the-restaurant-guys_1_05-02-2026_143810 0:21

Next up at the Cigar bar here at the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival. We have a couple of Jersey Mikes here, not Jersey Mike's, but Mike's from New Jersey. They own Mike's Pasta and Sandwich Shop. we have Mike Carino, and Mike Cosenza, two Mikes. So in a great spot in Nutley, New Jersey. And as I now have three Italian guys from Jersey who are from Nutley, Lee, I'm just gonna be quiet for the rest of this segment. Mark, take it away. Hey, Mike, how are you? How you doing today? I'm doing great. Uh, so let's get it out in the open. I met these guys a few days back. I, I stopped into their place and, had some really, really good food while I was there. Uh, enjoyed myself very much. And, uh, how did you guys end up in this, little corner deli in the, the middle of the night that you guys are both pretty classically trained and, now you're putting out these sandwiches and doing some other stuff that I want you to tell us about? so yeah, we were, um, started working at Pig and Prince with Mike Carino. Him being a lifetime Nutley resident, he knew the space and it was open. We, uh, we took this little space, and I think originally it was to be a, a little passion project, something that we could do, throw some, you know, Jojo's sandwiches or whatever, you know, make some money, hopefully. and then we, uh, I started making pasta at Pig and Prince got really serious about it. Um. Borderline obsessive. And uh, it's like, why don't we turn it into a pasta shop? And it's kind of what we did. Well, you serve pasta not only to the public, and I think it's the, we haven't really let the listeners in on how cool your little store is. You also sell to the trade, right? Yes. I mean, you supply great restaurants with pasta, so you, you guy walking in on the street doesn't realize that also going out the back door of your place. Right. Some of the best restaurants in Jersey are getting pasta from you guys. Yeah. Which is pretty cool. Yeah. A lot of the chefs that are here. Today and the ones that were, some that were here yesterday, um, they all get pasta. We all serve that. I, I love the secret weapon of like, you don't know exactly what's going on when you walk in. You're like, oh, this place is really good. I wonder how they make it. Right. So what makes pasta great? So you sell mostly fresh pasta, not dried pasta, right? Yeah. All, all fresh and frozen. So how does, how does what makes the fresh pasta great for you? Other restaurants are gonna, I mean, we know the answer to this'cause we run restaurants, but it's gonna make restaurants, buy fresh pasta from you rather than make it themselves or, well, I, I think for one, besides the product itself, what we do for restaurants is a big convenience for them. Yeah. Um, everything is portioned to their specs. There's nothing on their end. There's no work to do. Yeah. Um, everybody knows how tough, good labor is and, uh, well I think that's the exactly it, right. We all, we live in this world now where things that you can farm out, that you can get that will be as good or better. You almost have to farm them out now. as the world continues to evolve the way it is when, when, you know, your cheapest person in the kitchen is making 20 bucks an hour, if you have somebody who can do something better or something even equivalent to, to what you could produce in your own kitchen, it's almost required that you go and, and you know, find that source. Yeah. I believe that just like everything, it all comes down to math. Mm-hmm. It all comes down to numbers. So when you really. Look at your balance sheet and you look at your labor versus your product costs. And you know, you can go out and buy a$15,000 extruder. Mm-hmm. And you can hire someone that's gonna get paid 40, 50 a year. Yep. And you break that down. You, you're saving a ton of money when someone's just handing it to you. Yep. I wanna add to, I want to add to that, Mike, because I think you're right, and Mark and I always talk about that, where the restaurant business meets, you gotta do the math. It's gotta make sense. You can't do anything sustainable or good or crafty if you can't do the math. But this is more than the math because these restaurants, all of our fellow chefs and restaurateurs who are here today doing what we do, doing the things we care about in Jersey. It's, they're not buying pasta from a big company, right? Uh, uh, Cisco Foods and Restaurant Depot are gonna consolidate even further, making it the big corporate mall that we must buy everything from. These are guys that, you know, men and women that, you know, buying pasta from you. And so. There's a difference. It is homemade pasta, but it's made in your shop and you drive it, you know, 10 miles over to that guy. It's different than buying fresh pasta from a big corporation. It's just different. Yeah. And I think, you know, you can, you can put that side by side with the, the theory of just grocery shopping. You know, you can go to a shop, right. Or you can go to a Wegman's or wherever your choice of grocery store is, but a lot of people are doing. A large portion of their grocery shopping at farmer's markets. Yep. And they're doing that because of the, the quality and the freshness and the, and the artisanal, you know, take on things and, and, you know, you can buy a loaf of bread anywhere, but you're gonna go over to the Montclair Farmer's Market and you're gonna grab some amazing sourdough, you know, so I, I think it's all relevant. Yep. When it comes to both the industry and personal kind of things, people want quality and they're willing to pay. A little bit more, sometimes a lot more, depending on what it is that you're looking to get. You know, I could get a bottle of two buck chuck and be happy, you know, slugging it, you can't anymore. They went out of business, alright? I could get, I could get a, I could get a cheap bottle of wine and sit there and drink it out a bottle. But if I wanna really sit, I had a, I had a, their business was not sustainable in this market. I had an instructor when I was at CCIA A and it was for a wine class, and I just remember the last thing he would say to us every single Friday was if you're gonna drink, drink, well. So you can take that and you can propagate it, and you can parlay it into everything that you do. If you're gonna drink, drink, well, if you're gonna eat, eat well, if you're gonna do anything, if you're gonna do it, do it. Right. We, we agree, you know, but the other thing that's really interesting that I think, and I wanted to hear your take on this. I think people, when they go into a shop like yours, they wanna see you. People come into our restaurant, they wanna see us or Julie, who's been with us for 15 years, or the pe they people. Wants something that's not corporate as everything is controlled and homogenous. Um, people want something that's not corporate. It's, it's not just what they