Burnt Hands Perspective
This is a raw and unfiltered look into the pu$$ification and state of the restaurant industry as a whole, powered by longtime friends Chef/Owner Antonio Caruana and former bartender turned News Anchor/TV Host Kristen Crowley.
Representing all aspects of the industry from the front to the back of the house we will dig into the juiciest stories and pull from decades of experience in one of the sexiest and most exciting industries in the world...the food and beverage industry.
From international chefs, sommeliers, industry pros, and so much more, this show will cover all of it without a filter. You turn up the volume; we'll turn up the heat.
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Burnt Hands Perspective
ep. 15 - Food, Flavor, and Fun: Patrick Evans-Hylton Culinary Journey and Virginia's food history
Join us on an unforgettable ride with the vibrant Patrick Evans-Hylton—the "queen of culinary" in Hampton Roads (as dubbed by KC). Patrick takes us from his roots on a charming Suffolk farm to becoming a food historian, writer, and influencer.
With colorful stories and some raw humor, he shares how an encounter with Martha Stewart catapulted his culinary career, leading to 14 books and fun nights judging culinary competitions.
Explore Virginia's rich culinary terrain with us, from its rockfish and oysters to its unique position as a mid-Atlantic gem influenced by both the South and Northeast. Patrick takes us behind the scenes of Virginia's evolving culinary scene and its intersection with hip-hop and sports culture. Whether you're a history buff or a food enthusiast, discover the intriguing story of how Virginia's culinary scene came to be.
As we navigate the changing landscape of food journalism, we tackle the rise of social media influences and the importance of credible criticism. Patrick shares insights from early days at the Suffolk News-Herald to prominent roles in Virginian publications. We discuss the impact of unqualified influencers and stress the need for informed voices in the culinary world.
Tune in as we toast to Patrick's contributions, our shared passion, and the culinary community in Virginia, all while encouraging you to engage with and support local talent.
Connect and follow Chef Patrick at http://virginiaeatsanddrinks.com/ and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/virginia_eats_and_drinks
Purchase one of his amazing books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Patrick-Evans-Hylton/author/B001H9XT7E?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1734040484&sr=8-2&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
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awesome, awesome day today it is okay, patrick evans hilton is in this fucking house now. Let me tell you this we have. You have about five or ten seconds to really awe them and make them stick around. Say something.
Speaker 3:Hey, there, he's excited, got him.
Speaker 2:Totally roped him in.
Speaker 1:We got him we got him.
Speaker 2:Patrick Zabin-Hilton does everything in this area. I'm going to call you the queen of culinary in Hampton Roads because you do own that title in many aspects when it comes from historian food history writing now 13, working on your 14th book, working with pretty much every chef that has ever come up in this area and also kind of defying a lot of odds in this industry. So today we are going to dive in and get really inappropriate with someone who has been a friend for a long time and you know I love you, so thank you for being here with us.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, so give him a taste.
Speaker 1:I'm just here to fuck shit up. Tony doesn't know what's going to happen with this episode, I know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Come on.
Speaker 3:Well, we'll start with what we're drinking. How about that? What are you drinking, love?
Speaker 2:I'm just doing a little tequila and a little bit of pink lemonade.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, I like that I'm being weird.
Speaker 2:today it was the first thing I could grab in the cooler which is honestly what I was doing. I lived in a trailer once too, it's all good, yeah, it's okay, and what about you, honey?
Speaker 1:I'm going with the Basil Hayden, my man oh yes. Basil Hayden straight up on the rock.
Speaker 3:We got this thing going on. Most three I'm under the table and four I'm under the host so both of you lucky host I guess, watch out, I know shit's getting ready and you've been to a few parties in your lifetime well remember the first time we judged that, uh, that competition together on the spirit of noff, oh my god I mean, I don't remember it, except for the most.
Speaker 1:Of us don't remember that night. Photos always tell the story, oh my god.
Speaker 3:Always tell the story, who thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of people on a boat with unlimited alcohol.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you had to taste it.
Speaker 3:We had to taste everything.
Speaker 1:That's not the night it burnt down, was it no? No, it should have been.
Speaker 3:Under advice of my attorney, I'm not able to answer that. I that with your people.
Speaker 1:No, we don't clear shit, we just go for it. So let me say this is an honor to have you here. We're going to go on with this thing because I'm going to tell you how I first remember you. Yes, you came to me one time with an idea of putting on your show, at the time that you had the Virginia Eats, Drinks and Things, right.
Speaker 2:Is that called Virginia Eats and Drinks Eats and at the time it was a good show.
Speaker 1:You put together something that had to do with all Hampton Roads. Really, from what I remember, it had to do with local chefs, things of that nature. I wasn't sure what to make of you. I didn't know what you made of me at the time. I was pretty fucking alpha and you were talking to me in a way that I didn't know if we were timid with each other, if we didn't set off. I was on the best graces with you or what.
Speaker 1:And then time went on and I met you through Sid. I saw you with Chef Serge over at Glass Light. We sat down and talked more, got a little bit more personal. I got a lot more comfortable with you because, honestly, I could give a fuck about anybody's personal preferences. I like people, period, and I stand behind that. So I'm really glad we got to break the ice. And now that I've known you right, yes, I've seen a whole different side of you, and the side of you that I thoroughly enjoy is a couple of them. One you're just outright fucking rude, crass and obnoxious, and I love you for that and it's all in good ways, right, you have no problem saying what you feel.
Speaker 3:Well, I do channel Joan Crawford from time to time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, julia, oh, julia too, most definitely. You have a huge background in the culinary world and a lot of people don't really realize that. I think they see you as a food historian, in which you are, which we can touch that in a minute. They also see you as somebody who's doing the interviews. You're the one who goes out and does the. What am I looking for, chris?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you host the shows, you bring on the guests, you do the questions. Correct, am I looking for Chris? Yeah, you host the shows, you bring on the guests, you do the questions, so you've been on both sides. Right for the pilot.
Speaker 1:You're right for the pilot. You do food writing. You have things to do with James Beard. You do things for the Ordinary out of Virginia, which is huge. You have a huge reach of what goes on in this state and further right your books that you write, 14th in the writing. Now.
Speaker 3:Number 14 now yes.
Speaker 1:And for the first time in a long time, you're on the other side of the microphone, here being questioned instead of questioning.
Speaker 3:So it's an amazing. The last time somebody interviewed me, they were a pussy, so I'm really looking forward to this.
Speaker 2:Oh, we are not around here.
