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Chef JJ Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: heart my next guest. He is a James Beard nominated chef.
1:11
Speaker 1: He's also chef on BuzzFeed. Everybody knows those tasty platforms.
1:15
Speaker 1: So but you know the number one thing on Facebook
1:20
Speaker 1: is food videos. The number one thing you get. You're
1:23
Speaker 1: getting that food right. People will watch food. He de baby.
1:25
Speaker 1: He has a new show that debated on the TV.
1:28
Speaker 1: Wants a new network called the Cleo. It's just just
1:31
Speaker 1: eats with Chef JJ. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation.
1:36
Speaker 1: Chef J. J. Johnson. Hello, Hey, how are you? Oh?
1:43
Speaker 1: I said all this in talking then he can't talk now, Yeah,
1:46
Speaker 1: I was. I was so excited. How you insured me that?
1:49
Speaker 1: I was so caught off guard. I didn't really know
1:51
Speaker 1: what to say. Well, we look at man, it's about food, brother,
1:54
Speaker 1: it's about that fun. I got me so excited about myself.
2:00
Speaker 1: I was like, WHOA, Well you should be because of
2:02
Speaker 1: the fact that what you do in the life we
2:06
Speaker 1: live now, uh cookie and how you cook and the
2:10
Speaker 1: different ways you can serve people. You know that you know,
2:16
Speaker 1: they talk about to do it yourself networks, but the
2:18
Speaker 1: food industry, the cooking show industries, is own version of
2:22
Speaker 1: doing it yourself. Correct, But they just don't say do
2:24
Speaker 1: it yourself right correct, You're right, Uh, it is truly
2:28
Speaker 1: do it yourself, but they're not telling you that. They're
2:30
Speaker 1: giving you that support, that backbone to make you feel
2:34
Speaker 1: like they're there and then you are truly doing it
2:37
Speaker 1: yourself like we're doing it. So I know because because
2:42
Speaker 1: I watched I watched the show. You know, I watched
2:44
Speaker 1: the show and I go, okay, okay, let's see what
2:46
Speaker 1: they're doing, okay, and I get mad if they don't
2:48
Speaker 1: give me the recipe. You know. That's that just drives
2:51
Speaker 1: me crazy when I see something good on TV and
2:53
Speaker 1: I want to make it and I don't have the recipe.
2:55
Speaker 1: So tell us about your little history of our how
2:58
Speaker 1: you got how you got started? Because I want to
3:00
Speaker 1: talk about this, uh, this restaurant that you have. Uh
3:03
Speaker 1: it was something on the menu that that that really
3:05
Speaker 1: caught my attention. But tell me how you got started this, YEF,
3:08
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm a I'm an award winning baker.
3:10
Speaker 1: I got started baking like four years ago that's how
3:13
Speaker 1: I got started. Oh wow, okay, so I got started
3:16
Speaker 1: about fifteen years ago. Was literally just what he did.
3:21
Speaker 1: Lu Shawn is just hobby fying out here. You're just
3:23
Speaker 1: telling people I'm award winning baker. This is what he do.
3:25
Speaker 1: Follow his instructions, you know, said I want one of
3:29
Speaker 1: those ties, or send it to me. Absolutely absolutely. Um.
3:33
Speaker 1: So yeah, I started the kitchen super young when my
3:35
Speaker 1: grandmother got me starting to the kitchen really young. Um,
3:38
Speaker 1: and she made it really fun for me. Um. So
3:41
Speaker 1: I used to spend time in the kitchen. I didn't
3:42
Speaker 1: really watch cartoons or anything. Cooking was my cartoon. Um.
3:47
Speaker 1: Kind of fast forward love cooking. Would try to do
3:50
Speaker 1: family birthday dinners and mess up people's birthdays, trying to
3:54
Speaker 1: cook something that my mom would allow me to cook. Um.
