Walk-In Talk Podcast
We are a Food Podcast. We are blessed to have been ranking on Apple Podcast Charts since November of 2022 in the Food Category and have been the #1 podcast spot in the United States for more than a year! Along with the podcast comes amazing food photography by John Hernandez from Ibis Images.
Powered by our partnership with brands like RAK Porcelain USA, Metro Shelving and many other amazing companies - Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and team, combines culinary expertise and experiences to provide an insightful and engaging exploration of the food industry.
Our podcast is a must-listen for food industry enthusiasts, as we provide unique insights into everything from recipes to how Chefs are navigating high inflation while also discussing the importance of mental health in the industry.
Walk-In Talk Podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the food industry. Our show provides a fun and entertaining vibe to our podcast.
Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we will continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important industry-related topics - so come uncover restaurant mayhem with us!
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Walk-In Talk Podcast
Liquid Nitro Vegan Tuna
Join us for an engaging session with Mike Molloy, the mastermind behind some of the most innovative plant-based creations at Lowe's Hotel, Universal Orlando. Imagine a vegan tuna crafted from liquid nitrogen-treated watermelon, crusted with sesame seeds and spices—it's a culinary adventure that challenges the norms of contemporary dining. As we catch up with Mike, we reminisce about the early days of our Walk-In Talk journey and celebrate the creative processes that shape our most memorable culinary experiences.
Our discussion takes a creative turn as we explore the art of culinary innovation and experimentation. From the unexpected pairing of racing events with gourmet food to reinventing traditional dishes with plant-based alternatives, we shed light on the collaborative efforts that drive seasonal menu planning. Dive into the fascinating story of an MIT graduate revolutionizing plant-based options in Norway, and discover how these global influences are reshaping high-end dining. Throughout our conversation, we emphasize the importance of meeting the growing demand for vegan and vegetarian cuisine, and how this trend is transforming the modern culinary landscape.
In our final segment, we reflect on the unique challenges and joys that come with culinary creation, especially amidst unpredictable elements such as hurricanes. Through personal anecdotes and vivid stories, the episode captures the essence of coastal living and the resilience of the hospitality industry. From the devastation faced by iconic hotels to the camaraderie that flourishes in adversity, we uncover how these experiences fuel our creativity. As we wrap up, there's a shared enthusiasm for future culinary collaboratio
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Thank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry.
Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks!
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast.
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two Hello food fam. This is the Walk Talk podcast where you will find the perfect blend of food fun and cooking knowledge. I'm your host, carl Fiedini. Welcome to the number one food podcast in the country. We're recording on site at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it. Here's a humble request to give us a follow on Instagram at walkintalkshow, please, and thank you. We've had a lot going on.
Speaker 1:This past week there was an event down in Miami. Thank you to hosts, chefs Janine Booth and Jeff McInnis for having us at your home to capture such an amazing gathering. Also, a big thanks to Aussie Beef and Lamb, the Summit F&B Marketing Collaborative and Aussie Select for making that happen. The photos and video footage of the night are super. I was there. I saw them. Stay tuned for that. We also attended the Pizza Tomorrow Summit in Orlando. We met some terrific people and the video footage is also coming and I see big things happening with that whole group. Stay tuned. We were very privileged to take part in a charity drive event at JetBlue Lodge honoring a wonderful little girl that is now in remission.
Speaker 1:I won't get too deep into that, but hey, man, we're all blessed. Okay, there was a hiccup this week, jefferson, my bad, don't judge me. Man, all right, don't judge me. This week's guest is a very old friend, mike Malloy. He's the complex executive sous chef at lowe's hotel, universal orlando, and this cat cooks I know because, well, I know, chef mike was with me when the first leg of the walk and talk journey began, and it's time to catch up. Oh yeah, all right, so I didn't. What I didn't realize today when the show started is that I needed to have watermelon and aioli sauce together. In my life there was some amazing food prepared today by the one and only chef, mike Malloy, my brother.
Speaker 2:How are you Good, baby? How are you doing Another day in paradise, man?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you you know you're like yeah, there's going to be this liquid nitrogen, there's going to be a watermelon. And I'm like I don't know, man, Is this going to be any good? I told you I don't know how you look. I going to be any good? I you know. I told you honestly how you look. I don't know, as it turns out, because I know you always come through in the clutch like that ah, delicious, and it looked really pretty man it was.
Speaker 2:It's good looking dish. Good look at this vegan tuna talk to get into it you gotta get you, gotta tell it exactly how it is.
Speaker 2:So. Vegan tuna, you know it came about. You know, when you have liquid nitrogen in the kitchen, you got guys that you just start putting stuff in there to see what happens. And someone in the kitchen had a watermelon that was compressed for a salad. We said, well, how cool would that be if we took that and put it in liquid nitrogen. Let's see what it'll do. So we put it in a liquid nitrogen, we take it out, we cut it and we're like, oh my God, it looks like tuna. This is the start of something.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of how the dish evolved. But it doesn't it? It also has the tuna flavor. I mean it. Well, I mean not the tuna tuna flavor, but you know when you're having it somewhere out and you know you got the aioli and yeah, yeah, you got a seared piece of tuna.
