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Walk-In Talk Podcast
Cameras, Kitchens, and What Drives Attention in Restaurants: Chef Nelly Buleje & Leigh Wilson
00:43:28
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A
Your social media feed delivers plenty of advice, but it doesn't know you. It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't give physical exams or order tests doctors do. At the American Medical association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation, with someone who understands the science and your unique health. So stay curious, ask questions. But when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor. Learn more at amahealth versus hype.org that's amahealthvshipe.org
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There's a lot happening in Tampa right now.
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You can feel it.
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B
New spots opening established places, finding new life. Chefs pushing harder, operators trying to break
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C
through the noise, and all of it moving fast.
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B
It's a real market, a hungry market. And if you're paying attention, there's a lot to learn from it. That's part of what makes today's show interesting. From Timpano in Tampa, we have chef Nelly Balehe, a chef with deep hotel roots, serious range, and the kind of background that gives you both craft and perspective. He's worked across kitchens, across concepts, across cultures, and all of that shows up in how he approaches food and hospitality. Today we also have Lee Wilson from Creative Loafing. And today we're kicking off a new segment. What's hot in Tampa Bay? Yeah, you heard it here first. This isn't noise. It's hype. It's a real look at what's getting attention, what's connecting, and what people in the business should be tuned into right now. Because food doesn't live in a vacuum anymore. It lives in the dining room. It lives on camera. It lives in conversation. And when all of that starts lining up, that's when things get interesting. Let's get into it.
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C
Chef, welcome to the program.
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D
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here today.
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C
How's the day today?
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D
It's been awesome. I had a great time. Right?
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C
I mean, it started yesterday. Let me give a little history. We had our pre game handful of days ago, and we spent about an hour on the phone. Got into a lot of conversation. That should have been the podcast Tell you truth. With that said, I decided to come out to the. To the restaurant the other day just to get some B roll. Caught you in action. Super excited about that. Saw one of the dishes you were making today, and I've been craving that dish since then, and here we are. So thanks for coming out. You made two banger dishes. I want to talk about them. What was that dish?
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D
What was dish One dish one that we did today. Was my branzino with a sun kissed tomato pesto and finished off with a little bit of fresh micro basil.
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C
So that's crispy skin, real flavor, and a hell of an eater. So the sun kissed tomato pesto, talk about that. Because that's something a little bit different.
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D
Yeah, so I, I was challenged a little bit ago to use sun dried tomatoes. I haven't, I haven't cooked with sun dried tomatoes in a really long time. Never been really a big fan of them. But somebody gave me a challenge and I said, you know what, let me get at it. It's a really beautiful. It's a really beautiful pesto. It's. It's vibrant. It brings every flavor that you can think of. There's earth tones to it. It's extremely herbaceous. And all of the flavors come together in the entire preparation of the pesto itself. We don't really cook it, but also we end up using the extra virgin olive oil that we brown the almonds in at the end to really bring the flavors together and have them come alive.
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C
And it did, especially with a little bit of that vinegar in there. And it gave it the pop.
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D
Yeah. I mean, you know, dishes all have to be balanced.
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C
Right.
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D
And when you're looking at an ingredient like a sun dried tomato, it's really prominent in what its flavor is. Right. So we put the fresh garlic, the shallots, and it's about 50, 50 sun dried tomatoes, two herbs that go into it, and we have really live herbs.
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C
I have a decent palette. It's not the best palette in the world, but it's all right. You made the dish, goes in the back, gets shot, comes back out. So I took a spoon. It was pretty damn good. And you took a smell of the bowl and you're like, nah, it's missing. It's missing something. And he's the vinegar. And you go, hold on, man. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You put a little bit in. You do your mix. Everything came out of you just to mix. And you're like, now try it. And I took the bite and I was like, you son of a. I was like, you're right on. Yeah, you. That's exactly what it was missing.
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D
Yeah. I mean, you know, the beautiful thing about cooking is that you use all of your senses. Right. And especially your nose. Right. And when we were, when, when it was done, I was looking at it and I. And I was missing a little bit of that, of that hint on the tip of my nose when I, when I put my nose in there to smell it. And I was like, it needs a little bit of that vinegar to set off everything, right? So I double guessed it. You tried it, then you tried it again, and we were correct.
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C
Dish 2.
