Latest / The Restaurant Guys / Wine, Restaurant Culture and What Makes Great Barbecue | Live from Aspen | Part II

Transcript

Wine, Restaurant Culture and What Makes Great Barbecue | Live from Aspen | Part II · The Restaurant Guys

• 0:42
  Speaker 12: Hello, everybody, and welcome.
• 0:43
  Speaker 12: You are listening to The Restaurant Guys.
• 0:46
  Speaker 12: I'm Mark Pascal and I'm here with Francis Schaaf.
• 0:48
  Speaker 12: Together we own Stage Left and Catherine Lombardi restaurants in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
• 0:52
  Speaker 12: We're here to bring you the inside track on food, wine, and the finer things in life.
• 0:56
  Speaker 13: Uh, hello, Mark.
• 0:57
  Speaker 12: Hey, Francis.
• 0:58
  Speaker 13: I'm excited that we are today in, uh, our second in the series of, episodes that we recorded at Aspen Food and Wine in Colorado.
• 1:06
  Speaker 12: Talk, talk about the finer things in life.
• 1:07
  Speaker 13: Yeah, indeed.
• 1:08
  Speaker 13: but you have a story about something interesting that we found out when we were down there.
• 1:11
  Speaker 12: Yeah.
• 1:11
  Speaker 12: So, you know, you start talking to people and you realize you have all these connections.
• 1:14
  Speaker 12: You know, you heard the, the Marisa Parella connection from the last show.
• 1:17
  Speaker 12: You start talking to people and Bobby Stuckey, is currently employing my maid of honor, and I didn't find that out until we were talking down there, uh,
• 1:26
  Francis: yeah, small restaurant world.
• 1:27
  Francis: In fact, you know, that's kind of a theme of the whole Aspen Food Wine.
• 1:32
  Francis: we met a lot of super, enthusiastic people who go to a lot of festivals and love restaurants.
• 1:37
  Francis: we met some people who had also been to the Charleston Food and Wine Festival.
• 1:40
  Francis: Mm-hmm.
• 1:40
  Francis: But the amazing thing is all of the chefs and bartenders and young people that work in the, in the industry that go there and work it and get together, it really brings a small world even together.
• 1:50
  Francis: Y-
• 1:50
  Speaker 12: you know, I have to mention that group from Good Night Hospitality in Houston, those guys are fun, Felipe Riccio- Yeah and Austin Wader, and June Road, all those guys.
• 2:01
  Speaker 12: they were a little epicenter of fun for the whole festival, the whole time I was there.
• 2:04
  Speaker 13: Yeah, restaurant people are fun.
• 2:05
  Speaker 13: And the nice thing about this is if you like to hang out with restaurant people, uh, consumers and restaurant people really do mix at these festivals.
• 2:12
  Speaker 13: Especially like- Mm-hmm in the after party.
• 2:13
  Speaker 13: Even it's not really an after party, it's just you go to a cool bar and you run into a lot of folks, and everybody's friendly.
• 2:18
  Speaker 13: Anyway, we're gonna continue on with the interviews that we've done.
• 2:21
  Speaker 13: today we have Amanda McCrossin, wonderful wine professional, Bobby Stuckey, a master sommelier who runs a tremendous restaurant group down there.
• 2:30
  Speaker 13: And then we're gonna finish up with a rip-roaring time with Andrew Zimmern, who we interviewed on the grounds of the Aspen Food Wine Classic.
• 2:38
  Speaker 13: It's lovely to have him back on the show again.
• 2:39
  Speaker 13: He's just a riot every time.
• 2:41
  Speaker 13: So stay tuned and stick with us till the end,'cause that's where Andrew Zimmern's gonna be.
• 2:45
  Speaker 13: We'll be back in just a moment.
• 2:47
  Speaker 26: So our next guest at the Aspen Food Wine Classic is Amanda McCrossin.
• 2:50
  Speaker 26: She's a professional sommelier, wine personality, writer, producer, content creator.
• 2:55
  Speaker 26: She's built a massive audience, uh, making wine approachable and entertaining through her Somm Vivant brand across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and podcasts.
• 3:04
  Speaker 26: She hosts the Wine Access Unfiltered podcast, contributes to Wine Enthusiast, speaks at major wine festivals like this one, and we are thrilled to have her here with us on The Restaurant
• 3:13
  Speaker 16: Hi, Amanda.
• 3:14
  Speaker 16: Welcome to the show.
• 3:16
  Speaker 36: Man, when does she sleep?
• 3:17
  Speaker 37: I know,
• 3:17
  Speaker 26: Welcome to the show.
• 3:18
  Speaker 26: Hello.
• 3:18
  Speaker 26: Welcome.
• 3:18
  Speaker 26: Man, when does she sleep?
• 3:19
  Speaker 26: I know.
• 3:19
  Speaker 26: I know.
• 3:19
  Speaker 26: Evidently not at all.
• 3:19
  Speaker 26: Funny story, so- She
• 3:20
  Speaker 37: like, 80.
• 3:20
  Speaker 37: I'm sorry.
• 3:20
  Speaker 37: All those accomplishments.
• 3:21
  Speaker 37: So we're gonna start with a
• 3:21
  Speaker 26: No, so, uh- Right?
• 3:22
  Speaker 26: With all her accomplishments so we're gonna start with a little bit of an adventure that is totally wine unrelated.
• 3:26
  Speaker 26: I w- I sat down on the plane to fly in on the, on the connection from Chicago, uh, here to Aspen, and, um, I was talking to the woman next to me who's, works as a rep.
• 3:35
  Speaker 26: She's like,"What do you do?" And I said,"I, I have a little podcast." And from behind me I hear someone say,"I think I'm gonna be on your podcast in a couple of days." And that was you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 36: It was me.
• 3:43
  Speaker 36: I tapped you on the shoulder.
• 3:44
  Speaker 36: You.
• 3:44
  Speaker 36: And it was so funny because when you first started speaking to your neighbor-
• 3:48
  Speaker 37: Uh-huh
• 3:48
  Speaker 36: I was, you know, people who talk to other people on planes- Mm.
• 3:51
  Speaker 36: Mm this is like, this is a thing, right?
• 3:53
  Speaker 36: Like, you're either- Right someone who is quiet- Right, right or you're someone who's not.
• 3:55
  Speaker 36: And it was so interesting'cause you sat down and immediately you introduced yourself to this person.
• 3:59
  Speaker 36: Right.
• 3:59
  Speaker 36: And I was like, how is this gonna go?
• 4:01
  Speaker 36: Is this gonna be a good thing or a bad thing?
• 4:02
  Speaker 36: But it was a great thing.
• 4:04
  Speaker 36: And I wonder, is this, like, a consistent- And
• 4:05
  Speaker 26: you joined in.
• 4:06
  Speaker 26: We had a
• 4:06
  Speaker 36: did.
• 4:06
  Speaker 36: But I wondered,
• 4:07
  Speaker 26: but I wondered if-
• 4:08
  Speaker 36: is this a consistent thing for you on planes?
• 4:10
  Speaker 26: planes?
• 4:10
  Speaker 26: I think the way to handle an, an airplane ride- Mm-hmm is I always sit down, I introduce myself, and I shake the person's hand, and you know then whether they're a person that wants
• 4:21
  Speaker 16: that wants to- Yeah, guy next to me on the way out, headphones on, face towards the window, and I, You may not know this about me.
• 4:28
  Speaker 16: I'm a pretty outgoing, out there kind of guy, but did not do any of
• 4:33
  Speaker 26: But I, I also keep headphones handy and the book handy'cause sometimes people wanna talk more than I want to.
• 4:38
  Speaker 26: I think it's perfectly acceptable to say,"Okay, well, I'm gonna read, I'm gonna do my work now.
• 4:41
  Speaker 26: I'm gonna read my book.
• 4:42
  Speaker 26: I'm gonna take a little nap," and put the headphones in and go off but I always introduce myself
• 4:46
  Speaker 37: it's- I
• 4:46
  Speaker 36: think that's lovely and wonderful, and it was, uh, it was very, if I can say, sort of old school.
• 4:51
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 36: I thought it was a beautiful thing and a great way to enter Aspen, and I'm so glad I said hello.
• 4:55
  Speaker 26: Yeah, I am too.
• 4:56
  Speaker 26: And it's funny because through the whole flight I thought,"Well, I'm not gonna talk to her'cause I wanna save that all to, for
• 5:00
  Speaker 37: the
• 5:01
  Speaker 26: podcast.
• 5:01
  Speaker 26: I don't wanna
• 5:01
  Speaker 16: are we gonna talk about wine or
• 5:03
  Speaker 37: anything- Yeah.
• 5:03
  Speaker 37: Okay while,
• 5:04
  Speaker 16: we're
• 5:05
  Speaker 26: Only everything.
• 5:05
  Speaker 37: Only airplanes.
• 5:06
  Speaker 37: All right.
• 5:06
  Speaker 26: All right, so listen.
• 5:07
  Speaker 26: you're a media personality now.
• 5:08
  Speaker 26: Yes.
• 5:09
  Speaker 26: Right?
• 5:09
  Speaker 26: And so you came from a Somm background, from an on-the-floor sort of reminded people learning about wine background.
• 5:15
  Speaker 26: Um, and what's really interesting, what I see that you're doing, or what Mark and I both see that you're doing with your various social media outlets for Somm Vivant and when you are speaking, you're a wine educator.
• 5:27
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 5:27
  Speaker 26: It's just that your medium is not only holding classes at a school or whatever.
• 5:31
  Speaker 26: everything that you do, seems to be to teach people about wine.
• 5:36
  Speaker 26: And is that the case?
• 5:38
  Speaker 36: I think so.
• 5:39
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 5:39
  Speaker 36: I didn't come from a wine drinking background.
• 5:42
  Speaker 36: our wine situation was, was grim in a word, right?
• 5:45
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 5:45
  Speaker 36: My, my parents were not into wine.
• 5:47
  Speaker 36: So when I got into wine eventually, I have a theater and film and TV background.
• 5:51
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 5:51
  Speaker 36: And when I got into wine, I was like,"You know, I think, I think there's an opportunity for someone to teach wine in a way that maybe speaks to people like me that like I don't necessarily wanna sit in a classroom Mm-hmm"and go through textbooks." Like, I just Right I want someone who maybe looks like me and can teach me through experience.
• 6:10
  Speaker 36: And so really the channels are just to help educate people through lived experience.
• 6:14
  Speaker 36: So less of the, you know, 101 stuff and more of the like, hey, if you're out and about at a restaurant or at a wine shop or if you've been in this situation before, here's how you should handle it, and then we kind of like dial it back from there and give a little information to substantiate the claim.
• 6:28
  Speaker 16: what I see you doing is just trying to make this less intimidating for people, right?
• 6:32
  Speaker 16: For so long, you know, when we got into this business, it was about, people using wine to separate themselves, right?
• 6:40
  Speaker 16: People using wine to
• 6:41
  Speaker 26: Set themselves apart.
• 6:42
  Speaker 38: Yeah,
• 6:42
  Speaker 16: Set themselves apart yeah, set themselves apart.
• 6:43
  Speaker 16: You know,"I know about, white Burgundy and you don't, so I'm, I'm a superior individual to you." And, you know, that's, that's never what it should have been about.
• 6:52
  Speaker 16: No.
• 6:53
  Speaker 16: Uh, so we need people like you to say, uh,"You wanna drop a couple ice cubes in your wine?
• 6:57
  Speaker 16: Go
• 6:57
  Speaker 38: ahead."
• 6:57
  Speaker 36: Oh.
• 6:58
  Speaker 36: Well- Oh, the ice skate of 2026 Yeah.
• 7:00
  Speaker 36: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:01
  Speaker 36: We can
• 7:01
  Speaker 26: another day.
• 7:01
  Speaker 26: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:01
  Speaker 26: We're gonna rumble about that in a minute or
• 7:02
  Speaker 36: we can rumble.
• 7:03
  Speaker 36: But I, you know, the other thing I'll say on that is, a- and I talk about this a little in my seminars here at Aspen, when I got into wine, or I guess before I got into wine, to your point, I always felt like wine was this sort of thing like generational wealth.
• 7:15
  Speaker 36: Like, you had to be born into it.
• 7:17
  Speaker 36: Mm.
• 7:17
  Speaker 36: Mm.
• 7:17
  Speaker 36: Like, you had to have a grandfather teach you it or it had to be inherited in some way.
