August 31, 2025 • 37 mins
Andy is covering the reality of expiration dates. We are also talking to restaurateur Francesco Zimone about Florence Osteria and other amazing events. It's all on KFIAM-640!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Sunday Afternoon. This is the Andy Reesmeyer Show.
I am Andy Reesmeyer.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Thanks for joining us today on this very very hot one,
like seven inches from the midday sun.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I thought we were sort of out of the weeds.
This is embarrassing. I did do the weather last week.
I may have not paid attention to the weekend when
we were looking at nineties in the valley, ninety four
degrees in Burbank? Is that what we said? It was
eileen ninety six ninety six? Now would you say, on
(00:36):
the Rob Thomas smooth Santana scale of seven inches from
the midday sun, how close are we?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I think we're a little closer than that, a little
closer than seven.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know that music video. By the way, if you
just want to feel hot, put on the music video.
It's sweat. It's just sweaty. I don't mean it in like.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
It's kind of a sexy video, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, it's kind of sexy, but it's also like, oh man, yeah,
I bet they had probably had a lot of towels
on set, you know, waiting in between in between takes.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
There spraying people with water image, Yes, glycerin. That's a
little trick. Did you know that.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I didn't know about glycerin.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So if you're on set and you want to make,
you know, somebody look sweaty, they'll spraym with glycerin because
it just it doesn't evaporate.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I know somebody used something on my eyes before to
make it look like I was crying.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Where was that? Did you? Did you act in the
scene where you cried? I did.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It was a surprise too as a commercial and then
next thing they're like, oh yeah, next scene you're gonna cry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm like, what, Wow, listen, I did though. I know
you're a you're a news a fellow newsperson, fella local
television news person. Yes, I didn't know you also acted.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah, it started doing you know, parts as a news
reporter and anchor.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Yeah, and they had you cry and this for this
commercial they had me cry.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
My goodness. Yeah, I'm glad that it wasn't for the news.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, it wasn't for Sometimes the news.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Does make you want to cry, but even worse if
they were fake tears.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yeah, well, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It's good news that you were talking about just a
minute ago. How the kids from that awful pursuit crash
on Friday night, we were covering it here live on
KFI Am six forty. You might have remembered it was
a pretty serious incident up there in Malibu, and we
were talking about new details that the mom I guess
(02:17):
left the car running in East LA. The kids were inside,
ages eight, six and two. The child children's father was
nearby in another car. Then a male suspect who we
saw after the chase, jumped into the chrysler and drove
off with the kids inside, and the father tried to intervene,
but he was dragged. He was injured. He had upper
(02:41):
body injuries. According to La Sheriff's Department. That chase that
we saw live that ended in a terrible crash Canaan
Dune and pch on Friday night. We had no idea
what the condition of those kids were. The suspect got
out of the car started running up Point Doom. We
didn't see what happened in for about an hour. All
(03:02):
kids were flown to UCLA Medical Center for observation. Luckily
non life threatening injuries, but another woman involved in that
crash was also hospitalized. Formal charges are pending is what
they say for the driver. You know, we often talk
about these pursuits where they end and then we don't
know what happened. We don't know what happened to the driver.
(03:25):
I can't imagine that he's gonna get out anytime soon.
I mean, that was a really horrific, horrific thing. Another
crazy thing that's going on right now. You might have
seen this come across recently. Rudy Giliani was injured in
a crash in New Hampshire last night after allegedly helping
a domestic violence victim. This is a very strange story.
We're still getting some information out about this rather broken back.
(03:50):
Laura Lumer tweeted Rudy Gillian He's been badly injured in
a car accident. Transferred to a trauma center for treatment.
This was just an hour ago, asking people to pray
for his recovery. TMZ says he has multiple lacerations. An
official statement from the head of Mayor Giuliani Security said
(04:11):
he was flagged down by a woman who was the
victim of a domestic violence incident, and then sometime afterwards
he was traveling on the highway and then he was
struck from behind it a high speed. It's a very
interesting story. That's all the details we have right now,
but we hope America's mayor is getting the treatment that
he needs.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
There.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You might also seen on the internet last few days.
This is a crazy story. Did you guys see the
trending news over the weekend Friday night into Saturday that
Donald Trump President Trump had died.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I saw that he had disappeared from anyone, No one
had seen him for a little while, and people were
starting to speculate.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, it was everywhere. It was wild, and I
haven't heard a lot about it on mainstream media, which
is why I was like, let me bring conspiracy theories
to traditional me. But I do want to address this,
so for about I don't know, fifteen hours or so
on Friday, on x formerly Twitter, rumors about Trump's death
(05:13):
were circulating. One hundred and fifty eight thousand x posts
including the phrase Trump is dead or Trump died had
been made on TikTok a video by a user caption
Streecher saying Donald Trump is dead and hasn't been seen
publicly since Tuesday. Somebody asked, groc, I love it when
(05:34):
any post has happened. Someone then goes in, hey, Grock,
is this true? Is this true?
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Groc?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And Groc said that posts speculating about his possible demise
had acquired over one point three million user engagements. That's
a lot. He was photographed on Saturday, the president was
seen going golfing. Everybody now saying these are baseless rumors.
(06:01):
Basically the rumors were, I guess fed by the idea
that he hadn't been seen in public for a few days.
It's a long weekend. But I think one of the
things that was a takeaway for me is that there's
a lot of conversation about how X, owned by obviously
Elon Musk now formerly Twitter, is this bastion of far
right conspiracy craziness, and it's all pro Trump. The glee
(06:28):
at which users we're tweeting about this wild wild, wild wild.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
A lot of very strong feelings towards our presidents.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Oh yeah, I mean, you know, yes, that is true,
a lot of strong feelings about our pro But I
just I was sort of surprised as like, oh, look,
there are there are a lot of people who are
not a fan of him on on X and always
feel weird regardless of what pov you have always feel
weird when people are full about someone dying or potentially dying.
(07:03):
But he is okay as far as we can tell.
Lots coming up in the show today, the expiration date,
What food should you eat? Should you not eat? What
in the heck does an expiration date actually mean? There's
(07:23):
the sell by the best buy. Packed on is my favorite?
Oh thanks, packed on. So somebody put this in a box.
I don't know how long it was before they put
it in a box, but now I know when it
was packed. The reality is there is no hard and
fast rule about expiration dates for food. Nothing is standardized.
(07:43):
At best, it is a guess. Experts say, instead of
looking at the expiration date, check the texture, look and
smell to see if it's actually safe to eat. This
does not give me any comfort. Everyone says, oh yeah,
just check it, just smell it. Have you opened Deli
meat brand new Deli meat before?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That's happened to me with Hamburger meat. The expiration date
was like weeks away and it smelled horrible.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's there's something they're doing to meet when they preserve
it or whatever, and it smells like formaldehyde or I
don't I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
It never smells.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It doesn't smell right when you it smells like it
smells bad. I think that the kids would say it
smells like booty. I think that's what it smells like.
But even if you are playing sort of fast and
loose with the rules, deelish dot com says there's a
few items you should not eat after the expiration date, fish,
(08:40):
soft cheese, infant formula. How long I lean, how long
has it been since you had infant formula?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
You know I've never had gosh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I don't do a lot of infant formula.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I don't. You haven't had it, not more than fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I haven't yet in a cocktail, haven't had it. Haven't
seen it at a fancy restaurant. They say, raw chicken
and steak are apparently kate to cook and eat after
the expiration date, as long as they don't look weird.
