Nature's Bounty: Chef, Wild Farmer & James Beard Nominee Phil Manganaro

We wander into the woods with Chef Phil Manganaro, the mastermind behind Marlton, New Jersey's Park Place Cafe and Restaurant. Phil unveils the restaurant's innovative approach, specializing in culinary creations crafted from foraged wild ingredients, a refreshing departure from conventional cooking methods. Delving into his culinary journey, Phil shares his upbringing in South Jersey, his culinary education in New York City, and his triumphant return to New Jersey to establish his dream eatery in Merchantville. Despite encountering hurdles like financial constraints and the lack of investors, Phil remains steadfast in his commitment to his vision, staunchly advocating for locally sourced, wild ingredients that fuel his creative process. Remarkably, Phil's unwavering dedication has garnered prestigious recognition, including a surprising James Beard nomination, a testament to his culinary prowess. Set amidst the serene woods of Marlton, New Jersey, this interview captivates listeners with Phil's infectious passion for his craft and his unwavering belief in the culinary potential of the Garden State.

In a fascinating segment of "Greetings from the Garden State," host Mike Ham is joined by Phil Manganaro, the visionary behind Park Place Cafe and Restaurant in Marlton, New Jersey, for an insightful exploration of outdoor experiences and wild farming. Phil's deep-rooted connection to nature, cultivated during his childhood adventures in the local woods, shines through as he shares his profound love for the outdoors and its influence on his culinary endeavors. Drawing on his expertise in foraging, Phil sheds light on native plants like Green Brier, advocating for sustainable harvesting practices rooted in respect for nature's bounty. As the conversation unfolds, Phil offers tantalizing glimpses into his upcoming documentary, "The King of Matsutake Ridge," which chronicles his journey as a chef and forager. Reflecting on the film's warm reception and its authentic portrayal of his life and values, Phil underscores the virtues of patience and humility in the pursuit of one's passions. Through his words, listeners gain valuable insight into Phil's ethos of sustainable living and his profound reverence for the natural world. As the episode draws to a close, listeners are encouraged to visit Park Place Cafe and Restaurant's website for reservations and updates on the documentary's eagerly awaited release.

https://www.parkplacecafeandrestaurant.com/
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Transcript

0:21

all right what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of greetings from the Garden State I'm your host Mike cam we are here in Marlton New Jersey

0:27

Marton New Jersey right uh we're here with Phil G Aro hello uh he is the chef and owner at Parkplace Cafe uh so we're

0:35

super excited we're doing this one way different than we normally do uh and there's a reason for that we'll kind of

0:40

get into it you know while we while we go along and and all that kind of stuff like why we're in the woods you know uh

0:47

so I think I said uh powered by the New Jersey Lottery if I didn't shout out the lottery so Phil talk to us about where

0:54

we are and uh why this place is significant for you personally uh we are

0:59

at a place called called Camp creek creek run in Marlton New Jersey uh my friend kir owns it it's a

1:05

nonprofit um geared to get children back outside into nature um she was kind

1:11

enough to let us come here today and uh walk the grounds uh we're here today because uh the restaurant that I i' I've

1:18

run and own is primarily based on uh foraging wild ingredients that's cool In

1:24

the Garden State yeah and so uh Parkplace Cafe is in what town it's from

1:30

uh the restaurant's in Merchantville New Jersey which is right across the bridge from Philadelphia around Cherry Hill New

1:35

Jersey and I I know you work back there by yourself uh and you're only open like

1:41

certain days of the week too right I'm open Thursday Friday and Saturdays because uh we can get into it more if

1:48

you'd like but still be a parent um which is very important to me and being a chef and being in a restaurant

1:54

industry if anybody's done it they know it's it's not easy it's holidays it's

2:00

so I I took a chance and I open Park Place and it all worked out and then I said to myself I only want to serve wild

2:06

ingredients that I find myself and I took a chance on that and so far that's all worked out sure so I kind of just

2:12

keep pushing it yeah no that's awesome well let's let's start walking a little bit and uh you know I'll we'll kind of

2:17

go talk as we talk as we walk um and you're all like ready to rock and roll

2:23

like you got the camo on I tried to like I wore boots I wore this Green Jacket

2:28

you know so I tried to like fit the vibe myself yeah this I got up in Maine my son and I go up to Maine every year and

2:36

uh I I'm not I don't have time to hunt or anything but I do hunt mushrooms I do

2:41

hunt vegetables um but for me it's more about cheap clothing more than anything

2:48

because there's certain days I come home covered in mud um from head to toil and

2:54

doesn't matter to me most times if it's raining it doesn't matter if it's snowing if it's 100° outside side if

3:00

it's humid if it's any any weather I have to go out in so yeah whatever it's

3:06

just going to be I could throw it away and have no problem with that yeah no no issues um so you know like obviously we

3:14

were kind of talking in the car ride over here about you being a chef and how

3:20

like when being a chef people want to obviously talk to you about that um but

3:25

I do want to learn like a little bit about your background a little bit and kind of how you got into food and

3:30

cooking and all that kind of stuff so let's kind of take it back are you a jersey guy I was born and born and

3:36

raised in in South Jersey down here in Medford and then I lived in Marlton

3:41

where we are now uh moved out to Los Angeles for a little while okay went to

3:47

culinary school in New York City and now I've been back down here for quite a while so yeah I I love all of New Jersey

