@ForkReporter | Hour 2

CEO Roxanne Bennet of Pinners
CEO Roxanne Bennet of Pinners
Chef Sara Thomson with Casa Playa – in studio with me

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You'relistening to kfi EM six forty the four
Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey everybody, it's The four Report,
all Things Food, beverage and beyond. I am your well fed host,
Neil Savedra. How do you dokind of a fun, crazy weekend
going on? I'm broadcasting live fromwhen in Las Vegas. Always we come

(00:25):
here about once a month there.They treat us so nicely here and it's
such a great setup here at BlueWire Studios, and we just have good
time. Antoine is manning the boardas it were here with Ed back home,
and it's always nice to come outhere and see what they do.
They've got a fabulous buffet. They'vegot a bunch of restaurants. As a

(00:46):
matter of fact, Kasaplia. I'llbe sitting down with and just a little
bit share chef Sarah Thompson, Sostick around right here. We'll be talking
about that. Of course, hergreat Hurricane Hillary has been downgraded as it
continues to move slightly east and north, and it is downgraded to a tropical

(01:11):
storm a category two. You don'tneed to go anywhere else. You can
hear all of that here and knowthat it's going to be hitting different parts
of our Southland at different times,so we'll be covering all of that as
it gets closer or gets more aggressive, and that's probably going to be tomorrow
in which we will be switching programming. Conway will be coming in of course

(01:32):
Steve Gregory and we'll be covering everything, So no no reason to go anywhere
else. Next Saturday, hopefully we'llbe away from all this craziness and into
a whole new week or wrapping upa whole new week, as the case
may be. And we're going tobe out at the Pinner's Convention out there

(01:53):
in Pomona at the Fairgrounds, andby we I mean dwell As Sharp and
I will be doing our shows outthere live. And to talk more about
that is the CEO of the Pinner'sConvention, Roxanne Bennett. Roxanne, Welcome
to the FOROK Report. Hey areyou there? There you are? I
can hear you. Oh here thereyou are? Hi there, Roxanne?

(02:15):
How are you? I am doingso great? Thanks for having me.
I can't wait to chat with youin person next week. Oh it's we
are really You've never seen two grownmen this excited about going to a Pinner's
convention. We're like, okay,food crafts would everything you could imagine,

(02:35):
So why don't you go down alist of some of those things. Yeah.
The thing that I love about pinnersis there's literally something for everyone.
So we are going to have ahundred and eight classes, one hundred and
eight unpopular pipers trends from DIY tohome improvement to self improvement, from fashion

(02:57):
and cooking, and all the thingsthat we see and save on our seeds
that we actually never do. Idon't know if this happens to you,
but I send this cutest idea tomy daughter this morning of a trendle that
can go under a bed. Youmake it, you put whales on it,
it's great storage for your kids.And I'm like, this is such

(03:20):
a cool idea that none of usare ever going to do, But just
so you know, it is kindof this voyeuristic thing I think we like
to know and learn things. I'ma maker myself. I have a whole
shop at home devoted to it withlaser cutters and three D printers and woodworking,
all kinds of stuff. I loveto do that after sitting on my

(03:45):
tail talking into a microphone. SoI get excited, but I know that
a lot of it I don't need, or may never use, or won't
have the time to put together.But just seeing people's creativity I think is
inspirational. It's so incredible. Sothe cool thing, that thing that I
really love about pinners is you getto actually come try the things that you're

(04:09):
seeing online and walk away with anactual finished product from someone who's there,
who's going to walk you through thewhole process. You're going to try power
tools, you might decide, hey, I've always wanted to try watercolor,
but I don't know if I'm goodat that. I don't know if I
want to invest in that, Andthen you walk away knowing exactly the supplies
and tools that you need, andthen you also have something that you've actually

(04:32):
created yourself. And anytime I don'tknow about you, but even when I've
finished making dinner, I'm like,that was freaking awesome, Like I was
just so happy with what I actuallydid by myself. And I think that's
part of this process of Pinners.We love watching people learn, create and
connect. They get to try thingsthat they might never have tried before,

(04:55):
and they get to have a wholeexperience with these amazing who are the experts
and the professionals and all of thesedifferent arts. You know, you've hit
on something that I'm a big fanof, and that is concept to completion.
That we have jobs often that arenever completed. You kind of go
from point to point to point.And so I think when you look online

