UNEXPIRED

LINE COOK TO IRON CHEF TO MENTOR — AND HE'S STILL NOT DONE

• Kim Alexis • Season 1 • Episode 3

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0:00 | 55:20

One Aspen business card leads to Food Network fame, Iron Chef battle, and a chef still building legacy

Chef Beau MacMillan went from line cook to Iron Chef America competitor after one business card in Aspen led to a Food Network call and a showdown with Bobby Flay. But he does not define success by fame. He defines it by discipline, hospitality, and getting better one plate at a time.

He shares his path from New England kitchens to summers in Montreal with his grandmother, where food first became a way to care for people. He breaks down early kitchen jobs that built speed and humility, formal training at Johnson & Wales, and high pressure fine dining kitchens where repetition and standards shaped everything.

The conversation follows his rise through major career pivots, including running a steakhouse at 23, building restaurant programs in Los Angeles hotels, and helping shape Sanctuary in Scottsdale with Elements. He also opens up about leadership, ego, and why fear driven kitchens do not last.

Key themes from the episode:

  •  From line cook to Iron Chef America competitor 
  •  What real pressure looks like in professional kitchens 
  •  Leadership, mentorship, and building strong teams 
  •  The truth behind Food Network appearances 
  •  Choosing health, ownership, and purpose after peak grind 

Listen for a grounded look at chef leadership, culinary discipline, and what it takes to build a lasting career in food without losing yourself.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00

Hi, I'm Kim Alexis. In Paris, Dr. Kelly is showing his collection of spring clothes. Hi, I'm Kim Alexis with your ticket to adventure. I'm Kim Alexis, and I'm here in New York City. We got a great show coming up for you, so stay tuned. I want to welcome here today a celebrated chef and a TV personality, Bo McMillan.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks for having me. Yeah. Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00

So thankful that you're here in the studio. Is it weird not having food in front of you?

SPEAKER_01

I'm not, it is weird not having food. I usually have to cook to be on TV, you know, so it's good.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't make you bring a thing.

SPEAKER_01

It's all good.

Early Food Memories And Hospitality

SPEAKER_00

So did you always, when you were young, did you always love to cook?

SPEAKER_01

It started really early for me. You know, it's it's funny because I was raised in a home. My mom raised up my sister and I.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And she worked a lot. So for me, food like was quick. It was convenient. It was when you had to have it. And every year I would go visit my grandmother in Montreal, Quebec. And that's where I really saw hospitality. That's where I really saw someone that was constantly working in a kitchen, constantly giving to people. And for me, it just illuminated me. You know, I really, I really thought, what an what a beautiful way to care for somebody. Right. And that's when I really saw like recipes develop, even from simple ones like cookies and like pastries and baking and all that stuff. And I was I was kind of hook-lined early on. I I remember my aha moments in food at a very, very young age.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So cooking, your mom let you in the kitchen and did she let you like handle all the stove?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we fed, we kind of fended for ourselves. My sister and I after school, my mom was working and stuff. So, like, you know what it was for me was it was I was intrigued by the hospitality. And really, as I grew older through it, I remember visiting a friend in Maine in a very rural part of Maine, and we picked a bunch of blueberries and literally went out and made blueberry ice cream in a wooden ice cream mill, right? With salt and ice and churned it. And I remember going something so beautiful that you just, you know, just foraged really and put it together could have that result. So I was always like a creative person. I always appreciated the taste of food early on. I didn't really know much about it. And I'm from New England. So, like for me, like food really starts with like heavy cream bacon and potatoes. Like I thought everything was made with that until I was like 18 years old, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01

And uh, and and and it's like it's just such a big world out there. So as I got through the process of growing, I just remember moments in my life. My one of my best friends that lived in my neighborhood, his mom was from Rome, Italy. And I remember having dinner at her house like the first time.

SPEAKER_00

And it was it sauce or gravy?

SPEAKER_01

It was well, they called it gravy, you know, but uh a tomato. She made a buccatini with a bacon gravy.

SPEAKER_00

What's buccatini? Instead of pasta?

SPEAKER_01

Thick pasta, like the ribeye steak of pasta. So think of a triple spaghetti, but with a hole through the center. Oh, yeah, yeah. Long noodle, but good chew on it. And I remember eating, I was probably 13 and having dinner over there, and I was like, this is what families experience. Like I was actually like, Mom, you've been holding out on us forever. You know what I mean? And stuff. Her food was so good. So like I had a taste for it. Yeah. I really found things that just spoke to me. And then the other side I knew being creative and being able to do something different and take something from here to there, or the ordinary to the extraordinary. You know, it was it was just something I was hooked behind and sinker in. And I started cooking at 14, 15 years old.

First Kitchen Jobs And Big Mentors

SPEAKER_01

And I never looked back. Plymouth, Massachusetts. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Grew up in Mass. So you walked into a restaurant and you're like, I know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, my best, my best buddy had uh an uncle that had a touristy shop, believe it or not, and of all places, the Plymouth Plantation. So this is where tourists go to experience what it was like living in colonial times in the 1600s. Uh and there's, you know, reenact actors in like pilgrim uniforms and all this stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Did you have to wear one of those?

SPEAKER_01

Thank God, no. But they had a cafe, right? And and and what's crazy is at I was probably 14, 15 years old. I got a job as a busboy, but I knew I was like, I want to learn how to make clam chowder. I want to learn how to make the sandwiches. And Joe was a good guy. He literally gave me an opportunity in the kitchen. That's where it all started. And like years later, I'd go back to Plymouth after, you know, some of my accolades and certain things. And Joe would be like, see that dude right there. I taught him how to cook. I taught him how to cook right here. It was it was fun. And one of the one of the one of my first experiences in food cooking, I cooked for Bo Derrick. She came to the Plymouth Plantation with John Derrick, and it was, it was, I just remember seeing her and going, like you, just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

Was she a perfect 10?

SPEAKER_01

She was a 10, yes, there's no doubt about it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, us tens each. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. Yeah, yeah. No, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

So then when you were a little bit older, did you feel like you needed to go to school for cooking?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, my cooking, that whole aspect in that career for me, you know, in Plymouth, the younger years of short order cooking were, you know, it we were regional cuisine. So like you get baked stuff scrawd, baked stuff shrimp, lobster nuberg, clam cheddar. It was all these dishes that were classical dishes, mostly for tourists coming to Plymouth or for those like kind of like mom and pop restaurants. And when I was 17, I got, I went and applied for a job at a beautiful place called the Cranebrook Tea Room. It was in Carver Mass, about 40 minutes south of Boston. Carver's a little town made up of cranberry bogs, where like cranberries originally in America. It's a it's wild. Cranberry bogs, they flood them and they come up. But this little this lady had this beautiful little restaurant that originally was an antique shop that she did so well with her antiquing that when guests come in, she would make them tea sandwiches. Oh then she realized people were coming for the sandwiches. So she built a kitchen and hired a chef, and we built a restaurant there called the Cream Room Tea Room. And the chef there, when I walked in at 17, was like on another level. Like instantly, like I'm transcending back him. Like I remember filling out my application, and the the chef's name was Francois Dimelo, just a god, right? Really talented guy, still a mentor and best friend in my life.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_01

