Hey, it's Neil Savedre.
You're listening to kfi EM six forty the four Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks for hanging out today. Happy Saturday to you. It's going to be a great day. It's been a great day so far. Just celebrated my seventeenth wedding anniversary with my lovely wife Tracy yesterday, and I had the weirdest circumstance on Thursday. Maybe I'll tell you at the end of the show because I don't want to talk about food and what happened to me
in the backseat of my wife's car. Well, that sounds weird on our seventeenth Well, she was there, but not I'm going to I'll explain later. But this is why I wasn't on with Handel on yesterday. And people have been very kind asked me if I'm okay. I am okay. It was a fluke, weird situation and the worst and craziest one that.
I can remember of my life. I mean, it was.
Straight up sitcom, comedy Tarantino film, Little Smidge of that.
It is crazy.
Anyways, right now we're talking to Rudy Barrientos and he is the proprietor of Grassias signor g R A c I A S E n O R dot com. You can find them on Instagram at the same and we are just eating his food. He was affected by the Palisades fire because he has a well known food truck that was there and a lot of customers that would come and enjoy the food, their tacos, their breakfast burritos. He has now moved to to brent Wood and that's working out for your You're on San Vicente.
San vacantew Montana and Bundy.
Gotcha.
So one one nine four one San Vicente Boulevard Sunday Thursday through Sunday, and you're still in the Paliside Palisades on Monday and Tuesday, then Monday Tuesday, and it's you know, a lot of people were affected by the fires, and we're trying to put some focus on the people that didn't maybe didn't have something burned down a business, but
it's been affected because the ecosystem has changed. Told us your story about being part of the DACA program, and I know that right now that is up in the air. We were talking off the air, and the prayer is that that gets ironed out.
I say.
I always say, if we want bad people out, then we want good people in. And the key is to find out who those people are and.
How to do it. But I don't know who wouldn't want someone like you bringing food and joy and positivity to a country. And this food is spectacular, just just really it is made with the love that you'd get from a parent making you food. You feel it.
Yeah, that's what I always tell my son when I make him something, I say, I put love in there that you know.
It's funny that you say that, because that that's what my grandma used to tell me. She would always tell me, like you can always tell when someone makes you food, would love.
Right, Yeah, it just it's the ingredient I've had.
I've eaten a lot of food, obviously, and with this show, I get to eat a lot of different food. And I've been out to restaurants where the chefs prepared a meal that was technically.
Perfect, like all the techniques.
Everything that was done was done textbook, but it tasted like a textbook, you know, it just it was there wasn't that life behind it. It was technique versus soul. Yeah, And there is a difference there is something about that when somebody it's almost you want somebody to make something like they're making it for themselves and they go, hey, you hungry, take this.
You know, it's actually kind of funny that you say that, because in the truck, all of us when we when we eat, we prefer when we to one of our other team members cooks it. Like we always say this, like it tastes better when someone else makes it for you, because when you make it, you're just trying to be perfect.
But when someone else makes it for you, there's something in that case, from when they're making it to the point where you get it that makes it so special because someone else is caring for this precious meal that's gonna nurse you.
Yeah, you can, you can taste it, and it's just and that's anywhere. I mean, that's why you can't make what your grandmother made, or your mom made, or your dad made, or anybody in the family.
You can't.
Ever you can have the exact recipe, it won't taste the same because there's something about someone cooking for you.
And we know this to be true.
We know psychologically there's power in the anticipation. I'd much rather see someone enjoy something I made than me even eat it for sure. So how did you come up with your menu? What other things are on your menu? So you have tacos and burritos.
So tacos and burritos. So one of the things that I actually right when I started the truck I knew I wanted to have was one of our beer battered fish tacos. The one of my personal favorites, and they go way back to when I when I lived in Tijuana because that's where I was born.
The Baja style hostile.
