Latest / Forking Around with Flavor South Florida / Chef Jeremy Ford: From Top Chef and Michelin Stars to Ford’s Farm

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Chef Jeremy Ford: From Top Chef and Michelin Stars to Ford’s Farm · 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.
0:10
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
0:22
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
I'm forking around with a chef who knows a thing
0:46
or two about pressure. Jeremy Ford went from
0:48
16 years old knocking on a restaurant's back
0:51
door looking for a chance to winning top chef,
0:54
earning a Michelin star, and more. Now, literally
0:58
some of his ingredients he cooks with on his
1:00
farm and brings them right to his restaurants,
1:03
multiple restaurants around the world. Jeremy,
1:07
welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Keri.
1:09
So, start at the beginning. What door did you
1:13
knock on when you were 16 years old? Good question.
1:16
Yeah, so when I was 16 years old, I knew I wanted
1:19
to cook, and there was only one restaurant in
1:21
Jacksonville, my hometown, that had a tasty menu
1:25
that had really nice ingredients that wasn't
1:27
a shrimp shack like most of them are there. Love
1:29
you, J -ville. But when I went there, I was way
1:31
out of my league and I got put on Garmage. The
1:35
problem was, is my drive from St. Augustine to
1:38
Jacksonville is about an hour. So I would get
1:40
out of culinary school, which I only lasted about
1:42
eight weeks until I quit. I would drive there
1:44
and then I was late. So I'd be about 20 minutes
1:47
late every day. And that was a huge problem for
1:50
a restaurant like that at that time. You know,
1:52
I started to leave school early. One of the instructors
1:55
said, if you start to leave again, we're going
1:57
to have to like flunk your class. And I was just
2:00
like, fuck it. I'm out of here. And I left and
2:03
I went full time there on a fake ID that my father
2:06
and I constructed and stayed working there for
2:09
about a year and a half until I was kind of like.
2:12
I had gone through the stations. I knew my way
2:15
around. And he actually pulled me aside and told
2:18
me, he's like, if you want to do this, I highly
2:21
recommend like you get on the road and start
2:23
seeing what else is out there. So you made a
2:25
fake ID to get a job. I did. I did. What's fucked
2:30
up is that my dad helped me do it, but just because
2:34
he knew how serious it was. We actually did it
2:36
with an eraser and you used to be able to erase
2:38
like a number literally off the ID. Wait, stop
2:41
right now. I mean, I don't want to like give
2:42
anybody ideas. No, I am going to tell you how
2:43
to do it because I did it. So what you do is
2:46
you take a Q -tip and then you take some nail
2:48
polish remover. I'm not even joking. And then
2:51
you, like, you go like this. And I sold them
2:54
for 50 bucks in high school to my friends. Oh,
2:56
my God. What are you going to do, go to jail
2:57
for it? Sorry, arrest me. So anyway, it was too
2:59
late. So you erase it with the nail polish remover.
3:03
Then you have to really carefully. Why didn't
3:04
I think of that? Because you didn't know me then.
3:06
Damn it. And I could have told you. It would
3:08
have been way easy. I was on that eraser for
3:10
at least 45 minutes, each number. No, nail polish
3:12
remover. The whole thing. So then you have the
3:15
right number, right? And then you take. clear
3:17
nail polish to seal it. So when you get to the
3:20
bar, well, I wasn't doing a different job. I
3:22
was going to the bar. The guy, the bouncer, goes
3:25
like this, right? Oh, my God. And it wouldn't
3:27
rub off because it was sealed. It's sealed. I
3:30
was selling those suckers for 50 bucks a piece.
3:32
I was making bags doing that. Yeah, I should
3:34
have linked up with you about that. Shoot, man.
3:36
That was like, that was, yeah. So I have a question
3:39
for you, Carrie. Do it. Was that your first jump
3:42
and leap into entrepreneurship? Probably. Probably.
3:45
Probably. That's where it all began, man. All
3:50
began with the selling of fake IDs. But I lived
3:52
in New York, and we were going to the city. We
3:54
wanted to go be in the cool clubs, you know.
3:56
You have to have a fake ID when you're young.
3:58
Yeah, we had teen clubs. And, like, I was, well,
4:02
how else would I do this? Like, 17, I guess,
4:04
17, 18, probably. And making myself 21 and my
4:08
friends. And going to the club. Like, that's
4:10
what you do in New York. Like, you go to the
4:12
club. Sorry, Mom. She's listening. My mom watches
4:14
every episode, and she's going to be like, you
4:16
were doing what? So she's totally – Well, these
4:19
days they can't do that because of the way the
4:21
IDs are made. I know. They mess it up. Do you
4:23
still look at that though? There's holograms.
4:25
There's all sorts of weird things. There's like
4:26
layers to it. I don't think either one of our
4:29
techniques would work in this day and age. Couldn't
4:31
even do it now. It would like AI me. They're
4:33
going to AI us in a minute with IDs. It's like
4:36
ridiculous. I don't even – I can't even do that.
4:39
Off to our other illegal endeavors. Oh, boy.
4:42
All right. We'll go there. So here's a good question.
4:47
So 16 -year -old knocks on the back door of Matthews
4:52
in Jacksonville. Now being where you are now,
4:54
would you hire that 16 -year -old? Absolutely.
4:58
Yeah? Yeah. Why? I mean, I was a hard worker
5:02
from the moment I started working, right? Like
5:06
I was mowing lawns like with intention, right?
5:09
Like that was my first job. I had my own little
5:11
like lawn mowing business. And if I wanted to
5:14
buy a new guitar or I wanted to get a new instrument,
5:16
I had to work for it. My parents never bought
5:18
me stuff like that. So I worked really hard.
5:21
So my ethics have always been there. So if I
5:23
had a 16 -year -old kid with a fake ID, well,
5:26
besides the fake part, I would 100 % hire me
5:29
than now. Well, that's good. Yeah. That's really
5:33
good. Yeah, because I busted my ass. Good. Yeah.
5:35
You still do. Yeah, I do. I think you probably
5:37
take a lot of your traits from then to now, I
5:39
would assume, right? Which is a blessing and
5:42
a curse, right? Well, what's the blessing? What's
5:45
a good trait? What's a good trait of yours? Yeah,
5:47
it makes me smile. When good things happen in
5:50
a restaurant or cooking, it makes me happy, right?
5:53
So I think the flip side of that coin is the
5:57
pressure to do it well. So I think we have to
6:00
constantly be doing things that are uncomfortable
6:02
or that are pressure. And it is what it is. What's
6:07
the curse? Takes you away from a lot of things,
6:10
right? Family. That's the biggest one, you know?
6:13
And I didn't really realize how much time truly
6:16
goes by until my mom passed away. When my mom
6:19
passed, that was a very eye -opening time that
6:22
I realized I'm like, wow, like we give so much
6:25
of our lives to this career that we tend to forget.
6:29
the people who like created us, you know, and
6:31
that's a, that's a tough, that's a tough spot
6:33
to be in. You know, what year was that? And how
6:36
old were you when she passed? Oh, about a year
6:39
into stubborn. I don't like to remember the date.
6:41
You know, it's like one of those things where
6:43
I'm like, I'm glad it's kind of a blurry thing
6:45
in my, in my life. Cause I didn't really focus
6:47
on that, but no, I was on a Friday night service
6:49
at, at stubborn seed. I got a call. nine times
6:52
for my brother. And that was like the devastating
6:55
call. Sat on the curb, cried my eyes out. Dallas,
6:58
who we all love, came outside and she's like,
7:01
it's going to be okay. You're going to get through
7:03
this. Like, I can't imagine how you feel. She's
7:05
like, just go home. And I'm like, no, I'm going
7:07
to, I need to be here. Yeah. So I finished service.
7:10
Yeah. That's crazy. I know. It's wild. But that
7:13
is the flip side. No, I mean, it's crazy because
7:15
I remember the same, a similar thing with me,
7:18
like my grandmother. was sick and I was working
7:22
in the steakhouse at the time, which was most
7:24
of my youth. And my mother called me and she's
7:27
like, she, she was like, grandma steak, you go
7:29
visit her and this and that. And I didn't go.
7:32
Cause I was like, no, it's too busy. It's too
7:33
busy, too busy. Then it was a Saturday night.
7:36
And it was, she was like, you've really got to
7:37
go see her. And I, and I, I called out that night.
7:40
Then finally I did call out. You did go good
7:42
for you. And I said, I called my boss and I was
7:45
like, I said, Hey, and he goes, if, if like I
7:47
get where you're at, but like, I need you tonight.