3:56

sure um I love South Jersey and that's why is really interested in doing this

4:01

because it's like there are so many cool things going on in New Jersey and the

4:07

environment is one of them and the different soil types we have we have the pine baronss we have where we are now

4:14

which is on the edge of the pine Barons we have the mountains up north we have the coast we have an hour from here by

4:22

like Princeton we have clay soil there's so many different ecosystems in the state and I think it's special because

4:30

you have different plants growing in all those different ecosystems so it really

4:35

benefits My Lifestyle yeah and talk to me about talk to me about a little bit about that too because like you know

4:42

this is not really like a normal uh like when people go to restaurants it's not something that you

4:48

see every day on menus and all that kind of stuff so talk to me a little bit about like how you got interested and

4:55

involved in this wild ingredient type of cooking and and going out and picking this stuff

5:01

yourself um I got bored as a chef ordering a bag of lettuce and serving it

5:10

so to speak yeah so then I found these companies that sell wild food okay those

5:16

that you can buy it it's very expensive because it's the the abundance isn't out there and the desire isn't out there so

5:22

you're paying a lot for it so then in studying foraging and what grows here I I was

5:30

finding it here yeah and I said well why am I going to go spend $30 an hour $30 a

5:36

pound to buy this when I can go get it 5 minutes from my house yeah and it almost

5:43

became um like an addiction to me like the ultimate Challenge the ultimate you

5:49

know hide and seek the ultimate ingredient because when you

5:54

take something even if you take an ingredient that's a wild ingredient that you bought and it was was picked in

6:00

Seattle yeah it got picked it got shipped it sat it could sit a day or two

6:05

here everything I do like I talked to you earlier I was picking wild mustard yeah I just picked

6:12

it if I wasn't doing this today I'd already be yeah um but I'll go to the restaurant later and I'll preserve it

6:19

okay for the rest of the year so it's the smells the flavors the textures that

6:25

I'm getting to use as a chef by doing this is can't I can't even buy it and

6:32

that's that what that's what became addicting to me sure and the fact that I get to be outside like a lot and when I

6:39

say it's free it's not free because it's my time it's my energy it's my effort

6:44

and it's it's anything but free but yeah that's that's pretty much what happened yeah was there anyone maybe like and I

6:51

don't know if this is true or or you know is a thing or not but like anybody in particular that's that's also doing

6:57

stuff like this that maybe you kind of uh almost um kind of like took some ideas

7:04

from or anything like that or was just kind of just something like a self- start type of deal that you're just like this is what I want to do and here we go

7:12

I've never worked for anybody that did it I didn't even work for anybody that served wild

7:17

ingredients um if there is one thing that I'd seen on it yeah in my life it

7:24

was an old collection of videos um from Europe called The Art of

7:30

Cuisine okay and there was a guy in

7:35

France um Chef U Michelle Bross who would go out and and take things

7:44

yeah and and use things um

7:50

but for me I don't like if I were to pick something right now like just don't

7:56

talk for a minute yeah

8:02

that wasn't there the the subtle sound of the forest yeah a month ago and as a

8:09

person we go through wintertime and I I don't get bored but

8:15

it's like you look at a plant and it comes up in the spring it it needs that winter to to get the energy to come up

8:23

in the spring and I think a lot of times we look at winter as like this Dead period M and it it it's almost tied the

8:30

seasons for me together because it's like what is winter for like sure and that's what it's for it's for reflection

8:36

so now now the the forest is alive again things are getting ready to pop out and it's like it almost I'm digging in the

8:43

ground I'm digging in the soil I'm smelling things it's almost like that's what it does to me every

8:49

year yeah it it gets in me and like I'm every year I'm re like reborn reborn

8:56

yeah I am and it's reborn in the art Reborn the crafter born in the dedication I it's from right now until

9:05

uh matui mushrooms and end of October ear November I'm it's

9:11

every day yeah it's days I I'm not going to lie I I don't want to go every day I

9:17

don't like going every day I'm not like I'm reborn every day Phoenix yeah at the

9:23

overall the reality you have to come to terms with is you are yeah and just like

9:29

that winter those days where you don't want to do it or or my ankle hurts or I'd

9:35

rather go hang out with a friend and I I don't because I'm I'm dedicated to this right now that's all part of it and it

9:42

it requires that dedication anything in life does you know it's not just this it's anything that you want to get that

9:49

kind of push back from you have to to dedicate like that so yeah um and so we

9:57

were talking also you were talking Also earlier about about the fact that like um you know Jersey and you know I feel

10:04

like a lot of people sleep on the fact that Jersey has so many you know it's the Garden State for a reason you know

10:11

and it has so many like different climates different plants different soils and like all that kind of stuff so

10:16

can you talk to me a little bit about how you know you said uh for the last few years you've been doing it this way

10:21

and how this uh like going through Jersey and kind of understanding the

10:26

different like where everything's going to be growing you know and like knowing when to go pick it when to give it a

10:32

minute you know when to know that that rebirth is going to happen so you can kind of go and work with those uh plants

10:38

and different things I I I keep track of it all okay uh in an old school Excel spreadsheet I keep track of everything I

10:45

make how much I make um how much I go through every

10:52

year um and then also I mean what I get by doing that is it follows the same

10:59

list every year you'll go pick a and then you'll see B and C or next yeah and then I I don't consider it foraging as

