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August 5, 2025 56 mins

The Banter

The Guys talk about sourcing new products including attending the Fancy Food Show and getting a good tip from a podcast guest. Hear about the latest one that has caught their attention.

The Conversation

The Restaurant Guys are sharing two conversations with two chefs who are fusing cuisines. Tyler Akin has gotten attention for marrying Corsican and Sardinian dishes at Bastia in Philadelphia . Chaz Lindsay in Jackson, MS has taken his culinary experiences in NYC and Italy back to his home in Mississippi where he blends in down home Southern cooking. 

Bio

Tyler Akin

Tyler Akin is a Philadelphia-based chef, restaurateur, and founder of Form-FunctionHospitality. Akin is currently the chef-partner of Le Cavalier at the Green Room, at the iconic Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, DE. Tyler also serves as chef-partner of Bastia, at the Hotel Anna & Bel in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood.

 Bastia was named a “Must-Visit New Restaurant” by Bon Appétit prior to opening, it has since earned accolades including placement on Esquire’s list of “Best New Restaurants in America” for 2024.

Chaz Lindsay

Chaz Lindsay was raised in Belhaven, MS, graduated Culinary Institute of America, externed and worked at Eleven Madison Park. He was a sous chef at Colicchio and Sons and Craft in NYC before leaving  to work in Tuscania, Italy. Chaz returned to the states and in 2023 he opened Pulito Osteria in Jackson MS. Pulito Osteria’s menu merges Italian cuisine with flavors of the Deep South. In 2025, he opened Rowan’s bar with fresh takes on pub classics. 

Info

Tyler’s Bastia, Philadelphia, PA

https://www.bastiafishtown.com/

Chaz’s Pulito Osteria, Jackson, MS

https://www.pulitojackson.com/

Elephant Green Chili  Chutney

https://elephantgreenbrand.com/

Francis’ Caesar salad recipe email TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
the-restaurant-guys_2_07- (00:11):
Hello everybody, and welcome.
You are listening to theRestaurant Guys.
I'm Mark Pascal and I'm herewith Francis Shot.
Together we own stage left andCatherine Lombardi restaurants
in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
We are here to bring you theinside track on food, wine, and
the finer things in life.
Hello, mark.
Hey Francis.
How are you today?
I'm great, thanks.
How you doing With the finerthings in life?
Uh, finer things are, aretreating me pretty well.

(00:33):
Well, we have one finer thing tosample in just a moment, but we,
we should let people know thatwe have a little bit of an
interesting show today, a littlebit of a divergence.
Mm-hmm.
We have a couple of short se onesegment each with, Two different
chefs and what brings themtogether is they're both chefs
in the United States who arepresenting a mashup of two
different cuisines in unlikelyplaces.
So we have Tyler Aiken who ownsBastia in Philadelphia.

(00:56):
He is bringing, Sardinian andCorsican cuisine to Philly.
We went down there, had a lovelymeal there.
He's terrific.
And we've got Chaz Lindsay,who's bringing Italian food with
a southern bent to Jackson,Mississippi I am really curious
about that because I seeSardinia and Corsica coming
together before I see southerncuisine and, Italian cuisine.

(01:18):
Well, we just make assumptionsabout, um, San Francisco and
Italian cuisine, theNortheastern Italian cuisine,
because there was such Italianimmigration there, but I,
mm-hmm.
Uh, collard greens and, uh,Italian cuisine.
We're gonna have to figure outhow that works.
We're gonna have to see that.
Let's see, let's see.
But in the meantime, this isn'ta product endorsement, but I
think it's a really interestingproduct.
and it it bears some, uh,conversation.

(01:40):
Well, well, I think one of thethings that reasons it bears
conversations,'cause I think alot of people are curious as to
how do we come upon newproducts?
And it's different all the time.
Sometimes it's.
You know, you're in a farmer'smarket and you find some cool
new produce, or sometimes you'reat another restaurant and you
see something that's intriguingand sometimes they find you.

(02:03):
Yeah.
It's, so, this is a crazy story.
So when we did the live show,when we recorded the live show
with Andrew Zimmer mm-hmm.
Uh, it was very well attendedand there's a long line of
people wanna take picturesafterwards with the restaurant
guys and whoever our guest is,and these two lovely ladies, uh,
cashew and tan, mother anddaughter, Came up and obviously
they knew Andrew and they weresuper grateful for him.

(02:24):
And they were, they had ahistory.
And the history was that he hadincluded their bottled chutney
elephant green chili chutney.
mm-hmm.
In a list of must-haves for yourkitchen.
And, uh, he said, what we havealways found is that all these
bottled and canned chutneysthat.
Suck.
Okay.
They just, it's just as acategory.
They're never great.
I will tell you, I have neverhad one that I liked.

(02:45):
So the ladies were kind enoughto leave a couple of sample
bottles for me and Mark as well.
And Holy Kim, it's really good.
And Andrew, we talked aboutafterwards.
Mm-hmm.
He said, yeah, Francis, they're,they're all terrible, but these,
this are really great stuff.
mm-hmm.
And so we opened those, thosebottles, we opened one of those
bottles they left for us.
mm-hmm.
Uh, and then we went to theFancy Food Show, they final

(03:05):
week, and they were.
Yeah, and they're super nicepeople.
It's a mother and daughter,small company.
Well, they did something.
I did.
They did something that reallygot our attention at the Fancy
Food Show.
They screamed our names acrossthe, across the Fancy Food show.
That's, that's it's therestaurant guys, which is great.
And they're, they're reallylovely people.
And, and it's, it's great whenlovely people do something

(03:28):
that's really great.
But here we opened one of thosejars and now we're opening a
second one.
whoa, it's, it's, it's verystrong, very aromatic and very
real, though, Mm-hmm.
Not flat at all.
Mark and I are sampling a littlebit of it right now.
Don't mind me.
You know, it's funny, Friends ofours, of Mexican descent who
work in the kitchen, uh, whenthey make hot food, they're

(03:49):
like, do you want it hot or doyou want it like Irish hot?
Which is, which is, well, theycall it like, what they call say
to me is that, do you want agringo, spicy?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That gringo spicy is probablyabout where I am.
So we're gonna try this for yourbenefit completely selflessly.
We're gonna have a little ofthis on a roll here.
I, it really does bear talkingabout.
Mm-hmm.

(04:10):
It is shocking as hell to methat this is a shelf stay
product at hr.
Yep.
By the way, we're not gettingpaid by these people.
No.
Not sponsored.
Not at, not at all.
I, I don't think they have the,the money to be sponsored.
I think they make, I.
The one product, and it isextraordinary.
It's delicious.
I mean, it is absolutelydelicious and you, and you get,

(04:30):
you know, a, a ton of differentflavors and it's hot.
Okay?
But it's not stupid hot, right?
It, it's, it's not just heateat, it's not very complex.
It's not gonna burn up mypalate, so I can't, it.
Enjoy other flavors.
Right.
Again, I'm not, I'm not one ofthose guys who's, who's looking
for, you know, ghost chilipeppers and looking, looking to,
to torch up the room.

