Vault Episode 11: Matteo Sogne

A small town in Italy where balsamic vinegar and Ferrari share the same air taught Matteo two things: food should slow time, and precision is a kind of love. That’s the heartbeat of this conversation—a founder who brought his family to Utah to build a restaurant that feels like Sunday lunch, where you leave knowing your people a little better.

We dig into the moments that forged his approach: learning endurance in open water, sharpening his problem-solving with math and economics, and choosing a culinary path that favors heritage over hype. Matteo explains why he keeps dishes to a handful of impeccable ingredients, how he spent years securing an award-winning Parmigiano Reggiano from dairy No. 168, and what it takes to make a classic like lasagna feel new without changing a thing. There’s joy in the craft too: the cult-favorite whipped brie, the notorious puttanata born from a friendly kitchen argument, and a Banksy-inspired cheesecake that tips its hat to the invisible artists behind every plate.

This is also a family story. His mother bakes focaccia at sunrise and runs the books with the rigor of a former credit director. His father calibrates service like a seasoned CFO, guarding quality in the heat of the pass. Their team treats the kitchen as a studio, experimenting, refining, and adding dishes only when they meet a shared standard. We talk about opening day with zero marketing, the compounding power of word of mouth, and why Ninth South’s human-scale energy is the right fit for hospitality that lingers.

Looking ahead, Matteo sketches a vision for affordable excellence—an Italian concept that widens access without lowering the bar—and teases Italian brunch with a white-chocolate hollandaise that still haunts his dreams. If you believe food should connect people, not just feed them, you’ll find a lot to savor here. Listen, share it with a friend who loves authentic Italian, and leave a quick review so more curious eaters can discover the show.

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Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

Chapters

• 0:00 Vault Intro And Why Matteo Matters
• 4:20 Growing Up In Modena: Slow Food, Fast Cars
• 9:30 Family, Sunday Lunch, And Restaurant Purpose
• 14:45 Culture Shock And The Art Of Lingering Meals
• 18:20 From Fear Of Water To Distance Swimming
• 23:40 Choosing Utah And Academic Grind
• 30:05 Bear Lake Monster Swim And Open Water Freedom
• 34:15 Why Math And Economics Shaped A Chef’s Mindset
• 41:30 The COVID Pivot And Building Craft
• 47:55 Site Selection And The Ninth South Community
• 52:40 Picking A Culinary Path: Tradition Or Futurism
• 59:15 Ingredients, Standards, And The Parmesan Story
• 1:04:55 Signature Dishes And The Whipped Brie Surprise
• 1:10:20 Team Culture, Creativity, And Menu Additions
• 1:15:45 Family Roles And Daily Bread

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:35

What is up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Nilsson, and this week we are back with another Vault episode. And this time we are revisiting the conversation with Matteo Sanye. Now, Matteo is the founder of the Italian restaurant Matteo. Uh, but it's been fun to see since I released this episode that he has now opened up a second restaurant, Estrata, which is uh fast casual Italian sandwich shop, but has also moved to a bigger location for his restaurant, Matteo. Um, if you haven't been, I definitely recommend. But uh want to jump into a story about growing up in Italy, coming here for school, and then deciding to not only stay around to launch his own restaurant, but to bring his family in on it as well. So let's jump into it. Whether you've listened to this one before or this is a completely new one for you, you are going to enjoy it. So there's people that I when I started the podcast, I like knew that I wanted to have on that I knew. But then there's like this whole wave of people that I either got introduced to or got exposed to, and I was like, this is someone I need to hear their story. I want to get to know them better. And you were number one on the list. So I mean, as we as we've talked about and connected over, I mean, and I've brought up on the podcast actually probably two or three times now. But I remember I'd heard of your restaurant, and I and for me, like I love Italian food, but my biggest problem with Italian food is inauthentic Italian food and low quality Italian food. Because if I go get food at like a restaurant, especially like a I mean, let's call like high-quality Italian restaurant, like I have expectations, and if I walk out feeling like I could have made that at home, I don't want to pay$30 for that.

SPEAKER_00: 3:09

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 3:10

And so when I um I was going to uh dinner with one of my friends, Maddie, and I was like, I really just want to go out like to a nice dinner. Like I haven't gone to a nice dinner in a while. Uh I've heard of Mateos, I really want to go. And so we go, and like, and I was kind of like speculative at first. I was like, all right, let's see how this is, and exceeded all my expectations. The authenticity is palpable. Uh, the staff is amazing, the menu is phenomenal, and uh all from your family recipes and everything that's been passed down and bringing on to here. So I'm so excited to have you here and hear from I mean your mouth all the story of how it came to be and what's to look forward to. So thank you so much for joining and excited to hear the story. Thank you for having me. It's very exciting. Totally. And like, and again, like going back to the authenticity of things, like everything is as good as it could be. Because I mean, obviously, born and raised um in Italy, uh, kind of want to start there. I mean, what part of Italy were you from and what was I mean early childhood like?

SPEAKER_00: 4:07

I was born and raised in Modena. Modena is the town whenever whenever you go to the to the store, you see balsami vinegar of Modena. Yeah. So I like to call it Lando's Low Foods and Fast Cars. Because all Italian fast cars are made there. Yeah Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Pagani, Bugatti, they're all made within a 20-mile radius. And all the slow foods are from there as well. Balsami vinegar, parmesan cheese, bologna sauce, all those things are made in Modena. So I was born and raised there.

SPEAKER_01: 4:36

You were primarily raised like with your by your grandparents, right?

SPEAKER_00: 4:39

Yeah. Well, in Italy, a lot of people work from like 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. And so my first nine and a half years, I was spending a lot of time with my grandparents because I used to go to bed early, so I saw my parents, you know, maybe like a couple hours a day, and of course during the weekends, but I spent a lot of time with my with my grandparents, and I had the luck that my parents, when I was a little kid, we didn't have much money, so we just built our house in my grandparents' backyard. That works, and so I I was born and raised like maybe 40 feet away from my grandparents' backyard, and so I inherited a lot of their culture, a lot of their experience, and I just love to sit down and listen to people. Yeah, and so I just had my yeah, I just had my grandpa tell me stories about everything, and my grandpa is one of the most fascinated people I know, and he tells me a story about everything from how he started smoking when he was four and a half years old to everything else. So yeah, I was raised when I was little by my grandparents, and my first memories is my grandmas chasing me around with a five-foot rolling pin around the kitchen because I was just you know not the most behaved guy, and so yeah, that's when I was very young, and then you know, growing older, I learned how to cherish and spend more time with my parents, yeah. And so, you know, we have a beautiful relationship. They move the earth to help me out with the restaurant, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 6:03

Well, because I love that like one of my favorite things about Italian culture is like two things that kind of pair together is family, obviously, because you're sharing such a communal space, which is very common in Italy and like to the detriment, like in COVID, the reason why it was so rampant so fast is because there's multi-generations in in in different households. But then also that family is so centered around food. And I and I believe it was like your grand, I mean, obviously it's um family recipes that got passed down, but it sounds like it was your your grandma that really inspired you for going back to your fast cars and slow food. Your grandma was the one that taught you about the slow food, and your grandfather was the one that taught you about the fast food.

SPEAKER_00: 6:39

Absolutely, yep. And yeah, the reason we all the whole reason we opened up the restaurant is because we wanted to bring joy and togetherness. That's the whole reason to open up the restaurant. When I was a kid growing up, we had this thing that I look forward to the whole week. It was our Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch was the thing to me that brought me joy and togetherness. Because Sunday lunch, we all went to my grandma's house, 12:30. You knew that food was ready and the whole family was getting together. It was a two, three-hour lunch, stories, sharing, and we'll just you feel good, you know. So that's the reason we open up the restaurant. And fun fact, if you go on joyintogetherness.com, it redirects you to our website. I love that. Just a little nerdy things, but yeah, I just wanted to bring Joy and Togetherness to Salt Lake City, and I think as a restaurant owner now, but restaurant people, restaurants in general, our mission is we're in the people business, we're not in the food business. Yes. Food, of course, is part of it, but I wanted to recreate that feeling when you walk into your grandma's house, when you spend time with your family, and bringing up Will Gadera, which is one of my favorite authors, fine dining is not about the check, it's not about anything else. It's about if you and me go to dinner, I want to leave feeling like I know you a little bit better. Regardless if it's our first date or our 50th wedding anniversary, I wanna feel I want to feel like I walk out of dinner feeling like I know you a little bit better. And that's how every Sunday lunch was on my family. I felt like I woke out of that lunch, I know everyone else at that table a little bit better. I know that story about them, I know that experience about them, and that's what I want to recreate.

