Market-Driven Brooklyn Dining Before the Hype | Liza Queen

This is a Vintage episode from 2005.

The Restaurant Guys welcome chef-owner Liza Queen of Queen’s Hideaway, a tiny Greenpoint restaurant where the menu changed with the market, the farmers, the smoker, and whatever was left in the kitchen by the end of the week.

Why This Episode Matters

• Liza Queen explains how Queen’s Hideaway built its menu around farmers, Greenmarket shopping, small quantities of meat, and improvisation.
• The episode captures a very specific moment in Brooklyn dining, before “market-driven neighborhood restaurant” became a polished concept.
• Liza talks honestly about the chaos of running a small restaurant: tiny kitchen, no air conditioning, long hours, broken equipment, landlord issues, and sudden press attention.
• The Guys connect Queen’s Hideaway to a larger idea: great food does not need pretense, luxury, or a white-tablecloth.
• The conversation is a snapshot of a restaurant that became a cult favorite by cooking personally, affordably, and very much in the moment.

Banter

Mark and Francis begin with a conversation about fine dining, New Jersey, and the complicated blessing of being so close to New York. They talk about what separates true hospitality from restaurant theater: a warm welcome, good service, and the feeling that the experience is being created for the guest.

The Conversation

The Restaurant Guys welcome Liza Queen, chef-owner of Queen’s Hideaway in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Liza explains that the restaurant does not really have a set menu because the cooking depends on what she can get from farmers, what meats are available, and what shows up at the Greenmarket. What sounds like a concept is, in her telling, mostly survival: if the restaurant runs out of one thing, she cooks the next best thing.

Liza talks about moving back east after cooking in Portland, where she felt limited by diners who were less adventurous than she wanted to be. In Brooklyn, she opened what she imagined as a neighborhood place, only to find people coming from Manhattan, upstate, and even New Jersey after early press and word of mouth spread. The restaurant is tiny, informal, and very personal, with a front-of-house and kitchen team made up largely of friends she describes as imported family.

The conversation moves through smoked meats, Wonderbread, broken ice cream makers, root vegetables, and the daily anxiety of building a menu from what the market provides. Liza is funny, humble, and matter-of-fact about the work: 8 a.m. to after midnight, six days a week, in a small kitchen with a very big personality.

After the interview, Mark and Francis reflect on why Queen’s Hideaway resonated. For them, the point is not trendiness or thrift alone; it is food cooked thoughtfully, with excellent ingredients, without snobbery. The episode becomes a defense of the finer things in life at every price point, from a serious restaurant meal to a great hot dog, a real waffle with ice cream, or a neighborhood place that simply cooks what it has and does it well.

Timestamps

0:00 Fine dining, New Jersey, and what makes hospitality feel gracious
6:15  Liza Queen joins the show and explains the no-set-menu approach
8:00 Liza’s experience and desire to open a place on the East Coast
15:00 Smoking meat, winter cooking, Wonderbread, pies, and the tiny kitchen reality
21:30 Why great food does not have to be expensive or pretentious
29:00 Why great food does not have to be expensive or pretentious

Bio

Liza Queen was the chef-owner of Queen’s Hideaway in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a small, market-driven restaurant known for its changing menu, smoked meats, pies, and fiercely personal cooking. The restaurant became a cult favorite for its informal style, excellent ingredients, and no-pretense approach to neighborhood dining.

Info

Hell’s Backbone Grill episode (referenced in this episode)

https://www.restaurantguyspodcast.com/2390435/episodes/17017079

Transcript

Francis (2) 1:50

Good morning, Mark.

Mark 1:51

Good morning, Francis.

Francis (2) 1:52

I wanna talk about a couple of... In, in the last week, we've both had some pretty extraordinary restaurant experiences. Some,

Mark 1:58

some really nice restaurants here, right here in New Jersey.

Francis (2) 2:01

And let me tell you something, I think there are a lot of nice restaurants in New Jersey, and I think there are a lot of restaurants, which have very good food, a number of different genres. But the truly fine dining restaurants- You know, being next to New York is sort of a blessing and a curse. If you put New Jersey in the middle of the country, you know-

Mark 2:18

Mm-hmm

Francis (2) 2:18

it would be known as one of the best restaurant states around. Right. People would fly to New Jersey.

Mark 2:23

Right.

Francis (2) 2:24

Because we are so near New York, a lot of the great fine dining restaurants, so many of the great fine dining restaurants are, are in New York, which is the food capital certainly of the United States, or at least the fine dining restaurant capital of the United States and, and possibly the world. I mean, it really does vie with Paris to-

Mark 2:38

Oh, I don't think so.

Francis (2) 2:39

Well, there, there is a- I like

Mark 2:40

Parisian restaurants better than

Francis (2) 2:41

New York restaurants. But there is a lot of opinion that says, especially for fine dining, um, there's a lot of respected opinion out there that, that points to that New York. Now, in New Jersey, we do a lot of things well, but fine dining is something that mean, truly top-of-the-mark fine dining- Mm is something that's been building slowly over time. Well- You can't walk every few, every block or two and find a great restaurant.

Mark 2:59

One of the things you just said is it's a blessing and a curse and, and that maybe people don't look at us in, in as high regard as they might otherwise because we're so close to New York City. But at the same time, we have access to, to so many great products because we are so close in proximity to New York City. So many great wines that, that aren't available in other places in the country. So many great products that, that may not be as available as fresh as we can get them in this area, and such a diverse amount of products that

Francis (2) 3:24

we can get. We spoke to, we spoke to recently Jen Castle and Blake Spalding, who have a restaurant out in Boulder, Utah, population 108, and the way they get fresh produce is, well, they grow it themselves. Yeah. You know, that's, and that's

Mark 3:36

about- And there's no... And one of the things they said is there's no such thing as fresh Fresh fish. Fresh seafood.

