Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Texas Chef Roundtable: Michelin Stars & BBQ Triumphs | Chef's PSA Podcast Ep. 127

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Texas Chef Roundtable: Michelin Stars & BBQ Triumphs | Chef's PSA Podcast Ep. 127 · Chef's PSA Podcast

0:00
Hello chefs, this is Chef's PSA podcast.
0:02
I'm your host Andre Montero. Today we have a special episode.
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The Michelin Guide recently came to Texas so I got a few friends
0:08
together and we talked about the Michelin Awards.
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The lineup today includes 2 brand new Michelin award-winning
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chefs, Evan Leroy from Leroy and Lewis BBQ, one of the first BBQ
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restaurants ever in the world to receive a Michelin star.
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Rico Torres, you may be familiar with him.
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He's been on the show before from restaurant Nishly in San
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Antonio, newly awarded a Michelin star, legendary tech
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Texas chef Paul Key, Top Chef winner restaurant tour in
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Austin, chef Matthew Peters, the first American to ever win the
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Bacustior and has worked in many Michelin 3 star restaurants.
0:41
And then myself and we just sit around and have a good time.
0:43
I hope you enjoy this conversation.
0:57
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Congratulations man, Thank you. I have to ask how how was how
1:43
was the awards? Because obviously none of us got
1:45
invited. Or was all ridden bike.
1:49
Well, you walk in, there's a there was a red carpet.
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There was a step in, repeat. So you can take pictures of
1:54
everybody. Yeah, I managed to go.
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I was out looking for a bathroom, so I didn't get into
1:58
the picture with the rest of the team that made it on all the all
2:01
the socials and stuff. You go in and there's a bunch of
2:04
champagne and and wine and food all over the place.
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There was a caviar station in the back there.
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Slices Serrano ham in the back for me in the background too.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you get in and
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everybody's all dressed up, all the homies are there, and then
2:19
everybody's looking for the real bar.
2:21
Yeah, I'd take it from there. Yeah, it was an incredible
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night. We went to dinner with a bunch
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of chefs from Austin beforehand at Papas Brothers.
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So we had a really nice big celebratory dinner and kind of,
2:35
you know, was really good to connect to the community before
2:38
it. And then we got there kind of
2:40
like right before it started and then they, you know, called
2:44
everybody and we were, we were announced last.
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So it was very, very nerve wracking.
2:49
Yeah. I would say it was faster than
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James Beard though. James Beard was like 1 after
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another. Do a speech and then call it be
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friends and like 2 hours later you're kind of like.
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What's going to happen? The host was good.
3:00
I like the host. She's she's I was joking with
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someone like I could host that shit.
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Well, of course you can. I could get on stage.
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But then when I was listening to her, I was like, no, no, she's
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she's she's good. She's good.
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Like I got to give her credit. She's good.
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Yeah, They, they did a, you know, it was the CEO that come
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up the, the French guy, I can't remember his name.
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And you know, several others after that.
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I'll tell you from, you know, I was, I was in a couple of group
3:24
texts. I was, I think I was in one with
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Matt and Junior, right? I was in another one with like
3:27
Gabe and I was like in several. And it was funny because when
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they were announcing the awards, yours was one of the first ones
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they got called up, right? It was the service and
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hospitality award. So I was like, Oh yeah, that was
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that was like. The groups.
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Dude, that was that for me. That was nicer than the star
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itself because it really, it really shows how hard the team's
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been working and they're the ones that really get us there,
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right? And they just that dements a
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lot. It means a lot more to me just
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have that. But also, it feels like the
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cherry on top. Yeah.
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And so when you when you were called on stage, so again, I'm
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watching it and I noticed that you haven't been called.
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So I'm like, this is kind of good, right?
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Because I'm happy. I'm like, OK, that means they're
4:05
getting their star. At least I'm thinking that.
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And then when you finally got called up, it was really nice to
4:11
see and I saw Diego take off this coat.
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That was like a nice moment. Yeah, yeah.
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Were you? Did you know it was coming?
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We've always said that if we only get one jacket, it's going
4:21
to go to Alex. Always.
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He got it ahead of me. That's it.
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But I mean, that's from the heart and that's how that's how
4:29
we feel. How did you guys feel when,
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because there there was a point when they're announcing and
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they're like, and we have the heart of text.
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Like I don't remember how they phrased it, but there was like.
4:38
So they, they announced all the recommends and they'd skipped,
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you know, did it alphabetical and they skipped Li was like,
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this is amazing. We're getting a bit.
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And then they did the bibs and they skipped L And I was sitting
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next to another BBQ pitmaster and he was like, dude, it's you.
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And I'd like, you know, grab my wife's hand really hard.
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And then they started to announce the stars and they
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skipped L again. And I was like, OK, they forgot
5:01
about us because there's no way that like, I mean, a single star
5:05
for BBQ restaurants out of question 2 is like so far out of
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the universe. And then they waited and did all
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the BBQ ones at the variance. What did is very, very last.
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So they made me wait very long that way.
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You were. That's one.
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The last one. I just had to wait till they got
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to AM. Yeah, that's just like, you're
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right. You're right.
5:24
Yeah, it was. It was.
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It was nerve wracking, but awesome.
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Awesome. And how, you know, we were
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talking, but you said you've doubled, basically?
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Pretty much, yeah. The line has gone twice as long.
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Yeah, everybody else is like, yeah, we were just booked out
5:38
forever. And we're like, well, ours is
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just, you know, first come, first serve.
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So yeah, Friday was like up 100%, Saturday was up like 80%.
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Like everything's just up, up, up.
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It's great. It's great.
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When I saw you guys posted like sold out till January, that's
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true, yeah. Yeah, so that.
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But you know, people try and I try too, because things change
6:00
all the time. So yeah, we're on the wait list.
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I could. I hope people hearing this won't
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think like I don't want to go until next year when it slows
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down. Try.
6:08
Got to hit you up. Yes, just got to hit it up.
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Just hit you up, be like, hey man, are you getting extra
6:12
seats? Get on that notify list.
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Shit changes all the time, so we never know.
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And if I want to get everybody in, but I just can't get
6:20
everybody in at 7, like, yeah, exactly.
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But we're opening up extra times, even Sundays maybe if we
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get to it. Do you feel pressure because of
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the being, you know, part of the first group of chefs to win in
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Michelin star in the BBQ? I can't fully describe the
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amount of pressure I feel. Absolutely it is.
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You know, I'm, I'm familiar with Michelin star restaurants as a
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person in the industry, not as a person who's worked at 1:00, but
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a person who's dined at a couple.
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And I know that the level that it takes to execute that food
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and that service in those spaces is extraordinary.