7:49
We have 600 covers. It's Saturday night. I said,
7:52
you need to fire me then. If that's the way it's
7:56
got to be, then that's what it's got to be. And
7:59
I was working at this place 10 years at a time.
8:01
That's crazy. I didn't get fired. Look at that
8:04
alone. Isn't that crazy? It is. That we are so
8:07
into the service and what's going to happen if
8:11
Carrie's not here tonight. Yeah, it's going to
8:14
suck. And you know what happened? Nothing. Yeah,
8:16
but that's what I mean. Really? Luckily, the
8:19
industry has gone a little bit into caring more.
8:24
I know that I care a lot more than most people
8:27
about personal life stuff that you have to be
8:30
there for. It's gotten a little better. But it's
8:33
still like this unspoken thing like, why aren't
8:37
you here? I feel like it's better. 10 years ago,
8:40
it was more of people thinking every chef was
8:43
in the kitchen, Gordon Ramsay style. And I don't
8:45
really think it's that anymore. No. So, I mean,
8:48
you know, you could probably obviously speak
8:49
to that better than I can because I'm not in
8:51
the kitchen. But so, okay. So, so your mom passes
8:57
away, but you bring a lot of your, your cooking
9:01
and your skills is because of her. Isn't that
9:04
to some degree? Yeah, her and my grandmother
9:06
were very influential, right? Like they made
9:10
things that you would crave, right? Like whether
9:13
that was like really good lasagna or my mom,
9:16
like she was, so she was Italian, but Southern.
9:18
So it's like a, it's a funny mix of like our
9:20
menu per week there. It would be rice -a -roni
9:22
on the lazy nights, like with the hamburger helper
9:24
kind of thing. And then it would be such, so
9:26
delicious night, a Wednesday would be like a
9:29
beautiful homemade lasagna. And then Thursday
9:31
would be like chicken and dumplings. So it was
9:33
like a very strange, and then fried chicken on
9:35
Sundays. So it was like a very strange, like
9:39
diverse meal habit we had. You bring some of
9:42
those dishes in, don't you? Like the fried chicken.
9:44
Fried chicken, yeah. We do little versions of
9:46
it, little homages. Yeah. Yeah. But you make
9:49
it like, and like you put your spit on it. Yeah.
9:52
I can't recall which exact. Chicken caviar. What
9:54
I had, but like, yeah. That was actually Alejandro.
9:57
I can't take full credit for that. That dish
10:00
was like. We spoke about the childhood memory
10:02
part, and then he kind of ran and did what Ali
10:05
does, which is, like, create magic. And he put
10:08
a couple of versions up, and I'm like, wow, that
10:09
reminds me of my grandma. It was, like, fried
10:10
chicken, dude. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:13
It's one of my favorite little bites. I, like,
10:15
low -key love rice -a -roni. I know, but just
10:21
thinking about this, I can smell it. I really
10:23
do like it. I can smell it. I can smell it, too,
10:25
and I just really love it. It's, like, one of
10:26
those foods for me. Same thing. Like, my mom
10:29
would cook. She'd cook all the time. Yeah, I
10:33
feel like that's like a childhood thing. Speaking
10:35
of childhood, so did you watch Barney as a kid?
10:39
I did. Did you? Yeah. Did you watch Saturday
10:41
Morning Cartoons? I did. I did. Barney wasn't
10:44
my favorite favorite, but yes. Why? What do you
10:47
ask? What was your favorite child cartoon? Cartoon?
10:49
Yeah. Probably Power Rangers. Yeah. Power Ranger
10:52
action. That was good. Did you watch Saved by
10:54
the Bell? Of course I did. I'm going off track,
10:56
but the reason I'm asking you this is because
10:58
I... I was told that you didn't watch cartoons.
11:04
Instead, you watched cooking shows as a small
11:06
child, actually. There's truth to that. Yeah.
11:08
When I was in the living room, I remember switching
11:11
the channel from like whatever cartoon it was.
11:14
I think it might have been Barney, actually.
11:15
And switching it to Food Network and watching
11:17
Emeril Live. And that's when I think that's when
11:19
the hook and like line and sinker went in was
11:21
I watched his energy. He was like so full of
11:24
life, but he also cooked really good. So that's
11:28
where the love began. I'm going to go. in a minute
11:31
into all your restaurants and in your farm and
11:33
chat about that for a minute. But before we do,
11:36
I don't want to just glaze over something you
11:38
said earlier, which was that you bought guitars.
11:41
Yeah. Yeah. So I have. So you play guitar? I
11:44
play guitar. Yes. Yes. I feel like 80s metal.
11:48
shredding guitar right like i was born in the
11:52
80s but most kids who were born in the 80s listened
11:55
to like 90s grunge uh that wasn't me like my
11:58
mom was a huge like she loved 80s rock like guns
12:03
and roses metallica all that stuff it's the best
12:06
bon jovi know you're a fan boy but that's the
12:10
stuff I love to play. Like to this day, like
12:12
I was learning comfortably numb, like playing
12:14
the solo the other day. Yeah, I've always played
12:16
guitar. I actually was in a band. We toured for
12:19
a month. It was a lot of heroin needles that
12:22
I saw around that environment that I was like,
12:24
yeah, this is probably going to end badly because
12:26
I have a very addictive personality anyway. So
12:28
I'm glad I got out of that. I started missing
12:31
practice because the restaurants, right? Like
12:33
I was in LA, I was practicing with a band. I'd
12:36
miss a Friday night, I'd miss a Saturday. And
12:38
they were like, dude, like if you miss another
12:39
practice, you're out. This is like a big band?
12:42
One of the bands was, this was a different one,
12:44
but no, the band that you're thinking of was
12:46
now Shinedown. So I played with that whole band.
12:49
It was called Nefarian. And before they went
12:51
huge, which they are huge, I was their guitarist.
12:54
Yeah. So that was... What's funny was I was leaving
12:58
Husk in Nashville and they were playing at this
13:00
huge open field arena thing. And I walk out of
13:04
there and I heard his voice. He has a voice you
13:08
can hear a mile away. And I was like, it gives
13:10
me cold chills talking about it. But I walked
13:12
outside and I heard them playing and I walk over
13:15
and I just see this massive outside arena filled
13:17
with people. Thousands of people. And it kind
13:21
of was like... weird, you know? Cause I was like,
13:24
damn, did I make like the wrong choice? Cause
13:26
like nothing big had happened in my life. I was
13:28
just cooking and kind of following that journey.
13:29
And I saw them and I was like, holy shit. Like,
13:32
what did I, what did I pass up? Right? Like,
13:34
what did I, what did I miss out on for not staying
13:36
with it? So I went through a little depression
13:38
because of that. Um, yeah, I was down for a while,
13:41
but then I was like, this is what you chose.
13:43
Like, you know, there's a lot of what ifs and
13:45
there's a lot of things that have happened in
13:46
that band that I was like, I'm glad I wasn't
13:47
there for that. Yeah. It's funny. I've told this
13:50
story before. So. Amber's heard it, but I went
13:55
to high school with Jamie Sigler and Natalie
13:56
Portman, and we all went to theater school together.
14:00
That's crazy. That's crazy, right? What if? I
14:05
remember the day that The Sopranos came in to
14:09
do the casting call. I was there. Wow, that's
14:13
cool. We were all sitting in our bleachers. They
14:15
came in our class, and Jamie was like, I'm going
14:18
to go out for it. I was like... And she's not
14:20
Italian. She's Jewish and Cuban, I believe. And
14:23
she goes, you should go out for it. And I said,
14:25
I don't look Italian at all. I'm not going out
14:27
for it. I'm not doing that. I'm not even going
14:30
to get it. I'm not wasting my time. I've gotten
14:31
extra parts. I've had extras. I've got things.
14:35
I've got called. But school got in the way. Life
14:38
got in the way. They'd be like, it's 6 a .m.
14:39
Call me. And they're like, oh, you have to be
14:41
in Manhattan by 8 a .m. Ready, go. And I couldn't.
14:44
I mean, I was 17 or something. But the back to
14:48
the what ifs, but you know what? It's all good.
14:49
We're doing just fine without all that nonsense,
14:51
right? Like you imagine touring, like touring's
14:54
rough. Yeah. I mean, not what you're doing. super
14:57
rough either. Okay. So how many restaurants are
14:59
you at now? So we have Salt and Ash in the Keys.
15:02
We have Stubborn Seed, both Miami and Las Vegas.