(04:50):
But it's warm.
I mean, it's just, this hasdefinitely got some spice to it.
So it's, it's elephant greenchili chutney.
Mm-hmm.
And we'll put the link to whereto buy it on our website, and
frankly, I think we're gonnabring it into our store.
Mm-hmm.
So if you wanna buy it from us,if we don't get it in time, you
can find it from them, but maybeyou can buy it from us as well.
We're also gonna get it.
In restaurant size.
They sell like commercial size.
And we're gonna use this.

(05:11):
We had it in, we, we have it inbutter.
We had it in, uh, a coupledifferent things that It's
delicious.
Yeah.
Delicious.
But, uh, honestly, I'm justright here by itself on a piece
of bread.
I'm enjoying the heck out of it.
So I have to tell you, I went tothe Fancy Food Show.
Mm-hmm.
Well, you know, you know I wasgonna, you were there.
I know.
I stood next to you have to tellyou, meaning you out there
listening.
We went to the Fancy Food Showin New York, which is a huge,

(05:33):
huge operation in the JavitsCenter.
and I think it gets harder astime goes on to find those truly
unique ingredients.
And one of the reasons isbecause we are pretty
sophisticated as a country.
I, I'm gonna say something else,and it, and this comes from,
from.
You know, our perspective, Ithink it gets harder and harder
for, for us, for you to make ussay, wow.

(05:55):
Yeah.
Okay.
From our life experiences, fromour restaurant experiences, from
our food experiences, we, we'vetasted a lot of things, we love
it.
There's nothing we love morethan when we find that cool new
thing that makes us say wow.
Right.
I mean, I had a, a salami thatwas made with Asher Blue Cheese
yesterday that I went Wow.
Yeah.
Right.
there's plenty of cool stuff outthere, but one of the things the

(06:18):
fancy food shows you is.
For every cool thing out there.
There's also some a thousandthings that are fine.
Some, some things that are, thatare, that are not as great.
But I al I also think it's just,it's not just us, it's that
because of the, uh, internet,because of YouTube mm-hmm.
Because of, of Instagram.
There, there are.
When we started going to theFancy Food Show 30 years ago,

(06:40):
there was a lot of food thatjust wasn't in New Jersey.
Mm-hmm.
There was a lot of food thatwasn't in the country, and, and
we were the first to bring a lotof things to market.
Austrian roasted pumpkin, seededoil, um, really great balsamic
vinegars, uh, elephant greenchili chutney.
Well, that was not years ago.
That's just now.
But I, uh, so it, I think it waseasier to differentiate yourself

(07:01):
back then.
Mm-hmm.
Because there was so much stuffwe didn't have.
We're a very sophisticated foodcountry right now, and everybody
knows a lot of stuff.
So not to say there wasn't a lotof good food there.
And one of the things that wasreally great was there was a New
Jersey Pavilion where therewere.
All these great New Jerseyfarmers that were represented
and, and producers of food thatwere represented that we got to
see, including some people weknew, which was fun.
But there was also fromPennsylvania and other places.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07-01 (07:23):
You know, not, not just
Pennsylvania, New York.
I mean there was Vermont andNorth Dakota.
Uh, there was a whole Chinesepavilion.
There was a Japanese foodpavilion there.
I mean, literally from everycorner of the earth there were,
food purveyors.
And, and to be fair, France andI only spent a few hours there.
I'm sure there were nuggets tobe found everywhere.

(07:43):
Yeah.
That's huge.
It because it, there was somecool stuff and there was some
interesting stuff.
My goodness though, what I'lltell you is caviar and hooni
baro everywhere are living theirlife right now.
They are.
They are everywhere and I.
If you're not, if you're not onthe boat, you're sinking.
What?
We were the first restaurant inNew York or New Jersey to bring

(08:05):
in Harmoni Baro when it firstbecame legal.
Yeah.
And now like Mark said, it'severywhere and there's a huge
differential in quality.
Oh yeah.
Among the Harmon Kos, again,very fun for us, right?
We've always said theta.
The best way to establish, grapefrom good and to learn about a
product is to taste it side byside, by side by side.

(08:28):
So being at the Fancy Food andbeing able to taste seven
different, how many Baro Detafrom seven different producers.
Was amazing.
It was absolutely amazing to seebecause there is huge
differences in quality, even inthat very, very specific
product.
Yeah.
There are huge variations inquality.
Yeah.
And Cinco Hots is the winner,Cinco.

(08:49):
It's still our favorite winner.
It's still a winner.
But I, I do say the only thing that
I took out of the Fancy FoodShow that.
Was really something totally newunder the sun, totally new.
This was, this was a totally newthing for us.
This is, you know, this is notour, our traditional style of
cuisine.
This is not a, an area thatFrancis and I frankly, have a

(09:12):
lot of experience with.
But this is really cool.
But, and we've had a lot ofbottled chutneys, but, and, and
everyone we've talked to islike, oh, bottled chutney sucks.
Mm-hmm.
And even Andrew Zuman was like,yeah, bottled chutney sucks
except for this one.
Yep.
And it's really good.
So, We're gonna go to here, twochefs, two different places, and
you're gonna have a great time.
So stick with us.
You're listening to theRestaurant
guys@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

Francis (09:33):
Hey there everybody.
Welcome back.
Our guest today is Tyler Aiken.
He is chef owner of the Cavalierat the Green Room in Wilmington,
Delaware.
He's also chef owner of Bastia,a Corsican and Sardinian
restaurant at the hotel.
Anna and Bell in the Fishtownneighborhood of Philadelphia,
which is fast becoming one ofmark of my favorite restaurant
neighborhoods in the country.

(09:54):
Bon App, Petit says it's a mustvisit, new restaurant.
Esquire says it's the best newrestaurant in America, the Wall
Street Journal.
Recognizes its pivotal role inredefining hotel dining, and
most importantly, mark and I atethere and had a great time.
So Tyler Kin.
Tyler Kin, welcome to the show.

Tyler (10:10):
Thanks me.
It's an honor to be here, man.
It was great.
I, I will tell you that, um, nowPhiladelphia is, we're kind of
closer to New York, oriented NewJersey, and for those of you who
aren't from around here, newJersey's kind of split.
North Jersey looks at New Yorkand South Jersey looks at
Philly.
but we're going to Fishtown moreand more and it was a pleasure
to come down, so your restaurantand have dinner and you were

(10:30):
there and it was a lovely time.
And uh, it's a cool, it's a coolnew thing.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So what's the affinity with thehotel restaurant?
You've, you've done this acouple of times now.
Why, why in hotels?
Why is that, uh, something thatseems to be attractive to you?
You know, it, it, it's, it'spartly coincidence, I would say,
you know, like I was not huntingfor a hotel restaurant

(10:51):
opportunity.
When LA CVS materialize, I wasapproached.
When the pandemic hit and I waskind of left holding the bag on,
you know, like vendor tabswithin, I had terms and trying
to wrap my head around howcontinue, you know, paying rent
in a timely and full way.

(11:12):
The partnership that helped meopen this, the few small
restaurants that I had goinginto the pandemic here in Philly
was like a modest one.
You know, we were not sitting ona big war chest and these were
not partners who.
We're going to be particularlyexcited about, like
recapitalizing the business toany great extent.
So, yes.
Um, you know, when you, when youengage with larger entities who

(11:33):
have a real, like capital base,um, to absorb crises like, like
COVID for instance, or, youknow, even month to month kind
of.
Performance and maybe up anddown.
To me that was appealing becausethe, the beginning of the
pandemic really was traumaticfor me and made me rethink, um,
how I was approaching openingrestaurants.

