WEBVTT - Done Right with Andrew Gruel 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.720 If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.280 was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.920 the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.800 crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.240 pill poppers in the penthouse, to clearinghouse of hot takes, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.120 break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.840 Maller starts right now that it does in the air 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:34.240 everywheres we loviate the weekend away, even on a Friday 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:38.920 Friday Friday, as we kick off the weekend festivities here 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.400 because four hours a night are not enough. Eight days 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.239 a week, eight days a week. Broadcasting live and in 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.880 stereo were available from the newly Voice My Voice, Sound 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.720 Good Mallard podcast studio Deep in the north Woods. Deep 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.320 in the north Woods. Of course, the Fifth Hour a 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:59.440 spinoff of the Overnight Show. And since I was away 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.279 from my host quite a bit this week because of 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.840 some moving, we'll have more on that on the Saturday podcast. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.000 We have to make up for it on the weekend 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.560 here with the Fifth Hour. The show must go on, 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.080 as we like to say in the air, everywhere. The 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.559 vast power of podcasting, and you've obviously found the show. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.920 We thank you for that. Man, that's cool that you've 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.120 downloaded it and remember sharing his caring. So if you 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.000 like the podcast and you know somebody that might like 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:28.920 it or hate it, for that matter, as long as 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.080 they listen, we get credit. That's all we care about, 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.160 just to direct them to the podcast. We are joined 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.440 again another weekend in a row. Here I was, there's 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.240 a two or three in a row now David Gascott 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:52.920 making gallon vancing across the wide open state of California, 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:54.280 at least for a short period of time. But I 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.960 have found my way home into the studio and uh, 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.640 and here I am. So we'll get more into it 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.120 in future podcast. But people said, well, when you're going 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.360 back to the studio, what's going on? And well, you know, 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.200 l a man, they keep shutting stuff down. I don't 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.880 have to worry about that. I I'm good on that. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:12.880 I think this will be going on for years. I 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.760 don't have to worry about about going back in at 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.679 all at all. So uh, anyway, listen, this is not 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.240 about us. We'll get into all that stuff in future podcast. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.040 But I'm excited, you know. I I like to dabble 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.160 in the kitchen as you know, I guess, and I 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.600 send you pictures of my creations with a few days 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.600 I eat occasionally when we eat, and I will send 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.239 you my mallard pie that I make rather painful to 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:37.480 look at. I don't know if you want to call 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.040 it dabble, you know, like dabble means like it's a 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:44.680 little tapped dressing. Listen. I have I have ripped off 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:50.200 many YouTube recipes, you know, mimicking other things. But I 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.000 I do like to cook, and my wife actually has 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.520 helped me. I when I was a bachelor. I got 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.440 married almost ten years ago, and before then I knew nothing. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.760 My idea of cooking was a hungry man one pound, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.120 one pound dinner, a TV dinner. I was very good 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.200 at making that. I could make the frozen pizza. I 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.080 knew that I could even heat up some frozen French 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.080 fries in the like you know, on the oven whatever. 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:15.400 I knew how to do that, but that was about it. 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:17.600 That was the extent of my cooking. So I'm very 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.200 very proud of myself, humble bragg, but I'm not anywhere 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.239 near the level of a professional professional chef. And we 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.680 have one eight and the guy's on TV as well, Uh, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.959 he's owns a bunch of restaurants, a pizza restaurant, a 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.320 very popular seafood restaurant, and you've seen him on the 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.040 Food Network. He's been a judge on a number of 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.640 these cooking shows over the last almost a decade. I 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.760 guess he's been on. So I'm excited. So we should 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.760 without further Adoe, David, let's give it up now for 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.720 the chef. And his name is Andrew Gruel and he 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.360 joins us now in the fifth hour with Ben Maller 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.720 and David gascoont and Andrew, we welcome you in. And 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.800 so I guess we'll start with this. Was this always 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.080 your plan to to be a television cheffer? Is this 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:12.160 something that you stumbled into? Stumbled into it like I 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.400 do it with everything else in my life. So how 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.360 did how did it happen? I mean you were obviously 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.599 you're you're professional, You're doing it. And did did somebody 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.640 contact you? Did you? Did you end up in the 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:23.560 wrong place or the right place at the right time? 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.840 How did it happen? Uh? You know, I've always been 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.200 pretty outspoken about what I do and how I do it. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.799 And I had opened a restaurant out in New Hampshire, Gosh, 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.200 in the early two thousand's, and there was a local 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:41.200 radio studio there. It probably broadcast to maybe hundred homes, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.599 and I started a little a little radio show called 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.800 Cooking with Gruel, right, so a play on the old porridge. 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.119 And I loved just talking and getting to know people 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.960 through the radio. And then was simultaneously there was a 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.880 new PBS show called The Endless East that had come out, 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.040 and they were trying to highlight and promote restaurants that 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.040 were serving a lot of local, sustainable fair This was 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.360 once again kind of way before the farm to table stuff. 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.640 So given the fact that I had a little bit, 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.960 a little bit a skeach of media experienced by virtue 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.720 of the radio show, they threw me into this episode 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.039 and I got to shoot uh this TV show with PBS, 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.360 and then from there it was the bite Um. I 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:27.600 really enjoyed it. And then that far laid into a 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.080 few more opportunities and then ultimately caught the eye of 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.160 Food Network back when I started my food truck in 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.880 two thousand eleven. So that's the the short history, if 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.640 you will. Nice and so now as a radio guy, Andrew, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.680 I love that you did a radio I guess you've 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.919 still done some up until now, also on the radio. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.440 But how difficult is it because cooking is such a 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.039 visual thing and and you know, you're talking about your 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.600 senses and you can't obviously radio. We have the audio, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.720 that's all we have. So how difficult is it to 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.520 train in late what you do and talk about the 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:09.400 restaurants on the radio? Great question. Incredibly difficult. And it's 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.680 not as simple as just posting a photo up on 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.640 Instagram that says it all right. There's a way you 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.119 have to describe the fact that the sauces are dripping 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.000 down your arm, and you've got to use chewy words 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.240 quite literally to get people to salivate. And we got 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.600 into a lot of technique, right, But then that also 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.279 borders into this boring curse of knowledge where it's like, okay, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.280 that's great, turn the oven to three fifty blah blah blah. 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.920 I mean you almost have to describe the oven, right, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.680 You've got to bring the listener into the oven, which 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.560 could be quite dangerous. Frankly, Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.280 for sure, yeah absolutely, And but I went done right. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.120 I mean anything in radio, when it's done right, people 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:48.800 obviously want to want to hear, But it was this 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.160 always when you were a kid, like a little Andrew 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.279 growing up, Little Andrew grow did you always imagine you'd 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.200 be in the kitchen cooking professionally or you know, is 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.320 this something that came a little bit later? No, well, 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.680 great question, and to thie topics together. So I used 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.640 to skip school when I was in second, third, fourth grade. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.280 I don't recall it all kind of merges together to 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.400 stay home and watch these old school cooking shows. That 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.400 was like this weird addiction of mine, yon Kin Cook, 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:22.600 Julia Child, Jacques po pen Um. There was some mingti right, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.520 he had started some of his PBS shows. There was 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.640 no Food Network back then. It was just those old 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.040 school dump and stir cooking shows where you're watching somebody 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.120 trust a chicken and rub all of these herbs all 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.000 over it. That as a kid, you have absolutely no 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:39.840 idea what any of it it is, but it's it's 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.480 mollo fluous, it's beautiful, it looks delicious. Um. And then 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.000 I would sneak into the kitchen and try and do 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:47.840 some of this. My mom and dad were at work. 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.560 I was really a latchkey child, and you know, they'd 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.520 come home and there was granola and chocolate wall to 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:55.680 wall and burnt grilled cheese all over the place, and 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.680 I was still pretending to be sick. So that's how 0:07:57.720 --> 0:07:59.800 it started, and I fell in love with those shows, 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.240 which still to me, Um, you know, that's that's where 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.880 it all started. It's it's I will watch any of 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.560 those dumping stir cooking shows nowadays over any of the 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.400 kind of crazy American Ninja Warrior meets Chopped meets uh, 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:17.760 you know, Real World road Rules on Food Network. Yeah, no, no, 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.880 total I I you know, I went around the same age. 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:22.160 I think I'm a little older than you, but I 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.920 watched Julia Child. I don't remember the other ones. I 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:26.800 remember watching Julia Child and she had one of the 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.480 great quotes which I think is just perfect for for 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.040 what you do and just cooking in generously. She said 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.160 everything can have drama if done right, even a pancake. 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.839 And uh, it's just to me, that's the perfect quote there. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:45.079 But you're right, the difference between those PBS cooking shows 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.079 like Julia Child the other ones you mentioned there and 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:52.000 today you got like, as you said, Ninja's the cooking Ninja, 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.319 and uh, you know, is there any end? What is 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.280 the next layer? Andrew is someone that's done television and 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.320 worked in that business. There, how far can we push 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.200 the envelope? Yeah, you know, and we of course see 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:10.000 a lot of the same formats being cut cop you know, rinse, wash, repeat, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.280 whatever you want to call it, cut, copy paste, you know, 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.000 there's always a little bit of a tweak, but these 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.319 formats work right, and television is obviously a business. So 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.200 if you can kind of fit these formats into a budget, 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.120 tweak one thing and do it. That's why I think 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.520 we start to see a lot of the same format 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.400 TV shows and then they just keep getting amplified episode 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.880 by episode or series by series by adding like yeah, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.840 an obstacle course, or the floor is made of lava 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.839 and you've got to cook a tureen. Um. But what 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.760 I'm what I'm loving right now across the media landscape, 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.760 if you will, is this digital world where people are 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.959 producing their own content across platforms like YouTube and all 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.000 these you know, kind of new digital avenues, and it's 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.719 very very uh personal, right, So you don't have to 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.599 bring in a big budget and you don't have to 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.120 get all these producers to sign off on it because 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.439 a lot of what we saw in food TV it 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:07.079 was incredibly produced, and where it merges with this reality 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.960 TV format in so much as like we're all competing 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.840 for this hundred thousand dollar prize. You know, I judged 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.439 a lot of those shows, and I'm not trying to 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.040 reveal any secrets that we don't know about, but a 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.360 lot of them are produced. I'm not saying fake, but 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.040 produced takes away that spark, that charisma, that love, the magic. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.800 So now we're seeing that in these digital formats where 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.439 it's just food, but it's done so in this like 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:36.079 really really really uh um, you know, high focus on 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.120 the actual ingredients and the sizzle in the pan and 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.240 the fire, the smoke, the flame, all those visceral things 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.280 that make us d rules. So that's so cool, and 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.640 I love I love the fact that that world has 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.720 really been blown up, especially through the pandemic when everyone's 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.439 been sitting at home watching a lot of it. Be 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.960 sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.199 weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific on 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.880 Fox Sports Radio. And I heard radio app Yeah, and 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:03.760 and what you're talking about of course, and you know 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.200 this from working. Uh, you know the front lines there 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.440 on TV is the rule of drama, right, you always 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:15.080 have to create some kind of uh artificial drama competition, UM, 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.960 make it, try to make it unpredictable. But as you said, 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:20.800 a lot of it is is preticularly. I remember one 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:22.880 time Andrew I was driving I lived in Hollywood and 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.079 I was driving to work and it's one of the 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.480 early modern reality shows, and they were filming this couple 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.120 walking across the street and apparently didn't get the right angle. 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.520 I'm at the red light, right, I'm I'm there, And 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.439 they had to go back and do it again so 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.800 they get the right angle. Then the whole time I'm 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:42.400 watching this, I'm like, wait a minute, that's supposed to 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.599 be just people walking on the street. But the but 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.719 but so be it. And uh And as far as 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.800 you know your your business, you're you known, we know 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.599 you because you've done the television stuff. But you have 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.400 a bunch of restaurants right in Orange County. From what 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.200 I was reading online, as I understand it, like you're 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.760 very hand on your You're not just a TV guy 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.079 that's just on the side, right, Your main gig is 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.080 running and operating and overseeing restaurants. Is that accur Yeah? 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.760 So I I uh, I went independent, if you will. 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.559 Back in two thousand eleven, I started a food truck 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.439 called slap Fish Fish so fresh and it will slap you. 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:21.839 And and it was, you know, through and all my 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.560 money leveraged everything out on credit cards, went from one 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.960 to four food trucks, and then we rolled that into 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.120 our first brick and mortar about ten months later. Uh. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.199 And then from there it was just kind of my 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.920 wife and I growing this. Now we've got we've got 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.240 twenty seven slot Fish locations and then we've got a 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.719 few other concepts. H all based still out of out 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.360 of southern California, Orange County, but the slot Fish has grown. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.280 We took a shotgun approach, so we've got franchise locations 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:53.199 actually throughout the United States, from Florida, Georgia, the DMV area, Indiana, Albuquerque. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.679 I mean, we really just it's like you closed your 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.280 eyes and through darts at a board and okay, we'll 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.240 open a slot fish there. Andrew, Andrew, I need to 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.839 break up this bromance real quick between you and just 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.360 just one of these moments, I I gotta be, I 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.000 gotta be perfectly transparent with you too, Andrew on this 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.000 because I have I have watched, I have seen, and 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.959 I have enjoyed the food porn that you display on 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.840 Twitter thoroughly. And when I told Ben that I wanted 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.719 to have you on our podcast, it was like it 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.319 was like a knife in the side of him. And 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:32.600 the reason why is because Ben typically fasts Monday through Friday. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.920 This is true, not the whole week. So the fact 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.920 that I am showing him content of yours while he's 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:46.040 fasting just makes it that much more special. Um, well, 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.400 he's my he's my target audience. Then people say to me, 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.360 They're like, do you eat all this? You're promoting obesity, 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.960 And I said, no, I am true food porn. I'm 0:13:56.040 --> 0:14:00.960 here to provide the you know, the intangible, drew worthy 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.679 food that people can't eat so they'll look at it instead. 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.679 So if you look at it from that perspective, I mean, 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.240 we should be working together. Oh no, no, Andrew, let 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.559 me tell you, Like I I I usually I was 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.000 very obese and I lost a lot of weight and 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:14.720 to keep it off, I don't eat a lot during 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.080 the week, So that's my But I love food. I mean, 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.640 if it was up to me, I would eat all 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.400 of that. And I mean, I'm looking, uh, the thing 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:23.440 you had pinned to the top of your your Twitter 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.320 page there that pizza. My holy crap. I feel like 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.600 I can taste it just in the photo there that 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.360 you you have of of the pie. My god. So 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.280 that's my yeah. But David does bust my balls all 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.240 the time because he knows. Unfortunately, I made the mistake, Andrew, 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.120 of telling him like when I don't eat the days 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.720 I don't eat, and then he sends me those days, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.280 will send me like a lot of your stuff photos 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.600 of food, and it just drives me nuts. I'll tone 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:57.040 it down. I've got some amazing glasses of water they 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.680 photographed really well. Well, I'm glad you brought that up 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.120 in terms of toning it down, because Andrew, I have 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.560 a personal and professional question for you, and this goes 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.960 along the lines of what you're doing right now and 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.520 what you you do on social media. So walk me 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.160 through this. If you were to buy let's just say, 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.160 a a Tomahawks steak and you call and you call 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.000 it quote the original protein bar, would you let that 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.240 original protein bar marinate for a day or two, or 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.080 a year or two, and I'll wait for your answer. Well, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.080 so I don't marinate meat. Um. I always just use 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.520 salt on meat. I do a dry brine, especially red meat, um, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.280 but but even lamb and chicken for that matter. I 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.360 usually if I do marinate, it's only for an hour 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.520 before and then I do what I call like a 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.640 post marinader a post glaze. So the key is the 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:52.920 salting of the meat. Right, you can do that for 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.120 twenty four hours, because what's happening is is that you're 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.640 drawing the moisture out of the meat, which is actually amplifying. 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.640 It's almost as if you're putting a dry age on 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.840 fast forward plus your tenderizing, because then the osmosis the 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.360 salt will go back into the meat. So you get 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.160 this really succulent and beef your flavor of meat out 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.760 of that particular cut. Now does that mean that you'll 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:18.440 ever add pepper or there spices when you apply salt 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:20.920 or do you wait until after after you've done cooking 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.640 it meat? Personally, I don't, only because I find that 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.480 it gets a little bit bitter as it cooks, and 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.000 I like that fruity flavor of pepper. I know you 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.880 don't necessarily think fruity in terms of peppercorns, but freshly 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.840 ground peppercorns are somewhat sweet um and and you know, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.480 and bitter and and uh spicy to the palate. And 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.240 you get all those beautiful aromas and those natural oils 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.880 out of the peppercorn right when you crack it fresh 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:46.880 at the end on top of the meat, and then 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.920 it just marinates and mixes in as the meats, you know, 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.920 kind of just sitting there hot and steamy, those beautiful 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.280 beef juices in the carmelization of the meat on the 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.840 exterior with the peppercorn perfection. So that sounds great. And 