(05:23):
and you go to Pinterest, Pinterest, and you go and you look at
all these things and you see thecreativity. These are things that you can
start and finish and you have thatcompleted. Like you said with cooking dinner,
on the same way, it's likeI started a task that I envisioned,
It's completed. People were nourished byit. That's great because tomorrow I'm

(05:44):
going to write another report that's goingto go to somebody and go to someone
else, and then go to someoneelse, and the I'm going to start
over again. It just is somethingthat I think absolutely speaks to us and
as little human creatures. Roxanne,We're gonna take get a news break with
all that's going on right now.We'll come back. We'll find details out
how people can be a part ofit, how people can come out,

(06:08):
what the classes are what the kitsare and that people can pay for and
be a part of certain classes withthat as well. So stick around.
CEO of the Pinner's Convention coming upnext weekend, well, Twalla and I
will be out there broadcasting live onSaturday. We'll give you more details with
that with the CEO Roxanne Bennett injust moments, so go nowhere. We

(06:32):
are broadcasting the FOK Report live todayfrom Win in Las Vegas. Gorgeous here,
it's still beautiful outside and warm beforethe storm coming in. Happy to
be out here, as we dothis once a month we come out here
and today we're going to introduce youto Chef Sarah Thompson with Kassa Plah here

(06:55):
in the Win and we're going totalk about for Mexican cuisine and you know
how she's having fun with it doingdifferent things, the ingredients she's using all
of those. Of course, ourI is on her Hurricane Hillary, which
has been downgraded to a Category twotropical storm, and that's probably where it

(07:17):
will be maybe a little day ongrading as it still slows down a little
bit as it hits us here inthe Southland, probably tomorrow morning or so
into the afternoon possibly into Monday.Monday as well, we will be switching
programming throughout tomorrow as well, soyou can hear Conway in, you can

(07:43):
hear Steve Gregory in, and you'llget all the news you need, all
the information updates like no one elsecan give you here in the Southland.
KFI is a place. Now's agood time maybe to put batteries in those
radios. You know, I gettechnologies fantastic and all, but let's face

(08:03):
it, in all circumstances that areemergency of emergency style radio is going to
be king and remain king, somake sure that happens. Coming up next
Saturday, we'll be broadcasting live notonly FOK Report but also Twalla Sharp's so

(08:24):
Cal Saturdays. They're from the Fairplexin Pomona for the Pinners Conference. They
do the Pinners Conference there and we'regoing to be thrilled to be there as
well. You can find out moreat CEA Dot Pinners Conference dot com.
CEA Dot Pinners Conference dot com Andright now we're talking with the CEO of

(08:46):
said conference, Roxanne Bennett. Roxanne. So obviously there's going to be all
kinds of different events, classes andthe like there are these little kits that
people can to participate in certain classes. Correct. Correct. So some of
the classes, some of them aregoing to just be Lexer style, like

(09:07):
when you go in the kitchen,you're just gonna get a kitchen devil,
like you're own food Network life.But when you go to some of these
zy classes, they are actually goingto provide you a kit with all the
supplies that you're gonna need. Youare going to follow along, work with
the teacher, and walk away witha completed project. You can even make

(09:28):
a blanket. I mean, there'sso many cool things that you can do
and that you can experience. Oneof the cool things that is happening this
year that is brand new is liquidglass. It is super trendy, it's
super unique and something different. We'regoing to have supplimation. We're going to
have just all kinds of interesting,you know, tips and tricks, some

(09:50):
things you can do. They're goingto teach you how to make Coco bombs.
You can use royalizing to decorate yourown cookies. There's makeup classes.
There's super great floral classes where youcan learn how to make an arrangement with
the flowers that you buy at thegrocery store, so it looks very professional.
You know, all kinds of thingsthat I think are just really unique

(10:11):
and super fun. Is this somethingyou'd bring kids to? Oh? Absolutely.
There are so many of our exhibitors. In addition we've been talking about
the classes, but in addition tothat, there's two hundred vendors who are
there to sell you their stuff that'salready done, which is also splendid.
So you can either get things thatare done you can create with them in

(10:35):
the aisle ways. A lot ofthese exhibitors are going to have little,
tiny make and take little projects thatyou can sit down five dollars maybe for
five minutes of really cute make someairrings, make a bracelet, just a
variety of really cool, unique thingsthat you can do. There's candle making's

