Michael Hanna

00:00Hey, this is Jen Heidinger-Kendrick, founder of Giving Kitchen. Let me tell you a little more. Giving Kitchen is a James Beard award-winning nonprofit that provides emergency assistance to food service workers nationally. Headquartered in Atlanta since 2013, Giving Kitchen has served over 19,000 food service workers and awarded over 12 million dollars to food service workers in crisis. Want to get involved and support Giving Kitchen? Join Dining with Gratitude in October, Giving Kitchen's month-long campaign where the food service community pledges to raise critical funds and spread the word about Giving Kitchen's mission. givingkitchen.org DWG We are so excited to introduce a new sponsor to Nashville Restaurant Radio, All-Star Fire Protection. These guys are your local solution to all your fire suppression needs. All-Star Fire opened in Nashville 34 years ago, and they continue to grow. They're now serving Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Bowling Green. They have over 130 team members, and they got 40 trucks out on the roads at all times to service your restaurant.

01:07And you know, you know what I love? Just when I was talking with them, and I said, hey man, what makes you different? I get your local, you do all the things, but what makes you different? And he said, you know what makes us different is that we actually care. Because I actually care. These people are small business owners. This is their life, and we're a small business as well. We understand what they're going through, and we take that approach. We actually care about their business. We want them to be ready in the case of a fire, which is why they offer trainings. They will go in and they will sit with your staff and say, hey, this is how you use a fire extinguisher. How many people out there actually know how to use a fire extinguisher? They want to make sure that you're getting the most out of it. They're building those relationships. And that is why I am proud to introduce All-Star Fire Protection to you. You can get a hold of Rob Bowman. You should call him today. His number is 615-431-3760. That's 615-431-3760. Bro, imagine the raddest blend of berries and ginger hitting you in your taste buds like a wave of flavor from the future.

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03:11I'm your host, Brandon Styll and Crystal DeLuna-Bogan. Hey, everybody. This is Brandon. And this is Crystal, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Yeah. Welcome. I did it. I said it. You did it. I said it. This is so fun. I'm so excited. We have a new format, new intros, a little less rock and roll. The format is this. Welcome to the new format. New format. We may switch up the intro music. It's a little like, I don't know, almost like- No, we're not using that. That's just a placeholder. It's a placeholder for now, but it's a little- We're in Nashville. We're in Nashville. We got to get the music good, right? Welcome to the podcast. This is a podcast about food people. Yes. Not food. This is not food. It's food people. Here's what we're going to do going forward, which you'd like to do. We'd like to do this every week. We're going to do, we used to do this episode called The Roundup, and The Roundup was me, co-hosts, sometimes we'd bring a guest in and we would just talk about what's happening in the world.

04:16Sometimes we'd talk about tipping. Sometimes we have a topic and it's new business or whatever it is. So we're going to start every episode off now with a good 30 minute intro, sometimes 30, maybe longer. What's happening? What's opening? What's closing? What do we got to eat? What do we have to support in Nashville this week? Where can we go support? What's happening? Yeah. Did chefs leave somewhere? Did chefs come somewhere? I want to know all the juicy gossip. I think a lot of people do. The fun gossip. Fun gossip. Just things that are happening. Good willed. Yeah. I will tell you when I was researching this gossip, I looked up the Nashville scene and Chris Chamberlain does a great article where he says- You're going to say it. I'm going to say it, Chris. He's a little sour, Chris. I'm not sour. He's a little sour that he stole his Roundup saying. We have the Roundup of restaurant stuff and then you're on the Business Journal and you're looking at what's in the Business Journal. They also have a restaurant Roundup. They have a restaurant Roundup and I've been doing the Roundup since 2020 and I'm like- Imitation is the best form of flattery.

05:20I'm going to take that. People tell me that all the time. Chris is going to send me a text and he goes, dude, I've been using the Roundup since 1992. I'm going to go, oh, okay, I'm an asshole. I guess I copied you. Sorry. I did not know if you did. It was two original people thinking about it. Chris, I'm neutral on this. I'm pretty sure. I don't know who's first, but I love you too. Well, let's start with just general check-ins. I think that how are you is a general greeting, but also I think it's a serious question we have to ask people in this climate of this world today. Crystal, how are you? I'm good. I'm busy. I'm busy and the busy is not necessarily like busy because there's so many, so much sales because I think we've kind of been seeing that we are all down a little bit from last year, which is really important. Not enough to have some serious cutting and changing, but definitely down altogether. And we've been hearing that from other chef restaurant tours that everyone's kind of down from last year percentage-wise in the kind of 10% range of sales.

06:27So what does that mean? What is the climate? What's changing? What can we do to adapt? And that's kind of like the strongest survive by just trying to adapt to whatever is going on. So, you know, unfortunately that means closings of restaurants sometimes and maybe somebody opening a restaurant, maybe changing a pattern to see why that restaurant or the other restaurants are closing new restaurants coming up. Yeah, new restaurants. Well, no, Brandon, I can't talk about that yet. We do have the, the grilled cheesery does have a new restaurant and a new, but it's a new concept of the grilled cheesery. So we have not unveiled yet and it's going to be coming out soon. So I will talk about that soon. Okay. Other people, so I can't say it alone and maybe we'll invite that other half of the equation on the director of that institution to come on. Okay.

07:27He would love to probably be on the show. So good things to come for you. Yeah, we're definitely in a period of growth, which is great after closing two restaurants in the last few years. And, you know, being fully 100% owner of our brand again, we're really proud to be growing the way we are and building the team back to what it was. Because obviously we had to let go. I mean, we let go closing two restaurants over maybe 50 something people. Oh man, that's tough. Yeah. So, but you're, when you say you're busy, like, yes, we're busy. But we're opening a whole new thing and you're working really hard. You and Joseph. And I'm doing more like high end catering, you know, non grilled cheesery catering. I just did a big event at the frist last Friday for the Alexander McQueen opening, which is really exciting. And people, I think it's good that like they think I just do sandwiches because anything I do above that, I think they're really pleasantly surprised and very praising.

08:29So it was, it was so wonderful. Great energy, great people, such a successful event for the Frist Museum. And we felt so welcomed there doing the cocktails for the VIP, the cocktail hors d'oeuvres for the VIP. And then our food truck was outside. So it was a great kind of like, you know, high low situation where people would get greasy cheese outside, but we had like a beautiful spread inside. So, yeah, it was fun. But what else is opening? Well, I also want to say that it's CMA week this week and this episode, we're putting this episode out on Thursday today. So it is right in the middle of it. There's a grilled cheesery food truck downtown, right? Yeah, we're going to be downtown on Food Truck Alley. Come and see us. But I would say, if anything, just like give a fist bump to the food truck people. They are working their butts off this week. Any one of those food trucks you're going to, they are having to load in three and four hours before they're even serving anything. They have to stay late because they can't clear out until the crowds clear out. I mean, these people are working so hard.

09:31So just be kind to them. And they are, sorry, Brandon's trying to write something down to show me and I can't write it. But yeah, just be kind to all of the food service workers that are working CMA Fest. They are busting their tails this week. It's a lot of shout out to everybody downtown and everyone in general is busier in the city. So, I mean, we've already seen an uptick in our sales at the Hillsborough. All right. So how are you doing this week? I'm doing OK. I, you know, the and we're going to talk about Tentissimo here in just a minute. And Anna Aguilar and Josh Cook and Maria from Tentissimo, they have a new location. They have actual brick and mortar. I'm so excited about them. Before that episode came out, I kind of did this whole I was very sad that day.

10:31And it was it was a Sunday. My cousin had passed away in a plane crash. Yeah. And then my cat got hit by a car. It was. And then when we were in California for the funeral, my grandmother passed away. Like we're all in the house the day before the funeral. All the families in front of my grandmother's there and she passes away like in the house that day. And so at least we're all there. We're able to see him. It has been a really challenging time for me over the past few weeks. But you know what? I'm doing really, really well. I know some people have asked me a little message me how you're doing. I wanted to give kind of an update. I took a little mental health break this past weekend and I went to Florida for a couple of days. And I just I got a like a twenty third floor room just on the beach. And I just spent some time alone and I meditated and I relaxed and I just spent some time for myself.

11:31And it was really, really nice. And I'm really excited to be back. I am going to Atlanta. I'm so jealous. When this comes out, I will be in Atlanta. I'm going to be in Atlanta. We are going to be recording several episodes. The month of July is going to turn. We're going to turn this podcast into Atlanta restaurant radio slash giving kitchen radio. Shout out to Atlanta. We love Atlanta. Yes. So what we did was we did this auction at the giving kitchens tasting event where I said you get to be the host of national restaurant radio for the day. And we had two people bid and win. And so they both lived in Atlanta. So I'm going to go to Atlanta and I'm going to have these co-hosts for the show. Billy Wagner, who owns the NFA burger in Atlanta, which was voted best burger in Atlanta. He's giving my co-host and he's got we've got some amazing guests lined up for this event. So the whole month of July, you're going to be out of town. We're not going to have any Nashville episodes that month. And it's just going to be me doing. We're going to transform into Atlanta restaurant radio with Jen hiding her Kendrick from the giving kitchen.

12:35She's going to be jumping on. We're going to be talking about the giving kitchen like crazy for the month and really want to build some awareness around that. But yeah, Atlanta restaurant radio for the month of July, we get to take a little bit of a break. Yeah. And also, it's not like a break from work because we're going to be working. There's no way I'm not working. This, you know, unspoken about concept that I, you know, tiptoeing around will be probably opening around that time. So mentally, we need to be focused on our restaurant jobs. And then we're turning the studio into like a visual studio. I've got all the information I need to do. We're going to put some cameras in here. We have a YouTube page that's going to be fully functional. You can watch these interviews. It's going to be cool. It's going to be really cool. I can't wait to. I mean, chefs are so animated. Restaurant tours are so animated in their expressions and their hands and they're talking. Like, I just feel like they that's going to be a good medium to watch these podcasts on, you know?

13:36Oh, yeah, it is. So that's how I'm doing. That's what's going on with me. Lots of fun stuff happening. And I'm getting getting by with a little help from my friends and some prayer and some support from people. And yeah, we're all thinking about you. Really nice. So what's happening in this world of Nashville restaurant? Oh, by the way, another last thing here. We have an interview today. In this episode today, we're talking with the amazing Michael Hanna from St. Vito's. He's one of my, you know, my restaurant children. He's somebody that I loved and seen from the beginning. You've raised him from birth and mother. No, just kidding. He's he's so great. I'm so lucky that I've been friends with him for a while. So the interview will be good. And, you know, there's no. Hi, how are you? Like, we're going to get right into it. We know each other pretty well. I know this is going to be a blast. He was on in 2020, May of 2021.

14:36That was pandemic and that pandemic. He was doing pop ups at Hawthorne. Yeah, you know, pop ups at Hawthorne. And now he's got a whole restaurant breaking mortar. I can't wait to learn all about it. I can't wait to hear this full episode coming up in about 10, 15, 20 minutes. I don't know whenever we're done talking, but this new format, what we're going to be doing every single episode is we're going to be doing a roundup at the beginning of every show. So this podcast is now not going to be the hour, the tastiest hour of talk. It's like the tastiest hour and a half to two hours of talk. It's now going to be a full show, a full show. So if you don't care, you don't know who the interview is or you don't. I don't care about that guy. I don't like pizza. I don't like Spenzione. Who doesn't like that? I know. I get it. Maybe you're gluten intolerant and then maybe you haven't tried it. We had Gloria Johnson on the show and that show has done terrible. You know, I don't understand. Nobody's listened to it. It's crazy.

15:38You can still listen to it. You can go back and listen to it. Anybody can go listen to it. But like every show around it has like twice as many listens. Like, I don't think people like the glory. They're like, yeah, I don't want to hear about it. I'm done. I think people are tired of politics. They're also overwhelmed by the amounts of politics in the news. And maybe that's just not what they come to us for. So, I mean, that's good to know because that's not really what we focus on anyways. But we are focusing on our local elections and our local, you know, duties that we need to do as business owners and citizens here in Nashville. So, hey, look, the 150 people that listened to that episode. I hope they vote. I'm honestly great. You know, that's fantastic that we've got 150 people who have listened to it. Hopefully hundreds of more people find it and listen to it. But at the same point, 150 people listen to it. I'm honored that those people got to hear that story because she was so good. Yeah, she had a presence for sure. I'm so glad she was in studio with us.

