Jen Ichikawa

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. So excited to be here on a Friday, yeah. Love a Friday too. You know, I love Mondays, but Friday, damn, Fridays are fantastic too. I just wish it would cool down a little bit outside, my God. So I hope you guys are doing well. Hey, we got a cool show today. We're going to be talking with our co-host, Jen Ichikawa, and I teased, I talked about this in the last episode, but Jen decided that she needed to take a break and she had a lot going on and she really needed to prioritize some things.

01:02And I don't blame her. She had a crazy, crazy past couple years and maybe she'll come back on. Maybe she'll do some more shows than me right now. She's taking a break. So that's good. But so today I wanted to bring her in and I wanted to just, I just wanted to catch up with her, really. I mean, we ended up talking for like two hours after the interview as well, but this is like an hour or so of just Jen and I catching up. So there's not a lot of restaurant stuff going on here. Some restaurant stuff. Mostly it's just me catching up with Jen and I'm going to put it out as a podcast and hopefully you like it. How about that? We are going to be talking with Brian Lee Weaver from the Redheaded Stranger and Butcher and Bee. He has a new venture coming up, new restaurant. It's going to be over there in East Nashville and he's going to tell you all about it. That is going to be coming up on Monday. I'm super excited to get that episode out there to you. And then we're going to be talking with the folks from Bagel Shop. They're going to be our next week's show. Then I'm going to take a little vacation.

02:03We're going to hear from the CEO of Gordon Food Service. I'm going to replay that episode. Rich Wolowski and that guy's amazing. This is well before they were our title sponsor, but I thought it'd be fun to bring back in. If you're out there wondering who you should buy your groceries from, this is a good dude and he comes on the show and he's amazing. He's the CEO of the company. So I'm excited to share that with you. It's going to be out, gosh, the 19th. We got a lot of stuff going on. I'm going out of town here pretty soon, so I've got a couple of episodes on banking. But I do want to tell you about something really, really fun that we're going to start doing and I need your input. This is informal, but if you know the places, start sending them to me right away. With our partners, NetChex, who you know are amazing for HR, for payroll, for hiring, they're really on for everything. I love these guys. Anna and Lauren over there have been absolutely great partners. I know that you guys are calling them and you're setting up appointments and you're switching over your HR and payroll solutions over to NetChex.

03:06But we are going to bring back Bracketology. Let me tell you what we're going to do. We are going to bring back, we're going to bring a 64 team bracket. And on this bracket, we are going to identify the number one Mexican restaurant in Middle Tennessee. Yes. We are going to be breaking it down from every single area, every category, Bellevue to Mount Juliet to Hendersonville to all over. And I need your submissions. If you have a really good Mexican restaurant in your area, and I'm talking locally owned and operated, Chewy's does not count. I'm talking La Hacienda, my Bellevue, my favorite is El Aguero. I love Cancun as well on the border. Those are my Bellevue places that are like right by me. But maybe you're a Tito's fan. Maybe you're a Pueblo Real fan.

04:07Maybe you're one, you know, there's a million of these restaurants. We're going to take 64 of the best ones. I don't want to forget my friend's Memo's restaurant up there in Mount Juliet. Those guys are amazing too. But we're going to have 64 of these and we're going to put it out there for a vote. And it is going to come down to a final four and then we will have a grand champion. And what we are going to do, Mexican Independence Day is September the 16th. It's a Friday. We are going to throw a party at the number one restaurant. Whoever wins the thing on September the 15th, we're going to have mariachi band. We're going to throw a huge Mexican Independence Day party for the best Mexican restaurant in Middle Tennessee and you will all be invited. It is going to be a great, great time. We're excited about putting this out there. Stay tuned. We're probably going to have voting start the last week of July, but I need your submissions. So go find us on Instagram at Nashville underscore restaurant underscore radio. And then just DM say, Hey, look, this is my favorite restaurant.

05:08Tell me what part of town you're in. Tell me what your favorite Mexican restaurant is and we will ensure that we get them with the most submissions. We'll get you into the contest. There's way more than 64 or 65, 64 teams. Maybe there'll be a plan. I don't know, but I need you to let us know. And this is all going to be brought to you by our friends over at net checks. So really, really good stuff. We are also going to be bringing back Brandon's book club, right? But I know you guys were all really excited about it last time we do it and I hate the name, but Hey, you know, maybe we can name it something else. We're going to start off with Michael Easter's book, the comfort crisis, and it is going to be for the month of August. So we'll get that going here in a little bit. But if you are excited to join a book club and then we're going to have, we're going to provide some books for you. We've got a lot of parameters run. I'm not going to go into all the detail yet, but just be excited that we're going to start back Brandon's book club. Yes. So great people around us.

06:10I think Robin's insurance is going to be helping with that, helping buy some books and can be partnering with us there. But net checks and Robin's insurance, amazing companies that want to support you and you should support them. If you go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com and click the sponsors tab and you can find those sponsors and there's a special offers for you being Nashville restaurant radio listeners. All right. So we're going to jump in real quick with Jen Ichikawa. And I hope you guys enjoy this episode. We'll be back Monday with Chef Brian Lee Weaver. Super excited today to welcome in my co-host, Jen Ichikawa. I want to say co-host because I'm, you're not the former co-host. You're still the co-host to me. Okay. How's work? Yeah, that's fine. Yes. I mean, this is a guest appearance right now, but yes, that's fine.

07:10You are on the other side of the table. You're not staying. You normally sit next to me. I know, but you rearranged it. And so I was like, well, I'll just sit across. Plus I haven't seen you in a while and it's better to talk. I feel like across. Instead of like sitting next to each other or just nobody. Yeah, like the people that sit on the same side of the booth, like. See, I just miss you so much. I miss you too. I feel, I love doing interviews with people and it's so much fun, but I miss your perspective. I miss just you. I just talked to Brian Lee Weaver and I was like, he was like, where's Jen? And I'm like, I, you know what? She needed to take a little bit of time as that she had to take her. She had some things she wanted to prioritize mental health and like just all of the things that you got to do. And I totally was here for it. And I'm excited to have her come back in today to be the guest on the show. But really, I just want to catch up with you. Right. 2021 was a really emotionally exhausting year for me in a lot of ways, having my husband got sober and, you know, our kids were growing so fast.

08:13I feel like I'd never understood that idea of like, oh, the days are long, but the years are short. But it's true. It's their first year went by so quickly. And then I think about six months ago when we celebrated their first birthday. And that feels like so long ago. It does feel like so long ago. It feels like so long ago. And now they're a year and a half. And anyway, the development is wild. I was like stalking myself online. Do you ever do that? Were you just like, what do I look like to strangers? Like, just check over your profile. OK, people do that. I'm pretty sure that I'm not like a lone soldier. No, I think you are. There's no way. There's no way. It's a thing I think people do. But anyway, I was just like getting my vibe, like what's happening here. Right. So anyway, I was stalking myself and I realized that I'd posted. Back in like February about Ezra walking for the first time or like really committing to walking as opposed to like crawling. And I'm like, that was February because I feel like he's been like now he runs everywhere and he's all he's into everything.

09:16Noel can like open doors like they've just grown so much. And I'm like, that was only February that feel also like as a country we've gone through so much since then, like it's just like a never ending new thing. And like so many emotions are poured into that new thing, whether it's my children or the country or my husband, whatever it is, it was just like too much. I felt like there was no room for me anymore and I needed to like carve out space for me. So I stepped back from a lot of things. Yeah, no. And. That's a good explanation. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. So it wasn't that you just didn't like doing the show and you hate me. Yeah, it was like a little bit that. No, no, I just I really needed to carve out space. And that's like finding a nanny that really works for us has been so great, too. And you find one. We did. We we this is our second one. We started with one that like was a nice person. I just think wasn't the right fit for what we really needed. And that's kind of the hard thing about kids is that I'm learning is like, you don't know when you're fucking up.

10:21You don't know when you've made the wrong choice until you've already made it. So like that woman, it was super nice, but like it just wasn't the right fit for our family. But how could you know that when you start, right? So anybody you hire to do anything. Yeah. They're going to put their best foot forward on the front end until they actually do the job. You don't know what they're capable of. But like, you also don't know what you're looking for exactly, right? Like we had an idea of what we thought we were looking for. And that wasn't it. So then we had to like we'd spent a couple of weeks, like really thinking about it and like putting together because I'm a list person. So we like would put together lists and stuff. And anyway, it just all fell to like, OK, well, we should start the search for a new person. And so we found this like amazing woman who I love so much. And we're like we have a lot of mutual friends, which also made me feel more comfortable. And they all had incredible things, reference checks and stuff like that. They all had like incredible things to say about her. And so now I feel more comfortable leaving them with her.