want. I, I think that people are, are figuring out that it's gonna be better if I buy it from a human rather than from a factory. And I just wanna take that to the next level is we do the same things. So we got a guy who makes our sausage. We don't make our own own dried sausage. We got a guy who does our charcuterie for us. I know that man's name. And we all know we are knowing each other in this business and building this kind of alternative network I think that's what makes a great food scene. It makes a collaboration throughout the whole state, and I think that's what this festival is all about, getting everybody here in one building for a weekend. to kind come off of what you just said. And, and this has been my philosophy through my career, and I actually owe this to the guest of honor for this year's event. Marco Pierre White is. Having the connection to everything. So whether it's Mike making the pasta, or Lou who's my pig farmer mm-hmm. Raises my chickens, Roman, the garlic guy. So, so through my decades of coming up as a chef, that was important to me to put a face to a product. Sure. And that was important to me to understand. Where that came from and putting my fingers in the soil, you know, same thing with wine. I have winemaker friends, I, I visit, I learn about viticulture, I learn about the processes of it all, and I learn about all that. So, so what we're doing is just an extension of, or another branch of that. Tree that is just rooted in what I believe is sensibility. it's trust. And part of that trust. People know that you care about the food that goes out from your, your place. Like they know that we care. But if you look at what goes on in the corporate world today, it's like the ification of, you know, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, the ification of the corporate products that were good and then. We just won't put as much fat in. I'll make it two ounces less. I'll cheat on this. A green. And slowly you get a Reese's Peanut buttercup that wasn't as good a Reese's Peanut buttercup as it was when you were a kid. Right. And their and their trust in us is that we are not gonna do that the bigger it is. It just seems to every, everything. Eventually starts to deteriorate. Yeah. Well, we have a philosophy, when you go to a restaurant and you see a truck pull up to the deliver, the more wheels the truck has, the less good the meal is going to be. Yeah. I like that. Right? that's, that's a good one. That's a good one. Well, um, I, I wanna touch on just a couple of local things. We, a couple of local Jersey boy things, Mark's from, not Lee originally, Essex County Country Club. One of you guys, was that the Essex County Country Club? I was at Essex County for uh, three and a half seasons, I'm from Essex County originally, the other side of Essex County, so there'd be like retirement dinners or birthday parties that happened there. But I am a member of the Friendly Sons of the Shal Social Club, which are you aware of the Friendly Sons of the Sheila Right across the street? How could you not know? I, I. Because neither of them are friendly sons of the shale. Yeah. I guess that's true. The vw, Mr. Carino and Mr. Caza, the knights at Columbus is downtown. I got it all wrong. I thought I'd take a shot. Anyway. You have any nutley lore for se? Yeah. Well, so first of all, Nutley Bevel, how does that on Holy Alliance happen? That's just, I mean, that's forbidden fruit right there. Yeah. the, the rivalry still exists. That never, never goes away. I grew in Belleville and so we, you know, we scrapped with the nut league kids on the weekends and, you know, I mean, when I was a kid, literally there'd be fights in the stands of, of the foot of our football games. Yes. Right. So we'd be okay on the field, but up, you'd look up in the stands and if, you know, the parents are brawling, the kids are brawling, I'm like, what's going on? In case you're wondering where the Sopranos was set. It was, this was really central to the whole Sopranos theme was the, uh, Nutley Belleville, uh, rivalry. It was. And, um, after, after culinary school worked in the city, uh, I didn't think I was gonna end up back in North Jersey. Mm-hmm. Just by the grace of God, I ended up back here and then ended up in Nutley and, um, I just felt like it was a really good place for us to, to settle in and open a business and it's all right. So Pig and Prince was the restaurant you had that you worked at in Montclair, full service, restaurant, liquor license, everything. Correct. Do you see that again in your future or, or do we grow the model that we currently have and, and move on from there? The future is unwritten. Nice. That's a secret there. Okay. We have one final question. We're asking everybody, you've alluded to it before, but we're, we're asking everybody in a bite-sized question. Um, everybody who's here today and everyone's gonna sit in those chairs, is an accomplished culinarian of one sort or another. Um, and everybody you sit in that chair has been in different places in the world and could. That's the lovely thing about cooking seals. You could take it anywhere. You could be in New York, you could have moved to South Carolina. You stayed in New Jersey. Yeah. Expensive tax. Heavy, weird. New Jersey. Why are you guys in Jersey? There's a lot. It's a lot to unpack there, but I will say, I think. Over the years, I, I'm in the business now, 20 years. I don't think Jersey really ever got the spotlight. You had your places over the years, you, you're riling in and, and, but you stage left. Right. We really were, I, and I will say when I first started out, I mean looking for. A job like fresh outta culinary school. I always, I knew stage left So you guys said stage left. Well, he told me, I said, oh, it's those guys alright. But I think being sandwiched in between Philadelphia and New York, for majority of time we were like, we were like the armpit in between. And I think that kind of benefited New Jersey because everybody here is each other's cheerleader, everybody roots, everybody on. It's very tight knit. Yeah. I think that's what makes our business with the pasta really well, because I have a personal relationship with everybody. They have a special event coming up where they want something special. They, they're talking to me directly. Right. They're not calling some big company. You know, I, I, I make things. I cater to them. Um, it's a really, really good thing. Why am I still in Jersey? I have no idea. You wanna take a crack at that? Yeah, you gotta get it too. I have a much simpler answer. New Jersey is my home. And the things I create is a reflection of the place that I call home. I love that. You guys are the best. Thanks for coming on there. Thank you very much you guys. I appreciate it, guys. Yeah, sure. Nice. listen, mom's still up in North Arlington, you'll, you guys will see me in your shop again. Brilliant, brilliant. All thank you. Enjoy the festival. Thanks.

