we don't want to, so it
like pushes us, which we hopein turn pushes everyone else
around us.
Chef Ray (06:02):
you you know, I think it does.
Chef James (06:04):
I think it really well, Raise all ships,
absolutely, and I think that'swhat's important about community
.
I think that you know, as achef, my goal as I build a team
is to build the best team aroundme that's possible, and there's
going to be a number of them inthere that are much better than
I am.
The important thing aboutcommunity in that aspect is
(06:25):
there's a level of respect andappreciation for one another
that when you put these pieces,like you know, these gears
together the Swiss clock isbeautiful for a reason, but when
you open it up and you reallylook inside, you see the inner
workings and the magic thathappens.
And I think that when you candevelop a team and have those
drivers with each other like youguys do, so when you look at
(06:47):
your menu, you guys are doingthis, You're doing daily menus.
I mean this isn't.
We're not talking aboutseasonal, I mean it's seasonal.
Chef Ray (06:54):
No, it may be nice Like every month or two.
Chef James (06:57):
Make a change Once a week.
Make 40% change.
You're making changes every day.
Chef Sarita (07:03):
Yeah Well, and with Taken Tuesday which we started
to do during, you know, the offseason, to try to get more
people in the door so that tokeep ourselves going.
It is Sure, it's yours, we tryto use as much of like produce
around.
So then, for Taken I was likeyou know, it's winter.
There isn't that much stuffbesides like dry goods and
cellared stuff.
Right stuff right, and so howcan we justify using stuff
(07:24):
that's out of season and make itreally fun and interesting and
learn new stuff?
Well, let's go and try allthese different cuisines.
Chef Ray (07:29):
Let's try all these different styles of food.
Chef Sarita (07:31):
Let's make a colombian menu.
Let's you know right.
Chef Ray (07:34):
So this tuesday we have kfc it's korean fried
chicken.
Wednesday, thursday, we have afull new menu, and then friday
we have a dinner that you'reinvited to, and then Saturday,
back to the whole menu.
Chef Sarita (07:47):
Well, the week before we went on vacation, it
was taken Tuesday, and then wehad the wine dinner, which was
an entirely different menu, thenThursday, it was a completely
different menu, and then Friday,saturday, we're like, oh shit,
we gotta do whatever we can touse everything up in the walk-in
before we go on vacation sothose were totally different
times.
Chef Ray (08:05):
Every Saturday is literally like what can we make
with what we have left?
Yes, and then also how can wenot let this rot?
Chef James (08:12):
Right right.
Chef Sarita (08:13):
Yeah.
Chef James (08:13):
You know, and get that flip back around.
Yeah, wow.
Chef Ray (08:16):
And we look at the.
I go on the walk-in everySaturday night and I'm like
there's nothing left.
What?
Chef James (08:20):
happened.
Yeah, now we really got to dothis.
Yeah, you know when you'redoing your menus, I mean, like
you said, you're having these TVdinner menu or throwback menus
or a variety of things that, ina very respectful way, is not
normal.
Chef Ray (08:37):
Not at all In our industry.
Chef James (08:39):
You know, in some areas in Europe abroad you'll
find daily menus that aretighter, small bistros.
But to do what you guys aredoing I always say you can
baffle them with bullshit ordazzle them with brilliance.
I think that the ability thatyou guys are doing to dazzle
people with your God-giventalent and hit it on the plate,
(08:59):
is amazing.
Chef Ray (09:00):
Thank you, thank you.
Chef James (09:01):
Because you know so many times as a culinarian right
I mean, we're artists and youstart the picture or you know
you're doing this and that andit's like you get started with a
couple of lines You're likenope, you know, wad it up, throw
it out, start again.
You're going back at it andyou're putting yourself under
such a substantial level ofresponsibility and pressure
(09:21):
because you're utilizing productin your stores and you're also
trying to include local farms.
That's another foundation.
That isn't easy because youknow I think sometimes we're
lucky with our farms here in theBerkshires because we have so
many talented people.
You know that can have atendency to grow similar things,
but you've got to kind of keepthem moving in and moving
(09:45):
through.
Chef Ray (09:45):
Yeah, how has that been for you?
There's certain farms that welove, that are very good to us.
There's certain farms that havegone to the route of not
selling to restaurants anymore.
Okay, yeah, which isproblematic because they're
great farms.
Chef Sarita (09:59):
It's problematic for us, not for them.
Right right, it's great forthem.
They're making life easier forthemselves.
Chef Ray (10:03):
I appreciate that.
So local stuff is a littleharder.
Yeah, thankfully we haveMarty's, which you know collects
it.
Chef James (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, oh Nick.
So that's good, he's great.
Chef Sarita (10:14):
And I did the same farm school program that he did.
Yeah, I need to get that mantoo.
Chef James (10:18):
Yeah, that's amazing , isn't it?
The kids and the apprenticeshipprogram for adults.
Chef Sarita (10:24):
Yeah, they do two separate programs.
Chef James (10:25):
That's amazing they intertwine.
Chef Ray (10:27):
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:27):
I don't think they're doing anything right now
.
Chef Ray (10:29):
I've also been very lucky to work with her.
Okay, yeah, because she's beena farmer in the Berkshires, so
she has connections.
Chef James (10:36):
Oh, okay, okay, very cool.
Chef Ray (10:37):
So we can get local eggs from a farmer and stop by
pick it up.
We can get a whole cow from afarmer, yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:44):
I work for Will and Amelia.
Oh okay, oh yeah.
Chef James (10:48):
And I adore them.
Yeah, they're great yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:53):
And I did dairy stuff with them and then also
beef pigs, whatever.
Chef Ray (10:56):
Okay, that's very, very helpful for the restaurant
yeah Indian line as well.
Chef James (10:59):
Shout out to Indian line.
Have you done Holiday Brook aswell?
Shout out to have you doneHoliday Brook, and they're great
too.
Chef Sarita (11:04):
Where?
Chef James (11:05):
Holiday Brook.
Chef Sarita (11:05):
I haven't been there yet.
Yeah, okay.
Chef James (11:07):
I mean, I've gotten, you know animals fabbed from
them, you know in sections andwas able to kind of use it
through.
But no, there's.
It's not easy.
Wow, that's a hard life, it is.
Chef Ray (11:19):
I've always said, like , farmers have the hardest life
because everything can get wipedout if something goes wrong
with the weather.
Chef James (11:25):
It's a gamble yeah, and restaurants are probably
number two yeah, well it'sinteresting like yeah, yeah, it
is I mean you dealt with issuesthrough covid and staffing, and
staffing is still very hard,right, right, yeah and what do
you think you're?
What are your thoughts on?
Why are we dealing with thiscurrently?
I mean, I have my own, but whatdo you?
Chef Ray (11:45):
think um.
My thoughts are simply the factthat people got a free paycheck
to stay home for a long timeand now they have to go back to
work.
But there's ways around it,right, right?
Chef Sarita (11:54):
I think the pendulum always swings right and
it swings in one extreme likethe old school more crazy,
abusive kitchen culture to likebeing now extremely PC and
polite.
And you need something in themiddle.
You know you need.
You need discipline, but youalso need to be you also need to
(12:16):
remember that we're dealingwith human beings you know, so
it's like it's gotta besomewhere in the middle and it's
it's inching towards that rightnow, I think, but I think
that's part of the problem.
It's coming back.
Chef Ray (12:25):
Everybody seems to want a larger paycheck, yeah.
Chef Sarita (12:28):
I'm sorry, yeah, yeah.
Chef James (12:31):
Well, and that's hard, like dealing with COVID.
I think it's obviouslysomething, in many ways, we've
never dealt with before and itwas very tragic.
I think that it created anopportunity for people to have a
much different income than whatthey were used to.
I think it gave people anopportunity to reflect on their
(12:51):
lives and go do I really want todo this?
You know, I think we're also ina time in society where mental
health has come to the forefront, but in that, like you were
sharing, sometimes we swing insome ways where, at the end of
the day, to be a chef, it'sgoing to be hard.
(13:12):
Yeah, it's definitely hard.
I don't.
I would love to see that soften.
Chef Ray (13:15):
I would love to see it I don't know if it will, but it
can't soften too much.
I don't know if I want it tofully.
It's not a softening.
It's not a softening.
It's not a job, it's alifestyle.
It is, it's a way of life, andit's so awesome.
Chef James (13:26):
You said that, yeah Right, because, like even with
my grandpa and our farm, we hada multi-generational farm in
Northern Californiano-transcript and that's why I
wanted to be a chef, becauseit's a way of life, you know,
and it's kind of like being aboat captain, you know it's a
(13:46):
way of life.
This isn't.
You know.
You're everything to your crew.
You know if it goes down,you're going down with it
Absolutely, and so you know youalso have codependent behaviors
that come up when that happensright it's true, that can pull
us in, and then, all of a sudden, we.
it's like a submarine.
When do you surface?
Chef Ray (14:07):
Yeah.
Chef James (14:07):
You don't know, never do.
Chef Ray (14:08):
Right.
Chef Sarita (14:09):
So it's hard, but I think it's hard to balance it
too, like living together,working together, being you know
.
Chef James (14:14):
And that's a thing too.
Chef Sarita (14:15):
I mean it's 100%.
Chef Ray (14:17):
Oh, we have to.
We have to literally forceourselves ourselves for four
hours a week to not talk aboutwork so ridiculous, because it's
yes, nothing.
Four hours is nothing.
Chef Sarita (14:26):
We have to.
We're like, okay, let's trylike a little chunk of time we
were ordering last night,figuring out menu.
Chef Ray (14:32):
Last night we were ordering this morning.
Chef Sarita (14:34):
I was texting marty's, I was texting our fish
you ran to put away the orderand I called my mom to find out
if we could buy rhubarb from her.
Chef James (14:42):
Okay, see, and that's and that's a great point
for the listeners to understand,because we get a wide variety
of listeners that aren't just inour field but are, like you
know, see the the glam, theglitz and the fun of being a
chef, and it is a beautiful lifein so many other ways too.
But you know you being a couplein this situation that the
boundaries get even harder italso makes you know, I know I
(15:05):
would have a heart.
Chef Ray (15:05):
Yeah, yeah, it makes the food better like, because
we're always going back andforth yeah yeah, it's beneficial
to us overall, but like it, itdefinitely.
Chef Sarita (15:14):
You have, you have to work, so we have.
We have to work so hard on likeyet, like you said, boundaries
and also maintaining like okay,you know, not not getting too
worked up about work stuff athome, not getting too worked
about home stuff at work.
Chef James (15:27):
You know like backwards and vice versa.
It's hard, it works, but that'sawesome yeah, it does work.