15:05
The Butcher's Club, which is up here in Palm
15:06
Beach Gardens. Tara and Aruba, one of my personal
15:09
faves. JJ's Guilty Pleasures. And then Ford's
15:12
Farm, which is kind of my project, right? So
15:14
a lot of the restaurant deals that I have, they're
15:17
like either licensing deals, management deals,
15:19
those kinds of things. But the farm is really
15:21
the only thing that like I... dumped all of my
15:24
savings into i put my life into it and it's this
15:27
growing thing right not just the vegetables but
15:29
it's like growing you know we're building a test
15:31
kitchen right now it's a three -story thing so
15:33
it's gonna be a lot of fun this year so i think
15:36
the farm is the coolest thing ever and i keep
15:39
talking i had a dietician on here not too long
15:41
ago and also my trainer so i've been talking
15:43
a lot about like health and wellness and food
15:45
nutrition ingredients and what we're actually
15:47
eating and putting in our body and it's so amazing
15:50
to me that how many chefs i think want to do
15:53
what you're doing with the farm and source your
15:56
own food and your own ingredients. And I think
15:59
that's just fantastic because at the end of the
16:01
day, a lot of our food here is not great. Like
16:04
the quality of what we're actually putting in
16:06
our body. I mean, I'm fortunate enough that I
16:08
eat at really nice restaurants with imported
16:11
items and I know where my food is coming from
16:14
and I feel good after I eat it. You know, if
16:16
I eat a crappy dish, I feel like crap. Yeah.
16:20
Period. The fact that you're doing the farm and
16:23
you have farm dinners, right? Yep. We'll call
16:26
our winter months, right? Our winter, yeah. And
16:29
how many people do you seat there? Up to like
16:31
200, but I like the 140, about 140 people. For
16:35
a dinner. But then you also host private events
16:38
there, right? Private dinners. Our first dinner
16:40
is with Placencia Cigars this year, which is
16:42
cool. Yeah, we've done stuff with like WhatsApp
16:44
and George Russell. It's really been a place
16:47
where... We've been able to do other things besides
16:49
farm and dinners, right? Like even from like
16:52
a non -profitable standpoint, like letting people
16:55
come out, like we've gotten so many requests
16:56
from students that are at FIU or hospitality
17:00
and they want to just come out and see it because
17:02
like, let's say they're in interior design and
17:04
then they'll come in and take photos of this.
17:06
barn space and then i saw a powerpoint of that
17:09
this girl put up in front of me and she was like
17:10
this is what i was like you know i did this for
17:12
one of my studies in my class this could be like
17:14
what your space looks like you know with my touches
17:17
you know like her her computer whatever she did
17:20
and i was blown away i was like wow like that
17:22
doesn't even look like the barn anymore so it's
17:24
been like this you know, other place where people
17:26
just have reached out and said, I want to be
17:28
a part of it. Yeah. Or a cook says like, Hey,
17:30
I, you know, he'll pull me aside at the restaurant
17:32
and say, I want to learn how to farm. And I'm
17:34
like, well, be careful what you ask for. Cause
17:35
it's a lot of fucking work, dude. You know? So
17:37
a lot of times people come out and get about
17:38
halfway through a day and then they're like,
17:40
yep, I got to get to work. I mean, I thought
17:42
you were off today. So did you know what you
17:45
were getting into when you were starting the
17:47
farm? You were like, Oh, I want, I'm going to
17:49
do this. But like the daily grind of it, were
17:52
you expecting that? The pressure of it? Yeah,
17:54
like I knew farming was going to be really hard.
17:56
It's a lot harder here than it is in a lot of
17:59
other places, right? If I had a farm in upstate
18:01
New York, they have their own challenges, of
18:03
course. But what we grow in, in South Florida,
18:06
like up here at Kaikai Farm, it's very sandy
18:08
and soft. Normal. Where I grow, which is called
18:12
the armpit of America, is on limestone. So you're
18:15
just trying to grow in literal rock. So what
18:17
you do to... to work around it, right? You can't
18:20
change nature or what you have around you. So
18:22
what we did is we just, we stack, right? Like
18:25
we just build layers of like biomass, whether
18:27
it's sorghum in the off season or layers of compost.
18:30
So we're doing it naturally, but it's very, very
18:33
difficult. And to answer your question, I had
18:35
a little idea, but I don't think I realized how
18:38
bad it was until like my first heat stroke out
18:40
there. Oh, you had a heat stroke out there? Yeah.
18:42
Yeah. I don't think people would think of those
18:45
type of things. Like I'm picturing like, I mean,
18:48
I'm happy to come help you on the farm in, like,
18:50
January. I'm there. From, like, 9 to 11? No,
18:55
I could do a day. I could put on my sneakers
18:59
and get dirty and get my hands dirty. I'm absolutely
19:02
down for it. You know what's funny? Joe just
19:03
texted me. He needs some hands. So you know what?
19:06
December? Joe, I got some hands for you, buddy.
19:09
Look, it's a little, like, it's too hot right
19:11
now. I can get dirty. I can lift shit. I've been
19:15
going with my trainer. I'm stronger than you
19:17
think. I know you're a beast. I can do it. I
19:20
can hang with the guys. But I'm not going to
19:26
be doing it in the heat. So you just said Joe.
19:28
Joe is who? Joe is my partner on the farm. Also
19:31
best friend since I was 15 years old. So not
19:35
many people you can say that about, right? That
19:37
you still stay in touch with at 40 years old.
19:39
So him and I worked together in many restaurants.
19:42
We opened Suburban Seed together. He went and
19:44
did his own thing out west. Kind of got burnt
19:45
out, you know. He was doing the grind and working
19:48
in Arizona at his own place. And, you know, when
19:50
I started to develop the idea of the farm, I
19:52
immediately contacted him just to see, like,
19:54
how he was doing. And we kind of just picked
19:57
up right where we left off. I think that's when
19:58
you know a true friend, too. It's when you cannot
20:01
talk to each other for a year. And then, like,
20:03
you jump in a taxi. to go down Manhattan somewhere
20:06
and you're like, oh dude, like it never, never
20:08
missed the night. That's how we are. We're, we're
20:10
best friends. We have our ups and downs. We go
20:12
through a lot of great moments. We go through
20:15
very tough moments, but that's what a partnership
20:17
is. We, we have to kind of lean on each other
20:20
when one's limping, you know? Yeah. That's great
20:23
that you have each other for that. It's important.
20:26
We've cried on each other's shoulders a few times.
20:28
And that's great. I mean, that's really great,
20:30
especially when you're in it together like that.
20:31
It's important to have a support system and a
20:34
person or people in your life. Just like you
20:37
surround yourself, right? You surround yourself
20:38
with people and that's how... you know, flavor
20:41
began. That's how you continue to grow it, right?
20:43
It's not us. No, I say that all the time. It's
20:45
always the people that are beside us. That's
20:48
the ones that are like keeping all of this going.
20:50
I tell everybody constantly, I'm like, this is
20:52
not my. program this is our program yeah you
20:56
know everyone's program and i want everybody
20:57
to feel like they're a piece of it like some
20:59
of the girls that my i'll call my influencer
21:01
friends but they're like my friends they're great
21:03
people it's just like they are weird my friend
21:07
i'm actually speaking specifically about my friend
21:09
destiny and she said to me like a year ago she
21:12
said something somebody said oh do you work for
21:14
flavor and she said yeah And she goes, and then
21:16
I realized I really don't though. Like I'm not
21:19
employed by you. I'm like, no, you're not. But
21:21
I love that you said yes. It was so funny. That's
21:24
just a, that's a sign. That's a true sign of
21:26
like how much they respect you. And I think that's
21:29
why those answers are so easy, right? Like they
21:31
don't have to say that, but because they respect
21:33
you so much, right? I, yeah, no. And it's, and
21:36
I respect them and that's how I do. And I think
21:38
it's awesome when you have that. You also have
21:41
Kyle is another right -hand man. Kyle is a very
21:44
big component. And Dan at Butcher's. And Dallas.
21:47
The list is like, yeah, I know. I know. There's
21:50
a couple hundred people that all come together
21:55
to make this work. Right? Yeah. I mean, if you
21:57
really think about it. Yeah, it's a lot. It's
21:59
awesome. It's so, so awesome. So, all right.
22:02
Let's wrap up on the farm here for a second.
22:04
So you could do weddings there, right? You can
22:06
have a wedding there. You can have an event there.
22:08
You can. You can rent out the space, right? You
22:11
name it, we can do it. Perfect. So I foresee
22:14
my birthday party there next year. You know,
22:16
I love a good birthday party. You know what places
22:18
need? What? More places for divorce parties.
