McLaren IndyCar Chefs: Serving Up Meals at High Speeds

Hello Food Fam . This is the Walk and Talk Podcast and I'm your host , Carl Fiedini , and we are podcasting onsite at Ibis Images Studios , where food photography comes alive . Get with John Hernandez . Check him out at Ibisimagescom . On the menu today oh my gosh , oh my gosh . We have beef tenderloin and we're talking bacon wrapped meatloaf and a sexy beef tartare .

up . Uh , it's great , man . It's always good to have Manny in the house , so Sure enough . Yeah , it feels like a whole time for me . Sexy top for pre-shift Gotta talk about that ground chuck , that we did too , that burger that you put on the fly for me to do . John had some leftover Cuban bread , so we went Cuban hamburger Dude , I'm so awesome .

Yeah .

A little bit of cinnamon and maple sugar and then , topped out with a little Chipotle , put the ground , chuck in there with some caramelized onions , some black garlic , some garlic , some yellow uh sorry lemon for zest , bring it and brighten it up . And then red gold gave me their Sacramento Bloody Mary mix and I want to do something a little bit different .

You got to say it differently . You have to say it like pomas maximus .

Well , it's pomas . Pomas max is what they're called , but pomas maximus or , if you want to do it , italian maximus .

Now , like remember uh you know , uh , what's gladiator Right Pomas maximus , maximus , maximus right .

So stay with me . Those were like window paint little slice , uh , circular potatoes that were infused with herbs , and then we topped it off with sauteed spinach . And then John captured the most god awful beautiful bacon with , like you said , the tribal tattoo rolling around . It was so sexy .

That was really . I honestly I think that's one of the best images we've gotten . Yeah , it's like top three for sure , definitely .

Uh , he really captured that the essence of it was . And then I wanted to do a twist with beef tartar , as most people will do , but you hold on , hold on , hold on .

Listen , you're , you're , you're just shotgunning all of this against the spewing , against the wall . Um , pick it , pick the tartar and start with the tartar , because , man , it was , it was really good , and you made the uh , you made your own . You know , quote , unquote , caviar . Why don't you kind of get into the detail of that ?

So monochrozym , which is what uh for an an , Adrienne , his brother and Elbule did , is they looked at ways that we can do things differently with chemicals like sodium aglinate , calcium chloride , and that this one was none of that , because it's a little more difficult . You have to have filtered water .

It reminded me of the jewel of the Nile . Yeah , that's what it reminded me of . And if you , if you yeah , and if people don't know what that means , like Google that the jewel of Nile great flick , first of all , but it was just like that .

Right , emerald green , yeah , and then we put that on top of a nice baguette that we did . I'm going to start calling you .

El Guampo , just for that movie , okay , yeah .

Well , you can listen . You brought something back from my memory that I forgot about .

Dude , I'm still living in the 80s bro .

Well , aren't we all ?

Yeah , no , my knees tell me it's well , yeah , that's the stretch zone .

You need to go there . Yeah , we're going to work that out with him . And then we got chef Sorry , jonathan is actually finishing up over there the BLT , the Drift .

BLT . Oh yeah , john , he's the , he's the best . But yeah , I have his images . I'm totally going to rock that . That's going to be , by the way , he probably that's son of a he probably is .

Yeah , Because I mean you've got to think about it . When you have jerk and then the savoriness and the saltiness of the bacon , then they have the bourbon he's eating it .

He's the jerk . Do you know what I'm saying Of ?

course .

Because I have been saving some space for that piece of that .

Well , you know why we're doing bacon today . The 20th is the wrong reason . The 20th is National Bacon Day .

Okay , this month Is it going to be there ?

Yeah , so we wanted to make sure that we kind of bring that to light so that people understand bacon is great every day , but it actually has its own national day .

Yeah , I can , I can get behind it 100% in front of it , over it in it , whatever you know exactly , it's good , all right . So Tartar was amazing , thank you , I'm I'm I'm a big Tartar guy , all right , and I'm going to give you a . I'm going to give you a good . I can never just give you a 10 .

I'm . I don't think you're ?

you're kind of a D bag ? No , I'm kidding , you're not that at all . No , it was . It was freaking phenomenal . Thank you Good job . You did great today , in fact . Meatballs yeah , meatballs are good . Listen , the bar for that is oh , I know it's high for me , yeah , yeah .

Yeah .

I mean , I was having like my fan I'm , I'm , I am a second generation . Right , yeah , yeah you have your Nona , your Bella Right . All these people and I grew up eating like some freaking high powered . Really amazing , you know . Amazing , but what's the word I'm looking for ? It was so real , authentic is the word . I couldn't believe . So freaking wonderful .

Yes , I got my own little twist in it , but you know , yeah .

I mean , everything you do has your yes , yeah , the , the schlüssel , yeah , you know . So what was the next dish ?