Chef Ray (15:33):
And yeah, like I mean we, we balance each other out.
Chef Sarita (15:35):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Most of the time she was likeI'm making pan fried cornbread
with fermented jalapenos rampramps.
That we picked, oh cool, wepicked yeah.
And then we picked nettles andgarlic mustard yeah.
Chef Ray (15:49):
And served it, and I never personally, would never
serve that Like it would nevercome to my brain.
I did a nettle butter.
Chef Sarita (15:54):
Oh, I did a nettle butter on the cornbread.
I was like ramping Wow.
Chef Ray (15:59):
But my brain would never think of that.
Okay, and her brain made thatwork and it's like crazy and
that's awesome, and there'scertain things my brain will
think of.
Chef Sarita (16:07):
Yeah, and I'm like what?
And she'll do the same thing.
Chef Ray (16:09):
What, no, no, no, watch, watch, watch.
Chef Sarita (16:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chef Ray (16:12):
I've learned?
Chef Sarita (16:13):
Yeah, I've definitely learned.
We've both learned to be likethat sounds so wild, that sounds
like it makes no sense, but Ican't wait to see what it looks
like, instead of holding eachother back and being like no,
maybe don't do that.
I think that's going to be tooweird.
It's like no, actually, let'ssee it do it, do it, do it, do
it.
Chef Ray (16:33):
It's like push, push push back and forth.
Well, because you almost haveto, because the way you guys,
yeah, like wow, you know, webarely engineer it until around
three o'clock and then we pullit together yeah and then we
throw a bunch of random stuff onour station to figure out what
(16:53):
is best with every dish duringservice and and then.
Chef James (16:56):
But honest to god, though, I mean the beauty of
that raised both of you beingunder that kind of pressure and
then coming in for dinner, likeI have, and trying those dishes.
You know people, for thoselisteners, you know you're.
When you're doing engineering,you're usually like OK, here's,
here's our list of what we wantto take off, here's how we'll
(17:18):
change it.
You know, maybe we divvy it upin the kitchen or you're working
.
I mean, this is a very tighttandem team that people need to
understand.
And also, when you're buildingthese menus, you're kind, you're
from my.
What I'm getting is it's kind ofon the fly oh, it's maturity
and palette has to be high sothat you can hit the acid, the
(17:39):
fat, the, the inner balance,like you were just talking about
of all that together and beinglike, let's roll.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Chef Ray (17:47):
Every day.
Yes, we have 10 customers orderthe same thing and each dish
might be a little different,right, right, because we figure
out a little better technique ora better movement for that
Right, and almost every dish isplated a little bit differently.
Chef Sarita (17:59):
Sometimes, we find a way.
Sometimes we'll plate something.
Sometimes we'll plate somethingand be like we nailed it.
And other things, either becauseit's a really playful dish, so
it lends itself to that, orbecause we're not quite
satisfied with how it looks.
So we'll keep plating itdifferently.
We'll even just use a differentbowl, use a different plate,
like wait, what do you think ofthis here?
I don't know, put that underthere, put that over there, wow,
(18:21):
and we'll play with it as we goalong.
And ideally, you know, we findsomething that we like, or we're
just happy to keep changing itup because it's fun.
Chef Ray (18:28):
Yeah, the kudo I've made at every school differently
.
We literally have to.
If I had to, if we had to dothe same menu for you know,
months, yeah.
Chef Sarita (18:46):
It wouldn't be worth getting out of bed to.
Sometimes we'll take stuff offthe menu because we get this is
like so ridiculous.
But sometimes we'll havesomething that sells really,
really, really well and everyonewants it.
We get bored of making the samething that many times, so we
change it and people are like,well, why did you take that off
the menu?
I love it because we're sick ofit because everyone ordered it.
Chef Ray (18:58):
Now we want to make it different we get emails and
texts like I want this recipe.
I'm like I don't have a recipeyeah, I just, we just made it
that day.
Chef James (19:07):
So you guys, and again because you're moving so
quickly, you're really usingyour school of ratios right like
you're, as you're kind of likebuilding and past recipes a
little bit.
Chef Ray (19:18):
Yes, yeah, sometimes okay, but it's also like just
taste just the knowledge.
Yeah, yeah like I said, it goesback to middle school.
Guest test revise.
Guest test revise yeah.
Chef James (19:27):
Wow.
Chef Sarita (19:27):
Okay, and we bounce stuff off each other.
We have a similar pal, we likesimilar flavors, and so
sometimes I'll be tastingsomething.
One of us will be like I can'tget it.
Just right.
It needs that one little thing,and we.
The other day, I think it waswith the pineapple custard which
I couldn't get to sexpineapples.
Chef Ray (19:44):
Oh yeah.
Chef Sarita (19:45):
Yeah, and I kept tasting it and it was like it
needed something to round it outand I went downstairs to the
two-door and pulled out I hadthis sweet and sour syrup that I
had made a couple months agofor a different dessert and I
dumped the rest of it in thereand it was like boom, nailed it
Wow.
Chef Ray (20:08):
And he'll do the same thing with something where it's
like we're staircases, yeah, upand down the stairs all day
because we'll taste something.
And I'm like it's not right andI'll go downstairs and grab
some things.
And I'm like so not right andgo back downstairs and grab more
things, and you're justconstantly because you're you're
walking downstairs, right, yeah, okay.
Chef James (20:17):
How was that for you to step back into cello again
after a noodle?
I mean that.
I mean I always looked at itkind of like your second home.
Chef Ray (20:25):
It kind of was yes, okay the way I saw you in there.
Chef James (20:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Chef Ray (20:29):
Okay, it's comfortable and it's different at the same
time.
Yep, yep.
So I know the space, I know themovements.
Yep, I'll still go downstairsand look for something that was
there 10 years ago.
Chef James (20:52):
Yeah downstairs, look for something that was
there 10 years ago.
Yeah, I'm like, oh shit, it'snot here anymore.
Yeah, the box greater, yeah,nice.
So like my brain will notfunction to the fact that it's
different, things in thebasement.
Chef Ray (20:57):
So I was like, hey, I know where it is and I go down
there and I'm like, oh shit,it's not here anymore.
Chef James (20:58):
Oh, that's funny.
Yeah, wow, when you're like umkind of working through your
stuff, do the farms move prettyeasily with you.
I mean, do they give you like a?
They do the typical weekly.
Chef Sarita (21:10):
We get some item list, some, yeah, yeah I was
actually I was, you know, kindof annoyed about this the other
day, which I get where the farmsare coming from, because I
worked at those farms.
But I was saying like, oh, it'skind of a bummer that we're not
prioritized because we're sucha small account so oftentimes
like oh, we're sold out of this,oh, we don't have this.
Oh, actually, you know we don'tdeliver to lennox, and so you
(21:32):
know like sometimes we'll belike oh, all right, I'll just
drive to town or we'll picksomething up at, you know, like
indian line, sometimes we'llleave stuff at the whale and
we'll pick it up there and thatworks out okay or the you know
they'll say if you hit thisminimum, we will deliver to
linux yeah so that can befrustrating sometimes is that we
are such a small account thatsometimes people are like, well,
it's not really worth it for usto sell to you and we, but we
make such cool stuff with it,you really do
Chef Ray (21:53):
yeah, absolutely yeah.
Something like I started atnoodle at 2011, when I was 27, a
very long time ago, yeah, andthe farmers supplied us without
a problem.
But now there's csa's andfarmers markets and, like I said
before, it makes sense like yep, yep, make life simple for you
yeah, and it's hard.
Chef James (22:12):
The volume a and b, you know there's a difference
between wholesale and retail.
Yeah, so you know that's where,even like at the ranch there,
if I was going to go getsomething, I could blow through
because of the volume, right,and that's a problem for them
because they need that retailpercentage and it's a very good
thing for them, you know, andit's hard, but yeah, I could
(22:34):
only imagine.
Chef Sarita (22:35):
I mean, a boat is amazing, a boat's amazing.
Chef Ray (22:36):
They've been great to us yeah.
Chef James (22:44):
They were great to me at.
Chef Sarita (22:44):
Lantern in Pittsfield and they came over to
Cello and they're so flexible,very cool and it's you know they
came in over the winter and youknow we got to show them like,
look, we still like we love yourstuff so much we still have
like a couple vinegars from someof your herbs at the end of the
season like here's the kimchithat we made, primarily with
produce from them, and then alsofrom Indian line and we're like
here, you know, take a littlebit of kimchi.
Chef Ray (23:03):
This is made with your stuff at the end of the summer
and they're even more happy nowto yeah to supply us, which is
yeah, we're at a point right nowwhere summer's coming, so we
have to use up all our vinegarsand ferments.
Chef James (23:15):
Okay, okay okay, nice, yeah, I, and there's some
nice vinegars out there.
Have you used minus eight?
I have not, oh not.
Chef Ray (23:23):
Oh, they're pretty killer.
Chef James (23:24):
They're out of Canada, I mean.
I know they're not local, butthey have some really cool like
ice vinegar.
Chef Ray (23:29):
Yeah, oh, um they have vegetate minus eight.
Chef James (23:34):
A couple of other.
But you know I mean, butthey're, they're cool, they're
like there's like differentvinegars that you can kind of
tinker with to just add enoughacid.
Chef Sarita (23:46):
It's like, there you go.
I mean, we love bannels, I lovethat's a good one that's.
Chef Ray (23:48):
I'm a strange human.
I want either like high, highclass balsamics yep or dirty,
dirty white vinegar like I lovewhite vinegar for making pickles
and vinegar oh, that's perfect.
Chef James (24:03):
Like, because it's just like it makes sense to my.
American palate Absolutely Veryclean and straightforward.
It does the job.
Chef Ray (24:10):
Yeah, it does, absolutely.
Chef James (24:11):
Well, so when you guys are looking in, I guess
sharing with the listeners too.
How many seats do you have inyour restaurant?
I mean, we paint a picture.
Chef Ray (24:18):
We have a total of 27.
When we have indoor seating,only outdoor we add 10 more.
Chef Sarita (24:26):
Oh, I didn't know that, and you know it's 26,.
Right, we added an extra table.
Chef Ray (24:29):
We added extra seats.
Yes, yeah.
Chef James (24:31):
And it's the open air concept.
People can sit at the bar, andthey can.
You know you're just jammingright along there in the corner
of the line where you guys are.
Chef Ray (24:38):
Yeah, the only thing is our outdoor seating is not.
You can't book it.
Okay, we had a problem lastsummer.
People were like it's raining,I want to come inside.
I'm like, well, inside's fullybooked, so we can't seat you.
So now outdoor seating is firstcome, first serve.
