December 6, 2024 • 20 mins
Chef Andrew Gruel joins to discuss how America can revamp its approach to food, health, and small business. From reforming the FDA and USDA to improving food labeling, Chef Gruel outlines practical solutions for building a healthier nation. Plus, insights on the impact of local food systems, the truth about seed oils, and why supporting small businesses is crucial.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey guys on the Buck Brief. Chef Andrew Rule is
with us. He's got great restaurants in California, Calico Fish House.
Also a man you see on Fox News and elsewhere
sharing his insights and of course tips for the kitchen,
tips running a small business successfully. Chef. Great to see you, sir.
Make America healthy again. It is something that RFK Junior
(00:45):
has popularized now an extension of maga. It is now
maha I guess or maha whatever. What do you want
to see as the top things that RFK Junior could
accomplish that relates to food, relates to food supply, all
these things and the health issues that people have.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, I think that we get really sucked into the
granular topics, right. We talk about like seed oils or
pharmaceuticals and how much money is going from point A
to point B and what's in our food system. And
there's so many topics within this general conversation that we
can get really detailed on. But I think that pulls
us away from the bigger picture, and the bigger picture
here is that if we want to fix anything when
it comes to health and it comes to food service,
(01:25):
or furthermore, even the merge of food and pharmaceuticals, which
I think is a lot more connected than people imagine,
we just need to completely scrap the system altogether. So
this is what I keep saying. You know, you've got
the USDA the FDA. You're talking like eighteen twenty thousand
employees in each and they're overseeing a system related to
(01:46):
our food products and food safety and pharmaceuticals, but generally
the health of America, and we've only gotten sicker. Right
Like you look at at chronic diseases amongst kids. Twenty
percent of our entire federal budget goes towards healthcare in general,
and that cost is just skyrocketing. We have failed from
(02:07):
the perspective of utilizing the government to fits. We just
need to completely get rid of and gut out the USDA,
the FDA and start over. We as citizens, as consumers,
we know how to eat healthy, right like, we have
the agency to do it. But over the past ten
or twenty years, it's almost like we've handed that agency
(02:28):
that that ability to make decisions for ourselves over to
the government, and they've completely failed us. So that's step
one right there, We've got to gut the entire system
out because it's you realize, and actually I don't think
people realize. Is this everything the USDA and the FDA does,
and this applies to tons of federal agencies. You're also
getting that done on a state level. There's the redundancies
(02:50):
across the board. So it's just like a big bureaucratic
bowl of molasses where nothing gets done. So get rid
of them. That's step one.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Get rid of them, and then what should be some
of the changes that Like what would a better version
of the FDA be doing? I mean, do you think
it really is looking at I mean, seed oil is
a big thing. I know that your restaurants doesn't your
restaurants don't use any seed oils? Do you believe that
that stuff is all inflammatory? Like? Where do you view
(03:20):
the real points of possible change that would have a
positive effect on I mean, as we know this country,
OBESI rates of absolutely skyrocketed. You know, there's so many problems.
I mean a lot of people have no idea what's
going into their food supply. They have no idea about
how to deal with some of these things. What do
(03:41):
you think are some of the key points that could
be improved by a I guess a smarter, leaner, better
version of the FDA, whatever we'd call it.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, it's strictly education.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's the lens through which I look at all of
this is education, right, and that's obviously information, So labeling better,
labeling laws, not hiding behind confusing names on our ingredient lists. Right,
Like we don't even understand what is inside of our
food because many times it's just the chemicals they live.
There's a multitude of information behind that, right, So we
(04:14):
got to get cleaner with the labeling laws. We've got
a demand point of origin, you know, as an example
with seafood, like it can be labeled US seafood. But
what happens, especially with the majority of our seafood here
in the United States, is that it's caught, it shipped
over seas to Asia, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, processed over there,
treated with chemicals. In many cases, all of the seafood
that's coming through is being tested for bleach malchite green
(04:35):
and it's showing up positive. So a lot of chemicals
in that seafood ship back into our food supply and
it's labeled as US caught, right, So people see it
and they're like, oh, this is Alaskan seafood, but it's
actually been completely adulterated and manipulated and processed in China.