Speaker 2:So the watermelon it's crusted in sesame seeds, it's done with a little bit of cayenne, a little bit of paprika and a little bit of dark chili powder. That's your mix. We roll, we roll the watermelon in there, so it's a log, so it looks like a piece of tuna, and then we sear it in a liquid nitrogen, which is also very cool.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it makes for a good show. Yeah, so I was taking some camera footage today and you see all the smoke billowing out of the containers where the nitrogen is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But as it turns out, man, what a great combo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know the sweet and the and the a little bit of heat and so you get the after you got everything seared up. You know we put a little bit of napa cabbage slaw, so I take that that's pickled in rice wine, vinegar and tamari soy sauce and let that sit overnight. Cilantro, mint, a couple little peppers and onions carrots, that's your slaw. But then the fun part is the sriracha aioli. So we take vegan-aids and we make a sriracha aioli out of it.
Speaker 2:Wait what Vegan-aids Talk about that. It's vegan mayo. What is vegan mayo? Vegan?
Speaker 1:mayo, I don't know what. What is it For everybody out there talk about?
Speaker 2:it. It's vegan mayo, mayo, I don't know how else to tell you. Okay, it's done with a little bit of oil, what's done? What's the difference between that and regular mayo? A regular mayo has eggs. Okay, so, no way. So there's no egg, all right, it's a vegan mayo.
Speaker 1:You know, not everybody's a kitchen professional oh, this is true, thank god stay as far away as you can seriously turn around and run so yeah, so the dish is.
Speaker 2:It's it checks all those boxes gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free and it's vegan. So this day and age, with all the you know the allergies out there, everybody's got something.
Speaker 1:This dish everybody can enjoy where do you find that day is that?
Speaker 2:that's on a menu right now no, no, it's been on some menus that I've had in the past, but currently is not on a menu, will it be?
Speaker 1:maybe I mean it's florida. Obviously I don't. I wouldn't. That's not something I'd push in the winter, yeah, but like every other season, that dish works oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I usually whip it out for some banquet events, you know, because people are always looking for something unique and different and something fun to play with. So okay that one will come out every once in a while I can dig that, that Speaking of banquets.
Speaker 1:So you're at Universal, yeah, yeah, how's that?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's good times, man. So I help oversee two hotels. So there's Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls. It's 1,000 rooms in each hotel and there's a total of 285,000 square feet of meeting space. So the hotels are connected with the meeting space. So 285,000 square feet of meeting space, so the hotels are connected with the meeting space. So I oversee my main focus. So there's the complex executive chef, there's me, and then there's another me. The other me oversees the restaurants. That's her main focus. My main focus is overseeing all the banquets. But in the operation I've got 60 cooks at Royal Pacific, 70 cooks at Sapphire Falls, 30 stewards at each hotel and 15 chefs. That's a lot of people, it's a ton of people.
Speaker 1:Yes, and have they all seen the haircut?
Speaker 2:Have they seen the hairdo? They've seen the hair. All right, the hair came out?
Speaker 1:Has there been ribbing? Just a little, A little bit right.
Speaker 2:Although I get a lot of good comments on it, no more than you would think it's fitting, it works. It works for you I thought I was going to go in and people are going to go crazy and they're like no, no, no, this is not going to work, all right, all right.
Speaker 1:So so, chef mike, he's a good daddy. He's a good father, you know, I guess. So for halloween he dressed up as ken and barbie with his daughter, little girl. Yeah, and I envy you for that. I couldn't do it. I would have to tell my daughter yeah, no, I couldn't do it. So hats off to you for that. I try, or hats on, you might want to put the hat on.
Speaker 2:No, I'm kidding, I'm just totally kidding, Wow.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Universal man that's pretty cool I was in universal. You know, I reached out to you a few months back. Yeah, yeah, of course we missed each other. You were off. Yeah, I happened to go there with some family really cool property, oh yeah, and I have to tell you, the drink, the, the, the cocktail menu, what they're doing over there is pretty high end oh yeah yeah, you come in in strong water Tavern, so that's at Sapphire Falls.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's 110 unique rums on the menu there. We've got a rum captain and a rum steward, and they know more about rum than I even care to know. It's insane.
Speaker 1:You're allowed to go there and have cocktails and stuff yourself right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, but are you indulging in the rum?
Speaker 2:You know we do rum tastings all the time. So when we get new items in or something unique has come out, we'll get together as a management team and we'll have those tastings.
Speaker 1:So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to set up the atmosphere. Chef Mike and I have known each other for coming up on 10, eight years, nine years.
Speaker 1:I don't know, it's been a while, been a long time, did a lot of work together and when this whole walk and talk thing started it was a hunch. I was like man, this might be pretty cool. You know, I'm going to call Let me bounce this off somebody. So I called Mike and I'm like dude, what do you think he's like? What's it called? Like walk-in talk, like your walk-in cooler. He goes ah, bro, that's, that's really cool. Yeah, let's go. So we're right in the middle of COVID. You know, that's that's what was going on at the time and people were still in. You know, the whole country was still locked down and Florida was kind of like iffy but you know, still people were doing things a little bit and, you know, grabbed a GoPro.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we went down to Tampa, we went to the wharfside yeah and man, what did we do? We had a blast.
Speaker 2:It was such a good time. Do you remember the drive there?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'd have the GoPro going and we're like, hey, we should take some footage and we're going to talk in the car. And it was amazing.
Speaker 1:Two absolute dumbasses with this. Like the both of us, because we didn't know, All we did was consume like YouTube. Yeah Right, Like we both. You know. But yeah, we did it and I, he was very natural. I felt completely ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it worked, it did and it was and it went. Really we did, I don't know, a hundred and something episodes.
