
On this episode of Staying Alive, ORDER UP! as hosts Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally sit down with their friend, Michelin-starred restaurateur and Top Chef champion Jeremy Ford, to discuss everything from receiving a Green Star for sustainable operations, to buying a farm, to some serious recent health struggles that the boys didn’t even know about. This is such a fun and illuminating and inspiring conversation, plus: “More Than A Feeling.” Raw bar cleared! Follow Jeremy @chefjeremyford Learn about Stubborn Seed This episode was recorded May 14 at The Move in Miami FL Special thanks to Mateo on the sticks Staying Alive is produced by Devon Torrey Bryant and Anne Harris Engineered and edited by Devon Torrey Bryant, who also wrote the music Associate producer and video editor is Maddie McCann Executive produced by Jon Gabrus, Adam Pally, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Bernie Kaminski, and Rich Korson Keywords for this episode: Fast Foodies, Stubborn Seed, Michelin Man, Zyns, Je...
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Narrator/Advertiser
Smart.
Jeremy Ford
Less medium. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, man. What's up, buddy? The hair.
Adam Pally
I know.
John Gabris
I'm going through it. Well, you'll see.
Adam Pally
No, not here. I gotta get my cuck chair if
Jeremy Ford
we're gonna do that.
Adam Pally
That'. What a. We have a. We're outside of our box here. We're. We're in a box, but we're in a different one. You know what I mean? Like, we're. We're playing with. With different toys.
John Gabris
Yeah. We're going. A friend of ours and now a friend. First we met him when he was a judge on our episode of fast foodies on TruTV. Like 8 years ago.
Adam Pally
When my hair looked like that.
John Gabris
Yeah, when your hair was blonde. We were on fast foodies and he was one of the judges. We hit it off with Jeremy's cool as hell.
Jeremy Ford
He.
John Gabris
Then when we came to Miami for the travel show, we went to his restaurant, Stubborn Seed.
Adam Pally
Yes.
John Gabris
And the food was so bomb. That made me like him even more.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
And I was like, we gotta become better friends with this guy. And now it's been a few years since we've seen him, but he's coming on Staying Alive to talk to us and how a restaurateur stays alive.
Adam Pally
Michelin star.
John Gabris
Michelin, Michelin star is I. I'm the Michelin man.
Adam Pally
Yeah. And that.
John Gabris
I'm a giant toilet paper monster. But he's a Michelin star.
Adam Pally
And I'm a Michelin boy in that I'm a small tire.
John Gabris
He's a Michelin boy.
Adam Pally
The only Michelin boy in New York. Because we walk.
John Gabris
I'm excited to talk to someone whose life revolves around food about their relationship with food.
Adam Pally
Yeah. I think it's going to be interesting to hear about someone who's like. Like, how does he not eat all that good food all the time, every day?
John Gabris
Yeah.
Adam Pally
You know what I mean?
John Gabris
I wonder how you. I wonder how you elicit any self control. Something I have issues with. But if I was around duck. Duck fat potatoes all day long.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
Like, I go.
Adam Pally
I mean, that bluefin sashimi is like, how do you just not go in there and just like pick it up, dog?
John Gabris
I'd be blasting rails of the cut it sashimi, chopping it up with a credit card. Mercury poisoning right in the septum. Turn my head into a thermomet earth soy face.
Adam Pally
They call me soy face.
John Gabris
I'm just a Michelin soy boy.
Narrator/Advertiser
All right.
Adam Pally
It's nice to be in Miami.
John Gabris
Hey, when you're in Miami, do as the Miamians do and talk to chef Jeremy Ford.
Adam Pally
And if something happens with your car, you just leave it on the side of the road.
John Gabris
Yeah. You can just set it on fire and walk away.
Adam Pally
That's also Miami thing.
John Gabris
We were just running through in the intro, our connection after like you judging on Fast Foodies, us eating at Stubborn seed on the show and then watching your. Your rise, that was already happening. Just continue to fucking go. That's so exciting. So we learned something earlier today, that once you have a Michelin star, you can get it taken away.
Jeremy Ford
Yes.
Adam Pally
So I thought it was like a tattoo.
John Gabris
Yeah. I thought once you have one, you got.
Adam Pally
Oh, you're like.
Jeremy Ford
Speaking of which, you're not taking this from me. Yeah, yeah. They have to peel it off my nec. Yeah. No, you can lose it. You can lose it. Yeah. Not only did we get a star, so we got a star on 22, but then we got last year a green star.
Narrator/Advertiser
Oh.
Jeremy Ford
So. Yeah. What does that mean? You smoke a lot of weed.
Adam Pally
I've been to those places. They're the ones that are like above board.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. You don't need a license for it.
Adam Pally
I like those places.
Jeremy Ford
No. So a green stars signifies basically that you have changed a lot of your operational things to be more sustainable. Right. We don't throw anything in the trash anymore. It's all composted. I bought a six acre farm that had two heat strokes in.
Adam Pally
Yeah, you had a heat stroke?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Two of them.
John Gabris
Yeah. You're not built for outdoors.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, no, man. Neither are you.
Adam Pally
No.
John Gabris
Oh, no. I am, brother.
Jeremy Ford
I saw the beer chug the other day, which I was like, I wish I was right next to that guy. To just catch like the.
Adam Pally
That was whatever was left over.
John Gabris
I was hard as a rock. So now you have a green star because you are making these sustainable choices.
Adam Pally
The whole restaurant is sustainable.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Yeah. Like no plastic spoons in the kitchen.
John Gabris
We're going tonight. So you're going to make us eat all the shrimp tails and stuff like that?
Adam Pally
Are we the composters tonight?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, Yeah.
John Gabris
A barrel of eggshells.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's dinner tonight. Yeah, yeah.
John Gabris
That's so. Dude, that's such an extra level now. Do you feel a pressure to keep, like, what kind of pressure are you feeling to keep this star or what does this mean for you and how you, like how you go about your ways?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. I mean, losing one, I think is probably the worst thing on the planet.
John Gabris
But it happens to great restaurants.
Jeremy Ford
Happens all the time, dude. I was actually with John George. Let me Spit my tobacco thing out.
Adam Pally
What are you speaking of is. What are you doing with that? What is. You got a dip? You like, fully like baseball playing, dipping
Jeremy Ford
or vape pens, dude, like, tell me about it, brother.
John Gabris
And now, now you're on Zen.
Jeremy Ford
There we go.
John Gabris
Forgive me, father, for I have zinned.
Adam Pally
Yes. Are you following that kid that like flips him up and then catches him in mouth?
Jeremy Ford
Like, I still can't do it either. Keep going that way.
Adam Pally
Yeah, I don't know how to do it. I also can't dip. I can't even with the Zen because I have like, weird. When I played baseball in high school, someone gave me dip and it just. Right away I had that sandlot reaction. I just started puking. And like, since then I just get weird with.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, we'll try one later.
Adam Pally
Really?
John Gabris
Let's fucking do.
Adam Pally
Honestly, I've been to that tasting menu. I would not be shocked if I walked out. It was like, give me a Zen.
John Gabris
Yeah. After six courses of wine and food, I'll pop two.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
Brush your teeth with a peppermint zing. So do you feel a pressure, do you feel a pressure to. To keep this stuff? Like, what, What?
Adam Pally
It must be. It must be crazy because like in, in our. In. In my. Like, we're actors. Like, you win an Academy Award, you get to say Academy Award winning actor for the rest of your life.
John Gabris
You get to say Golden Globe nominee for the rest of your life.
Adam Pally
You know, some of my friends tell people that they're. They were considered to be nominated like you can. And you get to say that forever.
John Gabris
I. I worked on an Emmy nominated show and that I guess starred on Brooklyn Nine. Nine once.
Jeremy Ford
Yes.