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D
Dish 2 is our radiatory pasta. I actually serve that at the restaurant in Tampano. Dish one is actually going to be on the menu in a couple of months, so we got a little preview of that. But Dish 2 came out about two to three months ago on my menu update. And it's a radiatory pasta. But what makes this dish really special is the mornay sauce that I use for it. And the Monet sauce is the beginning of a recipe that I actually learned from Giuliano Bugiali. Amazing historic Italian chef. Right? And that was 18 years ago, maybe, I want to say. And I've taken it and I've developed it, and I've made different changes to it. And we serve that with. We've added white truffles to it, right? So it's a white truffle mar sauce, fire roasted mushrooms. I have a beautiful broiler in the restaurant that gets up to 1400 degrees, and. And we put the mushrooms in there, so when they get a little bit of a char on them, they almost. They. They get that little smokiness on them, right? And then we saute the pancetta, and then we add asparagus for that vibrance. So, I mean, the dish just comes alive. It's all about balance. Like. Like. Like I said earlier, right? You need to find a little bit of that in everything.
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C
I've never said a refreshing bite with something that had truffles in it, but for me, it was. It was. You take a bite, and it was just beautiful taste. It had the funk, but it was wet. I don't know how to explain it. It had a brightness to it, and it was super easy to eat. Like, I would eat six pounds of that.
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D
That's awesome.
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C
It's true. I didn't bring Leon yet, but she's. She's shaking her head. Yeah, it's the truth, man. That's a banger dish. 100 banger dish.
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D
Thank you. I appreciate it.
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C
So, but you, you know, you're in restaurants now. You're at Timpano over in Tampa. You guys are Michelin recognized over there, but you don't come from restaurants.
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E
You.
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C
You come from hotels. What's it like making the jump from big hotel to smaller, smaller space restaurant?
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D
It's. It's night and day. I'm going to be 100 honest with you. Everything from the culture, from how your day starts to what you're able to do, you know, in a massive property. When I, before I moved down to Tampa, I was overseeing 11 outlets and 16 kitchens. And I still made it a conscious effort every day to talk to everybody that I worked with to make sure that I built the right culture, the right rapport, and I made everybody want to come in and believe in the mission and believe in what we were doing. Right. The difference was going to a brick and mortar standalone restaurant is I get to share much more of my intimacy and my love for food and for the kitchen and really get to focus on developing the team that wants to be developed. And not only that, but I get to go out and talk to all of my guests on a Friday, Saturday night, I'll hit 80 to 90% of of all the tables in my restaurant
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C
for a reference point audience. He made deep eye contact with me the entire time he said that sentence. It was almost awkward, except it was so beautifully said and honest that I had to just embrace it. I'm just putting it out there. So you were just talking about how when you were right, you know, 11 venues, much larger space, but the truth is, you started when you were 13. What do you understand now about being a chef that you would have never understood in your 20s?
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D
That's a really good question. Right. I think that when you're in your. When I was in my 20s, I was more about conquering the world. How do I push the limits? How do I do this? How do I explode on the scene and how do I do that versus today? It's just much more about sharing my love and my passion for food and bringing people together through the food, being able to do that with the food that touches the tables. You know, I think that's a really big difference. Right. My whole purpose of I've always cooked because I love to cook and because cooking is important to me as an individual because I grew up with it as my culture. Cooking is what brought the family together.
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C
Mexican, Guatemalan, Peruvian, Chicago, hotels, corporate work. All of that is layered into what you just said. That's what brings that out of you.
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D
Yeah, no, 100%. Right. I mean, I've been very fortunate. I've been blessed. Right. I've had the opportunity to work all across the United States. I've been able to travel everywhere. You know, growing up in as a first generation Latino with my parents having housing in their native countries, I've been able to travel as well. It all sums up and gives you A little bit of a different perspective. Right. So all of that brings you together. Right. And I'm fortunate that I. I was able to find what I love to do. Right. And, you know, people make me laugh when they say, love to find what you love to do. And you never work a day in your life. That's not true. When you find what you love to do, you're going to work twice as hard as anybody else, because it's just that natural fire and that passion that comes together and builds throughout the years and throughout the experiences of being able to be everywhere.
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C
It's rare that you find a free ride. It just. You have to put the effort. If you don't put the effort, you might attain something. You might get somewhere. But at the end of the day, I think you really need to take your stripes. You. You need to. And I just said this last week, but it's the truth. You have to drag yourself over the coals. You have to learn. You have to be humble. You have to learn to be humble. And all that stuff happens over time. It's not. That isn't something most people are equipped with. You know, coming out of being a teenager into your 20s and trying to learn something typically doesn't exist. You got to get. You got to make your scars.
