From The Ground Up

Noam Grossman, the co-founder of Upside Pizza and Norm’s Pizza in New York, grew up eating pizza. Every Thursday night was pizza night in the Grossman household. However, Noam had every intention of pursuing a career in fashion while in college, but landed a gig with B.GOOD in NYC shortly after graduating and fell in love with the restaurant industry. When he met his current partners, they had dreamed up a concept centered around building great pizza the right way, with the right ingredients. In 2018, Noam set out on an adventure and officially joined the pizza game. Noam and I caught up at Upside Pizza and covered all things pizza and life including: Noam’s pizza memories as a kid, the importance of quality ingredients, how he learned the pizza ropes and balancing personal and work life. Be sure to tune in and follow @upsidepizza, @normspizzanyc and @fromthegrounduppod on Instagram.

“It’s really about stewardship, permaculture, taking care of our land and taking care of the people who operate restaurants to make this magic happen everyday for the individuals."

As a native of Southern New Jersey, surrounded by the pinelands, the bay and the shore, Chef Rob Rubba always found himself tangled in nature. He originally went to art school to study graphic design and then began painting but soon found a new passion one summer when he immersed himself in the culinary world working as a pastry cook. Since then, he has worked in several highly regarded kitchens under the guidance of chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, Laurent Gras and the late Charlie Trotter. Once Rob moved to D.C., he helped open restaurant Hazel and about a year later, left Hazel to focus his efforts on the sustainability of restaurants which led to the development of Oyster Oyster. When the pandemic hit and opening Oyster Oyster needed to be paused, Chef Rubba shifted by starting SCRAPPY’S Bagel Bar and became a co-founder of Bakers Against Racism, a movement of decentralized bake sales that donates funds to local organizations that improve black lives and aid in stopping systemic racism.

So, what will you hear about in this episode? Chef Rob Rubba’s experience and perspective as a young cook, building a plant-based restaurant that is focused on sustainability, seasonality and stewardship, starting a movement to create racial justice and how the industry can be more inclusive overall.

“Being a chef and being in this industry is about making other people happy and that makes me happy.”

Ryan Lory, the chef and owner of Ardyn in New York City, knew that he wanted to work in hospitality since he was a little kid. At the age of 13, he landed his first restaurant gig as a busboy at his uncle’s sports bar and restaurant in New Jersey. After working multiple front of house and back of house positions, Ryan realized that he loved interacting with guests and fell in love with the cooking aspect while in culinary school where he fully immersed himself into the kitchen. Eventually, he moved to New York and worked as the Executive Chef for Charlie Palmer, where he really found himself as a chef. And just one year ago, Ryan fulfilled his lifelong dream and opened up his own restaurant, Ardyn, with his partner Adam Bordonaro. In this episode, we dive into Ryan’s early beginnings, building a fine dining restaurant in the heart of Manhattan, shutting down after just one year of operation due to the pandemic and how they have pivoted to creating and delivering elevated, restaurant quality meal-kits to homes across the East Coast.

25 year-old Dylan Taylor has extensive experience in the barbecue world as a pitmaster and has worked at famed barbecue joints all across Austin including Terry Black’s Barbecue, 2M Smokehouse, Truth Barbeque and La Barbecue. He now owns and operates his own barbecue spot, Goldee’s Barbecue, in Fort Worth, Texas with four of his childhood best friends. Originally, Dylan made the move from Arlington to Austin to go to college and to play music with his band, but after a year he realized college was not his thing. He then began delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut but he was quickly sold on that central Texas barbecue life once he started dining out at local barbecue spots. In this episode, we discuss why Dylan fell in love with this industry, how his childhood friends hustled their way up to owning a restaurant in their hometown, the struggles of opening up a new place, the type of delicious meats and sides they’re serving up and how Dylan is adjusting to the current climate.

“I’ve always felt like I’m better than this situation I’m in. My purpose is more powerful than this.” Tavel Bristol-Joseph shares his story of hope.

Tavel grew up poor in Georgetown, Guyana with access to only one meal a day. But he always felt he was meant for more than the situation he was in. Tavel became inherently driven to think about and plan his next step. At the age of seventeen, he moved to America and had big dreams of playing basketball professionally. Soon realizing that his basketball game was not where it needed to be - and after a push from his mom, he enrolled in culinary school.