John Gabris
But I could say whatever I want.
Adam Pally
Right.
John Gabris
So how do you. What do you have to do now?
Jeremy Ford
We just got to keep the standards high. Right. Which is a lot tougher now because it's not me at stubborn five days a week anymore. Right now we've expanded to Vegas, Aruba, we're opening in Columbus. We're opening up in Lauderdale. We have something in the Keys now. So it's. The pressure is on, dude. Right? Like now it's heavier than it's ever been. Just because I'm not there every day to be like, yeah, we're checking all the boxes. You know what I mean? So. And I've also had some couple of shitty chefs in between.
John Gabris
Oh, yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
Adam Pally
I mean, that happens.
Jeremy Ford
That's part of the answer. Yeah.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
You don't know. To get him in the door. So it's been this Learning of all, right? Find the right dude or gal, train them really, really well, stay in great communication, and then roll the dice, right? That's where you're at.
John Gabris
And that's the dream. If you want more than one restaurant, you have to be able to set it and forget it with some people. Yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Ford
It took me. It took me a long time of, like, feeling guilty, right. Like, depression and guilty set in because there was this connection between me and my staff, right. And like, it's. It's tight. Like, when you work more time with your people than you do at home, right. You're spending more time than there than anywhere else.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
So you get this bond. So when I wasn't there, you know, it scaled back from five days to four, right. Then four turned to two, which I still was pretty tight with everybody. But as you start expanding, like, and there's a new. Yeah, dude. And they're like, no, we met a month ago. Yeah, yeah, I know, silly. Of course we did. So that's the, that's kind of the, the crossroads I'm at now. But I called my old mentor as 71 restaurants, John George. I. I reached out and I was like, dude, I'm like, feeling really, like, anxious and like, you know, depressed and. And he's like, I'll get some Xanax.
Adam Pally
I Love John George.
John Gabris
Dr. John George.
Adam Pally
We gotta get him on. Can I get him?
Jeremy Ford
Kidding aside, he. Jeremy, you're gonna have to get used to, like, like, knowing that they're doing the best they can.
John Gabris
Trust the process.
Jeremy Ford
You gotta trust the process. And he's like, if your goal is a hundred percent, you're like, this is your goal as long as your team's meeting the 80% rule. That's what he told me. I'm like, well, elaborate, right? What does that mean? And he's like, if they're nailing an 80% on an average basis of what your expectation was, you're winning.
John Gabris
Right?
Jeremy Ford
And that's.
John Gabris
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Ford
I mean, just because, like, when he said that, I was like the, the light. The light bulb was like, boom. It' that makes sense because you're never going to hit your expectations, right? Like, especially if you're not there. So you. But he said when you fall to 70, that's where you've got to learn when you fall how to react to get it back to the 80. Right, right. So that's the.
John Gabris
And you're going to hold it to a higher standard than your average customer anyway.
Jeremy Ford
You know what I mean?
John Gabris
So they're not going to, they're not going to know what 80, 80% is going to hit them like a truck anyway.
Adam Pally
You have three daughters and I have three children and but the way you were talking about your restaurants is the way that I feel going to shoot a movie, you know, because you're like, I, I've my full, my full time job and what I do is, is there and I put all my energy into like making sure that they're okay. And, and, and then you have to, you can't just stay there. You have to go, you have to earn money.
John Gabris
Eventually they have to go.
Adam Pally
And they have to go too. And you're like, yeah, God. I just, I, I can't be there. So I just hope that, I hope that the restaurant, that the middle restaurant stays open.
John Gabris
You know, it's like my son stays at 80.
Adam Pally
Yeah, exactly.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
Adam Pally
That's really. I think I would hope 80 is not.
John Gabris
Aim a little higher obviously also because
Adam Pally
if I'm the head chef, I need him to be at 150.
John Gabris
Yeah, yeah. Because you're bringing in 78.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
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Adam Pally
We do only ask one question and I feel like we would be remiss if we just didn't ask you that one question. But what are you doing to stay alive, Jeremy? Because clearly you're in good shape. You're. You're not. I was saying before, if I, if I had the ingredients near me that you have near you on a daily basis, I don't know if I could not just like dip in and grab
John Gabris
it, I would have the gout. You have like crystal feet.
Jeremy Ford
Okay.
John Gabris
Okay.
Jeremy Ford
Wide fit shoes.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Hell yeah. Yeah. No, great question, dude. Like, so I started a lot of cool things, right? Hanging out with different people. That's one. I think that has a lot to do with it. Right? Like who, who you surround yourself with is a big component.
Adam Pally
That's usually code for sober.
Jeremy Ford
I mean, ish.
Adam Pally
Okay.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. California.
Adam Pally
California sober. Yeah, it's usually code for that because like that is usually, in my experience,
John Gabris
I kind of sometimes leave Your drinking buddies behind for, like, a year. I'm going to come back, and we could just be friends. But I need some. I need some space.
Adam Pally
I need some space from this feeling of getting drunk with you guys, which is, like, killing me, you know, literally. Yeah. And so that's usually what that. What? What? That.
John Gabris
Hanging out with different people. And also. Are you talking about, too, like, just a variety of. Meeting new people is so integral to, like, feeling alive and keeping your brain fresh and, like, not just in your old patterns and old habits.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know I trained Jiu jitsu, right. And training Jiu Jitsu since I was, like, 19.
Adam Pally
Okay.
Jeremy Ford
So obviously, that's a huge part of my life. I did have to put on a little pause because I went through, like, four knee surgeries.
Adam Pally
Oh, my gosh.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah. Staying in shapes. I'm always staying in shape. Inside the hospital.
Adam Pally
You're on your feet 24 hours a day.
Jeremy Ford
So when you tear a meniscus or an lcl, and, yeah, you're. I mean, it's. I've got it, like, kind of dialed into about 90 painkillers and then surgery and then four months of recovery. I've got it down pat. Well, however, I don't want to do that anymore. So I took a little break. I added that to my life. AG1, man.
John Gabris
Have you tried that stuff, the athletic greens powder?
Jeremy Ford
Athletic greens powder?
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
It's great for dudes like us that are traveling, too, because they're, like, little packets, and it's got, like, 75 things that all three of us are not putting in our daily diet.
Narrator/Advertiser
Right.
Jeremy Ford
I know that for sure.
Adam Pally
Yes.
Jeremy Ford
When's the last time you had a bowl of algae?
Adam Pally
How much are they paying you?
Jeremy Ford
Nothing. No, no, no, real, man. Like, I just was like. I was. I started out because my dad's, like, on his health kick stuff. I started out and I'm like, yeah, this tastes horrible. You know, at first I was like, I don't know. And then I got used to it. Now it's like, yeah, now I taste bananas. I don't know. I don't know if.
John Gabris
Yes. It's got a sweetness to it. And, you know.
Jeremy Ford
You tried it?
John Gabris
Yeah, I did it for, like, a year.
Adam Pally
He's on that.
John Gabris
I loved it.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Why'd you stop?
John Gabris
I stopped because they stopped shitting blood. I stopped getting it for free. I stopped getting it for free.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
But I think it makes sense. As a sponsor of our podcast.
Adam Pally
It's a perfect fit.
John Gabris
And send this to AG1, please. AH1 send this to AG1. Thank you.
Jeremy Ford
Yes, yes.
Adam Pally
Now, is that because my question about a powder like that is I'm not always like, is that boom drink within
Jeremy Ford
about 10 to 15 minutes.
John Gabris
Yes.
Jeremy Ford
Nice. Well, yes. Which is what, dude, we got to keep the. The old pipes going.
Adam Pally
Number one. We. We talk about all the time. Like, if, If I'm on the road and I have a morning meeting, I need an hour to like, putter around my room till I can like, oh, you know what I mean? And then I can have my day. And if I, if I have to rush out and I haven't done that, it's like panic.