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I'm not, you know, I before the ceremony, I was like, OK, I
7:05
don't think we're a star restaurant, but if that is the
7:07
thing that happens, then we're going to work like hell to get
7:10
there. So we've laid that out to the
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staff. You know, I'm feeling that every
7:15
moment of every day. And so we're really trying to
7:19
raise rise to the occasion. Were any of you guys surprised?
7:23
Like who wasn't called? I don't know.
7:30
I had some guesses, but I mean, I don't know if I was surprised
7:33
or not because I, I mean, I figured it was, it was going to
7:36
be, but I guess I wanted to be surprised.
7:39
So I didn't make any. I didn't make, I didn't have any
7:41
ton of conversations with other chefs in town.
7:44
I was just, I just wanted to see how I rolled out.
7:46
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
7:48
And it's, I mean, part of it's you can be surprised by, I think
7:54
the, I think there's a lot of ideas of what people had.
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I think there's all the talent that was in that room.
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I think you could probably sit there and say any one of them
8:04
probably could have been added to that list.
8:07
But then again, it's just like, you know, that's part of
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Michelin. It's, it's, it's a difficult
8:12
space to get in. And so I applied, you know, the
8:15
two of you that are here today. It's just like it's, it's an
8:17
amazing feat to be be able to get there.
8:19
But it's like, you know, going back onto the pressure side of
8:22
things, it's like, think about like what you did to get there,
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right? And everything that you've done
8:27
to get there, it's just like all you have to do is just keep
8:29
doing that, you know, not the and you know, see who to say
8:34
that. But I mean, I mean, yeah, it's
8:35
trucidity is the the biggest issue there, you know, because,
8:39
you know, but The thing is, it's like now you have, you know,
8:43
having accomplish that in in the excitement that's already in the
8:47
room. So everybody's fueled right now.
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I'm sure, you know, Rico, like your whole team is fueled.
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Yeah, fired up and ready to go. So it's like it's like they're
8:57
naturally just going to succeed at that.
9:00
Yeah, because that energy is already in the room.
9:02
So I you know, again, like don't don't shift.
9:05
I think a lot of people have to sit there with Michelin thinking
9:08
like you have to shift, you know, to, to, to continue to
9:12
accomplish that goal. And I think it's like outside
9:14
the bottom unless you're a shoot for two.
9:16
Do you think it's specific thing though, or they're going
9:19
stagnant? Because from when I hear from a
9:20
lot of people, right, like they want to go, do you get that
9:23
first star and you want to just stay there, right?
9:25
You go to the second, you're always going to go for the
9:26
third. Once you get into the third,
9:28
you're, you're stuck being a certain way and you can't you,
9:31
you're stuck. You're, you're basically into a
9:33
mold right at that point and you got to fit that mold every
9:35
single time and not, not push anymore and not change anymore.
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Is, is that true? Oh, yeah, I was asking Mac, I
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was like, would you agree on that?
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Because I feel like, you know, you've worked at probably 1-2
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and three star restaurants, right.
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And once you get to the third star, do you think that that
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restaurant stays the same just to keep the third star or do you
9:53
think it'll push more do different things to, to, to kind
9:56
of reinvent itself again, you know, like part of the the
9:58
group, the initial growing process?
10:00
Yeah, I, you know, the, the three star restaurants that I've
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been involved with, we had a natural progression, right?
10:07
We we had the way that Tom is set up both per SE and the
10:11
French Laundry. It was built with the changing
10:14
menu. It forced us to continue to
10:16
evolve and change. So in that perspective, it, you
10:21
know, it gave us the ability to continue to push for, you know,
10:24
our third star and continue to keep everything energized.
10:29
The other part of it too is I'm thinking of like one star
10:32
restaurants. You know, some people don't want
10:33
to be a two star. Yeah, some people don't want to
10:35
be a three star, right. And then I think that's, you
10:38
know, even for me, I I would rather have a really cool two
10:42
star, yeah, that's fun and lighting than to push for this
10:45
third star that could be. Pretentious, and that's what I'm
10:48
you know, you're. Outside of this box.
10:49
Yeah, exactly. So for me it's, you know, it's
10:52
about the business 1st and the people within the business.
10:54
And I think maintaining that part of it is crucial.
10:58
And then all the awards and all the other fluff that comes along
11:01
with it is whatever it is what it is, it's great to be
11:05
recognized. I'm not taking anything I want.
11:07
I want a star more than anybody, and maybe a couple for that
11:12
matter, but. But I won't.
11:19
Say anybody who says that they they don't really care.
11:22
I mean, you saw it in the write ups too.
11:25
You know, people are, you know, it's, it means a lot.
11:27
And, and I think hopefully this changes some perspective on
11:33
different people with Michelin and also maybe good, maybe bad,
11:37
I don't know. But I, I, I just feel like it's
11:39
going to drive people and push people on.
11:42
How do I get to that point? Right?
11:44
And I think that's exciting because, you know, Texas is such
11:47
a great market with a lot of great restaurants and to see
11:51
finally this to come out and then all these people sitting
11:54
there were like, Bush, how do we get a star next year?
11:57
Right. And you know, I think that's
12:00
going to put some fire in people's belly and and get up
12:02
and and start doing something about it.
12:04
So I'm excited about it. I'm I'm going to ask.
12:06
Paul, so you, you have two, two of the two of the hottest new
12:11
restaurants right now in Austin that were opened after the
12:14
Michelin Guide was announced. Do you are?
12:19
Are you pushing for the star or are you just pushing for a great
12:22
restaurant or does? The night, night, OK, I'm, I'm I
12:25
like, like Matt was saying, like I'm just trying to make sure the
12:29
business flourishes first, that that's all I'm really focused
12:32
on. I mean, I mean like, you know,
12:33
opening restaurants, it's very taxing on your bank account.
12:37
Yeah. So for me, I'm just like,
12:39
whatever it takes right now, let's get these two up and
12:41
running. Let's get it packed, let's get
12:42
it busy, then let's work on all the other stuff, you know, But
12:44
of course, I think you know, the team from the service guys like,
12:47
you know, like everybody, Alex and and Dylan really want to
12:50
push for it because that's the that's the, the wheelhouse they
12:53
came from, right, That they want to bring here.
12:56
But from the culinary side, I think as long as the guys are
12:58
passionate and they, they love what they're doing and my team's
13:00
excited right now that that's what I'm focused on.
13:02
And as long as people are coming through the door, that that's
13:04
what I'm looking for, right? Now, yeah, yeah.
13:06
Did it did it surprise any of you?
13:07
Like I, I, I know I was surprised on a couple, a few
13:11
that surprised me, Misty Norris and Dallas not not not even
13:15
getting mentioned anywhere. I thought that was a little bit
13:17
I thought she's done a pretty good job at least to get
13:20
recommended. Another one that surprised me
13:24
was, I hate to say Franklin. I'm kind of surprised.
13:27
I thought I thought he wrote the press release, to be honest.
13:31
No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
13:33
I'm just busted his chops. But I was I was a little bit
13:35
surprised that that that he didn't get up there.
