The Restaurant Guys' Regulars

Antonia Lofaso, Chef and Champion

Subscriber Episode • • The Restaurant Guys • Episode 1105

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The Restaurant Guys' Regulars

Exclusive access to bonus episodes!

The Banter

The Guys chat about the fact that sometimes you have to put on pants.

The Conversation

The Restaurant Guys and Antonia Lofaso bond over common experiences such as using donuts to get through the 14 hour days of opening a new restaurant. The most recent champion of Tournament of Champions talks about kitchen fires, chefwear and how it feels to impress chefs she admires. 

The Inside Track

The Guys find a soulmate in Antonia Lofaso. All of them value hard work and loyalty that they have been fortunate enough to find in their staff. 


“So many great chefs that have worked with me have started as dishwashers, busboys line cooks, prep guys have all come up through the ranks and now run the restaurants.


That's the way all the restaurants have been built. The loyalty of them staying with me and wanting to produce great food day after day, started with a culture that I built in the restaurants,” Antonia Lofaso on The Restaurant Guys 2025

Bio

Antonia Lofaso is a chef and co-owner of Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots, and DAMA in Los Angeles and The Local Peasant in Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks. 

She has been in numerous television shows including competing on several iterations of Top Chef and Tournament of Champions, and judging on Cutthroat Kitchen. She was featured in the documentaries  Restaurant Hustle 2020: All On The Line, and its sequel Restaurant Hustle 2021: Back In Business about how the COVID-19 crisis impacted restaurants. 

Info

Antonia’s restaurants and chefwear

https://damafashiondistrict.com/


Antonia on The Food Network

https://www.foodnetwork.com/profiles/talent/antonia-lofaso

On Friday, June 27 Come see The Restaurant Guys LIVE with Chef Andrew Zimmern at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Brunswick, NJ. VIP tickets include a Meet & Greet After-Party with Andrew. Restaurant Guys Regulars get a discount so subscribe https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401692/subscribe Tickets https://www.restaurantguyspodcast.com/

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the-restaurant-guys_1_05-22-2025_124552:

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 Ka 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. Well, hello Mark. How you doing today, Francis? I'm, I'm great. We're back on the podcast again. Back on the pod. The pod. Loving it. We're gonna have Antonio Lofaso on, Can't wait to talk to her. you know about this podcast. Every once in a while people will be like, so how do you come up with new things to talk about every time you do the show any human being that's in a restaurant, 250 to 300 days a year. Yeah. Better be able to come up with 52 stories a year. I, it's, uh, it's funny, I, I was thinking about how many people in my life have thought he never seems to shut up. So yes. Between those two particular things, we have, uh, plenty of topic and today's topic, I'm gonna talk about. Interviews. Oh, okay. Okay. We had a young man show up for his front of house interview the other day. Oh good. This is a great story. And he came into the bar and the chef saw him and saw that he was waiting for his interview and the chef came down to the office where we were having a meeting and he said, so there's a guy in the bar right now, waiting for an interview. You don't wanna hire him. Yeah. And we were like, how do you know we don't wanna hire him? He said, well, he's dressed in basketball shorts and he doesn't look like he is ready to come to an interview. Right. You, he doesn't know enough about how to be an adult. Mm-hmm. To, to not, he wasn't applying for front of house job. And honestly, if you're applying for a kitchen job in basketball shorts mm-hmm. Maybe still not great, still not great, but maybe, um, we wanna be a dishwasher, maybe. Mm-hmm. But you're replying to be a, a guy who wears a tie. a guy who sells wine, can't do that. So anyway, Francis has this great idea and I hate to give Francis credit. Everybody knows that, especially in front of him. But he has this great idea. So it just says, well go tell him, that. He should call back, reschedule, come back another day. Uh,'cause he's not dressed appropriately for the interview and he is not gonna get the job. And, you know what was interesting? And you know, I, I'm glad that you remembered that'cause my thought about how that kind of worked. the generation today, a lot of them don't know. They don't, you just said kids today again. Yeah. But it's true. I mean, you know, they, they don't know how to tell time and analog clock very often. And, uh, there's some stuff that they just don't know and the parents didn't teach'em. Now maybe this kid can be a great kid. Often what I love about the restaurant business is it's somebody's first job. Mm-hmm. And so There's no way that a Matri d could meet that guy and interview him in that state, so Correct. The matri d goes up or, or the, director of operations or you and I went up and said, oh, dude, you know, go home and change and come back in. Something different, but what But JR, who's our, one of our two chefs, he's a great guy and he has this like. Very disarming, warm personality. And he went up and said, what he said was, go tell him that you're doing him a solid, that if the matri he ever saw you like that, you'd never get a job here. Did the kids still say doing him a solid? I don't know, but I, that's what I said. But that's what 6-year-old me said to, uh, 45-year-old jr. Um, I said, you know, I, I'm gonna run interference. You call and reschedule the interview. I'll tell him you couldn't make it and you, you check in with me and come back dressed more appropriately.'cause you're never gonna get a job in the front of house dressed like that. And that way I didn't smash his face in it. He's not embarrassed with, and he felt like somebody on the inside was doing him a favor and not letting him get away with doing the wrong thing, but giving him a little heads up on what the right thing is. Well, remember an interview is about data collection. Yep. Okay. It's about me collecting data about you and, and how you're gonna operate in this atmosphere. And frankly, it's about me trying to give you information about me so you can understand if this is the type of place you wanna work in. Yeah. Yeah. And that moment gave us a great opportunity for data collection because he was gonna respond in one of two ways. Okay. And the first way was, screw these guys, you know, stuck up. I, I don't wanna work here. Right? Which to me meant, okay, this is not gonna be the right place for you. You're not open to criticism or hearing new things or learning new things. Keep going. Let's not waste any time.'cause time is valuable. Yeah. His nrs. His nrs. Mm-hmm. So, great. So that's first point of data collection. Yep. The other point of data collection would've been I come back, I do reschedule, and now I, I'm open to the types of things that are, that I'm gonna be looking at. Is this the type of person that I want to come back into my organization now? He did not call back. He did not respect Well, no, we don't know. Do we know we, I know. Oh, I know. That's why I brought this topic up. Oh, so I have collected the data. He did not call back. He did not come back. We all saved a lot of time and energy and I do not need any more data on that particular in individual. And what's interesting is one of the things that we've adjusted is we have, we have come from a place where pre COVID. Uh, or maybe even a little before that, if a kid should have basketball shorts, they'd be like, no, you can't get a job here.'cause it would've been an outlier I mean, you're a fucking idiot, right? Was what would've been if you, you want a, you want a job where you wear a suit and you come dressed like a schlub. don't do that. Most people would be like, no, thank you. But we always would try and give people the feedback so when they went to their next job, they learned or they didn't, and then I don't care. Right. But with this one, what I wanted to do was, I so many kids don't know today it's not, you're not necessarily a, a schlub. You may just have been in an environment where nobody ever told you that. Okay. But the data we were trying to collect is, are you open to learning about new things, learning a new way? Well, and to being wrong. Right. And to being like, oh, I approach this wrong if, if I want to be here. If loving in you is wrong, mark, I don't want to be Right. I don't know where that, I don't want you to be. Right. Okay. I dunno where that came from. Um, no, I'm sorry. I do want you to be right. Yeah, exactly. Um, So I, I liked that we gave him that. We, I didn't make him meet Crow, like I gave him a way to save face and Correct. But like I said, so we got all the data we needed. Yeah. He said, wow, this isn't gonna be the right place for me. He's probably right. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Never called back. And, and so either he was too, wounded by what we said, which means you're not gonna work out in the restaurant business. Or he said, screw these guys. Uh, you know who I'm not putting on pants? Who are them? Dare, dare tell me I have to wear pants. Dare. How dare they tell me to put on pants for an interview? What kind of old guy? Assholes, in which case, you know, I hope he has a, I hope he has a long, fruitful career or something. This guy probably, he's gonna be like a venture capitalist and be like, with millions and he's gonna do a podcast and he's gonna dress in his basketball shorts. And when we're like 80 something, we're listening to a podcast. Like I went to this pretentious restaurant and they didn't hire me. Just hope he buys the place from us at one point. That was a great story and it brings us to, uh, our next guest. Everybody should stay tuned. We're gonna have Antonio Lofaso on, She was just on Tournament of Champions. She was the winner of this season. So she a dynamic dymo of person. She's a dynamo for sure. Can't wait to talk to her. So stick with us. Don't go away. You'll find out more about us, as always@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

Francis:

Welcome back. Antonio Lofaso is the chef and owner behind some of Los Angeles's most acclaimed restaurants, including Black Market Liquor, Barco of Italian Roots, and dama. You've seen her on Top, chef Cutthroat Kitchen, restaurant Startup, and well just about everywhere else. She's appeared on the acclaimed Tournament of Champions since its inception, and she emerged this year as the champion in season six. Finally, Antonio Lofaso, welcome to the show.