(11:55):
Um, I think like on a day-to-daybasis, there are great benefits
to having a hotel restaurant.
there are also complications,but you know, the, the support.
The, these synergies that existwithin a larger context, uh, you
know, like a hotel operation.
in many instances there's also acorporate team that may be

(12:17):
remote, but having that teamoverseeing operations and, and
not kind of trying to take it onall yourself Yep.
Can be really nice.
And you might think, well, youknow, you must be there 120
hours a week.
In reality, I, I find theparadox is like, it actually
gives you more liberty to have afamily life, to have a home life

(12:38):
because, you know, all of, allof these arrows pointing in all
these various meal periods areproducing revenue, which allows
you to build a team.
Instead of maybe having one ortwo.
So chefs, you might have four.

Mark (12:49):
Having layers certainly can help.
Just so you know, Tyler, a warchest in the restaurant business
is like three pieces of gold.
That's that's what's, yeah.
I think he knows in therestaurant.
I think he knows.

Francis (13:00):
But the hotel's got the money.
That's the thing.
Well, you know, you bring up avery interesting thing'cause
that has fallen in and outtafashion.
So we've been doing this for.
32 years for ourselves.
And I was doing it for six yearsand Mark was doing it for three
years prior to that.
But I remember even in our localtown here, we had the Hyatt
Hotel.
Now the Hyatt Hotel at one pointhad this fancy restaurant in it,

(13:21):
and that was kind of an anchor.
And a lot of hotels, they hadanchor restaurants that were
fancy, and then that went wayout of fashion.
They're like, we're losing moneyon all this.
Get rid of'em all.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
And it'll come in and go out.
And I think what you see now isif you have a name and you have
a reputation like you do.
You can forge a partnership witha hotel, and this is good
advice.
We have a lot of people who likeare thinking about going into

(13:41):
the restaurant business or smalloperators in the restaurant
business.
We were able to buy the buildingthree or four years into having
the restaurant and that becameour.
War chest.
We could, we could go there forcredit if we needed credit.
'cause no one's loaning themm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
No one's loaning the restaurant.
I couldn't refinance my housewhen COVID started.
'cause they said if the namerestaurant is tied in your CV

(14:02):
anywhere we want, we will notlend you any money.
Yes.
But if the, if the name landlordis tied in, they're like, let me
see the spreadsheet, right?
Mm-hmm.
I remember being that 50 seatrestaurant and four terrible
weeks.
Would've cost us the mm-hmm.
Would've cost us everything.
It would've closed us down.
And you know, if you can havethat partnership with the hotel,
which like you said, has abookkeeping department and it

(14:23):
has finance people and all thatstuff, it can let you do what
you do.
How much freedom do you haveworking in a hotel like that?
I think that's in, I think thebusiness arrangement is kind of
interesting.

Tyler (14:32):
The opening period is critical.
You're really like setting thetone for the life span of the
restaurant.
I think during those first fewmonths, um.
So, of course, like, you know,effectively living outta the
restaurant during, during thattime.
when you engage with a hotel ora developer, or even now I see
like my friend Gregory Corde,just open some.

(14:54):
FB outlets in a Frenchdepartment store that opened in
Manhattan.
Oh, yeah.
Um, the print top, like, youknow, it's not just hotels.
There are other analogous kindof like institutional
environments that people arefinding themselves in for
restaurant opportunities.
Yeah.

Francis (15:10):
so let me ask you a question.
Yeah.
Does the, as far as likecreative freedom though in the
restaurant, did the hotelmanagement ever come in and say,
we need to change that menu, orwe need to change the way the
dining room works?
How much freedom is there andhow much collaboration is there?
As far as the operation of therestaurant goes?

Tyler (15:24):
So in the instances where there is like creative direction
that might be unsolicited, butoffered nonetheless, I think of
that input as as collaborationas opposed to dictation.
I cannot think of a singlecircumstance and, and this, you
know, speaks to the health ofthe partnerships that I've

(15:44):
found.
Not a single time has anybodylike, you know, forced a dish
down my throat.

Mark (15:50):
If it's working, no one's gonna say Change this.

Tyler (15:53):
Yeah, if you're hitting like healthy revenue numbers,
cost numbers, then you know,it's kind of like, if it's not
broken, don't, don't fix it.
Fix it.

Mark (16:00):
Yep.
Francis and I had a, a businesspartner for almost 30 years, and
I, I used to love to say aboutLou.
Lou was always there when youneeded him and never there when
you didn't.

Francis (16:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Mark (16:10):
It was great.
And that was, that was, that wasthe highest compliment I could
pay to Lou as, as our, as ournon-working

Francis (16:15):
partner.
Non-operating partner.
Yeah.
Hey, listen, I, I'm gonna turnattention to the food because
I'm excited by your food.
We had a lovely meal when wewere there, and it's different
than.
Other food we've had.
So Cor Corsica and Sardinia?
Not exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Looking for the, Hey honey,let's go for Corsica food
tonight.
So those are like

Mark (16:31):
two islands that France and Italy didn't want.
And you know, they kind ofalmost kicked them out.

Francis (16:37):
You're bringing their food back.
I wanna start, I wanna startwith just for our, our listeners
and I endorsed this.
This is from the Esquiremagazine article about your
restaurant.
The single best bite I've hadthis year was a fried squash
blossom stuffed with ricotta,spiced with Corgan herbs on a
tranche of toast, topped withuni butter, which ran down my
chin and onto my jeans.

(16:58):
I had it at Bastia, a restaurantto which I was not predisposed.
Another sleek and well-fundedMediterranean place in a new
boutique hotel Fuey.
But the chef Tyler Aiken is aman on fire.
Aiken turned the weird island ofCorsica and its cousin Sardinia.
Apologies to our Corsica andSardinian listeners to to a
Craft A Surprising Mediterraneanmenu.

(17:19):
Surrender to the Squash Blossombaby.
That's a pretty damn goodreview.
Yeah,

Tyler (17:24):
and that was awesome.
And you know, the Man On Firequote in particular, there were
some Denzel Washington memesgoing around with my head
superimposed.
But that was incrediblyflattering because Joshua, one
of my favorite food writers, Ithink, well, he is now.
To receive praise like that fromsomebody like Joshua is pretty
amazing.
He identifies a dynamic that canbe a difficult one, which is,

(17:45):
you know, there is this kind ofinherent stigma, and you
mentioned it too, you know,around hotel restaurants, and
they've become.
Kind of cool again or have theopportunity to eat.
But I, I think our food mediaand especially the, the segment
of food media that doescriticism like there, there's a
predisposition to dislike hotelrestaurants.

Mark (18:09):
To be fair, Tyler, a lot of hotel restaurants suck.
Yeah,

Tyler (18:12):
okay.
They

Mark (18:12):
do.
There's a lot of hotelrestaurants out there that
aren't, that aren't good.
Yes.
So it's, it's a pleasure and Ithink a real draw for a hotel.
To have a restaurant that'sreally special, that's a jewel
box.
That's going to be one of theplaces that the people who stay
in that hotel have to go.
Yeah.