3:57
Speaker 1: But they were really fueling me or getting me prepared
4:00
Speaker 1: for what I'm doing now. And then about the age
4:02
Speaker 1: of fourteen, I started working as a dishwasher at a
4:05
Speaker 1: country club. To ride my bike, my bike back and forth.
4:08
Speaker 1: So I grew up in northeast Pennsylvania in the Poconos.
4:11
Speaker 1: Um I wrote my bike back and forth. I went
4:14
Speaker 1: to culinary school, a coloring suite of America and then
4:17
Speaker 1: wind up working in New York City. While while I
4:20
Speaker 1: was working in New York City, I lived with family
4:22
Speaker 1: in Harlem. Um, and I've been in Harlem ever since
4:25
Speaker 1: now for about fifteen years. Regulations. Now, what are you
4:29
Speaker 1: And one of the restaurants that you have was every
4:32
Speaker 1: At Life Hotel. Yes, okay cool, And that's in the
4:35
Speaker 1: Nomad District if anybody knows that's that's kind of like
4:38
Speaker 1: it's called North of Madison Square and uh, it's a
4:41
Speaker 1: really I guess it's it's a whole neighborhood like just transforming, correct, Yeah,
4:46
Speaker 1: the neighborhood is really transforming into transforming neighborhood. We're on
4:50
Speaker 1: a we're on a block that's transforming. You would know
4:55
Speaker 1: it as back in the day as like Midtown or
4:58
Speaker 1: little Little West Africa or Korea Town. So we're like
5:03
Speaker 1: one block away from Korea Town. So we're thirty first
5:05
Speaker 1: Street between fits and six M Henry in the Life
5:08
Speaker 1: Hotel or Henry by j J. And let me just
5:11
Speaker 1: the setting is in Manhattan, Manhattan and New York City
5:14
Speaker 1: is where we're talking about the restaurant location. Now it's
5:16
Speaker 1: a couple of you know, I'm a foodie. So immediately
5:19
Speaker 1: when I when it was coming to my show, I
5:21
Speaker 1: had to go to the menu. I had to go
5:23
Speaker 1: to the menu. What called my eye with the college
5:27
Speaker 1: green salad. Oh yeah, that's the color green salade is
5:31
Speaker 1: an infamous see colin greensy, everybody up on Coli green salad. Now,
5:37
Speaker 1: so you know, so that means that, Okay, it's the
5:41
Speaker 1: college greens are not cooked. They're treated like lettish. Correct,
5:45
Speaker 1: color greens are not cooked at all. You know, Kal
5:47
Speaker 1: has been getting all this credit in the last ten years, right, Collereens,
5:51
Speaker 1: I've worked. Colle Greens have worked harder than Kal. So
5:57
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you know, I wanted if Kyla
5:59
Speaker 1: greens some type of a different breath or knowing that
6:02
Speaker 1: you can eat colar green draw and it's really good
6:05
Speaker 1: for you the stem and everything. So it's a color
6:07
Speaker 1: green salad that it feels like a chop salad. It
6:10
Speaker 1: comes with some red beans, cucumbers, and like in a
6:13
Speaker 1: coconut dressing. Okay, now now that's that's genius right there.
6:17
Speaker 1: Now you're in the kitchen. Now you're the mad scientist, right,
6:21
Speaker 1: so this is a mad scientist salad. Okay, I'm just
6:23
Speaker 1: telling you all, I eat everywhere. I eat everywhere. I
6:26
Speaker 1: had the color green soup I was in, I was
6:29
Speaker 1: in Flying Biscuit. Yesterday I had the scrambled eggs and
6:32
Speaker 1: colar green with bacon. So I've never had the college
6:36
Speaker 1: green salad. So this is a mad scientist mix. So
6:39
Speaker 1: so you you're telling people you're you're thinking about this idea, Well,
6:42
Speaker 1: how did you look at you did look at you? Like? Really,
6:45
Speaker 1: j J Really you think? I mean people look at
6:47
Speaker 1: people look at me crazy all the time with the
6:49
Speaker 1: collar green salad. I think I sold the color greens
6:51
Speaker 1: and salt water to make them tender. They think I
6:55
Speaker 1: blanch them in water. No, I just treat the color green. Truly,
6:58
Speaker 1: there's a collar green that we've in the store. It's
7:00
Speaker 1: not a baby colar green. It's not a super baby
7:03
Speaker 1: collar green. This is this is a colar green um.
