Chef Michael Collantes on Earning and Keeping a Michelin Star in Orlando, FL

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Today's episode is anchored by Chef Michael Calantes, who's here in studio cooking with us. Michael is the chef and owner of Cissecchi in Orlando, a one Michelin star restaurant that has earned and retained its star through consistency, discipline, and uncompromising standard. But this conversation isn't about accolades. It's about what it actually takes to sustain that level. The burnout, the rebuilding, the leadership, and the balance between craft, family, faith, and the business behind the food. Today also marks the beginning of something new. Michael is officially joining the Walk and Talk Media family as a reoccurring collaborator and voice as we move forward. Later in the episode, you'll hear from Frederick Casagrande, who's also joined in the team, to help expand how we tell barbecue and live fire competitions and stories on an international level. But today starts here, in the studio with Michael Calantes cooking, talking, and sharing the experiences that shaped who he is today. Let's break bread. Chef, I mean, welcome to the program. It's 2026, man. Your first guest of the year, and you're going to be here more often. Welcome to the show. Thanks so much, man. I'm super excited to come back. We did this a few years ago, a few years ago. And yeah, man, it's super excited to be back and what you guys have been doing. Before we get into who is Chef Michael Calantes, let's talk about what the hell you did here in this kitchen. It was fire. Today was absolute fire. Beautiful fire, am I that? Just another day at the office, right? No, we got to play around with some fish. We had some beautiful Harami or, you know, from Florida, we call it flounder fluke. We got it from Japan. So it's a flat fish, which is an interesting fish to break down. That's why we wanted to bring it in and showcase like, just, it's a weird looking fish. Anything has two eyes on the top of the head and still stares at you. I mean, that's what we're talking about. We did two dishes. I wanted to basically do two mirrored dishes. One, super Japanese, one a little bit more, you know, European inspired. So basically it was potatoes, truffles and the fluke. So the first dish that was done, I just basically marinated it in kombu. It's called a kombu jumei. So it's basically we're using the natural salinity of the actual seaweed and you're just pressing it between two pieces of seaweed and it's just drawing out all that moisture and using that natural MSG that comes from kombu. So it imparts that sea flavor, but you know, this type of fish doesn't have much flavor, to be honest. It's a very clean, clean fish raw. So you want to impart some of that through like some kind of curing agent and you know, at the restaurant we've been doing dry aging and different types of like preservations with fish for a while. And then crispy potatoes that we just thinly sliced that kind of showcase that very technical way of cutting down potatoes or cutting down vegetables like through like, like sheeting it, we call it sheeting it. Salt, tagarashi, simple. And yeah, that's it man. So you're Filipino. Filipino. And of course you have one of your restaurants as Asian inspired. Yeah. Yeah. But you learned your upscale cooking from a German chef. Yeah, I think my earliest food memories of being like in a professional kitchen was working for Wolfgang. And he was doing California cuisine, right? Just this mix of everything. So like he's famous shiwa salad and then he'll have a snitch on the menu and stuff like that. And it's not to say you didn't know how to cook before, but you were doing like your family traditional cook. Yeah, yeah. We're doing Filipino food and you know, I started, I always joke, I started out at one of the best New York pizzerias in the world, Sabaros at 16. That's where I cut my teeth and then went to, yeah, after culinary school went to work for Wolfgang for about four years and his chef is still with him, his sushi chef, Chef Fuji-san. And he's over in Spugo Maui, but he trained me, you know, in doing sushi like early 2000s, you know. I mean, it was the available, like you're not finding fluke and flounder and some of these other crazy ingredients at most Japanese sushi bars in town. So it was, you know, it was definitely an experience. Are both of these dishes on the menu? No, no. One, the truffle potato, the fried one, sashimi, that's going on the menu soon. I think we just did like a tasting with the team and checking it out. And one of my, my assistant chef for the day was Kaden and he came from SushiSaint. So kind of seeing the dish, like how I would make it so you could replicate it, which was good. And then the other one was literally spur of the moment. I said, how are we going to just utilize the same ingredients for cost reasons? But really just to like showcase that and then this idea of motonai, which means not to waste anything. So how do we utilize the bones and all of the other parts of the fish that you should get thrown away? How does a Michelin restaurant choose a new dish? You know, it's really inspiration, right? Inspiration collaboration. When we're coming up with new dishes, one, we always wanted to be seasonal and what we can get on the regular. You know, it really just comes down to, we want to, we always draw from our experiences, but then it's just inspiration, what you see in the book, what you see from other chefs or, you know, something, you know, crazy combinations of flavor profiles, right? So I think that's why being a chef is so great is it's, it really is that there's something so personal about going to a restaurant and trying someone's food. Well, let's talk about discipline. When people hear James Beard or Michelin star, they're usually thinking about, you know, the recognition part of it, but they don't, they don't really understand what it takes to keep that standard or you're going to achieve that level. What does consistency look like for you on the regular? Consistency is the, I think it's the one thing that as chefs, we are constantly trying to achieve. Nowadays, I don't know. I mean, that's like, you got to make the same dish a hundred times over, right? And it has to be exactly the same, keeping that standard. The whole Michelin thing is interesting because it's, I'm not saying it's the end all be all, but it is a secret shopper, idea of a secret shopper that literally, it has to be consistent every single time they come in. You never know who they are type of scenario. So the