Episode 4 brings us another RI staple, Ara from Sonia’s deli. You know, across from the old Benny’s in Cranston. We dive deep into the beginning of how Sonia’s came to be and learn the roots of what Armenian food with an American twist is all about. Discover how this “mom and pop” turned into a local hero and learn what it takes to be a 3x champ. Serving up the “Atomic Bomb” and many more delicious cultured options Sonia’s deli is what makes “Life’s Bettah in New England”
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Feeling Hungry?! check out Sonia’s Market and Deli’s website for more info!
https://www.soniasdeli.com/
00:00:00:02 – 00:00:19:17 Unknown Good friggin morning and welcome to the So New England podcast. We are now on episode four. My name is Ian Brownhill. I am joined by my co-host RJ Travis Sarno, and behind the cameras on production is our good friend Vincent Connery. Today we have got a really awesome special guest which I am wicked excited to have here, a good friend of mine. 00:00:19:19 – 00:00:43:05 Unknown So without further ado, RJ, why don’t you tell us who we have in studio today? A little bit of bragging time, because you keep hooking me up with the best guests. Because you know I love food. Since 2011, serving up delicious Armenian style with an American twist. Voted 2014 Healthiest Lunch and Yankee Magazine. Not once, not twice, three times. 00:00:43:07 – 00:01:06:13 Unknown Big three voted Rhode Island monthly food fights. Pretty much the sandwich champion and featured on a very popular New England TV show, Phantom Gourmet. Ooh, Rhode Island’s very own from Sony’s market pocket. that was a great intro. Yeah, that was fantastic. Isn’t it great? He does such a good job. That was the last time I said I realize how cool I am. 00:01:06:14 – 00:01:23:14 Unknown Yeah. You are. You actually are quite cool. That was great. You gave me so much more to do, but I was like, I got to keep it short and sweet or I’m going to forget. Yeah. Think it’s going to be someone who’s perfect. So. Yeah. So welcome. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Fantastic. Super excited. I feel like a celebrity sitting here with the end. 00:01:23:14 – 00:01:40:16 Unknown So. Yeah. Oh come on now. Appreciate it. Oh stop it. Yeah. So you and I, we met, what? Probably about six months. Six months to a year, maybe. Yeah, six months. So, I mean, time flies pretty good, right? No. Yeah, something like that. So, shout out once again, I feel like every episode we are shouting out Laura from Buttons and bites our first episode. 00:01:40:16 – 00:01:55:20 Unknown Yes. Oh, because she introduced me to you. Yeah, she actually brought me in. She said, I’ve got this guy who’s got this great deli with some amazing food. He’s looking to do some promotional work. Would you mind coming in? I was like, me, food. I’m in. Let’s do it. And then we met. You gave me pretty much everything on the menu. 00:01:55:21 – 00:02:11:07 Unknown Yeah, that was fun. It was. That was an awesome. Oh, my God, it was so delicious. Stuff like in those text messages, you know, invite you out to come and get this food is amazing. Yeah. so we met and I, you know, honestly, you and I had a great rapport. It was easy ship, right? You know? Hey, I feel like I can already call you a friend. 00:02:11:07 – 00:02:27:10 Unknown And we’ve done a few videos and we hit it. That first video was. It was easy. It was like it seamless. It was just like two takes. And it was a blast. Yeah, it was a blast. I had the most. I wish it was more takes because you would’ve just kept bringing out more stuff. Yeah. No, it was awesome. 00:02:27:10 – 00:02:46:08 Unknown And then the second one, the second video was even easier. Yeah, yeah. We worked really, like, super well together. So surprised I haven’t gone viral yet, but yeah. Well we we’re again we’re getting that worked wonders. But you know Allison, he listed off of some amazing accomplishments you’ve had about Sonia’s Deli. So why don’t you give us a little backstory, man? 00:02:46:08 – 00:03:09:14 Unknown How did Sonia’s deli come about? Oh, man. Who are you? How did this business start that people want to know? Yeah. All right, so probably about 2009 and 2010, I worked there. This business was already started by another Armenian family. Oh, yeah. The Jenniskens. No. That’s us. Oh. That’s me. I was going to say I thought I read that, but I was like, I just want to make sure and ask because that’s when you read it. 00:03:09:14 – 00:03:34:20 Unknown That was my bad. Oh no no no. Man. So that’s us. so the business was started by another family. I was in and out of school. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I knew I like business, I like to work with people. I didn’t want to sit in an office. so I was in and out of schools taking classes at Ric, and I worked there part time, and I one day I remember I went home and I come from a line of small business. 00:03:34:20 – 00:03:55:04 Unknown My mom’s been in small business for 42 years. Oh my gosh, what does she do? Yeah, she owns a clothing store, coincidentally, also called Sonja’s. Oh, okay. So she’s like a staple in the, you know, business community. She’s been so actually, fun fact about her. Her first store was in the arcade. Wow. Okay. And then she moved to Garden City, and then they built their own building on Oak AV. 00:03:55:06 – 00:04:16:12 Unknown So, anyway, this is like. That’s like a miracle Rhode Island story. It’s actually pretty cool. Yeah, because she’s been through the ups and downs for 40 years, I bet. Yeah. Anyway, so I was working there. I went home one day and I just mentioned my parents, so it’s really busy, but I think it needs a few. management corrections, you could say. 00:04:16:14 – 00:04:38:10 Unknown And I think my parents, it would, would you want to buy it? I was 22. I was like, yeah, sure. Sounds fun. Next thing you know, six months later, my parents handed me the keys. They facilitated the deal. and they kind of left me figure it out. Yeah. Okay. And, 13 years or 13 years later, something like 12 years later, here we are. 00:04:38:10 – 00:04:54:03 Unknown So it was kind of meant to be because it’s the same name as my mom’s business. Right. And just a different spelling. So everyone always asks, why is your mom’s store spelled with a Y? Song is with a Y? And we’re trying to that I, I bought we bought it like that and it was too confusing to changes. 00:04:54:05 – 00:05:11:05 Unknown Right. Screw. Let’s keep it like this. Right. So that’s, that’s how it started. So here we are sitting with you guys. That’s that’s so cool. So you’re so your family and you, you guys are born, bred Rhode Islanders. well, where are you from originally? Like a little bit about that. So I have to say we’re Armenian, 100% Armenian. 00:05:11:05 – 00:05:31:13 Unknown That’s a big thing right now. I have to mention that, my dad’s in Providence. My mom’s from Springfield, mass. but we are. But she moved here when she was. She opened her first. First or her store at, like, 22. So she’s in Rhode Island there, right? Right. but we’re. Yeah, we’re north Providence, North proper. I’m not from north provolone, so we’re from, 00:05:31:20 – 00:05:47:19 Unknown I, we me and my sister grew up in North Providence. but now we are my parents are in Smithfield, and, two of us are now Cranston. It’s nice. Yeah, we are very, very proud to be from Rhode Island. And let’s plug this early. What is the address of Sonia’s Deli? Oh, yeah. So it’s 816 Park Avenue Park at, Cranston. 00:05:48:02 – 00:06:02:20 Unknown right across this. So this is a round thing, right? Right across from the old Denny’s, right? Oh, I love that. Got it. That’s it. I feel like that’s so Rhode Island. It’s so weird. I like I like the landmark right there. Like, where are you? I’m like 816. They’re like, oh, I said, you know, the old Benny’s like, oh yeah. 00:06:02:20 – 00:06:21:16 Unknown Yeah. Every time. Oh right. That never fails. So yeah, we’re, I love to be in Cranston. I mean, I just want to say this, okay? Cranston is the Mecca of the universe, and I’m not kidding. Yeah, it’s the best I got. Everything all right? I feel like we can end the episode there. Stephen. Oh, my gosh, the best it in the country. 00:06:21:18 – 00:06:40:13 Unknown Oh, my gosh, I love that. That’s so great. Yeah. So, so then so food wasn’t really your passion. That wasn’t necessary. Would you say it like, you kind of like it seems like you kind of just fell into the opportunity, and then you created a passion out of. So I was I it’s probably I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. 00:06:40:13 – 00:06:53:23 Unknown Right, right. And I was probably, you know, all of a sudden I was 21, 22. My parents like, right, you got to do something right. What’s going on here? I for a I wanted to open a bar. I want to talk in a hookah lounge just back before they were all over the place. Right. You know, I wanted to do something. 00:06:54:17 – 00:07:13:07 Unknown And when I was working there, I, you know, I learned the ins and outs, but I always worked in food, I always worked, I always worked in food. Like, since I was, you know, probably 15. Right? So it was almost North Providence. Oh, course. Right. It’s, so I, I worked in food, so I got accustomed to, you know, kitchens and the fast pace and, you know, that stuff. 00:07:13:07 – 00:07:27:10 Unknown So it came natural to me. But I’m not a cook. you know, we kind of just. I picked it up. I figured it out. Right? a lot of the stuff so that some of the staff when we bought it, stayed. Right. And then. But over time, you know, they leave, and you get to figure it out. 00:07:27:10 – 00:07:48:05 Unknown I’m super lucky. after about 4 or 5 years of business, my sister came in, and then she kind of. She’s a great cook. My mom’s a great cook, and they kind of helped revamp some of the recipes, make them easier to streamline. Gotcha. but honestly, man, it was trial and error. We just figured it out, and that’s that’s business. 00:07:48:05 – 00:08:10:15 Unknown Yeah, absolutely. Just you don’t quit, you just figure it out. Sucks. Make it again. You know what I’m saying? Like it just 100%. Well, yeah. I mean, that first award we mentioned 2014 Healthiest Lunch. Yeah. That’s. And I mean, if my math’s right, you weren’t. You were still fairly new at that. Yeah. So we I mean we do a lot of so we’re, it’s I mean, it’s weird, right? 00:08:10:15 – 00:08:26:15 Unknown Like, if you said it, if you told me ten years ago, like, this would be the business concept, I’d be like, you’re nuts. It doesn’t make any sense. You have all this Mediterranean stuff, but then you’re carrying all boar’s head cold cuts. You bring it in French baguettes, but then you’re. You’re making all, like, Mediterranean pastry. It doesn’t make sense, right? 00:08:26:15 – 00:08:48:01 Unknown But it does, like, all of a sudden it’s like a one stop shop, right? Right. we like the Mediterranean food is, speaking of, like, healthy. It’s the hummus to the grape leaves. Eggplant. You know, pita chips. Everything is homemade. That’s. You know, that Mediterranean diet is really healthy, right? so we were super fortunate to get picked up by Yankee magazine. 00:08:48:01 – 00:09:04:01 Unknown They ran a great special on us. We went on, there was like an episode that aired on TV. It’s awesome. That’s. So that’s. Yeah, it’s a big. Yeah. That food’s healthy. When I grew up, right? My mom would pack that. That wasn’t popular. Right? Right. I was trying to trade kids for. It’s like, you know that that and cheese and fruit rolls. 00:09:04:01 – 00:09:19:15 Unknown Yeah, man. You know that. You know that story. Like, you know, the ethnic kid tries his trade. You know for that was I was like, mom shout out was Waseem remember when I school when I was like you always had the grape leaves, right. Yeah. I was like, mom, I don’t want like meat pies, like, you know, like I don’t want spinach pies. 00:09:19:15 – 00:09:51:22 Unknown I’m 11. Right. You know, but now it’s so popular. Yeah. Like everybody needs it. So we got lucky and then really like that your your market in your food. Rhode Island I wouldn’t say that you have like any competition really because Rhode Island is mostly like civilian food and Italian delis. Yeah. Where am I going to go. And get my prosciutto and you know, my mozzarella and my, you know, to be a battalion guy over there, he loves that stuff, you know, or it’s like, you know, chicken cutlets. 