7:07
Speaker 1: And it's it's really nice. It's it's something that is
7:10
Speaker 1: familiar but unfamiliar um. And it's something you could truly
7:14
Speaker 1: do at home. You can get these colar greens and
7:17
Speaker 1: you know, you can put chicken on top of salmon
7:20
Speaker 1: or some some steak, you know. So so you know
7:26
Speaker 1: I'm just taking you along the journey of the African
7:28
Speaker 1: diaspora and kind of paying homage and respect to the
7:33
Speaker 1: flavors of who we are and kind of what we do. Okay, cool,
7:36
Speaker 1: let's talk about it. Okay, So she got the beans
7:38
Speaker 1: in there, You got the quem I think they're they're
7:40
Speaker 1: assuming a thing. They squ combers are chopped coup combers
7:43
Speaker 1: that you have in this house, thinly sliced cucumbers and
7:46
Speaker 1: you have to slice cucumbers and cash you some candy,
7:49
Speaker 1: cash shoes and red bean. Yeah, just mad Sidi. I
7:57
Speaker 1: like it. I like that you called me the mad scientists.
7:59
Speaker 1: Who has ever had candy Cashi's I'm just sorry. That's
8:03
Speaker 1: candypy cons Okay, yea, all that. Okay, Now the coconut dressy,
8:07
Speaker 1: the coconut dressy, tell me about that. So coconut dressing
8:12
Speaker 1: is h just some coconut milk, a little bit of
8:15
Speaker 1: bird's eye chili, cumin um, blended oil, some shallot, and
8:22
Speaker 1: the kids is that the spice and the spice and
8:25
Speaker 1: the coconut dressing will cut through the bitterness of the
8:29
Speaker 1: collar green. So it gives it a really nice balance.
8:31
Speaker 1: So if you don't have like Bird's Eye chili. You
8:33
Speaker 1: could use Chipotle, or you can use some other type
8:36
Speaker 1: of chili that you really love. So another thing that
8:39
Speaker 1: caught my eye and I really didn't understand it was
8:41
Speaker 1: called it was all a dream. That was all the
8:45
Speaker 1: dream we used to reword of magazines. Um, if you
8:50
Speaker 1: can get the whole menu so that you get one
8:57
Speaker 1: of everything, I say that you should share with fortified people.
9:03
Speaker 1: So it's a big celebration at the table. You're having
9:06
Speaker 1: this ultimate dream meal. Um and uh, I just referenced
9:11
Speaker 1: it after the Biggie song. I'm telling you. See, he
9:14
Speaker 1: knows I've looked at his menus. You know, do you
9:16
Speaker 1: get to sweet potato pie too? That's your dessert? Should
9:19
Speaker 1: you get that sleep potato pie? You gotta get to
9:22
Speaker 1: sleep legendary? If we do it with purple yam, you know,
9:27
Speaker 1: you have to get cooking on ice cream. You know,
9:30
Speaker 1: we're really we're really taking it. Oh my goodness, so
9:33
Speaker 1: so so the thing about it, I really really when
9:36
Speaker 1: I talk about food, I really like talking to people
9:38
Speaker 1: who enjoy food. You enjoy food, you enjoy the kitchen experience.
9:44
Speaker 1: I'm assuming it goes back to your childhood when he
9:47
Speaker 1: was in the kitchen and and then being able to
9:49
Speaker 1: look at other people. Are you washing dishes? Being able
9:51
Speaker 1: to see other people do something that you want to
9:53
Speaker 1: do it. It's a passion for you, right J J. Yeah,
9:57
Speaker 1: it's a big passion for me. You know. Um, the
10:00
Speaker 1: reason why I love cooking food and really fortunate of
10:03
Speaker 1: having one restaurant right now in the second one coming
10:06
Speaker 1: as I'm connecting people every day, and the greatest connector's food.
