Benjamin and Max Goldberg

00:00Hello, visit Music City. And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. Very excited that you are joining us today for our conversation with Benjamin and Max Goldberg. They are the brothers behind Strategic Hospitality. And if you're coming to Nashville, these are some restaurants you're definitely going to want to know. And if you're listening to this and it's still June and you're coming here in July, just might be able to get that reservation. So stay tuned, you're going to learn all about it. And if you listen towards the end of their interview, the brothers are going to give you their favorite picks for their favorite restaurants and their favorite things to do while they're not working in their restaurants. And let me tell you, they let some secrets go. They're going to hear about this from some people. So stay tuned after the interview for our Nashville Hot List, which is five restaurants, locally owned and operated restaurants in Nashville that you cannot go wrong with.

01:10Today we are talking fine dining. So the best sit down, formal, beautiful restaurants you can go dine at in Nashville. We're going to give you five of them today. So let's talk about some things that are coming to Nashville. And if you are into motorsports, this is so much fun. It's coming up the next three months. We've got the Music City Trifecta. NASCAR Cup Race is going to be on June 26th at the Nashville Super Speedway. We've got the SRX Championship on July the 9th, and that's going to be at the fairgrounds. And then the big one, the Music City Grand Prix. That's coming in August. It's going to be the 5th through the 7th and guaranteed to be a great, great time. It's so fun seeing those Indy cars zoom around the streets of Nashville. And if you're coming to town this 4th of July, letting freedom sing, we've got some exciting shows for you. We're going to start the big festival off with Gramps Morgan. You will get to see Cassidy Pope, Levi Humman, and our headliners.

02:17One, two, one, two, I'm talking to you. Oh, Dominion's going to be headlining the 4th of July celebration for Let Freedom Sing, playing downtown Riverfront Park. It is a free show, and we are so excited to have them headlining this year's Letting Freedom Sing. If you're going to be in town earlier that day, we're going to have the Hot Chicken Festival. So this is going to be happening throughout the middle of the day on the 4th of July. It's a free event. It's going to have some of Nashville's best hot chicken restaurants with some others. There's going to be cold drinks, and it's going to be a hot day. So make sure that you bring sunscreen and your shorts. If you're looking to do some more drinking in town, which I know if you're coming to Nashville, that might be on your list, July 23rd is the Music City Brewers Festival.

03:19That festival's going to feature over 40 craft brews and live music and just lots and lots of fun. That's going to be in the Hall of Fame Park, and it sells out, so get your tickets now. July 29th, Red, White and Zoo returns to the Nashville Zoo, where you can find live music, food bites from some of Nashville's best restaurants, all while seeing the exotic habitats of the Nashville Zoo. Don't forget, the craft beer and spirits will be flowing that night as well. So we're really excited to see you in Music City, and I hope that you enjoy this interview with Max and Benjamin Goldberg. Super excited today to welcome into Nashville Restaurant Radio Benjamin and Max Goldberg. They are the owners of Strategic Hospitality. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Hey, great to be here, thanks for having us.

04:21That was Max. That was Max, thank you so much, man. It's awesome to be back, thank you. Yeah, say welcome back to Nashville Restaurant Radio. I have had you on the show, I've had your wife, Tara, on the show, and I've yet to have your brother, Max. It's an honor to be here. I mean, you definitely peaked with Benjamin and Tara, so I hope the bar is loaded today with me, but glad to be here. Max plays hard to get sometimes. Well, we are talking today for visitmusiccity.com. You guys are here as owners, and I think some absolute legends in this industry. Benjamin, the last time you and I talked, talked for two hours, and we just went over every single restaurant that you guys own, and the innovation in what you guys have brought to this industry, the city of Nashville, I think is absolutely amazing, and I'm just, I'm honored you're here. Well, thank you for saying that. We feel incredibly lucky to be here, and incredibly lucky to be in this space, and we just try to be good stewards of the community, and I think you're giving us way more credit than we deserve, but thank you for the kind words.

05:21Not true. I mean, yes, but you guys deserve every single bit of it. I appreciate the humility. If I'm coming to Nashville, and I wanna go eat at a strategic hospitality place, I wanna just kind of start this off and go over each one of your restaurants, and talk about them for a minute, and then I would love to know what you guys do on your downtime here in Nashville. What are the guys that have the best restaurants in the city? Where do you go? What do you do in your off time? So let's start off. Which restaurant do you guys wanna start with? What you wanna do, Max? You wanna roll down the? Yeah, let's just, they're all like children. It's hard to pick a favorite unless you ask our mother, and then it's definitely me, but let's just run through it. Let's start with the 2021 Eater Nashville best restaurant in the city, Locust. Let's start there. Let's start there. What an amazing spot over, and if you're in the 12 South District. Yeah, so 12 South, great neighborhood, awesome space. We got the opportunity to partner with Trevor Moran, who's our chef and partner there.

06:27We think he's just one of the more ridiculously talented humans that we get to work with, and he sort of gets to do what he wants to do in that restaurant, have a whole lot of fun, and it's super small and intimate, and you get to hang with Trevor whenever you go eat there, so it adds to a whole new dynamic. We fell in love with Trevor when we met him, when he was our second chef at the Capurin seat, and truly put out some of the most interesting food I think Benjamin and I had ever had, and we just knew we wanted to do something with him. Had no idea what that was gonna be, and what this has evolved into has definitely taken a different direction than I think we initially thought in a really beautiful way, and it's become, I think, one of the absolute best restaurants in the country that we're lucky to be a part of. Super, super proud of what Trevor and team has done. We really just tried to do everything to support and get out of the way, and let him do the madness and beauty that he does, and Locust is definitely one of our favorite things we've ever done. You know, my wife and I ate there a few weeks ago, and we had a reservation, and we walked in, and there was a bunch of people waiting, and I was like, oh, we're gonna have to be here for a while, and she goes, do you have a reservation?

