The Restaurant Guys
Mark Pascal and Francis Schott are The Restaurant Guys! The two have been best friends and restaurateurs for over 30 years. They started The Restaurant Guys Radio Show and Podcast in 2005 and have hosted some of the most interesting and important people in the food and beverage world. After a 10 year hiatus they have returned! Each week they post a brand new episode and a Vintage Selection from the archives. Join them for great conversations about food, wine and the finer things in life.
**To subscribe for extra episodes, bonus content and special events, click below!**
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401692/support
The Restaurant Guys
Ryan DePersio on Vision and Tenacity Behind Culinary Success
The Banter
The Guys talk about restaurant upselling and how NOT to do it like a sleazy car salesman.
The Conversation
The Restaurant Guys talk with friend Ryan DePersio about wins, losses, and marine borers. Ryan believes teamwork and tenacity are keys to surviving and thriving in this industry.
Inside Track
The Guys served Ryan at their restaurant before he became a chef!
“My parents were taking us to New York City once or twice a year, and eating at Gotham Bar and Grill and Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe. At that point, I felt like I was only getting that experience at those restaurants in Manhattan. And then I ate at Stage Left and I felt the same thing I felt at a place like Gotham Bar and Grill.
It really was a core memory for me of upscale dining and refined service and caring about what was going on the plate.
That was 30 years ago,” Ryan DePersio on The Restaurant Guys Podcast 2025
Bio
Chef Ryan DePersio is the culinary force behind New Jersey spots Fascino, Kitchen Step, Battello and Ember & Eagle. Known for his “Italian without borders” style, DePersio blends classic technique with modern flair, earning critical and loyal guest acclaim.
A James Beard–recognized chef, he’s helped shape New Jersey’s dining scene with his refined yet approachable cuisine.
Info
Battello
Ember & Eagle
https://www.emberandeagle.com/
We will have a Halloween pop-up bar in Stage Left Steak Oct 27-Nov 1.
Reserve here!
https://www.stageleft.com/event/1029-1101-spooky-bar-stage-left-steak/
Our Sponsors
The Heldrich Hotel & Conference Center
https://www.theheldrich.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Withum Accounting
https://www.withum.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
To hear more about food, wine and the finer things in life:
https://www.instagram.com/restaurantguyspodcast/
https://www.facebook.com/restaurantguys
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com
**Become a Restaurant Guys Regular and get two bonus episodes per month, bonus content and Regulars Only events.**
Click Below!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401692/subscribe
Hello everybody, and welcome. You are listening to the Restaurant Guys. I'm Mark Pascal and I'm here with Francis Shot. Together we own stage left in capital Lombardi, restaurants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We're here to bring you the inside track on food, wine, and the finer things in life. Hello, mark. Hey Francis. How you doing? I'm doing great. I'm looking forward to welcoming our friend Ryan de Perio. Chef Ryan de Perio will be on the show as our guest today, a little later on. I've said this a lot of times, I really love having guests that we are friends with, right? Yeah. That's, that's it. It makes it more fun. It makes it more interesting. And we know the little tidbits Well, the little, the little insider baseball stuff. Well, it's funny'cause we, we say the show is like the conversation we would have at the end of a shift, sitting at your bar after you've locked the doors. And what, we've actually done that with Ryan De so it's, it will be just like that, I promise you. It's more fun. Uh, so I wanna start the show with, uh. I, I guess something that annoys me a little bit. Oh, is it me? I said a little bit. Uh oh. Okay. Okay. Old man. So, somehow on Instagram and Facebook and all these things, I, I'm obviously in the algorithm of, I get all the pundits and consultants and they, fill up my, Instagram. Yeah. Okay. With advice. Yep. Restaurant advice. Yep. How to run a restaurant, how to teach your employees, all, all these types of things. Yeah. Yeah. And occasionally I get good little tidbits from, from those. Mm-hmm. But so frequently I'll get something that makes me say, that's so wrong. Oh, okay. Okay. Like, like something is on your mind. What is it? Something is on my mind. So one of the things that, uh. Came up in my feed was upsell, upsell, upsell. Always be upselling. You gotta, that's, that's what makes a restaurant is upselling. Yeah. I've seen a bunch of these. A, a bunch of those. Mm-hmm. I think you sent me a couple where the guy will be giving staff notes to the staff and I want to jump through the screen and be like, no, no, don't, no. Not like that. So. there's a place up in Saratoga and it, it happened to me just, it happened to me again this last trip. And all the entrees on the menu are 28, 30, 30$2. And the, and the waiter comes over and says, you gotta have the veal chop. The veal chop is amazing. Now I'm in the business. I ate a lot of veal chops. Right. I know the veal CHOP's gonna be 70 bucks, right? Yes. Gotta be. Yeah. So, but I always like to ask. Oh, so wait, so there's no card with a price on it? No card, no nothing. No nothing. It's, it's an old school Italian restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, okay. Uh, how much is the, the veal chop. Oh, it's$89, but it's, it's bel, you know, and again, I'm in a restaurant with$30 entrees, right? And you're offering me an$89 entree without telling me the price. Makes me crazy. Anyway, upselling, upselling, upselling. What you need to tell your staff is teach them about the great things On your menu. Yeah. Let them recommend the great things on your menu. People are coming to you because they wanna have the things you have. Well, and the other thing is like veal chops, for example. So maybe you don't wanna have a veal chop on your menu and you wanna have a veal chop special because when people call and say what are, what are your entrees range from? And you say, oh, there. 25 to$35 or you get this cool special thing, right? You get black truffles from, from Parago, France. You wanna have'em on your menu. But even if you have it all the time, I can see you might wanna leave that off the menu.'cause most of your entries are between 25 and$39. And so you wanna be able to say that when someone asks that question. And you can have a$79 special if something, it's worth it. You got a special meal chop that you need to tell people you and why we have the bi, the card on the table. And, and I think that's fine. And if you don't care, you don't care. Right. But you, there's the card on the table, and I'm sorry, wherever you are, if there's no card on the table, you have to say the price. Especially if it's an outlier from what the other things in the restaurant normally are. Alright, so here's the real consulting tidbit if you're in the restaurant business, okay, good. Convince your waiters, tell them what you have. Okay? Because people are coming to you because you have special things, right? Okay. And for the most part, if you're coming to a restaurant like this, you're coming for the special things. Okay? Once they know about the special things, people are gonna like those things. Um, what's the single Thing that Increases their check average and increases their tip percentage. The single thing is number of times you're at the table talking to your table. Yeah. Be present at your table. Why is, why are those things true? They're true because people have come into your restaurant for an experience. They've come into your restaurant because they want. What you have, they chose you. They want what you have. And if you're at the table and you can tell'em about all the cool things you have, then they're going to participate. Most of your customers are gonna participate in the cool things you have, and when you bring them the cool things that you have. They tip you a higher percentage and they say, thank you very much for, for showing me this thing that I can now have. Well, yeah, and I think that there's a big difference there.