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D
Yeah, 100%. And you have to learn how to take them the right way. Right. Everything's a learning opportunity. And that's a beautiful thing about what we do in our industry, is that if you can't learn two things every day that you go into work, you're wasting your time. I always tell my team, that's whether you learn to do something right or learn to do something wrong, you're still learning. Right. So, you know, you got to take those wins and those losses and turn them all into wins, because at the end of the day, that's what they are, and that's what's going to make you great at the end.
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C
Your heritage, where you're from. I just. So I rattled off a bunch of places before. Mexico, Guatemala, Chicago, all these things. All of that is a part of who you are as a human being. You talk a lot about family and how the family and memory all. All of that is tied together. How much of that is part of your culinary drive?
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D
100%. You know, coming from a Latino family. Right. And My mother had 11 brothers and two sisters. When you take a look at that, every celebration was. Was family, but every celebration was centered around food, and everybody shared their love. One aunt brought this, another aunt brought This, a certain uncle was able to make this. And, and, and when you share that and you grew up with that and, you know, every memory is built around that. Right. And I take that with myself. Right. And even now, running an Italian restaurant, I mean, I'm. I'm by birth half Mexican, half Guatemalan. Adopted by Frank Balay. My amazing step, my amazing dad that adopted me when I was younger. Right. And learning, growing up, eating, proving cuisine. I'm in America running a Michelin recommended Italian restaurant. Right. And how does that incorporate into what I'm doing? By making sure that I deliver those same bold, balanced, amazing flavors that I grew up on. I'm not serving pico de gallo in my restaurant, but I gave you a sunkissed tomato pesto today that hit every. Every aspect of a translation of what a pico de gallo was to me. Right. And. And food should take you back. Food should be nostalgic. It should remind you of a moment in a place that you were at, and that's what it is for me. So when you asked me about my family and what it. It's 100% who I am today, and it's what I try to share with everyone.
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E
Support for Walk and Talk Media comes from Metro Food Service Solutions, trusted by kitchens that need storage and workflow that actually does the job.
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C
Learn more@metro.com so you're telling me you're not Italian?
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D
I've got. I've been mistaken a couple times for Hawaiian or Filipino, not Italian.
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C
You know, I can see the Hawaiian. I can absolutely see the Hawaiian. Filipino almost. You're so close to that. But Hawaiian, dead on for Hawaiian. So there I was, I'm at Timpano. I was shooting B roll across the street from the restaurant so I can get some establishing shot. The sign front door and all that. And I see Chef Nelly outside, and he's talking to guests, and I see how he's talking. He's not just standing there, hands in his pocket or something. He's speaking and communicating with his hands. And I noticed it. Chef, you said you love to touch tables, you love to connect with the guests. What is it about that that matters so much to you?
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D
I get to see their appreciation for my craft, for what I've done. Right. So a lot of times when we work in the kitchen and, you know, we don't get that opportunity to go out and talk to the guests, and we don't get an opportunity to see how we impacted someone's day. And I'm going to tell you what we do with food and being able to deliver that. We deliver experiences and you need to look at it like that. So when I go out there and I get the opportunity to on top, talk, to talk to the guests, what did they love? Maybe what they didn't love or I would like to try something different, I'm all about that, Right. You know, it's, I tell everyone, if it's not illegal or immoral, I'll do it right? And if you pay me enough, I might do one or the other. But you know, seeing how happy people are when you're there, it's awesome. It's. That's why you do this, right? That's why you put up with the 12, 14 hour days, 6, 7 days a week in 100 degree kitchen, right? To get to see people smile and enjoy your love language. Food is my love language. So being able to go there and talk to them and see how much they truly appreciate it just drives me to want to be that much better the next day.
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C
Lee Wilson, hello. Welcome back.
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F
Thanks for having me.
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C
You set this up with Nelli today.
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D
Mm.
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C
Good freaking call.
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F
Well, thank you.
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C
Yes. We're doing something pretty exciting. Talk about it.
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F
That's so hot.
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C
I love how you're putting your early 2000s Paris Hilton on.
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F
You can pry my millennial culture from my cold dead fingers.
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C
You know, I told you the Ring Devon Dutch hat. I really did. I told you, I said bring the Von Duncan.
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F
I, I still own it. I, I realize now if I would have held on to the majority of my wardrobe from that time, I could just pop up a tent at Indie Flea and pay for rent in one day.
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C
It totally just came back around again. A hundred percent just came back. My wife is talking all about it.
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F
Yeah, I just bought a skirt that I used to own about 20 years ago for three times the price and I paid it.