11:23And she's only with them like a few two nights a week and one day. And my one day, I like grocery shop alone, which is if you don't know that that's like pleasurable, it's pleasurable. I was just about to say, like, these are the things that people don't like. You get so much unsolicited advice when you're pregnant. Yeah. Like these are the things like after you have the kid, you're like, oh, yeah, you guys are right. Yeah. The people that would tell you stuff, you're like, I get it. Thanks. But until you walk through Target alone. And this is I don't know this thing, because this is my wife's because I do that stuff. Right. I'm the Brian does the same thing. He's like, I grocery shop alone all the time. I'm like, cool. Yeah, no, no, no. You don't understand. Like for her, when you go to the store with the kids, first of all, you spend an extra hundred dollars. That's ridiculous because they're like, they cannot stop grabbing. And you're like, stop, stop, stop. Well, and Noel is like, OK, I love my kid. And I hope she never listens to us. But like, she's kind of a thief. So I don't know that she's pickpocketing, not people, but places, which I'd rather it be corporations and like individuals anyway.

12:28But like, truly, I'll be like, no, weird. Like she stole from our church a couple of weeks ago. It was an empty Play-Doh canister. They were fine. But I did have to bring her back and be like, this is not your toy. This is their toy. And they were like, it's OK. I'm like teaching a lesson that I have to do today and like she's 18 months. I'm sure she's not like fully comprehending that that's not her toy. But like she just accidentally. So anyway, I'll look in the car and suddenly there's like a payday or like a like something that she just needed to hold for the whole time. And now I'm buying because if I take it, there's a tantrum. So like you have to take it back in and do that. Yeah, because when we teach our children, this is one of those big things that like you hear, you watch a video on social media. It's like. The mom will get the kids to the car and they never rang up the payday that was in the bottom of the cart. And she's like, oh, I guess that's their fault. Now we get one like those little things, just those little moments, a moment of truth that your kids see and they go, well, you don't go back in and pay for it. Why should I have to? Right.

13:28It's like those tiny little things like, no, that's what you need to do. Yeah. And we're trying the gentle parenting route, which is. Like kind of this, I don't know if it's new or not. Like I've only been a mom for 18 months. I don't know if it's new, but it's new to me because all parenting is basically new to me. And it's like so hard because it's you have to figure out your own triggers in order to like deal with them. So today I was getting dressed this morning and I was I was just super frustrated. Like Ezra, just for whatever reason, he's like kind of in his clingy phase right now. And so he wants to be on me all the time, but so does Noel. And so I have to write like they both just want to be on mommy all the time. Well, mommy also has to like get your breakfast made and like brush her own teeth and like use the restroom and like put on clothes. Like mommy has mommy's a person outside of a couch. You know, like you're not just a couch. Right. So it's like, golly. So it was like a super frustrating morning. Any time I put one of them down, it was just like.

14:30And if you're claustrophobic at all, having two kids like climb on you, it's like, yeah, just just move. Yeah, just like putting on my makeup was like a true testament to patients. So anyway, it was a whole thing. And I was like, OK, mommy is getting very triggered right now. Mommy is feeling very frustrated. Mommy is feeling very overwhelmed. And I need you guys to just play with the toy. So we like turned off Miss Rachel is the YouTube show they watch all the time that they love turned off Miss Rachel because I was getting in sensory overload. So we had to turn off. That's a real thing. That's a real thing that I had to like. I can't handle it sometimes. No, it was too much. So we turned off Miss Rachel and then we gave them each Noel really like stacking and like building. So I gave her like a building toy. Asra really likes his ducky stuffed animal. So he got his stuffed animal. And I was like, mommy needs a couple. It did not work. So I went back to Miss Rachel, but I went to the Christmas episode, which for them is like they're really into Christmas, which is cool because we named our kid Noel because I'm really into Christmas. Right.

15:32So it was like full circle, like fantastic. I love that you love Jingle Bells, but we sing it 47 times a day every day. My wife would love that. No, it's so great. It's like we sing Jingle Bells. I love that she loves it. So anyway, I turned on the Christmas episode and then was kind of counting down the minutes till the nanny came because I was like, Mommy needs a break. And now you're here. Yeah. Yeah, I did stop at Starbucks. Like I left a little early to stop at Starbucks and just like breathe for a minute by myself. But yeah. We'll take a deep breath. Welcome. Just take it. I went to I went to Dude Perfect. Yeah. Do you know what that is? I don't. I saw your post and I like clicked on what that was. And I was like, is this a concert or is it a magician? Like, I wasn't fully sure. So I had a lot of. First during this week, so this is like it's at Bridgestone Arena. OK, I looked huge. There's a huge stage. Yeah. Right. And these are five dudes who did trick basketball shots.

16:34Like 13 years ago, they went like to the top of a big building and they set a basketball goal at the bottom. And they kept throwing balls off till they made one. And the video went viral. Multi-million hits and whatever. And then it was like on The Late Show and like they were on Letterman. It was something like, what? Like, really? Sure. And they just blew up. And then they decided, hey, look, let's just do this for a living. So now these five guys just shoot viral videos. They think of the craziest stuff you could do. And it's called Dude Perfect. OK, based on the first time that they did one of these shots, the guy had the camera set up and he goes, how's it looking? He goes, dude, it's perfect. Like, dude, perfect. That's what it's called, dude. So it's a guy thing. Sure. There was not a lot of young girls. There was all like it was all kids. Uh huh. But it's the first event that I've been to like that. OK, so I've been to a thousand concerts. Right. Have you ever been to a concert that started on time? No. They go to a show and the show says starts at eight. Fully not anticipating to see the headliner. It's like nine thirty.

17:34Broadway usually starts on time. I'm talking about like a concert arena to see, you know, John Mayer. Sure. He doesn't come on at eight. Right. The opening act doesn't come on to like eight thirty. Yeah. And then you're not out of there till it's a whole thing. But you don't really give a shit because you're at a concert and you're hanging out with people. You're having a good time. Right. Well, at Dude Perfect, it started at six. And at six o one, the crowd was chanting like it was like loud clapping. They're chanting. The wave got started like. And I was like, what the fuck is going on here? Like, yeah, it's six o two. Like calm down that. Oh, these are a bunch of impatient parents with children. Who are like, dude, it's six. Let's go. Or children who are in that phase. Like a lot of my mom friends are in that phase with their kids right now, where they're like, you said we do this at nine and it's nine o one and we're not doing it yet. You know, it's like. That's what it was like. It was like, wow, the lack of patience and people in this room is incredible. And I thought, well, it's like 50 to 70 percent kids.

18:35Like eight year old kids have the patience of a flea. Yeah. That's not even a thing. And then also the other side of that was like the merch to buy, like merchandise was like the jingle all the way. Or the movie where like the people are fighting over different things. I love jingle all the way. And I just showed it to Brian for the first time last year. And he was like, I don't understand why this is an important movie for you. I don't understand why it's an important movie for you. But it's like, no, it's Christmas. Yeah. You have to watch it every year. It's one of the important ones. Oh, OK. I don't. OK. Well, you're wrong. We watch Christmas vacation. We have a bunch of them anyhow. Well, you see adults out in public all the time. This is not a shocking thing. Right. You go to concerts and there's adults everywhere. Having a good time, having drinks, talking, being adults. When you go to an event like this and there's all the adults, they're in mama bear and papa bear stage. Right. They're not in, hey, we're adults having a good time. They're in the my kid wants that.

19:37And it's like, whoa. Yeah. What happened here? Like it's these over. It's very protective parents of their kids. Sure. Like fighting for merchandise and hey, sit down. My kid can't see. You know, it's like. I worked at Disney World. So that was like that's not every day. It's like on full display. But I will say Brian and Kenji, I always forget that. I call him Kenji on the podcast. His name is Brian Kenji. I just call him Brian. It's OK. You can call him either. Yeah. Anyway, Brian and I were talking about how like when I worked at Disney, I was 21 super. So 10 years ago, I was super judgmental about parents that had their kids on leashes because I was like, oh, my God, like, what are they doing? But I apologize. I get it. I totally get it. Like, I'm not saying we're going to be leash parents, but I'm not saying we're not. It's fully going to depend on where we are. We did a photo shoot the other day, like to celebrate them being one and a half and Brian having a year sober. So it was all within like a two week span.