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.200 I don't know if you can encourage my friend Ben 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.840 here over to do this, But I had bought him 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.080 a Tomahawks steak a few days ago. Actually I bought 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.360 him a Tomahawks steak a year and a half ago, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:15.560 and it's still in his freezer. I Andrew, I tried, Man, No, No, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.120 it's it's like a time machine, Andrew. Like it'll come 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.320 out and then I'll defrost it and then it'll be 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.399 pretty good, like the way I could you understand, Andrew, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.359 Like when it comes to meat, I am my My 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.480 brother loves to eat meat like kind of raw where 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:32.119 it's kind of like blood coming out of it. But 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.879 I'm the opposite. So for me, I feel like I 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.520 have an opportunity here Andrew too. When I take it out, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.200 it won't be bad for my my taste, is what 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.080 I'm saying. I like stuff well done, that's fine, and look, 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.159 freezing isn't a bad thing. And I recommend too, is 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.200 is that don't even let it bought, just go right 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.880 onto the deep frost button in the microwave and then 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.200 that way you're cooking it and deep frosting the time 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.760 I can multitest. See that's you guys stock No, No, 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.600 that's from a professional table. I think that's a professional. Okay, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.960 how many restaurants you said? They're all over the country, right, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.840 so how many do you you own? Per se or 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:17.159 your name is on about thirty? That's a ton of restaurants. 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.159 That's a massive amount of restaurants. Does that? Does that 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.119 blow your mind when you think about that, that you 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.320 started something that has thirty you know, thirty something locations, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.320 that's crazy. I still spend most of my time in 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.320 the dishpit or online, so I don't even think I've 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.119 taken the opportunity to step outside of that arena and 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.320 an assess where where we're at. So I don't want 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.200 it to go to my head. Let's not talk about it, Okay, 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.560 we will. How about this though, Andrew, since you're not 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.720 from from California, but it sounds like you're well traveled. 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:49.359 What do you take from from other parts of this 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.960 country or maybe even internationally and try to infuse into 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:58.160 your into your restaurants, into your style of cooking. That's 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.240 a great question. And that's been the coolest thing about 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.680 growing through franchising the way that we have that it's 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.520 forced us into really getting into each one of these 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.520 markets like Salt Lake City, Utah, or Indianapolis or um, 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.600 you know, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and to learn what types 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.440 of flavors and sauces and different kind of nuanced bite 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.400 they use in those markets and then introduce them into 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.479 our food. So if you use, for example, Albuquerque, right 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.840 hash green chilies, everything has to have green chilies on it, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.159 especially the hash green chili which has grown there in 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.119 Hash New Mexico, which is just this incredibly through the 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.119 er spicy or green chili that's somewhat smoky I mean, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.160 it's unbelievable. So on all of our dishes, we offer 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.720 these roasted green chilies. We do a chowder fry, so 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.919 the natural cut fries smothered with scratch made clam chowder, 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.160 double smoke bacon, and then we add that roasted green 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.520 chili on top, and it's just unbelievable. Um. So that's 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:53.760 the fun part about being in all these different markets. 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.520 Have you taken your acts let's just say, down to 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:01.440 like sec territory or to a call venue for for tailgating? 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:04.639 Oh god, I would absolutely love too. It seems like 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.720 that there's a demographic there that loves loves my Twitter 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.560 and I'm missing out on that community. We do have 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.760 a location in Pooler, Georgia, and one in Hilton Head, 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.399 which is you know, down in the South Carolina area, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:22.040 and one one in Orlando right outside of UCF, and uh, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:24.879 you know, we we we should definitely take all of 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.640 that on on the road itself. I think we're ready. 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:29.840 I think, well, it's one of those things that Ben 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:31.680 and I had talked about. Ben was flirting with the 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.520 idea of doing like cooking with Ben during this whole 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:38.120 pandemic and having his his wife videotape him and put 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.040 it on YouTube. Um, we produce a lot of stuff 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:43.359 on our own for gambling purposes. So I say, like, 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.320 we should combine these sports and the cooking, like the 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.280 expertise from one side of the aisle to the other 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.280 and uh and take this act on the road. Man, 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.800 I think that would be quite enjoyable for everybody involved. 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:59.440 Down And I'm actually not just down, I'm double down. Nice. 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:01.919 See you can wait. Wait, we can get like circus 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.399 animals and I think that's been banned. I think they 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.240