Alexis Soler

00:00Hello, this is Jen Heidinger-Kendrick, founder of Giving Kitchen. Let me tell you a little more. Giving Kitchen is a James Beard award-winning nonprofit that provides emergency assistance to food service workers nationally. Headquartered in Atlanta since 2013, Giving Kitchen has served over 19,000 food service workers and awarded over $12 million to food service workers in crisis. Giving Kitchen helps food service workers that get hurt or sick lose a family member or suffer a housing disaster like a flood or a fire by offering financial assistance to cover rent and utilities. If you know someone that works in a bar or restaurant that is in crisis, tell them ask for help from Giving Kitchen by visiting givingkitchen.org slash help. Wanna get involved and support Giving Kitchen? Dining with Gratitude in October, GK's month-long campaign where the food service community pledges to raise critical funds and spread the word about their mission, givingkitchen.org slash DWG.

01:02Unleash the Wolf with Campo Bravo Tequila. Campo Bravo is a 100% agave tequila with a bold, smooth flavor, perfect for sipping neat as a shot or in cocktails. Campo Bravo is also certified additive-free, which means there are no artificial flavors or sweeteners in Campo Bravo like there are in many other brands. Campo Bravo gives you all the bold, smooth flavor you want in a tequila with nothing you don't. Campo Bravo is actually truly farm-to-bottle tequila, meaning our fifth generation agave farmers meticulously control entire production process from the farm to the bottle to give you the highest quality handcrafted tequila. Order through best brands and please remember to drink responsibly. You're listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the podcast that's not about food, it's about food people. Now, here's your host, Brandon Styll and Crystal DeLuna-Bogan.

02:04Hey, everybody, it's Brandon. And it's Crystal. And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by the power of food. And we're also powered by the power of food. And we're also powered by the power of food. And we're also powered by the power of food. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. I'm so excited to be here. Happy bladed birthday, Crystal. 40th birthday. Four zero. And how was it? Everything you hoped it would be? You know, I really wasn't, there wasn't expectations, but I got a little sick, which was a bummer, but whatever, you know, tis life. I had a great brunch at Butcher and B with all my girlfriends Sunday morning. And they have this excellent thing where you pay like $35 and they basically bring you the whole menu and fill you up until you like roll out of there. It's pretty wild. Yeah. So they do this like, it just prefix thing.

03:07Well, they just bring you courses of everything good on the menu. And- Do you get to pick it or do they just feed you? No, they just feed you. They ask you about your allergies and they just feed you. And I'm telling you, like every time more stuff came out, we were just like laughing because it was, we were just like, oh my God, there's so much food. Definitely worth it. It was so yummy. So much stuff, you know, sauce on them. Oh my God. It was, they were insane. That sounds amazing. So that was a good start to your birthday. It was a really good start. Nice way to start off 40. Yeah, you know, I feel like, I feel like this is the year of just like, whatever I'm doing it, we're regrouping, we're opening things, we're sustaining positive energy at our current things and, you know, growth. And I don't know, people say 40 is like a year where you just like stop caring about what other people think. I kind of don't really care now. So like maybe even more, maybe even more so. Like, like cool. You know, like I'm gonna do this thing.

04:08Me and my team, you know, I'm excited. A lot of my general manager just had a baby. So there's like a lot of like, you know, fun things happening in this life that I'm living. So very grateful. Thank you so much, Brandon. I walked into the studio to like a big cake and balloons. It was so sweet. I felt very loved. You are very loved. And it's not every day you get to celebrate your 40th birthday. No. It's a big, that's a milestone birthday. It is a milestone birthday, yeah. And I'm gonna go to LA in a few weeks and get to celebrate again with my sister and my family. It's hard, my family's not here. So like my, you know, mom and dad and sisters. Well, that's good. The more times you get to celebrate it, the better you get to really enjoy it multiple times. You know, I'm gonna stretch this stuff. You know, I'm gonna stretch it out all summer. Let's do it again. Let's do this thing again. Just keep doing birthday celebrations. Just an excuse to have cake in the studio, you know? We have a lot to celebrate. Last week, we teased that you were going to say something this week about a new restaurant. And we talked about, today we are talking with Alexis Soler.

05:15Yes. We've already done the interview. Yes. We've already done the interview. She did correct you, yes. We're talking with Alexis Soler. And we, in the episode, you say, hey, this is my new thing. And then she kind of gets to interview you about this new thing. I know, it's so typical of just like, you know, someone, another, you know, entrepreneur supporting another entrepreneur. We're a little ways away from this. I don't know how long we are away from this, but are you ready to say that? You look, you're like trepidation. You're like, this is so much. I know, and it's funny because we talk about it off, you know, Mike, you know, whatever. But like, it's hard because I'm not the only person involved in it. So obviously, I'm not the only person involved in it, but it does include another institution here in Nashville. And they're very much, you know, people that like to do things the right way, not just the like, hey, by the way, guys, this is happening. But we did talk about it, so I can mention it. It's not like a formal thing, but it's like an insider thing for our listeners.

06:15We're gonna be opening a new space inside of the Frist Museum called Cafe Cheesery. Oh, that's not the right way. No, yes, yeah. Do we hear that on the fence? It wasn't showing up earlier. Probably not, it's applause. It's applause sound. Applause sound happening. Which is just like this organic concept that came out of taking over their dining program and being able to theme different things with like the exhibits they have, which is like, I'm such a theme queen already. Like, I'm just so excited and working with the team and the curators so closely there. So they're basically opening exhibits and then I get to like create menus from that, like for their, you know, like different cocktail parties they have and stuff. So it's like a dream for me. Yeah, they have an exhibit opening this weekend. The Chicano art print show. And I get to do, you know, I get to do like a Chicano breakfast on Thursday morning.

07:16Like it's so cool. Like I'm making like scratch made churros and like conchas and like these little street corn empanadas. And as like somebody whose family kind of grew up in that revolution, like my aunt marched with Cesar Chavez. Like I just felt, I was like, oh, I know exactly what to make. Literally texted some of my cousins. I have 28 first cousins on my mom's side in LA and was like, hey guys, I just want to involve you guys in this. Like what do you think this menu looks good? And they were like all chiming in. It was so cool. So I invited some of my cousins in LA. I'm like, does this feel like something we would have eaten when we were little, like in LA, you know? And they were like, yeah, like, oh, don't forget this. And don't forget to add this in there. It was pretty cool. I'm setting up a little fruit cart, like with the shaved ice. You know, you get on the corner where you like, put the chimoy and the tahini on it. And so it's going to be this, it's fun. It just gets to, you know, I get to play around, which is so exciting. But the cafe will obviously be more of like a coffee program, pastry program, charcuterie, sandwiches.

08:22So we're calling it fromage focused. Yes. I love all of your, it's so cheesy. So cheesy, but just not specifically grilled cheese. That way we give the Hillsborough grilled cheesery shop and the track their own special moment. And then we get to like kind of fit in a little bit better at the frist. And so the team there is so wonderful and we are so lucky. And there's so much more stuff going on there that I'll talk about later, but there's going to be some really cool stuff for families too. What you just described to me, like I feel, I don't know, I've been having a lot of conversations with chefs and restaurant owners and people and all just in the whole world. And like what you're doing there is so special. Like the fact that you get to custom curate these menus around these different things. And the fact that you take that so seriously and you've got your family involved and you've got like the authenticity of the whole thing. Like if I was going there and I was going to experience that to know how much love and time and energy was put into making sure that was perfect.

09:29That's what the dream is of this industry. That's what we try and do. Like the ability for you to be able to do that warms my heart and makes me so happy. And also for the guests that get to experience that. Like not only do you get to go and experience the exhibit, but then the food along with it just pairs so perfectly. It's the chef's kiss literally on the whole thing. And that just makes me so happy. It's so cool. They've like invited me in on these meetings that talk about how they're setting up the exhibit and the color tones. And they're giving me like the preview of the shows basically. And I get to be like, okay, this is how I'm gonna color tint the concha topping. Because I want it to look like this print. It's so cool. And I think it's fun for them because they get to, they have to do food anyways. They always provide this for media or VIP kind of experiences.

10:29But now like when I got to the Alexander McQueen exhibit, VIP room, I just did like cheeses from the UK. And like from like Irish cheeses, like because of who he is and like, it was just fun. And then like everything was like red and black and roses. And it was just really fun and cool. And I feel like they appreciate it so much, whether or not, yeah, obviously the people going appreciate it. But I've never had this opportunity to do this so consistently. Like I have so many of these things lined up, like with them that I just like, it's uniquely gonna be me because I don't even have time to train my team. How to make this stuff. It's like, I'm kind of coming up with it as I go. And it feels very different from what I'm doing. When you have a QSR, it's very like systemized and you have, you're weighing everything. And you're just like so specific with everything because everything is training in your team. And so this is such a different part of my brain. I haven't gotten to exercise since I was like catering when I was younger.

11:32Wow. Well, congratulations. Yeah, I do wait for you to come. Now, having just now said that out loud into a microphone, how does it feel? Because essentially the cat is now out of the bag. For our listeners. For our listeners, we have not made their, there hasn't been a PR, there hasn't even been a PR release about this. This is because we know this is happening and I know you want to talk about it. And I'm like, I want you to be able to be like. And organically we kind of started talking about it with Alexis. So it's going to be like in the episode. So I might as well actually like speak on it. But yeah, we'll have more information. The biggest thing is, with anybody opening any restaurant, you know that there is different health inspections and fire department. And like you can't say a date. Cause then if that date's out there that we're opening, then you have to change it. It's coming. But you're already doing events. You went event Thursday. Like you're already doing the thing. But the cafe's not actually open. Like I'm doing it within the museum as like, they're kind of just saying a hired chef is doing it.

12:35Because they don't want to like, but you know what's so funny? The security guards, everyone there is so nice. Like so, so nice. The security guards tell everybody. Oh, that's coming. Oh no, they're so excited. Molly tells everybody. Like I overhear them. We're all talking, like having these PR meetings and stuff and they're a whole team. They have teams, you know, like, and I'm like, well, you know, your security guards telling everybody. So we probably should tell her not to say anything. But it's funny cause they're just so excited to get food back into the space. It's been such a missing component for them that, and then it's just bringing in all these other local businesses that we work with to do like the custom tile and to do the coffee program and build out cool things for family things and cooking classes that we're gonna probably announce later. But yeah, it's just gonna be such a space to meet us where we are right now in our lives, which are like, we want good food and we also have kids. And like, where do we take these kids? Cause this is such a family forward place.

13:36And the Frist is trying to do so much to just gather people in like this, it's inside. It's this big, huge, beautiful building. Like how can we bring people to create together? Well, they used to have something called Frist Fridays. They're starting to do it again since COVID and they're bringing it back more consistently. So like, we'll also do stuff for Frist Fridays and there's like homeschool Mondays and family. There's like a family night, a family day that they do on Sundays. So there's so much stuff, we're excited to do all of it. So we'll speak more specifically on that and I'll like post the menu on our Instagram and stuff once we kind of get it going. But yeah, so exciting. Very exciting, anxiously excited. Well, congratulations. I know you and Joseph have been working really, really hard on this. He's literally like working so hard right now on it. He is a, he's a bad man. He is getting after it. He gets to do all the like non-sexy things, you know? Like he's doing all the like, you know, things nobody sees and everyone's just like, I don't know.

14:41Assumes gets done by somebody. He's somebody getting it all done. All the, not, I wouldn't say boring, but just so important, you know, building blocks of like starting another business, you know? It's a lot. It's a lot, you know? And we're getting our ABC license for the first time because we're serving wine and beer there. So that's like in the final stages. So there's this like, opening a restaurant is kind of amazing that it actually happens. So many things have to line up to be able to open the doors and like training. And once you get open, you're good. Once you get, yeah, it's all easy. Once you get open, it's easy. Easy peasy once it's open, right? Yeah, it's pretty amazing that we want to do this because it's so much more. So, well, it's, that's the thing. What you were talking about earlier, working with this Chicano, like in your whole menu that you created, that's why you're doing this. Yeah, but like imagine like just opening up any concept. Like it's kind of crazy that anything ever actually opens because it takes so many moving parts to align. And especially when you're talking about like doing it, the ways in which you're training and you have systems and you're having flashbacks to Chagos last year.

15:50I know, right? It's crazy. And I've done this. This will be our fifth thing we opened. And it's crazy that we keep, it's like glutton for punishment. It's like, why do we keep doing this to ourselves? That's insane. Well, it's because there's a lot of reasons why, but. I mean, we know why. It's just like, I forgot. I'm going to pivot the conversation a little bit to say that we're going to be on the TV today. Oh my God. We're going on Local 2 today. Local on 2. So we will be there. We are going to be there exclusively introducing you to the show. Oh my gosh. We're going to come on the actual, we're going to be on Local on 2 today. Can I bring my birthday balloons? Yes, I think you should. She wants these in the shot. I don't know. These need to be in the shot. She's 40 today. She comes with these balloons. I don't know. Yeah. I do like the balloons. They look good. They're very festive. You can check her Instagram for that photo in the balloons. I'll put it in my stories too. I have a video of her walking into it. She was totally shocked. She was like, what is going on here?

16:52And I had the candles. I was like, hold. Lighting the candles. It was great. So we're going to be on TV. We're going to be on TV and you're not going to be cooking. This is your- This is my first time not doing a cooking demo and I'm so excited. You just get to like sit and talk about you because we're going to talk about you today. We're talking about you being the new co-host on the show. I'm going to hopefully make it exciting. So people will be like, oh, we haven't listened to this. I don't know why they would, you know, like maybe they're going to be intrigued to see what we're up to on this thing. But I feel like it's so, like they're going to learn and or just cherish the places they're going to by just knowing all these backstories of people. Like getting to know the people. It's so important. I mean, that's how I dine out. Like I love supporting businesses, knowing how hard they're working and how much effort and time and thought goes into everything they're doing. I want to go stay at the Drift Hotel now. Oh my gosh.

17:52After this conversation today with Alexis. I ran into a friend out and she says, apparently there's like a Monday, like secret day you go. That's like the day to go. I'm kind of blowing the top off of it. Mondays at the Drift, at the pool, I assume. The pool, yeah. Yeah, I gotta go. And that's the day to go. I gotta go check out this pool action. We gotta do this. We'll take. Live from the pool. Live from the pool at the Drift. I just want to eat the tacos and you know, I want to, there's like, you know, because the Drift Hotel also has Oscars of. A La Brehe. A La Brehe. There's an A La Brehe taco truck. A La Brehe taco truck. At the pool. Yeah. At the Drift. You'll learn all about that in this conversation today with Alexis Soler. Soler. Soler. I want to say Soler so bad. Let's do it again. Hey, we next week have a pretty special, the whole month of July is a very special month on Nashville Restaurant Radio because we are transforming Nashville Restaurant Radio into, drum roll, Atlanta Restaurant Radio.

