Bryan O'Kelly

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01:12Hello, Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service and we've got a really great episode today. We are talking with Chef Brian O'Kelly. He is the executive chef over at Husk Nashville. And when I say we have a great episode for you today, I want to introduce you to Vince Lanni. Vince, say hi. I should probably have your mic on. Yeah. Is the mic on yet? You got it. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Vince Lanni. Good to be here. So Vince is my partner over here at NARA and we have been spending a lot of time together and visiting a lot of restaurants. And he was coming over today and I said, you know what, Vince, how would you like to join the podcast? And I said, heck yes.

02:20Let's go. And so we recorded a couple of interviews today. First one here with Brian O'Kelly. We're also going to be speaking with Daniel Jimenez and he is the owner at Above and Beyond Cakes. And if you are a fan of like, if you're getting married or you have an event coordinator or you do weddings of any kind or any role where you could be recommending who makes a wedding cake Above and Beyond Cakes, I have a feeling should be on your radar because these guys are amazing. Yeah, it sounded awesome. The cakes look awesome on their Instagram and their website. And he brought samples. Sure did. So we have cake to eat now. I'm pretty excited about that. Me too. It's a very good thing. So yeah, so Vince and I have been going in and we've launched NARA. NARA is rocking and rolling. Tomorrow is Tuesday the 14th and we are having our NARA Connect Spring Social. It is going to be a shotgun willies from four to seven. This is a come and go kind of a thing. If you are a restaurant owner or you are a leadership in a restaurant, we want you there. We don't want you there because we want to sell you something. We want you there because this is a moment for you to connect.

03:35One thing we hear about a lot of people is I don't know a ton of the other restaurant owners in town and part of our vision and mission at NARA is to connect everybody. So that's exactly what it is. Yeah, it's a great opportunity to talk to your peers, learn from each other, share what you're doing and really just even get out of that mindset and just hang out for once is cool. I think the part that a lot of people, so we're going to be doing some different functions. So bring cash also. I'm going to tell you this. We are doing a 50-50 raffle for the giving kitchen. We're going to be giving away. So if you put five bucks in, you get a ticket and whatever the total is, we're going to donate half of it to giving kitchen. We're going to give away the other half to somebody. And then I've got two bottles of a custom barrel that giving kitchen made of maker's mark that we're going to be giving away to. We're going to be doing another raffle. Just by showing up, you're going to get a raffle ticket and we're going to be giving away four seats to the Nashville SC game on April the 23rd. These are second row on the field, four seats. We're also giving away a couple of tickets to the Weezer concert. Weezer is playing with the shins and Silver Sun pickups at Bridgestone arena. These seats are going to be in a suite.

04:52So we would love to have you. That's something you could win. And then we're also going to be giving away two pairs of custom dunks. So if you win that raffle, we will make you a custom pair of Nara dunks that you can have. You've seen us videos. We're going to be presenting Jessica hazard with her pair of custom dunks. And then if you want to see all the other custom dunks we've done, go follow us on Instagram at Nara Nashville. You can see kind of as we give these away when you are a member at Nara and we do a broad line RFP. Uh, we like to show our things and give our members free shoes. Yeah. And they're really cool. And you know what? It's one of those unreasonable hospitality things for me. Like it's something that I love. I don't know why I love shoes so much. Uh, and we get into the end of this episode with Brian O'Kelly, the last 10 minutes, I think is my favorite part of the episode because our skincare routine and our towel usage and yeah, we, as men talk about our skincare routine, we talk about movies, we talk about bands, we talk, we go way off the rails and we, and we talk about driving and do you merge well and all the little things that I don't know if I do right, but I wanted to get the opinion of other men in the room.

06:09It's nice having a cohost on the show cause I get to like just throw things off of everybody. Yeah. It's always a good time. Yes. Always a good time. Um, we've got some new sponsors coming on. Ooh, yes. Um, first one I want to talk about is Twine graphics. Okay. Twine graphics is right here in downtown Franklin. If you do any kind of merch of any kind, these guys are incredible. They have a showroom that they have at the retail shop is in downtown Franklin, like a mile off square, right next to the factory. They have the actual screen printing where they do everything. They have a showroom where you can go in samples of everything. You can sit down with the owner and look at the quality of shirt, the kind of shirt you don't have to go online and guess what something's going to look like. You can go there in downtown Franklin and pick out your stuff. They also can make you a cut. If you have multiple locations, uh, one of the things that they do for multiple location places, they can make a unique website for that individual location to order your merch. And it's always consistent, always the same. If you have multiple locations and you have a general manager, well, I'd like to order from this guy and it's not exactly the same. You can be consistent across all of your locations. We've got some, uh, Nashville restaurant radio merch coming. I haven't had a Nashville restaurant radio merch in like three years.

07:32We have some Nashville restaurant radio t-shirts. You'll be able to buy, um, online. And then we're having some more Nara shirts. I've got a really cool eat local Nara shirt that we've made. We've got hats coming, pens, all kinds of fun stuff. You were over there. What did you think of Toyin Nashville? It is quite the operation. I mean, it's, it's really cool. They're pumping out some great products and it seems really easy to get started with them. That's the best part. Easy, local. They're like the nicest people too. Yeah. I think that there's so many people that just order online and they hope that they get a good deal or they hope that it works out. These guys will walk you through their place, walk you through. They have a design team. So if you kind of want a new logo for Nara members, they are doing custom, uh, their design teams working, uh, gratis. So if you want something made, uh, that's custom, they will hook it up for you. And so I'm really excited about our partnership with Twine graphics, another company who you're going to see. Uh, so at the Nara connect, we have five vendors that will be there. Their job is not to walk around and sell to you. They're going to have booths that you can walk up to and learn more about them. It's to connect with you. One of them is Pliny crane and they are a full scale marketing company. So they go from social media strategy, photos, creating skits. Sometimes you see social media. You're like, man, I really love what those people are doing. They're really creative. That's what Pliny crane does. They come in and they help schedule out your entire month.

09:02They'll do photos. They also host your website. If you need that, uh, we have a company right now that we're working with that is creating a brand new website through them and then a social media campaign. And we have special discounts for Nara members. If you come tomorrow night to the Nara connect bill as shotgun willies has a bowl and this bowl, it's like, you know, like a Kmart kind of bowl you would write in front of Kmart. Yeah. It's not what you think. It's not, which is not like a bowl like you get thrown off of, uh, but that we're going to have a full photo booth where Pliny crane's going to be taking photos of you on the bowl. So we'd love to have a, I rode the bowl at Nara connect. This whole thing is just a ton of fun. I'm going to ride the bowl. I'm going to ride the bowl. Yeah. Should we write it to get, should we, is it even going to hold us? I haven't seen, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm thinking of a little like, I had to say it. Yeah, it's, it's, it is like that. It's, it's like, there's not space for two, but I'm sure we're going to, what's the capacity load? I think that we're going to test it tomorrow. We're going to find out what the capacity load is. So this is a lot of fun. Uh, excited to have Vince here on the show.

10:10He'll be on the next one as well. And I guess whenever he's around, he's all, you're always welcome to come co-host the show with me. It'd be a lot of fun. Yeah. Sounds good. Um, I was down to be here. We're also, you are also going to start hosting a podcast. I am the Nara Nashville area restaurant Alliance podcast. Now, what are you going to be doing on your podcast? I want to talk about, um, you know, we're, we're helping a lot of restaurants and some of them are at a level where they can take advantage of really big savings with our RFP process, but not everyone is there yet. So I want to help share things that could eventually help people get to that level of volume, uh, that they can take advantage of some other opportunities that we offer. So some people we go to are really on point. You walk into Cletus or you walk into, um, um, you know, uh, Mize del Vito, some of these places they're dialed in, their operations are on point. And sometimes we walk into places and they're like, we need all kinds of help. There's, we don't do inventory. We, we just need help. And so you're going to do a podcast that's going to be operationally focused. These are kind of the basics that you need to be followed. And then there's going to be steps and you're going to have conversations around how you get started with those things. Yeah. If you're feeling like you're stuck somewhere and don't know what to do next or don't know how to do it, that's what we're going to dive into and get you from like stuck to scale. And we're going to be doing this live, right? It's going to be live. We're going to be on our Facebook page, doing it live, potentially a YouTube channel, doing it live. Yeah. And then we'll be putting it out as a podcast. You can reference it, but this is real time, ask him questions. So if you're an operator, follow us at NARA Nashville for more details and we'll be posting about it and then it will be live and you can come on the show and ask Vince questions. Hey, what do you do in this scenario? What do you do with this? And he's going to be talking about, it's inside baseball stuff. So if you're not an operator, this might not work for you, but that's what NARA is about is helping local operators thrive. And we want to just figure out a way

12:15to do that. And this is something that Vince has expertise in like crazy. Yeah. I've I am a systems guy. I've been in operations for a long time and we've seen what works and what helps restaurants and that's what we're going to help do. All right. Well, I love it. Vince, thank you for joining us on the show. We are going to jump in right now. Let's do it with chef Brian O'Kelly. You are listening to Nashville restaurant radio. Super excited day to welcome in chef Brian O'Kelly. Brian is the executive chef at Husk Nashville. Welcome to Nashville restaurant radio. Thank you. Happy to be here. Crowd loves you. They're so excited to have you here. Uh, by way of Charleston, Savannah. Here you say Savannah. I said Savannah. I was in Charleston for a long time. Um, I moved to Charleston straight out of high school to go to college at Charleston and kind of fell into the restaurant industry that way. You fell after college. Well, I was in college and kind of didn't know what I was doing.

