Aniello “Chef Nello” Turco

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01:12Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. We are super excited to have you here on a Monday. We got a great, great episode for you. I am so excited to introduce you to Agnello Turco. He is the new executive chef over at MIMO in the Four Seasons. Now this is, I guess I should say, I'm excited to introduce you to Agnello Turco. They call him Chef Nello, but his name is Agnello, and he is a Michelin-starred chef who's come to Nashville. We are really lucky to have this guy, and I just got to the bottom of this thing. I wanted to find out about him, where he came from, what his culture was like. He spent time at NOMO under Chef Rene, and just he's been some amazing, amazing places, and I think we're pretty lucky to have this guy here in town. It was really fun to share his story, so if you haven't heard of him, congratulations. He's brand new town. He said this is his very first interview that he has done in the city, so I'm sure you'll be hearing lots more about him, but since you're a listener of Nashville Restaurant Radio, you're gonna say, yeah, yeah, we know him. Yeah, I've already heard all about him. Thanks. So we've got a new sponsor that we're talking about today, and this is Corson Fire. Corson Fire and Security, let me tell you, you're sitting here listening, you're going, what does Brandon know about fire extinguishers? Well, this is an interesting question because these guys at Corson were kind of asking me the same thing. My grandfather used to own a company called Courtesy Fire Extinguisher Service, and this was in Southern California, and this is the

03:13business that I grew up with. This was my grandfather's business growing up, and I would go out and work with him all the time. Like, we would go out and do calls. We used to do the Oakley plant in Irvine, California, the Orange County Register newspaper, and they had thousands of fire extinguishers, but you'd have to go there and shoot the fire extinguisher off into a machine, and then you'd take the head off of it, and then you'd clean the gasket, and if it was an ABC fire extinguisher, or Halon, or CO2, or water, whatever it was, I know how to deal with all of them. So when I first met Kevin Rose, we started talking about fire extinguishers. He's like, well, what's going on here? How do you know so much about fire extinguishers? And I kind of explained my story, but then we started talking, and I could tell their enthusiasm and their passion for what they did really spilled over, and their whole team, I got to meet with their sales manager, and we really started sitting on talking about what they care about, and restaurants was a main focus for them. They were like, you know what? There's so many opportunities for training. There's opportunities to inform people about why we do what we do, how we do what we do. We just really want to make this a focal point in safety, and really we do a great job of servicing people, and just they were just so excited, and I was like, dude, yeah, we definitely need to talk about you guys on the show. We need to definitely do this. So here we are. I mean, they do fire extinguishers, general fire products, emergency exit lighting, fire alarm systems, fire sprinkler systems, kitchen fire suppression systems. They do the security for your building. They'll monitor it. They're really amazing. So check them out, and I want you to call Kevin Rose. If you don't have a guy that you call for anything that you need, you need to have a guy. I talked about this in the last episode. It is so important that you have somebody you can call whenever you need it, and you can call Kevin Rose. His number is 615-974-2932. Amazing. I also want to talk about net checks and our Mexican restaurant bracket. Round two ends on Sunday, Sunday, the 14th. Round three is going to start on the 15th, Monday, August. I can't believe it's already August 15th, which is my wife's birthday. Happy birthday,

05:16honey. I love you. Thank you for letting me come do podcasts on your birthday. So yeah, go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com, and you can click the vote button, and you vote for your favorite Mexican restaurant. There's 32 of them out there right now, and we'll be at 16 on Monday, and then we will be at eight, and then four, and then two, and I cannot wait to crown a champion. I have, based on the voting right now, it's pretty close. I can guess who I think is going to be there, but I'm curious who you think is going to be there. So go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com and place your vote now. Also, with Robinson Insurance, you heard a little ad about them. We're doing Brandon's Book Club. Brandon's Book Club is out and ready to go. Michael Easter's The Comfort Crisis. We're buying the books, so if you want this book, just go ahead and purchase it, and then send me the DM with the receipt, and I'll Venmo you winning. How about that? That easy. So you get free books. What's your, what's, why not read? Get outside your comfort zone. That's the whole point of this book. It's called The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. Matthew Clements over at Robbins recommended this book, and I loved it. I've talked to three people so far who've already read it, and they're like, dude, my life has changed. My life has changed. This is amazing. I am so much more willing to get outside my comfort zone and really try some new things, and I was very encouraged by that. So this episode with Enielo Turco is a lot of fun, and we joke around a lot, and a lot. We joke around a lot, and he has a ton of energy, and so turn the volume up. Enjoy this. I hope you can get through his accent, but he's legit, and I'm excited to introduce you to Enielo Turco.

06:49Super excited today to welcome in Chef Nello. I don't even know your name. Other than Chef Nello. First of all, ciao y'all. This is I create this greeting, greetings. Ciao y'all. Ciao y'all. You know, everybody say, hey y'all, hey y'all, and I was like, why not ciao y'all? And I also create an hashtag. Hashtag ciao y'all. Hashtag ciao y'all. Yes. I'm Italian, as you see. I mean, like, as you feel, actually, and you hear, and yeah, I'm Nello, or my name is, actually, I need to tell, if my name is my grandparent's name, right? Okay. If he know that someone else will call me Nello, he gets so mad, because my name is Enielo. Enielo. Yes. Enielo basically is a very local, very southern Italian name, and just few people has this kind, I mean, my name is very unique, let's say. And basically, my grandparent is very proud of this, that I'm the first grandson.

07:55Yeah. You know, he doesn't want that nobody call me Nello. So he should come here, he will slap my face, like, how dare you? Is your grandparent still with us? Of course, yeah. So do they know that they call you Nello? Of course. I mean, yes. Yes. But Nello, it's easy for everybody. I mean, I mean, later we talk about my experience and stuff. I travel the world a lot, and during my experience inside, I mean, during my life, I experienced that it's easier for the people to call me Nello than Enielo, because Enielo. What do you prefer? I mean, Nello, Nello is easy. My mom called me Nello. I'm happy to call you Enielo. Okay, if you want. I mean, if that's what you'd like, I can enunciate that no problem. Okay. Nello is pretty easy, but we're introducing you to Nashville today. All right, then. This is your introduction to, I mean, welcome to Nashville. Thank you. Actually, it's one month and a half. But you're just, I mean, but you've been engrossed in the business, right? I mean, four seasons. So you are the new executive chef. Restaurant executive chef. Restaurant executive chef at Memos. Memos, yeah. Not Memos, Memos, no S. No, Memos. Memos, yeah. Okay. Memos restaurant. Because there's a Mexican restaurant in Mount Juliet called Memos, M-E-M-O-P-S, Memos. This is Memos. Memos. Okay. Is this the only Memos, or is there other Memos in four seasons hotels? The only Memos. Imagine before I was working in China, before I came here, and my restaurant was called Mio, M-I-O. Okay. That means mine. And then I came here, they say, your restaurant will be called Memos. I was like, oh, wow, that's, in my life I need to work in a restaurant with M-I, and then ending with I-O-M-I-O, whatever. So yeah. What does Memos mean?

