Jill Melton

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. Joined today on my intro is Jenny Chikawa. How are you doing, Jenny? Good morning. Good. How are you? I'm fantastic. We had the most fun interviewing Jill Melton, who is the editor at Edible Nashville. In this episode, they came out with their restaurant issue, which is their annual issue that goes over local restaurants. I felt like they really encapsulated what happened in the restaurant industry over the pandemic. What about you?

01:00Yeah, I loved talking with her. I feel like she's really good at, she's got a great pulse on the city right now, which is very cool and hard to do with everything changing the way it is and things opening and closing and all that. She's really maintained a great pulse. I think that's kind of, that kind of is the pulse that everything is changing and recognizing that everything is changing and that's okay. stepping outside of the box is what everybody thinks that the cookie cutter restaurant is. We've just shattered that glass ceiling, haven't we? Yeah, absolutely. It's a totally different world than it was a year and a half ago at this point now. Yeah, it's, I can't believe it's that long. I know. I know. It's been a very long couple of years going on here. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm excited about, I'm excited about getting this episode out there, but I'm also excited about Sunday night. Our episode, uh, talking shift podcast. I hope that you were there. I hope that you were part of it because we had a lot of fun. And I also want to announce that, uh, Brandon's book club for the month of July and August, we are going to do, um, Anthony Bourdain's kitchen confidential.

02:13So we've done kind of some leadership books, some self discovery books, and now we're going to jump into a kitchen confidential with the, with the new Anthony Bourdain documentary coming out, which people won last night. They won tickets to go see them at the bell court this weekend on Thursday. Congratulations to the winners. And um, I'm just, I'm excited to delve into the great things that book has to offer as well as some of the lesser great things that we can all look at how we need to change our industry. Yeah. I read that book once a year. I love that book so much. It is one of my absolute favorites. I'm excited to get some chefs on kind of hearing their opinion on our end of the month zoom call. It'll be a fun one. Heck. Yeah. Well, I tell you what's going to be fun. We have got Jason Ellis in the green room and he is going to come on and Jason Ellis is our general manager, managing partner for super source Nashville. I talk about doing these on brands and Jason's got some really cool stuff to share with you.

03:17Today. What's up? What's going on? Jason? What's up, Brandon? How are you doing this morning? How are you doing, Jen? Good morning. Good morning. You went fantastic. Happy Monday to everybody out there. Um, Jason, what's the most important thing that you're seeing right now out there in the, uh, in your world? So the biggest thing that I'm seeing right now is everybody's opening back up. We're back in the hustle and bustle and everything. New restaurants are opening is just making sure that you're staying compliant with your health department regulations, um, making sure your sanitizer on your dish machines functioning, make sure the sanitizer on the three compartments sink, make sure you have hand soap in your dispensers, paper towels in your dispensers, just going back to the basics of everything that we needed to make sure we had for the health inspections. As we start to open back up, that's one of the biggest things I've seen with some competitive accounts as well as some accounts that I share with a competitor, um, is machines aren't being maintained to the efficiency that they need to be to make sure that they're staying health code compliant.

04:20I actually went into a place last week and they were actually missing the complete sanitizer line going into the machine. It was pulling it, but it was dripping down the back of the wall, so it was not even getting into the machine. Um, luckily I was there to help talk with the client and get it taken care of so they could get their, their rep for their company out there. Um, but I think all in all, we'll probably end up picking up that business because of that issue. So I think that that's, I think that's really important to make sure that you're all these little things. That's why I love doing these on brands is because there's so many little things that we can be doing on a regular basis that you focus on all the time. But since I'm focusing on the people at the front door and the bar and inventory and all the other stuff, hot food, hot, cold food, cold, full hands in, full hands out. Like the basics of running the restaurant. Some of this stuff gets by you and if you're going out there this week, make sure to check all those little details with your, um, with your dish machine. Super important. Yeah. 100%.

05:21I mean, I can't agree more. It's, it's the little things that will get you on those health inspections, but that's where we can come and help and be a partner and help make sure that we're an extra set eyes in the kitchen or take that pressure off of you. That's huge, man. I appreciate it. What else is going on, man? How are you doing in life? Everything going well with you? I haven't talked to you in a little bit. Yeah. Everything's doing great, man. Um, business is picking up business for super sources. Phenomenal right now. So we're getting a lot of new clients, new people on board. So we're excited to keep posting about that on our Instagram, um, name drop a little bit. Who's coming on board? So we've got, um, Red Perch coming on board, um, in Seldon supply. So we were honored to work with them. Uh, Colacus, the new Mexican restaurant just opened up right there at the ACH or AC hotel right there off Korean vets. Um, my wife and I actually went and ate their Thursday night, fantastic food service was amazing. Our server was Gary. He was on point. He was a great man.

