Super Bowl Snacks, Burger Hype, and the Internet’s Case Against Opening a Restaurant!!

This week on The Chef's Cut, we are trying the latest viral Super Bowl snack. Hmm. Hmm. Game on. I'm forking the hell out of this. Is a burger ever worth a special trip? I don't know if I would make a trip just for a burger. And we answer the question, why would anybody actually want to open a restaurant? What brand of weird are you? Yes, it's fantastic. sick. Well, Joe, I think there is a special time of year coming up that I'm a huge fan of, mainly for the food, Super Bowl. Super Bowl. Yeah. Right around the corner. Oh, look at the shirt. Da bears. An epic, epic season. Oh my God. I think Pope Leo did it for us. May I say. the Pope. But yeah, it's Superbowl. And I think Superbowl is one of the, like, it's such a fun food one. Right. Cause it's not, you know what I mean? Like Thanksgiving's a very serious food holiday Christmas, you know what I mean? Whatever, you know, holidays you're celebrating. Those are very serious food. Right. I feel like the Superbowl is like a food holiday, but it's like the most fun one. Cause it's like, nobody's like, okay, I'm doing a prime rib. Right. Uh, you know what I mean with you know uh palm souffle right it's like i'm doing slow cooker chili right it's like what can i buffalo yes you know what i mean it's like what can we make buffalo you know that hasn't been buffaloed before i like using buffalo as a verb what can i buffalo i fuck yeah that's what i mean though but i think that's just like basically you know like if you had a menu meeting for super bowl it would just be a whiteboard that said what can we buffalo i love that and i think what can we turn into a dip you can buffalo just about anything yeah if you really put your mind to it i'm here for it let's believe if you believe you can buffalo so for fork it or forget it today joe i want to do a little bit of super bowl food and there is a recipe you know i'm like into these viral recipes now after the phyllo cake because that was the first one that I tried that was good. So I found another recipe that's got another four point something million views. Okay. So Joe, the Super Bowl snack that I'm seeing that I really want to try because I actually think it's going to come out fucking delicious is reverse jalapeno poppers. Oh, I am a jalapeno popper fan in all forms because there's the jalapeno popper is it's a great vessel, right? There's a million ways to chop it up. So this recipe is kind of like a jalapeno popper stuffed into my favorite ingredient. One thing, and okay, full disclosure, I always have puff pastry in my freezer. There is never a day that goes by that you will not open up my freezer and I have a box of puff pastry. It's the workhorse. It is a true workhorse. If you need to make something on the fly, people come over, you need a snack to bring somewhere, puff pastry, whatever, sweet or savory, that's like my secret weapon. But this is kind of like a cheese straw jalapeno popper style. So you're making jalapeno popper wellingtons. Oh god that sounds yeah that's essentially what you're doing is a jalapeno popper welly. Oh I need to do that like for real for Super Bowl but it's gorgeous. Let's see what you got. You gotta hold that up higher. I don't want them to slide onto my. Yeah all right so you folded the jalapeno. What else you got there, bacon? Yeah, so you chop up and pre-cook your bacon, chop up your jalapenos, grate your cheddar. I don't like to use pre-shedded cheese because it has that floury coating on it so they don't stick together. And then it really affects the way that it melts. So I like to just grate my cheddar from a good old-fashioned Wisconsin block. You're like Ina Garten over there. But store-bought shredded is fine. If you can't grate your own. Then store-bought is fine. But you roll out your puff pastry. You put everything on one half of the dough, fold it over, cut it into strips, egg wash it, and then twist them and bake them. So. You cooking those jalapenos first or you raw dog? I raw dog. I went straight raw dog because I like a little crunch. I think that's going to be a nice, like, they'll still cook because you bake them at like 425 for puff pastry. but I think that'll still add a nice grassy fresh element with all the heavy ingredients like cheese bacon puff pastry that are all coach your palate I think that'll give me something kind of fresh you go no dip you're just going you're just going straight straight straw game on I'm forking the hell out of this it looks really good but I think you need a dip I think you need a dip. I don't disagree with you. I feel like it needs a dip of some sort. And I think the enthusiasts are going to say you need ranch. And I'm not a ranch person, per se. What? Who are you? I didn't say I hate ranch. I just said it's not like my jam. I don't need it. You can ranch anything, just like you can buffalo anything. You can ranch anything. But you're right. I think a dip for this would be really good, something like cooling, like a sour cream base. you know kind of thing to like freshen it up because it is a little rich puff pastry bacon cheddar it is a little rich but it is wildly delicious it sounds really good i would i would fork it i would fork it i'm never gonna make it because i don't have puff pastry in my freezer and i'm not gonna put puff pastry in my freezer and like that's like too much of baking something on my day off which i'm not interested in you'll make pancakes every morning but you won't bake puff pastry? That is correct. Maybe I'll make a jalapeno popper pizza for Super Bowl. Classic Roman jalapeno popper pizza. Nothing more classic than that. This is phenomenal. I love Super Bowl snacks. Like that's kind of my jam. That's what I'm that's really what I'm here for. My favorite weird one is it's actually a Missy Robbins recipe where you take a