Antonia:

Thank you for so much for having me.

Francis:

Uh, you are amazing. You are a dynamo. and for those of you who don't know, watch. Any show you see around she's Dynamo. we, we were actually chit chatting before the show that we're like, wait a second, stop this. Turn the microphones back on. We, you know, we, we, I think we've hit it off fairly well. Would, would you say?

Antonia:

Uh, you know, as soon as we got on the phone, I realized that we were gonna be best friends. you guys, that that was a very, very sweet introduction. I appreciate that. Um, you know, I mean, just to give you a little context, I've been actually competing in culinary competition since 2007. How crazy is that? Yeah. The last, the last season of TOC season seven. Uh, yeah. Right. No, season six, excuse me. Um, they, we, I had a moment going into the final cook where I said to my producer, I said. The very first airing of Iron Chef America on Food Network was in 2004, which could be argued between that and Top Chef as the very first time culinary competitions hit the airwaves here in the United States. And I shot, top Chef Season four Chicago. That was my first time on television doing any kind of competition in 2007. And so, you know, in the next like a hundred years when they do like a, you know, they do the history of Right, I'm gonna be with I'm, I'm within the first three years of culinary competition actually starting in the United States, which is crazy.

Francis:

so we were so close to meeting back then because back then when we were doing the live show in at 11 o'clock in the morning every day 2005, we started 2005. Many of our guests were from Top Chef. All the interesting people that were on Top Chefs season one through three were on that live show the next morning, the next morning. So whenever they won or something fun happened on the show, they would be on the, on our show, the, the, the very next morning. And so we missed you by that much back then. So it almost happened. Anyway, I've been watching you and following your culinary career for a long time, and it's been a lot of fun. I really your style and every time I've watched you, I'm like. This woman does not feel like LA to me. She just, I mean, I know that you, you, you up in LA and you, but I I just, she's just got this, this East coast sensibility, this sense of urgency, this tell it like it is, hold on. This very east coast vibe. I, I wanna narrow it down talking to you in person. So, mark, I, I'm friends with many of the people Mark went to high school with in the very heavily Italian nutley, New Jersey high school. you, you have the same cadence, rhythm, mannerisms as half of the women that went to high school with Mark Pascal. So it's not just it, you're like, Nutley Italian American, and we love you.

Antonia:

Well, you, you haven't even gotten into the hand movements yet, so that's when I get really excited. That being said, you just gave me the greatest compliment in the world. Who, my father, who's actually helping me do the construction to my house right now, 75 years old. The fact that you just said you act with urgency, you speak with, you know, full sort of directness. He would be like, oh, great, I did a great job. Because, you know, there's that, there's that,

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-22-2025_130542:

job.

Antonia:

well, there's that old, there's a, Instagram meme that's been going around that says, you think you can hurt my feelings? I used to hold the flashlight for my dad. Like that, that, that kind of sums up, that sums up my childhood. And it, and it, those skills have now transferred into culinary and into culinary competition. So, yes, originally, not Nutley, New Jersey, but I am from Long Island, New York. So I was born in Plainview. Yeah, all my family's in Babylon, Levittown, Massapequa, uh, American, Italian. My, my dad is in construction his entire life, you know, uh, we lived in Las Vegas for like a second, and then we moved to, to la. So I did grow up in Los Angeles, but make no mistake, my roots are very heavily East Coast and anyone who knows me knows I have the balance, right? So I'll be in la My LA version is like, I do ice baths and I sauna and I meditate and I drink green juice, you know, and I fast and do colonics. And they're like, you weirdo, right? And then the east coast side of me is like, this needed to happen four days ago. I already gave you all your information. Come to me when you have answers and then we'll talk.

Francis:

so I, you should know Antonio, that I also meditate. I just can never get past 15 seconds. That's like the elevator is when he

Antonia:

He is like.

Francis:

uh, meditates. So, you know, it's, it's funny, but it strikes me that like when you watch The Sopranos, you were like, oh yeah, I know them.

Antonia:

Oh,

Francis:

I know those guys

Antonia:

those are my people.

Francis:

culturally.

Antonia:

Yeah,

Francis:

All right. Enough of a walk down memory lane. Let's talk about your big time food celebrity you had a foot in both worlds from the very beginning of food competitions, and you've also been running your own restaurant, as a chef consultant in a hotel that has a restaurant with your name on it. Chef, owner, manager running successful restaurants that remain special, boots on the ground.

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

Um, uh, here I

Antonia:

Yes.

Francis:

know the name of the people who work for me. So talk to us about that, that experience.

Antonia:

So.

Francis:

Don't, they don't always go hand in

Antonia:

You know, they, they don't, and actually the sad part is you see actually chefs moving farther and farther away from that, which is very, it's super concerning actually for me. when I graduated culinary school in 1999 or 2000, I never thought in a million years I. This would be the direction or the trajectory of my career. Right. At, at, at that time you had a couple of food network chefs that were prevalent, but not really. It, it's not what it is today. Certainly there was no culinary competitions in 2000 where I was watching like how we see now. It's like you can't turn on anything and not see it. So when I got into culinary, it came from, you know, this was, I was a young woman who was trying to figure out her way, you know, I was, I was working in all hospitality. I was doing, uh, I was at hotdog and a stick in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, slinging corn dogs as my 16-year-old job so I could put gas in my car. Um, you know, I was working the takeout counter at Chin Chin, uh, which is a, you know, kind of a Chinese chain in Los Angeles. There's a couple of them. Um, when I moved to New York and I didn't know, I moved back to New York after I graduated high school and I was like. Well, I need to make money while I'm going to, you know, the borough of Manhattan Community College, which I was taking classes that I didn't even care about or, but I was like, oh, go to college. That's what they say. And uh, you know, I was like, let me get a job in a restaurant and host and manage and, and wait tables so that I can pay my bills. And I remember working with some chefs, it was particularly a woman chef. Um, and I was like, is there like a school that you go to? And she was like, yeah, it's called culinary school. I'm like, well, again, that, that wasn't prevalent in when I graduated high school in 1995, you know? And so from there I was like, I think I could really make a career from this. I wanna go to this trade school. And I asked, I called my dad and at the time, and this was the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan, you know, which then became the, international culinary. Then, then, and now is, has been, bought out by ice. So the International Culinary Institute out there now is now what it is.

Francis:

that ice,

Antonia:

Yeah. Not that ice.

Francis:

that,

Antonia:

No, no, no, no, no. The one,

Francis:

that

Antonia:

the one, the one. The one that teaches you to cook. The one that teaches you to cook.

Francis:

Institute of Culinary Education.