07:28I said, yes, ma'am, and I gave her my name. She goes, right this way, and they had the table waiting for us, and I was like, holy cow, the reservation worked! Half the time you have a reservation, you show up, it didn't work, but I love the service model there that everybody kind of takes care of you. So you get greeted by one person, and then a chef comes by and takes your order, and then another chef brings you the food, and another chef brings you a drink refill. Like, it's really, it almost feels like it's a family that you're allowed to come in and spend time with them. Does that make sense? Yeah, I agree. I think it's actually one of the most special parts of that restaurant, and then also, like, you know, we talked about Josh at Bastion. It's very similar when you go there. I wrote with Julia, it's the very same sort of thing where you get to walk in and it feels like a really real experience. Nothing about any of the other restaurants that are contrived in any way, shape, or form. It's you walk into Locust, you are right there, they say hi to you, and then you are basically greeted and taken care of by the people that are actually cooking the food.

08:29It's a pretty real restaurant. It is. Well, it's absolutely amazing. If you're coming to Nashville and you want to eat at Locust, go to Toc. Are you guys on, you're on Toc, right? We are. Go on Toc, T-O-C-K, and you can make a reservation for Locust and you will need to make, you can walk in, but I highly recommend making a reservation. If you're coming to town for the 4th of July weekend or anything along those lines, this is the time right now to go make that reservation because if you try and do it the week before you get here, you ain't getting in. I'll tell you that much, what a great, you mentioned Josh Hobbiger, and he was your original chef at the Catbird Seat. We'll get to the Catbird Seat in a second, but Josh actually was one of the people that brought in Trevor to the Catbird Seat. Let's transition over to Bastion. Yeah, I mean, very similar story. I think that we've worked with Josh for 13 years. He moved to Nashville from Minnesota. He was our first general manager of one of our spots called the Patterson House, and then we were lucky to work with him at Catbird and even luckier now to partner with him at Bastion, which is a really fun, quirky little restaurant in the back and then a really cool neighborhood bar in the front in a place where it's a little bit more casual and laid back than some other spots, but also when you get the experience and the delivery, it's a pretty darn polished experience.

09:49Josh is one of the more talented, beautiful human beings we've ever met in, you say, 13 years. It's his bar mitzvah. I didn't even think about that. That's fantastic, and we've been really lucky that at this point in our career we've had a few great instances where chefs and folks that we've known we've been able to partner with to help execute their vision that we're just lucky to be a part of, and Bastion, again, I think is one of the best things we've ever done, and so is Henrietta Redd, and that's a complete vision of Julia and Josh, that Benjamin and I are lucky to be a part of. Josh is just, he's absolutely crushing it at Bastion, and you almost feel like the main bar is his living room, and then you've got what I think is one of the coolest little middle bars before you enter into the restaurant, and the food that is continually coming out of that kitchen, and the chefs, they're evolving from there. It's a really special spot. And there's spin and vinyl all night long. There's a different, the musical selection. I was there, and I was going, I don't know if I'm cool enough to be here. This is the coolest place I've ever been to, and then 20 minutes in, I was like, I think I'm cool enough.

10:54I don't know, it's the coolest feeling, because I'm like, this is really an amazing experience all around, and it inspired me as a restaurateur just at how people moved intentionally. You walk in, we talk about Josh a lot. I want to mention his wife, Lauren, who's amazing, and she'll greet you right there, and she's awesome too, so we're- And I had the honor of actually officiating their wedding in Palm Springs. I did a fantastic job, if anybody asks, but really, really, they're just two of the best people, and I still don't feel cool enough to be there if it makes you feel any better. Okay, good, well, I'm not alone, then. No, you're definitely not. Top five most stressful parts of my entire job are changing records at Bastion. In fact, to the point, I don't do it anymore. I didn't think they let you do that. Top five, they don't do it anymore. I can't do it, because A, I know I get judged. I know the selection's getting judged. Exactly, and then two, we were busy. It's the first or second week we're open. The record's gotta get changed, and I'm like, oh shit, I'm happy to be staying. Am I allowed to say that? Sure. Okay. That was Benjamin, by the way.

11:55If any PG-13 listeners are going, usually it's me that makes that mistake. And I'm standing by the record player, and I'm like, oh man, okay, so I put the record on, and I'm like, in my mind, I'm a thousand different places. Just throw it on, it's the wrong speed. Oh. Yeah, wildly, wildly nerve-racking. Did he put on a Chipmunks album? What is this? Yeah, well, what's going on? I was like, oh man, this is so uncomfortable. I mean, I think that what I will say, though, going back to sort of the restaurants and the chefs, and I think that makes the restaurant so special and Bastion so special, is like, at the core of it, Josh is an amazing dude. And you sort of just wanna hang with Josh. And that, to me, is like foundational amongst where I wanna choose to go spend my time. I wanna spend my time with people I want to be around. Sure. And when you get to go hang out with Josh, or Trevor, or Julia, or any of our wonderful humans that we get to work with, that's the sort of ethos that we're hoping to get everywhere. But that's, I mean, especially sort of true at a place like Bastion, where you just get to experience not only the food and the drink and the records that are being played and judge everyone's selection as you're sitting there, but you also get to hang out with really great people, that adds to the experience.

