Podcast appearances and mentions of Pete Wells

Runway CEO and co-founder Siqi Chen shares how his team used a waitlist not just to build hype, but to engineer smarter growth. In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Siqi breaks down how Runway strategically kept customers in a holding pattern to gather feedback, qualify demand, and refine product-market fit. We also talk about: How to build trust with early users through transparency Using scarcity and access control as GTM levers Why financial planning should be accessible to everyone on the team What most founders get wrong about burn rate and cash flow Whether you're in the early stages or prepping for launch, this episode offers a masterclass in thoughtful, tactical go-to-market execution. RUNTIME 39:46 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:49) “ What if somebody worked on a Figma for finance?” (5:48) “ You have to understand what are the different levers of the machine, and how the machine works.” (8:50) Why Runway represents a cultural shift in corporate transparency. (11:51) How much financial literacy should founders try to foster across their organizations?  (14:48) How much runway should a startup aim for? (18:39) How Runway's waitlist fed directly into its GTM strategy. (21:36) The  ”very simple motivation” behind creating the waitlist. (24:35) The “negging trick” that makes sales prospects want to buy your product. (26:37) “ Your early customers join you for very different and specific reasons.” (28:55) “ Our first website, we didn't even really talk about the product.” (30:23) After opening up the waitlist, “ nothing really changed — we were doing outbound sales already.” (34:17) “People who are really motivated by your purpose and mission are willing to give you a lot more leeway.” (36:42) What the next five years could look like for Runway. (38:07) The one question Siqi would ask a CEO if he was interviewing at an early-stage startup.  LINKS Siqi Chen Runway Runway lands $27.5M to streamline financial planning for businesses As Not Seen on TV, Pete Wells, NYT Restaurant Review, 11/13/12 SUBSCRIBE

Last September Asheville, North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. The damage is estimated to be $60 billion. Especially hard hit was the close-knit food community that has attracted millions of visitors to Asheville every year. The New York Times's Pete Wells did some stellar reporting last fall when he spent a few days interviewing chefs and farmers in the picturesque western Carolina city. Now, six months down the road, Special Sauce checked in with Pete and James Beard Award-winning chef-restaurateur Meherwan Irani to update us on the state of Asheville's recovery.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Pete Wells, former New York Times restaurant critic, joins us to look back on his most infamous reviews, plus why he blasted Guy Fieri's Times Square restaurant but loved Señor Frog's. Photojournalist Kate Medley reveals why some of the best food in the South is served at the gas station; we make Cantonese Stir-Fried Black Pepper Beef and Potatoes; and Chris and Sara Moulton answer listener calls. Get this week's recipe for Cantonese Stir-Fried Black Pepper Beef and Potatoes here.Listen to Milk Street Radio on: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyChristopher Kimball's Milk Street Radio is produced by Milk Street, in association with GBHCo-Founder: Melissa BaldinoExecutive Producer: Annie Sinsabaugh Senior Editor: Melissa AllisonSenior Producer: Sarah Clapp Producer: Caroline Davis Production Intern: Marisa OrozcoProduction Help: Debby PaddockAdditional Editing: Sydney LewisAudio Mixing by Jay Allison at Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole MassachusettsTheme Music: "Hang Tan" by Toubab KreweAdditional Music: George Brandl Egloff

Guest: Nick Kokonas, co-founder of the Alinea Group and former CEO of TockAs of October 1, 2024, Nick Kokonas is no longer an owner of the Alinea restaurant group, which he co-founded and ran for almost 20 years. When he bought a vineyard in Napa Valley prior to the exit, one of his sons remarked, “He's given up. Time to go out to pasture.”Nick admits that the work ahead of him is “not the same” as the high-pressure world of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago. But he's started working with the magician Nate Staniforth on a new restaurant concept that will present diners with illusions and surprises over the course of a two-hour experience. “If you want to feel wonder and feel childlike again, go see a magician,” Nick says. “[But] there's so much bad cultural baggage ... what we wanted to do was create an experience that is not really about magic.”Chapters:(02:29) - Celebrity restauranteurs (07:14) - The next act (12:30) - Buying the vineyard (15:37) - Fear is motivating (17:59) - Opening night (22:03) - Tongue cancer (27:56) - “OK, let's fix this” (31:10) - Selling experience (38:32) - The table plate (42:40) - Feeling full (44:14) - Next Restaurant and Tock (49:33) - Being still (51:19) - Nate Staniforth's lottery illusion (56:57) - The magic restaurant (01:02:29) - Being misunderstood (01:07:44) - Working via email (01:11:43) - “Enemies” (01:18:23) - Who Nick is hiring and what “grit” means to him Mentioned in this episode: Mike Gamson, Shaquille O'Neal, Jeff Kaplan, Steve Bernacki, Robin Anil, Grant Achatz, OpenTable, American Express, The Big Lebowski, The New York Times, eGullet, Gourmet Magazine, Roger Ebert, Eddie van Halen, Goodfellas, The Devil Wears Prada, Batman, the Chicago Bears, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Bavette's and Brendan Sodikoff, Pablo Picasso, Chef's Table, Google, Brian Fitzpatrick, Finding Real Magic, David Blaine, Mark Cuban, Mark Caro, Chicago Magazine, John Mariani, Cat Cora, Homaro Cantu, Dave Portnoy, Pete Wells, and Eric Asimov.Links:Connect with NickTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Eli Sussman grew up in the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods. After graduating from Berkley High School, MSU's James Madison College felt like a natural next step.  “One of the great things about James Madison is that the classes are small, and the conversation is lively,” says Sussman. “I thrived in that atmosphere.”  Perhaps that's because lively conversation has always been part of his life. Family was important in the Sussman house, and eating dinner together was a central component in the lives of his large circle.   Sussman says it was a long journey from an interest in politics to an interest in food. He always had cooking jobs to make money and worked at Lou and Harry's in East Lansing as a line cook. “I loved it,” he says. “It was so fun because there was great comradery. It was a hard job, but it spoke to me. The fire was lit at Lou and Harry's.”  After graduation and a study abroad experience at a music management and public relations firm in London, Sussman put this burgeoning interest in cooking aside and moved to Los Angeles to work in the music industry for five years.   “I was enjoying cooking on the weekends more than I was enjoying the weekdays at my desk,” he says. “At the time, the music business was transitioning away from CDs to digital downloads, and my brother, who was a chef in New York City, said to me ‘just come here and try it. You can always return to the music industry if you decide you don't like cooking.'  “I started back at the beginning and became a prep line cook. I knew instantaneously that I had made the right decision and that I would never return to the music industry.”  Sussman's latest project is a neighborhood bistro in Prospect Heights Brooklyn called Gertrude's that features Jewish and French influences. Eli's 7-layer kosher chocolate cake, inspired by the Jewish bakeries around Metro Detroit that he loved growing up, took on “a life of its own.” It was selected as one of The New York Times Top 8 Dishes of 2023 by food critic Pete Wells. “It's a nice way to tie my Michigan roots to a New York restaurant.”  In addition to going viral with his chocolate cake, Sussman now hosts the popular “Talkinin the WalkIn,” a video series in which Sussman interviews chefs in a restaurant's walk-in fridge.  “The optimal place in the restaurant where people go to hide or get away is the walk-in,” he says. “This is where the meat and potatoes of your thinking happens. The setting tends to lead to compelling conversations.”  Sussman encourages today's students to “be open to the idea that maybe the first thing you've chosen doesn't have to be the be-all end-all. You have many opportunities to reinvent yourself and start over. Focus on what excites you now. And if you don't know what that is yet, that's OK.”   Soon,Sussman will have a presence in Michigan in the form of Italian-American cuisine. Alo's, a joint venture with his brother, is slated for 2025 opening in Ann Arbor.    “Even though I haven't lived in Michigan since I was 18, I am a major advocate for Michigan; it's a huge part of my identity,” he says. “People sleep on how wonderful Michigan is as a produce state—we have incredible farms. My brother and I are really excited about using our restaurant to showcase that Michigan produce is the best in America.”   Conversation Highlights: (0:43) – Eli on growing up in suburban Detroit and why he chose MSU for college. (2:31) – Describe your journey from politics to the music industry to the culinary world. And how did your study abroad experience play into the process? (9:01) – How and when do you dive into the food world in New York City? (13:03) – How did your MSU and James Madison College experience impact you? (18:39) – How would you describe the fare you enjoy cooking for people to enjoy at Gertrude's? (21:18) – What is Talkin in the Walkin, and how did it come about? Why is cooking like being in college? (25:35) – Why do you enjoy “punching up” at the Michelin culture that exists in parts of the hospitality industry? (28:07) – What's your advice for students today regardless of what they want to do? What two major mistakes do you feel you made? (30:48) – What motivates you and gets you up and going every day? (32:44) – Tell us about your plans to open a restaurant in Ann Arbor. Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

I'd like to cordially welcome you to the second annual LA Food Pod Holiday Party!  Father Sal and I are joined by our favorite New York-based podcast ho ho hosts, Nancy DaSilva and Bits Nicholas of Compliments to the Chef, for a jolly ole time discussing what's hot in the Big Apple, what we make of the premature closure of Frog Club, the quixotic restaurant helmed by Liz Johnson of Horses on Sunset fame, and we each bring a holiday cocktail to the table to hopefully inspire you to do some festive drinking of your own, dear listener. We close things off with an historic LA Food Pod Holiday Quiz - will Father Sal be able to secure the crown for Los Angeles, or will the interlopers from New York escape with the dub? Stay tuned to find out.  In Part 2, we're joined by Marc Rose and Med Abrous, the co-owners of Call Mom Hosptialtiy Group. Their restaurant Genghis Cohen is one of the hottest tickets in town on any given Christmas, so much so, that they refer to it as their Super Bowl. Marc and Med join us to talk about how their restaurant handles the holiday, and, as the owners of La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills, we also discuss how they approach taking over legacy spaces in a way that both honors their history, while ushering them into a new era.  Helpful Links: Compliments to the Chef Pod https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/compliments-to-the-chef/id1727777167 Compliments to the Chef on IG https://www.instagram.com/complimentstothechef_pod/ Pete Wells on Frog Club https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/10/dining/frog-club-nyc-closes.html Vox on Crumbl https://www.vox.com/money/389782/crumbl-cookies-tiktok-viral-consumption Genghis Cohen https://www.genghiscohen.com/ La Dolce Vita https://www.ladolcevitabeverlyhills.com/ Call Mom Hospitality Group https://www.didyoucallmom.com/ McConnell's / Genghis Cohen collab https://www.instagram.com/p/DDupoqDyCd_/?img_index=1 -- Go check out The Lonely Oyster in Echo Park! ⁠https://thelonelyoyster.com/⁠ – Get 10% off at House of Macadamias using code "LAFOOD" https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thelafoodpodcast/support

There are many ways we define American culture: the music, art and literature we produce, how our politics plays out, but also: the food we eat, and where we choose to eat it. In New York City in particular, each bite has chronicled that slice of America. But now, after countless restaurants and hundreds of reviews, Pete Wells is moving on from his job as the New York Times restaurant critic. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

