Steve Schneider, The "Guzzle" of Sip & Guzzle

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 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.
That's kind of weird, sexy waythat at end, I gotta be honest
with you, that you think it'ssexy is weird.

(00:31):
I agree.
No, I, it was, there was airquotes around that.
Sexy, I gotta be honest withyou, even though it's an audio
podcast.
Um, today's great.
We have Steve Schneider comingon the show.
Fun show coming up.
He's one of the most importantbartenders I think I.
Around.
His story is amazing.
He was featured in, HeyBartender, in 2013.
He's been doing a lot of coolstuff since then.
He's a friend and we can't waitto talk to him.

(00:51):
Great story.
Yeah.
So, but he is gonna be on in afew minutes In the meantime, and
between time we should talkabout, uh oh.
Another thing, we are gonna beon the Cocktail College podcast
at Vine Pair.
Yes.
And another week or two we'll beon that show.
It was a, it's gonna be great.
Yeah.
We recorded.
Yep.
Recorded, already recorded, andthen went out for martinis with,
uh, Tim mcc.

(01:12):
And, uh, I love, I I I can't goout.
Oh, I can only stay for one.
Oh, we went out for martinis.
I'm sorry for Martini and weended up with Martinis.
Yeah, it was good then, but justtwo.
And it was nice.
Great.
But the Cocktail college, if youdon't listen to it, it's um, and
the Vine Pair network and it is,I learned something.
I know a lot about cocktails.
And I learn something every timeI listen to that show.

(01:34):
And we were super, stoked when,Tim, the host of the show,
invited us to be on the 200thepisode.
Episode hundredth episode was,was a big deal.
It's gonna be restaurant guysvisit them.
Yeah, it's gonna be great.
Yeah.
Looking forward to It's begreat.
It was a lot, it was a lot offun to do.
Lot of fun.
He's great guy.
Yeah.
So what are we talking abouttoday?
Today we're talking, there's alittle bit of sadness that we
have to talk about before allthe pleasantries later.
Yep.

(01:54):
Uh, I read it in RobertSimonson's column, the Mix
first.
one of the most importantcocktail bars in the world on
July 1st.
Closed its doors.
Yeah.
So I didn't, I had no, I had noidea it was coming.
I knew they had some temporaryproblems.
Yeah.
But the violet hour in Chicagopretty much brought craft
cocktails to Chicago.
Yeah.

(02:14):
Really.
Toby Maloney, uh, you know,super talented guy, uh, who's
been doing this for 25 years.
Of all the early cocktail, uh,bars that were dedicated
cocktail bars.
Mm-hmm.
It really was one of the mostbreathtaking rooms to be in.
It was stunning.
It was, you know, Francis and Ihad the good fortune to go out
there shortly after it opened,I'm gonna say within the first

(02:34):
year, and I.
It's a, it was a stunning placewith doing really cool things.
And, uh, they were kind of thefirst ones to reintroduce, if
you remember, the green hour asAs absent became, legal again.
so they would have the greenhour every day and you could go
and they'd, they'd feature theirabsent drinks.
just a, a place that was reallyahead of his time and, pushed

(02:56):
the envelope, more than a lot ofother places, certainly in that
area of the country.
Well, the, the stated reasonthey have for closing is they
had a problem with a landlord.
There was something that causedthe businesses to close, and
then, uh, they just left it as aproblem with a landlord that
prevents them from reopening.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but, you know, I, I thinkcocktail bars are, you know,
it's really fascinating.
They're in a.
It's a weird thing to be in acocktail bar.

(03:18):
Mm-hmm.
And one of the things that'sgoing on is people are drinking
less.
But another thing that's goingon is if you're a dedicated
cocktail bar, um, it's not asnecessary for us to have
cocktail bars as when we firsthad cocktail bars when
restaurants and greatrestaurants and other bars
didn't make great cocktails.
Well, and you have the doublewhammy when it comes to a more
traditional bar.

(03:39):
Versus being, being a cocktailbar.
Because a cocktail bar is superlabor intensive.
Yeah.
Drinks take a long time to makedrinks are really expensive.
You know what, the best thingyou can do for the restaurant or
the bar is for order a draftbeer in a shot.
Yeah.
No, that's true.
They come out in 10 seconds.
There's no labor involvedwhatsoever.

(04:01):
You know, the profit margins arehigh and.
It's way harder to be a cocktailbar, to be a, a really
intelligent cocktail bar.
It's, it's just more difficultbecause of all, everything that
goes into making every drink andthen everything that goes into
executing that drink.
And you know what's funny?
We were probably the first finedining restaurant to have a

(04:21):
contemporary craft cocktailprogram.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, we were praised forthat at the time, we were a
serious restaurant primarily.
Yep.
Swine is a big part of what wedo.
And then we would do cocktailsand people were saying, wow,
it's great they, you're able todo both of those things.
But you know, looking at itoverall, and everybody realized
this eventually.
Being a great restaurant withtwo great chefs and a whole

(04:45):
kitchen staff and a kitchen fullof equipment that we have and
need to produce our food.
Well, we can, the bartenders canuse that.
The head bartender can use that.
The the head bartender can thehead bartender and we can
consult with the chefs.
And the chef is already gettingstuff from the green market and
the farmer.
And like when you're astandalone cocktail bar and

(05:06):
you're serving little bites onthe side, You have to build out
some of that infrastructure tojust service bar and garnishes
and Yeah.
And I remember when 11 MadisonPark first got into the game,
right?
Mm-hmm.
Into the, into the super premiumcocktail game, which is pretty
early on too.
Yep.
Uh, and they had, they use thoseassets a hundred percent and

(05:27):
they're still using them today.
It really made a difference withtheir cocktails, being able to
rely on that.
That super premium skillset thatyou already had in your
organization.
Well, and not just the skillset,it's like the flow of goods.
Mm-hmm.
It's the accounts that have beenset up.
It's the person to receive.
It's the equipment.
It The equipment.
Okay.
Let's face it, a lot of itsequipment's very expensive, but
also it's, you know.

(05:48):
When you wanna collaborate withthe pastry chef mm-hmm.
As the, as the bartender, as themixologist that's available to
you.
And also when we have productionissues, we're talking about
making certain syrups and thingslike during Miracle Bar where we
batch Yeah.
You know, in an, in an ungodlyamount of individual drinks.
We'll look at some of the stuffand say, okay, turn those three
things over to the pastry chef.
Yes.

(06:09):
Just give them the pastry.
Bartenders are overwhelmed.
There's too much prep for, forthis particular time.
And also the, the pastry chef isset up to make syrups and all
these other things.
You're like that.
This pastry chef can more easilywork that into her day.
Yep.
Than to have a bartender come inand break, set everything up,
and then use it, and then cleanit up and, and go away.
Francis was not being sexisttowards pastry chefs, just our

(06:30):
pastry chef happens to be awoman.
You needed to clarify that.
Of course, I'm not sexist.
Um, yes.
Um, and, uh, and she's anaward-winning pastry chef and
it's amazing.
But the resources, it makes alot of stuff easier anyway.
But I, I think in a way whatthat means is we've won.
We've, the cocktails have wonand now they're a part of every
day, every bar, everywhere.
If you wanna consider yourself,great.

(06:51):
You gotta make at least a fewgreat cocktails.
Well, the, the, certainly theChicago community, and I think
the whole world loses a littlebit Yeah.
As violent hour closes.
Uh, a hundred percent agree withyou.
There are other great cocktailbars there now and I'm sure
Toby's gonna wind up on his feetdoing something.
Really.
Sure.
I'm is, he's always doing coolstuff.
I'm, I'm, I'm sure we have notseen the last of Toby Maloney,
that's for sure.
Well, so let's, to our nextsegment, but in the end we'll

(07:12):
raise a glass to, uh, TobyMaloney for the amazing work he
did and what he brought to,Chicago to the Violet Hour here,
here.
So stick with us.
We'll be back in just a moment.
You're listening to me, therestaurant.
Guys, you can always find outmore@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07-01 (07:25):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back.
Uh, our guest today is SteveSchneider.
The Steve Schneider.
He's bar manager and headbartender at Sip and Guzzle, his
place in New York City.
You may know him from employeesonly.
He's bartended in Singapore,Shanghai, Panama City.
He's got a bunch of barsincluding the Elysian Cafe in
Hoboken, New Jersey.
Shout out to another Jersey boy.

