The Johnjay Van Es Podcast
From the mastermind behind one of the most popular morning shows in the country, Johnjay Van Es brings his signature blend of curiosity, humor, and fearless honesty to the podcast world. If you’ve ever had a question on your mind but were too afraid to ask, don’t worry—Johnjay’s got you covered.
With hilarious, jaw-dropping conversations, amazing guests, and the inside scoop on everything you actually care about, this show is a wild ride through the stories you’ve never heard and the truths nobody else dares to say. Whether it’s celebrities, trendsetters, or just the most interesting people on the planet, nothing is off-limits, and no question is too bold.
Come for the interviews. Stay for the insanity. This is the podcast you’ll be talking about. Don’t miss it!
The Johnjay Van Es Podcast
This Soul Food Is More Than a Meal — It’s a Statement!
From a family kitchen to iconic restaurants, Larry “Lo-lo” White shares how he turned home recipes into Lo-lo’s Chicken & Waffles and a growing hospitality empire.
Hear stories from his record-label days, celebrity encounters, and lessons on staffing, consistency, and running community-driven restaurants that double as destination dining.
We also dive into his personal reset—losing 50 pounds, fitness routines, and using health to fuel business and family life.
If you love stories of grit, flavor, and building with intention, listen, share, and leave a review with your favorite takeaway.
Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show. Okay, so we got sitting in front of us. And this is very low, this is casual, eh? Super casual. You know what's funny is that I knew I thought you were gonna wear sunglasses, so I brought my sunglasses, and when you parked outside when you're outside, you had sunglasses on. Same ones. Boom, I'm gonna put mine on too. Lolo, but no, now you but now your yours changes so.
SPEAKER_03:But I can also take them off, also.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know, but I thought I thought for sure you're gonna be all big time with sunglasses on. No, it's all good. I know.
SPEAKER_03:I just like recording my experiences. People like walking through my journey of the day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Do you post? Where do you post it?
SPEAKER_03:On my post, on my personal page.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you do? Yeah, I follow your personal page on it, or do I not? Oh no.
SPEAKER_03:So with us is where all the good stuff is at.
SPEAKER_01:Larry White, Lolo. Where's your chain? I've never seen you without your chain.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, man. You know, I came very professional over here today, right? Came very professional. Hey, when I saw the address was on 20th Street in Jefferson, I said, I'm gonna leave my jewelry at home. This might be a setup.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm just fucking with you. You know, I know a lot about your whole life, so it's kind of weird to ask you questions because I know so much, but let's talk about. I know we don't I'm gonna get into Warren's Supper Club because I had dinner there the other night. Yes, which is your newest venture, right? Um, and then also sip and brunch, you moved. Yeah. I want to get into that too. But let's start off with how you started in the restaurant business.
SPEAKER_03:All right, are we starting now?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're on, man, right now.
SPEAKER_03:We're on, we're live. Hey, Lolo's chicken and waffles here. Larry White, born and raised right here in Phoenix, Arizona, as you all know. Um, worked for my grandma as soon as I was able to walk and talk. She put me right to work. And as I got older, I started having children, started having more responsibilities, bigger bills. I needed more. So I asked for the opportunity to showcase my chicken and waffle concept. Started doing chicken and waffles at the house for family and friends. And then once my grandmother gave me the opportunity to use her kitchen, her rule was only family in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01:But did you use any of her recipe or you created your own recipe?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I did use some of her recipes. However, I probably a little heavy on it. Where my grandma lightly seasoned, I heavy seasoned, you know, I really doubts doubted on.
SPEAKER_01:And your grandma's is Mrs. White.
SPEAKER_03:Mrs. White, the beautiful Mrs. White. She's still with us at 102 years old.
SPEAKER_01:Are you serious? Yes. That's great because you know, you see like Dick Van Dyke got all this news because he turned 100.
SPEAKER_03:My grandmother's sister is 111.
SPEAKER_01:What? Living here?
SPEAKER_03:In Temple, Texas.
SPEAKER_01:What's oh, in Temple? How what's the secret living in Texas?
SPEAKER_03:Southern fried chicken.
SPEAKER_01:Are you serious? She's 111. She's healthy as a horse.
SPEAKER_03:She's healthy, sharp as a tack, and there will be a 112th birthday in June.
SPEAKER_01:Are you gone? Is it a party?
SPEAKER_03:Of course. Of course. It's a party. It's a party every year. That's amazing. Yeah. I was at the 110th birthday party. I didn't make the 111th, but I will be at the 112th.
SPEAKER_01:Does she walk and talk or is she in a wheelchair?
SPEAKER_03:Talks, answers her phone, still lives at home. No TV in her house. She just has a radio. That's the way she loves it. She has a caregiver that comes by during the day, make her meals, help her, assist. But um when she travels, last time she was here is probably about three years ago. So at 109, she didn't want any help out of a car.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Let's say she was 108. She didn't want any help out of a car. And she said, nah, baby, you won't be here tomorrow. I need to do this on my own.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Wow. What about grandma? Does she drive? Is she driving and stuff? Or is she?
SPEAKER_03:Grandma's sharp. She can drive. She can drive if she needs to. We're not letting her drive any long distance. But if grandma is impatient and she wants to get to the supermarket, she's on her way.
SPEAKER_01:Is she at the restaurant cooking too? Of course not. No, she doesn't even hang out.
SPEAKER_03:I'm no longer cooking at the restaurant.
SPEAKER_01:Are you in charge? Did you take over that restaurant?
SPEAKER_03:No, no, I didn't take over there. My little sister did, Kiana. My little sister is running that for my grandmother and my father, and um business is still going strong. Thank God.
SPEAKER_01:Where'd you go to high school?
SPEAKER_03:I went to South Mountain High School. Oh, right on. I am the first graduating class 100% Jaguar. So when I got to South Mountain in '86, they had just changed from the running rebels to the Jaguars.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, right on. Yeah. When did you graduate? 90. Oh, right on. Yep. I'm a Chandler High guy. Chandler High. Wow. Okay, so you get you start sampling recipes in your grandma's kitchen. And then what? How what what where and how do you get the Lolos? And where's Lolo come from?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, so it goes so much deeper than that. Um, first of all, I come from a family of cooks, right? So I'm cooking at home. Believe it or not, my mother was an amazing cook or is an amazing cook. You know, mom's still with us. Um don't tell nobody, but my mom is fried chicken is fire. Fire, right? But um, you know, with a combination between my father and my grandmother and my home cooking, you know, just cooking was just something that just came second nature, right? So um, you know, when I got my first place, got my apartments and stuff, and I used to cook for the homies and stuff, and then sometimes females would come over and they taste the food, they don't want to leave. I was like, I might be on to something right here.