SPEAKER_01: 8:15

That's so awesome. I mean, and and it's such like the authentic way to because like I'm a big believer in in food and bringing people together and eating, and like my my grandmother actually was the person who uh was always the the cook, the one that brought people together, was always at grandma's house. I mean, she I mean grew up in like rural Utah and a lot of just mean traditional American uh food, but she inspired so many people. I mean, I was telling you as we were walking in that I have a cousin who lives up in Willamette Valley that's a chef, has been chef for uh 15, probably 20 years now. And that's one thing I love about going and visiting him. It's we sit down, he's like it's either he's already cooking, or we show up at a restaurant and he steals the menu from me and says, Don't worry, like I've got this, and it's perfect. And like to your exact point, I mean, that's what brings people together, that's what brings people closer, is having one of the most basic but yet most intimate human experiences of eating food together and breaking bread. Yeah, like that's how that's how people are are are brought together. And like I hate like one of my biggest pet peeves with people sometimes is when like you go out to eat and it's like a race. It's like, okay, cool, so uh let's get our order in now so we can do this. Uh like and then we can I'm like, whoa, like slow down. Like I'm I'm here to spend time with you, not just like check off a uh uh an item on the list of getting food.

SPEAKER_00: 9:27

That was one of the hardest experiences I had when I moved to the US. Because back home I'm used to you know, sit down and enjoy a good meal, you know. To me, dinner can be like hour, hour and a half, two hours on a Tuesday. Because you just sit down and talk to people. And when I moved here, I just saw people that were like I mean, most of the houses I went to barely even had the table. So it's like, you know, a lot of people like to me the thing that blew my mind in college is a lot of people eat their dinner in their bed. And to me, I'm like that's there was such a big cultural change. Yeah. I'm like, I think if I could help bringing that joy and togetherness of breaking bread together, of sitting down, let's leave everything outside of the restaurant. Here we're just in this little bubble, and we just want to enjoy ourselves, wind down for a second, enjoy a good meal, and then when you walk out, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01: 10:20

Yeah, but that's as that as you said is one of the most intimate experiences that you can share with anyone, and it's yeah, and I think Italians are some of the best people have have mastered that of slowing down, pausing life, and then just really getting together and connecting over that. Italian and Japanese, yes. Oh, yeah, true. Good call. Um, so I know that I mean cars are your passion. I mean, obviously you're wearing a martini racing sweatshirt, so imagine a big F1 fan. I mean, unfortunately, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 10:47

Given how Ferrari's been doing us, I gotta say, unfortunately, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 10:50

I wasn't gonna mention it, but I'm so sorry for that.

SPEAKER_00: 10:52

Yeah, it's all good.

SPEAKER_01: 10:53

Uh so you've you so you have your passion about your cars, your grandma and family. I mean, you have this great experience around cooking, but then I also know that uh swimming was another passion of yours as well. I mean, how did you get introduced to that and how did that take off?

SPEAKER_00: 11:05

Oh, it was funny because when I was a little kid, uh I was afraid of water on my face. So at until I was like six years old, I had to shower with a towel on my face because I couldn't stand water on my face.

SPEAKER_01: 11:16

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 11:16

And then when I was seven years old, that blew up my elbow. And I was playing goal in soccer, and of course that's out the window. Yeah, can't do that. And the doctor's like, well, the only way you have to rehab is to swim. And I was like, gosh, really, among all the sports I could do, swimming is the only one I hate. And so they threw me the pool, and I'm determined, so I'm like, you know what? I want to have a normal elbow, so I gotta start swimming. And I realized I actually quite enjoyed after you passed the fear of water on your face. I I quite still enjoy it, and I was okay at it, I was never good. And then when I was like 15, I think, I mean, up until I was 14th, if it was a race for eight people, I'll probably get ninth. Like I was that bad. And then when I was 15th, one of my coaches was like, Yeah, you know, we gotta split groups, and all my friends were in the good group, and I was in the one with not very good groups. So I'm like, okay, you know what? I actually gotta try and I actually gotta get my stuff together. Because I want to be with my friends, not because I want it to be good. Yeah, I don't want to be in this lane. Exactly. So I actually started trying, and within a year I got third at Italian championships. Wow. And so I was like, okay, I I like it. What was your event? Uh I swim distance freestyle. Oh wow. I actually still have the records across Bear Lake, side to side. No.

SPEAKER_01: 12:31

Seven miles, yeah. We're gonna come back to that one.

SPEAKER_00: 12:34

Uh but yeah, so I was a miler and then in 2015 I broke my nose, so I didn't have the chance to even try to for the Olympics. And I was like, you know what? I want to try to go to Tokyo, but I'm not gonna stay in Italy because I tried to do university and swimming in Italy, and it's impossible. Like I had to drive 45 minutes from practice to to school and back. Because swimming, you swim twice a day. So I swim 6 to 8 in the morning. I got breakfast in my car, and then I went to university from one from 9 to like 1, 1.30. I ate lunch in my car on the way back, and then I was swimming again from 2.30 to 5 and then lifting after. Yeah. And so I'm like, there's not a chance I'm gonna do it. And so I had a couple friends that were swimming in America, uh, University of Arizona in Tucson. And I was like, you know what? I want to give it a chance. So I sent an email, like out of the blue, to like 70 schools. I'm like, hey, these are my times. If you're interested, uh respond with a scholarship, preferably, and we'll go from there. And so I got a few emails back, and one of them was from Utah, to which I committed in November, and I came on my recruiting trip in February. So if I didn't like it, I you know, I can't really do anything about it. Yeah, so yeah, that's how my very, very short, that's how my swimming career was, and then I swam for four years. Uh when I graduated in 2020, I won the title of Student Athlete of the Year, which is the male athlete with the highest GPA. Congrats. Thank you. Huge accomplishment. Uh and I just really enjoy swimming, and I happen to be not very fast, but I never got fast at it, yeah. Well, I never got tired, so I just can swim for a long time.

SPEAKER_01: 14:13

I'm I still I'm still not very fast, but uh you know, but you can but you can endure better than you're the you're the tortoise, not the hare. Yep, yep, yep. That's so awesome. So you're going to the U. So I mean, when you were applying to these schools, I mean, was Utah like middle of the list, top of the list, bottom of the list?

SPEAKER_00: 14:29

I mean, I didn't even know Utah existed, honestly. So Utah was off the list, was not even on the list. Because I started, you know, from all the big schools, you know, as in Italy, you know, New York. Of course. You know, I I started from Colombia, New York. I saw from Cal Berkeley, I saw from Stanford and blah blah blah. I started from all the Ivy League, and then I realized Ivy League doesn't have any sports scholarships. So I'm like, okay, that's out of the window. And I had an offer from Colombia, actually, New York, and I went there on my recurring trip on the third day. I'm like, I gotta go to Central Park, man, I gotta breathe. I I can't do this.

SPEAKER_01: 15:01

Very, yeah, very starting.

SPEAKER_00: 15:03

So yeah, uh, I just ended up picking among like 20 schools, and Utah was the best uh overall deal, not money-wise, because I I had a lot more money offered in basically 90% of all the other schools, but among the culture, among the economics, among uh, you know, you drive 10 minutes from campus or in the middle of nowhere. And I'm very thankful I made that choice because I still love it very much here.

SPEAKER_01: 15:33

Yeah. I mean, it's even at the point where you you moved your entire family here just so that they could be here and and help support. Yep. And uh that's so so tell me about this Bear Lake story. I didn't know about this. What inspired you to want to beat the time of across Bear Lake Impact?

SPEAKER_00: 15:47

Bear Lake Monster Swim, and it was 2019. Uh I was my last summer actually swimming, and I I've had people talk all the time about Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Bear Lake, and there's this monster swim, it's very cold water, blah blah. And there's very few people that do it without a wetsuit, because I mean water in the middle is like 61 degrees, which is very pretty cold, and you gotta stay in that water for two hours. So I was like, you know what? Screw it, I'll do it. And so I just wanted to prove to myself I can do it. And I made a huge mistake. Uh the guy that was kayaking for me has a titanium elbow, so I never considered the fact that he was not gonna go straight. So instead of swimming six miles, we swim like seven and a half, but and that guy still happens to be our chef, so it didn't feel too bad. It no, it was fine. I just you know endured the pain an extra 20 minutes, but uh yeah, so I just basically randomly came across it and I was like, you know, I just really enjoy swimming open water. The guy that sets up the the whole event reached out and was like, I would love to have you over. And I was like, Yeah, sure. Uh I'll I'll come and swim. You know, I have fun, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, sounds like a fun race. It's very fun. You just go side to side. It's one of the very few open water races where you actually go side to side, which feels really good, especially when you're in the middle of nowhere. You just it's so quiet, so peaceful.

SPEAKER_01: 17:13

Nothing. And so, yeah, no one bumping into you in a swim lane.

SPEAKER_00: 17:17

Nope. But that's one thing I love about open water. It's just you're free. It's like the close thing to flying because you don't don't see the bottom. You just are free. You're in the middle of nowhere by yourself.

SPEAKER_01: 17:27

And so I'm also curious too, because so you I I believe you studied math and economics at the U. Yes. And so, I mean, it was that what was that? Because I just think of like all of this cooking, this food, it was very like I mean, let's call it, I mean, not very quantitative, not very numerical, very um, let's call it artistic for lack of a better term. I mean, what what drove you to want to uh study math and economics?

