Imagine your taste buds embarking on an unforgettable journey with Chef Carlos Brown as your guide, where each dish tells a story of heritage, passion, and discovery. From the heartwarming kitchens of his childhood to the star-studded galas of his present, Chef Carlos whisks us through his life story, enchanting us with tales of how his mother's soulful cooking inspired a pivot from medicine to culinary arts. Join me as we savor the rich flavors of Gullah culture, uncovering the intricate weave of West African influences in Southern cuisine, and celebrate the magic that happens when natural ingredients meet culinary genius. His journey is a testament to the remarkable ways food can connect us – not just in dining rooms, but in the very fabric of our lives, weaving together stories and palates across cities from Charleston to New York City.
As we plate up our final thoughts, we reflect on how food is much more than just nourishment; it's a unifier, a canvas for expression, and a means to carry on traditions. Our candid conversation delves into the sometimes hilarious, sometimes humbling experiences that remind us of our shared humanity – and shared appetites. Chef Carlos's insights leave us with a sense of awe for the culinary world, and eagerness to see what he – and we – will cook up next. So, whether you're a gourmand or just love a good story with your supper, you won't want to miss a morsel of this episode.
Imagine your taste buds embarking on an unforgettable journey with Chef Carlos Brown as your guide, where each dish tells a story of heritage, passion, and discovery. From the heartwarming kitchens of his childhood to the star-studded galas of his present, Chef Carlos whisks us through his life story, enchanting us with tales of how his mother's soulful cooking inspired a pivot from medicine to culinary arts. Join me as we savor the rich flavors of Gullah culture, uncovering the intricate weave of West African influences in Southern cuisine, and celebrate the magic that happens when natural ingredients meet culinary genius. His journey is a testament to the remarkable ways food can connect us – not just in dining rooms, but in the very fabric of our lives, weaving together stories and palates across cities from Charleston to New York City.
As we plate up our final thoughts, we reflect on how food is much more than just nourishment; it's a unifier, a canvas for expression, and a means to carry on traditions. Our candid conversation delves into the sometimes hilarious, sometimes humbling experiences that remind us of our shared humanity – and shared appetites. Chef Carlos's insights leave us with a sense of awe for the culinary world, and eagerness to see what he – and we – will cook up next. So, whether you're a gourmand or just love a good story with your supper, you won't want to miss a morsel of this episode.
Hey, what's going on? Beautiful people, welcome back to another Rated TK podcast. I have an amazing friend with me on this episode, my friend, chef Carlos Brown. Chef, how you doing.
Speaker 2:Man wonderful. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm great, I'm great. Good to be back in the city Chef is in the loo and he's proud. Okay, I'm proud. Okay, that's what?
Speaker 2:y'all want to hear I'm great, Good to be back in the city. He is in the loo and he's proud. Okay, I'm proud. Okay, that's what y'all want to hear.
Speaker 1:I'm proud. You know what's funny? So me and Chef were doing a food and wine event in Charleston and he walks around the corner and he had a St Louis hat on. I'm like where do you get this hat from? You're not even from St Louis.
Speaker 2:St Louis, and I didn't even wear my St Louis hat today. What was I thinking? You were up in New York. I look at it, but it was in my trunk and it's kind of bent up now.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, you see how he does us.
Speaker 2:I like the red and white, though I like the red and white.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the color palette goes hard.
Speaker 2:It goes hard.
Speaker 1:Oh man. So, chef, what are you up to?
Speaker 2:Man, now I'm working on some sauces, just kind of making this sauce work for us now and it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:And it's produced out of St Louis. Yeah, don't you know? You introduced me to that company.
Speaker 1:You remember that right so.
Speaker 2:I didn't know anything about you. Know that company, yeah, but yeah, so you introduced me to me and then I got it going and they worked it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's great, it's great, it's great.
Speaker 2:Hats off to St Louis with the Yankees hat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know right, Hats off. So, Chef, for the people that are tuning in that don't know anything about you, give them a little rundown. How did you get started? What made you get into food? Give them the whole rundown.
Speaker 2:Man the rundown on how I got started. Oh God and props. You know, mom used to cook those in 1901 yeah, back in those days, my mom would always like she'd make all these fabulous foods first of all, uh, my sisters and brothers. They'd be us.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of us yeah too much to count right now, right, but we are. She'd make all these wonderful food and we'll sit there and they're they're playing outside and thinking, man, we don't have that much money, so somebody got to sacrifice. So what I would do is stay in the kitchen and get the bowls and put my hand around the bowl and taste the food.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so in time for dinner, I'm already full. There's enough food for everybody.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:So I took the sacrifice, but I took the smart way out that started my uh, my career as a as a chef.
Speaker 2:for sure, I had no clue that that's what I wanted to do yeah you know, just done it so many times, because she would always do all these awesome, these amazing foods. I'm thinking, wow, this is, this is some crazy art, not have? I mean, I always wanted to be a doctor because that's what they told me you're going to be a doctor and you're going to be a preacher, that's what they would say to me, right? And I was thinking, okay, we'll see, you know? Well, here I am now. I'm a doctor of food, so I made it to the food industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm the doctor, I'm the surgeon of food there you go I surgically make this stuff work, um, and it got me from that point to the smithsonian museum, got me working with all these wonderful celebrities all around the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know who knows? I never knew that was going to happen. So here I am.
Speaker 1:That is so dope, that's so dope. So yeah, like I tell them all the time, like that's kind of how I got started. I got started with my grandma. So well, first of all, my mom can't cook, don't tell her I said that, said that Terrible cook, terrible cook, I would never thought that Terrible.
