WEBVTT - Renowned Chicago chef talks Bears fandom | Bears, etc. Podcast 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 Right justin middle of the field forty five fifteen bring 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.040 Russ in front of a leading. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:05.720 Lions in his way. 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:08.119 I am Jeff jonihack Witz. 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:13.399 Is not DONI go upcur What was like playing for Coche? 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:13.840 Good done? 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.000 I don't want to answer any questions like that. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:17.439 Sixty one yards? 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.079 What's Sunday stroll for? Justin field? 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:28.400 Yes. Bears et Cetera brought to you by Miller Lte 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.400 with the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer. 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.519 Welcome back to the Bears et Cetera Podcast. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.520 We're episode fifty one, halfway through January already and gearing 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.319 up for a memorable off season as the Bears are 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:45.080 interviewing offensive fordner candidates and delving deep into their game 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.640 plan for the quarterback position with Super Bowl winning Bears 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:48.360 guard Tom Thayer. 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:49.360 I'm Jeff Joniac. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.479 Good to have you along as we begin a now 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.280 once a week's show through the off season, save for 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.600 any breaking news, of course that may occur between now 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.360 and the start of training camp. And we are sponsored 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.160 by Miller Official Beer of the Chicago Bears. 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:03.760 It's like Mither time Chicago. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:06.000 We have a special guest to kick off the program 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.760 special guest down fifty one. It's our Dick, butkis episode 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.839 for a guy who was born and bred like Dick 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.280 on the South Side. One of the premier chefs in 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:19.360 the world, right here in Chicago, our very own Joe Flamm, 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:25.760 culinary director for Sincere Hospitality overseeing Rosemary and Blvd. Steakhouse 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.560 in Fulton Market District. Winner of Top Chef Season fifteen. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.960 His career is amazing. We're going to get into that. 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.560 His love of the Bears and the White Sox also 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.920 deeply rooted in this man and his world is blending 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:40.759 with the sports world as we speak right now. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:42.039 Joe, how you feeling, buddy. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.759 I'm feeling good, feeling good, Excited to be here. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.000 Guys, Thanks, thanks for joining us. I know you have 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.680 a busy schedule running everything. But before we get into 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.240 all that, we got to get your thoughts on your beloved. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.920 We got to talk about the Bears and you know, hey, 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.120 it's gonna be an amazing offseason and I know every 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.640 Bears fan feeling a little bit anxious about it all. 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:04.320 How are you feeling about it? 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.440 Yeah, I feel anxious, I feel excited. I think these 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.680 are normal feelings as a Bears fan, but I think, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.280 you know, I really like Kevin Warred, I really like 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:16.560 Ryan Pole. So you know, I think at this point 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:18.400 you got to say, we trust our guys, right, we 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.720 trust the two guys who were there to spok to 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.840 do the job. I think, you know, I felt better 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.000 about it before that Packers game, and then I felt 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.240 better about it before I watched the Packers go to 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:36.080 Dallas and absolutely destroy the Cowboys. It's just kind of 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.200 that was the scary thing to me there. But I 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.360 think it kind of forces your hand one way, because 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.960 you're now saying, you know, we thought the Packers weren't 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:44.880 going to be this right a couple of years ago, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.720 we're like, Okay, you know, they're kind of going down. 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.560 Everybody's treading down at our division. Detroit went through the 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.840 roof Green Base making a run. Now it's say it, Okay, 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.519 the table stakes are just as high as they've always been. 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.280 So if we want to compete in this division, we 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.639 got to be ready for it. We have to have, 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.600 you know what I mean, the weapons to do so. 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.600 So the Bears lose to green Bay seventeen to nine. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.480 In green Bay, they beat Detroit at home, and they 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.160 should have beat Detroit on the road. That kind of 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:15.400 gives me some encouragement going into the offseason, thinking, Okay, 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.840 you're a reachable, you're an attainable improvement a way from 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.160 going in and competing in your division. 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.640 How do you feel about the way the Bears ended things. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.040 I think it's tough. I hated the way that last 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.120 game went. I hated the way it was called. I 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.840 thought Justin looked really uncomfortable that whole game. I thought, 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.440 you know, I think a lot of us thought like 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.560 he was going to come out and be wildly aggressive. Right, 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.680 there's nothing to lose. We don't have a playoffs spout 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.720 to lose, Like, just let them go out there, let 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.400 them rip it, let's be super aggressive with the defense, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.839 and let's just go after Green Bay. And it felt 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:48.720 like they played a game where they were trying not 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.240 to lose. And then when you watch the contrast of 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.240 Jordan Love to Justin Fields, I think that's where it 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.600 felt really scary to me, because you're watching this guy 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.920 who looks real comfortable in the pocket, is making decisions, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.440 making quick throws, not holding onto the ball too long, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.600 and you're watching Justin, you know, getting crushed over there. 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.520 So it's just like, that's the part that scares me. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.040 It doesn't feel super far away, but I'm just worried 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.600 the part where it is far away might be justin. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.080 Thanks Jeff, this is not just some chef. This guy 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.680 knows football, so I love it. I'm not gonna I'm 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.640 not going to ask your answer. Do you have a 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.440 specific opinion about the quarterback position? And I don't, you know, 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.320 I guess you can give me an explanation, but you know, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.080 it's it's one of the biggest topics in the NFL 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:39.000 football world outside the head coaching consideration of the rest 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:39.520 of the league. 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.279 I think it's tough. You know, we're number one pick 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.440 two years in a row. So you're either going to 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:46.640 say we're going to trade the number one pick two 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.880 years in a row and we're going to go all 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.320 in on Justin again. Or are you going to say, hey, 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.120 we see what the competition is, we know what we have, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.320 and we're going to take a gamble that maybe there's 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:01.240 something better out there. And I think that's kind of 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.479 the two roads right now, right because I think it's like, 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.320 we have the cap space, we have the picks, where 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.840 we're going to be whoever it is, you're going to 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:09.000 be able to build a rend them, you know what 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.760 I mean, whether it's there's a heavy wide receiver draft 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.520 in that first round, the wide receiver's going into free 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.800 agency this year, nuts, you know what I mean. So 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.920 I think it's like being able to pick somebody up. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:20.800 You know, It's like I think I have a sick 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.360 fantasy where it's like Mike Evans and Dj Moore out 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.360 there and it's like, you know what I mean, Like, 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:28.880 you know, it's just like who cares who throws to 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.440 him at that point, right? You know what I mean, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.040 Just get the ball up in the air. Somebody will 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.400 break it down. But it's hard. You know. They keep 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.880 saying consistency, but I just I have a hard time 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.359 believing if you're the GM, you know, this season, you know, 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.080 is a huge season for you where you look at 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.560 that number one pick and you say you're going to 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:52.640 trade it away and not say, hey, like maybe you 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.840 know one of these kids out there is what they 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:55.599 are supposed to be. 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.880 When did it kind of crystallize for you that you 0:05:57.920 --> 0:05:58.440 were a Bear? 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.919 I mean, you know, Litten, but I was born four 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.039 months after the Bears won the super Bowl, though, you 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:06.600 know what I mean, I've never seen a Bear super 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.120 Bowl in my lifetime. My dad's a Bears fan. I'm 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:10.680 a Bears fan. I grew up in a house, you know. 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.719 He had all the posters on the wall the weight 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.000 room that were you know, the back the Black and 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.520 Blues Brothers and the Junkyard Dogs. It was it was instant, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:19.880 you know what I mean, there was no other option. 