16:38That was really awesome of her to do that. We were invited to go to the rooftop kickoff party at the rooftop season. Riviera rooftop at Four Seasons. And I took my wife to that. You know, I used to work at a Four Seasons. Did you really? Which one? The one in Los Angeles. I was the training kitchen manager there. Training kitchen manager? Like I was like the first, if you worked in the kitchen, I was the first person you. Do they do grilled cheese sandwiches at the Four Seasons? No, I was doing fine dining, dick. You do other things? I'm a chef, like a real chef. Like fuck you. You didn't even know. Can't you tell by my language? I'm a kitchen folk. Yeah, no, I was working in fine dining then. I was, that was like, I was crazy. It was 24-7 at that hotel because we did all of the press, like movie, you know, like every movie that came out, we did all the stuff there. So anyways, Four Seasons is a wonderful hotel.

17:39Beautiful roofed. It's not on the rooftop. It's like on the seventh floor, the 11th floor, something like that. It's kind of midway through. But man, the views over the river. And then they have an infinity pool where you can sit in the infinity pool. And it goes on forever. It goes on forever. You can look right at the stadium, sit in the pool, look at the stadium. They've got a bar out there. They had a DJ. Absolutely gorgeous. We're going to have their new chefs on here. So what did they do? Like, did they do like apps? Oh yeah, they had these little small plates, these little tuna tartars and little really fancy desserts and things they passed around. And they were doing these apparel spritz drinks. Of course I, it was weird because I had like a non-alcoholic beer, like an athletic beer. I don't like any of the beer. I like the athletic the most though. I thought it was weird because they invite you to this thing. Like, Hey, come out for this media preview. And I'm not, I'm just, I'm going to sound like such a dick saying this out loud. I can't believe I'm actually saying this out loud, but they're, you're there and they're handing out all these drinks and it's like a whole thing.

18:40And I'm like, Oh, I don't drink. And then they're like, Oh, then you can go to the bar. And I have to walk in. There's this line at the bar, people waiting to get drinks, the same drinks. They know who you were. No, no, no. I'm fine with that. That's all, that's all nothing. I would like to be like, do you know who this is? But I walk over and I'm like, well, I don't drink. Can I get a non-alcoholic beer? Like, yeah, but that costs money. So they charge. What? Like, what do you, like, okay. You're being fined for having a, that's the thing. It's like they're having an issue with alcohol at one point in your life. They're giving away all these drinks, just, just trays of drinks. They're just giving to people. But if I want an athletic non-alcoholic drink, they're like, yeah. And it was like $11. It was like, Oh jeez. It was like, like, okay. I just want to say you can get a full case of that. The six of them for nine bucks. Well, I was just kind of like, well, that just seems like a mess. It's a little insensitive. You're there and it's like, Oh, the one who's not drink alcohol. You're the one who gets to pay the most. You don't feel like drinking that night. That's weird. It was a lovely invitation.

19:40We had a lovely time. It was a beautiful place. $11. I am not cool enough to be there. I've learned this. Like I am. Four Seasons is not that kind of place. It felt like it was real. Well, this was like the media. It was like all the tick tockers and Instagram people and all the people that like taking photos and like doing the whole thing. And it was like the whole. Yeah. It was almost like, if like the bachelor, it was like, I'll bet you there's a bunch of people who like everybody here. So many bachelor. Everybody here has applied to be on the bachelor. Somebody has some kind of reality show. They're all trying to become Instagram famous. Everybody in this crew. That's not who you were usually like with my wife. And it's just like, yeah. And I'm on this. Oh, way too cool. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, this, no. Did you get in the pool? I wanted to. Did you do a cannonball in the pool? So it's a very nice, lovely invitation. And I want to say thank you for having me. The former employee, I'm sad I missed it. I would have been like, wow, I need to go to bed.

20:40It's nine o'clock at way past bedtime. So we're talking about openings. The Coral Club also opened over there in East Nashville. That vibe looks really cool. Yeah. Popping. Otaku was. Sarah Gavigan's pop-up concept used to be. Good. It still works. OK. Did it just freeze? And then my computer went to sleep. I have a new computer. Went to sleep. Is it still recording? It's probably just a setting you have to just go in and do. Still recording. We're looking good. Yeah. Coral Club is now open. I believe it just opened this past week. And good stuff. Good stuff. Do you know anything about the people who own the Coral Club? I don't. But I would like to get them on the podcast and hear about it. Because it looks like a beautiful space. It looks like it costs a pretty penny to open. So that always comes with, I'm sure, where the challenge is. And being right off of Gallatin in East Nashville, I literally. 604 Gallatin Avenue. Yep. 604 Gallatin Avenue.

21:41I literally live walking distance from there. And that's a hard location. Because people on Gallatin don't really stop. It's very much like there's so much heavy traffic. It's an interesting location. So from Chris Chamberlain says, The adventure is a project of the quartet of longtime hospitality and cocktail veterans. Aaron and Matthew Izaguari. I don't know how to say that. I-Z-A-G-U-I-R-R-E. Christopher Esqueda and Bryce Hoffman. They're promising cool, calm, organic interiors. The menu offers handcrafted cocktails and non-alcoholic options. Oh, granted for you. Well, for you, too. Something for everybody. By the way, elevated bar snacks are also available, ranging from black truffle popcorn and Marcona almond and olive mix. Tinned fish with Spanish peppers. Real on trend. Lavash cracker to a meat and cheese plate. Oh, a little meat and cheese. That sounds fun. That sounds great. That sounds like the hundredth bar that's opened off Gallatin this year.

22:46I would love to see it because I feel like this looks a little bit different. It doesn't look like as much of a dive bar, as much of a like they're saying like a calming kind of energy, like space where people can relax. It looks beautiful. Like the pictures look insane. Looks gorgeous. I love that. That space is actually huge. It doesn't look like it from the street, but it's pretty big inside. Do you know what one of my favorite foods in the world is? No. What is it? Sandwiches. Nice to meet you. I'm a sandwich chef. Sandwiches are so delicious. Sandwiches are the best food. And so we've got some really amazing sandwich shops in Nashville. So many. Grilled Cheeseery being one of them. Thank you. We have... Bill's Sandwich Palace. Bill's Sandwich Palace. East Side Banh Mi. Fat Belly Pretzel. Yeah. There's a new... So many new ones, though, too. There's a new one coming. Coming to Wedgwood, Houston. The people that brought us the burgers from Cletus. Shane Nasby and his wife, Angela, are bringing Jambox to Wedgwood, Houston.

23:48So when I think of Jambox, I think of sandwiches with jam in them. But I'm thinking that's more like reference to a mixtape, which is actually really cool if they go that direction with their branding. Yeah. I want to try it. And he also has a place coming into Bellevue, I believe. I don't know if it's Cletus, but it's another different concept. But he's crushing it right now, just growing that crazy... It should come on. I want to hear about it. We need to. He's been on twice on the show. He's a favorite on the show. People love... Because you know what he does at Cletus? He employs homeless people. Oh, cool. Amazing. And he gives back a portion of all of his food goes to homeless people. He is so big and... We call them houseless now. Sorry. Houseless. Yeah. Thank you. Well, I understood. Yeah. So he is really big into helping people. And I love that community side of somebody who's out there serving the community and then also giving back to the community. And I know he's going to do that in the Wicked area as well. Yeah.

24:48So we have to go out and support those concepts because they don't work if they don't have the sales. So both in the Nashville Business Room, we've read that Tantissimo is going to be opening in Sylvan Park. My friend Anna. I'm so excited for them. So they came on just a few weeks ago, and they have their little spot in the back of... What was the name of the place? Mickey's? Yeah. They're right behind Mickey's. And it's like this little late night... It's still a pop-up though. Still a pop-up. It's not their space. They're going to do their own brick and mortar. I don't know where it's going to be in Sylvan Park, but I saw the picture of them inside the space. Yeah. So stay tuned. We will have all the information. It's definitely like they're in the process. We don't have an opening date yet, I don't think. And if we do, we need to get that from them because that's not really known information. But yeah, that's so exciting. Because all I know about their food is it's really delicious. And I can't wait to see what they do when they have access to their full own space and how they set it up.

25:50They've been doing these pop-ups for a while and doing the most they can with them. So it's going to be so delicious. I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait. I cannot wait. And they're just cool people. I wasn't there for that interview, but I know Anna really well, and you get cool vibes from them. Very cool vibes from them. And Maria was great, too. She was in the co-host seat with me. She was the co-host for that episode. Yeah, I heard that. I heard that. They were just great. She seems sweet. Yeah, I don't know Maria. I just know Anna pretty well. They were talking about opening a food truck at one point, so she rented me for that reason. Anna's a boss. She is. She has such good energy, and she's just like, I'm going to make sure it happens. She's just a restaurant person. Yeah, she really is. Sadly, we have a closing. I know. Bar Continental. Sean Brock's Bar Continental. So I think I want to get Sean on here because I think there's a lot to that. It started off as something else and then transitioned to Bar Continental.

26:51Yeah, the Continental. The Continental, then transitioned to the record. He had concepts, which was so cool. 5,000 pieces of vinyl. Passion project for him. He worked really closely to make sure the sound and the guests, the people that went through that, it was so thoughtful, just like everything he does. Yeah, I don't know. When you partner with these larger hotels and corporations, maybe there was just something there that wasn't working, but I want to hear about it. Love to have him on the show. Yeah. He's somebody who's never been on the show. I've never had him on the show. Do you know why? I've never pursued to have him on the show. Why? I think everything he's been said. I think he's been interviewed a thousand times. That's not true. He has so much in that head of his that I think is constantly evolving. He's one of those people that's obsessive about stuff that he loves, and that's one of the reasons what makes him great. And coincidentally, our children are really good friends.

27:51So shout out to Leo and Luna, who me and his wife, Audie, were pregnant together. And then we're like little restaurant kids running around these restaurants together. So yeah, we definitely have a relationship other than restaurant stuff that we connect on. But yeah, I'm just curious to hear if he wants to talk about it too. This was so close to him. He loved that concept. I think what he's doing at Audrey and June upstairs with the podcast studio, with the library, with the chill room and all these things, and then his little laboratory. All the things. I would love to learn about all of that and how he made all that happen. He's brilliant. Obviously, we know this. I guess maybe I'm a little intimidated to have him in. Are you? Maybe. Yeah, you sound like you're intimidated. Maybe I am. I don't know. That's why. It's a thing. He's a human. He's a person. It's really nice. I can attest to that.

28:51Let's find that out. Okay. Shout out to Sean. Come on the show. I'll text you later. What else do you got? Those were my notes for today. I feel like there's a lot. We're going to get more into it. I think now that we're doing this, we'll reach out directly to people so we can get firsthand information rather than just information that's out there. You know what? I would like to offer up to everybody. I follow. I created a hashtag. Okay. Wow. Look at you. You're so on trend. I'm on trend. It is called hashtag The Roundup. If you are a restaurant... Can you ask Chris Chamberlain about that? TM. I love you, Chris. Trademark. If you are out there and you have really cool restaurant news or happy hour or something rad that you are doing in your restaurant and you want us to talk about it on The Roundup, hashtag us in your post. Maybe if you do that, we'll put it in our stories and we'll reshare it and that kind of stuff.

29:52Tag us. Or DM us directly. We'll check those direct messages and we can be like, hey, I got this new pop-up coming up. Let us know. We'll talk about it. Iggy's has a pop-up coming up. We'll talk about that. Iggy's. I read this. Say more. Chris Chamberlain. Dang. Chris Chamberlain's really giving us all the information on this Roundup. That's because he's a me. I love Chris Chamberlain. He's like one of my favorite people in the city, by the way. And he's stealing my Roundup. Oh my God. He's either gonna be laughing or he's gonna be real. You're gonna get a cease and desist. He's laughing. Iggy's is doing a pop-up. I don't know where that went. I have it right here somewhere. Iggy's plans collaborative chef series through the end of the year. This is a thing. Let's see. Brothers Ryan and Matthew Polly have reached into their culinary Rolodex. I told somebody the other day that and they went. Do people still use Rolodex?

