September 2, 2025 • 32 mins
The Banter
The Restaurant Guys are solo this show by listener request. You’ll hear great advice like never touch a waiter’s tray and guidance on the right number of martinis to have before a business dinner (Hint: It’s less than two if you haven’t had lunch.) From celebrity encounters to fur coats, these are a few quirky tales of life behind the scenes of fine dining.
Info
Bistro Huddy on IG
https://www.instagram.com/drewtalbert/
The Sussmans
https://www.instagram.com/thesussmans/
We will have a Halloween pop-up bar in Stage Left Steak Oct 27-Nov 1.
Reserve here!
https://www.stageleft.com/event/1029-1101-spooky-bar-stage-left-steak/
Our Sponsors
The Heldrich Hotel & Conference Center
https://www.theheldrich.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Withum Accounting
https://www.withum.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
To hear more about food, wine and the finer things in life:
https://www.instagram.com/restaurantguyspodcast/
https://www.facebook.com/restaurantguys
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com
**Become a Restaurant Guys Regular and get two bonus episodes per month, bonus content and Regulars Only events.**
Click Below!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401692/subscribe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
the-restaurant-guys_2_08- (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 incapital Lombardi, restaurants in
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
We're here to bring you theinside track on food, wine, and
the finer things in life.
Hello, mark.
Hey buddy.
How are you?
I'm great.
How.
I'm great.
I'm super excited for our gueststoday.
They are some of our favoritepeople.
(00:34):
Uh, you guys are gonna realizewhy I'm laughing in a minute.
Our guests today are us.
We're the guest today.
So we have, we're responding toa bunch of listener requests to
do a Mark and Francis only show.
And so, uh, we thought we would,so honestly, you know, we spend.
That anywhere from five to 10minutes at the beginning of the
show talking about things wewant to talk about and what we
(00:57):
realized is.
We got more stuff we want totalk about.
There's, that's not enough time.
So just a while back, we were onthe 200th episode of the
Cocktail College podcast.
And, uh, many of you have joinedus, I guess from the Cocktail
College who are now followingus.
That's great to have you aboard.
Yeah.
Welcome to the restaurant guys.
If you'd like to become a paidsubscriber, you'll get invited
to lots of cool parties and funthings like that.
(01:20):
We'd love to have you on board.
Anyway, thanks for following theshow.
But one of the things that we'vegotten a lot of requests for is
to tell some stories.
Mm-hmm.
People want to hear stories fromthe past and, um, you know, I'm
moved, but there's so much stuffout there.
Like some of them aren't thatjust far in the past of, some of
them are from y from yesterday.
No, but some of them are fromfar in the past.
But what what's funny is I thinkthere's a real appetite for.
Restaurant stories.
(01:41):
Mm-hmm.
So do you, do you follow BistroHuddy on Uh, oh yeah.
They're great.
They're Ray, he's great.
They're terrific.
It's, it's one guy, but yeah, heplays all those characters.
It's different characters, butit's one guy.
But there's all sorts of these,like, you know, in the
restaurant life mm-hmm.
Uh, you know, amusing storiesand, and, and tales of life.
well, what makes them amusing isa lot of people have worked in
restaurants.
Obviously most of our listenershave worked in a restaurant
(02:02):
mm-hmm.
At some point or another.
And we've all been inrestaurants and the, the ones
that have that little grain oftruth running through them.
Yeah.
Those are the ones that are kindof the most fun.
What's amazing is, I think whatyou get in Bistro Huddy is
everybody in the restaurantbusiness is like, oh, I remember
that happened.
Yeah.
Remember that?
Yeah.
The sauce is another good onewhere that I like a lot.
Also.
Also Good.
Do you know what they did atBistro Hu?
They did.
One of your, one of your, thethings that you've trained on in
(02:24):
a long time is Okay.
Never let anyone take anythingoff your tray.
Oh, and recently they did one.
I didn't see.
I didn't see that one.
Oh, it was great.
So which one is the hot one?
The ger hot girl.
That, that, well, she comes overand the guy says, let me help
you with that.
And takes a beer off her trayand the whole thing goes flying.
'cause things are balanced on atray.
People never touch a waiter'stray.
So one of the things I do withevery single employee when they
(02:46):
come, when they start mm-hmm.
Is we take a coffee test andthen make an espresso, make a
double espresso, make acappuccino, make a pot of tea,
you know, make sure everythingis up to spec in our standard
and looks the way it's supposedto look.
And they all look the same.
Right?
Yep.
So the very first thing I dowhen they come to my table
mm-hmm.
Or, or wherever I'm sitting totake the test, is I grab
(03:07):
something furtively off theirtray.
You're like, just don't letsomebody do that.
Right.
Defend against that.
Turn away from them.
Defend against that pull, turnaway from them.
You gotta, you can't, you can'tlet somebody take something off
your tray'cause people will messyou up.
It's true.
It's true.
So I want to, I want to diveinto some funny stories from um,
uh, if we had Bistro Hudy atwhat we would do, and we don't,
(03:28):
we're never gonna do that.
We're not that talented.
Uh, we should have him on theshow though.
Absolute.
We should ask him to come on theshow.
Absolutely.
I will tell you I remember.
Early.
Very early.
My very first restaurant jobwas, uh, at Mayfair Farms and
do, I was doing a wedding.
Mm-hmm.
And one of my worst, my, metaking something off my own tray
moments.
(03:48):
Uhoh, what'd you do?
I was waiting on the bridalparty and I had a tray of white
Russians.
I remember the drink.
Wow.
Had a tray of white Russians andthey had 1982.
Glass.
The outside of the glass hadfrosted over'cause Oh, it was
cold milk and Yeah.
Cold insides.
Yeah.
(04:09):
And the glass frosted over fromall the, the stuff that was
inside it and the condensationon the outside.
And I, as I went to hand theglass Mm.
To the, one of the grooms women.
Like bridesmaids.
Sorry, not a grooms woman.
Well, today could be a groomswoman.
Come on.
That's true.
It's true.
Come on.
It sounds like something at agame of Throne.
(04:29):
Throne though.
But back then it was abridesmaid.
Okay.
So grooms woman, I think ofsomeone on a horse and the glass
just slid out of my hand headedright for their lap.
But I had a way to save it.
Which was, which was to take myother hand, which had the tray
with two glasses in it.
Oh, no.
Except I took the tray and Ibasically smashed the other two
(04:52):
white Russians into their lapwith the first one while I tried
to catch the, the white Russian.
And, you didn't get fired.
I didn't get fired.
I did not wait on the head tablethough, for like another six
months.
Yeah, I would, I would assumethose wedding sucks.
I was banned.
How come?
How come I'm on table 28 and 29?
Why?
Why am why am I waiting on thosetables?
(05:12):
I'll always remember, uh, thefrog and the peach where we used
to work.
Uhhuh.
Great restaurant.
It's still here, owned by afriend of ours.
Now, the owners that who we workfor sold to their chef, the
Great Peoples.
Yep.
We recommend the place.
But Frog Peach, very nice,elegant restaurant.
But we used to have a late nightcrowd that would go till two in
the morning during the weekend,three in the morning on the
weekends.
And we used to work at ourselvesand we frankly made a ton of
(05:33):
money.
'cause we were really fastbartenders back then.
We were geriatric.
Well, part of the way, honestly,part of the way we, you could be
really fast is lots of thedrinks were gin and tonic.
True, true.
Last.
Martinis, but we, but we wouldhave a bar with 50 people at it.
Yes.
By ourselves without a bar.
Yes.
Just, I mean, simply just takingorders, ringing them up, giving
people their change to all wewere.
'cause people used to pay withthis magical paper stuff.
(05:54):
Cash.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes, you know, you know,it reminds me at the time that
young people don't know this,but people used to go to bars
and, and they didn't do this at,at the dining tables.
And, you'd sit at a bar andyou'd put like 50 bucks, which
was a lot of money back then.
On a bar in like tens and fivesand twenties.
And the bartender would take outof your pile Yes.
Slowly take out of your pilewhat you were spending.
(06:15):
You didn't, spending, didn't runa tab, but you just left a pile
of cash on the bar.
Yeah.
And, and you'd, you'd, if youbought something to drink, you'd
point at them and then you'dpoint at your pile like, take it
outta my pile.
So strange.
It was a really weird way to dothings.
It was cool.