It's essentially Chinese seafood. And that applies. That's just like
one little anecdote. So labeling laws are important. But that
(04:57):
goes back to education and pulling together really a cadre
of medical professionals of different thoughts, because I don't think
that there's universal well we know there's not universal consensus
on things that you're talking about, right, whether seed oils
are good or bad, and where should we be eating
saturated fats or should we be eating these alternative unsaturated fats.
But if you bring together a bevy of medical professionals
(05:19):
and nutritionists to actually come up with a consensus on
information displaying various sides of this argument for the consumer
to then make their own decision, that's all that they
should be doing. That is the only thing that federal
and state government should be doing when it comes to
our food supply. And then the next thing they should
be doing. The second step on that list is allowing
(05:41):
and creating a system where American or domestic or local.
You know, I kind of consider domestic or US wild
US caught US raised as being local, especially in this
globalist economy, to be creating a system where those products
are more available than the imported products, because it's you know,
and they'll talk about there's various ways you can do that, right,
(06:02):
like tariffs or just marketing the US products, or deregulating
so that those products can go in between different states.
And everyone says, well, the price of all these goods
are going to go up you put tariffs on there.
When it comes to food, it's never in apples to
buy apples to apples conversation. I mean, you know, we
I remember like E comm one oh one, right, like
the idea of comparative advantage. If I am buying, you know,
(06:25):
a tomato from Mexico for a dollar, and the same
tomato costs four dollars to grow in the US market,
buy the Mexican tomato. Now I have the tomato and
an extra three dollars to spend locally. But when it
comes to food, those tomatoes aren't equal, right, So you
can't use that comparative advantage when it comes to economics
and food because of what it does to our bodies.
You know, we might buy the Mexican tomato treated with chemicals,
(06:46):
and then ten years down the road, we're spending you know,
one hundred thousand dollars on healthcare from eating so many
chemically treated tomatoes.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
They're treated with glyph estate.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What have you.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Let's talk. I mean, we're just discussing food here with
a chef Andrew rule. The cost of things is still
very high, as you know. We're hoping you get a
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two one zero five to four. How's life for small
businesses these days? I mean, you run a bunch of restaurants,
(08:02):
and how is those you think possibly going to be
able to help? At the federal level, maybe there'll be
some trickle down that happens where states realize they can't
be quite as insane, although I know California might be
asking too much. But what's it like these days? I mean,
do you feel like the climate is improving rapidly because
the incoming administration?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You tell me, yeah, two things are happening.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So you got the emotional piece, you know, just by
virtue of a new administration, and obviously everything that's kind
of surrounding that that administration and the prospects of a
stronger economy are helping businesses right now. We've seen it
across the board, and I've talked about this over the
past couple of weeks. It's like the day that Trump won,
the next day, our restaurant sales increased. I talked to
(08:44):
restaurant tours all over the country. They all felt the
same effect. Now you can speculate as to why that is.
I mean, is it just a sigh of relief that
it's over and the new cycles changing. Is it just
a general appreciation for something fresh coming in whatever it
is we're seeing it happen. I mean, you know, and
it's not just in restaurants. I think it's also retail.
I talked to a lot of my wholesale distributors and
they said the same thing, that they're feeling it as well.
(09:06):
Restaurant purchases are up across the board. DOGE bitcoin right,
seeing just this emotional reaction. But then I think when
you get into more specifics about the economy, and I
look at doge as in the Department of Government Efficiency,
and I say, okay, well, you're right, Like, how's that
going to help me in California? The way it will
help us is that if you see the federal government
(09:27):
pairing things down and the deb's not going to be
as crushing in terms of spinning our economy into the toilet,
then I think there's going to be a lot more
access to capital, right, banks, private equity, you name it, right,
individual investors, family funds, even just people who are sitting
with like five million dollars in the sideline and don't
know where to put it, perhaps retirees, baby boomers. When
(09:48):
that capital is ax is accessible, especially to small businesses,
people like me who are small businesses seeking investment in
that like one to five million dollar range to grow
and ultimately scale much larger. That's a that's a really
weird space to raise capital because anything below that and
you're looking at high interest merchant finance, finance loans, friends
(10:08):
and family or angels, anything up any you know, for
a for a private equity firm to do a hundred
ten million dollar investment, it's the same amount of money
it would cost them to do one hundred million dollar investment.
So when you're seeing access that capital now come off
the sidelines, that really helps small businesses in America.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And that's not a state issue. Right, Like, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I can have somebody in Idaho invest in California because
now they feel confident that they're putting their money into
an economy that's not going to end up getting you know, stabbed.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. No, it's it's interesting to see how already I mean,
I'm not I'm not a big crypto guy too late.