SPEAKER_01:Is that back in the day? Because you were doing promotion, right? For records and clubs and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03:I had an independent record label at one time, Faux Life Records. What life? What was it called? Faux Life. Full Life, okay. Faux Life. Okay. Yeah, man. So it was around the whole death row thing. They were death row, we was full life. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Exactly. Okay. So we even um ended up in some of the same recording studios with the dog pound, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and we can go on and on for days. Um, we was able to get the dog pound on a couple of tracks. Um, we did a lot of production with DJ Battlecat, who is a very known death row producer. Um, we did move music with um Swiss Beats, E40, Little Kiki out of Houston, Roger Troutman. Um, we got the clearance on the mini Rippleton track. Um, we did music with Angela Wimbush, um, Christopher Williams. And it was your label? Yes. I founded the label in '92. So two years out of high school.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. I wasn't even 21. And those are you had you had artists and you were selling product.
SPEAKER_03:I had artists. Listen to this story right here. Everybody's gonna love this story.
SPEAKER_01:No, that's what I'm saying. I love your stories like this. I remember during COVID, I'd call you every day on the air and have you tell a story.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you, thank you. And yeah, you did. So one of my very first artists, um, you know, I I named first I had a production company called Unknown Productions, and I would do these parties, and then I had a little cousin who was um singing and rapping, she'd go by the name of L1. Her name is Lawana Hale. And um I I took a liking to her and said, okay, let's let's see what we can do. So I spent my money and put in a recording studio and got her professionally recorded, um, mastered and all of that stuff, and um bought her some tracks. And we was putting a lot of time and energy and money behind her. But um, it just wasn't going nowhere. You know, we kept doing shows around town, but it seemed like we just couldn't get out of Arizona, right? Where she had three backup dancers. And every time we did a show, I made sure El Wan had what she needed, I made sure the backup dancers had what they needed. Well, anyway, as time goes on, we ain't making no money. Loana comes to me and says, Hey, I got bills to pay, I got responsibilities, and we ain't making no money. I gotta do something. So she decided to join the Air Force.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank God for Luana, and you know, thank you for your service. She goes on and joins the Air Force, and while she's gone, she's at boot camp. She calls me. Larry, Larry, you remember my backup dinner? My backup dancer, Adina? Have you heard her song? I said, Adina, who? She said, Adina Howard. I'm like, man, I was managing the wrong motherfucker. So Adina Howard was one of the backup dancers, and she blew up about two months after Luana took off. That's incredible. Is that crazy? Yeah, where's your cousin now? Um, she lit, she's actually living in Texas, and she's married. She's married to an ex um Dallas cowboy. Oh, yeah. And um Which one? Uh I think the last name is Hardy. Hardy or something like that, right?
SPEAKER_01:I just did something with a bunch of old cowboys about two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so his last name is Hardy. However, he has a son who is like one of the top football players in the state of Texas. Oh, really? And now he's in college and he's at um Alabama. Oh, wow. He's at Alabama. Where's Adina now? Um, you know, I don't know where Adina is now, but for a moment she was living here in Maricopa.
SPEAKER_01:But when you were when you were doing the record label, I mean, you had you had interactions and club nights with some big people like Ice Cube, like like they know you. Yes, right? Like Cube, you were helping them think like a lot of people know me.
SPEAKER_03:I got a weird thing.
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know, I know, I know. That's true. Yeah, but I like hearing the come up though, like I mean, Cube was you guys were like working together doing stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Well, not necessarily working together doing stuff. Um, I was a customer, and Q worked as a cashier at a store I used to frequent.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:It was called Fields on 16th Street and stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And we used to go to Fields and pick up clothes, and Q would be behind the counter, and he would tell us all these stories about this amazing group he got called NWA. And, you know, us as high school kids and you know, 88. Well, let's say 87, 88, he's telling these this story. That shit is going in one ear and out the other.
SPEAKER_01:You're like, yeah, right. Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03:You right here, you ringing up my stuff, so it's bag it up so I can go. You know, no disrespect, Cube. But anyway, um, yeah, man, um, Cube was working the cashier, and we would go in there and buy clothes. And like, why was he here? Because he was in L. Well, you know, from the movie, is it actually, you know, the NWA movie, which they did an amazing job. It's just straight out of confidence. Oh man, what an amazing movie. Well, in the movie, he's walking home from Dre's after recording, uh-huh, you know, and he gets jammed up by the police.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And he was just walking home on his business. Right, right. Well, his parents was like, We're not gonna lose you to the streets. You are not gonna be another victim of police brutality. So his parents literally shipped him to Arizona to save his life just because of all the madness that was going on.
SPEAKER_01:That's when he wrote after police, though, isn't it? Or at least in the movie.
SPEAKER_03:No, they wrote that later. Oh, they wrote after after they got arrested after that club. I'm pretty I'm pretty sure like over time. So they had for the movie, they had to cut stuff out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they had to cut it. But it almost sounds like he's got the he's got the West Coast version of uh Fresh Prince. Pretty much, right?
SPEAKER_03:Pretty much, but he literally moved to Arizona for his parents just wanted him to have a better life.
SPEAKER_01:And then he went back to LA.
SPEAKER_03:Of course. I mean, NWA blew up. Yeah, right. Wow. I mean, he was out here in a trade school. He was in a trade school by day working at fields at night. His son really nailed it, man. For him, yeah. He's he's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Those um those movies that he does, um, what are they called?
SPEAKER_01:The the uh outside of NWA movie, the uh the den, something called Devil's Den or something like that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Den of Thieves.
SPEAKER_01:Den of Thieves, that's it.
SPEAKER_03:Den of Thieves, those are great movies.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they are. Uh so then who else who else have you crossed paths with?
SPEAKER_03:Uh man, you name it. Who have I not crossed paths with?