So when when I came to this country, there wasn't a lot of good baha ba hostile fish tacos. So my when I would on Fridays when I would get out of school, my mom worked nice ships cleaning and office building, and I remember because Friday was the day I didn't have to go to school the next day, so I would go with her from La all the way to Santa Monica. And the best taco we could have have at that point was reviews fish tacos. Oh yeah, and it was it was it was like this routine
that we did on Fridays. I would go with her sona Monica skateboard back to La but before she went to work, our meal, our shared meal would be the rubus fish tacos because it was the closest thing we could we could find too to the inns NaSTA fish talkers we would have in Mexico. So when I started the truck, I knew those tacos had to be in the menu the way I knew how to make him, the way I remember them to be.
What do you think sets them apart? What is a true Baja style fish taco?
Honestly, like like we were talking about earlier, it's just the care I put in it, and and just the fact that I want to I want to taste home every time I make him, every time. You know that taco was created food.
Yeah, that's your mac and cheese man. Yeah, that's where you grew up. We all have it.
We all have that that those items that make us, you know, think a home or think about growing up when things were simple, didn't have to pay taxes. I have to deal with any of that business. I also want to give a shout out to Judy. Judy Kergan, she is a listener who sent us your information and she knew about you and She reached out to us and said, these you know, these people are really good people.
They make fantastic food.
They've been caught up in this situation and that's what inspired us, through Judy and through your story, to know the path we wanted to go down. Because we've been talking about what we wanted to do about restaurants. There continues La Times and others continue to write lists of restaurants that are trying to come back in the fire areas and stuff like that.
So stick around.
We'll do one more segment with you guys, because I'm really enjoying the conversation and the food. And of course you can go to Instagram or online to Gracia signor only one s g R a ci A se n o R dot com and find out where they're at and in the area of Brentwood right now. They do a couple of days there in the Palisades still, but they could use your love to stay afloat and trust me, you can use their food and you know, I don't know, maybe you can freeze some, but I'd get a lot,
especially for doing a day trip. Bring a bag, bring a cooler, whatever it takes. All right, go nowhere, we'll be back with more.
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on demand from KFI AM six forty.
As we talk all things food, beverage and beyond on the show every single Saturday, three hours that we come together and just celebrate food and the people that make it, the culture behind it and what a story. Today we're
focusing on people affected by the fires. I know there are a lot of people that are suffering from their home going down to ashes, and of course we are with them, but because of the nature of this show, we're focusing on those on the periphery that have been affected by their business or their businesses are affected, not necessarily because they burn to ashes some more damage. Right now, we're talking about a food truck called Gracia Signor and
you can find them at dot com. You can find them on Instagram one s and you can find out more about Rudy and Barrientos and he is the He is really the story and the food that he's making is an outstanding You know, Robin who's running the board and all the commercials and everything else going on, talks to me through the headphones. Let me know, you know, spots and all those things, and right before we come on, she goes, these tacos are bomb, like, Yeah, the food
is fantastic. Another thank you and a tip of the hat. Judy, Judy, Judy Kirkin. She's a listener and sent us the information. We've been wanting to do a show on the restaurants that are affected. We've been waiting basically to hear about the ones that are coming back, and we won't stop today. We'll continue to let you know about them and how
to patronize them and keep them going. So what do you want people to know about your food and how to find you and how important it is to have, you know, regulars and a base of people coming to eat.
It's a credibly important to have regulars. That's that was That's where we were so successful in the Palisades because that community is a very small community that just supports everyone and and you know, we we became embraced by the community and therefore we were very successful for over ten years. This was going to be our eleventh year in the Palisades, but the fires happened and everyone in that town is scattered all over La So as much as there, you know, we have a lot of loyal
customers as much as they're trying to support us. Because of the distance that this fire force them to to just like move sure, it's really hard for them to to be there like as regular as they would pre fires. So everyone out there in Brentwood who loves food, loves delicious food, Mexican food, breakfast burritos, and just or just enjoys food in general, give us a chance so that we can win you over.
And I have no doubt that that is exactly how it will end up. I'm glad to have a platform for you to talk to you so much, you know, because the food is really spectacular, and I love the story, and I think it's important.