Speaker 2:Don't let her cook your food. Don't let her cook your food Mom can't cook.
Speaker 1:She can't cook. She gonna kill me.
Speaker 2:She gonna kill me when she see this, I gotta give my grandma props too, because she really taught my mom. I guess she did, I don't know. I don't know how she learned, but she just knows how to cook.
Speaker 1:Listen when I tell you my grandma will come home from working eight hours, 10 hours a day and throw down an amazing meal.
Speaker 2:Yes, Like.
Speaker 1:I'm like, how are you able to take this bag of groceries and produce a meal? And I wanted to know that story. I wanted to know how she got from point A to point B and I was like let me jump in the kitchen with her, let me see what's going on, let me let me see you know cause. So like everybody would come over my grandma's house after work, after school, enjoy a meal and then go home, so like whenever she cooked, it's almost like we almost forgot what we were going through that day, whether it was a bad day or a good day it was like walking the house.
Speaker 1:It's like grandma cook yeah so now we can forget about everything, sit at the table, enjoy a meal, have our minds off everything and then just enjoy the company of each other wow, yeah, that was.
Speaker 2:That was kind of true. In my home. My grandma was very great. She was also, I consider, chefs. Yeah, you know, I didn't even know what it was at the time, so but she would do the same thing, except on sunday would be the rough day for us, because grandma would cook this big spread, but she will always invite the preacher over. Really, right, right, and we could not eat until after the preacher eat. Oh no, it always sucked. I'd be like you're here again. What's going on between you and grandma? What's the real?
Speaker 1:deal. Yeah, what's going on? Why are you eating first?
Speaker 2:Back then we used to eat the legs of the fried chicken right. Everybody wanted the leg. Now it's all wing, wing, wing, wing the legs. Everybody wanted the leg. Now it's all wing, wing, wing, wing the leg. So the preacher would grab those legs first and the breasts, and those two things kind of worried me, Like why did he like the breasts?
Speaker 2:The breasts and the legs. You're a fresh preacher, so that would kind of freak me out, but yeah, but those meals would be phenomenal. And then we had some meals. One of my favorite was we called Pullman Hash. Well, that's one of them. The other one was poking beans and rice. Okay, I love them poking beans. I still eat that today, yeah, yeah. But Pullman Hash was the thing. It was egg and rice, really, and whatever meat you have left over for the rest of the week. Yeah, we eat that with some ketchup, really. Wow. And I did it one time for my staff. I was working at a military college. I said I'm going to do the staff meal today and they were like what you making? I said Pullman hash and they're like what's that? I said don't worry about it, just eat it. Yeah, yeah, they would go crazy. What is this? I said egg and rice.
Speaker 1:And whatever meat you got left there. Yeah, we'd be full and people eat it all the time. That's crazy, that is so crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I tell you, my listen, my grandma will recycle some stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's we would have.
Speaker 2:It was like every friday she would just go through the refrigerator and see what's in there and make something best food best food ever yeah, but you know, today's, the kids these days, especially my kids, they're so uh, bougie, and they want, you know, they want all this, all other fancy stuff that we're making today for sure. But I'm like you guys don't understand, they will not do. Well, now I probably won't do leftovers neither, but they don't do leftovers, you know. They want to go out to these different places to eat and I'm thinking you guys are so freaking spoiled you don't even know what it means to, just because I'm telling my mom would tell us she said a stomach full is a stomach full, and I was like what she mean by that. She said your stomach does not know what it's eating. It's your mind that's playing tricks with you. Wow, your stomach just want to be full yeah, I never thought about that yeah, see, wow, I'm old school, you know.
Speaker 2:Sorry, that's that coming out, you know yeah, yeah, so for.
Speaker 1:So I know what the gulla cuisine is, I know the culture behind, I know all of that type of stuff. But explain to the people what exactly does gulla mean?
Speaker 2:man, there's so many different meanings, right? The first of all it was a dialect, right, and that's what people kind of get confused with. The dialect was and it comes from west africa, okay, so the dialect was languages that those people grandmother included, yep will speak these different language, uh, to communicate. If you go to charleston and you have been there before, yeah, and you've been like what in the world these people saying it took me a second to realize what they were saying once they get into it.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, we broke up everything, we broke it all up, right, yeah, and.
Speaker 2:And so as we break these, sean would tell me break, break, all right, as we get these languages and we start speaking and we're going so fast. I'm like what did they say? I remember her coming to my mom's house and they were talking one time and she was looking like I said, just go with it. Yeah, yeah, just go with it. She was like I can't understand nothing these people are saying. But we're understanding because that's how we communicate it. And then it gets even deeper because the food part of it is we create food with our heart. You know, it's nothing that we're not sitting down here studying recipes. We're saying our heart says put this in it and add this, and add a little this right here, and if you get it, then you write it down and you keep it safe. Yeah, you never tell anybody and it's actually hard to copy it yeah, yeah, it can't be duplicated right often.
Speaker 2:You know. Imitate it never duplicate it right. So we would. We would put these different spices together and just go. You gotta hide it like, and even if I give it to you, I remember a chef worked with me and then a couple of times they were like I got, I got this recipe, I got this recipe and they make the whole thing. I'm watching them. I was like you think you got it.
Speaker 1:You don't really have it, cause you got to get.