Chef James (24:51):
Oh okay.
Chef Sarita (24:52):
Because you have to pick a seat.
Chef James (25:05):
And so people wanted to sit inside, but it would be
fully move on that exactly, yeah.
Chef Sarita (25:09):
Yeah, that way, people, you know, and if someone
wants to have a drink and hangout while they wait for a table.
We have a table outside, that'sfine.
We were great.
Chef Ray (25:16):
Yeah, we were flowering water last week yes,
and birthday dinner.
Yes, thank you.
Oh cool, thank you for mydinner Birthday, yeah.
So we showed up and the hostwas like we had a res and we're
like well, the table's not readyand we were fine.
Chef James (25:31):
Yeah, we got there like two minutes early, yeah and
we waited 20 minutes.
Chef Ray (25:35):
Yeah, if that, they brought us sparkling water, they
brought us drinks that weordered.
Oh cool, okay, they have alittle standing bar that you can
lean up against and chit-chatso if you come in and you're a
little late, which happens, youcan sit outside and chill for a
minute.
Chef James (25:50):
Nice.
Well, so in looking at yourstaffing too, you have just the
two of you that are jamming inthe kitchen, right?
So everybody.
And then you're in front of thehouse.
You have Amanda and Cody.
Yes, and Cody.
He's a wizard on cocktails.
He's doing a good job.
When I saw him in there I'mlike wow, you've really that's.
You know, that's a nice tight,all-star team with the other two
(26:11):
he just infused bourbon withbananas and star anise and a
port float.
Chef Ray (26:15):
I'm like what the hell's a port float?
That's perfect, but I tasted it, I'm like oh, it makes sense.
Chef James (26:20):
Yeah, nice, that's all.
Chef Sarita (26:21):
Yeah, like my tequila drink is a tequila float
or a mezcal float?
Chef Ray (26:25):
And we have our prep cook slash dishwasher is
Carmen's daughter, Gemalette,who Bjorn had Carmen for 13
years Wow.
Chef James (26:37):
In the restaurant and then we took on her daughter
.
Okay, she's amazing, so you'vegot a good swing person.
Yeah, okay, wow, okay, nice,now you guys went on vacation,
right, you were able to step out, daughter.
Okay, she's amazing, so you'vegot a good, a good swing person.
Chef Sarita (26:46):
Yeah, okay wow, okay, nice.
Now you guys went on vacation.
Right, you were able to stepout, was that yeah?
Yes and we we did not, weactually did not talk about work
while we were on vacation itwas great.
Chef James (26:55):
That's gotta be amazing.
Chef Sarita (26:57):
We went camping in the redwoods um it's beautiful
up there.
Chef James (27:00):
It it was amazing, like Star Wars yeah.
Chef Sarita (27:02):
You didn't see Chewbacca, did you?
No, no, we tried we tried Wow.
Oh, there you go.
Chef Ray (27:10):
No, yeah, we were sitting at the table at our
campsite with the fire going andshe looked at me.
She's like what's wrong?
I'm like what do you mean rightnow?
Chef Sarita (27:21):
She's like that's really good.
Chef Ray (27:23):
I'm like oh, it feels really good yeah.
Chef Sarita (27:24):
No, and I was like there was like the absence of
the anxiety, the absence of, soI was like what am I feeling?
I'm like, oh, an absence ofnegativity.
Chef Ray (27:31):
It was just.
We were just not that our lifeis negative, it's not.
Chef Sarita (27:35):
It's just a lot yeah junk food and tons of hot
dogs, mexican food.
It's a spiritual place.
It is.
Chef Ray (27:50):
We came back to work and I was lifting plates.
I'm like they feel light today.
Chef James (27:54):
Everything feels light today.
Chef Sarita (27:55):
My body's relaxed.
Chef James (27:56):
This is amazing, that's awesome.
Chef Sarita (27:57):
We were so energized.
Chef James (28:01):
One of my great uncles.
He actually had a redwood millup there way back in the day and
being out in the woods likethat and with those redwoods,
it's very magical.
Chef Ray (28:11):
It's unbelievable.
Chef James (28:12):
Yeah, yeah, wow, that's so cool.
Chef Sarita (28:14):
And all the vegetation.
I'm obsessed with thevegetation underneath, like all
the redwood, sorrel and thetrillium.
Oh, yeah.
Our campsite was.
We camped at Jed and I Smithcampgrounds.
Chef James (28:24):
Okay.
Chef Sarita (28:25):
That's like way, way up north.
Chef James (28:27):
Yeah, that was probably close to where my
uncles played.
Okay yeah, not far from.
Chef Sarita (28:31):
It's like 30 miles from Oregon.
Yeah, that's exactly okay.
Near Crescent City.
Oh, there we go we got thereand there's trillions and sorrel
and ferns that are amazing andI'd been out there.
I'd been to the Redwoods oncebefore, but this was unreal
because it was just moreimpressive and we spent a whole
(28:52):
week, almost a week, campingthere.
Chef James (28:55):
Okay, wow, that's cool.
What drives the mental machine?
For you guys, adhd.
Chef Ray (29:03):
Yeah, I don't know machine for you guys.
What?
Chef James (29:04):
because adhd like it's you're, just because the
way you think and the way youguys move through these menus,
it it's very special and it isabnormal and I mean that with
the utmost respect.
Chef Ray (29:15):
Oh, thank you, but yeah, there's no choice.
We have no choice.
Chef Sarita (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, we just have to do it yeah and I think
I was always like my brainalways functioned like that when
it came to food before Irealized that I could get into
it, you know, as a life, yeah,it's a path, as a profession,
whatever you want to call it.
I think I always played withfood you grew up with it.
Yeah, yeah, I grew up with itlike this.
(29:38):
I you know I've told ray thisstory before but like I remember
being a little little, littlelittle kid probably like three
or four or something like thatand sitting in Columbia sitting
on the counter watching my mommake cheese make fresh cheese
and she would take the curds andput them in the cheesecloth and
hang it off the faucet and thenhave the whey in like a little
tub underneath.
Oh, very nice, and she wouldgive my brother and I the whey
(30:00):
so like he was like oh, it'sgross.
Chef Ray (30:01):
I'm like oh, I love it .
It was like salty and delicious.
Tell them, why you dropped outof a preschool kindergarten.
Oh yeah, I dropped out ofkindergarten because the food
wasn't good enough oh wow, Ididn't like the food, so she
left school and went to school.
Okay, well, because my parentsfood was amazing.
Chef James (30:18):
I grew up with incredible food, amazing food
and so I was.
Chef Sarita (30:24):
I was used to eating really great food and I
was like this is trash well now,and that's just unbelievable, I
mean it was not trash, for therecord.
It was actually really goodfood yeah like made from scratch
, like all fresh, but it was agrandma's little tiny me was
like nah, not good enough,that's so great such a pink slip
see you later lunch lady.
Chef Ray (30:46):
I'm the opposite, I'm lunch lady like chicken nuggets
with honey and pepper.
Yeah, I'll take doubles please.
Yeah, right, the first hothoney yeah steakums, yeah
steakums.
I like steakums, like give itto me.
Chef Sarita (30:59):
Hey, you bought me steakums.
I still want to try them.
I did.
Yes, it's good.
Chef James (31:02):
I've never had it.
Chef Ray (31:03):
Yeah, yeah, that's a big yeah that is, you know it's
good you know she's like inbetween, just like classy enough
all the time and I'm likeeither like snobby or complete
trash.
Chef Sarita (31:18):
Yeah, I like to float in the middle.
Chef James (31:21):
That way I can go up or down, you know, Wow.
Well, that's pretty awesome.
Chef Sarita (31:24):
I think it's a win-win for me.
Chef Ray (31:28):
We made chicken nuggets from scratch.
Chef Sarita (31:30):
Yeah, they were so good, that was for McChello.
Chef James (31:34):
McChello, yes I mean seriously, man Like the
creativity is off the hook.
Chef Sarita (31:40):
We did all the sauce.
It has to be.
Chef James (31:43):
Wow, okay.
Well, that's great, it's fun,man.
So what do you now?
You guys have your celebrationdinner coming up, right, oh, 510
.
Chef Ray (31:50):
Do you want?
Chef James (31:51):
to talk about that a little bit, I mean share kind
of A little bit.
Chef Ray (31:55):
We don't have much to talk about.
The menu's not set completely.
Chef James (31:58):
Well, the listeners should already know that by now.
Chef Ray (32:01):
Yeah, yeah, we're doing to do kind of a party yeah
.
Yeah, sit down and eat goodfood and have fun.
Chef Sarita (32:09):
We want to show our appreciation for the people
that have shown theirappreciation for us.
Chef James (32:13):
You're good, thank you.
Yeah, I see it.
Wait, are you kidding me?
Yeah, oh man.
Chef Sarita (32:17):
We want to, yeah, we want.
Our hope is that people youknow come in.
We'll be open for regularservice for like the first hour
yeah first two hours and thenafter that we hope everyone
we've invited who is able tojoin us will come in mill about
have some drinks hang out yeahmaybe you know, get to know each
other like yeah everyone spendsa lot of time in that
restaurant.
Chef Ray (32:36):
It's cool when people get to meet and talk about it
and then sit down and we'll dovery casual live courses with
some extras it's also funbecause we have three tables
that are regulars, that arecoming on Tuesday and Wednesday
and are coming back for Friday.
Chef James (32:52):
Oh, wow, okay, Okay, very cool.
Yeah, do you guys have any likeneeds?
I mean, are you guys currentlyhiring for any staff, right?
Chef Ray (33:00):
now.
Yes, yes, we have to get readyfor summer.
Chef James (33:02):
Yeah, it's going to.
Chef Ray (33:03):
We need a cook, we need two front of house and we
need a cook.
Chef Sarita (33:05):
We need two front of house and we need a part time
dishwasher ideally a full timecook and maybe a part time cook
depending, because we'd like tobe open 7 days a week and we'd
like to also have a day off.
Chef Ray (33:16):
We intend to like the take it Tuesday did so well that
we want to roll into Sunday andor Monday as like a little pop
up thing and just roll with it.
So it's set, ready to go, don'thave to be there so much, okay,
yeah.
Chef James (33:31):
Otherwise.
Chef Sarita (33:32):
You know, if we do a fried chicken pop, for example
, because that one did so well,or like burgers, all that stuff
can be prepped out ahead of time.
We can prep it out ahead oftime.
Chef Ray (33:39):
Jeff and Lutt can help us prep it out and then whoever
comes we end up hiring can comein and just pretty much, you
know, set up, roll into service,break it down.
Chef James (33:50):
Okay, call it.