Francis:Okay, so there's the technical, the absolute truth of the restaurant business. And frankly, that winds up in upselling. If you have cool stuff and your waiters at the table and you trust them and they like food, and you like food and they're trying to bring you something you like, and as a result of check average goes up, that's great, but that's different than the sleazy car salesman upsell, right?
Mark:People are not coming to you because they need a new car. They're coming to you'cause they want the experience of coming to your restaurant. don't have the sleazy used car salesman mentality. It's, it's, it's antithetical to what we do. The difference though, I wanna talk about the what is do use Carl salesman mentality. The, the purpose when you go over to the table is, I know I'm gonna get the checkup. I'm gonna, I'm gonna sell these people more stuff, whether they want it or not. So, you know, some of that is the veal, that's too expensive. Some, you know, I love those old tricks that used to go again, mostly were in Italian restaurants. Mm-hmm. I remember the, the waiter restaurant in town locally, the waiters. They would say, oh, so, uh, you'd order the entree and they'd say, um, and so do you want the spinach or the broccoli with that? Right that what, implying that it was included and then you'd be like, what's this charge for spinach on my check? And I remember the name of that restaurant, which even, even though it's not even open anymore, we're not gonna mention the name of the restaurant that used to do that. That used to piss me off so much. And, and you, if you say that this or that, and you make somebody assume that it and you slam them with a bill, I hate that. I actually hate that. So a little bit off topic, but we talk about veal chops and one of my favorite veal chop story because. I'm a restaurant guy. I have a favorite veal chop story. We're out at a restaurant with our, our mutual friend Anthony. Yeah. And whenever Anthony's out, he orders the veal chop. Right. He doesn't get a lot of veal chops in his life. Right. So when he is at a nice restaurant and again doesn't care about price, this is a while ago. He orders the veal chop. So we're at this nice place you were there and he orders the veal chop and we all place our orders and the, the waiter goes back and out comes for Anthony, a pork chop. I do remember that. I do remember that. And not that Anthony doesn't like a, a good pork chop. Yeah. But he loves a great veal chop. So he is disappointed. Yeah. And he turns to the way and he goes. Excuse me, you, you brought a a pork chop and I ordered a veal chop and the waiter goes, well, I'm sure you ordered the pork chop, sir. Oh, okay. Now again, I know Anthony for a million years. I know he ordered the veal chop. Right, right, right. Because he doesn't not order the veal chop plus. I was at the table. I remember morning the veal chop, right. Anyway, so Anthony's kinda like, I'm pretty sure he ordered the veal chop and the waiter's just like, no, no, no, you did not. You ordered the pork chop and instead of just bringing him a veal chop, which is what he should have done exactly, he leaves the table and now he comes back. He doesn't come back with a veal chop. Okay? He comes back with his little pad and he said, look, you ordered the pork chop. I wrote it down right there. See? Yes, yes. You wrote it down. See where you ordered the pork chop On my little pad, it says, so here. It must be true, dude. That is the, um, that is a. That is a, that is a lesson. That's another, that's another great lesson. It's just a life lesson, but it, it, it manifests in restaurant is like the importance of being Right. It's overrated. Yeah. You don't need to say that guy was right all along. You know, and that's why even if he was right, and that's the thing we realized in the restaurant business then, and we try to teach, especially young people, especially, I think I was more of the angry young man than you were when we were younger. And, and I had to learn in this business. I forget who was who said for the first time to me, you know, being right is overrated. Wouldn't you rather be happy and get, move forward and get things done? And do you need to be right and convince someone else that you're right? And when I let that go, I'm, I'm glad you remember. That that was said to you? I'm a little sad. You don't remember who said it though? Somebody besides you said it. You might have said it a bunch of times, but I didn't Listen, but I don't listen to you. I don't listen to you. It needed to come from somebody else. No. Or otherwise I was gonna ignore it. Yeah, but it, I forget. Maybe it was, I don't know. It was me. No, me. Wasn't you somebody? It was freaking me. I think you're wrong and I'm gonna prove it to you. Okay. Hey, wait. Hold on a second. Look, I wrote it down on my little pad right here. Wasn't marked that that said that I, I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, I think we should stop this nonsense and talk to Ryan de Percy, who's much smarter than either one of us. We'll be back in just a moment. You're listening to the Restaurant, guys. You can always find out more about us@restaurantguyspodcast.com. That couldn't have been better. I wrote it. Good luck.
Speaker:Hey there everybody. Welcome back. Our guest today is Chef Ryan de Perio. He's an old friend and he also helms the kitchen at some of our favorite restaurants right here in the Garden state. He's talking to us. If you are seeing any clips on social media with a background of, uh, the city of New York, the skyline from his restaurant Patello in Jersey City, we're very jealous. He's an Italian American chef from Nutley, New Jersey, like my partner over here. Hone his craft cook in Italy and France worked in the US with the likes of Jean George and David Bole. He's a James Beard Award nominee and an old friend, and we're super happy to have him on the show. Ryan Perillo, welcome to the show, buddy.
Speaker 2:Gentlemen. Gentlemen, thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much.
Speaker:You win the award for best, uh, backdrop for anyone who can see the,
Speaker 2:and it's real.
Speaker:I know. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Exactly. So, Ryan, I, I gotta start with, you know, as Francis mentioned, you're from Nutley. I'm from Nutley. We got Jamie Knott as another famous restaurant owner from from Nutley. It seems like most of the top 40 restaurants in New Jersey are owned by people from Nutley. So is it like the well water? What do you, what do you think is causing the, that degree of restaurant, uh, success?
Speaker 2:I was gonna say it's the Italians, but we know Jamie not, is not Italian whatsoever. Uh, it might be the, uh, large amount of misfits that couldn't figure out what to do with their lives as well and started washing dishes at a young age and fell in love with the cooking. And that's really what it was for me. It was just. My mother was my influence. And you know, I, I hated school, you know, so I was watching the Food Network at 16 years old. Um, and I was washing dishes at restaurants and, but I loved money and I wanted to make money. So at 17, I had four jobs. I was working six days a week. I, I have really a hustler spirit.