SPEAKER_01:Well, how about Diddy? That documentary is number one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it is, it is, it is number one. You know, I don't have any, I don't have any famous Diddy stories, but I bumped into Diddy numerous times at the Freak Nick in Atlanta. Oh I was just talking to my family about this recently because we were looking at the Diddy documentary over the weekend, and um, you know, my wife asked me, like, you ever come across Diddy? I said, Yeah, I met Diddy when he was a nobody. I met Diddy before he released a single album off of Bad Boy. And him and Biggie, they was at Freak Nick, you know, same thing. Man, I'm starting Bad Boy Records. This is my artist. We coming, you know, and um you meet the dude and uh you tell him, hey, I also got an independent label. We're out of Phoenix, Arizona. We do woo-woo woo. We got a little brief exchange, and that was it. That's about the gist of it. My Diddy story.
SPEAKER_01:I had Diddy on my show twice. Phone call, phone call twice. In fact, I just listened to the interviews the other day. The lat I had him on in 2010 and 2011, and I listened to the interview. And in 2011, he says to me, I want to invite you to my party. He goes, Ain't no party like a Diddy party. He literally says that to me on the phone, kind of gave me goosebumps, right? So, quick story before before that, it must have been 2005, 2006, Rich and I syndicate our show. We sign a deal, we're going all over the country. We're in Vegas, and Diddy walks in, and I got a microphone in my hand typed to a tape recorder. And one of the things, you know, a liner is when you have an artist say, Hey man, this is Snoop Dogg. You're listening to John Jane Rich. Hey, this is Brad Pitt. You're listening to John Jane Rich, hey, it's Tupac, you know, and radio stations play that. And so Diddy, my dad is with me, and Diddy comes walking in this place. He's doing two interviews. He's doing New York and LA. And here we are, Phoenix. And I'm like, come on, man, let me get Diddy. So I walk over to Diddy and I go, excuse me, uh, Diddy and his security guards grab me, throw me up against the wall, like off the ground. Like I'm off there. Two guys are holding me up off the ground, right? And I'm like, whoa, whoa. And Diddy's like, whoa, whoa, put him down, put him down, put him down. They put me down, he goes, What do you need? And I go, since you're not doing Phoenix, I go, we just signed the new syndication deal to do a radio show. I was hoping you could cut me an ID for our show. And he goes, What's the name of the show? I go, it's John Jane Rich. He goes, I got it. He takes the microphone, he cuts the most amazing, he goes, yo, this is P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, your dad. He does this whole thing that is amazing, right? And I'm like, I can't freaking wait to play this on my show. I run over to Rich, I tell him what happened, and guess what happened? When they threw me against the wall, they disconnected the cable. Disconnected the cable. But I had that moment, I got that moment, and now he's in prison.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. I know, I know. So crazy story. I have never been invited to a Diddy party. However, I I never knew all that stuff was going on until all of this stuff came out in the media. Right. I had no idea about the baby oil and what's in the baby oil.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03:But I, you know, I gotta honestly say, if I was invited back in those days, I probably would have attended.
SPEAKER_01:I was invited, yeah, and it was too late. I didn't want to go, it was too late.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I I I kicked myself because I would probably be, I want I'd be in the documentary.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, I'm I'm glad I'm I don't I'm I'm glad I didn't go. So I'm glad I wasn't invited. Right, right, right. But yeah, man. But yeah, who didn't want to go to a Diddy all-white party?
SPEAKER_01:I know. You think about it. I mean, who wouldn't go? Yeah. Except, I mean, it was late. And I at the time, I there's a couple things I've done I haven't done. Like I got invited to party with a couple of celebs, like Enrique Glessius, Katie Perry, the Jonas brothers, and I was like, it was like, it's at 10:30, 11 o'clock, we're gonna go here. I'm like, that's too late, I gotta get up early. And I didn't go.
SPEAKER_03:So I got this most amazing story. This is my most recent story. So a friend of mine calls me, and uh, we're good friends, we talk all the time. And um, he's like, hey man, you you want to go to Boston to the Patriots versus Pittsburgh Steelers game this season. And I'm like, what the fuck do I want to go see them for? Like, right, right, right, right, right. Who cares about the Patriots and the Steelers? Right. He's like, we're gonna be sitting in Robert Kraft's booth. Oh, damn. I'm like, so I asked him about eight, nine, ten times, like, are you sure? We're gonna be sitting in Robert Kraft's booth. He's like, Yeah, man. It's either you want to go or you don't. And after about the 10th time, I said, fuck it. All right, you sure? Yeah, man, we're gonna be sitting with Robert Kraft, Robert Kraft, the owner. I said, Okay, let's go. So I book my flight, I go out to Boston, first time in Boston in my life. And we, you know, black car pulls up, picks us up, takes us to the stadiums, like VIP all the way. We get to the stadium, we go into this private room, they got badges. Larry Warren White, the guest of Robert Kraft.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03:So I put on my little badge, excuse me, you know, pop my collar. So, you know, we walking around on the field like about an hour or two before the game, the guys out there stretching and going through drills and stuff like that. And then they say, Robert Kraft is holding a private reception in his private reception area. Please join him there. So I'm like, okay. So me and my dude, we walk over there and we go into this room. And when I walk into the room, I mean, I might embarrass myself on this podcast right here, but I walk into the room, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, there's Jay-Z, there's Mike Rubin, there's Jason Tatum. I mean, all these fucking celebrities are there. Wow. And I'm like, get yourself together. So I had to get my composure together and act like I belong.
SPEAKER_01:Is that I saw the picture of you and Jay-Z. You saw that? I saw that. I had to saw that.
SPEAKER_03:I had to act like I belong. Yeah. So I walked off in there, and Jay was like, hey, what's up, man? Reached out, shook my hand. We got to laughing and talking. But anyway, we watched that game shoulder to shoulder. Jay, Emery, that's Jay's right hand man. Jason Tatum, Mike Rubin, um, the owner, Robert Kraft, and my boy who invited me, Mr. Willie McGuinness. Willie McGuinness. Two-time Super Bowl champ. Wow, man. That's awesome. That's my dog. That is awesome, man. Yeah, man. So what an awesome experience.
SPEAKER_01:That Mike Rubin guy, he is taking off, huh?
