Chef Michael Gulotta Embraces his Sicilian Roots at TANA

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
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Welcome to the Connected Table Live where your hosts, Melanie
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Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
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enjoy traveling the world to bring you the amazing people
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who were front and center and behind the scenes and wine, food, spirits,
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and hospitality. We love sharing their stories with you and
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recommending place to eat, drink and enjoy and stay and
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play wherever we go. We are broadcasting from New Orleans,
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where we live today, and as many of you know,
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we love spotlighting our friends who do amazing things here
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in New Orleans. We love sharing what we call our
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insider places to go, and this chef partner is involved
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with three that we highly recommend that are out of
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the French Quarter. We always tell people we love the
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French Quarter, but broaden your horizons and also all for
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an exciting global twist to what you can enjoy in
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New Orleans. We're with chef Michael Gulatta, who is a
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chef partner with MOFO, which is near us here in
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near Lakeview. It's an Asian fusion restaurant, may Pop in
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the Central Business District and Tana, his new and most
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ambitious Italian restaurant in Metterie, which we most recently visited.
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We have been to all three restaurants. Recommend them for
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whatever mood you're in. And we're really excited to have
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Michael on the Connected table to share his story. So welcome,
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thank you.
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I'm excited to be here. Thank you very much.
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I was born and raised New Orleanian, and we understand
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you bank cooking and local restaurants to the young boy.
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Tell us about your family life and who your family,
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who your people were.
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Well, it's wild. You know my dad's side. He is
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the Goalattas. They owned Gusty Tettansun Bicycles, which was was
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the oldest bicycle store in America, and like almost anyone,
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any any one who grew up in New Orleans bought
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a bike from Dusty tettansns and so so it was
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interesting growing up in that dynamic because I'd be in
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the shop a lot when.
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I was little.
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And unfortunately my father passed away when I was young,
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and then my mom tried to help run it along
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with his siblings, and it ended up closing probably when
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I was about six years old. And then my mom's side,
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you know, she's a Violette and they the Vollets have
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been in New Orleans since like seventeen fifty so old
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New Orleans family.
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Oh, that's a lot of tradition. What are some of
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your family traditions around the table.
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Well, there's a lot on my mom's side. It's so
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you know, there's a dish I'm trying to bring back
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and put on the Tonnel menu because a lot of
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people don't do it anymore. It's called bruce alone and
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it's sort of the New Orleans Sicilian version of brush
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ol ragiol and it's it is beef or theal top
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round that's boiled and diced up eggs and parmesan bread.
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Combs and parsley, and then it gets rolled up and
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my grandmother would always stick it with toothpicks and he
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brings it in the red bravy and serve it with
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angel hair pastas. So it's like a very traditional New
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Ormans dish. But it's funny because that's on my mom's
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cyber they're all Irish French, so not Italian, but that's
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that's who would make it when I was growing up.
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Whereas on my on my dad's side, for the Sicilians,
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you know, we we did the pasta and coshata, which
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is which we do every Christmas, and that's layers of
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of egg plant fried in the cast iron pan with musta,
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chili pasta, pork gravy and then English peas. Then you
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put layers of patrick Gavallo cheese and parmesan. You bake
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it in the oven. Uh and you say it was
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any sausage. So those are two of the two of
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the big ones that my family always did.
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Yeah, making me hungry, I know what, you know. I
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take a lot of our friends, particularly overseas Italy, they
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don't realize a strong Italian connection. Here in New Orleans.
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There's some amazing uh, heritage and restaurant, particularly in the
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Sicilian aspect of it.
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The French Quarter used to be called a little Palermo
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for a long time. The majority of the pasta, of
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the dried and package pastas in America were made in
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the French Quarter. I think that was probably what early
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nineteen hundreds.
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Yeah, absolutely pretty strong connection. So Michael, you owned three restaurants.
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What was your initial impetus to get into food as
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a career. What was that turning point for you?
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You know, I'm one of the lucky ones where I
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always knew what I wanted to do. There's actually a
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and I can't find it. There was a there was
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a book report that I wrote in grammar school and
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then I had to do a little autobiography on the
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front of it. And literally I found that when I
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was cleaning up my mom's house after Katrina, and it
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said that my name is Michael Gilada and one day
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I want to own restaurants. So apparently it's what I
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always wanted to do. So I went like directly to
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culinary school out of high school and immediately started working
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in restaurants and worked for some really great chefs. So
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I just it's always been what I wanted to do. Ever,
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I never would I never even thought about doing anything else.
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There was a short time where I thought about leaving
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the restaurant industry when I was still in culinary school
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and going into like food science. But I just love
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restaurants and cooking and the adrenaline rush too much.
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Now you graduated the Chef John False Institute Culinary Institute,
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and you were part of the opening team in August.
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That must have been incredible experience.
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It was wild, I so I think, I, yeah, that
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was a wild time. The cool thing is that I
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was there when we when we really started winning all
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the awards, you know, I remember it was God, I think.
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I mean they'd actually been open for about like three
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or four months when I got there, But I still
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consider that the opening team because it was still like
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a lot of the opening team was there. And the
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crazy thing was just like how many cooks were trying
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to get in the door to work there at the time.
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So I think I applied like ten times.
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I did.
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I They maybe do two stages, so you know, if
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you know what stages are is where they have you
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come in and try out. They made me to do too,
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like ten hour stages before they would give me a job,
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and I was so nervous and it's just crazy how
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I went from being you know, the terrified new guy,
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like literally fearing for my job every day and then
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being the chef togazine for seven years.
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So wow, So you were there during you know, I
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mean we probably dining there when you were the chef
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because this was pre Katrina, right or was it post Katrina?
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So both?
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Okay, Yeah, so we definitely you were definitely chef when
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we were there because we were there a lot after
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Katrina planning our wedding in New Orleans. So you took
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a probably what I would consider a grand tour in
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the chef world. To what you went did. You took
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some time to go to Italy and travel talk to
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us about that and how it has inspired you as
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a chef and to what you bring to New Orleans.
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Well, that was you know, I had started in August
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and then you know when John gave me the job,
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like he's like, hey, you know what, you know, I'm offering
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the job, and I'm like, okay, I'll take the job,
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and I have one sipulation and I'm leaving in a year.
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I already had this whole trip planned to go work
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in Italy, and he was like, you know, absolutely, that's
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exactly what you should do. So I left and I
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went to a little school in the north in Castilioli Biosti,
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which is outside of the town of Osti, which is
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outside of the town of Torino, in Piamonte. And so
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of course Piamonte is just all the vineyards and all
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the ground up Banano cheese, and you know that part
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was amazing. And I spent a few months there and
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then they found me a job on the coast in Ligoria,
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in a little town called Bordighera, and I got to
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work for a chef named Marco Balo. And his family
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is like a storied Italian restaurant family, Like his father
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owns this famous restaurant in Sanmonemo, which is like one
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town over. His sister owns another restaurant. I go over
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in Ventimilio, which is the town on the other side,
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and so it was this amazing The restaurant was on
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the water, it had its own private beach that was
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two thousand and three, and it was like three of
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us in the kitchen and we would just do hundreds
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of covers and it was just pasta baked fish octopus.
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We only served. He had a friend who had a boat,
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and the guy would go out and fish, and his
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wife would deliver all the seafood every day. And the
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most amazing thing is that she would deliver it on
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the back of her vespa. And not only that, she
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was always when I thought it was, she was always
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dressed to the nines.
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She always had on.
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A full dress, makeup, hair, everything, and she would pull
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up and have the seafood on her shoulder on a box,
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and it was always just the most beautiful ostiche, which
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are the lobsters, beautiful prawns. I mean, it was just amazing.