13:24And at the same time, I needed a job as a college student does. Um, and I had some friends working in a restaurant down there called blossom and I started washing dishes there. And then I kind of fell into it that way. I like, didn't like school. I didn't know what I was doing. I was a terrible student. Um, and I had found this joy of cooking and like never looked back really. Interesting. What about it? Did you find like joy? What, what aspect of working in a restaurant where you like, this is it? I think it's like the hands-on approach and how much energy is involved in it's like, I feel like I have ADHD. So I'm like bouncing all over the place all the time. So in that feeds that it feeds it. Yes. Yeah. There's always something going on in the restaurant. Yeah. I, you know, our whole full last episode was about this, that I think the industry just breeds ADHD people because it just like feeds you full of dopamine all day long. Yeah. And when it's slow, it's like the hardest, like it drives me nuts, like mental when it's just super slow. But when it's, I tell you, my favorite moment in the entire world is when your hair on fire, three deep in the bar, hour and a half weight. And then, you know, somebody shits on the wall in the bathroom, you know, which it's just only the time that that happens is when you're that busy. It never happens when you're dead. Yeah. So it walks up to you and the time you go, you need to go check the bathroom.

14:49And you don't make any mistakes during that time. Like you're on it, but when it's slow, that's when like you forget to ring this in or you forget to add the garnish or, you know, like you forget things are in slow. Totally. So back to you, you had, you kind of feel like you had ADHD from as dishwasher. How did you get to be the executive chef? Like what did you, was there somebody who took you under their wing? Did you have a mentor? I've worked for some really talented people along the way that I've kind of like inspired me at every step. And I didn't really decide that I wanted to be serious about it until probably three or four years into it when I left that first kitchen, Blossom, and went to work at this like little mom and pop restaurant in Charleston called Two Burrows Larder. Okay. That guy kind of took me under his wing. His name was Josh Keeler. He works for Indigo Road now, actually. Oh, really? He's in Nashville every now and then. Yeah. It's good to catch up with him when I see him. But from there, I went to McCready's, McCready's to Husk Savannah and then. There's a Husk in Savannah also? I thought it was just Husk, Charleston, and Nashville. How many Husks are there? There's three now. There was one in Greenville, South Carolina, but it did not survive the COVID pandemic. Okay. So you've worked at all three of them. Have you worked at the one in Charleston? I didn't work at the one in Charleston. Did you move to Nashville for this job? I did. Yeah. My friend Ben, who we worked together, we worked together at McCready's. He called me and asked me if I wanted to come up here. Ben Norton? Yeah.

16:26Yeah. He knew I was kind of trying to get out of Savannah, so he asked me to come be the chef to cuisine at Husk here and I jumped at the opportunity. What do you think of Nashville so far? I love Nashville. Yeah. What about Nashville do you love? It's a bigger city. It's bigger than both Charleston and Savannah. Well, some people hate that. Some people love that. I love it. I loved Charleston. I did not love Savannah. Why? It's just too small for me. Too small? Yeah. There's too much repetition involved, I think, in the day-to-day life and the people you see, I guess. If you don't love Forrest Gump. Have you seen Forrest Gump? I mean, I've seen it like as a child. It was on, but I haven't seen it. You told me this the other day, I got to watch it as an adult. We were talking about Gary Sinise the other day and I said, you know, but Lieutenant Dan, you don't have no legs, you know? And he was like, yeah, I don't even know Lieutenant Dan. I know the guy from NCIS, CSI New York and like, even of Mice and Men, which is all, you know, but that's my Gary Sinise. My Gary Sinise is always Lieutenant Dan to me. What about you? Lieutenant Dan all the way. I mean, all the way, right? Yeah.

17:41He lives around here. I know. He's at the foundation. You see him around town. Everyone's wondering, like, that's Lieutenant Dan. He was like, I don't see him as Lieutenant Dan. I'm like, we're going to do a poll today. Do you see Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan or the guy from CSI? I am absolutely sure I'm losing that poll. That's just the way I'm that one person. You know, I'm that one person, right? You know what? I'm going to bet you there's more people than you think out there that are like you. Okay. There's gotta be. I mean, I, do you know the band Pearl Jam? Do you know the band Pearl Jam? I know that they're my favorite band of all time. I saw them twice last year, back to back in Nashville. And I came into work the next day and I was like, I went to two Pearl Jam shows in two days. Like it was amazing. And the hostess was like, who's Pearl Jam? I'm like, how do you not know who Pearl? Like I think there's a lot of people out there who haven't seen Forrest Gump, who maybe have seen CSI. This is what we're here to talk to chef about. We go off on tangency. This is my ADHD in real life, taking a tangent. I love it.

18:45You like that? Yeah, that's good stuff. Okay. So you are, you come here, you worked at some mom and pops who owns husk. Now husk is owned by the neighborhood dining group, which is based out of Charleston. And how many restaurants does the neighborhood dining group have? I think they're up to nine now. So let me count. We've got husk, husk Nashville, Savannah. You got Marwood and Finn and Charleston and now Savannah. They opened last week. You've got Monero in Atlanta, Monero in Charleston or Jones Island rather. And then you've got Delaney oyster house. That's eight. And they're working on one more in Charleston. Nice. So when you work at mom and pops and you're in there and it's just a, sometimes those can be a little loosey goosey. When you get to a place like husk that has eight locations, what's the difference between working in a place that is like just the owners there all the time working with you to like a, and I wouldn't say husk is corporate. I mean, there's not a hundred restaurants. There's eight. So it's, it's a local chain kind of a thing. If you're from Charleston, they're just branching out. What, uh, what's the difference between working in those two environments? I think it's, uh, there's a different level of structure involved and the standards are more clearly defined. Um, especially, you know, coming to McCready's where Sean Brock was the chef and that was an institution, you know, and those standards got kind of carried across every restaurant that they opened after that. How often do you hear about Sean Brock? Is there a day that goes by you don't hear his name? Maybe a couple.

20:28People love to say, Oh, that's Sean Brock's that's Sean Brock. That's Sean Brock. We hear it at the restaurant pretty often. Yeah. But I hear it on a day-to-day basis, just cause I have close friends that still work for him. Do you know Sean? Yeah. You do? Yeah. Not like very well, but you know, he would recognize me. I think. Yeah. I don't know. I'm, I just, it's just a thing. I've, I've met him like, you know, a handful of times. He wouldn't know me. Yeah. I don't think unless he's a listener invited him to all of our stuff. He doesn't come. Yeah. It's been a while, but yeah. Okay. No, that's cool. Um, so when you say structure, there was a standard of excellence that they kept going. How do you keep it going as the executive chef? What is your responsibility to maintain the husk name and reputation? How do you, what, what kind of pressure does that put on you? I don't feel too much pressure because I feel like I, you know, you gotta, you carry your own integrity into the end of the role every day, you know, and you keep yourself held at that standard and it makes things easier. Um, the team that we have is also just fantastic. Like everybody wants the standard to be what it is.