22:21
Divorce parties? Yeah. Is that a thing? It's
22:23
like a thing. I heard about it. I was talking
22:25
to somebody who has an event space. I swear,
22:29
I shit you not. One of my friends that has an
22:33
event space was like, you'll be surprised how
22:35
many divorce parties we do. I'm like, what does
22:37
that even mean? He's like, Either side will contact
22:41
me and say, hey, I've got 50 of my best friends
22:44
and we are going to get weird and we want to
22:47
do it at your place. And I'm like, that's a thing.
22:49
And he's like, yeah, dude. And I'm like, I mean,
22:52
I guess you could have a party for whatever you
22:54
want to celebrate in life. We're there for everybody.
22:57
So on the far. How many square feet? That's not
23:03
the word. Acres. I'm not even editing any of
23:07
this out. It doesn't even matter. Keep on rolling.
23:09
Oh, man. How many acres? Not square feet. Yeah.
23:12
There's a lot of feet in an acre, I think. I
23:14
don't know. I'm not good at that stuff. I'll
23:15
have to ask Chad. It's almost six acres. So just
23:19
under six acres is the farm, right? We farm on
23:22
about two acres of that. And then the rest of
23:25
the property has like tropical fruit tree groves.
23:29
We're building right now. It's kind of like a
23:30
secret, but I'll let you in on it. Tell me, tell
23:32
me. But don't tell anyone. Okay. We're putting
23:35
a 640 square foot bridal suite on the bottom
23:38
floor. The second floor is a test kitchen, which
23:41
will then also have a 20 person table on top
23:45
of the bridal suite and then a third floor balcony.
23:48
So when you want to look at the stars. You can.
23:52
That's cool. Very cool. That's very cool. Is
23:54
your dad building this for you? No, no. He's
23:56
too busy being retired. Bummer. Yeah. Shout out
23:59
to Pops, right? No, that's going to be cool because
24:02
we've had a lot of folks interested in doing
24:04
smaller dinners, right? Not every client has
24:07
150 people they want to impress or take out.
24:11
So that 20 top, we can almost give that Michelin
24:13
star experience, right? This is like 10 courses.
24:17
you're watching all of us cook right beside you,
24:20
that type of service. Whereas like the farm is
24:22
a little more casual, right? It's not as, you
24:25
know, you're not changing silverware every single,
24:26
you know, course change. So that's where we can
24:29
kind of like do this lifted version of the farm.
24:32
Cool. Cool. I'm excited to see that. That's going
24:35
to be, that's going to be very large check for
24:37
it the other day. Your dad would have been cheaper.
24:41
Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. So you just
24:48
mentioned Michelin. Look, look. All right. Stop
24:50
the presses here. Stop. We know you won Top Chef.
24:52
What season was it? 13. Okay. Congrats. I'm happy
24:55
for you. Thank you. I'm so glad you did that.
24:57
We're not talking about that today because everybody
24:59
knows that. We're moving on in life. We are going
25:02
to touch on Michelin because a couple of things
25:04
are evolving with Michelin, especially here in
25:06
our area. Cool thing, though, that I want to
25:09
start with is you received a green star. We did.
25:12
That is. unusual or or lesser awarded right yes
25:16
so can you explain to everyone what a green star
25:20
is and how did you get it and what'd you get
25:22
it for yeah that's a great question It is one
25:24
of those ones that's more difficult to get, right?
25:26
Like getting a star means you're cooking at a
25:28
high level. A recommendation means you're doing
25:30
great food, sourcing locally, doing the right
25:32
things. Bib Gourmand is where you can get a great
25:35
value for what you're paying for, and it's a
25:37
high -level cuisine. The green star is all about
25:40
sustainability, your practices in general, right?
25:43
So everything we do at Stubborn Seed, the restaurants,
25:46
we have compost programs through Compost for
25:48
Life who come and pick up all of our food scraps,
25:51
which I think we've been on it. now for over
25:53
two years. I got an email the other day. I think
25:55
it was like upwards of like over a hundred thousand
25:59
pounds that we've like turned into compost. That's
26:02
crazy. Nice. Think about like that. That's one
26:05
restaurant. Right. Right. So if you think about
26:07
one restaurant, if every restaurant did it right
26:10
each year, a hundred thousand times, however
26:12
many restaurants think about that. And we're,
26:14
and we're not even that high, crazy high volume
26:16
and stubborn. It's a tasty menu, small restaurant.
26:18
But imagine if that was every restaurant. What
26:23
the impact would be in landfills and like, you
26:25
know, all the gas issues that we have. Tremendous.
26:28
Yeah, it would be tremendous. So I do it not
26:30
only because it's the right thing to do, but
26:31
I also hope to influence other people to do it.
26:34
We stopped using plastic spoons two years ago.
26:36
We only use metal because we got into this thing
26:39
and it's like a thing I learned in New York.
26:40
Every station used to have these like little
26:42
solo cups with like plastic spoons and you would
26:45
taste the sauce, you'd throw the spoon, taste
26:47
the sauce. Very sanitary. I agree there. But
26:50
why not just have spoons? And then a sanitation
26:52
thing right next to it, dump it, and then you
26:54
get it to the dishwasher and you just keep them
26:56
refilled. Then we actually counted one day, it
26:59
was like 300 plastic spoons a day are going in
27:01
the trash. That's a lot of spoons. Holy crap.
27:04
And every kitchen that is doing, you know. upper,
27:09
you know, higher level food, they're all in that
27:11
same kind of stratosphere of like, okay, plastic
27:13
spoons on every station. Yeah. So it's all those
27:16
things. So to answer your question, it's basically
27:18
you have to live, breathe. How do I make my impact
27:22
less? How do I help by turning food waste into
27:25
compost, which is actually like liquid or, you
27:27
know, gold on the farm. And that's how we get
27:29
the green stuff. Pretty good fertilizer too,
27:31
right? It makes the best fertilizer. Fish bones,
27:32
fish heads, all that stuff. That's cool. Yeah.
27:34
That's cool. So it's very hard to get and you
27:36
don't know, like you don't, you can't prepare
27:38
to get it. And that's what I like about the green
27:40
star the most. There's nothing you can teach
27:42
anyone other than like, here's how we're doing
27:45
things now. And when you change everyone's perspective,
27:47
I think that's what the goal is, right? Is since
27:50
I opened a farm, I've had two other chefs reach
27:52
out and say, Hey, I want to do a farm in Tampa.
27:54
I'm opening a restaurant there. Can you give
27:56
me some insight? And I'm like an open book. Anyone
27:58
who reaches out for that stuff, I'm always, always
28:00
available to help with that. Cause no one, not
28:02
many helped me. Yeah. Besides GaiGai. With the
28:06
farm, yeah. You had some good mentors along the
28:08
way. We'll touch on them in a second. So you
28:12
have Stubborn C. Let me test my knowledge here.
28:14
You have year four in Miami of awarded. Five.
28:18
Is that correct? Oh, so you're five now. Five
28:20
years, yeah. So 2021 was the first one. 22. 22,
28:22
22, 22. Okay. So you're awarded there. And you
28:27
have... Which is a huge, tremendous accomplishment.
28:30
Thank you. Trying to. Every year. Every year.
28:33
You never know. It's a great restaurant. Like
28:35
at the end of the day, like I've eaten there
28:36
so many times and it's just like fantastic. And
28:38
it's, we can have a whole episode about stubborn
28:41
seeds menu because it fascinates me when I go
28:44
out to eat. As you know, I eat out just about
28:45
every night of the week. And like the fact that
28:49
you're putting together the ingredients you are
28:51
to get the flavors profiles that you're putting
28:53
together. That's like. crazy to me. Like, I'm
28:57
always like, how are you thinking to put this
28:58
with this, to come up with that? Like, do you
29:00
do that in the middle of the night and you're
29:02
like in shower? Like, when are you coming up
29:04
with these? Like. This episode is sponsored by
29:07
Ultima Caviar. Experience exceptional. Visit
29:10
them at ultimacaviar .com. The creative moments,
29:14
the creative moments are always driven in our
29:17
world at Stubborn and all the restaurants by
29:20
product. right? Like one of the, one of my favorite
29:23
dishes that one of my previous chefs made Logan,
29:25
who's doing phenomenal now, he made a patafui,
29:29
which is typically a dessert, but he made it
29:31
out of, because we had so many hundreds of pounds
29:33
of tomatoes to go through. We already had tomatoes
29:36
on like five dishes. I was like, Hey, I'm bringing
29:39
30 more pounds today. And he's like, chef, there's
29:41
like nothing. I can't do it. We have a sorbet.
29:43
We have, we've done everything you can do. And
29:45
I'm like, well, I'm bringing 30 more pounds today.