Francis (2) 3:38

Yeah.

Mark 3:39

Because, because all they have is, uh, are some local streams and the fish that are indigenous to those streams they have. Actually, it's farm,

Francis (2) 3:45

farm-raised trout is all they do.

Mark 3:46

Yeah. Farm-raised trout. That's, that's, that's the only fish that they have on their menu. Where we have New York City's port right here, where fish are coming in fresh from all over the, you know, the ocean.

Francis (2) 3:56

And it's, and it's great because, you know, we're, we're so close and connected by highways. We do send our people into the green market in New York because that is where the best green markets are right now if you wanna hit a lot of farmers in one place. And we do get to go to the fish market and the meat market in Manhattan. Mm-hmm. It is really just amazing. And there's... And we have so many diners with great taste that it's nice to see fine dining restaurants, I mean, truly fine dining world-class restaurants opening in New Jersey, Now so many of our listeners are, are very far away and will never be able to go to these restaurants. Sure. What do you think, uh, you know, makes the, the... a place What sets it apart from other restaurants that are kinda pretenders to the throne?

Mark 4:30

Well, first thing, a- anybody can have a beautiful restaurant, okay? You can- Right You know, all you need is a little bit of money, and you can have a, a... or a lot of money. And you can have a beautiful restaurant with beautiful plates and, and-

Francis (2) 4:40

Mm-hmm

Mark 4:40

but you... it starts with an attitude, and when you walk in and, and there's a feel in the place that you're going to be taken care of and that somebody really wants to take care of you and wants to make sure that you have a great dining experience. And- What

Francis (2) 4:54

makes you feel that way?

Mark 4:55

they're gracious. someone is immediately there to greet you when, when you walk in the door. And that someone wants to bring you a cocktail as soon as you get there, and when you sit down, you're made to feel very, very comfortable when you arrive, and there's a nice wine list.

Francis (2) 5:09

You know, you re- you remind me of the time that we had dinner-

Mark 5:12

You know what you remind me of?

Francis (2) 5:13

You remind me of the time that we had dinner at a place called, Alain Ducasse. Mm-hmm. Alain Ducasse is in New York now, but this is when he, he first had his restaurant in Paris. And we were in Paris, fortunately, and we had one of the best meals of our lives. And-

Mark 5:24

I, I can say that was the best meal of my life

Francis (2) 5:26

and as we left, we talked about what made it really great, and they had all these fab... I mean, the building was fabulous. Everything was... It was not in the current location. It was in a prior location. It was a location. It was in, uh, the old Paul Robuchon place. Mm-hmm. And for all of the finery, for all of the beautiful things that went on there, we always got the feeling that they had done it all for us, that the staff was very solicitous of us, of us- Mm-hmm and that they had m- made us feel that it was all done for us. Each

Mark 5:53

thing that they were doing made, made you feel special and important.

Francis (2) 5:56

As, as opposed to you go to some restaurants and they make you feel like you're... They try to make you feel like you're lucky to be having dinner there. Right. And that is just the opposite of being gracious. You were talking about restaurants with The Restaurant Guys. We're gonna talk about a couple of restaurants in New York in a moment.

6:08

We were talking in the last segment about a couple of restaurants in New Jersey

Francis (2) 6:11

that are really exceptional, and we're gonna be talking about another restaurant r- right now, um, that is pretty exceptional, and it's in New York. But it's not in Manhattan, it's in Greenpoint in Brooklyn, and we're talking with Liza Queen, who is the owner of The Queen's Hideaway. Hello, Liza.

Liza 6:25

Hello.

Mark 6:26

Liza, welcome to our show.

Liza 6:27

Hey, thanks.

Francis (2) 6:28

Thanks for coming to join us. Now, your restaurant, we first, first came to our notice, um, when we read about the way that you do business, which is, um, pretty unconventional for around here. You don't have a set menu. Is that correct? N-

Liza 6:40

no. No, we don't really.

Francis (2) 6:42

What are you, crazy?

Liza 6:44

Yes. But, you know, it's not 'cause I'm ambitious. It's just 'cause the way, uh... because of the farmers we deal with, you know?

Francis (2) 6:51

Uh-huh.

Liza 6:52

Uh- So you

Mark 6:52

just pretty much cook whatever you feel like?

Liza 6:54

Yes, I really do.

Francis (2) 6:55

Well, so, so how did, how did the... first of all, how did the idea to do a restaurant like this come about? And then how did you pull it off?

Liza 7:01

Well, we've only been two, two months-

Francis (2) 7:03

Uh-huh

Liza 7:03

open, I guess, so I haven't say, I wouldn't say we've pulled it off yet. Um, and really it's just evolved kind of organically because I get most of my meat and dairy and some cheese through Farmer Chef Express, which I don't know if you know, it's about, like, 11 farms, and you order through one lady, and then they put it together and bring it to you. But what happens is, you know, there's only so many animals they can slaughter is really how it works out.

Speaker 2 7:27

Right,

Liza 7:27

of course. And so the amount of meat that I can get ends up being really small, and so what happens is we've gotten really busy, and we'll run out of things, and so then it's really... I swear it's not 'cause I'm ambitious. It's just 'cause, "Oh, God, we're out of this. We have a hoof and, like, some berries." You know?

