Building Carson Kitchen and Butcher & Thief with Cory Harwell | 336

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Alrighty then.
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Julie, we're back again.
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No boys and girls today?
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What?
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When you usually go, hey boys and girls.
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Well, you know, you you made fun of me for the way I uh start every show, so now you got me self-conscious.
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I know, do something different every episode.
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Yes.
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Well, listen, you and I have worked together for how long now?
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Six months.
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Six months.
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You know me pretty well.
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You know that I'm a simple man with simple needs.
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You know that when it comes to this show, I I it's not too overly complex.
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We have a handful of topics that we talk about.
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There are two specific things that I absolutely love talking about.
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Do you know what those are?
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I bet I can guess.
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Go ahead.
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Business, how people do their business.
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I do love business, yes.
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And I would say probably food.
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I do love food.
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You love food?
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I do.
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I also love talking about sports and technology.
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Yeah.
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And upcoming events and music.
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So maybe it's a few more than just two things that we love talking about.
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Yeah.
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But fortunately, today, the guest that we have on today is going to cover a handful of those, plus maybe a little bonus topics as well, which I'm pretty excited for.
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I'm excited too.
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Yes.
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Well, he's the president of Eleven Hospitality Group.
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He's the co-founder of Carson Kitchen, the owner of Butcher and Thief at the Bend.
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Corey Harwell is here.
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Corey, welcome to the show.
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Thank you.
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I should say hello, boys and girls.
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I wanted to give it to him.
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That's what I wanted to give.
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It's a give-take relationship that Corey and I have.
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Um Corey, you're giving off rock star vibes.
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I dig this look you get.
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You get the shirt, the nice shirt, you got the arm sleeve.
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I try, I try.
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You know, and granimals.
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I match the animals.
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I learned it as a kid.
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It's a good thing.
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Are you done with the tattoos?
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You have more coming up or what?
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I don't know.
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I I said I was only going to do the left arm.
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I'm running out of space.
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Um, my wife and I, what's occupying a lot of it on our first date, my wife says to me, travel changes you.
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Okay.
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And that is now kind of our our motto.
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Yeah.
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Um, so everywhere we go, we get travel changes you on us in different languages to commemorate visiting that location.
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Um, so I I think I'm gonna end up having to find a another body part or two.
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You know, leg sleeves are really cool.
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Yeah.
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You do leg sleeves.
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Let's see those legs cool.
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Episode two.
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That's fine.
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We'll we'll save that for when you come back.
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Um well, listen, you obviously are very well established, not only in just the hospitality industry, but here in Vegas.
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But I want to learn a little bit more about your history before we talk about all the successes that you have and the ups and downs that you have.
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So you got started as a dishwasher, but you lied about your age to get the job.
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Is that true?
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I did.
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I did.
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It's funny because you just watched a recent podcast that I was on because I I think that's the first time I had admitted that.
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Yes.
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I believe you had to be 16 to have a work permit in the state of Georgia at the time.
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Uh, and it wasn't my first job under 16, but it was the first one I had lied about to get.
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I had worked at a it was called Jimmy, Jimmy's Superet.
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I was un you know, unboxing, stacking shelves and breaking down boxes when I was like 14 years old.
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But you know, Jimmy paid me under the table.
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We won't we won't tell anyone about that.
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We'll keep that between us and Jimmy.
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The IRS is coming after you now.
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Jimmy's long gone, so good luck, IRS.
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Jimmy had a good run.
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Yeah.
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God bless Jimmy.
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Um, do you feel like there's a strong connection between starting off at not say the the lowest of the low when it comes to the rankings?
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Obviously, dishwasher and back of the house is very important, but starting off where you're getting your hands dirty and you're in the thick of it and you're getting dirty dishes thrown at you and all that, do you think that's crucial to be to where you are today?
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Do you feel like starting at that point is crucial for you?
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I I do, and I think for a couple reasons.
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I I think it gives you the the knowledge base that you need to run all the positions uh in a restaurant.
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But most importantly, I think it enables you uh a greater depth of leadership over the people that that work uh alongside you because you've done everything you're asking them to do.
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Yes.
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Um there's not this like I I did a brief uh stint in the military after high school so that I could pay for college.
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And there was a big difference between the officers that got out of college and went straight to OCS versus the enlisted that worked their way all the way through the ranks and then got an opportunity to go to OCS and became officers 10, 20 years later, the respect level was just significantly different.
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And and I think that translates uh very well to our business.
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Uh, you know, I I know on a Friday night when I walk into the dish room, um uh there's there's nothing that they're doing or dealing with that I haven't done or dealt with gives me a greater empathy for for them during their job and and I think it enables them to respect me a little bit more that that I've done it all.
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I've cut my teeth properly.
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I didn't just walk in and mommy or daddy wrote me a check for a restaurant.
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Well said.
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I don't think we've ever had a guest on that had a situation where like mommy and daddy wrote me a check for everything.
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No, I don't think that on has really started from the bottom and worked their way up to where they are.
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Well, and even in the reverse, too.
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Like even, you know, I I've never been high up in any kind of hospitality or food and beverage business, but even as a server, when I had known that the owner of that restaurant had been where I am, I respected them more too.
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Sure.
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Oh, absolutely.
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Yeah, I was more willing to take critiques.
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Good.
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You know, and all too often I think uh our business, our industry attracts people very quickly, very easily.
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So you get a lot of people wanting to own restaurants, wanting to own bars because they think it's exciting, it's uh it's glamorous, there's there's so much good uh parts to it, they don't know the bad sides of it.
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Uh and there's very little barrier to entry to get into the restaurant or bar business.
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You if you got a checkbook with some zeros behind it, you can get in.
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I mean, it it's that easy.
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Um so I think people do have a greater amount of respect for for people that came up through the ranks that that uh really earned their stripes.
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Well said.
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I always say this, I've said this multiple times on the show.
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I feel like everybody should at least one time in their life work in the hospitality or food service industry.
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Oh, absolutely.
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For sure.
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Just to whether it's out of respect for you know understanding what these people are going through with the guests that they have come in, or just uh just a different experience that you get to, you know.
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I've I've worked in the service industry for a good portion of my life, and it was some of the best years.
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I met the best people, created incredible relationships, learned a lot about business, learned a lot about even then the marketing side, learned a lot about what people are attracted to or what engages them.
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Um and I wouldn't really wouldn't have known as much as I did.
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You learn about being a part of a team, yes.
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There's a there's a different level of camaraderie in our industry, and some people call it incestuous, uh, which it can be.
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Um, but yeah, I agree with you.
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Everybody should should have to work.
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I I've often said people should have to work in the hospitality industry, and everyone should have to live in New York City for at least a year.
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I like that.
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What did you learn about living in New York?
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Because you you're you're not from New York, but you're not from.
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I'm I'm from a small town in Georgia, uh about an hour north of Atlanta.
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Was it Woodstock?
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It was Woodstock.
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Yeah, it looks like Woodstock is now considered a suburb of Atlanta, but we were significantly north back in the late 70s, early 80s.
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Uh now it is, you know, very much a part of it.
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Um but moving to New York, uh, and I know this it almost seems like an easy answer, but appreciating diversity and and just embracing different cultures and and what they bring to the table.
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I was never exposed to that growing up.
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I mean, uh, you know, we very small town.
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We were a very much white and black town.
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Um there weren't any other races around.
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Um, I honestly never heard the N-word until I moved to New York City.
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Really?
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Never heard it growing up down south.
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It wasn't a part of our vocabulary, it just it didn't exist.
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Okay.
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Um, I know the South gets a bad rap for for you know being heavily racist.
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And honestly, I never saw any aspects of racism like that until I moved to New York.
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And so you get exposed to so much more.
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Uh not all bad.
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I mean, obviously that's a negative side of it, but from a positive side, just being exposed to to so many different cultures and being exposed to so many different cuisines.
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I mean, I had never had Ethiopian food, I didn't even know what it was.
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Um, so yeah, it was a it was a remarkable experience.
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So fast forward to let's say 97.
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You you is it from New York you came to Vegas?
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It is, yeah.
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So what brought you to Vegas in 97?
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I was working for Mark Packer.
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Um, he was the guy that owned Tao and Marquee.
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Um he also at the time owned Harley Davidson Cafe.
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I worked at the one in New York City.
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I was still a struggling artist, wanted to be on Saturday Night Live trying to do stand-up around Manhattan.
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And uh he came to me.
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He and um uh a guy that uh has has been a significant mentor in my life for forever since, uh gentleman named Scott Young.
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Uh he and Scott came to me and said, Hey, we want you to go to New Orleans, we're opening a place.
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Um, we need someone out there that we kind of know and trust.
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Sure.
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Uh well you go out there.
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We just go for one year.
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And I'm like, I don't know.
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And they offered me a decent chunk of money, and at the time it was a huge amount of money.
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How old time I would have been 26, 25, 26.
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Um, so you know, I mean, him offering me a decent annual salary and I couldn't even afford headshots in New York City.
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I mean, I I'm still playing guitar and singing, you know, Cecilia on the corner of you know 74th and Broadway, trying to make, you know, just a little bit of money so I can go to Big Nick's and get a slice of pizza and a beer.
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Please, sir.
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Yeah.
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Like a little Timmy.
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So, you know, offering me a little bit of cash to come out to give him one year, I was I was all for it.
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And, you know, here I am almost 29 years later, still here.
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Do you how close?
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I know SNL was a dream of yours to be on.
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How close were you?
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Did you audition at all?
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Uh I did not.
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The closest I came, I was actually in the audience the night that Sinead O'Connor ripped up the picture of the Pope.
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Really?
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That's that's as close as I got.
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I was an audience member.
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You still have the ticket?
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Uh I don't know, unfortunately.
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Who was your like SNL idol?
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Like, was there a comedian on the show where you're like, I want to be like them?
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Yeah, there there was, but it changed so much.
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I mean, when I was a little kid, John Belushi was was it for me.
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Um Aykroyd, I mean, all of them, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris.
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I mean, that that original cast, those first few years, uh, I mean, I could almost recite every single skit, still to this day.
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I mean, I've seen them so many times.
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But but over time, um, Dennis Miller, I thought, was just absolutely fantastic.
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Uh Chris Farley, of course, uh, Adam Sandler.
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I mean, there's just been so many wonderful ones.
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When you were in New York, was it during the Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade era?
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Early 90s.
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Yeah.
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Interesting.
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Do you do you remember any of your stand-up routine at all?
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I I I still do remember.
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I do remember a couple things.
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I used to do this joke about um you know standing in line.
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You get really impatient when you're in line at the either the post office or the bank and you're weaving your way through all the way, and you get up front and the lady goes next, you're like, that's me.
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Like if you I'm next.
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And if you like being next, you can stay next.
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You let the person behind you go in front of you, next.
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Let me tell you something.
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It's been 30 years since I told that joke.
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I I almost got it.
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I think I stepped on it a little bit, but yeah.
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You made her snort.
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Whenever she needs to be getting it, that's usually a good thing.
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No, that's funny.
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That means you're funny.
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That's a joke.
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I have never heard that joke before.
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That is a good one.
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That's because you weren't in New York at the uh comedy clubs.
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I know, you're right.
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Should have been.
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Wasn't born yet.
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That's okay.
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That's okay.
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Um in 97 with Vegas, what was Vegas like?
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I mean, I I wasn't here at that time.
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I was, you know, I just here as a visitor at the time.
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But to me, I was you know, Treasure Island was everything to me.
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I was 12 years old at the time, and it was it was blowing my mind.
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But to you, a businessman coming to Vegas at in 97, what was it like compared to what it is today?
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Well, uh it was the last kind of uh custard stand of the old Vegas.
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I mean, this was uh New York, New York had just opened in January of that year.
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Bellagio had not yet opened, Mandalay Bay had not yet opened.
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Um Vegas was going through and in '97, it's hard because we didn't even know what we were about to go through.
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And I'll explain that in a second.
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But 97, I remember um there were two clubs in town.
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You had the drink and the beach, that was it.
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The drink down on Koval, um, Koval and Um, I don't know, whatever the road Ellis Island is on.
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Okay.
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Um, and then uh the beach, obviously back over by uh where um uh over by the convention center.
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Oh, convention center.
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And so that that was it.
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:47.039
That that literally was it until I think Studio 54 opened up in MGM a year later.
00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:54.879
And obviously you saw the the um the progression of the nightclub scene in in Vegas through the late 90s and and early um 2000s.
00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:00.879
But the big um I think catalyst for change for Vegas was in '98 when Bellagio opened.