small salami and you bake it in like really cheap maple syrup. Like you can't get nice stuff. It's like really cheap, like the jewel brand watery stuff and you bake it at like 425 for like 25 minutes till it just like it absorbs it then you slice it and you serve it with like toast points and like brown brown mustard and it is so delicious i am today years old i have never heard of such a thing are you kidding me it's so good it was tony mantuano told me about he said she made it for him when the last time bears playing in the super bowl actually um and he was like it's phenomenal and so like it was in her first cookbook actually and i was like oh i have to make this and so i made it for the super bowl one year it's so good really so good i ate like a whole salami it was you know how big is a small salami because i'm only familiar with like a three foot long four to five inch thick it's like the length of like a midwest hand um and it's you know what i mean no like a real one um like and you know it's like it's like like thick is like your microphone you know what i mean it's like you got a good you know like not as quite as big as like a real like wisconsin summer sausage where you know they make them in like shapes of footballs and shit uh but it doesn't love a summer sausage well yeah it's it's i mean it's something that i'm like wow gotta be on the table i might try that this year that sounds really cool i mean i i love salami i like maple syrup i love maple And I like, you know, brown mustard. So and toast points. I mean, come on, like that's that's right up my alley. Yeah. Yeah. Tell Missy I'm making her recipe. I want to intro a new segment. How do you feel about that? Well, it depends. Is this a new segment that you have a name for that? I'm not going to approve. Depends. It depends on your mood today. Sometimes you're like wildly salty and sometimes you're like friendly. So if Joe is feeling friendly today, I think you'll like it. I feel friendly every day. Nah, I disagree. But I want to call this segment Salted. This is about Chef's Cut Nation listeners who have sent us questions. They sent us comments. And some of them we're going to get to more later. We're going to answer these questions. But people have some hot takes. They feel some kind of way about certain things. And I want to read you one that came through IG. You ready? I'm ready for this. I enjoy this. I like this idea of giving the people, giving the people a little pulpit. I know, right? We want to hear their thoughts and we want to respond. So this is one from one of our Chef's Cut listeners. What do you think of this salt to take? Agree or disagree, nobody should ever give the advice, you've got to go here for this burger. I've tried almost every good burger out there and some of them are great. But I've never actually thought that it's worth taking a trip to a restaurant just for the burger. For example, Red Hook Tavern is famous for their burger, but the long commute, four-hour wait time left me underwhelmed. Mineta Tavern, another great restaurant, but the burger was overhyped. At the end of the day, even the best burger isn't good enough to justify a dedicated trip. Ooh, fighting words. Yeah, this feels like a very New York take, one. Because Ed's Midwesterners, there's nothing we love more than a journey. But it's funny, you know, because, you know, I think about it. Like, I've had people tell me in Chicago, like, oh, there's a spot here where, like, you should go up and have the burger. But it's north, so I've never been. Because it's far north. So I'm like, you know, probably not. And there's so many good burgers, right? I think it's a problem. It's not that a burger isn't worth it. There's just so many good ones. However, though, in the same vein, I have traveled to Red Hook for that burger from Chicago. Right. That's even farther than me coming from Harlem. And I think fucking slaps. I've traveled to Red Hook because I went to Red Hook for his barbecue. Right. Yeah. Hometown barbecue. I've been there so many times. I fucking love that place. Amazing. I think we all went there one time together. Tyler took us all there, right? Yeah, you're correct. I went to Red Hook Tavern for the burger, but the other stuff there is really, really good, I think is the other thing. It's also a really cool place. That's now, that is where you'll get me. It's like a dream corner tavern. You know what I mean? There's a bunch of things that hit there. And I also, if I'm in another city, I think I'm more willing to go adventure because I usually have less going on. Right. You know what I mean? So that's like, if I'm traveling, I'm traveling. It's not like, oh, hey, I got to get back because, you know what I mean? I got to pack lunches in the morning. But see, that's how I kind of agree with this statement. As much as like, I was like, oh, hell no. I'll go anywhere if you tell me there's a good burger. But the more I thought about it, I was like, no, I actually won't. If there's other stuff. Yeah, you never even went and got that soft serve. No, I didn't. I mean I have to take a whole box of lactate if I want to eat that soft serve Yeah that true A soft serve dipped butter But the the burger thing is like I will go if there other stuff like DB Bistro back in the day one of Danielle Balud's restaurants was known to have this incredible burger that had like braised short rib and foie gras on the inside. I was like, holy shit, I want to try this burger. But they had a cassoulet. They had other stuff that was like, you have to try all of these things. So I went there with some friends. We tried a ton of dishes. And of course, the burger was one. Minetta Tavern, I've actually gone to just had the burger at the bar and a glass of wine and like called it a night. But that's because I was like downtown on the early side. When I first tried the burger at Minetta