Good morning, Southern California, and welcome. If you're food obsessed, you've come to the right place. Join us for the next two hours and you won't go away hungry. One of the first American culinary icons during your child said, "People who love to eat are always the best people." We agree. Live today from the boutique West Rift Manhattan Beach and autograph collection hotel, the official hotel of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. The SoCal Restaurant Show is on the air. And good morning and welcome. And yes, it is a very special day here at the SoCal Restaurant Show on AMA 30K LAA. It is our 12th anniversary show, if you want to believe that. And to celebrate in style, I am overlooking the 3-par 9-hole golf course at the West Drift Manhattan Beach and autograph collection hotel, which is the official hotel of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. And as part of our 12th anniversary celebration, we are celebrating the inaugural Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival, which continues tonight at Manhattan Village. And I am happy at this point to bring in my eight-year co-host on the SoCal Restaurant Show. Andrew Grool to join in his festivities. And I am Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Chef Andrew, good morning and welcome. Ah, good morning, Andy. Sorry, I can't be there with you. Chef Andrew, as we explain over the years of the show, you are a working executive chef. You have a very busy restaurant in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach. And also, you have a growing family. Because Chef Andrew, eight years ago, I think he only had two kids. And I do believe now you're up to four. That is correct. Chef Andrew, a lot of responsibility there. And you also have a very ambitious travel schedule because you do a lot of traveling, promoting sustainable seafood and some of your other passions. So I think that's a good thing. Chef Andrew, what are your highlights? Over your last eight years with the SoCal Restaurant Show. I know in particular you really enjoy doing the Ask the Chef segment every week, which we enjoy having on the show because it provides good information to our listening audience from the perspective of a working executive chef. But in addition to that, we also have a large constituency in our listening audience of chefs and restaurateurs and people in the hospitality industry, which always is a bit of a surprise to me. How do you react to all of that? Well, I think we got a lot of people within the industry listening. I know because they come in and they tell me they listen. So that's great. And I think over the years, it's been a blast. And some of the most exciting things, I mean, obviously, we've been able to travel, right? We've done the remote show out in Chicago. We did the show in-- at the Changa was wonderful. That was a great one. And then we obviously got to do the Microbrew Festival the next day, some wonderful shows, some wonderful tastings. Well, the coolest is obviously all the books also that you've been able to kind of review. And then I get to take a look at myself as well as we interview the authors, having Meathead on. That one's a huge fan of his, so great to talk with him. But it's been wonderful. It's been wonderful all these years. And I commend you, Andy. Well, Chef Andrew, we appreciate your support over the years. And in talking about support, we do want to acknowledge our longtime sponsors who have been with us since day one, which, again, pleases me, no end, because it's unusual to have long-term relationships with sponsors like we have. But we certainly do need to acknowledge Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats for their support of the show for over the last 12 years, which allows us to stay on the air. Something we can never forget, because Chef Andrew, as we all know, there's no free lunch. Certainly the case, especially in a world where everybody has a podcast now. So it's still wonderful to be on the airwaves, right? There's something about AM radio that it's just very appealing. And as I'm always fond of saying, in Southern California, as long as we spend the amount of time that we do on our cars, AM radio and talk radio is a very viable medium. And it was 12 years ago, and it still is in October of 2024. So it's something we never take for granted, but it definitely is a reality. And we enjoy, as you do, Chef Andrew, supporting the restaurant and hospitality industry, because unfortunately, over the last 12 years of the show, editorial opportunities for restaurants and chefs reaching the point of diminishing returns, because the print outlets that were so viable 12 years ago, the glossy magazines of 12 years ago, few and far between. So fortunately, we're still here being able to tell those stories of those small family-owned restaurants that are doing great and wonderful things, but don't necessarily have the corporate backing or resources or marketing budget to be able to handle that. And I know it's something you have a great appreciation for, because you are a serial entrepreneur yourself. Yeah, certainly. It's interesting you say that, because I was just getting into a conversation with the social media world last night about how corporateism and all these corporate concepts have taken over a lot of Main Street. There's been a little bit of a lack of flavor, but