Speaker 3:I don't know, man. I loved school. But when I graduated, I hated the desk. Mm. Took me eight days to realize that I, I do not belong behind this desk. I, I belong, you know, back in restaurants doing, doing the things I really love. Uh, so just a different pathway, but I, it's just weird that. A town that actually doesn't have any of those top 40 restaurants, has all of these famous restaurants from people who, who, who just grew up in this town. I think it has to do more with the, it's a very family oriented town. It's a very, you know, you eat with your parents, you, and it's very Italian
Speaker:American. Very Italian American,
Speaker 3:but, but again, Jamie's not, but it's, it was just, just a lot about. Being with other people and, and liking other people and, and liking that part of life. It's a town that bore that
Speaker:kind of hospitality. I, I'm not Italian either, but all the smart Irish kids got invited over their black friend's house of their Italians friend's house for dinner.'cause your moms knew how to cook. This is true.
Speaker 3:So we have some more parallels in our life, Ryan, besides being friends for the last 20 years, you did something. And, and I've heard you talk about it on other shows about how eye-opening it was. Spending a summer in Europe, spending some time doing that. And you did it two times? I did it once as a, as a 20-year-old, uh, spent the summer in Europe. Just there's, there's nothing like that as far as like whole world. There's nothing like that as, as far as whole world education. Right. To really, I, I like to say all the time that summer I spent in Europe, I learned more than all five years at college. And that, yeah. I said five years at college, I did. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's, it's okay. But it just, just the difference in me after a summer in Europe was I, I thought was fantastic.
Speaker 2:So, um, when I say this, I don't say it in a, in a bad way to Nutley, but you know, you grew up in an Italian American family, you know, there is not a lot of openness to food you're eating. Spaghetti and meatballs and you know, stuffed artichokes and clams, oreg, and these are one of my all time favorite foods of, uh, you know, in my life. Mm-hmm. But you, it is hard to open your mind when it comes to eating. And my traveling around the world is what really got me to open up my eyes and say, you know. And I'm not even talking about it, you know, being in Italy, in France, but also just learning about sushi. You know, my very first, you know, meal at. An upscale sushi place was at Nobu at 18 years old. And, and then you go to, you know, a place like Baltazar and you're like, I've had my, at 19 years old and I had my, my first, you know, oysters on ice with like a crisp riesling, you know what I mean? Your parents were eating table Italian, red wine. They didn't even know what a Riesling was, you know? So traveling is my. All time. Number one suggestion to every young chef. Unfortunately, they're all trying to be a chef before they're actually, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Gotta be cooked first, right? But,
Speaker 2:but save your money. Get a hookups figure a way to get to Europe if you can't even get into a kitchen. Just go and, and, and for four weeks and, and, and just eat downloading to your, your belly. You know, the most amazing food that you'll never try in your hometown here in New Jersey.
Speaker 3:You know, it's, there's a relationship when you go to Europe. They have a different relationship with food and meals than we do. And, and again, Italian American coming from Nutley, we, we, we circled around the table. That's, that's, that's similar, but the thought of, we're gonna make this the focal point of our day. Lunch is the focal point of the, uh, of the day when you're in Europe and, and I think Americans just don't think about food the same way and it's, it's really educational and eyeopening to spend some time there.
Speaker:I walked into the frog in the peach, which was the first fine dining restaurant at I ever worked in, and, uh, I had never been in a fine dining restaurant as a guest and. It. I just felt like I was more of a citizen of the world, you know what I mean? Like, I knew that this was bigger than New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was bigger than a college job. And there was something here that was a language here that trans transcended the barriers of just my little place. And I think that's what great food, and especially great wine and great spirits, that's what it's all about. You can save time in a bottle. Man. That's, yeah, it, it's, it's a perspective that. And it's a perspective, it's a way that somebody who maybe doesn't do great in school and doesn't, isn't in finance or, you know, a lawyer can travel the world. And I think that being, you know, cooking food or being a sommelier. We find ourselves in some amazing company with, you know, senators and governors and businessmen and really cool people. Be people who do great things in other much more important fields. Um, yeah, and we get invited because we're food people and that's pretty cool. You, you've had that experience. I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I mean, the industry, uh, has definitely pulled in a lot of influential people because I'd say that once you kind of become successful in life, one of the things that people kind of get. Uh, have find a love for is food and wine, right? Mm-hmm. And when they go to a restaurant and, you know, get to meet the chef, um. We, it's very sweet for us because, you know, they wanna meet the chef, they wanna tell the chef how much they loved everything and ask questions about the food. And, you know, they want to ask you about your family. And it's a, it's a special feeling, but that's what it's all about. It's not, it's not just about cooking. It's about being entire encompass of the experience at a restaurant.
Speaker:And when you were a chef of your own place for a sommelier or a bartender, when you travel the world. It's open arms. If you, if you are a food person who appreciates their food and bring something of your own. The restaurant industry, wherever you are, loves you farmers. Wherever you are, love you, winemakers love you, and just people who are interested in food. It's, it's, it's a tremendously powerful and weird passport to the world, don't you think? A
Speaker 2:hundred percent. I, uh, I think that, you know, my experience in Italy and France were a little different. Um, tell us about It wasn't so I worked for, um, bill Opan, um, at Jus and Grill. Mm-hmm. In New York City. I was at the time, yeah. I was 21. The sous chef at Jus and Grill. He hooked me up at a restaurant in that he worked at, it was a one star Michelin, uh. I wish I could remember the name. I don't even remember the name because I ended up not staying there. They, they put me on the pastry department. For like Uhhuh three weeks or two weeks. And I didn't love it if, you know, all the restaurants are only open five days. They're closed on Sunday and Monday. Um, so I would kind of walk around and walk into restaurants and try to get into another one. And I ended up getting into this place called Lere. It was a one star Michelin as well. And it was being run by, oh, the one that, the first restaurant was Tabla down there. That's the name of it. Okay. And then the second one was laps. It was. This older man that did all the cooking with like two assistants. His wife was in the front. She was a sommelier. It was a really cool, close knit group. Or I should say like. Family of people that ran this restaurant, um, together. And uh, I just kind of assisted them on, on prep work and stuff like that. And then two years later I ended up going to Italy and it was like, hey, it was open arms and it was, you know,
Speaker 3:it is a very different hospitality mentality. And I guess that's, that's part of what I was getting to earlier. It's just you're, you're more hospitable to your fellow man. And in this country where we're always rushing to the next thing, the only thing they ever rushed to in, in Italy or France is the next meal lunch. Right. It's, that's they're not, they're not rushing back to work. They're not. It's, no, not at all. I
Speaker 2:mean, let's talk about family meal. When I was there, I mean, you, we did two services, right? We'd walk in at 8:00 AM right? Mm-hmm. We prepped. We would do family meal at right around 1130. Right. And family meal, you know, at our restaurants, you know, it's like, you know, we do trays of food and people kind of grab it and they eat some, most of the chefs are eating in the kitchen while they're prepping. This one. You know, they made, they made an appetizer, they made a protein, they made a, they make a starch, which is the, oh, you know, and Italy was a pasta. They made dessert and everybody sat together at the same table and we ate, they even poured wine, you know what I mean? Like you're not supposed to be drinking on a job, but that was like an everyday thing in Italy and people didn't really over drink. It was like it was an accompaniment with the meal. Right,
Speaker:right. It was food.