06:21He was great. He was really good. Um, highly recommend that place. Uh, let's see here. We've got another concept coming on, um, called Gulf sanctuary. Super cool. Um, we're excited about that one. Let's see here. Barista parlors getting ready to open their new location in Hillsborough village. Then we've got their sub supply one coming on. So we've got a lot of cool stuff in the works. Plus I've got a list of other ones. Um, buttermilk ranch over there off of 12th. Um, that one's getting ready to open up. It's a sister concept from urban grub. So yeah, yeah. Yeah. I saw a blaze Pennington posting about that. Yeah. It's a really awesome spot. If you haven't had a chance to see the insight, you gotta go and they open up. It's gorgeous. Gorgeous. They did a great job. That's fantastic. Well, man, I, I'm telling you guys, you've been talking about it for almost a year now. Super source is the way to go. I love all of the success that you're having, man, and it couldn't happen to a better guy.

07:25Appreciate it. Thank you for, um, supporting us. I'm supporting you everywhere that I possibly can, brother. I hope you have a wonderful week and we will catch up to you real soon. Awesome. Sounds great. Y'all have a great day. Thank you. Thanks, Jason. All right. Oh, there's a full screen of Jen's if you're, if you're not watching this, you need to go to our YouTube channel and click the subscribe button and you will see every time we post a new video. If you want to know what everybody looks like, the whole thing, what does your mug say? Jennifer's drinking coffee. Jen's drink. Oh, it says quiet. You trash. It's a blanch. Yeah. Yeah. It's from a, yeah, it's from Golden Girls. Very nice. Well, Jen, anything exciting happen with you this weekend or this week? Um, Noel is about to sit up, which I'm very excited about. Yeah. Well, I'm excited for when they can both sit up so they can play together because it's hard to play when you're, you know, laying down. So I'm excited for them to play together, but Ezra is not quite there.

08:25So we're hoping Noel gets there shortly. What about you? Would you do this weekend? I had a great weekend. I, um, I spent time with the kids, you know, Jennifer's still recovering. My wife had a surgery last week, so we're, I've been playing Mr. Mama week. I'm excited to get back to work. Yeah. Miss being in the restaurant. I feel like I haven't been there in a week because I haven't and I am so ready to get them at the end of that time. Like I'm ready to get back in there and start doing, doing some things. So all right, well, let's jump in here with this interview with Jill Melton from edible Nashville. Sounds good. All right. We are so excited today to welcome in Jill Melton. She is the editor at edible Nashville. How are you doing, Jill? Taking a, taking a drink of water. I am doing fantastic. I'm actually pseudo rested, well, I did a little kayaking camping trip, so I got away, but you know, I also came back tired, physically tired, but mentally in good shape.

09:26You know what? You've got to recharge the batteries every once in a while. So we are so excited to talk to you today about your latest issue is issue number 40 edible Nashville, the restaurant issue. And we recently had Skylar Bush, your executive chef on the podcast, and we started talking about some of the episodes that I've done and what you guys are doing. And I was like, wow, we're talking to a lot of the same people. And as I read this magazine, it is so well done. I want to give you Bravo kudos. This is such a fun issue to read because it's like, I'm just reading about all my friends. Yeah, no, totally. And you know, usually I hate the issue by the time it goes to the printer. I mean, you know, it's, I'm kind of, I just look at like everything that I could have done better, but I have to say, I didn't hate this issue. Like I actually really do like this issue. I love the cover. The picture. I mean, just the cover.

10:26Oh, you can't see with my green screen. Look at that. That's crazy. The cover is beautiful and looks like there is a sandwich from Bill's sandwich palace right there. Yeah. That was the easiest story to do. Kristin, who is Aaron's wife. I had met Kristin back when they had, I guess they had Christian and Keller. And their pastry chef at the time, we were doing these demos down at the Franklin Farmers Market. And so she came on and did a demo. It was strawberry season and Kristin came with her and Kristin was just so lovely. I ended up taking a picture of her in this apron I wanted to promote. So it's like every time I look at that issue, I'm like, oh, there's Kristin, but she's a fabulous photographer. So I mean, that's kind of how I became aware of these guys on Instagram. I'm scrolling through and I'm looking at these sandwiches because, you know, at the end of the day, anything that goes in the magazine has to have great photography with it, whether we do it or I nab it from somebody else.