when I listen to this show, and we get to talk to so many people, I'm reminded all of the wonderful independent mom-and-pop entrepreneurs out there, and the flavor of those one-off restaurants that still exist. And I know people love. That's the thing. People yearn for them. Sometimes they're harder to find, but they're there. No, Chef Andrew, absolutely. Sometimes you really have to look behind the scenes and be a little careful about how you discover them. But they are out there if you want to make that tiny little extra effort to find them. And again, it wasn't easy before the pandemic. As you know now, it's even tougher. And as you pointed out to our listening audience over the years, we don't get political on the SoCal restaurant show, but we do talk about food politics. And California, unfortunately, we all live here. We love it. I would not want to live anywhere else. But California is a difficult place to do business. And we need to make it easier for these family-owned businesses, besides restaurants, to be able to make a living here. I mean, it's the basis of the economy, as you pointed out before. Yeah, it certainly is. I mean, California is blessed with a geography and terroir that's better than any place in the world, in my opinion. And the produce that comes out of here and the products and the bounty of the ocean, I mean, it is such an amazing state from a culinaryan's perspective. And everybody knows that. I mean, from Napa Valley all the way down to San Diego and everything in between. So I am-- you know, I do admire the restaurants that have come out of California and the businesses. And especially those who have been able to get out successfully because there's certainly a lot of landmines and a lot of hurdles. But it's been good to talk about them. And I think it's been very interesting, as we've kind of covered a lot of the different ways in which, you know, California sets a standard for certain things and then kind of experiments with other policies. And then the country looks on to see whether it's going to work or it's not going to work, you know, from the way in which they raise pigs and the way in which they harvest and distribute all the products here in California. So, you know, we're at the epicenter. But I think just generally, if all the listeners go out and support a lot of those independent one-off restaurants, you know, whether it's getting local pizza versus a Domino's pizza and nothing wrong with Domino's, but just understanding that local Main Street feel, that's going to help California from a business perspective as well. - Chef Andrew, amen to that. Again, we wanted you to be part of the opening segment here today instead of the closing segment to celebrate the 12th anniversary. Hopefully we will have many more years of doing this. And again, your contribution is very important and definitely appreciated. And I know you've had a crazy busy week because you had the Pacific Air Show last weekend and it's festival season now in Southern California too. So definitely a lot going on. - Thank you so much, I appreciate it. - You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. When we return, yes, Chef Jettila, who was my co-host for the first three years of the SoCal restaurant show, and we're very happy to welcome him back to his show. (upbeat music) - Angels radio. - AMA 30. - Melissa's World Variety Produce is quietly celebrating their 40th anniversary of success this year. Many years of dedication and very hard work have built Melissa's into the largest global specialty produce distributor in the nation. Still proudly family owned. Let's talk about the new and unusual year round precious honeyglow pineapples from Costa Rica. Melissa's and Del Monte join forces in an exclusive collaboration to introduce the newest member of the Honeyglow family. Precious Honeyglow, a mini pineapple packing the same punch of ultra sweet golden flavor is honeyglow in a charmingly petite size. This street starts with unique growing conditions and slow ripening on the stem for peak sweetness. Notice the distinctive honey colored shell, a promise of sunshine infused flavor in every bite. These tasty little pines are shipped within 48 hours of harvest. There is fresh as you can get. Consider cutting off the skin while leaving on the crown and quartering the fruit to create spears or lollipops. Sprinkle with fresh lime juice and Melissa's Pico de Gallo fruit seasoning. Recipes available at Melissa's.com. Melissa's world variety produce is quietly celebrating their 40th anniversary success this year. Many years of dedication and very hard work have built Melissa's into the largest global specialty produce wholesale distributor in the nation. Let's talk about healthy and craveable Halloween entertaining. The Melissa chefs have created a fiendishly clever collection of hauntingly delicious recipes for your Halloween entertaining. The base ingredients are Melissa's exclusive selection of freaky fruits. These delicious items include Quano melon, dragon fruits, strawberry papaya, choramoya and finger limes. Don't miss the freaky fruit salad and the dragon eggs to punch with cactus pairs, apple cider and rambitans. Adults are part of the Halloween festivities too with the zombie Rita. It's a Quano melon cocktail with tequila, grandmagnet and a squeeze of lime. All the easy to follow recipes and tips are at