09:55Memos is a, is an Italian word that means mockingbird. Hey, that's our state bird. Exactly. It is. Wow. I have to admit, I have to admit that before we started, I asked you what Memos meant, and you said it's a mockingbird, and that's your state bird. And I said, it is? I said, really? I didn't know that. I know the iris is our state flower. It is, it is. And you said the raccoon is our state- Oh, animal or something. The state trash panda? Yes, it is. I think so. I mean, I saw the picture. It was a natural museum here in Nashville. I was passing by with my scooter, and I saw it, but yeah. Do you drive a scooter? Actually, very soon. I bought it a Vespa. It's orange, and I will drive around the city with my orange Vespa, and everybody will see me around with this Vespa. I think I'm the only one to drive that. It will come soon. It's on the way. Okay, so orange, if you see a guy who smiles a lot, if you're seeing, I have one thing that you've been in here for like 10 minutes, and you just smile a lot. Yes. You're putting one of the, like, outwardly happiest, like, really successful chefs I've seen in a long time. I am. I mean, actually, yeah, I need to admit I'm a very positive person in general in my life, and so I see good things everywhere that I go, everything that I do, so sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not good, because, you know, when you don't see negativity, you can be fucked up, you know, a lot. Yeah. But yeah, I am a very positive person. I love that.

11:29I love that. You have a really good energy about you. Thank you. I'd love to see you riding around in an orange scooter down Broadway. If you see Chef Enyelo driving around on an orange scooter, wave at him, honk at him, be like, Enyelo! Ciao, y'all! Ciao, y'all! Ciao, y'all! Yes. I love that, because in Europe, they use the word ciao all the time. It's like, hello, goodbye. Yeah. Ciao, ciao. Germany, tschüss, whatever, but like, it's totally normal, and when you go to Europe for a week, you end up leaving going, ciao, ciao, but you're bringing it to Nashville. Ciao, y'all! Yes. Yes. Ciao, y'all! It will be my greetings for everybody that will come to Four Seasons. I will have the chance to try my food as well. And yeah, we are getting ready. We are not open yet, as you know. And, you know, very soon in September, we're going to open our door. And there is a lot of expectation from the company, from a lot of people, even the people that are meeting, right? Yeah. I mean, Four Seasons is changing the landscape of downtown Nashville. It is. It's a huge building. Now it's the tallest building in the city, basically. Is it? It is, it is. I didn't know, higher than the 504 or 505? We are, at the moment, still right now, the tallest building in downtown. Wow, that's so cool. Yes.

12:52Okay, so let's learn about you, because you don't just become the chef at MIMO by just being like an average guy. Like, so you have a pretty impressive resume. Yes. And not your first dent with the Four Seasons? No, no, of course not. I mean, I was working, as I told you before, my previous experience with the Four Seasons was in China. Beijing. In Beijing, yeah. Huge city with a lot of, you know, different energy, let's say. How did you get that job? Very funny story. Over there was working one of my friend, chef, his name is Marco. Just over there working in Beijing? Yeah, no, we were working together in London. He was my chef in London. Okay. And then he moved to Beijing, and I moved to Copenhagen when I was working in another very famous restaurant that we will talk about later. And after two years, he called me back and said, listen, man, what do you think? Would you like to take my position here? I'm thinking and I'm planning to go. And I was like, where are you, first of all? And he was like, in Beijing. I was like, what? Beijing? Let's think about it. And then I was like, yeah, let's do it. So are you married? No, I'm not. I'm single. No kids? Not kids at all. So that's why I- Oh, ladies. Ladies. That's why I'm free to go around the world like this, you know? Otherwise, imagine with the kids and whatever partner you have, I mean, it would be very challenging. So I arrived to Beijing. I didn't know nothing. Like when I came here, it was the same. I mean, I knew about, of course, Nashville. It's famous around the world for the music and with a lot of things. But I didn't expect it was so good. What was your- We're getting off the track of Beijing, but what was your impression of Nashville before you moved here, before you

14:56came here? What I knew was that it's a music city, for sure. Famous for when you grow up with Jack Daniels, right? When you go to clubs and stuff, you have Jack Daniels. You always read on that. Tennessee whiskey. Tennessee whiskey. Lynchburg, Tennessee. And then you start to- I'm a very curious person. So I was like, okay, let me figure it out. And when I was a kid, right? And Tennessee has always been like in every bottle of whiskey that you get drunk in your night. So it's a fun part of your life, basically, right? If you connect to- That's your perception of Tennessee now is this whiskey that you've been drinking. And so you're familiar with the state of Tennessee, but as far as Nashville is concerned, you're thinking country music? Yes. And good food as well. I mean, like- So good food. I mean, so that's something now Southern food or like chef-driven?

15:57Southern and chef-driven. I mean, Sean Brock is- So Husk. Yeah, exactly. It's been like after the Netflix series, Chef Table and stuff like that. So it's been very famous and, you know, catch my attention, my curiosity, actually, to the city. So you're very curious. You're a curious guy. A lot. Yes, very much. I think that's a common trait in a lot of successful people. Satiable curiosity, I call it. Just got to know. You never finish to learn. And I think that this curiosity is attached to that, right? Everything that is connected to something new, something different, something, you know, to drive you to go there and figure it out, to learn and, you know, discover. So I'm going to bring this around. You're a very curious guy and you have a friend who's in Beijing and he says, hey, I'm going to probably leaving my restaurant. Do you want to come be the chef here? And you thought about it. Then you went- I was like, okay, let's go.

16:58Now, was it money? Was it just the opportunity? What was it about? I'm going to move to Beijing, a whole other world, really, from where you're at. Was it just the curiosity of can I do it? What type of restaurant was it? I got a million questions. Let's say I'm a little bit crazy as well. Okay. I'm a curious person, but I'm also a little bit crazy. Let's say when I imagine when I talk to my mom, hey, I'm going to China. She was like, what are you saying? I'm sorry. I mean, Chinese come in Italy to open restaurants and open shops to work here and you go to China for working. Are you crazy? What year is this? 2014. Okay. So it's like 2020. That would be crazy. Yeah. You're going to China in the time of COVID, like don't- 2014. Yeah. It's an adventure. Exactly. It was an adventure. It was an adventure. And I arrived to Beijing. I was, imagine I get scared. I mean, the first two weeks, I was in the hotel, living in the hotel, just working and go to the room and never go out because I was completely scared. The city was huge. I imagine cows everywhere, like car, traffic.

18:14What type of cuisine are you cooking? Italian. Oh, so you're doing Italian food in Beijing. So you're not trying to do indigenous food in Beijing. You're doing your food in Beijing. Italian, let's say modern Italian. Okay. Let's call it, because it was a little bit different. No spaghetti, meatball, no lasagna, this kind of stuff. Amen, amen. Yeah. No Americanized Italian? No either, but it was like very flavorful. It was very, let's say when the people came to my restaurant, or will come to my restaurant, it will be like very impact food. When you see and you try it, you will be like, wow, I need more of this. Yeah. That is my ideal restaurant, you know, to create a memory. That is my goal. Okay. To be memorable, to have an experience. Exactly. I've been hearing that a lot recently. I've had some really great operators on that really focus on the experience. I agree. I love that. It's pretty difficult, but you know, it's especially in the hotel, you know, because you need to take care of a lot of things. There is room service, there is the guests.