Speaker 2:So you, so you, you ate this th you know, these three or four course meal and then. You got a 20 minute break, everybody goes outside, has an espresso, and you come in at 12 30, 12 45, you do one seating, right? And then you're done. 2, 2 30, 3 o'clock. You have another two, you have a two hour siesta. And then when you walk in to, you know, uh, your next shift that day, family meal, 5:00 PM same thing, appetizer, you know, protein, veg, pasta, dessert. And then the first sitting was at six 30. Sometimes we do like one and a half seatings and then you were done. 11:00 PM you go to bed and that's it, and your next day is repeat. Same thing. And it was, it was beautiful and, and the most important thing was, is all the food was so natural that you felt like you're eating too much.
Speaker 3:I'm a fat guy who eats his face off every time he goes to Europe. I lose weight every time. I, every time I, I, every time I, it's wild.
Speaker:It's wild. It's crazy. Well, I think that there's a lot of re there's a lot of literature out there that says that the nature of the grain itself that goes to make the starches is. It's different. I mean, the food is so different that you can't, you can't, if you're trying to eat healthy in America, you still can't eat as well, um, for your health. When you go there, and I say the same thing, I go to Italy, I go to France, and I'm going to the best restaurants I can, and I want to try all the food I can, and I lose pounds every time I go. What did you bring back from your experience so that you brought back to your restaurants? How were you able to translate that back to your restaurants and what you're doing now as a chef?
Speaker 2:So I was, I, I've been in love with Italian, you know, food for my whole life, and, but I've also been in love with. You know, modern cuisine, you know, I got to work for David Bole, as you know, and and Jar George and Bill Tallan, who Bill trained with Danielle Blu. I feel like I was able to take the modernized style of cooking, use Italian ingredients, and compose these dish dishes together my own way. You'll see Piata and. You'll see stuff like that on my menus, but they're not done traditionally. They're done in a modern way, meaning I'm using the ingredients from those dishes, right? Um, but the dish is also, uh, very seasonal forward, you know? Um, so you'll, you'll see in the fall, um, you'll see the squashes and the mushrooms and the parsnips and the celery room and stuff like that. Then when we, you know, fast forward to spring, you know, the morels, the English peas, the asparagus, the rhubarb, it'll all be, all those ingredients will be integrated in an Italian way.
Speaker:You know, I'm a big fan of your food. We eat your restaurants all the time. Mark and I say something when we walk into restaurants, right? We're, we're definitely, definitely restaurant OGs, and we always look for individually owned restaurants wherever we go in the world. But I, I think when you go into a restaurant. And you hang out there once or twice, you know, if there's a sense of community in among that restaurant staff. Do you know if the owners or whoever's running a place is a nice person or a good person or a fun person or brings it together? You, it's the feel it comes from above. So is is a good leader at the
Speaker 3:very
Speaker:least. I, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3:and you know, I, there are some, there are some guys who maybe I don't love as much as I love Ryan. Who I think are good leaders.
Speaker:Yeah. But if you walk in and, and the waiter's a jerk and they're trying to close up early, and they, and they're not really paying attention. Like if they're making good natured mistakes, but they're nice people, that's one thing. But if they're just jerks, you know, the owner's a jerk. Right. But yeah, you, you have, um, among your staff, wherever you run the place, you, you know, you have a nice, you have a sense of community, you have a lot of nice people. Is that something you brought back from Europe? How do you build that in a restaurant staff? I.
Speaker 2:No, I wouldn't say that came from Europe. I think that came from years of experience building teams. My first restaurant, FAU and Montclair. We had multitudes of employees that worked for us for 10 plus years. And what happens is, is, you know, as you guys know, one, as you become a multi-unit, uh, restaurant operator, you can't be in one place, right? And then two, as you grow and say, be, have, you know, friendships and family. You also want to figure a way to run these operations with being able to live your life, right? Mm-hmm. So you have to be able to teach these teams to. Get to know these customers then, you know, part of the family. Um, so yes. Um, I know that, you know, you guys used to, or Francis, you know, who comes here often at Kitchen Step in Patello, you know, used to see me a lot more often, but now that I have mm-hmm. A new place that's, you know, in hour and 15 minutes from my home, I'm spending more time there. So you don't get to see me, but you know. The, the next person that's there gets to know who you are and learn who you are and, and, and greet you the way I greet you. That's the community part. Learning, learning your guests, um, and having your employees learn your guests and trying to build a team that stays with you for a long time.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:So being a, a regular at your restaurant for many, many years, I noticed that, and it's something that we do as well. We also have employees who've been with us for 10 and 15 and 20 and 25 years. Um, but when you have, whenever you have a new hd, uh, always, either Corey, your partner or the old HD introduces me to the new person and you have a crossover there. And I, that is so important and so many restaurants miss that. It's that personal connection of I know you by name. This is a human interaction and you guys do a great job at that.
Ryan:Thank you. Appreciate it. We take a lot of pride in it, that's for sure.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:you have to not just take pride in it though. You have to enjoy it. Yeah. If you don't, if you don't like making those connections, if that's not part of who you are as a human being, then it comes off as fakey. Fake. Yeah. Right.
Ryan:Oh, a hundred
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:a real connection.
Ryan:I have a lot of guests ask me, they're like, Hey, we should hang out. We should go out to dinner, blah, blah, blah. It's hard. It's like I want to, I am friendly, friendly with these people and friends with you guys, but it's like, if I'm not working, I'm, I'm exercising.'cause you guys know I love to, you know, work out. I'm running the New York Marathon for the fourth time this year. Um, I, um. Small plug on, you know, the marathon.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Nice.