13:39
Uchi was a big shock for me because I feel like Uchi's a
13:41
legacy restaurant in Austin and a lot of the restaurants that
13:45
were recommended, I was like, Uchi should have been somewhere,
13:47
whether it's there were there was three different categories
13:50
that they were recommended. Yeah, you should ready a menu
13:52
like they. I feel like they put a lot of
13:54
work to get. I'm all stood.
13:56
Broken eyes were there yeah, so a lot yeah like I mean, but I
14:04
think his CDC also right. And then some of your team are.
14:08
You know you. Went there, right?
14:09
No, no, no, no. Sorry.
14:10
Yeah. But there's a lot, man.
14:12
Yeah. Like Joshua Wiseman, Like
14:14
there's a lot of people that went through there, right.
14:16
Turner, Gabriel. Is like sterling.
14:19
Yeah, Sterling, Yeah. Yeah, for not to get anything.
14:22
I thought that was like, OK, that's an Austin legacy
14:25
restaurant. Some of the restaurants in
14:26
Dallas, you know, shout out to those guys.
14:29
Pasia. I thought, you know, he's he's a
14:31
phenomenal chef. I thought I was really happy to
14:33
see him get his bib. Houston shocked me.
14:36
I got to be honest with you, and I feel guilty about this.
14:38
I don't know a lot of the restaurants in Houston, but it
14:40
was nice. I mean.
14:41
Honestly, I thought that, you know, I was hoping for, I was
14:43
rooting for the Neil guys cuz you know, what they're doing is
14:45
pretty cool and I think they're execution super high end, just
14:48
tiny restaurant that's really hard to get into, right?
14:51
I mean, March wasn't really a surprise to me.
14:53
I know June was going to get it in the room regardless, right?
14:56
I mean, all her stuff is custom in that restaurant.
14:58
Man, it, it's gorgeous. You know, like.
15:02
Well, I was saying, we walked into June for dinner one night
15:04
with the whole team and we're like, what's going on here?
15:07
They look just like Mishley. So that space had been the exact
15:10
same space that Mishley was before that as Steel City Pops.
15:12
Like it had big old windows just like Mishley does.
15:15
The background. It was like a little copy of our
15:18
of our spot or ours of theirs. It's just insane.
15:21
Did it? Did it surprise anyone that
15:22
there were no two stars? No, no, because I mean, if
15:26
they're going to be here for a while, they got to like we got
15:28
something for Season 2 also, you got to look.
15:30
At it, it's like all those who How many one stars were there
15:33
14? 14 and. 15 so you would have to
15:36
look at every single one of those and which one it gets 2
15:39
right, That's yours. You know, maybe there's a
15:41
handful you could go into the the bag of that, but it's, I
15:45
mean, two stars is a is a difficult process.
15:47
And also typically Michelin does not award A2 star out the gate.
15:52
I mean, if you get it two star out of the gate is very few.
15:55
And it's almost, if you get 2 out the gate, that means you're
15:59
on your way to getting a third potentially at least the quality
16:03
aspect of it. So.
16:04
Mexico only got 2 run out. Yeah, 2.
16:06
Who got 2 in Mexico? Puyol and Quitonin, yeah.
16:09
He was going to get that though. They were going to get.
16:11
That for right, Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah.
16:13
That's a different so, yeah. All.
16:16
Right. Yeah.
16:16
For for you guys over initially, does this motivate you to push
16:20
for two or are you are you enjoying the 1 sweet spot?
16:24
Oh no, we're always going to push.
16:26
Whether there were stars or not, we're always going to push.
16:29
If the two comes up fucking amazing.
16:31
We're going to just work harder to keep it.
16:34
But the real pressure that we've been feeling isn't that we had a
16:38
star, now we got to keep it up or that we're going to possibly
16:40
work towards another one. It was the pressure was before
16:43
when business was fucking slow and that was real pressure.
16:48
That was real do or die shit. And so now it's just like, hey,
16:51
well we've always worked this way anyway.
16:52
So we're just keeping up the pace that we were already doing
16:54
that too, which you were saying earlier and constantly
16:58
tightening the screws and and oiling the machine.
17:00
That's all we do is constantly squeeze in it.
17:05
Do you, It's, it's funny, when I was opening up the, the, the
17:11
over here in Garrison and we had a, we had a, that's Garrison.
17:16
Oh, yeah. I mean, they got record, by the
17:17
way. I had my canned response.
17:19
If Garrison got a star, it's because I was there.
17:21
And if they didn't, it's because I'm not there, I guess because
17:24
like, I'm not there anymore. That's why they didn't get it.
17:26
They got, it's like, yeah, yeah, because I was there.
17:27
I have, I have, I have my canned answer ready to go.
17:31
But when we were opening, we rented a house behind
17:34
launderette. OK.
17:36
And then I think LA BBQ used to be in the quickie pickie up the
17:39
street from launderette. And so every day, you know, that
17:42
was our lunch. We we'd go to the R&D and then
17:45
we'd go grab some LA BBQ for lunch.
17:47
It was like, man, I was eating one Michelin star restaurant
17:50
every single day for R&D. Yeah, wasn't even thinking about
17:55
it then does does the. So it was 4 BBQ restaurants that
18:01
were four BBQ, 44 BBQ. Did it?
18:07
I, I know, I know you kind of touched on it, but what's the
18:10
impact that that has like that's so special like the the 1st in
18:14
Texas? It's massive.
18:17
The first of all, it's a recognition that BBQ, even
18:21
though it's a casual service style, is just as difficult to
18:25
do as some of this, you know, meets more.
18:27
Difficult, yeah, but in a lot of in a lot of ways, like making
18:31
other trailer, like doing all that stuff, yeah.
18:33
It's hard, man. It's hard.
18:35
We were talking about different positions in the restaurant the
18:37
other day and like our person who works hot sides basically
18:40
has to like act as a host, a server, like they're actually
18:44
serving food, they're communicating stuff down the
18:46
line. Like that service aspect, even
18:48
though it's a more casual setting, it can be more
18:51
difficult at times too, because you have like less control over
18:54
the situation. Like you really have to engage
18:57
with people over other people. You have to serve people really
18:59
quickly too. So like casual service is in our
19:03
form in itself and to be recognized for, you know,
19:07
obviously food, the whole restaurant is just it's it's
19:11
awesome. I was really surprised that the
19:14
kind of like spectrum of BBQ places, because if you take the
19:18
way that they announced it like alphabetically, Corkscrew in
19:21
Houston is probably the most classic.
19:24
LA BBQ has a little bit of Austin flair.
19:26
Interstellar, John Bates is like really an amazing chef.
19:30
So it's like even more like that.
19:32
And I think Leroy and Lewis is kind of like the weirdest one of
19:35
the bunch. But I was really impressed with
19:39
the fact that they honored kind of different styles of BBQ.