John Gabris
No, it's a bad day.
Jeremy Ford
Well, then you need dude wipes.
Adam Pally
How much are they paying you?
Jeremy Ford
No, dude wipes are on the go for when we don't.
Adam Pally
We set our dude wipes in my bag.
John Gabris
I have them in my bag as well.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, xls.
John Gabris
Oh, yeah, dog.
Jeremy Ford
I wish, I wish XL was a little more larger, right?
John Gabris
Yes.
Adam Pally
I thought XL was about maybe I
Jeremy Ford
have a bear claw as a hand.
John Gabris
I want a big wet glove I could put on after I'm done shooting a moist aloe vera glove used to wipe my ass. Wait, jumping back to AG1 for a second, I find it. And this was in the copy I wrote for myself for my ads. But making that healthy choice first thing in the morning to kind of send you down the right path.
Jeremy Ford
Wow.
John Gabris
Because you're like, I woke up and did something healthy. And then you're like, oh, it's easier to do a second healthy thing. It's like, easier. Like you're like. Rather than like, wake up, blast the sig, wander around, pour yourself like some coffee or whatever.
Adam Pally
Although there is now people are saying cigarettes. Nicotine is a performance enhancer. You know, I mean, similar to your zinning. There are people that are like, you know, not necessarily in the form of a cigarette, but like that nicotine is a healthy choice in the beginning.
John Gabris
Let's get our Nick breakfast. Nicotine breakfast is what we collab with nicotine. I. I drink AG1 menthol every morning.
Adam Pally
And then I never forget my dude glove.
Jeremy Ford
Dude, another one. Another one. Is this the farm? So I bought a six acre farm that changed the game.
Adam Pally
Okay, where, where, where in.
Jeremy Ford
In Miami. South of here. Massive six acre farm that changed my life.
John Gabris
Okay, talk to us about this.
Jeremy Ford
That was because I bought.
Adam Pally
Because I bought a zoo and it didn't go well.
John Gabris
I bought it, I bought an aquarium, and now it's a sushi restaurant.
Adam Pally
I bought a Zoo and I owe Matt Damon $20 million because we stole his movie idea.
John Gabris
What's. That's so crazy? That's like. I'm trying to think what that. That would be like, the extent of, like, us buying a. A company that makes film.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
You know what I mean? Like, that's like. You're like, oh, I'm a chef. Okay, well, where do I get food from? Eventually from a farm. It's like, well, why don't I do that too?
Adam Pally
Kind of what. What they did with Alan Klein, this guy I'm playing in the Beatles biopic, it's kind of what he did with the. The Beatles that pissed off the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, was that he started abco, which was the actual printing of the records. So he was getting paid on not just managing the bands, but also on every record sold. He was. He print. He owned the printing.
John Gabris
There's a. There's a.
Jeremy Ford
There's a kind of like McDonald's with the real estate.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Adam Pally
Yes. Yeah. NYU.
John Gabris
Yeah. There's an expression. There's an expression too. And it's like you say in business, you say pots and pans because the people who sold pots and pans to the gold rush, people made as Gold rush money but never had to hunt for gold, Levi's jeans were, you know, jumped off of the Gold Rush. Like, so there's, like, ways to. And so, like, you know, so you're seizing the means of production. This is also a little communist. So, you know, this activates me.
Jeremy Ford
Socialist.
Adam Pally
We don't have to be communist.
John Gabris
Well, where does socialism end on the spectrum is communism.
Adam Pally
Yeah, we don't have to take the whole train.
John Gabris
Yeah, we can leave some of the things.
Adam Pally
Usually those communist trains run pretty tight.
John Gabris
Those are unfortunately, the socialist.
Jeremy Ford
Well,
John Gabris
so you buy a farm and now are you growing stuff for your restaurants on the farm?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah. But the real. The real, I think to the staying alive, right? Like, it's this thing that changes you. It's hard to put into words, but it changes your mindset, right? Like when you're thinking about going to the store and getting healthy foods. Dude, those foods are not healthy anymore.
John Gabris
Right.
Jeremy Ford
By the time you clip spinach off, right, you throw it in a bag in a truck for three weeks. That thing, by the time you're eating, it has lost 50 to 60% of nutritional value.
John Gabris
Oh, man.
Jeremy Ford
Just in transit, like. And that's not even talk about the herbicides, pesticides and all that nonsense is being sprayed. That's when I started really dialing in, like, Questioning yourself at the supermarket, you're like, dude, like. Like, that's actually not as healthy as, like, everyone thinks it is for us. We're growing broccoli, carrot. I mean, we're growing tomato, tomato game. When you guys come later, you'll see I'm pretty damn good at growing tomatoes.
Adam Pally
Really?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. I'll give that to us.
John Gabris
Oh, hell yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Like, it did not happen overnight. And the farm world's a very tight industry of people that don't want to share a lot of info.
John Gabris
Right. Because it's, like, competition.
Jeremy Ford
Which is weird, though, because I'm like, Like, I'm asking, you know, this is like, one of my farmers I spent 10 years providing, buying stuff from.
Narrator/Advertiser
Right?
Jeremy Ford
Like, I'm thinking, like, oh, this guy's gonna give me the recipe, like, success, you know? And I remember, like, getting off the. Getting on the phone and had this question about some white fly that was, like, eating everything. And he's like, you know, I give him this long winded question. He's like, yeah, man, you'll figure out your systems, though. Like, not even, like. I was, like, twitching. Not. Not even like a Try this. Yeah, it was just like, no, you'll figure out your own systems, though. Man. Oh, man, it's exciting. Journey. Journey, right?
Adam Pally
Do you think that that's, like, a little bit of, like, self preservation? Because they're like, well, if this guy cuts me out, then I won't be able to farm?
Jeremy Ford
I mean, yes and no. Yeah, I mean, like, in my mind, I've had, since we opened the farm, four different dudes that are, like, chefs that are inspired by what we're doing, which I'm like, wow, this is so cool that like. Like, a couple of stoners are, like, influencing people to, like, want to be greener. Right. And grow their own stuff. So I've been this, like, encyclopedia for anyone who's reached out. I've told them about land pricing, how much money they're gonna spend in labor, which, like, you don't think about all this stuff. So I give the package when people reach out. Because the way I look at it is. Yeah, to your point, I'm buying less from them, but I'm also not going to their clients and peddling my veggies.
John Gabris
Yeah, you're not going, like, buy my tomatoes instead of rich.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, I would never do that. Right. Because I pretty much sell everything on that six acres to our own restaurant.
John Gabris
Group enough restaurants.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, we're good. So I was always in the impression. I'm like, do you really think I have time to go pedal veg, like to your peeps.
John Gabris
You know what I mean?
Jeremy Ford
Like, I barely have enough time to like stay alive.
Adam Pally
Yeah, I know, but that, that is. But does it feel spiritually? The connection to the food that comes out on the plate must be even stronger.
John Gabris
No, you're putting it, you're putting the seed in the earth and on the tail end putting cooked food into someone's mouth and it's.
Jeremy Ford
You're.
John Gabris
You have the psych. The loop is closed with you.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
And that's really cool.
Jeremy Ford
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great way to put it, brother. Like, like when I, when I saw how much I struggled, right? Because it was like I was by myself, right. Like I bought this big thing. Everyone, even my wife was like.
John Gabris
Don't you.
Adam Pally
It's funny that you say even, because for me it would be especially the wife. What?
John Gabris
That's so funny. Like, chef is famously like a long hours job and the only other job that's known is like more back breaking than cooking.
Jeremy Ford
Farmers.
John Gabris
Farming. And you just added that onto your Goliath.