Melissa's.com. Angels Radio. B-M-E-3. When it comes to creating and shipping beautiful gift baskets and packages that will be a guaranteed hit for all occasions, consider our friends at Melissa's your one stop gifting experience. We send these premium gift items with confidence to our own VIPs. May we suggest Melissa's grilling essentials. Nothing beats the tantalizing aroma of food grilling outdoors and nothing beats the healthfulness of grilled fresh vegetables. The hot fire enhances the natural flavors and caramelizes to smoky perfection the best of summer seasonal produce. Melissa's grilling essentials includes a bountiful array of freshly picked vegetables, including red or yellow bell peppers, sweet onions, plantain, or de bello mushroom, chayote squash, Asian eggplant, fennel, jumbo garlic and Anaheim peppers. A set of kebab skewers are also included to complete the kit and expand the vegetable grilling possibilities. Whether you're gifting for a birthday, business, housewarming, or simply to show you care, the Melissa's grilling essentials gift box is the perfect way to celebrate. Ordering is a snap. Go online to Melissa's.com or ordering is 24/7. If you'd like to speak with a helpful customer service person, please call Melissa's mail order department at 800-588-0151. That's 800-588-0151. That's Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Happy summering from Melissa's. What is the careers through culinary arts program that you hear me talking about regularly on the show? Led by chef, author, and restaurateur, Marcus Samuelson, his national board co-chair, CCAP celebrating its 30th anniversary, transforms the lives of underserved high school students and young people locally by helping them pursue their culinary dreams. CCAP prepares these talented young adults for college and for careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry. CCAP-INK.org. Join inbound food care, formerly Waste.OC, redirecting excess edible food destined for landfills to local food banks and pantries where we'll feed the estimated 3 million people who grow hungry in Southern California each year. Join the growing network of abound food care restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and other food generators making a positive impact in their community and on our environment. Learn more about abound food cares nationally acclaimed effort to eliminate food waste and food insecurity at aboundfoodcare.org. That's aboundfoodcare.org. The SoCal Restaurant Show is live from the West Rift Manhattan Beach, an autograph collection hotel, home of Chute Coastal Bar and Kitchen, offering a creative dining experience. And welcome back. It is the 12th anniversary special of the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here at the West Rift Manhattan Beach, an autograph collection hotel, overlooking their golf course. I think the ducks and the swans are starting to come back. West Rift is the official hotel of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine and inaugural food festival that continues tonight with the grand tasting in Manhattan Village. And I think there may still be a couple of tickets left and definitely worth your while. What we're trying to do is showcase the out-of-town chefs that are participating in this event and sitting across from pre-right now is San Francisco's Chris Cosantine, who is going to be at the event this evening. Chris, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the show. I'm gonna remind you of something and we're gonna go way, way back. But in our early years, your one or your two of the show, your friend, Jetila, was my co-host and we did do an interview with you way back when. Now, I can't remember what we were talking about, but I do remember you and welcome to the show. - Thank you for having me. Yeah, I unfortunately, the brain's a little joggled at this point, so that's a bunch of years ago. - Yeah, Chris again, 11 is at least 10 or 11 years ago. I would not expect that you would remember it at all. Chris, a question we get a lot because we do have young colinarians that listen to the show and your graduate of Johnson & Wales, which is a pretty heady culinary school. The question that many young people asked now is, what should I do? Should I do culinary school or should I go in initially as an intern and learn in a kitchen? For someone that's had a lot of experience and can look back and reflect on this, what's your point of view? - I think it's really important to understand where you wanna be in the industry first. So I highly recommend working before you choose to go to school or not. I think building a really sound base in restaurants is extremely important to kind of understand how they work, where you may wanna fit because the hospitality industry is huge, right? People need to eat in every facet. So you may be taking care of food in, let's just use, for example, public schools, right? We need great chefs in public schools. We need great chefs in hospitals. We need great chefs to take care of folks as they get old. And we also need great restaurants, right? So I think build your choices by starting, working, and then decide if you're gonna be feeding kids in schools and folks that are older, you get some nutritional education, right? But it's really important to build your skill set. I think having a background in culinary school, it sets you up for success, it