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C
So we're doing a new segment. So Lee Wilson, if you don't know, Creative Loafing, she's their marketing and event director. And we're also now starting a new segment on the show called what's Hot in Tampa Bay? I'm really excited about this because I'm pretty tuned in to the food scene in Florida, Central Florida, Tampa, Orlando, whatnot. I found somebody who's more tuned in than me. So basically the cadence is going to be every two weeks, Lee's going to come in and she's going to have a handful of restaurants, eateries, hotels, the whole nine yards. Where to go, what's hot, what to do. And I am here for it. And I think today you even have. You're ready to go today, right?
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B
Oh, totally.
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C
Oh, my God, I love this. All right, let's. Let's real quick jump into that. What did you bring?
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F
I. Okay, so there's three. Three things. Because it's not just about the restaurants or the hotels. It's also we have so many events going on right now, and especially so many events that are always centered around food and drink. We just had ours, our Tequila and tiki takedown, which used to be Margarita war, so look out for that in 2027. But it's about the events too, and the events that we have coming up. The one. This is probably one of my favorite to attend. It's Tampa Bay food and wine, and it is amazing. There's a bunch of different events going on within that. You have to go check out the whole thing to go through all the events. There's different dinners that happen, and then they have a breakfast with heroes, where they honor all of the heroes of Tampa Bay and the police department and fire department, ems. But my two favorites are the Chef showdown, which Nelly is competing in for the second year in a row. Third.
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D
This is my second year.
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F
Okay. Second year in a row. And then the grand tasting. And the grand tasting is it takes over the entire park of Curtis Higson park, and it's an all inclusive ticket for that. And they have so many things going on. You cannot possibly physically eat and drink everything that's in there. I know. I've tried. I failed, but I've tried. It's so good. They have, like, they even had. Last year, they had, like, an espresso martini station. And I think me and my girlfriends just, like, lived there for the. For the majority of the day. Did you say espresso martini? And we come running. So that's something that, like, I'm really looking forward to attending. I love. I love it. Every year I go every year that the Chef showdown is, like, really special because it's a little bit more of an intimate event. But these guys bring their A game to this. They start. They treat it like a WWE SmackDown. There are introductions. There's mariachi bands, there's confetti. If you can get away with it. There's girls holding sparklers. There's signs, like, everything for the. For the introductions. And they have different. Different showdowns too. There's like, battle, barbecue battle, surf and turf battle, pasta battle, truffle.
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C
And there's some real tension amongst the. Amongst these chefs too.
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F
Oh, it is.
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C
I'm not going to talk about any of that. Like I'm not, I'm not going to be the one to, to spill beans like that. I won't do it. But I know because I talk to these cats and I know what I got all the tea. I'm not spilling it. I'm not going to do it.
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F
There's some. You're not going to talking too. It's great. So that one, I'm really, that's coming up next week. Really looking forward to that one. It's in April. Beautiful weather, beautiful day, gorgeous park. The other place that I went to the other day and this was a surprise was the new oyster Bar in St. Pete. So if, if you're an old St. Petersburgian, you knew the Oyster Bar. Oyster Bar used to be on Central Avenue. It was the, the main drag there. Probably one of my earliest memories of coming, of moving to Tampa or Tampa's day beat moving to St. Pete, was going to the Oyster Bar back in like 2007, 2008 or something. And it was, you know, it was like you just your standard run of the mill Oyster bar right there. So they closed down a couple years ago and you kind of hadn't heard anything from them. And then they popped back up in kind of like the grand central district of St. Pete. So it's in a different, a completely different neighborhood now. Oh my God, I love to eat raw oyster. So they did a great presentation of that. We had this like lobster gnocchi. And like gnocchi was like filled with little surprises of cheese too. So it was like pillowy puffs of flavor that just like exploded your mouth with more cheese and then plenty of lobster. Because nothing makes me more mad than like eating like a sliver of lobster. This was like whole hecking chunks of lobster in it. But the dessert, they have a lady chef dessert and I don't know who she is, but I need to meet her. So we, I, I took my daughter, I have a nine year old, she wanted to order the carrot cake and I was like, woohoo. Win. Right? We're getting veggies. They brought out this carrot cake and it was amazing. Carrot cake, but this, the icing on top of it was this molasses cream cheese icing. Dear God, if I did not lick the icing off of this cake myself, it was phenomenal. It was the best carrot cake I've ever had.
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C
That's a big statement. You know carrot cake is a funny thing, right? For people who enjoy the carrot cake. I won't Eat it. I won't eat carrot cake unless it's a certain. Like, it has to be wet. It has to be a wet carrot cake. And for that, I will eat all of it. All just in general, all of it.
