Latest / Forking Around with Flavor South Florida / Chef Pushkar Marathe: Michelin Recognition and The Butter Chicken That Pays The Bills

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Chef Pushkar Marathe: Michelin Recognition and The Butter Chicken That Pays The Bills · Forking Around with Flavor South Florida

0:04
Welcome to Forking Around with Flavor South Florida.
0:07
I'm Keri Paisley, CEO of Flavor South Florida.
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We are sitting down with entrepreneurs, business
0:12
owners, and influential community partners to
0:14
talk growth, trials, tribulations, and more.
0:17
These conversations lead into Flavor South Florida,
0:20
the region's largest restaurant month, happening
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every September from the 1st through the 30th.
0:24
If you're in hospitality or thinking about building
0:27
something meaningful in this industry, you're
0:29
in the right place. Pull up a chair and let's
0:31
get into it. This episode is sponsored by Ultima
0:38
Caviar. Visit them at ultimacaviar .com. Today
0:44
on Forking Around with Flavor South Florida,
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we're joined by Chef Pushkar Marathe, the James
0:50
Beard nominated chef behind Saj Kitchen and Bar.
0:54
Ila curry and cocktails, and Mango Mercado, amongst
0:57
a new restaurant that he just recently opened.
0:59
From growing up in India to cooking around the
1:02
world and helping reshape the culinary scene
1:03
here in Palm Beach County, Pushkar has built
1:06
a career around big flavors, influences, and
1:09
never stops learning. Welcome to the show. Thank
1:12
you for having me here. So you're a very busy
1:15
guy in this food industry we have here. Yeah,
1:19
I mean, you can say busy or rather... I love
1:22
what I do, making different flavors, inspiring
1:25
myself and a lot of others around me every day.
1:28
So, yeah, I'm busy, but I'm really loving what
1:31
I do. I think it's such an important piece to
1:35
being busy. Absolutely. I think if you're busy
1:39
and really miserable doing what you're doing,
1:41
it's not a good combination. And the fact that
1:44
you're loving and you're... what you're doing
1:46
you're passionate about it I think makes the
1:47
day go so much better right yeah absolutely I
1:50
wouldn't have changed anything if just like you
1:53
said if I didn't like what I do and still worked
1:57
the amount of hours I work I would be miserable
2:00
not be as successful as we are right now how
2:04
many hours do you work a week who's counting
2:06
right Gave up on that a long time ago. We're
2:10
not punching the clocks anymore, I guess. So
2:13
how many restaurants are you currently, that
2:15
you own and operate and are the exec chef for?
2:18
Four restaurants and soon to be five and six.
2:24
What? Yeah. So we have Stodge on PGA, Hila Korean
2:29
Cocktail on Donald Ross Road. Next to it is Mango
2:32
Mercado. And recently we... put a new concept
2:37
together in Boca called Boca Brasserie. And in
2:41
November, we'll have end of November, early December,
2:44
we'll have Ila and Mango and City Place in West
2:48
Palm Beach. Oh, very cool. Very cool. So that's
2:53
a lot. That's a lot. What does your day look
2:55
like? When does your day start? How do you spread
2:58
your time amongst each of those? It depends.
3:00
A little bit changes every day. Right now, I'm...
3:04
Spending my time in Boca a lot, new menu, a lot
3:07
of training. But on any average day, it all starts.
3:11
I love to stop at Mango Mercado first because
3:14
it opens for breakfast, late breakfast really.
3:18
And Ila because it's right down the street from
3:21
my house. It's 10 minutes from my home. I stop
3:24
there, get a coffee, talk to all the team members,
3:28
look at everything. And that's basically everyday
3:32
start for me. go to starch depending on if we're
3:36
adding another menu item or like a chef's on
3:40
vacation. I do different things on different
3:43
days as needed, but usually it all revolves around
3:48
food, tasting food, and then weekly we do our
3:52
meetings. I'm also a businessman at the same
3:55
time. I want to make sure all the restaurants
3:58
are making money and improving every day. So
4:03
all these concepts are different concepts, but
4:05
they all run under your hospitality group, Flavor
4:08
Builders. Is that correct? That's right. That's
4:11
right. And you have your partner, Andy, who I've
4:14
met multiple times, who's amazing and seems to
4:16
be running the show right along there with you.
4:18
So what does that aspect look like from that
4:23
perspective of it, not just being in the kitchen?
4:25
What are you doing for the restaurant group part
4:29
of it? A very good question. You know, like I
4:32
always say, if it was only about delicious food,
4:35
I would have had food trucks. But we are in a
4:40
restaurant business where we're there to create
4:42
an experience as in whole, right from when you
4:46
call to make a reservation to when you pay your
4:49
bill and you're done with it. So it's all whole
4:51
package. So while I'm completely involved in
4:54
food side of it. I also have a great business
4:57
partner, Andy, like you mentioned. And he is
5:01
partner in crime, partner in everything. He does
5:05
a lot of front of the house side aspect of it.
5:08
But I'm also looking at the numbers, development
5:11
of flavor -building hospitality, strategically
5:14
planning months ahead, the budgeting. And last
5:19
six years, we opened four different restaurants.
5:21
So there's a lot of growth factor in all of this.
5:25
You can imagine every year and a quarter we have
5:28
put it, putting a new restaurant, which for a
5:32
lot of people, I mean, we're a small restaurant
5:34
group. We don't have like a big financial backing.
5:38
We don't have like a, my dad sat with like a
5:41
checkbook by no means. So we have to use our
5:45
resources and be profitable for a small investment
5:50
we take from investors from around the town.
5:54
A lot of the times it's all about while we're
5:57
talking about food, I'm also there with Andy,
6:01
like talking to GC or talking about finances,
6:05
looking at the account. But I do get a big help
6:07
from Andy to keep all of that in place. But I'm
6:11
also a big numbers guy, and together we make
6:14
a great team. So do you want to open more? You
6:17
have six and four years. That sounds like a lot.
6:20
But do you want to open more restaurants? Yeah,
6:24
I mean, I don't have any specific number in mind,
6:28
but I do miss just being at one restaurant to
6:31
be able to connect to the guests, but I've learned
6:35
to be at different places, and I don't believe
6:38
in while your physical appearance or physical
6:42
presence is required, I've learned to manage
6:46
the teams and believing in teams and empowering
6:48
my team to do. a great job, and training is everything.
6:54
So I'm just as good as when I'm not there, which
6:58
is really important. I feel the same way. A lot
7:01
of people say to me with Flavor South Florida,
7:03
which I thank you for being a Flavor participant
7:05
every year. I love that you all are a part of
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it, and I know you always do so well with it,
7:10
and why not? Because it's a great deal, and the
7:11
food's amazing. But everyone says to me, like,
7:14
oh, how do you do it? I'm like, I don't do it
7:16
by myself. I have a team. I have a great team,
7:18
and it's such a big part of... I think of leadership
7:21
is really knowing your team is there and doing
7:25
the right thing. And when you're not there, you
7:27
don't have to be there all the time because you're
7:29
setting that expectation up and setting that
7:33
team up for success. I think that's so important
7:37
to be a good leader. And for you to be able to
7:40
do what you're doing amongst six restaurants
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just tells me in itself that you're a good leader.