00:09:51:22 – 00:10:12:12 Unknown So I love that stuff. Oh. Who does? Right. I mean, it’s delicious. I’m just saying it’s nice to know it’s it’s like one thing to have other options, but it’s another thing, the fact that you have other options of such variety that are well-done, so. And still appealing to the masses. Yeah, it’s it’s cool because, like, not everybody wants Mediterranean food. 00:10:12:14 – 00:10:31:11 Unknown You get hungry, give me a meatball. So you’re talking about chicken cutlets. Oh, I love I actually freaking love color. Oh, man. Listen, I love college. Shout out Lisa Vinny’s mom cutlets. Will have to bring a Sunday dinner. Yeah, she makes she makes it mean. I love it when he introduced you and said your name, it was the guy from the Jersey shore. 00:10:31:11 – 00:10:47:07 Unknown It’s like the same name. Literally. Yeah. Close enough. You’re confused, right? Yeah. You’re the it. You’re the you’re the OG. Yeah. Especially when the first pass for him. Right. Yeah. Especially when the fist pump comes out on the dance floor. Right. So I got to say, man, I love that food. Yeah I love Italian food. You know, like all the meats. 00:10:47:08 – 00:11:03:02 Unknown You know, you want to del. You know capicola. I love it all. But at home we didn’t grow up with all that. Right? You know, I got it from all my friends houses, right? Yeah. You know, and just every literally every deli in North Providence when I was a kid. Right. You know, my dad is taking me Saturday. 00:11:03:02 – 00:11:21:14 Unknown You’ll get a sandwich. We used to go to the sandwich high, you know, get stuff like that for Cadiz. And so I love that stuff. We have a lot of that. It’s weird. Like, you can come in if you don’t want falafel. We make a awesome Italian right? If you don’t want, you know, grape leaves or whatever. But we make a turkey club. 00:11:21:14 – 00:11:39:13 Unknown That’s fantastic. Right? You know what I mean? So we have something for everybody. It’s wild. Yeah. It’s, it’s a lot of work. A lot of work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some days my staff’s going to kill me, but. Yeah, well, you’re doing something right? Yeah. That’s true. So what? So what is phantom? So this is going to show. 00:11:39:13 – 00:11:56:22 Unknown I don’t really know. I’m not familiar. What is the Phantom Gourmet? What is that? Is that it’s. Oh, it’s absolutely freaking cool. Oh, it is the coolest, coolest TV show. Okay, so tell me how that came about. So they’re based in Boston. Okay. but they air, I want to say, in every New England state. Yeah. Okay. They air and every no one else state. 00:11:57:00 – 00:12:15:09 Unknown And they literally just go around and highlight, local restaurants in each state, each city, you know, all the way from I think it’s New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, mass. Right. I’m sorry you said New England state. I don’t know why you said Connecticut. Oh, stop. Right on brand. Sorry, I don’t like I have Connecticut listeners. I’m just kidding. 00:12:15:09 – 00:12:33:06 Unknown Guys, I love you all. Okay. But Connecticut is like. Like, sometimes the traffic’s just ridiculous. Yeah, it’s a pass through. Let’s be honest. It’s a bastion, at least for most of us. But I am going to say you want to talk about food? The pizzas. Yeah, yeah. Can’t be beat. Sally’s unbelievable. The best, the best, the best. You can’t go wrong. 00:12:33:07 – 00:12:53:14 Unknown You really can’t. Yeah. You guys have been to the white clam from Frank Pepe’s. Have you had it? Listen to me. I made a whole video about this. The sort of white clam I know. It’s like. And it’s like, I guess the argument of, like, pineapple on pizza, I get it. Yeah, but also do not compare like a succulent, juicy, delicious, fruity, sugary pineapple to a clam. 00:12:53:16 – 00:13:10:13 Unknown I don’t understand that on a pizza, but the people in the comment section when I’ve talked about it, when not I do not food biased. I’ll eat anything. Me too. I could care less. Me too. If the pizza looks good, it’s going right here. Oh, we went to, Orlando and we went down to Disney for his, bachelor party. 00:13:10:13 – 00:13:25:20 Unknown And when we went there, we were drinking around the world, and I saw him eat an Eminem off the floor. So, like I said, he’ll eat anything. Listen, five second rule. At that point, we were like, we were like two countries. I was drinking around the world. So that’s a very strong possibility. Honestly, I’d probably do the same. 00:13:25:20 – 00:13:39:19 Unknown Yeah. So I yeah, we’re in Belgium. The Eminem might have been from Belgium. Yes Belgium. Yeah that’s fine, I like that. Anyways. Belgium seems cool. It was Belgium. It was a lot of fun. I don’t feel like everyone was like, you have to do it like a specific order. I was like, I don’t know, I feel like you just start wherever you want. 00:13:39:20 – 00:13:55:11 Unknown Did you say your bachelor party was at Disney? Is there? So we did it in Orlando, but for one of the days we went to Disney to drink around the world. Dude. Fantastic. It was a great best man. And then we decide to go on there. Okay, here’s a little amateur move by all of us. I mean at Disney since I was like a child. 00:13:55:12 – 00:14:08:12 Unknown Yeah. So we planned this whole thing out and I’m like, yeah, well we’re there. I know that, like the drinking around the world isn’t really like the amusement park. I know they have like, some rides, but like, yeah, but when we got there, everyone like, oh, this is where the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride is. I was like, all right, cool, let’s go. 00:14:08:16 – 00:14:21:13 Unknown And we get there and we’re like, I’m like, where’s the line star? And she was like, oh, honey, you got to get on line. I’m like, I want to get in line, not online. Like, no, you have to download an app. You have to check in. You have to fire way over my head, what the hell happened at Disney, dude? 00:14:21:16 – 00:14:35:08 Unknown Anyway? So we, like, checked in, and the only time we can get on was like 630 at night and we’re there. It’s like 8:00 in the morning. I’m like, what the hell are we going to do? Yeah, la behold, we drank all day and then we got on a roller coaster at night. It was the worst decision, but the best. 00:14:35:13 – 00:15:00:16 Unknown But the best. Yeah, well, the rest of the air BNB was spinning the entire night for the time. That’s fantastic. You definitely need a Disney adult. Shout out, Jen. Yeah, my work friend. Just like the other ones. You need a Disney adult. So funny. I have never, you know, my parents, you know, their idea of, like, a vacation they sent me to, like, we used to go to, like, Canada to visit family, or they sent me to Armenia for, like, a pilgrimage. 00:15:00:17 – 00:15:19:03 Unknown And I was like, and I’m not kidding. That was my graduation gift. All my other friends got cars, and my parents, like, you got to go to Armenia then, like working at, like a village area. And I was like, okay, like like 17, right? Right, right. Like that’s a great gift. But, I went to Disney the first time I was 30, so six years ago. 00:15:19:03 – 00:15:40:00 Unknown So I, one of my close friends was her birthday. She goes every year. And, that’s where she went to a birthday. So was the first time I went to Disney. I’m not a ride guy. Yeah, actually, what’s the one that goes in the elevator and you fall? Oh, Tarrytown. Okay. Yeah. So I was with two other people, like in the party, and then we waited, like, literally an hour, hour and a half. 00:15:40:00 – 00:15:57:13 Unknown I’m like, okay, I’m gonna do this, right? Like, first ride. I’m terrified. Right, bro? We finally get in for right to the front. The elevator opens up. Next group up. See you out, you dipped dip. Oh my gosh. No. Come on dip. And went and grabbed a drink and I just sat and people watched for like two hours. 00:15:57:15 – 00:16:14:10 Unknown So yeah, I’m terrified of rides. So it’s just fun fact they actually, Tara Tara Price. So I was like a big ride guy. We both were going up Six flags like all the time. I was a big ride guy, but, like, honestly, I don’t know if it’s cause I’m getting older. I always had, like, bad ears, but I get vertigo, like, vertigo all the time. 00:16:14:10 – 00:16:36:06 Unknown Like, just like sitting here. I could get dizzy saying it out loud. I’ll probably get it later, knock on doors. But it’s just like. So I go on these rides and like I am not afraid of heights. I love roller coasters. I think that they are so sick. I have so much fun. But the minute I get on them, my eyeballs start knocking together and I like can’t see and I’m like, I’m like, all right, I’m gonna puke on this poor five year old behind me who already doesn’t want to be on the ride, but like Tower of Terror. 00:16:36:07 – 00:16:53:21 Unknown Loved it. Had so much fun the next day. Oh, this is like, this is kind of like gossip, but like the next day someone had a heart attack on the ride. Oh, like, after I was on it and I went on it. That’s right. All right. Yeah, yeah. And they don’t even freak me out. Yeah, yeah. I’m like, probably the least adventurous, right? 00:16:53:21 – 00:17:10:23 Unknown Like, I’m, I mean, I’ve been to Six Flags like, everyone I’m with goes on them and like, I want to write, but then I don’t want to get a heart attack like that. Right. So I’m like, right, I’ll just sit at the bar. Yeah. No. Like even skiing, like all my friends ski, right? You know, my best friend is like a skier, right? 00:17:10:23 – 00:17:27:21 Unknown He like, does that whole, like, like 80 miles an hour down that thing. Good. It fiance a I mean, she says she skis. I think she just slushies. Yeah. Okay. I’m the guy in the cabin who’s, like, sitting by the fire with, like, you know, Bailey’s in the coffee, and I’m just like, all right, that’s fun. Well, yeah. 00:17:27:21 – 00:17:44:05 Unknown Every resort needs that guy. Yeah, no. That’s okay. I’m that guy. I could play that role pretty well, you know? Not I feel that. I’m sorry. I watched the game. Yeah. you know, it’s this. Honestly, I feel like this feels like Rhode Island, because, like, now, at this point, we’re totally off track. Oh, yeah. This. No, no, no, this isn’t here, but I’m the one that told the Disney no. 00:17:44:06 – 00:18:05:15 Unknown So anyway, so let’s not finish the Phantom Gourmet. How did that come okay. Yes. All right. So Phantom. So Phantom Gourmet. so anyway, you get the gist. They go to every state, city, right? Highlight a restaurant. basically. So I’ve, I’ve, watched a bunch like, Saturday, afternoons. They rerun, you know, my dad always have it on because it’s cool, right? 00:18:05:17 – 00:18:21:12 Unknown That’s how you found awesome local places. They don’t do, like, big chains, right? That’s the thing they do. Mom and pop and I get an email one day and it just said, you know, we’re reaching out to Phantom Gourmet. We we saw you guys online. we came in, and, you know, tried it and then, you know, we liked it. 00:18:21:12 – 00:18:37:05 Unknown So we want to put you on. Right? I said, yeah, sure. I didn’t realize how big it would be. Right, right, right. So we did like a zoom, you know, interview and they would kind of, kind of interview, see if I guess if you make the cut, see if you’re good. because, you know, they put you on TV, right? 