Speaker 2:We did a lot of episodes. It was every week, yeah, every week. I mean, it's the first time in my life I didn't have to go to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I know, and that was the, that was the. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the part that hurt.
Speaker 2:I know it hurts, it hurts, it kills me all the time. I'm sure I love what you're doing and how this has evolved and what it's come to it's.
Speaker 1:It's pretty unique and for the record, cause we've both been insanely busy, but we do communicate fairly regularly. I would say every you know a couple of times a quarter or something like that, yeah. Say every you know a couple of times a quarter or something like that, yeah. And it's always like oh man, you know you should invite me on the podcast. And I'm like, yeah, I already have. You know, you should just figure out a date and then here, we are today.
Speaker 2:Twist the arm. I need Monday. You guys made it work. You made a Monday work for me. I know.
Speaker 1:I, I, I. I ruined everything else this week with doing this. Yeah, we were on the road for the last 10 days. Yeah, you know, just there was three or four large events that we kind of got involved in.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And not, it wasn't a full team based on the calendar, but because of all of the things that were going on, I forgot to tell Jeff that there was the switch. So over the weekend I was like, hey guys, I don't forget it.
Speaker 2:You know Monday.
Speaker 1:And he's like oh man, I didn't even know. I was like okay, my bad, so look, I'm publicly apologizing. That's a big deal, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1:It's, oh god, was it heartfelt though? Does it matter? Yeah, I guess not. You know, I mean, I still am the hey, buckle your. You know, pull up your bootstraps and buckle up, yeah yeah, who cares, but I do feel bad genuinely. Yeah, because you know there'll be other times.
Speaker 2:Look at the book.
Speaker 1:It's an empty seat, it's. I'm gonna take a picture, actually, of the empty seat and we're going to post that. It's going to be, it's going to be fun, yeah, all right. So how do we get? How do we get into onto property to get some footage? I want to. I want to cook some people in the kitchen over there. Can we make it happen?
Speaker 2:you know I'm working on it it's it's. It's tough. You know the the way things are set up and uh, how big a conglomerate is. Universal's got a piece of it. Lowest hotels has a piece of it. You know I the way things are set up and uh, how big a conglomerate is, universal's got a piece of it. Lowest hotels has a piece of it. You know, I wish it could be as simple as saying hey, come on in on tuesday that's typically the.
Speaker 1:That's typically what it is. You know that, yeah yeah, hey chef, look, uh, we can come in on a tuesday, is it? Are we good? You're like yeah, come on in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no no, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1:Believe me, I'm making my All right, I don't want to have to go to the mouse over there. Okay, god the mouse. I'm kidding, actually Be nice Be nice, no, those chefs there's some talented people over there in Disney Massive talent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm good friends with the executive chef of Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 1:Are you?
Speaker 2:Me and him used to work together over at uh, windham, which one blue corey, york. Okay, yeah, yeah, you want to talk about talented. That guy's talented, that guy has got some culinary chops what's your specialty? My specialty is his. Well, he ran deep blue, so he he was very much in the molecular gastronomy. He was into that and and he was just so creative.
Speaker 1:You could do that too.
Speaker 2:I'd play a little bit dabble here and there. Yeah, you know a couple of foams, why not? Yeah, I've seen some of that stuff. You've done it.
Speaker 1:I feel like you did a foam. You came to the house one time and we did some really good stuff there. Yeah, we did some really good stuff there. Yeah, we did. I thought it was a foam. I don't think there was foams.
Speaker 2:No, I think we did some risotto. We did some risotto with some chicken. We did some powders. We did bacon powder. Who doesn't love bacon powder?
Speaker 1:Not baking.
Speaker 1:Bacon Silence because everybody loves bacon powder. I mean I could just eat it by the spoonful. I'm saying so Again, okay. So, speaking of by the spoonful frozen aioli that you sprinkled, yeah, so basically, I guess when you get aioli and you squirt it into the liquid nitrogen, it balls up and it looks like little pebbles. Yeah, all right. So what you did is you took that as the crunch and that was what you drizzled over the top of the dish. Yes, you took that as the crunch. Yep, and that was what you drizzled over the top of the dish.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, but as it turns out if you get a spoonful of that and you and you put the what's that? What was the sauce? There's a sweet soy, yes, okay. So that's all you really need see, because typically what I would do is I would get a tub of ice cream, sit down and just spoon the ice cream and you know, do that. But you can actually have a good sit down, fun little thing with that it's put that on some sushi.
Speaker 1:Think about that yeah, well, that too. But I'm just thinking about how you know, like if it's a nutella and just you just eat nutella and that's that you don't. You don't need bread or anything like that, right yeah, it's good it, my goodness. So when is it? When are we actually going to do the thing? There's a thing that we talked about doing one time, and it had to do with race cars.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God Do you remember this. We'd always talk about it because I watch a lot of YouTubers in the race car world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, A ton of them. So I have a friend who's down in South Florida that's right, mm-hmm, and I hadn't talked to him in years and he reached out that was maybe a month or so ago, yeah, and he's got some outside connections to where I think we can actually make that happen. So if we ever do it, you're going to be the chef for that. So basically, we're going to have races and food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to have races and food. Yeah, somehow we were going to tie those together, yeah there's going to be racing and food One way or another, because who doesn't?