Speaker 1:No, I know, I am what I eat, my man so it might be a problem here, I'm just saying so.
Speaker 3:So you just got back from ohio? Uh well, no, I don't know where that reference is. Dude, they're eating cats and dogs. Oh yeah, no, no, I got you now, no no, no, I'm talking about the other pussy oh yeah, I've heard rumors about that yeah, yeah, right, anyway.
Speaker 1:So here's the deal. Man, I would really want to get into stuff. You're a historian of food, you're a writer of food, you're a chef. People don't really realize that you have your time in the kitchen and you go way back to the time where your sexuality and stuff as we know here and you're not afraid of representing your genre and stuff, and I support you in this. So you don't give a fuck and that's why I support you. Now, I don't say I support everybody. It's because I don't support the people who don't give a fuck or wouldn't stand behind anything, no matter what it is. I don't stand behind those people. I let them stand alone. I stand behind people who stand behind what they believe in thoroughly, and I stand behind that. So rough way. You went to chef school.
Speaker 3:you went to the chef, you were in the line you were cooking in a time where we talk about now as the pussification he was involved with it when it was on the total other side, when you were, it was, it was boot camp.
Speaker 2:Tell us, like, what was the years you kind of started in? Well, I went.
Speaker 3:I went to johnson wells in um 94, 95 and um it was when it was two years school. Now they have different programs, of course, their campus isn't in Norfolk any longer. But you know, and it was very shocking to me because, honestly, there was one summer when I was 16 years old that I worked at Hardee's for two weeks and that was my only real time working at any kind of restaurant. But I grew up in the South with my grandmother who loved to cook, cooked every meal. We'd get up in the morning and cook a pan of biscuits and a pan of cornbread just to start the day, every single day. And so I saw, you know, her cooking and I loved to see how, you know, she would turn that flour, how she'd work it with her hands, and all of a sudden I'll come up with these biscuits. You know the holidays when everything would come out and it would be so absolutely delicious. It was something she crafted by hand.
Speaker 3:So when I moved up here I'm a widow, I have remarried to my husband Doug now, but when I moved up here to be with my late husband Wayne you know not saying that I have a lot of time or money now, but we sure didn't then. You know, I was in my early 20s, he was young too, and so cooking was really a necessity. You know, there was no dining out or anything. My career at that time was banking and finance, and so I enjoyed cooking. We bought a small.
Speaker 3:I'm a deeply religious person, and when I say religion I mean I'm a Martha-lite. I worship at the Church of Martha Stewart and all hail Martha, and so I watched her shows and I got it in my head that I wanted a Turkey Hill farm like she had. So we bought a small farm in Suffolk, believe it or not? Just based on Martha Stewart Not knowing shit about farming? No, no, not knowing shit in Suffolk, believe it, or not? Just based on Martha Stewart Not knowing shit about farming? No, no, not knowing shit about Suffolk either. Love you Suffolk, mean it.
Speaker 3:But anyway, you know, we made a go of things out there. And then I was in Atlanta visiting my folks when I saw that Martha Stewart was going to be doing a fundraiser for Lupus, and so I got an invitation, wrangled an invitation to that, and I actually got to talk to her, and at the time I was approaching 30 years old and I told her that I was thinking about changing careers out of banking and finance, that I loved to cook and that there was a Johnson Wales in Norfolk. And Martha is a very wonderful person. She's also a very intimidating person. She's also a very intimidating person. She's strong, she's strong right.
Speaker 3:She's a handsome woman and so you know. She said you know well you should. Johnson Wales is a great school. So that was a Saturday. I flew back to Norfolk on Sunday and Monday I went into Johnson Wales and I said Martha sent me and I signed up.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, Signed, seen, delivered.
Speaker 3:Later I actually got to be on her show nine times with one of my cookbooks that I had done. And so that was really amazing.
Speaker 1:So was that? Would you call that that was? Was that the escalation? Was that part of the escalator ride up, or was that the? I'm sure that wasn't the highlight, because you're still going.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was about midway so far in my career. But getting back to Johnson Wales, you know Johnson Wales at the time in the early 90s, mid-90s, that was when chefs scared the shit out of you. You know whether they were in a chef instructor, whether they were in the kitchen. It was a time where there was no mentoring. There was I will beat your ass if you break that hollandaise sauce, you know. So you better learn how to do it. And even though you were paying quite a bit of money at the time for that privilege of being abused and there's a word for that, but I don't know if we can say it but anyway, people did abuse you for money. But I'm going to we'll come back to that later- yeah, let's circle back that around.
Speaker 1:Why?
Speaker 3:does a Eurythmics song come to mind. But anyway, you know. But you did learn, and and I'm still in contact with many of the chef instructors, you know, it was just that brand of tough love back then. And you know, by God, I can I can still, you know cut a chiffonade like the best of them. I can, you know, do a tomato concasse. I can roast those bones and make an espadrille sauce. I can, you know, cut those juliennes. You know to perfect batons without even getting out of measuring. You know a ruler or something too. You know a ruler or something too, but you know, and what that did for what I do now, though, is it, um? It has enhanced my ability, when I do go into a restaurant, to understand what's going on in the mind of the chef a little bit more exactly so when you're writing.
Speaker 1:Unlike most writers, okay, or most uh people who are going to host critics or anything else, a lot of them have never done that.
Speaker 3:They've never been on that side, no, and that's disgusting.
Speaker 1:That's disgusting to me, right when you're looking at something to see why a sauce is breaking. You know why it's breaking. You have an idea of what made it break and you have an idea of what could have done why it didn't break and why the fuck is it at your table?
Speaker 3:Yes, I remember going to a restaurant, grilled, and it was in some kind of sauce and I clearly said I think I got the wrong order. This isn't ceviche. So the server, who's very sweet, went and came back and she said that's the way the chef does the ceviche. And I and I said, well, could you please tell the chef that he's full of shit, because if he wants to call this, you know, grilled seafood and sauce, that's one thing, but don't call it ceviche, exactly you know um and again was tasty, but it wasn't ceviche.
Speaker 1:Wrong, he had it wrong.
Speaker 3:He had it wrong, right yeah.
Speaker 1:And the best part about it is the ones that want to argue with you like you're fucking crazy. Yeah, you know what I mean. That's the best part.
Speaker 3:No, I had that once happen too for the Virginia Aquarium Sensible Seafood Program too right. And I was working on a book about seafood and I said I know rockfish, no, that's rockfish. And I said can I see the tags?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no tags. Rockfish in this area also is, by the way, for all those who are watching outside of this or listening. Rockfish is indigenous to our area like fucking oxygen. Rockfish is a Hampton Roads staple. Anybody would know whether you were trained or not.