11:07

much anymore okay um because I'm not out there looking for things so much I mean

11:13

the pine mushrooms and Matsu Takis I am cuz it's fun yeah uh morals it's fun um

11:19

to go forage them yeah other than that I I look at it almost like wild farming um

11:26

I know where I have enough trees I can go check on them any point of the year I

11:31

can see where they're at and I pretty much know I'm like all right next week what you're doing next week um but when

11:38

I first started yeah I didn't know where the trees I didn't know where anything was and also I guess like early on too like not really having not you don't

11:45

have any control because you kind of you know have a little bit of control of like what you actually pick but it's not

11:51

like you're planting the seeds yourself kind of going through Harvest and knowing what that schedule is it's like you're kind of at the mercy of Mother

11:57

Nature so to speak like we just happened to get like a 70° day in the middle of March you know which doesn't happen

12:04

often but then kind of knowing you know that's going to influence the dishes for that week the next month you know if

12:10

you're freezing and preserving stuff you know the the whole year yeah some could have a bad year I could be really into

12:15

cooking with um a berry and I'm like oh yeah I'm love this Berry and then it comes very that Beres time and we maybe

12:24

we got a bad storm when it was in flower maybe something wasn't right and now I only got a handful of them berries well

12:31

that that's going to dictate what I cook sure um it's going to take away from other ingredients now I got to get more

12:37

of something else um and as you can look at it two ways like I look at it as the

12:44

art and that can either really challenge you and accelerate the art or it can

12:50

also limit the art because I am Limited in a sense because I'm only

12:56

using what I pick and what I can pick and have time to pick and what grows so

13:02

I am Limited in what I use and that was a lot of it for me because as a person

13:08

you have to be okay with that and it's it's hard it was hard at first for me to be okay with that you know or to view it

13:15

as an art it was something I had to really work on myself which is all part

13:22

of why I did it I mean it's been the greatest personal challenge that I could have ever

13:29

ever given myself and it still is every day yeah and personal challenge because I think we should address the fact that

13:37

like you pick everything yourself and in the kitchen you cook everything yourself which also is a personal decision as

13:44

well yes um so talk to me a little bit about that specifically and like you

13:49

making that decision and why and then kind of how you know that influences

13:55

your kind of connection to everything that kind of gets onto a plate at your restaurant I I did it to see how much I

14:04

could do with two hands my two hands and a certain period of my life where I

14:12

wasn't um professionally in a position to take the risk before and I wasn't

14:17

personally mature enough to take the risk before and I think those two things came together at the same time and it's

14:24

almost like when those things happen in your head and your heart and your soul and you don't do it yeah you start

14:31

feeling like a fraud so to speak because you're like I could go do this I want to

14:36

go do this I feel like this is what I should be doing but I'm not doing it yeah um so I think all of that that

14:43

happened um at the same time for me and that's that's when I set out to do it yeah that's really interesting and and I

14:50

to me like I have a a chef friend uh who's also a James Beard nominee that he's like changing the way like the

14:56

front of house and back of house system and like that whole process I talking to people that just like aren't necessarily

15:03

like in this is how this is how it's done this is just how we do it you know and kind of like looking at it in a totally different way and changing

15:11

things you know and I think that that's a really interesting thing because it's it goes well beyond just food you know

15:18

you could have a great plate of food but then also you know like you know kind of what went into that and in this case

15:24

it's actually like walking through the woods and finding the stuff and getting it to your restaurant know doing all the stuff to it and then getting it to

15:30

somebody's plate eventually yeah and for me to finish on your other question I think or going a tangent one or the

15:37

other we're tting um for me it's like you were saying like I could pick something today and I'm going to

15:43

remember that it was a warm spring day I'm going to remember that the Birch just came back and uh I'm going to

15:49

remember all these things and then I'm going to make something into that and it's going to be preserved and I'm not

15:55

going to serve it until November right I'm going to serve something today I'm going to hold some back I'll do a little

16:00

in July and then some in November but then in November after how many months of my personal life has gone through how

16:07

many how many things and emotions and thoughts and feelings I've gone through in that time I can take that out and I

16:14

know I I know it was that 70° day I know I had a great morning I know all those

16:21

things and that's the that's what's on my plate for me that's what I'm cooking

16:27

with I'm cooking with memories of my life because getting this stuff is my life

16:33

you know it's it's 100% of it and it's on a plate now and it's like giving it to people yeah um so yeah no I love that

16:41

we can keep going yeah I know yeah yeah I love you know get just getting we were having a nature moment yeah we were

16:47

really having a nature moment there's nothing wrong with that no and I love like usually if I go into the woods like

16:54

I'm staying on the paths that have the trail markers and everything but I love that we're just like we're just going

17:00

just going you know yeah um so you know kind of as we're going through this and and people are learning more about you

17:07

know you and the restaurant and kind of how it works um you know like talk to me

17:12

also about so the restaurant's been open for I think you said uh what was it three and a half years no I'm going on

17:18

eight years now years eight years I've been doing the thing where I just forage everything except the proteins because

17:25

that's a whole another yeah that's a whole other thing risk factor and all um so I obviously buy my

