Latest / The B Team Podcast / Ep. 85 - From Fine Dining to Fire Ovens: Miles James Unfiltered

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Ep. 85 - From Fine Dining to Fire Ovens: Miles James Unfiltered · The B Team Podcast

0:10
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the B Team Podcast.
0:13
SPEAKER_03: I am your host, Josh Saffron, with my co-host, Matt Morris, and our permanent guest, Rob Nelson.
0:18
SPEAKER_03: We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bettonville, bourbon, and business.
0:24
SPEAKER_03: The B Team Podcast.
0:25
SPEAKER_03: Be here.
0:26
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the B Team Podcast.
0:27
SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Josh Saffron, with my co-host, Matt Morris.
0:30
SPEAKER_03: And our permanent alternate, Jim Corbin.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: See, that's rings so well.
0:33
SPEAKER_03: Permanent alternate.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
0:35
SPEAKER_03: And it's a big business card titled, permanent alternate.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: The more words, the better.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: It sounds more official.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: Right?
0:42
SPEAKER_01: He's permanent.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't even think you've said permanent with Bobby at all.
0:46
SPEAKER_03: Well, he's the permanent guest.
0:48
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
0:48
SPEAKER_03: He's a permanent guest.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Permanent alternate sounds it's two extra syllables.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: But that's a big business card.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: Permanent alternate.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: I told you I'm going to do it on an eight and a half by eleven.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: And maybe do it on a pizza box.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you are filling in as an alternate on probably one of the best podcasts we're going to have.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: Well, this is going to really upset Bobby because we didn't even tell him.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: So our normal permanent guest is Rob Nelson.
1:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:20
SPEAKER_03: Otherwise, aka Bobby.
1:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Bobby.
1:22
SPEAKER_03: Rob.
1:23
SPEAKER_03: And Rob is a New York-based chef that moved here who had his own pizza truck.
1:28
SPEAKER_03: So he is the pizza aficionado of the group.
1:31
SPEAKER_03: And we introduced him to MJ's about a year ago.
1:34
SPEAKER_03: Cool.
1:34
SPEAKER_03: And he is going to be devastated.
1:37
SPEAKER_03: Not upset.
1:38
SPEAKER_05: Well, we'll do a devastated.
1:40
SPEAKER_05: We'll do it again, man.
1:42
SPEAKER_05: We'll get everybody around the table.
1:44
SPEAKER_05: I'd like to share my pizza.
1:47
SPEAKER_03: We're every Thursday for All Things Bentonville Business and Bourbon.
1:50
SPEAKER_03: And I want to introduce Miles James today.
1:53
SPEAKER_03: When we get good guests, and all of our guests are good.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to all of our guests.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: However, Mike Dooley in this town, everybody's got these connections and mutual friends.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: And Mike said, Josh, you got to have Miles on the podcast.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: And I said, All right.
2:05
SPEAKER_03: And I said, Well, what does Miles do?
2:07
SPEAKER_03: And he goes, Oh, he owns MJC.
2:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that Miles.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: The Miles.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
2:12
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, absolutely.
2:13
SPEAKER_03: So we've been texting back and forth for a few weeks.
2:16
SPEAKER_03: And when you and I moved here, James at the mill was the big place to go.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
2:22
SPEAKER_02: The place to go.
2:22
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: One of the premier restaurants in the world.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: It was.
2:25
SPEAKER_05: It was the premier restaurant in the state of Arkansas.
2:28
SPEAKER_05: 1994 we started.
2:30
SPEAKER_05: It was amazing.
2:31
SPEAKER_05: It was a I was 26 years old.
2:33
SPEAKER_05: I was fresh back from Europe, you know, just full of energy, and I had an opportunity with my family, and we just went for it.
2:41
SPEAKER_05: We just did it.
2:42
SPEAKER_05: It was great.
2:42
SPEAKER_05: And that was your first restaurant?
2:44
SPEAKER_05: That was my first restaurant.
2:45
SPEAKER_05: That was a fabulous place.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what a first restaurant.
2:48
SPEAKER_05: Coming out, man.
2:49
SPEAKER_05: We just knocked it out of the park.
2:50
SPEAKER_05: It was great.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: It was a good one.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: That was where we would like go for like special dinner or Christmas dinner.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:56
SPEAKER_02: I always had to put$180 in my back pocket to pick for the speeding ticket out and get in Johnson and going to Jiggly.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: Turn right.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: Shout out to the cops.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: Shout out to the cops down in Johnson.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you what, my kids, I still got two to put through college.
3:17
SPEAKER_05: Anybody that turns right and goes towards the interstate, leave my customers alone.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: They did not.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: How many tickets did you get that?
3:24
SPEAKER_02: I've gotten three tickets in Johnson.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Really?
3:26
SPEAKER_02: And zero in the balance of Arkansas City.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: I got one when we lived in the city.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: If you're doing like you're doing 28 and a 25, they're like, whoop, whoop.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And they're checking you for everything.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Oh, please.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Walking the lines, touching the toes.
3:43
SPEAKER_03: Is that why you stopped going to James at the mill?
3:45
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
3:46
SPEAKER_02: Listen, it was it was it was an expensive date, let's put it that way.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: You're not talking about the food.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm not talking about the restaurant.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: Miles also brought one of our favorite or one of my favorite.
3:56
SPEAKER_05: And one of my favorites.
3:57
SPEAKER_05: What a good guess, huh?
3:58
SPEAKER_05: Kings County, huh?
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:59
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I went, I went searching for Kings County yesterday and and I found it uh and I had to bring it because I've never had this bike burning.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: It's good.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: It's really nice.
4:09
SPEAKER_05: This one is the um, let's see, let's look at the label on this one.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: This one is the uh what's it's the 90 proof, so it's not good.
4:19
SPEAKER_05: It's the full strength, yeah.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: It'll it's good.
4:22
unknown: Yeah.
4:24
SPEAKER_05: Let's see who that courts are.
4:25
SPEAKER_05: They have a ride, it's pretty good.
4:26
SPEAKER_05: They have uh a couple versions, but uh and that's from New York, right?
4:30
SPEAKER_05: It is.
4:31
SPEAKER_05: It's from New York.
4:32
SPEAKER_03: There you go, Jim.
4:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:33
SPEAKER_03: Who are you gonna pour first?
4:37
SPEAKER_02: I get a hint of them around the table.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: I get a hint of hot dog and roasted nuts.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: Little sewerage.
4:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Sorry about your hands there.
4:46
SPEAKER_05: Dirty water dog.
4:49
SPEAKER_05: And you know what?
4:50
SPEAKER_05: This is gonna go great with?
4:51
SPEAKER_05: This is gonna go great with our one of our newest pizzas right here.
4:55
SPEAKER_05: This one right here on the bottom.
4:56
SPEAKER_05: Uh, we just did this the other day.
4:59
SPEAKER_05: We did this Monday for a little charity event that we did.
5:02
SPEAKER_05: A fundraiser, rather.
5:03
SPEAKER_05: Does that say this is the pink sauce with the chicken, bacon, and caramelized onion.
5:08
SPEAKER_05: Just slide that one right over here.
5:09
SPEAKER_05: Don't worry about that.
5:10
SPEAKER_05: That's the one.
5:10
SPEAKER_05: Look at that.
5:11
SPEAKER_03: You want to try that one?
5:12
SPEAKER_03: Let's let's open this hush puppy up.
5:14
SPEAKER_03: Oh, and it's four slices.
5:16
SPEAKER_03: Two for me, one for Matt, one for Miles.
5:19
SPEAKER_03: This is exciting.
5:20
SPEAKER_03: Look at that.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: So now, Miles, is this our jalapeno?
5:27
SPEAKER_05: That's the spicy chicken.
5:28
SPEAKER_05: Hold on, let's get into this.
5:30
SPEAKER_05: This has the fresh basil from our farmers.
5:32
SPEAKER_05: Oh, he's pulling out basil as we go.
5:33
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, man.
5:34
SPEAKER_05: Basil.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
5:37
SPEAKER_05: Oh.
5:37
SPEAKER_05: And we get our basil live on the root.
5:40
SPEAKER_05: So we pick it, it's alive.
5:42
SPEAKER_05: It's so cool.
5:44
SPEAKER_05: It's so good this way.
5:45
SPEAKER_03: Are you physically having somebody put basil on like that in the restaurant too?
5:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
5:49
SPEAKER_05: Every pizza that gets basil gets picked off of a live branch of basil.
5:53
SPEAKER_05: Oh.
5:54
SPEAKER_05: On the root.
5:55
SPEAKER_05: Really good.
5:55
SPEAKER_05: Isn't that great?
5:56
SPEAKER_05: You like that one?
5:57
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
5:58
SPEAKER_05: Sorry.
6:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's close to you.
6:01
SPEAKER_05: You're gonna grab that one.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: It is good with the.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: Did you try a little bourbon with it, too?
6:06
SPEAKER_05: The caramel, I just really love what's happening with this pizza with the caramel and the onions.
6:12
SPEAKER_05: There's a new one on the menu.
6:15
SPEAKER_05: We're running it as a special, but it's been doing so well.
6:21
SPEAKER_05: It might find its way to the pizza?
6:24
SPEAKER_05: Bobby.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Bobby.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, we'll be back in a few minutes.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: We are gonna eat some pizza for a couple of minutes.
6:32
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
6:33
SPEAKER_03: Now who's coming up with the new uh recipes?
6:35
SPEAKER_03: You?
6:36
SPEAKER_03: It's a team?
6:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a team.
6:38
SPEAKER_05: It's a team thing.
6:38
SPEAKER_05: It's we we all do.
6:40
SPEAKER_05: You know, my team's been with me for for years and years and years.
6:43
SPEAKER_05: We have great retention in our company.
