Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alex Sidel just walked into the studio. I saw him
a couple of nights.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Ago on Saturday night at his restaurant, Fruition. Saturday night
was the next to last night of Fruition being open
after eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I went with one of my kids.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
My kid had a pasta dish and my kids said
to me, Dad, this is the best pasta I've eaten
in my entire life, and actually said it to Alex
as we are on our way out. So Alex, first
of all, thanks for coming in. It's good to see you.
Absolutely thanks, And just pull that mike a little bit
closer to you. It's very adjustable, but there you go.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
How you doing good? Good, good good. I'm your son
has a sophisticated pal he does.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
He actually, he actually does for a guy who the
rest of the time will eat Subway sandwiches with as
much sore Racha sauce.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
As he can tolerate.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
But I want to hear, I want listeners to hear
a little bit of your story and then the Fruition story.
But you're a James Beard Award winner, I am. That's
like Academy Award for Best Actor in the food Business.
In the food world. Huge honor, a huge honor and
not one that's giving out kind of randomly. You got
(01:06):
to earn it. Tell us about your journey from like
how you got into cooking to begin with, to winning
at James Beard Award.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Then we'll get to fruition.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, I grew up in Rasina, Wisconsin, which is widely
known as the culinary mecca of the world. I don't
know if you knew this, but I actually started at
a place called Swingers, and I had a dishwashing job
at age fourteen, So you know, I worked my way
through and I kind of fell in love with this,
just this excitement in the kitchen, this kind of brotherhood
(01:38):
of bandits going at it all night and being busy,
and you know, it's just a crazy atmosphere. So I
fell in love with it. From there, I just really
started cooking in different kitchens. Went up to Milwaukee and
started cooking in Milwaukee, cooked through college. From there, I
(02:00):
moved to Portland, Oregon, went to culinary school after college,
and that kind of was my gateway to the West,
if you will, and to open my eyes about food
and foraging and the oceans and wine country and all
the good things.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
What was the name of the culinary school and it
is still there.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
At the time it was called Western Culinary Institute, it
is now something else. I'm sure, okay, And what it is,
I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, And normally, and I'm not expert on this, you
can tell me I'm wrong. My vague experience from friends
of mine who have gone to those kinds of schools
is you usually end up kind of specializing in something,
did you, well.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I mean, just going to culinary school itself is already
he was already a specialization, right right. You're focused on
baking and pastry and garmage and ice car That word garage,
what's that? That's basically our pantry where we make salads
and cold preparations. Okay, yes, but I mean you learned
(02:59):
everything like ice carving and all the things international foods.
You learn how to serve, you learned about wine. So
it was very encompassing. Did you have a favorite subject?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know? I really, I really enjoyed it all.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But one of my favorite things to do is I
was to go down to the bake shop and get
a croissant fresh out of the oven. And that's probably
why we make croissants today at at your restaurants. At
food Mill, I have a little commissary where we also
prepare a lot of pastries and we prepare them for
a mercantile at the airport mercantile for all three chioks
for fruition until Sunday. But we did a lot of pastries.
(03:40):
We do a lot of pastries out of that kitchen.
It's called food Mill.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Is that open to the public or is that just
supplying your own It's.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Just applying my own and a couple other friends in
the Denver community.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Interesting, all right, So how did you get from culinary
school to James Beard Award?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So I continue my journey. I went down to Central California,
lived in Monterey and worked in Carmel Carmel Valley. That's
where I got my first chef position, which was kind
of a big deal for me. That was back in
the late nineties. And from there I just was exploring,
(04:17):
trying to just consume as much food knowledge as I
possibly could, traveling to traveling around the world and learning
about other cultures and other food cultures and just really
trying to put all my experiences together.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Was what was the first dish that you created that
became like the highlight on that restaurant menu, and people
would say, that's our specialty.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
What was the first one you did like that?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Well? I remember when I was at Mazouna, I had
opportunities to put food on the menu there, and I
created a dish that was kind of a potato wrapped
oyster of sorts, and I did a preparation for and it.