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.040 My dad's a Cubs fan, I'm a Socks fan. We 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.760 agree on almost nothing, but there was always the Bears. 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:27.919 That was always a day, one day of just you 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.599 know what I mean, like Sunday's watching the Bears, and 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.239 it's just it's it's always, it's been forever. I always 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.080 I always loved the big guys growing up, you know 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:36.600 what I mean. I was a you know, a big guy. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.400 I was alignment. So it's like I loved Olin Cruitz. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.159 He was he was always one of my favorites. I 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.200 love the way he played. He was mean, you know 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:45.680 what I mean. He just seemed like a real son 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:47.880 of a bitch out there and I love that. The guy, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:49.680 like the guy who if he was like God, anyone 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.400 else's team you'd probably hate him. I love the Erlocker era, 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.120 so like getting to watch like Aurlocker play you just 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:56.919 you know, for me, I was like, oh yeah, we 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.200 just had the greatest middle linebackers always forever, you know, 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.400 and it was just unbelievable to watch. And I think 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.880 he was Him and Devin Hess might have been two 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.680 of the most excited guys I've ever seen wear a 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.400 Bear's uniform in my lifetime at least. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:10.920 Did you go to any Bears games? 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:12.840 Because I remember the first time I went to a 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.920 Bears game then it was a Bears Packers preseason game 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.320 and it was on my birthday back in probably the 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:20.440 early seventies. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.840 Yeah, I mean we didn't go to a lot of 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.200 Bears games, you know, because Bears games were expensive, they 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:27.040 were hard to get into, and so it was I 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.040 remember the first time I went to Soldier Field was 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.320 actually my dad took me. You know, this is like 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.840 some real South Side So my Dan's brother, of course, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.360 is a priest. So my dance brother is a priest 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.320 and he's a missionary priest. So he was in town 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.120 for like a week, and so it was Notre Dame 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.560 was playing at Soldier Field, so we went down to 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.560 Soldier Field scalp tickets late to get in sat like 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.080 twelfth roll behind Lou Holtz when Rick Meyer was the quarterback. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.040 And that was the first time I was ever inside 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:54.760 Soldier Field. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.200 I was at that game on the sidelines, and I 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.080 think that's the one that Rick Meyer had a really 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.560 good day in the hit and the bean l Cook 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.320 said Rick Meyer is going to be a four year 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.840 All American and a Heisman Trophy winner. 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.200 At the end of the day. They might have been 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:11.920 playing Northwestern or something. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.240 I remember it was like Rick Meyern. I was like, Yeah, 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.640 this guy is awesome. If the Beers could get this guy, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.560 this would be the guy. This would solve all our problems. Well, 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:21.360 obviously I wasn't right on that. 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.680 Who have you met in terms of sports personalities over 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:27.720 the course of your career as a chef? 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:29.880 You know, first real nice restaurant I worked at was 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.960 Table fifty two in the Gold Coast and we used 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:34.640 to do we used to do it was like a 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.480 fine dining Southern restaurant. On Sundays we would do fried chicken. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:39.679 It was the only day of the week we did, 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:41.680 like these fried chicken dinners with mashed potatoes and it 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.240 was like forty two dollars fried chicken. It was ridiculous, right, 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.800 But it was like Tommy Harris was on the Bears 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.680 then and like that. So this was the seven eight era, 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.400 and these guys would come in and everybody be really 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.400 dressed up in this restaurant. These guys would roll in 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.040 after a Sunday game and flip flops of Jim shorts, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.120 you know, being the size of the doorway and come 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.079 just crush and I was like, this is the best, 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.040 Like this is just just really really cool. At that 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.680 same place, Eli Manning ate there one time and it 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.320 was one of those crazy things and I think, like 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:19.400 growing up, you know, you see these quarterbacks out there 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.240 and you see all these huge guys around them, and 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.959 then you see these quarterbacks in real life, and that's 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:26.600 always the thing that shocked me. It's like, how just 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.719 monster these guys are, you know what I mean? The 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.600 first time I saw like Brett Farber, I was like, Oh, 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.040 this dude's like huge, Like this dude's not like you 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:36.320 know what I mean, You're like, oh, why can't they 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.520 tackle this guy? It's like, well, because he's sixty three 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.000 two twenty five, and you know, I mean, you know, 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:42.959 I mean for me being from Chicago, one of my 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:47.000 biggest welles was Jordan. I got to cook for Jordan 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.360 a couple of times Labroad. But one of my favorite 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.120 people honestly. I worked at a place and Ozzie Gid 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.199 used to come in all the time and he would 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:57.920 sit at the chef's counter and I was just a 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.160 cook at the time, and he was I mean, he'd 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:02.920 have us go at all night, like he would just 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.840 tell stories, Like he would tell stories about like him 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.200 and Joey Korra and the minor leagues and like you know, 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.240 Border Texas towns, like getting in fistfights at like Honky 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.319 Tonks because like, you know, Joey Korra was like all 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.240 the ladies at the bar were talking to Joey Korra 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.200 and he would just like get in a fight with 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.440 like six regnat dudes. He's like he's like Joey Corey 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.079 would just beat the shit out of all of them. 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.120 He's like he's the toughest guy you've ever met. So 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:27.920 it was like that was one of my favorites. He 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.680 would just tell stories forever before he became famous. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.760 In one Top Chef, did you ever have a favorite 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:39.000 restaurant in your life before you know you had everything 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:40.600 thrust upon you that you have had. 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.040 Yeah, I mean I had a couple. You know, there's 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.160 one in the west Loop called a Vec was always 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.120 one of my favorites. That was mine of my wife's 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.760 first date. That one was always, you know, really special 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.800 one to me. Lula Cafe up in Logan Square just 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.360 you know, an absolute jab And I mean for me, 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.080 like the real like you know, the og spot. For me, 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.640 I grew up like eighty fourth in Saint Louis. I 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:06.640 grew up in Ashburn, so it's like I grew up 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.800 two blocks away from Vito and Knicks, So it's like. 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.960 That for me is like you know, home preparation for football, 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.360 whether you're a player or you're a broadcaster, you spend 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.000 a lot of time watching tape and kind of you 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.120 become familiar with your opponent and what they do well 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.600 and what they don't do well. When you go into 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.560 a restaurant before you you know, ran a business of 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.199 your own, were you always taken mental notes about serving, preparation, 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.720 taste or delivery and the kind of same things that 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:42.080 I would be paying attention to watching football. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.240 For sure, especially when I traveled, you know what I mean, 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:44.959 especially if I went like if I went over to 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.000 Italy or if I went to Croatia, I would bring, you know, 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:49.839 a notebook with me and I wouldn't bring it to dinner, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:51.200 but at the end of the night, I'd go home 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:52.880 and I just I'd write, you know what I mean, 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.840 I'd be like, Okay, you know, went to this cafe 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.160 this morning. I like the way they served their espresso 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.040 with a little spark clean water and they put it 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:02.920 on a tray and that was really nice. And like 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.600 I noticed this little thing, or like I had this 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.200 dish and I like this about it. Didn't like this 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.240 about it, but I think it's a good idea, Like 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.120 you know, come back to it and just kind of 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.120 just kind of like track what was happening so I 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.320 could go back and look at it. And I still, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.800 you know, and even now with kind of the chefs 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.040 I have under me, when they go out, you know, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.600 or if they go on a trip and they come back, 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.520 I'm like, Okay, what did you eat? Where did you eat? Oh? 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.280 You made it this place? What did you like about it? 