You know, we hear a lot of.
Things in the news, and you know, there's a lot of confusion about immigration and the good, the bad, the ugly, the legal the non legal, and all of these things that need to be sorted out. But there the fact is, you know, there is a good There should be a good neighbor policy to be able to exchange between all of our neighbors here. That is a way that we aren't letting criminals or people in but letting good folks in come. Do what they do and and I think
what you're doing is just wonderful. The food is just fantastic, man. Thank you made with love right in it. But you won't break your tooth on love man. So thanks again to Judy for putting this on our radar, and thanks to you Greedy for coming in and again GRASSI signor it is a g R A c I A S just a single less e n O R dot com. And of course you can find them under that same moniker at on Instagram as well.
Check them out where they are there.
In Brentwood and still a couple of days in the Palisades as well.
But get on this.
This is really special food by what seems to be a very special guy. So thanks for taking the time on my friend.
Thank you, Neil, thank you, thank you everyone.
Thank you, and tell them hello and that you heard it here. They need to know that there's support and people that care. You know, these things take a while. We're still dealing with what you know, COVID, you know, the the remnants of COVID and working on the hospitality and restaurant industry. So there's still work to do to get out there those of us that can that weren't affected by the fires, can help keep these places perched up. Thanks,
We got much more to come. Stick around some people we want to introduce you to, so go know where.
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Today we are talking to folks that are affected by the fires in January, but not in the same way that you might have been hearing. Yes, people were very much affected by the fires, their homes burning down, and there were some businesses of course that burned down. Us being the Fork Report, we focus on food and the like. We wanted to bring you some people that were affected, some you know, differently than others that have food based businesses that were affected by the fires. And our next
guest is Teddy Saraphine Leonard, owner of real In. You can find out all about them at reali Malibu dot com. Real in Malibu dot com. Teddy, Welcome to the Fork Report.
Thank you for having me.
So please tell us tell us where about For those that don't know Real In there in Malibu, tell us about that. Uh and uh, what's what? Where you are left right now? After the horrific circumstances of January and the fires.
Well, Mariel Inn, where we were located was right just west of Topanga Canyon on Pacific Coast Highway, and my husband has had the store for thirty seven years and we had a big, you know, old neon sign. We were a fish shack across the street from a very popular surf spot on Topanga and we had puns on the sign. Every day we would change the puns, yes, and if you are local, you know them quite well exactly. And what was funny was, you know, each day, different
screenwriters going into work. People would call us and give us ideas for the puns for the sign, and if we used one, we would buy them dinner. And it was really fun because people would say, I mean, some people weren't even customers, They just said they knew when they saw the sign they were out of the city. They were heading into Malibu. It was like we were sort of the gateway to the Malibu and that sign
meant a lot to a lot of people. But in fact, the firemen after everything burned down, were adamant about can we get up there and change and put up some signs. We just want to give people that hope again, like that it's going to come back because it was an iconic place. It was a place where a lot of families came. They celebrated birthdays, they celebrated death, they celebrated weddings, births.
It was one gentleman sending a picture of himself as a baby with his father on the reel in deck, and then he sent in a picture of himself that his baby on the real in deck, and generations knew the restaurant and knew it well, and we were blessed to be a part of the community in a bigger way than we even knew. In an odd way, the restaurant, you know, burning down as quickly and as visibly as it did, opened just these gates of people telling us
what a profound impact the restaurant had. Our family and people called us crying, and we immediately started to go fund me for our kitchen crew because most of our crew has been with us over thirty years. I think about over thirty years. I mean they were family, and they actually were family. They were all interrelated from a small town in Wahaka who did a weaving for us that was hanging in the restaurant that said real in
because you know, we funded the town. I guess they just so that was our main concern and when everything happened, we had to evacuate our home as well here in Tapanga, So we found ourselves in Airbnb and Marvista, not really knowing what to do in. The first call that came in was the BBC London and that was within hours of the burning, and we started to go fund me and today we have raised over two hundred thousand dollars for our crew and every penny of it has gone
into their pockets. And wow, really so touched and grateful from all around the world. Gotten donations from Istanbul, from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Ireland. You know, one man sent in a thousand dollars from the UK and he said, it's my first stop when I get
to Los Angeles. I always make sure that I get to you guys, And so we had It was just I said to my husband, after thirty seven years, what a wonderful way to find out that something you've given so much of your time in your life too has had a good impact on the world. You know, you like to know that at this age.