Maybe I don't know I should have been, because now
bitcoins over one hundred thousand. But there are already economic
forces clearly coming together here that are indicating a bullish
view not just of the stock market but of the
(11:00):
even though stock market's obviously incredibly high as it is,
which is a little concerning, but a bullish view of
the economy overall and economic growth. Come back, I want
to talk to you about restaurants here actually after this,
have some fun. You know, we'll get into this, but
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(12:04):
eight four four a two four safe. That's eight four
four eight two four safe. All right, chef, If I
had to ask you right now, other than your own place,
Calico Fish House, but if we're talking about like Michelin
two three star kind of kind of joints, what do
you think right now are the best two or three
restaurants in America that you've eaten in?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
That's a tough call.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So here in southern California, you've got this restaurant Knife Fleet,
which is a Michelin Star restaurant. Tony in now was
originally the chef for all of the Lane New Cause
spots in New York City, and then he ended up
in La like ten or fifteen years ago. Funny enough,
like full circle. I actually worked under him at the
Ritz Carlton in Boston in like two thousand and two
or two thousand and three.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
He was a chef of the dining room there.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So he's definitely my favorite restaurant. I think the best
restaurant in America. It's right here in Orange County, but
then in you know, I think Florida's got some really
good spots coming up. I think a lot of chefs
have moved from like the big metropolitan markets into Florida.
And I don't seek out the fine dining restaurants. I
like more of those kind of up and coming. I
don't want to say hole in the walls or diners
(13:11):
driving some dives, but just you know, a good, solid,
like mediocrely mediocre, medium priced restaurant that's just serving scratch
made food. We're seeing a lot more of that, especially
in Florida.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I do think it's the case, and I think back
to my youth in New York City. That that you
just you see more good food in more places across
America than ever before, and just food is at a
higher level and a higher quality in this country than
ever before. So I know we were talking about like
food supply issues, but there are you know, in a
lot of places you can find really good stuff where
(13:45):
it used to be. I remember like visiting my grandparents
in upstate New York. I mean whatever, the kind of
a grocery store chain that was there, whatever they got
like that was it. Let's you want to get in
the car for an hour?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, I mean right, it's so New York, New York.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm thinking would that'd be like Hannaford Markets, you know,
New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine. Uh, that is the case.
I think that the that what we used to see
was a lot of the product in America that were
just funneled into the big cities, right Chicago, New York City,
perhaps Miami, but not as much that now there's more
suburban development around some of these agrarian communities. I mean
(14:23):
even take Maine for example. I went to college up
in Maine, and it was like lobstering and potatoes but
now you've actually got phenomenal restaurants up there and a
bounty of fresh local food. So you're seeing like really
cool restaurants pop up from Portland all the way up
through into you know, past bar Harbor.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Like Rockland, Maine.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
But that's applying across the country in a lot of
these local areas, and the food is staying local versus
being chemically treated and then shipped across the country. Even
when you've got like New Jersey tomatoes, right, which are
the best tomatoes in my opinion, in the country in
that sweet spot in the summertime. A lot of times
they'll pick them on ripe and then they'll treat them
with like nitris or you know, like a chemical in
order to truck ripen them and ship them across the country.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Now all that stuff stays local.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
What's the best way to like, if somebody wanted to
just their knife skills, is it just like get a
bunch of things and just start chopping, Like how can
I get better as an amateur chef in the kitchen?
I do a bit of cooking a little bit, Like
I'm not great, but like I'm solid like chef, you
wouldn't spit out my almond. I'm just gonna say it.
You wouldn't spit it out. You'd be like, this isn't
(15:26):
too bad. I cook a lot of eggs, a lot
of protein, a lot of steak. I get lazy about sides.
So I've actually become one of these people who will
go take do take out from like a place and
get their brussels. You know, they're sort of roast Brussels
sprouts or whatever. I mean, that's really lazy. But I'm
telling you the truth. And then I'll make my own
steak because I'll get it from the butcher exactly what
I want, see it exactly cooked how I want, et cetera.
(15:50):
But like, what are the ways to to improve knife skills?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Should I watch YouTube videos on on on cutting technique?