There are many ways we define American culture: the music, art and literature we produce, how our politics plays out, but also: the food we eat, and where we choose to eat it. In New York City in particular, each bite has chronicled that slice of America. But now, after countless restaurants and hundreds of reviews, Pete Wells is moving on from his job as the New York Times restaurant critic. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

The Golden Steer Steakhouse, established in 1958, is Las Vegas’s oldest continuously operating steakhouse. It has been a favored dining spot for numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe. The restaurant is renowned for its classic ambiance, featuring red leather booths named after its famous patrons, tuxedoed servers, and tableside preparations of Caesar salads and flambéed desserts.One diner once said, “The Golden Steer feels like the soul of Las Vegas.” Nick McMillan and Amanda Signorelli are the managing partners of the Golden Steer. Nick & Amanda took over as managing partners in 2018. Amanda's father, Dr. Michael Signorelli, purchased the Golden Steer in 2001. Nick has spent his career building companies in both the technology and food industries. Amanda's background is in the tech industry.Nick and Amanda created a mail order offering called Goldbelly in 2020 as a way to offset the impact of lost sales during COVID. The online sales continue today with a variety of high end seasonings and compound butters.Customer service and hospitality is a key part of the Golden Steer brand and they live that philosophy every day. It includes simple things like answering phones with a human voice, which Golden Steer has hired staff members to do.  The Golden Steer has worked hard to build its social media presence, becoming one of the most viewed steakhouses on TikTok and using the channel to create offers that drive traffic to the restaurant.  QUOTES “I'm born and raised in Las Vegas and my father purchased the restaurant back in 2001. He did it because he loved the legacy and the story and it was something that was near and true to his heart as it is to many Vegas natives.” (Amanda) “Our longest tenured server is a gentleman named Venko who's been with us almost 40 years. We've calculated that he's made somewhere in the ballpark of 375,000 Caesar salads in his career.” (Nick)  “It's a ton of fun when Venko's making your Caesar salad. You'll definitely hear some stories about old Vegas for sure.” (Nick)  “We're one of the most – if not THE most – viral restaurants in America on TikTok.” (Amanda)  “We're in a strip mall. A lot of times folks say ‘When I first drove up I didn't think I was in the right spot.' But then you walk inside and it's like a little time capsule back to old Vegas.” (Nick)  “We look at ourselves as stewards of this brand that has survived six decades plus and we hope to celebrate another six decades.” (Nick)  “To quote Steve Wynn, ‘People make people happy.” We really try to embrace that.” (Nick)   TRANSCRIPT 00:01.94vigorbrandingHello, welcome to Fork Tales. I’m Michael Pavone, and we’re really excited about this episode. This is gonna be a fun story. There’s a list, obviously, of truly legendary restaurants right in in the United States, but the Golden Steer in Las Vegas is one of those restaurants. it’s It’s the oldest continually operating steakhouse in Las Vegas, and our guests today are Nick McMillan and Amanda Signorelli. I’m Italian, so I got that right, right? 00:29.18Nick _ AmandaNailed it. 00:29.73vigorbrandingyeah Okay. So the managing partners, the Golden Steer, the Golden Steer is a steak house that became a regular stop of Frank Sinatra Elvis and many others. There are rumors of secret doors. We’ll talk about that. And, you know, as one diner once said, the Golden Steer feels like the soul of Las Vegas. So ah Nick, Amanda, welcome to the show. 00:49.07Nick _ AmandaWell, thank you, Michael, for for having us. It’s fabulous to be here. It’s a wonderful morning ah out here in Las Vegas. And we’re certainly looking forward to chatting with you a little bit and telling you about the Golden Steer. 01:00.62Nick _ AmandaThank you. 01:00.87vigorbrandingFantastic. Fantastic. So the question is for both of you guys. Tell us a little about yourselves and how you came to be a part of the Golden Steer Steakhouse brand. And I guess there’s like a love story or something else in there too, right? 01:13.37Nick _ AmandaThere it A little bit of everything. 01:14.54vigorbrandingOkay. 01:15.92Nick _ Amandaah So I’m born and raised in Las Vegas, fabulous Vegas. And my father actually purchased the restaurant back in 2001. And he did it because he loved the legacy and the story. And it was something that was really true and dear to his heart as it is with many Vegas natives. Now I left Vegas and went out to Chicago where I met this lovely, charming gentleman. And at some point I said, hey, 01:38.76Nick _ Amandawhy don’t we jump in and since you are got a bit of a background on the culinary side and I’m on the kind of data and marketing side why don’t we put our heads together and jump back in and return to Vegas and give it a shot. 01:50.74vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. That’s awesome. Nick, you made breakfast somewhere along the line for her. Is that how you, the culinary side? 01:54.75Nick _ AmandaYou know I tried I burned some boiling water but Yeah, originally from the Chicago area, I actually spent most of my career in the technology space. 02:06.21Nick _ Amandai But the interesting wrinkle is that I studied in Rome when I was in college and really fell in love. 02:11.53vigorbrandingAwesome. 02:12.27Nick _ AmandaOf course, the Europeans have such a different relationship with food and dining. And I came back to the States. I thought I wanted to move into the culinary hospitality world. 02:24.22Nick _ AmandaSo I did culinary school. My cousin owned a restaurant in Chicago that I cooked in his kitchen for a while. But ultimately said, you know, this is crazy. Who in the right mind would ever want to own a restaurant and left? the way I went back to the software world. The margins are much better and never really anticipated coming back to it. And then, and then, yeah, we met in and Chicago and We got married in 2018 and I sold the tech offer for my last business and had some some time and her father called and said, hey, I need you guys to so either take over the restaurant or I’m going to think about selling it. 02:59.30Nick _ Amandaand So we looked at each other and said, but let’s do it for a year. Right. Let’s do it for a year. 03:04.58vigorbrandingYeah, give it a try. 03:05.72Nick _ AmandaWe’ll kick ourselves. There’s such an iconic story and and history to to the place. So that year started March 1st of 2019. And of course, a year later, the the world changed with COVID. And so now here we are. 03:21.83vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. So I mean, are obviously Vegas has a storied history, all kinds of neat and maybe some bad background stuff. And your steakhouse has kind of been in the center of it all, hasn’t it? I mean, yeah if I remember, I think it’s like almost three different, ah sort of, I’ll say, historical chapters. So you had, didn’t you have people coming from California, ah coming out through the West, maybe to hunt? And the restaurant was a part of that. Can you talk about that a little bit? 03:48.00Nick _ AmandaYeah, so we first consider ourselves, and you nailed it, we really think about it as stages and horizons of history, which is really wonderfully wonderful to see how the restaurant itself has absorbed it. So the very first one was, we called ourselves the period of the Wild Wild West, friendly for the Cowboys. We were truly a Western frontier restaurant, which was a bit more technical back then. What would happen is the Cowboys would come in from all these different places around the world. They’d come to Nevada, they’d go on the mountains, whatever they shot and killed, they’d bring in, it would be our responsibility to clean, prep, serve, and cook all those things for whoever had them. And so you have a lot of iterations of rattlesnake game, things like that on the menu, but very much Wild West cowboy lore. And so that’s what we started as. And then the second phase of that was as Vegas matured and went from being a saloon-style town to something a bit more elevated, we decided as a city to dominate the entertainment space, which led us to what we like to call the showman era. And so with the showman era, that’s where you have Sammy Davis Jr. 04:45.14Nick _ Amandaah me monroe you’ve got frank sinatra You’ve got all these iconic, amazing celebrities and talents who are coming through Las Vegas, putting their foot on the ground and saying, let’s own this, let’s create it. And during that time, while they were out and performing for everyone else, they’d come back at night and dine at the Golden Steer. And we’ve actually got stories of patrons who said, oh, I remember my father and my grandfather used to come to the Steer because Frank Sinatra would get up on a table drinking whiskey, smoking a cigar and serenading the rest of the restaurant. 05:11.08Nick _ Amandajust really amazing moments that you wish you could see. Of course, when you’ve got the showmen and you’ve got the glitz and glam, you very quickly have the seedy underbelly, which ends up being the mob style. 05:14.47vigorbrandingYeah. 05:21.27Nick _ AmandaAnd so where all the fabulous flashy people come, mob’s there. And that is not surprising, especially when it started with someone like Tony Spalato, who came from the hole in the wall gang. And he made his mark in his business in Las Vegas, as he liked to call a jewelry shop. 05:35.18Nick _ AmandaI think of him more as a pawn shop because everything he had, you stole from a celebrity. You could just buy it back. So he began in Vegas and brought the rest of his um friends, we’ll call them lovingly, to this year to have meetings. And that began the mob period where they spent a ton of time here. It led to the mob room. We had the MatriD trying to exchange and make sure that we had the right mob partners not sitting right next to each other or in different rooms if we needed to. And it created quite a different ambiance. 06:02.56vigorbrandingit’s It’s amazing. And it’s really, I mean, again, so I can say this I’m Italian. So I’m always the old mob is I mean, I, i wrote you know, I think the greatest business movie ever made was a Godfather. And I swear by that, I think that is the best business movie ever made. 06:14.88vigorbrandingAnd so and the greatest movie ever made. So I love all of that, that, that, that mystique. I’ve been to your restaurant and the food is phenomenal. 06:21.44Nick _ Amandait 06:24.74vigorbrandingI’m not pandering. It really is phenomenal. 06:26.86Nick _ Amandathank you 06:26.94vigorbrandingBut you almost get that vibe when you walk in there, like with the brown booze and you have the other people’s names owner who used to hang out there. 06:32.06Nick _ Amandaand 06:32.49vigorbrandingum It’s just, it’s amazing. So you you had obviously all the showmen, you know, the whole brat pack was there. I know that there you have the picture behind you. ah But you also had celebrities like Joe DiMaggio, right? You had, I think it was Ali there. I mean, I think you had lots and lots of sports figures. I mean, I guess anybody that popped in Vegas, how’d he go to the Golden Steer? 06:48.32Nick _ AmandaThank you. Muhammad Ali ah celebrated his birthday here. Mario Andretti, yes, Joe DiMaggio, some more local folks. So, the comedian of Entroqua is Terry Fader. And then my favorite, one of my favorite stories, of course, is Mr. William Baxter. So, William Baxter is ah is a famous, for a number of reasons, one, ah very, very successful professional poker player. 07:17.87Nick _ Amandaum but also very so very well known because he sued the United States federal ah federal government in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court and he argued that poker is a game of skill and not a game of chance. 07:30.68vigorbrandingOkay. Hmm. 07:33.60Nick _ Amandaand so And that it should be taxed as income instead of gambling winnings. Gambling winnings are taxed higher than income is. 07:38.95vigorbrandingHigher. Yep. 07:40.44Nick _ Amandaah He ultimately won it and permanently recategorized poker winnings for for players across the country. And so just, ah I think it’s a great example of kind of the Vegas stories that you find here um that are that fly a little bit below the radar. 07:52.87vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah, it’s it’s crazy. And again, so much history, yeah you know, I think evolve. And it makes sense, right? Like we talked about like the the mob and stuff like that. Well, in every movie, I mean, you know, they got to go somewhere that’s sort of like a neutral ground, right? Where they’re, you know, they’re not going to be talking in the inside the casino or, you know, their hideout. So they’re gonna, they’re gonna go someplace where there’s ah other people and all that. And the Golden Steer was sort of like a centerpiece for that, wasn’t it? 08:23.81Nick _ AmandaIt was and actually it worked that we’re having this conversation from the mob room. So this is one of the private rooms that we have in the restaurant where they like to come in and dine and enjoy because it was it was separate and so they could have some candid conversations. 08:28.11vigorbrandingOh, there you go. ye 08:40.00Nick _ Amandaalso very close to a back hallway that we had so that they could ah sneak in and out as they needed to because one of the other booths that we have is Ralph Lamb and Ralph Lamb was very well known sheriff here in Vegas in the the at at the same time as the mob so he was kind of chasing them around and so there was certainly times that that one or both were coming in and required ah a quick getaway or a discreet exit and so that’s why they love to to kind of sit and dine in here in the mob room. 09:12.77vigorbrandingThat’s great. So we won’t talk too much about the mob, although I do love the mistake, but so this, yeah we can go to, let’s, let’s talk about like, you know, I know you don’t serve burgers anymore, but, but you said in in past interviews, I guess Elvis had had his last burger at the golden steer. 09:26.63Nick _ AmandaWell, I think he had the last burger that we served at the Golden Steer. I’m sure he had burgers after that. 09:30.40vigorbrandingOkay. 09:31.71Nick _ AmandaBut yeah, we used to do a little transition from the mob. 09:31.79vigorbrandingOkay. Oh no, we’re not saying he didn’t get poisoned there. No, no, no, no, no. You just had, yeah, I would have very clear on that. 09:39.04Nick _ AmandaWe had to make sure that we were clear about it. Um, no, he, he used to come in, he would sit at the, at the bar and and enjoy a burger. And then as you know, his, his fame continued to rise. He transitioned to sitting in, he has a beautiful, probably one of the best corner booths in the restaurant where he would sit and transition from burgers to, to steaks. And so at that point we decided, all right, no more, no more burgers on the menu. 10:05.00Nick _ Amandaand and and to this day have still not served a burger since Office of Time. 10:10.03vigorbrandingThat’s great. So, okay, you guys joined the the Golden Steer 2018, then COVID came around, obviously, and probably created a havoc for everybody, like it did everybody else. I know how it affected the restaurant industry. But you guys, i’ve been I’ve been to your website, you guys are doing mail order, things like that, too. Is that right? So we’re gonna talk a little bit about that and some of the thinking that you put behind that. 10:30.50Nick _ AmandaYeah, absolutely. So when COVID first hit, we both looked at each other and credit to Nick. He was really early on in this. We were actually planning for COVID in the December of the year prior. So we were looking out and thinking that there was going to be something that changed the restaurant dramatically. It was a question of what and how, and more importantly, how long. And so a lot of restaurants we’re looking at, do we do a to-go option? But the reality is our restaurant is on the strip. 10:53.31Nick _ Amandawith the world being shut down. We don’t have anybody here. Even if we wanted to deliver, given the radius, by the time the product got there to most of the suburbs that are going to be 20, 30 minutes away, the product and integrity and quality was going to be disastrous. So it did not make sense for us to try that. The other element, when you look at the actual nature of our business at the time, the predominant share of our customer base actually came from outside of Nevada. And so we said, all right, so most of our customers that we need to be able to get to aren’t here. Let’s ship to them. 11:19.84Nick _ AmandaFortunately, in a prior life, I had run a company and was good friends with some folks that had started a shipping company that was on Foodside and that was Home Chef. Nick also had his first company, which was Right Bites. 11:30.63Nick _ AmandaSo he also had an idea of how to do shipping. So we looked at each other and said, let’s give it a go. So we went live on Goldbelly, which was May 19th, sold out of our inventory with one email in about two weeks. 11:38.00vigorbrandingMm hmm. 11:43.08Nick _ AmandaSo there’s something there. Let’s turn it on and run with it for a bit. Fast forward to November of that same year, and we ended up taking it in-house and selling ourselves on Shopify and building that out. 11:52.01vigorbrandingThat’s great. 11:52.22Nick _ AmandaWow, we’ve been able to double that business pretty much year over year. And interestingly enough, that business is actually a seasoning company first and a state company second. 12:00.39vigorbrandingWow. Good for you. Well, I mean, there was the mail order stakes before, right? 12:02.46Nick _ Amandathere was states 12:04.20vigorbrandingPeople had that. That’s something that, you know, existed. So, uh, which that’s great. And it’s good to still have that, but the seasonings are, that’s what makes you guys special, you know? 12:12.82Nick _ AmandaIt’s a ton of, and it was, you know, something, you know, we’ve, so Sergio sees, so Sergio is our master butcher. He’s been with us for almost, almost four decades at this point. 