6:46
SPEAKER_05: We always have.
6:48
SPEAKER_05: We've been able to retain staff and talent and you know, create talent, and we're teachers.
6:54
SPEAKER_05: Um you know, Walter, head chef, executive chef, has been with me for 23 years now.
7:01
SPEAKER_05: Jimmy Mel, Walter Hefner, um you know, Jimmy runs the front of the house and and same.
7:08
SPEAKER_05: He's he's about 24, almost 25 years now.
7:12
SPEAKER_05: Those guys have been involved in every single project that we've done in Northwest Arkansas.
7:16
SPEAKER_05: Those two guys.
7:17
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, when you talk to Walter, I go, hey, remember that uh you remember that recipe that we did for the for the sandwich?
7:26
SPEAKER_05: And he's like, Yeah, let me let me go back here, Chef.
7:29
SPEAKER_05: I've got it right here.
7:29
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
7:30
SPEAKER_05: And he goes back to his book and he's got it.
7:33
SPEAKER_05: And if I don't have it, Walter's got it.
7:36
SPEAKER_05: So it's a great way to, you know, continue what we've done in the past and and work that in.
7:42
SPEAKER_05: So to answer your question, we're all working on it.
7:45
SPEAKER_05: And sometimes the staff, the younger guys, are coming up with stuff.
7:51
SPEAKER_05: Like this pizza was some of our younger guys.
7:55
SPEAKER_05: And so we had some caramelized onions the other day.
7:57
SPEAKER_05: And so they I said, Hey, anybody, you know, if you're hungry, make pizza today.
8:02
SPEAKER_05: It's been a long day.
8:03
SPEAKER_05: We put in probably 15 or 16 hours to get ready for this Monday gig that we did.
8:09
SPEAKER_05: Um closed on Mondays, and so we did a private event on Monday, a fundraiser, uh, for a local politician.
8:16
SPEAKER_05: And and so the guys came up with this, and I was like, wow, what's this?
8:20
SPEAKER_05: Took a slice, it was a big pizza, and it was just amazing.
8:23
SPEAKER_05: And I thought, you know, for for the for the B team that we would do bourbon and this caramelized onion pizza.
8:31
SPEAKER_05: That's amazing.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: Sounds like some of your team is gonna need promotions.
8:34
SPEAKER_05: Definitely they need promotions.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, we love like what we love about when you we go to your restaurant and now is it the one in Springdale is the one that we MJ Pizzeria.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I love how like the few times we've gone as a group, you mean you and Bobby hit like the the chef comes out of the back and asks how the dinner, like you guys just you do all the the right things that you don't usually get at especially a pizza place.
9:04
SPEAKER_05: We're open, okay?
9:05
SPEAKER_05: We always build open kitchens.
9:07
SPEAKER_05: I want that relationship with the guest, I want the relationship between the staff members.
9:13
SPEAKER_05: I don't want a front of the house team that has to go back in the back of the kitchen that you know.
9:18
SPEAKER_05: So I want that to be one team.
9:20
SPEAKER_05: So that's why we do open kitchens.
9:22
SPEAKER_05: I want people to realize where their food is coming from and and look at us and see, hey, we've got nothing to hide.
9:28
SPEAKER_05: It's all fresh, it's all beautiful.
9:30
SPEAKER_05: It's all right here, right in front of you.
9:32
SPEAKER_03: Come on in.
9:32
SPEAKER_03: You know, there is no better feeling than saying, oh, that's my pizza coming out of the oven five feet away from me, and they walk it over.
9:37
SPEAKER_03: Like it's a good feeling when it comes.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: And like the salads there, everything there is.
9:42
SPEAKER_03: I want to come back to the salad.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: Well, and one of the things I was gonna say about MJ's and one of the things that I've loved about it from the beginning, and to me, it's what separates it from a lot of other pizza places, let's say, is you go in there and order like the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: Like when you can have a broad, diverse menu and hit a lot of different things and hit them well, like that's where I think MJ's sweet spot is.
10:04
SPEAKER_05: I think so too.
10:05
SPEAKER_05: The artichoke dip, we sell, we it's amazing.
10:08
SPEAKER_05: So it's it's artichokes, it's some some mayonnaise, it's some spice, it's some parmesan, good parmesan.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: Gotta be something addictive in there as well.
10:17
SPEAKER_05: And then it's the little rounds of facaccia that we make every single afternoon.
10:22
SPEAKER_05: And we sell more of that than any other appetizer, and it's amazing.
10:26
SPEAKER_05: And here's here's a shout-out to my wife.
10:28
SPEAKER_05: That's my wife's recipe.
10:29
SPEAKER_05: That's what she makes.
10:30
SPEAKER_05: That's Courtney's.
10:31
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
10:32
SPEAKER_05: Look at the menu.
10:32
SPEAKER_05: It says Courtney's artichoke dip.
10:34
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
10:34
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
10:35
SPEAKER_05: So she would make this, it was her mom's recipe, then Courtney took it over, and she kind of uh changed it and evolved it.
10:41
SPEAKER_05: And we put that on the menu, and I mean people just get addicted to that artichoke dip.
10:47
SPEAKER_05: It's a true artichoke dip.
10:48
SPEAKER_05: It doesn't have spinach in it, okay?
10:50
SPEAKER_05: It's all artichoke.
10:52
SPEAKER_05: 100% artichoke.
10:53
SPEAKER_05: So phenomenal.
10:54
SPEAKER_05: We love it.
10:55
SPEAKER_05: Can we talk about the Caesar salad for a second?
10:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, man.
10:57
SPEAKER_03: All right.
10:58
SPEAKER_03: So I I I I have to talk about there's two things I have to talk about in the menu.
11:01
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
11:03
SPEAKER_03: Non-debatable, right?
11:05
SPEAKER_03: The best Caesar salad I've ever had.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
11:08
SPEAKER_03: I don't understand.
11:09
SPEAKER_03: Like Caesar salad's a Caesar salad.
11:10
SPEAKER_03: You come in, it's uh what what is it the dressing?
11:13
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
11:13
SPEAKER_03: It is.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: Have you had the Caesar salad there?
11:15
SPEAKER_03: It is it is unbelievable.
11:17
SPEAKER_05: Okay, we recently switched to Little Jim, which is a small little leaf that is like a hybrid uh romaine.
11:27
SPEAKER_05: So it's extra sweet, it's extra crisp.
11:31
SPEAKER_05: So we we were doing the romaine for a long time and I was cutting it, and and I just I want to I want to serve the leaves whole, but the but the uh our customers are hate it when I do that.
11:41
SPEAKER_05: And I can just look at their face and I want to serve it like that.
11:45
SPEAKER_05: At James at the Mill, we made these little potato cages, and we did the the romaine leaves vertical, dressed in the Caesar salad, coming up out of this potato cage, right?
11:55
SPEAKER_05: And and so people would knock it over and it would kind of still be held together with that potato cage, and then they use their knife.
12:00
SPEAKER_05: But it would still upset them that they're having to use their knife to cut the cut the romantic.
12:06
SPEAKER_05: So we we wanted to find a way to make this super crisp and and just sweet and delicious, and the Caesar dressing is is the key, plus the croutons.
12:17
SPEAKER_05: So you've got those long croutons that have a ton of garlic and olive oil and shallot and fresh herbs and salt and pepper baked every afternoon, and then we put a little balsamic glaze on it.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: You'd add me a ton of garlic.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Garlic and shallot, equal hearts.
12:31
SPEAKER_05: Beautiful.
12:32
SPEAKER_05: So that dressing is is the is why that Caesar is so good.
12:38
SPEAKER_05: Plus, I like the addition of the pink peppercorns.
12:41
SPEAKER_05: Those those really kind of uh set it apart and and give it a little blast.
12:45
SPEAKER_05: It's like food is art.
12:46
SPEAKER_05: Thanks, man.
12:47
SPEAKER_05: That's that's what we are.
12:48
SPEAKER_05: That's that's what we do.
12:50
SPEAKER_05: Food is art.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: You gotta trademark that.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: Okay, TM.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: R, registered trademark.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: T-shirts.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: This is good.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: I know you've done multiple restaurants.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: Is this your only restaurant that you're doing at the moment?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: It is.
13:07
SPEAKER_05: I I've had a bunch of restaurants around Northwest Arkansas.
13:10
SPEAKER_05: You know, um uh for 12 years I was training and working for other people, going to culinary school, um, uh studied architecture uh first before going to culinary school at the University of Arkansas, went to Vermont, uh went around the world, uh really got to work for some great, amazing chefs, amazing properties, um, came back home, had an opportunity to work with my family.
13:35
SPEAKER_05: We started developing hotels and restaurants.
13:37
SPEAKER_05: So we did In at the Mill, James at the Mill, um, 1994.
13:43
SPEAKER_05: We started In at the Mill in 1991, 32 rooms, then added 16 rooms, then built the restaurant, then added on to the restaurant.
13:50
SPEAKER_05: And the restaurant's not open.
13:51
SPEAKER_05: So currently it's it's it's not part of our deal when we sold it, we sold it to hotel guys, and I didn't want somebody coming behind me.
13:59
SPEAKER_05: If we're gonna sell this, it's gotta be the right price, and it was.
14:03
SPEAKER_05: And if I'm if I'm gonna sell this property that I've been working on for 24 years of my professional career, okay, it's gotta be the right price.
14:09
SPEAKER_05: And two, I don't want somebody coming behind me.
14:12
SPEAKER_05: Your name is on that restaurant.
14:13
SPEAKER_05: People walk in and go, What the hell happened to James at the mill?
14:16
SPEAKER_05: Why is this Mexican?
14:17
SPEAKER_05: Why is this Spanish?
14:18
SPEAKER_05: Why is this you know some different thing now?