Like is this something that you might be doing, like
teaching people how to do this stuff? How do I
do this?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It's really easy actually, and it's good to use with
kids or to do with kids as well as is
you get these plastic they're called lettuce knives, right, So
these plastic serrated knives, and then I just buy like
bags of cheap lettuce for the kids so that they
can learn to curve to curb their fingers, and you
start with those, right, you just start rushing through lettuce,
make salads all week, or just do like spinach and
(16:23):
saute it. You know, like twenty pounds of spinachl sautee
down and do a cup. So using those knives they're
like three box you can buy them on Amazon. They're
called salad knives. They're serrated plastic knives. That's a great
way to just get it's because it's just muscle memory.
You got to just keep doing it over and over
and over again, and then from there it graduate into
bags of onions. Right, just start doing it with onions
over and over and then caramelize your onions.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Make French onion soup.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Once again, same principle applies because when you cook or
you cut, you know, twenty pounds of onions and you
ultimately caramelize them and saute them down. For a French
onion soup, You've got like a cup of caramelized onions
because all that moisture is cooked out and the sugar
is caramelized. So you're gonna use them in the right application.
You just got to get that muscle memory down all right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
More of a lightning round here. You only get one
cut of one cut of steak for the rest of
your life, like one place from the cow. What is it?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Oh hangar steak all day, also known as the butcher
steak hangs off the tenderlines, really beefy, tons of richness
and very tender.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Look at him. The chef goes with the with the
butcher's cut. Makes sense to me, actually, I get that one.
I was recently mocked for thinking that pistachio crembrewlat was
something that I should eat on election night to celebrate.
What is your take on pistachio cremberlet. Would you agree
that it is superior to say, just normal crembreulet. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I think you need that nuttiness and that richness in cremberlay.
Otherwise it's overwhelmingly velvety. So I actually like a little
bit of a like a twist on the flavor, or
if it's like some type of citrus in there.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I don't why were you getting mocked? That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I mean people were saying it was too French and
too fancy and like I should have been eating apple
pie instead. I was like, I don't know, Like what's
wrong with little pistachio crembroulet. I also, just so you know,
my favorite ice flavors pistachio. So there's a theme here.
And Clay, my esteemed co host, is always you know,
he likes chocolate chip ice cream. So everyone's like, oh,
he loves America, Like that's what Chuck Norris would eat.
(18:21):
And I'm over here like I've got a pinky ring
and a monocle on eating my pistachio ice cream. I'm like,
I don't understand. I think pistaschio ice cream is just
the best flavor.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And pistachios are actually an American, you know, American nut.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Like thank you, thank you California.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know, half the water in California goes to the
goes to the aristocratic pistachio. But the you know, I
don't think there's anything wrong with that. And by the way,
apple pie is junk. I mean, that's the biggest ruse
in America is that apple pie is good.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It's disgusting. It's a miss.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Tell me, tell me more, Like what do you do?
It's just not worth it?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Well, like, well why right?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So you cut into it, the pie crust falls apart
and you just got like soggy apples all over the place,
caked with cinnamon, with cinnamon. I'll eat an apple crumble
before I'll eat an apple pie. Don't lie to me
and tell me it's going to be a slice of pie.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
The apples just can't hold up to the pie. If
you want to make a pie, make sure it's something
that you can cut and eat pie in each piece,
not some massive crumble with like apples falling apart.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I love this. We're both going to get lit up
online for this. By the way, just see your no
so I'm looking I'm looking forward to it. Before we
close out here, just got to say for our sponsor IFCJ,
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, you a wishes
you a blessed holiday season as you gather with family,
friends and enjoy the grateful blessings that we all have
(19:38):
in this country. But let's remember those who are facing
hardships over in Israel and a need of fellowship during
these times. Israelis are thankful to the Fellowship for food
and basic assistance. This is truly life saving aid when
the rest of the world seems to have turned its
back on them. Your gift of twenty five dollars will
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(20:00):
of these life saving food boxes this holiday season. Please
consider standing with Israel on the Jewish people. Go to
support IFCJ dot org to make a gift that support
if CJ dot org. Chef Gruel, thanks as always, man.
Where can people follow you? Look at your amazing food
photos and eat at your restaurants all that good stuff?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah, follow me on exit, Chef Gruel. It's Calico Dash
restaurant dot com. Our cooking show American Gravies on right now,
it's on Rumble. I've got a substack at American Gravy
where I post all the recipes from those cooking videos
and just you know, keep an ear out.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Thanks so much, chef, thank you for having me
You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey guys on the Buck Brief. Chef Andrew Rule is
with us. He's got great restaurants in California, Calico Fish House.