SPEAKER_03:Bro, Mike Rubin, dude, that dude is a beast.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_03:He's a freaking beast.
SPEAKER_01:I'd love to interview that guy.
SPEAKER_03:He's a freaking beast. So, you know, I told him, hey, I would love to come to one of the white parties, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's got different white parties. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:And he said, you know, anything can happen. You know, you got to give him your info?
SPEAKER_01:You know, I did. I was gonna say, you're gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_03:I gave him I gave him my card. I say, now I got a 50% chance. That's right. Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01:You know, you invite Jay-Z? I mean, to Lolos? Of course I did.
SPEAKER_03:Of course I did. Um, I gave Jay Z a card, he put it in his pocket. I told him.
SPEAKER_01:Because I know you. There's no way you let that slide. There's no way.
SPEAKER_03:There's, you know, opportunity. You all I'm always in promotion mode. I mean, I'm literally sitting here talking to you, and I got promotional cards in my pocket right now. You know, you can see what do you got? You can never go somewhere without marketing and advertising your business.
SPEAKER_01:Let me see.
SPEAKER_03:So the little promotion card, you know, I made them really nice. Kind of figure if it's nice enough, people keep it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I forgot about Monroe's. Oh, yeah. Best hot chicken in the world. Place is freaking great. The the um the dessert. What the hell was that? Moonpie. Moonpie. Dude, I've eaten at all your restaurants.
SPEAKER_03:Right on, man. So you're eating good. I mean, if you want to eat, make it count, man.
SPEAKER_01:You got Lolo's, you got Warren's, you got Monroe's and then Burchard Sip. What happened with Burchard's Sip? What why'd they move?
SPEAKER_03:Well, the first Burchard Set was in the lease spot. And in business, you want to start small, just like Lolo started small. You know, you got to see if it's gonna work. Are the people gonna gravitate to it? Are they gonna love it? Are they gonna accept it? So we started. It was a brand new concept, just like Monroe. So we lease first. And you know, after you see, they love it. Now it's time to go buy a piece of land, buy some property.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, is that what you're where are you guys now?
SPEAKER_03:We just moved two blocks west. So now we're on like 38th Street in Indian School. We're right next door to the Bosa Donuts. We bought the old we bought the old ticket exchange. I don't know that remember we're ticking, but there's Bosa there's a pizza place, my slice of the pie. Yep. We're on the other side, big two-story white building. Oh, wow. And that's the new that's the new home of Brunch Sip.
SPEAKER_00:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03:Now we got upstairs and downstairs. We also got a brunch of sip coming in LA. And it's also going to be upstairs and downstairs as well. How many logos you got now? Um, right now we're at four, but number five is on the way. Number five is due in February, first quarter of 26th, in Houston, Texas. Oh, right on third ward.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Since you live there.
SPEAKER_03:It's in the Edo district.
SPEAKER_01:That's gonna do well.
SPEAKER_03:East of downtown, right across the street from the University of Houston. Are you still in the airport here? No, we're no longer in the airport.
SPEAKER_01:Are you still in Gilbert?
SPEAKER_03:No, no longer in Gilbert. We actually shut down Gilbert actually about a year ago, um, exactly 54 weeks to this day.
SPEAKER_01:I I've talked to somebody who told me having a restaurant in the airport's a pain in the ass.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, having an airport, having the airport deal was very challenging. And it was a licensing deal, is what we did. So basically, as a licensing deal, if I was to go and check on the store and visit the store and I see something I didn't like, I couldn't say nothing right then and there. I couldn't do nothing about it right then and there. I had to go leave, go home, submit an email. Once they get that email, they had 72 hours to fix it.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:So if I go in there and the macaroni and cheese is jacked up, right? I can't say nothing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, damn your macaroni and cheese is good though.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but you know, they you know they drop the ball and we you know, we used to train people, get them over to Lolos Phoenix and train them the right way. And um, I was told these are employees of that group.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_03:And we can move these people anywhere we need to go. I couldn't handle that at that time.
SPEAKER_01:That's your baby.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So the people that we train are now working over at Joe's barbecue.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, oh really?
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. The people we trained are now working over at Zoyo. You know what I mean? Right. So it's like what about the stadium?
SPEAKER_01:You still at the stadium?
SPEAKER_03:Nah, the stadium was a four-year deal. It was a great time while it lasted. Remember I helped you? Yes, you did. Yes, you did. I needed some help so bad that day. Me, you, and Rosita worked so freaking hard that day.
SPEAKER_01:We were so shorthanded. I got my steps in that day, too. Yeah, we were so shorthanded. And um, because that's like we were I was leaving the gym and you were, I'll never forget, you're sitting at a table by yourself, and I go, What's up, man? Man, you had to fire a manager and you had to fire whatever, and you're short on people. And I go, for when? You go for tonight. I think it was the I'm actually playing the Dodgers. It was a big game. Playoff, getting in the playoffs or whatever. And I was like, My family's out of town, and sure enough, you picked me up at my house.
SPEAKER_03:That was phenomenal, man. That was awesome. I'll never forget that. That was awesome, man. That was an awesome moment.
SPEAKER_01:Which one of your restaurants would you say? Uh, which which one is the biggest moneymaker right now?
SPEAKER_03:You know, I'm gonna have to say Lolo's because Lolo's is just consistent business, you know, day and night. Um seven days a week. It's been around the long the longest. You know, we just celebrated 28 years, thank God. Wow. And um, you know, without Lolos, it wouldn't be no brunch and sip, wouldn't be no Monroe's hot chicken, wouldn't be no Warren Supper Club. And to be honest with you, without Mrs. Weites, it wouldn't be no Lolos.
SPEAKER_01:You're right, you're right, right. Well, with all the success you've had, I mean, what what would you say is one of your biggest purchases for yourself that you were like, man, I hit success. Let me do this, let me take my family here, or let me buy this car, let me do whatever.
SPEAKER_03:You know, um, I still haven't bought my dream car, and um, I don't know if I ever will one day. Hopefully, I can get to that day, but you know, I just drive old pickup truck, you know. What's your dream car? You know, I would like a Rolls Royce Wraith. I need you to edit that part out. Why? You gotta have dreams, bro. You gotta have goals. I have dreams, but man, I want a Rolls Royce Wraith, man. That's I I love that car.