SPEAKER_00: 17:50

I've never been very good at English, and I've never been good at Italian either. I'm the guy that if you put me in front of a piece of blank paper and say write down something, I write down three sentences, then I'm done. Yeah. So even back home, I was always good at math. I did the Olympics of math, I did I always did the fun stuff with math. And I believe math is uh the most noble science, meaning that teaches you how to solve problems that you don't know to solve, bring it back to something you know how to solve. And that's the most beautiful part about math. It teaches you a mindset, which is the same thing as swimming, which is the same thing as everything, it teaches you a mindset. Yes, it doesn't teach you any skill because you don't know any skill. Like realistically, when you graduate math, you have no skills. Like you know, when you study medicine or when you when you go to math school or when you become a lawyer, you have a lot of skills, right? Totally. Math teaches you no skills because you cannot apply any of the skills in real life, but it teaches you the best skill, which is to solve problems, yes. And so that's why I always fascinated so much about math that to get from A to B, you have many different ways. And they're all right. Yeah. It just for some people you take this route, so for some other people you gotta take the other. And that's why a lot of people don't like don't love math, because the way math is taught, it's just to go from A to B you gotta take this route, right?

unknown: 19:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 19:08

But it's not. No. And so that's what always fascinated me about math and economics. I just like to understand what's going on around me.

SPEAKER_01: 19:15

Yeah, it's kind of like I mean, it's also kind of like an applied math almost. Yeah, because like I'm a very math-minded person. Like, I've been the same thing I did uh like the math Olympics that used to have up on University of Utah campus when I was in grade school, I was in like all the advanced class. I mean, I was just math nerd. Yeah, like absolutely and because like, and I totally agree, like it always bothers me when people are like, Oh, I never have used the Pythagorean theorem in my life. I've never used this. I'm like, right, but there's this like problem solving, critical thinking. And like I was talking to someone at work the other day, and someone was like, Oh, do you remember proofs of like uh just like I mean math proofs? And I was like, Yeah, I'm like actually in hindsight, like those help me a lot, like be able, like even in my work today, like if I have to prove something, like those exercises may be like, okay, cool. So start here, this is what we do, this is what we do, this is why we do this, this is how we get there, check all my steps, document it all. Any questions?

SPEAKER_00: 20:02

Well, that's exactly what math teaches you, you know, to have you know the Pythagorean theorem teaches you how to solve second grade equation, and then second grade equation teaches you how to apply to something else, and then you're basically building a wall, but you need to consolidate that brick in order to put the next brick, right? And that's what math is, and that's what real life is, you know. Like in your work, you're like, hey, you know, how do you put the roof on the house? Well, you gotta start from here to here to here to here, right? And so that's what math does.

SPEAKER_01: 20:33

Yeah, a lot of people get so impatient, they're like, I just want the roof, give me the roof. How do we get to the roof? You're like, yeah, you gotta appreciate the roof and you gotta get through the foundation and the walls and the and the ceiling first.

SPEAKER_00: 20:43

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 20:44

So you're studying math and economics, and so you graduate you graduated in 2020 from 2020. Yeah, and I mean, at this point, was the restaurant on your radar, or what were what were your plans at this point?

SPEAKER_00: 20:54

Well, I was doing math for four years and I was doing research as well, and then I was working in restaurants at night every now and then just helping out friends because I've been in restaurant business since I'm like three years old. In 2019, my mom and my dad and everyone were like, hey, you know, what are you gonna do after college? I'm like, Well, I think I want to open up a restaurant because that's my true passion, that's what I really enjoy doing. And Solake and Utah need some sort of good restaurant, right? I we had a total different idea in mind, which is still at some point gonna happen. Yeah, so 2019, end of 2019, we start looking at the space because I'm like, okay, well, you know, I'm gonna graduate May 2020, uh, you know, to build out a space to Six to it, six to eight months. So you know, end of 2019, we start looking at places, and then for a reason or another, it always got pushback. And then we reach you know January 2020, and we have a couple places that were in the final steps of negotiating a contract, which I'm not gonna mention names, but they're both very, very successful restaurants now. Cool. Yeah, January 2020, we started to do that, and then we were supposed to close on one of them like in three days, and then I get a phone call from my mom in Italy, and she's like, Hey, I just wanted to let you know we have this thing called COVID here. Uh, it's like starting to get spread and stuff. I don't know like what should happen or something. I think it was January, late January or early February.

SPEAKER_01: 22:13

Yeah, it's like calm before the storm.

SPEAKER_00: 22:15

Yeah, and she was like, You might want to wait, try to like take a week or two, because she's like, This might be like just some regular flu stuff that nobody cares about in like two weeks, or it can be something huge. So she's like, you might want to wait a week or two. I'm like, okay, you know what? Good call. Wise mother. Yeah, yeah. And so I end up taking my time, so we lose one of the buildings, which ended up becoming Ivy and Varley. Oh, interesting, yeah. Which is absolutely amazing. I love to get there now. And you know, we keep going, and late February happens. I'm like, okay, no, this is things bad.

SPEAKER_01: 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:48

And early March, my dad comes to the States because it was my final race, Pac-12, 2020. Okay. So March 6th, I believe, 2020. King County. Yeah. King County, Washington.

unknown: 22:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:59

Just everything's aligning to be the worst place to be at the worst time.

SPEAKER_01: 23:03

Exactly. And so imagine it's up at UW, right? Or you're Washington? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 23:07

Yeah, yeah. No, no, it's uh no, it's Martin Luther King's Center, Aquatic Center. It's uh it's in Tacoma. It's not U. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, it's not UW. And my dad travels here to watch my last race. He shows up with a mask, gloves, and everyone, and everything, because Italy was bad. Yeah. In America, nobody cares. He didn't shake anyone's hands, and everyone thought it was crazy. And next thing you know, like two days later, they shut down the border. So my dad is stuck here for like three months in my apartment. And after that, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna take a little bit of time to just master my craft because I think I'm okay at it, but I want to take a few times to understand really how it's done to travel to spend more time.

SPEAKER_01: 23:47

Yeah. Well, it's like I like that too, because I like that with your swimming, you weren't good at it at the beginning, and you really had to work at it. And even if it was just motivated to be in the same lane as your friends, I love that with your craft of cooking, you had that same approach. You're like, hey, I'm I'm good, I've done this. Like I've was I spent so much time in the kitchen with my grandma and my mom and my other family. I've I've worked at restaurants, but like I I still feel like there's more to learn. I'm gonna go push myself and grow more.

SPEAKER_00: 24:12

I agree. And one thing swimming taught me is that worry about what you can control, and don't worry about you what you cannot control, right? The only thing you can control is how hard you're working, how smart you're working, how dedicated you are. And I can tell you I'm not gonna be the most talented person, and I I I know I'm not, but I can be the hardest working, and that's what I do about, you know. Like our staff always gives me a hard time because they're like, when are you gonna take a day off? I'm like, Christmas Day. Yeah, because that's the day the restaurant's closed. Because no one's coming in here. Yeah, because otherwise I don't need days off. Like, I don't even have a TV in my house. I haven't had I haven't had a TV in seven years. Yeah. Because I don't know. I'm I got stuff to do, no time to sit down and do it. I I just learn not to be a go-getter, you know, if you want to say in the slang.

SPEAKER_01: 25:00

Yeah, no, I I totally get it. I mean, especially when it's your own venture, your own I mean, passion, it's you or nothing. Like it's either you're gonna do it or no one else is.

SPEAKER_00: 25:09

Well, my dad was in the special force of the army back home for a few years, and he taught me since I was a kid, uh, he always raised me with the mindset number one or no one. Like if you do something, you do it well. Yeah. Uh and you take pride in there. Otherwise, you don't waste your time. Yeah. Use that time on something that you really and genuinely truly believe in.

SPEAKER_01: 25:29

Yeah. And especially with food, I mean, just to be so dedicated to that craft and wanting to be the best, wanting to be to own your craft even more. And I mean, spoiler, it worked, like did did very well. You you decided you're gonna take some time and go back to Italy. I mean, what what were you like learning? I mean, what were you spending time doing to try to I mean further your craft? During COVID? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:51

Uh during COVID, I I was teaching cooking classes. Oh, that's right. You're doing them like on Zoom and I was doing Zoom cooking classes for OSHA, which is the University of Utah continuing education for older people. Cool. And I wasn't charging for it because I'm like, you know, I really really don't care. I gotta make lunch anyways. Yeah, exactly. If you guys want to watch, you can. I also started working in restaurants full-time. On the side, I did a lot of education. I did a lot of education. Cool. Like wine education, and I also did because you became a small is this d during when you became a Somalia? No, I I I did the Somalia certification in Italy from 2015 to 2016.

SPEAKER_01: 26:23

I took a is that just like part of like normal Italian, like you go to grade school, you go to high school, you become a smalia, and then you just go into society?

SPEAKER_00: 26:32

Uh not really, but a lot of people like to enjoy a nice glass of wine. And I figure that, you know, in Europe we have an extra year of high school. And then 2015 to 2016, I tried to take an Olympic year, so I tried to focus to make the Olympics in 2016. Uh, but at the same time, I I wasn't going to school in the morning, I wasn't going to college because there's no way I could focus on both. But I wanted to still do something and learn something, be active about something, and restaurants have always been my passion. I figured that the part I was knowing the least was the spirits aspect, wine, spirits, and everything. So I was like, you know, I want to invest into something that I don't know, so it keeps my brain active. And so that's why I start to study for wine.