00:18:37:07 – 00:18:54:12 Unknown They’re, they’re in the store for, like, eight hours. So I think they have to kind of brief, you see who can. Yeah. So we love the interview on zoom I did with my sister and they were like, yeah, you guys are in. We’ll come in on whatever day, you know, X day. And I didn’t realize that they were going to show up with a legit camera crew. 00:18:54:14 – 00:19:13:14 Unknown Yeah, legit. They have these big ass cameras, by the way. This is like a workday. Like, this is like Tuesday. They will be there at nine, right? Okay. Sure. I thought it was gonna be like two little cameras and a couple guys. They bring in cameras in your face while you’re working, and I’m like, oh, this is they have lights everywhere. 00:19:13:14 – 00:19:36:16 Unknown There’s like like a narrator. And they’re there. They they think they get like five minutes of airtime, but it takes like seven hours. Yeah. And it was wild. fast forward, they aired it. They finally they, you know, they issued an email saying it’s like six months later, we’re going to air it like, all right. Awesome. So a lot of my friends got together, watched it. 00:19:36:16 – 00:19:59:02 Unknown My family, we loved it. And it boomed. Yeah, dude, because we highlighted some, like, Armenian foods that we make in our grocery section. Yeah, that are hard to find. Dude, 15 people from Cape Cod, 20 people from Massachusetts. Wow. Connecticut. That’s so awesome. It was wild. And then. And then. Oh, and then locals for lunch, people who are like, even down in France. 00:19:59:02 – 00:20:19:13 Unknown Like, I didn’t even know you were here. I I’m not exaggerating. I don’t have like, stats. I would say in that first couple of weeks, at least 200 people came in from it. It was nuts. That’s pretty good. I was going to say, because I know they talk about that sometimes. I know he’ll attest to this triple D, triple digits, my next thing, and then the Barstool Pizza reviews. 00:20:19:14 – 00:20:34:23 Unknown Yeah, he actually good for him, which I thought was very you know, Dave gets a lot of flack, but he actually did a guy and he was like, hey, we’re going to rate this pizza, but we’re not going to talk about it because he physically could not handle what was going to happen once he went on Barstool. Yeah, but that’s like a real thing. 00:20:34:23 – 00:20:51:07 Unknown So even stuff. Oh yeah, that’s cool. Is that so that really put you guys on the spot in some business, So so they aired it. And then the coolest thing is it’s not just a one time thing. They air it all the time. Oh, nice. I think I think they figured them out. Oh yeah. They’ve aired it I want to say a dozen times. 00:20:51:10 – 00:21:09:21 Unknown That’s sometimes I’ll walk in, you know, wake up and, when I was living in my parents, right. Kind of still am. I just moved to Cranston, so I’m still at my parents, but, I come come upstairs. It’s like Sunday morning, 8:00, and I could hear my voice on the TV. My dad’s watching. It’s on again. 00:21:09:22 – 00:21:30:03 Unknown That’s so cool. They air it all the time. So about a year after maybe six months after, same thing. Lady emailed me, said it. It got such good, reviews. Right. We want you to come to the studio in Boston, and we’re going to do a you know, when they do that recap. Yeah, they don’t do it for everybody. 00:21:30:03 – 00:21:50:17 Unknown They do, kind of like Shark Tank when they’re like, see where they are. Yeah. No exact gotcha. Exactly. Yeah. So they so she said can you come down to the studio to Boston and we’re going to basically air your episode behind us and talk about your experience like, yes. Awesome. So they aired the episode behind us and we kind of sat like this. 00:21:50:17 – 00:22:06:14 Unknown I brought a bunch of food. You put it out, and he literally just interviews it, you know, standing up. What was your experience this in that tell us about the story. Tell us about yourself. And then that was a different episode. Yeah. And then they put that up. That’s the same thing. Another couple hundred people came. That is so cool. 00:22:06:14 – 00:22:27:10 Unknown Phantom gourmets. It’s the shit. Yeah. Lock in for episode, I don’t know, 12 or 13. Bring him back because food comes with this. Yeah I will, I will bring food next time. No that’s cool though because again it’s a did you know that they were going to not only air the first episode as many times you did, but then did they even talk about an opportunity to come back? 00:22:27:14 – 00:22:44:18 Unknown So she said, if all goes well and we get good interaction, we might have you come to the studio. Yeah. Gotcha. I said, all right, cool. That sounds pretty. You know, like I’d love to do it. and I guess they did because they called us and we had to go down and, you know, was like midday. I had to go. 00:22:44:18 – 00:23:04:07 Unknown I was kind of cool cause there were like four other restaurants. We’re all waiting in the back. Where you from? Long ones from, like Bangor, Maine. And they were doing wings. And there was like another guy from Boston who did sliders, and it was cool. So we, all got our five minutes fame. The cool thing about Phantom Gourmet, there’s nothing attached to it, right? 00:23:04:07 – 00:23:24:00 Unknown Like they kind of do you this. I mean, listen, it’s a lot of work, especially that day. It’s no joke, but they do this, like, massive favor of, you know, blowing you up, and it works good. So. Yeah. No, they’re they’re they were awesome dudes. it was a lot of fun, man. Shout out for me. Yeah. It’s so cool. 00:23:24:00 – 00:23:45:03 Unknown Yeah. Triple D is my next one. All right. Thanks, man I triple D’s. That’s good. I don’t know if I’m like a diner dive or driving, but, you know, you know. Teller. Yeah. Deli. Deli. Make it the four d. All right. So deli. Yeah. So that awesome. Cool. So the other thing that you have been so successful with is the re food fights. 00:23:45:04 – 00:24:05:02 Unknown This is my favorite. Yes. And you have won. What was the award for it. Not even once not twice three times three. Repeat and that is. And how does how does that how does that work for you. So yeah. And tell me what is the menu item that wins you this three consecutive years in a row. So people know it to come in. 00:24:05:02 – 00:24:22:03 Unknown And so we’re going to give Jim Nellis a shout out. He started. Yes he did. and Jim actually was one of the first people to share one of my videos. Fantastic on his page. So Jim, thank you very much. Yeah. he was one of the first ones. He was one of the first individuals to share my videos when I was first starting out, which helped me engage a lot more with the Rhode Island audience because of his reach. 00:24:22:03 – 00:24:43:04 Unknown So Jim’s awesome, Jim’s fantastic. So like years ago. So I they do every month. They do a different food. Right. They’ll do coffee one month they’ll do donuts, they’ll do burgers, they’ll get pizza. And March is best sandwich. So, I don’t know, maybe five years ago, six years ago, he came in, introduced himself and said, basically, would you like to do it? 00:24:43:15 – 00:25:02:11 Unknown the customer buys a coupon book and there’s 20, 30, 40 participating restaurants in there, and you clip it out and you know, each one you can redeem at that restaurant, you’re going to be in. So, like, the coupon book will have, you know, you know, tons of different places. And if you can get to them, all you get to a is only 30. 00:25:02:12 – 00:25:17:13 Unknown That’s the challenge. So that’s the so the donut the donut thing. Like I can’t eat a donut for 30 days. Do anything. Yeah. no. No sorry. You say yes, but you, we we don’t know what you mean. We could do 30 donuts in a day. we could. We could hit all those coupons and two hours. That’s almost like I’m, 00:25:17:14 – 00:25:33:09 Unknown Listen, I’m a betting guy, so next show, I’m going to bring 30 donuts. Yeah, okay. And that’s easy. That’s easy money for me. They have to be Dunkin, by the way. Oh. Oh, oh, I’m going to tell you right now, you know, a pet peeve of mine is, oh, all these, like, fancy donuts. Yeah. Hey, I’m with it. 00:25:33:11 – 00:25:54:02 Unknown I’m with it. Yeah. I’m not gonna, you know, I’m not going to. I’m not going to name drop. No no no no, we’re not name dropping a quality over appearance okay 100%. Yeah I just want $1.79 frosted. You know, chocolate frosted chocolate sprinkle. Donut glazed. You know some of these, they’re like $9. Like I say, your first mistake was wanting anything in Rhode Island for $1.79. 00:25:54:02 – 00:26:13:12 Unknown Oh, right. In the wrong. Stale like maple bacon cereal. Yeah. It’s like a meal, right? How do you know what happens is, is in order to decorate these donuts, they need to make them slightly bigger. They’re huge and thicker and stronger to hold the decoration. It’s rude, but like, I’m like, okay, so basically I’m just eating an Oreo and then and then a not good quality donut. 00:26:13:13 – 00:26:30:10 Unknown No, I need like a good caked on it. I need something that’s like, I’m a simple donut guy, like, I don’t need all the dough, none of the fluff. Yeah. I just want, you know, there’s something chocolate talk a frosted chocolate or the glazed chocolate frosted. Yeah. I’m all in coffee stick. I have coffee glaze. Glaze stick is where I’m at. 00:26:30:12 – 00:26:47:10 Unknown I love you, I’m a random, I like, I like maple frosted. It’s great. But, you know, I, I’m kind of like a sugar addict, so that’s probably why it’s like, it’s really sweet. So I just some of the donuts. I just can’t do the. Yeah, it’s the tro donut from Dunkin actually was delicious. Dunkin donuts. Dunkin donuts. Yeah. 00:26:47:10 – 00:27:09:22 Unknown And I’m not just saying this are fantastic. They are. They are literally fantastic. Right. It’s the best donut. And you know and like, you know of course they have to like they mass produce in mass quantity but like they’re still very good like delicious I mean you know, so yeah, one of the coolest things I was when I saw the food, this thing, I was so excited cause then actually introduced me to Rhode Island food fights. 00:27:09:22 – 00:27:26:06 Unknown We did. We got the burger. We did the burger one challenge, right? And the second you did the tacos, I remember it was this one. We were living together in Providence. That was the tacos. That was the Taco Bell. I remember you guys were like, oh, we got to go fill up our coupon book. I was like, guys, I don’t what is this make? 00:27:26:06 – 00:27:42:13 Unknown Yeah. Is it going to be good tacos? Like, we got to get our coupons and you guys, like, left me in the dust with you. You’re right. I’m sorry. Yeah I did, they were good. The problem I had with it. Because here’s why I thought for the burger one, the guy who won it deserved it. Some places would kind of go in and do. 00:27:42:13 – 00:28:11:13 Unknown Like if you’re going to do a signature, something, you go for it. Make that your signature thing, right. Or anything on the menu goes, don’t do this in between stuff, because we went so few places that it’s like, oh, you can only do this, this and this. And it’s like, well, that’s not even on the menu. What? I thought this was supposed to be like a signature thing because, you know, and then there were a couple small places that weren’t necessarily like mom and pop types or like that homey feel. 00:28:11:13 – 00:28:38:19 Unknown They were kind of chain’s like a smash burger. Yeah. Which I had never been there. So basically with the coupon book, you, you know, like he said, every place offers something different, right? So I think our first couple years we said like, yeah, you can get whatever you want, right. And then excuse me. And then, you know, we started to curate it to like, okay, we’re going to give you three options, but these are our three biggest, you know, ones, vegetarian ones, meat ones. 00:28:38:19 – 00:29:01:15 Unknown This. So basically, you know, the first year we opened it up did whatever. And then as we went we started to make it smaller. But you know, still menu stuff. And I think, we did it for two years and I think our third year we won and then third, fourth and fifth. And then this past year, we didn’t do it because I didn’t get my info in on time to Jim. 00:29:01:22 – 00:29:22:16 Unknown so I was on the fence. yeah. I mean, there’s so many restaurants, you know, like, and it is awesome exposure. Like, all these people come in 25, 30 people come in a day. Right? We were getting, I don’t know, three, 400 people a month coming in to try it for the first time, right? You know, like, let not it’s not not to say like, oh, we’re going to win again because there’s awesome places, right? 