Francis (18:31):
It is a huge it.
It's huge and it, I think itclose in both directions.
Your restaurant has a streetpresence, like very much like it
is part of the neighborhood.
It doesn't feel like you walkthrough a big hotel lobby to get
to the back of it.
No.
Yeah.
Will you talk to us aboutCorsican and Sardinian cuisine
though?
What drew you to it?
What is it?
What makes Corsica and Sardiniancuisine?
'cause there aren't a lot ofrestaurants doing that.

Mark (18:51):
I'm not sure I knew what it was until I walked into your
restaurant.

Tyler (18:55):
So, you know, I have these two, I have a few threads,
I think in my like cookingbiography, one of which is
French food.
I went to a classical Frenchculinary school.
I've been operating a Brosydenim in Wilmington for four and
a half years now.
And.

(19:15):
Also deep history, like a deepexperience doing Mediterranean
and, and Italian food.
I was interested in bringingthose threads together on this
project, but finding some novellens.
You know, I think a lot of hotelrestaurants like Joshua
identifies our, you know, kindof generically quote unquote

(19:36):
Mediterranean.
Um, and don't have a strongsense of mooring with any
cuisine, and you find items nextto each other that don't
especially make sense.
I don't think that resonateswith sophisticated diners in
2025.
You know,

Mark (19:50):
there are restaurants that are trying to please all the
people all the time.

Tyler (19:53):
Yeah.
And

Mark (19:54):
yeah.
You know, especially if you'rein a hotel.
I think that's a commonpractice.
And, and when we talk about thehotel restaurants, like we were
talking about before, thataren't very interesting.
I think they're restaurants thatare trying to accommodate all
the people all the time and, butto me that's not super
interesting.

Francis (20:10):
So tell, tell us about Yeah.
Corsica and cuisine andSardinian cuisine specifically.
Mm-hmm.
What is Corgan and Sardiniancuisine?

Tyler (20:17):
Yeah.
So, um, you know, the thing thatthey both have in common is they
both have a big chip on theirshoulder about their mother,
father countries, right?
Like, uh, the, the corsicansidentify first and foremost as
Corgans, likewise forSardinians, right?
Like they would just assume notbe part of France or Italy
respectively.
So there is like a, a, there'sa, a self-conscious attempt to

(20:40):
be, I think, unique from themother country, but that
influence.
Permeates the cuisine.
Nevertheless, um, the, there's acommon thread between the two,
uh, both having been at variouspoints ruled by the genoese.
So you see this Italian stamp onCorkin food.

(21:00):
Uh, you see the mainland Italianstamp on Sardinian food in the
form of these, especially Gena,they ditches.
For me, it's been a really funpuzzle to fit together because.
You know, it's, it's a tightsandbox.
Like neither of these cuisines,I would say are like extensive
in their traditions, you know?
Mm-hmm.

(21:20):
Um, there's plenty of fun stuffto play with for sure, if you're
like, pulling your ideas from,from traditional dishes, but.
You know, it's not allencompassing.
It feels like you're in a cozysandbox where there's enough
sand, but not too much.
And um, for me it was a reallyfun way, or it has been, and it

(21:42):
continues to be a really fun wayto, you know, kind of like merge
these two cuisines at times.
There are dishes that I thinkrepresent elements of both.
Cuisines in a single dish.
Like I'm not trying tocompartmentalize them entirely.
And then they, we have dishesthat are really just celebrating
like a unique, tradition from,from one of the two.

Francis (22:02):
What would be a traditional Corsican dish and
what would be a traditionalSardinian dish?

Tyler (22:07):
I think the most traditional corsican dish that
we have on the menu is, youknow, veal and olives.
It's like a classic, classic.
Of course skin combination.
We kind of lean into the Frenchidentity by.
Plating it up on lapu, uh,lentils.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but we're, you know, we'reserving a really beautiful

(22:28):
imported French, um, buco.
The sauce is simply, you know, areduction of brazing liquids and
we're studying it with, youknow, ola olive cheeks.
Um, that is just ubiquitous incorsicas, the, the VOL of combo.
And it might be a roast.
With, uh, some zas it might bechops with some other type of

(22:53):
olives, but the, the combinationis like a holy one.
Love it.
Um, you know, so the thing Ilove about Corkin food that's
really interesting is like, eventhough you're sitting on an
island in the middle of theMediterranean, you know, it's
really, it was like a very, verymuch not a coastal culture
cuisine for a very long timebecause of, uh, the presence of

(23:13):
malaria along the coastline andalso the prevalence of piracy.
These people lived in theinterior, which very quickly
climbs to altitudes that exceedlike the highest peaks in North
America.
So on this, this very smallisland, he's got, um, you know,
essentially like an extension ofthe Alps.
And as a result you see a lot ofalpine traditions and the

(23:35):
cheeses.
You see a lot of charcuterie andmushrooms and chestnuts and a
lot of these kind of likehardier.
Flavors, uhhuh and ingredients.
Um, whereas in Sardinia, youknow, that that dynamic of like
escaping the coastline has, uh,historically not been, you know,
something they've had to dealwith.

(23:55):
And in turn, you know, it'sinformed their food in the
direction of being more seafoodoriented.
So it gives us a nice arsenal ofhardier things to lean into
during the fall and winter and,you know, these kind of lighter,
brighter.
More overtly sardinian, uh,dishes and flavors during the
spring and summer.

Mark (24:13):
Oh, that's great.
I, I will tell you, notmentioning the pasta, I think
sells you short because, uh, I,those dishes I thought were
really incredible and, andfrankly, some of my favorite
parts of your menu.
Thank you.
Also, I, I found a lot of nutsin your cuisine.
Is that, is that indigenous to,to either of these areas?

Tyler (24:34):
Yeah, both for sure.
As a chef I would say I'm alwayslooking for, you know, plate
components that bring texture.
Mm-hmm.
When you think about pasta andseafood and, you know, braised
meats, like it's soft, softsauce, you know, so you need a
counter point to that.
Yes, you find nuts all overmenus in, in these two places,

(24:58):
but you know, for me it's like.
That's just how I think about adish.
Paris, you could

Mark (25:02):
feel the textural counterpoint.
Right.
That was, that was clearly whata lot of the point of, of the
roasted nuts were in some ofyour dishes.
You felt it, it was great.
It, like I said, you reallyshined in the pasta dishes.
I was, I was really impressed bythem especially.

Tyler (25:15):
Cool.
Thank you.
And, and, and that's one of thegreat things about Sardinia is
it has this, you know, thesekind of obscure pasta shapes
mm-hmm.
That, um, have been really funto experiment with and

Mark (25:27):
that

Tyler (25:27):
was

Mark (25:28):
fun.
Right.
Pasta shapes I've never seenseen.
Yeah.

Tyler (25:30):
So tell us about some of those pasta shapes.
First one that comes to mind,uh, like mal radius.
So there's, there's a traditionof like, um, Yoki s broadly is a
gnocchi that is based on a doughthat's made only with selina and
water.
So there's no potato.
It's not the nichi that we'refamiliar with, it's twosome.