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So that's all we did was serve seafood. There was
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never any meat on the menu any Every once in
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a while he would go drive over to Anti or
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over to France, and we were only took twenty minutes
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from France on the French border, so Budati Geta is
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the second to last town, then to Milia is the
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last town, and then you're in France along the water,
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and so he might he would maybe drove to France
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and get some flag around. We do some flagro auditions
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but mainly it was just seafood and certain like during
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the day it was just really simple pasa toss with seafood,
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and then at night we would do chasing minis only
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it was just like seven or eight course tasting menus.
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But we never had a menu. He would just serve
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whatever he felt like serving, and uh, that was an
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amazing experience and we never.
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Took that beautiful air. I've been to this area, I've
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not been to that restaurant, but it is really one
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of my favorite areas of Italy and.
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Lagoria is so under rated.
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I mean just so nobody talks about that area, and
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it's like, you know, it's the home of Testo, it's
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the home of Facacia, it's the home of so many
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famous Italian things, and it's the one that no one
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ever talks about, and it's absolutely stunning.
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Now you bring some of those flavors to Tana along
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with Sicily, let's talk about how you came. So I
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will talk about your two Asian fusion restaurants after this.
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But you know, Tana is kind of a big direction,
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in a new direction because Mofo and Maypop are Asian
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fusion and the foods of Liguria and sicily play heavily
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into the menu. Talk to us about that based on
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your experience living and working and cooking in Italy.
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So like it's it's amazing because Ali, it's such a
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long and twisted story, because I always wanted to do
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Italian and Tana was always in our back pocket, but
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we needed to find the right spot, in the right
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because you know, Tana needed to be a grand restaurant,
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So it was always the one we were sort of holding,
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like I said, in our back pocket until we could
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find the rights partner is in the right space, and
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so you know, but Ligoria plays so heavily into the menu.
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But the fried calamari act, which everyone I'm not going
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to I was fought on the on the calamaria affter
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because it's not the traditional New Orleans calamaria, which is
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like big thick rings fried kind of heavy with them,
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with the with the marin air saucer dipping it in
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like it's the very New Orleans I think, just a
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very American Italian way to do it. But I was like, no,
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I'm doing it the way we did the Ligoria, which
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is shaved paper paper thin, and then you do it
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with paper thin slices of zucchini and you fry it
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like a haystack and just hit it with with women's juice.
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And it was just when we we were. It was
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always one of the starters on our tasting menu at
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the restaurant. June Ketto is the name of the restaurant.
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It's not under the same chef anymore. I'm not even
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sure if it's still there, but restaurant Dum Ketto, we
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always did this this Calumbia app and I just loved
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how light and just fresh it made the calamari taste,
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and so I made sure that that was a part
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of the menu, I mean obvious. And we've doctored up
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a little bit. Instead of doing just straight lemon juice,
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we do this really awesome uh myra lemon and orange
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immigrants that we address it with, and then we also
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finish it with our housemade pepera to and now and
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in the beginning it was everyone kept asking for sides
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the marin airsauce with it there and then, But the
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more our regulars would taste it, They're like, you know what,
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this is just a great dish. Now, you know, I'm
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maybe sell Ton like just a ludicrous amount of cala
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mario at the restaurant. So that's a big one that
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I'm so happy. Uh really took off on the menu.
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And we had it was delicious.
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It was delicious and as our as our really every
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dish we had while we were there. We there once
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so far and obviously want to come back. But you
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have a lot of great things on the menu, some
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beautiful pastas.
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The pasta I really loved, because you know, the pastas
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I want to talk about because there are traditional pastas
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here in the world. There are a lot of traditional
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Italian restaurants, but you take it to as you said,
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it's elevated. I have the Gulf shrimp pacerri with pistachio
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which is a Sicilian nod and tomato cream. It was fabulous.
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And I think, David, did you have the radiatory with
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strachi and the Chilabrian chili christ I.
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Had the blue creba think fusili, which is fine.
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Yeah.
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I never wanted that dish to be empty, you.
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Know, And I took that one off the menu and
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it just caused an uproar. Uh, you can't do that,
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I know.
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I mean, that's and that's that's the problem is like
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you know, and this is the problem I followed all
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my restaurants. It's like, I want to have a restaurant
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where you're gonna keep seeing new things when you come
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in through the door, and and and it might come back,
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and it might come back on different guys, you know,
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and you know, and that's the thing is. And now,
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like switting pastas are a big thing in New Orleans.
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But like I was a revelation to me when I
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went to Ligoria and swimming pasta and swing you know,
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the swinning prisotto's like those things you know, you never
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saw in New Orleans and so and it's funny because
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I put it on the menu at Tina, and still
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there's a lot of people in that area that are
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just like, I didn't know you could make spinning pasta.
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And you're like, absolutely, but that this is, you.
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Know, definitely one that I have done versions of at
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the original Tuna, which is a little pop up on
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two Lane Avenue, and then uh, and then I do
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it again then at Maypop. Like I love that combination
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of flavors, the crab meat, the spinning pasta. But then
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I always add the New Orleans saw hot sausage which
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just adds a whole other level of flavor. And it's
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one that anyone who grew up in New Orleans because
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we just crumble patents Hot sausage into it, which is
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like the hot sausage patty that you get it every
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ploboy shop and that like my mom used to keep
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frozen packs of in there in the freezer from when
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I was hungry, you know, growing up, I can always
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pull out a patty of Pattens hot sausage and make
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myself the sandwich. So it's like it's nostalgic. So now
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on Winians eating, they're like, there's something in here that's
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that I recognize. You're like, yeah, it's the Patent's hot
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sausage paired with crab meat, you know, and then we're
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just tossing it with all that butter in the in
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the pasta.
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It's absolutely in amaze.
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What's nice that there's there's distinctly with the dishes a
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Louisiana aspect, whether it's a Louisiana crawfish with potato and yoki,
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the Gulf shrimp of carriers I mentioned, you mentioned the sausage,
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which we're gonna have to go pick some up and
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that's just the pastas I mean, we we took a
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lot home. I will say the portions are generous, which
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we are grateful for because everyone's you know, trying to
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get the most out of their dining experience right now.
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And we also just want our listeners to know that Tana,
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which is located in a beautiful area called METAe, is
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open for lunch and dinner and cocktails. And there's parking,
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which we like because that's kind of a challenge here
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when you live in New Orleans. So I do want
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to mention what we had for our appetizers, because we
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find whenever we dine out anywhere, particularly fine you're dining,
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the appetizers are always the stars in your case. Everything start.
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We had the Caulu mari and I had the savory
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zeppee with Cajun caviar. It's like a fried bosh. Now
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we would call that a giant hush puppy in the
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Southern with herbed lardo butter. And they were just like giant.
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They were bigger than golf balls, they were very and
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smaller than tennis ball, but they were delicious. We were
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dying to try, but we just couldn't. You know, our
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eyes were bigger than our stomach. The barbecued lobster because
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it's really hard to get lobster in New Orleans, and
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you do it with Creole Sicilian barbecue, which sounded very interesting.
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I'll see as your menu because we know that some
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of these dishes are seasonal but based on what's available.
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So we just changed thirty percent of the menu in
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the last two weeks. So the lobster is off, mainly
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just because lopsters kind of not in season at the moment.
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I was kind of forcing that one for a little while,
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so that one came off. And now we've just been
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on a really awesome octopus dish, so we did it.
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We now have an octopus appetiser with with resulta Chrispi
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Resota Metro or we make the resulta and then we
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fry it in a cast iron pan A get it
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really crispy, and we put that the octopus over that
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and we top it with smoked tomato and bone marrow.
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So that's that's the new octopus dish that just replaced
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the lobster we took. We we just put a new
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Land dish on. I love really playing with the Italian cuisine.
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The sweet and the salty, or the sweet and the sour.
