71dine

Joe Caught [Up With] The Flighty Fowl

• 71dine • Episode 6

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Prepare your taste buds for an exciting culinary journey as we head to the fantastic world of Flululadyfell's wings in this episode. As we savor each bite of the PB Jam and Wing to their Pollo Asado, we promise you'll get a vivid image of the explosion of flavors and varying spice levels. We bring in a first-time customer, family members, and a long-time fan to share with us their love for these wings. Plus, we've got a sneak peek into the highly anticipated Rock City Cafe, a place you might just add to your must-visit list.

Our episode gains depth as we sit down with Robert, a regular at the Rock City Cafe and a food truck pioneer with Flighty Fowl. Picture yourself on a ride with Robert as he shares his inspiring journey in the food industry – from his early days to his present success. His stories about family, the locals' love for his food truck, and his unique experience with the Seven One Dine will open your eyes to the gratifying world of food entrepreneurship.

We wrap up our episode by highlighting how you, our listeners, can be part of our podcast. If you've got a favorite restaurant that deserves some spotlight, we'll let you in on how you can recommend it to be featured on 7-1 Dine. And don't worry, we've got your email privacy covered. So, join us on this culinary adventure, be ready to discover new flavors, hear inspiring stories, and deepen your knowledge about the food industry.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to Joe and the 7-1-Dine podcast.

Speaker 2:

This is Joe and this is the 7-1-Dine podcast. Now I have a question for you. Have you ever been just sitting around the house? Maybe you're driving in your car or maybe, like me, you have woken up from a dead sleep, sat straight up in bed and thought.

Speaker 1:

Boy, some chicken wings had really hit the spot.

Speaker 2:

Of course you have, which can only mean one thing on this episode of the 7-1-Dine podcast, we are talking about my friends over at Flulululadyfell. Hey, evelyn, what'd you think about that?

Speaker 1:

That was absolutely brilliant.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I came up with that all on my own. I thought you didn't know that. If you have listened to previous episodes of the 7-1-Dine podcast, then you know I've been talking about my brand new friends, eli and Mariah, over at Flululadyfell, and you would also be able to recall what Maritza from the best of the West Wings Fest said about them when she and I spoke.

Speaker 3:

That's Flululadyfell.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I know Eli and Eli Patterson and Mariah and their family. Last year they were the festival favorite winners with their PB Jam and Wing.

Speaker 2:

Yes, which was awesome.

Speaker 3:

And Bacon Jam? Yep, and they were only in business for a month last year when they won that.

Speaker 2:

For those of you scoring at home it is not difficult to put those points together and realize just how popular that PB Jam and Wing is, and I owe you an apology. I failed to mention that that wing has bacon. But I don't want you to think that I'm just hooked on this one wing, even though I am. I brought home to my family a few wings for them to try. I brought home PB Jam and obviously I also brought home Palisade Peach Habanero which when you look on their menu it has three fire emojis next to it. I thought it should have had six or seven fire emojis. My stepson, who basically eats fire straight, thought it had a great flavor. He loved the flavor but he did wish it was hotter. And then I brought home Pollo Asado, which has some ingredients I don't even know how to pronounce, but it had this roasted salsa verde which was incredible. Those are the ones I brought home to share with the family, and I ate all the peanut butter jam and the Pollo Asado. He is not a fan of peanut butter. Would he have liked the Pollo Asado? Absolutely. Does he listen to this podcast? No, so I think I'm safe.

Speaker 2:

I mentioned earlier that my introduction to the flightyfile came at the best of the West Wings Fest. When you arrive at the event, you go to the front gate, you show your ticket, they let you in, you immediately go to the registration table where they give you an age-related wristband as well as a passport. Now, what I mean by passport is it's a list of all the restaurants that are taking part of the event, as well as what they are giving out as a sample. Of course, the sample they are handing out to the attendees is what they are entering into the best of the West Wings Fest contest. Yeah, moving on, please know that what I'm about to say is not meant to take anything away from any of the other vendors.

Speaker 2:

That being said, when I looked at my passport and I saw flightyfowl and that the wing they were offering was the PB Jammin, that was the only wing that I wanted to try Understand that I was there for 719 business, but this was a wing that I just couldn't pass up and it ended up being one of the best wings I have ever had, and my getting more of these wings when I went to do the interview is testament enough as to how good this wing is, plus the number of times. This wing has been mentioned in the first 4 minutes and 19 seconds of this podcast episode. Alright, enough about that. When I walked up to the food truck, they were quite busy. The first person I encountered was Jaylin. Alright, cool, what's your name?