29:47
That. That weekend, he sent me a picture of a
29:50
little piece of square. Patafui is basically
29:52
like a little gummy jelly. But he made it out
29:54
of tomato and made it really freaking good. That
29:56
sounds delicious. I love tomatoes. Yeah, I know
29:58
you do. Especially the sungolds. I love tomatoes.
30:00
I know, sungolds. So when he put that up to me,
30:03
I said, like, this is the definition of creating
30:06
a dish because you have to, because it's what
30:09
we have. You know what I mean? There's so many
30:13
ingredients from Japan, right? If you get into
30:16
like how much stuff is available each season,
30:18
you'll drive yourself nuts. So I kind of like
30:20
only having this like little box of things that
30:23
we can use. And obviously we still order from
30:25
wherever we want to, but it's nice to challenge
30:28
the team like that, right? It's not always like,
30:30
what do you want? It's what do you have? It's
30:32
just fantastic. And the service there is really
30:34
amazing. And obviously, you know, I'm like a
30:37
regular at Butcher's Club. I think your concepts
30:40
are all so uniquely different and creative. Creative
30:44
is just the word I can come up with because so
30:48
many restaurants I go out to and a dish is just
30:50
not memorable. All of your dishes are honestly
30:53
memorable. Thank you. Thank you. The first time
30:55
I had your Caesar salad at Butcher's, I get it
30:57
every time. Or the truffle jalapeno poppers.
30:59
And I tell people all the time, like, oh, how
31:01
is this such and such restaurant? And I'll be
31:03
like. I don't remember what I ate. So it probably
31:05
wasn't that good. But I was telling - But how
31:08
many martinis before that meal? No, I'm not even
31:10
a big drinker. Like if dinner, I'm like having
31:12
two drinks. Oh, yeah. If you can't remember if
31:14
only two drinks, there's a problem. There's a
31:16
problem. You know, and I was telling Pushkar
31:18
actually, like same thing for him. Like I remember
31:21
going the first time, I remember exactly what
31:23
I ate. And it was a pate in this little jar and
31:26
the tuna bombs. It's so good. And he looks at
31:27
me, he goes, we don't have the pate anymore.
31:28
He goes, he looks at me in that particular -
31:31
He doesn't? No, no, no. In that particular -
31:33
way it was served. Oh, got you. That particular.
31:35
It used to be like the mason jar with the brulee
31:37
sugar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he looks at me
31:39
and goes, he knew it was lying because he was
31:42
like, your memory is really good. I said, because
31:43
it was a memorable dish. Wow, that's a really
31:45
good point. That's why. And I tell this to people
31:48
all the time. Bushy's food's always memorable
31:50
to me, though. You know, it's just for my taste,
31:55
right? Like, I love spices and he knows how to
31:58
use spices. Yeah, no, and he he's good at that
32:02
in his own creative way. You guys did a collab
32:04
dinner that I went to on the farm and it was
32:07
fantastic. So you have the Michelin stars with
32:10
Miami. You recently were up for a Michelin star
32:14
in Las Vegas. The Southwest. Yep. Which is new,
32:18
right? Michelin just went Southwest for the first
32:20
time this year, but you did not get the star.
32:25
Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. We, we were, we
32:28
really thought we were, you know, we've been
32:30
through a lot there though. Been through a few
32:32
different chefs. It was a tough first year. So
32:35
I'm, I'm not upset that we didn't get it. It
32:37
just lets us know. I think when the guy dropped
32:40
in the Southwest, they said like, we're here,
32:42
wake up. Right. You know what I mean? Like, we're
32:45
not just going to come out and you, you know,
32:47
even if your restaurant's great, like you need
32:50
to be like at a very high level from this to
32:53
the, you need to hit all the boxes. And I think
32:55
they made that very clear. I mean, Partage, Sparrow
32:57
and Wolf, all my homies that are like really
32:59
good restaurants here, we were all kind of standing
33:02
there like, wow, like this is going to be a tough
33:04
one. But I like the challenge. I'm also like,
33:07
oh, okay. So it's like, we're going to go to
33:09
work. on that restaurant and we'll probably end
33:12
up aligning it more to Miami. Right. Cause we've
33:14
been kind of like doing a different thing there
33:15
than here. And it was, it was okay. But I think
33:18
if you really want to like drive consistency,
33:20
you got to kind of like go with what works best.
33:23
And I think in Miami, you know, I have R and
33:25
D my R and D chef, Alejandro, who's like my,
33:27
my hero, he creates such solid recipes that we're
33:32
just going to start sending those to there. That
33:33
way it's like, it's Miami and Vegas. You go to
33:35
Vegas, you're gonna get the same meal in Miami.
33:37
That's the goal. So We're going to get there
33:40
next year. But I'm very proud of the Michelin
33:43
recommendation. I was on stage with some very,
33:45
very good chefs. Vegas really knows how to put
33:47
on a ceremony. I'm going to throw that out there,
33:50
too. I've been to all of them that they did down
33:52
here. And Miami, we showed up, but Vegas showed
33:57
up. Like, it was the most grand. You came out
34:00
alive? Yeah, no. Luckily, I had a flight that
34:03
night. Oh, that's good. Yeah. No, no, no. Like,
34:06
trust me. I started getting texts like, where
34:08
are you? Oh, no. And I was already like, in TSA.
34:11
And I'm like, all right, cool. Later, guys. You
34:14
escaped so that you got out of that. I definitely
34:19
missed the bullet. So you got recommended, which
34:21
is a tremendous accomplishment. Yeah. Tremendous.
34:25
Absolutely. Especially how old is Suburban Vegas
34:27
now? A little over a year. Think about all of
34:30
the restaurants in Las Vegas that you went up
34:32
against and you got a Michelin recommended. Yeah,
34:36
no, it's, it's, that's why I say like, I'm very
34:38
proud of it. I'm very proud of it because to
34:40
your point, there are thousands of great restaurants
34:43
all over. Every return. And it's not just a strip,
34:46
right? Like everyone thinks of the strip is like
34:47
that. That's, I mean, no, like there is so much
34:49
good stuff. Chinatown there is insane with talent
34:54
and create small restaurants and you never know.
34:57
It's a very like unassuming vibe. Did you ever
35:00
go to arts district over there? Yes. Yes. Do
35:02
you ever go to, um, Red Rock Canyon out there?
35:05
No, I haven't been there yet. I keep hearing
35:07
about it. There are so many really cool places
35:08
in Nevada. And I say Nevada because you have
35:10
to leave the strip to really appreciate it and
35:12
love it. I'm going to rent a car one of these
35:14
ones and do that stuff. Yeah, it's cool. So my
35:17
cousin lives out there. And so I usually spend
35:19
half my time on the strip and half off. And I
35:22
love it there. My grandfather lived there. I've
35:24
spent a lot of time there. I think Miami and
35:26
Vegas have like a connection. Do you feel like
35:29
that? Like there's a connection between, not
35:30
just because there's like restaurants in both
35:32
places, but like there's a connection of like
35:35
- They're busy and buzzing. Yeah, it's got a
35:37
buzz. It's got an energy to it. I still don't
35:39
think there's any energy like New York, right?
35:41
When it comes to energy. Obviously. Come on now.
35:44
I mean, Miami is my home. That's where I get
35:46
where it is. But my time in New York was very
35:49
fast, very energetic, very like just everyone
35:52
is moving with purpose. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
35:56
Would you ever open in New York? It's come up.
35:58
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's gotta be like the perfect
36:01
thing though. You know, like two things came
36:03
up and I, and I know that I have to be in a very
36:06
focused place in my life to go to, to do that
36:10
because I don't take that very, like, that's
36:11
not a place I would take lightly. I mean, it's
36:14
the culinary, like, you know, destination in
36:16
the world, right? It's the best, best food in
36:18
the world. And I'll say that, you know, anywhere
36:21
in New York will always be the best in the world,
36:23
but. In my opinion, if I go there, I've got to
36:25
be ready for that. I've got to live there for
36:27
six months. And I'm not there right now. Yeah.
36:30
But eventually I would love that opportunity,
36:32
you know? Well, Ohio's cool. That sounds like
36:35
it's going to be a fun spot. That's going to
36:36
be very fun. So if I said I was going to the
36:39
city, would you know what city I'm going to?
36:42
If I just said, hey, I'm going to the city. Manhattan?
36:43
Yeah. I said that to somebody recently and they
36:46
were like, what city? I'm like, the only city.
36:48
There's like four boroughs, but there's only
36:50
one city. The only city in the world, bro. Like,
36:52
sorry. Like, hello. You're going to get a lot
36:56
of hate on this. You're going to get some haters
36:58
on this, New York. We have New York listeners.
37:01
No, that's true. That's true. It's my home. Yeah,
37:03
yeah, yeah. It's my home. We got to be true.