It was great.
It was way better than the waywe do it now.
Yeah.
Then you got people get reallydrunk and leave their pile there
sometimes.
Well, that was the idea, right?
You get what's left in the pile.
That's funny.
People did call me up the nextday and they were like.
(06:36):
Did I tip you last night?
I don't remember paying.
I'm like, yeah, you left ahundred dollars.
You can pick up, you can pick up80 of it, because I know you
didn't mean to leave that.
Yeah.
But that was the time.
But I do remember it so close inone night and we had long
shifts.
We'd start our shift at three30.
Yep.
And we would leave at fouro'clock in the morning.
Yep.
Five o'clock in the morning.
Sometimes I, I left, I left.
(06:57):
It sunrise, you know, 6, 6 30.
But we made a lot of money.
Yeah, it was great.
Totally worth it.
It was, but one guy alone behindthe bar, no bar back.
Um, and breaks.
And it was, and, and don'tforget we had all those breaks.
Oh, no.
Breaks you, you didn't, youdidn't have breaks.
Four to four 30 was a one break.
Um, and, uh, but they did feedus well.
Yeah.
And, uh, you could go to thebathroom, but no one covered
(07:17):
your bar when you went to thebathroom.
Right.
So the tickets just filled up.
So the moment you went it, itwas, it, you know, I kind of
harken it to when I go onvacation now.
So if I go on vacation for aweek, somehow I do two weeks of
of work the week before I leave.
Exactly.
And two weeks of work, the weekI come back, I'm like, wait a
second.
Well, let tell you something.
How did I get an extra week'sworth of work?
But let me tell you something.
It was long and it was hard.
But they paid very well.
(07:37):
Paid, yeah.
And I, I loved it.
It's where we learned how to dowhat we do.
I loved it.
And we were fine.
We were the fastest fine diningbartenders in New Jersey,
clearly.
Who we talking to?
Neil Bodenheimer, I think is, wewere talking about, and he's
like.
I didn't even, you know, I hadto pee, but I didn't wanna, you
know, I just wanted to staybehind that bar.
It was good.
Well, so anyway, so the night,it's been a long night, and you
(08:01):
would have one other employeewho was there.
Mm-hmm.
They weren't really helping you,they just were there in case.
So you didn't get robbed.
Well, sometimes.
Depends on who it was.
Right.
Sure.
Some people would be great athelping you, and some people are
like, I'm just a babysitter.
And you, and you'd tip out theones who did.
Absolutely.
And you would less tip out theones who didn't.
Anyway, so I'm with somebodywho's just a babysitter.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh.
They, these people came in andthey drank champagne at the end
(08:23):
of the night, and it was like awonderful evening, and I'm at
the end of the bar and they usedto, they used to run dirty
glasses back for you.
Mm-hmm.
Francis (08:30):
This got way ahead of the game and I've got a, I'm
like closed up.
The last call's 20 to three.
I've got a, I might just go out,it's now quarter after three,
the bar still got 38 people init, and I pick up one of the big
foot ball trays of glassware.
It's all.
Tall champagne glasses becausethey all were drinking
champagne, tall stem, skinnyglass, high center of gravity.
(08:52):
Very.
And I, and I had another smalltray with rocks, glasses on it,
little base.
And then I, so I'm walkingtoward the kitchen and I'm gonna
set the one.
Straight down and swing theother tray over and, so.
I make it all the way to thekitchen, which is inside of the
bar, and as I am in the kitchen,the bar door closing taps the
back of the big football tray.
(09:14):
One champagne glass falls over.
PI overcorrect.
Another champagne glass fallsover the other side.
Literally, I think I droppedthem one at a time.
$10,$20,$30,$40,$50,$60.
It is not my money at that time.
I'm just a bartender.
Standing ovation from the barcrowd though was really, that
(09:34):
was the biggest, longest crashever in the history of
bartending.
So what's funny is you startedthis story with.
You know, I couldn't do thistoday, but to be fair, it sounds
like you couldn't do it backthen either.
I could do it most of the timeback then, but the, the football
tray of champagne flutes was areally, really bad plan.
You know what else I, I, Iwanted two related stories.
(09:57):
One is, I remember when we firstopened and we priced ourselves
too low.
Wow.
with purpose, we purposelypriced ourselves low.
We didn't, we want it to be, wedidn't make as little as we
made.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, I'm, I'm sorry We waited toolong to come out of it.
Yes.
So we were ve we were thebusiest restaurant in town.
You couldn't get a reservationon a Saturday night for weeks.
Yes.
And we weren't making any money.
(10:18):
There was no money left over.
We're like, well, we gotta keepthe prices low.
That's a mistake by the way.
always do the math and make surethe math, math at the end of
every month.
'cause we, we did that too longanyway.
We are making very little money.
We're very busy.
We're very happy with our jobs.
And there was a lovely familywho supported us from the very
beginning, and they were ourfirst big private party.
(10:39):
And I remember it was a barmitzvah.
And so we had this little cocloset in the front.
And this little 50 seatrestaurant, this family came
over and we had some friends whoworked for us who knew fur, they
knew furs.
Mm-hmm.
And it was cold outside.
And fur was very much in fashionback then.
And.
These people were very wealthyand their friends were very
wealthy.
(11:00):
And somebody came up to us andthey said, you know that that
coke closet is worth more thandouble what your entire
restaurant was.
You could just steal the Cokecloset and get on a plane and
never come back.
so, you know what I rememberabout that Bar mitzvah?
What?
Okay.
Remember I grew up in Nutley?
Yep.
Okay.
Big Italian enclave.
Mm-hmm.
Italian family.
(11:20):
You know, my dad was a halfFrench, half Italian.
That was the first Bar Mitzvah Iwas ever at.
Really?
That's absolutely, I, I hadnever been to a Bar Mitzvah
before.
I went, I went to high school inLivingston, New Jersey.
I would say that 60% of my highschool was Jewish.
I went to more bar Mitzvahs andBat Mitzvahs than I did
confirmations.
I didn't know how they worked.
that was the first Bar mitzvahI've ever, I'd ever been to.
(11:43):
Lead the way.
I got no idea.
Fortunately I was here.
Um, but that reminded me ofanother story and, and a first
story.
So hold on.
What God, so.
You're saying you're gonna tellanother story now.
Yeah, I know, I know, right?
Uh, yes.
And I'm gonna go back to thefrog and the peach yet again.
Mm-hmm.
Where we used to work, and Ithink the statute of limitations
has run out on this'cause it's30 5-year-old story.
(12:06):
back then a lot of waiters inthis profession.
There was a lot more.
Gay representation of waiters,kind of an area where people had
permission to be gay.
Mm-hmm.
And, and to be openly gay.
Well, it was one of the, was inrestaurants honestly, was one of
the first places.
Right.
That was restaurants, really.
Restaurants.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Really let your freak fry.
Flag fly.
You can't even say it.
Yeah, you don't even have afreak flag.
(12:26):
You don't even have a freakflag.
I gotta be honest.
You got an old fraternity flagin your closet, that's all you
got.
So it's got moth balls, holes init now.
Moth holes in it now.
That's it.
So I remember though, it It wasGalena and Michael Yao.
So what they would do, they hadtheir co closet was kind of
neither front door.
It didn't have a door to closeit.
So when anyone had a fur, theywould bring it into the liquor
(12:47):
room behind the bar.
Right.
Which, so they could lock theliquor room.
And whenever they had a quietmoment, uh, Michael Avino and
Gina would prance around andmodel the women's first.
Oh my goodness.
Sorry everyone.
But they did.
And, uh, they were absolutelyhysterical and fabulous.
And, um, they borrowed yourcoats.
We've never done that at ourrestaurant.
But I, the story I thought youwere gonna tell.
(13:08):
Kirkland is a, is a furrier onthe side, Uhhuh, and in walks
you know, a woman with a furcoat, Uhhuh and Kirkland takes
the coat and he hangs it on theregular coat rack.
Oh, yes, I know this guy.
Okay.
And he hangs it on the regularcoat rack.
And he goes back like, so, Kirk,you know that fur coat?
(13:29):
Why didn't you put it in theliquor room where we put fur
coat.
Do you remember what he said?
I do.
You, you, you may I, I'll giveyou the punchline here.
He said there is a differencebetween a fur and a fuzz.
A fur comes from an animal and afuzz does not, and that is a
fuzz.