00:29:22:16 – 00:29:38:10 Unknown No, no. You know, like but like we were really busy in March with Easter on the holidays are a busy time for us. I didn’t get my info on the gym on time. And then it was, you know, it was like the day before. I said, just, you know, right, we’ll skip a year, we’ll go out on share what’s going on. 00:29:38:10 – 00:29:54:20 Unknown So that’s good. I’m kind of hoping Laura does that for me this year. Shout out Laura once again. Yeah. she’s like, oh we’re doing this for the for the, a monthly, Brody influencer thing because I can never win that as long as Laura continues to participate. Man, we are trying because she’s the most popular Rhode Island influencer she is. 00:29:54:21 – 00:30:10:11 Unknown And all of her buns and bites, fans. You know what I mean? They really are. And shout out to her for that. Like when you guys did it together and do the the buns. The buns. But yeah, like you liked my buns, but I mean, I’m a fan, man. Hey, listen, I’d be squatting. Yeah, I could tell I’d be eating donuts and I’ll be squatting. 00:30:10:11 – 00:30:27:11 Unknown So I be getting them buns too. So, yeah. Fan of gourmet. it was awesome, man. Yeah. Good exposure, good exposure. Yeah. Really cool. So that’s so cool. We like to do fun stuff. Yeah, yeah. So, wait, so what was the item that won? the most for, like, what’s the most pie? Okay, so let’s do this. What’s the most popular item for you, man? 00:30:27:11 – 00:30:49:01 Unknown Store okay. So the funny thing is, like, if you ask me, my favorite, well, that’s it. If I was gonna ask you that, ask the next question. So what? So what is the most popular? So what is okay, let’s face this in three different ways. Yeah. What is the most popular? what is your favorite and what would you recommend to anyone coming in and trying your deli for the first time? 00:30:49:07 – 00:31:05:10 Unknown Like if you were like, I need this to be a returning customer, this is what you put on their plate. So this is it’s funny because we never knew this was the most popular. Right. And we’re we’re looking up stats couple of years ago, you know, pulling from POS system. We were actually trying to make the menu smaller. 00:31:05:10 – 00:31:25:06 Unknown So I said, all right, what sells what doesn’t, you know. And I said, Holy shit, we sell a ridiculous amount of Caesar wraps, like, oh, like ridiculous amount. There’s no way. I swear to God, everyone, everyone does Caesar wraps because they’re like, I’m going to eat healthy today. Let me do a chicken Caesar. Yeah, which doesn’t make any sense. 00:31:25:06 – 00:31:39:14 Unknown No, it’s that’s why I’m throwing my hands up because I’m like, okay, so that makes I mean, they listen, Caesar wraps are their Fanta, and I’m sure yours is probably delicious. It is. So I can I can it is. I can get on board with that. But like yeah, I’m so shocked. No we were your food is so good. 00:31:39:18 – 00:31:57:14 Unknown That’s the most, like that’s frickin right. So that. And then if I said, bro, it’s wild, it’s crazy. But I mean, it is what it is. You know, you make your own Caesar is that way. Yeah. And there’s and there’s homemade. This is, this is different. Homemade crushed pita chips in it. Oh. So it’s got it. Let me out. 00:31:57:15 – 00:32:16:23 Unknown You let me out to dry on that. I know that part. Little little crunch there little. It’s not like sometimes people you know other place put croutons in it. Right. So we make our own croutons. Also croutons are a little like. So my a pet peeve of mine is when a sandwich is messy. Right. So a crouton might like rip the wrap. 00:32:17:01 – 00:32:38:08 Unknown Right. Because it’s kind of thick and we use a French baguette to make a crouton. It’s got sharp edges. The pita chip is crushed. So you still get that crunch jam and it’s got applewood. Yeah. Applewood smoked bacon parmesan Caesar. And our chicken is ridiculous. But wow. So that’s the most probably my favorite. you guys like olives? 00:32:38:12 – 00:33:01:10 Unknown Of course we like olives. Okay, cool. So we make our own, olive spread with mayo. It’s a mayo based olives spread. Okay. kalamata olives. It’s delicious. It’s really simple. It’s tomatoes, imported feta, roasted red peppers, chicken. And this olive spread over it. Oh, to wrap it is. And we grill it. Fantastic. Wicked, wicked. Good. And what’s the name of the sandwich? 00:33:01:10 – 00:33:22:22 Unknown Kalamata olive chicken wrap. Oh, okay. Cool. Fantastic. Super popular. Now if you want to. And who? What would you tell someone? I don’t know if you wanted to because there’s. When I came in, Laura, recommended the. And was the chicken. It was, the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb. So also that that was so. Okay, so I’m just going to say that is actually the most popular, right? 00:33:23:04 – 00:33:42:04 Unknown It’s weird. Like we can open a saw that just as that. Right? It is wildly popular. It is unreal. Yeah. So you guys got I guess so try it. It’s so good. So, name where it came from? Yeah. We are next door to Atomic Salon. Oh, that’s right, about ten years ago, these these, these dudes were coming in and building their own sandwich, right? 00:33:42:04 – 00:33:56:14 Unknown And that’s what they were putting on it, right? And they were doing it, like, every day. So I was like, I was, you know, I was like 25. I was like, oh, it up there, screw it. Atomic. Oh my gosh. All of a sudden I was like, did this thing like took off Tommy and Johnny with their blowouts come a little bomb, right. 00:33:56:14 – 00:34:15:10 Unknown Give me the atomic bomb. And it’s so funny because it’s simple. It’s just we make our. It’s a nut again. Because when you make everything is different. pesto and mayo, we make it, and it’s like a garlic aioli, and it’s just that. Grilled with Vermont cheddar, applewood bacon, grilled on a panini. French baguette. It’s fantastic. Fantastic. 00:34:15:11 – 00:34:35:09 Unknown That’s simple. Sounds a little heavy. I got to like. That’s okay. Yeah, but literally both of my guys are sweating right now when you’re talking about your your deli man. but that if I have to recommend something, I like Mediterranean. So we make, we make a wrapper. It’s got, it’s got hummus to bully lettuce, tomatoes and kalamata olives, and it’s got tahini dressing over it, which is a sesame dressing. 00:34:35:09 – 00:34:52:01 Unknown Yep. And just wrapped in pita. we got pita every day fresh, and it’s just wrapped in pita chicken. It’s nice and light. It’s healthy, it’s flavorful. So I like that kind of stuff. That’s my go to food. That’s your I love to the baklava. We do make a lot of baklava. I do make a lot of. 00:34:52:04 – 00:35:13:04 Unknown Have you guys you guys have had baklava before, right? Oh my gosh, too. So so good. So now Baccala. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I’m saying, am I saying it right? Buccaneer. All right. Cool. Baccala was the, you know, the Italian fish, right? Yeah. Confirm. Yeah. Is that true? Right. And confirm. Baccala. So, anyway, yeah. You made it for Christmas. 00:35:13:04 – 00:35:27:09 Unknown Seven fish. The seven fish? Yeah. The seven fishes. Oh. Okay. Cool. Yeah. I just learned about the seven fish this year. I did, I did some work. I’m Irish man now I know, but like so I grew up here. West Western. I grew up in Western which is like pretty much is like Italian. But I’m like an Irish. 00:35:27:09 – 00:35:46:08 Unknown I’m like, Irish. Italians. It’s a people that Wesley kind of kind of sort of kicks out. Did you say you’re from Wesley? I’m from Wesley. I was born in Warwick, raised in westerly. Okay. went to Hendricken for two years. So I made a lot of friends in Warwick area, but graduated, went back and finished high school at westerly. 00:35:46:08 – 00:36:03:05 Unknown And then I kind of moseyed around. I went to cry like a few different times, maybe different degrees. I had a bunch of different jobs, moved to Florida for a bit, came back. But I, you know, my mother is Irish, French, Canadian, Irish, and then my father’s also Irish in English. So I’m pretty much as white as it gets. 00:36:03:09 – 00:36:19:18 Unknown So my food is like very bland, like porridge and like, you know, you know, some things I kind of like it. But we grew. I mean, my mom grew up cooking Italian, but like my, you know, she had three boys, three big boys to feed as a single mom. So like, you know, she did her best, but, you know, it was a lot. 00:36:19:20 – 00:36:35:12 Unknown Yeah. So it’s like, you know, we ate good. Good. Of course. But like, you know, meatballs, lasagna, stuffed shells, you know, like. So we ate kind of Italian food all the time because it was like, it’s the best stuff. She can make it in Balkan. We could have it for 2 or 3 days. It was easy to throw in the freezer. 00:36:35:12 – 00:36:52:15 Unknown Yeah, yeah. So you know, and then we did, you know, turkey and ham, you know, very traditional. So I had never even heard I mean I’m sure I’ve heard the seven fishes. My brain just didn’t compute it. And hold on to it. But I did stuff for I did stuff for stop and Shop and they were like, oh, we want to do like an ad space for the seven fishes. 00:36:52:15 – 00:37:06:01 Unknown So I learned all about it and I did ad space swim and stuff, and it was really cool. So seven fish is actually delicious. So that’s like a great night at that. Yeah. I’m not I’m not a fish guy myself. No no. Like I, I don’t mind like I mean I like seafood, I like I like lobster obsessed. 00:37:06:01 – 00:37:29:07 Unknown The kamari I’ll do oysters. I’ll do you know, clams casino like. Yeah I like, like stuff, but I’m just like, what about like, salmon? Yeah. I was gonna say, here’s the thing. So I did I did bodybuilding and, for, I don’t know, I mean, I still exercise quite a bit, but I was really committed to my bodybuilding for about ten years, so I literally ate salmon, like, every day for, for like five years. 00:37:29:07 – 00:37:42:06 Unknown And I like the thing with, like, bodybuilding that was easy for me. It’s not for everyone. So I want to like, deter people from like eating healthy and getting in shape. But like, I just ate bland because it was that much easier to just like, I just you just need to activeness. Yeah, you need to go, like, down. 00:37:42:07 – 00:37:54:23 Unknown I just got, like, a slab of, like, salmon and I like, threw it in and I put it down and I would like, cut it up in my rice, in my veggie. And it was like all like, yeah, I get what I call like a collage or something like that when it’s all just like put together. So yeah, I love salmon. 00:37:55:00 – 00:38:10:00 Unknown Yeah. Yellow mood. Yeah. Everyone’s got different terms for it. I’ve had some pretty good salmon. If it’s prepared well it can be. It can be delicious. But I just was never hot takes on calamari. But I’ll do that later. Oh no. Let’s do it right now. Praying prayer. We need to do like cool effects. Yeah I take it off. 00:38:10:00 – 00:38:27:09 Unknown Everyone from Johnson’s. Yeah. All right. Ready now I love it. So that’s that’s a so I love it. All right. Cool. It’s the most overrated food. So I’m going to tell you why. Whoa. Hold on a second. When you go to a restaurant are we going to get come more. Oh get the camera. Yeah. It’s always the same. 00:38:27:11 – 00:38:44:08 Unknown It’s always the freaking same. I’ve never had time. I’m like, Holy shit, this is. They’re always good. Some are bad, right? Some are good, but they never, like, knock your socks off. Yeah, right. I’m like, oh, wow, this is good. This is delicious. It’s always I’ve it tastes the same to me now a couple people I like it. 00:38:44:08 – 00:39:00:09 Unknown They put the hot peppers on it. Yeah. you know what makes a really good calamari? I where the hell they’re. Iggy’s makes a great iggy’s does. Iggy’s is fantastic. Yeah, that’s my only thing. Like when you sit down and everyone at dinner, you’re going to get to go more. It’s always a fucking same. Sorry. Always the same. 00:39:00:09 – 00:39:13:05 Unknown Yeah. You good? So like. Yeah, right. Like one day. Let’s not get to Calmar, you know what I mean? That’s fair. You know what? It’s I think it’s more like for me, it’s like, prepared. Like if you give me shrimp calamari, I’m like, I’m like, it’s, you know. Oh, by the way, I mean like, yeah, I mean, of course. 