10:10
Speaker 1: So if I'm able to do it with the food
10:11
Speaker 1: that I truly love to cook and give you these
10:14
Speaker 1: amazing nostalgic moments, Um, then I've done my job and
10:19
Speaker 1: to keep me going to the next day. I will
10:22
Speaker 1: be in New York tomorrow, my friend. Okay, amazing, So
10:26
Speaker 1: so I should see you tomorrow. You will see me
10:28
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. I swear to you, you will see me
10:31
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Um, I will definitely want to try this, colleague,
10:35
Speaker 1: green salad. I'm telling your front, Um, I haven't ready
10:40
Speaker 1: for you. I will be. And I just wanted to
10:42
Speaker 1: just don't put no chicken on in another I just
10:45
Speaker 1: want to because that's that's that's just such a great
10:47
Speaker 1: level of curiosity for me. I know, it's gonna taste great.
10:50
Speaker 1: And then so because the restaurant opens at five thirty. Correct, Yes,
10:54
Speaker 1: the restaurant open. Correct. I'll be on top of your game, baby,
10:58
Speaker 1: over the top of your day. It I did, and
11:01
Speaker 1: so and so I'll be there tomorrow like I landed.
11:04
Speaker 1: They clock tomorrow. I have some meetings all day and
11:06
Speaker 1: so I plan on eating dinner at your place tomorrow.
11:09
Speaker 1: For sure, Gonna be by myself. If I can bring
11:11
Speaker 1: another person in there, I will, but uh definitely my friend.
11:14
Speaker 1: Uh I. I just feel that when I when I
11:16
Speaker 1: see young people out there living their dreams with a passion,
11:21
Speaker 1: and saidn't I want to talk about this restaurant concept
11:24
Speaker 1: we've just been talking about. The food is in New
11:25
Speaker 1: York City in the Nomad district. Um the name of
11:30
Speaker 1: the whole, the name of the project, and the menu?
11:33
Speaker 1: How does that? How does that? How does that developed?
11:35
Speaker 1: When you when you this menu? Because that always was
11:38
Speaker 1: my curiosity. How do you how do you do a
11:40
Speaker 1: menu for a certain restaurant? How's that done? You know?
11:45
Speaker 1: The menu for the Henry in the Light Hotel UHR
11:49
Speaker 1: is truly curated. So for me, I'm curating the menu
11:55
Speaker 1: the way the way the menu that the light flaide
11:57
Speaker 1: take you from the lightest and flavor to the heaviest
11:59
Speaker 1: and flavor. I recommend about two and a half items
12:02
Speaker 1: per person so that you can really get a good experience. UM.
12:06
Speaker 1: And for me, I'm cooking the food of the African
12:08
Speaker 1: diastera I call a Pan African. Um. It's who that
12:12
Speaker 1: comes from West Africa into the into the Caribbean and
12:14
Speaker 1: HiT's the HiT's South America and really hitting the ports
12:19
Speaker 1: of where um, West African slaves have have went to
12:23
Speaker 1: force migration. UM. So I'm pulling a lot of those
12:26
Speaker 1: flavors and I'm I'm showcasing that. So you'll see things
12:29
Speaker 1: to West African peanut sauce, or you'll see um jelaff rice. Uh,
12:35
Speaker 1: you'll see a turk of a take on our escapes
12:38
Speaker 1: or jerk. So we're really celebrating places and people, um.
12:45
Speaker 1: And I'm doing it from lightness and flavor the heaviest UM.
