1
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Savor production of I Heart Radio

2
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,360
Speaker 1: and Stuff Media. I'm Annies and I'm Lauren Vocal Bam

3
00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,479
Speaker 1: and today we have an interview for you. Yes, we

4
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,319
Speaker 1: have so many interviews just stockpiled. I'm glad we're sharing them. Yes,

5
00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,920
Speaker 1: because some of them, this one in particular, are just

6
00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,280
Speaker 1: so much like the voice of a of a person

7
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,560
Speaker 1: and a personality and um within them a part of

8
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,800
Speaker 1: a culture subculture. And yes, this one is Mr Dickie Brennan,

9
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,400
Speaker 1: who we met in our trip to New Orleans, which

10
00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:45,520
Speaker 1: also feels like when was that, oh gosh, decades millennia, millennia,

11
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,400
Speaker 1: no one was even alive then. Um. Yes, that the

12
00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:55,000
Speaker 1: Brennan family collectively owns and operates thirteen restaurants in New Orleans.

13
00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,720
Speaker 1: They're a little bit of a dynasty. Yes. And we

14
00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,960
Speaker 1: spoke in our New Orleans episodes about how we got

15
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,800
Speaker 1: in touch with Dicky in in particular and like meeting him,

16
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: and it was it was really great because it was

17
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,200
Speaker 1: just kind of comedy of errors. Oh yeah, that turned

18
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,880
Speaker 1: out in the absolute best way possible because we weren't

19
00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:15,960
Speaker 1: looking to we we thought that he was an above

20
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,759
Speaker 1: our our pay grade and his publicist was just sort

21
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,360
Speaker 1: of like our marketing human was just sort of like, oh, yeah, no,

22
00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:23,680
Speaker 1: do you want to talk to Dicky? And we were

23
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,000
Speaker 1: like sure, And we got po boys and fries and

24
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,520
Speaker 1: one of those uh we were there for the Bourbon thing.

25
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: We got one of those two. So it was pretty

26
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,880
Speaker 1: pretty good. It was incredibly lovely. I was not expecting

27
00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,560
Speaker 1: to eat that much. And then I ate everything. Hopefully

28
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 1: there's not too many mouth noises in this interview, hopefully not,

29
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 1: hopefully not. And also I believe he invited us to

30
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,080
Speaker 1: his house at Marty Gras and I haven't forgotten as

31
00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,480
Speaker 1: all on safe so I hope you're serious. And he

32
00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,960
Speaker 1: comes knocking on the door, Who are you? How could

33
00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,520
Speaker 1: you forget us? I'm sure he He strikes me as

34
00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,320
Speaker 1: a kind of guy who doesn't forget to face or name.

35
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 1: I agree anyway, Um, so yes, let us get to

36
00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:10,880
Speaker 1: the interview picture it we're on them that that the

37
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,960
Speaker 1: interior balcony at a at a large table in Bourbon

38
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,960
Speaker 1: House in New Orleans, which is this grand, beautiful, decked

39
00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 1: out restaurant, and uh, we've been in a crazy rush

40
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,400
Speaker 1: all morning trying to figure out how to actually get

41
00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 1: into the building. Uh we finally get in. Uh, we

42
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,079
Speaker 1: through through a different entrance, go up to a bar

43
00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,799
Speaker 1: tender at this relatively unrelated bar and say, we're so sorry.

44
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,639
Speaker 1: Do you know where Dicky Brennan might be? And he

45
00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,440
Speaker 1: just points kind of kind of languidly. It says, why

46
00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,600
Speaker 1: he's sitting right over there, and sure enough he was

47
00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,680
Speaker 1: so so so we're still in this headspace of like,

48
00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,120
Speaker 1: how where are we going? And then we get up

49
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,480
Speaker 1: to this like just beautiful empty place and Dickie is

50
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:04,240
Speaker 1: so gracious and this interview follow us. Hi, who are you?

51
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: I'm Dickie Brennan, and I get planning and you you

52
00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 1: are the founder and an owner of a restaurant group

53
00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,600
Speaker 1: here in New Orleans. Yea, you know, founder of several

54
00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,560
Speaker 1: restaurants twenty five years ago. I started a company. But

55
00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,200
Speaker 1: I grew up in a family business, restaurant family. So

56
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,240
Speaker 1: you know, my entire life has been involved in the

57
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,280
Speaker 1: restaurant world, food world. So, uh, what was it like

58
00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:44,040
Speaker 1: growing up in and around your family's restaurants? You know? Uh,

59
00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,360
Speaker 1: we lived in this neighborhood called the Garden District, and

60
00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood they had this Russian called Commander's Palace.

61
00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,800
Speaker 1: So Commanders like the second oldest restaurant in New Orleans.

62
00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:01,840
Speaker 1: So in sixty nine we um Mr Morand passed away.

63
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,720
Speaker 1: My dad went to pay respects. We lived two blocks

64
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 1: away from the road to Miss Moran, and she's like,

65
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,080
Speaker 1: I'm eight years old. I don't want to run a

66
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,040
Speaker 1: restaurant my kids. At the time, we had Brendan's down

67
00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,520
Speaker 1: the French Quarter. And my Dad's like, well, we're in

68
00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:16,560
Speaker 1: the restaurant business. We live in the neighborhood. If you

69
00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:18,800
Speaker 1: want to sell it, let us. So we bought Commander's

70
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,120
Speaker 1: Palace in nineteen sixty nine. So as a kid, are

71
00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,960
Speaker 1: you kid? And this was like, you know, our our

72
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,080
Speaker 1: play playground, you know. So I was around nine years

73
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,760
Speaker 1: old at the time, and I can't recall a time

74
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,400
Speaker 1: my life where I wasn't something doing something around this

75
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 1: wonderful restaurant that you know, it was just a special

76
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:48,840
Speaker 1: part of my life. When when did you when did

77
00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:55,520
Speaker 1: you start cooking? I guess, you know, at the restaurant,

78
00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,040
Speaker 1: I might have been twelve thirteen years old, and it

79
00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 1: was that summer. Paul Pruden was our chef um, you know,

80
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:10,559
Speaker 1: and I guess, uh, maybe earlier, but in the professional kitchen.

81
00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,000
Speaker 1: It was more around twelve or thirteen that I actually

82
00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,080
Speaker 1: got to participate, you know, in the professional kitchen, which

83
00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,960
Speaker 1: was kind of neat. But at at home, you're making

84
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,640
Speaker 1: a divide had you always been in there. So I

85
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,520
Speaker 1: love food. I mean I'd come home from school and

86
00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,640
Speaker 1: make I'd scrambled six eggs just as a snack to

87
00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,720
Speaker 1: hold me over till dinner. So um. So now I

88
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,160
Speaker 1: was always cooking. Both of my grandmother's with phenomenal cooks. Um.