All raw chicken looks weird. This is not helpful. So
what I am going to do now is Kayla, with
your permission, open up these here phone lines in southern California.
(09:14):
Give us a call eight hundred five to oh one
KFI eight hundred five two zero one five three four
Help me understand how to be an adult here? Do
you trust the expiration date?
Speaker 4 (09:26):
When in doubt throw it out?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When when in doubt throw it out? Well, I'll tell
you what Kayla's I think Kayla's looking for our guests,
who's coming up pretty soon. But we're going to open
the phone lines, Robin, with your permission, does it does
the does the authority go to you when Kayla's When
Kayla's out, she says yes, she's shaking her head.
Speaker 6 (09:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Eight hundred and five two oh one five three four
eight hundred five two zero one KFI. I just saw
them click over. They were xed out. Now they're open.
Phone lines are open. Please give us a call.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
You're listening to KFI A M six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You can all always listen no matter where you go.
If you're a fan of the show, pick it up,
take it on vacation with you on the KFI app
or on the iHeartRadio app rather just search KFI. You
can also reach me there if you'd like to leave
a message. If you'd rather not call in with your opinions,
I believe we do have a caller, Scott is on
(10:22):
the line. The question was do you listen to expire
expiration dates for food? Scott, how you doing I do? I?
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Actually I have to. I have health issues to where
I can't work anymore, and everything is so bloody expensive
that I have to start at the grocery store at
the discount rack.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So and then you got to really be careful because
a lot of the discount stuff is close to being expired.
I'm assuming.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Well it is. And usually the discount rack is sort
of breads and things like that's where you can really
look at it. You know, I buy it, immediately, take
it home and freeze.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
It's smart.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
So I have to be super super vigilant. But also,
you know, unfortunately there's so many preservatives and a lot
of the foods that we eat that food lasts a
lot longer than the expiration date.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's true. And you notice that when you go to
a restaurant and you get something, you get something fresh,
how long you want to keep it? I think it
goes bad quicker. If you got a homemade bread versus
a bread you bought at grocery store whatever that has,
you know, pumped full of all kinds of preservatives and
stuff like that, you really only last a couple of days.
(11:46):
But bread is one of those that's pretty easy to
tell if bread is bad.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
My local grocery store, though, is great because they actually
want things get closer to the expiration date. They actually
put the product on sale there you go to get
it out of to get it out of the store,
I guess, you know, And so they don't lose money.
People get you know, save money, and it's a win win,
(12:14):
and it's you know, not this thrown away.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's right. That's a good tip, especially if you're gonna
eat it tonight. So very good, well, Scott, I appreciate you, Colin.
Have a wonderful afternoon out there. Really cool love hearing,
stay cool, indeed, love hearing from everybody. Eight hundred and
five to oh one KFI eight hundred five two zero
one five three four. We're talking about expiration dates coming up.
I have a guest in studio who I've known for years,
(12:39):
one of my favorite people. His name is Francesco Zimone
and he's a restaurant tour He's the man who brought
Lenica Pizzeria Domicela to Los Angeles. It's in Hollywood, it's
in the old Cafe the Artistes. If you ever were
a person and artists perhaps who frequented a in Hollywood.
(13:01):
We're talking about not only how he is surviving as
a restauranteur, but how he's thriving. And also this man
has always done things to give back. He was one
of the first people during the pandemic who said, all right,
everything is closed down, what are we gonna do. I'm
(13:23):
gonna start making food and dropping it off at hospitals.
And he was making good stuff too. His stuff is fancy,
very tasty. He'll be with us in about five minutes.
And I'm gonna ask him about expiration dates as well,
because I know that that's a big it's a big
(13:43):
question here, So maybe like more than five minutes. I
don't know if everybody else heard Robin tell me the
break was five minutes from now. That was just in
my ears.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Okay, but I hope he's bringing food. That'll be nice,
just putting it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Did you bring food? He didn't bring food. That's ok.
You got to go to one of his restaurants. It
doesn't things travel really well. We'll talk about that too.
Let's let's go in a different direction here. Uh, there
is a there's so much to talk about here with
the fires. I think this is actually set up this
conversation pretty well. A beloved restaurant in Malibu that had
(14:24):
been there for thirty six ish plus years, the real
inn it was destroyed by the fires, the Palisades fire,
if you remember it. It was right after Tobanga Canyon,
on the right side of pch there's Chilita Tie. There
was that American apparel place, Rosenthal Winery reel In had
(14:45):
been there forever. It was kind of a fish shack.
They had sort of funky sayings on the wall. So
unfortunately they burned down, and they had survived a lot
of fires in that area over those thirty six years.
I remember you'd wait in line and you could look
at pictures on the wall of other fires that they
had survived, like from the nineties and from the mid
(15:07):
two thousands. It burned to the ground in January, but
this month the owners were told that they will not
be able to rebuild that fish shack where it was.
The restaurant, which was a pretty large space, had a
little patio as well. It was on land that was
leased from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. So
(15:32):
the fire, of course wiped out their business, and then
a month later the lease expired, and since then the
couple was waiting to hear whether or not they'd be
able to renew the release rather and then build a
building again, and now California State Parks say it's not
going to be renewed. There was hope that they could
(15:52):
reimagine their business on the same site. California State Parks
told them other businesses previously operated on the site and
that they had an opportunity to bid to temporarily operate
a food truck. It's not really clear from this MSN
report either, exactly why they're not allowed to. The spokeswoman
(16:16):
from the Department of Parks says a competitive bidding process
is required because there's less space available and because of
the need for transparency and accountability. I would be so
frustrated if I was this couple.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
It's so frustrating.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
We actually had Teddy on the fork report, did you Yeah,
she's the owner of.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
The establishment, and we were trying.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
To get people to support the GoFundMe that they started
because they said that a lot of their employees had
worked there for decades and they've become a small family,
and the go fund me was pretty much just to
fund the employees who didn't have income for the temporary
moment until it opened again. So it's so unfortunate that
that's not going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Hala. I'm so glad that you said that, because the
GOFUNDBME actually raised more than two hundred thousand dollars for
the staff. The eighteen former kitchen workers who had been
laid off. Essentially most of them found new jobs.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Oh that's excellent news.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Isn't that great? Good for you guys? Two hundred thousand
dollars the power of radio. Yes, But you just got
to think, like they say, the task to rebuild would
be herculean, and I think that that's just what everybody
has looked at.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You see a lot of people selling their houses and
palisades because even if they had money from the insurance
company to rebuild, how long will that take? If you're older,
do you want to do you want to go through
five years of quality time rebuilding your house? And then
once it's there, I mean it will be ten years
before the palisades is back to some semblance of what
(17:49):
it used to be. Once it's there, then are you
gonna be able to even get insurance again. Are you
going to be paying twenty five thousand dollars a year
to ensure your house. It's not like we've heard a
lot of plans from the city about how we're going
to prevent this from happening again. And every single time
(18:10):
it gets hot, every time it gets windy, I guarantee
you I've lived in Los Angeles for fifteen years. There
are so many people who before January sixth, seventh, excuse me, different, different, different,
major event, before January seventh, twenty twenty five, didn't think
(18:30):
that it was possible. And now every time it gets hot,
every time we have a Santa Anna wind event, every
time we talk about elevated fire danger, we think, well,
it did happen, it could happen, and you lose a
lot of the soul of the city, that part of
Tapanga Canyon into pch the Feedbarn, the real d Rosenthal.