mystique of it is really interesting. And it's just something we preach like to our team is, you can be a great chef for one dish. Doesn't mean you're, you know, that's great, but can you do that every single night? You know, that's, that's when you become great, I think. If you go to your local wing joint, they're making, you know, hundreds of dishes, same thing every night, but it's not upscale. Right. So this isn't where it's supposed to be. They're never going to attain any, you know, accolade, but there's something to be said when I go to Japan and I got a Big Mac, this Big Mac tastes like Big Mac back home, right? It brings you all of those feels, right? There's something to be said about building systems to that point. And now that I've got multiple restaurants underneath the belt with their, with their group, how, you know, I hate hearing that. Oh, that's not the same when chefs snide here. It's like, no, it should be better. I hope what it is, it should just be a better experience when I'm not there. Why? Because my guys are in there every day doing the day thing. They're there every single day pushing themselves to be better. They're in there more, you know, they're working with that product every single day, you know, and so my job now, you know, discipline and consistency. That's really my job is to really motivate and push them to, you know, get there. Where are your locations right now? So the restaurants we have now are mostly in Orlando, Winter Park. So we have Soseki that's been here for five years. We're just celebrating five years now. We have Sushi Saints, which is our hand roll Tamaki kind of sushi lounge. We have downtown Orlando. We're opening the second location in a couple of weeks in Winter Park. And then the third location also in Orlando, but closer to the eye drive. A little bit more of the tourist area. So we have those in Orlando, pizza shop. Why am I doing pizzas? I love pizzas and whatnot. Sushi and pizza is great. We're not going to put it together. I promise you'll never see a sushi pizza coming out of my kitchen. Amen. But you might see a crab and green pizza. We get a little weird with the toppings there. But you know, Perla's Pizza is a vinyl record pizza shop. And that open, like I have three restaurants that's right next to each other. So I love that commute, right? And the last restaurant that we have is based in New York. It's another sushi saint that's in Long Island City. Small 10 seat hand roll bar that we do there, too. So one of the other locations got a bib, right? A big grommand. Right. So we opened, I think it was about four or five months after we opened the original Sushi Saints downtown Orlando. We just celebrated two years. We got a big grommand right off the gate, which was really amazing for the team. I mean, this was a bigger restaurant. When I say bigger restaurant coming from 10 seats, anything's bigger. But this was about, yes, 65, 70 seat restaurant and then doing the hand roll bar. So to get that with the team right off the gate was pretty amazing. In terms of the feels, right? Optics. You get a one star, Sosaki. When you're talking about Sushi Saint, you're talking about a bib grommand. Which one was more special? Or is it the same? Or is it, you know, it's it's they're all special, right? Like we did not expect. Maybe we thought we'd get mentioned in a Michelin guide with with Sushi Saint. You know, this was a bigger restaurant where. The awards ceremony creeped up on us. I didn't think they'd have enough time to see us. Like we literally four or five months, we were only open. I've heard of guys like they've only been open for 20 days and they get the mission start, which is really crazy because. Yeah, it's just crazy. The first one always hits different. I mean, that was like the one star that. The. Getting into Michelin, you know, I'm in the kitchen every day, pushing with the team and everything like that. It definitely hit the hit the hardest. But getting the bib grommand for Sushi Saint was just just incredible for us, for the team. Yeah. I'm Fred Casagrande, barbecue champion, pit master and founder of Smoking Beards. I'm French based in the Middle East, but for the past two decades, my fire has traveled far beyond geography on competition grounds or around open flames. Life fire cookie isn't a trend. It's discipline. It's technique. It's anchored in history, but it's evolving faster than ever. And around the world, there are people shaping that evolution. Pit masters, chefs, builders, organizers and quiet operators who are pushing the craft forward. This isn't about nostalgia. It's about where life fire is going and who's carrying it there. This is the life fire report. It's a good segue because you've spoken openly about burnout and rebuilding, right? And if you're talking about opening all these restaurants, you're doing consulting like you're in Dubai or all over the country. Yeah, you're doing a lot. Looking back, would it stepping away from all of these different paths? Kind of teach you about the leader and chef who you are today. These past couple of years have been interesting, opening up more restaurants, doing consulting. You know, I just want to see what else is out there. I like as a chef, like I love chefs who are there in there every single day. They're grinding, they're behind the stove. I didn't know if this was going to be my goal in life. You know, I wanted to set up restaurants. I want to continue. I think it's a great creative outlet. And it really becomes the business side of it. I'll tell you, it's the part that I lack the most, I think, and a lot of chefs do. It's really easy for us to, as chefs, like rely on our own skill set to get things done. And when you're building multiple restaurants or consulting, doing all these things, your reliance on other people is huge. And realizing that you're just being a cog in the machine of it all. That was very humbling. Yeah, but isn't the whole thing about leadership? I mean, you know, you start off one location, 10 seats. You have real control of that. You can very much direct, steer, be a part of every single decision. Restaurant two, three, four plus consulting, et cetera. It puts it in a whole different place. So now your leadership abilities and your hiring of people who are going to maintain what you're doing, that's the key. How do you deal with that? I'm still trying to deal with it. Is there is a real answer? Man, it really is. Yeah, how do you, you know, coming from a lot of chefs? Let's be honest, if you're in fondoning and not even in fondoning, man, you're a chef, you're