He said, He said, Bo, can I get you a piece of cake? I was filling out my application. I was like, I don't know. I you know, I don't want a piece of cake. And then I thought, oh man, what if I screwed up and I insulted him, right? I should take the piece of cake. He brought me a piece of chocolate cake, and I remember running my spoon through this beautifully perfect layered cake with three layers of frosting. The top was garnished, and I remember the spoon going through like so easily and eating it. And I knew in this moment, true story, that if I can be half as good as this, I'm gonna be somebody. Like that, the guy was a genius. I tasted sweetbreads, escar goes at 17. So that was the first stage of my life that I realized this isn't just a job. Like you can be, like you can can you can possess a culinary prowess that can be godlike, you know what I mean, and blow people's minds. And that's what I wanted. And so, you know, I worked with him for a year and I took a vocational class my senior year, met some great chefs, and they got me into Johnson Wales, and I never looked back, never looked

Culinary School And Betting On Yourself

SPEAKER_01

back.

SPEAKER_00

So then what happened? So, what point did you go from bus boy to chef and then chef?

SPEAKER_01

It was really, I did a long road. Like I went, I I did my short order cooking, Francois, my senior in high school. When I graduated, I got into Johnson Wales, and I wasn't the best student. Like I remember, like you ever seen the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Yes. I remember a lot of it. In the beginning of the movie, they're trying to catch the flight and they're sitting in the long office, and the boss is looking at like art, right? And he's got he's got these pictures and he keeps, he can't make his mind up and he's stressing because he won't go. When I went down to Johnson and Wales, I sat in front of the dean of the university and he was looking at my high school grades, and he and he looks at me and he goes, So tell me why you want to attend a university. That's how bad my grades were. And I said, Look, just give me a shot. I promise you, this is what I want to do. And he gave me a shot, and I and I literally busted my butt at Johnson Wales for two years. I had a 4.0 average. Wow. I loved cooking in the kitchens. And when I got out of those kitchens, two years, it was a two-year program. And Kim, they let you leave on like Thursday, right? Because they wanted you out to work in the industry. Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest, you know, days in the in the kitchen. So I worked the whole time I was in college. I'd work a 36-hour weekend at home in Plymouth, 40 miles away from Rhode Island, where I was going to school. And I got good training. And then as soon as I graduated from school, I hit the ground running. And I and someone, Francois, told me, he said, listen, if you want to be somebody, you got to work for somebody. So I just tried to work for the best guys I could for the next like 10, 15 years of my life. Yeah, did he help you find jobs? He didn't help me find jobs. He'd actually moved back to Chicago. And my story kind of started with my mom, right? We graduated. My sister was in LA aspiring to be an actress and doing well. I had an amazing summer, like in between my culinary school, no lie. I went out and I was an extra for a year. I had a casting agent. I was in the movie Thelma and Louise. I was a cop. I did all these commercials. Like I had the time of my life. I almost didn't want to go back to school. But I went back. And then when I graduated, my my grandfather, unfortunately, was diagnosed with cancer and didn't have long. And my mom wanted to get back to be close. So we moved to upstate New York, which was a border town, like right outside of Montreal. So if you go 30 minutes, 40 minutes south of Montreal, I was on the New York State side, which is like towns like Russ's Point or and Champlain, New York, a little bit near there. I could from my house, I could walk to Vermont. Right. I could cross the bridge from New York to Vermont or into Canada. So my grandparents was a house. My grandfather owned a grocery store. It had been in the family for 102 years in a little town of 3,000 called Hemmingford, Quebec, which is about maybe 40 minutes outside of Montreal, 35 minutes. And uh it was a place like home to me, you know, because I'd been going since I was a child. So we went up there. I got a job at the best restaurant I could, which was the best restaurant there, it was like not the best restaurant anywhere else. You know, it was like prime rib, fried perch, like Friday Night Cook Cookouts. Simple food. That's what I grew up in. Yeah, simple food, but I loved it. And I worked there for a year. I met this beautiful girl, small town girl, six sisters. I wanted to go to LA. She had three sisters in Boca Raton, Florida. And so I researched a bunch of restaurants down there, and I found a restaurant called Lavie Maison, which was a five-star French mobile restaurant. And it had a run of like 16, 17 consecutive years.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

And I wrote the chef a letter, called, wrote the chef a letter, didn't hear anything. We just decided, let's just go, let's move to Boca, right? And uh, and I I maybe had $800 in my pocket. You know what I mean? That was it, you know, and I was 19. And uh the day I was leaving, massive snowstorm in upstate

French Fine Dining Under Pressure

SPEAKER_01

New York, and the chef calls the house. And her mom, my girlfriend's mom, ran out of the house. She's like, Bo, there's a chef on the phone. And it was a chef named Jackie Pluton, who is a major, like just a just a rock star, but also like toughest nails.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And I picked up the phone. I'm like, Chef, he goes, Is this bo? And is that accent? And I said, Yeah, and he goes, When you come to Florida, and I said, Chef, I'm leaving now. I'll be there in two days. Like it takes that the drive. And he goes, You be here Monday? And I said, I can I can be there Monday. He goes, Okay, see you Monday. Hangs up on me. That was that was it. I applied for my job. I got the job at La Vie in that two years at La Vier under Chef Jackie Pluton was just like, was just like one of the greatest experiences of my life.

SPEAKER_00

Was it French food?

SPEAKER_01

French cuisine. The chef.

SPEAKER_00

Do you like making that?

SPEAKER_01

I loved it.

SPEAKER_00

Like for a first-time job, you know, what was crazy was I think that was difficult with all the sauces in the 28 sauces a day. No.

SPEAKER_01

28 sauces a day. When I got down to that line, they had a French kitchen, French flat top. So it was a Shaf Jackie, and it was Joe Nally.

SPEAKER_00

So what was your position?

SPEAKER_01

So I started as a cook. He put me on Saute, you know, as a cook on Saute, 19. And I interviewed with him, and the guy was like looking at my resume and like, you know, you don't have a lot of experience. We're going back and forth. But I researched him and knew all about him, and he offered me a job, which was like three dollars more an hour than I was making in App State New York. I thought I was like, I I tried to hold my poker face. I was like, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_00

So excited.

SPEAKER_01

But I got I got my first day in the job was the next day.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I got screamed at the whole day. He told me in the interview, he goes, I want to tell you something. I am a son of a literally, that was his words. He goes, if you take it personal, you won't last, like that. And I thought about that. And so I worked for him. And in three months of working there, I had seniority in the kitchen. The only guy who had been there longer than me was the sous chef. Because he was hardcore. He wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00

And it didn't bug you all that screaming.