Speaker 2:All of that is part of what the Gullah culture does, especially when they're coming down to food. The love, the unity, the culture is so deep, man, we can go. We can talk all day about gala, about the culture of, of, where it came from and and how did they survive, you know?
Speaker 2:you know how did they get through slavery, those things? What happened? How did they make it? They grew their own vegetables and they grew. They grew the things that people don't think about growing, and so it's not imitated food. It it's naturally made Right. Actually, those things made us healthier, they caused us to. We didn't deal with a lot of diseases going on. We didn't have that because those people would eat correctly Versus. Now we're just pouring stuff into food and manufacturing food, which is one of the reasons why we created the sauces and the salad dressing because we wanted to create natural eating and bring back natural eating habits yeah, still have the fancy stuff.
Speaker 2:Just make it natural. Right, yeah, right, they're shortcutting it. We don't want to shortcut it, we want to make sure that it's correct. So now we can spend less time in the doctor office uh, waiting for pharmacists to give us, you know, inject us with things. Yeah, we know it starts with the food and I think that's where it is, so it's a whole lot. I love the culture man. We can talk about it all day. So much is behind the Gullah culture.
Speaker 1:It is. It is yeah, because most people don't realize that food is medicine. Yes, and you know what actually made me realize that when we did the culinary camp in Charleston and we took the kids to the farm and seeing those kids' reaction to the fresh vegetables that they were able to pull off of the plant and eat.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like if they were in a grocery store, they probably would have never wanted to try a bell pepper, but they put it off and seen where it came from. They were like this is dope, yeah, like from. They were like this is dope, yeah, like they were.
Speaker 2:They were turning it up and people would think that the kids wouldn't like those things, like they don't eat them at home, because they had so much other things in it. Yeah, I remember coming up we didn't eat um certain things. I didn't eat spinach at one point yeah you know, man, spinach is like for real.
Speaker 2:Popeye did that no seriously, he really did that. Popeye was a good thing and spinach is a a healthy, um cuisine that everybody now takes and they they do smoothies out of it, they saute it, they do all kind of stuff with spinach, they eat great salads and, um, yeah, I'm gonna do it. Do I have a spinach dressing? I don't, but I have the basil that's very good yeah so, yeah, that's what it is right there for sure oh well, let's jump into the sauces.
Speaker 1:So I gotta know what's your favorite sauce out of the five I'll see eeny, meeny, miny, moe, I think all of them.
Speaker 2:But um, I'm amazed what? Because when I do salad I like to have the freshness of the salads, I like to have the, you know, get the nice crunch and taste the lightness of salad. So I wanted to say for sure, the dressings, the strawberry vinaigrette it's probably one of the most famous ones. This is the one that was inspired by Viola Davis, right, Really, yeah. So she was eating the salad on set and she was talking about man. This is really good, Wow.
Speaker 1:And then we were trying to.
Speaker 2:I think LaShawn was trying to take her plate from her and she said don't touch this plate, I want to get more. And so that was a push. You know, this natural sauce salad dressing and I made it in seconds, right, and this tells us. I can tell a short story. So she was. They can tell a short story. So she was. Um, they were on them, they were doing a movie set and the kitchen was was cameras and lights and everything else in this kitchen. So I'm like how do they want me to cook this food? Right, right. I'm like how, how am I cooking this food? This, there's no way to cook.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, they were like you got to make it happen. So I walked around this house, this huge house, and I was like they got to have a grill out here or something. Well, they had a grill. That was like leaning on the Lord's side.
Speaker 1:Are you serious?
Speaker 2:That means it's broken.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:I put the we have all kind of saying in the Gullah culture for sure. So I tried to tighten this little grill up and it was rusted, so I had to wash it and clean it real good and it was a George Foreman George, you owe me for this a George.
Speaker 1:Foreman grill right, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:And I put that grill together and began to make all this food for all these people of a small grill.
Speaker 1:Oh for that grill. They had no clue, that raggedy grill.
Speaker 2:Raggedy grill and they're eating like they came from one of the best restaurants in town. Wow, but then again, that's that gullet thinking, that's the heart, that's you know, that's put your heart into it, let your heart think about it and, to be honest with you, we say the heart and we point to our chest all the time. It really is in our mind what we think, right, yeah, so I'm thinking about how this should be and I'll have no time to get it done yeah and that's strawberry vinaigrette.
Speaker 2:I whipped it up real good in the kitchen downstairs where it wasn't even a kitchen. It was like a. I guess it was like a catering kitchen, but with no no stove nothing to cook on.
Speaker 2:So I had to whip it up real good with my hand and there's a whisk going and you had no nothing. I didn't have anything to whip it up real good with my hand and there's a whisk going and it had no nothing. I didn't have anything to beat it through. I had to do it all by hand. And I made that vinaigrette All straight strawberries, all fresh, natural, no additive colors to it. So that's pretty unique. That's my favorite On the salad side, for sure, and I like the basil too. I don't know, I like all the dresses.
Speaker 1:I was going to say you love all of them. I love all the dresses.
Speaker 2:The steak sauce is the private stock sauce. Right yeah, private stock is the name of a restaurant that I created in my mind that I'm eventually going to open up and I say I want to do all specialty steaks and seafood and all these great things, right yeah. So I actually created a business called Private Stock and I said I'm going to do these great things right. So I actually created a business called, uh, private stock and I said I'm gonna do the best sauces ever for it, right? So I mean, and that's what I came out with, I use everything natural for that as well, and I what I did, kind of let me give it, I'm not giving out the secret, but it's more like I made a mayor plow out of all the vegetables and stuff that you can think of yeah that's where the sauce came from.
