Vault Episode 11: Matteo Sogne

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
What is up, everybody, and welcome back to
another episode of the SmallLake City Podcast.
I'm your host, Eric Nilsson, andthis week we are back with
another Vault episode.
And this time we are revisitingthe conversation with Matteo
Sanye.
Now, Matteo is the founder ofthe Italian restaurant Matteo.
Uh, but it's been fun to seesince I released this episode
that he has now opened up asecond restaurant, Estrata,

(01:15):
which is uh fast casual Italiansandwich shop, but has also
moved to a bigger location forhis restaurant, Matteo.
Um, if you haven't been, Idefinitely recommend.
But uh want to jump into a storyabout growing up in Italy,
coming here for school, and thendeciding to not only stay around
to launch his own restaurant,but to bring his family in on it
as well.
So let's jump into it.

(01:35):
Whether you've listened to thisone before or this is a
completely new one for you, youare going to enjoy it.
So there's people that I when Istarted the podcast, I like knew
that I wanted to have on that Iknew.
But then there's like this wholewave of people that I either got
introduced to or got exposed to,and I was like, this is someone
I need to hear their story.
I want to get to know thembetter.

(01:57):
And you were number one on thelist.
So I mean, as we as we've talkedabout and connected over, I
mean, and I've brought up on thepodcast actually probably two or
three times now.
But I remember I'd heard of yourrestaurant, and I and for me,
like I love Italian food, but mybiggest problem with Italian
food is inauthentic Italian foodand low quality Italian food.
Because if I go get food at likea restaurant, especially like a

(02:19):
I mean, let's call likehigh-quality Italian restaurant,
like I have expectations, and ifI walk out feeling like I could
have made that at home, I don'twant to pay$30 for that.

SPEAKER_00 (02:27):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
And so when I um I was going to uh dinner with one
of my friends, Maddie, and I waslike, I really just want to go
out like to a nice dinner.
Like I haven't gone to a nicedinner in a while.
Uh I've heard of Mateos, Ireally want to go.
And so we go, and like, and Iwas kind of like speculative at
first.
I was like, all right, let's seehow this is, and exceeded all my
expectations.

(02:48):
The authenticity is palpable.
Uh, the staff is amazing, themenu is phenomenal, and uh all
from your family recipes andeverything that's been passed
down and bringing on to here.
So I'm so excited to have youhere and hear from I mean your
mouth all the story of how itcame to be and what's to look
forward to.
So thank you so much for joiningand excited to hear the story.
Thank you for having me.
It's very exciting.

(03:09):
Totally.
And like, and again, like goingback to the authenticity of
things, like everything is asgood as it could be.
Because I mean, obviously, bornand raised um in Italy, uh, kind
of want to start there.
I mean, what part of Italy wereyou from and what was I mean
early childhood like?

SPEAKER_00 (03:25):
I was born and raised in Modena.
Modena is the town wheneverwhenever you go to the to the
store, you see balsami vinegarof Modena.
Yeah.
So I like to call it Lando's LowFoods and Fast Cars.
Because all Italian fast carsare made there.
Yeah Ferrari, Maserati,Lamborghini, Pagani, Bugatti,
they're all made within a20-mile radius.
And all the slow foods are fromthere as well.

(03:46):
Balsami vinegar, parmesancheese, bologna sauce, all those
things are made in Modena.
So I was born and raised there.

SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
You were primarily raised like with your by your
grandparents, right?

SPEAKER_00 (03:58):
Yeah.
Well, in Italy, a lot of peoplework from like 8 a.m.
to 7 p.m.
And so my first nine and a halfyears, I was spending a lot of
time with my grandparentsbecause I used to go to bed
early, so I saw my parents, youknow, maybe like a couple hours
a day, and of course during theweekends, but I spent a lot of
time with my with mygrandparents, and I had the luck

(04:18):
that my parents, when I was alittle kid, we didn't have much
money, so we just built ourhouse in my grandparents'
backyard.
That works, and so I I was bornand raised like maybe 40 feet
away from my grandparents'backyard, and so I inherited a
lot of their culture, a lot oftheir experience, and I just
love to sit down and listen topeople.
Yeah, and so I just had my yeah,I just had my grandpa tell me

(04:42):
stories about everything, and mygrandpa is one of the most
fascinated people I know, and hetells me a story about
everything from how he startedsmoking when he was four and a
half years old to everythingelse.
So yeah, I was raised when I waslittle by my grandparents, and
my first memories is my grandmaschasing me around with a
five-foot rolling pin around thekitchen because I was just you

(05:04):
know not the most behaved guy,and so yeah, that's when I was
very young, and then you know,growing older, I learned how to
cherish and spend more time withmy parents, yeah.
And so, you know, we have abeautiful relationship.
They move the earth to help meout with the restaurant, so
yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:21):
Well, because I love that like one of my favorite
things about Italian culture islike two things that kind of
pair together is family,obviously, because you're
sharing such a communal space,which is very common in Italy
and like to the detriment, likein COVID, the reason why it was
so rampant so fast is becausethere's multi-generations in in
in different households.
But then also that family is socentered around food.

(05:43):
And I and I believe it was likeyour grand, I mean, obviously
it's um family recipes that gotpassed down, but it sounds like
it was your your grandma thatreally inspired you for going
back to your fast cars and slowfood.
Your grandma was the one thattaught you about the slow food,
and your grandfather was the onethat taught you about the fast
food.

SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
Absolutely, yep.
And yeah, the reason we all thewhole reason we opened up the
restaurant is because we wantedto bring joy and togetherness.
That's the whole reason to openup the restaurant.
When I was a kid growing up, wehad this thing that I look
forward to the whole week.
It was our Sunday lunch.
Sunday lunch was the thing to methat brought me joy and
togetherness.
Because Sunday lunch, we allwent to my grandma's house,

(06:18):
12:30.
You knew that food was ready andthe whole family was getting
together.
It was a two, three-hour lunch,stories, sharing, and we'll just
you feel good, you know.
So that's the reason we open upthe restaurant.
And fun fact, if you go onjoyintogetherness.com, it
redirects you to our website.
I love that.
Just a little nerdy things, butyeah, I just wanted to bring Joy

(06:38):
and Togetherness to Salt LakeCity, and I think as a
restaurant owner now, butrestaurant people, restaurants
in general, our mission is we'rein the people business, we're
not in the food business.
Yes.
Food, of course, is part of it,but I wanted to recreate that
feeling when you walk into yourgrandma's house, when you spend
time with your family, andbringing up Will Gadera, which

(07:01):
is one of my favorite authors,fine dining is not about the
check, it's not about anythingelse.
It's about if you and me go todinner, I want to leave feeling
like I know you a little bitbetter.
Regardless if it's our firstdate or our 50th wedding
anniversary, I wanna feel I wantto feel like I walk out of
dinner feeling like I know you alittle bit better.
And that's how every Sundaylunch was on my family.

(07:22):
I felt like I woke out of thatlunch, I know everyone else at
that table a little bit better.
I know that story about them, Iknow that experience about them,
and that's what I want torecreate.

SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
That's so awesome.
I mean, and and it's such likethe authentic way to because
like I'm a big believer in infood and bringing people
together and eating, and like mymy grandmother actually was the
person who uh was always the thecook, the one that brought
people together, was always atgrandma's house.
I mean, she I mean grew up inlike rural Utah and a lot of
just mean traditional Americanuh food, but she inspired so

(07:55):
many people.
I mean, I was telling you as wewere walking in that I have a
cousin who lives up inWillamette Valley that's a chef,
has been chef for uh 15,probably 20 years now.
And that's one thing I loveabout going and visiting him.
It's we sit down, he's like it'seither he's already cooking, or
we show up at a restaurant andhe steals the menu from me and
says, Don't worry, like I've gotthis, and it's perfect.
And like to your exact point, Imean, that's what brings people

(08:17):
together, that's what bringspeople closer, is having one of
the most basic but yet mostintimate human experiences of
eating food together andbreaking bread.
Yeah, like that's how that's howpeople are are are brought
together.
And like I hate like one of mybiggest pet peeves with people
sometimes is when like you goout to eat and it's like a race.
It's like, okay, cool, so uhlet's get our order in now so we
can do this.
Uh like and then we can I'mlike, whoa, like slow down.

(08:40):
Like I'm I'm here to spend timewith you, not just like check
off a uh uh an item on the listof getting food.

SPEAKER_00 (08:45):
That was one of the hardest experiences I had when I
moved to the US.
Because back home I'm used toyou know, sit down and enjoy a
good meal, you know.
To me, dinner can be like hour,hour and a half, two hours on a
Tuesday.
Because you just sit down andtalk to people.
And when I moved here, I justsaw people that were like I
mean, most of the houses I wentto barely even had the table.

(09:09):
So it's like, you know, a lot ofpeople like to me the thing that
blew my mind in college is a lotof people eat their dinner in
their bed.
And to me, I'm like that's therewas such a big cultural change.
Yeah.
I'm like, I think if I couldhelp bringing that joy and
togetherness of breaking breadtogether, of sitting down, let's
leave everything outside of therestaurant.

(09:29):
Here we're just in this littlebubble, and we just want to
enjoy ourselves, wind down for asecond, enjoy a good meal, and
then when you walk out, it'sfine.

SPEAKER_01 (09:38):
Yeah, but that's as that as you said is one of the
most intimate experiences thatyou can share with anyone, and
it's yeah, and I think Italiansare some of the best people have
have mastered that of slowingdown, pausing life, and then
just really getting together andconnecting over that.
Italian and Japanese, yes.
Oh, yeah, true.
Good call.
Um, so I know that I mean carsare your passion.

(10:00):
I mean, obviously you're wearinga martini racing sweatshirt, so
imagine a big F1 fan.
I mean, unfortunately, yes.

SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Given how Ferrari's been doing us, I gotta say,
unfortunately, yes.

SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
I wasn't gonna mention it, but I'm so sorry for
that.

SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
Yeah, it's all good.

SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
Uh so you've you so you have your passion about your
cars, your grandma and family.
I mean, you have this greatexperience around cooking, but
then I also know that uhswimming was another passion of
yours as well.
I mean, how did you getintroduced to that and how did
that take off?

SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
Oh, it was funny because when I was a little kid,
uh I was afraid of water on myface.
So at until I was like six yearsold, I had to shower with a
towel on my face because Icouldn't stand water on my face.

SPEAKER_01 (10:34):
Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 (10:35):
And then when I was seven years old, that blew up my
elbow.
And I was playing goal insoccer, and of course that's out
the window.
Yeah, can't do that.
And the doctor's like, well, theonly way you have to rehab is to
swim.
And I was like, gosh, really,among all the sports I could do,
swimming is the only one I hate.
And so they threw me the pool,and I'm determined, so I'm like,
you know what?
I want to have a normal elbow,so I gotta start swimming.

(10:56):
And I realized I actually quiteenjoyed after you passed the
fear of water on your face.
I I quite still enjoy it, and Iwas okay at it, I was never
good.
And then when I was like 15, Ithink, I mean, up until I was
14th, if it was a race for eightpeople, I'll probably get ninth.
Like I was that bad.

(11:18):
And then when I was 15th, one ofmy coaches was like, Yeah, you
know, we gotta split groups, andall my friends were in the good
group, and I was in the one withnot very good groups.
So I'm like, okay, you knowwhat?
I actually gotta try and Iactually gotta get my stuff
together.
Because I want to be with myfriends, not because I want it
to be good.
Yeah, I don't want to be in thislane.
Exactly.
So I actually started trying,and within a year I got third at

(11:40):
Italian championships.
Wow.
And so I was like, okay, I Ilike it.
What was your event?
Uh I swim distance freestyle.
Oh wow.
I actually still have therecords across Bear Lake, side
to side.
No.

SPEAKER_01 (11:49):
Seven miles, yeah.
We're gonna come back to thatone.

SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
Uh but yeah, so I was a miler and then in 2015 I
broke my nose, so I didn't havethe chance to even try to for
the Olympics.
And I was like, you know what?
I want to try to go to Tokyo,but I'm not gonna stay in Italy
because I tried to do universityand swimming in Italy, and it's
impossible.
Like I had to drive 45 minutesfrom practice to to school and
back.
Because swimming, you swim twicea day.

(12:14):
So I swim 6 to 8 in the morning.
I got breakfast in my car, andthen I went to university from
one from 9 to like 1, 1.30.
I ate lunch in my car on the wayback, and then I was swimming
again from 2.30 to 5 and thenlifting after.
Yeah.
And so I'm like, there's not achance I'm gonna do it.
And so I had a couple friendsthat were swimming in America,

(12:36):
uh, University of Arizona inTucson.
And I was like, you know what?
I want to give it a chance.
So I sent an email, like out ofthe blue, to like 70 schools.
I'm like, hey, these are mytimes.
If you're interested, uh respondwith a scholarship, preferably,
and we'll go from there.
And so I got a few emails back,and one of them was from Utah,
to which I committed inNovember, and I came on my

(12:58):
recruiting trip in February.
So if I didn't like it, I youknow, I can't really do anything
about it.
Yeah, so yeah, that's how myvery, very short, that's how my
swimming career was, and then Iswam for four years.
Uh when I graduated in 2020, Iwon the title of Student Athlete
of the Year, which is the maleathlete with the highest GPA.

(13:19):
Congrats.
Thank you.
Huge accomplishment.
Uh and I just really enjoyswimming, and I happen to be not
very fast, but I never got fastat it, yeah.
Well, I never got tired, so Ijust can swim for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 (13:31):
I'm I still I'm still not very fast, but uh you
know, but you can but you canendure better than you're the
you're the tortoise, not thehare.
Yep, yep, yep.
That's so awesome.
So you're going to the U.
So I mean, when you wereapplying to these schools, I
mean, was Utah like middle ofthe list, top of the list,
bottom of the list?

SPEAKER_00 (13:48):
I mean, I didn't even know Utah existed,
honestly.
So Utah was off the list, wasnot even on the list.
Because I started, you know,from all the big schools, you
know, as in Italy, you know, NewYork.
Of course.
You know, I I started fromColombia, New York.
I saw from Cal Berkeley, I sawfrom Stanford and blah blah
blah.
I started from all the IvyLeague, and then I realized Ivy
League doesn't have any sportsscholarships.
So I'm like, okay, that's out ofthe window.

(14:10):
And I had an offer fromColombia, actually, New York,
and I went there on my recurringtrip on the third day.
I'm like, I gotta go to CentralPark, man, I gotta breathe.
I I can't do this.

SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
Very, yeah, very starting.

SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
So yeah, uh, I just ended up picking among like 20
schools, and Utah was the bestuh overall deal, not money-wise,
because I I had a lot more moneyoffered in basically 90% of all
the other schools, but among theculture, among the economics,

(14:42):
among uh, you know, you drive 10minutes from campus or in the
middle of nowhere.
And I'm very thankful I madethat choice because I still love
it very much here.

SPEAKER_01 (14:51):
Yeah.
I mean, it's even at the pointwhere you you moved your entire
family here just so that theycould be here and and help
support.
Yep.
And uh that's so so tell meabout this Bear Lake story.
I didn't know about this.
What inspired you to want tobeat the time of across Bear
Lake Impact?

SPEAKER_00 (15:05):
Bear Lake Monster Swim, and it was 2019.
Uh I was my last summer actuallyswimming, and I I've had people
talk all the time about BearLake, Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Bear
Lake, and there's this monsterswim, it's very cold water, blah
blah.
And there's very few people thatdo it without a wetsuit, because
I mean water in the middle islike 61 degrees, which is very

(15:26):
pretty cold, and you gotta stayin that water for two hours.
So I was like, you know what?
Screw it, I'll do it.
And so I just wanted to prove tomyself I can do it.
And I made a huge mistake.
Uh the guy that was kayaking forme has a titanium elbow, so I
never considered the fact thathe was not gonna go straight.

(15:49):
So instead of swimming sixmiles, we swim like seven and a
half, but and that guy stillhappens to be our chef, so it
didn't feel too bad.
It no, it was fine.
I just you know endured the painan extra 20 minutes, but uh
yeah, so I just basicallyrandomly came across it and I
was like, you know, I justreally enjoy swimming open
water.

(16:09):
The guy that sets up the thewhole event reached out and was
like, I would love to have youover.
And I was like, Yeah, sure.
Uh I'll I'll come and swim.
You know, I have fun, it's a lotof fun.
Yeah, sounds like a fun race.
It's very fun.
You just go side to side.
It's one of the very few openwater races where you actually
go side to side, which feelsreally good, especially when
you're in the middle of nowhere.

(16:29):
You just it's so quiet, sopeaceful.

SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
Nothing.
And so, yeah, no one bumpinginto you in a swim lane.

SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Nope.
But that's one thing I loveabout open water.
It's just you're free.
It's like the close thing toflying because you don't don't
see the bottom.
You just are free.
You're in the middle of nowhereby yourself.

SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
And so I'm also curious too, because so you I I
believe you studied math andeconomics at the U.
Yes.
And so, I mean, it was that whatwas that?
Because I just think of like allof this cooking, this food, it
was very like I mean, let's callit, I mean, not very
quantitative, not verynumerical, very um, let's call
it artistic for lack of a betterterm.
I mean, what what drove you towant to uh study math and

(17:07):
economics?

SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
I've never been very good at English, and I've never
been good at Italian either.
I'm the guy that if you put mein front of a piece of blank
paper and say write downsomething, I write down three
sentences, then I'm done.
Yeah.
So even back home, I was alwaysgood at math.
I did the Olympics of math, Idid I always did the fun stuff
with math.
And I believe math is uh themost noble science, meaning that

(17:32):
teaches you how to solveproblems that you don't know to
solve, bring it back tosomething you know how to solve.
And that's the most beautifulpart about math.
It teaches you a mindset, whichis the same thing as swimming,
which is the same thing aseverything, it teaches you a
mindset.
Yes, it doesn't teach you anyskill because you don't know any
skill.
Like realistically, when yougraduate math, you have no
skills.
Like you know, when you studymedicine or when you when you go
to math school or when youbecome a lawyer, you have a lot

(17:53):
of skills, right?
Totally.
Math teaches you no skillsbecause you cannot apply any of
the skills in real life, but itteaches you the best skill,
which is to solve problems, yes.
And so that's why I alwaysfascinated so much about math
that to get from A to B, youhave many different ways.
And they're all right.
Yeah.
It just for some people you takethis route, so for some other

(18:17):
people you gotta take the other.
And that's why a lot of peopledon't like don't love math,
because the way math is taught,it's just to go from A to B you
gotta take this route, right?

unknown (18:25):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (18:26):
But it's not.
No.
And so that's what alwaysfascinated me about math and
economics.
I just like to understand what'sgoing on around me.

SPEAKER_01 (18:33):
Yeah, it's kind of like I mean, it's also kind of
like an applied math almost.
Yeah, because like I'm a verymath-minded person.
Like, I've been the same thing Idid uh like the math Olympics
that used to have up onUniversity of Utah campus when I
was in grade school, I was inlike all the advanced class.
I mean, I was just math nerd.
Yeah, like absolutely andbecause like, and I totally
agree, like it always bothers mewhen people are like, Oh, I
never have used the Pythagoreantheorem in my life.
I've never used this.

(18:54):
I'm like, right, but there'sthis like problem solving,
critical thinking.
And like I was talking tosomeone at work the other day,
and someone was like, Oh, do youremember proofs of like uh just
like I mean math proofs?
And I was like, Yeah, I'm likeactually in hindsight, like
those help me a lot, like beable, like even in my work
today, like if I have to provesomething, like those exercises
may be like, okay, cool.
So start here, this is what wedo, this is what we do, this is

(19:16):
why we do this, this is how weget there, check all my steps,
document it all.
Any questions?

