How Cooking Became A Life, A Home, And A Family

Transcript

After-Dark Kickoff And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Compa.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

We are back.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

And I am excited. Oh, me.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I hope you are. I am. This is a special one.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

It's uh we it's a long time coming. Yep. Interviews, talking with our friends, our family, and it starts today.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

And it's the thing that we were talking about for so long. So long. Is it's finally here.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Let's fucking do it. Man, oh man, oh man, we are back, ladies and gentlemen. We are back with another episode of Small Talk with Compa. I am your boy Deneer. I hear Will.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Are you ready? Oh, I'm I'm ready. We got a special guest, man.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Gentleman that is in front of us, that's gonna join us on this pod, is a very special dear friend of ours. And I am very excited to have him. Not only uh a friend, a co-worker, he is family. We've worked with this gentleman for a little bit over 15 years, maybe maybe a little more than that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

A fellow Met fan, the one and only the man, the legend,

Andrew’s Minnesota Roots And Family Table

SPEAKER_01 1:05

ladies' executive chef, and Andrew Kinwitney.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

My boy, welcome.

SPEAKER_05 1:10

Hello, my guys. Yes, oh my god. So happy to be here. I'm so proud to be on this podcast. Like, I just I'm fucking so proud of you guys. Thank you, man. I'm part of my language, but I'm gonna be swearing through the podcast. Oh, you can swear, we swear. You can say we're here at the restaurant. It's 12 15. We're doing it, brother.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

This is what we call the podcast after dark. After dark. Yeah, man. We're we are excited to have you. We're excited for you to join us on the pod. Uh, myself and and Will have been talking about bringing you know people to join us and on this journey that we're taking. And I can't believe I'm first. What better exactly, what better person to do it than yourself, my good man? Take it, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Seriously, it it really means a lot to us.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Sounded obviously, my man, you uh the the people out there know who you are. You obviously uh a chef extraordinaire. You are culinary mastermind.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

I like to cook.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

And we want to get to know a little more about you. People know you love to cook, people know you love your people person. We want to go a little deeper than that.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

You want to go back to the roots. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Paint us a picture for us, brother. Paint us a picture of how you grew up, born and raised in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Uh real quick shout out to Minnesota.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

Let's go. Uh Matamidae. Matamida. The hardest of all the names to say in the 19 or 2000, what 202019 uh Super Bowl when we were when we hosted it. Okay. Fucking Eagles beat the Vikings to be into the Super Bowl, so fuck them. Fuck them. But they interviewed a bunch of different uh NFL players and they couldn't say Matamiri, Matamirai. It's Matomidae. Um so I I grew up there, um started learning food um 12, 13. It was always kind of a punishment to go work in grandma's and grandpa's gardens. I think grandma, both grandmas realized that I like food and uh just wanted to learn about it. So uh they said, Stop being stupid, stop doing dumb shit, just learn.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Before before the the the journey on cooking, though, what was your what was your childhood like? What was your uh like a teenage?

SPEAKER_05 3:38

I grew up I grew up playing baseball, uh basketball, going to my dad's softball games, which was always fun, just watching him play. He he played a lot of basketball, he played broom hockey. Um one of my core memories is being, I don't know, like eight, maybe seven, and watching my dad play broom hockey, and instead of saying going to the ice shack, uh-huh, it was the love shack. I love shack. He would always sing ice shack, baby ice shack, because I mean my dad, Jay Whitney, love you, Danny and William know you. Um, just like life was good. Pops was there, pops and moms, like it was just a joke. Like, we just had a good time, like we yeah, we made food together, we we we were there, yeah, and it was it was nice, and then we uh just just like we were together.

First Kitchens, Sports, And Finding Food

SPEAKER_05 4:40

It was it was it was it was nothing but love, and it everything made me the man who I am today, those two people and my rest of my family. Um John, my brother, who I'm going to see tomorrow in Chicago with my father. Oh, that's right. So I'm I'm I'm heading out. What's up, John? Um, but we're just yeah, like I nowadays I don't get to see him as much, and I'm so excited to be coming or going to Chicago to see them. Life, I mean, high school, you do stupid shit, you have a good time, and and uh you know, I mean, I had a quite a few buddies. I didn't graduate with more than 300 people.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:23

So it's a small town, right? It was a it not not a crazy small town, but uh it's much bigger now. Okay. Core of friends. Absolutely. And I I still talk to most of them uh once a month. Yeah. And just just I I didn't have the mentality to stay in that small town. And and a lot of a lot of small town folk are I don't want to say small town folk, but a lot of a lot of people do want to stay where they they grew up. Like y'all stay up where where you grew up, but this is the mecca of the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, you just had bigger dreams, man.

SPEAKER_05 5:59

Yeah, and I mean I just I just wanted to cook for people and underneath chefs that were amazing. So I bro, but did you have that passion for it? Like like 13 years, 13, 14 years old. Like so at that age you already knew you had you wanted to cook well I I just wanted to do something creative, sure. And I couldn't draw, I couldn't paint, I couldn't, I I couldn't do what some of our co-workers do. Yeah, but I was learning about food from my grandfathers, from my grandmothers, from my dad, from my mom. Yeah, and it I it was a ritual, Sunday dinner. Sunday dinner, yeah, and I it was just makes people happy, exactly. It brings everybody together.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

How fun is that? Delicious food with your people that you love. How fun is that? It's so much fun, man.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

Like every Thanksgiving, my mom and dad would take over two kitchens, yeah. Because our next door neighbor would go out of town and we would use their kitchen. Yeah like it was just like we're bringing the whole family together.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

That's so extraordinary because like at a young age, he really he realized real real fast, you know, like this is like what makes people happy, and he made that connection real quick. So that's that's cool, you know.

SPEAKER_05 7:14

And it's just I mean yeah, it's just so tough to to not love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_05 7:22

And one of my favorite, like also favorite things of uh Christmas is when we would go to grandma Johnson's, my mom's uh mother and father, yeah. Uh they would have Christmas Eve. And once I started like working in the restaurant business, they had a couple grills outside, and their house was sold, they had a grill and chimney inside. So I remember I remember doing bacon wrap shrimp, and I thought I was just like the coolest kid. I was 15 years old, 16 years old, like this is me now. Like this is fucking cool. Yeah, but I remember I have a picture of my grandfather standing out with like three feet of snow and his little or his gigantic red Weber grill having steaks that are like four inches thick for all the 20 people of family that are gonna be there.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

So you were barbecuing at like at what?

SPEAKER_05 8:24

So no, I mean I was just I was learning how to barbecue. Okay, so but just food, yeah, food. I mean, everybody grows up with food. Some take it to the next level, others say, yeah, oh, I'm a great cook when I'm at home, but that's Christ. Everybody cooks, everybody should cook, yeah, yeah, and everybody should make their family happy with cooking, yeah. So I but I I wanted to make other people, yeah. And it was it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Nice. Uh growing up, was there a traditional dish that you guys always made? And what was always in the fridge when you were growing up?

SPEAKER_05 9:03

I was in the fridge was um, I'd have to say there'd always be some type of steak. Okay. There'd always be I mean Midwest loves the steak. Yeah, oh yeah. Meat and potatoes. Meat and potatoes.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Yeah, that was that's what that I mean, hey man, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_05 9:21

Hell no, you can't go wrong. I don't know. Like I'm with it. Um, but once we got a little older and and were eating different things, like my ma had a garden and we would produce tomatoes and

Culinary School Vs. The Line

SPEAKER_05 9:35

and lots of different lettuces, and it was just like so much fun to learn about that, yeah. And see how we had to protect the gardens from the the deer, from the the the rabbits and all that, but like core memories meat and potatoes, yeah, uh black cherry Kool-Aid.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

That was my dad's favorite, so that was our favorite. Fruit punch for me, please. Fruit punch, love fruit punch, but just like coming home and from school or from like playing baseball. Like I played baseball until I think ninth or tenth grade.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

What position did you play?