14:21
SPEAKER_05: So that was part of the deal.
14:23
SPEAKER_05: I'd sold another hotel that we had to them, they came back anyway.
14:29
SPEAKER_05: His answer when I said, What are you gonna do with the restaurant was uh we're hotel guys, we're gonna turn it into a hotel.
14:36
SPEAKER_05: I said, Great, awesome.
14:37
SPEAKER_05: And you know, once you sell the property, they can do whatever they want, but they did it, they kept their word.
14:42
SPEAKER_05: And so James at the Mill, you can still walk in that building and it looks a little bit like James at the Mill in the beginning, the entryway, you can see some of the original James at the Mill, but then it turns into hotel rooms.
14:56
SPEAKER_05: So they added rooms where the restaurant was.
14:58
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
14:58
SPEAKER_05: They gutted the building and they they built it uh as as hotel rooms and suites.
15:04
SPEAKER_05: And then after that and before MJ's, there were other things too?
15:07
SPEAKER_05: And at Carnell Hall, Ellis Restaurant, 28 Springs, two MJ pizzerias, a ton of consulting around the world.
15:14
SPEAKER_05: And um, yeah, so we've had a good run.
15:17
SPEAKER_05: Really?
15:18
SPEAKER_01: We went to to 28 Springs while you were there.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: We love we liked the one.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: We used to go over there quite a bit.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: Great project.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:25
SPEAKER_05: Todd and Shelly Simmons, and you know, just the whole kind of uh re-introduction of the downtown of Asylum Springs.
15:34
SPEAKER_05: Todd and Shelly owned a bunch of real estate down there.
15:36
SPEAKER_05: They wanted to to you know kind of uh do some historic preservation, and uh they invited me to cook at their house.
15:45
SPEAKER_05: Oh that's cool.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: And and we had a great conversation.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: And open invitation.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: Matt and I would love you to cook at our house.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: Josh does not want to host anyone at his house, so you're probably not gonna get an invite to cook there.
15:55
SPEAKER_05: Nobody at Josh's house, but he'll come to our houses, right?
15:59
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's fine.
16:00
SPEAKER_05: That's fine.
16:01
SPEAKER_05: It sounds like it sounds like my my situation, my wife's like, what?
16:06
SPEAKER_05: What are you doing?
16:07
SPEAKER_05: What you're you invited who to our house?
16:09
SPEAKER_05: No.
16:11
SPEAKER_05: I get it.
16:12
SPEAKER_05: Subway people in your house.
16:15
SPEAKER_05: In my house, yes, thank you.
16:17
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so so I cooked for Todd and Shelly, and and they said, Hey, we've got this building.
16:22
SPEAKER_05: Would you look at it with us?
16:23
SPEAKER_05: Would you give us some ideas?
16:24
SPEAKER_05: And and we did that, and they listened, and I said, Hey, this is what I see, this is what you should do.
16:30
SPEAKER_05: And they said, When can we can we can we work with you?
16:32
SPEAKER_05: Can we start?
16:33
SPEAKER_05: Can we do this?
16:33
SPEAKER_05: I said, Let's start, let's do it.
16:35
SPEAKER_05: So it was a great project.
16:36
SPEAKER_05: It was it was really good.
16:37
SPEAKER_05: 28 Springs.
16:38
SPEAKER_05: And it's it's a uh it's part of the Simmons group now, and they do uh they host dinners there and and uh bring in their people.
16:46
SPEAKER_05: And so but I knew Todd and Shelly for a long time.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Todd would bring people to and then I didn't know you did uh Carnell Hall too, then in at Carnell Hall and Ella's restaurant.
16:55
SPEAKER_05: Uh oh, Ella's restaurant was yours too?
16:57
SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes.
16:57
SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's a good restaurant.
16:58
SPEAKER_05: Yep, great one, great one.
17:00
SPEAKER_05: Um, really nice.
17:02
SPEAKER_05: Second oldest building on the University of Arkansas campus.
17:04
SPEAKER_05: Took us three years to convince the university, don't tear this down, give us the give us the project.
17:10
SPEAKER_05: They kind of had to go through uh a bit of uh of uh talk to some other folks uh to to make sure that politically that they had you know given other people a chance to to come in and restore this building.
17:24
SPEAKER_05: Uh but we took so much dirt out of that basement to to make that elevator pit work, to make the laundry work, to make the bakery and the receiving and the butcher shop and the you know uh the the walk-in and uh the the dish room and the wine cellar.
17:41
SPEAKER_05: And the deal was um at Carnell Hall was hey, this is gonna be a working uh hospitality venue that the University of Arkansas is still gonna own.
17:52
SPEAKER_05: We le we did a 100-year lease for a dollar, okay, and then we we share revenue.
17:58
SPEAKER_05: Once it gets to a certain point, we get to keep more, you know, they want their money back, they put some money in, we did a true historic preservation on that.
18:06
SPEAKER_05: We had everybody involved, federal and state, historic preservation dollars, jump through all those hoops, make the wavy glass on the when you pour the when you pour the glass and had to replace the glass, and guys in South Carolina brought it to us and the shingles, you know, everything.
18:22
SPEAKER_05: But but guys that would come in the in the in the building, they would get to the second floor and they're like, I've waited 50 years to get to the second floor.
18:30
SPEAKER_05: It was the first women's dormitory on the on the University of Arkansas campus.
18:34
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, yeah.
18:35
SPEAKER_05: Named after Ella Carnall, who was the first woman professor at the U of A.
18:39
SPEAKER_05: So great.
18:40
SPEAKER_05: Are you still involved with that at all?
18:42
SPEAKER_05: So I sold it to uh Ted Belden and and he was one of our partners in the in the beginning, and my my father-in-law and I had uh 40% of it and and we sold our shares and and another project.
18:54
SPEAKER_05: No, no, no.
18:55
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, great project, they've really done well.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: It's worth going just to see what you guys did with the whole thing.
19:01
SPEAKER_05: Carved out brooms out of the attic, and just I mean, really, really creative use of that space.
19:08
SPEAKER_05: Very cool.
19:09
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
19:09
SPEAKER_05: Lambeth lounge, fabulous.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: I haven't been there.
19:13
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they named it after my father-in-law.
19:15
SPEAKER_05: That was a big deal.
19:17
SPEAKER_05: That was cool.
19:18
SPEAKER_05: He was a professor at the University of Arkansas uh for 20 years and parked illegally for forever and ever.
19:24
SPEAKER_05: Got a ton of parking tickets.
19:27
SPEAKER_05: He would walk in like once a year for the review, like uh uh and he'd like throw these tickets on the table and go, somebody needs to take care of these things.
19:35
SPEAKER_05: I keep getting these things.
19:36
SPEAKER_05: What are these things?
19:37
SPEAKER_05: They're on my car every day, you know.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: 80 episodes.
19:39
SPEAKER_03: This is the most police bashing we've had in one episode.
19:42
SPEAKER_03: I love the police.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: I love the police.
19:43
SPEAKER_02: I just think the you know, the police dunning Johnson are a little bit trigger happy with the radar gun, that's all.
19:48
SPEAKER_05: So when we're developing Carnel Hall years later, okay, Jim is involved and he's the architect, and he he starts getting parking tickets again.
19:56
SPEAKER_05: And we go to the chancellor's office for a meeting, he does the same thing, throws them on the table.
20:01
SPEAKER_05: What is what is this?
20:02
SPEAKER_05: Somebody take care of these.
20:03
SPEAKER_05: This is not my problem.
20:05
SPEAKER_04: Took care of it?
20:06
SPEAKER_04: Took care of it.
20:07
SPEAKER_04: That's fantastic.
20:07
SPEAKER_04: It's Jim Lambeth you're talking to, man.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Not Jim Corbett.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: No, yeah.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: That's the problem.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: You got the wrong last move.
20:16
SPEAKER_05: We would pull up to places, he'd go, hey, I'm an architect, and and this is a chef, and so we need to get onto this private island right now, you know, and here we go.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, so speaking of cool projects, tell us about the project you're gonna be taking on with uh with MJ Corps.
20:29
SPEAKER_05: Well, so we've been here 10 years.
20:30
SPEAKER_05: This is MJ Pizzeria.
20:32
SPEAKER_05: This is a little floor plan uh that we brought to share with you guys today.
20:35
SPEAKER_05: And and so this is a 2200 square foot reservoir.
20:39
SPEAKER_05: And and so what we're doing is we're gonna double the uh the space of MJ Pizzeria.
20:45
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna we're gonna reinvent the the bar and the kitchen.
20:49
SPEAKER_05: We're going to uh so we have this opportunity.
20:54
SPEAKER_05: Macadoodles wants to shrink and become more efficient, and we want to grow and and uh and explode our business.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna be more than doubling the size of your current location.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: We are.
21:04
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna have a private dining space, we're gonna have a double-line kitchen, we're gonna have dedicated pasta room, we're gonna have dedicated sauce room, we're gonna have additional cold storage, we're gonna get the basement, we're gonna have a huge wine cellar in the basement.
21:16
SPEAKER_05: There's a basement in that building?
21:18
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, because if you go into McIntosh and make the left, they have like the little wine cellar if you go down a flight of stairs.
21:23
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
21:24
SPEAKER_05: So we're gonna build a big, big uh wine by the bottle program.
21:29
SPEAKER_05: So everything that we've done so far is really hidden.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: Is it gonna be seating downstairs, or is it just gonna be wine cellars?
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: It's not a bad idea.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: Maybe little keys.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh, exclusive.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: So I didn't know.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: The one in Springdale, there's a basement?
21:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if you walk in and go to the left.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: I've never even seen that.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm too busy running around trying to get bourbon that Josh can't find.
21:55
SPEAKER_05: You you know you know you know where the honey holes are, right?