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.600 What did you see there that was really good? You know? 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.280 What did you see there that was kind of a 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.600 strange to you, you know what I mean, what service 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.440 thing did you think was a nice touch? And just 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.840 like so we're always kind of the same way for 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.199 you guys. You know, you're always having football conversations, right, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.440 You're always thinking about, you know, how do we improve 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.560 It's the same idea where it's like I want you know, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.120 I'm always thinking about it. And even if I'm in 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:51.720 a restaurant, I can kind of turn it off and 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.839 be like, Okay, these aren't my problems, But it doesn't 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.000 mean I can't not see it, you know what I mean. 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.439 Like if I can hear your ticket printer, I can 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.440 hear that take a printer going off, And I'm looking 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.439 around the room and I'm like, okay, this is Shit's 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.320 about to hit the fan in this room, Like you 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:06.880 know what i mean, I'm counting the servers on the floor. 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:08.959 I'm looking back at the kitchen. You have a your 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.400 down a line cook, you have eleven tickets on the board. 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.440 You get two guys cranking it out, you got two 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.679 servers both working eleven table sections. Like this is about 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.120 to be We're gonna be here for another hour and 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:19.160 a half. Waiting for stuff. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:21.959 You're like a coach. You're like a coach. 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.760 Did you ever have the occasion to go to Fair 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.880 Brother's Restaurant in Joliet. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.280 No, no, I have. You know, it's funny. I worked 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.280 at a bar out on the line of like where 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.640 Juliette hits Mookina hits New Lennox. It was like Schoolhouse 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.440 Road in twenty maybe those intersect out there. I think 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.640 it is King in Highway twenty. My buddy's dad opened 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.640 this bar and he just you know, yeah me. I 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:49.600 was like nineteen, and he's like, yeah, you're just gonna 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.200 do all the stuff. And I was like, yeah, sure, 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.040 I love it. You know what I mean. I'm laid tile, 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.880 I dug out beer garden, changed kegs, whatever you need it. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.720 And it is like, you know, people don't know about 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.640 South suburbs. It's a whole other world out there. It 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.280 is just like it blew my mind. It's wild. It's 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.000 such a mix of people out there. It was fun 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.760 as hell, but it was. It was a wild time 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.200 my mom and my brother. 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.439 It's it's every single day job, you know, there is 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.800 I always tell people there's no year over the hump 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:23.680 or everything's downhill from here because you're putting together. You're 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.880 putting together a group and a team of people, just 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.080 like a head coach would bring a coaching staff and 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.080 a team together. So I just think that the effort 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:37.120 and the work that goes into the everyday operation of 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.840 a restaurant sometimes people don't realize it when they open the. 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.680 Door and they get great fried chicken for whatever. The 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.160 price is right. 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:46.600 And it's you know, it's one of those things I 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:48.960 always tell, you know, when people are like, oh, I'm 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:50.920 you know, a friend, they're thinking about getting into it 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:52.960 or whatever, you know, I always tell them, and I'm 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.800 really straightforward about it, like I'm not trying to talk 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.600 to anybody in this industry. I'm not trying to talk 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.640 about but it's like I'm just trying to be honest 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.080 about it. I'm like, it's not a great job. It's 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.080 a really hard job. It can be a very thankfus job. 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.000 I'm like, if you can wake up tomorrow and you 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.760 can imagine doing anything else, go do that. It's a 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.680 better job. I love this. I don't want to wake 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.960 up tomorrow and do anything else. I cannot fathom it, 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.320 you know. I go so it's a great career for 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.200 me because I love it, but it's not a great job. 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:23.800 So if it's just something where you're like, oh, I 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:25.760 think I kind of want to do this, it's like, man, 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:26.680 do anything else. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.480 Well, one thing just to analogize that is when the 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.960 latest version of the Stars Born movie was made between 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.480 Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper went to Eddie 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.440 Vedder from Pearl Jam and asked him about how do 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.400 you become a musician to play this role? And Eddie 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.160 Vedder says, don't do it because you're not going to 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.520 be good at it. It's too difficult of a role 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.200 of playing the guitar and singing. You know, you run 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.640 that fine line. You don't want to discourage people. But 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.240 if someone has their mindset to go and take that 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.760 task on, they just have to realize from a top 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.640 sh how difficult of a day to day operation it is. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.480 And I think, you know, you guys do something at 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:08.480 a super high level, you know what I mean, time 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.680 you played at the highest level, and it's like the 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.000 amount of you know, like sacrifice that goes into it. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.520 There's no real shortcuts for that, you know what I mean, 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.120 there's some people who are wildly natural talented in all things, right, 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.400 but it's still it's like usually those people are also 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.400 like some of the hardest working people in the road. 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.280 And so I think it's just one of those things 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.720 where it's like, yeah, you can do this. There's nothing 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.400 wildly special about me, but it's just it's a hell 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:33.840 of a lot of sacrifice and hard work. 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.720 Oh yeah, you guys put on some unbelievable displays of 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.680 creativity and passion. And I'm sitting there at Rosemary, which 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.440 is one of my favorite places ever to go, and 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.640 I'm sitting there at the counter on a couple of 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.680 occasions just watching, you know, for an offensive lineman, it's 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:56.200 elephants on parade. Right, everything is like in synchronicity, and 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.760 these big guys are just moving. That's the way the 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:03.040 kitchen is, and that's not easy. Everything's happening at once. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.760 It's non stop. And that's the same way to call 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.440 a game. It's you're dialed and it's non stop, right, 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:10.000 And I think. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.119 People, you know, look at it and they see you know, 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.240 they see where you are and not where you came from. Right, 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.040 So it's easy to say, like, oh, yeah. You know, 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.280 you guys just show up in call Bears game, right, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.360 that's just you know what I mean, you just decided 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.960 it one day, Hey, Like you saw that ad on Craigslisted. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:24.480 He said, yeah, I'll throw my hat in the writ. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.520 You know, you know, just a couple of guys called place, 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.720 and it's like, I think, you know, it's the same 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:31.879 thing even, you know, it's like as much as like 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.119 especially now, it's like they could google any of us 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:35.800 and they can figure out, you know, our whole career 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.200 charactory and what we've done where we've worked with all 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.119 of it that goes into it. And people, you know, 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.400 they still walk in the restaurant every day and they're like, oh, 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:43.560 so did you cook before this? 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:45.040 Oh my god, Joe. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.440 It's like Joe, it's like, I haven't done anything else 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.840 for the past twenty years, Joe, I don't have any 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:52.000 other skills whatsoever. 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.679 Hand to God, this happened more than we care to admit. 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:57.520 Tom and Jeff, are you guys going to be at 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.000 the game on Sunday? Oh, yeah, it happened. 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:01.719 I mean I'm not joking. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:03.639 Yeah that I don't know. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:05.560 We might call it. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.480 oh my gosh, let's just watch this one out in 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.320 the garage at Thayer's house, and you do have a 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:11.160 couple of pops. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:12.160 Unbelievable. 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.000 This is the Bears et cetera podcast, episode fifty one. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.760 Game Day snacking calls for good foods. Chunky guacamodle made 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.359 with has avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.960 lime juice. It's the perfect snack to watch while the 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.280 Bears win. Score some today at your local grocery store. 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.639 Game Day is guak Day and our special guest on 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:37.160 episode fifty one Joe Flamm Joe, what got you started? 