So we did the meatballs , we did the meatball or meatloaf entree with the carrots , the carrot puree , with the lemon in it , with chipotle .

We're going to bring Manny on shortly , but he said something interesting . I want to get into it with the yin , yang yin and the yang aspect of that particular dish which I thought was , you know , pretty pretty witty .

And then the one we did with the meatloaf sandwich . Most of the time people just do catch up meatloaf and a sandwich and that's kind of it . We toast the baguette or the bread . We did , instead of just catch up , I did smoked tomato aioli yes , from a couple of layers , and then the jalapeno is elevated meatloaf . This is an elevated meatloaf .

This is not grandma's meatloaf . No , you know funny story real quick , before we bring Manny in . We just sat down in South Florida , went to a restaurant . My dad was there , it was a whole , it was a family event .

Okay , I'm not gonna tell you how much it was for us at the restaurant , then what do you mean ? Oh what ? When I was at the white tablecloth it was like $28 .

Yeah , no , I get it . I'm in the fricking business but , like you know , poro fellow was like oh yeah , people that don't know that are not in the industry , don't know . He's like look at this , I can do this at home for like a quarter of the price . I'm like dad , we're coming out to eat .

I think so that's a good idea .

Manny , are you with us right ?

Look at that , your own little . It's in his writer .

It was part of the contract to get him on , I had to play this , that's my walk up music .

That's my pull up of chair music .

I like it .

Where'd you find that one ?

You know , this guy told me about it Spotify has everything . Spotify has everything .

Well , it's got you two on it too .

So yeah , that's true , the bar kind of so listen , obviously we're , it's for fun and everything . Where are you ?

from California .

Where's your family from ?

Like ethnically . Why are ?

mine . Why are you Come on ? Can you give some perspective on the thing ?

We're Pakistani-American .

All right . So this is actually a really cool tune and I'm glad we did this . All right , let's jump into it .

Absolutely .

Indy Indy Car Racing Team McLaren . That's pretty badass .

It's really neat . I mean I kind of fell into it this past year , this past Indy Car season . It's something you don't think about . You know , jeff and I worked for the same company for a good seven , eight years together . We both have a background in resorts and hotels , restaurants and feeding in that sense it's kind of as a chef it comes natural .

That's the minimum . No , that's the minimum because you get the VIP and that's just one team .

I mean , this Indy Car circuit this year has like at least five major teams and then smaller teams . But so I kind of fell into this , not knowing it's through another contact , like oh , we need our chef fell through , we need someone that can kind of travel and feed the team and feed some of our guests . And like what do you mean feed the team ?

Conquered .

The parking lots are literally falling you had to get right , literally melting as they were putting it up . Are you feeding three squares a day ?

Two and a half , yeah .

So we do 100 people plus two and a half times a day 200 people 200 , oh yeah .

So 100 for the team and then usually about 100 for the VIP guests . Yeah , I think one and a half times a day .

Day one was 469 people . That's crazy , yeah , and the time constraints is just ridiculous . I mean , I'm still in awe .

Well , yeah , you guys just did a gig together a month or so ago . A couple months ago , yeah , yeah , you were in Michigan .

Detroit . Yeah dearborn right out . We did the Detroit Grand Prix in .

Downtown Detroit . Yeah , literally downtown , right off of Franklin . It was a street race , so like Defining .

It's cool man , I love that stuff . I already mentioned a bunch before about doing the Miami Grand Prix . Like 20 something years ago One of my chefs was with the Audi team and it's just really what a great experience when you hear the cars and you could . That's so amazing .

Yeah , we try to tape it and I know the phone does not do justice at all . It is what ? 120 decibels .

My watch kept on saying loud , environment Loud environment . I'm like , okay , you hear .

Yeah , when we were in Detroit I was in the trailer and he , manny and Robert the other prep cook that was with us . They had to wear earplugs . It was that loud . It was 110 degrees out there as well .

That's fun , I mean listen , we're here on Florida . It's 110 degrees at nighttime .

But the day I left was like 41 degrees .

I was like really this couldn't be this yesterday . So what kind of what's is it ? So what I learned today and I didn't know this , but apparently the drivers are , they're smaller framed individuals , right ?

The drivers are on a strict diet that's handled by nutritionists and performance coaches et cetera . So their meals come out of my kitchen as well , but they're totally separate from what everyone else gets and their each driver has specific requirements and those are given to us ahead of time . We're planned for and those don't .

Yeah , but I think that's the , in my opinion . I found listening to this and I'm hearing well , what do you mean ? It's like they're like jockeys , you know they're smaller framed individuals and they have a strict regiment of food . They have to probably work out just to stay . Those cars it's gotta be taxing physically , right ? To drive like that Very physically .

Yeah , you would think you're just getting a car and you drive around in circles . Right , it's not . I mean there's . When you look at that car , when they had one of them literally right in the parking lot where we were , I'm like I couldn't get in there . You know , the guys that do top gear and whatever is on HBO .

