Off Track Saratoga Podcast

Off Track Gets Shucked: An Exclusive First Look Inside The Pearl Oyster Bar with Ronnie Solevo

• Noel McLaren & Zac Denham

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Scallions may be gone, but something exciting is taking its place.

In the Season 1 Finale of the pod, Noel and Zac go Off Track with local restaurateur Ronnie Solevo for an exclusive first look inside The Pearl, the highly anticipated seafood restaurant and raw bar opening at the former Scallions location on Lake Avenue.

Ronnie shares the inspiration behind the concept, how fresh oysters and seafood make their way from the coast to Saratoga in as little as 12–18 hours, and why this project feels like the most authentic expression of who he is. We talk restaurant design, preserving the spirit of Scallions, creating a space that feels both coastal and Saratoga, and some of the surprises guests can expect when The Pearl opens later this year.

Follow @thepearlsaratoga for updates and get ready to discover Saratoga's newest gem.

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Noel

The few people that I've talked to about you opening a seafood restaurant in downtown Saratoga, they're like, wow, that's great. But also, how are we gonna get fresh seafood in here?

Ronnie

We're not that far. It comes out of the water and it's on someone's dish in a matter of 12 to 18 hours.

Noel

That's insane to me. Ooh. I'm Emile Award-winning journalist Noel McLaren.

Zac

And I'm local business owner Zac Denham, and this is Off-Track Saratoga Podcast.

Noel

Sometimes we're on track.

Zac

Sometimes we go a little off.

Noel

But it's always worth the listen. Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome to the next one. Welcome back to another episode of Off-Track Saratoga Podcast. We

Introducing Ronnie Solevo/ The Pearl

Noel

are sitting inside, getting our first ever look of the brand new new rendition of the old scallions. We want to call it. We're sitting here with Ronnie Salivo, who purchased scallions on the corner of Lake Avenue and Henry Street, a very beloved restaurant. And he has taken over. He's gotten the keys. Ronnie, welcome.

Zac

Thank you. Thank you for having us. We are here to get a first scoop on what you guys have in store for the future of this little corner.

Noel

And as we sit in it right now, if you're looking around us, you're looking at the tables, if you're familiar with what was Scallions, it is still very much in a scallion state. Ronnie has taken a lot of things out, but this is not how it's going to be once you are done with it.

Ronnie

Scallions was beautiful

Ronnie's connection to the Ocean

Ronnie

in specific and a beloved place for a long time. And we're gonna do our best to keep the essence of what Scallions was for many years alive, but really bringing a new, fresh concept to not only this space, but Saratoga itself. And this is the future home of the Pearl. Cool. Yeah. The Pearl.

Noel

Okay, so what is the concept for the Pearl? What is the Pearl?

Ronnie

I grew up in my family, is originally from the Connecticut shoreline. So we have the Italian thing. My father's parents were Italian immigrants, so hence the Slavo Kitchen and Social. Um, the other part of my heritage really is a New England boy, like growing up on the shoreline in, you know, picturesque, quaint New England. Um, going out and digging for clams and catching crabs and fishing and growing up on boats. Growing up we in high school, we didn't have house parties, we had boat parties, you know.

Zac

Jimmy, I can't stop. I'm sorry, I'm gonna interrupt. Um, we have to go back because you said catching crabs, and I went. Yeah, yeah, okay. So let's let's roll it back. Because I don't want I don't want anybody else to take a joke that I should have taken. So let's let's run it back. Oh, you wanna let's run it back.

Noel

So your childhood memories, you were saying the beginning never, never once, actually.

Ronnie

Not gonna go.

Zac

Oh my god, not gonna go in freshman year of college. It was mortifying. Oh my god. Okay. Well, I mean listen.

Noel

I now know more about Zach than I wanted to know. Oh my goodness. About Zach. Anyway.

Ronnie

Thank God for modern medicine. Thank God. Um, no, so yeah, growing up, um, just being on the water is it's that's as much part of my heritage as being Italian American. Um so I love living in Saratoga. Yeah, obviously, I'm opening up the business here, I'm deepening my roots here in every way. The one thing I miss about living in Connecticut and um and even New York City is the salt water and being near the saltwater, the the energy, the vibe, the the tides, yeah, and more than anything else, the food. Um, but luckily, after operating a business here for eight years, I've gotten really in tune with the purveyors, and we get and have access to all the fresh seafood that they do in Newport or Mystic or anywhere on Cape Cod because these fishing boats, these oyster boats, they go out in the middle of the night, they catch something and then you know arrives to Salivo the next morning and then it's on people's plates that evening.