Speaker 1:love a fast car and fast food. Yeah, I don't know man, how do we?
Speaker 2:do this? I have no idea it's your connection. I'm just going to show up.
Speaker 1:Well, if you do show up, you're going to show up with food and we're going to. We're going to. We're going to do this now, but here's what I want to do. Hold on a second, all right. So we're going through season changes right now. Yeah, yeah, you're universal. What do you guys do and like, how do you attack a menu? You got 60 chefs there and 30 stewards here and you got all these people. You have all these things're. You know multi-million dollar. You know annual business operation. How are you guys coming up with menu items?
Speaker 2:you know, the the season changes is the best time of year for a chef because the, you know, the leaves are changing, the produce is changing, availability of things that you're able to get in the summer, you're not going to be able to get into the fall. So you know, you're going to get the culinary wheels turning, and I mean, with so many culinarians that we have, we start out first with tasking our team to say, hey, what would you guys like to do? Because it's for me. It's not about the chef, it's about the team, because I can't cook every dish. We serve thousands of people every day. If I was cooking every dish, I wouldn't be here. So it's about being able to represent everybody, because we've got so much culture in the kitchen, there's very diverse staff and everybody's got a little bit of something different to bring.
Speaker 1:Who's responsible for menu, but actually updating the menus.
Speaker 2:The chef's responsible at the end of the day, but it starts with the culinarians in the kitchen to see if we can kick around some ideas. Does anybody have anything? If not, then it becomes a big thing of research.
Speaker 1:Is it a round table sort of a situation?
Speaker 2:No, it's pretty organic in the kitchen, you know. If there's some downtime and one of the team members say you know I'd like to play with something, have at it. Well, we're in the midst of a season changing season now.
Speaker 1:Yeah where are you?
Speaker 2:at. We just rolled menus out. We rolled them out last week. What's new? Uh, there's a. There's a good one. So I keep talking about vegan. But vegan is such a big thing these days. Vegan vegetarian, everybody's all over. Everybody wants plant-based, plant-based, plant-based. But if you look at what's plant-based right now, you know the availability of things. They're not healthy for you, you know. They're so high in sodium and it's like eating a brick of salt. It's not good for your body, you know, and they're highly processed. So we partnered with a new company that's fresh to the market.
Speaker 1:They're not in the retail world and they're only targeting high-end food service. What's the variance there? What makes them different?
Speaker 2:Seven ingredients. That's the variance there. What makes them different? Seven?
Speaker 1:ingredients, that's it, and I can name every one of them. Really, what kind of shelf life is?
Speaker 2:that Comes in frozen, so it's a plant-based steak and it's amazing. It is absolutely amazing. I could not believe it when they brought it out. I had one of the reps who came in and he says, oh, I got this plant-based, plant-based steak. I don't know, plant-based steak I wouldn't. I want, uh, you know, like angus. But so you know, we allow them to come in was it like mushroom or something?
Speaker 2:no, it's, it's. It's seven ingredients coconut oil, water, beet juice, iron, vitamin b12 and soy cultured protein and flavoring seasoning. That's's it, seven ingredients. You bite this thing and you feel like you're eating a steak. It has the mouthfeel, it has the texture, the chewiness, the, the, the fat. It's absolutely amazing and it takes on any flavor you know. So right now we're doing one with a soy vinaigrette, a sizzling soy vinaigrette, and it's going with some jasmine rice, a little bit of baby bok choy. It's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:And how do they shape it Like? What are they putting it in the shape for?
Speaker 2:So it's shaped in a loaf, so it's basically fermented soy protein is what it boils down to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you're putting it out there like it's in the form of a ribeye or a filet or how it looks like a filet.
Speaker 2:Okay, it looks like a filet, you know. So they. They put it in the shape of a tenderloin, and then they slice yeah yeah, and then they cut into, you know, four ounce and six ounce medallions is it hearty it is, it'll fill you up. You eat six ounces of that and I'm telling you you're going to be full and it's something you just have to. You have to experience it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would love to. I'd actually like to see what that's. And as far as the health factor goes on that, where does that fall?
Speaker 2:I mean seven ingredients, right, seven ingredients, and it falls in the. It's not loaded with sodium, that's what. And plus there are ingredients you can pronounce. Go ahead and pick up a thing of Beyond Meat. Do you know what it's in there? I have no idea, it's Beyond. Meat.
Speaker 1:It's actually right and it ain't healthy for you, john loves when I have the little quick, little clever things. He's a clever guy, it's a clever guy, wacka, wacka, wacka. So that's actually very interesting. We do discuss plant-based here quite a lot. Sure, jeffrey does a lot of plant-based cooking. Yeah, and he's pretty good at it too. He did these bone marrow, celery stalk, heart of palm Bad ass. I'll show you the pictures. Yeah, gorgeous, yeah, and you know the way he flavored it up.
Speaker 2:Man like you would, it was legit gorgeous, yeah, and you know the way he flavored it up, man like you would it was. It was legit. You know, we had group came in at a hotel and they wanted a plant-based appetizer because they just had so many people who had this allergy blah, blah, blah and they wanted to be able to do a crab cake and I said, well, okay, it's funny, you mentioned hearts of palm. Hearts of palm, I will make you a crab cake out of hearts of palm and you will think you're eating crab.
Speaker 1:I guess it won't.