It's not a fur.
And he refused and he refused toput it away.
And he was, which a valuablecoat.
(13:50):
It was totally a dig and shetotally got it.
He was a little bit snooty andhe was a stereotypical, snooty
waiter sometimes, and it wasvery.
Fucking funny.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaking of fucking, you have totell a story.
When you took over as hisassistant manager, there was
one, the one waitress whosometimes you get people,
sometimes people get fired, andthis has happened to us.
(14:11):
You, you're like, listen, I haveto let you go and like you do,
but tell this story about this.
So you have to tell me the nameof the actor, uh, Andre Brower,
So we are.
Working at the Frog of thePeach.
Crossroads is next door, andit's one of the largest African
American theaters in thecountry.
And so a lot of name peoplewould come from Crossroads.
(14:34):
They'd either be starring in theshow or come to see the show.
Spielberg came to see one of theplays, didn't he?
So, I think so.
Yeah.
So Andre Brower he was in Glory.
He was in Brooklyn.
Nine.
Nine.
A whole bunch of stuff.
Yep.
Anyway, so he's there and he'sthere with a, a group and
they're being waited on it.
At that time, the frog and thepeach had teams.
Okay.
(14:54):
And I remember the two person,team was Donna and Rick waited
on the table.
Mm-hmm.
And one of the people came outof the party as, as it was over,
like they were in the back, backarea.
I couldn't see what washappening for the event, but I
see this happen.
And I see the, one of the menfrom the party go to pay the
check and he's carrying thecheck in his hand.
(15:15):
He's means the check meansnobody wants to pick it up and
the Donna and Rick are standingthere.
And he purposely walks pastDonna and hands the check to
Rick and says, we wanted to givethis to you because you were
great.
And it was obviously a slight ashe, like I said, he walked past
Donna and ignored her and soDonna turns to him, he and she
(15:38):
goes, well, excuse me.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I remember now unbelievably, theguy turns to her.
He doesn't miss a second, hegoes.
Well, actually, we've beenmaking excuses for you all
night.
Ooh.
Ouch.
So now she retorts.
Well, fuck you.
(16:00):
Still cracks me up.
Oh my God.
So Donna was the first person Iever fired in any job anywhere.
This was the next day, right?
The next day, yeah.
And can tell the story of howshe was incredulous.
That she was fired.
She couldn't believe that shewas being fired for saying fuck
you to the gentleman who wastrying to pay the check.
It's amazing.
It, it was, it's, you know, it'sone of those restaurant stories
that will live on forever.
(16:21):
You know, I think, I think it'sinteresting also when you have
ele celebrity or well-knownpeople that are there, that come
into your, to your restaurant.
Some people, it's funny, well,everybody knows this.
I guess.
Some people, when they come intothe restaurant, they're like.
Uh, I'm a celebrity, so pleaseseat me in the back so no one
will see me.
Mm-hmm.
And of course, what they want ofmore than anything is to be
noticed.
Right.
But then there are many peoplewho are like, you just wanna be
left alone.
(16:41):
Yep.
You know, they just want to comeand, and have dinner.
Absolutely.
And I remember Avery Brooks usedto come into the restaurant
mm-hmm.
I was bartending and I remember,um, there was a group and they
were like, look, it's because hewas in a man called Hawk.
Mm-hmm.
Which was the show before he wasin Star Trek.
It was a spinoff from Spencerfor hire.
Right.
And he was, and it was verypopular at the time.
(17:03):
Right.
And, uh.
And, but he was thisno-nonsense, not a lot of words,
guy.
And they said, is that, is thata man called Hawk?
I'm like, yeah, that's AveryBrooks.
He plays a man called Hawk.
Like we're gonna go ask for hisautograph.
And I said, no, no, actuallyyou're not.
You're not gonna do that.
You're not gonna do that at all.
Anyway, so they're like, whynot?
I'm like,'cause he just wants tohave a drink each.
And I know Avery doesn't justwanted to have a drink and he
(17:24):
certainly didn't want to.
Okay.
This is a guy who played PaulRobeson and you know, he played
Othello on Broadway, you know?
Yeah, exactly.
He's playing, playing, on onBroadway.
Well.
And he's in this show, a mancalled Hawk with this kind of in
eloquent, kind of gruffcharacter.
And he hated that.
That's what, what people, well,that people would know him for
(17:45):
that you and not know him for a,you stepped on my punchline, but
I'll, I'll deliver it Anyway,it's that How dare I.
How so?
When he, so I walked over and aysaid, thanks a lot, man.
I said, yeah, no worries.
He is like, I played PaulRobeson on Broadway.
That's how I'm gonna be known aman called Hawk.
Little did he know he would beknown as the, as the captain of
(18:06):
the Deep Space.
Nine.
Yeah.
See, later on he moved, he, heeradicated a man called Hawk.
And do you know what I said tohim?
Moved outta the water.
Yeah.
I said, yeah, but I, because ofa man Paul called Hawk, you have
a swell townhouse on the UpperEast Side.
He's like, yeah, that's true.
Can't can.
But he's also a, he was aprofessor of theater at Rutgers.
Yeah.
He was super talented companyand a really good guy.
Mm-hmm.
He was, he was, he really washere a lot in the early years of
(18:28):
stage left and Yeah.
Really appreciated him.
do you wanna take a quick breakand come back on the other side?
Yeah.
And talk a little more aboutcelebrities.
Sure.
Okay, great.
We'll stick with this.
You're gonna hear some morecelebrity stories, even if there
b celebrities, uh, from therestaurant guys, you, oh, I got
an, a celebrity story from it.
Oh, well then don't go away.
You can find out more aboutus@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
(18:49):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back.
Uh, mark, you had some celebritystory stories.
I, I do.
So back in, I don't know, 10, 15years ago, Ann Mira and Jerry
Stiller used to, used to come ina lot, a lot and did a bunch of
shows at George Street Playhousethat she wrote and starred in.
And Jerry was in one and it was,it was terrific.
And, you know, her, her, herwhole entourage and her kids'
(19:10):
entourage used to come and seehim.
It was absolutely fantastic.
Anyway, so.
Anne hung out in town.
She lived here in town for, forfive weeks at a time.
Right.
And we were kind of her, herhometown bar right.
By the way.
And those two at table havingdinner are exactly like they
play.
And they're not acting.
That's just them.
They're hysterical.
(19:30):
Jerry was quieter than, than he.
Yes.
Anne was the, was the bores onein Jerry.
But the interaction's the same.
The quieter one.
Yes.
But they're terrificnonetheless.
Uh, anyway, so Anne is at thebar one night.
And I, and this is, andJennifer, you're gonna have to
do a little bleeping here.
I think, uh, Anna's at the barone night and she starts going
(19:53):
off on the Vagina Monologues.
Oh, that was the play that wasplaying at the time.
Yeah.
Not here, it wasn't playing hereon Broadway, but she was talking
about in Broadway, and she justsaid, I, I just don't understand
the world today.
Right.
There was just some things thatyou just didn't talk about in my
day.
And there, you know, nothingsacred anymore.
And she's standing at the end ofthe bar and she goes, you know,
you can just stand up there onstage.
(20:15):
And, and she's talking in AnneMira, full voice, right place
isn't that big.
That was voice and a half.
Okay.
She's, she's, she's fullthroated.
Yeah, yeah.
Firecracker.
And she goes, and you can juststand on stage now and say,
cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt.
And you know, you can just sayit as much as you want, whenever
you want, wherever you want.
Oh, and literally at the tableright behind Ann, across from
(20:38):
the bar.
Are three nuns.
Okay?
And I'm praying, yeah, okay.
Please don't strike me downright now.
Lord, She'll stop in a minute.
I promise.
Uhhuh.
Yeah.
And whatcha you gonna do?
Just tell Anne Mirror to shutup.
Mirror sink hunt in myrestaurant.
And I turned and I saw the threenuns sitting behind her I really
thought that day that lightningwas gonna strike the restaurant
(20:59):
and, and strike us down.
I think you're overthinking theCatholic side of this a little
bit, but, uh, the, the cu storywas very funny.
I like that.
Yes.
Uh, Alright, well I have anothercelebrity story.
Okay.
Go.
it's not exactly an a levelcelebrity story, but I remember
there was, Marlo Thomas wasacting in and producing a play
at the George Playhouse nextdoor.