SPEAKER_01

I just, I listen, there were nights I used to ride my bike home and be like, I hope he gets hit by a truck and die. Like, you know what I mean? I was like a snot bubble in my nose, like I hate him, you know, that type of stuff. But uh, but it was hardcore and he was so good. And for me, when I look back, you just this guy it was one of the best run kitchens I'd ever worked in in my life, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

And you didn't quite know that, but you absorbed it.

SPEAKER_01

It was controlled through fear, and fear is a very powerful component. Nowadays you can't get away with that, but you didn't want to make a mistake. You you got it if you made a mistake. You, you know, and you couldn't assume. So I really learned discipline. I really learned how to follow instruction and not overthink next steps because it was really, this dude was a maestro, and I was just playing in the band. My job was saute, you know, and I cooked meats. But I remember the highlight of my career in food. Cooking is where it's at, right?

SPEAKER_00

I didn't everyone need that's where it's at.

SPEAKER_01

I love the food and I love to eat and I love cooking, and I love having someone taste it and go, like, you can see, like, dude, this is like, this is when someone says Bo, that's one of the best, whatever, pork belly or one of the best scallop dishes I've ever had. That to me is like, that's all I need in my life, right? And so, like that being in that intense environment and just being such so aware. I remember on a Friday night, if I was on saute, I maybe had eight or nine proteins that would come out of my station. Anything from filet mignons, rack of lambs, um, pork tenaloins, veal chops, you know, venison chops. Like I could have 40 or 50 proteins in my station going in the middle of a service. And the chef would go, go, Bo, do you need an all day? And all day is he's checking on you. What do you have? And I'd say, No, let me give you an all-day chef. And he'd go, go ahead. And I'd say, I have 15 lamb chops, five rare, four medium rare, three, and I can call out the whole 40 to 50 off my memory.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Nowadays, you get tickets and you know, cooks are looking. Like I can remember 50, it's like remembering 50 phone numbers 20 years ago in your head. Now I only know my mom's and my wife's phone number. You know what I mean? By heart, you know? So it was wild, you know. But but I'll tell you, those kitchens were, they were so well executed and they were so tough. And like even being after three months there, I I learned so much from him. And the food was, like you said, we had 28 sauces. There were like six veal-based demi sauces, reduction juice sauces, cream-based burblan's. Like we set it up and we got going. It was one of the, it was just, you know, see guys in tuxedo still working the floor that have worked as a captain in a French restaurant for 20 years. Right. That it's an art. The the owner, Lyon Picot, had a wine list that was like we you would have loved it. We could, you know, play burgundy bingo in that place. It was like, there were so many good wines in the so deep, you know. So it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00

And you had to learn not only the cooking, but the wines.

SPEAKER_01

You had to learn it all. Like you wanted to learn it all. And in that, like they would give you nothing, you know. So, like, that was the other thing too. In that job, you had to hustle the setup. So, like, I for the first 10 years of my career coming in and cooking, I would get to work at noon because I loved my job, but I wouldn't punch Indle three. I got to work to help the sous chef. I got to work to get my station a jump start. I had to work my 40 hours, but I was just committed. I wanted to be ready to go. We had a an old German guy there that would show up, his Henry was his name, and he was like a back waiter, but he would get there every day at like 11. He didn't really have to get to four o'clock in the afternoon. He just wanted to make sure the silverware was polished the right way. You know what I mean? Restaurants were those when restaurants were like at their heyday in the 80s and 90s. Right. And this restaurant, La Vie maison, was called the Old House. It was this old Addison Meisner property that you actually went into and there was a tree growing up through the center of the home. Oh, I love it. And you could sit outdoor in it. Right. And they had a little private table for four that was called the fish pond that looked you could eat upstairs in the captain's room, or it was wild.

SPEAKER_00

Is it still there?

SPEAKER_01

It sadly it isn't. It made it till about the mid-2000s, early 2000s. And I remember, you know, because it holds all the places I've worked in my life, have they hold this special. I found that beauty, you know, and stuff. But I remember driving back in like 2004, and it was a it was shut down, and there was like spray paint on the side of the building.

SPEAKER_00

Was the tree still there?

SPEAKER_01

The tree was still there, but the trees outside in the parking lot were overgrown a little bit. And I thought to myself, you know, it's just like it's so sad because you know what you lived at, but that that restaurant was opened in 1970, maybe. Right. So think of how many amazing memories and moments for people. Think of how many anniversaries or engagements and celebrations. It was uh, it's it's been a I look back and think about my life and my career in food, and think about using food as my first language and the bridge I've built and the people I've got to cook for, even being here today, that just comes around hospitality. Yes, like just like this podcast, it's the relationship between the host and the guest, right? And it's organic, it's created organic, and I live for it. Like I've been blessed.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, yeah, you the gratefulness shows through, and I'm sure it shows through in your cooking because it's amazing. But we can't let you taste it, right? No, we're just talking about it.

Running A Steakhouse Then Chasing LA

SPEAKER_00

So, how did you then leave that restaurant? How'd you get out here? Did was your next restaurant out in Arizona?

SPEAKER_01

It wasn't. So, like I was in Florida for I was in Florida for three years total, and I was at Lavier for two. And my chef there left to take a big job in New York. Uh and so I got offered a sous chef job at a restaurant across the street. I was only 23 years old.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And a coup a couple from New York bought their daughter a $12 million steakhouse in Boca Reton, Florida. She had graduated from Simmons College, very smart people, and they wanted to open up for lunch. So I interviewed with the chef, and I was gonna be the lunch sous chef.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Now, in retrospect, 23, too young to be a a sous chef, but I was so gung ho. And when you're at that age, you want a title, you want to do this stuff. So I took that job as a sous chef. And what was crazy was the chef that hired me about two weeks after I left, left. And so they had one more sous chef and they promoted him. They're like, let's run up in for lunch, let's bring the chef up that was underneath him and bring Bo up tonight's. And so I ran an upscale, very high-end steakhouse in Boca Rotona 23. The chef was like, I'll take care of all the business side. You're the, you know, the the workhorse. I'd come into work and I'd take a I'd get a $7,000 order of meat from Chicago twice a week. I'd dry age it in a dry age box. I had a bandsaw in the walk-in. You learned how to dry age. It was unbelievable. I was cutting beef on a bandsaw, three-pound porterhouse steaks back then. In the 90s, Kim, people were coming in and buying a three-pound porterhouse for like 72 bucks or a five-pound lobster out of a tank at 105, which was like astronomical prices back then.

SPEAKER_00

Now how much they were spending.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god, three-pound porterhouse in a restaurant is gonna cost you like 280 bucks. You know what I mean? It's crazy. But the place was jumping. And and I got to, what I really got out of that place was I got to learn how to butcher and and and cook out a la carte. I had a great team, but we would do 400 covers a night. So I really, my expediting and to manage getting food out to the tables and orchestrate that, I loved it. I lived for it. And then one day I just woke up and I'm like, I'm 24 years old.

SPEAKER_00

I do married, right?