Chef Ray (33:50):
A day set a timer, yeah, okay, otherwise working 80
to 85 hours a week, which isnot ideal.
Yeah, I at 40, I don't want todo that anymore.
I've done it before, I don'twant to do anymore you know it
does catch up to you.
Chef James (34:02):
It does.
Yes, it's, uh, it'sunbelievable man, the.
But you know, I think it's oneof the the most beautiful
industries in the world.
In so many other ways, thepeople you meet, I mean, you run
into similar characters acrossthe country in kitchens, it's.
You know, we're a merry band ofmisfits in some ways.
Chef Ray (34:20):
I say D Jones, yeah, yeah, you know.
Oh, we have Maddow coming inthis week again.
Oh cool, she's back for thesummer rachel maddow.
Chef James (34:28):
Oh okay, oh, very good.
You guys got any words ofwisdom for people that you know
are wanting to come into theindustry?
I mean things to keep in mind,or you better love it yeah, yeah
.
If you don't love it, you'renot gonna make it you're not,
yeah, no, it's, it's got to beinside of you.
You know, don't, don't be toorigid.
I think it's a really big thingtoo.
Chef Sarita (34:46):
I it's got to be inside of you.
You know, don't be too rigid.
I think is a really big thingtoo.
I think it's why one of thereasons why we're good at what
we do is because we're flexibleand we talked about it.
Certain techniques you have tobe rigid about and you have to
do it a certain way because it'sjust how it is.
But in general, be open to likeif you don't have this
(35:07):
ingredient, use a different one.
Chef Ray (35:09):
Change something.
Chef Sarita (35:10):
Don't be afraid to mess around with stuff.
Chef Ray (35:13):
Last time we looked up shiso leaves that were wrapped
in beef.
Chef Sarita (35:18):
They have a little smear of beef on the inside and
they're folded in half.
Chef Ray (35:21):
And they bread it and fry it.
Chef Sarita (35:22):
Not bread it, they batter it, they batter it and
fry it.
Chef Ray (35:27):
We have kohlrabi tops downstairs and ground beef, so
let's do that instead yeah yeah,interesting, there's no rules.
Chef James (35:34):
There are basic rules, but there's also no rules
but I think when it comes tosomebody you know, people that
have a high talent and a verymature palate, yeah, sky's the
limit, it's experience you liveand you learn and you cook.
Chef Ray (35:49):
That's all there is to it.
I've dealt with a lot ofyounger people, like early 20s,
who thought they knew it all forwhatever reason, and they
didn't, but they knew a lot atthe same time.
So hunker down, eat whateveryou can and make it work in your
head.
It's not a hard science.
(36:11):
Yeah, it's a balance.
That's all there is to it.
Chef James (36:14):
It's a balance and sometimes I worry, you know,
about that level of grit.
Yeah, you know it takes a lotof grit.
It does and determination, yeah, relentless determination you
wake up, you walk into work.
Chef Ray (36:26):
You're kind of dead.
You look around, you figure itout and hopefully by 5 o'clock
you're ready to go.
Right, you can have some nights.
Chef Sarita (36:36):
You know some services where, at the end of it
, you're like this is why I dothis, this is the most amazing.
It's like the highest, high.
And you can also have serviceswhere the only thing keeping you
going, the only thing keepingyou from walking out that door,
is knowing that at some point,the restaurant is going to close
for the night at some pointit's going to end at some point
it's going to be over and thatsucks and you have to accept
that and you have to be able todeal with nights like that and
(36:58):
also the really really amazingnights and you guys have each
other and it's very special as apair, but also that synergy.
Chef James (37:07):
As long as a team can keep that connected, you
will weather the storm.
Yeah, you know, and that'samazing, so okay.
So location do you guys want toshare exact location and
website so that listeners can.
Chef Ray (37:21):
It's 37 Church Street in Lenox and it's celllenoxcom.
Chef Sarita (37:26):
Yes, yes, cool.
We update the menu online everyday, not until about 4.30.
Chef Ray (37:31):
So if you expect something that was the day
before, look later.
Chef Sarita (37:35):
Yeah, and we have the menu from the previous day
outside of the door.
So often people will walk byand be like oh, is this today's
menu?
It's like no, but it'll eitherbe similar or it'll be
completely different.
Chef James (37:44):
It'll be something.
Chef Ray (37:47):
Was it Wednesday or Thursday?
We completely flipped the menu.
Thursday, thursday it was likespring.
We got back from California.
Everything was green, thingswere growing and we were like,
alright, we're gonna flip thisright now.
Yeah, like peas, asparaguspapas, just you know, just do it
right now.
Chef James (38:07):
Yeah, like peas asparagus, papas, just, you know
, just do it Well, and all theforage stuff and you were
foraging yes, yeah, you have to.
Chef Sarita (38:13):
We got back and we went you have a short season.
Chef Ray (38:15):
You have to enjoy what you can.
Yeah, he's like I only putnettles this big, so delicious
and like.
Chef Sarita (38:23):
We went and got a huge sack of them and then we
picked dandelions and madedandelion vinegar out of it.
Chef James (38:29):
Oh man, that's nice yeah.
Chellalennoxcom and we have anInstagram as well.
Chef Sarita (38:36):
Facebook too, which you know you don't get as much
traffic through Facebook but wehave a Facebook, we have an
Instagram.
Chef Ray (38:41):
The Instagram looks better.
Chef Sarita (38:43):
We update stuff, we post fun things, do a lot of
posting.
Chef James (38:48):
It's great, she does a lot of posting.
Chef Ray (38:51):
I don't.
I'm too old for that.
I know I'm like what?
Yeah, exactly.
Chef James (38:55):
I try to keep up with everybody.
Chef Sarita (38:57):
Can I do an auto-send on that?
Yeah, as I go.
Yeah.
Chef Ray (39:03):
No, I have no idea.
If she leaves, I'm doing AIsomehow.
Chef Sarita (39:07):
That's a scary thing too, but it works it does
really do some scary stuff.
Chef James (39:11):
You're like you just wrote a menu and that's not
absolutely horrible.
Chef Ray (39:15):
I know.
Chef James (39:17):
It's unreal.
Don't stay away from me.
Chef Sarita (39:20):
I know, I see what it creeps you out.
Yeah, it's weird.
Chef James (39:25):
We're going to lose eventually.
Chef Ray (39:26):
Yeah, ai battle.
Well, not well, we're going tolose eventually.
Chef James (39:28):
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (39:29):
To the AI battle.
Well, either Flippy, well, notthe food I mean we have that AI
can't make food, so, yeah, Idon't know if I'll see Flippy
with tweezers in its threefingers.
Chef James (39:36):
I hope that never happens.
The fire basket, it's just yeah.
The burger flipper walk on thewall.
Yeah, but well, thank you bothfor being here.
Chef Ray (39:46):
Thank you so much.
Chef James (39:46):
It was a real pleasure and the Berkshires, you
know, is very lucky to haveyour kitchen, your restaurant,
here doing what you do.
No one is doing what you'redoing and it's an inspiration
and thank you both for yourpassion.
Thank you, serena, you'rewonderful and just I mean so
(40:07):
driven, so talented, and Ray,the Berkshires has been lucky to
have you since 2011.
Thank you, I know that becauseI was fortunate enough to send
everybody I could to go see whatyou were doing.
You've been there for a longtime.
You guys are unbelievable.
All right, thank you, thank youso much.
All right, everyone, that is awrap.
(40:27):
You can check us out if youlike that.
Subscribe Also the InstagramChef Massey.
Let's keep it simple, chefMassey dot com.
Have a good one.
Bye for now.
Hey everyone, welcome to Chef Sense.
I'm your host, Chef Massey,Alright.
So today on the podcast this isawesome I've got Chef Ray, Chef
Sarita from Cello in Lenox.
Thank you both for finding timeto be here, because this is
awesome.
I've got Chef Ray, Chef Saritafrom Cello in Lenox.
Thank you both for finding timeto be here, because this is
great.
Chef Ray (00:29):
Thank you, we're going to go for a chat for this.
Chef James (00:31):
Oh, okay, for what?
Chef Ray (00:33):
Not weed and morals.
Chef James (00:34):
Okay, there you go.
Let me know I can follow behindyou for the morales.
I'm still searching for mine.
Chef Sarita (00:39):
Yeah, me too.
Chef James (00:45):
I can't show you no.
No, we don't do that.
I know that.
Have you met?
Chef Sarita (00:47):
John Wheeler Forager.
I have not.
I have not, is that?
No, it's not Nicole's dad, okay, okay.
Chef James (00:50):
He has the Berkshire Mycological Society here.
Chef Sarita (00:53):
He does mushroom walks and stuff.
Chef James (00:55):
He does yes and he's fantastic and I've connected
with, actually got matzah takeiin so I was able to shave that
on ramen bowls, miso, what youknow, your broths or whatever,
but anyways he's a greatresource if I don't have time to
get out there.
Anyways, what drove you intoour amazingly insane world of
the culinary arts?
Chef Ray (01:17):
um, that's a long story okay um, I grew up young
with a young mother and mygrandmother made amazing food.
Okay, so that you know, satwith me, yep, and my mom.
I watched progress to makegreat food eventually when she
was 17 or 18.
Chef Sarita (01:35):
He said that to her in person yesterday.
She was not doing a great job.
Chef Ray (01:40):
So, I have a backcountry upstate New York
food situation and she actuallyhas a better story than I do.
Chef Sarita (01:50):
I was born in Columbia in South America.
Chef James (01:52):
I saw your menu too.
How amazing.
Thank you Really sorry yeahthat one was super fun.
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (02:00):
So my parents were born in the same area but
actually ended up growing up incompletely different areas,
which is interesting because mydad's side of the family is
black and they're super mixed.
Then my mom's- side of thefamily is more.
You know, her father was adoctor.
His ancestors are German.
There's like a little bit ofGerman and Italian on that side.
And my dad.
You know it's like African,spanish, french on his side.
(02:22):
So he grew up on the coast.
So all of like the seafood, thecoconuts, the coconut soup, the
stews all that kind of thing umthe bacalao that all comes from
my dad's side and then I have acompletely different culinary
experience on my mother's side,but both my grandmas were
amazing cooks, so okay that's,and was there like formal
(02:46):
training for that?
Chef James (02:47):
Or I mean you guys just worked your ways up in
kitchen.
Chef Ray (02:49):
I was formally trained .
I went to CIA, unfortunately,because it costs way too much
money.
Chef James (02:53):
Yeah, it is, I mean great institution, but man, it
sure is it was fun, I don't wantto pay for it anymore.
Chef Ray (03:02):
She's a great cook and didn't do that.