Noel

This blew my mind because the few people that I've talked to about you um opening a seafood restaurant in downtown Saratoga, they're like, wow, that's great. But also, how is it gonna be any good? Because we don't live on the coastline. How are we gonna get fresh seafood in here?

Ronnie

But you you say they make these things called refrigerated trucks and ice. Yes. And, you know, it is we're fortunate, we're not that far. So all of our stuff comes in um through mostly Boston. We also get a lot of stuff through uh New York City. Um, and like I said, it comes out of the water and it's on someone's dish in a matter of 12 to 18 hours.

Noel

That's insane to me. And and cool.

Ronnie

Even though we're not adjacent to the sea, there's still a huge desire and market. And I find this at Sleeva, I'm sure Zach sees this in his restaurants as well. People want to be eating oysters, they want to be eating fish. Yeah, it's a more sustainable and healthy way of eating. And they don't mind.

Zac

Here's the thing it's one of those things like they don't mind waiting or paying for something of really good quality. Exactly.

Ronnie

Yeah, yeah. And that's the goal. So, that said, in terms of the design

The Design

Ronnie

of the place, we don't get to look out these beautiful windows here at 44 Lake and see the ocean and see docks and see fishing boats. Right. Which is a challenge because we want this to feel rooted in Saratoga and feel authentic. Right. Um, the restaurant that uh we grew up in Brantford, Connecticut, that we always went to was called Lenny's. And it's this old school, it's like literally sits in the water, essentially, and in the marsh. It's knotty pine with buoys and lobster cages, and it's that classic New England restaurant. Right. If we did that here, it wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't feel authentic, it wouldn't feel real. So in bringing the sea to us, we're doing it through the lens of what Saratoga looks and feels like. Um, obviously with influences from New York City as well. A little bit art deco, throwback old school, like downtown vibes, cleaner art deco look, so that it's gonna feel like a great place for seafood that isn't a theme restaurant. Okay. Yeah. That's fair. And also to say we're gonna have plenty of offerings that aren't seafood.

Noel

Okay.

Ronnie

Yes.

Noel

All right. Describe the layout of the place too, because you've also put a lot of thought into this.

Ronnie

Yes. So Scallions has been here for many years. They've had uh this small bar which is behind us. It's never been a huge bar business here, and that's just the style and the concept of what they were doing. I think you know, and we all know Saratoga's a bar town. Yeah, right. Um, so we're actually kind of relocating a restroom to right behind here. We're putting in a whole new full bar. Um, hopefully, 16 seats. And then behind us here, the old bar, we're gonna transform into the raw bar where people guests can sit. There's gonna be the big ice display with all of the seafood offerings, um, live shucking and creating a sense of lively fish market vibes. Tying in so our blue color inspirations, Slevo Kitchen's very green, hunter green. So we're nothing in here will be green.

Speaker 5

It's a lot of green right now. So that's there's a lot of green in here right now. So yeah.

Ronnie

So the blue is like Saratoga bottle blue, like in all like the little penny tile and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm working with a great architect, a great contractor, and a great designer. And it's super collaborative, putting together something really special because that's what I want to do. And also that's what I want to do for the community as well. Just create another incredible place for people to be. All of that said, the idea of a pearl being kind of a rare thing as well. So it's evocative of the ocean and oysters, but pearls are also gems, and we want to kind of keep a little bit of secrecy involved throughout the process and have it be an unveiling, much like opening an oyster and seeing this beautiful pearl. So it's really cool.

Noel

I love that.

Ronnie

It's it's too easy, honestly, to make sure that we have to do that, you know? And there'll be kind of some secret surprises along the way.

Noel

Oh, I can't wait.

Ronnie

Yeah.

Noel

When are you

Opening Date

Noel

expected to open? I know that's like a nerve-wracking question to ask because then you're like bound by it. But when when around are you hoping?

Ronnie

So when we built out Slevo Kitchen, um, we were supposed to open in the summer of 2018, but delays obviously occurred. We ended up opening the 21st night of September, like the Earth, Wind, and Fire song. We've met with great success. So if I could open this restaurant on the 21st of September, that would be incredible.

Zac

No, and it's it's it's healthy to have a realistic, you know, expectation as well, right? You're not you're not binding yourself to something that uh will add to your stress load, right? We want to do it, we want to make it a lot of things. And you want to do it right.

Ronnie

Yes. Yeah. I've got a great team, and not only the people working on this project, but a team of people who I currently work with in my other restaurant. And we're going to make sure all of our ducks are in a row. We're not, it doesn't need to feel like we have to get this open right now and figure it out along the way. We want to be set and ready, right, and then open a place that is, you know, a well-oiled machine from day one. Sure, which sure is never really the case, but um, at least as close to it as we can get.