SPEAKER_00 (19:21):
Well, that's exactly what math teaches you, you know,
to have you know the Pythagoreantheorem teaches you how to solve
second grade equation, and thensecond grade equation teaches
you how to apply to somethingelse, and then you're basically
building a wall, but you need toconsolidate that brick in order
to put the next brick, right?
And that's what math is, andthat's what real life is, you

(19:43):
know.
Like in your work, you're like,hey, you know, how do you put
the roof on the house?
Well, you gotta start from hereto here to here to here, right?
And so that's what math does.

SPEAKER_01 (19:52):
Yeah, a lot of people get so impatient, they're
like, I just want the roof, giveme the roof.
How do we get to the roof?
You're like, yeah, you gottaappreciate the roof and you
gotta get through the foundationand the walls and the and the
ceiling first.

SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
So you're studying math and economics, and so you
graduate you graduated in 2020from 2020.
Yeah, and I mean, at this point,was the restaurant on your
radar, or what were what wereyour plans at this point?

SPEAKER_00 (20:12):
Well, I was doing math for four years and I was
doing research as well, and thenI was working in restaurants at
night every now and then justhelping out friends because I've
been in restaurant businesssince I'm like three years old.
In 2019, my mom and my dad andeveryone were like, hey, you
know, what are you gonna doafter college?
I'm like, Well, I think I wantto open up a restaurant because
that's my true passion, that'swhat I really enjoy doing.

(20:33):
And Solake and Utah need somesort of good restaurant, right?
I we had a total different ideain mind, which is still at some
point gonna happen.
Yeah, so 2019, end of 2019, westart looking at the space
because I'm like, okay, well,you know, I'm gonna graduate May
2020, uh, you know, to build outa space to Six to it, six to

(20:54):
eight months.
So you know, end of 2019, westart looking at places, and
then for a reason or another, italways got pushback.
And then we reach you knowJanuary 2020, and we have a
couple places that were in thefinal steps of negotiating a
contract, which I'm not gonnamention names, but they're both
very, very successfulrestaurants now.
Cool.
Yeah, January 2020, we startedto do that, and then we were
supposed to close on one of themlike in three days, and then I

(21:18):
get a phone call from my mom inItaly, and she's like, Hey, I
just wanted to let you know wehave this thing called COVID
here.
Uh, it's like starting to getspread and stuff.
I don't know like what shouldhappen or something.
I think it was January, lateJanuary or early February.

SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
Yeah, it's like calm before the storm.

SPEAKER_00 (21:33):
Yeah, and she was like, You might want to wait,
try to like take a week or two,because she's like, This might
be like just some regular flustuff that nobody cares about in
like two weeks, or it can besomething huge.
So she's like, you might want towait a week or two.
I'm like, okay, you know what?
Good call.
Wise mother.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I end up taking my time,so we lose one of the buildings,

(21:55):
which ended up becoming Ivy andVarley.
Oh, interesting, yeah.
Which is absolutely amazing.
I love to get there now.
And you know, we keep going, andlate February happens.
I'm like, okay, no, this isthings bad.

SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (22:07):
And early March, my dad comes to the States because
it was my final race, Pac-12,2020.
Okay.
So March 6th, I believe, 2020.
King County.
Yeah.
King County, Washington.

unknown (22:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (22:18):
Just everything's aligning to be the worst place
to be at the worst time.

SPEAKER_01 (22:21):
Exactly.
And so imagine it's up at UW,right?
Or you're Washington?
Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah.
No, no, it's uh no, it's MartinLuther King's Center, Aquatic
Center.
It's uh it's in Tacoma.
It's not U.
Oh, okay, yeah.
Yeah, it's not UW.
And my dad travels here to watchmy last race.
He shows up with a mask, gloves,and everyone, and everything,
because Italy was bad.
Yeah.
In America, nobody cares.
He didn't shake anyone's hands,and everyone thought it was
crazy.

(22:46):
And next thing you know, liketwo days later, they shut down
the border.
So my dad is stuck here for likethree months in my apartment.
And after that, I'm like, youknow what?
I'm gonna take a little bit oftime to just master my craft
because I think I'm okay at it,but I want to take a few times
to understand really how it'sdone to travel to spend more
time.

SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Yeah.
Well, it's like I like that too,because I like that with your
swimming, you weren't good at itat the beginning, and you really
had to work at it.
And even if it was justmotivated to be in the same lane
as your friends, I love thatwith your craft of cooking, you
had that same approach.
You're like, hey, I'm I'm good,I've done this.
Like I've was I spent so muchtime in the kitchen with my
grandma and my mom and my otherfamily.
I've I've worked at restaurants,but like I I still feel like

(23:28):
there's more to learn.
I'm gonna go push myself andgrow more.

SPEAKER_00 (23:31):
I agree.
And one thing swimming taught meis that worry about what you can
control, and don't worry aboutyou what you cannot control,
right?
The only thing you can controlis how hard you're working, how
smart you're working, howdedicated you are.
And I can tell you I'm not gonnabe the most talented person, and
I I I know I'm not, but I can bethe hardest working, and that's

(23:51):
what I do about, you know.
Like our staff always gives me ahard time because they're like,
when are you gonna take a dayoff?
I'm like, Christmas Day.
Yeah, because that's the day therestaurant's closed.
Because no one's coming in here.
Yeah, because otherwise I don'tneed days off.
Like, I don't even have a TV inmy house.
I haven't had I haven't had a TVin seven years.
Yeah.
Because I don't know.

(24:12):
I'm I got stuff to do, no timeto sit down and do it.
I I just learn not to be ago-getter, you know, if you want
to say in the slang.

SPEAKER_01 (24:18):
Yeah, no, I I totally get it.
I mean, especially when it'syour own venture, your own I
mean, passion, it's you ornothing.
Like it's either you're gonna doit or no one else is.

SPEAKER_00 (24:27):
Well, my dad was in the special force of the army
back home for a few years, andhe taught me since I was a kid,
uh, he always raised me with themindset number one or no one.
Like if you do something, you doit well.
Yeah.
Uh and you take pride in there.
Otherwise, you don't waste yourtime.
Yeah.
Use that time on something thatyou really and genuinely truly
believe in.

SPEAKER_01 (24:47):
Yeah.
And especially with food, Imean, just to be so dedicated to
that craft and wanting to be thebest, wanting to be to own your
craft even more.
And I mean, spoiler, it worked,like did did very well.
You you decided you're gonnatake some time and go back to
Italy.
I mean, what what were you likelearning?
I mean, what were you spendingtime doing to try to I mean
further your craft?

(25:08):
During COVID?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:09):
Uh during COVID, I I was teaching cooking classes.
Oh, that's right.
You're doing them like on Zoomand I was doing Zoom cooking
classes for OSHA, which is theUniversity of Utah continuing
education for older people.
Cool.
And I wasn't charging for itbecause I'm like, you know, I
really really don't care.
I gotta make lunch anyways.
Yeah, exactly.
If you guys want to watch, youcan.
I also started working inrestaurants full-time.
On the side, I did a lot ofeducation.

(25:30):
I did a lot of education.
Cool.
Like wine education, and I alsodid because you became a small
is this d during when you becamea Somalia?
No, I I I did the Somaliacertification in Italy from 2015
to 2016.

SPEAKER_01 (25:42):
I took a is that just like part of like normal
Italian, like you go to gradeschool, you go to high school,
you become a smalia, and thenyou just go into society?

SPEAKER_00 (25:50):
Uh not really, but a lot of people like to enjoy a
nice glass of wine.
And I figure that, you know, inEurope we have an extra year of
high school.
And then 2015 to 2016, I triedto take an Olympic year, so I
tried to focus to make theOlympics in 2016.
Uh, but at the same time, I Iwasn't going to school in the
morning, I wasn't going tocollege because there's no way I
could focus on both.

(26:11):
But I wanted to still dosomething and learn something,
be active about something, andrestaurants have always been my
passion.
I figured that the part I wasknowing the least was the
spirits aspect, wine, spirits,and everything.
So I was like, you know, I wantto invest into something that I
don't know, so it keeps my brainactive.
And so that's why I start tostudy for wine.

SPEAKER_02 (26:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (26:31):
And then after that, I just truly enjoy it.
And I have a lot of friends inTuscany and Piedmont that make
wine.
So I go good friends to have.
Yeah, great friends to have.
And I go home twice a year.
I go to Tuscany in the fall totry the new vintages.
And you know, I mean, somebody'sgonna do it.
I know.
It's a socially acceptable wayof having some fun.

(26:52):
And in the spring I go toPiedmont, uh, and they're just
beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 (26:56):
That's uh yeah, that's like one of my favorite.
I guess to mention this uh toyou as well about my cousin who
lives in Willamette Valley.
I mean, grow great Pinot, growgreat shards, he's a chef, and
but like because he's a chef, heorders all of the wine from all
the best wineries there, and sowe'll go wine tasting, and it's
like the red carpet gets rolledout here.
Like, do you want to try thisvintage?
And I'm just like sitting there,just so like beaming from ear to

(27:16):
ear, just so happy to beincluded.

SPEAKER_00 (27:18):
That happened to me in March.
I went to Napa because my bestfriend here, he was taking the
third level sommelier, and he'sthe food beverage director of a
very prestigious golf club inPark City.
I cannot mention names because Idon't want to get anyone in
trouble.
Yeah, but basically, they hadeverything paid for and they set
up all these very cool tastings.
So we he's like, Yeah, I got acouple wineries set up, and they

(27:41):
he wouldn't tell me the names.
I'm like, okay, you know what?
I'm just a passenger.
Like I'm along for the ride.
I mean, I paid$12 for the wholetrip.
Like I got a Delta credit card,so I just literally paid$12 for
four days in Napa.
I'm like, uh, you know what?
Can't get worse.
Yes.
Um, so first winery, we roll in,we land to San Francisco, we
roll in, we go to Opus One, andwe we pass through the tasting

(28:05):
room.
I'm like, yeah, that's what Ithought.
We're not gonna taste Opus One.
I mean, come on.
We can't do this.
Yeah, we can't start from PripusOne.
Yeah, and they were like, let metake you downstairs to the Barik
room and to the private cellar,and dude shows us like a bunch
of unicorns, and then he openedlike in 2002, 2007.
We ended up tasting like six orseven different wines, they were
just mind-blowing.