SPEAKER_01:But what what what have you done? What have you purchased to treat yourself and your family?
SPEAKER_03:You know, um, my wife is the one that really goes out and like, hey, you deserve this. And um, you know, she bought me a couple of nice watches. Um, you know, we she threw me an amazing 50th birthday party. That 50th birthday party. Um, I just recently turned 54.
SPEAKER_01:So Is that the party I was at your house? Yes. Oh, that was a great party. Yeah. And people are still talking about it.
SPEAKER_03:That was a great party. People are still talking. I was just telling somebody, somebody told me the other day, happy birthday, two weeks ago. And they like, but that 50th? Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:That was a hell of a party. It was a hell of a party.
SPEAKER_03:Rashida is an amazing party planner. Um, she loves all she loves doing that stuff, putting stuff together.
SPEAKER_01:She's hilarious. Yeah. Um, what about like your fashion? Because when I was talking about purchases, I remember you had this jacket that I haven't seen you wear in a while, and I freaking love that jacket. I even asked you if I could borrow it. It's like an aviator. Yeah, it's uh it's is it Gucci or is it what is it? It's uh it's that it's a brown one. What is it? It's um it's it's it's poochie. No, it's poochie. No, it's not poochie. You got a bunch of why you trying to be all, you know, just trying to dumb it down, man.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I still want to wear that jacket. You know what? That's how you now that I didn't now that I didn't ward enough, I can let you know. I was gonna say but but at that time when I had just got it, you know, at the time when I got it, it hadn't made it to the States yet.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I know. I tried to buy it. Yeah. I tried to buy it.
SPEAKER_03:It was it was it was brand spanking new. And um, for my 51st birthday, um, my wife took me to Dubai. And we went to Dubai with some friends and from Dubai, we ended up in Paris. And in Paris, that's when I learned that Louis Vuitton makes clothes for big guys. Before that, I was only wearing a little scully, a little beanie, right? Or a belt, if I was lucky. I got this one picture, you know. I work out um in my trainer. He asked me, give me a before and after picture. So I gave him a before picture, and I was freaking huge, bro.
SPEAKER_01:I was gonna tell you when I saw you when you got out, you look good, man. Thank you, man. Gotta get into that. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:I um I was huge. And um he zoomed in on my Louis Vuitton belt, and it was screaming, help me, help me, help me.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, if that jacket don't fit you anymore, man, you hand me down to me.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that jacket, man, I'm smothering in it now. Yeah, man, I'm down 50 pounds. How'd you do it? Um working out, man, just busting my freaking ass. No diet? So yeah, I do intermittent um fasting. Oh, so do I. So how long um, you know, when I first started, you know, I went really, really pretty aggressive. So I will only eat between noon and six p.m. And then life happens, you know, you stretch it to seven, eight to the phone. I do one to seven. You do one to seven, so good for you. But um, you so you got a six-hour window. When I was doing a six-hour window, I had the biggest results. But now, you know, it's an eight-hour window. I try not to eat after eight o'clock.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But since Warren's, you know, Warren's is so sexy. And um, you know, one of the main things that I did in um late April of 24, I gave up drinking. Oh. So from late April 24 all the way to the new year, I didn't have no alcohol. Still?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I I was gonna say, I think I said the Cardinals game feel pretty good.
SPEAKER_03:I I eased backed into it a little bit. However, I'm just drinking tequila straight, none of all the mixtures and stuff like that. You know, I'm a tequila guy, love my tequila and reposado. But um, yeah, man, so I did all of that, stopped drinking, stopped eating at a certain time, not even fruit or anything. And I was just wake up in the morning, go for a walk in the neighborhood, go to the gym, and um you drink coffee? No. So I'm a water guy.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I don't uh my doctor put me on this fast, just like what you're doing, right? And she told me, drink coffee in the morning. I've never had coffee in my life. She's like, drink coffee in the morning, it'll help suppress your appetite, makes it easier to get there. So I started drinking coffee in the morning. Coffee is disgusting. So I slam it and freaking not hungry at all. So, because to me that was the hard part, right? So from six, I have a cup of coffee at 6 a.m. and I don't eat till one piece of cake.
SPEAKER_03:You know something else that suppresses your appetite?
SPEAKER_01:What?
SPEAKER_03:A green apple.
SPEAKER_01:Really? I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_03:Green apples. But then that breaks your fast. Well, no, but like you said, like if you meal replacement, you know. Oh, so instead of you know, like if you're on the go and you're starving, you just gotta just keep going and you need a little fuel, a green apple, that'd help.
SPEAKER_01:So you did it, you lost 50 pounds doing it the right way. You didn't do any Ozempic or any of that stuff. No, yeah, now the thing is for me, what happens is just like you, it's so funny because what you said I completely relate to. I had that window, and then it's like, ah, the weekend's here. I'll chill out on the weekend, be a little bit more relaxed. And now, since Thanksgiving, I've gained 13 pounds.
SPEAKER_03:Well, since since Warren Supper Club, I gained probably about 20 pounds where I had jumped back up, and um, and I just like, hey, I gotta reel it back in. And I got that 20 back up off me. So I was down 50, went back up, down 30. Now, now I'm back down 50 again.
SPEAKER_01:So what when you do that, is that exercise, diet, or both?
SPEAKER_03:It's kind of both. Yeah, it's kind of both. You know, just gotta take it easy, and you know, everything that Warrens is so freaking delicious. So I'm over there eating ribeye steaks and buttercake and everything else. But you asked me about Ozempit. What I have been taking lately is a couple of peptides.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, the peptides, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I got a couple of peptides. Which ones one of my boys turned me on to, and the one that I'm taking on a daily basis is called Wolverine.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's BPC 157 and TB500. Yes. Yeah. Wait a minute. I bumped into Rashida at a restaurant and she's with these guys to sell the peptide. Yeah. Yeah. So my boy Jay Vega. Yeah, yes, yeah. I met him. I can introduce you to him, and you can bring him in here, you can interview him. Because I was talking to him about where I get my peptides.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And we kind of had an interesting conversation uh for a little bit. Yeah, that's right. So you got so the So he gave me that one and another one. I don't know the name of the other one. Well, the Wolverine one, what that does is make your body heal and and repair itself and does amazing stuff.