gives you foundation, it gives you technique, and then you can build upon that from there. - Chris, what do you think of some of these young colinarians that are coming out of culinary school and thinking they're going to be a star on the Food Network? As someone who is a star on the Food Network and has done everything, both competing and judging, what's your advice to them on that little point? - I think it's really important. You know, if that's your aspiration to be on television, that's great. But I think it's really important to build your skill set, right? You can't run a marathon and win the marathon if the day before you walked your dog around the block two times, it just doesn't happen. And I think that's everything in life. It's really important to put in the work, you know, build a foundation to them, keep layering and layering as you get older. We're constantly learning as chefs, even at my age now, on the experience I've had, you know-- - And Chris, you're hardly old, but go ahead. - But in my career spanning, you know, I'm 52 years old and I'm still learning every day from everybody. Every chef is constantly learning throughout their career. And the moment that you think, yeah, I'm gonna finish school and I'm gonna be the executive chef or I'm gonna be the next, you know, top dog. And I think that that's really an interesting thought process of the younger generation. I call it the gimme, gimme want want, which a lot of people don't like to hear that, but everybody wants to succeed. And I firmly believe foundation, build on those legs. That's my number one thing. - I like it. Chef Chris, a lot of chefs at your level established nationally prominent. We see a lot of them on Food Network. In terms of a sport that they enjoy, they love to play golf, but you're part of a subset that loves to cycle and cycle for charity, which is a wonderful thing. And there's really this growing universe of, you know, chefs that are your age, which is not old, that do this competitive cycling and just love it. Tell us a little bit more about that because I think that's kind of fun. - So cycling, I mean, I was actually an ultra endurance professional cyclist many, many years ago. And when I found out I was gonna be a parent, I quit. I figured, you know, I wasn't making money. I was racing bikes, having fun. I was doing 24-hour solo bike races all around the country. And, you know, as you get to a point, you wanna have that zen moment, that kind of quiet place. And even though folks may think riding a bike is not that quiet place, it is. Because most of us in the restaurant are ADD, right? We are able to focus on many things at once. And what cycling does is force us to focus on all those things going on around us. Consistent pedal strokes, missing a tree limb or not getting hit by a car, making the corner inside, not on the outside. So what that does is forces your brain to focus on all the million things you need to do to stay upright. And then the creativity starts going because that ADD or ADHD is being kept busy, right? And then it kind of just plays more from there. You know, I've done Chef Cycle for nine years, which has been a great event, which is three days and 300 miles. But I also compete all around the country. This past year I competed in an event called Unbound XL. Sounds serious. Unbound XL is a unsupported gravel race in Emporia, Kansas. It's 350 miles unsupported. So for me, it's a lot of fun. It keeps me super active and it's low impact. That's why you're starting to see a lot more chefs get involved with it because it's low impact on the body, 'cause you're standing on your feet all day. Being on the bike just takes off that pressure. But it's also a great exercise. It's amazing. It's been really, really great. Now, in terms of future restaurant projects, you found your way to Maui, which is a nice place to find your way to. Tell us about that particular endeavor because, Chris, as you know, in Southern California, in terms of a vacation destination, we love to go to the islands. Yes, so the restaurant coast will be in Wailea. It's actually in Wailea, a village on the way down into the Wailea area. And it's actually three former employees asked me to be their partner. Wow. So, which is really great. David and Alicia are both from Rhode Island, which where I'm from. And it's a really exciting new project for us. And we are hoping, in the next, let's just say two months, will be open, hopefully before the holidays. Yeah, otherwise you might as well wait 'til January. Exactly. But it's really great because I feel really lucky to be able to communicate with the chefs on the island, like Sheldon, Leanne, have been really forthcoming with great farmers and fishermen. The island has so much to offer. Maui itself, right? And then you start adding on all the other islands and there's so much beautiful product there. It's a wonderland of knowledge to learn. And I'm really excited to be a participant there. Well, Chris, I like the idea that you're leading the charge because what's so unfortunate is over the years since Hawaii became part of the United States, they could be totally self-sustainable. And they were pre-statehood. And I've heard a shocking statistic that's 70% of their food product. They import from the mainland. And it's sort of what's wrong with this picture because you're talking about the agricultural bounty