Speaker 3:In fact, one interesting thing is rockfish has always been so popular here. In 1621, the very first conservation act in the colonies, which would later, of course, become the United States, was to protect the overfishing of rockfish. That's how popular they've always been here.
Speaker 1:Back then Imagine there was probably 60 people. With a fishing pole of bamboo, you're catching too much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, too much, jebediah, put that rockfish back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Jebediah, Pa, you done told me I can catch two. But yeah, so that goes all the way back. And just again, that shows your knowledge and how vast it is as far as our history, which we can get into again in a minute. So what you're talking about Johnson Wales, my father that's my relation to this country, really how I was born is. My father came here from Italy on a program back in the 70s, before Johnson Wales even expanded out. They were only in Providence, Rhode Island, yes. So he came here and he went to school there and that's where I got my kind of start into the intro before I was even born and that's where I got my kind of start into the intro Before I was even born. I was into the whole cooking scene from there. But that's the relation I have with Johnson Wales. I didn't go there, but that's where my father came here and went to Johnson Wales from.
Speaker 3:Italy and Providence is a great city. It's one of my favorites, of course, because of this college.
Speaker 1:Again. We got Chicago, we got Providence. We got New York Of, we got Providence, we got.
Speaker 3:New York.
Speaker 1:Of course we have Suffolk, Virginia, Huge food city you love it huh, you love. Suffolk, you're into it.
Speaker 3:Suffolk has been very, very good to me, though that was actually where I started my food writing career was at the Suffolk News Herald 30, almost 30 years ago. Wow, I do love Suffolk. I love making light of Suffolk, but I do love Suffolk.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure it is a. I mean, it's a place.
Speaker 2:We're going to hashtag Suffolk for this show. We're going to hashtag Suffolk for this show, just so we can get it in there.
Speaker 1:So when did you? You had a passion for cooking. Obviously you had a passion. Martha Stewart came along. She got you all wet down below right.
Speaker 3:I am right now just thinking about her Right who wouldn't be, especially with her thug ass.
Speaker 1:So I think she's great at what she does. She's really taken the whole culinary thing to a new level and the stuff that she's produced puts out there. It all checks out. There's no bullshit. I'm a chef, I do what I do. I've had my accolades and my time in the industry and she puts out great.
Speaker 3:There's no doubt. She makes people think, she inspires people and she makes people explore, whether it's explore places to go or things to cook at home, go to farmer's markets. You know she's a wonderful. She makes it possible. Yeah, she really does. She owns it.
Speaker 1:She owns whatever she does, she owns it. So, moving on from that now, you went to school not thinking you were going to go do all the no historian stuff. You went to school to be a chef, yes, right. So where along the lines did you get fucked with a lot in the kitchen? Did you have to deal with a lot of shit in the kitchen? When did you?
Speaker 2:when did your passion? What's that? What was the worst? Like what?
Speaker 1:was the worst for one. And when did your passion change? From when did you see the change from being the chef classic on the line person to moving into where you are now with the, with the? Where you are now in culinary, you still provide a lot for the industry. Do you feel you provide more now than you did as a chef, or where you at go ahead?
Speaker 3:I definitely feel like I do more now, because now I really do try to use my knowledge, my background, my experiences to highlight, especially in coastal virginia, what we have here, and what we have here is extremely special. We have wonderful chefs, we have wonderful restaurants, we have wonderful farmers markets, we have, you know, distilleries, breweries, we have wineries close by. We live in a wonderful place and I want to, whether it's on the television, on my appearances on Coast Live, whether it's my radio show, the Virginia Eats and Drinks show, an AM790 WNS, whether it's my articles I write for the pilot, whether it's the books I write, I want to use my platform to give a voice to people that, for whatever reason, may not have that ability to share their information that needs to be shared and needs to be told.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the books. I mean let's get on those too, because the amount of research that goes into that and the amount of knowledge you have like I mean you can spit off dates and everything All of the topics of your books are diverse. Yes, so I mean one of your books is just on popcorn.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, like one of the most popular yes.
Speaker 1:Is popcorn recipes an?
Speaker 3:entire book on popcorn recipes. But what are all the topics you've covered in that? Popcorn and nuts we won't go there. It is the type you eat. We won't go there either. We won't go there either. But you know the history of peanuts in the region, the history of country ham in the region Suffolk yes, suffolk, and Smithfield and Iowa wide. Let's see there was one that's just called Dishing Up Virginia. That's literally my love letter to the entire Commonwealth. That covers all the regions of Virginia, a little bit of their history and what culinary calling cards are special to each one of those regions. I've written a book about the history of restaurants in this area. I wrote a book called Virginia Distilled Four Centuries of Drinking in the Old Dominion that explores alcohol production and consumption from 1607 to present. And I'm currently working on a book called tentatively just Chesapeake Bay Seafood that will look at seafood across the bay from Virginia to Maryland from 1607 to present as well.
Speaker 1:Funny, you say that because I was going to mention that People forget. Like you said, virginia, hampton Roads, coastal Virginia this area produces so much shit for the rest of the country, outside of food alone the fucking hip-hop scene, the sports we have sports legends coming from here, we have hip-hop icons coming from here. The food scene, the but the food scene being so big, the chef scene is now starting to escalate as well, absolutely. And that chesapeake bay right, there is a fucking honeypot.
Speaker 3:We are so lucky to live where we do because we have the bounty of the chesapeake bay, we have the atlantic ocean, we have all the farmlands up on the eastern shore and to the west of us. You know we have artisans making, you know, cheese and other dairy products. You know, we really do live in a remarkable place.
Speaker 1:Would you consider this the beginning? So I'm thinking about the Mason-Dixon, I'm thinking where does the southern cooking become? South, mid-coast and up to the north, when does the northeast kick in? What do you consider? Uh, virginia, when it comes to your history here? Is it southern? Is it its own twist? Is it, is it a? Is it a, um? Stepping stone area? Where are we? We're not southern.
Speaker 3:I grew up in atlanta, that's the south that's you know, uh, you go down over the border from suffolk into north carolina. That's the south, except for the outer banks, that's its own entity. We are definitely more mid-Atlantic, with influences from the northeast and influences from the south. You go a little bit inland, out, say, just past Suffolk, even to the fringes of Suffolk, and north from, like, say, surrey and all that's more southern, until you get up to the Piedmont, to the Appalachia, or until you get up to Fredericksburg or something. But we are kind of in a unique pocket here and I'm glad that we're not just pigeonholed, you know, into everything is. You know, biscuits and gravy there's nothing wrong with biscuits and gravy, but you know, we have all of those wonderful, you know seafood dishes. We have so many other things that, um, we're very lucky that we are. But you know where we are and but I consider us mid-atlantic mid-atlantic.