Noel

The funniest thing you

The Gayest Restaurant in Saratoga

Noel

ever said, I started to say, was like the day you opened Standard Fair, or like one of the first days and I was there, and he was absolutely losing his mind. And I was like, what's the matter? You seem stressed. He was like, There's too many damn straight men in my kitchen, and I can't always always I feel the same way.

Zac

And guess what? It lasted eight weeks, and I got rid of all of them. I'm not gonna have you mansplain me when I when I cut your fucking check. Sorry.

Ronnie

Also, I've I've always said I actually have a playlist, it's called The Gayest Restaurant in Saratoga. I like to consider Salivo Kitchen the gayest restaurant in Saratoga.

Speaker 5

Wait a minute. No, there should be a competition.

Ronnie

I love it. I love it. Um, and also the the I picked up three Sky Eins employees, and one of them is he's the best, and he is queer and the gayest. We work together so well, so much easier. It's like telekinesis. It is to telepathy. It is though.

Zac

It really is.

Noel

Like, but are women on that wavelength, or are we on a different, like sometimes parallel wavelength?

Zac

Women, women are there and sometimes in the forefront, frankly. Yeah, but we were having that conversation. It was like, oh, like, you know, I can't get certain things dialed in or whatever. And finally, like, I slammed my hand on the table, and I was like, the problem is a woman is not in charge. And it's just in general, it was just a gripe about, you know, like the prep kitchen and like the consistency of like tidiness and stuff like that. And that's really like triggering and important for me. And I was like, the problem is a woman is not in charge down here, you know. And I was like, we put a woman in charge and everything.

Ronnie

So that actually does relate a lot to what we're doing here. So Salivo Kitchen is a masculine-looking place, it's a masculine-looking portions, but we really, in terms of feeling, we want to impart a feminine

The Pearl's feminine energy

Ronnie

energy here in terms of how it feels. Like we have these big windows, this bright, airy space. It lends itself to the concept of the food that we're going to be doing, as well as again, there's not many places like that in town that feel like just the lighter.

Zac

The idea of the concept in itself is uh is quite elegant and aspirational, right? So it it it is it makes sense to lean into that a little bit, and because it it will already bring that energy, right? So energy, exactly, right? So that you know it's really about creating that environment. I think that's I think that's great.

Noel

And one thing you mentioned before we started recording

Ronnie's Connection to Scallions/ Scallions Lives On

Noel

is like you you you loved the previous owners, well, or one of the at least you had a relationship with Michelle, who used to own scallions. Yes. And so you felt inclined to preserve that. You did not want to erase her touch and her experience here. There are a lot of people who loved the vibes, the feel, the experience that they got, that energy from scallions, the the tables, the the look that Michelle created.

Ronnie

Kind of quirky, uh fresh, um uh constantly evolving, new items on the menu, locally sourced ingredients. We're gonna keep all that alive. Skynes is a beloved place. It went through many iterations first on Broadway, then Michelle built this space out. She sold it to Eric and Liz, and they did a phenomenal job running it. The soul of what they're doing, I want to keep alive and then just alter the presentation. Um, and one really important thing to note is that so if you miss scallions, you could get to scallions. It's out in Greenwich and it's called Juniper. And Michelle and uh Nate Price, who has worked here and now works for Salivo part-time and uh works for Michelle, are the two people in the kitchen putting out the food with the same aesthetic style. It's great, Juniper.

Noel

I've been it's adorable. You have to go. And the drive is actually pretty charming. It's oh my god, yeah, beautiful.

Ronnie

It's like it's like a it's not a day trip in terms of the time it takes to get there, but it is definitely a departure being out there, and it's it's it's fun.

Zac

It's lovely.

Ronnie

Um, so yes, I purchased Skyons and closed Skyins at 44 Lake, but Skyons in its truest form still exists. Yeah. So that kind of helped me feel more comfortable. Shout out to Michelle doing that. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Noel

Check that out, Juniper and Greenwich.

Ronnie

Yeah.

Noel

Did you want to take the lead on something? You said you wanted to do a little, you wanted to play a little game.

Zac

Yeah, but I you're like the journalist. I'm the fucking like. You said you said that you were like, I know you're the reporter and I'm just.

Noel

You actually have some skill too. So let's go.

Zac

You have to Um, well, like, I guess like if you want me to ask like questions.

Noel

I mean, I can keep going. I just you'll never get a word in.