19:00We had an opportunity where we offered up a, you could be the host of the show and you get to interview somebody and be the host show. Well, the person that won, Billy Kramer, he owns a restaurant in Atlanta called NFA Burger, which was food and wine named Best Hamburger in the state of Georgia. Oh my gosh. So that's a. That's saying a lot. That's a big thing. It's one of those places, it's in an old Chevron station and it's like tiny, you pull up and there's like picnic benches, like there's a huge line every day. It's like a, you know, it's like the restaurant, it's in a neighborhood. So did you eat there when you went to that place? I'm going there Thursday and I'm going to eat there. I have not eaten it yet, but Billy is an amazing guy. He's not like a restaurant guy and he's gonna be our first episode. We actually interviewed him and he's gonna be the first episode. And then we're gonna talk with Jen Heidinger Kendrick and Leah Melnick from The Giving Kitchen. So cool. And then Chris Hall and then we have all these episodes. So the month of July, you are not gonna hear from Crystal at all, really.

20:01No. This is going to be a. With the MIA. With the month off. And then we are going to do this Atlanta Restaurant Radio. We are also gonna be launching Atlanta Restaurant Radio in Atlanta. Yes. So we're adding a new show to the thing. I will not be hosting it. We will have hosts in Atlanta hosting the show. So now we're branching out. Not only will you get Nashville chefs and Nashville restaurant adjacent people, we're now gonna be talking to people in Atlanta. We're gonna get the inside scoop of everything that's happening in Atlanta. A lot of you like, it's an easy road trip to go there, but now the food scene there's incredible. Ben talks with Ford Fry. He's gonna come on and talk about all of his stuff. We've got some other restaurant owners that are really excited about the stuff they're talking about. But one of the big deals is The Giving Kitchen. The Giving Kitchen is based in Atlanta and we love The Giving Kitchen. And one of our sponsors, All Star Fire Protection, Rob Bowman, he contacted me and said, man, I did not know anything about The Giving Kitchen.

21:02And I learned about The Giving Kitchen. From the show? From the show. And he's like, we are in, we love it. And they wanted to create something around this, right? So All Star Fire Protection, if you have fire extinguishers in your building, they have to be serviced every year or two. Which you have to. If you have hood systems, fire suppression systems, all of these things have to be serviced. They have to be inspected. And you have to have a company come out and do that. And there's some big national brands that are, national brands, maybe even previous sponsors that are national brands. They are local. This is your local company. They've been in Nashville for 34 years and they will come out and do all these inspections. And what they've said is for every time that somebody calls them to do an inspection, they're gonna make a $50 donation to The Giving Kitchen. Oh my gosh, are you kidding? He's like, I wanna figure out a way to give back. I wanna give $50. So here's what you have to do. You have to use the code Brandon. Oh. When you call in and say, hey, look, we wanna do an inspection. We heard about you on Nashville Restaurant Radio.

22:04Code word Brandon. And they'll even give you 10% off. 10% off and they donate $50 to Giving Kitchen? Yes. Which is basically just going back in the pockets of restaurant workers because that's all Giving Kitchen does is help support. That is exactly what they do. The hospitality industry. So if you are out there and you're a leader in a restaurant and you have people who can't work because they're injured of any kind, turn them onto The Giving Kitchen. They will support them while they're hurt. GivingKitchen.org. You can nominate people for this thing or they can go and just submit it themselves. But All Star Fire Protection was like, dude, we're local. We care about restaurant workers. We wanna help Giving Kitchen. So if you're out there and you have, go look at your fire extinguisher. Go look at your head surprise. If it hasn't been serviced in the past six months, it needs to be done. And this is what you need to call. You need to pay attention. This is the number that you need to call to get this done. It is 615-865-5600. That is, you're gonna ask for Rob. Rob Bowman. He's your guy. We'll post it on an Instagram too so it can live there.

23:06Yeah, it'll live there. And in the show notes, we'll put it in there. 865-5600, Rob Bowman, All Star Fire Protection. Love that when sponsors step up and wanna do that. I mean, that's not just sponsoring the program. That's like giving back to the actual, like he believes in it. That's so cool. That's why the local sponsors are great. It's a, it's everything. They actually care a little bit. They actually care a lot. Yeah, they kind of like, they're like, they listen. They're like, hey, what can I do to help support this industry? Well, on that same front, Jason Ellis was at the Giving Kitchen, the Big Tennessee Tasting at Jason and his wife, Jason Ellis from Super Source was there and bid and won an autographed Laney Wilson guitar. Wow. So he actually like put the money up. Like he was- That's so cool. First of all, he bought the tickets to go to the event. He didn't get the freebie tickets to come in. He paid for tickets to go to the event and then was bidding and he bid on other things. Like was trying to bid things up to help support the Giving Kitchen.

24:09And he also was a sponsor last year when I did the Giving Kitchen Fan's Football League. He was the first one and he said, dude, I'm in, here's, you know, here's $500 for the Giving Kitchen. Let's go. It's so cool. Super Source is another company and Jason Ellis who's really invested into the Giving Kitchen. And so, yeah. And Gordon Food Services as well. Gordon Food Services is definitely involved in the Giving Kitchen. They help out. So we've got, we're going to get all of our sponsors going on the Giving Kitchen. I love it. They step up. But right now I wanted to really highlight All-Star Fire Protection. So give them a call. Tell them that you heard them from Brandon on Nashville Restaurant Radio and let's let them know that we are strong supporters out there. The people that listen to this podcast are supporters because these guys are supporting us. They allow us to support you. We don't ask a dime for any restaurant. You never know. You never know when someone's going to need something. 100%. You never know. And it's so nice to have that there. All right. What else is happening? I saw Shotgun Willie's this week is moving to their new location on Gallatin.

25:11But don't worry. It's up the street from their current location. So it's not too far. They're in Madison. Yes. And there's a ribbon cutting on July the 3rd. So go follow them on the socials. Shotgun Willie's Barbecue. You can get your fixings for 4th of July. That is a very good point. Get your pre-brisket, you know. Big congratulations to Bill. I think his last name is Laviola. He's so cool. He's the nicest guy. He's like sitting out back. Anytime you want to come by and smoke some meats I'll be out back drinking beer. He's just out there smoking meats. Like the most fantastic dude. And through the pandemic, what they've been doing and they just have hustled him and his wife have just really made it happen. So I'm really excited for Shotgun Willie's and their new location in Madison. Awesome. Good luck to them. Anything else you got? I will tell you that the new location's address is 1500 Gallatin Sweet 104. So that's what we got. There it is. What do you say we jump into this episode with Alexis Solair?

26:11Solair. I think. She's so cool. This is gonna be great. We're gonna jump in with her right after these words from our sponsors. Are you looking to grow your business or are you looking to start a business? Finding a retail spot is number one. You gotta do this. And that is why we're talking about the Chandler James retail team at Lee & Associates. Miller Chandler and Leanne James are your go-to brokers to do just that. They're located downtown in the heart of it all in the Batman building and they're serving all of Middle Tennessee. Let me tell you, both Miller and Leanne are Tennessee natives. You know they know the neighborhoods. They know they know the demographics and they can help you find your dream location. Now here's the cool part. Chandler James can help you find and negotiate terms on your next restaurant location. They represent both retail tenants and landlords in our market, which means they can also help you with lease versus buy decisions and act as your leasing agent should you ever decide to go all in and purchase commercial real estate.

27:15If you'd like to get ahold of them, give them a call at the office. Their phone number is 615-751-2340. That is the Chandler James retail team. Give them a call today. Sharpier's Bakery is a locally owned and family operated wholesale bakery providing bread to Nashville's best eateries. They've been operating in Nashville since 1986, providing high quality fresh bread daily for restaurants, catering companies, hospitals and universities. Their bread is free from preservatives and artificial additives. Learn more at sharpiers.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. Or you can give Erin Mosso a call directly. Her number is 615-319-6453. That's Sharpier's Bakery. Hi, this is Matthew Clements, Robins Insurance Agency. We care about ensuring the hospitality industry.

28:16We wanna make sure that you're taken care of and that we take one less stressor off your plate so you can sleep well at night. At the end of the day, when you purchase an insurance policy, you're really purchasing peace of mind. And we want to showcase that and how we operate within the hospitality space during the summer of giving by giving back to the giving kitchen. If you call today to ask for a quote, we will be sure to give $50 in your name to the giving kitchen. Just give me a call. Area code 863-409-9372. We specialize in ensuring the hospitality space and we wanna be sure to give back. We look forward to hearing from you. And we are super excited to welcome in Alexis Soler. Did I say that right? You did. Look at that. It took me one time, one time. I wanted to say Soler, and she goes, no, no, no, that's not how you, you're spelling it wrong, dude. Like that's not how it's spelled. You know, by like reading standards, it's not the right way to say it. Sound it out, sound it out Soler. Language is hard sometimes. Yeah.

29:17Reading is hard too, apparently. You have people in you're like, how do I say your name? Well, you know, I think a long time ago, somebody said to me, like, I don't know what, I think I was like at a church or something and they were talking about your name and how important your name is. Like, this is you, this is your identity. This isn't like, say it right. Like say your name right and correct people if they say your name wrong, cause this is who you are. So I don't know what it was, but it's just one of those things stuck with me. Employees, like if like one time I called this girl the wrong name for like six months and she never corrected me. And then everyone was like laughing at me and I was like, what's wrong? They're like, her name isn't that, it's this. And I'm like, and I'm not gonna say it. So this person isn't gonna embarrass. But like, and I was like, you guys, and I'm like, don't ever let anyone call you the wrong name. Like I told her, I'm like, don't ever let anyone call you the wrong name. Like correct somebody. That's a lot of like, you know. Yeah, I over correct people aggressively over people don't get my name right. Someone called me Alex the other day. And then that's pretty close, but I was still like, that's not it. Yeah. What do you say in that moment?

30:17I'm like, oh, it's Alex. Like, oh, just so you know, like that's not my name. Maybe they tried to give you like a cute nickname and you're like, no. Yeah, they're like, let's shorten that. I'm old enough to where I don't need that. Yeah, I don't need a nickname, thanks though. Yeah. So no nicknames like Lexi or any like little. No, I went by Lex for a long time. She doesn't look like a Lexi. I didn't say she did, I was just saying. You went by Lex. She's stronger than a Lexi, yeah. I ran into like a hostess, like at a restaurant and she was like, oh, what's your name? And taking my, taking my name down. And then she's like, oh, we have the same name. Do people call you Lexi? And in my mind, I was like, do I look like a Lexi? You're like, no, but then you're like, I'm about to insult you by saying this. No, which I didn't say it. I like being kind. Yeah, yeah. Well, we're getting off track. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, Alexis Saler. I appreciate that. It's an honor to have you here. You, gosh, let's get into some of your resume.

31:20You opened number, was it called number 308 or just 308? 308, I think is what. Clearly he wasn't a customer. I was a big, I was a big time customer, by the way. It's right next to- You just called it wrong the whole, the wrong thing. It's been a long time since I've been there and I drink a lot. I mean, it's no longer theirs. It's no longer there. Alexis. But my, well- Saler. Yeah, Alexis Saler, he is now sober. Well, I- You shouldn't see him around your bars. I loved it because 308 is my, my birthday is March 8th. So 308 is like a big, that's like my number, right? So the number 308, I was like, holy shit, this bar was made for me. So I loved going there and it's a really neat spot. And it was like one of the first places where you get like really good craft cocktails. Super innovative. When you got to think 2010? Yeah. I mean, that was 14 years ago. People say, I saw a thing today that said in 2010, 10 years ago in 2014, we had, I think it was 24 buildings that were over 20 stories.

32:26And now 10 years later, we have like 127. It was like- Yeah. What? Yeah. Right. So when you think about back then, even 2010, like what you were doing was super innovative and way like ahead of the time. And then I guess seven years later, you opened Old Glory. That's correct. My sister. Was another just amazing, still going. Yes. Right. I haven't been, I have not been to Old Glory in a little while. I'm also- I call it my golden child. Oh. Yes. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful space. It's hard to not walk in and just be stunned. So I think the shock factor is there and then they keep you there with the- How did you find that space? My sister and I had been looking for a space for about a year prior to finding Old Glory. And people had caught wind and they were like showing us spaces around and it really wasn't the ideal location for us. Yeah. It is kind of right by Vanderbilt, tucked behind a little bit. Yeah. Not my ideal demographic ultimately, but turned out that, you know, we just walked in Old Glory as it was and we were just kind of speechless and we kind of shared a glance and we were like, to both of us, I think it was done deal.

33:40It's a feeling, right? It's a feeling like when you go in a space where you're like, I'm gonna put all my hopes and dreams into this space now, right? Yeah. And there's something about an old space that's just, it brings so much imagination to like what can be. And I just love the inspiration that comes from like an old thing. That's so cool. No, okay. So let's keep going with the resume because I want to get through that because I have so many other questions. I want to go back even ago. Were you guys like restaurants? Did you work in restaurants? How did you know to open 308 and then, Olga, how'd you get into this business? Well, I've been bartending since I was 17 years old. So I dropped out of high school to be a bartender. Nice. The first time I ever walked into a bar, I was like, this is what I will do with my life. Wow. And so I'm one of those, I think rare people that just had a feeling was like, this is my path. And I didn't veer from it much, but I tried other things and I just always came back to this industry.

34:44Wow, that's so cool. Oh my God. I've never met anybody who's said, first of all, can you legally even bartend at 17? I don't think so. She didn't say where. She just said she did. State. We're in Miami. Okay. Yes, anything goes. Yeah, anything goes there. Yeah. Wild, wild west of Florida. Yeah. Kind of anything. So yeah, I know I get that though. What was it about? Was it just like the, what was it about being a bartender that like hit you that was like, this is my fucking jam? Oh my God, so much. It's the people is what I think most people will say. The people, like the guests that you work with, like your other fellow bartenders. The community, like the industry people. They're really just different. And I think that that attracted me because I've always felt different, which that makes sense. Humans are different from each other. But when you're a kid, you're like just trying to connect with people. And I think that I found that in like this group of like weirdos that I worked at my first bar with, which we can get into that later.