SPEAKER_01

I wasn't married, I was single. Oh yeah. I thought it was vanilla ice. I was making great money. John I had a convertible. Girlfriend, you didn't keep my girlfriend and I, well, my I've so I've been married, I've been with my wife for 24 years now. Got to get that right. Yeah. 24 years. We haven't been married all day. We have I know it's July 30th. We have five children. Yes. We have a grandchild on the way. We just found out this weekend, which is amazing. Um, but no, so like when I was 24, that's when I woke up and I was like, I don't want to be the chef of a steakhouse. This isn't where it ends for me. So I went to Los Angeles and I always wanted to work for a chef named Michelle Richard, one of the most brilliant pastry chefs and chefs and jovial guys in the world. He had a restaurant called Citrus in LA. And he's just, I was like, if I can work for this guy, this is how'd you know about that?

SPEAKER_00

Were you reading magazines back then? Because you didn't have internet.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was books, Emerald Gassy. Once in a while, you'd catch great chefs of Chicago, you know, shows that inspired me world-class cuisine, you know, and stuff like that. But you didn't have food network and you didn't have an internet. So you read cookbooks, right? You know, and Michelle Richard was one of the best in the nation. And I went out and staged in his restaurant for a couple of days. And the chef was like, Boa, I would love to hire you. His French chef's. I know. He's like, I would love to hire you, but they don't have anything, you know, right now no one wants to leave. They like their job. He goes, You maybe you come back and see me, you know, and stuff. And I said, Okay. And when I was there, a guy was dropping off wine, and he goes, Hey, I you don't work here? Because he'd seen me earlier. Like I gave work for free for like three to four days. And he goes, You should go check out the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles. He goes, I think they need somebody. And never heard of the Hotel Bel Air. Right. And I got in my car and I drove up through Beverly Hills, through, you know, Bel Air, turned right on Old Stoad Canyon Road, came up, and it was one of those other aha moments. Me when I saw the Bel Air Hotel in the entrance to the Bel Air, I was like, I don't give a shit. I am working here. I am going to find a job at this hotel. And I walked across the bridge, the swans, the sign said H I left, restaurant right, and I turned right, had my resume in hand, walked into the restaurant, and just at the right time, this big six foot four South African chef was at the the the the booth and he goes, Can I help you? And that was the accent. I was like, he was good. And his name is Gary Clausen, one of the greatest chefs in the world. And literally, I go, Chef, I would love to work here. I I go, please, I just moved here from Florida. If you have a moment, I would I would love to chat with you about working for you. And he goes, Give me a minute. And he went back in, got me a seat, grabbed me a coffee. We chatted for 30 minutes and I started the next day.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

And had such an unbelievable experience at the Bel Air.

SPEAKER_00

So even though you didn't know it, like when you'd get jobs right away, you still had so much preparation and the willingness to work and the grateful heart.

SPEAKER_01

That was it. You know, what I loved what I did. And so, like, even for me now, like just fast forwarding, where I am in my life right now, I'm finally realizing it's like, bo, you really gotta focus on you and your health and take care of yourself and drop the weight because I wanna, I want to be able to work long days and do the things I want to do in food and travel and cook and put put my time in. I love it that much, and it's important to me. You know what I mean? So I've made some life changes now because it's it's a physically taxing job, but it's also one of the most rewarding jobs. And I've gone into work, you know, I ran the sanctuary here for 23 years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you're jumping. So you're so you're in LA.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

How did you get to Arizona?

Scottsdale Move And Building Sanctuary

SPEAKER_01

I work in LA for three years. I work at the Bel Air, I get a promotion through another chef, and I go to another hotel called Shutters on the Beach, right in Santa Monica. That's the couple of years. Beautiful hotel. Beautiful hotel. And the chef there was a G, rock star named Jeff Jeff Jackson, super talented guy. And I just had these great mentors in my life, you know, and stuff. So I had to to earn the job there, I had to do my first like tasting. So I had to cook for like five guys in suits that are F and B guys around the country and all this stuff. And uh I did well enough to get the job. And one of the guys was I chatted with after was a gentleman named Jim Smith, who was just a really good guy that I know loved food. So he came up and chatted with me about some of the dishes and what my thought process was and all the stuff. And I was like, this guy, I love this guy, you know. And so I took my job there for a year, but the hotel was so established. What I realized was these restaurants are just brilliant. And I don't want to change anything about them. Right. But I have no ability to be creative. Right. I was 27 years old, I'd been to a bunch of guys, worked for a bunch of mentors, done some stuff, and now is like, I'm at the age now where I want to stop putting my thumbprints on stuff. Right. And literally I talked to my chef Jeff Jackson, and I'm like, Jeff, I don't, I want to move. I wanna, I'm thinking I was thinking about going to Europe again if I couldn't find something for me and staging in another Michelin style restaurant or doing something like that. And Jeff goes, Well, stay for the year, put your year in, you never know what's gonna happen. We'll put some feelers out for you. And I I I did that, and about three weeks later, I got a call from Jim Smith, the gentleman who hired me a year before I shutters. And he goes, Are you leaving? And I go, I I want to. And he goes, What are you looking for? And I said, I gotta get into a place where I can be creative and do the food I want to do.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And he goes, I'm flying you to Scottsdale next week. He goes, I've got an opportunity for you. And I said, Really? And so I said, What's in Scottsdale? I thought tumbleweeds and cactus. My mom, my mom, my mom calls me, she's like, You're not moving to Scottsdale. I was like, Hell no, mom, I'm not moving to Scottsdale. And I called her on Monday. I'm like, I'm moving to Scottsdale. I got here. Listen, I was a young, you know, kid and in LA, I mean, I went out a couple times, beautiful women in LA, but I didn't have a nice watch. I didn't wear $500 shoes. I wasn't a movie producer. You know, you know, it was tough to find a girlfriend. I came out to Scottsdale, they sent me to Old Town. I had never seen so many beautiful women in my life. I was like, I'm moving here. And they were nice, you know what I mean? So it was the best decision I ever made in my life. It really, truly was.

Sponsor Break Altitude Home Loans

SPEAKER_00

Thinking about buying a home, but not sure where to start? Jeff Schwartz at Altitude Home Loans makes the process simple. From application to closing, Jeff helps you find the best loan for your financial goals and keeps everything moving smoothly because the right team makes all the difference. Ready to get started? Apply today with Jeff at Altitude Home Loans. So you started working right away at the time.

SPEAKER_01

I started working right away. I came out and interviewed with a uh they had a new GM that came in before it was sanctuary. It was called John Gardner's Tennis Ranch. And it had this amazing history. The place was built in the 50s.

SPEAKER_00

Right, on the side of a mountain.