19:44
Did anything surprise you at the awards?
19:48
Yeah, big time. I mean, I, you know, having
19:50
been, you know, a follower of Franklin Barbecue and then like,
19:56
being, you know, being a peer and Aaron's my friend.
20:00
Like, you know, that was very shocking to me that they didn't
20:02
get a star. It was shocking to me, the
20:05
truth. Barbecue in Houston didn't get a
20:06
star, you know, Other than that, I mean, I don't know, I think.
20:14
I wasn't that surprised that they announced stars for BBQ.
20:16
Like when they came down, they made a big deal of saying, you
20:19
know, we're going to look at Texas barbecue.
20:21
And so we heard that and didn't really think that, you know,
20:24
that would be a thing. Like we thought that pretty much
20:27
a bunch of BBQ places would get bibs and that's kind of what we
20:31
expected going in. So I mean, getting a star was
20:35
shocking and I'm still I still have not really wrapped my head
20:38
around it, but. So I'm going to ask Matt, you've
20:42
been, I mean, almost your entire career, right?
20:44
And in in the Michelin world, whether it's, you know, three
20:47
star and you know, per SE Ducasse, wherever you've been,
20:50
you've been and not just been in that world, but it's also your
20:54
social circle, right? These are all the people that
20:56
that that you know, how does the Texas awards impact Michelin
21:02
moving forward in your opinion? How does it change a thing?
21:06
Good. Question I.
21:07
Don't in terms of this state all together.
21:13
Or in terms of those restaurants in in terms of the state of
21:16
Michelin. The state of Michelin I, I, I
21:19
think that the great part about this is you're seeing the
21:21
expansion of Michelin and the different styles of food around
21:28
the world. You know, I think that's one of
21:30
the biggest things that needs to be recognized that a lot of
21:34
people think, oh, it's just a European based, you know, rating
21:38
system. So if you're not a little bit
21:40
French or you're not a little bit of this European flair that
21:44
you're not going to get recognized in the Michelin
21:46
Guide. And that's just not true, right?
21:50
And I think part of their process was we need to expand.
21:53
We need to get into different parts of not only here in the
21:58
US, but different parts across the world.
22:01
And you start to see the quality of food and cuisine that each
22:04
one of these areas has. So, you know, it's, you know,
22:08
there's great food trucks and and China that getting awarded
22:12
for some of these things in this.
22:14
It's the quality and the consistency of the food that
22:17
they're really kind of judging upon.
22:19
So, you know, that's that's kudos to like the BBQ element of
22:24
it. I mean, to be able to execute
22:26
this style of meat, whatever varietal it may be, but and do
22:31
it as such a high level and be consistent at it.
22:34
And I think that's like the, the, the, that's what really
22:37
waivers, you know, from those who are getting it and not
22:40
getting it. It's the consistency aspect of
22:44
it. And I think that's just, it's
22:45
being on it day after day, right?
22:47
And I think that's for every guest that comes in that door,
22:50
you are putting up, you know, the best service that you
22:53
possibly can that day. And I think that's that's being
22:55
recognized by these two gentlemen across.
22:57
So, you know, and I think from, you know, Michelin standpoint, I
23:01
think it's, it's diversifying the ass, the, the belief of what
23:04
Michelin does and what it rates for.
23:07
And you know, I, I think this is 1 great step forward.
23:10
Yeah, you. You look like you got you.
23:12
Something was on your mind. Oh, I was just thinking about
23:14
the taqueria and and Mexico City.
23:16
That was kind of a big surprise. But again, consistency and how
23:20
Michelin is really looking at the food and the quality more
23:24
than the atmosphere. And we still train our guys to
23:26
look for pieces of trash behind the toilet paper, you know, in
23:29
between shifts. Sometimes I throw it there
23:30
myself just to see if we'll get it.
23:32
But going and cleaning the bathroom is such a huge part of
23:35
our service. And maybe it wasn't that big of
23:37
a deal, but it's not it's going to stop for us.
23:39
I mean, if we're going to go backwards now.
23:42
So I. Don't know where I read this and
23:44
unfortunately I may have just read it on someone's Instagram
23:46
post or I may have read it in an article but someone said that
23:50
Michelin is judging like it's it's all about the food, that
23:55
service isn't weighted as heavy and there was a statement it's
23:57
it appeared that the statement was made by someone from
23:59
Michelin little representative which I didn't know that was a
24:03
thing. I thought I heard he's had at
24:04
least his service. I thought service played as much
24:07
of an impact as food hood. I would say that from my
24:09
experience, I think it depends on the market.
24:11
Like so I group certain markets kind of in the same group as as
24:14
far as Michelin, like I feel like Mexico did the same thing
24:16
as Texas did the same thing as like Hong Kong, right?
24:19
Where you're like, I went to a one star dim sum place there and
24:22
I had to wash my own bowls and all that stuff.
24:24
And you know, the place was covered with water and it was a
24:26
whole new wall, but they got on one star.
24:28
But I think there's certain market that's really focused on
24:30
the food. Same thing in Thailand, I think,
24:31
right. But like there's certain markets
24:34
where they, it's only the fine dining high end, you know.
24:37
And I'm, I'm sort of glad that we, we landed on the other side
24:39
of it. Well, it's also, it's, it's also
24:44
about the connection between the chef.
24:45
It's the story, right? It's the emotions that you're
24:48
feeling within it. So some of those emotions are
24:50
brought to life through the service and the plateware.
24:53
And, you know, that's part of, you know, the, you know, the
24:58
song and dance at that the chef has curated.
25:00
Yeah, and so, yeah, it not everything needs to be on $500
25:04
plates right now. Can you get a three star in the
25:09
version of a BBQ probably favorite plate?
25:13
I well, except I mean, I think that would that would change.
25:22
I mean, you want to see a a change of landscape in for
25:24
Michelin that that would be phenomenal.
25:27
But, you know, it's, it's, you know, it's going back to what a
25:30
third star means. It's, it's, you know, it's worth
25:33
that complete detour, that travel, that trip through that
25:36
specific, that destination. And you're going there just for
25:41
that. It's, it's drawing you into an
25:43
area that you probably wouldn't have gone.
25:45
That's what the French Laundry did, right?
25:47
The French Laundry, like, you know, before the French Laundry
25:49
set up, you know, nobody really kind of went out there to dine.
25:53
But then once the French Laundry was established, people were
25:56
going to Napa Valley to go dine at that restaurant.
25:59
And it now listen, yeah, they were going out there for wine
26:02
and other things, but it was never a destination point for
26:07
cuisine or to go. And so people were purposely
26:09
driving up there just to go eat at that restaurant.