(25:50):
I'm not sure I mentioned to youthis fact, but that dish on our
menu has.
About 110 hand shaped pieces ofpasta.
We're not using an extruder,we're not using a, a roller of
any kind.
Well,

Mark (26:05):
there's a roller, but, but the guy's name is Joe.
Yeah, right.

Tyler (26:08):
Her name's Elizabeth.
Yeah.
And she's wonderful.
Um, and couldn't be doing thiswithout her.
So, you know, we kind of diveinto these things and then make
'em our own where we can.
I think that's amazing.
That's

Francis (26:21):
great.
So, um, Tyler, we enjoyed thevisit to the restaurant.
We learned a whole bunch of newthings and thanks for coming on
the show to talk with us aboutthem.

Tyler (26:28):
Thank you so much.

the-restaurant-guys_1_03-25 (26:29):
You can find out more about Tyler at
our website or on the shownotes.
His restaurant in Philadelphiais Bastia, his restaurant.
If you are in Wilmington,Delaware is La Cavalier and we
suggest you go there to try somegreat pasta.
We'll be back in just a moment.
You're listening to therestaurant guys.
Find outmore@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

Francis (26:48):
Hey there everybody.
Welcome back.
You're listening to theRestaurant Guys, and our guest
is Chaz Lindsay.
Chaz has Polito Austria in the aJackson, Mississippi, kind of an
unlikely address for an unlikelyrestaurant, and we were kind of
intrigued by it, so we thoughtwe'd give him a call and bring
him on the show.
Chaz brings Italian Americaninfluences to Jackson,
Mississippi to an ItalianAmerican vibe, and as that

(27:10):
sounds familiar to you, that'swhat we do in Katherine
Lombardi.
So we couldn't be more pleasedto have him on the show today.
Chaz, welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks

Chaz (27:16):
for having me.

Mark (27:18):
Uh, so, uh, the first question, and frankly, the, the
whole, the, the reason we werelike, this guy needs to be on
our show.
How does one combine southernItalian cooking with southern
cooking?
How does, how do those twothings marry in the same
building?

Chaz (27:32):
Well, I like to say that we're more Italian and mindset.
So Uhhuh, yeah, so like,Mississippi focused, but Italian
in mindset.
So like the, the whole idea isthat we cook with the seasons
here.
Um, you know, we print, we printmenus in-house based on weekly
availability, which is, it'sactually shocking how many
restaurants don't print menusin-house anymore.
Mm.

(27:52):
and so, there's been times whereI've reprinted menus during the
middle of service because we hadthe 86 something.
I just Absolutely, I don't, Idon't like providing someone
with an option of something theycan't have.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so I lived in Italy fora year.
Um, spent six weeks thereinitially in 2011, harvesting
olives and maintained thatrelationship with the farm.

(28:14):
And then they opened A, b and b,um, on the farm, an agri chomo,
as they like to call it.
Yep.
They said, you know, we're,we're doing this, we're gonna
have a small restaurant.
And I was burned out on New YorkCity life, and I was looking for
a change and.
So moving to a horse stable inItaly was the perfect and like
complete opposite of living inNew York City and having to get

(28:35):
on the train every morning.
Um, and so I learned a lot aboutcooking with seasons, preserving
food, working with what'savailable and not just, you
know, having asparagus on themenu 365 days a year.

Francis (28:48):
But didn't you find that in New York you had had a
lot of that, uh, cooking withthe seasons?

Chaz (28:53):
I did.
Um, and that was.
That was what intrigued me on,you know, wanting to go to Italy
and work on a farm and learnmore about it.
You know, I had the pleasure ofworking for Tom cio.
Before that I was in, uh, HydePark, New York at the Culinary
Institute, which is, that wasreally the first time that I had
been exposed to, like, farm totable cuisine, you know, small

(29:14):
producer, small organic farms,and I really just kind of fell
in love with it.
Like I remember, I, I wouldvolunteer for a local CSA to
help them.
To butcher chickens.
So we would go and slaughterchickens on a Saturday afternoon
and um, you know, or I'd go andhelp with some type of harvest.
One of the ways I made my beermoney was forging ramps.

(29:35):
Um, so I just like fell in lovewith that style of cuisine, but
I really, really fell in lovewith it when I worked for Cchi,
specifically when I got moved toKraft as, uh, the am sous chef.
Because I had to be at the UnionSquare Green Market at 7:00 AM
with a wheelbarrow Monday,Wednesday, Friday.
That's me.

Mark (29:51):
What a, what a great place to learn about fruits and
vegetables and what nature canbring you.
That that market is one of thegreat markets in the world.

Francis (30:01):
It's the foundational green market of the New York
City Green market system.
It's, it's incredible.
Absolutely.
So what would you get forCollicchio at the, at the Green
market?
What would you be tasked to gofind there?

Chaz (30:14):
Basically anything and everything.
That was great.
Whatever was coming out.
I mean, it was really kind of a,like a dog eat dog.
Like I knew some of the othersous chefs from working with
them as line cooks.
Um, throughout my time in NewYork.
It was always like, who could bethere?
Be there first and get there thequickest.
Um, so when strawberries wouldhit like Mountain Sweet Berry
Farms, um, you know, they hadthe best strawberries, so you

(30:36):
wanted to be there first or likecampo for Castle Vi Toronto or
Radicchio Treviso or stuff likethat.
Like limited quantity, thingsthat you would want to get.
Norwich had really greatromanesco, so you'd want to be
the first one there to buy allthe romanesco for the menu.
Um, and I just, I had that twowheel Rubbermaid.

(30:56):
Barrel and then like, I've got apicture of like young me
somewhere.
I'll have to dig it up and sendit to you in front of Kraft with
that wheelbarrow just like piledhigh, probably 300 stuff.
Um, there was one day during, itwas P season, so in the spring
I, uh, it tipped over in themiddle of 20th Oh, oh no, at the
park and I just had like ahundred pounds of English peas

(31:19):
all over the place.
Like it, oh no.
Kind of embarrassing, but youknow,

Mark (31:23):
funny story now.
Well, hopefully they were stillin the pod so you, they were
still Yeah, still usable and,and that, and that saves the
cleanup by like four times,right?
Right.
If they're still in the pods.

Francis (31:34):
Alright, so you, you have your time, uh, at CIA for
your education.
You work in New York for one ofthe great chefs of New York,
who's also a Jersey guy.
I've been on our show and, uh,then you go to Italy.
And it had to be a bold move tothink I can bring this back to
Jackson, Mississippi,

Mark (31:49):
in talking about Jackson, Mississippi, I wanna talk about
how different it is to be inJackson, Mississippi seasonally
than it is to be in New YorkCity seasonally where.
Our, our, our produce isbasically a may through, you
know, early October thing herein, in this part of the world,

(32:10):
or most of our produce, most ofour, our most interesting stuff
happens may through earlyOctober.
What does Jackson Mississippigive you that New York couldn't
give you?
So I've,

Chaz (32:21):
I've gotten really lucky because the farm that I do most
of my work with.
It's called Two Dog Farms.
They're about 25 minutes northof me in Florida, Mississippi.
Mm-hmm.
And their big market that theysell to is New Orleans, um,
which is about two and a halfhours south of here.
And they've linked up with acompany called JV Foods, which
sources from local producers innorthern Florida, Alabama,

(32:43):
Louisiana, and Mississippi.
So.
Now, like, um, starting in lateNovember, I've got access to
like, really good citrus fromPlaquemine Parish, Louisiana.
So like bergamot Meyer lemons,ruby red grapefruits, you know,
stuff like that that we couldn'treally get when we were in New
York.
You know, that climate's notconducive to citrus, really.