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So like we're doing a slow braised lamb shrank now,
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and that's getting top. I make a marm latta. So
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00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:42.920
it's it's citrus marmalade with roasted donalic and olives. And
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00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:45.880
so it's that play of the of the briny and
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the sweet and a little bit of spice. We had
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some chili to it and you put that over that
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slow braised lamb shank and just those flavors, and I
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braise the lamb shank like you would do in Ligoria
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or Provence. There's a lot of crossover between the Gloria
365
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and Promonce. Yeah, And like I use Tadjiaska olives, and
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Tadjiaska olives are basically nisois olives just they're done, they're
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00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:12.720
just grind differently, So I use the Tadjaska olves. And
368
00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:14.799
so just like I don't know, there's flavors with the lamb,
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the olives and the roasted garlic is just so reminiscent
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of the things that I that I.
371
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Was trained in.
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But then I make up on my own because I
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fold it all into that marmalade. So you have this
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00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:27.440
these crazy flavors going on, and that's a lot of
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00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:30.400
that I learned, you know, doing mofo and maypop, because
376
00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:34.720
you know, the cornerstone of Southeast Asian cooking is hot, sour, selty, sweet,
377
00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.799
and so I bring a lot of that now to
378
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.640
the dishes a tana and it just people you're just like,
379
00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:42.799
oh my god, because it's hitting you all over your
380
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.720
palate and it makes you I'm a huge fan of
381
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:47.359
eating through your dishes. So whenever I come up with
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00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:49.720
dishes with my chipagaizines, we're not allow of hood on
383
00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:51.680
the mediu until we sit there and eat the entire dish,
384
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.200
and they're like, they're like, oh my god, why do
385
00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.119
we eat the entire thing? I'm like, because if it's
386
00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.480
if the proportions are wrong, if you put too much
387
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of one thing, then the this is left with too
388
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.119
much of one thing, and then they get bored with
389
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.680
the dish. It has to sort of all finish at
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00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.000
the same time. And I love dishes that sort of
391
00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:11.160
change as you eat through them to keep the guest interested,
392
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.920
because if you know, you say I talk about the portions,
393
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.200
and I almost I fight at my mind with the
394
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:19.440
portions because sometimes the portions are too big, Like we
395
00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:20.920
had a giant pork chop on them in you and
396
00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:22.759
I took it off because the portion was so big
397
00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.559
that when the guest gets bored of eating, then they
398
00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:28.880
leave with kind of a bored remembrance of the restaurant.
399
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.440
Right if it's like these massive, massive portions.
400
00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:34.400
And so I try to make sure that everything on
401
00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.039
the plate is in balance so that you know, I mean, obviously,
402
00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:39.880
if they just get border too much food, that's one thing.
403
00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:42.640
But sometimes there's just like this giant, massive amount of food,
404
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.359
the guess just kind of gets bored with the experience.
405
00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:47.039
I think it's just be like to order a lot.
406
00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:49.240
You know, it never goes out of season. Guys, Michael
407
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.079
and David. Two things. Your giant meatballs, which we had
408
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.079
a meatball, and you do a poster and you do
409
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.119
apasta cart similar to what we've seen in the Venice
410
00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:01.480
with the giant round of parmesan over giano and and
411
00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.440
then the tag the Itelli made it inside. We did
412
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.079
not have that, but it was wheeling around and we
413
00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:10.079
were salivating, but you know, we couldn't order any more food.
414
00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:12.039
I love I love how we put on the on
415
00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:14.759
the menu in print. We're not quite sure when the
416
00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:16.559
pasta card is going to show up if you order it,
417
00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:17.519
but it will get to you.
418
00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:19.319
Yeah, that must be incredibly popular.
419
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.759
Well that's the that's the whole issues.
420
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.680
People would order that as their entree and so and
421
00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:28.880
then so like we're sitting there waiting, and then like
422
00:21:28.920 --> 00:21:30.680
we tell them because again we even tell the guests
423
00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.480
it's like, hey, we cannot ensure when it's going to
424
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.599
get there. We say, it's like, you have to think
425
00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:36.680
about it. And as like the Oyster Struckers in New Orleans,
426
00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:38.680
if you order oysters, you don't know whomen and your meal.
427
00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:41.319
They're going to get there. They're going to come at.
428
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:42.839
Any point they want to, because the Oyster Strucker has
429
00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:45.759
a long rune of tickets and you know, so it's
430
00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:47.519
not going to come with your ass with your entrees.
431
00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:48.640
It just comes when it comes.
432
00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:51.119
And we try to tell guests that and because the
433
00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:53.640
problem is all the rest of the foodle hit the
434
00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:57.119
table and everyone will wait and their food will get cold,
435
00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.240
and the right guys, we cannot, like there's so many
436
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:01.720
people trying to get that pasta card, we cannot ensure
437
00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:03.920
you that it will arrive when you'd like, because on
438
00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:05.839
some nights, on a busy night, we'll sell forty five
439
00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:08.599
of those pasta cards and each one takes five minutes,
440
00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:12.000
you know, So it's it's almost yeah, So it's it's
441
00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:13.720
it's not always going to get there when you want to,
442
00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.960
but it is a great experience. Lucky that we have these.
443
00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:19.240
We have three cooks who are because it's it's very
444
00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:21.799
hard to find a cook that also likes to talk
445
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.960
to people. That are two things that really don't go together,
446
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.400
because look's like to be in the kitchen. And there's
447
00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:28.680
been a few nights where I made some of my
448
00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:30.839
some of my cooks is like our two people that
449
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.240
are trained to do the pasta card, one of them,
450
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.200
you know, couldn't be there. So I made one of
451
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:36.920
my back house cooks go out there and they're like,
452
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:38.839
I'll do this for you this once, but I'd never
453
00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:40.519
want to go out and do this again because I
454
00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:42.359
do not feel comfortable talking to the tables and you're like,
455
00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:45.400
I understand. So I've been very lucky that we found
456
00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.640
a few people who are about going to the table,
457
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.480
putting on the full production. They talked about the history
458
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.759
of this, they talked about the fact that we actually
459
00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.440
use ran up and Dono's hit a parmes on and
460
00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:58.960
so you know, and they talked them through the whole
461
00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.279
process and it's a really an amazing experience and people
462
00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:01.640
love it.
463
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:08.519
It's called tagnate montecata forma the Grana padanna. Uh. And
464
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:11.640
why do you choose grown up padonna? Just out of curiosity?
465
00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:15.519
So because I trained in Fiamante and Grana padana is
466
00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:18.640
produced in the Po River Valley, which is right by
467
00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:21.240
where I was. So we spent time like going and
468
00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:24.559
touring and like everywhere we always had grown up donna cheese.
469
00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:26.480
And I also got to go and tour uh some
470
00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:31.880
grana panano, you know aging, uh, manufacturing, So we got
471
00:23:31.880 --> 00:23:33.480
to go watch the whole process and go into the
472
00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.359
age of the giant aging warehouses that are massive and
473
00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:39.160
snow like nothing you've ever smelled in your life before
474
00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:41.119
in your life. And I just it's a it's a
475
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.359
much more powerful cheese, I find, you know, it's a
476
00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:45.759
little more aggressive than parmesan.
477
00:23:46.599 --> 00:23:48.359
Well I just want to point that out because I
478
00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:51.000
said parmesan, but it's granda pandanna and they're very different,
479
00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:53.240
very different. We can't wait to come back and try
480
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:53.680
that dish.
481
00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.160
You know, I want to go back to the octopus
482
00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:58.480
that you said that you put on the menu. We
483
00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:00.400
actually were there, I think the first you had it
484
00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:03.920
on the menu, or maybe the second, and the service said,
485
00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:06.200
this just went on the menu and we hope you
486
00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.680
like it. And it was absolutely delicious. Oh yeah, I
487
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.680
did order it. It was the most tender, beautiful piece
488
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:13.720
of octopus I've had in a long time. And I've
489
00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:16.960
been to you know, islands in the Mediterranean to.
490
00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:18.119
Have it fresh, etc.