00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:10.240
Steve Wynne, who I think really is, I won't say the only, because there's been others, but I will say the greatest visionary that Las Vegas has ever seen.
00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:16.559
Um just everybody else I think has copied um his visions to some degree.
00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:26.799
Um, what he did at the Bellagio with Elizabeth Blau, she obviously had a great part in it, um, transformed what what Vegas is and allowed us to become what we are today.
00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:45.679
And um, by bringing um, you know, Syria in from Le Cirque and bringing Prime Steakhouse with John George and Carrie Simon, who was John George's chef at the time, um uh putting a focus on fine dining and significant culinary opportunity, nobody else had done that really.
00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:51.440
You had a you had a steakhouse and a coffee shop, right, and maybe a buffet at every other casino in town at the time.
00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.600
295 Prime Ribs or whatever, 695, whatever it was.
00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:03.759
And now all of a sudden, here's this focus on making food and beverage no longer a loss leader, but a but a revenue center, a profit center.
00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:13.200
Um, and and they were the ones that started that and and I think laid the groundwork to allow Vegas to become what it is today, which I would argue is the greatest dining city in the world.
00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:14.000
Well said.
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:15.759
Can we talk about Elizabeth Blau for a little bit?
00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:21.440
I feel like she's as as many accomplishments as she has, I still feel like she's underrated to the public.
00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:25.519
The people that are in the industry know who she is and they they know her accomplishments.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.840
But like Julie, for example, do you are you familiar with Elizabeth Blau?
00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:28.399
I'm not.
00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:34.799
Can you kind of explain to somebody who's on the outside looking in of you know what kind of impact she's had and here in Vegas?
00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.360
Yeah, so I I'll speak on it from two fronts.
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:49.360
And obviously, her involvement with Steve Wynn and and what they did at the Bellagio and the what they curated, the restaurants that they brought in, really kind of um set the set the tone for everyone else to to begin following.
00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:59.679
And before long, you saw every every hook casino and hotel in town started having finer restaurants and outside celebrity chefs and all of you know, they really started that.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:07.200
Um Elizabeth is um, I think, probably one of the most renowned restaurant consultants in the world at this point.
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:16.000
Um, she still has some of her own restaurants, one here in town, Honey Salt, actually a couple, I think Buddy V's uh at the Venetian, she's still involved with that.
00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:22.799
Uh but for the most part, her business is in helping other restaurant groups develop concepts, design concepts.
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:28.240
Um, she she does a significant amount of business around the world um doing that.
00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:39.759
And I think um the other thing that I've always been impressed by her is her uh ability to um grow the female talent in our industry.
00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.919
Um she's put so much focus on that.
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:59.759
And I know right now she and Jolene Manina, who's another big um food and beverage name here in town, they have this um women's collective um where they really focus on developing uh female leaders in the in the restaurant and hotel spaces, and and they do a phenomenal job at that.
00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:13.200
And so I you know uh hats off to Elizabeth and the role she's played in in making Vegas what it is, and and she was instrumental in um we were um kind of connected that six degrees of Kevin Bacon, if you will.
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:21.440
Um, you know, she had a hand in Carrie Simon and I uh ended up being in business together, so there was a little bit of kind of side relationships there.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:22.159
Love that.
00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.080
Um so I I always will have uh wonderful things to to say about Elizabeth.
00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:26.639
That's great.
00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.320
Julie, do you know who Kevin Bacon is?
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:29.440
I do know who Kevin Bacon is.
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.759
Every now and then I gotta I gotta check in with him and see if what we're talking about is beyond her expertise.
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:42.240
See, I do feel like my parents were born in the 50s, but I was adopted, so I and I was born in the late 90s.
00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:46.240
So I feel like I have a good range of cultural decades.
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:47.120
Listen.
00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.200
We're we're working on the music scene with her.
00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.399
We're working introducing her to listen, smooth jazz, I've got it.
00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:52.960
Zeppelin.
00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:54.559
80s rock, I'm out.
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:55.919
Oh, well.
00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.399
Were you offended when New York coming from New York?
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.440
Were you offended when New York, New York opened, and you're like, this is not New York at all?
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.960
Or were you pretty open to it?
00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:04.000
I was open to it.
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.480
I I mean I'm I could see why people would, you know, but I I didn't I wasn't from New York.
00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:11.200
I mean, I I moved here from there, but I grew up down south.
00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:21.039
So I I didn't have this kind of you know, birthright to the Brooklyn Bridge that, you know, how dare anyone else, you know, build a version of it.
00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.319
How dare you see it?
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:23.200
You know, yeah.
00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:32.559
So you've you've had your hand in obviously the corporate side of uh food and hospitality, uh, because you you worked your way up to VP of food beverage for MGM while here in Vegas.
00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:33.519
At New York, New York.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:34.960
At New York, New York, sound of a gun.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:35.519
That's right.
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:39.359
Um so you had a good balance between corporate and then the independent side of it.
00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.200
This is kind of a two-parter.
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:42.640
What can you take away?
00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.880
What did you learn from the corporate side that you wouldn't learn from the independent side and vice versa?
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:48.960
What would you learn from the independent side you wouldn't learn from the corporate side?
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:55.200
I mean, the biggest thing on the corporate side, and I um uh talk about the things that I liked and then one specific thing that I didn't like.
00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:55.839
Yeah, please.
00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:02.240
Um the the building of a culture and building of a team, the importance of of working together.
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.200
Um nobody does it like corporate America.
00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:10.160
I mean, it uh if you want to go learn that, then then go go go into that environment and learn it.
00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:16.480
Conversely, though, the politics involved with that um can be can be choking.
00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:29.599
It uh I I I would never want to go back into that environment again just because I mean it's just I'm not a yes man, and so it it pains me to you know have to nod and go along when I did you know disagree with something.
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.160
You know, fortunately right now I don't have to do that.
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:46.480
I we were joking this weekend with me and some family, and um they had asked about you know um what would I do if I wasn't doing what I'm doing now, and I said, you know, it's hard to even consider that because I would be a terrible employee today.
00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:52.559
I'd be horrible after being you know on my own for 15, 17 years, however long it's been now.
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.400
I I couldn't go work for anyone else.
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.319
So it's either this or I'm you know homeless Joe down on the on the corner, I guess.
00:18:58.640 --> 00:18:59.200
Doing stand-up.
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.640
Yeah, stand-up.
00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:04.400
I'll tell that joke 20 seven times in a row.
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.200
I don't need new jokes, I just need a new audience.
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.079
Yeah.
00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:18.720
Uh what about from the independence side that uh something that you learned from the independence side that you wouldn't learn from the just the freedom, uh the ability of of doing what we want to do.
00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:25.759
And uh, and I don't answer to any bean counters, and I don't I don't have a CFO uh intentionally, don't have one in my company.
00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.319
Um, you know, we kind of have an outside, you know, CPA that helps us, et cetera.
00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:35.359
But I don't want somebody in the company that's making decisions that's solely financially based.
00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.039
And I have that freedom now.
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:44.079
We make decisions based on people and product, and ultimately, if we focus on those two things, the profits will be there.
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.160
And um, and and so I don't want anyone impeding the focus on that.
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:49.920
Why'd you leave MGM?
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.079
I had an opportunity.
00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:57.519
I I you know it's that it's that entrepreneur bug that's kind of eats at you, and uh it had been there.
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.319
It had been there for six months or a year.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:03.519
I'd already been contemplating a couple opportunities.
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:05.680
I had already formed an LLC.
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.480
My first company was called Uber Hospitality Group.
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:13.920
Before Uber, the you know, thank God that didn't work out because that had been a massive legal battle.
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.119
They'd have been in huge trouble.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:16.799
Oh brutal.
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:23.839
But uh uh yeah, I I uh my president of the hotel at the time, Cindy Kaiser Murphy, who I'm still very good friends with.
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.599
In fact, she was in in Butcher and Thief, you know, just a month ago.
00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:28.000
Yeah.
00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:41.119
Um, she came to me and the MGM was going through uh multiple rounds of layoffs uh as a result of that kind of 07, 08 um financial crisis with the housing, the mortgage crisis that was happening, all of that.
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:42.000
That was a hard time.
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.920
We were in round number two.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.839
She came to me on like a Friday and said, Hey, I I'm gonna need two more, two more names uh by Monday.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:56.559
And and I went home that weekend and uh came back in on Monday and I said, I'm gonna give you one name.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:58.160
And she goes, Well, I need two.
00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.200
So hear me out.
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.920
So instead of laying off two other salaries, you're gonna lay me off.
00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.519
You're not gonna replace me.
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:09.440
You'll operate without me for a while, and and I'm gonna go do my own thing.
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.960
It's a ballsy move.
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.440
Some people would call it stupid.
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:16.960
I like that you chose ballsy, I appreciate that.
00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:18.480
Um it's a it's a matter of respect.
00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:19.920
It could have gone either way.
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:27.839
I mean, listen, I uh within a year I had my first restaurant open, uh a little tiny place called Canya, which means sugar cane.
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:37.680
It was a little um cevicheria and tireditos, kind of a South American thing, which if I opened today, we would crush it.
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.519
But the timing was horrible then.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:43.519
It was right upstairs next to Blue Martini, right across from their bar.
00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.319
And uh and I lost everything within 15 months.
00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:48.720
Every every dollar I had saved up.
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:50.400
What went wrong?
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:54.400
It literally was just a timing thing, and I think we made a bunch of mistakes.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759
Uh uh, you know, just um we we were severely undercapitalized, which is the death of.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.960
most restaurants.
00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:24.319
You know, uh most restaurants they talk about the the the lifespan of restaurants being so so um shallow I mean most restaurants don't make it to a year very few ever make it to five um and I and I'm really convinced that it's not conceptual it's not menu it's not I mean it could be a combination of some of those things but the biggest factor is they're just always undercapitalized.
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:39.839
We don't have enough money to to become consistent to grow to build the business and you know when you have gosh there's a neighbor to ours at Butcher and Thief that you know they opened up after we did and they're already closed that's awful in less than six months.
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:45.920
And so and and if you talk to him the owner he'll tell you I just didn't have enough money to give it a long enough run.
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:47.599
I need a longer runway.
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.160
Very rarely are you going to open in this business and hit a home run at your first hit bat.
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.240
You got to go up and take a few swings.
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:56.480
So you got to give yourself time to do that.
00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:01.359
My dad at at that point in your life my dad was on a very similar career trajectory.
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:03.599
He's uh was is also in the restaurant business.
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:58.640
He do you remember uh Bertolini's it was in the forum shops absolutely yeah it was under you know uh Lombardi group and all that my dad was like president or vice president of the company and he helped open that their restaurant and he was pretty much based out of that restaurant as in the 90s um and very similar he left uh this corporate gig went to New Jersey and opened up his own shop and I loved it as you know a 12 13 year old kid it was fantastic I get all this free food free pizza you know right everything you need great um and unfortunately after a year maybe year and a half it it closed down and I know it was tough for him at the time but I still today ask him more questions about why it didn't work than the successes that he did have and obviously I'm is it because you ate all the pizza it's because I the the tab is astronomical I can't believe he's still charging me these days but I I do you learn more from failures than you do from successes.
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:21.200
And I thought that's yeah I mean it's funny because uh I I like to play um poker in in my private time I don't get to play it that often but I love it and uh I was laughing not too long ago because uh poker players are notorious for they'll know every bad beat they've ever had they'll rarely remember the big hands that they won and and and so I think you do learn a lot more from failure than you do from success.
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:35.680
Well said so with with the failure of that one I know one thing that you've talked about before is uh a dish that you really loved there that was not able to save the business but you brought it over to Carson Kitchen which I think it's called killer shrimp.
00:24:35.920 --> 00:25:14.720
It is it wasn't at the time it was just called crispy shrimp back then um and and Carrie Simon uh there's a guy here in town was a music producer has done a bunch of stuff named Seth Udoff and Seth was really good friends with Carrie and and friends with me and so Seth called me up saying he says hey do you know who Carrie Simon is oh absolutely he says well I'm gonna bring him in for dinner tonight and so Seth was the one that actually introduced me to Carrie gosh this would have been in 2010 is my is my guess maybe oh nine I kind of forget the exact date and then Carrie came back a uh a number of times after that and this was a dish that he especially loved.
00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:21.519
How did it feel seeing it be so successful at Carson Kitchen when it wasn't at the at the original place.