Ryan:Um, and, um, and then, you know, I have three kids. blah, blah. Trying to relieve my wife of all these duties is really hard. Um, and then get a date night in with her as well. So it's pretty wild.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:You know it, what's, one of the things that's very interesting is the balancing of family and being in the restaurant business. So your partner Corey, used to come actually hang out, wind up in my living room occasionally, or having a drink on the roof or whatever. And then you know, you people having your damn kids. You know what I mean? You're just no fun anymore. Mark's kids finally grew up and he's fun again, but there was like 30 years in there where he was no fun at all. But even now, you know, my kids are older. I'm still reserving Sundays, you know, half of the Sundays a year to get my family together, It's, it's those, the numbers, when you start playing the numbers game of, of connecting all the relationships, it's really hard to do in this business because we spend so much time doing the business of our business. We're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come back on the other side and I'll talk about a pretty interesting business model that you and your partners have brought to, uh, Jersey City and to the restaurant industry in Jersey. We'll be back in just a moment. You listening to the restaurant guys, you can always find out more@restaurantguyspodcast.com. Hey everybody. Welcome back. We're here with Ryan De Perio. Ryan Francis was, uh, about to talk about patello, the restaurant you're sitting in right now, and what a, what a cool restaurant model you have there. You, you do two things in your restaurants that I'm jealous of, I'm gonna talk about the first one right now, and that is in Patello, you're able to run an a la carte restaurant Monday through Thursday, Friday. Sometimes if there's not an event No Saturdays ever. And because you're doing weddings and events on the weekends there and you have a la carte dining whenever there's, there's not a big event taking over the place and it's such a cool model. And you've trained most of us. Okay. For me, Saturdays don't matter, right?'cause I'm here in my restaurants. Uh, you created such a cool model where people know I te us the place I go during the week. I'll go out to some other restaurants on the weekends, and then I'll have my wedding at Patello, or I'll have my, you know, hundredth birthday party for a great-grandpa, at patello and, and have this grand event right on the water. it's a really great model, in a spectacular space.
Ryan:Yeah, no, it is. I have to say that the, Corey was the brainchild behind this idea. Um, and it, this model, uh, is probably the best model, uh, for a business in, in this industry.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Just so you know, Francis has a smarter partner as well, so you don't have to be, you don't have to be jealous of that. Yeah.
Ryan:Yeah, but you know what? There's one with talent.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Oh, thank you buddy. Thank you.
Ryan:Uh.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:So, I think just to, to, to boil that down for people is the idea of like, you have a wedding venue and the thing about a wedding venue is you only have it on the weekends, but weddings are where the money is and then you have a fine dining restaurant. Problem is fine. Dining restaurants a la carte are not where the money, you gotta be really busy all the time.'cause how many people are coming? What do I have in the kitchen? What's my staffing? It's all different. You have both. You have a. A wedding venue that's full on the, on the Fridays and Saturdays, and you have during the week, a restaurant to fill in when it's not. It's crazy. We play this game in Jersey City, we guess whether or not you have a, a wedding on a particular Sunday, we're like brunch chip patello. He is free today. You know, it's a cool
Ryan:Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, honestly, we're very fortunate. I do believe that, uh, this model that we're talking about, restaurant slash event space, definitely needs to be, um, in a beautiful location. you see a lot of our, people that we know in the industry, opening a lot of restaurants, you know, year in and year out, where every two years they're opening a restaurant. And you, you, we haven't done that. You know, we've taken time to open restaurants. Um, and I think it's because it's, uh, strategically planned around locations, making sure that the location is the right one. Uh, Patello is on the Hudson River overlooking New York City. Um, so one thing that you'll know is, and, and no, no knock to any restaurants, but a lot of restaurants that are on the water are usually mediocre to good. Right.
Mark:Funny. I was just gonna say that exact same thing. The what I respect about. Patello. What's different about Patello is you're doing these events and honestly, probably the right business model is to offer fine food four days a week and just let people come and be in this beautiful place,
Ryan:Yeah, I mean you guys, you know that like all these waterfront properties, and I won't say all of them, I'd like to state that blue on the Hudson is one of my favorite restaurants. They're doing an an incredible job. but there's definitely a few out there that are. You know, they're buying from mass produced, you know, corporate companies instead of, you know, your local vendors, to keep their price point down. Um, and we don't do that. You know, we're still buying from the same vendors that I bought at Fasano. My little BYO restaurant in, in Montclair, New Jersey. And you know, we're buying from local farms. We're using harvest drop, which is obviously a very hard thing for restaurants to do, right?'cause no farms deliver. how could you get. produce and, and products locally. Harvest Drop offers that, you know, you go on their website, you click from whatever farm you want, the item you need, and that you get those deliveries twice a week. You have to be strategic about it and plan it in advance. Um, but that's all about who you hire to do your ordering and stuff like that.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I wanna talk about your space and, and, uh, not to neglect your other spaces But Botello is really one of my favorite restaurants to be in. It is mostly glass. It is not just on the water. It's in the water. Okay. So it's at the end of a pier sticking out into the Hudson River with a beautiful view of New York. There's some, there's from, uh, yachts docked alongside there It's unbelievable. You're like, and you know the thing about New York, they say is if you really want a beautiful view of the architecture of New York, you've got to be. Across a river, right? Because it's also close together. So, um, the restaurant's tremendous. It's mostly glass. You have an outdoor area for nice weather. Um, you got a bar where you can sit at. So if there's no wedding going on, it's, it's really friendly. A little hard to find. Your Uber driver's gonna miss it the first time. Um, he's like, I drive out there. Yeah. You know, I was like, yeah, you can drive out there.
Ryan:Yeah.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:so, but you, this location, you have paid dearly. Uh, in, in blood, sweat, and tears to be in this location.
Ryan:Yeah.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:you mind sharing with us the story of, and this was, this is an iconic restaurant story we need to tell, so you're on a pier. You've taken this restaurant, it existed. Another restaurant that they didn't, didn't do so well, they didn't do a great job. You take it over, you make this great restaurant. It becomes one of my favorite restaurants and a huge wedding hall. Then you had a problem.
Mark:I love the, I love this story you're about to tell, because it, it really encapsulates the life of a, of a restaur, right? It is. You know, everybody sees the shining moments. Everybody sees the full dining room. Everybody says, wow, you, you know your life. I want your, I want your life. How many people said that to you? So tell us, about life on the pier.