SPEAKER_05 10:21

Catcher. I was I was a tall you cover the plate. I I put on a catcher's put on the catcher's gear at at like I don't know, my next door's neighbor next door neighbor's dad was a baseball coach, and I saw the catcher's uniform, and I think I was like 10 or 8. I don't know. But I put that on, I was like, this is fun. Yeah, why wouldn't I want to fucking catch like be the main point besides the pitcher?

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yep, it's the hardest position in sports.

SPEAKER_05 10:54

Yeah, and I mean I wasn't as tall as I am now today, but like I didn't have to get out my knees to throw people out. Yeah, I had an arm and it was fun, man. It was fun. And I played and then I played football for one year, and I fucked up my knee, and I didn't make the tenth grade or ninth grade, ninth or tenth grade basketball team, and that was it. Yeah. So I had started smoking weed and cooking. And I was working at a Mexican restaurant, yeah, and like learning just to cook. To cook, right? And you don't get too many Mexican restaurants in Minnesota and Matamida, but I found one and it was called Zapadas. Zapatas. Bro, so good. Yeah, so good. And I and like I I was learning from a couple guys, and and like just it was fast food, but it was it was slow fast food. Because there's only there right now, there's only two or maybe one zapatas, or now it's called Zantigo's.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

So it's a chain restaurant, or it was a chain.

SPEAKER_05 12:04

It was a chain. This guy only had five. So I I just learned it was

Leap To New York And Whole Foods Nights

SPEAKER_05 12:10

it was like Mexicali or Tex Mex, not straight Mexican food. Now that I know what straight Mexican food is, is I enjoy that more, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

But for yo, sorry to cut you off, Drew. This man is probably more Mexican than a lot of people that I know.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

That's what I'm saying. He is, man. Like it like I learned from the best. Now you don't you don't understand. This man, this man is Mexican. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Uh, real quick about uh Matamida. So I went to I went to Hawaii a couple of years ago, and I was in uh in the pool, and it was just two people started talking to me, and they were from from Minnesota. And I and I started, oh my chef's from Minnesota as well. And and he and I remember that where you were from. You're the only one that can say it. And he's like, Oh, yeah, he's from Matamida. He's like, Matamidae, what's his name? And they were like so happy to hear, like, hear, hear that, start that conversation with them. I don't know. His name is Andrew Whitney. He's uh he's a chef at an Italian restaurant in New York, yada yada. He's they were like, like they were so happy. Like they were they didn't know me though. No, they didn't. Oh, okay. Just the fact that it came from, you know, yeah, like like for example, like yeah, like my like my town, my hometown is like sound like chinantalized in Mexico. Like the hearers, oh, they got a podcast going. Yeah, like people are proud. Look at us. Yeah, just look at us, yeah. Just a funny story. Uh I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

The super nice people, too. And I'm Minnesota, we're we're we're Minnesota nice, but if you don't know what Minnesota Nice is, it's a very low-end undertone. And all the Minnesotans that will listen to this know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

So, I mean, I just like so I was gonna I was just gonna ask, uh well, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Well, before like, before, you know, like after like obviously, you know, you worked in a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota, but also like I know you mentioned that you also uh went to the art of culinary and artists.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Yeah, so I I I I went to the Art Institute International, uh what was that experience which went under under and owed a lot of people like stole their money. Okay now you have it on the podcast that I actually went to culinary school, yeah, and the culinary school was like you have to do that. I was working, I was working the whole time okay while going to culinary school, and that's why I say I went to the school hard knocks. Like I'd yeah, I I'd rather work.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

So do you think going to school was not not that it wasn't a benefit for you, but you think you benefited more obviously more on hands-on?

SPEAKER_05 14:53

Yeah, I mean hands-on for sure, but like I I had a Mediterranean chef that was like five foot two and hated me because I I don't know, he just had it out for me. I don't, I don't I'm like, I'm not pumping my own tires, but like I had two or three guys- You could pump your own tires, no boy. No, no, no, no. Uh two or three guys that I were my my my brothers that I worked with or were are were at culinary school with, and both of them have restaurants in Minnesota, and none of the other people that like none of the other people that I went or graduated culinary school with didn't do any of it anymore. Like Joe Cox and Seth uh like shot out amazing. But like I culinary school was I was working, yeah. Like I just I would rather work, but I I did it for my ma. Yeah, my mom wanted me to get a college education because I got an associate's creed, whatever the fuck that is. Yeah, but it it made my ma happy and of course happy mom. That's all that matters. That's all that matters. Yeah, so you know, I mean it was it was I was working in a French restaurant, uh my chef was actually she graduated high school with my dad in White Bear Lake, and I had to do my uh internship even though I was working there, I got to work there and she kept paying me, which is nice. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, I just it wasn't even and then I got fired because I I didn't come back from Mexico on time, and she fired me. And then she called me like three weeks later, but I already got another job. But Peggy Durant, I love you. Yeah, she wanted to she she called me up the other day and she's like, Andrew, you want to move back and buy my restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 16:54

It's good that you're sharing your story with us, man, for like, you know, when you're early for your early time here in Minnesota, but now we kind of want to go into like you know, what made you come to New York?

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Yeah, talk to us about the transition from from Minnesota Matamida, Minnesota to New York and why, like what made you obviously we you said it earlier in the podcast that it was it's the Mecca of the Mecca of the world. It's the capital of the world for sure, 100%. And obviously, you make it here, you make it anywhere. So were you scared?

SPEAKER_05 17:22

Um when I I was 23, and I got into some trouble, and uh that'll happen. Put a little time away, and then at 24, my my uncle, who is a huge influence on me, um chef in Boston, and

Homeless Scrapes And Hustling For Work

SPEAKER_05 17:45

then uh moved to California and was chefing at Whole Foods. Uh he called me up and he's like, Hey buddy, do you want to move to New York? And I was like, Yes, I'm off probation. I'm out and I'm ready to rock. And I was working at a really great restaurant. Um, something that I could have, I feel like if I stayed, yeah, I could have been head chef and took it over. My chef, John Schildz, an amazing human, is being honored uh this week actually for being one of the best chefs of Minnesota. Shout out to uh Chef Jack, yeah. Amazing, very nice. Amazing. So my uncle called me up and I was like, Yes, I want to be out. Yeah, I'm done. I had lived with my uncle in Boston. We'd come to New York, okay, and his ex-wife lived here, and we like I lived on a house in uh like Mulberry, but on North Austin. I know what that is, and uh like 1996, 97, I'm 16, 17 years old, walking out, people smoking bud, like just fucking like the streets, and it was fucking awesome. And I was like, this is yeah, like where is speech this?

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Where did you stay again?

SPEAKER_05 19:11

So like house in Mulberry and Mulberry. Yeah, yeah. So like I walk by when I go uh to the restaurant supply store, I walk by that apartment that I used to live in in 1996, 97. And kind of humbles you, right? Yeah, like bro. I see that like I moved out here, okay. So we moved what year? Uh 2005, February 14th. Damn, 20 years ago. Yeah, wow. Yeah, so like I had a girlfriend at the time, I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna stay a little while, I'll fly you out here, you can hang out, blah blah blah. She would bat shit, but that's a long time ago. But um, so we got here, and the first core memory is me driving this big ass box truck over the George Washington Bridge. Oh yeah, that's a scary bridge, and this is before Google Maps and all that shit, like you're printing out the maps, and I I never drive, like I I lost my license twice. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

So you hate driving, don't you?