13:07And you learn new music, too. I'm like, what are you guys playing in it? I really like this. And then you learn of a new artist, and I don't have the vinyl, but I'm on Apple trying to figure out, I wanna put that on a new playlist. I love that. I pretend to know half the bands and just try to act cool. Mostly Spice Girls in my life, so it's great to learn some new stuff. But I would say there's a consistent theme that we're really proud of that I think goes across all the strategic restaurants. It's a warmth that when you go in, and to Benjamin's point about Josh and Julia and Trevor, there's good people. Life's too good to surround yourself with people you don't wanna spend time with. I'm lucky to spend most of my time with my best friend and my brother, who happens to be my business partner. I was waiting for that. That's the coolest thing in the world for me. There's a consistent warmth. I mean, when you walk in a locust and they all scream at you, you just feel warm and welcome. And if you go into the catbird seat, which can be a little bit more expensive, you leave with that perception of value the same way you would if you leave with a hot dog from the band box. It's a consistent theme of that perception of value and that warmth, whether it's in a stadium concession or one of the best chef's tastings you could have, that's a consistent theme we try to have.

14:16And the only way we can do that is with the incredible people we get to work with. Couldn't agree with you more. I mean, just the people that you work with and especially now post-COVID, those people and putting your arms around those people and letting those people know how much you mean to each other is so valuable. And it's so important, I think, going back into these settings that you work with people like that. I think identifying what your core values and what your beliefs are and then intentionally finding the people that feel the same way you do are a lot more fun to work on. We've mentioned Julia Sullivan multiple times here so far. She is the chef partner at Henrietta Red. So you've got three restaurants, really, where you have chefs who are partners. How does that work? You have, I know they've all worked for you in different restaurants and then they come up and they want to open their own thing and you, what do you guys do as strategic hospitality versus what Julia does at Henrietta Red? Nobody's ever worked for us, with us, and if anything, Benjamin and I work for them. And so we were lucky that, I've known Julia since first grade and our moms actually went to high school together.

15:22So our roots with Julia are deep and what she accomplished before coming back to Nashville is incredible. And Henrietta Red was completely her vision that she knew what she wanted to do and we'd worked together at Pinewood where she was one of our opening chefs there and created some of the best food that's ever come out of that kitchen. It was her vision that we were lucky enough to be a part of. So we just tried to support her in her effort and make sure that what she wanted to execute was successful and we did anything we could to support her in that venture. You know, we just wanna do fun stuff and that is really sort of the motivating factor for Max and I. If we're gonna spend our time working a whole lot and sort of diving into this crazy wonky restaurant business, we wanna do really fun stuff that we get inspired by, however that can come together. And so in some situations that's getting the opportunity to work with, Trevor and Josh and Julie in whatever capacity they will allow us to work with. And other times we're like, hey, let's do a concession stand at the baseball stadium.

16:27People are like, why would you ever do that? And we're like, cause it seems like fun. Like it seems like a good hang where I would want to go. And like, if you sort of break it down where, outside of the fact that at the end of the day, we try and be a business, but if you break it out to like, okay, well what seems fun and interesting and what will sort of allow Max and I's creative juices to flow and enjoy the process, that's really what drives our decisions. It is much less like, in fact, I don't think we've ever done like a full market analysis of a concept's gonna work or fail. We literally do it because we feel inspired by it and we wanna work with either those folks in whatever capacity we can, or do weird quirky stuff that we find a lot of passion and interesting cause we would wanna go hang out there. And so that's how it all comes together ultimately, it's just conversations and hanging out. One of the coolest gifts that Benjamin and I have in our careers, if you look at our portfolio projects outside of, you know, the Henrietta Reds were in Locust and Bastion, which were completed their vision, our portfolio projects was really a snapshot of where we were at that particular moment in our life.

17:29And so to be able to go back and look at our portfolio and be like, I remember being 24 and doing this with Benjamin. I remember being 29 and this is what we were into. And just this organic progression that to Benjamin's point, there wasn't necessarily a strategy other than they were very selfish endeavors of where we'd wanna go. And then just really cool things happen. And so if you take the band box, for example, didn't think it was gonna work, you know, the stadium necessarily with the support, it turned out to be an incredible thing that became a Winter League case study. And it's something that we've enjoyed tremendously. And the ownership there has been incredible and even said, this was great, what do you wanna do next? And Benjamin and I said, well, we really think public art is important for the community. So why don't we take this dead area in the stadium that was just a grassy place and we actually designed a nine hole miniature golf course with a golf course designer, which was a job I'd love to have. And we went to some of our friends who we had met organically through the restaurants and some of the steel workers we'd work with at Pinewood or, you know, or Williams we'd worked with in other capacities and just said, hey, here's your canvas, go do whatever you want.

18:32And so we've created this nine hole miniature golf course. It's a public art piece, which has nothing necessarily to do with food and drink, but all about that warmth and that kind of fun. And it's been great. And we've been able to do that now at the soccer stadium with Edgar, who we met because of Josh Abashian, who we completely fell in love with. And he's making some of the best street tacos and nachos that we've had and it's in a soccer stadium. So again, this massive scale with cool people doing fun stuff. So, wow, I love that. I love that. So if you're listening to this and you wanna go to a Nashville sounds game at First Horizon Park, there is a place called the Band Box and the Band Box is a, it's a bar, it's a place where you can sit, you can buy food. Last year, you did an amazing pop-up series, like every, almost every other game or every game, there was a different chef doing their own food. Amazing innovation with that and I love that. And then Edgar Victoria, who is the chef and owner of Alabrije, who did a long time pop-up at Bastion.