20:37And I couldn't like it's two kids, three adults. Right. Like we have a photographer. He's an adult. He's busy. He's working. Brian and I are like trying to wrangle the children. Ezra, if you put him, he's outdoors. So if you put him in one spot, he'll stay there. But like, Noel, oh, my God, that kid was everywhere. The fact that we have any photos of her is actually shocking. And I was like, if we had a leash, though, like, obviously, we'd have to edit out the leash in the photos. But like, at least, you know where she was. And I'm not like an absent parent, like we're very aware parents. And still, it was like, how are you that fast? Like, how are you? So I can't imagine going to like Disney with them at some point or like a concert, because that kid is just going to jet. Ezra will not. Noel will. Isn't it crazy how different they can be? They're so different. I mean, Ezra, they're different from each other, but they're very they are very much their parents. Like Ezra hates being outdoors. He just wants something soft to like sit near or on.

21:38He just wants his little lovey, you know, he's and then he's happy. Like feed him, make sure he's fully fed and has water to drink. Room temp all the time. Noel, though, he's a guy. He's me. He's like so chill. So like, yeah, we're we're fine. And like Noel is so Brian, like so eccentric, so loud, so like, let me show you, let me show you, let me show you like so excited about everything. She's attention span is nowhere near like even a flea. Like it's just anyway, she's all Brian. And it's so so it's funny that we got like the boy and girl versions of ourselves so far. I mean, they have a lot of time to grow. Their opposite. Like the boy is like you, the girls like him. Yeah. Yeah. Weird. It's so weird. And then they have these like big heads of curls that we're a little confused by. Yeah. Right. And I mean, you saw their hair. It's so curly. Strange. We assume it's the Jewish like passing down. You never heard about like Jew froze. Yeah.

22:39Yeah. We assume it's like that. But because it's certainly not their Japanese descent. No. So that's all I mean, I don't know. I don't I don't know how his whole family has black, super straight hair. Well, then, yes, not. Yeah, I think it's not him. I think it's you. I think it's probably me. How's work going? You are working currently at the cork and cow. Yeah. At night times. Yeah. But you're not working today. No, we're closed. We close every summer for the fourth of July for like four or five days. That's amazing. Yeah. He also does it in the winter. But I can't remember what time in the winter. I feel like it's around Thanksgiving. I feel like that week is when we're close. But anyway, he does it twice a year every year to like Jason McConnell, Jason McConnell to give everybody just some space and breathing room. And I've been there before. Like this is I'm back. And so this is we realized it's six years on and off. I've been there and it's just home to me. It's just like such a special, safe place.

23:40All the people that work there like are still there, you know. I think it's cool because that that's a testament to like the ecosystem, you know, and I think that a lot of that's culture. And there's culture at all places. And sometimes you fit really well in that culture. And sometimes it's like a little bit different. Like I think at Maribol was just one of those experiences that you were just kind of like, I don't know, like this is these. This is not my thing. I think that there like is your thing. It is. Yeah. And it's funny because at Maribol, you can point to like many people that it is very much their thing that have been there for years and years and years. And when you if or when you lose them, right, like Vernon is a good example. Like that was gut wrenching. Like everybody was sad. Vernon was sad. That was awful. But now, like going back to working hours, like, oh, right. Like I forgot. And I mean, we were talking a little bit like I'm not, you know, intellectually stimulated in what I currently do. Like I'm just waiting tables again. However, it is like coming from management back to it is different than it was the first time because the first time I hadn't had that experience.

24:45So that's a different perspective for me, which is kind of fun. How has that changed? It's just I I taste it depends on the day because like there are like I don't know. It just depends. I think you see the bigger picture a little bit more. Yeah, or like ways I messed up that used to feel really big to me because I didn't know what else was going on in like the sphere of it, whatever. They don't feel as big to me now. I still feel really bad when I mess up. Like I rang in a really expensive steak and it was not that one. They wanted a different one. And I was like, but the kitchen, of course, already made it. I was like, I'm so sorry. So like stuff like that, I feel bad about. However, I also know that that's not that big a deal in the, you know, like it sucks in the moment, but it's not that big a deal. So it happens. I mean, yeah. And like it's a mistake. Yeah. And so stuff like that. But for me, like the reason I think it works so well to be there is because everybody is kind of on the same spectrum.

25:47Like everybody there is just we all not that we all share the same beliefs. We don't. But like service wise, we do. And so it's really helpful to be like, oh, I firmly trust this person. And like there was one night where Ezra was having an asthma attack, we think. We're not sure what it was now. And I had to leave work at seven. Like I was in the middle of tables and I was like, I have to go. We called 9-1-1. It was the whole thing was very scary. And I had to leave. And not that this wouldn't happen at another restaurant, but like how having it happen there just made me feel because I came back to work the next day. Everything was OK. But everybody had texted me that night and that morning and made sure I was OK. Made sure he was OK. We're like, do you need anything? Do you need groceries? We'll drop it off. You know, it's just like very family driven. And so then the next day I was like, hey, I'm so sorry. I I didn't mean to like, you know, then they're short staffed. Everyone's picking up tables and like, yeah, and picking up tables you're currently working. Yeah, yeah. So like and everybody was like, oh, it's it's totally OK. Like, don't worry about it all. We all did fine. Do you need anything? Are you OK? You want a coffee?

26:49Like everyone's just we're just all very supportive of each other in a way that I haven't experienced as a service staff in a long time. Except for the last time I was there. And I'm like, I remember that now that I'm there and the management team is so lovely. And those are all I mean, you know, they're all like my close friends. They were all like in our wedding at my birthday is like so Jason, too. And so it's just special to be back there. Like, I never feel like I'm not doing enough or I'm or I'm too much for somebody or I'm not enough for somebody. Like, I don't have to question that. And I I get to just leave like at the end, like if I don't like a table, which happens, they're only there for like two hours. If they suck, they're there for four hours, right? Like if they're worse than we campers. Well, but still, I mean, that's a that's a huge testament to what you're doing. Yeah, it's like see why you want to do that. And I've talked to my best friend, Emily, about this a lot. And I'm like, you know, I think we generationally and culturally as a country just kind of define ourselves by what we do and by what we do for money.

27:51And I don't need to do that. I don't need to define myself that way. Like I'm kind of trying to unlearn that because I'm not like I said, I'm not super intellectually stimulated by it. However, I'm super stimulated by the kids and like trying to parent consciously and intentionally and kindly and patiently. And that's very hard and put in effort towards my marriage. And then also, like I did carve out that space for myself. So I'm writing a lot more and I read at a thing which I hadn't done in forever. Yeah. What do you tell me about that? It's called Ten by Nine. It's like so they do it every month. And I did it years and years ago. But they do it every month. And it's nine strangers get up and tell a story for 10 minutes. And they have a theme every month. And what was the theme? Oh, the theme I read was the things we do for love. And so I literally just like wrote about my day, just kind of wrote about the schedule of the day. I'd love you to give you a little bit of that.

28:53No, you can't do a little bit of that. Well, I don't have it like on me anyway. But it's anyway, it's all recorded, too. I think they release a podcast, too, about it. I'm pretty sure because they record. But anyway, it's a very cool event. And I brought a couple of my friends with me and then Brian came, of course. And it was just really like I've done this with you a bunch. Right. And so I didn't expect myself to like be nervous standing up at a microphone in front of a whole big group of people. It's done at the Jackalot Brewery by Wedgwood in Wedgwood, Houston, like across from Bastion. And anyway, I did not expect myself to like feel nervous. I was shaking, like had to stand up there and take a breath real fast. And then like, OK, and like it's nine people. So some stories are great, some stories or whatever. And the woman that had gone before me was so good. Oh, so good. Damn it. She wrote about also being a mother, but about the idea of like having to feed somebody three times a day minimum for 18 years, which is a daunting task.