a little bit compulsive and you're a little bit more, you know, you've got to be in the, you've got to be in there. Like you want your hands and everything. You're a little bit of a control freak, right? To some extent. And how do you find that release? How do you become a leader that can trust other people? How do you walk away from, you know, you'll catch me spinning records or flipping pizzas at the pizza spot while I got my guys doing, you know, taking care of the pizza, of the, of the baby, the Michelin star restaurant, whatever you want to call it. You know, it's, and how do you kind of release that? And I'm still learning this, man, just being a good leader, being a good person, being someone that they can, which is a completely different skill set than being a great chef, like I always say, you know, but realizing too that like, I hope that, yes, my name's on, you know, connected to it and, and so that Soseki can live on without chef Mike Lanter, so whatever you want to call it. Like I don't need that ego kick of saying, Hey man, this is my food. And this is, you know, and it doesn't fulfill that desire in my life. I can attest to that. And the story that I have about meeting you is, you know, we were in the, at the Nafom show a couple of years back, you're kind of a bohemian sort of guy, you know, like you're real, you got your carefree, but you're on point. So here's the thing. I was about 30 feet away and I look over and I'm always, I am a hawk on the gear, right? Cause you never know, things have legs, things disappear, right? And I noticed that there's these two dudes, like just like kind of looking at the stuff and I'm like, what the hell is this? So I kind of walk over there and I'm, you know, and you're real casual, right? You're dressed like ultra casual. And I'm like, Hey, can I help you? And I go, Oh man, you know, I'm just checking out your gear. This is really cool stuff. You know, we do a podcast too. I was like, Oh, okay. Talk about it. And then you're like, well, I'm a chef and I was like, Oh, okay. It all made sense. But it was like, I was like, are these guys trying to, you know, look, kind of watch the gear, man. Watch, watch the gear, you know. Yeah, that was, that was fun. That was, that was a couple of years ago when we met. I remember now we were, we were invited to that show with dry age or because I was doing, you know, it was one of the few, few chefs at that time during dry aging at the restaurants. And so I brought out my media guy. I was like, Hey, let's talk about this. Like we brought, we actually brought the fish for them. We bought the fish so that they could dry age it. It was still pretty new. I mean, it's still new now, but a lot of chefs are on it now. But, and then I saw you guys and I was like, Oh man, let's scope out their gear and what they're using and stuff. Like, I don't know, I geek out about all those things. Like, if I'm interested in something, like if I'm interested in pizzas or I'm interested in opening this type of restaurant, like we're going to go hard to the paint. We're going to like, all right, what hydration level are we using on the dough? What's, you know, all right, let's, let's line up 10 different cases of, of cheese and see which one we want to use and all this stuff and tomatoes. And so like anything that I do, I, that I have, I find so much enjoy and like those minuscule things. Cause I think that's what separates good to great, right? Like the in-betweens. I'll speak for John. We nerd out on the gear. Also, in fact, you know, John, I know each other a million years. Did you ever expect that I would be doing any of these things, John? Like literally equipment, the, the, you know, sound boards, cameras, video, like all this stuff to learn it. Not that I'm the best. I promise I'm not claiming any of that. But like, I can, I can turn this stuff on and use it. Ever expect that? No, John doesn't talk, by the way, really. So, uh, well, you're, I mean, today you're filming mostly, you're filming with John, a lot of it. And it's like, that was not the case a couple of years ago, not all. Well, you know, listen, the economy, I told you briefly what this was. And ultimately, you know, we started with video and, um, and we came out of the gate real strong. We started with video and we came out of the gate real strong. That was back in 2020. 2022 comes and the economy's starting to turn on its head. The marketing dollars are starting to shrink. And I'm just thinking to myself, man, we got to do a serious pivot here because this is not going to be sustainable. So we looked at podcasting. I saw that there was like a lot of space there. Even in a, even in a niche quasi saturated market like food, I mean, who's, I mean, who's going to do better than us with, you know, relationships? I mean, I've been in the business 35 years, John, I know thousands. I've worked with thousands of chefs, man. Like I figure I can probably round up some personnel, some talent. Anyway, long story short, we jump in and right away it took off. And within a year, we hit a million downloads and, you know, started ranking on Apple. Today we're probably five million downloads, um, been in the top 200 of all podcasts on Apple. You know, it's a whole weird thing, man. It's crazy. I don't believe it. What goes back to like, you guys stay consistent with it, right? You guys just kept doing it, kept doing it, kept doing it, staying consistent. And, uh, you know, we started a podcast around that same time too, but I was like, I'm not doing this. This is not sustainable for me to do a certain, you know, I'll do service until 11 o'clock and then we'll go jump in the podcast room. We're like, this is awful. Yeah. So it was like, uh, you know, staying consistent with that thing made, made the heat, you know, such a big difference. But, um, yeah, man, I mean, we've been, we've been seconding yourself for a while. The fact that you understand how this operates makes all of this much easier because you've done it. So not only are you hands on in the kitchen elevated, you know, you're hitting some major strides in your life, but then you also understand how the gear works. You know, yeah, you know what, you know, what kind of synergy that is. That's a real awesome thing. And that's why we started talking about it. It makes sense for you to plug in. Yeah, man. I mean, uh, it, I've been, I've been wanting to get back into it now that like the life is, you know, the kids are growing up a little bit, the restaurants are staining. And so like, I've wanted to jump in into this with, um, with the right people, you