19:22So this is a hotel that you were in? In Four Seasons, yeah. Okay. So when you moved to Beijing, did you move to Beijing to the Four Seasons? Exactly. Oh, I thought your friend had a restaurant. No, no, no. So your friend was the chef at the Four Seasons and he was leaving. So he said, I'd love to come hire you as the chef at the Four Seasons. Okay. So that's a, I can see that move. That's a big company. There's some stability there. They're not exactly. I can go there and I can start building my resume. Exactly. Exactly. And is this a Michelin star? No, wait, in 2014, we're not Michelin star there. Okay. Till. So I worked and I built the restaurant to become a Michelin star restaurant. How do you do that? Was that your goal? Was, in the beginning, no, was just, you know, like, of course you have standards, you have like quality, you need to, you know, to set a lot of things together. And then I was like, there was a rumor around, it's like Michelin will come to Beijing, Michelin will come to Beijing.

20:27Let's, let's, let's get there. If they do, let's make sure we do it. If they will come, I want to be there. This is, for sure, this was my goal. I mean, like, it's about, it's like a project. What's the first thing you do? You need to set in to make your team to believe that we can make it. They have to see your vision. Of course. Yeah. Did you, did you pull an all employee meeting and say, I want a Michelin star? Not just one time, a lot of time. I mean, we were talking and we were planning and we were like, of course you need to train everybody to get there. Otherwise you don't get, I mean, if you just wait and wait, I feel that a lot of people say, oh, you know, if they will, if the Michelin will come and they will give me a star, I will be happy. Whatever. If they give me, I mean, like this, I don't, I will not change. I think that it's like a project. You have to be proactive. Yeah. You need to get ready for that. You know, you need to prepare, especially in China, you know. So what'd you do? Did you update the menu? Was it cleanliness? Was it wine list? Like what, what'd you have to do?

21:32From the, from the menu part, you need to, for sure, get, you know, have a very clear vision about what are you doing in Beijing? Italian food? Yes. But how is this Italian food? So from the taste profile, the presentation profile, it to be everything. Everything needs to have a sense, you know, everything needs to go into one direction. For example, modern Italian food. Okay. Let's make the best veal tornado sauce. But how you cook the veal, how you present the veal, how the tornado sauce will be on the top, how you're going to make the people like and how you make the people say, wow, this is beautiful. Let me try it. Sometimes I heard so many times like, this is so beautiful that I'm scared to touch it. Right. Because, you know, the precision of the presentation, the plate that you put in it, the way that you present to the people, everything needs to have a sense and to have a direction, basically. And yeah, it took years, not weeks, not days, it took seriously years. How many years? Like we worked on Michelin like for three and a half years, I can say. Wow. And the team, I give a lot of pressure because of course, I mean, I gave a lot of pressure because, you know, you have a goal and a lot of people fall on the way because they just give up and say like, no, I cannot handle, I cannot make it.

23:06I'm sorry. So do you, how do you do that? Do you yell? Do you scream? Because here's the challenge is that when you want to exact change and when you have these Michelin stars, a high goal, man. I mean, that's a type A, everybody in your entire team has to be rowing in the same direction and everybody has to want it too. How do you make everybody want it? The people that don't, are they just gone? Or do you put your arm around them and say, let me tell you what life's going to be like when we get this. How do you do that? That's exactly the key. People that, you know, sometimes you see that they are dreaming by passion, right? And you tell them, listen, if we achieve this goal that is Michelin, your life will change. You have door open everywhere that you go in China or everywhere in the world. I mean, you worked and you achieved this Michelin star with the chef. So it would be like- It's not my goal. This is our goal. Exactly. And I always say, I'm not a Chinese man here.

24:10I'm Italian. I'm like a Western. So this is your star. It's not my star. I always say that. So if we achieve that, it's for you and not for me. And I mean, actually, in all this, I mean, it was true because the COVID hit and I decided to leave. So I left my star with them. I mean, like, you know, this was their star and this was the most incredible and the most proud achievement that I had, basically. I've had several James Beard Award winners on this show. I've only had one Michelin star and that's Tony Montuano from Spiaggia. And he's over at Yolan. Yes. Have you eaten at Yolan yet? Not yet. Not yet. What? I will go. I will go. Yes. I heard a lot of good things. Do you know Tony and Kathy? Have you met them? Not yet. Not yet. I'm still too new, but you know, I will, little by little, I will go there. I will meet them and, you know, I will know them for sure. So when did you leave the Beijing Four Seasons?

25:14For the pandemic. So you left in the pandemic. Where did you go? I went back to Italy. Back to Italy. Yeah. Because it's still my home, let's say. Okay. And yeah. You went back home because everything was closed down? Yeah. I mean, everything. The hotel, restaurant, everything. Everything's closed down. Imagine a city that it's crazy 24 hours a day, right? There's people everywhere. Yeah. Any time of the day, from the night to the morning, early morning, always. How'd you get out? For the COVID, everything was shut off. Everything was like silent. Nobody on the street was scary. A scary movie. Seriously. So did you get laid off? And no, I was asking embassies like, hey, what's going on? I need to know. Because, you know, they say there is a virus that can kill you. There's something very strong happening. So be careful. Stay at home. Don't go out. And then I called embassy, Italian embassy, was like, listen, I need to know what's going on because, you know, it's the future. I mean, we were planning even to get another star. So I was like, I was there and pushing for even more. Because, you know, in my life, it's always like this, right? I always want the best. I want to achieve something. And then I arrived there and said, like, okay, next step. What is it? When I went to Nomo, right? The best restaurant in the world. Okay. You want to go because it's the best restaurant in the world. You arrived there. Okay.

26:40I'm on the best restaurant in the world. And now what? What I will do? I mean, this is the maximum that I can achieve. When did you go to Nomo? I was like 22, 23 years old. Oh, so this is before Beijing. Oh, so you were at Nomo before Beijing. So 23, 24. How old are you now? 35. 35. All right. It was around, let's say 10 years ago, nine years ago. 2012, 2013. You were at Nomo. And what was that experience like? Cause I've had a few people that have worked at Nomo on here and I get mixed. I get, here's what I get. It's an amazing restaurant, but it's toxic as fuck. That's what I hear. I hear that it's, it's, if you're new or you're trying to make your way, it is really, really hard and you get screamed at and yelled at for no reason. And it's just, it is a toxic environment. But every time I see them on social media, I say, I follow Renee and I see them celebrating like we're the best restaurant in the world. So I'm like, can you have a restaurant that's the best restaurant without it being toxic? And how do you do it? I don't know. What was your experience? So I arrived there as an intern. So basically, you know, the intern program that you go there and then you start to learn and mixing things and doing stuff like production kitchen. You know, I was in Nomo when I was still in the old location.