30:52What's a Rolodex? Kids don't even know. Kids don't even know what a Rolodex is. Have never spoken on a landline before. Well, it's like if you say, oh, that's cool. I got a flat screen TV. They go, what the hell? Do you mean TV? Yeah, that's just TV now. Just TV. No, it's a flat screen. No, it's just a TV. They are doing, and these are not like local chefs. So the first dinner is planned for Wednesday, June 19th. Joe Frillman of Chicago's daisies, a Michelin star, a Michelin green star awarded, Midwest inspired pasta focused restaurant in Wendy City's Logan Square. They're bringing cool people. On September 18th, they're going to have Greg Kuzia Carmel from Camper and Canteen, Menlo Park, California. October 23rd, Brad Kilgore from Kilgore Culinary Group. And December 11th, Brad Daniels from Trasini in Philadelphia. It's a hundred bucks. It's a hundred bucks to go. He has seven courses from these talented chefs coming all over the country. Iggy's, if you're a big fan, if you've ever been there and not been there, they're doing these chef pop-ups, a hundred bucks, seven courses. Get your tickets now, because these will definitely sell out. This is such a cool idea. I mean, we're so lucky that we get stuff like this.

31:53Like we get, these kind of chefs are, have relationships because they've worked all over the country. They have these relationships with other chefs and restaurateurs, and they are like gracefully bringing these people in, which is a big deal. They're coming in. They probably have to put them up, you know, their team. It's kind of a lot of logistics to bring in chefs from out of town to do pop-ups like this. And God, that is so cool that we get to experience these chefs. I know Rolf and Daughters did this all the time. And I was introduced to so many amazing chefs of like cities I've never been to and got to meet the chefs. And as somebody who just is such a, you know, geeked out on everything, it was so cool to see like what Phil and like what other, other chefs were doing together. And then that camaraderie. It introduces you to new ingredients and new styles too. It was so, if you, if you're a culinary student or if you're a cook that's starting out, you have to, this is your research. This is, these are the types of dinners that you need to invest the hundred dollars to go in and experience because you're going to learn how to do these collaborations the right way.

32:58I wonder if it'd be interesting if we bought as a podcast. Culinary student? Oh. Well, if we bought like two tickets to each one of these and then gifted them to culinary students. Well, no, we should go to like Nashville state or even these places and say, hey, look, we want to sponsor two of your, and then let them do some kind of a contest. Whoever gets the highest scores, whoever does the best. And then we will give away two tickets to the culinary students. And then they get to go experience that on us. And maybe they can come and talk about it. And then they can come and talk about it. And hear it from their little, you know, budding culinary perspective. Cool to do for them. But now bringing it back here and having them talk about it. Like report back to us. Also, I want to eat that too. So you better come back with some good feedback. Well, maybe we buy four tickets. And then you and I go with the two people and we can learn from them and talk. Show them what we're eating. I don't want to be selfish, but I like that idea better.

34:00I also want to eat that food. We're looking for somebody who wants to sponsor us. And I think Michael Hannah does a lot of pop-ups too with other local. I mean, there's so many. I love it. This pop-up season. Dig with us as we continue to do these shows. The beginning of these episodes are going to look more like this. We'll get our everything down. We'll figure it all out. But this is going to be... It'll be fun. This is the opening to our new Nashville Restaurant radio show. Welcome to it. Welcome. Do you think that we should let everybody hear our conversation with Michael Hannah? Yeah, I love it. I think we should do. Let's jump in. Who wants to hear Michael Hannah? Because here it goes right now. Enjoy. It is springtime. That means we're going to be hanging out on patios. We're going to brunches. And of course, that means bravazzi. The hard Italian soda made right here in Nashville that is taking over brunch by storm. Yes, bravazzi is gluten-free. It's made with real fruit juice, cane sugar, and nothing artificial.

35:00This is great out of the can, over ice or mixed in a cocktail. And you can get it on draft. This is distributed by best brands right here in Tennessee. And it has the perfect amount of sweetness crafted in the Italian tradition. This is a studio favorite. When we pass these out to guests in the studio, they love them. We sell them at Chagos, and everybody loves them over at Chagos. We are big fans of bravazzi, and this is the time of year where everybody wants a crisp, clean Italian sparkling soda. These are also great for the boat. These are great for outdoor picnics. Get you some bravazzi wherever you find fine beverages. Enjoy responsibly. At What Chefs Want, they deliver the seven most needed product lines to meet the unique needs of chefs and restaurateurs. From local to global, and from staple items to gourmet rarities, they have the variety of products to cover all of your needs.

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37:02Learn more at sharpiers.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S dot com. Or you can give Erin Mosso a call directly. Her number is 615-319-6453. That's Sharpier's Bakery. All right, well, we're super excited here welcoming in Michael Hanna. Michael is the owner of St. Vito's Focaccia Ria. What's up, man? What's up? Welcome. Thank you. I'd also like to say welcome to Crystal. Thank you. I was waiting for my introduction as well. We've got to figure out a way to do this like whole thing better. Yeah. We've got to figure out a way to do this like whole thing better. We've got to figure out a way to do this like whole thing better. We've got to figure out a way to do this like whole thing better. We've got to figure out a way to do this like whole thing better. Yeah, we're going to do... Well, coming soon. Coming soon. It'll be better. Yeah, man. Until then.

38:02We're all friends here though. Second time on the show. First time on the show. I don't even remember when it was. I'm going to look it up here in just a second. May 2021, right? Yeeks. Damn, May 2021. Did you look it up before? A lot has happened since then, Michael. So much has happened since then. Yeah. Yeah, what year is it? Twenty-four. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So, last time we talked, you were doing... You had like a residency at Hawthorne. And you were doing like... And think that was in 2021, right? You were doing like a weekend thing at Hawthorne. Is it Hawthorne or Hawthorne? Hawthorne. It's Hawthorne. Oh, man. I've been saying it wrong this whole time. It's his grandmother's last name. I don't know. You think it's Hawthorne, but it's Hawthorne. I didn't know that. I'm glad I know that now. Yeah. It's Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Hawthorne. G-eenth. E-ete 아니라... G- � arthritis. Wendyciuan proportions caveart�ует... It's G-point. G-point. G-point. Yeah. G-point. 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2. So it's not G-point. Oh. It's G-point. I don't think it's that. I don't think it's in that question. So, what is it? Do you think it's Hawthorne departs on 25th day and 29th? I don't think it's Hawthorne departs on 29th day. Yeah, dummy.

39:02And this reminds me of experiment days. Oh, yeah. Like, this reminds me of model days. So... Gulch-ish, right? Gulch-ish. Gulch-ish? Why? What's Gulch-ish? Where is it at? Because it's not in the main strip of the Gulch. What's the cross streets? Well, you're thinking main strip being right there at, like, what's Billy Dex place? Sunda. Like right there, like where Sunda is and, you know, the Thompsons, that's like the main strip, right? You know, the angel wings, like... Milk and honey. Oh my god, that's angel wings. Yeah, the angel wings. The Star-Louis. That's like the Gulch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Neighbors opened up on the corner over there. Oh, is that right? Killing it. I saw that yesterday. Yeah. They killed it. Yeah. That's that Gulch effect. Where Urban Flats was. Also, their Buffalo Chicken Nachos. Fan favorite over at the Veto Crew. So where is Saint to Saint? Tell everybody exactly. How do you get to Saint to Saint? Yeah. That's what I'm trying to get at. If I were in the Gulch, how do I get to you? You got to make that corner. You got to be willing to make that corner.

40:03We're surrounded by all the construction. Oh my god. That tells me everything. I want to talk about that. But yeah, so... Division, Mansion Street, Overton Street. So we're like directly across from Patagonia and like Suprica, but behind it. Yeah. So it's like... I know where you are. I just... Oh my god. You know what we need to do? We need to do some kind of video. Like walk there from like the angel wings or something. Because I'm telling you, like I've known you. You're literally like... I'm like, you're my brother. You're my family. It is a little tricky to know where it is. Yeah. I think I chose that spot for that reason. No, I love it. But for the people that are like, blah, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear it all the time though. Yeah. I can't get to it or where's the parking? Like we should talk about parking too. I got a... Okay. Parking. I got big feelings on parking. Oh, I got big feelings on parking too. I do too. Oh my god. I have none of it at Chagos. Big feelings.

41:03I got two spaces. You literally have... They're barely. Barely two spaces. Barely. And it's a loading zone. So people are like, should we park here? In the back? Hillsboro Village? Are you kidding me? No, it's right in front. The parking back is like managers. There's no parking back. I've parked back there once and like couldn't get out. I was like, uh-oh. Oh, I've gotten booted. Yeah. I've gotten booted and refused to pay. Yeah. I was like, I can't even park in my own restaurant. Well, it's like there's a parking garage at Belmont across the street, but it's like you have to walk up Compton and that is like, if you're on a treadmill, that is like 13. I mean, you're going like straight up the thing and most people don't want to walk that. Is that the street that the old international market was on right there? That super steep hill? Yeah, it's right behind it. Yeah. Basically. Yeah, but it just goes straight up and there's a parking garage. It's like, you can go park in the parking garage, but you need like trekking poles to get down. Yeah. See, for us, you can go park in the parking garage and it's just like... You have to pay? No, it's free for an hour. Okay. Gleaves and Overton and then I don't know, it's like six or eight bucks after that.

42:06There's on street parking now. It's like two bucks and then there's another free lot and then there's like three more parking garages within. I mean, I'm talking not even a quarter of a block. Okay. Easy. It's incredibly easy to park and come eat at our restaurant, but people assume that it's not. That's what I'm saying. The perception is weird. The perception is wild because then I talk to customers and I'm like, okay, well, what about all the other really great restaurants in Nashville, right? I could name five off the top of my head now and it's like, you can't park in any of them, so what's the... Have you ever... Have you ever like... It's like residential parking, you know, that you have to park in front of someone's house. Well, it's the same. It's hard to park in peace. Like Parker right there down the street. There's no parking for that. Yeah. Yeah. We as business owners have to think of a fun, interesting way to relay that to our customers because it is always something or even like our delivery drivers, you know, like those are the people who complain about it the most because they're like trying to go in and out, you know?

43:14So I don't know. It is always a challenge. I mean, for me, it's more... I'm a QSR, so I feel like you're already playing a lower price point. So spending $6 on parking feels crazy. But for you, I feel like I would pay $12 for parking. Well, I mean... You know, that's quite the compliment. That is a good compliment. I would pay $12 for parking for St. Vito's focaccia. I just think like if you're coming to our restaurant and you're driving to us, you've obviously like sought us out. It's not a drive-through. Right. It's not convenient. Yeah. The fuel's growing. It's just part of being a city. And like that's just it. I don't know. I don't really have any other options for people, but the options that we do have are amazing. Like it's great. Like it's super close and it's free for an hour and it's not downtown parking rates that are $26 an hour. It's six bucks. Yeah. Actually, Gulch Street parking is actually pretty easy, too.

44:17Like I feel like I often find parking on the side, like the $2 parking. All right. Well, let's go back a little bit of time. Let's talk about the pandemic. Let's talk about when you decided to make a Svencion pizza and you did it out of your house. Because I think if you're hearing this and you don't know what St. Vito's focaccia is, let's give a little bit of the genesis. Or you can go back to May 20th, 2021. You can hear the entire story, but tell people why this happened. Why this happened. I think it's a combination of things, you know, fate, maybe, I don't know, hard work or just wanting to be hard headed and do my own thing. You know, it was a weird time. I think everybody can agree on that. You got to figure out, you know, I just seem to the type of person that can't really sit still. And my dream was to always own my own restaurant.

