Trey Cioccia-Chef/Owner The Farm House and Black Rabbit

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to another edition of Nashville Restaurant Radio. So happy to have you with us today. We're going to be talking with Trey Sciaccia from the Farmhouse and the Black Rabbit and we have a cool conversation. Hang back, listen to the whole thing. It's about an hour long. Once we get past our pleasantries, the conversation becomes pretty real and we have a visit from a very special four-year-old as you might have recording from your home during this time. So sit back, relax and enjoy my interview with Trey Sciaccia. All right so Trey Sciaccia, how you doing man? I'm doing great Brandon, how are you? I'm doing I guess as good as I can be stuck at my house. I'm kind of blessed. Yeah, I'm at work. I'm at the restaurant baby. We're trying to do everything we can, you know. So this is just such an unprecedented time and thanks for joining us here at Nashville Restaurant Radio.

01:15I've known you for, gosh what, 15 years? Years. Years. When I met you, you worked at the Hermitage Hotel. So one of the things I want to do with this podcast is I want to go through the interview today a little bit about your history and what brought you to where you're at now. I want to talk about some of your friends. I want to talk about some of your restaurants and then I want to talk about the current situation that we're in is kind of what you're feeling, what you're going through. And so when I met you, you were at the Hermitage Hotel 2005, 2006? What was that experience like for you? I wanted to learn as much as possible and you know that place to me holds a special place in my heart and of course T. Brown has always been an amazing mentor to me and you know if you really look at all the talent that's come out of the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, it's pretty remarkable.

02:34I mean you know you got your, you wouldn't have Port Royal Butcher or Hattie B's or Lachlan Table or Eastland Cafe or Park Cafe or the Farmhouse or you know South Hall, Husk, McCready, I mean all these amazing restaurants from these chefs that have put their time in at the Hermitage Hotel so I feel really, really, really blessed to have been a part of that and I think that it really molded me into, molded me into the chef I am today. So that's, that time for me especially, just coming out for myself, learning from me being around all of those people was one of the most special times for me too because I just constantly learned all the time from you guys so thank you for that for me. So you left, when you left the Hermitage Hotel, did you go straight to Cantina Laredo after that? I did, I went straight there, you know my dream was to open my own restaurant and so landing a corporate gig that paid a little more money and the hours weren't as demanding as you know being in an independent restaurant and so I got to save up some money and really kind of focus on not only the job that I was doing for Cantina, I mean I killed it, I did a great job and I had a great staff and you know I learned a lot about business and structure and that was a big deal for me is you know I could cook and I knew, you know you always think you know the business and how to run numbers but being able to get into a project like that and really getting the day to day structure of labor and controllables and you know how to manage your dollars and spread them out and how to save and I think was a big, big step for me there.

04:28So you were there, did you, I wanted to touch on Bobby because I think that your relationship is just amazing but Larry Sinclair, did you meet Larry, did you know Larry before you were at Cantina or did you meet him? I did not. So you met Larry Sinclair at Cantina Laredo, he was the chef when you started there. Yeah so Larry was my, he was my boss when we were at Cantina so he was the chef there and then I was under Larry at that time. And then Larry left to go do some other things and you took over the executive chef job there, I just love that guy, he's so amazing and you guys when you were there, I worked for Freshpoint when you, by that time I had moved over to Freshpoint and I always loved coming over there and just hanging out because it was just always fun, like I've been in a thousand kitchens. And a lot of that staff is still worse for me, you know Larry is my GM at the farmhouse and Charlie is my front house manager here and he was also a server at the time at Cantina and of course Bobby came in and I hired him as my sewer over there when Larry left to go to Chicago and you know when I left Bobby took over the kitchen over there while I got everything ready for this and then we kind of all just kind of teamed back up and got back together so it's pretty cool.

05:54And it was great, just the owner and the president of Cantina, we kept him in the loop the entire time on what our game plan was and make sure that they were in a good spot because that's always very important, I always tell a lot of people that don't burn bridges, it's just not a thing, especially in our city that's very small and close, it's a very unique community in the restaurant industry in Nashville. We're very, very close and we're all friends and you know, we just, you know what goes around comes around and you know that, you've been in Nashville long enough to know that, you know, don't burn bridges, it's not a good idea. That's a terrible idea which is, it's been an interesting topic of this podcast over the past couple weeks is this unique time that we're in and people burning bridges and how that all works. But I remember being in the kitchen at Cantina Laredo talking to you and you showing me your business plan and if I had a nickel for every chef that I worked with that said, I'm going to open my own restaurant one day, I'd be wealthy, but you were the only person, I remember seeing your business plan and going, oh my gosh, he's actually going to do it.

07:03I knew you had the talent, you always had the, just that gravitas about you, but you always were the one saying, I'm opening my own place and when you showed me your business plan, I went, oh my gosh, this guy, he's got it, like this is dead serious, he's making this thing happen. And then when you found the spot, I was just like, holy cow, and then you did it, Farmhouse 2013. And the reason the restaurant came that I've met that really loved what we did and how we did it, they wanted to be partners and it kind of came together. I think the biggest thing about opening a restaurant at that time, me being young, I was 30 years old, and one of the youngest chef owners in Nashville at that time, and I'm 38 now and I feel like I'm still pretty young. My body from time to time is not, I'm what they call a working chef, I'm still a working chef, I'm always in the kitchen, I'm always on the line or I'm out front, it doesn't matter, I do every aspect of the job.