Speaker 2:Really, yes, that's exactly what it came from, wow. And so I put those natural ingredients together to make the most creative steak sauce ever, ever for sure, I think it'll go a long way. People are going to love it. I don't want to take the other ones off the you know off the shelf, but they will come off once you try the private stock. I'm just gonna be honest with you all right.
Speaker 2:And then there's the I'm not doing the short version. So the wing sauce was made by mistake. Again, I was back at this military college and they was giving me some recipe. And you know, we're kind of hardheads, geechee people, we're a little hardhead, right, we've got it in our mind how we want to make it. And they gave me this recipe and I looked at it and I was like I'm not doing this. So I threw the recipe away. And then I was trying to figure out what happened to the recipe.
Speaker 2:There's a guy named worked at the kitchen, named Seymour. What a name, right, seymour. Once you see him, you got to see more, oh my God. So Seymour threw away the trash can where the recipe was in. So I couldn't follow it. Anyway. I was like I can't remember how to make this stuff. So I just kind of went off. My heart came up with that sauce and it was for the general of the military college. So his wife really wanted this wing sauce, oh wow. So his wife really wanted this wing sauce, oh wow. So I made it. I knew it wasn't wrong. She tasted it. She came in the kitchen and tasted the sauce. She said oh, it's incredible, don't taste like mine.
Speaker 1:It tastes better than mine. I wonder why.
Speaker 2:Well, I might have made a little mistake there. She said no, no, keep this one, yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, there you know just, she said no, no, keep this one, yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, I kept it around for a while. People would come to my house with bags of chicken talking about can you put this, make that sauce? They'll bring their own chicken. Wow, and I never really thought about okay, I just got this sauce, yeah. And then one day again, little sean pushed me and says hey, you gotta stop selling that sauce, you can't keep giving it away, I'm not giving it away. Hey, you gotta stop selling that sauce. You can't keep giving it away. I'm not giving it away, I'm you gotta sell the sauce. And so, yeah, that's where all these sauces came from. I got many more.
Speaker 1:That is so dope, that's so dope, this is the first five. This is the Jackson five.
Speaker 2:That's the first, randy, and the rest of them.
Speaker 1:And the rest of them.
Speaker 2:No man.
Speaker 1:I'm excited because I know that it's new sauces, new products, Everything is coming behind the scenes. Yes, and I'm just excited to see it. Hard work I'm so excited to see it.
Speaker 2:Hard work, very hard Hard work, but smart work Because you know most manufacturers. It takes a while for someone a developer or distributor to pick up your, your product yeah mine was picked up right away that's amazing.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. Yeah, right away. They wanted it.
Speaker 2:They tasted it one day and go whoa, you know that was like this guy. This is crazy. Did you do this? Yeah, yeah, who you thought? Do it? Somebody from st louis?
Speaker 1:yeah right man. But no, I like the diversity of the sauces and the vinaigrettes because, like, even though, like, the onion citrus is my favorite, like, even though it says vinaigrette on it, you can cook with it. Like even when we did the demo with the, the beef and broccoli, I'm like, no, put the onion citrus on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it's, it's amazing. Yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's so good.
Speaker 2:I want to do that with that onion vinaigrette. I want to do it with a taco for the vegans.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, so I'm going to do some vegan dishes.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be at Nordstrom on this weekend. Yeah, yeah, and so I want to do that onion vinaigrette on on something for the vegans, because that's the other good thing. Most of these sauces, all the salad dressings, are good for vegans.
Speaker 1:They're all vegan, yeah.
Speaker 2:We didn't leave the vegan people out. Yeah, shut up.
Speaker 1:Oh man, no, that's super dope, super exciting, and I know that right now you're on tour with the sauces. You've already hit up Charleston, you already hit up Atlanta, you in St Louis, what's next?
Speaker 2:Miami Florida, so we'll be in Miami. A couple of places you got to go with me there.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, let me know.
Speaker 2:Miami and we're doing St. What's the next place? What's close to Miami? What's that place right next to Miami?
Speaker 1:It's not Tampa, is it?
Speaker 2:Not Tampa, it's right over the bridge there. What is that place called Y'? I don't know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:No we don't Okay. Fort Lauderdale Okay, there we go. Okay, all right, I didn't know what you were talking about. Fort Lauderdale. Fort.
Speaker 2:Lauderdale, all those places right next to each other. We're going to do Miami and then we're going to hit Dallas, texas, then we're going to hit New York City. Got the New Louis hat. I'm going to get another St Louis hat because I like St Louis. Yeah, I like the way the ballpark Look. I had great experience here. I had some good food here. Yeah, you know it's hidden.
Speaker 1:I'm not sleeping on it. The food is hidden here, but it's good food here, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially that place. It's called Rated Check.
Speaker 1:Something like that, that's fine. Rated Tested Kitchen. Rated Tested Kitchen yeah yeah, something like that, that's pretty unique.
Speaker 2:I think that place needs to move to Atlanta. Come on, atlanta, give it up.
Speaker 1:Atlanta's like no, don't go to.
Speaker 2:Atlanta yeah, we need you. And Dallas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, dallas would be great. Dallas would be great, dallas would be great Y'all talking about me.
Speaker 2:This is a gifted chef right here, man. He's like phenomenal. I actually pride myself. I told my friends. I said, man, I watch him and I'm watching his moves and I'm like, oh, he's going to help me to the next level. I'm going to check him out.