SPEAKER_02: 27:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:13

And then after that, I just truly enjoy it. And I have a lot of friends in Tuscany and Piedmont that make wine. So I go good friends to have. Yeah, great friends to have. And I go home twice a year. I go to Tuscany in the fall to try the new vintages. And you know, I mean, somebody's gonna do it. I know. It's a socially acceptable way of having some fun. And in the spring I go to Piedmont, uh, and they're just beautiful.

SPEAKER_01: 27:37

That's uh yeah, that's like one of my favorite. I guess to mention this uh to you as well about my cousin who lives in Willamette Valley. I mean, grow great Pinot, grow great shards, he's a chef, and but like because he's a chef, he orders all of the wine from all the best wineries there, and so we'll go wine tasting, and it's like the red carpet gets rolled out here. Like, do you want to try this vintage? And I'm just like sitting there, just so like beaming from ear to ear, just so happy to be included.

SPEAKER_00: 27:59

That happened to me in March. I went to Napa because my best friend here, he was taking the third level sommelier, and he's the food beverage director of a very prestigious golf club in Park City. I cannot mention names because I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Yeah, but basically, they had everything paid for and they set up all these very cool tastings. So we he's like, Yeah, I got a couple wineries set up, and they he wouldn't tell me the names. I'm like, okay, you know what? I'm just a passenger. Like I'm along for the ride. I mean, I paid$12 for the whole trip. Like I got a Delta credit card, so I just literally paid$12 for four days in Napa. I'm like, uh, you know what? Can't get worse. Yes. Um, so first winery, we roll in, we land to San Francisco, we roll in, we go to Opus One, and we we pass through the tasting room. I'm like, yeah, that's what I thought. We're not gonna taste Opus One. I mean, come on. We can't do this. Yeah, we can't start from Pripus One. Yeah, and they were like, let me take you downstairs to the Barik room and to the private cellar, and dude shows us like a bunch of unicorns, and then he opened like in 2002, 2007. We ended up tasting like six or seven different wines, they were just mind-blowing. I'm like, okay, this is the first one, so it's hard to beat.

SPEAKER_01: 29:10

And then expectations changed immediately. You're like, I thought we were just kind of hanging out and going to Napa, and now it turns out it's the uh white glove treatment.

SPEAKER_00: 29:17

Yep, and then you know, I've always been like kind of like Italian wine guy. You know, if you come to a restaurant, we only have Italian wines for except for sparkling and dessert. And then, you know, I had to really re-change my my plans because there's some really, really, really good wines in Napa, and you know, would never know.

SPEAKER_01: 29:36

Sometimes you learn and you develop and you change. Yep. Yeah, I'm sure there's that was a uh a mental grapple for you to be like, wait, uh, it's not Italian wine, but I like this. Yeah, what am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_00: 29:47

I mean, you you know what can I say? It was a very tough three days.

SPEAKER_01: 29:50

I'm I'm so glad that you survived and got through that. Barely. So you're going through COVID, you're working, you're learning. At what point uh do you start thinking, okay, it's time to rethink the restaurant, COVID's getting going away.

SPEAKER_00: 30:04

I was working in a restaurant before, okay, to which I hoped to become part owner or at least to be involved in it into the growth project. And that was my kind of soft shoe-in. And then when I realized that those plans were maybe gonna happen, maybe not, I was like, you know what? I think it's time for me to at least start doing something by myself. Because I'm 27. If I don't do it now, I don't know. I mean, now I don't mind working while I'm working because I got nothing else to do. I mean, it's me and two bunnies. I mean, you know, I really don't care. But if you if you start to have a family and everything, you know, it's a little bit more challenging to put in the 80, 100 hours a week, yeah. A lot more possible, you know, it's the opportunity cost. Yep. So talking about economics. Uh so yeah, for me it was just I want to start it now, and also my family was like, you know, I think we're ready to make the big big jump. Because I mean, if you think about it, they're 60. Like my dad is 62, my mom is 57. Huge change. Like, we have a pretty decent house in Italy, and that now, you know, moving all the way across to the to the states to a state they don't know it even exists. Yeah, no, well, they were but up till 2016 nobody existed. I mean, Utah, I just knew the Utah Jazz because I watched the NBA, but that's about it. And so, yeah, it was just pretty big jump. So I'm like, you know, if we don't do it now, my parents are gonna get older and everything. So that's why I start to realize, and then I used to have smoothies at this place pulp all the time, and I became a scent, and then one day they closed.

SPEAKER_01: 31:39

I was like, huh, might as well, you know. And it's such like a great location. I mean, you're across the street from Anolis, I mean, Liberty Park's right there. Uh it's in like that whole like central ninth area. I mean, just along ninth, all the way from I mean, almost like not like uh not seventh east, but like fifth east, yeah, all the way to like almost Main or State. Like there's so many cool things going on. I mean, like Chubby Baker, who you've had on the podcast, um, even Cam Nance with Bispoke had his store there. I mean, so many cool things happening that um where if downtown's becoming a little more expensive or other places aren't necessarily like where you want or the space that you kind of need, I think it's become a great place for people to kind of have a little bit less of a barrier to get into.

SPEAKER_00: 32:17

Yeah, and I feel it's very nice because it gives you time, it gives you the space to breathe. You know, you have parking, you it still feels like human-sized. It doesn't really feel like you know, downtown. I love a lot of restaurants in downtown. I mean, whenever I go out to eat, I probably 90% of the times I go to Takashi. I love Takashi and Tamara. I love Takashi, it's so nice. And they're downtown. But what I love about where we're at is that it feels a little bit more human-sized, you know, it feels a little bit, you know, you can just come have a nice appetizer on the patio and then move on with your day, you're right. That's one big part about the location. I think it's great. And also nine south from tsunami on 11th east, all the way down to the granary district, it's just becoming a restaurant row. Like I'm excited for how it's gonna look in five years because I believe there's a lot of very, very talented people doing something very unique there.

SPEAKER_01: 33:05

Yeah, and I think Salt Lake is starting to mature in that we do want like good food. We don't want we don't need more fast casual restaurants, we don't need more strip malls, we don't need chains, like we want quality, authentic food and experiences to bring us together. And like, and we've thankfully seen that, and like unfortunately, like COVID made a lot of restaurants close. And I hate to say, like, the good side of it is we're replacing those with a lot better restaurants, which I mean, I'm a big fan of. I like eating good food, I like having places to go with friends and have these great experiences. And so when you're so you so you find the spot, you you you love the location, because I I agree, like parking's easy, it feels very like communal, like it feels like it's part of the neighborhood, opposed to like here's a restaurant downtown. Not saying anything's either right or wrong, just very different feels. Um, and so as you're planning this, I mean, did you always know that you were gonna use a lot of your family rest recipes on the menu, or how was how is building that menu?

SPEAKER_00: 34:02

Oh, I gotta take you back five years to that. I've always been a little debated about what to do. But if you go back five years, I I was in France. Okay, I was dating this girl, and we just my birthday is May 10th, her birthday was May 8th. Oh, interesting. So I was like, you know, let's just have a couple of fun weeks around Europe, you know, just drive around and you know, when else when whenever are you gonna be able to do it again?

SPEAKER_02: 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 34:25

And so I like to eat good food. So on her birthday, we eat at this three Michelin star restaurant, it's called Le Clos de Sang. It's in Annecy, it's right by Switzerland in France. Uh it's in the Alps, right by Switzerland, and this guy only has vegetarian dishes. Interesting. With the only thing he uses is local fish from one of the three lakes right by and that's super futuristic. Yeah, like you almost feel in another dimension, it's super, super new. And then two days later, for my birthday, we we go to Paul Baku's. Pol Baku's is probably the oldest restaurant you can ever step in. He was named chef of the century last year, uh for the last century. And it's just a very you know timeless cuisine. They have just the best ingredients cooked in the best possible way, very traditionally. And so in those two days, I got exposed to both sides of the spectrum. And I came to the realization is like if you want to be successful, you gotta pick a path. Which is either I make something very traditional but very, very, very, very well, or I make something new and I keep changing it to keep people entertained. That's like that's a hard fork in the road. It's a huge fork. Because I mean, if you look at it, 95% of the successful restaurants are either one or the other.

SPEAKER_01: 35:51

That's such a yeah, interesting. It's either like fusion, futuristic, very forward, or here's a timeless classic that you know you have this nostalgia about and we're gonna master it.