(19:00):
It's over. Now.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
This is the Andy Reesemeyer Show joining us in studio.
One of my favorite most I think, and I don't
use this word lightly inspirational people. A man crazy enough
to open six restaurants in six years in Los Angeles,
(19:24):
on this coast in New York, and he's got so
much more coming.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the program. Francesco Zimone, thanks
for being here.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Tah Andy, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
So the accent obviously you're from Ohio. How long you've
been in La.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Bonn and Raisa? Being in La twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And you only became a restaurant guy recently, like twenty
nineteen or something like that.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, I lost my sense of normality in twenty seventeen,
and then you just had it to just throw myself
in the game.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
You opened up a restaurant. It became very popular, Lantica Pizzaimkela.
I'm so sorry I can't pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You said it perfectly, Okay, I'm sure that's I heard
it all, but you know it of course, is a
famous restaurant in Italy. You opened the first location here
in America in Los Angeles in Hollywood and an iconic location,
and then the pandemic hits. Sorry of my life. I
(20:32):
just opened another one in December and in January, as
you were saying, a fire.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So that's Florence. Right, that's the one in West Last
area in.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
West West Hollywood in Beverly Grove.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Beverly Grove. That is kind of a love letter too.
It's Florence O'steria. We were talking Dom Kelly's more pizza.
It's it's the it's the perfectly chewy, wood fired pizza.
Florence is is based on your upbringing, on your mom's cooking.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
It's another layer of my love story with creating spaces.
I I'm first and foremost the first a great believer
that people should stay together and that doesn't happen in
the town that is based on your home and your
(21:28):
white picket fence. I think, yeah, you know, we all
live in our own space, and we drive our cars
from hours a day.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
And.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know, people just don't necessarily get together anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I know Dona Keli is a very that space. Specifically,
it's a huge patio. It's like you're going into Francesco's house.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, no, no, the feeling is exactly the one. I
like the idea to build the extensions of homes just
to use words that are you know, text book right,
because of my up bringing. But the idea is really
that I don't understand why people would not spend time together.
(22:12):
So restaurants are the only you know, since nobody goes
to watch a movie. And also you don't go watch
a movie to hang out with people, but you go
watch a movie eventually to hand, you know, to hold
hold ends with somebody else.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You skip that, go straight to the restaurant. Just go
right to the.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Ego restaurants, you talk to people, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I love that my restaurants no one you know, we
wanted to make sure people wouldn't use their phone, and
we never had to do it because they don't.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
They having fun.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, I think that that is a really good point,
is that you're it's high end, it's fine dining, but
it's not stuffy. It's fun. It feels good and even
with the new restaurant, it's also nice. It's on Beverly right,
it's eighty two sixty five Beverly Boulevard, but it doesn't
feel like you don't belong there. Nobody's can you feel like,
oh this place is way too cool for for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
That's that's that's the key, you know, the the idea
has always been the same one. It's like, you know,
if you think about when you go to a place
that is upscale, you always, you know, unless you're a
royal family, you always feel like if you have the
right is shoes, if you dressed well. Now altogether you
(23:23):
think maybe our bits are wet, especially today exactly, and
then if you oh, if you you know, and then
and I don't want that. So what happens is simple
is if you if you think about perfection, which is
something that normally happens with success. If you we had
a singer in Italy that he was incredible when he
(23:47):
started his career, but then but he didn't know to
read music. And as he grew as a composer, then
he started to learn music, and his magic fad oh because.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
He was trying to think too much about And that's exactly.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Most of the magic comes from just really going for it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Francesca, this is a great excuse that I'm going to
use in every capacity to be like, no, the magic
will die if I try too hard.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
You can, my boss is gonna say you should have
prepared more. No, no, no, no, no, the magic.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But there is something to that, and I think, especially
when you talk about the sort of romance of community
and spending time with people. Even think about conversation. If
you're going into a situation and you plan to say
something too much, you're not listening, You're not spending time
with somebody. And I think that the spontaneity and the
(24:39):
opportunity for that is really very important.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And did you know that I in the last few years,
I've had so many opportunities to go have meetings with
important people that people have eventually sent me up.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Hey do you want to meet this guy?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:54):
These guys. I have never googled a human being in
my life.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Hey, is it just so said to just go to
a meeting knowing who the right person?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, I'm Andy Reesmire. Nice to meet you. I'm doing
this show here. This is the Yeah, they've brought me here. Okay,
So let's talk about these six restaurants, because again, this
is a time I think that it's been exceptionally hard
for restaurant tours, for chefs, for people who work in restaurants,
people who go out to eat are saying, my god,
it's two hundred dollars for dinner in LA. You've opened
(25:26):
six restaurants in six years in a pandemic, in runaway inflation,
in fire in insane difficulties with running a business in California.
I almost want to be like, how what is wrong
with you? But you've done it. I mean, that's incredible.
We're trying to keep it together. It's not easy because
(25:46):
people are not going out. Yeah, they eventually go out
in the morning for a coffee and they do it
somehow at lunch. Do you think restaurants are too expensive?
Right now?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
The problem is the problem is that where however you
see the story is it doesn't make sense on either
side because restaurants are not expensive, or at least the
one that I run, because everything is expensive to run it.
So we're trying our best to at least make the
(26:18):
payments and take care of our obligations.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Right, because you want to pay your employees what they're
worth because it's hard for them to live here too.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Yeah, you know, normally, normally the feeling is okay, let's
you know, everybody's after profit. But then you know, in
a situation like mine, I have a romantic approach.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Is so funny you said that, That's exactly what I
was thinking of. You are more interested in the romance
of life than like socking away.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I just what would you do, you know, once you
have three four, you know, watches, once you have a house,
once you have this. The problem is I should have
some savings or may at least make sure that my
child and my lady I protected as I'm growing.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
We want that, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
So that's that's one part that I don't like about it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
The other thing, though, is, you know, by having five
hundred employees that don't want to leave, that gives me
a lot of good feelings about who I am as
a person and taking care of people, which is a
nice feeling in life at least when other things go
wrong and I think.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
You're you're really doing something, which which is saying a
lot about the community of restaurants in Los Angeles. Can
you stick around here, We're going to take a break.
We'll be right back with more Francesco Zemona Here.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Tica Pizzeria Domkel Someday I'll say it correctly. It is
one of the six restaurants. There's also Florence on Beverly.
The man has made six open six restaurants in six years,
consist ranking it's one of the top places to get
pizza in Los Angeles, a city that back in the
day didn't do any pizza, but now that is a
(28:08):
very crowded field. Crowded how do you stay on top
among all the other people who are really doing great pizza?