(07:45):
Um, he was featured in the HeyBartender film in 2013, which
was a really important film andwe couldn't be more thrilled to
have Steve Schneider.
On the show today.
Steve, welcome to the show,buddy.

Steve (07:56):
Boys, thank you so much.
It's really great to sit hereand talk to you.

Yeah, man, it's been a long time, uh,
your new bar, sip and guzzle.
I think that's where we wannastart.
and then we can go back into thehistory.
You know, we, we have this OGthing where we, we wanna start,
like, let's talk about whathappened 10 years ago and I
wanna see how we got here, butsip and guzzle is really cool.
And for those of who don't knowabout it, who've been living
under a rock, why don't you tellus about the concept and your

(08:19):
partner and the two concepts andhow that all works?
Never seen anything like it.

Steve (08:23):
Well sip and gza open January of, uh, 2024.
Uh, it was a long time in themaking though, you know,
conceptually, it consists of twobars, uh, sip and Guzzle.
So I run the Guzzle bar, whichis on the ground level.
So you first walk in, you're inmy bar.
We're, very casual standing roomallowed, you know, higher
volume.

(08:44):
We specialize in what we callcomfort drinks.
You know, basically drinks, youknow what flavors you love.
You know, beer, wine.
Um, classics, wrists onclassics, high balls, things of
that nature.
Things that you'd expect at abar called guzzle, you know.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07 (08:57):
Right.

Steve (08:58):
and then downstairs at SIP in the Basement is more of a
Japanese kind of style cocktailden, right?
And they have a bit moreadventurous drinks, a bit more,
uh, prep, Japanese glassware,hand cut ice, sit down, only
intimate.
You know, cobbler Shakers, thewhole deal.
And that's overseen by ShingleGoCon, my business partner at
our place called The Odd Couplein Shanghai.

(09:20):
you get a nice, best of bothworlds.
You know, I'm kind of his guarddog, you know, you wanna get to
him, you gotta get through me.
I see on the way in.
I see you on the way out, youknow, come in for a Negroni,
leave for a little fret, youknow, and in the in between, you
know, go down, see Shingo forsome really, out of this world,
uh, sophisticated cocktails.

Mark (09:38):
So I love that you use the expression higher volume, right?
'cause it is.
In both senses of the word is ahigher volume place, right?
There's more people and it'slouder and it's, and it's just
designed to be, to me it seemslike it's designed to be this
fun place to be, you know, thebartenders will occasionally do
shots with you if, if the timingis right, you know, it's, it's
just a very lively place.

Steve (10:00):
Yeah, it's uh, much of a neighborhood kind of joint and
much more of a New York bar.
I call it international, kind ofNew York Bar.
Um, we do pay homage to to, toTokyo and, uh, Japan's
relationship to New York.
it's funny, the whole concept,if I may tell a quick story,
it's kind of centered around,uh, the first Japanese people

(10:22):
that ever visited New York City,and it was the first time ever
they sent 77 Samurai in 1860,

Wow.

Steve (10:30):
And I mean, this is tail end of Civil War.
This is New York City.
This is, um, wild Times, andthere's 77 Samurai Walk in the
streets in New York City lookinglike Samurai, you know, like,
and it was a big deal.
And they stayed on Broadway.
They stayed near where JerryThomas was working, and Jerry
Thomas, of course, wrote thefirst ever cocktail book in
1862.

(10:51):
In that book, there's theJapanese cocktail, which is
Brandy or Jacque and Bitters,right.
Nothing Japanese in it.
Right.
But he, he, uh, the legend is hemade it for the, the Japanese
consulate for the samurai whenthey were coming, special drink
for them.
And kind of where the real storyends.
And our made up story now is.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07-01-2 (11:11):
I love it.

Steve (11:11):
Is what if a couple of those Samurai took a liking to
this new American, New Yorkstyle of bartending, you know,
and took it back to, to Japanwith them.
And one thing we know aboutabout Japanese culture and
craftsmanship is the attentionto making everything as perfect
as possible.
You know, the attention todetail, the working on something
to perfect this craft.
that's kind of what SIP is sortof brings to the table.

(11:33):
A lot of kitchen preparation, alot of flavors, and, um.
A lot of the drinks are veryconcept driven.
A lot of the flavors are there,but you don't even know that
they're there.
They all just work.
Harmon harmoniously and thewalls.
This is now my artistic side,right?
The walls, um, I saw thischarred black Japanese ship

(11:53):
wood.
Um, it's a long cord or I.
And for me it, it, it gives kindof a nod to the, the ship that
took the Samurai over.
Right?
upstairs is really, you know,brick and there's comfort drinks
and street food and stuff.
And that reminds me of thebustling New York City docs, you
know, so you.
We're wearing Henley shirts anddenim upstairs, downstairs,

(12:14):
they're all buttoned up.
So it's like you fight throughthe crowds, uh, through the, the
hectic New York City docs.
And then you go downstairs andyou sit and drink amongst the
Samurai who have spent agespreparing, the perfect drink and
the perfect dish for you.

Well, you know,

Steve (12:27):
and then that's that kind of just how we take the menu.
I'm sorry, Francis.

no.

Steve (12:31):
of like where we take the menu, it gives us direction and
it gives us sort of, um.
Is this a sip drink or a guzzledrink?
You know, like where does it fitin?
And it gives all the drinks andidentity.
They're all on the same team andeverything just kind of feels
sort of, uh, you know,intertwined and connected.
I.

Well, and there is a tradition of
Japanese bartending that itdoesn't date back to the 18
hundreds, but the Japanesebartending,, is a school of
bartending that is exactly asyou say.
So it may not have taken thepath and the journey that you
prescribed, but.
It's a real thing and it's, it'salive in sip.

Steve (13:01):
Yeah.

why did you decide to do, I think
it's a brilliant idea, but whydidn't you open two different
bars?
what made you decide to putthem.

Steve (13:09):
sh well sh and I have been partners at the Odd Couple
in Shanghai.
So the Odd Couple in Shanghaiis, uh, eighties inspired
higher, um, energy kind ofcocktail place.
So we're both born in 1983.
We're both 42.
And we had this idea, ourconcept was.
What, uh, we didn't wanna do aneighties throwback where we just
made cheesy eighties cocktails.

(13:30):
We wanted to make it where twokids in the eighties that wanted
to open a bar in 2018.
So we're limited to eightieskind of technology, but we're
gonna make futuristic cocktails.
So basically modern cocktails ina fun eight or eighties setting,
there's only one bar and there'smy station with the Boston
glasses and, glass on tin.
Then there's shingles, cobblershakers, and the bartenders go
back and forth depending on whatdrink you order.

(13:52):
And my drinks of course are, youknow, bigger, bolder, higher, A
BV, straightforward shingles,drinks a bit more delicate, you
know, prettier and, uh, softer.
and it's like we had one similarflavor, right?
And then there's a drink, mystyle and drink

Oh.

Steve (14:08):
So that was the, the couple of course, the odd couple
was supposed to be us.
You know, I'm the dirty one, youknow.
Um.
And so, yeah, so that, that wasa a but the space we had was
only good for one bar.
We couldn't have the two bars wealways wanted.
It's funny, when I was atemployees only for all those
years, shingle was running thebar at Angel Share.

(14:28):
So that's where we met andbecame friends a very, very long
time ago.
Um, we're talking 16 years agoat this point.

the-restaurant-guys_2_07-01- (14:34):
So let me just fill the listeners
in.
For those who don't know, angelCher was one of the first
cocktail bars in Manhattan.
It was very much a Japanesestyle bar, and even before Milk
and Honey, it had the, the, itwas very civilized, seated only,
and, and people would waitoutside for it.
And, you know, it was not arambunctious bar.
It was very careful.
No parties bigger than four.
Very careful and precise.

Steve (14:53):
that's still the case right now.
They had moved in the lastcouple years.
They moved right around thecorner here.
I think On Grove.

Two weeks

Steve (15:00):
Grove in Bleecker.
Yeah, it's, it still looks, it'sbeautiful.
It still looks too new.
They gotta beat it up a littlebit, but that'll happen
naturally

that

Steve (15:07):
old venue Yeah, the

that one mural.

Steve (15:09):
the Angels, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, so he was running AngelShare.
I was running employees only,and we always had this kind of.
Funny sort of, uh, vision.
Is that what at?
Employees only There's a secondbathroom downstairs in the
kitchen.
It's the size of like anairplane bathroom, you know?