(21:20):
Marlo Thomas was an A levelactor.
Yes, yes, yes.
But, um, Marlo Thomas was in, inthe play next door and, and
producing it, I think as well.
And then at the state theaterthat night, which is the concert
hall next to us with 1800 seats,they had Tony Orlando.
No.
Dawn?
No.
Dawn.
No Dawn.
It was Dawn as I recall.
Yeah.
But I remember that it was likea Wednesday night and at like 10
(21:42):
o'clock, 10 30 after the show.
'cause we used to sit in seatuntil 10 30.
Back then you sit till 11 onweekends, 10 30 on weekends.
Well this is a Wednesday, 10 30.
Yep.
So I walked up stairs andsitting in my dining room in New
Brunswick, New Jersey was TonyOrlando.
And not Dawn.
Yeah.
But his entourage.
And Marlo Thomas was havingdinner with her husband, Phil
(22:03):
Donahue.
I, I can tell you a couple ofother people at the table as
well.
Alan Aldo was at the table aswell.
Who else?
Okay.
Steve Gutenberg, Steve fromPolice Academy was at the table.
Steve Gutenberg was at thetable.
Who else?
Do you have anybody else?
Uh, there were a few otherpeople of that.
I, and I thought to myself, ifthis was only 1978, this would
be the coolest dining room inthe world.
It's not right now, but it wouldbe amazing.
(22:25):
It was still fun.
It was still fun to have thosepeople in the dining.
It was great.
It was super great.
The the thing you learn.
Mm-hmm.
And this is absolutely, I'vetalked to a lot of restaurant
people about this over the yearand be next to theaters.
We've had a lot of A, B, C, D,and E level actors throughout,
right.
Throughout the years here and.
The A level actors are almostall to a person.
(22:48):
Great.
Yeah.
They walk in, they just wantwhat they want.
They want a little peace andquiet, nice meal.
Terrific.
The e level actors yes, arealmost always terrific Uhhuh,
okay?
Because they come in and they'rejust happy that they, you know
who they are, and that yourecognize that they're in the
play next door, and they're,they're great uhhuh, okay?
(23:08):
They walk in the door and, oh,so good to see you.
And they're, they're happy to berecognized, and they're great.
The B, c, D level actors.
Okay.
Variance is where we have thevariance.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's where we have, some of themare very nice and some of them.
Are awful.
Yeah.
(23:28):
Right.
Notice me, notice me.
Notice me.
Notice me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because they're trying to get tothe next level and or reclaim
the level they once had, or recor in a lot of cases, you know,
the one actor, the Mary Hartman,Mary Hartman's husband.
Okay.
Just was so busy trying.
To reclaim his former glory, andhe was so unsuccessful that Mark
(23:50):
doesn't even remember his nametelling you this story.
Sorry dude.
If you're listening, uh, youknow, never quite got that back.
It, it's just, but, but you'rerude to my staff.
But yeah, don't be rude to mystaff.
These, you know, sometimesthey're horrible, right?
Yeah.
They're just horrible to thestaff.
It was awesome that you didn'tremember.
I have no idea what his fuckingname is right now.
(24:10):
No issue.
I can I tell you, not only do Inot know his name.
I don't know how to find out hisname.
It's a cell phone.
You, you go in the littlecomputer and you find out, but I
mean, to reach it in my brain.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's no, there's no, youknow, line to, to his name in my
brain.
Alright, I got one more story Iwant to tell and then we'll
bring this little brief episodeof Mark and Francis.
(24:30):
Tell us, if you like thisepisode, by the way, email us at
theguys@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
We'd love some feedback.
Anything you'd like to hear thatyou're not hearing, anything
that you like, that you arehearing, we always wanna hear.
Well, especially because.
So Francis and I each have apage of stuff that we were gonna
talk about.
Yeah.
And we are each on question two.
Exactly.
Okay.
So, so if you're wondering ifthese, if these stories are
(24:52):
candid, I promise you they are.
well, we, we always start withtwo questions and then ask other
unrelated things.
All right.
So I want to end this show witha story and it's gonna be
totally anonymous.
(25:27):
I want to end with this storyand it's gonna be totally
anonymous.
the-restaurant-guys_2_08-12- (25:31):
no names involved but a, a guy who
was a big executive in asupermarket company, became a
regular customer and there was aguy who was taking him out to
dinner.
Very good customer of ours.
I remember.
This other guy who worked for apaper company that sold to the
supermarket company, we'll callhim Paperman.
Paperman, arrives about an hourand a half early and he's super
(25:52):
nervous.
Like this is my biggest client.
He made my whole career dependson this.
And I'm taking him out to dinnerand he said he loves this place
and he wants to order, he lovesgood wine.
I'm like, I know he loves goodwine and nobody what he drinks.
It's not a problem.
We preselected wine.
We opened some wine.
Paperman has a martini.
Mm-hmm.
Paperman, it seems didn't havelunch.
Okay, so Paperman then has asecond martini and I don't
(26:13):
realize what's going on.
So Supermarket man arrives.
Hello Paperman.
Hello Supermarket, man.
They, they have a drink at thebar, then they sit down to
dinner.
Then the first wine comes over.
Mm-hmm.
With, and as I go to the table,I'm like, oh no.
Paperman paper paperman ismelting.
You're falling apart, like Houseof Carts, you're paperman.
(26:34):
Right.
So Supermarket Man is making thebest of it doesn't like, but
Paperman is thirsty.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, slow downPaperman.
So, so, so, so Paperman.
Paperman is drinking his drinksand I see where this is going.
Uhhuh, and slowly I can see I'vebeen a bartender a long time.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Been a bartender a long time.
And I can see in the eyes ofsupermarket, man, that he knows
(26:55):
where this is going to Papermandoesn't know where this is
going, but he's going there likea paper plane.
He's, he's already a little bitthere, right?
He's already already in the landthat he didn't wanna be.
So supermarket, man.
Realizes at this point that he,when the red wine hits, he, he's
had too much.
And I go to supermarket, man.
I'm like, I can't servePaperman.
He is like, you will not servePaperman anymore.
(27:16):
So he, and we're we're alliesnow, okay, Paperman now realizes
he's not getting any more wineat this business dinner and he
said something.
And then supermarket man says,no, Paperman, don't give him any
shit.
Don't have any more wine.
You don't need more wine.
So now he's about to cry, sothis is fucking awful.
I feel terrible for Paperman.
So Supermarket man comes up tothe bar.
(27:38):
I don't feel great forSupermarket man either.
Ooh, he's not having a greattime with you.
He's here with another assistantor associate from the
supermarket.
So he comes up to the bar, he islike, Ooh, rough night.
I'm like, dude, rough night.
Right?
So anyway, then we go back tothe table.
Paper Man's gone.
God, it's not Paper Man's flownaway.
I'm like, holy shit.
He didn't get in his car today.
He's like, Nope.
Supermarket man's got his keys.
(27:58):
I'm like, so, and the mosthumiliating thing that has ever
happened to anyone at a businessdinner at the restaurant, me.
Supermarket, man, you othersupermarket man, walking around
the streets of downtown NewBrunswick and we're, and we're
walking around and we're like,paper man, come out.
It's okay.
Nobody's mad at you.
(28:19):
And you know what I, it's okay.
So you know why I feel bad.
It wasn't okay.
We were mad at him.
No, I wasn't mad.
I felt terrible for him.
But Supermarket man was buyingdifferent paper towels and
following you, I think.
I don't know.
So we go and, and, andSupermarket man was to us like,
I can't believe this fuckingguy.
He was, he was mad.
Mm-hmm.
He was like, this is, he wasmad.
This is where I'm spending,you're taking me out as a thank
(28:41):
you for last year's.
But anyway, we find him in theparking lot of the hotel across
the street and we did have thekeys to his car.
But he is in the backseat of hiscar and we're like, listen, you
know, where do you live?
He's like, Vermont.
I'm like, oh, you drove herefrom Vermont?
He's like, yeah.
I'm like, you are staying at ahotel?
(29:01):
He is.
And he is like, no, no, I'm notstaying at a hotel.
So Supermarket man says.
You are staying at a hotel.
Yeah.
And you're gonna stop ruining myevening right now and you're
gonna stop ruining my friend'sevening.
And you're gonna stay at ahotel.