that's there. You can grow anything in Hawaii except wine grapes because they need to be dormant for a period of time. But that doesn't stop them from trying. But it's crazy. And so what's really wonderful is, is you as part of the chef community and your colleagues, you are bringing this back and going to the small family farmers that are in Hawaii because believe me, in Hawaii, they are only small family farms. And saying, hey, if you grow X, Y, and Z for me, I will buy everything. So this is inspirational. It can't happen fast enough, but it is happening. It's really incredible. I mean, there's so many farmers market. There's actually a farmer's market right in front of our restaurant. And what's really great about it is there is a collective where I actually have just got an email this morning telling me what's available from multiple different farms. And there's one person who will deliver it to the restaurants. And the list is forever changing and growing. I mean, there are people who are while harvesting. Pahole, you have green papayas. There's like 12 different varieties of mangoes. Green coconuts. I mean, it's just-- and this is just off the tip of my tongue. It's never ending. Wild cacao pods. Pahole is a fiddlehead fern. Looks like a fiddlehead fern. I like to treat them like asparagus. But I mean, it's something you can go harvest wild. You take the road to Hana. There are farms everywhere. There's so much there. There's so much beauty. There's so much deliciousness. And the bounty of the ocean, it's unlike any other place. Well, we're big supporters of the Big Island Chocolate Festival, which is done on the Big Island generally in the spring. And when a lot of people in the United States don't realize, the only place that cacao can grow in the United States is Hawaii. So if you add a choice of buying Hawaii chocolate versus God knows where, isn't that something to support? So there's a whole endeavor that's going on to build the cacao business there. And again, some of the farmers on the Big Island give them the opportunity to have a cash crop. So it's something wonderful that we definitely want to follow. But we look forward to following your progress in that area, because it's just so important. But here again, it's the chef community leading the charge. Now, Chris, before we run out of time, you have your own podcast that drops every other week. I understand there is a name change that is going to be happening. So it is currently losing your mind with Chris Cosentino. What are we gravitating towards? So the podcast itself is the conversation with multiple different chefs, athletes, musicians, photographers about how they got to wear the air today. The difficult journey for them from the start to where they are now, the successes, the failures. And I think it's really important to understand that failure does lead to success, right? Some of the best recipes were created by mistakes. So having these conversations with so many-- I mean, we've had Jet Tila has been on. Neil Frazier has been on. Guy Fieri was on. Sherry Yard, David LaFever. I mean, the list continues. Lachlan Morton, professional cyclist, who just rode the entire circumference of Australia, brilliant folks who have really, truly mastered their career and how they've done it. We are going to have a change coming up. The name will be changing, but it'll still be the same podcast. And what's great is it's offered on just so many different outlets. But can't quite give away the name yet. We're going to hold that one in the bag a little bit longer. Chris, with the schedule that you have, and your podcasts are about an hour and a half, how do you have time to do that in addition to everything else? Time management has become very difficult. I have an incredible wife who kind of keeps me on track. And she's been able to really help me navigate that whole process. I'm not always great at it. Sometimes I'm up super late editing things. But trying to do the best I can. Ladies and gentlemen, San Francisco is on the move. Chef Chris Kazentine, we will see him tonight at the Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival. And we look forward to following this progress. Thanks, Chef. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. You are listening to The SoCal Restaurant Show. It is our 12th anniversary special. Next up, Chef Neil Frazier, who is the host chef for Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. We'll be back on a flash. [MUSIC PLAYING] Angels Radio. AME 30s. Melissa's World Variety Produce celebrates their 40th anniversary of success this year, and is still proudly family-owned. Many years of dedication and very hard work have built Melissa's into the largest global specialty produce, wholesale distributor in the nation. Let's now talk about grown and Idaho potatoes. Have you tried Melissa's baby Dutch yellow potatoes with rich buttery flavor? These baby potatoes can be cooked in almost any way imaginable and provide a delicious way to round out a healthy diet. They are great grilled roasted or in salads. Chef Jatila uses them in his signature potato salad. If you're looking for more inspiration with DYPs, we suggest DYPs, the perfect everyday potato cookbook from Melissa's. The Melissa's Test Kitchen chefs mashed and roasted and pureed their way through hundreds of pounds of DYPs to create a cookbook full of delicious