491
00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.880
It was just delicious. And I really didn't I didn't
492
00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:23.920
want that dish to end either, Melanie, to be honest
493
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:24.319
with you.
494
00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:26.319
So good we didn't want the evening. Yeah, and it
495
00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:31.400
really was an incredible experience, and you know, David reconnected
496
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.000
with an old friend and the wine business.
497
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.720
It was interesting to walk in the door and see
498
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.519
my old friend Steve Russet, who's your wine director, who
499
00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.440
I've known for many, many years when he was the
500
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.680
wine director for emerald for a long time, Emeralds over
501
00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:51.200
on Chopatula Street, and he and it was like a
502
00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:53.920
family reunion when I walked in the door and saw
503
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.400
him there. We hadn't seen each other in years and
504
00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:58.119
it was just great to reconnect with him. And he's
505
00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:00.400
put together a great wine list for you as well.
506
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:05.359
Absolutely a challenge in New Orleans they find a really
507
00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:07.440
great wine list, it is.
508
00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:09.640
And I mean, obviously he's the master, you know, he's
509
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:11.559
he's done so many great wine lists in the city
510
00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.240
and so we're very lucky to have him and and
511
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:16.359
to watch him work.
512
00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:19.400
I mean, his palate, his palate is just unmatched.
513
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.720
And and then the watch the way he educates our staff,
514
00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:25.079
you know, he does he does wine classes every week,
515
00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:30.519
and uh, it's he's such an asset and his excitement
516
00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.519
just to keep to to you know, to double click
517
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:35.960
down on each thing and really find out, you know,
518
00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:39.920
to really find those great producers and make sure we
519
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.960
have them on the list. I mean, it really is.
520
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:43.319
We're very lucky.
521
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:47.880
Yeah, and it shows, and and that's it's it really
522
00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:52.480
really shows. Let's talk about your partner in the business.
523
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.759
Let's talk about your team of partners and give them
524
00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:59.079
a shout out as well, and let's do a touch
525
00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:01.440
also on your other two restaurants so that we make
526
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.720
sure we give them some love.
527
00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:06.920
Mm hmm. Yeah.
528
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:10.519
So so I have one like my business partner is
529
00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:12.759
Jeffrey Body. So he and I have all three restaurants
530
00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:15.359
like we run. We we run the three and then
531
00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.759
so we are the managing partners of Tana and then
532
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:19.759
we have two of well we have three other business
533
00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:20.640
partners in Tana.
534
00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:25.160
So you know, we have Christopher Keane who he has.
535
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.039
U Rivershak, which is kind of an old school in
536
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.279
New Orleans restaurant. Well he just opened the new ones,
537
00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:35.079
so he has two River Shacks now, and then you
538
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.160
know we have and then we have Gabe Corgioni and
539
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:44.200
who has the Fat Post pizza brand. Uh and but
540
00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:46.319
this is his sort of first Forrame the fine dining.
541
00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:49.839
And then we have John Georges, who is you know
542
00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:55.759
of of gallus Wise fame and so but if the
543
00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.279
the great part is is they're they're they're very hands off,
544
00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:02.359
you know, and they just want you know, they come
545
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:05.400
through and they enjoy what we're doing. And and you
546
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:07.119
know the main thing is that they just wanted to
547
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:11.960
have this amazing restaurant and and and they originally were
548
00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:14.240
just going to bring us on to consult. And the
549
00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:16.240
more we looked at it, like hey, you know, we
550
00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:18.720
can we can make this a really grand restaurant, and
551
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:21.799
so then we decided to all become partners and and
552
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.279
it is just god is we found a really great
553
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:27.720
interior designer and she put so much effort into it
554
00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:31.000
and was just such a force behind making sure everything
555
00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.079
looked just just the right way. And and then we
556
00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.119
just assembled a really really great team.
557
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:36.519
You know.
558
00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:38.880
We we brought on Steve, and we we brought on
559
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:40.759
a lot of you know, our bar manager was with
560
00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:44.000
us years ago at August, and our AGM the same thing,
561
00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:45.880
started with me as a food runner at August and
562
00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:48.319
worked his way up to management in the Best Group
563
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:50.640
and then in the Link group. You know, he was
564
00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:53.000
most recently the AGM at Koshon and so like we
565
00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:56.519
just and then our general manager has been you know,
566
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:58.400
we he came to us from a Gulf of Garskia
567
00:27:58.400 --> 00:27:59.960
who's a good friend and Golfha reached out to me,
568
00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:01.400
was like, you need to bring this guy on, like
569
00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:03.839
he's he's a he's a rock star, and he is.
570
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.440
And so you know, I just find we've we've assembled
571
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.720
this great team. You know, we're eight months in and
572
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:12.759
and I feel like we're just really getting started. Like
573
00:28:12.759 --> 00:28:15.640
there's so many more like that this restaurant is just
574
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.039
going to keep growing and evolving as the staff as
575
00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:20.079
we develop this culture, because it takes time to develop
576
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:22.240
a culture. I always say it takes a it takes
577
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:24.599
a year to open a restaurant. It really does. You're
578
00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:26.599
working out so many kinks in the first year and
579
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.039
really developing a culture that when a new person comes in,
580
00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.359
they see how everyone works and they immediately either rise
581
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:34.839
to that level or they or they leave.
582
00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:38.640
I want to, you know, let's give a shout out
583
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.079
to the designer because it is quite beautiful. Particularly those
584
00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:45.200
lanterns in the center of the lantern life.
585
00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:48.799
Are Breuner is her name, and she has a company
586
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:52.440
called Distressed Rentals and so her ma. She has this
587
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:57.480
huge facility out in Elmwood, and she has two master
588
00:28:57.559 --> 00:29:01.279
carpenters on staff and each team. And so what they
589
00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:06.759
do is they design like custom custom furniture and bars
590
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:09.839
for like events, so like they kind of have like
591
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:12.799
base furniture and then the people will have if if
592
00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:15.400
someone's throwing a particular event, like they will change the
593
00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:17.279
upholstery on it and change the way it looks and
594
00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:19.200
the way it's set up for it. Like for literally
595
00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:21.680
like something that might last two or three days and
596
00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:23.920
then it's only for that event and then it gets
597
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:26.359
like broken down and used for and change into something
598
00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:28.799
for another event. Like it's crazy what she does.
599
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:30.079
Uh.
600
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:34.039
And you know her team built a lot of that furniture. Uh,
601
00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:37.359
custom built the furniture, custom built, the lays like it's
602
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:39.759
it really is unreal what she does.
603
00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:44.079
It's she'd she'd be there till she'd be there.
604
00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:46.720
She wouldn't show up to like like just so she
605
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:49.279
get working. You'd wait for the construction guys were done,
606
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:51.400
and she like up, she'd work. She'd walk into like
607
00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:53.119
eight pm and sit there untill like one in the morning,
608
00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:55.319
just working on stuff while that while that restaurant was
609
00:29:55.319 --> 00:29:56.759
being built, she was there all the time.
610
00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:00.920
My impression when I walked in, walked around and looked
611
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:03.799
at the detail, because the bar area is quite elegant too.
612
00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:06.599
The restaurant has that elegance that you would find in
613
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:10.359
New York or Los Angeles. There's space between the tables.
614
00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:16.279
The cocktail lounge area is like very it's not cozy,
615
00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:18.160
but it's cozy. And this is the way you have
616
00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:23.839
the round boothe you know, the bankheads and the bar
617
00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:26.920
and in the back, there's an homage to the person
618
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.200
who inspired the name.
619
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:34.559
Yes, my great grandmother. Yes, yes, the most Sicilian name.