Adam Pally
And I heard you're going to build a railroad next.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, man sitting the bright line all the way to galley. Get that.
Adam Pally
You're going to get all that produce out to all your restaurants on the Ford rail.
John Gabris
Bummer. That. That name's date.
Jeremy Ford
I know, I know, right? But, but no, it's been, it's been special.
John Gabris
You launched this farm by yourself.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
And what is what you buy land. You're like, and your, your thought process is because some people buy a farm, it's like, it's easier to grow one crop on it. Like to like tomatoes. Yeah, yeah. Now you're supplying for yourself. So you're thinking, what do I want to have in my dishes at the end? What can be grown in southern Florida. Very specific climate that we, that you're currently living in. And then you're like, and what can I handle? You know, like what can I physically do myself? So, so where do you go from there? Is it like that are there chefs? It's like, look, we're going to use to make.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
John Gabris
We need the mirror pot elements. Like we need celery and carrots and onions is a go to.
Narrator/Advertiser
Right?
John Gabris
So like when your list of what you're going to put on it. What. What's going through your head? I'm so curious about that.
Jeremy Ford
Well, what we can grow here is specific to the climate, like what you're saying, right? Like some people would call us the Armpit of America to grow. Literally. And I'm like, interesting to growing. It's hot. And where I have the farm is literally like limestone, dude. Like, you go down to like 6 inches to bury something and it's like, nope, go grab the eighty thousand dollar tractor because we need an auger. That's how. It's like rock, dude. And I mean like feet and feet of it.
John Gabris
Jesus.
Jeremy Ford
So my dad's a general contractor and he came down. Funny thing is, man, I had like skin cancer last year. Right?
Adam Pally
Oh my God.
Jeremy Ford
Throw that in. Yeah.
John Gabris
So you're literally staying alive.
Jeremy Ford
Staying alive, man. And. And my dad, he flew down from Colorado because he moved up there because he knew I was like bedridden, right. Dealing with this. And it was like, my dad's out there and he facetimes me with my partner Joe on the tractor. And he like, he's sweating, dude. And he like FaceTime. And he's like, jeremy, tell me there's an easier way to drill a hole in this place. And I was like, no, it looks like you're right in there. But yeah, he's like, it's taking us 45 minutes. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's Florida. Yeah. As I'm on morphine, like, yeah, man.
Adam Pally
Do you mind if I ask you about your skin cancer?
Jeremy Ford
No, go ahead.
Adam Pally
Yeah, take me through it. I mean, because I think it's something that I've heard from a lot of people our age that is like.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
Adam Pally
Being more and more detected and like. So what hap. What, what was the story?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, dude. Like, so every year I try to make it a point to hit the dermatologist. Right. Like we're.
Adam Pally
We're white, you know, to do it.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Our skin is just a little more, you know, at risk. Right. And I surfed my whole childhood and back in the day, dude, like, sunscreen was like the last thing on my mind.
John Gabris
No, barely on my parents mind. Yeah. I just had partial thickness burns on my shoulder like all summer.
Jeremy Ford
Always. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, remember the blister? Yeah, yeah. The other layer?
Adam Pally
Yeah. You gotta get that first flake off like I said.
Jeremy Ford
So what happened was like, so you know, your board shorts are here. They ride up when you're surfing to like right around here because you're. And your back is faced up up, right?
John Gabris
Yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Ford
So it's the weirdest place to get it because I'm assuming like if there's a problem, it's going to be here or like arms or somewhere that's exposed. Like, I. I would say more, but what we learned was that all the years of being back up and the sun hitting it. It. Because it's right here. It was right here. Massive. So I would have never, like, when the dermatologist, like, scraping stuff, I'm like, dude, you just want to scrape stuff because you guys do that, right? You just want to charge me extra $10. I get it, all right? Scrape away, bud. Right? So he scraped off this thing. I get a. I get a.
John Gabris
A.
Jeremy Ford
A call. And the dude doesn't speak great English, like, right. Like, he's like. Like, barely any English, actually. So he calls me, and he's like, you need to come into the office. And you never. You always know that means, all right, I'm dying.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
But just tell me now, dog.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, no, I told him. I said, I'm in Europe right now. That was actually like, 20 minutes. I was like, dude, I'm in Europe, man. Like, what's going on? I'm not back for, like, three months.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
And he's like, all right, let me go get the other guy. So the guy gets on the phone, and he can't speak English very well, and he's like, like, you have level or what do you say? Exactly.
John Gabris
Stage.
Jeremy Ford
Stage. He said, you have stage four cancer of the skin. Right? And I'm like, I dropped my phone.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Because the only thing I knew about cancer was, like, four is the worst. Six, eight months left. So I'm gonna go on a hell ride.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
I was like, I'm gonna delete my everything, and I'm just gonna take all the money out. See you girls later. I'm going to Thailand. Yeah.
Adam Pally
That's what you're thinking.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. I'm getting a scooter. I'm hitting Vietnam.
John Gabris
But.
Jeremy Ford
But so I. So, you know, that whole day is just crying tears. Worst day ever, you know? And I ended up, you know, going in, thinking, like, the worst. And I sit with the actual surgeon who's going to, like, remove this thing. And she's like, it's a level four. And I'm like, so what is that? What's the difference? And she's like, you don't have stage four, Jeremy. Like, level four was the size of the area. And I was like. I was like, you guys need to tell this other guy, man. Like, I was going to, like, leave my family.
Adam Pally
I spent $20,000 on plane tickets.
John Gabris
Oh, that's so funny.
Jeremy Ford
So at the end of the day, right, they. When you have that, they want to make sure that your lymph nodes aren't also right going down. That's right below that, because that's right there. And if they go. So if it goes from there to a lymph node, then you're kind of dead.
John Gabris
You have lymphoma.
Jeremy Ford
It goes to everywhere, right? So she ended up removing this massive thing right there. And then she took all my lymph nodes from my groin, which was like. I was like, you're getting really close there.
John Gabris
So easy on the nose, sweetheart. Yeah.
Adam Pally
Hey, make sure that you only take the nose.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
Narrator/Advertiser
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John Gabris
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today. And where are you now? In your farm?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Yeah, I was on the farm when I like, made the.
Adam Pally
So you bought the farm. You're like, I'm. I'm changing my life and the way I do business. I'm. I'm I'm totally like changing the way that the restaurant industry works. And I have cancer.
Jeremy Ford
Correct. That's.
John Gabris
That must be stuff has happened and I can't believe we started on Michelin Star.
Jeremy Ford
I know.
John Gabris
Our friend had cancer and we just got go. So Green star. Tell us about it.
Adam Pally
Well, but, but truly my next question is like, who gives a. About the Michelin Star now you're a lot like, is it still like, where does that go from there? Like, yeah. Do you still. Is your ambition different?
Jeremy Ford
No, like there was something I saw that's like when you're alive there, you have a million and one problems, right? When you get sick, you have one, right? And that's like, that one hit me really hard because it's so true, right? Like how many things are in the back you guys minds right now about what's next? What do I have to do my next travel, you know, like all those things. When you're in a hospital bed, dude, getting carved away and pricked at.
John Gabris
You don't give a. About that heirloom season.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't really give a.
Narrator/Advertiser
Right, right.
Jeremy Ford
But yes, it's like everything kind of stops in the world. Like nothing else really matters because you're like, okay, like now the countdown begins. You know what I mean? Like, this is. This could potentially be the end, right? It's been about a year now, you know, and I went back a few times, which it's always like gnarly feeling when you go in there.
John Gabris
Once you've, once you've, once you walk
Jeremy Ford
through the oncology doors, dude, you're like, it's rough and. Yeah, and when every time I go in there, it's been, you know, they like map, they map all your moles out, right? So they can like really strategically see if there's any like, any advancements. And right now, man, I'm clear. So I just kind of. Yeah, dude. Yeah, man, cry.