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-02-2026_152053 14:32

So, here we are. We are in the cigar bar at Crystal Springs, at the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival, and we have scheduled with us today Florian Worthy, who is the executive chef of this whole joint. He's the boss. And we were super thrilled to start our show out today with the boss of the whole festival. You're a very busy man. You've got a lot to do today. But you also brought with us, uh, Jacque Torres is hanging out with you on the side. And we got a double whammy. So, uh, hello to, famous Cola Laier, Jacques Torres, and, Florian the boss, the whole joint Worley. Welcome to the show, Jacque Torres. So glad you're joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Well, so, um, I wanna start with you. Florian Um, can you tell us about where you came from and like how you got to be running this whole big operation in New Jersey? In oh, this morning I came from sleeping an hour and 26 minutes, but I grew up in Switzerland. Mm-hmm. Uh, the French side, I can't hide that. At least people tell me I can't hide it. Yeah, you can't hide that. No, I can't. Okay. Uh, yeah, so I came here, uh, what. A long time ago, 30 years ago. How did you first come to the United States? Was it with Ade? By plane? By plane. You're not making this easy. Sorry. You're not making this easy. You're making a joke. But realize that my dad came here by boat. I, well, I know, I know, I know. But you know the first one to ask that question so I have it already answer. That's good. Well, I, I came here first. I, uh, I was supposed to be here for 18 months working at Mark Hotel Uhhuh, uh, in the city. That was. Way, way before, before Jean George took over the restaurant there before all that. And then, uh, I was supposed to be here for a year and a half and, uh, I'm still here and my mom is still waiting for me to get back. So how did you wind up from all of the great culinary positions you had around the world and you find yourself in the middle of New Jersey running a resort with five different restaurant operations and, um, so, so, believe it or not, I actually, I traveled the whole country. I work in Vegas, I work in Colorado, in Illinois. And, uh, I came back to the East Coast to work here 15 years ago. And, uh, I was here, uh, for several years and, uh, then moved on, uh, went to work in the city and, uh, and I am back. I've been back for about four months. So we're, we're asking this question of everybody who comes here except for Jacques. Uh, we're asking this question so you could work anywhere in the world. Why did you decide that to make New Jersey your home and make this, this your career? So when I came back from the Midwest, we traveled, I had, uh, I, I have a long, I have lots of long stories, but, uh, the whole family, we came for the weekend to do a tasting to find out, you know, about this job that was advertised and it was just the most amazing, beautiful place and, crazy restaurants and uh, just. Kind of the dream of every chef and so that's, that's how I made it back to the East coast 15 years ago. And I worked here four years. Uh, now the resort, they, they know how to get you back. We were just, uh, actually, we, this is what, uh, Jacque and I were, were chatting about, just a couple of minutes ago out in the garden. we have some amazing, uh, leadership here. Yeah. Uh, Robbie. Mm-hmm. And, uh, if Robbie calls you, answer the phone first of all. Mm-hmm. Uh, there's no way you don't, uh, for many reason and, and personal reasons for me, and then when you do answer the call and he says, let's go for coffee, then you back a couple of months later then look, you know, it's funny, we had a, we have a friend of ours and I worked for him for a few years. He went on to run his own restaurants. We went on to run our own restaurants. Then we found out that he had sold his restaurant. And I called him and I said, Hey Scott. I heard you. I heard you sold. He's like, yeah, sold the restaurant. Sold the building, sold the parking lot. I said, well, did you get good money? He said, yeah, I got good money. I said, good money. Like you never have to work again or good money. He's like, well, as long as I don't want to go out to dinner and play golf, I never have to work again. I said, so listen, why don't we have dinner? He said, I'm not working for you, Francis. I'm not coming to work for you. And Mark, how long does Scott work for us? Scott was with us for nine years. But he never really worked for you. He actually worked for you. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think that's how he couches. Exactly. I'm really working for Mark. Not it's a small world, you know, but you wouldn't want to paint it. But, so just a little bit about this place, Crystal Springs and we're doing this festival here and we're talking about these great chefs, but this is your place. You have one of the best small though. It's a huge place, a huge operation. You have one of the best smallest jewelbox restaurants in New Jersey here at Latour. and then you run, uh, festivals like this and other big banquets and the like. And talk to us about the, the co the different restaurants, different restaurants especially. Yeah. So we, we, we, well, we opened, we're doing the festivals this weekend. Four days ago we opened a new Italian restaurant mm-hmm. On the other side of the building. Mm-hmm. Uh, brand new menu. We are making our own pasta, we pizzas and all of that. So there's only been four days of, of, of running that. That's, that's one. Um, we have a, a big. Monster restaurant called The Tavern, where we do breakfast, Encino, all kind of American, uh, uh, classics restaurant. That tour is on the top floor, uh, above, above everything with an amazing view. It's a, it's a little jewel box like you call, call it, it's many How many seats? It's only about 30 seats. Yeah. We've, we've both eaten there a few times. Beautiful. Uh, bay window overlooking the, the, the, the, the hills here. And, uh, if any, so many people are, when hire people, I say, well, what do you want to do in, uh, three months a year and, and, and five, 10 years? And everybody say, oh, I wanna run my restaurant. That's the dream of any chef. Sure. To be able to operate a restaurant like that. It's only dinner. You do 30 covers. You have tall, open, creativity for the menu. Uh, we can change the menu every day if we want to. we go out foraging, we work with, uh, local producers with, uh, amazing. C tears and people like that, uh, who can bring new aspects into the building. It's just you, you can have fun. It's just fun, fun, fun. So, Anthony Buco was your chef here way back when, and he was our, after he was our chef. And so Anthony Buco took over when I was right after I left my first round. Ah, okay. And, uh, yes. And then he was there for, for a little while. And then, his exec, sous chef took over Ashlyn, she was here for over 10 years. Yep. She was back yesterday for, uh, one of the big dinners we did to help out. So we all, one big, big, uh, group. I can honestly say he worked for me for four years, but I think his favorite job was, was working and being the chef of Latour. Yeah. Laur is, is one of a kind, is one of a kind. I have, I have a really cool story about Latour on top of it. So when I was here 15 years ago, yeah. Um, I was, exec Sue and, uh, taking care of, so I was taking of all the restaurants and, uh, bunch of great guys cooks, young cooks on the line and so forth. Back here now the chef in Latour. Used to be my sote cook in the big restaurant downstairs, the in the tavern. The chef of the tavern now used to be the breakfast cook. That's great. My sous chef. In the restaurant then also left about two months before I got back, he came back. So now we are like this group of, uh, of, of people who worked together so long ago. That's amazing. But those kids, they were all the breakfast cook. He, they, they all had milk behind the air still. And now they run the operations. And tonight on top of it, we have three other chefs from other restaurants all over New Jersey that all used to be cooks here at the same. That's great. That feels good. So it's like a, it's like a big family coming back together. You get a family tree, it's amazing tree. I mean that's, that's exactly what, what one of the things I love about this business is, the family tree grows, right. I love when my former employees go out and do cool things and, and start their own restaurants and, you know, are able to. Fulfill their dreams and start being mentors to the next generation's. What we and. Crazy dishes have really fun bring, uh, bring, uh, bring products from the local farms. We, we, we do ostrich because we have, we have the ostrich farm down the street. We, uh, we uh, we do amazing cheeses, uh, from, from places right up the street here. Actually, I was saying that to, to Jack. We do a, at the Italian restaurant, we make a, a sweet pizza right now. Mm-hmm. Which is kind of the, the here, uh, and then we put this Rico ricotta on it. Done just up the street. It's the most amazing Rico, Rico, I have never tasted something like I can eat a pound of it at the time. Uh, and that's what we get to do here. Uh, we do lots of volume, but we also are able to do very, very specific stuff. You know, that's the thing. I think that is, you said URA is unique in the world and I, I think it is because. There are many restaurants we've traveled to all over the world that are these small jewel boxes of restaurants and they have a very specific, there's a very specific way of doing business and it's a very difficult way of doing business. Um, and then there are other large organizations who purport to do what you do. Um, but the little restaurant that's the jewel box always feels like a little bit of a cruise ship. You know what I mean? And then it never quite has this, it never quite feels like it's a separate operation and a small restaurant. And Latour is really an independent restaurant here. So it's, and and it's great that it has the resources to call on to be that, but it really is like, you're in a small restaurant, we're a little jealous. It, it's, it's exactly that. Also, if it didn't have the rest of the resort as a support behind