Speaker 2:Even it's got the good the fibrous sort of fibers to it, but it's got the bite, and then you flavor it Like you would flavor a crab cake, I mean, and it even looks like it. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to get back to that steak, though, or you know, faux steak name was plug.
Speaker 2:It said chunk foods what is it? Chunk foods, chunk foods, yeah okay so you know it's crazy. An mit graduate is the one who came up with it and came up with it over in norway, so it's research in the market. He was five years into it did you meet this person?
Speaker 1:I did whether I'm guessing they were a foodie also?
Speaker 2:oh, yeah, not just yeah, he's a food scientist man, I mean it's just just because you're a scientist doesn't mean you're a foodie. No, but he saw a niche in the market. He saw what's out there and he's like wow, these things aren't healthy for you. We've got to do something about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't even get me started on walking down the grocery aisle and turning the box around to read what's it's eye-opening? It really is it's eye opening the crazy thing is how it's not. Other countries won't receive these products that we're receiving yeah yeah, you know we, we get the box or whatever, and it's got 7 000 ingredients, but the one that goes to europe, or can you know, has 10 ingredients.
Speaker 2:They don't allow it.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, yeah yeah, it's a funny thing. Hopefully that's going to change up here coming into this 2025. Yeah yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying. I hope so, I hope so, wink, wink with a nod.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I'm saying I hope so, I hope so, wink wink with a nod. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, no, you know, and it's funny, the plant-based world, it's not going away. Ten years ago, if you would have told me I'm going to be cooking a plant-based steak, I would have told you you're crazy. Who's going to want to eat that? But it also comes down. You know the it's. It's about how we did education with the servers. We brought it out to a lot of different people. I mean, it actually goes over very well in my banquet setting.
Speaker 2:I went out to an event and we did. You know there's always 10, 20 vegan people. You know it was a group of 600. And so I did the plant-based steak. That was going to be the vegetarian option and it was the same plate that everybody else had, except it was a plant-based steak and not the filet. And this woman was so upset with me I had to go out and she says how dare you? How dare you serve me a piece of beef? I said, ma'am, this is a plant-based steak. I don't believe you. And so I gave her the whole list of ingredients and, adamant there's no such a thing, I said okay. I said, give me five minutes. I go back to my office, I get the literature, bring it out to her. I give it to her and I said try, just try it. I promise you you're going to like it. Five minutes later I go back out. She ate the whole thing and apologized. That's an amazing story.
Speaker 1:That's an amazing story. That's a great testimony for Crazy For Chunk, yeah for Chunk. Chunk.
Speaker 2:You know they're in Charlie's Steakhouse right now. It's on the menu. Are they really Believe it or not? I got to call my boy over there. It's insane. And I mean, they're at the Four Seasons, they're down in Fountain Blue down in Miami. They're making some money yeah yeah, and you know I've asked the question. I said your biggest problem, you know, when it came to me, is that people don't know what it is.
Speaker 1:How am I supposed to market it if you guys Well, your situation is a little bit different because you know you're not getting, like you know, weekly repeat business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can't even like.
Speaker 1:So like sampling doesn't really even help you so much, exactly right, exactly it's.
Speaker 2:It's tough, but you know the the demand is there, though the demand is there because people are demanding plant-based healthy options.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I might look to, maybe I'm going to reach out to that guy yeah he's a good guy you know. Well, I mean, at the end of the day, who you know, what other you know.
Speaker 2:Food media platforms are in kitchens like we are I mean we're literally in kitchens I guarantee you he would be interested in coming on guarantee it.
Speaker 1:How much have you embraced and how? What other ways have you embraced plant-based?
Speaker 2:you know it's actually lion's mane. You know, lion's mane, the mushroom. You know it was something. I was just thumbing through YouTube one day and there was a guy on there and he was making steak out of lion's mane. I was like I've never seen that before. It's a funky looking mushroom. You know, tried it and I was like, hey, this is cool. You know, I embrace it to the point where it's not going away. I may not particularly enjoy it myself as far as that's what I'm going to sit and eat when I go to a restaurant, but I'll I have to understand that's the job of the chef. Chef doesn't cook for himself, chef's cooking for you and and everyone who's coming to the restaurant.
Speaker 1:So have you noticed? I mean, you're, you're interacting, managing, overseeing all of these chefs from all these different properties? Have you noticed and these are probably a lot of younger people too, right, yeah, yeah, have you noticed that there is a shift with the up-and-coming, the younger, the younger culinarians to this plant-based option?
Speaker 2:I think it's just. It's so woven in that they don't realize that there was a major shift, if that makes sense. You know when you, if you're just getting into this business now, it's already here. It wasn't a change for them. You know it's a change for people like you and me who've been in this business quite some time and my palate is what it is.
Speaker 1:I mean we're, you know. I mean I want I shouldn't say that because I'm always entertaining something new yeah, but mainly that's for the, for the show. If I go somewhere I'm getting the tried and true. You know, I am gonna get the filet or the ribeye or whatever, like oh yeah, you know in terms of proteins. I'm going to do that yeah they would. I don't know what, what world I would have to be living in for me to go out to dinner and order a plant-based plant-based thing, but if it's what you're saying, I'd be willing to.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm getting to this age where, like I gotta, you know, be careful, think about it. I gotta be careful, yeah, and I do eat. Yeah, like I put it away I put it down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, john's making john's making faces and he knows. He knows how many plates you eat every week.