What's up , brad ? There we go . Hey , so you said there was a funny story about garlic . Oh what was that ?

about . So this was . So . My first race with this was for the month what they call the month of May in Indianapolis , so leading up to the Indianapolis 500 .

I felt so bad .

I was like oh my gosh . So listen what's wrong with that ? Because I'm a smart ass by nature , right ?

My immediate response would have been drive faster .

Drive faster . I did that on purpose .

I wanted him to win . I wanted him to get back quick .

But as a chef . So when I sat with that in my hotel room later that night , as a chef we don't think about those things and it's something I haven't had to think about . It's like okay , garlic is flavor , you want it to be flavorful , and I'm sure the driver appreciated the flavor at the time .

And for the rest of the round . And for the rest of the round .

But then it's like , okay , what is he there to do ? And he's there to focus on his car , get it dialed in for the race .

I kept on saying extra garlic . But you literally you have to think like is it okay to use butter , is it okay to use salt , is it okay ? Because you have to ask the nutritionist for everything .

Yes , yeah , so the chef , the nutritionist works very closely with . Do you ever do ?

Just do you , as the chef , get to interact with the , with the team , with the drivers or anyone , or ?

sometimes they're around . They've , you know , I wave to him and they've waved back , but that's about it .

Okay , yeah , they're , they're all business .

And that's my client . That's , that's , that's cool . I mean , listen , you know , I don't know what other what's , what's like that ?

How many ?

undready is one of the bigger ones right , yeah , he's ready out of sports yeah he's pretty big .

What cars does everybody push him though ?

For Indy car it's . What do you mean ?

You're McLaren . So yeah , obviously team McLaren . Yeah , team McLaren .

Yeah , no , but with Indy car the rules are different , so all the teams they have to use a Dallara chassis and so there's one chassis manufacturer and each team chooses whether they're gonna go for their engine . They're gonna go with either Chevy or Honda .

Yeah , I didn't even know this one of the runs that was going on in Detroit . It wasn't on Saturday . Somebody's family member was racing in the car . It was transam , but it wasn't all transams .

No , it was Michelin .

Pilot challenge was one of the cam the nephew was yeah , yeah . I have no idea dude those cars were , so they were louder than the trans am . Yeah , those really well holy , I mean 150 decibels . Hmm , couldn't even like when they were wisdom by was like you know .

I think that's like one of my systems from back in the day in the car .

Yeah , it was a couple of house . Yes , jail audio , jail audio . Yeah , little shot out of Jim and Luigi over there in Hollywood right In this last race I did Nashville they had these .

I don't know what they call them , but these trucks .

Oh , he showed me the video you should .

They were jumping at little ramps and coming around turns on three wheels . It was , it was nuts .

We get 15 feet of air .

I'll show you the video .

Like it was like monster truck meets like motor raceway .

That's the best way to describe that . There's a term form . I forget what it is .

You're knocking fucks .

Alright , so 200 people a day . The drivers are very particular about what they can eat . Do you get to ? Do you get to kind of like you know , pop the clutch , so to speak , for with what you're doing , and can you get creative ? I mean , would you ?

yeah . Not for the driver .

So , no , drivers are . Drivers are like nothing you could do with it .

So the way it's set up . The rest of it is the menu falls on me . It's , which is neat , it's a really cool thing . The menu falls on on me . Well , of course , approval by the team , so I'll give draft menus and they'll come back .

So Logistically as a nightmare .

Yes , sourcing all of the stuff right in the menus , sourcing all the ingredients coming up into and not going into a Brick and mortar . It's you know , we're building a tent kitchen to cook out of Literally a lot kitchen .

It's not 10 , but you're almost . You guys are almost . When you're doing this , it's almost as if it's like a yacht chef . You know a little different , similar , you know you just all your provisions are you know you've got to get creative .

You know what this taught me ? We could probably go on any of those shows like chopped or Next TV food network , whatever , because the stuff we did you literally walk in . There's nothing . You , the guys , the team sets up the kitchen and you walk in .

Yeah , you got one chance at it . You get one order because it's only a three-day , four-day event .

Most you're relying on broad liners for this mostly one or you know the national broad liners definitely have to . But that here's the thing he's not even touched on . It's the logistics and timing , because you got to feed breakfast to both VIP and the team and the drivers .

Yeah , well , yes , I'm like that .

So you're . There's no time like I remember the Saturday we worked together . We didn't eat until we went to dinner at Santa or the sushi restaurant .

Yeah , we didn't need to like , we had a 15 hour .

No we couldn't know what there was no , even there was no time to even pick , like sometimes you can pick and get something to go . There was none .

Well , I mean , I can appreciate that there was a million years ago when I was down in Miami and you know a selling produce I had I forgot the name of the job , but it was . It was a large job and you know they'd call . Hey , let's call super important . We're gonna be docked for I don't know what if 35 minutes it was like some stupid number .