Speaker 1:Oh, he did this.
Speaker 2:How do you do this right here? Yeah, I certainly appreciate your gift, Of course man, I think it's going to. I mean, I loved it. Are you on my corner? I'm good. Yeah, I can talk all day long if I got somebody like him just walking in the background with the food.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. So me and Chef met in Atlanta it feels like it was forever ago, but it really wasn't that long ago and we were well, we can talk about it. We were at this terrible event and we were both low-key, embarrassed to be there. We were surrounded by all of these chefs and me and Carlos looked at each other. It was like this event is terrible.
Speaker 2:They're not doing another one in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Are they?
Speaker 2:really.
Speaker 1:Yes, jesus, yeah, it was bad, it was a bad event. It was a bad event.
Speaker 2:The best thing of the event was meeting you. It was a bad event. The best thing of the event was meeting you.
Speaker 1:You know all of us got together, we connected yeah, it was a collaboration, the connections that we were able to make in the room.
Speaker 2:I met two people from St Louis, you and Rob and Brady, yeah, so that was pretty interesting, that you guys were like really good people and we kind of met and we all were thinking people and we kind of met and we all thinking the same thing uh, I man, I messed up a really good pair of gucci shoes that night. Not messing it up, just gucci with me too. Call y'all name.
Speaker 2:I better be looking out for me no, seriously, seriously but no, I didn't mess the shoes up, but just putting it on. I could have saved it for another day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, saved it, saved the whole outfit. Yeah, the whole outfit, the whole outfit. We were sharp. Yeah, the suit that you had on was clean. That haircut was right. Yeah, oh man. So, yeah, we had a good time there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that was the best thing about that event. You know we vibed together, but yeah, that's when we met guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He got this nice award and I don't even know where mine is.
Speaker 1:I don't even know where mine is, I don't even know where mine is either. I don't even know if I took it from Atlanta. I think it still might be in Atlanta somewhere In the hotel room.
Speaker 2:I've seen mine sometime, one time before. But you know this art is interesting, we need to embrace it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:And make it work, but we got to do it the right way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We just can't throw it together. And throw something together and think it's okay.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:But we got to make sure that we embrace it and push it to the next level. Definitely Because it's still deeper than what people talk about. The food side, I'm getting ready for Super Bowl next year in New Orleans. That's a big deal. That's huge New Orleans with food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's huge We've already started working on it, but we're doing a culinary experience. You're on that too. I didn't tell you that, but you're in the Super Bowl this next coming up. Okay, let's do it. The 25, is it 25? Yeah, We've already got things in motion for that. We're doing food experience because people give out awards for singing and Oscars for movies, but not really taking care of the culinary, the art side.
Speaker 1:They're not. They're not.
Speaker 2:The appreciative we got to get appreciative right, we got to make that happen for us. And that's my goal. Let's make it work, because we eat something food we do every single day.
Speaker 1:Every day.
Speaker 2:You can't do without it three times a day how many times you sing a song to be on the oscars and the grammys?
Speaker 2:yep, you gotta make one, but we do food every single every day that you can't live without it yeah right, and so I think the appreciative of getting that, that is, getting that side, is not showing up like a shit. Yeah, you know we're not, we're not getting it. So we're going to make a big difference in that. That's my goal to push food, to push art, education, the culture of food and bring it to the forefront yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that because you know we often get overlooked, like even when you look at the, the art events that are happening. It's like our industry is culinary arts. There's an art aspect to it. Like, literally, from farm to table, everything is art, like the down to the person that created the plateware, down to the farmers, all of that stuff is art. Every part of that journey is art. That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right I love that, I love that and just trying to embrace that and trying to get people to understand you know where their food comes from and how that impacts your life and your lifestyle and all of that type of stuff and you can't have an event without it.
Speaker 2:You can't. We were talking, we was doing a meeting yesterday on the Super Bowl and they kind of like they talked about the food, but they kind of like trying to just oh yeah, we're going to have some food and I said, hey, wait a minute, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. It's not just food, right, you're getting creative art artists coming in to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they said well, we got some people we can use on our catering side and we would gladly work with them on some things. But we want you to understand we're not just cooking food, right, we're bringing art.
Speaker 1:It's an experience. Yeah, we want you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, an encounter. Yes, it's an than when you walk out of the door. Hey, hey, that food, because people remember the music and they remember the bar. But we want you to just go man, the food.
Speaker 1:Whenever we do events, people are talking about the food. That's what you want. That is the highlight of the event. It has to be Like literally. It's not about the music, it's not about the venue. When they leave, what's on their palate?
Speaker 2:The food, the food, the food, yeah, and we want them to remember that, and that's why we're bringing in specialty chefs. We're going to get together and we're going to just come up with these creative ideas for this big Super Bowl bash. Yeah, and make sure that when they walk out the house, that they know all of us by name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we want them to be able to stand there and talk to us about our food, and we can explain the culture of our food, the education of what you're eating, so they're not like, oh, this tastes good, what are you eating? Yeah, yeah, what does that do for you? How do you feel? Remember food back in the days when we used to sit? The good thing about our mothers and our grandmothers are not your mother because she can't cook. Jesus, I didn't say that, though. Jesus.
Speaker 2:We don't clip out the part where I said she can't cook and we're just going to put your part in there. So that part.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Now you know she cut your hair after this right, I forgot, she is cutting my hair.
Speaker 2:But I'm only repeating what he said, not what I'm saying that is crazy.