45:19And I think like something else is like, I always seem to have to clear this up with customers. Sometimes it's like everyone, I guess, like people who listen to have listened to past podcasts that we've done or reads our story somewhere and whatnot, they assume, I think that the assumption is, is that I just started making pizza out of my house one day and now I own a restaurant. I just like to clear the air on some of that is like that is just so far from the truth. Right. I've worked in kitchens for 20 plus years. Yeah. Can I say that? Because I know you're not great at like talking yourself up. I'm going to do that for you. So this is a professional like badass chef right here. Like he has worked in the best kitchens in Nashville. He has like been quintessential in the success of these restaurants. He then his flavors are unlike anybody else's flavors in town. He could have been making anything and it would have been great, but he decided to make something approachable and different.

46:25And he has had to teach Nashville how to eat this. What seems like, oh, what is this bread? Like, what is this pizza? Like, why is it so expensive? Like he's had to teach people how to eat this dish. And if you haven't, if you're not familiar with this type of pizza, it looks like, why is it so expensive? It's like a bread with stuff on it. It's like, no, are you kidding? Like, this is the way that he hide the hydration in this dough. Like I've actually he we used to share commissary. I used to watch him make it. It's so much time and effort that this human being puts into this product. The fact that he is doing it in a restaurant right now is, I mean, I'm so proud of you. Like you have gone from like literally having some of my like prep cooks help you expo on a Friday night where you're serving out of like a parking lot from going to the Gulch in your own shop. So, I mean, I'm I can't even like, I'm telling you, I'm so we're so proud of you. It's a it's a good success story.

47:25I mean, in a lot of people like you guys have helped me along the way, I always try to remember those people like sometimes posting on social media. It's like from work for people like, you know, you or in in, you know, John over at Hathorne, like we wouldn't exist, you know, and I think that's a testament to the community. And at the same time, like that's what I kind of strive to do now. I mean, I don't know, like we we do pop ups at St. Vito. We're hosting currently and we have been since January January. Foxden Izakaya, Tillman Gresset, it's his pop up deal. He's been doing it during the pandemic, off and on making noodles and ramen stuff. He's an original Black Dynasty guy that kind of branched off to do his own thing. But he works for me. Him and his wife both work for us at St. Vito or work with us. And, you know, I feel like it's a big deal for me to want to give back to the community, seeing as though like, I don't know, you know, Nashville has kind of like made this just like it's like I've been here for almost 10, 11 years now.

48:30And it's like it felt like it was really popping off, but now it's like popping off and it's only going to get even more. And what I've kind of seen throughout that stage of just growth is like, I don't know how many locals are actually getting a chance to do anything. Right. Maybe they're getting priced out. Maybe the labor market's messing them up. You know, it's like, so if I'm someone who kind of was a grass rooted, organic success story with the help among other leaders in the industry, in the city, I think I feel like I need to also step up to be one of those people. So, yeah, same. It's really important to me. Yeah, we have to like we have to because we're up against millions of dollars. So like what we could lend in space. Oh, I'm not open anyways. Or, you know, this is a down day for us. Like, how can we partner with somebody or do something financially? We're not really benefiting from that, but it's like the karma of it is tenfold.

49:34Yeah, that's the way I feel about it, too. And the other side of it is like, I think it's like incredibly important to give people an opportunity to do that. Right. First of all, it's like, let's showcase our skills. And that's great. The food's good. It's technique driven. It's delicious. Nashville needs it. They need more of this. I support it. But at the same time, you know, how much money, how much money are you bringing in? Can you run a business? This is a great learning experience for people to learn how to crunch numbers, what labor looks like, what their food costs looks like, what they can afford, you know, if they're doing it, you know, like he was, they were doing once a month for a while and then it was every two weeks or Monday and Tuesdays. Now we're back down to like Tuesdays. It's a good experiment of just seeing like, you know, I think scarcity is a good marketing ploy or whatever, you know, plan for people.

50:43So it's like, you got one day, you got to be here and are you going to have to create the sense of virtue next week? I have to go right now. I've got to go right now. So, um, you know, and I think the business side of thing is like this, the most important aspect of it all. Like anybody can cook. I mean, I, I truly believe that like there's tons of restaurants out there. Everybody can cook, but can you, I mean, not everybody, not everyone says anyone can, but not everyone should. I mean, okay. You can cook for yourself, but I'm not, I'm not paying for that. Brandon, I'm not paying $16 for, we just watched Ratatouille last week. So I'm right there in that. Anyways, anyone can, anyone can, anything Michael cooks, I will pay. Yeah. I mean, just, I think it's an important little, you know, thing that we're doing. And, you know, whenever Foxden is kind of done, we'll, we'll try and bring other people in to do them.

51:44Like we've done some with, um, sap sap barbecue, which used to be Josephine jams with the rebranding in the sap sap barbecue, they set up over at the dive. And, uh, they're good friends of mine and they make a terrific product and wanted to have them in our space too. So, you know, it's like not everybody gets to be in the space to do a pop up. If it's, if it's really good, like, like, let's do it. If you've got to work on some stuff, of like what you think is good. So like, you know, it, it, it speaks to your brand that you are promoting this specific pop up, you know, like I stand behind this, you guys trust me. This is great. Yeah. You know? Yep. So in your story, you were an amazing chef and then during the pandemic, you started making these Svenson pizzas. It's a focaccia bread pizza is what it is. You make a focaccia bread, then you make a pizza out of it. Is that oversimplifying?

52:45It's, I mean, it's not really oversimplifying and it's pretty simple to be honest when you think about it. But, um, yeah, I mean, just a little background there. It's like my family was in the restaurant industry. I got four uncles that were chefs, uh, out of Dallas, Texas in the nineties and eighties. Like my, one of my uncles was the CDC for Dean Ferring and Wolfgang Puck. And like the other ones were like kid whiz chefs out of Dallas in the nineties, like getting written up by everybody and opening these incredibly over the top fancy restaurants and Italian stuff. And like, you know, I grew up just watching that. My grandfather had a little spot called Tarantino's deli and cafe off of Abraham or Abrams and, um, mockingbird and Dallas. And as a small child going in and like seeing the cannolis and the tiramisu's and all the pasta's going out to go along with like that. Like the other sides of the family, like, you know, most Italian families, there's like three or four different last names and they're all related.

53:48Right. And like that side as well, tons of cooks, tons of restaurants, tons of all that. So, you know, my mother was an incredible cook as well. And I grew up watching her and making brujoles and stuffed artichokes and all of these things, uh, that really just always kind of kept me captivated as a kid when it came to cooking. Um, one of my uncles, Matthew, uh, was more of like a science nerd. And I just, he lived with us for a little bit. And I remember just like every single time, like talking about cooking and he would talk science about it. And that really got me. And then, you know, I, my grandmother on my dad's side, my dad's family is just like, my great grandfather was a sharecropper and the Arkansas Delta. He ended up being able to farm a hundred acres, you know, over time. My grandfather was one of six that was born on the farm. My dad was, you know, born into that family.

54:48Yeah. So like, so that side is like super, you know, Delta cotton farm country. So have these uncles been to the restaurant? Uh, my uncle Patrick's coming next week. My uncle Matt's supposed to come this, this year. They all have like kids. They all moved away. Like it's an Italian family coming to see your success in Nashville. Like I can imagine that. There's a lot of pressure. There's my, my, my uncle Patrick, who won, who's coming next week. Like he's like, he's the dude. He's the one that he's the dude. Yeah. I mean, like he was the youngest out of all of them. But like when you, like when I talk food with him and when I've cooked with him before, like when I've been able to, to be in that space with him creatively, like he is, I can feel like a very much like, I, like I got it from him. Like it comes from him. So, um, you know, and it's so exciting.

55:49Yeah, it's pretty cool. So I want to come in and watch him eat your food. Then at the table in the corner. Yeah. Cause I remember like for years, like I never got to like cook around them and whatnot. And nah, man, I guess it was like seven or eight years ago. I flew to Dallas. My mom and I drove to, they were living in Lubbock at the time and he was, uh, running some really fancy hotel thing over there, culinary director. And we were going to cook, I think it was Thanksgiving or maybe it was Christmas together and we went to the store to shop and he was like, Oh, let's make this rabbit liver boudin and I was just like, like, here we are. Like, okay, let's do this. So, you know, it was, it was, uh, it was great. It's good experience, but I guess we get kind of off track a little bit there, but yes, cooked for a really long time.

56:52That that's kind of just putting that out there. Like I've always been in a kitchen, uh, don't really have a whole lot of experience outside of a kitchen, which I guess is either a great thing or bad thing, I don't know, but if you're a restaurant owner, it's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. If you're a welder, that's probably a bad thing, but you're in the right spot. Underwater basket weaving. That's my next job, but you know, the, all right. So Sicilian heritage always kind of followed that route, always obsessed with the food, really wanted to work at Italian restaurants my entire career, really wanted to learn it. Um, and it just kind of like, I don't know, I was reading, I don't know if we talked about this on the last one, but you know, I was reading a book called Made in Sicily by Giorgio Locatelli, had a chapter on Spincione kind of my subconscious just kind of went off. Like I'd had this before I realized that this was something that I'd seen as a child and it was, you know, it's a, it's a pizza that's eaten on the street in Sicily, uh, it's not a fancy thing at all.

58:00It's not fancy whatsoever. And, um, but Italian Americans tend to eat it for holidays and special occasion, you know, Christmas, New Year's Eve, stuff like that. Um, I had gone to Italy and then was flying back into the States. Uh, and I ate at a restaurant in Madrid that served this type of bread that I could not get over how amazing it was. And I decided I need to figure out like what it was. And that bread is essentially our pizza dough. Wow. So yes, we're a focaccia, we're, we're, you know, we're, we're not making Spincione or that style of pizza, like to a T, like it is our interpretation and adaptation of, of what it, of that. Um, there are little bits and pieces of what that pizza is and what makes it that style that we always do, which is Pecorino and breadcrumb on every single pizza, and that is an homage to that original style.

59:07So do you have a gluten free version? I, we've talked about this so many times. What's gluten free? I get an email every day. Every day, every single day. Do you have gluten free? Why don't you make gluten free? It's like, why don't you go somewhere else? Well, you know, it's that, but at the same time, it's like, we're also, we're a 43 seat restaurant and the kitchen's completely open and I have a mixer that can make 300 pounds of dough and we make 50 pound increments every single day. And there is flour in the air everywhere, all over the restaurant at all times. And there is nothing I can do about it. And if you come in and you're gluten intolerant or Celiac, and you take a chance on eating in the restaurant, I cannot help you there. Like I tell everyone that they sit down, look, the snow, there's two parts of the menu, there's the plates and then there's the pizza, you know, and we've gone through our first year figuring stuff out, you know, cause that's what a restaurant is when you open it up for the first year and we were making six, seven different pizzas at some point.

01:00:15Now we're just down to four. We, we, we make the same four pizzas. They're always going to be on the menu. That's what sells. That's what people want. That's what we're, that's what we're doing. Right. And then the other part of the menu is all local fresh ingredients. So like almost every a hundred percent of what's on the menu is going to come from local forums and most of it is going to be vegetable driven, fish driven and very light. So like there is your, there is your non gluten, non, you know, whatever allergy you have as your favorite plate right now that you have on the menu that we need to try. Favorite plate is, um, we're doing, there's a couple, we do this cucumber salad, so it's like, I saw that one. Yeah, it's awesome. So cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, and, uh, some regular thin skin guys, um, marinated in lots of lemon and lime juice.

01:01:22We make caper salt in the restaurant and we hit with a little caper salt, little black pepper, uh, whip burrata. So it's like burrata goes down on the plate and then pickled, pickled green almonds. Uh, and they all kind of stack on top of each other, a nice amount of salt on there, and then it sits in a green tomato dashi. I love green tomato. So it's like kind of sour and the dashi is like smoky. So really seasonal. Those lemon cucumbers are really special. Yeah, it's right. And then you can switch that out for anything. Like on Sunday night, we ran out of lemon cucumbers and we used kohlrabi from Harpy Moon. I was just going to say, are you using like a squash or? Yeah. And then we have another one. That's like, we get this incredible buttermilk. So we like buttermilks just all over the menu. And that's kind of how we work. It's like, where do you get it? Where are you getting that from? Uh, there's a guy who comes in from Birmingham named Knox Finnelli. Uh, I like that. It's just a guy. Yeah.