SPEAKER_03:And then in the morning before I go to the gym, I'm eating the creatine creatine gummies. Oh, creatine too. Where do you get the gummies? I never heard of gummies. Oh man, I got these one stop? No, I didn't get them from one stop. I ordered them online.
SPEAKER_01:It looked like just so you're in the health now. You're way into your health.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Health is wealth. And um, I ain't getting no younger.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:So I have to do something, bro.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01:Uh are you doing anything else? Like, I mean, your face looks good. You do anything, you get a face lip? Nah, man.
SPEAKER_03:No surgeries. It's just a beautiful face. No surgeries. I drink a lot of water, bro. Yeah. I drink no like even before my diet, that was like the one thing I always had going for myself. Water, water, water. Especially in the summer. In the summer, man, I'll probably go through 12 bottles a day.
SPEAKER_01:Do you know about the hydrogenated water? Have you seen that?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I think I did see that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, from here? Yeah. Oh, yeah. But yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I saw it on your podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. Have you ever? Oh, that's right. You sent me a message. You sent me a text yesterday. I saw it on your podcast. But have you heard of this before that? No. So this is like the health trend right now. But what happens is that these this company made these glasses, you fill and you press a button, you gotta wait a minute. It turns it into hydrated water, it's supposed to be really good for your body. Then they stopped making that. Then they started making pills, and it took too long. Then I found this company in Australia, and hopefully they're coming, they're coming here at some point, right? But he messed, he texted me three days ago and said, How do I get some of this stuff? Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_03:Hook a brother up.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. Yeah, I drink a lot of water too, and this stuff's supposed to be really good for you.
SPEAKER_03:Right on, man. So I've been drinking the water called Path. What's it called? Path. It comes in those um aluminum bottles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Either the short white or the tall black.
SPEAKER_01:Where do you get it?
SPEAKER_03:Oh man, I got it at Costco. Oh, really? Costco Business Center.
SPEAKER_01:That's good that you're taking care of your health, man, because you got young kids. Got grandkids. You got grandkids.
SPEAKER_03:You got four grandkids.
SPEAKER_01:And then, yeah. And you're raising one of them, too, right?
SPEAKER_03:One of them lives with me. My six-year-old grandson, Max. How different is that, man? Oh man. Hey, I thought I was almost out of the game. Then they pulled me back in.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Jeez. Tell me about Warren's Supper Club. I ate there the other night. So tell me about tell me the concept behind Warren's Supper Club.
SPEAKER_03:I gotta take a drink on that one. Warren's Supper Club is absolutely amazing. It's a dream that come, it's a dream that came true.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, um, of course, we started in the hole in the wall with Lolo's chicken and waffles, and um we did the best that we could with what we had. And we worked hard, but we always inspired to be better. Right? So um as time goes on, we came out with uh with uh with a high-end or fancy chicken sandwich. You know, Monroe's hot chicken is um 100% organic, no antibiotics ever. It's a halal piece of chicken. We bring it in fresh, never frozen, right? And then from there, we went to the elevated brunch concept. Whenever we're out of town, whenever we go somewhere, whether you're at a hotel, you get these fancy white plates and real shiny silverware, and you eat your brunch or whatever, you go to a brunch spot. I was like, that'd be dope. What if we offer brunch all day, every day? You know, so that you got brunch and shell. All of that, all that good stuff. And then from there, you know, you get that bug, you get that itch, but you want more. And I was like, what's next? Let's just come full circle, let's do fine dining. So, you know, we took something from all our favorite restaurants that we love to visit. And we've been seeing you at Hillstones numerous times, and we love the ribs over there. So we added some ribs to the menu, we added some spinach dip, um, we did steak, seafood, pastas. I love pasta. Um great salads with the buttercake. Didn't ask nobody for the recipe. We just did our own spin on it, and I think we now knocked it off the park. But we did one extra step different. Instead of vanilla ice cream, we topped it with butter pecan ice cream to make it our own.
SPEAKER_01:It was good, man. And well, and then you got the band.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, then we got the live band, Julian Stewart and the franchise band, great friend of mine. Uh, me and Julian have been friends for well over 20 years. Um, believe it or not, I met Julian, he was my health inspector.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_03:He was my health inspector at Lolo's.
SPEAKER_01:Well, which one was he on the instruments? Was he the keyboard player? No, he's drums. He was drums, okay. So we had our I took my whole show out to dinner there, and um uh when the band started setting up, you know, we're having we're we're having a dinner and the band started setting up, and I thought, oh no, it's gonna get really loud because I've been to places before where I was never there's a band, and all of a sudden it's too loud and I can't you can't speak.
SPEAKER_03:That's not warns.
SPEAKER_01:No, it was perfect. Yes, it was and the music they played was fantastic. Yes. And then my buddy, our buddy Aaron, went Friday. Yeah, man. Um, he sent me a bunch of videos, and you had a singer then. Yeah, because there wasn't a singer on Thursday.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we bring the singers in on Fridays and Saturdays.
SPEAKER_01:And she was fire, man. They were it was the the band was just the videos he sent me was fantastic.
SPEAKER_03:Friday and Saturday, we add up singer, saxophonists.
SPEAKER_01:We jazz it up on the weekend. Your sides were out of this world. I had the I had uh so many of this I made a point to eat as much of it as I could. The uh Brussels sprouts were phenomenal, the spicy corn was just terrific. The the filet, fantastic, well done. Thank you. So how how do you do that? Like, what do you like? How do you you bring somebody in and because you I mean you grew up with chicken and waffles, which is true, right?
SPEAKER_03:So, yes, I brought somebody in, but I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Now I'm not gonna take all the credit at warrants, but we did hire a professional chef to execute the menu. Okay, but we know what we like and we know what we don't like. Okay. So we sat down, we had a long conversation about all the places we like and what we like about them. And he just brought all of our dreams to fruition.
