@ForkReport - Hour 3

Neil is joined this hour by Amil Aaron of Genesis Bank, Javier Hernandez Pons of Maizona Cocina, and Kwini and Michael Reed of Poppy & Seed.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You'relistening to kfi EM six forty The four
Report on demand on the iHeartRadio appkfi AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Hey everybody, it'sThe four Report. All Things food,
beverage and beyond. We come togetherevery single Saturday from two to five to

(00:22):
celebrate food, the people that makeit, the culture behind it, of
course, going out to eat,cooking at home, going to festivals,
all the things in between. There, I am your friendly neighborhood folk reporter
Neil Savedra. How do you do? Thanks for hanging out with us today?
Big news day, obviously breaking newsout there in the Middle East.
We're covering it. No reason togo anywhere else as Iran sends drones in

(00:48):
the dozens up to one hundred thereto Israel, as they are now taking
defensive measures, as it is startingto play out in its fullness. Now
it's going to probably unfold for hours. We are here and will break format
if we need to, but otherwiseyou've got Andrew Caravella that is taking care

(01:11):
of it. With the news.You'll get everything you need to know so
you can stay right here. Oneof the key focuses of the Foroek Report
when we started it was to letyou know about things you might not know
about, whether there are events,places, food, whomever, chefs,
just to let you know that thesethings are taking place. Well, there's
something going on April sixteenth, comingup to two pm to four pm.

(01:32):
There's going to be a panel discussionfour pm to five pm. There's the
Genesis Culinary Marketplace. And the coolthing behind this is you get to meet
like these visionary leaders, all thesefolks from Orange County, their iconic destinations,
and this is all put together byGenesis Bank. We'll get into the

(01:53):
multifaceted nature of it, but we'regoing to start with Emil Aaron from Genesis
Bank. I hope I got yourname right, Emil, Welcome to the
Fork Report. Thanks Hal, thanksfor having me my pleasure. So,
so what do you do for thebank? So I'm our senior vice president,
head of Community Impact, and I'malso the president of the foundation,

(02:14):
our Genesis for Good Foundation. Lookat you, fancy pants. That's got
to be kind. That looks That'sjust a long way of saying that I
have the good fortune of really beingout front and center in front of the
community, working with entrepreneurs, workingwith nonprofit leaders and business leaders to really
help folks get from where they're atto where they're trying to go with their
businesses and their organizations. I digthat. I you know, one of

(02:38):
the things I love about the showis I get to meet interesting people like
yourself as a matter of fact,but I imagine that's the same for you.
So you're meeting like entrepreneurs and thelike. Explain how that ties into
this event coming up on the sixteenth. Yeah, great question, And I
actually get that a lot. Youknow, people oftentimes when people think about

(02:58):
a bank, you know, you'renot thinking that this type of event would
come from or be hosted by abank, And that's all the more reason
why we do it. So forus, Genesis Bank, we you know,
we're one of only two multi racialminority depository institutions in the country.
And really for us, it's aboutbeing everywhere that entrepreneurs are at, being

(03:19):
everywhere where small businesses are at,and really trying to help them increase their
visibility, open up more doors,and really just expand opportunities for them to
be successful. So when we thoughtof doing this, amazing panel discussion.
We're bringing together all of these iconicleaders of really some of the most popular
destinations in Orange County, from mccondo, Gonzales to the Cap and the Lab

(03:45):
those that aren't even built yet within the case of oc Vibe, what
we started thinking was it'd be ashame to bring all of these amazing leaders
together, who have amazing restaurants,amazing culinary leaders within their respective destinations.
It'd be a shame to bring themtogether and not add a food component.

(04:05):
And so we dreamt up the culinarymarketplace, and so this will be uh
starting at four after the panel discussion, we're going to have more than a
dozen restaurants and food vendors doing popups all throughout. So we've got you
know, everything from Mexican cuisine toyou name it. They're well represented there.

(04:29):
We've got wine, we've got icecream trucks. It's going to be
really kind of a mini taste ofOrange County, if you will. But
really it's a great opportunity for usto spotlight these local restaurants and these local
culinary professionals and really give them aplatform to showcase their skills. You know,
you mentioned about the the multi ethnicbackgrounds that you with a Genesis Bank,

(04:59):
and where's the power in that?Why? Why is that important to
you? I know why it's importantto me. But what do you think
the importance in the necessity of thatis in the world of banking. Yeah,
well, you know, so ourfounder and CEO and chairman, Stephen
Gordon, who is my boss.You know, he previously founded Opus Bank,