620
00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:39.920
Her name was Gaetana Giacona, and the Giaconas were pretty
621
00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:43.279
you know, are well known in New Orleans as well. Actually,
622
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:45.839
all of the if you come from marnigrap foror the
623
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:48.519
Monigros cups, those are all all those Monigrath cups that
624
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:50.799
are thrown are all made by Giacona Plastics, which is
625
00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.319
like a distant cousin of mine, and it's all from
626
00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:56.119
the same Giacona family that came Uh.
627
00:30:56.480 --> 00:30:56.960
It's funny.
628
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:00.279
My great grandmother was actually born in New Orleans, then
629
00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:04.000
brought back and raised in Kalermo, and then brought back
630
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:07.960
and met her husband. And you know, their house used
631
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.440
to be one like two houses off the corner of
632
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:16.000
the Esplanad rampart and so that's literally where my dad
633
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:18.319
spent a lot of his time being raised. And I
634
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.559
actually used to go there a lot when I was little. Yeah,
635
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.920
So it's just a crazy I just love the New
636
00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:31.799
Orleans stories just because, you know, so many. Just being
637
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:33.599
at Port City, there's just so many. It's almost like
638
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:35.599
New York. There's so many stories that these people sort
639
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:38.400
of coming in and out, and I just loved the
640
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:40.079
fact that she was actually born here but raised in
641
00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:43.119
Palermo and came back. She barely smoke any English. She
642
00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:44.799
almost killed me like three times when I was little
643
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.440
because she'd always give me hard candies when I was
644
00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:47.200
like three years old.
645
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:49.079
So anyway, I don't know.
646
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:53.480
It's a lovely plaque in the back, and we encourage
647
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:55.759
anyone who visits to walk that bar.
648
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.519
It's a beautiful restaurant and it's got some great food too.
649
00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.160
You know, let's talk about your other two restaurants, and
650
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:05.519
you know interesting, we keep talking about Italian food. We've
651
00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:08.240
been talking about that for half an hour now. But
652
00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:12.799
your first restaurant, Mofo, is Asian, as is your other restaurant, Maypop.
653
00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:14.440
So so you.
654
00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:17.400
Actually so you actually you grew up Italian and then
655
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:19.240
you walked away from it to open a restaurant. I
656
00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:21.759
think that's pretty interesting. Tell us about MOFO and how
657
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:22.519
it got started.
658
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:26.839
It's absolute lenacy, is what it is. And I want
659
00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:28.440
to be as honest about it as I can.
660
00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:28.680
Now.
661
00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:30.559
You know, I was in a situation.
662
00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:36.400
Where I really, I really wanted to get out and
663
00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:40.440
start my own thing, and and I was trying to
664
00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.319
find investors to honestly do to do tannel and it's
665
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:48.680
we never knew. It's hard to see where you're at
666
00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.759
when you're in it. And so I've been the Shephizine
667
00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:53.039
in August for seven years. I really wanted to get
668
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:56.200
out of there. You know, there was just a lot,
669
00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:58.319
it was just getting very hot. It was a very
670
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:05.680
pressure cooker situation. And to take to become the chef
671
00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:08.880
and like like do it plan and buy it from
672
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:09.519
him and I'm like.
673
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:11.519
No, man, this is not what I want to do.
674
00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:16.359
And one of our captains was a guy named Jeffrey
675
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:19.559
Bibby and I know him since high school. And he's like, hey,
676
00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:21.599
I think and and because i'd kind of on the
677
00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:23.680
back end, been going out and trying to find them
678
00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.799
open my own restaurant. And it was crazy, and I
679
00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:28.799
was trying to open Italian restaurants. I just skept getting
680
00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.440
a whole lot of news and I was like, okay,
681
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:35.279
well this is you know, this is not easy. And
682
00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:38.720
uh He's like, hey, I think I can get us
683
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.400
some funding. He's like, but let's just like go open
684
00:33:41.480 --> 00:33:45.359
something small and simple first. And then you know, at
685
00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:48.319
that time, I'd been getting so many nos and I
686
00:33:48.359 --> 00:33:50.079
was like, Okay, well I guess that this is probably
687
00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:51.240
the way to do it. I'll just go do this
688
00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:52.880
a little restaurant. And he's like, yeah, we're just going
689
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:54.400
to open Like He's like, let's just do like a
690
00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:57.480
little casual spot. And we decided on Phu because there
691
00:33:57.559 --> 00:34:01.519
was no Fu in the area in Mid City where
692
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:04.240
we ended up opening Mofo. And we all would go
693
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:05.680
and eat be in the Eastwood on our days off,
694
00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:07.319
like that was all of our favorite cuisine, like all
695
00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:11.000
the all the chefs and bartenders and servers, we would
696
00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:12.440
all go eat V and MS on our day off
697
00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:14.840
because otherwise it was just the New Orleans heavy New
698
00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.519
Orleans suit, because no one's food can be very rich
699
00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:19.960
and very heavy. And Vidamea Street was bright and refreshing,
700
00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:21.800
and so that is what we would do in our
701
00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:23.840
ass like we're going to open a restaurant for our
702
00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:28.079
industry friends in mid City because back then all the
703
00:34:28.119 --> 00:34:30.280
industry people lived in Mid City and so this was
704
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:32.880
the move and you know a lot of at that time,
705
00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:35.519
a lot of fine dining chefs were leaving and going
706
00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:37.599
and opening more casual restaurants. I think was that was
707
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:39.559
sort of the way the pendulum was swinging at the time.
708
00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:42.519
But the crazy part was we wanted to go open
709
00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:46.320
it and we ended up on all these national most
710
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.360
anticipated lists. We're like, oh my god, and because it
711
00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:51.280
was just going to be a simple, little like Fuzs
712
00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:52.880
Shop and I'm like, okay, well, we need to re
713
00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:55.280
engineer this now and make it something bigger.
714
00:34:56.119 --> 00:34:56.840
And we did.
715
00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:01.480
And it was this crazy fusion of New Orleans and Vietnam.
716
00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:04.400
And I mean the opening menu had whole fry fish
717
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:07.800
on it. I think we had we had Crispy Krispy
718
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:10.079
rice cakes with Oonie on it. I mean like we
719
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:13.079
were doing. We had a home grilled pig's feet in
720
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:15.639
in crab broth with the crab meat in myreland and
721
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:21.360
salad on top. Like it was this wild menu. And
722
00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:25.159
it was crazy because in the by the second year
723
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:28.519
we were opened, we were, you know, we were on
724
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:31.239
phone Apps top fifty. We were I was a food
725
00:35:31.239 --> 00:35:31.960
and Wine best new.
726
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:32.920
Chef I was. It was.
727
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:37.400
It was New Orleans Magazine's mesty restaurant. It was New
728
00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:40.519
Orleans Magazine's restaurant of the Year. I mean, this little
729
00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:43.119
flash shop in vid City that looks like a bar
730
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:48.880
on the inside was winning all these national awards. But
731
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:52.000
it also taught me like I really did love that.
732
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:54.679
So it was funny because one of my own servers
733
00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:56.840
sent me some of the old lunch menues in August,
734
00:35:56.920 --> 00:36:00.039
because originally I was only a really a lot to
735
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:01.719
put my dishes on the lunchmnue at August. By the
736
00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:02.920
time I left a lot of them, maybe it was
737
00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:08.280
mine and all those old lunchmen he's had a ton
738
00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:10.159
of like Vietnamese and ty food on it because I
739
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:12.199
just love I've always loved those flavors. And when I
740
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:15.199
was traveling through Europe, you know, I lived in Germany
741
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:18.199
for a year and a half and if I wanted,
742
00:36:18.519 --> 00:36:22.119
the closest thing I could get to on was Typhoon.
743
00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:24.679
And I think because we take the same ethos in
744
00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:27.039
New Orleans be where something was very balanced with the
745
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:32.559
hot sour. It's like a curry to me, yel it
746
00:36:32.599 --> 00:36:35.159
has because you know, instead of using you know, here
747
00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:37.800
we use the trinity and you know, saus and we
748
00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:40.079
had lemon and then so there's those same balance as
749
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:41.639
a hot pour salty eat in New.