Speaker 1:Seriously, my wife's like how many pieces of this do you want? You put three on there, nosh.
Speaker 2:Don't judge me.
Speaker 1:Everybody's a bunch of judging people.
Speaker 2:Well, let's get back to menu changing. Yeah, so you reach out to the team and see what ideas they have kicking around, but then it turns into the chef's job to pull all those things together. Maybe one of the cooks will come up with a cool vinaigrette, maybe one of the cooks will come up with a cool marinade, something like that, and then the chef's job is to put it all together. But it's about research. Going out to eat is we all copy each other. Every chef copies the other chef and then they twist it and they make it their own. But everybody's forever copying as far as the base idea. So a good chef will take the base of an idea and make it their own. You know, and that's and that's how great dishes are put together. You know, when you collaborate with other chefs, I mean, there'll be times I write a menu and I'll kick it off to another chef and say, hey, what do you think? And no, no, no, we should, we should do this. It's missing a texture. But when you're composing a dish, you have to think of flavor components. Do they mash Textures? Visually, what does it look like?
Speaker 2:You know, for my daughter's school, I went out and I did a little presentation for six classes in one of their stream labs, and so I asked the kids. I said what's the first part of your body that you eat with when something's put in front of you? And of course all the little kids say, oh, your mouth. No, you eat with your eyes first, first thing you eat with. So if I put down in front of you a steak with brown looking broccoli, lumpy looking mashed potatoes, the steak's all burnt but I put it in front of me and I put it in front of you and say, carl, this is going to be the best thing you've ever eaten, and you're going to look at that and say, no, it's not right. But if I sit there and I tell you it is going to be the best thing, are you going to eat it, even though?
Speaker 1:it looks awful, I will because I'm a fat ass. Yeah, I will. No, I would give you the point. I would. Yeah, I would give the benefit of the doubt. But obviously if I'm going out and I don't know who's in the kitchen preparing my food and something comes out looking like that, yeah, no, I don't want to do it. You're going to send it back, of course, you know.
Speaker 2:but then if you get a dish, that's beautiful, and what I did for the kids is I put a dish up. It was like looking dish and I asked all the kids would you try this? You know, and little kids, these days I'm eating anything in a lot of yeah, I'd try it. It's like, do you know what? It is no, okay, but why would you try it? Because it looks beautiful, you know. So you start there. So it's, it's all those components that you look at. And then you got to look at seasonability. You know what's out in the season. I I'm so big about what's seeing here in central florida. What do we have to offer? There's so many different farmers, there's so many. I mean, it's just it's. The list goes on and on. You know so to not source from local here, even where we're at at universal, with the amount of people that we serve, it's just what are you doing it's funny how there's a race.
Speaker 1:So when you, when you, when you sell and provide services to chefs, right somewhere towards the latter half of any season, you start getting the requests for samples of products that you know in terms of like with fruits and veg, whatever's coming up into season, and what it ends up being is like nothing is ready, nothing's available, not even first harvest. Yeah, and he gets just like, yeah, I'd like to get the, you know elephant balls of the. I know it's not, it's not really ready yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's nothing here yet Well, that's not a good enough answer. I really I need it because I'm doing my menu out, you know, for night, and I'm like yeah, but you got to wait. You know, you got to wait. Nobody saw a thing, you know, but you got to wait, yeah. And in the end you get yelled at, you make friends and when it becomes a fail, you do your thing. Yeah, yeah, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:You know, I feel great.
Speaker 1:I almost wet myself.
Speaker 2:You feel refreshed.
Speaker 1:Yes, I.
Speaker 2:You feel refreshed?
Speaker 1:Yes, I feel very refreshed, very refreshed. Yes, it's a good thing we didn't do the camera today.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that would have been a whole lot. But see, that's your job. Your job is to educate the chef. You know how many chefs out there are so demanding they're like no, I want it, it's not ready. The peaches aren't ripe yet. Yeah, but it says I saw them in the store. Yeah, no, I get that, but what you're asking for isn't there yet. So your job as a provider is to educate that chef. Now you've got two kinds of chefs ones who just don't care you know they're stubborn and they want it, and they want it now. Or ones who are willing to listen, to understand, and that's you know. You grow chefs just as much as I do.
Speaker 1:I'm sure, in a certain aspect yeah, I mean yes, from a certain aspect, I mean depending upon the organization. So it always comes from up top. Sure, okay, if you're a chef owner and you and I are having a conversation and I explain how product a is available the stretch of the year, sure you, as a reasonable person, are going to accept that? Right, you might go behind my back and dig up and look at stuff which I implore you to do. Yeah, but at the end of the day, you're, you know, gentlemanly speaking, it's you know, we find something else and move on. Yeah, when you have, we find something else and move on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you have specific types of corporate chains not all of them specific types it starts up top and these people are crushed. You know, you talk to a chef and you know when they're being crushed, yeah, they don't have, they don't have the ability to be creative. It's you know, basically everything is funneled down from up top. Sure, right. And when up top says, well, we want to, we want to beat everybody to the punch on product a, yeah, well, product is unavailable, it doesn't matter you, you lay into your purveyors, yeah, and that happens. And that happens. You had chefs tell me like hey, I get what you're saying, but like I gotta go back to my corporate, I gotta tell them something like well, tell them it ain't around, yeah, yeah, but then I'm gonna. Well, then then you're gonna have to fire me. Like what I mean, you know, use somebody else. Then if you can get it from the other guy, I'll pay for it.