Today, Tavel is the Pastry Chef and Partner at five restaurants in Austin, Texas including: Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Kalimotxo, Henbit and TLV and was recently named one of FOOD & WINE Magazine’s “Best New Chefs of 2020.” In this episode, we explore the experience of success born from struggle, a restaurant owner’s responsibilities, the future of the restaurant industry and how Tavel is helping shape that future. Be sure to tune in and follow @tavel19 and @fromthegrounduppod on Instagram.

Camilla Marcus is the Chef/Founder of west~bourne in SoHo, co-founder of Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants (ROAR) and founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC). Camilla loved food and restaurants from a young age, but realized her passion for the hospitality industry while in culinary school when she figured out that food/restaurants are really the meeting of art and commerce. Camilla has worked in many roles at restaurants across New York City, opened up a place of her very own and has become a true leader and advocate in the industry. Camilla chats with host Danielle about the important societal and economic impact of restaurants, building coalitions to support independent restaurant owners during the pandemic, how restaurants can support inclusivity and diversity within the industry and how we can rethink hospitality and the labor structure as a whole.

Dorothy Elizabeth is a student at heart with a scientific background - she graduated from The University of Michigan with a Chemical Engineering degree and kick-started her career as a mixologist in Ann Arbor. After working at multiple craft cocktail bars in Ann Arbor and Detroit, she made the move to New York City in 2018 where she helped open and oversee pop-ups and programs at Mace, Henry at the Life Hotel, Straylight, L’Avenue at Saks Fifth Avenue and Lyaness. Dorothy chats with host Danielle Berg about how she incorporates scientific practices behind the bar, what it’s like being a female in an industry that’s predominantly white male dominated, moving to New York and finding her cocktail community here and what the future holds for bars in New York City and across the country. How will bars restructure their business plans? Are to-go cocktails here to stay for the indefinite future? How will bars and restaurants revise their sanitation methods, and will they require temperature checks, masks and gloves for the foreseeable future?

“It’s all about hospitality and inclusivity.” 

Hannah Black, Carla Perez-Gallardo and Wheeler are partners at Lil Deb’s Oasis in Hudson, New York - a restaurant they imagined would serve as an oasis where people from all over the world could exist. Hannah and Carla, two art school graduates, met while working on a Vietnamese-inspired food truck in the Catskills and quickly realized that their language about cooking and sensibilities were well matched. 

First running a catering business, then hosting a weekly pop-up dinner series together, the two finally got the opportunity to open up a restaurant of their own. After years of executing on others' visions and feeling like the landscape was impossible to exist in as a person of color or as a woman, they were ready to create something different. Hannah and Carla, semifinalists for the 2020 James Beard Award: Best Chef New York Category, met Wheeler along the way and the duo soon brought them in as a third partner in the oasis. In this episode, we discuss the evolution of Lil Deb's, the type of tropical comfort food and wine they serve up and how they’re adjusting to the current climate. Tune in and follow @lildebsoasis and @fromthegrounduppod on Instagram!

“The reason for failure this go around would not be because of my failure as an operator. It wouldn’t be because I didn’t make the right choices or because I wasn’t proactive. It’s because there was a global pandemic that flattened the world.”

Gabriel Stulman, the Founder of Happy Cooking Hospitality in New York, originally planned on becoming a high school history teacher. After working multiple jobs at local bars and restaurants in his college town, he quickly fell in love with the industry and the community that he built within it. Now, Stulman owns and operates restaurants across New York City including: Jeffrey’s Grocery, Joseph Leonard, Bar Sardine, Fairfax, Fedora, The Jones, George Washington Bar, Simon & The Whale and Studio at The Freehand. Gabriel has been vocal about issues that he’s facing as a business owner during the Coronavirus Pandemic, including the challenges around commercial leases and obtaining loans. In this episode, we cover everything from Gabriel’s early beginnings to issues with the PPP loans to feeding NYC’s frontline workers.

Be sure to tune in and follow @gabestulman and @fromthegrounduppod on Instagram.