89
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,400
Speaker 1: And my mother's a great cook, but she was running

90
00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,200
Speaker 1: around busy, so um. We had this wonderful woman that. Um,

91
00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,080
Speaker 1: they're all all over this city, these wonderful women that

92
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,480
Speaker 1: that just can cook, you know, and they cook for

93
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,880
Speaker 1: families and um, babysit or just it's like a second mother,

94
00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,440
Speaker 1: you know. And I grew up with a woman called Mandy,

95
00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,960
Speaker 1: and you know, just it was interesting when someone's cooking. So,

96
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,479
Speaker 1: I mean, I had so much opportunities to be around

97
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,359
Speaker 1: cooking as a kid professionally at home. It's it's talked

98
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 1: really part of the culture in New Orleans. What kind

99
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: of what kind of dishes do you remember from back

100
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,600
Speaker 1: thending your childhood. What's interesting is my dad would sit

101
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 1: down early, we'd have dinner at the house, and then

102
00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,040
Speaker 1: he'd walk two blocks of commanders and go taste everything

103
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,120
Speaker 1: in the kitchen and eventually have a meal there. So

104
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,919
Speaker 1: we you know, at home, it was more home cooked

105
00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:47,200
Speaker 1: whole recipes, you know, be red beans and rice with

106
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,080
Speaker 1: pickle porks. Wee pickle pork. Not only many people nowadays

107
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,039
Speaker 1: the experienced pickle pork and their red beans, but you know,

108
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,960
Speaker 1: as the kids, it was the protein, the meat that

109
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,920
Speaker 1: we would all fight over when we're having red beans

110
00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,279
Speaker 1: and rice. Nowadays, things on dewey sausage, you know, sausage

111
00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:08,120
Speaker 1: and your redbeans. Uh, just a lot of chicken creole

112
00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,760
Speaker 1: and you know, just great smother chicken, you know with rice.

113
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,480
Speaker 1: I mean we're Louisiana, so there was rice and a

114
00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,040
Speaker 1: lot of our meals, you know that you would have

115
00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:22,720
Speaker 1: so uh gumbo, Aman didn't stop. There was always something

116
00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:29,080
Speaker 1: coming out of the pot. So um, how how is uh?

117
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 1: How is all of that influenced what y'all do at

118
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:37,440
Speaker 1: your restaurants? You know what I love about New Orleans?

119
00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: Um one our climate we can farm you around, so

120
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,040
Speaker 1: there's always something coming in the sea, So that played

121
00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:48,840
Speaker 1: a lot of what you need at home as well

122
00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,080
Speaker 1: as what was on the rest of menu. The other

123
00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,080
Speaker 1: thing is is we're at the mouth Mississippi River. It's

124
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,680
Speaker 1: most fertile fish grounds in the world. So, I mean,

125
00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,640
Speaker 1: we have so much a bounty of seafood and it's

126
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,720
Speaker 1: all seasonal, and some of it's in the mars, some

127
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,480
Speaker 1: of it's in the in the coastal waters, and a

128
00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,400
Speaker 1: lot of its inland. So I mean, like when our

129
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,320
Speaker 1: blue crabs are going out of season, crawfish are coming

130
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,680
Speaker 1: in the season. It there's always something that's gonna peak

131
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,760
Speaker 1: at different times of the year. And really, I mean

132
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,120
Speaker 1: our flossi in the restaurants and it's the same thing

133
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,240
Speaker 1: at homes. We're eating what's in season, what's peaking and

134
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 1: uh and it you know, it was a lot of

135
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,440
Speaker 1: options there. When did you when did you know that

136
00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,680
Speaker 1: you wanted to be part of the part of the

137
00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:35,520
Speaker 1: family business. Did you have heard ever have a moment

138
00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 1: where you're like, yes, hear this, I'm gonna None of

139
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,960
Speaker 1: us were encouraged to be in the business, you know,

140
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,000
Speaker 1: and um, so there's no pressure to be in the business.

141
00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:47,800
Speaker 1: I can't think of a time where I was like,

142
00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,120
Speaker 1: screw this, I don't want to be in the business. Um,

143
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,280
Speaker 1: I just was. You know, I said, I'm the luckiest

144
00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,719
Speaker 1: guy in the world. I grew up in just a

145
00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,000
Speaker 1: hell of a time, in a hell of a location,

146
00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,000
Speaker 1: with a hell of a family. Um. You know I

147
00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: mentioned Commander's Palace when our family bought it in my

148
00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:09,559
Speaker 1: earlier years. Um, we my dad and his brothers sisters

149
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 1: left Brendon's in the seventies mid seventies, they we decided

150
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,640
Speaker 1: to divide up the family business and so uh so

151
00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,199
Speaker 1: when they moved in the Commanders, Frindons was a flagship

152
00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 1: and Brendan's. You know, my dad worked Sunday breakfast because

153
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,360
Speaker 1: his older sister Ella wanted to work Saturday's because she

154
00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,280
Speaker 1: loved the entertaining. So he'd wake up and go to

155
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,120
Speaker 1: work do a thousand people for breakfast at Brendan's. I mean,

156
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,440
Speaker 1: it was our big thing that she did. When we

157
00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,640
Speaker 1: bought Commanders at twenty people came by after church on

158
00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:46,040
Speaker 1: a Sunday. That was a good crowd. So he's bored.

159
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,240
Speaker 1: He's like I can't and he's like, I'm not doing

160
00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,560
Speaker 1: breakfast and print. It's that's that restaurant were leaving there.

161
00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,800
Speaker 1: So we were somewhere on a trip and we're eating

162
00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:57,920
Speaker 1: and there was a band out in the lobby playing

163
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,160
Speaker 1: some music or we're having brunch, and he just he

164
00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,360
Speaker 1: came home and said, I want to do it jazz brunch.

165
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 1: And so he called alban Acorn and great trumpet player,

166
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,120
Speaker 1: and so three men showed up and they roamed around

167
00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,240
Speaker 1: the dining room. Paul Prudence the chef at the time.

168
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,600
Speaker 1: We did this great brunch menu and you know, I

169
00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 1: worked the first jazz brunch with my dad. You know,

170
00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,840
Speaker 1: that was you know, and to see where it is today,

171
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,000
Speaker 1: I mean every rest in the city as jazz. What

172
00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:29,760
Speaker 1: I mean, to be able to just a wait with

173
00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 1: your family and watch them you know, create something. Uh,

174
00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,720
Speaker 1: it's been so interesting. I mean it's always something like

175
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:43,680
Speaker 1: that jazz brunches we were talking about. Yeah, how how

176
00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,160
Speaker 1: does do do you feel like there's uh there's like

177
00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:54,120
Speaker 1: cross cross connections in between how um uh how how

178
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:59,800
Speaker 1: how a kitchen works and how uh those those musicians work? Like?

179
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,800
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I mean we always say cooking with jazz,

180
00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,319
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, our our seasonings here, I mean

181
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,320
Speaker 1: we use a blend of seasons um, you know, and

182
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:15,640
Speaker 1: it's to really enhance the flavors. Takes something makes it blossom.

183
00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,560
Speaker 1: So I mean, it's like making music. It's definitely a

184
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,320
Speaker 1: great correlation between making music and making food. I mean

185
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,079
Speaker 1: it's but we um. Yeah. The other thing that happened

186
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,960
Speaker 1: in the seventies, and Paul Pruton was an American local guy,

187
00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,760
Speaker 1: whereas a lot of the chefs were Europeans. Um and

188
00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,040
Speaker 1: Paul knew all the farmer and fishermen and they grew

189
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,320
Speaker 1: up in the country. So we started happening at Commanders

190
00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:47,079
Speaker 1: early on in the seventies, we started doing local regional foods.

191
00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:53,080
Speaker 1: UM Commanders turned a heart years old and so we

192
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,760
Speaker 1: there was this award that they would get findining restaurants

193
00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,719
Speaker 1: around the country, the Holiday Awards, and was always done

194
00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:06,080
Speaker 1: in Chicago, an annual dinner and people would receive the awards,

195
00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,200
Speaker 1: all the restauranturs around the country would go and meet.