And I will leave the keys at thefront desk for you and tell them
not to give'em to you untiltomorrow morning.
And Paperman said, okay.
And that wins for the worst.
(29:23):
I've never felt bad about havinga a business dinner go poorly.
'cause at least I wasn'tpaperman.
Never saw Paperman again.
Paperman never came back.
Supermarket man, still a regularcustomer.
Supermarket man likes it here.
Rob (29:36):
Listen, I hope you guys have enjoyed this, uh, walk down
memory lane with the restaurantguys.
I'm Francis Shot.
And I'm Mark Pascal.
We're the restaurant guys.
You can always find out moreabout
us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
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 incapital Lombardi, restaurants in
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
We're here to bring you theinside track on food, wine, and
the finer things in life.
Hello, mark.
Hey buddy.
How are you?
I'm great.
How.
I'm great.
I'm super excited for our gueststoday.
They are some of our favoritepeople.
(00:34):
Uh, you guys are gonna realizewhy I'm laughing in a minute.
Our guests today are us.
We're the guest today.
So we have, we're responding toa bunch of listener requests to
do a Mark and Francis only show.
And so, uh, we thought we would,so honestly, you know, we spend.
That anywhere from five to 10minutes at the beginning of the
show talking about things wewant to talk about and what we
(00:57):
realized is.
We got more stuff we want totalk about.
There's, that's not enough time.
So just a while back, we were onthe 200th episode of the
Cocktail College podcast.
And, uh, many of you have joinedus, I guess from the Cocktail
College who are now followingus.
That's great to have you aboard.
Yeah.
Welcome to the restaurant guys.
If you'd like to become a paidsubscriber, you'll get invited
to lots of cool parties and funthings like that.
(01:20):
We'd love to have you on board.
Anyway, thanks for following theshow.
But one of the things that we'vegotten a lot of requests for is
to tell some stories.
Mm-hmm.
People want to hear stories fromthe past and, um, you know, I'm
moved, but there's so much stuffout there.
Like some of them aren't thatjust far in the past of, some of
them are from y from yesterday.
No, but some of them are fromfar in the past.
But what what's funny is I thinkthere's a real appetite for.
Restaurant stories.
(01:41):
Mm-hmm.
So do you, do you follow BistroHuddy on Uh, oh yeah.
They're great.
They're Ray, he's great.
They're terrific.
It's, it's one guy, but yeah, heplays all those characters.
It's different characters, butit's one guy.
But there's all sorts of these,like, you know, in the
restaurant life mm-hmm.
Uh, you know, amusing storiesand, and, and tales of life.
well, what makes them amusing isa lot of people have worked in
restaurants.
Obviously most of our listenershave worked in a restaurant
(02:02):
mm-hmm.
At some point or another.
And we've all been inrestaurants and the, the ones
that have that little grain oftruth running through them.
Yeah.
Those are the ones that are kindof the most fun.
What's amazing is, I think whatyou get in Bistro Huddy is
everybody in the restaurantbusiness is like, oh, I remember
that happened.
Yeah.
Remember that?
Yeah.
The sauce is another good onewhere that I like a lot.
Also.
Also Good.
Do you know what they did atBistro Hu?
They did.
One of your, one of your, thethings that you've trained on in
(02:24):
a long time is Okay.
Never let anyone take anythingoff your tray.
Oh, and recently they did one.
I didn't see.
I didn't see that one.
Oh, it was great.
So which one is the hot one?
The ger hot girl.
That, that, well, she comes overand the guy says, let me help
you with that.
And takes a beer off her trayand the whole thing goes flying.
'cause things are balanced on atray.
People never touch a waiter'stray.
So one of the things I do withevery single employee when they
(02:46):
come, when they start mm-hmm.
Is we take a coffee test andthen make an espresso, make a
double espresso, make acappuccino, make a pot of tea,
you know, make sure everythingis up to spec in our standard
and looks the way it's supposedto look.
And they all look the same.
Right?
Yep.
So the very first thing I dowhen they come to my table
mm-hmm.
Or, or wherever I'm sitting totake the test, is I grab
(03:07):
something furtively off theirtray.
You're like, just don't letsomebody do that.
Right.
Defend against that.
Turn away from them.
Defend against that pull, turnaway from them.
You gotta, you can't, you can'tlet somebody take something off
your tray'cause people will messyou up.
It's true.
It's true.
So I want to, I want to diveinto some funny stories from um,
uh, if we had Bistro Hudy atwhat we would do, and we don't,
(03:28):
we're never gonna do that.
We're not that talented.
Uh, we should have him on theshow though.
Absolute.
We should ask him to come on theshow.
Absolutely.
I will tell you I remember.
Early.
Very early.
My very first restaurant jobwas, uh, at Mayfair Farms and
do, I was doing a wedding.
Mm-hmm.
And one of my worst, my, metaking something off my own tray
moments.
(03:48):
Uhoh, what'd you do?
I was waiting on the bridalparty and I had a tray of white
Russians.
I remember the drink.
Wow.
Had a tray of white Russians andthey had 1982.
Glass.
The outside of the glass hadfrosted over'cause Oh, it was
cold milk and Yeah.
Cold insides.
Yeah.
(04:09):
And the glass frosted over fromall the, the stuff that was
inside it and the condensationon the outside.
And I, as I went to hand theglass Mm.
To the, one of the grooms women.
Like bridesmaids.
Sorry, not a grooms woman.
Well, today could be a groomswoman.
Come on.
That's true.
It's true.
Come on.
It sounds like something at agame of Throne.
(04:29):
Throne though.
But back then it was abridesmaid.
Okay.
So grooms woman, I think ofsomeone on a horse and the glass
just slid out of my hand headedright for their lap.
But I had a way to save it.
Which was, which was to take myother hand, which had the tray
with two glasses in it.
Oh, no.
Except I took the tray and Ibasically smashed the other two
(04:52):
white Russians into their lapwith the first one while I tried
to catch the, the white Russian.
And, you didn't get fired.
I didn't get fired.
I did not wait on the head tablethough, for like another six
months.
Yeah, I would, I would assumethose wedding sucks.
I was banned.
How come?
How come I'm on table 28 and 29?
Why?
Why am why am I waiting on thosetables?
(05:12):
I'll always remember, uh, thefrog and the peach where we used
to work.
Uhhuh.
Great restaurant.
It's still here, owned by afriend of ours.
Now, the owners that who we workfor sold to their chef, the
Great Peoples.
Yep.
We recommend the place.
But Frog Peach, very nice,elegant restaurant.
But we used to have a late nightcrowd that would go till two in
the morning during the weekend,three in the morning on the
weekends.
And we used to work at ourselvesand we frankly made a ton of
(05:33):
money.
'cause we were really fastbartenders back then.
We were geriatric.
Well, part of the way, honestly,part of the way we, you could be
really fast is lots of thedrinks were gin and tonic.
True, true.
Last.
Martinis, but we, but we wouldhave a bar with 50 people at it.
Yes.
By ourselves without a bar.
Yes.
Just, I mean, simply just takingorders, ringing them up, giving
people their change to all wewere.
'cause people used to pay withthis magical paper stuff.
(05:54):
Cash.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes, you know, you know,it reminds me at the time that
young people don't know this,but people used to go to bars
and, and they didn't do this at,at the dining tables.
And, you'd sit at a bar andyou'd put like 50 bucks, which
was a lot of money back then.
On a bar in like tens and fivesand twenties.
And the bartender would take outof your pile Yes.
Slowly take out of your pilewhat you were spending.
(06:15):
You didn't, spending, didn't runa tab, but you just left a pile
of cash on the bar.
Yeah.
And, and you'd, you'd, if youbought something to drink, you'd
point at them and then you'dpoint at your pile like, take it
outta my pile.
So strange.
It was a really weird way to dothings.
It was cool.
It was great.
It was way better than the waywe do it now.
Yeah.
Then you got people get reallydrunk and leave their pile there
sometimes.
Well, that was the idea, right?
You get what's left in the pile.
That's funny.
People did call me up the nextday and they were like.
(06:36):
Did I tip you last night?
I don't remember paying.
I'm like, yeah, you left ahundred dollars.
You can pick up, you can pick up80 of it, because I know you
didn't mean to leave that.
Yeah.
But that was the time.
But I do remember it so close inone night and we had long
shifts.
We'd start our shift at three30.
Yep.
And we would leave at fouro'clock in the morning.