• 7:21
  Speaker 36: It always just felt like this thing that you had to be invited into, or born into.
• 7:26
  Speaker 36: And so when I started getting into wine, I quickly realized that that wasn't the case.
• 7:30
  Speaker 36: And so yeah, I think there is some barrier that
• 7:32
  Speaker 30: is
• 7:32
  Speaker 26: some barrier.
• 7:32
  Speaker 26: You know, I said something to you on the airplane and I said, You know, it's kinda like what we do with the OGs." And you're like,"I'm not an OG." And you looked at me
• 7:37
  Speaker 37: looked at me like,
• 7:38
  Speaker 26: what I meant was Mark and I as OGs walked into a world that Kevin Zraly started turning
• 7:43
  Speaker 37: around in.
• 7:43
  Speaker 26: in.
• 7:44
  Speaker 26: And Robert Parker, though that kinda went off the rails in a way in the end, started to make things...
• 7:48
  Speaker 26: He started trying to make wine more accessible to people.
• 7:51
  Speaker 26: And to move it out of the wine world you had to be born into and, fancy sommeliers walking around speaking a language you barely understood and paying a lot of money to, for the privilege.
• 8:00
  Speaker 26: Mark and I were talking about, you know, sh- should we write a book?
• 8:02
  Speaker 26: What should we do?
• 8:02
  Speaker 26: Kevin said to me once years ago, he said, Listen." We were thinking about maybe going for a degree.
• 8:07
  Speaker 26: And he said,"You know, there, there is a place in the wine world for people who wanna train master sommeliers and masters of wine, and there's a place in the world for them.
• 8:14
  Speaker 26: Do you really wanna do that or do you wanna teach people how to enjoy wine and then serve them some wine and, and see them enjoy it?"
• 8:20
  Speaker 16: maybe read a label or, or,
• 8:22
  Speaker 26: a book that, you
• 8:23
  Speaker 16: make it less intimidating and-
• 8:24
  Speaker 17: And he said
• 8:24
  Speaker 26: Just get people un-intimidating.
• 8:25
  Speaker 26: And what he said was that was, that's wine education, but it's also wine-tainment.
• 8:28
  Speaker 26: and that brought a whole crew of people in, but then it sort of rarefied again.
• 8:32
  Speaker 26: And then the new, the new taste of venom around the sommelier's neck was the 100-point wine that you can't afford.
• 8:38
  Speaker 26: And all the wine press was writing about wines that became increasingly less relevant to people'cause you can't afford them anyway.
• 8:44
  Speaker 27: Well,
• 8:44
  Speaker 16: can't afford them anyway.
• 8:44
  Speaker 16: Well, you can't afford them, and they made 600 bottles.
• 8:46
  Speaker 16: Yeah.
• 8:46
  Speaker 26: yeah.
• 8:46
  Speaker 26: So.
• 8:47
  Speaker 16: Good luck
• 8:47
  Speaker 26: And so then I think...
• 8:49
  Speaker 26: And, and young people have stepped away and taken a pause and, and I think we've all gotta straighten up our act.
• 8:55
  Speaker 26: I don't think Mark and I ever did that, but, but you're...
• 8:58
  Speaker 26: What I
• 8:58
  Speaker 16: up our act?
• 8:59
  Speaker 16: No, we definitely
• 9:00
  Speaker 26: up our act?
• 9:00
  Speaker 26: No, we definitely have you're the next generation bringing people, making it accessible to people again.
• 9:04
  Speaker 26: And I see that we, we did that once before in the'80s.
• 9:07
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 9:07
  Speaker 26: And now it needs to be done
• 9:09
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 9:09
  Speaker 36: Well, I think we all forgot that wine is fun.
• 9:11
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 9:11
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 9:12
  Speaker 36: Right?
• 9:12
  Speaker 36: Like, we all kind of forgot that the point of drinking wine is obviously to enjoy it, but it's also to sit down or stand up and just, like, have a good time.
• 9:20
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 9:20
  Speaker 36: And I feel like w- when we lost the plot on the fun side of things is when things really started to derail, and that's where I think social media has had a really big hand, at least for me, in introducing the fun back into wine.
• 9:33
  Speaker 26: derail, and that's where I think social media has had a really big hand, at least for me, in introducing the fun back into wine Well, I, I, I, I do wanna...
• 9:35
  Speaker 26: And then, like, I'm not- I'm breaking my arm, uh, patting you on the back for this, but I- Yeah here's something about making wine fun.
• 9:42
  Speaker 26: There's a lot of silly channels out there who, you don't really learn anything, or you learn wrong things by listening to them, and I've watched a lot of your content, and every time I watch your show, there's nothing you say that's wrong.
• 9:57
  Speaker 26: Mm.
• 9:57
  Speaker 26: And it's things that if the people don't know those
• 9:59
  Speaker 16: can I just tell you?
• 10:00
  Speaker 16: You broke into a little Jersey accent when you said,"There's nothing you say that's wrong." Yes.
• 10:04
  Speaker 16: So,
• 10:04
  Speaker 36: Listen, I'm a Philly girl.
• 10:05
  Speaker 36: I'm here for a Jersey accent.
• 10:07
  Speaker 37: No, so, so,
• 10:08
  Speaker 26: there's a lot of silly wine people that wanna make it fun and happy, but they get shit wrong.
• 10:13
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 26: Whereas you wanna be like,"Hey, have some fun and maybe learn something.
• 10:17
  Speaker 26: And if you don't learn something, that's okay, but you have to have fun." Yeah.
• 10:19
  Speaker 26: "But I'm not gonna teach you wrong shit."
• 10:21
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 10:22
  Speaker 36: well, I appreciate that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 36: Thank you.
• 10:23
  Speaker 36: I, there's nothing I hate and love more than some internet banter.
• 10:27
  Speaker 36: Um, the one thing that I don't wanna be is wrong, right?
• 10:30
  Speaker 36: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:30
  Speaker 36: On the internet.
• 10:31
  Speaker 36: Like, if I'm already sticking my neck out there.
• 10:33
  Speaker 36: Right.
• 10:33
  Speaker 36: I'm already making myself available for public scrutiny.
• 10:36
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 10:36
  Speaker 36: Um, I would rather not be wrong while doing it.
• 10:39
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 10:39
  Speaker 36: And so yeah, I mean, there is a lot of research and, I make sure that what I'm saying is at least to the best of my knowledge, accurate and correct, hopefully fun.
• 10:48
  Speaker 36: You know, I'm here for fun content, and obviously, as it turns out, the internet is not always the most-
• 10:54
  Speaker 38: Receptive to that.
• 10:55
  Speaker 36: Well, they're not receptive and, you know, not all the content out there as we know across not just wine, but every, genre, it's not always accurate, right?
• 11:02
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 11:02
  Speaker 36: You can't always trust the internet.
• 11:03
  Speaker 37: Okay, well
• 11:04
  Speaker 26: now it's t- Really it's, it's ti- it's time to take the gloves off.
• 11:06
  Speaker 26: Uh-
• 11:07
  Speaker 36: let's take them off.
• 11:07
  Speaker 36: I'm
• 11:08
  Speaker 26: I'm ready.
• 11:08
  Speaker 26: Um, what do you mean ice in your wine?
• 11:12
  Speaker 37: well-
• 11:12
  Speaker 26: tell, tell us about Ice Gate for you.
• 11:15
  Speaker 36: Ice Gate happened because last year, uh, I, I did some content with Wine Enthusiast, and one of the things that we had talked about was this idea of putting ice in your wine.
• 11:24
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 11:25
  Speaker 36: And I sort of, uh, substantiated it, I guess, by saying there is this thing called la piscine.
• 11:33
  Speaker 36: It exists in the South of France.
• 11:34
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 11:34
  Speaker 36: It's something that you do where you literally put ice in either your sparkling wine or your still wine, and it's called la piscine.
• 11:39
  Speaker 36: A la, the pool, right?
• 11:41
  Speaker 36: And so I made this video, um, and then, and I truly did not know that it was going to explode in the way that it did.
• 11:50
  Speaker 36: And not only explode, it was probably the most polarizing thing I've ever seen in my life.
• 11:55
  Speaker 36: And it, it's, it was, it was reposted again this year, um, with the same sort of response, and I have a lot of feelings about it.
• 12:02
  Speaker 36: I try to stay out of the conversation because ultimately a keyboard warrior only wants- That's right a little more fire.
• 12:08
  Speaker 36: Wants it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 36: Exactly.
• 12:09
  Speaker 36: Right?
• 12:09
  Speaker 36: Um, so I, I try to stand back a little bit and just let people fight their fight because I stand by my claim that if it's your wine, you are welcome to do-
• 12:19
  Speaker 16: I, see,
• 12:20
  Speaker 36: Oh, 100%.
• 12:21
  Speaker 38: I, see- whatever you'd like see-
• 12:21
  Speaker 16: where you'll never get a fight from Francis and me is when you say, This is how I like it."
• 12:27
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 12:28
  Speaker 16: Yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker 16: Once you say,"This is how I like it"-
• 12:30
  Speaker 26: Never a wrong answer
• 12:31
  Speaker 27: yep,
• 12:31
  Speaker 16: Well, then do it the way you like it.
• 12:33
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 12:33
  Speaker 16: now listen, I don't want wine in my, uh, ice in my wine for the most part.
• 12:37
  Speaker 16: But like- I would rather-
• 12:38
  Speaker 26: my ice, now that you bring it up, Mark.
• 12:39
  Speaker 26: I think I might actually want that.
• 12:41
  Speaker 16: Now you're bringing up a good point.
• 12:41
  Speaker 16: I might actually want that.
• 12:41
  Speaker 16: Uh, but Francis and I are constantly going to restaurants, and especially with red wine, getting wines that are way too warm.
• 12:50
  Speaker 16: Sure.
• 12:51
  Speaker 16: So, so what do you do there?
• 12:53
  Speaker 16: The quick fix is to drop a couple cubes in it, and obviously that's gonna change the wine to, to some degree or another, no pun intended.
• 12:59
  Speaker 16: Uh, I'm constantly getting looks from, I'm using the air quotes,"sommeliers" who bring me an 80-degree bottle of wine, and I decant it and say,"Can, can you just stick that on the ice for 10 minutes?" And they're looking at me like,"Uh, sir, that is a red wine, and I think you maybe have made some kind of mistake."
• 13:18
  Speaker 36: it's not a mistake if it's what you want, number one.
• 13:20
  Speaker 26: Well, and also, I, I, I have to, I do think that, first of all, the white wine spritzer does exist, and
• 13:25
  Speaker 16: Yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 16: It's a drink.
• 13:26
  Speaker 16: That was a drink.
• 13:27
  Speaker 16: A lot of people drank it.
• 13:28
  Speaker 16: Some are still drinking
• 13:29
  Speaker 26: it's fine.
• 13:29
  Speaker 26: Yeah, I mean, you don't wanna do it with a grand cru Burgundy, but,
• 13:32
  Speaker 37: know, you, you, you- But here's
• 13:33
  Speaker 36: the thing.
• 13:33
  Speaker 36: Why not?
• 13:33
  Speaker 36: Like, the thing is, why not, right?
• 13:35
  Speaker 36: I think that we have And if we're gonna talk about making wine less intimidating- Okay.
• 13:40
  Speaker 36: Okay right?
• 13:40
  Speaker 36: All right.
• 13:40
  Speaker 36: Okay.
• 13:40
  Speaker 36: And we are trying to democratize wine, why not?
• 13:43
  Speaker 36: Why because something is more expensive or more revered- does it make it less acceptable?
• 13:49
  Speaker 37: I, I,
• 13:49
  Speaker 26: make it less acceptable?
• 13:49
  Speaker 26: I, I, I have an answer.
• 13:50
  Speaker 26: It is completely acceptable if you have bought that bottle of wine.
• 13:53
  Speaker 26: And I
• 13:53
  Speaker 37: should mention this- Right.
• 13:53
  Speaker 37: We're
• 13:54
  Speaker 36: only, we're only talking about this,
• 13:55
  Speaker 37: right?
• 13:55
  Speaker 37: Right.
• 13:55
  Speaker 37: Right.
• 13:55
  Speaker 26: So I'm not saying it's not what you should do.
• 13:58
  Speaker 26: I would say it's, not what I would do, and it's probably not the way to appreciate all of the things that went into making that wine because texture is part of what makes that$100 bottle of Chablis$100 a bottle.
• 14:10
  Speaker 26: And when you introduce more water into that, you're changing that texture that they very carefully, made.