196
00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,720
Speaker 1: So we asked, could we host it in New Orleans

197
00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,040
Speaker 1: this year and have everybody helped to celebrate a restaurant

198
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,280
Speaker 1: being a hundred years old in America and so everyone

199
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,680
Speaker 1: you know, so all these restaurant tours shafts from around

200
00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:26,080
Speaker 1: the country came the New Orleans and I never forget

201
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,120
Speaker 1: the dinner. Um. One of the courses of sautell craps,

202
00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,080
Speaker 1: which it was the time of the year. We didn't

203
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:33,640
Speaker 1: know if they're gonna be busting out or not. So

204
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,600
Speaker 1: we had planned b if it wasn't gonna be a sausa.

205
00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:40,640
Speaker 1: But it came from a certain farmer. Uh, we had squad.

206
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,840
Speaker 1: It was from a farmer in Mississippi. Everything on the

207
00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,040
Speaker 1: menu and we had written was what was it? Where,

208
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,960
Speaker 1: where did it come from? Who was raising it? Then

209
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,839
Speaker 1: we had an American wine with each course this is

210
00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,840
Speaker 1: and we had we had duck On seventy eight Cabernet,

211
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,560
Speaker 1: which was his first vintage. Um some I mean it

212
00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:09,120
Speaker 1: was cake bread. We had Callaway made a late harvest

213
00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,160
Speaker 1: dessert one called Sweet Nancy. I mean, everything was American.

214
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,800
Speaker 1: And we that night told all these restaurant tours, which

215
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,679
Speaker 1: basically back then you were either Italian, French, German. If

216
00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:23,800
Speaker 1: you will find dining restaurant. Most of them were in

217
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,000
Speaker 1: the downtowns. You know, they weren't neighborhood restaurants. Said we

218
00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,960
Speaker 1: know today and when that the next year was the

219
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:37,000
Speaker 1: first American reason Supposium, where people in America started saying,

220
00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:41,360
Speaker 1: we're a regional American restaurant, We're not a French, German,

221
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,240
Speaker 1: Italian restaurants. I mean that dinner got to look at

222
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 1: the world we have today. I mean, it's classically trained

223
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,160
Speaker 1: for American chefs. You know, institutes like CIA have given

224
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,160
Speaker 1: young Americans men and women the opportunity to become great chefs,

225
00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:58,920
Speaker 1: you know, and so these things didn't It wasn't an

226
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,600
Speaker 1: American food, so it was you were classically European train

227
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,040
Speaker 1: and then that just changed. I mean in the eighties

228
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:12,440
Speaker 1: have changed. We became American, we started educating, and so

229
00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:15,600
Speaker 1: much of that happened at Commanders and you know, like

230
00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,839
Speaker 1: I said, I can't believe I was sitting there as

231
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,120
Speaker 1: a young kid. I mean that's where I started, you know,

232
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,360
Speaker 1: and it's never stopped the American food scenes. So it's

233
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:34,960
Speaker 1: been a nice journey. H D. I mean it sounds

234
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:42,360
Speaker 1: like you, like firsthand personally witnessed Cajun and Creole cuisine

235
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,440
Speaker 1: go from being something that was really just cooked in

236
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,000
Speaker 1: homes or cook in neighborhoods to to a national to

237
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,440
Speaker 1: a national trend and something that people respected. I mean,

238
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,520
Speaker 1: I mean, for at home, time, Like, how how wild

239
00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:03,680
Speaker 1: has that been? You know, the creativity is really I

240
00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,760
Speaker 1: guess when you mentioned cage and a Creole, for so

241
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,040
Speaker 1: many generations, it was the same dish. There wasn't a

242
00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,400
Speaker 1: lot of evolution. You know, red beans and rice with

243
00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:18,440
Speaker 1: red beans and rice, um, Gumbo was gumbo um. But

244
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,360
Speaker 1: with in the last twenty thirty years. And it's I

245
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,240
Speaker 1: really believe it's because young American men and women have

246
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,720
Speaker 1: gotten these formal educations, so they had this foundation to

247
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:35,480
Speaker 1: work from. I just think in America we're creative. You know,

248
00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 1: in a city like New Orleans is incredibly creative. I mean,

249
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,040
Speaker 1: my god, we created jazz. Prior to jazz, you had

250
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,800
Speaker 1: old world music. If I've played a certain way, I mean,

251
00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,640
Speaker 1: would happened New Orleans. Look how it's changed the world.

252
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:52,440
Speaker 1: You know, music, So this creative and that's what I love.

253
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,880
Speaker 1: It's hard for us to say this is a Creole

254
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,920
Speaker 1: or Cajun dish because they've all you know, the regional

255
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:04,160
Speaker 1: seasonal products you know, in both cuisines, and now they're blended. Uh,

256
00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,480
Speaker 1: you know, which is exciting because it's food is always

257
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,680
Speaker 1: um should evolve and it's just like us. I mean,

258
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,800
Speaker 1: I think My palette evolves over the years, you know,

259
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,640
Speaker 1: whether it's food, wine, spirits I have. You know, my

260
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,080
Speaker 1: palte keeps changing, So it's nice to see food evolving

261
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:36,920
Speaker 1: at the same time. Jazz Jazz. We have some more

262
00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,680
Speaker 1: of our interview with Dicky for you, but first we

263
00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:51,720
Speaker 1: have a quick break for word from our sponsor. We're back,

264
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:53,680
Speaker 1: Thank you spons here, let's get back into the interview.

265
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,480
Speaker 1: The name New orlengees in more songs than any other city,

266
00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:05,040
Speaker 1: tenfold really because it inspired so many musicians. I mean,

267
00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 1: how's the rise and I mean yes, uh, creation and tradition.

268
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,199
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you sort of a nerd for for

269
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,840
Speaker 1: the cocktail history around here? Have you? Yes? If I

270
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,119
Speaker 1: called it a nerd that I'm passionate, I think. I

271
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,520
Speaker 1: think I can't help it. I mean, my god, it's

272
00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:33,280
Speaker 1: so much a part of how New Orleanians live life, uh,

273
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,800
Speaker 1: you know, and so it's a daily part of our

274
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:41,200
Speaker 1: culture is connecting with people and the majority of that

275
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,600
Speaker 1: is connecting on the table with food. And how can

276
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:50,200
Speaker 1: you not have a great meal without spirits wine? Uh?

277
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,560
Speaker 1: And it's such a rich tradition in this city, you know,

278
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,840
Speaker 1: I mean, being a part of creating a cocktail. You know. Uh,

279
00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,719
Speaker 1: it goes way back, originated something like a cocktail, just

280
00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,879
Speaker 1: the bourbon, I mean the way Bourbon ebolbed. It was

281
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,480
Speaker 1: New Orleans at the time wasn't getting a you know,

282
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,400
Speaker 1: the brandy coming from the old world. So they knew

283
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,359
Speaker 1: they were making some whiskey up the river, and they said,

284
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:19,399
Speaker 1: send us some whiskey. Well, they didn't know how to

285
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 1: ship it or whatever. They had to fear how to

286
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,440
Speaker 1: take which basically his white dog and his moonshine and

287
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:25,960
Speaker 1: they had to figure out how to get it to

288
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,520
Speaker 1: New Orleans. And so they took these wooden kegs and

289
00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:31,239
Speaker 1: a lot of the kegs were used with things like

290
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:36,320
Speaker 1: nails storage that had ross. So they had to sanitize

291
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,800
Speaker 1: these wooden kegs, which they charred the inside. They put

292
00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,480
Speaker 1: this white dog in the keg, sent it down the river. Well,

293
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 1: when it got here and they drank it, they sent

294
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,919
Speaker 1: word back up and he said, send us some more

295
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,439
Speaker 1: of the red whiskey. And they're like, what are they

296
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,679
Speaker 1: talking about? So I mean it that, you know, that's

297
00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,520
Speaker 1: why we're sitting here in Bourbon House. You know, I

298
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,960
Speaker 1: grew up with a dad, and I think so many

299
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:07,479
Speaker 1: people drank the European spirits, the Scotch, Jensvodkas. He just

300
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:12,960
Speaker 1: kept saying, it's American drink, drink, drink Bourbon, It's American, um,

301
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,200
Speaker 1: you know. And that even goes back to the way

302
00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,919
Speaker 1: we evolved the American theme for our restaurants back in

303
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,800
Speaker 1: the seventies and navies, so um. You know. In the

304
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,000
Speaker 1: other part of the story with with the Bourbon whiskey

305
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,959
Speaker 1: coming down here, they didn't send the barges back up

306
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,639
Speaker 1: river then, so that most of the houses here, the

307
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:36,320
Speaker 1: foundations were made from the wood off these barges. So

308
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 1: the men that came down from Kentucky and it was

309
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,800
Speaker 1: a great opportunity for them to make money. They get

310
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,399
Speaker 1: enough money, and it was it was the Spanish that

311
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 1: brought horses to America. So New Orleans was Spanish occupied.