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.159 I got started in this industry when I was fifteen, 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.320 sixteen years old, and I just you know, I needed 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.520 a job like anybody else high school kid and needed 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.400 a job. I started. I was a bus boy at 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.719 this place and my sister worked at and then my buddy, 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:51.919 his dad ran a place out and pay the sites. 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:53.960 He was like, hey, when you turn sixteen and you 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:55.639 can drive, I can get you a job there. And 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.240 it was a little better job, but I didn't have 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.240 to work with my older sister, so that was appealing 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.240 as well for me. It was instant I fell in 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:03.920 love with restaurants. First. I was like, this is the best, 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.000 Like it was the place where I just felt I 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.040 felt like home, like I found my people, I had found, 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.320 you know, a place where I felt really comfortable. I 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.960 started really coming out of my shell. And you know, 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:15.920 I just I loved everything about it. I loved the 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.639 late nights, I loved the hard work. I loved you know, 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.440 meeting people and talking to people and just the chaoss 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.440 of it all. You know, it was completely insane. You know, 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.480 I didn't know any chefs. This place was like a 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.800 neighborhood bar grill that it was like you know what 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:31.919 I mean. There were there were dudes who worked in 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:33.879 the kitchen who were like we had guys who were 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.240 there six months a year. They would go back to Mexico. 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.560 The other crew would come through for six months a year, 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.520 and like that's how that kitchen ran there. And they 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.240 just rotated them in and out. Like it wasn't you know, chefs, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.560 it wasn't white hats, wasn't anything like that. But it 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:47.800 made me, you know, fall in love with it. And 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:49.800 so my plan at the time was, you know, the 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.439 guy who owned the place was a lawyer. So I 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:53.640 was like, all right, well, if you want to open 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.199 a restaurant, you got to go be a lawyer and 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:56.760 make a bunch of money and then you could, you know, 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.320 buy a restaurant when you're fifty. So that was my plan. 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.400 I was to you know, go to school for you know, accounting, 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.119 get my degree, go to law school, become a lawyer, 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:07.919 try to make a bunch of money, and try to 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:09.320 buy a bar and grill when I was fifty. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.720 Your timeline was elevated significantly. 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:14.800 Yeah. So I was about two and a half years 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.679 and to an accounting degree, and I decided, you know, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:22.560 I had spent about seven months cooking for this place, 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.159 and I just like really then fell in love with 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:26.920 the cooking aspect of it. I had grown up cooking. 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.720 I always loved food, but I had never done it professionally. 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:31.520 In this place, you know, it was kind of one 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:32.920 of those where they were like, oh, hey, we need 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:34.720 somebody to work at pizza station. You know how to 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:35.960 do that? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I know 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:37.439 how to do that, not knowing how to do that 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.399 at all, and just kind of, you know, fake it 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.119 till I made it. So I spent about seven months there, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.320 and you know, I'd left to work in an office 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:47.240 and because I was like, yeah, I need to start 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.320 to get you know, my real career going. And all 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.360 I could think about was cooking. I was like, man, 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.800 that was the best. So I literally one day I 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.359 just googled. I was like, how did Emeralagassi become a chef? 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.280 And so I was like, oh, we went to culinary school. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.440 I was like, what's culinary school? So then I found 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.320 a culinary school. And then so about two months later, 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:06.159 I was like, you know what, I'm gonna drop out 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.000 of college and I'm gonna go to culinary school. So 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:10.560 I dropped out of college and just went all in 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:12.439 on it. I you know, moved back to my parents' 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.520 house and on the South side, lived in the basement 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:16.840 and just was like all I did for you know, 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.919 culinary school is like fifteen months. It's that, you know, 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:22.040 like real college. And I started there a week later. 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:24.280 I started at table fifty two, and you know, five 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:26.560 days a week, I went to school from eight to four. 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:28.840 Six days a week, I went to the restaurant. You know, 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:30.800 I go straight from school to the restaurant. I worked 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.000 doubles on the weekends, and you know, that was my 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:36.520 first year and a half as a cook. It was 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.560 just like all I did was you know, cook like 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:41.960 it just you know, I was terrible. I was you know, 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:44.720 I just was burnt everywhere. I used to carry super 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:46.919 glue in all my pockets so I could glue pieces 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.040 of me back together when I cut myself so many 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:53.040 times and just kept coming back, just kept coming back. 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:54.960 And I was like, you know, I think I was 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:57.120 so surprised they didn't fire me. And I think they 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.600 were so surprised that I didn't quit that they just 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:01.560 you know, let me stay for two years, you know, 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:03.840 and until I finally figured out how to actually cook 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:04.320 a little bit. 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:07.040 You know, Joe, there's a little restaurant in Ola Walu, 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:09.919 Maui and it's called Leota's and that's the name of 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:13.200 the grandmother of the family that owns it, and they 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.200 specialize in little pies and sandwiches. And when my mom 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:19.960 taught me to cook, she would put all the ingredients 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:22.480 in a bag and send me home with it, knowing 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.280 that I would have to call her a couple of times, 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.240 and it would increase the amount of times I talked 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:27.800 to her in Rosemary. 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.440 That's the name of your grandmother. Is that true? 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.840 Yes, So it's Rose was my my dad's mom, Marrish grandmother, 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.520 and then Mary is my mom's mom. Uh, Mary's Mary's 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.600 you know. The idea was Rosemary because Rosemary, the herb 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:46.480 grows all along the Adriatic coast right through Italy through Croatia, 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.399 and in both Italian and Croatian cultures it's a sign of, 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:51.199 you know, good luck and good fortune. So like when 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:53.600 I got married, there was Rosemary in all the vases 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.240 on the tables. Like it's kind of like an old 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:57.560 school thing, but I thought it'd be cool. It's just 0:22:57.600 --> 0:22:59.560 kind of a nod to them to do this. The 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.920 two work and says, you know, rose get married, and 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:04.800 you know, my grandma Mary is ninety four now. But 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:06.879 it's like we still you know what I mean, like 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.320 for the holidays and stuff, we're still doing Feasts of 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:12.720 the Seven Fishes. We still make reveolis for Thanksgiving, and 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:14.639 you know, and she doesn't cook anymore. She's not like 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:16.639 getting in the kitchen, but you know, she's still like 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:18.920 she'll throw the apron on and then she'll kind of 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:20.679 get her a little, you know, seat and just like 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.159 overwatching everything and you know what I mean, And I 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:24.879 got to tell her all the numbers and you know, 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:27.360 and then it's like her asking me about how much 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:29.479 money I spent on fish and thinking I'm lying to 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:31.359 her and not telling her enough, you know what I mean, 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.159 And she's she's ninety four. But it's like, you know, 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:36.000 this year, it's like the price of scalps went them. 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:38.119 So she's like, well, how much would the scalp? So 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:39.520 I was like, well, they were like two hundred and 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:41.760 twenty five bucks for a gallon of She's like, well 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.399 they were three twenty last year. Yeah they were, but 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:47.760 like I didn't even remember that, but it's like, you know, 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:50.080 I'm like, yeah, they were, like you know that the 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.440 that was last year, like you know, the market was tighter. 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:54.600 And she's like all right, well, better not be lying 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:54.800 to me. 0:23:55.760 --> 0:24:00.639 Were they the influences in your cooking life or is 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:03.560 it something that you know, you kind of took a 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.000 road by yourself and then you developed into the chef 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:07.800 that you've become. 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:10.400 I mean a little bit of both. I think they were. 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:13.040 You know, my grandma made me fall in love with traditions. 