Also a man you see on Fox News and elsewhere
sharing his insights and of course tips for the kitchen,
tips running a small business successfully. Chef. Great to see you, sir.
Make America healthy again. It is something that RFK Junior
(00:45):
has popularized now an extension of maga. It is now
maha I guess or maha whatever. What do you want
to see as the top things that RFK Junior could
accomplish that relates to food, relates to food supply, all
these things and the health issues that people have.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, I think that we get really sucked into the
granular topics, right. We talk about like seed oils or
pharmaceuticals and how much money is going from point A
to point B and what's in our food system. And
there's so many topics within this general conversation that we
can get really detailed on. But I think that pulls
us away from the bigger picture, and the bigger picture
here is that if we want to fix anything when
it comes to health and it comes to food service,
(01:25):
or furthermore, even the merge of food and pharmaceuticals, which
I think is a lot more connected than people imagine,
we just need to completely scrap the system altogether. So
this is what I keep saying. You know, you've got
the USDA the FDA. You're talking like eighteen twenty thousand
employees in each and they're overseeing a system related to
(01:46):
our food products and food safety and pharmaceuticals, but generally
the health of America, and we've only gotten sicker. Right
Like you look at at chronic diseases amongst kids. Twenty
percent of our entire federal budget goes towards healthcare in general,
and that cost is just skyrocketing. We have failed from
(02:07):
the perspective of utilizing the government to fits. We just
need to completely get rid of and gut out the USDA,
the FDA and start over. We as citizens, as consumers,
we know how to eat healthy, right like, we have
the agency to do it. But over the past ten
or twenty years, it's almost like we've handed that agency
(02:28):
that that ability to make decisions for ourselves over to
the government, and they've completely failed us. So that's step
one right there, We've got to gut the entire system
out because it's you realize, and actually I don't think
people realize. Is this everything the USDA and the FDA does,
and this applies to tons of federal agencies. You're also
getting that done on a state level. There's the redundancies
(02:50):
across the board. So it's just like a big bureaucratic
bowl of molasses where nothing gets done. So get rid
of them. That's step one.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Get rid of them, and then what should be some
of the changes that Like what would a better version
of the FDA be doing? I mean, do you think
it really is looking at I mean, seed oil is
a big thing. I know that your restaurants doesn't your
restaurants don't use any seed oils? Do you believe that
that stuff is all inflammatory? Like? Where do you view
(03:20):
the real points of possible change that would have a
positive effect on I mean, as we know this country,
OBESI rates of absolutely skyrocketed. You know, there's so many problems.
I mean a lot of people have no idea what's
going into their food supply. They have no idea about
how to deal with some of these things. What do
(03:41):
you think are some of the key points that could
be improved by a I guess a smarter, leaner, better
version of the FDA, whatever we'd call it.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, it's strictly education.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's the lens through which I look at all of
this is education, right, and that's obviously information, So labeling better,
labeling laws, not hiding behind confusing names on our ingredient lists. Right,
Like we don't even understand what is inside of our
food because many times it's just the chemicals they live.
There's a multitude of information behind that, right, So we
(04:14):
got to get cleaner with the labeling laws. We've got
a demand point of origin, you know, as an example
with seafood, like it can be labeled US seafood. But
what happens, especially with the majority of our seafood here
in the United States, is that it's caught, it shipped
over seas to Asia, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, processed over there,
treated with chemicals. In many cases, all of the seafood
that's coming through is being tested for bleach malchite green
(04:35):
and it's showing up positive. So a lot of chemicals
in that seafood ship back into our food supply and
it's labeled as US caught, right, So people see it
and they're like, oh, this is Alaskan seafood, but it's
actually been completely adulterated and manipulated and processed in China.
It's essentially Chinese seafood. And that applies. That's just like
one little anecdote. So labeling laws are important. But that
(04:57):
goes back to education and pulling together really a cadre
of medical professionals of different thoughts, because I don't think
that there's universal well we know there's not universal consensus
on things that you're talking about, right, whether seed oils
are good or bad, and where should we be eating
saturated fats or should we be eating these alternative unsaturated fats.