12:23.22vigorbrandingWow. 12:23.37Nick _ AmandaAnd he, over the years has developed a seasoning blend in it. We use it on steaks in the restaurant. But it really came, we so during COVID, we did virtual private dining, which was we had all these conventions cancel, all these corporations that looked to do virtual events. 12:38.93Nick _ AmandaAnd so we we had our iteration of that, which is we would send a box of ingredients for a three-course meal. So our world-famous Caesar salad, rib eyes, the cream corn, twice baked potato, and then, of course, the bananas foster. 12:53.11Nick _ AmandaYou can’t forget, a little taste is sweet at the end. 12:54.34vigorbrandingnope yep 12:55.78Nick _ AmandaBut one of the items was Sergio seasoning. And as we did more of these events, and we did them for folks like Dell and Cisco and NASA and Second Watch, people started asking, like hey, this Sergio seasoning, can we can we buy this separately? And so a light bulb went off, and it was I think a year and a half after we first started selling steaks that we then allowed folks to to buy and and brought the Sergio seasoning to market, which then kicked off a line of seasonings, and now we have a line of compound and flavored butters that we also ship out as well. So it’s been a real like evolution of that online piece that you know I don’t think, um without COVID, I i mean, we we probably would have exported a little bit, but it was really a driver and catalyst for you know expanding into that online space. 13:43.94vigorbrandingYeah, I mean, it’s brilliant. And look, you know, necessity is the mother of invention, right? You guys, I know restaurants are hard and it can be a daily grind, you know, whether you have one or 50 or for franchisee, franchisor to then start an online, really, in a way, a CPG business, right? i mean e-commerce business, it’s a whole other world and it’s a whole other venue. So it’s really kind of cool that you were able to have the energy, the fortitude and the desire to drive that way. That’s that’s awesome and kudos to you guys for doing that. 14:14.81Nick _ AmandaAnd that is, I, you know, Amanda has really taken that by the horns and driven that um to an amazing extent. 14:14.89vigorbrandingum 14:24.40Nick _ AmandaI think it’s it’s wild. I mean, it’s been it’s been a long journey, right? we’re We’re almost four years in, but it’s been exciting to see kind of how that has evolved and changed. um Because it is. 14:35.21Nick _ AmandaIt’s an entirely different world. 14:36.55vigorbrandingSure. 14:37.18Nick _ AmandaThe digital ad space is, um is ah of course, massive. um And so it’s been it’s been fun to to kind of lean into that. And it’s to see where the two have fed off of each other, I think, is is very exciting for us. 14:53.69Nick _ AmandaAnd so as an example of that, It used to be two sister brands. So we had Golden Steer Las Vegas as one of the domains and then Golden Steer State Company. And it was only in March of this year that we kind of brought it all under one umbrella. 15:06.96vigorbrandingSure. 15:07.41Nick _ AmandaIt’s goldensteer dot.com, which really we saw a lot of benefits in and value to it, which has been it. 15:10.93vigorbrandingOf course. Yeah, I mean, it’s that’s super smart. I mean, this all came about like Fork Tales, this podcast all came about because we have we have an agency. My background is is advertising marketing and we have a holding company and in our company, we created different brands. And one is Quench, which is CPG food and beverage. When we were doing that, people would come and say, hey, 15:32.60vigorbrandingYou should you know market our restaurant or do you do restaurants and. Everyone thinks well restaurants food and beverage right so it’s the same as cpg but it’s not and you guys know that cause you’ve done both so. We created vigor or you know take on and a brand called vigor which is a restaurant. 15:49.99vigorbrandingbranding and marketing agency and they are very different. I did it because they’re different. and We have different skill sets in there and you know it’s retail and the speed of retail in the restaurant side and CPG is just a different animal. 16:02.86vigorbrandingSo I mean it’s a yeah it’s it’s ah um kudos to you guys again for doing both. 16:06.33Nick _ Amandato go. 16:08.20vigorbrandingI see that a lot because we’ll have a lot of folks on that’ll be ah they’ll they’ll start with ah a food product, a CPG and they’ll create restaurants from it. or they’ll have a restaurant and then things will emanate off of it. 16:19.82vigorbrandingYou know, we just did a thing with Guy Fieri ah with his sauces. We just did a thing with, I’m trying to think who else was, it doesn’t matter. But we’ve we’ve had a lot of these guys, a home run in is another one who’s started out as a restaurant and and now they’re, you know, yeah. 16:33.66Nick _ Amandaoh yeah ah 16:36.53vigorbrandingthey’re phenomenal pizza, right? So it’s really kind of neat to see these evolutions and how they grow. So well thank goodness that the whole industry of the conventions is back. and I’m sure that’s great for you guys. In fact, i’m i and believe it or not, I’m not just saying this, we have 15 people coming in to your restaurant. I think it’s in October. If that reservation is not made, we have ah one of our companies and our holding company is a company called Varsity, which is senior living. We have we market and brand retirement communities around the country. 17:06.78vigorbrandingAnd there is a, ah the acronym is SMASH. I’m not sure exactly what it stands for, but they’re having a convention in Vegas. And so we’re bringing a bunch of clients ah to the restaurant. 17:16.97Nick _ AmandaThank you. 17:17.92vigorbrandingYeah. Yeah. So I’ll have to make sure they get the bananas foster. 17:18.87Nick _ AmandaWe’ll see you. 17:22.79vigorbrandingSo, oh yeah. 17:22.81Nick _ Amandait’s the bottom one 17:24.05vigorbrandingBut now the stay on the let’s say when you’re Caesar Salads killer, I was at the restaurant and the gentleman at the serve, they talk about him a little bit. 17:31.84Nick _ AmandaYeah, so our longest tenured server, a gentleman named Banco who’s been with us for also almost 40 years, and we calculated that we think that he’s made somewhere in the ballpark of 375,000 Caesar salads in his career. 17:50.13Nick _ AmandaUh, so it’s, it’s, he, and he tell, he tells some wonderful stories. 17:50.59vigorbrandingyeah 17:55.52Nick _ AmandaHe’s been in Vegas for a long, long time and has met some incredible people. And, you know, one of them, most interestingly, coming back to kind of the the mob era. 18:06.14Nick _ AmandaSo Tony Spelatro. Camino talked about his his jewelry store. It was right next to the Golden Steer, which is why he would come in. And one of it the gentlemen on his henchmen team was Frank Colada. And Frank Colada, there is a ton of stories and books and podcasts about him. 18:24.98Nick _ Amandaum because he yeah actually was ah an informant and went into witness protection for a long time and then came out of it and he would still after he came out he would still come in and dine at the Golden Steer and Vanco was the only server that he would that he would really allow to to wait on him and so they had a they had a special relationship and Vanco yeah has some tremendous stories and It’s still with us. 18:48.76Nick _ AmandaWe are grateful um through through all of the ah the craziness of COVID remained with us and and is a treasured part of of the team. And we are not just him, but we have a tremendous team. 19:00.25Nick _ AmandaBut it’s a ton of fun when Van Gogh is making your season salad. You’ll definitely hear some stories about Old Vegas for sure. 19:04.81vigorbrandingYeah, ah it’s it’s super cool. Like I said, I absolutely loved ah my time there. and And you were not there, but he was so that, you know, he he was there. 19:13.26Nick _ Amandayeah 19:14.38vigorbrandingthen We got the Caesar and, you know, it was it was a phenomenal. So and the whole like the whole mistake. And what’s really cool and and you I should say for anybody who’s interested in in in checking out the the the restaurant, you know, we think about Vegas and restaurants like there’s these big casinos and all the restaurants in the casinos. 19:30.51vigorbrandingYou guys are not in a casino. I mean, you’re old Vegas, you’re on the strip, right? 19:34.33Nick _ AmandaWe are, our address is not technically on the strip. We are about a half a block or a block off the strip, but we’re in a strip mall. 19:41.22vigorbrandingYeah. 19:41.54Nick _ AmandaAnd so a lot of times we get feet, like folks drive up and they say like, when I first drove up, I don’t, I didn’t think that I was in the right spot. 19:46.04vigorbrandingYeah. 19:50.61Nick _ AmandaUm, because, you know, we talk about all this history and everyone that’s come in and you drive up and it’s a strip mall. 19:55.88vigorbrandingright 19:56.10Nick _ AmandaUh, but then you walk inside and it’s like a little time capsule back to old Vegas. We still have, you know, 20:00.15vigorbrandingyeah 20:01.01Nick _ AmandaWe still have the carpets and the dining rooms and the popcorn ceilings and a lot of the elements that make, that kind of transport people back to to that time. And so, um but yeah, and we’ve always been in this location, ah you know, 66 years. And you can think about, back to Amanda’s story about the frontier days. 20:23.72Nick _ Amandayou can kind of see it when you come here like this is not you know there was the old strip down on Fremont and then some of the kind of the new hotels were being built in the 50s and 60s but this was kind of just a little bit off the beaten path and so there were hitching posts and it’s easy to see how folks would you know go and hunt in the wilderness which was not that far from where we currently are but now of course today it’s it’s a much different story Vegas has seen some tremendous growth but 20:42.38vigorbrandingRight. 20:47.30vigorbrandingYeah. 20:48.45Nick _ Amandaah But yeah, it’s a ton of fun when folks come in for the first time and kind of look at themselves at the outside like, are we at the right spot? And then walk in and a whole different world. 20:56.76vigorbrandingyeah Well, the way you explained it was absolutely 100% my experience. Because when I went out there, I think I took an Uber, and you know how sometimes Ubers you put an address in and you’re like, well, this doesn’t look right. I did the old, well, this doesn’t look right. And then I was like, wait, wait, no, there’s, oh, yep, yep, yeah, we’re right, okay, great. And walked in and it was like, to your point, it’s like ah Oz, right? You open the door and there you are. And so I think anybody that goes to Vegas, you know, the the mystique, the history, all that stuff is so important and so cool. and You know, I just need to go to, uh, you know, anybody can go to the wind or whatever, which they’re all fine. 21:26.30vigorbrandingThey’re all great. But I mean, like to go out and see your place is like, it’s like going to a museum. and And then, but then on top of it, the food is as good as anything you’re going to get anywhere, if not better as far as a steak. So I just think you have such a cool vibe going and, uh, kudos. 21:38.08Nick _ AmandaWell, thank you. yeah you know and it’s And especially this year, it’s bittersweet, right? So the Tropicana is in the process of being torn down. 21:43.48vigorbrandingYeah. 21:45.67Nick _ AmandaAnd and it’s a remind. What’s that? The Mirage. The Mirage, of course, is you know the first hotel that Steve Wynn built from the ground up is is also in the process of being demolished. 21:49.01vigorbrandingYeah. 21:55.82Nick _ AmandaSo it’s exciting. the The town has seen tremendous growth. And I think the um the community has benefited from it greatly. But it’s also a little bittersweet because these icons of the past kind of are continuing to to transition. 22:06.50vigorbrandingYeah. 22:08.96Nick _ AmandaAnd so we we look at ourselves and we think, and we talk about it a lot with the team, that we feel like stewards of this brand that has managed to survive you know six decades plus, and that we you know hopefully would love to celebrate another six decades. 22:25.51vigorbrandingSure. 22:25.95Nick _ AmandaPast this so it’s been you know, the town is is is wild. it’s It’s been really great um But yeah, they’re it’s kind of always in that transition period 22:36.05vigorbrandingThat’s funny. I mean, it’s really ah yeah it’s ah it’s an amazing kind of thing. And just to have that history is just it’s a treasure to your point. So a lot of the restaurants will claim that, you know, they focus on hospitality, but very few do it well. What’s your secret? How do you make it real and make sure that your staff brings that, you know, to life every day? 22:54.75Nick _ AmandaIt’s a great, way it you know, I’m from, or like I said, I’m originally from the tech world. And so it’s been, um, It’s been phenomenal to see just, I think, just want to talk about for a second. I think the, the work ethic and, uh, the quality of people that are in the industry is tremendous. Um, and I think, you know, people really that are in this, like have a passion for, for it. And I think Vegas itself is unique in that. Uh, and I think it, it starts with people. Um, I think to quote Steve, when he always said that, you know, that people make people happy. Uh, and I think we really try to embrace that. 23:32.99Nick _ Amandaum And one, so Pete Wells just retired as the New York Times food critic in his final column. One of the things that he talked about was phones, that a lot of restaurants don’t answer phones anymore. And we do. We actually, ah we get a tremendous number of of inbound phone calls and we’ve hired up folks in the restaurant to be able to try and answer as many of those phone calls as possible with a human voice because we think that that is important. And we, 24:02.19Nick _ AmandaYou know, at the end of the day, we were a family business. There’s not too many family businesses on the Las Vegas Strip. And so we try to bring that warmth and the idea of, you know, folks are coming in to celebrate their most treasured moments, their birthdays, their anniversaries, graduations. 24:21.88Nick _ AmandaIt’s always fun when a local came in for prom and now they’re coming in for, you know, their kids’ graduation or or anything like that that’s multi-generational. 24:27.56vigorbrandingAwesome. 24:30.23Nick _ AmandaAnd so there’s a lot of, ah history that folks have with the restaurant and warmth I think is one of the big pieces that we try to to focus on. I mean there’s the there’s the tactical ah you know the steps of service and all of those pieces but we really try and say how do we make people feel feel good and feel happy feel welcomed if If something is wrong, if there is a miss on food, um we will you know either replace it or take it out late. We do everything that we can to ensure a great experience because we know that folks are coming in to to celebrate celebrate those special moments. so 25:08.31Nick _ AmandaWe really try and focus on the people first. ah We have a tremendous, tremendous staff um that I think enjoys the history and kind of being a part of that stewardship of ah a legacy brand. And it’s a ton of fun. And I think we are We are fortunate that we have had folks that have been with us for a long time to kind of keep that, like a, like a Vanko and a Sergio over the decades that have seen the ebb and flow of the city, that have seen the ebb and flow of the restaurant and have some, ah you know, a foot kind of in the old Vegas hospitality that folks like to to reminisce about. 25:34.68vigorbrandingwho 25:47.75Nick _ AmandaAnd so we try and and bring that and make that real, ah you know, day in and day out, which is, which is a fun, a fun and interesting challenge as a part of the restaurant industry. 25:57.16vigorbrandingYeah I mean we’ll like you know okay so and I’m not saying everyone can do it well but anyone can make a steak you know I can go home and grill a steak but if I go to your restaurant I’m gonna get it I’m gonna get a phenomenal but really it is about that whole experience right and those people become they’re part of the brand like we I said I did have the Uh, uh, your gentlemen, Benko, I guess is his name that did you make my, so my salad was phenomenal. I mean, and that was part of the whole, the whole deal and and and part of the romance of the whole place. So, uh, I think that’s, that’s phenomenal. So now talking about special moments last year, you guys purchased a thousand square foot of adjoining space. You’re expanding for the first time in 50 years. Um, now you you have a classic look architecturally, how hard is that to do? And what is the, what are what are you going to do with that space? It’s just tables. You can do more banquets. Is it, you know, talk a little bit about that. 26:43.00Nick _ AmandaYeah, so we opened it. um And it it was exciting. It was the first time in 50 years. And to Amanda’s point, in the restaurant, you could see the evolution over the six decades because the the the current bar that exists today was the last expansion that we did in the 70s. And so it was it was fun to to take on this bra of of you know this first expansion in 50 years. So we opened it last November right before F1. 27:10.62Nick _ AmandaAnd it is additional dining space, but also mainly with a focus on large parties and private dining, which is a tremendous part of ah Vegas now with with all of the social parties that come in and of course all of the conventions. 27:16.19vigorbrandingGreat. 27:20.66vigorbrandingSure. 27:25.69Nick _ Amandaand and we kept We kept everything as, you know, it was very inspired, of course, by the existing space. So ah wood paneling, which is a huge part of the existing restaurant or the the original restaurant, it was kept. The carpet is the same. We kept the popcorn ceiling. So its it was a very fun conversation with our designer and architects before we even started construction. 