7:45
Yeah, I think leadership is everything, and that's
7:47
kind of where... The ultimate goal is to make
7:52
more leaders out of that team and have them lead
7:55
the restaurants. And that kind of answers or
7:58
a little extension of the question you asked
8:00
earlier that you did four restaurants in the
8:04
last six years. A lot of it kind of happens because
8:08
you have a great team and you want them to grow
8:12
with you. So sometimes it's like while you're
8:15
opening businesses, you also open more restaurants.
8:19
You can grow your management team and some of
8:24
my prodigies who've been with me and you want
8:28
them to be in a newer role. And it almost happens
8:31
organically, but you want to push some of the
8:34
other team members to be in those roles. And
8:37
you don't want them to, like while I want people
8:40
to grow and I want the team members to grow,
8:42
you want them to grow within the company as well.
8:45
And that's how kind of. like we realize we have
8:49
a great talent and why not make them grow into
8:52
something. So it's like while we are growing
8:54
as a business, we are also growing our team and
8:58
our leaders. Yeah, and I think that's really,
9:00
really important, especially for growth, just
9:03
to grow, to be able to grow. What's your favorite
9:05
restaurant that you own? You know, that is...
9:09
It's a trick question. It's a trick question.
9:12
Who's your favorite baby, your favorite child?
9:14
It's hard to answer. And I don't have... I only
9:17
have one son. Me too. He's my favorite child.
9:22
But I have a sibling. So I think I'm probably
9:27
my parents' favorite child. Me too. Me too. Are
9:30
you the oldest child? I'm the oldest child. Me
9:33
too. We are the favorite. But I think it is.
9:36
But it's probably not accurate for me to say.
9:39
But I would say. All restaurants are very special.
9:42
They all have their own stories. But if I have
9:45
to say one, Stodge would be the first restaurant
9:48
because it is the first restaurant me and Andy
9:51
put together. And that was like, it took us four
9:54
years to build that restaurant, to even find
9:58
the location. It took us a year to build the
10:00
restaurant. But to put that restaurant together,
10:03
to find the right location, to find the investment,
10:06
and when you're putting the first restaurant
10:08
together. It's quite challenging if someone wants
10:12
to know. So it took us four years. And that aspect,
10:16
I think Stodge is a very special place for me
10:19
in Palm Beach Gardens. So Stodge has a crazy
10:22
story, actually. Also funny, guess where I went
10:26
for lunch today? I went to Stodge! There you
10:30
go. And I just, there's not much left here. I
10:33
ate most of it. But this butter chicken. I know.
10:37
I bet you sell a million butter chickens a day.
10:39
Oh, we do. But, like, there's a reason for that.
10:42
Because it's so, so good. Yeah. You know? There's
10:47
a crazy story about that, too. Can we just smell
10:51
it for a minute? Smell -o -vision. Take a moment
10:52
for the butter chicken. Oh. Yeah. It pays a lot
10:57
of our bills, to be honest. I mean, what makes
11:00
this so incredible? Is there a special ingredient
11:03
in here that we're not knowing about? You know,
11:05
I wouldn't say I came up with it, but I came
11:09
up with this recipe. Butter chicken is a super
11:12
classic North Indian dish. And when we opened
11:15
Staj, to be honest, butter chicken wasn't even
11:18
on the menu. No! The story is kind of intertwined.
11:21
Staj was always supposed to be an Indian restaurant
11:24
before what it is now. And hopefully my landlords...
11:30
AW Properties will listen to this. And they combined
11:34
all together in the middle of lease negotiation.
11:37
We're right about to sign the lease. Everything's
11:40
about to get finalized. Brian says, oh, you know,
11:43
it would be great if the menu wasn't as, like,
11:47
Indian heavy. And I'm like, all right. Well,
11:50
the restaurant's name was something else. Everything
11:53
was supposed to be really Ila going in there.
11:59
And then I'm like, all right, well, I have actually
12:02
cooked everything else before I started cooking
12:04
Indian food professionally. I was a ghee with
12:07
Niven at that point as a business partner in
12:09
Miami Design District. Niven Patel. Niven Patel.
12:12
And one of my cooks then, Tony, who's the chef
12:16
at Stodge Kitchen and Bar in Palm Beach Gardens
12:19
now, he was my line cook. He comes to me, he's
12:22
like, hey, when you want the stodge to come in,
12:25
stodge is... It's like necessarily a kitchen
12:28
intern. The slang we use is a French term for
12:32
an intern in any type of work. In kitchen, we
12:36
call them stodge. And the process of stodging,
12:39
like actually doing an internship, unpaid internship,
12:43
is called stodging. And I was looking for the
12:46
new name, new concept, and that's when I called
12:48
Andy and said, hey, I think I know what the new
12:51
restaurant is going to be called since AW Properties
12:55
or Brian doesn't want an Indian restaurant there.
12:57
It's so difficult to find a real estate, a good
13:01
real estate for the first restaurant because
13:03
no one wants to take that chance because everyone
13:06
kind of, but we had a great pedigree. We had
13:08
a great restaurant. We had worked at, so that
13:11
kind of came in handy for us. And I'm like, I'm
13:15
going to do a globally inspired restaurant. And
13:18
Stodge, when you Stodge, you don't learn the
13:20
same thing every day. You learn and adapt something
13:23
new every day. And that's kind of what Stodge
13:25
came about. I redid the menu and there was not
13:29
a butter chicken. No Indian food was on the menu.
13:33
Thanks to COVID. That's wild. So the butter chicken
13:36
on Stodge's menu is a COVID gift to me. Wow.
13:40
Hold on. Let me talk about COVID for a second.
13:43
All right. So this is crazy to me. Crazy, crazy.
13:46
So you opened stage on Valentine's Day of 2020.
13:54
Now, I know when we closed down for COVID because
13:58
guess what? We closed down on my birthday, March
14:00
16th, 2020. So you're not even open a month and
14:05
you had to shut your doors. Oh, my God. That
14:07
was terrible. It was like probably one of the
14:12
hardest things or rather hardest thing to hear.
14:16
After opening restaurants of our dream. After
14:19
four years of working on it. I can't even imagine.
14:24
March 17th, we shut down for public. And the
14:30
first two days, none of us knew what's going
14:32
on. There was no clarity if it was going to be
14:36
indoor dining. But immediately we pivoted. And
14:39
I told Andy that let's not worry about anything.