it, sure. It would never be able to be what it is because it, it, it is just impossible to operate something like that and, and, and go home and pay you mortgage. Right. Uh, but because. Everything is there. The wine cellar that we were talking about, We have access to one of the largest wine, wine collection in the country. Uh, a little restaurant with 30 seats will never have access to such a, of course, to such a, a. An amazing selection of wine. but we have, but if you eat that, uh, a burger at the t in the tavern, you can also order chat too from the, from the wine cellar if you want to. but we have access to that. We have access to the people who run the cellar who are like, uh, I don't know. I think we have two or three, actual, uh, level one, two, and three som in the resort. Mm-hmm. Uh, and we get to tap on them for, for a tour back. a restaurant that has 30 seats, would never be able to have that type of, uh, infrastructure too. Sure. So we are, we, we have the best of basically all the worlds, not both worlds. All the worlds. I love that. Well, you also have sitting next to you, one of the best, uh, sha Laier in the world. Jacque to, has wandered in with you and Mark's got some chocolates. Uh, with I Corner. I cornered him. Well, he has done, he has done the show before, so he's, he's a repeat jock. Would you like one of your delicious chocolates? Thank you. Okay. I'm not gonna say no, I'm not gonna, no, I'm gonna grab one of those. so Jacques, you've been on the show. You were on the show and the original restaurant guys when we were on the radio in 2005, I think. Oh my god. Yeah, and we've had you back on the show in the relaunch of the show. Thanks for coming. It's nice to have you in person, but what brings you out to the wilds of New Jersey? We haven't ever talked to you from New Jersey before. Oh, I, I, you know, I love to be here. I, I'm, I'm here. I think that's the third year. Do you think that that's the third year that I do that? look, I love the, the area, I love the, I love the stories. I love the nature and, and, uh, I just love to be here. You know, it's, uh, I live in the city. I work in Brooklyn, so getting out of, of that, that area is, is great whenever I can. Well, one of the things that's really interesting about you, Jacque. As we're talking to a lot of chefs today, and I think one of the great things about being a chef, one of the great things about being a sommelier is we are here when the customer's eating the food, pour the bottle of wine and I look at the person in the face. Right? I get to, I get to watch the expression on your face, You guys are behind the scenes and, and, and rarely do you get to see people emote about how wonderful all your hard work is. And, and I think one of the things that happened is, I, I, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say the Jacques Torres. Changed how Americans perceive and eat chocolate. I think that you, I think that you changed not just in your dining room, in your room, the press you got, what was written about you, the things that people understood about chocolate because of what you did. It changed America. Do you think that's the case? And what do you think about Americans and chocolate today? We're more sophisticated today than we were when you came. I, I, I think that, you know, first I came to this country and I was at, and I was, uh, I was doing pastry. So my specialty and still today is pastry. Mm-hmm. Pastry and anything sweet. I switched to chocolate 25 years ago when I. I want to start my own business and doing pastry. Doing pastry has two, two difficult things. One is you have to get up very early in the morning. I hate it. And the second thing is, at the end of the day. You trash pretty much what you did during the day? Yeah, because, uh, it's over. You know, it's, if you want, it's high-end pastry. It's one day, that's it, that's over. Uh, chocolate has a little bit longer shelf life. Chocolate can be mechanized. I want to have a family, so I switch to chocolate and I love to make chocolate. It's, it's a very interesting product, but chocolate and pastry is really, it's really my specialty. That's what I love to do. but to my earlier question, I think that. America eats better chocolate today. Well, did you find Americans to be a little bit ignorant about chocolate? When you started making chocolate, did you get to teach people? Yes. You know what Doll world learn about quality Switzer cell, and, and, and Belgium have. Good chocolates, Germany, uh, they, they have good chocolates in France, Spain, they have good chocolates. but I think that the quality improved every year, every year you, you get, you know, better product, a little bit better research, better cacao beans. And it's interesting because as much as you get better product, you also get. Some worse product for the industrial product that mm-hmm. Cost almost nothing. Yeah. Uh, it's a, it's a caco now called CCN 51, which is, you know, something that produce a lot of chocolates. Not very expensive, but not very good. Yeah. And then on the, on the other side, the high hand, you have some, some cacao beans that are fantastic and, and if you can put your hands on that, you'll make very good chocolate. So both way. You know, it's very interesting but I think that's the way of the world right now. Right, exactly. Isn't that, isn't that exactly what's happening to the world? Everything's either becoming the best of the best and I'm gonna go find what, whatever is spectacular, or I'm gonna go and mass produce this total crap and everybody's going to eat it. The, the middle just seems to be struggling. and obviously that's a labor function. it's a cost of goods function, but the, the, the middle area, we're losing so much of that middle area and. There are the guys like you who are doing wonderful things and super important in the world, and there are the, the mass produced things, but it just seems like the middle has lost its way. We mentioned in with a prior guest, we talk about the ification of the middle, right? The mass produced thing, which was kind of barely okay, and it's a little worse ingredients. It's a little smaller. They cut down a little on the chocolate every time, so in the middle. I think as consolidation and corporatization grows and grows and grows, they're just slowly degrading. Degrading, yeah. And you're like the lobster in the pot. Right. It's, you don't know that it's getting shit a little bit shittier. Every year we, we call that incremental degradation. Mm-hmm. You know, and it's something that you cannot see every year or every day or every year, but you look 10 years later and you say, oh my God, things change. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So it's, it's really not something. That you can perceive day to day, but it happen. Mm-hmm. But same for the, for the high hand. Products get better. You get, you get better for the, for the kaco beans, you get better kaco beans. But we talk about pizza earlier. Now. You find some wonderful, uh, flour. You get the, the oven are more performing. I mean, it's, it's very interesting. Food. Food is a, people are creating three day. Dough that, that, you know, they're prepping three days in advance to get the dough just the way they want. Yeah. We talk about that 72 hour. Yeah. And, and you know, it's, it's, it's very interesting. So yes, you're right. Things change in both direction. Mm-hmm. Well, I think that one of the things that, one of the reasons we resurrected this podcast was to keep a conversation going because the ification of the middle and even the high middle is, uh, it's being done without people's knowledge. It's being done very slowly. And I think what we do. At this. When it's made by people that you know, and you can trust us, you know, and that's what we're saying with our brands. Our brands aren't just a logo. It's people trust you and they trust you and they trust us. And it's important that we talk about it and let people know what the, the great quality is. So. Chef Florian talked about it earlier. He buy cheese from down the streets. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He buy meat from down the streets. Yeah. He know exactly what grow in the area. He know exactly what type of animals going to get raised and where to buy and, and, and, and this is part of what we do. if we can find the best ingredients, if we have good techniques, we're going to make good food. That, that, that's no question about, but now. Sourcing is becoming more and more important, especially because as we mentioned, as as product become maybe cheaper or, or, or bigger quantity, sourcing is more and more difficult. So you have to source local, you have to source this product, and this is the only way to make, you know, exceptional product. part of the sourcing to me, what also make food different, or make food. That little thing over the top is the story. Mm. I I was saying that at the, the we did last night. It's, the story only matters if the product is good. has to be good. But, It, it brings that extra. Mm-hmm. There is also a good product and a good product, right. But, that difference, if you can understand why it's there and relate to it, uh, relate to either who produced it, who transformed it, how it was produced. That's what makes that connection. And um, to me that's, that's what food and, and hospitality is all, all about. It's the difference between feeding yourself so you can keep going, uh, which is what I did this morning so I could keep going all day. Right? Yeah. Or, or, uh, and I do that with coffee, uh, a lot, uh, or. Really appreciating a meal and making it in an experience. And, uh, sometimes we forget that in a everyday life with, with food and we just use it as a fuel. But when we, we can come to a resort like this and. You can relax, you can go to the pool, you play golf, and then make the culinary part of the journey and part of the experience. It's, it makes it so special. you can relate to the producers, you can relate to the, the people in the kitchen, the. Uh, to the wait staff, to every, everyone, and, and that's something people don't forget. Uh, and that's what we, we try to wake up every morning to do actually. but it's, it's become really, really important. Okay.