00:39:13:05 – 00:39:31:16 Unknown Yeah. It’s like batter. So it’s like it’s fried. So like, anything fried is always gonna be good, but like, I like, there’s, like, you get like, the peppers, onions, peppers and you get some lemon, obviously. And also I like, they do like, like a peanut sauce and peanut sauce. Yeah. Like a peanut sauce. I don’t know, I’ve definitely not saying this correctly. 00:39:31:16 – 00:39:49:06 Unknown Yeah, I might be I might be screwing that up. But let’s say it’s from our it’s a peanut sauce okay. And I use like balsamic a balsamic glaze. You can come over. Yeah. It’s right all over the place. Baby, I love me. Yeah. Just come here on the menu. All right. See, they. So I’m the guy that’s like, you gotta have the calamari, right? 00:39:49:07 – 00:40:04:05 Unknown Yeah. So, I mean, I like it, man. Like I’m going to eat it, but it’s not my. It’s like I always, every time it comes I’m like all right again we’re having Calamar. Right. It’s the same thing. So that’s it. That’s my hunting. Gotcha. That’s a hot take. I mean, Rhode Island is full of spicy. Yeah. I mean, a lot of a lot of, you know, that’s it. 00:40:04:11 – 00:40:15:10 Unknown I don’t know where we left off. We were talking about. Yeah, something. Well, we’re all over the place. We were talking about the sandwiches you recommend recommended. Yeah. Yeah, but you also have them. You have a market in there too? Yeah, just a deli. Tell us a little bit about the market. What do you got the cool thing. 00:40:15:11 – 00:40:40:21 Unknown Yeah. So we okay so menu is big. We make a ton of salads wraps, sandwiches, soups, all that stuff. Baklava. We make, in-house pistachio or walnut. every day like that blows out. Yeah. we make fresh cookies, like, all kinds of stuff. Prepared foods. it’s again, it’s it’s weird because we make all American, you know, potato salad, pasta salad, chicken salad, tuna salad. 00:40:40:21 – 00:41:03:16 Unknown And then right next to it, marinated eggplant. Bob, we’re gonna do this, right. He or Ziggy is fire. Yeah. That is he is legit. Fire. you know, hummus and garlic sauce and all that stuff. And then we have a grocery area. This is cool because it’s things that you can’t find. Right? So we have all the Greek imported is five different pieces or more, probably ten different kinds. 00:41:04:04 – 00:41:22:10 Unknown all we have a full like olive bar. We have five different olives, all imported, and they’re inexpensive compared to the grocery store, and they’re all imported. Right. we have got 100 different spices by the pound. We’ve got all the cookies and teas and crackers and frozen section where you come and get like for, like, Russian dumplings. 00:41:22:19 – 00:41:42:02 Unknown this just episode’s getting real hard. Yeah. We got we got a lot of stuff, man. We have all, like, all your phyllo dough to make baklava. Right. we make, little, it’s like an Arab. it’s like an Arabic called kibbeh. So we make it. It’s a it’s kind of like a meatball. Okay. and we fry it and we make it, and we sell the does its fried. 00:41:42:02 – 00:41:58:04 Unknown I mean, it’s fried. Yeah, yeah. So there’s a ton of we have like five different yogurts and we have string cheese, like Armenian string cheese. Yeah. Yeah. Like five different of those that there’s a lot of stuff. I mean there’s probably two, 300 products in the market. That’s so cool. Yeah. So it’s a lot man. Like you got to. 00:41:58:04 – 00:42:15:07 Unknown We get a lot from California and like legit like truck shows up. You gotta unload it, man. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of work. Yeah. Flow. We get a lot from Florida, New York. Right. so there’s always a a truck driver at the store, man. Right. Always. yeah. So that’s really cool, though. It’s cool. It’s kind of, you know, it’s kind of like is vendor. 00:42:15:08 – 00:42:31:23 Unknown And you know, they’ve got shows of Italian stuff. Oh yeah. That’s right. Yeah, yeah. Same same kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. They’ve got sandwiches. They’ve got prepared foods. It’s similar right. You know we have it’s just ours is you know we sell like falafel mix. We sell tahini to make, you know, hummus. You know, we sell all that stuff on the shelf. 00:42:32:03 – 00:42:47:23 Unknown Right. And then the prepared foods are there, the pastries on the counter. And then, you know, we have all the point of purchase stuff. We have, oh, tons of kinder. Yeah, we have the okay, here’s a big plug. We have, you know, kinder. No. Yeah. You do know. Yeah. If I googled it, you know, probably. Yeah. The you know, the eggs, the chocolate eggs on the inside. 00:42:48:01 – 00:43:05:17 Unknown Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay, okay. Would you say that. Yeah. Yeah I call them kinder. That’s the candy. So we have the real kinder egg that I’m think it’s illegal in United States. We get it from Montreal. Oh, yeah. They have, like the domestic one. That’s like kind of. Yes. Okay. We have, like, a real kin drink. So people come in just for that? 00:43:05:18 – 00:43:20:04 Unknown No, because it’s like the European version. Yeah. Yeah. They don’t sell them in the United States because like, the kids joke on the toys or something, but we disregard that and we sell it. Shout out to the US for the kids eating toys, but they don’t. Yeah, but they don’t choke anywhere in another country. Yeah, well, but here we’re a special breed. 00:43:20:05 – 00:43:41:15 Unknown Yeah we are. So anyway, we have a lot of stuff, man. That’s awesome. That’s cool. Cool. Well, speaking of your hard work, I was going to say. Yeah, let’s, let’s let’s like so you go ahead. So we, we we kind of touched base on this previously before when you got in we were setting up. You’ve been in business for quite some time 13 years. 00:43:41:15 – 00:44:02:00 Unknown Yeah. And in those 13 years you came out on top and you beat Covid. Yeah. How was that for you, man? It’s I have a lot of mixed, a lot of the things I probably can’t say on camera, but it was tough. Yeah, yeah. And from a business perspective, along with, like, Covid and like being in Rhode Island as a whole, like what was your experience like? 00:44:02:00 – 00:44:16:21 Unknown How have you gone through the hardship? Yes. Would you what what advice would you give to people that want to have a small business in this state, which right now we can just be honest, the economy is not in our favor. No, I mean, I think that’s across the board, but Rhode Island is particularly tough with the small businesses. 00:44:16:21 – 00:44:32:08 Unknown So yeah, explain to us like what what that was like and how you’ve gotten there. Any advice and walk us through that small state. When the economy is good, we feel the best worst feel the worst, you know, so we’re getting crushed, right? Covid, man, it was, nuts. I mean, every everyone’s I tell you the same thing. 00:44:32:08 – 00:44:53:11 Unknown It was it was absolutely nuts. Especially because, you know, I don’t even know where to start. Like, people couldn’t come inside, right? So we said, okay, we’ll do curbside, right? It was April downpour, and people are parking down side streets. What car are you in? Gray car. You know, I got these kids, these cashiers running through the parking lot with bags of food, right? 00:44:53:11 – 00:45:09:18 Unknown You know, no idea where they’re going. Yeah. and then when you could come inside, you had to stand within five feet. Ten feet away from each other. Six feet, I believe. Yeah. We had to put the, the signs on the ground. No one followed it, you know, and and, you know, the thing is, like, I’m not there to police that, right? 00:45:09:18 – 00:45:32:09 Unknown You know, like, there’s only a business is hard enough. Yeah, exactly. And then these are some customers that I’ve known for years. Right. And some of them are elderly. Right. Yeah. I do police. They’re where they’re standing. I’m like oh miss if you could stand over here they don’t care. Right. So and then other customers see it, they’re like well that person’s standing I’m like yeah yeah that’s how can we just breathe for a second. 00:45:32:09 – 00:45:53:15 Unknown I get and I’m not minimizing the does he I’m not doing that right. But from a working with the public aspect. Yeah. And then we were closed for, I don’t know maybe six I don’t remember 6 to 8 weeks. We were closed. We were shut down because I’m literally think we were the first person, first people to get it in Rhode Island. 00:45:53:15 – 00:46:09:10 Unknown It was like that first when I was on TV and all of a sudden, you know, this new virus and all of a sudden I was home and I was coughing up a storm. Yeah. And I said, Holy shit, I think I have this thing that’s on TV. Yeah. So I texted the staff and said, I’m going to stay home. 00:46:09:10 – 00:46:27:16 Unknown Well, that set off. We’re not coming in because no one know what it was. Right? Right. Well, we’re not coming in. And I was like, okay, I what am I going to do? Right? So we closed for two weeks and we reopened and it just snowballed. I have a big staff. There’s 19 I’m with 19 employees. Right? A lot of them are young. 00:46:27:16 – 00:46:44:05 Unknown In college they didn’t listen. They went out. Yeah. And all of a sudden one got it. Two got it. So we had to close again right then open again and then close. Like every every month somebody has to go and no one would come near us. Right. You know. And then, you know, there was, you know, all of a sudden the prices shot up. 00:46:44:05 – 00:47:03:10 Unknown Right? Yeah. Well gloves. Sorry about that. So, you know, gloves that you’d wear to make, you know, they went from 27 a case to 99 a case. Right. And you’re using a case a day, then you couldn’t get them right. And it was just one thing after another. Yeah. You know, and then, you know, health department come in and check weekly, man. 00:47:03:15 – 00:47:20:18 Unknown Weekly. Oh, you have an employee here. They tested positive for Covid. When’s the last time you saw them? Then you had to submit your schedules. You know, they they they literally wanted your work schedule to see how who worked with who. And I, I fought this the fight was the first time I’ve ever heard of that. I’ve never met anyone that said that. 00:47:20:18 – 00:47:36:04 Unknown That was something that they had to do. I was going to say, because I like I talked about I worked in banking, so I helped a lot of people, you know, saw some things to and from, you know, the good and the bad. I didn’t know that. Yes. That’s brutal. Yeah. And I fight, you know, fight everything. And I always get something to say. 00:47:36:04 – 00:47:52:16 Unknown And that pissed me off. I said, I said that’s, that’s, I don’t know, it’s going to violate something. Yeah, I don’t know. That doesn’t sound right. I don’t know, but I ain’t doing it anyway, so. Oh, so-and-so has Covid. When was the last time they worked? I’m like an hour last Tuesday. Okay, we need the Tuesday schedule. 00:47:52:18 – 00:48:18:01 Unknown I said, for what? What are you going to do, notify the other people they already know. Right. And then that’s how they would remember. Remember when like no one was listening. Yeah, right. That’s how they would trace things. Right. And it was so yeah that’s tough. And so lucky for us. Yeah. People still a and I get to tell you it we have I had unbelievable friends and just customers that long time customers who just bought stuff to buy stuff. 