• 14:16
  Speaker 26: But if you wanna throw it in the blender and make a frappe out of it- Yeah have, have at it.
• 14:20
  Speaker 26: Have at it
• 14:21
  Speaker 17: at it
• 14:21
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 14:21
  Speaker 36: I mean, I My job on the floor as a sommelier when I was at a restaurant was to guide people according to what I knew, right?
• 14:28
  Speaker 36: Uh-huh.
• 14:28
  Speaker 36: Sure.
• 14:28
  Speaker 36: Whether they chose to accept that guidance- 100% was their choice, and I s- continue to stand by that today.
• 14:34
  Speaker 36: And I think if, you know, is it going to be my choice to put a Grand Cru Burgundy on ice?
• 14:40
  Speaker 36: No, that's not personally what I would like to do.
• 14:43
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 14:43
  Speaker 36: But I also think that if that's a bottle that you purchased- Yeah and it's how you enjoy the wine and it's what amplifies it for you, I think it's our responsibility as people who want to democratize wine to say,"That's not, not only okay, we encourage that.
• 14:56
  Speaker 36: We want you to do and feel comfortable doing what is delicious for you."
• 15:00
  Speaker 38: gonna, I'm gonna
• 15:01
  Speaker 16: Yeah and it's how you enjoy the wine, and it's what amplifies it for you, I think it's our responsibility as people who want to democratize wine to say,"That's not, not only okay, we encourage that.
• 15:02
  Speaker 16: We want you to do and feel comfortable doing what is delicious for you." I'm gonna t- I'm gonna tell you one step further.
• 15:03
  Speaker 16: If my mother-in-law's in my house,
• 15:05
  Speaker 38: she wants- You can
• 15:06
  Speaker 36: stop at mother-in-law.
• 15:07
  Speaker 38: And she wants to ho- and
• 15:08
  Speaker 16: she wants to drop a couple of ice cubes in her wine, Go ahead.
• 15:12
  Speaker 16: It may affect the type of wine I serve you in the future.
• 15:15
  Speaker 16: Yeah.
• 15:15
  Speaker 16: But go ahead.
• 15:16
  Speaker 16: I don't ca- You know, it's your wine.
• 15:17
  Speaker 16: You're gonna drink that glass of wine.
• 15:19
  Speaker 26: is not like food.
• 15:19
  Speaker 26: I remember, Mark, years ago when we, we had an, a chef who was with us for a very short time, one of our shortest tenure chefs.
• 15:26
  Speaker 26: And I had left the floor for the evening, and all the entrees were out, and desserts were starting to go out, And, uh, the waiter came down, because they know our philosophies, you know, give people what they want.
• 15:34
  Speaker 26: And this is 25 years ago, and they said,"Um, so table 12 asked for chocolate ice cream with the chocolate cake instead of vanilla ice cream with the chocolate cake." I'm like,
• 15:47
  Speaker 37: "Okay.
• 15:48
  Speaker 26: We have chocolate ice cream?""Yeah.""Okay, what's the problem?""Uh, chef said he won't do it." And when I put my head back on my shoulders- I walked up and I said,"What are you doing?" I said,"Listen, if they want it in a blender with carrots, that's what we're gonna do for them.
• 16:03
  Speaker 26: It's their chocolate cake," what are you doing?
• 16:06
  Speaker 26: Right.
• 16:06
  Speaker 26: You know?
• 16:06
  Speaker 26: But it's the
• 16:07
  Speaker 37: with wine.
• 16:07
  Speaker 37: Same with wine.
• 16:08
  Speaker 38: Yeah,
• 16:09
  Speaker 26: So how did you become, such a phenom so quickly?
• 16:12
  Speaker 26: I mean, a lot of people out there trying to, get people's ears and eyes in the wine and the food field, um, when they are not listening to The Restaurant Guys, they sometimes listen to other
• 16:22
  Speaker 17: success that
• 16:24
  Speaker 26: did you, uh, how did you rise so quickly?
• 16:25
  Speaker 26: So how, how did your star rise so quickly?
• 16:27
  Speaker 36: The o- the overnight success that was 10 years in the making?
• 16:30
  Speaker 36: No, no,
• 16:30
  Speaker 37: yeah.
• 16:30
  Speaker 37: It
• 16:30
  Speaker 16: We understand,
• 16:31
  Speaker 38: that.
• 16:32
  Speaker 38: We understand,
• 16:32
  Speaker 16: We opened our restaurants 34 years ago.
• 16:34
  Speaker 16: We
• 16:34
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker 26: We opened our restaurants 34 years ago.
• 16:34
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 16:35
  Speaker 26: So what,
• 16:35
  Speaker 36: no.
• 16:35
  Speaker 36: So
• 16:35
  Speaker 37: how did
• 16:35
  Speaker 26: yourself apart.
• 16:36
  Speaker 26: So how, how- Yeah how did that happen?
• 16:37
  Speaker 36: Well, I, I started early.
• 16:39
  Speaker 36: And I will tell you, my first f- few years making content were not always the sunniest.
• 16:45
  Speaker 36: I think when I started making content, it was around 2015, 2016, in the very nascent stages of Instagram.
• 16:52
  Speaker 36: It was before Instagram even had video capabilities.
• 16:54
  Speaker 36: It was before- Wow TikTok was a thing.
• 16:57
  Speaker 36: And I started making YouTube videos and posting some of the things that we were serving at Press because I thought it was really interesting and there was stories to tell behind some of these bottles.
• 17:05
  Speaker 38: I'm
• 17:05
  Speaker 16: There were stories to tell behind each of these bottles I'm sorry, we just need to say Press is one of the great restaurants in Napa Valley and has maybe one of the best Napa wine lists in the world.
• 17:13
  Speaker 36: the best, but yes.
• 17:14
  Speaker 26: yes.
• 17:14
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 17:14
  Speaker 26: Well, it is the most extensive.
• 17:15
  Speaker 26: I mean, it's, it's- Yeah the largest Napa collection of wines, right?
• 17:18
  Speaker 30: Yeah.
• 17:18
  Speaker 30: It, it-
• 17:19
  Speaker 36: It, it, it was at the time and I, I believe still is the largest, deepest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world.
• 17:24
  Speaker 36: It was developed by Kelly White and Scott Brenner at the request of the late Leslie Rudd, who was a great wine collector and wine lover.
• 17:32
  Speaker 36: And it was a beautiful, wonderful list to work with.
• 17:35
  Speaker 36: And coming from New York, where at the time Napa Valley wine wasn't, uh, it wasn't looked at in the same way that maybe it is today by New Yorkers.
• 17:45
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 17:45
  Speaker 36: Yep.
• 17:46
  Speaker 36: And when I went to Napa Valley, it was very much like, oh, you're not gonna serve or drink Burgundy or Bordeaux or Italian wines.
• 17:52
  Speaker 36: You're only gonna be working with Napa.
• 17:54
  Speaker 36: And at the time I thought it might be a little bit limiting.
• 17:57
  Speaker 36: And then getting there and exploring that list, it was incredibly clear that it was not only not boring, it was some of the most incredible history- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm of wine really encapsulated by this list.
• 18:09
  Speaker 36: And so every night we were opening wines from the'50s,'60s,'70s from the greatest producers in perfect conditions because a lot of these came from the cellars themselves directly.
• 18:19
  Speaker 36: Just a
• 18:19
  Speaker 38: small interjection.
• 18:20
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 18:21
  Speaker 16: So many things that are wrong with wineless in America for me are we are always forced to drink wines too young.
• 18:28
  Speaker 16: Yes.
• 18:28
  Speaker 36: Yes.
• 18:29
  Speaker 16: uh, especially American wines, we're always forced to drink them too young.
• 18:31
  Speaker 16: I'm sorry to interrupt
• 18:32
  Speaker 36: Not at all.
• 18:33
  Speaker 36: No, it's, I think it's absolutely true and, and I think it's what made it such an honor and a privilege to work with that list because as sommeliers that is, that's the dream, right?
• 18:41
  Speaker 36: Mm-hmm.
• 18:41
  Speaker 36: To, to look at how, you know, what age can do to some of these wines.
• 18:45
  Speaker 36: So I started posting some of these wines and their respective stories on Instagram, and then I also decided to start going around to wineries and filming some of the, you know, what it was like to visit these places.
• 18:57
  Speaker 36: A lot of it, a lot of the impetus for that was because I was on the floor and I was brand new to Napa Valley and people were asking me night after night,"Where should we go visit?" Right.
• 19:05
  Speaker 36: Sure.
• 19:05
  Speaker 36: You know,"What are the great producers?" And so I decided that I was gonna take what I knew from my film and TV and theater background, and what I was learning with my wine journey, and I was gonna film all that and start putting it out on YouTube.
• 19:16
  Speaker 36: And I will say the early stages were, um, less receptive than they are now.
• 19:22
  Speaker 38: Uh-huh.
• 19:22
  Speaker 36: Um, and it was not the easiest few years but, uh, I stuck with it.
• 19:27
  Speaker 36: I st- I, I went to a different winery every single day for a month straight.
• 19:31
  Speaker 36: Jeez.
• 19:32
  Speaker 36: Um, I filmed in the morning, uh, at a winery.
• 19:35
  Speaker 36: I'd go home.
• 19:35
  Speaker 36: I would upload the content, and I would start to edit it.
• 19:39
  Speaker 36: I'd go to work at night.
• 19:40
  Speaker 36: I'd come home and I'd finish the edit, upload, and continue.
• 19:43
  Speaker 16: Yeah, I think the part that you left out of the beginning of that story was,"And I had a full-time restaurant
• 19:48
  Speaker 36: And I had a full-time restaurant job.
• 19:49
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 19:49
  Speaker 36: Yes, yes.
• 19:50
  Speaker 36: Wow.
• 19:50
  Speaker 36: I was really committed and I, I learned very quickly.
• 19:52
  Speaker 36: I think, you know, I'm someone who learns by doing.
• 19:54
  Speaker 36: but I just loved it, and the reception, you know, it was good but, you know, it's, it takes time to build an audience and it takes time to build trust.
• 20:02
  Speaker 36: And so year after year I would continue to iterate and figure out what people were enjoying, what they wanted more of or less of.
• 20:09
  Speaker 36: And so, as Instagram continued to grow, so did I.
• 20:11
  Speaker 36: And then in, in 2020 I had, moved up.
• 20:14
  Speaker 36: Kelly and Scott had left the restaurant.
• 20:15
  Speaker 36: I took over as wine director.
• 20:17
  Speaker 36: And after about a year and a half, two years, I realized that the content creation was really in a place where I wanted to take it full time.
• 20:24
  Speaker 36: And so I took it full time February 28th of 2020.
• 20:28
  Speaker 38: Wow.
• 20:28
  Speaker 16: Nice
• 20:29
  Speaker 38: Wow, that's great.
• 20:30
  Speaker 36: So I gave my notice that day, and of course, we all kind of know what happens after that.
• 20:35
  Speaker 16: in the re- you were not going to be working in the restaurant three or four weeks
• 20:38
  Speaker 36: were you?
• 20:38
  Speaker 36: I was not, no.
• 20:39
  Speaker 36: as I say, I kinda stuck the landing on that one.
• 20:41
  Speaker 36: That's
• 20:41
  Speaker 38: You did.
• 20:42
  Speaker 36: Man, that's
• 20:42
  Speaker 38: amazing.
• 20:43
  Speaker 36: Um, yeah.
• 20:43
  Speaker 36: So I, I went full-time in 2020, and I've been full-time ever since.
• 20:47
  Speaker 36: And so, I guess to answer your question in a very long-winded way, how did I become an overnight success, I just kept getting up and doing it- Yeah for 10 straight years now.
• 20:56
  Speaker 26: So I, I just wanna ask you one question about your brand, your videos, we see you on with all sorts of interesting people who aren't necessarily in the wine business.
• 21:05
  Speaker 26: We just saw you recently- Oh, yeah we- Brian Callen is a friend of ours, we met him when he was playing comedy gigs in our city, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
• 21:12
  Speaker 26: Dined with us a few times, and then we were on his show, Best Of, where he,
• 21:16
  Speaker 17: he-
• 21:16
  Speaker 26: he, he talked about the restaurant, And then, when we relaunched The Restaurant Guys two years ago, Brian Callen was kind enough to come on one of our shows to help us launch, and then we see him recently on your show.
• 21:28
  Speaker 26: How did that happen?