Mark 33:57

When my grandmother. Was making food. You know, she grew some in the backyard or she went down to the, to the chicken farmer and they ate whatever the slowest chicken was, right? whatever chicken the chicken farmer caught first was the chicken. They ate. Well, now your choices are very different than that. You can go to the supermarket and have the chicken that was raised in the coop that had to be debeaked because it was so tightly put with other chickens and barely move around. And they're afraid they're gonna peck their eyes out because they're so close to each other. Or you can go to this wonderful farm where, you know the chickens are being fed right. And you know that, that, uh, the chicken's being cared for correctly and then taken care for after it's butchered. And I keep coming back to this because the differences are growing and it used to be that they're growing, but sometimes. The difference too to me, uh, with, with all the things that the industry can do or I see my kids or I see people here, they're still going and ask for, for chicken fingers or whatever. Right? So, and I don't pick on chicken fingers, but I kind of do. Yeah, you do. I do. Uh, They, they don't see the difference in, in the flavor. But once you can tell them, Hey, all those stories about air, this chicken got, got a chance to see the light of day, or got to do this, got to do that, then suddenly they really taste, taste the difference. But if you don't have that part of the story, they may go for. The pre munched chicken finger thing, uh, with, you know that, that, because that's what they're used to. Mm-hmm. Or that's where their story is on. But if you can really develop that, then people get excited. They, then they see the difference between jack's chocolate and some things that, came in the bag that you buy on your checkout calendar at the, at the pharmacy. Right. I have the best story when I went to visit Jacques. Factory was 10 years ago with my son. He was eight. He had just lost his brother. he was doing a, a, a project in school and I had just made, Jack i's like, yeah, yeah. Bring him over to the factory. We'll give him a tour. He was, uh, riding his scooter in the, in, uh, in, in the factory. Right. Remember that? And my son, my, my son had had the hair net on, and then Jack's like, yeah, use the scooter. Yeah. He had his best time running the electric scooter around the factory, and he came home with the biggest. chocolate Rabbit ever. He carried that chocolate rabbit at school to show it to all his friends. He had it in his room forever. I don't think we ever ate it because he was, uh, it was like part of the, uh, and he, that's a memory he'll never forget. Mm-hmm. Uh, and I'm hoping that whatever we do in our kitchens, I love cooking with kids. I, I have in my own nonprofit where we cook with kids, uh, Jacque did a, a dinner with us. Remember? Where bringing those stories, bringing the love of food. That's how I think we can create new generations. That's going to go for quality. Go for go for the best. And uh, and that's what's fun with food too. I, I, I enjoy that flicking, flipping a burger on the grill or even a steak or something like this. Frankly, to me, it's. It's not as interesting anymore. it's a story that I love. I love that. I think one of the things that we all do is we, we create the stories and we let people know and we, bring people along with us. And I think that one of the things that food festivals like the New Jersey. Wine and food festival that we're at all at today gives us a chance to meet each other, uh, which is great. Running into other chefs and, and, and most of us aren't working Florian, sorry. Yeah, exactly. Um, but I think that what we do as far as having the story and getting the word out and telling the story is, is how we create a generation that keeps food alive. So, and, and we, we have chefs appreciate what you guys do because that's. That's what gets us out of the kitchen too, so thanks. Excellent. I'm sure that you have a festival to run and uh, we're gonna eat some of your chocolate as soon as we get Yeah. You know that Francis likes the chocolate because he the box on his side. Thanks for joining us. Thank you too.

the-restaurant-guys_3_05-02-2026_155319 37:54

Now in the cigar bar at, uh, crystal Springs, at the Jersey

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-02-2026_152053 37:57

Wine and Food Festival,

the-restaurant-guys_3_05-02-2026_155319 37:59

is Jeff Gallen. Jeff Gallen is the executive sous chef of Fossil Farms. Now, if you don't know fossil farms, you should, because if you are into alternative meats alternative. Proteins. they do direct to consumer as well as to restaurants. It's a really important supplier name and we're super to have them here and Jeff representing him. Jeff, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm glad you're here. Happy to be here. So, I think Francis undersold a little bit, what you guys do. He's, he's talking about alternative meats, but he's not just, you guys don't just do alternative meats. You're, you're also doing kind of superior quality. Yes. You know Exactly. Family farm, farm to farm to table. And I need to clarify, I didn't mean alternatives to meat, I meant different kinds of meat, like ostrich for example. Right? That's, uh, responsible farms and you guys are really, and you've been doing it for a while, you're really. We're way ahead of the curve. Um, so 29 years ago, the company started with, Lance Applebaum and his brother Todd. They bought three ostrich. From there, the company has grown to what it is today. O well, really you only need two ostrich, I think. As long. Well, yeah, but I mean, as long as you have the right pair. I didn't think they let the OSS have any fun. I think it went right to the production. So, so, um, with three ostriches, why ostrich? Like where did that come from? Yeah, I think that what happened was is that they were, if my memory serves me correct, they were on a, him and his brother were in the Midwest and they had an ostrich burn. And they were just wowed by it. Mm-hmm. So they came back and they were like, you know, we need to do this. This is what we're gonna do. They were so excited about, I said, and they were excited about. Getting exotic meats out in the market. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and getting people educated in responsible eating, responsible farming and that, I mean, that's what we're all about. Yeah. You know, it's, there's no hormones, antibiotics or steroids, any of our proteins. So, and, but you're not. Just sourcing from local because we bought how many barta from you guys? Whole legs. Oh, yeah. Uh, what, what a wonderful project, that is, you know, and bringing those into the country for us. Oh yeah. So, I mean, amazing, amazing products from around the world. We do have a farm mm-hmm. In Lafayette. Um, it's roaming acres and we, we have. Few hundred head of bison, a few hundred head of, of ostrich and some Berkshire pork. But I mean, we do source, you know, Venice and Elk from New Zealand. Mm-hmm. We got rabbit from Hungary, you know, I mean, wild boar from the Midwest and Canada. So it's all over. So why the rabbit from Hungary? Because they're, they practice a lot more responsible farming than, than the United States as far as rabbits are concerned. So we, we want to make sure that, the animals are, treated a lot better You know and handled a lot better than What's happening here? Commodity beef and pork. Mm-hmm. so I think that, um, I think that fossil farms really wears two hats and among those in the kind of gourmet world, people, um, are in the know about fossil farms. Uh, but the two hats it wears. One is Sustainable Family Farm, as, as Mark alluded to, and the other is exotic meats which is it? Both, is it, I mean, how did this come about? and one of the things that I'd love for you to address is that we went from, uh, being primarily for restaurants to, you're doing direct to consumer now as well, which is pretty cool. We also do retail. Yeah, we have a full retail line as well. So, I mean, talk to us about, is it, is it more that to, to provide exotic foods or is it more about sustainable foods? What's the mission? Uh, it's kind of both. You know, it's, it's getting the public educated on responsible eating. Like, you don't need to eat a 30 ounce ribeye. it's getting people to understand that all you need is six ounces of protein on your plate or vegetables. You know what I mean? So with that. you're kind of getting out there that you're trying to protect the earth a little bit because, you know, animal agriculture just eats away, At Nature's resource, if not done right, You know, it's great working for a company that has all these proteins because you get to play with so much different stuff, and it's just, it's so much fun. It really is. I'll tell you, you are a company that we've always looked to for, Hey, we need something different. We need something interesting on our menu. We need to Right. You know, uh, you know, alligator is so 2022, uh, you know. Right. We're gonna look for, we're gonna get something, uh, really interesting and really delicious. every time I look at the list of products that you have, there's something, some new cool, right. Interesting. Cut or meat or animal. and the great thing about it's that all four legged animals have, are the same anatomy. Mm-hmm. So really you have your rib eye and your tenderloin. Mm-hmm. And your New York strip. The one thing that's really great about this company too is that we do have that, livestock background. So we utilize the whole of the animal. Mm-hmm. That's part of the responsibility with the farming is not just selling or using, you know, whole muscle cuts and stuff like that, but it's using the whole of the animal. So, and what do you do when, like, how do you, how are you effectuating that? So, I mean, we have your ribeyes and your strip loins and, and everything else, but we have stew meats and we have grinds and we have burgers, we have hot dogs, we have sausages one of the cool things about my job as executive chef is that I am responsible for product development. Mm-hmm. So I'm always trying to come up with new things that the company can do to, to get this protein out there. You're an accomplished chef on your own. Right. Okay. Why have you decided to make your career in New Jersey instead of someplace else in the world? I mean, I worked in the city for a while. Um, I worked with some great chefs in New York. Mm-hmm. I worked with some great chefs in New Jersey when Ben Delco the vice President of marketing sales, he was also a chef for a long time. He brought me into farms. I'd known him. Being with this company, well, it's almost like being with another family. Mm-hmm. Um, I decided that, you know, this is, this is where I wanna be. this was the end of my career. I'm en you know, I'm enjoying it. I get to do a whole lot of different things every single day. I mean, it's just not the same thing over and over and over again, you know? Well, I'm sorry to hear that you're at the end of your career, because I'm still in the middle of mine. Yeah. Well, no, you know, I mean, I'm not at the end of my career yet. I mean, but to finish my career with fossil farms is what I, is what I really meant to say. I knew what you meant, so, but yeah. Well, Jeff Gallen, thanks for coming on the restaurant guys. Pleasure. Thank you for having me. Alright man. Thanks.