(15:29):
And, um.
We would let friends down thereor when it gets busy, there's
the secret bathroom downstairs.
You know?
Um, I always thought it'd befunny that what if you, instead
of a, a shitty airline bathroom,what if it opened a door to an
angel share?
You know, like how awesome wouldthat be?

Yeah.

Steve (15:47):
of the beginning of our sort of concept together.
That's kind

Yeah.

Steve (15:51):
what we always wanted to do.
I had this vision where I can beshingles waiting room more or
less,

that's a great concept as well.
'cause you know, we have tworestaurants right next to each
other, and if one is, is busy,people can wait in my other bar,
which is kind of nice ratherthan somewhere else.
And, uh, you know, it's also,it's a concept that, uh, the
Dead Rabbit had when theyopened.
They had the cocktail parlor onthe second floor and the Dead
rabbit, you know, cast the baron the first floor.

(16:17):
And it's nice to offer people aplace to wait.
For this, it's a way of, youknow, it was really frustrating
going to Angel Cher, and ifthere's a few parties in front
of you, you've just gotta wait,you gotta stand outside in, in
the, and not have a drinkwaiting to get into the bar and
you solve that problem.

Steve (16:33):
Yeah, so, know, uh, dead Rabbit, amazing place.
It's Irish up, Irish down, you

Right?

Steve (16:39):
like, uh, it's, it's a, it's a very different style as a
service.

Sure.

Steve (16:42):
drinks, but it's an Irish bar through and through with me
and Shingo.
It's like we couldn't becompletely more different in our
styles, but we're both New YorkCity bartenders.
So I think we bring a lot ofwhat New York City has to offer
that, that, uh, melting pot ofsociety, you know?

I'll tell you from my perspective,
you have opened my favorite twobars in the, that have opened in
the last two years.

Steve (17:04):
Ah,

So

Steve (17:05):
it.

I, I first thing about Mark and
Francis, if we don't mean it, wedon't say it.

Steve (17:09):
I appreciate it.

Uh, but it, but both concepts are,
are great.
Both concepts are great in theirown way.

Steve (17:16):
Yep,

Right.
They're very different

Steve (17:17):
yep.

and it's, it's fun to be in both
places.
it's

Steve (17:21):
you,

for me,

Steve (17:21):
Francis.

for me, when we come to your place,
it's as if we we're bar hopping.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.

Steve (17:27):
I'm, I'm actually sitting where you guys were sitting
right

Nice.

Steve (17:30):
yeah,

That's great.

Steve (17:31):
Um, and to, just to put a bow on, on the whole concept and
how it came out to be, it's, um,I was at a lesion cafe having
lunch with Shingo back in of,uh, 2019.
And, uh, it was really funny tosee his reaction to American
sized portions for lunch,

Oh yeah.
Yeah,

Steve (17:48):
um, New Jersey sized portions of lunch.

we do.

Steve (17:53):
It was, yeah.
But, um,'cause he has the SGClub in Tokyo, which SG stands
for SIP and Guzzle, you know.
Um, of course it might stand forShingle GoCon, but cutesy.
It stands for SIP and Guzzle.
So the original SG club is inTokyo where there's a guzzle on
the ground level and SIPdownstairs.
So he wanted to open up a NewYork City version of it, and he

(18:14):
asked me if I would take Guzzleand make it my own, make it more
my style, make it more of a NewYork bar while he does his thing
downstairs.
And during COVID we found, thislocation on Cornelia Street,
which used to be the CorneliaStreet Cafe.

Oh yeah.

Steve (18:28):
And for 41 years.
So building was beat up, youknow, it hadn't been inspected
in since the freaking seventies,so we had a lot of work ahead of
us, and it was a lot of, uh, youknow, just COVID stuff, material
issues.
like, where do you find charredblack Japanese ship wood during
COVID?
You know, I couldn't even get afucking PlayStation.

I think.

Steve (18:47):
like, so yeah.
So finally it took us a longtime, but I believed in the
concept.
We stuck with it.
And uh, our local partner here,Justin Whites, really put up a
lot, um, to, to make this thinghappen.
And he really believed in ittoo.
And he did a lot of this stuffon the backend, project managing
and stuff.
So downstairs where SIP is,where the bartender stands,

(19:09):
that's where the stage was,right?
That's where the performance

Yeah.

Steve (19:12):
at at Cornea Street Cafe, where people like Lady Gaga
performed the day before she wasLady Gaga.
Dale de Groff performed downthere once too.

Yep.

Steve (19:20):
Um, a lot of his poetry and music

I was at, I was at that show.

Steve (19:24):
Oh, were you Really Nice.

Hundred percent.

Steve (19:26):
Nice.
I asked Dale about it too.
He is like, yeah, he did.
And we can't do performancesthough.
The, the community board saidno.
And then when people in thecommunity come by and they go,
how come you don't haveperformances?

What a shame, right?

Steve (19:37):
you said no, man.

What?
What a shame.
Reapply.

Steve (19:41):
No, it's, I think where it's perfect.
You get to go when you'redownstairs and you get to go see
Shingo or one of the sipbartenders, you know, Ben or Sam
or David or Damon, they're allshaken.
with, uh, that Japanese flare.
And it's right there straightahead as soon as you walk

So when people visit New York and
I, this is not a commercial forSip and Guzzle, but Mark and I
really like the concept and ifyou're visiting New York, it's a
go-to.
We went to Angel Share the newiteration of Angel Share a
couple of weeks ago, and we, wedon't do lines right, but the
line, we either know somebodyand are getting in or we're, or,
uh, I'll go someplace else, butthe line was only like four or
five parties long and we reallywanted a ghost and we had to

(20:16):
wait for somebody anyway.
But I stood outside on asidewalk waiting to get into a
bar, which I hate lines.
Um.
But I go to your place and I canwait to get into sip at, you
know, if they brought me a beerwhile I waited outside, I would,
I would care.
I would care less.
Um, but so it's, it's a must goto'cause you can wait for the
sip while having a beer in thegule, which is waiting in a bar
for a bar.

Steve (20:36):
Yep.

also historically for restaurant, the
restaurant world, CorneliaStreet is one block long.
And it's a historicallyimportant restaurant.
There were like always three orfour or five restaurants on that
street.
Francis and I have spent a lotof time on Cornelius Street in
our lives in including, um,Mario Batali's first restaurant
was Poe there and, um, DavidPage and Barbara Shin's home

(20:58):
had.

Steve (20:59):
The, the

Oyster

Steve (21:01):
across.

was next to that.
Yep.
Yep.
and, uh, Tony Agan, so when Poewas right next to you, uh, Tony
Agan was the bartender in front.
There were like 25 or 30 seats,and then Mario Vitali was in, in
with the dishwasher in the back.
And that was, and there were acouple of waiters running things
around, but it's crazy.
But that, but it's really niceto see you revitalize that
street and that Al Street Cafewas important for a long time.

Steve (21:24):
Yeah.
But, um, now at the end ofCornelia Street, Jeff Bell from
PDT is opening a venue in thenext couple months.

Oh, I

Steve (21:32):
that's really exciting.
Yeah, it's like this, uh, likeagave, uh, centric bar that his
longtime bartender is gonna berunning.
That's on us upstairs, and thena cocktail den downstairs as
well.
More of a classic cocktail den.

people don't realize that.
We cheer when a, when a greatnew restaurant or a great new
bar opens close to us.
Yeah.
And there's two reasons why wedo that, because chances are
you're not gonna spend yourwhole night in our bar.
Right?
Chances are you're gonna, you,you're gonna hop from place to
place to place.
And at the same time, we want acool place to go.

(22:06):
That's close to our place,right?
That's

Steve (22:08):
Oh, a hundred percent.
I can't agree more.
That's why the more the merrierbring them on,

hundred percent.

Steve (22:13):
right now is, is, is doing really well

Yep.

Steve (22:16):
super bueno and schmuck.
you got Mr.
Paradise there, you got Barackthat just opened.
You got, um, geez, uh, PDT ofcourse you got death and Co.
You got Mario Margot, they'reall right there in the East
Village and in walking distance.
And I think that's great.
And

And then I think, and then I think

Steve (22:32):
what's that?

the nice thing about those places,
so they're small places whereyou might not be able to get a
table right away and it's notquite as convenient as it been
Gule, but you, you know, you cango to the next place if you
can't get in right now and wait.