27:53.76Nick _ AmandaWe walked through the existing space to to kind of get some ah design ideas. And we were talking about the ceilings. And I was like, well, of course we have to keep the popcorn ceilings because we have the popcorn ceilings in the existing space. And our designer looked at us and she’s like, you know, I’ve taken a lot of popcorn ceilings out in my career, but I’ve never actually had a clock that wanted to put them in. And, you know, of course, would it be our first choice if we were just, you know, starting from scratch? Maybe not. 28:19.14Nick _ Amandaah But it’s a part of the history and kind of the rounded coving of where the walls meet the ceiling is a part of that. 28:19.44vigorbrandingThat’s it. 28:27.28vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. 28:27.44Nick _ AmandaAnd so all of those pieces that we that we could we took the, you know, we have ah this beautiful um circular soffit that is in the main dining room. And we also created a similar one in one of the the new rooms as well, just to make people continue to feel like this is this is an extension, you know, no different than what the steer has done over the six decades of, you know, continuing to um to kind of grow and do it in a way that that is in harmony with the with the rest of the space. So it’s been and we but to 29:03.30Nick _ Amandaum I guess I’ll just say we were very excited so when we opened it the first night we did a friends and family dinner and the first couple that walked in they gave us a hug and ah she was super excited she’s like oh congratulations on the opening like and we were at this time we we greeted people in the new space so she walked into the new space gave us a hug and she’s like after the hug she’s like all right this is awesome congratulations can we see the new space but she was standing in the new space and asked to see it and really made a smile. 29:32.74Nick _ AmandaAnd that was kind of the goal that folks wouldn’t have any idea that they were standing in a space. 29:34.02vigorbrandingah 29:36.59vigorbrandingYou have to pump like some old cigar smoke in the seat cushions right in the new place. 29:39.18Nick _ AmandaWe didn’t know about that. All right. 29:40.74vigorbrandingyeah 29:41.52Nick _ AmandaThe joke was the mill workers that I was going to have, you know, bring in like four and five year olds with like keys and like socks to like mark up the woodwork to make it look aged. 29:50.06vigorbrandingYeah. That’s awesome. That is awesome. All right. So now I’m going to ask you, that you know, I’ve read that the the steer has the best steaks on earth and I’ve had a phenomenal, absolutely. I concur. um Now you’re the couple that makes the best steaks. I’m going to give you something personal. man I’m going to start with you. ah What’s your favorite cut and how do you like it cooked? 30:08.78Nick _ AmandaThat’s easy, ribeye 100%, absolutely. Medium rare and always with, if I can, I really like our maturity butter. I think we did a great job with it. So I like to put that on top. 30:17.99vigorbrandingWell done. Well done, Nick. 30:22.50Nick _ AmandaWhy, i the our ribeye is our signature cut, 24 ounce bone in. If, and I won’t pick that, but I would say actually the strip loin, our New York strip, our 16 ounce New York strip is is probably my go to now. I think it’s the perfect blend between, you know filet of course is delicious if you’re looking for that, very lean, tender. A ribeye is fantastic, great marbling. 30:46.92Nick _ AmandaA good bite and I think the the strip kind of plays right in between those It’s got good fat for good flavor, but it’s still got some good tenderness. We butcher all of the meat in house. So everyone’s Steak is cut fresh that day which I think really adds to that element of freshness and we wet age everything for a minimum of 28 days to to bring a little tenderization to to the meat and It’s a ton of fun. 31:16.48Nick _ Amandaand We cook, it we we keep it old school. We cook on commercial broilers, uh, that really help us kind of measure the amount of char that we’re getting, uh, you know, based on kind of the, the distance from the heat source. 31:29.86Nick _ AmandaSo it’s a very old school. I think the broiler broiler is as old as Sergio is. 31:34.84vigorbrandingI was going to say evening, bought him a new broiler. 31:35.26Nick _ AmandaUh, 31:37.20vigorbrandingHe’s been there all these years. 31:38.45Nick _ Amandahe likes the old one. 31:38.62vigorbrandingThe guy can, he needs a new broiler. 31:40.40Nick _ AmandaHe likes, he knows how it works. yeah He likes the old one. 31:42.08vigorbrandingThat’s it. That’s awesome. Yeah. That’s great. Now, Amanda uses the butter. What do you, any, anything you’d like to add to your steak? 31:49.44Nick _ AmandaNo, I like to keep it traditional and classic. 31:51.93vigorbrandingSo I’m kind of in between both guys. I’m always a ribeye. I did Devone in at your place, phenomenal. I don’t put anything on my steak. So I just, I’m, and I love ribeyes. I, you know, there’s probably a healthier steak out there. 32:02.72vigorbrandingThey’re filet, but I figure, you know, my deathbed, I’m not going to wish I ate more filets. I’m always going to eat a ribeye. So ribeye and a big bottle of Cabernet or an amaron. 32:07.23Nick _ Amandaah great a hundred 32:10.30vigorbrandingI love amaron lines. Oh, that’s like heaven on earth. I’m hungry. um So, I mean, yeah, so so nothing on your stake. um is is If someone wants to put a catch up, is there any judgment? 32:22.36vigorbrandingHow do we feel about that? 32:22.65Nick _ AmandaThere’s not, there’s not. 32:23.52vigorbrandingNot? 32:23.88Nick _ AmandaAnd I think so for us, that comes back to the hospitality piece, right? 32:24.04vigorbrandingOkay. 32:27.63Nick _ AmandaAt the end of the day, we’re serving you your steak. So if you want ketchup or you want A1 or Heinz 57, or you want it butterflied and well done, ah no no judgment from us. 32:40.62vigorbrandingMm-hmm. 32:41.32Nick _ AmandaWe’re going to prepare it the way that you want, ah which I think is is important because you’re you know you’re coming in to celebrate and so who are we to to to say that you can’t have it that way? 32:51.78vigorbrandingsee see but that’s what we do differ a little bit because I do judge and and I love I love my wife but she’s always well done steaks well done we were we were in Italy and the steak Florentine right and they make their steak Florentine it’s just aged and it’s basically they make it one way they only make it one way and she and you know and very expensive and to your point it’s it’s your your your time your money people should be there she walked in and she asked the waiter she said 32:54.86Nick _ Amandaand Yeah. 33:18.17vigorbrandingI know I probably shouldn’t ask this because they make it well done. He’s like Sure, but I’d rather I’d like to recommend the filet for you. He would not sell her the the t-bone the steak Florentine He would I he’s like I will get you a filet That’s all you’re allowed to have and she was happy that she was okay with but that’s that’s the truth I have one other anecdote like when I started my my illustrious career Like like I and like I think a lot of people did and I think everyone should you start in a restaurant I just think that is like The greatest education anyone can have that and I think everyone should have to sell something like I don’t care if it’s like ah ah subs for your baseball team or Girl Scout. I think everyone should sell something and everyone should work in a restaurant and in my ah my illustrious career. I started out at this restaurant and it was a 34:02.41vigorbrandinga gentleman by the name of Hobart Umberger, and and he he had a restaurant he did very, very well with. He had a bunch of restaurants at one time called Um-ee’s, just a local fair. It wasn’t like, it was like all one-offs. When he was getting ready for retirement, 34:15.31vigorbrandingOr as he aged, he didn’t need money and he didn’t care about serving a million meals. He wanted to make everything by hand by himself. So he created this thing called Hobarts. It was high end, very high end. Hershey, Pennsylvania. So we would get a lot of people in from the factory, a lot of dignitaries, lots ah lots of C-sweep types of folks. He had one bottle of ketchup. One. And it was next to a knife. 34:36.89vigorbrandingin the kitchen next, behind him. And inevitably Hannah was the waitress. I can still picture it like it was a, he’d be, and he did these things, these tornadoes of beef. He would do these center cuts of the filet and he was very proud of those. And inevitably it would be this thing and Hannah would be all nervous and stuff. she open the door in the kitchen. 34:53.71vigorbrandingI was washing dishes, by the way. And she’d be like, Hobart, I don’t want to hear any shit. this I know you’re going to yell. I need to catch up. And he would be like, he’d start throwing stuff. 35:04.41vigorbrandingAnd he’s like hey do and he’d be banging stuff. And he was like, who the hell? And he knew because he made everything by hand. and He made it. He was like, that’s the guy. There’s just sort of the plays. The tornado is a beef. 35:14.76vigorbrandingAnd he’s like, there I’ll be damned if I’m going to have my cake. Anyway, so i I’m glad we had that question. here Because it’s a it’s a thing. 35:20.38Nick _ Amandaah i edit a hundred percent and and but we We like to have these conversations because a lot of folks share your perspective, um and which you know in some sense i can I can understand and empathize with. but i think we I will say to you know to the the story you told about your wife in Italy, 35:40.38Nick _ AmandaWe will recommend, so I think a good example is like the tomahawk. So we we offer a 40 ounce tomahawk and it’s a tomahawk ribeye cut. so it’s that So it has a good amount of fat in it. 35:50.13vigorbrandingOh, yeah. 35:52.39Nick _ AmandaAnd so one of the places that we will do some recommendations is if someone comes in and orders the tomahawk rare, we will maybe suggest like, hey, um, because it’s, if you want it rare, some of that fat is not going to render out. 36:07.65vigorbrandingMm hmm. 36:07.83Nick _ AmandaAnd so it’s going to be a little, it could come across as a little tougher, a little gristly. And so there will be some times that we’ll make some recommendations, but, um, at the end of the day, folks are are ordering what they would like. 36:18.37Nick _ AmandaAnd I think for us, it comes back to that hospitality piece of, you know, we want you to feel warm and welcomed, uh, and I don’t know if you can feel too welcome if you order a captive and you’re taken and you hear the shaft in the back laying in top of his pants. 36:33.46vigorbrandingAnd he did and he but he didn’t care like he was like he would actually would rather them left because him at his point in life He was just an artist and he wasn’t looking for money and it was just that was his like ah Passion project. 36:38.34Nick _ Amandaah I’m sorry. 36:43.68vigorbrandingSo it’s just yeah, it’s crazy. But sorry. So now we’ve got we’ve we have a phenomenal steak you guys make the best steak on earth What sides you have a lot of sides what which sides are we getting? I mean everyone’s got their go-to’s at a steakhouse. 36:54.91vigorbrandingWhat do we got in here? 36:57.19Nick _ AmandaOh, so I always loved the twice baked potato. I think it’s phenomenal. 37:00.35vigorbrandingI 37:00.52Nick _ AmandaI think it’s our go-to. We actually at one point were featured in, there was like a Idaho potato Gazette that came out and asked for an interview. 37:05.84vigorbrandingNice. 37:07.11Nick _ AmandaCause they’re like, Oh, we’ve heard that you’ve got the biggest potatoes. I was like, well, if it’s coming from the Idaho potato Gazette, I’m pretty honored to hear that. 37:12.47vigorbranding That’s great. 37:13.86Nick _ AmandaYeah. The twice baked is great. And then our cream corn. I love our cream corn. uh it’s got it it certainly got its sweetness from the corn and then we use cinnamon and i heard a customer described it as like it’s like taking a bite of christmas and i hadn’t heard that before and i was like that’s the perfectly summarized is kind of the cream corn and so it’s the i love to take a little cut of steak kind of 37:24.23vigorbrandingThere you go. 37:44.26Nick _ Amandadrag it through the cream corn a little bit to get some of that sweetness. And it’s ah to for me, it’s one of the most perfect bites. 37:49.86vigorbrandingFantastic. That’s awesome. And then what for dessert, I think I know the answer to this, but. 37:55.20Nick _ AmandaI mean, we i Our tableside desserts, they’re a ton of fun, right? 38:01.76vigorbrandingYep. 38:01.89Nick _ AmandaAnytime you’re going to light something on fire for a dessert, it’s awesome. 38:03.48vigorbrandingYeah, sure. 38:05.77Nick _ AmandaBut I think, you know, it’s in their classic, in their pure, in their simple, ah but executed very well. So, I mean, I’m partial. We do two tableside flambe options. 38:16.73Nick _ AmandaOur bananas foster our cherries jubilee. 38:18.43vigorbrandingMm hmm. 38:19.15Nick _ AmandaI am partial to the bananas. I think we use brown sugar with it. and A little banana liqueur, some 151, a little orange zest, and it is it is excellent. 38:27.87vigorbrandingnice 38:30.02Nick _ AmandaBut a Amanda has a separate opinion. So we ran this interesting test where a problem we were running into was, you know, when people make a reservation at the Valencia, let’s say states it’s a party of six, only one of you are probably giving us your information, whether it’s your phone or your email or what have you. 38:44.13Nick _ AmandaAnd so if you want to continue to build a relationship online with the rest of the party in there. 38:48.04vigorbrandingNice. 38:48.67Nick _ AmandaHow do you get them to go to your site or engage or have some sort of a back? 38:50.40vigorbrandingMhm. 38:52.28Nick _ AmandaAnd so we realized that what is really strong is our social media presence. We are one of the most, if not the most vile restaurant in America on TikTok. We just passed 175 million views of hashtag gold. 39:02.98vigorbrandingWow. 39:03.56Nick _ Amandayeah And so we were like, okay, what can we do to combine this in honor of our 65th? And how do we create what I call an organic trigger? So if you’re dining, you can do something else. And so I was like, okay, let’s play with the flames. What can we do? That’s going to be a flaming dessert that can be exciting, that can be different. And so we worked and created something called the Sapphire Jubilee in honor of the 65th anniversary. And of course you like throw some blue in there at the server’s head of it because they were always covered in like blue dust on their white shirts. 39:30.90Nick _ AmandaIt was a little messy, but it was fabulous. And it really did turn bright blue flames. And so the I was like, okay, let’s try it. We’re going to make it where you can only order it if you have the code word from TikTok or Instagram. 39:42.30vigorbrandingWow, I like it. 39:44.36Nick _ AmandaWe’ll look up on there or say something. Or then ah when the server says that to them, if they’ll follow us or try and find it. And sure enough, I was like, I have no idea how this is going to go. First night comes. And within like the first, I guess, hour of opening, boom, somebody ordered it with the code word. I’m like, all right, we’ve got something. And it was, to this day, it’s my favorite version of that flam bazer. 40:05.22vigorbrandingThat’s excellent. oh that’s and the The marketer in me is very proud and honored. 40:08.87Nick _ Amandaa 40:09.14vigorbrandingThat’s that’s fantastic. I mean, I love it. 40:10.55Nick _ Amandayeah 40:11.44vigorbrandingReally. i’ saids that’s ah It’s awesome. 40:11.84Nick _ Amandaand since sense that it’s 40:13.45vigorbrandingum So I had the banana foster and it was wonderful. 40:14.75Nick _ Amandaso as foster 40:17.86vigorbrandingum i So I have one last question for you guys, and and then you’re free to go. And you can’t say the golden steer, but if you have one final meal, what would you eat and why? 40:31.11Nick _ AmandaSo for me, ah it’s risotto. Risotto was probably one of the first dishes that I really started to make during culinary school and just kind of fell in love with. I am ah studied in Rome, Italian heritage, and i i love like to me, it’s like, 40:55.32Nick _ Amandasuch a pure distillation of Italian cooking. right it’s very at the At its core, it’s very simple, but there’s a lot of ways that you can that you can go wrong with it. um And it takes some work, right? You have to be standing over it with your wooden spoon, kind of slowly adding stock. 41:14.38Nick _ AmandaAnd it’s also a it’s kind of also almost a blank palate. So you can add orabela mushrooms or butternut squash or asparagus or any number of things. And so I think I would i love risotto and that would probably be my, that would be my five if I had to pick a final dish, that would be it. 41:33.19vigorbrandingNice. Amanda, you can say Nick’s risotto if you want. 41:34.49Nick _ Amandaand think 41:35.93vigorbrandingI mean, ah, nice. 41:36.61Nick _ AmandaIt’s close to that. So Nick was actually, was very kind and he he knows this well, but something that he makes for me on all of the special occasions is a beef wellington. And I’m very picky about how I like my beef wellington and all the things and he’s like really nailed it down. 41:51.40Nick _ AmandaI wasn’t before, he’s now like spoiled me and I blame him all the time. I’m like, you’ve created the monster here. So it would be the beef wellington that Nick does make for me because I do it amazing and it’s my favorite. 41:59.24vigorbrandingThat’s awesome. Guys, I want to thank you. 42:01.92Nick _ Amandai 42:02.99vigorbrandingThis was fantastic. Like I said, the first time I ever had a couple and you guys were great. There was no fighting. It was close. I thought there for a while over the desserts, but that was good. 42:07.74Nick _ Amandayeah 42:09.71vigorbrandingThat was good. You guys do great. So thank you so much. It was my honor to talk to you guys and I really appreciate your time. 42:14.97Nick _ AmandaWell, thank you so much for having us on, Michael. low was ah It was an awesome conversation. We certainly appreciate being here. 42:20.11vigorbrandingGood deal. 42:20.09Nick _ AmandaPleasure.