35:47It's similar to restaurant people. Yeah, it's like back a house, kind of you gotta be front-facing, but still like it's a weird hybrid of a server, but like you're kind of also like a kitchen person because you're having to craft these cocktails. Well, I have the classic story. This is before cocktails existed. Oh God, of course, yeah. It was like a gothic gay bar that I lied that I had pretended before. I didn't know how to make a Jack and Coke. I didn't know what that was. I love it. Well, I know I'm with you because I'm like a middle child and I never felt like okay in anything that I did. And I was always this kind of outcast. I always tried really hard. And when I first got a job in a restaurant, I was like, hey, these are my freaking people. Like this is it. These are all the people that like don't, that weren't the golden child who, oh, I went to this school and I did this. Like, no, I just hustle and I like to do crazy shit and I don't really fit in anywhere.

36:49Then all of a sudden I got into a restaurant and I was like, hey, I kind of fit in here. These are my folks. And all of a sudden, like my entire life of not feeling okay or that I was good enough, all of a sudden I was really fucking good at something and I was accepted for that. And it was like that this is it. This is what I'm gonna do. And I've not done anything else since I was 16 years old. Like there hasn't been another job outside of this industry that I've done. It's the only thing I've ever done. That's well said. I feel like a lot of people would connect with that. Yeah, I mean, same. I know it's that fault that like, it's oddly like a team sport, you know, working in a restaurant. So it's like when it's really operating well, everyone kind of feels that high of like, this isn't working. People are happy. We're making people happy. And then you kind of all kind of get crushed together and then you get to like come, you know, celebrate it together, you know? And when you find a space or a restaurant or a bar like that, I think that's the high that you keep chasing the rest of your career, right? Like, yeah, I had a chef tell me once at that restaurant, Napa Rose, that I worked at when I was like my first real fine dining restaurant I worked at.

37:56He, they were like, you'll never, this is the pinnacle of all of our careers working here. Just so you guys know who are young in your careers, not like cherish these pre shifts and stuff, because like we've all worked so hard to get to this point and we're later in our careers. So like, just so you know, it's not all like this. Like we all feel like we've worked to this point. And like they kind of really set the stage. Which interesting line up to here. Oh God, our line ups were so intense, so intense. And I'm like a little 17 year old, like fresh face culinary student. Like, I'm, this is, I'm a chef now. You know, they're just like, yeah, you go wash the dishes in the back. Like I was basically a dishwasher. Yeah. You can chuck corn for six hours. No, I would have to clean lobsters for six hours. Yeah. I hate the smell of lobster now. Ask. The steam of lobster in your face is disgusting. Yeah. I mean, everyone, I'm like lobster. Okay. Bottom. Anyways. We're interviewing Alexis. Yeah. I'm going to go off on a tangent.

38:59There's so many questions. Okay. Let's get back on track. So you're bartending. You get in, you're like, this is it. Similar kind of a story with me, right? You just, these are my people. This is it. You opened 308 and what was that like? Like being an owner of a place. Like what, from being a member of a pirate ship, right? Who you're, you have your role. Sometimes you row. Sometimes you rob and pillage. Now you're the captain. Now you're like, you've moved from being a member of the pirate ship into, oh shit, I'm steering the ship now. What was that transition like for you? Yeah. Well, I have a long story in between the first shift and owning the bar. So please don't think that. Tell us whatever you want to tell us. Go. Well, you know, owning your first bar, I think like is rough for anybody. It's like, it's a hard time. Like I don't like, you know, people want advice from me all the time.

40:01And I'm, I don't have a lot. I have great advice, but it's hard advice because it's real. Like it's real life and it's not up to anyone else but you to create the success and deal with adversity. And I think that when you get to do that at a very young age, when I first opened my bar, it was like, golly, everything is hard and you kind of just go every day. And it's definitely like one foot in front of the other, like just make it happen. Like this is what we're here to do. And we've been working up to this point, so let's go. Did you feel like the community really was into it when you guys first opened? Because I think like craft cocktails and like that kind of thing was in East Nashville, felt a little like, oh, this is new Nashville coming in, you know, and you were right next to Dino's and that whole situation was happening with like the turnover with the ownership there.

41:02I don't know how that aligns with timing. That was later. So it was still old Dino's. So that, I mean, what a like difference in the two, right? Yeah, but I think that that- But they worked together. It did work. Totally worked together. And we were just a bunch of kids like trying to have a good time at the same time. So it wasn't like that different. I think there was people that loved us and there was people that were like, no, stay out of my neighborhood. And I think the difference or like what people came to understand is that we were just doing our best and doing what we love to do. And I feel like that translated. So it ended up like, I mean, people love 308. It was a moment in time. I feel lucky that I get to go and I know what we're talking about. So many people are like, I've never heard, what is that place? I don't know, it's not there. That sounds cool. I wish I could have been here. This was an open. 13. 13 years. Yeah, or 12 and a half. I mean, it just turned over. Like, I feel like that was- It was last year. Yeah. Too long. I drove away. Yeah. I was like, cause that's, I literally live on Eastland.

42:03So I like pass by it every single day. And I was like, oh, the sign's different. Why'd you close? And I just, you know, I have so many projects now. And so I was just like, it felt like time. Like I wasn't sad about it. I was just like ready to let it be. Which is what we're here to talk about is your hotel venture and all the other things. So part of the transition of this is where you started, where you've been, and then kind of how you're getting to where you're at today is kind of the story I want to tell today. And so that's interesting. 13 years. You got Old Glory in 2017. What did you learn from 2010 to 2017 when you opened Old Glory? Oh God. What different things did you do kind of innately that you didn't know to do in 2010? I didn't know how to create a team. I didn't know how to create a safe environment. I didn't know how to communicate as well as I do now. I mean, the list is endless, honestly.

43:07But I think the experience of it all is what allowed me to do this. Because one thing I've always been is all in on what I do. So I think that's what it takes. And I think when you're dedicated to growing and being better version of yourself, I think that your businesses can grow along with you. And I think that that's ultimately the most important thing that I learned was you have to take care of yourself. Because if you're not the best version of yourself, you're not going to be the best version of yourself for your businesses. And it's going to show. That's a perfect answer. In Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Gadara uses the reference. He says, put your oxygen mask on first. If you're on an airplane, they say put your oxygen mask on first before you put it on for children or anybody else because you can't help people if you're passed out. Similar kind of a thing. Like if you don't take care of yourself and you're not healthy and you're not mentally okay, how are you going to go lead other people?

44:11And so does that? Exactly. Paraphrasing what you were saying. Yes. I love that. What do you do for your own self-care? Oh God. Well, in 2020, I learned how to skydive. So got my license and started jumping out of airplanes. So that really like, I mean. I'm thinking like massages or like facial. Now fuck you, skydiving. I'm an extremist in every sense of the word. She said all in. Yeah, all in. I didn't think of a plane though. Like I didn't think of free falling in the air. Where do you go skydive? Skydive Tennessee and Tullahoma. Skydive Tennessee and Tullahoma. Or anywhere else. Skydiving is a universal language so you can literally do it anywhere and it's like the same rules and regulations. Have you ever skydived in Paris, California? I have not, but I know people that are from out there. Yeah, it's a very small community. Yes. Yes, it's a huge skydiving place.

45:13My cousin lives in Paris and he lives right next to the skydive Paris place. And so you can sit out in his pool and you just watch people fall from the sky. There's just hundreds of them all day long and they do the craziest shit. Like you see people falling and then there's the parachute and then like they start doing this thing where they start going and they try and get as fast as they can before they hit the ground and then pull up right before that. Do you know what I'm talking about? Swooping. And you're watching like, oh shit, that guy's gonna die. And they do, people die all the time. He watched them die. I've never seen it happen, but like he lives literally right there and he's like, oh yeah, dude, like every week there's somebody is trying to, they do this thing or they go around sideways and they swoop up in the very end and then they kind of let themselves down. Sometimes you miss and apparently it's bad. We won't talk about that. Wow, yeah. Do you do that? Do you swoop? I'm like, uh, yeah. I don't, I don't. That's like exceptionally extreme behavior.

46:14Wow. It's like, I'm not, I said I was all in, not. Yeah. I'm not ready to die. Yeah. That's incredible precision. And I think that like some people are into that. And I think jumping out of an airplane is enough for me at this point. Yeah, that's a lot. So jumping out of it by yourself, you're not doing tandem. You have your license. You do it yourself. Yes. Now do you do like with other people and like hold hands and do the whole thing? Like hold hands in the sky. That is so bad ass. And I'm so incredibly envious that you do that because Do you want to skydive? Holy shit with everything in my being. I want to do it. I have kids and like. Yeah. Your wife's probably like, no. I just, I don't, it's just one of those things. It's not about me anymore. Like nothing is about me anymore. So it's like, do I want to do that? Yes. I also want to swim with sharks and I want to do that's on my bucket list to like, Oh no. I think that would be so amazing. Just to like be in the water with a bunch of sharks. Yes. I saw this bracelet the other day that was like on my algorithm that was like a shark deterrent.

47:19And it just like, you put it on your wrist and it's like a little watch and it just like sends out signals that sharks don't like. And apparently it's like a thing that works. I guess if it doesn't work, you wouldn't know. Cause that person would be dead. They'd be dead. They can't even write a bad review. They'd show it with snake oil. Please don't buy that Alexa. Don't trust your algorithm on that one. All right. So skydiving is one way there has to be other ways that you take care of yourself. Adventure hiking, being in nature is like really just clarity for me. I mean, I like skydiving. I like those things because it's a force presence. It's like, it makes you remove the thoughts from your brain and be like really truly like in the moment. And I think that a lot of us, especially now like lack the ability to get there. And I think that's my favorite thing about it. And that's what helps me be myself and like be the best version of me. That's so good.

48:21I'm into this adventure hiking, adventure hiking. Like is that different than regular hiking? Well, I think, I don't know. Like it depends on your version of like what is hiking. Some people think like with walking on the road is hiking. Like the white trail or like the red trail. Which we love. Like hiking, I do it like all the time. Yeah. That's not adventure hiking. I don't know why I feel like Alexis is like shimming up a mountain while she's hiking or something. Like I feel like adventure hiking is a different definition for her. Or like she has like a backpack and she's like, well, shit, I guess I gotta rappel. And she's just like throwing shit around a tree and jumping off the side of a mountain. Like this is adventure hiking, baby. I'm like, okay. Sleep on the side of mountains. You know, they like tent pinch. Like that's your vibe, right? Like I feel like- No, that's climbing. Which I do not do. That's a whole different thing. It's not that I wouldn't. That is crazy to me to like set up a tent on the side of a mountain that's just like. Can you imagine just waking up? I don't think I would sleep. It's just like swaying in the wind. No, hiking is my, that's the thing I do to totally reset.

49:24And I start, I will listen to something. Oh, there's a book, a podcast, something, a music, something- Do you ever listen to your own podcast? I was just gonna say that. No, never. I never do. Do you just listen to old episodes of yourself? It is the worst. I have like- No, he's too self-deprecating to do that. He'd be like, shut up. Shut up. I'm about like- We all feel that way, by the way. The worst thing I do is edit these shows. I have to go back and listen to them. And I take, you know, just to make sure that like, hey, when I said that, what did that really sound like? We both text each other after Alexis and we're like, oh, minute this, oh, you know? And then he's just like, let it, let it go. I say that, I always say cringe. And I'm like, cringe. And he's like, welcome to the world of listening to yourself on a podcast. It's true, but I'll start hiking and I'm really good at spotting owls for some reason. You are. I love nature. You sent me a picture the other day of an owl that was really close to you. I was walking, I was doing the white trail.

50:24I was trying to get a quick one in the morning and I was walking and the owl was like, on a tree right on the trail. I thought it was gonna like reach out and grab me. I mean, I was like, oh, it startled me. And I was like, holy shit. And I'm standing there like, it's as close to me as you are. Yeah, that picture was real close. And I'm just staring at it and it was like blinking and like moving his eyes. And I was like, are you gonna eat me? Like, what the hell are you? You're so close. I feel like the owl should have been sleeping. Aren't they supposed to be nocturnal? It was like 8 a.m. I go early, I'm like an early morning hiker. It's cooler and you're into the canopy. It's nice, but I always listen to something until like a mile and a half in and my brain just starts to like wander and go into all these places. And I go, I'm not listening to this at all. And then I turn it off and I put the earbuds in my pocket and I just finished the hike and I let whatever thoughts I was having just go. And then I get in the car and I like journal what I was thinking about and all the things. And I know in like manager meetings, we're like, oh shit, Brandon went hiking. We have a whole new list of shit we have to do now. There's all these ideas and like, what if we did this?

51:27Like, oh fuck, do we stop hiking? Like just, we just run the restaurant. Like, no, this is fun. You do have good ideas though. That thing you showed me the other day was cool. It really is. When my best ideas come to me and when I like, I do get clarity in those moments, especially when you're like, you know, it's like you have life and you have kids and like, you know, everyone has jobs and you're like, ah, all the time. And like people need quiet or in like they need their own space to think. And I think it's important to like have your rituals and the things that like make you feel the best version of you. And so I think that we're similar in that. Like I need that time alone. Like I'm constantly, there's people everywhere all the time. If three restaurants that I operate and then kids, all of the things, wife, everything. And you're like, so two weeks ago, I just, I was like, I went to Florida. I like, I just got in the car and I drove to Florida. By yourself. By myself. He did. Awesome. And I got like a 23rd floor on the beach, like condo.

52:30And for like three days, I just stayed there. I walked him down the beach. I went swimming. I found all these manta rays in the water. I like, just by myself, just went out fishing. Like nobody else. And part of it is just the drive down there, the seven hours in a car by yourself. Like how much time you get. It's that self, you have to do that. Driving is so good too. Yes. Where you can just like kind of space a little bit. I mean, not too much. We're hijacking your story again. I'm so sorry. No, I love talking about this stuff. We are the worst, Cameron. Well, she was talking about fun stuff. My manta ray story. She has so much cool stuff to talk about. Okay, let's get back to it. So skydiving, adventure, hiking, and you shoot skeet? No. What's the next thing? I don't know. What's the other thing that's like kind of. Try that either. I just want to try things. Skydiving, hiking, guns. Like what is there?

53:30That's cool. Were you watching like Bridgerton or something? Like why shoot skeet? I don't know. In the 1800s. I'm trying to think of things I wouldn't expect her to do that are just like some people love doing, you know? Yeah, no, not that. Yeah. Not that. Yeah, I like traveling, you know. All right, where's your, where travel-wise best vacation you've been on? Coolest place, most beautiful place? I don't know. What do you got? I don't believe in vacations. Just living like trips and like experiences. And that's how I like, that's how I travel. And it's always based around food and hiking. Like I'm going to Maine on Saturday to do like hike Acadia and eat in Maine. A lot of lobsters. I'm sorry for your lobster steam. It's trauma. It's just trauma. It's fine. I'll be thinking of you. I'm sure it's, they're delicious. They are. Yeah. Yeah.