312
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:51,680
Speaker 1: I still don't know why we call it the French corn.

313
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:56,960
Speaker 1: It was filed during Spanish occupation. But so they had

314
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,480
Speaker 1: the money and they would buy a horse, and there's

315
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,719
Speaker 1: a trail, it's not just trace, to go from New

316
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,919
Speaker 1: Orleans to Louisville, and they would rode back up to

317
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,520
Speaker 1: go back home. And those horses of what seated the

318
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:15,680
Speaker 1: horse industry in Kentucky. So New Orleans is a very

319
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:20,719
Speaker 1: interesting city when you study and you find out you know,

320
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,480
Speaker 1: just all this stuff. So you know, that's why I say,

321
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:28,880
Speaker 1: I mean, the food world is attentional, it's creative, it's

322
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,920
Speaker 1: always evolving, it's living, it's growing. It's no better city

323
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,440
Speaker 1: to be in the food world in New Orleans. So

324
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,480
Speaker 1: I've never not thought of doing anything other than what

325
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 1: we did. Um. How all right? So so you've got

326
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,440
Speaker 1: you've got bourbon coming in from Kentucky, You've got rum

327
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,600
Speaker 1: coming in from the Caribbean. Uh, and all kinds of

328
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 1: other other ingredients flitting around. How did Yeah? I mean

329
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: other people are just kind of going like, oh, that's great.

330
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,399
Speaker 1: How do cocktail cultures start here? Going way back in

331
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: time with the creation of a cocktail, I think it

332
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 1: was it was just a part of the daily routine.

333
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,920
Speaker 1: You know. They were called coffee houses, and that's where

334
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,359
Speaker 1: you would take the break to go in and have

335
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,159
Speaker 1: a drink um, you know, in the middle of the

336
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,560
Speaker 1: day or in the morning. You know, when I lived

337
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,200
Speaker 1: in France, if you go to the market early in

338
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,920
Speaker 1: the morning and you go into the coffee shops, someone

339
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 1: might be having an expresso but someone else is having

340
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 1: a cocktail you know, um, and then you know, an

341
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:42,199
Speaker 1: absent or whatever. So I think a lot of that

342
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 1: culture was here in the city um drinking. Um. But

343
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 1: what I love about today is it's like when in

344
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: the eighties we started educating with color institutes. We now

345
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:03,919
Speaker 1: have a generation and they've gotten educated. In the spirits world,

346
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 1: what do we call mixologists? You know, not quite sure

347
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,560
Speaker 1: yet where we're going with the name, but they're professionals

348
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:15,480
Speaker 1: and they're really uh can give a customer an experience

349
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 1: that you didn't experience when you walked and say, give

350
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: me an old fashioned you know now it's what bourbon

351
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,280
Speaker 1: would you like with your old fashioned? You know? And

352
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 1: then the young mixologists saying, we'll tell me kind of

353
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 1: what what what do you like? You know, what do

354
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 1: you like? Sweet? Do you like did or you know

355
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: it picks the right wrong or picks the right bourbon

356
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 1: for you to have that great experience. UM. So I

357
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 1: mean it's I don't know what's going like in ten years,

358
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: but what's happened the last ten years has been crazy,

359
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,920
Speaker 1: certainly in the spirits world. Um, are there any drinks

360
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 1: for which your traditionalist? Is there anything that you want

361
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 1: the one way and that's the way that it should be. UM.

362
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 1: Or do you like do you like rips? Do you

363
00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:01,919
Speaker 1: like that experimentation that you You know, there's some things

364
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: that I don't want to mess with. UM, like a

365
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 1: bloody Marry. You know, there's the original restpe It's very basic,

366
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: you know, great tomato juice, a little bit of a

367
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:21,360
Speaker 1: u Wistershire sauce, tabasco. That's it. UM. And I think

368
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: when you make that drink and you drink it with

369
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: a good vodka, it works. Nowadays we're sticking so many

370
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 1: things in it and it gets too gritty because you're

371
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 1: putting all these too much pepper, too much all. You know.

372
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,000
Speaker 1: That's I'm like, don't mess with a good thing now.

373
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,200
Speaker 1: If you want to mess with it, call it something else.

374
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 1: Because we certainly have created some great things from a

375
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 1: Bloody Marry. So I'm all about the evolution of whatever,

376
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:55,400
Speaker 1: whether it's food, spirits, cocktails. I think that's the exciting part.

377
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: And uh, And we've never been in a better time

378
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,399
Speaker 1: where the quality of the evolution of these trinks or

379
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,639
Speaker 1: whatever has been has been better. I mean, it's phenomenal

380
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 1: what's going on right now? Um, is are there any

381
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:18,880
Speaker 1: evolutions from from uh ear places here that you're particularly

382
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: proud of or excited about. So I grew up where

383
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 1: we made a basic milk punch and for years it

384
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 1: was brandy milk punch. Then our family started doing bourbon

385
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: milk punch. UM. So I grew up with a very

386
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 1: simple bourbon milk punch recipe. And when we opened up

387
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: here on Bourbon Street, Bourbon House, the this proliferation of

388
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: dacary shops up and down the street, you know, and

389
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: they're real sweet, I mean not knocking them. And the

390
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: fun thing about New Orleans you could walk up and

391
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 1: down the street with a cocktail. UM. So we knew

392
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,840
Speaker 1: we wanted to do something to add two to enhanced,

393
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 1: to be a little different, um, and so we created

394
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 1: a frozen bourbon milk punch. It's uh I call it

395
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: an adult milkshake because basically, you know, it's not what

396
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,439
Speaker 1: you would find in the in the dictories, you know

397
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: sweet and I mean this is it's a custard that

398
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: we freeze with bourbon and you know, um, and it's

399
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: it's really become one of our signature items. That was

400
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: a good evolution um um risk on the frozen room

401
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 1: because now he had the frozen Bourbon punch, but he

402
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: also had a martyr. Kinkakes are really popular here, so

403
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 1: we do and the kincake Betty, which is the kincake

404
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 1: version of the frozen bourbon punch. What does what does

405
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,360
Speaker 1: that look like? Well, we got you know, on top

406
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,399
Speaker 1: of the kincakes, you have a little different color of sugar,

407
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,199
Speaker 1: so we do a little bit of dusting. Um. The

408
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 1: one I really like is, you know, our family created

409
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 1: banana foster. We have it which is flamb rom so

410
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 1: at Palace where we feature broms um. You know, we

411
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: do a derivative of the Bourbon milk punch, but it's

412
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: a banana faussa milk punch and so it's flavored with bananas,

413
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: some cinnamon and the rum. But it's another one he's

414
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,400
Speaker 1: frozen drinks. So people really the nice things. You get

415
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:32,720
Speaker 1: to an end of a meal and you don't want

416
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,359
Speaker 1: to have a dessert. These drinks have become the go

417
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: to for a lot of our clientele, and being in

418
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: the French Court New Orleans, it's the ideal thing. You're

419
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: finishing the meal, you don't and you can take it

420
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: and go outside and see what's going on. There's a

421
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 1: lot of interesting wanting to walk around the French court.