Ryan:yeah, I'm glad that you kind of brought that up because I do get a lot of young cooks. like reach out to me, like through Instagram and stuff like that, and they'll, say like, oh my God, like, you know, what do I gotta do to get to your, your level and stuff like that. And I'm like, you know, you have to sacrifice. That's number one. Um, and two, you need to, you know, accept the losses. Everybody sees Ryan Dipper's wins, you know? Right. But no one saw the losses. Right. Um, you know, Barra never. Didn't fail as a restaurant, but it didn't make enough money so I had to sell it. Right. Um, and then we, uh, you know, and then we had the story that Francis is talking about. We were rolling into year three, 2017, and our landlord comes up to us and says, um, we're gonna close you in seven days because the peer. Has moved and it's not safe to be on the pier and we have to redo it. And we're like, I'm, I'm sorry, what? We have, we have weddings booked for the next 18 months. And they're like, yeah, you gotta cancel'em all. So, um, whatever you could think that eight, you know, 18 months of weddings, deposits are, that's what we had to come up with to hand back to everyone. we closed in seven days. Um, we were told that we'd be closed for 90 days. We were closed for 16 months. this is a story not just about, you know, learning about your losses, but also, um, how you could survive together. I could have easily, you know, went off and got a job or a partnership somewhere else, but. Corey, Joe and I, and Dominique, um, the four of us, knew that we were an incredible team together and we decided to, figure a way to stay together. how did we do that? You know, me personally, I lost close to a hundred thousand dollars of my own cash that just paid for my life for that 16 months, uh, to stay in this partnership. I'm sure and, and I'm sure they did too. Um, and then on top of the money loss, we decided to gamble and, uh, buy a restaurant down in Brielle. Uh, I don't know if you guys remember that. So after we closed in 17, by March of 2018, we were in the process of negotiating buying a restaurant, Brielle. we closed the, the, the deal, the week before Memorial Day weekend. So we had no time to renovate it, so we ended up opening the restaurant. Uh, we ended up opening the restaurant a week later, keeping the old staff. Running it as is kind of like a menu that I would do, but dumbed down. Um, you know, just doing like grilled steaks and grilled lobster and keeping it very seafood shore forward. Uh, we were doing 5, 6, 700 people a weekend. Uh, Cory, Joe and I rented, uh, a house across the street because we all lived up north. I was the only one with kids. I'd like to say it was hardest on me because, you know, listen, Corey, Joe and Dominique, and even Corey's wife now, Amelia, they got to live at that shore house. And yes, we all worked very, very hard. But I stayed there with them three days a week, sometimes four days a week without seeing my family for half the week. Yeah. So it was very, very hard. Um, and then we were, after the summer was over. Um, we were supposed to close and renovate it, and this was going to be like, almost like the shore version of Patello. We are gonna have an event space upstairs, have the restaurant downstairs. We are gonna create the next best waterfront property in New Jersey by the JCR Hospitality Group. And our partners ran out of money and we didn't know
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Uh,
Ryan:another loss in a year, in another loss. So that project didn't end up coming to fruition. and then finally, you know, 16 months after the closure of Patello, we finally started seeing that we, uh, were going to be able to reopen Patello and we ended up reopening in January of 2019. Uh, walked through a very long fire together, um, and came out shining. Restaurant was Packed, packed. Packed. Packed.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I remember when it reopened. I think people are interested in the details of that. We gotta fill some stuff in here. So the pier moved the peer, did somebody move it? What do you mean? The pier moved? Like, well, what happened?
Ryan:So the, um, pilings that the pier sits on. We're being eaten by, um, a microorganism called a boar,
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I believe
Ryan:correct, yes. Yes. And um, it was eating away at the pilings and it moved two inches. And that created it to be way too dangerous to be there. Uh, and they had to redo it.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:we've, we've known each other a long time, so I know a little bit of the intimate details here, so. In your lease, there was a, a, a provision, a proviso for the landlord that basically if you shut down, you know you were covered by all these insurances unless your peer was attacked by marine Boers and that would void your insurance policy. Is that true?
Ryan:It wasn't like direct marine boars, but it was like, I think it was like a microorganism or something like that. yeah, it was, it was noll and void. So we actually, you know, we're in a lawsuit with the insurance company for a very long time, and uh, we got no money out of it. Uh, I mean, you have no idea the amount of losses that we have, experienced here and the hard work we put in. We deserve the success that this place has.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Francis and I talk about this a lot when we're talking about restaurants. We talk about, you know, you're a salmon swim and upstream, and if you don't make it, you don't procreate. You don't have a next year, you don't have a next, you know, offspring. It, it just doesn't happen. And that's, that is the restaurant business and the wherewithal. And, and I, one of the things great respect that I have for, for you and your group and your partners, and we love Corey, and Joe, the wherewithal to overcome those.
Ryan:Yeah.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:gonna happen. There's no, there's no way in this business, I've been here 33 years, we should have closed four times. There are four times where somebody smarter than me closes the restaurant. but if you, if you really wanna make it, you, there's a, there's a hill to climb and there it's coming, it's coming. Whatever the, whatever the, the grenade is, it's coming. And the best rest tours or the, I don't wanna say the best, but the ones that have longevity have something in them that says, now I'm gonna keep going.
Ryan:Yeah. Yeah. And, and most important, one of the things I always like to say is, is don't be greedy. Pay your employees first.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Yeah. so the, the landlord comes to you and says. You're closed, you're closed in seven days. You own all this money. I, it's, it's kind of a rest, like a day in the life of rest if you're like, oh shit. Right. So you could have walked away at that point, like, is there, is there, how do you, what's the meeting like with you and your partners where you say, Hey, we're, we're gotta move all our shit out.
Ryan:Uh, you know, it was tough. You know, we had to go to all the investor partners and be like, by the way, you need to, you know, whatever your percentage is, you need to come up with. This amount of money. Um, and, and we had to give that money back to all the brides that weren't able to give that. And then on,
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:on, Hold on. So. Here's the thing. I'm like, uh, I owe$9 million, but I gotta call the bride who's gonna get married here next Saturday and be like, you know that wedding thing? How do you do that? I think that there's the human story.
Ryan:it was a nightmare to, you know, a lot of the brides ended up, or coming back with a date later. Um, and then a lot just went somewhere else. I think the most important thing was, is that we gave their money back, you know? Um, I think that if that was not an option, uh, we'd be dead in the water, you know, pun intended, you know? Uh.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I, I think a lot of people would've declared bankruptcy and said, sorry, I'm out. You know, and then started a new company later on. So there's a lot of integrity in, in giving all those people their money back.
Ryan:Yeah. There, it, I'd say most of it is integrity, but also we saw the vision of the place and the trajectory of Patello from the beginning was so wild. we just couldn't give up.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:It's amazing. It's an amazing,
Mark:give up is the frame of mind you have to have. Right.