12:48
Speaker 1: And I hope give me tomorrow, my friend. I'm just
12:51
Speaker 1: gonna let you know that we're gonna be right back
12:52
Speaker 1: to talking about this TV show. Just eat what you
12:55
Speaker 1: have j J on the new TV one network called Cleo,
12:59
Speaker 1: be right back more money making conversation. Hi, just for
13:02
Speaker 1: Seawan McDonald and you're listening to money making Conversations on
13:06
Speaker 1: the phone. Is a James Beard nominated chef. He has
13:09
Speaker 1: a new TV show on TV ones the new Cleo
13:12
Speaker 1: Network called Just Eats or Chef JJ. Back on the
13:15
Speaker 1: phone is my man, j J. The mad Scientists of food.
13:19
Speaker 1: Mad Scientists. I'm telling I'm telling something, JJ. You got
13:25
Speaker 1: take it because you're doing some stuff, man, that needs
13:27
Speaker 1: to be understood. Everybody gotta have a little hook, a
13:30
Speaker 1: little angle that you in that kitchen. Man, I could
13:32
Speaker 1: just see because you're doing some stuff everybody's not doing.
13:36
Speaker 1: And it's good food and that and that's the next
13:38
Speaker 1: step of how people do do a like I got
13:41
Speaker 1: that restaurant in Chicago. I believe what you're going. Then
13:43
Speaker 1: you just smell food, you know. Yeah, they just bust
13:46
Speaker 1: up a little balloon with you and they charge you
13:49
Speaker 1: for that. Yes they do, Oh yes, he does. They
13:52
Speaker 1: they charge you. They charge you the balloon. They looking
13:56
Speaker 1: at me like, I'm just no that you that spells good? Okay,
14:02
Speaker 1: give me any money, leave the room. And that's what
14:05
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a that's a mad scientist move
14:08
Speaker 1: that's a man's a mad sign. They are mad science.
14:10
Speaker 1: So they are mad scientists over there. And so when
14:12
Speaker 1: I when I look at what he's doing and being innovative.
14:15
Speaker 1: So let's talk about your TV show. Because people I
14:18
Speaker 1: produce TV shows, I've always looking for talent to do
14:21
Speaker 1: television shows. How do you get on TV shift JJ?
14:25
Speaker 1: Who approached you? And how did the whole concept come about?
14:30
Speaker 1: So I gotta approached for our production company named Powerhouse Production.
14:33
Speaker 1: Good people, good people. I know those people. Those two ladies,
14:37
Speaker 1: great people. Rochelle brown Sea, I'm shung. I'm she had
14:40
Speaker 1: very very good been in the food business, food game
14:44
Speaker 1: for a really long time. Legends produced some really great
14:47
Speaker 1: television shows that we still watch today and or have
14:50
Speaker 1: watched for many years. So for me, that was an
14:53
Speaker 1: honor to be able to work with Powerhouse Productions. UM.
14:56
Speaker 1: And they said, hey, there's a new network coming out.
14:59
Speaker 1: I think you'd be perfe four. UM. Are you interested
15:03
Speaker 1: in potentially shooting this pilot UH for this for the
15:07
Speaker 1: style of show, UM for a new network with TV one.
15:10
Speaker 1: I said, well, let's try. Let's try to do it.
15:12
Speaker 1: I'm not really a fan of like a cooking stir
15:14
Speaker 1: kind of show. Um, but let's let's shoot it. Let's
15:18
Speaker 1: see what happened. So they shot, they brought it to Cleo.
15:20
Speaker 1: Cleo really brought TV one. They sat to be perfect
15:22
Speaker 1: for Cleo. Um. And then we all worked together once
15:27
Speaker 1: they got picked up on developing it to be more
15:29
Speaker 1: than just this cooking show where you have great conversation
15:32
Speaker 1: around food. UM. So that's how we got to the show.