00:25:21.839 --> 00:26:06.880
Well so he he told when I told him I wanted to put it on the menu when we were finalizing Carson Kitchen um he just had this kind of little twinkle in his eye um and and it was almost this kind of you know yeah I I can not like an I told you so but it wasn't an I told you so but it was like you know I knew this was I'm glad you finally got to this like um yeah it was it's a great dish still to this day it's a it's a fantastic dish um and and I I still swear by Kanye if I opened it tomorrow in the same location maybe not the same location because I I think town square might be a bit cursed uh but if I took that concept and put it in the right spot I think we would absolutely crush it today it was just bad timing and and a and a very young owner who needed to learn a lot more um before he did it.
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:24.000
Is it if we dive into Carrie Simon a little bit please so I've been in Vegas for 15 17 years whatever um I from the outside looking in I knew of Carrie Simon but to describe him to somebody like Julie who is relatively new to the the Vegas scene I wouldn't be doing him justice.
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:28.640
So do you mind kind of explaining to her who Carrie Simon was what kind of impact he had on Vegas?
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:42.160
So uh Carrie was a hotshot cook out of Chicago, Illinois that uh went to CIA um ended up um becoming the youngest head chef of the Edwardian room at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
00:26:42.319 --> 00:27:46.480
I think he was 25 maybe that we can and I say we uh others in the industry we've talked about this the first chef that we can uh pinpoint to put a table a chef's table in the middle of the kitchen and he did so at this aduardian room um where he would put a Polaroid camera down on there so if had celebrities or friends that wanted this reservation they came in literally sat in the kitchen now you see them all over the place they're glassed in you were in the kitchen you could reach out and touch him back at the time and still to this day his brother Scott and and Glenn and and Doug, his three brothers they have all of these photographs and they tell such an amazing story about his time back then like David Bowie proposed to Iman at that table and there's pictures of them the night that that he proposed and so there's phenomenal stories but he was this young hotshot chef that um I would argue is America's first celebrity chef.
00:27:46.640 --> 00:28:19.759
I mean Wolfgang was probably the first celebrity chef in America but he's not American and and so Kerry went on um you know he worked for Jean-George after that um Mercer Kitchen you know Jean-George um from from many restaurants went down to Miami um he he toured with multiple bands was their private chef uh I think he cooked for Alice Cooper and Motley Crue and I want to say he cooked for Led Zeppelin and if the if the Simon brothers can correct me please tell me I'll I'll stop telling that story if I'm wrong.
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:28.640
But I believe I remember him telling me that and Rolling Stone magazine came out with a a picture of him and and nicknamed him the rock and roll chef.
00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:43.599
I love that and he was this long hair good looking guy who women loved him guys wanted to be him he was just an absolute rock star as a as a chef and and and even more so as a human being just a just a phenomenal person.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:29:00.720
Was the relationship between the two of you like a mentor mentee or was it more like brothers where you're kind of like along on the same it was a little bit of both um it started out you know he he called me up hey you know what are you doing after Kanye closed and I'm like I don't know at the time I had no clue what was next for me.
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:30.400
I I borrowed I think it was 10 grand from my mom and dad just to be able to get caught up on some bills and um you know unwinding of failing companies is is never fun for anyone involved and so he invited me to lunch and um we sat down and we ate and he said you know he says I've got um I've got a bunch of deals out there that I need some help with and I'm like well what do you need and he says well he says I'm sick but I don't know what it is and and no one can tell me what it is.
00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.799
Something something's wrong and we're gonna figure it out but but I need some help while I'm dealing with this and what year is this?
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:38.880
This would have been in 2013.
00:29:39.039 --> 00:30:02.640
Okay and so he um not shortly before that um carry was a very healthy he ate healthy he ran every day he was not a a a drinker or partier I mean he loved staying out late but was not a you know drinks and drugs and that was not his thing and um he lost his balance jogging um and just you know okay well I must have just you know you know misstepped or whatever.
00:30:02.960 --> 00:31:03.759
And then when it happened again and he actually fell kind of faceplanted he realized something was wrong and and he went you know down to the Mayo clinic and the Cleveland clinic and I mean you name it and he was trying to find out what the heck was going on and and and they literally said to him it's everything from mercury poisoning because you eat too much fish to you know ultimately they they after gosh it was probably a year and a half two years before they finally said you have what's called MSA multiple system atrophy uh which is like a really aggressive form of Parkinson's and so the disease was attacking his all of the systems of his body and and for him it was starting with the um muscular um you know the skeletal system um and and you know unfortunately it his his brain was almost completely intact in in his final days and it just started shutting his body down um all throughout the rest.
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:13.839
That's so unfair but that's yeah sixty years old I mean yeah yeah uh the I I'm sure there's a lot that you taught him and he learned from you.
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:29.200
What's something and I'm sure there's a tremendous amount that you learned from him what's something that stood stands out to you that he passed on to you that well I mean the number one thing and I've told this um story before I used to I used to cook for him because he um when he started losing his balance he couldn't cook anymore.
00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:46.880
And so I would I I'm trying to impress this guy that you know I mean he was he won on Iron Chef America and so I'm making what at the time I kind of uh lovingly referred to as tweezer food um which which some of my friends in the industry will actually get a kick out of.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:58.720
And it's that more fine dining approach very delicate very uh and it's not at all my type of food and and it was clear in in what I was making him that that was not my food.
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:58.400
But nonetheless I thought that that's what he wanted and that's what I needed to try to make him and so I'm trying to my best to make him the prettiest uh food I possibly could and uh and he would eat it and nod and yeah very good thank you and uh was just very kind about it and then one day I just went over to check on him um and while I was there he asked if I would cook him some lunch and I didn't hadn't planned on anything and I go in and I'm just trying to see what he has in the kitchen and I ended up making him some shrimp and grits and um he took I I don't know if it was the first bite maybe it was the second but he sets the spoon down and he says why aren't you cooking like this right like this is this is your background this is your story this is who you are in a bowl this is how you need to be cooking and and that changed my mindset not just on because we were already talking about what Carson Kitchen was going to be what did that menu look like um at this time Carson's wasn't open yet.
00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:09.839
Not yet yeah it was uh literally wasn't even called Carson Kitchen yet it was still called Carson's table um was the original name that that he had for it and I ended up changing it to Carson Kitchen.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:15.519
But it but it was that bit of advice that um I think helped me greatly in the kitchen.
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:29.279
Yeah um but even more than that helped me just personally just um quit trying to be something that I'm not just go out and be yourself and I think it has an allowed me to succeed in in so many more ways than just in business.
00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:31.119
Julie have you been to Carson's kitchen yet?
00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.079
I have nothing so good.
00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:37.680
Everyone always gets on me and I'm I'm running out of time we're 12 years old now.
00:33:37.759 --> 00:34:48.159
I mean come on I yes you just had your 12 year anniversary congratulations we did thank you yeah it it's funny it um it feels like just yesterday that it was the first couple and and I know everybody says that I guess the older we get the more we make those kind of comments but um yeah I mean I guess we're kind of like the grandfather of the industry in town one of them I mean obviously there are there are people that blaze trails long before we did um what Nina Manchev did um uh I'm drawing a blank on Nina's uh restaurant it's closed we'll come back to we'll get back to so but Tony Shea what was Tony Shea's level of involvement in downtown when Carson Kitchen opened so Tony and Carrie were friends and Tony told Kerry listen I want you to do a restaurant downtown and so Carrie came to me and said hey here's one of the deals let's go look at this and we went down um the deal hadn't yet been struck the the ultimate deal um Tony funded the whole thing right he wrote the check he built the whole place and then basically handed us keys and said here make it successful um but our first visit down to the to the John E.
00:34:48.400 --> 00:35:14.960
Carson building um uh involved spraying off human feces off of the front door so that we can walk in talking about I mean to the vision that it took to to look at this building which was completely dilapidated I mean just completely run down and to look at it and say okay not just physically I can put a restaurant in here but I can make one work here.
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:59.440
It took a lot of vision it was not mine it was Carrie and Tony sure um and and I bought in shortly thereafter it was harder for me to see it um once once it went from Carson's table which was going to be this kind of um go for a Michelin star um you know maybe a ticket price per seat you know fine dining um once it went from that you know two turns a night kind of a deal to what Carson Kitchen ultimately became which is this approachable recognizable familiar comfortable you know like I want to wear it like a like an old coat gastro pub um then I was all in.
00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:12.719
Yeah does it bother you when people say Carson's kitchen as opposed to Carson's it used to it did it used to I used to correct him and I'm like being a dick let them say whatever they want bigger problems at least they're talking about it.
00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:27.199
Exactly also to interrupt Nina Manchev Forte sorry Nina I totally I I had a brain fart there but but listen Nina Nina was open years before any of the rest of us tried to do an independent restaurant off strip.
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:50.079
Yeah and she was doing you know um guest chef dinners uh at Forte with you know john courtney and all these you know great chefs that were going and doing dinners there and so hats off to what Nina did i i always try to pay a little a little respect to the to the people that that paved the roads for us to do what we did and then I know we then came and repaved them and allowed a whole lot of people to come behind us.
00:36:50.320 --> 00:37:03.280
Well said Carson Kitchen has been open for 12 years and we talked about how hard it is for restaurants especially today to remain open after a year, two years X amount of years so I'm not asking about the secret of a success of being open for 12 years.
00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:19.039
What I'm asking about is it's still such a beloved restaurant that anybody that knows downtown fine dining it's always at the top of the list because it just like you described it like it you draped it drapes over you and like you you you're comfortable there.
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:35.199
What is your strategy when it comes as a business owner as a you know restaurateur when it comes to creating the vibe and the experience that people get at Carson Kitchen other than obviously the quality of the food which is delicious but what's your behind the scenes secret for how it's so beloved?
00:37:35.920 --> 00:37:44.079
Well the people in the building are are are are are probably paramount to to the success of it the every every single server and bartender.
00:37:44.559 --> 00:38:38.480
I think the philosophy to the menu um it has really allowed people to to grab hold and and there's kind of it's it's two um kind of uh trains of thought and the first one is um how do I reinvent recreate modernize uh reintroduce you to dishes that you're already familiar with yes um and and I we've been very successful with that and and and I'll give you an example uh you take a shepherd's pie um and and we took you know the lamb out of the shepherd's pie and instead of ground lamb we made a crepinette and instead of mashed potatoes on top we made gnocchi and before you know it we have all the exact same ingredients same flavor profile and a completely new modernized dish that we called shepherd's 3.14 and so I think that that approach to the menu people really bought into the second side of that approach is I really wanted to introduce people to typically fine dining ingredients.
00:38:38.639 --> 00:39:00.880
And this came from Kerry this you know the Kerry was the first kind of big name chef to leave the Bellagio, the prime steakhouse, the big restaurant and go do an independent restaurant and serve meatloaf and mashed potatoes and mac and cheese and fried chicken and, you know, just taking that fine dining approach to comfort food.
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:19.920
And and so I you know I took that mindset of of what he accomplished with Simon Kitchen and Barr and I added back the old fine dining the foie gras, the caviars, the rabbits, the all of that stuff that we've been successful in introducing people to at Carson Kitchen and and we almost trick you into eating it.
00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:25.280
People like oh I don't know about caviar but if I put it on a deviled egg it's just a deviled egg.
00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:38.000
It just happens to gotcha exactly and then before you know it I mean you know we were we were kind of um benefit of the time because social media was really you know what it is booming.
00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:41.679
Really people 12 years ago everybody was on Facebook.
00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:45.039
You know they weren't on Instagram and TikTok and all that stuff didn't exist.
00:39:45.119 --> 00:40:23.920
And 12 years ago everybody's on Facebook and everybody's posting this is what I had for dinner tonight and they're they're humble bragging I had caviar and I had oxtail and I had so that really helped us um as well but you know I think at the end of the day it oh and the other side of the menu was um attaching stories to it um and not that every single dish that a guest orders that a server takes the time to tell the story behind the dish but that there is that human connection to the dish and I think you can feel it whether whether you were aware of the story or not but I think everybody just aware of the presence of them.
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:44.400
And and so they're almost like little Easter eggs when you go in you know next time you go ask them where the chicken skins come from and they'll tell you that you know little fat kid Corey on a Sunday afternoon when grandma was making fried chicken after church I used to go in and just rip the skin off the damn chicken breast that's all I wanted to eat.
00:40:44.559 --> 00:40:47.760
And so that's a dish that we ended up putting on because of that.
00:40:47.920 --> 00:40:49.840
And and there's so many of those little stories.
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:58.079
I mean even the names of the drinks all are you know kind of paying respect to parts and times of my life or people in my life that mean something to me.