Speaker 1:I believe you can cook.
Speaker 2:I believe you can make some pasta salad. You know I love pasta salad, so anyway.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you dug the hole deeper, I know, but you know, food brought families together. It did.
Speaker 2:You know we were able to communicate. And I try to even tell my kids hey guys, let's sit down at least start out once a week or twice a week to one table. Let's just eat a meal, take your cell phone, put it away, put away the computers and let's just have a great conversation. How?
Speaker 1:was your day, what did you?
Speaker 2:experience in this day. That's what food used to do. It took away a lot of the crime crime. It killed a whole lot of stuff because you didn't have time for that.
Speaker 1:You were even in some type of sports or you were just sitting there creating your, your life's goal from where you're going, and food did that it did, it did and you know what, for me, food brings a lot of like people that I would never encounter together like whenever we, even when we have people at the restaurant, there's so many different people that come from different backgrounds and different cultures and they're able to network and talk about the food and, just you know, these people would have never like communicated, they would have never even started a conversation, but the food is what brought them together and it's bringing like communities together.
Speaker 1:It's really. It's like people don't understand the value of food. It's powerful, it's powerful.
Speaker 2:It's powerful Because I sat in your restaurant and ate your food and there's a couple right next to me, and just to be able to sit there with them and begin to talk about food, it was really powerful it was, I didn't know who they was. They didn't know who I was, and by the end of the night we were friends.
Speaker 1:Y'all gonna say it Y'all knew each other's life story Like we know each other's life story, like you know, so that was really exciting.
Speaker 2:I met another set of people that you know, add to our life and we talk about our experience. Yeah, and it was about the food and it made me go back home to Atlanta and say, man, this guy got it man, he got it you know because and that was through the food, yeah, watching the guys with the artwork, the way they handle the food, the setup, everybody was in sync yeah, yeah, I was highly impressed yeah highly impressed. Uh, st louis, don't know what they got that's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. We talk about it all the time you better jump on board. No, I know because the train getting ready to leave the station.
Speaker 2:What I mean, I'm telling you and with this train, leave, it goes one way.
Speaker 1:It goes one way. We ain't putting it in reverse, terry. No reverse. We going forward, no reverse.
Speaker 2:You will not get the same thing I'm telling you. So this type of food that you do, for sure, in other cities that I visit a lot and I live in a lot of different places because I work with a lot of people, I work with the NFL, and I'm telling you I and I'm a foodie, like I like great food you know, and if it's good, um, I'm gonna say it's good.
Speaker 2:if it's horrible, I'm gonna say it's horrible. Now here's what I learned a long time ago. A good friend of mine is from um, the philippines, and she says to me well, she said when I she go into a philippines restaurant, their food, and she was like man, if it's not right, she'll come back and say she'll pull the owner or the chef to the side and say that's not right. This is going to be a little deep right here, I'll hold on to this right here. So she said it's not right, you know, and don't you ever do this again, because you're embarrassing our culture, not right you know and don't you ever do this again because you're embarrassing our culture.
Speaker 2:And she said to me she said but when you go into your people restaurant? She said my people right. And she said if it's not right, you guys go online and post it. Yeah, she said we never embarrass our people never, we only help them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's the culture of food that we need, and it's not a race against the next person or who's going to get there the fastest. It's just being able to say hey guys, you made that red rice, but it's a little sticky yeah. You know it wasn't too much. I know y'all know what red rice is right. You know what red rice is right.
Speaker 1:You know what red rice is yeah, a little bit, I know what red rice is.
Speaker 2:So red rice. You know what red rice is? It's almost like a Spanish rice, but it's not quite the same, right, but anyway so there's different, so there's different variations.
Speaker 1:Every culture has their own version of red rice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we have the natural low country.
Speaker 1:Yeah, country red rice that's where it originated from, and then they had the variations, like the jambalaya.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there you go yeah, so yeah everybody else tried to jump on but the red rice, and there's a whole story. Um matter of fact, um black food friday talks about. Uh, what's his name?
Speaker 1:oh, I just went blank.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, yeah so, anyway, he talks about the um, the red rice, the whole story kj, kj kj talks about the red rice and this is a phenomenal story behind it and he did a great study on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but everybody can't make red rice no, they can't everybody can't make red rice now I, I make good red rice now because the last before my mom passed away, of course, everything I needed to know about certain things she gave to me. Yeah, she's like oh no, you're doing it the wrong way, it's backwards. You need to do it. You got the right ingredients, you put it in the wrong way you have to put it in a certain area, to make it work and she make wonderful red rice right but so that's what they used to do Tell you what's done wrong and then do it right.
Speaker 2:Now it's reverse If it's not good, people go. Oh, that was horrible. I will give people a second, even third chance on their food, because here's what I learned a long time ago what's inside of you comes out on your plate. So when I hire a staff, I say to them do an inventory. I'm not inventory, you know what I'm talking about. We do. You know what I'm talking about yeah.
Speaker 2:We do all that stuff. So anyway I say to them I say listen, if you're having a bad day, this is a day you shouldn't come to work. And they're like why? Because whatever's inside of you comes out on the plate. It does. And a lot of people don't realize that's what happens in these restaurants. You go to the restaurant, normally somebody that's in that back in that kitchen does not have a good attitude or going through some situation in their life and they've touched that food. It's called transferring, so those type spirits transfer to our food.
Speaker 1:The mood, the energy, all of that.