28:12So we were on the canal, beautiful building, beautiful place, very, very, very intense, let's say. I arrived there where I was like, where I am. And I was impressed about the first day we did the tour of the kitchen. The guy that gave us a tour, he was like, Hey guys, we're accepting any feedback that you give us. If you walk to the kitchen, you feel that something needs to be changed about flavors and stuff. Please let us know. We are open to any feedback. And I was impressed. I was like, they are the best restaurant in the world. They accept my feedback. This is insane. Did they actually accept your feedback? Actually? Yeah, a lot. Okay. A lot. They're just saying that then you're like, excuse me, this sauce. And they're like, I will kill you. And you're like, Oh, I didn't mean to say that. No, actually, of course, in certain preparation that were like very unique. Like in that time, you never heard about pear vinegar, celery vinegar, or cauliflower vinegar, or fennel vinegar, for example, that are very specific to the place because they created, they know what's going on. They know the profile of flavor that they want.

29:18So you will never say nothing about it. Right. But if something is too salty or too sweet or whatever, too sour, they really accept your feedback. Basically. How did you get to be a part of that apprentice program? I sent simply my CV, the answer, and they were like, you're willing to join us? I was like, okay, let's go. And, you know, as every time in my life, I take my luggage and travel. And you go. And we go. Denmark. Yeah, actually the city and the country is beautiful. I mean, like, I really love that they are very green, very natural, very alternative, very, very, very beautiful place to know a restaurant like that. When you talk about Michelin stars, I'm not familiar with Michelin. Like, I don't know Michelin stars as well as I know, like, like a James Beard, like these different awards or the wine spectator award of excellence, these type things. Can restaurants get stars just like a regular, like is Nomo a Michelin star restaurant? How many stars are there?

30:25Now there are three Michelin stars. So the maximum that one restaurant can achieve before when I was there was two stars. Actually, they had very hard time to get the third one. They wait like 10 or 15. I don't know. I don't remember well, but it was around 10 years that they waited for the third star. So it's been like forever mentioned for a chef to wait. I mean, of course, everybody wants three stars. Three stars is like the achievement of a life, you know, for a chef, for sure. Sure. It's like having, I mean, I don't know, how can I compare that happiness, you know, because sometimes you say, okay, eating an apple is like eating something else, right? But the crunchiness, whatever. But having three star is... But what's next after that? I mean, for somebody who's constantly climbing and they're trying to get there, is it like when you get the third star, is it like, okay, we made it. Like you get to the summit, you know, Mount Everest. Do you just go back down? Like, how do you, how do you re, are you just constantly chasing that high? Yeah, of course. It's because, you know, Michelin is like a guide. It's launched every year. So every year you can lose it. So you need to be there on spot, to be there every second, every guest can be an inspector at that point. So the pressure is insane. But you know, that is the... Do you thrive in that environment?

31:55I love to be in that kind of environment. Okay, so you're... In my entire life I just worked in Michelin Star from my, when I was, I started very early when I was 14. Yeah. In my parents' restaurant, they had the restaurant before and it was a very small local restaurant in south of Italy. So, you know, start to play with food in the beginning, because you are kids, you play basically. And then the things start to be serious, you know, and then, you know, start to move from to the pastry with desserts and stuff. I did six years of pastry. So I come up, I come up chef as a pastry chef. So it's weird, but I find that it helped me a lot now today. There's a lot of technique that usually the chef that they don't do, they never done, sorry, pastry is like, they don't have this kind of openness of the mind, mind open. So... Interesting. Well, I think pastry chefs, I think a lot of times are really artistic in their vision for what they're doing. They're artists. I mean, that's what they do. There's a lot of creativity there. And then I moved to the savory side. And then at 20, I was like, okay, let me go. And I started to travel. My first restaurant was two Michelin star in Milan, Trussardi alla Scala. Basically, Trussardi is like this fashion brand, very famous in Italy, and it was two stars. It was crazy. It was crazy. I never felt, I was tired. Tired, how you say?

33:29Tired? Yeah. And in the same time was beautiful. I felt satisfied, you know, and that kind of feeling that, you know, adrenaline that make you really feel on top of everything. Alive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's interesting. Cause I love, I think I share that. Like I love organized, like the chaos. I think we live on the edge of chaos. I heard that we were a chicken farm today and he says, we're kind of like, and I kicked over Ant Hill all the time. Just, there's just people everywhere moving and just, just crazy. I love that moment on a Friday night or whatever night. And it's just hair on fire. And there's 32 things you can do at one time. And every sense in your body is just heightened. Yes. Yes. Energy, energy, energy, hot heat, you know, like fire. You thrive on that. Yeah, of course. I love it. And, and then after that, I moved to another restaurant. It was from a French chef, Alain Ducasse, one of the best chefs in the world. Yeah. Very famous.

34:39And then I moved to London where I was working with a chef that was German. He has three Michelin stars in Rome and he opened a restaurant in London where I was in charge of different things. And I grew a lot over there. I mean, I started to learn a different language, different culture. You know, London is like melting pot of a lot of culture. So it was beautiful. It was like a mind blowing for me. And then after that, Noma, so two Michelin stars, Noma, so two Michelin stars again. And then Beijing, where a chief would achieve basically. But the Beijing has to be the most satisfying. Oh yeah, of course. Because you, you earned a star. It was my baby. I mean, you did that. Yeah. Yeah, I did that. Yeah. Is there anybody in, anybody in Nashville that has a Michelin star? No, Michelin is not rating Nashville yet. Really? Yes. Not yet. Let's see. Let's hope.

35:40Are you hoping to bring Michelin here? I hope. I hope. Yes. Why not? They are rating a lot of cities in the US. They didn't arrive yet in Nashville, but let's see. I have a feeling it's not far off. In Nashville, it's amazing how fast we're growing on the map. We got Ritz-Carlton coming. The W, the Four Seasons. I mean, we've got some pretty, the Hyatt. What's the best meal you've gone out with so far here in Nashville? Let's get back to Nashville for a second. Oh, that's tough one. You know, I'm very busy. I'm very busy. I think this covers so many places yet. So I'm still looking. Where are you staying? Do you have a house? You bought a house? No, I didn't buy it, but I'm staying in an apartment. It's on the second avenue, so basically like four minutes away from my first. Oh, so you're staying downtown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I live in downtown. What's that experience like for you? Oh, it's very noisy. I can say. Yeah. It's very noisy, very crowded. Have you seen anything like it? I love this kind of city vibe. You know, you feel the noise. You feel the crowded energy. Yeah. Energy. Here we are. Energy. Yeah. How do you relax?

37:00Can you relax in that? Under the shower? Yeah, with the hot water, steaming water. I'm crying. Not crying yet. That's it. How's the hiring been? Are you hiring people? Yes, I'm hiring people. Actually, if someone want to come and join us, we are open for everybody. So what a great opportunity though for somebody that wants to come work. What kind of positions are you looking for? Oh, every position we are open. Yeah. So every position. Yeah. But you cook one, cook two, cook three. Do you have to want a Michelin star to come work there? No, no, no, no, no, no, actually. Why not? I like people that, you know, they open, they happy to learn new things. We will do a lot of stuff that are very different. Actually, the actual team that I have, they're like, oh man, I never seen this kind of stuff. I was like, they are things that they always did in my life. Does that frustrate you a little bit? No. You're probably used to having a different caliber. Actually, you know what? During the pandemic, I was in Italy. I didn't say that I spent two years teaching. Really? It's been a very open mind for me because, you know, you have in front of you people that are like a blank book and you write on it.