(05:21):
right, and the leadership team ofOpus Bank, you know, really
grew that bank. And then whenthat bank, you know, sold the
bank, and when he when hecame time to start kind of his third
iteration with Genesis Bank, there wasa very deliberate intention in mind. What
he recognized was that coming out ofCOVID there were so many of business owners

(05:45):
that really got hammered during the pandemic. So many businesses closed, particularly small
businesses, but even more so minorityown small businesses. Women owned small businesses
really got hammered even more than theaverage business. And so as he thought
about, you know, what arethe ways that a bank can and should
show up for the community and canand should show up for small business,

(06:08):
there was a there was a deliberatefocus to serve. You know, if
you think about Orange County, LaCounty, San Radino County, and Riverside
County. These are majority minority communities, majority minority populations across you know,
southern California here, and yet oftentimesthere's no real banking relationship, there's no

(06:30):
real direct access to the traditional bankingsystem, and so that's where we come
in, right, And so forus, this is about being very intentional
and and working with all small businesses, but particularly those that are oftentimes underinvested
and under represented. You know,I love everything you said in the funny

(06:55):
thing is I mean you just describedwhy Genesis may would be a part of
something like the event that's going onthe sixteenth that ties food together. Having
the opportunity to hear these visionary leadersbehind you know, these places in Orange
County, having the Genesis Culinary marketplace. It makes sense because money is it's

(07:17):
like an It's like both the seedand the harvest, right, you need
the money to start your vision,and then you harvest the money from the
fruit of your vision, and abank's got to be a part of both
those ends of it. So tome, it makes total sense. And
I sat here in this very seattelling those stories of my min already owned

(07:44):
businesses that we're getting kicked in thecrotch after the pande or during the pandemic
and having having a hard time gettingthe attention they needed. And the fact
that Genesis Bank is doing that,I genuinely applaud you and the efforts of
the bank. I see the needtotally and I'm thrilled that it's tying into

(08:05):
food because now I'd get an opportunityto talk about it on the program.
So you have an open invitation hereif you guys are ever doing anything that
you want to get the word out, because I applaud what you're doing and
I think it's incredibly needed here inthe Southland. Absolutely, I appreciate the
opportunity, Neil. And you knowTuesday, April sixteenth, panel starts at

(08:26):
two, Culinary Experience starts at fourand folks, this is a free event,
right, It's open to the publicand you know, for more information
they can just visit our website.When when Genesis talks to RSVP and would
love to have you to come out, Neil, we'd love to have you
down and definitely would love to stayin contact. Yeah, I would like
that and if I can pull thatoff, on the sixteenth. I will

(08:50):
definitely be out there because I thinkthat is fantastic. So I know we're
going to talk to some of theother participants. I think we leave you
for now. I appreciate you takingthe time to come on absolutely, Thanks
for having me. We'll talk againsoon, so stick around. We'll get
into some of the people behind itas well, some of the people that
are going to be out there andwhy this particular event coming up on April
sixteenth is so important. April sixteenth, two pm to four pm. They've

(09:13):
got the panel discussion four pm tofive pm the Genesis Culinary Marketplace. We'll
give you more information on that aswell as posted on our social media as
well, So stick around. Itis the fourkport on Neil Savadri KFI AM
six forty KFI AM six forty liveeverywhere on the iHeart radio app. Thanks

(09:35):
for tuning in. It is Saturday, and it is I'm looking. I
knew it was Saturday. I wasn'tguessing about the day. I was looking
to see the wind. The windis going there's some rain coming down.
Maybe it's rainy in your area.I know there's a lot going on in
the Middle East, When we startedthe program, we had heard that drones

(09:56):
were launched from Iran to Israel.Now it is coming to fruition and those
in Israel are taking shelter as theirdefense systems are protecting them. So as
this information continues to unfold, we'relooking at hours probably of unfold what is

(10:20):
taking place. You will hear aboutit here obviously with Andrew Caravella in the
KFI newsroom, So no reason togo anywhere else. You can stay with
us throughout the day, including whenTula Sharp comes along for so Cow Saturday
is. Also want to remind youthat next week, next Saturday, I
will be out at Glendora at theWendy's out there again. Simon Majumdar will

(10:43):
be out me out there with me, my friends from Zelman's Mints will be
out there giving away their mints andstuff like that for you as well.
So come out, it'll be agood time. We're talking about an event
that is coming up on Tuesday,April sixteenth. You can meet the visionary
leader behind Orange Counties Iconic Destinations.From two to four pm you got a
panel discussion. Four to five pmyou have the Genesis Culinary Marketplace, the

(11:09):
location is the courtyard at Genesis Bankheadquarters. That's four six seventy five MacArthur
Court there in Newport Beach and itis a free event. Right now,
we're going to talk to Javier HernandezPonds from Mezzano Cosino there in the new