Adam Pally
I know. Are there things that you do now like, like differently, you get those like
John Gabris
long sleeve fisherman SPF shirts and.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, I'm. I'm locked in.
John Gabris
You got your, you got yourself a
Jeremy Ford
big ass sombrero for such a big sombrero.
John Gabris
Oh, hell yeah.
Jeremy Ford
What about the girls?
Adam Pally
Are you making, Are you like, do the girls walk out like in like.
John Gabris
Are you hosting them down with SPF
Jeremy Ford
50 every day, man? My, my. You know, they don't do a ton outside, but I do bring it up to my wife a lot and she like, she does the sunscreen thing, but there's like so much Bad information about that too now. Right? Really? Sunscreen's bad saying that there's like chemicals because you're putting it on your skin is going straight into your bloodstream.
Adam Pally
Right?
John Gabris
It's a membrane.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. So it's, it, it. And there's a lot of chemicals that are like super bad. So, so what am I supposed to put on? That's what you got. You got to wear the. Yeah, dude. Like when I went on a cruise, like I was the only guy on the cruise ship that looked like he was going on like a three day fishing trip. Right.
John Gabris
You know, like the little hood with
Jeremy Ford
the fit and the gator. So my face is like this. Cuz like the nose is like another one that can be. Right. That sticks out.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
And it can be like directly, you know, impacted by sun. Right.
Adam Pally
Do you look at people now and like, like are you looking at Mr.
John Gabris
Lays out the sun all the time?
Adam Pally
Are you like, you are?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah. No, just because I care about like, care about you guys. I care about like people in general.
Adam Pally
Of course. You're a restaurant tour. You're, you're, you're more than caring about people. You are our lifeblood. You are feeding us, you know, hospitality. Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
John Gabris
Oh, that's crazy man.
Jeremy Ford
I know, I know.
John Gabris
So, so talk to us a little bit more about what you're learning from the farm or, or how more specifically how having the farm has affected your menu choices or like inspiration in the restaurant. Because this is really intriguing to me because it's weirdly, you know, they say like limitations breed creativity. So now you're like, fuck, I got all these, I got broccoli rabe out the wazoo and you're sitting in the
Adam Pally
cancer ward thinking about, thinking about what you're gonna do.
John Gabris
I might not recommend if anyone needs to brainstorm.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Now's the time. We got plenty.
Adam Pally
Truly. I mean like 203 guys. I feel like when I'm.
Jeremy Ford
Bring me a milkshake, you don't let me have them.
Adam Pally
But, but you must have, you must have had that feeling. I, I feel like on a, on a, on a, a smaller scale I've like you, you get co. And you're like out for two weeks or something and you're like by the end of that two weeks you start to feel healthy and then you're like, tomorrow I'm going to feel better. And then you're shot out of a cannon.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Adam Pally
For like two days. Cuz you're like, I've got it back. I've got that Feeling back.
John Gabris
Yeah. The V. Yeah.
Adam Pally
Do you have. Do you have a sense of that now?
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah, no, I've.
John Gabris
I. I mean, your energy level has
Jeremy Ford
always been pretty extreme. No, I think, like, you know, I definitely look at life like, you know, we don't really know, like, the timeline. Right. So I definitely say it to answering emails a little more. Sorry. Out there.
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Investors that are listening to this. Yeah, no, like, don't worry, they're not.
John Gabris
Yeah. Trust me, people with money are not listening to this podcast.
Adam Pally
Literally, people are trying to stay alive. They're like, dude, this is gonna help me at all.
Jeremy Ford
But, no, I look at it like, you know, when I do die, the 17,000 unanswered emails, are they really gonna matter anymore?
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
So I just stay with, like, the top 12. So when somebody needs something, they're gonna bump it back up.
John Gabris
Right, right, right.
Jeremy Ford
So when it gets bumped up for the third time, like, all right, cool. I got this one.
John Gabris
It's a reorganization of priorities. Yeah, it's just like. Yeah, like, that matters less to me. Someone said something that was really kind of freeing to me. My friend Katie said, when you see someone who has an immaculately kept house or a six pack or a beautiful car, that's like. And you're like, you feel envious. One way to phrase it is they consider that one of their top three priorities. Like, and if you don't consider your house to be super clean to be one of your top three priorities, it's okay that it's not. And then you just have a different set of priorities than someone else. So, like, the person with a six pack, it's a priority for them to get to that because that's a difficult process to have a six pack.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, I wouldn't know.
Adam Pally
I have no idea what that feels like.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
John Gabris
I don't even know a person with a six pack that I can ask about it.
Adam Pally
And anytime someone's got a six pack of beer, I take one.
Jeremy Ford
What.
Adam Pally
What's going on over there? Who's calling?
John Gabris
You answer the email.
Jeremy Ford
It's no big deal.
John Gabris
I can get back to them.
Jeremy Ford
No, no, no.
John Gabris
You should answer that. My. My Cardiologist, I have 21 missed calls from him.
Adam Pally
He's like, I know you're in Miami.
John Gabris
Just checking in.
Jeremy Ford
Just checking in. Long night, huh?
John Gabris
You're. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, your. Your Apple watch told me your heart rate was pretty high last night. You're not beating off in a sauna again, are you? Not anymore.
Adam Pally
Doc, how hot do you keep your room?
Jeremy Ford
Oh, my God.
John Gabris
It's good for sweating, you know?
Adam Pally
I know. You got to sweat it out.
John Gabris
Yeah. So jump back to how's the farm affected, your menu choices and other things that you're doing there. Real quick, what's the great restaurateur who has the farm in upstate New York? Blue Hill.
Jeremy Ford
Blue Hill.
Adam Pally
Stephen.
Jeremy Ford
No. No. Nothing. No. Dan Barber. Damn.
John Gabris
There we go.
Adam Pally
What's his wife's name?
John Gabris
Sarah.
Jeremy Ford
Yes.
Adam Pally
Susie.
John Gabris
It's an accident.
Adam Pally
Close.
Jeremy Ford
I was gonna get that. I was gonna get there.
Adam Pally
I was gonna get there.
John Gabris
I was gonna get there.
Adam Pally
I was gonna get some soft des. Yeah.
John Gabris
I went there for a tasting menu one time, and they brought out as, like, the Amuz Bouge, a piece of wood with four nails in it. And on the four nails was just right out of the dirt. Vegetables. Nothing done to them. Like, literal. Yep. Yeah. Wipe the carrot off. There's roots dangling off.
Adam Pally
Was it delicious?
John Gabris
It was unreal. You're like, oh, I don't think I've had a carrot before.
Jeremy Ford
Yes.
John Gabris
Like, you have this carrot, and you're like, yeah. Oh, this is why people like carrots.
Adam Pally
And the temperature of it is different. It's not freezing cold.
Jeremy Ford
No, it's not cold.
John Gabris
It's not super hot. It's literally from the dirt. Walked in, and it was like a piece of lettuce. It was so.
Jeremy Ford
Well, here's what happens. So two things, right? The question you asked me about how limit, like, having an abundance of something and how the breeds creativity. I have a great. A great one for that.
John Gabris
Oh, cool.