Mark 7:44

So Liza, could you do me a favor?

Liza 7:46

Sure.

Mark 7:46

When I come for dinner, could I have the berries and not the hoof? Hmm.

Liza 7:50

Oh, you might, you, you know, you'd be surprised.

Francis (2) 7:52

Well, now, now, how did you come to think that you could... I mean, most people would not go forge ahead with this sort of a thing. Where, how, where did you come from that, that, and that you said, "All right, I'm gonna open a restaurant, and we're gonna cook whatever I feel like cooking that day"?

Liza 8:05

Um, well, you know, the, I ran a kitchen out in Portland, Oregon for a long time.

Mark 8:09

Well, you were out there for almost 10 years, weren't you?

Liza 8:10

Yeah, I was.

Mark 8:11

So what made you- And- get to go to Brooklyn?

Liza 8:13

Oh, well, um, my family's up in Syracuse. Uh-huh. Um, um, you know, I don't know. Uh, uh, Portland eaters are somewhat unadventurous. You know what it was? I put a po'boy on the menu, and no one knew what it was.

Mark 8:25

Hmm. And

Liza 8:25

I got really bitter, and no one... And they were on the West Coast. They wouldn't eat, they were scared of oysters.

Mark 8:30

I'm sorry, one, one more time. So you moved back to the East Coast 'cause nobody would eat a po'boy?

Liza 8:34

Well, kinda. Or know what it was.

Francis (2) 8:37

Now, when you, now, when you, um, they wouldn't eat oysters in Portland?

Liza 8:42

Yeah, well, you know, yes and no, but it freaked, you know, certain foods would freak people out, and I just found myself having to limit the menu or have to kind of, uh, you know, describe things in certain ways so as people wouldn't get scared. And I have a lot of family and friends out here, you know, in Brooklyn and Syracuse.

Mark 8:58

Mm-hmm. And you

Liza 8:58

sound like a- And I just knew what it was like

Mark 9:00

you sound like a woman who doesn't like to be limited.

Liza 9:02

No, apparently, apparently not.

Francis (2) 9:05

And, and so can you tell us how you do this? I mean, how do you decide what's gonna be on your menu every day? You get up in the morning, you go to the green market, you see what's there.

Liza 9:12

Yeah.

Francis (2) 9:12

How does this happen?

Liza 9:13

That is exactly what happened. I mean, w- we go through the farmer's chef, I see what animals are available and what cuts, y- pretty much that we can afford or what I can throw in the smoker and seems appropriate.

Francis (2) 9:21

Uh-huh.

Liza 9:22

And then we go to Greenmarket and I see what's around. And then, you know, and that's how it starts at the beginning of the week, and then truthfully, by the end of the week, it really is like, okay, we've got the bone from this picnic, uh, we've got some bean- uh, beans, I got some queso left. And it's just being wily is all it is. It's just kind of like really taking a good look at what we've got around.

Mark 9:39

That just- Sounds like, sounds like me and my refrigerator.

Liza 9:41

Yeah, well, that's kind of true. I mean, it's for real. I mean, that's like the real deal home cooking. It's like kind of how it works. It's like, what do you got? Luckily, what I have around is pretty much the best stuff you can get, so.

Francis (2) 9:51

We had, we had on a show earlier, Blake Spalding and Jen Castle, who wrote a book called Hell's Backbone Grill, which is about a fabulous restaurant that they run by Buddhist principles, uh, an organic restaurant that they run out in Boulder, Utah, population 108 out in the middle of the desert. Um, and it seems that you run yours very much the same way except you're in Brooklyn.

Mark 10:10

Except you decided to, to go where the people are.

Francis (2) 10:14

Like, they can't get stuff. You, you, you're like, uh, flying on your own. Hey, just to, just so everybody knows out there, the name of the restaurant is The Queen's Hideaway, and we're talking with Liza Queen. Now, it sounds like... Well, this sounds like a restaurant that's on a shoestring. Why would I go there? Uh-huh. This is a restaurant that's getting a lot of attention. I have friends in Brooklyn who've dined with you, and they say great things about your food. You were featured in the $25 and Under column, a very favorable article by Peter Meehan in The New York Times, and, uh, it's very unusual to see a restaurant like yours getting such acclaim. You must be a very talented chef.

Liza 10:43

Oh.

Francis (2) 10:45

Am I making you blush?

Mark 10:46

I, uh- Oh, gosh. you almost sound like, "Oh, gosh." Did you, did you, uh, just say, "Oh, gosh"?

Liza 10:50

I did. I might have. I don't, I don't know. You know, um, it's just as much of a surprise to us.

Mark 10:58

Uh-huh.

Liza 10:58

Cause we, we just, we just... This was never... I mean, I wanted to obviously survive and do well- Mm-hmm and be able to cook, but we, it, this is really, really unexpected.

Mark 11:08

Well, I think, I think that one of the reasons you're getting the success that, that you are is, is it's really a reflection of what, how people wanna eat right now. And what they wanna know is that there's a connection to the place that their food came from. There's a connection to the farm. There's a connection to, to the, uh, uh, you know, where the chickens are, where the eggs come from, where, where everything that you're getting is coming from, from, uh, somebody that you know. And people... And that's a reflection of what's happening in, in food right now.

Liza 11:36

Oh, definitely. Definitely.

Francis (2) 11:37

How do you find that people react to the, the ever-changing menu, to there not being a set menu that they can know what to expect?