(28:26):
I'm like, okay, this is thefirst one, so it's hard to beat.

SPEAKER_01 (28:28):
And then expectations changed
immediately.
You're like, I thought we werejust kind of hanging out and
going to Napa, and now it turnsout it's the uh white glove
treatment.

SPEAKER_00 (28:35):
Yep, and then you know, I've always been like kind
of like Italian wine guy.
You know, if you come to arestaurant, we only have Italian
wines for except for sparklingand dessert.
And then, you know, I had toreally re-change my my plans
because there's some really,really, really good wines in
Napa, and you know, would neverknow.

SPEAKER_01 (28:54):
Sometimes you learn and you develop and you change.
Yep.
Yeah, I'm sure there's that wasa uh a mental grapple for you to
be like, wait, uh, it's notItalian wine, but I like this.
Yeah, what am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 (29:05):
I mean, you you know what can I say?
It was a very tough three days.

SPEAKER_01 (29:09):
I'm I'm so glad that you survived and got through
that.
Barely.
So you're going through COVID,you're working, you're learning.
At what point uh do you startthinking, okay, it's time to
rethink the restaurant, COVID'sgetting going away.

SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
I was working in a restaurant before, okay, to
which I hoped to become partowner or at least to be involved
in it into the growth project.
And that was my kind of softshoe-in.
And then when I realized thatthose plans were maybe gonna
happen, maybe not, I was like,you know what?
I think it's time for me to atleast start doing something by

(29:43):
myself.
Because I'm 27.
If I don't do it now, I don'tknow.
I mean, now I don't mind workingwhile I'm working because I got
nothing else to do.
I mean, it's me and two bunnies.
I mean, you know, I really don'tcare.
But if you if you start to havea family and everything, you
know, it's a little bit morechallenging to put in the 80,
100 hours a week, yeah.
A lot more possible, you know,it's the opportunity cost.

(30:06):
Yep.
So talking about economics.
Uh so yeah, for me it was just Iwant to start it now, and also
my family was like, you know, Ithink we're ready to make the
big big jump.
Because I mean, if you thinkabout it, they're 60.
Like my dad is 62, my mom is 57.
Huge change.
Like, we have a pretty decenthouse in Italy, and that now,

(30:28):
you know, moving all the wayacross to the to the states to a
state they don't know it evenexists.
Yeah, no, well, they were but uptill 2016 nobody existed.
I mean, Utah, I just knew theUtah Jazz because I watched the
NBA, but that's about it.
And so, yeah, it was just prettybig jump.
So I'm like, you know, if wedon't do it now, my parents are
gonna get older and everything.

(30:49):
So that's why I start torealize, and then I used to have
smoothies at this place pulp allthe time, and I became a scent,
and then one day they closed.

SPEAKER_01 (30:57):
I was like, huh, might as well, you know.
And it's such like a greatlocation.
I mean, you're across the streetfrom Anolis, I mean, Liberty
Park's right there.
Uh it's in like that whole likecentral ninth area.
I mean, just along ninth, allthe way from I mean, almost like
not like uh not seventh east,but like fifth east, yeah, all
the way to like almost Main orState.
Like there's so many cool thingsgoing on.
I mean, like Chubby Baker, whoyou've had on the podcast, um,

(31:20):
even Cam Nance with Bispoke hadhis store there.
I mean, so many cool thingshappening that um where if
downtown's becoming a littlemore expensive or other places
aren't necessarily like whereyou want or the space that you
kind of need, I think it'sbecome a great place for people
to kind of have a little bitless of a barrier to get into.

SPEAKER_00 (31:36):
Yeah, and I feel it's very nice because it gives
you time, it gives you the spaceto breathe.
You know, you have parking, youit still feels like human-sized.
It doesn't really feel like youknow, downtown.
I love a lot of restaurants indowntown.
I mean, whenever I go out toeat, I probably 90% of the times
I go to Takashi.
I love Takashi and Tamara.
I love Takashi, it's so nice.
And they're downtown.
But what I love about wherewe're at is that it feels a

(31:58):
little bit more human-sized, youknow, it feels a little bit, you
know, you can just come have anice appetizer on the patio and
then move on with your day,you're right.
That's one big part about thelocation.
I think it's great.
And also nine south from tsunamion 11th east, all the way down
to the granary district, it'sjust becoming a restaurant row.
Like I'm excited for how it'sgonna look in five years because

(32:18):
I believe there's a lot of very,very talented people doing
something very unique there.

SPEAKER_01 (32:24):
Yeah, and I think Salt Lake is starting to mature
in that we do want like goodfood.
We don't want we don't need morefast casual restaurants, we
don't need more strip malls, wedon't need chains, like we want
quality, authentic food andexperiences to bring us
together.
And like, and we've thankfullyseen that, and like
unfortunately, like COVID made alot of restaurants close.
And I hate to say, like, thegood side of it is we're

(32:46):
replacing those with a lotbetter restaurants, which I
mean, I'm a big fan of.
I like eating good food, I likehaving places to go with friends
and have these greatexperiences.
And so when you're so you so youfind the spot, you you you love
the location, because I I agree,like parking's easy, it feels
very like communal, like itfeels like it's part of the
neighborhood, opposed to likehere's a restaurant downtown.

(33:08):
Not saying anything's eitherright or wrong, just very
different feels.
Um, and so as you're planningthis, I mean, did you always
know that you were gonna use alot of your family rest recipes
on the menu, or how was how isbuilding that menu?

SPEAKER_00 (33:20):
Oh, I gotta take you back five years to that.
I've always been a littledebated about what to do.
But if you go back five years, II was in France.
Okay, I was dating this girl,and we just my birthday is May
10th, her birthday was May 8th.
Oh, interesting.
So I was like, you know, let'sjust have a couple of fun weeks
around Europe, you know, justdrive around and you know, when

(33:40):
else when whenever are you gonnabe able to do it again?

SPEAKER_02 (33:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (33:44):
And so I like to eat good food.
So on her birthday, we eat atthis three Michelin star
restaurant, it's called Le Closde Sang.
It's in Annecy, it's right bySwitzerland in France.
Uh it's in the Alps, right bySwitzerland, and this guy only
has vegetarian dishes.
Interesting.
With the only thing he uses islocal fish from one of the three
lakes right by and that's superfuturistic.

(34:06):
Yeah, like you almost feel inanother dimension, it's super,
super new.
And then two days later, for mybirthday, we we go to Paul
Baku's.
Pol Baku's is probably theoldest restaurant you can ever
step in.
He was named chef of the centurylast year, uh for the last

(34:26):
century.
And it's just a very you knowtimeless cuisine.
They have just the bestingredients cooked in the best
possible way, verytraditionally.
And so in those two days, I gotexposed to both sides of the
spectrum.
And I came to the realization islike if you want to be
successful, you gotta pick apath.

(34:49):
Which is either I make somethingvery traditional but very, very,
very, very well, or I makesomething new and I keep
changing it to keep peopleentertained.
That's like that's a hard forkin the road.
It's a huge fork.
Because I mean, if you look atit, 95% of the successful
restaurants are either one orthe other.

SPEAKER_01 (35:09):
That's such a yeah, interesting.
It's either like fusion,futuristic, very forward, or
here's a timeless classic thatyou know you have this nostalgia
about and we're gonna master it.

SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
Absolutely.
And I think if you ask any chef,they they all they all tell you
you have two ways to make arestaurant successful.
One is you have really goodingredients, you keep it classy,
you keep it simple, and everyday you perfection your craft,
which is what 99% of the sushirestaurants do, you know.
Euro dreams of sushi.
Dude has spent like 80 years ofhis life mastering sushi and

(35:43):
he's been doing the same recipesfor 80 years.
Or super futuristic restaurantstaking you back to my hometown,
Modena, Massimo Boturo, SeriaFrancescana.
He won the best restaurant inthe world, I think, two or three
times.
And he changes the menu everylike six months, and he always
has very new dishes, like verycrazy stuff.
So I face this road, and I'mlike, you know, I think Italian

(36:05):
food at the end of the day is apassion, it's about how it makes
you feel.
So for us, I just want to godown the traditional route.
And I'm like, Italian food hasbeen the same way for 150 years.
And who am I to try to reinventthe wheel?
Yeah.
So I have a wonderfulrelationship with our chef.

(36:28):
We have worked together for thelast, I think, six years.
He's one of my best friends.
We lived together for like acouple of years.
Love that.
And so we understand each otherwithout even talking.
And so we just came up with avery traditional menu, but with
a couple of fun twists.
And the fun twists are somethinglike a puttanata on our menu.
If anyone speaks Italian,they're laughing now.
Uh, it's a kind of revisitedputtanesca.

(36:50):
Puttanesca is just a traditionalpasta with like tomatoes,
olives, capers, anchovies.
You know, it's very flavorful,yeah, but it's delicious.
And then we start talking, andhe's like, Well, I don't want to
put in the capers because youknow people don't love them and
it feels weird.
Okay, cool.
So, but also anchovies are toosavory, so I'm not gonna put
them in.
I was like, Okay, sure.
And he's like, I'm gonna put inand duya.

(37:11):
Anduya it's a spicy sausage.
And he adds a couple moretwists.
I'm like, dude, that's not aputanesca, that's a putanata.
Which putanata translates intomessy stuff.
Like when you screw upsomething, like, oh shoot, I
made a putanata.
Oh, I made a big mess, right?
Got it.
So I thought no, dude, thatthat's just a big mess.
It's not a pasta.
Like, no, no, trust me, it'sgonna be delicious.