00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:20.000
I mean that really was the restaurant that and I and I kind of subscribe to this mindset and and everywhere in all of my restaurants but this one really embraced it much more than anything else which is I just don't think there's a single greater way of connecting with another human being than by sharing food and drink.
00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:26.000
It's what we do in every aspect of our lives the things we celebrate commemorate even the stuff that we mourn.
00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:27.280
Were you a fat little kid?
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:37.039
I was a little fatter I refuse to believe that yeah well my brother I swear that my brother was really skinny which made me look fatter.
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:40.559
So it's really Wayne it's your fault skinny little dick.
00:41:40.800 --> 00:42:02.000
Classic way you recently so your your newer venture that you have uh Butcher and thief you recently had to create a brand new menu for this yeah and you kind of touched on this a little bit with with this last question with the last answer but when you're when it comes to building a menu what's your approach to it well it's a great question.
00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:06.000
And I think there's it depends on situation.
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:16.559
There are times I think when an author has a title and overarching story of a book in mind and starts to write and then the characters are born from that writing.
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:22.960
And I think there are other times when the characters are the first thought and the story is written around them.
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:25.760
And I think a menu is very similar to that.
00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:46.079
Butcher and thief the menu it it wasn't as difficult as Carson Kitchen because we weren't trying to reinvent the wheel right we were just trying to make the wheel more affordable so it was it was a little bit easier to do now granted we still wanted to take our approach to the food and I I think food needs to be opinionated.
00:42:46.239 --> 00:42:53.039
If you don't like it I want you to hate it I'd rather that dish piss you off than for you to just say it was okay.
00:42:53.360 --> 00:42:58.000
So because I think at least you'll know we tried we tried to do something different with it.
00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:09.920
So I didn't want just the plain boring mac and cheese that you can find at every other steakhouse or plain boring mashed potatoes or you know any number of the other kind of uh obligatory steakhouse dishes.
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:18.559
So to that end we we put a lot of uh thought and intention into it but but the menu really is a classic American menu.
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:30.000
Our uh hook if you will is I want to give you that classic American steakhouse without you bitching and moaning about the price tag on your way home.
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:30.400
Yeah.
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:44.960
Yeah I mean that's one of the reasons like me and my husband we have never been to a steakhouse together and we've been together for six years and it's because we're like well we want a good steak but why are we going to go spend three hundred dollars?
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:45.920
Yeah.
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:48.320
So yeah I I agree with your philosophy on that.
00:43:48.719 --> 00:44:02.559
And and listen Vegas has some fantastic steakhouses and I am friends with many of the owners of them and I love what they do but unfortunately every time you go to a lot of These high-end places, I end up saying the same thing.
00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:05.760
It was wonderful until the bill came out.
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:06.159
Yes.
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:10.239
And then you look at it and you're like, ooh, it just wasn't that good, was it?
00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:15.519
So is is this does this uh uh kind of lead you to what Butcher and Thief became?
00:44:15.760 --> 00:44:16.000
Yeah.
00:44:16.159 --> 00:44:22.480
So Butcher and Thief really was kind of born out of that uh void in our in our industry.
00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:28.400
I I I miss the days of that local neighborhood steakhouse that you would go to on a Friday night.
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:34.320
Um and nowadays the steakhouses um in most cities, and it's not just Las Vegas.
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:38.079
This is not a dig on on Vegas, this is everywhere in America.
00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:43.280
Most steakhouses are uh it's a corporate card event or it's a celebratory.
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:48.480
Um we're doing a birthday or an anniversary or somebody graduated from med school or whatever it is.
00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:51.360
And you know, even even if you've you can afford it.
00:44:51.519 --> 00:44:58.960
I mean, I you know, my wife and I do fairly well, but we're not looking to drop$400 on a random Tuesday night for dinner.
00:44:59.119 --> 00:44:59.280
Right.
00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:02.159
And and that's where Butcher and Thief really really came from.
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:11.280
And and then the real challenge was well, how how can I offer a comparable experience um with less money at less cost?
00:45:11.440 --> 00:45:20.239
And um, you know, we were fortunate in and um technique um being technique driven in our approach to the stakes kind of saved us there.
00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:21.440
We sous-vy everything.
00:45:21.519 --> 00:45:24.480
So I bring in a choice quality product instead of a prime.
00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:30.159
Only five percent of of meat is prime grade, so you can understand why that meat is so expensive today.
00:45:30.400 --> 00:45:35.920
So we bring in intentionally bring in a choice, um, you know, probably half the price of of the prime meat.
00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:38.559
We sous-vy it all to 105 degrees.
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:47.440
Uh we we then hard sear on a 800-degree flat top, uh, and then let it rest, hit it with tallow butter, and then finish on an open flame.
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:58.960
Uh, and at the end of the day, um the vast majority of the customer would never know the difference between our steaks and and and one that's twice as much money across the street.
00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:02.079
That sounds like I'm I'm starving.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:02.880
Well, let's go.
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:03.280
Let's go.
00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:03.920
What are you doing?
00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:05.840
I'm going there for happy hour today, honestly.
00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:07.440
I got a birthday party I'm going to.
00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:08.079
I love that.
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:11.440
I did have a question that's not on our list because it just popped into my mind.
00:46:11.679 --> 00:46:15.360
And maybe the name refers to a parable or something I'm not familiar with.
00:46:15.599 --> 00:46:22.480
But when you're talking about uh it it's almost like there is a sense of thievery to a lot of steakhouses.
00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:27.840
Oh perhaps where the name butcher and thief came from.
00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:29.360
It is not, but I like it.
00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:30.400
Son of a gun.
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:31.039
I like it.
00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:33.760
So obviously everyone knows what a what a butcher is.
00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:38.079
Um the thief is a tool used in winemaking.
00:46:38.400 --> 00:46:40.480
Um so i let me back up.
00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:43.599
Steaks are not the only thing that have become incredibly high priced.
00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:45.280
Wine also has.
00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:51.519
I mean, you you're hard pressed to find a a good bottle of wine for less than$100 anywhere here in town.
00:46:51.760 --> 00:47:01.440
And we really wanted to make sure that we were um taking the same uh fervor with the pricing of wine as we did with with the steak.
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:10.960
And so thief uh refers to during the aging process, while the wine is in the barrel, they will periodically go and extract or steal some of the wine to taste.
00:47:11.119 --> 00:47:16.159
And they're trying to look for structure, they're looking for any bacteria that may be present in the wine.
00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:22.239
There's any number of reasons why they're they're doing that, but that is called a wine thief, and it's almost like a turkey baster.
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:27.599
That's a long glass tube that they will stick in the side of the barrel and they'll steal some of the wine.
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:28.800
Hence butcher and thief.
00:47:29.119 --> 00:47:29.760
Son of a bitch.
00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:30.159
Look at that.
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:31.760
But I like where you were going, yeah.
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:32.480
Julie?
00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:33.920
What a bunch of thieves out there.
00:47:34.159 --> 00:47:36.239
Highway robbery in the steakhouses.
00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:39.519
I think my friends might might not like me saying that too much.
00:47:39.840 --> 00:47:40.719
Sorry, I didn't mean it either.
00:47:40.960 --> 00:47:41.599
No, that's okay.
00:47:41.679 --> 00:47:42.159
That's okay.
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:45.440
Um, I mean, so you're six months in with Butcher and Thief at the bend.
00:47:46.239 --> 00:47:56.000
Being that you're keeping things as reasonably uh uh reasonably priced, yeah, how are you able to make a profit off of that?
00:47:56.079 --> 00:47:59.360
Like what's your sourcing strategy when it comes to finding the food?
00:47:59.840 --> 00:48:10.639
So we have wonderful vendors that we're working with, but like I said, the fact that we're bringing in a little bit of a lesser product at a significantly lesser price than the prime, our margins are about the same as theirs.
00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:11.199
That's great.
00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:18.559
Um we're we're just able, by technique, able to serve a comparable product because we do take the time to sous vide.
00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:30.800
It's a it's a much you know, much more laborious three-step process than you know the average steakhouse down on the strip just grabbing a slab of really great meat, salt and pepper, and throwing it on a grill.
00:48:31.199 --> 00:48:36.320
So a majority of the steakhouses in town, they're phenomenal steakhouses, but they're dark.
00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:40.559
They're yeah, very not gloomy, but they're just it's it's the vibe that you get.
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:44.960
With butcher and thief, you have floor to wall or floor to ceiling windows at your patio.
00:48:45.599 --> 00:48:46.639
Yeah, it was important.
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:54.239
Um women make most of buying decisions in our world today, um, especially when it comes to to dining out.
00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:59.760
Um so I don't understand the my father's old mobile approach to steakhouses.
00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:09.440
Um and so we wanted it to be light and bright and and a little bit more feminine and sexy and modern, and and uh I'm very proud of the the the look of the steakhouse.
00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:11.360
I think we we definitely hit a home run there.
00:49:11.519 --> 00:49:12.000
I dig it.
00:49:12.079 --> 00:49:12.320
Yeah.
00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:18.480
Was all of that was it designed by you, like the appearance of it, or did you have someone else on your team who did that?
00:49:18.719 --> 00:49:19.920
Oh, it's well, not on the team.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:20.800
I work directly.
00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:24.960
Uh Ryan was our architect and designer from uh Rad Design.
00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:26.079
Uh shout out to Rad.
00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:27.039
Shout out Rad.
00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:34.159
Yeah, Rad Rad is uh down in the uh in the uh container park is where um their offices are.
00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:40.079
Uh Ryan and Yanina um is his wife, and um they just did a fantastic job.
00:49:40.159 --> 00:49:43.039
And and uh Ryan and I worked really well together.
00:49:43.119 --> 00:49:51.920
And and there's only been a couple in my career that I can say this about Craig Palacios and Tina Wickman um designed from Bunnyfish.
00:49:52.000 --> 00:50:05.280
They designed Carson Kitchen, uh, and then what Ryan and and and and very similar, both of them um they were able to kind of take vision out of my head and and get it, because I'm not an architect or a designer.
00:50:05.519 --> 00:50:12.960
I know what I like and and what I what I want something to look like, and and they they both just did phenomenal jobs with both those venues.
00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:15.039
You ever throw your apron on and get in the back of the house?
00:50:15.119 --> 00:50:15.679
Or is it the same thing?
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:16.559
I I do.
00:50:16.639 --> 00:50:20.000
Um they they don't want me to because I just get in the way.
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:24.320
Uh I'm I'm what you call a dinner party chef now.
00:50:24.400 --> 00:50:24.559
Yeah.
00:50:24.719 --> 00:50:31.679
Uh I'm the guy you want in the kitchen at my house when there's six or eight of us and there's no timetable.
00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:36.880
I can cook for two hours and we can get drunk and listen to great music, and there's no rush.
00:50:37.039 --> 00:50:38.000
That's what I love.
00:50:38.159 --> 00:50:44.000
I don't want to be um behind the stoves now uh with with people yelling at me times.
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.239
I I just want to be the guy in front yelling the times out.
00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:47.039
That sounds fun.
00:50:47.119 --> 00:50:47.840
We want to come over for dinner.
00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:48.559
Let's do it.
00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:49.119
Let's do it.
00:50:49.280 --> 00:50:49.920
This is the music.
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:51.840
You can introduce Julie to some some 80s rock.
00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:53.840
Yeah, 70s and 80s.
00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:55.840
We've got to do a little yacht rock in the middle.
00:50:57.039 --> 00:51:00.559
My parents were in college in the 70s, so I feel like I know that a little bit more.
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:01.280
There you go.
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:03.280
The yacht rock, I don't know if you know this.
00:51:03.360 --> 00:51:08.719
The yacht rock's got a yacht house channel on Sirius now, and it's I did know this.
00:51:09.199 --> 00:51:16.800
Imagine like um Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers to like an underlying Tiesto beat.
00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:18.400
It's it's fantastic.
00:51:18.719 --> 00:51:21.599
Okay, you got you sold me at Doobie Brothers with Tiesto.
00:51:22.480 --> 00:51:23.280
It really is fantastic.
00:51:23.519 --> 00:51:24.000
We'll take it.
00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:24.400
Yeah.
00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:32.559
Um this question is mainly asked to chefs like that that are you know day in, day out in the back of the house.
00:51:32.639 --> 00:51:38.239
But I want to ask this to you too, with social media the way it is today compared to what it was twelve years ago or so.
00:51:38.719 --> 00:51:45.440
Uh how important is having influencers be a part of the marketing strategy when it comes to butchering thief or even carcinogens?