14:44
I'm going to change the menu. So first we sold
14:46
what we had. And then we started doing daily
14:50
different things and added butter chicken on
14:52
the menu because Indian food carries really well.
14:55
So we did a mix of a little bit of everything
14:58
and added like a curry section on it. And for
15:02
two months, I have to say thank you to all the
15:08
customers and patrons who were lining up at the
15:10
door. Four days a week, it was just three of
15:13
us. And I kind of rotated my staff inside, the
15:17
team members who had moved from Miami to work
15:20
with me. So we took one week time, and I regulated
15:24
the schedule, kind of rotated everybody once
15:28
a week. Everyone was working, and it was me and
15:30
Andy. And we were the dishwashers, prep cook,
15:33
and everything. And no one was allowed, so we
15:36
had that front door at Saj. Had a big table.
15:39
We would give away the beers. He had a lot of
15:43
beers. And then we started selling it, pre -made
15:46
cocktails. I was also mixing mango margaritas
15:49
for people to take home. And then people were
15:51
getting butter chicken. And then when indoor
15:55
dining opened, I took the butter chicken off
15:58
the menu because I never wanted Saaj to be an
16:01
Indian restaurant. Andy's phone was going off.
16:04
I bet. And people were like, can we get the butter
16:07
chicken back? And ultimately, we are in a business
16:10
of... making sure our guests are satisfied and
16:14
we are in it for people and our patrons every
16:17
day. So I put the butter chicken back on the
16:20
menu. It's a part of the global cuisine. So since
16:23
then, butter chicken has its own line on account,
16:26
which pays the rent and pays us in sum. Hell
16:30
yeah, man. You can't ever take that off the menu
16:32
now. I remember the first time I went, it was
16:34
all the buzz. It was probably, I guess, end of
16:36
2020 or beginning of 21. Obviously, I think it
16:40
was. pretty after COVID, where it was still buzzing.
16:43
Everyone was like, got to go to stage. You got
16:45
to go to stage. Have you been to stage? You were
16:47
on fire in that moment. And I remember going,
16:50
it was packed. It was the first time I ever went.
16:53
And I sat at a high top and I had pate in the
16:56
jar. Yeah, good memory. And it was so good. Oh,
17:01
I always, oh, and I also, you know what else
17:03
I also had that night? And I'm going to speak
17:05
to this too. I had the tuna bomb. Lovely. That
17:09
was what I had the first time I was ever in Tassaj.
17:11
And I always say this, and how funny is this,
17:13
because here we are five years later, and I'm
17:14
talking about it, six years later. So people
17:19
ask me, like, oh, what did you think of such
17:20
and such restaurant? And I say to them, I don't
17:23
really remember what I had. It was good. If I
17:27
can't remember what I had, then, right, it wasn't
17:31
memorable. And that probably wasn't a place I'm...
17:35
Thinking about going back to where here I am
17:36
six years later telling you exactly what I ate
17:40
that night. And you and I didn't know each other
17:41
then. So it's not even like it was just another
17:43
restaurant I went out to dinner at. It was nothing
17:45
like there shouldn't have been. There was no
17:48
reason for me to be remembering this. But that's
17:49
how freaking good it was is that I remembered
17:53
what I ate that night. Love that. Thank you.
17:54
You know, and that's important. It's so important.
17:56
And, you know, Tuna Bomb again. Tuna Bomb came
17:59
about because every dish has a story. We actually
18:02
made. something for ourselves and I had big tuna
18:07
had arrived and I had a lot of like tuna in the
18:11
building and I made something I'm like you know
18:13
what it would be great if I I had some puris
18:16
from a dinner I had done like a tasting for Indian
18:19
menu and I'm like it would be great if I put
18:23
tuna inside this shell and it would be almost
18:26
like a tuna hand roll but in a small little cup
18:30
And same thing. I put a tuna bomb on as a special.
18:33
Two weeks later, I had done something else with
18:37
tuna. Again, a lot of the guests were like, oh,
18:40
we want that tuna appetizer back. And people
18:44
didn't know that it was called tuna bomb at this
18:47
very minute. Two months later, tuna bomb set
18:50
its place in the menu. Never was able to take
18:54
it off. And it's like, again, another item which
18:57
does very, very well. Now it has become one of,
19:02
like, the important part of Palm Beach County's,
19:05
or one of the dishes, like, everyone talks about.
19:09
And it's beyond, like, it's not about me, it's
19:13
not about Stodge, it's about tuna bombs. So people
19:16
have, like, they have a tuna bomb, like, group
19:20
of people who don't even look at the menus, like,
19:22
put two tuna bombs on a table before anything
19:25
else. That's amazing. And it's... Really a testament
19:29
to you and your creativity because it's like
19:31
those are the memorable dishes. But it's so funny
19:35
that it wasn't supposed to be an Indian restaurant
19:36
in theory. So take me back to Nagpur, India.
19:41
You grew up there with your mom and your grandmother
19:44
giving you a lot of your influence, I think,
19:47
in cooking growing up. Is that correct? So I'm
19:49
born in Nagpur, which is center of India. But
19:53
I kind of grew up in different parts of India.
19:56
That's kind of what got me into thinking about
19:59
different type of food. In India, like if you've
20:03
been to India or rather know something about
20:06
India, there's something very important fact
20:08
about India. Like every couple hundred miles,
20:11
the food, the ingredients change a lot. I didn't
20:14
know that. And all the different regions in India
20:18
or rather different states in India have different
20:20
languages. They're not dialects. They're all
20:22
different languages. predominantly India is divided
20:26
into north and south and then there's east and
20:29
west side of it but the food varies massively
20:33
like there's a big difference between north Indian
20:35
and south Indian food so when I was growing up
20:39
on air force bases my neighbors were not people
20:41
from the same area they're all from all over
20:44
India so I was eating different types of food
20:48
Growing up in northern India, my father was posted
20:53
in Agra with Taj Mahal. So trying all these different
20:56
food got me thinking what the rest of the world
20:59
looks like or what it could be. And learning
21:02
from Nagpur, when we went back to Nagpur, spending
21:05
any time with my grandmother or my mom. We have
21:08
a big family and food is taken very seriously.
21:11
Everything is kind of made from scratch. I saw...
21:15
My grandmother churning the butter out of the
21:18
buttermilk and making the ghee at home. All those
21:22
little steps, minute details kind of really got
21:27
me into it. And that's when I knew I want to
21:30
do cooking as my career, take cooking as my career,
21:33
even though I was going to be in a medical school.
21:37
And I didn't really pursue that career and rather
21:41
went to culinary school after. So I am going
21:45
to touch on that because that's fascinating.