I mean we obviously we have to give it up
to Nancy Silverton, for she was sort of the beginning
of La Pizza. But now you've got Detroit Style. Oh,
he's great Roman Style. You've got.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Bla, Love Rona and Love DANIELO.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
D T.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
There's so many good people.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
How do you keep what you're doing consistent and good
among six restaurants on two coasts? Because there's the New
York one, right.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You've got New York, you got La Long Beach, Hollywood,
Beverly and now sent the money.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Can we talk about the new one in Santa Monica?
Speaker 5 (28:55):
It's so cool?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
What is it going to be called?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Florence Pizza Veno?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And where are we looking for?
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Where's one tree Cinamonica Boulevard?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Okay, so fourth in Santa Monica, Yes, really right in
the heart of it. Yes, And this is funny because.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
The first is super small, one forty seats and this
is an area though where people are closing, they're leaving.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, and you say no, is it an opportunity? Do
you look for these opportunities in places like this?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I like, I, you know, if anybody when I was
a kid, if anybody had a certain cell phone, I
would buy the one, and no one I had it.
I just like, I don't know why or contrarian, I
don't know why. I just but I don't do it
on purpose. I just liked eventually that weird the cell phone,
or I like some other weird stuff. And this vision
(29:45):
is so small and so cute. It feels Japanese. It's
called black and Walnut. But then I did something very
particular on the other side. And I've been having a
lot of fun telling people that I took a lot
of LSD the last okay, so and I went there
all on drugs, okay.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
And did it. And people look at me with the
face that is like, oh god, dizy for real.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
But I imagine we'll understand what that looks like when
we see.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
You see he's like, oh, you really wear on somebody.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
He really he really went there with it. Yeah, how
do you how do you keep a restaurant going five
hundred employees pretty much you're a lunatic. Like this is
stressing me out just thinking about it. I have a
full head of hair, it is gray. But you're too bad.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You're standing You're standing up on two feet, thank god.
But sometimes i'm four. But it's all, you know, it
depends on how I feel. Bottom line. The idea is
that you know, for me, if you take away the
equation of food quality, you know, because you have to
take it away because you're a restaurateur. That's what you do.
(30:54):
You serve food, So that should be out of the question.
That's that's not part of the question. You know, you
should do great food. How do you do great food?
Most times is when you have a great chef, but
you're not the chef. Why because i'm his producer. Because
every chef has his own identity, and every chef has
(31:15):
his ego and the majority and everybody should always have
a soundboard in life, no matter what. So when he
prepares amazing food, I politely tell him what I love
and what I don't And I'm not the only one
to do right. But the same way as a director
should necessarily have a director's cut, unless a studio producer
(31:39):
decides that he should. Then no chef should have his
director's cut, unless say, he's really a genius and his
own problem, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
And so it's a true collaborative experience. And I think
that your track record would show that you're a pretty
good studio executive.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I try my best, especially because you know, at the
end of the day, when you walk into a rest
and you try food first, so you just have an
impression on how the restaurant is, how does it look
with the important how somebody said, good evening, how are
you handy? Lovely to see you back? Sit down? And
then somebody brings you something. You know, we're human beings.
(32:16):
We're just really what a restaurant or the same way
as a filmmaker or a writer. They set you up
on having good time or not.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Where do you think the future of the sit down
restaurant is going? Because not everybody can be you and
a lot of places are struggling, a lot of places
are going out of business. Is it fast casual?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
It's pretty cool. But because while you were saying that,
I was actually somehow reading your mind thinking why you
were saying that, And you want to know why I
opened The first resident was a combination of loving people,
wanting to be with people, the idea that in La
we are in a car all the time, and the
fact that back then, six seven years ago, it was
(33:02):
all about ghost kitchen, It's all about robotics. And I
was like, again for my spirit of contrarism, I was like, no,
I want people together. So I'm actually going the other way.
I'm going for labor. I'm going for keeping people employed,
keeping people together.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So for me, the future is obviously we've lost a
little bit of track. In last year.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I believe that I felt as somebody on a canoe
without my no paddle, no paddles, just going with the flow. Francesco,
you're depressing me. You're you feel without without paddles right now? Yeah,
I mean on certain occasion, depending on the drugs, I
feel on a on a rug A family show. Francesco,
(33:50):
I know I have a little toddler.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
That's right. Congratulations and for now, which is amazing because
I remember, I remember when you told us that you
were expecting, and I said, you look really good. You
look really good for expecting. We want to ask you
because you're an expert. We were talking earlier about expiration
dates and how long things should stay. You're obviously a
food guy. I'm sure you have some opinions about this.
(34:15):
If you should listen to the expiration date, If you shouldn't,
we have a talk back from one of our listeners.
Let's listen in.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
Hey, this is Cliff out in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Love Cliff.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
It's pretty entertaining so far. Thank you about the expiration dates.
Big difference between best buy and use by. Usually you're
going to see best buy most of the time. That
just means that that's the estimated time that the product
is most fresh, So that's probably the time you should
use it by. Used by means yeah, you better use
it by then. You might be able to get away
with a day or two after that, But keep your
(34:47):
eyes out for which ones which take care?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
How nice? Okay, Well that I think I was kind
of already had figured out. It's the sort of pact
on that I don't really get. But I'm sure if
you're in a commercial kitch, not only are you probably
you got to know what's fresh and what isn't. You're
not serving things that aren't freshen in your restaurants. I've
been there a million times. Also, Uh, I'm losing my
(35:11):
train of thought because I was just lost in a
in a pasta that I had recently at your place.
Let me move forward here to to ask you though,
as far as leftovers go, Yeah, when you take home
a leftover.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Everything starts, and everything starts from how you cooked it
and what you did at the end of definitely at
the end of the day and no expiration goodbye.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
By all these.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Countings, they're perfect. But it's it always became. It's because
it's based on conservatives that are inside the product. In Italy,
we just you know, my mom goes to the store
buys one apple, or you know, you go to.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
The market every day.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You just eat what you bought that day. What's the
story with organic? We have no organic? What's the story
with local? Of course it's local. Who's going to bring
you to the other side of Italy?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
For why?
Speaker 5 (36:02):
For which reason? How are you going to make that happen?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Right?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
How you bring?
Speaker 3 (36:06):
I bring your strawberries and raspberries or things from Mexico
the way to New York? Are you kidding me? How
long is he gonna take? And then you gotta you know,
I gotta pick it up. You put it on a
bed on a train. Whatever it is, it's gonna drive
for three four days and then it goes on the shelf.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
Why what are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Because I grew up in the Midwest and we don't
have what you have.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
And it'll get your own products from the land where
you are.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
It's corn, that's all I have, corn and soybeans.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
It doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
No, Well, all right, I'm so appreciative that you came
and hung out with us this afternoon. Francesco Zimoni is
his name. You can find him on Instagram at Francesco
Zimone f R A n CE S C O z
I M O n E. He is the designer the
owner of Domakela, New York City, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Hollywood,
(36:59):
soon to be owner of a place opening in Santa Monica.
When does that open next week? Next Friday, next Friday?
And you came here, unbelievable. Go check him out. And
then lastly, Florence Ostoria on Beverly come.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
For music on Tuesday, Tuesday night. It is great.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
What kind of music we got.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
It's like right now we're doing a lot of convers
with really great artists that jazz competition is about to
start in October.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Alrighty Francesco, thank you so much for having me. You're
the best. Go check him out. He's he's a local
operator worth supporting. Bringing all of your talents here from Ohio.