know, it's just like, uh, I, there was no way I was going to do this on my like the first time. Um, so this was like, I was like, man. And you know, we reconnected at the show. And I was like, this, this would be really cool to do, you know, not that I need another hobby or another restaurant or another thing life. If you ask my wife, she'll say, this is your crazy, but, uh, you know, this is my outlet too. Right. Like getting to talk to Shask and to talk to shops, um, in a different way too. I'm a much different chef. I was five years ago where I was so engaged and I'm on the line every single nine and I'm not afraid to say a lot of shots are afraid to say it or not. You know, I'm not on the line every single night of the restaurant. You know, I'm at home, uh, with the kids and I'm enjoying that part of my life that like, I think we need to celebrate that as, uh, people in our industry too. That I get, yeah, I bring my kids to school every morning and I love that. You know, and immediately I'm still going back to a restaurant right afterwards, but you know, that's, you know, it's, it is what it is. And you just take those in between moments that you get. But I think your viewpoint on this and your personality is, it fits. It's the right cut in order to, you know, you, you put the grind in, you built up this business, you, you've, you know, you got the Michelin and the bib and, uh, all of a sudden now you're bringing up a new generation. You're bringing, you're able to step away, pick your head up above the, uh, the weeds direct to thing. And still all of this, uh, knowledge and experience into the, to a new, to new people and you get to enjoy some of your life. That's beautiful. I think that's how it should be. Support for walk and talk media comes from crab island seafood dip, creating chef driven crab dips made with real seafood and bold flavor. Learn more at crab island seafood dip.com. I think that, yeah, I think, I think we have to celebrate that more and talk about that more because, um, you know, especially in fine dining circles, it's like, you know, you've got to be in the grind every single day and I respect that and I'm not claiming that I'm, I'm not there or I am there or have you, but I want to enjoy this life, right? Like what we're building this all for, if you're not enjoying it. And a lot of chefs, I'm a lot of chefs that I hire, they just, they just want to grind, they want to be in their 80 hours a week. They want to be there seven days and I love it. Like that's like, like, let me give you a platform to do that. Right. I never, and I never want to be someone that I always say egos a dream killer. I never want to be someone that says, Hey, I'm, you know, this is my restaurant. This is what we're doing. It's like, no, man, uh, I'm fortunate that we continue to build good teams. Now to get to this point, uh, was a lot of, you know, successes and failures and heartache and closing restaurants and being stressed out about money and finances. All those, uh, things that you fight for. It's a different fight of just being a chef to just being, to being a restaurant tour and owner for sure, but worth it. You're getting into the topic of art versus business. There's a constant tension between that, you know, if you're looking at, Hey, I'm a chef and I want to be creative. And then you're like, well, creative is great, but I got to pay the mortgage. It's a tight rope. And how are you personally navigating that balance without losing your soul? How not well, no, I think, uh, how am I balancing it? Um, having a great wife that understands that great life partner, I think it's huge, um, and it, and she's also in the business too. Like she's doing the, I would say, you know, to be successful as a restaurant tour business, you need someone who is in the grind doing the operations, which we have a lot of amazing people. You need someone on the back end that's watching your back that has, uh, you know, that's what she does is the, you know, where's the money going and operations and the wheels are on the bus and all of those things. And then you also need someone who has is the mouthpiece that's going to sit like screen for the top of lungs of what amazing things you're doing at your restaurant and your operations. And, uh, a lot of that is me. Like I just, I truly believe her. We're doing some great things and we don't get it right all the time. And, and we're going to step on toes and we're going to make some people uncomfortable and unhappy and stuff like that. And I get that, but the bigger picture is to slowly take care of people, uh, in that way. Um, but that's not to say, man, this, uh, like I had a great chef. He passed away last year. Chef CJ, he was our first chef to cuisine. Um, when I talk about, he's been to like a hundred plus countries backpacking. He's worked for, I don't know, worked in Stiles in over, uh, 200, 250 different restaurants, mostly Michelin, and he has this criteria that he goes after. Uh, when we opened Soseki, he was the guy that I said, man, I'm, you know, we're in the middle of COVID. Come join our group. Uh, we don't know what the hell we're doing. You know, uh, we don't know what we're doing, but, uh, we know this is going to be, uh, you know, all the things that you're looking for. And he says, flat out, I'm going to be there for a year, not a day more. And I'm off and I go wherever around the world. And then he never, you know, returns back. So he's worked. Uh, we were, we worked together in Vegas. He was like, he's a war. He was at a linear. He was at El Toro. He was at La Bernardin. He was a, uh, amazing chef and he looks, I can't believe he looks younger than me. But, uh, you know, he recently, uh, last year passed away and he, you know, he lived his life the way he wanted and the way he wanted to be a chef was. He's going to be the first one and he's going to be the last one out. He's going to work seven days a week. He's just all about pure passion of, uh, being a chef, you know, and then there's, for me, I always knew I wanted the business side. I want to understand that side of it. So, um, you know, two different paths for sure. What was the relationship there? He was, uh, he was a chef. The cuisine opening chef, the cuisine for so second. Uh, oh yeah, he's been a friend. We got into it. Like we, like he didn't understand the business side, but then I didn't, you know, there's so many things where he was just so he is going to be a rock that you will impenetrable. He will not move on certain things. And, uh, I knew hiring him, getting him in, uh, setting the standard