Zac

No, I know. Um, which is actually something that has never been said when sharing space, I guess, with me, because typically people are like, I can't get an over it edge wise with you. Um I'm happy to say, mouth of the south right here. Mouth of the south, mouth of the northeast. No, I guess, but like uh one of the things that I, you know, uh uh not only like as a as a fellow operator in town, but also as as someone

Why The Pearl Now?

Zac

who's now considers themselves to be um, you know, local for the most part. Having already an established brand with Salivo Kitchen um and coming into a second concept, why now and why this particular concept?

Ronnie

That's a great question. So I've been looking for years. A lot of the local real estate agents will tell you. I've been looking for a second concept for years. Um, I have had such a great team at Salivo in place for so long. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously, the foundation, my my family, but then the staff and friends who work with me, um, they've made it possible to make that happen. And now more than ever. The biggest thing is this space. I finally found the right space for what I want to do. And, you know, I'm the type of person who I've got a journal of like 40 concepts that, you know, one is always outweighing the other. But the oyster bar concept is the most true to who I am. So, yes, we're not next to the ocean, but I'm from the ocean.

Zac

And so you can still tell that story.

Ronnie

This is, yeah, this is the this is who I am. So there is truth and authenticity in what we're gonna be able to bring to this concept. This is the next evolution of what the Salivo team wants to do because that's who we are. And I believe it fits best in Saratoga because for the community itself, we don't want to make it a homogenous landscape of like taverns and Italian restaurants. We want to bring something to it. Thank you. Thank you for that. Yeah, we want to bring something to it. I'm still comfortable saying that. Yeah. And also, there's something about it being a seafood restaurant that will allow us a little bit more freedom. With Salivo, the menu has kind of the community demands certain things on the menu, and we're beholden to that menu to provide those things. Everything is scratch made, it's a big menu. Everything will be scratch made here as well, but things will constantly change because that's the nature of seafood. It's availability, it's freshness. And I want that creative outlet to be able to constantly be doing new things here.

Zac

Well, as the creative, as the creative in you, you know, like that having that freedom and flexibility is something that this particular space and this particular concept is going to be able to afford you that opportunity to flex in that way.

Ronnie

And I say this all the time. I mean, as not to put you on the spot, but as people who have turned or will be turning 40 this year. Shout out 1986. I'm 59, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm in my 30s. Despite how exhausting this process is going to be, this is going to keep me younger for longer because it's going to, it's going to reignite a passion and a focus and a creative outlet that is still very much so alive at Sleevo. It's just, you know, I don't need to work as much there anymore. And I need to work. I need to continue to work with the body.

Noel

Well, they say to always have a purpose is so important. And that people, you know, they talk about these blue zones and places all across the world where they have these blue zones are these places where people live long. It's the people who, even if they don't have a job or a business that they're running, to have a purpose, to have a scheduled experience for yourselves, like women who have a wine date or a lunch date with their friends every single week. Like it's something to look, always have something to look forward to. Yeah. Always have something to just live for.

Ronnie

And for me, it's the work, but more than anything else, it's like the creativity and the artistic pursuit behind all that. Yeah. It's gonna keep me fresh and young. It's going to help keep my other restaurant fresh and young. I think rising, you know, rising time. A nautical pun.

Zac

I am so full of nautical. Clark says it all the time.

Ronnie

It has been so difficult to not just say dive in like a million phones, like the nautical puns of the couple.

Noel

Wait a minute. You know what I'd love to do? Let's talk about our favorite nautical puns and ones that are so cheesy that like may or may not be on the wall. Are you gonna be that person that's live, laugh, love on the wall, except in nautical form?

Ronnie

Um at the Pearl. Despite I have plenty of people who will keep me from that. Luckily, I couldn't. It's tempting. What's your favorite one?

Noel

Is it rising tides, lift all ships?

Ronnie

Um, I that I like I like dive in. I like um there's a lot of ahoy things. So one of the things about keeping things secretive is like the front door, on which I think a lot of people have seen. Um, we have a bunch of QR codes which link to like nautical adjacent things. One of the biggest, coolest kind of aesthetic inspirations is the Walrus and the Carpenter, which is like a little short that exists in Alice and Disney's Alice in Wonderland. It's like kind of trippy and weird. I love that. Um, Sweeney, there's a song from Sweeney Todd. I'm a Broadway guy. Yeah. Um, there's a song in Sweeney Todd where Mrs. Lovett is dreaming of a life by the sea with uh with Sweeney, and she sings about living on the shore and um all of you know, every and then there's also photos of like Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana and giant, gorgeous pearls. Yes. So puns, yes, but more so in that vein. Like kind of like just a nod to it. And then also the to elaborate on that, I've had this oyster tattoo for like three years now. So it makes sense.