15:36
Speaker 1: I think it has been able to have been grateful
15:38
Speaker 1: to be able to get on television. Is I know
15:41
Speaker 1: a lot of chefs look at being on TV as
15:44
Speaker 1: like the Pinnacle. I'm just fortunate that I would. I'm
15:47
Speaker 1: able to be on TV. At the end of the day,
15:49
Speaker 1: I think I got there because when people come to
15:52
Speaker 1: the restaurant, they really love the food, and the food
15:55
Speaker 1: is what represents the chef, and then after that they've
15:57
Speaker 1: got to get to know the chef and kind of
16:00
Speaker 1: go from there. So I always believe in the food,
16:02
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm able to get to where I'm
16:03
Speaker 1: I'm able to get to where I am today to
16:06
Speaker 1: show us like a business move for you for your brand,
16:09
Speaker 1: to promote all your your restaurant, your future endeavors all
16:13
Speaker 1: is to show about just your craft about your love
16:16
Speaker 1: of food. I mean for me, I would say it's
16:19
Speaker 1: about both. But yeah, it's definitely for me. It's more
16:22
Speaker 1: of a business move than for the craft. Um, it's
16:26
Speaker 1: really showing. You know, you don't really see black shafts
16:29
Speaker 1: on television. There's a couple that you see. So it
16:33
Speaker 1: was breaking down that door and also being able to
16:36
Speaker 1: be on a network for us by US really really
16:40
Speaker 1: sold it for me. Um. So that was that was
16:42
Speaker 1: kind of the business or power move, and then the
16:45
Speaker 1: passion kind of comes out as you when you watch
16:48
Speaker 1: the show that you see that the food connects people
16:52
Speaker 1: and and and and while they're cooking alongside of me
16:55
Speaker 1: or rabbing conversation and they're eating, these two people that
16:58
Speaker 1: might not really know each other or do you know
17:00
Speaker 1: each other become closer around food and around the table.
17:04
Speaker 1: And that's really what it's all about. I know. The
17:06
Speaker 1: food is really interesting. I was in the Anchorage of
17:08
Speaker 1: Alaska and I was eating at this restaurant and I
17:10
Speaker 1: got a shrimp fried you know, shrimping grits, and they
17:14
Speaker 1: actually made the shrimping grits. They had an egg over
17:17
Speaker 1: easy on top. I never had shrimping grits like that.
17:20
Speaker 1: And then as other person sitting next to me they
17:22
Speaker 1: had some type of carlamarre and and all of a
17:26
Speaker 1: sudden we just I didn't even know these people and
17:28
Speaker 1: we just thought eat off each other's plate. It was
17:30
Speaker 1: like the coolest thing. You know. I'm going like, this
17:32
Speaker 1: is not really normal. You know, you don't normally do
17:35
Speaker 1: stuff like that, but food creates a little at atmosphere
17:39
Speaker 1: that makes you want to share, that makes you want
17:41
Speaker 1: to talk and go, this is really good. Try this,
17:44
Speaker 1: and I'm big at doing things like that. It really
17:46
Speaker 1: creates a kind of like a communion of our opportunities
17:50
Speaker 1: to be able to share a great conversation amongst good
17:53
Speaker 1: amongst good, good food, bad food, cretty good conversation to
17:58
Speaker 1: that bad food and pretty good conversation. It could or
18:01
Speaker 1: give you really bad moment, but you we're talking about
18:07
Speaker 1: great food here. So so that's that's that's the essence
18:09
Speaker 1: of what you're doing. Now, that's you got one restaurant rolling.
18:13
Speaker 1: Now you want to go back to your home front
18:14
Speaker 1: up in Harlem and do a restaurant there. Tell us
18:17
Speaker 1: about that. So I'm opening up this spring um a
18:21
Speaker 1: quick service restaurant called field Trip J J. Spring already,
18:25
Speaker 1: which what's spring happened? He said this spring? Right? The
18:27
Speaker 1: spring happen wasn't springers are here already. I feel like
18:33
Speaker 1: I'll just tell us whether in New York not right
18:39
Speaker 1: coming coming this spring. So I gotta hold the man
18:45
Speaker 1: sizes in check now, the mad sizes, I gotta hold
18:47
Speaker 1: him in check now. So it's coming this spring up
18:50
Speaker 1: in Harlem. Go, I have another place for me to go.