SPEAKER_01

On the side of Camelback Mountain, one of the most iconic mountains in the, you know, I think the number one hiked mountain in North America, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And and so I came out to this property and I knew its best years were behind them, but I also through gym had heard, hey, this could be a real good stepping stone for you because the owner isn't sure if he wants to keep it and sink money into it, or he may sell it. But in the interim, you can make a good amount of money and you can be as creative as you want to be because they want that. Right. And I said, perfect. So I interviewed with the I remember having dinner in the restaurant, but I honestly backing it up. I remember landing at Sky Harbor and coming up McDonald Drive and turning the corner. And it was dark. It was there was still a little bit of light, but I couldn't see camelback clearly, like you can see it on a clear day. It was nighttime. And I remember looking and I was like, what is that? Is that like volcanic? Like I was blown away coming up 44th around the corner. And then when we drove up the hill, I'm like, this is a diamond. Yeah. This property is a diamond just waiting to be polished. And I got in, I had my interview for dinner. I remember the port, you know, it was good for me because at 27, you know, you your confidence is like, can I do this? This is my first big chef's job, you know, I don't want to fail. But I interviewed, and uh, sadly, there's only like four other, four other tables in the restaurant that night. And the GM had to get up like twice to go because that person had a problem with their food, and that person, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do better than this. Right. You know what I mean? And so that's she hired me. I can't, I moved out on uh in October of '98. It was still John Gardner's. We were changing the concept to the ranch on Camel Back In. We had a concept for a new restaurant. I got here in October. I had a new menu within a week, and I was executing it a week after that.

SPEAKER_00

How did you find all the vendors and everything when you just moved to a new state?

SPEAKER_01

I called a chef here that I knew and met 15 years ago at a charity event.

SPEAKER_00

Oh.

SPEAKER_01

Had a glass of wine with him, went in and saw them to dinner. He's like, whatever you need, this, that. It was that's just the way. And then there was a sous chef here at the property that, you know, got got things going. And I just, you know, I'm one of those guys that I realized like, you're nothing without your squad. You know what I mean? So I want to let people be creative. So I really just utilized everything, asked as many questions as I could, talked to my vendors, met the people that were in town. What do you need? Who's this, that? And we just turned it over. And about two months after I got here, my GM was like, bring a sous chef if you want out from LA. Let's like, let's really go at this. And I had a guy that was young, hungry, humble, hardworking. And I'm like, That's who he used to be. Yeah, you know, and literally, literally, we we put the restaurant and the menu together and we started packing the place. Right. The business started coming in. And so my owner originally flew back out a month later, who I had never met the original owner. And I just met the GM. And she goes, the owner's gonna be here. His name's Bob Castellini. She's like, Bo, you've got to make sure the dinner's fine. I'm like, I'm like, Joyce, I got it. I got it. I'll make sure. So I remember cooking him dinner. And what'd he get? I got out of the day. He got a steak, he was a steak guy. And he was a rare steak guy, New York steak. Had a 16 ouncer, you know, and stuff. And I just cooked it, put my sauce, you know, whatever and stuff, and sent it out. And this guy was such a good guy. Like, and so I remember going out and he looked at me and he goes, Are you the new guy? Your name's Bo. He goes, I've heard a lot about you, you know, and this is his voice. And he goes, I gotta tell you, he goes, that was one of the best meals I've had here in a long time. 10 out of 10. He looked at me and goes, You can stay here as long as you want. Uh and I've been with him 23 years. Like, literally, six months later, he spent $55 million on the property. And I opened up at Sanctuary and I never looked back. I built my whole career on the bones of that place and just the hard work and the efforts and the passion and the desire, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yeah. Fun. Yeah, you had all that. Fun. Who got to name it Elements?

SPEAKER_01

Elements was named by West Rock Hospitality. And I remember being in the meeting, and I remember at first, I'm like, I don't know if I like this. And like within three months, I was like, this is the greatest name you could have named a restaurant. Like

Creating Elements And Leading A Team

SPEAKER_01

and other elements have popped up ever afterwards. But you know, the cool thing about it was for me too, is I loved all aspects of food. Like I loved, I grew up, you know, from Boston, you eat a lot of Chinese food from China, you know, Chinatown and all that stuff. And I loved all different types of food. And then I was down in Florida, so I got a lot of like Caribbean influence. And then I went to LA and it was very coastal and you know, just stuff. So when it came out here, all the resorts that were flipped, you know, what I noticed, they were all kind of southwestern and all Coco Pelli and all stucco. And it wasn't my favorite, you know, I didn't like that. Chili, bean, you know, I wasn't, it wasn't my thing. And so when they talked about the restaurant, what they wanted was minimalistic. And elements comes from fire, water, wind, you know, all that stuff, which is on the mountain, the natural elements. Yeah. And they did such a minimalistic design that Sanctuary, when it reopened, I felt like, you know, it could have been in San Francisco. You could have been looking over different parts of the world that didn't have a southwestern feel, and I loved that. Right. And so the re the restaurant was so minimalistic that we felt like Asian was a really nice way to go. Right. Very healthful, very clean, pungent flavor. So we wanted to be a true farm fresh American restaurant. Yes, great word. Farm fresh American with Asian accents, and that's what we did. And I, it was, you know, it was such a lesson to me. It was like from a young guy growing up in food.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, at the end of the day, I've worked in so many kitchens. We talked about this earlier, where egos played such a huge role and where you weren't allowed to think. I didn't tell you to think, you know, I took this do it. Yeah, it was discipline, it was break you, it was the all these things that really, you know, there's a lot of value in you know, working and understanding that. But you're coming into a time where I want to create food that inspires, but I want to inspire my staff. I want to get back, I want to be a coach, I want to be a leader, those type of things. And I want happy people. I don't want people to do it. Yeah, I don't want people coming into life. I mean, you've got to communicate sometimes. Even to this day, it's frustrating because you know, if I tell someone nicely four times, you know, they still don't get it. Yeah. But the minute I'm like, hey, you know, like in their face, yeah, all of a sudden they don't make the mistake anymore. And it's just, it's just part of life, I think.

SPEAKER_00

You know, well, there's a rhythm in kitchens.

SPEAKER_01

100%.

SPEAKER_00

It's like a symphony. I mean, everything, right? And you're the conductor.

SPEAKER_01

I've been in garage bands that cannot play, and everything's off. And I've been in full-on like orchestras that are just like you know, standing ovations where you don't even have to communicate. Like the guy next to you knows what to do when you're not doing it. It's like it's like a ballet. Some nights I've had in kitchens, so smooth and so fun, and every rack of lamb you cut into is perfectly cooked, and it's ease. And you're like, you you look down and look up again, and it's 11 o'clock and you did 350 covers, wow, but perfectly.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And your food is on point. Nothing better than being able to handle a busy dinner service, but also plate food that you know when you're young and you're a cook and you're putting it in the window, you're waiting for your chef to try to say something. And you're like, go ahead, give me something. Right. Because that's perfect. You know what I mean? Eat that, like, you know, and they're proud of you, but they won't say it. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. Like, I know I see you looking at me going like I'm doing my job, bro. Like, you know what I mean? It's like that's a good feeling. Yeah,

Food Network Break And Iron Chef Win

SPEAKER_01

yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So, how did you get into television? So you started Elements 2001, and by 2006, you were an Iron Chef.