Yep.
Five o'clock in the morning.
Sometimes I, I left, I left.
(06:57):
It sunrise, you know, 6, 6 30.
But we made a lot of money.
Yeah, it was great.
Totally worth it.
It was, but one guy alone behindthe bar, no bar back.
Um, and breaks.
And it was, and, and don'tforget we had all those breaks.
Oh, no.
Breaks you, you didn't, youdidn't have breaks.
Four to four 30 was a one break.
Um, and, uh, but they did feedus well.
Yeah.
And, uh, you could go to thebathroom, but no one covered
(07:17):
your bar when you went to thebathroom.
Right.
So the tickets just filled up.
So the moment you went it, itwas, it, you know, I kind of
harken it to when I go onvacation now.
So if I go on vacation for aweek, somehow I do two weeks of
of work the week before I leave.
Exactly.
And two weeks of work, the weekI come back, I'm like, wait a
second.
Well, let tell you something.
How did I get an extra week'sworth of work?
But let me tell you something.
It was long and it was hard.
But they paid very well.
(07:37):
Paid, yeah.
And I, I loved it.
It's where we learned how to dowhat we do.
I loved it.
And we were fine.
We were the fastest fine diningbartenders in New Jersey,
clearly.
Who we talking to?
Neil Bodenheimer, I think is, wewere talking about, and he's
like.
I didn't even, you know, I hadto pee, but I didn't wanna, you
know, I just wanted to staybehind that bar.
It was good.
Well, so anyway, so the night,it's been a long night, and you
(08:01):
would have one other employeewho was there.
Mm-hmm.
They weren't really helping you,they just were there in case.
So you didn't get robbed.
Well, sometimes.
Depends on who it was.
Right.
Sure.
Some people would be great athelping you, and some people are
like, I'm just a babysitter.
And you, and you'd tip out theones who did.
Absolutely.
And you would less tip out theones who didn't.
Anyway, so I'm with somebodywho's just a babysitter.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh.
They, these people came in andthey drank champagne at the end
(08:23):
of the night, and it was like awonderful evening, and I'm at
the end of the bar and they usedto, they used to run dirty
glasses back for you.
Mm-hmm.
Francis (08:30):
This got way ahead of the game and I've got a, I'm
like closed up.
The last call's 20 to three.
I've got a, I might just go out,it's now quarter after three,
the bar still got 38 people init, and I pick up one of the big
foot ball trays of glassware.
It's all.
Tall champagne glasses becausethey all were drinking
champagne, tall stem, skinnyglass, high center of gravity.
(08:52):
Very.
And I, and I had another smalltray with rocks, glasses on it,
little base.
And then I, so I'm walkingtoward the kitchen and I'm gonna
set the one.
Straight down and swing theother tray over and, so.
I make it all the way to thekitchen, which is inside of the
bar, and as I am in the kitchen,the bar door closing taps the
back of the big football tray.
(09:14):
One champagne glass falls over.
PI overcorrect.
Another champagne glass fallsover the other side.
Literally, I think I droppedthem one at a time.
$10,$20,$30,$40,$50,$60.
It is not my money at that time.
I'm just a bartender.
Standing ovation from the barcrowd though was really, that
(09:34):
was the biggest, longest crashever in the history of
bartending.
So what's funny is you startedthis story with.
You know, I couldn't do thistoday, but to be fair, it sounds
like you couldn't do it backthen either.
I could do it most of the timeback then, but the, the football
tray of champagne flutes was areally, really bad plan.
You know what else I, I, Iwanted two related stories.
(09:57):
One is, I remember when we firstopened and we priced ourselves
too low.
Wow.
with purpose, we purposelypriced ourselves low.
We didn't, we want it to be, wedidn't make as little as we
made.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, I'm, I'm sorry We waited toolong to come out of it.
Yes.
So we were ve we were thebusiest restaurant in town.
You couldn't get a reservationon a Saturday night for weeks.
Yes.
And we weren't making any money.
(10:18):
There was no money left over.
We're like, well, we gotta keepthe prices low.
That's a mistake by the way.
always do the math and make surethe math, math at the end of
every month.
'cause we, we did that too longanyway.
We are making very little money.
We're very busy.
We're very happy with our jobs.
And there was a lovely familywho supported us from the very
beginning, and they were ourfirst big private party.
(10:39):
And I remember it was a barmitzvah.
And so we had this little cocloset in the front.
And this little 50 seatrestaurant, this family came
over and we had some friends whoworked for us who knew fur, they
knew furs.
Mm-hmm.
And it was cold outside.
And fur was very much in fashionback then.
And.
These people were very wealthyand their friends were very
wealthy.
(11:00):
And somebody came up to us andthey said, you know that that
coke closet is worth more thandouble what your entire
restaurant was.
You could just steal the Cokecloset and get on a plane and
never come back.
so, you know what I rememberabout that Bar mitzvah?
What?
Okay.
Remember I grew up in Nutley?
Yep.
Okay.
Big Italian enclave.
Mm-hmm.
Italian family.
(11:20):
You know, my dad was a halfFrench, half Italian.
That was the first Bar Mitzvah Iwas ever at.
Really?
That's absolutely, I, I hadnever been to a Bar Mitzvah
before.
I went, I went to high school inLivingston, New Jersey.
I would say that 60% of my highschool was Jewish.
I went to more bar Mitzvahs andBat Mitzvahs than I did
confirmations.
I didn't know how they worked.
that was the first Bar mitzvahI've ever, I'd ever been to.
(11:43):
Lead the way.
I got no idea.
Fortunately I was here.
Um, but that reminded me ofanother story and, and a first
story.
So hold on.
What God, so.
You're saying you're gonna tellanother story now.
Yeah, I know, I know, right?
Uh, yes.
And I'm gonna go back to thefrog and the peach yet again.
Mm-hmm.
Where we used to work, and Ithink the statute of limitations
has run out on this'cause it's30 5-year-old story.
(12:06):
back then a lot of waiters inthis profession.
There was a lot more.
Gay representation of waiters,kind of an area where people had
permission to be gay.
Mm-hmm.
And, and to be openly gay.
Well, it was one of the, was inrestaurants honestly, was one of
the first places.
Right.
That was restaurants, really.
Restaurants.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Really let your freak fry.
Flag fly.
You can't even say it.
Yeah, you don't even have afreak flag.
(12:26):
You don't even have a freakflag.
I gotta be honest.
You got an old fraternity flagin your closet, that's all you
got.
So it's got moth balls, holes init now.
Moth holes in it now.
That's it.
So I remember though, it It wasGalena and Michael Yao.
So what they would do, they hadtheir co closet was kind of
neither front door.
It didn't have a door to closeit.
So when anyone had a fur, theywould bring it into the liquor
(12:47):
room behind the bar.
Right.
Which, so they could lock theliquor room.
And whenever they had a quietmoment, uh, Michael Avino and
Gina would prance around andmodel the women's first.
Oh my goodness.
Sorry everyone.
But they did.
And, uh, they were absolutelyhysterical and fabulous.
And, um, they borrowed yourcoats.
We've never done that at ourrestaurant.
But I, the story I thought youwere gonna tell.
(13:08):
Kirkland is a, is a furrier onthe side, Uhhuh, and in walks
you know, a woman with a furcoat, Uhhuh and Kirkland takes
the coat and he hangs it on theregular coat rack.
Oh, yes, I know this guy.
Okay.
And he hangs it on the regularcoat rack.
And he goes back like, so, Kirk,you know that fur coat?
(13:29):
Why didn't you put it in theliquor room where we put fur
coat.
Do you remember what he said?
I do.
You, you, you may I, I'll giveyou the punchline here.
He said there is a differencebetween a fur and a fuzz.
A fur comes from an animal and afuzz does not, and that is a
fuzz.
It's not a fur.
And he refused and he refused toput it away.
And he was, which a valuablecoat.
(13:50):
It was totally a dig and shetotally got it.
He was a little bit snooty andhe was a stereotypical, snooty
waiter sometimes, and it wasvery.
Fucking funny.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaking of fucking, you have totell a story.
When you took over as hisassistant manager, there was
one, the one waitress whosometimes you get people,
sometimes people get fired, andthis has happened to us.
(14:11):
You, you're like, listen, I haveto let you go and like you do,
but tell this story about this.