18:52
Speaker 1: Tell me about this. It's called Field Trip. It's a
18:55
Speaker 1: rice bull shop with global flavors, so it's different races
18:59
Speaker 1: from around the world. It's our addresses one on nine
19:02
Speaker 1: Lennox Avenue, so it's between one and one sixteenth and
19:05
Speaker 1: Lenox Avenue in front of the two and at three train. Um,
19:09
Speaker 1: you come in order from the counter. Who have five
19:12
Speaker 1: rice bowls, a veggie green bun, a couple of salads,
19:14
Speaker 1: beer and wine on tap, and a little bit of
19:17
Speaker 1: red velvet soft serve ice cream ice cream. Everybody moved.
19:23
Speaker 1: You had them at the at the ice at ice cream,
19:27
Speaker 1: you had you know everything. I gotta talk to somebody,
19:32
Speaker 1: uh differently, But the goal is to be back Harlem.
19:35
Speaker 1: That's kind of where I started. My community really has
19:37
Speaker 1: got me to where I am today. And then the
19:39
Speaker 1: goal is to open up this really affordable h place
19:44
Speaker 1: for the community that hopefully can become legendary like other
19:48
Speaker 1: places like Melba's or amy Rous or Sylvia's. You know
19:51
Speaker 1: those household Harlem names, um that really fuel Harlem every day.
19:56
Speaker 1: So with Sylvia's, that's so food, that's a differen that's
20:00
Speaker 1: a deffer, that's a different way. That's where you're going
20:02
Speaker 1: to get their yams and that heavy food. I call
20:04
Speaker 1: that heavy food up and steal you. But it's gonna
20:06
Speaker 1: be like it's gonna be light. And I'm telling you
20:13
Speaker 1: j J. I get around now your boy your book
20:15
Speaker 1: Open Town you're talking about. I'm like you knows I
20:22
Speaker 1: love eating. That's why I love and plea me. I
20:24
Speaker 1: don't want this to be your When when this restaurant
20:26
Speaker 1: opens up, Field Trip, please come back on the show
20:28
Speaker 1: so we can promote that and let me know ahead
20:30
Speaker 1: of time. So I got a big following in the
20:31
Speaker 1: New York City market, and I let people know what's
20:34
Speaker 1: opening because that's what money Making Conversation was created to
20:37
Speaker 1: be able to have small business and give my platform
20:39
Speaker 1: to speak behind the scenes and recognize the true stars,
20:43
Speaker 1: the two chars, the true stars in the kitchen, and
20:45
Speaker 1: now the businesses businessmen. Social media has allowed you guys
20:48
Speaker 1: to be able to take your brand and put it
20:51
Speaker 1: on television like I said, it is uh and change
20:53
Speaker 1: the way people approached life in the kitchen. And I'm
20:57
Speaker 1: gonna be honest with you all. I used to look
20:59
Speaker 1: at the rest to Be book and it was scared
21:02
Speaker 1: because I couldn't understand. It's just some of these recipe
21:05
Speaker 1: books just look like look like math books. To me,
21:08
Speaker 1: are we gonna like what the heck going on here?
21:10
Speaker 1: My degree in math? I'm I'm afraid, but I want
21:13
Speaker 1: to look at somebody like you on TV. You're smiling,
21:16
Speaker 1: you're you're you're happy, You're showing me a way of
21:20
Speaker 1: actually seeing it done at the beginning, middling in you're
21:23
Speaker 1: changing lives. But I want I won't let you know
21:25
Speaker 1: that may you affected people in a very very positive way. No, yeah, um.
21:32
Speaker 1: The goal is, you know, for me, is that I'm
21:34
Speaker 1: able to employ people that look like me right that
21:37
Speaker 1: potentially don't get a shot another get a shot in
21:41
Speaker 1: other restaurants, right, have been super talented and they haven't
21:44
Speaker 1: been getting promoted. And by every time I may be
21:47
Speaker 1: open up a restaurant or do another project, I'm able
21:50
Speaker 1: to employ people and a lot of people that want
21:52
Speaker 1: to work like work for me, look like me, which
21:55
Speaker 1: is a truly great thing, truly great thing for me.