26:12
And that's what a third star is. And that's what it does now, you
26:16
know, along with the quality and, and everything else that
26:19
goes along with it. But you know, service, you, you
26:22
can't sit there and say that service and the presentation of
26:26
food doesn't sway your perspective of taste and
26:31
inexperience, right? So I think that's, you know,
26:34
some of that goes hand in hand, but it's also.
26:37
At the end of the day, going down to the experience of the
26:40
inspector as well, right, It's what you're saying.
26:42
Yeah, to what they're really. Getting service does, but I
26:44
mean, for me it's I know if I go into a really nice, beautiful
26:48
restaurant, I'm expecting nice service.
26:50
So if I'm not getting that, it'll get in the way from me of
26:53
judging the food right. And I think that's kind of it's
26:56
just it's, it's a weird balance. I think when you start getting
27:00
into the two and three star kind of aspect of it, but you know,
27:05
it's certain, you can't say that service and the and the
27:09
execution of the food doesn't play into the overall mindset of
27:14
the flavor of the food. And also the semi girls setting,
27:17
right? It has to be, I mean, if, if, if
27:21
you're at Noma, right, it's and it's, and it's beautiful and
27:24
there's the water right there. If you're at the French Laundry
27:26
and it's Napa or Meadowood or wherever, like I, I, or if
27:29
you're in New York and it's in a beautiful building, I do feel
27:32
like also the the setting matters.
27:34
Everybody powers, I feel. I mean, if if you're not walking
27:37
through that, that entryway with all those reindeer antlers and
27:41
you're not eating, you know, the, the duck off of the beak of
27:45
this duck. And it's that like you had like,
27:47
if you just put that duck ton on it, whatever it is, you just
27:51
sign out his lane white play, you're going to be like, that's
27:53
it, you know, So I think it's part of the experience now.
27:58
It's probably beautifully executed.
28:00
It tastes phenomenal. But your mind now is already
28:03
saying this, like, what is this? Why am I not getting more right?
28:06
And so I think that starts to dictate some changes.
28:09
So that's why you have to, it's, it's theatrical and people want
28:15
to be entertained. And part of that, you know, when
28:18
they go out and spend money specifically at a large dollar
28:23
value, you know, they, they want theater, they want the song and
28:26
dance. They want absolutely, honestly
28:28
pouring them love and and and appreciation and pouring the
28:31
water and doing all these things.
28:34
To the extent that the food comes third, sometimes it has to
28:37
be the atmosphere of the service.
28:38
I mean you have to the way I tell the team is you got to they
28:40
we got to get them to fall in love before we even set down the
28:42
first plate, right. And so there's all these kinds
28:45
of things that we do but also it has to be each individual
28:48
person. So kudos to you guys because
28:50
you're getting this high volume of people coming in and you have
28:52
to hit that sixth sense. And I've for the left for me, I
28:54
can't remember who said this last week that they teach their
28:57
team that there's a sixth sense and that's the person that's the
28:59
guest. So if they're hearing this, I
29:02
know that I didn't invent this, but you have to be able to read
29:05
that person from the get and with so many people at the same
29:08
time. And like you said, speaking over
29:10
somebody else, that's tough, yeah.
29:12
That's tough. I mean, that's also kudos to
29:14
y'all's passion. That's what it I mean, your team
29:15
is passionate, They believe in the product, they believe in you
29:17
and to believable in what you're doing.
29:19
And for me that that's, that's the essence that you're trying
29:21
to take. Right.
29:22
Yeah, where the jersey It is really about the team.
29:25
How, how did your when, when you got back to the restaurant, both
29:28
of you, how did how did the team feel like?
29:30
How did you guys celebrate? I got a video.
29:32
Your team celebrating a year waiting.
29:34
What team was that? Your restaurant, so they send me
29:37
the. Video that's already here.
29:39
That's really awesome actually. Yeah, a bunch of the team was
29:42
watching at the restaurant. Yeah, everybody was really
29:48
excited. I made a point to put the jacket
29:50
on of every person on the team. That's how that that's really
29:52
amazing. Yeah.
29:53
Just because you know, they're, they do 99% of the work, you
29:56
know, I don't do I'm. I'm there to check on them and
29:59
make sure that they're doing their job and kind of just like,
30:03
you know, tap the bumpers a little bit and keep people, you
30:05
know, kind of on this bright path.
30:07
But yeah, it was, it was, it was so weird.
30:12
It still is so weird. I still don't know how to react
30:14
to it. One of our, our, our pitmaster
30:16
Kohl's said he had a good analogy.
30:18
He said it was like one day we were throwing the football
30:21
around the backyard and the next day we won the Super Bowl.
30:28
Excellent. Analogy.
30:30
You're kind of just like, having fun one day and then the next
30:33
it's like, Oh my God, that's low.
30:35
But yeah, we're trying to live up to it.
30:37
Wait, we're going to have, like, a celebratory Friendsgiving
30:40
thing coming up soon? Yeah, Yeah.
30:44
What? What about your team?
30:46
Well, they said half the team was already at at Michelin
30:49
because Haley and Lauren had been invited.
30:51
And so that allowed us a tickets to go, which I think it was rare
30:55
for a lot of other teams. But then they celebrated at home
30:59
and I didn't get to see them again until Wednesday when we
31:01
all got back to the restaurant. And then I showed up super late
31:04
because I was still driving in from Houston.
31:07
But it was just just an overall around feeling of hugs and love
31:11
and admiration for each other really.
31:12
Then then it was balls to the wall busy like an hour later.
31:17
So it's not much time for anything really.
31:19
We're getting together on Sunday for this coming Sunday for
31:22
actual Friendsgiving dinner ourselves as well to celebrate
31:24
that it kind of. It was interesting how heavy
31:26
Austin got got the the, the awards right.
31:30
I think I think more than any city, right.
31:32
Yeah, yeah. Then Houston after that and then
31:35
San Antonio and Dallas each got 1.
31:36
Fort Worth didn't get any. I kind of feel bad for because I
31:39
I do think Dallas is a strong Food City as well.
31:42
I was surprised actually that they only had one.
31:43
There's a. Little bit of competitions
31:46
between the cities. You know, you said Houston,
31:48
Houston hosted Houston would have paid for it, right?
31:50
Yeah. Paid the most, right?
31:52
And then I was like, man, it seems like the other two cities
31:55
are Austin and Houston conspired against Dallas or something,
31:57
because Dallas only that one when one star, right?
32:00
Yeah, one star. I guess that helps legitimize it
32:02
too, right? I actually gave Michelin a
32:05
little extra money for that. No, I'm just kidding.
32:09
Dallas, you know, I lived in Dallas for a long time, so it's
32:12
like I was, I was happy to see so many people, though.
32:15
It was great to see, you know, again, my friends, so many of my
32:18
friends, you know, it's nice to see whether they got the star
32:20
recommended, you know, Kevin and developed there.
32:22
So I see them get the green star and then all.