17:31

proteins um but yeah the restaurant itself's going on eight years okay and so

17:37

uh talk to me a little bit about you know like starting the restaurant uh getting it off the ground and kind of

17:43

putting your own stamp on the Jersey culinary world and then we'll kind of

17:49

get into like maybe some of the accolades which I know is not always

17:54

why you do it but it is nice to at least address it you know uh I worked for high

17:59

volume restaurants the majority of my career yeah uh for in Philadelphia and

18:05

then even down in the Borgata um an AC guy yeah for nine

18:11

months um that was it that was it yeah um and I went to get an executive POS

18:19

Chef position in Philadelphia and I pretty much had

18:25

the job but as I mentioned earlier being a being a parent being a father is it's

18:30

something that I it doesn't matter you can't replace that time yeah with money

18:37

sure in my belief so when I brought up this to the

18:42

company that was going to hire me it pretty much shut down the interview I was like yeah all right good luck with

18:48

that buddy I was like all right so I left what are you kidding me I said if I want to do this with my life I said I'm

18:56

I'm pretty much unemployable as I've known employment in the past yeah I went on

19:03

Craigslist um where I'm at now popped up I I grew up around here I was like where

19:10

is Merchantville yeah right so I go and I see it and I'm like all right and I

19:16

opened the place um out of pocket with you know the money I had left and I just

19:22

never looked back yeah I'm very grateful for it I'm I have such a loyal following

19:28

of of regulars that have been coming some of them for S years um which is incredible and the place has changed I

19:35

mean it's not like You' I've said it how it's changed over the years you they've been there the whole time the new people

19:41

that come um you know they support it yeah um but one thing that's been

19:47

important for me is I don't try to please everyone I'm pleasing myself yeah in what I want to

19:56

create and what I want to do and if it ever gets to a point where my restaurant's empty because of that then

20:02

that's okay yeah it's it's fine um because I think a lot of times we get caught up in trying to please everyone

20:09

right and everything and I think in doing that what I've been able to do is make something very special of an

20:17

offering to people and a very unique offering to people yeah and I

20:22

think that might be why you were saying I have gotten a fair amount of accolades

20:27

for it talk to me a little bit about those and like kind of what what are some that stand out for you personally

20:34

you know because like we said before I understand what you're talking about when it comes to like you know doing

20:39

this for you and like putting your own two hands type of thing uh but maybe like what are some accolades that were

20:47

like wow like I took that risk and now look at here we are I was surprised um

20:54

I'm not surprised by it I I I don't do it for that I'm I pride myself in being

21:01

humble right I I pride myself in taking day by day um I do believe if what I was doing

21:09

I was in Europe or if I was in New York City I I would have more accurates sure

21:15

but you know I think we all and it's a New Jersey podcast I think all of us from New Jersey

21:22

sometimes are like it almost has this stereotype of like New Jersey it's like

21:28

it's New Jersey man this is a beautiful state has beautiful people has beautiful areas has has beautiful cultures

21:36

and that's why I love I love talking about New Jersey it's my home yeah it's

21:42

it's my my home it's where I was born it's where I raised my son it's it's

21:47

where I have my business and if I can put word out that I'm doing this in New

21:53

Jersey you can do something in New Jersey you're doing something in New Jersey if all of us that are doing

21:58

something in New Jersey and that's kind of what you're doing is you're collecting us and you're bringing it out

22:03

and I think it's it's great and it's positive for for everyone so yeah well I mean there's just been I mean just from

22:10

my travels you know and I'm sure for you too like knowing what's here and like

22:15

what people kind of automatically think of when they think of New Jersey and not

22:21

knowing necessarily that there's like you know I mean like you're a James Beard nominee right that is what I was

22:27

going to say was there's other ones here and there's like so many especially the food scene is crazy you know in New

22:33

Jersey like that's that's in it's and people are like oh no you got to go into the city to get a good meal or go into

22:39

Philly or whatever it is you know what I mean that is the one that surpris surprised me the most Accolade wise

22:45

though because I don't know how they necessarily found the place or or

22:51

anything like that so that that is the one because like I said I do everything out of pocket um I do everything at at

23:00

my cost at my risk I have no investors so to get that yeah and living that

23:05

lifestyle is is great because sometimes it's hard like it it's hard when

23:11

everything you're running a business and a personal life and everything and it's small it's very small right it's it gets

23:19

hard some days having nobody else having no no there's no there's no investor I

23:24

go to where I'm like hey man I got a my I need new tires like on my truck so it's it's stressful

23:32

in its own way but I love working for myself and I love not having any of that

23:38

so yeah all right so I think what we're going to do just because I was looking

23:44

at the time mhm is this is where we usually like take a break okay but we're going to take a break and uh just reset

23:51

the cameras this is usually where I put ads so okay we're in the middle of the woods in Marlton New Jersey with Chef

23:57

Phil mang I'm Mike ham this is the green g podcast Power by the New Jersey Lottery we'll be right

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all right we're back for Segment two of this episode of greetings from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey

25:18

Lottery I'm Mike ham we're here in Marlton New Jersey we're doing a little bit different kind of episode today uh

25:24

we're with Phil manganaro from Parkplace Cafe uh and worked in the woods can you

25:30

remind us where we are again uh wton New Jersey cam Creek run cam Creek run and

25:35

so uh this is a place that you come out to to Wild Farm right yes I do sometimes

25:42

yes it's also a place that my I met the director KIRO G andina here because my son was attending her nature programs