(10:58):
create your own bath salt concoction that'sgoing to be directly what you want to
you know, have for your smells. And it's just really really fun and
super unique. Nothing like it outthere, no, And I love that.
I mean it's it's it's like Pinterestitself. I mean the amount of
things out there that are I meanreally the whole family. There's stuff that

(11:24):
everyone could be into I mean talkingabout dye sublimation and doing the process of
that printing. I'm talking about theliquid glass. Don't get confused on this
program. We have to make thisclear. It's not vodka. That's different
liquid. Yeah, it's not.You know so many things. But if
you haven't, if you haven't heardabout it and what it does and what

(11:48):
it is, you can check itout online. But I love that it
has very hands on. I thinkwe are creatures of creation. We desire
to create and to build and tomake things. And there's some thing for
everybody. I don't like when peopletell me, oh, but I'm not
good at making things. There issomething for you always, whether it's origami,

(12:09):
or whether it's drawing, or whetherit's painting or whatever it might be.
There's something for you that I guaranteewill bring you joy and others joy
as well as you share it withthem at a place like this. So
the minute I had heard you onwith Twala, I ran in there and
I'm like, we have to broadcastfrom that this year. I'm telling you,

(12:30):
it's so incredible. I am alwaysembarrassed to tell people that I am
not myself super creative, like asfar as like crafty. I'm creative,
but not necessarily crafty. So whenI go to a class at Pinners,
the thing that I love so somuch is that I'm going in that person

(12:50):
who's teaching that class knows what they'redoing. They know the step by step
process to teach a novice like mehow to do something, how to water
color, how to punch embroidery,how to try a line drawing that maybe
I've never would even consider doing,and show me step by step how to
do it. And then I finishand I'm like, oh my gosh,

(13:11):
I'm so good at this, youknow, it's just so great. And
then if I'm not, by theway, which sometimes i'm not, I
think, no problem, I'll justgo buy that from them, because it's
wonderful, you know, And it'sit's a win win. I get to
learn these experiences, try things thatI might never try otherwise, and I
get to just enjoy myself with mygirlfriends or my kids. And I have

(13:37):
grand babies now and they love comingto Pinners. Can I come to Pinners
and you know, they it's justso much fun because there really is something
for everybody that is so awesome well, we're looking forward to it. People
can find out information more information atCA dot Pinners Conference dot com and you
can check it out. It's nextweekend on the twenty fifth and twenty six

(14:01):
Twela and I will be out thereon the twenty sixth on Saturday. It
is nine am to seven pm.We will do our shows from two pm
to seven pm and have a greattime out there. So people can get
tickets and everything online and to getout there. How much are tickets,
Well, tickets are such a greatvalue. By the way, you can

(14:22):
just come and check out Pinners foronly twelve dollars. That's incredible to me.
If you want to come to Fridaynight, girls night out, we're
doing that from four to eight.You get a mini swag bagged house with
goodies inside, you get a freetrio, you get to go to one
of the classes, have this wholeincredible Pinners experience for nineteen dollars. It

(14:46):
is like a bargain. We havepeople who are buying regular general admission tickets
and then buying that too because theywant to do ball things. They're like,
that's just such a good deal.I want to do it. And
then we have a few VIPs left. If you want the whole vip Pinner
experience, we have a party onThursday night. Then you get a swag
bag with lots of great goodies includinglike every I swear, three of the

(15:09):
best scissors that Discers makes, whichthey're sponsoring the swagbags and providing lots of
cool things. There's this really amazingstuff all the way around. We are.
We are so excited about it andcan't wait to get out there with
all the creators who want to cometry new things, have this experience,
support these local businesses that you know, our women owned a lot of them

(15:35):
and are really there to inspire andlift other people, which is incredible.
Sorry, we're up against the clock, but we are very excited and I
can't wait to see you next week. We'll be telling people about this,
putting it up on our website aswell. Roxane Bennett from the Pinner's Convention
going on. That will be nextweekend. Fly it right, so Beach

(15:56):
House yeah right, next uncre beachCloud yeah. Oh and with me is
chef and I wanted before we startand this is going to be an extra
short segment and we'll clean things upon the other side of this What got
you into cooking in the first place. I always knew I wanted to be
a chef. Ever since I wasa kid, that was the only vision

(16:17):
I had. And I remember tellingmy parents when I was right into high
school, and you're like, whatdo you want to do? What do
you want to do? Is Iwant to be a chef? That was
There was like no questions. Iloved cooking. I grew up in a
family where food was super important.We sat down every day for home cooked
meals, and like, especially nowthat all of the kids are out of
the house, my parents have reallyexplored different types of things as well.