21:58
Speaker 1: Um And I'm just gonna I'm just talking along. It's
22:01
Speaker 1: a marathon. I'm really not trying to get to the
22:04
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to Most people are trying to get
22:05
Speaker 1: to the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm
22:07
Speaker 1: just trying to maintain the light because the late the light,
22:11
Speaker 1: the tunnel shift, the light shift, so if I can
22:13
Speaker 1: see the light, I'm good. I'm not trying to get
22:15
Speaker 1: to the end because when you get to the end,
22:18
Speaker 1: what's there's nothing left? Well, you know the thing I
22:20
Speaker 1: like about it. Let me never just say this about him,
22:23
Speaker 1: and he's saying something that I cannot ignore. Okay, when
22:27
Speaker 1: you talk about black shelfs, the black cooks, you talk
22:29
Speaker 1: about soul food restaurants, you talk about Bobby Q, you
22:33
Speaker 1: talk about boot and you talk about food that somehow
22:37
Speaker 1: has been regulated this with this what African America, black
22:40
Speaker 1: people are, people of color, can do? They do this
22:42
Speaker 1: type of food and so and so that's what he's saying.
22:46
Speaker 1: He said he's a chef. He's a James Beard nominated chef,
22:51
Speaker 1: which is a whole different level of being a chef.
22:54
Speaker 1: And that I want to I want to thank you
22:56
Speaker 1: for for for saying that. You said that twice in
22:59
Speaker 1: his interview. And I have to remind people, why are
23:02
Speaker 1: you saying it twice? Seeing somebody on TV cooking this
23:05
Speaker 1: way and he's Mail and he's an African American mayle,
23:08
Speaker 1: and that's important. Don't stop what you're doing. Like I said,
23:11
Speaker 1: I'd be at your place tomorrow, so just give me
23:13
Speaker 1: when I when I show up tomorrow, what's the experience
23:16
Speaker 1: when I walk in and you're gonna be a hostess?
23:18
Speaker 1: Wait on me, do I seat myself? What's the experience
23:21
Speaker 1: when I walk into when the restaurant tomorrow that opens it?
23:24
Speaker 1: When you walk into Marrow, you're gonna walk into nineties
23:27
Speaker 1: hip up an R and B. So you might hear
23:28
Speaker 1: a something that takes you back to driving a Honda
23:30
Speaker 1: Accord and I'm not sure. Um Hot Wool, greet you
23:35
Speaker 1: Bobby Brown Brown on from No we do, don't we do?
23:45
Speaker 1: Play an amazing playlist. Music is a very very uh
23:49
Speaker 1: intricate part of what I do in the dining scene. Um.
23:52
Speaker 1: And the host Wool set you down at a table,
23:54
Speaker 1: you have a server. Um, it's a very intimate setting.
23:58
Speaker 1: Lights are low, just big windows open to the street.
24:01
Speaker 1: The kitchen is semi open. Um. It's a small dining
24:04
Speaker 1: room and you should have an amazing time. But my
24:07
Speaker 1: friend I had amazing time with this interview. Again, Uh
24:10
Speaker 1: incredible Chef. He's a new TV show just debated on
24:14
Speaker 1: the TV ones new network called the Cleo Network called
24:18
Speaker 1: Just Eats with Chef JJ. Chef, I will I'll be
24:21
Speaker 1: at your place tomorrow. I promise you I will be
24:23
Speaker 1: there tomorrow. Will be taking pictures, putting on my social
24:25
Speaker 1: media because man, I got to get the college green salad.
24:29
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see you. Thank you for having
24:31
Speaker 1: me on. It's been a true pleasure. Matt Sadists, I'm coming.
24:34
Speaker 1: Matt Sadists, I'm coming. You need to check out the
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