Today on The LA Food Podcast presented by Rusty's Chips… how are influencers transforming LA's restaurant scene? What does a legendary San Bernardino restaurant have to do with political polarization? And why did one Little Tokyo mochi manufacturer inspire a long-form feature in the New York Times? Father Sal is with us to discuss all of the above, beginning with a deep dive into Eater LA's four-story package on the dreaded “i” word - influencers. Are they adding something valuable to the overall conversation? Or are they scammers that everybody from restaurants to consumers should be wary of? As always, we have the definitive, unquestionable, and unchallengeable answers, for you dear listener, so get excited, cuz this conversation is Lox Level 9.9. In Part 2, I caught up with the iconic Dominick DiBartolomeo at The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. While The Cheese Store has been in business since the 60s, the latest iteration on Santa Monica Blvd is making waves that have the LA's culinary nerds abuzz with excitement. Dom and I talk about all things cheese and sandwiches, we learn what his favorite cheeses are right now, and which cheese he would eat if he could only pick one to consume for the rest of his life. He tells us the crazy lengths he goes to to source his incredible product, and how he goes about forging relationships with LA's best chefs. Talking to Dominick felt like talking to a long-lost relative, and that's not just cuz we're both Italian. He's a true gem of a human being, and I can't wait for you to brie this conversation. I mean, hear this conversation.  As always please consider leaving us a rating or a review wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm your host Luca Servodio and without further ado, let's go Dodgers and let's chow down.  Helpful links: Our free newsletter LA FOODSTACK, where you'll find most of the articles we referenced today https://thelacountdown.substack.com/ The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills https://www.cheesestorebh.com/ The LA Food Podcast is produced with the help of: Adam Skaggs Tiffany Perez Tim Bertolini Abdo Hajj – Get 10% off at Rusty's Chips using code “LACOUNTDOWN” ⁠https://rustyschips.com/discount/LACOUNTDOWN⁠ -- Get 10% off at House of Macadamias using code "LAFOOD" https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods cc: Gustavo Arellano, Bill Esparza, Meghan McCarron, Pete Wells, Steve Martin, Mona Holmes, Cathy Chaplin, Rebecca Roland, Matthew Kang, Gab Chabran --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thelafoodpodcast/support