21:47
What is one smell or flavor that brings you right
21:51
back to your grandmother's kitchen? The curry
21:54
leaves. The curry leaves. Yes, when the curry
21:56
leaves and also not just the smell, it's the
22:00
tempering. Like when you have a hot oil and you
22:04
put mustard seeds in it or curry leaves, that
22:06
crackling sound and the smell which fills the
22:09
room with like those mustard seeds, curry leaves,
22:11
the citrusy notes of curry leaves. That's just
22:14
like, I could be dead and I'll be, I'll come
22:17
to life right after that. That's such a great
22:20
description. And first of all, I love really
22:23
good mustard seeds. And just the fact that what
22:25
you just described it, the crackling of it and
22:27
all that, that moment, like it's so, it's so,
22:30
and that might've probably been the moment where
22:33
you're like, oh, I want to cook, you know? So
22:35
yeah, so you're an army brat. So I guess you
22:38
moved around a bit, but yeah, your career. took
22:41
you to Switzerland, the Caribbean, the Cayman
22:44
Islands, Middle East, all over the place. But
22:46
you wanted to be a doctor and instead went into
22:49
being a chef. So that is so interesting. What
22:52
kind of medicine were you interested in practicing?
22:55
I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. I could see that.
22:59
But then after seeing the human anatomy books
23:03
and everything else, I was like, I don't make
23:06
a terrible doctor. And I wasn't really cut out
23:09
for that. And then I consider myself really fortunate.
23:12
I'm one of those chefs or rather person, glass
23:15
half full kind of a guy. So I always like I'm
23:19
not someone who says don't take hospitality or
23:22
chef as your career because I love what I do.
23:24
And I think more kids should take cooking as
23:28
their career because it's a lot of fun. I don't
23:31
ever think like I'm going to work because I get
23:33
to create. There is like, you know, long days
23:35
and everything comes with it. But if you're enjoying
23:37
it and you kind of make something out of it to
23:41
learn and come up with the recipes, get to create
23:45
most of the days and training other individuals,
23:49
team members to do better. It's very satisfying.
23:52
How was it in Switzerland? It was great. How's
23:56
the food in Switzerland? It was amazing. The
23:59
reason I chose going to Switzerland, too, because
24:03
it's landlocked, and landlocked between Germany,
24:07
France, Italy. So you do get a lot of three really
24:13
important countries in terms of cooking and culinary
24:16
and the culture. So the restaurant I worked at
24:20
was in Stade. which is up in the Alps. There's
24:24
a little bit of a French influence in it. And
24:27
there's also a lot of German influence. And then
24:29
there's a lot of Italians who worked in our kitchen.
24:32
So I worked with a lot of those different European
24:34
nationalities. That's where I kind of like really
24:38
owned my skills in European cooking. And it was
24:42
predominantly French. And going to Switzerland
24:44
was also... Very special for me because even
24:48
though I grew up on Air Force bases, I never
24:50
had traveled on airplane before. So my first
24:54
trip on airplane outside India, everything happened
24:57
the same day. Got on a plane to Zurich. It was
25:00
my first international flight and landed in Zurich
25:04
after being on airplane for like I think 15 hours.
25:07
Mumbai to Dubai and then to Zurich. It was a
25:10
life -changing experience and I never went back
25:13
after that. Like I just kept traveling. Yeah.
25:17
Probably a lot of good food you've eaten over
25:19
the years over there. Do you go back to India?
25:21
Yeah. Past couple of years, I went back to India
25:24
after a long time. But yeah, I hadn't been back
25:29
to India for eight years. Two years ago on my
25:32
40th birthday, I went to Oktoberfest. And then
25:36
from Oktoberfest, from Munich, I went to Mumbai
25:39
and celebrated my 40th birthday with my parents.
25:43
Oh, that's nice. My wife surprised me by... booking
25:47
the flight ticket. It was very nice of her. And
25:50
how about your son? How old is your son? He just
25:52
turned 12 last week. Okay, so we're about the
25:55
same. So my son's 14, and you said your age,
25:59
but I'm not saying mine. Just kidding. So as
26:04
you were just saying, it's important that...
26:07
You wish more people would take culinary, and
26:09
these kids would learn more. So my son's actually
26:11
taking culinary as one of his classes in school
26:13
right now. So he sent me a video the other day
26:15
of him in culinary class using a butcher's knife,
26:17
and he was making a stir fry. And he said his
26:20
broadest phone or his tripod to send me a video.
26:23
And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, did you
26:26
chop his finger off? But he didn't. He still
26:29
kept all his fingers. Hey, have you ever had
26:31
any? Like, did you ever chop a finger off? I
26:34
mean, clearly, no, you have all your fingers.
26:35
Thank God. Do you have any casualties along the
26:38
way in the kitchen? No, not like. Right. All
26:43
the way. All the way. Knock it all. Yeah. All
26:45
right. So I want to navigate us to a little fast
26:48
forward here. So you're in India. You're in Switzerland.
26:51
You're all over the place. Then you make your
26:55
way to the U .S. And where did you wind up when
26:57
you first came here? Florida? Yes, I actually
27:00
had an interview in Switzerland to be able to
27:03
come here for an year. And I strategically like
27:06
I had a few different options, Los Angeles and
27:09
then another place was 3030 Ocean. And that's
27:13
where I got selected and I landed in Fort Lauderdale.
27:16
My first time in the United States was in Fort
27:18
Lauderdale working at 3030 Ocean by Dean Max.
27:22
Wow. I got to tell you a funny story. When I
27:26
was over in Paris, I had asked the local people,
27:29
I said, oh, have you been to the U .S.? And they
27:31
said, no. I said, where would you want to go
27:33
in the U .S. if you want to go? And I really
27:36
thought they were going to say Los Angeles or
27:38
New York City. They all said Miami. And I said,
27:42
what? Why do you want to leave Paris to go to
27:45
Miami? That's crazy to me. So my question to
27:48
you is, what was your first impression when you
27:50
got here to Fort Lauderdale? Did you love it?
27:54
Did you hate it? I loved it. I loved it. Yeah,
27:56
it was, you know, beautiful beaches. My apartment
27:58
was a block away from A1A Beach in Fort Lauderdale.
28:03
And the restaurant I worked at overlooked the
28:06
Atlantic Ocean. So it was a great, it was very
28:09
different coming from Switzerland. Everything
28:11
was so big and the highways and everything. But
28:14
I was so busy in a restaurant. It was my first
28:17
job in America too. What year was this? That
28:20
was 2007. Seven, okay, okay. So for me, the funny
28:27
story about 3030 Ocean that I just found out
28:30
was that, so you worked under Chef Dean Max there?
28:35
Yeah. And what was his position there? He was
28:37
the executive chef and the consultant as well.
28:40
But then you also worked there at the same time
28:43
with some other folks that I've had on the show
28:46
here that I know. So Niven Patel. Yeah. Paula
28:51
Da Silva. Correct. Jeremy Ford. Yep. And you.
28:56
All of us were there. That right there, that
28:59
lineup is just blowing my mind because now fast
29:03
forward, you are all such individual powerhouses.