the-restaurant-guys_4_05-02-2026_162001 44:01

Okay, next up in the hot seat here at the Cigar Bar at

the-restaurant-guys_1_05-02-2026_143810 44:04

New Jersey Wine and Food Festival.

the-restaurant-guys_4_05-02-2026_162001 44:05

is, Olivia Mueller. He is the owner and executive chef, frg in, um. Montclair as well as in Weehawken in New Jersey. FBO is a very, if you're not from New Jersey, if you're from New Jersey, you know, and if you're not from New Jersey, FBO is a very important restaurant. How it hit New Jersey, how it changed the landscape. It's from the same county that Mark and I are from initially, and we're thrilled to have you come. Take a little time outta the festival and talk to us. Olier, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. Nice to meet you. You took a long route. Can you give us the Reader's Digest version, the short version of, of how you came to be the chef owner of a, a very large French restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey, kind of the center of dining in North Jersey. Well, I came in, uh, in America in 2000. So I spent the first 20 years in New York walking with Daniel Boud. Yeah. And, uh, did that, that help? It was a good time. You know, we, we, I ended up, uh, helping. Him open more than 12 restaurants. You know, I was the executive chef of, uh, one of his restaurant Midtown, eventually became his corporate chef. And then, uh, and spend. A lot of time with him doing all sorts of project. But then, uh, one of my dear friend then became my partner now, was living in Montclair and commuting every day to, to New York. And, after doing that for 10, 15 years, he was looking for some change and then mm-hmm. And then drag me to, to more say, there's something to do here. There's, there's, we're missing a good restaurant in our town. And then, uh, and then we. We find this location where football is now. And your friend and partner was also in the restaurant business. He wa he was, uh, a, a director for Danielle as well and, uh, managing the front of a house. so he has a corporate position on the front and, uh, I have one on the back. And then, uh, we were good friends and brought me in Montclair and said there's something to do. We find the locations and uh, we brought a designer, to look at it. Exchange, uh, IDs and then, uh, and then Montclair football was born in Montclair. it's a, it's a beautiful place. I mean, it's a beautiful place. And I, and I really love what you did with the little outside courtyard area there. It's really, really inviting. Yeah. You can see why people wanna, be there separate from the food and, wine. Cocktails and things that are really exceptional. But the, the space fee is a very comfortable space. This, this was, uh, our main goal. this is a kind of restaurant. I, I enjoy myself. I don't want always the atmosphere to be too stuffier. Mm-hmm. We wanted to make a restaurant for every day with great product inviting setting, but then, you know, whatever you come after walk, you bring your kids or it's business, I think it walks for. all aspect of your life. You know, we do well in brunch as well. Mm-hmm. We have different money for brunch. We, we, after COVID, we open for lunch that, that's also a, a, a nice segment where people can come in for, have a quick Saturday though, I will tell you, Montclair has this lunch thing, you know, and you're not the only restaurant in Montclair that's busy at lunchtime. It's just, it, it is just this phenomenon that happens in that town. that I don't know that's happening in all the other towns in New Jersey. And if you've been in that place, you've seen we have an outdoor dining, then it's not covered. Mm-hmm. We, but then you can eat in a daylight outside and Yeah. If the sun hit you or in the winter, you still, it's heated, but you, you in a daylight. Uh, and it's a, it's a different experience, you know? Then you walk into a main dining where you know it's a more traditional setting and then we. Place is quite big and we, we were trying to figure what to do on the second floor. So we, we did a little speakeasy bar cocktail launch where you have table service and still full money and such, you know, so it's, it's different vibes within the same space. Well, I love those little upstairs table that kind of overlook the, the downstairs. I, I, I've always loved that Matter of fact. Our first restaurant, we looked at a place that had a, very similar feel to that, It, it just, it's a great vibe. So you can, this is the New Jersey. Wine and food festival we love the whole concept and we love being out in Jersey. We're originally from Jersey. Our place has been around for 34 years and 20 years respectively. And the community around here is great and it's better than it's been. It's a very different thing to work for a Danielle Ballou in New York City and in the major cities around the world. And to come out to New Jersey, you've got to do business differently in suburban New Jersey than you do in New York City. And we talked to a lot of our listeners, our restaurant professionals and young people who wanna open their own restaurants as well. Will you talk to us about the difference from what you did and what the organization does in a major city like New York as opposed to how you adjusted when you came out to New Jersey to operate in a a b market basically instead of an A market? Well. as I mentioned, I, I've, uh, experienced different market as we open restaurant in Asia or in, in different places of America. And then each market is a little different, but then the food, good foods is, is, comes, resonates to every place. So my, my goals was always to bring the best ingredients at the best price in a casual setting. So with that in mind, I, I designed the menu. It's French, but yet you, if you are American or you never experienced French cuisine, I don't think it's overwhelming. I think, uh, I feel like French roots, right? It has French roots. You can, there's French underground there that, that, yeah. You know, you can feel, but you can't always see. That's right. So I'm curious, and I don't, I don't know the answer. They say you should never ask a question that you don't know the answer to. But I dunno the answer to this. Do you design the menu a little bit differently in Montclair than you would if you were in midtown Manhattan or you were in a cool neighborhood? A little bit, but not, not too much. You know, what, what adjustments do you make? I'm just curious. When I design my, I design my money the way I like to eat, and that's always been my, uh, so yes, I adapt to the market, but then, you know, I, people want to experience football. They, they want. To eat food, then I cook not mm-hmm. Necessarily what they want. You know, they're gonna experience something different. So I always have designed my menu and we keeping that in mind, following the seasonality, which is, I think is important. Yeah. my wife is Greek, so I like the melody on cooking. You know, I go there almost every year, so we, it's always, uh, it's French, it's Mediterranean. There's also. American in a way. And, you know, we, we have a Woodburn grill. We, we buy awesome steaks and, uh, we have tons of seafood. I think, uh, oysters are also very popular, you know, so we have a. A wide offering, which even if you prefer certain kind of food, you'll find it, you know? And if you want the high end steak, we also have it. And if you want, uh, fresh seafood, I think we, we have phenomenal seafood. Mm-hmm. We work with a, a local fisherman in a Bergen County, uh, Peters fish who provide, very high quality, uh, seafood for us. I want to talk about you. You've just mentioned something that so few restaurants are doing. We've been doing for 34 years. It was, I, I think it's the most important decision we made in the food of our restaurant from the beginning, having a wood burning grill. Basically, our, ours is just a big fire pit in the middle of our kitchen and cooking on that. I feel like we're almost cheating. the food is so much richer and flavorful when it is cooked over wood than when it is cooked over charcoal or, over a gas grill, It's the element of, of life. Mm-hmm. The fire, I mean, like it's one of the first thing I actually did. I wanted to see if I can squeeze a, a Woodburn grill. Mm-hmm. And New York, it's very hard to do. Yeah. But in New Jersey, I was like, I got do that there, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So we, we figured out, you know, we go straight to the roof there, and then we, it's in the middle of a kitchen, and when you walk in, you don't, even in the restaurant, if you drove by, you might see the flame from, because the mm-hmm. Kitchen is open and you can, you can see the grill the street. Yeah. I'll tell you, the thing that people see from us when that grill's really rocking the people outside are like, wow, what is that restaurant making right now? Because it, because of the amazing aromas that a Woodburn grill creates. Oh, we do octopus, shrimp. Mm-hmm. We do all our steaks in there. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's fantastic. It's, it's free flavor. Listen, I have one final question I wanna ask you again. Focusing on the Jersey thing. You're a transplant to New Jersey and we love your restaurants. I think that one of the things that you can find in a small town or in a, in a smaller town than a, a metropolitan city is you can have a community rally around you, and you've made a difference in that whole Montclair Essex County community. Do you feel that more in a place like Montclair, like a place like New Jersey that you're part of the town? Yeah, I mean, uh, we, we have more repeat guests than you will have in New York. In New York, you cook for guests than you might never see again. Right. You know, we, we have our regulars, but then clearly in Montclair, we, became friends with many of our customers. That's great. We, we recognize faces. I think it's, um, it's more enjoyable and uh, to know who you cook for. Then always cooking for stranger. You know, one of the things that I've really enjoyed in our restaurants so often. Because New Brunswick, there's a lot of corporate business happening in New Brunswick for, for one business or another. So you have your regular customers who come every month or every two months or or what have you. But we also have customers that come for the same week every year because there's some events. It's the board meeting, it's the board meeting of whatever company. And so 34 years later. Well, these people have eaten here 20 times and sometimes they eat here two or three times during the week that they're here. So they, it's a different kind of regular customer, but it's got that same kind of vibe to it, right. Where, you know each other, you look forward to seeing each other. Absolutely. As you know, every year it's, it's a lot of fun and, and Robbie who's, uh, who has invited us in this festival over the years also. Regular. And then we, we became friends and then he comes in a, in our restaurant with his wife all, he was there three weeks ago. Matter fact, you know. Nice, nice. Well we look forward to seeing you in New Brunswick, New Jersey at our restaurant soon. That's right. We'll announce. I gotta make the trip. Yeah, you do. Thanks for taking the time outta the day the festival today. It's, uh, really good to chat with you. Oh, very nice to meet you. And I hope to see you again soon. You well, excellent, Olivia. Thank you. Thank you.