08:09And I feel like that when you do own it and you do, owning it's one thing, but owning it and being the chef is a lot, it's just a huge thing to take over. And nobody's going to sell your business and your product and your brand the way that I am or the way Bobby is or the way Chad is. You know, Chad Kelly, you know, he's my business partner at Black Rabbit. So, you know, it's just nobody's going to sell who we are better than we are. Nobody's going to have the passion behind it and the care and everything that we put out and even in the mistakes that we make and making sure that we do correct them and make them right. You know, because we're not perfect, we never claim to be, but we strive for it, you know. I mean, that's all you really can do and you can respond when you do fall short, which I know that you do. I've never had a filter and I never will, but I've always played the game the right way, I don't need to be friends with certain people or to do things to promote my business.

09:12I mean, if I like you, I like you and if I don't, just don't stay around. It's real simple, you know. I know what I do every day and I know how hard I work and I don't need, you know, I don't need to get somebody to... I don't know, you know how the games go and how it goes and it's just that's not who I am and you know that I'm... I'll call it stay to stay, you know. You most... I talked, I met with Kerry Bringle a week before last and we sat down and talked. I'm wearing a peg leg hat right now. But one of the dynamics I talked to him about was, I said, you know, the barbecue community is so strong that there's never like this competitive... I don't like this guy. You're always talking about other people other than yourself. You're trying to promote each other and you've always been like the captain of that team. From every time that I've worked with you, it's always been... Let me tell you about this guy. Let me tell you about what they're doing over here. You're constantly telling me about everybody else's restaurants. I find to be amazing that camaraderie that you guys have. Not just you and like Kerry, but just like you and the other local restaurateurs.

10:16I mean, the list is insane and that's what it is when people move here. I mean, you know, Kerry Bringles and the Pat Martens and the Hal Holmbox and the Tyler Browns and the Sean Rocks and the... You know, you've got, you know, Lasters and the Bishops with Hattie B's and... And just Margot McCormick and Tandy at City House and Phil at Roth and Daughters. And, you know, you got Nick and Aubrey over at Pelican and Pig and, you know, Chris at the listening room. And we're just a family, dude. And I love it. There's just so many of us that, you know, we were the grunts, you know, and Deppa Cat. God, I mean, I love her. I mean, just we were the grunts and the soldiers for these amazing chefs. You know, we've just stayed close throughout the years and we're always there to help each other. We're always there to, you know, you need a dishwasher tonight, you need to cook, you need what? I mean, that's what we do, you know, and that's what it's supposed to be about. And that's such a unique thing. That's one of the reasons why I want to do this podcast is to get people like you telling that story.

11:17And I want that story not only for people that work in the industry to hear your perspective as a restaurant owner and working chef, but then also for people that come and dine in restaurants to hear your story because I'm a little bit of a homer. And every time somebody asks me where they should go, I've got like my favorites. But I always tell them, have you eaten at the farmhouse? If you like local farm to table, you got to go check it out. I love it. And, you know, it's also known to how big our city is too. I mean, you know, you know, six years ago, you know, people were like, oh, I know what the farmhouse is. Now you just, I mean, even with the Black Rabbit, you know, we're two years old and it's just like, oh, I never heard of it. You know, and it's just like it's just our market is so huge. We have so many great options and it's just it's crazy. And that kind of falls into the, you know, the whole thing with the community and what we were talking about. It goes back to don't burn bridges. You know, I mean, there's there's no employee that ever leaves working for me that I don't receive a phone call for another restaurant.

12:19And that's just the way it is, you know, I mean, and that's the same with me. I mean, you always want to know that people left the way they should have left, you know what I mean? And that's important because you don't want that cycle to continue. You know, and I'm the second chance king. I've fired people and rehired them more times than I know what to do. And I love them. But that's just because, you know, it gets to that point. But you hope that they learn. And, you know, I was I was a crazy kid growing up. I did a lot of stuff, but I learned from it. You know, I feel like people deserve second chances. People deserve to not one moment defines the person. You know what I mean? That's that's not what defines you. That's amazing what you just said, because I'm a complete believer in that as well, just for myself even. But right now, I think restaurant people, industry people find themselves in a unique situation where there's been so many layoffs and so many people are not working right now. And I've been a gigantic advocate that during this time you could easily be honing in your wine skills.

13:19You could easily be taking online cooking classes, learning food, really upping your game, because I feel like when everything reopens, it's going to be a gigantic reset button. And when you go back in and you go get another job or wherever it is, you can go be as awesome or as bad as you want. And if you if you walk in somewhere and say, I worked at these places, look, I was kind of a jackass back in the day and I kind of did these things. But over this time, I recognize that there's so much more to this industry and I'm going to come out swinging. I've studied menus. I've now learned all about wine. I've done this. I've done that. I just want a chance like you're. I agree. I think everybody needs a chance. I mean, I think I think that's a great way to put it. And it is it's going to be very, you know, we learn every day right now. I mean, we've we've all learned to modify our business from a full service restaurant into a curbside pickup to go, you know. And now we're sitting there going, OK, cool, we reopen.

14:20Do we do we still offer some of this, you know, to the residents that live above or do this or that? We're we're like, cool, maybe we've modified the way that we're going to do business going forward. And we've also talked about, you know, and we've always wanted to shock the water at the farmhouse a little bit. We may do that. I think we may we may open back up. I mean, if you walked in the farmhouse right now, every power tool I have, we have just been remodeling and building shelves. And, you know, I love that because my partners are always like, like, you just don't get frazzled. I'm not frazzled. I'm not going to get frazzled about this. It is what it is. Does it suck? Are we going to make it? I don't know. Am I going to go to work every day until somebody tells me to screw off, fuck off, whatever? Excuse my language. But I mean, yeah, absolutely. I am. I'm going to run to the finish line. You know, regardless. Regardless of what the result is, I'm always going to run to the finish line. Absolutely. And now you actually and I've been telling restaurateurs also right now you've got time. The number one thing that people don't have as a and yourself, you said it, I'm an owner and a chef.