750
00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:43.400
Orleans, there is in Southeast Asia.
751
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.199
So I've always loved that and I was able to
752
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:48.360
sort of take that and run with it. And that
753
00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:52.400
became sort of the ethos for for MOFO, which was,
754
00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:55.679
you know, what would a second or third generation Vietnamese
755
00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:00.440
American cook for the house US from Lafayette, Right, So
756
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:02.639
like they would make it, they would make an a
757
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:05.440
two fade, but instead of using the traditional trinity, they
758
00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:08.800
would add lemon grass, they would add lime leaf. They
759
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:10.800
would instead of using butter and cream, they would use
760
00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:13.840
coconut note. But you would still use crawfish, but still
761
00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:16.840
use you still rice, and so many of these things
762
00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:19.760
are so so similar that if you just tweak a
763
00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:23.079
couple of the items, it becomes a whole new cuisine
764
00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:29.199
that both cultures can recognize. That came the whole and
765
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:32.719
it just resonated. People just loved it. And that's and
766
00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:36.760
then so we had the chance to open Maypop. And
767
00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:40.320
with Maypop, we were like, oh, let's just go, Let's
768
00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:42.079
do the Italian restaurant. I'm like, I don't know, man,
769
00:37:42.119 --> 00:37:44.400
now I'm in love with this usion thing. What if
770
00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:48.280
we take Italian and mix it with all the flavors
771
00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:50.599
like New Orleans Italian mix it with all the flavors
772
00:37:50.599 --> 00:37:54.320
of the Mekong delta, and that's what Maypop is. Honestly,
773
00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:58.159
like it's if Asta is tossed with handground curries with
774
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:02.400
Louisiana seafood. But it was funny because Maypop really never
775
00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:04.840
had the chance to get there. I mean it opened
776
00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:09.440
in twenty seventeen. By twenty nineteen, I mean we were
777
00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:13.000
by two thousand and nine on you know, on Persons
778
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:17.000
Top ten, we were on we were all on Condonast
779
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:18.840
Top twenty for New Orleans.
780
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:21.800
I mean like it had finally made it. In twenty nineteen.
781
00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:24.760
We were busy every day and then the pandemic camps
782
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:26.400
and so it kind of took the wind down of
783
00:38:26.440 --> 00:38:29.400
apop sales and then so since then, I mean we
784
00:38:29.400 --> 00:38:32.480
were just like if I'm still I love the food
785
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:36.119
we do there. I love the animation of it. On
786
00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:38.239
the Complements is one of my line coaches, so it'd
787
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:40.480
worked all over the country. He's like, man, like, y'all
788
00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:44.239
are creating here, which I was, which to me was
789
00:38:44.280 --> 00:38:46.280
a huge compliment. I was like, yeah, we really are.
790
00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:48.119
I mean, just it's so much fun. The things that
791
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:53.880
we're doing were ever were so invested the cuisine and
792
00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:55.599
then it just got the like I said, the wind
793
00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:57.639
knock out of it. And it's you know, it's kind
794
00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:00.840
of started along for the last two or three years
795
00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:03.960
and now only have a new shift togazine and he
796
00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:09.599
is putting so much new uh a new jam before
797
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:13.840
pandemic and you know, now they're shifting almost entirely tasting
798
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:19.360
menus and and it's really coming along now, uh, coming
799
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:20.840
back to life that we're excited about.
800
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:25.559
What's interesting. So Mofo and may Pop are very different
801
00:39:25.559 --> 00:39:28.639
in their styles. Mofo for us is our casual place.
802
00:39:28.679 --> 00:39:30.639
We love to go there for lunch or after. We
803
00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:33.239
went after jazz Fest quite a bit because it was
804
00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:35.159
like on the route home and we could just pull
805
00:39:35.159 --> 00:39:38.599
at the bar and even take out. Maypop is a
806
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:43.639
lot more. There's another level of sophistication in it. And
807
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:45.960
we had a friend lives in that area and we
808
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:48.440
had a really wonderful dinner. We need to do a revisit.
809
00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:51.239
You mentioned tasting menus, and I think this is an
810
00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:56.119
interesting topic because I think a number of restaurants around
811
00:39:56.159 --> 00:39:58.519
the country are moving to that. There was a movement
812
00:39:58.599 --> 00:40:01.119
away from tasting menus for a while and now there
813
00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:03.559
seems to be a movement back, and I think it's
814
00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:06.639
because of the pandemic. I'd like you to talk about
815
00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:08.639
the bit. You know, we're lucky in New Orleans in
816
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:10.840
the month of August, they do these, They do casing
817
00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:12.960
menus anytime they want to bring in more customers. And
818
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:16.599
we've been taking advantage of the short culinary menus. But
819
00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:20.039
the chasing menu is something that it can be divisive
820
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:22.119
with people. What do you think is why do you
821
00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:23.840
think that it is a good decision?
822
00:40:25.400 --> 00:40:29.639
Well, so host pandemic that the new world we're living
823
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:34.760
in is now is the supreme Batts labor right, So
824
00:40:35.599 --> 00:40:39.840
cooks are making thirty percent more than they were before pandemic,
825
00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:46.719
and everyone should make a Liverpool wage before pandemic, not
826
00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:50.159
a little wait, they just work. So now you know
827
00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:53.360
books are making They were eighteen and twenty dollars an
828
00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:58.159
hour across the anyone I know that I played our restaurants.
829
00:40:58.199 --> 00:41:01.480
Everyone's making between eighteen and twenty two dollars hour. And
830
00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:04.000
that changes the dynamic of how you can do it.
831
00:41:04.039 --> 00:41:05.440
And it's like, you know, so I go to my
832
00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:07.280
to my managers and I'm like, guys, this is you
833
00:41:07.320 --> 00:41:10.360
know the numbers of the numbers, you can't fake them.
834
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:13.159
So if we all want to make more than we
835
00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:16.159
have to do it with less or we have to
836
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:21.039
charge way more. And so you know, also we've engineered
837
00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:25.239
and used to just do it with because most we
838
00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:26.880
can't go up on its price. Like MOFO is a
839
00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:29.880
neighborhood joint. You know it has to you know that
840
00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:36.320
it may Pop. I mean, downtown New Orleans is not great.
841
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:42.000
You know the pandemic. No one Now everyone works half
842
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.639
from home. So it used to be you had a
843
00:41:43.719 --> 00:41:45.719
huge lunch ground. You know, every day at Maypop we
844
00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:48.400
would do sixty to eighty covers for lunch. Now we're
845
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:50.679
not even open for lunch because no one is. There
846
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:54.320
are no everyone I'm talking to that you work downtown.
847
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:56.960
Now their companies might make them come in two days
848
00:41:57.000 --> 00:41:59.480
a week, right, so maybe there's maybe two days that
849
00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:00.960
they have to come in to do to do work.
850
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:03.119
So that's viable.
851
00:42:03.239 --> 00:42:10.920
So now maybe not solely dependent on tourism. And the
852
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:12.760
switch to the tasing menu is like, okay, well, if
853
00:42:12.760 --> 00:42:17.639
someone's here traveling for tourism or traveling for a convention,
854
00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.800
then they're going to be willing to spend a little more,
855
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:23.760
and so let's just see how far, you know, what
856
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:25.480
are people really open to? And so we put the
857
00:42:25.519 --> 00:42:27.360
tasting menu on it, and we don't force tasing you.
858
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:31.920
It's an option. But we have found that now a
859
00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:34.800
center of our covers get to us, and it has
860
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:39.800
raised our guests caverage by forty dollars. And so now
861
00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:42.800
we're doing a third of the covers we used to,
862
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:45.239
but we've been able to raise our guestrick canverage to
863
00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:49.159
where the least we're able to make enough revenue to
864
00:42:49.679 --> 00:42:53.239
be there until Downtown either shifts or comes back, or
865
00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:55.639
or we move the restaurant or something along those lines.