21:39So it makes it easier for me. And you got to work under Ben Norton. I did. Yeah. And so he held that standard and you got to, what did you learn from him as a chef? I've learned so many things from Ben and I feel like he's living on the West coast. He still learned things from him. Um, he's just so talented, so smart. He thinks from a completely different standpoint that I usually do. Um, give me an example. I don't even know how to describe it. Honestly. Um, his perspective is always just an eye opening for me. Okay. Um, what's, what's something that you have, like if you, if I was to talk to your sous chef and say the same thing, what do you think they would say about you? Oh gosh, they're going to listen to this. And so what do you think, if I was to say what, what is chef O'Kelly taught you or what do you look up to him for? Maybe just the, uh, persistence and work ethic that I think I carry through the day.

22:48How often are you that I show everybody? So you show respect in your work ethic. So as the executive chef, how many hours a week do you work? 55 to 60. You're an open lunch, right? So 55 to 60 hours for a dinner only restaurant. You're there every night. Five nights. Yeah. Five nights. And how many nights are you open? Seven. So who runs this, the show when you're not there? That would be the chef de cuisine in the shoes, the sous chefs. Yeah. Who are they? Rick Dennis is the chef de cuisine. He's been there longer than I have. He was a sous chef when I came on board. We got Zach Chase who's been there for three and a half years. Anthony Bonnell has also been there about three years. Both of them were line cooks initially and we've got, uh, Scott Barnes is another sous chef that was a line cook, but now he's mostly involved with like butchering and things like that. Wow. That's a, that's a lot of leadership. Yeah. Plus our pastry chef, Rachel, who's just fantastic. I'm always jealous of people that had pastry chefs. I always wanted a pastry chef in my restaurants, but we just, yeah, just never was something that materialized. I couldn't do my job if Rachel wasn't the pastry chef. She's wow. Tell me how important, why, why would you say that? Well, one, because of her, her desserts are so good and she's so talented and she brings a certain morale to the whole team, I think. Um, and she, she wears many hats, you know, she's not just the pastry chef. She can jump up front and help us expedite service if we need to.

24:26She can work brunch. She, she does many, many things. That's really good. Well, it makes sense. You say to say something like I couldn't do my job without her. I mean, to have somebody who is a five tool player who can jump in anywhere, who isn't a sous chef, who's, you know, your pastry chef that is that versatile is really a wonderful thing. Yeah. She's great. I'll Rick and the sous chefs. I couldn't do my job without them either. Obviously. Of course. Yeah. You just, Rachel is a little different, I think in terms of pastry chefs. Okay. Yeah. I like that. Um, let me see. Let me look at my, uh, list here of questions. Um, there's, there's a lot of pride around local restaurants, being a local restaurant, a lot of people, and we champion that pride for local restaurants. What do you think people misunderstand about restaurants that are part of a larger group?

25:32A larger group like husk. Yeah. I think they maybe don't see us as that local restaurant because we're part of a bigger thing, but we're still very much connected to this community. You know, like we're the only restaurant neighborhood dining group has in Nashville. So we are the representative of this restaurant group here. I think some people maybe attach us to the other husk restaurant in Charleston when we're just completely different than that. Is the menu completely different? Who creates the menu? Myself and the rest of my team. Where do you find inspiration for that? Like on a day-to-day basis, are you in the shower and you're thinking like, you know what Carolina gold with a Dover soul, with a blackberry jam, wait a minute, that might work. And then you come to work the next day and you're like, where do you find random shower thoughts for sure, but there's other ways to get inspiration. You know, I have a lot of cookbooks that I read and you can see everything on social media nowadays. Like that's an underrated way to keep in touch with what I think restaurants do, not just in Nashville, but everywhere. What's the last time you were inspired by a post you saw or a dish that you saw on Instagram?

27:01Last week, probably. Do you remember what it was? It was probably actually something Ben did. Vince is just hanging out in the corner over here. I feel like I just dominate sometimes. We're learning as a like a co-host kind of dynamic that Vince is here and I just, I'm not used to having another person here. So I'll just keep going. And then I'm like, oh, do you want to talk? I'll chime in. Yeah. Okay. Fear not. I like it. Do you feel like pressure to prove something now? I mean, Ben Norton, this guy who led the restaurant for so long and now, and he's been on the show too, back in the day, he was on the show. Not a man of a whole bunch of words. Yeah. He, I feel like both of him, he and I are similar that way. Like I'm not a man of very many words. I've been told that like, use your words thoughtfully because they care a lot of weight because you don't say a lot. So quality over quantity, right? I have no idea what you're talking about. That is not in my vernacular by any means. If a thought comes into my head, it comes out of my mouth. Yeah, we know. I apologize for it regularly. I think I do feel like I have to prove something more so to myself. I think that I am here because I did the hard work to get here and this is something that I am more than capable of. What's the most important thing you do as an executive chef? Most valuable thing that you do on a daily basis. I think that leading the human element of everybody involved at the restaurant is the most important thing for me.

28:53Elaborate, please. Just like elaborate now. Well, what's so important to you about the human element and why that helps the whole business? I think that the morale is important to a team and that's boosted from top down I think and everyone is different. Everybody needs a different approach and just to kind of understand what everyone needs individually and approaching it that way and bringing them all together I think is probably the most important thing I do aside from the food. But you're intentional with that? Yeah. How? When you show up to work, do you do individual interviews with people to learn more about them and then actively lean in? What is the way in which you show up for your team? I try and get to know them on a day-to-day basis and learn more and ask questions to them.

29:59We've had some people working with us for years now that I know them thoroughly. I know this guy wants to have some banter with me. This guy needs a little bit of encouragement when he messes something up. You know, things like that and understanding what everybody needs individually. I just kind of, I don't hold interviews with them so to speak. We do like performance reviews but. Why did you know, how do you connect? Do you guys go out drinking after work or I mean like do you guys have like a crew that goes out and hangs? What is it like for your kitchen? A lot of our team, a lot of our crew are good friends outside of work. I think they do catch a couple beers after work sometimes. I don't do that anymore. You don't drink? I do drink. You just don't go out with the team? I go home after work. That's right. You are in a relationship? I am. You're in a relationship. I'm not going to go any farther into it. I don't want to feel anything like, I don't want to let any, yeah anyway. No, I lived in Charleston pretty much all of my 20s and going to the bar after work there, I had enough of it I guess. I like to go home and relax at the end of the night now. Yeah, I'm with you. Towards the end of my operations career I was like, I'm not part of the scene anymore. I'm here to work and go home and while I'm there I'm working, I'm going to be social and that's my social time. I enjoy that while we're working and then I don't need to be at the bar after. Yeah, there's also an element of that too for me because I am kind of a quiet person and leading this restaurant forces me out of that every single day. And so sometimes at the end of the day too I'm like, I just want to decompress and I might drive home in silence. That's a nice drive home. It is, yeah. I remember one time I realized, because I used to be the captain of the brand, what are we doing after work?

32:04And I'm like, oh we're going to go to Jonathan's or we would choose Sam's or whatever it is. And we would have, I was the captain of that. Every night we were doing something and then six months ago somebody was a key employee and they said, I don't mind being a key employee but I still want to get invited to go have beers. I don't want to have to fire people or I don't want to be like, I don't want anybody to hate me. And I was like, does everybody hate? Because I don't ever get invited to go have beers. And finally somebody one night was like, I came in to help him close on a Saturday and like, hey we're going to go to Chili's or it was Jonathan's. Do you want to go? And I was like, yeah. I'm like, Brandon's going to Jonathan's. And it was like a whole thing. It's such a big event now. It was like, oh my God, Brandon's going to Jonathan's. Like he's going to be there. And it was really a kind of a, I don't know, I still don't know what to think about that. Like either everybody hates me and they're afraid to ask me to go or. I think they're afraid to not, they don't hate you. It's just that like you probably, I don't know, you're on a pedestal.

33:12I don't drink alcohol. I don't go to bars. I'm not like a late night guy. So it's like, why even ask him? That's my take. They're like, Brandon's going. Maybe once or twice a year, that'll happen for me. Yeah. Like once or twice a year, then like, oh shit, chef's going. Like, and then it's a. But you see that excitement. I mean, you see the, how excited they are when you're there. And it's, but it's, I agree. You don't have to get everyone just enjoy that. Like you're the celebrity when you're there kind of moment. I think it's like the same way with me talking. Like if I shut up for like 10 minutes, like what's wrong with you? Yeah. You know, for you who doesn't speak a lot, when you do speak, it carries more gravitas. Yeah. That was a word. That's a great word. Yeah. Well, I, every once in a while I throw those out there in my slew of words. I like to use. Yeah. All right. Where are we at in this conversation? Chef, this is your first podcast. It is. How's it going so far? Great. You don't feel nervous anymore? No. Were you nervous walking in? You know, maybe like once I turned on your street for a few minutes, it was like, oh shit, but now I'm not nervous anymore. Yeah. It's cause of the landscaping out front looks so nice. Brandon's been working on that. You know, nice, nice lawn. Thank you. Thank you.