29:59And like, you're just always thinking about the next meal and whatever. Her story was so, so, so good. And it ended with them being at Robert's World, eating this like chicken tenders together and like how her son was so happy. And I was like, well, it's such a good Robert's Western world. Yeah, I say Robert's World. Sorry. It's like, is that a place? I don't know. Yeah, Robert's Western world. OK. Anyway, it was a good story. And then I got up and everyone like people came up to me afterwards to tell me it was really good and stuff. So I think it was good. But it was just like even if it wasn't, that wasn't the point. Right. Like I just wanted to do something, read my work again, feel like encouraged to write again in a different way, like about kind of without a prompt, like that's a prompt, but it's super general. And they do that really intentionally. So last month was that didn't go as planned. That could be about anything. Right. So they do that every month of like just these really vague things and the stories are all over the place. And it's just a really nice thing. So I did that for the first time in, I think, five or six years. It felt good, didn't it? It felt really good.

31:00And then I went out afterwards. Like we went to Bastion because it was across the street and I knew a couple of the bartenders. And I just kind of felt like who I was before pandemic, before kids, before like. I don't know, just anxiety, I guess, like that, like, I don't know, it was just fun. It was just fun to like do my own thing for a minute, because those are so rare. And so it was nice to do that. That's amazing. Yeah, it was cool. I told my story in a meeting. Yeah, a few weeks ago, they asked me to speak at a meeting and. I was kind of excited, but then again, again, once you get up there, yeah, you're kind of there's a weird. Like, I think you're not normal if you don't have butterflies in that moment. You have to. Well, I wonder if it's the idea I've thought about this because like here we're just like sitting, right. And there's not, you know, 50, 70 people looking at us. But if there were, I think even if we were sitting, we'd feel more. I think it's the idea of standing. I think it's like, oh, I'm standing in front of these seated people.

32:02It feels very like I wonder if it's part of that, because for me, I think it was part of that. I don't know, I think I come across, I think I have like a false. I don't want to say it's false. I don't know. I'm fucked up. There's a. I'm not important enough to tell my story. I don't feel like like I get up there and I tell my story and I'm like, I don't know what the format is. I don't know if I'm over sharing. I don't want to be the guy that's just like oversharing. I'm not trying to bring drama into it. But I also want to talk about key points that I hear people tell their stories all the time. And it always helps me. Yeah, it helps me because there's some aspect of something that happened to somebody. You know, I think people talk about DUIs a lot. A lot of people show up in my groups because the court tells them to be there. Right. Like you have to be here. You've had your third DUI. You got to go, whatever, whatever. And like I never got a DUI, right. So there's a side of me that I'm like, I don't really should. But at the same point, like I could have like a hundred times.

33:03Yeah, I could have had a hundred DUIs, but like I didn't. Sure. Like I just didn't get caught. And every time I hear people tell their stories, I go, oh, yeah, that's me. I just didn't get caught. Right. I could have done that. Sure. And it's so it's always helpful. So maybe I'm my story would be helpful, too. But it was it was easier having done it on the show. Right. So I do that in front of people. Yeah, it is. It's so hard. Made it a lot easier to kind of go, oh, this is that this is kind of what I said there. I'm going to stay on that course. And yeah, well, I know. And like I've worked a lot in therapy about the struggle of like there's so many voices out there. Yeah, there are so I mean, everybody has a platform, even if Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, podcast, whatever, like everybody can have a platform. And so I've always struggled with the well, is my story important then? Like this person's telling a story that's like kind of like mine or like I agree with. Like, do I need to add to that noise then? And I've really I'm learning to like fight back that voice in my head because there is nobody else that has my story.

34:06Like there can be other people that I think are kindred spirits or their stories are relatable or funny or important or whatever. But that doesn't make mine less important. It just makes mine different. And that was part of why I read to like I wanted to be like, no, no, no. My story again, it was just like the schedule of my day. There was nothing like earth shattering about it. But I have realized I really want to be like a safe place for people. I want to be like a sigh of relief for people. And like whether that's through sharing my story or just having lunch with them or just waiting on them and making them feel seen, whatever that is, I that's important, too. You know, so what I do for money, I think is less important than being that to the world. So that's something I've had to like understand and deconstruct and work through all of that. And I just created space to do that. That's good. Yeah. All those things are positive. Yeah.

35:06I need you to create space in here. No, I'm sitting here listening to you talk and I just I miss you. And I'm going back into because I feel like I'm getting back into my old ways. Meaning what? I'm trying to control everything. Like I want to control everything. And that's part of my alcoholism is. I think you have to. The step one, like I'm powerless to it and I can't. But then like step three is you have to give it away to your higher power, like all this stuff, this insanity that's in your brain. And I think that when you come to the two restaurants and then I'm trying to do this Nash Restaurant Alliance and I've got the podcast and I've got kids and a wife and life, I mean, it just happens. I think I'm trying to control all of this on my own. And I can't. And I'm constantly finding myself in a place where I'm like frustrated or short. And I'm what I'm not doing is forming deeper connections. I feel like I kind of am, but I'm not in the restaurants as much anymore.

36:08So I'm not able to like really form good connections with people. And then I miss you because you were like the person that I could just. Well, I actually laughed at the other day you texted me because we were going to do this last week. And then you were like, oh, my God, I forgot I had this thing and I can't do it. I have to cancel everything. And I'm like, oh, he does miss me because I was like also half a calendar for you because we've worked at the same place. Well, I think it's just I don't have time to build. There's these connections. And, you know, you've always said, like, I fall in love with people who do interviews with and I do I'm in. You sit in this little room with their voice beamed directly into your ears. You can stay focused pretty well. Yeah, I'm not like I'm ADD to the core. Like I can do that. And it's fun to do that. But then people leave and I'm like, I'm by myself again. Right. And I don't I can't just like call them. And I guess I'm lacking like really strong connections. Sure. And I think that's part of it. And then I'm trying to I'm trying to keep all of this stuff going at one time. And I'm like, I can't.

37:09So I find myself falling back into those old ways. I'm not drinking or anything. I just but it's like. They always said that there's a the reason why you drink. There's a reason it's drinking isn't your problem. It was the solution. Right. I feel like that problem is like, and I'm not working the steps. I'm not calling my sponsor. I'm not I'm going to meetings, but I'm not like doing all the things. Sure. I think you were somebody to me that like I could always talk to and tell you what's on my mind and you give me good, honest feedback. And I just miss that. Well, you can still do that, whether I'm here or not. True. You can certainly still do that. But you also are like a project accumulator. Like you are very good at like. I think our dynamic worked in the restaurants because you were really good at thinking about what you wanted. And I would be like really good at figuring out how to make that happen. Well, I was a visionary and you were an integrator. Yeah. So I was so that worked and I you don't have I assume you don't have. I don't know. I haven't been in the restaurants and I don't. Yeah, I assume you don't have that.

38:10And so that's hard, too, because then you're like, oh, but I have all these things I want to do, but I have to get them out on. You're also not a list person and I am. So I would. I'm a list person. I'm just not good at it. Well, you also you don't keep them in one place. You'll like write it on a piece of paper. And then it's like, where's that piece of paper go? I have it on my phone. I do the notes thing on my phone now, which is good, because it is. It's always with me. Yeah. But anyway, I just feel like so having like that's always hard because you are so good at starting a thing and you really want it to work and you really want to do it. And then, you know, it's a lot of things then. I'm finding this out. Yeah. How integral your position was to really call all of the shit that comes out of my head into this one's doable. This one's not. I'm going to focus on this one. And then you would follow me a couple of days. I go, OK, so when you had this idea, I did some research on it. I found out we can do this. Let's do this. And let's not do that. Like the farmers market. Yeah. We really wanted to do that. I made pretty good progress on that. It just didn't work. Yeah. Yeah.

39:11We do have a lot of ideas that that's the problem I'm having right now. Yeah. Is I'm the integrator. Right. And Stevens are visionary. Right. But I can't my brain can't stop coming with ideas. And there's nobody that can take the ideas that I have and do anything with them. Right. And so that also is another frustrating thing for me. Yeah, I could definitely see that's frustrating. I mean, is there we can problem solve this offer if you want. But is there like a person in each restaurant that you feel could because maybe divvying it up would be helpful between the two spaces. I've never been more confident in our team. I heard it's going really well. I ran. I didn't run into I intentionally saw some of our my old coworkers, your current coworkers, and they were all like saying how it's it's great and they're lovely and everyone's doing really well. And that's great. You almost wouldn't recognize the restaurant. Yeah, I heard. I mean, really good. I mean, none of you were there. Like you were all at your thing on Tuesday. Yeah. We're supposed to the interview. Yeah. Yeah.