SPEAKER_00: 36:02

Absolutely. And I think if you ask any chef, they they all they all tell you you have two ways to make a restaurant successful. One is you have really good ingredients, you keep it classy, you keep it simple, and every day you perfection your craft, which is what 99% of the sushi restaurants do, you know. Euro dreams of sushi. Dude has spent like 80 years of his life mastering sushi and he's been doing the same recipes for 80 years. Or super futuristic restaurants taking you back to my hometown, Modena, Massimo Boturo, Seria Francescana. He won the best restaurant in the world, I think, two or three times. And he changes the menu every like six months, and he always has very new dishes, like very crazy stuff. So I face this road, and I'm like, you know, I think Italian food at the end of the day is a passion, it's about how it makes you feel. So for us, I just want to go down the traditional route. And I'm like, Italian food has been the same way for 150 years. And who am I to try to reinvent the wheel? Yeah. So I have a wonderful relationship with our chef. We have worked together for the last, I think, six years. He's one of my best friends. We lived together for like a couple of years. Love that. And so we understand each other without even talking. And so we just came up with a very traditional menu, but with a couple of fun twists. And the fun twists are something like a puttanata on our menu. If anyone speaks Italian, they're laughing now. Uh, it's a kind of revisited puttanesca. Puttanesca is just a traditional pasta with like tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies. You know, it's very flavorful, yeah, but it's delicious. And then we start talking, and he's like, Well, I don't want to put in the capers because you know people don't love them and it feels weird. Okay, cool. So, but also anchovies are too savory, so I'm not gonna put them in. I was like, Okay, sure. And he's like, I'm gonna put in and duya. Anduya it's a spicy sausage. And he adds a couple more twists. I'm like, dude, that's not a putanesca, that's a putanata. Which putanata translates into messy stuff. Like when you screw up something, like, oh shoot, I made a putanata. Oh, I made a big mess, right? Got it. So I thought no, dude, that that's just a big mess. It's not a pasta. Like, no, no, trust me, it's gonna be delicious. I'm like, okay, sure. It's like, okay, I'll make it for you. If it's delicious, you we put on the menu and you call it putanata. I'm like, yeah, sure. It's not gonna taste even more. It's not gonna get there, but whatever. Yeah, and he makes, I'm like, dang, this is probably the most delicious pasta I've ever had. Yep. I'm like, yep, that's right there on the menu. And so I put it in the menu, call it putanata. That's so awesome. So for us, you know, I believe if you look at our dishes, I mean, I think the one that has the most ingredients probably is like six ingredients. Yeah. So I just wanted to source the best ingredients I can find, you know. To find the parmesan cheese that we use now, it took me like over three years. Wow. Yeah. And my grandpa worked for C was worked for Parmesan, Parmigiano Regano. There's a co-op called Consortio, it's a consortium, and he worked for them.

SPEAKER_01: 38:56

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 38:57

And so, growing up in that area, one of my mom's best friends, one of the three people that are kind of like the master sommelier of Parmesan cheese. So he hammers the wheel and he tells you what's wrong with it. Yeah, by the way, he's coming to Soleil in March for two weeks, so it's gonna be really fun. No, it's gonna be really interesting. And by the way, that's the first time I ever announced that.

SPEAKER_01: 39:14

So there we go, coming in March.

SPEAKER_00: 39:16

And yeah, so he hammers the cheese and he picks the best wheels from the best little dairy farm that makes Parmi Jan Rajan is number 168. And they are the only dairy farm in Italy that has ever won the super gold at the word to use a word, which is the best cheese on the table, yeah, for twice, twice. Really? And then they had to change the rules, otherwise, they were gonna keep winning. And so we're the only restaurant in the US that carries number 168, and it gets picked in Italy for us, and I'm extremely proud of it.

SPEAKER_01: 39:46

It was not easy to make it happen, but to me that's something that really You just can't sacrifice because if you're gonna if you're gonna go the traditional route, you have to have the best ingredients, bar nothing. You can't say, Okay, well, I guess we're gonna have to make sacrifice to do this, or else you're just kind of uh going against your values of a chef.

SPEAKER_00: 40:06

Sharp corners, right? Sharp sharp angles, what was the quote? Yeah, cannot cut the corner, you know. Gotta everything counts, you know, details matter, and yeah. So I believe, you know, it takes me a long time before we put something on a menu because I want to make sure it's up to our standards, because really if you're like your dad said, it's it's gotta be number four. If you have four or five ingredients, you know, it's you gotta you you taste them all, so you cannot take any shortcut, you cannot do anything wrong. Totally. Otherwise you taste it and it's not as good.

SPEAKER_01: 40:37

Yeah. And then it's the experience is lost and it's hard to come back from. And and it's like your dad like uh your dad was saying, is one or none. Like we're gonna if I'm gonna put something out that has my name on it, it has to be amazing. Absolutely. And I'm not gonna sacrifice anything for that.

SPEAKER_00: 40:51

Yeah, and that's why I wanted to put my name on the building because I'm like, you know, I'm gonna put my face on it because I feel it's that good that I can put my name on it because I believe in it that much.

SPEAKER_01: 41:00

Yeah, your own stamp of approval. It's like I know I love that story of the Putin Tanata. I uh I see, I've been twice now, got the Ragu, lasagna, got the bolognese, which I always get. And absolutely, and I know they like those are like your your is it the ragu that's your grandma's the both, of course.

SPEAKER_00: 41:17

The lasagna and the bolognese are my grandma's recipe, and I cherish it very dearly. It's you know, she passed away just a few months ago, so she didn't see me open the restaurant. But uh yeah, it's very something that to me means a lot to be able to have her recipes, and so when we bring The check we have uh our check presenter is a postcard because you know both joined togetherness, right? Of course. Uh one of we have four, we just made four for now, which I have family pictures on it. Yeah, three of them have family pictures, one of them as my grandma's recipe for tortellini. Because it's something that to me is you know, if you look at my keys, I have uh tortellini as a keychain.

SPEAKER_01: 41:58

Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 41:59

Because to me, that's if I close my eyes and think of home, that's the one flavor that I feel. And so I wanted to share that with Solid City, so I put that on the Czech presenter.

SPEAKER_01: 42:09

That's so fun.

SPEAKER_00: 42:09

And yeah, the Bologna and the lasagna both are my my grandma's recipe. And lasagna was the Sunday lunch, you know. So those are both dishes that are very dear to me. So if anyone asks come to a restaurant and ask me, what are you gonna what should I get, those are the ones I tell them because and I can agree, phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01: 42:27

I only want Italian food that's authentic in quality and don't want to have something that I can eat or buy something that I could have made at home. And I usually always go towards lasagna or bolognese if I go to any Italian restaurant. So if I sit down at your restaurant and they're like, Oh yeah, yeah, that's what we recommend. I'm like, oh shit, I gotta pick. And so it's funny because like I went the first time and I got the bolognese, and I was like, this is amazing. And then the second time I actually uh I went back and it was on a I went on a date actually, and like she prepared everything. It was really nice of her. And she's like, I got uh a reservation in Mateo, and that was so on Sunday I was there with Maddie, my friend, and then on Saturday was with her, and she was like, Well, I was like, Oh, close, they're on Sunday. I'm excited. She's like, Well, do you want to go somewhere else? I'm like, you could have presented me with options and we'd still be going to Mateo. Thank you. And so it's nice that I got the redemption on uh getting the the lasagna, which I love, and I mean, obviously, like the whip breeze is amazing. The oh, what are the other appetizer I got?

SPEAKER_00: 43:21

The whip bree is another one of those places that we kind of came up with just messing around.

SPEAKER_01: 43:25

Yeah, just messing around in the kitchen, things come together.

SPEAKER_00: 43:27

You know, what when we sit down, the first conversation you need to have about the menus, like, what are the plates that I'm willing to bargain? Like, what what am I willing to compromise? Right, yeah. Like, we sat down, we're like, you know what? I'm from Modena, he's from Venice, we're not gonna have a cannoli on the menu because it's from Sicily, right? And I was like, yeah, for sure, that's not gonna happen. And then you know, we had a bunch of other stuff that I'm like, I'm not willing to compromise on. And one of them was like, for dessert, I don't want to have a creme brulee, because anywhere you're going so late to have a creme brulee, you know, steakhouse, Italian restaurants. I mean, you never don't understand America, is it Italian, is it French, is it I don't know. So I'm like, I'm not gonna have a creme brulee. Just because I probably we can make a pretty darn good creme brulee, but I'm not gonna put it on the menu. Got it. And we're like, well, what if? What if we just you know, instead of having creme brulee, we just make it a little bit more fun. Yeah, and so I love brie cheese. Like, I just to me it's just one of the best cheeses because the the ways you can make brie taste amazing, it there's they're unlimited. Like you can make brie taste amazing in a billion different ways. And so we we're like, well, let's try to play around with it. And so we just put a bunch of stuff together, whip it all up, and bunch of stuff is like three ingredients, including salt. Uh and then we're like, Yeah, let's caramelize it on top and let's add a crunchy, crunchy, sweet stuff, and then add some walnuts, which kind of give you a bite, and then the richness of the cheese with a crostini, which we make it a little extra salty just for debris. I didn't notice that, yeah. Yeah. And so I think it all plays out pretty well because you the crostini is basically a dip. So you gotta pick up some of the sugar, which goes in contrast with the extra salty, and the extra salty, just a tad extra salty that makes you want to have another bite. Yeah. So to me, the the amount of times I've seen that play go out in the kitchen squeaky clean, it's amazing. I I've seen a lot of people and a lot of people that literally just pull out a finger and just literally clean it with their fingers. And I'm like, you know what? Honestly, same. Yeah, you're like, I I get I get it, I do the same thing. And it's one of those things that people have really enjoyed. And on the other end, you know, you also have dishes that people don't quite understand. Like we have a canola with carbonata, it's an appetizer. And it's just hard to explain.