Steve (22:42):
Put your name on the list.
Go to the next place they callyou.
It's a short walk over.
I just think the more, the morethe merrier down.
Uh, one, one block away, um,from us, the Dear Strangers
opened, and that's from formerbartender, colleagues of mine at
employees only, and partners inPanama.
So they're dear friends and theyhave a great product there.
So we send people down there andagain, the more bars that open

(23:04):
up Donna Cocktail lounges onthis street.
Donna's been around for a minutenow, so there's a lot of really
good spots on this street areone block away and then a short
walk as angels share in KatKitten and Dante.

You want to be the best cocktail
neighborhood in the world.
Right?
Yeah.
And you can't do that byyourself.
You know, here we're down in NewBrunswick, listen, we wanna be
the best restaurant city in, inNew Jersey.
I, I can't do that with my tworestaurants.
Right.
I need, I need four or fiveother good restaurants in town,
or, or it can't happen.

Steve (23:32):
Yeah, definitely.
And it's not like, it's notoversaturated, it's a place like
New York, a place like Singaporeis oversaturated at the moment.
You know, it's just not enoughpeople to go around,

Mm-hmm.

Steve (23:42):
uh,

the-restaurant-guys_2 (23:42):
Actually.

Steve (23:42):
the places, you know.

Actually, I want to, I wanna talk more
about Singapore taking anAmerican concept abroad and
operating in different placesand kind of how you got to be
where you are.
I'm glad we started with sip andguzzle, but your, your origin
story and your journey here ispretty darn interesting.
So we're gonna take a quickbreak.
We're gonna go back on the otherside and we're gonna talk about
that.
So don't go away more with SteveSchneider in just a minute.

Steve (24:01):
Grab yourself a drink.
Take a break.

So Steve, the, one of the things
that Francis just mentioned aswe were, uh, closing that last
segment was we're gonna talk alittle bit about your origin
story and your journey.
Now if you know me, you knowthat I think journey is the most
overused word in the Englishlanguage right now, especially
on podcast.
Okay.
But once in a while, I comeacross somebody and I think,

(24:30):
wow, that guy really did have ajourney.
Yeah.
Okay.
And you really did have ajourney, man.
You're, you're, I know you'restill in the middle of it, but
Wow.
talk about, an intrepid trip,you know, on the high seas, you
have had a journey.

Steve (24:44):
Thank you.

To whatever extent that you wanna
talk about it.
And I know that you get askedabout this a lot and people
should go watch the movie, HeyBartender, to learn more.
But, you know, tell, tell us alittle about how you came to
bartending, owning bars, caringabout it so much, and you know,
that sort of thing.

Steve (24:58):
uh, I was a senior in high school during nine 11.
that was September, of course,nine 11.
And I graduated later that yearand went right into the Marines.
So that was a time, of course,um, in our, in our part of the
world, here in our communitywhere we're very united and, uh,
very go America go.
And, uh, I signed up, uh, wentright away.

(25:20):
I didn't know what the heck Iwanted to do in, uh, after my
high school career.
Um.
I was an athlete, I was theclass clown.
Best award I ever won.
Um, and uh, yeah, so, um, I waslike, all right, Marines, let's
go.
So I spent, four years in theMarines.
When I was in the Marines, I hada bit of an injury.
So, um, I was stationed down inWashington, DC I started

(25:43):
bartending in Georgetown.
And you know, I was 19 yearsold.
And, I used to chew tobaccobehind the bar.
It was great.
Uh, you know, uh, it was like adive bar, 18 beers on top.
Uh, it was like the end of thedisco era.
Disco shot era.
Uh, cocktail culture wasn'treally anything.
Um, you know, you had tomemorize prices.

(26:04):
That was really fun.
But, uh, for a man who had ahead injury.
Um, memorizing these shooterrecipes where if you didn't know
the recipe, just made it red

Yeah.

Steve (26:12):
with sour mix.

Right.

Steve (26:14):
but still memorizing recipes, memorizing prices, uh,
handling a crowd, working with ateam to achieve a goal.
Um, pouring beer coordination,stuff that required, uh.
You know, it, it sort of was thebest re rehabilitation for me.
I think even if it wasn'tscientifically the, the rehab I
needed, uh, mentally,personally, I, I feel like it

(26:35):
aided in my, in my healing.
So I was, uh, having a blastthere, uh, working in a, a
diving live music venue, um,beating up Georgetown kids, you
know, it was pretty easy.

Yeah, for an ex-Marine especially.

Steve (26:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Especially, especially if you'renot, I was underage so I wasn't
drinking that much, you know,so, you know, you being sober
and them drunk, it's like easymode.

Yeah.

Steve (26:58):
But, uh, all jokes aside, it was really fun and I had a
blast and it's something that Ifelt like I can continue on
doing.
I didn't wanna go back to schooland I got discharged.
Um, you know, I, I didn't haveanything else, so it's like the
only thing that made me happywas, the bar.
So I wanted to, gotta figure outhow to, how to make it a career,

(27:18):
right?
'cause like, as fun as it is tobe, you know, 20, 21, 22,
bartending, like, like, youneed, you need a, a career at
some point.
I knew that was gonna run outeventually, you know?

And it, that was a time in the world
where it was difficult to make acareer as a bartender.

Steve (27:37):
Yeah.
There

was, that was before.

Steve (27:39):
That you didn't, you didn't know anybody.
It's a career you got into whenyou screwed

Mm-hmm.

Steve (27:43):
you know?
Um.
You know, you were failed atsomething.
That's what, that's what got youin the thing.
I was a injured marine.
Failed marine, uh, you know, alot of failed musicians and
performers, actors, uh, peoplefrom jail,

Yep.

Steve (27:55):
know, it's like bartending is what you did.
Um, so it was a wild time to saythe least.
You know, a bunch of peoplethat, uh, had nothing much to
lose, you know.

Yep.

Steve (28:05):
So when I got discharged, there was this Washington DC
based competition called FastestBartender Competition.
And it was very much, uh, like,you know, a dive bar, club
nightclub kind of based thing,like, kind of like flare
bartender style, poor checks,and it was speed and accuracy
competition.
And I won several times, right?
I won a few times.
They retired me.

(28:26):
Um, and that's the first timewhat, what?
Yeah, you never lose when youjudge, but, um.
I, I, not only did I, I havethis thrill of competition now,
and it's like, wow, this is alot of fun.
also made money for the firsttime with prize money.
And prize money was big.
You know, every competition waslike five grand.

(28:46):
You know?
And when you're in the Marinesand you're young, you make dumb
decisions.
You, they give you a credit cardthat maxes out at like 600
bucks, right?
And then they increase it to athousand, and then 2000 and then
fucking 50,000.
You all of a sudden you gotthis, you know.
A PR that, uh, you make apayment and then you owe more.
Like, how the hell does thathappen?

Yeah.
28%.
Yeah.

Steve (29:08):
that feeling, seriously, that's a tough feeling.
It's like, you know, I wasliving in my car at one point,
it's tough to, you know, Marine,no longer in the service, living
in his car.
Bartending, uh, just to likemake cash to try to pay.
It was just a vicious cycle thatyou don't wanna be in

that story goes the wrong way for a
lot of people.
Yeah.

Steve (29:28):
it does.
It does.
But winning these competitions,I, I ended up buying a car cash.
I bought a Mazda Miata, 1992Mazda Miata convertible.
I'd never been in an accident.
I bought that fucking car.
I got rear-ended three times infour months.
It was like, but it was like, itwas great though.
And I paid off my credit carddebt, you know?
And, that was the, uh, highpoint.

(29:49):
But during this time, I met thisguy named John Hogan, who he
worked for a Las Vegas companycalled Bar Magic, but he was
from Annapolis, Maryland, and hewas consulting on a DC project,
and he asked me if I wanted tobe a part of it.
He was at the Fastest PartsCenter competition and we had a
mutual friend.
from him I learned proper freepouring techniques.
I learned about freshingredients, I learned flare, I

(30:11):
learned, um.
You know, sphere verificationand foams and stuff like that,
that

Right.

Steve (30:15):
at, we're looking at around 2005 at

Mm-hmm.

Steve (30:18):
now, 2006 or so.
And then, um, something happenedback home in Jersey.
I'm from Bergen County, NewJersey, but I'm from about five
miles west of the GeorgeWashington Bridge.
And my, my best friend's mother,was sick, terminally ill, so I
wanted to make it back home justto be there.
You know, I had already beendischarged.
I was having fun, but.
I went back and I got the firstjob I can, uh, in Hoboken, New

(30:41):
Jersey it was a restaurantcalled Amanda's and a Legian
Cafe.
They were

Oh yeah.