It's incredible, amazing
Speaker 1 (37:38):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Sunday Afternoon. This is the Andy Reesmeyer Show.
I am Andy Reesmeyer.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Thanks for joining us today on this very very hot one,
like seven inches from the midday sun.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I thought we were sort of out of the weeds.
This is embarrassing. I did do the weather last week.
I may have not paid attention to the weekend when
we were looking at nineties in the valley, ninety four
degrees in Burbank? Is that what we said? It was
eileen ninety six ninety six? Now would you say, on
(00:36):
the Rob Thomas smooth Santana scale of seven inches from
the midday sun, how close are we?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I think we're a little closer than that, a little
closer than seven.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know that music video. By the way, if you
just want to feel hot, put on the music video.
It's sweat. It's just sweaty. I don't mean it in like.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
It's kind of a sexy video, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, it's kind of sexy, but it's also like, oh man, yeah,
I bet they had probably had a lot of towels
on set, you know, waiting in between in between takes.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
There spraying people with water image, Yes, glycerin. That's a
little trick. Did you know that.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I didn't know about glycerin.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So if you're on set and you want to make,
you know, somebody look sweaty, they'll spraym with glycerin because
it just it doesn't evaporate.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I know somebody used something on my eyes before to
make it look like I was crying.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Where was that? Did you? Did you act in the
scene where you cried? I did.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
It was a surprise too as a commercial and then
next thing they're like, oh yeah, next scene you're gonna cry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm like, what, Wow, listen, I did though. I know
you're a you're a news a fellow newsperson, fella local
television news person. Yes, I didn't know you also acted.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah, it started doing you know, parts as a news
reporter and anchor.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Yeah, and they had you cry and this for this
commercial they had me cry.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
My goodness. Yeah, I'm glad that it wasn't for the news.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, it wasn't for Sometimes the news.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Does make you want to cry, but even worse if
they were fake tears.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yeah, well, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It's good news that you were talking about just a
minute ago. How the kids from that awful pursuit crash
on Friday night, we were covering it here live on
KFI Am six forty. You might have remembered it was
a pretty serious incident up there in Malibu, and we
were talking about new details that the mom I guess
(02:17):
left the car running in East LA. The kids were inside,
ages eight, six and two. The child children's father was
nearby in another car. Then a male suspect who we
saw after the chase, jumped into the chrysler and drove
off with the kids inside, and the father tried to intervene,
but he was dragged. He was injured. He had upper
(02:41):
body injuries. According to La Sheriff's Department. That chase that
we saw live that ended in a terrible crash Canaan
Dune and pch on Friday night. We had no idea
what the condition of those kids were. The suspect got
out of the car started running up Point Doom. We
didn't see what happened in for about an hour. All
(03:02):
kids were flown to UCLA Medical Center for observation. Luckily
non life threatening injuries, but another woman involved in that
crash was also hospitalized. Formal charges are pending is what
they say for the driver. You know, we often talk
about these pursuits where they end and then we don't
know what happened. We don't know what happened to the driver.
(03:25):
I can't imagine that he's gonna get out anytime soon.
I mean, that was a really horrific, horrific thing. Another
crazy thing that's going on right now. You might have
seen this come across recently. Rudy Giliani was injured in
a crash in New Hampshire last night after allegedly helping
a domestic violence victim. This is a very strange story.
We're still getting some information out about this rather broken back.
(03:50):
Laura Lumer tweeted Rudy Gillian He's been badly injured in
a car accident. Transferred to a trauma center for treatment.
This was just an hour ago, asking people to pray
for his recovery. TMZ says he has multiple lacerations. An
official statement from the head of Mayor Giuliani Security said
(04:11):
he was flagged down by a woman who was the
victim of a domestic violence incident, and then sometime afterwards
he was traveling on the highway and then he was
struck from behind it a high speed. It's a very
interesting story. That's all the details we have right now,
but we hope America's mayor is getting the treatment that
he needs.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
There.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You might also seen on the internet last few days.
This is a crazy story. Did you guys see the
trending news over the weekend Friday night into Saturday that
Donald Trump President Trump had died.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I saw that he had disappeared from anyone, No one
had seen him for a little while, and people were
starting to speculate.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, it was everywhere. It was wild, and I
haven't heard a lot about it on mainstream media, which
is why I was like, let me bring conspiracy theories
to traditional me. But I do want to address this,
so for about I don't know, fifteen hours or so
on Friday, on x formerly Twitter, rumors about Trump's death
(05:13):
were circulating. One hundred and fifty eight thousand x posts
including the phrase Trump is dead or Trump died had
been made on TikTok a video by a user caption
Streecher saying Donald Trump is dead and hasn't been seen
publicly since Tuesday. Somebody asked, groc, I love it when
(05:34):
any post has happened. Someone then goes in, hey, Grock,
is this true? Is this true?
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Groc?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And Groc said that posts speculating about his possible demise
had acquired over one point three million user engagements. That's
a lot. He was photographed on Saturday, the president was
seen going golfing. Everybody now saying these are baseless rumors.
(06:01):
Basically the rumors were, I guess fed by the idea
that he hadn't been seen in public for a few days.
It's a long weekend. But I think one of the
things that was a takeaway for me is that there's
a lot of conversation about how X, owned by obviously
Elon Musk now formerly Twitter, is this bastion of far
right conspiracy craziness, and it's all pro Trump. The glee
(06:28):
at which users we're tweeting about this wild wild, wild wild.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
A lot of very strong feelings towards our presidents.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Oh yeah, I mean, you know, yes, that is true,
a lot of strong feelings about our pro But I
just I was sort of surprised as like, oh, look,
there are there are a lot of people who are
not a fan of him on on X and always
feel weird regardless of what pov you have always feel
weird when people are full about someone dying or potentially dying.
(07:03):
But he is okay as far as we can tell.
Lots coming up in the show today, the expiration date,
What food should you eat? Should you not eat? What
in the heck does an expiration date actually mean? There's
(07:23):
the sell by the best buy. Packed on is my favorite?
Oh thanks, packed on. So somebody put this in a box.
I don't know how long it was before they put
it in a box, but now I know when it
was packed. The reality is there is no hard and
fast rule about expiration dates for food. Nothing is standardized.
(07:43):
At best, it is a guess. Experts say, instead of
looking at the expiration date, check the texture, look and
smell to see if it's actually safe to eat. This
does not give me any comfort. Everyone says, oh yeah,
just check it, just smell it. Have you opened Deli
meat brand new Deli meat before?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That's happened to me with Hamburger meat. The expiration date
was like weeks away and it smelled horrible.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's there's something they're doing to meet when they preserve
it or whatever, and it smells like formaldehyde or I
don't I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
It never smells.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It doesn't smell right when you it smells like it
smells bad. I think that the kids would say it
smells like booty. I think that's what it smells like.
But even if you are playing sort of fast and
loose with the rules, deelish dot com says there's a
few items you should not eat after the expiration date, fish,
(08:40):
soft cheese, infant formula. How long I lean, how long
has it been since you had infant formula?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
You know I've never had gosh.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I don't do a lot of infant formula.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I don't. You haven't had it, not more than fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
I haven't yet in a cocktail, haven't had it. Haven't
seen it at a fancy restaurant. They say, raw chicken
and steak are apparently kate to cook and eat after
the expiration date, as long as they don't look weird.