Liza 11:44

well, you know, truthfully, we had imagined it as a neighborhood joint. Oh. So, and part of the reason actually in... Was, you know, you get sick of the food. You don't wanna, you don't wanna walk that far. You just wanna meal and like even though you love this one place, you've eaten the same thing a million times. And so I think actually certainly the people in the neighborhood are really, really happy about it.

Francis (2) 12:02

We're here talking with Liza Queen, owner of The Queen's Hideaway, which is getting a lot of attention. It's a restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where there is no set menu. We- you eat what Liza's cooking that night. We were talking about how you envisioned your place as a neighborhood restaurant, but here you are getting all this attention citywide and actually even larger than citywide. We're in another state talking to you. That's

Mark 12:21

right. People, people trekking out from Jersey to go to- Who's- to go to your restaurant

Francis (2) 12:24

who's coming to your restaurant?

Liza 12:26

Oh, it is definitely more than the neighborhood. We've been getting calls from all over the place. we don't take reservations.

Francis (2) 12:34

Uh-huh.

Liza 12:35

Um, I, I don't know. People are coming from Manhattan now. People are coming from upstate now. Truthfully, you know, I'm on the line, so a lot of the times I don't know.

Mark 12:42

Mm.

Liza 12:42

Um, but I've heard our m- our answering machine, and I've... You know, I answer the phone once in a while, and so I know that people are coming outside of Greenpoint, which really just shocked us, really.

Mark 12:52

How, how do people feel about waiting an hour to get into your restaurant?

Liza 12:55

They all re- we, we've made things a lot smoother. I think it's like a half hour now.

Mark 12:58

Okay.

Liza 12:59

Um, I don't... I think that they wait, and they get angry, and then they eat, and they leave really happy.

Francis (2) 13:04

I'm the same way. You can win me over with food any day of the week. Now, now you're a chef owner. How do you manage service in your restaurant? Who's, who's doing the service in your restaurant, and how do you control that?

Liza 13:13

Well, you know, I'm really lucky. I basically imported all my dearest and dearest from, like, Chicago and Portland, and so, um, the lady that runs the ho- front of the house, we worked together at the restaurant out in Portland. The woman that's working with me in the kitchen, she's... You know, I know her from college. So I just basically, like, imported my family.

Mark 13:31

Yeah, we made all our old friends work for us when we opened too.

Liza 13:33

Yeah, exactly. Same, same story. I mean, that's the only way to do it, right?

Francis (2) 13:36

You have

Mark 13:36

to.

Francis (2) 13:36

Yeah. Actually, actually, Liza, we're about to open our second restaurant. We've called every old friend. We're like, "Guys who used to work for us," the guy- one guy was like, "But I'm a stockbroker now." I'm like, "Yeah, I need you to pick up Saturday nights." I don't care, stockbroker, schmockbroker. Literally,

Mark 13:48

literally I made, I made about 30 phone calls last week saying, "Guys, we're getting the band back together. Come on." Oh

Liza 13:54

my God, that's totally how I feel.

Francis (2) 13:55

Yeah. Yeah. It's really... You know, it is like a family when you work in a restaurant like that. Now how big is your place?

Liza 14:01

Uh, it's pretty small. We have about 22 seats inside and then maybe 20 outside.

Francis (2) 14:06

And I understand you have no air conditioning.

Liza 14:08

Um, yeah, that's true.

Francis (2) 14:10

Are, are you familiar with this tune, See You In September?

Liza 14:14

Yes, I am. You know, I've never worked in a a- I've never worked in an air-conditioned restaurant my whole- You're

Francis (2) 14:20

from Portland.

Liza 14:22

Oh, yeah. Right.

Francis (2) 14:24

You, you know, you never worked in Florida either.

Liza 14:27

That's

Francis (2) 14:28

true. Florida, yeah. Welcome back to Brooklyn, Liza. our guest is Liza Queen. she's cooking very untraditionally and to great success and much acclaim that we're heaping on her right now. You're listening to The Restaurant Guys, our guest today is Liza Queen. She's the owner of The Queen's Hideaway, which is a fabulous little restaurant, where she cooks every day based on what's at the Greenmarket. In other words, she figures out what she's cooking that night, well, that day, when she goes to the market. Hey, Liza?

Liza 14:52

Yes.

Francis (2) 14:53

What you gonna do in January?

Liza 14:55

You know, a lot of people have been asking me that.

Mark 14:58

A snow pie.

Liza 15:06

Uh,

Francis (2) 15:07

you know- We're gonna serve carrot stew, bark. Everyone loves root vegetables, right? Yeah, yeah. And brown, all brown all the time.

Liza 15:10

No. You know, by the end of summer, I actually get, you know, I start to get very excited about braises and stews

Mark 15:15

and-

Francis (2) 15:16

I love the foods of fall. Love the foods of fall. Yeah. All right,

Liza 15:19

guys- It's gonna be okay, right?

Mark 15:20

One

Liza 15:20

of the things

Mark 15:20

y- one of the things you were talking about is that you do, y- the always on your menu is some smoked item. Mm-hmm. I understand you're having a little trouble with your smoker today?

Liza 15:28

Oh, yes.

Francis (2) 15:29

Is it

Liza 15:30

with

Francis (2) 15:30

the smoker or with the smokees?

Liza 15:32

Um, I'm having a little trouble with my landlord, uh, who, who... I'm telling you, we get, we, our neighbors are so wonderful, but there's one lady who really doesn't like it, and we've tried to work it out with her, and, um- Bring her

Mark 15:43

some brisket.