32:25
I mean, I feel like all their restaurants got, they were
32:28
there, right? Ladino and Hestia and Amer.
32:31
Yeah, I was already guys, I. Wasn't surprised about them
32:34
winning, taking home a bunch of stuff.
32:36
Yeah, that was, that was that was nice.
32:37
So. Yeah, it just shows all the
32:38
strength in Austin. And then with you guys on the
32:40
scene now, next year's story is going to be much different.
32:42
So everybody's scared, crazy scared.
32:47
It it's Well, yeah. And then, you know, Matt's got
32:49
Maven coming soon. I don't know if we could say
32:51
that I could edit that out. Well, I mean.
32:54
There's there's a lot. In the, in the, in the works,
33:01
Yeah, things are. It goes back to, you know,
33:04
everybody knows how expensive it is to open up the restaurant and
33:08
specifically in this market now too.
33:10
It just in this city, it's not cheap.
33:14
And so, you know, what we're trying to do is exactly, you
33:17
know, what Paul said is, you know, you got to you got to
33:21
create a successful business. It's got to stay open.
33:24
That's that, you know, no matter like if you're just shooting for
33:27
an award and it's a very costly award, like you could be in over
33:32
your head before you mean get going.
33:34
And so for for us is, you know, we're being we're, we're trying
33:38
to look at this to a point where, you know, we're being
33:41
smart about it from a business perspective, but also push
33:45
ourselves to the point where we know where we want to be.
33:49
And so I think it's, you know, prelude was, you know, a first
33:53
phase of many, there's going to be a second phase and a
33:57
potential third phase. And so, you know, maven will
34:01
exist within what we're building in some form of fashion, whether
34:06
it's kind of like a pop up, if you will, but it it's, it's a
34:10
way for us to build a team, right?
34:11
And that's the most important. We can't like there's just
34:15
because you worked at a three star or two star restaurant
34:17
doesn't mean you're going to you don't automatically get an award
34:21
for doing that. So you have to go out there and
34:24
prove it. And so for me, it's about
34:26
building a proper team that's going to get us to that point.
34:28
And you know, that's that's the whole point of what Prelude is
34:32
currently. And that's what the second phase
34:34
is going to be, the continuation of building that team and then
34:38
we'll see where we go. When you're talking about
34:40
building teams, it kind of makes me think, did you guys have an
34:43
influx of applicants, people wanting to work for you?
34:47
Not crazy, but I've had more than usual.
34:49
Yeah, yeah. We had already started the
34:52
hiring process like that week and we got a couple of really
34:55
good candidates and they got hired last week, so.
34:57
Really. I mean it's like everyone
34:58
knocking on your door like hey can I stodge?
35:02
That's that. I mean, I'd rather take that
35:04
right now. We're getting some applicants,
35:05
but not great. It's been even the ones that
35:09
made it to the Stodge level and to the OK you start tomorrow
35:12
level. Yeah, no shows.
35:14
It's funny. And it's.
35:15
Yeah. It's upmarket, man.
35:17
Yeah, and one guy missed an entire week and then was trying
35:19
to get his call called HR to see if he could still get his
35:23
paperwork filled out because he was having trouble with it.
35:24
I'm like, dude, no. I got so many people on in the
35:29
DMS from Chef's PSAI mean a ton. I think I do.
35:31
There's so many people like saying.
35:34
I want to work at Mishley. Like people that I don't even
35:36
know, people that I've never met, like when the words came
35:38
out, like, Oh my God, so happy for them.
35:40
I want to work at Mitchley. Can you get me?
35:41
And I was like, no, like you reach, reach out.
35:44
Like I'm not going to, I'm not going to be the, the, the the
35:47
broker of, of employees. But yeah, a lot of people did
35:50
reach out business. Slow.
35:52
Hey, hey, hey, I mean. So I've.
35:54
Obviously, $250 per connection. Tell me what you guys think
35:59
about this For stages. I would like to take like $100
36:03
deposit, show up do your shit if you if they make it all the way
36:07
to the end I'll buy you dinner and give me your money back but
36:10
if not like. That's my time.
36:12
So Eater said this is this is according to Eater, they said
36:18
this is Eater Austin. By the way, Visit Austin paid
36:20
Michelin 270,000 and then Travel Texas paid Michelin 1.3.
36:27
OK, so that's the state and then?
36:29
Yeah, that's the state. Yeah, that's the state and.
36:30
Then what did Houston day? It doesn't say.
36:34
It's it's an accumulation of all that.
36:36
Sure, sure, sure. There's a cause.
36:39
Don't you have to? Is that the steep payment or is
36:44
that the city's paying the state thinking that's all of them
36:47
being payful? I, I don't know, I think every
36:50
CVB paid a portion and then I think the state paid another
36:53
portion. I, I don't know for sure.
36:55
I don't know for sure. I'm not, I don't have, I mean, I
36:57
kind of have bits and pieces from different people that have
37:00
told me, but. Because how else would you
37:01
decide where where the hosting city is?
37:03
And then it was kind of like in Florida when Florida.
37:06
And now once I was surprised it was in Orlando versus Miami, but
37:09
but I mean, Disney's in Orlando. So I'm like, OK, they probably
37:12
gave the most. Yeah, you know, so the host was
37:15
there even though it's Tampa, Orlando and in Miami.
37:17
Because it wasn't that big of a turn out.
37:19
Maybe like 1000 people in the whole room.
37:21
Well, but it's not it's it's invite only, yeah.
37:25
I would be interested to hear like some of your process as far
37:28
as like receiving the questionnaire and every like
37:32
'cause there was a lot of hearsay about what different
37:34
people got. Did you have to upload photos?
37:36
When did you get it? Did they actually come?
37:38
Because we had a unique experience with them.
37:42
We started doing this steak service to where you have to,
37:46
like, e-mail it to book. And so they were in a restaurant
37:50
one day without us knowing until they said, hey, we're from the
37:53
Michelin guy and we want to book this steak experience.
37:56
So that kind of put us all on high alert.
37:58
Why would they say that? Because they wanted to book the
38:00
steak experience. Yeah, but that's.
38:06
It. They said that they're fired.
38:12
Well, they said. There's some Michelle guys with
38:14
this. We were booked out from the
38:15
steak experience like we were fully booked out on and they're
38:18
like, hey, can you squeeze us? That means that steak.
38:20
Is good. I mean, the thing wasn't that
38:22
steak is very, but I know that different people had like, you
38:25
know, we so we received like a questionnaire and we had to
38:28
upload photos and they asked us specifically in the
38:30
questionnaire like will your menu change the next few months?
38:33
Will, you know, they asked us about green practices, which
38:36
kind of alerted me to, you know, potential anything.
38:40
I don't know, but what was your experience like?
38:44
So we started before I knew, before I heard rumors of
38:49
Michelin. We're already preparing for
38:51
James Beard. And but like I said, in the
38:54
restaurant, everybody gets the exact same experience.