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E
Walk and Talk Media is proudly supported by Rack Porcelain usa, creating durable, beautifully designed tableware for chefs and hospitality professionals. Learn more@rack porcelain.com As I understand it,
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C
there's a Chef Jason from Popo.
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F
Yes.
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C
And that's a hot place right now.
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F
Oh, my God, we love it so much. Popo is the place that any one of my girlfriends, like, in the girls group, any one of us have a birthday. That is our birthday spot. It is amazing. Not only are the flavor, it's really, really, really amazing food. The atmosphere is great, but you also like. It's not a full plate of food. Like, he does tapa style portions, which is perfect because we all like. We all share each other's food. We all like. All of us eat, like, this much. It's great. And the bar program, their drink program is beaut. They have some really beautiful cocktails there.
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C
That sounds pretty hot right now.
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F
Oh, it's so hot. Is so hot right now.
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C
Say it. Come on, Hilton.
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F
Popo is so hot right now. That's hot.
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C
That's what I'm talking about.
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F
I'm gonna get a cease to desist
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C
from Paris Hilton or. Here's the thing here. Okay, let's back up for a second. First of all, I'd love to have Chef Jason in house, in studio doing this. I think it'll be pretty dope.
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F
Oh, challenge accepted.
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C
Right. Wait a minute. There's more to this. You got Chef Nelly here. Tampa Bay Food and Wine. I think there's a little competition, right?
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F
Who.
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C
Who are you going up against? Chef Jason.
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D
Yeah, I'm competing up against Chef Jason this year. We're battling. We're doing a battle, surf and turf. So it's pretty exciting. I'm excited.
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C
Is this your first. This is not your first competition?
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D
No, this is. So this is the second year that I've done the Chef battle here in Tampa, but I've been doing competitions forever. I. I was actually Cleveland's Iron Chef two years in a row there. Truth be told, this is the first competition I had ever lost in my career was when I did this, the first one. So this is redemption. So Jason's got to be ready.
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F
These chefs bring their A game to this. This is like WWE Smackdown. They have intros, they have fireworks, sorts of stuff in. In. In this battle. It's Amazing.
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C
At the end of this, there's a lot of action. These chefs, I mean, listen, by and large, everybody likes each other, but there's some serious, like, under the table stuff that nobody knows about. I'm privy to a lot of that. I would never, ever spill the tea. I would never divulge or share any of that. But I can promise you that this is real stuff. When these cats compete, it's real, and they don't want to lose. I think it actually should go into some WWE stuff. I would love to see the chefs pull the coats off and just go at it. I would dig that. I would pay for that. I'm just saying I'm putting it out there. You hear it out there. But who's a. So, judges. Who's judging?
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F
No, one of the judges is Chef Joe Dodd from King of the Coop. And actually who has recently found his new home. We just ran an article about this. Recently found his new home here in Polk County.
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C
I would like to have him on the program too.
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F
Oh, he's amazing.
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C
All right, so all of these things are going to kind of, like, coalesce into this segment. You know, what's hot and, you know, so. And Polk county counts, as far as I'm concerned. I know it's not like Tampa Bay. Right. But it's. It's right there.
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F
I think it's a greater Tampa Bay region. Like, we. We cover a lot of Polk county stuff when we're doing Best of the Bay. You know, we run out. We still cover Polk county stories and. And stuff. So, yeah, it's absolutely part of the greater Tampa Bay region.
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C
All right, well, let's get Joe in the house. So what I think should happen, also, here's what I'm thinking. My mind is spinning right now. We get Chef Jason in here. Right? How do you like how I pronounce that? I'm okay, right?
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D
It's all right. Yeah.
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C
All right.
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D
Not bad for jalapeno. Jalapeno, you know, it's. It's close.
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C
Quest.
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B
Adela.
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C
No.
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D
Yeah, there you go.
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F
Vegetas pico de gallo.
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D
And you know what's the equivalent to it, which is even more funnier that when you go walk into the cooler and you look at prep and you get to read. It's no longer jalapenos, Right. You're now writing marinara. Right? It's. It's the exact same. You get to read when you're walking in the prep. In the coolers.
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C
So what I think would be really terrific here. Let Me bring it back to some awesomeness. I think we could pull off. Lee, let's get Chef Jason in the house. And between you and me, nobody's listening. It's just the audience and stuff. We secretly have Chef Nellie just show up and then there's a real throwdown.
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F
Oh, I volunteer as tribute for that. Absolutely, yes, Immediately.
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C
I mean, you're smiling, Chef.