34:29I I'm a, I'm a nerd with my lawn. Don't, I'm not going to, I'm not talking about my lawn though. Uh, you've been in this industry for how many years now? Oh, 17. 17 years. Yeah. 2009. What's the excluding like my bus boy. Did you have all the tattoos when you started? No. Those all came afterwards. Yeah. Is that like, I got like this little one when I was 18. What does that say? From eternity in Latin. It's a best friend tattoo. Okay. Is that like the mark of it? Like chefs, like you need like the sleeves. Like I always thought when I became a GM, I started putting stickers on my laptop, you know, cause if you're a GM of a bar, you have to have stickers all over your laptop. Oh yeah. I got those covered. Kind of the same. It might be the mark of a chef. I don't know. I know of many tattooed chefs and many. Do you have a fork or a pig anywhere on you that show like a beef that shows like the quartered out? No, uh, food related tattoos. No food. Okay.

35:34Now that's kind of rebel-ish. Cause usually as an executive chef, you gotta have some kind of food reference. I've chosen this kind of Japanese narrative and stuck with it. I'm a little jealous. I would dream of having sleeves. Those look good. It looks really good. It's like a good looking sleeve and it's covered. It's covered. Does it just stop at your shoulder? Well, it used to, but it's on my back now. Really? Do you have a favorite tattoo? I like the snake on your right arm. That thing's the first one. Uh, the artist is in Savannah. Um, he did this one when I lived there and then I've traveled for this one and the piece that's on my back now, where did you, where did you have to travel to get those back to Savannah? Oh, she went back to Savannah to get those. Yeah. Cause the ink, the coloring is all very consistent across the whole thing. Once you got a guy, you gotta keep going to that. That's, you know, yeah. Um, is that the rule? I don't know. I, some people, I feel like most people that are into it kind of collect from different artists, but that's, that's just not the route. That's true. It could be like a collection. Now, when you got your tattoos that I have one tattoo, I can't, it's, it's, you can't see it. It's on my left butt cheek.

36:50Okay. It's a big target episode about that. It's the social distortion skeleton. Okay. Now it's, it's a personal thing to commemorate my cousin. Anywho, I just have never had like the, I need this on my arm. I've, I'm coming more and more ideas recently for what I'm going to do. Did you have like a, I want to get a sleeve, but I want it to be this, or did you go, dude, just paint me? Sharpier's Bakery is a locally owned and family operated wholesale bakery, providing bread to Nashville's best eateries. They have operated in Nashville since 1986. Yes. Next year will be 40 years. They providing high quality fresh bread daily for restaurants, catering companies, hospitals, and universities. Their bread is also free from any preservatives and artificial flavors. They're right off of White Bridge Road. Erin Mosso and her team have been doing this for a long time. And you know what I love about them is that they're local and they care. They care about your business. That's like the number one thing you're going to hear me talk about is do they care about your business? And I a hundred percent believe that they do. If you would like to be working with the bakery that cares about your business, give them a call. 615-356-0872.

38:18That's 615-356-0872. Now you can always visit them at sharpiers.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. And they have pictures of all of the bread that they can have for you and contact information. Go check them out. Sharpier's Bakery. Hey, I'm Matthew Clements with Robins Insurance Agency. You know, before I got into insurance, I worked in the hospitality space. So I do understand firsthand how tough it can be to keep things running smoothly. Now I love to help business owners like you protect what you've built. Whether it's a restaurant, bar, hotel, catering operation, I know the risks you're up against and how to cover them properly. This isn't a one-size-fits-all coverage. I'm going to help you find a policy that actually fits your operation, your staff, and your budget. So you can focus on serving guests, not stressing about what ifs. It's an ever-changing market. Anything could go wrong. If you want to work with someone who knows hospitality from the insides and out, reach out to me. Call my cell phone, 863-409-9372 or go to robinsins.com. Are you one of those people who's always on the hunt for the next restaurant location? You open any sweet deals on retail space that may come your way? Why not be proactive and have the market experts out there working for you? The retail team at Lee & Associates, led by Miller Chandler and Megan Glazier, is your go-to for all things commercial real estate in Middle Tennessee.

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41:30Adams Keegan lets you focus on what you do best, creating unforgettable dining experiences while they handle the rest. Essentially, think of Adams Keegan as your back office HR department, right here in Music City. One of the many things I love about Adams Keegan is that unlike big publicly traded companies out there, they have an incredibly high standard of customer service. That's what we all need, is really good customer service in these areas. They don't give you a 1-800 number and make you fill out an IT ticket submission. They surround every client with a team of experts, all based right here in Tennessee. You can call them today at 615-627-0821 or visit AdamsKeegan.com. That's A-D-A-M-S-K-E-E-G-A-N.com for your free HR consultation and see how they can create a customized solution to help your restaurant thrive. Did you have like a, I want to get a sleeve, but I want it to be this or did you go, dude, just paint me? A little A, a little B. Yeah, I was familiar with this artist for a long time because he tattooed a lot of the older, cooler dudes in the hardcore music scene in Columbia that I grew up in.

42:45So when I moved to Savannah, I like already knew who he was. What in Columbia? South Carolina. South Carolina. The hardcore older music dudes? Yeah, like the hardcore music scene. There were some older dudes that were all already tatted and they were all like really friendly with me. So. Or is that what kind of music you're into? Yeah. What do you listen to? Hardcore, metal. I'm all over the place, man. What do you play in the kitchen? It depends who's there. So does everybody have a rotation? Do you have like a stock like person that controls the music or is it whoever gets there first gets to be the DJ or? I feel like usually I'm the one that puts the music on, but it's not like a rule. Do you, but do you, do you try to like check? Do you try to create a vibe? Like if it's Friday, we're listening to corn. If it's Monday, we're listening to Miles Davis. I try and read the room and you know, like I know my chef to cuisine is not into any form of like aggressive music. So I don't want to ruin his day by playing heavy metal. Do you ever fuck with people and just put on like Britney Spears in the morning and just be like, Hey guys, we're jamming out to like 90s pop music today. Sometimes we have fun like that. Christina Aguilera radio. Sometimes I'll, she's an artist from back in the day. I know it's been a while, but I have been known to put on the Ferris Bueller day about about song and just leave the room and put it on repeat.

44:12The ball. Yeah. I think it's that one. Yeah. It's classic. I don't know. It'd be a little weird. All of a sudden this, this song is just playing while you're just putting cutting onions and stuff. Just that's a nice repeat walk away. Then you see how many turns does it take for people to like lose their shit and just bang on the table and silver flies everywhere. And see, that's some, that's what I would do. I would just find like the most random thing. Like this is Engelbert Humperdinck's greatest hits. And we're just going to jam to this all day and see if people start vibing it. Yeah. Then all of a sudden it's like, this isn't too bad, man. You know, and then they'll listen to it in their car on the way home. There's some wishful thinking there. I'm taking it too far. It's that thing. Do you ever play pranks on people? You ever seen the movie Waiting? Oh yeah. Where they have like the game where everybody tries to show each other their nutsack. That's not, that is not something that we do. It's an example of like a game in a restaurant.

45:13Do you guys do any like, do you have like any like behind the scenes like pranks that you do? Nothing too serious. No, I feel like that was a part of my earlier career. All of the inappropriate debauchery, but that's been left behind. Yeah, that's we have fun for sure. When he's a line cook, you know, he's a lot to lose. You don't do stuff like that. Right. I think our house prankster is the chef to cuisine, Rick. Yeah. Yeah. What did you have any good April fools? Like do you guys mean anything? I always forget. That's even a thing. Oh man. I got my wife so good this year. Yeah. Yeah. What'd you do? We had our meeting in Donaldson and I left and she was leaving. She was picked, dropped the kids off school. She was on her way home and I said, Hey, she goes, Hey, I said, I just got a ticket. And she goes, really? I go, yeah, we're in this meeting. And they were like, Hey, to put your car, you know, so I have an electric car that goes very fast when you take off. Right. And so I said, yeah. So I took it, but I said, no, come take for a ride. Now I got in the car and I took off on Donaldson Pike and there was, I was doing 72 and there was a police officer right there. And he nailed me. I got reckless driving. And she was like, like this deep sigh of like, you motherfucker. We do not need a wreck. And I was like, yeah, I, I, I feel like such an idiot. And she was like, that's because I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Happy April fool's day. She was, it took her like a full minute to like come back to earth. She was, it was great. It was a great moment. Yeah. You can get people on April fools because I like, I think a lot of people are like me. I don't even know. I don't even like, why would someone do an April fool's joke? And then it hits you and you're like, oh, okay.