So you have to tell me the nameof the actor, uh, Andre Brower,
So we are.
Working at the Frog of thePeach.
Crossroads is next door, andit's one of the largest African
American theaters in thecountry.
And so a lot of name peoplewould come from Crossroads.
(14:34):
They'd either be starring in theshow or come to see the show.
Spielberg came to see one of theplays, didn't he?
So, I think so.
Yeah.
So Andre Brower he was in Glory.
He was in Brooklyn.
Nine.
Nine.
A whole bunch of stuff.
Yep.
Anyway, so he's there and he'sthere with a, a group and
they're being waited on it.
At that time, the frog and thepeach had teams.
Okay.
(14:54):
And I remember the two person,team was Donna and Rick waited
on the table.
Mm-hmm.
And one of the people came outof the party as, as it was over,
like they were in the back, backarea.
I couldn't see what washappening for the event, but I
see this happen.
And I see the, one of the menfrom the party go to pay the
check and he's carrying thecheck in his hand.
(15:15):
He's means the check meansnobody wants to pick it up and
the Donna and Rick are standingthere.
And he purposely walks pastDonna and hands the check to
Rick and says, we wanted to givethis to you because you were
great.
And it was obviously a slight ashe, like I said, he walked past
Donna and ignored her and soDonna turns to him, he and she
(15:38):
goes, well, excuse me.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I remember now unbelievably, theguy turns to her.
He doesn't miss a second, hegoes.
Well, actually, we've beenmaking excuses for you all
night.
Ooh.
Ouch.
So now she retorts.
Well, fuck you.
(16:00):
Still cracks me up.
Oh my God.
So Donna was the first person Iever fired in any job anywhere.
This was the next day, right?
The next day, yeah.
And can tell the story of howshe was incredulous.
That she was fired.
She couldn't believe that shewas being fired for saying fuck
you to the gentleman who wastrying to pay the check.
It's amazing.
It, it was, it's, you know, it'sone of those restaurant stories
that will live on forever.
(16:21):
You know, I think, I think it'sinteresting also when you have
ele celebrity or well-knownpeople that are there, that come
into your, to your restaurant.
Some people, it's funny, well,everybody knows this.
I guess.
Some people, when they come intothe restaurant, they're like.
Uh, I'm a celebrity, so pleaseseat me in the back so no one
will see me.
Mm-hmm.
And of course, what they want ofmore than anything is to be
noticed.
Right.
But then there are many peoplewho are like, you just wanna be
left alone.
(16:41):
Yep.
You know, they just want to comeand, and have dinner.
Absolutely.
And I remember Avery Brooks usedto come into the restaurant
mm-hmm.
I was bartending and I remember,um, there was a group and they
were like, look, it's because hewas in a man called Hawk.
Mm-hmm.
Which was the show before he wasin Star Trek.
It was a spinoff from Spencerfor hire.
Right.
And he was, and it was verypopular at the time.
(17:03):
Right.
And, uh.
And, but he was thisno-nonsense, not a lot of words,
guy.
And they said, is that, is thata man called Hawk?
I'm like, yeah, that's AveryBrooks.
He plays a man called Hawk.
Like we're gonna go ask for hisautograph.
And I said, no, no, actuallyyou're not.
You're not gonna do that.
You're not gonna do that at all.
Anyway, so they're like, whynot?
I'm like,'cause he just wants tohave a drink each.
And I know Avery doesn't justwanted to have a drink and he
(17:24):
certainly didn't want to.
Okay.
This is a guy who played PaulRobeson and you know, he played
Othello on Broadway, you know?
Yeah, exactly.
He's playing, playing, on onBroadway.
Well.
And he's in this show, a mancalled Hawk with this kind of in
eloquent, kind of gruffcharacter.
And he hated that.
That's what, what people, well,that people would know him for
(17:45):
that you and not know him for a,you stepped on my punchline, but
I'll, I'll deliver it Anyway,it's that How dare I.
How so?
When he, so I walked over and aysaid, thanks a lot, man.
I said, yeah, no worries.
He is like, I played PaulRobeson on Broadway.
That's how I'm gonna be known aman called Hawk.
Little did he know he would beknown as the, as the captain of
(18:06):
the Deep Space.
Nine.
Yeah.
See, later on he moved, he, heeradicated a man called Hawk.
And do you know what I said tohim?
Moved outta the water.
Yeah.
I said, yeah, but I, because ofa man Paul called Hawk, you have
a swell townhouse on the UpperEast Side.
He's like, yeah, that's true.
Can't can.
But he's also a, he was aprofessor of theater at Rutgers.
Yeah.
He was super talented companyand a really good guy.
Mm-hmm.
He was, he was, he really washere a lot in the early years of
(18:28):
stage left and Yeah.
Really appreciated him.
do you wanna take a quick breakand come back on the other side?
Yeah.
And talk a little more aboutcelebrities.
Sure.
Okay, great.
We'll stick with this.
You're gonna hear some morecelebrity stories, even if there
b celebrities, uh, from therestaurant guys, you, oh, I got
an, a celebrity story from it.
Oh, well then don't go away.
You can find out more aboutus@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
(18:49):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back.
Uh, mark, you had some celebritystory stories.
I, I do.
So back in, I don't know, 10, 15years ago, Ann Mira and Jerry
Stiller used to, used to come ina lot, a lot and did a bunch of
shows at George Street Playhousethat she wrote and starred in.
And Jerry was in one and it was,it was terrific.
And, you know, her, her, herwhole entourage and her kids'
(19:10):
entourage used to come and seehim.
It was absolutely fantastic.
Anyway, so.
Anne hung out in town.
She lived here in town for, forfive weeks at a time.
Right.
And we were kind of her, herhometown bar right.
By the way.
And those two at table havingdinner are exactly like they
play.
And they're not acting.
That's just them.
They're hysterical.
(19:30):
Jerry was quieter than, than he.
Yes.
Anne was the, was the bores onein Jerry.
But the interaction's the same.
The quieter one.
Yes.
But they're terrificnonetheless.
Uh, anyway, so Anne is at thebar one night.
And I, and this is, andJennifer, you're gonna have to
do a little bleeping here.
I think, uh, Anna's at the barone night and she starts going
(19:53):
off on the Vagina Monologues.
Oh, that was the play that wasplaying at the time.
Yeah.
Not here, it wasn't playing hereon Broadway, but she was talking
about in Broadway, and she justsaid, I, I just don't understand
the world today.
Right.
There was just some things thatyou just didn't talk about in my
day.
And there, you know, nothingsacred anymore.
And she's standing at the end ofthe bar and she goes, you know,
you can just stand up there onstage.
(20:15):
And, and she's talking in AnneMira, full voice, right place
isn't that big.
That was voice and a half.
Okay.
She's, she's, she's fullthroated.
Yeah, yeah.
Firecracker.
And she goes, and you can juststand on stage now and say,
cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt.
And you know, you can just sayit as much as you want, whenever
you want, wherever you want.
Oh, and literally at the tableright behind Ann, across from
(20:38):
the bar.
Are three nuns.
Okay?
And I'm praying, yeah, okay.
Please don't strike me downright now.
Lord, She'll stop in a minute.
I promise.
Uhhuh.
Yeah.
And whatcha you gonna do?
Just tell Anne Mirror to shutup.
Mirror sink hunt in myrestaurant.
And I turned and I saw the threenuns sitting behind her I really
thought that day that lightningwas gonna strike the restaurant
(20:59):
and, and strike us down.
I think you're overthinking theCatholic side of this a little
bit, but, uh, the, the cu storywas very funny.
I like that.
Yes.
Uh, Alright, well I have anothercelebrity story.
Okay.
Go.
it's not exactly an a levelcelebrity story, but I remember
there was, Marlo Thomas wasacting in and producing a play
at the George Playhouse nextdoor.
(21:20):
Marlo Thomas was an A levelactor.
Yes, yes, yes.
But, um, Marlo Thomas was in, inthe play next door and, and
producing it, I think as well.
And then at the state theaterthat night, which is the concert
hall next to us with 1800 seats,they had Tony Orlando.
No.
Dawn?
No.
Dawn.
No Dawn.
It was Dawn as I recall.
Yeah.
But I remember that it was likea Wednesday night and at like 10
(21:42):
o'clock, 10 30 after the show.
'cause we used to sit in seatuntil 10 30.