Tavern, it's because I went there to try other stuff as well. So I don't know if I would make a trip just for a burger. I think just for a burger is tough. I think there are foods, though, that are typical travel foods. like in the States at least. Like I think in other countries, you know, kind of like when we talked about Michelin, like you'll drive out to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. That's a three-star. Like I think in America, we don't really do that. However, I think one of the ones here is like, people will travel for barbecue. You could open up, like there's a, the most famous restaurant in the state of Illinois is 17th Street Barbecue. Oh, wow. 17th Street Barbecue is in Murfreesboro, which is about four and a half hours south of Chicago, still in the state, there's this little place called 17th Street Barbecue that's super famous, really phenomenal barbecue restaurant that people travel from all over to go eat at. Have you been there? I have not. It's on my bucket list. It's what I want to do. I feel like you, Hillary, and the kids have got a trip coming up for that. Every time I've had a road trip south somewhere, I look how much more time it would take for me to go through Burfield. Ah, so that's like Michelin two star. It's worth a strong detour. It's worth a special diversion. Yeah. I just haven't had the thing to do yet. But I think barbecue you travel for. But just for a burger, I'm like, if I'm there, I'm like, oh, yeah, let's go get this burger. So it's one of those things, though. But if that's the lead, if that's like, oh, why you got to go to this place? I feel like if you're like, you have to go to this place, they also have Bang & Burger. Right. That's the cherry on top that might push me over the edge. Yeah. But it's probably not the lead. I want to go to Red Hook Tavern because I've heard all of the food is phenomenal. And the burger would be one thing that I order. But I don't know if I'm going to go to a place just for, I have to be in like a burger mood. And that's so rare that I'm like, I just want to sit down and house a juicy burger. I could eat a burger like probably four days a week. For me, eating a burger is like going to the gym. It's not something that I like go into like, oh man, I'm really excited for this. But I'm always like, oh, that was fucking awesome afterwards. Oh, see, I'm like, as many days as I go to the gym, I can have a burger. Those things are directly, I have a direct correlation with the two as well. But I think the opposite way of you, I'm like, I went to the gym this morning so I could eat a burger. And you deserve that burger. Now, how about I meet you in Red Hook? We grab the burger. Perfect. I'm in. I'm in at any time. I'm a huge Billy Durney fan. So I'm always down. Well, Joe, I think it's time to get into a little bit of line check. What do you say? I'd say let's go. Okay, so this is something you have a really strong opinion about. I know because we've talked about it. I've seen these conversations flying around since I was a kid. But mainly now there is like a chef on Instagram whose clip has gone kind of viral for his hot take on opening restaurants. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's that what I said to you, and I don't know if it's even a hot take. It's just, you know, that take of don't do it. Right. That's this guy's whole thing. He goes into this whole, don't do it. Don't get into restaurants. It's just shit. You eat shit every day. Um, you know, like don't get it for any reason. Like you'll get nothing out of it. And that's kind of like the whole trope is like, there's no good to it. Right. Like you're just going to get in this business and it's just going to crush your dreams and it's going to ruin your life. And it's bad. And it's like, you know, it's going to be a silver lining at the end of the clip. It's like, but if you love it, if you can't, you know, it's like I was waiting, watching the clip for that moment of the joy for being in restaurants, a moment of joy for what the work is and a moment of like acknowledgement that, yes, it's hard, but we love this and we do it because blank. Everybody's got their own reason. There was a little bit of that of like, oh, like, but if you have to do it, you should do it. just don't expect anything out of it. Yeah. It was wildly pessimistic. And it's one of those things where for me, it's like, there's, there's tons of truth to it, right? Like it is super hard. Like, yes, if you think you're getting into it to make your own hours, you're crazy. But if anyone who thinks like, Oh, I'm going to own my own business, you know what I mean? It's, it's like, there's that old joke of like, I quit working 40 hours a week for someone else. So I could work a hundred hours a week for myself. Right. Right. And it's like and that's kind of what it is and it's you know i mean you'll never get like you're not gonna be like oh i work for myself so i work less hours it's like you just have more flexibility and you have more control i think is is the beauty of it but it just glosses over everything that's incredible about this industry about owning a restaurant and it's just like i hate the idea the trope of like somehow these people just ended up with restaurants and now they have this this burden, this cross to bear that is, you know, this restaurant. It's like, this, isn't this what you worked for? Right. Isn't this what you wanted? And didn't you, I mean, I feel like, so, you know, my mom was in restaurants. She worked in restaurants before I was born. I was raised literally in restaurants. She was in the industry on different sides, mainly front of house, restaurant manager, then went to food sales, but she was in the industry for like 30 some odd years. So she was very against me going into it because she knew how hard the life could be. She didn't work at high-level