25:48

okay and it was right away I was like yeah he's got to go here yeah you know

25:54

this is we're going yeah you know um and so I know we want to talk about like a couple different things in this in this

26:00

last segment here but um one of the things that I was curious about and

26:06

obviously we can't really do it so much right now because there's not a lot blooming right now or growing um but uh

26:14

like when you're out here did you do you have like a uh outdoor childhood like where you always Outdoors like that kind

26:20

of thing um Talk me like how you kind of got just comfortable being out here and

26:26

like knowing what to look for and and all that kind offf I grew up around here before it was you know really built up

26:32

um and we used to just ride our bikes in the woods for 12 hours in the summer you know right you know and just be kids um

26:41

I don't necessar I love being outdoors and I love nature and I love love it all

26:47

I don't sometimes I don't love it though um because a lot of what I do has become

26:56

such work yeah and but that's I always remind myself of how

27:01

lucky I am and blessed I am that my work is kneeling here and picking something or kneeling there and listening to a

27:07

bird or feeling the temperatures um definitely you can ask anyone I don't

27:13

not like bugs I don't think anyone really likes of bug I will

27:19

scream um so comfortable I I just it's just

27:27

what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing right now it's I don't think when you reach a point with something in your

27:34

life you just the best thing is to not question it like if I'm supposed to be

27:39

having this faith in what I'm doing yeah you can't question that then you do it you you see it through and you go with

27:46

it you know and anybody that does anything they're going to they're going to have days where they're like uhuh you

27:53

know like not today that's a test of why are we doing what we're doing you know

27:58

like especially too when you're doing something like I do this on my own you know you do this on your own I think

28:03

like that could just be like uh in some days like wow like this is incredible

28:09

and then other days like wow this sucks you know that kind of thing um so like

28:15

while we're out here and we're kind of like looking at stuff like do you know I mean you know now but know like what to

28:22

look for when we're out here this is one of my favorite things that's probably like a month away it's called Green

28:27

Brier okay um you see how it's real thorny yeah and it's funny you asked me earlier like we used to say every word

28:35

available to mankind to curse these riding our bikes through the woods because they will shred you to pieces

28:42

yeah I didn't know back then you know I wasn't I was not raised with any of this I was not culinarily trained with any of

28:49

this any of it so but and about a month they they shoot out a tip almost like

28:54

asparagus and they'll have they'll have the th on this new tip but the Thorn's edible

29:01

because it's soft because these what Greener does is it tries to find another one or it tries to get over to that tree

29:09

and wrap around and grow up it's always trying to grow up you know and you just snap them off like

29:16

asparagus almost and then it it grows another one and then eventually the

29:22

plant tells itself it's time to get hard for the year and then that's when the

29:27

season ends um but yeah this is one of my by far favorite um things I

29:34

mean this is native to here there's a lot of there's native and invasive and all this stuff this is native to here

29:41

sure um so that makes it for me it's even more special um to use um but it's

29:48

important to use the invasive stuff too because that the mustard that I'm

29:53

picking right now if that came here doesn't belong here right um and it would take over because most of

30:00

the invasives reproduce at such a rate that they will drown out the native species that's one thing Kira does here

30:06

is she keeps it native okay um she does work to keep it native um Acres which is

30:13

yeah you're looking at you know a pretty majority of what this ecosystem here is

30:19

supposed to look like yeah that's really interesting and it's just so funny that we also just stopped at a place that has

30:25

something that you can talk about like how send oh yeah yeah um I mean I use I

30:32

use pine pine trees I mean you know there's so many I was going to say other

30:37

things I mean pine trees would be one I mean the next time I'm on sure yeah yeah there's so many there's medicinal

30:43

qualities to all these things I mean pine needles are so high in vitamin C that you can use it in the winter time

30:49

I'll cook with pine we have white pine here and Pitch Pine here yeah um I always refer to one as being more

30:55

feminine the White Pine and the other one more masculine and flavor um I use that it's a wine descriptor also that

31:02

people use about wine which I've learned a fair amount at the restaurant about

31:07

and I'll cook with that chard I'll steep it in things um I'll burn the pine needles to make an ash that I use yeah

31:15

um one of my you know the the matsutake mushrooms I get at the end of the Fall

31:20

are like my they love going for these things it's like 70 m a walking in like a couple weeks and it's out in the

31:26

middle of nowhere extreme South Jersey maybe could be North Jersey um yeah you know and I do that

31:35

with venison and then the pines and it's like it's almost like you can start you

31:40

know cuz the deer eat these mushrooms and they grow in the pines and it's almost like when you use these

31:46

ingredients and you start experimenting with them you can almost cook that that's a situation in nature

31:54

that's now a dish sure um you can I can buy

31:59

a a ramp from a purveyor yeah I can't buy a late season ramp with a bulb the

32:06

size of a of a quarter right I can go get that though yeah um

32:12

so yeah there like I mean pine needles wouldn't be something that like I necessarily would think of um but there

32:18

are other things that like people listening to this be like oh my God like I see that all the time or like I didn't

32:25

even know that I mean I'm sure ramps I mean we there's not I mean truffles are very unique to where they grow yeah

32:32

there's nothing that you're going to see from a wild food perspective on any menu