Back then you sit till 11 onweekends, 10 30 on weekends.
Well this is a Wednesday, 10 30.
Yep.
So I walked up stairs andsitting in my dining room in New
Brunswick, New Jersey was TonyOrlando.
And not Dawn.
Yeah.
But his entourage.
And Marlo Thomas was havingdinner with her husband, Phil
(22:03):
Donahue.
I, I can tell you a couple ofother people at the table as
well.
Alan Aldo was at the table aswell.
Who else?
Okay.
Steve Gutenberg, Steve fromPolice Academy was at the table.
Steve Gutenberg was at thetable.
Who else?
Do you have anybody else?
Uh, there were a few otherpeople of that.
I, and I thought to myself, ifthis was only 1978, this would
be the coolest dining room inthe world.
It's not right now, but it wouldbe amazing.
(22:25):
It was still fun.
It was still fun to have thosepeople in the dining.
It was great.
It was super great.
The the thing you learn.
Mm-hmm.
And this is absolutely, I'vetalked to a lot of restaurant
people about this over the yearand be next to theaters.
We've had a lot of A, B, C, D,and E level actors throughout,
right.
Throughout the years here and.
The A level actors are almostall to a person.
(22:48):
Great.
Yeah.
They walk in, they just wantwhat they want.
They want a little peace andquiet, nice meal.
Terrific.
The e level actors yes, arealmost always terrific Uhhuh,
okay?
Because they come in and they'rejust happy that they, you know
who they are, and that yourecognize that they're in the
play next door, and they're,they're great uhhuh, okay?
(23:08):
They walk in the door and, oh,so good to see you.
And they're, they're happy to berecognized, and they're great.
The B, c, D level actors.
Okay.
Variance is where we have thevariance.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's where we have, some of themare very nice and some of them.
Are awful.
Yeah.
(23:28):
Right.
Notice me, notice me.
Notice me.
Notice me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because they're trying to get tothe next level and or reclaim
the level they once had, or recor in a lot of cases, you know,
the one actor, the Mary Hartman,Mary Hartman's husband.
Okay.
Just was so busy trying.
To reclaim his former glory, andhe was so unsuccessful that Mark
(23:50):
doesn't even remember his nametelling you this story.
Sorry dude.
If you're listening, uh, youknow, never quite got that back.
It, it's just, but, but you'rerude to my staff.
But yeah, don't be rude to mystaff.
These, you know, sometimesthey're horrible, right?
Yeah.
They're just horrible to thestaff.
It was awesome that you didn'tremember.
I have no idea what his fuckingname is right now.
(24:10):
No issue.
I can I tell you, not only do Inot know his name.
I don't know how to find out hisname.
It's a cell phone.
You, you go in the littlecomputer and you find out, but I
mean, to reach it in my brain.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's no, there's no, youknow, line to, to his name in my
brain.
Alright, I got one more story Iwant to tell and then we'll
bring this little brief episodeof Mark and Francis.
(24:30):
Tell us, if you like thisepisode, by the way, email us at
theguys@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
We'd love some feedback.
Anything you'd like to hear thatyou're not hearing, anything
that you like, that you arehearing, we always wanna hear.
Well, especially because.
So Francis and I each have apage of stuff that we were gonna
talk about.
Yeah.
And we are each on question two.
Exactly.
Okay.
So, so if you're wondering ifthese, if these stories are
(24:52):
candid, I promise you they are.
well, we, we always start withtwo questions and then ask other
unrelated things.
All right.
So I want to end this show witha story and it's gonna be
totally anonymous.
(25:27):
I want to end with this storyand it's gonna be totally
anonymous.
the-restaurant-guys_2_08-12- (25:31):
no names involved but a, a guy who
was a big executive in asupermarket company, became a
regular customer and there was aguy who was taking him out to
dinner.
Very good customer of ours.
I remember.
This other guy who worked for apaper company that sold to the
supermarket company, we'll callhim Paperman.
Paperman, arrives about an hourand a half early and he's super
(25:52):
nervous.
Like this is my biggest client.
He made my whole career dependson this.
And I'm taking him out to dinnerand he said he loves this place
and he wants to order, he lovesgood wine.
I'm like, I know he loves goodwine and nobody what he drinks.
It's not a problem.
We preselected wine.
We opened some wine.
Paperman has a martini.
Mm-hmm.
Paperman, it seems didn't havelunch.
Okay, so Paperman then has asecond martini and I don't
(26:13):
realize what's going on.
So Supermarket man arrives.
Hello Paperman.
Hello Supermarket, man.
They, they have a drink at thebar, then they sit down to
dinner.
Then the first wine comes over.
Mm-hmm.
With, and as I go to the table,I'm like, oh no.
Paperman paper paperman ismelting.
You're falling apart, like Houseof Carts, you're paperman.
(26:34):
Right.
So Supermarket Man is making thebest of it doesn't like, but
Paperman is thirsty.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, slow downPaperman.
So, so, so, so Paperman.
Paperman is drinking his drinksand I see where this is going.
Uhhuh, and slowly I can see I'vebeen a bartender a long time.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Been a bartender a long time.
And I can see in the eyes ofsupermarket, man, that he knows
(26:55):
where this is going to Papermandoesn't know where this is
going, but he's going there likea paper plane.
He's, he's already a little bitthere, right?
He's already already in the landthat he didn't wanna be.
So supermarket, man.
Realizes at this point that he,when the red wine hits, he, he's
had too much.
And I go to supermarket, man.
I'm like, I can't servePaperman.
He is like, you will not servePaperman anymore.
(27:16):
So he, and we're we're alliesnow, okay, Paperman now realizes
he's not getting any more wineat this business dinner and he
said something.
And then supermarket man says,no, Paperman, don't give him any
shit.
Don't have any more wine.
You don't need more wine.
So now he's about to cry, sothis is fucking awful.
I feel terrible for Paperman.
So Supermarket man comes up tothe bar.
(27:38):
I don't feel great forSupermarket man either.
Ooh, he's not having a greattime with you.
He's here with another assistantor associate from the
supermarket.
So he comes up to the bar, he islike, Ooh, rough night.
I'm like, dude, rough night.
Right?
So anyway, then we go back tothe table.
Paper Man's gone.
God, it's not Paper Man's flownaway.
I'm like, holy shit.
He didn't get in his car today.
He's like, Nope.
Supermarket man's got his keys.
(27:58):
I'm like, so, and the mosthumiliating thing that has ever
happened to anyone at a businessdinner at the restaurant, me.
Supermarket, man, you othersupermarket man, walking around
the streets of downtown NewBrunswick and we're, and we're
walking around and we're like,paper man, come out.
It's okay.
Nobody's mad at you.
(28:19):
And you know what I, it's okay.
So you know why I feel bad.
It wasn't okay.
We were mad at him.
No, I wasn't mad.
I felt terrible for him.
But Supermarket man was buyingdifferent paper towels and
following you, I think.
I don't know.
So we go and, and, andSupermarket man was to us like,
I can't believe this fuckingguy.
He was, he was mad.
Mm-hmm.
He was like, this is, he wasmad.
This is where I'm spending,you're taking me out as a thank
(28:41):
you for last year's.
But anyway, we find him in theparking lot of the hotel across
the street and we did have thekeys to his car.
But he is in the backseat of hiscar and we're like, listen, you
know, where do you live?
He's like, Vermont.
I'm like, oh, you drove herefrom Vermont?
He's like, yeah.
I'm like, you are staying at ahotel?
(29:01):
He is.
And he is like, no, no, I'm notstaying at a hotel.
So Supermarket man says.
You are staying at a hotel.
Yeah.
And you're gonna stop ruining myevening right now and you're
gonna stop ruining my friend'sevening.
And you're gonna stay at ahotel.
And I will leave the keys at thefront desk for you and tell them
not to give'em to you untiltomorrow morning.
And Paperman said, okay.
And that wins for the worst.
(29:23):
I've never felt bad about havinga a business dinner go poorly.
'cause at least I wasn'tpaperman.
Never saw Paperman again.
Paperman never came back.
Supermarket man, still a regularcustomer.
Supermarket man likes it here.
Rob (29:36):
Listen, I hope you guys have enjoyed this, uh, walk down
memory lane with the restaurantguys.
I'm Francis Shot.
And I'm Mark Pascal.
We're the restaurant guys.
You can always find out moreabout
us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.