Liza 15:45

Well, that's what we brought her. Listen, we brought her pie. I didn't bring her the smoked food because I thought it might send her over the edge. Um, but we did bring her pie. I, you know, Well- Gotta have the smoker, though. You

Mark 15:56

gotta have the smoker. I, I understand that is one of your signatures. Do you always have a smoked dish on your menu?

Liza 16:01

There's always some kind of smoked meat and some kind of smoked seafood.

Francis (2) 16:04

Hey, I gotta ask you. There, there's an article that I'm, that I'm reading here. Um, it talks about, um, for an entree that you did of a smoked buffalo brisket, tender slices served atop slices of Wonderbread with onions- ...and a whiskey sauce. Yeah, you

Mark 16:19

hurt me with that one,

Francis (2) 16:19

I gotta tell you. I got, I gotta say- ...everything I've read about you, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I... Uh-huh, that looks good. I'd like to have that. Huh?"

Liza 16:26

It has to be Wonderbread. That's just the deal.

Francis (2) 16:28

Why... So give me the deal, Liza. Why's it gotta be Wonderbread?

Liza 16:32

You know, I think that's actually a Texas thing. Um, I don't know. I just, it ha- Maybe it doesn't have to be Wonderbread, but it has to be that just truly awful white bread that sops up all the grease.

Mark 16:43

All right, Liza, r- remember, our tagline is "Food, wine, and the finer things in life." Uh-huh. Wonderbread is none of them.

Liza 16:49

Yeah, but they sell Wonderbread at the corner store.

Francis (2) 16:51

Yeah, that's true. It's neighborhood cuisine. And

Mark 16:53

you will be able to get that in January.

Liza 16:55

Yes, exactly.

Francis (2) 16:56

Do you know, there's a, there's a restaurant called Home. Have you ever eaten at Home in Manhattan?

Liza 17:00

No.

Francis (2) 17:01

It's owned by our friends Barbara Shinn and David Page, and that's what they always used to say about their place. They said it was neighborhood cuisine, and they would get everything sourced in the neighborhood, which, of course, if your neighborhood is New York City, you know- Yeah ...it's a heck of a lot easier than if you're, like, in Flagstaff, Arizona, I guess.

Liza 17:16

Or that place in Utah you

Francis (2) 17:17

were talking about. Yeah, exactly. Or the place in Utah, exactly. Um, well, so I, I'll come in and I'll, I'll give the Wonderbread a chance. I, I, but I, I will hold it against you.

Liza 17:24

Well, you know, fair enough. Fair enough. You know, I don't know. It, it doesn't have to be Wonderbread, but it's there. Yeah.

Francis (2) 17:30

Yeah. So how does your, how does your restaurant work when you come in to dine at your restaurant? Are there m- are there several choices on the menu, or are the choices very limited based on what you're having that day? Like it or go to another restaurant?

Liza 17:40

No, we try and have... I try and always have, like, uh, five entrees, five sides. The desserts are kinda limited. It's pretty much pie and not... My ice cream maker broke. It was always pie and ice cream.

Francis (2) 17:51

Mm-hmm.

Liza 17:51

And, uh, the ice cream maker broke, so now it's, uh, pie and custard.

Mark 17:55

I have... Word on the street is that your pies are getting famous.

Liza 17:58

Hey, not my pies. That is Ms. Millicent Sorris- Nice ...who is with me in the kitchen.

Francis (2) 18:03

Now- You have a very small kitchen there. Now, you're open for dinner five nights a week, is that correct?

Liza 18:08

Four nights a week.

Francis (2) 18:09

Four nights a week, and it's just dinner only.

Liza 18:11

No, it is five nights a week. Sorry. It's, yeah, Wednesday... Yeah, that would be five. Yeah, there are,

Mark 18:14

there are seven. You're closed two. Let me see if I can do that math.

Liza 18:17

Um, yeah. Definitely

Mark 18:18

five.

Liza 18:19

Yes, five days a week.

Francis (2) 18:21

Now, how do you... Now, i- the, is it a very tight kitchen? I mean, what time do you guys start in the morning? I mean, does somebody come in the morning and start baking the pies, I mean, we opened our own restaurant about 13 years ago. Mm-hmm. And I'm surprised I survived. I thought it was gonna kill me. Are you working crazy hours?

Liza 18:33

Oh, yeah. We're working from pretty much 8:00 in the morning till, I don't know, 12:30 at night. Sounds like a,

Mark 18:38

sounds like

Liza 18:38

a restaurant. And that's, that's six days a week, you know? Right. 'Cause we're not open on Tuesday, but we're in there prepping, and then there's, like, all that, you know, massive paperwork and-

Francis (2) 18:45

Oh, yeah

Liza 18:46

all that fun stuff. So no, we are working insane, insane hours. But you know, that kitchen's tiny, but we were really... 'Cause we had to, at first it was just one of us on the line, and now we've added a second guy kind of expediting and, like, doing, you know, uh, appetizers. And I'm amazed at how well it works with all of us. Uh-huh. It's tiny.

Francis (2) 19:04

And how do you find New York City as a place? Now, you've worked in a couple places across country. Mm-hmm. How do you find New York City as a place to do business? Now, you're a small operation. It's really hard to, I think, deal with, a lot of the re- regulations and the legal matters having to do with restaurants and the, and the zoning and all that stuff. Yeah. How are you finding that?