SPEAKER_01:Well, also, one of the things that I think a lot of Americans are missing nowadays, they don't get my father's from the Netherlands, from Amsterdam, and he always complained that we ate too fast. He's like, You guys need to learn how to dine. And Warren's Supper Club was a dining experience. Exactly. The food came out at the right pace, but conversations took place, and the food was delicious. And it was almost like I if it I'm bummed I did it on a Thursday because I gotta get up early on Friday, but it's like I didn't really want to end. Yeah, we were there for three hours. It's phenomenal, bro. So well, so at what point when do you how long do you keep that? When does it become successful, or when do you go, we gotta shut this down? Like how is there a time frame? Like is it going well? How long have you been open?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, well, we've been open for a little over six months now. And you know, weekends are phenomenal. Um, you know, we we we um what's the word I'm looking for? We get by Sunday through Thursday, you know, but um, you know, it takes time, everything takes time. Right, so you got the time to put into it. And we we just gotta hold on. However, you know, um we got to make some serious decisions coming into the new year. And um, if Mondays and Tuesdays don't dramatically make a change for the better within the next 30 days, we may have to cut Mondays and Tuesdays out.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really? Yeah. But if we How do you do that? How do you increase Mondays and Tuesdays?
SPEAKER_03:Man, we've been marketing, we're we're we're doing promotions on Facebook, social media, oh good, you know, podcasts like this, always advertising, trying to get the word out. I think it's great, man.
SPEAKER_01:It's in Chandler.
SPEAKER_03:It's right off the freeway. Right, it's right off the freeway. You know, so when people hear Chandler, they're thinking we gotta go all deep into Chandler. It's literally Chandler, our tookie border.
SPEAKER_01:It's Chandler and Ray. Get off a get off a right button hook. Exactly. You're right there. Yeah, it's a great location, I think. Easy, real easy to find. And it was just a big part of the thing.
SPEAKER_03:It's definitely well worth the trip.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:When people come, when people come, they they they leave with their minds blown.
SPEAKER_01:One of the things with Lolos is that there was all there's always you never know who you're gonna see at Lolo. True. Celebrities are there, hip-hop artists are there all the time. You never know who you're gonna see. Has has Warren had anybody pop by?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, man. We we actually have. We have some of the cast members from a show called Reasonable Doubt on Hulu. Oh, right. Are you familiar with Reasonable Doubt? Sounds familiar. Oh, it's a great show, man.
SPEAKER_01:Do they film it here? No, they film in LA. But they came down here?
SPEAKER_03:They came down and popped into Warren's.
SPEAKER_01:I was thinking you gotta get some of the, because there's a lot of ball players live around there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. A lot of a lot of the Cartinals live in the neighborhood. So um Calais Campbell, he's been through there. Darius Robinson, um, a couple of athletes, they come through and check us out. Um, you know, we um we got um DL Hugley, who's gonna be in town at the end of this month. And he's all over our social media, like, save me a plate, I'll be there.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, good.
SPEAKER_03:So rumor has it that DL will be in the house New Year's Eve.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really? That's great. Yeah, that's he's one of the best, man. One of the kings of comedy. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:And then we also got some cool people following us. Um, um, George Lopez follows us.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um George Wallace follows us. Um yeah, man. So it's uh some people from Hollywood. I mean, you know, I had a friend, he told me he was in um Michigan and he was just out there with his wife visiting her family in small talk. Where are you guys from? From Phoenix, Arizona. People in Michigan was like, man, we need to get out to Phoenix. We've been hearing about this place called Warren Supper Club. Have you been yet? And he had to embarrassly say, I haven't been yet, but I'll get there as soon as I get back. That's awesome. But um people in in uh Michigan already talking about it.
SPEAKER_01:Where where do you get this fashion? Sense from man. Like you always every time you see, you always dress pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks, man. I call myself being very conservative today.
SPEAKER_01:But like where'd you get us this clothes?
SPEAKER_03:Um, you know, um shit, where'd I get these at? Big and tall? Really? Which big and tall? DXL. Oh, yeah, you get big and you go to DXL, get some nice, comfortable golf pants, or cohan shoes, and then just a plain white t-shirt.
SPEAKER_01:I got to the point where, and I feel like you're you're not big enough. It's like it's like the the big and tall stores. I was to the point where I was so insecure, but I almost I was too small for the smallest stuff there, but I kept buying the bigger stuff, and it took a long time for me to morph out of the big and tall stores to go to smoke the normal stores. And I still can't find stuff at normal stores, just like you said when you find out Louis Vuitton's big stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly. But I mean I can I can shop regular sizes now. Right. Um, you know, I'm almost I'm almost down to my high school weight. Right. Right. In high school, I was 270, you know. So I'm 270 now. And with that being said, you know, my waist is down to a 44. Um, so I can go to, you know, Neiman's and or Nordstrom's and pick up something if I wanted to. But um, I'm still wearing my old clothes. And, you know, right now it's it's a it's a it's a struggle trying to get a brand new concept off the ground.
SPEAKER_01:Restaurant-wise mean. Oh, yeah, plus you gotta try all the food there. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:So so you know, I'm I'm not I'm not in the market of buying new clothes at the time. So everything that I'm wearing, it's it's been in my closet for quite some time.
SPEAKER_01:That's how I feel too. Although I bought some new shirts uh from the gap for seven dollars. Right on. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I'm wearing an older one. I was gonna be like, I'm gonna wear a new shoe for Lolo, but this is this is clean and hanging as I took it. Nice, brother. So when you talk about these celebrities, because you've you've had so many celebrities come through your restaurants. Do you connect with any of them? Who's like who's the famous biggest celebrity in your phone?
SPEAKER_03:Um, the biggest celebrities in my phone that I talk to on a regular basis, I would say is um Bun B. Bun B, I don't know who that is. You don't know who Bun B is?
SPEAKER_01:I don't think so. U UGK Big Pimpin'? Okay. Okay, now I got you. Okay. Oh man. Sorry, man.
SPEAKER_03:That's my dog. So me and Bun B, we talk often. Um he's he's welcomed me to Houston um with open arms. Um, right now he has um trail burger that's going phenomenal. He just opened up his third location. So he's a big advocate for Lolos chicken and waffles along with Dusty Baker. Oh, yeah. 2022 Houston Astros coach. Coach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, World Series champion. He's part of Lolo's? No, he's not a part of Lolo. He's excited for it. He's excited for is Dusty one of the guys you talk to?
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Oh, okay, good.