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D
Any. Anytime there's a competition, I'm in.
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C
Are you down?
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D
Oh, 100%.
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C
You want to do this?
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D
Oh, I would love to do that, Lee.
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F
Oh, yeah, totally.
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C
Okay.
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D
All right.
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F
So that's so hot,
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C
right? I love it.
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D
I'm really a no.
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F
Are we gonna have so much fun with this segment?
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C
That's the show right there. All right, what are the dates for the. What are the dates for? To have a wine of food.
- [26:29]
F
It kicks off next week starting on Wednesday. It goes all the way through on Saturday. Saturdays, a grand tasting. My girlfriends and I always go, it's. It's a blast. It is so much fun.
- [26:40]
B
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- [27:34]
C
Pooch Rivera, who's, you know, his team walk and talk. He's going to be in town and we're going to be there, and I'm going to film. Pooch is going to interview and we're gonna do the roundtable of chefs that are there. And I can promise you, Nellie, we're gonna start some stuff, all right? We're gonna light some matches. I'm putting it out there now.
- [27:58]
D
I'm excited.
- [28:00]
C
And by the way, Pooch is a chef. He's from Louisiana, so he's our Louisiana New Orleans connect.
- [28:09]
D
All right?
- [28:09]
C
So he has his own fire, if you will. Like, he's a special breed of individual and he's going to fit in well with this debaucherous. Group of you people. I'm putting it out there like that. Okay, Lee, I know that you're out there in a big way, right. You're doing everything creative loafing one way or the other. And now we're adding this other layer. What else do you got for to the audience?
- [28:35]
F
Oh, it is going to be so hot in Tampa because they just opened literally yesterday. Quixote. Oh, let me tell you, that place is gorgeous. It's in the old. It's very unassuming. Like, when you walk up to it, you wouldn't. You wouldn't really know because it's in the old speakeasy building at the very, like, end of South Howard over towards, like, the water on the Bayshore side of things. But it is beautiful inside. Even every little detail was thought out with, like, the laying of the tiles and even, like, the bathroom design. Women pay attention to bathrooms and restaurants, but the whole entire restaurant is, like, beautiful and intimate, and it's dark and moody, and it goes so perfectly with the food. The food. It's elevated Mexican cuisine. And they have a lady chef, too.
- [29:33]
C
I almost took offense to what you said. As if us men don't care about the facilities. Okay. Of course we care about. I walk out of places because of the facility.
- [29:46]
F
Okay, well, that's good.
- [29:48]
C
I just want to be real clear about that. All right? Because, I mean, look, walk and talk media. We're not part of the gender wars and all this stuff, right? But at the end of the day, like, we want a clean bathroom, too,
- [29:58]
F
but it's not just about cleanliness. It's also about, like, the design, the decor.
- [30:02]
D
An aesthetically pleasing.
- [30:04]
F
It has to be aesthetically pleasing.
- [30:08]
C
I'm as comfortable in a beautiful, well thought out restroom as I am out in the woods. I'm just saying it's. I'm comfortable either way, but I want it clean. No matter where I go, it has to be clean.
- [30:20]
F
Yeah.
- [30:21]
C
Or I'm out.
- [30:21]
F
I prefer the beautifully designed restroom over the woods. Mm.
- [30:25]
D
I grew up with all sisters, so I definitely prefer the beautiful, beautifully aesthetic bathroom over the woods. I am a no woods guy.
- [30:33]
C
I will tell you from my own experiences in the restaurant industry, this is a nugget of. Of truth for those of you who. Who don't know that the female. The women's restrooms are infinitely. In worse shape than the male. Infinitely. And what I mean by that is it's a disaster zone in most of these female, you know, potties. I'm just saying.
- [31:01]
F
Well, we do more. And maybe you Know, like, we. We do. We have more to. There's hair and then makeup and then, you know, and. And whole discussions, entire friendships develop in. In. In restrooms with. With. With women. Um, breakups happen in restrooms. Like, the girl group gets together. The girl group convenes. The council convenes in restrooms. And you might have just met the council that night too, but there is a council convening in restaurant women's restrooms that will make decisions that will affect the rest of your life.
- [31:35]
E
This session of Walk and Talk media is made possible by Citrus America, delivering fresh Florida citrus and juice solutions to food service professionals nationwide. Learn more@critrusamerica.com Most fellas, they.
- [31:50]
C
They can't go if another person walks up next to them in the stall next to them. Okay. Get right back up. Can't go. Right. There is none of this herd mentality, communication sort of role. Doesn't happen. Doesn't exist.