You know how hard it is to get those perfect , yeah .

What sure do and but , but it was situations . I remember one time we missed the . We missed the window at the where they were docked . We had to get creative there's .

So for me , for this it's been you know , I you know , working in a hotel or resort , you know it's awesome , but for me it's been . This has been a new challenge .

Or the kitchen doesn't get built out in time . What are we going to do ? I actually bought an immersion sorry , a sous vide machine out to Detroit because we were trying to figure out worst case scenario with the combi oven to make this . One wants to do eggs Benedict for 97 .

See , that was again a challenge and I'm pulling it off ever since then . We're pulling it off .

Yeah , and that's the thing . Like you , you , you look at things but you know what ? Good for you . Yeah , let me tell you something .

They they were make the freaking eggs Benedict . They were spot on 63 degree Benedict Celsius .

Yeah .

Just want to clarify those people that there's another form of temperature out there . Fahrenheit and Celsius Wow .

All right .

So yeah that is the perfect egg . By the way , the , the , the just starting to set for the for for these races .

I have to say I am for for that . The 63 degree Benedict that I've been doing at these races . I'm really proud of that .

I'm just I pat myself on the shoulder because it's like I just Sure , can we get it ? I wish John was here . I want to make a shirt . You know that has something to do with like 63 degree .

Yeah , that could be the name . Of this is a segment . You want your segment .

So let me stop for a second All right Folks here , it comes . Folks listening to the audience , the wonderful people who support what we're doing here .

Yeah , we have a couple of shout outs we need to do after you get done with this . You're getting way way ahead . Go for it . Go for it .

Go for it . You know , tell you what , you little meister . Stop it , silence , all right . So first of all , we're trying to up the game here . We're trying to bring more entertainment , more , more value , more food , foodie , food , delicious . You know content right , you just say foodie , foodie , buttootie delicious food .

That would have been better .

But you bet you , meanwhile I was on the phone with with pooch the other day and he's like , he's like man I you called me out in like three episodes and I'm like , yeah , brother this is what we do .

Where are the cheeses ?

Oh yeah , the cheese cheese . So I have what I did , because my kids like ran through that like a train . I do have some put aside .

Well , you told me that . You said you were bringing today .

I brought you the dog gate instead . I forgot .

Where's the priorities ? Right ? Yeah , we do offer me dog in my car .

Anyways , I have for you the cheese , okay .

Sorry , sorry , pooch . It's going to be a little more time before I start playing with those .

It's all right , poochie pooh , look , we're going to make it happen , all right . So what I'm getting at here is we're trying to level up here on what we're doing content wise and and you know , just entertainment value . So what we proposed is having diff , having different shifts , man down , having different chefs .

I'm just saying so that's going to be his segment .

But if you do that , you have to get the sound of the vehicle , that's all .

Oh , that's , yeah , we can . We can make that happen . You got that , I have that too .

I have it on my , but it's not listen the sound does not .

maybe that could be part of his like uh , intro music or something . Yeah , yeah .

You know something like that , I don't know . It has to go with that music .

No , we don't have to stop it the best sound on the racetrack , honestly , is when , after they give the command of driver , start your engines and all 24 cars start up at the same time .

Oh man , I bet you that is cool that is the sound . Yeah , you , just you won me . That's it . I didn't hear it . We were too far away in Detroit . Only thing better for me , you know , when you say Detroit , you should just be like mom's spaghetti every time , Just mom's spaghetti , mom's spaghetti we all know each other .

We signed a big mile where we're on . I think we were on that side . I ate my yeah , definitely .

It doesn't even matter , it just you know , anyhow , uh , what ?

the only thing to make what he just said better about the , you know , 24 engine starting ones is if I was just chomping on a handful of crispy bacon .

I know it's over there , well , no , but he's not come out , he ate it .

I'm sure that that's sort of a big he's . He's eating it . Yeah , it's it's eight and eight and he had done eight . And I am ? I am so angry right now because I save space for it specifically , just like this much . I mean I get a lot of space .

I'm cool .

I'm cool , go yeah .

So what are you thinking about that ?

I love it .

I love it . Cause again . Um , so it's not so . Each of the teams has a similar setup and it's been really cool being part of the , the paddock of this , and meeting the , the chefs and the , the , the folks from the other teams , and it's you know , I guess , is there any sort of a rivalry or ?

It's no , there's a brotherhood . When you're slaving like you're doing out there and you're slinging .

of course there's camaraderie , there's definitely no , we don't care about that . I've like you guys are no fun Like 0.0% . No , the chefs for this talk about a bland soup Going on right now .

We have a lot of love in that we have cardamom clothes like ground up .

Okay , I mean there's already been borrowing of cups of sugar and flour , and I mean bartering .

I'm not saying to , to , you know to , to , to get in somebody's way and and ruin their shift .

You know what I mean . We're not even , I can tell you , in Detroit , we're , we're , we're , mama Spaghetti , we're , we weren't even next to anybody .