Noel

Was it part of the like did you know this was gonna happen when you got it?

Ronnie

Yes, I definitely not this space. I knew that I wanted to do that. But this is more so just I love oysters. Oysters, it were a big part of like my personal culinary journey. Yeah. When I first moved to New York, I I mean I ate oysters my whole life, and they were always like kind of a regular everyday thing. So we would just go like dig them up out of the water down the street from our house. Right. But when I moved to New York City right after college, like going out for oysters and champagne and cocktails was like the coolest, chicest thing you could ever do. And it helped me kind of hone my like culinary and hospitality language of what a dining out experience could be. Sure. And that's another thing that I want to bring to Saratoga. I mean, we sell a ton of oysters at Sleevo Kitchen. It's crazy. We can't keep them in stock. And I know a ton of restaurants in town.

Noel

You guys do too,

Oysters are a BIG DEAL in Saratoga!

Noel

right?

Ronnie

We do.

Zac

I can't get over how many people turn up for oysters. You know, like I'm all about it, but I just had no idea, like culturally, it seems like local, like on a local level, it's such a cultural thing. You go out for oysters, everybody at some point does, you know, their oyster night or their oyster happy hour, and people they show up, you know? It's great. Yeah.

Ronnie

The demand is there. And also one thing we're really going to focus on too is offering a variety of oysters, but also a lot of the more difficult to find kind of more obscure raw bar offerings like razor clams and you know, live scallops and I mean crudos, agua chile, a lot of globally influenced New England foods.

Noel

I know a lot of people have a lot of questions about the um layout of your your place. Yes.

Ronnie

And I know people are gonna have to about this place. Okay, yeah.

Noel

My children have a very important question.

Ronnie

What's that?

Will there be a TV in The Pearl's Bathroom?

Noel

Will there be a television in the bathroom?

Ronnie

Of course I have to. That's just the way it goes. Yeah, there's TVs and they're gonna be even cooler. So one of the things.

Noel

You're very lucky that you have two bathrooms at Salivo because Mac, when he enters said bathroom at Salivo, he does not escape said bathroom for at least 10 minutes.

Ronnie

There's a lot to do in there. There's a lot to read, there's a lot to look at, there's a lot to experience. And this is gonna be that even further. You know, we are forced to, you know, and rightfully so, have bathrooms that take up a certain amount of space for code, so why not go big and make it cool?

Speaker 1

So Is there gonna be an aquarium in the bathroom?

Zac

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Speaker 1

Is there gonna be an aquarium in the bathroom?

Ronnie

One of the bathrooms. So one of my longtime employees, her husband builds aquariums. So we are doing an aquarium in one bathroom, and then the TV is gonna be mounted behind a porthole. The porthole, I knew it. Yeah. And it's gonna be old movies. Definitely it's like giving bikini bottom a little bit, you know? And that's gonna be like the knotty pine. Like it's gonna look like kind of the lower deck of um, you know, a pirate ship. Yeah. And the other bathroom, which is gonna be the lower new bathroom, is gonna be like kind of sexy birth of like think Botticelli's birth of Venus, like naked woman arriving on a shell, like uh Siren's grotto.

Noel

You're gonna have to have um a device that ejects my child off the toilet because he's just killing the biggest. Right. Actually, what's really funny what's really funny is Mac, like, and people probably don't care about this, but I have to say it. Every time we go to a new restaurant or just any restaurant, he sits down, he has a piece of bread, and then he's like, I need to go to the bathroom. He needs to check out the bathroom of every spot we're at, and it's his favorite part.

Ronnie

Listen, I'm taking a little credit for that because he grew up coming to Sumbo Kitchen and came to expect a cool bathroom. He has very high standards.

Zac

Absolutely. He's gotta see. I've got I've got new stuff in my bathroom that he'll love too.

Ronnie

Well, for Mac, I will make sure these bathrooms are beautiful and stunning and something to talk about because that's cool.

Noel

He's gonna start his own um uh Instagram uh influencer for bathrooms.

Zac

Absolutely. I should do that. Somebody should rate the bathrooms.

Noel

So anyway, we're talking about bathrooms.

Ronnie

Did we want to get to astrology at all, or did we want to move on to the production was the Venus thing, you know, the the birth of Venus. We might do like an astrology ceiling or something.

Zac

Very, very cool. I love that. I love a dramatic bathroom that has something

The Ronnie Show

Zac

to say. All right, we're gonna play a little game with Ronnie right now. This is basically gonna be kind of like kind of word association. I'm gonna give you a word or phrase, and you're gonna respond with a word or phrase the first thing that comes to your mind. Oh goodness.

Noel

He said no time.