19:34Now he's at Jota's Park. And I think he's at the Honey Tree Metery also with his own thing. So if you're in town, you want the best Mexican, I don't call it Mexican street food, it's fantastic, I mean, his food is beyond. Agreed. And so another person that you guys have continued to bring up, you mentioned, we were talking about innovation and kind of what you did. Now I have to tell the story from interviewing Josh and Benjamin, the Patterson House. Patterson House is the first speakeasy I think Nashville ever had, right? I was a bar manager at Amerigo on West End when that opened. And the liquor reps were coming around, we're talking like, this place is gonna open over here, they want seven different kinds of ice. I'm like, what the hell? Seven kinds of ice, what are they doing? And it was just kind of this thing and then there was no signage. And how do you make a place with no, you're not even marketing it. It spread like wildfire that this place was coming in and then they sat you at the bar and you weren't allowed to walk around and be an idiot.

20:37And it's like, wow, this is amazing. And I loved Josh telling the story of him being a chef, working at Alenia and then coming to Nashville to be the GM there, but actually making drinks. And the idea that I'm gonna make a drink, which is completely different from the kitchen. In the kitchen, you make a dish, you spin it in the window and it disappears. He goes, well, here, I'm actually making a drink, I'm setting it in front of somebody and I'm watching them. As a cook chef, when do you get to make the food and then watch somebody does? He said, I make a drink and I watched you, do they take the garnish and set it aside? Do they take a picture? Do they take the rim off or what do they do? Do they stir it first? And I'm able to literally watch every time somebody I make a drink to see what they do. And I can get a little bit better every single time making that. And he goes, that was kind of the genesis behind the catbird seat. I wanna be able to make food and set it right in front of somebody and see what they do and get this immediate feedback and kind of make tweaks as we go along. He goes, I had this idea, I told 10 different people and they're all like, it's cool, but you'll never make money, you can't make money.

21:42He goes, and then I think he told you, Max, the idea and you were like, or I don't know if it was you, Benjamin, but it was, let's do it, man, that sounds cool. And it is exactly what you were just talking about like that, if we see something that sounds really cool with somebody we were like working with, it's not necessarily like a business. Well, let's look at the numbers and we'll, I mean, that has to happen, but you guys were just like, let's do it. And what happened was the catbird seat and that restaurant has been just an absolute monster and an amazing restaurant here in Nashville. What do you have, tell me about the catbird seat, tell me about the Patterson House, let's keep this ball rolling. Yeah, so the Patterson House is like a nerdy cocktail bar at the end of the day. I'll never, I don't know if Josh will remember this, I'll never forget Josh moved, we convinced Josh to move his entire life to Nashville to open up the Patterson House with us. And this was months before we opened and his first night in town, we go out and have a drink and someone walks up and it's like, hey, welcome to town, why'd you move here? And Josh said, well, I moved to be the general manager of the Patterson House.

22:45And they're like, well, tell me about it. And the guy straight up looks at me and goes, terrible idea, it will never work. He's like, I just, this guy just moved to town today, man. Like this is so uncomfortable at this point, but it's just a nerdy cocktail bar. And so I think that hearing you talk about Josh bartending at the Patterson House and all of those details that he was noticing and picking up on and just by someone having a drink at a bar, like A, it literally gave me goosebumps and B, shows you the level of care that goes into cocktails at that place. And so I think that the idea there is that we get to be hyper-focused on the experience and the cocktail itself in a very controlled environment that allows that to happen. So hopefully at the end of the day, the product that's going in that glass is worth the time and the effort that it takes to make that liquid going in the glass. And so it's really hyper-focused on the quality of the cocktail. And then ultimately sort of finding ways to introduce new flavor profiles that people may not be used to or accustomed to.

23:50I love the fact that when you go there, it's not pretentious. And I say that, I mean, you can make them think about whatever they want to, and you walk in, if you're not like a mixologist or this cocktail snob, you can go in there and everything's really well written. You can say, I don't know what I like, and they'll, well, these are professionals that want to help you get the best damn drink you've ever had in your life. And it's not just a, oh, they don't know what, they're there to help you make something that is going to be memorable. It's a memorable experience around having a drink. It's something that we do nonchalantly all the time in so many places. Let's go grab a drink, but this is an experience. One of the coolest things for me with the Patterson house is that we are lucky that when people come in there, I think we kind of have them in this box where there's a sense of trust. And that's a complete testament to Josh and team and what Matt Toko have done there. When people come in, they say, oh, well, I never drink gin because I drank really bad gin warm when I was in high school and got really sick. And we have the opportunity to say, okay, well, let's start you on something else.

24:53And then we'll try the progression and say, here's actually why gin is great or tequila or whiskey and really change their world in a sense that something they thought they'd never have, they now find to be delicious. And we love food and drink and what it can do for people and bring people together. The team of the Patterson house is able to do that and it happens daily. It's one of the coolest things to see. I love the way you put that. 100%, that's hospitality right there. That's what it is. We've talked about Locust. We've talked about the band box. We've talked about Henrietta Redd. We didn't get into too much detail Henrietta Redd. We talked about Julia and how amazing she is, but Henrietta Redd is in Germantown and seafood focused. So if you're coming to town and you want some of this really fantastic, locally owned and operated seafood, the oyster bar there is second to none. And Julia is, she's such a boss. Julia's amazing. I don't know anywhere to put it. If you're in the restaurant, you see her, she's so focused and just everything is on point. She is very strategic.