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:50.719
Yeah, so I I I uh I've heard all sides of the answers of this question.
00:51:51.199 --> 00:51:51.599
As have we.
00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:54.159
And I and I and I think they're all correct.
00:51:54.800 --> 00:51:57.679
Um it's massively important.
00:51:57.840 --> 00:52:08.400
I I don't think you can have a presence online and on the right platforms that you need today without involving the voices that have the audience that you need.
00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:15.360
Um the challenge and the dilemma is the budgeting and the and and and where do you fit them in?
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:17.920
How do you compensate them for their time?
00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:35.519
Um we don't outright pay um any influencers, but we're very happy to have them in um and provide them with food and beverage so that they can enjoy an experience that we would want them to enjoy, and then they voice their opinion of that experience however they they see fit.
00:52:35.599 --> 00:52:38.800
Um, but it is absolutely a um a strategy.
00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:52.159
And and and one, I mean, I our publicist Lauren, who's here in the room with us, just sent me an email today of someone that is looking, wants to come in and collab with us, and and and I just approved uh their their ability to come in.
00:52:52.239 --> 00:52:54.159
Um so I it's very important.
00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:58.960
And if you'd asked me three years ago that same question, I'd have said, ah, F them.
00:52:59.840 --> 00:53:02.639
Influencers, they're I hate them all, that blah blah.
00:53:02.800 --> 00:53:04.719
Why do they deserve anything for free?
00:53:04.800 --> 00:53:20.079
And you know, so with all things, with time, we mature, we grow, we understand um the necessity of and the importance of, and and honestly, not to disrespect any of them, let's give them their their their just due and and their props.
00:53:20.239 --> 00:53:27.039
Uh, we want their audience, and they've worked hard to develop that audience, so uh absolutely it's a critical component.
00:53:27.599 --> 00:53:29.280
That's a very professional answer.
00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:30.559
How'd I do, Lauren?
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:31.039
Is that good?
00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:31.440
Yeah.
00:53:33.199 --> 00:53:33.440
Yeah.
00:53:33.760 --> 00:53:34.320
Love that.
00:53:34.880 --> 00:53:42.480
Uh in terms of your leadership style, I'm very curious about all the guests that we have on that are, you know, where they are in their leadership style.
00:53:42.559 --> 00:53:45.119
What would you say your leadership style would be similar to?
00:53:46.159 --> 00:53:49.920
Um Are you more of a hard closed fist type of leader?
00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:53.760
I am I'm uh I'm firm, absolutely firm.
00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:56.000
I don't have a lot of tolerance for for bullshit.
00:53:56.079 --> 00:53:58.719
I just don't, especially when it has to do with business.
00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:02.559
I I want to have as much fun as anyone else, but when in business it's time for business.
00:54:02.800 --> 00:54:02.960
Right.
00:54:03.440 --> 00:54:09.280
Um so I I don't I don't um I'm firm, but but but I'm I'm empathetic.
00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:10.079
I'm compassionate.
00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.519
I'm not I'm not just a complete um dictator.
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:15.440
It's not my way or the highway.
00:54:15.519 --> 00:54:27.199
I'm I'm very collaborative, um, but I absolutely will not ever sacrifice my um standards, and I will I will ask you to bring yours up to mine, and if you can't, then good luck to you.
00:54:27.360 --> 00:54:29.760
Um but but I will not bring mine down to yours.
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:30.079
Okay.
00:54:30.960 --> 00:54:32.000
Well what what was Carrie like?
00:54:32.079 --> 00:54:32.880
What was his dialogue?
00:54:33.519 --> 00:54:35.920
Um Carrie was an absolute teddy bear.
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:41.360
Um and and I would think underestimated as a result of it.
00:54:42.079 --> 00:54:55.360
Um because he had such a wonderful ability of getting people to do things the way he needed them done, but without having to ever come across as firm.
00:54:56.159 --> 00:55:02.079
I mean, he never I never heard him lace anyone up and down like most chefs do, and you know, it was none of that.
00:55:02.320 --> 00:55:06.800
He just had a wonderful ability of bringing out the best in you.
00:55:06.960 --> 00:55:09.920
Um, and I think I learned a lot of that from him.
00:55:10.239 --> 00:55:11.039
Well said.
00:55:11.599 --> 00:55:14.639
You uh you've been on a handful of podcasts before.
00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:16.800
Obviously, Julie and I have done our research.
00:55:16.960 --> 00:55:19.519
It's been 95% Julie doing the research.
00:55:19.679 --> 00:55:20.880
Look at that face that she's given me.
00:55:21.199 --> 00:55:22.159
I wasn't gonna correct you this time.
00:55:22.320 --> 00:55:22.719
I know, thank you.
00:55:22.880 --> 00:55:29.840
I mean, she didn't go to Carson to Kitchen to research, but Okay, in my defense, and I know that I'm running out of time to use this excuse.
00:55:30.079 --> 00:55:30.400
Here we go.
00:55:30.559 --> 00:55:31.679
I've been in Vegas less than a year.
00:55:31.920 --> 00:55:33.039
You're running out of time to use this.
00:55:33.519 --> 00:55:34.159
When is the year?
00:55:34.239 --> 00:55:35.440
Yeah, the end of July.
00:55:35.599 --> 00:55:37.360
All right, she has till the end of July, Laura.
00:55:38.719 --> 00:55:39.920
I'm even gonna buy the dinner.
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:41.440
I just want her to go down and enjoy it.
00:55:41.599 --> 00:55:42.639
I've I do want to go.
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:43.039
Okay.
00:55:43.199 --> 00:55:43.840
There you go.
00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:44.639
No excuses.
00:55:44.960 --> 00:55:45.760
There's no excuse.
00:55:45.920 --> 00:55:46.880
I'll message all.
00:55:48.079 --> 00:55:50.800
You've so you've been on a handful of podcasts before.
00:55:50.960 --> 00:55:54.719
One of the things that we have here in our notes is you said that most interview questions are bullshit.
00:55:54.800 --> 00:55:56.239
Do you feel do you still feel that way?
00:55:56.480 --> 00:55:56.800
I do.
00:55:57.199 --> 00:55:57.840
Yeah, yeah.
00:55:57.920 --> 00:55:59.440
Not this kind of interview.
00:55:59.679 --> 00:55:59.920
Good.
00:56:00.079 --> 00:56:04.159
The interview I'm talking about is when I'm interviewing staff, potential employees, team members.
00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:04.480
Right.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:07.519
Most of those questions are bullshit.
00:56:07.679 --> 00:56:07.920
Okay.
00:56:08.159 --> 00:56:11.840
Um, you know, if you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be?
00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:15.519
I mean, you know, for fuck's sake, I I don't know.
00:56:15.679 --> 00:56:19.440
Fucking mint, chocolate, rocky road, um, a little bit of all of it.
00:56:19.599 --> 00:56:21.920
I just I don't put anything into those.
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:27.679
And and honestly, what I really mean by that is that at the end of the day, there's only one thing that matters.
00:56:27.840 --> 00:56:33.599
And and so there's one question that I have found over the years that gets me to to what matters.
00:56:33.679 --> 00:56:40.880
And that's if I'm interviewing you and I, hey, listen, if I'm if I'm coming over to dinner tonight, what are we having?
00:56:41.199 --> 00:56:42.800
Or if you don't cook, that's okay.
00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:46.000
You could be a bartender and not be passionate about the kitchen.
00:56:46.239 --> 00:56:49.280
If we're going to dinner tonight, where are we going and what are we eating?
00:56:49.519 --> 00:56:51.039
I just want to hear you talk about food.
00:56:51.360 --> 00:56:55.280
Do you have a most memorable or favorite answer you've ever received to that?
00:56:55.599 --> 00:56:59.679
I spent an hour with somebody talking about Eleven Madison Park.
00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:03.760
Because they talked about this is where we would go and here's why we'd would go there.
00:57:04.079 --> 00:57:10.320
And then I shared my wife and I went there the night before I cooked at the James Beard house in New York, and here was our experience.
00:57:10.480 --> 00:57:13.280
Literally, an hour we talked about 11 Madison Park.
00:57:13.519 --> 00:57:14.239
I assume they got hired.
00:57:14.480 --> 00:57:15.519
Oh, without a doubt.
00:57:15.840 --> 00:57:16.400
Without a doubt.
00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:16.719
Yes.
00:57:16.880 --> 00:57:17.039
Yeah.
00:57:17.199 --> 00:57:17.519
What's that?
00:57:17.679 --> 00:57:18.320
I said I would hope so.
00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:18.559
Yeah.
00:57:18.719 --> 00:57:18.880
Yeah.
00:57:18.960 --> 00:57:19.280
Oh, yeah.
00:57:19.360 --> 00:57:21.360
And all I'm looking for is do you get excited?
00:57:21.440 --> 00:57:23.199
Does your does your voice raise a little bit?
00:57:23.280 --> 00:57:28.159
Do you get a little passionate talking about what you're going to cook me or what restaurant you want to take us to?
00:57:28.320 --> 00:57:29.199
What are we going to eat?
00:57:29.360 --> 00:57:31.679
Because if you don't, I can't do anything with you.
00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:35.840
I I can't teach you the ability of getting excited to talk about food.
00:57:36.159 --> 00:57:37.920
And that that leads to the guest experience.
00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:38.559
Correct.
00:57:38.639 --> 00:57:38.719
Yeah.
00:57:39.519 --> 00:57:42.400
Because I I mean, I've often said I can teach you everything there is to know about this business.
00:57:42.559 --> 00:57:43.440
I can teach you how to cook.
00:57:43.519 --> 00:57:44.719
I can teach you how to do numbers.
00:57:44.800 --> 00:57:45.760
I can teach you all of that.
00:57:45.840 --> 00:57:47.360
I can't teach you to give a damn.
00:57:47.599 --> 00:57:50.639
So I need to hire people that give a damn, and then we'll we'll teach them the rest.
00:57:50.880 --> 00:57:52.159
Andrew, what would you cook for Corey?
00:57:52.400 --> 00:57:53.199
What would I cook for Corey?
00:57:53.440 --> 00:57:53.840
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:59.280
I have an incredible turkey chili recipe that uh will definitely it's got a little kick to it.
00:57:59.360 --> 00:57:59.679
Yeah.
00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:03.039
And you may be you may be on the toilet the next day.
00:58:03.119 --> 00:58:03.920
But let me tell you something.
00:58:04.159 --> 00:58:05.519
We call that weight loss.
00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:06.480
Exactly.
00:58:06.639 --> 00:58:09.679
You'll be you'll be you'll be singing my my praises by but by that.
00:58:09.760 --> 00:58:10.960
You may be on the toilet, but it'll be great.
00:58:11.199 --> 00:58:11.519
I like it.
00:58:11.679 --> 00:58:12.000
Yes.
00:58:12.159 --> 00:58:14.239
Um white chili or red chili?
00:58:14.400 --> 00:58:14.880
Red chili.
00:58:14.960 --> 00:58:15.119
Okay.
00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:15.920
Red chili, yes.
00:58:16.159 --> 00:58:17.119
You threw me with the turkey.
00:58:17.199 --> 00:58:18.559
I didn't know if you were going like a chicken.
00:58:18.719 --> 00:58:19.360
I'll kind of white.
00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:34.079
I'll tell you why, because um my dad, again, getting back to my dad being the restaurant business, he worked closely with Robert Irvine on uh one of his uh restaurants, and I just had a chance to sit down with him and bullshit with him, and we were doing shots of Jameson.
00:58:34.239 --> 00:58:35.920
He's he could definitely throw back.
00:58:36.079 --> 00:58:41.199
And I somehow got on the conversation of going on a date and needing to have some sort of recipe.
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:44.480
And he threw out this turkey chili recipe and I wrote it down.
00:58:44.559 --> 00:58:48.719
I don't know if it was date worth, I don't know if it was like a good first date type of recipe to do.
00:58:49.039 --> 00:58:50.800
What he's saying is Robert Irvine got him laid.
00:58:51.360 --> 00:58:56.639
Robert Irvine did get me laid, and then Thank you, Robert, and then she blew up his bathroom the next day.
00:58:58.079 --> 00:58:59.440
And then it was love after that.
00:59:00.159 --> 00:59:01.599
It was thank you, Robert, for lady.
00:59:01.760 --> 00:59:03.760
It was damn you Bob the next morning.
00:59:04.159 --> 00:59:05.679
Damn you, Bob Irvine.
00:59:05.920 --> 00:59:07.440
Oh my god, that's so good.