11:33So anyway, I know a couple of the guys that Aaron is working with, too. And so when we went down this road, I said, Kristin, send me some of your stuff. And I was like, oh, my gosh. I mean, there were probably six other sandwiches I could have put on the cover. So it was a joy to do. And I'm afraid I'm kind of blowing them up, but because they were already almost sold out like on the weekends because they just do the weekends. Well, I want to I want to go over the issue. I don't want to get ahead of it. I'm going to start. Yeah, I want to start with the inside cover. Okay. Okay. So around the inside cover is an advertisement for Yolande, a love letter to Italy. Have you eaten at Yolande yet? I have. Yeah. Is it not the most amazing experience that you can I name them if anybody says what's the best restaurant in Nashville, there's some really, really great restaurants, but I have to I have to give the nod to what Tony and Kathy are doing over at Yolande.

12:38I mean, it is spectacular. Yeah. It's pretty it's pretty awesome. I mean, we we ate there during COVID, which, you know, was just kind of always a thing. You just sort of have to just get an adjustment when everybody has their masks on and stuff. But no, it is. It's just fantastic. And at the end of the day, you know, I've done a lot of eating in my life because I've been a food editor for way over 30 years. And so I kind of, you know, I got to the point where like when I started Edible, I was like, OK, I'm just kind of overprecious food and just, you know, give me a big bowl or whatever. And I don't mean precious as a negative thing at all, but just very well constructed food on a plate that is, you know, and I went down there and I was just like, oh, my gosh, it is. Yeah. You know, it's like you're it's like you're teleported away from Nashville and all of a sudden you're in Chicago and then you leave and you go, oh, I'm in Nashville again.

13:47How did I how did I transport to Chicago like that? I mean, it's that it's just amazing. And I think that, too, I mean, every owner would say, oh, they're passionate about their restaurant. But there was something about that place with like Tony and Kathy and walking around and talking about the food and and the servers. And we ended up knowing a couple of that, the chefs back in the kitchen. I mean, everybody was so proud and excited of everything that they were doing. And it was just it was just palpable. It was just kind of like a warm fuzzy. You know, even though you have this amazing, really sophisticated food. So, yeah, they're good partners. I really I've denim on the rooftop also is really amazing. You have an and I'm going to move forward in the magazine to page 10. Forks in the road. Words by the editors, I love how you guys kind of encapsulated a theme for 2020, 2021.

14:54And you say Jeremy Barlow, who is now insert chef here. We all know Jeremy is famous for taste back in the day on 21st Avenue and in Slocco. He's transformed Slocco into a place called Insert Chef here, which I think is one of the most brilliant pandemic pivots. Them and Caroline and Tony Galson did a really good job, too. But you look at what he's done and he really encapsulated what is going on today in the Nashville in the Nashville restaurant scene. He writes. You write today, he cooks what he wants and how much he wants. He also hosts other chefs to cook what they want. Such is the restaurant business post pandemic. And I thought, what a great way to say it, like such is the restaurant business. Everybody's collaborating. Everybody's popping up. And it's just what's white is black. What's up is down. What's left is right. The whole industry has just kind of the creativity.

15:56And to use the word pivot, the pivots that everybody has done has really been fascinating. Yeah. And to see the staying power of it, because our September October issue from last year was all about how everybody was pivoting. Right. They were in the throes of it and what they were doing. And so with this, I sort of felt a little like a broken record. But then I was like, OK, let me stand back for a minute. And the fact of this is that a lot of this stuff is staying like they're not necessarily going back to whatever it was they were doing. They've realized that they can feed people without walls and they can have this fun and be this. I mean, so it's kind of like the new thing, which, like I said in there, I think has made the food right now, I mean, more exciting than it was pre pandemic. And it was pretty damn good then. But but now and it's enabled people to get in the game. They can't afford to buy an expensive restaurant place or whatever their situation is.

17:00It's allowed them to be able to do this kind of at their pace and without compromising. And yeah, you know, on that page, on page 11, we just did a little collage of like all of these different graphics that they show on Instagram for their. Yes. And it was funny because at the bottom, there's that one that says sold out. Dang, we're so for Friday, November 13th. And somebody looked at this and they were like, oh, my God, Jill, there's an error in this. You have this swing that says Friday, November 13th. I said, no, that was just one of the graphics that really to me kind of depicts the not the cavalier nature of nature of what they're doing. But it was just like, dang, it's all out. It's you know, I looked at this first. I saw the prime self meets the three amigos with what Giffords did with Mais de la Vita and fat belly. And then it hit me once I read the page. I looked to the right. I go, oh, this is a graphic. These aren't ads. It took me a second to like I went, oh, no, that's a graphic.