Antonia:

you. Thank you. I say the same thing when I say the NRA when I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna spend the week at the NRA and I'm like, not the, it's the National Restaurant Association.

Francis:

Not, the gun one.

Antonia:

Not the good one.

Francis:

Go. Not that we have anything against the

Antonia:

No, no, no, no. But it's just, people are like, wow, you're really, people are like, wow, you're really in the nra. I was like, no, no, no. It's two different things. Um, and so I was like, you know, my dad was like, you know, at the time culinary school was$20,000, you know, it's not the$200,000 that it is now. You know, my dad paid half of it. He was wildly against me going. He said, you know that kitchens are really rough places and you know, men talk a certain way and it's no place for a woman and blah. And I was like, you know, he was, he's a construction, Italian construction dude from New York. He was trying to protect me.

Francis:

except for the, it's no place for a woman. He was right about all of those things. Yeah, that's true.

Antonia:

Yeah. Well, what he meant was,

Francis:

are true.

Antonia:

back in the day, my dad worked in diners as a short order cook, uh, you know, in Long Island. And, you know, he, he knew how, he knew how the line cooks kind of talk to the servers and, you know, so in his mind he's like, I don't want my daughter in that environment, you know, and all of that's true, you know, it's just one of those things where I'm like, I didn't care, you know, and I didn't really think about it. So I just went and, you know, from culinary school, I went and started working for Wolfgang Park immediately, and, you know, the rest is history. So, to answer your question, sorry. I know I, I veered and I have like a DD squirrel brain, um, is that I very much started in the industry as a chef who wanted to build restaurants, the doing culinary competitions or being on food network the way I am right now as a host and a judge and a competitor that wasn't even. On my mind to, to develop a career like that. And I could never imagine not wanting to build brick and mortar restaurants. And when I say brick and mortar, it's like I'm in there, all three of my restaurants in la Black Market, Scopa and dama. Now mind you, I'm not in them as much anymore, right? Because I am on the road traveling. But this is after a decade of building them. You know, I, I was boots on the ground. I trained every single, uh, chef that came and worked with me. I was on the pass, I was expediting. I trained the entire front of the house staff. It's only been the last five years, four years really, that I've pulled myself out and the team is running it. And I go in and I check, and I spend time with them. But can I tell you now, when I walk into that restaurant, my chef de cuisine, Victor Torres, I have Derek Anderson, Jaime, and re like so many great chefs that have worked with me, have. Started as dishwashers bus, boys line cooks, prep guys have all come up through the ranks and now run the restaurants. That's the way all the restaurants have been built, and so the loyalty of them staying with me and wanting to produce great food day after day, started with a culture that I built in the restaurants.

Francis:

yeah, I mean, both of my chefs. Started as line cooks in this organization. Yeah. My director of operations started as a hostess. Yeah. my, my head Mat D started as a busboy and having that built that here in this organization that way from the inside. Like you said, the loyalty. I, I, there's nobody who has a more loyal staff than I

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

the comradery, there's there. I don't, I've never been in a restaurant where the, where the staff gets along in the front of house and back of house and, and people get along as, as well as they do. My director of operations married my chef.

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

They got along. Okay. So, so that's, but having that as a base, I, I think so many people are constantly thinking the grass is greener. I'm gonna go grab this person from this restaurant because I know they're, they're incredible. And, and obviously we all need to do that. Sometimes we need to hire some experienced people and bring them into the mix, but. Not having a mix, I think is a huge

Antonia:

Yeah,

Francis:

Not having a program where people see, well, if I'm great, I can move up in this

Antonia:

you can.

Francis:

if I Yeah. Or right. And develop, I think is important because, you know, our chefs have been our chefs for, for more than a decade, decade and a half. and it's, nowhere to go from, you know, from executive chef. But, um, they can develop and they can do meaningful work. And what you have obviously done, if you've kept those people that long, which is something we value as well, is you, you've created an environment in a restaurant You know, the vicissitudes of the business is good. Business is bad. I'm gonna make sure that you're okay. I'm gonna make sure that you get paid. If, if you fall on hard times, you know I'm gonna be there so, you because chef means chief, right? It means leader. And I think sometimes people lose track of that. And I think our business can be, and we, it's, it's the best of small business.

Antonia:

Correct,

Francis:

it can, when you create a team like that, and that always starts with, we used to say, you can judge a restaurant when restaurants are open seven nights a week. What, what is a chef's night off? Go to the restaurant on that night. And that's how, you know,

Antonia:

of course.

Francis:

that the system is working, the team is working. So, but that's very different. Compare and contrast that to now with television. I mean, you have a robust career there and people that you know and a network of friends and people that support you. How is that different? How does being, by the way, all those people speak so highly of you.

Antonia:

Oh, well thank you. I, you know, the truth is, you know, when people ask this version of the question, is that what it's done? Is it, it's expanded my reach. So the community in Los Angeles and sort of the surrounding areas have, you know, I get to touch all those people and help sort of build careers inside the restaurants. But the other part to it now, right, is that I get to expand a, my culinary knowledge. The, the more chefs that I spend time with outside of my circle, the more I'm exposed to, which I think is so beautiful, of like sharing ideas and ideals and being able to just talk food and travel together. And we bring all that home to our community. We bring all that home to our teams. You know, on another level, my teams also get to participate in this sort of larger than life scenario, right? So they're not, you know,'cause listen, the hardest part about. Teams and the restaurant is the consistency. Day after day after you've built the the culture and built the restaurant and people love it. It's like, who protects it 365 days of the year to make sure that the cannoli and the rice ball look like day one, cannoli and rice ball. Right?

Francis:

Yeah.

Antonia:

And that can get boring. And that can get like, like you're just like, oh, I'm so bored at my job. So there's an opportunity with my teams that my sort of larger stardom affords, which is they get to travel with me to all of these different places. New York, Cancun, Dominican Republic, Canada, uh, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Miami, like everywhere. To come and do events. You know, a lot of the people who've worked with me before they came to do an event with me had never been to the East coast before, had never been to New York, had never been to Philadelphia. So again, part of that leader and mentorship, then suddenly they're able, their, their entire world grows, their version of culinary grows, and all that does is make the team stronger and more committed. And so, you know, to ask the question about like, you know, the, the stardom of it, I'm so humbled and grateful that it has even broken out in the way that it has because it has not only affected my life. I mean, I am so, I can't even imagine when I started, I can't even imagine the life that I have right now. But now I'm watching all of the chefs that have like, been with me, stayed with me, grow with me, and then them themselves grow personally. You know, they become, they become family people. They, they are out in the world. They travel more. It's, it's incredible to watch. It's incredible to watch.

Francis:

Well, first thing I should say is you should not be humbled. Yeah. Because you have just, you've grown this tremendous brand and you're bringing all these people into this cool world. I'll tell you, one of the highlights of my culinary career, I. Is as we were coming out of COVID in the summer of 22, we took the top 10 people from our organization to a trip to Napa, where we visited wineries and restaurants and, and just, I, I immersed them into this world that we've been immersed in for the last 30 years and said, look at how cool this is. Right? We came, we came back from that trip and you talk about the loyalty and the, and the open minds. one of the, my favorite parts of the last three or four years definitely has been bringing the staff to Charleston, bringing people to, to Napa, and growing this, the excitement. we've always brought the staff to New York City you know, we're 45 minutes away. That's always of been the, easy way to, to, to go on safaris with our staff, but expanding that to other places in the world, it, it's fun, it's interesting and I love that part of my job.

Antonia:

Oh, it's my most favorite. It's my most favorite. And also we do this thing where we always have like a, a, a team dinner wherever we go. And in New York, we've been,

Francis:

Oh,

Antonia:

we went to Attaboy last time I was there, we had a beautiful tasting menu. La Berna, Dan, Danielle, have been like the last three years. Um, you know, in Miami we've done Joe Stone Crab multiple times, but we always have this sort of like, you know, family meal, this very expensive family meal to kind of, you know, Comme, you know, commiserate. The, the event that we've just done. We don't always get to do it, but you know, for the 90% of the time we get to.