- [32:05]
F
No. We're multitaskers.
- [32:06]
C
Wow.
- [32:07]
F
Yeah. We got stuff to do. We're very busy women, and we are very efficient.
- [32:10]
C
Okay. All right. So basically what you're saying is it has to be, you know, designed, beautiful aesthetic. I dare I say, like, somebody needs to go in there and make sure it's capped up every, like, hour.
- [32:22]
F
Okay.
- [32:23]
C
I'm just putting it out so I
- [32:24]
F
can do an entire series on. On ladies rooms in restaurant.
- [32:27]
C
I think we should explore that.
- [32:29]
F
Oh, I'm down.
- [32:31]
D
That's so not hot.
- [32:34]
C
Back when the Internet was new. No, back, you know, maybe 20 years ago, I wanted to have a website dedicated to people who. Who didn't wash their hands. I wanted to do that. And I mean, like, literally, photos, images, call them out, put them out on blast. I believe in. I believe in that. The only good thing that came out of COVID was, like, people started washing their hands. Like, that was like, that was the
- [33:05]
B
thing for a short while. Yeah.
- [33:07]
D
Not anymore. I am done shaking hands.
- [33:10]
C
Oh, it's. Yeah, it's bombs all, like.
- [33:12]
D
And you might be lucky if, you know, if I know you. We're cool, but it is gross.
- [33:18]
C
Tim Pano, Michelin recommended. 2025, 2026. How are you guys gearing up for that?
- [33:32]
D
You know, we're. We're looking. We're sticking true to who we are. Right. We make everything in house from scratch. Right. We're really looking at a way to gear up our brunches and our lunches by being innovative and continuing to educate the palette. Here in Tampa, you and I had conversation about where the culinary scene is and where it's heading and where it's come from. And Tampa is one of those cities where it's been about five, seven years that it's really started to take off when you take a look at it, right. So there's still a lot of educating and gaining trust in the guests and the locals that are from Tampa. Right. And you know, when you say, what is it that we're doing? How are we gearing up? I think when you look at my radiatori dish today, you know, we had the conversation. The original rattiatori dish was phenomenal. It was this super high end miso roasted mushroom, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Delicious, right? Bottom seller. I'm an Italian restaurant. It doesn't matter. I had zero white sauces on my, on any of my pastas. And I challenged myself, how am I going to make a dish that is equally, if not better than all of the other dishes on my menu? And we did it today and I put it out and I put it out here for you guys to taste, right? And it's now our number two or number three, best selling pasta dish on the menu. So when we're looking at food in that facet, right. I'm looking at food in that way. Right? And we're going to really continue to cure up our food and beverage programming while we're there, but still doing it in a way that's comfortable and recognizable for the guest.
- [35:12]
C
And you have to bring it to the masses. And that means it has to be shot, it has to be seen, there needs to be video, there needs to be. People need to talk about it. And the truth is, like, you know, Michelin does a lot of great things and they bring attention to restaurants, they bring attention to chefs, and it's a beautiful thing. Did you see the photography that came out of the camera today with this guy John?
- [35:38]
D
It was amazing. It really was. To be able to see how the two we were able to capture what was put out on the plate today was phenomenal. And that's the beauty about today's technology. That's the beauty about being able to have a camera on a number of different devices, right? But the amazing job that you guys today to show that off was phenomenal. I mean, those dishes look beautiful, in my opinion.
- [36:08]
C
It's not going anywhere. It's not going to stop. It isn't something where you're like, oh, I guess I'm not going to take pictures of my food. It's just the way it is. It's kind of embedded into the psyche now it's societal. So with that said, you get dudes like John and, you know, there's people out there doing phenomenal work. Yeah, we do video too, and all that stuff. But there's something about a still image that's captured in the moment with the right light, with the right shade. Shade, no, shadow. That's what. With the right shadow that makes that dish live forever. It literally lives forever and it travels and that dish goes all over the place. You know what, Even somebody with their iPhone at a, you know, at the dinner table, and all of a sudden it ends up on Yelp or what's the other big one right now? OpenTable, where it winds up on Yelp or OpenTable or whatever. That's you. That's you on the Internet forever. How are chefs dealing with that?