But if you bring together a bevy of medical professionals
(05:19):
and nutritionists to actually come up with a consensus on
information displaying various sides of this argument for the consumer
to then make their own decision, that's all that they
should be doing. That is the only thing that federal
and state government should be doing when it comes to
our food supply. And then the next thing they should
be doing. The second step on that list is allowing
(05:41):
and creating a system where American or domestic or local.
You know, I kind of consider domestic or US wild
US caught US raised as being local, especially in this
globalist economy, to be creating a system where those products
are more available than the imported products, because it's you know,
and they'll talk about there's various ways you can do that, right,
(06:02):
like tariffs or just marketing the US products, or deregulating
so that those products can go in between different states.
And everyone says, well, the price of all these goods
are going to go up you put tariffs on there.
When it comes to food, it's never in apples to
buy apples to apples conversation. I mean, you know, we
I remember like E comm one oh one, right, like
the idea of comparative advantage. If I am buying, you know,
(06:25):
a tomato from Mexico for a dollar, and the same
tomato costs four dollars to grow in the US market,
buy the Mexican tomato. Now I have the tomato and
an extra three dollars to spend locally. But when it
comes to food, those tomatoes aren't equal, right, So you
can't use that comparative advantage when it comes to economics
and food because of what it does to our bodies.
You know, we might buy the Mexican tomato treated with chemicals,
(06:46):
and then ten years down the road, we're spending you know,
one hundred thousand dollars on healthcare from eating so many
chemically treated tomatoes.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
They're treated with glyph estate.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What have you.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Let's talk. I mean, we're just discussing food here with
a chef Andrew rule. The cost of things is still
very high, as you know. We're hoping you get a
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two one zero five to four. How's life for small
businesses these days? I mean, you run a bunch of restaurants,
(08:02):
and how is those you think possibly going to be
able to help? At the federal level, maybe there'll be
some trickle down that happens where states realize they can't
be quite as insane, although I know California might be
asking too much. But what's it like these days? I mean,
do you feel like the climate is improving rapidly because
the incoming administration?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You tell me, yeah, two things are happening.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So you got the emotional piece, you know, just by
virtue of a new administration, and obviously everything that's kind
of surrounding that that administration and the prospects of a
stronger economy are helping businesses right now. We've seen it
across the board, and I've talked about this over the
past couple of weeks. It's like the day that Trump won,
the next day, our restaurant sales increased. I talked to
(08:44):
restaurant tours all over the country. They all felt the
same effect. Now you can speculate as to why that is.
I mean, is it just a sigh of relief that
it's over and the new cycles changing. Is it just
a general appreciation for something fresh coming in whatever it
is we're seeing it happen. I mean, you know, and
it's not just in restaurants. I think it's also retail.
I talked to a lot of my wholesale distributors and
they said the same thing, that they're feeling it as well.
(09:06):
Restaurant purchases are up across the board. DOGE bitcoin right,
seeing just this emotional reaction. But then I think when
you get into more specifics about the economy, and I
look at doge as in the Department of Government Efficiency,
and I say, okay, well, you're right, Like, how's that
going to help me in California? The way it will
help us is that if you see the federal government
(09:27):
pairing things down and the deb's not going to be
as crushing in terms of spinning our economy into the toilet,
then I think there's going to be a lot more
access to capital, right, banks, private equity, you name it, right,
individual investors, family funds, even just people who are sitting
with like five million dollars in the sideline and don't
know where to put it, perhaps retirees, baby boomers. When
(09:48):
that capital is ax is accessible, especially to small businesses,
people like me who are small businesses seeking investment in
that like one to five million dollar range to grow
and ultimately scale much larger. That's a that's a really
weird space to raise capital because anything below that and
you're looking at high interest merchant finance, finance loans, friends
(10:08):
and family or angels, anything up any you know, for
a for a private equity firm to do a hundred
ten million dollar investment, it's the same amount of money
it would cost them to do one hundred million dollar investment.
So when you're seeing access that capital now come off
the sidelines, that really helps small businesses in America.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And that's not a state issue. Right, Like, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I can have somebody in Idaho invest in California because
now they feel confident that they're putting their money into
an economy that's not going to end up getting you know, stabbed.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. No, it's it's interesting to see how already I mean,
I'm not I'm not a big crypto guy too late.