(37:32):
I'm like, okay, sure.
It's like, okay, I'll make itfor you.
If it's delicious, you we put onthe menu and you call it
putanata.
I'm like, yeah, sure.
It's not gonna taste even more.
It's not gonna get there, butwhatever.
Yeah, and he makes, I'm like,dang, this is probably the most
delicious pasta I've ever had.
Yep.
I'm like, yep, that's rightthere on the menu.
And so I put it in the menu,call it putanata.
That's so awesome.
So for us, you know, I believeif you look at our dishes, I

(37:53):
mean, I think the one that hasthe most ingredients probably is
like six ingredients.
Yeah.
So I just wanted to source thebest ingredients I can find, you
know.
To find the parmesan cheese thatwe use now, it took me like over
three years.
Wow.
Yeah.
And my grandpa worked for C wasworked for Parmesan, Parmigiano
Regano.
There's a co-op calledConsortio, it's a consortium,
and he worked for them.

SPEAKER_01 (38:14):
Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 (38:15):
And so, growing up in that area, one of my mom's
best friends, one of the threepeople that are kind of like the
master sommelier of Parmesancheese.
So he hammers the wheel and hetells you what's wrong with it.
Yeah, by the way, he's coming toSoleil in March for two weeks,
so it's gonna be really fun.
No, it's gonna be reallyinteresting.
And by the way, that's the firsttime I ever announced that.

SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
So there we go, coming in March.

SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
And yeah, so he hammers the cheese and he picks
the best wheels from the bestlittle dairy farm that makes
Parmi Jan Rajan is number 168.
And they are the only dairy farmin Italy that has ever won the
super gold at the word to use aword, which is the best cheese
on the table, yeah, for twice,twice.
Really?

(38:55):
And then they had to change therules, otherwise, they were
gonna keep winning.
And so we're the only restaurantin the US that carries number
168, and it gets picked in Italyfor us, and I'm extremely proud
of it.

SPEAKER_01 (39:05):
It was not easy to make it happen, but to me that's
something that really You justcan't sacrifice because if
you're gonna if you're gonna gothe traditional route, you have
to have the best ingredients,bar nothing.
You can't say, Okay, well, Iguess we're gonna have to make
sacrifice to do this, or elseyou're just kind of uh going
against your values of a chef.

SPEAKER_00 (39:24):
Sharp corners, right?
Sharp sharp angles, what was thequote?
Yeah, cannot cut the corner, youknow.
Gotta everything counts, youknow, details matter, and yeah.
So I believe, you know, it takesme a long time before we put
something on a menu because Iwant to make sure it's up to our
standards, because really ifyou're like your dad said, it's
it's gotta be number four.
If you have four or fiveingredients, you know, it's you

(39:47):
gotta you you taste them all, soyou cannot take any shortcut,
you cannot do anything wrong.
Totally.
Otherwise you taste it and it'snot as good.

SPEAKER_01 (39:55):
Yeah.
And then it's the experience islost and it's hard to come back
from.
And and it's like your dad likeuh your dad was saying, is one
or none.
Like we're gonna if I'm gonnaput something out that has my
name on it, it has to beamazing.
Absolutely.
And I'm not gonna sacrificeanything for that.

SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
Yeah, and that's why I wanted to put my name on the
building because I'm like, youknow, I'm gonna put my face on
it because I feel it's that goodthat I can put my name on it
because I believe in it thatmuch.

SPEAKER_01 (40:19):
Yeah, your own stamp of approval.
It's like I know I love thatstory of the Putin Tanata.
I uh I see, I've been twice now,got the Ragu, lasagna, got the
bolognese, which I always get.
And absolutely, and I know theylike those are like your your is
it the ragu that's yourgrandma's the both, of course.

SPEAKER_00 (40:35):
The lasagna and the bolognese are my grandma's
recipe, and I cherish it verydearly.
It's you know, she passed awayjust a few months ago, so she
didn't see me open therestaurant.
But uh yeah, it's very somethingthat to me means a lot to be
able to have her recipes, and sowhen we bring The check we have
uh our check presenter is apostcard because you know both

(40:58):
joined togetherness, right?
Of course.
Uh one of we have four, we justmade four for now, which I have
family pictures on it.
Yeah, three of them have familypictures, one of them as my
grandma's recipe for tortellini.
Because it's something that tome is you know, if you look at
my keys, I have uh tortellini asa keychain.

SPEAKER_01 (41:16):
Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (41:17):
Because to me, that's if I close my eyes and
think of home, that's the oneflavor that I feel.
And so I wanted to share thatwith Solid City, so I put that
on the Czech presenter.

SPEAKER_01 (41:27):
That's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 (41:28):
And yeah, the Bologna and the lasagna both are
my my grandma's recipe.
And lasagna was the Sundaylunch, you know.
So those are both dishes thatare very dear to me.
So if anyone asks come to arestaurant and ask me, what are
you gonna what should I get,those are the ones I tell them
because and I can agree,phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 (41:45):
I only want Italian food that's authentic in quality
and don't want to have somethingthat I can eat or buy something
that I could have made at home.
And I usually always go towardslasagna or bolognese if I go to
any Italian restaurant.
So if I sit down at yourrestaurant and they're like, Oh
yeah, yeah, that's what werecommend.
I'm like, oh shit, I gotta pick.
And so it's funny because like Iwent the first time and I got

(42:05):
the bolognese, and I was like,this is amazing.
And then the second time Iactually uh I went back and it
was on a I went on a dateactually, and like she prepared
everything.
It was really nice of her.
And she's like, I got uh areservation in Mateo, and that
was so on Sunday I was therewith Maddie, my friend, and then
on Saturday was with her, andshe was like, Well, I was like,
Oh, close, they're on Sunday.
I'm excited.
She's like, Well, do you want togo somewhere else?

(42:26):
I'm like, you could havepresented me with options and
we'd still be going to Mateo.
Thank you.
And so it's nice that I got theredemption on uh getting the the
lasagna, which I love, and Imean, obviously, like the whip
breeze is amazing.
The oh, what are the otherappetizer I got?

SPEAKER_00 (42:39):
The whip bree is another one of those places that
we kind of came up with justmessing around.

SPEAKER_01 (42:43):
Yeah, just messing around in the kitchen, things
come together.

SPEAKER_00 (42:46):
You know, what when we sit down, the first
conversation you need to haveabout the menus, like, what are
the plates that I'm willing tobargain?
Like, what what am I willing tocompromise?
Right, yeah.
Like, we sat down, we're like,you know what?
I'm from Modena, he's fromVenice, we're not gonna have a
cannoli on the menu because it'sfrom Sicily, right?
And I was like, yeah, for sure,that's not gonna happen.

(43:08):
And then you know, we had abunch of other stuff that I'm
like, I'm not willing tocompromise on.
And one of them was like, fordessert, I don't want to have a
creme brulee, because anywhereyou're going so late to have a
creme brulee, you know,steakhouse, Italian restaurants.
I mean, you never don'tunderstand America, is it
Italian, is it French, is it Idon't know.
So I'm like, I'm not gonna havea creme brulee.
Just because I probably we canmake a pretty darn good creme

(43:31):
brulee, but I'm not gonna put iton the menu.
Got it.
And we're like, well, what if?
What if we just you know,instead of having creme brulee,
we just make it a little bitmore fun.
Yeah, and so I love brie cheese.
Like, I just to me it's just oneof the best cheeses because the
the ways you can make brie tasteamazing, it there's they're

(43:52):
unlimited.
Like you can make brie tasteamazing in a billion different
ways.
And so we we're like, well,let's try to play around with
it.
And so we just put a bunch ofstuff together, whip it all up,
and bunch of stuff is like threeingredients, including salt.
Uh and then we're like, Yeah,let's caramelize it on top and

(44:13):
let's add a crunchy, crunchy,sweet stuff, and then add some
walnuts, which kind of give youa bite, and then the richness of
the cheese with a crostini,which we make it a little extra
salty just for debris.
I didn't notice that, yeah.
Yeah.
And so I think it all plays outpretty well because you the
crostini is basically a dip.
So you gotta pick up some of thesugar, which goes in contrast

(44:35):
with the extra salty, and theextra salty, just a tad extra
salty that makes you want tohave another bite.
Yeah.
So to me, the the amount oftimes I've seen that play go out
in the kitchen squeaky clean,it's amazing.
I I've seen a lot of people anda lot of people that literally
just pull out a finger and justliterally clean it with their
fingers.

(44:55):
And I'm like, you know what?
Honestly, same.
Yeah, you're like, I I get I getit, I do the same thing.
And it's one of those thingsthat people have really enjoyed.
And on the other end, you know,you also have dishes that people
don't quite understand.
Like we have a canola withcarbonata, it's an appetizer.
And it's just hard to explain.

SPEAKER_01 (45:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (45:12):
So you win some and you lose some.

SPEAKER_01 (45:15):
Yeah.
Not not everything can be themost loved thing on the menu.

SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
Absolutely not.
But that's why you change yourmenu every now and then.
Exactly.
You just try to play aroundmore.
It keeps it fun for us, it keepsit fun for the guests.
Yeah.
Because we have people, I mean,there's one of the jazz players
that has been coming inliterally every night since we
opened.

SPEAKER_02 (45:33):
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (45:34):
If the team is not traveling, he's in same time,
same table, every night.
And so, you know, for thosepeople that come in, at least
even like you, you already comein twice.
You know, if you come in, youknow, a coup another couple more
times, it starts to kind of notget boring, but of course
there's gonna be always thestaples on the menu, but it's
like I wanna keep it fun.

(45:54):
Yeah, I want to be a lot offresh.
I want to be a twice a weekrestaurant, you know, like
that's the whole point.
Yeah, and so I just think it'sfun to every now and then play
with additions to the menu,which we don't call specials,
it's additions to the menu.
Got it, and yeah, so it's fun toplay around with that.