00:48:18:01 – 00:48:35:04 Unknown Yeah I feel like it’s so funny. I feel like I, I feel like most, like food places kind of did well because, like, I mean, it was definitely a headache for the owners. But then from like a cash perspective, like, I feel like a lot of people saw an influx because everyone was home and no one wanted to go out to eat. 00:48:35:04 – 00:48:48:09 Unknown Yeah. Like we don’t wanna go to the grocery store, so we’ll let it. We’ll DoorDash order, you know, ordered. And you guys leave it outside and we’ll go get it because like, you know, it was so it was we were at least for like the first 4 or 5 weeks, it was like a freaking party for a lot of people. 00:48:48:09 – 00:49:04:20 Unknown So I want to say, like, I don’t want to say we did. Well, we survived. We may we other you know why I was late to catch on, right? I was still fight in the you know, I’m not closing. Right. And all these other bigger businesses were like, great. We’ll close in to DoorDash and cut our staff in half. 00:49:04:21 – 00:49:20:01 Unknown Right. And I was late to that party, so I didn’t make any profit. I probably broke even those, you know, that year. Oh no. That year I totally took I took it on the chin. I didn’t I didn’t break even. But we just stay. We. Yeah, we took it on the chin, but we just stayed afloat. That was the thing. 00:49:20:01 – 00:49:42:01 Unknown Gotcha. And then the other thing with Covid, man, we just. It’s. You mean you just keep your head up? Yeah. And that’s anything. There’s good times. There’s bad. There’s days that you want to quit. You know, you ask any business, there’s there’s of course, if there’s. Yeah, I’m going to work corporate and then, but then there’s days that you, you know like you make people’s day you know. 00:49:42:01 – 00:50:00:16 Unknown So Covid it was one of those times you just keep your head up man. You just keep pushing. Well you came out on top. Yes. We did the same doing well. And you still kicking. You’re still crushing it. Yeah. So, so but Covid was wild, man. Yeah absolutely. That was a crazy time. Yeah. So I mean like doing business in Rhode Island as a whole. 00:50:00:18 – 00:50:18:21 Unknown Do you find it difficult or is it is it more I mean, obviously this is the only location you have, right? For now. Right now, I have a feeling that I could ask you that kind of question. We’ll stay tuned. We are in the. Yes. Okay. So you’re thinking about expanding. Awesome. Yeah. But you know, the unique thing that you’re crazy for, right? 00:50:18:21 – 00:50:38:17 Unknown Right. Yeah. I barely made it to this. Right. But you know what? I’m a I you know what? I’m all in you. I would rather swing and miss from my face. Right? Rather than, like, half way swing. Right? You know, miss 100 shot, 100%. The shots you don’t take. Michael Scott, Michael Scott, baby. Yeah, like this guy. 00:50:38:18 – 00:50:57:18 Unknown Best show. but, you know, doing business as a whole is difficult in Rhode Island. Yeah, but the perks of something like of business in Rhode Island is always the people in the community. And that’s what you’re talking about and what you’re mentioning with what you have going on. And I happen to know firsthand that you have, a lot of good efforts and wonderful things that you do for our community. 00:50:57:23 – 00:51:12:01 Unknown Why don’t you tell the people about that? And there’s nothing wrong with bragging about this. So don’t be shy. Tell us a story, man. Yeah, we have my green light. We will leave him alone. Yeah. We have, I mean, I, I hate them, like, I don’t want to brag about that stuff. Yeah, and I hate when people do it. 00:51:12:02 – 00:51:27:12 Unknown Yeah, they they put. It’s not bragging. I’m trying to shine a light on the fact that Rhode Island is small, but there are some incredible people here, and most of them are. And these incredible people need to be showcased. That’s why we make this show, man. I want these people to hear about what you’re doing for our community to make it better. 00:51:27:13 – 00:51:47:07 Unknown Yeah. so years ago, probably a couple of years into the business, at Brady, fan favorite, he asked us to come to a, like, a almost drive. so we did it. Oh, Ed’s always doing great stuff. Yeah, he’s. I mean, he’s like a pillar in the state, so. Yeah. So he asked us to get involved, and we did a couple times, and then it just snowballs. 00:51:47:07 – 00:52:04:07 Unknown And we’ve been involved in, you know, a lot of various things over the years. You know, we sponsor Christmas time people. We could you can buy somebody dinner will, you know, we’ll match it, stuff like that. we did a lot of stuff. just a couple weeks ago, we did, something with the, Praise Tabernacle in Cranston. 00:52:04:07 – 00:52:21:05 Unknown We went to a homeless dinner. my mom came with me. We did. We served at their church. We do. You know, we do it as much as we can. we donate, on Saturday. We’re not open Sundays, so Saturday sometimes is leftover food. We don’t want to keep it. So we’ll call, homeless shelter, and they’ll come pick it up. 00:52:21:11 – 00:52:39:01 Unknown That’s not so. It’s amazing. Yeah. I mean, you kind of. And you gotta help, man, right? That’s the thing. Like, you have to, right? Yeah. Like you, I. You have to do your part, right? Right. And I and I’m a big, big believer in karma, right? Right. Like you have to do. You have to help, man. You know, like, yeah, as much as you can. 00:52:39:05 – 00:53:00:03 Unknown And that’s huge. That’s some big stuff that a lot of restaurants try and do. But to be when I was in banking, obviously I worked in Connecticut. I don’t know if I told you that, but I kind of back and forth when we would go to the, like Chamber of Commerce events, hearing some of the stuff that, you know, the, the headliners did to kind of get their names out there, I was never about sales and profits. 00:53:00:03 – 00:53:15:22 Unknown It’s never about stuff like that. It’s really about how much you give back. So that says a lot about you, that you not only have the time to take on such a big business, doing with so much what you do, all the lives you impact, but then put extra time in to go above and beyond and do that for the community? 00:53:15:22 – 00:53:34:02 Unknown Yeah, just kind of with what’s going on right now. Because you, you know, it’s Emily. It’s not like, but it’s you. It’s weird. Like we don’t even second guess it, right? You don’t. You mean like, I think it’s weird if you don’t do it right? Like, what’s the. Yes, but then what’s the point of all this? Right? You know, like, there are people who are like, I’ve met. 00:53:34:02 – 00:53:51:23 Unknown Like I met a great guy that we were to one of the homeless dinners, and it was at, I don’t know where it was, but anyway, we met a great guy. He just fell on hard times, right? It happened. Anybody? Of course, you know, and he just he was so appreciative of the meal, you know? And I was like, wow, this is this guy is like totally right. 00:53:52:00 – 00:54:11:17 Unknown Like so happy. He was so full of life, so full of love. And then, you know, like you really sit back and think like, oh, my problems that bad. Yeah. Right. That’s always perspective. Humbling. Yeah. They humbles you big time. So I love doing it man. I and but we try when we’re, when we don’t have, we could, you know, probably do more. 00:54:11:17 – 00:54:34:04 Unknown But always if we can. You know, I just think it’s important that I just think it’s important to take time, times like this and my intentions with this podcast and us is to highlight individuals such as yourself and other people and businesses. Because as much as you’re just thinking to yourself, look, this feels like second nature. People are hungry, I have food, why would I not help them? 00:54:34:06 – 00:54:55:14 Unknown I’ve got an ability to reach the masses with my following. Why would I not bring them to the people who are doing good things? It’s like it feels like second nature. But when you when you log on to your phone, it’s not. It’s not the stuff that you’re seeing. No. Right. You’re seeing things about how awful people are and how it’s unsafe to be outside and how and yeah, listen, crisis is always going to exist. 00:54:55:14 – 00:55:13:19 Unknown Chaos and order is just how life works. But at the end of the day, if I can say, hey, listen, your favorite deli is also community is also contributing to keeping the community fed and healthy and taking care of. You’re helping individuals on much bigger scales, and you don’t have to share that story if you don’t feel like it. 00:55:14:00 – 00:55:31:15 Unknown But you’re doing things that are affecting people’s lives in a very positive way, and I just want to shed some light and say, yes, there is bad, but let’s not forget the good and right. You know, it’s people will see something, you know, more people are going to complain than not. You know, if one person has a bad review about your sandwich, everyone’s going to go on half and it’s going to bombard. 00:55:31:15 – 00:55:47:07 Unknown But yeah, this guy’s just grabbing money. I mean, the sandwich used to be 1299. Now it’s 1350. I can’t believe you went up $0.50. It’s like, okay, yeah, sure, complain all you want, but let’s not forget that he is a business owner. He is trying his best. And let’s also focus on the other amazing things that you’re doing. 00:55:47:07 – 00:56:03:04 Unknown And that’s my intention. So I know it might not feel great for you to to talk about that, but I’m okay with saying this is an amazing individual who runs a wonderful business and is doing impactful things for our community here in Rhode Island, and I think it’s important that people know that. I, appreciate it, man. Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. 00:56:03:04 – 00:56:26:19 Unknown I mean, you also make bomb fucking food how we do, man. Food around. But, my family’s, you know, it’s it’s everything starts at home. Yeah, right. Everything starts. we grew up, going to church. we’re super involved. Yeah. You know, my parents, you know, that was a big deal. And you kind of learn a lot of, you know, your your traits as an adult, you learn as a kid and, you know, giving back outreach, community outreach is a big deal. 00:56:27:06 – 00:56:51:22 Unknown right. Yeah. And, you know, it’s fun. Like, it’s not this, like, chore, right? It’s actually fun. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, that’s it’s second nature, you know, it’s second nature working in banking, we did very similar things, and I, I can’t tell you how many times where you don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen, but when you’re there, it just feels right. 00:56:51:23 – 00:57:09:05 Unknown Yeah. You can’t explain it. There’s no like there’s nothing bad about it. No. What’s what’s the bad thing. Yeah. There’s nothing but upside like on a Sunday morning or you know if it’s not I remember like we went to something and it was a Sunday morning. It was I think it was a homeless dinner. That’s usually what we’ll geared towards. 00:57:09:15 – 00:57:24:12 Unknown Or like the battered women’s shelter stuff like that. I’m all and I do want to get involved in animal stuff cause I’m a massive right. I remember you know and my dogs are my life. Yeah. So I want to get involved in dog you know animal it’s all outreach. But it was like a Sunday morning. 00:57:24:12 – 00:57:40:11 Unknown I think it was like, right after church service. It was like 1 to 2. What’s wrong with that? What, am I to watch the game, right? Yeah. You know, and I. And I do that enough. So, like, what’s the bad that’s going to come out of it man. Like, you know you can skip brunch for a Sunday. It’s not the end of the world right. 00:57:40:11 – 00:58:00:19 Unknown You know like so I don’t know. It’s important. Like that story you were saying. it was, legit. And I’m not exaggerating. Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Yeah, yeah, we’ve done met me and my sister, you guys, man. Yeah, that we was. It was just, it was a kid in the community who needed, needed a kidney and. 00:58:00:20 – 00:58:19:11 Unknown Amazing. Yeah. And we just kind of helped organize. Kind of like a fundraiser, I guess, you know? And, we had some connections at the news. We had some connections at the radio, and we just said, yeah, we’ll help. I didn’t realize it was going to be this big. Yeah. And it got on the news. It got on the radio. 00:58:20:19 – 00:58:42:18 Unknown you know, and it it just spiraled. And it was the busiest day we’ve ever had. Ever. Yeah. And, you know, we set up the donor match, you know, area in the store. And there was just chaos. And they end up finding a donor. And it was I’ll never forget it when they called and said, hey, we found donor at your store, but I just started crying. 00:58:42:18 – 00:58:58:13 Unknown I was like, that’s unbelievable. That’s incredible. Like, how do you, like, get messages in my head? And then I’m not that kind of guy. But yeah, how could you like it was the cool. How do you not so unbelieve. And then you see the kid, he’s like two. And I’m like, oh my God, that’s beautiful. Right. So and if you can help, just. 00:58:58:13 – 00:59:26:09 Unknown Yeah, just not the bad guy. I joke with him all the time because I feel like in our society now, social media is so important and it’s everywhere. So really is the amount of stupid stuff that gets people famous. Like, I’m biased, he’s my best friend. I’ve known him since we were 12, 13 years old. I’ve seen the work he puts in, all the people in the comments that say, oh, he doesn’t work hard to get a real job. 00:59:26:11 – 00:59:44:08 Unknown Come hang out with him for a couple of days and you’ll see what exactly he does. And some of the stupidest stuff that people get famous for. And it’s like, why? Yeah, when there’s beautiful stuff like this and it’s like, you save a life or you save a family, you put clothes on the back, food on the table. 00:59:44:12 – 00:59:59:20 Unknown I hate social media. Yeah, yeah. And I know it’s like it’s your career. Yeah. No I listen and so I respect it. Right I respect it I wish I’m better at it. I’m terrible at it. I don’t even know how to do stuff on my phone. But I when I go on my phone, yeah, I’m terrible at it. 00:59:59:20 – 01:00:21:11 Unknown Right. It’s like I have my fiancee. I’ll ask her something. And she’s like, are you kidding me? Like, that’s copy and paste. And I’m like, I didn’t know where it was. and like, sounds like me. Talking of inputs yesterday, I like age myself. Quick. I just I hate it because you go online and. Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m still on Instagram all the time and on this and on that on Facebook. 01:00:21:13 – 01:00:40:07 Unknown It’s like everything is so dumb, you know, like, I’m like, I’m like, these kids are like, yeah. These people are doing like the dumbest, right? Right, right. Like, the food waste is unbelievable. Like, you know, just for the like, that would drive me nuts, you know? And I’m like, I don’t know, I just it’s annoying, I guess. 01:00:40:13 – 01:00:54:17 Unknown And everyone annoys me. I just everyone I didn’t have social media when I was 15 or 16. We’d probably be in jail. Yeah. Exactly right. Like I got from I think Tom Newell was coming. He was like, let me just limit the ability of these kids to drama in my school just because, like, I change my top eight. 01:00:54:19 – 01:01:10:06 Unknown Like I was like, that was like, the thing was, I can’t believe you put her in your top eight and not me. I’m pretty sure I was talking about with my friends. If we had like social media when we were going out and. All right, dude, done deal. Dude. Like, we all, we we’d all be. Oh, I would never be here. 01:01:10:06 – 01:01:27:01 Unknown You’re never own a business. You have this conversation across each other and it’s out. Yeah. And it’s out right like that. But that was like, I’m sorry, I’m a big 90s guy. Yeah. The best time to grow up. Yeah, absolutely. Like 90 millennial babies are the best. The best, the best, like I said. So like we’ve got the best of all, understand all perspectives. 01:01:27:01 – 01:01:47:02 Unknown And we’re we’re empathetic to the up and coming and understanding of their perspective and finding themselves. But I agree with like a belt and like, oh yeah man, understanding hard work. And like sometimes you’re going to get paid minimum wage and you’re going to hate your boss, but you got to stick it through and learn how to do the wherewithal to survive, like my version of worlds and the best fucking music. 01:01:47:02 – 01:02:07:10 Unknown Oh, no. Yeah, you heard it here first. Millennials have the best music experience of all time. Montell Jordan that’s fantastic. You don’t love them like 90s. and Boyz II men. Yeah. Love that. Yeah. When I was a kid. Like you’re talking about work. Yeah. My first job, it was a summer job. I was probably like 14 or 15. 01:02:07:11 – 01:02:24:21 Unknown Like, think about that. 14 or 15 years old. My dad’s like, yeah, you’re not going to get paid. It’s for life experience. Yes. I was in college, so. So I used to come to the arcade. There was a Greek restaurant in the arcade. This is before now they just redid it. And this is going back, you know, 20 years. 01:02:24:23 – 01:02:42:15 Unknown And there was a Greek restaurant there. And I used to like, literally there was like three people that worked there. Me and these three other guys. And I was like 14, 15. I worked there the whole summer and it was like, you know, they treated me like shit and made me, you know, clean the, you know, clean the grease trap and, offers. 01:02:42:20 – 01:03:07:12 Unknown But you learn hard work. Yeah. And you learn like the value of, you know what? This is business owner, what he was putting into it. And you saw it now. And now I can see it. Yeah. Different age, but, there’s it gives you a new respect on things when you go out to go to, like, when you go out to dinner or if you’ve worked in a retail space, because I always joke like, that’s I mean, everyone, you work in a restaurant once you agree, one thinks you have to never did it. 01:03:07:13 – 01:03:23:23 Unknown You have to. I mean, I kind of, I you want to come and do a shift? Well, no, I like coming in and doing this thing. Okay. We’re going to have to cut this short before I. I don’t want to go an idea. I know TikTok is shutting down, but I don’t want a real job. Why don’t we can do an episode in there and maybe that’s your next thing to. 01:03:24:02 – 01:03:35:10 Unknown Why don’t you why don’t we do a shtick like you pick up a shift? All right, that’s not bad. All right? Oh, yeah. Well, you know, I got a good job. I put you through the wringer. If it gets bad, you give me nine months. If I get banned in nine months on TikTok, then I’ll be in do. 01:03:35:10 – 01:03:59:19 Unknown And I’ll be actually applying. So. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. Minimum wage please. All right, well, you’ve got a lot of work, a lot of experience you’re throwing through Rhode Island or you’ve been here for a long time. The best. We want to wrap this up. I got to hear a good story. I have a lot of good stuff. One of our segments is something that, about New England as a whole, is a very unique, specific demographic of people and a style and a way of living. 01:03:59:21 – 01:04:18:07 Unknown So tell us a story that only New Englanders were get. man, I’m sure you got plenty of them. I have a lot, but I’m trying to get a good one. Like they’re going to be more focused, like Rhode Island bass. Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. Rhode Island knows. Maybe other, You know, I glanced at the choir. 01:04:18:07 – 01:04:39:11 Unknown I didn’t see this one. Let me. Oh, no, I did. Yeah. We talked. Oh we did. Yeah. Yes, I have a better one, actually. You know what I’m going to say? Both. Give them to me. This one. Sure. Okay. So everyone knows each other, right? Everyone knows everybody. party for my mom. This I was probably 16 or 17 is going back a while ago. 01:04:39:15 – 01:05:02:19 Unknown Right over 20, I think. 20 years. Cancer month. 5 or 6 years. Yeah. I wish stuff, Grace, but I’m just getting grace. parties. My mom left the restaurant. I’m driving home. Me and my. Everyone took separate cars, right? It was like a family party. Friends. Right. So I’m leaving the restaurant. My dad’s behind me, right? I think I’m going down George Washington Highway, and I never forget it. 01:05:02:21 – 01:05:20:21 Unknown I get pulled over now. It’s that stretch at George Washington where there’s no lights. There’s no, like, near Bryant. There’s no lights there. It’s very dark. I get pulled over, cuffed behind me, and I just know my dad’s in the stuff. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. And the cop comes and I was probably just going ten over or something. 01:05:20:21 – 01:05:39:19 Unknown 15 over. So whatever. Okay. I’m not nervous. So my dad pulls up behind the cop car, so the cops at my window and he’s looking, and he said, you know that person I couldn’t see? I said, I can’t see, I don’t know, it’s probably my dad. Maybe I don’t know. My dad gets out of the car and the guys. 01:05:39:21 – 01:06:01:04 Unknown Sir, stay in your vehicle. My dad, you can. These gets closer. Yeah. Stay in your vehicle last time. Stay in your vehicle, officer. I think it’s my son. He’s a good boy. Don’t. Don’t, sir. Because the cop can’t see. And of course, dark as hell. The night in middle it. Middle of the night. My dad’s coming up walking behind the cop car. 01:06:01:04 – 01:06:21:13 Unknown Yeah, he has no idea who I am. Right. So cop drugs is gone, right? 100. Rightfully so. I said, Holy shit, my dad’s going to get clipped right in the middle of George watch highway. Oh, my. This is pretty nuts. So the cops, you don’t stay. My dad’s like, no, no, don’t don’t. My dad’s probably like nervous. I’m going to get right now some of them get a ticket or whatever because they’re going to pay for it. 01:06:21:13 – 01:06:41:06 Unknown So yeah walking up. Hands up officer. No, no I just I think it’s my son. I said, dad, just stay in the freaking car. And then they get close and he says, oh, Amen. Oh. From the cigar shop. Yeah. Oh my God. Right. So the cop knows my dad. My dad comes to the window. We’re talking shooting the shit the cops like. 01:06:41:06 – 01:06:57:19 Unknown All right, go slow. And I was like, Jesus, man, that’s that’s this is a joke. everybody knows they went to cigar shop. Yeah, they went to the cigar shop together, and they knew he chasing. But, yeah, I have a lot of good. this this is a good one. This little other one. That’s a little longer. 01:06:57:19 – 01:07:17:20 Unknown But, so last summer, so my fiance’s from new Jersey, Bergen County, bigger area. That’s why she’s skiing and slushies. Yeah, she’s a Jersey girl, so, but she like the Giants. Jets? She has sports fan. she got no idea what’s going on, but. Okay, that’s fine. But I’m a diehard Giants fan. Diehard cutters. No. Get him out of the studio. 