• 21:29
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 21:29
  Speaker 36: he was on the show a few years ago.
• 21:30
  Speaker 36: I, we had Steve Byrne on the podcast, who's a fellow comedian and a friend of his.
• 21:36
  Speaker 36: And Steve said,"You should meet my friend Brian.
• 21:39
  Speaker 36: He's really into wine." He is.
• 21:40
  Speaker 36: And, um, yeah, it took us a little while to make it all happen, but yeah, we, we brought him on the show.
• 21:45
  Speaker 36: I guess it was probably back, we're in 2026, so probably back in 2023, somewhere in there.
• 21:49
  Speaker 36: And yeah, he was a hoot.
• 21:51
  Speaker 26: as you see all these different people on your podcast, how do you decide who's, who's coming on your show that you're gonna sit and talk to?
• 21:58
  Speaker 36: Well, I think there is some luck involved, for sure.
• 22:01
  Speaker 36: Uh, but you know, the wine industry is very small in a lot of ways, and I think sometimes it can be a backdoor, right?
• 22:07
  Speaker 36: Right.
• 22:08
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 22:08
  Speaker 36: I think the wine, uh, the wine world is a place that still intimidates a lot of people and in some ways sort of levels the playing field.
• 22:16
  Speaker 36: I think one of the things that I saw a lot at Press was we saw celebrities every single night.
• 22:20
  Speaker 36: Right.
• 22:20
  Speaker 36: And the one thing that we saw consistently was they were just like any other guest when it came to wine.
• 23:52
  Speaker 36: Mm.
• 23:52
  Speaker 36: They were just as, like-
• 23:53
  Speaker 26: is a great equalizer, isn't it?
• 23:55
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 23:55
  Speaker 26: 'Cause you can both be like,"That's fricking delicious." Mm-hmm.
• 23:57
  Speaker 26: Amanda, this has been great.
• 23:59
  Speaker 26: much better to have you on the podcast than to just sit in front of you on an airplane.
• 24:03
  Speaker 26: Oh.
• 24:03
  Speaker 26: and you're a Philly girl, so we should run into each other again.
• 24:05
  Speaker 26: We're not that far away.
• 24:06
  Speaker 36: true.
• 24:07
  Speaker 36: So that's gonna happen, yeah.
• 24:07
  Speaker 36: That's true.
• 24:07
  Speaker 36: Yeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker 36: That's good.
• 24:08
  Speaker 36: Philly born and raised.
• 24:09
  Speaker 36: Happy to be back there.
• 24:09
  Speaker 36: Go Birds.
• 24:10
  Speaker 26: Yeah.
• 24:12
  Speaker 26: Well, thanks again.
• 24:12
  Speaker 26: Uh, we'll be back in just a moment.
• 24:14
  Speaker 26: You can find out more about the Restaurant Guys at restaurantguyspodcast.com.
• 24:18
  MIC3: Okay, so here we are in the main festival concourse.
• 24:21
  MIC3: It's going on all around us, we've pulled a really special guest today to hang out and talk to us for our next, contestant here on The Restaurant Guys is Right.
• 24:30
  MIC3: Um, few people have done more to elevate hospitality in America than Bobby Stuckey.
• 24:34
  MIC3: Master sommelier, co-founder of Frasca Hospitality Group, champion of Colorado dining, and one of the sharpest thinkers in the business, Bobby has spent decades proving that world-class hospitality doesn't have to happen only in New York and London and San Francisco.
• 24:49
  MIC3: It can happen anywhere people care deeply enough to get it right, places like Boulder, Colorado, or New Brunswick, New Jersey, and we couldn't be happier to have you on the show with us today.
• 24:58
  MIC1: Bobby Stuckey, welcome to the show
• 25:00
  MIC2: you.
• 25:00
  MIC2: Thank you,
• 25:00
  MIC1: ...so much.
• 25:00
  MIC1: Thank you.
• 25:00
  MIC1: Thank you.
• 25:00
  MIC1: So glad to have you here
• 25:01
  MIC2: for having me.
• 25:02
  MIC3: show.
• 25:02
  MIC3: Thank you.
• 25:02
  MIC3: Thank you, guys.
• 25:02
  MIC3: So glad to have you here.
• 25:03
  MIC3: Thanks for having me.
• 25:03
  MIC3: So you are a wine guy who then went on to open restaurants and, and have entered from that angle.
• 25:09
  MIC3: we started our place in'92.
• 25:11
  MIC3: We're not chefs.
• 25:12
  MIC3: We entered from the be- beverage angle as well.
• 25:14
  MIC3: I'm a wine guy.
• 25:15
  MIC3: Mark and I are both bartenders.
• 25:16
  MIC3: Mark's a beer guy, and we're both spirits guys.
• 25:19
  MIC3: that's a really interesting way to enter the business, and you don't really see that anymore.
• 25:24
  MIC2: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 25:25
  MIC2: I think our generation, if you think about it, yes, technically, if you look at the, my resume, it says master sommelier, wine director at Little Nell, The French Laundry, but I started in 1983 tables.
• 25:41
  MIC1: Yeah, of course
• 25:41
  MIC2: funny, I was bussing tables, uh, Wednesday
• 25:45
  MIC3: night.
• 25:45
  MIC3: Yeah.
• 25:46
  MIC2: Um, so a lot has changed, but a lot hasn't.
• 25:49
  MIC2: But, but what, what's interesting is I'm from that generation is I didn't get to become a wine guy until after I was a bus person, waiter's assistant, a server, a captain- Helped out in management.
• 26:05
  MIC2: And even when I was at the Little Nell, one of my last years there, we lost our GM, and I got put in charge of the room for the rest of that year.
• 26:15
  MIC2: Um, so those skill sets I was doing I, like, opened my first key of my own restaurant.
• 26:22
  MIC2: And I think That's helped me a lot.
• 26:25
  MIC3: be front of house based." Mm-hmm.
• 26:31
  MIC3: I...
• 26:31
  MIC3: You know,
• 26:31
  MIC2: 100%.
• 26:32
  MIC2: And it's funny that you say that.
• 26:34
  MIC2: I'll have young chefs go,"Well, this restaurant is run by the front of the house." I said,"No, we're a
• 26:42
  MIC1: We hear that too
• 26:44
  MIC2: I just happen to be front of the house based.
• 26:47
  MIC1: Mm-hmm.
• 26:47
  MIC2: Mm-hmm.
• 26:47
  MIC2: I...
• 26:48
  MIC2: You know, it's funny, I never thought when I worked for Thomas Keller there was a back of the house restaurant.
• 26:54
  MIC2: I thought it was Thomas Keller's
• 26:55
  MIC3: Keller's restaurant.
• 26:55
  MIC3: Right.
• 26:55
  MIC3: Exactly.
• 26:56
  MIC1: Absolutely.
• 26:57
  MIC1: Uh, so I wanna just tell you a funny story.
• 26:59
  MIC1: So one of the things we do before we go to a city is we put something out that says,"Hey, we're gonna be in Aspen for the next few days," and we put it out and ask people to comment on where we should go.
• 27:10
  MIC1: And so the first comment that popped up from somebody else in the industry is,"You should go to Frasca." And I was like,"You, you know Aspen is four hours from Boulder, right?
• 27:19
  MIC1: You know, it's, we're, we're probably not going to Frasca on this trip, sorry to say." But,
• 27:24
  MIC2: love-
• 27:24
  MIC1: thought that was a pretty good compliment.
• 27:26
  MIC1: I thought that was a pretty good compliment to, uh-
• 27:28
  MIC2: pretty good compliment to, uh- It warms my heart.
• 27:29
  MIC2: That'd be like if you
• 27:29
  MIC1: Delaware.
• 27:30
  MIC1: I
• 27:30
  MIC2: to New York
• 27:30
  MIC1: love
• 27:30
  MIC2: and someone said,"Uh, no, you should go to-"
• 27:33
  MIC1: that
• 27:33
  MIC2: this re- yeah, this restaurant in Delaware." I love that.
• 27:36
  MIC3: We're probably going to Frasca on this trip, sorry to say." But I love- But, uh, I thought that was a pretty good compliment I love that someone said that.
• 27:39
  MIC3: That made, that warms my heart I thought that was a pretty good compliment to, uh- It warms my heart.
• 27:39
  MIC3: That'd be like if you were going to New York City and someone said, uh,"No, you should go to- Delaware this re- Yeah, this restaurant in Delaware.
• 27:40
  MIC3: I love that.
• 27:40
  MIC3: I love that.
• 27:40
  MIC3: I'll tell the team.
• 27:40
  MIC3: You know, it's funny because, uh, so this podcast started a long time ago, and a long time ago we had listeners around the world, which was great, but it, we had to, like, take a break and we started it again.
• 27:48
  MIC3: And of our, we've met a bunch of friends who are regular customers who came from Chicago, some people have come from Australia, and they're going to New York, but we get them to come to New Brunswick, New Jersey, or they come to see us as part of that trip,'cause we're a lot closer to New York City than we are to Boulder right here at Aspen Food Wine.
• 28:06
  MIC3: But I think one of the things that we've l- long admired you for is when we went to open the restaurant we wanted to open, when we opened our first restaurant in 1992, our friends were like, New Jersey?
• 28:19
  MIC3: In the
• 28:19
  MIC1: You're gonna open in New Brunswick, New Jersey, what are you thinking?
• 28:23
  MIC1: The- nobody'll ever go to a nice restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey
• 28:25
  MIC3: and you did the same thing in Boulder.
• 28:27
  MIC3: Talk to us about what, uh, why you opened there and you stayed there.
• 28:31
  MIC3: You've branched out of course, but you've, you've kept your base there in Boulder and, and did you have to build a whole community around your restaurant?
• 28:39
  MIC2: Well, it was interesting.
• 28:41
  MIC2: I was leaving the French Laundry.
• 28:43
  MIC2: I was wor- I, I don't think I ever thought I'd be an entrepreneur.
• 28:47
  MIC2: I loved working for Thomas Keller.
• 28:49
  MIC2: But my wife's mom passed away, and her father was living in Golden, and we picked Boulder.
• 28:56
  MIC2: Lachlan, my business partner, my wife Danette and I, hilariously, we th- we picked Boulder because it was the, um- perfect distance for my father-in-law, for me to be a great son-in-law, my, but he still had to call before he
• 29:12
  MIC3: came over.
• 29:13
  MIC3: That's how we chose Boulder.
• 29:15
  MIC2: and when we opened there, I remember going there and, and my former boss and mentor, just amazing person, Thomas Keller, is like,"Bobby, I'm worried about you." I'm like,"People don't take reservations there.
• 29:29
  MIC2: It's a beer..." It's like- Mm-hmm a beer town, not a wine town.
• 29:33
  MIC2: And he goes,"You're opening a restaurant based on Friuli, Venezia Giulia?
• 29:38
  MIC2: This is kinda stressing me out." And I love that he cared that much, uh, but that's what we had to do, and it's worked out, and I feel really lucky.
• 29:47
  MIC3: But what made you think that it would work?
• 29:50
  MIC3: I mean, you, you...
• 29:51
  MIC3: Like, a lot of people are like,"Well, I'd like to live there and I'd like to open a restaurant there." That doesn't mean there are gonna be the people
• 29:56
  MIC1: A- and also, just so you know, opening a restaurant means you're probably gonna be a crappy son-in-law, okay?
• 30:02
  MIC1: 'Cause you're not gonna be around very much
• 30:04
  MIC2: but we...
• 30:04
  MIC2: You know, originally, we were closed on Sundays, so- Mm-hmm,
• 30:07
  MIC3: I
• 30:07
  MIC2: could see him.
• 30:08
  MIC2: Um, and I have a restaurant named after two of them.
• 30:11
  MIC1: Nice
• 30:12
  MIC2: Yeah, uh, his last name was Alberico, my wife's maiden name, so we have Pizzeria Alberico and Osteria Alberico.
• 30:17
  MIC3: Love it.
• 30:18
  MIC2: but I was a little bit of a tough son-in-law, because when we did Pizzeria Alberico, I did ma- He was a Italian-American, sign painter.
• 30:26
  MIC1: Mm-hmm.
• 30:26
  MIC2: Mm-hmm.
• 30:26
  MIC2: And he, his last sign he painted, because he was, uh, dealing with, uh, stage four cancer, was writing his own name on our pizza great.
• 30:37
  MIC3: And
• 30:38
  MIC2: are like,"Bobby, what are you doing with your 83-year-old father-in-law, making him work?" I'm like,"Look in our family." Yeah.