restaurants. She managed restaurants that were like neighborhood diner, you know, nice, you know, but casual places like Mellow Yellow on 53rd Street, known for their bowl of chili. You know, ostensibly a great neighborhood restaurant, date night Friday, Tuesday, take the kids after school kind of place. But there was no part of the industry that she was like, there's huge reward from this. You do it because it's a job. You do it because it's fulfilling in a lot of ways. You love providing hospitality, but it is really hard. And if you can find another way to do something that you're passionate about, maybe go do that instead. And she would always tell me like nine out of 10 restaurants fail within the first year. So it's just really it's a gamble. You might be out of a job. You might lose your shirt. You know, I remember hearing that as a kid. But I feel like since COVID, though, I do feel like it's gotten a lot harder than it was even before. And it's always been hard. Right. But I feel like it has gotten harder. Yeah, I think it has. You know, I mean, just straight up, everything's gotten more expensive. Right. And so, like, therefore, it's like there's more constraints. The margins are smaller. You hear everyone. You hear that trope because it's true. Things have just gone up in price. rent's crazy food prices are crazy labor labor right all these things now we consider when you and i started cooking 20 years ago we're just totally different right right and i think you could open a restaurant with a lot less than and the expectations of like you could open a restaurant and let it build and now it's like you got to come out of the gate so hot like you have to be a great restaurant right out of the gate to survive and i think it's one of those things where it's like there's a ton of truth to it and I'll be the first one to tell people like if you can think about doing anything else you should probably do that that's probably the thing you should be doing like I'm doing this because I can't imagine waking up tomorrow and doing anything else there's nothing else I want to do like if I have to wake up tomorrow and they're like you have to get a different job I don't even know where to begin right right I don't even know where I'd start there's not a two there's not a three it's just like okay well I don't think the bears want me as a backup center. So, you know, like I really don't have a plan B here. And granted too, like we're in one of the times a year, you know, we're sitting here, I'm in Chicago in January, there's three inches of snow out front and it is a brutal time of year at restaurants. You know what I mean? You remember it as a cook. It's slow. It's cuts. It's, you know what I mean? Especially in fine dining. Basically, if you can afford to eat a fine dining restaurant, you can afford to not be in a cold city when it's cold. Exactly. We used to get our hours. I mean, you'd be lucky if you're getting, I mean, 40 hours. And I say that because we would normally be working between 80 to 100. One of my friends, Eric Fricker, one time, he clocked 120 hours one week. It was wild on his time card. And we were like, dude, you're buying drinks tonight because you're balling right now. That's legendary. But, you know, it's to have your hours cut when you make $7.25 an hour and you're working, you know, maybe 30 hours, maybe even 20 if it's really slow. Like when the recession hit in 08, even fine dining took a hit there. And you'd be lucky if you're working two, three days a week back then. Right. That was scary times. Very scary. Right. And so it's like, you know, this is the scariest time of year. You know, you walk around West Lupa at night and you see restaurants and they're slow and there's a few people in them And you're just like, you know, you're kind of, this is a time of year where you just have to hold the line and say like, okay, okay. We know it's tight right now. We just have to run lean. We have to run tight and we have to, you know, live on, you know, the restaurant business is a business of, you know, faith and hope and, you know, belief, right? Like that of just like, this is a slow time, but you know, like the old, like it cannot always be night. Right. And so it's like, that's how you sit. To shall pass. Right. Like that's how you sit through a winner is in this to shall pass mindset of like, hey, you know, we got to work on what we can work on. We got to get better on what we can get better on. And, you know, we'll get to the other side of this. So it's scary. It's scary running a business where you're dependent on people to walk through the door every day. Yeah. And then a snowstorm hits or it starts raining or the temperature drops 20 degrees overnight. Right. And it's scary as shit. It's scary as shit to open your own business, to put yourself out there, put your money out there put your name on the line put your your whole self out there but it's also i mean the reward for people to sit there and say there's no reward is the most insane thing i've ever heard we can sit in here and complain about you know bad diners or you know be crazy people we worked with but it's like it's the fucking best and it's like and we're not the only ones who live in a world where it's like the idea of like our job is not just a job it's a lifestyle it's like we work different hours working long things. It's like, that's not special. That's not unique. Talk to any nurse out there. Talk to any person working in a firehouse, working on a, you know, EMT, working in a million different jobs where you work the different hours, where you work a third shift in a factory where you do all these things Like it not unique You know what I mean It not a nine to five And it feels sometimes like everybody works a nine to five but you especially when you in this industry but it so rewarding You know what I mean The people we get