possibilities for all occasions. Look for baby Dutch yellow potatoes in the perfect everyday potato cookbook at your favorite food store or order online at Melissa's.com. Chef Andrew Gruell and his wife Lauren are back in the welcoming full service restaurant business with the launch of the ocean front diner Calico Fish House in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach on East Pacific Coast Highway. It's delicious food in a relaxed setting with a full bar. Calico is a seafood chop house celebrating all things land and sea. A study of local produce meets seafood and shellfish. The flavors and all of Chef Andrew's dishes stem from his specialty brines and seasonings. The diverse menu is the best of his dishes from the past two decades of cooking all over America, from burgers to chops and oysters to the perfect fish sandwich. A great starter is the eye-catching, house-baked, soft and salty rolls with lobster butter served on a wood plank. Chef Andrew's modest mantra is that memorable food should be hands-on, approachable, and affordable. There's even complimentary on-site parking. The SoCal restaurant show is live from the West Rift Manhattan Beach an autographed collection hotel. Manhattan Beach is the home of the twice-monthly coffee with a man. Welcome back. It is the special 12th anniversary edition of the SoCal restaurant show. I can't really believe it. And we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Welcome. Thanks for sharing part of your Saturday morning with us. We appreciate it. Particularly for those that have been with us since the beginning, 12 years. I think that impresses us, but glad to have you out there. And we are trying to profile some of the celebrity chefs that are part of this evening's grand tasting for the Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. And sitting across from me is the host chef of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine, who actually has some connections to Manhattan Beach because he's done some consulting projects here over the years. So the area is no stranger to him, but we're talking about a chef and restaurateur, Neil Frazier, you know him best from Red Bird and Viviana in downtown LA. One of the creative chefs that in the beginning realized the potential for downtown LA when I think Neil would agree, there were a lot of doubting Thomases and also was able to save a very historic building in the city of Los Angeles that actually was in the process of being demolished. And with that as background, it is a pleasure to welcome Neil Frazier back to the show. Neil, good morning, welcome. - Thanks for having me. - Neil again, this event, Manhattan Beach Food and Wine, you are definitely a huge part of and putting it all together. You cooked last night, you're coming back again tonight to cook again. Let's first tease our audience, if you will, about what you're gonna be preparing for tonight. Then we'll give them a little history of what you did last night. - Sure, doing a Thai snapper tear-de-toe tonight with a passion fruit and coconut. And last night I did a grilled new Caledonian shrimp with a watermelon salad with kind of a bean in these flavors. - Chef, any idea how many portions you put out there because you had lions for the entire evening? - I think we were just moving slow, but we were trying to grill the shrimp to order. I brought a very small grill. - I think we did about 600 portions. - A lot, yeah. - That definitely is impressive and it's going to be a bigger night tonight because it's Saturday night and it's the grand tasting and you're not competing with the Dodgers. - No, we're not. - Then we understand-- - For one night. - Then we understand there is a Billie Joel concert, so you know-- - Yeah, I would say that in the street. - You know, 16 million people in the LA Metro area, there's, everybody can't watch the Billie Joel show or go to the Dodger game. - I know, but let's just hope they're all food fans. - There you go. - That's for sure. So, Neil, when you first were asked to get involved in this event, what was going through your head? Because chefs and restaurateurs are invited to participate in charity food events, you know, almost every day of the week. You're very involved in the community, you have that tradition, you support a number of causes, but you can only give so much and you only have so much time. And I know one of the factors was, and we're gonna get into this when we speak with Lisa Fontanessi after you, who is the LA Director for Seacap, you're a big Seacap supporter, so I know that was one aspect of this. But what else went into your thinking process? Because again, you've been a major part of this event. One could say that you did a lot of the chef wrangling. I did 90% of the chef wrangling. You know, I was very concerned about, you know, coming into, you know, David the Flavor and Chariards backyard and, you know, being a carpet beggar. So I was, you know, I thought it was very important for them to be front and center as well, because they are a big part of this community and have been for a very long time. You know, I was fortunate to work with, you know, the Zislas group with Mike Zislas, I guess it was 13 or 14 years ago on the Strand House, and I'm currently working at Bruco on the Manhattan Beach Boulevard as well. So I had some kind of inklings of what the community was like, and, you know, if