SPEAKER_05 20:22

I no, I like driving now, but I used to be a different animal back then. So my uncle was also a different animal back then. He's like, fuck you, you're driving. You're going across, yeah, exactly. Exactly. So just going over that bridge and having 18-wheelers drive past me at fucking full speed and me going, yeah, just you can't if you can't see me right now, I'm shaking in my knees.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

And taking a right down to go to the west side highway to get to the lower east side. We stayed at the Howard Johnson's, which is not a Howard Johnson's anymore. Yeah. I parked first thing it is, fucking front

Del’anima Era: Pasta, Mentors, And Heat

SPEAKER_05 21:10

of the truck gets robbed. They couldn't break in to the back, thank the fucking lord. But yeah, everything that was in the front, okay, gone. Gone, gone. Just lower east side. That's great. Welcome to the lower east side.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Class New York, baby. Definitely 2005. I mean, the lower east side is that shit's no joke. Back in the 2000s, bro. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 21:34

I like so so we got our first apartment on Houston and Thompson, uh, 169 Thompson. Or maybe it was 6'9 Thompson. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

What was your first job here?

SPEAKER_05 21:46

First job here was Whole Foods.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

And so you ended up you ended up there from with your uncle, right? Yeah. Your uncle got you in there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

So I didn't even cooking.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

I didn't even know he worked in Whole Foods. This is like the first time I hear about that. No. I swear to the Lord. Santo. He told me. And I met the guy that um that was like his like his colleague. Ramon, yeah. What up, Ramon? Such a fun guy, man.

SPEAKER_05 22:07

Ramon. Uh so he was my Shrek and I was his donkey. I talked a lot of shit and I had that big man fucking right behind me.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

He called you what he called you that day, yes, a couple of days ago when he was here. He called you something. He called me donkey. Yeah, donkey, yeah. No, is that what he called you? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

Yeah. I mean, he was my I called him Shrek. I was like, this motherfucker's huge. Big ass dude, yeah. Big ass man.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

And I would fucking, we would walk into bars and just fucking, I'm skinny as shit. Yeah. And he's a big ass fucking Spanish man. And he'd be like, all right, Andrew, go go find this, that, and the other, blah, blah, blah. I love it, man. Just a fucking, just a gentleman like you guys are.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

And sorry to cut you off, brother. No, no. The thing that I want to add to this is that, you know, yeah, you know, I mean, this goes back a long time when they started working in Whole Foods, but the man comes to show support and love to Chef Andrew. And you know what that means? That's huge, man. It goes back to what he said in the beginning. It's all about like food just brings people together, brother. Yeah. You know, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

You know, you you cooking for him is just a bonus. That's what that's. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I like you guys created a bond that's inseparable.

SPEAKER_05 23:17

And that was, and that was us working overnight. Yeah. So I work from 10 to like 11, 10 p.m. to like 11 a.m. And I would go home and get tattooed by my homie Ian. He'd bring his shit over, and we'd drink fucking OE40s until I just fucking passed out. One time one time fucking I might have had like four, woke up, vomit everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yeah. You can't do it, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

And then went to work. Like how you're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Yeah, that's what you do. Like it is what it is. You don't fucking call out. Yeah. And this is why we tell you he's youngsters. He's more Mexican than us.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Youngsters take notes. You get fucked up, you still go to work. Right. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 24:02

This is how you live. I mean, you shouldn't always live being fucked up, but like if you want to provide for your people or provide for yourself, you got to go to work. Simple.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Facts. Those are all facts. So at Whole Foods, what were you doing?

SPEAKER_05 24:16

So prepared foods, it was all like when you walk into Whole Foods and they have the hot bar and the big lines of uh the coolers that like have the roasted meats, the all the all all the prepared foods. So just prepared foods, we would make a metric ton of prepared salads in a week. That's that's fucking what 35 3500 pounds of of prepared food. It's a lot of food, man. Yeah, and and I opened up, I first started working at the at the uh Columbus Circle Whole Foods. Sorry, I'm cracking a beer right now. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

We're all cracking a beer. I like that. This is actually the first podcast where we're drinking. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

That's a pie because I've seen you guys drink on uh uh you talked about it on the uh you're right, actually. We had one we had one holiday issue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the map, but this is I listened. I'm I'm I'm a fan of the pie. I appreciate you, my man of the pod. Yes, yes. So so we would we would I would go in a tent and I met these crazy kids uh because I was a kid too. Uh Ramon, Ian, um who else? I don't know. Just a bunch of brothers. Just a bunch of brothers. Yeah. But so I worked overnight, another guy, Neil, who was in old man Neil, the white dude that um cat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's got a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, another, another heavy hitter, New Yorker, Brooklyn Rays. Um accent. Oh my god, so bad. Like just like he took me underneath his wing too. He was he was a chef too. So my uncle, my uncle didn't really dig New York. He's a more of a California guy. He likes the hot weather, yeah, yeah. And he was like, he he had his his lady friend move out here for a little while, and him and I he just left. Yeah. So you stayed. And you was I stayed, never went back. I stayed.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

So you technically were a minor, right?

SPEAKER_05 26:30

No, no, no, no. I was I was I was 24. I was 24. So I when I moved here, I was 24. Oh, I see. 2005, uh I'm August 20th, 1980. Bro, I don't know. I don't know why I thought she was he was 16 or something. Well, no, what I when I first came out here like to visit, that's right, that's right, that's right. So that's understandable. But um, so my uncle left and I was homeless. Yeah. But my dad obviously helped me out. He was uh he found a homeless.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

What do you mean by homeless? Were you living in a car?

SPEAKER_05 27:06

No, no, no. Like I was about to be homeless, and then um my dad found a uh like a flop house. Okay, it was on a very beautiful neighborhood, West 11th between six and seventh. I lived across the street from Julia Roberts.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Very nice.

SPEAKER_05 27:24

But this apartment doesn't sound homeless to me. This apartment was a six by

Reality TV, Pressure, And Self-Doubt

SPEAKER_05 27:30

14 room and six-floor walk-up. Oh shit. God dang it. And I used to have one of them big ass tube TVs. Oh like this was my pride and joy. I bought this shit when I was on on uh on house arrest.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Dude, I don't even I think I never like it.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

My brother was so it was it was 54 inches.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

54 inch tube TV. How heavy was that shit? That's well. That shit must have been dumb heavy.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

I left it there.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yeah, you should say I left it there. Yeah, that's a vintage shit now. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:00

Oh my god. But I lived in this apartment for a year, and I would go to work to Whole Foods, yeah, and my uncle was gone, so I was doing overnight. Yeah, and I would wake up at at eight in the morning to go to work and take a shower in in black mold. I'd had to have my sneakers on, and I would have to kick out Alan or Damien or just random fucking people sleeping in the shower because the door never closed. And we're on West 11th.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

That's uh like yeah, some scary shit up there.

SPEAKER_05 28:42

I mean, that's just weird. No, it was just weird, like it's a prominent, and I'm I'm a fucking white boy from Minnesota. I'm not used to that shit yet. So it was it was different, yeah. It was different for me, but I was like, I'm not going home with my tail between my legs, I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

I can I can handle this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

So when I your uncle left, you're right, uh, you stayed. Uh how how how was that? Like, how did you like you're in your obviously you have a family now, you have a beautiful son and your wife. Um but growing up, I mean not growing up, but like in your 20s, early 20s, you were by yourself. Yeah. That must have been it was it was like challenging or interesting.