SPEAKER_03:Dusty Baker. And um, and believe it or not, E40. Oh, wow. Yeah, me and E40, hella cool. So we talk often. And then um the last one is Exhibit. Oh, really? Wow. Me and Exhibiting Pit My Ride? Yeah, we chop it up every now and then. That's dope. So those are the biggest ones going on right now, you know, unless you want to include my children, because um my China, my daughter, China, everything she says, she's T. She's T. She's T. So China, Malaysia, they're a little superstars. Where are they now? You know, um Malaysia's still at school, you know, China? Last year at Arcadia, and um China went away to uh Tuskegee University in Alabama.
SPEAKER_01:Now, is she staying there? No. Okay, that's what I heard. No, because she's from, you know, her and well, her and my youngest son, Dutch, went to school together a whole year.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly, exactly. They've been since all the way since Hopi. Yeah. So um China went to Tuskegee and it didn't crap up to be what it was crapped up to be or whatever. It didn't live up to it. So anyway, she was like, hey, you know, I gotta applaud her because she said, Hey, mom and dad, I know I made this choice, and if I gotta stay, I'll stay.
SPEAKER_01:But if you can get me out of here, hey man, out of state tuition, bro. Give me, yeah, right. She was like, get me out of here. Where's she gonna go now?
SPEAKER_03:And mom was like, You ain't saying nothing but a word, baby. So, you know, Rashida was all over that. Right, right. Rashida didn't like her going that far anyway. I know. But we kind of want to give the children their own choices.
SPEAKER_01:Plus, I mean, that's huge for her to take a leap to go that far out. Yes, right? I mean, it's not like Alabama's a skip.
SPEAKER_03:I would say she didn't sleep good now, night she was gone.
SPEAKER_01:So is she gonna come to school here?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, she's back in Arizona. Um, she's gonna stay here for this semester, uh-huh, and then Malaysia is gonna be graduating in May. And maybe, just maybe, China and Malaysia may go off together.
SPEAKER_01:To um, either U of A. U of A's that's where my youngest is. Yeah. And it's mom will love U of A. Having the time of his life there, Matt.
SPEAKER_03:Mom will love UNA, U of A. However, the girls are talking um University of Houston, LSU. It's still not, that's not here. Well, mom's perfect world, U of A. Right. U of A's great school. But you know, kids are gonna be kids. They trying to, they're trying to get out there and think they know it all. Right. So they probably want to get a little distance from helicopter mom.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so you got Monroe's, you got Lolos, you've got Sippin' Brunch. Are you gonna open more sip and brunches? Yeah, we got one coming to LA. Where in LA? Um, Studio City.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, Venture Boulevard, 11801, Ventura Boulevard. We're literally 1.7 miles away from Universal Studios.
SPEAKER_01:Now, how'd that happen? Why how do you pick that place? Like, how do you pick LA? You know, I would think maybe you do another location here before.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know, I know, I know. You know, I picked LA because everybody that came to Brunch and Sit was like, this reminds me of LA. This reminds me of LA. It's so LA. And you know, you go a lot of places in LA, and it's either they got great food, no vibe, great vibe, not such great food. Well, at Brunch and Sip, we feel that we master both of them. We give a great vibe with great food, and it feels so LA-ish. And plus, one of my best friends lives in LA. Oh, and he was begging me to bring one down there. There's a lot of Arizona restaurants.
SPEAKER_01:Right down the street from his house. You know, there's a lot of Arizona restaurants that branched out and are hugely successful in LA. And people in LA have no idea that they're Arizona restaurants. Exactly. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. And Brungeon Sips such a great concept. Thank you. That's great. All right, so you do when's the LA one open? Um, that's scheduled to open sometime in February as well. So are you flying out there a lot? Yeah, actually I am. And Houston? And Houston.
SPEAKER_03:And Houston. Literally just got back in town last night. Oh, really? And you know, funny thing, when we were um when my wife was going to get China, I was like, I gotta be back for John Jay's podcast on the 15th. Good. Yeah. If it would have been up to Rashida, we would have stayed one more night. But I was like, I gotta be back. I made a commitment.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna honor it. The thing, well, thank you. The thing about for me for traveling when I'm trying to eat be healthy is it throws you off. It does. It's hard to eat health, especially. There's so much food in Houston. I lived in Houston for four years. I got so fat. I weighed 360 something pounds when I lived in Houston.
SPEAKER_03:Wow, you got that big.
SPEAKER_01:I got way big. I got way big. I dropped 100 something pounds.
SPEAKER_03:Good for you.
SPEAKER_01:It took me a while, but I could, I mean, because in Houston, the weather sucks, but the food is delicious. Food is magnificent.
SPEAKER_03:Great restaurants in Houston.
SPEAKER_01:But I can't think of a soul food place that's popping there. And I I everywhere.
SPEAKER_03:It's a lot of great soul food places in Houston. I can't think of any. And you know, we're not knocking on none of them. None of them. We um we we just come in just to join the party.
SPEAKER_01:But like here, there's some great soul food restaurants. There's well, there's a handful of them here, right? But Lolo's stands above the all of them. But when I think of Houston's, I know there's Tony's, there's freaking good company, there's uh I'm talking about restaurants. Yeah, there's uh um This is it. There's there's so many restaurants there. Oh god, what did I used to go all the time to the steakhouse there? Anyway, there's a lot of food there. I think at one point in Houston there were more restaurants in in the city of Houston. There were like 7,000 restaurants within like three square miles or something like that. There's some weird statistics like that. But anyway, I'm glad you came on the podcast, though, man. Thank you for having me, man. What else? What am I what am I missing out? What else do you want to bring up?
SPEAKER_03:Nothing, man. Nothing. You I mean, you hit it all on the head, and um, you know, we just ask people to come give Warrens a try. If you're looking for a great steak, um, we we smoke our meats. We put our meats on the on a slow smoker and get that apple or no, I'm sorry. We get the post oak, hickory, and cherry wood. Smells all up in your meat. And we bring it in and sear it up at 700 degrees.
SPEAKER_01:You're making my mouth.
SPEAKER_03:And we deliver it on a 500 degree plate topped with cowboy butter.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was delicious, dude.
SPEAKER_03:Once you bite into it, you're gonna know. Yeah, I've never tasted anything like this before in my life.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you had your eyes closed when you're saying it. Prayers. All right, Larry. Larry White, thanks for being on my podcast, man. Thanks, man. Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show.