Francis:

You know, mark and I opened in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1992. Right. So we are just means we're old. Yeah. That's all it means. So we are 50 minutes by direct train from Penn Station, New York.

Antonia:

I was,

Francis:

a

Antonia:

I was 15

Francis:

When we

Antonia:

in. Yeah. When you In 1992. I was 15. You wouldn't have hired me. You wouldn't have hired me.

Francis:

Uh, one, one year later. Yes, it would've Yeah. I I, I can see that glint in your eye, and I know it's been in there since you were four

Antonia:

For sure. For sure.

Francis:

but back then, the, the internet wasn't really a big thing. There was no Instagram or YouTube or, the stage coach would take you back and forth to New York. No, it wasn't that, it wasn't that long ago, but it was, uh, um, but it, it was a very interesting thing because New Brunswick, New Jersey in this, in Central Jersey was. Kind of in the culinary evolution and stylistically about five or six years behind New York City as crazy what as close as we are. North Jersey was about three and a half years behind. And so when we came out to New Brunswick, New Jersey and opened what we wanted to open to state bottle wine from small producers, uh, following local farms, we were kind of one of the first in New Jersey, if not the first in New Jersey. It was like we would go to, another place and bring all that back to New Jersey. And whenever we traveled and were afforded the opportunity to travel. It was about bringing it back home to this brick and mortar restaurant, to this city that we came from. And that's exactly what you said about your staff and your places. It's, it's, it's a, it's a story. And, and being in the culinary world, traveling, caution young people against getting in the culinary industry because it is, is your dad was right. It is a school of hard knocks, but there's also a family. You go to any

Antonia:

Yes.

Francis:

in the world, you go to any restaurant, we, and you, you spot somebody who's in the industry if they don't know somebody and made a call already so that you're extra taken care of. We do take care of our own. And you do, we do share

Antonia:

Oh yeah,

Francis:

and we're happy to see other from people in the dining

Antonia:

that's actually, you know, you saying that it, that is like the truest form of what we do, what you said is like the epitome, I think of the restaurant world, right? It's what feeds us, right? I, I say this all the time in demonstrations'cause people ask me the same thing. My, my kid wants to get into this. My, you know, my daughter wants whatever, wants to get into the culinary right? And restaurant people are very specific people. I don't think you can be, I don't think you can be, uh, developed into one. I think you're born one. Right. And I,

Francis:

Interesting.

Antonia:

think that we are born with something, right? That, that is, that attracts us to this world where it is physically so demanding, spiritually. So demanding, mentally, so demanding. It takes us away from our family. But like what you just said, it creates a whole other family. So even though we, we are away from our wives, our husbands, our children, our partners, our dog, whatever, whoever your, your people are, um, you've developed a whole other family that you, when you walk into the restaurant. You don't feel empty, you feel satiated with all the people that you're spending time with. You know the names of their children, what they're doing, what's important to them. You share a family meal together, you're there on holidays, new Year's, Christmas Eve, sometimes Christmas, Thanksgiving, all the holidays. I spend more time. Mother's Day. My daughter made a joke the other day. She's like, oh, you're here for Mother's Day. And I'm like, I'm here for Mother's Day now. But the, you know, the 20 years of Mother's Day that you didn't see me is I was working Mother's Day brunch, you know, and

Francis:

there's, there's, restaurant Mother's Day. There's restaurant Mother's Day. It's

Antonia:

Yeah, exactly. But I didn't, the weird part was I never felt weird leaving on Mother's Day to go to the restaurant, because when I got there on Mother's Day, all my cooks would have flowers for me and be like, you know, happy Mother's Day, hefa like, and I would be like, oh my God. Like this is. I feel fine here. I, you know, I feel, but, but it, this, the world is not for the faint of heart. Like, you can't fake it is the point. Like, you can't say that you wanna be in the hospitality industry that comes, like what you just said. If you tell me right now you're gonna be in LA and I'm like, oh my God, go to scope. But the first thing I'm doing is like, make sure that you have bubbles, mid dessert. Please go over, say hi. The chefs know to come out and say hi, you know what I mean? Like, they wanna come out, they wanna have a conversation.

Francis:

reservation. make that reservation immediately. Scopa,

Antonia:

No, but

Francis:

We, you

Antonia:

the, we, we, it's, it's in our blood. The best example I said when I was a kid, the, the cable man would come over, my mom would be like, did you make him a sandwich? I'm like, oh my God, I didn't make the cable man a sandwich. You know,

Francis:

funny that you say that

Antonia:

but it's, but it's true.

Francis:

and I have arguments all the time about, you know, the guy delivered a dishwasher. Did we give him a drink? Did we give him, did we offer him something to

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

did we see if he, he needed anything? know, that's just the way we operate. The other thing about this business is all of our meals, I would say 98% of my meals are eaten in under six minutes or over three hours over a garbage can or in

Antonia:

Over a garbage can.

Francis:

room. That's, that's, that's, is the life we've chosen and that is, that's the way we do it. But you were talking about holidays and things like that, and, and you're just committed to be here on holidays. I mean, Jennifer, uh, my wife produces a show. She's sitting across from me, you know, she's been in this restaurant with me. 20 times on Mother's Day and while our four kids, you know, fend for themselves on Mother's Day. Hold on. Happy Mother's Day. Table 42 needs to be cleared immediately.

Antonia:

Exactly. So I'd be like, happy mother. I was like, go, go, go, go, go. I don't care. But like,

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-22-2025_130542:

Yeah.

Antonia:

and listen, and that was really hard for my daughter. You know, full disclosure, you know, my daughter's father passed away when she was 11. So in the midst of me and I opened Black market in June of 2011, like, so I had just June of 2011, he passed away in November, 2011. And so

Francis:

Oh

Antonia:

the, that, you know, where I was sort of the only parent in charge of doing the only thing, but then still building my career and her being like, oh my God, you're never home. Me picking her up, taking her to events with me, throwing her in the mix, all of that was, I mean, it all worked out beautifully. I mean obviously it wasn't perfect, but even with that, you know, our families kind of suffer but also at the same time understand it and they support it. And now my daughter's one of those people that's like, my mother is one of the hardest working people on the planet. She perseveres through, I'm sorry, everything. You know, she would get up and get to work even when, you know, everything seemed like we couldn't even do it. You know? And what that sort of taught her, because again, that what we have in the restaurant industry, that, that guttural reaction to get anything done by any means possible. Again, that is not something that's taught. It is something that you're born with, you know, and it can be sort of like nurtured, like with my daughter and people that are around me. But it's, there's something about it that we just ha you know, our hospitality industry, we're the sweetest people on the planet who wanna take care of everyone, but we're also like animals.

Francis:

Yes, yes. You, you have to get it done. at the end of the day, you have to get it done.

Antonia:

Exactly.

Francis:

say, I believe all of my children, and that would say, all four of'em would say they were enriched by me being in the

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

That they, they got a lot out of me being in the restaurant business. But I will also say that none of them want to be in the restaurant business.

Antonia:

Oh.

Francis:

not their nature. So

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-22-2025_130542:

that's not their nature. So, you

Francis:

know, so I I, I do think that there, there are some lessons that were learned there as well.

Antonia:

I, I tell every young person in the world that regardless of whether or not they want to be in the restaurant industry or in hospitality, they should do it when they're young because there is something about working with the general public, right? So whether it being a host or server, the problem solving of restaurants at a young age actually translates to so many other, uh, you know, trade jobs or at, you know, out of college jobs. There, there is something to it. So I do always recommend, like, everyone should have a restaurant job before they're like 20.