Ryan:yeah. We're not quitters.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:So you come back, you came back and it's going like gangbusters. You're doing a great business. Uh, and what year, when, when did you open again? When was the reopening?
Ryan:Uh, January of 2019. I know where you're gonna go with this a year later.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:So January of 2019, you have 14 good months. Quick complaint. No, no. So, so we, January of 2019, you've just done this great thing. and I'm gonna tell you where I was. When the very next year the world shuts down for restaurants. It was my birthday, it was March 14th, 2020. I was in your restaurant with a Augustina, Hobbes, Matt Hobbes, her uncle, and a bunch of other friends of ours, and our friends called us when they shut the restaurants in New York down and we are getting drunk, And I am getting drunk. I dunno if they were getting drunk at for my birthday. And we're like, they're shutting the restaurants down. And then a couple of friends from New York, Chuck and Ed, who worked in New York, they came and joined us at the restaurant in New Jersey at your place. we heard the governor was shutting New Jersey down and then we But it was just gonna be for two weeks. Yeah, just two weeks. But then we went back. But then we went back to my house. We grabbed a couple of bottles of wine from your restaurant, and the last thing we did before COVID was Leave your restaurant and go back to my house and, uh, have a little, uh, the last party of the world. And then we all sat in our living rooms alone for a while. It's crazy.
Ryan:Wild. Wild. We were very fortunate here at Patello. You know, they opened outdoor dining. Um, what was it about? Uh, 90 days. So when they opened the outdoor dining, um, as you know how big the pier is, uh, we put, we put 200 plus seats outside. We started the seats from the front door and ran around
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Oh
Ryan:all the, all the way to the kitchen door. On the other side,
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:yeah, I think I sat.
Ryan:I am telling you, Monday nights at 10:00 PM there were people still walking in to have dinner here. We were packed.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Yeah, that's, well, that's, that's, you know, again, you deserve it. Right. You all, the rest of the stuff, you, you deserve that, Let's talk about you. You have a new project going on, right? near Patello. There you, you gotta tell our listeners, first information on what's going on there in Jersey City.
Ryan:we're very excited about it. So. And when you walk onto the pier at Patello, the very first building used to be a boat garage. Um, now when the pier closed, the actual, uh, yacht club that was here disappeared. so no one is in that garage anymore. No one rents it out. It's been empty since 2017. And, um, our landlords came to us and said, Hey, I wanna let you know that we're gonna be putting up a space, uh, available sign in the, in the boat garage. Um, but you guys have first or right refusal to come look at it and rent it. We really weren't thinking about. opening another place because we just opened something less than two years ago. Mm-hmm. And, uh, but we also don't want another location,
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:25 feet from my other location. Yeah. Right. We did it. By the way. It can work.
Ryan:Yeah. So, I've been really taking a lot of time over the last two years making pizza. I've never been professionally trained, uh, but I do come from an Italian family and I've eaten, uh, you know, just as much pizza as, as probably you guys. So it's, it's, it's an incredible thing that will never get old, right? Pizza will never get old. Um, now there is a little methodical thought behind this space. Um, Patello, because it's sold out so often for large events, we say no every single day to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, maybe even a hundred people. micro weddings is the new thing. People are getting married, a hundred or less people. So we never get to say yes to those. So think about this. We said we need to come up with a concept. Cory's like, listen, you've been really like working hard on this pizza thing. We can't really cannibalize what we do at Patello. Pizza and Wine Bar would be perfect where we don't do entrees. We're gonna do pizza, sandwiches, salads, and small plates. Everything's gonna be shareable, right? Super, super casual. And then on top of it. We'll sell that space to all the people we've been saying no to for events. So we're basically creating another restaurant and event space right next door. we're utilizing the same partners at Patello, so we're really just growing this business. And, um, it's gonna be exciting. We're building a open kitchen. I'm, I'm gonna end up having a Mar forny, beautiful tiled, gas and wood assisted oven. Um, so that open kitchen's gonna be so exciting to watch these guys slinging dough. And then right above it, we're building a stage for bands.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:That's awesome. Wow, that's great.
Ryan:so, I'm very excited about, Joe and Corey are super excited about it. Our partners are, and I know Jersey City's going to really, really, just love what we're doing.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I'm sure you'll be embraced by the locals for sure. You know, being a local
Ryan:I'm scared, Larry. Hold on. I'm scared. You know,
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Oh.
Ryan:is the king of pizza
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Oh yeah.
Ryan:and he's right around the corner.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:so, so Dan Rich, our mutual friend owns Rza Pizza and he is like one of the best pizzerias in America. Wouldn't it be wild if we had two of those in, in the same city in Jersey City? That'd be amazing. The thing that I want to let people know, if you are listening to the show and you're not from around here, the pier, it's super accessible from New York City. I mean, you can take the path train and you know, if you're visiting New York City, you definitely have to get out of New York City somewhere. I always say at least take a Staten Island ferry ride. for New York, you need to be on the water to see it. And, uh, probably the best place to do that is, at your place at Patello. I'm looking forward to all the new things coming on there.
Ryan:Thank you. Appreciate it. We're excited. And you know, we're, uh, we're ready to put in the hard work that always entails a, a brand new restaurant.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:And I'm ready to eat the pizza. So, uh, we we're all at our parts of play, Ryan. Yeah. No one's more excited than Francis who lives, uh, you know, a mile and a half away from your
Ryan:I'll make a deal with you. I'll bring my home pizza oven, uh, over the next month or so and I'll pick a day that you guys can come and try my pizza.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:I, I'm in. That is a deal. I'm in. That is a deal. I'm open.
Ryan:Okay?
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:Alright, so we only have a little bit of time left. And I really did want to spend, uh, the majority of our time talking about Patello and the marine borrowers. Man, I know what they are and I shouldn't the ring's in my head, but you've got Ember and Eagle going on, so you move to a different part of the state. What's happening with that? What's Eber Eagle about?