People seemed to enjoy this potato wrapped oyster. And when
(05:05):
I opened Fruition, I started with a dish called the
Oyster's Rockefeller, which was a potato wrapped oyster with a
little spinach and it had bacon lardones and a nice
little leak and parmesan emulsion. So that was like my
spin on oyster Rockefeller, and I think that became a
signature dish for us for really up until COVID, when
(05:29):
we can serve food except in a to go right,
you know, to go box, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So in that dish is the oyster raw or is
the oyster.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Cooked in that cooked? It's cooked in that one. It's fried.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It has a potato wrapping on it, so it's kind
of like a potato chip on the outside of the
oyster and just ate really nice with the creaminess of
that leak emulsion, and uh yeah it was a good dish.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
All right, So let's talk about fruition.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah eighteen years ago? How how did that restaurant come
to fruition?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So I also played college soccer, and growing up playing soccer,
I grew up with a guy and we're seeing Wisconsin
called His name is Jesse Marsh. He's currently the Canadian
national team coach for their soccer team and his coach
in the EPL and in Austria and Germany. So he's
very well traveled and so we've shared a lot over
(06:20):
the years as far as our growth together as friends.
And he came into Denver one year traveling with I
think it was the La Chivas in the MLS, and
he had dinner at Minzoona where I was working, and
he kind of saw the responsibilities I had there and
kind of the menu items that I had created there,
(06:43):
and he was like, why aren't you doing your own restaurant?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And I was like, I don't have any money.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So he's like, well we should talk about that, and
him coupled with a couple other family members, my uncle
and my father in law. They really supported my opportunity
to open Fruition And it was a shoe string budget.
There were bars on the windows, the hood fell out
of the ceiling, a bottle of balsamic vinegar exploded in
(07:09):
the kitchen because it was so hot back there. You know,
just all kinds whatever could go wrong could go wrong.
But we opened up humbly in that space eighteen years ago,
the same space I was just in exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It's always been there.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
It's been redefined a couple times through its eighteen years,
couple of remodels and different renditions of it. But I
was trying to make it better, so in a place
where people could really enjoy it, including our team.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So yeah, I want to talk about a couple of
things before we get to closing Fruition down. Restaurants are
a notoriously difficult business generally.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Put aside COVID, was it profitable.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It must have been at least somewhat profitable to run
for eighteen years, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's always been a special place and has always provided
for my family, for our teams. Yeah, and finances aren't
something that we've ever really had to think about, because
we could just really focus on what we did on
a day to day basis, and that's inspiring our team
and education. And I think over the last four or
five years, you know, we've just been just had some
(08:19):
challenging years, and there's regulation that comes upon us year
after year after year, and it becomes harder as a
owner to really focus on the things that matter in
a restaurant, and that's how we provide an experience for
our guests, because you're constantly looking at, Okay, what's the.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
New minimum wage this year?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What are what are the things that we have to
follow every year, and there's a lot of there's a
lot of follow up that has to be done with that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All right, Yeah, let's dig into that a little more.
Just one quick thing though that I want to interject.
When when my kid and I were leaving and he
said to you, that's the best past I've had in
my entire life. I remember what you said because what
you said really struck me. Although you've probably said it
a thousand times or ten thousand times to a thousand
(09:08):
or ten thousand different people, but you said, that's why
we do this, yep, And that really I really felt
that sure, And what I'm kind of interested to know,
and I want you to elaborate on what's changed in
the environment that caused you to decide to shut down
(09:29):
this wonderful and successful restaurant. So I want to know
what change you touched on it a little bit. But
I also kind of want to hear about, like, why
we do this, why you do this?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, well, I've always loved cooking, number one, And from
an early age, anytime I cooked for family, it was like, Wow,
this is amazing or you know, and then when you
get into restaurants and you start cooking for people and
you see the reaction, it's just it sucks you in, right,
(10:03):
And it's just it's contagious as far as the feeling
of making people happy, right, And it's just a genuine
notion of I cooked food and it's one thing that
I've been good enough at that makes people happy. So like,
I've just always wanted to continue to do this. I've
always wanted to continue to try and create a different
(10:23):
experience for people, whether that's making pastries for Whole Foods,
or if it's having people in for the restaurant or
creating a pickle program or you know, Colorado cheese. It's
always been special to provide something to people that they go, Wow,
this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Tell us a little about what changed and what that
change was like over however many years that made you say,
we just can't keep doing this.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, a lot of it, A lot of it comes
down to me. A lot has changed in my life
over the last five years. And you know, I am
just further and further removed from the things that I
love to do and the things that I'm good at.