Jeremy Ford
So I. Last year, we're growing tomatoes, like, killing it, right? I'm bringing hundreds of pounds to the restaurants, like, forcing them. And then I get back to the farm, and Joe's like, yeah, yeah. Joe's like, I have 300 more pounds. I'm like, dude, I just took, like, 400. Like, how many hundreds of pounds are there? And I call at the time, my chef. He's actually a beast. His name's Logan McNeil. Shout out to you, dog. Logan was with me. And I remember, like, I go to the restaurant, and there's tomatoes, like, in a. In a sauce with bread service, all prepared in different ways. Like, one's pickled, one's raw, one's roasted. All these different techniques are already in place. I bring a hundred more pounds on him, and he's like, Jay, like, like, what? What. What am I supposed to do? And I said, bro, being a great chef. And this when you get, like, kind of deep with him, you know, like, Deep Thoughts by Jack Andy you gotta pick them up. Yeah, like, like, look, man. Like, this is part of the challenge you're gonna go through. You're a young chef with a. With. With a farm at your fingertips, which are a lot of dudes to be stoked about. Okay. First and foremost. So I want you to take 48 hours, figure out a few more ideas, and let's put them up to taste. I come back and he does a pate fui. So a pat de fe is like this French jelly, and it's like, kind of tossed in some, like, sugar, and it's like a. It's usually served before dessert at like, a really high end tasting in your restaurant. Right.
John Gabris
Okay.
Jeremy Ford
So he made a tomato pat de fui. And I was like, dude, man, that's sick. Because it actually tasted good, right?
Narrator/Advertiser
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Like, it would have been a cool idea, but if it tasted like shit, it would have never made it.
John Gabris
Right.
Jeremy Ford
I remember eating this cube that he, like, took a sweet route, but the. It's a savory thing. And I remember eating and being like, dude, that's the most creative. Like, you would have never came up with that. To your point. Yeah, you would have never came up with that if I didn't bring another
John Gabris
100 pounds, another bushel of tomatoes.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. You know what I mean? So that's sick.
John Gabris
Oh, that's awesome. I was like, it's a bloody Mary day at Stone Seed again, guys. It's marinara night. You're like, really? That doesn't seem like your style of food you like, Fuck me, dude. I'm up to my neck in tomatoes. We need to figure this shit out.
Narrator/Advertiser
One sunny day, a honeybee was merrily buzzing through an orchard when she stopped to collect nectar from a mystery apple blossom. She passed that pollen along to a honeycrisp tree, and months later, the sugar bee apple was born. Naturally sweet, with layered notes of caramel, honey, molasses, and the perfect crunch. The world has embraced the sugar bee apple, a pure delight for snacking and baking. Download our new free recipe book and find a store near you@hellosugarb.com Sugar B apples from bee to you. The fastest self Care Clean Hair K18 Air Wash Dry Shampoo is the first biotech powered dry shampoo. It instantly eliminates odor and reduces oil and sweat for fresh hair and scalp for up to three days. And no white cast, starchy buildup or heavy fragrances. K18 studied the science of fresh hair so you never have to worry about wash day again. Shop at Sephora or get 10% off your first purchase at k18hair.com with CodePodcast. That's CodePodcast.com.
John Gabris
avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app download today day. Where do you stand on the brainstorming of the drinks in your restaurant? Like you bring us someone in for that? Do you have a.
Adam Pally
Do you want us to do it with you?
John Gabris
I got another idea. It's a shot and a beer.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Beer. No, I'm involved in it. It's funny, dude. Like, I was on the farm having quite a few cocktails last night.
John Gabris
Right.
Jeremy Ford
And I am not a bar guy. Yeah. But last night I made this. Dude, I should have brought the Lang Lang syrup. So we had this 30 foot tree that was there before I got there. It's called Lang Lang. Y L A N G Lang Lang.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
And it's the. This beautiful yellow flower that only comes up like a couple of times a year. And you grab them all as much as you can. Then you make a cordial like a syrup or whatever out of it. But it's got like. It tastes like you're drinking sweet jasmine, nectar of the gods.
John Gabris
Oh, awesome.
Jeremy Ford
It's. It's unlike anything anyone who tries. It's always like what, what, what did you do? And I'm just like. I don't know, man, like a little bit of this. But that. But last night like we had the, you know, we have all. We have our own chickens and hens and all that stuff. So I take the egg whites. Right. Fresh out of the old batch. I take egg whites. I love the old shaken foam guy on top. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's give you that little mustache.
Adam Pally
I love that.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, I love it too.
Adam Pally
It.
Jeremy Ford
Yes. It's like I say leftovers.
Adam Pally
It's like a.
Jeremy Ford
A lippy.
John Gabris
It's a flavor.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
And. And I took Lang Lang syrup, gin, this Florida liqueur that's like an apper Tea thing. Really, really tasty. It's kind of like. I don't know if I'd put it in between like a bitter, like a. One of those like aperol maybe.
John Gabris
Right.
Jeremy Ford
Like an apparel kind of vibe. So A little bitter. Yeah, a little bitter. Little gin. And then I put my lang. Lang. Syrup. Syrup. A crushed cucumber, mint from the farm and hibiscus, because we're growing all that. And. And I just muddled the hell out of those things. Ton of ice, all the booze, lemon juice, shook it up, poured it out, and I was like, dude, I'm not gonna lie. Like, this is a really good cocktail.
John Gabris
You made, like, a.
Jeremy Ford
Well, how much of it did you put? And I was like, oh, man.
John Gabris
I was like, forgets to get.
Jeremy Ford
Because I was. Free ball. He's going to suck. And then we all taste it, and they're like, you'll never be able to do it again.
John Gabris
Yeah, you'll be sweating it like, all. You're like, no, I think there was more Lang. Lang than that. Remember, more gin.
Adam Pally
It needs more gin.
Jeremy Ford
And then we had all of us. There was like six or seven of us, like, that were around the bar kind of watching when I did it. So everyone kind of, like, took a stab at it, and it just got worse. Like, by the last person, I was like, oh, my God.
Adam Pally
I was like, this is so fun. That sounds like the most fun thing ever. To just, like, have ingredients and the mind to be like, you know what I think would be tasty? And then to. To make it as good as you make it. That's an amazing skill.
Jeremy Ford
It was cool.
John Gabris
One night, I was. I was on vacation in St. John's and I was telling some. Telling someone that I had this drink in Vegas that I loved, and it had, like, a burnt pineapple, caramel. Like a caramelized pineapple and bourbon. It was a. It was. What's the bourbon? I used to. No, it's the smokier one. No, it's not scotch. It's a. It'll. It'll come to me in a sec. I forget what it's called, but this specific bourbon and burnt pineapple, and I couldn't remember what was in it. And then we start trying, and we're like, we can't figure it out. I. We called Grand Lux Cafe in Vegas. We're like, hi. What do you guys put in that burn? They, like, listed off the ingredients, and we were like, all right, we have to go to the supermarket and get, like, these.
Adam Pally
And we.
John Gabris
We had. Then we finally, on, like, day three of the vacation, figured it out.
Jeremy Ford
Did you nail it?
John Gabris
Yes. It was awesome. Yeah, it was like, burnt, muddled pineapple.
Jeremy Ford
Like, burnt out, charred on a grill.
John Gabris
Yes. Grilled or. I love that chart on a Grill
Adam Pally
and then muddled so it's. It's almost the smokiness of the grill with. That's another level.
John Gabris
It was so good. It was so good.
Adam Pally
Do you remember there was one drink we had in Vegas where they. They were like, careful, this will make your.
Jeremy Ford
Were.
Adam Pally
They were like, what you do. They brought us the drink.
Narrator/Advertiser
You.
John Gabris
You ate a flower that made your mouth numb.
Adam Pally
Yes.
John Gabris
And then when you drank the flight.
Adam Pally
When you drank the drink, it reignited.
John Gabris
Yeah, it. Like, it was so crazy.
Adam Pally
It was a crazy experience.
John Gabris
At the Chandelier bar in Cosmo.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Adam Pally
It was a wild experience.
John Gabris
They, like, don't barely remember. Yeah, I remember this. I can't remember.
Jeremy Ford
In my room on the second floor.
Adam Pally
Yeah, yeah.