Maybe I don't know I should have been, because now
bitcoins over one hundred thousand. But there are already economic
forces clearly coming together here that are indicating a bullish
view not just of the stock market but of the
(11:00):
even though stock market's obviously incredibly high as it is,
which is a little concerning, but a bullish view of
the economy overall and economic growth. Come back, I want
to talk to you about restaurants here actually after this,
have some fun. You know, we'll get into this, but
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(12:04):
eight four four a two four safe. That's eight four
four eight two four safe. All right, chef, If I
had to ask you right now, other than your own place,
Calico Fish House, but if we're talking about like Michelin
two three star kind of kind of joints, what do
you think right now are the best two or three
restaurants in America that you've eaten in?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
That's a tough call.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So here in southern California, you've got this restaurant Knife Fleet,
which is a Michelin Star restaurant. Tony in now was
originally the chef for all of the Lane New Cause
spots in New York City, and then he ended up
in La like ten or fifteen years ago. Funny enough,
like full circle. I actually worked under him at the
Ritz Carlton in Boston in like two thousand and two
or two thousand and three.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
He was a chef of the dining room there.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So he's definitely my favorite restaurant. I think the best
restaurant in America. It's right here in Orange County, but
then in you know, I think Florida's got some really
good spots coming up. I think a lot of chefs
have moved from like the big metropolitan markets into Florida.
And I don't seek out the fine dining restaurants. I
like more of those kind of up and coming. I
don't want to say hole in the walls or diners
(13:11):
driving some dives, but just you know, a good, solid,
like mediocrely mediocre, medium priced restaurant that's just serving scratch
made food. We're seeing a lot more of that, especially
in Florida.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I do think it's the case, and I think back
to my youth in New York City. That that you
just you see more good food in more places across
America than ever before, and just food is at a
higher level and a higher quality in this country than
ever before. So I know we were talking about like
food supply issues, but there are you know, in a
lot of places you can find really good stuff where
(13:45):
it used to be. I remember like visiting my grandparents
in upstate New York. I mean whatever, the kind of
a grocery store chain that was there, whatever they got
like that was it. Let's you want to get in
the car for an hour?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, I mean right, it's so New York, New York.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm thinking would that'd be like Hannaford Markets, you know,
New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine. Uh, that is the case.
I think that the that what we used to see
was a lot of the product in America that were
just funneled into the big cities, right Chicago, New York City,
perhaps Miami, but not as much that now there's more
suburban development around some of these agrarian communities. I mean
(14:23):
even take Maine for example. I went to college up
in Maine, and it was like lobstering and potatoes but
now you've actually got phenomenal restaurants up there and a
bounty of fresh local food. So you're seeing like really
cool restaurants pop up from Portland all the way up
through into you know, past bar Harbor.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Like Rockland, Maine.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
But that's applying across the country in a lot of
these local areas, and the food is staying local versus
being chemically treated and then shipped across the country. Even
when you've got like New Jersey tomatoes, right, which are
the best tomatoes in my opinion, in the country in
that sweet spot in the summertime. A lot of times
they'll pick them on ripe and then they'll treat them
with like nitris or you know, like a chemical in
order to truck ripen them and ship them across the country.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Now all that stuff stays local.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
What's the best way to like, if somebody wanted to
just their knife skills, is it just like get a
bunch of things and just start chopping, Like how can
I get better as an amateur chef in the kitchen?
I do a bit of cooking a little bit, Like
I'm not great, but like I'm solid like chef, you
wouldn't spit out my almond. I'm just gonna say it.
You wouldn't spit it out. You'd be like, this isn't
(15:26):
too bad. I cook a lot of eggs, a lot
of protein, a lot of steak. I get lazy about sides.
So I've actually become one of these people who will
go take do take out from like a place and
get their brussels. You know, they're sort of roast Brussels
sprouts or whatever. I mean, that's really lazy. But I'm
telling you the truth. And then I'll make my own
steak because I'll get it from the butcher exactly what
I want, see it exactly cooked how I want, et cetera.
(15:50):
But like, what are the ways to to improve knife skills?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Should I watch YouTube videos on on on cutting technique?