422
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: So our adult milkshakes have become very popular. We just

423
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: had that video of the s Foster last night. By

424
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,360
Speaker 1: the way, it was not not the drink, but the

425
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:10,160
Speaker 1: whole thing. Yeah, it was. It was so good. Um Uh,

426
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,399
Speaker 1: do you have a dude? Do you have a favorite

427
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: or perhaps a shortlist? I hate it when people ask

428
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,800
Speaker 1: me my favorite thing. I'm like everything, literally, everything I've

429
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,199
Speaker 1: ever tasted is my favorite. Um, but did you have

430
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: a Do you have a favorite cocktail? Something that you

431
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:29,199
Speaker 1: just go back to all the time. Maybe a raightmus

432
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 1: gen fizz? Uh? I don't know why, but I just

433
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: it's uh, I can't say someone it's on the top

434
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: of a bunch of them. You know. I've always loved

435
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: the breakfast drinks and their owns, you know, right, or

436
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 1: milk punch a sas rack, you know, is a wonderful

437
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 1: I've put it more in the category and a pett

438
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: of teeth, you know, it's something I want to enjoy

439
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,919
Speaker 1: before I'm going to have a meal. Uh, you know,

440
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: and just the flavoring. Oh you think of a size right?

441
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 1: My god, it's it's the whiskey. But then you run

442
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 1: the glass with um, you know herb saying is our

443
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 1: local ICs. Yeah, and then you're putting in these different bitters.

444
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 1: There's so many ingredients in these bitters that they were

445
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: created by pharmacists in New Orleans way back because of

446
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 1: the medicinal purposes. Um. But it was all food based,

447
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 1: um ship that the bidders are based from foody product spices. UM. So,

448
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 1: I mean, what's going on when you put all that

449
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: with a great bourbon? You know, boom? That's I mean

450
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: makes your mouth go wow, what's going on in here? So?

451
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: So I've been fortunate that I've always been able to

452
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: enjoy been exposed growing up in New Orleans to just

453
00:28:52,400 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: some incredible spirits, cocktails. And so you mentioned you, Um,

454
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: we're reviewing a restaurant in New York recently. What other

455
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,560
Speaker 1: things besides all the stuff we're doing with this, what

456
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 1: what else have you involved in? Shoot? Our biggest thing

457
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: we've been working on the last five years is a

458
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: new culinary. It's it's too in downtown New Orleans. And

459
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: I say culinary, but it's really you know, We're gonna

460
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: start off this January with the baking and chef correctultion,

461
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 1: but it's it's really an institute that we hope evolves

462
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: in a lot more than just training chefs. So we

463
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: say hospitality. We want to focus on the front of

464
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: the house service UM and our real plan from day

465
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 1: one when we found this incredible property it's a hard

466
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: thousand square feet, it's a beautiful building right in downtown

467
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,959
Speaker 1: New Orleans, was to partner up with all the different

468
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: universities in I mean, we don't want to recreate the

469
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: the wheel here, but we think our industry. You know,

470
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: when I've made reference to the institutes like Culinary Institute

471
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 1: of America what it started doing to help young Americans

472
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: be classically trained, it's changed the food seeing. You know,

473
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: you had finite restaurants in the downtowns. Then you had

474
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 1: mom and pops neighborhood restaurants. Our mom and pop neighborhood

475
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: restaurants are at the same quality of a you know,

476
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: four star restaurant that would would have existed in a

477
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 1: form of environment downtown. So that was education, and so

478
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 1: that's the The food industry is huge, I mean with

479
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: the biggest employer behind the government. UM, and it's just

480
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: involves a lot of things. I mean, uh, I don't

481
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: want to ramble on. I mean I can run on

482
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 1: a lot about this in too. So when I say

483
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: we wanted the evil, ILL use this as an example. Um,

484
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,959
Speaker 1: there's no architecture school in America that has any concentration

485
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: on food service design. Now, architects will give you a

486
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: restaurant they loved to, but they'll ask you who's doing

487
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 1: your kitchen? And typically it's the person that sells you

488
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: the equipment, and they have the computers and they put

489
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,959
Speaker 1: it on that and they send it to the architect

490
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: and the architect stamps, and it's a person who's selling

491
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,479
Speaker 1: certain brands is designing kitchen. I hope is is that

492
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: we can go the next level to where there could

493
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:44,280
Speaker 1: be people that are trained in what is the ultimate kitchen. Um.

494
00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 1: You know, we've got evolved the equipment. You know, we

495
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 1: just redid Palace Cafes kitchen after twenty seven years. And

496
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 1: next to each station that has traditional which would be gasperning,

497
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: we put in an induction range next to it, trying

498
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 1: to get our young culinarians to learn how to cook

499
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 1: on a different But it's it's going to be you know,

500
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: it's what is gonna be the future best uses, best

501
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: pieces of equipment, a lot of research development. So with Noki,

502
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 1: you know, our idea is we don't want to start

503
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: an architecture school. Tulane has an incredible one two miles

504
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 1: up St. Charles. At All they have to do is

505
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,719
Speaker 1: hire one teacher that knows food, serves design and create

506
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: at a at an NBA level for architects to go

507
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 1: get this specially to where they really know kitchens and

508
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 1: put that under the Noki brand. So I mean it's

509
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 1: one teacher teaching something that no one teaches. And it's

510
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 1: because we created this Nooki Institute, which is about trying

511
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: to create education to all different areas of the food world.

512
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 1: And when you take two Lane and l s U

513
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: medical schools, I mean how much opportunities there with Tropical

514
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 1: Science School of Food being part of the R and

515
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 1: D of food, going into medicine, going into healthcare. So

516
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: really trying to create a new industry New Orleans that

517
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 1: higher education but which I want to focus on the

518
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 1: food world. It's endless what it can be. So but

519
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 1: now we've always been involved in a lot of things.

520
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: I mean we never I grew up with parents that

521
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 1: they would always say, you can't just be inside your

522
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 1: four walls. You have to be a part of your community,

523
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 1: be a part of your industry, um, you know, and

524
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: get out there. So I mean, we've all my goodness,

525
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 1: this town has so many great efforts going on and

526
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:51,160
Speaker 1: good causes and you know, uh ah, it's hard to

527
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: kind of listen things that that I've been involved in

528
00:33:54,640 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 1: over the years. One fun thing we just we're gonna

529
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: do this. Um thirty something years ago we created a

530
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 1: Louisiana Children's Museum and down to you know, in the

531
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: warehouse yestroom, and uh so the last year they've been

532
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: building a brand new facility in City Park are Vnesta

533
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 1: Park and uh and so we're gonna do the food

534
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: service in the new children's museum, which is really exciting

535
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: because also in City Park you have another Africa going

536
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,120
Speaker 1: on growed that you know, we do who that it's

537
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: a growed that and it's a it's a farm, it's

538
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: a working farm so that people can learn and be educated.