25:56She's incredible. And the oysters there, I'd put up against any oyster I've ever had personally. And it's also incredible vegetables, incredible proteins. It's definitely has a seafood focus, but everything there is pretty special. And I'd also say that if folks are visiting, it's absolutely one of the best brunches I've ever had. I mean, embarrassingly, I will go in and order almost the entire menu and eat a nap afterwards, but it is unbelievably good. And it's in such a fun area to go and hang out in and walk around in after you eat. The brunch there is hilarious. I went for Mother's Day. And I think we literally ordered almost the entire menu and I felt so disgusted. Wait a minute, I wasn't with you. Did you? Was this with your wife or our mother or both? What happened here? Both, no, I'm just kidding. I was gonna say, a little left out here. One thing about Henry Wright, I'll say that I think is so funny and always like, when we talk about Julia and how amazing she is, it's all the people that make these restaurants really special. One of the folks that is at Henry Wright and has been there forever is Pat, who's the bar manager.

26:56And Pat was an old Patterson House bartender and a manager there. And one of the ideas that Julia and Pat came up with was this idea of jello shots. And Max and I, I know Max and I were like, wow, not the turn we were expecting to take at Henry Wright, but we love it, you know? But all of a sudden they're like jello shots, but classic cocktails like Negroni's and old fashions. And you're picking up and you're like, this is crazy fun. It's a great, funny, interesting, quirky way again to like pick up a shot of Negroni and it's a jello shot, kind of fun. And again, that's the idea there that they have the full creative control of where they wanted more things. And if something doesn't work, we'll take it away. But if it's fun, we're gonna lean into it. And that's an example of like, I never thought we'd be doing jello shots, but here we are and man, they're a good time. Speaking of shots, because I wanna mention this because I've tried to do this forever and it's finally happened at the Ban Box. Wake me up in three minutes when he's done with this story. For five years now, right? And by the way, the chef series at the Ban Box, which is incredible, is completely for Jordan.

27:58She has been spearheading that and it's pretty awesome to see that after five years now, she's crushed it, so credit to Jordan for that. But hey, before you tell your story about this shot at the Ban Box, which we're all gonna fall in love with, I will say, and I wanted to cover this earlier, about the chef pop-up at the Ban Box. If you ask me what makes Nashville so special and why Nashville is probably the most interesting city in the country, A, Jordan completely owns this pop-up chef special at the Ban Box and crushes. But also, how many cities do you get the best chefs in that city popping up at a concession stand at a baseball game? It is unheard of. You don't. It doesn't happen anywhere else. The community is so supportive of this weird thing that happens out there. And to be honest, they look forward to it. So it's one of those things now where it's like, hey, Jordan, not only did you set this up and that's amazing, but secondly, they actually wanna come back. I got the convincing on the first year, but for them to want to come back to this is one of the coolest things.

29:03And then they start to show off what they get to do. It's one of those moments that I think defines how cool the restaurant culture is in Nashville. On 100%. There's Jordan right here. Jordan Farrell making an entrance to the show. Hello, hello everyone. No, the chef pop-ups at the Ban Box started as a really organic, just fun thing with Andy Little of Josephine. And he was like, hey, I wanna come out here. I wanna do this. And this was back in 2016. And he did and made these incredible, just loaded tater tots. And it was so much fun. And so we just continued to do it year after year since then. And it's just been something that has turned into this really fun, just community, like way to just involve the community and have some creative spirit that's a little bit different from the four walls of the restaurants. We've been lucky to work with Jordan for over 10 years now. And she's gonna absolutely kill me for doing this. But if you're filming her, if you could pan down to her hand, she just got engaged and it's awesome.

30:07Let's say it. Congratulations, Jordan. Yay. Thank you, Max. Thank you. I'm very excited. So I'd like to get back to my shot real quick because Benjamin jumped in and I agree completely. But for five years, I've wanted to do this. We finally found a space, but we have these shot glasses we make of ice. You pick your spirit, you take a shot, and then you throw it at a band box bell. And if you hit the bell, you win the bell. We've finally done it. It's one of the most fun things you could possibly do. Go to the band box and do it. Okay. So the shot glasses are an ice cube. Yes. And you do the shot, and then you have to throw the shot glass at a bell. Yes. And if you hit the bell, you get to keep the bell. That's exactly right. Limit two per person. What you're saying. Thank you, director of communications over there. We're not trying to get people too hammered, but it is a lot of fun. You're like, I've done 40 of these, I haven't hit the damn bell yet. I want that bell. Give me the bell. All right, so I love that.

31:08It's a great story. I'm gonna try that. We'd love to have you in. We have not talked about Pinewood Social or Merchants, two of our favorite spots. Merchants is a place on lower Broadway where one of the most historic buildings in the city built in 1892, really rich history, really special for Benjamin and I personally, because our grandparents used to go on dates there. And I actually went to prom there. And it's really cool to see what was one of the most special restaurants in the city that we were lucky enough to come in, I guess 12 years ago, is that right Jordan? 12, 13 years ago and take it over and put our spin on it. And it's really just one of the more dynamic, fun offerings in the city and especially on lower Broadway. First floor bistro, second floor, kind of more traditional steakhouse, chop house kind of deal. And then Pinewood Social just down the street, especially if you're in town, really, really fun for, got some swimming pools, we've got some bocce, we've got some bowling lanes, really great food and drink and just a super fun place to go and hang out. So Pinewood Social is a little different because you guys kind of made that around a place that you would want to go and work, right?

32:14Just, hey, if I was to, I work a lot from like Panera Breads or whatever, you pull over a place that has wifi and coffee. But like for you, if there was a place I could go and just chill and order great coffee, maybe have some great food, maybe meet some friends afterwards and go bowling, maybe take a dip in a pool, I don't know, but you just, it seems like that theme of just fun, comes real strong when it comes to how it's social. Yeah, the whole place was built off of creating a third space, a landing pad, a place where you can go use it from multiple times through the day for multiple reasons. And I think that it's interesting, not every restaurant that you open, A, works, but B, works the way you think it will in your head. And the craziest thing about Pinewood is like, the wildest dreams we had of how people would use that space is exactly how the space is used, which is the coolest thing to walk in and work out of there, see people on laptops, see people celebrating, you know, whatever it might be, see business meetings and first dates and all of those things within the same four walls is a really, really cool thing to be a part of.