SPEAKER_01: 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 45:54

So you win some and you lose some.

SPEAKER_01: 45:57

Yeah. Not not everything can be the most loved thing on the menu.

SPEAKER_00: 46:00

Absolutely not. But that's why you change your menu every now and then. Exactly. You just try to play around more. It keeps it fun for us, it keeps it fun for the guests. Yeah. Because we have people, I mean, there's one of the jazz players that has been coming in literally every night since we opened.

SPEAKER_02: 46:15

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 46:15

If the team is not traveling, he's in same time, same table, every night. And so, you know, for those people that come in, at least even like you, you already come in twice. You know, if you come in, you know, a coup another couple more times, it starts to kind of not get boring, but of course there's gonna be always the staples on the menu, but it's like I wanna keep it fun. Yeah, I want to be a lot of fresh. I want to be a twice a week restaurant, you know, like that's the whole point. Yeah, and so I just think it's fun to every now and then play with additions to the menu, which we don't call specials, it's additions to the menu. Got it, and yeah, so it's fun to play around with that.

SPEAKER_01: 46:52

Uh that's yeah, it's I love that they keep it fresh. I love like because like one thing that always comes back to me is like, for example, you'll see a restaurant go out of business, and someone be like, it was such a good restaurant. Like, what happened? I was like, When when's the last time you were there? And they're like, Oh, it's gonna be like two or three years ago. I'm like, yeah, shocker. Like, and so it's like those places that the the the core quality staples on the menu have you coming back time after time after time, never get sick of it. Yeah, but then there's these additions to the menu or updates to the menu that I mean keep you coming back, and then the next thing you know, someone's like, Hey, did you like the whippedbury? Well, now they have this uh I mean other appetizer that's did I for yeah, and I gotta honestly for that I gotta give credit to our whole team.

SPEAKER_00: 47:33

Like our whole team, it's absolutely phenomenal. Like I could not ask for a better team to work with because I mean we have people in the kitchen that are salary, right? And their shift starts like you know, one. The amount of days I go in at like 10.30 and I see people in the kitchen already working, they're salary, yeah. Like, you know, but to me it's amazing, and you know, to try out new dishes, they all ask me, Hey, do you mind if I try this new dish? Can I come in tomorrow at nine? I'll just want to try this new dish. And the amount of fun they're having to me is the most wonderful thing to watch. Because they literally they truly enjoy the passion. They they they are you know, they're the real artists, they are the ones that really truly enjoy the passion. Yeah, and then of course, you know, we all sit down together and have the conversation about can this go on the menu or not. But the amount of fun they're having, I think it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01: 48:27

I mean that's what that's when magic happens, is people are motivated by passion instead of money, like just being like, well, my shift starts at one and I'm on South, so I'm not coming in, instead of being like, Hey, I'm so curious, I was working on this thing. I really, I really have an idea being like, and to you to be to be able to say, like, yeah, of course, like we of course we want to innovate, of course we want to develop our menu, like have fun, keep me in, like, keep me in the loop, let me know if you have any questions, would love to help with you.

SPEAKER_00: 48:49

And I always tell them, I give them absolute freedom. Like, do you want me to order this for you? Absolutely, I'll order it. Like, you want to just, you know, the other day I sent someone home with like I don't know, it was probably like$150 worth of ingredients. Yeah. Because they just want you to try this play. I'm like, yeah, just if you want to try it here, come here, I'll buy whatever you want. Otherwise, you can just go home. And they were like, yeah, and I'll just, you know, try a home and then I'll bring it here and see what you think about it. And it was pretty darn good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:18

So it's always nice when it ends up being pretty good.

SPEAKER_00: 49:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:20

Something go on the menu. Um, because I also love like obviously your family came out here and they're very involved as well. And I know your mom makes the focaccia every morning. Yep. Uh I mean, do they all I mean kind of help out wherever they can, or does anybody have like specific things that they do?

SPEAKER_00: 49:34

Well, that's been the hardest part in the restaurant, trying to give my mom days off.

SPEAKER_01: 49:38

She's like you, she just wants to be in the action all the time.

SPEAKER_00: 49:41

I try to give her a day off, and somehow I still find her in the restaurant. So I think one day either change the code of the door, or there's no way I'm ever gonna give her a day off.

SPEAKER_02: 49:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 49:50

Because she comes in and she just loves what she does, you know. She goes in early in the morning because she's like, you know, I don't want to be in everyone's way. Because you know, making bread for 150 people, it's a lot of bread. It's a lot of production. So she just goes in like 6:30, 7 every morning, and she makes the bread, and you know, you make the dough, and then you gotta let it prove for a couple hours. So in that couple hours, she makes desserts as well. And then she loves to mess around with stuff, so she makes a few stuff that we don't have on the menu. But uh, you know, every now and then she makes some biscotti, which is always nice to you know, send people home with a couple biscotti or you know, for the coffee.

SPEAKER_01: 50:23

That's an Italian treat.

SPEAKER_00: 50:25

That's what she does mostly. But at the same time, she also keeps the books because she was the head of credit department for CBRE Italy. Oh, interesting. So she she managed the books for like I think 60, 65 shopping malls all over Italy. Wow. So she's really good at books. So she keeps all the books in the afternoon, and the bakery in the morning is like, you know, it's just the fun part.

SPEAKER_02: 50:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 50:45

My dad just he's a jackfall trade, he does everything. He was the CFO for a company, and so he, you know, he does all the inventory and all that, but at the same time, he's the master of the bread. He's the one that is there during service and makes sure that the bread goes out at perfect temperature, perfect quality inspection, you make sure everything's ready to go. So he's the one that is there during service. So if you come in during service, the one you're likely to see is my dad and my sister, because my mom just is at home or upstairs doing accounting. And my sister is just around doing everything from folding napkins in the morning to helping clean to you know, during service, maybe we need like something from the storage or something, so she goes and grabs it. And so it's honestly been very, very, very, very helpful. And also, I've had folded clothes for the first time in seven years. So that's a very nice part. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 51:38

That's amazing that it's such like a family of affair, and everybody gets involved and everybody like wants to be involved and and and get to work together and uh work on all of that.

SPEAKER_00: 51:46

Well, to me, that's the most important part. Like, I always say that if I didn't have my family here, I probably would not have opened a restaurant. Because the first and foremost reason we do it is to stay all together, to spend time together. And when I say family is always first, I truly mean it. Like to me, family is the most important part because at least in my case, my dad and my mom are my best friends that always have my best interest in mind. You know, when you have a best friend that you know, you always have a best friend, but at the same time, if you both like the same girl, they might give you a little selfish advice, right? My dad and my mom, you know, I like parents are just the best friends that always give you the best advice in your interest. So I've been extremely thankful because that's the only thing in life you don't choose. Yeah, your family. So I've been extremely blessed with that.

SPEAKER_01: 52:35

Yeah, I mean it's so fun how all the experiences that you had in Italy here kind of brought you to all that. Actually, one question I had um so my favorite dessert on the menu is the Banksy cheesecake. And I remember when I went the first time, because like I'm not the biggest like dessert at uh dinner, unless it's like going out to like nice dinner, then maybe 25% of the time I'll get it. But he was going over the menu and I hear Banksy cheesecake. And like I kind of wasn't paying attention. I didn't want to be like, hey, wait, stop, what was that word in front of the cheesecake? Did I hear Banksy? And then we decided to get it, and I was like, wait, but what the like I don't understand how it can be a Banksy, like am I missing something here? And then it comes out, and I mean, as you know, it's the I can't remember the name of the piece, but it's the girl with the gird with a balloon.

SPEAKER_00: 53:16

Yeah, the girl with the harp.

SPEAKER_01: 53:17

Oh perfect. Well named.

SPEAKER_00: 53:19

And I think it's in Venice, funny enough.

SPEAKER_01: 53:21

Yeah. Partners, partners home, sweet home.

SPEAKER_00: 53:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 53:24

So how did you come to be so passionate about Banksy or want to include him in the menu?

SPEAKER_00: 53:28

Well, I feel like there's a long and a short story. I'll tell you both.

SPEAKER_01: 53:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 53:34

Short stories that I love Banksy and I love cheesecake. So I'm like, why can't I not combine the two? Because I love Banksy and I love cheesecake. So it's your menu. I just love to have fun. And you know, uh if you have people that are skilled enough, you know, sky's the limit. Yeah. And so it actually turned out to be pretty good. And it took us like a solid year and a half to come up with a way to make it all be together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 53:56

But this is a pretty unique cheesecake, like anybody could do like a pretty like stereotypical cheesecake, but it's it is a very unique cheesecake.

SPEAKER_00: 54:02

Yeah, I don't think I've seen it anywhere else. It's something that I'm very proud to say we came up with, and we use some every sort of equipment to make it happen. But it's one of those things that I'm very, very thankful for. Uh long story is that I believe Banks is really similar to our chefs. Banks is one of the most talented people in our generation. He's so talented, and all of his artwork is extremely deep. You know, it has a lot of layers. Yeah. The complexity, the reasons, the placement, everything. But he's also one of the artists that we have no clue who he is. And to me, he's like a chef when you go to a restaurant. You have no clue who he is. You just see his art, you just see his art pieces. And so Banks is just like the real magic behind all this art. And it's like literally like all of our chefs. That's what they do. They spend years and years of sweat and tears to make everything go perfect, but nobody ever sees them.