And I think, you know, when you get into your fifties,
you kind of realize what you're good at and what
you're not good at, the things you love to do,
(11:17):
and the things you don't love to do. And quite honestly,
I'm doing the things that I don't love to do,
and that's managing businesses in this tough, tough environment. And
I'm so much further removed from cooking or creating menu
ideas or just the whole creative peace to running restaurants.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I get it. I fully get it.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
You know, when I used to be a trader in Chicago,
waving my hands and yelling on the trading floor, and
then I started a trading firm with some other friends,
and I could still trade some of the time, Yeah,
but a lot of the time I had to go
upstairs and manage people and hire people and fire people
and put out put out metaphorical fire, and get their
health insurance and rent the office space. And it was
(12:04):
it was less. It was a little bit less profitable
and much less fun.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, and a lot more work and a lot more work.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And I just how much for you, how much of
a factor was the increase in the minimum wage.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I sat in the mayor's office before the bill
was passed. In Denver City Council, I sat in Robin
Kanish's office, who was a city council member at that point,
which wasn't not a great experience, but I remember these
experiences of telling how much this was going to crush
restaurants and maybe not now, maybe not this year, maybe
(12:42):
not next year. But and listen, it wasn't about paying
a great wage. It was never about that, because I
think we were always there and I always paying a
great wage. But it's wage compression, and it's making sure
your managers make more than your employees, and that starts
(13:03):
to get out of control and is quick of an
increase that we had over such a short amount of time,
it was just impossible to figure out the formula for us.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It's interesting because you don't know I mean your restaurant fruition.
By the way, if you're just joining, we're talking with
Alex Sidel, James Beard Award winner whose wonderful restaurant Fruition
just closed after eighteen years. Your restaurant is not inexpensive.
It's also not the most expensive restaurant I've been to.
(13:36):
It's well priced for very fine food, but it's not
the kind of place where you think they're going to
have minimum wage struggles when the main courses are thirty
dollars or forty dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And yet here we are.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, I listen, I have been sitting in my restaurant
the last five nights. I had dinner a couple times
with my friend Jesse, the soccer player, came in for
one night. Wife and my daughter and I sat down
for dinner, and I'm looking at a piece of cod
and understanding that is forty eight dollars on the menu.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
And I am looking at it like wow, this is crazy. Yeah,
all right, So it's not because we want that to
be the case. But that is the case.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
That is the case. Yeah, input costs of it absolutely exploded.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And people know if you go to if restaurants are
very competitive business, they can't just raise prices where they want.
The other restaurant next, you know, down the street that
might be almost as good, well not almost as good
as as fruition, but almost as good as some of
the restaurant they'll undercut you if they can get the business.
It's a competitive market, all right. We literally only.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Have about two minutes left and I want to get in.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I want to get in maybe three listener questions, So
give me quick answers. Are you aware of a person
called Amos Watts?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
And if so, a listener would like you to say
anything you want to say.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, Amos is a dear friend, unfortunately passed away this
past last year, big teddy bear of a guy, such
a huge culinary icon in this city and well even
before Denver, he established themselves in other parts of the
country as just an amazing chef, an amazing human being.
(15:13):
I was able to attend a memorial for him with
so many hundreds of others in the culinary industry, and
he touched a lot of lives. He inspired a lot
of people in this community. Is certainly said that he's gone.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Ask Alex about Mercantile Union Station, will it reopen? And
then also this listener says, I'm the world's biggest lover
of great risotto. The best I ever had was at
a small restaurant in Florence twenty years ago. I never
found anything that came close to it. And tell Mercantile,
you are a master. Your chef skills amazed and are appreciated.
So how about Mercantile. Wow, Well, thank you so much
(15:49):
for the compliment. Mercantile. I'm really excited about.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I went from one meeting telling my team at Fruition
that we're going to be closing back in December, and
I went right to a meeting with my stage partnership
team and my culinary team and my management team of
Mercantile talking about what is Mercantile going to be next.
And I've got such great support from Sage since they
came in and partnered with me on Mercantile. Currently, we're
(16:17):
closed for six weeks because we've been reimagining this new
Mercantile and what it is a new space. So we
are doing a remodel, a little bit of a brand refresh.