(11:30):
marketplace, the Marcado. Welcome tothe Forkalport. Hi, welcome, Thank
you for having us here. Mypleasure. So your location is there in
the Mercado, correct, Yes,we are part of the Marcado North new
project. We're very happy to bea part of. Well, I will

(11:52):
tell you that you folks sure hitthe ground running. It's created quite the
stir. We're lucky at and thrilledquite honestly to have it here in the
Southland in Orange County. And yourmenu, I've not had the pleasure of
eating there yet, but i willtell you your menu is just eye poppingly
astounding. The way it's curated isjust truly truly beautiful and I can only

(12:18):
imagine that the flavors come with it. So what is your How are you
partaking and participating in the event onTuesday, April sixteenth. Well, first
of all, I want to thankGenesie for let it. Letting not be
a part of this, this thisevent, this panel on next Tuesday,

(12:39):
and we're going to be said mercattle. We're going to be coasting and we're
going to have a table and we'llbe serving different dishes from the different puestos.
That's how we call the the differentbrands that are inside the merkettle.
And from our part, we're workingwith our chef, Alan Sands. He's

(13:05):
an excellent chest from Mexico City andwe're really lucky to have him, really
and we're we're serving a tostaa awachili negatro uh that's like a shrimp spicy
tostada. It's it's really amazing.This based on it's inspired of of out

(13:31):
of Jucatan. This is spicy blacksauce. It's made of ashes and different
spices, mostly ashes of different spiciesof chili, onions and I cannot tell
the whole recipe, but it's excellent. It's Alan Is and really talented chefs.

(13:54):
I love that. You'd have tokill us if you told us the
actual recipe today exactly, I'm lookingthat up and everything is going well there
at the Mercado. People are reallytaken to it. And they've been coming
in droves. Yes, we're goingto be like we're going to be present
and me and the check we're goingto be hosting that table, and yeah,

(14:20):
maybe the other two representatives of theother two brands. Well it sounds
fantastic. We'll have to have youback on when you can bring some food
and we can taste and talk aboutyour food. Your menu looks outstanding,
but it was a pleasure to havea few moments with you, so thank
you for taking the time. Well, thank you very much for having us

(14:41):
and I hope you guys get totaste our food and have an amazing time.
Well, it looks fantastic. Theevent again is coming up on Tuesday,
April sixteenth. The location is thecourtyard at Genesis Bank headquarters for six
seven five MacArthur Court and Newport Beachand obviously participants there will be from the

(15:03):
Mercado, the Gonzales Northgate Market there. Javier Hernandez ponds with Mezzano Cosina there.
Thank you for the time for comingon, and we come back.
We're going to talk to some folksthat you might know from being on the
program before, so go know whereit is. The Forkport I'm n Neil
Savedra. This is KFI AM sixforty. You're listening to the Fork Report

(15:26):
with Neil Savedra on demand from KFIAM six forty KFI AM six forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Heyeverybody, it's the Forkport all things food,
beverage and beyond. I am yourwell fed host, Neil Savedra.
How do you do? Don't forget? You've got Twalla Sharp coming up with
SoCal Saturdays at five o'clock, andthen you've got at seven o'clock Unsolved with

(15:50):
Steve Gregory. Then it goes infor an hour of bizarre fun with Before
the Coast and Clay Row and thenon to Coast to Coast AM, Go
No Where. A couple reminders.Want to remind you that I will be
on in for Gary and Shannon onMonday with my friend mar La Teas from
Fox eleven News. We had agreat time on Friday and we'll be with

(16:11):
you again on Monday from at tenam, No no carry the one nine
am to one pm. So joinus there, won't you? And then
I'll be out at Wendy's in Glendoraa week from today, So I'll do
the show two to five next weekfrom Glendora. A good group. If
you came out last time, hopeto see you again this time. I'll

(16:34):
be there two to four. I'llhave some stuff to give out. Simon
Majumdar from the Food Network will bewith me, which will be fun.
And also the good folks from Zelman'sare coming out and they'll be handing out
samples of their mints and stuff.And you can tell you'll be able to
find out why I ain't lying aboutthat all right. We were talking about

(16:56):
this great event coming up that youcould participate in. It is free.
You get to meet visionary leaders behindOrange County's iconic destinations. The data is
Tuesday, April sixteenth. The timeis two to four pm. Is the
panel discussion. It's great to learnabout these people and entrepreneurship and what it
takes to do what they do.Four to five pm the Genesis Culinary Marketplace
will open. The location is thecourtyard at Genesis Bank headquarters there at four