to work with the things we get to do that we get to do what we love for a living, that is unique. Yeah. That is really special. And it's like, yes, some days it sucks. Some days people hate what you do. They come in and they're just mean. You know what I mean? they yell at you for crazy things and you have to sit there and be like, yeah, this sucks. But it's like, also it's like some days you get to sit there, look at a packed dining room, feel the energy of the room, look at people laughing, having fun. And you're like, I created this space for that. Right. I mean, you get to watch people grow in their careers and not something where it's like they had to go to school for, for seven years. Yeah. It's like you, you hatch a little baby cook and then you get to like, see them fly. It's like, that's a really cool moment. Right. It's like, you get to watch people build a career for themselves who maybe didn't know what they were going to do 10 years ago. They didn't have a thought. They were like, oh, maybe I'll go to school. Maybe I'll do this. And now it's like, man, you're really good at this. You have a life. So Joe, you just opened your fourth restaurant. So I know that like, we talked about this towards the end of 25 when Bartuto was opening and you were really excited about it. And then things like this come up where people are just kind of like bragging on like something that you hold very dear. So what is it that keeps you going like personally? Like, is it the reward side of it? Is it you know, what is your motivation? How do you stay positive about it while so many other people are feeling so down about it? Yeah, and I think it's hard, right? Especially like this time of year, you know, we're a month into a new restaurant a little bit more. And I think like every day I try to remind myself, It's like, I get to do this. No one's making me, you know what I mean? I don't have to, but I get to. And I think that's really, really important to like, have that mindset of like, this is, you know, a privilege that I get to run restaurants. It's crazy to me that like, you know, like I get to open, like, this is like, this is a weird one, but I had this moment, like, I think it was like a week and a half go age. And I was leaving Bartuto and I got a coffee and I got in my car to go drive to a meeting and I looked at the coffee cup and it said Bartuto on it, just on the sleeve. And I was like, for some reason that felt so big. It felt so big. I was like, I can't believe I built this restaurant where it's like my... I don't know. The name's on the sign on a fucking giant building and it's on a menu and it's on sweatshirts. We made it all these things. But for some reason seeing it out of a disposable coffee cup honestly like was like whoa uh like this is crazy like you know what i mean to go from being a line coach making no money doing all these things and like you know working so hard for this and just to like see the name of your restaurant in the coffee cup like that felt huge and it was such a cool moment it was such a cool moment so it's like i think you have to like look for the the little victories and the joy of those little moments you have to you know what I mean? Like look for those things in the everyday where it's like you get to work with people and you get to talk to people and spend your time meeting these people who, you know what I mean? It's like in restaurants, it's like, it's filled with a bunch of weirdos like us. Coolest people ever. That's what I mean though. They're like wildly fascinating to talk to for me. I just like, I love meeting the new people and just like, you know, it's like, how did you end up here? It's like, everybody's got a story. What brand of weird are you? yes it's fantastic i love it like that's the things that like keep me motivated that keep me smiling and it's like you know and i think at the end of the day the biggest thing is you know i have to tell myself like if i'm not walking in the door excited to be here every day how can i possibly expect that from my tubes i mean whether it's a slow tuesday in january or it's a bang in friday saturday night you know in may and patio's open and everything's rocking and the whole city feels like it's on fire. Right. Like those days both have to matter as much. I firmly believe. And I pretty much wake up every day with the belief. And I've been telling myself, I used to be a very not pessimistic, but I was I was a bit of a different person when I worked in restaurants and then started to change because, you know, it was like the line cook lifestyle and just all this. And I was like kind of down about things here and there. And I was like, you know what? I fucking love this. I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I love the lifestyle. I wasn't down about that, but I would just be like out in the streets and I'm like, people like, you know, I have to stop for my morning coffee and I'm like all these fucking people at my coffee shop. You know, it's like, why am I so angry about everything? And so I realized then happiness is a choice. Happiness is a fucking choice. And I choose happiness. that helped me change my perspective on things that used to get me incredibly frustrated dealing with people who like olivia tiedemann when she was with us remember that guy brought the wrong thing from the walk-in i used to fly off the handle with stuff i still you know but i realized like let me manage let me manage my response to this and just say what the fuck is wrong with you instead of like getting my stress right and you're like you gotta laugh at that shit right You know, going through this opening, like the amount of times I think I said that to, you know, like Trev, who's my culinary director, you know, where it's like the frustration levels. Because you're just like, man, we said this a thousand times. Man, we talked about this a hundred times. We sent emails about it. We have checklists. We have all these things. And then something happens. And you're just like, I'm like, dude, I go, you just got to laugh. I go, because if you just let the frustration just boil and boil and boil, I go, you're going to blow your top. Exactly. And then I go, especially when I was a young sous chef and chef de cuisine, I would get so mad. I get so frustrated. And then I blow up on somebody. Right. Right. Having long conversations with them after service. Like, oh, you did this and this and this and this. I remember like leaving Spiagia and like after being there five and a half years and like the stuff that stuck with me were like those times where it's like I wasn't my best self and I like, you know what I mean? Like lost my shit. And it's like, you're embarrassed. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean? You're like, what was I doing? Like, why did I do that? Like, why would I, you know what I mean? react in that way. Yeah. You realize that the stress got to you and you were reacting on the stress. You weren't reacting necessarily on the situation. You weren't looking at it in that positive way. And it's just like, afterwards, you're right. Like you look back on that and you're like, Oh, I can't believe like somebody's got that memory of me. Somebody looks at me like and remembers that moment. A growing up with siblings mentality, but you know, like growing up with a sibling i have three it was always a game of i'm gonna try to get under your skin and i'm gonna try to get you to overreact you know what i mean like that's i'm just gonna needle you i'm gonna see it with my niece and nephew all the time now overreact because then you're gonna get in trouble right and i feel like restaurants are like a giant game of that sometimes where it's like listen this day is gonna needle you and needle you and it knows the restaurant knows how to get under your skin, just like your siblings, just like my older sister. You know what I mean? Like there's, I don't know if there's anyone in this world who could piss me off quicker that if my older sister decided today, she was like, I'm going to get Joe fired up just for no reason. She could, she could knock that out before we finished this phone call. Like, you know, um, and, and I think like restaurants are so good at that. So I think like if there's something in that, like sibling thing to me where it's like, ah, I can't believe I let it get the best of me. Like I can't believe I let it make me overreact. Like I'm so mad at myself. Like, you know, it's like I, you know, like that, like I should be better than that or I shouldn't let it, you know what I mean? Beat me where it's like, I feel like I got beat by it. That right. Whenever, like, that's how I always look at it now where those days where I'm like, even if I was like, if I was visibly frustrated, it's like that happens, especially in an open I had days where it's like, I look visibly frustrated because I am, you know what I mean? Cause I'm like fucking, you know what I mean? this is the fourth time we're putting this up or this is taking longer than I want. Or, you know, I mean, we just ran shit to the wrong table and I'm just frustrated. Like I can't help it. I want it to be right. I want it to be right, right away. I try to be patient, but I suck at it. And you know what I mean? I just want it to be right. And I want everyone to be on the same page as me, which is a totally insane page. And like, so it's like those days when I feel that way, I'm like, ah, got the best of me. Yeah. You know, Tony used to say, never let them see you sweat. Right. One of my chefs before gave me that same advice. And it was a guy named Adam. Some of the best advice he gave me in a moment was like, eat the stress. The waiters are coming at you this way, telling you this table has this issue. We need the food for this. You know, the manager's over here. This person's yelling. The saucier just knocked over a quart of sauce that you need for later at night, you know, for service. And then all the things are going on around you. You have to be the one who steadies the ship. If you lose your shit, everybody around you feels like the ship is sinking. We're all going. So you have to be. We're all going. And that's, it's not just kitchens. Like that applies to every, everything. If you're managing people or people are looking to you for guidance in any kind of way, you have to be the one who like makes them feel like things are okay and you can get through it. If you lose your shit, everything goes completely haywire. right it's that's you know it's like when we train people on expo that's what i always tell them i'm like if you start looking off the cliff you're going off the cliff and i go and you're in front of the pack so the whole pack's going with you oh yeah they're gonna be they're gonna be 10 feet off that cliff before they even realize their feet aren't on the ground i go whatever direction i go if you're happy you're keeping the energy up i go so are they i go if you're spiraling they're coming down with you a hundred percent and you're going to take a whole line now I'm with you and having to get 10 people out of a hole is a lot of people to get out of a hole. You know, I had a GM who used to tell the captains, he would say, be the duck. And it was the idea of like, you're calm and cool on the top of the water, but you're underneath, you're like, you know, and I always like, love that one. You know, it's like, be the duck. Cause that's like so much of what it is. It's like, if it looks, you know, I mean, you've walked into other restaurants, looked at the kitchen and been like, like they're having a tough night. Yep. Like you just see the body language. You see somebody talking to somebody and you're like, I don't want to be back there. Right. You're