Liza 19:20

Uh, well, I'm glad it's over, kind of. I mean, it's mostly over. it was really hellish opening it. It was... I, I used to just think, like, I don't know, I guess Mexico City might be worse. Yeah.

Francis (2) 19:32

I don't know. How did you, how did you get from... I mean, wh- where, where was the genesis of the idea? What... And, and how did you find the space, and how did you get this place open? It seems like, it seems like an unlikely venture, and I think that's one of the things that's really interesting about

Liza 19:45

it. Fair enough. Um, because, you know, there wasn't... Greenpoint is a fairly open thing. You know, there's Polish food, there's pizza, there's Thai food. There's a really great, um, actually, Caribbean restaurant down the street from me.

Francis (2) 19:55

Mm-hmm.

Liza 19:56

But pretty much that was it. So I knew that if I opened up this place that, uh, because I knew who I, I know, I knew how I felt, that I was hungry and there was nowhere to eat. And I knew that I could pretty much do what I wanted because there, I, I, you know, no, there was no other place that said, "Well, oh, your, your Mexican food sucks because there's this authentic Mexican place up the street," you know? Right.

Mark 20:15

Mm-hmm.

Liza 20:15

No one would know any better.

Mark 20:16

Right. It's,

Francis (2) 20:19

it's clean food. That's, it's

Mark 20:20

what it's supposed to be like. Liza, you are killing me. I gotta tell you, you're just killing me. But seriously, Liza? Mm-hmm. The, now, my biggest problem with bacon pies in the restaurant, and thank goodness we don't bake pies in our restaurant-

Liza 20:32

Yes

Mark 20:33

but bacon, they would never get a chance to cool. Ah. I'd be taking that first slice out while it was still hot all the time, making a big gooey mess out of the whole thing.

Liza 20:41

Oh, you know, n- at 98 degrees, when you make 'em, when... Well, you know, I don't make them. But when Melissa makes them, "I don't know, Melissa, you wanna eat your pies?" She ne- she actually never eats them, but I think they're really good.

Francis (2) 20:55

Now, how did, how, how do you think you came to, to be getting all this citywide attention a- and this more than citywide attention when your plan was to open up a neighborhood place? What did- Yeah, why do,

Mark 21:04

why do we care so much?

Liza 21:05

Limit it pop. You know, I've had some, I've had just, like, these several guardian angels, is really what it is. there was a woman at Time Out- Danny Conan, yeah wrote an article about us, and I think that's how Peter Meehan came in. I just have, I've just been really lucky. I just have these people that are kind of like watching over me and just being incredibly helpful and just spreading the word, which I, which I, I, you know, I'm kind of speechless about it. I can't even believe it. I'm really grateful.

Francis (2) 21:28

Well, I'll tell you, Liza, none of... And none, the thing about it is, is it's great that you, you that you know those, knew those people and things fell into place for you, but the fact of the matter is, if the food wasn't there, the people wouldn't keep coming back, and we wouldn't keep talking about you. And so that's- Well. You can take that as a compliment.

Liza 21:40

Well, thanks.

Francis (2) 21:41

Are you ever afraid in the morning that you're not gonna know what you're gonna be cooking that night? There won't be any food

Mark 21:46

in the Greenmarket.

Liza 21:46

Uh, yeah. You know, I'm getting less afraid, though. It's getting more... It, actually, it's starting to be more fun. In the beginning it just, it was very nerve-wracking, and now it's starting to be like, "Oh, yeah, what you got for me today?"

Mark 21:59

So, so but seriously, we joked earlier about, you, you know, January and not having a Greenmarket and, and those kinds of, of

Liza 22:06

resources. Well,

Mark 22:07

but the thing is...

Liza 22:07

No, no, no, because I'm still going to be able to get my meat, you know- Right my really fabulous, fabulous quality meat.

Mark 22:13

Right.

Liza 22:14

And that's gonna go a long way. And, um, you know, you can go a long way with stocks and-

Mark 22:19

Mm-hmm

Liza 22:19

breads and root vegetables. I really believe that. I, 'cause I know by, you know, usually by, this may not be true this year, I'm actually really enjoying it, 'cause this, because I never had a Greenmarket like this. But I usually by the end of summer, I'm starting to get really excited about... You know, 'cause people want, oh, like collard greens. Everyone keeps asking me, 'cause I had them on the menu in the beginning.

Speaker 2 22:37

Uh-huh, mm-hmm.

Liza 22:37

But it's like I gotta make the stock all day long, and then- Mm-hmm you know, the greens cook forever, and I'm like, "I'm not doing this. It's 98 degrees in my kitchen." So I'm actually... And you know, there, my, my, my, my building is not in great shape, and the heat isn't fabulous, so truthfully, it's gonna be just wonderful to have stockpots

Francis (2) 22:54

going 24/8. Yes. Great to heat yourself and warm yourself up. And

Mark 22:55

body, body heat will work very nicely

Liza 22:59

in the winter.

Francis (2) 23:00

No, no, it will be warm, I promise. Hey, Liz- Liza, Eliza, I wanna thank you for taking the time to talk with us here on The Restaurant Guys. It's really great.

Liza 23:05

Oh, thank you. I really appreciate it.

Francis (2) 23:06

Thanks again. Take care. And keep,

Mark 23:07

keep serving those $11 entrees.

Francis (2) 23:09

Yeah.

Mark 23:09

People are

Liza 23:10

loving it. You got it.