At your own funeral kind of.
Exactly exactly, and we're in our seventies. I just turned seventy and my husband's seventy six, and you know, people can say you're going to rebuild, and we wanted to come back, and we've had set in I nur say, oh, we can come and make it look exactly as it was. Sure, yeah, but thirty seven years later. I mean a lot of the old surfboards he had in the raptors were from over one hundred years ago, like the first lifeguards in Santa Monica. I mean, he collects that kind of stuff.
But now it's gone, you can't. I don't know that we'll be able to rebuild. We're still waiting to hear from the State Parks what their plan is for Lower Topanga and for the PCH area. They don't even know. I mean they're still staging. They were staging the EPA cleaned up by the end of April, they're supposed to
be done with that. They were staging it at our site where the restaurant was, and then now the Army Corps of Engineers is going in and we don't really honestly know what's going to happen next so we're really truly so grateful to everyone who gave money for our crew, because a lot of these folks, with the current climate, even though they're legal, are terrified of going out and applying for jobs. And they've had this job for over
thirty years. A couple of people have never worked anywhere else in their lives, and we take care of our family. They took care of us during COVID and we took care of them. The PPC we got the loan and we gave that to them because we were okay, you know.
I'd like to give that out teddy to those people. Is it still is the GoFundMe still active?
Yes, it is okay, still active, and you can. I think there's a link on our website. Real in Malibu dot com. So if people would like to donate to our crew, we're still dispersing funds to them. It's been going on since the day the fire started. And these a lot of our guys that have not been able to find work. This is how we've you know, we've been able to keep them the rent paid in their food.
Real in Malibu dot com obviously are e E l in Malibu dot com. You can also go to go fundme and just search for reel in Malibu Fire Recovery. But it's very easy to go to reel in Malibu dot com. Can you stick around? I'd really there's so much history and so much to talk about. I would love to get into more of that with you. Okay, sure, stick around as we talk with Teddy Saraphine Leonard, owner of Real in a course. You know that Neon sign of the jumping red fish and all of that with
the blue lettering and something we've seen forever. One of these things that sadly we kind of take for granted is just part you know, like a mountain that's there, or the surf itself, that it's always going to be there. The fires had something else in mind. We'll talk more with Teddy when we return. You've been listening to the
Fork Report. You can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app Roaming the streets, always looking for good food, talking about cooking at home, going out to eat. I've said this many times before. Our local economy rises and falls on hospitality.
Period.
You don't go out to eat. You don't go to local vendors. We're screwed. It's just the way we saw they collapse during COVID. Of course, another round five years later of the fires here.
In Los Angeles.
You have the Palisade Fire, and then the Palisades Fire, and then you had of course Alta Dina and we're still picking those pieces up. Talk more about that, of course. Somebody who knows firsthand, Teddy Saraphine Leonard, owner of real In, you know it there in Malibu. The website is real r E E l in Malibu dot com. If you haven't been there, it's hard to think of you as a Southlander. There is a go funder go fund me
page rather as well, GoFundMe dot com. Look for real in Malibu Fire Recovery or you can find a link at the real in Malibu dot com website, and that is going entirely to those that work there, the crew, the family that Teddy was talking about. So, Teddy, you're wrestling, you and your husband wrestling with rebuilding. You talk about, you know, the things that were that hung on the walls, the things that have been collected.
Over the many years that reel in has been there.
I would, you know, respectfully say that everything up on those walls was new at one time.
Or went you know, went up there.