15:21So it's not like you just sit behind a desk all day long. You got a ton of stuff to do. The one thing that you have now that you didn't have before is an empty restaurant all day long. There's so much opportunity to do all this stuff that it sounds like you're just killing it, taking advantage of it. Yeah, we are, man. We're remodeling. We're doing floor plans. Just, you know, I mean, that's all we can do. And, you know, I'm lucky that, you know, I know how to build shit. So that's the great thing about it. I always have, you know, I mean, that's the, you know, and that's the greatest thing. So, you know, that's one less thing that, you know, and another thing that nobody's doing right now, everybody's doing is not spending money. You know, it's like, how do we do this and not spend money? You know, it's like, how do we do this and not spend money? You know, try to conserve, you know, our biggest goal right now is to get, you know, our staff at least on rotation to where we can bring them in and, you know, we got to make them some money. You know, we got to, we got to, we got to be able to pay them and hope that they survive too. I can, I can survive all I want, but if I don't have the people that are in my building every day, you know, I'm, I'm just trade the restaurant owner and chef.

16:27I'm not a, I'm not a restaurant. You know what I'm saying? I mean, they're your family and, you know, I think that we're going to learn a lot from Nashville in this moment. I think we're going to learn a lot about where you pick and choose to work as a line cook. And if you're chasing the almighty dollar, then that's great. But you also got to know when you chase that almighty dollar, that the results are always, always a little harsher and the feelings of who you are for and who you're with are a little, a little different too. So I've been there, done that, you know, I think, you know, that the city has grown at a rate that has totally changed, you know, what the worth of a line cook is and what the worth of a server is and, you know, I'm not saying it's bad or good, it's just, you Well, I mean, I think that there's a huge gap there. And I think that when this thing's over, the people that come back, I think there's going to be a much more option, but I think you're going to get all the people that work for you.

17:27I mean, I remember when you opened there, I did, I walked through your restaurant before it was ever open and you were like, check it out, bro. I got a TV on the line. I can watch Notre Dame football on Saturdays. What's up? And I was just like, hell yeah, man. This guy put a TV on his line so that he can watch football on Saturdays. How cool is that? It's all work. You know, we're always in the kitchen and I'm always, you know, I love college football and I'm not going to have Saturdays off. That's just not going to happen. So I'm like, I'm going to be here and this is my kitchen now. Then hell yeah, I'm going to have press games on at night and I'm going to watch college football. And that's what I'm going to do. And I love it. And it's just, and my staff loves it. My entire line is Predator fans. And it's just, you know, and I'm sure everybody that dines in my restaurant, that has dined in my restaurant has heard us back there streaming when they score. It's just, it's part of it. You know, it's a family. We get our job done, but we also, we're family. I mean, I spend more time with these people than I do my own family.

18:29Tell me about those people. Who do you, because every time I go in there, you just like, and it's been a while and I'm so sorry for that, by the way. And I will definitely come by and hang. I get it. You're going to tell me nothing. Hell, it's like every time I turn around, somebody's like, you've been here and I'm like, what? Where's that at? And I'm like, Jesus, like, how do I keep up with all this? You know? It's insane. So tell me about the people that do work for you because you've got people that work there a long time. Oh yeah, we've got, I mean, I've just got a bunch of goofballs, man. We're all goofballs. You know that? We're in a room all day long with no windows and no sunlight. And it's 13, 14 hours a day. And we're just goofballs, you know? And we're used to working side by side, you know, sharing cutting boards. And, you know, we're just, I love them. They're my family, you know? And you just, you miss them and you want to do everything you can right now in this time to make sure that they're surviving, you know? That they're able to pay their bills and they're able to put food on their table.

19:32And, you know, that's what we tell our entire staff. If you're hungry, swing by. We'll cook you dinner during this time. Whatever. I mean, but it's also an ode to who we are that every single one of my staff members between both restaurants has been like, dude, I'll come in. You don't got to pay me. Like, we're just, I'm like, no, y'all don't, you know? And that's just awesome. You know? And I don't know if a lot of people have employees like that. I'm sure that a lot of the people I listed earlier do, but you know what I mean. It's just a different vibe. So, if you're a potential, if you're working, if you're listening to this and you work in a kitchen and you want to work for that type of person, like Trey, I mean, these are the places you're going to go where you're going to get quality of life and become part of something bigger than yourself. And so many people just go in because they need a job. And I feel like when you join there, when you come on to work at the farmhouse or Black Rabbit, you're really joining like a crew, like it's a family, like it's, it's when you read Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential, and he talks about these restaurants, these crews of people, like that's what you've created.

20:40And that is unique. All those people you talked about, that's all part of your peers and people you hang out with. And that's kind of the fun side of this that I don't know if everybody gets. They don't. They don't get it. And it's like going to, you know, touching on the kind of we were talking about wages and stuff like that. I mean, if you go back, let's go back to 2006, 2000, all the way to 2010, I was at the Hermit Hotel. I was a line cook, okay, a saute line cook and a damn good saute line cook. And I'd like to say I'm still the same damn good line cook that I was because I still work the line every day. But I worked, you know, a 13, 14i station and a flat top by myself and got paid $12 an hour, okay? And that was good money. But nobody did my prep. Nobody had to come cook my food.