Steve (30:45):
So I worked at both of those places and that's where I
was like making my own gingerbeer and having like fresh and
fresh cocktails and stuff.
And not, not many people weredoing that at the time, you
know?
it was still the very much, sothe, vodka martini.
V-shaped glass.
Anything with fruit, was amartini, you know, it was still
peach martini, chocolatemartini, french martini,

Oh yeah.

Steve (31:07):
you know, the whole deal.

We like to joke that, uh, the
martinis in a lot of places atthat time were ordered by color.
Yeah.
Not by,

Steve (31:14):
exactly.
But I mean, that's the way itwas, you know, and I always
remember, uh, a French martiniif it tastes like shit, you made
it right.
Uh, so, but um, during this timeI was working at Aly, the, the
former owner of Aly Cafe.
His name was Eugene Flynn.

I know.
We knew Eugene.

Steve (31:34):
And he is great.
He's a great man, One of hisformer employees, his name was
Anthony Gilio.
Anthony Gilio was a writer, um,and a wine guy.
Yeah, so, so.
that's amazing.
I freaking love Anthony and he'sgot a lot to do with my career.
So he was a writer and he askedEugene, his wife's 40th
birthday, Hey, you got anybartenders?
I could create a cocktail for mywife's 40th birthday.

(31:55):
He's like, oh yeah, you gottaget Steve.
So I rolled up with my own barthat I built by hand.
had this, the mustache, youknow, the whole deal, the vest
and the tie, Cocktail had likepomegranate in it, which was the
ingredient at

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

Steve (32:10):
yeah,

How wonderful had just come out

Steve (32:12):
oh man.

people were using that.
Yeah, I remember.

Steve (32:15):
yeah.
Oh, you can make Grenadine,

Plus, we were all making our own
Carine.
Right.

Steve (32:18):
Yeah.
For the first time.
Yeah.
So, um, that is where, uh, youknow, I met Jim Mehan that day.
It was a, a great party.
I think I did really well.
I at a good showing and webecame friends and a few months
later it was the Food NetworksNew York City Wine and Food
Festival here in, uh, near theHighline.

(32:39):
And he said there's this bigevent, like 700 people.
It's like, uh, he was the editorwith Jimmy Head of, of Mr.
Boston's

Yeah, I rewrite

Steve (32:46):
book.

of.

Steve (32:47):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he's like, I wanna put yourdrink in there.
And bartenders, they weren'tgetting written up at this
point.
They

Right.

Steve (32:54):
you know, being on a list of contributors for a book like
Mr.
Boston that had been around for70 something years.
You know,

And I just wanna point out, I just
wanna point out that thebartenders who were getting
written up were in London, NewYork, Chicago, and New Jersey is
famously ignored no matter whatyou're doing here.
And so that was really great foryou.

Steve (33:11):
also I wanted to go into New York City,

Yep,

Steve (33:13):
But any place I check for a job, they said two years, New
York City

yep.
Yep.

Steve (33:18):
I was like, what the fuck man?
I won.
Am I allowed to swear?
I'm

Yeah.
Now yes.
You're, you're,

Steve (33:22):
I'm sorry.
So I was like, like I, I wonthese competitions, like I
worked higher volume.
I can bang with anybody.

yeah.

Steve (33:29):
this?
How do I get New York Cityexperience if I can't get a damn
job in New

Right.

Steve (33:34):
So, um.
He's like 700 person party.
They're releasing Mr.
Boston.
Um, they want me there, but Idon't make cocktails.
You can create a cocktail for700 something people.
I'll give you equal billing.
He's like, I can't pay you, buttrust me.
Like, it'll be a greatopportunity.
So I spent like a month and ahalf, right?
Like getting prepared for it.

(33:54):
But before that, we got theemail saying, you know, thank
you for doing this, mixologists.
And they gave the list, right?
The, the booking.
It was Tony Abba.
It was Audrey Saunders, JulieReiner, Jim Behan, za j Cosmos,
and fucking Steve Schneider,right?
Like an unknown 22, 203-year-old.
You know, like what, like whatis going on here?

(34:16):
So I was like, Tony, and whatthe fuck man?
What are you trying to do to me?
He's like, uh, I'll get somebodyelse.
I was like, nah, man.
No, no, don't worry.
I got this.
I shared the bar at this event.
It was a wild party, and Ishared the bar with the
employees only team.
And that's where we sort of, uh,became friends.
one of the bartenders, we wereso shitfaced to be honest, but
one of the bartenders, he saidto me, he goes, Hey, um, we have

(34:39):
a rare spot opening.
One of the guys are leaving.
Why don't, why don't you comework with us?
You know?
So I was like, yeah, totally,man.
Uh, give him a hug.
Yeah, I, yeah, I'll be there.
And, uh, a couple weeks later Ishowed up at employees only just
to like laugh about the night,just to like say hi to
everybody.
And the first thing this guysaid to me was, Hey man, where's
your resume?
We vouch for you.
Like, we're waiting.

(35:00):
So I was like, wow, this guy'sactually serious.
So I got my resume together.
Maureen, already five yearsworth of experience at 23, you

the-restaurant-guys (35:07):
Competition winner.

Steve (35:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Um.
Competition, the fastest partthere and this and that.
And he's like, Hey, the ownersare having a meeting, whatever
Wednesday, 3:00 PM Just show up.
Trust me.
You know, you're good.
So I showed up, I saw Igor andHenry Lafarge outside, and
they're like, Hey, what, what'sgoing on?
Whatcha doing here?
I was like, Hey, Brazo and thebartenders, he told me you guys

(35:29):
were hiring.
Um, here's my resume.
And Igor just, he opens it andhe closes it.
He goes, former Marine.
I like that.
We could use a discipline guylike you.
Can you start next week?

I, oh.

Steve (35:38):
I was like, whoa.
And then we were off to theraces.
And then, um, that for me wasJohn Hogan was the first guy
that I met that was an adultthat was working in this
industry,

Mm-hmm.

Steve (35:50):
know, and that's what I needed to see.
And he was, he was so old, hewas like 30 something.
And, you know, it is like thisold guy is, is still doing it,
you know, and then of course,meeting people like Eugene, who,
um, has a very humble beginningas well.
And then people like Anthony whoused to be a server at one of
Eugene's places.

Yep.

Steve (36:08):
more adults that I'm meeting as I'm coming up, it's
like raw talent and get you sofar you needed, you needed an
adult to, to prove it.
to, you

Sure.

Steve (36:16):
reaffirm that, hey, you can do this.

Yep.

Steve (36:19):
That's when I started working at EO and my career took
off.
I finally was around like-mindedpeople.
Um, the founders, there werebartenders in their own right,
so they kind of like, it was aperfect storm of timing.
And there was only a handful,only five or so cocktail bars at
the time.
When I first started, there was,you know, angel Share Milk and
honey, um, Flatiron Lounge, USand Pego Club.

Yep.
Yep, yep,

Steve (36:40):
PDT came later, uh, death and Co came later.
it was like were the big time,you

yep.
You, yeah.

Steve (36:47):
and

the must go-to list.
If you, if you were an aspiringbartender, you were on our,
frankly, we had a little sheetof places our bartenders had to
go and visit to see.
The kinds of things that wewanted them to achieve, and
employees only was definitelyone of those places.

Steve (37:03):
Yeah.
It was, uh, it was, it stillremains different to this day,
you know, is and, uh, um.
worked my way up, became the barmanager.
I ran that bar for many years,very successfully.
uh, I was drinks one day andthis guy walks in, right?
And at employees only we haveour little psychic is like our
space storefront.

(37:24):
And then

Yep.
Mm-hmm.

Steve (37:25):
and there's a bustling bar and it's, it's loud music
and people standing, you know,it's packed.
And this guy walks in and, uh,looks confused as shit.
So I could have done one or twothings.
could have said, um, Hey guys,look at this fucking guy.
You know?

Yeah.
Yeah.

Steve (37:44):
I could have said, Hey, I got a seat opening up.
Come here.
Uh, I did both.
Um, so, uh, I sat this guy downand it was his first cocktail
bar experience, and he had ablast.
And he's like, I want tointerview.
I want to interview.
I'm a filmmaker, you know,

Oh,

Steve (37:58):
I

oh.