(16:37):
My dad loves smoking meats. Theygrow a ton of their own food.
It's really fun. Like they havea nerb guard and they say they grow
a ton of their own food.They don't really grow that much, but
it's more than most. I meana lot of people don't think about doing
that, having those fresh herbs.Yeah, I mean, it's really incredible.
And I remember, you know,just wanting to cook for people and
seeing their reactions. And I alwaysfeel like food bring people together, and

(17:00):
Mexican food especially really brings people together. And it's it's made kind of purposely
family style in a lot of ways, large pots, long cooking times.
There are things like that that youcan't do them without love. They have
to be I mean just exactly attention. Like you're not going to dig a

(17:21):
hole in the ground and cook ahole animal and just you know, forget
about it and have it not besuper special. Yeah, it's like this
is what we're doing today. We'regoing to cook, but it involves shovels.
Okay, sounds good, sounds totallynormal, and so you knew right
away. Was there a style ofcooking or were you really explorative Early on?
When I first started cooking, Iwas really passionate about Italian food and

(17:44):
I worked at Maria as my firstjob. Loved it, learned so much.
But then as time went on,I really wanted to explore a lot
of other things. I worked forWiley to Frain, I worked obviously in
my sicanmousine, and it's just whateverI found like exciting at the time,
whatever I was going to learn alot, and you know it was really
exciting, you know, because wewent later a little bit. I want

(18:07):
to make sure we're getting all thenews in right now as we have a
Hurricane Hillary now downgraded into a tropicalstorm coming our way. More and more.
We want to make sure we giveyou all that information. But when
we come back, we're going tohave more conversation with Chef Thompson here at
when and there's just so many greatplaces to come and to eat here.

(18:27):
This just happens to be Kasaplaiya hereinside when we'll talk more about that cuisine
and what it's like to be achef here on the premises. When we
return, Hey, everybody, it'sthe FOK Report. Yay, Happy Saturday.
I am your well fed host,Neil Servedra. How do you do
Every Saturday? We come together,we shake off the heaviness of the week.

(18:48):
We celebrate food, the people thatmake at the culture behind it of
course, ingredients, science, cookingat home, going out to eat,
and everything in between. We're broadcastinglive from in Las Vegas. It's always
a great time to come out hereonce a month, talk to the chefs,
the people that are making this placerun and smells so great throughout all
of the corridors and walkways in andout of the casino. And wanted to

(19:15):
remind you that the news that's goingon we don't ignore it just because we're
enjoying ourselves talking about food. SoHurricane Hillary now a category two tropical storm.
We'll be hitting southern California, andyou stick around here. Mark Ronner
is on it in our twenty fourhour newsroom right now as well as other
news crew and we will continue tobeef that up as the storm gets closer

(19:40):
and more intense. So going intotomorrow, obviously we'll have some special programming
with our very own award winning reporterSteve Gregory. We'll have Tim Conway Junior
in and more. So just knowwe are here for you. Anything you
need to know, the trajectory information, wind speeds, measurement of rain,

(20:04):
all of those things will be therefor you. So go nowhere. Now
we are chatting with chef Sarah Thompsonfrom Kassa playa here in the Wind and
some You know, when you're creatinga menu, it's got to be kind
of fun. But when you're creatinga menu for such a luxurious hotel like

(20:25):
Wind in Las Vegas, is thatthat fun are intimidating? I mean,
I think at first it was alittle bit intimidating, and now it's a
blast. Like the expectation is superhigh. The expectation that we're using the
best ingredients is expected. If wearen't using the best meat out there,
the best seafood, then we're doingsomething wrong. And being able to have

(20:45):
access to all of that food makesputting together the menu a lot more fun
and playful because what you can dowith these ingredients is super versatile. So
at Casaplia, we like to useas much local ingredients as possible, especially
seeing our seafood almost exclusively from thePacific coasts and we get lots of stuff
from local farms or local to Californiafarms, but we keep the backbone of

(21:08):
ur cuisine Mexican, and we sourcedall of our airloom corn, chilis beans,
agaves, all of that stuff rightfrom Mexico, making it a super
unique program. We really wanted tobe inspired by how people cook in Mexico.
So if you're in Mohacca, you'renot eating food that's like from the
Baja Coasts, you're eating food fromMohaca. So we wanted to really showcase
the amazing ingredients that are close tous proximity and not have to outsource too