Speaker 1:So when you came now you're from michigan. So when you came out here I'm from, I'm from the east coast. I've always loved food and cooked food northeast. But I have a good flair feeling because it's kind of run in. Like he said, it runs into each other and in virginia is kind of where the tides meet or where the, where the bay meets, the sea type of thing.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, where you know, we kind of get a little bit of mix of everything. When you came here from michigan when you were younger, if you remember, because I don't know if you even considered things like that back then, I'm not sure but what did you think of the food here? Was it so different from what you're used to? Out your way of being in the Midwest?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and again, I mean, we grew up on a farm, like you know, horse farm, no money. So my meals consisted of basically chicken meat, rice, some corn potatoes. The only three seasonings we had were, you know, garlic salt, litter, not garlic garlic salt. You know salt and pepper and butter.
Speaker 1:That was it that was the only thing I'd ever had.
Speaker 2:So, coming here, this was the first place I had ever had seafood and I was, you know, 20 years old and I'd never even seen a whole fish um, so it was definitely a drastic, sure kick. And I mean, you know well, we know we had the all you could eat crab legs. I wouldn't touch them because I was so afraid to touch the crab legs at that point because it disgusted me.
Speaker 3:I understand. No, I get it.
Speaker 2:It took me so long to get used to it, but being in the restaurants forced me to taste everything and forced me to fall. I fell in love with it, through it and became less afraid to try things because I was like, oh, there is more than just, you know, rice and beef and you know chicken and corn and mashed potatoes. So I mean I'm grateful I came here because it brought me into the food industry and then I saw the chefs in this area and, you know, you came up with the originals in this area.
Speaker 2:The guys are, you know, the five or six chefs who opened the first nice restaurant?
Speaker 3:And God, rest we just. It's just not far from the anniversary date of Bobby Huber's passing and Monroe, duncan's passing Huge players in the culinary scene here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you came up with them in that sense. So was there, I remember meeting Bobby because we would.
Speaker 3:Oh my god, this is what I need to know so when I was at culinary school, we, several of us, took it upon ourselves to go on field trips to different restaurants and to try them out, you know, while we were still students. And so we went to Bobby Wood one night the original up in Ward's Corner and Bobby came out. We asked to see the chef. Bobby came out and we told him you know who we were, what we were doing, and we said you know, do you have any advice for us as we're up and coming chefs.
Speaker 3:Get the fuck out of it while you can. This is a nightmare. You don't want this life, but he was wrong.
Speaker 1:Well, he smiled, he smiled he was a smart ass.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was such a smart ass. God love him. And then he smiled and he says you know, just find somebody to latch on to. Of course his was Monroe and you know, learn from them and put everything into it, you know.
Speaker 2:So was there a point when you did want to ever quit? Did it ever get that bad in the kitchen? Was there any adversity?
Speaker 3:that you had Almost right from the beginning. What was it like coming out of the gate for you.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 1:I was 30 years old.
Speaker 3:You started late, I did.
Speaker 1:So you had emotions at this point.
Speaker 3:Well, and I had been in banking, so it was a 9 to 5, monday through Friday, banking holidays, you know, type of thing. Well, I, before I, while I was still in Johnson Wales because of my banking background, a golf club in Suffolk hired me to be their food and beverage manager Because I had that background in you know in management and in money, and I was learning culinary.
Speaker 3:But it was such a small operation that I not only had to do all the food ordering, the scheduling, you know all of that that went with it. But then I was, you know, behind the line almost constantly. Also, and you know the owners of the golf course. I'm sure that, um, in their mind they meant well, maybe they didn't, but they didn't act well and they mistreated everybody there and, um, you know, it wasn't even so much the pay, which was abysmal, it just was. Um, there was, you know, no appreciation, and I'm not one of these people that think I have to be patted on the back all the time. I can make my own accolades if I need to.
Speaker 1:Not you.
Speaker 3:And I'm also not one of these people that thinks that there's a participation award for everything. But it was an uphill battle all the time. There was never enough resources, not even money. There was never enough resources, not, not even money. There was never enough resources. You know, it wouldn't matter if, if they came through, and it was a slow period, send somebody home, and it wouldn't matter that we knew that we were going to have a catered event that night to do. You know, there were so many nights for for about $16,000 a year that I literally threw a rug down or blanket down on the hard linoleum floor and I sat there overnight because I had to work three shifts in a row and I had to get up early enough to place my orders and I had to get up early enough to get ready for breakfast and then I would work another shift.
Speaker 1:We're not even a thank you, really.
Speaker 1:No, never a thank, you, right so you know, patrick, what you're talking about is actually common talk. I mean, unfortunately, it is so. When you, when there's so many people like that that abuse it, so they get into the company or they get into the business, the industry, they open up something or they commit to something, grand, right, yeah. Now they're committed to this thing on a level you can't even imagine, right, and they can't back out of it. So now they hate everybody for it, they hate what they're doing and the next thing you know, they're making everyone around them fucking miserable, because they are also miserable.
Speaker 3:And I am all for making money. I am, you know, I mean, that's the banking part on me. I am very conservative fiscally, but there comes a point to where you can't do that. You can't make your money on literally crushing somebody below you, especially somebody that's helping you make the money, Correct, you know. And so then I transitioned into catering. I had my own catering business called the Entertaining Idea. It was a nod to Martha Stewart because her first book ever was called Entertaining, and I did enjoy that. But it was a challenge again, simply because I could not always afford to hire the staff that I needed. So I ended up doing so much by myself. And again, I'm not afraid of hard work at all, but it does wear where's your ass out?
Speaker 3:and then, in the three or four years that I did it, um, only one person ever left me a tip.
Speaker 3:You know, ever, ever you know, and then, more than likely, somebody was always trying to talk you down after the effect. I remember doing a catering once for a Christmas party. They told me to prepare for 300 people. Okay, I cooked everything by myself. I transported there, I set it up, I replenished everything, I broke everything down. Then they wanted to start stuff. Was that really gear cheese? I don't think we should pay for that, was that?
Speaker 1:was that? Was that lump crab meat?
Speaker 3:They don't realize what the hell you just did, and so they finally said you know, we're not going to pay you at all. And it was an accounting firm and they said we have attorneys, good luck.