54:30I don't know. Yeah, I think my favorite trip, like one of my favorite trips to date is hiking Mount Rainier. And that was like a big one for me. And like in a whiteout, like it was a wild experience. Wait, what's a whiteout? Snow. Like you cannot be in front of you. No. Yeah. I'm going to be like, I've always wanted to go to Idaho. God, I am so boring. I'm like, I'm thinking I would be way too cold. I would be thinking about where I'm going to eat next. I am not. Oh my God. But yeah, that's so cool. Like I love just anywhere. Like I like to go anywhere. We went to Patagonia. My boyfriend and I on a trip with Tricol, which is like one of the first Patagonian spirits. It's like a brandy kind of base. And that was cool. They have like, they forage stuff and they like, you know. Oh my God. That's so cool.

55:30But we went down to Patagonia and it was incredible and hiked like, you know, the famous three sisters. I don't even know what that is. I don't even know what that is. I'm going to Google it later. Yeah. And be like, that looks cool as shit. Yeah. I don't know. That was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We like, we hiked the longest border or the, sorry, the oldest border crossing paths in South America, which is the Bariloche Pass, which is Puerto Varas to Bariloche. It was incredible. Oh my God. It's just like, you can drink the water out of the streams because it's like all the way through a runoff. Like what was the food that you experienced there? We ate like a goat one time, just a goat. We found a goat on the trail. We found a goat and we just fired it up. Yeah. It looked like dinner. Yeah. I just imagined like a spit, like you guys making a spit. That's exactly what happened. Yes. Yeah.

56:32I love it. So yeah, Patagonia, I think is maybe my number one. That's so cool. Oh, awesome. Have you seen the movie Good Will Hunting? I don't know. I'm not like a big movie person. I feel like she doesn't have time to do movies. She's like, I see a classic movie. I mean, it's a great movie. There's a line in the movie where this kid, Matt Damon's very, very smart. And he's never left Boston. And Robin Williams is like this therapist. And he says, you know, I figured you out. And he goes, you're super smart. You could quote anything in the world to me. Like you're, you could tell me everything that he has, but you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. Cause you've never fucking been anywhere. You're a little punk. You haven't lived your life. You don't know anything. And in that moment, like it was like watching that movie, hearing that moment, I was like, I want to know what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. And then I remember being in the Palace of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors going. You're smelling. It's musty in here. Like it smells kind of musty. Or standing atop of Corcovado in Rio, the Christ Redeemer statue, looking around going, whoa.

57:37Or even in Champs-Denis-A. And all, like, but you just be in those, you're talking about those places, like being there in that. I think that's what life is about. Like seeing those things, not reading about them, but doing them, right? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That sounds so fun. So hopefully this is motivation to be listening to like, I'm going to get off my ass. I'm going to sell my restaurant and do that. Yeah. All time. I'm not going to be nodding. Oh my God. What am I doing? We're doing our thing. It's okay. I know. We can just live vicariously through her today. Okay. I have a little kid too. There'll be time. There'll be time. I can't go anywhere. You're throwing everything. I'm throwing everything. I have those. Yeah. See, like there's a choice. I'm going to Maine to go hiking. Yeah. We're all very jealous. All friends that don't have kids are like, they affirm that choice when they hang out with us, with the kids. And they're like, yeah, I made a good decision not doing this. I hear it's really cool. People say it's fine. You know, for them. I mean, we can go deep into this topic, but a lot of my friends have kids and, you know, we talk about having kids and I'm like, whoa, y'all are crazy.

58:43It's a selfless act of, yeah. But also like looking at this thing that you made that is like. Yeah. There's two sides to it. I think that's so cool. That's something that like I don't get. So like a reflection of yourself, it's like wild. Yeah, they're also total assholes sometimes, you know? Like she didn't want to get dressed this morning. She didn't feel like it. Yeah. She said, dad doesn't make me go to school on time. Why should I have to do that? And I said, all right, well, then you win. You win today. And she's probably still sleeping right now. Oh. Yeah. There's a lot of losses. Yeah. Look, there's pros and cons all sides. I will say being a dad is the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. The kids are the greatest thing ever. However, that doesn't mean that there are not days I really want to be selfish and go, I'm gonna do my own. I'm gonna go to Florida for three days. You guys figure it out. I need alone time for dad. So that's the thing. You still have to. It's. Yeah. Having kids is kind of like having another restaurant. It's a thing that you pour a ton of time, energy, and love into and you can't ever quit.

59:46That's not like you can say, I'm done with this or I'm gonna sell it or my lease is up. It's always gonna be there. And so you just know that, but it's really special. Yeah. I didn't have kids until I was like 36. So I always tell people are like, oh, I'm Mexican too. So people are like, what is wrong with you? Why don't you have like at least two kids by now? And I would say, I do have kids. I have my restaurant kids, you know? And then Joseph, my husband Joseph was like, yeah, having restaurant kids is like having children that just don't love you, but keep taking, you know? And I'm like, that doesn't sound as romantic as I thought. Because you do love them and there is an exchange there, but it's like the end of the day, they don't have any loyalty to you at the end of the day. And I'm like, yeah, maybe I do wanna have a kid now. She can't go anywhere. I think having the restaurant kids is like, yeah. Both, I love it both. You like create this environment, right? And you like create the space and you pour yourself, like you said, into it.

01:00:46And then you have all these people that you cannot live without and you can't run this restaurant or bar without. I have such affection for them, yeah. That's incredible. It's like, you know, putting together a team, I think is one of the hardest things to do. It really is. One of the things you said you learned how to do from opening 308 into All Glory is that how do you build a team? You learned how to build a team. What are some of the things that you learned as far as building a team in a culture? What is something you did differently when you opened that or even what you're doing now? I think I just had more intention behind building that team. I think like, I always think about teams as these little like worlds and little universes and they have their gravitational pull. So they will like ultimately attract other people like the team. And so if you create this like nucleus, it's like really great and is built on like the right things, like kindness and like, you know, high standards and like, you know, when you create this like, you know, environment for them to thrive, like you're gonna attract more good people.

01:01:58And I think like it starts with, you know, you that the person who's, you know, building it. But I think that's how. That's, and it takes one bad person to kind of like spoil the bunch, right? Like we've all had those employees that have like been dissatisfied maybe in their life and then they bring that into the workplace and then it kind of like spoils the vibe a little bit. And I hate to blame them even because I think that people don't understand always the repercussions of their actions and their energy that like they're, they like don't realize how big they are. Yeah. And I'm like, I try to explain to people like how they affect others. And because especially in hospitality, you have to be aware and, you know, some people just don't get it. It's okay. And then it's not for everyone. And it represents your business. Like them having a bad experience and you know, really reflects on you. They don't remember that person particularly. They're just like, oh, her place, you know, they don't have good, you know, it's like the service thing kills me because you put so much effort, marketing, you know, everything that goes into like your everything.

01:03:09And then to have one bad experience as someone who's like kind of just lackadaisical about it, it just kills me, you know, it's just like, oh, it took so much for us to get people in the door and then to like spoil that because of whatever reason, you know, it's like, so I think over-communicating and team building cannot be done enough, you know, and I'm just so focused on that right now too. And there's like endless amounts of ways to do it, but yeah. Do you have, do you have core values that are like written down? Are like your core values for how you operate and all that stuff? No, I don't. I do in my mind, but I think that I've changed so often, like my viewpoint and I really do try to like always be evolving and changing because that's, I think how I've made it this far is because I'm not like super set in my ways. I'm, I am in some things, but people that know me that are listening to this are gonna laugh at that comment.

01:04:12But I think that... We're gonna take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. Cali Sober, the totally legal THC infused mocktail. Cali Sober was created to provide a better alternative to alcohol, no dependence, no ulcers, no liver damage, and no nights you wanna forget or mornings asking, what happened? They only use non-synthetic all-natural Delta 9 THC derived from the hemp plant. It is the real deal. The same buzz, the same chill you'd expect from THC. Best of all, Cali Sober is federally legal because it is made with hemp derived THC, which is a legal substance under the 2018 Farm Bill. If you're a restaurant, you can pick this up through Litman Brothers. They offer three different flavors, poloma spritz, ranch water, and berry ginger fizz, all with less than 3% THC by volume with five milligrams of THC per serving.

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01:07:27Click it, click to get a free quote or give them a call, 888-761-3238. I asked you if there's core values and you said they're in my head. I got them, but they're not on paper. Yeah, they change. They change, core values change. Well, that's, I mean, for me and our companies, that's the number one thing is our core values and it's a foundation for all of my, because when you have three restaurants and you have 12 managers and three general managers and all these different, there's a bunch of different people that came from different restaurant backgrounds who all have kind of their own idea of what their style of leadership is. But if you have a foundation that says, hey, we want you to do this. We want you to do this. We want you to do this. And this is yourself as well as leading everybody else. Anytime there's a scenario that happens where something, there's a coaching, I guess it has to be done, you can fall back and go, hey, baseline is we wanna do the right thing. And in this scenario, do you feel like you did the right thing? You do think, okay, good, let's talk about that. How do you feel like you did that? And then do you think it was memorable because we wanna be memorable in everything that we do.

01:08:30But it's like there's five questions you can ask on any given scenario that goes back to the core values that gives a consistent response for every single employee in the company. And that's really easy because you know where you stand all the time if you're doing those five things. And so it's never subjective. It's never a, oh, when that guy works, well, then that's a- You don't want their core values. You're being memorable for the wrong reasons if people remember you that way. So you're not following the core. And it's not a you pointing fingers, but it makes it really easy for leaders to lead when everybody's leading to the exact same thing. Because so many people think, well, I like to lead this way. Or like, you have your own style. But at the end of the day, it needs to fall in line with who we are as a company. And this is what it, and it works. Like it's one of those things that it's hokey and it's, oh, our core values. Like, oh, look at you. It does feel hokey, but it works. But it is an actual thing. Like if you build a house on sand, every time it rains, it's going to crumble.

01:09:31But if you build it on concrete, the shit's going to stay for a long time. And that's that foundation that we have for everything that we do. Absolutely. I agree with your core values. I don't even know them, but I love it. And you know, I think that like I do a similar thing, but like working tightly with my managers. And I have very small teams. So I think it allows me to like just really affect them. And so I think that's like, I don't know. And I like people that are like me. Like, and so, you know, yes. Would you consider yourself a free spirit? I would like to think so, but I don't actually. You don't? I don't think that I am, no. Why? Because I'm very like, I'm over thinker and I am also. She's a business owner. I can't be that free. I am structured and I do have like, I work every day. Yeah. Free spirit would be like today, I'm just going to go. Like this is my first vacation since the hotel opened.

01:10:33It's my first getaway. Yeah. I think what I'm trying to say is we can say, I love to go skydiving and I love to go hiking. And I love to do all these things. I went to Maine this weekend. I've gone and done these hikings. I'm like, great. Those are all fun things, but you need to do those things because I am a business owner and I fucking work every single day. Guarantee you while you're on that hike, there are things that happen that you're thinking about work. It never stops. There is no clocking out for you. So as much as you try and do those things, those are things to kind of release your mind from the 24 hours a day you're thinking about your business. And I think there can be a misconception about that. Oh, she just, she's a free spirit. She does what she wants. How does she operate these? No, no, no, I'm very focused. I'm very strategic about every single thing I do. It never leaves my brain. I need to get away. This is how I'm able to do it. Right. When I didn't realize that people don't do that. Yeah. Don't think about work 24 seven, but I love my work. Like I love it.

01:11:34I don't think that I would be who I am without it. And I think that's why I do those things is to make me better at work. So it's, you know. Yeah. I think business owners also don't compartmentalize their life. You know, I think it's all, you kind of take it where you can get it. It's like, okay, I see this opening. I'm going to go to Maine. You know, I, I'm going to, I'm going to open this space. And then two weeks later, the team should be good. I'm going to do this. You know, like, we're not like, it's not like we can stop and start it. It's like, you're probably still going to have to maybe answer some question, you know, while you're away, but it's like, it's a different, it's a different mentality on, you know, busyness and when shit hits the fan, you're there. But then maybe there's easier times, you know, and you can kind of like, it balances itself out. I always feel like it balances itself out. Like opening a restaurant, it's like a storm. And then like, it comes down, you know, eventually, and then it kind of levels out and everything kind of always works out. I'm always one of those, like, it always works out. It always is going to work out, you know, my husband's the opposite.

01:12:36It will always be okay. It will always be okay, even if you close. Like, it'll always be okay, right? You'll figure it out. Yeah. Wait, let's talk about the hotel. I want to talk about the Drift Nashville. Yes. It's like we're 40 minutes in. Let's talk about the thing you're here to talk about. For PR people, I'm here to talk about. Yeah. He's like, Hiking, and I want to talk about that. So you, I'm going to read your press release. Oh. Are you ready? Why? Because it's so fun to see how people say these things. Are you ready? Okay. Don't laugh at me. You didn't even start. Like your PR people did, right? Can I read it in like a- No. Can I read it in- She's read it to her. She's never heard it. I'm going to read it in my announcer voice. Okay. He has a good announcer voice. Are you ready? Oh God. Here we go. It's very low. Alexis Salar. Salar. Salar. We've been over this. I know. I was just seeing if you're paying attention. You are listening. She's listening.

01:13:37Yeah. She wants to hear it for the first time. Alexis Salar is a distinguished entrepreneur and designer who's reshaping Nashville's hospitality landscape. Alexis has recently unveiled three food and beverage concepts at the newly opened Drift Nashville, located in the city's dynamic East bank with a storied career originating in Miami and significantly shaping Nashville's bar scene over the last two decades, including successful ventures like Old Glory and Golden Pony. Alexis Salar has now partnered with Drift Hotels to bring a unique vision to this much anticipated project. Drift Nashville is Alexis' first foray into the hotel industry and she left a distinct mark with her signature concept, the sunroom. Was that dramatic? Was that good? How was that? Was it good? I'm going to go watch the movie. I paid you for the voiceover. Yeah. One woman set out to change Nashville's bar landscape. One woman and her sister. You didn't even know. You don't have to pay for that. That's free. To get into the hotel industry. That's free for you, Alexis.

01:14:38One woman, the sunroom coming this summer. Is it open already? I gotta go. Yeah. She's like, she's talking lame. This is obviously what's good for her clientele. So let's talk about the Drift Hotel. Okay. Tell me about it. How'd you get involved in this? Did you like the bio? Is that accurate? Is it good? Sure. It tells a story. I don't know. It's like, who is that person? Yeah, I know. It's funny how you read these things. You're like, oh, wow. Somebody punch that up. Yeah. You need me. And you're like. It's like, oh, she's. It's also really cool. She's saving up Nashville. Yeah. I mean, it is true though. But yeah. It's awesome. Yeah. I believe it. Congratulations. I believe it. Thank you. It's been a fun one. Challenging, you know. So what makes this bar different? What's the vibe? I mean, if you go to my bars, they're all completely different.