866
00:42:57.519 --> 00:43:01.440
Well, it's interesting. I would think that tasting menu also
867
00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:03.639
can deal with what must be the incredible amount of
868
00:43:03.639 --> 00:43:04.280
food waste.
869
00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:09.519
But I mean that so we kind of it's tricky
870
00:43:09.519 --> 00:43:11.559
for us because yeah, if you go full tasting menu,
871
00:43:12.119 --> 00:43:14.199
that helps. And it's even better if you can have
872
00:43:14.199 --> 00:43:16.320
a full tasting menu in a restaurant where you know
873
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:18.519
the number of covers coming in each night, like for real,
874
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:21.559
like for us, we still have the problem that god
875
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:24.000
we might have and this is this is the true
876
00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:27.679
severity and scariness of Downtown. The walls right now, especially
877
00:43:27.719 --> 00:43:30.039
in the summer, we might have five people in the books,
878
00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:33.559
but then we'll do forty five, like we'll have that
879
00:43:33.599 --> 00:43:37.159
many walkins, which is just insanity, Uh, to have that
880
00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:39.719
many walkins and then them all do tasting mans. So
881
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:41.679
it makes it really hard for staffing. It makes it
882
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:47.079
really hard for labor costs these days because people of
883
00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:51.199
ease of reservations, people honestly don't use them as much.
884
00:43:51.280 --> 00:43:53.159
Like they'll just walk in and they're like, oh, you know,
885
00:43:53.239 --> 00:43:54.559
we didn't know y'all were here, and oh you're the
886
00:43:54.599 --> 00:43:57.559
tasting menu and somebody you'll sell twenty tasting menus when
887
00:43:57.559 --> 00:43:59.519
you had nothing on the books that night, and it's
888
00:43:59.639 --> 00:44:02.320
you know, it can be very very stressful.
889
00:44:03.400 --> 00:44:07.400
So you're saying that you prefer reservations versus walkins.
890
00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:09.840
I mean, I'll take I'll take whenever you give me.
891
00:44:09.960 --> 00:44:11.920
But if for tasting menus, because we have it. If
892
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:17.280
you go to open table, there's both options. You can
893
00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:18.880
just get a regular reservation or you can get a
894
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:21.800
tasting menu reservation. Then we can kind of know how
895
00:44:21.800 --> 00:44:24.559
many resume tasting menus are coming in. But still we
896
00:44:24.639 --> 00:44:26.639
haven't been we I don't think we have not been
897
00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:30.280
a tasing menu restaurant long enough for people to trust us,
898
00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:33.159
and they just make the regular reservation because they're not sure.
899
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:34.719
But the tasting menu, then they come in, they read it,
900
00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:36.480
they're like, oh, this looks great, and then they do
901
00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:38.440
the tasting menu, and then we end up selling how
902
00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:39.440
much tasting menus.
903
00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:42.079
It's interesting. I mean, we're guilty of the walk in
904
00:44:42.119 --> 00:44:44.000
a lot. Sometimes we just don't know. And New Orleans
905
00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:46.880
is fickle because you never know what the rain, et cetera.
906
00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:50.320
You know, one bad rainstorm and boom. But here's the
907
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:52.679
good news. Here's the good news. New Orleans is getting
908
00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:55.039
the Super Bowl in twenty twenty five, and of course
909
00:44:55.079 --> 00:44:57.119
there's the Taylor Swift thing coming up in the fall
910
00:44:57.159 --> 00:45:00.159
of twenty twenty four. So I think that we think,
911
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:02.800
you know, downtown New Orleans and mid city is going
912
00:45:02.840 --> 00:45:04.840
to get a boost with that, and there's some interesting
913
00:45:05.119 --> 00:45:07.039
hotels that have opened. So I think that that's a
914
00:45:07.119 --> 00:45:09.360
really great thing because a lot of people come and
915
00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:12.480
they actually don't know where to go right close to
916
00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:16.400
the super Dome and close to entertainment, So that's an
917
00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:18.719
advantage that I think is going to help all the
918
00:45:18.760 --> 00:45:20.119
restaurants in that location.
919
00:45:20.440 --> 00:45:23.239
Yeah, we're already we're already almost booked for the weekend
920
00:45:23.280 --> 00:45:25.480
of Sailor Swifts and that's a month and a half out.
921
00:45:26.199 --> 00:45:26.760
That's great.
922
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:31.320
Wow, that's so amazing. That's exciting. You know, we you know,
923
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:34.840
we need more of that in New Orleans and more
924
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:38.760
awareness of what's around it. We get that question all
925
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:42.000
the time from people who say, what's around this area?
926
00:45:42.440 --> 00:45:46.559
So that proximity factor is really really great. So, you know,
927
00:45:46.599 --> 00:45:51.679
you've got three restaurants, you're quite busy. Where do you
928
00:45:51.719 --> 00:45:54.559
go on your Where do you go when you kick back?
929
00:45:54.920 --> 00:45:58.599
We always like to ask chefs and restaurant owners, where's
930
00:45:58.639 --> 00:46:00.840
that little place you go where you can be anonymous
931
00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:05.519
and have a good meal. Uh?
932
00:46:05.559 --> 00:46:10.760
Where do I go? I don't know, I don't know. Anonymous?
933
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:14.719
Is hard tack the anonymous out of it because we
934
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:16.840
asked this to Isaac Tubes and I don't think he's
935
00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:19.440
anonymous anywhere, but he go with this neighborhood place, and
936
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:20.920
then we like, I tailed over there.
937
00:46:22.039 --> 00:46:24.159
No, I mean, you know, like I always I haven't
938
00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:25.800
been there forever, but I U still I used to
939
00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:30.280
love going to Liaises, I up going to Theses on
940
00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:34.079
the end with the big frosty because they do the
941
00:46:34.119 --> 00:46:42.280
friend schileta. I love a friend. So here's big popular
942
00:46:42.320 --> 00:46:46.400
opinion is that I don't like muffle outas like the
943
00:46:46.639 --> 00:46:48.280
bread of the muffla is on. I find it sinks
944
00:46:48.360 --> 00:46:49.960
up all the oil and it's kind of greasy. But
945
00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:52.079
I love a French schiletta, which is a which is
946
00:46:52.079 --> 00:46:54.480
the mufflot on French bread that they toast and get
947
00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:57.480
really get it really warm, melt the cheese, getting a
948
00:46:57.559 --> 00:47:00.400
really crunchy because I'm a big texture person, so like
949
00:47:00.440 --> 00:47:03.320
a French chillletta to me is the best thing. And
950
00:47:03.480 --> 00:47:06.679
uh lais is always the lases on. Bienville has the
951
00:47:06.719 --> 00:47:08.760
French schiletta in the in the in the big icy
952
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:11.719
muggs of mirror and so. And they also do bushwhackers
953
00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:13.000
if you want to get your you know, you just
954
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:20.079
want to get trashed. So that's a great one. And
955
00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:21.840
if I'm and if I want to sneak away and
956
00:47:21.840 --> 00:47:23.639
get a cocktail, I go to twelve mile in it
957
00:47:23.719 --> 00:47:26.039
just because it's a dive bar with really good cocktails.
958
00:47:26.199 --> 00:47:28.599
Oh yeah, that we had Bull Newton on the show.
959
00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:29.199
He was great.
960
00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:34.440
He has Yeah, I think he's still there. We hadn't
961
00:47:34.440 --> 00:47:35.280
have been there in a while, so.
962
00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:38.639
And I had to do a fundraiser together and it
963
00:47:38.760 --> 00:47:43.440
was a talent show. Uh and it was at Saturn
964
00:47:43.480 --> 00:47:44.679
Bar and that was a whole lot of fun.