And the cool thing is I'm scheduled with the chef
to be in the kitchen next week.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Wow, so that hasn't happened. I'm definitely reopening. Oh it's
one hundred percent of opening. And this is what I
was talking about earlier, is like it's.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Given me an opportunity to get in the kitchen and
be with food again, be with my chefs, to talk
about food. So I'm really excited about our reopening. We're
shooting for right around Valentine's Day, so I'm not sure
if we're going to make it for Valentine's Day, but
we'll definitely keep everybody posted.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
All right, last quick thing and I don't know if
you know the details, but a couple of listeners have
asked for the for the details of the pasta dish
that my kid ate. The can can you talk about
that just quickly? We got like thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So this is an annulotte is what the pasta shape
is called. It's a stuffed pasta very similar to a ravioli,
but quite a little bit of a different shape. And
Chef Jared was serving this with sun chokes in fresh
shaved truffles. I mean, you can't go wrong with.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And it was stuffed with I think puaid chestnut and
mars capone.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Absolutely it was.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And the sauce was this incredible cream sauce that had
puid root vegetables in it, but you couldn't tell really
that there were vegetables, and it became part of the cream.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
It was.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I tasted my kids the sauce from the pasta because
he wouldn't share the.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Pasta with me because it was too good.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Well, that that sauce actually comes out of an is
I gun, which is a special technique that we use.
Oh it's kind of like a whip creamer, you know,
a Co two whipp crean.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, Well it kind.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Of gives airiness to that dish and it makes it
feel like it's, you know, lush and creamy, but it's
really actually light.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Wow. Now you're already enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Now you understand why, Alex said Ellis James Beard Award winner.
I can't wait to come your actual cooking at Mercantile.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
In a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
My wife wasn't feeling well, so I took my kid
to fruition. But I'll bring my wife to mercantile so
she can say hi and taste your food. And it
was great tor risotto, and I'm glad you enjoyed the pasta.
She sure did. Congratulations on a fabulous eighteen years. And
I hope, I hope that you keep thinking about it
that way, that you did something fantastic and now you're
(18:38):
free to do something else fantastic.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
I really appreciate that. Thank you, thanks for having me
glad to do it.
Alex Sidel just walked into the studio. I saw him
a couple of nights.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Ago on Saturday night at his restaurant, Fruition. Saturday night
was the next to last night of Fruition being open
after eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I went with one of my kids.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
My kid had a pasta dish and my kids said
to me, Dad, this is the best pasta I've eaten
in my entire life, and actually said it to Alex
as we are on our way out. So Alex, first
of all, thanks for coming in. It's good to see you.
Absolutely thanks, And just pull that mike a little bit
closer to you. It's very adjustable, but there you go.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
How you doing good? Good, good good. I'm your son
has a sophisticated pal he does.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
He actually, he actually does for a guy who the
rest of the time will eat Subway sandwiches with as
much sore Racha sauce.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
As he can tolerate.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
But I want to hear, I want listeners to hear
a little bit of your story and then the Fruition story.
But you're a James Beard Award winner, I am. That's
like Academy Award for Best Actor in the food Business.
In the food world. Huge honor, a huge honor and
not one that's giving out kind of randomly. You got
(01:06):
to earn it. Tell us about your journey from like
how you got into cooking to begin with, to winning
at James Beard Award.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Then we'll get to fruition.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, I grew up in Rasina, Wisconsin, which is widely
known as the culinary mecca of the world. I don't
know if you knew this, but I actually started at
a place called Swingers, and I had a dishwashing job
at age fourteen, So you know, I worked my way
through and I kind of fell in love with this,
just this excitement in the kitchen, this kind of brotherhood
(01:38):
of bandits going at it all night and being busy,
and you know, it's just a crazy atmosphere. So I
fell in love with it. From there, I just really
started cooking in different kitchens. Went up to Milwaukee and
started cooking in Milwaukee, cooked through college. From there, I
(02:00):
moved to Portland, Oregon, went to culinary school after college,
and that kind of was my gateway to the West,
if you will, and to open my eyes about food
and foraging and the oceans and wine country and all
the good things.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
What was the name of the culinary school and it
is still there.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
At the time it was called Western Culinary Institute, it
is now something else. I'm sure, okay, And what it is,
I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, And normally, and I'm not expert on this, you
can tell me I'm wrong. My vague experience from friends
of mine who have gone to those kinds of schools
is you usually end up kind of specializing in something,
did you, well.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I mean, just going to culinary school itself is already
he was already a specialization, right right. You're focused on
baking and pastry and garmage and ice car That word garage,
what's that? That's basically our pantry where we make salads
and cold preparations. Okay, yes, but I mean you learned
(02:59):
everything like ice carving and all the things international foods.