01:02:22I got a guy. I got a buttermilk guy. Yeah. Larder Foods is his company. He might be great to have on the podcast. Honestly, he does, he works with all the top restaurants. Um, he's like the truffle dude and the caviar guy, he's getting into the produce game, he's getting, you know, like all the peaches you're eating right now at any of these restaurants all come from him and they're amazing peaches. They're insane. That's awesome. Um, what was I saying about him? What's your other, what's your other guy? So he gets this buttermilk from Vermont, from the animal farm or whatever it is up there, that's like this amazing organic, like very famous farm. And, um, we're combining it with Yuzu Koshu and then that Koshu, it gets mixed with Jumbo Lump Crab, uh, raw squash, like little baby, tiny little zephyr squashes. So we like salt them really lightly. We add it to the crab, Yuzu Koshu, a little bit of whipped cream fresh that we make in-house. That's a great idea, Michael, because you want some creaminess, but you want acidity and that's what buttermilk is.

01:03:26It's creamy and acidic. Yeah. And the Yuzu Koshu is like a condiment made from like green Japanese chilies and Yuzu, uh, zest and it's fermented. So it's like this spicy, floral. Yeah, and Yuzu is a type of citrus. Yeah. And like a super bright, almost like spicy enough to know that it's spicy, but like it's there, but it's like not kind of. I love that. So like that's, that's a really nice one. Those are your two favorites. Yeah. Yeah. I think those two, the crab and the cucumber. Yep. Crab and the cucumber. We always switch things up though. It's like, um, he's bringing us corn and he's got like this incredible corn. So this week it's like, before I got here, I'm like putting in my orders tomorrow, he'll deliver me a hundred pounds of corn and we'll shuck it, shave it and make, you know, fresh corn polenta. Oh God, I love fresh corn. Yeah. I made a milkshake one time. It didn't sell, but I was, that's still my favorite milkshake. I made a corn milkshake. Cause it's literally so sweet.

01:04:28See, look, basic Brandon over here. I had the strawberry shortcake the other day too. Yes, you did. That was delicious. Thanks for trying something adventurous. Always adventurous. Look at Michael. He's giving you a real, a few smirk. You don't like the hopscotch? He's just playing to the people, just go for the safe, like, you know, it's hard because we like coming in where you have a produce guy or like a guy that comes in and is like, this is what's good. And then you're like excited. You're getting to play, you're tasting things and you're like coming up. This is why it's so important that people know and trust you as a chef because it's like, what, well, what's on the menu? It's like, that's so relative to what weak it is, you know? And like, you just got to trust that we're going to come up with something fucking awesome. Yeah. Like that takes a lot of time though. Right? Yeah. You got to, people have to trust you. They have to, they really have to invest in you as a chef. That puts a lot of pressure on a chef too.

01:05:29That's a learning experience. I mean, you know, we're, we've been open for one full year and, um, that was a struggle for us. I mean, it's in, in, I will say like, maybe we didn't, you know, stuff that I don't think about all the time that other people kind of, you know, Julia Sullivan one time was like, you got to have pizza in your name. And like, I thought about that and I'm like, damn, I never thought about that. Like it's hard. Like people just don't understand what a focaccia is or like, and it's, they're just like, huh? Or like, they just think of focaccia is that like side bread that you get like on the side of your pasta. Like Brandon's like, yeah. I mean, like it's, it's hard to train, uh, our customers to elevate when we have an elevated version of something. I hate using that word elevated now. Sorry. I need a different word, but like, um, um, a quality version of something that we're also charging more for extra using really good ingredients and we're, you know, taking the time and care and the process and, and then you're like, oh, they just want a pepperoni pizza.

01:06:32Like, you know, like you, it's discouraging a little bit, but you also have to, you're a business owner too. You have to play to both sides. Right? Of course you have to. Um, I mean, yeah. I mean, when we opened our honeymoon phase was incredible. I mean, we were just packed for lunch, packed for dinner. You couldn't get in. Yeah. It got to a point where we just made the whole restaurant reservations. We couldn't take any walk-ins. It was insane. You know, I mean, we were still trying to figure out like, what does the customer want? Like if it, like, if you're, are you going to take a chance on paying for parking and coming to this little restaurant and not getting a seat and now you're pissed off and you'll never come back? Uh, should we just keep the, you know, and it's like, we just had to try everything out, you know, we just had to do that. How long was your honeymoon phase for people potentially opening a restaurant? Two and a half, three months, two and a half months. Yeah. That seems about two months. That's good. And then it dies. Then it's done. Well, onto the next new thing. Seasonal too, with where you're at. I mean, when did you open? Yeah, we opened in May and then right after the 4th of July, it just tanked.

01:07:34Oh my God. After the 4th of July. But it's like the dead time. Quarter four from what everybody I talked to around town was like the worst quarter for most people in a real long time. Of that year? Or just last year? Like in a long time. I talked to a couple of business owners that have incredibly business or busy restaurants that have been around for, you know, 10 years. I'm talking to a lot of people right now that this quarter is really hard. This has been a really hard quarter for us. Really hard. It's I, we just had a national food truck association meeting and they are not getting the events they normally get. And it is, it is really rough right now. What do you guys think's going on? There's a lot of stuff out there now. I mean, saturation, saturation, saturation. I just admit it's across the board. I hear everybody downtown, everybody across the city is saying I'm down 8%. I mean, everybody's just down. Even if it's just a little bit, it's down. Yeah. We had a guy from GFS come in and he said, um, Gordon food service. Yes. Gordon food service. I'll be your, he thinks Nashville, Nashville was one of the first people to, one of the first cities to open up in the pandemic.

01:08:37Like the first cities to like truly open up in downtown, all of the arguments or anything, are we going to be, we were kind of the laughing stock. If we had thousand people on Broadway when Chicago and New York and DCLA were just completely shut down. We had parties happening. I think a lot of people came and now the rest of the world is open. I think we got used to being one of those places you could go because we had lax restrictions. And now the world is open. People go everywhere and they kind of went to Nashville. But I think going other places down everywhere. I mean, I was just in Chicago last week, you know, during Memorial Day weekend, there's, there's nobody in Chicago and nobody out at night. That's the weird thing. I honestly, like, I mean, it's, I mean, I think inflation sitting everybody. I think everybody has to, has to tighten up, like to sit back and act like that. That's not an issue. Like, or if it's like the elephant in the room, like it's a huge issue. I have two kids under four years old, you know, like things are much higher for me. It's hard for me. Like we don't really get to go do a whole lot more.

01:09:38We have to save money constantly. And, you know, I, I have a, I have my strong opinions about where the city's headed and what's happening with it. And I talked to, if you eat at my restaurant, you probably hear me say it a couple of times a night. It's like, okay, well, we're not Chicago. We're not New York. We're not LA. What's the difference? We're a very small city. It's 2 million people in the Metro. That includes Clarksville, Murfreesboro, right? Hendersonville, Gallatin, that, that, you know, all of Williamson County. Uh, your demographic is smaller of who's going to come eat at your restaurants. Who's coming into town to do it. You know, it was like a family of four from Mount Juliet or Murfreesboro going to pack up and fight traffic to come eat at St. Vito focaccia once a month, even. No, they're not. I live in West Nashville and for me to get my whole family to go downtown. I call that downtown. I mean, it's, it's a lot to do that in your mind. You're like parking and then it's not easy.

01:10:40And then also let the elephant in the room is that I can just order food because since the pandemic, every restaurant is on an ordering platform. That's true. And if you have two kids under four, you don't want to take them out. They're playing. They have bedtime. There's also like nowhere to take them to. I'm just going to order Greco. You know, like I'm going to order a quick, you know, the taco truck over at the quick sack is open and it's good. Yeah. And I can take my run out really quick. Come in 20 bucks and that's the reality. We're feeding it, you know? Yeah. Uh, I got, it's a Philly thing by my house and that's a really good one. That's a good one. So, yeah, I mean, I, I think, and then I think, you know, the amount of new restaurants from out of town and new restaurants popping up everywhere in the cost of rent prices, skyriding, right. You know, just going sky high. And then at the same time, like the labor market's completely changed. Like if you're not, if you haven't been able to get your head out of the sand and realize that the labor market's changed since COVID, you're done.

01:11:43You're done. You, you cannot pay people $12 an hour. You can't, you know, or less, right. You can't do that to people. Like I worked at many restaurants and the most I ever made, I mean, not being a sous chef, and even if you're a sous chef, you get this salary and you get worked, you know, 70, 80 hours a week. So really don't work for anything lower than, but yeah, regardless, you know, that's just how it was when I was coming up in the industry. But like, you know, I never made over $16 an hour as a line cook in this city. But now the going rate is like 24. Yeah. In LA, I never made that. It's just like 15 years ago. So then business operators have to make a decision. It's like, well, how do I run my business now? My labor is almost, it's double what it was four years ago. Yeah. And the quality of what they're doing. That's right. And also there's less experienced people in the labor market and everything costs more. So they're $24 an hour doesn't get them anything anymore.

01:12:43So like, how do you battle that as a small, as a small business center? You know, one thing that we did to battle that and what we do is we do this 20% service charge included in your bill. Can you talk about that? Cause you did like implement that right at the beginning when you implemented it. We did kisser does it. Iggy's does it. Bad idea does it. It's the Caroline does it over at Nicky's. I went to a place called Noir last night, which is an East Nashville on the corner. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. The little bar, the little bar used to be Germantown East way back in the day, right on the corner right there. It's called Noir, but they do the same thing. 20% every, every check is 20%. So explain that. So it's 20% service charge. That is a automatic gratuity. It goes back to our servers in our kitchen. Our, our restaurant's very small. Our kitchen is very small. There's not very many line cooks. The dishwashers are included in on this. They get it, it all gets split up. The way that it works is, um, you know, if you start out as a server for us, you can make any, you're starting at $10 an hour and you can get to 15, depending on how much responsibility you're taking in the restaurant.

01:13:55If you start as a cook for us or a dishwasher, you start at 18 and you have a chance to climb to 22, but the service charge, once you make that hourly rate, you know, and like, I keep a very small staff and if you run into overtime, you run into overtime, like that's just kind of how it works with us. And I would rather pay someone who already works there. That's willing to work a little bit more hours and have to hire a whole new person and mess up a schedule. And then, you know, tell people, yeah, you can only get 30 hours a week here. You know, and I see that in a lot of places, like there's a lot of new restaurants that are like offering like $28 an hour or $30 an hour, but then you go work there and you get 18 hours a week. Yeah, because, because everyone wants those jobs. So they're 20 people on staff. So really you're not making, you're not making anything. Yeah, I'm making money and the fluidity of that person working there. It's like a lot of people that don't have a lot of responsibility. Yeah, that's right. And then your restaurant kind of sucks because all you do is have all these people who are just coming in and out, in and out for a paycheck, right.

01:14:56They don't really care. And you're dealing with multiple staffs when you could just pay people a solid enough wage and work it, you know, I mean, I, that's my opinion. I I'm against like hiring over hiring and paying people more money and not giving them any hours. I think that's ridiculous. But for us, you know, once it comes out, so like we do 20% service charge, we make sure that we tell every single person that sits down that we do 20% service charge, but we also make sure that like, we're giving you great service. And you don't ask for additional tip on top of that. It's on the bill. And we tell people, look, you don't have to tip here. I say it to people all the time. You don't have to leave a tip because people are always like, well, what about a tip? I'm like, look, it's on there because it's on there for toast. Like it's just on there. And it's like, if you want to leave extra, you can leave extra. We are, we over communicated at our restaurant every single time you get the bill. It's like, okay, 20% service charges included. There is a tip line.

01:15:56If you feel like your service is great and you want to leave more by all means, but you do not have to. It is not on there for you. Right. Yeah. So I handed off to him right now because I just did payroll. We collect more an extra tip than we do service charge. And that's because the customer looks around and they see a 43 seat restaurant. They see two to three servers who all are trained bartenders and servers and can help expo. And then sometimes I see only like two or three people on the line. Right. Everybody does a little bit of everything. I'll expo and work pantry station. And I'll also like take orders that sit 13 seats, look directly in the kitchen. We speak directly to you. We hand you your food to you. We talk to you about the dishes. My cooks will make pastas, wipe the pole, wipe the bowl, see that everybody's busy. Go run and look at expo and be able to take, you know, food to those seats and talk to those people. So like everyone's moving and everyone's doing something.