47:12Well, the rest, the rest of the day I drove like church lady, because I was like, now that I've put this into the energy of the world, I come home later that night, that really happened later. Yeah. No, I was like, I'm driving cruise control speed limit. Let's go. All right. So what's your favorite thing to do in Nashville? You found any great restaurants that you love to go eat at? Yeah. There's so many here. I love Locust. How can you not? You and everybody who's ever eaten there. That's actually how I met my girlfriend. She used to work the front house there. What does she do now? She's a private chef for a musician. Oh, wow. Yeah. So you guys are like a chef couple. Yeah, I suppose so. All right. Well, does that work? Who cooks more often at home? Yeah, who cooks more often at home? Or do you guys just always go out to eat? No, we cook at home a lot. Yeah. What is that trade off? All right. So it's date night. She's cooking all day and you are going to cook her dinner. It is your anniversary and you want to make up flowers.

48:26What kind of wine are you getting? Oh, gosh, probably an orange wine. She likes orange wine. Orange orange wine. What is that? I don't even know what orange wine is from oranges. I'll tell you that. It's a I'm going to sound stupid. I don't even want to get into it. I thought I was just red and white. I didn't know there were other colors. Yeah, one. OK, you're going to get an orange wine. What are you cooking? You're at home. I'm probably going to get a nice steak. All right. See what kind of cut they got. What is your favorite steak? What steak has the most flavor? Does it matter? Or do you have to season it? It does matter. It does matter. Yeah. I like a good ribeye. OK, cool. I can't go wrong with a ribeye, specifically the deckle. Yeah. Oh, that's the best part. Yeah, that's got to be the best. The hands down best part of any steak, in my opinion, is the deckle on a ribeye. I'll agree with that. Or on a prime rib. Sure. Prime rib. Same thing, but just cook differently. Right. I'm a big prime rib guy. I'm yeah, I'm probably going to get a nice steak and sear it in the pan and smoke out my apartment.

49:40Yeah. Set the fire alarm off. Smoke alarm. And sides? Yeah. What are you cooking for sides? Yeah, it kind of depends. What's in season, I guess. I cook at home. A seasonal vegetable. Yeah, like a seasonal vegetable, you know. I'd probably go for asparagus right now, if I could find it. Potatoes. That time of the season. Mashed. What's your? Mashed or roasted. What is she cooking you? What's the best thing she's ever made you? What? She made this yesterday, actually. Okay. She made lunch for us and it was chicken that she had braised with a lot of like Mexican spices. She cut up some cabbage, a lot of avocado, a lot of lime juice, just like marinated all together. Hit it with some of the like chili verde chalula. That was nice. Yeah, that sounds nice. Yeah. Well, Sunday afternoon.

50:42Yeah, it was great. We ate it on the balcony at my apartment. I had a piece of three meat pizza from New York Pie in the air fryer. Nice. Nice. Shout out to NYPie. Shout out to NYPie. When I was in my early 20s, I got the best advice and it was learn how to cook three meals for a girl and just all you need is three and then you can just rotate them. So I did that for a long time. I made fettuccine Alfredo last night. That's one of my go-tos. You did? Yeah. No protein? Chicken. There's some, you know what, I know that's on every kid's menu in the world, but if you make a house, like you make the sauce and you, that's a damn good dish. It was good. Sometimes I'll throw some pesto in there or throw some Cajun seasoning in there. Some mushrooms. See now we're not fettuccine Alfredo. Now we're doing all kinds of different things. That's how it works, right? Yeah. You start with like a base and then you see how you can spruce it up and how you can make it your own. And then, Hey, I got a new dish. Yeah.

51:42Is that how it works? Essentially. Essentially? Yeah. All right. Well, I'm just checking. You know, we don't, this is, we have all kinds of different people on the show. First time I met you. So this is kind of fun just to kind of lean in and get to know you a little bit. Sure. If you're going to take her out to eat, it's her birthday. So it's not like an anniversary. It's her birthday. It's a fun night. She's turning 25. How old is she? She's not 25. Older? Okay. We're both in our thirties. She's turning 40. Where are you taking her? Some more fun in town. We haven't done Catbird yet since the new chefs took over. We did Bastion for her birthday. Yours is like all over strategic hospitality. Yes. It's like I'm following the Michelin guide. We do enjoy going to Butterlamp quite a bit. Butterlamp? Yeah. Do you know of Butterlamp? I don't know of Butterlamp. It's in East Nashville. It's a wine bar. But they also make really nice bread. Shout out to Butterlamp. I'm going to have to check that out. Yeah, that sounds like it. They do much more than that. They have a lot of small plates and some like ten fish and oysters on their menu. It's good. I've probably eaten the most recently at Maiz de la Vida. Have you been? I have. That's probably one of my favorites right now. I try to go there. Just lunches. A few weeks ago actually, but I spent too much time dilly-dallying at Carter's Next Door and they were done with lunch. You bought a t-shirt? I bought this a while ago. Do you play?

53:23I do, yeah. I have a guitar here. We've never had anybody play in the studio. You want to play us something? No, not really. Oh, come on. All right, here's what we'll do. After the interview, we'll have you play something. What if I play first? We'll have a featurette from Chef Brian O'Kelly. You guys can both. We'll have a riff off. Oh, you'll feel great about that. How long have you been playing? I'll fall on that sword. Since I was really young, like nine, I think. Yeah, my guitar is a crappy Squire Strat, but it's there because I've wanted... Not really. I know how to play chords, but I played when I was younger, just in my church band. I've always wanted to learn guitar and we moved. I took a bunch of... My wife's like, get rid of all this stuff. She wanted me to take it to Goodwill, but I took it to McKay's and I got trade on it. All our DVDs and Pokemon cards and stuff. I was like... And I got like $350. So I was like, I'm going to get a guitar and an amp.

54:29And I am going to, when I have free time, I'm just going to practice, get my fingers calloused again. And like in my forties, I'm going to learn how to play guitar. So... Never too late. Here's the guitar. There's the amp. I got a distortion pedal and sometimes I will rock out when there's nobody in the house and nobody can hear me. And I'll just play. All my old Pearl Jam and Nirvana songs that I learned when I was 16. I'm more of an acoustic. I got the Taylor at home and it's like the chill acoustic sound, you know? But it's also fun to play like aerials by System of a Down on an acoustic guitar. Sure. It's a fun sound. Yeah. Well, good to hear you. You know that one? What's that? Do you know that one? I'm familiar with that one, yeah. I don't know that one, but yeah. Do you play any other instruments? I had a drum set for a long time, but it's been years. I'm really itching to buy one, but... What kind of guitar do you play?

55:32I have a handful of them. I have a Les Paul. I have a... Custom? Standard? Standard. Standard? Yep. What's the finish on the wood? Cherry. Cherry burst. Oh, that's the... It's nice. The Slash guitar. Yeah. The Slash plays. I was in there a few weeks ago when I was failed at getting Maiz De La Vida and they actually had one of Slash's guitars in there. Really? Yeah. It was like $22,000 or something. Wow. It was like, you're not supposed to touch this as I'm holding it. I'm like, I'm going to put this back. Yeah. I don't want to accidentally buy it. We were... I was at Maiz De La Vida the other day and you know who was in there with me? Who's that? He's... Little known secret, guys. Since Carter's Vintage Guitars is directly next door to Maiz De La Vida, sometimes you'll be in Maiz De La Vida and there'll be amazing guitar players sitting in there because it's the closest place to go eat. Yeah. The Reverend Billy Givens. Wow. Sitting in Maiz De La Vida and I was with a guy and I was like, that's Billy Givens. I also saw him at a restaurant once. Yeah. I mean, he lives here in Nashville, but it was like... I was like, yeah, who's that?