40:12So I didn't get to see everybody, but I saw a few and they were all saying it's like really great and everyone's doing well. You see the outside patio? Oh, I didn't even think to look. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I didn't even look. It's all gone. All that red tiles gone. It's all my stone with the lounges and the couches now. I did see the lounge because I obviously went up to the office. I was like, it's fine. Yeah. Is the first time seeing the lounge? No, no, no. I was there when the lounge opened, but it had just kind of it hadn't like been rolling out or anything like that. Yeah, I know. It's amazing. I left in February. It's been that long. Mm hmm. I stayed like through Valentine's Day to be helpful. And then I was like, OK, bye. No, the management team that we have there is better than I think it's ever been. And I told them last week, we're literally in our manager meeting. And I said, thank you guys for everything that you're doing. And it's been a very scary last seven, eight months for me. Yeah, because essentially that visionary side of me, I have all these ideas and I go, let's do all these things.

41:17And most of the time, somebody comes in and says no to something that I have that I'm wanting them to do. And I'm not going to do that. I'm like, OK, well, I can't do it. So never mind. That dream goes away. Right. But with this particular restaurant, I had a very clear vision as to what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. And it was a process of. Getting on the paper, like what that idea is, and then telling everybody what that is, gauging who's on board, who's not on board, and then trying to bring the people that were not on board on the boat, think, come on, do you want to be on the bus with us? And then them saying no, and then letting those people go. And then through the 75 interviews to get the other people, the leadership lined up. And then I told him, I said, guys, this is the scariest thing in the world when you have all these ideas and somebody says, OK, do them. Yeah. When you get everything that you want. Yeah. You're like, I hope this works. Right. Like, I've never had that opportunity where somebody said, no, do whatever you want. Go ahead and do it. Sure. But they're a big investment in this huge restaurant.

42:18And so there's a lot of fear that, well, I have all these ideas. What if they don't work? And then the fact that they're all working. Yeah, is pretty cool. Like, it's a. OK, like, that's definitely very reassuring that. Yeah. This is a completely different restaurant than it was a year ago. That's good. I mean, it's 100 percent different. Yeah. One, I love all the people on your management team, too. We have a pretty cool team and they're all so incredibly different. I think that's the main thing is that they're all so incredibly different. Right. Like personalities. But they're all have the same goal. Yeah. So it's like, it's not like there's just one way that we're doing it. Right. It's like there's a bunch of different ways and we're all listening to each other's ways and we're kind of adapting to each other, which I think is really exciting. Yeah. That's how I feel at Cork. Just I needed to find my own. Yeah. No, no, no, no. I totally get it. Totally get it. We're going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. Hey, guys, we're talking about maintain IQ for restaurants.

43:20Now, I've been telling you personal stories about how this has worked for me in my restaurants. But let me tell you, he sent me a fact sheet. Maintain IQ is a modern digital checklist system that simplifies your operations. It's designed specifically for restaurants. You can standardize, track and manage food safety procedures, temp logs, daily checklists, preventative maintenance and ongoing repairs. Managers will save up to 10 hours per week. You reduce repair and maintenance spend by five thousand dollars a year. Staff will know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Everything is digitally recorded. You minimize liability by ensuring safety, cleaning and compliance. Standards are upheld. Wow. If that's something, if any of those things are things that you would like to be a part of, you need to check out maintain IQ. Give Will Jackson a call. His number is 888-534-0261. And if you call and have a demo scheduled and do the demo, I will give you a free T-shirt or a hat.

44:26Just DM me and let me know how it goes. I'm so excited about maintain IQ. You know, we've also been talking about introducing you to new technology and GoTab is the solution for everything. At GoTab, they believe that operators should let their staff do what they do best, offer an unmatched service experience, then let the systems handle the rest. I read an article the other day that talked about the just the idea that the old school POS systems are dead, that they're going to die. They're all old technology and new technology such as GoTab is going to be taking over. It's an end to end platform that optimizes the customer experience with no required mobile app to manage, no expensive hardware or software to lease or buy. You can move quickly and adapt to the future of hospitality. It's more than an all in one platform. You don't have to buy a bunch of equipment. You can use existing iPads, cell phones. You can do a lot with this system. This is the future. You need to learn more about it.

45:27You need to schedule yourself a demo. The way you do that is you go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com. There's going to be a tab that says sponsors. You're going to click that tab and go to the GoTab. But in the link, click the GoTab link from there, you will be sent to a personalized Nashville restaurant radio tab. Now, if you do want to buy hardware, this will give you five hundred dollars off of hardware. But I don't think you're going to need it. This is if you're wondering right now what solution you're going to need, that you're on a legacy system. I need something new. This actually works with the legacy systems. Or you can start over. So many options. When you go to Amazon, it tells you what you need. It optimizes the customer experience. This does that for your guests. Every single to go order, every delivery, every person who dines in the restaurant can now get that. I don't know why you haven't signed up yet, but if you do, I will do the same thing as maintain IQ. If you sign up for a demo, I will give you a free hat or free shirt, your choice, and I will deliver them to you personally.

46:32Just send me a DM and let me know when it's scheduled for. Love bringing you guys new technology. If you're looking for a POS system or just want to really learn how you can utilize the data that you're making and generating every single day, check out GoTab. I also want to talk to you about Sharpies Bakery. Aaron Mosso is just an amazing human being and they're local. They're right in the run off the Whitebridge Road area. So they're in Nashville, been in Nashville for 36 years, delivering fresh baked bread to local restaurants six days a week. You can do your own custom bread if you like. They're amazing. You need to call Aaron Mosso now. Her number is 615-319-6453. Check them out online. Go to SharpiesBakery.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S Bakery.com. Or follow them on Instagram at SharpiesBakery and you can see the over 200 types of bread that they will provide.

47:34Deliver to you six days a week. This is the biggest no brainer in the history of Earth. You need to call Sharpies Bakery now. Do it. So yesterday was 4th of July. Yeah, this is episodes going to come out probably on the 8th. OK, 7th, right? They'll be Friday, this Friday. Today is Tuesday. Right. For those of you who are following along with the days. Yes, we're both trying. We kept saying, like, I feel like it's hard to celebrate Independence Day when all of our rights, not all of our rights, but when rights are being taken away. A lot of my rights, yeah. Oh, so my wife said, my wife said, it's hard for me to celebrate our nation's independence when I don't have autonomy over my own body. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that whole thing was really pretty heartbreaking for me. And that's a lot of mean for a lot of people. Yeah, I struggled with. I mean, I was very affected by the I'm very emotionally affected by the shooting in Texas a few weeks ago, a month ago.

48:36When was that? Too recent, but so much has happened. Right. Like, so that was really gut wrenching. And I just like kind of sobbed for a few days about it. And Brian and I talked a lot about the fear of sending our kids to school and like if we want to make that choice or not. And then this happened. And well, and there were shootings in between there. There was the Chattanooga one. There was, you know, or was it yesterday? Yeah, there was one yesterday in Chicago. There's just and then there was that unarmed black man that was killed again by police shot 60 times and they still handcuffed him after he was passed. It's just there's so much sadness and grief in being an American, I think. And if there's not, if there's just pride, then those aren't people I'm normally friends with because I don't know what there is to be proud of. Right now, so we didn't.

49:38Brian has always called me an expatriate. I've never like really I've never like bought into like the nationalism idea. I've never thought we were the best country I've because I grew up. I was born in 1990. I grew up like 911 was I was aware of. I was 11 or 10, 10, 11 when that happened. So to me, that's a really pivotal moment in like, OK, well, we come together. And then after that was the recession and then essentially another. And like all of the big things that have happened have happened as I was growing up as a millennial, which like a lot of millennials talk about. Right. Of like, well, we've seen all these unprecedented times our entire life. So we've never I think our group has never felt secure in the future. We had a hard time getting jobs out of college due to the recession. But boomers were telling us we needed all these experience and all this time before we could get an entry level. Like there was just all of these issues within within the country already systemically. So I never felt like America was the best.