18:04I was like, wait a minute. These are all. Oh, they're highlighting the pop ups. It's interesting to me. I feel like the pop ups are almost like bands. Right. It's not that it's not like Edgar Victoria from Alabri. Hey, like he would love to have a brick and mortar. I feel like everything he's doing right now is like auditioning. It's like when a band plays these tiny little shows all over the place and they make their own homemade T-shirts. It's so grassroots that everybody is like jumping on. And it's like it's almost like if I have the cool Alabri, hey, T-shirt, it's like I heard about him first. I knew about him before they had the brick and mortar. I was a fan of Pearl Jam when they were in Seattle, man. Not until they were big. It's almost like that's going on right now. Yeah. Well, you know, if you think about Black Dynasty before they were located then at Bar Sovereign and they were popping up all over the place and it was just kind of like the buzz. You know, yeah, I'm thrilled that they're there all the time so I can go any time and I don't like I'm down somewhere.

19:07And that's another one that really and that was pre pandemic. But it's and they started hosting the El Leon Dorado doing his his Taco Bell remake. I mean, it was amazing at Bar Sovereign was doing that, too. I mean, they're like doing it was amazing. Yeah. And they're actually just now I saw on Tantissimos because I have her in this issue, too, with the Dolce de Leche recipe just in a different way. I saw on her Instagram that she was going to be at Bar Sovereign. And so sometimes I like really have to read it. I'm like, OK, wait a minute. You're doing what? And you wear just like, yeah, and all this stuff going on. Yeah, it's totally it. That's why I tell people you need to be on Instagram to find some of the best food because, you know, you can't you don't or going to be reading Edible Nashville or listening to your podcast. Do you know, I had on Julio Hernandez, who is Mize Delvia.

20:09Julio Hernandez, when I had him on the show, he was the chef at Urban Nectar, Urban Cantina. Oh, I knew Julio before that. He was at the country club out. Yeah, that the not the Fairview Plantation, the other one right out there. Yeah, in Hendersonville. So I had him on because he's just a friend of mine. And hey, and then he announced on the show that he's going to be doing Mize De La Vita. I was like, what is this? Mize De La, what is this? And he announced it. And I'm like his third Instagram follower because he goes, I'm starting this Instagram today. You guys should start following me. And so I was like, I'll go follow you right now. And now he's got thousands and thousands. It's huge. But he announced that on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Oh, my gosh. Wiley was still at Urban Nectar. Nectar, Urban Cantina, yeah. Nectar, Urban Cantina. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And I was only there once when he was there. And actually he did. Oh, gosh. I'm not going to think of the chef's name. He had a chef pop up with.

21:15You know what? I don't think it was Edgar. I know because they're doing 10 South and or 10. No, I don't think it was Edgar. You know what? I didn't know of Edgar then. So maybe it was Edgar and I didn't realize it was Edgar. No, not that Edgar. I was thinking the other Edgar from Edgar Pendley is who I was thinking of. Oh, from Urban. No, it wasn't Edgar because I do sort of know him. It was somebody else. Anyway, it doesn't matter. But so I thought that was just a great way to lead into this episode, especially the restaurant issue. Jen, did you get to go to any of these pop ups? Do any of that stuff? No, I was so pregnant and so I was too scared to go anywhere. You just had twins. I just had twins. Oh, my gosh. Well, bless you. So my life was I was working in a restaurant at the time and I was always on my feet. And so like if I wasn't at work, I was on a bed or a couch. I was just so pregnant. So how old are your twins?

22:17They're six months old. Oh, my gosh. They're the cutest babies on the planet, too. Yeah, my husband owns Soy Bistro. So like we've been following you for a long time because Wait, your husband owns Soy Bistro? Yes. We just bought it during the pandemic when we found out we were having twins. You did buy it. What happened to is it Chris and Diana? They are I don't want to like, you know, jump the shark form, but they are they have plans for the future. We're really excited about they're like incredible people. So they are awesome. I discovered them super early on. So but they're staying in Nashville. Yes. Okay. And then also, do you have a cook named Auden? We did. We don't anymore, but we love him. Like, where did Auden go? Did he leave? He did. Um, I don't know where he went. I he's he's lovely, though. Like we had such a good time with him and we were lucky to have him while we did. So yeah, he's the son of my senior editor, William.

23:21Oh, I didn't even realize that. Yeah, he's a great kid. He's really helpful and so sweet. And yeah, he's wonderful. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Congratulations to you guys. I'll need to go over there again. I don't get to Brentwood all that often. It's not that it's far. It's just it does feel like a different state to a lot of people in Nashville, though. They're like, that's in Brentwood. I'm like, I promise it's not as far as anyone thinks it is. Like it is surprisingly close to downtown. It's amazing how close Brentwood is. It's you think Brentwood and you think Cool Springs and you go. Those are miles. There's a lot differently. Brentwood, the old hickory exit is just I mean, it's right there. Yeah, but the hickory exit is also worlds from like it seems like where some of my son's friends live, which are like off of that Concord exit and you turn left and you go. That's a whole mess right now. But but yeah, no, the old hickory because we also love subculture and we have to get off that old hickory for that, too. So like old hickory has so much amazing food.