SPEAKER_05 29:25

I had I had I had buddies, I hadn't met you guys yet, but I had shout out to Angelo Saracena. I've known you for 20 years, like the first friend I ever had in New York City. Yeah, shout out to Angelo B. He he's uh school Mets. He's yeah, he's from Philly. I love him, but he's from Philly. He is from Philly. Uh you guys know him, but I like my I the way I survived, I watched the movie The Burbs. The Burbs all the time. To calm me down. And I mean, going out and trying to score. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To have fun with New York, the ladies. Um, but it is it was it was ruthless. It was ruthless. And then you feel lonely. Oh my god, it was always lonely. Yeah. Always lonely.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

Always lonely. But your mom or your dad is a phone call away, but it wasn't the same, obviously. And they would come out all the time. They would come out two, three times a year. God bless them. Yeah. Like, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

You definitely, you definitely had a really uh good support system. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:39

You know, but it was it was I was by myself. Yeah, I can only imagine, man. Yeah, it must have been rough. Not rough, but it was just but it it was rough. Yeah, it was, yeah. It was rough. And it was it was scary at some times, and I I I latched on to a lot of people that I shouldn't have latched on to. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think we all have. Yeah. So it but then you get over it, and like so I I I left the uh Union Square Whole Foods and opened up the Bowery Whole Foods as one of their sous chefs during the day. And I was in a rough patch myself at that time, and I got fired. And I got fired by one of these guys that was a higher upper, and he was known to be to get rid of

What Makes A Real Cook: Maria’s Story

SPEAKER_05 31:40

like the sous chefs that didn't work out. Yeah. And I was I was doing stupid shit, and I you were young though. Yeah. You were out, yeah. And I remember crying on Angelo's couch, like, I'm gonna have to go home.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:54

And he slapped me in the face and he said, Stop fucking being a bitch, and just go out there. And I talked to my dad, yeah, and I was like, I'm not coming home. I'm gonna put my resume out. So I walked around and handed, I must have handed out 200 resumes, found a spot called Barmelano, and that was on 33rd and third. I handed them and they're like, You don't have any New York experience, and I was like, I will do anything to work in this restaurant because you guys are going for stars. I will do anything. And I sat there, or excuse me, I stood there and picked herbs for three hours while I watched them work. And the sous chef at the time was like, All right, Joe Vigorito said, Yeah, okay, you're hired. Okay, we'll figure it out. So I worked there for a year or not, not even like eight months, eight months, and then they folded. They got two stars instead of the three stars or four stars that they wanted, and chef was like, fuck this, I'm out. I I fucked up. Just gave up like yeah, but I met one of my other chefs, Eric Kleinman. I love you, big time. Nice. Um he's I think Danny's met him once. Tall, skinny guy. I'm sure I have yeah, a little little little crazy, but most of us are. I was there till the end, and it was a really pretty spot, corner spot. Yeah, I remember that spot.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

I was there once. Really? Yeah, really? Yeah, with Tony. We used to work at Tablo. Tony Rios. Yeah. You went to Barmelano, I didn't know that. Wait a long time ago. On third, right?

SPEAKER_04 33:41

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

33rd and third. Yeah. Angelo was working at the tattoo shop like seven blocks uh up, and he would come in. I'd be like, dude, I don't have anything, any pull in this restaurant, so stop trying to get shit for free. I have a bad angle.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

That's amazing. Classic. Hey man.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

Le cobran todo, eh? Yeah, he's trying.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Doesn't hurt to try.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

So you you're a barmelano closes. Uh you have some obviously some some some guidance with uh a few of your chef friends who are now chef themselves. Um what's the next step after that?

SPEAKER_05 34:20

So I started at Delanima. Thank the Lord. That's what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Let's go.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

I got a phone call. Yes, sir. But before that, I was literally homeless and lived in Tompkins Square Park for a few weeks. Angelo was like, Wow, I was dating this girl and Damn you girls. I know. I was dating this girl and um it didn't work out. Yeah. And I said, You can keep the apartment.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

What a gentleman.

SPEAKER_05 34:59

Look at that. To the end. She wanted me to change my position. Uh she wanted me not to work in a kitchen, and I told her this is who I am, and this is who I'll always be. Fuck off. That's why I love Ari. Thank you, man. And uh yeah, yeah, so Delonima started. Yeah, and um or my one of the chefs had to contact Angelo and said, Where the fuck is Andrew? We need him at this new spot called Delonima, and that was 2008. Or no, 2007, we thousand eight, sometime, sometime by then. And I started as the pasta cook. Nice. I was the pasta cook and I wouldn't change anything else. It was it was an open-air kitchen. I was on stage and I fucking You loved it. Oh my god, I fucking loved it. That was this that was it. This is it.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

This is what I'm gonna do. Yeah, and I walk you know, I walked into I walked into uh Delanima for the first time right after I had gotten promoted at Tabla to be uh uh service manager. Yeah, I walk in there and Tony was already there. He was a bartender, yeah, and I see and I see him, like, what the fuck is this? He doesn't even fit back there. How's he fucking cooking? He's like, and when Tony was like, oh, he's nasty, bro. Such a big personality, man. It's you, I'm like, bro, this this man is like 6'6 or whatever, he's there hustling, bustling pasta. 6'6 on a good day. There

Owning The Restaurant And Surviving Moves

SPEAKER_02 36:30

you go. Uh, and and Tony was like, yeah, no, this man he can cook, bro. He's gonna be here. Like, and then I don't order pasta, but I ordered the chicken. And I don't know, I've I don't remember who who cooked it, but that was uh that was a the life changer for me for Delanimo. I tasted that chicken, I saw this man in action, I'm like, damn, this fucking spot is fire. Yeah, and that place was like packed, like packed, packed, like you couldn't even get in there. I got in because the because of the homie, but that shit was wild. I can't I couldn't believe it. It was just the size of the restaurant that we have now, but it was like watching him, watching him cook like from a distance, I'm like, damn, this man is nasty. God damn, look at this guy.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

It's a very similar story to like like like for me, like when I went to the llama for the first time when you invited me, because I was trying to get into the llama, and it took like two years for me to get in.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

My bad dog.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

But you did it though. I mean, you know, knowing what I know now, yeah, it's hard to get in there because people don't leave.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

People don't leave.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Because yo, not only are they loyal to the to the restaurant, but yo, shout out to all of y'all, and I hope y'all listen to this pod.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

For real. Old the Lama family, we love y'all, man.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

All the llamas um for real. I remember when I came in to the to the restaurant, similar to what you said, it was a line. Yeah, bro. When I tell you it was a line, I was like, Oh, I know, Jerry. I was like, what the fuck is this? And obviously, because I got you know, because you got me in.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah. Wait, what did you were gonna eat or were you gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 37:54

No, no, I just no, you just invited me to like to go to the bar. But I didn't eat because it was just so packed. Yeah, I just got like maybe one or two drinks, but I remember I saw him in the middle right there. Crazy, right? Just crazy, just talking, just wilding out.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

I mean, he was just no no, and then what got me more is the woo came out.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Oh, yeah. Oh, the Wu Tang. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

I was like, yo, the siempre. I was like, is this fucking Wu-Tang?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:20

Fuck. That one girl did did the article about us, uh, and I was pointing at the Wu, and she's like, from Wu Tang to uh what to the Rolling Stones, Andrew Whitney and Delanima are cooking up good hits or whatever. Facts, yeah. But I want to shout out Gabe. Gabe, oh man, bitch. Gabe Thompson, my chef, chef. Like he started Delanima. Yes, sir. He started Delanima, and that is my biggest mentor. That is the one of my best friends. He's taught me, and I've learned so much from him.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

An amazing chef, an amazing, amazing chef, an amazing human being.

SPEAKER_05 39:05

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Like, I uh you gotta come to the pods, Chef Cabe. Yes, we have to invite him. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

We'll go over there. We will, we will. Yeah, when when I told him that I was gonna stay, and that Danny and I and our other business partner were gonna buy Delonima's name from uh the owner, previous owner. He said, Andrew, you you guys are Delonima. I was there for a little while. You guys made Delonima what Delonema is, and I mean, just the sweetest man and his wife, Catherine. We we were on a TV show called Best New Restaurant, which was we did okay. We we got second place, which was trash, but whatever. No, that's that shit was fire.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

I I enjoyed watching that.

SPEAKER_05 39:53

It was so much fun, it was so much work. But like Was it? Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Speaking about like like reality TV show, I know you were appeared in a few of them. Tell us about that experience. Was that like was it whack?