like, Ooh, something went wrong. My nosy ass like walks by the open part of the kitchen, trying to hear like the shit they're talking. I remember I walked into a buddy of mine's restaurant. The second I walked in, I saw him and he had this cook there who had like stashed from your work for me for a brief point. It was a real, just asshole. and as i walked in i could see him and the other sous chef and they're talking to this kid and it's just like you can tell this dude is getting pasted like just ripped to the heavens and so i like walked it right it was i was happening and what had happened was he had gone to clean the fryer and like didn take all the oil out dump some water in and like didn turn it off and it overflowed the whole fryer and like melted the knobs off the front of the fryer like right before bonehead like right before dinner service oh god what so they like bonehead and you know this was one of those people who stashed for me who was like yeah i don't think this place is like up to where i'm at right right kind of guy you're like oh yeah it's us it's not you yeah yeah like super tweezer bro like i don't know if this would go well for me because i don't know if like at my level and i'm like okay and then i watched him melt the fucking knobs off a deep fryer and i was like oh is that your level then yeah you're right we're not at your level i think it's time to take it to the walk-in oh i think you're up i think you're way way overdue adrian i think you're overdue i think we haven't heard something from the depths of ages ages Back history, the lore of Adrian Cheatham, if you will. You know what I mean? Your villain origin story. Right, right. Of why you're angry with people in coffee shops. So many reasons. Besides being a 70-year-old man who eats rye toast. And baked potatoes, yes. Well, we're not even at the villain origin story yet. I'm going to take you to a time where I was still just fucking up and getting yelled at. And maybe that is part of the origin story. Maybe that's why I became so angry because young Adrian made a lot of young decisions and did a lot of dumb stuff. And I got yelled at tremendously on several occasions. Yes, I've had stuff thrown at me. Yes, I've had plates slung down the line that I had to like catch before it shattered on a saute pan. And then I would have to reset my whole station because the chef threw a plate at me. So back in the day, I think I was on Gardmage, the restaurant shall remain nameless, but we had a buyout, right? That's when somebody essentially says on this date, don't take any reservations. We'll pay you X amount of money that would cover what you would make in that night. Plus some on top for your staff to work for this private event for 175 people. Cool. So I was doing the garnish. There was a little side couscous salad for this dish, like the Israeli couscous, the big pearls, not like the small couscous. So, OK, all I had to do for the day. I had one job. I had one job. And my chef said, Adrian, you had a fun job and you fucked it up. So my chef said, Adrian, weigh out whatever couscous. You need to nail it. Right. We don't need to have too much left over. We can use some for family meal the next day, but I need you to get this right. Okay. So I fucked up a lot of things, not just one. So I weighed the couscous dry and didn't reweigh the portion cooked. So yeah, big mistake number one. Big mistake number two, probably the bigger mistake, because we can deal with a little extra leftover. We can just make that the star of family meal instead of a side dish. so i was prepping the herbs that get chopped and added to the salad what's the first thing you do when you're prepping herbs washers yes what did i not do oh i know right and it's you know also hold on we just have to take one step back here because this is i don't think people realize how hilarious like and how big of a miss weighing dry is because 50 of the weight of couscous is water. So it's not like you missed by like, I was off by, you know, a couple hundred grams, but you were off by 50%. You did twice as much as you needed. Yep. A hundred percent. A hundred. Very good. We'll keep rolling. Thank you. Yeah. We'll, we'll, we'll just skate past that one because at the end of it, my chef was less mad about that than the herb situation. So I had washed the herbs that were like, that I saw that were dirty. Some of the other herbs had been, the paper towels were more damp. I thought they had been washed because sometimes our receiver would wash the herbs if they have time. I didn't check. I should have all on me. I assumed herbs were washed. Didn't ask, didn't check, didn't wash to be sure. We have a huge salad spinner. I could have used, I had no excuses. So chop the herbs, made the salad, all this. We plate, we send 175 and mind you, these go on the side. So they're not on the plate. Thank God. So most Most people don't even touch them. That is probably my only saving grace is that most of them are just sitting on the table kind of as garnish decoration that nobody's actually eating because there's so much other stuff. My chef comes over is like, wow, you really fucked up that, didn't you? Looking at the amount left over was like, wow, you really didn't do what I asked you to and nail the measurements. So I'm like, yes, chef, you know, I'm sorry. He's like, well, great. You're in charge of family meal for two days. You got to make this interesting for staff for two days now instead of one. Okay, that's on me. He goes to take a bite of it. And he had tasted it before service. No complaints, no nothing, no notes. Everything was fine. Enough lemon juice, olive oil, salt, herbs, tomato, everything. Tomato brunoise, everything. He takes a bite and gets that crunch from some sand. He threw his spoon so hard against the fucking tile. It bounced off the countertop. I mean he flew off the handle rightfully