33:20And when you explain it without being there, people have no idea what they're talking about or what we're talking about. And then they walk in like, oh man, this is exactly what you said it would be. That's always kind of fun. And the spirit of Pinewood can kind of be summed up we had a guy who would come in and be working out of Pinewood every morning we first open and Benjamin and I would get there at 7 a.m. and leave usually closing for the first, I don't know, six or seven months. And we got to know this guy pretty well and he would work from 7 a.m. till 2 p.m. and would leave every day at 2 p.m. and he was starting a company. And we said, you know, no offense, but if you're in startup mode, like what's up with the half day? And he goes, oh, my laptop dies. And this guy is sitting in his sixth top, typically by himself, not necessarily ordering a ton of things, whatever else, but that was totally fine. We were thrilled that he was the nicest guy in the world. So Benjamin said, well, the only reason you're leaving is because your laptop dies? And he goes, yeah. And so the spirit of Pinewood is by the next day, Benjamin put in an outlet for this guy so that he could charge his laptop and continue to grow his company. And that's really the spirit of Pinewood. It's been a great financial success for us, but more than that, what's been great is people use the space exactly the way Benjamin laid it out.

34:23And it really came from a consulting trip when Benjamin and I were in New York. We met at six o'clock in the morning for coffee, working out of a hotel lobby, had coffee, then 8 a.m. breakfast, and after breakfast, another coffee. You get the point, fast forward. We've had lunch, we've had coffee again, dinner, and then it's like 10 p.m. We've never left this hotel lobby in New York City. One of the greatest cities in the world is outside of the doors. Right there, we never left. And we thought, man, this would be so cool to have this third space where you could kind of extend your stay and be working here. And so we ordered a couple drinks, and the next morning, woke up spooning Benjamin covered in post-it notes that said, like swimming pool, bocce, coffee, and we thought, well, if we're gonna do great coffee, we wanna work with our friends at Crema because they're incredible, and if we're gonna do our bar program, we wanna work with things we've learned from the Patters now, so we gotta have great food, and it just kind of progressed into this really weird kind of Frankenstein restaurant with all these different things going on. And the coolest thing is to go in there and see people still to this day using the space exactly the way we'd hoped for.

35:23I mean, watching somebody sitting next to somebody else and say, well, I own a hat company. Well, I make leather. We should partner up together, and that happens often at Pinewood, and it's just the coolest thing in the world for us to see. I was waiting for the end of the story of the guy who worked there all day, like, and that guy was Jeff Bezos. So you've heard the story. That's great, yeah. Who is the guy? Does his company work? Is there a rest of the story? Still left at 2 p.m. He used the laptop as an excuse. He left it, too. He was lazy. That's what it was. That is definitely not the case. If you're listening, we are very grateful for you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jeff. Jeff gets his own. And Jordan is like, stop. Bill Gates, who knows? It was one of those guys. I'm glad the camera's not on Jordan because she is so mad at us right now. I love it. All right, so I think that puts a wrap on the restaurants that you have. We're gonna do a part two here in a minute where I'm gonna ask about Paradise Park, which was an absolute staple downtown.

36:27If you're coming to Nashville, these are the gentlemen behind Paradise Park, which is now gonna be Garth Brooks' place. Did I see that the other day? Yeah. It was downtown. There's a big G in the window, and I'm like, damn. That stands for Goldberg Brothers, if you, yeah. Now, do you guys own the building? We do not. Okay, so you sold, you're out of that space completely? Completely, yeah. Okay, I didn't know if you, I wanna hear the story. I'm like, did Garth come to you personally? And he was like, hey, I want this spot, or how did that work? One of the nicest people I've ever had the chance to meet are him and Tricia, just to be fully transparent and candid. And I think that it's one of those things, and I think Max and I are almost exclusively relationship-based. Everything that we get to work on are either with people we love to work with, or we are inspired by every time we interact with them. I love it. And that is, I think, I feel that way about Max. Why is your hand on my thigh right now?

37:27What's happening right now? Sorry, Jordan. And I think that, you know, that sort of all came together by relationships, right? So it was one of those situations where just in conversation and just in the natural ebb and flows of having the opportunity to be inspired and get to know and hang out with folks, that whole thing sort of came to be. There's few moments in your life where you remember the day you met somebody or something happened, and meeting, go ahead, what do you wanna say? I know you wanna say something obnoxious. I was gonna bite my tongue, I don't mind. Okay, thank you. But the day that we kind of met Garth and Trisha, completely fell in love with them. Two of the absolute best people, human beings, I mean, what they've done for the world, they're just, we feel so lucky to have, even be in their orbit. And so to potentially be on this ride with them of what they're executing in that building has been one of the greatest joys for us personally and professionally. Is it gonna be part of strategic? No, this will be a completely Garth and Trisha project. Okay, I know you said, if you're on the ride with them, like, oh, is this like the whole thing for you?