37:05
I've been here, though, 15 years now. Yeah, yeah.
37:08
Yeah, I've been here a minute. This is home.
37:10
Yeah, this is home now. In New York, I still
37:12
go up and visit, and it's still there. It didn't
37:13
go anywhere, you know? It's fine. All right.
37:16
So here's a good—here, I got this for you. If
37:19
all the awards disappeared, if they just disappeared,
37:23
there's no Michelin, there's no James Beards,
37:24
there's no Top Chef, there's no nothing. Does
37:26
that matter to you? Interesting. I don't cook
37:31
for accolades, first of all. But— When you start
37:35
in this career and you look at what level of
37:38
food you want to be in, what category you want
37:40
to fall into, Michelin, for me, at a very young
37:44
age, was a very important goal. So for me, if
37:48
none of that was there, would I still be cooking
37:51
100 %? Would I still be pushing myself? I can't
37:54
stop that. But I do have to say I love that feeling
37:58
of getting it for the team. Those moments, those
38:02
hugs, there's a lot of tears that happen in those
38:03
moments. When I first got it in 2022, there will
38:07
never be a ceremony as big as that one to me.
38:10
Just because it was something that I thought
38:11
I'd never get because I moved back to Florida.
38:14
Because I was like, we're never going to get
38:15
the Michelin Guide here. And then when they came,
38:17
it was, here's your shot. And that day just is
38:20
imprinted in my soul. That moment was very special.
38:25
But no, I would still be doing what I do. Yeah.
38:28
Did you cry? Yeah, I did. Yeah. Yeah. Brenda
38:31
from Wet Palette. You should get her on here
38:32
one day. She has her podcast too, but Brenda
38:34
would be a cool one for you to interview, I think,
38:36
right? I follow her on Instagram. I don't know
38:38
her. I don't think I've ever met her personally.
38:39
You guys would vibe. Oh, I know. I could tell
38:41
by her page and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's
38:43
super cool. But she was like sitting next to
38:45
me at that ceremony. She was like, you were shaking.
38:48
Like you were uncontrollably shaking your arms,
38:50
your legs. She's like, you were crying. And I'm
38:53
like, I'm like, yeah, it was like Superbowl.
38:55
We won the Superbowl. Yeah. That's what it's
38:57
about. So a mutual friend of ours, I asked a
39:04
similar question and I want you to, cause I wanted
39:08
to hear your answer first, but I want you to
39:09
hear what this person said about you. Oh, you
39:13
get off mute. Here we go. Here we go. I knew
39:17
that voice. Some chefs really catapult by being
39:22
on the show, whether it's Hell's Kitchen or especially
39:24
Top Chef. I still think that many talented chefs
39:28
would still be where they are, even without the
39:31
show. Right now, I use Jeremy as an example because,
39:33
obviously, of our connection relationship and
39:36
he winning Top Chef. Huge for him. Huge. But
39:41
I still have no doubt that I think even if Jeremy...
39:43
Didn't win top chef or didn't even go on top
39:45
chef. I still think because of his talent, there's
39:49
no doubt that he could still be where he's at
39:52
right now. With these restaurants, you know,
39:55
going on a show, you're not learning to cook.
39:57
You either know it or you don't. She's just,
40:03
yeah, I love her. Ain't it the truth? Yeah, no,
40:07
it's very nice to hear. But yeah, I mean, I would
40:10
hope that if there wasn't TV, still be in the
40:13
seat I'm in right now. But you never know. I
40:15
think we all agree that she would be. Yeah, I
40:19
love her, by the way. Shout out to Paula. So
40:21
Paula De Silva. Yeah. She is the food and beverage
40:24
director at PGA Nationals. Yep. Not just the
40:28
Butcher's Club, but PGA National. So fun story
40:30
that I was... fascinating finding out i'm floored
40:33
by this so we're gonna just touch on this so
40:36
let me paint a picture in my head dean max is
40:39
exec chef 30 30 ocean in 2007 i know i did some
40:43
homework wow the people that worked in that kitchen
40:46
were hold on a minute paul de silva push car
40:50
and you in one building and nevin patel yes thank
40:54
you thank you and more what yeah And what I said
41:00
to Pushkar was, holy crap, what the hell happened
41:05
in that kitchen? Look what that kitchen produced.
41:08
You are individually five powerhouses, like individually
41:15
making these strides and accomplishments in your
41:18
own ways. Pushkar, as we just said, just got
41:21
Michelin recommended at Eli and Saj. Paula, you
41:25
just got it at Butcher's Club. for the second
41:28
time, recommended. And shout out to Dallas over
41:30
there. We love Dallas. I just have to shout out
41:32
Dallas because we love her. But like, whoa, what
41:35
did you learn from Dean Max? You all know, there's
41:37
some, there was something. I'm getting him on
41:39
the damn show because this man, I don't know
41:42
what happened in that kitchen. Yeah, he, so,
41:44
yeah, so Dean Max was the first real, like, brother
41:50
chef, if that makes sense. Like he was like a
41:53
brother to me there. He knew that I was coming
41:55
from like a lot of abuse, right? Like physical
41:58
abuse from kitchens. He knew, he knew when I,
42:00
when you see certain names in your resume, you
42:04
know, like what that person probably went through.
42:06
And he knew all of those chefs because he actually
42:08
had a restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard. So
42:10
he was in the heart of LA for a few years back
42:12
when he was younger. Yeah. Nobody, how many people
42:14
know that? So he knew those environments, but
42:16
when I met him, he's this surfer dude, but his
42:19
surfer dude thing was his personality but his
42:23
passion for local farms like he was having me
42:28
ship salmon from a small tribe that was only
42:31
allowed to fish this like certain salmon and
42:34
they were the only ones allowed they're like
42:36
a you know they're native americans so he introduced
42:39
me to like them and then foods in season all
42:41
these like companies that had these boutique
42:43
farms that he was like you're gonna buy this
42:45
from them i don't care about the price he's the
42:48
one who started that in my brain so early and
42:51
i'm so glad he did because we used to look at
42:53
like, Oh, well this, this company has it for
42:55
cheaper, but it's, is it the best? And that's
42:58
what you were learning there. You were learning
42:59
not just how to like cook really good seafood.
43:02
That's his thing. How to deal with, you know,
43:05
there was a lady up in Maine. She actually passed
43:06
away. It's a really cool story. She used to only
43:09
sell to people she chose to sell to. So John
43:13
George was one of them. Eric repair, like Very
43:16
tight, very close niche people. Because it was
43:19
her and her brother that dove for these diver
43:21
scallops in Maine. They would only sell to certain
43:24
people. So if you were rude to her, she would
43:26
cut you off. One of my students, I won't mention
43:29
his name, he got us cut off at one point. And
43:31
I had to call and plead my story. Because I'm
43:35
like, if Dean comes and I don't have these damn
43:36
scallops, he's going to have my ass. So this
43:40
lady, the scallops would come twitching. You
43:46
can't buy that. I don't know anybody else who
43:48
sells them like she did. And you would overnight
43:50
them and they would be in the shell. And when
43:51
you would move them, they would just start doing
43:53
this. They were the best scallops. But if you
43:56
ate one right now, you wouldn't be able to look
43:58
at scallops the same. But that was what Dean
44:00
did is he created this environment that was strictly
44:02
driven on either local or the best that the country
44:06
can find. You're going to cook your ass off,
44:09
but you had Paula who withheld those standards
44:12
because she was with him for 12 years before
44:13
I got there. She was already a decade in. Okay.
44:16
And she had already been his right hand and knew
44:19
how he did everything. Pushkar was another one.
44:21
He came in as a J -1 visa. You know, very, very
44:25
Switzerland trained, right? So he came out of
44:27
Switzerland with like this very proper, and then
44:30
you go into a kitchen of like Sons of Anarchy,
44:33
you know what I mean? And he learned real quick
44:35
like, oh wow, this is how these guys roll. Welcome
44:37
to America. Welcome to America. And I remember
44:40
the first meal I took him to was Subway. I don't
44:42
know if he told you that. Really? No. That's
44:44
rude. I was so poor. You should have taken McDonald's
44:47
over Subway. No, I know, but one of the first
44:49
meals he had that I took him to was Subway. I
44:52
know. Oh, man. Oh, man. Do you have any fun stories
44:56
you want to share from inside of that kitchen?
44:59
Oh, wow. So many good ones. Where do I even begin?
45:03
Just tell us one, your favorite one. My favorite
45:06
story there? Oh, my God. Oh, my favorite story.