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.320 You know, they're coming from a big family, and I 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.040 just saw, like, you know, it was such a cool 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:21.520 thing of like having these cooking traditions, and I just assumed, 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:23.119 you know, kind of everybody had these, you know what 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.840 I mean, everybody was doing their their Christmas Eve, the 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:28.000 feasts of the Seven Fishes, making ready at least from 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:30.600 scratch with Thanksgiving. And you know, the older I got, 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:33.320 the more special I realized all these things were, you know, 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:35.040 that time I got with her where we're you know, 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:38.000 cleaning squid on newspapers in the mud room, you know, 0:24:38.240 --> 0:24:42.199 like getting them ready, Like how special and unique that was. 0:24:42.240 --> 0:24:45.240 And I loved, you know, even before I got into 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:48.000 you know, cooking professionally, like me and my grandma would 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:50.359 cook all the holidays together because I just loved the 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.600 tradition of it. I loved everybody getting together and I 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:55.880 just thought it was amazing. I never wanted those things 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:59.640 to go away, and so that was kind of a big, 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.320 you know, motivator for me. But as I got into 0:25:02.520 --> 0:25:06.359 the professional chef world, they were very much like, you know, 0:25:06.400 --> 0:25:09.880 like what in the hell are you doing? Like what 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:13.879 why are you dropping out of college to like, you know, cook, 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:15.960 Like why don't you get a degree, why don't you 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:17.600 get a law degree and then if you still want to, 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:19.520 you know, go play chef, you can, you know what 0:25:19.520 --> 0:25:22.399 I mean, go play chef. So so there wasn't a 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:25.840 lot of encouragement in the early years. It was a 0:25:25.840 --> 0:25:28.520 lot of you know, Christmases and Thanksgiving where people were 0:25:28.560 --> 0:25:31.199 very excited that I was cooking, but also you know, 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:33.359 all my aunts and uncles being like, so, you know, 0:25:33.359 --> 0:25:35.000 when are we gonna when are we gonna go back 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:36.800 and finish that degree? You know what I mean, Like 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:38.399 what are you gonna really do? Like when are you 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:40.439 gonna stop you know what I mean? Messing around? And 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:42.920 you know, so it took about It was probably about, 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:45.000 you know, I think seven or eight years into my 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:47.360 cooking career, and I think I was at my first 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:49.480 Sioux chef job and I was working at Girl and 0:25:49.480 --> 0:25:51.040 the Goat and they were getting a lot of press 0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:53.240 and it was really big. I remember I was driving 0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:55.480 somewhere with my dad and he's like, he's like, so 0:25:55.560 --> 0:25:58.719 you're you're pretty serious about this cooking thing. Huh, You're 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:00.960 gonna this is like what you're going I was like, 0:26:00.960 --> 0:26:03.480 I've been doing this for seven years, dad, you know 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:05.600 what I mean, Like what do you what do you 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.800 think I was gonna do? You know, Like I was like, yeah, man, 0:26:08.960 --> 0:26:11.400 He's like, okay, well I still think you should get 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:11.720 a degree. 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:14.600 So was there a chip ever put on your shoulder 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:19.080 by a fellow chef or somebody that had been established 0:26:19.160 --> 0:26:19.840 in this business? 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:22.080 Said young man, I don't know if you got it, 0:26:22.400 --> 0:26:22.800 you may. 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:24.800 Want to think about something else, or are you just 0:26:24.880 --> 0:26:25.959 naturally gifted at it. 0:26:26.040 --> 0:26:28.960 I'm definitely not naturally gifted at it, you know what 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:31.159 I mean. I was definitely never the best cook in 0:26:31.200 --> 0:26:33.640 the kitchen, you know. And my best friend owed three 0:26:33.640 --> 0:26:35.840 restaurants in Detroit, and he was one of those guys 0:26:35.880 --> 0:26:39.240 where he is a phenomenal athlete. He's just one of 0:26:39.240 --> 0:26:41.320 those people if you teach him how to do anything, 0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:43.720 you know, he'll be better at better at it than 0:26:43.760 --> 0:26:46.960 you by the time you're done. And so it was 0:26:47.040 --> 0:26:50.399 just he was my station partner, and so he was 0:26:50.520 --> 0:26:52.080 the push, you know what I mean. This dude set 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:54.840 a ridiculous standard of like this is how we work. 0:26:54.920 --> 0:26:58.399 So I was always always playing catch up with him, 0:26:58.720 --> 0:27:00.720 and you know, I worked around a ton of really 0:27:00.760 --> 0:27:03.960 talented people and just kind of coming through it like 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:05.119 one I had the thing in the back of the 0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:06.639 mind of everyone in my family telling me to go 0:27:06.640 --> 0:27:08.520 back to school. So I was like, I can't fail. 0:27:08.720 --> 0:27:11.480 There's no back on this, Like I'm all in on this. 0:27:11.480 --> 0:27:14.199 This is the only road, like I am going. The 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:16.320 one that really put a chip on my shoulder, though, 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:19.760 was I remember. I went and I, you know, I've 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:21.520 been cooking for a while and a sooux chef two 0:27:21.520 --> 0:27:23.359 great places, and I went, I applied to me a 0:27:23.400 --> 0:27:25.480 sooux chef at this Italian restaurant I really wanted to 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:28.040 work at. I went through the process, did a taste, 0:27:28.080 --> 0:27:30.280 and go all the way down. Chef calls me in 0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:31.879 and I'm like, you know. I call my buddy on 0:27:31.880 --> 0:27:33.480 the way there. I'm like, hey, Joe, I'm like, I 0:27:33.480 --> 0:27:36.120 got you know, chef called me in. I got this job. 0:27:36.400 --> 0:27:37.960 I'm like, this is awesome. I can't wait to work 0:27:37.960 --> 0:27:40.040 at this restaurant. Blah blah blah. I go in there, 0:27:40.080 --> 0:27:43.000 I sit down and he goes, hey, man, I came 0:27:43.040 --> 0:27:45.240 down to you and another guy he worked for us before. 0:27:45.280 --> 0:27:48.640 You never worked for us, he goes, So we went 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:51.520 the other direction. So I end up taking a soux 0:27:51.600 --> 0:27:54.840 chef job at another Italian restaurant down the street. And 0:27:54.920 --> 0:27:57.199 so the second I stepped the foot, my foot in 0:27:57.240 --> 0:27:59.520 the door there, I was just like, let's go, like 0:27:59.560 --> 0:28:01.639 we are so we are going to push hard. We 0:28:01.680 --> 0:28:03.240 are going to make sure. You know, I'm like, my 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:05.560 time here is going to be you know, spent the 0:28:05.600 --> 0:28:07.520 best way I can. And I ended up being you know, 0:28:07.640 --> 0:28:10.119 taken over. You know that was at Spiage. I ended 0:28:10.200 --> 0:28:12.320 up taking over Spiage as a chef and you know, 0:28:12.400 --> 0:28:14.359 being the chef there for five years and keeping a 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:17.200 Michelin Star for five years. We're the only Italian restaurant 0:28:17.320 --> 0:28:20.119 in Chicago ever to have a Michelin Star. So it 0:28:20.200 --> 0:28:22.160 was like one of those where it's just kind of like, 0:28:22.560 --> 0:28:25.520 you know, we really you know, it was like fine, 0:28:25.720 --> 0:28:27.200 like you know what I mean, you guys don't want me. 0:28:27.240 --> 0:28:28.879 I'm going here and I'm going to show everybody I 0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:29.600 belong to be here. 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:30.120 Oh my god. 0:28:30.160 --> 0:28:32.119 It's just like an athlete you had to turn in 0:28:32.119 --> 0:28:34.119 your cookbook, time had to turn in his playbook. 0:28:34.320 --> 0:28:38.840 Yeah yeah, but you know the thing also to analogize again, 0:28:38.880 --> 0:28:40.440 you know, you talk to your dad. 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:42.240 You said, I've been in this for seven years. 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:44.600 This is going to be my career path the average 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:48.000 life expectancy of an NFL player's two point three years 0:28:48.080 --> 0:28:48.760 or maybe. 0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:50.120 Two point it's up to three point one. 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:51.600 Now, okay, three point one. 0:28:51.840 --> 0:28:55.520 Is there a realization can you recognize it early in 0:28:55.760 --> 0:28:58.640 their career of who has it and who doesn't? 0:28:58.880 --> 0:29:00.240 Well, I think, you know what, I'm sure it's the 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:03.120 same way you know you probably feel about looking at 0:29:03.120 --> 0:29:06.000 players where it's like, you know, when I was twenty two, 0:29:06.040 --> 0:29:07.800 when I was coming up and I was in a kitchen, 0:29:07.840 --> 0:29:10.440 I was like, oh, everyone around me is so talented, 0:29:10.440 --> 0:29:12.840 and this is you know, we're all so amazing, Like 0:29:12.920 --> 0:29:14.960 we're all going to be chefs in ten years, right, 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:18.480 all of us are going to have restaurants, And you 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:20.480 kind of have that mindset, right, like we're all still 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:21.880 going to be doing this in ten years, twenty year, 0:29:21.920 --> 0:29:24.160 study years. And the further I got down that road, 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:28.200 the older I got, the more you realize how great 0:29:28.280 --> 0:29:32.520 the falloff is, and you know, like how much of 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:36.640 this is just about you know, perseverance and sticking around 0:29:36.680 --> 0:29:40.240 and keeping staying in the fight. And you know, now 0:29:40.840 --> 0:29:45.400 being you know, twenty years in being older, having opened 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:47.400 my own restaurant, having been a part of a lot of 0:29:47.400 --> 0:29:50.680 restaurant opening. Now you have a lot more where it's 0:29:50.720 --> 0:29:52.480 like I can talk to a young cooker, a young 0:29:52.560 --> 0:29:55.000 Sioux chef. You see those ones where you're like, they're 0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:58.959 that person special, like they're gonna do things right, and 0:29:59.000 --> 0:30:01.560 you can see that dry even them, and that pushing them. 0:30:01.800 --> 0:30:04.360 And you know, sometimes people surprise you, you know, I mean, 0:30:04.360 --> 0:30:06.680 there's always that, but it's you know, I think it's 0:30:06.720 --> 0:30:09.400 like now it's a lot easier to have the realization 0:30:09.520 --> 0:30:12.320 of like, just because all these people are cooks doesn't 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:13.960 mean they're all going to be chefs. And it doesn't 0:30:13.960 --> 0:30:16.160 mean they have to be either. You mean, my path 0:30:16.240 --> 0:30:18.040 is not the only path. There's a lot of paths 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:20.600 in this in this world. And it's not saying it's 0:30:20.600 --> 0:30:23.240 the best path either, but it's just so what I 0:30:23.280 --> 0:30:26.240 try to do is just try to help them find 0:30:26.240 --> 0:30:28.240 their path right and be like, hey, you can go 0:30:28.280 --> 0:30:30.120 a lot of ways with this. I'm just trying to 0:30:30.160 --> 0:30:32.240 give you a set of skills that, you know, what 0:30:32.280 --> 0:30:34.160 I mean, is hopefully going to give you a living 0:30:34.160 --> 0:30:35.080 that you really enjoy. 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:38.520 Hey, Joe, I never had a plan B. Either it 0:30:38.560 --> 0:30:42.280 was NFL or I don't know what else. If you 0:30:42.400 --> 0:30:45.480 had a Plan B. Is there any time throughout the 0:30:45.520 --> 0:30:48.640 course of growing the success of your career you've made 0:30:48.680 --> 0:30:49.800 have gone to Plan B? 0:30:50.440 --> 0:30:54.040 Or was it like me where there was no there 0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:55.160 was no other option? 