Francis:

for a period of time. And if you think you wanna be in the restaurant business, don't go to culinary school right out of high school. Go work in a restaurant for two years and then if you still want to go to culinary school, maybe, Hey, listen, I'm gonna take a quick break. We'll come back right on the other side with Chef Antonio Lofaso, and, uh, I don't think we're ever gonna stop talking. This may have to be a series. We have to do a few of these. We'll be back in just a moment. You can find out more about us@restaurantguyspodcast.com. Okay, everybody, welcome back. We are talking with Chef Antonio Lofaso, a soulmate we have found here in the restaurant, uh, restaurant guys podcast. Um, so we were talking about this crazy community we're in and I think we've had some interesting insights. We talk about it a lot on our show. We've said some things here that are a little different and I'm really enjoying the conversation. We always say that the restaurant guys is the conversation we would have at the end of shift, you know, having a beer at 11 o'clock after the shift. And that's exactly what this conversation is. If you were at our restaurant or we were at yours. Um, but that's one of the things you said earlier really struck me. You talked about the, something different about, you were in the restaurant business. Like I was in high school, I worked at, at a night shift at a supermarket, and then I started to work in restaurants until midnight. If I go to bed before 11 o'clock, I feel like I'm being punished. Right? Like I was a kid, like I, I like being out in the world at night and I like being out in the world at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday night and saying, oh, let's grab a bite tea. You know, it's, it's different than everybody else, and I don't mind working till or going into work at six or seven o'clock as a bartender. What's very interesting is if, if you had a different job that was, I'm gonna go into the office and sit in my cu cubicle starting at seven and work until midnight. That's very sad.

Antonia:

Awful.

Francis:

that would be sad, but, but you are right. A restaurant is joyful and you know, it's hard work. You gotta show up. It's, it's brutal, but it's joyous. Do you feel like you're gonna be being punished if you had to go bed to bed too early on a weekday?

Antonia:

Yeah. Uh, well, now at the age I'm at now, if I could go to bed at eight 30, I'm the happiest person in the entire world. I'm like, oh my God, I guess you go to bed at eight. I'm like a, I'm like a 4-year-old. I'm like, put me to bed right now. I, no, but I mean, nor like the restaurant openings, please, you are the, the 14 to 16 hours that you're in that space. First off, what you just said feels like 14 minutes. Service that starts at 5:00 PM and doesn't end until midnight. Right. Which is, could be a, a seven hour service of expediting goes by like that because like you said, it is joyous. You're walking from the walk-in to the prep area to the bar. You're doing pre shifts, you're talking to people, you're engaging, you're tasting food, you're developing recipe. It goes by in the, a blink of an eye, you know, and you do that day after day after day, seven days a week during an opening. It can go anywhere between three and six months. You know, like when I open any of the restaurants, like I'm there every single day. I'm there from, with the prep cooks in the morning until the line cooks leave at night for 90 days. That's my goal is that 90 days straight, that's the way I work you. If you are there that much, you can build that, you can curate that, um, that team, you know, 90 days of doing the same thing over and over again, then you can maybe take a day off. But I enjoy it. I love it. You know, you wake up, I'm like. You love it. The crazy part. Are you ready for this? That feeling of psychosis transfers to culinary competitions because, and you guys are gonna know what I'm talking about when we're talking about working a 14 or 16 hour day, day after day, restaurant opening. You're talking, you're losing your voice, you're, you're explaining things over and over again. You're teaching, you're tasting all the things right? Then you go through the opening. Great. Then you're correcting and correcting step, repeat, step. Repeat that feeling of like, exhaustion. Dehydration. Like malnourishment, because I only live off of glazed donuts during an opening. The long twisty ones, the long twisty ones are my favorite. Um,

Francis:

Now I, I hope you're happy. The ones with the cinnamon,

Antonia:

No, no, no. Just glaze. Just glaze. Just glaze. Just glaze. Just glaze. Sorry. I got my two, I got my two opening carbohydrates. When I'm doing a restaurant opening, it's a glazed twist donut, and I get two of'em, and then I get an everything bagel, double toasted with cream cheese, tomato, onion, salt, pepper. Just for,

Francis:

There you

Antonia:

for,

Francis:

We are kindred spirits, my friend. Yeah.

Antonia:

just for future reference.

Francis:

Love,

Antonia:

So right now you almost go on autopilot. Your body's beaten up physically. You're you, you're beaten up meant, but you get up every single day with this like fire in you culinary competitions, especially something like Tournament of Champions. That skill of stress transfers. So when I was, even though I would get home at a normal time and be able to sleep till the next day and compete the next day, it didn't matter because your mind is just going so you're already sleep deprived. When I get up and I'm standing in front of that door at TOC and the smoke is like, and they call your name and they play your song, right? No matter, no matter what's happened, your body, my body understands that stress and is able to perform and is able to perform because it's almost like, oh, I know all the days in which I've gotten no sleep and still had to work another 14 hour day and be on and teach and mentor and inspire and all the things. This feels familiar to me, right? So whereas other chefs who maybe have just started or haven't opened restaurants and are competing on these shows, that kind of stress. Inhibits them in a way where they're unable to cook and perform under duress because they don't have the restaurant openings under their belt. They don't have the 25 years of experience of that sort of de

Francis:

Forces

Antonia:

Special Forces training

Francis:

training is what you're not, so you recently were judging on a show called 24 and 24, and my initial reaction to that show was, on. Well, you know, they're not doctors. We don't need to, we don't need to push them to, the limits of what they can do. And then I sat back and I'm like. Oh, wait a second. Wait a second. We do that.

Antonia:

do it. Yeah.

Francis:

wait a second. That's real. It it's real. this is a competition and, and it feels like it's, it's out of left field. But if you're in this business, you probably worked 22 straight hours of some day in your life

Antonia:

Hundred percent.

Francis:

just did it and grinded it out and thought you were gonna die, by the way.

Antonia:

Yeah. so here's the thing, right? So I judge the finale and.

Francis:

Right.

Antonia:

I, so I judge the premiere and the finale, and I walked in there during the premiere and I'm like, everyone's so excited. There's 24 of them. They're like, today's a brand new day when I,

Francis:

the premise of the

Antonia:

so the premise,

Francis:

happens?

Antonia:

the premise of the show is 24 chefs in 24 hours, but every hour and there is a real clock running. This does not stop. Sometimes they pick up a little bit more time if the challenge goes a little bit faster. But all of the production and all of the challenges are all built into one grid. So what you see, and you know, I love the way the show is shot because you see cameramen, you see, you see sort of the grit of the production, right? And you kind of see how, you know, Michael Simon and, and Esther are kind of deteriorate a little bit, you know? And so, um. Essentially day one. Unfortunately you got rid of 12 chefs right outta the bat. So really the, the rest of the season just goes on with 12 chefs. Um, but they, they go everywhere from like, uh, you know, speed challenges to, uh, tasting to all of the element shutting off. And it's all real stuff, right? Like we, we saw an episode where they turned the gas off because, and we've all had that happen in the middle of service. Your gas hasn't gone out,

Francis:

yes.

Antonia:

there hasn't been a fire in your kitchen. At some point the, the fryer hasn't gone out, you know what I mean? And so what do you do? And so all of the challenge, there's like, like what you just said, right? This 24 hours and what chefs go through, it's not just about the staying up, it's about all of the things that we do within the 24 hours of a restaurant situation. And so I got there in the finale, lemme just tell you, these last chefs were just like glazed over, glazed over.

Francis:

Yeah.