00:59:07.679 --> 00:59:13.360
You've oh my god, I love it.
00:59:13.519 --> 00:59:15.519
Um, all right, Julie, where are we on these notes here?
00:59:15.599 --> 00:59:17.360
We're jumping around, but I know, we're jumping around.
00:59:17.599 --> 00:59:21.199
I want to talk about you cooked at a James Beard House for a Las Vegas themed event.
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:21.599
Is that true?
00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:23.119
Yeah, can you tell us a little bit about that?
00:59:23.360 --> 00:59:25.679
Yeah, so uh it's actually kind of funny.
00:59:25.840 --> 00:59:33.760
Um uh I was represented by a different publicist at the time, and I had gone to her and said, you know, I I have this idea.
00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:45.599
Um, I want to go to the James Beard House, let's call them, and I want to do a Vegas dinner with other like chefs, like some of our other independent chefs around town.
00:59:45.760 --> 00:59:52.000
And she um kind of giggled and said, You should go talk to Brian Howard uh from Sparrow and Wolf.
00:59:52.079 --> 00:59:55.039
Um and evidently Brian had a very similar idea.
00:59:55.119 --> 01:00:02.639
So I called Brian and I'm like, hey, I had this thought and shared it with him, and he laughed and he goes, I'm I'm thinking the same thing.
01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:04.079
Let's put something together.
01:00:04.239 --> 01:00:12.000
And so we went, um, and it was Nicole Bresson and Gina Marinelli and Jamie Tran.
01:00:12.559 --> 01:00:17.440
Um, it was um oh gosh, who else was there?
01:00:17.679 --> 01:00:22.719
Kai Vu uh was there from the old district one uh and Mordeo.
01:00:22.960 --> 01:00:23.440
I love District.
01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:29.039
Um there was uh Gary Lamort, who's now the chef for the Raiders.
01:00:29.519 --> 01:00:42.159
Um anyway, we we took all these uh kind of Vegas um you know neighborhood people, everybody that had kind of cut their teeth in all the big chef about big hotels and and were doing their own thing.
01:00:42.239 --> 01:00:45.840
And and we did, I think, what was a just a phenomenal dinner.
01:00:46.079 --> 01:00:54.000
We all paired up, so there were two of us on on on we each had a couple appetizers as guests would arrive, and then we each shared a course that we did.
01:00:54.079 --> 01:00:59.920
So Jamie Tran and I uh worked together on that, and we did a Nigerian prawn.
01:01:00.320 --> 01:01:00.480
Okay.
01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:08.480
Um with and I forget the name of it, she would have to to tell you it was Vietnamese, but it's essentially a Vietnamese tamale.
01:01:08.719 --> 01:01:12.719
Okay, uh, and it was absolutely spectacular with little pumpkin fume.
01:01:13.039 --> 01:01:14.000
It was it was very, very good.
01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:16.400
It was very tweezer, yeah.
01:01:16.480 --> 01:01:17.519
It was very tweezer food.
01:01:17.840 --> 01:01:19.199
But but I put a little soul into it.
01:01:19.440 --> 01:01:19.840
Good for you.
01:01:19.920 --> 01:01:20.159
Yeah.
01:01:20.400 --> 01:01:31.440
Julie, this this next section is is gonna be Julie's baby because Julie was very passionate about one of the interviews you did previously, and this is something that she just she's like, why didn't he ask more about it?
01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:36.000
So I I did say that with no no critique to the people that you're talking about this with.
01:01:36.400 --> 01:01:36.719
It's all love.
01:01:36.800 --> 01:01:37.679
Oh, I'm throwing them under the bus.
01:01:37.760 --> 01:01:38.079
Whoever's gonna be able to do it.
01:01:38.239 --> 01:01:50.159
Now listen, I don't know if you were just joking or if you were being honest about this book that you mentioned, but please, for the love of God, tell me about that fucking bowl of rice.
01:01:50.400 --> 01:01:50.719
Okay.
01:01:50.960 --> 01:01:55.199
Because I I feel like you didn't elaborate on it, and I said and you said bleeping.
01:01:55.760 --> 01:01:57.440
I assumed that that's another word.
01:01:57.679 --> 01:01:59.199
Yeah, it absolutely was.
01:01:59.519 --> 01:02:02.239
Well, so this goes to This is 11 Madison Park, right?
01:02:03.519 --> 01:02:09.039
So I I have the outline and some of the chapter titles.
01:02:09.199 --> 01:02:12.800
Remember, I told you sometime the titles come before the content.
01:02:13.440 --> 01:02:15.360
So I have it going.
01:02:15.599 --> 01:02:17.440
It's a work in progress.
01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:20.079
I don't know that it'll ever be done.
01:02:20.320 --> 01:02:20.559
Maybe.
01:02:21.199 --> 01:02:22.559
Well, if it is, I want a copy.
01:02:22.880 --> 01:02:25.920
But one of those chapters is called That Fucking Bowl of Rice.
01:02:26.159 --> 01:02:26.800
Well, what about it?
01:02:27.199 --> 01:02:28.480
So we we go.
01:02:28.639 --> 01:02:33.440
My my wife fell in love with a show on Netflix called Seven Days Out.
01:02:33.679 --> 01:02:40.559
And it's a documentary series that starts filming seven days from the launch of a major event.
01:02:40.719 --> 01:02:44.239
It could be New York Fashion Week, the Kentucky Derby.
01:02:44.400 --> 01:02:50.480
Well, this one particular episode happened to be the reopening of Eleven Madison Park.
01:02:50.559 --> 01:03:00.239
Because as most of you know, they won number one restaurant in the world and immediately shut down to remodel the entire venue.
01:03:00.559 --> 01:03:07.760
And so this was seven days out, and of course, this was Will and Daniel still together, Will Gadera, Daniel Home.
01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:12.000
Um, they were still together and they were reopening 11 Madison Park.
01:03:12.079 --> 01:03:26.480
And so she was watching this and she loved the way they, you know, they brought the the hot uh scissor clamps to snap, to they they literally sear off the top of the wine bottle as a part of their wine presentation.
01:03:26.639 --> 01:03:31.599
Then they take that top of the wine bottle and they put it in a little box and let you take it home with you.
01:03:31.760 --> 01:03:34.079
I mean, they literally thought of everything.
01:03:34.320 --> 01:03:46.320
So I come home and after I worked on this with Brian Howard, and we decide we're gonna do this dinner, and I, hey, baby, uh uh we're gonna go to New York and I'm gonna get to cook at the James Beard House.
01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:50.079
And listen, this is a huge, huge moment for me.
01:03:50.239 --> 01:03:52.880
The James Beard House, being able to go cook there.
01:03:53.119 --> 01:03:59.920
I mean, everybody in our industry wants to go do that or to be recognized in some way, shape, or form from them.
01:04:00.159 --> 01:04:08.000
And as I say to my wonderful wife, I I'm gonna be able to go cook at the James Beard House, and we're gonna go to New York.
01:04:08.079 --> 01:04:11.920
And she says, can we go to 11 Madison Park?
01:04:14.639 --> 01:04:17.039
Yes, but but what about me?
01:04:17.519 --> 01:04:21.360
So, yeah, so so I call uh a really good friend of mine.
01:04:21.519 --> 01:04:25.360
He's an attorney uh in New York, and and he's a just a huge foodie.
01:04:25.440 --> 01:04:26.719
And by huge, I mean fat.
01:04:26.800 --> 01:04:28.719
Yes, Pete, I've called you fat.
01:04:30.079 --> 01:04:31.199
No, he's not really.
01:04:31.280 --> 01:04:36.320
Uh he actually ran a triathlon, but he's the fattest triathlete I've ever met in my entire life.
01:04:36.559 --> 01:04:37.039
God bless him.
01:04:37.280 --> 01:04:39.360
I mean, I don't know that I've ever known a pudgy.
01:04:39.760 --> 01:04:42.480
Can you be pudgy and complete a triathlon?
01:04:42.639 --> 01:04:43.280
I think you can.
01:04:43.519 --> 01:04:50.960
Yeah, if the first leg is uh, you know, a mile and a bar, and then it's you know 22 fast food restaurants.
01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:56.800
Anyway, Pete and his lovely wife Erin joined us at 11 Madison Park.
01:04:56.960 --> 01:05:03.199
And we sat down, and it's like I think it's 375 a ticket.
01:05:03.280 --> 01:05:05.360
So you buy the tickets ahead of time.
01:05:05.599 --> 01:05:12.639
Um, I intentionally put a personal email address down, not a work one.
01:05:13.039 --> 01:05:32.960
Um why I had already read Danny Meyer's book, Setting the Table, and I knew Danny, who was Will's uh mentor, I knew Danny was known for going into Union Square and checking the reservation list every day and looking that and he would Google this.
01:05:33.039 --> 01:05:34.800
Is back Google was just launched.
01:05:35.360 --> 01:05:42.960
He would Google the names to see if he could find any information about them that would give him the ability of connecting with them personally.
01:05:43.599 --> 01:05:54.159
And and so I didn't I wanted to see kind of what Will and them would do, and I didn't want to make it easy on them by giving them my 11 hospitality group email address.
01:05:54.880 --> 01:06:17.280
So I buy the four tickets, we show up, um, we sit down and And um first of all, they had my wife and I on our honeymoon, the first few days we were in Napa and we stayed at the Cane uh winery, and they had a bottle of cane five from the original year that they launched, I think in 1974 or whatever.
01:06:17.519 --> 01:06:21.440
So it already became a special experience, just the fact that they had this.
01:06:21.840 --> 01:06:29.280
So we bought that wine and we're drinking some wine, and the first course comes out, and it's a caviar course, and you can't fuck up caviar.
01:06:29.360 --> 01:06:33.840
I mean, you really just just put it on a plate, give me a couple things to schmear it on, and we're good.
01:06:34.320 --> 01:06:38.639
So, you know, nothing remarkable or bad about the first course.
01:06:39.039 --> 01:06:40.079
Excuse me.
01:06:40.880 --> 01:06:42.000
Cut that out.
01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:44.719
Um we're leading the episode with that.
01:06:45.199 --> 01:06:46.239
There you go, yeah.
01:06:46.559 --> 01:07:05.760
The second course, um there's a chef comes rolling behind us with a Gyaradon, the fancy, you know, wooden cart right behind me and just over my left shoulder, and he pulls up next to us and he tells us that our next course is going to be porridge.
01:07:06.400 --> 01:07:14.079
And my first thought was motherfucker, I spent$375 a ticket.
01:07:14.320 --> 01:07:17.360
You are not gonna fucking serve me porridge.
01:07:18.559 --> 01:07:21.440
I didn't say that, but I thought it.
01:07:21.679 --> 01:07:22.320
I wish you didn't.
01:07:22.559 --> 01:07:35.360
And he proceeded to ladle this porridge out into these pretty little bowls, and he set them down in front of us, and I leaned forward, and the smell hit me in the face like a ton of bricks.
01:07:35.679 --> 01:07:38.079
And I'm immediately like, what is that?
01:07:38.320 --> 01:07:46.320
I can smell the ingredients in this little bowl of soup, and then we taste it.
01:07:46.880 --> 01:07:58.000
And the four of us for the next 20 minutes, 15 minutes, used every adjective you could possibly find to try to describe this amazing bowl of rice.
01:07:59.199 --> 01:08:08.000
And I was blown away at how incredible they could make something so basic.
01:08:08.159 --> 01:08:08.639
Right.
01:08:09.199 --> 01:08:13.199
Um, I later learned they steep the rice in tea.
01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:16.239
They use tea bags when they're cooking the rice.
01:08:16.399 --> 01:08:21.840
And that was that fragrant depth of that I just couldn't pinpoint what it was.
01:08:22.000 --> 01:08:26.159
It was floral and it was spicy, and there were so many things going on.
01:08:26.319 --> 01:08:35.119
I was literally, as a as a guy who like one of my greatest attributes is my palate, and I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on in this bowl.
01:08:35.199 --> 01:08:35.680
Yeah.
01:08:35.920 --> 01:08:41.199
So they clear the dishes and uh off he goes, and we're still talking about it.
01:08:41.279 --> 01:08:46.319
And of course, the timing is it's just impeccable in a in an experience like this.
01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:56.079
And so just when you're thinking, I wonder what's next, out comes this guy with this Gyaradon right behind me and just over my left shoulder.
01:08:56.159 --> 01:09:03.600
And he leans down and he says, I understood you guys enjoyed that last course so much, we decided to do it all over again.