01:07:17:20 – 01:07:33:23 Unknown Let’s talk about. You’re a Giants fan. Oh, diehard. Yeah, that’s right, baby, let’s talk about. How have we never talked about this? I would have never invited you on if I knew you were talking about it. Let’s talk about. Unbelievable. We’ll talk about the catch. We’ll talk about Eli’s. Unbelievable throw to Manningham. Don’t say unbelievable. Talk about work. 01:07:34:01 – 01:07:53:06 Unknown Pure luck. Are the police on their way? Yeah. This guy. This is unbelievable. Throw a supercluster. This is second. Are you kidding me? No I’d like to talk about the best throw in Super Bowl history okay. Is it not? This got derailed. Best throw in Super Bowl history I like you. So on this we’re going to pass by this pick dropped it my way. 01:07:53:08 – 01:08:11:09 Unknown Pressure. No I think it was Harrison and I don’t know where the corner was. Maybe same. He dropped it right in his hands. He had he had about that right in. Yeah I feel like this is a land. The fact that you’re calling that is like, hey, man, it’s the best I can toss microphone at you, right now. 01:08:11:09 – 01:08:30:08 Unknown But Patriots draft pick Drake May as a superstar. Yeah he’s going to be really. Yeah he’s good man I hope so I love I will say I was I was hoping I was big on Milton. So I’m glad we got him even though it was a second round pick. Yeah. I think Mays really. I wanted Marvin Harrison Jr so bad. 01:08:30:10 – 01:08:44:20 Unknown Yes, I’m. But I’m also some really happy that we drafted Nabors. But Harrison Junior he’s a stud. Yeah. They’re both studs. Stud in a junior studs one one be. Yeah. They’re not one into one one being we might have to clip this part out because we’re going to go for our. I’m ready to talk. But you know I think we should put this in there. 01:08:44:20 – 01:09:06:14 Unknown Yeah I know for sure. I’m just I’m also. Yeah. Sam. Yep. Also a big. What the fuck? All right. You’re gonna you’re going to get him canceled. He’s all unbelievable. Okay, this is the. So New England. Tell us the other story. Jesus. So fiance is from Jersey. Big area comes to Rhode Island. Yes. Moving here and you know she you know she has her reservation around so small thinks it’s like, you know, farmland. 01:09:06:14 – 01:09:25:05 Unknown I’m like, it’s not man. It’s like a little metropolitan city. It’s Long Island. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. and share her, you know, no one knows. You know, no one knows where it is. No one knows. So last, Yeah. No one’s from there. That’s really her thing. I said that we got Pauly D, Olivia Cope, we got a lot of. 01:09:25:07 – 01:09:45:01 Unknown Yeah. Rocco Baldelli right? Yeah. You can Brown. No. Yeah. You. Brown. Right. Yeah. Thanks, man. You’re just really digging me a great brown. Anyway, so we go. We had a wedding in France last year so we went to niece. Oh, right on that. We were right on the line of, we’re. So we were really, I don’t remember we were there in niece or Monica because we went a little early. 01:09:45:02 – 01:10:01:08 Unknown Right. That there’s it’s. And I’m not a big traveler. Yeah. I just not you know, I haven’t been a lot of places that there’s your New England story. Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. We I didn’t really want to leave North Providence or Cranston. I mean, it was big of the world. Big. I moved to Cranston. That was like six miles away. 01:10:01:09 – 01:10:23:02 Unknown It’s like no deal, right? That was that was actually pretty big. So anyway, so we’re on vacation before the wedding. We’re we’re on the beach and and, you know, ones from there. I mean, no one is. Everyone’s from there. They’re speaking French or Italian or whatever. Right. so this guy lives right next to me on the beach, and I think it was with his wife. 01:10:23:04 – 01:10:45:02 Unknown Side piece. Whatever. And you can just spot an American. Yeah, like, clear as day. The belly usually. Oh, he’s got the board shorts, the backwards hat, and I. I like this guy. Yeah. So I said so. Yeah I’m I love it. Here you go. Yes. Away from or from Baltimore. Oh cool. Where are you from? Rhode Island. So my brother lives in Barrington. 01:10:45:04 – 01:11:06:06 Unknown Oh my gosh. I’m not lying this way. Didn’t end and I’m not lying, so I. I said, wake up. He knows people in Barrington. It’s just like, you gotta be freaking kidding me. Oh, right. Because I’m a I’m hated that. Yeah, because I am always like, it’s the best state. Everyone’s from there. It’s. You know what I mean? 01:11:06:08 – 01:11:25:08 Unknown So we go, we’re in the, in the lobby, right? This is an hour later, and I’m not kidding. We’re in the lobby and she goes upstairs. She’s in the room and there’s the elevators, literally the size of this couch. So I’m like this with these two guys, and they speak in English. Oh, my God, what are you guys from or from Connecticut? 01:11:25:09 – 01:11:41:13 Unknown I said, I’m from Rhode Island. He said, we’re professors, they’re young. We’re professors at Brown. We just started I said, you’re going to come upstairs. these guys, I bring these guys to my room, I knock on the door, I said, open up. So she’s like, well, I’m busy. I said, guys, peek ahead and tell her where you’re from. 01:11:41:13 – 01:11:58:08 Unknown They were like, they like, yeah, we teach at Brown. She’s like, you got to be fucking kidding me. Yeah. So we go to dinner at night and dude, I wish I could make this up. Yeah, I like that. No one’s going to believe me. I get it. She saw it all. We go to dinner, we go to this hole in the wall place. 01:11:58:08 – 01:12:17:04 Unknown This is, I think, the next night. Second night, third night. Hole in the wall. The only people there are me, her and the cook. The husband and wife making the food. So they they speak very little English. Where you from? And you know, they weren’t. They know providence. So I say New York, Boston, New York. Yeah. She’s from, you know, the New York area that. 01:12:17:06 – 01:12:36:23 Unknown Oh, nice. Nice. They don’t say anything. So they say. So the wife comes out and said, you know, if from Boston, that’s not a good accent. Yeah, but I can only do you’re in France, right. Yeah. I can only do a borrowed from Boston. Oh, that was pretty good. Oh yeah. That was pretty good. My mom would be very disappointed because she comes out and she said, I’m from Boston. 01:12:36:23 – 01:12:58:07 Unknown I said, in near Boston. She said, near Providence. I said, in Providence. She said, my parents are from Pawtucket. Oh my God. Oh fuck it. I said, what fucking show am I on this? This is not real. That’s awesome. So now she’s like, you got to be kidding me, right? Like no one’s from there. Now everybody’s from there. 01:12:58:07 – 01:13:18:16 Unknown Yeah, right. And we’re leaving. We checked out the next day. I’m leaving the lobby with my bags in hand, and I walk past an older gentleman. Nice guy by 75. And I can spot that brown bear hat. Oh, my. And I said, Brown. And he said he gave me a thumbs up and I said, he’s from, he’s got a brown hat on. 01:13:18:16 – 01:13:42:16 Unknown So you met six people for four people. It was four people from Rhode Island or had a Rhode Island connection and niece, that is. And I swear to God, it happens everywhere. Dude. It was unbelievable. That moment when I was in Ireland, my fiancee and I, we traveled all around us. Now, granted, Ireland’s not that far like everyone still far is, you know, Rhode Island has a huge Irish influence. 01:13:42:16 – 01:14:04:03 Unknown So we are in Ireland, where over in Galway, it’s like 7:00 at night and we’re going to see a show and we get on the elevator and or excuse me, we’re like right outside the elevator. Now, here’s the funky part. When I had gotten off the elevator, I’m like, I don’t know, I have like OCD. So like, there was a certain number on the door of this one room that was really close to the elevator when I got off. 01:14:04:03 – 01:14:15:20 Unknown I think I like that number. I was like, man, that would suck to be so close to an elevator. You must hear that in your room all night. I’m just weird. Like, yeah, I noticed that shit. So we’re there for two nights, and then I’m like, the third night we’re going out and we get in the elevator and the door opens. 01:14:15:20 – 01:14:28:19 Unknown So I like, hold the door and this, you know, go. And she goes, I go, how are you are doing welcome to Ireland and all this stuff. Yeah. She’s like she’s like, oh, where are you folks from? And we’re like, oh we’re, we’re from we’re from New England. We’re from Boston. She’s like, oh, I’m from Rhode Island. 01:14:28:19 – 01:14:41:18 Unknown And I was like, what the fuck am I? So so I was like, oh, we’re actually from Rhode Island. We just say Boston. And she goes, oh yeah, I grew up in Portsmouth. And I’m like, where? She’s like, I’ve been here. I married an Irish man. I’ve been here for like five years. And I just like, my accent has changed. 01:14:41:22 – 01:14:56:03 Unknown And she goes on to like, talk perfect English. So like it was more to like kind of like fit in and not be like a dude. And I was like, this is nuts. So it’s just the three of us on the elevator. So it’s almost like I knew All Rounder was behind that door. Isn’t that wild? That’s awesome. 01:14:56:07 – 01:15:16:03 Unknown So as we like to say on the podcast, that is so New England. That was cool. That was what working on getting you was. That was it’s a great story. So you know why I like it here. There’s a sense in this is Boston too. Yeah yeah Boston’s got this. And there’s parts in New York probably like Brooklyn or, you know, Bronx, this hometown pride. 01:15:16:05 – 01:15:35:07 Unknown Yeah. Yeah. I’m proud man to be from Rhode Island. Yeah. You know, I want to be at that Friars game when they’re hanging on to beat somebody. It’s rock Georgetown. This here. Yeah, hopefully. Although I think, Bryce Hopkins going to transfer via to Georgetown. That was pretty crazy. But I saw that today and I hope that anyway, like, I love it, right? 01:15:35:08 – 01:15:51:17 Unknown Yeah. I was in L.A. Maybe five, ten years ago. It was during I can’t remember. There was a big sporting event on TV, maybe NBA finals or whatever. And I was like, oh, let’s go to the bar, watch the game, couldn’t find it. I was like, where the hell’s this street? Asking everyone on the street, where’s this? I’m not from here, I don’t know, I’m not from here. 01:15:51:17 – 01:16:14:16 Unknown I’m not from here. I’m not from here. So we finally find the bar. There’s a big play in the game. I don’t know, gold dunk. Whatever. No one’s watching. I said, is anybody from here? Nobody cares. Nope. Yep. If PC dunked it, Bradley Cafe’s roof would pop off, right? You know what I mean? Like, I just it’s, you know, there’s a sense there in town pride. 01:16:14:16 – 01:16:31:04 Unknown Absolutely I love that. Yeah. Like I love it. So maybe it’s small minded but the best state man I love doing. Absolutely. How could you not. Awesome. Yeah. This is true little Ryan. We’ve got all the seasons. We got all the great people. We got a lot of amazing stuff to offer for, like, your food. Thank you. Appreciate that. 01:16:31:05 – 01:16:51:00 Unknown Next time I’ll bring food. Yeah. And 30 donuts because they ain’t happening. I’m telling you it’s it’s literally not easy money. Easy money. Easy money for me. Okay. All right. So you gave us the address. What are your hours? So that people know when they want to come out. They’re going to watch this podcast. They can come in, they can come meet you, see you and try out some of these dishes. 01:16:51:00 – 01:17:12:19 Unknown You got 816 Park Avenue, Cranston, and across from the old Benny’s Open 8 to 6, Monday through Wednesday. Yeah. 8 to 7. Thursday. Friday, 9 to 2 on Saturday. Those were Covid hours that stuck at my staff. Don’t want to stay late, right? So right now we’re here. There needs to. But we we’re on every DoorDash, Grubhub, UberEats, seamless, all those apps. 01:17:12:21 – 01:17:35:02 Unknown Right. you can order online. we have a cool website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff were there. Come say hi. And if you mentioned in we’ll charge you double. That’s not how this is supposed to work. All right, guys, that is going to conclude episode four of the So New England Podcast. Thank you guys so much, for tuning in and listening. 01:17:35:02 – 01:17:46:00 Unknown And thank you so much for the camera coming in. Yeah, that’s your camera. I didn’t look at it once. That’s okay. I was looking for you guys. That’s all right. It’s not supposed to be that, you know, we do that only I am obsessed with seeing myself in the kitchen. Yeah, this this was fun. Yeah. This is awesome. 01:17:46:00 – 01:17:54:16 Unknown Yeah, I like that. Thank you very much for coming on. Thanks, guys. This is awesome. So thank you guys for tuning in and listening. And, as always, life’s better. And New England.