Zac

I promise this is not gonna be anything crazy. I promise, I promise. I promise. Alright, uh guilty pleasure food.

Ronnie

Pasta. I mean, it's not guilty. I shouldn't feel guilty eating pasta, but honestly, yeah, if I'm like gonna gorge, it's gonna be on pasta. Underrated ingredient. Clams. I the thing is, this is an oyster bar, and it's we're really good as an oyster bar, but like the real core of like seafood and shellfish and flavor is like a clam is the most pure expression of the salt water. It's funky, briny, salty. Clams, anchovies, capers, all of those like weird ingredients that a lot of people turn their nose up. Like, that is like the basis of flavor. I love all that stuff.

Noel

I have a quick question that I'm going off track for to interrupt the game. Um, for those of us who are allergic to shellfish, are there gonna be like other options that we can come and enjoy? Because I love seafood, I just can't have shellfish.

Ronnie

So there'll be lots of actual fish fish. Great. Um, and then we're also gonna have plenty of things that don't have seafood at all. We're gonna do a great steak, we're gonna do a burger. Awesome. We're gonna do uh a French dip sandwich. So much of the club sandwich was invented in Saratoga Springs, and at least on the lunch menu, we're gonna do a club sandwich. Nice. Um so much of what the menu is gonna be inspired by is things that I love to eat. And that's how I cook. That's how my brother cooks. My father taught us to cook. Cook as if you're cooking for yourself. Make what you want to eat, and then other people will love it. And so that's gonna influence the menu completely. And a lot of that's like inspiration from traveling. My favorite restaurants in the city. Like, like I know it's like capital B basic, but the Hillstone Houston's French chip sandwich is the favorite. Is that what it's gonna be? Because it's gonna absolutely be basically.

Zac

I love Houston's it's the blueprint.

Ronnie

Exactly.

Zac

You know, it's when you think about it. When it's good, it's good.

Ronnie

And we're not trying to reinvent the wheel by any means.

Noel

Sorry, I'm off track.

Ronnie

Yeah, shocker.

Noel

Tiny kitchen.

Ronnie

Sleevo kitchen. Oh my god. So that's obviously that's why this space, this kitchen is a palace. There's a giant walk-in. Um, the line itself is great. There's like a full three-based sink and dish pit. Like, we don't even have a freezer, we have reach in refrigerator. I mean, you know. Yep, that's what I got too.

Zac

It's all reach ins, baby.

Ronnie

Yeah, tiny kitchen, sleevo kitchen, bocage, standard fare, tiny. Oh god. Yeah.

Zac

Yeah. Whenever I hear tiny kitchen, it doesn't, it doesn't make me like flinch because it's like you're like awesome. I'm so conditioned to between like working in places in like Greenwich Village, West Village, having my own places up here that are small. Like, what it's like, yeah. Anything big, all I think of is like, great, stuff is gonna be wasted, people are gonna hide. Um, I'm gonna double buy stuff because what should be over here is over there.

Noel

Well, lots of people talk about wanting a bigger house, and then they get there and they're like, no, it's more to clean. Yeah, it's more maintenance.

Ronnie

Yeah, it forces you to get better at what you do. It makes everything fresher and cleaner, and you know, under diamonds are made under pressure. So like put that pressure situation together, and suddenly the systems of what you're doing are operate that much better. A restaurant that changed your life. So many. Honestly, there's so many, but pick one! The one is uh Lenny's Indian head in Brantford, Connecticut. That's the one that was on the water? Yeah, well, there are so many there. Um, but this is the one that like all of my friends worked there growing up. I was working for my parents' restaurants at the time. So I didn't work at Lenny's, but all of my friends worked there. It was the place where you would go as a kid to eat big, huge platters of really fresh fried seafood. And then, you know, like when you would go home from college, that you'd go there to get drunk and party. It was that place. It was part of the culture of Brantford, Connecticut. It'd been there forever. It is absolutely a source of inspiration. Um, it is like the center of community there. Right. And uh that definitely changed my life and created a love of what this all is. Worst reservation request. None. I you know the core of hospitality is bending over backwards for people. Though the only time it gets insane is when people think that they're the only ones there. Oh, well, we had a reservation for two, but we showed up with six, so just put us there and just kind of explaining how like space works and like engineering and just like you know, my biggest my biggest gripe is like saying something is an allergy when you just don't like it.

Zac

Yeah. Don't cause people to go in a tizzy and like cause certain systems to like go into just because you don't like something. That's that's that bothers me.