01:09:03.920 --> 01:09:07.439
And they brought us another round of it because we loved it so much.
01:09:07.680 --> 01:09:08.399
That's incredible.
01:09:08.640 --> 01:09:17.680
And it it just spoke to so many things that I want to write about in this chapter, and and being able to make special out of simple uh is one of them.
01:09:17.920 --> 01:09:26.720
But the the paying attention and being present and um understanding when you can make such a moment like that special.
01:09:27.119 --> 01:09:36.880
Um, I get a little emotional even telling the story because it was just it's a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life, all because of that fucking bowl of rice.
01:09:38.399 --> 01:09:39.680
Well done.
01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:41.680
I like I like the special out of simple.
01:09:41.760 --> 01:09:42.079
I like it.
01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:42.640
Yeah, yeah.
01:09:42.800 --> 01:09:43.279
Yeah, yeah.
01:09:43.359 --> 01:09:44.479
It really was remarkable.
01:09:44.560 --> 01:09:44.640
Yeah.
01:09:44.800 --> 01:09:48.880
And then, you know, I mean, the meal just uh hit after hit after hit.
01:09:49.279 --> 01:09:59.600
Um, Daniel came out and and came over to the table uh about three quarters of the way through and leaned over and said, I understand you have a big dinner tomorrow night.
01:10:00.079 --> 01:10:02.319
Uh just wanted to say congratulations.
01:10:02.479 --> 01:10:05.520
And when you guys are done, I'd love to have you back in the kitchen.
01:10:05.680 --> 01:10:05.920
Wow.
01:10:06.000 --> 01:10:11.680
And so we toured the kitchen and uh it was just a really remarkable, a remarkable experience.
01:10:11.920 --> 01:10:12.079
Yeah.
01:10:12.239 --> 01:10:12.720
It's so funny.
01:10:12.960 --> 01:10:14.640
That me and Fat Pete will never forget.
01:10:14.960 --> 01:10:15.920
Classic fat pete.
01:10:16.239 --> 01:10:17.439
That's so fat Pete.
01:10:17.520 --> 01:10:18.159
I love it.
01:10:18.319 --> 01:10:18.960
Oh my gosh.
01:10:19.119 --> 01:10:23.119
Uh, we got a few more questions before we get here, but Brandon, do you mind actually getting Corey another water?
01:10:23.439 --> 01:10:23.680
Thank you.
01:10:24.319 --> 01:10:25.920
Um frog in my throat there.
01:10:26.079 --> 01:10:26.720
That's right.
01:10:26.960 --> 01:10:30.079
Um, true or false, though, you own an agave farm?
01:10:30.239 --> 01:10:34.000
I do well, uh yeah, I own the plants, I leased the land.
01:10:34.159 --> 01:10:34.399
Okay.
01:10:34.560 --> 01:10:45.119
Um, my wife and I leased uh 10 hectares or 25 acres of land up in Jalisco, and we have 38,000 agave plants in the ground.
01:10:45.279 --> 01:10:49.039
They've been in there for a little over three years, about three years and three months.
01:10:49.279 --> 01:10:51.840
So we've got a little under two years left minimum.
01:10:52.239 --> 01:10:55.920
By Mexican law, the agave has to grow between five and seven years.
01:10:56.079 --> 01:10:56.239
Okay.
01:10:56.399 --> 01:11:04.720
Um so we've got a little bit more time before we can harvest that crop and and hopefully sell it all to one um one potential uh buyer.
01:11:05.039 --> 01:11:07.760
Did you have experience in any of this before jumping into it?
01:11:08.000 --> 01:11:09.840
Hell no, I don't have experience in anything, man.
01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:10.640
Are you kidding me?
01:11:10.880 --> 01:11:12.960
Just do it and hope for the best and see what happens.
01:11:13.359 --> 01:11:15.680
I never even sat on a blue couch before today.
01:11:17.039 --> 01:11:18.079
First time for everything.
01:11:18.239 --> 01:11:23.439
Um, so my my I have two uh partners in my business, uh Keith and Fred.
01:11:23.520 --> 01:11:28.159
Um they also own uh the Nacho Daddies uh around the country.
01:11:28.319 --> 01:11:32.880
Um and uh I think 18 or 19, I'm not sure of the exact timing.
01:11:33.039 --> 01:11:36.319
Sometime before the pandemic, they decided they were gonna make their own tequila.
01:11:36.479 --> 01:11:36.720
Okay.
01:11:36.960 --> 01:11:42.800
And so they went down and they met up with a guy, Daniel, is our partner down there.
01:11:43.039 --> 01:11:49.359
Um Daniel uh found a distillery that was making um the Telsone uh tequila for them.
01:11:49.439 --> 01:11:50.479
A little shout out to Telsone.
01:11:50.720 --> 01:11:51.439
Shout out to Telson.
01:11:51.600 --> 01:11:59.119
Uh Telsone uh is the um a Mexican or Spanish word for uh the stinger on the back of the uh what you call it?
01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:00.399
Uh uh scorpion.
01:12:00.960 --> 01:12:01.119
Yes.
01:12:02.319 --> 01:12:03.520
I'm 55 now.
01:12:03.760 --> 01:12:05.760
Brain doesn't work like it used to.
01:12:06.000 --> 01:12:08.479
Um so they they developed Telsone.
01:12:08.560 --> 01:12:09.680
Well, the pandemic happens.
01:12:09.840 --> 01:12:13.920
Fast forward, the distillery that they were working with was having some troubles.
01:12:14.000 --> 01:12:20.239
So they stepped in, bought the entire distillery, um, brought Daniel in as a partner to run the whole thing.
01:12:20.479 --> 01:12:24.720
And then shortly after that, they came and asked if I wanted to be involved in any way.
01:12:24.880 --> 01:12:26.800
And I didn't want to do the distillery.
01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:28.960
I didn't want to make a brand of tequila.
01:12:29.039 --> 01:12:31.199
It cost too much money to develop a brand.
01:12:31.600 --> 01:12:38.239
Um, you know, you very rarely do you get the the big, you know,$1.2 billion hits like Clooney and those guys.
01:12:38.399 --> 01:12:38.640
Exactly.
01:12:38.800 --> 01:12:43.600
You know, most of them, you know, really kind of suffer in silence for years trying to grow a brand.
01:12:43.760 --> 01:12:45.520
So I knew I didn't want to do that.
01:12:45.680 --> 01:12:48.000
Um, but they gave me two opportunities.
01:12:48.079 --> 01:12:50.479
They one of them was the Agave farm.
01:12:50.560 --> 01:12:52.880
Uh so my wife and I jumped at that opportunity.
01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:57.439
And then the second one was, you know, during the pandemic, everyone stayed home and drank quite a bit.
01:12:57.840 --> 01:13:06.079
Um, and there was a real big shortage of aged, well, rested reposado or aged onyeho tequilas.
01:13:06.159 --> 01:13:09.520
Um, and the price was going through the roof because of this shortage.
01:13:09.760 --> 01:13:23.279
So um I bought a hundred bourbon barrels and had them shipped down to the distillery, filled them with 22,000 liters of Blanco tequila, and that has been in barrel now for about two and a half years.
01:13:23.359 --> 01:13:24.960
So it's already an onyeho.
01:13:25.119 --> 01:13:28.800
I didn't like where the market is right now to sell it, so I'm leaving it in.
01:13:28.880 --> 01:13:30.479
It's now an extra onyeho.
01:13:30.800 --> 01:13:39.920
Um, and sometime, probably by the end of this year, we'll sell all of that to one large distillery or we'll parcel it off to a couple.
01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:48.479
Um, but yeah, so my wife and I have uh some barrels of tequila and some plants, and it gives us a good excuse to go down to Mexico, which I absolutely love.
01:13:48.720 --> 01:13:50.000
And uh yeah, it's been fun.
01:13:50.159 --> 01:13:59.680
I like that you're a man that is very focused on attention to the detail with Carson Kitchen, like you do a great job at the comfort side of things, and you know every guest feels welcome and has their own story with it.
01:13:59.840 --> 01:14:05.039
With Butcher and Thief, obviously it's it's very focused on cost and quality at the same time.
01:14:05.680 --> 01:14:16.239
Um has this owning an agave farm has this changed the way that you've uh enjoyed tequila or like focused on the what you're actually consuming when it comes to tequila?
01:14:16.560 --> 01:14:16.720
It has.
01:14:16.800 --> 01:14:19.119
So I mean really only drink tequila now.
01:14:19.279 --> 01:14:21.680
And it's not because I'm involved in the business.
01:14:21.760 --> 01:14:25.760
I as you get older, allergies change, body changes.
01:14:26.159 --> 01:14:40.399
Um I'm I think my biggest gripe about our industry is um really a gripe about our government and and what we allow our large food companies to get away with and and how much they poison us.
01:14:40.479 --> 01:14:44.079
Um all these people that think they have a gluten allergy, they really don't.
01:14:44.159 --> 01:14:52.399
They're irritated by the glyphosates that are on the crops, whether it's grapes or whether it's wheat, it's the pesticides that they're really irritated by.
01:14:52.640 --> 01:15:01.039
Most of those people, unless they're true celiac, most of those people could go to Europe right now and eat pasta and bread all day long and not have any problems.
01:15:01.359 --> 01:15:10.239
And so I have a huge problem with our government and our food industry because we allow that to and ultimately we as the voting public allow it to happen.
01:15:10.560 --> 01:15:10.720
Sure.
01:15:10.800 --> 01:15:12.239
Um, but I digress.
01:15:12.399 --> 01:15:18.319
Um because of those chemicals, I struggle drinking wine and and beer anymore.
01:15:18.640 --> 01:15:20.079
Um I get really stuffed up.
01:15:20.159 --> 01:15:26.640
I I I mean, you give me a really hoppy, uh, big cloudy IPA, and I I mean I struggle breathing.
01:15:26.800 --> 01:15:28.800
Like it's it's labor for me.
01:15:29.279 --> 01:15:36.159
And so um uh yeah, as a result of it, I I started drinking tequila a number of years ago, and it's really all I drink.
01:15:36.479 --> 01:15:42.239
Um, a little tequila on one big rock with an orange peel, and uh yeah, I'm a happy man.
01:15:42.479 --> 01:15:44.079
Not to any time of day, by the way.
01:15:44.159 --> 01:15:44.399
I don't know.
01:15:44.560 --> 01:15:45.600
Listen, I don't, I'm not picky.
01:15:46.159 --> 01:15:48.640
My dad said you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.
01:15:48.960 --> 01:15:51.119
Brady, do you mind getting them a glass of tequila real quick too?
01:15:51.680 --> 01:15:52.960
Oh, if you have tequila, let's go.
01:15:53.039 --> 01:15:53.920
We'll be here all day.
01:15:54.319 --> 01:15:56.560
We should add a bar for our guests, just in case.
01:15:56.800 --> 01:15:57.279
For the guests.
01:15:57.600 --> 01:15:58.399
Little spot in the corner there.
01:15:58.560 --> 01:15:59.600
Yeah, little spot in the corner.
01:16:00.079 --> 01:16:01.119
And for when we clock out.
01:16:01.439 --> 01:16:02.159
Yeah, right?
01:16:02.560 --> 01:16:08.720
I did want to ask the all the the treatments and stuff that like the public should be concerned about.
01:16:08.800 --> 01:16:11.920
Is that something you pay attention to when you're sourcing for the restaurants as well?
01:16:12.159 --> 01:16:13.039
Or is it harder to do?
01:16:13.520 --> 01:16:15.279
We try to buy it organic as much as we can.
01:16:15.359 --> 01:16:16.800
Obviously, it's it's price-driven.
01:16:17.039 --> 01:16:17.359
Uh-uh.
01:16:17.520 --> 01:16:18.239
But yeah, absolutely.
01:16:18.319 --> 01:16:19.439
We pay a lot of attention to that.
01:16:19.520 --> 01:16:21.520
And we wash everything incredibly thoroughly.
01:16:21.680 --> 01:16:21.840
Yeah.
01:16:22.079 --> 01:16:31.760
Um, you know, and not just with with water, but uh there are there are fruit and vegetable sprays that you can use to really um help help uh help treat those those items at home.
01:16:32.800 --> 01:16:37.760
With the restaurant that you did have that closed, what was it called again?
01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:38.319
Kanya.
01:16:38.640 --> 01:16:39.119
Kanya.
01:16:39.520 --> 01:16:41.920
If you if you were to open it today, not a town square, yeah.
01:16:42.079 --> 01:16:43.119
You said you'd be successful with it.