Steve (37:59):
I make documentaries.
I, I worked on a league of theirown, like, you know, like I've,
I've done some stuff, you know,and I hear artists bullshit all
the time.
So I'm like, yeah, whatever,dude.
Like I'll see you.
And he showed up and we had likea, an hour and a half interview
and, uh, he's cracking up.
He is like, yeah, this is theone.
'cause uh, originally he wasinterviewing this guy, Steve,
Carpe In Connecticut about likedive bars, but he is like, no

(38:21):
cocktail bars.
That's the future.
So he is like, I want to, uh,interview you.
And then three years later, hey,bartender comes out.

Yep.

Steve (38:28):
I didn't audition for anything.
It was just a chance opportunitywith a guy to bar first
experience, changed his life,spent three years of his life
following what we do for aliving, and it came out.
And then that, that took mycareer, of course, that, that
took my career to a whole notherlevel

What brought you to stage left.
So that's, you know, that'sexactly, you know, that that had
to be close to the pinnacle.
Huge.
It wasn't the very tippy top.
It had to be close to thepinnacle.

Steve (38:51):
yeah, I, I just think, I think everything went downhill
after that.
Yeah.
That was it.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm, I'm now, I'm, I'm on theback nine now.

So Francis just had a cameo in, uh,
hey bartender as well, and had ascreening here in New Brunswick.
I think I said five words.
Yeah,

Steve (39:03):
and uh, you know, I watched it for the first time at
Tales.
They had a 10 year anniversarylast year, but it was actually
11 years.
But who cares?

Yeah, whatever.

Steve (39:13):
Watching it.
Uh, wow.
It, it, it was a moment in time.
It was a time capsule.
So say what you want and how itaged.
Uh, that's the way it was,

Oh, I think it's a, it's a, it's
what a documentary does.
I think it was, I think it wasreally great.
It captured the enthusiasm ofthe moment and a, and an
industry in transition.
Yeah.
It was super accurate.

Steve (39:29):
cringed most of the time, except for the B-roll footage
of, of me bartending with my oldfriends it took me back to a, to
a sort of, uh, just a time whenwe were much more carefree, you
know,

Yeah.
I mean, you were a kid when thatmovie, you were literally a kid
when that movie came out.

Steve (39:46):
I was in my twenties, but

Yeah.

Steve (39:47):
when we were filming that I was in my

Yeah.
Well, I, I do.
The other thing that I,

Steve (39:51):
now.
I'm 42 now.
It was like a long time ago.
You know,

we were talking, we were out with
Tim McCurdy.
We went out for drinks last forMartinis last night with.

Steve (39:58):
love Tim McCurdy.

the-restaurant-guys_2_ (39:59):
awesome, by the way.
And, uh, it was one of thosefamous, like, I can only come
out for one.
You want another one?
Yeah.
Okay, I'll have it.

Steve (40:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How many pints do you have withhim?
Come

No, we had martinis.
We were talking about martinison his podcast, and then I had
to have one.
So we went to Keen's and hadsome martinis.
It was great.

Steve (40:15):
love that.

But we

Steve (40:17):
he is a great podcast

He's fantastic.
He's terrific.
He's fantastic.
Well, he was talking about how.
He, he's kind of a great avatarfor people who weren't here
because he's able to ask thequestion to someone who wasn't
here

Steve (40:29):
Yeah.

as it was things were coming
around.
But one of the things we talkedabout with him was it was a much
smaller world back then, you hadfive cocktail bars in Manhattan,
so if you were in the cocktail,you, you knew somebody who
worked in every one of thosebars.
Absolutely.
You probably knew the owner ofevery one of those bars.

Steve (40:43):
Yep.

When you saw each other out, you
know, there were only fivecocktail bars in New York City,
a city of 8 million people, andit was a different feel back
then.
So it was a little cringe, butit was also, look, we were
inventing something.
We were creating something.
But afterwards, I think a superinteresting thing for us that we
don't know much about is youtook, employees only concept and
all your bartending knowledgeabroad.

Steve (41:05):
Yep.

Singapore so that it was a, that's bold
move too.
And that wasn't like to London,which has a similar culture to
New York City Right.
And you went to a place with acompletely different culture,
completely differentexpectations and what happened
when you got there.
Yeah.
Lightness about that.

Steve (41:20):
yeah.
So Singapore itself, uh, at thetime, 28 Hong Kong Street was
around the first iteration ofJigger and Pony was around,
operation Dagger was there.
there was a handful of reallycool like cocktail bars, but
only a couple that kind of laidthe groundwork for more demand.
And we had a couple people weknew over there that had been

(41:41):
successful.
So they were trying to get, uh,Igor Hijas Mavic, one of the
founders.
He loves tropical climates.
Um, every January 1st he wouldgo for the rest of the winter
to, uh, to somewhere inSoutheast Asia.
And then I would join him maybefor like 10 days or so.
But he'd be out there for likethree months.
Um, Singapore felt like theplace where the very first

(42:01):
Singapore cocktail week, theyinvited me and Igor there.
We did a, a shift at a placecalled the Cuffing Club.
And our speed and style.
It's like, yo, we would crush it

Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Steve (42:12):
we just, yeah, we just can hustle.
We know we, we knew we can crushit and everyone speaks English
there.
The economy was great.
So, uh, you know, one thing wentto another, we finally found the
location that, uh, felt right.
It had the skylight, like itjust, the building was a perfect
building that we needed.
So, um, I had been saving money,for years before that.

(42:32):
I had an opportunity to investand, uh, Igor brought me on as a
junior partner regardless, butmy investment kind of doubled my
shares and, Moved out there, uh,2016 in the spring of 2016.
We opened up about 76 dayslater.
Um, what a freaking scavengerhunt I went on.
'cause it wasn't, it was hard tofind stuff there then.

(42:54):
Now it's super easy, know whereto find glassware.
I.
Know, I don't know where to finda napkin to put the glassware
on, the straw, to put in the, inthe glass, the ice to go in it.
I don't know where to find anyof that stuff.
So I just had to go to placesand like if I had a, a high ball
glass or something I liked.
Could I get you anything else?
Uh, no.
I'm good.
But um, where do you get thisbev nap and where do you get
this glass?
You know?

I can't imagine.
I think one of the things aboutowning a bar and in America,
it's only gotten more complex.
We opened a bar in 1992.
We were 27 years old and.
You know, we were veryresourceful.
We'd worked in bars for a longtime, but we knew around here,
and this is before the internet,but we knew an HVAC guy, an
electrician, and a constructionguy, and where you get your

(43:36):
glassware and are, we wereroping in our neighborhood, so
we, we knew a lot of the, so weknew the supplier chain, what
was going on.
We also knew the laws, we knewthe regulations, we, and we
could find out what we didn'tknow.
I, and that is.
A hundred times more complexthan it was in 1992.
If you try to open one today,there's a million more
regulations and laws to follow.
I can't imagine going to a placewhere I don't sort of have the

(43:58):
inside story on.
I mean, we try, when we tried toopen here with all we knew, we'd
have inspectors come in and say,oh, see that?
Yeah, you can't do that.
That's against this regulation.
Like, I didn't know that yourplugs are more than six feet
apart.
You, you gotta pull out all yourelectric.

Steve (44:13):
luckily the, the people that were local, they were
nightclub people though.
Like they had, they, they wererunning the, uh, the nightclub
Pangaea, which was in Marina BaySands, which is like the highest
grossing nightclub in the worldat one point.
You know, so they knew all the,that

Oh, so they're your partners out
there?

Steve (44:27):
They were,

Oh yeah.

Steve (44:28):
our partners.
They

the-restaurant-guys_2_ (44:29):
Partner.
Gotcha.

Steve (44:31):
Um,'cause they used to live in New York and, and they
had a connection with Igor andstuff.
So I, I, I went as the, the, uh,drill instructor for the bar
program.
I went, I was the bar guy thatwas gonna be there every day.

How long did you stay out there?

Steve (44:44):
Well, we just turned nine, which was, uh, last
weekend from the time of thisrecording.
So last Monday was ouranniversary party.

How long were you out there though?
Living there.

Steve (44:53):
in the last nine years, I'd say I spent about four and a
half years total,

Wow.

Steve (44:56):
worth of time.
But I spent the first coupleyears there um, it was intense
because put in perspective atemployees only New York, we had
20 people were there for over 10years,

Right.

Steve (45:10):
Right.

Yep.

Steve (45:11):
a new person joins.
They got 20 people withexperience that'll teach'em how
to work this bar

Yep.

Steve (45:16):
our style.
Um, and I'm talking 20 people,floor kitchen, uh,

Right?