(33:04):
Um, we get, we ha I have a guyin Collins, Mississippi that's
an hour south of here.
He was a chicken farmer who losthis contract with Sanderson
Farms.
Converted all of his chickenhouses to a mushroom grow
operation.
So I've got like beautifulshiitakes and blue oysters and
lions mains coming from him.
right now our tomatoes, likepeople always ask you what your

(33:26):
death row meal is.
Well, uh, a Mississippi beefsteak tomatoes sandwich on white
bread with mayonnaise is on mylist.
You know, Uhhuh nice, like, Imean, and they grow great
tomatoes in the Hudson Valleyand, and jersey and stuff like
that.
But.
I, you know, we've got bi, bicolored corn right now.
I think it's a little bit laterfor y'all.
Uh mm-hmm.
Yeah.

Francis (33:45):
Everything's later for us.
Yeah.

Chaz (33:47):
I, I, uh, always remember everyone would talk about Jersey
corn and blueberries, you know?
Yep.
They were delicious.
and CREs, we've had a lot ofrain.
Right now.
We have a ton of chant trailspopping up.
I've got, you know.
Every college kid that listensto fish, you know, hanging,
hanging out at the back door,trying to sell'em to me.
Um, nice.
But we grow, we grow a lot ofthe same stuff that I was able

(34:07):
to get in New York, but, um, itjust comes at, at a different
time of the year.
We, we can't really do asparagusor peas down here.
It's just too hot.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
I have other sources to bringthose in for a couple weeks at a
time just'cause I love them.

Francis (34:21):
tell me about your restaurant.
So you come into Jackson,Mississippi, what was the
restaurant landscape like inJackson, Mississippi before you
got there and what did you bringthat hadn't been there before?

Chaz (34:32):
Well, so.
I started, I started cooking inJackson when I was 15.
And the, and Polito is, islocated in the neighborhood that
I was born and raised in.
My parents still live here.
I still live here.
I live four blocks from therestaurant.
Um, but here, you know,Jackson's always been like very
meat and potatoes or like gulfseafood, and it's always gotta

(34:52):
be a protein, a starch, avegetable, and a sauce.
And that sauce is usually, somevariation of a bur blanc.
Um.
the stakes are always generallylike broiled and the drippings
are expanded and that, thatbecomes a sauce.
And seasonal cuisine was, Imean, we had some of it, but it
wasn't like at the forefront.

(35:13):
another thing that I learned inNew York, and you know, people
always say, oh, well you livedin Italy, so that's where you
learned how to make pasta.
I learned how to make pastaworking for Tom Collicchio.
That's, oh, yeah.
I really learned how to makepasta.
So we make all of our pasta hereinhouse at Polito.
before I moved to El Paso,Texas.
I was executive chef of arestaurant downtown.

(35:34):
It's now shuttered, calledParlor Market.
I was starting to do moreseasonal cuisine and pasta
there.
but then my wife, matched forher medical residency in El
Paso.
So I went and spent three and ahalf years out there.
Um, and when I came back I knew,I knew I didn't wanna work for
anybody else here because Iwanted to do my own thing, and I
didn't want to be like havingrules or have to, you know, do

(35:57):
like a certain dish that Ialways have to do.
Because somebody else owned therestaurant.
Um, I mean, we now

Mark (36:04):
have Did you, did you figure out that there's probably
more rules now than, than, yeah.
Than there was when you wereworking for somebody

Chaz (36:10):
else?
Absolutely.
Definitely.
I, um, you know, I have thingson my menu now that I can never
take off.
and I'm okay with that.

Francis (36:16):
what are those things?
Yeah, tell us, tell us.

Chaz (36:18):
First and foremost, it's our Caesar salad, which is
crazy.
And it's like we're sitting heretalking about local produce, but
I, I have to buy romaine hearts.
I go through about six to sevencases of remain hearts a week.
Right now, we're only open, uh,we're dinner only Tuesday
through Saturday, but that'sCaesar salad pays my rent.
Um, another one's our pork andricotta meatballs.

(36:38):
Hold on a second.
What, what makes your Caesarsalad different than other
people's Caesar salads, at leastin Mississippi?
Well, so we don't use croutons.
All right.
And it's, it's served very cold,cold plate, cold lettuce, cold
dressing, which a lot of peopledon't pay attention to.
and it's like minor fine detailslike that that make it really
pop, you know, so it's likecold, crispy.

(36:59):
and then we do a blend ofPecorino and Parmesan, and then
instead of croutons, we do brownbutter, panko.
Uh, and so it's like a crouton,so you get like a little crunch
in every single bite.
It's amazing how something sosmall, like a small detail like
that just blows people's minds.

Francis (37:16):
do you go heavy on the anchovy or light on the anchovy
or there's a fair

Chaz (37:19):
amount of anchovy in the dressing?
Yes.
Yeah.
Legit.
we don't put'em over the top,but we do have'em available on
the side, either the salted orthe poker own.

Mark (37:27):
yeah, I found that, most people want more anchovy in
their Caesar salad than theywant you to tell them how much
anchovy is in their Caesarsalad.

Francis (37:37):
Yeah.
Well, I'm Do you mash it intothe garlic and the, and the like
make mash it into the dressingor no?

Chaz (37:42):
Yes.
So yeah.
Yeah.
We actually throw it all in thevi prep, um, with garlic, comfy.
And then we put a couple of rawcloves in there too, just to
give it a little zing.
Rock cloves,

Francis (37:51):
Caesar salad.
Cloves of garlic.

Chaz (37:53):
Yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry.

Francis (37:55):
Rock

Chaz (37:56):
cloves.
Yeah, that, that's the uh,Thanksgiving edition of our
Caesar salad.

Francis (38:00):
Yeah.
No, I, my opinion, so we make a,I make a Caesar salad at home
that we don't serve in therestaurant.
'cause it's just too much.
I think Caesar salad should hurtjust a little bit.
Garlic franchisees, France justwants a little

Mark (38:10):
tear in the corner of your eye while you're eating the
Caesar salad.
It should

Francis (38:13):
hurts a little bit.
It's a little over the top.
Agree.
I'm right there with you.
So, how.
So how were you received?
How has, has Jackson receivedyou, uh, and, and your
restaurant?

Chaz (38:23):
It's been killer.
Um, I, I mean, honestly, it'slike exceeded expectations.
We just, we've been open two anda half years now.
I mean, it definitely helps,like my parents are very, very
involved in the community.
Um, tonight actually, I have togo to the mayoral inauguration
because my mom's last day on thecity council was yesterday.
She's retiring and I'm thrilledthat she is no longer gonna be

(38:46):
in public service, although shedid an amazing job while she was
there.
Um, and so my, my parents werevery well connected, so when
people heard that, you know,Chuck and Burgy, Lindsey's son
were opening a restaurant, theywanted to check it out.
So I was lucky in that regard.
But then I had a really goodstaff, um, really good people,
you know, supporting me.
Some, some good cooks that wereable to help me out, get it

(39:08):
open.
And so we also delivered onquality.
and we've just been building andbuilding and building.