for Soseki, you got a bow to that. We all had to back then year one. Push to be on this level or not. And he set the standard for, um, uh, he set the standard for Soseki. It's where it is now. Yeah. Well, clearly sorry for that loss. That's, you know, it's terrible when those things happen. And it's also possible that that could be a motivator as well. Cause you know, when you have people that are special to you in situations like this, these are life altering. What you're doing is life changing, life altering and having any sort of, um, you know, uh, friend, a confidant, whatever that helps you get there. Something like that is devastating. And it either destroys you or propels you. Right. Right. And what he did was set from, I mean, Soseki in itself, it's just Japanese. That means foundation, cornerstone. It was, uh, and he really, I mean, we have his picture up there on our wall and everything. He really set that standard for us. And, uh, now it's, it's, it's a reminder every day to live up to that, you know, with the other chess and it is a little bit of those, you know, when, when old chess, I can't believe I'm the old chef in the room now. It's like, well, you know, this is how we did things in the, and all of that. But, um, it's important to share those stories and, and where, you know, the level where this industry is going and where it was and stuff like that. I think it's important that, that they hear it. Well, that leads into family, faith and responsibility. And those are the anchors, I think that, that kind of push us in, in a direction. You weren't always so put together and organized. I was not always put together and organized. Uh, I don't even, if you ask my wife, I'm still not organized and put together. Uh, even ask my team though. I'll change my mind on a dime. I was like, how come we didn't do this chef? We decided that that wasn't the right move. You said that last week. I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Um, but man, you know, I grew up, uh, it was a very interesting time in the early 2000s being a chef. I think food network was really getting on the rise and this whole celebrity chef thing was really becoming big. Um, top chef and all those things. And, um, I didn't realize, you know, getting into culinary where I really wanted to be, but, uh, the moment I stepped into a mission and start restaurant, as soon as I joined Robichon and spent, you know, my time there, it was bootcamp from the beginning, you know, it was old school. They only spoke in French, you know, in the beginning, it was, you know, basically French the whole time when during service, you know, they want you to engage in the culture that, that, uh, set them up, right? Um, but also, you know, it was rough and tough in the sense of like, you're always not enough hours in the day. So much to do the pressures on. Um, I always say it was the hardest and most difficult time in life, but when you look back, I'm like that shaped and defined who I was. Uh, but that also made me into a maniac. I'll just be honest, not just there, just in general of chasing perfection, whatever that is, or chasing fine dining and not every chef turns out this way, but I became, uh, just not a good person in the kitchen, right? Uh, very egotistical, very, no, this is how it's going to be. And we're all going to, you know, fall in line and, uh, and everyone has a life outside of this kitchen. And even if they say they're a hundred percent in, uh, life, there's things in life that you get thrown at that you can't, you know, and, and that, that means more to you than cut chives and, and, and, and fish on a plate, man. I'll just be honest. Um, but in those moments, we want, we want excellence. We want to pursue that, you know, uh, we want those, those accolades or what have you, but it's definitely, uh, later in life realizing, um, yeah, there's such, so much more in life, especially when you have kids and you have other, all these other things, you know, uh, to look back on. Like I never wanted to be a man that looked back and said, where was daddy? That, that was always my fear. Well, it takes a lot to go from debauchery out of work, maniacal in work. Uh, what was your factor? Was it your wife? Was it, uh, your faith? What puts you in the correct frame of mind? Oh yeah. So, um, what kind of took me out of that? Um, was I'd say my faith. I mean, I, I don't talk about this publicly much, but yeah, I grew up Catholic and all that stuff, but I, it came to a point. I was, uh, super burnt out and, um, just on way too many drugs than I should be. I mean, you know, no one should be on drugs, but you know what I mean. Partners of walk and talk media include Aussie select, providing fully cooked premium Australian lamb trusted by chefs for quality and consistency. Learn more at Aussie select.com. Just super out, out there in the world and, um, uh, the moment that, you know, I, I always felt like there was something missing my life. It just so happened that I met this wonderful girl that like I drunk on the ass there. I say, Hey, you go to church. Maybe you can take me there one day. And, um, and that kind of set me on a path of like, wow, there's so much more to live for and what I thought. Um, and it just felt like this heaviness fell off me and that kind of started, uh, you know, bringing me back to, to church and to God. And, um, I think that really brought this foundation of like, uh, just want to be a better person and how do you still pursue excellence and do these things and still have standards and still push people with and still do it in a way that you could get and not selling your soul out. Right. And you could still talk to them like human beings and, and you could have a beer afterwards and you guys can, you know, um, I didn't understand that before, you know, and I'm still at this point in my faith walk or life that, uh, the read, your Christian notes, like I'm broken and I needed something to anchor me. Some, you know, I, and, uh, and my faith anchors me to just try to be better. Right. Um, and it'll take a lifetime to get there, which is, which is okay. Yeah. I'm going to go, you were talking about the kitchen you were in and you had to speak in French and you know, it was all traditional brigade, the whole thing. Do you think there's a misunderstanding on global food perspectives by US chefs? Hmm. You know, now I don't think so, but I do think, I do think the moment I was able to stop cooking and travel, you, your mind is open to culture and cuisine and how other people live their life. And I think that really shaped a lot of how