21:41Nobody had to make sure trade was set up every day. And back then, that's what I was surrounded with. And today, it's a lot different. Now I'm having to pay two saute cooks to work the same station and I'm paying them now $17 a piece and I'm still having to do their prep and I'm still having to get there. I mean, it's just, it's absolutely insane to me. And I have these conversations with a lot of my colleagues in this restaurant business right now. It's like, what happened? You know, where's the passion? You know, every job I used to get hired for, it's like, what book are you reading right now? What cookbook are you into right now? You don't have one here. Here's a stack. Take these home. You know, it was important. It was the school of hard knocks. And it's different now. You know, you got to handle everybody with a, you know, with a white glove. It's just, it's a different mentality and it's, it's hard. It's hard for us in this business because it's like, you know, I don't, you know, with the cell phones and the social media and da da da da da, and I get it.

22:50Like I get social media is a very important part of marketing and all this stuff. You don't need to be on social media while you're cooking on my line. It's just not a, it's not a, it's not a necessity. You know, I told somebody in a restaurant, I did kind of an orientation for their staff. We kind of realigned core values and this is a restaurant just recently. And I said, please do not get on your phones because I don't want to be your dad. I'm, I'm a, I'm a grown adult. You're a grown ass adult. Please do not make me micromanage you to like stay off your face, like stay off Facebook at work. I don't, please do not put me in a position where I have to tell you not to be on your phone because I have so many more things in my life I have to do right now. I don't need to monitor your cell phone usage. If you need to use your phone so damn bad, don't work here. Go sit on your phone somewhere. Like when you're here, you're not allowed to be on your phone and making this abundantly clear and if I have to manage you, then, then we're probably not in the right place.

23:55It's true though. I mean, it's so, it's absolutely true. I just don't, you know, and it's even like if I have a service, it's like, well, my tables are good. I was like, totally get that. But let me say that I'm on this other table and I'm in Joey's section and they need something. But Joey's busy because he's got a full section and they're over there looking at you, leaned up against the wall on your cell phone. What do you think they're thinking at this point? They're thinking, I can't get nobody to come by my table and there's servers over here just sitting on their ass. A thousand, thousand, because it's, I've always said that if you're in the front of the house, you're on stage. The second you walk out there, you're on stage. People are looking at you, their perception, especially now, especially when this, this whole coronavirus thing came out, anybody touches their face, anybody does anything, they're going that person, they're watching you. And if you're going to the bathroom with your apron on, I mean, it's, you know, is your, I mean, you know, dirty your cell phone is that people actually think about this. You do realize how dirty your cell phone is. I mean, I'm like, they laugh at me. Where does it go? You're always wiping your cell phone down. I'm like, dude, are you really? I mean, think about this. Raise your hand.

24:55If you go to the bathroom with your cell phone, you know, you do, I mean, it's just like, it's gross. Do you wash your phone? No, you don't. It's gross. It's, it's just. We all have changed that habit now. Everybody does now. Well, yeah, I mean, shit, that was my biggest joke when all this shit came out. It's like, wash your hands. And I'm going like, if we're just now starting to wash our hands, we're way, way behind. I mean, as a chef, I wash my hands probably more than doctors did. Yeah. You know? You know, it's just, it's amazing. And you know, in the new health rules now, it's like, you got to wear gloves, wear gloves. I'm like, really? I'm more opt to wash my hands if I can feel what's on my hands. I think the gloves can be a disservice because people think, I was at a gas station the other day and I watched the lady, the lady behind the counter and I was standing way back and I had to go in there and she was wearing gloves the whole time. But she's just doing all of the transactions with gloves on. I'm like, you realize when you do, like you should change your gloves after every transaction.

26:00But no, she's like, I'm wearing gloves. You open the handle on your car, right? You put your groceries in your car and then when you get home, you probably take your gloves off and then you unload your groceries and now you're touching every single box. It just doesn't make sense. No, it doesn't. It's, it's, it's a crazy time we're living in. I love going to Kroger's right now, honestly, brother. I mean, I get to walk in there and see the greatest things in the world right now. I'm just walking in there to get stuff for my family because I'm leaving my wife and my kids at home and I want them out in this. And it's just like I'm watching people and they were like barbecue gloves. They go up like past their elbow and I'm just watching this stuff. I mean, Casey's my wife's friend the other day was at Walmart and this lady had a snorkel on a damn snorkel mask and a snorkel walking around the store because she thought that that was going to help. What is going on? I'm lost on this, man. I'm very lost on this. I'm just, and I have a lot more feelings for this because my wife is a trauma nurse.

27:01And so I know what she's dealing with right now with all this crap and that the people who aren't sick and the people that are trying to get in to get, if you're not sick, stay home. And if you are sick, stay home until you get to a point to where you need to go to the hospital because they're going to just look at you and be like, cool, you got it. There's nothing we can, there's not a cure for it. You know, it's just, you're clogging it up for the people that really need a ventilator or they really need to have fluids or they really need to be in a hospital and be monitored. There's people that have normal cardiac arrests right now and there's people that are like having babies and there's all these normal medical situations that if you don't need to be intubated or you don't need a respirator, just stay home. And I'm going to get real with you all right now. My uncle just died yesterday, okay, had a stroke Friday. So my aunt Teresa and his, her two daughters, they can't even go to the hospital to see him through this entire thing. You know, it's very emotional and the hell I fed the whole HCA Summit medical team, ER surgeons, everything on Sunday because nobody will deliver food to them because they're scared to go to the damn hospital.