MIC1 53:52

so next up in the hot seat is Brian Gregg. Brian Gregg's an old friend. We've known him for, I don't know, how many years? 20 years?

MIC2 53:57

It's been a while. A

MIC3 53:58

Long

MIC1 53:58

a long time. It's been a while. He is the chef at The Blue Morel at the Governor Morris Weston, a very important cultural institution here in New Jersey. Uh, a great chef, an old friend, and here we are at the New Jersey, uh, Wine and Food Festival.

MIC3 54:10

Brian, welcome to the show.

Bryan 54:11

Great, great to be here. Thank you.

MIC1 54:12

Thank you. So another New Jersey chef. We're Jersey guys. You're a Jersey guy. Why is the New Jersey Wine and Food Festival important?

Bryan 54:20

It's just a great opportunity for everybody to get together, you know, serve great food, um, get to see their customers It's all good, you know? It's just a very good situation to be seeing all these people

MIC3 54:30

So how many times have you been here?

Bryan 54:31

Here? Every year. Every year since they've done it. Wow. Yeah,

MIC3 54:34

that's a lot of years.

Bryan 54:36

Yes. It's crazy. I lucked out the first year was there were t- maybe eight chefs here. Mm-hmm. Something like that, so

MIC3 54:41

that. Wow, that's a long time ago.

Bryan 54:42

it was nuts. It was nuts.

MIC3 54:43

So I will tell you that I, I experienced your food, You, you, were at a place and owned a place called Cafe Chameleon. Mm-hmm. And that was when I was like,"Wow, this guy's really doing some special food and really doing something interesting." A, friend of ours, uh, brought us there,

Bryan 54:58

I actually remember that, yeah.

MIC3 54:59

I was like,"Wow, this is a really cool place doing really cool stuff." And it was a, it was kind of a weird location, let's

Bryan 55:05

me about it. It was a very weird location. Yeah.

MIC3 55:07

was a very weird location. Okay? It was a, it was-- You're in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, and you were in a town, I think, where frankly, there weren't any restaurants that were anything like yours. No. Totally different. Totally different. Okay?

Bryan 55:16

different

MIC1 55:16

Totally different. Totally different. So,

MIC3 55:17

so you were really... People were experiencing your type of food for the very first time ever. I What was the vibe? What was the feedback in,

MIC1 55:25

what year was that, guys?

Bryan 55:26

Oh,

MIC3 55:26

it's probably eight, 10 years ago-

Bryan 55:28

Yeah, about there.

MIC3 55:28

guess.

MIC1 55:29

So tell us what it was like to open up in the kind of middle of nowhere where you were blazing new trails.