Antonia:

I did a walkthrough through a lot of their stations as part of the, you know, the commentary and all I said to them, I was like, listen to production. I was like, I am not asking these dudes any questions. These, you know, the, the last chefs, I'm not asking them any questions because they shouldn't have to speak or try to explain something to me in any capacity. They need to be able to like preserve what life is left in them, because at this point, sauteing and grilling just has to be, this is where you see the cream rise and you see chefs that have been doing this for so long that their hands move without their brain working, you know? So I walked, it's systematic, so it's like lamb chops, pork chops, scallops. Cooked perfectly on hour 23 because

Francis:

Right.

Antonia:

because again, this physicality of this rep scheme, because they've cooked 700,000 scallops in their lifetime, they don't need their brains for it. Their hands do it without them even thinking, thank God. So in that sense, you can see some chefs do better than others just because of how long they've been in the industry and how much pain they really can endure and how good their execution is without the use of their brain.'cause it starts to shut down after a couple hours. Uh, you start to see chefs actually, I think, nap with their eyes open at some point. Now, mind you, and we all know what that feels like. You're like, I, I just blanked out for the last 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure my body was sleeping, but I was still here.

Francis:

But I made some

Antonia:

But I made, I don't know where this came from, but clearly I made it. when I did Top Chef, I actually did two overnight challenges. So I've actually done 24 and 24 twice. We, yeah, so I, we did a, an episode on Top Chef, uh, season four. It was called Wedding Wars that by the time the entire episode was done of us cooking, uh, it was a quick fire, the challenge, which was 24 hours going into judging and then going home. We ended up being up for 46 hours. days, no sleep. So I was at judges' table, and then when we did, season All Stars, which was season eight, I got dropped off in a Target at midnight and had to create a workstation and cook for a hundred Target employees. And Anthony Bourdain was my judge. Let's just throw that out there. Um, and. No pressure. No pressure. And then, so when they asked me to judge this, I was like, yeah, no problem. They're like, what do you think about it? I was like, I've already done this twice. Like I know exactly what's happening right now. These poor guys

Francis:

the other thing that you mentioned in passing here that I think maybe. the listeners have not picked up on if they were not in the restaurant business was, and this is like, you've been doing this for a lot of years. We've been doing this for a lot of years. Like, you know, like you've had a fire in the kitchen a couple times, right? And you, and we went run on. Most people don't realize this. If you've been, if you've been in the restaurant business, especially in small businesses, not in like big hotels, you're like, oh yeah, met your Ansel system went off one time. You had a fire in the restaurant. One time power went out on you. One time there was a hurricane that knocked you down. Your employees all got take it the same day. This is that the, I think that is the thing I haven't seen on a show before, but that's real. Like,

Antonia:

real,

Francis:

when the, the ceiling collapsed and everything flooded and we, and you know, and the, the, spirit of the line cook. and the chef or the bartender or the restaurant guy's like, brush yourself off. What's next? Put out the fire. Let's go and keep those burgers coming.

Antonia:

Oh yeah,

Francis:

we attack. Heart attack in the restaurant. Pre-the, oh, heart attack in the restaurant. Heart attack in the, still gotta get the pre-the tables out. Okay. There's a, there's a man on the floor, but a hundred percent everybody's gotta

Antonia:

yeah, someone's delivering,

Francis:

out. We.

Antonia:

someone's delivering CPR to someone on the floor, but like burgers are still being served

Francis:

It's pre-the, we're open less than two years. We owe the bank everything. We don't own the clothes on our back. We are working all the time. He's the bartender and I'm the mat d or the other way around, and Guy has a heart attack and pre-the service. I cannot comp 50 meals or I, I, I can't pay the rent,

Antonia:

Here's the other thing. You need to explain to the listeners what pre-the means, because I love the term so much.

Francis:

means,

Antonia:

It means you got a group of people who spent a shit ton of money on some theater tickets and they want four courses in 25 minutes so that they can make their theater tickets at five o'clock.

Francis:

that's right. Here's the other thing about pre-the, so the, the reason our first restaurant is called Stage Left is we are next to three theaters. So we've been doing pre-the, from the beginning. And the thing you know about that, those people, they're leaving at 7 45 whether they've eaten or not. And if

Antonia:

Oh, for sure.

Francis:

they're not paying and giving you the finger on the way out the door and may not come back.

Antonia:

And if, and if there's a guy who does have a heart attack in the middle of all of that and someone is performing CPR, they don't care.

Francis:

care. They do not care. They're absolutely, I will tell you, no one who doesn't work for me. That, except for the doctor in the corner of the room. No one else got out of their chair. The guy sitting next to him sat and kept eating, kept eating, eating. so to the listeners, I wanna take you, a, it's a story. It's not the guy survived. This is why it's a funny story. But literally the guy's eyes roll back in his head. Mark walks up, it's pre-the, he says, Francis, you call 9 1 1. It's like the first aid video, right? And, and Mark raises his finger and says, is there a doctor in the house on cue? A guy in the corner stands up and says, I'm a doctor. You know? It was like, is this a movie? So he comes over and the guy's literally on the floor doing CPR. The ambulance comes in, people eating their steaks. Man, it was, and but that's the whole thing about the restaurant business. There is no choice. I mean, I, I wish we could all stop and say, oh, you know what? Everybody's meals on the house tonight. We're gonna stop. We, we go outta business.

Antonia:

Now.

Francis:

it's a school of hard knocks. You know, one of my favorite other moments that, that was much less dire than that moment. I'm talking to some friends. I'm sitting at their table. Waiter walks up to me, whispers in my ear. I turn to the friends. I say, excuse me, I'll, I'll be right back. I go to the kitchen about five minutes later, I return to the table. My friends are like, we got, you gotta tell us. What did the waiter say to you? What did he say to you, whispered in such, you know, I said, what he said was, the kitchen is on fire and a hundred percent your story. He said, the kitchen is on fire. they're like, and you just walk. And I was like, well, it was out by the time I got back there. Everything was under control that we moved on to the next thing. And literally we moved on to the next thing. Yeah. Yeah. No time. We put fire out and kept, and kept it moving. No time to cry. This is the life we have chosen. No time to cry. So let's talk about your other venture.

Antonia:

I can't wait to hear what's my other venture.

Francis:

You lost track of them. Evidently you're gonna be the third interviewer on the restaurant. Guys, you're

Antonia:

I had no idea. Congratulations.

Francis:

You've won the the restaurant guys challenge. No, but you have a line of chef

Antonia:

Yes.

Francis:

very different. That's pretty awesome. It's beautiful.

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

brought that about? What's different about your

Antonia:

So, you know, so here's the thing, right? I, I think with the, you're, you're always trying to like figure out things that make your life easier as a chef. And so when someone like my business partners are like, where do you wanna go with this? And for me at the time, right? Finding a product that fit my shape, you know, that was like, and it is for men and women. We've got, we've got great stuff. But it was more like every chef coat I put on, made me look like I was wearing my father's oversized jacket. Like I was playing dress up. And every once in a while, like I go to an event and they, you know, give me like a standard chef jacket because it has a logo on it and I'll put it on, you know, to take pictures. And it's funny'cause my boyfriend always goes like, what are you doing playing chef today? Like, your dad dropped off, his jacket and you put it on because,'cause the sizing is always, the sizing is always off and

Francis:

and those double button that's designed, it's like a, it's like an admirals jacket or something from the Navy. It's, it's a manly

Antonia:

It's a manly design and I have boobs and that's the only way to put it. You know? And so

Mark:

You know? I have the same problem.

Antonia:

Right, but you don't wanna accentuate your boobs. I do not. You know, I wanna celebr, I wanna celebrate my boobs. You don't wanna, most men don't wanna celebrate their

Francis:

No one, not even Jennifer wants to celebrate Mark's boots. Listen, I, I can totally empathize because as a 300 pound man, everybody wants to dress me in Hawaiian shirts. Yep. That's like, that's like the, the whole lexicon of what's available to 300 pound men.