Speaker 2:All that goes to the food and the dish comes out, like you know. And the dish comes out like you know. You ever been to a restaurant before and you went in there and they said, oh, that food was wonderful, I'm going back again, yep, and you go back again and you're like what the hell? You know, I just been here, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And this food is like wow, you know, and it's like this food is just say back there, the attitude has changed, the mood has changed and so it makes the flavor change. So that's why you gotta and that's why I believe the Philippine people and other cultures do the same thing are so hard on what are correcting. People are giving them constructive criticism on their food, and we got to learn to do the same thing. But we're talking bad about you.
Speaker 1:Oxtail, that's crazy tough.
Speaker 2:oh my gosh, it's crazy fried chicken ain't got no salt. You know that's what we do, but we have to.
Speaker 1:So there's two things we have to be able to hold our people accountable right, but then we also have to be able to be held accountable, and that's where a lot of people mistake it, because they're like, yeah, I have a great product, yeah, I have a great product, but are you able to accept criticism right?
Speaker 2:and that's where a lot of people struggle but you know it's hard for us and this is probably something we should talk about, uh, even in a whole, in a more, even more wider uh audience needs to understand, especially as black guys, it is hard to run business without capital balance. We don't normally have the capital, we have the know-how, but we don't have the capital Exactly and we got to figure that part out and that's going to want to work to one word called unity.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So, in other words, people have to learn to put down the pride and say, okay, you know Juwan, you know Chef, he's got it. Okay, let's put him up front. Push him up front. Let's support his business, let's pour into his business and then we grow his business. Juwan come back around and say, okay, I got Jamie or whoever next and I'm going to support that business and we're going to build these business up and then we start building capital in our culture. Even with investors, they don't understand the power behind investing in food.
Speaker 2:Everybody's like oh, who wants to invest in a restaurant? Well, a smart person would know how to do it With the right capital, because you can get the right people to work for you, you can have those, you can train correctly, you can get the professionals in there and now you can maintain your culinary expertise Exactly. You know, it's hard when you got all this expertise we have and then you don't have the money behind you. Right, you know, we know, I know firsthand, I fight, you know I own the franchise. Yeah, yeah, you know, and I know it's a wonderful franchise, right, yeah. But if I get somebody to say, hey, I'm standing behind this franchise, we're going to win. Yes, right, yeah, but you got to trust the person gift.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and not go in there? Well, well, the bank says you know, don't invest in restaurant man, that's because the banks want to take all your money for themselves.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. Sorry, banks, but you know what? The banks are actually scared of the restaurant industry because they know that it's a necessity.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:It's a necessity.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So that's why it's like they're so not willing and they say, oh, we're in a high risk industry.
Speaker 2:How Right willing and they say oh, we're in a high-risk industry, how it's a necessity. You got to do it every day.
Speaker 1:What are you talking?
Speaker 2:about. You invest in Kellogg's and you know what that does for you.
Speaker 1:Kellogg's. If you want to sponsor, we are willing to accept your sponsorship money Because I like Kellogg's. Wink, wink.
Speaker 2:I do like Sugar Smack Now you know that. But seriously, we got to get these guys to see food is a necessity, needs to be done every day and not be afraid. What scares them is you got all these people that does get money in their hand, like football players and singers, you know and they want to open a restaurant, because you always dream about opening a restaurant but you don't have no clue how to run one.
Speaker 1:No know-how, no know-how at all.
Speaker 2:I want to get this big restaurant and a lot of them want to do it for notoriety. You have all these people come inside your restaurant because I'm, you know, the best football player in the world, and so everybody come to my spot until you didn't give them all your free food and drink up all your alcohol.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then they're gone and then your restaurant's closed. Yeah, you know, because you never had the person back there that understand how to run these, these, these numbers, how to run this food, how to control food costs, labor costs. The things that we don't look at is more important than packing the doors up.
Speaker 1:Exactly, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true. That needs to be talked about.
Speaker 1:For us. A lot of people don't even a lot of people now and I think social media may have messed this up a little bit Don't understand what it means to be a chef. Chef is more than just being able to curate a dish, more than just being able to cook and sometimes having good food. There's so much more. We have to know how to manage people. We got to know how to manage people's emotions, which is more important. Yes, we have to know finances. We have to know cost analysis. We have to know marketing. We have to know all of this type of stuff. Yes, because if we don't know it, it's going to fail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to fail. In New York does the restaurant science, and I think that you know it's a necessity to have somewhere like that come into your business and push that business on how to do it the correct way you know, that's from start to finish, building out the whole nine yard things that we think is not important. Those things needs to come forth and you're right, social media has jacked it up, you know, because folks have put out these plates and everybody wants to be a chef now they're a chef, yeah how do you become a chef right?
Speaker 2:so now Pookie and Rom-Rom are selling plates at the house and they're a chef now and people run into their restaurant and they got all these different views and numbers go up on social media and, oh, you know they got the best places. I went to a few of those places, you know, and I would go really, really y'all. So it's a false narrative that's going on on Facebook, on all those books, on social media about the culture of food. It's a false and it's going across the board. You know it's other areas too, but more about the food industry and you know it's sad.
Speaker 2:And then now these people don't want to get trained you know they don't want to be submissive to nobody, they don't want to listen. I am probably way young and older than you I thought I'd say younger, um but I listen to you, I you know, I see you, I follow your lead yeah, and I was like this guy. This is good and that's because, um the humility. The one thing I've been taught is a humble child will always taste the grace.