• 30:45
  MIC2: "No one gets a restaurant named after them for
• 30:47
  MIC1: There's a restaurant named after him for free.
• 30:47
  MIC1: That's right
• 30:47
  MIC2: right.
• 30:48
  MIC2: You're like,"Get to work, Ricardo." you know, when we moved to Boulder, it was different.
• 30:52
  MIC2: It was a you're 100% right.
• 30:55
  MIC2: But, we just went for...
• 30:56
  MIC2: I, I think also we were younger, and we...
• 30:58
  MIC2: I probably wouldn't have the same risk-taking as I did then.
• 31:03
  MIC2: Well- But it's worked out.
• 31:04
  MIC2: But one thing that helped us is Boulder is such an highly inquisitive
• 31:11
  MIC1: That's great.
• 31:12
  MIC1: You h- you...
• 31:12
  MIC2: was it.
• 31:13
  MIC1: Having people that wanna learn the things that you know i- is such a boon to, to your business.
• 31:19
  MIC1: But, getting yourself out there, putting yourself out there, taking those risks.
• 31:25
  MIC1: So people talk about the first restaurant being the risk.
• 31:27
  MIC1: That's not the risk.
• 31:28
  MIC1: The risks come later- Yeah as you actually have things to lose.
• 31:32
  MIC2: 100%.
• 31:33
  MIC2: I think on...
• 31:33
  MIC2: Another thing on this podcast we should discuss is journalism has it all wrong.
• 31:39
  MIC2: Journalism and the romance of one restaurant forever without doing other restaurants.
• 31:45
  MIC2: Mm.
• 31:45
  MIC2: It's almost like a restaurateur gets dismissed.
• 31:49
  MIC2: And quite frankly, that's bad hospitality.
• 31:52
  MIC2: Mm-hmm.
• 31:52
  MIC2: Because if you're gonna have team members that you want to be with you for a long time, you have to grow to give them growth.
• 32:00
  MIC1: Absolutely
• 32:01
  MIC2: have to take risks.
• 32:02
  MIC2: You have to be uncomfortable so Carr, who was on my panel today, can be the beverage director for our whole company, not just-
• 32:11
  MIC1: Mm-hmm.
• 32:11
  MIC2: in one restaurant.
• 32:13
  MIC2: to do that, you have to take risks and grow so your team can grow.
• 32:17
  MIC3: When you go to open multiple restaurants, every restaurant's its own story, every restaurant's in its own community, To what extent are you telling the same story in each restaurant, the story of your hospitality in each restaurant?
• 32:28
  MIC3: And to what extent is each restaurant a, an individual incarnation telling a different story,
• 32:33
  MIC2: All of our restaurants tell their own story, maybe about their space, about what they're, talking about with the part of Italy that they're into.
• 32:43
  MIC2: But the ethos of how I, the expectation of my leadership team in using hospitality to leave our, lead our teams and to meet our guests, it should be the same.
• 32:58
  MIC2: It's really hard to do that.
• 33:00
  MIC2: But to get everyone to understand the ethos of hospitality, and to lead with hospitality, that should be the same goal in every restaurant.
• 33:09
  MIC3: hard to do that, but to get everyone to understand the ethos of hospitality and to lead with hospitality, that should be the same goal in every restaurant.
• 33:10
  MIC3: How do you get people to do that?
• 33:10
  MIC3: Constant
• 33:12
  MIC2: Constant, gentle pressure.
• 33:14
  MIC2: You have to
• 33:16
  MIC1: Expectation, I think is what you're talking about.
• 33:18
  MIC1: So you set expectations and, people are more apt to meet those expectations if they know what they are
• 33:24
  MIC2: Danny Meyers says something really salient.
• 33:26
  MIC2: You have to take the salt shaker and move it back into the middle of the room.
• 33:30
  MIC1: Always
• 33:30
  MIC3: Hey, it's T.
• 33:32
  MIC1: T- Martin's out there.
• 33:33
  MIC1: H- hello, T.
• 33:34
  MIC1: Hello.
• 33:34
  MIC1: How are you?
• 33:35
  MIC3: li- a little Rough Tumble New Orleans
• 33:36
  MIC1: A
• 33:39
  MIC3: a fan of all three.
• 33:40
  MIC3: Aw, right back at you, T.
• 33:40
  MIC3: T., I love
• 33:41
  MIC2: fan of all three.
• 33:41
  MIC2: Aw, right back at you, T.
• 33:41
  MIC2: T, you're the best.
• 33:42
  MIC2: I love you.
• 33:43
  MIC2: Awesome.
• 33:43
  MIC1: We'll see you later
• 33:44
  MIC3: You never know who you're gonna run into at the Aspen
• 33:47
  MIC1: the beauty
• 33:48
  MIC2: Guys,
• 33:48
  MIC3: awesome?
• 33:48
  MIC2: those of you who are not right here, T Martin, legend- Legend
• 33:53
  MIC1: Legend.
• 33:54
  MIC1: Owner of Commander's Palace and, and literal New Orleans legend, which has led her to be national legend
• 33:59
  MIC3: wouldn't mess with her.
• 34:00
  MIC1: I wouldn't mess with her.
• 34:00
  MIC2: No.
• 34:03
  MIC3: No.
• 34:03
  MIC3: Um, yeah, but you, you were talking about how each place expressed its own hospitality.
• 34:07
  MIC3: It's gentle pressure all the time.
• 34:09
  MIC3: Um, we all know that, and I think a common theme throughout The Restaurant Guys, when we talk to operators.
• 34:14
  MIC3: Osperators?
• 34:14
  MIC3: is, you know, culture trumps policy seven days a week.
• 34:18
  MIC3: We all know that, right?
• 34:19
  MIC2: Yes.
• 34:19
  MIC3: but How do you keep that culture consistent, especially when you have multiple units and multiple places to operate?
• 34:26
  MIC3: How do you make sure everybody's on the same page?
• 34:28
  MIC3: There's key employees, there are policy tricks.
• 34:30
  MIC3: What do you do?
• 34:32
  MIC2: Well, I think culture is very, very...
• 34:33
  MIC2: You said it.
• 34:34
  MIC2: It trumps policy.
• 34:36
  MIC2: if the teams don't understand the policies- things break down.
• 34:42
  MIC2: restaurant industry is not a prodigy industry.
• 34:47
  MIC2: can be a prodigy at mathematics, chess, like that kid, he's seven years old, just-
• 34:52
  MIC1: Chef like that could be seven years old just- Mm-hmm
• 34:53
  MIC2: just beat the world grandmaster at chess.
• 34:55
  MIC2: He's seven years old.
• 34:56
  MIC2: He has not put in 10,000 hours.
• 34:58
  MIC1: Right
• 35:00
  MIC2: Yo-Yo Ma picked up a, a cello at four, played at the White House at six.
• 35:05
  MIC2: Incredible work ethic, but also a prodigy.
• 35:09
  MIC2: In restaurants, we aren't prodigies, so let's quit pretending we
• 35:13
  MIC3: The genius of hard work- Yes is that we have.
• 35:15
  MIC3: And so as much as you
• 35:15
  MIC2: so as much as you have to have the culture, you also have to have the SOPs, or the standards, or the policies to get these great young hospitality people to learn the path.
• 35:28
  MIC2: because we can't have them figure it out with 300 tough Friday
• 35:35
  MIC1: Right
• 35:36
  MIC2: We have to take our thousands of tough Friday nights and g- and help a new hospitality, hospitalian figure that out.
• 35:45
  MIC1: And I'm not sure why Friday's the toughest night, but for some reason, Friday is the toughest night
• 35:50
  MIC2: you why it is.
• 35:52
  MIC2: is, uh, we call it, uh, Friday fight night.
• 35:56
  MIC2: Same amount of volume as Saturday.
• 35:59
  MIC2: Mm.
• 35:59
  MIC2: but they're at home on Saturdays.
• 36:01
  MIC1: Mm-hmm.
• 36:01
  MIC2: Mm.
• 36:01
  MIC2: That first turn is easier on Saturdays.
• 36:05
  MIC2: Friday nights, people are coming and going from work, they're more stressed.
• 36:10
  MIC2: Yep.
• 36:10
  MIC2: It adds a friction.
• 36:12
  MIC1: I try, I try and explain it to my staff when I talk about Fridays and how they're gonna operate, is realize that that guy who is gonna come to us for an early dinner, then he's gonna go to the theater, has been thinking about from the time he got up today,"I need to get out of work a half hour early today because I gotta get home, I gotta take a shower, my wife's gotta get home.
• 36:33
  MIC1: She's gotta take a shower.
• 36:34
  MIC1: We gotta connect.
• 36:35
  MIC1: We gotta get to the restaurant, and that's all gotta happen in a half hour early." And so at his 10:30 meeting, he's thinking,"We gotta end this meeting soon because I gotta be a half hour ahead," and that's the, substance of his whole day.
• 36:48
  MIC1: So when he walks into your restaurant, he's been pushing to save that half hour all day long, and now you've gotta say, You're in our hands now.
• 36:59
  MIC1: You can relax.
• 37:01
  MIC1: We've got this," and let him decompress and, and give him a place where he can decompress, but that doesn't happen instantaneously.
• 37:09
  MIC2: No.
• 37:10
  MIC2: You need to be able to give that person a bear hug of hospitality,'cause they've gone through war to get to your restaurant.
• 37:16
  MIC2: Yep.
• 37:16
  MIC3: so I wanna turn the conversation,'cause I know we don't have a lot of time left, but, uh, you're a wine guy, and I wanna ask, happening in wine today?
• 37:25
  MIC3: What's happening in wine in your restaurants today?
• 37:27
  MIC3: We know there's a contraction in wine, fewer people are drinking.
• 37:30
  MIC3: It's kinda harder to keep that up.
• 37:32
  MIC3: What are you seeing in the wine world?
• 37:34
  MIC2: you know, I'm not as Debbie Downer as everyone's saying.
• 37:36
  MIC2: I think, uh, our group, people are, are drinking beverages.
• 37:41
  MIC2: I think We got so addicted to the volumes of consumption during COVID.
• 37:47
  MIC2: But if I think about, I worked at the Little Nell right across the way here 31 years ago in 1995.
• 37:54
  MIC2: was a young guy.
• 37:55
  MIC2: My friends that I grew up with, they didn't drink wine like I
• 37:59
  MIC3: 1995.
• 37:59
  MIC3: I was a young guy.
• 37:59
  MIC3: My friends that I grew up with, they didn't drink wine like I did.
• 37:59
  MIC3: Yep.
• 38:00
  MIC2: in the profession.
• 38:02
  MIC2: of my friend...
• 38:02
  MIC2: They were drinking Zima.
• 38:03
  MIC2: Yeah.
• 38:04
  MIC3: was in the profession.
• 38:04
  MIC3: None of my friend- they
• 38:04
  MIC1: Yep.
• 38:04
  MIC3: Yeah.
• 38:05
  MIC3: Zima,
• 38:05
  MIC1: You were absolutely right
• 38:06
  MIC2: Light we weren't, we were not having a chaos of young people aren't drinking wine.
• 38:13
  MIC2: No, they weren't yet.
• 38:14
  MIC2: We got lucky that we had a moment, a blip, around COVID that people were all drinking.
• 38:21
  MIC2: Mm-hmm.
• 38:21
  MIC2: But we're just back to basics.
• 38:23
  MIC2: Yep.
• 38:24
  MIC2: People gotta play Little League, put the ball in the glove, throw to first base.
• 38:28
  MIC2: It's gonna be
• 38:28
  MIC3: okay.
• 38:29
  MIC3: All right, man.
• 38:29
  MIC1: Bobby, thank you so much for joining us here in Aspen at the Food Wine Classic.
• 38:33
  MIC1: It's been a treat getting to meet you.
• 38:35
  MIC1: You are a legend.
• 38:36
  MIC1: We appreciate you so much.
• 38:38
  MIC3: Thanks for taking the time, man.
• 38:39
  MIC3: You guys Thanks, brother.
• 38:42
  Speaker 50: next guest is a little-known guy trying to break into the business.
• 38:45
  Speaker 50: His name is Andrew Zimmern.
• 38:47
  Speaker 50: Uh, he is a chef, writer, TV host, educator, and raconteur whose stories happen to involve some of the best meals on Earth, and some of the most unlikely meals on Earth.