Speaker 1:

Jaylin, my name is Jaylin Avery.

Speaker 2:

Night on. So what I mean? Right on, you know how it is. Night on Whatever. What brought you out to this truck? Have you had them before?

Speaker 4:

No, not yet. It's my first time trying them, but I was driving down right here down the street and I had seen their truck. I was like, okay, sounds cool. Let me check my search up on my Instagram and their food was really really good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, this is a good spot. Did you get that PB Jammin? No, I didn't. Oh, you guys try that next time, Next time. As you heard just moments ago, Jaylin did not try the PB Jammin wing Next time. Hopefully Next time. After Jaylin, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting some of flighty fowsies. Flighty fowsies yeah, flighty fowsies is family members. I saw you wave to them, Do you guys? You guys know them.

Speaker 3:

That's my sister.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so you kind of know them A little bit.

Speaker 3:

We won't lie though we actually have not eaten here yet.

Speaker 2:

I just met them a week ago. I've, well, I've had one wing.

Speaker 3:

One wing, the peanut butter wing. Yeah, so this is your first time.

Speaker 2:

This is our first time, all right. Well, don't let me stay in the way. Go up there and look at that menu. Absolutely, it's nice when you have good folks and good food and stuff with peanut butter, all right. So we got to talk to a brand new customer. We also got to talk to family members who, for all intents and purposes, are brand new customers. So listen in now as I talk to a gentleman who has been following flighty fowl as long as they've been open, basically, oh, and listen real close, because you can hear us talk about Rock City Cafe, which, if you go back and look or you already have looked and listened was the first episode of the 7-1-Dine podcast. I mean, I did one for Rock City.

Speaker 4:

Cafe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I went and saw Ricky there and I'm like, so how'd you get your start? And he tells me I got my start washing dishes at Bambino's. I'm like, damn, and Bambino's has been here forever. Now you've been to Rock City. You had those hash browns.

Speaker 5:

Oh yeah, I'm a big hash brown guy.

Speaker 2:

And that was my brief conversation with Robert about flighty fowl and the hash browns at Rock City Cafe. You'll hear him talking. That is him talking with Eli and Mariah and you can hear them thanking him for being such a longstanding customer.

Speaker 5:

Thank you so much. Oh, of course, of course. Yeah, I try and follow you guys.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what's your name?

Speaker 5:

I'm Robert.

Speaker 2:

Robert. Hey, it was good to meet you, of course.

Speaker 5:

Likewise. Yeah, I'm just glad you guys are up and running too. I know we were going to come out last time you were over here and I was like darn it.

Speaker 4:

So glad that everything is. There was a lot of darkness. Check it out. Oh no, I'm sure I can only imagine I have a buddy that runs a feature.

Speaker 5:

I have a Woodland Park, so I grilled cheese yeah.

Speaker 4:

So, yeah, yeah so.

Speaker 5:

I understand, like you know, he's had his breakdowns and vehicle breakdowns Like yeah, I get it. Yeah, generators going out, yeah it's always something. No, it's always something, so I love it. Thank you for coming out. Oh, of course.

Speaker 2:

Okay, the wait is over. Time for me to introduce you to flighty fowl and Eli and Mariah. Yeah, that's a funny thing about Seven One Dine. I tell these people like here's what I'm doing. And you know, for some of the businesses the big catch is like well, the first thing is they look at me like okay, what do you want? I don't want anything, I don't need advertising or discounts. But then when I say I don't do any negative reviews because we're not a review site, it's your story. And I told Jason in there. I said if you want to tell a negative story about your place, I mean I'll play it for you. And he goes no, I won't do that. And of course one of his longtime customers was like I'll do it you know, but you know, that's what I was.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, brows you.

Speaker 2:

And I talked last time, you were telling me that you were involved at Bourbon Brothers. Bourbon Brothers Okay.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, for about eight years, Gotcha. I mean it was great, I loved it. It was a lot, a lot. It was the executive chef and general manager and I ran the restaurant and Boodgarn Hall. So I mean it was 800, 100 dollars a week.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4:

I mean it was a lot. You know I didn't give any time to the family.