I'm cooking today or who I am today in general, but, um, God, you know, the internet makes it such an interesting place for, for chefs to, um, just talking back to, you know, my opening team at Soseki, you know, one of the chefs there never cooked a day in his life before he joined us about a year before and ended up in being the chef, the cuisine and running the show after, you know, four years of being with Soseki. Uh, this time of being a chef, the access you have to stages to see what people are doing in Japan to see, you know, to, to everything. I think it's a different time and place that, uh, gives a more global experience. But I wouldn't, I would never say that, that that's something that you should like, Hey, you know, I can cook Japanese cause I watch all these videos about Japan and all this stuff. And I basically know, and you might be cooking just as good, but there's something to get your hands in and get your hands dirty in the culture and travel and see it. Right. So does that mean right now you get more excited about shaping people in the restaurant or is it still, you still get the creativity bug? What, which one is, are you leaning towards more now in my career and where I'm at, um, I get more excited to see other people succeed. I get more excited to see the direction of where Soseki is with this new team and, uh, knowing that the tea service is done by one of our, you know, just one of our servers who's been with us for a while, but she's decided to like, I'm going to do this tea service and there's this banana tea that my family used to make. And now it's under mission to restaurant. She gets to say that. Or, um, you know, that, that they, their identity is now in Soseki for the season, uh, from the service and the beverage to the sushi to, um, to our chef. That's from, uh, that's, that's trained in Spain at Michigan's restaurant, Spain, and, uh, they ever think I'd have him on the miracle on a menu, but thank God he did. Cause it's amazing. Um, it's amazing to see that connection. And then how do you foster that? It's, that's what's really exciting about, I guess my path right now. 10 years ago, would you have thought the star is more important or shaping the future generation, shaping future generation or mission star 10 years ago, 100% more important mission star. And I didn't care who, what, how I wanted it. Um, and, and, you know, I hate to say that because it's just like, why are you, you know, for a moment that you're 15 minutes on stage, you know, so you're going through this whole butterfly effect, right? You go into this thing as a caterpillar, you, you chase the star, you chase all the stuff, your life is crazy. You know, like you said, maniac, all the stuff, you get the star, but now you've, you've blossomed, you've shed that you've turned into a whole another creature. Don't you need to go through that to, to kind of get to this sage part of your life? I hope most people don't have to go through that. I hope being most people have more sensibility to say, Hey, you know, uh, you know, I'm just going in there to cook and, and, um, yeah, a lot of chefs, mission star means nothing to them. James Bearden means nothing to them. And I get that, you know, uh, it's just something I wanted in my career, my life. I, you know, as a young chef, once, once I got that bug of like what, what it meant to be in that, that pedigree or circle or whatever it is. And, um, I would say like one of the greatest moments of winning the mission star is like getting that text message the next day from, from my chef that said, Hey, now it's your turn. And from, you know, my chef from France and he's like, now it's your turn, you know, now to do what like, what we taught you to do. And that was like, I always, that was the moment for me that, that made it not so much that, you know, being on stage and all that, but. Um, do you have to go through all those things? I hope not. I think the generation now, uh, there's smarter ways to get at it. I think also there's, there's different ways to have this emotional connection, the food and feeling and, and all this stuff. That's not restaurant focused too, which is so interesting. Like chefs who are just, there's so many chefs who just go straight into private, private dining. There's so many chefs that go straight into like, I'm just going to cook out of my house and, um, I'm just going to cook out of my house. Do pop ups and, and, and they're making waves with what they're doing. But there's something to be said about the chef who's just, uh, whether you're at a wingstop or wish and start restaurant where you're day in, day out grinding. Yeah. I feel like you have to do the grind. I feel like you have to put in your time. You have to take your whippings or lashings or whatever. You have to eat the proverbial, you know, cow dung. You have to do that in order to respect whatever it is that you achieve. And, you know, a lot of chefs, a lot of people, they'll die on one hill or the other and they'll say, Oh, you know, Michelin, you know, boo on Michelin. And then other chefs are, they want to chase it down and spear it. And, you know, and I'm kind of like in the middle of this because I can see where, you know, um, I can see where the establishment, it's all Michelin. And you're like, ah, you know what, I want to be the anti-establishment. Okay. I get it. But then if it were me and I was in the kitchen, not necessarily to be saying, Hey, look at me. Uh, you know, I got a Michelin. It's more along the lines of this is the standard. Like you don't get this if you're doing everything wrong. The fact is, in order to get that, put all the political stuff aside, right? And how the operation of Michelin is. Walk and Talk Media is proudly supported by Rack Porcelain USA, creating durable, beautifully designed tableware for chefs and hospitality professionals. Learn more at rackporcelain.com. Four out of five hospitality professionals have faced at least one mental health challenge during their career. Stress, burnout, anxiety. These are everyday realities in kitchens, dining rooms and bars across North America. The Burnchef Project North America is here to change that. They provide free, anonymous support, direct care, training and self care resources designed specifically for chefs, servers and hospitality staff. From therapy services to educational modules, they're answering the call for help in one of the toughest industries. It can't be done alone. Your financial support makes this possible, ensuring that every hospitality professional has access to the tools they need to