Antonia:

So it came about from like a design thing, but then also, you know, full disclosure, I'm like. You know chefs, right? We are, and I know this is gonna sound disgusting, but it happens. We take our chef coat, it's a late night, we bundle it. It's in the backseat of the car. Sometimes you forget to bring it in, you don't wash it, and all of a sudden you like pick it up. You're like, this one's good enough. Just wipe it off, put it back on, like. I've done it. We've all done it. Like, right. So I wanted something that was like, I travel with them. I want something that I don't have to iron. I want something that, and the other part too is I'm very big into fitness and nutrition. I am in workout gear more than I'm in anything else. Like I like to workout. And for me, I was using a lot of my workout gear in the restaurant, you know what I mean? Whether it's like the compression, stretchy pants, because they're compression, which is good for your circulation and all the, they're comfortable. You can bend over a lot of the times, you know the pants that you're wearing all of a sudden like. There's a butt crack. I don't wanna see a butt crack. what we do is very physical. We're bending, we're stretching, we're grabbing. And so I wanted to create a line that was modeled after like athleisure wear. So the pants model athleisure, wear the jacket models, athleisure wear, and then it doesn't wrinkle, it doesn't smell because it's, um, antimicrobial. And so like you're sweating and there's not a scent to it, and it's also moisture wicking. And so it keeps you cooler, even though it kinda looks like, you know, everyone's always like, it looks like, like what you would go snorkeling in. And I'm like, it is, but it,'cause it's stretchy and it's black. Um, but also you can throw shit on it stuff. Sorry, I, I, I curse a lot, I apologize. and,

Francis:

It's a podcast.

Antonia:

and as long as it's water based, it like wicks off of you. So it's like a, one of a lot of those, um, materials for different couches that are being made. So it's like you can spill soda on it, you spill coffee on it, you just, it wicks right away and, and, and goes. And so. The whole product line was really built out of something that I wanted to wear out of necessity. Where I'm like, I'm on the ground picking stuff up, I'm bending over and I'm picking this up, and I, you know, I want something that looks nice on me so that I look presentable and I don't look like, a crazy person running around. something that again fits my, my body type and then something that is very, very functional for chefs that are like throwing their shirts in the backseat of the car or into their suitcase and that they don't always get to wash immediately.

Francis:

we're gonna link to, to where people can go to, to buy your chef. Where, but my comment when I looked on it, and I've never seen it in person, but I, I, you know, I did a little research for the show. I checked you out the Antonia Coat,

Antonia:

Yes,

Francis:

the woman's chef coat, Captain Picard on Star Trek vibe

Antonia:

totally.

Francis:

I have to be honest with

Antonia:

Totally. I'm like.

Francis:

it's very cool. Very cool.

Antonia:

Well, and that's the shirt, that's the jacket I wear on all the shows. So like, if you see me in my Black chef coat, that's, that's the coat.

Francis:

So I, I have one last thing I wanna talk about. One of the things that you mentioned someplace else, was that your favorite judge on Tournament of Champions is Andrew

Antonia:

Yes.

Francis:

we love Andrew. I'm gonna take this opportunity to, to plug on June 27th, we're gonna do a live podcast with Andrew Zimmer next door at the theater. We're super excited to do that. anything you want to add about Andrew?

Antonia:

you know, Andrew is an incredible, incredible person. Right? Like, chef aside, I mean, I, I, I love his food. I've done so many events with him. He is an incredible chef. Um, but he's an incredible person and I've gotten an opportunity to know him personally, to know his family personally. Um, you know, we've done events together, where he lives, that really help the field of, drug and alcohol abuse, you know, which has touched, a lot of friends and family that I'm, in contact with and have helped so many of them. So him and I share a lot of those same things. So as a person, I just love him deeply. as a judge, there's something that's so pure and honest about him. It reminds me a lot of when Anthony Bourdain used to judge us on the shows when we were younger, because a, the man is, the man has been everywhere and eaten everything on the planet, first and foremost,

Francis:

Yes.

Antonia:

and he has a fine dining background that is exceptional. But along with that, he just loves food that satiates that speaks to him, that have a body in soul. So he's able to sort of distinguish fine dining from soulful cooking. Um, and on top of it, he's an expert technician. So when you have someone who has that sort of trifecta, you want them telling you about your food so that you can become better. The other part of what he does that's so brilliant is he's so honest, but he is honest in a way that isn't cutting and doesn't make you second guess your life choices.

Francis:

Yeah,

Antonia:

know,

Francis:

nicest

Antonia:

he

Francis:

way he presents things, he's just, you feel like he's the coach, you know?

Antonia:

is not in it for a soundbite. That's the best way of putting it. Uh, there are judges out there that will remain nameless. Not really TOC judges.'cause guy actually doesn't stand for any of that kind of stuff. Like, you know, if a judge is sort of doing things just to do things, he won't have'em back. Andrew is someone who can give the best constructive criticism. That still weirdly feels like a compliment. Even though he hates your dish,

Francis:

Yeah.

Antonia:

you're like,

Francis:

he's amazing. And this is a man, this is a man who had bizarre

Antonia:

yeah,

Francis:

I mean, the last he came on our show, like right when Bizarre Foods came out and we talked about the penis restaurant he went to where he ate like all, like, it's a, a restaurant dedicated to all different kinds of penises. So when you say he's eating everything. Oh, oh yeah.

Antonia:

yeah.

Francis:

mean it.

Antonia:

Well,

Francis:

everything.

Antonia:

other thing is too, he judged an episode of mine, uh, which I made. I, I had to do like a gastro pub dish and I made fish and chips with sturgeon, you know, and, um,

Francis:

Yeah.

Antonia:

make chips. I made crisps, right? So very, I had to be very specific. And then I did this whole play on mushy peas and, and a tartar sauce, and it was so simple, but also not, and. When I saw him walk out, I was like, I just made fish and chips for Andrew Zimmerman. Are you fricking kidding me right now? Because when you have, when you have something that's so simple and God knows how many fish and chips this man has eaten in his lifetime, and the expert that he is on it, right? Because it is a classic, right? I was like, Ugh. And so then when he is like, I love this, you really know that he loves it, which then feels so empowering, you know? Where I'm like, oh my God. I was able to impress someone who has this incredible background, who's just a good human being who wants people to do well. And if it's not good, he is gonna tell me it's not good and then I can be better. But if he tells me that it's good, that means I'm like the greatest chef on the world.

Francis:

Right. You. That's a win that goes

Antonia:

Huge.

Francis:

in the w

Antonia:

Yeah.

Mark:

one of the best parts of my life, and it strikes me that you are this kind of person is I have surrounded myself with people who are gonna tell me the truth. Yep. Good, bad, ugly. They're gonna tell me the truth. I, weirdly, I like it. Yeah. Frankly, I like it when people tell me the truth. They can tell it in softer ways sometimes. And they tell it, honey,

Antonia:

Well, we love a, we love a little sarcasm and humor sprinkled in some bad news.

Francis:

by the way that honey was to my wife Jennifer. I just wanna make that clear. And have you noticed without sarcasm, we'd have no personality at all. That's our whole

Antonia:

Yeah. Without, without

Francis:

we

Antonia:

sarcasm, I would be not equipped to communicate.

Francis:

I, I wouldn't, I, I actually don't communicate without

Antonia:

Yes.

Francis:

an impossibility to me. I could just can talk with my

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

we are way over

Antonia:

Yep.

Mark:

but I, but there's just a topic that I want to talk about that's, that's really about you. I recently watched something that you did where you made a squab dish for an event. Hmm. Okay. you talked about that one of your styles is taking things that, seem to be simple and elevating them. And I feel like the squab world. Is sadly going away. The, the elevated cuisine people, people want to be comforted so much with food right now that we're losing some of that elevated cuisine. Squab, sweet breads. Gra Yeah. So I, I mean, just some of the interesting foods that, exist in the world I just wanted to ask you about that. As somebody who is doing food that's comforting, but at the same time still challenging people with it, how is that evolving? What, are you doing in, in that world that, that is keeping squab alive?'cause I wanna keep Squab alive. No, no, no. You have to kill them.