Speaker 2:Yeah right so I always want to go back to that part and I can hear my mom, even when you know she's not here. But I can hear her in my heart saying you know, remain humble. Yeah, no matter how big you get, how big people put you on pedestal, remain humble. Remain humble because all this stuff right here is coming from a gift, right, and this gift will make room for you that's true.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's it, that's my story.
Speaker 2:I'm sticking to it, that's a great story.
Speaker 1:So you said that. You said that everyone can't make. What is the dish that you say everybody can't make?
Speaker 2:Red rice, red rice, yes.
Speaker 1:You know what else everybody can't make. What's that? Shrimp and grits. Let's go Shrimp and grits. Now. They may not know, but I know who got the best shrimp and grits. The king of shrimp and grits himself is literally sitting right next to me. Wow, he has a recipe in the Smithsonian Museum. Yes, come on now. Come on now.
Speaker 2:Shrimp and grits, yeah shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits and one of those dishes, man, that's another mom dish that she would make and I was like I don't want no grits. But when she finished making that go, oh my god. And she never, ever that's how I know I got a gift never gave me the recipe for it. Really, she never gave me no recipe for it.
Speaker 2:That shrimp and goods was something I would eat and as I eat it, right, uh, when I, when I eat it, go okay, uh, this is good. And years later it came back to me. So I have a great taste, uh, great taste buds. I have a wonderful sense of smell, yeah, you know. And then my eyesight is very good. Yeah, right, even though I need glasses, I can see stuff in food he got, uh, he got 10, 20, vision 10, 20, I can see it in the food?
Speaker 2:yeah right, and I can smell it in the food. Yeah right, and I can smell it in the restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can go to a restaurant, walk in the door and go. This is not going to be good.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Except that one we went to in Charleston. I missed that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you missed that one by a long shot. Listen, we got so many restaurant and food stories. It's almost embarrassing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's almost embarrassing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was horrible.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:They don't let me pick restaurants anymore.
Speaker 1:No, he's fired, he's fired.
Speaker 2:I'm an age now. I mean I give everybody an opportunity. That's what it is right, that's true. I give everybody an opportunity. That's all it is. Yeah, trust me, I go in there my fingers crossed like this don't smell right, this don't look right. Something might not Okay, I'm going to give it a chance. But when you walk in a restaurant and they ain't got no lights on, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:That was a sign. We walked in a restaurant and the lights was off. Red flag, red flag. It was time to leave. It was time to leave. We should have did a U-turn, walked in and walked oh my gosh, bad pick and we walked into a living room, right? So, dante, let me put this in perspective for you. We walked into this restaurant. We were the only people there. That's another red flag. We walk in to a living room and an office, combined, combined. So that was the front of the restaurant, imagine. And it's pitch black. So we walk into the restaurant part. This lady comes out of this creepy door.
Speaker 1:Yawning, she's walking up, she's tired, she just woke up from a nap and we're like okay, we're going to see what this is about. It takes an hour before any food even comes out, and the food was horrid. It was absolutely terrible.
Speaker 2:One at a time.
Speaker 1:One at a time, and she brought out the food once every 30 minutes. There was like 10 of us yes, and so chef walked in the back and was like, hey, we got to get going. Guess what her cooking device was, chef mike, chef mike himself the microwave. So she heated up enough food for 10 people in a microwave. One at a time.
Speaker 2:One at a time yes yeah very true, and that's only half of it.
Speaker 1:We didn't even mention the part that another customer came in with the bag of frozen, frozen vegetables from walmart, from walmart I Walmart.
Speaker 2:I need to apply and guess what it ended up?
Speaker 1:on our plates.
Speaker 2:What's the mail on it?
Speaker 1:Oh, my God. I'll leave it alone, no one ate the food at all Like it was. It was horrible and it sucks cause we don't have no photos. I wish we could have took a photo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's one. I normally get restaurant two chances.
Speaker 1:That's one would not get another chance. That don't get another chance, and I'm going to add a new word to everybody's vocabulary. Brandon, you hear this? I'm going to add a new word to your vocabulary. If you don't like the food or if the food looks terrible, it's called ridda. Right ridda, because that means you're supposed to get rid of it. Right, right?
Speaker 2:It was rid. Anyway, so then you stuck with it.
Speaker 1:Exactly exactly. Well, good, oh man. Well, no, Chef, this was great, I really enjoyed talking to you.
Speaker 2:Thanks, man, this was wonderful.
Speaker 1:Let the people know where they can find the sauces wwwchefcarlosbrowncom. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:That's where you get the sauces at, and it's somewhere in Chicago right now too, so it's hitting stores.
Speaker 1:It Chicago right now too. So it's hitting stores, it's hitting shelves.
Speaker 2:It's hitting shelves. It's about to hit these shelves all over. We're going to see them everywhere. They're made ready for your whole foods and you know those type places. It's already ready for them. So they're all gourmet sauces, guys, so you may not find it inside. You know, you know the other stores.
Speaker 1:Find them in the goldmine stores for sure, we gotta keep it right it's like Gucci you won't find Gucci until the other store yeah, you can't find Gucci at Walmart. No, no you won't.
Speaker 2:So then these sauces gotta be special yeah, no, for sure. And they're worth every penny, every penny, thank you. Thank you so much man, man, awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, this was another Rated TK Podcast. We have Chef Carlos. You can find all of his information in the link down below. Make sure you follow him on Instagram, facebook, tiktok, wherever he is. Make sure you guys follow him and make sure you get the sauces. We will see you guys in the next episode. Peace.