• 38:57
  Speaker 50: Along the way, he's eaten just about everything, met everyone, and somehow he remains endlessly curious, and that is to all of our benefit.
• 39:04
  Speaker 50: He was our guest in one of our live shows at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
• 39:09
  Speaker 50: I heard somewhere he considers that the pinnacle of his career thus far.
• 39:12
  Speaker 50: Correct.
• 39:12
  Speaker 50: Um, his
• 39:13
  Speaker 41: Uh, you heard me say it, I think,
• 39:15
  Speaker 50: that's where I heard it, for sure.
• 39:17
  Speaker 50: His new show is Pitmasters, and we are thrilled to catch up in the mountains of Aspen at the Food Wine Classic.
• 39:23
  Speaker 41: Andrew, welcome to the show
• 39:24
  Speaker 58: is Pitmasters, and we are thrilled to catch up in the mountains of Aspen at the Food Wine Classic.
• 39:25
  Speaker 58: Andrew, welcome to the show.
• 39:25
  Speaker 58: Great to be here.
• 39:25
  Speaker 41: to have you
• 39:26
  Speaker 58: I'd forgotten, you know, you make a TV show, and then you come here, you know, and I'm doing this work here, and I'm focused on this, and I'm thinking about my demos, and this, and that, and other stuff that I have to do.
• 39:39
  Speaker 58: Pitmasters, which is a new competition show on Food Network, I swore I would never do a competition this is your
• 39:46
  Speaker 41: first, right?
• 39:47
  Speaker 41: This is your first
• 39:47
  Speaker 58: done one...competition show?
• 39:48
  Speaker 58: Never done one.
• 39:49
  Speaker 58: And, uh, and I'm a host, and the head judge- And you were a guest judge, obviously...or whatever.
• 39:53
  Speaker 58: Yes, yeah.
• 39:55
  Speaker 58: And I, I enjoy guesting on my friends' shows, but I really, you know, there's so many competition shows, and I like to do things where I'm an only- Yeah.
• 40:05
  Speaker 58: Not where I'm one of many.
• 40:08
  Speaker 58: And, uh, a buddy of mine, um, Dan Cutforth and his partners who own a production company, he started Magical Elves- Oh, yeah...and started Top Chef-
• 40:21
  Speaker 41: Yeah,
• 40:21
  Speaker 58: Runway, and all this, I mean, incredible stuff.
• 40:23
  Speaker 58: And I've known-
• 40:24
  Speaker 59: They were very
• 40:24
  Speaker 41: g- just so you know, they were very good to the restaurant guys in, in'05 when they started.
• 40:28
  Speaker 41: They really helped us get our
• 40:30
  Speaker 58: So I respect him immensely.
• 40:32
  Speaker 58: If I'm not gonna work with my own production company, I'd wanna work with Dan and Alfred Street.
• 40:37
  Speaker 58: And w- uh, we created something incredibly new.
• 40:40
  Speaker 58: So if you've not caught- Food Network's Pitmasters, it is unbelievable.
• 40:47
  Speaker 58: The, the chef-testants come in pairs, and they have to cook for eight days straight, 24 hours a day.
• 40:54
  Speaker 58: The fire never goes out.
• 40:56
  Speaker 58: Wow.
• 40:56
  Speaker 58: So you can pick and choose your nap times and your rest times, or your sleep times if your partner can carry the load.
• 41:03
  Speaker 58: It's very strategic.
• 41:04
  Speaker 58: It's a
• 41:04
  Speaker 41: My partner can never carry the load, just so
• 41:07
  Speaker 50: right now.
• 41:08
  Speaker 58: now.
• 41:08
  Speaker 58: I...
• 41:08
  Speaker 58: It's great.
• 41:09
  Speaker 58: It's great.
• 41:10
  Speaker 58: So thank you.
• 41:11
  Speaker 58: Yeah, Pitmasters- Well, I- is a lot of fun.
• 41:12
  Speaker 50: all right.
• 41:12
  Speaker 41: w- you know, you did Wild Game Kitchens just so you could practice, you know, what you were preaching here.
• 41:18
  Speaker 41: That, that, that was just a lead-up to this, to, to do this show
• 41:22
  Speaker 58: It was a...
• 41:23
  Speaker 58: It, it's funny that you say that.
• 41:24
  Speaker 58: I mean, Pitmasters was a l- a logical extension after Wild Game Kitchen- Mm which we just finished filming episode six and seven.
• 41:32
  Speaker 58: Season six is already underway on A&E, on...
• 41:39
  Speaker 58: it?
• 41:39
  Speaker 58: Uh, Outdoor Channel and Taste Made.
• 41:42
  Speaker 58: Um, people can go to andrewzimmern.com and find out everything they want about what's going on where.
• 41:47
  Speaker 58: But I did...
• 41:48
  Speaker 58: I, I'd been asked to do a dump and stir show by every network that does food known to man, but none of them would let me do the one I wanted.
• 41:56
  Speaker 58: And one day, I'm fishing in an ice house in Minnesota, and there's some other guys who are guests of the host across from me.
• 42:05
  Speaker 58: And they're jigging in their hole, and I'm in mine.
• 42:08
  Speaker 58: And, you know, it's just quiet in the fish house.
• 42:12
  Speaker 58: Uh-huh.
• 42:12
  Speaker 58: And he says,"Hi, I'm, I'm so and so.
• 42:15
  Speaker 58: I run blankety blank for Outdoor Channel.
• 42:18
  Speaker 58: Would you ever consider doing a cooking show for Outdoor Channel?" And I said,"Would I be allowed to cook wild game and do it only over open fire?" And they said,"Absolutely." And I literally gave him my number- Okay wrote my agent's number on the back of it.
• 42:35
  Speaker 58: And he said,"I can't believe it was that easy." And I said,"I've been looking for someone to say that to me for 20 blanking years." Yeah.
• 42:42
  Speaker 58: And so that was it.
• 42:43
  Speaker 58: Now we're, you know, season seven, and- That's season eight will-
• 42:47
  Speaker 41: I want to tell you
• 42:48
  Speaker 58: soon
• 42:49
  Speaker 41: one of the difference between you and me.
• 42:51
  Speaker 41: I have a very good friend in Minnesota, from Minnesota, and he keeps inviting me to go ice fishing.
• 42:57
  Speaker 41: And I keep saying,"No effing way." You're telling me that that's a mistake?
• 43:02
  Speaker 41: Yes.
• 43:03
  Speaker 41: That sitting on an icy lake for two days, drinking beer and fishing out of a hole is- Yes is, is something I need to do?
• 43:11
  Speaker 58: Yes.
• 43:13
  Speaker 58: It is- Now, please tell me, tell me what the pleasure is in that you cannot have a better time.
• 43:17
  Speaker 58: Okay.
• 43:17
  Speaker 58: Because hardcore 25-year-olds-
• 43:20
  Speaker 59: Uh-huh
• 43:20
  Speaker 58: wrap layers of sleeping bags that they've tied together with bungee cords and fish a hole that they drilled themselves, and they're exposed to the elements.
• 43:31
  Speaker 58: Everyone I've ice fished with drags a custom-made ice house that's on
• 43:37
  Speaker 41: This would be a first cl- this would be a first-class experience.
• 43:40
  Speaker 41: I do know that.
• 43:40
  Speaker 58: It has ovens- couches, multiple holes.
• 43:44
  Speaker 58: If you put a number on it and you can drop a pin food will be delivered to you from DoorDash- Oh from, from Uber Eats, any of the- This is amazing stuff it is- All right we, we bring food into the ice house.
• 43:59
  Speaker 58: We cook in
• 44:00
  Speaker 41: All right, John Likness,
• 44:01
  Speaker 58: You sleep-
• 44:02
  Speaker 41: are you listening?
• 44:03
  Speaker 58: there, and it is so much fun, and you do it when there's lots of sports on TV.
• 44:08
  Speaker 58: Like, if there's ice now, World Cup would be perfect, right?
• 44:12
  Speaker 58: Um, it's great.
• 44:13
  Speaker 58: There's nothing better than ice fishing.
• 44:15
  Speaker 50: It's like glamping is to camping.
• 44:18
  Speaker 49: Yes.
• 44:18
  Speaker 50: All right.
• 44:18
  Speaker 50: Fair enough.
• 44:19
  Speaker 50: Yes.
• 44:19
  Speaker 50: I would do that.
• 44:19
  Speaker 50: Yes.
• 44:19
  Speaker 50: I would do that.
• 44:20
  Speaker 50: All right.
• 44:20
  Speaker 50: Now I wanna ask you-
• 44:21
  Speaker 41: me a first-class experience.
• 44:23
  Speaker 41: I just want you to know I didn't believe him.
• 44:25
  Speaker 41: I didn't believe him.
• 44:26
  Speaker 50: I just want John Likness, if he's listening, to know what the definition of a first-class experience is.
• 44:31
  Speaker 50: He may have been thinking
• 44:32
  Speaker 41: about it.
• 44:32
  Speaker 50: first class.
• 44:34
  Speaker 58: how it's done.
• 44:35
  Speaker 58: Yeah, he went first class.
• 44:35
  Speaker 58: That's,
• 44:35
  Speaker 41: He's been doing it a long time.
• 44:37
  Speaker 58: trust me, he's in an ice house.
• 44:39
  Speaker 60: All
• 44:39
  Speaker 50: Trust me, he's in the nice S.
• 44:39
  Speaker 50: So all right.
• 44:39
  Speaker 50: So I wanna talk to you about barbecue specifically.
• 44:42
  Speaker 50: For sure.
• 44:43
  Speaker 50: But first I wanna ask, with a great deal of trepidation now that I've heard the, how much you are, skeptical of other people's production companies, did you enjoy your time at our, being the center of our live show in New Brunswick at the Performing Arts
• 44:54
  Speaker 60: Center?
• 44:55
  Speaker 58: Yeah, I thought it was an incredible experience.
• 44:57
  Speaker 58: I was actually talking to Bobby Flay earlier and, we were discussing how much fun I had.
• 45:03
  Speaker 58: a, a lot of times you get asked to do something and you say yes, and you...
• 45:07
  Speaker 58: Uh, I'll just be honest, it's, it's work.
• 45:10
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 45:10
  Speaker 58: Right?
• 45:10
  Speaker 58: And you have to remember it's work, and you have to make sure you're smiling and kind to everyone.
• 45:15
  Speaker 58: And the, the conversation is, the, the, the questions may be less insightful than you were hoping for, especially in a live theater.
• 45:24
  Speaker 58: I mean, there's hundreds of people- Yeah out there.
• 45:26
  Speaker 58: You, you have to deliver at a higher level of, of interest, in
• 45:32
  Speaker 41: up here, we can edit, right?
• 45:33
  Speaker 41: That's
• 45:34
  Speaker 50: live shows
• 45:34
  Speaker 58: Yeah, live shows Yes, honestly.
• 45:35
  Speaker 58: You can.
• 45:36
  Speaker 58: Um, first of all, we had great conversation.
• 45:39
  Speaker 58: We went, like, a half hour over, it was so great.
• 45:42
  Speaker 58: The questions from the audience were great.
• 45:44
  Speaker 58: The people I met at the after event were great.
• 45:47
  Speaker 58: I was treated well the entire time.
• 45:49
  Speaker 58: I thought it was fantastic.
• 45:50
  Speaker 50: so great.
• 45:50
  Speaker 50: The questions from the audience were great.
• 45:51
  Speaker 50: The people I met at the after event were great.
• 45:51
  Speaker 50: I was treated well the entire time.
• 45:51
  Speaker 50: I thought it was fantastic.
• 45:51
  Speaker 50: Here's a shout-out to New Brunswick, New Jersey, and whoof, that's a load
• 45:53
  Speaker 58: was wonderful.
• 45:54
  Speaker 58: It was wonderful.
• 45:55
  Speaker 50: glad you enjoyed that.
• 45:56
  Speaker 58: No, I'm glad, I'm glad you had me brown-nose you on,
• 45:59
  Speaker 50: me brown-nose you on,
• 46:00
  Speaker 58: out to the entire world for
• 46:02
  Speaker 50: Just so you know, Andrew Zimmern-
• 46:03
  Speaker 58: No, I get it.
• 46:04
  Speaker 50: Zimmern has not paid
• 46:05
  Speaker 41: We've been saying nice things about you for a long
• 46:07
  Speaker 58: I know.
• 46:08
  Speaker 58: The
• 46:08
  Speaker 41: a little, little bit comes back.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: a long time.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: I know.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: But the feeling is mutual, Nick.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: The feeling is mutual.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: All right.