SPEAKER_04 40:06

It's it's it is what it is. It's it's fantasy. It's every they tell you like you need to be more loud, you need to be this, you need to be that. And it's like, no, we're just cooking.

SPEAKER_05 40:17

Like, I got asked to be on a few different and I at Dell 1.0, that was reality. Yeah, that was reality. You lived. I don't I don't do drugs to do anything because I am reality, like this is what it was. Like it was crazy, and it was having to be on every single day, yeah, yeah, and yeah, like you said it, you're on stage, yeah. It really was, and I think I'll say I'll say I don't I don't know if it was people that wanted to see me cooking with the other guys or they wanted to come with the food. So I I'm it's a little bit of both. You're a very handsome man, uh like Sean Kennedy.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Shh.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Why are you taking my words? You know, I say that.

SPEAKER_05 41:05

But that was that was the thing I struggled with was like having to be on, and whether it was me being on or whether it was the food. So that was that was a big struggle for me, um mentally, for sure. But now I realize it was it was both, and the food was solid. And I mean as an as as as a somebody that always second guess themselves and this, that, and the other, just being a fucking an artist and this, that, and the other. I just want to make people happy with the food that I cook. For sure. And that's like it's always the second guess, and that's why I'm so glad that I have you guys to taste test. Yeah, because I trust your guys' opinion more than anybody. So that's another reason I'm so happy to be on the pod. Thank you. Thank you for joining us, and I'm so happy that you guys are doing the pod, and I'm so happy that you guys are in my life. I guess. Likewise, my brother. Likewise, brother. Same way.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

The feeling is mutual. The feeling is mutual, man.

COVID Lessons And Building A Crew

SPEAKER_01 42:15

The feeling is mutual. And like said, uh, you know, we're praising the Lanima. We're we know we're praising, you know, our home. You know, this, you know, Delanima is from the soul. God damn it. You know what I mean? Um, but I want to ask you a question, Chef. Like, when you first started in Delanima, what was like the holy shit moment for you? Like, holy shit, this is New York City. What the fuck? Like, you know, in the kitchen, like when you realize you're in shits.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

You were already like what, like three, four years in New York City, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

So and before before you answered the question, Chef, I wanted the audience to know, I never seen this man in the weeds. When I'm telling you he's a fucking badass in that kitchen in that line, I'm telling you, he is a badass. But I want to know if there was a time where you said, holy shit, what the fuck? I'm dying here.

SPEAKER_05 43:01

I'm so uh the probably the one time that we did over 200. Over 200 in a 48-seat restaurant. So, but that I mean a three-man line, and that was early days, so I was still working pasta.

unknown 43:18

Dude.

SPEAKER_05 43:19

I wasn't I wasn't expo. I would I were working middle. Even though I was expo, I was still working a station. Now I'm fucking carte blanche back here. Like I work expo, I work the line one day a week. Sometimes two. It it keeps me young. I need to do it more. Yeah. But watching a 30-person line outside waiting to fucking get in, and knowing, and knowing it was like, holy shit. Like this doesn't happen in Minnesota. Yeah, this doesn't happen. It's just like, fuck man, 48, 48 seats. There's 30 people sitting out there. There's already two turns we've done. So that's 90 or 100. And there's two turns standing outside, right? Basically. But I I just the New York moment for me most was hitting the streets and trying to find a job. Yeah. And and not letting go and saying I will not let the city chew me up because I it will never be better than this city, but I will be a part of this city. This city will make you or break you. I'm so happy that I get to be a part of this city. Yeah. Um you are the city, man.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

You're waiting for you. The man is wearing Timberlands, my man. My man is wearing Timberlands. I see New York. I see. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 44:50

I'll just like I I'm just so happy.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

This is why uh sorry, Chef. Uh we the homie Damon has to be a Matt, a giant, a ranger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:02

And he will be any fan that he wants to be. He just knows that his old man will be a Wild fan and a Vikings fan. Oh, the Knicks fan. Knicks. Let's go fucking Knicks. Yes, sir. It brings the city together, man. Big time.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

And like, and I want to add, the reason why I asked you that question, Chef, like, what was your like New York moment? It's because like I see a lot of like cooks today that think that they could come in to like a to like an Italian cuisine and right away, you know what? Put me into the pasta station. You know what I'm saying? I I never and before and before and before I you know, before you answer, Chef, I wanna I never work in the kitchen. I never, you know, experienced that hard work. Um, but I but I know what it takes because I see, you know, a lot of my colleagues and what it takes to like work in that kitchen. Um and I wanna I want to hear your intakes of like what makes a real cook, like what makes a cook work that pasta station? Because I'm telling you, there's a lot of cooks that come from school, from the culinary institute, and think that they could just come into a into the Italian restaurant and Italian cuisine and just start cooking pasta. I feel different. Like, so what's your take on that?

SPEAKER_05 46:16

So I mean it's having yourself mentally prepared, yeah, first of all, and listening and writing things down. So we're taking pictures.

Love, Marriage, And Fatherhood

SPEAKER_05 46:30

When I when picture, yeah, we're taking pictures, yes. Nowadays, taking pictures, yeah, which is fine. It's just like I'm I'm 45 years old. I started working in restaurants when I was like 14, 15, whatever. Um, but just making notes, you either have it or you don't. I'm gonna talk about one of my line cooks now. Yeah, her name is Maria. Shout out to Maria. Badass. I judged a book by its cover, yeah, and I was so wrong. Maria is a five foot two, wonderful Mexican woman, and she could cook me underneath the table.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

I was telling uh Will earlier if somebody was to poach Maria and offer her money, I'm like I re-raise. Yeah. In a heartbeat, man. Over raise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

He didn't even like stutter.

SPEAKER_05 47:26

So no, that's Maria Maria came to us uh at Dell 2.0. Um, she walked up to the counter and said, and I was like, I need somebody. I talked to Danny and I was like, we need somebody. Yeah. And I judge a book bias cover, and I was so I've I I have to be honest, like I was I I I fucked up. And I asked her if she could flip a pan. She said a little bit, a little bit, a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

And by the second time, she was prepping at the moment.

SPEAKER_05 48:05

Yeah, she was prepping. Um but I needed somebody that night or the the other night or whatever, and she stepped on to Pasa Station. I said, Danny was translating. I said, This is sink or swim. You either got it or you don't. Yeah. And she fucking we banged out like 80 people, 70 people at 2.0, which was a counter. So 22 seats, so that's four turns. Not including everybody else. The the the uh the table seats in in a in a food hall, uh she has been my connection for an amazing group of cooks that have came in to both restaurants. She has the been the only one that has never copped an attitude. Yeah, when she's been just positive about everything. When she's been scolded or when things have been great, yeah, she's just thank you, chef. Yeah, yes, chef.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

Yes. You know what about Maria is that when she's scolded, she learns I don't want to get scolded again. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to get yelled at by chef.

SPEAKER_05 49:18

And that's the sign of a true, not just a chef, but of a true human. Yeah, that I want to do better. Yeah, I'm not gonna fuck up again. Yeah, that's how it's supposed to be. That's that's all of us. Yeah, that's what I'm sitting at this table right now.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

That's one thing my mom told me, like, yo, don't fuck up and you won't get shitted on. Exactly. Just go in there and do your job and do it right. Listen and learn. Yeah. Because if you do fuck it up, you're gonna get yelled at. Yeah. And she was absolutely right.

SPEAKER_05 49:46

I mean, I came I came from the the 90s where I would have hot saute pants put on my back. Like, yeah, you're doing it wrong, fucko.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:59

And it happened a couple times, and it's like, yeah, chef, may I have another. But now I don't, I mean, I don't want to be that way, but obviously sometimes you gotta yell. Of course, yeah. You gotta get you gotta put some fire under people's ass.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yeah, big time, for sure. And so no come up.