thrive. Join the movement in breaking the stigma. Email us Canada at theburnchefproject.com for donation details and mailing information or learn more about the mission at theburnchefproject.com. It's a standard. And if you don't meet the standard, you don't get it. So for me, I think that's, I think that's, that's great. Go for that. That's what it should be. I agree. I mean, it's, I was right. The suite is never a suite without the bitter. I love that quote because it really is. You've got to go through some valleys to get to the mountains, right? And you have to see, like you will not see the journey that you've taken. If you're not in the valley and then you're at the mountain top and all that it took to get there. I just hope now, even in this generation, it's that journey is different in a way. But I hope they still want that. Like it's hard. And I'm not saying that the culture, the generational differences, but it's, um, we had guys in our career lives and that time in life of cooking where it was still, I'd say it's still, it was at the tail end of that rough and tough Gordon Ramsey, right? But you had other guys pushing for you to be that successful. We're here now. I'm not that I'm not pushing for them to be successful, but it's not that same push. There's not that intensity. That intensity, that pressure built diamonds, man. And I mean, I go back and look at the alumni of the places I worked and he has a mission. Sorry, he's James Beard Ward winner. He's, you know, he's got his own place, you know, a Chateau in France. So he's crushing it in. It's like that pressure built some monsters. What's the saying steel, sharp and steel? Yeah. Iron sharp and iron. Iron sharp. Is it iron? Is it steel or iron? I suppose technically both. I can leave both. You need that. Ultimately, you need to have that pressure. You know, I don't think it should be pressure where, you know, it affects you to are you making bad decisions on your, your health and your safety, you know, mentally, physically or otherwise. But like, if you don't have, if you don't have the resistance, like it's the same as being in the gym. If you're not using resistance, you're not going to get stronger. You get that in every restaurant group, right? In every restaurant, even, you know, three missions, a restaurant, there, there is a group of guys who just want to push each other to the absolute limits. And no, I'm staying up. I'm staying longer. I'm going to push longer. I'm going to, you know, rock out longer than you. And then there's actually just like, Hey, man, I mean, be honest, we have guys too that just want to come in, put I worked at Soseki. I worked here and put that on the resume. And one year later, they're out the door. And what did they learn from their experience? You know, not much, but, you know, they get to, they get to say, Hey, I've collected here's my stamp card and I've collected another mission to a restaurant. And I, there's both sides of it, but that's OK. That's OK. It's part of, but that's part of the, that's part of the, the, the part of the business environment of the whole thing. You know, and that's how people get their experiences. Anyhow, that's all right. I don't, that wouldn't bother me so much. As long as they're up front, you know, if somebody tells you, Hey, I'm in, I'm into this. I'm in it for the long, but then they dip and leave you hanging. That's not cool. But you get to see, you know, you know, kind of iron sharpens are right. You gravitate to the ones who you could just tell really want it. And I always say skill set is in everything. Like I'd much have rather guys who don't have the skill scouts draw the line with it. But man, their desire trumps everything else, right? Their desire to learn the desire to be better, their desire to push, right? There's, and you as a chef now look, you could, you recognize that. And then you pour into those guys. And there's guys who are just going to be top performers, whether you push them or motivate them, they're just going to perform at an even QLED level. And, uh, who, you know, which are the ones that you're going to spend the most time with. That's, that's, I think, one of the hardest things now is a crew. You know, in today's world where everything is social media and cameras and microphone. How important is storytelling to chefs and the restaurant industry at large? Storytelling now is, I'm sorry, it's everything. More important, the food, the service. I mean, um, and, and I don't say that just the storytelling part. I'd say the community building restaurants on their own cannot. I'm sorry, we cannot survive there. Yeah. How many sushi places are there? How many pizza spots are there? It's like, you're one of hundreds. Uh, when people have the opportunity to die in anywhere and, uh, five years ago, Orlando was so different than where it is now. There's just so much, um, amazing chefs and restaurants and, and, and opportunity in that. Uh, but it also, uh, what makes you stand out from the rest? Like, yeah, I like the other mission star, but there's amazing restaurants that just build great communities that, um, tell a great story that gets people on the door because that's generally who they are. And I think that's, that's amazing. I think that's why we exist here at Walk and Talk because we fell into, I don't want to say fell into it. We worked our asses off to get to where we are now. And, um, and at the end of the day, I feel like we're in this space that it's not it's not about John or me or, or pooch. It's, um, it's about the gas. It's about the chef that comes in or the farmer that comes on or the food safety, you know, scientist that comes on the show. It's about them and their story because frankly, who wants to hear about, you know, two old guys? You know, I mean, maybe they're a little bit, but at the end of the day, no, it's about you when you're here. And it's especially I like, I like to either get somebody on who's accomplished or somebody just starting out because those are the most, you know, um, viral conversations you can have. Why? Because if you just started out, you're going to say dumb stuff. The conversation is going to be great. When you're older, you've been through it. You've accomplished some things. You already know the dumb stuff. But now we're like, okay, I did all these dumb things. I put in all this hard work, but now look at me. Look, look, look what can happen. Look what you can achieve. You know, I don't know. For me, it's, um, I really look at this as a parallel. Like what we do at the show and on the show, it's so much similar to having