Speaker 2:Like go ahead yeah, yeah, yeah you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like you can find it, I'll cover it. How about that? Yeah, you know. And of course it doesn't. But like the, that kind of culture is. You know, I don't want to, it's toxic.
Speaker 2:But it is, it's toxic. That's why, you see, you know, chefs bounce sometimes.
Speaker 1:Especially now post you know Post-COVID, Post-COVID and you know working from home, and you know everybody was off for a couple of years there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now there's you, which is, you know, for the best. I think that was one of the positive things that came out of that is, you have to treat people with a little bit more respect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Right, which was a wonderful thing to come out of that whole mess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I think two things came out of the whole mess. Two things One, the people who were in the business to get a paycheck just to get a check because they didn't know what else to do. Those people never came back. Just to get a check, because they didn't know what else to do, those people never came back. Thank god, you know as much as we need people like that at the same time.
Speaker 1:Who else is going to hold? Who else is going to hold the wall up?
Speaker 2:yeah, but I I think that was a positive piece that that came out of it and the second thing is walk and talk media yeah, exactly right, exactly Right.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm just saying, float that out there.
Speaker 2:So what's next on the agenda for you? I don't know. I haven't figured it out yet. You know I do a little soul search and figure out where I want to go. I'm happy where I'm at, you know. I think Finally, no, I mean I've opened four hotels. I've been up and down the East Coast, I've worked for so many different hotel corporations and you know I found one that I believe in their vision, I believe in what they stand for and, given the ability to be able to run things the way I feel they should be run, because I give good results. I have a team around me that you know, they respect me and they want to work for me, you know, and I'm given the freedom, you know, from the standpoint of creativity, putting those things together. And then they have trusted me. It's hard to find all those things.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's a mic drop moment right there. Yeah, true story. In spite of the fact that you look like Ken, they still respect you.
Speaker 1:Sometimes yeah, no, somebody's going to do it. Man, yeah, yeah, I'm going to get out there again, probably. Actually, I was talking to my wife about it. Come on by man. Yeah, she's like we got to do something with these kids. Come on by man. Yeah, she's like we gotta do something With these kids. Come on by these kids. We don't take them anywhere. My wife doesn't listen To the show, so I can say Whatever I want. Oh, that's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got you. You come out, I'll take care of you. Get you in the parks the whole nine yards. Stop it.
Speaker 1:Love it Only if it's, only if there's a food thing.
Speaker 2:We'll find food. Can we make it a food thing? We can absolutely make it a food thing. All right, that's kind of what I do.
Speaker 1:And maybe what I'll do is I'll bring some gear. It's blunt force trauma. I'm going to make it happen through blunt force. You see what I'm doing here. I'm laying the groundwork for it. Yeah, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:My goodness, I did want to talk to you about. Did you see what happened with that? So when Mike and I met and this is something we didn't even get to talk about he was working. He was the executive chef over at the Don Cesar Hotel. Yeah, Beautiful property, it's right on the water in St Pete Beach, whatever. And did you see what happened to that? Oh, it's awful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've only seen one TikTok. I spoke with Alex.
Speaker 2:Chef Alex, he's the yeah he's the executive chef there now. I spoke with him after the first storm came through and he said oh, you know, the first floor was kind of flooded and not so good. They had projections of being open in a couple of weeks and the second one came through. I haven't spoken with them. I can't find any anything on social media. I can't find anything. Online photos nothing. But if you go to their website to try to book, you're not booking until next year.
Speaker 1:it's crazy I don't know where I saw it, but the the one video I saw on tiktok. Maybe it was yes, where the water was surrounded, the ocean has engulfed the property. That was insane. Big, massive property.
Speaker 2:It's a shame they just put so much money into it, so much money. God only knows what it's going to cost them to dig out.
Speaker 1:Well, hopefully insurance doesn't cover that, huh.
Speaker 2:I have no idea who knows I. I would assume, yes, you're a hotel on the beach. You would assume you have flood insurance yeah, we have a.
Speaker 1:I have a friend that that has a, a property on the beach over there in longboat, and the pool it's on the beach side, yeah, and the pool literally overflowed with sand like they're swimming pool. It's on the beach side, yeah, and the pool literally overflowed with sand Like they're a swimming pool, like it's a giant swimming pool. Yeah, the whole thing was like leveled with sand. So they had to, like go in and yeah, it was a mess. I had to dig all the sand out of the pool, sure, but like I mean, can you? I mean I mean the water is bad man. Oh yeah, storm surge is no joke. No man, I would never. I probably lived on the water in my life for a total of about five years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Whether it was intracostal or Sure. I don't know that I would ever do that again. I need to be.
Speaker 2:Far enough away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't even think.
Speaker 2:I'm like 15 miles now, plus or minus, and I'm not I don't think it's far enough.
Speaker 1:It's crazy.
Speaker 2:Well, the first year I was there, the big hurricane I can't remember what hurricane was a couple years ago on 2017, was it that one? Yeah, and we had. I had just gotten there and davidson had just taken over. It used to be a lewis hotel davidson purchased there. They wound up cleaning house and I was the first executive chef in under davidson and they were going through gm changes and you know the whole nine yards, and I think I was there a couple of weeks and the storm came. I think I started in october and the storm came through towards the end of october. It's only been a couple of weeks and I mean it was one.