38:17So it's beautiful. And I like people that are open to this. And actually, I like coachable people. Of course. Yeah. And I like also people that say, hey, listen, you're doing this. What about this one? Let's check how I do. And then we compare together and we see, I mean, I like, you know, sharing opinion and, you know, open to everything. So yeah. Wow. Yeah. Any position in particular that you're really trying to find, right? Let's really help find you somebody right now. Baker. Do you have a sous chef? Yes, I have a sous chef. A baker. Baker is very difficult because, you know, being Italian, I grew up with my grandmother, 85 years old. Right now, she's still baking bread at home. Oh, wow. She has a wooden oven. My grandfather, he's waking up at 4 a.m. in the morning. He switched on the fire. And my grandmother, every weekend, she baked bread at home. And, you know. That's one of the best bread in the world, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. With the, you know, sourdough, the wood fire, you know, beautiful crust and, you know, sponge inside. You know, I love when it's still steamy that you cut it, you know, and you smell that, you know, the caramelization of the crust. And you heard the crust is like noisy. It's cracking and making noise. It's beautiful. Beautiful. And yeah, so a baker, for sure, because we're going to make our own sourdough. Okay. Very proud of it. Yeah. And actually, we're trying the recipe. We arrived to... Would you ever think of having a local bakery make it for you? Like a local with your recipe? Why not? Yes, also. So I have a local bakery who's a sponsor. Sharpie is right there. And Erin Mosso would be honored to make that sourdough bread for you. I'll tell you, I'm speaking for her right now. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to make an introduction. Can be, can be, can be a possibility. It might be easier than finding a baker right at this time in the world. No, yes. Yes. And I found out that, you know, after COVID, the people

40:22doesn't want to work in the kitchen anymore. Like it's very big. It's been very tough time for us to find people. It's not about money. It's not about, you know, I think it's about life pressure. The people after COVID, they realize that, you know, probably they enjoying more, you know, staying home or doing like, you know, social media work. In Italy, there are like more food influencer than chefs right now. Seriously. It's insane. And yeah, but you know, we never give up. Let me ask you something on the menu at this restaurant. When they hire you to come to Nashville to open Memo, is there a, do they, do they tell you what they want you to do? Or do they say, did you write the, is the entire menu yours? Yes. So the GM, it's a beautiful person. And you know, he was like, this is your restaurant. Do what you feel to do. I mean, it's yours. So now we are trying a lot of recipes and a lot of stuff. And you know, this, this, in this moment, seriously, we are trying like more than 150 dishes from, to, to move from room service to the dining room, to the lunch menu, the dinner menu, you know, a lot of things going on in our kitchen.

41:44And he gave me free space to do what I want. And, you know, and I accept his feedback when he comes to the kitchen to try. He gave me free space. I give him free way to say whatever he feels like. And I love that. This is like a free conversation between food and people. So. But it sounds like there's a healthy respect for each other. Oh, yes, very much. He understands that you know what you're doing and that you can do this stuff, but then also you respect his position. Absolutely. And I'm going to listen to your feedback, but that's how you have a good relationship. And that's how you grow as well. You know, I'm new to US, right? Of course in America, it's a different way to eat than in Italy. So, and I'm very open to hear, to hear all the feedback that the people that are around here for more than me, they give me. So, yeah. So if you're out there listening to this, and I mean, paint the picture of the kind of person I think you're looking for. If you're there to get a paycheck because you want to make $20 an hour and you're going to come in, you're going to clock in and you're going to clock out, probably don't apply. But if you want to come in and you want to work for somebody who has earned a Michelin star in Beijing, who's worked for some of the absolute best chefs in the world in his resume, and he wants to bring that caliber of dining to Nashville and he wants to earn a Michelin star and you want to learn new styles of cooking and you want to learn how to run a really efficient kitchen and you are curious and you're up for an adventure and you're up for long hours and you want to make, you want to do something that's bigger than you, then I think this might be your place. Yes, it is. You picture exactly the the kind of place that, you know, we're going to make it. We're going to take a short break to hear a word from our sponsors. We are super excited to introduce Maintain IQ for restaurants.

43:44Maintain IQ is a modern digital checklist system that simplifies your operations. They are designed specifically for restaurants. You can standardize, track, and manage food safety procedures, temp logs, daily checklists, preventative maintenance, and ongoing repairs. He's saying that you can, managers will save up to 10 hours per week. You can repair, you can reduce repairs and maintenance spend by $5,000 a year. Staff will know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Everything is digitally recorded. Minimize liability, ensuring safety, cleaning, and compliance standards are upheld. This is the best thing since sliced bread, guys, and we're going to talk about that in just a second with Sharpies, but we are talking about a checklist to do every single thing in your restaurant that's all kept nice and neat in a little app. You need to call Will Jackson. His number is 888-534-0261 and set up a 30 minute demo. If you do that, I'll give you a free Nash restaurant radio hat, or I'll give you a free Nash restaurant radio t-shirt. Just send me a message on Instagram. Check out Maintain IQ. We absolutely love partnering with Sharpies Bakery.

44:56Erin Mosso has been selling bread, fresh baked bread, to locally-owned and operated restaurants six days a week for 36 years. Yes, her father started the company 36 years ago and Erin took it over five years ago and it is doing amazing things. I have so many guests that come in the studio that are like, I love Sharpies. They save me so much time and the bread is so good. So we we've got round buns, specialty round buns, dinner rolls, hoagies, baguettes. They do cheesecake, they do flourless chocolate, tortes, they do specialty loaf breads and regular loaf breads and bullies. Bullies? B-O-U-L-E-S, sourdough, long tuscan, wheat, multigrain. They got everything. You should go check them out at Sharpies.com. That is Sharpies, C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com or you should give them a call at 615-356-0872. Supporting local is so damn important and Erin Mosso and all of our friends over at Sharpies Bakery do that daily. Give her a call right now.

46:05You know what chefs want, some people still call it creation gardens, but what chefs want has been was our first advertiser on the show. Monty Crawford saw what we're doing. He goes, I want to be part of it, dude. I love it. And I just, I love that. They're so perfect because they work with locally owned and operated restaurants better than anyone. And let me tell you how they do it. No minimums, no fees, no fuel surcharges, no surcharges. Anytime they deliver seven days a week, they have 24 seven customer support. You can call, text, chat, email anytime from anywhere, or you can reach them at 502-587-9012. They have a diverse line of products. Their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh product daily. What chefs want is the perfect addition to any broad line company as they've got all of your fresh produce delivered daily. Plus custom meats, anything that you need that your broadliner can't get. Give them a call. 800-600-8510, or visit them at whatchefswant.com.