Like is this something that you might be doing, like
teaching people how to do this stuff? How do I
do this?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It's really easy actually, and it's good to use with
kids or to do with kids as well as is
you get these plastic they're called lettuce knives, right, So
these plastic serrated knives, and then I just buy like
bags of cheap lettuce for the kids so that they
can learn to curve to curb their fingers, and you
start with those, right, you just start rushing through lettuce,
make salads all week, or just do like spinach and
(16:23):
saute it. You know, like twenty pounds of spinachl sautee
down and do a cup. So using those knives they're
like three box you can buy them on Amazon. They're
called salad knives. They're serrated plastic knives. That's a great
way to just get it's because it's just muscle memory.
You got to just keep doing it over and over
and over again, and then from there it graduate into
bags of onions. Right, just start doing it with onions
over and over and then caramelize your onions.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Make French onion soup.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Once again, same principle applies because when you cook or
you cut, you know, twenty pounds of onions and you
ultimately caramelize them and saute them down. For a French
onion soup, You've got like a cup of caramelized onions
because all that moisture is cooked out and the sugar
is caramelized. So you're gonna use them in the right application.
You just got to get that muscle memory down all right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
More of a lightning round here. You only get one
cut of one cut of steak for the rest of
your life, like one place from the cow. What is it?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Oh hangar steak all day, also known as the butcher
steak hangs off the tenderlines, really beefy, tons of richness
and very tender.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Look at him. The chef goes with the with the
butcher's cut. Makes sense to me, actually, I get that one.
I was recently mocked for thinking that pistachio crembrewlat was
something that I should eat on election night to celebrate.
What is your take on pistachio cremberlet. Would you agree
that it is superior to say, just normal crembreulet. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I think you need that nuttiness and that richness in cremberlay.
Otherwise it's overwhelmingly velvety. So I actually like a little
bit of a like a twist on the flavor, or
if it's like some type of citrus in there.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I don't why were you getting mocked? That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I mean people were saying it was too French and
too fancy and like I should have been eating apple
pie instead. I was like, I don't know, Like what's
wrong with little pistachio crembroulet. I also, just so you know,
my favorite ice flavors pistachio. So there's a theme here.
And Clay, my esteemed co host, is always you know,
he likes chocolate chip ice cream. So everyone's like, oh,
he loves America, Like that's what Chuck Norris would eat.
(18:21):
And I'm over here like I've got a pinky ring
and a monocle on eating my pistachio ice cream. I'm like,
I don't understand. I think pistaschio ice cream is just
the best flavor.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And pistachios are actually an American, you know, American nut.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Like thank you, thank you California.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know, half the water in California goes to the
goes to the aristocratic pistachio. But the you know, I
don't think there's anything wrong with that. And by the way,
apple pie is junk. I mean, that's the biggest ruse
in America is that apple pie is good.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It's disgusting. It's a miss.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Tell me, tell me more, Like what do you do?
It's just not worth it?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Well, like, well why right?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
So you cut into it, the pie crust falls apart
and you just got like soggy apples all over the place,
caked with cinnamon, with cinnamon. I'll eat an apple crumble
before I'll eat an apple pie. Don't lie to me
and tell me it's going to be a slice of pie.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
The apples just can't hold up to the pie. If
you want to make a pie, make sure it's something
that you can cut and eat pie in each piece,
not some massive crumble with like apples falling apart.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I love this. We're both going to get lit up
online for this. By the way, just see your no
so I'm looking I'm looking forward to it. Before we
close out here, just got to say for our sponsor IFCJ,
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, you a wishes
you a blessed holiday season as you gather with family,
friends and enjoy the grateful blessings that we all have
(19:38):
in this country. But let's remember those who are facing
hardships over in Israel and a need of fellowship during
these times. Israelis are thankful to the Fellowship for food
and basic assistance. This is truly life saving aid when
the rest of the world seems to have turned its
back on them. Your gift of twenty five dollars will
help provide a food box to an elderly Jew or
a Jewish family who are suffering and in desperate need.
A gift of one hundred dollars will help provide four
(20:00):
of these life saving food boxes this holiday season. Please
consider standing with Israel on the Jewish people. Go to
support IFCJ dot org to make a gift that support
if CJ dot org. Chef Gruel, thanks as always, man.
Where can people follow you? Look at your amazing food
photos and eat at your restaurants all that good stuff?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah, follow me on exit, Chef Gruel. It's Calico Dash
restaurant dot com. Our cooking show American Gravies on right now,
it's on Rumble. I've got a substack at American Gravy
where I post all the recipes from those cooking videos
and just you know, keep an ear out.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Thanks so much, chef, thank you for having me
Host
Buck Sexton
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