All raw chicken looks weird. This is not helpful. So
what I am going to do now is Kayla, with
your permission, open up these here phone lines in southern California.
(09:14):
Give us a call eight hundred five to oh one
KFI eight hundred five two zero one five three four
Help me understand how to be an adult here? Do
you trust the expiration date?
Speaker 4 (09:26):
When in doubt throw it out?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When when in doubt throw it out? Well, I'll tell
you what Kayla's I think Kayla's looking for our guests,
who's coming up pretty soon. But we're going to open
the phone lines, Robin, with your permission, does it does
the does the authority go to you when Kayla's When
Kayla's out, she says yes, she's shaking her head.
Speaker 6 (09:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Eight hundred and five two oh one five three four
eight hundred five two zero one KFI. I just saw
them click over. They were xed out. Now they're open.
Phone lines are open. Please give us a call.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
You're listening to KFI A M six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You can all always listen no matter where you go.
If you're a fan of the show, pick it up,
take it on vacation with you on the KFI app
or on the iHeartRadio app rather just search KFI. You
can also reach me there if you'd like to leave
a message. If you'd rather not call in with your opinions,
I believe we do have a caller, Scott is on
(10:22):
the line. The question was do you listen to expire
expiration dates for food? Scott, how you doing I do? I?
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Actually I have to. I have health issues to where
I can't work anymore, and everything is so bloody expensive
that I have to start at the grocery store at
the discount rack.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So and then you got to really be careful because
a lot of the discount stuff is close to being expired.
I'm assuming.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Well it is. And usually the discount rack is sort
of breads and things like that's where you can really
look at it. You know, I buy it, immediately, take
it home and freeze.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
It's smart.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
So I have to be super super vigilant. But also,
you know, unfortunately there's so many preservatives and a lot
of the foods that we eat that food lasts a
lot longer than the expiration date.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's true. And you notice that when you go to
a restaurant and you get something, you get something fresh,
how long you want to keep it? I think it
goes bad quicker. If you got a homemade bread versus
a bread you bought at grocery store whatever that has,
you know, pumped full of all kinds of preservatives and
stuff like that, you really only last a couple of days.
(11:46):
But bread is one of those that's pretty easy to
tell if bread is bad.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
My local grocery store, though, is great because they actually
want things get closer to the expiration date. They actually
put the product on sale there you go to get
it out of to get it out of the store,
I guess, you know, And so they don't lose money.
People get you know, save money, and it's a win win,
(12:14):
and it's you know, not this thrown away.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
That's right. That's a good tip, especially if you're gonna
eat it tonight. So very good, well, Scott, I appreciate you, Colin.
Have a wonderful afternoon out there. Really cool love hearing,
stay cool, indeed, love hearing from everybody. Eight hundred and
five to oh one KFI eight hundred five two zero
one five three four. We're talking about expiration dates coming up.
I have a guest in studio who I've known for years,
(12:39):
one of my favorite people. His name is Francesco Zimone
and he's a restaurant tour He's the man who brought
Lenica Pizzeria Domicela to Los Angeles. It's in Hollywood, it's
in the old Cafe the Artistes. If you ever were
a person and artists perhaps who frequented a in Hollywood.
(13:01):
We're talking about not only how he is surviving as
a restauranteur, but how he's thriving. And also this man
has always done things to give back. He was one
of the first people during the pandemic who said, all right,
everything is closed down, what are we gonna do. I'm
(13:23):
gonna start making food and dropping it off at hospitals.
And he was making good stuff too. His stuff is fancy,
very tasty. He'll be with us in about five minutes.
And I'm gonna ask him about expiration dates as well,
because I know that that's a big it's a big
(13:43):
question here, So maybe like more than five minutes. I
don't know if everybody else heard Robin tell me the
break was five minutes from now. That was just in
my ears.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Okay, but I hope he's bringing food. That'll be nice,
just putting it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Did you bring food? He didn't bring food. That's ok.
You got to go to one of his restaurants. It
doesn't things travel really well. We'll talk about that too.
Let's let's go in a different direction here. Uh, there
is a there's so much to talk about here with
the fires. I think this is actually set up this
conversation pretty well. A beloved restaurant in Malibu that had
(14:24):
been there for thirty six ish plus years, the real
inn it was destroyed by the fires, the Palisades fire,
if you remember it. It was right after Tobanga Canyon,
on the right side of pch there's Chilita Tie. There
was that American apparel place, Rosenthal Winery reel In had
(14:45):
been there forever. It was kind of a fish shack.
They had sort of funky sayings on the wall. So
unfortunately they burned down, and they had survived a lot
of fires in that area over those thirty six years.
I remember you'd wait in line and you could look
at pictures on the wall of other fires that they
had survived, like from the nineties and from the mid
(15:07):
two thousands. It burned to the ground in January, but
this month the owners were told that they will not
be able to rebuild that fish shack where it was.
The restaurant, which was a pretty large space, had a
little patio as well. It was on land that was
leased from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. So
(15:32):
the fire, of course wiped out their business, and then
a month later the lease expired, and since then the
couple was waiting to hear whether or not they'd be
able to renew the release rather and then build a
building again, and now California State Parks say it's not
going to be renewed. There was hope that they could
(15:52):
reimagine their business on the same site. California State Parks
told them other businesses previously operated on the site and
that they had an opportunity to bid to temporarily operate
a food truck. It's not really clear from this MSN
report either, exactly why they're not allowed to. The spokeswoman
(16:16):
from the Department of Parks says a competitive bidding process
is required because there's less space available and because of
the need for transparency and accountability. I would be so
frustrated if I was this couple.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
It's so frustrating.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
We actually had Teddy on the fork report, did you Yeah,
she's the owner of.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
The establishment, and we were trying.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
To get people to support the GoFundMe that they started
because they said that a lot of their employees had
worked there for decades and they've become a small family,
and the go fund me was pretty much just to
fund the employees who didn't have income for the temporary
moment until it opened again. So it's so unfortunate that
that's not going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Hala. I'm so glad that you said that, because the
GOFUNDBME actually raised more than two hundred thousand dollars for
the staff. The eighteen former kitchen workers who had been
laid off. Essentially most of them found new jobs.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Oh that's excellent news.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Isn't that great? Good for you guys? Two hundred thousand
dollars the power of radio. Yes, But you just got
to think, like they say, the task to rebuild would
be herculean, and I think that that's just what everybody
has looked at.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You see a lot of people selling their houses and
palisades because even if they had money from the insurance
company to rebuild, how long will that take? If you're older,
do you want to do you want to go through
five years of quality time rebuilding your house? And then
once it's there, I mean it will be ten years
before the palisades is back to some semblance of what
(17:49):
it used to be. Once it's there, then are you
gonna be able to even get insurance again. Are you
going to be paying twenty five thousand dollars a year
to ensure your house. It's not like we've heard a
lot of plans from the city about how we're going
to prevent this from happening again. And every single time
(18:10):
it gets hot, every time it gets windy, I guarantee
you I've lived in Los Angeles for fifteen years. There
are so many people who before January sixth, seventh, excuse me, different, different, different,
major event, before January seventh, twenty twenty five, didn't think
(18:30):
that it was possible. And now every time it gets hot,
every time we have a Santa Anna wind event, every
time we talk about elevated fire danger, we think, well,
it did happen, it could happen, and you lose a
lot of the soul of the city, that part of
Tapanga Canyon into pch the Feedbarn, the real d Rosenthal.