01:16:43.439 --> 01:16:43.760
I think so.
01:16:44.079 --> 01:16:44.800
Why would you be successful?
01:16:44.880 --> 01:16:45.760
What would you do differently?
01:16:46.880 --> 01:16:49.119
I think the consumer is smarter today.
01:16:49.359 --> 01:16:53.920
Um I think they're more open to to to different types of cuisine.
01:16:54.239 --> 01:16:57.119
Um they weren't necessarily as as smart back then.
01:16:57.600 --> 01:17:04.000
Uh I love that's why I love Food Network and I love food critics, and I love anyone that wants to write and talk about food.
01:17:04.239 --> 01:17:09.039
It just makes people smarter, and a smarter consumer wants to go spend more money on food.
01:17:09.119 --> 01:17:11.279
And and so I'm I'm all for that.
01:17:11.760 --> 01:17:17.680
Um I I think I I'm better at what I do today than I than I was then.
01:17:18.159 --> 01:17:20.399
Um I was my own worst enemy.
01:17:20.479 --> 01:17:28.880
I I didn't know who I was in or out of the kitchen, and we talked about that a little bit with Carrie, and my approach to that menu, my approach to that restaurant would be a little different.
01:17:30.880 --> 01:17:36.479
I like asking guests, especially ones that aren't necessarily in the you know the entertainment industry.
01:17:36.560 --> 01:17:50.319
I mean, you're kind of with the restaurants and the presentation, but with Vegas where it is today, becoming very sports-driven, very event-driven, how do you feel uh Vegas is the direction Vegas is is headed?
01:17:50.880 --> 01:17:52.720
Being that you're such a significant part in the city.
01:17:53.039 --> 01:17:56.720
Yeah, I I um I'm gonna answer it two ways.
01:17:56.800 --> 01:18:05.920
Uh I I love the resilience of Las Vegas, the ability to morph, the ability to grow, to the ability to attract a different customer base.
01:18:06.000 --> 01:18:11.359
Uh you know, there are people in town that that market and and and and strategize about that.
01:18:11.439 --> 01:18:13.119
That I my hat is off to them.
01:18:13.680 --> 01:18:21.279
But I do think we are gonna encounter another price correction as we did in in 08-09.
01:18:22.000 --> 01:18:24.880
Um I said back then I thought we were way overpriced.
01:18:25.279 --> 01:18:31.359
I think all the parking fees and the$12 waters and all the nonsense stuff is gonna be corrected again.
01:18:31.840 --> 01:18:35.359
Um my guess is it'll happen next year.
01:18:35.760 --> 01:18:46.079
Um you already see our numbers starting to decline um as the casinos start to realize those um declines, they'll start to to wisen up a little bit.
01:18:46.399 --> 01:18:47.359
And I think you see some of that.
01:18:47.520 --> 01:18:49.279
MGM's approach is a little different.
01:18:49.439 --> 01:18:57.039
I say MGM because they're the biggest in town, not because I'm I'm picking on them, but um MGM's approach today is a little different than it was even six months ago.
01:18:57.279 --> 01:19:00.800
Resort resort resort fees are are coming down a little bit.
01:19:01.039 --> 01:19:06.800
Some of those um crazy prices are coming down um not enough yet, but but they will.
01:19:06.880 --> 01:19:11.039
Um I think Vegas has to continue to remain to be a value proposition.
01:19:11.520 --> 01:19:13.520
There are just too many other places.
01:19:14.000 --> 01:19:22.880
Um we went through a massive 21 and 22 on the heels of COVID because nobody could travel anywhere else.
01:19:23.520 --> 01:19:25.920
Um they could, but they weren't traveling overseas.
01:19:26.000 --> 01:19:30.239
There were there was a greater reluctance to go too far away from home.
01:19:30.560 --> 01:19:34.159
Um, so you know, we Vegas was the beneficiary of that.
01:19:34.319 --> 01:19:41.439
Orlando was a beneficiary of that, and and everybody's trying to chase those same numbers, and and I don't think they're gonna be able to.
01:19:41.920 --> 01:19:44.079
Is this harder than it was in 07?
01:19:45.600 --> 01:19:46.720
Yeah, it is.
01:19:46.880 --> 01:19:48.319
Uh it's easier and harder.
01:19:48.399 --> 01:19:54.960
I I I feel like I'm I'm kind of dancing on a lot of your questions, but but I see both sides of that.
01:19:55.039 --> 01:19:56.560
It is easier in a lot of ways.
01:19:56.720 --> 01:20:03.520
Um the accessibility of uh uh product is is significantly greater than it was 20 years ago.
01:20:03.840 --> 01:20:09.600
Um the the cost of that product is is is better in some instances than it was.
01:20:09.760 --> 01:20:16.000
Um, you know, if I wanted to, for example, we talked about the crispy shrimp or killer shrimp, I had to bring those peppers.
01:20:16.079 --> 01:20:19.359
There's two Peruvian peppers, the Aji Amarillo and the Ricotto.
01:20:19.840 --> 01:20:21.359
I brought both of those peppers in.
01:20:21.439 --> 01:20:27.039
I would actually was finally able to order them off of Amazon to get them here at a at a premium.
01:20:27.279 --> 01:20:31.760
Um, but but uh nowadays I can get them from any vendor.
01:20:31.840 --> 01:20:36.159
Um so so the availability of the the is much more convenient and and there.
01:20:36.560 --> 01:20:40.640
The downside today versus 07 is the human asset of the business.
01:20:40.720 --> 01:20:59.760
And I and I'll tell this to as many podcasts as want to listen because um that's the real danger that our industry faces is um there's a shortage of people that want to get in the kitchen and and and and cook for those amount of hours and that amount of um just brutal impact on your body.
01:21:00.159 --> 01:21:02.960
Um we've got to be able to take care of those individuals.
01:21:03.119 --> 01:21:07.279
We have to be able to pay them a uh a wage that they they they deserve.
01:21:07.439 --> 01:21:18.159
I won't use the term livable wage, they um but but a proper wage and um uh the the amount of people and I think I talked about this in a in a previous podcast.
01:21:18.479 --> 01:21:22.960
The way our kids grow up today is different than it was when we were kids.
01:21:23.359 --> 01:21:27.439
You know, families don't have those dinners and game nights like we did.
01:21:27.600 --> 01:21:34.159
There's there's too many TV channels and too many um hulus and Netflix's and all that stuff to to occupy.
01:21:34.239 --> 01:21:36.159
People are on their phones 24-7.
01:21:36.800 --> 01:21:49.279
So I I think that we don't allow our kids and teenagers to fall in love with food or the connection that food to human brings um like we did 20, 30 years ago.
01:21:49.439 --> 01:21:52.399
And as a result, we have people that aren't as interested in our industry.
01:21:53.039 --> 01:21:53.760
Do you have kids?
01:21:54.000 --> 01:21:54.479
I do.
01:21:54.720 --> 01:21:56.479
She hates our industry for now.
01:21:56.560 --> 01:21:57.600
She'll end up in it at some point.
01:21:57.840 --> 01:21:58.239
You think so?
01:21:58.399 --> 01:22:01.680
Yeah, no, she actually works, uh, she works with my publicist.
01:22:02.399 --> 01:22:04.720
Um and and and she's she's she's loving it.
01:22:04.800 --> 01:22:05.600
She's 24.
01:22:05.840 --> 01:22:06.159
Love it.
01:22:06.319 --> 01:22:08.239
Um I I love that for her.
01:22:08.399 --> 01:22:13.039
Um, if she ends up coming and hey dad, I want to learn the business, then then great.
01:22:13.119 --> 01:22:22.319
But you know, at the end of the day, I keep telling her, I said, listen, just go fall in love with something, and once you do, you and I will sit down and we'll figure out how to get rich at it.
01:22:24.239 --> 01:22:25.039
Blew my mind.
01:22:25.199 --> 01:22:25.359
Yeah.
01:22:25.520 --> 01:22:27.279
That's a that's a great, great way of looking at it.
01:22:27.520 --> 01:22:29.920
Fall in love with something first and then figure out how to make money.
01:22:30.079 --> 01:22:31.199
And there's always ways to make money.
01:22:31.439 --> 01:22:31.680
100%.
01:22:31.920 --> 01:22:32.319
1000%.
01:22:33.600 --> 01:22:36.079
Well, Corey, this was fucking awesome.
01:22:36.479 --> 01:22:37.600
This was so much fun.
01:22:37.840 --> 01:22:39.359
God, I need a tequila then.
01:22:39.520 --> 01:22:39.680
I know.
01:22:39.840 --> 01:22:40.399
It's time to drink.
01:22:40.560 --> 01:22:41.520
Well, we're coming over tonight.
01:22:41.600 --> 01:22:42.319
You're making dinner.
01:22:42.640 --> 01:22:43.039
Let's do it.
01:22:44.319 --> 01:22:44.720
Be at the restaurant.
01:22:44.960 --> 01:22:45.520
I'm gonna hear stories.
01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:47.439
Happy hour at Butcher and Thief today.
01:22:47.520 --> 01:22:47.760
Let's go.
01:22:47.920 --> 01:22:50.079
I'm gonna get a tattoo with what does the tattoo say again?
01:22:50.239 --> 01:22:51.039
Travel changes you.
01:22:51.119 --> 01:22:52.960
I'm gonna get I'm gonna get a travel changes you tattoo.
01:22:53.439 --> 01:22:54.159
Corey changes you.
01:22:54.399 --> 01:22:56.560
Corey changes you in different languages.
01:22:56.880 --> 01:22:57.840
Just happening.
01:22:58.720 --> 01:22:59.680
A little creepy.
01:23:01.039 --> 01:23:03.680
Who is this Corey that's tattooed all over the mouth?
01:23:05.039 --> 01:23:05.760
Oh my god.
01:23:05.840 --> 01:23:06.720
Well, this was fun.
01:23:06.880 --> 01:23:07.520
This was so much fun.
01:23:07.600 --> 01:23:08.239
Thank you so much for coming down.
01:23:10.239 --> 01:23:11.279
Carson Kitchen.
01:23:11.439 --> 01:23:14.319
Is there anything else that we need to we need to give a shout out to?
01:23:14.560 --> 01:23:15.920
Go support your local restaurant.
01:23:16.319 --> 01:23:17.359
No matter whose it is.
01:23:17.520 --> 01:23:21.840
Get out tonight, take your wife, your your boyfriend, your significant other, your kids.
01:23:22.079 --> 01:23:23.520
Go out and enjoy a meal.
01:23:23.760 --> 01:23:27.760
Put your phones down and look at each other and laugh and tell stories and connect.
01:23:28.000 --> 01:23:28.560
Fuck it.
01:23:28.800 --> 01:23:29.439
You're good.
01:23:29.680 --> 01:23:29.920
Thanks.
01:23:30.159 --> 01:23:31.119
When's the book coming out?
01:23:31.760 --> 01:23:32.560
No, I'm gonna read it.
01:23:32.640 --> 01:23:34.000
I'm gonna write a chapter tonight.
01:23:34.720 --> 01:23:37.840
I'm gonna listen to this because I think I wrote something on this podcast, actually.
01:23:38.079 --> 01:23:41.600
If Big Head doesn't have at least part of a chapter, I'm gonna be very disappointed.
01:23:41.840 --> 01:23:42.159
All right.
01:23:42.239 --> 01:23:43.119
All right, fair enough.
01:23:43.199 --> 01:23:43.279
Okay.
01:23:43.439 --> 01:23:45.119
I think I can I think I can do a chapter.
01:23:46.000 --> 01:23:47.600
We'll do a chapter of your podcast.
01:23:47.920 --> 01:23:49.520
Yeah, we'll just have to make more stories together.
01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:50.640
That's what we're gonna do.
01:23:50.800 --> 01:23:51.199
I love it.
01:23:51.279 --> 01:23:52.399
Well, Corn, this is great.
01:23:52.479 --> 01:23:53.279
Thank you for coming on.
01:23:53.600 --> 01:23:55.760
Julie, any final words before we say goodbye?
01:23:55.920 --> 01:23:57.039
Yeah, shout out fat P.
01:23:57.359 --> 01:23:58.479
Shout out Fat P.
01:23:59.279 --> 01:24:00.720
I'm gonna make him listen to this.
01:24:02.000 --> 01:24:02.880
We love Fat P.
01:24:03.119 --> 01:24:04.800
Yeah, all of our friends are gonna rag on him.
01:24:06.239 --> 01:24:07.439
You got so much love.