Steve (45:21):
it,

Yep.

Steve (45:22):
you know, like door host, bus boys, food runners, all
cumulatively, 20 people 10years.
I went alone

Yeah.
Yep.

Steve (45:32):
and I'm supposed to train 20 kids alone on how to.
Work employees only styles,they'd never been, they just
heard we were popular.
they just wanted a piece of it.
They saw a frigging haybartender, you know, and there's
like, they, they don't know whatthe heck it is.
So how do I explain vibe andenergy and feeling?
You can't, you just need toexecute.
And hopefully they, they pick itup.

(45:54):
So every day, you know, 14 hoursa day, there I was seven days a
week, you know, from prep.
To service, to closing, makingsure they were doing things the
EO way.
Um, even everything, the way thelighting is, the music, the way
you even put the napkin down,the way you even put the menu
back.
I had a way to do everything,you know,

Yep.

Steve (46:12):
like,

Well, in order to create the speed
that that you guys had atemployees only, everything's
gotta be in its place and, andyou know, a place for
everything, right?
That's gotta be the.

Steve (46:24):
Uh, yeah.
You have to do things a certaincertain way.
You can't just slap the logo andthrow a white jacket on somebody
and say, Hey, you go, it'semployees only.
It's about culture.
It's about the training and, andit's about developing these
bartenders into being whateverit is.
An employees only bartender wasto me.

Were there cultural barriers, um,
from the employees you had that,you know, there was stuff that
wasn't assumed?

Steve (46:46):
No,

Talk to us about that.

Steve (46:49):
Um, so.
Fundamentally, I guess growingup, uh, in the culture there at,
very used to, just like inschool, you don't really ask
questions, you just kind ofanswer them.
You know, you speak when spokento, and here I am wanting a
chatty high volume bar.
You know, it's like very, it'sdifferent for them.
They're very shy by nature.

Right.
Mm-hmm.

Steve (47:10):
to strangers.
Um, but at the end of the day,they're, they're, they're good
people.
They're, they're awesome kids.
And so it took a while for themto get'em out of the shell a
little bit.
But as the first time I reallysaw kids develop into amazing
bartenders in their own right,and they're all doing really
well right now

That's great.
That feels good, right?

Steve (47:29):
some, some people on step still there.

Yeah.
That's great.

Steve (47:31):
From the opening.
Um, o other, other people arefor my first, uh, principal
bartender there, he opened uptwo places in Singapore

Oh, that's great.

Steve (47:39):
we still are friends.
was tough.
I, I took the opening staff, Itook them all here to New York
and they experienced employeeson New York and that helped them
to like, Hey, this is what thefuck I'm trying to do

Yeah.
Yeah.
You gotta see it.

Steve (47:51):
yeah.
So, uh, I remember.
It just took a lot of time andenergy.
'cause if I'm not there, thedream don't come true.

Of course not.

Steve (47:58):
so, but I was young enough and I had enough energy,
um, that I was able to powerthrough.
but I was old enough that I hada lot of experience that I knew
what needed to be done.
You know, a lot of people, theyopened up bars way too young and
the concept is incomplete andthey lack a lot of the
experiences that they could havegotten someone else's dime to,
to really grow.

Honestly, if somebody asked me the biggest
mistake we made as youngentrepreneurs, you know, I was
26, he was 27, opening stageleft.
Uh, my answer is always, weshould have waited two more
years and lost somebody else'smoney for that time, for that
time during those lessons.

Steve (48:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.

those are, those are hard lessons to
learn.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And

Steve (48:39):
And once you become an owner, it's, the stakes are so
much higher.

yeah.

Steve (48:44):
you lose your job, guess what?
Everybody loses their job.

Yeah.

Steve (48:47):
And people rely on you though.
I mean, like, you have of courseyour own debts that you need to
pay.
People entrusted you with money,you put your own money down.
The stakes are so high.
It's not like you CI can't justbe a fun loving bartender and
fuck around all the time andhave fun like I did at a, you
know, what, if I could have onemore shift in my twenties at eo.
I would, I would go back.
That's what I would do.

(49:07):
I would go back to freaking like2012 and I would work one more
shift with my, with my old teamand, uh, and just, and be the
bot and just be superirresponsible,

people don't, people don't realize and
they see us having fun, right?
'cause our jobs are fun.
Okay.
And they see us in, in therestaurants or behind the bars,
and what they don't realize isthat's the best three or four
hours of our day right there,

Steve (49:34):
Yep.

You're there, e everything's going.
The, the machine's working.
People are having a good time.
You, you get to, to ka bits alittle bit and, but there's all
the stuff before and after thatyou gotta grind out.
It's gotta get done.

Steve (49:49):
I'm happy you said that, mark, because in Singapore we
opened up mid-June.
Um, by mid-December, I'm wornout, man, I am hurt and I'm worn
out.
They're still not getting it ahundred percent.
They're faster, right?
But they don't, they don't haveall the intangibles that I need,
you know, to be complete.
they still have a, have a badsense of, uh, the lighting.

(50:10):
You know, they still have alittle bad sense of what music
to play at a certain time.
couple things going on that justweren't right and they finally
made me take off.
So I had a, uh.
like a Sunday matinee, and I sawLes Mis local, uh, uh,
Singapore,

the-restaurant-guys (50:28):
Production.

Steve (50:29):
no, it wasn't local, it was from London's, like Broadway
people,

Traveling show.
Yeah.

Steve (50:33):
whatever the heck London's Broadway theater group
is, whatever the, theirequivalent to Broadway.
Um, and they did Les m right.
And I'm not so big a theaterguy, but I, I.
appreciated a good performance,you know, and, and I could be
cultured, you know,

Yeah.

Steve (50:50):
so I'm there watching it and I'm blown away.
The music was great, thelighting was great.
The blocking, the costumes, themovement, uh, everything was
just spot on.
And I just, I was like, wow,they're so good, you know?
And, uh, I was just thinking, Iwas like thinking to myself, I
go, you know what?
I bet somebody fucked up.
But I didn't.
I couldn't

Mm-hmm.
Right.

Steve (51:09):
And that changed my perspective, and I just chilled
the fuck out after that.
just like, man, we're busy asshit.
We're making good money.
We're fucking crushing it thisfirst six months.
Like, don't be so crazy.

Right.
Mm-hmm.

Steve (51:24):
the kids grow.
Let them give them a leash.
Let them grow into their own.
Don't let them be you.
Let them be them.
You know, this is different.
You know, everyone's having agood time.
Chill the fuck out.
The lights are too bright.
Just lower'em and move on.
Um.
And I just, it really just gaveme a, gave me like a breath of
fresh air and some new light andhope that, that they're gonna

(51:45):
get it.
And then mid-January, I rememberit was probably the second week
of January I walked in and justlike what you were saying, the
machine was just cranking on allceiling.
There's, the lighting was great.
It was great.
The, just the, the sounds of thebar sounds were right.
The set, you know, the settingwas exactly what I needed it to
be.
And I was like, wow, we did it.
You

Just like,

Steve (52:05):
Igor, happened.

yeah.
Yeah.

Steve (52:08):
It, it, it just seemingly overnight.
I remember vividly walking inthere and being proud of that
project, and then we, we paidback the investment in nine and
a half months and it was thebest thing that ever happened to
me.
And I, uh, yeah.
Well.
We were cranking, and then I wasable to reinvest a lot of that
money.
And right now I have, I'm eithera, a share, a shareholder,

(52:28):
investor operator in eightdifferent venues,

That's great.
That's fantastic.
That's great.

Steve (52:32):
I couldn't have done it without just, you know,
hustling.
Again, I was old enough, I was32 when we went there.
I was old enough I had someexperience, but I was young
enough that I still had the

Yeah.
Mm-hmm.

Steve (52:44):
and then every place got easier and easier.
'cause you learn, you know, youlearn,

Well, the skill

Steve (52:49):
just, just chill out a little bit too.
I know what needs to be done.

and there's a skill that you pick up
in opening a new place.
The skill of opening a new placeis the different than managing
your existing place.
But

Steve (52:59):
100%.

I do wanna make a, uh, bring, put
a little bow on something wewere talking about.
How about being young, bar,young, carefree bartenders?
I think this industry and a fewthings I think this industry
provides.
Look, not everybody's gotta bean owner and we chose to be
owners and we chose to have ajob that we cannot leave behind
when we walk out the door.
Right?