Francis (2) 23:11

We're all in. But you're listening to The Restaurant Guys,

Mark 23:14

we had with us today Liza Queen of Queen's Hideaway, She opened up a really cool little place, little neighborhood joint is how she described it and, one of the things I liked about it is there was, there's no pretense. It's, it's about having a good time and going and, and enjoying yourself. The

Francis (2) 23:31

food that she cooks that day.

Mark 23:32

The food that she cooks that day. And I, and I really like that there's no snobbery around it, and you can have the finer things in life without snobbery. You know, we talked just a week or two ago about this book, this tour guide called Le Carnet made by, uh, Rachel Brule and Eric Delavandria, who we nicknamed Creme Brulee and Lavender Man. The

Francis (2) 23:53

snootiest

Mark 23:54

people on Earth. Because they were so ridiculously snooty that Creme Brulee and Lavender Man wrote about their travail across the, these horrible, horrible places- Where they get a

Francis (2) 24:04

pedicure

Mark 24:05

where people, where people were not nearly snooty enough for them.

Francis (2) 24:08

Yeah.

Mark 24:08

And, and being great, being a finer thing in life is not about being snooty. It's not about being hoity-toity. It's about being great and being special. Well, and- And there are a lot of special things out there- Well- that are, that are not necessarily expensive.

Francis (2) 24:24

And I think, I think the point is that we're, you know, you don't need to be expensive in order- Mm-hmm to be great. And I think there are a lot of restaurants that I lo- really like to go to that aren't very expensive. I mean- Sure and, and look, I love to go to a super fine dining restaurant on- Mm-hmm and ex-experience the caviar and the foie gras and that whole, that whole shebang.

Mark 24:39

Right, and spend six hours having dinner.

Francis (2) 24:41

But I also like to go to Rut's Hut for a hot dog- The best

Mark 24:45

hot dogs

Francis (2) 24:45

which is, which is, you know, a place where you get a fried hot dog.

Mark 24:48

It's up in Clifton, right out, just outside of Nutley.

Francis (2) 24:50

On 46.

Mark 24:51

It's on 21, actually.

Francis (2) 24:52

Twenty-one. Yeah. Out, out in, out in North Jersey. You know, but-

Mark 24:54

Oh, it's so good

Francis (2) 24:55

you know, to go for the, the best hot dog, I, you know, life is short- Mm-hmm and, and, you know, I'd rather go for a great hot dog than some mediocre Bennigan's somewhere where I'm gonna get the, you know- Absolutely some frozen hamburger patty.

Mark 25:07

There's a place in Lyndhurst that we always went to. It's a little pastry shop. Lyndhurst Pastry Shop in Lyndhurst had the most delicious, uh, extraordinary pastries, uh, especially Italian pastries, and I'm not big on Italian cookies, but really good Italian pastries. And usually was, you know, had a, had a few people, and it was a busy little pastry shop, but diagonally across the street from Lyndhurst Pastry Shop i- was a pastry shop called Mazor's, which was all about-

Francis (2) 25:35

Still is, right?

Mark 25:35

It's still there. It's owned by different people now- Oh and, and frankly, is a little better than it used to be. But it was, it was owned by, by these folks, and it was all about show. And Mazor's was a much more beautiful facility than Lyndhurst Pastry Shop. It was a much more ornate place, and Mazor's was- packed. Mm-hmm. Just all the time packed. And, and I've talked about this with other foodies from the area. Actually, uh, uh, Anthony Giglio is from Lyndhurst and, and just across the river, and, and I was talking to him once about this. You know, people would pack into Mazer's when just across the street was this tiny little place that wasn't about the show, that wasn't about the, the pomp and circumstance. This, this little pastry shop was magnificent. The pastries were delicious and fresh and really, really good all the time, and more people went to Mazer's 'cause it was a better show.

Francis (2) 26:25

Anthony Giglio is the, uh, w- originally from North Jersey and lives in North Jersey still, but he's the wine columnist for Boston Magazine, and he's a reviewer for New Jersey Life Magazine and, and he's a real foodie as well. So I, I would take his opinion on that as well. Sure. You know what my favorite thing is? When you look for the quality vers- versus the, the schlock, and I, and I, and I obsess about this, and I drive my family crazy. I... When you go to an amusement park or carnival wherever you live there- Mm-hmm where the, the classic American thing is waffles and ice cream. It's sort of the precursor to the ice cream cone. I

Mark 26:51

love waffles and ice cream.

Francis (2) 26:52

And they'll make you a, a little thing. I think the ice cream's usually kinda mediocre to poor. Mm-hmm. Um, but the... It's, but sometimes it's homemade, and they put them on waffles. Well, when I was a kid, there would always be all these... When, when we would go to Seaside Park, New Jersey, which is a, a shore town that you know, go on the rides and do whatever. We would get waffles and ice cream. Well, it began to change, and I must have been, like, 12, and already I was a foodie driving my parents crazy. Because those, those kiosks changed over, and a lot of them didn't pour the batter and make the waffles fresh anymore. They used frozen waffles.

Mark 27:20

Yeah. Ew.

Francis (2) 27:21

And they would put them in the toaster and then, and then put your ice cream on it. And I thought- Leggo

Mark 27:24

my Eggo, man. You- Nah, never mind. You can have it.

Francis (2) 27:27

Yeah, exactly. Well, and the difference between going to one of those stands and having somebody make you a waffle and put ice cream on the hot waffle and a little powdered- Mm-hmm sugar on the top, and the frozen Eggo waffle, you know, it's an assault against American taste. It's so wrong. When people say, "Oh, I can't taste the difference. What's the difference?" Well, it's a big difference, and I think that's a step in... I think that's a step toward healthy eating.