01:15:40And I think that that shows in the way I approach things because I don't want to open for the same thing. Yeah. How boring would that be for me? Exactly. And for everyone else. It's all about what we think, right? So I think the sunroom. I don't know where to start here because Drift is its own brand, right? TMC Hospitality is an incredible and I got brought onto the project because I had been working with Rob Lowe in town. Rob Lowe, the actor? Yes. No, I'm just kidding. I was like, really? He's a very interesting man. You should look him up. But he is responsible for a lot of development in Nashville. But we had been working together. He owned Old Glory. He works with Cushman Wakefield. So also bought Flamingo for us and has been involved in just like a lot of things that I've worked on. And so he was working, partnering with TMC and brought me on as a FMB partner for a project.

01:16:47So I got to do a lot of creative work on it and also do FMB, which is what I love. And the sunroom was kind of just my baby in there. It's like, it's just a bar though. It's like this beautiful bar. So how close are you in the design of it? Cause that's something that I think we all kind of are like, wow, like this is definitely, I feel like your trademark in the project. Like, do you work with the same types of designers or is there a company you kind of float to mostly? No, I do a lot of design myself and I worked with Dryden on this project. And so they're really great and they're just on the top of their game with everything. And so, yeah, this was like a collaboration effort on our parts and yeah. The sunroom, that's so cool. And then what's the food situation there? We work with, well, one of our chefs came down to help start the program, but we have like kind of Spanish inspired food.

01:18:00So we have conservas, a lot of tin fish and like small plates and kind of just like drinking snacks. Yeah, cause your approach to food is a lot different. Like yours is kind of like, it has to obviously go with the cocktails or the drinks. And then it has to also be easy to pick up. You know, like it can't be a whole thing cause a lot of times you don't have a full kitchen, right? I'm just like more into like loungy style of eating and like picking at food while I talk with friends and drinking. Yeah, it has to be social. It can't be like a whole mouthful and messy. And I mean, there's like a different way that you approach food. I just love the way you just said that though, because you like to pick at food with friends while drinking. Yeah, I totally get that too. That is such a great way to put like small plates and just like friends hanging out, connecting. Like it doesn't have to be two people on a date, full sort of like, no, I just want to eat. I want to like snack on things while having drinks with friends.

01:19:01Like it's not a hard concept, but it's hard to put that on paper and how to execute that and be profitable. But I love that I, cause that's exactly it. Like that's what people want to do. Just like have good conversation and like have an evening. Yeah. No, you're creating like a set for them to kind of be, and I love that. Like it's a totally different way that I approach like a menu or just because I'm, that's not the type of food I do. So it's so interesting to me, like how you would, and obviously you want to be on trend with everything you're doing. And like, what is your flavor profile? Like, what do you feel like your flavor profile is for cocktails? For cocktails? I think that I always start, my boyfriend is the GM at Attaboy. So we talk about drinks a lot. But we definitely have a different approach. And I think like the way that I approach drinks is like I put together a flavor profile and then I kind of break it down and to make something that's balanced and works.

01:20:07So that's so cool. I mean, that's just like cooking, you know, like with food. What do you think about these? Have you seen, have you done anything with these? Like the, this is Kelly sober. I haven't had this one. So I, Kelly, they're a sponsor. They're a THC beverage brand. They're fantastic. That's the Paloma spritz. They've got the three flavors. It's not a sell for Kelly sober, just in general with THC spirits, like these non-alcoholic mocktails. Are you seeing a big push? Are people asking for these? Are you okay selling? Cause I think it's a major thing off-premise. You can, I can go to red or frugal Mcdowell's and buy that and go home and experiment. But if I'm at a bar and I, how do you manage that? And is it something that you see on the horizon? Yeah, I also have a partnership with a brand. I don't know if I can say them cause you have one too. Do you know? Please, go for it. Hi-rise is like, I think that their product is superior. Okay. And they do like a Dalton I and like THC soda.

01:21:09And I really just love, I mean, they're easy to make drinks with. And you know, I, we've done a menu with them before and so creating cocktails off of their profiles works great. And I think that for an alternative. Do you make a cocktail with their THC? Yeah. With alcohol? Yeah. Do you blend alcohol and THC? Oh no, not with alcohol. I mean, we can. You can? Is that legal? Yeah, I don't, I don't see why not. No one's said anything against doing that. Well, that's kind of what I thought. I don't, I didn't think that, but I'm real hesitant to mix the two or do anything like that because I'm still kind of waiting. I only serve these at one of the Chagos right down the street. I do a margarita that I have. And then Kelly Sober I do actually at Greenhouse Grill was starting it this week. And then Maribel. What is the thing? We should find out. Well, I don't, I don't know. I feel like you guys both would know. I think in July they're going to come down with some new mandates for it. There's some laws because this is kind of Wild West with THC and they're, believe me, they're trying to figure out how they can tax you and make money and fuck with you.

01:22:09The government cannot just be. Because right now it's just a soda. And it's just a soda. Oh, it's just a soda. Tax wise, yeah. Yeah, it's not, it's not. They're going to figure this thing out real fast. There's going to be all kinds of, you're going to have to have an ABC card for it. Like right now anybody can serve it. So it's really. Really? It is like a little red flaggy. And these things do get you high. They do. I was doing testing for this menu that I put together. And I was just taking small steps, which I don't partake in that world. But I, you know, I'm just not a good high person. You did that day. But this, I was like, Oh, I got to go home. Why don't you chug that real quick? And we'll finish the interview and just see what happens. We'll do a pre and post. Dude, this is great. Oh, I'm just curious, because I think it's such an interesting dynamic of, if you, if you're you and you don't do THC and you drink with us at a bar, are you going to fall asleep? Or like, and then you have a drink. Are you going to get sick? Or you have people throwing up in the bathrooms? And when, when, when the buds and brews first open, I mean, that was one of the things I had people passing out in the bathrooms.

01:23:15They would just get really high. And they, people that weren't used to getting high, like, Oh, they didn't know their limit because it wasn't like, you know, that's the scary thing about this is like, yeah, you don't know how things, certain ones are going to do, or maybe they're like, they don't know what milligram they can have. And yeah, if you do, if you smoke, like, if you're a smoker or if you eat edibles, if that's like a thing that you regularly do, cannabinoids stay in your system. And so they're in their system like 30 days. If you regularly consume and you do one of these, you might feel it, but you're not going to get high to a point you're not recognized if you don't smoke and you don't do THC and you drink one of these, a different, the cannabinoids hit your system differently. And if you have none of your system and you're not used to that kind of a buzz, that's when people get really tired or they get the spins or they have two of those. And then they mix alcohol with it, it can be really bad. And there's some of these, there's some of these THC brands that come in like a jar and it's like one ounce is five milligrams and you're supposed to add it to like a mocktail. And it's like, well, are my bartenders just going to drink that?

01:24:16Cause they're like, one for you, one for me. And then, you know. They're not allowed to do that. Well, of course I'm not allowed to do that. But if- He's like, but they do it, not mine, not my children. Wow, look at that. Well, not mine either. Cause I don't, I don't carry that product. I'm not going to tempt them with it, you know? I'm not going to put it in front of their face. This is five milligrams of Delta 9 THC. It's measured. You know exactly what it is and what it will do. Back in the day, you'd smoke a joint. You'd get some, you know, Mexican schwag weed. This is dirt weed that you would roll up. And you didn't know if it was Endica, Sativa, hybrid probably, it was just weed. You'd smoke it and you would get high. You didn't know how many milligrams you were getting. It was just like a roll of the dice. This is at least like, it's a Delta 9, five milligrams. You know what you can like dose it. And so that makes sense to me. Yeah. Like it makes sense to do it. I just know since you've got bars and it's like a thing where people are coming in, also the non-alcoholic world.

01:25:17My sister owns a shop called Killjoy, which is in Wedgwood area. And it's taken off. Like it's crazy. Are you seeing a lot of non-alcoholic requests at the bars? Absolutely. And this is a great alternative for people. They really love it. Yeah. It's a whole thing. No, I like it. I don't drink, but you know, I- Do you don't drink? Do you do like the non-alcoholic beers or non-alcoholic like mocktail type things? No, the beers just feel like they make me bloated. Like I'm just like, what's the point? But I do like that one that you were drinking, that athletic brewing that was like tolerable. But like, I love the craft cocktail. Like as a chef, I appreciate flavor profiles and like mixing. And so like, I really always appreciate like, you know, the yuzu cocktail, mocktail situations that they do. Like I love an interesting tasting drink, you know, and I respect that. So I always go for the mocktails, what, you know, crafted mocktails on the menu. It's really nice to just get fresh juice.

01:26:20And like, I think that that's something that people don't always get to taste. Yeah. This really fresh juice without alcohol in it. Yeah. Cause it's just like, I don't know. It's also just delicious. It's not something that we do for some reason. Yeah. I love it. I mean, I haven't drank my whole life. So like, I never really, this is a new world to me. Like I respect what you're doing. My whole thing is more like, I love the flavor profiles and like, I just am so interested in all that, you know? But like, I always say, I'm like, I love that cocktail idea, but like, I just don't need the alcohol because I just don't drink alcohol. So it's, you know, one of those things. So mocktails are huge. What's your go-to? What's your go-to drink? You walk into a bar and you don't have to look in the menu. You're just going to order something. Hey, what do you want? What are you ordering? I drink a lot of wine. I was going to say, it's so funny you said that cause I was just about to say all of the things you just described in a cocktail, the flavor profiles, I totally get out of wine because there's so many different regions and soil and weather and vintages and varietals.

01:27:29And it's like, and there's millions of them and you can never stop learning. I love the descriptors of wine. I'm like, juicy fruit. And you know, like, I love the descriptors of wine. Like, I'm sure I would be a wine drinker if I drank. Cause wine is really cool. It's cause it's one of those things that, you know, like everything is the more you know about something, the more you know that you don't know anything about it. Absolutely. Wine is like the ultimate example of that. Oh, it's endless. It's endless. The more you drink it, like the only way to understand it is to drink it. And then it's like, I don't know, it's just like, there's a worlds within worlds within worlds about wine, which is like, keeps you interested because there's so much that you don't know. That's like, it's so vast. That's how I feel about cheese. Yeah. There's so much about cheese. It's a very similar kind of a thing. It's different, but we just had. There's no way about it. We had. Larry O'Brien. A master sommelier. There was a master salmon here a few weeks ago and it was fascinating.

01:28:32Just talking about. He talked forever. Yeah. End of statement. End of statement. He talked a lot. It was perfect. He talked a lot. No, he just talked a lot. Well, when I did my, I'm a level one sommelier, right? So when I did my level one in Beau Ravage, Mississippi in 2003, I thought I knew everything about wine. I had been studying wine. I loved wine. I knew all about Cabernets and Pinot Noirs and all of the California coast. I could tell you Sonoma, Sonoma coast, all the Napa, all, everything. I knew wine. And then we went to the level one class and it was like. Oh, I know nothing. Okay, so California grows wine, but we're going to move to France. And I was like, well, but I know Cal. And all of a sudden I was this big. I was. It's just so fast. I thought I knew everything. And I was, I could, if I did a table visit with you and you were ordering wine, you would be like, that dude knows his shit. And then when I walked into that class, I was like, I don't know shit. I don't know anything. And that was level one.

01:29:34And I'm like, oh, to get to level two and then three and then four and then master. I'm like, oh, this is just fascinating. And I love the fact that I'll never learn everything there is to know about wine. You can try forever and you'll never know it all. And it's for, it's always changing also. And yeah, that's what I mean. You will never know, you know, everything. Did it just get brighter in here? It did. It did. I think that's like the energy of the world saying the show is almost over. Is that what it is? Cause it happens like every week we're sitting here and like, I read about the hour mark. It does this. It's like, okay, you guys are done. Yeah. We're not done. Cause I feel like we could do this for hours. I'm sorry. I'm having a great, I have something at 11. She's like, I'm busy today. Okay, so we need to go to the sun room. We need to definitely go to the sun room. Please come. The Drift. We have a room at Maribor called the sun room. It's just a dining room. It's different. Cause there's a bunch of windows. It's all it is. It's just what we have to call a room. It's nothing like yours. I promise.

01:30:35I need to go to the Drift Hotel and check it out. Just do like the whole thing and see it. Yeah, come to the pool. It's like, it's a very special experience. The pool? Oh, yeah. So that, what Drift Hotel, what was there before? It was like. So it was the stadium in? Yeah, that condemned building. It was like spooky. Yes, for people that don't know, the old stadium in is where Drift is. Right by Restaurant Depot. It's like over there. It's exactly where it is. The truck stop. Yeah. You know exactly where it is. Okay, so there's a very cool pool. What's the deal with the pool? It's a pool. It's just like a really beautiful. Wet temperature. I think cool. Ultimately, what we wanted to create was like an oasis. We're like in between the highway and downtown and the river. With all the construction. Construction, but like you really can walk in the building and you feel like you're not anywhere. You're like in this really cool space and time and like then you walk through the lobby. It's called purgatory. No, in a beautiful way. No, beautiful. Heaven.

01:31:35Who says purgatory isn't beautiful? Heaven. Well, I think that it doesn't have the greatest connotations. I think biblically, I think the Bible says. The Bible says it. Nevermind, okay, I take it back. Am I wrong? It's a middle space. Does Alabriha have something in there too? Alabriha is our taco truck for the pool. So. Oh. Okay, so they have, he has his taco truck. He moved it from. Why are you looking at me like that? Oh, honey tree? Where was he? He was at the meadery. Honey tree meadery. Don't mention it. Yeah. So now, Bad Luck Burger is there. And they moved and then he moved to the Drift Hotel. So he's at Drift and I think Never Never as well. He has two trucks now. Yeah, yeah. I love Edgar. He's like one of my favorites. And his food is so good. So good. Tacos. Yeah, so good. The best tacos. People rave about them. It was one of my favorite things about going to Nashville SC games is that I get to go to a soccer game and then I get to eat Alabriha and now I don't because he's not there anymore. Now he's at the Drift Hotel. You gotta come to the hotel room. If I'm not staying at that hotel and I just wanna be like hanging out in this beautiful pool area, am I gonna get kicked out?