Speaker 2:They were saying it's going to be 20, 20 foot storms, storm surge, the whole nine yards. And so me, the acting GM, the director engineer and maybe one or two other people Davidson wanted us in the hotel to stay. My wife wasn't here yet. They were like, you know, because they closed down St Pete, that whole Island gets closed down. We had special passes, you know, from the police department, to be able to be on the Island and watching that, the, the storm surge, how it, how it sucks all the water out. I mean you could walk out on the beach where the water normally would be. You probably got 300 yards problem. I mean it was just insane. And then, watching it come back, I mean we all stood there like oh my god, this is going to take out the entire hotel this was a bad idea.
Speaker 2:This was not a good call and I mean we, we just set that there was nothing we could do. I mean we ran around, put sandbags everywhere and did what we thought we'd be able to do, but but thankfully the storm surge it never reached what it did, you know, this past October, and thank God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen that before. There was a. I lived at a hotel, condo, on Miami Beach for a little while and there was a hurricane coming through and it was like skirting us. Yeah, you know, I mean, I put my, my Florida finger and I was likeirting us. Yeah, you know, I mean, I put my Florida finger and I was like all right is this thing?
Speaker 2:going to hit us or not.
Speaker 1:This was like 20-something years ago. Let's go to the Florida finger.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I decided to ride it out. Yeah, and you know, bad, even though it didn't hit us like it skirted us, but the way that it angled off or whatever, we get a lot of storm search and and I saw the ocean, because I could see the ocean from my balcony and I did I saw the ocean coming up and lapping the actual hotel, like lapping up against the hotel, and I'm just like man, there's no joke. No, man, because you never know. You know, you don't know how these foundations really are. No, you don't get bridges falling down and buildings.
Speaker 2:You got building. You got hotels in miami that are 100 and some odd years old. Not only knows structurally if they're any good yeah get the hell out. Yeah, it's crazy legit get out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, speaking of that, I think it's on the 15th. Folks, if you're still listening, the Helm was doing their event on November 15th. Go to thehelmcom and see if you can go and check that out. They're doing a benefit. You know the Helm? I don't. They're out there on St Pete Beach and we had them on a few weeks ago. Yeah, strangely, their power a few weeks ago, yeah, they're, strangely their power didn't go out and they had, I don't know. Yeah, I don't, don't ask me, but they had a their camera at their dining room camera. Yeah, captured the whole thing. Oh, wow, yeah, I'll show it to you. But so the the, so the water rose. They had a time lapse to where the water rose over the bar. Crazy, that's crazy, so crazy. Anyway, so them, along with countless other restaurants and hotels and whatnot, they're putting a benefit on. Oh, that's great, yeah, it's November 15th, but anyway, that sucks, man, the whole thing sucks.
Speaker 1:This season is going to be a funky, funky season. Oh yeah, it sucks, man, the whole thing sucks. Yeah, this season is going to be a funky funky season. Oh yeah, obviously, the people who are still, you know, around and in business are going to, you know, thankfully, prosper, yeah, but everybody else, man, it's going to be a bath. What do you think? Two years to fix?
Speaker 2:this oh, minimum, that's if you don't get another storm.
Speaker 1:Next year.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. I mean thankfully, I think we're done.
Speaker 1:I think so too, man, I think the last time that this kind of thing happened was back in 2004 or 2005, when there was four hurricanes in five weeks or something like that.
Speaker 2:They all came through Central Florida. It was crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, they came through where I was in South Florida too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was ones that came up the coast, ones that came, I mean. I had a four-light traffic light in my pool. It flew right through the pool cage, didn't take the cage out and just right in the pool. It was insane. That's crazy. It was crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was out of power for almost three and a half weeks Out of power. Yeah, it was like you were living in the Walking Dead, you know, because there was no fuel. Yeah, there was no power. Yep, and there were definitely the zombies outside, oh, I'm sure. Yeah, I, at that time I was living by the, uh, the hard rock hotel down in hollywood. Okay, yeah, yeah and uh, you know the the neighborhood was a little iffy, yeah and yeah, and you had to sleep with the windows open well, you had to have yeah, but you're gonna die.
Speaker 1:You, you'll sweat to death yeah, 100, I don't yeah man, I don't, uh, what is with these storm? Enough already with the another 20 years. Yeah, exactly, oh, my god. All right, so what, uh? What are we gonna do with you, mike? I don't know. We gotta find something. So I was happy with what you made today. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you On flavor, but also aesthetically. Yeah, like I know that the photos that John did today are going to be stupid.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know, I can't wait to see the final product.
Speaker 1:They're going to be beautiful. Yeah, I would like to get some more of More of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:If you're down for it. Yeah, I'm down for it. I got to find the time. I got to screw your week up again and come on Monday Maybe I put together a few more dishes. You know, this one I kind of pulled together.
Speaker 1:You see this guy Very demanding. I tell you what with a haircut like that, with a hair like that, you have to be. I love you, man. I'm glad we finally got to connect man yeah absolutely, it's really been a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good times. Okay, so maybe there's some more things we can conjure up. I think we can figure something out. All right, all right, man, all right, jefferson, again, man, you know, I guess we'll catch you next week, hopefully, john, as always, you Foodie patooties out there and the world food championship representing the walk and talk. Check that out and we are out.