Bryan 55:33

That location was rough. Yeah. Um, we had to bring in our customers. We had to basically go out and get them to come in the building and try the food and get them excited about it. Uh, we... It was during COVID, so it was very struggling with that, with the no tables inside

MIC1 55:47

you open right before COVID, or you

MIC3 55:48

they were open before

Bryan 55:49

We were... No, they were open prior to me getting in the door. Um, but we were about a year in, I think. Mm-hmm. Uh, and then COVID hit. Mm-hmm. And then we were, you know, the whole, what everybody was doing during that

MIC1 55:58

is a kick in the pants,

MIC3 55:59

Yeah. Tell

Bryan 56:00

me about it. And then, you know, New Jersey Monthly comes in literally a month or two before- Uh-huh all that happened Uh- Yeah it w- it was great. Like, we lost our review. I was

MIC3 56:08

like- Yes

Bryan 56:08

this, th- that push we were gonna get from it. Yeah. We lost it. I'm like,

MIC1 56:11

You get reviewed right before a pandemic-

Bryan 56:12

I'm like,"Great. Thanks a lot," you know? Perfect timing, right?

MIC1 56:14

yeah. Yeah. Well, you got the Mark Pascal review all these years

MIC3 56:17

later. We'll take

Bryan 56:18

it. We'll take

MIC1 56:18

The restaurant guy's endorsed. We'll take it. All right, so and now you're at Blue Morel. Tell us about the, the Blue Morel and the the Governor Morris Weston.

Bryan 56:25

Weston Governor Morris, yeah.

MIC1 56:26

Weston. Weston Governor. Well, but that, that's been there for a long time as, in different iterations. That building's very

Bryan 56:29

Yes. Is that correct or- Yes, it's been there for a long time. I'm not quite sure how long, but it's been a long time.

MIC1 56:34

Well, I will tell you that before the Blue Morel, it served some pretty mediocre food, and you have really changed things around there'cause it is known as one of the best restaurants around.

Bryan 56:41

I think we're trying to do something, you know, keep it simple, but, you know, serve good quality pr- product. You know, that's the biggest thing for us, is just make sure everything is top-notch and don't let things get in the way kind of thing. It's an,

MIC1 56:53

it's an interesting hybrid because if you're from that area, you've been to a wedding there, you've been to a high school reunion there, the food was good enough, and the place was great, so that's why people went back there all the time. Mm-hmm. But now you've, you have to change a big ship. You have to, change direction on the ship, and then you've gotta let the public know that the ship has changed. How do you do that?

Bryan 57:12

Well, I mean, before, before Blue Marial was Copeland. You know, Thomas Cizek- Yeah was, was running the show there. And they did a nice job, and food was great and, you know, they changed over into Blue Marial. And, um, I'd come on board, and, you know, took over. Uh, so it, it, it's a challenge'cause you got a lot of people that come in there. They feel it's a hotel. You know, you're gonna get that hotel feel. You're, you're kind of catering to the masses a little bit. But we're trying to get away from that a little bit. You know, but we're trying to keep it so we can still feed everybody and make them happy, also be able to do something special too. Have an experience for them when they come in the door, so that, that's key.

MIC1 57:42

why are you here at the New Jersey? Now, you've done it from the beginning. Yeah. What do you find here? Are you connecting with your customers? Are you connecting with the other chefs in New Jersey? Yeah. What's here?

Bryan 57:51

You know what? It's a good time. I, I, like I, I can't, I can't say that it's not. connecting with the other guys. I see these guys every year, see these at the events. You know, it's nice to see the chefs and get, like, in a different setting, I guess. Uh-huh. Um, but in the end of it all, it's about the customers. I mean, we grab a lot of people from this every year, so it's a lot. It's face time, which is always good. You wanna be able to, you know, not be in the kitchen so you can actually talk to your customers. You know, we get to walk on the floor, but it's not like that one-on-one face time. That's the main driving factor of, is being able to actually talk to the customers, see the reactions and, you know, kind of give them an idea of what we're doing at the restaurant nowadays and invite them back in and, you know, have them come involved and have a good time.

MIC3 58:27

you could work anywhere you wanna work. Why did you choose New Jersey?

Bryan 58:32

Hmm. Well, that's a tough question because, you know, I went to high school in New Jersey. left and then came back. Uh-

MIC3 58:41

I mean, that's most of our stories, right? Exactly.

Bryan 58:44

it's great. It's close enough to the city where we still get that, you know... I've been doing this now for almost 30 years. Mm-hmm. So, for a while it was go work in Manhattan. That's where you needed to be at. Um, it's become more that chefs are staying in New Jersey and cooking. You have people that are opening up restaurants that are high quality caliber chefs- Yep like Michelin starred chefs- Yep that are coming here and opening, you know, which is crazy nowadays. I mean, it wasn't like that, you know, 25,

MIC1 59:09

Oh, we remember. You know? Yeah, yeah. It was...

Bryan 59:10

You, we had good, good chefs here, but it was like, it's just becoming a little more of a, you know, a driving factor of bringing, you know, quality chefs in the area, and they're starting to come in. Even the guys from New Jersey that have been doing their thing here for how long-

MIC3 59:21

Yep and still coming. Well, now they've had- Raising the bar now there's a generation of, of who could tutor them, right?

MIC1 59:26

In this area, yeah.

MIC3 59:26

It's

Bryan 59:26

scary. Yeah. Well,

MIC1 59:27

I also think that one of the things we have to, you know, give a shout-out to the people of New Jersey So when we first started in the business 30 years ago, this-- W-we had an advantage in a way'cause we were very dialed into the food and food styles in New York. And basically, Jersey was about five years... By the time you got to central Jersey, you were five years behind New York. Montclair was maybe three years behind New York. So all you had to do was be like one year behind New York and you were four years

MIC3 59:49

ahead of everybody else.

MIC1 59:51

And'cause there was no Instagram, there was no internet, and a lot of people didn't go in the city, didn't see what was happening, and there were sophisticated people who supported us. and it was a small number, but one of the reasons I think that we are able to thrive, meaning you and us and everybody else in New Jersey, and why this can happen is, um, a shout-out to the people of New Jersey who are much more sophisticated diners and discerning diners and supporting the chefs who are doing the good work and can tell the difference between the guys who are just turning it out every day and, and doing cool stuff. So I think one of the things we need to thank is the, is the people in Jersey who support what we do, which is awesome.

Bryan 1:00:24

It's just nice not to have the bridge and tunnel crowd going into the city. They're staying

MIC1 1:00:27

here. Yeah, yeah. They called us bridge and tunnel for a long time. You know what? We'll stay off your damn bridge. We'll stay here, and we'll eat in Jersey. The hell with you. You know? Exactly. Yeah. Well, one bridge and tunnel... Two bridge and tunnel guys to another. Uh-

MIC3 1:00:38

this has been a pleasure. Thanks so much for joining the restaurant, guys.

Bryan 1:00:41

much. Thank you so much.

MIC1 1:00:42

Thank you so much. You're the

MIC3 1:00:42

Thank you so much. All right. Have fun tonight.

MIC1 1:00:43

what you do.

Speaker 1:00:44

So we had a really fun time at New Jersey Wine and Food Festival. We hope to see you there next year