0:30:56.240 --> 0:30:58.440 Yeah, I mean once I started cooking, I never had 0:30:58.440 --> 0:31:00.320 a Plan B. The only time I think I really 0:31:00.320 --> 0:31:02.040 going to start thinking about it was I was like 0:31:02.040 --> 0:31:04.040 a stay at home dad during COVID for a year 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:06.400 and a half because all the restaurants, you know, were closed, 0:31:06.440 --> 0:31:08.560 and I was trying to open Rosemary and so it 0:31:08.600 --> 0:31:10.520 was all the stuff. And I remember, like, you know, 0:31:10.560 --> 0:31:12.240 I was running a lot and I was just like 0:31:12.320 --> 0:31:13.960 running through the woods one day and I was like, well, 0:31:13.960 --> 0:31:18.080 what if just like restaurants never come back. I think, 0:31:18.120 --> 0:31:20.480 what am I gonna do. My buddy had just got 0:31:20.520 --> 0:31:24.360 on as like an FBI special agent, and I was like, 0:31:24.720 --> 0:31:27.680 how much work would I have to do to convince 0:31:27.720 --> 0:31:30.040 these guys that I could be a part of the FBI. 0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:32.360 I was like, no one would suspect me at least, 0:31:32.360 --> 0:31:33.800 so maybe I could talk to a mid that you 0:31:33.840 --> 0:31:35.880 know what I mean, Like, like you know what I mean? 0:31:36.040 --> 0:31:37.360 I was like, I think the best thing I get 0:31:37.400 --> 0:31:38.760 going for me is that, you know what I mean? 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:40.880 I'm covered in tattoos, I look like an asshole, don't 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:42.800 look like a cop. But like you know, I think 0:31:42.800 --> 0:31:44.280 I'd have to do a lot of work to get there. 0:31:44.320 --> 0:31:45.480 But that was kind of the plan. Base. 0:31:45.520 --> 0:31:47.440 When it's time to tackle some game day deals, then 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:49.520 go with a grocery who's been part of Chicago since 0:31:49.560 --> 0:31:52.960 eighteen ninety nine, Jewelasco, the official grocery store of the 0:31:53.040 --> 0:31:57.480 Chicago bears here with Joe Flamm, the unbelievable chef at 0:31:57.680 --> 0:32:00.320 multiple restaurants in his career. But right now, rose Mary, 0:32:00.360 --> 0:32:02.040 do we call it boulevard? Do we call it by 0:32:02.080 --> 0:32:02.480 the initial? 0:32:02.520 --> 0:32:04.120 Well, if we call it, we call it boulevard, it's 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:05.959 the initial. Is what we call it? Bull? All right? 0:32:05.960 --> 0:32:06.760 We called boulevard. 0:32:06.840 --> 0:32:09.160 We got to hear about your experience on Top Chef 0:32:09.200 --> 0:32:13.040 and what that did for you and your publicity as 0:32:13.560 --> 0:32:15.600 a top chef in this in this world? 0:32:16.160 --> 0:32:16.800 What's it like? 0:32:16.960 --> 0:32:19.040 What's it really like? What are you at liberty to 0:32:19.080 --> 0:32:21.960 say what it's really like? And how did you capture that? 0:32:22.520 --> 0:32:24.440 In Top Chef fifteen in Colorado. 0:32:24.720 --> 0:32:27.960 Yeah, so you know, Top Chef is a wild one. 0:32:28.080 --> 0:32:31.280 It's I got on the show because they came to 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:34.080 cast in Chicago. I didn't know they were casting in Chicago. 0:32:34.120 --> 0:32:35.800 I didn't go to the casting I didn't try out, 0:32:35.920 --> 0:32:38.120 and they they called. I was working for Tony mount 0:32:38.120 --> 0:32:40.440 Tojana at the time, so they called Tony. They knew 0:32:40.480 --> 0:32:43.480 him from other stuff, and they said, hey, you got 0:32:43.480 --> 0:32:46.080 a chef in Chicago. We're trying to cast season fifteen, 0:32:46.120 --> 0:32:47.800 the Top Chef. We met a bunch of people. We 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:50.080 didn't like anybody. Do you know anybody we should meet? 0:32:50.400 --> 0:32:52.360 And he goes, yeah, I got this guy working for me. 0:32:52.960 --> 0:32:55.800 He goes, he got to you gotta meet. So I 0:32:55.840 --> 0:32:57.680 get a call a couple of minutes later from Tony 0:32:57.840 --> 0:33:00.680 and he's, you know, hey, Chef. He's like, hey, the 0:33:00.720 --> 0:33:02.640 Top Chef producers are in town. They want to meet you. 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:07.600 And I'm like, for what, and he's like he's like listen, 0:33:08.320 --> 0:33:09.880 you know. He's like take a meeting. 0:33:10.040 --> 0:33:14.320 And I was like, all right, fine, Tom and Tony, yeah, yeah. 0:33:14.120 --> 0:33:16.320 This is you know, Tony's the OG, you know what 0:33:16.320 --> 0:33:18.000 I mean, founder of s Piaga, So you know what 0:33:18.000 --> 0:33:20.240 I mean. It's like, he's my mentor, he's one of 0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:22.120 my best friends. So Tony says, take a meeting. I 0:33:22.120 --> 0:33:24.200 take a meeting. So I'm like, all right, cool, send 0:33:24.280 --> 0:33:26.800 them over, like coming over. I talked to these people 0:33:26.840 --> 0:33:29.280 for you know, forty minutes, and this lady's like and 0:33:29.320 --> 0:33:31.520 I'm like, they don't want me on the show, Like 0:33:31.560 --> 0:33:33.400 they don't like I'm like, I'm not interested. I'm like 0:33:33.440 --> 0:33:37.960 a regular just southside you know, Chicago ass person, like 0:33:38.040 --> 0:33:40.000 you know what I mean. I'm like every other dude 0:33:40.160 --> 0:33:42.800 I grew up with, like, And I was like, they're 0:33:42.840 --> 0:33:45.040 not going to be interested in this. So I talked 0:33:45.040 --> 0:33:46.640 to him for forty minutes and this lady's like, you 0:33:46.640 --> 0:33:48.680 gotta do it. He's like it's a long road, but 0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:50.080 you got to do it. And I was like, all right, 0:33:50.160 --> 0:33:52.120 I'll try. And so I was like, I'm not going 0:33:52.160 --> 0:33:53.960 to make it on the show. So we go down 0:33:53.960 --> 0:33:55.560 this path. We go down this path. We do all 0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:57.800 these things. You know, you have to do interviews and 0:33:57.840 --> 0:34:00.320 you send them menus and videos and all this. It 0:34:00.360 --> 0:34:03.360 takes months. I got to do a PSYCHICXAAL exam, I 0:34:03.440 --> 0:34:07.600 do a physical exam, all these things. So finally it's 0:34:07.680 --> 0:34:11.600 like April nineteenth, I get a call. They're like, hey, 0:34:11.640 --> 0:34:14.719 this is Stop Chef. You're on season fifteen. You need 0:34:14.760 --> 0:34:18.640 to be in Colorado. May fifth you yet two and 0:34:18.680 --> 0:34:21.879 a half weeks to prepare. You can't tell anyone where 0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:23.960 you're going, so I have to come up with a 0:34:24.000 --> 0:34:25.879 cover story. So I come up with the cover story 0:34:25.880 --> 0:34:27.600 that I'm going to work at Tony's other restaurant in 0:34:27.600 --> 0:34:29.839 Florida for two months because they need help down there. 0:34:30.200 --> 0:34:32.880 So I told like him, I tell my wife, I 0:34:32.960 --> 0:34:35.600 told my parents, but I can't tell my crew. I 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:37.759 can't tell you know what, I mean, my friends. I 0:34:37.920 --> 0:34:39.719 you know, my brother was in high school at the time, 0:34:39.840 --> 0:34:41.200 so I was like, I didn't tell him. I didn't 0:34:41.200 --> 0:34:42.600 tell any of my siblings. I was just like, yeah, 0:34:42.600 --> 0:34:44.720 I'm going to work at this restaurant down in Florida. Whatever. 0:34:45.080 --> 0:34:47.359 And then when you get there day one, they throw 0:34:47.400 --> 0:34:50.040 in a hotel room. They lock in there and they 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:52.839 come on the first night and then they go through 0:34:52.840 --> 0:34:55.279 all your stuff and they take all your stuff. So 0:34:55.320 --> 0:34:58.319 they take your phone, your keys, your wallet, everything, and 0:34:58.360 --> 0:35:00.200 you don't get any of that back till you're I'm 0:35:00.200 --> 0:35:01.279 filming two months later. 0:35:01.400 --> 0:35:04.799 Wait what why So they don't. 0:35:04.480 --> 0:35:07.880 Because they don't want because you aren't allowed to have 0:35:07.960 --> 0:35:11.200 any access to recipes. So whatever, you know, you know, 0:35:11.560 --> 0:35:13.640 you can't like google a recipe real quick and be like, 0:35:13.640 --> 0:35:15.920 how do I make this cake or whatever, So you have, 0:35:16.320 --> 0:35:19.000 you know, no internet access. They don't want you to 0:35:19.080 --> 0:35:20.960 have contact with the outside world because you have to 0:35:21.000 --> 0:35:23.680 sign a million dollar NDA before you go to They 0:35:23.680 --> 0:35:25.040 don't want you to be able to like text and 0:35:25.040 --> 0:35:26.719 be like, oh I lost. They don't want you taking 0:35:26.760 --> 0:35:29.440 pictures of what's going on while you're there. You basically 0:35:29.840 --> 0:35:32.359 how it works is then every like three to five days, 0:35:32.400 --> 0:35:34.680 you'd get a phone call and it'd be ten minutes 0:35:35.080 --> 0:35:39.239 on camera, on speakerphone, on a producer's phone, and you 0:35:39.280 --> 0:35:40.000 can't say. 0:35:39.840 --> 0:35:43.080 Anything, Wow, this is stunning, Tom. 0:35:43.120 --> 0:35:45.400 Did you have any idea this was the case? No, 0:35:46.280 --> 0:35:47.640 this is fascinating to keep going. 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:50.399 Yes, you know, you'd get a phone call every once 0:35:50.400 --> 0:35:52.319 in a while, but they wanted you just dialed into 0:35:52.360 --> 0:35:54.640 the pressure. It was like there was no TV, there 0:35:54.680 --> 0:35:56.920 was no books, there was no magazines nothing. All you 0:35:56.960 --> 0:36:01.000 did was you film and cook, do interviews, and so 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:02.920 you went every day for two months and if you 0:36:02.960 --> 0:36:05.800 went out the first day, you were there for two months. 0:36:06.000 --> 0:36:08.600 If you went to the final like I did, you're 0:36:08.600 --> 0:36:11.560 there for two months. So no matter what you signed 0:36:11.560 --> 0:36:14.400 a two month commit and your whole life outside of 0:36:14.440 --> 0:36:18.480 that just went on pause. So you just disappear for 0:36:18.560 --> 0:36:22.920 two months, even if you lost. Even if you lost. 0:36:23.040 --> 0:36:25.120 So then they send you like a hotel like way 0:36:25.160 --> 0:36:27.560 out in the burbs, away from where we're filming. And 0:36:27.600 --> 0:36:29.160 then you got a bunch of chefs because I got 0:36:29.200 --> 0:36:31.040 kicked off for a minute, right, So I got kicked 0:36:31.040 --> 0:36:32.400 off for a minute, So I get sent to the 0:36:32.440 --> 0:36:35.800 other hotel. And so now you got ten chefs in 0:36:35.880 --> 0:36:41.960 a hotel who can't work, have no phones, nothing whatever. 0:36:42.200 --> 0:36:45.560 We just have They're giving us cash every day. We 0:36:45.640 --> 0:36:48.480 have nothing to do alimited todd So it's just like 0:36:48.520 --> 0:36:52.359 it's like spring break, Like it's just like complete insanity, 0:36:52.680 --> 0:36:56.239 you know what I mean. Camp. It's like you like 0:36:56.360 --> 0:36:58.480 walk in and you're just like I walked in the 0:36:58.480 --> 0:37:00.399 first day and I walk up and there's a somebody 0:37:00.480 --> 0:37:04.440 had taken a window off of the like one of 0:37:04.440 --> 0:37:07.000 the rooms so that you could walk into the room 0:37:07.200 --> 0:37:09.120 from the pool area, so that you didn't have to 0:37:09.200 --> 0:37:11.160 walk around to the door. So they just pop the 0:37:11.200 --> 0:37:13.920 window off of the off of the wall so that 0:37:13.920 --> 0:37:16.160 we could walk through there. And just you know what 0:37:16.160 --> 0:37:17.719 I mean, they were making drinks in there, and you 0:37:17.800 --> 0:37:19.960 go back outside and everybody's partying, and it was just 0:37:20.000 --> 0:37:24.520 like it was an absolute just insanity. So that's like 0:37:24.560 --> 0:37:26.200 where everybody else was. So then it was like I 0:37:26.200 --> 0:37:29.360 finally made it back on the show, and it was 0:37:29.440 --> 0:37:30.759 just it was insane, you know what I mean. It 0:37:30.880 --> 0:37:32.560 was like you woke up every day, you had no time, 0:37:32.560 --> 0:37:34.160 You had no idea what time you're gonna wake up, 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:36.080 You had no idea what you were doing. So it's 0:37:36.200 --> 0:37:38.480 just like you woke up every day to cameras or 0:37:38.480 --> 0:37:39.880 it's just like somebody would knock at the door and 0:37:39.880 --> 0:37:41.480 you'd open the door and there'd be four cameras there, 0:37:41.520 --> 0:37:42.839 and you all right, I guess we're rolling. 0:37:42.960 --> 0:37:44.799 It's hard knocks, right, it's hard knock. 0:37:45.800 --> 0:37:47.120 And you get in the car and we'd be like 0:37:47.120 --> 0:37:51.120 where are we going today, and they're like, can't tell you. 0:37:51.200 --> 0:37:53.160 So you never knew what was going on, and you 0:37:53.360 --> 0:37:55.440 just you know, I mean, it was like literal you know, 0:37:55.600 --> 0:37:58.040 we used to call it emotional terrorism, like it was 0:37:58.239 --> 0:38:01.279 just you know, like any time something happened, you just 0:38:01.360 --> 0:38:04.040 became so suspicious because you're like you'd like wake up 0:38:04.040 --> 0:38:06.680 and like something we'd be moved in the kitchen. You'd 0:38:06.680 --> 0:38:09.399 be like, oh no, something weird's gonna happen, Like they're 0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:11.399 gonna make us cooking here, or you know what I mean, 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:13.640 like something. You know, it's like if something was off, 0:38:14.000 --> 0:38:16.560 you're like, oh no, this is like part of something, 0:38:16.760 --> 0:38:18.320 you know what I mean. Everything was part of something. 0:38:18.360 --> 0:38:21.920 It was all like a setup the some crazy challenge. 0:38:21.920 --> 0:38:24.239 So it was just like it was nuts, you know. 0:38:24.280 --> 0:38:26.440 And so you go, you do this thing two months, right, 0:38:26.520 --> 0:38:29.439 I go, I win. I'm like yes, But then it's 0:38:29.440 --> 0:38:33.320 like you get back and nobody knows you want nobody 0:38:33.320 --> 0:38:35.719 even knows you were there, and you know, it was 0:38:35.760 --> 0:38:39.120 kind of funny because it's like in real life. I 0:38:39.239 --> 0:38:43.040 won Top Chef on a Tuesday night at midnight on 0:38:43.200 --> 0:38:46.040 top of the mountain and the aspen, and then they 0:38:46.160 --> 0:38:48.680 took me off of there. They brought me to interview 0:38:49.040 --> 0:38:51.319 and then they take you back to the hotel and 0:38:51.400 --> 0:38:53.160 that's it, you know what I mean. And it's like 0:38:53.200 --> 0:38:54.920 you can't go party with anyone, you can't go out. 0:38:54.920 --> 0:38:56.600 You're still under lock and key. I still don't have 0:38:56.640 --> 0:38:58.040 a phone, you know what I mean. I called my 0:38:58.080 --> 0:38:59.719 wife at two am on a Tuesday to tell her 0:38:59.760 --> 0:39:04.879 I want one, and then I get back and it's like, oh, 0:39:04.920 --> 0:39:07.120 you know, you can't tell anybody because you're under all 0:39:07.120 --> 0:39:12.279 these NDAs from the time I got back, like end 0:39:12.280 --> 0:39:16.080 of June in twenty seventeen, and the finale aired March 0:39:16.200 --> 0:39:17.880 eighth of twenty eighteen. 