21:58
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
21:59
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
22:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
22:00
SPEAKER_05: And you know who to talk to over there.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:03
SPEAKER_05: Okay, good.
22:03
unknown: Yeah.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Talk to Shane, talk to Wes.
22:06
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: They'll lead you in the right direction.
22:08
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Wes Redhair.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Looks like the guy on the huge for you.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, incredible.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: Incredible.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to move.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: No, and you have a location that is easy for us.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: All of us live way up here.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: So it's easy to code to eat at your restaurant because it's literally right off the interstate.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't have another 30 minutes of driving once you get off.
22:33
SPEAKER_05: So in 2015, we didn't realize how good of a location this is for Benton and Washington County.
22:40
SPEAKER_05: There's a ton of people that meet, and guess what?
22:42
SPEAKER_05: We're right in the middle.
22:44
SPEAKER_05: Exit 73, just off Interstate 49, corner 48th Street, and Elm Springs Road.
22:49
SPEAKER_05: There we are.
22:50
SPEAKER_05: MJ Pizzeria.
22:51
SPEAKER_05: It's right there.
22:51
SPEAKER_05: It's easy to get on and off.
22:53
SPEAKER_05: We have a great lunch, we have a great dinner.
22:56
SPEAKER_05: Um, so parking.
22:58
SPEAKER_05: Yes, incredible parking.
22:59
SPEAKER_05: Tons of parking.
23:00
SPEAKER_05: Never run out of parking.
23:01
SPEAKER_05: And Aldi just added behind us, so they've got a huge parking lot.
23:05
SPEAKER_05: So we really have a and and they're cool.
23:07
SPEAKER_05: They're like, hey, sure, no problem.
23:08
SPEAKER_05: Roll over to us if you want to.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Now I love the location, and for us, it's it's nothing.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: They buzz down there.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Super convenient.
23:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the other piece that's interesting is you know, we got most of us have had kids at the university.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
23:21
SPEAKER_03: And Tarte flambey.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: By the way I don't know what's on that.
23:24
SPEAKER_03: This is Tarte Flambe.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: Tarte.
23:25
SPEAKER_05: Tarte flambey.
23:26
SPEAKER_05: Try it.
23:26
SPEAKER_05: It's amazing.
23:27
SPEAKER_05: This is the Alsatian style pizza from the from the edge of Germany and France called Alsace.
23:34
SPEAKER_05: And so what they do is they they make this white pizza.
23:37
SPEAKER_05: Okay, so we do a creme fraîche base, then the mozzarella blend that goes on, and then Arkansas bacon, sweet onions, and then I like to add Chef's version is fingerling potatoes.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: I love the potatoes.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: That takes me to another level.
23:54
SPEAKER_05: I'll take one.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, man.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
23:56
SPEAKER_04: King's can't mean R for the course.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: I was over here filling mine up by myself.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want any more than it's.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that great?
24:10
SPEAKER_01: No, it likes it.
24:11
SPEAKER_05: And then the next pizza, this is our number one pizza right here.
24:14
SPEAKER_05: This is the loaded meat pizza.
24:16
SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
24:16
SPEAKER_05: We make all the all the meat on here except for the pepperoni.
24:19
SPEAKER_05: I've got some buddies in uh in Chicago that that make the pepperoni pizza.
24:23
SPEAKER_03: You know who would love this loaded meat one?
24:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Bobby.
24:26
SPEAKER_03: Bobby.
24:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh poor Bobby.
24:28
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, Bob.
24:29
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, Bobby.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: It's so funny because I don't know.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Was he in no, he wasn't involved.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: You said who duly?
24:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: So we've had a few pizza plates on it before, and Rob gets up and he's like, oh, you know, I have a pizza oven, and I used to have my pizza, and I'm a New Yorker, and my go-to is pepper.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: And he loves MJ's pizza.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: He loves it.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: He is going to be kicking himself from business today.
24:54
SPEAKER_05: You guys ever do podcasts away from the from the studio?
24:58
SPEAKER_05: We're working on that.
24:59
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
24:59
SPEAKER_05: So sometimes you should do it at MJ.
25:02
SPEAKER_05: And and bring Rob and the whole team and we'll do it.
25:07
SPEAKER_05: We'll have some pizza live.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: We're kind of waiting until you get that.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: So when is the edition starting?
25:13
SPEAKER_05: So we're going to start in January.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: How long will you be?
25:17
SPEAKER_05: I'm saying I would love to be done in five months.
25:23
SPEAKER_05: Sounds like a big project.
25:24
SPEAKER_05: It's a big project.
25:25
SPEAKER_05: We're doing a lot.
25:26
SPEAKER_05: And and so I know what your next question is.
25:31
SPEAKER_05: So that's the next question always.
25:32
SPEAKER_05: And I love this.
25:33
SPEAKER_05: We're not closing.
25:34
SPEAKER_05: Oh, even better.
25:35
SPEAKER_05: I'm not closing.
25:37
SPEAKER_05: You know, Wolf of Wolf of Rawl Street.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not bleaking.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: I'm not blinking leaving.
25:44
SPEAKER_05: We're not closing.
25:45
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
25:46
SPEAKER_05: Perfect.
25:46
SPEAKER_05: I'm keeping this new.
25:47
SPEAKER_05: No disruption.
25:48
SPEAKER_05: Well, maybe disruption, but we're not closing.
25:52
SPEAKER_05: So I I don't want to close the business.
25:54
SPEAKER_05: I just want to say, hey, pardon us as we're doing this.
25:58
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
25:58
SPEAKER_05: And if we have to wall off the bar and and transition, then that's what we got to do.
26:04
SPEAKER_05: There's too many people that love this restaurant.
26:05
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
26:06
SPEAKER_05: We're too busy.
26:07
SPEAKER_05: I've got too great of a staff.
26:08
SPEAKER_05: I don't I don't want to.
26:10
SPEAKER_05: So if I've got to put a tent on the patio, that's what I'm doing to make this go.
26:14
SPEAKER_05: Cool.
26:15
SPEAKER_05: So that's what we're going to do.
26:16
SPEAKER_05: Did you pick a contract already?
26:17
SPEAKER_05: So I'm I'm I'm close.
26:20
SPEAKER_05: We're we're close.
26:21
SPEAKER_05: I've got a well-known contractor, and then I've got somebody that's really hungry that's that's really trying to get the job.
26:28
SPEAKER_05: We should talk about it offline.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: We should.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Bobby can.
26:33
SPEAKER_03: We're in the middle of building our second Gen's Place barbershop.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:37
SPEAKER_03: And we went through a big RFP process.
26:40
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
26:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I'll I'll give you my recommendation.
26:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that'd be great.
26:43
SPEAKER_05: I'd love that.
26:44
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, because it's important.
26:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
26:46
SPEAKER_05: This is this is major league important.
26:48
SPEAKER_05: And you know, restaurants aren't cheap, man.
26:50
SPEAKER_05: They're just not cheap.
26:52
SPEAKER_05: It's mechanical, electrical, plumbing, heavy, and then it's a heavy equipment package, and then you've got all the bells and whistles to go along with that, you know, CCTV and TVs and just everything that goes.
27:04
SPEAKER_05: HVAC is massive in restaurants.
27:07
SPEAKER_05: So it takes a lot, but uh, but we're good at it and and we love doing it.
27:13
SPEAKER_05: And this is my favorite part is the design and the development of it, and you know, developing the new recipes and developing the new plans.
27:20
SPEAKER_05: And what we'll end up with is a is a great new bathroom system.
27:24
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna not mess with this 24 seats right here.
27:26
SPEAKER_05: That'll be the same.
27:27
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna redevelop the the the kitchen line, we're going to redevelop the dish, the dough, the sauce, and the pasta rooms.
27:36
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
27:37
SPEAKER_05: The party room will have its own kitchen that'll that'll take care of it so that the the private so that the private is not interrupting regular service.
27:45
SPEAKER_05: And then we'll redevelop the uh the patio as well, and kind of the front of it.
27:50
SPEAKER_05: And the mayor was here the other night, and I got him to say, yeah, yeah, we're gonna do this.
27:55
SPEAKER_05: So I love it.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: Now is there do you already have a party room or no?
27:59
SPEAKER_05: No, we don't.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, I just know that I know that some of the other locations have a party room, and I was like, then I was double, I was like, do they have one?
28:10
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we've done these big restaurants, and this is the smallest, and but but the best performing restaurant we've ever done is the smallest one.
28:17
SPEAKER_05: Isn't that bizarre?
28:18
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, this is gonna be a really cool design and and uh redevelopment of the of the property.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: So that's gonna be you're gonna almost double your your seats, right?
28:27
SPEAKER_05: We are.
28:28
SPEAKER_05: We're going to have a 54-seat dining room, we're gonna have a 112-seat dining room and bar, we're gonna have 24 seats at the bar, and then we're gonna have about a 50-seat patio.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: So that's gonna be and then downstairs to be the curtain.
28:42
SPEAKER_05: Downstairs, downstairs is gonna be uh some storage and some uh some beer, uh all full kegs this time.
28:51
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna do a scissor lift.
28:52
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna have a big storage room and we're gonna have tons of wine.
28:55
SPEAKER_05: This is enough uh storage for 4,000 bottles of wine right there.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: How much would it cost me if I wanted to put in a Murphy bed down there for myself?
29:03
SPEAKER_05: Well, see, this this room right here closes off.
29:05
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, it's gonna be cool.
29:08
SPEAKER_05: You're gonna have like 64 degrees here year-round so that we can keep that wine nice.
29:13
SPEAKER_05: But I think right here might be a nice little table right there, right in the metal.
29:16
SPEAKER_05: Poker night?
29:17
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a little speakeasy thing.