38:30But no. No, no, no. So if I'm coming to town, I need to make a reservation at one of your restaurants. I do that via talk, and you will want to, if you're come to town and you love to support local and you wanna be somebody that wants to go to a locally owned and operated restaurant, Locust, if you go to a sounds game, Nashville sounds game, you gotta go check out the band box. You gotta go play a round of miniature golf. You gotta check out the local artwork that is out there. Ice shot, ice shot. You gotta do an ice shot if you're of age. And an ice shot. Thank you. You gotta do an ice shot, throw it at the bell. Take home a bell, right? Who doesn't want a bell? Henrietta Red in Germantown. If you're staying in the Germantown area or not, you need to go check them out for dinner or brunch. Pinewood Social, if you need a place just to kind of hang or if you want a great food, great coffee in the morning, take an Uber over to Pinewood Social. It's fantastic. The Catbird Seat, definitely make a reservation there. That is a long, kind of a couple, multi-hour dining experience, multiple courses. Chef Brian Baxter is doing amazing things.

39:32The Patterson House, like I said, the best cocktails you're ever going to have. And merchants, if you're on lower Broadway and you wanna just grab something to eat, there's a locally owned and operated actual restaurant on Broadway that isn't a honky tonk and is owned by these brothers and you should go check it out. Great food on Broadway is probably the only place that's owned on Broadway I'd recommend you go and eat. That's just me, I can say that. Unless you went to Robert's, because they got a bologna sandwich that will knock your socks off. Robert's is a good hang, I'm not gonna lie. Robert's is a good hang. So is Layla's, you gotta go check them both out. But now I wanna know, if I'm coming to Nashville, what do the locals do? What do the locals, yesterday I went kayaking with my family down the Harpeth River. Early in the morning we had the best time, first time I have seven, eight year old boys, first time they'd ever kayaked by themselves, loved it. That's one of my favorite things, is that 20 minutes from downtown, you can hop on a canoe or a kayak and go do stuff like that. That's where I tell people they should go. Gentlemen, what do you do for fun?

40:33Well the only thing I'd add for folks coming to visit is, and locals are massively supportive of, is the soccer stadium. And what John Ingram and Ian Eyre have created there is truly one of the coolest sports experiences I've ever seen. And to see all the local chef partners that they brought in and we're lucky enough to be with Edgar there is super fun. So just wanna make sure I mention that. I mean for Benjamin and I, we're lucky that we really love our restaurants and so we definitely are frequent visitors of those and we're just super excited about what the teams are doing there. Pat Martin and what he does at Martin's Barbecue and Hugh Babies is definitely food wise one of my staples. I mean, City House after I got married, that is where we went and had pizza in our wedding clothes and just kind of hung out in the middle of COVID and it was one of the coolest experiences and continues to just be so great. Arnold's is always a secret for us if we have people thinking about coming to Nashville, we take them to Arnold's and that's the closer. And I've never been a drug user but I go in there and it's like I start scratching my neck and tweaking on the bread pudding.

41:37It just like calls me, which is great. The Picnic is a place we've grown up with, some of the best chicken salad I've ever had. And we always promise we won't say this because it's been like a sleeper in our family and I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble for saying this, but some of the best fried chicken I've ever had is in Bonoc with Tennessee at the Beacon Light. Oh, you're not supposed to talk about the Beacon Light. The Beacon Light Tea Room, come on now. Yeah, I think we talked about this in our show. I got in trouble. So Max is now gonna be grounded, which it makes me so happy. Oh, thank goodness. I will tell you in terms of where we go, Max's list is 100% correct. A quick travel hack or something that's kind of fun is if you go to any one of our restaurants and you ask the person that's taking care of you, bartender, server, manager, whatever that looks like, where they go or where they recommend going, you're gonna get the most eclectic, awesome list of locally owned restaurants. Probably none of which we may or may not own, right? But at the end of the day, you're gonna get this really cool travel guide from an individual person that works in the industry. It's like, oh, go there. In terms of, so that's a cool travel hack. It's how I travel actually. When I go to a city, I look up where I wanna go.

42:38I go to the first place, coffee shop, bar, whatever it is and say, hey, where's the next place I should go? And I end up in the greatest, craziest spots. In terms of where I go, I think that I choose to go when I'm not working and spend, I choose to spend my time in restaurants and bars where the people that are working in them or own them are just really great humans. And so that list that Max rattled off, not only are they amazing establishments, but they're all friends. And so those are the places that I tend to gravitate towards and frequent. Even as Nashville is booming, there's a lot of folks in the industry that are coming to town and we get to know and meet that are just wildly awesome. And that is where I go. And so I want these relationships that are just deeper than any one drink or any one plate of food. So like Josephine and Andy Little, like I'm in that restaurant. I love Andy. Fantastic restaurant. Yeah, and I think you can look at the chef community in town and if we get to hang out with them, we're in those restaurants.

43:40I'd say one of the coolest things I've done recently is out in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Fawn Weaver has done an Uncle Nearest for a distillery tour, is incredible. Highly recommend that. My wife and I hike Percy Warner Park often. It's a great spot. Which trail do you like the most? I think the White Trail. The White Trail, the Warner Woods Trail? Yeah, it's like the perfect amount of, you feel like you got some exercise, but when my ADD kicks in, it's like the trail is over. So kind of perfect in that regard. I think that there's some incredible golf courses here in Nashville. If you're a golfer, a lot of the metro parks and Jim Fike is somebody who helped spearhead a lot of that, who taught me how to play golf essentially and some great public golf courses here, which is great. Driving on the Natchez Trace. I mean, there's so many great things to do in Nashville. A lot of waterfalls on the Natchez Trace. If you just want to go sightsee and see really cool stuff. But I try not to tell many people about the Warner Parks because that's one of those that's like. I'm over two right now. I'm sorry. I'm recommending this. I thought that was the point.