50:40And it just keeps it's not trying to like fight that. Like it's just like going backwards. Yeah. And it's it's scary having a daughter. It's scary. Like all of it is very scary. And yeah, pretty, pretty gut wrenching. So even on like Soy's Instagram page, I try not to put my own personal opinion on it too much because I'm not the sole owner. Right. Like not that they disagree, but still it is like I think businesses have a hard time of figuring out what to say in all of these things, because we've now made businesses to have a voice, which I don't think is a bad thing. I think it's important, you know, where you spend your money and all of that. But I do have a hard time with that every so often as representative of the company. So even with Soy, I just posted that like we were closed and I didn't do a Fourth of July post because I was like, I don't think that that's necessary. It's necessary. Everyone knows that we're closed. Yeah, I don't think it's necessary to like wish everybody a happy fourth.

51:40And, you know, I struggle with being hopeful or finding hope in the future of the country. I struggle with that a lot. But I hope that it gets there. I don't know. I don't know how to fix it. It feels like an overwhelming problem. It is. It's a very overwhelming problem. And it's like, how do you I think that's the thing that it's funny because my whole feed is people that are angry. Yeah, mostly me. Yeah, which is good. And my wife is angry because her feet is different because she has a lot of friends from like her. You know, she grew up in White House and Lebanon and she goes up there. There's just people that are just saying crazy stuff right now. Like, yeah, God wins. And it's like, what? Yeah, God wins. How is this a thing? And I go, not not not my feed. The my feed is about people who are afraid of what's next. Yeah, it's not even a like, well, like, how do we rise up against this thing right now?

52:42Yeah. And I don't know the answer to that. I think as we talk about it, I think that's why I want to talk about it on the show. I don't know how to. I don't know as a I mean, it's such a big thing. I don't know that there's a because it's so layered that and they're all joined, right? So like right now, there's this woman I follow. I feel like I realized yesterday, I think I've been saying her name wrong. I always thought it was the mama attorney. Like, that's what I thought her handle was. And then I realized it's. The mama, right? Like that, that is and then it's just tourney. So I'm like, there's no way it's the mama attorney. Like the A is has to be attached to that word. So I don't know if it's the may I'm attorney. I have no idea. Anyway. Is she an attorney? Yeah. And she's she like mostly she's super feminist. Like she's just very like aligned with everything. I believe. And I love her. But she's been really helpful in like what she's posting towards understanding what's going on, understanding the litigation behind what goes on because we are in a trigger ban state. So that's a big thing. Understanding how women can buy contraceptives as of now.

53:47Biden should be putting in an emergency order, but he's not. He can declare a national health emergency to make sure that contraceptives can go through the mail still. But he hasn't done it. So I don't know if he's going to doesn't seem like it. So I don't. But she's been really helpful information wise. And like if you if you are a woman and or have a uterus and are concerned about ectopic miscarriage, what that litigation could look like against you. I would recommend following her. She is really like actionable. The mom attorney M.O.M.M.A. No, T.H.E.M.A.M.A. T.T.O.R.N.E.Y. I'll share it on my page, too. And she's like she's really, really great. But so following people like her that know more than I do. Is really helpful for me because I'm like, I feel like we all we all have this like individualistic idea of America, because that's how we are brought up. Right. Like you want to you want to achieve the American dream. This is how you achieve the American dream.

54:47You have to take these steps and pull yourself up by the bootstraps and whatever, like all those old adages. And it's the United States. So we do need to do it together. And we haven't figured out how to do that. So I think she's really good at being like, OK, well, here's how I'm going to help you. And here's how I can help you. And she also works with like she was posting a lot about that shooting and saying, like, I mean, guns aren't regulated in the way that they should be. They did just pass a law that's supposed to be a step. It's the biggest step in 20 years. But we're celebrating like a pebble, you know. But there's a formula shortage. They they turned down the law that was supposed to help with women that were breastfeeding or pumping at work. After they made everybody pro life, you know, it's like they haven't made any room for babies or for mothers or anything and then just said, you have to do this. And I know I've gotten on my soapbox on this show specifically about like health or wages for a child care and how like outlandish they are.

55:51And I just feel like everybody is pushing women back in the home. Like, that's just what it feels like to me. It feels like everybody is like, no, no, no. You have your body does a thing and that's what you're here for. And that's it. And like, I love being a mother. It is the best experience I've had on this planet. But. It's hard, and I chose that. And I just think everybody has the right to choose it or not. Also, there's a lot of not great mothers. There's a lot of bad mothers. There's a lot of bad fathers. There's a lot of people that should not have should not be parents. So I I don't know, it's just it's so all together. Have children, but don't send them to schools, because if you send them schools, there could be a school shooting, but we're not going to regulate those guns because why would we do that? And also, we hope you're breastfeeding. But not at work. And if you aren't breastfeeding and you need formula, I'm so sorry. You can only buy one at a time because we're in a massive shortage. Like, what? What? Yeah, that's what. Like, how is that that none of these things make sense?

56:56Yeah, it's overwhelming. So I hope I mean, I will still vote blue for everything, even though the Democrats aren't doing anything. I am too afraid to not vote for them. Well, I just I told Brian, I said I'm not afraid. I don't have a lot of anxiety. I don't for somebody. I think restaurant people have so much. I have enough for both of us. Well, good. Well, thank you. Thanks for caring. Yeah, happy to take that. Yeah, thank you. No, and I, you know, I'm an. Older white guy. Are you a boomer? No, no, I'm a I'm one. I'm right on the cusp of X and Millennial Millennial and 43. So I think like 40 and under right now is millennials. I'm like a couple of years. I'm like the last generation of people that didn't grow up with computers. I didn't grow up with them. They were introduced as I was introduced. Yeah, but like I'm saying, I was 10 when I was I was 11 when you were born. Yeah. But like when I was 15 in school, like Microsoft came out.

57:57Right. I didn't do anything in school when I was 10 years old for computers. We had these big black floppy disks that you put in. And you'd play like Oregon Trail or something or, you know, then Carmen San Diego came out. And it was like old school. Sure, sure, sure. We had like Pacman. Mine was like I grew up when those really cool Mac computers were out, like the Apple with all the colors on the back, like see through. Yeah, that was. And that was like such a big deal for our school to get those in the library. You know, I didn't like that. We had the Commodore 64. Yeah, I don't know what that means. My phone right now is like 5000 times more advanced than that. Yeah, well, but I still grew up in the time where they're like, you're not always going to have a calculator. And they were obviously wrong. Yeah, I use my calculator 75 times a day. And now they've changed all the math. You can't just do two plus two equals four. You have to do if two was a banana and two was an apple and you put a banana plus an apple, show your work. And it's like, what common core math is. That's a terrible representation of what it is.

58:59But it's like they have you go all that I heard somebody say the day that it was like. You could walk in the front door to get to the kitchen, but they like make you walk up to the front door. No, I need you to walk around the side of the house, walk through the garage, walk through this way to get to the front door like, why can't I just walk to the front door? That's the benefit. Is that supposed to like and help with critical thinking or apparently? I mean, I do think we have a critical thinking problem in the country. No, we have a patient's problem in our country. Yeah, I think critical thinking, patients, separation of church and state. And I love church. And I like, let's be clear, I love my church. I love our church. But like, yeah, yeah. I just I don't understand. I feel like we make things difficult. Well, Lauren Boebert the other day said that this separation of church and straight church and state needs to end and that that's a bogus thing, that that's not even really that it needs. This just needs to be like a Christian country. Yeah, except it is verbatim in the Constitution. Oh, I know. Yeah, yeah, it's wild.

01:00:01It's pretty. But that's what I mean about critical thinking. I think we have a severe lack of that, where it's like like the during the pandemic, the height of the pandemic, when everyone was boycotting masks and they were like, my body, my choice. And it's like, OK, I disagree with you. Oh, total, total, total. Like, I totally disagree with you. I think this actually affects other people. Right. Like the critical element there is that it affects other people. Right. However, my body, my choice used as the pro choice movement anthem does make sense because it is my body. It's not affecting another person. Their idea is that it is. But it's not that I don't believe life begins at fertilization. Neither do Jews, neither do a lot of other satanic religion. Like, there's a lot of religions that don't believe that. But anyway, there is a lot of litigation going on for that because there is a separation of church and state. And so other religions that do not believe life begins at conception are saying, well, that goes against my religious freedom.