29:07
Yeah. Like what the hell came out of that kitchen?
29:11
What was going on in that kitchen? It's crazy.
29:13
This episode is sponsored by Altima Caviar. Experience
29:17
exceptional. Visit them at ultimacaviar .com.
29:21
And another thing I would like to add to that.
29:24
Yeah. And my wife was a general manager of the
29:27
restaurant. Oh my gosh. Is that how you met?
29:31
We didn't, we didn't date it then together or
29:34
anything, but we met then and we started seeing
29:37
each other and got married in Los Angeles several
29:40
years later. Wow. But she was a GM there and
29:44
yeah, all of us were there and I was just a line
29:47
cook. It was crazy. I would love a photo of that.
29:50
Okay, bring it out. So you're a line cook. Dean's
29:54
exec chef. You're a line cook. Paula was what?
29:56
Chef de cuisine. And Niven? Niven and I were
30:00
the line cooks, yeah. Jeremy? He was the sous
30:03
chef. Okay. He was little then. Oh, yeah. We
30:06
were all... Oh, you were too. You were all about
30:08
the same age. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. That...
30:12
Man, if those walls could talk. Yeah, there was
30:14
some crazy stories. Well, because now let's fast
30:17
forward this for a second. Paula competed and
30:21
won. Yeah, she was in the Hell's Kitchen when
30:24
we were there. Okay, so there's that. Jeremy
30:27
won Top Chef. Yeah. Jeremy is a James Beard nominated
30:32
finalist, right? And then as are you, which you
30:36
received in 2023, which is such a huge accomplishment.
30:40
And I mean, how did you feel when you, found
30:43
out like james beard that's huge in this that's
30:45
huge yeah it was it was uh quite the honor you
30:49
know i never i never knew that it's ever possible
30:53
you know but i'd like I never started cooking
30:56
for accolades, to be honest. I started cooking
30:59
because I love what I do. And then getting an
31:02
accolade and getting some accreditation or rather
31:06
acknowledgement of your work feels great, feels
31:08
great for your team. And then you kind of all,
31:10
you know, everybody kind of celebrates that.
31:12
So it was nice to be noticed and getting that
31:15
kind of accolade through some amazing. It's an
31:20
incredible honor. Honor by James Beard, especially.
31:24
when it's only in North America here and everything
31:27
about James Beard and everything has so much
31:29
history, it felt really great. But at the same
31:32
time, once you achieve that, or rather someone
31:37
gives you that acknowledgement and you kind of
31:41
have to still get better at what you do, even
31:43
better, you have more responsibility, I think,
31:47
and push it even more. That's what kind of kept
31:49
us going. And I think it was all... To be honest,
31:54
the culture was embedded in us in 30 -30. And
31:58
hence, all of us are doing very well. Do you
32:01
have any funny stories from one of those days
32:04
that you could share? You mentioned Paula De
32:06
Silva. Yeah, tell the stories. I've been thrown
32:10
five or six different stakes in a matter of 30
32:14
minutes by Paula. And all of them were boning
32:16
stakes because I messed up the temperature. Or
32:19
I don't know what I did wrong, but I did something
32:22
wrong. And I was just, like, dodging Paula's
32:25
stakes being thrown at me in the middle of service
32:28
at 7 .30 p .m. And Jeremy's just, like, next
32:32
to me saying, yeah, don't worry. You got this.
32:35
You got this. Keep it going, buddy. And that
32:40
was the day. And then when I left, I had worked
32:42
every station. I had only one year because my
32:44
visa was only there for one year. like improve
32:50
a lot like Paula was all of us were scared to
32:53
work with her and that's what I've heard but
32:56
I adore her and I think she's the most fantastic
32:59
as we were talking about leadership before she
33:01
just for me is a definition of a leader right
33:03
and I don't know I guess I don't know that side
33:07
of her personality because I feel like she's
33:10
so composed so like that was obviously a while
33:13
ago but you know 20 years ago yeah But I can't
33:17
picture her throwing steaks in the kitchen, but
33:18
I love it. I think it's hilarious. Oh, she is.
33:21
There is no holding back when Paula was on a
33:25
pass in the full speed. But also, you know, her
33:28
and my wife are best friends. Oh, nice. But then
33:32
when we were working with her, she had the kitchen,
33:36
like, you know, everything was so strict in a
33:39
good way because, you know, there was no horsing
33:42
around. There was always, like, to the point.
33:45
and, you know, punctuality and the time management.
33:47
She ran the kitchen like a tight ship, and we
33:51
all admire her for what she embedded in us. Like
33:56
Jeremy and I and even all of us, like everybody
34:00
who worked in that kitchen under Paula could
34:02
attest that. She's one reason we are very good
34:07
in certain aspects of our career. That's really
34:10
awesome. It's just... It's great to be able to
34:14
have somebody that you're working with or under
34:16
that you can take all that with all these years
34:21
later. I think that's so, so good. Okay, so timeline.
34:25
So 2020, open stage. 2020, closed stage. 23,
34:31
James Beard. 25, moving along here. 2025. You,
34:36
Staj, got awarded a Michelin Recommended for
34:40
the first time that Palm Beach County brought
34:43
Michelin to the county. Yeah. How cool is that?
34:47
And what were you thinking about that? Were you
34:50
shocked? What were your feelings behind that?
34:54
Another great feeling. I wasn't expecting anything.
34:58
We were just doing what we do. It was a great
35:01
honor. And to have a Michelin guide first time
35:05
in Palm Beach County and us to be involved in
35:07
it was quite the honor and excitement. You know,
35:10
it's another great testament of if you put in
35:15
an honest and sincere effort, it doesn't go unnoticed.
35:19
And for Michelin to recognize it, I took it as
35:22
a great honor. Another great little pat on our
35:25
team's back, too, because I don't do this by
35:27
myself. We have a great team behind us. To say
35:31
the least, it was very satisfying to see how
35:35
long and how far we have come in a short period
35:38
of time. While it took us a long time to get
35:42
where we are at, in the bigger picture, it was
35:45
the fifth year of Sarge and the first year of
35:49
Palm Beach County to have a Michelin guide come
35:51
in here and acknowledge all the hard work. It
35:54
was quite rewarding when the list was announced.
35:59
We were in Orlando and we were all there in a
36:05
ceremony and standing alongside some of my friends
36:10
and some of other great chefs who I've never
36:12
met was a very humbling experience. That's awesome.
36:17
But it didn't stop there. 2026, Ila gets recommended.
36:24
You got two restaurants in the guide right now.
36:29
Staj and Ila. Holy crap. That is something to
36:34
talk about. Yeah, I mean, another thing, like
36:38
when Ila wasn't involved in the first year, I
36:42
was a little bit shocked because it's also a
36:45
very special restaurant for me because that is
36:48
an Indian restaurant for those who don't know.