56:34And I'm like, you don't recognize the beard? I mean, that's ZZ Top. And he goes, no. I go, La Grange, all the songs, that dude right there. He's the originator of those songs. That's the guy from ZZ Top. I'm like, look at him. You can't tell that's not the guy from ZZ Top. Unmistakable. Unmistakable. And so that was pretty cool. Yeah, that is cool. Seen him around. Have you seen, have any big celebrities come in and eat that you were like kind of starstruck about? It's been a while, but I think I was most starstruck by Jamie Lea Curtis, probably. That's a big name. Yeah. She's very nice. I have a good friend. Give a shout out to Stephen Faust from MacGuffin Catering, who does a lot of, he does sets and they are really good friends. And he tells me that she is salt of the earth. They're really good friends. And not because they just cook together, but because she's just like that kind of human being. She's just amazing. Yeah. She seemed very nice. Very personable. Jamie Lea Curtis.

57:47That's big. Reese Witherspoon's probably, is that maybe the most famous that I've Where would you know Jamie Lea Curtis from? Like what film? I mean, there's, if you were to name like the film, just know what genre you're The one I'm thinking of now is Freaky Friday because we recently watched the second one. So that's all I can think of. Halloween. Okay. Halloween. I, I would go, I've never seen a full Halloween movie. I'm scared. Like Mike Myers is like the freakiest thing. I watched like one part of Halloween when I was like 12 and I didn't sleep for like a month. I was constantly looking out my door thinking Mike Myers is outside and I was like, this is not for me. But yes, just because I think true lies, true lies, true lies would be the one that came right to my head. Have you seen True Lies? Great movie. Yeah, but I don't remember her. The main character, her and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

58:49She's Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife. Oh, I'm thinking of something different. It was a great movie. It was a great movie. Great movie. True Lies. Bill Paxton. Oh yeah. Fantastic. No. No. Wasn't Bill Paxton. Was it? I think it was. No, it was Roseanne Barr's old husband. What was his name? True Lies. I think so. I think Bill Paxton is like the and that was Independence Day. I have to Google it. We're gonna pull the Google machine. I would like to know if I'm wrong. Who is in the cast of True Lies? Tom Arnold is his name by the way. Tom Arnold. Was Roseanne Barr's husband. Yeah, he's like the main Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold. Bill Paxton was the sleazy, the sleazy. Yes. Tom Arnold. We were both right. Bill Paxton. Tia Carrera. Okay. Yeah. Eliza Dushku was the daughter. Look at that. What a great cast. If you haven't seen True Lies, they're not a sponsor, but go check it. All right. Oh, what time are we at? We're about 45 minutes.

01:00:12Cool. Anything? What did you anticipate we would talk about today? What did you not want us to talk about today? There wasn't anything. I was really like, ah damn. Let's talk about that thing. Yeah. I wouldn't bring it up now. He's like, I'm almost out. Well, I think I was on this track earlier, but like 17 years in the industry, what do you think the biggest change is from when you started till today? Like in the kitchen and just the trends of restaurants from what you were seeing then versus how you operate now? I think it's what's in the limelight right now is like how people are being treated. Treated from the people running the kitchens. And so overall kitchen culture back in the day, I think Jordan, Jordan, Gordon Ramsey, famously in Hell's Kitchen just screams at people, dresses them down, shames them, all of that stuff. You probably experienced some of that when you were a dishwasher coming up, chefs screaming and yelling and just completely insane behavior. A lot of that's gone. It's gone. That's not your style. No, nobody wants to be treated that way. Nobody wants to work for those people.

01:01:30Yeah. I don't want to work for those people. I think there's an argument to say that it kept that standard of excellence. Yeah. Because you were afraid that if you did not do all these things, you would get screamed at. And now how do you maintain that standard of excellence without screaming? I think everybody at the restaurant is on the same page. And everybody wants to do the right thing. They want to do it the way that it's supposed to be done. So when it's not correct, it's not like a heated moment of like yelling. It's like, hey, this is not right. Let's do it this way. It's disappointment, not it's a little shame. Like you said, that's the right thing to do. I mean, it's like the buy in on the culture and the standards that people just agree this is the way to do it. And I'm going to do it because it's the right thing, not because I'm afraid of getting yelled at. If you're just afraid of getting out that you're only going to do enough to not get yelled at. Yeah. I don't want people to be afraid of me. I don't know. It was almost a rhetorical question invited to the bar afterwards. Now I know why I never got invited to the, I'm not a screamer. I don't ever yell.

01:02:54I don't like being yelled at and I don't want anybody to be yelled at. We had this thing called emotional tranquility. We want you to have emotional tranquility at work. That's free, freedom from emotional stress. I want this to be an oasis for you. I want you to drive to work going, I get to go to work today. I love the people I work with. It's fun. I get fulfillment out of it. I know I'm doing a good job when I'm there. I want to keep doing that. Um, I guess what I was looking for is like hiring, you know, like what is your process for hiring people? Do you have, are you at the point where you have to put ads out or do people just constantly? Why are you getting people that are applying for jobs from out of state because they want husk on their resume? Sometimes we have that. Um, we do have ads up occasionally when we need to hire people, but it's, it's finding the right person, whether they have extensive experience and they're a rock star already or somebody that has the right intentions. And you just got to kind of feel it out and vet the person and see their level of interest in what they're trying to gain out of the experience. What's kind of your, your percentage of like the experience really matters, but their intention and their personality that, you know, the culture that they'll buy into really matters too. I mean, how do you kind of balance the two from like an all star person who's a shady person to a really great person that wants to learn, but they don't quite have the skills yet. I would always lean into that person, the one that doesn't have the skills over somebody that's not going to be a good fit. The culture in the kitchen at husk is paramount to me. Um, I wouldn't give it up for anything. I think what you just said is, is, is crucial.

01:04:43Yeah. That a lot of people don't understand how much attitude plays a role in your success. Yeah. You can be the most knowledgeable person in the world. You could be a hell of a chef, you could execute, but if you're a Dick and you're, you're not coachable cause you already know everything, you're not a help to me. Yeah. Also like if you're the leader and you're a Dick, they're not going to listen and you might know everything and be able to teach them anything, but they don't want to listen. Like we're not going to get that information. We also have a incredible success rate with people that are a little greener. Um, but I think that success rate is because that's the way you look at it. Yeah. Yeah. I try to be, um, but everyone, everyone on the management team at the restaurant is a teacher and we all have our own perspectives. And see, I almost preferred hiring green people because they were like a piece of clay. Like you couldn't mold them to do it specifically the way that you did it. There was not a lot of bad habits that came in. Yeah. That's where I'm at now. I would rather hire the green person. I hired a culinary student site on scene after a phone interview, um, last fall and he moved here to work here and he is just an absolute rock star. What's his name? His name's Matthew. Shout out to Matthew. Shout out to Matthew. You know, I love saying stuff like that because you have the executive chef on a podcast talking about your team, telling a story. Like say the guy's name. Let's, let's, let's give Matthew a shout out for being a culinary student, taking it seriously for me. I think it boils down and in the book, unreasonable hospitality, he says, it's cool to care. Yeah. If you show up to work and you genuinely care, it shows through in everything. If you're like, Oh, this is just a job to get a check. Yeah. I'm also not hiring somebody that tells me they just need a job. Yeah. I had an application on the desk the other day

01:06:45that said, why do you want to work here? Need money next. Yeah. Like no shit. Okay. I get it, but I don't think you're the good, the right person for us. I got a couple of like interview questions. I really like one. I like to ask them, tell me a couple of good things that happened to this week, you know, and it's a good little icebreaker, but also like, are they able to quickly recall positive things that happen around them? And then the other one is do you Jenner genuine or generally feel lucky or unlucky? And if they're the person that's like, Oh, I always have the worst luck. Like there's this rain cloud above them at all times. And you know that they're going to bring that in. They're going to be the gossiper. They're going to, you know, I can weed out with, and they're fun questions. That's a great question. Do you feel unlucky or lucky? And they're like, Oh, I'm lucky. I, everything's great for me. And you're like, okay, that's a right answer. But then there's also the answer that there's my own luck, right? That I create. And that's cool too. But as long as they're not, the wrong answer is that I have the worst luck that things happen to me. I really identify with Eeyore the character.