47:11That sounds like a, that gets me excited talking about that. You would apply? Yeah. It's much, I mean, I would love to just come spend a day in the kitchen with you. I mean, I'm not kidding. Like I am, I'm not a chef. I'm probably more like the GM, like where I have a healthy respect for my chefs in my restaurants, but I know that they know their thing, but I feel confident giving them feedback when something's good and when it's, when I don't like it. And they understand that it's not a personal reflection on them. It's just a, hey, this is my, I think that has too much of this or that. But they present stuff to me and we try it all the time, but there's a huge healthy respect for that. As I told you, we actually, we started testing like one week ago. So now, but today's like almost two weeks that we are trying every day, like 10, 20 dishes a day. So means that we seriously, we produce more than 150 different items from the breakfast to the, we didn't arrive yet to the dinner part. We will have still like two weeks more of tasting through all the dishes and all the things that we are doing.

48:27So tell me what breakfast looks like at MIMO. Would be for sure local and Italian at the same time. Local and Italian? Yes. So basically we feature some dishes that would be like, you know, the, I just made a version of the biscuits and gravy. That is really interesting. It's exactly the same as you eat here. When you close your eye and you try it, it's exactly the same flavor, but there's a but. We managed to make the biscuits on the base is with a mushroom and smoked cheddar. So give this umami flavor porcini mushroom. This mushroom umami flavor with the smoked cheddar that, you know, give this beautiful smoky roasted baked cheese. You know, imagine that flavor, right? Oh yeah. And then we have the Italian sausage on top that is roasted very well, as usually the people does in the gravy. And on top, the gravy itself has a different texture.

49:33It's very light. It's an iriated and we use milk and also mozzarella cheese from Italy. So it's something incredible. If you close your eyes, you have that. It's exactly the same. So why I put mozzarella? The people can say, are you crazy? You put mozzarella in the gravy, but what mozzarella will give me in the gravy is the fattiness of the gravy. You know, that uh we uh we managed to make it into a form. So it's like very iriated when you will try. It's not heavy as a mozzarella is, but it's something absolutely beautiful and tasty of course. I'm just sitting here and I have a perfect like my my mouth wants to eat that. Yes. Right now. That's so different. When people say you're crazy, go a little bit. Yeah, I'm crazy too.

50:36What are you crazy? Like, yeah, are you crazy? You put mozzarella in your gravy. Oh yes, I am a little bit. That's what I do. Everything doesn't have to be the same as everybody else. Exactly. That's so cool. Okay. So there's your breakfast and what about lunch was one of the items. I mean, like, yeah, I mean, for sure. But that's well, I think that that's an indicator of what you're doing for breakfast. Like it's not your standard chicken and waffles. Like I'm I'm doing maybe I'm doing biscuits and gravy, but I'm doing it different. About the waffle. Actually, about the waffle, we are planning to do waffle with sourdough. So instead of the baking powder that everybody does, we put sourdough inside. So we'll be natural, natural rising. Yes. So we'll be very sour, a little bit sour, beautiful, spongy texture, crispy on the outside. I mean, like very interesting. Wow. Yeah, that does. Again, that's another different take on it.

51:37Okay, so I'm starting to get an idea. Yes. What is the dinner menu going to look like? Dinner menu. We will be a seafood oriented restaurant. So we'll be crewed a section that, you know, I'm still finding the right fish to put on it. I'm looking for, you know, you ever heard the red shrimp from Sicily? Yeah, it's they are insanely good. Like, oh my god, when you have that, you have the Mediterranean sea in your mouth. It's sweet, tamami, salty. It's a lot of things going on. Even the color is red, red, like the flower. Sorry, the fire. Everything is beautiful about the red shrimp. And I'm trying to find that to put in our menu. And then pasta for sure. We are Italian. So I like my pasta. You know, in Italian, there is a word that is mantecare. Mantecare is the final step of putting sauce and pasta together.

52:38I don't want to translate in any English word. Mantecare is mantecare. I need to be like pasta is an international word, right? Let's use pasta in China, in America and in Italy to recognize what is pasta. Basically, mantecare is the same. Mantecare is the gesture that brings the sauce and that pasta together to make like I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah. And it's beautiful. It's like the final touches. The thing is like the hug, you know, the hug that two people does. That is the hug from the sauce to the pasta and the pasta to the sauce. So mantecare is the most important action that you do on your pasta. So, you know, it's because you will feel in your mouth when you eat that bowl of pasta, you will feel the sauce and the pasta itself, they will be connected, they're talking to each other and that is called mantecare. So I always reference the movie Ratatouille. Have you seen this movie? I saw it like three, four times. So my favorite scene in the movie is when he's talking to his brother Emil and he goes, I want some food. He meets him at the restaurant. He's at, I can't think of the name of the restaurant right now, but he's at the restaurant and he goes, he brings back food and he hands him like some cheese and some berries and then he eats them both. He says, what are you doing? And he goes, try the cheese and he tries the cheese, like the musical notes. He says, now try the berry. Yes. He's now try them together and he eats them both in the beautiful music notes. And I imagine what you're saying right now is like, you've got the pasta and you've got the sauce. Yes. You can eat the pasta and the pasta is good by itself. You can eat the sauce by itself is very good, but when you put the pasta with the sauce. Oh, yes. Yes. The magic, the magic happens, the, the, the music notes in the, all the things happening. Absolutely. Yes. And about this cheese and, and the berries that you

54:44are talking, you know, in this period, we are trying different suppliers and stuff. One supply came with a strawberry chocolate that a very special brand is making. Basically it's a chocolate made with the freeze dried strawberry. And then he got the blue cheese, you know, the famous gorgonzola. Yeah. I told to this guy, he was my supplier. Hey, you need to do something. Take this piece of chocolate. I knew already the chocolate because I used before in China. Take this chocolate and take on top a piece of gorgonzola cheese, blue cheese and eat it together. He was eating that. It was like, you opened my brain, my mind. I never had this kind of, I sell this product and I never tried something like this. This is insane. It was a simply a piece of chocolate and a piece of cheese together. And it was one of the best things that he ever had. What gives you the most joy? Cause you, I hear you telling that story where you feed somebody like what, what gives you the most joy in a restaurant? Is it creating a dish that somebody eats and they're just like, that was the, is it creating experiences or is it seeing a line cook develop into a chef or is it a Michelin star? Like what is the, what is, what is the thing you're chasing right now? What helps you sleep at night? What is the goal? First, I mean, it's not prepared. I mean, like, first of all, we need to say that, you know, makes me happy a lot. The satisfaction of the people when they try the food that we prepared and seeing, you can read the eyes when someone is really satisfied. When someone is really happy about what they are eating, you will feel. And that is like a connection between guests and who is preparing the food. Is it an open kitchen? Yes.