Speaker 5:

Oh right.

Speaker 4:

It was good. It's too much. I bet when we started there she was pregnant with our youngest daughter, our youngest period. And, you know, just miss their whole childhood trying to grow up and trying to do a job Right.

Speaker 2:

This is so much better Is just enough is enough. Yeah, I mean food before Bourbon Brothers.

Speaker 4:

I've been in kitchens for about 20 years. Okay, off and on kitchens and construction, but always came back to the kitchen, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So it sounds like that's kind of where your passion is. Yeah, everybody I talk to, especially those that have who've gotten their own place or doing their own thing they're like this gives me that work life balance. You know, and I'm sure there's the pros and cons, as I talk to people, of being your own boss, sure, but I mean, the truck looks great. Everybody seemed to be super excited. I was talking to Maritza and it just it felt like like I saw one wing truck group talking like how did you guys do this? Oh, we do it this way and everybody's cheering for everybody and yeah the wing press is awesome.

Speaker 4:

We've got a great job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they are just fun people and I don't know what it is. It's wings, chinese food and pizza. Everybody has their favorite. You know, there's and there's always a like, a competition, like, no no no, you got to try over here and it's neat to see a couple of your like repeats. I said I said how long have you been like a customer? And he's like oh, not that long, like a year and a half. I started doing the math.

Speaker 3:

I'm like year and a half, yeah, in fact, they'll put in a recommendation. Last August, yeah, and I think he was one of our very first customers.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3:

And he's been coming back over and over again and in fact earlier we had a lady named Deanna who loves super spicy and she could not wait for Peach Habanero to be back on the menu. So she pictures up today and, yeah, it's, it's fun to see the regulars come back around.

Speaker 2:

Oh no, were you in food as well?

Speaker 3:

No, so I am all business. I am a recruiter and have recruited many, many, many people in Colorado Springs over the years, and so I got to just do a lot of the business in the front side the accounting, the marketing, the social media.

Speaker 2:

I was standing here next to a gentleman and the gentleman was asking you hey, how long are you going to be here for a while? Do you have enough? Do you have plenty of wings? You're like, yeah, we're going to be here till six. And you stuck your head out the door and said we're here till seven. And I said 10 bucks says they're here till seven. I mean, I'm sure you meet all kinds of, and why winged for you?

Speaker 4:

I've always loved wings.

Speaker 4:

I think it's a great vessel, you know, because I mean you can do whatever you want with them and I just, I don't know, I Just love the wings Just one thing I wanted to do and when we were like it took us About two years to kind of put the plan together for the food truck and find the right truck and everything you know. I just kind of all came together as far as what we wanted to do with the logo and brand, how we wanted to set up this truck with the wings and the sandwiches and the way that we do them. It's it works really well for the truck is. It's fast like we can, we can pump them out fast.

Speaker 4:

We need to 1500 rings at the ring fest you know really, yeah, so I mean it's it's we kind of built it for what we wanted to do with this truck. So you know, I mean maybe down the road we buy a trailer and do something different.

Speaker 2:

Yeah so. So give me the hit. Why flighty foul?

Speaker 4:

I mean it's a great name. Yeah, it was like it came down to that and one other name that we had like kind of bounced around and I just loved it with, you know, being chicken rings, flighty bowels.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, makes sense. And I we wanted the right colorful logo and colors and that a cartoon yeah, I mean it's, if it was flighty foul or Eli and family chicken wing food truck. I mean you know, but yeah, yeah, like I love the license plate yeah. I thought that was super cool. Yeah, did you have to tell them at the DMV, like it's not gang related.

Speaker 3:

We actually got approved right away in our first choice Okay perfect. But we came around with that because the flavors that Eli chooses are from around the world and so kind of just this local flavor that we try to incorporate inside of the wing. So so that's how kind of the flighty came along, and make sense foul because battle. We serve chicken, but that may not be all that's on the menu.

Speaker 2:

Right, oh yeah, when I I didn't see your menu until I got the Instagram when it said our new menu, I was like man, they got sandwiches and Fries and pub fries and cheese curds I love cheese curds and I mean I was like, wow, this is, it's perfect. But, like I was saying, I'm not sure if I mentioned it to you, but when I consult with from restaurants, you know, I'm like you don't need this war and peace menu. Yeah, do what you do, do it better than anyone, yeah and then the best few trucks do that.