You learn how to serve, you learned about wine. So
it was very encompassing. Did you have a favorite subject?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know? I really, I really enjoyed it all.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But one of my favorite things to do is I
was to go down to the bake shop and get
a croissant fresh out of the oven. And that's probably
why we make croissants today at at your restaurants. At
food Mill, I have a little commissary where we also
prepare a lot of pastries and we prepare them for
a mercantile at the airport mercantile for all three chioks
for fruition until Sunday. But we did a lot of pastries.
(03:40):
We do a lot of pastries out of that kitchen.
It's called food Mill.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Is that open to the public or is that just
supplying your own It's.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Just applying my own and a couple other friends in
the Denver community.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Interesting, all right, So how did you get from culinary
school to James Beard Award?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So I continue my journey. I went down to Central California,
lived in Monterey and worked in Carmel Carmel Valley. That's
where I got my first chef position, which was kind
of a big deal for me. That was back in
the late nineties. And from there I just was exploring,
(04:17):
trying to just consume as much food knowledge as I
possibly could, traveling to traveling around the world and learning
about other cultures and other food cultures and just really
trying to put all my experiences together.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Was what was the first dish that you created that
became like the highlight on that restaurant menu, and people
would say, that's our specialty.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
What was the first one you did like that?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Well? I remember when I was at Mazouna, I had
opportunities to put food on the menu there, and I
created a dish that was kind of a potato wrapped
oyster of sorts, and I did a preparation for and it.
People seemed to enjoy this potato wrapped oyster. And when
(05:05):
I opened Fruition, I started with a dish called the
Oyster's Rockefeller, which was a potato wrapped oyster with a
little spinach and it had bacon lardones and a nice
little leak and parmesan emulsion. So that was like my
spin on oyster Rockefeller, and I think that became a
signature dish for us for really up until COVID, when
(05:29):
we can serve food except in a to go right,
you know, to go box, all right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So in that dish is the oyster raw or is
the oyster.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Cooked in that cooked? It's cooked in that one. It's fried.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It has a potato wrapping on it, so it's kind
of like a potato chip on the outside of the
oyster and just ate really nice with the creaminess of
that leak emulsion, and uh yeah it was a good dish.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
All right, So let's talk about fruition.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah eighteen years ago? How how did that restaurant come
to fruition?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
So I also played college soccer, and growing up playing soccer,
I grew up with a guy and we're seeing Wisconsin
called His name is Jesse Marsh. He's currently the Canadian
national team coach for their soccer team and his coach
in the EPL and in Austria and Germany. So he's
very well traveled and so we've shared a lot over
(06:20):
the years as far as our growth together as friends.
And he came into Denver one year traveling with I
think it was the La Chivas in the MLS, and
he had dinner at Minzoona where I was working, and
he kind of saw the responsibilities I had there and
kind of the menu items that I had created there,
(06:43):
and he was like, why aren't you doing your own restaurant?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And I was like, I don't have any money.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So he's like, well we should talk about that, and
him coupled with a couple other family members, my uncle
and my father in law. They really supported my opportunity
to open Fruition And it was a shoe string budget.
There were bars on the windows, the hood fell out
of the ceiling, a bottle of balsamic vinegar exploded in
(07:09):
the kitchen because it was so hot back there. You know,
just all kinds whatever could go wrong could go wrong.