SPEAKER_01

I was, yeah. I got, I got, you know, I I love, like, for me, I think I was blessed because not only did I love the cooking side, but I was also I'm a people guy. I'm I live it, uh, the more the merrier. You know, my house, I don't cook for four. I have five kids, and but I cook for 20. I uh sometimes I go shopping, I'm like, you better invite some people over to my wife. You know, I mean, it's like because we got we have some food.

SPEAKER_02

Did she cook?

SPEAKER_01

My wife likes to cook. Well, let me rephrase this. My wife doesn't like to cook, but when she does, she'll do it the right way. That's just the way she is. She's a Leo, beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

I would be afraid to cook for you.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no. I'm I'm so easy to please, Kim. Like, seriously, I'll eat a grilled cheese sandwich. Like, I am that guy. I it because it's more of the act, you know what I mean? Right and stuff. So I love it. I love doing that. And I love cooking with people. You put music on, you have a bottle of wine, right? You prep things out, you don't stress. It's it's a blast. My my son's cooking now, and so doing all that stuff. My wife is a fantastic baker.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's what I likes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, she she can do cakes like nobody's business. Her cookies are legit. Like, I take a I I love her for that. So so yeah, so like for me, you know, personality and and being out in front of people, I did get out in my dining room. And and it was getting back to my point I was trying to make earlier. When I created these menus and this, this, this kind of like this canvas I had, this stage, like, you know, I would just put food out the menu and I would wait. And if people were like, eh, it wasn't, it didn't hit, I'd change it. Right. But if people were like, that was the best I've ever had. And you sold out. I would leave it alone. You know what I mean? I was building blue chip recipes and and stuff. So I think that was kind of my formula, and then getting to know the clientele, which was for me a big thrill, was like, I know people were there sometimes, they're like, Bo, we missed you, we came to see you. Because I'd go out and spend time with them and do that. So for that point, I got asked to cook on the road. Uh, Elements was doing well and it was very popular, and it was getting, you know, the sanctuary was getting high accolades, you know, with the resort and the spa. And so I got a call, and uh the Cobran guys asked me to come cook an Aspen food and wine in the Cobran tent, which was like in Aspen, if you're cooking in the Cobran tent, it's like, you know, Miramoto was there, Jacques Torres was there. There were some big names in that tent. So for me, I was on cloud nine. I'm like, I'm gonna go to Aspen. Not nervous. No, no, excited. Nervous, I'm always nervous. Energy and competition, you know what I mean? You if you don't have fear, like if you're if if I if I have guys on my hotline on a Friday night and they're not scared that there's 500 people coming in to work saute station, something's wrong. You gotta have a little bit of fear. I want that, you know what I mean? Because you want a fear of failure, fear of whatever. And so I was a little bit nervous, uh, but more high energy. I just want to go cook and put my head down and be in this room. And I was there and I busted my butt with my guys. I brought six guys with me. We had to do 2,500 portions twice a day. No, yeah, grand tasting, daytime, nighttime. Friday, Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night. Like it was a lot. And then Sunday, and then we left. But on Were you exhausted? Exhausted because not only did I work the stations, then I was out till three in the morning with everybody, you know what I mean? With everybody like living what the altitude life in Aspen. So so it was a long weekend. By Sunday, I was out of gas and like could barely get the dish out. My voice sounded like I'd been drinking for four days and having fun, which I was. And do you eat what you're cooking? Sometimes, sometimes, but you know, after a while you put it out so much, you're like, you know, you don't want to see it. It's like I prep out Thanksgiving for four days in advance. I won't eat turkey on Thanksgiving. I'm like, I've eaten enough and seen enough of it four days prior. You know what I mean? I have Chinese food on Thanksgiving. Oh, you do? Yeah, you know, so so that day my life changed. This guy came up to me at noon. He goes, Are you Bo? And I said, Yeah. And he goes, he goes, Man, I I've had dinner at Elements twice. And he goes, I love the food you do there. And I was like flattered. I'm in Aspen, Colorado. Someone knows my restaurant from Scottsdale. Right. And so he goes, I'm gonna be out your way. He goes, in fact, I'm probably gonna stay at Sanctuary. He goes, and I want you to cook for me when I'm there. And I said, please give me a card. And he gave me his card and it said Bruce Saddell, Vice President Programming Food Network. That was it. And I literally looked at the card and I'm like, holy, you know, this is like and he came out in August of that year. His family came out.

SPEAKER_00

They came to Scottsdale in August?

SPEAKER_01

Or so yeah, it was it was honestly, it was like August or September. And we got him a huge house up on the hill and all the stuff. And he had family members, and he said to me, He goes, I just want a barbecue. And I was like so bummed out. I wanted to cook him like a fancy high-end meal. But I pulled out all my barbecue stops and literally uh um cooked him ribs. And you know, I called my buddy in Georgia. I'm like, I need your cheddar biscuit recipe, bro. Like, give me that, you know, called my grandmother for one of her, you know, and I put this like menu together and it did the barbecue. And I remember it was so good because there were so many people that came up and said hello. And like his mom was like, those the the that salad that you made was like the best. And then his nephew was like, I have never had better ribs than that in my life. So everyone likes to be able to be able to be able to shape. Yeah, next day he goes, I want to have a coffee, and he asked me to be on Iron Chef America.

SPEAKER_00

Right. And you beat Bobby in Kobe, which was unbelievable. How do you make Kobe beef?

SPEAKER_01

It was luckily Kobe beef, if you just put salt and pepper on it and grill it, is one of the greatest things ever. So it's not like I I don't want to like act like I, you know, whatever, because I could have got lima beans, you know what I mean, or whatever and stuff like that. So I had, I think the luck was on my side. I had the most expensive ingredient they've ever used on Iron Chef America. I go against Bobby Flay. He's known for that side of life, you know, with kind of like the South Southern uh Mexican southwestern flair. And I took the the beef and just made it more elegant and into like more of a tasting menu to really like honor it and go in that direction. And Bobby, the day he came out, his food was amazing, but he kind of like took the Kobe beef and downplayed it. Like he made a steak and cheese, like with Wagyu beef. And I think my my the way I went just appealed to the judges more. You know what I mean? He was he was doing common comfort food with Wagyu, but I was doing elegant and fine dining, and I I end of the day, I I didn't lose in a category. Tied him in one and beat him in two, and that that day my life changed forever.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, changed forever. So that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01

It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00

And I met you after that.

SPEAKER_01

So you did, yeah. I was trying to think on the way here. I was like, how long have we known each other now? I don't know. Because we met at Sanctuary through a friend or something.

SPEAKER_00

We were out at Hilton Head Island at a golf tournament.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. We're at a celebrity golf tournament menu. And were you, Kim, were you writing books too? Did you do any books or something?

SPEAKER_00

I have, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's what I thought. I thought we talked about that too. Wild. But uh, you know, look, listen, I grew up and to be here, come on.