01:16:58And I noticed that like when that happens, like on a really nice busy night and everyone's in sync and everyone's kind of keyed in super focused to get the customer, you know, their food quickly, their drinks quickly and everyone's working hard. I mean, people really appreciate it. They really, really do. And that's like, I can't even begin to like think our customer base enough about like that aspect of like what they bring to us, because that debt, all that does for my team and for me is gives us more hope that we're going to be very successful. And it makes us really, really, really enjoy being in the space and serving people. And what I found too, with all of our kitchens are open concept kitchens, because we've always been a food truck. We're literally like floating out there. It's like the quintessential open kitchen, a food truck, you know. What we get, what servers get is that, wow, this tasted amazing. Like they get that feedback directly from their tables. But you're now giving that to your cooks.

01:18:00You're now you're letting your whole team share that experience directly from your customer. And that experience is what makes us wake up and do this every single day. Right. Like you can't put a price on that. That is not an hourly rate. That's a feeling you're giving somebody of hospitality, of feeding somebody the feeling you get when you eat your family's food. It's passion. It's passion. And and that's why we do what we do. It's not like, oh, what's my hourly rate? It's like, I'll be here all day. Like if I have to just to get this thing right, you know. And so I think that works for your model perfectly. Not everybody's model. Not everybody's model. Yeah. And I understand that. If I open up another restaurant and we have 120 seats, like probably no way we do that. But for us, practically it is like it's it's a way like so, you know, with the service charged and tip line included, you know, well, my my servers who I try really hard to encourage full time work.

01:19:00So like I have multiple people who are full time employees for us that pull a lot of weight for us. And I'll give them I'll gladly give them a 50 hour work week. It's not going to really hurt me that that bad. Right. It helps them and it helps them. Yeah. But, you know, there are sometimes I sit back and I do payroll and I'm going, dang, they're making some money. Yeah. Like they're killing it. You know, there's thirty five, thirty seven, thirty eight dollars an hour on here. And I'm like, dang, the service charge, the extra tip and the way that we structure labor, it works. I mean, and your brain isn't I need to pay them less. You're excited for them. Yeah. I just, you know, the only thing I want to make sure between them going, damn, we're paying them way too much money. I think I got a lot of people feel that way. And you're looking at it going, man, I'm excited that they're doing so well, but it keeps them happy. That's going to keep them happy and coming in. And it's worth it. And I get a compliment from customers who tell me that my staff, they carry themselves as if they own the restaurant.

01:20:11Yeah. And I feel like that is like the biggest compliment that you can you can receive from someone, because that means that the people that are on the floor representing you care a lot. Yeah. And that in a 44-seat, right, 44-seat restaurant is so important. You shouldn't feel like it's a divey spot where you're walking in and out and it's like no one knows what's on them. You know, these people like this is like our space, right? Like it's a lot of we there. And I mean, that's obviously because of you and your leadership and what you're showing them in your passion, you know, and I'm sure that they're carrying that which is so important to share your mission and your what your views are and them seeing you do this whole thing and this whole process, like they're taking ownership over it. And I'm sure if someone comes in that doesn't feel that way, they stick out like a sore thumb and they don't last. Right. That is very true. Doesn't last. If you're not willing to be a part of the team and you're not willing to pull weight in places that you normally don't or haven't or willing to learn, it just doesn't work out for us.

01:21:17Yeah, that's just, that's just the way it works. What does CMA week look like for you? Cause we're, we're walking into CMA week this week. Like, are you going to talk about CMA? I, I know we have to, right? I have no, I'm just saying like, curiously, I mean, in the goal, I know you get, I, I want to, how do you market for that? Like, what do you do when last year you had it first time, right? Yeah, I'm going to, I'll tell you, like, I'm looking at my reservation book right now. Whatever. This is a restaurant, right? He's like, I can't even wait. I'm going to tell you exactly what I got on the res. Uh, we're very busy. Yeah, it's, it's busy for us in Brentwood too. I mean, mayor bowl just in town, all the restaurants are falling. It's like, where should we, all the hotels are trying to say out of downtown and they're going to the other places. I tell you what we noticed a lot. So like, all right. So the F1 race screws us up tremendously. It's terrible because of the street. It's awful. So we have a lot of loyal East Nashville people and they can't get across the river when George Strait plays five nights in a row or Taylor Swift plays four nights or Chris Stableton or Morgan Wallen or Morgan Wallen, right?

01:22:23It's so hard on us. It just ruins. It ruins. You don't even want to leave that area because it's like, Shelby is just, you know, it's just, it's unreal how you can't get anywhere. It's like, yeah. And now they're building a new stadium. So like getting around anything is wild. Um, so sometimes that really messes us up. Um, I think being a year in and having a little bit more of a reputation, I think it obviously it looks better for us this week than it did last year. Um, uh, one thing that I noticed about our restaurant is that our Wednesdays and Sundays are killer and we get nothing but locals and that is amazing for us. And that's what you running any specials or you just see that it's locals who want to come in and not mess with the weekend. Amazing. And then like, you know, Nashville is kind of an odd dining out town, but like Wednesday, cause everybody like stops going, like, you don't get like late diners, you know, like there's not like late dining because they go to Broadway.

01:23:26Everybody goes to the bars. Yeah, there's so much to do though. There's so many concerts, so much stuff to do that everybody wants to eat early and get out, you know, I'm not going to complain about it because, you know, it gives me the ability to, you know, scrub down and get out and go to sleep and get back up and do the same thing. But, um, at the same time, it's like, it's like, if you could get that, like 9 30 push, you know, that would be, that would be amazing. But, um, Friday nights for us are wild. Everybody comes out ready to drink, ready to eat, orders everything on the menu. Super adventurous eaters, always looking for it. Saturday night, complete opposite. Wow. Saturday night, sit down, nervous. People are mad at each other. Yeah. Because you're sitting in a place called a focaccia. They, Sfincione is a pizza they don't know about. Like, you know, eventually teaching people Saturday night seems to be all of our first timers, people coming in, but like amateur night.

01:24:29Oh, is it amateur night? I wasn't going to say that out loud, but it is. It's like, it's like going to church on Easter. Yeah, it's, it's like, well, it's, it's, it's Saturday night. Who goes out on Saturday night? People that, the best nights are Tuesday and Sunday or Wednesday and Sunday, because those are when people are hungry that we're just going to go out to eat. We're just going to go there. It's Sunday night. Let's just go out to eat and then that's when they want to eat. But Saturday night, if you're a regular going out or a person, you're like, Oh, that's when all the idiots that don't go out to eat, this is their special night. We're going out downtown. And that's the night where you're like, Oh shit. Yeah. And it's always a dud, dude. I mean, it's always a dud. I mean, we always like have a ton of reservations on and we're like, Oh man, we're going to be really busy. And then you get into service and you're like, the only thing off people just order salad and pepperoni pepperoni pizza. And then they're like, why isn't this a deep dish? They're just like, what's the cheapest thing on the menu? I can order this. And what's the cheapest bottle of wine?

01:25:30You have this, you know, you sell the most house wine on Saturday. Oh yeah, dude. Wow. Totally. God, that's some good. About, I'm wondering, I'm, I want to ask everyone about that. You know, but we've actually, it's, it's so odd how it comes in waves. Uh, you know, we had a, we have like an insanely awesome February, March, and we got to where our Saturday nights were great, but they weren't great until like eight 30, and then we got, and then, so one thing that we did, and we talked about like going through a new restaurant and like opening and, and all this stuff is like, we, I talked about our honeymoon phase, the whole restaurant was basically reserved, but we got rid of last fall, we got rid of, um, reservations on the bar. So the bar is walk-in only and the banquet, which there's only 28 seats. That is reservation. So like a really busy night for us is going to be, we're going to have 60 reservations and that's going to be on that bank at only, and then that's two and a half turns about.

01:26:35And then that bar is like walk-ins and a good kind of, you know, like, how's the night going to run, uh, is when that bar fills up, let's see, like, is it going to keep turning and there have been, I mean, in our little, in our little 43 seat restaurant, we've done 147 people. Wow. That's awesome. I mean, we have just turned it, your preparation and your efficiency and your attentiveness to your customers, because for them to feel fully satisfied and walk out that door, you know, it's like, and then have another seat. It's like, people don't realize that we're able to get intentional. I was just looking at my, my sales at the grill and Sunday is that last. These are like the days of sales. Brandon's showing us Saturday, Friday and even like Thursday and Wednesday are still as good as like a Friday. We did more business on this past Sunday than we did. It's also like your restaurant though, is like an institution, you know, like people, people like go there on the regular, you have so many regular times a week, but Saturday night is the night that they don't go out.

01:27:45That this is not where they will go to a fancy restaurant that they like to go to on a regular basis. So on Saturday, they're probably trying something new. They're going to get that steak and potato somewhere else. You know what I mean? Uh, is that how it's been showny. It's been showny. Oh my God. How many people are saying it wrong to spin choney? Sad. Well, you know, it is, it's, I understand that it's like not common. Yeah. You know, like Italian American families are like students making spin choney, like what, but, uh, you know, and it's our take on it. So it's not like it, we get a lot of people, you know, that's come and sit down and they're like, I just got back from Sicily and then they're like, you're not it. Great. Like, great. So what? Cool. Right. What do you want me to do for you? Let's switch and talk about your parking. Can I talk about the park? But I want to tell you that I get that same thing with, we do a Charleston sheet crab bisque at Maribel and it is famous.

01:28:49Like we sell hundreds of these every day. It is insane. Parties will come in parties of a hundred and they go, we have, everybody has to have this soup. And like, it's so much, but like twice a week is when it comes in. It's like, I'm from Charleston and this is like, not as she, like, I want to see the she and the, it's like, no, it's not, it's not, it's not for you then. Like, it's very, everybody loves it. Maybe it's not perfect, but I love the food police. Great. Thank you for letting us know. Oh my gosh. I know it's like, who cares? Just, is it good to enjoy it? Enjoy it. Sit down. And I've got some wild stories. Oh, you do. You really give me one. Give me one. Come on. Uh, I mean, it's, it's, it's like the people, let's see, there were two gentlemen that sat at the bar. They were incredibly friendly. Uh, I don't know if you guys know Jeff Gibbs, but he's our bar sheriff at, at Vito.

01:29:51Jeff Gibbs, uh, frothy monkey OG. He's worked all over town. He, he's kind of heading our bar program right now. And Jeff is a incredibly, uh, just bubbly, nice, super talkative, very like got a huge sense of humor and he, he works that bar and it's awesome. Like his interaction with customers and that's what we love about it. It's like having a really good time in there. We're keeping everything on a light. Like we're going to joke around with you. If you say something dumb, we might like, we might like poke at you a little bit. Sure. So these two guys who are sitting at the bar, they're obviously a little probably intoxicated, but they were fun and they were super friendly. And I ordered, they ordered really well, you know, and I thought, oh man, all right, this is, this is fun. So like, I'm working the pantry station. They're literally like where you guys are to me, right? Like I'm like sitting there working Jeff's like at my side. We're all kind of talking to him.

01:30:53And he is like, man, this is just, this was so good. You know, the customer is so good and, uh, everything is so creative. And I love it. I used to dine with you guys all the time at the one in Decatur. And we're like, excuse me? He was like the one in, uh, yeah, I used to, when I lived down in Atlanta, I'd always go into the one down around Decatur and Jeff goes, sir, where do you think you are right now? And he was like, what? He's like, where do you believe you are? He was like, uh, I bear in pig, right? Like I thought I was at the Iberian pig. He didn't even know where he was, but we were like, we were like, this isn't the Iberian pig and he was like, oh, for real where he was like, really? We were like, really? He's like, are you kidding me? We're like, no, it's not. He's like, well, shit is fucking good. And we're like, well, thanks dude. So like we kind of stopped, right?