28:14It's like, what is going on right now? Like just wash your hands. Don't get in big groups of people. It's just, it's very simple message that the people are trying to tell us, you know? It's just, it's very frustrating. I mean, I've been to work every day for three weeks, same four people in the building. We're not on top of each other. We carry the food outside with gloves on, we take the gloves off with them in the damn trash. It's done. You know what I mean? It's just, just follow the rules and we can get back to normal life. And as fast as we can do it, you know, it's just a... It's just crazy, you know, and I got it, you know, my wife deals with it every day a little deeper than probably most people do and I just, you know, I get a lot more information on it and it's just a lot of people out there that don't have any symptoms that are wasting things on themselves that should be going to people that need it, you know? That's crazy, crazy, crazy, brother. It's crazy. It is crazy.

29:15So let's, let's pivot a little bit, but I want to talk about, and I appreciate your candor. You said at the beginning, you don't pull punches and this is who you are. And I love that I knew I would get exactly who you are on this interview and thank you for that. But I want to talk about your restaurants. I want to do a little bit of, I want to talk about the farmhouse and I want to talk about Black Rabbit. Can we just talk about your restaurants for a minute? When you opened the farmhouse, you told me, because I was there for the friends and family night, sat next to your family, which was awesome. Very rough, very rough night. Very rough night. You said nothing, you didn't use any, so the farmhouse, farm to table, you used all products to make the farmhouse with products from America, right? Absolutely. Sure didn't. Everything, every piece of furniture, every table, every manufacturer producing in the United States.

30:17And do you carry any products that are from outside the United States? I do now. You do now? This year, we were having a lot of people that wanted tequila. Yes. So the tequila, I made a change at the bar and that's the only thing I did. I said if it's owned by an American company, we can buy. Okay. And so the money's still staying in the country and that's a big deal to me. So we had to make some leeway, we had a lot of people that wanted it and it's like I had to hear it for seven years and finally I'm like, okay, just do it, damn it, just do it. But you don't have Irish whiskey. I don't. All right. So you still have, so you have tequila, but that's it, but your original concept was it's going to be from America. If I have it here, it's where local is possible. So farm to table, who are some of the purveyors that you guys use? Who are you buying food from? I want to give shout outs to the small companies right now that are out there.

31:17Let's give them some love. All right. So Chris from Southland Farms in Manchester, Chris Irons, amazing produce, Farmer Dave, another guy that I've used since Hermitage Hotel days, amazing man. The Simpsons from Southern Natural, I get beef and pork from them, Karen from Wedgeo Farms, got Charlie from C&C Gardens, my Springer Mountain family, it's just, it's insane. Just love coffee out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a lot of people that put food on our tables every day for our guests, Kenny's Farmhouse and Kenny's Cheese in Kentucky and Barton, it's just, it's insane. The people that we buy from, you know, it's pretty awesome to put a plate down in front of somebody and be able to tell that guest where every single piece of that dish came from, even down to the plate, where the plate's made.

32:18Plates are made in East Nashville at Triangle Pottery. Amazing people, amazing couple, amazing plates, just awesome, awesome. So that's not easy to do, I mean, it's easy to buy from Cisco and get everything on one delivery. It's not easy to have that many vendors to be able to put out farm-to-table products on a regular basis. Where does that, where does that come from? Where does that drive to do that? Where does that come from? For me, it's, you know, our farmers are our life source, you know, I mean, and you're seeing that right now with everything that's going on, I mean, it's, we have to have two things in life, we have to have food and we have to have water, okay? Their lives are very difficult. They do a lot of work and a lot of time and they don't get paid a lot of money, but they also, you know, nourish our bodies every single day and with the things that we allow in food in this country, it's scary for my children and so I want to make sure that my children and the people that eat in my restaurants are having things that are good for their body and that are not packed full of preservatives and all that stuff and I'm not saying that there's restaurants that do it and that's fine, whatever, it's your things, this is just my thing, you know, it's what I want, it's the way I want people to feel after they eat here, it's the way I want their body to feel when they leave the next day, it's important.

33:41And I will say that it definitely translates to the food, I mean, your location is fantastic, but to get, remember the first time I ate there, the deviled eggs were amazing and then you had the bar snacks, which were really good, but just the flavors that come out of what you're doing, the presentation and just the actual food itself is very good, but the flavors, when you eat your pickled radishes or whatever it might be, it's like, God, I've had radishes and I've had vegetables, but I've never had vegetables that tasted that good, what are you doing to create flavors like that? I mean, the thing about it is just don't overdo it, man, get really good, fresh ingredients and just cook with them and everything else comes into play. I mean, everything else is natural, I mean, when you're buying broccoli and carrots and cabbage and things that are actually grown in fields that aren't overgrown, that are getting cycled every year and they're having a year off to rest and to re-nourish themselves, it makes a huge difference in the flavor of the produce.

34:51I mean, one crown of broccoli today, one crown, one crown, it would take 60 crowns of broccoli grown today to equal the nutrients of one crown of broccoli 100 years ago, that's insane. That is insane. It's because these large farmers don't rotate their crop, it's like when you grow cattle, if you leave the cattle on the same 10, 15 acres all the time, you know, and they live on it and they stomp on it and they, you know, crap on it and do all that and they're sitting there just, it's not good, that's why you have to rotate, that's why cattle are rotated in the fields, that's why they do that, so that the land has enough time to replenish and grow fresh grass and to get rid of all the manure and all that. I mean, it's a part of a life cycle, you know? Yeah, and that makes a difference in the flavor, so when people go, oh, whatever, man, I'm just going to go to Logan's Roadhouse and get my steak, it's cheap, you go, okay, well, it's maybe cheap because you're buying this commodity beef, but when you buy local beef from farmers that are supplying, that have huge acreage with small number of head that they're harvesting, you get a much better product and that's why those flavors are what they are, right?