SPEAKER_00

Like uh But I kept your card, and when I moved to Scottsdale, I'm like, I know somebody here. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I had gotten to cook you at Sanctuary and a few other restaurants and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Jeff and I did a Valentine's dinner. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

You just came in recently, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, never mind. Oh, yeah, Judge Americano recently. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So we'll we'll talk

Selling The Resort And Starting Over

SPEAKER_00

about that. So now you were 20 years at Elements.

SPEAKER_01

23. 23. Yep.

SPEAKER_00

What happened?

SPEAKER_01

My owner sold it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

My owner sold it. He had owned it for a long time. So, what did you think during that? Like I cried inside. I was just like, I wanted, I would have probably worked for Bob forever because he was like a father to me. You know, the people that I worked with, I loved. Right. You know what I mean? It's just my GM, Mike Sergein, who's a mentor and a friend, never once did I feel like I wasn't an owner of that hotel.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Like, you know, there's just so much integrity. Right. And that's the way they ran it. And um, I worked with guys like Bill Nasekis and Scott Lyon. Scott Lyon, his dad, Rusty, started the boulders here in this community. Oh. And I worked with Chuck Wiley when I opened up the hotel. Like I had I had guys that I worked with at that hotel in my ex-con committee 20 years in. Like, you know, so it was when you talk about family and this like cliche is like everyone wants to be a family. Well, you've got to be a family. We were such a family, you know. So sadly. So it was like a death. For us, it was it was tragic. You know, it's hard, you know, because one is we understood for Bob, one is how much he put into that resort, how much he loved it, and what a hard decision it was for him. But he owns a major league baseball team. He had 14 other companies. His sons are off doing their thing and their businesses. One of his sons with the Cincinnati Reds, his other son, big hedge fund guy. Like they're I grew up with his kids. Like, you know, I talked to, you know, one of the Casolinis pretty much once a month, you know. So, like, but they didn't want to take on the resort. They had their own lives and their own businesses and their certain stuff. So he sold it to a partner here in Arizona that partnered with another group, and that group had a uh had a hotel group. So they were, you know, run out of New York. It was called Gurney's and stuff. But I know when you work for corporate, corporate hotel groups, it can be very corporate.

SPEAKER_00

Not creative.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm I'm like, you know, the bend the bend of the road is only the end of the road if you failed to make the turn. I'm like, I don't think I'm gonna make the turn if someone tells me I have to put this pickle on a sandwich. I'm like gonna be like, no, you know what I mean? Especially when I've had that much creative freedom for the last like 23 years. And no offense to them, you know, they've been very successful in their own space, but I had to look at myself and said, Bo, this is your time. You're you're at the time I was maybe 50. And I looked at and I said, I always wanted to open restaurants. Right. I've had a long run here, and I I I I just don't see myself working for anybody.

SPEAKER_00

And you had lots of connections and loved the area.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I just recently partnered with a couple guys to do uh kind of like it was like a kind of more of a face deal for uh a restaurant in Vegas that I created their helped create their brand, write their menus, did some activations for. And I love these guys. They were great guys, and they came from a nightclub background, but were very successful in it. You know? So two guys, just I'm gonna say Mike Austroyan and stuff. So they were like, let's do some more together. And I was having so much fun with them. I thought, let's do that. And so we opened up four restaurants in the valley in the last four years. And I not only had a partnership, like I was lucky to be a partner. Now I was not an employee anymore, right? So I had ownership stake, but I also ran Culinary Ops and I did that for four years.

SPEAKER_00

What's culinary ops?

SPEAKER_01

Like I was in it as well.

SPEAKER_00

So like I So you had to order everything.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I would hire all the chefs, I would make sure culinary was good, food cost, labor. Like I was actually working in the business and I did that for four years. But I just got to the point where I was like, they want to open up like five or six more restaurants, and I love what they that's what they do. But I was like, I don't want to do this. Like another point in my life, we talk about the elevations in your life. I don't mind being a partner and keep my money in or what I have my shares and all that stuff, but I just don't want to do the ops anymore. Right. Like I want to go do some things that I want to do. And what I realized also too is I had for the last 25-30 years in food, I had been in very affluent places cooking for very affluent people, very high-end. And I wanted to be more about quality and the food. And these, you know, restaurants today, you got a kick and claw to survive. Like, you know, we got sparklers and loud music and DJs and, you know, it's like, it's like drinks and this and all this stuff. And I was like, you know, it's it's nice, but I miss cooking very high-end levels and being in food. And I was showing up at meetings and, you know, the stuff that I just, it's not me, you know. And so I also felt like leaving Sanctuary and doing what I did, although these guys provided me with such a great life. Like I had more time with my family than I've ever had. And they they they had just incredible partners, you know. I had I had everything. But what I did miss the most, I also missed was when I had a hotel and when I had rooms around me, I had a real big stage for the community and I wanted to constantly get back. I created food and wine festivals in the city. I had no way to really connect with people, unless I was in the restaurant. No, I could have been at the Americano or Kala, or could have been down at TYF to speakeasy. But, you know, when you're in a hotel, you're there. You know what I mean? It's like, and so it kind of was like, you know, is this something I'll get back into?

Rest Recovery And Cooking Around The World

SPEAKER_01

And I don't know. The biggest thing is like, I'm in this one of these stages right now where I'm like, people are like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm in the best place I've ever been. There you go.

SPEAKER_00

You know what I mean? I'm in the And that's a great mindset to have.

SPEAKER_01

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00

You trust yourself, you trust your skills, you trust your people, correct. Networks.

SPEAKER_01

My mind is getting strong, my rest is getting better. You know, I told somebody, a sous chef friend of mine, is working for Bob Parsons now as a personal chef. And I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but anyways, he's he loves it, right? I won't say his name, but he's doing really, really good. And I said, Chris, I didn't realize how much you need a break until you get a break. Yes, you know, and that's because my phone rang. I worked seven days a week. My phone rang 24 hours a day. It was people, hey, I'm in Boston, Bo, can you help me out here? So-and-so needs this, or Bo, I'm coming in. I need a 14 top. Can you privately? Do you know a chef in LA that you can send to this person? Like, it was just it was constant of like, that's what hospitality is. Yeah. And I never really could unwind for it. So I've been off since December, right? Mid-December, had the best holidays of my life. I am zero stress right now in my life.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Zero. You know what I mean? It's like, and I played golf today. I'm gonna go home and cook my wife a beautiful mean. My wife loves it because I cook dinner for my family every night. And the beautiful thing is, I've been able to monetize a little bit of what I've done on TV, that I'm doing things that are very fun. Like I leave for Tampa food and wine tomorrow. I'll do a beautiful event at the Hot Rock with Robert Irvine. I'm gonna MC a cocktail competition. I come back. Then I'm going in May. I'm going to cook a big event at Saver Food and Wine in Dallas, Texas. Then I'm gonna cook at the Indianapolis 500.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, how fun.