it shows from last night, you know, the community was really ready to accept a food and wine event that was in Manhattan Beach and about Manhattan Beach. And I think they really celebrated that. And I was, you know, I don't want to say I was impressed because I knew the people were here, but it's like people showed up and it was a lot of people I knew, a lot of people I didn't but a lot of people that were locals, which is kind of what you want for a food and wine event. You want people to really embrace it as opposed to feeling like it's a nuisance in some way. Like, why are all these people in my backyard kind of thing? - Well, you know, something I've noticed at some of the bigger food festivals earlier this year is the energy level just isn't there, as I've seen in some of the past years, and it's the energy level on the part of the chefs, but also the energy level on the part of the guests. - Sure. - And totally different. Last night at Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. - Yeah. - A lot of your brethren in the chefs community, they were out in front of their booth meeting and greeting all the guests, having a good time, seeing people that haven't seen in a while and genuinely enjoying themselves. And the energy level of the attendees was way up there. So, you know, this is, they say a beautiful thing to see. - No, I think you put the right people group together. I think that they, you know, they feel good around each other. I think when people feel like strangers, I think that feels like, you know, that's what they give off. And, you know, a lot of the people that, you know, that we invited that said yes, or, you know, personal friends of mine. And, you know, it's, you know, COVID did a number on all of us. And I think that, you know, a lot of, you know, a lot of times, you remember like right after COVID, like I'd get, you know, whatever, a hundred people together for an event at Viviana Redbird. And people look at each other like, they're kind of like looking like, you know, they're picking up rocks, like looking underneath, like, is it safe to go out now? And people are definitely wanting to go out, but I think it's a matter of creating that community. And I think that community already exists to man Beach. So it's kind of like, you know, laying it on top of something. It's already there. It's not like it's not a far stretch. And I think that just like everybody else, everybody gets caught in their groove and their life and they're driving their kids to school and doing whatever they is, whatever they're doing. And I think the community really embraced that. So I think that's, you know, part of what it was, is that the locals were here and they were happy and proud to be there. - Well, and I think we're also going to see tonight because they're going to be even more people, you know, Saturday night is the traditional night when you go out for a wonderful night out. So Neil, all I can say is, is be ready. And I know you will. - I'm ready. (laughs) - It's part of it. Let's back up a little bit. And let's talk about Red Bird and the Biana. This has got to be in terms of from a chef's and a restaurateur's point of view. This was a property that when you arrived, was severely dilapidated. I mean, it was ready to be demolished. And for the Biana, they actually had started demolition. In terms of just maintaining the physical plant, particularly on what was the cathedral side, how difficult a challenge is that? 'Cause I know you had to build a kitchen there too, but in terms of just maintaining it. - Well, we have a facilities manager, Susan LaPapa, and that's his job is to basically, you know, oversee the facility. It's a lot, you know, when we look at our P and L and the amount of energy and money we spend on just, you know, taking care of the space is a lot. And we have three and a half acres of space. And, you know, when we first saw the space, it was just a really great opportunity to do something that was kind of bigger than us. And, you know, something that had history that wasn't necessarily a restaurant. It's always kind of nice when you go in and kind of have a success out of the, you know, out of the bag. I mean, obviously, there's a lot of restaurants in LA that are a third or fourth or fifth iteration. And they finally find their stride. You know, for us, we're occupying, you know, basically an abandoned building. And the first event we did there, we had to rent air conditioning bathrooms, a kitchen. You know, I think it was $10,000 for the air conditioning and we did a party there for IBM and kind of went after it. And then, you know, that was almost 15 years ago. And, you know, to me, it's always about creating something that's bigger than myself. I think that's why charity work is important because you're kind of giving back to something that hopefully is bigger than yourself and lives on beyond your legacy. I do think about legacy a lot. I mean, I'm 55 years old. I started cooking when I was 20. I mean, it's a long time to be doing something. And, you know, I could-- - Particularly a business that is demanding and time-consuming Neil is this one is. I mean, it wears. - And demoralizing. You know, it's not, you know, it's not a soccer game where everybody gets a medal at the end of the thing. It's like, you know, everybody gets punched in the face at the end and like thrown down the