36:08And you support a family. And you support a family. That farmer gets to put food on their table and their kids get to go to school and eat I mean, it's just, it's great. I mean, it's just amazing that knowing that not only am I feeding my restaurant and getting amazing produce, but I'm also taking care of another family, you know? I mean, it's a cycle and I love it. And that, in a nutshell, is why we do what we do, because that's that spirit of service. It's not just a daily spirit of service that you're taking care of the people inside your building. I know that one of the things chefs do is they cook because that's one of their expressions of love. But with what you're doing, you take it the step farther and you don't only take care of the people that dine in your building, you don't only take care of your staff, you're also taking care of the people that produce the food on a very real, I write them checks. It's really special. Every day. We COD everything here. Everything we do is COD. And that's just my thing. I've always done it. You know, it's just part of what we do. You know, I know that farmer needs that check now. Does it need it in 10 days?

37:09Does it need it in 30 days? He needs it now. You know, same reason I need butts in seats now. You know? Yeah. 100%. 100%. Yeah. They recycle money just like we do. Let's move. How long were you open at the farmhouse until you started the black room? Hey, will you hold on one second? Hey, Matthew. You know what? I saw my kid walked in. Hey, what's up? Yeah, I'll come in and check. He only got for our whole family. And I'm with Matthew. He only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. And he only got for our whole family. Hey, can I come downstairs and talk to you about it in just a minute? Thanks, buddy. I love you. Hey, close that door all the way. Oh, yeah. It's like my two boys. Oh, god. I love them.

38:09Yeah. We there. This is like the best time in the world for me doing this kind of stuff, man. They're so adorable. I just have been spending so much time with them. It's great. All right. So. I know. It's like, you know, my youngest is now becoming a daddy's boy now. And my wife's like, really? And I'm like, well, I'm a home a lot more now or a lot earlier, I should say. Yeah. But, you know, it's just it's funny. I love it. We've been hiking. So we've been going over to the Percy Warner Park and, like, walking through the park. And I live, like, two minutes from them. Where do you live? I live in Mount Juliet. OK. Born and raised. Still live there. Never leave. I love it. It's my home. Tornado affect you? We got missed by about, I think it was about 100 yards. The neighborhood right behind us got hit. It jumped over our neighborhood and landed. Yeah, it was pretty crazy, man. You pull out of my neighborhood and boom, it's like, whoa, it's pretty intense, man. And that's another thing with Nashville going on right now. You got that. You know, we rolled into that and then into this. And it's like, good. It's gracious, man. It's definitely a one, two punch for sure. So to get back to where we were, how long were you open at the farmhouse before? I think it was about a year and a half. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So five years, you find the location for Black Rabbit.

39:27What's the name Black Rabbit? Where does that come from? So when we were coming up with names, we knew that we wanted to do another printer's island. We knew that it was going to be, you know, and for people that don't know the history of printer's island. You know, when I was young, 14, 15, 16, I used to sneak on printer's alley and try to get a drink. And it was just a cool little nightlife place and fun and there's a lot of history there, you know, and in the early 1900s, this was the place to be. And so we wanted to open this, you know, unique kind of speakeasy snacks and live music and cocktails at a reasonable price and cook everything on fire and wood. And so we started thinking of names and we went between, all these different names came to mind and we settled on two and it was Black Rabbit or Blind Tiger. They were big names used during Prohibition. Blind Tiger relating towards, you know, drinking white lightning and going blind, just depending on how it was distilled and radiators and stuff like that. And then Black Rabbit, there was a place and it's still there today in Manhattan called Monetta Tavern.

40:31And Monetta Tavern during Prohibition changed their name to Black Rabbit. And so people like Joe Galvin and Sendingway would go there and then Reader's Digest, the little Reader's Digest magazine you buy, they had rented the basement out in the bottom of this restaurant. It had a little hatch and the first two publications of Reader's Digest were published in the basement there. And after Prohibition was over, they changed their name back to Monetta Tavern, but they still have this map in there when you walk in the door and right where their restaurant is on the Manhattan mat, it's got a little black rabbit and it says used to be our home. And so we just thought it was a very cool name. It kind of set the vibe of where we are, you know, us being in a building that's built in 1892 and Jimmy Hoffa's old law office and Capone has tunnels under our building. It's just a lot of history there. It was just, it felt like something that would fit and we liked it and we loved it and it kind of flew from there. You know what, I just didn't know that about the place. That's super cool.

41:31Yeah, that's where if you've watched, read the book, I heard you paint houses, the building is mentioned in that. That is actually where Hoffa was bugged by the FBI before he went on trial in Chattanooga. So, a lot of history. Wow, that's super cool. So how's it been? How does the black rabbit differ from farmhouse? I think a lot of it has to do with the smaller plates. Totally different vibe, man. I mean, you're a nightlife vibe, but very adult. You know, we don't get the Broadway crowd. And what I mean by that is just we don't get the young kids wanting to just party and all they're doing is trying to just get drunk. And we just, we don't want to be that. And we don't want to, you know, we have a place for that. It's Broadway. You want to be sophisticated. I do. I want to be somewhere where adult businessmen and, you know, young adults can come in and have a cocktail or even if they do want to party and have a bunch of cocktails, but they're in an environment where it's not just like, you know, it's just get weird.