36:51
It's a regionally inspired Indian restaurant.
36:53
So we touch a lot of different regions of India.
36:56
And it kind of... showcase my upbringing in different
37:01
parts of India and the people who came across
37:03
my journey, my travels in India. And when we
37:06
did get that mission recognition, it was also
37:09
very rewarding because the team at ILA worked
37:12
relentlessly to be able to, not to get the recognition,
37:17
but to make sure everybody gets a great experience.
37:20
And ILA has become Donald Ross' little gem. Outside
37:24
bar, people hang out, and then we created...
37:27
Amazing outside, like a bar menu for that. So
37:30
all those efforts to please our customers with
37:35
the flavors, hospitality, all kind of came together
37:38
when both of the restaurants got recognized again
37:41
in 2026, a few months ago. So I'm super pumped
37:45
about what the future looks like for us, our
37:48
hospitality group, and seeing all those recognition
37:51
come along, the wave and the ride. It's quite
37:56
humbling and satisfying, and it just makes my
37:59
team, my chefs, all our servers to do better.
38:03
To be recognized is one thing. To keep the recognition
38:07
is another. So we are very, very happy about
38:10
that. That's awesome. It's so well -deserved.
38:12
So we've talked a bit about Staj and Ila because
38:15
those are the ones that everybody talks about.
38:17
Let's touch quickly on Mango Mercado and Boca
38:21
Brasserie. See, I can't say it again. You say
38:25
it. Boca Brasserie. I even wrote it down, and
38:28
I still can't. I don't know why. Some words I
38:29
just can't say. Yeah, I mean, just say it the
38:32
way it was. Brasserie. Yeah, Brasserie. Boca
38:33
Brasserie. Yeah. Look, I can do it. Tell me about
38:37
Mango Mercado first. Mango Mercado also has another
38:42
story. Where Mango Mercado is right now, that's
38:44
where original Ila used to be. Yes. And before
38:48
even that, there used to be culinary in that
38:50
place. That place always has been very special.
38:53
And when we moved Ila in a bigger space, I wanted
38:58
to do something which was more like a daily type
39:04
restaurant where you got sandwiches, soups, and
39:08
salads you could build. So Mango Mercado came
39:11
about the need to have good sandwiches around
39:14
here and a great daily type cuisine where you
39:18
can eat at your office. A meal prep for your
39:22
home, that's kind of what Mango Mercado is about.
39:26
And mango being my favorite fruit and from Florida,
39:29
that's the only state which has mangoes other
39:32
than California. And California mangoes are not
39:34
as good as Florida. That's kind of why we named
39:37
it Mango Mercado. And the Mango Mercado, we do
39:41
sandwiches. All the bread comes from Aioli Bakery
39:44
in West Palm Beach. Oh, they do? Okay. Also Michelin.
39:47
Well, they got a Bib Gourmand. Yeah. And Mike
39:51
and the team makes all the amazing bread. That's
39:55
half the battle right there, half the effort.
39:58
And then we put fresh food daily. We prepare
40:02
everything fresh in -house. You can build your
40:04
own salads. There's a seasonal salad always going
40:07
around, always on the menu. We do sandwich specials
40:10
every day. Now we just launched smoothies last
40:13
month, which is like we don't have 20 different
40:16
smoothies. We have two. great smoothies which
40:20
rotate right now the mango season we have a mango
40:22
smoothies and then we have a green smoothie then
40:25
we always have meal prep done for you where you
40:28
can just heat it up at your home for for the
40:30
family that always rotates so it's like a neighborhood
40:33
type market where you can get soup salad sandwiches
40:37
always rotating made fresh in the house and you
40:41
can buy dressings and things like that and when
40:44
special occasions like thanksgiving or christmas
40:47
we do for a lot of families to enjoy the holidays
40:52
at home and enjoy the home -cooked meal and forget
40:56
all the mess they have to make at home. So you
40:58
can buy, pre -book those things, and always this
41:01
will be our third year doing Thanksgiving meals
41:04
out of Mango Mercado. Lunch and dinner. I'm sorry,
41:07
breakfast and lunch, not dinner. Not dinner.
41:09
Right? Okay. So what time do you close over there?
41:11
4 p .m. 4 p .m. Okay. Now, Boca Brasserie. Yeah.
41:16
I did it! Thanks. Thanks. I practiced. Tell me
41:20
about that concept. So Boca Brasserie is an American
41:24
brasserie. We are doing all the classics, French
41:27
onion soup or sourdough flatbread or as simple
41:31
as spicy rigatoni done better. You know, so we
41:36
Boca is burgers and stuff. But yeah, there's
41:39
two types of burger on the menu. One is original.
41:42
We always had stodge burger, which is like. Certified
41:45
Angus beef, patty, prime. And then we have Wagyu
41:49
burger on amazing bread again. And then we have
41:52
a sourdough flatbreads we changed because it
41:55
used to be stodge before in Boca. Changed some
41:58
of the cooking line and added a pizza oven to
42:01
the mix. So we make fresh flatbreads. Then we
42:05
have a classical Louie salad, which is crab Louie,
42:08
crab, iceberg lettuce, nice horseradish type
42:12
dressing. Then we have shrimp cocktail. Then
42:15
we have a Mexican shrimp and crab cocktail on
42:18
the menu. There's a little bit of everything
42:20
on that menu which guests can enjoy on any given
42:24
day. Fries, as simple as it sounds, believe it
42:27
or not, I tried probably 25 different brands
42:30
of frozen fries. It's a volume -driven restaurant.
42:34
It's a busy restaurant. But that's something
42:36
about me. It's like I couldn't sleep tasting
42:39
the frozen fries. So we punch all our fries inside.
42:42
in the building, and they're triple blanched
42:45
fries, one of the best fries you can find, and
42:48
really put a lot of efforts into it. Because
42:51
if you're going to put those calories in you
42:54
with the fries, they better be the best calories
42:56
you're going to put in. It's so funny. I've seen
42:58
a lot of things lately, like people omitting
43:00
seed oils and also people using beef tallow to
43:04
fry. I feel like there's a lot of – this is a
43:07
whole other episode of – things that are happening
43:10
within our the food itself but it's so interesting
43:12
to me that and appreciated that that you're making
43:15
your fries yourself and taking that piece of
43:18
the quality even even thought into a french fry
43:21
and i think that's so important and i think i
43:24
mean i personally know like i feel really great
43:26
about the quality of food that you use my butter
43:29
chicken here and i think It's so good. Like just
43:33
the flavors, the ingredients, the quality is
43:35
so important. And I also noticed that because
43:37
you rebranded stage and Boca and people were
43:40
really surprised, I think, and they were like,
43:42
Whoa, what happened here? And I think, and correct
43:44
me if I'm wrong, I don't want to speak for you,
43:45
but I think what happened here was. What I'm
43:47
hearing you say is during COVID, the people were
43:50
like, you got to leave the butter chicken on.