SPEAKER_01 (46:11):
Uh that's yeah, it's I love that they keep it fresh.
I love like because like onething that always comes back to
me is like, for example, you'llsee a restaurant go out of
business, and someone be like,it was such a good restaurant.
Like, what happened?
I was like, When when's the lasttime you were there?
And they're like, Oh, it's gonnabe like two or three years ago.
I'm like, yeah, shocker.
Like, and so it's like thoseplaces that the the the core
quality staples on the menu haveyou coming back time after time

(46:33):
after time, never get sick ofit.
Yeah, but then there's theseadditions to the menu or updates
to the menu that I mean keep youcoming back, and then the next
thing you know, someone's like,Hey, did you like the
whippedbury?
Well, now they have this uh Imean other appetizer that's did
I for yeah, and I gotta honestlyfor that I gotta give credit to
our whole team.

SPEAKER_00 (46:51):
Like our whole team, it's absolutely phenomenal.
Like I could not ask for abetter team to work with because
I mean we have people in thekitchen that are salary, right?
And their shift starts like youknow, one.
The amount of days I go in atlike 10.30 and I see people in
the kitchen already working,they're salary, yeah.
Like, you know, but to me it'samazing, and you know, to try

(47:15):
out new dishes, they all ask me,Hey, do you mind if I try this
new dish?
Can I come in tomorrow at nine?
I'll just want to try this newdish.
And the amount of fun they'rehaving to me is the most
wonderful thing to watch.
Because they literally theytruly enjoy the passion.
They they they are you know,they're the real artists, they
are the ones that really trulyenjoy the passion.

(47:36):
Yeah, and then of course, youknow, we all sit down together
and have the conversation aboutcan this go on the menu or not.
But the amount of fun they'rehaving, I think it's
unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 (47:46):
I mean that's what that's when magic happens, is
people are motivated by passioninstead of money, like just
being like, well, my shiftstarts at one and I'm on South,
so I'm not coming in, instead ofbeing like, Hey, I'm so curious,
I was working on this thing.
I really, I really have an ideabeing like, and to you to be to
be able to say, like, yeah, ofcourse, like we of course we
want to innovate, of course wewant to develop our menu, like
have fun, keep me in, like, keepme in the loop, let me know if

(48:06):
you have any questions, wouldlove to help with you.

SPEAKER_00 (48:08):
And I always tell them, I give them absolute
freedom.
Like, do you want me to orderthis for you?
Absolutely, I'll order it.
Like, you want to just, youknow, the other day I sent
someone home with like I don'tknow, it was probably like$150
worth of ingredients.
Yeah.
Because they just want you totry this play.
I'm like, yeah, just if you wantto try it here, come here, I'll
buy whatever you want.
Otherwise, you can just go home.

(48:28):
And they were like, yeah, andI'll just, you know, try a home
and then I'll bring it here andsee what you think about it.
And it was pretty darn good.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (48:36):
So it's always nice when it ends up being pretty
good.

SPEAKER_00 (48:38):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (48:38):
Something go on the menu.
Um, because I also love likeobviously your family came out
here and they're very involvedas well.
And I know your mom makes thefocaccia every morning.
Yep.
Uh I mean, do they all I meankind of help out wherever they
can, or does anybody have likespecific things that they do?

SPEAKER_00 (48:52):
Well, that's been the hardest part in the
restaurant, trying to give mymom days off.

SPEAKER_01 (48:56):
She's like you, she just wants to be in the action
all the time.

SPEAKER_00 (48:59):
I try to give her a day off, and somehow I still
find her in the restaurant.
So I think one day either changethe code of the door, or there's
no way I'm ever gonna give her aday off.

SPEAKER_02 (49:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (49:08):
Because she comes in and she just loves what she
does, you know.
She goes in early in the morningbecause she's like, you know, I
don't want to be in everyone'sway.
Because you know, making breadfor 150 people, it's a lot of
bread.
It's a lot of production.
So she just goes in like 6:30, 7every morning, and she makes the
bread, and you know, you makethe dough, and then you gotta
let it prove for a couple hours.
So in that couple hours, shemakes desserts as well.
And then she loves to messaround with stuff, so she makes

(49:31):
a few stuff that we don't haveon the menu.
But uh, you know, every now andthen she makes some biscotti,
which is always nice to youknow, send people home with a
couple biscotti or you know, forthe coffee.

SPEAKER_01 (49:42):
That's an Italian treat.

SPEAKER_00 (49:44):
That's what she does mostly.
But at the same time, she alsokeeps the books because she was
the head of credit departmentfor CBRE Italy.
Oh, interesting.
So she she managed the books forlike I think 60, 65 shopping
malls all over Italy.
Wow.
So she's really good at books.
So she keeps all the books inthe afternoon, and the bakery in
the morning is like, you know,it's just the fun part.

SPEAKER_02 (50:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (50:04):
My dad just he's a jackfall trade, he does
everything.
He was the CFO for a company,and so he, you know, he does all
the inventory and all that, butat the same time, he's the
master of the bread.
He's the one that is thereduring service and makes sure
that the bread goes out atperfect temperature, perfect
quality inspection, you makesure everything's ready to go.
So he's the one that is thereduring service.

(50:25):
So if you come in duringservice, the one you're likely
to see is my dad and my sister,because my mom just is at home
or upstairs doing accounting.
And my sister is just arounddoing everything from folding
napkins in the morning tohelping clean to you know,
during service, maybe we needlike something from the storage
or something, so she goes andgrabs it.

(50:46):
And so it's honestly been very,very, very, very helpful.
And also, I've had foldedclothes for the first time in
seven years.
So that's a very nice part.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (50:56):
That's amazing that it's such like a family of
affair, and everybody getsinvolved and everybody like
wants to be involved and and andget to work together and uh work
on all of that.

SPEAKER_00 (51:05):
Well, to me, that's the most important part.
Like, I always say that if Ididn't have my family here, I
probably would not have opened arestaurant.
Because the first and foremostreason we do it is to stay all
together, to spend timetogether.
And when I say family is alwaysfirst, I truly mean it.
Like to me, family is the mostimportant part because at least
in my case, my dad and my momare my best friends that always

(51:27):
have my best interest in mind.
You know, when you have a bestfriend that you know, you always
have a best friend, but at thesame time, if you both like the
same girl, they might give you alittle selfish advice, right?
My dad and my mom, you know, Ilike parents are just the best
friends that always give you thebest advice in your interest.
So I've been extremely thankfulbecause that's the only thing in

(51:49):
life you don't choose.
Yeah, your family.
So I've been extremely blessedwith that.

SPEAKER_01 (51:53):
Yeah, I mean it's so fun how all the experiences that
you had in Italy here kind ofbrought you to all that.
Actually, one question I had umso my favorite dessert on the
menu is the Banksy cheesecake.
And I remember when I went thefirst time, because like I'm not
the biggest like dessert at uhdinner, unless it's like going
out to like nice dinner, thenmaybe 25% of the time I'll get

(52:15):
it.
But he was going over the menuand I hear Banksy cheesecake.
And like I kind of wasn't payingattention.
I didn't want to be like, hey,wait, stop, what was that word
in front of the cheesecake?
Did I hear Banksy?
And then we decided to get it,and I was like, wait, but what
the like I don't understand howit can be a Banksy, like am I
missing something here?
And then it comes out, and Imean, as you know, it's the I
can't remember the name of thepiece, but it's the girl with
the gird with a balloon.

SPEAKER_00 (52:34):
Yeah, the girl with the harp.

SPEAKER_01 (52:36):
Oh perfect.
Well named.

SPEAKER_00 (52:38):
And I think it's in Venice, funny enough.

SPEAKER_01 (52:39):
Yeah.
Partners, partners home, sweethome.

SPEAKER_00 (52:42):
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (52:42):
So how did you come to be so passionate about Banksy
or want to include him in themenu?

SPEAKER_00 (52:46):
Well, I feel like there's a long and a short
story.
I'll tell you both.

SPEAKER_01 (52:52):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (52:52):
Short stories that I love Banksy and I love
cheesecake.
So I'm like, why can't I notcombine the two?
Because I love Banksy and I lovecheesecake.
So it's your menu.
I just love to have fun.
And you know, uh if you havepeople that are skilled enough,
you know, sky's the limit.
Yeah.
And so it actually turned out tobe pretty good.
And it took us like a solid yearand a half to come up with a way
to make it all be together.

(53:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:14):
But this is a pretty unique cheesecake, like anybody
could do like a pretty likestereotypical cheesecake, but
it's it is a very uniquecheesecake.

SPEAKER_00 (53:20):
Yeah, I don't think I've seen it anywhere else.
It's something that I'm veryproud to say we came up with,
and we use some every sort ofequipment to make it happen.
But it's one of those thingsthat I'm very, very thankful
for.
Uh long story is that I believeBanks is really similar to our
chefs.
Banks is one of the mosttalented people in our

(53:43):
generation.
He's so talented, and all of hisartwork is extremely deep.
You know, it has a lot oflayers.
Yeah.
The complexity, the reasons, theplacement, everything.
But he's also one of the artiststhat we have no clue who he is.
And to me, he's like a chef whenyou go to a restaurant.
You have no clue who he is.
You just see his art, you justsee his art pieces.
And so Banks is just like thereal magic behind all this art.

(54:08):
And it's like literally like allof our chefs.
That's what they do.
They spend years and years ofsweat and tears to make
everything go perfect, butnobody ever sees them.

SPEAKER_01 (54:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (54:22):
And so I just wanted to pay a little tribute to our
chefs.

SPEAKER_01 (54:24):
And yeah, nice tip of the hat to that.
I love that.

SPEAKER_00 (54:26):
That's just one of those layers of complexity that
a lot of people are not evengonna question.
Oh, it's pretty, right?
Totally.
But if anyone asks for anexplanation, that's the real
explanation.