01:32:38Can I just walk up to the pool? Can I throw your name around? He tries. Yeah. Do you know Alexis Solar? No, you don't know her. You're out. He's gonna say her name wrong. Do you mean Solair? He's like, no, you don't know her, obviously. Yeah, we do $50 pool passes for the day. During the week, we do like 20, if they're like, you know, if you know, you know, kind of vibe. So you can go come in, first come, first serve. But yeah, like especially during the week, it's like such a vibe and so chill. Obviously, the drinks are good. Like this is like noon or like four? What time do you go? I mean, anytime. I like an early day, early pool day specifically. So yeah, like around 10. Any day, yeah. The bar opens at 11. So if that's what you want, then that's, you know, a good time to slip in. And is it like a late night? What's the, what are the hours?

01:33:39The pool's open till 10, which is quiet time after that. That's a hotel after all. Yeah, but what's the sunroom hours? Like what are- The sunroom hours is every day five to midnight. Five to midnight. And then it's like, there's floor to ceiling windows that kind of open up and like onto the pool deck. So it's kind of, it's above the pool deck. So you kind of overlook it all. Oh, that's beautiful. It's really sexy in there, I will say. So these opportunities are just gonna breed more opportunities for you, I'm sure. Cause people are gonna see these projects you're working on and that's just gonna open up the doors. That's so cool. Yeah. I love it. One step at a time. I know. I already have things lined up. I bet you do. That's awesome. Well, what's next? My friend Michelle and I are opening 11.11, which is funny that you said 308 was your birthday. Your birthday is 11.11? I was gonna say, I bet that's your birthday, isn't it? It is. Awesome. But yeah, it's gonna be a tiny, my business partner is Vietnamese.

01:34:41So we're doing like kind of Asian drinking snack inspired, like food program, a tiny 11 seat restaurant where you get like kind of an elevated version of that food and then open up to a lounge, which is gonna be a little bit wild. Obviously something's gonna happen at 11.11 every night. You kind of just have to show up to find out. It's like I'm getting Bastion vibes here of like a tiny little restaurant and then a really cool back bar. Okay. I don't like to compare. I don't think Bastion is, I was just there last week. It's like on another level of goodness, but. Bastion's amazing. It's incredible. If there was something to be compared to, that's a good, that was a positive comment. Yeah. That wasn't like. Yeah, I just, I mean, I feel like I put them on a pedestal. Yeah. Yeah, I do too. And so for me I'm like, I'm not worthy. Yeah, yeah. She's like, don't pull me up there yet. Let's earn it first, right? Yeah, Josh is incredible and what they do over there, their team is.

01:35:42Yeah. Lauren. And Lauren. Lauren did all of the art for Above the Beds in the rooms. Really? Yeah. So you have a lot of local people. In the Drift there's art Above the Beds. Not on the ceiling. On the ceiling? Like behind. No, that would be a bad ass by the way, if there was art on the ceiling Above the Beds. That'll be the next one. Yeah, good idea. You didn't, you should have consulted with me. I could have given you these pearls beforehand. Well, learn your name first and then me. No shit, right? Where is 1111? 1111 is on Dickerson, the old Piggly Wiggly. So there's a bunch of people going in there. Oh, is that the one where the, does Philip Krijic have a place in there and then Brian Lee Weaver has his space and all? Okay, it's that spot. Okay, okay, oh my gosh, that's so awesome. When is that set to open? Do you have any idea? Big question mark, that's always the question, right?

01:36:42Just stay tuned. I don't have an answer to that. When it opens. Where would people need to follow on social media to find out when the stuff's gonna open? Are you gonna follow me? What is your Instagram handle? How do people follow you? Alexis M. Soler. Alexis M. Soler. S-O-L-E. Yeah. Just kidding. I'm so sorry. Never find her. I follow you on Instagram. I followed you for years for some reason. Really? Yeah. Cool, I feel so honored. No. It's not creepy. It's very creepy. It is, isn't it? Remember two years ago when you ate that thing? That was so cool. Don't like any of those posts, Brandon, that's weird. Yeah, 1111 Nashville. That's another one. There's a page for it already, 1111 Nashville? Gotta stake it, you gotta crab it. One, one, one, one. Yeah, I think it's number 11, spelled out 11, Nashville. Number 11. It could be the other way around. Could be the word 11, number 11, and then Nashville.

01:37:45She'll verify this. It's new, guys. It's new, guys. It's like not even a page yet. Oh, it's not. I mean, it is, but there's a placeholder for it, but it's not, there's nothing posted on it. Your PR company sent me a question to ask you. Yes. Uh-oh. This is my first time working with a PR company, by the way. Is it? Yeah. Well, it's a- The last. What are three pieces of advice for anyone wanting to open their own restaurant or bar concept? That's so funny that that was the question, because I wrote down the three things, and actually I wrote down five things, because I was like, I always forget my advice. So you have it written down? That's so great. They knew I was going to ask this question. She was prepared. That's why PR companies are so good. Yeah, they prepare you. Shout out to Brooke, by the way. Brooke Houser. Brooke is great.

01:38:46She's incredible. This is why we're here. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Well, I feel like now I'm reading these and I'm like, oh, this is all cheesy, but. Which one do I start with? This is so much better. Okay. My number one thing, don't borrow money from banks. They make it really hard for you to succeed. Who do we borrow money from? Your friends, obviously. No, I think that there's. From Crystal. Yeah, obviously. Can you give me some money? Yeah, there we go. You're like, we're friends now, right? No, don't ask someone who also was opening a restaurant. Ask people with lots of money? Duh. Yeah, I think. You've got a tight budget. I don't know. I think if you are in this position where you can open a restaurant, you've hopefully had some experience and you have traction and you have ideas and you have like a foundation for what you're building.

01:39:50And so I think like with that, like talking about creating like that kind of like pull, like money comes with that. And I think it can, if you look in the right places. Okay. My other one is like stay authentic and true to yourself. I think people have this thing where like, I think they get frazzled and they feel like they need to change when it gets hard or slow, but this industry is hard. It's hard to succeed. And I think that when you have an authentic voice and you have like an outlook that is important to people, I think that you already have it. Just hold onto it. Persevere. Yes. Don't listen to naysayers. Don't listen to haters. Don't. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself, but also don't not listen to them because sometimes like you have to be open, but don't like shut yourself out and don't like just stay true.

01:41:01So there's pearls of wisdom in people who are criticizing you. Don't take it to heart. Try and see through any kind of personal attack. And if there is something you can genuinely work on and get better at, take that, be able to understand that people are saying something negative, but looking internally and say, I can change that, make that better. They were right, but they're also a dick. Or maybe not that they were right, but like, oh, it could spark this whole other idea. Yeah, and there is some like nugget of truth in every bad review or I mean, there's something that happened that was not right. You know, whether it's that, you know, whether we want to honor the whole thing that they say is a whole nother thing, but. I think like one thing I try to do is be better every single day. And so if you can't, if you don't listen to the world around you, you cannot get better. So I think that that's just. Exactly. That's number two.

01:42:03Number three. I would love to borrow that book for like an hour. She has a little notebook. I want to know what else is in that. Like I want it on page four, like go to page four. What is on page four? What's to do list? It's blank. Yeah. Nothing on page four. It's a list of bar equipment. Yeah. List of bar equipment. Which, what was that for? This was May 26, 23. Oh, well you've had that book for a minute. I was like over a year old. They always have lots. I have lots of books. Oh my God, me too. I like to look back and I'm like diaries, like, oh, look at me. Look at me, like need to do this today. Star, star, star. It's wild. I like writing it too, because I get to cross it off. I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, Brandon just pulled out like four Moleskine books. So this is who you are and this is who we are. You have to have the books. I'll write things that I did already that day and cross them off.

01:43:04Me too. Because I'm like, I did it. I just didn't get around to cross them off. Each one of those has a different thing. Each one of those books is like a different one. It's a journal. One is a this, one is a that. Like they're all different. Okay, so you don't ever cross them. Sometimes if I have one in the car and I need a book, I'll just bring that and I'll star that page. I'm like, I need to transfer this to that book and I never do. Oh yeah, see mine are definitely intertwined, which makes it really interesting. I need one. Yeah, if someone got a hold of his day, we'd be like, wow. Well, that's a true diary. Yeah, this is where I was on this day. It kind of like is a journal. It is your like evolution. That list of our equipment is like something you're like, I'm like, maybe you need to look back on that. Yeah. Okay, number three, we're on number three or four? Three. Three. Pick your partners wisely. That's a good one. Here, here. You have to live with that person. You have that relationship. It's like you get into a relationship with somebody and it doesn't always work out. And you have to be ready for that. Transparency helps, I guess.

01:44:06It's like working with your sister. I mean, that's a partner you didn't pick and you did pick, but like was given to you by life. And then you decided to make that person a partner in business, right? Yes, we decided to go into business together. We decided to do it together, exactly. But like, how does that work? Well, Old Glory is our only like bar that we worked on together. So yeah, I think it's great. We learned a lot about each other. We like didn't get along for some time, which I think is pretty natural for like, I don't know, sisters are hard, siblings are hard. And so. Do you have other siblings? Do you have like brothers or any other sisters? Just you two? Yep. That's awesome. Yeah. How far apart in age are you? Five years. Oh, and who's older? You are the older. She's the little sister. Yeah, that's hard. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's tough working with family stuff. Yeah. Yeah, she's like, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

01:45:09I know I have, yeah, I'm the older sister and I have two younger sisters and I work with them in different ways. Like I, my sister's done all the graphic design stuff for the Girl Cheesery and stuff. So it's an interesting relationship where we're not like partners, but I like, she's a hired person and we've had discord a little bit sometimes of like, you know, I'm like the boss asking for something. And I'm like, well, in a traditional setting, I would need deliverables. You know what I mean? Like, and it's, and it is, cause you're comfortable and you know, they're still learning, but you want to give them opportunity and you know. Yeah. And I think it can bring out the best and the worst in both of you. Yeah. Because your family. Yeah. People treat their family in a really weird way. You're comfortable. Yeah. They're always going to be there-ish, you know, but it gets hard when you're older. Yeah. Yeah. So it's hard. She's just smiling right now. She's like, and that's all I'm gonna say. And that's it. So pick your partners wisely. Yeah.

01:46:09We should have her on too. We could talk to each other about the other. And have a real therapy session. We should have siblings on because that would just be like, there's a lot of siblings that own things. Like, you know. When we, we're gonna convert the studio into like a studio with video. So then we'll get you guys on together. We're gonna move this whole thing. Camera's on this side. We're gonna have a whole, it's gonna be like a video studio. We'll bring her back in to that. We'll have a good time. That'd be fun. Yeah. Sibling month. Oh my God. Just watch the drama erupt. Yeah. I think pick your partner is, is something that translates into everything you do. I mean, life. When you're husband, anybody like wife, anybody like just picking a partner that you're really, that's harder. It's easier said than done. Because so many times you think you hit it off somebody that thinks so great. And then when you're put to the fire, which is what's really challenging in a restaurant is that it's not ever going to be easy all the time.

01:47:10Just say that on Father's Day, they were at Cheekwood and they have a food truck and there's a leak in propane and they had to shut the whole thing down. Nobody can figure, nobody knows that that's gonna happen, but that is an oh shit moment. What are we gonna do? And if you don't have a partner that can be right there with you when it's tough, then that's really not good. And you can't test that. How do you test that? Like, hey, I'm gonna cut your arm and I'm gonna see how well we work together when you're in trauma. I'm shocked, I'm so mad. How do you do that? It's really hard. So working with somebody in a restaurant over an extended period of time, you see how they are in adversity. I think that's the main thing when you find a partner somebody who when adversity happens, when it's really a difficult situation, can they emotionally stay regulated? And can you two together in that emotional dysregulation work together? Because if you can't, that's bad. Like who do you wanna bring to the knife fight?

01:48:12You know what I mean? Like who do you wanna bring? But not always, because I think having patience, having like leading with kindness always is like maybe one of my main core value. I think having those things, those are things that are hard to teach a partner, someone who's equal to you. Oh yeah. And so yeah, and like when shit's going down and like they don't already believe that they're that person, people always retreat to their baseline. So it's like, yeah, that's tough. Yeah, I think always finding somebody that compliments something you're not, to create like a whole is the best definition of a partner. Absolutely. Yin and yang. Yeah. Like I don't love doing piano stuff. And he loves a spreadsheet. I love that. My husband loves a spreadsheet. So you guys work together. Girl, yes. Partners. You own your business with Girl Cheesery. Yeah, we own the food truck and the restaurant together and all the things together.

01:49:15And a new one coming very soon. Highly recommend. It's just the best and the worst things happen together. We're gonna announce your new restaurant before this episode. Oh, so I have to do that. So you can talk about your new restaurant right now with her if you want. Okay. Because it's not gonna come out until it's out. So we're opening, we're taking over all of the dining in the Frist Museum and we're opening up Cafe Cheesery, which is gonna be like a elevated cafe concept inside of the Frist Museum. And you're the first person who's ever told this too. Oh my God, I feel so honored. And honestly, that's incredible. Congratulations. Thank you. And what a beautiful place to just exist every day. Oh, I love, I'm gonna go there today and prep for eight hours for a big breakfast we're doing tomorrow morning. And I'm so excited that I get to be in that kitchen. In there. So Art Deco is like the kind of running thing throughout the whole museum, this like old Art Deco. So that's gonna be kind of the tone. We're calling it organic Art Deco is like the thing.

01:50:16But the thing I'm most excited about, which I'll shout from the rooftops is that we're creating this indoor farmer's market, kids space that we're gonna do kids cooking classes in. So it's gonna, we're gonna get all of my chef friends with kids that are gonna come in and take different, you know, Saturdays and we're gonna have like little cooking classes. I wanna come. Yeah. You wanna do it? That sounds awesome. I mean, anybody. I think you need to teach them to make cocktails. I know. I should. You can do a mock table class, Alexis. I can come teach the kids how to make cocktails. Hey. Shush. I started young, so. Yeah, I started. Hey Luna, go make me an old fashioned. Talk about the version of that that maybe the museum's comfortable with. But yeah, they have an incredible education department there that is like always trying to elevate the programming there. So when we started talking about like painting with compostable, you know, compost, like compost painting, like with food scraps and stuff, like we're gonna do stuff like that.

01:51:20Like kind of our core values are like, you know, leaving a smaller footprint and, you know, leading with kindness and education and always kind of leaving it better than what was left for us. So, you know, if we're painting with beet scraps and turmeric and like these little kids are getting to like create in this space is like all I kind of want. And as a mom, I feel like there's a need for it. So yeah, I would, I can't wait. I mean, there's gonna be plenty of opportunities there. It's our first time with food and like with wine, like we're gonna have our ABC license. So I'm gonna need some coaching since I don't obviously know what I'm doing, but there's plenty of people that always, you know, all the wine reps are like definitely lining up. They're more than willing to help. Yeah, I'm like, I don't want those people to help me. I want the people that actually like, you know, love and respect the art of it to help me. So yeah, I'm really excited. I'm excited to kind of shuffle, like flex a little bit more chefy stuff. And there's, I'm a theme queen, like I love a good theme on anything.