stairs. And then it's kind of like, do you want to get back up or not? And to me, it's always been something I really was near and dear to my heart. And I think that, you know, what Vivian and Redbird really allow me to do as a chef and a person and, you know, listen to Chris Cozentino talking about being ADD or ADHD is like, you can kind of take all those little things and like, somehow it all works because I think that if I did the same thing every day the same way, I would have given up a long time ago. You know, I think that I was listening to Marco Pierre White on some podcast the other day and he was talking about, you know, having a Michelin 3-star restaurant and how boring it was because it was like so, technically doing exactly the same thing every day and exactly the same way in order to get exactly the same results. And we do something different almost every day, you know, and it's like, if you look to my calendar from whatever Monday of this week until, you know, Sunday of next week, we have different stuff every day, we have different events, you know, we're hosting a guest chef doing a caviar event on Monday night, I'm doing a food wine festival, I'm doing a food wine dinner on Sunday night. It kind of keeps me engaged and it's also, you know, doing this long enough, you know, and working for, you know, two of the kind of the pillars of, you know, Angelina Cuisine, which was funny enough, not too Angelina's, but Wolfgang Puck and Joachina Spichal and, you know, we really started off our careers really doing things other than working in the restaurant, you know, my first job at Pino Bistro when I graduated from CIA, I think it worked 20 hours. And we set up for the Meals Don't Wheels afterparty, I did an offsite and we did a tasting for like the regular menu on the same day. And I was like, this is insane, you know, how do you do that? And it's like, you do all those things because if you don't, you can't be successful, you know, it's very hard. I mean, there's, you know, it's very, you know, Michael Simmeristi is an anomaly. Like to have one restaurant that, you know, is able to survive that long at the level it has, it's not, there aren't 20 of those restaurants. There's really one that I can think of and it's Providence. You know, even Malik, like Josiah does a lot of other things. I mean, obviously Michael has Connie and Ted's, but it's like, those things are really hard to do. And again, you know, talking about, you know, Providence, where is that? It's in the old patina restaurant, you know, it's like, you know, he had to take a space and like, you know, resurrect it into something else, not that the patina needed to resurrecting, but it's interesting how all that stuff and that legacy works and how, you know, just kind of luck and magic. - Well, and at Providence, they do reinvent themselves periodically, you know, during the run of Providence, that restaurant has been renovated massively twice. The kitchen has been remodeled and, you know, as you're suggesting, it's a very expensive proposition to be able to do those things. So yeah, in Newland, the minute we have left, I don't want to neglect, you have a great bar and wine program at Redbird. Let's give a little due to that because, you know, you got a great wine director and you got a great beverage manager. - Yeah, I mean, our beverage manager, Tobin Shea, has been with us since day one. And, you know, I always say, I think we do good on the food. I think we do as well, if not better on the cocktails. And if you ever get the opportunity to sit at our bar and talk to Tobin or his team, you know, he is the most versed person that I've ever met on cocktails and cocktail culture and spirits. And, you know, I always say, like, you know, if you look to the bottle of Campari, he knows exactly the day where they, you know, they start making the color out of beetles, you know. And I think that that shows. And Chris Duggan, who is our new-ish wine director, does a really great job of managing our list and really finding wines that are delicious and approachable. And I think that that's kind of the whole approach we do with everything we try to do, is try to make everything approachable. And, you know, wine and, you know, cocktails for that matter can be so intimidating to people. - Absolutely. - To kind of put it in a way that people really understand is kind of what we're trying to do. And I think that Chris and Tobin do a great job with them. - Niels, we need to say goodbye. What is the one best website to get everything our listeners need to know about Redbird? - I don't know, I guess Redbird.la or Viviano.com. All my social media is my name, Neil Fraser. Yeah, I'm not a huge, you know, I'm not trying to be an influencer, but I'm definitely, you know, on Instagram and Facebook. So, I'm not hard to find. - Ladies and gentlemen, Chef Neil Fraser, the Hoshev for Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. We will see him a 10-minute walk down the street this evening at his booth. Thanks for the time, Neil. - Thanks for having me. - You are listening to The SoCal Restaurant Show. It is our 12th anniversary show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. It's our top of the hour break when we return, Lisa Fontanesse, the LA director for the careers through culinary arts program. Give us a couple of minutes, we'll be right back. (upbeat rock music)