24:21I feel like people always forget about it, though. Well, I think this is a really good segue because one of the cool things that happened to Brentwood was my good friend Nina Singto opened up Tai Yisan right there in Brentwood, right in that whole area. You know what the Hill Center is that what that's called? I think so. Yeah, it's a very cool area for sure. But I went to the opening with her and I mean, Chris Chamberlain sat next to other and just gabbed it up mid pandemic. And we took a bunch of me and Nina took a prom picture. It was really fun in front of all the balloons. But she's just what what an amazing article on Chef Nina Singto from William Harwood there on page 14. So somebody who's just absolutely killed it throughout the pandemic continues to kill it. Nina Singto, Tai Yisan. And I mean, I didn't you know, I read this article from William almost like a reader. I was like, oh, this was really cool to see where she grew up.

25:26How she grew up and then how she got into the business. And Nina's been on the radar for a long time. And we finally we finally wrote about her because she started out at the end of 12 South there, right? Wasn't that the first time saying? No, no, no. She started out King. I think it was King Market and another one. Maybe it was 12 South. She had one on 12 South and then she moved it to the Buddy Killin' Circle. Yeah. And then it was Brentwood. She's got. Yeah, I think I think it maybe was 12 South. It was kind of on that, like not in the heart of it. No, towards the end by. Oh, my gosh. What is that other restaurant? We can make doodles now over there. Yes. What is that restaurant, though, that was not that far from her? Where they the cooks and stuff are past, you know, incarcerated folks that have gotten out. Yeah, that's Brett Swain's place.

26:27Yeah. The Cookery. The Cookery. Is that still there? Yes. I haven't thought about that. I need to get him on the show. I love that guy. Yeah, I need. We did a story on them a long time ago and I need to check in with them and see what's going on. What a fantastic guy. When I used to run Fresh Point, we would hook him up all the time. He used to feed all these people on Thanksgiving through the holidays and we would give him every thousands of dollars to produce all the time. Just and he would come down his truck and help take it away. And he's just he's a salt of the earth. So this brings us back to Bill Sandwich Palace. Yeah, and Christine Clemmons, Aaron Disler, who was another one of those people. Mr. Aaron's goods that we had on page 10. I mean, all of these things, it's almost they're also intertwined as to what they're doing. And if you haven't been to Bill's Sandwich Palace, everybody's a bill there, by the way. Aaron told me that I could be an honorary bill because you're a bill. Do you want to be a bill? You can be a bill. So when you go there, you get to you get to honorarily be a bill.

27:30And there's all these amazing sandwiches. They're just they're just killing it. Yeah, you know, I will tell you the day that actually William and I went over there together thinking we were going to eat. Right. So like, you know, I didn't need anything. We went over like at two o'clock. I don't think I ate anything all day. Well, I didn't realize at the time we went over like on a Thursday. Well, they don't serve. I mean, they only do their sandwiches Friday and Saturday, I think. So I just walked in. I was like, you guys got to tell me I'm gonna get something to eat. Right. And he was like, oh, yeah, we're fooling around with some things, blah, blah, blah, blah. I actually did not eat a sandwich while I was there. Work on this story for three months and look at things. So I will get over there. I will. I know I shouldn't really say that. Right. I should. I guess the editor should lie and say I've eaten all of it. But I haven't yet either. So it's OK. I'm going to be right there with you. That is the thing, though, that I feel like my Instagram is so full of. It's just pictures of the sandwiches.

28:30Like it's everybody's stories right now. It's everybody's Instagram. They're just tagging it all the time. I'm like, damn it. I know. And I don't live in East Nashville. And sometimes I get grumpy about having to go over there and get good food. I mean, obviously, there's good food everywhere now. What town do you live in, Jill? I live in West. I actually I live in Green Hills. Oh, that's right. I knew that. Which is where my the big luxurious office is as well. So West is so great. West has some of the most underrated restaurants, I think. Well, it's I mean, with everything that's happening on Charlotte. And, you know, I was just telling Brandon's never had Vienna. And then, oh, you have. Who hadn't had it? I don't know. I've definitely had it. Oh, somebody and maybe it was Steven. Somebody was like, oh, I've never had it. I'm like, that is my favorite restaurant in Nashville. Yeah, I've been there once. I was always a Miss Saigon person, but it's kind of been a while.