In the second hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, we talk with local food and beverage experts about the legacy of restaurant critic Pete Wells and the dining culture in Rochester.

Hosted by Jane Pauley. In our cover story, Dr. Jon LaPook talks with experts who warn about the rise of vaccine skepticism. Also: Jane Pauley visits veteran journalist Connie Chung, author of a new memoir, “Connie”; Erin Moriarty interviews Hillary Rodham Clinton about her new book, “Something Lost, Something Gained”; Tracy Smith profiles comedian Will Ferrell and former “Saturday Night Live” head writer Harper Steele, subjects of a new documentary, “Will & Harper”; Kelefa Sanneh interviews LL Cool J, who has returned to the world of music with his first album in more than a decade; and Martha Teichner sits down with Pete Wells, who dishes on his 12 years as restaurant critic for The New York Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After a quick review of what moderator lessons and memes will stick from this week's debate, Ben and Nayeema turn to New York Times reporter and former restaurant critic Pete Wells to explore the fight between the new wave of influencers and the old guard of gatekeepers in food. On the menu: the health hazards of criticism, how celebrity chefs and TikTokers altered the power of his seat and whether diversifying food reviews in the midst of the culture wars were “DEI,” “virtue signaling” or simply — as Pete reveals — an organic evolution. Also: if unlike immigrants in Ohio, he's ever tasted dog or cat. “It's one of the few things I haven't eaten.”  If you have a tip or a comment, email us mixedsignals@semafor.com Find us on X: @semaforben, @nayeema, @maxtani or on Instagram @nayeemaraza  Sign up for Semafor Media's Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For Rita Sodi, cooking isn't so much an art or a science, but rather an intuitive way for her to channel her Tuscan roots and provide a profound sense of home. Following a 15-year career in the world of fashion as a self-described “denim guru” for Calvin Klein Jeans, Sodi transitioned into the realm of restaurants in 2008, when she moved to New York City from Bagno a Ripoli, Italy, and opened the West Village establishment I Sodi. Soon after, Sodi serendipitously met her life and work partner, Jody Williams—the chef-owner of the French bistro Buvette—and the two went on to found the restaurant group Officina 1397. Now, in addition to I Sodi and Buvette, they also operate Via Carota, The Commerce Inn, and Bar Pisellino. Across all of Sodi's undertakings, her motive is clear: to create dishes she loves with great care and rigor, and, at least in the cases of I Sodi and Via Carota, to share an abiding passion for Tuscan cooking.On the episode, Sodi discusses learning to cook from her mother, her atypical journey from fashion to food, and some of the stringent rules she follows in the kitchen and in life.Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L'École, School of Jewelry Arts.Show notes:Rita Sodi[25:50] Tuscany[4:50] West Village[5:58] I Sodi[6:47] Calvin Klein Jeans[8:31] Jody Williams[8:31] Via Carota[8:31] Officina 1397[8:31] Bar Pisellino[8:31] The Commerce Inn[8:31] Buvette[20:29] Pete Wells[23:22] “An Ode to I Sodi”[23:22] “The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2024”[23:22] “When I Want to Be Alone, I Eat Dinner at the Bar at I Sodi”[25:50] Bagno a Ripoli[29:35] “The Laws of Tuscan Eating at I Sodi in the West Village”[48:26] Emilia-Romagna[53:53] Jeff Gordinier

Celebrate Chef Tamara Murphy’s life and legacy with reflections and stories // Welcome Brian Clevenger, Executive Chef and owner of General Harvest Restaurants // Talk about Pete Wells’ final column in the New York Times as a restaurant critic reflecting on the changes in the dining world over his 12-year tenure // On Simple to Spectacular! we celebrate Chef Thierry by talking through one of his Rover’s summer recipes // We talk Labor Day dishes with inspiration from Rubbed with Love recipes // Loretta and I revel in our Prosser Farm Meatball Project // And of course, we play Rub with Love Food for Thought Tasty Trivia!