Mark 27:49

Mm-hmm.

Francis (2) 27:49

Because when you, when you understand taste and you demand that things taste good, you have an appreciation for the food itself. And- There's

Mark 27:57

also something about those old waffle irons where you flip them over and pop them out of that thing. Well- There's something just kinda-

Francis (2) 28:04

And you have this-

Mark 28:04

you know, aesthetically pleasing about that.

Francis (2) 28:06

And you have the smell about it. Mm-hmm. But, but also, I think that the part of eating a wholesome diet and eating a good, good food is, yeah, there's room for ice cream. There's room for cake, but you know what? It should taste good. And I-

Mark 28:17

I, I always have room for ice cream and cake, Francis.

Francis (2) 28:18

Yeah, but, but what I'm saying is don't waste the calories on a Twinkie.

Mark 28:23

Mm-hmm.

Francis (2) 28:23

You know what I'm saying? I mean, if you've got the opportunity to have a beautiful-

Mark 28:26

How about a deep-fried Twinkie?

Francis (2) 28:26

Ex- exactly. Not that either, but if you have the opportunity to have a, a really great piece of cake-

Mark 28:33

Mm-hmm

Francis (2) 28:33

you know, well, have a piece of cake. You know, but don't stop by and get the Ho Hos on the way home.

Mark 28:38

Right.

Francis (2) 28:38

You know? And that's why I say, you know, I'm not gonna have a frozen waffle with ice cream on it. Mm-hmm. You know, if, if I can go and be down the shore and sort of relive my childhood and have a great waffle and ice cream, that's what I'm gonna do.

Mark 28:47

You know what's really unfair?

Francis (2) 28:48

What's that?

Mark 28:49

The fact that we have a chef to cook us whatever we want and, and- you know, it's j- it's just not right. It's just not fair.

Francis (2) 28:55

It, it should make dieting easier. It

Mark 28:56

should- It should, but yet we still are both, the two of us, a little bit overweight, aren't we? A

Francis (2) 29:00

little bit overweight, I would say- is a kind way. We have, We have faces made for radio and bodies to match is what I would say. Yeah,

Mark 29:07

well.

Francis (2) 29:07

Well, I still enjoy the finer things in life, and I think that to eat wholesomely, even if you're a little overweight, is better than to eat, you know, prefabbed stuff- I agree and less quality stuff. You're listening to The Restaurant Guys.

29:29

We had

Mark 29:30

a great chef Queen on earlier who owns a restaurant called Queen's Hideaway, And, uh, one of the things that we really liked about the restaurant is there's no pretense. There's She, she goes to the Greenmarket, she buys what she buys, and she brings it home, and that's what she cooks for you that night. And like it or lump it, there it is. You can go someplace else if you don't like what she's cooking. But, but she's ma- using really, really premium ingredients and making really good food and doing it really affordably. I

Francis (2) 29:58

one of the things that's very interesting is she did this with rather... I mean, this was born out of the ambition to cook in a limited way for the neighborhood.

Mark 30:05

Mm-hmm.

Francis (2) 30:06

But it, it resonates with people. Right. And the reason she's on our- But we think

Mark 30:08

it's so cool we're coming from Jersey to go, to, to go to Brooklyn.

Francis (2) 30:11

Well, the reason that she's on our show and the reason that she's getting all the press that she's getting, and she's getting a lot of press, is because this is an idea that resonates. People want sort of, uh, uh, good food at an affordable price- Mm-hmm that's based in the Greenmarket, cooked by somebody with love who's very talented in this case. And, you know, we'll give up all that choice. We'll give up all the hype. We'll- Yep uh, and we don't always wanna go to a high-design, expensive restaurant where the beautiful people are. I- Right I, it's just too much work for me.

Mark 30:36

Nothing like a great slice of pizza.

Francis (2) 30:38

Yeah. I, I

Mark 30:38

c- And people, that's what we were talking about in the last segment is that, it doesn't have to be expensive to be great and to be very, very enjoyable. Sometimes those comfort foods are the best possible thing that, that you could eat-

Francis (2) 30:50

And the other thing

Mark 30:50

is- as far as enjoyment goes

Francis (2) 30:51

and the other thing is to bear in mind that sometimes it can be expensive and be terrible. I think the idea is to be, is to eat thoughtfully- Mm-hmm rather than to obsess about how many calories are in every little thing that you have. Are you eating wholesome, good food as part of your lifestyle? And can you... And if you can take the time to really enjoy that-

Mark 31:08

Mm-hmm

Francis (2) 31:09

you're gonna have a more balanced lifestyle than if you're shoving Ho Hos in your mouth as you're driving in your car.

Mark 31:14

and as a kid, what was ever better than going to the local ice cream shop? We w- used to go to a place in Bloomfield called Holstein's- Mm which is still there today.

Francis (2) 31:21

Right.

Mark 31:21

And it was a little candy shop and a, and a great little ice cream parlor, and truly an ice cream parlor. And, and those kinds of places, they were great, and the food was delicious- And- and it wasn't expensive

Speaker 6 31:31

And in your life you have a different appreciation for that if you don't have a gallon of ice cream in your refrigerator all the time and you've restored a little bit of balance.

Speaker 7 31:37

You know what? You know what? I still have a, a gallon of ice cream in my fridge all the time, and I still wanna go to Holsteins and sit at that booth and have a good time and talk to my friends and socialize and enjoy that.

Speaker 6 31:47

Let's go there now. You're listening to The Restaurant Guys,