so I mean I that huge mistake right you you can't have somebody buying out a restaurant spending a ton of money and get gritty anything because somebody didn't wash the herbs yeah yeah that gritty like parsley taste too is so distinct where it's just like it feels like you just licked a leaf off the ground like you know what I mean where it's like that mud where you're just like you hit a piece of like like for the next hour it's still like just everywhere in your teeth it's disgusting and yep young adrian young mistake didn't check didn't ask you know was like oh okay i can do this and everybody's so busy with buyout stuff i don't want to bother people did the herbs get washed today they look clean you know i didn't know so i didn't ask i feel it's like the one that always gets everybody like still to this day It's like my number one thing. All my sous chefs and my cooks, but they like royally screw something up. They're like, well, I didn't know. It's like, right. And you didn't ask. Right. Right. And remember like when I was standing like a foot away from you, like you didn't think maybe. You should just be like, hey, chef. Hey, chef. Hey, fella. Can I ask you a question? Yeah. Hey there, big guy. Can I ask you a question? You've asked me 75 questions today that were completely irrelevant. You've asked me where the salt, when the salt is sitting right in front of you. You couldn't ask me this major thing that would have a detrimental effect on everything else around it. Oh, dude, that's brutal. That's brutal to not wash it. There's no, there's no, there's nothing. There's nothing, especially it's already out on the table. Yep. That's a horrible feeling too. It's like, I've been the chef on the other side of that where you taste something and you're like, you're like, oh my God, I didn't taste this. I didn't taste this as much as I thought I did. Holy fuck. And I've been tasting it the whole time. And I didn't, it was like, oh my God, it's just massive, massive mistake. I think I was just coming off of internship. It was like the biggest mistake I could have ever made that early at that restaurant. It was, it was not good. It was no bueno, Poppy. Joe, I think we have a couple of minutes and I want to do a quick Super Bowl turn and burn. I want to get your hot steaks on a couple. A little cheesy and beasy. Let's go. Hell yeah. Fire me. I'm ready. All right. It's only four. So it'll go fast. But these are Super Bowl staples. Staples for it. All right? I need to know where you stand. If our friendship's going to continue, I got to know who I'm dealing with here. Yeah. Okay, you ready? I'm ready. Never been more ready. Buffalo wings or pigs in a blanket? Oh, that is tough. That is tough. But for a Super Bowl specifically, buffalo wings. Okay, fair. Blue cheese or ranch? This is not going to be popular. but there's only one answer and it's blue motherfucking cheese. Oh, damn it. Okay. I mean. Put some flavor in your life. All right. Sports bar or house party to watch the game? House party only. I need to be in a safe space. Okay. Fair. I could see that for you. Halftime show or halftime commercials? Am I watching the halftime show? Which are you most excited about? Second quarter ends. Halftime is about to start. Are you like, oh, these commercials are about to be lit? Or are you like, damn, this show is about to go down? Which are you more excited for? I think it depends on the show. I'd say, you know, Bad Bunny this year, right? Yeah. I'm going to say show. Got to go. My boy Benito. Cool. Me too. I'm with him. I'm with Benito. I can tell by the shirt. Yep. That's my Super Bowl turn and burn. That's, yeah. Okay. I have to give you, though, my ranch origin villain story. After you and I did Top Chef, while I got kicked off and I was in Last Chance Kitchen, I had to do a quick fire where we had to, right. You did get kicked off. Okay. We both know how, we both know how this ended. I know. I had to get my moment. Thanks. But so we had to do like, basically like one of those last chance. What's like a quick fire where we had to use powdered ranch. Oh, and so I won that one. So after we were done, this video is still out in the ether somewhere, but the first thing I ever did, like ever got paid for, you know what I mean? to do like a promotion was I went, I flew to New York, filmed this thing at Chelsea market. And it was me and this woman, she was Andy Cohen's assistant at the time. Okay. And we did this whole thing with ranch with Hidden Valley where they had like a ranch fountain and we just dip shit in ranch all day. We ate ranch for like six hours, like all sorts of stuff. We were just eating ranch on like Oreos and like bullshit like that. and I just remember getting back on the plane to Chicago. I went from there to the airport and I was like, there's nobody sitting next to me. I laid across three seats and I was just sweating out ranch. And I was like, it's so much pain. I hated it so much. So it is blue cheese. It was always blue cheese before that, but it'll be blue cheese for life. I was, you know, traumatized by ranch. It sounds like you've had enough ranch for anybody's lifetime actually. But that video exists somewhere out there in the ether is me eating ranch for like six hours. You know, I'm going to spend the rest of my day looking for this. and I'm just going to send you clips of it throughout the day so you can relive the nausea. Like I had to relive my shame. You get to relive your nausea. That's what our friendship is pretty much. That's what it is. Shame and nausea. That's it for this episode of The Chef's Cut. Be sure to subscribe wherever you're listening, especially if you're watching us on YouTube where you can get full-length video episodes of the show. And be sure to follow us at Chef's Cut Pod on IG. For Joe Flam, I'm Adrienne Cheatham, And this has been the Chef's Cut. Life beyond the past.