Ronnie

Yeah, I mean, obviously, there are people who are courteous and know how to, you know, live in the world and go out to eat. And there are more of them than aren't, but there are some people who aren't that, and you just you have to put that extra effort in, and then and you hope in doing that that you're kind of educating them about how to proceed in the future, not only at your own restaurant but other restaurants in life.

Zac

Uh signature dish.

Ronnie

Here or where, just in general?

Zac

Just like what's your signature dish?

Ronnie

Well, right now, until the Pearl opens, it's still our Sunday sauce. Our red sauce, that's the heritage recipe that's passed down from great-grandfather to grandmother to my father to me. Um the simplicity of using really good ingredients. We do all of our own butchering at Sleevo Kitchen, so all of the scrap from our prime beef and all of our pork goes to start our red sauce. So every morning that gets rendered out, and then we put San Marzano tomatoes in there, fresh basil and salt. It's a four-ingredient dish. There's something about the simplicity and like the nostalgia of it that will always remain signature. Nice for sure. No, there's beauty and simplicity.

Zac

Something the guests never notice.

Ronnie

It's the hard work from everyone behind the scenes. Like, for example, Monica is the person who for seven years has showed up to Salivo Kitchen at eight in the morning and cleaned it, despite having hundreds of people in and out of that building, and um, it gets a mess throughout service. She gets the every morning, and it's pristine. We have the cleanest bathrooms, the the place is immaculate, and I think people do notice that, but I don't necessarily even want them to. I want them to come to expect it. I want them to even take it for granted because that's the way it should be. Right. And um, it's all of those little things that happen behind the scenes that um I'm most grateful for.

Zac

Yeah, I agree. Your perfect martini.

Ronnie

Alright, so uh I like a very cold shaken vodka martini, slightly dirty, with obviously a stuffed olives of some kind. But in trying to be healthier lately, I've been drinking shaken vodka, no vermouth at all, with a twist. It's like calorically cleaner and better. Yeah, clear alcohol. That's the way I do it. You know, I could go, I could go down any of it. I love, I also love the filthy dirty martini, which is a little bit of spice and bloody merry mix. It depends what I'm eating. Yeah. Everything kind of works together. The vibe, the weather, where I am, who I'm with, what I'm eating. Yeah, it's true.

Zac

And lastly, overrated trend.

Noel

In restaurant world or in life, or in I'll just shut up. Getting dirty looks.

Ronnie

Overrated trend. Recipes and food that are just made for social media, I guess. I again, I I've said this word a hundred times, like edit this out, but authenticity. Something needs to exist and have like a satisfying root in heritage or an ingredient, things that are made like just to be put on the internet. You know, I I'm not a very social media savvy person in the world, so maybe I'm biased because of that. That's also why I'm talking to you guys. I mean, you're a journalist, not a you're not an influencer.

Noel

I like to think that I'm different in that way. I like to tell stories, and I feel like food is part of a journey in a story.

Zac

That's how I look at any of my menus. Like whether it's whether it's my bocage beverage menu or if it's my food menu at Standard Fair, it's like, okay, at its core, what is the story we're telling, right? Right. Is it a story of a time and place? Is it a story of romance? Is it a story? You know, what is it, right? And then stay there and then it grows.

Ronnie

And that translates to the guest experience completely. Yeah. When I just fear that things become vapid when we're just doing things to please the camera as opposed to telling those stories and you know, creating some soul and satisfaction behind it.

Noel

Well, I think in general, life has become so obsessed, and I'm saying this on a podcast that, you know, we we tease a lot on social media. A lot of this people um digest through. Well, you have to use it. Yeah, I'm I I think social media is a great tool. But instead of using it as a tool, a lot of people have made it their whole entire life and their entire brand. And I think that's dangerous. Um, and I think it's dangerous just for life because you're sitting there and existing only in your phone. I certainly have become a victim to that. I know a lot of kids in the younger generation are. And instead of just experiencing the story of your life, the journey that you're on, you're existing for what your vision is of yourself on your phone. And the same goes with food. Experience the food in real life.

Ronnie

Instead of knowing or being told what you should like when you go to somewhere, like the mystique and beauty of going to a new restaurant and trying it completely fresh, it kind of takes the magic out of the restaurant experience, and that's one trend that I would like to see research.

Zac

This is a whole other episode that I could talk to you about because one of the biggest things that feels me is social media and reservation culture has taken the spontaneity out of going out. 100%.

Noel

Yeah, it's not just social media, it's a reservation too, right?

Zac

Just because you can't see that I have a reservation available on Resi doesn't mean I don't have six tables that are empty, and because you're conditioned that way, you're not going to go to this small business on a Wednesday night because you don't know that you can't get there. But guess what? You can also pick up the phone and call the people. Like, I could girl, let me tell you, I could talk about this, I could talk about this too.