(19:00):
It's over. Now.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
This is the Andy Reesemeyer Show joining us in studio.
One of my favorite most I think, and I don't
use this word lightly inspirational people. A man crazy enough
to open six restaurants in six years in Los Angeles,
(19:24):
on this coast in New York, and he's got so
much more coming.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the program. Francesco Zimone, thanks
for being here.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Tah Andy, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
So the accent obviously you're from Ohio. How long you've
been in La.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Bonn and Raisa? Being in La twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And you only became a restaurant guy recently, like twenty
nineteen or something like that.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, I lost my sense of normality in twenty seventeen,
and then you just had it to just throw myself
in the game.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
You opened up a restaurant. It became very popular, Lantica Pizzaimkela.
I'm so sorry I can't pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You said it perfectly, Okay, I'm sure that's I heard
it all, but you know it of course, is a
famous restaurant in Italy. You opened the first location here
in America in Los Angeles in Hollywood and an iconic location,
and then the pandemic hits. Sorry of my life. I
(20:32):
just opened another one in December and in January, as
you were saying, a fire.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
So that's Florence. Right, that's the one in West Last
area in.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
West West Hollywood in Beverly Grove.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Beverly Grove. That is kind of a love letter too.
It's Florence O'steria. We were talking Dom Kelly's more pizza.
It's it's the it's the perfectly chewy, wood fired pizza.
Florence is is based on your upbringing, on your mom's cooking.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
It's another layer of my love story with creating spaces.
I I'm first and foremost the first a great believer
that people should stay together and that doesn't happen in
the town that is based on your home and your
(21:28):
white picket fence. I think, yeah, you know, we all
live in our own space, and we drive our cars
from hours a day.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
And.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know, people just don't necessarily get together anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I know Dona Keli is a very that space. Specifically,
it's a huge patio. It's like you're going into Francesco's house.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, no, no, the feeling is exactly the one. I
like the idea to build the extensions of homes just
to use words that are you know, text book right,
because of my up bringing. But the idea is really
that I don't understand why people would not spend time together.
(22:12):
So restaurants are the only you know, since nobody goes
to watch a movie. And also you don't go watch
a movie to hang out with people, but you go
watch a movie eventually to hand, you know, to hold
hold ends with somebody else.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
You skip that, go straight to the restaurant. Just go
right to the.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Ego restaurants, you talk to people, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I love that my restaurants no one you know, we
wanted to make sure people wouldn't use their phone, and
we never had to do it because they don't.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
They having fun.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, I think that that is a really good point,
is that you're it's high end, it's fine dining, but
it's not stuffy. It's fun. It feels good and even
with the new restaurant, it's also nice. It's on Beverly right,
it's eighty two sixty five Beverly Boulevard, but it doesn't
feel like you don't belong there. Nobody's can you feel like,
oh this place is way too cool for for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
That's that's that's the key, you know, the the idea
has always been the same one. It's like, you know,
if you think about when you go to a place
that is upscale, you always, you know, unless you're a
royal family, you always feel like if you have the
right is shoes, if you dressed well. Now altogether you
(23:23):
think maybe our bits are wet, especially today exactly, and
then if you oh, if you you know, and then
and I don't want that. So what happens is simple
is if you if you think about perfection, which is
something that normally happens with success. If you we had
a singer in Italy that he was incredible when he
(23:47):
started his career, but then but he didn't know to
read music. And as he grew as a composer, then
he started to learn music, and his magic fad oh because.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
He was trying to think too much about And that's exactly.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Most of the magic comes from just really going for it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Francesca, this is a great excuse that I'm going to
use in every capacity to be like, no, the magic
will die if I try too hard.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
You can, my boss is gonna say you should have
prepared more. No, no, no, no, no, the magic.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But there is something to that, and I think, especially
when you talk about the sort of romance of community
and spending time with people. Even think about conversation. If
you're going into a situation and you plan to say
something too much, you're not listening, You're not spending time
with somebody. And I think that the spontaneity and the
(24:39):
opportunity for that is really very important.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And did you know that I in the last few years,
I've had so many opportunities to go have meetings with
important people that people have eventually sent me up.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Hey do you want to meet this guy?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:54):
These guys. I have never googled a human being in
my life.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Hey, is it just so said to just go to
a meeting knowing who the right person?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Well, I'm Andy Reesmire. Nice to meet you. I'm doing
this show here. This is the Yeah, they've brought me here. Okay,
So let's talk about these six restaurants, because again, this
is a time I think that it's been exceptionally hard
for restaurant tours, for chefs, for people who work in restaurants,
people who go out to eat are saying, my god,
it's two hundred dollars for dinner in LA. You've opened
(25:26):
six restaurants in six years in a pandemic, in runaway inflation,
in fire in insane difficulties with running a business in California.
I almost want to be like, how what is wrong
with you? But you've done it. I mean, that's incredible.
We're trying to keep it together. It's not easy because
(25:46):
people are not going out. Yeah, they eventually go out
in the morning for a coffee and they do it
somehow at lunch. Do you think restaurants are too expensive?
Right now?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
The problem is the problem is that where however you
see the story is it doesn't make sense on either
side because restaurants are not expensive, or at least the
one that I run, because everything is expensive to run it.
So we're trying our best to at least make the
(26:18):
payments and take care of our obligations.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Right, because you want to pay your employees what they're
worth because it's hard for them to live here too.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Yeah, you know, normally, normally the feeling is okay, let's
you know, everybody's after profit. But then you know, in
a situation like mine, I have a romantic approach.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Is so funny you said that, That's exactly what I
was thinking of. You are more interested in the romance
of life than like socking away.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
I just what would you do, you know, once you
have three four, you know, watches, once you have a house,
once you have this. The problem is I should have
some savings or may at least make sure that my
child and my lady I protected as I'm growing.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
We want that, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
So that's that's one part that I don't like about it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
The other thing, though, is, you know, by having five
hundred employees that don't want to leave, that gives me
a lot of good feelings about who I am as
a person and taking care of people, which is a
nice feeling in life at least when other things go
wrong and I think.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
You're you're really doing something, which which is saying a
lot about the community of restaurants in Los Angeles. Can
you stick around here, We're going to take a break.
We'll be right back with more Francesco Zemona Here.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Tica Pizzeria Domkel Someday I'll say it correctly. It is
one of the six restaurants. There's also Florence on Beverly.
The man has made six open six restaurants in six years,
consist ranking it's one of the top places to get
pizza in Los Angeles, a city that back in the
day didn't do any pizza, but now that is a
(28:08):
very crowded field. Crowded how do you stay on top
among all the other people who are really doing great pizza?
I mean we obviously we have to give it up
to Nancy Silverton, for she was sort of the beginning
of La Pizza. But now you've got Detroit Style. Oh,
he's great Roman Style. You've got.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Bla, Love Rona and Love DANIELO.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
D T.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
There's so many good people.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
How do you keep what you're doing consistent and good
among six restaurants on two coasts? Because there's the New
York one, right.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
You've got New York, you got La Long Beach, Hollywood,
Beverly and now sent the money.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Can we talk about the new one in Santa Monica?