29:32But, you know, that's the other thing. It's like when we started out on this issue, actually, Manuel Zeitlin, who has a story in here on grazing at the farmers market, I initially was talking to him. So I thought, oh, I'm going to do a story on restaurant architecture. Like all, you know, like just like what the trends are and like, how do you design a restaurant? What do you look for and how is it different now? Anyway, we didn't do that. But Manuel is the biggest foodie. It's crazy. I said, oh, my God, you make me feel like I haven't been anywhere. In the hour that we talked, I was like, another place I haven't been. And now we're going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. When talking about what chefs want, really, the question is, how do they do it? No fees, no fuel charges, no surcharges. Never. This allows you to order as much or as little as you need as often as you need. Seven day delivery, access products every day, trimming your waste, increasing your valuable shelf life and allowing you fresher product.

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33:10That's kind of the point of this magazine and the point of our show is that you know people all over town, the common comment for people who aren't in this industry is there's so many restaurants I don't even know how to keep up and so that's why I try and every week get one of those people and talk to them and continue to focus on, it's amazing because you focus on these locally owned and operated restaurants that we all want these people who live in our community and support our community to continue to thrive. Yet every time I drive by Outback and Longhorn they're packed. Oh gosh. Drives me crazy. So I'm going to skip over, you had two really nice articles in the in the in the time we have the something uh there's a French Revolution coming um we talked about there's a Little Gourmand as well as Once Upon a Time in France. We got to leave the reader something to to have to go and read so if you want to learn more about those those are articles. There's an article um about the Baker's Dozen which is um um Paul and Chrissy Jensen and Paul Jensen I think I used to be on the board of the ACF with Paul back in the day.

34:17He was a big culinary teacher. Yeah I think you're right yeah yeah it's you know I mean for me just talking about like restaurants in general I've had different people that have worked with me that have kind of gone you know just kind of get into a little bit of a different thing um you know Edible needs to do more restaurant reviews and more of this and you know we've never really been just about going out and doing restaurant reviews or like just saying here are 10 places that are opening and here's what they look like you know like Guru does and I mean there's just lots of other people that that do that and so I kind of had to I mean I had to think about it I was like well is he right do I need to be doing but then I really had to think about what the mission of Edible Nashville is which is connecting people to local and local restaurants for sure but it's also getting people back into the kitchen and you know eating to where it's greener and more sustainable and what I'm getting at is at the end of the day people run restaurants right so even that we want to turn people on to all of these new places I always like to approach a story from the um okay he's a chef but why is he really doing this and maybe what does he cook at home or is he cooking something at the restaurant that he could share that a reader could do or and the baker's dozen is kind of what made me think about that sort of an example about that I mean here's this couple that has 13 kids and I mean it just immediately off the bat makes you want to go okay well what's going on here yeah so you know we always kind of even like in the restaurant issue like to sort of peel the onion a little bit more like here's what their place is but it's way beyond what their place is and who they are and why they're doing it same with Bill's Sandwich Shop I mean you know I like to say about the magazine businesses it's not brain surgery

36:17you know we're not lives aren't being lost if we have an error we do this or we do that you know and they're just completely like if it's goofy and funny we're gonna do it like there's so you know we're creating sandwiches here we're not saving lives either you know and if we're not having fun doing it well then we're not gonna do it that was a really big undercurrent I think of what they're doing and you know I mean kind of for edible too but that's kind of that's kind of the DNA that Baker's does in peace even have you guys been to the dotted line no well it's in Colombia so it's not like you know yeah that's hard for me actually I'm in Franklin but that's just speaking to like Edible's vision like that is I think what makes me so excited about it because you know there are a lot of Instagram food bloggers for Nashville specifically now and running Instagram for three separate businesses like I talk to those people and like you know I feel like what's cool about edible is it really is the person behind the dish or the restaurant or whatever and it's not just ads like the magazine is not ad driven and I just like that like I trust it more and I have a writer's background so like I like reading it you know it's just it's a different experience and so many of the other things that are available and I think that's really cool and keeping the people first is just special so I think you're doing an incredible job my validation but like just exactly no to hear that from you is exactly what I would want to hear because you know I get on my high horse a bit because I've been in the industry for a super long time like I remember the day when we put all the pages up on the wall and if the rice errone ad was anywhere I'm getting to my point anywhere near the rice edit you moved them now once digital came here most print it's just pay to play yes it's like okay your rice errone what do you want us to do a story with five recipes using it you got it oh you