0:39:18.400 --> 0:39:21.040 After it was all said and done, are you glad 0:39:21.080 --> 0:39:24.520 you made the decision to go or if you knew 0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:28.560 all that stuff going in, what made it harder for 0:39:28.600 --> 0:39:29.600 you to commit to it? 0:39:29.840 --> 0:39:31.200 I think it was one of those things where it's 0:39:31.200 --> 0:39:33.080 like you're almost better not knowing. I think it would 0:39:33.080 --> 0:39:34.719 have been harder because they kind of lie to you, 0:39:34.719 --> 0:39:35.960 you know what I mean. They're like, oh, yeah, you're 0:39:36.000 --> 0:39:38.399 going to make a phone call, You're gonna do some emails. Yeah, 0:39:38.440 --> 0:39:40.920 I don't worry about it, Like we gotcha, you know, Like, 0:39:41.640 --> 0:39:43.319 and then you get there, they're like, yeah, you're not 0:39:43.320 --> 0:39:45.920 making a phone call for five days. You're like, can 0:39:45.960 --> 0:39:48.120 somebody like text my wife and tell her I'm alive. 0:39:48.840 --> 0:39:50.640 It's like I got on a plane two days ago. 0:39:51.320 --> 0:39:53.360 Oh my god, Like you know what I mean. So 0:39:54.800 --> 0:39:56.640 it was kind of good not knowing all of it. 0:39:56.840 --> 0:39:58.319 And I mean for me, it's like you know, I 0:39:58.400 --> 0:40:00.399 was so happy I did it, obviously one so that's 0:40:00.440 --> 0:40:03.480 you know, like one of the people was on the 0:40:03.480 --> 0:40:05.120 show with me. It's like somebody asked me to go 0:40:05.160 --> 0:40:07.040 you happy you did it, like you won. Of course 0:40:07.080 --> 0:40:08.560 he's happy you did it, you know what I mean. 0:40:10.080 --> 0:40:11.920 But even if I didn't, I would have been happy 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:14.239 I did it. It was such a unique experience. You know. 0:40:14.280 --> 0:40:16.359 We got to travel some really cool places, I made 0:40:16.400 --> 0:40:19.000 some amazing friends, and I mean, it's just, you know, 0:40:19.160 --> 0:40:21.840 it's one of those things, it's like it's beyond my 0:40:21.880 --> 0:40:22.760 wildest dreams. 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:25.520 So every year of my bare career, I would go 0:40:25.560 --> 0:40:29.080 to training camp at University wisconsint Platteville, which kind of 0:40:29.280 --> 0:40:32.080 in the middle of nowhere. We didn't have cell phones 0:40:32.120 --> 0:40:33.839 at that time. He didn't have a lot of time 0:40:33.880 --> 0:40:37.560 to communicate the sense of accomplishment I had. When I 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:43.120 was driving home after Plattville was over and I retained 0:40:43.120 --> 0:40:46.680 my position, I stayed healthy. I knew that I was 0:40:46.760 --> 0:40:51.759 driving back to my house in a starter's role. It 0:40:51.840 --> 0:40:53.920 was such a sense of relief that it kind of 0:40:54.000 --> 0:40:57.640 overtook you at times. It had to be similar to 0:40:57.760 --> 0:41:01.560 that in kind of the same sense, because you're isolated, 0:41:01.640 --> 0:41:04.239 you're not talking to anybody, and then a sense of 0:41:04.239 --> 0:41:06.920 accomplishment that you feel when it's all said and done, 0:41:07.040 --> 0:41:10.279 it's going to do incredible things for your career, just 0:41:10.440 --> 0:41:12.200 like it did for my career. 0:41:12.760 --> 0:41:15.200 Yeah, so, I mean it was I remember, like, so 0:41:15.320 --> 0:41:19.040 the finale finishes right, and it was like we were 0:41:19.200 --> 0:41:21.040 literally on top of a mountain, so they had to 0:41:21.040 --> 0:41:22.600 get me to the bottom and they were going to 0:41:22.640 --> 0:41:26.120 stop running the gondola sing. So it's like if you 0:41:26.160 --> 0:41:28.200 if you watch the finale, you like see that laugh 0:41:28.280 --> 0:41:30.960 acondo me like toasting champagne and literally I am in 0:41:31.080 --> 0:41:34.400 that room for about four more seconds and then they 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:37.800 run me into a gondola and the gondola at Aspen 0:41:38.239 --> 0:41:41.840 is about a half hour gondola rived down right, So 0:41:41.960 --> 0:41:45.320 it's just me and this woman Maria, who's my handler. 0:41:46.000 --> 0:41:48.160 Two of us are now sitting in a gondola in 0:41:48.239 --> 0:41:52.040 the pitch dark. Don't run a mountain. This is just nuts. 0:41:52.280 --> 0:41:54.040 This is nice and so and I'm like, I just 0:41:54.239 --> 0:41:55.960 on top chef and I'm just like sitting there and 0:41:56.000 --> 0:41:58.759 I'm like I'm like sitting there like this, and she 0:41:58.880 --> 0:42:01.239 just looks at me. She's like, like, uh, do you 0:42:01.280 --> 0:42:05.000 want to like yell or something. I'm like, yeah, she 0:42:05.120 --> 0:42:06.960 like opens all the windows on the gundoline and I'm like, 0:42:07.840 --> 0:42:10.560 you know, like screaming and like so it was like crazy. 0:42:10.680 --> 0:42:12.440 And then it was like, you know, like you said time, 0:42:12.520 --> 0:42:14.799 like coming home, it's like, you know, I'm sitting on 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:17.920 the plane like like just like blinking, like did this happen? 0:42:18.760 --> 0:42:20.600 Like is this real? You know what I mean? Like 0:42:20.640 --> 0:42:22.480 it's just like and now I'm just like and it's 0:42:22.520 --> 0:42:24.279 like I get on the plane, I go back, and 0:42:24.320 --> 0:42:26.200 then it's like, you know, it's whatever. It's Sunday. So 0:42:26.239 --> 0:42:27.440 I get home and then it's like I go to 0:42:27.480 --> 0:42:28.560 work on Tuesday. 0:42:28.320 --> 0:42:31.040 And I got to act like nothing ever has just gone. 0:42:31.520 --> 0:42:33.680 I was just gone for me. I don't worry about it. 0:42:33.960 --> 0:42:37.600 You know. It was just it was such an insane ride. 0:42:39.000 --> 0:42:40.680 And then you know, when the season started air, it 0:42:40.760 --> 0:42:44.000 just blew up and it was so fodded just you know, yeah, 0:42:44.080 --> 0:42:46.480 Chicago's so cool. It's such a Homer city, right, we 0:42:46.560 --> 0:42:49.880 go so hard, we go so hard, and I just 0:42:50.200 --> 0:42:52.800 love it. And it just you felt that, you know 0:42:52.800 --> 0:42:54.600 what I mean, so much when I was on the show, 0:42:54.840 --> 0:42:56.319 just like everybody, you know what I mean like the 0:42:56.360 --> 0:42:58.759 city was pulling for me. It was so cool, and 0:42:58.840 --> 0:43:02.080 it was you know, I think I told Jeff this 0:43:02.160 --> 0:43:04.000 story once, but I had, you know, like a like, 0:43:04.239 --> 0:43:06.680 you know, my Friday Night Lights moment. I was like, 0:43:06.719 --> 0:43:08.279 you know, we're down to the bottom three. And I 0:43:08.360 --> 0:43:09.560 was like, I had a Whole Foods and I was 0:43:09.600 --> 0:43:10.920 walking out of the Whole Foods and I was like 0:43:10.960 --> 0:43:13.319 paying and this guy you know, and I was like 0:43:13.320 --> 0:43:16.600 I just just got finished paying. This guy's like he's like, great, Joe, 0:43:16.640 --> 0:43:19.319 We're all rooting for you. And I was like, oh, thanks. 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.680 Every start going outs and it was like so cool. 0:43:22.920 --> 0:43:25.960 I was like, this is just bonkers, man, this is 0:43:26.080 --> 0:43:28.120 just so wild. There's so fun. 0:43:28.360 --> 0:43:31.080 Busy Heart Seltzer the official Heart Seltzer or the Chicago 0:43:31.120 --> 0:43:33.440 Bears here on the Bears et cetera podcast. So you 0:43:33.480 --> 0:43:36.680 made a fish dish in your first quick fire on 0:43:36.719 --> 0:43:39.000 the show. Would you have made that again? 0:43:39.360 --> 0:43:41.439 Yeah? I think so that one worked out really well, 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:43.920 so I would. I would run that one back. It 0:43:43.960 --> 0:43:47.040 was a rent snapper I cooked in the wood fired 0:43:47.120 --> 0:43:50.480 oven with fennel. I think car car orange segments and 0:43:50.520 --> 0:43:52.279 maybe olives. I can't remember if I did that too. 0:43:52.320 --> 0:43:53.560 Maybe a little bit of Fenel. 0:43:53.320 --> 0:43:56.160 Calling best dish you ever made on Top Chef and 0:43:56.400 --> 0:43:58.600 has it or is it on any of your menus 0:43:58.719 --> 0:43:59.600 at your restaurants? 0:43:59.680 --> 0:44:02.799 The best dish I ever made on Top Chef was 0:44:03.080 --> 0:44:07.400 probably I did this pasta in the finale that was 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:10.080 like it was a grano arso flower, so a burnt 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:14.880 wheat flower, and I made this farce for it that 0:44:15.040 --> 0:44:18.680 was like a truffle pighead barse, and then made a 0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:20.960 broto for it, so it was like a Tortelinian broto. 0:44:21.080 --> 0:44:23.879 But they came out like just stunny, like they were 0:44:24.000 --> 0:44:27.560 just like they had this like like like river rock 0:44:27.680 --> 0:44:30.600 looking like quality to it, and they were unbelievable. And 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:32.920 that's probably you know what won made the finale, but 0:44:33.239 --> 0:44:35.680 it's not at a menu. It took two days to 0:44:35.680 --> 0:44:38.440 make twelve of them, really, you know, so it was like, 0:44:38.719 --> 0:44:42.160 you know, it doesn't really work as like a practical dish. 0:44:42.200 --> 0:44:44.120 It was like, okay, this is you know what I mean, 0:44:44.320 --> 0:44:46.000 one of those things where it's like this can't be 0:44:46.040 --> 0:44:48.920 a real play in the playbook, but like you know 0:44:48.960 --> 0:44:51.080 what I mean, like if we're down six and two 0:44:51.080 --> 0:44:53.640 seconds to go, we could we can we can huk this. 0:44:53.600 --> 0:44:55.120 One tell us about the bear Den. 0:44:56.160 --> 0:44:58.000 That was funny. So, you know, me, Tyler and Bruce, 0:44:58.040 --> 0:44:59.640 they just started calling us the bear Den because I 0:44:59.640 --> 0:45:01.879 think we're you know, they put you in these rooms, 0:45:01.920 --> 0:45:03.480 they don't tell you you're sharing rooms. And then all 0:45:03.480 --> 0:45:05.680 of a sudden, it's like I got three roommates and 0:45:05.680 --> 0:45:07.719 we're sleeping on a Kia bunk beds that were made 0:45:07.800 --> 0:45:12.400 for someone much not of my stature. And so that was, 0:45:12.480 --> 0:45:14.279 you know, just kind of a fun you know, we 0:45:14.280 --> 0:45:15.960 were all grouped up together and we just had a 0:45:16.000 --> 0:45:17.160 lot of fun with that. 0:45:17.400 --> 0:45:19.360 Do you like the national attention? 0:45:19.640 --> 0:45:21.319 Yeah, I think it's fun, you know what I mean. 0:45:21.440 --> 0:45:23.520 It's like and I think it's also you know, I 0:45:23.560 --> 0:45:25.560 was telling somebody those like, oh it's weird, you know, 0:45:25.600 --> 0:45:27.239 I like people know you and it's like, well, I 0:45:27.239 --> 0:45:28.880 mean I grew up on the South Side, like everybody 0:45:28.880 --> 0:45:31.479 knows everybody, you know what I mean. It's just kind 0:45:31.480 --> 0:45:34.080 of the way it is, so it doesn't feel weird. 0:45:34.480 --> 0:45:36.400 It's just like, oh, okay, I just meet more people, 0:45:36.680 --> 0:45:38.680 you know what I mean. It never feels to me like, oh, like, oh, 0:45:38.719 --> 0:45:40.840 you're like famous. It's like I don't think so I 0:45:40.840 --> 0:45:42.719 think a few more people know who I am, and like, 0:45:42.960 --> 0:45:44.840 you know, those shows are fun, but it's like for me, 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:50.160 it's like the love is restaurants. That's my thing over everything. 0:45:50.239 --> 0:45:52.680 So to be able to use those to put our 0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:55.640 restaurants out there and meet people on network, like that's 0:45:55.640 --> 0:45:57.399 a blast. Like it's cool, you know what I mean. 0:45:57.440 --> 0:45:59.880 I've had people in the restaurant because of that, or 0:46:00.160 --> 0:46:02.359 you know, been able to do things that I just, 0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:03.600 you know, never even dreamed of. 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:05.800 Who's your Super Bowl pick at this time? 0:46:06.360 --> 0:46:08.920 I think the Ravens look really scary. I think they 0:46:08.960 --> 0:46:14.040 look really really good, and I think it's I feel 0:46:14.040 --> 0:46:17.000 like it's going to be Ravens Niners, And I think 0:46:17.040 --> 0:46:18.919 the Ravens are just going to be too much. They 0:46:19.000 --> 0:46:21.760 just look really complete this year. And I love Rokwan, 0:46:21.880 --> 0:46:22.920 you know what I mean. He used to come into 0:46:22.920 --> 0:46:24.480 the restaurant all the time, so I'd love to see 0:46:24.480 --> 0:46:26.719 it for him. He's a great guy. I don't know, 0:46:26.800 --> 0:46:27.920 I feel like they're gonna be hard to. 0:46:27.920 --> 0:46:31.239 Be like top Shelf, is there a home field advantage? 0:46:31.280 --> 0:46:33.560 Do you become so familiar with the kitchen and the 0:46:33.600 --> 0:46:38.240 pantry and everything that you can do everything as opposed 0:46:38.280 --> 0:46:41.000 to a neutral site that a Super Bowl will have. 0:46:41.920 --> 0:46:45.279 Well, it's it's like always cooking in a neutral site, right, 0:46:45.719 --> 0:46:47.799 but nobody has the home field advantage because it's like 0:46:47.840 --> 0:46:50.439 in the kitchen changes so much and so and it's 0:46:50.440 --> 0:46:53.279 like when we're in Colorado, so we're dealing with you know, 0:46:53.360 --> 0:46:56.959 elements like we're cooking that you know, altitude. We're flat 0:46:57.000 --> 0:46:59.440 laders over here, right, that's not what we do, and 0:46:59.520 --> 0:47:03.360 so it's completely different ballgame doing that. You know, we 0:47:03.400 --> 0:47:06.120 cooked at one restaurant that was fourteen thousand feet. When 0:47:06.160 --> 0:47:08.200 you're at fourteen thousand feet, you know what I mean, 0:47:08.440 --> 0:47:10.600 Like you know, the difference of playing in Chicago versus 0:47:10.600 --> 0:47:13.000 playing in Denver. Right, So it's like that feeling of it. 0:47:13.360 --> 0:47:16.839 So and it's like multiply that by three and then 0:47:16.920 --> 0:47:21.080 cook and so you know, when you get to those altitudes, 0:47:21.160 --> 0:47:23.640 like you know, they talked about like water boils at 0:47:23.640 --> 0:47:27.560 a lower temperature, right, so you could you know, and 0:47:27.640 --> 0:47:29.840 before I was on the show, I didn't really get 0:47:30.239 --> 0:47:33.200 how that affected things. But realizing that like, yeah, water's 0:47:33.200 --> 0:47:35.000 going to boil at one to eighty seven at fourteen 0:47:35.040 --> 0:47:37.359 thousand feet or whatever, it is, the problem is it's 0:47:37.400 --> 0:47:40.080 like that water's not hot, you could sit in it. 0:47:41.080 --> 0:47:43.120 So it's like when you're cooking pasta, it's like this 0:47:43.239 --> 0:47:46.880 water isn't really boiling, it's just evaporating. So it's like 0:47:47.000 --> 0:47:50.160 to try to get water hot enough before it operated 0:47:50.360 --> 0:47:53.600 to like properly cook pasta or blanch vegetables or do 0:47:53.640 --> 0:47:56.399 anything was like a total nightmare. And it's like, there's 0:47:56.440 --> 0:47:58.359 no way to prepare for that unless you've ever cooked 0:47:58.360 --> 0:48:00.920 at altitude those like there was one chef there who 0:48:01.000 --> 0:48:03.279 she was from Colorado. You know, she had worked at 0:48:03.280 --> 0:48:06.560 some higher elevation places, so she had a little bit 0:48:06.600 --> 0:48:09.480 home field on that, but still it was like, you know, 0:48:09.600 --> 0:48:11.400 the place we were cooking that was such high elevation, 0:48:11.520 --> 0:48:13.520 like nobody, nobody had ever done it. 0:48:13.640 --> 0:48:19.360 Have you ever done any private cooking for celebrities or politicians, 0:48:19.480 --> 0:48:20.480 whatever the case may be. 0:48:21.480 --> 0:48:25.279 I've cooked. I've actually I've cooked for four presidents, which 0:48:25.280 --> 0:48:26.000 is pretty crazy. 