Yes, some of them one hundred years ago, but yes, but you know what.
I'm saying, it was new to you guys, or you gathered it and you put it on the wall. And I see it more personally, being kind of a philosophical guy, I see that place as a mirror of you guys, and the people that have worked there and the people that have frequented it, and and that it's really you guys.
All those things were things that brought joy to your husband or to you that made you think, oh, let's put it up on the wall, or somebody sending something in and oh, yeah, it's not it's the spirit of that family you guys created there and not the walls themselves anymore than a church, you know, is God.
Yeah.
So it's like, I hope whatever you guys end up doing that those places are important. They they they're important to see, They're important to know that they exist and that families are in there.
And I'm not saying corporations are bad, but.
You know, no, I think the small business You're correct, I think the small business, the mom and pop shops are what makes a community unique. It was one of the things that made Malibu. It makes Malibu so unique, is that there aren't big corporations coming in. There are few now, but you have you know, people come in, they know our crew. They they've been there thirty something years, and they say hello to them, and they you know people, we have celebrities that stand in line with surfers, that
stand in line with executives. You know. It was all walks of life, and everybody was comfortable there and everyone was, uh, it feels like it's theirs, you know, like like they belong there and it's their home. I did have one funny thing, well, a couple of funny things happened, and I think it was Bordon Ramsay came through, David Beckham brun through and he mentioned the cooks, would you like me to come back and cook. They didn't know who he was. They liked that. I'm liking you. No, we're
not letting you back exactly exactly. And then you know, uh, you know. And then similarly that time, you know, I said to our manager we had cameras in the restaurant obviously, and I happened to be looking at them. I said, dis guys reaching in the window and grabbing cups and things. You might want to keep an eye on him. He goes, you want me to keep an eye on David Beckham. I said, no, no, he can have all the cups. He wants to know. That's fine, you're.
All you call me, I will punish him personally.
Yeah, it was just it was really cute. It was really cute because you would have you know, there was a booth, certain booths in the restaurant that from time to time Dylan would sit in and he would bring someone with them and they were very nondescript, and they would the person would stand in line to them, and you'd stand in line. You'd order your food, and you'd go back to your place. You'd get your drinks, and you go back to where we're sitting and we'd call
your name. And it was great because our system was so bad that if you could recognize your name, you knew you were a regular. When the cook would say that your was ready, like your orders ready, and people knew, they just knew. And it was so much a part of the community that I felt sorrier for our customers than I did for my husband and myself, because this is where we had people that during COVID too, came every local loyals came every week and they got their food.
They sat in the parking lot and there was someone sent us a video of the seagull trying to peck its way through the windshield to get the food off the dashboard of the car that was eating in the parking lot. And you know, to give you an idea our crew the first thing during COVID when we were paying them out of our savings because there was no PPPs or any of that yet, and they said, we want to give you our money, our salaries back. We
don't want to take money from you. Guys. Well this is happening and I just broke down because I also sell real estate. You know, We're fine, and it's just that is the kind of heart that these people that work for us half that's their soul. They when this happened, the restaurant burned it down. They found out where we were at are you know Airbnb? We weren't at home, and they came there and they said, what can we do for you? Can we come to your house? Can we take care of you somehow, And I just.
Teddy, we're up against the clock. Can I steal you for another segment? For these stories? I think they're powerful?
Sure, sure, Okay.
Hangtig Teddy Saraphine Leonard is on with us, owner of Real and one of the casualties in the fire. Of course, they're in the Malibu area and Palisades area, and these stories are important. And if you know, if you guys end up deciding that you're not going to rebuild, at least for to have them and to hear you telling them, I think is powerful. Of course, you can go to Real in Malibu dot com. There's a link a GoFundMe page there for the people that work there. This is
not for Teddy, it's not for her husband. These are for the people that have worked there. And to hear these things, I think is an important part of what makes hospitality hospitality. So stick around. We'll do one more segment and talk with Teddy when we come back.
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on demand from KFI AM six forty