539
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 1: So we're really excited about taking what we're doing in

540
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,520
Speaker 1: the museum with the kids. We've got the food, you know,

541
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:51,759
Speaker 1: the farming going on and what we can do together. Um,

542
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,040
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a great project, you know, being able

543
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,439
Speaker 1: to work with the kids and educate them on where

544
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: your food comes from and how to cook it. It's

545
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. Him. It's kind of tomorrow. Oh right, yeah,

546
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: I was reading about this. You you helped institute an

547
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:17,399
Speaker 1: oyster shell recycling program, right. Um. You know, I love

548
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,160
Speaker 1: fishing and I'm going to My cousin has a great

549
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 1: fishing camp just thirty minutes south of the city, and

550
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,759
Speaker 1: I'm driving down there one day and where a lot

551
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 1: of the oyster boats. You know, it's a it's a

552
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: commercial fishing village as well as rec regional camps. This

553
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 1: is huge mound of limestone rock and they've got a

554
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 1: front loader that's scooping it up and putting it on

555
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,719
Speaker 1: an oyster logger. So when they're going out there rebuilding

556
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,440
Speaker 1: beds because we have to move where the oysters are

557
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,480
Speaker 1: if we're gonna do fresh word diversions to rebuild the marsh.

558
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:58,800
Speaker 1: And the biggest obstacle is it's not a fisherman catching

559
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 1: fish and move around. It's the oyster farmers that have

560
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: a lot of time invested in making a bed. So

561
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: there a lot of efforts to make beds in different

562
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,400
Speaker 1: areas so that we can bring fresh water. And but

563
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,839
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's there's no limestone, Louise, and I don't

564
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: know how far you gotta go to find limest. So

565
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're buying a product, we're shipping it here,

566
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: and we're trying to rebuild bets when we have so

567
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 1: we can grow oysters. All right, we have oyster shells

568
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: that we throw away. They go to the landfill but

569
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 1: for out and it's just it makes no sense. So

570
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: that kind of instigated what can we do to recycle? Uh,

571
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 1: how can we get these oyster shells as part of

572
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,840
Speaker 1: rebuilding the coast instead of letting them fill up our landfill?

573
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,000
Speaker 1: So so it worked out. I mean it's been a

574
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 1: very successful. How many times we're talking like four thousand

575
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 1: tons that we're recycled miles and miles will Oister Creeve

576
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 1: being able to build which also replacing them. There are

577
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: islands that were using so they're serving into a purpose

578
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 1: there the ground to raise additional oysters there also in

579
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,320
Speaker 1: cost erosion, right, so they can certainly build a bed,

580
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,640
Speaker 1: but they would put them in these baskets. Um it's

581
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:28,759
Speaker 1: like a sleeve. You fill it up, you're tied. Then

582
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,879
Speaker 1: it goes inside a big crate so that these could

583
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 1: be anchored and they're like looks like this table and

584
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 1: they're maybe this deep. And so our coastal erosion, that

585
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 1: coastline wherever it is in the marshal went out on

586
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,160
Speaker 1: the it just keeps eroding. So if you take this

587
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,440
Speaker 1: basket and you put it ten yards in front of

588
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 1: where the existing coast is and you anchor them in,

589
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,239
Speaker 1: it just natural will fill and instead of the erosion

590
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: going in one direction, we build back the coastline. And

591
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 1: that's what's worked really nice with this Oister recycling. So

592
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,719
Speaker 1: I mean because of that, we'll make it progress. UM.

593
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 1: So it's exciting. I mean, it's it's something we should do. Um.

594
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: What's the what's the food and drink community like around here? Like?

595
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: What's it? What's it like? Uh? Not just not just

596
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,319
Speaker 1: you know, people coming in and enjoying things obviously, but

597
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: what's it like working working with these farmers and U

598
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 1: and these producers, UM and and other restaurants around town.

599
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: I mean I feel sorry for people that do other stuff.

600
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 1: I mean, to have to talk to a farmer or

601
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 1: go out on the boat fishing and you know, being

602
00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:50,319
Speaker 1: outdoors and just seeing all these understanding where it's coming from.

603
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,440
Speaker 1: And then bringing into the restaurant with all these wonderful

604
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: talented people that want to cook, you know, and they

605
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:03,279
Speaker 1: they want to see someone enjoy it. Um, I don't know.

606
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: I mean, I've never not enjoyed this experience, you know,

607
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:13,400
Speaker 1: the daily ritual of that food part. Now trying to

608
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 1: make the business work and looking at the payroll and

609
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 1: all the other things. You know, that's not the fun

610
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 1: part of the day. But the food part, the product part.

611
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 1: You know that this is in season, it just came

612
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: in the back door, you know. Then we get to

613
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: prepping in a way that we can give it to

614
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: someone they and they really just have a great experience.

615
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:40,359
Speaker 1: That's good stuff. My dad always said what he liked

616
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: about our business was people came to us to have

617
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,360
Speaker 1: a good time, you know, and you really helped create

618
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 1: memories for people, people together celebrating as opposed to if

619
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,360
Speaker 1: I was a banker, people coming to me they need money,

620
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,360
Speaker 1: if am an attorney, they come into they got to

621
00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: the father doctor, you're going as you're hurting. I mean,

622
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,359
Speaker 1: people come to us to have a good celebration. It's

623
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: a real positive attribute. We've got a bit more of

624
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: this interview left, but first we're going to take one

625
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 1: more quick break for a word from our sponsor, and

626
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 1: we're back. Thank you sponsor, and back to the interview. UM,

627
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 1: what do you what do you see coming in the

628
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 1: future other other than this this awesome institute, Like you

629
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 1: know what a what do what do you? What do

630
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 1: you hope for for y'all and for New Orleans? And

631
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 1: I guess what what other problems are you working on tackling?

632
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:50,000
Speaker 1: You know? One of my hopes with this new institute. UM,

633
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 1: it amazed me how many young men and women work

634
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: in New Orleans restaurants and they never get past the

635
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,719
Speaker 1: line cook possession. They don't become that manager, they don't

636
00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: become the soux chef chef. And I'm convinced it's because

637
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: they don't have that formal education. UM. And a lot

638
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 1: of these people aren't going to be able to leave

639
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 1: state and go to Johnson and Wales a color issue,

640
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:20,240
Speaker 1: It's just not gonna happen. So one of my biggest

641
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 1: from day one mission with this new institute is we

642
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:28,320
Speaker 1: want to take I certainly want to take individuals that

643
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:30,919
Speaker 1: have been cooking for fifteen years. What I mean, they're

644
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 1: in it and they know what they do, and they

645
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: have great skills, very talented, but be able to put

646
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,520
Speaker 1: them in that classic environment where they I say, learn

647
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 1: a language. I mean, if you don't, you can make

648
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 1: holidays as like a Michael Jordan playing basketball, but if

649
00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 1: you don't know the word emulsify and and the chemistry

650
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 1: behind what you do and why it works it, I

651
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: think it keeps you from having confidence. And that lack

652
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,360
Speaker 1: of confidence is where these men and women don't go

653
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 1: to the next level. Because there's so many I've worked

654
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,759
Speaker 1: with over the years and I've said, come on, want

655
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,120
Speaker 1: you take a little responsible now I'm I'm I'm good

656
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,799
Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing. And then I've seen young men

657
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: and women from out of state that have graduated from

658
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: these wonderful programs, and so many of them go, I

659
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 1: want to cook in New Orleans and so it's a

660
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:29,560
Speaker 1: young confident you know, someone just graduated co Schood's coming

661
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 1: in and they're getting the sex chef position and then

662
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,000
Speaker 1: they become the chefs. I mean, I'm certainly not knocking

663
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:37,840
Speaker 1: an animal. Look Gosspi I mean, it couldn't be a

664
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,839
Speaker 1: greater example of you know, animal came in started working

665
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,280
Speaker 1: my family and you know, look look where he's gone.