01:07:56You want to be Gumby? Yeah. Do you guys know who Gumby? Okay. I feel like I'm older and older every day, but you look really young. You look like you're like late twenties. I'm 35. 35. Nice. Put in the work too. I like that. It's important to have a good skincare routine. We do actually get into our skincare routine right after these words from our sponsors. Super Source develops and distributes high quality cleaning products and supplies, as well as delivers wear wash, housekeeping, laundry programs, and food service training. They partner with restaurants, golf and country clubs, hotels, and resorts, schools, universities, and healthcare institutions. Save time and money and reduce inventory by utilizing their high quality products and engaging with their highly trained service specialists. If you're looking for wholesale cleaning products like dish machines in Nashville, Tennessee, they have you covered. Listen guys, this is way more than a dish machine and chemical company. They do not make you sign a contract. They earn your business every single week. And let me tell you, I will personally vouch for Jason Ellis and his entire team over at Super Source. If you want a dish machine and chemical company like this, give them a call. 770-337-1143. And if you are a member of the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance, make sure you tell them that you get the special NARA pricing.

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01:12:08Sign up at SharedSpirits.com. and I'm like what do you do she's like every night that 30 minutes of cleaning my face does this and I was like should I start doing something like that like I just use shampoo and I rub it on my face because I have like a beard does that count she's like I don't know how you survive this long and so now I'm doing like a thing that has SPF on it and it's supposed to help your face look better okay all right men can talk about skincare routines right me to do that too though and I'm just like I brush my teeth I get a bit I don't think about oh yeah let me you know and do all this I don't know to me I'm like the water in the face in the morning wakes me up and I do that at night that's just weird to me okay can we can we can we abandon all chef talk for a minute sure I'm in the shower the other day and there's a towel hanging on the side of the shower because we hang our towels on the side of the shower glass shower we hang the towels on the side of the shower when I take a shower I just use whatever towel is hanging from the shower I don't really care we just kind of like interchange them every once in a while there's always a towel hanging there that's the towel that I use sure okay I'm in the shower the other day and she goes hey do you want a fresh towel and I'm like I don't know like this towel will be fine she's like but it's kind of damp and I'm like doesn't matter it's gonna dry me like it works excuse me and she goes I'll get you a fresh towel and she put like a nice dry fresh towel over and I was she was like I prefer a dry fresh towel and I was like I never knew that about you we've been married for 21 years and I'm like I just assume you grab a towel like I grab a towel is this a thing to anybody else yes my girlfriend is single use towel only single use towel single use really I swear it's I didn't notice it until maybe six

01:14:13months ago but that's a lot of laundry I mean do you do like like I have a stack of it over I have a stack of towels to wash after this I'll say that so do you do the laundry in the house I do laundry at my apartment do you do you need to outsource that to like CMB linen because you have so many towels that you're running through not every day there's a towel that gets washed like she has a single use one time towel one time only I promise you what about you I'll use it a couple times okay now do you have your own towel because she's using a brand new towel every time she's never going to use a towel that you've used no what about you I reuse it yeah it's uh but yeah it depends on uh but do you and Megan share like the same towel does she have like a different color towel yeah yeah we have different color towels I mean well it's really from like the two households combining like she had towels then I had towels then you move in together and then I just keep using my towels and she's using hers now I don't know what's on the registry maybe we have like more towels coming for for the wedding and like and stuff and then we just start using those but well I'm gonna hook you up man yeah all right cool well like we just have like there's like six towels I guess I bought like a pack at Costco and like we just pull one out and there's one up there but like that's the way I've always done it I haven't even thought twice now we'd have different luffas no luffa luffa luffa yeah I'm a luffa straight bar of soap on the body bar of soap on the yeah I'm the only one a crow magnet man over here how do you exfoliate the other step I was straight bar of soap guy for a long time so don't you too I did it for a long time and then my wife like one day was like here with like the dove men's or whatever it was and I was like oh this is way better what's the value why would I why should I do the luffa this exfoliates your skin okay yeah helps your skin breathe gets the dead skin off of you it helps you clean better

01:16:14I guess okay are the people out there in their cars flipping out right now just going what how are three dudes having this conversation do you wash your face every night every night no no no do you have a special face wash no she does okay but you don't and then she's like hey why aren't you using this I'm like well I don't know that's do I need to use it too like I don't think do you have a face wash like a separate face wash no I don't either I just use like shampoo on my face that's usually what I do in the shower you wash your beard with like shampoo yeah can you tell a difference no no mine is so short you guys have like beards though like do you brush it do you brush your beard maybe just look at a little squirrely over on a comb through it but this is the line of conversation I am longest I ever let it get anymore anyway so this is I think this is the best part of the interview by the way yeah I could talk about this stuff all day long men's skincare what about the zipper method when you drive if there's two lanes and there's a big sign that says you see the arrows pointing over and there's a lot of traffic and everybody's merged over but there's a good 200 yards before that lane ends do you get out of that lane go all the way to the front to get back in or do you just wait like a like a normal person I guess the context clues tell you what I kind of if I get over I'm gonna stay there but I'll I'll choose methodically when to get over I'm not gonna drive to the front of the line and slam on brakes to get over but yeah I don't like doing that but I'll say this that I can part of of I-65 and 24 and stuff where it comes around so if I'm coming up north I-65 and I get on then I gotta get all the way over and stuff yeah that's it get on 440 yeah I'm gonna go around all those people and then right before like second and fourth avenue exit is then I'm hopping over because everyone's trying to change so I can find my spot to zip ring up there and I don't have to get into that lane way back on 65 there's two places in town

01:18:19that I'm 65 north at 440 I will go at the very end because I'm always going 440 like towards like green hills I'm usually not going towards the airport I'm usually going towards the airport but then I don't go towards it then I gotta go because I gotta go to east Nashville so now I gotta get all the way to the left in like a quarter of a mile now the other ones if you're coming from the airport and you're on 40 and you're going towards like 24 there's a big split there right you go to the right it goes downtown and then you go to the left and it kind of goes towards 440 or 24 that always backs up I always get in the far left hand and then I merge right before 440 because it backs up like half a mile back and there's always these huge gaps of cars and I'm like I'm not just gonna sit so we determined we're we're all going all the way to the front basically in in those scenarios though in those two places in the city that's where I do it now the one thing I hate is when I start to get over and then there's people like way behind me then now they're just like oh I'm gonna go fly around all of you and to just like a normal get onto the highway scenario then I'm kind of like I don't go all the way into the lane I keep like I keep my spot in both lanes they don't do that you block the lane yeah that's just defense yeah why should they go around all of us I low-key love that yeah this reminds me of my spot emerging they're letting me in I'm just not gonna go all the way and I'm just gonna stay like okay thank you but I'm gonna stay in the middle until that lane ends and that way nobody can do exactly the thing I'm talking about hating of driving past everybody you're blocking the lane so that there are people right now in their car but I hate you yeah yeah cool they want to ride that want to come over here and punch you in the face right now you have to merge I'm just kidding I kind of like it and he's in a what kind of card is a red corvette that you have yeah it's a big dodge truck what kind of car do you drive uh Tacoma Tacoma Toyota truck yeah okay you like it I love it you just got a new car yeah we can't

01:20:26say it on the air now though he's gonna be looking at me on the highway he got a a uh an suv yeah it's a honda tucson tucson yeah there's lots of those nobody's gonna know it's you yeah I don't care if they do or not what are they gonna do go around me yeah we'll have to go for a ride in my car later I'll show you guys how fast just on this 30 mile per hour road over here and not get it that's not April Fools we can't do that all right chef Brian O'Kelly thank you for that fun little after kind of I seem like a manly man talking about skincare routine I think it's very important you might need a second podcast yeah domesticated man podcast domesticated man because that is you know what's funny because that is exactly me you see people out there like you're feral I'm like I am so domesticated like I am none of those things even bought I just like what do you want to do on the weekend you know it's like that scene in um old school old school where he's like what are you doing this where he's like nice we got we got we're doing a little uh you know target run we're gonna do a little home depot got enough time bed bath and be on a nice little I don't know if I have enough time I don't have time like a nice little saturday though that is my dream saturday let me work in the yard and my home depot what's that said minus the streaking I mean you know let's see what happens I don't think the neighbors would like it but I am totally that dude who's in his yard all weekend long now that's a movie old school that's a great movie what is your favorite movie of all time do you have like uh I gotta stay true to my answer and say uh dumb it up here good I can respect it I just don't agree with it that's okay listen I think I'm putting old if we're talking comedy I'm putting old school there I'm putting anchorman there or like a caddy shack or animal house was an absolute airplane naked gun I mean I don't know but I love anchorman to me was one of those just non-stop throughout the entire