44:41This is the secret, right? Well, it's something I try and do every single day. Like if I have a meeting tomorrow morning at seven o'clock on the Red Trail. Like you want to meet you at seven o'clock. I don't want to sit in a cop shop. I want to go walk. So I do like an hour and a half walk because it's just so beautiful. That is awesome. Don't promote that too much though because it sort of hurts the business side of what we do. But I do like the go get him-ness there. I'm not going to lie. I like that. He's like, they won't come to Pinewood. They'll go to the park and that's not cool. Mark Deutschman is one of my favorite people in the world. He does walking meetings. And it was kind of an inspiration where a lot of times we'll do that. And I feel like you get a clearer head. It's awesome. And maybe grab some food at one of our places before you do that or after. But of course, Max, those are like seven minute meetings for you. That's all you can go. You're like, and I'm out. I can't, I'm going to hold. Give me a minute. That's why my shirt is a schmedium today, Benjamin. I will also say something that was fun that I just did with my daughter. She's eight. We literally, I just parked in 12 South on Monday and we just strolled and stopped in to all of these shops.

45:47We went to, we stopped in and saw Trevor at Locust and my daughter was so happy because the restaurant was packed. Trevor's like, come hang out. So she's hanging out with Trevor while he's preparing dumplings and doing his tartare and her head is exploding. We went to Fry's Cream, which was a lot of fun. Jeremy's place, which was a whole lot of fun and super cool. She loved it. We stopped in the shops and I live not far from there, but just to park the car and get to walk with her through the neighborhood, that was a cool hang for three hours. And I think that there are all sorts of pockets like that throughout the city that I think if you're traveling here are just fun spots to go. I'd also be remiss if I did not send people to the station and the station is one of the coolest music venues that there is in the city. You want real bluegrass music, you've sort of got to go to that spot. It's right in the heart of the Gulch. Exactly. You'll notice it because it does not fit in. It does not fit in at all. And that we'll get in this on the next episode with City Hall back in the day and kind of reminiscing about some of the old days of what we used to do.

46:52But Benjamin, Max, thank you guys so much for joining us today for our part one for visit musiccity.com. Check back with us in a few days and you'll get episode number two with Benjamin and Max. Thank you, gentlemen. Hey, thank you. Thank you. Once again, thank you so much to Benjamin and Max Goldberg for joining us in this very special edition of Nashville Restaurant Radio. Again, stay tuned next Friday and you're gonna hear a part two where we go into a little bit more depth as to what's going on and maybe even find out what everybody's favorite movie is. And Jordan Farrell joins us on the second part of the interview for a little more of the conversation. So we have a ton of fun and as promised, here we go, the Nashville Hot List for the month of June. These are five restaurants that if you're coming to Nashville, they're locally owned and operated, locally operated for sure. And you can't go wrong.

47:53I'm doubling down that these five restaurants are in the fine dining segment and you are going to absolutely have a blast. They're not listed in any order. There's not a number one. There's not a number five. They're all number ones. I'm guaranteeing you, you're gonna love your experience. And we're gonna start off with Sean Brock. Sean Brock, famous for Husk in Charleston, South Carolina, brought Husk to Nashville, but has started a new venture and he's got two restaurants. One of them is The Audrey. The Audrey's in East Nashville. It is an ode to his grandmother in Appalachian cuisine. It is amazing. The things that he's doing in that restaurant are beyond anything you're gonna see. The guy is an absolute visionary and his food and service is second to none. His zero-proof cocktail menu is one of the best I've ever seen in my life. He also curates the menu and helps operate at The Continental. The Continental is the restaurant inside the Grand Hyatt Hotel right there on Broadway.

48:55So if you see the Grand Hyatt and you see The Continental and it's this Sean, go eat there. It is unbelievable. And if you can go late at night to get the hamburger, you should do that too. The next restaurant we're talking about is also in a hotel. It is called Yolan. Yolan is Tony and Cathy Montuano's restaurant, formerly of Spiaggia fame in Chicago. He is a James Beard award-winning chef and he has opened an Italian restaurant at the base of the Joseph Hotel and it is five-star. It is absolutely amazing. Every single thing that you get there is intentional, well thought out and the service is impeccable. Tony and Cathy have thought of absolutely everything and this is a restaurant you've got to put at the top of your list. The two gentlemen who are on our show today are the proprietors at the Catbird Seat. Yes, you've heard all about the Catbird Seat.

49:56Make your reservation now. Chef Brian Baxter is making amazing, amazing food and it's an experience like no other. You get to go and sit right in front of the chefs as they make your food for you, put it in front of you. You get to have conversations with them. It's just one of the most unique dining experiences that you're ever going to have. So make reservations now via talk. Our last restaurant on the Nashville hot list is Cane Prime. Cane Prime is an M Street concept in the Gulch and it is called Cane Prime because it is right on the Cane shipping yards. Cane Prime is probably our city's finest steakhouse. Impeccable wagyu steaks. You have all of your amazing primal cuts and they're just doing, they're just, everything about it is very classic and it is an amazing experience. If you can get a reservation at Cane Prime, you will not go wrong. So there they are, that is the hot list for June.

50:57The Audrey, the Continental, Yolan, the Catbird Seat and Cane Prime. So pack a nice pair of pants and some nice shoes, maybe a sports coat and if you're gonna go out to eat at a fine dining restaurant on your visit here in Nashville, those are five you cannot go wrong with. Congratulations to all the hot list members. Go back, check out last month's hot list. We have a brand new one coming up in the month of July as we talk with Manit Chauhan for our Nashville Restaurant Radio Visit Music City collaboration. Thank you for joining us today. We hope that you are safe in your visit to Nashville and enjoy your time. Love you guys, bye bye.