SPEAKER_05 50:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

Yes. You know, you gotta learn. You need to uh so I think I want to go back to the to the going to the school part. So you think going to going to a culinary school is overrated, underrated, or perfectly rated?

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Overrated, yeah. I'm sorry. I I learn by example, yeah. Learn on the job. If you want a title, then you have to start at the bottom.

SPEAKER_00 50:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:41

And some I mean, I mean, I don't hire anybody that is now going to school. Yeah, they're going to these high-end restaurants that they work for free. If your mommy and daddy want to pay for that, go right ahead. I had mom and dad help me, but

Music, Movies, And Hip-Hop Roots

SPEAKER_05 51:00

I went out and busted my ass.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

For sure. I remember when when when when I got promoted at Tabla, right? Uh, and there was a round table, just like how the one we're sitting on now. And there's chefs, managers, and all of them, they went to school, they all went to CIA, they went to this business, blah, blah, blah. I felt a little intimidated. I'm not gonna I'm gonna keep it a buck. And I remember my first, because we had to read out loud the reservation report. And when I when my it was my turn, Chef wasn't there, but I I was I was still shy. And I can't imagine you're shy. I was, I mean, because I mean I was I felt intimidated. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie, you know, all these guys, like they all they're educated, you know. I mean, I got my education or whatever, but nothing, nothing like how they did. Yeah, and then I remember my pastry chef. Um, she's like, you should do it now before Chef comes the next time. That would be your you're ready. I'm like, nah. I didn't do it. I chef comes, I'm like, fuck, now I gotta do it. Because if not, I got if not, chef is gonna shit on me like that. And it was fine though. That's that's like that's the like I was thinking, I was overthinking me not being prepared for some position like that. You know, I learned like how everybody learned. And I was taught well, I pursued what I wanted to do, and I knew this was gonna be my career. Like this is was uh what I what I was gonna do. I like I love making people happy, I love making cocktails, uh just you know, providing the hospitality that we walk with. Just hospitality, yeah. Just like people have it or they don't. Yeah, and I don't think like a higher-end school does that for you. Let me not knock on people that do. I mean, I'm not saying saying not go to school, but you know, if you can't afford it or you just don't want to do it, you can also learn it regardless.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

There's different routes, yeah. You know, at the end of the day, you know, I took the longer route. If you have the longer route, you have the opportunity to go to school, absolutely take advantage of it. And then, you know, obviously, this is not for the week. You know what I mean? Oh fuck. This is this is the uh you have to either have you either have to have passion to be in this hospital in this business, if not this is a 12-hour plus plus.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

But we've been here for 12 hours and shooting and recording this podcast. Now we're doing a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 53:15

Now we're doing a podcast, and you know, it's fucking epic. Chef Andrew Whitney has done his time, has done his hours.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

Yes, uh it's time you're William Garcia and Danny Rencone have done their time too. I mean absolutely these are my compas. Yeah, man. Facts. This is my fucking family.

SPEAKER_02 53:32

Facts up, man. Uh so now we own a restaurant, you and I together. I can't believe that together.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

I still can't believe this. To this day, I I I I like I tell my wife, I'm like, believe like my boys own a restaurant. Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 53:44

And an actual like brick and mortar, not yeah, not in not in not in the uh the food hall.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Yeah, not that.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

We did our time for sure.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

What did you call it earlier?

SPEAKER_05 53:54

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_01 53:54

It was going to Attica. No, because you said no, because politics. The only reason we know this is the reason why I said that for everyone that's not. Doesn't matter if I'm not trying to be an asshole here. It was the fact that the you know but I've said it before.

SPEAKER_05 54:08

Yeah, I was like, it was like going to prison.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Like we had to do our time. The line number 1.0 wasn't James Street, obviously, in you know, in in the West Village, and then they had to go, you know, midtown.

SPEAKER_05 54:18

Shout out to that fucking asshole that raised the rent. I saw mine, so I couldn't take it.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

Um after that, you know, they said uptown or upstate or whatever. I'm like, oh, you went to Attica.

SPEAKER_05 54:30

We went to 44th and 11th. We were there for six years.

SPEAKER_04 54:33

Yeah, and we fucking crushed it. We were that anchor. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

We were the anchor. I think of moments like when we did 40, 50 people in the club room were just like two people. I know, man. That was fucking quick.

SPEAKER_05 54:45

And we still didn't service and high-end uh appetizers and like had our our 15th year anniversary and shit. Like, bro.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

That shit was it's just work, that's what it is. Yeah,

Rapid Fire: En Caliente And Reflections

SPEAKER_02 55:00

yep. Yeah, I mean, I I go back, I'm like, god damn, we fucking killed it. Yeah, man. I mean, we had to actually.

SPEAKER_05 55:07

Yeah, we had to, yeah, we didn't and then COVID. I I'm I'm very happy that we were in there during COVID. Yeah, it was a good transition.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

Well, it was a I mean it was an easy transition.

SPEAKER_05 55:18

It was an easy transition, but it was also we didn't have to to pay the rent that it would have been if we were here. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like it was it was three quarters less of the rent that we had to pay that we are here. Yeah. So it it's it it helped. And we were teaching the market that you don't need the lights on, you don't need the heat on. Yeah, the politics there were. It was insane, right? It was insane. Like, just listen to us. We are restaurant folk that know how to pinch a penny into a fucking thin, thin, thin you sliver.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I rem they used to tell us, oh, we don't have to worry about the llama, they know what they're doing. Damn fucking right, we do. Yeah, yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_05 56:13

Yeah, they know. So, like, it's just I we wanted I I would have stayed there and had this place. Right. But once we told them that we found a place, they closed. They did. It was like and if you know if you know where we were before, you know where we were before. We're not gonna name names, whatever. It is what it is, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

And you know, when I walked in here, the first time I walked into this spot, I was like, this is it. Yeah, the only thing the only thing that was weird about it was the kitchen, but we made it work. I mean we're making it work. We changed it.

SPEAKER_04 56:53

Yeah, it's fucking great.

SPEAKER_02 56:54

I mean it it killed the uh the chef's counter, but but you're still right there, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:59

I mean, we're still out, I'm still out there, and I I can I I'll work the room every once in a while. Plus your arm on the I mean, yeah. I usually Danny Sand go out there and talk to people. Yeah, yeah, that's a sign.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

It's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_05 57:20

Yeah, but I mean, I just like I feel in the 20 years that I've been here and the 15 years that I've known my business partner, my fucking one of my best friends in my family. Yeah, he was in my wedding.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

I was in your wedding. He he remember when the funny story about his wedding. We got tailored and they gave me the wrong fucking size shirt.

SPEAKER_05 57:48

Three like triple X. Fucking retarded, bro. Oh my god, bro. Yeah. I think well the the arms of his.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Did you put of course? Oh man, I'm not gonna go out there look with no fucking shirt. I mean, you could have got another shirt, huh? From where? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 58:06

No, no, my leave like he looked like he looked like he escaped from a straitjacket. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's exactly how it happened. I'm like, I showed animals. You see this? What the fuck? It was so funny. But I love this man. Nice like Danny, Danny, Deneer, my fucking brother for 15 years. Love you too, man.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

Sweet.

SPEAKER_05 58:33

William.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

It's I love you too, man. I love you too, my brother. You know how it is, man.