(17:22):
six seven five MacArthur Court, NewportBeach. The minority focus of this bank.
I'm just blown away doing some researchand learning about it and how they
tie into and put on this event. Really shows you where their heart is
with you in the culinary world,making sure that people have the money they
need to do what they need tobring us the yummy food. So very

(17:47):
cool. When we're going to talkto another two people, I would say
I'd introduce you to them, butthey've been on the show before more than
one time. As a matter offact. Queenye and Michael Reid from Poppy
and Seed in Anaheim, welcome backto the forker Port. Thank you so
much, Thank you for having us. So, how's everything going. It's
been a while, It's going great. You know. Business has been steady

(18:11):
from the beginning of the year tillnow. We're looking forward to celebrating our
three year anniversary on single demile.Oh that's excellent. Wow, what a
way to celebrate. What a perfectdate. Who planned that's open. Let's
open things up on this day andwe have an excuse to go full out
now for those interested and thinking,gosh, that sounds like a sounds like

(18:33):
a good place to go. Tonight, they will open back up for dinner
service at five point thirty and goon to ten pm tonight. Tomorrow ten
am to three pm and I gotto tell you you got to take a
taste their breakfasts and brunch there prettyspectacular. So I'm glad to hear things
are going well. Now, howdo you folks tie in to the event

(18:55):
coming up on the on the sixteenth. So we are part of the Farmers
Park, the packing House, andso Sahen is actually the owner of our
landlord company, and so Saheen willbe on the panel, and we thought
that this will be great to comeand support him and also to give visibility

(19:19):
to Poppy and Seed. So muchgoing on in these great little different enclaves
and locations in Orange County. Thefood scene has really come into its own
with places like Poppy and Seed aswell that have really are you know,
truly appointment destinations. These are placeswhere you are going to get unique,

(19:42):
specialized food that's made with love andit's really neat, you know, in
the fourteen years or so that I'vebeen doing this show to see how Orange
County is really owning itself, it'snot. Hey, there's a location between
La and San Diego really has itsown vibe. And how would you describe

(20:03):
your not only your vibe, butthe surrounding vibes and the places that are
there as well. So yeah,we are a seasonal, local, California
driven restaurant with a new American stylefood with like really good housemate pasas high
and seafood and steaks. But youknow, Orange County in general is getting

(20:23):
rounded out. There's a lot ofdiverse communities here and so like something like
the Packing House is putting up optionsfor anyone, any taste. You know,
we span the gamut between van vegetarian. So yeah, Orange County is
really becoming a destination restaurant for peopleto come out and check out what La
based chefs are doing in Orange County. Now, yeah, it's cool just

(20:45):
looking around. You've got the AsianGarden Mall, the the newer Mercado Gonzalez,
You've got the Lab, the CampFourth Street Market, Anaheim Packing District,
You've got oc Vibe just a little. So I got just all these
great places and areas where you cango out and really, you know,

(21:07):
really experience a diverse culinary landscape.And I'm super proud to be an onlooker
and part of it. As faras getting the word out here on the
show to watch it grow, Iknow, we only had a little bit
of time today, but I inviteyou folks to come back, sit down
on the show, bring some foodand talk about what you guys have to

(21:32):
offer longer at a future date.Absolutely, we would love to. It'd
be great to see you folks again. You never ever ever remember, don't
remember Queenie, You meet Queenie fora lifetime. So it'll be fun to
see you guys. We'll set thatup. I'll have Kayla reach out to

(21:52):
you and put something on the books. But looking forward to it. Thanks
for taking the time, absolutely,thanks for having us. We'll see so
my absolute pleasure. Just a reminderthe event is coming up this Tuesday,
April sixteenth. Two to four pmis the panel discussion, then four to
five pm Genesis Culinary Marketplace. Thelocation is the courtyard at Genesis Bank Headquarters,

(22:15):
four to six seven five MacArthur Court, Newport Beach. It is a
free event. My Genesisbank dot comslash RSVP is where you can find out
more there. We'll put stuff upon the website and social and all that
good stuff. All right, we'lltalk to Tuala and maybe squeeze in another

(22:36):
story in here before we go,So go nowhere. It is the Fourport
of Neil Savedra KF. I amsix forty live everywhere on the ipart Real
Lap everybody, It's the fourthport allthings boot, Beverage and beyond. What
a show today? Who your host? Neil Savadra here with you? Geez
kyl What a ride? Am I? Right? Am? I? Right?