Ronnie

But it's also when you do go to that restaurant, going and discovering what like having an authentic experience. Instead of like, oh, well, I know that I've got to get this. And the thing is, there are so many great local people who are supportive of local businesses, and that's not what I'm like. I love when people post what they eat. It's it's no, it's always fun, too. It's funny. And I'm but the idea that you need to kind of have your whole experience planned ahead of going there, like I said, takes the magic out of the back.

Noel

From like uh a not restaurateur's perspective, um, I think that's part of what in life, in general, what we're lacking is just, and I I part of me feels like COVID kind of did that to all of us.

Ronnie

We're scripted to know what to expect.

Noel

Because we're nervous when we don't. And you know what's funny is like like COVID has made that worse for me. Motherhood has made that worse for me too, because I want to make sure my my little my little nest is safe. Um, but when I'm having the most fun is when something happens on a whim. Yeah. And we just like maybe we have a reservation downtown, but hey, we have an extra two or three hours. Let's go.

Zac

What are you doing between? Right.

Noel

Or even like people talk about, yes, I have to have a certain amount of time. We love going to Mila's down in Schenectady. And yes, it's far if you live in Saratoga. But Rob and I will hop in the Miata and we try to get lost on the way down.

Ronnie

And what places are we stopping and spontaneity, right? So to take that a step further, that is something that we're going to kind of weave into what the pearl is going to be in the first place. We are not going to be reservation only. We're going to save an enormous amount of space for walk-ins, including the kind of new little offshoot cocktail bar we're doing in the lower level. And we don't just want to be someone's dinner out. We want to be the place where you come and get a dozen oysters and a martini before you go to dinner somewhere else. Or your end-of-night nightcap or uh your happy hour post-work meetup with friends. Putting that back into the fabric of what not just Saratoga has, but the restaurant and hospitality in general is so, so important to me. Um, and that's I have the opportunity now because we're starting fresh in a new space to do that. So it's so cool. I can love that. I can champion that keep me accountable for that and make sure they like, you know, talk to you in a year. Because you know the tendency to just be like, okay, I'm just gonna book this out with reservations because why would I turn down reservations and leave it up to chance? Yeah. But you kind of have to sit in that discomfort in order to create the energy you want to, and I'm gonna truly force myself to do that.

Zac

No, I think that's a smart move, but um, I'm I'm stoked to see what what happens in the world. I'm insanely excited.

Noel

I mean love salivo, I love this space, the marriage of the two of them, and just the uniqueness of uh seafood, um, oyster, kind of coastal theme in this town that doesn't exist quite.

Zac

But I also love like the the and this is the romantic like part of me. But I love like, you know, like you guys are kind of bookending this part of Henry Street, you know, with your two spots. I just think that that's so cool. Yeah, it's adorable, you know, like bringing that energy and kind of just like sending that surge from one end of the block to the next. I think is really great. And um I can't wait to see uh how this unfolds.

Ronnie

Thank you. Yeah, look, the golf cart will come soon that's gonna like transport people, people and product back and forth. She literally talks about it.

Noel

The end of our season one for um Off-Track Saratoga. Yeah, the anchor, if you will. But yes, this this is our where we're tying a nice little bow at the end of this season because our next chapter, season two of Off-Track Saratoga podcast, um, we're gonna actually be a little bit on track, but then talk about this town outside of and off the track as we get into track season.

Zac

You've we've got some really fun things in store for our next season. We're gonna go on a tiny hiatus, uh, get a little surge of energy ourselves uh ahead of a busy track season. It's gonna be really fun. Uh, and to all of our listeners out there, thank you for tuning in, liking, sharing, subscribing. Our numbers are crazy for being such a small, homegrown podcast. Like I'm grateful. Uh, and I can't wait to see what you do next. I can't wait to see what we do next.

Noel

We're having so much fun. So as long as we're having fun and you guys are having fun listening, we're gonna keep this up and um so much to look forward to. We will be back in July. Be sure to stay tuned. Follow us on our Instagram, off track talk. Do you have an Instagram yet for your show? Your your show, for your uh restaurant, for the Pearl?

Ronnie

It's it's definitely a show. It's it's the Pearl Saratoga. Yep. Nice.

Noel

They can follow you now at the Pearl Satoga.

Ronnie

There's not gonna be much up there because, like I said, it's you know, we have to wait until we struggle in oyster and find that pearl. Yeah, we have to wait a little while.

Noel

Well, we can't wait. All right, thank you, everybody, and we'll see you in July.

Zac

Stay cool, kids. Bye. Bye.