38:56
So I don't care if you're Ian Zerling from 90210 or just
38:59
regular Joe. So when you nobody knows 90210
39:02
anymore. And I have a space.
39:07
I got you. I love two.
39:08
It was a table of 12. I couldn't bumble.
39:09
And I just always remember like Steve from I don't see when I
39:14
was going to come to the restaurant, but everybody was
39:16
going to get the same experience.
39:17
And that's what instance says, like I'm not going to bump
39:19
anybody from that time, like around October of last year till
39:23
the announcement in July, we had several one one person diners.
39:27
And we always keep an eye out for the ones especially that
39:29
order everything, the the wine pairings and then the tequila
39:32
service and then the the coffee service.
39:35
And so all we can really do is watch them.
39:38
A lot of people write stuff down and, you know, we make sure that
39:41
every plate is just as good as I mean, what is every place going
39:44
up the same? So that was our experience.
39:46
And then after the announcement, we started getting emails and
39:50
requests for photos and to read this snippet that they had
39:54
written about the restaurant to approve and some questionnaires
39:57
that they said Diego Field in most of that stuff, but that
40:01
that was coming through. And I know some of our other
40:03
friends weren't getting those things.
40:04
Yeah. Or they didn't even have a
40:06
snippet already up and so there was concerns about what was
40:09
going to happen. But that's as much as I know.
40:12
But it seems like like they're invested in you if they've given
40:16
you more than one or two stars, right?
40:17
So they there is going to be conversation.
40:20
I mean, would you agree with that?
40:22
Well, I'm sorry, going back, Kaylee and Lauren got several
40:25
phone calls and interviews and requests for photos and BIOS
40:29
well before, and they got their own invitation to Michelin as
40:32
well. So nice.
40:34
That's so much of the picture that I can paint without, you
40:36
know, knowing what happened behind the scenes.
40:38
They probably got a, they'll probably figure out their
40:40
process after this year to probably really streamline it
40:44
because it seems like they're just kind of reached whatever in
40:46
which whichever markets is reaching out and trying to do
40:49
it. It seems like a different way.
40:51
Yeah or yeah, or there, yeah. But will they expand to all of
40:56
Texas like El Paso and some of the other some of the other
40:59
cities? Is that on the horizon?
41:01
Do you have any of you know? I don't know.
41:02
I was hoping that they would have mentioned something in El
41:04
Paso. Yeah.
41:05
I mean, obviously because they're on roots, but I mean, I
41:07
think there's some stuff worth mentioning there.
41:09
Yeah, sure. Yeah, because there's good
41:10
restaurants over there as. Well, I think if they want to
41:11
look at the best barbecue in the state, they should look
41:14
everywhere in the state, yeah. I wanted to bring up a couple of
41:18
restaurants that I thought like, hey, these guys should have got
41:20
noticed. I thought like pasta bar.
41:23
I was surprised that they like their food is really nice.
41:25
You know, I know the chef to cuisine, Dan Kennedy, super
41:29
talent, super talented guy. I was surprised that he, well
41:32
not just him, but the whole pasta bar didn't get they're.
41:35
Going to go after it. They're about to open their
41:37
sushi bar again. Yeah, by scratch.
41:39
Yeah, I was surprised. Otoko.
41:40
Otoko was in in there. Like that was that was a shocker
41:43
for me. And I had heard rumors and, you
41:45
know, with the rumor mills churning, I had heard that they
41:47
were like, like they're they're in.
41:50
I was, I was surprised. I mean, and these are great
41:53
restaurants in my opinion, in Austin, I mean.
41:55
She's extremely talented, yeah. And yeah, I was just telling him
41:58
it's probably just because he's too rock'n'roll, you know?
42:00
That's what it is. He wants every punk rock.
42:02
That's cool, you know. Yeah, could, but I mean, so
42:05
here's the question. It's like, but is it, I think it
42:09
goes back to the consistency factor.
42:10
Yeah, right. And I think, you know, what's
42:13
great about it is it kind of makes everybody kind of commit
42:21
to of the process a little bit. You know, it's just like a
42:24
Toko's been around forever. And I think, I mean, I, I ate
42:26
there six years ago and it was fantastic, but I haven't been
42:30
back in six. Years.
42:32
And so it's like, I'm so living off that experience six years
42:37
ago. It's like what some something
42:39
must have changed right now. And then it's the second and,
42:41
and maybe not, I mean, to some degree, but it's just like, I
42:44
think even like uchi, right? And I think Uchi back in the
42:50
day, it was probably on another level and all those people who
42:54
experienced Yoshi back in the day, it's just like, I mean, I
42:56
could tell you experiencing Yoshi now, I love it, but it's
43:00
not, I don't think it's of a trend.
43:02
It's hard to say so. And I think like, I think at
43:04
some point there's just some honesty that has to go into it
43:08
where it's to say, what do you want out of this, right?
43:10
And just because they are big names, like a lot of people said
43:12
the same thing about what am I thinking of the the Italian
43:20
steakhouse Carbone? No, not Carbone.
43:24
Reddish. You know, everybody loves Red
43:27
Ash. It's like I've gone.
43:28
I I mean, I enjoy it for what it is, but like I would never have
43:32
thought in a million years that that's a one star restaurant.
43:34
And a lot of people love it. And a lot of people sit there
43:36
and say, oh. That's like one star and that's
43:38
not. Exactly, exactly, exactly.
43:39
So I think that's where you, you know, unfortunately it's just
43:43
part of the the and it's same thing with Jeffrey's.
43:45
Like everybody thought for sure Jeffrey's is going to get a
43:48
star. So it's so many deaths, yeah,
43:50
but. You know, I think it's quality,
43:51
but it's also like, I don't like when you sit there and actually
43:54
digest the food itself, you know?
43:58
Is it really worth? One star is like, you know, I
44:02
think it's it's got this, this name in this story that I think
44:07
a lot of people allude to thinking that it deserves a
44:10
star. But it's like when you really
44:12
hammer in just the food element of it, I think I kind of, you
44:16
know, changes some perspective. I'm super happy to see.
44:18
So I would from 2M have gotten his recommendation as well.
44:21
Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, I think you guys are
44:23
opening the way right now, so now everybody's gonna be excited
44:25
to go into the San Antonio markets A.
44:27
Funny Market. It's a it's a big city, but it
44:30
has small city vibes. It feels like everybody from the
44:33
border, myself included, after San Antonio because it was just
44:36
chill enough. But big enough, yeah.
44:38
It's funny, as a chef, I waited for Michelin for, I mean, I'm
44:40
retired now, but almost three years.
44:43
If I had known Michelin was coming three years ago, yeah, I
44:46
wouldn't have. I probably would have stayed
44:47
just sure. Yeah.
44:49
You really went away that but I'm.
44:51
Not retired three years ago, I retired three years ago.