(21:33):
many things. You know, youcome from background with Italian cuisine, and
there's similarities with Mexican food in thesense that there's a lot of misconceptions as
to what they are because they've beenAmericanized, or people assume, Okay,
well it's rice and beans here,and it's a red sauce and pasta here,

(21:55):
and the regional stuff is what makesit special. I was reading an
article about you, and you wereyour food was referred to as refreshingly unique
Mexican, and I was wondering whatthat means to you when you hear that
term, I mean, I takethat as a compliment. I mean,
that's amazing. I think that alot of people have a very closed mind

(22:18):
to Mexican cuisine. It could bethat they haven't been exposed to Mexican cuisine,
or like you said, Mexican cuisineis super regional, so people who
are, you know, in Texasare getting a completely different food than people
in San Diego. So people mightnot be open to being like, oh,
like, flower tortillas aren't real tortillas. They're totally real tortillas. You

(22:38):
just don't necessarily eat them in differentparts of Mexico because that's not where it
grows. That's one of those sillythings, and it's like, that's not,
you know, only corner. It'sno, there is, it's yes,
it's going to be more northern possiblyin things like that, But people
there's a lot of misunderstanding as tothe ingredients or even the heat. There's

(23:00):
in parts of Mexico where you getmore heat than in other parts of Mexico.
Absolutely, and it has exclusively todo with what ingredients are available and
what grows in those areas. Ithink that when people are eating Mexican food,
they need to have an open mind. There are so many unique ingredients
and so many unique types of preparationsthat you don't necessarily see here. I
am constantly learning from my team andmy peers. They'll come to me being

(23:22):
like, this is how we doit, you know in this region.
I was like, I had noidea. Let's try doing it on the
menu like this. And it's alwaysreally fun having that interactive experience. But
it also helps our menu develop andgrow. I think that's one of the
reasons why it is so unique.Obviously there's a huge focus on the coast,
but we're taking a lot of otherinspiration from different areas of Mexico where
they fit appropriately. I love itnow is if you didn't have enough to

(23:45):
do, run, Oh my god, you're well that there's a lot of
weight to brunch that holds a lotbecause it's part imita entertainment kind of going
out. It's a special kind ofacase Asian. The food's gotta have wow
factor, cocktails have to have wowfactor, and and so this is new

(24:07):
yes day three today. Oh wow. So what are you most excited about?
What are some of the things thatare on the brunch menu? For
me, putting together this brunch menuwas a lot of fun. There's so
many traditional Mexican brunch items. Shelike kils, we have a suncheras,
seven types of embanadas, and likeyou can even throw the Marisco singles.
We have you know away by Leavita, see food, cocktail, all of

(24:27):
those things. So the menu tome was really easy to put together.
It was really fun. But thething that really makes our brunch unique is
we built a takaia in the diningroom, so I got coal malls flown
in from Wahaka. We have themcooking in the dining room, so we're
getting hand pressed airlom tortillas, wehave rotisserie with suckling pig carnitas, so

(24:48):
you're getting fresh, freshly trapped,crispy skin, suckling pig carnitez. We
have beef buria and then as manytoppings as you can imagine, so you
get to go eat as many tacosas you want, just really make it
your own. I see, there'sthe entertainment factor to have that Komal in
the middle of you know, foreverybody to see it at experience the smells

(25:10):
and the sights with that. That'spretty cool, amazing, that is really
really cool. Well, we're upagainst the clock. My guest has been
chef Sarah Thompson with kassa playa hereat win and I'm gonna, you know,
once we get off the air,I'm gonna come by and take some
pictures. I really want people tosee some of that setup and stuff too
that are listening right now. Iknow that you guys are so busy when

(25:33):
it comes to what you do here, and the fact that you took some
time out of your data pop inmeans a lot. So thank you so
much for having me. This hasbeen a blast. Yeah, this is
very very cool. It was areal pleasure to meet and I can't wait
to taste your food. Yes,but so nice to meet you. Okay,
come back. We have more showto come, some things that are
in the news, like bubbling watermelon. Don't eat it. I'll tell you

(25:55):
why. Go know where you've beenlistening to the Fok Report. You can
always hear us live on kf IAm six forty two to five pm on
Saturday, and anytime on demand onthe iHeartRadio Apple