John Gabris
If it's. If it's vices and Vegas combined, I, like, somehow never forget. Even though it's blackout. I forgot about 9 11.
Adam Pally
And you talk about that all the time.
John Gabris
Yeah, I know. It's big for me.
Adam Pally
So what's. So what's like, you're. You're an empire now. You're not just our buddy who has. Who's a killer chef now. You're like a guy who runs a brand. Does that pressure? Is that pressure, or are you still in your mind? Like, because we talk about this all the time. Like, as we started 22 together, I. We never think of each other as anything other than who we are to each other.
John Gabris
Right.
Jeremy Ford
Right.
Adam Pally
But there. Things have changed. You know, we're. It's. The stakes are higher.
John Gabris
People know who. We know who we are.
Adam Pally
We don't think that about each other.
John Gabris
Right.
Adam Pally
Do you feel that? Like, how do you feel now?
Jeremy Ford
Like, imposter syndrome.
John Gabris
I mean, like, that understandable.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's. Yeah, there's moments. There's moments where, you know, like, we filmed something the other day with this dude that, like, I would. I never get really starstruck. You know what I mean? Like, Mike, until I met you, and. And it was the first time I was, like, sweating bullets, and I already run kind of hot. Like, I sweat a lot.
John Gabris
Oh, we know.
Jeremy Ford
Do you remember this?
Adam Pally
Yes. Dude.
Jeremy Ford
She's like, yeah, here's your seventh black shirt. Jeremy, go in the Ross, grab me some more.
Adam Pally
When we would film that, they would. The shirt color would change.
John Gabris
Wildly fresh one. You hear it slop as he took the last one off.
Jeremy Ford
Splash tiles.
John Gabris
Sizzles none.
Jeremy Ford
And. And. And we're filming away, and. And I'm just, like, sweating bullets, and I'm like, you know, I. I couldn't. I can't believe how many cool opportunities have come. And that's kind of how I, like, compartmentalize it all and. And just try to trust the process. But it's a blessing, dude, to be, like, so overwhelmed and be like, ah, I can't do it. Like, I'm. I'm starting to fail. I just try to block that nonsense out and just do my best at, like, being a decent dad. Right, Right.
John Gabris
Like, that's, like, pretty grounding to, like,
Jeremy Ford
think back to your family. Yeah.
Adam Pally
Try to, like, your girls are how old?
Narrator/Advertiser
Olds.
Jeremy Ford
One's in college now, dude.
Adam Pally
Holy.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, bro. Get ready for that nonsense.
Adam Pally
Yeah. 14, 13, and 9. You're getting close.
Jeremy Ford
You're right there, dog.
John Gabris
You're not looking at colleges.
Adam Pally
I know each one. The first question, like, how much does it cost? Like, before he even says they have a great. I'm just, like, public, or is it state school?
Jeremy Ford
Like, I have no community college. There's one right down there.
Adam Pally
I remember when I was looking, my parents were like, whatever you want to do, do, we will support it. Like, I'm like, how much that cost? So there. The girls are keeping you, do they? You're just dad, right? Like, you're not.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, my oldest, you know, she kind of has been through the whole ride with me.
Adam Pally
Right.
Jeremy Ford
And the other one's nine or turning nine tomorrow, which is kind of cool. Yeah. Making smash burgers at the pool.
Adam Pally
Nice.
Jeremy Ford
But there is. There is like a. I don't know how to say it. Like. Like, when your name's not on a schedule anymore, there is some little gaps of free freedom. Right, Right. Like, yes. There's a lot of responsibility when it's hot. Like, last year, we opened three restaurants. That was gnarly. Like, not good. You're never doing that again.
Adam Pally
You're going to Aruba, to Vegas.
Jeremy Ford
I went to Keys to Vegas to. It was gnarly. It was. I'll never do that to myself again. So this. You're only doing two.
John Gabris
Learning.
Jeremy Ford
You know what I mean? Yeah, but.
John Gabris
But three was way too much, right? Too. How about take a year off?
Jeremy Ford
I know, but this business is, like, you know, like, there's probably a fear in both of you guys mind about, like, is my.
John Gabris
While the iron's hot?
Jeremy Ford
Is my.
John Gabris
Like, how much Run hot and run cold, too. While you're hot, you might as well get all the. Stay at the table while you're hot.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Grab it all. Grab it all, dude. Golden Corral style. You know what I'm saying? Grab it all.
John Gabris
Dude, if you up a analogy, I'm always going to know what you're talking
Adam Pally
exactly what you're clogging legs.
Jeremy Ford
First you got to go see straw bar cleared.
John Gabris
They told me to stop coming up. There's no more rain.
Jeremy Ford
Honey, you're allergic to cocktail shrimp. Why do you have a pound of it? Because it's free.
John Gabris
Yeah. Oh, man.
Adam Pally
Get the EpiPens. We're going to the one of the.
Jeremy Ford
Shrimp cocktail.
Adam Pally
Everywhere screaming with three eps in your
John Gabris
legs, like a much adrenaline in your system.
Adam Pally
Oh, man. You're the best, dude. And I. I cannot wait for tonight. I am.
John Gabris
Yeah. Spoiler alert. We got ourselves a reservation at Stubborn
Adam Pally
Se tonight, and we went. And our producer. Gnarly. We didn't eat. We just went to lunch, and it was the most.
John Gabris
We shared a Cuban sandwich three way. Just like we need room for.
Jeremy Ford
I can't wait. I can't wait.
Adam Pally
We're so thankful for everything, as always. And I. I didn't know about your health struggle, and I'm so. I'm so happy that it's resolved and that. And that. That you were kind enough to talk to us about it.
Jeremy Ford
You're the only ones I've ever told it.
John Gabris
Like, maybe. Oh, maybe another two or three hundred people.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah. No, it's like, it's. You know. You know what it is, dude, is it's like, it's that one thing that you're, like, embarrassed. Is that. Is that weird to be embarrassed about talking about the C word? You know what I mean?
John Gabris
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Pally
No, because it.
Jeremy Ford
It's also like, I'm weak. Like, is there anyone, I think that I can't do the chef thing anymore.
John Gabris
Feel concerned for you when you. Because that's another, like, masculine thing, too, when you're like, I don't want people to be, like, worried about me. Yeah, I could handle it. So you're always like cancer, but it's skin. I'm only opening up, too, this year. Yeah, right. Like, it's level four, guys. Trust me. That's actually good.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the skin's great.
Adam Pally
Yeah. No, but I. I think that that's a very empathetic feeling because I feel like we have that here too. You know, it's like the idea that. That you're not doing enough and that you're, you know, leaving stuff on the table is consistently in your mind.
Jeremy Ford
Sure. Yeah, I'm sure.
Adam Pally
And, and, and. And it's important, I think, like, I. Specifically, on your health thing, it's not something we talk about. Or think about ever. And it is, is quite abundant.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Like, yeah, dude.
Adam Pally
You know, a lot of people have it.
John Gabris
Yeah.
Adam Pally
And you're. I think it's good.
John Gabris
Yeah. Most people, you know, in their 60s or 70s have. A lot of them have dealt with it, if not are dealing with it.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah.
John Gabris
Yeah. It's crazy. And, you know, I'm glad you're taking care of yourself and making better choices. And I love you too, man.
Adam Pally
Looks like you got some new. It looks like he went up there a little bit.
Narrator/Advertiser
Did I?
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Oh, no, here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. A little hands. Yeah. There.
Adam Pally
That's nice.
Jeremy Ford
It's actually pretty cool, man.
John Gabris
I noticed you got a new neck tattoo.
Jeremy Ford
It just means love through the heart. Yeah.
John Gabris
It's just one, though. For now.
Jeremy Ford
I'm good. I'm good with that. Twos and threes are.