Chef James (03:07):
Right, she's a great cook and didn't do that right,
right, yeah, and I think youknow I've always been one where
it's, you know, an education iswhat you make of it.
Exactly, you know, I, I camefrom the school of hard knocks,
right, you know, and, and I Ilearned at a very young age.
I came in about 91, 92 into theindustry, but like it was all
about being a sponge walkingwith humble feet, yeah, and they
paid you with knowledge.
Yes, they didn't pay you money.
Chef Ray (03:27):
If you were willing to listen.
No, no, you wouldn't.
No, I mean, I was Still.
Chef James (03:31):
You got a meal, though, yeah, right right, yeah,
you know, get a, grab abreadstick.
Chef Ray (03:39):
But you know it's something much.
Chef James (03:41):
Eat some rice.
I'm tied, well you know, andthat's kind of the way it is.
So, looking at Cello, do youguys want to go into your
division?
And you're just up on your year, right?
Chef Ray (03:51):
Yeah, and so congratulations, that's a big
deal.
Yes, thank you.
Chef James (03:55):
Yeah, do you want to go into that?
A little bit Like the backstoryof Cello and how that got.
Chef Ray (04:00):
The backstory essentially is the fact that I
worked at noodle for seven yearsYep, I was the sous chef for
two and the CDC for five years.
Okay, and I left.
I went to lantern to try tomake Pittsburgh a little better.
Right, didn't work out, it'shard yes.
Yes, went to cantina.
(04:21):
It wasn't great for mepersonally, but it's okay.
Um, and I was just helping myfriend at Bosque and some
regulars texted me Just a textDo you want to reopen the
restaurant?
I was like, yeah, I do.
Chef James (04:40):
It's very special and we had already been in
conversation about workingtogether.
Chef Sarita (04:46):
We had talked about it before cantina and catering
thing.
Chef James (04:51):
And you guys are an amazing team, by the way.
Thank you, yeah, absolutely.
Chef Ray (04:56):
So it was an offer and I said, hell yeah, let's do it.
Get to support local farms.
Good products make fun foodevery day.
Chef James (05:04):
Yeah, you worked hard under bjorn.
I mean you did, ray.
I wasn't in there as much as Ishould have been.
You were there, though Iremember you.
But yeah, but it, you guys andwhat you were doing there were
an example to the entire regionand let alone, I think, even
challenging many otherrestaurants I think creativity,
yeah, I think I don't want togive ourselves too much credit,
(05:27):
but the restaurants are gettingbetter around us.
Chef Ray (05:29):
They should, and I love that and that pushes us,
and it pushes us too.
That's good.
Chef Sarita (05:34):
Because sometimes, you know, it's easy to get a
little bit lazy.
It's funny because we're somotivated, we're so pumped,
we're so like go, go, go all thetime.
Like go, go, go all the time,and then once in a while we're
like that's a really good menuand then we get like a little
lazy and then we'll go somewhereelse that maybe wasn't so good
before or they've had like somedownfalls, and we have this like
standout dish and you're likewhoa, yeah, oh, this place is
(05:54):
getting better, this was gettingbetter.
Like we can't afford to getlazy and we don't want to, so it
like pushes us, which we hopein turn pushes everyone else
around us.
Chef Ray (06:02):
you you know, I think it does.
Chef James (06:04):
I think it really well, Raise all ships,
absolutely, and I think that'swhat's important about community
.
I think that you know, as achef, my goal as I build a team
is to build the best team aroundme that's possible, and there's
going to be a number of them inthere that are much better than
I am.
The important thing aboutcommunity in that aspect is
(06:25):
there's a level of respect andappreciation for one another
that when you put these pieces,like you know, these gears
together the Swiss clock isbeautiful for a reason, but when
you open it up and you reallylook inside, you see the inner
workings and the magic thathappens.
And I think that when you candevelop a team and have those
drivers with each other like youguys do, so when you look at
(06:47):
your menu, you guys are doingthis, You're doing daily menus.
I mean this isn't.
We're not talking aboutseasonal, I mean it's seasonal.
Chef Ray (06:54):
No, it may be nice Like every month or two.
Chef James (06:57):
Make a change Once a week.
Make 40% change.
You're making changes every day.
Chef Sarita (07:03):
Yeah Well, and with Taken Tuesday which we started
to do during, you know, the offseason, to try to get more
people in the door so that tokeep ourselves going.
It is Sure, it's yours, we tryto use as much of like produce
around.
So then, for Taken I was likeyou know, it's winter.
There isn't that much stuffbesides like dry goods and
cellared stuff.
Right stuff right, and so howcan we justify using stuff
(07:24):
that's out of season and make itreally fun and interesting and
learn new stuff?
Well, let's go and try allthese different cuisines.
Chef Ray (07:29):
Let's try all these different styles of food.
Chef Sarita (07:31):
Let's make a colombian menu.
Let's you know right.
Chef Ray (07:34):
So this tuesday we have kfc it's korean fried
chicken.
Wednesday, thursday, we have afull new menu, and then friday
we have a dinner that you'reinvited to, and then Saturday,
back to the whole menu.
Chef Sarita (07:47):
Well, the week before we went on vacation, it
was taken Tuesday, and then wehad the wine dinner, which was
an entirely different menu, thenThursday, it was a completely
different menu, and then Friday,saturday, we're like, oh shit,
we gotta do whatever we can touse everything up in the walk-in
before we go on vacation sothose were totally different
times.
Chef Ray (08:05):
Every Saturday is literally like what can we make
with what we have left?
Yes, and then also how can wenot let this rot?
Chef James (08:12):
Right right.
Chef Sarita (08:13):
Yeah.
Chef James (08:13):
You know, and get that flip back around.
Yeah, wow.
Chef Ray (08:16):
And we look at the.
I go on the walk-in everySaturday night and I'm like
there's nothing left.
What?
Chef James (08:20):
happened.
Yeah, now we really got to dothis.
Yeah, you know when you'redoing your menus, I mean, like
you said, you're having these TVdinner menu or throwback menus
or a variety of things that, ina very respectful way, is not
normal.
Chef Ray (08:37):
Not at all In our industry.
Chef James (08:39):
You know, in some areas in Europe abroad you'll
find daily menus that aretighter, small bistros.
But to do what you guys aredoing I always say you can
baffle them with bullshit ordazzle them with brilliance.
I think that the ability thatyou guys are doing to dazzle
people with your God-giventalent and hit it on the plate,
(08:59):
is amazing.
Chef Ray (09:00):
Thank you, thank you.
Chef James (09:01):
Because you know so many times as a culinarian right
I mean, we're artists and youstart the picture or you know
you're doing this and that andit's like you get started with a
couple of lines You're likenope, you know, wad it up, throw
it out, start again.
You're going back at it andyou're putting yourself under
such a substantial level ofresponsibility and pressure
(09:21):
because you're utilizing productin your stores and you're also
trying to include local farms.
That's another foundation.
That isn't easy because youknow I think sometimes we're
lucky with our farms here in theBerkshires because we have so
many talented people.
You know that can have atendency to grow similar things,
but you've got to kind of keepthem moving in and moving
(09:45):
through.
Chef Ray (09:45):
Yeah, how has that been for you?
There's certain farms that welove, that are very good to us.
There's certain farms that havegone to the route of not
selling to restaurants anymore.
Okay, yeah, which isproblematic because they're
great farms.
Chef Sarita (09:59):
It's problematic for us, not for them.
Right right, it's great forthem.
They're making life easier forthemselves.
Chef Ray (10:03):
I appreciate that.
So local stuff is a littleharder.
Yeah, thankfully we haveMarty's, which you know collects
it.
Chef James (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, oh Nick.
So that's good, he's great.
Chef Sarita (10:14):
And I did the same farm school program that he did.
Yeah, I need to get that mantoo.
Chef James (10:18):
Yeah, that's amazing , isn't it?
The kids and the apprenticeshipprogram for adults.
Chef Sarita (10:24):
Yeah, they do two separate programs.
Chef James (10:25):
That's amazing they intertwine.
Chef Ray (10:27):
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:27):
I don't think they're doing anything right now
.
Chef Ray (10:29):
I've also been very lucky to work with her.
Okay, yeah, because she's beena farmer in the Berkshires, so
she has connections.
Chef James (10:36):
Oh, okay, okay, very cool.
Chef Ray (10:37):
So we can get local eggs from a farmer and stop by
pick it up.
We can get a whole cow from afarmer, yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:44):
I work for Will and Amelia.
Oh okay, oh yeah.
Chef James (10:48):
And I adore them.
Yeah, they're great yeah.
Chef Sarita (10:53):
And I did dairy stuff with them and then also
beef pigs, whatever.
Chef Ray (10:56):
Okay, that's very, very helpful for the restaurant
yeah Indian line as well.
Chef James (10:59):
Shout out to Indian line.
Have you done Holiday Brook aswell?
Shout out to have you doneHoliday Brook, and they're great
too.
Chef Sarita (11:04):
Where?
Chef James (11:05):
Holiday Brook.
Chef Sarita (11:05):
I haven't been there yet.
Yeah, okay.
Chef James (11:07):
I mean, I've gotten, you know animals fabbed from
them, you know in sections andwas able to kind of use it
through.
But no, there's.
It's not easy.
Wow, that's a hard life, it is.
Chef Ray (11:19):
I've always said, like , farmers have the hardest life
because everything can get wipedout if something goes wrong
with the weather.
Chef James (11:25):
It's a gamble yeah, and restaurants are probably
number two yeah, well it'sinteresting like yeah, yeah, it
is I mean you dealt with issuesthrough covid and staffing, and
staffing is still very hard,right, right, yeah and what do
you think you're?
What are your thoughts on?
Why are we dealing with thiscurrently?
I mean, I have my own, but whatdo you?
Chef Ray (11:45):
think um.
My thoughts are simply the factthat people got a free paycheck
to stay home for a long timeand now they have to go back to
work.
But there's ways around it,right, right?
Chef Sarita (11:54):
I think the pendulum always swings right and
it swings in one extreme likethe old school more crazy,
abusive kitchen culture to likebeing now extremely PC and
polite.
And you need something in themiddle.
You know you need.
You need discipline, but youalso need to be you also need to
(12:16):
remember that we're dealingwith human beings you know, so
it's like it's gotta besomewhere in the middle and it's
it's inching towards that rightnow, I think, but I think
that's part of the problem.
It's coming back.
Chef Ray (12:25):
Everybody seems to want a larger paycheck, yeah.
Chef Sarita (12:28):
I'm sorry, yeah, yeah.
Chef James (12:31):
Well, and that's hard, like dealing with COVID.