38:21wanted like on the inside cover you got it too right and you know I serve yes I serve my advertiser but I serve my reader and then the readers trusting us just makes that more valuable to the advertiser right right because they do trust the brand because they can tell that the editorial isn't purchased so it does make it valuable and I'm glad that I'm so happy here you say that because that's that's the only way I know how to do a magazine right so yay well there's there's a great article here and I love that about it too I think that that's something that we share in what we do I mean obviously you need advertisers just to keep this thing going to buy microphones and to produce it but you know it's not something we're getting rich on over here but I really I find it fun to find advertisers that that I can like I find that I believe in that I work with that I can share with other people that aren't really well known you know everybody knows Ecolab and AutoClor but I work with Super Source because this dude is like he's small and he cares and he's genuine and like I want to partner with that guy and Sitex linen companies are known for being like scandalous and terrible like I found a really good linen company who's legit and I stand behind I tell my I tell the people on the show if you purchase from one of my vendors one of the people that advertise for me and something doesn't go wrong call me and I will fix it like I'm that hardcore on it like it's it this is the whole thing okay I'm getting off topic and we're running out of time there is a great article grazing at the farmers markets you mentioned from Manuel Zitlin um that is it that is a great great interview and I or just a great article I want everybody to go read that we're going to start doing some farmers markets at Maribor outside of Maribor and Brentwood in the month of October we're really excited about I'm saying it on the show so it's gonna happen Jen I was like oh no you're releasing this so early yeah I'm releasing

40:24it early but we're gonna do that in in um October but I want to finish this interview off and talk about Ben and Max Goldberg because Benjamin Goldberg has been on the show and he is a friend of mine and I love talking to him I can talk to him about restaurant stuff for just hours and he is actually the longest interview that I've done at two hours um and his brother Max uh is gonna be coming on the show real soon we hope yeah but you got to sit down with both of them and just kind of to talk what what is your history with them what is your perception of Benjamin and Max well I had met Ben but I hadn't actually sat down and talked about him I met Max right when I started edible because the guy I was working with had his office at Pinewood social and he had actually the back booth they even put in like an extra outlet for him it was Willie G's table so that's how I met Max um and then we would talk occasionally but I like Max was so committed to his employees like you know I mean just like the kindness and the consideration about what they're doing it was all about employing these people and if something goes wrong like what if I have to lay off people and just like all about that and I always just thought he had a heart of gold and obviously then they have all these other places coming up so this is going to be a new column that we're just doing coffee with and I'm an awful interviewer I'm just gonna say that right and we laughed about this I said to them because we immediately went down some rabbit hole and I said oh my god I'm the worst interviewer ever and they laughed and they were like oh we're the worst too so the kind of the point with it is to not just necessarily ask the standard questions about the restaurant business in Nashville and blah blah blah blah is to just kind of find out some other stuff and so that's really we just sat down and we just kind of chatted and then I just pulled

42:26out what I thought maybe people would want to know like about their mom it was hysterical when they started talking about their mom it was just like oh my god they had to kick her out of catboard seat because a critic came in they were like mom you have to leave now sorry just get up and leave quietly I mean that's the stuff that I like so anyway so I knew Max and I didn't know Ben and I just I fell in love with Ben of course I can see the different kind of things that they each bring to the party but ultimately this photo I mean at first I was like oh is it is it cheesy or will Max not like it this is it this is how these dudes are they were sitting I mean I sent a photographer down to get this but they were sitting at this booth the back booth actually is where we sat and they were just kind of so close to each other in just a way that just was completely unintentional that you can just tell that that's how they work together and that they were just so sincere and adorable and I don't think you think about people with a restaurant empire necessarily being like that at all because I remember they were on the cover of In Focus probably five or six years ago in their like New York suits and they were walking down the pool into that yeah it went and it was a beautiful photo I mean I love that photo but that's that's not really necessarily edible this is how I wanted to capture them so I love it I just think they're fantastic Jen worked for them yeah like a while I met my husband working for them actually oh wow you owe them a lot then oh I love them I actually messaged Max the other day like they are they gave me my whole life in Nashville and I've said that to Max I've said that to Ben like they're they're incredible and Ben's wife is lovely like they're just there I've met their mom a bunch of times his wife is fantastic okay so because I've never worked for them so everything that I just said

44:28about them and their employees is true yeah so they um I was telling I don't want to like go into the details of the story but um I did tell uh Brandon the other day like a way in which Max stood up for all of our like the entire staff at the restaurant when something had gone awry um which is normal for restaurants but Max would just like stepped in and was like no this is not this is not how I'm gonna let our staff be treated and it was it was very cool like it was the first time I'd seen an owner do that and um yeah they they are really just genuinely good guys and they just do seem to genuinely believe in Nashville like this is their I mean you have you heard the story of why they bought merchants no I didn't know their grandparents Max in fact checked this but like from what I because that's where I started working with merchants and the story I heard was that his grandparents had their first date there before going to prom and it was owned by you know somebody and the the doors were about to close like it had seven days and Max convinced Ben or vice versa to to get it so that they could like keep that alive because they loved the idea that their grandparents first date was there and they just wanted to like they they didn't want that restaurant to close so they got if I was a better interviewer I would have somehow known about that story and I would have been able to ask about it well if you uh I don't if you go if you go back and you look in the archives of Nashville restaurant radio there is a two-hour interview with Benjamin that go through I I single-handedly go through the timeline of every single restaurant that they opened and why they open them because I feel like their innovation and their just their their lack of fear their their ability to go in somewhere and do something completely different tearing down Paradise Park and putting in the sporting club takes so much guts yeah to do something on that level to open bar 23 back in the day with what he