01:22:33most quotable movie ever yeah for sure I don't like the characters like I like the movie like old school they're like obviously they're all playing characters but like that kind of you know that like extra character like dumb and anchorman and they're funny but I just I prefer the the more like I go old school wooden crashers kind of thing I'm not going comedy I'm gonna go drama true lies I'm just kidding Jamie Lee Curtis Bill Paxton amazing film now I go at the tie of Shawshank Redemption and um Silence of the Lambs what do you got drama I'm gonna go there will be blood there will be blood I feel like I used to say the departed a lot that's a good one um but damn there's so many and I might even throw if I could just throw the Lord of the Rings trilogy in there I'll do that it's a great there's so many great movies yeah every time we're doing our big NARA connect event tomorrow and one of the things that when you have your name tag when you come in you have to put your name the restaurant you work for and then tomorrow's going to be favorite band just so that everybody knows when they walk up to somebody and it has last one was favorite movie yeah you have to have your favorite your name your restaurant your favorite movie so when you walk up meet somebody like hey Vince oh the departed I love that one it's just an immediate something that is a conversation topic I like that I know your restaurant I know your favorite movie tomorrow's gonna be your favorite band so mine's I'll say Brandon then Pearl Jam my oh now I gotta think what's your favorite band or musician it could be an individual if you like Joni Mitchell it could be Joni I guess I gotta give it to Kenny Chesney wow I did okay you didn't think that was coming no you made a Kenny Chesney reference I'm not wearing shoes you're like you want all Kenny Chesney on this and I'm like yeah yeah what about you um I'm probably gonna go with the band called Death Heaven Death Heaven Death Heaven D-E-A-T-H D-E-A-F Death Heaven Heaven all right tell me about Death Heaven they were like a

01:24:33melodic black metal-esque band they kind of dipped their toes in several different little genres of metal music well Kenny Chesney dips his toes in the water and uh on the sand and if I had to say band I maybe say like OAR or something from back in my youth but I don't know are you playing a song if I can what's the best song Doberman I think that's the first like real song on their last album yeah that's a good one see if I can connect this up here all right that's it what's the song I gotta play I think their biggest one is probably uh I like this as an intro song to the podcast Dreamhouse Dreamhouse all right here we go Dreamhouse 2013 that's what they're gonna play at the end of every set it's very long off their album Sunbather you're listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio this is Dreamhouse seems like it's just it's a long intro here the drums coming kicks in I could prep some food to this yeah be chopping I need to just listen to this before other people get to the restaurant they don't want to kill their vibe so you see like harder yeah does he sing

01:26:40he has clean vocals sometimes not on not on this particular record yeah yeah he's just screaming that's that's that's what you like though yeah okay deaf heaven deaf heaven deaf heaven there was another question I had that I was like another one of those random things that I wanted to know um that if I do is is right or wrong and I've completely forgot what it was now after listening to deaf heaven yeah we can just uh we can just leave it at that for next time for next time next time yeah uh if you want to go eat at husk it is uh downtown it's downtown it's downtown the top of little hill it's in an old house rutledge hill rutledge hill it's top of rutledge hill right next to the howard school the howard building howard school is what it used to be called I don't know if that's what it is now um you're open seven days a week seven days a week lunch and dinner dinner only dinner only um except for saturday sunday brunch saturday sunday brunch what's the thing if I'm gonna go to brunch there what what's what do I gotta have if you're going to brunch for the first time you gotta get the husk cheeseburger okay got to husk cheeseburger what why the husk cheeseburger bear creek farms old thing farms beef two smash patties special sauce ketchup american cheese and onions on a brioche bun I mean you you have me there yeah what's the best hamburger in nashville can't say your brunch cheeseburger no I wouldn't best cheeseburger in nashville this isn't a nashville specific brand but I love the cheeseburgers at jack brown's no I think that that is a uh I think that works I think a lot of people love jack brown a lot of people are putting that at number one or our top three yeah people love the jack browns what about you what's your best burger uh I'm a big shulman's guy in east nashville okay yeah it's like very

01:28:43simple it's not like a crazy it's not crazy big it's just like it's just the perfect little burger you know I always go green chili cheeseburger at redhead a stranger oh yeah that's definitely in my top three the best hamburger and then bad luck burger club dream burger I think those are like hands down amazing burgers but I will tell you I had the blackberry smoke at cletus the other day and that the brand new cletus there on eighth avenue where the old um what's it called uh hot chicken party foul old party values right across from like maize de la vida and all those places just open and I had the blackberry smoke and it's like marscapone cheese with blackberry jam bacon and like a fried egg I mean it was like this crew I was like that just has too many crazy things on it and it was still every burger I've had at cletus has been there they're coming on really really strong for it I've been there yet well you know what you can get like a classic burger like a classic smash burger classic cheeseburger a lot of different places they get so creative they have a blues that's all named like different theme like the blues brothers burger is like blue cheese and all these different things on it they're so creative with their burgers and they're delicious so I get a big shout out to cletus cool I used to live down the street from uh burger republic too and I always liked that in the gulch uh Lennox village yeah all right brian oh kelly we have kept you for over an hour it's been a pleasure thank you for hanging with us thank you it's been a lot of fun man and we gotta uh we'll we'll do it again some time we'll go see you over at husk please do I know you're doing amazing things keep it up shout out to all the people working in the kitchen at husk we didn't talk about front of the house people at husk but shout out to you guys too uh keep on keeping on man we really appreciate you thank you thanks for being here boom big thank you to chef oh kelly for coming in today making the trip out to

01:30:48meet with us in studio I tell you I think that last like 10 15 minutes was my favorite part of the interview sometimes I just love just like riffing with people and having a good time and learning more about them uh please don't hate on vents for blocking the lane and it is now time for the gordon food service final thought sorry I just wanted to use that new uh my new sound this is not going to be that exciting of a final thought but I will tell you this one of the things he mentioned was the way that restaurants have changed over the last 17 years he talked about intense atmospheres and that people are a little more calm and I think that is something that we have to take into every day as leaders regulating your emotions and not letting your emotions get the best of you while you're leading other people is paramount being a leader doesn't mean you can yell the loudest being the leader means everybody wants to follow you means everybody sees what you're doing and you're doing it the right way and they want to do it that way and when you have a kitchen that has that level of respect for the person in charge it's not fear it's not intimidation it's not shame it's wow I see the way that that person keeps it all together and they're in charge and I feel safe your job as a leader is to ensure the safety of everybody in your team and get them all doing the same thing doing that while dysregulated and yelling and screaming using fear and intimidation is not leadership and I think that today's chefs have learned that they've learned that because people don't respond to that anymore I also love the idea of hiring that question that Vince said do you feel like you're

01:32:48an unlucky person or a lucky person I thought that was a really great interview question to find out just people's perspective on life I tend to be a glass is half full that there's not I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to that question but I think that it's very telling and I think that if you're out there looking for a job having in a can-do attitude a coach ability is something that is really really strong and really important I to this day go see a coach because I need to be coached it's amazing somebody being able to talk to me and tell me when I'm being when my ego is driving me when I'm thinking with my head instead of my heart and every one of us does that and it's your job to look in the mirror and identify when you're doing it when you can do it better so that's my final thought today with a cool calm collected guy like Brian O'Kelly coming in here just talking laughing you can tell in his kitchen it's a very chill atmosphere except for when he's playing deaf heaven because that's a that was that was kind of hardcore but hey I like it and it was a lot of fun having him here we hope to see you soon I will have another episode out with Daniel Jimenez and April 20th this coming Monday a week from today you will get to come to the American Culinary Federation meeting with yours truly speaking at it be telling the story of NARA and what's going on with local restaurants right now it's going to be at the Hickory Hollow I don't think call that the Nashville State Campus the Randy Rayburn School for Culinary Arts I'll be speaking there it's open to anybody that wants to come we'd love to have you go to nashvillechefs.org they should have the more I think it starts at six don't quote me on that but I will put a post up if you follow at NARA Nashville or at Brandon still you will find it thank you Vince Lanni for guest hosting with me you may get to hear more of him

01:34:54that was a lot a lot of fun we hope that you guys are staying safe out there love you guys bye