42:35You know, it's like, cool, we're in a nice place. We can still get a buzz and have a good time and have some amazing food and watch a cool show and, you know, take an Uber home. Kind of chill out and then just have a relaxing kind of fun night, get dressed up a little bit. Yeah, that's fine. Get dressed up, dress down. It doesn't, I mean, we love it. That's the art, art demographic up there is all over the place. I love it. I mean, I absolutely love it. And we have so many locals up there. That neighborhood is just got so many people, man, just so many people that live there. That's just like, it's just a whole little world. I love it. I remember my wife and I came in one night really till the, like maybe the first couple of months after you opened and we went to a Weezer concert. We sat down and had cocktails. You came by, sat down. We just had such an awesome time. It's just such a beautiful restaurant, man. Yeah, I agree, man. It's got a special place in the heart. I love it. It's such a beautiful space and really was, you know, two years opening a restaurant in Nashville right now. It's hard.

43:35And we finally, we're hitting the stride, man. The last four months, we're just like killing it. We're like, yeah, man, we're on track. We're finally doing it, man. It's doing it. And then this happens. We're like, yeah, come on. So it is what it is, man. But we're doing good. We're surviving. Good. Well, if you're listening to this, hopefully this gets picked up in people across the nation here and they're coming to Nashville. They want to know where to go eat before they go to Broadway. Or, you know, if you're coming to town and you want a sophisticated dinner, the one thing that I think that has been displayed throughout this interview is passion. You know, you've always been one of the most passionate people about anything that you do, which is a problem with me, too. I call it a problem because I'm either like all in. I'm never just like, oh, OK, sure. No problem. Like I'm... You can't do that. I'm a hundred and twenty percent in or I'm out. Well, it's like if I borrowed your pressure washer and went to my house and pressure washed everything, I would probably bring your pressure washer back and have it tuned up and be clean and oil would be full and the gas would be full and just, you know, anything that was wrong with it.

44:44I'd fix it. Like that's just who I am. Like I'm never going to halfway do anything. You know, there's no point in doing it halfway because you're going to have to go back at some point and finish the half that you didn't do. You know what I mean? You always do it right the first time and do it above right the first time because you don't want to do it half-assed three times. Nope, you don't. You don't. And, you know, I mean, it's also your integrity and people that trust you and trust you to do things, they know that they have that you're never going to screw them over. And I think that that's... I carry that in everything I do, you know? I think that that's... I don't know. I don't know where I got that trait from. You know, I'm sure my mom... Do you have siblings? I do. You have a sister. Yeah. Okay. Is she older or younger? She's older. She's three years older than me. Okay. I have an older brother who's, you know, six foot eight, 300 pounds. I think he's like 290 now, but... Like a football player. Damn. Oh, yeah. Well, he played rugby. I mean, and he was... My entire life was bigger, faster, stronger, just like... and always, you know, two and a half years older than me, being that big.

45:50Now, I'm a big dude, but he's a giant. So my whole life, you know, he's a giant. But he's a giant. So my whole life, I was constantly battling somebody who would always just kick my butt. And I think it helped me throughout my life. Just kind of... I was very competitive and always wanted to win. And I always battled somebody that I always lost. So I was kind of cool with that, but would just constantly hustle. So, I don't know. It helps. I think it's important. I think it's important. I think it's good to have a goal, and it's good to have a direction. You know, I mean, I tell my guys every day, if you don't have a goal, then what are you doing? Are you just settling all day? Or are you... You gotta have something to strive for. You know? I mean, I'm Black Rabbits up. I had a goal. We were doing good. Cool. I'm there. Now I'm okay. What's next? You know? Where do I want to go now? What do I want to do now? You know, I'm always... Well, that's giving me the next question for you.

46:50Oh, man. We're gonna do... I think we're gonna get in the fast-casual game. I've always wanted to put something in my hometown. Mountain Juliet, I love. It's my home. I want to get out of downtown, I think. I mean, keep the restaurants I got, of course, down here. Just, you know, just be a little closer to home. Be a little closer to my kids and my family. And, you know, just do something that's, you know, the whole point of it is to make money. You know? I mean, let's open a restaurant that we want to make money on. You know? I mean, yeah, I want to make money with both of our restaurants, but there's also a level of integrity there, too. You know, that everything's gonna be great. And so when you're doing everything great, strapping for everything great, from what kind of paper towel we use in our bathroom, because it feels good on your hands, versus, you know, does this silverware look good? You know, this dish needs this just because it's gonna make it look 10 times better. I mean, that's a huge difference in an upscale dining atmosphere versus going fast-casual. You know?

47:50And I really want to do fast-casual the same way I do, you know, sourced it the same way I do our restaurants now. I think that there's a way to do that. I think there's a way to do something fast-casual that is used to all my farmers. And that's our, I think that's our next plan. And we got to go and go on, and I don't want to put too much out there. But, you know, it's definitely a dream of ours. So, you heard it here that Trey Siatcha is looking to bring his hometown, a fast-casual concept, with the same passion, love, and energy that he brings to his downtown locations. He's gonna bring it back home to share it with all the people, all of his neighbors. That's what I want, man. Just a little easier, a little slower pace, same amazing quality ingredients. Maybe the paper towels aren't as buttery soft, but you know what, you don't need that. You don't need that in Mount Juliet. We want a place where people can just come hang, bring your kids, you know. Just, we want something that's fun. We want something that's fun and just less stressful and just, you know, it's bulletproof, you know, and that's the biggest thing about fast-casual is you have a very small menu and you just take those six, seven items you're doing and you make them perfect instead of taking 30 and making them mediocre, you know?