SPEAKER_01 (54:38):
Love it.
Because I I've always been aBanksy fan.
So I one of my favoritedocumentaries is Exit Through
the Gift Shop, which is, I mean,because like everybody knows a
Banksy, oh, this art showed up,like this is so cool.
But like when you see some ofthe things he's done, the level
he's been able to execute it,still maintain anonymity and not
get caught is mind-blowing.
Absolutely.
And then on top of that, I mean,and then I also have uh like a

(55:00):
Banksy uh like coffee book tableI got when I was in in uh Miami
at the uh uh Wayward Walls.
Yeah, and so I've always been afan, because like for your that
exact thing, we don't know whohe is, but he's does all of
these amazing things andpolitical messages, sometimes
like in very dangerous places,but absolutely, but it never
gets caught.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (55:20):
And yeah, so that's the real reason we put on the
menu.
Totally, yeah.
No, that's a really cool story.

SPEAKER_01 (55:26):
I like that.
I like that layer of uh thatthat extra layer behind it.
Yeah.
Um so I mean, what's next forMate Mateo?
Do you mean just kind of owningthe craft and going from there?
Do you want more restaurants?
Do you want bigger space?

SPEAKER_00 (55:38):
Well, our when I wanted to open up a restaurant,
I didn't want to open up arestaurant.

SPEAKER_02 (55:43):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (55:44):
Uh I have another concept in mind, which is a
little bit more affordable, uh,very high-end, very quality, but
a little bit more affordable, alittle bit more casual.
But in order to do that, youneed to have very specific
places, because that concept isonly gonna work in a very
specific places.
Got it.
And in order to have those veryspecific places, you need to
have a name.
You need to people need to knowwho you are.

(56:05):
Yes.
Because otherwise, I'm not gonnagive you a prime piece of real
estate to a just a guy with agood idea.
Right.
Because you know, you never knowthe execution.
So I tried to get a good pieceof land for the last like, you
know, three years, four years.
And after a while, the last lineI was like, I got no clue who
you are, so there's not a chancein hell you're gonna come here.

(56:26):
I'm like, okay, bet.
And so I was like, you knowwhat?
I'll open a restaurant that therestaurant, the fine dining
restaurant, was gonna be thelast piece on the cake.
Okay.
It was gonna be just the lastchair on top of the cake,
because everyone in therestaurant work can tell you
that fine dining, you don't makemoney.
Like, look at every Michelinrestaurant next to it they have
a bistro.

(56:47):
The bistro is what actuallymakes money.
Like Danny Mayer that yeah, 11Medicine, best restaurant in the
world.
You open Shake Shack to makemoney.
Like any restaurateur can tellyou that, can tell you that fine
dining does not make money.

SPEAKER_01 (56:59):
Yeah, like it's a much more of an art than it is a
business.

SPEAKER_00 (57:02):
So that was just gonna be the piece on top of the
cake.
That was just gonna be, youknow, I'm here for fun.
But I just end up flipping thecake, just uh like you know,
French cake.
Yeah, uh you just start from thebottom, and you know, in France
they call it tartatin, is whenthey start from the marmalade

(57:23):
and apple on the bottom, and youbuild a cake on top of it.
And so that's what we're gonnado.
Um our end goal is to have veryhigh quality, very affordable,
very good.
And I believe Italian food isone of those very few places
that one of those very fewthings that can happen, and so

(57:44):
like it's one of the very fewplaces where this can start
nowadays, because it's likeDanny Mayer started in New York
a few years ago.
Um but Shake Shack is the reasonhe started it was I wanna have a
five dollar burger made with thesame cut of beef, but then a$200

(58:06):
steak.

SPEAKER_02 (58:06):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (58:06):
Just instead of throwing it in the trash, I'm
just gonna use it for a burgerbecause that brings joy and
togetherness.
Yes.
So that is my thought for that'smy visual for Matteo in the next
10 years.
No, I love that.
I'm Mateo restaurant, I'm Mateoperson.
I have this thing with uh myfriend that he calls me, me, the

(58:27):
person, Theo, and the restaurantis Mateo.
But uh yeah, so that's where Isee ourselves in ten years
having something a little bitmore affordable, a little bit
more very high quality, youknow, kind of like in broader
terms, similar to what tsunamiis doing here in Utah.

(58:47):
You know, it's good sushi, it'syou know, a little bit more
affordable than other high-endsushi, it's always great
quality.
You might not find all the fancyfish, like you know, you're
never gonna find probablybarracuda, but it's always very
good.
Yeah, and it's always reliable,it's always, you know, for
everyone.
Yeah.
So that's kind of my goal in 10years.

SPEAKER_01 (59:09):
Hey, if I get more access to more food from you and
being able to get together withpeople more and have that bring
us together, I'm I'm all sortsof on board with that.

SPEAKER_00 (59:20):
I think the for the next two years, I always joke I
have an ankle bracelet at therestaurant.
The next couple years I justwant to be there because that's
really what sets the tone.
And also, you know, I don't wantto give or take in all the
people that are coming throughthe door now because you know,
the restaurant business, younever know what's happening
tomorrow.
Yeah, totally.
But I think for the next coupleyears, I'll be very involved in

(59:43):
the restaurant, and then littleby little, whenever I can at
some point start this new idea,I think it's gonna be fun.
But you know, the restaurantstill is and still stays our
priority.
Yeah and you know, that's thefirst and foremost.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:00):
Yeah, you gotta protect the core and the
business itself, because if youstop watching the boiling water
on one and try to focus on somesort, I mean try to think of it,
like reducing a sauce over theheat there, then all of a sudden
your water's over boiling andthen your sauce gets too
reduced.
So it focus on one, do it well,and then once you get that in a
good place, then then grow andand keep going from there.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:22):
Yep, exactly.
And that's exactly, you know, Idon't wanna have the in Italy we
say I don't want to do the steplonger than the leg.
You know, so just wanna one stepat a time and you know, see
where it takes it.
But again, I'm 27, so I got allthe time in the world.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:37):
Yeah, all the time in the world.
So outside of uh cooking, I meanwhat else do you like to do in
your spare time around Salt Lakeor what keeps you here?
I would like to have spare time.
But one day, one day.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:47):
No, I like to I think Salt Lake is the only
state that I know of.
That you can ski in the morning,golf in the afternoon, and just
work at night.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:57):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:58):
So in the ideal world, I love to ski in the
morning.
I love to play golf.
I'm not very good at it, but Ilove to play golf because you
don't you know just freedom.
You're just out there, justhaving a good time.
Uh I still like to swim everynow and then.
Yeah, I was gonna imagine youstill yeah, I don't do as much

(01:01:19):
as I wanted to, but uh I stillreally enjoy swimming, and I
just really enjoy traveling.
That's one of the things that Iwant to have more time for.
Yeah, it's traveling.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:29):
Especially when it's like because so when I travel,
I've come to terms that it'sreally just like eating, which
is the best way to travel.
Yeah, and so but it's so nicefor you where it's like if you
get a travel, it's it's likemarket research or learning or
research and development, whereyou're like, Yeah, we we we
definitely need to go herebecause we have to learn how
they do see those.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:49):
But if you think about it, a lot of the stuff on
our menu comes from traveling.
Yeah, a lot of the wines on ourmenu comes from traveling.
Like a lot of people ask me, whydo you have all the Vietti on
the menu?
Like, well, I was a Vietti, I Iknow how they make the wine, I
know how much passion they putin there, and it's something

(01:02:10):
that I feel comfortable puttingon our menu because I know we
share the same core values.
And so traveling is really opensyour mind.
Yeah.
Like, there's a few things.
I mean, goal for 2024 is to havea Matteo brunch because nobody
has a ever well, nobody has anItalian brunch, yeah, period.

(01:02:31):
And I think I think that's ourgoal for 2024.
And when I went home last year,I had this asparagus with a
white chocolate holidays that Istill dream of.
It was just unbelievably good.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:43):
I will I will be there for the first brunch spot
to have my white chocolateasparagus holidays.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:48):
Yeah, it was just unbelievable.
So I think that's one of thethings that really makes you
want to travel more and more.
It's just be in with an openmind and sometimes it sucks,
sometimes it's amazing.
Yeah, but just cherish the goodtimes and forget the bad ones.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:02):
Exactly.
Take the good, leave the bad,yeah, and enjoy it all together.
Um so can I want to wrap up withtwo last questions?
Uh, first is if you could haveanybody on the Small Lake City
podcast, who would you want tohear their story?

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:15):
Oh, that's a great one.

unknown (01:03:17):
Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:18):
Can I get that get back to that later?
I want to give you a really goodanswer.
So ask the other question andthen I'll give you the answer.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:24):
Uh and then lastly, if anyone's looking to find more
information about Mateo or finduh you on social or try to get a
reservation, uh, what's the bestplace to find that?

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:32):
On social is Mateo S L C M-A-T-T-E-O-S-L-C, like
Solic City.
Uh you can email me all thetime.
My email is Mateo at Mateo SLC.
Uh our website, it's eitherjointogetherness.com or Mateo
SLC.com.
It redirects you both to thesame place.
And to make a reservation, weare on open table.
Uh you can call into therestaurant.