29:20
SPEAKER_03: We may have to see if Rob wants to pay for like this area sponsored by Rob Nelson, have his own couple seats at the bar.
29:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no problem.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: Right?
29:27
SPEAKER_03: We put a big black right here, Rob Nelson, black.
29:29
SPEAKER_03: Like Norman Cheers.
29:31
SPEAKER_02: You can walk in and Bob Bang!
29:35
SPEAKER_05: I love that pizza.
29:37
SPEAKER_05: This meat loaded meat.
29:38
SPEAKER_05: The meat one is unbelievable.
29:39
SPEAKER_05: Loaded meat.
29:40
SPEAKER_05: We sell so much of that.
29:41
SPEAKER_05: So good.
29:42
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, pepperoni.
29:43
SPEAKER_05: That's a popular one.
29:44
SPEAKER_05: Pepperoni's great, isn't it?
29:46
SPEAKER_02: So good.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: All very good.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: Where do you get it from?
29:48
SPEAKER_02: Chicago, you said?
29:49
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
29:50
SPEAKER_05: A couple brothers up there making some making some pepperoni for us, shipping it to us.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: So obviously, we've talked a lot about um like the explosion.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: In the area from a development standpoint, in a lot in Bentonville, we see a lot in Rogers.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: So you're down in Springdale.
30:05
SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about what's going on down there.
30:07
SPEAKER_02: Because I know there's a lot of activity in up here in Bentonville, Rogers area.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: We might not hear about it as much.
30:13
SPEAKER_05: So I love what's happening in our little core uh our little corner.
30:17
SPEAKER_05: And so, you know, there's a there's a big medical push.
30:21
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
30:22
SPEAKER_05: The Georges and the Tysons, they're all putting their money into, you know, children's hospital.
30:27
SPEAKER_05: They've already doubled children's hospital, they're adding on again.
30:30
SPEAKER_05: There's there's more and more medical coming.
30:33
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
30:33
SPEAKER_05: We love that.
30:34
SPEAKER_05: Mercy's right across the street from us.
30:36
SPEAKER_05: There's a thousand apartments that are about to open.
30:39
SPEAKER_05: There's hundreds of homes that are being built.
30:42
SPEAKER_05: Hundreds.
30:43
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
30:43
SPEAKER_05: Gene George is going to come through to Wagon Wheel Road.
30:47
SPEAKER_05: It's it's going to tie the whole neighborhood that's already developed and wagon wheel easily down to us.
30:53
SPEAKER_05: And just all the development that's happening on 412.
30:56
SPEAKER_05: And that's going to be easy to get to us.
30:58
SPEAKER_05: And then, you know, uh the existing neighborhoods are amazing.
31:03
SPEAKER_05: We have a ton of people that that come all the time from those neighborhoods that are surrounding us.
31:08
SPEAKER_05: All your regulars.
31:09
SPEAKER_05: All of our regulars, yeah.
31:11
SPEAKER_05: You know, they treat it as their country club.
31:12
SPEAKER_05: They they see, you know, everybody sees each other.
31:15
SPEAKER_05: Hey, how's it going?
31:16
SPEAKER_05: You guys take the kids home tonight.
31:18
SPEAKER_05: We're going to stay late.
31:19
SPEAKER_05: We'll switch with you next time.
31:21
SPEAKER_05: You know, just everybody knows, you know, it's it's a local hangout.
31:24
SPEAKER_05: It's I love what's happened here.
31:26
SPEAKER_05: This is and are you there on a regular basis?
31:28
SPEAKER_05: I'm there almost every day, yeah.
31:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:30
SPEAKER_05: If we're if if I'm out of town, we're in Florida, at our property in Florida, at our home down there, and we don't do much else besides go to Florida and and come back and work a lot.
31:40
SPEAKER_03: Do you invite your friends to your home in Florida?
31:41
SPEAKER_03: Because others in this room that have a home in Florida typically don't invite?
31:46
SPEAKER_03: They typically don't.
31:47
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: They typically don't.
31:49
SPEAKER_03: It's an open invite.
31:50
SPEAKER_03: And they send pictures of all the good bourbon they're drinking, and they're like, oh, well, that's what's wonderful.
31:54
SPEAKER_03: Thanks for the invite.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: So you you do invite your friends?
31:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we we do.
31:57
SPEAKER_05: There's a little barbecue, there's a beautiful pool.
31:59
SPEAKER_05: We're right on Biscayne Bay.
32:01
SPEAKER_05: It's us in the iguanas.
32:02
SPEAKER_05: It's great.
32:03
SPEAKER_05: Sounds wonderful.
32:04
SPEAKER_05: It is good.
32:05
SPEAKER_05: I love some biscuits.
32:05
SPEAKER_05: It's a nice little uh Biscayne Bay is beautiful.
32:07
SPEAKER_05: Is that where you're held there?
32:09
SPEAKER_05: Where are you?
32:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm on the West Coast.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: We're in Panagordo.
32:17
SPEAKER_05: Nice.
32:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's it's it's changed a lot.
32:20
SPEAKER_05: Um our little neck of the woods has become it used to be South American banks and and just a ton of Cuban influence, Cuban food, and so now it's just international and it's just exploded.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: And it's fun.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: We went we went to Miami for the boat show.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: Like a year ago.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: A year or two ago.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: And Carrie and I were like, it would be fun just to stay at a place there for like a month or two and just all the little the little restaurants and shops down there.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: It's it's awesome.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: We we love it.
32:54
SPEAKER_05: 8th Street Kayocho, it's it's amazing.
32:56
SPEAKER_05: It's it's really good.
32:58
SPEAKER_05: There's so there's such good food there.
33:00
SPEAKER_05: There's there's always been great food.
33:02
SPEAKER_05: Now there's great art.
33:03
SPEAKER_05: Now there's great shopping.
33:05
SPEAKER_05: There's there's just a lot to do.
33:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
33:06
SPEAKER_03: Can we break some news on the podcast here?
33:08
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
33:09
SPEAKER_03: That you're gonna open up a restaurant in Florida?
33:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, let's do it.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: Come on.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: We'll put the well the four of us.
33:13
SPEAKER_05: We'll put we'll just put it in the middle of the table.
33:16
SPEAKER_05: Let's do it.
33:16
SPEAKER_05: Well, we'll have to have Bobby get in because he likes pizza breaths.
33:19
SPEAKER_05: Oh, just a five, 20% each.
33:21
SPEAKER_05: There we go.
33:22
SPEAKER_05: Let's do it.
33:23
SPEAKER_03: Bobby's gonna negotiate for 25 somehow.
33:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
33:26
SPEAKER_05: Knock Jim out.
33:29
SPEAKER_05: There's always space, you know, there's always space available.
33:32
SPEAKER_05: Restaurants, you know, either hit or they don't down there, and you know quick.
33:36
SPEAKER_05: So uh I'd love to go to Joe's Stone Crab.
33:39
SPEAKER_05: That's that's amazing.
33:40
SPEAKER_05: When you guys come down, we'll we'll have to take you to Joe's.
33:42
SPEAKER_05: So it's like an invite.
33:43
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, then we just met box.
33:45
SPEAKER_05: I I know everybody at Joe's.
33:46
SPEAKER_05: We've been going for years.
33:48
SPEAKER_05: I'm surprised because you seem so shy and reserved.
33:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you hard to get a word out if you really talk.
33:53
SPEAKER_05: It is.
33:54
SPEAKER_05: My father-in-law took me to Joe's the first time, okay?
33:57
SPEAKER_05: And uh and he's like, I'm gonna take you to this great restaurant.
34:00
SPEAKER_05: It's amazing.
34:00
SPEAKER_05: They make Jimmy Buffett wait, okay?
34:03
SPEAKER_05: So we we walked in, there's a huge bar, you do the thing, you put your name on the list, and you wait, and you wait and you wait.
34:10
SPEAKER_05: The Matre D does one of these to me.
34:14
SPEAKER_05: He's like, hey, come here, come here.
34:16
SPEAKER_05: I'm like, me?
34:18
SPEAKER_05: He's like, yeah, big, big guy.
34:20
SPEAKER_05: His name's Bones.
34:22
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
34:22
SPEAKER_05: He runs the door, right?
34:24
SPEAKER_05: He's a great, huge uh uh Miami Dolphin fan.
34:29
SPEAKER_05: Well, okay.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: We won't hold that against J-E-T S, Jets, Jets.
34:33
SPEAKER_05: Right, right, right.
34:35
SPEAKER_05: So Bones is doing this, and he's like, didn't you play for the Dolphins?
34:40
SPEAKER_05: And I'm I'm like, yeah, yeah, I played for the Dolphins.
34:43
SPEAKER_05: He's like right this way.
34:45
SPEAKER_04: We can see this.
34:47
SPEAKER_05: The first time my father-in-law takes me there, he's like, Who are you?
34:50
SPEAKER_05: What is this?
34:52
SPEAKER_05: Why did we just get sad at Joe's Stone Crab in five minutes, you know?
34:56
SPEAKER_05: So that's fun.
34:57
SPEAKER_05: That's fine.
34:58
SPEAKER_05: Would you try that?
34:59
SPEAKER_05: Bones can drink a lot of Budweiser.
35:01
SPEAKER_05: He's a he's a he's a lot of fun to go to a Dolphins game with.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: I'll bet he, I'll bet he.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: So Jets, Dolphins, we'll go.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: Based on the week one, he probably had a lot of beer during week one because the Dolphins.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: My God, they were the only team worse than the Jets.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: Well, let's just say that the Jets are the Jets disappointed because they were in, they were winning the whole way until I don't want to talk about that.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk more about that.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: So obviously you have a loyal following down at MJ's.
35:26
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we do.
35:27
SPEAKER_05: We have people we have people that that have uh it took a moment.