Adam Pally
Well, then you start worrying. Are we going to lose those?
John Gabris
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
You know, it's like, cool, man.
Adam Pally
Yeah. And also I feel like sub has, has done this thing again. It's like, this is different, you know, where it's, it's, it's different than another restaurant. It's, it's, it's a experience that is different and like that is shipped away. Right.
Jeremy Ford
There's not tablecloths. There's like Led Zeppelin plan.
Adam Pally
Yeah.
Jeremy Ford
Like, we kind of break the rules of.
John Gabris
It's not pretentious at all.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. And I don't. Because I never wanted that. I never wanted to be like.
John Gabris
And when you hear it on paper, you're like Michelin star, sustainable farm to literal farm to table.
Adam Pally
Driven from the farm to the table.
John Gabris
Yeah. And all that. And then you're like more than a feeling,
Jeremy Ford
man.
John Gabris
All right, let's get this out of here. Yeah. Jeremy. Oh, dude, you're the. Thank you,
Adam Pally
Jeremy.
John Gabris
Man, I, I, I feel bad repeating this because we, I said it behind his back after he left, but, man, I forget what kind of positive energy Jeremy exudes, man. Dude, I've, I'm riding high after hanging, talking to him. I feel alive.
Adam Pally
I, I know. And, and I, I took my, I came to Miami like two years ago and took one of our mutual buddies to stubborn seed. And it obviously, you know, blew his mind and, and, and in every way. But Jeremy was there and so he came around. He's drinking with us and doing the, the, you know, the yellow tail stuff and like all his, all his amazing wizardry. And when we left, I remember Daniel turned to me, was like, that dude's the best.
John Gabris
Yeah, that's the vibe. You get off Jerry. That's what people say about. He's like. He's just a ball of positive light.
Adam Pally
Yeah, it's awesome. Yes.
John Gabris
And like, a story about having cancer. And it was still funny, loud, high energy. And it was like, about getting a huge chunk of his leg removed.
Adam Pally
The man had cancer and decided, you know what I should do while I fix this cancer? I should really be doing more. Farm to table. For the restaurant.
John Gabris
I'll buy a farm and open up my fourth and fifth restaurant in, like, Antigua. Bahamas.
Adam Pally
Bahamas.
John Gabris
Aruba.
Adam Pally
Aruba, Jamaica. You're not gonna get me again. I'm never gonna let that happen, dog.
John Gabris
I'm gonna get you.
Adam Pally
It's gonna be a cold winter.
John Gabris
I'm gonna get you. Use this one. Staying Alive.
Adam Pally
Well, I guess you could get me every time if you talk to the editors.
John Gabris
You have been listening to Staying Alive with John Gabris and Adam Pally. A smart media production in association with Sirius xm.
Adam Pally
Produced by Devin Tory Brunch Bryant and Anne Harris. Engineered and edited by Devin Tory Bryant, who also wrote the music.
John Gabris
Associate producer and video producer is Matty McCann. Social media producer Tommy Galgano.
Adam Pally
Assistant engineer, Kyle McGraw. Special thanks to Jared O' Connell at SiriusXM.
John Gabris
Executive producers are John Gabris.
Jeremy Ford
Ooh, me.
John Gabris
Adam Pally. Ooh, you. Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Richard Corson and Bernie Kaminski. Do us a favor. Just rate and review the podcast. It actually helps.
Adam Pally
Just so everyone knows, we do not have a discord.
John Gabris
Don't reach out to us.
Adam Pally
See us on the street. Walk the other way or you'll catch hands. I forgot to ask you, what kind of car are you driving from the farm to the like, what are you rocking right now? Is it truck?
Jeremy Ford
Truck? Yeah. All redneck you're throwing.
Adam Pally
It's not electric.
Jeremy Ford
No. What?
Adam Pally
I don't know. I don't know.
John Gabris
This is still Florida.
Jeremy Ford
Guys, guys, guys. Just feel it back a little. I don't know.
Adam Pally
Farmer table. All of a sudden you don't give a.
Jeremy Ford
It's sustainable. The F350.
John Gabris
Sustainable.
Jeremy Ford
Yeah. Diesel.
Adam Pally
Smart pl.
Narrator/Advertiser
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John Gabris
Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie.
Adam Pally
From roof repair to Emergency Plumbing and
John Gabris
more, when you use Angie for your
Jeremy Ford
home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well.
John Gabris
Angie the one you trust to find
Narrator/Advertiser
the ones you trust.
John Gabris
Find a pro for your project@angie.com.
Episode: Wolfman’s Got Nodes (w/ Jeremy Ford)
Date: June 25, 2026
Host: SmartLess Media
Guest: Jeremy Ford – Chef, Restaurateur, and Owner of Stubborn Seed
In this lively, candid, and laughter-filled conversation, comedians Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally welcome Michelin-starred Miami chef Jeremy Ford. The trio dives deep into the realities of pursuing health after years of excess, what it means to “stay alive” in the food world, and Ford’s unique path as a chef-turned-farmer. Jeremy also opens up about his recent battle with skin cancer, the challenges of scaling a restaurant empire, and how sustainability efforts inspired both personal and professional transformation. Through stories, banter, and hard-earned wisdom, the episode captures the intersection of food, health, family, and life after a wake-up call.
“As long as your team’s meeting the 80% rule, you’re winning… When you fall to 70, that’s when you’ve got to learn how to react to get it back to 80.” ([08:55])
“You woke up and did something healthy. Then it’s easier to do a second healthy thing…” –Gabrus ([15:16])
“When you clip spinach off, right, you throw it in a bag in a truck for three weeks. By the time you’re eating it has lost 50-60% of nutritional value.” ([18:26])
“You have the psych—the loop is closed with you… putting the seed in the earth and on the tail end putting cooked food into someone’s mouth.” –Gabrus ([21:10])
“When you’re alive, you have a million and one problems. When you get sick, you have one.” ([30:04])
“That is the most creative—you would have never come up with that if I didn’t bring another 100 pounds of tomatoes.” ([39:01])
On the fragility of Michelin stars:
“You can lose it… Not only did we get a star, so we got a star on 22, but then we got last year a green star.” —Jeremy Ford ([03:29])
On the 80% rule in leadership:
“If your team’s meeting the 80% rule… you’re winning. When you fall to 70, that’s when you’ve got to learn how to react to get it back to 80.” —Jeremy Ford ([08:55])
The emotional toll of cancer diagnosis:
“When you’re alive, you have a million and one problems. When you get sick, you have one.” —Jeremy Ford ([30:04])
On the spiritual connection of farm-to-table:
“You’re putting the seed in the earth and on the tail end putting cooked food into someone’s mouth… the loop is closed with you.” —Jon Gabrus ([21:10])
On restaurant philosophy:
“There’s not tablecloths. There’s like Led Zeppelin playing… We kind of break the rules… I never wanted [pretentiousness].” —Jeremy Ford ([52:08])
On learning priorities after health scares:
“…when I do die, the 17,000 unanswered emails, are they really gonna matter anymore?” —Jeremy Ford ([34:14])
The tone of the episode is irreverent, honest, and full of camaraderie. Gabrus and Pally create an atmosphere where Ford is comfortable being vulnerably “grossly forthcoming” about health, setbacks, and the daily chaos of restaurant life. Humor and sincerity alternate seamlessly, especially as Ford shares both hilarious kitchen stories and the sobering reality of a cancer diagnosis. The vibe is open, supportive, and surprisingly uplifting despite heavy topics.
The episode champions the idea that “staying alive,” whether in the kitchen or in life, is about adaptation, forgiveness, and finding meaning in the most direct connections between soil, food, and the people you love. Ford’s resilience, humor, and commitment to authentic living are as nourishing as anything on his menu.