Restaurant critics appear to have the best job in journalism, enjoying meals a few nights a week on someone else's dime. But New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells had painted a more complicated picture. In a recent column, Wells announced he's leaving the beat because the constant eating has led to obesity and other health problems. “Intellectually, it was still really stimulating, but my body started to rebel and say, ‘Enough is enough,'” Wells told The Associated Press. To write a review, food critics usually make two or three visits to a restaurant and bring a handful of dining companions so they can taste as many dishes as possible. If the restaurant has a special focus on wine, cocktails, or desserts, they try those, too. “You have to sample the full range of the menu,” said Ligaya Figueras, the senior food editor and lead dining critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If I really felt like a salad today, I can't just have the salad.” Special features, like lists of the best places to get pizzas or hamburgers, may have critics eating the same fare for weeks. MacKenzie Chung Fegan, a restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, sampled Peking duck all over the city for a story about a restaurant that specialized in the dish. “There was a two-week period where I was eating more duck than anyone's doctor would advise,” Fegan said. Wells isn't the only restaurant critic to make a change in recent years. Adam Platt stopped covering restaurants for New York magazine in 2022, also citing the toll on his health. Wyatt Williams stopped covering restaurants for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2019, saying he had simply lost his appetite. Wells said he will continue to go to restaurants and maybe even enjoy them more now that he's not distracted by work. He said he will be sorry to lose touch with New York's seemingly infinite restaurant scene, but glad to find more balance in his own life. “Eating out constantly, you lose touch with your own normal appetite,” he said. “I didn't know anymore what was normal for me.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Send us a Text Message.Can technology enhance your dining experience, or is it slowly eroding the personal touch that makes dining special? Join us as we dissect Pete Wells' provocative retirement essay and engage in a lively debate between Meredith and Carl on whether technological innovations like kiosks and mobile ordering are a blessing or a curse for the hospitality and restaurant industry. While Wells laments the loss of personal interaction, Meredith counters with compelling arguments on the efficiency and satisfaction that technology brings to fast food and casual dining. Drawing insights from our book "Delivering the Digital Restaurant," we delve into the generational shift towards digital preferences and how modern diners are redefining the dining landscape.Beyond the dining room, we delve into the financial dynamics between restaurants and delivery platforms like DoorDash and Uber. Learn how restaurants might be inadvertently funding these platforms through merchant-funded promotions and the broader implications of this trend. We also explore the groundbreaking potential of reinforcement learning in AI, revealing how it can elevate customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive future growth. Amidst mixed economic forecasts, there's a tech-driven transformation underway in the restaurant sector—tune in to discover how these advancements are reshaping your dining experience and the industry as a whole.Support the Show.

Stephanie and Alex are joined by Josh Thomas, who talks about the Smack Shack Crayfest. They cover Pete Wells's retirement and how the restaurant industry has shifted over the past 12 years. The first hour concludes with the Ask Stephanie segment and the new 64 drinks at the Minnesota State Fair! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephanie and Alex are joined by Josh Thomas, who talks about the Smack Shack Crayfest. They cover Pete Wells's retirement and how the restaurant industry has shifted over the past 12 years. The first hour concludes with the Ask Stephanie segment and the new 64 drinks at the Minnesota State Fair! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michelin held its 2024 California Guide Ceremony earlier this week, and it's fair to say that LA restaurants fared rather well. Jordan Kahn's Vespertine earned back its 2 stars, Holbox, Uka and Meteora earned their first, and LA also dominated the list of new Bib Gourmands. But, like I ask my therapist on a weekly basis, what does it all mean? Father Sal's on the pod today to help us make sense of it all.  We also discuss the crucial matter of whether aspiring Vice President of the United States Tim Walz is a foodie, why Pete Wells decided to go all get off my lawn on his final essay as critic of The New York TImes, and a brilliant new series from Eater exploring iconic regional dishes from around the country. Finally, we've got Part 2 of our interview with Botanica's Heather Sperling. Last week's Part 1 received rave reviews, especially from those who appreciate behind-the-scenes looks at restaurant operations. Well, Part 2 is even better. Heather and I discuss in detail the factors making restaurant finances so damn difficult, and what can be done to ease the burden both for businesses and, get this, landlords. I bet you weren't expecting that. We also talk about the exciting food happening at Botanica, of course, and why you as a consumer should feel good supporting a business such as theirs.  Helpful links: LA FOODSTACK newsletter on Substack https://thelacountdown.substack.com/p/3-hot-takes-on-the-2024-california Botanica https://botanicarestaurant.com/ Heather Sperling https://www.instagram.com/heathersper/?hl=en Heather Sperling in the LA Times https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2024-05-14/one-dollar-at-botanica-restaurant-los-angeles-heather-sperling -- Get 10% off your first order at House of Macadamias using code “LAFOOD” https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods -- Get 10% off your first order of wagyu beef products at First Light Farms using code “LAFOOD10” https://www.firstlight.farm/us/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thelafoodpodcast/support

Dr. Galati is back in studio tonight and we start by talking about brussels sprouts. It's a good food made bad. He also chats about an article on restaurant critic Pete Wells and ultra processed foods to dementia. He has UT student Jack Teheng join the show to talk about his story and interest in medical school. He also explains the importance of your food choices as a college student.

Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells gets personal with his longtime friend about his path from high school cheerleader to college dropout to the pages of Sassy magazine — all the way to the most prestigious critic's seat in the country. Plus, he's got a little challenge for Thomas Keller. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The team behind Brine, a fast casual with a location in New York City and another in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, invited 100 of the restaurant's regulars (plus some media folks) to taste test new menu items and evaluate them. Chef-partner Joe LoNigro was behind the counter as guests helped themselves to grilled chicken with a “umami” sauce, roasted Brussels sprouts, a spicy chicken sandwich, elote corn ribs, tostones and Brine's new take on its house-made Pop-Tart-inspired dessert. It will be interesting to see what makes it onto the menu, but we liked those corn ribs, grilled chicken and Brussels sprouts. Bret returned to Momofuku, celeb chef David Chang's NYC flagship, with some out-of-town friends who wanted to go for dinner. Although it wouldn't have been Bret's first choice, everything was better than he expected. Of particular note was a new tomahawk pork katsu with a Japanese-style curry sauce and the kimchi, which got the seal of approval from both Bret and his Korean-American dining companion. We also talked about how and why Pete Wells is ending his 12-year-run as restaurant critic of The New York Times, citing how dining out four or five times a week can become a health hazard—even if it sounds like an enviable job. Our guest this week is Jacob Bickelhaupt, chef-owner of Konro in West Palm Beach, Florida. The self-taught chef trained under culinary icon Charlie Trotter, and at Konro, he offers a 10-14 course tasting menu serving just 10 guests nightly, all of whom sit at the chef's counter. Although the artful cuisine is not Japanese, it is an intimate omakase-style experience, complete with wine pairings by sommelier Nadia Bickelhaupt, Jacob's wife. Jacob is six years sober and has created a selection of non-alcoholic pairings that closely mimic the wines, each house-made through a multi-step process. The couple orchestrates the evening at Konro to be as much an extension of their home as a unique and memorable gastronomic experience.

A former employee has spilled the tea about Visit Napa Valley. A deadbeat winery owner gets sued for shirking his bills. Treasury Wine Estates has gone full robot mode. Pete Wells quit his job before his job quit him. These are the wine news stories we're discussing on The Four Top.

Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David react to the news that President Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 presidential race and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. They discuss the following: How cable news moved slowly with its coverage and reactions (5:00) Reporters who could have taken a bow after the news broke (7:55) How Harris will be covered by political reporters (33:24) Hulk Hogan's and Dana White's appearances at the RNC (40:35) Then, in the Notebook Dump, they discuss the following: Skip Bayless leaving Fox Sports (48:36) TNT's plan to match Amazon's bid for NBA media rights (52:40) Pete Wells stepping down as the New York Times food critic (56:46) Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline. Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker Producer: Brian H. Waters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Il mondo della gastronomia di New York è rimasto scioccato dall'annuncio di Pete Wells, il celebre critico culinario del New York Times, che ha deciso di appendere al chiodo forchetta e coltello dopo 12 anni di intensa attività. Wells, che ha esercitato la sua professione con passione e autorevolezza dal 2012, ha dichiarato che la decisione di ritirarsi è stata dettata da motivi di salute.

Child asylum seekers, Copenhagen tourism incentives, Pete Wells stops reviewing, Larry Campbell: Harm reduction, Mars mission simulation, and more.

After 12 years, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells is leaving the table and shining a light on the health concerns that face many food critics. He joins us next to reflect on over a decade of reviewing food in New York.

Totonno's, the iconic, century-old Coney Island Brooklyn pizzeria, has been put up for sale by the family who founded it. On this episode of Special Sauce we talk about Totonno's pizza, legacy, and future prospects with NYT restaurant critic Pete Wells and the eminent pizza scholar Scott Weiner, the owner of Scott's Pizza Tours. 

You probably know Guy Fieri from his TV shows: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and Guy's Grocery Games. Or maybe you remember Pete Wells's epically scathing review of Guy's restaurant in New York City. But what you don't know: The real Guy Fieri wants to open an all-organic restaurant. The real Guy Fieri hates that iconic bowling shirt with the flames. The real Guy Fieri feels like he's always trying to keep up — and that it's really hard to do so.This episode originally aired on August 17, 2020, and October 17, 2017. It was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Dan Charles.  The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells has been called the most feared food writer in America. He can make or break a restaurant with the power of one of his reviews. When he goes out, he does so in secret, making reservations under fake names because he doesn't want restaurants to know that he's coming. This week Pete takes Dan on an undercover mission to a New York restaurant. Then they talk about the nuts and bolts of Pete's life as a critic. He eats out five nights a week, meaning he has plenty of bad meals — so how does he decide which places warrant bad reviews? And how does he account for the fact that different people have different tastes?This episode originally aired on May 13, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Ngofeen Mputubwele, and Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Jared O'Connell, and Nora Ritchie.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Welcome to Pizza Week! From time to time we like to break into a thematic groove, and this is one of those weeks. We have a bunch of fun interviews planned. First up is Dan Richer, the owner of Razza in Jersey City, New Jersey. Yeah yeah, New York Times critic Pete Wells once called Razza the best New York City pizza (not in New York), and the 2017 assessment brought a swell of pizza freaks across the river to sample Richer's pie. In this interview, we talk about the review that changed everything, and we dig into how Richer describes his pizza, his obsession with bread, and his great cookbook, The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know. We loved having Dan in the studio to kick off our week of pizza talks.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you. MORE FROM DAN RICHER:Is New York's Best Pizza in New Jersey? [NYT]Dan Richer's Everyday Pizza Dough [Ooni]Franco Pepe and Dan Richer Share Deep Pizza Thoughts [Appetito]

Our guest is Presidential speechwriter and bestselling author, David Litt. There's pizza news and our topic is "pizza and caviar". David Litt is a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. He is the New York Times bestselling author of 2018's “Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years”, and 2020's “Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn't, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think”. Checkout DavidLittbooks.com for more information. David  has a new book coming out in 2025. David talks about the food scene while working in the White House, White House bathrooms, his early days playing Dungeons & Dragons, and why he chose to have a book release party at Comet Ping Pong in DC.  This podcast is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens. Go to Ooni.com for more information.Follow us for more information!Instagram: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4Twitter: @PizzaPodParty @ArthurBovino @AlfredSchulzTikTok: @thepizzapodpartyThreads: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells returns to discuss his recent newsletter entry rounding up his list of the best places to get French fries in our area. Plus, we take listener calls for their favorite fries.