43:51
And you did. You got to leave the tuna bombs.
43:53
And you did. And what you do and you did, and
43:56
I think what makes you successful is you're listening
43:58
to your guests. You're listening to the community.
44:00
You're listening to what they're needing and
44:01
wanting there. And I'm going to probably guess
44:04
and assume that you said they don't want a stage
44:06
here. They want something else here. Kind of,
44:09
yes. Because I did so well, Boca too, but we're
44:14
nestled between MoTeC and El Camino. Yeah. And
44:17
the crowd wanted more of like something of what
44:21
Boca Bras is right now. And we kind of listen,
44:24
just like you said, we are in a business for
44:27
people by people, right? And we can have the
44:33
best avant -garde meal in front of you, but if
44:36
it's not for you, it's not for you. So we kind
44:40
of learned that quickly and pivoting and adapting
44:44
to what people want is, is one of the important
44:48
factors to be successful. So while we had a lot
44:53
of pride, we do have a lot of pride in the stage
44:55
that we just, stage wasn't for that specific
44:59
location. And we tweaked it to put Boca Brasserie
45:04
instead. We tweaked some interiors. The restaurant
45:07
is drop -dead gorgeous. We built it out from
45:11
scratch. So it's like, you know, we didn't cut
45:13
any corners of building that restaurant. So we
45:15
just had to tweak. A little bit of the seating,
45:18
make it look like more of a brasserie, which
45:20
is, you know, has a little French influences.
45:23
That's what really what it is. And then I added
45:26
some more boots, changed the menu. Now we have
45:29
an amazing brasserie menu and people are very
45:32
happy. I cannot be any more thankful for the
45:35
crowd and our guests to turn out in a great amount
45:39
of numbers. Great people are like great feedback.
45:44
by everybody so far. And the team did a great
45:46
job of bringing it to life one more time. And
45:50
well done. And again, that goes back to your
45:52
leadership and Andy. So can you give me five
45:56
pieces of advice for somebody that might want
45:59
to open a restaurant? Oh, great. I can give 20,
46:02
but we'll do five. Think twice before you really
46:07
want to open a restaurant. It's like getting
46:09
married. are going to be married, there are going
46:13
to be ups and downs, and you have to be committed
46:15
to the restaurant. You have to know that there
46:18
will be long days, long hours. Don't open a restaurant
46:21
as a passion project. Open a restaurant because
46:24
you are passionate about it, but you're good
46:28
at making money out of it because passion doesn't
46:31
pay the bills. Passion and dedication together
46:34
pays the bills. So if you're only passionate
46:37
for a couple days, that... is not going to run
46:42
your restaurant. You really need to be 100 %
46:45
sure of the concept and location. You really
46:51
have to find the right location to have a right
46:55
concept. It's a great marriage of right location,
46:57
right concept, right demographics around you
47:00
comes with the location. Do you have a good reason
47:04
why you're opening a restaurant? And that's just
47:07
clearly like it's more of a personal thing for
47:10
me. Don't open a restaurant because you want
47:12
to make a ton of money, and that's what's going
47:15
to bring you. Open a restaurant because you think
47:20
you can put all that effort into it, and it speaks
47:24
volumes about who you are as a chef, if it's
47:28
a chef -driven restaurant. Sometimes you want
47:30
to open a restaurant, not necessarily have to
47:32
be the most avant -garde, the most creative restaurant,
47:36
but you have a clear idea of your... Food, how
47:40
much is going to be built is going to be like
47:43
have a clear idea of the budget and be conscious
47:47
about where you're opening a restaurant. The
47:49
price point of a restaurant is super important.
47:53
Another thing I would say is have enough capital
47:57
in your bank account before you're going. Like
48:01
almost three months of capital should be in your
48:05
bank. Before you open a restaurant, even though
48:08
when you open a storage, I had basically maybe
48:11
two weeks in bank. We were, but you know, those,
48:15
I don't think anyone should get into that place
48:20
because I, we were in the place where like restaurant
48:23
was delayed and, and we had to close, but you
48:26
know, those are like some crazy stories, but
48:29
in, in altogether. to have a good capital account
48:34
and good concept. So it really comes down to
48:37
having a right concept, right location, having
48:41
the right investors in a restaurant because you
48:43
could end up with some lunatic who has no idea
48:48
about a restaurant and start asking you for the
48:51
returns on the investment the third month. It
48:54
takes time for a restaurant to start paying back.
48:57
And while it's definitely... not like winning
49:00
a lottery when you open a restaurant. You need
49:03
to really love what you do because if you're
49:05
thinking you're going to get super rich opening
49:07
a restaurant, that's not the case. You have to
49:11
be passionate about it. You need to like people.
49:14
And when everything kind of works together, restaurants
49:17
are a special place because you're not only creating
49:21
a place to eat, you're also creating, you're
49:24
becoming a part of the community. There will
49:27
be... proposals done there people propose in
49:30
a restaurant people find out if they're going
49:33
to have a boy or a girl in a restaurant there
49:35
is like families get together like first dates
49:39
end up becoming a long time life partner so it's
49:44
like a special place you build creating memories
49:47
so you really have to be invested in a restaurant
49:52
and it's not only for yourself you have to think
49:55
about the team you're going to be building Like
49:58
right now, after being in this area for six years,
50:02
I love to see some other chefs putting dishes
50:05
which are inspired by some of the spices or something
50:09
they've seen at Saj or Ila or cook leaving Saj
50:14
or Ila, becoming a chef somewhere else and using
50:16
those techniques. So you're actually also changing
50:20
that culinary scene in that town. So get in the
50:23
restaurant business because you really... Like
50:27
what you do, don't get into business just because
50:29
you want to open a restaurant. And also one really
50:32
important piece of advice I have for the young
50:35
chefs or anyone who wants to be a restaurateur
50:38
in future that take your time to build those
50:43
skills. Don't think that you can do it after
50:46
working in some place for four years. You need
50:49
to spend a lot of time. really learning everything
50:52
in the restaurant. Like I am a great dishwasher.
50:55
I could sweep a floor. I could clean the bathrooms,
50:59
clean the toilets. Nothing's beneath me, you
51:01
know. Like I am flexible to do everything and
51:06
anything in between. So like you really have
51:09
to love what you do and have enough experience
51:13
put in yourself. And that's when you decide to
51:18
open a restaurant. I see a lot of... young restaurateurs
51:21
or young chefs who just find an investor, try
51:25
to put a restaurant together, and then fail miserably
51:28
within the first two, three, four years. They
51:29
fail because I think they don't know what they're
51:33
getting into, number one. Number two, because
51:36
they think it's like, oh, let me open a restaurant.
51:38
This will be fun. My friends will come hang.