In Detroit , we weren't All the other races I've been fortunate to have . So I got to get you to another one because so you can see , see what's been built there .

When you go , I'm going to give you the . I'm going to let you use the Zoom recorder .

Oh , that would be . I was thinking about that when you said him . That would be perfect , because I think that would actually get the sound quality it does man , it's amazing .

Zoom recorder , badass piece of equipment , all right .

Yeah .

Yeah , yeah , it catches every everything , yeah . That'll do it for sure .

For sure Probably catches a cricket fart .

I had to why , why that ?

it's me the show . We were just on the rise , do we ? Do we always have to go through this ? You bring it up , I bring it down . It's called the ying and yang . Speaking of ying and yang .

I wanted my nieces and nephews to hear this . They can hear that .

I said fart , they can . Your nephew would love that . How old are they ?

Oh gosh don't , don't put me on the spot .

I mean they probably just read everybody poops , so it's fine .

I mean , no , they range from three to .

Yeah , just fits into this actually . So that's Jeff's audience .

Yeah . That's his demographic right there , usually the dinosaur little chicken nuggets . They think yeah , well , that's your , that's about your elevation in terms of Sheffield right now .

I'm kidding .

Oh my god .

Maybe we should do that , yeah , right .

No , I don't want to cover kids , bro , I have my own . She doesn't need anything like it's a have to be craft macaroni and cheese , which is just drives me , that's so .

Matt , there's so many bad things in there , I know , but what am I gonna do ? My wife made macaroni and cheese but like some , like good ones , you know , like I forget what she used , but there was like four different , like really good Jesus and my daughter had the odd Dacity , and I say it like that because it was . It's that intense To be like .

you know because of the .

I'm like you're not my child , I need a DNA test . I should do that anyway . Probably right , she doesn't listen to the show , so I can see whatever I want . There you go .

Yeah , neither does my family . So it's okay , except except for chef Paul , or sorry , uncle Paulie . Uncle Paulie , you know , uncle Paulie before we get to Paulie .

You mean yin and yang , yin and yang . Talk to me . Well yeah , before we get what was the .

What were . Those are good readings . Yeah so in the meatloaf itself was a pureed roasted carrot , yellow and orange , and all it was was ooze , salt , pepper , chipotle and Honey . I Wanted to do like a riff on that spicy . What is that , mom Mike's honey , spicy honey , hot honey , yeah , honey , thank you . And I didn't . I was like how can I do ?

But he came up with a great idea , because you got the yellow and then you had the orange .

Yeah . So he came up to my plate just like , squirted it too little dollops , dallops was like , oh , more big , more baby food .

I didn't know what Walk away .

Right , I taste them like that's demographic .

I'm telling you .

No , but classically though you know this car , classically , just a really good puree that's been passed through a sieve is nothing that . You know the the art and the care that goes into making that , it's just one of the best things in culinary . But so he puts these purées and they taste it . You know , one's yellow , once bright orange .

Yeah , yeah , that one really nice plate together .

Oh my gosh , dark light Contrast heat sweet .

Yeah , I . So that what , what I'm watching here is , I think , what many in the audience Look for when they're looking for recipes , or they , they where they want to follow a chef . You guys were exuding creativity . You were like I'm watching you and your little gear , the gears in the head , oh yeah , we're moving .

Well , and then again , you look at those people that you have the support around you . Right , you want to surround yourself with great people , people that are really pushing themselves .

Craveability means people want it , they crave that I just want to tie some stuff together real quick . Okay , go for it . All right , we're talking pure as a minute ago .

Yeah , baby food , mm-hmm as you put it , yeah we're talking pure as well .

Actually , yeah , that was , that was me . Um , so here's the passion right you you had . You came up with some celery root puree Few pot a month a month ago or so , yeah , last week was it ? No , no , no , this was oh the original time I did it . Yes , okay , yes , back . So listen , uh , manny , he and audience .

So I just proceeded to like Right from the right from the piping bag , right right from the pastry bag . Yep .

And I'm a gluttonous fat , but I'm passionate about it , man , I like embrace it .

Well , what does it tell me about what you posted recently on on social media and somebody responded push the happiest .

Oh , I can't like 25 pounds . The happiest 20 something pounds .

I've ever had in my life you know , I'm miserable every day when I get dressed .

every Closing at me he calls me and you know I was trying to get dressed today . I'm starting to sweat .

Yeah , I just just a bling to pull up my pants . I'm sweating . How does this happen to me ? How did I don't know how this works ? Food coma yeah , that's eternal coma food .

That's what food does and that's what we . That's why we stay in it , you know .

There's a doctor on the payroll .

Well , this , this hard nutritionist .

Yeah , this whole gig that I've been doing , this racing circus , circus , like you know , it's tough . It's tough the heat , the , the stress of , you know , putting it on In a very uncontrolled environment , but there's been so many nuggets of joy that come out of it for me as a chef .