Speaker 1:And so that's what I call some friends.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I know you now, of course if you want me to cater for you boy, trust me, I have got a contract now that nobody in the right mind would ever, ever sign.
Speaker 1:Or they don't want us to cater for them.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's $500 to start. Whether it's catered or not, it's using your kitchen. It's using your pots and pans. You go grocery shopping for me. You do all the prep work.
Speaker 2:I cook it, I just show up.
Speaker 3:I go out, I smile, I drink your alcohol and then I leave you to clean up and then it's $500 an hour and fuck you very much.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:But I mean, you develop that mentality over time and you know when you went through the restaurants and then you came through to TV. When did the media side kick in?
Speaker 3:Oh, you know I've always loved educating people and I've always loved the written word especially, but I love sharing so much and, being a Southerner, you know there is that storyteller in all of us down there. Of course, some of us can't do it coherently, but you know that's another story. I'm looking at you, Alabama, but I love Alabama. My relatives are there and it's the South.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's the South, dirty South.
Speaker 3:You know, during this time when we lived in Suffolk, the Suffolk News-Herald came out and we subscribed to it. It was a daily paper, except for, I think, monday, so it was six days a week, and their food section only had stuff that they pulled down from the wire. There was nothing local you know at all in it. So I called and I said you know, at the time I was actually still going to Johnson and Wales and I said you know, I'm a culinary student and I really love writing and I would love to write a local piece for you. And they're like well, that sounds great, we can't pay you. And I said well, you know, welcome to the world where nobody wants to pay you for shit anyway. But I realized it was an opportunity and I had fun doing it and after a while they did pay me. They compensated me very well. They were very good people at the Suffolk News-Herald. They're still very good people at the Suffolk News-Herald. But I started and after a little while they started a small tabloid. If anybody remembers, portfolio Great magazine.
Speaker 1:I wish it would come the fuck back.
Speaker 3:This was called by the Bay, and so I became the food editor for that. Then they gave me the title of food editor at the News Herald and so, you know, I was producing two or three things every week In addition to being a reporter in general. I covered firing cops, I covered education, I covered city, and then I had a friend that had just started with the pilot and she said come write for me. So I've been with the pilot for going on 30 years now and um, and then the hampton roads magazine, which is coastal virginia magazine. At the time, um, I reached out to them and I found out that their food editor was going on a sabbatical. So of course I killed her. I mean, they haven't found the body and I said I'll take, I'll take the position because she never came back from the sabbatical. I love you, marsha. She's out there, she's still alive.
Speaker 1:Marsh, marsha, marsha Marsha, don't know where she is but Marsh and um.
Speaker 3:So I do I. I built that magazine. I built the food section in that magazine. They gave me a blank canvas. How do?
Speaker 1:How do you feel about this? My thing is now I miss back in the day when chefs were working and I'm on the better side of this, I was able to experience it but I'm talking about the food writers that would be in the portfolio, be in the New York Times when chefs were chefs, we'd be written about. People would come see you. There was actual critiquing. There was actual educated writers, slash reviewers, critics, things of that nature. And then all of a sudden, the influx of social media influencer quote unquote came around.
Speaker 3:Which should be a four-letter word.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, which one is it?
Speaker 2:You want to go for the C word, or you want to go to Love I like the C word or you want to go to love.
Speaker 1:I like the C word. So here's the thing. I'm all for social media we have to be on it.
Speaker 2:We're on it right now. It's a necessary evil.
Speaker 1:So we can't go against it. But what it did is, I think, that we lost a lot of what it really takes to be a chef, what it really takes to put in the efforts of the restaurant business, because people are influencing for their own purpose, not for the industry, and they are saying things that they don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 3:I am all for anybody that wants to get out.
Speaker 3:Put themselves out there and wants to report write, broadcast whatever that they want to write and their opinion, but it needs to be an educated and informed opinion, because it's your livelihood, it's these chefs' livelihood. If they say something wrong, you know, if they say something that is negative and they don't know what the hell they're talking about, it can put that restaurant out of business. If they say something is so great because maybe they're getting something free or, you know, maybe they're a friend of theirs or something like that, then they're sending people there. When it is a shithole of a restaurant. There are people and I can think of four in particular in our region that don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Speaker 1:I can think of four too.
Speaker 3:I can think of seven. It's probably the same people we're thinking of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they'd have no business writing about me.
Speaker 3:Well, they have no business writing about or reporting about food at all. They don't. They've never worked, From what I can tell, they've never worked in the industry. They're basing their opinions on pure raw emotion, on location, on personalities. They're not basing it on fact.
Speaker 1:I have no problem with anybody, I mean these people.
Speaker 3:they're not my competitors.
Speaker 1:Trust me.
Speaker 3:This isn't a jealousy. They're not my competitors and I'm not trying to sound egotistical at all, but I've spent $40,000 fucking dollars to culinary school. I've spent 30 years. I ate at 1800 different restaurants last year. I get up and I read four to five food blogs before breakfast and I read things throughout the day. I read every food section, from the London Times to the New York Times, to the Washington Post, to the Los Angeles Times, to the Honolulu Star. Are you saying you give a fuck? I give a fuck.
Speaker 3:These people don't. They're eating chicken wings, and there's nothing wrong with that, because I'm a judge of the chicken wing contest.
Speaker 1:I love a chicken wing. I was going to judge it with you this year.
Speaker 3:I couldn't make it, but that's all they eat are chicken wings and drink some kind of fruity cocktail. Please grow a set of balls and drink a real drink. That's what I'm talking about. Hello, Straight liquor, and you know they make me angry Again. This is not a jealousy issue. This is not a competition issue.
Speaker 1:I'm the same way.
Speaker 3:Patrick, these people are out there doing more harm than good, and it's for selfish reasons.
Speaker 1:They're deluding what a critic should be. They're deluding what the restaurant should be expected of.
Speaker 3:They give everybody a bad name because I had some motherfucker on social media recently say that they called me quid pro quo Patrick. I don't know who has ever approached Was that on my thing.
Speaker 1:No, no, oh yeah, it was Fuck that dude?
Speaker 3:Yes, fuck him.
Speaker 1:Did you see what I said to him? Fuck you. We should read that thing.
Speaker 3:Anyway, but anyway, just getting back to it, this motherfucker, and you can go back and find out who the motherfucker is.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to hear his biggest name. He wrote it on my blog, he. He wrote it on my blog, he wrote it on my post. Yes, on your page. Piece of shit.