01:52:21And so the biggest thing is that I'm gonna get, like my theme, whatever exhibits opening, I get to like food theme, you know, so. How fun is that? Yeah, so there's like, you know, this new Chicano art print show opening and I get to do a Mexican breakfast, you know? So like, it's like things like that that just happened in the museum that now they have like a resident chef that gets to play around in the kitchen. So these are gonna be more small plates or you, like what are you guys thinking? So we're calling it fromage focused. So it's not just grilled cheese. Yeah, look at, yeah, you like that, don't you? That is fancy. Cafe cheesery fromage focused. I love marketing stuff, yeah. So we're talking, like we're gonna have a coffee program, a pastry program, a charcuterie bar. So you can get small plates or you can, you know, make a meal out of something. So we're gonna have like grilled cheesery classics. We'll have like baguette type cheese sandwiches. A lot of, there's gonna be daily specials.

01:53:22It's gonna be different. A lot of fresher, kind of wider menu than the grilled cheesery but still kind of that whole like locally sourced, you know, globally inspired kind of like thing that I always go back to like, what can I use locally but be inspired by like everything, you know? I was a private chef for a Persian family. So like, I have those kinds of flavors in my head. I'm California native. So I always have like a farmer's market mentality of like, what's on the menu? Well, let me see what I have, you know, to work with. I'm Mexican. So like, I mean, there's a lot of cool background stuff. So yeah, I'm excited to expand the concepts and I haven't gotten to talk about it until right now. I have a question. You get to interview Herb. This is great. I love it. We're gonna twist this thing around, like bonus episode. What do you wanna know? Alexis Soler interviews. We gotta get, we're gonna have, yeah, some of the first people on to, they can talk about me a little bit. I wanna know what is your favorite cheese right now? Okay, I, I get this question a lot actually.

01:54:25And my favorite cheese always for meltability is this buttercup cheese out of North Carolina. And it is cows actually graze on buttercups during like the spring, summer, yellow flowers, it sweetens the milk. And the cheese is the texture. It's like a very soft, milky, brie like texture. And it's made, like when you order the cheese, you call literally the cheese maker and she's like in there making the cheese. Like that's how small the operation is, but she produces such a stellar product. It's just to me, like quintessential, like I have this woman that's making this amazing cheese, this one thing she does really well and it comes out of North Carolina. And whenever I have the opportunity to put it on a menu, like there is gonna be a baguette sandwich with it on there, you know? I can't wait for that. Fresh baguette with like buttercup cheese and some kind of yummy, you know, like country ham situation or I don't know. I like, I love highlighting products, but I've loved cheese.

01:55:26Like cheese to me is such a special, it's my wine. You know, like since I don't drink wine, like I love like, oh, she's like, she made this. Oh, this year, this, the, you know, the cows are grazing on sweeter grass this year. So it's gonna make the cheese milk, the milk's gonna be better, you know? So there's all that that takes, I wanna celebrate, you know? So my charcuterie is gonna be offered with more of a regional cheese, you know? Like we're gonna have cheeses regionally because you can go all over the place, but you can get that anywhere. Like I think, why would you want this? And then we're gonna have kids charcuterie too. We're gonna call it charcuterie. Isn't that so cute? Because don't, all kids wanna do is like eat a snack box. I think it was cute how you just said that. Because I'm so excited because I want to trademark it. Nobody take that. Well, you have about a week and a half before this comes out and you can do that. Yeah, I know. I need to before somebody opens a version of it. I guess the cats out of the bag who recorded this before it actually came out.

01:56:28Yeah, I mean, you know, sorry. Peek behind the curtain a little bit. Wait, so you were making like baguette sandwiches? Yeah. Okay, that's like, I think what I'm missing in Nashville. Really? I think I'm a sandwich queen. Like I love a sandwich. Okay, I'll take you on a sandwich crawl, girl. You said banh mi. I know, brand's a big. That's your baguette, isn't it? So good. Yeah, Vietnamese baguette. Yeah, I mean, there's obviously French influence in Vietnamese food, so they use a classic baguette. But I'm gonna go more like, I'm not gonna go, it's gonna be very like Parisian, but I wanna play around with more flavors because Coco Rico, have you been to Coco Rico? She is actually French and she moved here and Elodie is like. Tell me where that is. That's right on Music Row in, what's that area? I don't know. Edge Hill, where my bar is. Girl, it's right next to your bar. No. By the roundabout, yeah, with the. Oh, it's like DeMumbrian, like right there at Division Street, like Buddy Killin' Circle is what it's called.

01:57:32Yes, yes, yes. Right there, it's right by you. It's close, it's not right, but it's not like an Edge Hill village. Yeah, but it's like croissants, baguettes, quiches, like very traditional French kind of, and she does that so well. So yeah, we're gonna do a version of that, but we're saying fromage-focused, so we're gonna play around with all the cheese. And I went yesterday to the kind of VIP opening night for Jam Box, and that is Shane Nasby's new spot inside of Fait La Force Brewing. He does Cletus Burger. He does, oh, he started Honey Fire BBQ, like he's an amazing dude in general, as he focuses a lot of his work at Cletus on helping the unhoused, and he's just amazing. And so Jam Box opened, and it's a sandwich shop. It's like sandwiches that he makes right there inside of Fait La Force Brewing, so if you love sandwiches, definitely go check that out too. There's a lot of sandwich situations. Sandwiches is having a moment right now. Fat Belly, Bills, all the places are just crushing it.

01:58:33Yeah, they're good hours for chefs. Best sandwich in Nashville, if you're the sandwich queen. Oh, God. I mean, Fat Belly just does it for me. It's so good. They have this chicken cutlet sandwich. That one's so good, yes. That one's so good. Well, there's different versions all the time of sandwiches. There's, yeah, they're all different. They're definitely like, if you're a picky eater, those sandwiches are hard for you, because you gotta get it the way he makes them. You know what I mean? You can't start picking them apart, you know? You gotta just order off menu. You can't start being like, mm, I don't like this, I don't like that. That little sticker right here. Oh, Fat Belly, yeah. No, I love it. I love it. I love Fat Belly. And those cookies are like. I know, his wife makes those cookies. The most ridiculous cookies. They're the best. I get them for events all the time. I'm like, we need these cookies. Amazing, good excuse, just an excuse. Yes, I order large batches of Fat Belly cookies. I know.

01:59:34Wow, what a fun. I had no idea what to expect today. Like, none. Oh, and I didn't know. And this is so much fun. I love the random conversations that we've had throughout the day. I feel like we've got to learn so much about you. And I feel like we've just scratched the surface. Yeah. Like, we could do this every week. This is so much fun. Yeah, it was such a great day. We got through three of the five things. Do you wanna tell the other two things of advice? If you had five. No, didn't I? You have three, there's two more. I'll tell you what, the final thing we do on this show is the Gordon. Oh my gosh, you can say it. The Gordon Food Service final thought. So you get to take us out. Whatever you wanna say, as long as you wanna say it, this is just you doing a monologue. Whatever you wanna say. It could be two words, it could be a thousand words. I don't care. It is completely up to you, your final thought. And then I have, after that, I wanna do a special bonus clip, if you're willing. I wanna talk about some of your tattoos. Can you talk about your tattoos? And I want a video.

02:00:35We'll put like a TikTok out there with like a bonus. So go to TikTok and you can see some of Alex's tattoos and the story behind it. How does that sound? Yeah, we can do that. Okay, final thought for you. You get to take us out, whatever you wanna do. Oh my God, this is really hard. Yeah. Like a just open forum. I feel like we've talked about so much. We have. It's like, where do I even start? What's the best advice somebody gave you? Do you have a favorite quote that you could expand on? I cannot remember a quote to save my life. All right. Let's see, final thought. A final thought. Just anything you wanna say. Like wrapping up this conversation. Sure. You're talking to the entire audience. If you have anything, come to the Drift Hotel and try and go to the sun room and come hang out and do this. You are gonna edit this out, right?

02:01:37No. It's all part of the real reality of this show. Yes, I suppose like, I mean, in general, I think please come see my spaces. I love creating them. And I hope that that translates to like the guests that I get to serve and my staff gets to serve. And like above that, like, you know, I think like supporting local people that try to make this city special is really important. So yeah, just like go out there, like support the people that like are having those like individualistic ideas. I think like as Nashville grows, like, you know, it cuts harder and harder to really like sustain because there's so much and so much big money and so much development and it gets lost, like this true heart of Nashville.

02:02:39And so I think that that's like, you know, I think we need to do that. I think that was perfect. What do you think? I think that was a great final thought. And you know, I think when people put so, never part of the final thought is I don't get to say anything about it, but I'm gonna say something about it. I think when you put that much effort and there's so much, sometimes there's trepidation, fear, unknown, especially when you're an innovator and you're doing things that are a little bit different, going out and supporting those people that are trying, some of them that are pushing the envelope is so important because it reinforces the fact that you've got to try new things. If you go to the place that's safe, the place that has the salad bar and they know that like, go to the place that's a little different, that's in the really cool space that has a drink, you're not sure you're gonna, go try it. Go to these places and support creators like yourself, because that's how we get more of this. We get more of your unique visionary ideas and that's gonna make our city better.

02:03:41And it's gonna continue to make our city better if you go support the local people that are creating. And I love that. And I love that you came in today and I've enjoyed this conversation so, so much. Thank you Alexis for joining us on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Thank you. We're gonna wrap up right after these words from our sponsors. Y'all today we are talking as always about SuperSource. And you know, one cool thing about SuperSource is did you know that they develop most of their cleaning products and chemicals in their in-house facility? They're environmentally conscious and only use dyes that are safe for the employees and the environment. They carry a number of products for keeping your dishes, flatware, services, floors, restrooms, laundry, basically your entire facility clean, bright, and smelling and feeling new. This is just one of the many reasons SuperSource is taking over this city for dish machine and chemicals. You need to call Jason Ellis. His number is 770-337-1143.

02:04:45And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation, meet him, say hi, see if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with SuperSource, 770-337-1143. This is Jen Heidinger Kendrick, founder of Giving Kitchen. Let me tell you a little more. Giving Kitchen is a national nonprofit that helps food service workers. Headquartered in Atlanta since 2013, Giving Kitchen has served over 19,000 food service workers and awarded over $12 million to food service workers in crisis. If you or someone you know works at a restaurant, food truck, catering company, concessions, bar or taproom, and needs financial assistance or stability network resources due to illness, injury, death of an immediate family member, or housing disaster like flood or fire, please ask for help at givingkitchen.org slash help. Okay, big thank you to Alexis Saler for joining us on Nashville Restaurant Radio.

02:05:52She was fun. She's a fun person. She had a good vibe. Yeah, she's got a good vibe and she is a fun person. And I do not want to jump out of a plane with her, but I would like to go eat sandwiches with her. Yes. That's my speed of adventure that I want to do with her. She did a little prognosticating when she signed our door. Oh, she did? Yes, you see on the door, it says, I see a skydive in your future. I didn't notice that. She's not talking to me. She's not talking to me. That's just to you. She's like, I know you want to do it, big guy. I know, yeah, definitely not talking to me. I would love to go skydiving like that. That just sounds... What's the most adventurous thing you've ever done like that? I've done bungee jumped. That's a big deal. I've jumped off bridges and things. Oh, that's... Cliff dives. She said that that was scarier, right? Did she say she didn't like that, but bungee jumping? Oh, she said bungee jumping is more dangerous. More dangerous, yeah.

02:06:52Like that thing could break. I'm like, you're jumping out of an airplane? You're thinking. Yeah, there's a lot of other things that can happen. No, it's fun. I love the adventure, I love the travel. I love people that just are free spirits that just get out there and live life. I mean, she didn't like that we were like, you're a free spirit, because I think she thinks of other people as free spirits, but yeah, to me, she's definitely somebody who's adventurous. When you're married with kids and you're like, just locked down, she's like, oh, we're going here, we're going there. I'm like, there's a little bit of, there's also a little envious. To think about other people, yeah. Of her lifestyle a little bit. Yeah, just living that cool, do whatever I want when I want lifestyle, when she's not opening bars and, you know. She gets shit done. She's got a lot of projects. She's making it happen. Yeah, she's so cool. That was, she was fun. So. That's our hot take, she's cool. She's cool. I mean, that's low to great. I feel like there's so much more to that, but you know, that was basically it.

02:07:54But yeah, I had never met her before, so this was so cool. I mean, she's been around, she started Bar 308 when I opened The Girl She's Ready, so in 2010, like in East Nashville. So we kind of been around the same time, you know. But we've never like actually crossed paths, which is kind of crazy, because people live in East Nashville, I don't know. Do you know I did some research? Okay. We did not ask this question. Oh, great. But this is something that I found out after the fact. I said to somebody I had Alexis Saler, and we're talking about the number 308. It's known. Yeah. I said on the show, I said that number 308 is my birthday, because my birthday is March 8th. But she never said anything after that. She didn't say, let me tell you why we named it 308. I feel like we were trying to ask her that, but she didn't say. She didn't say. And then you were just talking about your birthday. Yeah. She was like, oh, not that. Okay, that's what it is. That's not what it was. Well, probably because what it is is. So from what we understand, and I'll say this, I mean, it's not like this is a secret.

02:08:58Oh, it's like out in public. It's on the way. That's why they named it, that she was engaged to a gentleman. I don't know. I don't know. I want to say his name. I don't know if I don't want to say it's the right person. Well, it was the other owner of the bar, too. The other owner of the bar, and they were in a hotel, and I think she proposed to him, and it was room number 308. So it was a room that she proposed to him, and then they were engaged. I guess they did not get married, but they named the bar number 308, because that was the room they got engaged in. Yes. And I thought that was a really cool story that we did not ask. I'm kind of glad that we didn't, because I might've made it weird. I might've been like, like knowing that information, and then knowing that she's not with that guy anymore, I would've brought it up in a weird way. So I'm actually really glad I didn't know that beforehand. Well, the guy has been on the show before. He has. He has been on the show. He has signed the door. Yeah, there's a thing there. So it's funny, I was like, oh, this is so full circle in this world. Next to his mom on a plane to Nashville.