SPEAKER_05 58:39

And it's just restaurant folk being restaurant folk because restaurant folk, I I would I would hope one day that everyone, at least for three months, has to work in a restaurant. Yeah, yeah. That to just to know what real camaraderie is, what real being belittled is. Yeah, yeah. What real hospitality is, yeah, and how much you well, not everybody understands a hospitality, but just to know that we're we're in this to win. Yeah, yeah. And and I'm so happy to take everybody's fucking money, whether you uh belittle me, whether you but I know that I'm gonna put out that we know, excuse me, that we know that we're gonna give you the best hospitality that we can, and that the best food that my kitchen can provide is gonna come out. And with our front of the house and our it's just it's a solid crew right now. It's solid crew. Yeah, it is, it is.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

But I mean we we I mean we're in the West Village.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:02

I'm so happy to be back. We're back, baby.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

We're back. We are back. We are back. Oh man, but we're back. I mean, you know, the band's back together and we're in the West Village. Seriously. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

Band is back together. Uh we've been talking about restaurant and work. We're talking about restaurant for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:19

Now we're gonna talk about family. You know what I mean? Uh I think that that's very important.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

And then also like the fun stuff. Like, what do you do outside of work? Yeah. Like we have I think we got about 15 minutes or so. Yeah, of course. 20 more minutes or so, and then we'll we'll get it going. Uh, you're married now. Uh you've been married.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:41

You've been married married for eight wonderful, I almost said long. Uh eight wonderful years to my beautiful wife, Ariana. Shout out to Ari. Hey Aries. Whitney. She uh is my rock. She is my life. Yeah. She took me from places that I was horribly in and brought me out of them. Yeah. And now we have a beautiful son, Damien, who is four and a half.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:09

Damo.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:11

Um I am happy. So happy. Beautiful. I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:16

It's just how's parenthood, brother?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

Parenthood is if I could cry every day, I'd just cry every day in tears of joy. Yeah. I mean, he's just my my Bubba. Yeah, he's a happy, happy boy. He's he's my blabbing. I mean, how are you gonna make me cry? Yeah, you cry. I mean, it's it's just everything that I've ever wanted, and we figured it out that Ari and I, Ari and I, Ari and I met at a tattoo shop, and when I saw Ari, I said to my friend Angelo that I will marry this woman one day.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:01

Which, which, before you even say that, I had a conversation with Angelo at the bar, and Angelo takes full credit for your connections. 100%. I just want to give the shout out to Angelo. Angelo, I got you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:13

Well played, sir. Well played. I give him full, full, but uh I don't give him full because I was the one that initiated.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:24

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:25

And so I I met Ari and I saw her, and uh unfortunately the owner of the tattoo shop had passed away, and it was his uh it was his uh like wake, funeral, okay, at and like after party at the at the uh tattoo shop, and Ari was there, and this is when I still smoke cigarettes, and she did too. And I said, You want to go outside and smoke? And she goes, Okay. And I was like, I'm just so in love with you already. Already. Oh my god. And you took the opportunity right now. Oh my god, and I I I I said, Ari, you want to make out? And she goes, Yep. And I like I I'm sure hopefully your mom doesn't listen to this, but I was so infatuated and in love. Like it was really true love, and it it like it was really true love.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:32

You know, the the funny thing about that, chef, is that you know, and you say this now, now what?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:39

Eight ten years, we've been together ten years. Mary.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

I remember when you met her, bro, and I mean you should just talk about her man, bro. Like you used to like you can see it in his eyes, you can see it in his eyes, and I'd be like, yo, Chef's fucking in love. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:52

I was just like and I'm still in love.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:55

I was like, bro, Chef's in love?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:57

Because this is just like a whole different guy. You guys have been together forever. You you have wives that you've been with forever. Like you guys are still in love. I'm still trying to compete with that. Yeah, I'm not compete, yeah, but what a for lack of better words, I'm trying just to be, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you know, I love you, my love. Yeah, you're definitely like we're talking about love.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:19

No, we're talking about love right now, and I and I saw it in your eyes, and I'm like, yo, this I think this girl's it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:27

The first time you ever saw it, too, right? I had a few, I had a few crazies.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

You know what I you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:35

A few crazy? Uh I had a few crazies.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:37

Like girlfriends? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I know Jerry. Okay, I know Jerry. We don't want to go to that. That's a whole different topic. But you know, I know exactly what you meant when you like first like love at first sight. When you always like, oh man, I when I first saw Ari, man, what got my attention is that smile. That whole long smile. Like, I was like, Yeah, she's it. Cheat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:59

Cheese meant everything. I mean, and now I like with with fatherhood, fatherhood changes everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

Yeah, man. How you how you do it, man? Like, like how you balance life with like now having a child, a wife, and you know, I have a I have a strong woman behind me.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:16

A strong woman behind me. I I feel well said, sir. I feel I feel like I have uh this taken care of more than I have the family life taken care of. Yeah. Because I'd we work late, I work early, I work late, Ari works from home most of the time, six or five or four days of the week. So we have a nanny, which is great, I'd on my days off, I'd she knows that I'm tired. It's just with the opening of this restaurant, it's been ten months straight of work. We've been open only for six months.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:09

And but like for like for the audience that are listening, yes, we were open for six months, but it takes more than that. I mean, you know, the preparation, you know, the construction, the you know, it's a lot of things going on. It's about to be a year. It's about to be a year for you guys. Yeah, of straight, of straight work.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:25

And and before that, I was off for six months. Nice crack. Yeah, nice crack. Um, but no, we were off for six months, and I had six months of really great family time, and Danny did too. I did, I went to Mexico. Yeah, like you got to see your family.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:45

I went to go see my grandma. Yeah, I miss her.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:49

I and and I mean Ari and I braced for this. And she knows, yeah, she knows, like, she knows that this is my life. And she knew the first time we ever talked to each other that I was a cook and wanted to be a chef. And having a partner like that is someone that is fully behind you, like it makes sense. I've never I've never fought with Ariana. It's like I'm I'm honest about that. Like we have we have never really raised our voices at each other. We just say you're an idiot. Or you're fucking stupid. And it's usually her saying that to me, obviously. I'll just tell you that by my friends say that. Yeah, but I mean, obviously. Yeah, but just just happy to be in a relationship with somebody that is my soulmate.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:55

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

Seriously, BC? Seriously, like honestly, like like definitely like I see her like really supporting you, like really, you know, putting that effort into like into like you know, being that rock, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:07

Yeah, and I mean she I like we support each other, yeah, as we all do, excuse me. As we all do support our wives and our our our children and and just our family, like her and I are the only well, she has her brother out here, which is great. Shout out to Brad Johnson, shout out to Brad Johnson. Oh I love you. Um, but like she didn't have family out here either. She has family in in in in Boston, in Massachusetts. Um but like yeah, I I don't have words. I'm sorry. You're happy. I love my I love my wife. Yeah, yeah. That's good, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

It's a beautiful thing. Next subject. Next subject. Next subject is uh so this man all the time, every time. Oh, you seen this movie? Oh, you heard this song? Yeah, you know this song? Yeah, I do not know anybody more that knows more TV, more music than this man. Yeah, if I had to make a phone call, like uh, like, you know, when you play those game shows and you have to call somebody asking you about a quiet a movie or a show, I'm calling this this this guy.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:25

Now one time Ben McDonald was on uh uh Cash Cab.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:30

Shout out to Ben McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:33

He was in cash? He was in cash, cash cab.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:35

They asked him.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

Somebody stopped him on the case. And he got it right, too. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna call him too. Yeah, nice. He's an encyclopedia. But yeah, seriously. Where I'm getting at is uh especially like from to me, like you know a lot of hip hop, especially like old school hip hop. What got you into loving hip-hop? Was that something that's in in your town, or is just that something that you just fell in love with and why you fell in love with it?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:01

Growing up in Minnesota, I had East Coast and West Coast. Yeah, like we're straight Midwest. Yeah, like we have some great hip-hop artists that come from Midw uh Minnesota also, but I always I always lean towards Biggie. Yeah, I always lean towards Mob D. Nas Nas was the very it was written the very first C D I ever bought. Oh, sweet. And it was Nas, it was written, it was House of Pain. Yeah, the OG. That's a good one. That's a good one. Top of the morning to you, like fuck that was the biggest fuck you to everybody. Top of the morning to you. Just fucking hilarious. See? Yeah. But uh and life's a bitch, like come on.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:53