(01:03:55):
I'm making a point of returningevery call.
Sometimes people call like 7 30in the morning.
I'm like, I was here till like 230 last night.
I'm not sure.
There's not a chance I'm at 7.
Yeah.
But uh yeah, so those areprobably the best ways.
Our phone number is385-549-1992.
So if anyone wants to give it acall, but uh yeah, usually email

(01:04:18):
is the best or just and what'sthe address for my I don't know.
It's 439 East 900 South.
Yeah, just right off the northnorthwest corner of Liberty
Park.
Yep, and I always say it's funnybecause we have a parking right
across the street, and I alwaystell people, just park in, and
then you're facing a harshdecision.
Do I want to eat at the bestGreek restaurant in town or do I

(01:04:40):
want to eat at the best Italianrestaurant in town?
I'm a little biased on theItalians.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:44):
Yeah, I was gonna say you might have a little
bias.
I do I do need, I haven't beento Manoles in a while.
I do need to go back.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:47):
Yeah, I love Manolis.
They're just so nice and they'rereally good people, and their
brunch is absolutely phenomenal.
Yeah.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:54):
I remember there was one time I uh it was the first
time I ever went there, wentwith some friends because they
got a gift card for uh birthdayor Christmas or something, and
I'd never been, never heard ofit.
And we went, it was I mean,phenomenal meal, and have a
couple bottles of wine.
And uh they have a really goodwine list, by the way.
Great wine list.
And so as I'm leaving, I go andI see uh Joe Ingalls, one of the

(01:05:15):
old jazz players, on the patio,and I'm drunk enough, and I'm
like, Joe, what's up, man?
Keeping like keep doing goodjob.
Like, I can't remember what Isaid, it wasn't the the most
shining moment of my life.
But I remember my uh friend'swife, she's like, How do you
always know everybody?
I was like, to be very, veryclear, I do not know him.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:34):
I know of him.
He does not know me.
Joe is super cool.
He came to the restaurant, Ithink, like three weeks ago when
the magic were in town, yeah,with uh another friend of mine
that he works in the frontoffice, and he was just so like
he was super nice.
He had the lasagna, going backto that, of course, and then in
his Australian accent, which I'mnot gonna try to imitate, he
comes in, he comes up to me,he's like, Bro, your lasagna

(01:05:56):
fucks.
And he's like, you know, I Ithought I wouldn't regret being
in Orlando after Utah, but damn,you're making me regret it.
That's a what what a review liketears in your eyes like this is
exactly what I need to do.
To me, going back to thatmoment, those moments are

(01:06:18):
absolutely mind-blowing.
Like, we've been open for noteven two months, and I I learned
English watching the NBA becauseI was a little bit of a smart
ass, part of my French.
Uh so I never really learnedEnglish because in Italy you
have a lot of sub-teachers forEnglish, and I was always the
guy that thought I was smarterthan anyone else.

(01:06:38):
And my goal was just to cheat myway out of English, because I'm
like, you know, teachers aregonna see me for two weeks and
never get in their life, soyeah, I'll be alright.
Yeah, and then I graduated highschool.
I'm like, well, okay, I reallywant to go to the US for s for
school, but I my English is likemy name is Matteo.
That that was my English, and Iwas like, okay, what do I like
to do?
I like to watch basketball.

(01:06:59):
So I woke up like 3-4 in themorning for like a year and a
half straight just to watch NBAand listen to it in English so I
could improve my English.
So I came to the US.
I s I understood everything, Ijust couldn't speak, so I looked
autistic for like a solidnodding at people like, yeah.
I understand everything, justneed I got giving me a solid
minute to formulate my sentence,but then I'll be I'll be there

(01:07:19):
with you.
You're doing a lot better now.
Thank you.
But going back to that, I we'vehad a lot of people come in,
like we had a the trailblazerbuy out the whole restaurant.
We had Coach Frank Vogel come inthe restaurant.
Uh you know, there's a lot ofthe players, I think.
I mean, by now, probably like80% of the team came in for
dinner, at least once or twice.
Yeah, uh, you know, to me,that's absolutely incredible.

(01:07:43):
Like, I I I would have neverexpected that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:45):
Yeah, well, because you have to like think about
everything that has to happenfor all of these things to
happen.
Is first you have to haveprobably someone from the jazz
come in and be good enough wherethey're like go back to the
lock, be like, hey, have youguys been to Mattel yet?
Like, go.
Yeah.
And then have that rumor to likeother teams when they come into
town.
So the trouble is like, wait,there's this new we haven't had
that.
Like, we're gonna rent it outfor the entire like and just

(01:08:05):
where it keeps going and goingand just grows and grows.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:08):
Well, and this all happened in two and a half
months, because if you thinkabout it, we open on September
14th, and I didn't do anymarketing.
I was gonna I was I wanted toask, but I wasn't gonna ask like
no, just all word of mouth.
Yeah, I mean, if you look at oursocial media, that should tell
you enough about how bad I am atmanaging that thing.
Uh I'm at a point where I'mlike, you know, I I I love

(01:08:31):
social media, but we had like1500 followers before I even had
a post.
So like, hello, everybody'shere?
Waiting to be here.
I'm like, I don't know what todo.
You know, when you're likefreeze, you're like, I don't
know what to do.
Yeah, and yeah, we got ourbusiness license on September
13th, just out of the blue.
Because we had the inspectionsdone and I didn't expect they

(01:08:52):
would all go well.
Yeah, so I'm like, you know, wehad a full staff, but I told the
guys, hey man, uh we might opentomorrow, we might open in two
weeks.
You never know.
You know, when these thingshappen, it was my first time, so
you never know how it goes.
And being used to Italy,bureaucracy takes forever.
Yes.
So they gave me the businessclass on the 13th.
I'm like, wait, we good to go?
Can we open?
Like, yeah, you're good.
I'm like, okay.
So I called our staff, I'm like,hey guys, we're opening

(01:09:14):
tomorrow.
Uh we all did all the training,like we had staff on from like
August 21st.
That was our first day.
So we had like solid three and ahalf weeks of training, like
nine to five minutes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:22):
So they're all ready to go.
Just you didn't think it wasgonna be like, oh yeah, we're
tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00 (01:09:26):
Yeah, cool.
So we opened, no liquor license,nothing.
We just open.
And so yeah, I just literallyopened the door the first day,
and it's been absolutely amazingever since.
So, you know, I just think wordof mouth has been absolutely
amazing because otherwise Idon't see why people come to a
restaurant because there's noway you see it anywhere else,

(01:09:46):
because we don't do anymarketing, we don't do anything,
and as far as they can, I wouldlike to keep it that way because
just genuine.
Yeah, and I love to do genuinestuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:55):
So yeah, that's just how we open.
So fun.
No, I mean I I think you didexactly right, and like whenever
anybody says, Oh, I mean, it'sit's it works really well with
word of mouth, word of mouth.
I'm like, to me, whenever I hearword of mouth, I just hear
quality product because it meanssomeone experienced it and
they're like, Oh my god, this isso good, I have to tell someone,
and just like continues toperpetuate itself.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:17):
Yeah, that's that's absolutely true.
And for the marketing, I thinkat some point we will do it.
Yeah, I just haven't had thetime yet to sit sit down and
actually have the conversationwith someone because you know I
believe the marketing is one ofthe most important aspects of
the business, but given it's themost important aspect of the
business, I want to give it thetime and the energy it deserves.

(01:10:37):
So we I just would much rathernot do it than do it wrong,
yeah, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:41):
Yeah, and it especially like it's not like
you're struggling to fill seatsor everything's going well
enough that you don't have tofocus on other things besides
product.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:51):
Yeah, but at the same time, everything is as I
told you earlier, restaurantbusiness, you know what's
happening today, you don't knowwhat's happening tomorrow.
That's absolutely true.
So of course we're filling theseats, but also it's November
and December.
Like if you're empty inDecember, it's a really bad sign
for a restaurant.
Then January's gonna come andthen you never know, you know.
Then you know when summer'sgonna come, you know, it's
always you never know tomorrow.
So you always wanna enjoy itwhile it's there, and you always

(01:11:13):
want to be thankful while it'sthere, and then you know, you
want to also put the foundationsfor the future while it's going
well.
Because you if you wait tillit's not going well, it's way
too late.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:24):
Oh, yeah, then you're already halfway drowned
before you can even do anythingabout it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:28):
Yep, yeah.
So yeah, going back to thequestion who I want to see on
the podcast, small like podcast.
Well, I have a lot of names inmind.
Uh one extremely, extremelyinteresting person that I
mentioned earlier, I think isTamara.
She's the mind behind Takashi.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:47):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:47):
She's Takashi's wife.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:49):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (01:11:49):
She's a very good friend.
And she's the person to me thathas the most the wildest
realizable ideas in Solid City.
Like what they did with the postoffice next door to Takashi.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:05):
That's my favorite, one of my top three favorite
bars in Solid Like.

SPEAKER_00 (01:12:07):
She designed it herself.
Of course she did.
Yeah, like I'm like, really?
Like what they do with thatplace, to me, it's absolutely
mind-blowing.
Yeah.
And I got told to Takashi a fewtimes.
You know, they come to therestaurant at least once a week.
And I told Takashi and pick hisbrain a few times, and the craft

(01:12:28):
behind their place is justabsurd.
Yeah.
Like you see a piece of fish infront of you, but like the way
they source the fish andeverything to me is
mind-blowing.
And also, she's just one of themost interesting people I know.
She just she's one of thosepeople that she could sit down,
talk for hours, and I was bethere and listen.
Yeah.
Just listen.

(01:12:48):
Interesting.
So if that's one person.
And the other person is JonasPerson.
He's the swimming head coach atthe University of Utah.
He was a 2008 Olympic finalist.
Oh, interesting.
I didn't know that.
He went to University ofTennessee, and I think he's
another really, reallyinteresting person too.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:08):
I spent actually so I actually grew up swimming and
diving a lot.
Okay.
And at the I mean the pools atthe University of Utah, uh I
think it's in the hyperbuilding.
Yep.
But spent a lot of time theregrowing up, jumping off the
rafters into the pools, allyeah, all that fun stuff.
So yeah, I think it would be funto bring it all back to there.
Yeah, I think those two will bevery interesting people.
I agree.
No, thanks.
Thank you so much.

(01:13:28):
And Mateo, thank you so much forthe time.
I'm so excited to see what elsecomes from you, not only at uh
Mateo, but your other endeavors,and I'm excited to just keep
going and fall more in love withthe restaurant and the food and
um enjoy the togetherness andjoy that it brings.
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 (01:13:43):
Thank you for having me on.
And I really appreciate youspending time with me.
And yeah, really looking forwardto see you there.
I'm there seven days a week.
So I that's what I tell people.
You know, I'm sorry if you enjoythe food, you're stuck with me
because I'm here seven days aweek.
So if you enjoy the food, don'tenjoy my company.
I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:01):
No, glad you're there, glad the food's there,
and glad you're you're incontrol of it all because it's
it's going well, and I'm I'm soexcited for the future.
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 (01:14:08):
I look forward to see you all there soon.
Absolutely.

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