01:01:05Well, it does. It does. And so litigation wise, there's also a lot of that happening. So I. I know it's. Heavy and sad vote. Yeah, people. Yeah. Vote. Yeah. So I guess that's the only thing you can really tell people to do. Right. Is it vote donate to local abortion funds for women that do need it? Women be able to travel to states that keep it legal to do abortions? I don't know. I do know that they're saying to if you do do that, to delete your period tracker app so that the government because they can pull those records of like your period tracking, they can pull the records of like your spending. So like we're not buying any we I am not buying like tampons or pads or anything like through my credit card anymore. We're taking out cash and buying them at other places like you can't send things through the mail right now. There's a lot of issues within that.

01:02:07So I think yes, but we have to be very, very, very, very, very careful. Don't put anything in writing. Only tell people you super, super trust. Don't make sure nobody's recording anything. Like there's so many. So even if you do get pregnant, you live in a state that is now legal. They if you go to another state, they can say you were pregnant. Where's your baby? Yeah. So you have to that that is messed up. Like Louisiana is really strict and they can go after doctors. And now doctors are stalling like important medical procedures to talk with lawyers to see if they can do it because ectopic pregnancies do heart like can endanger the life of a woman quickly. So can sepsis like if they go into sepsis, there's so many layers to it. And that's what I mean, like they just the ramifications of what they did, of what the Supreme Court did, are bleeding everywhere now. And they know that I just don't think that they care, which is a bummer. And Clarence Thomas, like the only reason I think he didn't mention interracial marriage in all of those things that he said we should revisit, which was contraceptives and what you do in the bedroom and who you do it with.

01:03:17And same sex marriage is because he's married to a white woman. I think otherwise they would fully come for interracial marriage. And, you know, that directly affects us, too. I don't even know what to say about that. Yeah, it's all scary. It's all scary and like kind of doomsday. And I don't know. I always think like this is the worst that it is. And I do think that. But I also think our country has gone through a lot of really dark periods. And there was always a dawn. And so I hope and pray for that dawn. Shit. I'm going to be depressed the rest of the day. Yeah. Well, aren't you glad you had me in? Yeah. Well, I've learned a lot here. I mean, I meant to tell you a story. I like intentional I was like, I need to remember to tell this to Brandon on air. So you don't like my car. You think I never said that? OK. You've said things around that. Right. I said it's small. I said for you with twins, you need a bigger vehicle.

01:04:17Brian doesn't like my car either. So I mean, not liking your car, I just don't think it fits. Anyway, so I lost our car keys on Easter. I don't know how I just like fully lost the car away. Like I just lost them. Totally. Whatever. Right. Brian cleaned my car yesterday, too. Couldn't find him. So we they're gone. OK, so then I'm now using his car keys, which are our spare. So that's it. If we lose this, we're really fucking damned. OK. I last week could not find my car keys. And I'm like, oh, my God, if I lost these again, Brian's going to flip out. And we're not going to I can't get to work. I was so panicked. The kids were hysterically crying. The nanny is like, let me help you look. I'm like they're like climbing up. We couldn't find him anywhere. I go outside. I'm like, I'm just going to go look in my car. I left on a Sunday. This is now Tuesday. OK. A full day has passed. I go out to my car and they are sitting on top of my car. My car keys are and I call Brian and I'm like, hey, I found the keys. Because, of course, I texted him panicked, like, where are my keys? Right. I tell him I find them. I take a picture.

01:05:19I send them to him on top of the car. And he goes, you know what that says to me? That nobody else wants your fucking car either. I can't even argue that like they like it was it was like begging to be stolen. And yet what is that? What is the kind of car you drive? It's a Chevy Trex, a Chevy Trex, TRX. I think I think it's TRX. It might be TRX, but that's that'd be weirder, right? It should be Trex. Never even heard of the car. I know that I probably do not fit in it. It's like a smart car. It's tiny. It's not a smart car. You probably don't fit in it with my rear facing car seats. I think when my car seats can flip, you might. But they are just very big car seats. They are. Your facing car seats are huge, are huge. So I think that is part of why my car feels little. And my double stroller takes up my entire trunk. So we're at the point now where the kids I thought the greatest day as a dad for me was going to be like when my kids said I love you for the first time.

01:06:27Yeah, I'm excited for that. Oh, that was really cool. And that was really cool. Yeah. But when the kids could get them, get their asses in and out of the car by themselves, it was a pretty special day. Yeah. Like getting in the car with two kids that you have to buckle in and put in the whole thing. It is all it's exhausting. It's a lot. It's just a lot. You got to really want to go wherever you're going. Yeah. And then you go to like this is the whole target thing. Like then you go to Target and you have to get them out of these seats. And you got to get them into a buggy. And then they're one of them doesn't want to be in them. The other one does. And the other one wants to run next to the buggy. And they always stand right in front of the damn buggy. Move. Oh, Navy has little. It was so great. They have little cards. So Brian and I each had a kid in a little cart. And we were like, oh, my gosh, we can like shop like with. And they don't care about anything there. It's close. My kids can do all that now on their own. And they're four foot five. Like my kids are. Oh, they're almost as tall as me. How tall are you? By five. Yeah, they got like another foot. They're as tall as you. But like they have booster seats now.

01:07:29They can just ride in the car now. Right. And my wife's like not until they're 14 or something. I'm like, OK, well, they have to be like five feet tall or six, five and a half feet tall or something before they can ride in a car. Without a seatbelt. I'm going to push back on that because I don't know if this is the right term, but like little people, is that the right term? Yeah. Is it? I don't know. Little people. Sure. I don't imagine you can't say the M word. I know. I don't imagine that they need a car seat forever. So I'd find it odd if it was a height requirement. I'm Googling it right now. Riding. And a car like there are some full grown women that are like. Not little people that are just five foot or barely. Here it is. Ready? Yeah. Tennessee children under one year or less than 20 pounds must be secured in a rear facing car seat in a rear seat. Right. Is that you?

01:08:30Yeah. They're 25 and 26 pounds. Children's age one to three or more than 20 pounds may be secured in a forward facing car seat in the rear seat. Oh, we're not doing that until they're two. That was that's not happening. See, so there's I think that's my wife thing. She's like, how much should a kid weight if your child is technically old enough to legally ride in a rear seat, they may not weigh enough to safely sit in one. At least at a minimum, your child should weigh at least 40 pounds before using a belt position booster seat. Yeah, no, as I stated, I don't trust Tennessee laws, so I'm going to wait until they're two and then we can flip them around. Damn. Yeah. OK, there's a lot of there's a lot of differing opinions on that. I'm not going to go on that rabbit hole. Right. It's a whole thing. But anyway, thanks for having me back. What do we miss? I don't know. I mean, we talked a lot about our kids. That's a common thing. Yeah.

01:09:30Have you got to eat anywhere recently? Oh, my God, no. Literally, no. We're supposed to go on a date night this past Sunday. And you guys are doing that pretty well every Sunday night for a while. Yeah. Well, my mom was here to watch them. Yeah. So she hasn't been here. So now it costs us money to have somebody watch them. So you didn't realize how nice that was. Yeah, it was great. She'll be back at the end of the month to visit. So we'll see. But no, we were supposed to go out on Sunday. And then we had our family photo shoot and it was late. It like started at golden hour, which is like seven. Their bedtime, seven thirty. So they were like on one for that whole thing. Yeah. You can't tell in the photos. Great job, Rob Gonzalez. Great job. But all that to say is like we were going to go out after. And then we were like, OK, it's Sunday. It's July 3rd. It's now eight thirty. There is literally nothing open within a 10 mile radius of us. And we didn't really want to go down to Nashville, too. So you didn't want to. That's when the dude perfect just just let out. Yeah. Like that was just kind of we were like, this is probably not an ideal time to go. But Brian actually went to Keppard.

01:10:36Really? Yeah. For his one year, his our partner, Michael, like surprised him on where he was going. We thought that he was going to Cain. We were just told to like dress nice. So he I didn't go. He went. So I dressed him. He looked so good. And he's like, you are definitely delving it. It was so good. He were like wedding out anyway. He looked really great. And then he was like, I'll send you a picture of where we are. And he sent me a picture and I'm like, I can't figure out where that is. He said, I'll send you another until you get it. And he sent me a couple more. And I was like, you're a fucking catbird seat and I've never been there. I was so jealous. Oh, I was so jealous. But he had a good time. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, you need to go. You need to go to Keppard seat. I was so mad. I know I do need to go. It had been in Maxin. I missed you on that one, because I know that that would be one that I love. I love Benjamin and Max. Go by Benjamin now. He's always come by Benjamin. I've never called him that. Benjamin, I apologize. I've only ever called you by your street name.