(53:20):
Um, it's not nine to five, but,you know, we mark and I think
about our bar all the time andthe, the mortgages always do at
the end of the month.
And, uh, payroll happens everyweek.
And, but what this.
Industry does, and we talkedabout, you know, the people
who've made a mistake can comeback in the, in the restaurant
industry.
This industry provides an anon-traditional on-ramp for a

(53:41):
lot of people and because of thetipping culture.
I, I, I'm always, I.
upset when I hear people bashtipping as some sort of
persecution of waiters, waitersand bartenders in America make
more money than waiters andbartenders anywhere else in the
world, and there's a lot offlexibility, and you can make
enough to own your own bar ifyou want, but it's a, it's an
on-ramp to a good living whenyou become good at it.

(54:02):
I, I think we all recognizethat, that bartenders can go on
and own their own place, right?
Yeah.
You got, you got three of themsitting in this room.

Steve (54:08):
Yeah, that's right.

But what I wanna say is you also
don't have to, and I think thatI know bartenders who make a
good living and waiters who makea good living, and restaurant
managers who make a good living,One of the things you can do is
you can, when you leave, youdon't take the job with you.
And that's unlike very manyjobs.

Steve (54:24):
Yeah.

um, there are, there are, there are
pitfalls to this, there aredangers in the, in the
restaurant business, but Ithink, uh, the restaurant crew
has brought a lot of on-rampsfor a lot of people who need a
different way in and can have ajob where you, you don't have
to, you don't have to do whatyou do.
You don't have to move tosinging.
Poor.
You don't have to, do all thethings that we do.
You can, but you can, but youcan, but you can move to
Singapore if you want.

(54:45):
Right.
You can pick up all your stuffand move to Singapore and say,
I'm gonna bartend in Singapore,but you can also just have a
great job.
So I, I think restaurantbusiness sometimes takes a
bashing, uh, as, oh, you're justa waiter.
Oh, you're just a bartender.
And we've worked, we've allworked very hard to keep that
from

Steve (54:59):
seeing that less and less,

I agreed.
Yep.

Steve (55:01):
'cause there's college courses now in

Yeah.
Yeah.

Steve (55:04):
uh, I actually contributed to a, a course at,
uh, FIU in Miami.

Oh, nice.

Steve (55:09):
it's something I never thought possible as being a kid
who used to chew tobacco behindthe bar and beat up Georgetown
kids.
I didn't think I'd end upteaching these, uh, you know, or
having, even having a means toreach kids like that.
You know, so it's, it's prettyremarkable and, uh, I feel
honored and it was my privilegeto sort of grow up with the
cocktail industry and to seewhere everything is, um, has

(55:31):
become, know, I'm not sure if wejumped the shark.
I don't think we jumped theshark yet, but, um, I think the
possibilities, our endless, Ithink at the, the industry is,
is really doing some really coolstuff.
And, um, yeah, I mean, I just, Ido love what I do, but I, I do
think now, um, I.
Being here at Guzzle, I'm behindthe bar full time.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday.

(55:52):
I'm here Thursdays and Fridays.
That's when I'm with my family.
Um, Saturday, I, I come in,that's my, that's my bar owner
day,

Uh,

Steve (56:01):
you know, Hey buddy,

yeah.
Shaking hands and.

Steve (56:05):
no.
Yeah, that's my Saturday.
until I get in the way and thenI leave,

I love it.
I love it.
By the way, I'd have to leaveafter I, I'd have to leave after
15 minutes.
Yeah.
If I, if I only stayed till Iwas away.

Steve (56:16):
because I, I work behind a bar.
I work, you know, the slowerdays, so I bartend, but I'm not
in the tip pool, you know, so

Right.

Steve (56:22):
makes more money.
Um, and it's fun for me, and Ilike being that close, you know,
by the time the lease is paidup.
Or by the, by the time the leaseis over, rather.
you know, I'm in my mid fiftiesand I just think this is my
last, this is a job.
And I'm like, I'm happy I got ajob.
Um, I, I have a, a schedule thatI, I really enjoy.

(56:43):
this for me is gonna be mycareer, my job.
For the next foreseeable future.
I feel like I'm at a, a, a pointin my life where I really need
to think about the next 15 yearsof my life.
And in the meantime I got agreat job here at Guzzle and I
have an amazing team, wonderfulpartners and a great product.
And, uh, just a nice.
situation and I'm just trying toreinvest money a little bit here

(57:05):
and there into things that Ithink can take me later on in
life.
And that's what I'm doing now.

Well, Steve, it's been an honor and a
and a pleasure to have you onthe show to catch up after all
these years.
Alright, man.
Well, you know, you can visitSteve Schneider as you said.
We'll put all the details in theshow notes and, uh, stick with
us.
We'll be back in just a moment.
You're listening to therestaurant guys.
You can find outmore@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

It's so nice talking with Steve
Schneider.
Really, I, I was the mostin-depth con.
We've known him for many yearsand he's always kind to us when
we visit him, and he's visitedus, but that's the most in-depth
conversation we've everpersonally had with Steve.
Absolutely.
Super, super cool guy.
So, Steve talked about somethingthat he was a moment in time for
him and I had some similarmoments doing.

(58:14):
Doing something similar.
He went to see Les Miz and justkind of decompressed from
everything in the world.
Okay.
So when we were seniors in incollege, yes.
Was right when Les Miz was thehottest ticket you could get.
I remember.
Okay.
And I took theater appreciationthat year with Professor Eric
Krebs.
That's correct.

(58:35):
So if you were in theaterappreciation, you were able to
buy.
Late tickets and inexpensivetickets.
20 bucks, 30 bucks.
They were really cheap.
Right.
To go see Les Miz.
and the seats were terrible.
I remember one of the times Isaw Les Miz, my head was
actually touching the back wallin the back corner.
Yeah.
But it was 20 bucks, but it was20 bucks to go see Les Miz the

(58:57):
house, which, which had hot showon on Broadway, which, and so I
would go through the, thetheater department.
My a date for the entire yearwas like, Hey, I got tickets to
see La m you want to go see La mAnd I would be able to,
Jennifer's dirty looking meright now'cause I never took her

(59:17):
to see La Miz.
Uh, but it was my a date.
It was my, it was my move.
Senior year of college was it?
How many times did you see Mfour times.
You don't remember that one ofthose times was with me.
Yeah, you weren't.
No.
Not just not just you.
Yes.
Yes.
So was that, So that was a showwhere I had a date who canceled

(59:42):
at the last minute.
Oh yeah.
And the assistant manager of therestaurant where I was working.
Oh, what?
And they literally canceled likethe day before.
Mm-hmm.
I think it was Jody.
I don't remember who it was, butit, no last names please.
But, but, um, I got canceled onthe day before.
And Hal Taylor, who was, youknow, a nice enough guy.
Mm-hmm.
But, you know, not my firstchoice for the hottest seats on

(01:00:05):
Broadway.
And, and, uh, he's like, I'll gowith you.
I'm like, no.
He's like, I'll pay for myticket.
I'm like, it was only 30 bucks.
He's like, I'll go with you andI'll pay for dinner.
And I was like, oh, no.
He said, I'll pay for half adinner.
I'm like, damn, straight.
You will.
And I, and I held out and itwas, I had one day to get a
date.
And so you went with.
A woman and I went with fuckinghow?

(01:00:27):
I will always remember that.
And it was, oh, it was a rotten,Let's not bore the listeners
anymore with our little walkdown memory lane.
But yeah, no.
What is, but, but a.
You know, a last minute ticketto a Broadway show.
You know, there are lots ofplaces in the city you can do
that.
You know, in, in London, ticketsare still very inexpensive to
see great shows.

(01:00:47):
Yeah, I, I strongly recommendthat little dinner out.
It's perfect evening.
I thought the parallel he drewwas great though, because it is,
the dining is theater andespecially to a guy like Steve.
Mm-hmm.
And employees only why it works.
What makes employee different isit the cocktails.
It's not just the cocktails,it's the cocktails, it's the
uniform and like you said,lighting music.
Temperature and it all justworks, and you don't know why,

(01:01:09):
but the hole is greater than thesum of the parts.
And I think bars and restaurantsand theater have a lot in common
exactly that way.
Well, it's there an escape fromyour every day.
Mm-hmm.
That's how a great bar works,like theater and like Stage left
and Catherine Lombardi.
And with that, we will leave youall.
Until next time.
I'm Francis Shot.
I'm Mark Pascal.
We are the restaurant guys.
You can always find outmore@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

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