45:09
God, it's so easy. So Mr. Marriott, Bill Marriott,
45:12
right? So Mr. Marriott spends one month every
45:15
year, January, at Harbor Beach, Marriott, where
45:17
3030 Ocean is located. He stays there. And obviously,
45:22
the resort is on high alert the whole time. Anytime
45:25
he goes down a hallway, there's calls being made.
45:28
Everyone's freaking out. And I got the opportunity
45:32
because he used to love to eat. One of his meals
45:34
during the week would be at... 30, 30. He sat
45:37
in a certain spot of the restaurant, but it was
45:40
so funny. And I carry this with me is there was
45:43
a table right next to him. That's just being
45:45
kind of belligerent and loud. You know, those
45:47
tables, right? We all know those tables, annoying,
45:50
sending things back for no reason, just being
45:52
a problem table. And, you know, obviously he
45:56
overheard it. And then I was like bringing his
45:58
food out and he like kind of stopped me and grabbed
46:01
my wrist. And he's like, And I was like, I apologize.
46:04
I'm so sorry about that table. We're doing everything
46:06
we can to make their experience better. He's
46:08
like, you don't have to explain yourself. I see
46:10
what's going on. Just remember this. We're not
46:13
for everyone. And I was like, this is the guy
46:17
who like is the biggest, the biggest hotelier
46:20
in the world by a long stretch. They manage more
46:24
hotels than anybody in the world by a long shot.
46:27
And this is a guy who you think be saying like,
46:29
make sure that they're like, take care of them.
46:31
Take care of our guests. Right. Which we always
46:34
did. But he's like, you're not going to make
46:36
everyone happy. But he's like, we're not for
46:38
everyone. And that just like opened my mind to
46:40
thinking like, wow, like that is such a good
46:43
state. And I use it all the time. Sometimes we'll
46:46
be, we'll have a table or we'll have a guest
46:48
that we just can't make happy. And we try everything.
46:50
We do everything we can, but we lost them. At
46:53
some point in the road, we lost them. Are we
46:56
going to sit and argue them on a review they
46:58
leave? No, because it's, it's, we just have to
47:01
know who we are, stand behind it and be better.
47:04
Try to, try to, you know, prevent whatever happened
47:07
to that table to the next table. But we're not
47:09
for everyone. It's such a good way to look at
47:11
like, it's three, you know, it's three words
47:14
before. Who's counting? But whatever. But it's
47:19
true. You know what I mean? Like, we're not going
47:21
to win them all. We're not going to win them
47:22
all, dude. There's too many unique personalities
47:24
out there in the world. And some people are just
47:27
miserable and cranky, honestly. And they just
47:29
want to be miserable and cranky. And I don't
47:30
deal with that. I either deal with positivity
47:32
and, like, cool people or, like, that's it. Yeah.
47:36
There's no middle ground. Like, I'm not even
47:38
entertaining it, you know? I just don't have
47:40
time for it. I'm the energy for it. I'm a Pisces.
47:43
Like, I feel everybody's energy all the time.
47:45
Yeah, I know. Seriously. It's like. crazy it's
47:48
crazy crazy wait i just remember the name of
47:51
the show that i read up that you watched as a
47:52
kid it was called the galloping gourmet oh man
47:55
yes the one i was trying to think of that's what
47:59
i was thinking about that guy what what a game
48:02
changer i can't remember his name do you have
48:03
his name no we can google it i wonder what his
48:07
name is galloping gourmet yeah the host of galloping
48:11
gourmet Back up coming in. Coming in hot. Yeah,
48:15
it's coming. Let's see what it is. Here it is.
48:17
Graham Care. Yes! Oh, that's right! I do remember
48:22
that name. Look at the black and white photo.
48:24
That one is the one where he was... So what he
48:28
would do, Graham would go into a three -star
48:33
restaurant, like a Robuchon, and he would have
48:35
this lavish experience. And then he would go
48:38
back to his kitchen, which is that studio there,
48:41
wherever the... Fuck that was. That was a cool
48:43
spot. He would go back and recreate or he would
48:46
make his version or whatever, but he would do
48:48
it completely wasted. And he would just, he was
48:52
so funny. He'd, you know, if he was making beef
48:54
bourguignon, right, he would be like, you know,
48:56
pouring the red wine, but he'd pour like a sip
48:59
and then he would finish the glass. Yeah. And
49:02
it was just like, he was, he made fine dining
49:04
so fun. and it was such a tight thing you know
49:08
especially like back in I mean it's black and
49:09
white days yeah especially back then when it
49:11
was kind of like you know like touchy touchy
49:14
about what and what you could get away with on
49:16
screen and I think he like broke a lot of the
49:17
rules that made it so funny he used to do this
49:20
thing where he would like his chair would be
49:22
there and he would like act like he's falling
49:24
over but he would just stand on the back and
49:26
then flop through and then grab his wand he you
49:28
gotta watch it if you're to go home tonight and
49:30
re -watch this. I know, like, if there's any
49:32
young food enthusiasts, like, before the Ramseys,
49:35
before Bobby Flay, this was, like, the guy that
49:38
I thought so much of because it was, like, he
49:41
wasn't a chef. Right. He was just this dude who
49:43
had a lot of fun and he loved cooking and he
49:46
loved eating. Ram care, dude. For the win. For
49:49
the win. For the win, man. He's got all the flavor.
49:53
So, another quick thing I just want to touch
49:57
on before we play our game. is I feel like we
50:00
have something in common with, I feel like I
50:02
know a lot of celebrities and I feel like you've
50:04
met a lot of celebrities as well. Are there any
50:06
like fun, memorable ones that stick out in your
50:07
head for you? One of the most, I've met a lot.
50:12
I met a lot of them, right? Rihanna, ASAP. There's
50:16
been some really cool ones, but I think like
50:19
the one that makes the most impact. So I'm standing
50:22
on Hollywood Boulevard in California, right?
50:27
I'm at Guitar Center or whatever that big music
50:29
store is right there. And I'm outside, like I
50:33
have my little bag and Kenny Reeves walks by.
50:35
Oh, nice. Yeah, like super cool. He was like
50:38
in like a black shirt, just like very like, and
50:40
this is when he was like hot, hot, right? This
50:42
was when, I mean, he still is, but I mean, both
50:45
ways he is. But he comes by and I'm like, hey,
50:48
dude, can I get a picture? And he was so nice
50:51
that we took the picture and then he's like,
50:53
what do you play, man? And I was like, are we,
50:55
are we, are we doing this? Yeah. What are you
50:59
doing later? You want to grab a subway? No, but
51:06
I think, I think, you know, he asked me what
51:08
I played, like what style of music I liked. And
51:11
we had this little banter for probably two or
51:13
three minutes when I was like, this is somebody
51:15
that if a paparazzi or whatever knew this was,
51:17
that would have ended like instantly and he would
51:19
have left. But it was so, I was like, man, what
51:22
a genuine guy. Yeah, yeah. Like he's not, he
51:25
wasn't what I expected. I mean, I met a lot of,
51:27
Brianna was great too. There's been a lot of
51:29
cool ones, but that one was like, I think because
51:31
I was so young and so like obsessed with him
51:33
at the time that when I met him and him not just
51:36
being like piece, like picture. Yeah. You know,
51:38
I still have that picture. I should send it to
51:40
you for this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. That's
51:42
cool. That's cool. I have like long hair. I don't
51:45
know where that fucking shit went. You had hair?
51:46
Long. Very long. Longer than yours. Stop. All
51:50
right. We all need this picture. I'm going to
51:53
harass you for it. No, I've got a couple that
51:55
I'll send you. I'm like a little tenacious bitch
51:58
over here. So that's cool. My favorite celebrity
52:04
that I know you've met is Drew Barrymore. I'm
52:07
dying to meet her. I'm obsessed with her. I want
52:10
to be her best friend. Drew, if you're listening,
52:13
call me. Like I, I need you in my life. I've
52:16
always needed her in my life. I adore her. What
52:19
do you adore about her? I just think, I think
52:22
she's been through shit in her younger years.
52:24
I think she's very genuine. I think she probably
52:27
has a really good heart. I could like almost
52:29
feel her energy through it. She's a little quirky.
52:32
I feel like I'm a little quirky. I feel like
52:33
we were just like, we would have like, we would
52:35
just be so dopey and fun together. Yeah. Yeah.
52:38
I feel like we're just going to, we're just going
52:40
to have a great time laughing and crying together.
52:43
Yeah, no, she was fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
52:46
yeah. I think I went on there twice. I can't
52:48
remember. So jealous. She's so cool. You're also
52:52
on Good Morning America. I mean, look, if you
52:54
want to see all the places he's been and all
52:56
the things he's done, you can Google him because
52:57
we can't list the longest. We can't list it.