Like the time we went into the sushi bar .

That's a different type of nugget , but no , like just , we can't pass over there .

You got it like somebody's gonna hear that and go , you're not gonna skip that it was John .

John Manny and I walk into a sushi restaurant . It's the background of who we are . So we had a Mexican of Pakistani and a Jewish guy walk into a sushi restaurant . Can't make that stuff up . There's a joke . Yeah , and uni . We went back the next day and the guy was We'll have any , we'll have any . The next day we're gonna come back .

So , john , one of the guys is with us , so you , john , john yeah , and you know , jeff and I knew that the , the , the sushi chef , was , you know , joking with us when he said , come back tomorrow I'll have a uni . But John didn't catch on to it , so we went back anyway .

Yeah , john was all about . I need to get my Uni for dessert .

He was joking , he was yeah , yeah , john .

And Jeff's the kind of guy to let it just ride out .

Oh yeah but , it was , but it was a little bit .

Oh it , literally the entire restaurant . We walked in the door I went . I said I say we're back and the whole restaurant stopped and looked and he just screams from the . He's all the way in the back . I got you because I got , oh , you got me . We don't have any uni and we turn around and walked out .

That's very that's a letdown . I mean , I feel let down right now and just hear the story . What , what do we do in the industry ?

Yeah , but what do we provide service ? Yeah , our service was to have that uni waiting for us , because we were told , sure , so we expected it .

I expected it because I love uni Well we were in Dearborn , michigan , there wasn't water to be found and I don't know how far .

But they found sushi didn't they ?

I wasn't expecting uni .

Expectations need to be lowered . Well , which kind of reminds me of something here . I was on the Facebook , right ? I have no idea where he's going with this . You'll find out . Okay , just stick with me here . So I was on Facebook and I'm on a group . What's the guy's name ? Favaro , john Favaro .

That does the Star Wars . Yeah , might I say it right , favaro Yep .

All right , so there's a group with his name . He has nothing to do with it , but it's all food service people and they're all nuts . Oh , from the chef movie , yeah Right , but all these people on this particular , they're all nuts . It's the true version of the restaurant industry . The people in it . It's like they're lunatics . It's a fun group .

Yeah .

You know , in terms of expectations and things like that . You know pushing the narrative of oh , you know , servers should be get a minimum wage and I'm like , why do we want our dishes to be ? You know , instead of 25 bucks , they want it to be 45 bucks . Like , why do you want to do that with them ? That's what's going to happen .

Yes .

Yeah , the people don't think about that .

Well , look at .

McDonald's . You know what . You make so much more money with the tips anyway .

Well , look at McDonald's they . When the workers went on strike , what'd they do ? They pulled all the register out . Now you have to do it yourself .

And you know that it's been just waiting . They've been waiting to just roll that .

That was the perfect time to pull that trigger . Yeah , and there you go , saving some money . So you mean , look at it , laborers , what the shortage is .

Yeah , expectations , man . People need to get their expectations in line . Work hard and just do what you got to do .

Thank God , the people over here listening to this podcast have the lowest expectations . That's good entertainment .

But we love you , Thank you . Thank you for following us . Do you know ? I'm going to put it out there 46 weeks we have been in the top 100 on the Apple podcast charts in the food category . So we've been ranking in the food category top 100 for 46 weeks , or we're nine months , or 285 days We've been ranking on anything yeah so cool .

We have a buddy of ours who has a podcast that had a million downloads Patrick Kelly .

Yeah , how long it took him the produce industry podcast and he does a phenomenal job Logistics and produce , all produce .

It's everything . And you would think , wow . And let me tell you something , he's got some following . Yeah , he's entertaining too . He hit a million .

Yeah Well , he's . His character is phenomenal , but he hit a million downloads . How long it took him . What maybe three years .

And how many were you up to now ?

Last week we hit half a million , we hit 500,000 . Last , about a week ago .

That's awesome .

It just boggles my mind . Yeah , we put out the last podcast In fact so funny two days ago . Brian Kilman a little shout out for him . Sent me a text . He's like hey , what's the next topic on the podcast ? We don't know yet .

Yeah , we found out about an hour ago , before we started . No , that's not true . We put a little thought into this , a little bit . You see , there's so many schools of thought , man . You actually , I think , asked me something earlier relative to this but at the end of the day , you know , we do a little bit of prep . We have a show flow .

Okay , you know what I mean .

Yeah , yeah .

Yeah , but I think what we're doing , you know , coming up with ideas , what we're focused on , especially with now , the new , the new website which we haven't talked about , the walk and talkcom . It's a refresh , we refreshed it . It's gorgeous . Yeah , it really is . I mean , I'm not because I'm on it .

It's just because I'm talking about the other peeps ?

Somebody's got a blog .