(22:59):
Man? Know man crazy today?Thanks to Sam behind the board filling
in for Robin. I believe it'sas if Sam doesn't have enough to do,
but great hanging out with you today. I know there were some heavy
news. There continues to be heavynews in the Middle East. Our thoughts

(23:21):
our prayers are with those affected,of course, as Israel continues to take
on missiles and the attack from Iran. It is going to unfold, probably
for hours, and you can listenhere on KFI and hear all of that.
We'll get hopefully we'll get touila onshortly. Yes, sir, oh

(23:44):
there he is, Hey Sala.You know I was reading the story that
came up about California's favorite French friesas far as fast food chains. Yeah,
I want to weigh in on that. What's your favorite? Literally,
my favorite, I think quite possiblyis everyone's favorite, and that is the
McDonald's fry. There is a certainquality to the fresh McDonald's fry when it's

(24:07):
hot. Most other fries they don'thave the same lasting appeal. But I
am absolutely positively hooked on the friesover at Chick fil A. There's something
about their fries that are really givenMcDonald's fries a run the criss cross ones.
Yes, I don't know why,I really soggy. Ah see,

(24:29):
No what, Look, I've gottena good batch. I've only gotten good
batches. You got to go whereI go. I gotta follow you around.
Yes, I got to put youon I got to put you on
the mat. Yes. Okay,Well, you won't be surprised that that's
the top answer, and they're myfavorite too. I will tell you this
is a little weird because McDonald's wasthe top answer. We get that forty

(24:53):
of the people surveyed about two thousandpeople surveyed. Chick fil A was only
ten percent. Five guys was ninepercent. Now, five guys I think
has a really good fries. BurgerKing was five percent. I don't.
I'm not crazy about by Yeah,I'm not a fan. But Wendy's fries

(25:14):
I really really like they changed themsometime back they did. It has some
of the skin on them, andI think that they make they're different than
the McDonald's fries. They're thicker.Yeah, but I think they're an incredibly
good fry and I don't think theyget the love they deserve. I agree
with you. And you know what, it's here's an interesting thing. I

(25:36):
not long ago, I stopped andgot some Windy's fries, and then I
went to Tommy's and got some chili, and I put the Tommy chili on
the Windy's fries. It was almostlike a match made in heaven. I
was like, this is the newway to eat chili. But you could

(25:56):
only do it with Wendy's fries.I've tried it with other fries. It
only worse with Wendy's fries. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna try that.
I gotta tell me he's not toofar. And it's something about that that
skin on the on the Wendy's friesis something about those being almost like,
yeah, these are actually potatoes.Most other places you're like, it could
be a potato. I don't know, you know, those are potatoes.

(26:18):
Oh man, Many many years ago, probably back in the late seventies early
eighties, there was one and I'mnot sure which one it was, so
I'm not gonna say, but therewas a fast food chain that I think
they It was like almost like likepowdered mashed potatoes, sort of the flakes,
and then they mixed them up andthen they pressed them through something and

(26:41):
I think they deep frieden him afterwardsor something like that, or they were
like pressed into fries or I don'tknow, but it was. It was
definitely not a fresh potato. Sothat is the That is the state of
fries right now. What is thestate of so cal Saturday? Tonight?
Well, on Soul Calsa Sat,we will be keeping our eyes on all

(27:03):
things happening in Iran. We willbe making sure to give you all the
updates where that is concerned, andwe may actually stay on later to make
sure that we do not leave youin the lurch as far as everything is
happening there. On the show,of course, we do have our salute
to small businesses today. We haveJones Brothers Breaks joining us today to take

(27:29):
us into the world of breaks,drums, roters and more. And I
have a very very special conversation withthe founder of get Lit. Get Lit
is a poetry organization for young people, and they're having their thirteenth annual Youth
Classic Slam next Saturday on April twentieth. And look, I live and breathe

(27:49):
poetry. So for me, thisis a very special conversation and I hope
our Soul Cow Saturday KFI listeners enjoyit as much as I'm sure I will.
Thanks Man, I will be listening, and so Cal Saturday is coming
up next. Of course we'll befollowing. As Tula was talking about,
Iran launched dozens of drones one hundredor so towards Israel. Israel's air defenses

(28:11):
are intercepting some of those Iranian strikes. This is a retaliation for the Israeli
strike on Iranian the Iranian consulate inDamascus earlier this month, German Foreign German,
Germany's rather foreign minister came out andsaid that Iran's attack puts the entire
region at risk of plunging into chaos. We prayed that won't happen. But

(28:33):
stick here and you'll get all youneed to know. Thanks so much.
Be kind to each other, beempathetic, and I'll catch you on the
flip side. On Monday in forGary and Shannon with Marlottais and I'll see
you then. This is the ForkReport on Neil Savadri, KFI and KOSTHD
to Los Angeles, Orange County