666
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,600
Speaker 1: So I really hope this institute because in New Orleans,

667
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,600
Speaker 1: you know, we have certainly have our challenges when it

668
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:55,879
Speaker 1: comes to I'll just saying it's racial relationships and so

669
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 1: and a lot of people leadership on both sides. When

670
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 1: you have and conversation, you know, a lot of time

671
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:05,279
Speaker 1: the leadership will say, well, I don't see anybody out

672
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 1: of the African American community being the chef or be

673
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:11,240
Speaker 1: in the business owner. You know, you know at some point,

674
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 1: you know that has to evolve. And so I think

675
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity Friday industry instead of people being

676
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,520
Speaker 1: you know, stock and can't get to the next level,

677
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 1: that this should open that door. And if because we

678
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 1: have the talent. It's like musicians, I jazz musicians a worldwide.

679
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 1: We have athletes that are just incredibly probably have more

680
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,000
Speaker 1: of them in the NFL than anyone. We had the

681
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:40,880
Speaker 1: same talent that can cook, they just don't have that

682
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,280
Speaker 1: education to where they're going to go be a chef.

683
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 1: My hope is in a short period of time there'll

684
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 1: be men and women out of this community that will

685
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,439
Speaker 1: be a chef in New York City, the East Coast

686
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 1: of West Coast and really changing that path that hadn't

687
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: really been here in New Orleans. Yeah. Um, that's a

688
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:09,839
Speaker 1: big one. But it's it would help me on so much,

689
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,279
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, we're a wonderful city. We have

690
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: so much going on for us. But I just you know,

691
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,200
Speaker 1: my dream is it's a great city and it's not

692
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: a great city when like we're saying, I mean, not

693
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 1: every man and woman in this community has a path

694
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,440
Speaker 1: to really live American dream. My family has lived the

695
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: American dream. We had nothing, you know, and we worked

696
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:34,879
Speaker 1: hard and we had a lot of good luck. We're

697
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:39,400
Speaker 1: our um you know, and good mentors when we were educated,

698
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:46,719
Speaker 1: and it helped us live an American dream. So nice. Yes,

699
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:53,800
Speaker 1: I hope we can do for New Arts, thank you. Um.

700
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 1: I guess speaking of learning, is there anything that you

701
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:06,600
Speaker 1: feel like you're still learning personally? Sorry, didn't mean to

702
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:13,719
Speaker 1: get personal, you know, I mean you're just going through

703
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 1: different stage in life. I mean I have grown up

704
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,799
Speaker 1: kids in a nowl you know, getting educated, getting great

705
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,640
Speaker 1: because they want to come into the family business. Um My,

706
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 1: nephew is already in the business working was UM. So

707
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,799
Speaker 1: I'm kind of at this stage. And I grew up

708
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 1: with my dad was certainly this way. He didn't want

709
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,280
Speaker 1: to be an eighty year old going to work telling

710
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,120
Speaker 1: everybody what to do. He wanted me to get educated

711
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:41,480
Speaker 1: so I could come back home and sit around with

712
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 1: him and the team and we talked about something, and

713
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,560
Speaker 1: I'd be able to go we haven't tried this, or

714
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:49,719
Speaker 1: why are we doing that? Because I gotten educated in

715
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,839
Speaker 1: that in a short period of time, the team would

716
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 1: be going. Junior is not here because Junior junior seriously,

717
00:45:56,680 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 1: he's got some skill and could become part the leadership

718
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: and the thing. So we had these early uh transitions

719
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: from a senior generation to the next generation of being

720
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:13,040
Speaker 1: able to run the business UM. And I've really valued

721
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:16,759
Speaker 1: the time after I graduation from college when I went

722
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:21,360
Speaker 1: and worked outside the family before I came back. Value

723
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 1: that and to see it to be on the other

724
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:27,560
Speaker 1: side where I'm now my dad watching my kids go

725
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: get that exposure and they're smart, they get they're doing

726
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:34,360
Speaker 1: better than I did with what their experiences are, but

727
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,040
Speaker 1: they're bringing it home. And because I'm looking forward to

728
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 1: transition and out of having the you know, it's that term.

729
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,319
Speaker 1: I want to be on the sideline. I want to

730
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 1: help them. I want to be there, uh you know,

731
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,239
Speaker 1: their resource. Whatever they need, I want, but it's their

732
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,480
Speaker 1: turn to do it. So so it's a wonderful part

733
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 1: of my life. I mean, I'm freeing up. I don't

734
00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:01,240
Speaker 1: have all the responsibilities and I've got a great team

735
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 1: that they don't need me to open a restaurant. Flows

736
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:11,400
Speaker 1: a restaurant and U. So life is pretty good. Yeah.

737
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:19,279
Speaker 1: Do you more of that celebration that's where the live life? Yeah?

738
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:22,040
Speaker 1: Do is there anything we you would like to speak

739
00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: to you that we didn't ask you about? Or do

740
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:30,480
Speaker 1: this just a philosophy. I mean we have four restaurants,

741
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,280
Speaker 1: and I mean Bourbon House was when we first decided

742
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,360
Speaker 1: let's focus on a spirit and with all the history

743
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,560
Speaker 1: we've talked about with Bourbon, there was let's do the

744
00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:45,400
Speaker 1: spirits here um Palace Cafe. More recently, we did a

745
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 1: major renovation. We added a bar on the second level

746
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:53,040
Speaker 1: because it really didn't have a bar, and we decided

747
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,920
Speaker 1: to do wrong now, I mean romh, my god. Hundreds

748
00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:01,840
Speaker 1: of years ago we started growing sugarcane in Louisiana and

749
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 1: it was the Jazuits. And one of the first areas

750
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:10,120
Speaker 1: that they grew sugar cane was right across Canal Street

751
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:12,760
Speaker 1: where Palace Cafe is. I mean that's where they were growing.

752
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,239
Speaker 1: And I mean sugar is what makes wrong. So so

753
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:21,360
Speaker 1: that was our connection with wanting to do that spirit.

754
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:25,600
Speaker 1: And then, uh, at the steakhouse, it's always, you know,

755
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:30,240
Speaker 1: been that classic old world spirits, the Scotch, the wrong

756
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 1: I mean vodka gin. But my family's Irish, so we

757
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,400
Speaker 1: have an Irish whiskey collection there, just to pay some

758
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: homage to our heritage. Uh. And it's a nice way

759
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:45,680
Speaker 1: that we can do it. Uh. And then you know,

760
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:51,560
Speaker 1: our youngest well, you know, so we just recently added

761
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:57,400
Speaker 1: a Martini card, so we go duke table side martinis

762
00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, this is where we keep saying,

763
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,719
Speaker 1: I'm a big I don't want to change for the

764
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:06,080
Speaker 1: sake of change. But you got evolved, you know. So

765
00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:08,719
Speaker 1: there's a lot of fun for us. Rohan evolved things.

766
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: And this is where instead of that martini just showing up,

767
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 1: it's a whole different experience. I mean, you're looking at

768
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:19,279
Speaker 1: these incredible products that are gonna garnish. That are the

769
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:23,480
Speaker 1: options to take your martini to another level and a

770
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:28,400
Speaker 1: real trained professional that's making it perfect, the right temperature

771
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:33,080
Speaker 1: in the right glass. I mean, life short, let's eat,

772
00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:37,040
Speaker 1: you know, to it right, eat good and then Uh

773
00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:40,440
Speaker 1: but I knew it's for restaurant tableau. Um. You know.