32:38

that you cannot find in New Jersey okay um one thing that I'm really got into

32:44

and love and I do it I go up to Maine too every year so I love New Jersey most

32:50

of the stuff comes from New Jersey but I always say that my my Cuisine is the terroir of my life okay so now when I go

32:57

to to main every year with my son that that's my life yeah that so that's part

33:03

of my terar of my life and I love the seaweeds up there because they don't

33:09

grow down here sure um I'll bring back I'll bring back water I make salt from

33:14

up there yep but adversely New Jersey has like I love sea lettuce it has the

33:21

most beautiful sea lettuce that I've ever seen up and down the whole Coast I mean it's so delicate it's so green so

33:28

vibrant so I'll go down and I get that or I'll dry it and then you know I'll do

33:33

a a nice you know like a risoto with seafood in it and then the dehydrated

33:38

sea lettuce powder I call it on top and it's like some of these seaweeds you'll

33:44

I dehydrate them yeah and you I do it through a te- strainer and it goes on

33:49

the on the hot like Roto we'll say yeah and it's you're like right back on the

33:55

coast of M or you're right on the coast for me you know I and it's that smell

34:02

and that freshness and I'm sure the diner is okay they don't you

34:09

know I'm with my son I'm on like I said earlier it's my life that I'm seeing

34:14

right um but the the the coast is something that I've gotten so just as a

34:21

person it's ever changing it's ever evolving it never changes though right it can have very calm days it can have

34:27

very rough days it can have it's it's so the coast for me is like to be able to

34:33

cook and to be able I it was not you know it's am I going to really go forage seaweed and yeah yeah be like that guy

34:39

on the beach like pulling seaweed yeah in Japan or out west or in Maine even you can take 50 lbs of seaweed a day in

34:46

Maine yeah and so just because something's not necessarily exactly like am I going to

34:53

be the guy on the beach Jersey like oh yeah sea lettuce

34:58

yeah I am going to be that guy yeah absolutely I am sure and I think it one

35:03

thing like foraging I think sometimes it's like some some there's two camps or three camps or 10 camps some people say

35:10

you shouldn't do it yeah some people say it's you shouldn't you're disrupting this you're disrupting

35:16

that I believe that this is here for us

35:22

and I I use it and I take it and I study it and in that I respect it more than

35:30

more than anyone um that it's not that I

35:36

there's a whole industry based around foraging yeah um I use this as an example and that'll make the point that

35:42

I just didn't make sure yeah the mutaki mushrooms that I find okay commercial foragers will go into the woods with a

35:50

team of of people 50 people all with rakes yeah rake rake rake rake rake rake rake take the mushrooms leave you just

35:59

could have destroyed the mushroom population there forever sure and anything else that's growing in like

36:04

that I yeah I I it's all by hand um I take the mushroom and I put it back I

36:11

put it back you would never even know I'm there because my lifestyle that I've

36:16

chosen to live which is this and my livelihood and it depends on me being

36:22

able to go back next year I'm not going to go in if it's seaweed if it's this if it's a ramp if it's I'm not going to go

36:29

in and clear it out because then what am I doing next year I'm going to have

36:35

nothing eventually I'm going to have nothing so I do it in such a respectful manner I take I take only exactly what I

36:44

need and yeah I sell it yeah as uh food on a plate sure AB absolutely I make

36:51

money off of it right like yeah especially when we when we're talking about the alternative before which like buying everything it's still happening

36:58

you know and I I know what I'm serving people and I only use you know like uh

37:03

grass-fed meat no hormones from the meat perspective sure all my other stuff in

37:09

my restaurant is like you said earlier it's grown by the chance of the Sun the chance of the rain the chance of the

37:15

seed being dropped by the bird over here it's so organic and so fresh and so I

37:23

know I can give this to people and I'm like I I know I'm feeding people good um

37:28

you know so has a lot to do with it too too for me and that it I'm glad I

37:34

brought that up because the commercial foraging industry is it's it's not an

37:39

industry that I necessarily agree with and sometimes it's like well you're making money off of it it's like wow

37:46

yeah right just like it's all relative too you know like commercial foraging you foraging like like all that kind of

37:52

stuff I think is you know it's all relative like I said before um so as

37:57

kind of talking about I know you've mentioned the mutaki mushrooms which does uh make me remember that we want to

38:04

talk about uh the movie that you have coming out eventually uh which is called

38:09

the king of mutaki Ridge right it is yeah it's a found found the king of

38:14

matsutake Ridge not to correct you for found but for me it was no yeah it

38:19

wasn't originally it was just found and I like that because like this has been a found way of life for me this has been a

38:25

found lifestyle for me this is it's it's all been found the food is found and

38:32

then uh it was customers that I I made the movie with originally there was they

38:38

came back and we talked and we talked and we were like yeah we'll make like a five minute thing s minute and then you

38:46

know we it got going into something and they put a lot more time and effort into

38:51

it than I had hired for because I think they were like this is a story that we're going to

38:58

tell and we're going to put time and effort into it sure like when you start to dig a little bit you're like like from me I was like all right let's

39:05

release it and uh charge 99 cents to watch it and I make my money back but

39:11

then it was like well we can enter this into film festivals because it's a short

39:16

dock it's like 33 minutes long and I was like absolutely let's enter into film

39:23

festivals who I I never thought totally in my life I'd have some in in a film

39:29

festival you know let alone getting like finalist and this and that and the other things so and as I told you earlier we