SPEAKER_01: 55:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 55:04

And so I just wanted to pay a little tribute to our chefs.

SPEAKER_01: 55:06

And yeah, nice tip of the hat to that. I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 55:08

That's just one of those layers of complexity that a lot of people are not even gonna question. Oh, it's pretty, right? Totally. But if anyone asks for an explanation, that's the real explanation.

SPEAKER_01: 55:19

Love it. Because I I've always been a Banksy fan. So I one of my favorite documentaries is Exit Through the Gift Shop, which is, I mean, because like everybody knows a Banksy, oh, this art showed up, like this is so cool. But like when you see some of the things he's done, the level he's been able to execute it, still maintain anonymity and not get caught is mind-blowing. Absolutely. And then on top of that, I mean, and then I also have uh like a Banksy uh like coffee book table I got when I was in in uh Miami at the uh uh Wayward Walls. Yeah, and so I've always been a fan, because like for your that exact thing, we don't know who he is, but he's does all of these amazing things and political messages, sometimes like in very dangerous places, but absolutely, but it never gets caught. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 56:02

And yeah, so that's the real reason we put on the menu. Totally, yeah. No, that's a really cool story.

SPEAKER_01: 56:08

I like that. I like that layer of uh that that extra layer behind it. Yeah. Um so I mean, what's next for Mate Mateo? Do you mean just kind of owning the craft and going from there? Do you want more restaurants? Do you want bigger space?

SPEAKER_00: 56:19

Well, our when I wanted to open up a restaurant, I didn't want to open up a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02: 56:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 56:25

Uh I have another concept in mind, which is a little bit more affordable, uh, very high-end, very quality, but a little bit more affordable, a little bit more casual. But in order to do that, you need to have very specific places, because that concept is only gonna work in a very specific places. Got it. And in order to have those very specific places, you need to have a name. You need to people need to know who you are. Yes. Because otherwise, I'm not gonna give you a prime piece of real estate to a just a guy with a good idea. Right. Because you know, you never know the execution. So I tried to get a good piece of land for the last like, you know, three years, four years. And after a while, the last line I was like, I got no clue who you are, so there's not a chance in hell you're gonna come here. I'm like, okay, bet. And so I was like, you know what? I'll open a restaurant that the restaurant, the fine dining restaurant, was gonna be the last piece on the cake. Okay. It was gonna be just the last chair on top of the cake, because everyone in the restaurant work can tell you that fine dining, you don't make money. Like, look at every Michelin restaurant next to it they have a bistro. The bistro is what actually makes money. Like Danny Mayer that yeah, 11 Medicine, best restaurant in the world. You open Shake Shack to make money. Like any restaurateur can tell you that, can tell you that fine dining does not make money.

SPEAKER_01: 57:41

Yeah, like it's a much more of an art than it is a business.

SPEAKER_00: 57:44

So that was just gonna be the piece on top of the cake. That was just gonna be, you know, I'm here for fun. But I just end up flipping the cake, just uh like you know, French cake. Yeah, uh you just start from the bottom, and you know, in France they call it tartatin, is when they start from the marmalade and apple on the bottom, and you build a cake on top of it. And so that's what we're gonna do. Um our end goal is to have very high quality, very affordable, very good. And I believe Italian food is one of those very few places that one of those very few things that can happen, and so like it's one of the very few places where this can start nowadays, because it's like Danny Mayer started in New York a few years ago. Um but Shake Shack is the reason he started it was I wanna have a five dollar burger made with the same cut of beef, but then a$200 steak.

SPEAKER_02: 58:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 58:48

Just instead of throwing it in the trash, I'm just gonna use it for a burger because that brings joy and togetherness. Yes. So that is my thought for that's my visual for Matteo in the next 10 years. No, I love that. I'm Mateo restaurant, I'm Mateo person. I have this thing with uh my friend that he calls me, me, the person, Theo, and the restaurant is Mateo. But uh yeah, so that's where I see ourselves in ten years having something a little bit more affordable, a little bit more very high quality, you know, kind of like in broader terms, similar to what tsunami is doing here in Utah. You know, it's good sushi, it's you know, a little bit more affordable than other high-end sushi, it's always great quality. You might not find all the fancy fish, like you know, you're never gonna find probably barracuda, but it's always very good. Yeah, and it's always reliable, it's always, you know, for everyone. Yeah. So that's kind of my goal in 10 years.

SPEAKER_01: 59:51

Hey, if I get more access to more food from you and being able to get together with people more and have that bring us together, I'm I'm all sorts of on board with that.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:02

I think the for the next two years, I always joke I have an ankle bracelet at the restaurant. The next couple years I just want to be there because that's really what sets the tone. And also, you know, I don't want to give or take in all the people that are coming through the door now because you know, the restaurant business, you never know what's happening tomorrow. Yeah, totally. But I think for the next couple years, I'll be very involved in the restaurant, and then little by little, whenever I can at some point start this new idea, I think it's gonna be fun. But you know, the restaurant still is and still stays our priority. Yeah and you know, that's the first and foremost.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:41

Yeah, you gotta protect the core and the business itself, because if you stop watching the boiling water on one and try to focus on some sort, I mean try to think of it, like reducing a sauce over the heat there, then all of a sudden your water's over boiling and then your sauce gets too reduced. So it focus on one, do it well, and then once you get that in a good place, then then grow and and keep going from there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:04

Yep, exactly. And that's exactly, you know, I don't wanna have the in Italy we say I don't want to do the step longer than the leg. You know, so just wanna one step at a time and you know, see where it takes it. But again, I'm 27, so I got all the time in the world.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:19

Yeah, all the time in the world. So outside of uh cooking, I mean what else do you like to do in your spare time around Salt Lake or what keeps you here? I would like to have spare time. But one day, one day.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:29

No, I like to I think Salt Lake is the only state that I know of. That you can ski in the morning, golf in the afternoon, and just work at night.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:39

So in the ideal world, I love to ski in the morning. I love to play golf. I'm not very good at it, but I love to play golf because you don't you know just freedom. You're just out there, just having a good time. Uh I still like to swim every now and then. Yeah, I was gonna imagine you still yeah, I don't do as much as I wanted to, but uh I still really enjoy swimming, and I just really enjoy traveling. That's one of the things that I want to have more time for. Yeah, it's traveling.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:11

Especially when it's like because so when I travel, I've come to terms that it's really just like eating, which is the best way to travel. Yeah, and so but it's so nice for you where it's like if you get a travel, it's it's like market research or learning or research and development, where you're like, Yeah, we we we definitely need to go here because we have to learn how they do see those.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:31

But if you think about it, a lot of the stuff on our menu comes from traveling. Yeah, a lot of the wines on our menu comes from traveling. Like a lot of people ask me, why do you have all the Vietti on the menu? Like, well, I was a Vietti, I I know how they make the wine, I know how much passion they put in there, and it's something that I feel comfortable putting on our menu because I know we share the same core values. And so traveling is really opens your mind. Yeah. Like, there's a few things. I mean, goal for 2024 is to have a Matteo brunch because nobody has a ever well, nobody has an Italian brunch, yeah, period. And I think I think that's our goal for 2024. And when I went home last year, I had this asparagus with a white chocolate holidays that I still dream of. It was just unbelievably good.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:25

I will I will be there for the first brunch spot to have my white chocolate asparagus holidays.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:30

Yeah, it was just unbelievable. So I think that's one of the things that really makes you want to travel more and more. It's just be in with an open mind and sometimes it sucks, sometimes it's amazing. Yeah, but just cherish the good times and forget the bad ones.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:43

Exactly. Take the good, leave the bad, yeah, and enjoy it all together. Um so can I want to wrap up with two last questions? Uh, first is if you could have anybody on the Small Lake City podcast, who would you want to hear their story?