Speaker 3:But you know, I challenge anybody to go back in the last 30 years and find any chef that I have ever gone to and said if you buy me dinner, I'll write about you, I'll report about you.
Speaker 1:Bullshit, right, exactly. So now I'm going to kick this in here. That's the thing. I've said it before and I've said it again he's got angry.
Speaker 3:I'll say it again you won't wipe me when I'm angry.
Speaker 1:So you're an influencer coming into my restaurant I'm not going to beat this up, I've already said it but you're going to come into my restaurant. You're an influencer. All you want is a dinner. Well, wait a minute. I don't know who you are. I don't know, fucking review, whatever it is you're influencing.
Speaker 1:So who is the influencer here? It sounds like I'm the influencer, not you, because you're coming here to get subject matter. You're coming here to get content and you want a free meal for it. Show me your fucking following. If you ain't got a million followers or 500 000 followers, who are you influencing? Your cousin, you know I'm saying I don't care about that. That doesn't mean nothing to me. Stop diluting what this fucking world is about. Yes, and the best part about it is this the double-edged sword of social media, right? So now the best part I like about it is when you got a bad review back in the day, you had to suck that up and figure it out. If you lost a fucking rating, you have to figure that out, but it was written by someone who knew, so you probably really did fuck something up. So there's that, now, the best part about the influential shit.
Speaker 1:Now going on, we can respond. Yes, come for me. Yes, come to me and write a real realistic review and if it is wrong or something is wrong, my service team and my staff and my people who work with me to make what we have happen right we all know what's right or wrong we go make sure we get this shit right. You know what I'm saying. And if there's a legitimate reason out there to respond nicely, or if there's something we need to fix and they're right, we will absolutely do so, because critics are just as important as customers and if your customer is your critic, you need to make sure you have that continuity. Yes, but if you come at me or my staff sideways and I know it is I'm coming for your ass.
Speaker 1:You should which camera are we at I'm coming for you. It's your livelihood. I'm gonna write back just as hard.
Speaker 3:I'm coming, but tell them why something is good or not. I had somebody once write the shrimp was nice. What the hell does that mean? The shrimp was nice. And I responded to them. I said what what? The shrimp pulled up a chair, they bought you a drink, you know. They showed you pictures of their wife and kids. What the hell is a shrimp? It's nice. I mean, if you can't say the shrimp was perfectly battered. The shrimp, you know, was deep fried to where it wasn't greasy or oily but provided a nice dichotomy of texture between the crunchy exterior and the the tender, succulent interior and there was a beautiful, rich sauce that was on top that enhanced everything. If you can't say that, then you have no business writing about food, because guess what? Every motherfucker out there has a mouth yep, yeah, I love it and it's.
Speaker 1:It's true. I mean, there's people that I need another drink. I know I'm like this is just like it got.
Speaker 2:it got really fun. Well, that point of view, well, that's the fact, and that's what this show's about. You are very passionate.
Speaker 3:I'm passionate and it's not just for me that I'm passionate about. I'm passionate for every restaurateur out there that has been done dirty. Yes, that's exactly.
Speaker 1:And Patrick. Here's the thing Most people get on these shows and they want off the wrong people. I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 3:I'm almost 60. I've got arthritis. To hell with it.
Speaker 1:The only glorious part about this industry is the fact that we get to do what we love doing.
Speaker 3:That's it we do what we love doing and if you don't like it.
Speaker 1:I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 3:There's nothing glorious about it, really no, there's not Exactly.
Speaker 1:There's nothing glorious focus on when it comes to the money and stuff. You really have to work hard at anything you're doing to make money when you're in this industry. Nobody gets in this industry for the money it doesn't. If you do get successful and you are able to open restaurants, it's not the fact that you just got all kinds of fucking money to blow. It's the fact that you want to expand your levels of passion and go get more and people trust you. No one's making enough money. I'm not making enough money here to say, all right, I'm just going to take another few mil and go open up another place. No, we got to invest in people who.
Speaker 1:It's not how it works in the real world Right, we take a big risk.
Speaker 3:I just thought of two more assholes that own a I was just going to say a less than regular print publication that don't know what the hell they're talking about.
Speaker 2:They're out there. This is going to be.
Speaker 3:Patrick hates everybody oh no, we're not hating everybody. We're not. I only hate people. There's a few people. I only hate people that are arrogant enough to think that they can influence somebody else's life when they don't have their own life together to start with, yeah.
Speaker 2:Humility is a big thing still.
Speaker 1:They're using a platform yes, they're using us as a platform to sell themselves to the people who don't know any better. Yes, and the people who do know better don't really listen to them. Anyway, the people who matter are reading that they don't know any better. Look, if I have 1,500 guests coming through this door and one of them in a week has something so horrible to say, and there's things out there saying don't ever go there, you're wasting your life if you even walk through that piece of shit door, but yet 1,499 other people absolutely love it, and you don't even know that they've ever even been in your door.
Speaker 1:That's true. There's so much hate involved with this, especially when you're successful. So if you're a successful writer, people think that you sucked your dick the way to the top. If you're a successful female in this industry, you too sucked your dick to the top. No one could have just fucking worked for it. It's very hard in this industry to find the level of success.
Speaker 3:I would say, find people that you know that are credible. You know I will say this I have been very lucky to write for the pilot for the last almost 30 years and you know there are people that hate the media for whatever reason, and sometimes the media does have its issues. But you know, it's our local newspaper and if you look solely at the food department they have people. You know there was Lorraine Eaton, before that it was Marsha Cronin.
Speaker 1:You know, there was Ruth Ventasio Judy.
Speaker 3:Cowan. Now Rekia Gibson she's wonderful, you know they're. You know, go to credible sources. Go to credible sources and you know these. And I'm not saying that everybody that does a blog or that's an influencer isn't credible, you know. But you have to do your due diligence. It's your responsibility. Don't just sit there, sit there and have somebody spoof feed you caviar and not shit.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly. So what are you saying really? What you're saying is what I'm thinking is, if you're going to listen to, if you're going to go to a restaurant, you're going to do your research on the restaurant. If you're going to listen to or read a critic or a food writer, do your research on the fucking writer. Yes, where did they come from? Yes, where did they get their knowledge?
Speaker 3:How did they gain what it takes to tell you what you should be hearing? Read some of their other articles. Read their articles.
Speaker 1:Get a feel for them, do some research on them. If they don't have a media kit or a background to them or something accessible for you to see their history, then who are you really listening to?
Speaker 3:Just another person, yeah and there are some people in our region and our state nationally that you know should be followed.