Antonia:

Well, yes. He, he wants, he wants to keep the, the memory of the squab alive. Like I,

Francis:

Yes.

Antonia:

I feel, listen, I, I get on a tangent about certain ingredients that I just feel like have been misrepresented right in the, in, in the world. And, and squab is one of them. And what I do, right, because I think this is what's really important, is you need like training wheels to certain, proteins and ingredients that sometimes people. Find scary or unappealing. Right? the word on the street about squab is that it's so gamey, right? And it's just so hard to cook. And what I did with the squab, and if I think this is what you watched, was I tempura fried it so it became like fried chicken. You know what I mean? So I essentially made fried chicken out of squab. And I think when, and that's what I'm talking about when I say training reels, because like, who doesn't wanna eat fried chicken? I've never met anyone. And so you batter something and fry it, right? And you, and you give someone the reference of something that they love, that they're obsessed with, that their grandmother made, and they'll be like, I'll try it. And so that's always sort of the introductory. So for me it is kind of playing with something that is so sort of high end. And trust me, it was very hard to fry squab because it is so temperamental. It dries out super quick. It goes from being cooked perfectly to being cooked overdone and chewy. The, the leg is like this big.

Francis:

Yeah. Yeah.

Antonia:

You know, and so there's, there's all those elements to it that, that go into play. But I like to do like little training wheels. I'm on a tangent right now about prunes. I'm on, I'm like taking my, this like one woman show on the road. I'm like, I wanna bring back the prune. the prune has been given a bad wrap because, you know, someone over the age of 55 said that it helped them poop. And now the prune is just looked at as something fibrous. That old people who don't take a normal bowel movement every day should drink or eat, where I'm like, Hey, by the way, it's a dried plum. Let's start there. It's delicious. It's great when you braise boar. It's delicious with duck. Do you know what I mean? I, I use braised prunes with red wine that I put on marscapone cheese that I dip french toast into. Like, I, I'm like, save the prune.

Francis:

So, you know, you, you have an ally in that. We had Scott Conant out to New Brunswick for a, one of these live shows, name one of these live shows and he has in his latest book, like Secret Weapon Flavor Bombs, and he has much the same thing, doesn't he have prune baby food in there? Is one of his six prune baby food

Antonia:

sure.

Francis:

a sauce, like as a sauce bomb. Yeah. so you, you have allies in this, prune war

Antonia:

with me going on the road and you know, with my signs that say like, save the prune.

Francis:

Save the prune and stay regular at the

Antonia:

Yeah.

Francis:

Anyway, Antonio Lofaso, this has been like, most energetic and wonderful show. You're, we're in love with you and you better come to New Jersey and come to dinner at stage. Come and the real problem is I didn't ask any of the questions that I prepared today. So you're gonna have to come

Antonia:

I will come back. I would love to come back. You two are lovely. I had the greatest time chatting. Um, I'm in New York in June. I would love to come say hi and do all the things, so I'm around.

Francis:

that'd be

Antonia:

Yes,

Francis:

to dinner

Antonia:

yes. I would love to.

Francis:

I wanna say. An old New Jersey saying when you say that we're lovely. No you are. No, no, you are. Anyway. It's been great. You can find out more about Antonio Lofaso at our website, restaurant guys podcast.com and in the show notes. we'll be back in just a moment. Don't go away. Find out more@restaurantguyspodcast.com.

the-restaurant-guys_2_05-22-2025_141401:

Hey there everybody. Welcome back., You know, there are certain shows like the live show we did with Alice Gu Shelley. Where I feel that we are not the engine of the show. So I feel like we're trying to, who's interviewing who, because we're steering the ship trying to keep it on the road. But you know, that was one of them. Boy, she's a ball of fire. Yeah. She's fantastic. Holy god. You really, really, you, you see why she is where she is. But you know, one of the things that she touched on, we talked about was a different kind of line of discussion than we normally have. It. She is the person we would like go out of our way to meet. Mm-hmm. For a drink at after work or for a bite or whatever. Um. When she talked about being so physically present and this job being very physical, I, I, I was reminded of when restaurants open and we talked about that. You know, culture trump's policy every day of the week, right? Mm-hmm. Like she, she's there for 90 days to establish that culture. Yeah. You know, you can checklist everything all the way through. You can video, train and procedure everything all the way through. But I'll always remember, I mean, you can maybe remind me who said this, but somebody came, came to us early on and said, you know, I was training these people and, and there's a stage left way to do everything. Mm-hmm. That's why you come here and you start as a bus and Yeah, I've taught you all the things and all the steps, but for. Months. I'll be like, no, don't put the coffee there. No, don't hang your coat up that way. Mm-hmm. No, don't put your shoes over there. Wait. We gotta clean that this way because there's a stage left way to do everything. And it goes beyond what you can put in a training manual. And what corporations have to do is they have to simplify and streamline everything. So it is very. Consistent. So it's very consistent. Yeah. And and it's simpler. Yeah. Um, and everything is designed to, to fit in that systematized box and that's why they're richer than we are.'cause they can open multiple restaurants and the training videos work, but it's a different feel when you go into a restaurant. That has a restaurant way of doing everything, and that culture is learned in the very embodiments of the movements every night. Well, those first 90 days that she talked about are so important Sure. To establish that culture that you're talking about and my experience is. People will follow leaders. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. They won't follow policy, they won't follow the procedures you set up. They will to a certain extent, but, not when you're not looking. Right. Right. Okay. But they will follow leaders. Right. They'll follow the people who are, you know, this first 90 days when you're in, in the restaurant, 14 hours, like, oh, okay. that guy's willing to work 14 hours to make sure this happens the way it's meant to happen. Right. Right. I'm much more likely to follow that person. Uh, then I am to follow the guy who says, here's a bunch of rules, and they're all written down. There's 16 rules. Sign at the bottom that you're gonna abide by all these rules. you have you as establishing that culture as the leader, that's, we have to be the leader overall. Mm-hmm. Is we have to reward and promote the people who are doing things right. You know, following that rule of like the way someone does some anything is the way they do everything. Mm-hmm. And that's so largely true. And we need to make sure that the people who do everything with purpose and trying to be right are rewarded and fulfilled. And it goes back. then, it's maintaining a culture. Mm-hmm. So that first 90 days you establish the culture and we've, you know, we've been here for 33 years, but we've had times when there was a a we, when we opened the second restaurant or when there was a large change over, over COVID and we, you gotta make sure that the people who are. Inculcated in your culture and who were part of your culture outnumber. If you bring in too many new people at one time, that's when the owners have to get back in there and be there 14 hours day. You know, it's funny that you say that Because there are, Waves that happen in a restaurant, right? Sure, sure. And you'll have six key people leave all at once, sometimes, or mm-hmm. Those things just happen in the natural course of a restaurant and. how we've responded to those waves. Are you and I dive back in? In the deep end and we reshape and shape all the new things that are happening. Well, you you just heard from her. She, she stops all the traveling Right. When she opens a new restaurant and she goes in and establishes that culture again. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I thought that was a. Fascinating insight. And I, I articulated some things that we've always thought. Mm-hmm. And I've heard it talked about, and I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as we did. Antonio Lofaso, check her out. Really great time. Andrew Zimmer. You heard about Andrew Zimmer, June 27th. Come see him with us. The, the Rewind show is up now, and the new show will be up soon. Come see us in person. We would love to hang out with you afterwards. I'm Francis Shot. And I'm Mark Pascal. We are the restaurant guys. As always, you can find out more@restaurantguyspodcast.com.