Speaker 4:

I mean, they they know exactly what they want to serve and they serve that and Well, like you said, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I remember coming home with tamales and my wife was like to get these. Where'd you get these? Like at a food truck. I said no, some, some little old lady I mean that with respect was selling them out the back of her Honda Civic. Yep, and I said these are the best things you'll ever have. And she's not. She's like I'm not gonna try that. And my kids came through the door and they're like is that the tamale lady? And they open up and finally she said all right, let's see what's what's going on, but but that's all she does Is those best, boys are always out of the trunk of the car.

Speaker 2:

So you do this, you do the recruiting. How often are you changing the menu like, how do you have a bunch of input into that?

Speaker 3:

I am the taste tester. Oh nice, yeah, I got a taste. That's the peach habanero, to see if I was ready to cry or not.

Speaker 2:

So All right, so that has. Is that the one with three fires next to it? Yeah, right, so how hot. And I judge everything by Tabasco like as a general, like for people to understand, yeah.

Speaker 3:

No, no, it's it's hot.

Speaker 4:

It's the batch I do uses about 14 or so hobby year of the batch, so it's got some change and then I also throw in some other roast peppers.

Speaker 2:

And some special, yeah, your 11 herbs and spices so to speak.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's definitely a spicy one for those that like it hot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my step son loves hot and it's become like one of those things where we try to find, okay, how hot is this? Like we found something in the hand grenade was the jar. He's like that's nothing. So when I saw the, I'm like, okay, not everybody's like him and I he was getting the burrito I said get it just like you get it for me, but with black beans. And I had to play operation because he got it so hot and I'm like I need it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's very edible and very tasty, but it's not for the spice adverse.

Speaker 2:

The spice adverse right. The spice adverse.

Speaker 4:

Try to keep it like. We have a little bit of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

There is a sweet, there is some heat and try to make sure we have you know, everybody can have something.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully. So what's?

Speaker 3:

your favorite wing. Oh that's hard. I mean it depends on the mood that I'm in. So the PB Jam in, but I mean it's an award winner because it's so great.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

And one. You know it's two years in a row that it's been able to win the awards, so I'm a sucker for buffalo.

Speaker 2:

So the.

Speaker 3:

Korean buffalo. It has that little extra kick with some of the Korean spices.

Speaker 2:

How many fire things is that next to you?

Speaker 3:

I've. We put it into two just so that people like there are people that don't really want spice and and that's not just a mild spice, it's a kick up. It's medium, medium, hot buffalo, yeah. So it's just, everybody's taste tolerance is different. So when they ask me how hot is hot, I have to ask well, what is hot to?

Speaker 2:

you Right? I mean, that's probably where you have to start, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Because my hot is not the same anymore as it used to be Well sure.

Speaker 2:

And that's why it used to basketball, because everybody's usually had you know to basketball. Sure, you can't say Pete's hot diggity saw you know, they don't know what that is. Yeah, so it's gonna be like what's your favorite Wing?

Speaker 4:

Right now. I really like it for you. Yeah, yeah, it is really good.

Speaker 2:

How many?

Speaker 4:

fire stick Two, oh my goodness, it's not. It's because I do a roasted salsa verde on top, so I mean it's, it's like, it's like eating one of those tacos like on a chicken, and I love it. Oh nice. It's got all of the flavors in there. We do, I do that sour citrus marinade on it, so it's got the flavor, it's got the spice, it's got the kick from the verde.

Speaker 2:

See, that's what. That's what impresses me so much is you're talking and I mean this with respect you're talking like a chef. It's not just chicken rinds. You're like I have that salsa verde and I'm doing this and that it's just yeah.