01:31:55And Jeff goes, would you like to know where you are? No, he's like, I'm going to call this place the Iberian pig. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. So we, you know, explained to him the restaurant and he's like, Oh, well I'll be damn. Like, wait, both of them are like, shit. All right. They're like, we'll be back in here. So like, then I think, I don't know if it was the night before. I want to fit. I want to say it was the night before. Three girls, probably 24 sit down at the bar. You know, they're like, they're very upset. Now keep in mind, like everybody in the restaurant wears St. Vito shirts. You know, there's a brass sign that's quite lit up. It says St. Vito of country on the front. The door says St. Vito right there. The menus say St. Vito. I mean, it's kind of impossible to miss it. Um, these girls sit down. They're like, I don't understand this menu. All this pizza on here, whatever there, you know, they made this comment and this was to Jeff again.

01:33:01They're like, I've been to Spain. I don't remember seeing any of this food. And he was like, okay, I don't understand what that means. But so she's like, I want a chicken Caesar salad. I want blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. I'm like, what in the world? Like, where do you think you are? So I, well, I made it for him because it's just like, whatever. Well, they're lucky that we actually, we were serving chicken parm at that time and we had chicken breasts and like, like there are people who come in, you know, you got, you know, that like people come into your restaurant and they're like, is this it? This is the menu. And then they're like, can I just have like a chicken sandwich? Yeah. People get really, I see you have ingredients here. You can make these together. I'm like, but I'm like, 300 people. I've got to tell people I'm like, I, I, I for real, I'm telling you the truth. I don't have that in this restaurant. Like I, I don't, and I'm sorry, but yeah, they're like, let me talk to you. Your menu. Well, so we ended up having it and I made it for him. And then they were like, this is so good.

01:34:03We're going to leave a review and all this stuff. Please don't. And they're like, we, they're like, the chicken Caesar's amazing. They'll make it custom for you and like talk about the pizza and stuff. And then Jeff finally caught on that. He was like, Hey, you're not at Iberian pig. And they were like, what? And they were like, you're not. Oh my God. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Yeah. Wait, where is Iberian? Right next door to us. Dang. You, that would make sense. I'm like, wait a minute. Something on the menu. We look the same videos, not it's like my coincidence. Our color scheme is very similar. Okay. And I can understand why people get it mixed up. We get a lot of people who come in. Uh, I mean, we get a lot of the same customers. And like, no, I mean, no, I'm not knocking them at all. Cause either, cause like I've heard from many people that it's great restaurant and, uh, I haven't, they're, they're a group out of Atlanta, Castellucci, I think, and like, they've got multiple restaurants. They have one of their restaurants as a Michelin star or something.

01:35:04Like they're killing it. Like they do a great job and they're busy all the time. You know, that's the, for me, I'm like, I don't care. I want, I want busy restaurants all around me because that's going to bring more people. Like we got this new sushi place going in the old barista parlor right next door to us. Their front door is next to our front door. That could be, that's the best thing that could ever happen to us. Do you have that Maki pizza? Yeah. Yeah. Can you make me a, where's this, where's this sushi pizza? Yeah. Like I don't understand from next door. You got to make one menu item. That's just a little bit like both of the restaurants next to you. And they're like, Oh yeah, I know we have the sushi. Uh, of course we do. It's just kind of be like, no, yeah, this is, you're there. You're the charge double over here. Yeah. Give me that money. Yeah. You know, I mean, it happens, but what's the least loss this to everybody.

01:36:05And I don't know the answer to myself, but like if I'm a guest, so, so one of my ideas for this thing was that we would be able to tell inside stories and things that guests do that really annoy restaurants. As if I'm a guest. I want to learn these things. You know what you should do. I think some people don't know. I just want us to talk shit on our customers. Yes. I'd like to talk shit about your guests. I love all my guests. They're the best. But what's the one thing they make us who we are, Brandon observed in a different restaurant that isn't yours, that a guest could do. That's really obnoxious. It's the, you know, what you should do for me. Yeah. It's like never been in the restaurant before because he's not pizza, you know, like he's not traditional pizza. So there's a lot of people like to tell them what they should do. I've had somebody come in from, I don't know where they're from, but they basically just looked at me and they said, why ain't this round? Yes. Please make a, why ain't this round? Michael, make a shirt, please. Why ain't this round?

01:37:07What I was, I was at this place. I was at this place. That's called one taco is a Mexican place. There's a taco shop in Florida the other day and T-shirts had one talk on the back. It said the worst taco one woman on Facebook ever ate in her life at this place. And I was like, yes, I like that. This is the thing. The best ever. I think for the black dynasty guys, when they were first getting their start out, they get really good bad reviews. Yeah. They, uh, they're like on like the, or like where you would go to order a bar sovereign, it said like terrible noodles. I thought that was hilarious. I was like terrible noodles. They were like, yeah, people say we're terrible. And I'm like, all right, well, I think that's hilarious. That definitely is markets to their customers though. Like they want that kind of like, you know, defy, you know, what people's traditional idea of what a ramen shop is. And you know, that's a good, I mean, I just think it's great marketing. But, um, and Mirable people always do the same thing.

01:38:09They, you know what you should do? You should, you know what you should, and it's all decorating because it's a house and people come in and they're just interior decorators, what they do. And they go, you know what you should do? You should paint everything and you should blow the building up and then you should rebuild it and do something beautiful. It's like, yeah, just crumble your business. This is a classic, like we want to go timeless style. And it's like, you know what you should do is you should have you been to, um, that was the place in Green Hills. And my brain's just blank right now. Um, really fancy, uh, restoration hardware. Have you been to restoration? You could do like $3,000 couches that you could sit on. I'm like, yeah, have a cloud couch that break. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. That's we'll keep that in mind. Yeah, no, um, no kidding. Yeah. Yeah. Someone sat at the bar one time and they ordered the spicy tomato and burrata slice and they're like, they're like, you know, I really love the pepperoni, the, the, the agri-dolce or the, we switched goat. We go from like saffron honey to agri-dolce, whichever one it was.

01:39:09Or it was really good. You know what you should do? You should put it on this one, the brata, because this one is like spicy. I feel like you should tell people that it's spicy. You shouldn't really tell people that this is spicy though. And Jeff again, because Jeff is the bar guy was like, you mean like maybe call it the spicy tomato and burrata slice. She was like, yeah, totally. Done. He was like, done, ma'am. He goes, I got good news for you. And he grabs them and he goes, it's already on there. We took your suggestion. We made the change. How fast we are going to implement this. Hey guys, let's do this now. Get that printer warm. Hold on. I want you done, done. I love it. I love it. No, I, my biggest thing that we always get is people look at our menu. It is pretty big because we like to have choices. You know, we're like a grilled cheese place and it's like kind of like something for everybody. They're just like, they look at it and they have this like face that's like too much reading and they're like, I just want a grilled cheese.

01:40:11And we're like, okay. Um, yes, we have all those things. Um, what kind of cheese, what kind of bread, just cheese, just bread. And we're like, okay. Like what we're, I don't, I just do every bit. Like it's so simple, you know, that even at the simplest level, we get people that are overwhelmed by having to pick a cheese of like five or six cheeses. I mean, we have options, but it's like whatever you want, we have, but it's like, I just, I just want to cheese and just, just regular bread. What do you consider regular bread, ma'am? Like, yeah. I mean, at that point, I like the Italian herbs and cheese. Can you make that? We already know you're probably not going to be impressed. Like you, you want something very basic and you've probably been told here to come, come here by a friend that like, you know, like whenever they order like that, you're like, oh yeah, no, they're not going to be impressed. They're not picking something that we ha is that is what we're known for. You know, really good bread, really good cheese, but it's like, you're picking something basic.

01:41:15You're going to not have the experience that we want you to have, you know, but such as a quick service restaurant, we only get so much time with our guests. You know, I have to be the bearer of bad news. Are we too long? We're not too long, but we're at, we're at the time. We do have another guest coming in here in four minutes. Dang. Get out of that. We have to, we have to, we have to kick out. All good things must come to an end. Do you have any advice for us on the next podcast? Anything we should do? I get it. I mean, get a sign, get a sign outside. We got to get some branding. I saw the sign up there, but there wasn't a sign down there. Look, see, it's what happened. They think they're going to Iberian pig and they walk in, you know what I mean? I went to the lawyer's office. He went to the lawyer's office. That's right. Same, same. Michael Hanna from St. Vito's for Kosharia. Thank you so much for joining us. You know, the last thing we do on this show. Uh, I can't remember, but I feel like we didn't get to talk about too much, uh, of, of the restaurant, but I mean, we can, we should, we talked about you and I feel like that's super important.

01:42:19What do you want to do? You get the final thought, final thought, the Gordon food service. Final thought is, is up to you now. And this could take 10 minutes if you want, I'll go outside and tell the person I have to wait. Who is the other person? I can't tell you. It's a secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Sell burgers and a lot of burgers. I probably just see them outside. Yeah. You like flip them off. Um, we are speaking, uh, next with, I'll tell you what it is. Hold on a second. I honestly don't know. Oh yeah. Daniel. Yeah. From pharmacy burger. They've been up in a long time. Yes. That's what it is. I mean, Unleash the Wolf with Campo Bravo tequila. Campo Bravo is a 100% agave tequila with a bold, smooth flavor. Perfect for sipping neat as a shot or in cocktails. Campo Bravo is also certified additive free, which means there are no artificial flavors or sweeteners in Campo Bravo, like there are in many other brands. Campo Bravo gives you all the bold, smooth flavor you want in a tequila with nothing you don't.

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01:45:32You need to call Jason Ellis, his number 770-337-1143. And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation, meet him, say hi, see if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with super source 770-337-1143. You're an East national original, right? Daniel Frazier, he's the director of operations in Germany. And we're going to talk, this is going to be my episode because I get to talk to a guy that does like what I do. I'm going to take it over. I'm still going to ask him about food. I've enjoyed you taking this. I've just kind of felt like I've got to be a fly on the wall here. Me and Michael are friends. Stop inviting my friends on the podcast. I'm very social. This is, this, this is a good co-host. So Michael, you get the final word, whatever you want to say, as long as you want to say it, you get to talk about anything and everything you want to say. So the mic is yours and just, uh, let me know when you're done and I'll, I'll, we'll tell everybody goodbye. All right. Uh, let's see.

01:46:33I mean, I think, uh, we're at a point in Nashville dining that is exciting and at the same time, a little scary for a lot of people. And I think that it's really important that, uh, the city and as a community, which I feel strongly about because, you know, I live here and have two children here and we are part of the community and built this restaurant and we wouldn't exist without, you know, that grassroots, um, you know, community. I think it's really important, like, especially right now that we support all of our local businesses. Um, not to say you don't go out to eat at all these other places. That's fine. But, uh, I think it's getting harder for locals to, uh, to, uh, to open businesses here because of how expensive it's getting and it's easier for out of town groups with lots of money and big, large, you know, you know, restaurants to come in and do it and, you know, and that's just the way the market works.

01:47:39And you gotta, you know, you gotta deal with it. But at the same time, I think it's really important to support our local people. I mean, there are so many good restaurants after, you know, I've lived all over the country and I've traveled a bit and, and we were in Chicago last or not last week, the week before, but, you know, eating out and stuff, it really, it really made me kind of think about like our food scene here. Like there are amazing restaurants. So Locust, Cappard, Rolf and Daughters, Henrietta Redd, I mean, SS Guy, Sapsap BBQ, Fat Belly, like there are so many awesome, independently owned, incredible restaurants, lunch places, you know, takeout, fine dining, whatever you want. Um, and I think it's just really important as we move forward as a city that we really kind of recognize that. I think that, um, to an extent, sometimes Nashville has a hard time accepting Nashville, especially with the, with the amount of, you know, transplants that we have coming in. But, you know, those, those people, I hope they, they are welcomed into the city by the locals and I hope that the locals, uh, they, they become very, you know, cognizant of the local scene and not just what's coming from LA or, or, you know, New York or Chicago, like cognizant of all the small businesses, the amazing things that are happening at The Wash, the amazing things that are happening, you know, all across the city.