39:35

just found out that we are you know in the I forget the official term but at

39:41

the International Film Festival in New Jersey yeah the one that they do in Asbury Park the Gard New Brunswick OH

39:46

New Brunswick okay it was um we're getting screened out of 709 entrance we

39:52

were like one of 5% of people that get screen so it it can't be released to all

39:57

those processes are over sure yeah and I think when you even with the food like I

40:04

never think about it I never go back I never ponder it my menu changes if not every day a couple times a day per

40:12

tables um I think the hardest thing with art for me well this way yeah you just have

40:20

to let it go right you have to let it go it's going to do its own thing I'm there to get it to a point where it's on a

40:28

circle plate yeah after that it's just it's up to interpretation it's up to this it's up to that you just have to

40:34

let it go sure and as a person be okay with that you know yeah I mean like

40:39

different tastes different everything even but even with the movie like it's it come out when it comes out I guess

40:45

now you know right I would love to get it out I would love for people to see it I'd love to share it with people

40:52

but not forcing things is is it's not an easy thing to do in

40:58

life to have patience one of the things that one of the things that I I my whole life I you most unpatient person you

41:07

ever meet yeah over the last 3 four five years but I knew that was my issue you

41:12

know I was like you got to have patience you got to so like in seeing this

41:18

through and having the patience and belief to see it through I I've learned

41:23

a lot so for me this whole thing is about as a person learning a lot yes I'm cooking yes I'm picking food but

41:30

for me that's what it's truly about yeah yeah and so maybe let's talk a

41:36

little bit too about oh so this is what I wanted to talk about so we're here and this is what I was saying before we were

41:42

in a tree and there's berries in the tree you're not taking these no those are holly so those you don't want to eat

41:48

yeah they'll poison you right well yes and I don't those that's something I

41:53

don't know specifics about I know you don't eat them that's all I right there like I don't know if it's

42:00

going to make your stomach hurt I don't know if it's going to give you a fever um but yeah that's a no yeah that's a

42:06

that's a hard no was was there any trial by error early on no no no I remember

42:11

the first thing I tried was actually here at Camp was something called Mullen

42:17

okay which is um it's medicinal it's a natural X Expo terrant or whatever m x

42:24

is I remember we did it in and we Dr I knew what it was 100% yeah you know now

42:30

I drink it every day um first time though it's like you drink it and then like you're sitting there and you're

42:36

like all my arms are getting hot you know what I mean so what's no that was it no it's you have to study it you have

42:43

to know um and I have never served anything to

42:50

anyone in my restaurant that I haven't consumed sure multiple times first um

42:56

these AR ingredient some of them are ingredients that you can't buy yeah um those I make sure and then there are

43:03

some risky ingredients that I don't even use because I have 80y old people come

43:09

to my restaurant why what do I need to take a chance for on somebody else like that like you know and that that's I

43:16

have my own very conscious very um mature limits on what I actually do do

43:22

yeah yeah so I I wanted to just hit the movie just we just want to talk about that real fast just because as we were

43:27

standing here um why do you think the movie is getting the kind of reception

43:34

that it is uh I mean obviously it's well done everything like that but the story itself like talk to me a little bit

43:40

about why that's such a good story that people need to hear if they if they're not like already like this episode was

43:46

great and we know why I would say it's just really honest and really positive

43:53

yeah it's not and that that's what it is to tell it's just an honest positive

43:58

story about why I truly do this is to be a parent and my son and to to explore

44:06

myself more like the woods to like like you know on a weird analogy like I'm

44:12

foraging within my own emotions and feelings as a 44y old man sure yeah yeah

44:19

you know what I'm saying it doesn't happen often I'm not and I'm not shy to talk about it like CU everybody that's

44:24

going to watch this has had a day where they're just like like oh my gosh yeah or they've had a day where they're

44:30

they're on top of the world we're all just people and if me doing this or this

44:35

movie or or the food that I make can maybe only touch one person on

44:41

the road maybe I do a thousand interviews right over my span and I touch one person in that time and that

44:48

makes the difference in their life then you have to be open you have to be okay with yourself to be like yeah some days

44:54

I'm yeah not having the best you but I still believe and go forward

45:00

on on this life that I've I've set forth on even if the restaurant closes even if

45:07

uh the movie does nothing I'm still on this road I you'll still be able to come

45:13

out here and I don't know what I'll be doing with the food yeah I'll still be out here though I'll still be picking it

45:18

and even if I just eat it you know it's it's a way of life I found a way of life

45:24

and I I think that's why because it's it's nice to see right and anyone even I

45:29

had to step out said I'm very humble that we premiered it we have one private screening at a movie theater I'm not

45:36

walking in like oh I'm on a movie screen you know what I mean like screen baby even though you know it was I'm sure it

45:43

was like pretty cool to see separate it was but you know listening to yourself talk for 30 minutes kind it's like all

45:50

right all right this guy needs to stop talking totally get it so but even in

45:55

that how should I have to come to terms with in my own self to get to a point

46:02

where it's like I know I'm okay seeing this I know I'm a humble person doing

46:07

this I know it's not about this I know it's not about negativity I know it's about positivity you know it's I started