02:10:01So our moms know each other. Look at this. It's a small world. My mom, if you meet my mom, you'll know everything about me, and the world will get very small. Like she's, my mom is basically my PR person. She definitely like has my whole, like she's at the ready, you know? So yeah, definitely. I mean, maybe he, yeah. My mom knows probably all about it. My mom probably knows about the engagement, and. Well, on a fact check type thing, I feel like such an asshole, because I was like, yeah, well, I was lucky. I get to go to 308. She was like, it just closed. Like last year, it wasn't like it was. I knew it closed. You didn't realize it was closed? No, I knew it was closed. I didn't know that it closed that, I thought it closed like a couple of years ago. Oh yeah, no, it was just closed. I didn't know it just closed. It's because I drive by it every day. Like on my way home, I live like right there. It's next door to Dino's, right? Yeah. And I love. That's another Alex too. But I didn't know. Another female Alex, yeah. That is another female Alex. Yeah. Who is a rock star. She's the best. She's the best. You know, her episode was the number one most listened to episode for like two years.

02:11:01It was nuts. Like the number one listened to. Alex Winkos. When we were doing that stuff, I didn't see that. Yeah. Because it was a while ago. It's like number five now. We should get her back on, because she's been doing some more cool stuff. Hell yeah, I'd love to have her back on. She was fantastic. She's a great guest. You know how I knew her? She first had the first like Nashville food trucks, like Instagram account that was like super popular and Twitter account. And she would post just like for fun and to be nice about all the food trucks. So she would like go and like post about them and do little like things about it and just like for fun. This was like when she was still working at Mas Tacos and like not even a bar owner. And then her and Miranda opened, they took over Dino's. And then she kind of petered out of that. And like, you know, she didn't have time anymore, but that's how I first knew her. So we've been like so like such good friends ever since, because I was like, that's so nice of you to like prop up this industry for no reason. She had nobody paid her. Like nobody gave her anything to my knowledge.

02:12:02So she just like, and it was very popular account. And she just like did it because she wanted to. Well, we definitely need to have her back on. She, her story is about like smoking pot on the roof with the band Phoenix and like all these other things. I'm like, what did Dua Lipa being in there, Anthony Bourdain, I mean, all these great stories. Well, and then she, that episode kind of went viral because of what she said about Josephine. She said in the episode that she felt like working there was toxic to her, to her, right? It wasn't her environment. And if you know Andy, he's a coach. He every day wants you getting better and excellence. And that's, it's just two completely different styles. I don't think Josephine is a toxic or was a toxic environment to her, the way that she likes to operate, what she likes to do. It felt that way to her. But her saying that in the episode, I think a bunch of people heard that like, oh, this is, and she came out and said it.

02:13:08And it was like, I don't, it sparked a lot of conversations. What did you say when she said that? I don't remember. I don't remember. I think I said, well, I think I, I think I was like, well, I can see where if you don't like that style. I mean, like Houston's and Jay Alexander's back in this, but when I was interviewed to go work at one of those places, they would say, this is a military style of work. We're gonna tell you what to do and you say, yes, sir. And in Jay Alexander's, you say AOA, whatever. There's, there's a way. And they let you know that in the interview, like we're gonna say jump, you say how high, that's how this works here, or you don't work here. And I think Andy was not like that at all. But I think he was a. He came from a very formal kitchen background too. So, you know, that's not so crazy to chefs, you know? Andy was very, very unique. And he did one of my favorite, see, I would have flourished in Andy's system because he did something called game tape. Oh. So he would get a ladder, a ladder, and he would stand on top of the ladder and film his line on a busy Friday night.

02:14:13Oh, I love that. And then he'd pull them, he'd then watch it. And he would pull people into the office and go, hey, watch, in this moment, you could have just done these things. And he would do game tape. He'd go back and watch game tape of the shift. That's actually very smart. I wouldn't be surprised if more chefs didn't do that. If you every day want to get better, and that is your goal, yes. If you wanna come into work and just kind of have fun and do your thing, that can be over the top. Yeah, I don't, I prefer that kind of system. I wanna be as efficient as I can be. I'm head down the whole time. That was me because I was right at a high school into a kitchen brigade system. So I really like that. I like the formality. So I can see people that would hate that. And that was the conversation is she.

02:15:13She didn't realize that was that. Or that just isn't her style. She came from Burger Up, and that was kind of the same restaurant group and the blood into, maybe it was unintentionally she fell into the role there and didn't know, maybe. I don't know. I definitely think we need to have her back on it to continue this conversation. Because if you've ever been to Dino's, it's the most laid back, fun, they're having a blast there. They're just there having a good time. And I don't, and it works. It's just, that's their whole vibe. It's a thing and I love it. But it's just a little, it's a little different. And the people that work there like that too. And it's a whole symbiotic relationship they have with that. But that's one way. I mean, there's multiple ways. But yeah, when you're in a elevated restaurant like Josephine was, you have to be efficient and be better and you sign up for that. You're better after you leave there. You can say. Especially if you're back a house specifically.

02:16:16I worked under, I worked in this environment. It just shows that you care. That's the number one thing. I was like, if you genuinely care, like come on, let's go, I'll give you a shot. Professionally, if you're trying to better yourself, you want to work in a place like that. I always help younger people work in a hotel because there are so many things you can do and ways you can learn and work under, try to work in a kitchen brigade where you're like, there is a position and very specific kind of way that it's run. But that's just my two cents. But what do I know? Going into a food truck, it's like the opposite. Well, I think that this is a great episode and I'm really excited to take the month off. What are you doing in July, opening a restaurant? Yeah, just opening a restaurant probably. And then my sister's having a baby. So I'm gonna head to California real quick to see my nephew and then he's gonna be very healthy. Just gonna give him a- Manifest that, here we go. Manifest, he's gonna be a very healthy little sweet boy and then give him my love and then rush back.

02:17:22Or not in that order, who knows? But also my daughter's starting kindergarten in August so I'm sure there's some kind of prep and she's going into a bilingual school. So we're gonna just keep trying to speak Spanish in the house and get her ready to go into this bilingual school. I'm so excited for her. She's so excited. Today she said she was going to school and she was gonna say, Vamanos amigos. And I was like, sure, sure. And then I'm gonna tell him, let's go friends. And I'm like, yeah, that's a great thing. That's a good one to say to him. She's trying to catch little phrases that like make sense to her, you know? That's so awesome. It's the coolest thing. I'm like, let's learn. I love that. I think it's so fun. Well, a whole month off from doing this. Yeah, I'll be a listener. When we come- I'll be listening and texting you my notes. Good, because I've recorded these. I recorded the whole month, like a month ago. So we're gonna see.

02:18:24Brandon, once you go back. There's a minute 10 right there. When we get back, we will hopefully have video for you. Yeah. That's the goal. That's the goal. I don't know, whatever the way in which we do it, we're gonna have, we're gonna build back up the YouTube channel and we're gonna have all these videos and we'll, Crystal's really good at cutting these apart and making reels. Totally, yeah. I'm gonna get better at that. We're doing reels, reels with- You did the, yeah. Don't even bring it up again. Don't even bring it up again. I'm fine. I do these things. I'm organic with it. I'm not sitting with the team and editing these things, but whatever. I'll try to be a little bit more professional. Fourth of July, what do you do? Fourth of July. You're like, blow shit up. Do you have a big party? Do you go down to- No, you know what we're doing? We're having a team training day and we're gonna have a barbecue for them. So it's gonna be like a, we're gonna close, or we usually always close early at the Cheesery so we can let our team go and do fun things.

02:19:26But we're taking the morning and doing, closing the whole day, and then we're doing a little barbecue for them, and then we're doing a team training. So we're gonna close instead. We'll just be closed the whole day, but the whole staff's gonna come in and we're gonna do this role play of being more efficient on cleaning staff, just the way we're training. So we're kind of revamping that, getting Grilled Cheesery, Hillsboro back on track with some things that we're just like, yeah, we just need refreshers, and then that'll help us kind of retrain a new team when we open the other one. So yeah, we're doing a team training. It's so fun. Well, that sounds- But we're also gonna like grill hot dogs. Yeah, we're gonna do like a little, make it, it's fun work, try to market it to them that way. But yeah, it'll be fun. The food truck's gonna be doing something with fireworks in the background, I'm sure, so. Amazing. The food truck day.

02:20:26Well, I'm gonna take the month of July off. Yes, you should. Well, not really. I mean, we'll be putting out the Atlanta episodes. I'm gonna kind of let my brain wrestle, but I'm gonna try and recover because this has been a very bad three months for me, the last three months. And if you've been listening to the show, I had an episode with, the one with Anna Aguilar and Maria and Josh was the Malavita episode. I opened it, it was a very sad day, it was a Sunday. It was a Sunday. My 35-year-old cousin died in a plane crash. Unexpectedly, like obviously, that's not something you plan. It's just a, holy shit, this happened. And then that same week, my cat got hit by a car. And then two weeks after that, we went back as a family to California to go to the funeral for my cousin, Blake. And while we were there, my grandmother passed away. I mean, I can't even imagine how you were handling all that. Thursday night, woke up Friday morning, hey, grandma died last night. Like the whole family's there. And so it was actually crazy because I haven't, I couldn't even, I had no capacity to mourn her whatsoever, the grandmother.

02:21:36But this weekend, we're doing her funeral in Nashville. So so many of our family has moved to Nashville that all the California family were like, we've had enough crying in California, let's come and cry in Tennessee. And so I'm speaking, I'm kind of doing my part in the funeral, but I've really, so this week, I've been really deep in my feels because I've actually seen like the bulletin, like the thing that you get, like, and it's very real. It's like they're writing this eulogy and I'm the last person who's going. So like, it's like a whole, I'm excited to put these three months, I'm excited to celebrate her and celebrate her. And I'm really excited to do that. What was your favorite memory of her that you kind of recalled? Because I know it's like all happened so fast and like you had to pull up a lot of stuff and. You know, I think I was thinking this, this will be right home with you because she, I lived at their house when I was in high school, I lived with them, but she was always cooking.

02:22:44She was always in the kitchen. She was always, we had these massive peach trees out back and she would do, we had buckets of peaches, like our whole life. And she would cut the skins off of them every night. She got 20 peaches for me. It was insane. These bowls of peaches that I would eat with ice cream. And she would just do that for me. She'd make these roasts and she made this chicken with rice. And her, like the, just her service. She was just always, always, she's the hardest worker, just always serving others. And I think that when I think about comfort food, like if I was to close my eyes, whatever that food is, she's serving it. You know, like. Yeah. She's the. It's amazing how food does that, that it evokes that like deep, like memory for people. That's why I just, God, I love comfort food so much. It's just so special. Grilled cheese sandwiches for me. She made it on a sourdough bread with this cheddar cheese and it was so good. But like to this day, like if I think about a perfect grilled cheese sandwiches, it's in her kitchen when I'm nine years old and her making it.

02:23:47Like such a place at a time and a feeling. It's like hard to recreate this. It is. But it's such a memory that you're holding. That's so special. It is special. And then her, she made these cinnamon rolls every year for special gatherings. My wife has learned how to make them. And so. That's right. It's one of those recipes that she. Is she going to make them this weekend or? You know what? I'm going to. Put that on her. She's like. Hey babe, we got 30. So we have 35 people coming in and we'll have all these people at the house this weekend. And so I spent the entire week in your birthday weekend. I was outside, 95 degree days I was outside 12 hours a day. My gosh. I like pressure washed the driveway and the back deck and the screened in patio. And then I put 65 bags of mulch. Oh my God. Watering, like my water bowl's going to make $500. I promise. It's just, it's bad. But like the house has never looked better. And I'm excited to have people come to town. Cause I'm like, look, we've did all this work to get the house ready. And I need, you know, sometimes you just need that motivation to get some stuff done. I needed that.

02:24:48And it felt real. I've been so like kind of sad. Yeah. I just haven't wanted to do anything. And so this was like the first time I was like. This was a good push to make you. I'm getting out there doing some stuff. So I'm really excited to have everybody in town to celebrate her and then, you know, take this month of July and kind of spend some time with the family and then look, August school's back. We're getting back into football season. We've got so many fun things. Like the world is coming back. Fall is the best in the South. Oh my God. Fall is so great. The weather gets like not so like aggressively hot and humid and you know, all the pumpkins and all the. That season, I put my skeleton out in front of my house and then Christmas, Thanksgiving. We're getting close. And it's, we're right. That summer just started like last week, but I'm already thinking like, yeah, I'm done with this 95 degree bullshit. I'm gonna take my pumpkin pie now.

02:25:48You know, there's a, yeah, I love it. I love it. I'm happy you shared that food memory. I feel like that could be its own podcast is like people's food memories. Yeah. And like, I feel like the memorial or the funeral is such an amazing time to like honor them and like put forth like all of their favorite foods or something they made for everybody to kind of like give it back to them and be like, look, this is what brought us together and this is now what we're eating, you know? Like I did that for my father-in-law. I made his famous spaghetti and meatballs and all of his like weird snacks that he used to get at Publix. Like it looks so random, the spread, but it was like, this was his favorite cracker. This was his favorite candy, you know? And it was like, people were like deeply moved by the fact that like they knew he would always eat that weird cookie from Publix, you know? She made this like popcorn that she had like this red, it was like a candy coating that she would like sprinkle on top of it.

02:26:51And it was like this, this candy popcorn. It was like the best popcorn. I'm gonna try and make some of that this weekend. See, it's so random, but it's like- Like I want that so bad. You see it and you're like, that's their thing. That's it. Yeah, like I mean, it sounds so morbid, but I like, I wanna cater these memorials like for people because it's just like, it actually, it brings it, the food comes full circle for people, you know? I'm really glad you said that because I do wanna give a shout out to Dream Catering. Oh, is that who's catering? Dream Catering is coming over Saturday and from soup to nuts, they're gonna have, we were like, we don't wanna have to deal with food. You shouldn't have to. They're gonna have bartenders and servers and they're gonna take up and said the chef will be there cooking on site. How nice. And they could not have been better to work with. And Becky over there, I've known Becky for like 25 years. She's the owner of their Dream Catering, but she is, they have been so amazing. So if you ever do need like a full service, like really well done, hey, like I just need this to be done right and I don't have a lot of time to invest in it.

02:27:57They're doing everything. They're just doing it and they've just been so amazing. I wanted to give them a shout out to just to kind of say, thank you to Charlie and everyone working with over there. It's just been really great. That's cool. Awesome. Well, you have, that's gonna be, that's gonna be special. Okay, so we will bid you ado listeners for a month. You will not hear from us. Sorry. Together. You will not hear from Crystal. Maybe I'll just do a voiceover of the episodes on Instagram. I'll just give my commentary. I'll be like, oh, Brandon, come on. I'm gonna give her the password to the Instagram so she can just post stories of her life. Pretending like he doesn't know it. But I don't, I gave you the password. All right. I wasn't right. We hope that you guys have a wonderful month of July and we will see you with Atlanta Restaurant Radio. And as always, whatever you're doing, all the fireworks, we hope that you guys are being safe out there. Stay Cheesy Nashville.

02:28:57All right, love you guys. Bye.