Speaker 1:Yes, there are Now. On the other hand of this, it sounds like we're really bashing the world. We kind of are. However, this place, our life, our reasoning, wouldn't be here, though, if it wasn't for the masses of people who are on the other side of that coin.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Those are the assholes we're talking about. But the assholes don't make the world go round, they just get in the way. The people who really work hard are much more in abundance than there are the assholes. The assholes are just fun to talk about.
Speaker 3:There's people out there that should be writing more frequently, even if informally, about food. I know we're mutual friends with Paul and Mary and David. I would trust anything that they wrote, anything. You know they dine out a lot, they cook a lot. They're amazing people, you know. Find those people in your life, because there are good people and yes, I've been a little bit of a negative Nelly, you know, here, but it is something that I'm passionate about. But there are good people to write about too. Are people also to follow and talk to now.
Speaker 2:There's a lot in this area right this. This is called, by the way this is what needs to happen and that's why we kind of have all this to fruition. Is that people need to actually have well, and I just hope people that are watching.
Speaker 3:You know, understand, you know, understand that again, I'm not trying to be negative with this. This is just, this is just, you know the way it is you? Know, and and to. It's more of a crime to not address it, you know, and it's more of a crime just to sweep it under the rug or just say, oh well, you know, that's just the way they are. No, these are some people that are doing real harm.
Speaker 2:That are doing real harm yeah, they are, and I mean it's. You know, we, we all, want people to support us in this industry and there's both sides of the coin Owners, chefs, everybody Now here's there's things we have to deal with is like this this is called the burnt hands perspective.
Speaker 1:right, this is not the glorious glitter pot perspective. This is the burnt hands perspective, although that sounds pretty good, We'll get to that next time. Now, for instance, there is a sign on the fucking door right here. Okay, that says we are literally fucking recording right now, please don't knock.
Speaker 2:Do not knock or do not come in.
Speaker 1:And our delivery driver just walks through the fucking door like he didn't see anything calling it out. It's unbelievable, the people we have to deal with, so we're not making this up, but we're in an active the shit we have to deal with in this world, in this industry, is fucking crazy. Now on the other hand, though, the dude delivers daily rain and shine and snow, and he's a great fucking dude.
Speaker 3:So I've got to say that both sides of the book and he's just out there trying to make a living, trying to make a living.
Speaker 1:He's got another stop after this, but the Birmingham side of me wants to go goddamn bananas. But the fucking chef in me knows that dude's got to do what he's got, so it is what it is.
Speaker 3:I like bananas.
Speaker 1:Bananas are good. Yeah, I mean, they're good for practice, right? You know I learned how to put a condom on with a banana one time. Did you really Never used one since?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Haven't ate a banana either, but anyway, so Patrick's yeah, I'm just kidding, I'm just waiting, I'm just waiting for a refill.
Speaker 3:That's all, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:I know we don't have like a martini server today.
Speaker 3:Isn't that too bad. You don't have a martini girl.
Speaker 2:I know I'm sorry, it was me because I made your martini and I'm sitting here, so I can't make you another one.
Speaker 1:Oh well, I can wait, it's okay.
Speaker 2:It's fine.
Speaker 1:So you know. To sum it all up, we have so much going on in this industry. Yes, back to before we end up wrapping up here I want there's a question I've always wanted to ask a historian. That when I was young and I thought a lot of people who are listening probably do this.
Speaker 1:I look at an oyster. Let's talk. Let's stick back here to the day, okay, I see an oyster. I see a sea urchin fucking corn on the cob. Um, there's a million things out there, right. Go back to when the people came here, colonized Virginia, off along York, the river, over here, elizabeth River. Right, they're from another side of the world, same ocean, different place, different species, different things. When they opened up a fucking oyster, how hungry were they?
Speaker 1:And what happened to look at a sea urchin and say there's something in that little ball of spiky shit that I'm going to have to eat because I'm starving. Is there any history showing when that happened here? Because that's something that always intrigued me. It's like I look at something like an oyster who broke this thing open thinking. It was even fucking clever enough to try. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't know who ate the first oyster. We do enough to try, you know well. I don't know who who ate the first oyster. We do know that mkf fisher wrote you know, whoever uh ate the first oyster was indeed a very brave person. Um, by the time the colonists first came here and landed at cape henry uh in virginia, president of virginia beach, um april 26 1607, englishmen were already very well aware of oysters. They were eating a lot of them so on their side, yes, so it would have been something very familiar.
Speaker 3:But what's so amazing here, and what really solidifies Virginia as the birthplace of American cuisine and seals our commonwealth's place in the food history not only of America but of the world, was that two days later, george Percycy, who was the diarist who later became a governor, and several other folks got in a small skiff and went around to about where lynn haven bay is now, so about where the lesner bridge is, and there george percy writes um, we came upon a plot of land where they were newly roasting oysters. He's talking about the native americans. When they proceed, they're coming. They fled to the mountains, and there he's talking about sand dunes which were as tall as 10, 20, 30-story buildings at the time. They fled to the mountains and left the oysters, which were very large and delicate in taste, and that's your predecessor right there. That's the first written prepared food review in English-speaking.
Speaker 3:America, oh my gosh, and we still eat Lynn Haven oysters.
Speaker 1:Is there a copy of that review somewhere?
Speaker 3:Yes, in my book. Okay.
Speaker 2:So that's good, buy my book.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, we're going to do some plug life right now and say your books are accessible.
Speaker 3:Let's plug the book. Man Plug where you can purchase your stuff?
Speaker 1:Where can we find you? Where can we go with?
Speaker 3:you and most booksellers. I even see them in Walgreens from time to time, but certainly everything is available on Amazon or other places, all under your pen name. Yeah, under Patrick Evans Hilton.
Speaker 2:So everybody can look that up and where can they find you to support the show as well, because you do that.
Speaker 3:I'll put on my radio voice here. Do it Log on to VirginiaEatsAndDrinkscom, that's.
Speaker 2:VirginiaEatsAndDrinkscom Sounds like a bedroom voice and it's easy to find. I support the show every year because I love you and you've always been amazing and you've always supported all the local talent and products in this area.