• 46:11
  Speaker 50: So, uh, let's talk about barbecue.
• 46:14
  Speaker 50: I'm gonna tell you my first real experience with barbecue, and then I took a motorcycle down south and, and tried to explore a little more.
• 46:21
  Speaker 41: I, can I just sneak in my first real experience was the McRib, so that's,
• 46:25
  Speaker 50: that's not so, Mark's out of this part of the conversation.
• 46:28
  Speaker 50: no, no, your experience was the same as mine.
• 46:30
  Speaker 50: It was when, Danny Meyer brought in the Barbec- Big Apple Barbecue Festival, and he brought barbecue to New York for the
• 46:35
  Speaker 41: yeah.
• 46:36
  Speaker 41: What a cool event that was
• 46:37
  Speaker 60: for the first time.
• 46:37
  Speaker 60: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:38
  Speaker 60: What a cool event that was.
• 46:38
  Speaker 60: And all these great pit masters- The
• 46:38
  Speaker 50: from all around the country came up, and that's how I learned there were different regions to barbecue, different traditions.
• 46:42
  Speaker 58: And that was real barbecue, by the way.
• 46:44
  Speaker 58: That wasn't live fire cooking, which I love.
• 46:46
  Speaker 50: It wasn't live fire cooking, which I love.
• 46:46
  Speaker 50: That was a, we did a
• 46:47
  Speaker 58: a lot of live fire cooking, but barbecue is different
• 46:50
  Speaker 50: We did a Restaurant Guys show from, live from the Big Apple Barbecue, the first one in New York.
• 46:57
  Speaker 50: That's awesome.
• 46:57
  Speaker 50: Um, and we learned so much.
• 46:59
  Speaker 50: what do we learn on your show, and what makes a great barbecue?
• 47:02
  Speaker 50: Uh, I'm asking you three questions in a row.
• 47:04
  Speaker 50: Answer them any order you like.
• 47:05
  Speaker 50: Sure.
• 47:05
  Speaker 50: What are we gonna learn on your show?
• 47:07
  Speaker 50: What makes really great barbecue better than very good barbecue?
• 47:12
  Speaker 50: And are the different regions of barbecue that I first learned about, are they melding together or are they staying regional?
• 47:20
  Speaker 58: Wow.
• 47:20
  Speaker 58: let me address that in reverse, if I can remember them all.
• 47:24
  Speaker 58: here's the, here's the deal.
• 47:27
  Speaker 58: barbecue regionality has stayed distinctly regional.
• 47:31
  Speaker 58: Okay.
• 47:31
  Speaker 58: The biggest change in barbecue over the last 10 years has been the elevation and third culture cuisine impact on barbecue.
• 47:43
  Speaker 58: So you have, well, Texas is a hub of so much of it.
• 47:48
  Speaker 58: But, you have guys, what is it?
• 47:50
  Speaker 58: Uh, Curry Boys BBQ.
• 47:51
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 47:52
  Speaker 58: Right?
• 47:52
  Speaker 58: Um, these are some young guys from, Desi countries who are bringing what would typically be Desi flavors, I'm talking about Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, et cetera, into the barbecue world.
• 48:07
  Speaker 58: You have, uh, Japanese cooks, chefs, adapting barbecue and shooting it through the Japanese prism, in terms of flavors and things.
• 48:17
  Speaker 58: You have so many different third culture cuisine impacts on it, and innovation being done in the barbecue space.
• 48:26
  Speaker 58: 'Cause a lot of people said,"Okay, this is delicious, but it's in a very narrow lane.
• 48:31
  Speaker 58: And the other sides to be eaten with barbecue are, are more numerous than just beans, coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad," right?
• 48:40
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 48:40
  Speaker 58: And they were right.
• 48:41
  Speaker 58: They were correct.
• 48:42
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 48:42
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 48:42
  Speaker 58: So what they've done is they've stayed in the lanes of barbecue tradition, but they've added a Japanese, cabbage salad that's typically served with katsu, and serving that with a koji, rubbed and smoked brisket.
• 48:58
  Speaker 58: So it's distinctly Japanese.
• 49:01
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 49:01
  Speaker 58: And so that to me is so fascinating.
• 49:04
  Speaker 58: There's a guy in our town, in Minneapolis, named John Wipflei, who has a barbecue spot called Anomali's that to me is one of the 10 best in the country.
• 49:13
  Speaker 58: he was in a permanent pop-up for like six, seven years, uh, and then just moved into a brick-and-mortar location, and is doing some of the best barbecue in the country, bar none.
• 49:24
  Speaker 58: All the way to, Ernest Cervantes, who's one of my co-judges on, Pitmasters.
• 49:30
  Speaker 58: but he has, uh, the Burnt Bean, right outside of San Antonio, or in a suburb of San Antonio.
• 49:36
  Speaker 58: he's won 500 barbecue competitions in his career, and finally opened a brick-and-mortar many years ago, and is doing extremely innovative stuff.
• 49:46
  Speaker 58: So the answer is both.
• 49:47
  Speaker 50: So there's the innovation and tradition.
• 49:49
  Speaker 50: What makes truly great barbecue truly great barbecue?
• 49:53
  Speaker 50: What wins the competition?
• 49:55
  Speaker 58: What the competition?
• 49:56
  Speaker 58: Balance every time, because it is very tricky to develop the smoke flavor without it overwhelming the meat flavor.
• 50:04
  Speaker 58: You have to use great meat.
• 50:05
  Speaker 58: The pork can't be swiney.
• 50:07
  Speaker 58: The beef can't be commodity.
• 50:09
  Speaker 58: The chicken can't be, factory farm, right?
• 50:12
  Speaker 50: have- A factory farmed chicken in a barbecue just, just evaporates.
• 50:15
  Speaker 50: It- It just turns into crap.
• 50:16
  Speaker 58: It just turns into crap.
• 50:17
  Speaker 58: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:17
  Speaker 58: Tell me about it.
• 50:18
  Speaker 58: you know, when I walk into a place and someone's like,"Oh, you gotta try this," and I eat a couple of things and they're, they're crappy, It's a tell.
• 50:26
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 50:26
  Speaker 58: Right?
• 50:26
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 50:27
  Speaker 58: So, when your food is simple, you cannot hide behind anything.
• 50:32
  Speaker 58: And there is no simple food technique on planet Earth than great barbecue.
• 50:39
  Speaker 58: Because regardless of what the seasonings are, it's smoke and the hourglass.
• 50:46
  Speaker 50: What's the number one thing they screw up?
• 50:48
  Speaker 58: point of doneness
• 50:49
  Speaker 41: Okay
• 50:50
  Speaker 50: or under?
• 50:51
  Speaker 58: Over or under.
• 50:52
  Speaker 50: Yeah.
• 50:52
  Speaker 50: Yeah.
• 50:53
  Speaker 58: and that's, that's with ribs, brisket, chicken, pork shoulder, you name it.
• 50:58
  Speaker 58: It's, you know, that's the other point is you have to do this thousands of times under the same conditions just to know what to do when the ki- conditions aren't the same.
• 51:09
  Speaker 58: It's colder out, it's windier, it's, you're, you're- Humid.
• 51:12
  Speaker 58: The wood's different.
• 51:13
  Speaker 58: Elevation.
• 51:13
  Speaker 58: It's humid, eleva- Up here no, keep going.
• 51:14
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 51:15
  Speaker 58: Um, it's, it's insane.
• 51:17
  Speaker 41: All right, completely fall off the bone into oblivion or
• 51:21
  Speaker 58: toothsome- No, no.
• 51:22
  Speaker 58: That's not
• 51:22
  Speaker 41: or toothsome and have a little bit of,
• 51:25
  Speaker 59: give?
• 51:25
  Speaker 58: You should be able to pull it easily from the bone, but it should stay on the bone, and a baby's tug should not be able to remove it
• 51:35
  Speaker 41: I love it.
• 51:35
  Speaker 41: I love it.
• 51:36
  Speaker 41: I needed a definition.
• 51:37
  Speaker 50: think
• 51:37
  Speaker 58: it should melt in the
• 51:38
  Speaker 50: of people, A lot of arguments have been happening over what the appropriate point of doneness is, and I've never heard it described before
• 51:44
  Speaker 58: There is no argument over the appropriate point of doneness.
• 51:46
  Speaker 58: What I just
• 51:47
  Speaker 50: Andrew Zimmern has
• 51:48
  Speaker 58: only appropriate point of...
• 51:49
  Speaker 58: Well, I don't understand.
• 51:51
  Speaker 58: By the way-
• 51:52
  Speaker 59: with you
• 51:52
  Speaker 41: I'm with you
• 51:53
  Speaker 58: I, no, look-
• 51:54
  Speaker 41: that o- that overdone,
• 51:56
  Speaker 58: me clarify.
• 51:56
  Speaker 58: Let me clarify
• 51:56
  Speaker 41: just turn into paste, I, I have no patience
• 51:59
  Speaker 58: I think there's an in between, and here's the deal.
• 52:01
  Speaker 58: I braise rib meat all the time.
• 52:05
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 52:06
  Speaker 58: I love braised rib meat left in chunks where it falls off the bone, and I sauce it, and I serve it in Japanese curry sauce because I love that flavor of really good rib meat, but that's not barbecue.
• 52:18
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 52:18
  Speaker 58: Sorry.
• 52:19
  Speaker 50: I love it.
• 52:20
  Speaker 50: I love the distin- Well, and I think a lot of people don't know the difference.
• 52:22
  Speaker 50: But at the same time, uh, one of the reasons I think the show is important for people to watch, more and more people, like more people who are not in the industry, are learning about wine and even becoming, you know, getting certified as sommeliers just out of the love of it and wanting to know more about it.
• 52:38
  Speaker 50: W- when I was a kid, my dad said,"We're gonna have a barbecue." That meant a cookout on the grill, right?
• 52:42
  Speaker 50: That's right.
• 52:42
  Speaker 50: And, and, uh, and people really-
• 52:44
  Speaker 49: Well,
• 52:44
  Speaker 58: who do live fire cooking say,"I do barbecue."
• 52:47
  Speaker 50: you're like,"You do not.
• 52:48
  Speaker 50: No,
• 52:48
  Speaker 58: doing live fire cooking.
• 52:49
  Speaker 58: You're excellent,
• 52:50
  Speaker 50: excellent- That was like, there was a fa- there was a famous- Delicious.
• 52:51
  Speaker 50: Absolutely.
• 52:51
  Speaker 50: Of course.
• 52:51
  Speaker 50: And that's, honestly, that's what we cook in our restaurant there
• 52:51
  Speaker 41: Which can be delicious, absolutely, of course.
• 52:53
  Speaker 41: And that's, honestly, that's what we cook in our restaurant.
• 52:55
  Speaker 41: We have a wood-burning grill.
• 52:57
  Speaker 41: It, it, we throw apple wood in it every day.
• 52:59
  Speaker 41: Yep.
• 53:00
  Speaker 41: And we never call it barbecue
• 53:01
  Speaker 58: No,
• 53:02
  Speaker 50: People are really interested in geeking out over this and getting it right.
• 53:05
  Speaker 49: By
• 53:05
  Speaker 58: the way, I do need to say, for those that don't geek out of it and don't care, God bless you.
• 53:12
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 53:12
  Speaker 58: I mean, there, there is a portion of the audience that, like, i- is like,"Well, why does Zimmern have so many rules?" I'm like,"Because if you name it, it has to be that thing.
• 53:22
  Speaker 58: If you use the name, it has to be that thing." What I tell people all the time is,"If you love it, eat it.
• 53:28
  Speaker 58: Enjoy it.
• 53:29
  Speaker 58: God bless you, and I applaud you for that." But if somebody says to me, uh,"I've made you coq au vin." Okay?
• 53:38
  Speaker 58: I expect coq au vin, and I know what makes coq au
• 53:42
  Speaker 41: There better be van in your cock-o-van.
• 53:44
  Speaker 58: if someone says to me,"I've made you a delicious braised chicken in wine." I have no boundaries, no...
• 53:51
  Speaker 58: Then I'm just going on deliciousness.
• 53:53
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 53:53
  Speaker 58: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:54
  Speaker 58: But if you name-check, if you say chicken Kiev, that requires certain things.
• 53:58
  Speaker 58: If if you say lobster Thermidor, that requires certain things.
• 54:01
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 54:01
  Speaker 58: And I just...