35:32
SPEAKER_05: We didn't go Miles James Pizzeria, you know.
35:35
SPEAKER_05: We did MJ, right?
35:36
SPEAKER_05: Pizzeria.
35:37
SPEAKER_05: And I just wanted the place to speak for itself.
35:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I thought Michael Jordan owned this.
35:40
SPEAKER_05: Michael Jordan.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: I thought MJ was from Michael Jordan.
35:43
SPEAKER_05: That's why he did that.
35:44
SPEAKER_05: He wanted to make part of the Spider-Man's girlfriend.
35:46
SPEAKER_05: He wanted people to wonder what it was.
35:49
SPEAKER_05: But people figured it out.
35:50
SPEAKER_05: It's been 10 years now.
35:51
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, now they understand, hey, this is Chef Miles' place, and they know that they can come in there and get quality.
35:59
SPEAKER_05: Great service, great consistent food, great atmosphere.
36:03
SPEAKER_02: So, question as you're doing this renovation, you obviously want to stay true to the core and keep the people at every set, but you also probably want to do some new menu additions and you know try to make it a little bit more attractive, get a broader audience.
36:18
SPEAKER_02: How do you balance those two things?
36:20
SPEAKER_05: So we have 10 burners.
36:23
SPEAKER_04: Great.
36:24
SPEAKER_04: I love this.
36:24
SPEAKER_04: Great question.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: I just needed to ask you a question so I could take another bite of beef.
36:30
SPEAKER_04: You guys keep me talking, but I can't eat pizza.
36:32
SPEAKER_04: And you guys eat pizza.
36:33
SPEAKER_05: You see what we're doing here?
36:34
SPEAKER_05: You talk, we eat.
36:36
SPEAKER_05: So one of the challenges when we first opened this restaurant was we had a small budget.
36:41
SPEAKER_05: We'd bootstrap this thing, right?
36:42
SPEAKER_05: And so I ended up with a two-burner stock stove.
36:46
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
36:46
SPEAKER_05: It's a low boy, it's got big burners, and then we step up and we've got a tin burner with two convection ovens below it.
36:53
SPEAKER_05: Then a pizza oven.
36:55
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
36:56
SPEAKER_05: That's it.
36:57
SPEAKER_05: That's all we have.
36:58
SPEAKER_05: That's the that's where we cook cakes, that's where we cook cookies.
37:02
SPEAKER_05: If a twil batter is stretched on a little silpat and cooked off, that's that's where we do it.
37:08
SPEAKER_05: Sausages, meatballs, every single thing every day fresh.
37:13
SPEAKER_05: So I'm excited to have some more firepower in this renovation.
37:18
SPEAKER_05: And so to be able to build a a cooking line that it look at this.
37:25
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: I hope we're kind of overcompensating for our first 20 burners in there, plus the the other ones.
37:32
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so we're redundant on the back line.
37:34
SPEAKER_05: Everything that we've got on the front, we we do again on the back.
37:38
SPEAKER_05: And I've got some some other equipment back there that's just slightly different.
37:42
SPEAKER_05: But here's the main thing.
37:43
SPEAKER_05: I want to still be a pizzeria, okay?
37:46
SPEAKER_05: I still want our pizza to be core, and I want people to be, I still want it to be this casual, fun place that come as you are, and I really mean it.
37:54
SPEAKER_05: People come in there in flip-flops and t-shirts, and you know, it's cool.
37:58
SPEAKER_05: It's fine.
37:59
SPEAKER_05: You don't have to dress up, but I want the food to be elevated, right?
38:03
SPEAKER_05: So I want this great pizza.
38:05
SPEAKER_05: You know, recently, I don't know if you guys know this, but it's been almost a year we've had a filet on the menu.
38:11
SPEAKER_05: You know?
38:11
SPEAKER_05: I didn't do it.
38:12
SPEAKER_05: So I don't get past the pizza.
38:14
SPEAKER_05: 48th Street Filet, okay, is on the menu.
38:17
SPEAKER_05: And I'm talking 10 or 11 ounce prime filet, a big chunk of it, and potato galette, and green beans, two sauces.
38:26
SPEAKER_02: Are there seats available tonight?
38:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: I'll make sure.
38:30
SPEAKER_02: We'll get bones to get us a seat.
38:32
SPEAKER_02: Bones.
38:33
SPEAKER_05: Bones is in.
38:35
SPEAKER_05: So so for us to be able to come back and go, you know, pasta cooker, two six burners, two fryers, a landing station, a wood burning grill, an incredible three-deck new pizza oven, a pizza build station, then flip to the backside, two burner, stock stove, tin burner, two convections below, fryer through that kitchen and be like a kid in a candy store.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: He would love that.
39:01
SPEAKER_05: Chefs are gonna walk in here and go, dude, what is up?
39:04
SPEAKER_05: You know, this is great.
39:05
SPEAKER_05: Uh two wood-burning grills, a double stack convection, a double stack deck, a dedicated pasta station, dedicated uh pastry station.
39:14
SPEAKER_05: So it's gonna be fun.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: I love listening to how excited.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: He is excited, I love that.
39:19
SPEAKER_01: About just talking about the kitchen.
39:20
SPEAKER_05: It is nice.
39:21
SPEAKER_05: It is nice.
39:22
SPEAKER_05: And this bar is gonna be so we're we're we're working with this group and uh these guys that I've been involved with with design and all of our projects.
39:32
SPEAKER_05: Uh Melissa and Jamie in in Little Rock.
39:34
SPEAKER_05: Uh Melissa the other day, we're on the she's got her screen up and she's in Little Rock, and I'm here.
39:39
SPEAKER_05: We're sharing a screen, and she's like, Have you heard of Glass Tender?
39:43
SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, No, I haven't heard of Glass Tender.
39:45
SPEAKER_05: So she's like, Let's build a bar.
39:47
SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, Yes.
39:49
SPEAKER_05: So she takes me to their site, it's all 3D.
39:52
SPEAKER_05: You start plugging, you start playing with this, with this equipment, and uh I am so impressed with this company, Glass Tender, that is gonna build this bar for us.
40:03
SPEAKER_05: It's gonna be amazing.
40:04
SPEAKER_05: It's like down to the millimeter.
40:06
SPEAKER_05: I'm sure it's gonna be a slightly expensive project.
40:09
SPEAKER_05: So uh the numbers are are looking like uh it's gonna be, you know, at least what I spent on the entire project to begin, right?
40:18
SPEAKER_05: Probably that again.
40:20
SPEAKER_05: So we spent$850,000 the first time to build MJ Pizzeria.
40:25
SPEAKER_05: That's the patio, that's everything, right?
40:27
SPEAKER_05: There was nothing there.
40:28
SPEAKER_05: It was it was a warehouse.
40:30
SPEAKER_03: It was now the reason I'm asking this is because Matt's war is gonna be a price increase on the pizza.
40:34
SPEAKER_03: Like he's like, I'm gonna end up paying for the phone.
40:36
SPEAKER_05: No, actually, what I was in 10 years we've done four price increases.
40:41
SPEAKER_05: In 10 years.
40:41
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
40:42
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
40:43
SPEAKER_05: So reasonable.
40:44
SPEAKER_05: Right, it is.
40:44
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, very good.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna ask since he's gonna be so busy.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, I could probably buzz down to Biscayne and check on the house, flush the toilet.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: I gotta flush the toilet to make sure everything's okay.
40:56
SPEAKER_04: You can go on your phone and turn the AC on before you get there now, which is great.
41:01
SPEAKER_04: I mean, like, why am I sweating now here?
41:03
SPEAKER_01: Miles shut the AC up again.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: He's like, the addition's killing me.
41:11
SPEAKER_04: He's the friend that you know, yeah.
41:13
SPEAKER_04: Can I tell you where the key is?
41:16
SPEAKER_04: You go in the hallway and you reach that's that's where the key is.
41:21
SPEAKER_03: But this bill is gonna, yeah, it's gonna make sure he can't get the air conditioning to a cool.
41:25
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be a monster.
41:27
SPEAKER_05: So 32 seats right around the bar, open kitchen, wood burning grill, private dining space, beautiful patio right over here.
41:34
SPEAKER_05: How many people in the private dining space?
41:36
SPEAKER_05: 54 seated and and a hundred, maybe a hundred and ten standing.
41:40
SPEAKER_05: So you're talking about events.
41:41
SPEAKER_05: You're talking about the.
41:42
SPEAKER_05: Oh, we're talking events, baby.
41:43
SPEAKER_05: We're doing events.
41:44
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
41:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
41:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
41:45
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna have an event coordinator, we're gonna have events settings.
41:50
SPEAKER_05: Hey Zach, how's it going, man?
41:52
SPEAKER_05: Miles, do you have space tonight at MJP3?
41:56
SPEAKER_05: I think that's what that's obscure.
41:58
SPEAKER_02: That's what it says.
41:59
SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Zach interrupting our podcast.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: Let's see what he said.
42:02
SPEAKER_02: He's probably got the room bugged.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: He heard there were fillets down there.
42:04
SPEAKER_02: I better get seats before those guys take them.
42:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
42:08
SPEAKER_05: He wants my email address.
42:09
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
42:10
SPEAKER_05: I'll send it to him in a little bit.
42:11
SPEAKER_03: But it feels like a great location for uh holiday parties.
42:14
SPEAKER_03: That's that room will be fantastic.
42:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so when you talk to the city officials in Springdale and you tell them, hey, we're gonna do a private space, they light up.
42:25
SPEAKER_05: They're like, we can have a meeting here, we can have an event here.
42:29
SPEAKER_05: So I just think, and and so Monday, this this last Monday, we expected some people to show up.
42:37
SPEAKER_05: Okay, we put it out there a couple months in advance that we're doing this this little private party.