- [37:17]
D
You know, I think there's. It varies on generations, right? You know, like I said earlier, I'm the last of the classically trained, old school chef generation. Right. And I'm 41. All right? I'm not. I'm not 55. 60, 65. Right. But, you know, 41. Right. So I got the last of that. Right. So, you know, before, it was a much more hidden. It was a much more hidden profession. Right. Recipes weren't shared. You weren't writing them down. You know, and with the way technology is evolving, support for Walk and Talk
- [37:55]
E
media comes from Crab Island Seafood Dip creating chef driven crab dips made with real seafood and bold flavor. Learn more@crabislandseafooddip.com
- [38:07]
D
so. So when you look at it, regardless of the generation that you are, there's so much competition popping up on a daily basis. I mean, I can't tell you. I think I have three Italian restaurants popping up over the next two months within a mile radius of where I'm at. So to be able to have our food shared via the web or whatever social media platform that may be, it really gives us an edge. It gives us an opportunity. I get to show you at home, in your living room, at the park, in the girls restroom, with all your girlfriends having a meeting as to where you're gonna hang out next Friday. You get to look and be like, oh, my God, we're going to Chef Nelly. We're going to Tampano, and we're going to have Chef Nelly's radiat. Or we're going to Tampano and we're going to do the parm wheel. I get to invite you into my restaurant, into my kitchen. I get to invite you into my mind without Having to have you yet sit at my table.
- [39:02]
C
I think Timpano has legs. It always has. And I told you a story. I'm not going to get into it, but I told you a story 20 years ago from Timpano down in Fort Lauderdale. It's always been a great concept, even through its changes, it's special. It needs to be brought to the. To the highest pinnacle, right? What gets people in the door at your restaurant?
- [39:29]
D
You know, outside of the basic answer, consistency, right? It's, you know, that's a huge one. Consistency is massive. But outside of consistency, it's staying relevant, right? It's continuing to push those boundaries. It's being able to get word of mouth of the amazing experience, right? It's being able to. I have guests that come in because I take pictures with other guests that are sitting at my table and they go, my God, I hung out with the chef tonight. Or he came to my table and they get to share that and they get to come and they want to come in and look for me because they know that that's an experience they're going to get at my restaurant, right? So, you know, it's. It's making sure that the flavors are there that, you know, that we're looking at not only trends, but lifestyle changes in how people eat and making sure that we're adapting to that as well.
- [40:15]
C
Do you know, it's funny, I walk into any restaurant and if I have a camera rig, you know, gimbal and the thing, everybody looks at it, Everyone side eye, you know, like, what's he going to do? What's up with the camera, right? What's happening today in food is really groundbreaking. I mean, if you go back to the, you know, 90s 80s, nobody wanted to share information at all. Like, you know, everything was a whisper. Now everything in your life is just everywhere, and you can't escape it. When they're in the bathroom, when that gaggle of women is in the bathroom doing the things that they're doing, you know, they're all taking the pictures in the freaking window in the bathroom. I don't know where we are in the world today. Like, I, like, I recognize it now because we've been in it and. And I guess I embrace it. We have a media company, right? We work with microphones and cameras and lights, all that. Chef. How much of a restaurant success today is about the product itself? And how much of it really is about being seen and talked about?
- [41:33]
D
That's a great question, right? And I think that they. That they both come hand in hand with one another. Right. You know, it's. If the product is amazing, the people who enjoyed that amazing experience are going to want to share that. I can't break it down by a percentage, but it's extremely, extremely important to be able to have them both balanced out.
- [41:58]
C
Well, it has to be importantly.
- [42:00]
F
Absolutely. One does not exist without the other. They are 100% mutually exclusive.
- [42:05]
C
And that's why. That's why I brought up. When people see me with the camera, they want to know, where's this going? Where am I going to find this? Why am I on like that is. That's the nature of it. All right, look, today was really awesome. Chef. You can throw. Throw down, my man. Do this. How do people find you?
- [42:24]
D
They can find me on Instagram @my. @chef. Underscore. Nellie B.
- [42:32]
C
What about.
- [42:33]
D
And what's Tempanos Timpanos is at Tympano Hyde park and Instagram.
- [42:38]
C
Ms. Hilton, I mean, Lee.
- [42:41]
F
How are people finding you on Instagram? And now Tick Tock. We just celebrated 10,000 followers on Tik Tok. You can find us at CL Tampa Bay on Instagram, Tik Tok, the Facebooks, the YouTubes, anywhere.
- [42:55]
C
Oh, my God, I love it. 10,000. Congratulations.
- [42:57]
F
Yeah, thank you.
- [42:58]
C
It's a big deal. That's a big deal. All right, listen, I'm looking forward to our next segment. We got a lot of more stuff coming up. We're going to do food and wine. You're going to be on again soon. John, you're awesome. Oh, yeah. We are out.
- [43:13]
D
Sam,
- [43:58]
G
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