965
00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:46.559
He's a great he's a great guy.
966
00:47:46.599 --> 00:47:47.039
We had him on.
967
00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:49.400
It was just after tails in the Cocktail. Yeah, quite
968
00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:51.760
some time talk about New Orleans cocktails and the.
969
00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:54.320
Losers at the Trap and not Louses Midst, which is
970
00:47:54.400 --> 00:47:57.199
actually near us. So I'm sure we'll high tail. We
971
00:47:57.320 --> 00:47:59.400
like the high tail over to wherever people tell us
972
00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:02.239
to go and check things out, because there's the city
973
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:05.199
has so much you could just you know, somebody actually commented,
974
00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:06.960
do you just all you do is eat out? And
975
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:08.679
I kind of have my tail between my legs. No,
976
00:48:08.760 --> 00:48:13.760
we eat home also, but there's just so there's just
977
00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:16.480
so many amazing places to try and a lot of
978
00:48:16.559 --> 00:48:20.440
them are hole in the walls that you are local
979
00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:23.039
has to tell you about, right, absolutely.
980
00:48:23.039 --> 00:48:24.960
And it's hard because I also want to support, like,
981
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:27.320
you know, my friends who have new restaurants, because the
982
00:48:27.400 --> 00:48:28.800
Lord knows if you have a new restaurant, you need
983
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:31.199
that support as well. Yeah, it's hard, and there's so
984
00:48:31.280 --> 00:48:34.239
many restaurants in such a small area. People don't believe
985
00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:36.519
me that, you know where a population of like three
986
00:48:36.599 --> 00:48:40.280
hundred thousand with fifteen hundred restaurants. Yeah, it's it's you know,
987
00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:44.159
it's absolutely insanity. We like there, like I don't know,
988
00:48:44.199 --> 00:48:45.119
because I really love food.
989
00:48:45.480 --> 00:48:47.159
I'm not sure we.
990
00:48:47.280 --> 00:48:49.159
Love food too, And if I had my way, I
991
00:48:49.159 --> 00:48:52.719
would eat out every night, and you know I am always.
992
00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:56.800
Even yesterday when I was going to get a medical test,
993
00:48:57.199 --> 00:48:59.280
I slipped into a place that a local friend told
994
00:48:59.320 --> 00:49:01.840
me about that soon for local and really down, you know,
995
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:04.599
really and have my little half of a half of
996
00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:07.440
a pull boy oister Bullow pull boy, just to say
997
00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:09.280
I tried it, but it was like a little died
998
00:49:09.880 --> 00:49:13.199
and it's like you find these places all around and
999
00:49:13.400 --> 00:49:16.239
it's so much fun. But you know, on the flip side,
1000
00:49:16.280 --> 00:49:18.599
you know, Tana made us feel very grown up and
1001
00:49:18.679 --> 00:49:20.639
we got dressed up and you don't have to be
1002
00:49:20.760 --> 00:49:23.000
dressed up, you can, you know, but we we wanted
1003
00:49:23.079 --> 00:49:24.880
to be good when we went there because it's just
1004
00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:26.719
it's a beautiful one side.
1005
00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:29.920
It really, I mean it's now at the point where
1006
00:49:29.920 --> 00:49:31.480
I can walk around the dining room and be like, man,
1007
00:49:31.599 --> 00:49:37.239
we created a really really amazing, cool viety restaurant that
1008
00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:40.800
you know that I never it's still it takes me
1009
00:49:41.079 --> 00:49:42.960
a back whole lot because you know, I'm always in
1010
00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:45.239
the nuts on the bolt side in the kitchen, you know,
1011
00:49:45.320 --> 00:49:47.079
grinding it out and just kind of walk around the
1012
00:49:47.119 --> 00:49:49.719
dining room and see where how far we've come just
1013
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:52.239
in the in the eight months we've been opened. Is
1014
00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:53.719
it feels really good?
1015
00:49:54.159 --> 00:49:57.760
Yeah, Well, it's nice to be able to kind of
1016
00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:00.199
dress up and go out in the in the city
1017
00:50:00.239 --> 00:50:02.920
where everyone's in shorts and flip flops and shifts all
1018
00:50:02.960 --> 00:50:04.719
the time just because of the hate. It's nice to
1019
00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:06.119
feel like you can go out and have an evening
1020
00:50:06.239 --> 00:50:08.639
or lunch out and have a great meal and feel
1021
00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:10.039
feel feel boddled.
1022
00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:12.920
Yeah, and I love the lunch now. So we're only
1023
00:50:12.960 --> 00:50:15.719
doing lunch Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I think we're going to
1024
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:17.960
move it to Thursday too, but like the Friday love
1025
00:50:18.119 --> 00:50:20.199
vibe is just it reminds me of you know, you know,
1026
00:50:20.239 --> 00:50:21.840
when you're in New York you can always go get
1027
00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:25.320
a reasonably priced well it's like a cheap way to
1028
00:50:25.400 --> 00:50:29.400
go experience a great restaurant, right, And it's like, you know,
1029
00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:31.280
whenever I'm in New York, I always like to pop
1030
00:50:31.320 --> 00:50:34.519
in and in between services at Marea and get the
1031
00:50:34.559 --> 00:50:37.000
bone Narrow Octopus Coasta. Like that's just one of my
1032
00:50:37.320 --> 00:50:38.960
that's just one of my go like whenever I'm in
1033
00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:40.800
New York, I just pop in because you can always
1034
00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:43.239
get it no matter what time of the day, and
1035
00:50:43.480 --> 00:50:45.719
and you know, and it's the same thing with where
1036
00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:47.679
you can you can pop in and have that experience,
1037
00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:50.719
you know, and it's a lighter area field than dinner.
1038
00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:54.000
And so that's I want to I want to have
1039
00:50:54.159 --> 00:50:56.519
that option at time because I love and the other Like,
1040
00:50:56.760 --> 00:50:59.440
you know, we only launch Lunch a month and a
1041
00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:02.559
half ago, but like two fridays ago, I mean I
1042
00:51:02.599 --> 00:51:04.480
think we did eighty covers and it was just that
1043
00:51:04.639 --> 00:51:06.559
same energy. It was just like everyone was having a
1044
00:51:06.599 --> 00:51:09.920
good time. The food's a lot lighter at lunch, and
1045
00:51:10.199 --> 00:51:14.360
and I love that energy of elegant but but light
1046
00:51:14.599 --> 00:51:16.639
that you that you only usually that I only ever
1047
00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:19.119
found it in New York restaurants at lunchtime.
1048
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:22.440
You know, sometimes you just want to pop in and
1049
00:51:22.519 --> 00:51:24.559
have that one dish and just make it a misty
1050
00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:28.480
glass of wine. I'm like that, well, you know, Mike,
1051
00:51:28.559 --> 00:51:30.639
We've really enjoyed talking to you. We've come to the end.
1052
00:51:31.119 --> 00:51:33.199
We have to wrap up, but we've been talking with
1053
00:51:33.320 --> 00:51:36.400
Michael Golotta. The three restaurants we're talking about are all
1054
00:51:36.519 --> 00:51:41.639
worthy of visiting and revisiting, Mofo, Maypop, and Tana Uh.
1055
00:51:41.960 --> 00:51:45.880
They just really show the diversity and deliciousness that New
1056
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.760
Orleans has to offer and why we chose to settle here.
1057
00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:51.760
Thank you so much for joining us on the Connected Table.
1058
00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:53.719
Oh it was a lot of fun. I appreciate it.
1059
00:51:54.400 --> 00:51:56.480
And for all of you listening, come to New Orleans.
1060
00:51:56.760 --> 00:51:59.679
It's time for a visit and time for a revisit.
1061
00:51:59.719 --> 00:52:02.199
There's a lot going on and we want you always
1062
00:52:02.280 --> 00:52:03.920
to stay insatiably curious.