01:11:36It's funny because like he says, my name is Benjamin. And he introduces like my name is Benjamin Goldberg, everything I've ever seen. It is Benjamin. It's Benjamin written out. And so I asked him, I said, do you? He's like, well, my mom calls me Benjamin. And I prefer to be called Benjamin, but people call me whatever they want. And I'm like, well, since I have Matthew and William and we're intentionally Matthew and William, if you're like, hey, well, we'll still know his name is William. Like, you know, you have to like correct. His name is not Matt. It's Matthew. Sure. Like Matthew McConaughey, like made his entire life as Matthew. Right. Not Matt. And so now whenever anybody says like their name, do you prefer to be called Benjamin? He's like, I do. And I'm like, oh, well, then now you're Benjamin. That's great. That's actually one of my fears with our kids, because her name is Noel, but we call her Belly. And I hope she doesn't prefer that. I hope that that's just like a cute. No, I think I think kids are going to whatever they want. But mine are very intentional with William and Matthew.

01:12:39And yeah, whatever they whatever they decide when they get older is fine. Sure. Like our chef at Greenhouse Grill, Christopher. It's so funny because I don't see this all the time for people out there. Just recognize this. People walk up and they'll say, oh, nice to meet you. And he'll go, my name is Christopher. And they go, oh, nice to meet you, Chris. Yeah. It's like he that's like if I said my name is Brandon. What's up, B? What's up, Bran? Well, I introduce myself as Jennifer all the time in professional settings and nobody ever called me Jennifer. Isn't that weird, though? Yeah. Like I just met you. I told you my name is Jennifer. And you go, thanks, Jen. It's nice to meet you. Like, yeah, I mean, it is what it is. I don't care, but I do intentionally introduce myself as Jennifer in professional settings. When people say it's nice to meet you, Jennifer, or they continue to call you Jennifer, do you notice that at all? I do. Do you prefer that? No, not necessarily. I just hate Jenny. I hate being called Jenny. My wife hates Jenny, too. Yeah, that's one that like if your name is Jenny, that's fine. I have friends named Jenny. I just for me, it doesn't fit.

01:13:40So I don't like it. You don't look like a Jenny. No, I always wanted to be called Jenna. And I tried really hard when I was in middle school to like make it a thing. And it never stuck. Everyone was just like, what's up, Jen? I'm like, OK, well, I guess it's just Jen then. I think I'm going to stop this. Jen Ichikawa. Yeah, depending on who you ask. Don't ask the government. That's not her name. Why? I never changed it. Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, I was going to change it. And then the pandemic hit like I had all my stuff and then the pandemic and all the offices were closed. And then I just like never got around to fixing it. So legally, there's no Ichikawa. There's no Jennifer Ichikawa. Brian says that every time he's always like, Jennifer Ichikawa, I wonder, she sounds nice. I wonder who that is. A nice person. Well, Jennifer, there you go. This is a fun moment here. Yeah. You know why? Why? Because you get to give us the Gordon Food Service final thought. Oh, it's sponsored. Yeah, that's cool.

01:14:41Now we have the Gordon Gordon Food Services title sponsor. Yeah, we do. I love GFS. Brian goes to GFS basically daily. He loves them. They'll deliver now. I need to go talk to him because I can help him there. Yeah, no, we love we love GFS a lot. OK, well, all I'd say is, I guess don't define yourself by what you do. Define yourself by who you are in the world. I think that's a really important thing that I've learned and I'm still learning and. Just try to be kind to one another. I think we're all just here to walk each other home, and I think we forget that. And if we're kind and we vote for legislation that doesn't go against our own interests, then I think we'll all be better off and, you know, love your neighbor. That's it. OK. I love it. Yeah. It's good to see you. It's good to see you. I'm going to start scheduling interviews with you.

01:15:42Just say, will you be here on this day? Come on in. So now everybody knows, though, now everybody knows that you're OK and that you haven't been on the show intentionally. We're not fighting. No, Brandon fired me. Well, I've had, you know, I had Delia, Joe Ramsey as a co-host, and I had Kelly Sutton as a co-host. Then I had Jenny Chikow as a co-host. And like, what am I doing over here, guys? And I understand that Delia was with Eater. Yeah. So she had her thing. And then Kelly is now like hosting the Grand Ole Opry, which is incredible. Yeah. I didn't leave to do anything better. I left to trim my life. Yes. But I'm just saying, like, I'm over here in my own head going, what am I doing wrong? Why? Yeah, it's you. But I wanted everybody to know that. No, yeah. It was an intentional choice on my part. But it would be really funny if I just like, all of a sudden was like, oh, also, I started my own podcast. It's my own podcast. It's called Jen's Restaurant Radio. Yeah. Cisco's our big sponsor.

01:16:45I am. Do you know what I'm doing? I'm doing some pop ups. Cool. I'll plug these really fast is that we are Kayla Ellis from the Oak Steakhouse is going to have her own podcast. Cool. On Nashville Restaurant Radio, we're going to do six episodes. The first episode is going to air on July 16th. What is the Wednesday? Hold on. I'm going to tell you exactly what day to mark your calendars. So it's going to be Wednesday the 13th is her first show. Cool. She's going to be here today. I'm going to show her how to do all the stuff. And it's going to be kind of like she has a name for it and everything, where she's going to be talking to people in the bar industry. Cool. So she's a beverage director for Oak and Oku. And she was an amazing interview, so much fun. And I thought all these restaurants are doing pop ups. And all the time I talk to people that are like, dude, I want to start a podcast. I'm like, why didn't you? You should do it. And so I'm going to I'm trying to find some really.

01:17:45And I've got the next three of them lined up. Cool. But my first pop up is going to be Kayla Ellis doing bartenders talking. She's got a kind day. Lagundia is going to be coming in, but she's got a bunch of people set up. A couple of her her lead bartenders from Oku and Oak are going to be in. They're just going to talk about bar stuff and really bartenders and issues that bartenders are facing and just kind of that side of the world, because I'm just not that great at it. Well, you don't drink. I don't drink and I haven't bartended in 15 years. Yeah. And that's not to say like, I don't care. Don't respect none of that stuff. But every time I interview somebody who's like a bartender, I'm like, I wish somebody who knew more about this could interview you. Right. I love talking about leadership and I love talking about vision or what are you doing next? What do you see coming? I'm like hearing what other people's processes, but like, as far as the bar stuff, I'm like, I just, I want to represent that side of the industry really well. Right.

01:18:46And I think she'll do a really good job. And if she does, if the six episodes take off, then maybe we do more. But right now we're just doing six and then I'm, uh, Benjamin and Max have said they're going to come on and they will do six. They interview all of their chefs from their restaurants. But that would be kind of a fun thing. I've got a lot of different, I want to do every Wednesday and I want to do a pop-up episode. So we'll that'll start July 13th and then you'll have a Monday and a Wednesday episode every week and that Wednesday episode would be something completely different. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited about that. Yeah, that's awesome. So whenever you want to do your pop-up, let me know. Yeah. The Jen font each Hikawa question mark Jen font each Hikawa. All right. Well, thanks for coming in today. And, uh, there's your update, everybody. There's your update. We'll talk to you later. Well, holy cow. That was a fun interview. Thank you Jen for coming back in studio and getting us caught up.

01:19:47Um, you may have hated that episode. I thoroughly loved hanging out with Jen and every time that I get to hang out with Jen, I feel enlightened and I feel happy and I feel, um, all the things cause she is an amazing human. Thank you Jen for joining the show again. And I can't wait for another day when we can do interviews together because you're awesome. Uh, I hope that you out there are doing great. Again, send me your favorite Mexican restaurants. I need to know. We want to, we're going to do a bracket. We will, you're going to be able to vote. Hopefully this thing gets pretty intense. I'm pretty excited. So thank you guys for listening today. I hope that you guys are being safe. Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you Monday with chef Brian Lee Weaver. Love you guys. Bye.