a restaurant. It's, it really is a major parallel. And the work you put in is what you get back out of it. And you know, the 60, 70, 80 hours a week that we all put in foods, John, me, with the stuff that we're doing, it's insane. But damn, it works. I mean, if it's entertaining, obviously, but you know, if it works, when you put it in. Yeah. And it's, I think it's also like, you gotta find the joy in the small things that make the big things worthwhile. Right. So the small things that you're doing to increase production level and value of, you know, content is the same thing. Like, no, it's, no one's going to notice this. If we, you know, I just have one really going to notice this. So we did this, we did that, but like, um, you know, all the little small things that make the whole production great. The whole, because we kind of say that, which is so sec, is it's, it's a show. Like, we have 10 guests are in for an hour and 45 minutes. We have this much time to make them feel as special as possible, but it's not squeezy pooch. Not our solution either. Yeah, exactly. John and I have been in situations where, you know, it's one o'clock in the morning and we're looking at some editorial stuff and, you know, we're like, oh man, we got to, we can totally skip this. We can absolutely skip whatever that thing was. And then he'll look at me and then, you know, and I'm like, what do you think? He's like, oh man, no, we got to do it. I'm like, dammit. All right, let's do it. You know, it's another two hours of work, do you know what I mean? But it pays off in the end. It pays off in the production value, man. It's like, you have to do it. I think in life, it's, I mean, it always pays off. I mean, talking as the old man in the room, I guess, is it always pays off. It always pays off to go do the extra mile to go that further. Um, not just for other people and the guests, but for yourself, right? And like, you're the worst place anyone could be, especially in our industry, as being like in this culinary industry or chef or hospital, the worst place they could be is like in a place where it's just the job, because there's, I would tell people, there's a lot of great things you could do in life that will pay you more. You don't have to listen to a short, angry Asian man tell you what to do. And, you know, you could, you could have an easier life, like understand what you're getting into and enjoy it because we enjoy it every single day. Like, like we geek out about like how well a service goes or how flawless this was or how beautiful this dish is. Like we still love it. Like that passion has to be there. Well, it's like, don't do it at all, man. When you think about the next chapter, where you're headed, where you're going. I mean, you're kind of stepping out of the restaurant roll on the line. You're getting into consulting. You're doing all this stuff. Now we're talking about storytelling and collaborations. Where do you see all of that headed? Well, hopefully I see it heading with you guys. Honestly, I mean, I love this part of it because we don't get to, you know, pretty dish on the plate. There's so many stories. There's so many, so many people that need, not need, but to thank or to be, to have their stories heard. That it's great to like, like this, what you guys are doing and interviewing chefs and people in our industry who wouldn't have a platform. I also think it's somewhat therapeutic to talk this stuff out too. Honestly, like there's, there's a lot of stuff I just unraveled in this one conversation. I think it's so meaningful for us to have this retrospect. Right. We don't do it enough. Not just chefs, just in general, to look back at their life and their career and pinpoints and things and how they got to this level of where they're at. Yeah, the consulting stuff and all that's fantastic, but I love this storytelling. I love, you know, I think there's, I have a lot to say, but also like, I just want to be a fly in the wall and listen. When we spoke on the phone last week, the idea was your story arc. What is it going to be? I mean, you have a pretty crazy life and to go from, you know, some boroughs to Michelin, I think people want to hear about that. So I think the genesis of what we're all going to do together. And that leads into, into the therapy of things, if you will, because I think when people hear how, how your life kind of went, the path, they're going to go, Oh man, I'm on that same path. Anything is going to help people ultimately. I hope so. I hope, you know, people can relate to, to things. And I'm excited to interview other chefs and other people in the industry that have gone through certain things and chosen the different paths in us. And, you know, there's so many things that correlate and parallel. But if anything I do in life at this point, which is still weird, but I can mentor and lead my team in a better way, become a better chef, become a better father spouse. I think that's what, what gets me excited about what's that next thing for me. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to get, you know, pooch here, get us all together. I mean, I have a feeling those conversations are going to be pretty ridiculous in a good way. I need, I need a cool name like pooch though. I need a, yeah, we got to figure something out. Well, he'll tell you, lawyer like a down. It's a Louisiana thing. All right. Well, listen, man, I had a blast today. Um, freaking great time. How, uh, how do people find it? Yes, you could check me out on Mike Calantas.com is the main way. Instagram chef Mike Calantas. Uh, that's pretty much it. Yeah. And take talk, chef flip Mike. I heard that. Now, did you see this guy's photography or what? Oh my gosh, man, it's insane. Unedited. What you saw was raw from the camera. It was five minutes after you, I gave you the plate and it looks amazing. I can't wait to see the final edits. Oh my God, John, you got to stop with this. By the way, uh, University of Miami, go Keynes, baby. Oh, miss. What are you missing? You're going to miss. All right. All right, man. Brother, appreciate you. Appreciate your sue as well. Guy did a banger today. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. All right, baby, we are out. This session of walk and talk media is made possible by Citrus America delivering fresh Florida citrus and juice solutions to food service professionals nationwide. Learn more at Citrus America.com. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be, let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. 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