46:32did just to do um to do the catbird seat the story behind the cap Josh Hobbiger came on the show and told me the story of the catbird seat and then Benjamin corroborated that story was the most amazing story I'd ever heard and I've been from afar big such huge fans of them and what they've done for this city everybody in the city owes them a debt of gratitude because they've moved the culinary scene in this city way farther than it ever should have been faster than it should have been I mean they did they did things that New York was doing way before Nashville even thought that that could be done and they took a ton of shit for it and they they did not phase them and I've never been more like I just I don't know for me the leadership it takes to do that to do everything that they've done I'm absolutely in awe of them I think they're just the most amazing restaurant tours and I'm just I follow them I like them I they're from talking to them multiple times they're just they're just lovely people and I um yeah I'm a fan fan right here yeah the only question I did I asked him I wanted to know their thoughts about chain restaurants because you know there used to be very you know fine lines between your local restaurant your chain restaurant and now they're kind of blurry right because like you have um husk and it's in two cities you know you have um butcher and bee and it's in two cities you know does that make it a chain is it still local you have the optimist you know it's in Atlanta and here and so I'm like continually thinking about this right because we're all local and so I asked him about that and Ben just said you know I'm okay with it when people come in and they they want to learn about the community and they want to contribute and they want to be a part of it and all that good stuff he's like it's when somebody comes in and obviously they try to steal your employees or do whatever the heck it is that they're going to do then I have a problem with it which makes

48:33complete sense but I don't know that I necessarily thought of what the answer would be but I thought yeah that's cool they're good for your community you know that that's okay if they're doing the right thing but um yeah I know love affair well Jill I want to do this interview we could do this every other month if you want and go over your magazine I love what you guys are doing over there we are running short on time and we're gonna have to wrap it up but I will tell you uh the tell our listeners out there that the edible Nashville July August 2021 edition is out now you can go where can we go find this magazine well typically you can find it at our advertisers outlets right that's kind of the model the advertiser partners get the magazine to give to their customers so it's at most of the advertisers you can also find it at whole foods the one in Franklin and we have a distributor so those stay stocked because in a lot of the other local places you may drive over there and you're like oh you know they're all gone so you can always find them um at whole foods you can find them like this time of year at all the farmers markets there are all the registration tables of all the you know 12 south east Franklin they're at all the farmers markets um and then you just need to look at the issue and like produce place love produce place we actually have two what we call edible hot boxes so we upcycle old magazine racks you know that you just find in the alleys abandoned um and then we have an illustrator that's painted them so we have two one is in front of the bell court so you know you don't pay you just open the magazine so that's filled with actually back issues and the current issue so right there in Hillsborough village and then the other one is in the front of produce place so they don't have to be open for you to get it right it's just sitting in the front and we have back issues and all the current issues there um produce place is you know of course a great local

50:38market to find local stuff and they've been a great partner we love them we love Barry and Steve yeah all right well you can also follow edible Nashville if you look right down the screen at edible nash uh go check them out at edible nashville.com and um Jill one thing that we do at the end of every episode is we let our guest take us out you get to give the Jerry's final thought as you will whatever you want to say for as long as you want to say it the floor is yours and I'm putting you on the spot with something I do every episode in three two you know what I'm going to say is that what we eat and food is important and there's really nothing more empowering than being able to feed yourself when you can open your fridge and have a mishmash of whatever in there and you can make dinner out of it that that is a beautiful thing and for me as a beautiful thing and for me as a cook which is what I am and in my soul um cooking and eating is just people are in and out of my house constantly and they're always in the kitchen and it has just been um a way that I can show people that I love them and I care and I can contribute so you know eating out is great and supporting our local restaurants but a big part of what we do is try to get people back in the kitchen because good things good shit happens there yeah if I'm allowed to say that you are well Jill thank you so much for joining us today and um look forward to every issue that you've got coming up looks like the wedding issue coming up here in a few months yeah that's gonna be fun yes we'll be in talks yeah thank you guys

52:45have a wonderful afternoon we'll talk to you soon okay thanks guys bye