44:55
You know what I mean? Yeah.
44:57
But you're probably right. But the markets were different
45:01
there. Retirement, Michelin, and I'll
45:06
take the retirement. When I when I look at like.
45:09
There's a lot of legendary text chefs.
45:11
That. Are kind of exempt because of
45:14
because of time. You know, I, I sure.
45:16
So there's some people that you know, I know I know Dean was
45:19
recommended, but you know, Dean for so many years.
45:21
If if this happened 10 years ago.
45:22
Yeah. It's been so long though.
45:23
Dean was the guy forever. You.
45:25
Know or like a Steven Pyles, who I don't think he had anything.
45:28
I'm trying to think who else you know, you know Robert Del
45:31
Grande. But but these guys you.
45:33
Got him their rewards in their prime.
45:35
Right, right, right in their. Prime.
45:37
So there's these guys, but then there's also a couple of other
45:39
chefs that were just kind of out of contention because they
45:42
didn't have restaurants at the time.
45:43
Yeah. You know, I look at like, Gabe
45:45
or Junior, right? Junior when Meridio was around,
45:49
he probably would have gotten 1, you know?
45:51
Well, Bacalar is definitely a Michelin restaurant.
45:53
There's no question about that. When I ate there the first time
45:55
before it closed, it was just like, all right, this is
45:57
Michelin's you. Know I, I would say the three of
45:59
us on this side of the table, right, we were kind of out of
46:01
contention, right? I'm just going to say that we
46:05
would have, but we did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:12
I mean, and a lot of us don't want to work towards an award
46:15
per SE and, and I'm in agreement with that.
46:17
But at the same time, in a, in a business model, these are the
46:20
things that are actually keeping the doors open, correct?
46:23
You know it's important to business.
46:25
And so when I was asked earlier on like, well, what do you, how
46:27
do you feel about this? For me was like, well, the
46:28
amount of business is going to come in because it's like the.
46:31
News. That's no lie.
46:31
I mean, that's why I'd want to any, any kind of nod for
46:34
Michelade, you know, just like get more people in the door.
46:37
But I feel like there are also certain chefs that once you do
46:40
get that award, it's like all they want is 24 covers a day and
46:43
that's all they're going to do, right?
46:44
Like I was talking to the the craft on makase sushi.
46:48
You guys were in last night and he's like, no, we're not going
46:50
to get busier. I'm I'm capped at 24.
46:51
I'm capped on 36 on these two nights.
46:53
And that's all we're going to do.
46:54
And we've already been booked out before Michelin and that,
46:57
but now we're just booked out even even longer.
46:59
Yeah, no, kind of the same. Book, but I mean that there does
47:02
a point where I just don't have any more space at all.
47:04
No, we're time or payroll. Like no, for sure.
47:07
And you guys? And this doesn't last.
47:08
Yeah, no, it doesn't. Like I'm sold.
47:09
Out, but that just means that I've already received all my
47:11
money for December. They say you get to pay this
47:16
point. You know, there's still large
47:17
sales and stuff, but yeah, you know, that's there.
47:20
And so we have to make it last all the way.
47:22
Yeah. And not just the money, but
47:24
we'll also have to make that excitement last.
47:26
And I think that one of the cool things that's happening right
47:28
now is that I'm getting an influx of a lot of people that
47:30
have never been to the restaurant.
47:31
And I know that because some of the phone calls they get tell me
47:33
that they've never been to the restaurant yet.
47:35
I don't understand how this works.
47:36
OK, well let's talk about it and then hopefully that is all we
47:40
needed to get them back. So many people in sanatorium
47:42
still don't even know that we exist, right?
47:45
The education piece is going to be super important because
47:47
everybody's like, oh, it's Michelin.
47:48
It's supposed to be this screwed.
47:49
And I think, I think their job, the y'all's job especially is to
47:52
convince people what Michelin it to define Michelin in Texas,
47:55
right? Yeah.
47:56
Yeah, within your. I told my dad you play.
47:58
Oh, that's good. Me ho that's good.
48:02
It took about a week and I knew it was going to take a week of
48:04
him like, yeah, he's Saturdays. I see you on this theater.
48:08
They can do this research. He's like, OK, I get it.
48:11
Wow. You know, but even my neighbors,
48:13
I've had neighbors for 12 years in the in the neighborhood and
48:15
we're all really good. We're all close.
48:17
They all know I own the restaurant and only until this
48:19
week have are they trying to get in Where?
48:22
I'm sorry, I don't have any space for you.
48:23
Yeah, right, right. Do try.
48:26
Yeah, and, and I mean, shit, I was in San Antonio last week and
48:29
we were, we were, we were eating pizza on the counter.
48:31
Oh man, I was like, still feel bad about that service.
48:37
Like it really? Well, I mean, it really put a
48:38
damper on the evening. But but I ate at.
48:41
The next day I ate at Ready Go. Eat pizza.
48:43
I'm just. Kidding.
48:43
Yeah, We had to eat pizza. What's right?
48:46
So I ate at Isador the next night.
48:47
Food was really great. I mean, it's like, I don't know,
48:51
they should have gotten a call because I thought it was just as
48:53
good as they just just opened. Yeah, they just, well, he was
48:56
great. Cosi got a a nod.
48:58
Yeah, COSI got called up. They opened at the same time.
49:00
Even younger, though. They're younger, yeah.
49:02
By a couple of weeks. Yeah, but anyway, chefs, we're.
49:05
Jorge is going to crush it. Yeah, yeah.
49:06
He's a stud. He's going.
49:07
To crush it, man, that guy is yeah.
49:09
Oh yeah, so the stud. Well, as we as we wrap up, just
49:12
tell people listening where they can find you, if they want to
49:14
follow you, if they want to come in at your restaurant.
49:17
Find me on Instagram Rico under score under score Torres and the
49:20
restaurant is at Mishley Cloud and we're in San Antonio.
49:24
I had Mishley. I'm at Evan Leroy BBQ on
49:30
Instagram, the restaurant is at Leroy and Lewis on Instagram and
49:33
we're in South Austin off Stassney.
49:37
Hi I'm. Sorry on Instagram I'm P.
49:39
QUI. I got a few restaurants in town
49:42
so just hit hit me up on Instagram.
49:45
Curvy. Yeah, it's at Matthew D Peters.
49:49
That's with one T And then right now we have preludes, so come in
49:52
and have a cocktail, We have some small bites, and then
49:55
eventually we'll form into a restaurant.
49:57
Come 2025. Yeah.
49:59
All right, chefs. Matt Prelude is gorgeous.
50:01
Yeah, it is. It's beautiful.
50:02
The vibe I just bought is gorgeous as well.
50:04
Chef. Like, amazing, yeah.
50:06
Or John Shoe. That's it.
50:07
Thank you. Yes, well, I.
50:08
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50:09
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