46:14

looking at everything as a a teaching lesson in life and to be a better

46:20

version of the self every day yeah you know so uh before we get like wrapped up

46:27

we kind of tell people excuse me nature um we wrapped up here and kind

46:33

of like get everyone uh like where they should go to learn more about the movie the restaurant and all that kind of stuff um you obviously like this is like

46:40

you said before like this is kind of a personal choice that you've made to kind of live your life this way both at the

46:46

restaurant and both out here um to be a dad to be all that kind of stuff but almost like like this is really just

46:52

like a really unique we've had a ton of chefs on the show this is the most

46:58

unique episode we've done with the chef so far um probably one of the most unique episodes we've done period

47:04

because of the way we filmed it the way you know we did this whole story and everything but uh almost kind of like uh

47:12

a message almost to the people that are listening like obviously like we want them to come try the food and experience

47:18

it and kind of experience it through your eyes and your hands and your plates and stuff like that um but almost kind

47:24

of like that way of life we've touched on like a couple times like you know being in nature hearing the birds like

47:29

that rebirth type of thing um but anything that you want to like leave the people with before we wrap this up not

47:36

really okay I would just say what I've said you know I think it's more than a

47:41

it's more than just a boom boom boom statement I think it's a just I I it's

47:48

not I just I said it's not easy I said I have bad days I do it yeah if there's

47:53

something that somebody sees this and they like like I I asked you earlier like you know when you've went to this

48:00

fulltime things sometimes you you're not thinking maybe I should go do this for

48:07

no reason just go do it like I can you can always go back if you need to but

48:13

going forward is a beautiful experience yeah and so like do you have this is my last question before we wrap it up but

48:19

do you have anything that you're kind of looking at because obviously like this was a risk so to speak I forgot I should

48:26

point the camera right myself too um but I've been doing great my arms are um but

48:31

uh you know people that are you know doing this and or you're doing this and

48:37

you took a risk essentially to like open up your own place and then took another risk to do everything all yourself and

48:43

then kind of come out here and and do the wild farming and everything um are there like other things that you're

48:48

looking like oh I'd like to get to like this point too or try this other new thing like are you thinking about that consciously or just kind of going about

48:55

taking it day by day and seeing what comes next I kind of Let It Go yeah there it has an end what I'm doing right

49:01

now working alone and picking alone it's I I has an end um I'll always cook I

49:08

always want a forage or Wild Farm whatever you want to call it yeah um I I

49:14

don't I'm there that's where I'm at in my life at the what is next right

49:20

and talking more and more honestly every time about it and relating it to life is

49:26

what I think somehow is next I haven't figured that out yet and I believe eventually it's if you keep doing

49:33

something that's what opens up to you if you know so if I keep doing that and I keep getting more comfortable in it and

49:40

there's a reaction to then something's going to open up and I just I just you

49:46

know going to go that direction yeah um and keep going on because it all stems

49:51

back from the first day where I said I'm going to do this but this is part of that you know this convers

49:57

all goes back to that just going to keep on it yeah awesome well this was awesome

50:05

and I'm glad we did it this way and we didn't do like a sit down walk around you know uh cuz this is just like way

50:10

cooler and we got to like walk around a little bit you know see parts of the Garden State that a lot of people either

50:16

don't realize exists or don't get down to enough so uh I appreciate you taking

50:22

me out taking me out yeah so if people are listening to this and they're like I need to I need to experience this where

50:29

would you send people to go to do that um they can go on uh Parkplace I

50:36

think it's NJ Parkplace something like that on the Instagram um but we are um

50:42

we're real small yeah uh have a lot of regulars so it is not an easy res get

50:49

feet um but you never know you know we do get new people in we get cancellations but yeah we we book out

50:57

from long times in advance sure so make your reservations or find somebody that

51:02

already has a reservation and buy it from them um but yeah and then the uh the

51:08

documentary or the website you can go to Parkplace I have a website you can sign up for movie alerts or stuff like that

51:16

so it's all all be on the website I don't know it off the top of my head how we'll put it in the show notes go

51:22

click it yeah yeah um and then when we start promoting the episode and stuff like that then we'll we'll make sure we put all that stuff on there but um again

51:30

this has been awesome I really appreciate you having me down and taking me out and doing this episode with us

51:35

and uh I'm going to have to book a reservation now for next year so um but

51:42

uh thank you again again this has been the greetings to the Garden State podcast we were here in Maron New Jersey

51:47

at Camp Creek run uh with Phil manganaro of Parkplace Cafe which is in remind me

51:54

Merchantville Merchantville thank you sorry there lot of things and like I'm I'm walking around I'm you know the birds yeah it's the birds I'm just kind

52:01

of like Lost In My Own Thing uh we'll put all of Phil's uh

52:06

stuff in the show notes uh so you can just go click it go check it out try to get a reservation if you can uh CU I

52:12

know I will and then wook Greening for the gate.com in the show notes as well so you can just go click that uh and

52:17

you'll get to all of our other great episodes that we've been we've been releasing this year because this year's episode crop has been off the charts

52:24

just like literally like one after another have been incredible uh so thank you for listening again greetings for

52:30

the RSA podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm Mike cam he was Phil manganaro thank you for listening we'll

52:35

catch you next

52:44

time do you right

52:50

me way do you want to ride