56:30So from the kitchen, you can see the guests. Yes. And they can actually, they can see us from the street. How important is that? A lot because it's like, I see who's making me food. I see who's preparing that dish that I'm having in front of me. It's crucial. It's like, you know, I'm giving myself to someone. It's like, I'm going to the doctor, right? You give yourself to the doctor in the hands of the doctor. Sure. It's exactly the same when you go to the restaurant. I'm giving myself to someone. Of course, there's the fun part that, you know, you go with friends and you celebrate, of course, things and stuff, but based literally who won experience, you give yourself to in the hands of who is cooking and seeing them doing that, that you will eat is super, it give like 40% of value to the food that you are. Well, I think the guest has a really good opportunity to see you make the food, but I'm talking about the people that are making the food. Instead of being in a closed kitchen where you're making a dish, you're spinning it in the window and the expediter kind of finishes it and then it's gone. Like I'm on to the next thing. Your head is down. You're just making dishes in the window and it disappears into the ether. When I can make a dish, put it in a window and then I can watch it go to the table and I can see the person take their camera out and take a picture of it. And then them talking to their friends and smiling and then that first bite and their eyes open real big and they go, this is amazing. If I'm a lot, if I'm a cook and I could see that, I'm probably taking a little more pride in what I'm putting on a plate.

58:09It's magic. Remember the magic we were talking before, right? That's the magic that happened. Yeah. That you see your food being, I mean, you see the final action that is the most important, right? The valorization of the things that you created, basically. From the product you buy till the end, you see every step, every process and this is the best things that you can do. For you, there's a little bit of a closing, it's kind of a payoff because it started probably with you sitting on your couch eating pizza with an idea of a dish and you start making notes and then you start cooking something, you try something and then you call a vendor and you go, can you find me this type of cheese? And then you gotta find this berry. Then you source it and then you bring it in and you start making it and then you gotta teach other people how to make it and then finally the guest eating it. Do you ever have a fear that they're not gonna like it?

59:11Sometimes, yeah. To be honest, yeah. It seems like a very vulnerable process. When you create a dish that you love and your palate is so far advanced and in Nashville, the palate's there, but I mean, to the average tourist coming in from Minnesota, they might not know what they're getting into. I guess they go to the Four Seasons, they're gonna know, but is there fear in you that this dish, they're not gonna like it? No. One thing that I will do, for sure, I will talk to everybody. So they will come to my restaurant, the kitchen is open, I see people coming, I will go to the table, start to talk. So you're gonna be interactive with the guests in the building. Of course. It's my first priority to interact and talk with the people. Like the people that we say hello, when they see me on the Vespa, I will say hello, ciao y'all, to everyone that will come to my restaurant. So that will be very important for me. So talking and seeing how they want the experience, right? If they are a little bit more classic, if they are a little bit more edgy, like, okay, I want to try something different, I want to try something more, you know. How big is the restaurant? How many seats do you have?

01:00:21We have 200 seats. 200? But also with the outside seating, for sure. Well, you're not going to be able to meet every table. Oh, I mean, there's going to be a couple you can go meet. Of course, but I will try to, I mean, to go to every table, for sure. I mean, like, if before or after the experience, the dinner, I will try to get in touch with everybody. So, we have also outside seating. So, you know. Got it. Okay. You visit all the pretty girls? Oh, also, yeah. In downtown, there are so many, I mean, like, all these woo girls, they call? The woo girls? The woo girls, yeah. Do you love it? I call bachelor rave party, because, you know, there are so many, like, from the morning to the end of the night, they are, like, crazy, a lot. Like, seriously, a lot. Yeah, I mean, like. Have you met any girls here so far since you've been here? Are you like, I'm the new chef, and I'm single, and here I am. No, I mean, I interact with my colleagues at work, so I've been very busy. That's it? Yeah. I'm going to do a dating game on this show, and I'm going to get, like, three women, and I'm going to have them on the show, and then you get to interview them, and then we're going to have a nice date set up for you.

01:01:37We can work with them, if someone can be a baker. Look, dude, you're trying to set me up here, but I don't care. I need a baker. I don't need a woman, I need a baker. But if she can bake. Bread is important, you know. If she knows how to make bread, you can be with me forever, you know what I mean? So that's the key to your heart, huh? Yeah, it needs to be. So yeah, tell me what kind of woman you like. She needs to know how to cook, basically. But why would she know how? You know how to cook. You know, at home, I never cook. I mean, like, I'm just relaxed and, you know, chilled, you know. Do you think that's intimidating, though? Like, because I would want to come cook for you. You'd be like, you do it all wrong. This is all wrong. I'll do it. This is ridiculous. No, no. My mom is the same, right? I mean, she cooks her lovely stuff. Anyway, I never say nothing. Even though I don't like it, oh, it's good. It's about respect, especially in the south of Italy. It's very important.

01:02:38Have you ever dated an American girl? No, never. Okay. I'm going to try to get a step. You're a young guy. You're an attractive dude. You got to have somebody to share all this with. Let me open the four seasons first, okay? Otherwise the GM will kill me. You're like, uh, I'm getting married, so we can't open on time. It's going to be a while. Brandon over at Nash Restaurant Radio found these girls and here we are. They know how to bake bread. I have all these bakers calling me now. Hit me up on Instagram. Are you on Instagram? Oh, yeah. What is your handle on Instagram? Nelo Turco Chef. Turco is my surname. Okay. So N-E-L-L-O. Yeah. T-U-R-C-O. T-U-R-C-O. Nelo Turco. Yeah. C-H-E-F. Nelo Turco Chef. Okay. So go follow Chef Nelo. Nelo Turco T-U-R-C-O C-H-E-F on Instagram.

01:03:39And there you go. You got that there. Now you're set up. Okay. Thank you. Just message him after they open. Next year, let's fix this. Next year, we reconnect again and we'll figure out how is my private life and my work life. Yeah. Okay. So we'll work on your personal life after the holidays. Let's get through New Year's. Okay. We'll bring you back and we'll do a dating show. We'll get a bunch of bakers on here that like to make bread. I'll start working on it. I'll get you a couple here. It'll be a lot of fun. And I was looking at your bio. So music that you like. Oh yeah. I was kind of like, wow, this is an interesting band because it was like the Spice Girls and who got to help me out. Who were, who's your favorite? What do you like to listen to? I am. I'm like the Spice Girls got me. I was like Spice Girls. I'm a 90 boy. You know what I mean? I grow in the 90. Everything that's related to 90. I love it. I was, I grow with Green Day. Yeah. Green Day is like Green Day and Spice Girls. I was like, whoa, you know what I mean?

01:04:41Some 41. Was that one of them too? Yeah. I mean, like I love YouTube, Green Day, Spice Girl, Placebo. You know, Placebo? I mean, yeah, they are very European. I don't know Placebo. Yeah. They're amazing. I love them. And you know, Florence and machine. I mean, like I grew with this kind of alternative style, like rock and roll. Yes. Yes. And then recently I discovered like Flume. You know, it's like electronic, emotional music, flume, disclosure. I love this kind of vibes, sounds, beautiful. Do you like to go out to clubs? Oh yeah. I'm very, I'm energetic as I told, as you feel actually. You like just dancing the whole time? Before I was sweating because you know, I have heat inside my body that bring water outside my head. So yeah, I'm very energetic. So I need, I need good vibes around me. Yeah, for sure. I think you're the only person that I've ever met that just explained sweating as I had heat inside of my body, which pushed the liquid out. You can see, you can feel that I was in China because you know, they, they, they always say there is a heat inside us that, that, you know, manage our body.