GET WELL, PETE WELLS! Sending all our thoughts and love to Pete Wells! Get well soon! We are Rossyless today as Rossy has gone on a Geriatric Grand Tour with his old man and UK penpal friend...so, you are all stuck with Flint and John! Huzzah! All this plus the Prog review!

Hello from British Columbia! This week, [4:15] we start with the latest concerning video of Mitch McConnell and whether the conversation around fitness for office can (and should) cut across party lines. [21:45] Next, we talk about the Korean fine-dining wave in NYC, the effect of soft power, and why you won't see us at Naro anytime soon. [45:05] In our final segment, we discuss the Serial podcast “The Retrievals,” which explores questions of gendered pain and corrupt healthcare through the true stories of women deprived of pain medication during IVF. Jay takes us BTS of this caliber of narrative podcast. In this episode, we ask: Is it reasonable to expect basic verbal competency from our elected officials?If you're a leftist, are there some luxuries (like dining at $$$$$ restaurants) that should be off-limits? Or is that a needlessly moralistic stance? Why is women's pain continually dismissed, and what's the right punishment for the infliction of non-lethal harm? For more, see: * The older and more recent videos of Mitch McConnell, and some doctors' hypotheses about the cause* Pete Wells's article about How Korean Restaurants Remade Fine Dining in New York * The Times investigation into A Deadly Epidural, Delivered by a Doctor With a History of Mistakes * Books on pain and how it's addressed: Sick: A Memoir, by Porochista Khakpour, and The Body in Pain, by Elaine Scarry* Past TTSG episodes we refer to: * A recent discussion on Asian food trends in the U.S., from June* Lux magazine and lockdowns with Sarah Leonard, from December 2020We'll be off next week as our hosts attend to other business (their full-time jobs), but watch out for a non-audio note! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to join our Discord community to chat about “authentic” Asian food, and to see footage of the noraebang you heard at the end of today's episode! You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter), and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

Media expert, Brian Stelter, is coaxed onto the podcast. Arthur gives you pizza news, and the pizza topic is, "pizza bones".Brian Stelter was the media reporter for the New York Times then he hosted CNN's Reliable Sources. He is now the host of Vanity Fair's Inside the Hive podcast. Stelter is the author of 2013's Top of the Morning, 2020's Hoax, and his new book Network of Lies comes out in November.Brian talks about local pizza growing up in Maryland. He also gives his expert opinion on how media has shaped pizza consumption and where candidates might get their pizza on the campaign trail.This podcast is brought to you by, Ooni Pizza Ovens. Go to Ooni.com for more information. This podcast is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens. Go to Ooni.com for more information.Follow us for more information!Instagram: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4Twitter: @PizzaPodParty @ArthurBovino @AlfredSchulzTikTok: @thepizzapodpartyThreads: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4

This week's guest on Special Sauce is the extraordinary bread baker, chef and pizzaiolo Rick Easton, who owns the terrific weekends- only Bread and Salt Bakery in Jersey City. Rick and his partner Melissa McCart have co-authored the provocative new book ‘Bread and How To Eat It'. In his review of Bread & Salt's Roman style pizza, sandwiches and bread, NYTimes food critic Pete Wells declared: "Mr. Easton has a singular vision, and it is the reason the food is so compelling."

Pete Wells returns for a record breaking eighth appearance on the book club with a literal monster of a book. Tune in as we tackle From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.Buy a copy of the 2000AD Covers Uncovered annual from the 2000AD store. And check out Pete's remarkable Sensory Stories for children with special educational needs at HelpKidzLearn.You can find a list of all the upcoming books on the Facebook page, follow the podcast on instagram, or email me comments and suggestions to MCBCpodcast@gmail.comMusic used in this episode is Circuit Breaker by the artist Robodub. If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Or Download here Right click and choose save link as to download to your computer.

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells has released his list of the one hundred best restaurants in New York City, from fine dining stalwarts to hole in the walls. He joins us in studio to talk about the list, how he rates a restaurant, and take your calls for your favorite restaurants in the city.

Did you catch longtime New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells dropping a monumental story this week, the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City? This is the first time in Pete's 12-year career that he's published such a list, and we had him back in the studio to talk about his method and some of his favorite places. We also dove into his reviewing career, as well as how he schedules all the meals and keeps tabs on the trends. We get some quick hits from Pete, including the best pizza, the best Midtown lunch, and the best ice cream. Pete is one of our favorite critics writing today, and it was such fun having him back.MORE FROM PETE WELLS:Mam Serves the Most Exciting Vietnamese Food in New York [NYT]In Queens, Kimchi Is Just the Start [NYT]TASTE Podcast 41: Pete Wells [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/pete_wellsinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Noma – considered by some to be the ‘world's best restaurant' - has announced it will close in 2024. The news has prompted headlines around the world and a renewed discussion about the culture of fine dining, and whether it is sustainable as a business model. In this programme, Ruth Alexander asks ‘what's the big deal about fine dining?'. Is it an industry that exists only for the very wealthy, or do its innovations and trends affect how we all eat? Ruth is joined by Pete Wells, restaurant critic for The New York Times, who ate at Noma in Copenhagen in 2018. Food historian Dr Rachel Rich at Leeds Beckett University in the UK talks about the history of fine dining, and the celebrity chefs of the 19th century. Chef Sarah Francis knows what it is like to be at the top of your game but want to do something different – in 2018 she and her partner gave back the Michelin star awarded to their restaurant The Checkers in Wales. And BBC World Service listeners and self-confessed ‘foodies', Casey Griffiths in the UK and Pamela Garelick in Greece, tell Ruth about their best and worst fine dining experiences. Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

On this episode of Special Sauce The New York Times's Pete Wells and Brett Anderson, and The New Yorker's Hannah Goldfield all weigh in on what serious eaters are likely to see (and taste) when they walk into restaurants in 2023. They all tell us both what they're excited about and what they're worried about moving forward.

On this episode of Special Sauce I talk to The New York Times's Pete Wells and Brett Anderson, and the New Yorker's Hannah Goldfield about what and where they ate in 2022, and where they think restaurants and the food culture in general are headed.

During his time as a restaurant critic for The Times, Pete Wells has become both feared and revered in the world of dining — crowning those at the top and dethroning those whose time has passed.But when the pandemic arrived, handing out stars to fancy restaurants made no sense anymore. A fundamental change was needed.Guest: Pete Wells, a restaurant critic for The New York Times. Background reading: For the return of The Times's star ratings this year, Pete Wells visited La Piraña Lechonera, a weekend party in a Bronx trailer where one man serves up the rich flavors of Puerto Rico.For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Welcome to the Copper & Heat audio tasting menu. This 6-course experience takes you through dishes from pivotal points in the history of the modern tasting menu. Vote for us in the first inaugural Signal Awards! We were nominated for a Signal Award in the Food & drink category, and we need your help! Vote for us for the Listener's Choice Award at the link above. Guests:Beth ForrestHer faculty bio and booksSam YamashitaHis piece on the Japanese Turn  |  His books  | His faculty bioKrishnendu RayHis book  | His faculty bio The courses:The restaurant by Mathurin Roze de ChantoiseauHassun from Hyotei in KyotoRouge en ècaille de pomme de terre by Paul BocuseSukiyakiToro and caviar by Masa TakayamaNixtamalized butternut squash en tacha from Lenga Madre in New Orleans The articles mentioned in this episode: 'Tasting'' Menu: A Good Idea Sours by Mimi Sheraton in the New York TimesNibbled to Death: Tasting Menus Can Be Too Much of a Good Thing by Pete Wells in the New York TimesThe New Generation of Tasting Menus Won't Test Your Patience (or Your Wallet) by Brett Anderson in the New York Times More resources:The Japanese Origins of Modern Fine Dining by Meghan McCarron (2017)The Never-Ending Pivot: Amid the Omicron Surge, Restaurants Have Turned to Tasting Menus by Jeremy Repanich (2022)The death of the tasting menu by George Reynolds (2022)The Backlash Against the 'Tyranny' of Tasting Menus by Amy McKeever (2013)The Not-So-New Nouvelle Cuisine by Mimi Sheraton (1979)Celebrating the Ringmaster of the Restaurant Circus by Florence Fabricant (2014)How America's First 3 Star Michelin Sushi Chef Serves His Fish on Eater's YouTube (2015)

For years, I've been trying to pitch articles to the New York Times food section and for years I've been failing. On a total lark, I invited Emily Weinstein, the food and cooking editor for the Times, on to my podcast and in a mind-blowing turn of events, she said yes! Today's episode, then, gets down to the nitty-gritty: what does Emily look for in a pitch, what are her pitch pet peeves, how do you pitch a recipe vs. a journalistic story? We also learn about Emily's background in food, how she interacts with Pete Wells about his reviews, whether or not she "reads the comments," and which food writers have influenced her the most. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this Very Special Episode of Base Camp Beta, Chris and Shawn trek down to Sheepshead Bay to visit their friend Salvatore Carlino aka P. Leone at his newly opened pizzeria, Lucia of Avenue X. After having some killer slices, they dive into a deep discussion of the topics that really matter: fermentation techniques, dough hydration, what Pete Wells looks like, and answering the age old question of "what is the culinary equivalent of the 909 hi-hat?". https://www.instagram.com/p.leone_ems/ https://www.instagram.com/lucia.newyork/ https://lucia.pizza/collections/lucia-pizza?sort_by=created-descending

On this week's Special Sauce Dan Richer, chef and owner of Jersey City's Razza, one of the country's best pizzerias, talks to us about his obsessive Joy of Pizza, which just so happens to be the title of his new book. And because NYT restaurant critic Pete Wells gave Razza an unprecedented three stars in his review in 2017, I also had to talk to Pete about Razza and Dan. He was game, but only if he and I visited Razza one more time to see if Dan was still at the top of his game.

Learn about how one restaurant is taking accessibility to new heights, putting the “customer” in “customer experience,” and what loyalty looks like when price doesn't matter. Bite-Sized Delight From the Episode: • Accessibility Needs to Be Part of Your Customer Experience - Contento (a restaurant in New York City) excels at creating remarkable experiences for all patrons and especially those in wheelchairs as reported by Pete Wells in his article for The New York Times, "Accessibility Is a Right. This Restaurant Treats It That Way." • Forget What You Think, What Do You Know?! - Annette Franz's book, Built to Win: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture that Drives Value for Your Business, emphasizes the importance of listening to your customers and incorporating their input into your experience design. • Increased Value Counters Price Increases - Amazon Prime realizes that they can increase prices for their subscription as long as they keep increasing the value of the membership. Are You Looking for Things We Referenced? • "Accessibility Is a Right. This Restaurant Treats It That Way." - by Pete Wells in the New York Times • Pizzability - Experience This Show!, Season 4, Episode 82 • Built to Win: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture that Drives Value for Your Business - by Annette Franz • Conversation Corner with Help Scout • Amazon Prime • Rate and Review The Experience This! Show Learn more about the Experience This Show and the hosts:  Joey Coleman  Dan Gingiss