774
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,920
Speaker 1: It's it's in a part of the quarter where originally

775
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,600
Speaker 1: the French Court was built. It's right next to St.

776
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:52,680
Speaker 1: Louis Cathedral. Uh, you know, when they founded the city

777
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:56,160
Speaker 1: and decided this is where we're gonna put the build

778
00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 1: the city. There was a priest there and they say

779
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,360
Speaker 1: build a church there. And it's the oldest cathedral in America.

780
00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:09,200
Speaker 1: But it's it's where the city was developed. We're right

781
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:11,880
Speaker 1: next to it. A block behind it is the oldest

782
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 1: ballroom in America. Because we celebrate, We've always celebrate. So

783
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:19,600
Speaker 1: it's just that feeling of being around that area there.

784
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:24,080
Speaker 1: We do sparkling and champagne, you know, because it's just

785
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,640
Speaker 1: it's where we should be celebrated. And it's part of

786
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 1: Lempatit Theater, which is the oldest community theater in America.

787
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,320
Speaker 1: So it's about going to enjoy theater in this wonderful

788
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 1: restaurant with a balcony in the courtyard. Champagne Sparkly kind

789
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:44,600
Speaker 1: of works in that environment. So I love the fact

790
00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:47,839
Speaker 1: that we've focus on something, and because each of our

791
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:53,359
Speaker 1: restaurants is totally different, different experiences. But it's just it's

792
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 1: just a matter of time for we can kind of

793
00:50:55,000 --> 00:51:01,120
Speaker 1: find something that we can specialize in. It's been for

794
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:04,960
Speaker 1: I don't know what we're gonna do at the Louisiana

795
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:19,880
Speaker 1: Children's Musing. Yeah, we were. We were talking yesterday to

796
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:26,440
Speaker 1: um Isaac Troupe. Um. I think, uh yeah, but um

797
00:51:28,719 --> 00:51:30,759
Speaker 1: they were. They were talking about how New Orleans is

798
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:33,440
Speaker 1: different than many other places in the way that is

799
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:37,360
Speaker 1: that it treats alcohol in the way that it you know, uh,

800
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:39,840
Speaker 1: the way that kids are allowed to grow up around

801
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:42,480
Speaker 1: it rather than it being you know, the kind of

802
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:45,319
Speaker 1: like puritan things up in your experience, you know, and

803
00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:51,440
Speaker 1: I mean looks my experience and clients you certainly you know,

804
00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:55,120
Speaker 1: consuming one and stuff like that at a table at

805
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,920
Speaker 1: home from the early age. I mean, I'll work in

806
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: kitchens where we would sit down and do our family

807
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,160
Speaker 1: meal before the service, and we certainly drank wine, you know.

808
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:09,000
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's just New Orleans. But I

809
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:16,839
Speaker 1: think New Orleansians we lived like I never forget who

810
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:19,560
Speaker 1: was the uh. He was one of the original ankleman

811
00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:25,640
Speaker 1: UH franklet David Brinkley, so he was whatever channel we had, Cronkie.

812
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:29,200
Speaker 1: Three of them did the nightly news. And he was

813
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 1: a dear friend. He was in New Orleans all the time,

814
00:52:31,719 --> 00:52:34,799
Speaker 1: and he had had he was having dinner with my

815
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:38,600
Speaker 1: and Ella and handful of people is probably a Lyndi Boge,

816
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 1: you know, wonderful group of characters, and and all of

817
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:47,920
Speaker 1: the whole night kept saying to him, you know, we

818
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:50,520
Speaker 1: can't get this right, and we're not you know. It

819
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:52,920
Speaker 1: was all things that she was disappointed with with the

820
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:55,799
Speaker 1: leadership of the city, and we couldn't get anything, you know.

821
00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:58,920
Speaker 1: And he was just a polite gentleman. They had a

822
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,799
Speaker 1: fantastic meal, and I think animal was very young, the chef,

823
00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:06,160
Speaker 1: so it would be back in those late eighties. So

824
00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:10,480
Speaker 1: he calls him the next morning. He says, Ela, it

825
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:13,319
Speaker 1: pains me that you that upset with New Orleans. He said,

826
00:53:13,360 --> 00:53:16,399
Speaker 1: first of all, couldn't have had more fun last night.

827
00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 1: Always loved the company, and the food was fantastic. Then

828
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:26,920
Speaker 1: he says nobody's traveling as much as I've seen so

829
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,520
Speaker 1: much in my life doing what I do, he said.

830
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 1: I want to tell you this, when I go to Italy,

831
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 1: nothing works. They're on strike. Everything's off time. He says.

832
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: With Italians, they do something better than it. They live

833
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:48,160
Speaker 1: life there daily cultures, they live life, he says. Anywhere

834
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:52,000
Speaker 1: else I travel, certainly in America, there's only one other

835
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 1: place that I can say the local people live life.

836
00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:59,000
Speaker 1: He says. It's New Orleans. Y'all live life, he says.

837
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:02,239
Speaker 1: Get over all this stuff not working. So here, I'm

838
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,480
Speaker 1: the next generation, and I've already said I want my

839
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 1: say to be great. You know, I want to be

840
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 1: perfectly clean and everything working and all that stuff. But

841
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,479
Speaker 1: when I think of that, it helps me get over

842
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,520
Speaker 1: my love hate relationship where I'm like disappointed we're not

843
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:20,879
Speaker 1: doing something better because that man was right. I mean,

844
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:24,879
Speaker 1: we really connect with each other all day long, and uh,

845
00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:29,920
Speaker 1: when we live life. So we have arrived at the

846
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:32,960
Speaker 1: end of this interview. We hope that you enjoyed it

847
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,759
Speaker 1: as much as we enjoyed doing it. Yeah, and I

848
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:39,680
Speaker 1: hope that you also had someone bring you po boys

849
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:41,880
Speaker 1: in the middle of it, or that maybe you went

850
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:43,520
Speaker 1: and got a po boy first. Oh, we should have

851
00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:45,200
Speaker 1: put like a po boy warning at the top of

852
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:50,279
Speaker 1: the episode. We should rookie mistake, make mistake. I when

853
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,279
Speaker 1: we first get back from these trips, we have these

854
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:55,880
Speaker 1: massive we get transcripts of everything, and we have this

855
00:54:55,920 --> 00:54:57,799
Speaker 1: big document where we just put in quotes that we like,

856
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 1: and I remember, for some some interview is it ends

857
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:04,319
Speaker 1: up being the whole interview and you eventually have to

858
00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:07,960
Speaker 1: go like, well, well we can't use everything. So yeah,

859
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 1: I think he was one. He was one of the

860
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 1: ones who made it into a lot of episodes. But

861
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:13,880
Speaker 1: I really get a kick out of just kind of

862
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:16,279
Speaker 1: going through the whole thing. So I hope I hope

863
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:20,120
Speaker 1: you all also feel the same way. I hope so too,

864
00:55:20,239 --> 00:55:24,160
Speaker 1: And I also hope that you'll you'll reach out contact us.

865
00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:27,200
Speaker 1: You can email us. Our email is hello at savor

866
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:29,919
Speaker 1: pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can

867
00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:33,800
Speaker 1: find us at savor pod at Instagram and Facebook and Twitter.

868
00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:36,840
Speaker 1: We do hope to hear from you. Savor is production

869
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:39,400
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media. For more podcasts

870
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:41,640
Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, you can visit the heart Radio app,

871
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:44,720
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

872
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:47,880
Speaker 1: Thank you, as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin and

873
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 1: Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope

874
00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:52,560
Speaker 1: that lots more good things are coming your way.