I think it's obviouslysomething, in many ways, we've
never dealt with before and itwas very tragic.
I think that it created anopportunity for people to have a
much different income than whatthey were used to.
I think it gave people anopportunity to reflect on their
(12:51):
lives and go do I really want todo this?
You know, I think we're also ina time in society where mental
health has come to the forefront, but in that, like you were
sharing, sometimes we swing insome ways where, at the end of
the day, to be a chef, it'sgoing to be hard.
(13:12):
Yeah, it's definitely hard.
I don't.
I would love to see that soften.
Chef Ray (13:15):
I would love to see it I don't know if it will, but it
can't soften too much.
I don't know if I want it tofully.
It's not a softening.
It's not a softening.
It's not a job, it's alifestyle.
It is, it's a way of life, andit's so awesome.
Chef James (13:26):
You said that, yeah Right, because, like even with
my grandpa and our farm, we hada multi-generational farm in
Northern Californiano-transcript and that's why I
wanted to be a chef, becauseit's a way of life, you know,
and it's kind of like being aboat captain, you know it's a
(13:46):
way of life.
This isn't.
You know.
You're everything to your crew.
You know if it goes down,you're going down with it
Absolutely, and so you know youalso have codependent behaviors
that come up when that happensright it's true, that can pull
us in, and then, all of a sudden, we.
it's like a submarine.
When do you surface?
Chef Ray (14:07):
Yeah.
Chef James (14:07):
You don't know, never do.
Chef Ray (14:08):
Right.
Chef Sarita (14:09):
So it's hard, but I think it's hard to balance it
too, like living together,working together, being you know
.
Chef James (14:14):
And that's a thing too.
Chef Sarita (14:15):
I mean it's 100%.
Chef Ray (14:17):
Oh, we have to.
We have to literally forceourselves ourselves for four
hours a week to not talk aboutwork so ridiculous, because it's
yes, nothing.
Four hours is nothing.
Chef Sarita (14:26):
We have to.
We're like, okay, let's trylike a little chunk of time we
were ordering last night,figuring out menu.
Chef Ray (14:32):
Last night we were ordering this morning.
Chef Sarita (14:34):
I was texting marty's, I was texting our fish
you ran to put away the orderand I called my mom to find out
if we could buy rhubarb from her.
Chef James (14:42):
Okay, see, and that's and that's a great point
for the listeners to understand,because we get a wide variety
of listeners that aren't just inour field but are, like you
know, see the the glam, theglitz and the fun of being a
chef, and it is a beautiful lifein so many other ways too.
But you know you being a couplein this situation that the
boundaries get even harder italso makes you know, I know I
(15:05):
would have a heart.
Chef Ray (15:05):
Yeah, yeah, it makes the food better like, because
we're always going back andforth yeah yeah, it's beneficial
to us overall, but like it, itdefinitely.
Chef Sarita (15:14):
You have, you have to work, so we have.
We have to work so hard on likeyet, like you said, boundaries
and also maintaining like okay,you know, not not getting too
worked up about work stuff athome, not getting too worked
about home stuff at work.
Chef James (15:27):
You know like backwards and vice versa.
It's hard, it works, but that'sawesome yeah, it does work.
Chef Ray (15:33):
And yeah, like I mean we, we balance each other out.
Chef Sarita (15:35):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Most of the time she was likeI'm making pan fried cornbread
with fermented jalapenos rampramps.
That we picked, oh cool, wepicked yeah.
And then we picked nettles andgarlic mustard yeah.
Chef Ray (15:49):
And served it, and I never personally, would never
serve that Like it would nevercome to my brain.
I did a nettle butter.
Chef Sarita (15:54):
Oh, I did a nettle butter on the cornbread.
I was like ramping Wow.
Chef Ray (15:59):
But my brain would never think of that.
Okay, and her brain made thatwork and it's like crazy and
that's awesome, and there'scertain things my brain will
think of.
Chef Sarita (16:07):
Yeah, and I'm like what?
And she'll do the same thing.
Chef Ray (16:09):
What, no, no, no, watch, watch, watch.
Chef Sarita (16:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chef Ray (16:12):
I've learned?
Chef Sarita (16:13):
Yeah, I've definitely learned.
We've both learned to be likethat sounds so wild, that sounds
like it makes no sense, but Ican't wait to see what it looks
like, instead of holding eachother back and being like no,
maybe don't do that.
I think that's going to be tooweird.
It's like no, actually, let'ssee it do it, do it, do it, do
it.
Chef Ray (16:33):
It's like push, push push back and forth.
Well, because you almost haveto, because the way you guys,
yeah, like wow, you know, webarely engineer it until around
three o'clock and then we pullit together yeah and then we
throw a bunch of random stuff onour station to figure out what
(16:53):
is best with every dish duringservice and and then.
Chef James (16:56):
But honest to god, though, I mean the beauty of
that raised both of you beingunder that kind of pressure and
then coming in for dinner, likeI have, and trying those dishes.
You know people, for thoselisteners, you know you're.
When you're doing engineering,you're usually like OK, here's,
here's our list of what we wantto take off, here's how we'll
(17:18):
change it.
You know, maybe we divvy it upin the kitchen or you're working
.
I mean, this is a very tighttandem team that people need to
understand.
And also, when you're buildingthese menus, you're kind, you're
from my.
What I'm getting is it's kind ofon the fly oh, it's maturity
and palette has to be high sothat you can hit the acid, the
(17:39):
fat, the, the inner balance,like you were just talking about
of all that together and beinglike, let's roll.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Chef Ray (17:47):
Every day.
Yes, we have 10 customers orderthe same thing and each dish
might be a little different,right, right, because we figure
out a little better technique ora better movement for that
Right, and almost every dish isplated a little bit differently.
Chef Sarita (17:59):
Sometimes, we find a way.
Sometimes we'll plate something.
Sometimes we'll plate somethingand be like we nailed it.
And other things, either becauseit's a really playful dish, so
it lends itself to that, orbecause we're not quite
satisfied with how it looks.
So we'll keep plating itdifferently.
We'll even just use a differentbowl, use a different plate,
like wait, what do you think ofthis here?
I don't know, put that underthere, put that over there, wow,
(18:21):
and we'll play with it as we goalong.
And ideally, you know, we findsomething that we like, or we're
just happy to keep changing itup because it's fun.
Chef Ray (18:28):
Yeah, the kudo I've made at every school differently
.
We literally have to.
If I had to, if we had to dothe same menu for you know,
months, yeah.
Chef Sarita (18:46):
It wouldn't be worth getting out of bed to.
Sometimes we'll take stuff offthe menu because we get this is
like so ridiculous.
But sometimes we'll havesomething that sells really,
really, really well and everyonewants it.
We get bored of making the samething that many times, so we
change it and people are like,well, why did you take that off
the menu?
I love it because we're sick ofit because everyone ordered it.
Chef Ray (18:58):
Now we want to make it different we get emails and
texts like I want this recipe.
I'm like I don't have a recipeyeah, I just, we just made it
that day.
Chef James (19:07):
So you guys, and again because you're moving so
quickly, you're really usingyour school of ratios right like
you're, as you're kind of likebuilding and past recipes a
little bit.
Chef Ray (19:18):
Yes, yeah, sometimes okay, but it's also like just
taste just the knowledge.
Yeah, yeah like I said, it goesback to middle school.
Guest test revise.
Guest test revise yeah.
Chef James (19:27):
Wow.
Chef Sarita (19:27):
Okay, and we bounce stuff off each other.
We have a similar pal, we likesimilar flavors, and so
sometimes I'll be tastingsomething.
One of us will be like I can'tget it.
Just right.
It needs that one little thing,and we.
The other day, I think it waswith the pineapple custard which
I couldn't get to sexpineapples.
Chef Ray (19:44):
Oh yeah.
Chef Sarita (19:45):
Yeah, and I kept tasting it and it was like it
needed something to round it outand I went downstairs to the
two-door and pulled out I hadthis sweet and sour syrup that I
had made a couple months agofor a different dessert and I
dumped the rest of it in thereand it was like boom, nailed it
Wow.
Chef Ray (20:08):
And he'll do the same thing with something where it's
like we're staircases, yeah, upand down the stairs all day
because we'll taste something.
And I'm like it's not right andI'll go downstairs and grab
some things.
And I'm like so not right andgo back downstairs and grab more
things, and you're justconstantly because you're you're
walking downstairs, right, yeah, okay.
Chef James (20:17):
How was that for you to step back into cello again
after a noodle?
I mean that.
I mean I always looked at itkind of like your second home.
Chef Ray (20:25):
It kind of was yes, okay the way I saw you in there.
Chef James (20:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Chef Ray (20:29):
Okay, it's comfortable and it's different at the same
time.
Yep, yep.
So I know the space, I know themovements.
Yep, I'll still go downstairsand look for something that was
there 10 years ago.
Chef James (20:52):
Yeah downstairs, look for something that was
there 10 years ago.
Yeah, I'm like, oh shit, it'snot here anymore.
Yeah, the box greater, yeah,nice.
So like my brain will notfunction to the fact that it's
different, things in thebasement.
Chef Ray (20:57):
So I was like, hey, I know where it is and I go down
there and I'm like, oh shit,it's not here anymore.
Chef James (20:58):
Oh, that's funny.
Yeah, wow, when you're like umkind of working through your
stuff, do the farms move prettyeasily with you.
I mean, do they give you like a?
They do the typical weekly.
Chef Sarita (21:10):
We get some item list, some, yeah, yeah I was
actually I was, you know, kindof annoyed about this the other
day, which I get where the farmsare coming from, because I
worked at those farms.
But I was saying like, oh, it'skind of a bummer that we're not
prioritized because we're sucha small account so oftentimes
like oh, we're sold out of this,oh, we don't have this.
Oh, actually, you know we don'tdeliver to lennox, and so you
(21:32):
know like sometimes we'll belike oh, all right, I'll just
drive to town or we'll picksomething up at, you know, like
indian line, sometimes we'llleave stuff at the whale and
we'll pick it up there and thatworks out okay or the you know
they'll say if you hit thisminimum, we will deliver to
linux yeah so that can befrustrating sometimes is that we
are such a small account thatsometimes people are like, well,
it's not really worth it for usto sell to you and we, but we
make such cool stuff with it,you really do
Chef Ray (21:53):
yeah, absolutely yeah.
Something like I started atnoodle at 2011, when I was 27, a
very long time ago, yeah, andthe farmers supplied us without
a problem.
But now there's csa's andfarmers markets and, like I said
before, it makes sense like yep, yep, make life simple for you
yeah, and it's hard.
Chef James (22:12):
The volume a and b, you know there's a difference
between wholesale and retail.