SPEAKER_01

And then I'm gonna cook at a PGA event. Now, does your wife go with you? Sometimes. Sometimes. My wife, my like if Hawaii's on the table in certain trips, my wife likes to pick and choose which ones she wants to go to. But I try to bring her in. That's the beauty of the career too. The this career is taking me around the globe. And sometimes, you know, like I've I've been to I've cooked at the Turks and Cakehouse, and they're like, we're flying you and your kids and your family out. Wow. And I'm up at a, you know, in a three, three-bedroom penthouse on Grace Bay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

From food.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. How do you though, when you go to an island like that, how do you find what you want to source?

SPEAKER_01

That's a good, that's a good question. So a lot of those things, like there's always a host chef. So you have to just lean. Yeah. Yeah. Guys will be like, dude, Bo, I love what you're trying to do here. Let me tell you. And I, and you know what I do? I'm never in charge. Whenever I go somewhere else and I'm on foreign territory and someone else, I'm always like, I'm here to help and be a part of it. But without you guys, none of this happens. So I'm not the guy that walks in and is like, that's wrong. This doesn't happen, this, or it's got to be this way. I'm the guy's like, you're the pros. This is your house. I'm a guest. What can I do to make this easy for you?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a like a great form of respect.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That's who you are. So I look forward to seeing what's next for you.

SPEAKER_01

I'm excited. I got a couple hopes out there. Like, you know, I think I'm going to be, I see myself getting back into something. Right. But I'm waiting for the right thing. And you know, you get to a point sometimes in your life where you're like, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it the way I want to do it and with who I want to do it with. Right. You know what I mean? And that's I this this opportunity has this this Arizona has given me so much. I want to continue to give back. I still think there's more. And you know, even for me in this stage of my life, like, I've I look back and like the TV stuff has been incredible, right? I filmed last week in LA. I've got, I'm gonna do it again to stay relevant or to continue to keep cooking. But I also love, like I have a 23-year-old son in food. I was just one of my, you know, I was some some of my guys that have worked for me, like Russell Acace runs the Valley Ho. He was with me eight years and now he's seven years in. He's like my best friend. I'm doing a lot of my cooking out of there. You know, the guy is just to see your younger people that in 23 years, all the people in this town that have been through Sanctuary. Right. I had dinner at uh Pinon yesterday for lunch, new little Mediterranean restaurant that's owned by Buck and Ryder. It's down by AZ88. If you haven't gone, okay physically beautiful. It's like you, Kim. If a restaurant was you, it's beautiful, it's absolutely seductive and beautiful. And the food is colorful and fresh and just clean and delicious. And the chef, Erica Gonzales, worked for me when she was 20, 17 years ago. Right. So now she's running.

SPEAKER_00

Now you're a proud papa.

SPEAKER_01

I'm a proud papa. Yeah, it's way to be that's cool.

SPEAKER_00

We it is, and as we get older, we need to feed into the younger people.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

So that's part of what this is. And I hope people gather from you some of the great tools that you had, which was being grateful, being hospitable, being able to step back, even though you were the superstar. You're like, it's you, it's not me. Yeah, go ahead and see what you got.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

In your connections. Yeah, that's really neat.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's it's it's an honor. Like, like I said, here being with you, and you know, think of your stardom and like you know, and stuff like that. It's like people ask me all the time, who have you gotten to cook for? You know what I mean? And like when I when you really lay it down. By the first one you say, it may yeah, it makes me so happy, Kim. Like it's it's it's it's pretty awesome. Yeah, and I'm glad. I um I'm I want this to be I wish you the best with this podcast. Crush it. You know what I mean? It's it's fun.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Well, good. Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, we'll see what's next for both of us. Let's go. Yeah, let's go. There he goes. You're off to

Home Cooking And The Power Of Simple

SPEAKER_00

make something. What are you making for dinner?

SPEAKER_01

Tonight, I don't know. Like, I I I gotta be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00

Do you just like look in the fridge? I do.

SPEAKER_01

I made I made chicken picata the other night with noodles. Like for my kids, they love that. My daughter loves ramen. I cook ramen all the time. Really? I buy bone broths if I don't if I don't have time to cook them. I fortify the bone broth. I go to Hmart all the time. It's Korean, Korean market. Have you been to Hmart? It is, it's in Mesa. Like I will spend $600 at Hmart. My wife will be like, if you bring another bottle of sesame oil or soy sauce or hoisen or like whatever home. But I last time I went down to Hmart, I spent so much money and I called her. I said, babe, like invite 15 friends over. I made Vietnamese spring rolls. We're into Vietnamese food right now, so I'm making a lot of nug chum, lime juice, garlic, vinegar, fish sauce. But we made these spring rolls that were so good. I made hot and sour soup from scratch. I made char soup pork and I made Vietnamese chicken, steam rice.

SPEAKER_00

Are all these recipes in your brain?

SPEAKER_01

A lot of them are in my brain, but a lot of that's the beauty about food, different from formula-driven stuff. Like food you can miss by a mile and still times sometimes have an unbelievable result versus baking. If you miss by a millimeter, you're like, what happened to my dough? You know what I mean? So yeah, I just think that it's I just think that eating is such a it's one of life's most sensual pleasures. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, and so like, and the the other thing that we were just talking about in food is like the older I get, the simpler it becomes, but the better it is, the better the results. When you have an incredible olive oil with incredible French bread and some beautiful stracciatella or burrata cheese, and you shave the truffle over that cheese on the toast and then sea salt and olive oil, and you eat that, it's like, what more do you need? Some of the best pastas in the world are made with five ingredients, you know?

SPEAKER_00

So I love the simplicity, but you have to know what you're doing to be some.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And sometimes I think I do, and other times I'm like way off the mock. You know what I mean? It's like sometimes you What's your biggest flop? I love saying I still got it. Like when I do something in the kitchen that comes out, like to my young guys are like, oh, hey, oh man, you know, you show up one day and you're cooking for an hour and you still got it, you know what I mean, and stuff like that. But um, no, I think that I think that um, like you said, you're you know, in this business, and this comes back to the reality of it. You know, those mentors I talked about and the people that you want to work for. One of my greatest mentors said, as soon as you believe your own BS in this business, you're done. And I it resonated with me.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

I the real reality is you're as good as your last plate.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I mean? So like you have to keep that energy up and that food up. And the biggest thing is when you start with quality and you care for it. I know I can go to a Michelin star restaurant and have an unbelievable meal and be blown out of the water, but I also know that same emotion that I get from being impressed with that food and that texture and that visual, whatever, can be delivered by a roadside Smash Burger stand. Yeah. That or the care it takes to make an unbelievable sandwich with balance and what you put in it from texture and bread and how that comes. It's the same. Yeah. That was the aha mo. That's the blueberry ice cream. That's the chocolate cake.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know what I mean? So we all have it in us.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you have it more with how you definitely cook, but it's amazing.

Final Thanks And Where To Connect

SPEAKER_00

Anyways, thank you so much for being on.

SPEAKER_01

My honor. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Can't wait to cook for you again. Yes, I can't wait. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for watching the show. If you have any questions for me or you want any more information, go to Kim Alexis.com.