Francis (39:13):
are you finding any people pushing back, like, I
don't eat that food.
Like, you know, that it's,don't, not accepting of it.

Chaz (39:19):
It's not, it's not so much more that like, you know,
initially we had people who hadan issue with being able to read
the menu because, you know, we,we do all the pastas by shape,
not by sauce.
Um, so like, the Orke or theParel or stuff like that, that's
actually still kind of foreigndown here in Mississippi.
And so there has been like aneducation process that we've had

(39:41):
to do with our guests.
and then Jackson has also hadits own turmoil.
the neighboring city, uh, in theNorth Madison, there's a lot of
people who are like, oh, you'rein Jackson.
I'm not gonna come eat there.
So mm-hmm.
If they get swindled by somefriends or whatever to come, and
then they discover that it'slike local fresh food.
The menu changes almost weekly.

(40:02):
They're like, wow, this is aunique experience and it's right
here in Jackson.
they want to come back.
And I have people that thank mefor changing the menus because
so many people down here becomecomplacent.
They want the same thing.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and it's something likemy menu right now is, is
beautiful and it's one of myfavorite times of year to cook
here because you really don'thave to put heat to anything.

(40:24):
Like our tomato salad is just abeautiful sliced tomato.
Mm-hmm.
With.
Olive oil from the farm in Italythat I worked at.
A really nice white balsamic andthen beautiful basil, salt,
pepper, and that's it, you know,and it's just delicious.
Keeping it simple.
Yeah, keep it simple.

Mark (40:39):
you mentioned that you, your menu.
Serves pasta by the cut of thepasta rather than its its
preparation, uh, necessarily.
When we opened Kaha Lombardi,our, our thoughts were, we're
gonna put the best cut of pasta,we think, with each preparation.
So the macaroni would be on theeach dish, but we would allow

(41:05):
you to switch macaronis if youwanted.
So, if you wanted, orti with,with marinara or with the meat
gravy or, or with one of theother preparations you could do
that.
what we found is, I would sayit's once a month.
Somebody says, can I switch?
Pasta from the pasta you'vechosen.

(41:25):
I'm very surprised by howreceptive people are to, Hey, we
chose this, this macaroni to gowith this preparation to go with
the broccoli, rob and andsausage, because this is it's
the right shape, it's the rightshape.
For that dish.
people are much more receptiveto that than I thought they
would be.
Oh, a hundred percent.

Chaz (41:44):
Yeah, for sure.
I've got, I've got one barregular who wants everything on
Parel, and you know what, that'stotally fine.
You know, and he is also theonly reason that we keep
Chardonnay by the glass on themenu, so, you know, it's.
You know, but he comes in, he'sin two, three times a week and
we wanna make sure that he ishappy, so Yep.
You know if, yeah, if you wantthat set up with the parel,
then.

(42:04):
I'll do it for you, bill.
No problem.

Francis (42:06):
Let's, let's talk about, um, some of the dishes I
did, we did a little researchourselves.
I'm sorry we weren't able tocome to the restaurant.
Jackson's a little far.
We'll make it one of these days,but I saw that you have, I just
looked at a couple of dishesthat you have had in the past
that kind of mixed the Italianwith the southern, cuisine.
And I saw Gulf oysters with thebutter made from Nya, uh, which

(42:28):
is the.
Southern Italian influence onthat.
Of course, collard green, slowcooked with prosciutto tiramisu,
with nilla wafers.
How, how often do you kind ofplay lean into that mixing
ingredients from two differenttraditions?

Chaz (42:43):
Well, that's, I mean, that's kind of the whole deal.
You know, the collard greens,they've been on the menu since
day one, so is the tiramisu.
so collard greens, that's likeone of the most traditional
southern dishes you can thinkof.
Um, you know, like mygrandmother almost always had'em
around the house, but instead ofthe smoked ham hawk or the
bacon, you know, we usePanchetta.

(43:03):
And instead of Tabasco, which isAvery Island, Louisiana, right
around the corner.
We use Calabrian chili.
but the collard greens come fromthe farm 25 minutes north.
So it's, you know, Italian inmindset, but Mississippi
tradition, it.

Mark (43:17):
you know, you mentioned this before, but I, I, I wanna
retouch on it.
Do you think that a New Yorker,coming to Mississippi would be
welcomed to open a restaurantthe same way you were as a
person who was originally fromMississippi, Mississippi, moved
away and then home?
Well, first and foremost,

Chaz (43:36):
Mississippi is the hospitality state.
So, you know, and we, uh, we, wekind of joke that our greatest
export is talent.
Um, yeah.
And so anyone who's willing tocome here and try something new
and bring, you know, added valueto our state is more than
welcome.
there are a lot of people whoare still kind of set in their
ways and, and I worked for a guyhere for a while who.

(43:59):
Who I really learned from thatwhen, especially when I first
moved back from New York, I,there were things that I just
didn't understand why peopledidn't order'em or didn't like
'em.
You've gotta, you've gotta easepeople into things around here.
Um, and you know, new Yorkersare known to be a little
abrasive, so they might need totake, uh, cotillion or something
before they try that.

Mark (44:19):
It doesn't get better when you come to New Jersey.
Just so you know.
We, we, trust me,

Chaz (44:24):
I'm aware I got some good friends from my time up in New
York from there, so.
Yeah,

Francis (44:28):
well, I could see how a lot of folks in a lot of
different places that I'velived, and I know people in if,
if.
When, when you come and youbring, a real New York
restaurant to someplace thathasn't had that before, there's
a little bit of like, yeah,you're coming here to teach us
how to eat.
You know, that's kind ofdifferent than say you're an
Italian person, bringing Italianrestaurant somewhere.

(44:49):
So I think you as a native son.
I think that probably opened alot of people's minds to say,
let's, let's see what you haveto bring us.
'cause they trust you,

Chaz (44:57):
right?

Francis (44:58):
Absolutely.
not a carpet bagger is whatcomes to mind.
Exactly.

Chaz (45:01):
Yeah.
We, uh, you know, we'restarting, we're starting to get
some of those outta Austin, allthe Californians who moved to
Austin that can't afford that ormoving, moving east to us now,
you know, so we're starting tosee a little bit of it, but I
think with, with the.
The way Jackson is right now.
I mean, our downtown is, is, isdesolate.
I think anyone who's willing tocome here and make an

(45:21):
investment, you know, we willwelcome them with open arms.

Francis (45:25):
So you opened a bar as well across the street.
What's the story behind that?

Chaz (45:29):
Yeah, it's, it's called Rowans.
Um, and our tagline is Goodfood, cold beer.
I also like to say familyfriendly during the day, a
little loose at night.
we opened it as a dive ish bar.
So we do a, a cast iron burger.
we do a fried bologna sandwich,you know, which is a big deal
down here in the south.
Hold on.
Do you make it a Mortadellasandwich?