Speaker 3:I know we got negative there for a little bit. I think we said things that needed to be said, because people pussyfoot around, don't go there. People pussyfoot around these, these topics, and there are people, people. What people don't understand this is not freedom of speech. They are doing harm. They are doing harm to to a lot of things just by. You know, if you have your opinion, we know what that means. Everybody's got one. You know there are ways to express your opinion and and that does not make an ass out of you and me, yeah, you know. So, that said, we live in a wonderful area. There are plenty of great resources. The Virginia Pilot, whether I write the article, or Rekia does, or Lee Belote, or whoever writes a food article, read that, you know. Listen to me on the radio. Watch me on Coast Live, you know. Read the Daily Press. You know. There are plenty of good resources to find out more, including this podcast yes, well, we appreciate you being here we appreciate
Speaker 2:you, exactly, exactly, yeah, you've been a staple here for so long. It's been a privilege to work with you and be on your show as well oh, now you're gonna.
Speaker 1:I've already been on this show, so whether whether what I'm gonna say is whether people in this area everybody knows who you you are, whether like you or not, there needs to be a level of respect for what it is you've produced and what it is you bring to the area, your knowledge. The only reason they probably don't like you is because you have a lot of it and you may not include them as much.
Speaker 3:Well, or at least at that time it's a big area. It's a big area, it's ever-changing and you know what you can at that time. It's a big.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a big area.
Speaker 3:It's ever changing and you know what Reach? Out to me If you have a question, have a comment. If you want me to sit down with you, just reach out to me. Don't. Don't assume that you know I've got. I've got PMS, not ESP.
Speaker 1:Right, I got you, so we sat down one time and had dinner not long ago and we had a really good time and I and I sat there and got to know more about you during that hour and a half two hours over a bottle of Brunello. Oh yes, it was delicious and I just couldn't stop picking your brain about the knowledge you have in the area. Going back to that as well, we're not going to beat this up too much. Maybe for another show. I would really like to look at what you have. You have a huge collection of culinary artifacts as well, you collect.
Speaker 3:Yes, can you give me one minute on that? Absolutely? Um, you know, I realized when I was living in suffolk and I started finding out the history of planters you know what a rich culinary history this area had and I started reading up on country ham and I started, you know, uh, meeting some of these chefs that have been around for so long, and uh, so I have about 30 000 pieces of my culinary artifacts collection, mostly Virginia, mostly Chesapeake Bay, everything from the 1600s to present. It includes menus, it includes crab cages, it includes oyster tongs. It includes postcards. It includes menus, includes so many different things that chronicle the way we have eaten, the way we have lived, things that chronicle the way we have eaten, the way we have lived, because the way we eat is a reflection of our lives. You know, we come out of the womb and there's a celebration all the way from our birth to our wedding, to graduations, to retirements, to new jobs and to our passing. Food is not a passion. Food is a way of life. Cooking- is a passion.
Speaker 3:Food is a way of life. Cooking is the passion, pushing is a passion, but food is our way of life. It chronicles our life.
Speaker 1:It defines our life. Awesome, so, absolutely so. Um, I lost my thought. I said a lot, that's a lot. He has some profound thoughts on that.
Speaker 2:Well, I need to get you a refill oh, please and we will continue this conversation with more of the history. So, patrick and Hilton, I love you, you're amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming, and I have one more question before we wrap this up.
Speaker 1:I just thought of it, oh, last minute. Very important for a lot of people who don't understand them and stuff, and you could maybe answer this question that I try and tell people, but it'd be better coming from somebody who has an absolute relationship with them. Right? People all over the country wonder first thing, when you go for a james baird award, listen, we don't have that luxury of saying we get it, we don't get it. Typically, a region or a area is qualifies to even be noticed first. Right, what is it for all those people who are listening out here and just think it's so easy you need a James Beard award. Can you explain real quick what can our area or any area do? What do the local chefs have to do to get that recognition, to get them there? Because this area is a beautiful area, it's a great culinary scene, but yet the chefs need to come together and do to what? What?
Speaker 3:needs to happen. So what needs to happen is we need to get the right people here. You know, we don't know who all is a judge in what category. I have served for the last 10 years at the pleasure of the James Beard Foundation as a judge in numerous categories I can't say which the most recent. I was a broadcast media judge, but I can't say what type of broadcast media I was a judge in. But as far as you know other judges, I don't even know who all the other judges are.
Speaker 3:But I can guarantee you there are people at some of the large public. At least some of them are people at large publications. We need to have a reason to get those people down here. A simple FAM tour from some of the CVBs in the area, with a familiar tour, is not enough to get them down here and to be shuttled around on a schedule where it's 15 minutes after it's time for you to eat the dessert, it's 30 minutes after it's time for you to go for cocktails. They need to come down here and they need to come down here and spend some time. And there needs to be an event where chefs work together and most chefs do, but it really so many egos need to be put in check and we need to have the right people down here for an event where local the right people.
Speaker 1:You mean from their side? Yes, from their side okay, their side.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to say who's the right people down here. You know the the cards will fall where they may, yeah, but we're, you know, we really showcase local, local, local. We have great restaurants. New Orleans has great restaurants. We have great chefs. San Francisco has great chefs. We have unique ingredients, we have unique cooking styles and we have food history that no place else in the entire world has. That needs to be showcased. And there's. You know, somebody from New York is probably just not going to take it upon themselves. I mean, they're probably not. I mean, let's just be honest, to come down here and to, out of their own pocket, to go to three or four different places and restaurants and to research. You know they're going to stay in their own. Either they're in their own wheelhouse or they're going to go wherever an assignment is, and we're not getting those assignments from bon appetit, from savour.
Speaker 3:We need to have those people come here and it needs to be on and it needs to be our dime, and I mean basically the city chefs need to make noise, and the cities need to pony up with the money, businesses need to pony up with free hotel rooms. The airport needs to pony up with airfare. We need to lay out the red carpet for people and have them here, because I know once they come they will be a fan.
Speaker 1:So that's what it is. Is making enough noise for the Baird or any other foundation or entity? Anybody In Michelin, all that stuff they need to be brought to our area, can you?
Speaker 3:imagine what a full-page article in the New York Times would do for this area. It would be crazy, it would be great. We'll work on that.
Speaker 1:Until then, raise the glasses. Raise your empty-ass glass. All right, here we go. Thank you for coming Appreciate you. We're going to be looking forward to it. We're going to put some tags and everything on this thing. We're going to do some plugs for you so you can find Patrick. Plugs for you so you can find Patrick Got it. Get into his books, look at his education, follow this man. He's a huge asset to the community in a culinary scene here.
Speaker 3:Other than that, I got nothing more. Please have glasses that don't evaporate as quickly, because I know.
Speaker 2:I didn't drink this. All you got a hole in the back of your mouth. I think it is.
Speaker 1:Listen. Ciao for now, Cheers.