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:26.359 Wow. 0:48:26.840 --> 0:48:30.080 So I've cooked for HW Bush, I've cooked for w 0:48:31.000 --> 0:48:35.160 I've cooked for Obama, and I've cooked for Biden, No kidding, 0:48:35.239 --> 0:48:37.879 Biden Biden before he was president. He was I did 0:48:37.880 --> 0:48:39.960 the last one of the coolest ones we did was 0:48:40.239 --> 0:48:43.560 a luncheon at the State Department, and it was the 0:48:43.680 --> 0:48:49.960 last State Department luncheon for the Obama Biden administration for Renzi, 0:48:49.960 --> 0:48:51.759 who was the Prime Minister of Italy at the time. 0:48:51.960 --> 0:48:56.760 So they brought Tony Mountjano in because Biagio was Renzi's 0:48:56.800 --> 0:49:00.480 favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago was Brock's favorite Italian restaurant Chicago, 0:49:00.719 --> 0:49:02.800 so they brought us in to do the luncheon. You know, 0:49:02.840 --> 0:49:05.480 I mean, like plating your food on official State department 0:49:05.480 --> 0:49:06.920 in China is a pretty wild feeling. 0:49:07.640 --> 0:49:07.960 Wow. 0:49:08.120 --> 0:49:10.120 Like one of my favorite pictures ever is there's a 0:49:10.120 --> 0:49:11.880 picture of me and I'm standing in the hallway at 0:49:11.880 --> 0:49:14.120 the State Department. I'm plating like one hundred and fifty 0:49:14.120 --> 0:49:17.399 plates for lunch, and it's like me and then there 0:49:17.600 --> 0:49:21.399 is like probably ten people behind me, and it's like 0:49:21.719 --> 0:49:25.360 this police that police secret service, like FBI, like you 0:49:25.440 --> 0:49:27.360 know what I mean, just like there's nothing but like 0:49:27.400 --> 0:49:30.120 eleven people behind me with different badges and guns like 0:49:30.400 --> 0:49:33.839 watching me plate like this really delicate little you know, 0:49:33.880 --> 0:49:36.239 like roasted squash dish that I made, and it was 0:49:36.320 --> 0:49:37.480 just like it's hysterical. 0:49:37.680 --> 0:49:39.960 Eh, you probably could have talked shop your mom if 0:49:39.960 --> 0:49:43.480 I'm not mistaken. Is she still a lieutenant in the 0:49:43.520 --> 0:49:44.560 Chicago Police Department. 0:49:44.680 --> 0:49:46.799 No, my mom has been retired a few years now. 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:49.239 But yeah, she was thirty years on the job. She 0:49:49.360 --> 0:49:50.839 was a lieutenant on the South Side. 0:49:50.960 --> 0:49:53.200 Sounds like she would have been pretty tough, pretty tough. 0:49:53.480 --> 0:49:55.400 Yeah, yeah, yeah, she still got it. 0:49:55.840 --> 0:49:59.040 Well, Joe, we could continue talking forever, but I just 0:49:59.080 --> 0:50:00.239 want to thank you for all your time. 0:50:00.280 --> 0:50:02.520 I know your time is valuable. We love that you're 0:50:02.560 --> 0:50:03.160 a Bears fan. 0:50:03.239 --> 0:50:06.120 You love the fact that it's ingrained in your blood, 0:50:06.400 --> 0:50:08.480 and we love what you prepare at Rosemary. 0:50:09.080 --> 0:50:11.160 I'm a big fan of the Nyolchi Tommy with the 0:50:11.160 --> 0:50:11.760 beef cheek. 0:50:12.400 --> 0:50:17.960 Love, love the risotto, different kinds of risotto, and the croatia. 0:50:18.000 --> 0:50:19.440 Is it la pingja bread? 0:50:19.719 --> 0:50:20.399 Yeah? 0:50:20.440 --> 0:50:21.880 That bread is insane. 0:50:22.000 --> 0:50:24.759 I don't know how that happens, but that's fantastic. 0:50:24.840 --> 0:50:27.600 It's insane. You can't get enough of it, that's for sure. 0:50:27.640 --> 0:50:30.200 Well. I've always been, you know, really big fans of 0:50:30.200 --> 0:50:32.320 you guys, and you know, like I've been listens to 0:50:32.360 --> 0:50:34.840 Bears games on the radio since I remember can remember, 0:50:34.920 --> 0:50:37.440 and you know from when the radio the TV used 0:50:37.480 --> 0:50:38.960 to time up a little bit better, and we'd have 0:50:38.960 --> 0:50:41.040 it going on the radio to the TV, or if 0:50:41.080 --> 0:50:43.080 my dad would get so mad at the Bears at halftime, 0:50:43.160 --> 0:50:44.640 he'd just, you know, like all right, we're going off 0:50:44.640 --> 0:50:46.520 to the garage. We put the game on the radio 0:50:46.840 --> 0:50:49.800 because for some reason, it's less frustrating but more frustrating 0:50:49.840 --> 0:50:52.840 listening to the game of the radio. And you know 0:50:52.880 --> 0:50:55.200 the amount of times where it's like working Sundays coming 0:50:55.200 --> 0:50:57.040 through where it's like we'd have the Bears game going 0:50:57.080 --> 0:50:59.239 on some prep kitchen basement, you know, I mean, I 0:50:59.360 --> 0:51:02.799 Randolph for the Gold Coast. Uh, you know, just screaming 0:51:03.200 --> 0:51:05.120 you know what I mean at the radio with you guys. 0:51:05.120 --> 0:51:08.240 So it's really cool to be on this and uh, 0:51:08.400 --> 0:51:10.040 you know the first time you came in, Jeff By, 0:51:10.160 --> 0:51:11.960 my old chef de cuisine, He's like, do you think 0:51:12.000 --> 0:51:14.600 we could just get him to say, you know, Devin Hester, 0:51:14.719 --> 0:51:15.760 he's unbelievable. 0:51:17.280 --> 0:51:20.520 No, no, it's Devin Hester. You are ridiculous. 0:51:21.040 --> 0:51:22.319 That's what you gotta do us. 0:51:22.360 --> 0:51:24.839 Yeah, yeah, that's what that was the callie want. He said, 0:51:24.840 --> 0:51:26.480 you think you just stand on the counter and yell 0:51:26.520 --> 0:51:28.080 at once for us? And I was like, maybe wait 0:51:28.120 --> 0:51:29.640 till the second time he comes in, we can get 0:51:29.680 --> 0:51:29.920 him to. 0:51:29.920 --> 0:51:30.279 Do it right. 0:51:30.440 --> 0:51:32.200 Hey, I'll do it. You get you get a couple 0:51:32.239 --> 0:51:33.960 of drinks in me, I'll do it for sure. 0:51:34.040 --> 0:51:35.239 Yeah, yeah, there we go. 0:51:35.400 --> 0:51:37.160 We gotta get Tommy out there as well. 0:51:37.920 --> 0:51:39.799 H Again, we're brought to you by Middle of Light, 0:51:39.880 --> 0:51:42.239 the official beer of the Chicago Bears. Taste like Mill 0:51:42.400 --> 0:51:45.759 Time Chicago Joe continued success. Best to you and your 0:51:45.760 --> 0:51:47.600 family and have a great year, buddy. 0:51:48.360 --> 0:51:50.320 Guys, absolute blessed. Thanks for having me on. 0:51:50.560 --> 0:51:54.200 Awesome thrill So thank you so much for your time. 0:51:54.880 --> 0:51:56.560 Oh no, this was this was really cool. 0:51:56.600 --> 0:51:58.480 Guys, Tommy, how much fun was that? 0:51:58.600 --> 0:52:00.839 I mean, you know, we can talk to that guy 0:52:01.480 --> 0:52:05.040 about all things. He knows his sports, but there's not 0:52:05.160 --> 0:52:07.120 enough time to talk about a career like that. He 0:52:07.280 --> 0:52:10.920 is literally a top chef, and not just because of 0:52:10.960 --> 0:52:11.320 the show. 0:52:11.520 --> 0:52:14.080 You think of the highest accomplished athlete that we've ever 0:52:14.120 --> 0:52:16.439 been able to talk to throughout our career. 0:52:16.719 --> 0:52:20.680 He is that in the food field. And it's amazing. 0:52:20.520 --> 0:52:23.480 Because I think we've only scratched the surface of what 0:52:23.520 --> 0:52:26.480 we could. How we could keep going talking about the Bears, 0:52:26.520 --> 0:52:30.440 talking about the draft, talking about other football teams, but 0:52:30.480 --> 0:52:33.000 there's a thousand questions in cooking that I would love 0:52:33.040 --> 0:52:33.640 to be able. 0:52:33.480 --> 0:52:34.600 To sit here and ask him. 0:52:34.760 --> 0:52:39.640 The versatility of his ability is which impressed me most 0:52:39.680 --> 0:52:42.919 because we asked him a football question and he went 0:52:43.040 --> 0:52:47.080 for ten minutes and every single thing he said about 0:52:47.320 --> 0:52:51.799 his football knowledge was right on. And so that's the 0:52:51.800 --> 0:52:54.000 first thing. Oh my god, that's impressive. 0:52:55.120 --> 0:52:58.120 Game day snacking calls for good foods. Chunky guacamodi made 0:52:58.120 --> 0:53:01.400 with has avocados, tomatoes on silatro on a squeeze of 0:53:01.400 --> 0:53:03.560 lime juice. It's the perfect snack to watch while the 0:53:03.600 --> 0:53:06.480 Bears win. Score something today at your local grocery store. 0:53:06.719 --> 0:53:09.239 Game day is guac day. All right, Let's wrap things 0:53:09.320 --> 0:53:11.560 up as we look at the Bears are are looking 0:53:11.600 --> 0:53:15.319 at some coordinators. Obviously they need to find one, and 0:53:15.920 --> 0:53:21.080 reportedly the interviews include San Francisco passing game coordinator Clint Kubiak, 0:53:21.160 --> 0:53:24.080 the son of Gary Kubiak. He was an offensive coordinator 0:53:24.080 --> 0:53:28.440 in Minnesota, Denver's quarterback coach at Russell Wilson, Greg Roman, 0:53:28.520 --> 0:53:32.319 the former Baltimore offensive coordinator developing Lamar Jackson who won 0:53:32.360 --> 0:53:36.600 an MVP with Roman. Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Cohen, who 0:53:36.600 --> 0:53:40.400 has ties to the Rams where he was with that 0:53:40.480 --> 0:53:42.800 football team over there on that coach, and Shane Waldron, 0:53:42.880 --> 0:53:46.319 the Seattle offensive coordinator, Greg Olsen, our old pal, the 0:53:46.360 --> 0:53:49.960 former Bears quarterback coach at three who's had several stops Detroit, 0:53:50.080 --> 0:53:54.200 the Rams, Tampa, Oakland, Jacksonville, Vegas. So a lot of experience, 0:53:54.360 --> 0:53:57.480 some young is a nice blend of options here. I'm 0:53:57.480 --> 0:53:59.640 not aware of any others that they have talked to 0:53:59.760 --> 0:54:01.840 or win. I don't know what the timeline is, but 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:05.080 again these are all reportedly. It's a lot from that 0:54:05.160 --> 0:54:06.280 Shanahan Tree. 0:54:06.360 --> 0:54:10.520 Tom. That Shanahan Tree is very much a part of this. 0:54:11.200 --> 0:54:13.960 You know, Jeff, we could talk to about one hundred 0:54:14.000 --> 0:54:18.360 different names and consideration for the offensive coordinator position. But 0:54:18.520 --> 0:54:22.360 to me, the decision on quarterback is equally as important 0:54:22.560 --> 0:54:26.480 is the quarter as the offensive coordinator, because you have 0:54:26.600 --> 0:54:30.640 to get the evaluation of the new offensive coordinator as 0:54:30.680 --> 0:54:33.239 he looks at and studies what the Bears have done 0:54:33.239 --> 0:54:37.520 in the past, how his philosophical thinking of quarterback offense 0:54:37.640 --> 0:54:41.920 development fits into how the quarterback position is developing. So 0:54:42.040 --> 0:54:46.399 this is not just a one and done decision. This 0:54:46.480 --> 0:54:51.680 is a big impact decision. How it affects the offensive line, 0:54:51.719 --> 0:54:55.239 it affects the offense, it affects the receiver position, and 0:54:55.320 --> 0:54:59.239 it affects the quarterback position the most. So I think 0:54:59.239 --> 0:55:02.040 there's a lot of thinking that goes into every one 0:55:02.080 --> 0:55:03.280 of these candidates. 0:55:03.680 --> 0:55:07.400 Do you feel a sense of optimism versus a sense 0:55:07.560 --> 0:55:10.240 of dread, like, oh god, we got a big hill decline? 0:55:10.560 --> 0:55:13.640 I feel more optimism after watching the first round of 0:55:13.640 --> 0:55:16.719 the playoffs than I did before the playoff game started, 0:55:17.239 --> 0:55:19.840 because when I look at what Green Bay went into 0:55:19.960 --> 0:55:24.640 Dallas and did to them in how you know, touch 0:55:24.680 --> 0:55:26.520 and go it was for the last game of the 0:55:26.600 --> 0:55:29.360 year with the Green Bay Packers and the Bears, I 0:55:29.400 --> 0:55:31.879 think about what they did to Detroit at home and 0:55:31.880 --> 0:55:34.240 how they should have beat Detroit on the road. 0:55:36.200 --> 0:55:39.600 I think that the Bears are so close to a 0:55:39.680 --> 0:55:43.040 competitive division opportunity. 0:55:42.880 --> 0:55:47.560 That getting the decisions right going forward plays in a 0:55:47.640 --> 0:55:50.400 huge role in the future success of the Bears. 0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:51.319 I would do. 0:55:51.280 --> 0:55:55.719 Nothing but talk confident, confidently to my team in the 0:55:55.760 --> 0:55:59.640 process of the offseason through OTA's how close we are. 0:56:00.160 --> 0:56:02.520 We have to take that next step no matter who's 0:56:02.560 --> 0:56:03.719 here or who isn't here. 0:56:04.160 --> 0:56:08.360 And so I think the message going forward isn't you know, 0:56:09.160 --> 0:56:11.160 how are we going to come out of training camp. No, 0:56:11.600 --> 0:56:13.719 it's coming out of training camp with the intentions of 0:56:13.760 --> 0:56:17.440 winning the division. My only message from this point going 0:56:17.480 --> 0:56:21.520 forward is about winning the division next year, and I 0:56:21.560 --> 0:56:24.799 think that it can be honestly spoken because of what 0:56:24.920 --> 0:56:27.640 I saw out of the playoff games and going forward. 0:56:27.880 --> 0:56:31.040 We're sponsored by Miller Lite, official beer of the Chicago Bears. 0:56:31.280 --> 0:56:34.680 Tastes like Miller Time Chicago. Tom There, I'm Jeff Jonnieck, 0:56:34.719 --> 0:56:37.320 Thanks to Joe Flamb. Thanks for listening, and please subscribe 0:56:37.360 --> 0:56:40.279 now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify. 0:56:39.800 --> 0:56:55.319 YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. Bear Down, Everybody,