I will be having a blog , so we'll talk about it . You got one silly little article . What the hell is this ? You should ? I was thinking by . You know , john's . I came in , we're up and running . I'm like , oh sweet , I go and look , this is like one article . What is this I got ?

more common . God , you know what ? I go to sit down and I get writer's block . I'm not kidding you . I'm like I got to do this . I've got a moment . I'm just open up the computer . Turn Damn it . The refrigerator's calling me .

I can appreciate that . That calls me always . It's always calling me . I hear it .

I hear it when .

I'm not not on Thursdays .

Oh , Thursdays .

My wife asked just goes , Are you eating dinner here tomorrow ?

I'm like dude I probably know , thursday .

No , I mean , I have a sickness , maybe I am , I don't know , but no , probably not .

Yeah , I get out of the car . I told you when I got out of the car it was hey , how you doing . I'm kind of famished .

I can see that .

You know why I haven't eaten .

I stopped eating at seven o'clock on Wednesday .

I'm trying to save trying to save some room .

You know , and yeah , and I fill it up quick . It's a quick , quick fill , but no , you did a great job . I'm only kidding about the , about the articles . I know that you're working on some stuff now , but it's exciting . You know obviously the walk in talkcom . Manny , when you hear walk and talk , do you immediately go walk in .

Yeah , absolutely .

Okay , industry people get it . Non-industry people are like walk and talk . Is this like a gangster movie , like , hey , we're going to go do a walk and no , it's not , that it's , it's , you know . This is like the walk .

I tried to explain to my family when I was leaving this morning , like what I was going to do and they still didn't comprehend . Like walking , what , what ?

are you going to do Like you're going to walk around the block and talk in the microphone ? No , that's not what this is .

And one of them was like you mean walk like okay , oh my God , I never heard of that one , that's , that's another one .

walk and talk .

That would be a whole another that's somebody else's segment . Yeah , we have to get some PF Chang's people in so they can do that .

All right , but that can get way out of hand so fast . Stop it , stop it . But the walk in . Cooler in my estimation , in my opinion , is the heartbeat of the eatery , right and and in that heart you have everything happening .

Sometimes it's insulated . No , not some of them aren't . I know from personal experience . I was yelling at a cook and I got out and the whole restaurant was like . I was like , oh , I was a little loud . They're usually insulated . Yeah , I was pissed , there was Wow really pissed .

Someone dropped a ball there , oh , but you know , good things happen in there too . Promotions , like you know . You can share stories . That's a place where you either go , yell , cry , whip it , you get away . I'm trying to bring this to like the .

Listen . No , what is ? What's our tag goes ?

on in the walk into .

We're not . We're not going there . This is a wholesome show . No , this is also talking about the 17 . But we're also talking about the the stuff that happens in the restaurant industry . You're looking at the mayhem . That's part of the mayhem .

It is , but it's rare . That's it's , it's a rare , it's a rare thing . We don't that's , we don't . We don't talk about Bruno over here . Okay , my gosh , we elevate the food and the industry .

You just said Divo , divo , bruno , whip it , whip it good .

Oh , that was pretty good . Yeah , your little triple entendre going on . Yeah , thank you . Nice Spaghetti , I love it .

Stories of walk in , you know that's exactly . Yeah , there's so many stories and so many , like you said , so many good things have happened , bad things have happened , been on the giving end , receiving end .

It's Normally for me , it was where I can cool off from the shift and you cool off ? Yeah , that was the biggest thing for me . I mean , let's just get away .

Before the advent of like these under armor shorts , you know , like the cornstarch , there was always the box of cornstarch . It was always a good . Yeah , it was a well , that was always cornstarch everywhere , but you would go in that cooler to like , just like get some air , like it was swamp , but it was a real thing .

It still is a real thing . But my God , back in , yeah , yeah .

No , it's okay . It's still a physiological thing that happens , right . I mean just part of your . But now you have clothing you can put on , you don't even notice that anymore . You don't have to worry about the cornstarch 120 degrees on a pavement , yeah . No , it's funny Correlation .

I was like no , there's the code on the line . It's like slurry up . That was the code , slurry up yeah .

That's the thought of it , though it's like no come on , you , just you just see that one guy walking .

You're like dude , slurry up now . Hey , listen , I was most of my tenure was friend of the house and and I was what hundreds ? Back then I was maybe 160 , 170 pounds and I would chase like unbelievable . It was unbelievable , it was terrible . Oh yeah , and somebody introduced that one of the one of the line guys , one of the cooks .

This is private . It sucks . This is terrible . What are you talking about ? Not in the kitchen ?

He hands me this box of the thing and I'm like what do you want me to do with this ?

And it was marked .

Kitchen . Only he hands me the box . He says I said what do you want me to do with this ? He says go to a bathroom , powder up , baby Powder up . I'm like , what do you mean ? Like what my like to ? Just he goes , he goes . Yeah , I'm like , am I allowed to do that ? I'm like , watch your effing hand , you dummy .