01:49:00Like it's important that we support those people. Like if you're going to dine out, you know, make a decision, you know, to, you know, go to maybe the local restaurant over, you know, the busy one or the, the big out of town one. And, and, you know, those out of town restaurants are great. I'm not trying to shit on them or anything. You know, I go to them as I go to them as well. You know, it's great. I stop in and have drinks or pizzas or whatever, but like, there's just a lot of local people who have, you know, Nashville has always been kind of a, uh, arty artsy, you know, music driven, creative city. And we're all still here. We're all still making cool things. We're all still opening great restaurants. There are lots of great concepts out there and there's a lot more to come. And I just think that it's really important as a city, we kind of take a step back from the Broadways, the pedal taverns, the tractors, driving, hey, bells, you know, and, uh, we kind of looked through the lens of, you know, being a local and what it's like to start a business in a city that's growing rapidly with, you know, lacking infrastructure and, uh, we just get, you know, take our licks, but make sure that we support those people.

01:50:15I think it's incredibly important. And I try to stress that to our customers all the time. You know, we have amazing places like kisser, like, that's my favorite. That's like my favorite restaurant. Like those guys. That's amazing. Are insanely talented. They do an incredible amount of business in that spot. Like, and they're a local locally driven, you know, and, uh, you know, it's like support those guys all the time, right? Like go as many times as you possibly can. Like, it's just, I think there is something very special here. You know, I think 2023, I don't want to ramble too much, but like, I got a lot of my mind on this stuff. It's like, 2023 was a great year. Uh, Iggy's St. Vito kisser bad idea. Those restaurants opened, those restaurants are local. They are owned by locals. Like go support those people. And they're amazing chefs. You know, uh, Colby over a bad idea, Ryan and Matt Polly at Iggy's. Like those are amazing people. Amazing restaurants doing awesome stuff that only make our scene better. Those are the restaurants that will stick around forever.

01:51:17And that's kind of been my point to some people. It's like, you know, some of these larger groups come in, if it doesn't work, they're going to cut their losses and they're going to leave. But people like us who build our restaurants from the ground up in our locals, we want to be here for a really long time. We want, when we cut our losses, it means a lot more. So, um, that's all final thought. Support your local restaurants. It's really important. That's one of the best final thoughts I think I've ever heard. I love that. I also talked about supporting local, but whatever it's fine. You did, but that was basically the same thing he did when I was better than yours. I didn't shout out all the restaurants. Oh yeah. Shout out spicy boys over in East. Shout out to me. I was like, what am I? Chopped liver, Green Hills grill, Maribor, Chagos, you're here. This is like my son over here. What are you talking about? Michael, Hannah, thank you for joining us today.

01:52:17Let's look, come back next week. We'll talk about your restaurant for an hour. It'll be a good time. What did we go? We should come do a live episode in your restaurant. We'll taste food live. We'll do, we could do like a fun little vignette to the episode. We can walk to the restaurant. We can go there and we will show the parking and we'll do like a whole 20 minute. It'd be a fun kind of a deal. You know, this is where you park. It's super easy. We'll start at the wings and then we'll walk. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone chicken wings over at peg leg. Oh, have you seen those? Those are genius. That's what I'm talking about. Those are my favorite wings. Doesn't get enough credit over there. We will, we will season, go check out St. Peter's focaccia. It's Gulch ish. Gulch ish. Go. If you know where the Iberian pig is, go there and then go next door or go into the Iberian pig and try and order. Svensonia. So you have to go in there and have their own medicine. They have an incredible wine list over there. You should go drink wine at Iberian pig, have some snacks, pop over, have something with us like you can do it. You can go eat it more than one restaurant. If you're super cool, come eat on Saturday night to balance out the rubes.

01:53:20Yeah. We dare you. Yeah. Michael, we've got to get going. Thank you, sir. And we will see you again soon. Later guys. All right. Wow. Michael, Hannah, thank you so much for joining us here on Nashville restaurant radio. Crystal, you, you own that interview. That was, I think I said like nine words the whole time. I kept looking at you. Like you were like, should I leave? Do you know what? Honestly, I was just hard when you, it's hard when people are friends and then we're both chefs. Like, you know, we have a rapport already. I love, I loved it. Do you know how many times like I get in here and I just want to do this stuff like hearing, I felt kind of like a spectator listening to you guys. Talk was really fun. I kind of, sometimes I hear you say that sometimes I enjoy listening and watching, and then you'll get like a five minute soliloquy cause I'll just hear it and go, it's like this. And then I'll have this long thing. And that's when I'm editing and I'm gonna go, Oh God, I'm so cringey how I just go in and I like some eyes, everything they've been talking about for five minutes with my own thoughts, like anybody gives a shit.

01:54:29And that's what I do. And so we do like that. It's just, can you hear yourself? You're just like, Oh, shut up. It's so bad. We, we all, I know we text each other after when we're listening to this, we're like, Oh, why did I, Oh, we should have added edited me out a little bit there, but it's hard, we're hard, hard on our own selves, but over the years, this is what I've gathered is that we're doing this to put our thoughts to put out there so other people can hear them and then talk amongst themselves or let us know what they're like, that's what we're here to do. We have a unique perspective in our positions where we're at, what we're doing, and I want to share that. And if you don't like it, then don't listen. And I think the best way to promote anybody is to be that person in the room that's speaking highly of somebody else. Like I feel like this is just my version of talking people up in a room to make you Billy be like, Oh, I've never heard of that guy. I'm glad you said that now, you know, like I want to be that person in the room to be like, you don't know about radical rabbit, vegan food, you know, like you don't know Mariah, like, you know, like I want to be, I don't know about them.

01:55:34Oh my God. Holy shit. I know the beehive. I know Ben sticks. No, I'm talking, I'm talking strong black owned woman business. That's a single mother and her daughter is amazing. And she is like always donating food to like free. Why has she not been in here? Let's get her on here. All right. That's it. Radical rabbit. See, like do it that voice in the room where people may not know that one person. And now that person is introduced to the group, you know, of a group of different people and that's how small business small, this is how we spread the word, you know, so I feel like the podcast is just that it's like, let's talk about things you might not know about. Now you know about it. Um, now you know about the radical rabbit. I'm going to go to that cinema thing, you know, Shelby's cinema thing, that anniversary, 10th anniversary. Yes. I would have probably not gone to it. I don't know. Now I'm like, what is she going to do? Like I'm excited for her. I'm excited that you're, I, you know what I love the most about all of this is that I, like that you are so excited about all of this, like you, you get my enthusiasm towards all of this.

01:56:41Yeah. So it didn't care. Everybody else does too, but like a new version of it, like is really, it's, it's been so exciting for me to see you lean into it like this because it's exciting. I, this is so much fun. I love it. I love, and I love seeing people like, I don't get to spend time with people like this, like I'm never like he, Michael's so busy, like he's got two small kids. Like if we ever got together, it would not be like this, like it would be like a work something and we would be talking about business or I don't know. It wouldn't be this jovial. Every time I get to interview, like a friend of mine who's like somebody who I know we hang out or whatever, anytime I get to interviews, I always leave. I'm like, I didn't know that about you because when you hang out with your friends, you don't sit and ask questions about them like that. I think there's all kinds of different jokes, but like men who go in, I'm reading a book called untamed by Glennon Doyle. If you've read this book, it's a great book. But there's a side of it where she says, well, my husband came back and you know, I was like, Hey, did, did John John's having a baby?

01:57:45Did you, he's like, Oh yeah, we didn't talk about that. We didn't talk about that. Like, well, what about the sun? The sun has is autistic. And he's like, yeah, we didn't talk about that either. What did you guys talk about? It's like, I don't know, football. Like he's, he's hung out. We're dudes. How much I do the same thing to my husband. I'm like, what, did you know this? This is, it's like, why do I know? Because women are the village. Like we gather and we speak, we tell, you know, in, in a, in a very like archaic way, we're like, we're the ones that know what the poisonous, you know, herb is. And we tell the village what the poisonous herb is. So you don't poison yourself. Like, this is the role of the woman in the society of, you know, we talk, I have to talk to each other. Well, I feel like in this society, in the restaurant world, I kind of, I do, when you're in here, when you have headphones on and a microphone and it's silent and you're looking at something that you can, great. There's no distractions. You're not eating. You're not, you know, I drink coffee, but like, you're not on your phone, which is amazing. I love you get to really connect.

01:58:46Yeah. And like, how often are we distracted by our phones going off and like, you're just like, Oh, I've got to take this call. You know, we can't do that here, which is actually really nice. So yeah, that's why every time I even run into people now, I'm like, you got to come on the podcast because it's like, we got to have that uninterrupted time to talk about something. I remember when I first started, I got a hold of Springer Mountain Farms chicken. I don't know how it was 2020. And I met this guy, Dale. Dale was the guy that did marketing there. I know Dale. Dale, you know, Dale, he's not there anymore, but he was the guy that came out though, like to all of us in the beginning to get us to start using Springer Mountain Farms. Yeah. He saw like my first 15 episodes ago. These are all my chefs. I'm like, do you want to sponsor? And he is responsible for why the show is still here today because he gave me, I don't know, they, they sponsored that every show you do will give you a hundred bucks. And I was like, Oh, I'm doing nine shows a week. Then that's so many shows doing shows. And I had all this copying, like Springer Mountain Farms chicken, the greatest chicken on the fucking planet.

01:59:47And I'm just like going into all this stuff. Great. We use, we use Springer Mountain Farms. But I was, that was, and so Dale, he goes, well, just be careful because you're going to run out of chefs because you're going to run out of people to talk to. And I was like, he said that well, because they apparently Springer Mountain Farms chicken did a podcast and like, they had like 20 chefs. Like who are we going to interview now? Like how many, well, that's the thing. They ran out of chefs and I'm like, no, no, there's, there's 385 episodes later. I'm like, I can't keep up with how many people we have in line to get on the show. You have like HR people, you have it. I mean, there's like, it's a well rounded people, food people, food adjacent, you know, maybe things we need to know. Like there's, there's front of house people. There's this, we have sommeliers. Like, I mean, it's, so next week we have Daniel Frazier, right? Daniel Frazier. He is never heard of the pharmacy burger. He's the director of operations and general manager at the pharmacy burger parlor, the very famous, the very famous, not as busy as you think.

02:00:48So we still have to support it. What's that busy just in the winter time? Yeah, but it looks busier because their weight is outside and people have already done the interview. I'm just saying I, this is information I know though, because I'm in East Nashville. If you see people waiting outside, go in, just go on in. Yeah. But I got to geek out. So this, you dominated this conversation today and I get to dominate next week. I called you, um, uh, you guys were, uh, you know, uh, what is your role? Director of operations. Yes. Uh, you're a real dope. You're like, yeah. Doing out. You're doing out. Yeah. Something director of operationing, you know, bro and out. I combined two words together. We got into like what reports we like to run, like, cause there's so many different, like what I think he was like, dude, that's, I think this is something we started doing by the way. Brandon was, wants to be your best friend. I want to be his best friend. He was like, I, I'm so glad to meet somebody that's just like me.

02:01:48I can learn so much from him. He was like, I'm like, I was sure we both learn a lot from each other. It's fun. We have so much fun. I think he wants to just follow you around and shadow your life. I don't think so. He really liked, he's a new dad. He's had lots of stuff going on in there. Done that. That's why, like you, you kind of already, you come out of the fog a little bit. He's still in the fog, you know, deep in the fog. He's living. He's like, I don't know what's happening tomorrow. The fog is there. Yeah, no, he definitely had a, had a haze in his eyes, but he was doing it. He's doing it. Well, I've had so much fun doing these episodes and this is the, with the outro intro, this is the new style. We're going to get just a nice, good flow with having to keep explaining what our intro and outro is going to be. It's just going to be one, we're going to figure out what's been one long episode. We're going to do these the day of we got all this stuff going. So thank you guys for listening today. Uh, we're going to leave you at this. Have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully you're making a buttloads of money.

02:02:49Yeah. Make buttloads of money out there. It is CMA week. This is the time to do it. Don't make a week. Let's kill it. Save that money. Save that money. Right. Put that money in a bank for a tornado day. Yes. You might need it. Right. So we hope that you guys are being safe out there. Stay cheesy Nashville. Love you guys. Bye.