But we opened up humbly in that space eighteen years ago,
the same space I was just in exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It's always been there.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
It's been redefined a couple times through its eighteen years,
couple of remodels and different renditions of it. But I
was trying to make it better, so in a place
where people could really enjoy it, including our team.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So yeah, I want to talk about a couple of
things before we get to closing Fruition down. Restaurants are
a notoriously difficult business generally.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Put aside COVID, was it profitable.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It must have been at least somewhat profitable to run
for eighteen years, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's always been a special place and has always provided
for my family, for our teams. Yeah, and finances aren't
something that we've ever really had to think about, because
we could just really focus on what we did on
a day to day basis, and that's inspiring our team
and education. And I think over the last four or
five years, you know, we've just been just had some
(08:19):
challenging years, and there's regulation that comes upon us year
after year after year, and it becomes harder as a
owner to really focus on the things that matter in
a restaurant, and that's how we provide an experience for
our guests, because you're constantly looking at, Okay, what's the.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
New minimum wage this year?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What are what are the things that we have to
follow every year, and there's a lot of there's a
lot of follow up that has to be done with that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All right, Yeah, let's dig into that a little more.
Just one quick thing though that I want to interject.
When when my kid and I were leaving and he
said to you, that's the best past I've had in
my entire life. I remember what you said because what
you said really struck me. Although you've probably said it
a thousand times or ten thousand times to a thousand
(09:08):
or ten thousand different people, but you said, that's why
we do this, yep, And that really I really felt
that sure, And what I'm kind of interested to know,
and I want you to elaborate on what's changed in
the environment that caused you to decide to shut down
(09:29):
this wonderful and successful restaurant. So I want to know
what change you touched on it a little bit. But
I also kind of want to hear about, like, why
we do this, why you do this?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, well, I've always loved cooking, number one, And from
an early age, anytime I cooked for family, it was like, Wow,
this is amazing or you know, and then when you
get into restaurants and you start cooking for people and
you see the reaction, it's just it sucks you in, right,
(10:03):
And it's just it's contagious as far as the feeling
of making people happy, right, And it's just a genuine
notion of I cooked food and it's one thing that
I've been good enough at that makes people happy. So like,
I've just always wanted to continue to do this. I've
always wanted to continue to try and create a different
(10:23):
experience for people, whether that's making pastries for Whole Foods,
or if it's having people in for the restaurant or
creating a pickle program or you know, Colorado cheese. It's
always been special to provide something to people that they go, Wow,
this is amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Tell us a little about what changed and what that
change was like over however many years that made you say,
we just can't keep doing this.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, a lot of it, A lot of it comes
down to me. A lot has changed in my life
over the last five years. And you know, I am
just further and further removed from the things that I
love to do and the things that I'm good at.
And I think, you know, when you get into your fifties,
you kind of realize what you're good at and what
you're not good at, the things you love to do,
(11:17):
and the things you don't love to do. And quite honestly,
I'm doing the things that I don't love to do,
and that's managing businesses in this tough, tough environment. And
I'm so much further removed from cooking or creating menu
ideas or just the whole creative peace to running restaurants.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I get it. I fully get it.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
You know, when I used to be a trader in Chicago,
waving my hands and yelling on the trading floor, and
then I started a trading firm with some other friends,
and I could still trade some of the time, Yeah,
but a lot of the time I had to go
upstairs and manage people and hire people and fire people
and put out put out metaphorical fire, and get their
health insurance and rent the office space. And it was
(12:04):
it was less. It was a little bit less profitable
and much less fun.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yeah, and a lot more work and a lot more work.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And I just how much for you, how much of
a factor was the increase in the minimum wage.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I sat in the mayor's office before the bill
was passed. In Denver City Council, I sat in Robin
Kanish's office, who was a city council member at that point,
which wasn't not a great experience, but I remember these
experiences of telling how much this was going to crush
restaurants and maybe not now, maybe not this year, maybe
(12:42):
not next year. But and listen, it wasn't about paying
a great wage. It was never about that, because I
think we were always there and I always paying a
great wage. But it's wage compression, and it's making sure
your managers make more than your employees, and that starts
(13:03):
to get out of control and is quick of an
increase that we had over such a short amount of time,
it was just impossible to figure out the formula for us.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It's interesting because you don't know I mean your restaurant fruition.
By the way, if you're just joining, we're talking with
Alex Sidel, James Beard Award winner whose wonderful restaurant Fruition
just closed after eighteen years. Your restaurant is not inexpensive.
It's also not the most expensive restaurant I've been to.