51:40
eat and drink and whatever. And then I know and
51:43
you know it takes at least three years really
51:45
to turn a profit in a restaurant. Absolutely.
51:47
Up to year three, at least you're running in
51:49
red. So God bless them. I mean, people ask me
51:53
over the years like, hey, would you ever open
51:54
a restaurant? Nope, not me. I will support all
51:58
the restaurants all day long, but I'm never going
52:00
to open one. So do you want to play a quick game?
52:04
Yeah. Okay. All righty. Here we go. Here we go.
52:07
And I would like to also add. Not everyone has
52:11
a great business partner like I do. Find another
52:14
person who could be your sounding board and really
52:19
be there with you to support when the times are
52:24
not great because there will be some times when
52:26
restaurants are not running or as profitable,
52:30
slow season. Thanks to Flavor to put September
52:33
month as a Flavor month where people get to use
52:37
all of that time. To be honest, having another
52:42
person who thinks like you or could be there
52:45
for you as a business partner helps a lot. Like
52:49
you said, it's like a marriage. Andy's like your
52:52
husband. Wife, husband, friend. You have an actual
52:56
life. And we actually like each other, which
53:00
is rare. Very impressive. Even after long days,
53:05
98 % of the times I don't mind hanging out with
53:08
him on Sunday again. That's a beautiful thing.
53:10
That's a beautiful thing. All right. So let's
53:16
see. Oh, that's so nice. This question is so
53:22
sweet. Maybe we'll get to it. All right. One
53:26
Indian dish everyone should eat at least once
53:29
in their life. Ooh. Can only pick one. Man. I
53:37
have to say, like, butter chicken. Bam, for the
53:40
win. Even though I would never say butter chicken,
53:44
but, you know, might as well be the butter chicken.
53:47
Might as well. I'm here for it. One spice that
53:51
you could never cook without. I would say green
53:57
cardamom. Oh, okay. Which Indian street food
54:03
do you miss most from your hometown? Oh, easy,
54:07
Mumbai. If you could only cook one of these forever,
54:11
which would it be? Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
54:16
Dinner. What is a utensil that you always use
54:22
in your kitchen at home? Kitchen utensil that
54:25
you can't live without? Spoon. A big spoon? A
54:29
small, big spoon. I love spoons. All kinds of
54:33
spoons. I love spoons. I love that. A country
54:37
you've cooked in that surprised you the most?
54:41
Surprised me? I would say Cayman Islands. Yeah?
54:47
Yes. It's surprising because I didn't know if
54:50
I would get anything out of that country because
54:52
it's such a small island. But I realized Caribbean
54:57
has so much, so many different things to offer
54:59
because I learned a lot about Jamaican cooking
55:02
and Cayman Islands. Cooking a little bit from
55:05
Latin, Caribbean islands too. So it was, I was
55:09
kind of like not expected, but I was surprised.
55:11
Like, yeah, Cayman Islands. Very good. What is
55:17
one dish that everyone should try at Ila? There's
55:21
a lot of different dishes, but one dish, Tuna
55:25
Bell Puri. I have not tried that. Cocktail or
55:31
beer after work? Cocktail. What kind? Any type
55:37
of aperitif forward, I would say Negroni. Oh,
55:41
Negroni is a good one. That's a good one. I'm
55:45
taking a break from drinking for over a year
55:47
and a half now. Yeah? I kind of thought that.
55:50
I couldn't remember. But a lot of people, it's
55:53
actually right now, we are at an all -time high
55:55
since prohibition of people who are not drinking.
55:57
We're at 56 % not drinking right now. I'm not
56:01
drinking. So interesting. And I love drinking.
56:05
I never had any problem. I just took a break
56:09
and I loved it. And now it's been almost a year
56:13
and a half. Yeah. Okay. After a brutal shift
56:18
in season, are you going to have comfort food,
56:22
a fancier meal, or go straight to bed? Go straight
56:26
to bed. Finish the sentence. South Florida diners
56:30
need to eat more of this. Ethnic foods. Yeah,
56:36
I got to agree with you there. So I want to wrap
56:40
up with this because it's so sweet and very interesting
56:43
for me to know this. And I want to share it with
56:46
the listeners. So stage, there's a tree in the
56:53
logo. And I'm told that you are often described
56:57
the logo in the tree in the logo as your roots
57:02
to India and the branches representing your travel
57:05
around the world. Is that correct? Yeah, so it's
57:10
more about, I describe staj as a tree where the
57:14
roots are deep down in India and the branches
57:17
are all my travels around the world, which kind
57:21
of completes me as a chef. My heritage will always
57:24
be deep down in India and I'm thankful to my
57:27
travels and all the people who came across. my
57:31
cooking career to kind of help me on the skills
57:35
and learn about their culture, help me to who
57:39
I am today. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you have a fantastic
57:44
story and I encourage everyone to go check out
57:46
one of your many, many restaurants and Hey, don't
57:51
forget to get the butter chicken. Yeah. I love
57:53
it. Well, thank you. I just wanted to add something
57:57
about. Whatever I do, really, all of us at the
58:01
restaurant, we cannot do it without our families.
58:04
And while I'm always busy outside doing different
58:09
things, if I had a crazy wife at home, I would
58:12
never be able to achieve what I've done. And
58:15
a lot of my credit for what I do goes to Nicole
58:19
and Toyam because they do a lot of things without
58:23
me at home, but I always... like catch up right
58:27
where I left when I am back there it's it's really
58:31
great that they could like let me do what I do
58:36
without giving me a hard time and I'm not there
58:38
so it's like a great team to have so even though
58:42
Nicole was like Jeremy and I's general manager
58:47
back in the day like she could have done everything
58:50
but she take takes care of Toyim he's a special
58:54
needs child and doing everything at home with
58:57
him. If I had to do everything she has to do,
59:01
I wouldn't be as successful. That's something
59:03
I really wanted to add. Part of my success belongs
59:09
to Nicole and Toyin, mostly Nicole, because she
59:13
makes my life easier when I get home. That's
59:18
awesome. Well, thank you, and I look forward
59:22
to visiting your restaurants real soon. having
59:25
me in this amazing podcast. I enjoy watching
59:29
all of this and now I'm on it. So also a great
59:33
honor to be on the show with you. Well, thank
59:35
you, sir. Thank you, chef. Thanks for joining
59:38
me on Forking Around with Flavor South Florida.
59:40
If you're in the industry, a business owner,
59:42
or just want a better understanding of what goes
59:44
into keeping restaurants alive and thriving,
59:46
make sure you subscribe and share this episode
59:49
with someone who should hear it. Flavor South
59:50
Florida takes place every September from the
59:53
1st through the 30th between Palm Beach County
59:55
and the Treasure Coast. You can find all the
59:57
amazing dining deals and participating restaurants
59:59
at flavorsouthflorida .com. Until next time,
1:00:03
keep supporting local and keep forking around.