Mark (45:49):
cause that would

Chaz (45:50):
Okay.
In total.
Hilarious.
In total.
Uh, I was gonna do thatinitially, but I, but I was
like, I don't know.
Probably some more della's alittle bit up there.
Yeah.
And then we're, then we're backto the whole education process.
Um, I've got, I'm getting reallygood baloney from a place in
Atlanta called Flippers.
They also do a quarter pound,uh, all beef hotdog and we call

(46:11):
it the ripper's ripper.
do you fry it?
Oh yeah, yeah.
There you go.
Oh,

Francis (46:15):
flipper's ripper.
I like it.
The one influence I have from

Chaz (46:18):
my time up there is, uh, we do everything on Martin's
potato buns.
Oh yeah.
Great.
So we're the only people aroundhere who do that.
you know, it's blue platesduring the week for lunch.
And then, kind of as a nod to mytime in El Paso, our brunch menu
is pretty.
Pretty Mexican heavy.
So we do pozole, vos, rancheros,chili chiles.
We do tos with everything.

(46:39):
Um, I'm actually doing carnitasfor.
The mayoral, uh, inaugurationtonight.

Francis (46:45):
Nice.
That's great.
I found, I found one more thingthat I, I need to address.
I found in, in reading aboutyour place, that you have things
like a Negroni on your menuthere, but you also have a, a
NASCAR spritz.
Yes, sir.
You need to explain a nascar,you need to explain yourself
with that nascar.
Okay.

Chaz (47:00):
So, um, I guess it's like traditionally a spaghetti.
you know, we have a Fiero Pizzaoven in Polito that we nicknamed
the nascar because you can doeverything really quickly in it.
You know, it burns at about 700degrees and I, I can't remember
who came up with that nickname,but I think it was my fir
opening sous chef nicknamed itthe nascar.

(47:21):
And so we do family meal everyday.
And, um, if we were really inthe weeds, I would keep like
curly fries and jalapeno poppersand mozzarella sticks in the
freezer.
We'd throw'em all in the fryer,throw'em onto a sheet tray,
cover'em in cherry peppers andshredded mozzarella, and then
throw'em in the NASCAR for aminute, just to get all that
melted and then cover it inranch dressing.

(47:42):
And so that we call those discofries up here.
So yeah, so we, we call thatNASCAR family meal, which is now
on the menu at the dive baracross the street.
Um, and my buddy Will, who's thehead brewer at the, the brewery
in the building that we'relocated in, he was like, you
should call it a NASCAR spritz.
I don't know why, but it's juststuck and we sell a bunch of'em.

(48:03):
It's, uh, Miller High Life.
You dump two ounces out, youfill it with half an ounce of
lemon juice and an ounce and ahalf Aperol.
And, uh, that's the NASCARspritz.

Francis (48:13):
Well, I love the idea in principle.
I'm not gonna try it, and until,until I can tell you try until,
come you until now, until I comevisit you and can have it done
by the expert.
I'm not trying that on my own.
So

Mark (48:23):
I, I have to tell you one of the things I, I, and again,
that intrigued us and, and whyone of the reasons we wanted to
this show is Francis and Ireally enjoy people tying
together a, a global perspectivewith local cuisine.
Mm-hmm.
It, it's just a, it.
It is a great evolution in theculinary world, where we're

(48:46):
getting to see these thingshappen in places like Jackson,
Mississippi and, and we'rereally enjoying it as well.
And, and I promise you, if I'mwithin 75 miles of you, you will
see me.
You gotta make the trip.
Yeah.

Chaz (48:59):
Well, I mean, speaking of that, I was, I was super
fortunate.
you know, my parents, they, theytravel, they don't vacation.
Um, and so.
we grew up going all over theplace and all over the world and
it was always, it was alwaysfood focused.
When we traveled, it was like,where are we gonna eat?
You know, I remember before likeEater or Yelp or, you know, you

(49:19):
could just get on your phone andfind a place.
They had this book, it was like,I think it was called Eat Your
Way Across the USA, um, I don'tknow.
And mom and dad that was alwaysin the center console for road
trips.
you know, in high school I waspart of a French exchange
program in southwestern France,So I was super lucky that my
parents just like encouraged meto travel and go do these
things, and I, and I picked up alot and learned a lot from that.

(49:42):
And, you know, there's a lot ofpeople who don't have that
opportunity here in Jackson orare just, complacent with, doing
what they are, are used to.
And so, you know, I thought itwas important to bring, fresh
perspective in a more worldlyperspective on how to, how to
dine and, and eat.

Mark (50:01):
Well, I, I like that you kept your hometown perspective
though at the same time, kind ofthe amalgam of those two things
is, is making food excitingagain, across the country.
I'd be out of business if Ididn't.

Francis (50:14):
We are happy you're not Chaz, Lindsay, everybody.
His, restaurant is called ptoAustria in Jackson, Mississippi.
He's also got Rowans, and ifyou're within striking distance,
you should definitely hit it.
Thanks for, thanks for joiningus today,

Chaz (50:25):
gentlemen.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you

Francis (50:27):
Pleasures all.
Thanks very much Chas.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07- (50:52):
Well, it's a pretty interesting story.
I don't know much about Jackson,Mississippi.
I don't know much aboutMississippi.
I've only been once, so I'venever been.
You know, that's part of whatrestaurant guys are supposed to
do, right?
We're supposed to bring youstuff from places that, that you
haven't necessarily been, Wetalked about his Caesar salad
and how he does it a littledifferently.
Do you remember the first stageleft menu?

(51:13):
1992 Had a Caesar salad on it.
That is still my favorite way toeat Caesar salad in the world.
I don't remember what thatiteration of the Caesar salad
was.
Okay.
And I, and I still do it to thisday, Kalari, the fried calamari
salad calamari instead ofcroutons.
And what you do is you do friedcalamari in there instead of
croutons.

(51:34):
And the flavor of the anchovyand the flavor in the calamari,
and you get all that crisp thatyou get from a crouton, but
instead of just being a piece ofbread, it's this flavor burst in
the middle of your Caesar salad.
Still my favorite way to have aCaesar salad.
Not crazy about it.
You're nuts.
Oh, I'm not crazy about it.
I'm, you're nuts.
A big, I'm a fan of a tra, asyou know, and you are a fan of

(51:55):
my Caesar salad as well.
I love your Caesar salad.
I, I would love your Caesarsalad more.
If I had fried calamari with it,cretin.
Um, if you would like my Caesarsalad recipe, you can email us
at theguys@restaurantguyspodcast.com
and I will send you my Caesarsalad recipe.
The key is it's a ton of garlic,it's a ton of anchovies, which
doesn't taste fishy as long asyou put enough garlic and

(52:16):
mustard in there.
Wor shirts.
It's classic, but it's, it'slike turned up to an 11.
And if you wanna ruin it withsome fried calamari, go right
ahead.
It's your salad.
If you would like my recipe forfried calamari Caesar salad.
Just come into the restaurants,order fried calamari, order
Caesar salad and mix'em, andit's spectacular.
Or I'm having it for lunchtoday.
All right.
I'm having that for lunch today.
All right, well, I'm gonna goand have something other than

(52:38):
Caesar salad for lunch.
Hope you have enjoyed the timewith us.
I'm Francis Shot.
And I'm Mark Pascal.
We're the restaurant guys.
You can always find outmore@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
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