Yeah, so you know that's where,even like at the ranch there,
if I was going to go getsomething, I could blow through
because of the volume, right,and that's a problem for them
because they need that retailpercentage and it's a very good
thing for them, you know, andit's hard, but yeah, I could
(22:34):
only imagine.
Chef Sarita (22:35):
I mean, a boat is amazing, a boat's amazing.
Chef Ray (22:36):
They've been great to us yeah.
Chef James (22:44):
They were great to me at.
Chef Sarita (22:44):
Lantern in Pittsfield and they came over to
Cello and they're so flexible,very cool and it's you know they
came in over the winter and youknow we got to show them like,
look, we still like we love yourstuff so much we still have
like a couple vinegars from someof your herbs at the end of the
season like here's the kimchithat we made, primarily with
produce from them, and then alsofrom Indian line and we're like
here, you know, take a littlebit of kimchi.
Chef Ray (23:03):
This is made with your stuff at the end of the summer
and they're even more happy nowto yeah to supply us, which is
yeah, we're at a point right nowwhere summer's coming, so we
have to use up all our vinegarsand ferments.
Chef James (23:15):
Okay, okay okay, nice, yeah, I, and there's some
nice vinegars out there.
Have you used minus eight?
I have not, oh not.
Chef Ray (23:23):
Oh, they're pretty killer.
Chef James (23:24):
They're out of Canada, I mean.
I know they're not local, butthey have some really cool like
ice vinegar.
Chef Ray (23:29):
Yeah, oh, um they have vegetate minus eight.
Chef James (23:34):
A couple of other.
But you know I mean, butthey're, they're cool, they're
like there's like differentvinegars that you can kind of
tinker with to just add enoughacid.
Chef Sarita (23:46):
It's like, there you go.
I mean, we love bannels, I lovethat's a good one that's.
Chef Ray (23:48):
I'm a strange human.
I want either like high, highclass balsamics yep or dirty,
dirty white vinegar like I lovewhite vinegar for making pickles
and vinegar oh, that's perfect.
Chef James (24:03):
Like, because it's just like it makes sense to my.
American palate Absolutely Veryclean and straightforward.
It does the job.
Chef Ray (24:10):
Yeah, it does, absolutely.
Chef James (24:11):
Well, so when you guys are looking in, I guess
sharing with the listeners too.
How many seats do you have inyour restaurant?
I mean, we paint a picture.
Chef Ray (24:18):
We have a total of 27.
When we have indoor seating,only outdoor we add 10 more.
Chef Sarita (24:26):
Oh, I didn't know that, and you know it's 26,.
Right, we added an extra table.
Chef Ray (24:29):
We added extra seats.
Yes, yeah.
Chef James (24:31):
And it's the open air concept.
People can sit at the bar, andthey can.
You know you're just jammingright along there in the corner
of the line where you guys are.
Chef Ray (24:38):
Yeah, the only thing is our outdoor seating is not.
You can't book it.
Okay, we had a problem lastsummer.
People were like it's raining,I want to come inside.
I'm like, well, inside's fullybooked, so we can't seat you.
So now outdoor seating is firstcome, first serve.
Chef James (24:51):
Oh okay.
Chef Sarita (24:52):
Because you have to pick a seat.
Chef James (25:05):
And so people wanted to sit inside, but it would be
fully move on that exactly, yeah.
Chef Sarita (25:09):
Yeah, that way, people, you know, and if someone
wants to have a drink and hangout while they wait for a table.
We have a table outside, that'sfine.
We were great.
Chef Ray (25:16):
Yeah, we were flowering water last week yes,
and birthday dinner.
Yes, thank you.
Oh cool, thank you for mydinner Birthday, yeah.
So we showed up and the hostwas like we had a res and we're
like well, the table's not readyand we were fine.
Chef James (25:31):
Yeah, we got there like two minutes early, yeah and
we waited 20 minutes.
Chef Ray (25:35):
Yeah, if that, they brought us sparkling water, they
brought us drinks that weordered.
Oh cool, okay, they have alittle standing bar that you can
lean up against and chit-chatso if you come in and you're a
little late, which happens, youcan sit outside and chill for a
minute.
Chef James (25:50):
Nice.
Well, so in looking at yourstaffing too, you have just the
two of you that are jamming inthe kitchen, right?
So everybody.
And then you're in front of thehouse.
You have Amanda and Cody.
Yes, and Cody.
He's a wizard on cocktails.
He's doing a good job.
When I saw him in there I'mlike wow, you've really that's.
You know, that's a nice tight,all-star team with the other two
(26:11):
he just infused bourbon withbananas and star anise and a
port float.
Chef Ray (26:15):
I'm like what the hell's a port float?
That's perfect, but I tasted it, I'm like oh, it makes sense.
Chef James (26:20):
Yeah, nice, that's all.
Chef Sarita (26:21):
Yeah, like my tequila drink is a tequila float
or a mezcal float?
Chef Ray (26:25):
And we have our prep cook slash dishwasher is
Carmen's daughter, Gemalette,who Bjorn had Carmen for 13
years Wow.
Chef James (26:37):
In the restaurant and then we took on her daughter
.
Okay, she's amazing, so you'vegot a good swing person.
Yeah, okay, wow, okay, nice,now you guys went on vacation,
right, you were able to step out, daughter.
Okay, she's amazing, so you'vegot a good, a good swing person.
Chef Sarita (26:46):
Yeah, okay wow, okay, nice.
Now you guys went on vacation.
Right, you were able to stepout, was that yeah?
Yes and we we did not, weactually did not talk about work
while we were on vacation itwas great.
Chef James (26:55):
That's gotta be amazing.
Chef Sarita (26:57):
We went camping in the redwoods um it's beautiful
up there.
Chef James (27:00):
It it was amazing, like Star Wars yeah.
Chef Sarita (27:02):
You didn't see Chewbacca, did you?
No, no, we tried we tried Wow.
Oh, there you go.
Chef Ray (27:10):
No, yeah, we were sitting at the table at our
campsite with the fire going andshe looked at me.
She's like what's wrong?
I'm like what do you mean rightnow?
Chef Sarita (27:21):
She's like that's really good.
Chef Ray (27:23):
I'm like oh, it feels really good yeah.
Chef Sarita (27:24):
No, and I was like there was like the absence of
the anxiety, the absence of, soI was like what am I feeling?
I'm like, oh, an absence ofnegativity.
Chef Ray (27:31):
It was just.
We were just not that our lifeis negative, it's not.
Chef Sarita (27:35):
It's just a lot yeah junk food and tons of hot
dogs, mexican food.
It's a spiritual place.
It is.
Chef Ray (27:50):
We came back to work and I was lifting plates.
I'm like they feel light today.
Chef James (27:54):
Everything feels light today.
Chef Sarita (27:55):
My body's relaxed.
Chef James (27:56):
This is amazing, that's awesome.
Chef Sarita (27:57):
We were so energized.
Chef James (28:01):
One of my great uncles.
He actually had a redwood millup there way back in the day and
being out in the woods likethat and with those redwoods,
it's very magical.
Chef Ray (28:11):
It's unbelievable.
Chef James (28:12):
Yeah, yeah, wow, that's so cool.
Chef Sarita (28:14):
And all the vegetation.
I'm obsessed with thevegetation underneath, like all
the redwood, sorrel and thetrillium.
Oh, yeah.
Our campsite was.
We camped at Jed and I Smithcampgrounds.
Chef James (28:24):
Okay.
Chef Sarita (28:25):
That's like way, way up north.
Chef James (28:27):
Yeah, that was probably close to where my
uncles played.
Okay yeah, not far from.
Chef Sarita (28:31):
It's like 30 miles from Oregon.
Yeah, that's exactly okay.
Near Crescent City.
Oh, there we go we got thereand there's trillions and sorrel
and ferns that are amazing andI'd been out there.
I'd been to the Redwoods oncebefore, but this was unreal
because it was just moreimpressive and we spent a whole
(28:52):
week, almost a week, campingthere.
Chef James (28:55):
Okay, wow, that's cool.
What drives the mental machine?
For you guys, adhd.
Chef Ray (29:03):
Yeah, I don't know machine for you guys.
What?
Chef James (29:04):
because adhd like it's you're, just because the
way you think and the way youguys move through these menus,
it it's very special and it isabnormal and I mean that with
the utmost respect.
Chef Ray (29:15):
Oh, thank you, but yeah, there's no choice.
We have no choice.
Chef Sarita (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, we just have to do it yeah and I think
I was always like my brainalways functioned like that when
it came to food before Irealized that I could get into
it, you know, as a life, yeah,it's a path, as a profession,
whatever you want to call it.
I think I always played withfood you grew up with it.
Yeah, yeah, I grew up with itlike this.
(29:38):
I you know I've told ray thisstory before but like I remember
being a little little, littlelittle kid probably like three
or four or something like thatand sitting in Columbia sitting
on the counter watching my mommake cheese make fresh cheese
and she would take the curds andput them in the cheesecloth and
hang it off the faucet and thenhave the whey in like a little
tub underneath.
Oh, very nice, and she wouldgive my brother and I the whey
(30:00):
so like he was like oh, it'sgross.
Chef Ray (30:01):
I'm like oh, I love it .
It was like salty and delicious.
Tell them, why you dropped outof a preschool kindergarten.
Oh yeah, I dropped out ofkindergarten because the food
wasn't good enough oh wow, Ididn't like the food, so she
left school and went to school.
Okay, well, because my parentsfood was amazing.
Chef James (30:18):
I grew up with incredible food, amazing food
and so I was.
Chef Sarita (30:24):
I was used to eating really great food and I
was like this is trash well now,and that's just unbelievable, I
mean it was not trash, for therecord.
It was actually really goodfood yeah like made from scratch
, like all fresh, but it was agrandma's little tiny me was
like nah, not good enough,that's so great such a pink slip
see you later lunch lady.
Chef Ray (30:46):
I'm the opposite, I'm lunch lady like chicken nuggets
with honey and pepper.
Yeah, I'll take doubles please.
Yeah, right, the first hothoney yeah steakums, yeah
steakums.
I like steakums, like give itto me.
Chef Sarita (30:59):
Hey, you bought me steakums.
I still want to try them.
I did.
Yes, it's good.
Chef James (31:02):
I've never had it.
Chef Ray (31:03):
Yeah, yeah, that's a big yeah that is, you know it's
good you know she's like inbetween, just like classy enough
all the time and I'm likeeither like snobby or complete
trash.
Chef Sarita (31:18):
Yeah, I like to float in the middle.
Chef James (31:21):
That way I can go up or down, you know, Wow.
Well, that's pretty awesome.