(13:36):
It's well priced for very fine food, but it's not
the kind of place where you think they're going to
have minimum wage struggles when the main courses are thirty
dollars or forty dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And yet here we are.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, I listen, I have been sitting in my restaurant
the last five nights. I had dinner a couple times
with my friend Jesse, the soccer player, came in for
one night. Wife and my daughter and I sat down
for dinner, and I'm looking at a piece of cod
and understanding that is forty eight dollars on the menu.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
And I am looking at it like wow, this is crazy. Yeah,
all right, So it's not because we want that to
be the case. But that is the case.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
That is the case. Yeah, input costs of it absolutely exploded.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
And people know if you go to if restaurants are
very competitive business, they can't just raise prices where they want.
The other restaurant next, you know, down the street that
might be almost as good, well not almost as good
as as fruition, but almost as good as some of
the restaurant they'll undercut you if they can get the business.
It's a competitive market, all right. We literally only.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Have about two minutes left and I want to get in.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I want to get in maybe three listener questions, So
give me quick answers. Are you aware of a person
called Amos Watts?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
And if so, a listener would like you to say
anything you want to say.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, Amos is a dear friend, unfortunately passed away this
past last year, big teddy bear of a guy, such
a huge culinary icon in this city and well even
before Denver, he established themselves in other parts of the
country as just an amazing chef, an amazing human being.
(15:13):
I was able to attend a memorial for him with
so many hundreds of others in the culinary industry, and
he touched a lot of lives. He inspired a lot
of people in this community. Is certainly said that he's gone.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Ask Alex about Mercantile Union Station, will it reopen? And
then also this listener says, I'm the world's biggest lover
of great risotto. The best I ever had was at
a small restaurant in Florence twenty years ago. I never
found anything that came close to it. And tell Mercantile,
you are a master. Your chef skills amazed and are appreciated.
So how about Mercantile. Wow, Well, thank you so much
(15:49):
for the compliment. Mercantile. I'm really excited about.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I went from one meeting telling my team at Fruition
that we're going to be closing back in December, and
I went right to a meeting with my stage partnership
team and my culinary team and my management team of
Mercantile talking about what is Mercantile going to be next.
And I've got such great support from Sage since they
came in and partnered with me on Mercantile. Currently, we're
(16:17):
closed for six weeks because we've been reimagining this new
Mercantile and what it is a new space. So we
are doing a remodel, a little bit of a brand refresh.
And the cool thing is I'm scheduled with the chef
to be in the kitchen next week.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Wow, so that hasn't happened. I'm definitely reopening. Oh it's
one hundred percent of opening. And this is what I
was talking about earlier, is like it's.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Given me an opportunity to get in the kitchen and
be with food again, be with my chefs, to talk
about food. So I'm really excited about our reopening. We're
shooting for right around Valentine's Day, so I'm not sure
if we're going to make it for Valentine's Day, but
we'll definitely keep everybody posted.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
All right, last quick thing and I don't know if
you know the details, but a couple of listeners have
asked for the for the details of the pasta dish
that my kid ate. The can can you talk about
that just quickly? We got like thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So this is an annulotte is what the pasta shape
is called. It's a stuffed pasta very similar to a ravioli,
but quite a little bit of a different shape. And
Chef Jared was serving this with sun chokes in fresh
shaved truffles. I mean, you can't go wrong with.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And it was stuffed with I think puaid chestnut and
mars capone.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Absolutely it was.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And the sauce was this incredible cream sauce that had
puid root vegetables in it, but you couldn't tell really
that there were vegetables, and it became part of the cream.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
It was.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I tasted my kids the sauce from the pasta because
he wouldn't share the.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Pasta with me because it was too good.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Well, that that sauce actually comes out of an is
I gun, which is a special technique that we use.
Oh it's kind of like a whip creamer, you know,
a Co two whipp crean.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, Well it kind.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Of gives airiness to that dish and it makes it
feel like it's, you know, lush and creamy, but it's
really actually light.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Wow. Now you're already enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Now you understand why, Alex said Ellis James Beard Award winner.
I can't wait to come your actual cooking at Mercantile.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
In a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
My wife wasn't feeling well, so I took my kid
to fruition. But I'll bring my wife to mercantile so
she can say hi and taste your food. And it
was great tor risotto, and I'm glad you enjoyed the pasta.
She sure did. Congratulations on a fabulous eighteen years. And
I hope, I hope that you keep thinking about it
that way, that you did something fantastic and now you're
(18:38):
free to do something else fantastic.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
I really appreciate that. Thank you, thanks for having me
glad to do it.
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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