Life's a bitch, and life's a bitch, that's why I said that. I made uh funny story. I made I made uh uh a beat and then I put life's a bitch lyrics. In between it, and they emailed me saying, You gotta take this down, or not we're gonna we're gonna press uh file lawsuit against you. Holy shit. Was that like on SoundCloud? Oh SoundCloud, yeah. Seriously, yeah. I had to take it down. Oh shit. I took the I took the verse, I took the whole verse and I just put my beat over it.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no no.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

Two days later, they were like, You gotta take the shit. It was on SoundCloud. It was on SoundCloud. Not anymore, but that's a good song though.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:29

That's fucking so I made a mixed CD for one of my buddies. I put uh Biatch from the Dr. Dre chronic album. Oh, that's right, yeah. Biatch. Oh, yes, yes, yes, I remember that. Between every single song, it was BIOC.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:50

Amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:51

So I mean it was it it made me happy. Yeah, but like so the my my dad did that thing with uh Columbia House where you get like 20 CDs or cassettes for free if you buy so many, whatever, and he's like, Andrew, you can pick three. And I it was Nas, it was written. The first one Ilmatic? Ilmatic, exactly. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to everybody in New York. I'm sorry. I don't be sorry. We knew what you were talking about. I knew what you're talking about. I knew what you're talking about. I'm sorry, Ilmatic, House of Pain, and I did third one was Alice and Chains.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:31

Alice and Chains, okay. Wow. I love music. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:35

I love music, I love all music, every single type of music. Yeah, and I've learned so much more music in the ages that I am now.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:46

Not just music, TV. Oh, I yeah, well, TV TV is TV is a release.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:52

TV is something I just yeah, but no, what I'm saying is like your your your your your knowledge about shows.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:59

I love movies, I love TV shows.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:00

It's fucking crazy. I always give them the same, the same, uh, the same movie. Have you ever seen uh double impact? Yeah, come on, come on, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:10

Jean-Chan Van Damme at his finest. Bro, me and Danny got so many calls on that one. Well, the Sean Connery, that was mine. That that was on Double Impact.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:20

That's actually from Jean-Claude Van Damme.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:22

No, that was from Double Impact. I know, but it's Jean-Claude Van Dam. Yeah, sure, whatever.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:26

Sean Connery, baby. Sean Connery used to say Sean Connery. Sometimes they need to spank on the ass.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:32

Um what do you what so what do you what is Chef watching now? What do we what are we recommending to the to the to the people out there? Well, that's worth watching.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:41

Oh, do you just watch that uh Leonardo DiCaprio movie? Oh my god. I don't want to watch that movie, man. Phenomenal. So good. I thought it was good. You hate that movie. Holy shit. So that that I needed to take a day after watching that. It was so insane. It was so good. It was it was so good, it was insane. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean for sure. That's the same thing I thought. I I I was gonna call you and say, have you seen this movie? And then I remembered that you told me to watch this movie, so I couldn't call you, and I couldn't. I like I was I Ari was like, What are you watching? Did she watch it with you? No, I was watching it during the day on Monday. And also Black Rabbit.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:33

Yeah, yeah, you mentioned that Black Rabbit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:35

Oof. Oof. So good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:38

We gotta get a oof button. Oof, yeah, we do should do that.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:42

That's definitely the main um, but I you know what I've been doing lately is I I wake up, kiss my son goodbye to to to school, yeah, and then put on Seinfeld again on my phone so I can fall asleep. I've been watching Seinfeld since 19 what?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:09

It's classic. It came out in 89. My dad loves it. I learned to love it, and I love it. Can't do it, Jerry.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:20

Not for me, but but it's still quoted Jerry.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:26

I did, I did.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:30

Um what else do we got? Well, we let's do, you know, en caliente. Like, I know we gotta like, you know, wrap it up. Yeah. So I think it's time for us to kind of go into it en caliente. Yeah, you know what I mean? So uh I can't wait. He knows, he knows. Oh, I know, he knows, but so excited. By the way, but just to let the new audience know, you know, en caliente is all about rapid fire questions. Bing bong.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:54

Do we want to go one in one? Or you take over that. No, we shoot one one question you and one question me.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:02

Well, you got the list of them, right? I do. So do it and then I go, I'll I'll improvise. You're gonna uh shoot it from the dome?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:08

Shoot it from the dome.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:09

Get after it, gentlemen. Get after it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

All right. All right.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:13

So I was Uno, dos, tres.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:16

We were oh, by the way, encalented merch coming soon. Yeah, all right. Uh website for the merch coming soon. Uh we're gonna get some beanies out. We got some keychains out, we got sweaters coming out. Uh link will be all over the bio. Yes? Is that correct? Yep. Thank you, Will. All right, you ready? Yep. Are we ready? Yes. Okay. Um Margarita or a Negroni?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:45

Negroni.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:46

Nice. What's most stressful, Chef? Raising a toddler or running a Saturday night service here and Dell? Raising a toddler.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:56

East Coast or West Coast rap? East Coast.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:59

Nah. More painful. A Vikings playoff loss?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:05

Vikings playoff loss.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:06

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Or it messed up Rizorro Result of the service. I said Rizorro Result.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:15

Um I'm gonna have to go 50-50 on that. Vikings, fucking Vikings, fucking Vikings. Summer, fall, winter, fall, really, winter.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:27

Really?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:28

Oh my god. I I like to be cold. I work in a fucking kitchen, man. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:35

All right, better feeling hitting a perfect sear or your team actually winning a World Series. Hey, he's a Matt fan, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:43

Damn right he is.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:46

Oh, I knew that was gonna get you.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:48

I thought about it. Let's go, Mets. Let's go Mets. But that perfect seer on that fucking new venison we have. Sweet.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:58

You have to get that perfect seer. And you got the last question, my brother. If you can dine with anybody dead, alive.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:08

I already know the answer, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:09

Who would you dine with?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:13

Baby. Yep. Or both my grandmas. Beautiful. Beautiful, man. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:20

I want to ask you one last question, Chef. Uh and I want to go deep on this one. Knowing what you know now, you know, at 45 years old, right? 45, 45. 45 years old. 1980, I'm not sure. 45 years young. Exactly, Chef Andrew. What would you tell that 14-year-old Andrew Whitney in Minnesota? What would you tell him? What would you what what what type of advice would you give him? Knowing what you know now.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:48

Listen better. And don't hit the bottle.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:54

Sweet. Ladies and gentlemen, this is our friend,

Closing Thanks And Chef’s Handle

SPEAKER_01 1:19:00

our buddy, our comp our compadre. Uh, you know. Now you're part of the compass. Now he's part of the family. Chef, it was uh an amazing, amazing night. I'm so happy that we had this opportunity to uh, you know, interview you, and I'm so happy that you, you know, you took the time out of your busy schedule to know like to be with us. So we love you. This is uh an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:28

Yeah, no, same, same uh uh Drew. This this was uh I know you've always you supported us from the jump. Yep. We appreciate the support. We uh we love you obviously, and this was amazing. This was a good start to our to us, actually. Um and I know you got a flight to catch later on this after this morning. So we're gonna wrap it up. We're gonna wrap it up very soon. Uh appreciate you, my brother. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for for uh being a part of this podcast. Small talk with Compa for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:00

Let's fucking go for all the listeners out there. Please, you know, show Chef Andrew Whitney uh support. Uh you know, he is the executive chef and owner of the Lanima restaurant. Um, please, you know, uh, you know, just give him a shout out. You know, thank you so much for everything.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:18

Instagram, a pot to biscuin. Yep. A underscore pot underscore bisque underscore in. I ain't got a pot to bison, but I got a pot to biscuit. Bars, bars, make up bars.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:33

He doesn't cook, he's got bars for days, and we are out. Once again, thank you, Chef Angelo. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:39

Thank you, gentlemen.