53:00
It's too long. It's been a blessed ride, to say
53:02
the least. Did you ever meet Jon Bon Jovi? No.
53:05
Oh, I did. Whoa. Recently? When you went out
53:09
to see him? Yeah, that one. And then in Caesar's
53:13
Palace, oh gosh, like five, seven, six years
53:18
ago. So he still had his voice. Yeah. We have
53:22
this argument about... I'm not talking about
53:24
that. We have this argument about like, okay,
53:27
we both love 80s rock, 80s metal. There are heroes.
53:32
However... Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, these singers
53:37
that had these great reaches, they're not there
53:40
anymore. And I'm sorry to say, either get a backup
53:42
singer behind the curtain. I know this is hard
53:45
for you to hear. I know this sucks. But you got
53:48
to hear it. They're done. Okay. They cannot continue
53:51
touring. Because I want to remember that like.
53:55
high -pitched, sick tone more than I, you know?
53:58
I know, I know, I know. We'll wrap it up here.
54:00
I'm crying for John, though. Crying for John.
54:03
Drink more tea. I don't know. No, he had a vocal
54:05
cord surgery. I know. It's very, very insensitive
54:07
of me, actually. No, it's not. It's okay. A lot
54:11
of people feel your way, and I'm just going to
54:12
protect him forever. So, funny, funny story is
54:16
I saw Guns N' Roses in, like, 2006. Axl was like,
54:20
incredible. Okay, fast forward. I go in 2011.
54:24
I'm eight months pregnant. I go down to Miami
54:26
to see him. Oh, my God. And my shirt on my stomach
54:30
says, sweet child of mine. Cool. He sucked. You
54:34
know why he sucked that night? Axl sucked. Didn't
54:36
perform. No, because I was sober. Well, you heard.
54:40
You also heard the pitch, how far off he is.
54:43
Exactly. I know. Exactly. See, so you do agree
54:47
deep down. Oh, I totally agree about that. Because
54:49
I was like, I was so excited because it was so
54:52
good. And then I was like, this is not good.
54:55
But the thing about this, cigarettes. heroin
54:58
and drinking every night for probably 25 years
55:02
straight. It's going to hurt your voice. Yeah,
55:04
the voice is probably going to go. And singing
55:06
at that level. Those guys were hitting crazy
55:08
notes. Music's not like that anymore. I know.
55:11
I like new music, but those guys are not hitting
55:15
those notes. All -time favorite of mine is Dreams
55:18
by Van Halen. That's a good one. That's it. Bam.
55:21
Mic drop. Done. All right. Game time. So fast.
55:24
Smash or pass ingredients. Okay. Smash or pass?
55:28
Ready? Here we go. Oysters. Smash. Anchovies.
55:32
Smash. Blue cheese. Smash. Cilantro. Smash. Damn.
55:36
Escargot. It's all right. You're going to pass
55:39
it. I'll pass it. I don't even want to ask you
55:42
the next one. Edible insects. Pass. Ranch dressing.
55:47
Smash. I agree with that 100%. Oh, I could use
55:51
some right now. Me too. I love me some ranch
55:52
dressing. Kimchi. Smash. Saffron. Smash. Duck
55:57
confit. Smashing that one. Oh my gosh, I didn't
56:00
even know this was on here, the last one. Tomatoes.
56:04
Of course, smash. Tomatoes for the win, tomatoes
56:07
for the win. Were you hoping that some of those
56:09
were passes? No, not necessarily. Oh, okay, I
56:12
was going to say like. No. Okay, okay, okay.
56:15
But some people. Those are all good stuff. I
56:16
mean, some people would disagree with you. Wow.
56:19
You know, some chefs will disagree with you.
56:21
Oh, wow. Recently, I asked some people truffle.
56:24
I got passes on truffle. I've got passes on fargois.
56:29
It's so interesting. You know, but that's all.
56:31
But that's I think that's all everyone's. Everyone
56:33
has their own little taste, right? Like some
56:35
people hate olives. Yeah. I wrap up each episode
56:38
with but one question. I'm going to dive back
56:43
to 2012. And I'm going to tell you to give this
56:46
guy three words of advice. Where in the hell
56:53
is that? God. I don't even know what kitchen
56:57
that is. Three things of advice. Yeah. You got
57:01
to tell that guy something. There's another one
57:04
too here. God. Does this ring a bell for you?
57:07
Wow. Yeah. That's 30, 30 ocean. Yeah. I think,
57:11
I think it would tell me, you know what I would
57:12
tell myself right there. That's when Maddie was
57:14
in my full custody, by the way. Okay. That era
57:17
of my life. I was a single dad with no one to
57:22
help. No family in this city to help like watch
57:25
Maddie. I wish I would have told myself like
57:27
be with Maddie a little bit more, you know, that
57:32
would have been one. I tried, but I could have
57:35
tried harder. I could have done things a little
57:37
different. Cause I miss a lot of her younger
57:40
years, but I hadn't a choice. It was kind of
57:42
fight or flight. Right. Second thing. You did
57:45
it all for her. Yeah. Keep cooking. But I would
57:49
have also said work more in pastry. If I could
57:52
go back to then, that's one that I regret a lot,
57:57
just not spending time. I tell cooks now, I'm
58:00
like, pastry chefs, that job, if you don't know
58:05
it and you ever have to do desserts because let's
58:07
say something happens, she gets sick, and you're
58:10
there in that world alone, it's a very scary
58:12
feeling. So you young chefs that are savory,
58:16
practice sweets. Any words of advice for upcoming
58:19
chefs and or entrepreneurs? You know, the best
58:27
advice I could give up and coming, I always look
58:30
at the people that really mean the most to me
58:33
are the up and coming future chefs. They really
58:36
do take a lot of my focus. Don't follow money
58:40
this young. That's the hardest one to get by
58:43
because I know that down the road you may get
58:44
another $1 .50, but are you going to exchange
58:46
that $1 .50 for more knowledge? Then I'm always
58:49
going to promote it. But if you're taking that
58:51
$1 .50 to go just for a better paycheck and then
58:54
lose all the knowledge that you might get at
58:56
a better restaurant. That's what I kind of like,
58:58
don't make that decision. I got offers. It's
59:01
so funny. You asked that I had offers to become
59:03
a banquet chef, making $35 ,000 more a year than
59:07
I was at as a single father. Imagine saying no
59:10
to that. That's almost dumb, but it was either
59:13
take that money and be miserable. Cause I knew
59:16
that wasn't my route, but sometimes money's going
59:20
to knock. And is it, are you going to take the,
59:22
take the bait or do you kind of, do you, do you
59:25
just. Keep chasing knowledge. Because eventually
59:28
knowledge pays you more than that $1 .50. To
59:32
entrepreneurs, yeah, get ready to work your ass
59:35
off. If you have any doubt in your mind that
59:38
you don't have the physical strength, physical
59:40
strength, mental strength, you'll never make
59:43
it. You have to be prepared for, you know. falling
59:47
on your face, losing a lot of money, losing friendships
59:50
because people understand why you have to be
59:53
obsessed, but you have to be obsessed. Yeah.
59:54
If you're not obsessed with your business or
59:56
your craft, you'll never make it. You ain't wrong.
59:58
And it's very well put. You have to be obsessed
1:00:01
for it to really, really work and maybe lose,
1:00:03
not sleep a whole lot. So this has been so amazing
1:00:09
and really awesome, like diving into all the
1:00:13
past things. And so Current and future things.
1:00:16
Where do people find out about Ford's Farm and
1:00:19
everything you're doing? So a lot of the info
1:00:22
is on our Instagram at Ford's Farm Miami. And
1:00:24
then Ford's Farm Miami dot com is a website.
1:00:27
So go on there. We'll be doing dinners all winter
1:00:30
long. My favorite months are probably January
1:00:33
through March. Just throwing that out there.
1:00:35
But exciting new stuff to be developing there
1:00:38
on the farm. Keep your eyes on the Instagram
1:00:39
for sure. Very cool. Very cool. And check out
1:00:42
one of his many restaurants, be it here or. in
1:00:45
other countries. And yeah, thank you so much
1:00:49
for being on. And I encourage everybody to check
1:00:52
it out. Yes, thank you. Thanks for joining me
1:00:54
on Forking Around with Flavor South Florida.
1:00:56
If you're in the industry, a business owner,
1:00:58
or just want a better understanding of what goes
1:01:00
into keeping restaurants alive and thriving,
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make sure you subscribe and share this episode
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1:01:15
at flavorsouthflorida .com. Until next time,
1:01:18
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