Chef Sarita (31:24):
I think it's a win-win for me.
Chef Ray (31:28):
We made chicken nuggets from scratch.
Chef Sarita (31:30):
Yeah, they were so good, that was for McChello.
Chef James (31:34):
McChello, yes I mean seriously, man Like the
creativity is off the hook.
Chef Sarita (31:40):
We did all the sauce.
It has to be.
Chef James (31:43):
Wow, okay.
Well, that's great, it's fun,man.
So what do you now?
You guys have your celebrationdinner coming up, right, oh, 510
.
Chef Ray (31:50):
Do you want?
Chef James (31:51):
to talk about that a little bit, I mean share kind
of A little bit.
Chef Ray (31:55):
We don't have much to talk about.
The menu's not set completely.
Chef James (31:58):
Well, the listeners should already know that by now.
Chef Ray (32:01):
Yeah, yeah, we're doing to do kind of a party yeah
.
Yeah, sit down and eat goodfood and have fun.
Chef Sarita (32:09):
We want to show our appreciation for the people
that have shown theirappreciation for us.
Chef James (32:13):
You're good, thank you.
Yeah, I see it.
Wait, are you kidding me?
Yeah, oh man.
Chef Sarita (32:17):
We want to, yeah, we want.
Our hope is that people youknow come in.
We'll be open for regularservice for like the first hour
yeah first two hours and thenafter that we hope everyone
we've invited who is able tojoin us will come in mill about
have some drinks hang out yeahmaybe you know, get to know each
other like yeah everyone spendsa lot of time in that
restaurant.
Chef Ray (32:36):
It's cool when people get to meet and talk about it
and then sit down and we'll dovery casual live courses with
some extras it's also funbecause we have three tables
that are regulars, that arecoming on Tuesday and Wednesday
and are coming back for Friday.
Chef James (32:52):
Oh, wow, okay, Okay, very cool.
Yeah, do you guys have any likeneeds?
I mean, are you guys currentlyhiring for any staff, right?
Chef Ray (33:00):
now.
Yes, yes, we have to get readyfor summer.
Chef James (33:02):
Yeah, it's going to.
Chef Ray (33:03):
We need a cook, we need two front of house and we
need a cook.
Chef Sarita (33:05):
We need two front of house and we need a part time
dishwasher ideally a full timecook and maybe a part time cook
depending, because we'd like tobe open 7 days a week and we'd
like to also have a day off.
Chef Ray (33:16):
We intend to like the take it Tuesday did so well that
we want to roll into Sunday andor Monday as like a little pop
up thing and just roll with it.
So it's set, ready to go, don'thave to be there so much, okay,
yeah.
Chef James (33:31):
Otherwise.
Chef Sarita (33:32):
You know, if we do a fried chicken pop, for example
, because that one did so well,or like burgers, all that stuff
can be prepped out ahead of time.
We can prep it out ahead oftime.
Chef Ray (33:39):
Jeff and Lutt can help us prep it out and then whoever
comes we end up hiring can comein and just pretty much, you
know, set up, roll into service,break it down.
Chef James (33:50):
Okay, call it.
Chef Ray (33:50):
A day set a timer, yeah, okay, otherwise working 80
to 85 hours a week, which isnot ideal.
Yeah, I at 40, I don't want todo that anymore.
I've done it before, I don'twant to do anymore you know it
does catch up to you.
Chef James (34:02):
It does.
Yes, it's, uh, it'sunbelievable man, the.
But you know, I think it's oneof the the most beautiful
industries in the world.
In so many other ways, thepeople you meet, I mean, you run
into similar characters acrossthe country in kitchens, it's.
You know, we're a merry band ofmisfits in some ways.
Chef Ray (34:20):
I say D Jones, yeah, yeah, you know.
Oh, we have Maddow coming inthis week again.
Oh cool, she's back for thesummer rachel maddow.
Chef James (34:28):
Oh okay, oh, very good.
You guys got any words ofwisdom for people that you know
are wanting to come into theindustry?
I mean things to keep in mind,or you better love it yeah, yeah
.
If you don't love it, you'renot gonna make it you're not,
yeah, no, it's, it's got to beinside of you.
You know, don't, don't be toorigid.
I think it's a really big thingtoo.
Chef Sarita (34:46):
I it's got to be inside of you.
You know, don't be too rigid.
I think is a really big thingtoo.
I think it's why one of thereasons why we're good at what
we do is because we're flexibleand we talked about it.
Certain techniques you have tobe rigid about and you have to
do it a certain way because it'sjust how it is.
But in general, be open to likeif you don't have this
(35:07):
ingredient, use a different one.
Chef Ray (35:09):
Change something.
Chef Sarita (35:10):
Don't be afraid to mess around with stuff.
Chef Ray (35:13):
Last time we looked up shiso leaves that were wrapped
in beef.
Chef Sarita (35:18):
They have a little smear of beef on the inside and
they're folded in half.
Chef Ray (35:21):
And they bread it and fry it.
Chef Sarita (35:22):
Not bread it, they batter it, they batter it and
fry it.
Chef Ray (35:27):
We have kohlrabi tops downstairs and ground beef, so
let's do that instead yeah yeah,interesting, there's no rules.
Chef James (35:34):
There are basic rules, but there's also no rules
but I think when it comes tosomebody you know, people that
have a high talent and a verymature palate, yeah, sky's the
limit, it's experience you liveand you learn and you cook.
Chef Ray (35:49):
That's all there is to it.
I've dealt with a lot ofyounger people, like early 20s,
who thought they knew it all forwhatever reason, and they
didn't, but they knew a lot atthe same time.
So hunker down, eat whateveryou can and make it work in your
head.
It's not a hard science.
(36:11):
Yeah, it's a balance.
That's all there is to it.
Chef James (36:14):
It's a balance and sometimes I worry, you know,
about that level of grit.
Yeah, you know it takes a lotof grit.
It does and determination, yeah, relentless determination you
wake up, you walk into work.
Chef Ray (36:26):
You're kind of dead.
You look around, you figure itout and hopefully by 5 o'clock
you're ready to go.
Right, you can have some nights.
Chef Sarita (36:36):
You know some services where, at the end of it
, you're like this is why I dothis, this is the most amazing.
It's like the highest, high.
And you can also have serviceswhere the only thing keeping you
going, the only thing keepingyou from walking out that door,
is knowing that at some point,the restaurant is going to close
for the night at some pointit's going to end at some point
it's going to be over and thatsucks and you have to accept
that and you have to be able todeal with nights like that and
(36:58):
also the really really amazingnights and you guys have each
other and it's very special as apair, but also that synergy.
Chef James (37:07):
As long as a team can keep that connected, you
will weather the storm.
Yeah, you know, and that'samazing, so okay.
So location do you guys want toshare exact location and
website so that listeners can.
Chef Ray (37:21):
It's 37 Church Street in Lenox and it's celllenoxcom.
Chef Sarita (37:26):
Yes, yes, cool.
We update the menu online everyday, not until about 4.30.
Chef Ray (37:31):
So if you expect something that was the day
before, look later.
Chef Sarita (37:35):
Yeah, and we have the menu from the previous day
outside of the door.
So often people will walk byand be like oh, is this today's
menu?
It's like no, but it'll eitherbe similar or it'll be
completely different.
Chef James (37:44):
It'll be something.
Chef Ray (37:47):
Was it Wednesday or Thursday?
We completely flipped the menu.
Thursday, thursday it was likespring.
We got back from California.
Everything was green, thingswere growing and we were like,
alright, we're gonna flip thisright now.
Yeah, like peas, asparaguspapas, just you know, just do it
right now.
Chef James (38:07):
Yeah, like peas asparagus, papas, just, you know
, just do it Well, and all theforage stuff and you were
foraging yes, yeah, you have to.
Chef Sarita (38:13):
We got back and we went you have a short season.
Chef Ray (38:15):
You have to enjoy what you can.
Yeah, he's like I only putnettles this big, so delicious
and like.
Chef Sarita (38:23):
We went and got a huge sack of them and then we
picked dandelions and madedandelion vinegar out of it.
Chef James (38:29):
Oh man, that's nice yeah.
Chellalennoxcom and we have anInstagram as well.
Chef Sarita (38:36):
Facebook too, which you know you don't get as much
traffic through Facebook but wehave a Facebook, we have an
Instagram.
Chef Ray (38:41):
The Instagram looks better.
Chef Sarita (38:43):
We update stuff, we post fun things, do a lot of
posting.
Chef James (38:48):
It's great, she does a lot of posting.
Chef Ray (38:51):
I don't.
I'm too old for that.
I know I'm like what?
Yeah, exactly.
Chef James (38:55):
I try to keep up with everybody.
Chef Sarita (38:57):
Can I do an auto-send on that?
Yeah, as I go.
Yeah.
Chef Ray (39:03):
No, I have no idea.
If she leaves, I'm doing AIsomehow.
Chef Sarita (39:07):
That's a scary thing too, but it works it does
really do some scary stuff.
Chef James (39:11):
You're like you just wrote a menu and that's not
absolutely horrible.
Chef Ray (39:15):
I know.
Chef James (39:17):
It's unreal.
Don't stay away from me.
Chef Sarita (39:20):
I know, I see what it creeps you out.
Yeah, it's weird.
Chef James (39:25):
We're going to lose eventually.
Chef Ray (39:26):
Yeah, ai battle.
Well, not well, we're going tolose eventually.
Chef James (39:28):
Yeah.
Chef Sarita (39:29):
To the AI battle.
Well, either Flippy, well, notthe food I mean we have that AI
can't make food, so, yeah, Idon't know if I'll see Flippy
with tweezers in its threefingers.
Chef James (39:36):
I hope that never happens.
The fire basket, it's just yeah.
The burger flipper walk on thewall.
Yeah, but well, thank you bothfor being here.
Chef Ray (39:46):
Thank you so much.
Chef James (39:46):
It was a real pleasure and the Berkshires, you
know, is very lucky to haveyour kitchen, your restaurant,
here doing what you do.
No one is doing what you'redoing and it's an inspiration
and thank you both for yourpassion.
Thank you, serena, you'rewonderful and just I mean so
(40:07):
driven, so talented, and Ray,the Berkshires has been lucky to
have you since 2011.
Thank you, I know that becauseI was fortunate enough to send
everybody I could to go see whatyou were doing.
You've been there for a longtime.
You guys are unbelievable.
All right, thank you, thank youso much.
All right, everyone, that is awrap.
(40:27):
You can check us out if youlike that.
Subscribe Also the InstagramChef Massey.
Let's keep it simple, chefMassey dot com.
Have a good one.
Bye for now.
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