Like I was a kid . You know , do I know ? I don't know .

But yeah , man , that was a lifesaver .

Yeah , I mean there's little hacks that we do in the kitchen that people don't realize . I mean we are truly MacGyver's it has to be . I mean you think about what we did and what we went through in Detroit . That was nuts , absolutely nuts . Like the kitchen wasn't ready , we had to feed by Friday .

Arbor , ann Arbor .

Ann Arbor oh drive .

Well , an hour after we served did everything we needed to do , we had to go still buy more . We spent like a thousand dollars in Costco . That's nothing , oh . I spent a thousand dollars in .

Costco Dude it was we filled up .

We could have filled up to two flat beds , literally two flat beds , we could have filled up . It was that bad of food Interesting .

Yeah .

There was some shorts from the purveyor that we had to recover on our own , and then there was some last minute added Shark kudri or a shark kudri .

Stuff like that . So that really added up . We remember we went to that one hoity-toydy spot , that- . That was really cool , but we went for it not for what we needed 20 something dollars a pound for cheese . Oh , we would have spent like 5,000 there and we had about 100 people to feed cheese for 20 dollars a pound .

Okay .

Not happening . Okay , okay , so we had to shift gears . It's all about what you can do . Most people don't realize the kitchen dictates the menu . Menu doesn't dictate the kitchen . So that's the biggest thing .

I agree , I concur , I think we all concur Concur . So , chef Manny , yes , sir , are you in , or what ?

Always .

All right , so we're gonna have to go we're gonna have to go over some baseline here .

Right , where are you gonna be going next ? Yeah , where are you going ? What's the next race ?

Laguna Seca , Monterey , California .

Not too far from your house . That sounds so pretty .

About an hour and a half .

That sounds nice , so- .

I'm doing a real regional , local menu for that race . How are you with taking ?

pictures and stuff .

Good yeah , All right , yeah enough . Who said that I'm scared ?

All right . So what I'm thinking is this Phones nowadays they're pretty good . You're gonna be in a lot of greats , right , I'm gonna look at it . No , the stuff , he- . Did you see that stuff ? Oh my gosh dude .

Amazing the Attention to details . No for me , just the toys that he has set up , like all the plates and silverware . That's where I'm like . It's just like three metro shelves full of different plates . Silverware Doubles .

Each plate there's a double .

Cups , you know little cups with red juice in them .

Ramekins , all sorts of stuff .

That was cool for me Different forks in different areas .

In this case it'll be Ramakai .

Ramakai . There's a bunch of Ramakai .

But he just we walk in there , you just don't even realize it . And then on top of that , his intention to detail .

Yeah .

It's a little much . I always tell him like dude , like come on , what are you doing ? Dude , we've been shooting to what ? 10 o'clock . A lot of work goes into this , you see , like Thank God . So I asked Jeff . I said so when's Mandy coming ?

What time I ?

said noon , because why so ?

early what . The poor guy's going to be sitting here . What are you doing ? You know anyhow . You got to kind of see what goes on behind the scenes here In the green room , in the green room . Yeah green area , the whole area .

He probably ate it .

He probably ate my freaking sandwich , but he probably just finished up about within the last 15 minutes and that's a long day of shooting and he still has some post-production to do too . He has to go . Yeah , no , like we don't do much anyway . Post-production on the podcast in how ?

Yeah , I'm down . I think it sounds amazing .

And I think for the average listener too . It's not just about country clubs , it's not just about hotels and it's not just about restaurants . It's about guys like Manning who are working for a racing team , people like Chef Ryan Manning , who just got hired , is the Tampa Bay chef for the Buccaneers . So congratulations to Ryan .

People don't mean the James Beard Camp . That's a big deal , yeah huge .

Ryan had already gone to it and now Jackie was been invited . So it's just a stellar . We got to get them on , yeah .

I mean I'd love to , yeah , and we got to get with the foundation to begin with .

We got to get with these hands ? I think I know somebody .

Well , yeah , we got to like . You know , I've been breaking your chops now for a little bit .

Yeah , well , she was on vacation until this time .

Listen , everybody needs some time off . Ok , but now we're back , let's get back to bed , let's get focused .

Yeah , I'll talk to her , OK , all right ?

Well it's that time , yeah , so what's your social handle ? How do people follow you Instagram ?

chefmanning .

OK , excellent .

You can't . There's no missing him , because that's a picture of him right there . So , if you want to see what he looks like , chef Manning .

Chefmanning , Chefmanning . Ok , we're going to do it . The walkintalkcom Check out the new site . It's pretty cool . We have our culinary partner chefs with their content and all such good stuff in there . The podcast you can find it there . Interviews All of our YouTube , our videos , everything . Check us out , listen people .

This is absolutely amazing . Thanks for coming bro , schlissel we are out .

Ok , nice to see you again . My name is Paul . I just went down in the kitchen behind you . No-transcript .