42:42
SPEAKER_05: And uh we had over 200 people before 6 p.m.
42:46
SPEAKER_05: The party opened at 6.
42:48
SPEAKER_05: We had two over 200 people before 6.
42:51
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
42:52
SPEAKER_05: I mean, great turnout.
42:53
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, incredible turnout.
42:55
SPEAKER_05: On a night that you were closed, because on a Monday.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: On a Monday.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, which Monday traditionally now.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:03
SPEAKER_05: No, not good for a restaurant.
43:05
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, uh, yes, we're gonna do parties and we're gonna have special menus and we're gonna do wine pairings, and we're gonna do bourbon pairings, and we're gonna do bourbon dinners.
43:14
SPEAKER_05: Sounds great.
43:15
SPEAKER_05: Yep.
43:15
SPEAKER_03: Feels like the B team 2026 holiday party.
43:18
SPEAKER_03: Right?
43:18
SPEAKER_00: I know, right?
43:19
SPEAKER_01: Love it or four of us at our spouse's.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: I think we could have it this year just to talk about next year's.
43:25
SPEAKER_02: It's not a bad idea.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, now we feel like a meal and Cory.
43:29
SPEAKER_02: That's all right.
43:31
SPEAKER_02: All right, I have I have one last question here.
43:33
SPEAKER_02: Sir, yes.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: So pizza.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pizza.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: I'm from New York.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: I have I have passion about pizza.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: Jersey pizza, you know, Northeast, it's like hey, pizza's pizza's different, right?
43:45
SPEAKER_02: So I've heard the most important thing is good crust.
43:49
SPEAKER_02: I've heard the most important thing is use really good cheeses, I've heard the most important thing is the sauce, I've heard the most important thing is the right ovens, I've heard the right the most important thing is having the right water.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: What is the most important thing to make in a great pie?
44:01
SPEAKER_02: He's no Bobby.
44:02
SPEAKER_05: So the most important thing for us is is the consistency in the dough and the consistency of the toppings.
44:07
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
44:08
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
44:08
SPEAKER_05: So we work extremely hard every single day, every single day fresh, sausage, make it every day.
44:15
SPEAKER_05: Meatballs, make it every day, okay?
44:18
SPEAKER_05: Sauce every day.
44:19
SPEAKER_05: Uh we're grinding our cheese.
44:21
SPEAKER_05: We're we're we're making the dough three days in advance.
44:25
SPEAKER_05: That's the sweet spot.
44:27
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
44:28
SPEAKER_02: Um and how hot do the ovens get?
44:30
SPEAKER_05: So we're currently a wood-burning pizza oven restaurant.
44:33
SPEAKER_05: We cook at about 580 to 620.
44:38
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
44:38
SPEAKER_05: So what happens is allow it.
44:41
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
44:42
SPEAKER_05: You get busy, right?
44:44
SPEAKER_05: And the stone just sucks the heat, right?
44:48
SPEAKER_05: The pizza goes in and it just so we're trying to get that dough out like two hours before we need it.
44:55
SPEAKER_05: So it's almost up or up to room temperature.
44:58
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
44:58
SPEAKER_05: And then the ingredients, they're cold, they're going on top, you know, the health code, it's right on top, it's cold, it's you know, 38 degrees, 35 degrees, and and so that just, you know, that slows you down.
45:11
SPEAKER_05: So one of the things that we've been working on is some tech in the kitchen on the pizza oven.
45:17
SPEAKER_05: So we found these guys that are making this electric oven and it is out of control and it recovers so quickly.
45:25
SPEAKER_05: So they say we can get the oven up, and I'm not going to do this type of pizza, but they say we can get the oven up to 900 degrees in 30 minutes from room temp.
45:35
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
45:36
SPEAKER_05: So it's fast.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: Because that the fire one, that's a a day, right?
45:40
SPEAKER_05: To get it to We go in on Mondays on our day off and we start a fire just to keep it, just to keep it up, just to keep it going.
45:47
SPEAKER_03: Crazy.
45:49
SPEAKER_03: You say we, you, or you have your own.
45:51
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:51
SPEAKER_05: Walter or myself, you know, we're going in there on Mondays.
45:55
SPEAKER_05: It's a good day to look around and we clean.
45:58
SPEAKER_05: We clean like crazy on Mondays.
45:59
SPEAKER_05: We pay a lot of money to clean.
46:01
SPEAKER_05: We want a clean restaurant.
46:02
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
46:03
SPEAKER_05: And uh, you know, we're doing things in there on Mondays, and the phone's ringing, and I'm answering the phone, going, hey man, I'm sorry, we're closed today.
46:10
SPEAKER_05: Can I get you, you know, tomorrow?
46:12
SPEAKER_05: Can I get you Saturday?
46:13
SPEAKER_05: Can I get you Wednesday?
46:14
SPEAKER_05: You know.
46:15
SPEAKER_05: So um, yeah.
46:18
SPEAKER_05: It's uh it's one of the best things we've done.
46:21
SPEAKER_05: It's close on a Monday.
46:22
SPEAKER_05: Uh we were seven days a week pre-COVID and post-COVID, we're doing so much better on Monday.
46:29
SPEAKER_03: Is Monday the only day you're closed?
46:31
SPEAKER_03: That's the only day we're closed.
46:32
SPEAKER_03: Sundays are open.
46:32
SPEAKER_03: Sunday open.
46:33
SPEAKER_03: Saturday busy.
46:34
SPEAKER_05: Sunday's busy, bro.
46:36
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I bet.
46:36
SPEAKER_05: Sunday.
46:37
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
46:38
SPEAKER_05: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
46:40
SPEAKER_05: Busy.
46:41
SPEAKER_05: Tuesday, almost every Tuesday's busy.
46:43
SPEAKER_05: Sometimes not.
46:44
SPEAKER_05: Wednesday, almost every Wednesday's busy.
46:46
SPEAKER_05: Sometimes the other thing too is there's not a ton of seating.
46:50
SPEAKER_03: You're not a 6,000 square foot restaurant yet.
46:52
SPEAKER_03: So you come in and it's full and you're typically waiting, which is a wonderful thing to see if you drop in, oh, there's a line out there.
46:58
SPEAKER_03: It must be really good food, right?
46:59
SPEAKER_03: Right.
46:59
SPEAKER_03: Now when you're gonna expand, I mean 24-seat bar.
47:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's incredible.
47:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:04
SPEAKER_05: And a in a portion of the bar with no seats where you can just walk up and still get service.
47:10
SPEAKER_05: Still get full service walk standing.
47:13
SPEAKER_05: Okay, I love that.
47:14
SPEAKER_05: I love that portion of the bar that you can do that.
47:17
SPEAKER_05: And the thing that we'll miss is that, you know, that wall of bourbon that we have in the restaurant.
47:24
SPEAKER_05: And so a couple of years ago, a really good customer, um uh Hayden and and Tatum, Tatum, uh, came to me and they said, Hey, you know, we love your bourbon, you've got a few good bourbons, but we want you to get really serious about bourbon.
47:38
SPEAKER_05: I'm like, I thought we were serious about bourbon.
47:40
SPEAKER_05: I was like, You're not really serious about it.
47:43
SPEAKER_05: You're not serious about bourbon.
47:44
SPEAKER_05: And they told me straight up, and they're and they're good customers, and we're friends, and they told me they're like, you only have like eight bourbons that we like.
47:53
SPEAKER_05: You know, you've got maybe 15 bourbons, but you need to really step up your game.
47:58
SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, okay.
48:00
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
48:00
SPEAKER_05: So we did, and now we have a bourbon following.
48:05
SPEAKER_05: People come in for our bourbon list, which is I got a wall of bourbon, you know.
48:12
SPEAKER_05: So I probably have like 40, 45.
48:16
SPEAKER_05: That's great.
48:17
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, not bad.
48:18
SPEAKER_05: We recently got some steps in the bar, little uplit steps, and I've been putting everything fine there.
48:24
SPEAKER_05: So on this Monday party, some of my guys in the bar came to me and they go, Hey Chef, we got an idea.
48:30
SPEAKER_05: What do you think?
48:31
SPEAKER_05: And they said, What if we take all of our high-end stuff and set it on the bar?
48:34
SPEAKER_05: I'm like, okay, let's do it.
48:36
SPEAKER_05: Let's set it on the bar.
48:38
SPEAKER_05: Like right on the bar.
48:39
SPEAKER_05: For the party.
48:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for the party.
48:41
SPEAKER_05: So it was an open, you know, open party.
48:45
SPEAKER_05: Well, we're gonna we're gonna make you drink.
48:47
SPEAKER_05: We're gonna pour, you know, we're gonna portion control, but but these are some of the things that we're excited about, right?
48:54
SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
48:55
SPEAKER_05: Oh my just like people are like, I didn't know you had that.
48:59
SPEAKER_05: I want that, you know.
49:00
SPEAKER_05: I want that, I want that kernel, I want that double-oaked, I want that, you know.
49:05
SPEAKER_03: Well, what's interesting is we're we're all big bourbon drinkers here, and we're on a lot of the local bourbon pages, and once or twice a month, somebody goes, I'm looking for a good restaurant where they have the best bourbon bar.
49:14
SPEAKER_03: And everybody says, go here, go here, go here, go here.
49:16
SPEAKER_03: They talk like the place, the the the burger place down in Fayetteville, uh, Hugo's downstairs.
49:21
SPEAKER_03: They're known for their bourbon selection.
49:23
SPEAKER_03: Incredible bourbon selection.
49:24
SPEAKER_03: So people always go, I'm gonna go down there because and it's I mean, it's all top shelf.
49:28
SPEAKER_03: So that's important that as you're gonna expand to continue to to do that.
49:32
SPEAKER_03: I think so too.