Speaker 4:

No, I mean it is chicken rinds, but all of them are brines. You know, we smoke all of them, so that way it kind of seals in that flavor. But also on the truck it allows us to cook them a little bit faster. So we're not just cooking raw wing, oh gotcha. So it's. It's, you know, part of what we wanted to do to make sure that I love. I love nutrients. One of the things I don't like is we've been waiting for food for so long.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, and I mean, I get it when you get buried. There's only so much you can do. Your kitchen is this big, but that's one of the things that I don't like. It's a leaf, you know. So that's why we wanted to make sure that we can. We can make sure that we get food out to the floor. And it's good, it's good quality, it's fresh ingredients, everything is handmade. It's not, you know, we're not just buying baby rays or anything, and throwing stuff over. I mean we wanted to make sure that it was good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and put that out there. That's what I tell folks when I visit these independent restaurants. I mean, yeah, this is a food truck, but you're, you're still welcoming them, welcoming them into your home, so to speak. You want to be a good representation, you want them to have good food. Because it's like when I saw that movie Chef and they drew, I'm like he's talking to his kid about hey, I love this and this is what what we do, and I mean that movie still gives me goosebumps, but it's that's what really led me down. This is I want to share these stories, you know. I mean, let's be honest, anybody can make a chicken wing. I can make a chicken wing, but I don't have that passion that people have for chicken wing. We're here to buy dinner.

Speaker 3:

This is fantastic.

Speaker 2:

I was blown away by the wing fast to see you and your and your family up there getting a war. The story that Maritza told me, because I reached out to her and said, hey, can I come and interview and talk to people? And she started telling me stories and you came up in our most recent, like the compression episode, and I, when I was telling her what I wanted to do, I wasn't recording, but she said, yeah, one of our winners last year the the wing of the event. You guys had only been in business a month and I was just like, wow, that's, that's impressive. And when I try, I saw a peanut butter. I love peanut butter. There's not a day that goes by that I don't at least have a spoonful of peanut butter.

Speaker 2:

It didn't come across as gimmicky. Yeah, you know, it was good, real good. I suspect you'll have to cook. I'm sure we'll talk again. I have orders that I'll put in. Before I head home, because everyone's like are you going over there? Yeah, it's. It's so like, when you say you're going to Starbucks, are you gonna Starbucks Give me a this and a this and a this. So I sent a picture of the menu and my wife's like all right, give me this my step son. I told him I'd bring the.

Speaker 2:

Hot one. And then I got to try the that would you say the boy with local yeah.

Speaker 4:

Is the mix.

Speaker 2:

It's awesome. Right on, eli, it's thanks for having me out. I appreciate it. I know I'll see you again and we'll get out here and Maybe we'll do. I've always thought about doing a 7-1 dying event somewhere and just bringing these people that I meet and saying, hey, let's set up here and Go to town, yeah, right on my friend, I'll let you get in right on buddy.

Speaker 2:

Like I said in a previous episode, have you ever met people that you just Instantly know hey, these are good, down-to-earth people. You just somehow connect with them in a way that you can't explain and, again, it's Instantaneous. That's what I felt about Eli and Mariah when I first met them. I say all that to say when you're doing a podcast, or any audio show for that matter, and you're sitting in post-production, it really opens your ears and you can see some of the things you wish you could have done better, some of the things that might be missing or that you had too much of. You know, it kind of sounds like when you're working on a new recipe you want to make sure all the ingredients match, you want to make sure it's proper ratios same thing as a podcast. It's always a work in progress. I know they're going to be listening and so I want to ask them if I can come back and do. I don't want to call it a follow-up episode, I want to call it a New and improved episode. That's right, flighty foul, new and improved Podcast episode. Or, for some of you who might be in my age bracket, we could call it flighty foul to electric boogaloo. I Crack myself up. Anyway, I can't imagine that they would say no, but even if they did, they post where they're gonna be on their website, so I could just show up. All kidding aside, I do want to run this one back.

Speaker 2:

As always when I close out the show, I just want to say thank you. I am still amazed at the response from the community to 7-1 dine. I thank everybody who listens. I thank everybody who has been to the website. You know, just as a side note, when you visit the website, you can click on the contact us link and recommend a restaurant that you think should be featured on 7-1 dine. It's pretty simple process go to the contact us link, put in your name, email and a One or two sentence story about why you think I should visit this restaurant. And just so you know, I don't do anything with your emails other than to reply to you. I don't sell them, I don't build a list. Rest assured that your email address is safe with me. Again, thanks to everyone out there that's supporting 7-1 dine. It really means the world. I'll bring Evelyn up, she'll give you some information and and until next time where can you find the 7-1 dine podcast?

Speaker 1:

Well, you can find the 7-1 dine podcast wherever you look for and find podcasts. Don't forget to visit us online at 7-1 dine calm.