Speaker 5 (28:55):
It's so cool?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
What is it going to be called?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Florence Pizza Veno?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And where are we looking for?
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Where's one tree Cinamonica Boulevard?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Okay, so fourth in Santa Monica, Yes, really right in
the heart of it. Yes, And this is funny because.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
The first is super small, one forty seats and this
is an area though where people are closing, they're leaving.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, and you say no, is it an opportunity? Do
you look for these opportunities in places like this?
Speaker 3 (29:22):
I like, I, you know, if anybody when I was
a kid, if anybody had a certain cell phone, I
would buy the one, and no one I had it.
I just like, I don't know why or contrarian, I
don't know why. I just but I don't do it
on purpose. I just liked eventually that weird the cell phone,
or I like some other weird stuff. And this vision
(29:45):
is so small and so cute. It feels Japanese. It's
called black and Walnut. But then I did something very
particular on the other side. And I've been having a
lot of fun telling people that I took a lot
of LSD the last okay, so and I went there
all on drugs, okay.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
And did it. And people look at me with the
face that is like, oh god, dizy for real.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
But I imagine we'll understand what that looks like when
we see.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
You see he's like, oh, you really wear on somebody.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
He really he really went there with it. Yeah, how
do you how do you keep a restaurant going five
hundred employees pretty much you're a lunatic. Like this is
stressing me out just thinking about it. I have a
full head of hair, it is gray. But you're too bad.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You're standing You're standing up on two feet, thank god.
But sometimes i'm four. But it's all, you know, it
depends on how I feel. Bottom line. The idea is
that you know, for me, if you take away the
equation of food quality, you know, because you have to
take it away because you're a restaurateur. That's what you do.
(30:54):
You serve food, So that should be out of the question.
That's that's not part of the question. You know, you
should do great food. How do you do great food?
Most times is when you have a great chef, but
you're not the chef. Why because i'm his producer. Because
every chef has his own identity, and every chef has
(31:15):
his ego and the majority and everybody should always have
a soundboard in life, no matter what. So when he
prepares amazing food, I politely tell him what I love
and what I don't And I'm not the only one
to do right. But the same way as a director
should necessarily have a director's cut, unless a studio producer
(31:39):
decides that he should. Then no chef should have his
director's cut, unless say, he's really a genius and his
own problem, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
And so it's a true collaborative experience. And I think
that your track record would show that you're a pretty
good studio executive.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I try my best, especially because you know, at the
end of the day, when you walk into a rest
and you try food first, so you just have an
impression on how the restaurant is, how does it look
with the important how somebody said, good evening, how are
you handy? Lovely to see you back? Sit down? And
then somebody brings you something. You know, we're human beings.
(32:16):
We're just really what a restaurant or the same way
as a filmmaker or a writer. They set you up
on having good time or not.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Where do you think the future of the sit down
restaurant is going? Because not everybody can be you and
a lot of places are struggling, a lot of places
are going out of business. Is it fast casual?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
It's pretty cool. But because while you were saying that,
I was actually somehow reading your mind thinking why you
were saying that, And you want to know why I
opened The first resident was a combination of loving people,
wanting to be with people, the idea that in La
we are in a car all the time, and the
fact that back then, six seven years ago, it was
(33:02):
all about ghost kitchen, It's all about robotics. And I
was like, again for my spirit of contrarism, I was like, no,
I want people together. So I'm actually going the other way.
I'm going for labor. I'm going for keeping people employed,
keeping people together.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So for me, the future is obviously we've lost a
little bit of track. In last year.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I believe that I felt as somebody on a canoe
without my no paddle, no paddles, just going with the flow. Francesco,
you're depressing me. You're you feel without without paddles right now? Yeah,
I mean on certain occasion, depending on the drugs, I
feel on a on a rug A family show. Francesco,
(33:50):
I know I have a little toddler.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
That's right. Congratulations and for now, which is amazing because
I remember, I remember when you told us that you
were expecting, and I said, you look really good. You
look really good for expecting. We want to ask you
because you're an expert. We were talking earlier about expiration
dates and how long things should stay. You're obviously a
food guy. I'm sure you have some opinions about this.
(34:15):
If you should listen to the expiration date, If you shouldn't,
we have a talk back from one of our listeners.
Let's listen in.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
Hey, this is Cliff out in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Love Cliff.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
It's pretty entertaining so far. Thank you about the expiration dates.
Big difference between best buy and use by. Usually you're
going to see best buy most of the time. That
just means that that's the estimated time that the product
is most fresh, So that's probably the time you should
use it by. Used by means yeah, you better use
it by then. You might be able to get away
with a day or two after that, But keep your
(34:47):
eyes out for which ones which take care?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
How nice? Okay, Well that I think I was kind
of already had figured out. It's the sort of pact
on that I don't really get. But I'm sure if
you're in a commercial kitch, not only are you probably
you got to know what's fresh and what isn't. You're
not serving things that aren't freshen in your restaurants. I've
been there a million times. Also, Uh, I'm losing my
(35:11):
train of thought because I was just lost in a
in a pasta that I had recently at your place.
Let me move forward here to to ask you though,
as far as leftovers go, Yeah, when you take home
a leftover.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Everything starts, and everything starts from how you cooked it
and what you did at the end of definitely at
the end of the day and no expiration goodbye.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
By all these.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Countings, they're perfect. But it's it always became. It's because
it's based on conservatives that are inside the product. In Italy,
we just you know, my mom goes to the store
buys one apple, or you know, you go to.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
The market every day.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You just eat what you bought that day. What's the
story with organic? We have no organic? What's the story
with local? Of course it's local. Who's going to bring
you to the other side of Italy?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
For why?
Speaker 5 (36:02):
For which reason? How are you going to make that happen?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Right?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
How you bring?
Speaker 3 (36:06):
I bring your strawberries and raspberries or things from Mexico
the way to New York? Are you kidding me? How
long is he gonna take? And then you gotta you know,
I gotta pick it up. You put it on a
bed on a train. Whatever it is, it's gonna drive
for three four days and then it goes on the shelf.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
Why what are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Because I grew up in the Midwest and we don't
have what you have.
Speaker 5 (36:27):
And it'll get your own products from the land where
you are.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
It's corn, that's all I have, corn and soybeans.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
It doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
No, Well, all right, I'm so appreciative that you came
and hung out with us this afternoon. Francesco Zimoni is
his name. You can find him on Instagram at Francesco
Zimone f R A n CE S C O z
I M O n E. He is the designer the
owner of Domakela, New York City, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Hollywood,
(36:59):
soon to be owner of a place opening in Santa Monica.
When does that open next week? Next Friday, next Friday?
And you came here, unbelievable. Go check him out. And
then lastly, Florence Ostoria on Beverly come.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
For music on Tuesday, Tuesday night. It is great.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
What kind of music we got.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
It's like right now we're doing a lot of convers
with really great artists that jazz competition is about to
start in October.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Alrighty Francesco, thank you so much for having me. You're
the best. Go check him out. He's he's a local
operator worth supporting. Bringing all of your talents here from Ohio.
It's incredible, amazing
Speaker 1 (37:38):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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