Ryan:Let's be very clear that I moved three months before we decided to do this deal or heard about this deal to Wykoff, which is Upper Bergen County. I'm 10 minutes from New York, right? And. Uh, Corey comes to us and says, Hey, I have this amazing location on a golf course, and if you guys know Corey, and you know Joe absolutely love golf, right? So this was for them a no brainer. Even though we've been working so hard, they've, they've barely been playing golf. Um, but. This location is on Sun Eagles Golf course. Uh, the partner, uh, Sal Marelli, who has become a very close friend of ours and now a partner, brought us in to operate and manage, the entire food and beverage program. Uh, we have four locations in one. So starting off we opened Filling House, which is the event space. Um, we can fit up to 400 people in the event space, Is double the size of Patello, right? So we had to figure out how to, you know, copy and paste, but, but on a, on a larger scale, right? So we opened that, two years ago. And this October will be two years that we opened Ember and Eagle, which was a, uh, Italian influence steakhouse. Right? So you guys know how much I love making pasta. It is one of my favorite things, and I'd like to say that, you know. I'm one of the chefs that I've been known to, you know, really take that next step in creating, you know, not just a red sauce joint, but really taking pride in what style of pasta, uh, from all different regions of Italy. So our pasta is in there, a la carte meat courses, uh, seasonal, um, uh, fish dishes with local fish during the season. Um. And then we have our raw bar, which we obviously are very known for here at Patello as well. So it is the, uh, meat version of Patello. And it's called Amber and Eagle because, um, we're on Sun Eagle's golf course. right now we are inside of Tilling House on the second floor. Um, but we are going to build a brick and mortar next door, uh, eventually once we catch up from the first investment. Um, and we'll have live fire cooking, which is what the Ember came from. So, but we've been there, uh, like I said, almost two years now, and we've just rated top 40 in the state. Patella was rated top 40 in the state. mama County has really, uh, you know, fell in love with us. Um, and then I didn't even talk about the two other locations, which is. Private for the golfers. We have the bunker bar, which is in the basement. It's an all day restaurant. And then we have a halfway house out on the golf course that serves your burgers, your brats, your dogs, your soups, and, and obviously drinks'cause golfers like to drink.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:you told me a story that, uh, really moved me one night when I came into dinner at your restaurant, and I had no idea. So it was early on when I came to Patello before the first, before the marine borrowers, and you told me a story about the first time you had dinner at my restaurant. And I'm sorry to say that I didn't remember you, but I know you now. when you tell the story. I love that story.
Ryan:So my brother went to Rutgers and, uh, my parents, you know, being the parents that they are, that always made us, you know, eat together. We ate every Sunday at my grandfather's house. We were a family that ate together, you know, Monday through Friday if my brother had football practice, we waited for him to get back. he went to Rutgers and stayed there. Um, so even though he is 45 minutes away, every two months we would drive to, um, you know, new Brunswick and have dinner and we ate at Old Man Rafferty's and um, I can't even remember the other places.'cause the truth is this is the one place. That I remembered I was 17. I was, I was washing dishes, I was working a salad station and delivering pizza at three different locations. Uh, but I knew that I wanted to be in the industry and I ate at stage web. with my parents and my brother and it was an experience, you know,'cause we were just starting to eat at upscale restaurants. My parents were taking us to New York City, you know, once or twice a year and eating at Gotham Bar and Grill and Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe and, at that point, I felt like I was only getting that experience at those restaurants in Manhattan. And then I ate at stage left and I felt the same thing I felt at a place like Go and Bar and Grill. And it just really, uh, was a core memory for me on what? Upscale dining, you know, refined service and, and, caring about what was going on the plate. Um, and, and that was 30 years ago.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:That's wild. That's wild. Well, I, I gotta tell you, you have changed the landscape of New Jersey dining. Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna say that I'm proud of you. you've done some great things here and You've increased the level of respect that people have for New Jersey dining, just, just by being here and doing the things you're doing.
Ryan:I really appreciate that.'cause you know, to be honest with you, you kind of feel like sometimes when you're a multi-unit chef and you have chefs at every location, sometimes you feel like you, you've lost a little bit of that. Um, but, I only do that in my own mind because I just always want to evolve and get better and, and push, push the envelope.
the-restaurant-guys_2_09-04-2025_123105:so that's Ryan de Percy. Everybody. You can find out more about him and his other restaurants that we didn't talk about and how to visit Patello in this. As yet, unnamed new project, we'll put all the information in the show notes and you can always find out more about us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
Francis:I love Ryan de Perio. Yeah, he, he is a great guest, a good friend. I love having friends in this business. Ryan mentioned something in passing that I, I think that people in the business recognize if you're in this business, he said. Pay your employees first. Yeah. You know, at the beginning of the show we talked about the online consultants and how they always have this, this advice and some of it's good and some of it's less good. Well, all of those online consultants say you gotta pay yourself first. You gotta pay yourself first. Yeah. But if you're a mom and pop restaurant, it simply doesn't work sometimes. No. we opened this restaurant and, you know, we couldn't pay ourselves in the beginning, although we did pay ourselves. Well, sort of, yeah. So you had this same experience, that I did. There was a stack of checks in the drawer for about the first year and a half. We were open. Of my paychecks that I was unable to cash. Right. Because you wanted to pay yourself and you had to pay the taxes on that as well. And you wanted to be employed and, you know, have, be in the social security system. But you had checks that, and I remember we, we'd take two checks and be like, can't cash these either. Gotta go out on the credit card this week. And then as we became solvent, that. Pile of uncast checks would, how many checks can we cash? So like, I can cash two checks this week and you'd catch up slowly over time. I do remember, and the statute of limitations has run out on this, I wanna share this story. Um, we didn't know anything, but there were a hell of a lot, you didn't need to know as much back then. But 1992 were set up our credit card account, we accepting credit cards. And the way that used to work is, you know, you'd have a cash register that was just a. An adding machine, basically. And then you would go and you, you'd type into your credit card machine the amount that was due on the credit card, boop, boop, boop boop. And then that would appear in your bank account less than 5% they keep or whatever. And we were gonna, we were having trouble making payroll. As we did for the first year and a half and we're like, you know what? We'll just swipe our own credit card. We'll just put it on our credit card. Why take it? Why take a cash advance? Yeah. If we'll get the money in two days. That's a great idea, mark. Don't just swipe our own credit card. So for$3,000, we each put in$3,000 on our own credit cards and we, and the credit card company, you can't do that. Evidently they were, the next day we got a phone call from, they were mad company. Oh. And yeah, it was a phone call It, it was a phone call from. Hello. This is MasterCard and Visa. We're like, what? Like, yeah, you swiped your credit card yesterday. Don't do that. Don't ever do that. No, they didn't just say, don't do that. They said, don't ever do that again. Or you will lose the ability to take Visa and MasterCard in your restaurants forever. Yeah, that that was a one of those early, early lessons. I hear. I hear you. Yeah, I hear you loud and clear. hope you guys have enjoyed your time with the restaurant guys. I know that we certainly have. I'm Francis Shot. And I'm Mark Pascal. And we are the restaurant guys. You can always find out more about us@restaurantguyspodcast.com.