49:11I love Kerry's new idea for Bringle, Smoke and Oasis. Yep, I love it. He's a mess. It's like a self-portrait. It's gonna be just a place to chill out and hang out with, he kind of, when he was describing it to me, I was like, it's so, as I thought about it, my brain went to like a paradise park that's like outdoors, that's just kind of like chill, that you can hang out at and eat smoked meats and I went, I want to be there. I want to be there in the fall, spring and summer. We have a lot of the same visions in that aspect. I love, I'm a big outdoor space person, huge, and that was the biggest thing at Black Rabbit 2 was just having, we have probably one of the most unique patios in the city and I love it. It's just, it's amazing. It's just awesome to have that. I wish I had that option at the farmhouse, but I don't, but I do, I love being outside. I love cooking outside. I think it's just, I don't know, you're always inside as a cook. You're always, as a cook, you're always inside and it's just nice to be able to get some fresh air and still do what you love, you know?

50:18So, when you open the farmhouse, I'm gonna jump back to this real quick because I just want to ask you this because I'm curious. There was a parking lot right out front, like you, there was a huge parking lot. I've got a couple tickets from that parking lot, but now there's no parking lot. There is a gigantic building at the Bridgestone headquarters. How's that, how is, is that working out good for you? Ah, it's okay. You know, I mean, that whole deal was rough, you know? I mean, you remember those three years were hard, you know? When we got in here, it was, you know, we're not gonna build anything for three years. That's what we're gonna do. And the same guy that owns this building out of that land and da da da da, hits it, you know, six months later, they're breaking ground on building this 40 story building and giving me one lane of traffic and scaffolding across my restaurant for three years. So, I always tell myself, if I can survive that, I can probably survive anything. I mean, you're talking about a restaurant that went from 3.5 million to 2 million overnight, and it's a huge difference. Wow. You're really trying to learn, okay, cool, how do we do the same quality of food, but maybe with different techniques and maybe go more towards produce and sausages and things like that.

51:31And yeah, you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about your business, you know, and trying to keep, you know, your entire staff on board throughout all of it, which we did, which was amazing. But yeah, it's got a lot of learning curves. Wow. I wish you, as always, you've been one of my best friends in this industry for a really long time, and I always appreciate just everything about you. Every time I come into the restaurant, I feel like, you know, I'm the most special person in the world, and that comes from Larry and Bobby and you, just your team is absolutely second to none, which is why I tell people all the time, you need to go eat at the farmhouse. You got to go do it. You got to try it. Where is it? It's right there in that little, it's in the street in between that big building. I love it. And thanks for taking an hour today to sit and kind of just tell me and everybody else out there about what's going on and who you are. I know it's well documented, but you're the best, dude. You too, bro. Always good to hear from you, good to talk to you.

52:34Tell the wifey and the kiddos, I said, hello. I think I'm going to leave that, my kid coming in here, I think I'm just going to leave that in the interview just because that's real life. That's what we're dealing with right now. Me in my makeshift bonus room slash office slash recording studio. I know that. Don't take it out. I mean, my kids do that to me all the time when I'm on conference calls and I'm just like, whatever, get over it. It's my kid. I love them. But they're not, you know, they don't know any better. They're just excited that their daddy's home, you know? Yeah, no kidding. And I don't want them to not be excited when I'm home and be like, ah, you're on the phone again. I'm like, dude, you're always yelling at me. You know, I don't want that. I want them to know they can come to me for anything. You know? Good or bad. Do you have any final thoughts? Do you want to, anything you want to say out there to the restaurant community? Man, maybe we should take a little bit of this tax dollars we gave all these big corporations to come in. Maybe we should give them to the restaurants that helped out make all that money.

53:35I don't know. That's about all I got left. I've been harping on that for a while. We can give millions and millions and millions of dollars to all these businesses to come down here. But, you know, this is a time if you want to dip in that little bucket of money and maybe give us some tax breaks or, I don't know. Maybe they'll figure something out. We're hoping they will. Yeah. It would definitely be nice because I'm really, I was really worried about when the tornado hit if it was going to change the face of East Nashville, which scared me because I love the culture and the food and the restaurants. And then now you got this and you're going, oh, God, what is this going to look like? Oh, my God. You know, who's going to still be here? You know, and it's scary, you know, because it just is. And yeah, man, I wish everybody the best of luck. If you do hear this, I don't know when it's getting done. Do you need help? Anything built? Holler at me. I'm here. I'm around. I'm just cooking food and building stuff. That's all I'm doing. Okay? Cooking food and building stuff. I love it. That's all I'm doing. So I think I'm going to I think I'm going to title this episode Cooking Food and Building Stuff with Trey Sciaccia.

54:39I love it, man. I love it. All right, brother. Will you be good? Be safe. It's amazing talking to you as always. Yeah, buddy. Wish you the best of luck and I hope your family's good. And hopefully I'll see you in a couple of months. Yeah, I'm going to order some. I'm going to come pick up some food, man. I'm going to. My wife's amazing cook and we've been cooking like crazy, but I'm all about it. Yeah, let me know. Yeah, let me know. Whatever. Just text me. Yeah, dude. All right, brother. See you guys. All right. Bye, Trey. Bye. Well, there you go. I think that when you want to talk about shooting from the hip and just speaking from your heart, Trey Siacha from The Farmhouse and Black Rabbit, I think there's also a really exclusive scoop there that he's looking at opening a fast casual in Mount Juliet. So they've had some rough times with the tornado and maybe that's a little ray of shining hope if something like that happens. Thanks for hanging out with us today. Please go to the Facebook page at Nashville Restaurant Radio.

55:42We have an Instagram page now. Please go to that. Follow us. Thanks for listening and we'll be back soon with a new episode. Love you guys. Bye.