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:57

Oh, that's a great one.

unknown: 1:03:59

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:00

Can I get that get back to that later? I want to give you a really good answer. So ask the other question and then I'll give you the answer.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:05

Uh and then lastly, if anyone's looking to find more information about Mateo or find uh you on social or try to get a reservation, uh, what's the best place to find that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:14

On social is Mateo S L C M-A-T-T-E-O-S-L-C, like Solic City. Uh you can email me all the time. My email is Mateo at Mateo SLC. Uh our website, it's either jointogetherness.com or Mateo SLC.com. It redirects you both to the same place. And to make a reservation, we are on open table. Uh you can call into the restaurant. I'm making a point of returning every call. Sometimes people call like 7 30 in the morning. I'm like, I was here till like 2 30 last night. I'm not sure. There's not a chance I'm at 7. Yeah. But uh yeah, so those are probably the best ways. Our phone number is 385-549-1992. So if anyone wants to give it a call, but uh yeah, usually email is the best or just and what's the address for my I don't know. It's 439 East 900 South. Yeah, just right off the north northwest corner of Liberty Park. Yep, and I always say it's funny because we have a parking right across the street, and I always tell people, just park in, and then you're facing a harsh decision. Do I want to eat at the best Greek restaurant in town or do I want to eat at the best Italian restaurant in town? I'm a little biased on the Italians.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:25

Yeah, I was gonna say you might have a little bias. I do I do need, I haven't been to Manoles in a while. I do need to go back.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:29

Yeah, I love Manolis. They're just so nice and they're really good people, and their brunch is absolutely phenomenal. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:35

I remember there was one time I uh it was the first time I ever went there, went with some friends because they got a gift card for uh birthday or Christmas or something, and I'd never been, never heard of it. And we went, it was I mean, phenomenal meal, and have a couple bottles of wine. And uh they have a really good wine list, by the way. Great wine list. And so as I'm leaving, I go and I see uh Joe Ingalls, one of the old jazz players, on the patio, and I'm drunk enough, and I'm like, Joe, what's up, man? Keeping like keep doing good job. Like, I can't remember what I said, it wasn't the the most shining moment of my life. But I remember my uh friend's wife, she's like, How do you always know everybody? I was like, to be very, very clear, I do not know him.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:15

I know of him. He does not know me. Joe is super cool. He came to the restaurant, I think, like three weeks ago when the magic were in town, yeah, with uh another friend of mine that he works in the front office, and he was just so like he was super nice. He had the lasagna, going back to that, of course, and then in his Australian accent, which I'm not gonna try to imitate, he comes in, he comes up to me, he's like, Bro, your lasagna fucks. And he's like, you know, I I thought I wouldn't regret being in Orlando after Utah, but damn, you're making me regret it. That's a what what a review like tears in your eyes like this is exactly what I need to do. To me, going back to that moment, those moments are absolutely mind-blowing. Like, we've been open for not even two months, and I I learned English watching the NBA because I was a little bit of a smart ass, part of my French. Uh so I never really learned English because in Italy you have a lot of sub-teachers for English, and I was always the guy that thought I was smarter than anyone else. And my goal was just to cheat my way out of English, because I'm like, you know, teachers are gonna see me for two weeks and never get in their life, so yeah, I'll be alright. Yeah, and then I graduated high school. I'm like, well, okay, I really want to go to the US for s for school, but I my English is like my name is Matteo. That that was my English, and I was like, okay, what do I like to do? I like to watch basketball. So I woke up like 3-4 in the morning for like a year and a half straight just to watch NBA and listen to it in English so I could improve my English. So I came to the US. I s I understood everything, I just couldn't speak, so I looked autistic for like a solid nodding at people like, yeah. I understand everything, just need I got giving me a solid minute to formulate my sentence, but then I'll be I'll be there with you. You're doing a lot better now. Thank you. But going back to that, I we've had a lot of people come in, like we had a the trailblazer buy out the whole restaurant. We had Coach Frank Vogel come in the restaurant. Uh you know, there's a lot of the players, I think. I mean, by now, probably like 80% of the team came in for dinner, at least once or twice. Yeah, uh, you know, to me, that's absolutely incredible. Like, I I I would have never expected that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:27

Yeah, well, because you have to like think about everything that has to happen for all of these things to happen. Is first you have to have probably someone from the jazz come in and be good enough where they're like go back to the lock, be like, hey, have you guys been to Mattel yet? Like, go. Yeah. And then have that rumor to like other teams when they come into town. So the trouble is like, wait, there's this new we haven't had that. Like, we're gonna rent it out for the entire like and just where it keeps going and going and just grows and grows.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:50

Well, and this all happened in two and a half months, because if you think about it, we open on September 14th, and I didn't do any marketing. I was gonna I was I wanted to ask, but I wasn't gonna ask like no, just all word of mouth. Yeah, I mean, if you look at our social media, that should tell you enough about how bad I am at managing that thing. Uh I'm at a point where I'm like, you know, I I I love social media, but we had like 1500 followers before I even had a post. So like, hello, everybody's here? Waiting to be here. I'm like, I don't know what to do. You know, when you're like freeze, you're like, I don't know what to do. Yeah, and yeah, we got our business license on September 13th, just out of the blue. Because we had the inspections done and I didn't expect they would all go well. Yeah, so I'm like, you know, we had a full staff, but I told the guys, hey man, uh we might open tomorrow, we might open in two weeks. You never know. You know, when these things happen, it was my first time, so you never know how it goes. And being used to Italy, bureaucracy takes forever. Yes. So they gave me the business class on the 13th. I'm like, wait, we good to go? Can we open? Like, yeah, you're good. I'm like, okay. So I called our staff, I'm like, hey guys, we're opening tomorrow. Uh we all did all the training, like we had staff on from like August 21st. That was our first day. So we had like solid three and a half weeks of training, like nine to five minutes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:04

So they're all ready to go. Just you didn't think it was gonna be like, oh yeah, we're tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:08

Yeah, cool. So we opened, no liquor license, nothing. We just open. And so yeah, I just literally opened the door the first day, and it's been absolutely amazing ever since. So, you know, I just think word of mouth has been absolutely amazing because otherwise I don't see why people come to a restaurant because there's no way you see it anywhere else, because we don't do any marketing, we don't do anything, and as far as they can, I would like to keep it that way because just genuine. Yeah, and I love to do genuine stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:37

So yeah, that's just how we open. So fun. No, I mean I I think you did exactly right, and like whenever anybody says, Oh, I mean, it's it's it works really well with word of mouth, word of mouth. I'm like, to me, whenever I hear word of mouth, I just hear quality product because it means someone experienced it and they're like, Oh my god, this is so good, I have to tell someone, and just like continues to perpetuate itself.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:58

Yeah, that's that's absolutely true. And for the marketing, I think at some point we will do it. Yeah, I just haven't had the time yet to sit sit down and actually have the conversation with someone because you know I believe the marketing is one of the most important aspects of the business, but given it's the most important aspect of the business, I want to give it the time and the energy it deserves. So we I just would much rather not do it than do it wrong, yeah, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:23

Yeah, and it especially like it's not like you're struggling to fill seats or everything's going well enough that you don't have to focus on other things besides product.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:33

Yeah, but at the same time, everything is as I told you earlier, restaurant business, you know what's happening today, you don't know what's happening tomorrow. That's absolutely true. So of course we're filling the seats, but also it's November and December. Like if you're empty in December, it's a really bad sign for a restaurant. Then January's gonna come and then you never know, you know. Then you know when summer's gonna come, you know, it's always you never know tomorrow. So you always wanna enjoy it while it's there, and you always want to be thankful while it's there, and then you know, you want to also put the foundations for the future while it's going well. Because you if you wait till it's not going well, it's way too late.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:05

Oh, yeah, then you're already halfway drowned before you can even do anything about it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:10

Yep, yeah. So yeah, going back to the question who I want to see on the podcast, small like podcast. Well, I have a lot of names in mind. Uh one extremely, extremely interesting person that I mentioned earlier, I think is Tamara. She's the mind behind Takashi.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:29

She's Takashi's wife.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:31

She's a very good friend. And she's the person to me that has the most the wildest realizable ideas in Solid City. Like what they did with the post office next door to Takashi.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:46

That's my favorite, one of my top three favorite bars in Solid Like.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:49

She designed it herself. Of course she did. Yeah, like I'm like, really? Like what they do with that place, to me, it's absolutely mind-blowing. Yeah. And I got told to Takashi a few times. You know, they come to the restaurant at least once a week. And I told Takashi and pick his brain a few times, and the craft behind their place is just absurd. Yeah. Like you see a piece of fish in front of you, but like the way they source the fish and everything to me is mind-blowing. And also, she's just one of the most interesting people I know. She just she's one of those people that she could sit down, talk for hours, and I was be there and listen. Yeah. Just listen. Interesting. So if that's one person. And the other person is Jonas Person. He's the swimming head coach at the University of Utah. He was a 2008 Olympic finalist. Oh, interesting. I didn't know that. He went to University of Tennessee, and I think he's another really, really interesting person too.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:49

I spent actually so I actually grew up swimming and diving a lot. Okay. And at the I mean the pools at the University of Utah, uh I think it's in the hyper building. Yep. But spent a lot of time there growing up, jumping off the rafters into the pools, all yeah, all that fun stuff. So yeah, I think it would be fun to bring it all back to there. Yeah, I think those two will be very interesting people. I agree. No, thanks. Thank you so much. And Mateo, thank you so much for the time. I'm so excited to see what else comes from you, not only at uh Mateo, but your other endeavors, and I'm excited to just keep going and fall more in love with the restaurant and the food and um enjoy the togetherness and joy that it brings. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:25

Thank you for having me on. And I really appreciate you spending time with me. And yeah, really looking forward to see you there. I'm there seven days a week. So I that's what I tell people. You know, I'm sorry if you enjoy the food, you're stuck with me because I'm here seven days a week. So if you enjoy the food, don't enjoy my company. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:42

No, glad you're there, glad the food's there, and glad you're you're in control of it all because it's it's going well, and I'm I'm so excited for the future. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:50

I look forward to see you all there soon. Absolutely.