49:33
SPEAKER_05: So one of the things we lose in the bar is there's no there's no wall.
49:39
SPEAKER_05: It's all in the round now.
49:41
SPEAKER_05: Forget it, we're not coming.
49:42
SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
49:46
SPEAKER_05: So I'm thinking like this wall over here will just stack with bourbon, and we'll just run over there if we need it, right?
49:52
SPEAKER_05: And then we'll do these displays.
49:55
SPEAKER_05: One of the one of the greatest restaurant groups in the nation is called Hillstone Restaurant Group.
50:00
SPEAKER_05: Shout out to Hillstone.
50:01
SPEAKER_05: Hillstone's amazing.
50:02
SPEAKER_05: They are consistent, their staff is amazing, their product is incredible.
50:06
SPEAKER_05: It's not Michelin star food, but it's good food, and it's consistent, and their staff is amazing, and their offerings are amazing.
50:14
SPEAKER_05: So Hillstone does a great job.
50:16
SPEAKER_05: They do kind of this bar all the time, and what they do is that step, that two or three step thing, and they face the bottles towards the customers, like my guys at the bar the other night did that really worked for us on that Monday that we're closed, that we're having an event.
50:30
SPEAKER_05: So I think that's what we're gonna do.
50:32
SPEAKER_05: Cool.
50:32
SPEAKER_05: It's gonna be exciting.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you go you've got to put it out there and not hide it in the back.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: No, that's then people see it and they're like, oh, I want to try that.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: Something to be proud of.
50:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
50:40
SPEAKER_03: Miles, I have to ask my question.
50:42
SPEAKER_03: If Rob was here, we'd lean over to Rob and Rob would say, for the viewers at home, you know exactly where I'm going.
50:48
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I know where you're going.
50:49
SPEAKER_03: If somebody comes into MJ's and said, I heard the podcast, the B Team Podcast, what discount can you offer?
50:55
SPEAKER_03: Can you do something that says 10% off an appetizer?
50:59
SPEAKER_03: Can you do like what can you do for somebody that walks in and goes, I heard the B Team podcast?
51:03
SPEAKER_03: That's a Bobby question, right?
51:04
SPEAKER_03: From now until the end of the year, 25% off your bill.
51:06
SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
51:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna live there basically.
51:14
SPEAKER_02: I thought it was gonna be, you know, chips with your vertichoke dip.
51:19
SPEAKER_03: Chips are free.
51:20
SPEAKER_03: We need some stuff.
51:21
SPEAKER_03: That's stupid.
51:22
SPEAKER_03: How about uh half off an appetizer?
51:25
SPEAKER_03: Half off an appetizer is easy.
51:27
SPEAKER_03: Easy.
51:27
SPEAKER_03: All right, there you go, Matthew.
51:28
SPEAKER_05: And when you go in, about half off an appetizer.
51:30
SPEAKER_05: If you order an half and an entree, you get a free dessert.
51:34
SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, you have to do it.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: So what desserts do you have?
51:38
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: We didn't even get into it.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
51:40
SPEAKER_05: Have you not seen our chocolate cake?
51:41
SPEAKER_05: This may be like this.
51:42
SPEAKER_02: This may become a two-parter.
51:44
SPEAKER_05: It's incredible.
51:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
51:45
SPEAKER_05: The chocolate cake's amazing.
51:47
SPEAKER_05: Uh we're we're always playing around with the desserts.
51:49
SPEAKER_05: We always have specials.
51:50
SPEAKER_05: Cheesecake?
51:51
SPEAKER_05: Incredible.
51:52
SPEAKER_05: Let's go.
51:53
SPEAKER_05: Off the charts cheesecake.
51:55
SPEAKER_05: Let's go.
51:57
SPEAKER_05: Beautiful.
51:58
SPEAKER_05: Gorgeous little apple tart that we're working on right now.
52:01
SPEAKER_05: Crim brulee changes, always mixing up the flavors, changing it up.
52:06
SPEAKER_05: Sorbet's ice creams made in-house, all the cookies made in house.
52:10
SPEAKER_02: You've done this restaurant thing once or twice.
52:12
SPEAKER_03: What it feels like is Matten Carrier going to show up and be like, you know, we're going to cover dessert tonight.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: We're going to cover dessert.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: It's free for the BT podcast.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: That's what's so like so neat about going to Miles Pizza Place is he like you put like a nice restaurant mixed in with the pizza place.
52:31
SPEAKER_02: Like you get.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: From appetizers to desserts, he's got a lot of people.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: And I didn't even know about the steak.
52:36
SPEAKER_01: So our allergic either.
52:39
SPEAKER_01: She's allergic to milk and eggs.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: So she and but she loves steaks.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: So now I we can go pizza and not like enough steak.
52:46
SPEAKER_05: Everybody's a winner.
52:47
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
52:48
SPEAKER_05: Let me show you a little bit of our expansion menu.
52:52
SPEAKER_05: This is uh feels like you're breaking news here again for the video.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: Share this on the podcast website.
52:58
SPEAKER_02: All right.
52:59
SPEAKER_02: What do we got here?
53:01
SPEAKER_05: It's here.
53:03
SPEAKER_05: Here we go.
53:04
SPEAKER_05: MJ Remodel menu.
53:07
SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Holy moly.
53:10
SPEAKER_02: Jeez.
53:10
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so come down here to Corey's shopping list on Amazon.
53:14
SPEAKER_05: Come down here to bar snacks.
53:16
SPEAKER_05: Just read some of the breaking news those bar snacks.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: Deviled eggs with crispy capers.
53:22
SPEAKER_01: I love snacks.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: I love deviled eggs.
53:24
SPEAKER_01: Warm nuts, that'd be good for you guys.
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Crab cakes, calamari, croquettes, onion rings.
53:33
SPEAKER_05: Moroccan barbecue.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: Don't put big words in front of it.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: Lobster roll.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: Lobster.
53:37
SPEAKER_02: Lobster roll.
53:38
SPEAKER_02: Lobster?
53:38
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I'm gonna throw out this one right here.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna lie.
53:44
SPEAKER_05: Roman-style tar flambe.
53:45
SPEAKER_05: We did those on Monday.
53:46
SPEAKER_05: Big hit.
53:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:48
SPEAKER_05: Wow, what a child.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: There's so many seared meats, the artichoke dip.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Right here.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: Here's the burger.
53:54
SPEAKER_05: Signature 48th Street burger.
53:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: On the road.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that would that'll a filet burger.
54:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
54:00
SPEAKER_05: Oh, in.
54:01
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
54:03
SPEAKER_05: Bonnie sandwich.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: Gas.
54:05
SPEAKER_05: Duo foie gras.
54:06
SPEAKER_05: Foie grasp.
54:07
SPEAKER_05: That's a big menu.
54:09
SPEAKER_05: And a sliced and that's a huge menu.
54:12
SPEAKER_03: That's bar snacks.
54:13
SPEAKER_03: That's just a bar.
54:15
SPEAKER_03: That's just a bar stick.
54:16
SPEAKER_03: You have to give it to somebody that can read.
54:17
SPEAKER_03: You did a good job there.
54:18
SPEAKER_02: Miles.
54:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be honest.
54:20
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna have to prove it to me on the lobster roll.
54:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying.
54:23
SPEAKER_02: Hey, do you like cousins?
54:25
SPEAKER_05: Have you had cousins?
54:26
SPEAKER_05: I have not.
54:26
SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
54:27
SPEAKER_05: These guys are amazing.
54:28
SPEAKER_05: In Maine?
54:29
SPEAKER_05: Now, do you do it hot or cold, however they want it?
54:32
SPEAKER_05: I'm a cold guy.
54:33
SPEAKER_05: Yes, of course.
54:34
SPEAKER_01: I like a cold ticket.
54:36
SPEAKER_05: Look, if you want it hot, we'll go hot.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: We'll defend your right to be wrong.
54:42
SPEAKER_02: But cold.
54:45
SPEAKER_02: Yes, of course.
54:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes, don't do hot.
54:47
SPEAKER_02: But if you want it hot, we'll make it hot.
54:49
SPEAKER_02: This menu's amazing.
54:50
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: I tell them to pound sand if they want it.
54:56
SPEAKER_02: Find another place.
54:57
SPEAKER_02: This menu's amazing.
54:58
SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm not in the restaurant here business.
55:02
SPEAKER_02: You don't tell customers to pound sand often?
55:06
SPEAKER_02: We just smile sand with a smile.
55:11
SPEAKER_02: Bless your heart.
55:12
SPEAKER_02: We can't make that.
55:15
SPEAKER_05: Bless your heart.
55:16
SPEAKER_05: Smiles, can you give everybody the website?
55:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, MJpizzeria.com.
55:21
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
55:21
SPEAKER_05: Mjpizzeria, P-I-Z-Z-E-R-I-A.com.
55:25
SPEAKER_05: You can go to our website.
55:26
SPEAKER_02: Why were you looking at Matt when you spelled it?
55:28
SPEAKER_02: Well I spelled it.
55:30
SPEAKER_03: He didn't know pizza had a Z in it.
55:32
SPEAKER_03: We'll get past that.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: So so for everyone, just to reiterate, you're when do you think you'll have the addition done?
55:40
SPEAKER_01: July 5th?
55:40
SPEAKER_01: Like July?
55:41
SPEAKER_01: 4th of July?
55:43
SPEAKER_05: We opened July 5th in 2015.
55:46
SPEAKER_05: So I want to do a re grand opening July 5th.
55:49
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
55:50
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
55:50
SPEAKER_05: We will be there.
55:51
SPEAKER_05: Thank you for the remote.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: And you're not going to he's not closing.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: So I love it.
55:56
SPEAKER_03: B team has its own section.
55:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
55:58
SPEAKER_03: Cheers.