• 54:03
  Speaker 58: You know, words matter.
• 54:04
  Speaker 50: can I just share with you that, and I, I'm curious to your reaction, because I...
• 54:08
  Speaker 50: It warms my heart that with the World Cup going on, and Mark is a sports fan and always makes fun of me.
• 54:15
  Speaker 50: He's like,"Francis, you never know what's going on in sports ball,"'cause I don't.
• 54:18
  Speaker 50: Um, but I'm seeing Europeans come to the United States, uh, and not just to the major cities, and they're making videos for their own back home audiences.
• 54:28
  Speaker 50: Right.
• 54:28
  Speaker 50: And they're like,"We never knew it could be like this." And one of their big things is the Walmarts, of course, or the Vistas- Yes and the mountains.
• 54:35
  Speaker 50: But one of the things that recurs is people who are in places where there's real barbecue- Yes and they can't believe it, and they can't believe the size of it.
• 54:42
  Speaker 50: And then they put it in their mouth, and they're like,"We've never tasted anything like that." So it's an American treasure, wouldn't you
• 54:47
  Speaker 58: It, it is.
• 54:48
  Speaker 58: It- well, we've Americanized it.
• 54:50
  Speaker 58: obviously, like everything in this country, it came from somewhere else.
• 54:53
  Speaker 58: Um, the Carib Indians, were cooking, meat over open fire and smoking it.
• 55:00
  Speaker 58: And when the first Western Europeans came into the Caribbean islands and then moved up into what is now the Port of New Orleans, you know, and various other southern ports into Florida, I'm talking about in the 16th and 17th
• 55:13
  Speaker 49: Florida, I'm talking about the 16th and 17th centuries- Yeah, yeah
• 55:15
  Speaker 58: They carried that wisdom with them.
• 55:17
  Speaker 58: when the French first arrived in the, what is now the Caribbean, uh, they saw Carib Indians cooking meat on a spit slowly over pimento wood, right?
• 55:30
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 55:31
  Speaker 58: And they said in French, you know, un barbe elkaar, which is a stick through the heart.
• 55:38
  Speaker 49: Oh.
• 55:40
  Speaker 49: And
• 55:40
  Speaker 50: that is how they then- I didn't know that
• 55:41
  Speaker 49: Never heard that before
• 55:42
  Speaker 50: Every time-- I was gonna interrupt
• 55:43
  Speaker 58: goes all the way through I like stick that And by the
• 55:45
  Speaker 41: By the way-
• 55:46
  Speaker 58: by the way, previous to finishing it in open air over fire to crisp it, they were preserving it.
• 55:54
  Speaker 58: They did not have salt, so they preserved it by smoking it.
• 55:59
  Speaker 58: so the first roots of barbecue, came up that way.
• 56:03
  Speaker 58: Now, at the same time, and this is where it gets confusing, from Europe, Czech and German French English immigrants, were bringing sausage-making and other techniques of preservation down into New York, where s- most people couldn't care less.
• 56:24
  Speaker 60: Right,
• 56:24
  Speaker 58: right.
• 56:24
  Speaker 58: And they headed south on what is now known as the Barbecue Trail, through the Carolinas into Tennessee, finally ending up in Texas.
• 56:31
  Speaker 58: and the Czechs and Germans wound up settling in great numbers in Texas'cause there was no room for them- Right in New York.
• 56:38
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 56:38
  Speaker 58: And that's where you get all of that sausage-making, all of that extra texture on barbecue, all of those German-style potato salads that are down there.
• 56:47
  Speaker 58: And it collided along the way with the Carib Indians, and their techniques.
• 56:53
  Speaker 58: And that is kind of like that approach it from two sides, you know, sort of pincer that created...
• 57:02
  Speaker 58: And, and I'm, I'm- We're cutting out a lot of the story, but that is what is the foundational elements of American barbecue as we know it.
• 57:09
  Speaker 58: I learned- But why trust me?
• 57:10
  Speaker 58: What do, what do I know?
• 57:11
  Speaker 41: because I learn something from you every day is what, every time you're on the show
• 57:15
  Speaker 50: the show.
• 57:15
  Speaker 50: They say the smartest thing that a fairly smart person can do is to hang out with people smarter than them, and that's what Mark and I are doing right the hell
• 57:23
  Speaker 41: Did you
• 57:24
  Speaker 58: true.
• 57:24
  Speaker 58: I just know a lot about
• 57:26
  Speaker 49: this.
• 57:26
  Speaker 50: I know.
• 57:26
  Speaker 50: Well, that's why we're talking to you about this.
• 57:27
  Speaker 41: Speaking of sausages, let's bring this back to, to Aspen for just one second in this event.
• 57:32
  Speaker 41: Did you get to try Nox Untorrenon's sausage last
• 57:35
  Speaker 58: First of all,
• 57:36
  Speaker 41: First of all- That was from Kalaya.
• 57:38
  Speaker 41: That was ridiculous.
• 57:39
  Speaker 58: I've eaten it at her restaurant.
• 57:41
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 57:41
  Speaker 58: I saw that it was there.
• 57:42
  Speaker 58: I nibbled on everything else, and then I posted up for a half an hour at that station.
• 57:48
  Speaker 58: And did you notice that they make it from scratch- Mm and they, they tied the skins with string.
• 57:54
  Speaker 49: up
• 57:54
  Speaker 50: next to the...
• 57:54
  Speaker 50: with, with my toothpick, and Nok and I are
• 57:55
  Speaker 58: so when the chef who was slicing it made his first cut, he discarded the first end- Uh-huh'cause it's attached to a string.
• 58:02
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 58:02
  Speaker 58: And then the last end,'cause it's attached to a string, and he piled them all to his left.
• 58:06
  Speaker 58: And I just walked around to the corner,'cause I'm that guy.
• 58:10
  Speaker 58: I think I'm now the oldest continuing person here.
• 58:17
  Speaker 41: Mm-hmm.
• 58:17
  Speaker 50: and
• 58:18
  Speaker 58: Yeah.
• 58:19
  Speaker 58: This is, like, my 35th.
• 58:21
  Speaker 58: I was coming here, I was coming here when I, before I was me, when I was washing dishes in friends' restaurants.
• 58:28
  Speaker 58: Right.
• 58:28
  Speaker 58: Right?
• 58:28
  Speaker 58: and I mean, I've missed a couple, COVID.
• 58:30
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 58:31
  Speaker 58: You know, uh, d- you know, a child coming into the world.
• 58:35
  Speaker 58: I mean, there's all kinds of things I've missed the Classic for.
• 58:38
  Speaker 58: But I think I've missed, like, three in the last 35 years.
• 58:42
  Speaker 58: And so I kind of feel like...
• 58:45
  Speaker 58: I mean, I was here before there were tents.
• 58:47
  Speaker 58: Mm-hmm.
• 58:47
  Speaker 58: When it was just in restaurants.
• 58:49
  Speaker 58: So I posted up next to the, with, with my toothpick, and Nok and I are friends- Mm and her crew knows that, and I was just with them in Chicago at the Beard Awards.
• 58:58
  Speaker 58: So I just kept eating all the ends
• 59:00
  Speaker 50: and- throwing away the string?
• 59:01
  Speaker 50: And
• 59:01
  Speaker 49: throwing away the
• 59:01
  Speaker 50: string.
• 59:02
  Speaker 50: I love it.
• 59:02
  Speaker 58: love it.
• 59:03
  Speaker 58: And, you know, I, because he looked at...
• 59:04
  Speaker 58: The guy is a, a volunteer cook from the place where the event was, he looked at me and I said,"You're not serving those.
• 59:13
  Speaker 58: You just keep s- I'm just gonna eat the ends." And he's like,"Yes, chef." And I just kept...
• 59:16
  Speaker 58: I, I mean, I can't get...
• 59:18
  Speaker 58: And I would leave to walk across the patio to get those incredible rice
• 59:24
  Speaker 50: are beautiful
• 59:25
  Speaker 41: those were great too.
• 59:26
  Speaker 50: wait.
• 59:26
  Speaker 50: So good.
• 59:27
  Speaker 50: Before we move on, so I just wanna make a bet right now that at Kalaya restaurant in Philadelphia, Nok's and Taron's restaurant, you're gonna see a new appetizer of ends with strings.
• 59:37
  Speaker 50: Yes.
• 59:38
  Speaker 50: That was pioneered by Andrew Zimmern.
• 59:40
  Speaker 50: You heard it here first.
• 59:41
  Speaker 50: I,
• 59:41
  Speaker 58: when my father carved the Thanksgiving turkey- Oh, the bits when I was- The crunchy bits six years old, I would steal the pope's nose.
• 59:48
  Speaker 58: Everything that fell, what they now call board debris, was what I ate.
• 59:53
  Speaker 41: Grandma was very clear that she wanted the piece that went over the fence last.
• 59:58
  Speaker 41: Yes.
• 59:59
  Speaker 41: Okay?
• 59:59
  Speaker 41: That's- Yes that's mine.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 41: Nobody gets the piece that goes over the fence
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 58: I was the youngest grandchild, so Grandma gave that to me- Ah and thus the family
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 41: me.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 41: Ah.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 41: That's the- Grandma let me steal two black meatballs out of the pan while she was still making them because I was the youngest of my generation.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 41: That was
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 59: experience.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 59: It's a nice thing.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 41: But I will tell you that the, the the guy at the exact same spot you were,'cause I kept going back, and until Knock came up and hugged me, he was giving me the stink eye a little bit.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 41: Yeah, well, he does
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 50: well-placed hug can add to your credibility in
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 58: good.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 58: So good.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 58: Oh my God, was it good.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 41: Yeah, it was really terrific
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 50: uh, Andrew Zimmern, uh, like I said, I get smarter every time I talk to you.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 50: You're a pleasure.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 50: I always have a laugh, I always learn something, and thanks for joining us at Aspen.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 58: you.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 58: Can I give one more shameless
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 50: Yeah, Please.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: Go right ahead.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: People wanna know.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: I was serious before.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: Go to andrewzimmern.com if you wanna travel with me, we have trips.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: You can sign up for my Substack newsletter.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: You can find out about my books.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: You can find out about my TV shows.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: Um, I can't believe, I'm so grateful to whatever controls the universe,'Cause I don't think it's us.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 50: I believe
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 58: people wanna know.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 58: I was serious before.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 58: Go to andrewzimmern.com if you wanna travel with me, we have trips.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 58: You can sign up for my Substack newsletter.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 58: You can find out about my books, you can find out about my TV shows.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 58: I can't believe, I'm so grateful to whatever controls the universe,'cause I don't think it's us.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 58: I believe in something bigger than us.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 58: However I landed at age 65, still being relevant is absolutely beyond my ability to comprehend.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 58: But if you're out there listening and you're responsible for it, thank you.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 59: say-
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 58: And thank you, guys.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 58: Thank you, guys, for all you do for our industry, which is really amazing.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 41: have fun doing it, you just said you're 65 years old.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 41: You still put in the time, you still put in the effort.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 41: Everything you do is professional.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 41: You're successful because of how hard you still work
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 58: Oh, thank you.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 58: That's very kind of you to say.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 58: But- I'm just mailing it in every day it's
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 59: real.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 41: you.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 41: That's very kind of you to say.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 41: The, I
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 50: of you to say.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 50: But it is- I'm just mailing it in every day it's real.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 50: All right, brother.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 50: Well, thanks for coming.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 50: It's great to have you.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 50: Thanks, my friend.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 50: Thank you.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 50: Much love.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 50: Next time you're in
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 58: All right, brother.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 58: Well, thanks for coming to Street Food.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 58: Thanks, my friends.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 58: Next time you're in New Brunswick- Love you
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 50: next time you're in New Brunswick, we're having dinner.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 49: Oh,
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 58: absolutely, 100%.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 58: Maybe not even in New Brunswick.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 50: meet you in New York, I'll meet you in Philly, I'll meet you at Kalya.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 53: I
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 62: So that's a wrap for the interviews from the field at the Aspen Food Wine Classic.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 63: We hope you enjoyed your time at Aspen with us.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 62: We certainly did, and, uh, maybe we'll see you there next year.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 62: Anyway, thanks for listening.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 62: We appreciate you more than you know.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 62: I'm Francis Schadt.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 63: And I'm Mark Pascal.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 62: We are the Restaurant Guys, and you can find out more about us, and you know, after an episode like this, you should really subscribe and help support us either way, find out more about us at restaurantguyspodcast.com