01:05:57Basically they drink hot water when they feel cold and they feel it inside themself that is cold. So they need to, they need to drink hot water or the opposite tea. That's kind of where the hot tea and water. That's just, you know, this kind of stuff. So there's heat inside of me and it pushes the water out though. So I'm sweating. It's very Chinese stuff. That's cool, man. I dig that. I love, I love a different perspective on things and I love a, I love positivity. So I love like you do have an absolute energy about you. Yes. Yes. Thank you. In the kitchen, are you playing music or is it not now? Not now, but we will, we will play. Like when you're prepping in the morning. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. Actually. Yeah. Do you choose the music? No, I let them also, if, if the music that, you know, it's like, it'll be down now. I need like rock, you know, beautiful vibes. Here we are. Okay. So, you know, something that I never listened to much country music. The first day I arrived here, my GM organized, I mean, he gave me a ticket to see a country music concert. Who'd you go see? It was the festival that was in June. What's the name? CMA. Yeah. CMA. The final day. Oh wow. At the, at the Nissan stadium? Yeah, exactly. Oh wow. And that was for me the first time that I heard the songs and it was like fantastic. The energy was beautiful. And actually, you know, the good music is like the good food. You don't need to know what's going on. You just need to listen and you will feel that it's good and you need to eat to feel that it's good or not. I mean, it's objectively, objectively, the good music and the good food, you know, it's good for everybody. It's a creative outlet that somebody's putting out there and you can experience it however you like. If you have an open mind and you let it in, you just might be surprised by something really freaking cool.

01:08:00I had a lot, imagine I was like two days traveling. Jet Lagas. Can I say a bad word? Whatever you want, man. I mean, Jet Lagas, fuck. Yeah. And I went there and I was like dying. That music give me energy. You know, Jack Daniels and stuff. I was like, wow, this is what I need here. It was very beautiful. Jack Daniels and country music. And he's like, I'm a fan. Let's go. Yeah. And then the day after I went to work, I was like, I'm from Tennessee now. Hey, nice to meet you. You're like, ciao y'all. Ciao y'all. I'm from Tennessee. I'm from Nashville, let's say. Either way, they're both, they're both, they're both right. Yes. You knew what the state bird was. Yeah. And I didn't. So you're already, you're ahead of me. Yes. Yes. This is so fun, man. I've enjoyed talking with you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to have you in Nashville. I'm excited for your, for your energy, your vibe, but also what you're going to contribute to the culinary scene. I think that's so neat. I love welcoming people in the restaurant community here in town is a really special community. And hopefully as you venture out and as you get to meet people, and hopefully people hear this and they go, well, that guy's, that guy's got a lot of energy. He's a little crazy. I like that. There's a lot of people in this town that are that way too. And it's open arms. I know that the entire city will welcome you into the city, the chef community.

01:09:27Actually, you know, I need to say that there is a, this Southern vibe that is very similar to the Southern vibe that we have in Italy in my hometown. Basically I walk out of my building, even the homeless people say hello to you. This is insane. It's beautiful. Everybody's smiling on the street when you walk and it's very, very, very, very welcoming city and you know, beautiful. I love it. This individual, the culinary community is very, very cool. I think that, I think you'll get to experience it and hopefully people will get to come and experience what you're doing. Hopefully we can, you can contribute. I think you have a lot to bring to the culture of this town. Definitely. You know, we, Tony and Kathy come into town, there's Tandy over in Germantown and Sean, and there's so many just amazing chefs here in the city and they all kind of do their own thing that give back in a different way. And I'm super excited to see what your legacy ends up to be. I mean, we're so at the very beginning. I'm so excited to introduce you to the culture. Actually, you are the first one that's interviewed me from, from one month and all of the time here. You're literally the first one. Well, I'm honored and I'm blessed to be able to do it. Thank you. This has been a lot of fun. We'll have to do it again after the new year, right? So I do want to come. Recap, the recap. I would love to come spend a day with you in the restaurant. You come first in my kitchen and then you host me here again. Yeah. Yeah, we're next. I got to host you. You come to my restaurant too. You come to my restaurant and you can check it out and see what's going on out there. The last things that we do here on the show is we do something called the Gordon Food Service Final Thought. So this is sponsored by Gordon Food Service. They're amazing people. Yes. It's all the stuff here. I'll give you a really cool coffee mug you can take with you. Gordon Food Service, they're great. So what we do is we do

01:11:31a final thought. So you get to take us out the interview, whatever you want to say. Okay. You're speaking to the culinary community in Nashville. Okay. Whatever you want to say, as long as you want to say it. Okay. The mic is yours. Take us out. Oh, that's fun as well. So if you eat well, you will cook well. So please eat well, go around and have fun in your kitchen, in your table, on your table, around everywhere. I'm very simple sometimes when it's up to this kind of stuff. And yeah, I mean, I'm very excited to be here for sure. Nashville, it's been like crazy one month and a half. And I will be very happy to contribute this big food family that is Nashville food scene. So thank you so much, Brandon. And yeah, so I hope to see you all in my restaurant Mimo. So ciao y'all now. Ciao y'all again. Hashtag ciao y'all.

01:12:38Hashtag ciao y'all. Y'all come back. Now you're here. That's what they'll say. So definitely we'll do it again, chef and yellow. Yes. How do you say, how do you say it's very nice to meet you in Italian? That is what I mean to say. I know mucho gusto. So what you just said right back at you. Thanks for coming in today. Thank you again. All right. Thank you. All right. Ciao y'all. I'm going to start using that. I really like that. What a fun guy. I tell you, you can really tell the Howard Stern influence coming out of me when I'm like, we got to find you a girl. Oh Lord, help me listen to that. And I'm like, good Lord, but I didn't take it out. I got to be real here, guys, which I leave everything in. I don't do a lot of editing. I don't ever take anything out of episodes. Um, just because why not? Let's just, let's keep it real. Let's have a good time with it. And, uh, hope you enjoyed that interview with chef and yellow Turco. He's a lot of fun that I cannot wait to see what that guy is able to produce in this city.

01:13:45And, uh, that's your first look, first interview in Nashville. So hopefully that was one that you enjoyed and, um, we got a big, big bunch of episodes coming up this Friday. You'll get to hear Kate Madrey, who's an actress and a comedian. And she is, she hosts the clear headed podcast. So it is a sober cast. We're talking about, um, my own drinking and her not drinking. We kind of tell each other stories and we kind of go back and forth with some questions. So I talk a lot, she talks a lot, but I think it's overall, it's really good. Um, it's, it's an emotional episode. I mean, I think I definitely get into the feelings and we, we, we talk a lot about what we felt going through this. I'm excited for you to hear it. And then we have Laura from the Fox bar. She's this episode is going to be out this Wednesday on the gospel of cocktail podcast. We've got two more episodes coming at you. We got a bonus one with Laura and, um, I think you're really going to love it, but I hope that you guys are being safe out there. Have a wonderful week ahead of you and, uh, love you guys. Bye.