The Restaurant Guys

Why This Episode Matters

• Kenta Goto explains why the first sip of a cocktail is like a job interview: you get one chance to make the right impression, so every detail from ice and dilution to the order of operations matters. 
• Noah Rothbaum makes the case that cocktail recipes have changed far less than cocktail culture itself, and that The Goto Bartender’s Guide fills in the technical information most recipes leave out. 
• The conversation traces Kenta’s path from Tokyo to New York, his formative years at Pegu Club with Audrey Saunders, and the philosophy of precision and hospitality that eventually became Bar Goto. 

Banter

Fall has arrived, which means Autumn Leaves cocktails, Spooky Bar and a Robert Simonson book launch at Stage Left. Mark is also counting down to Italy; Francis is counting down to Mark being in Italy. 

The Conversation

Kenta Goto and Noah Rothbaum join The Guys on the release day of The Goto Bartender’s Guide. The collaboration grew out of years of friendship that began at Pegu Club and later included traveling together to teach seminars on omotenashi, or Japanese hospitality. Noah says what intrigued him was Kenta’s habit of questioning assumptions bartenders have accepted for generations: not just inventing new drinks, but reconsidering how cocktails are actually made. 

Kenta traces his unlikely route into bartending from moving from Japan to New York, studying fashion, drifting through jobs and finally recognizing how much he had loved helping in his mother’s restaurant. A visit to Pegu Club changed his trajectory, and an anonymous Craigslist ad eventually led to an interview with Audrey Saunders. Her second interview was a surprise visit to watch him work, followed by an on-the-spot request for a gin sour along with a question he couldn’t answer: which gin did he use, and why? 

From there, the discussion gets deeply practical. Kenta and Noah explain why shaker size, ice type, proof, dilution, stirring time and even the order ingredients enter a mixing glass can change a drink. The book translates those instincts into usable numbers, including different shake and stir counts for different ice and proof levels, while still treating them as guidelines rather than absolutes. They also explain why specifying a spirit brand matters, why teaspoons can sometimes be more useful than jiggers, and how they chose the book’s 100 recipes from classics to Kenta’s own greatest hits.  

Guest Bios

Kenta Goto is the Tokyo-born bartender and owner of Bar Goto in Manhattan and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. After seven years at the influential Pegu Club, he opened Bar Goto in 2015. He has been named U.S. Bartender of the Year at Tales of the Cocktail and is known for combining exacting cocktail technique with Japanese hospitality. 

Noah Rothbaum is a James Beard Award-winning drinks writer, author of The Whiskey Bible: The Art of American Whiskey, and an editor of The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails. He and Goto are co-authors of The Goto Bartender’s Guide. 

Timestamps

00:00 — Fall cocktails, Spooky Bar and Mark’s Italy escape
06:30 — Kenta Goto & Noah Rothbaum: Why another cocktail book?
11:30 — Kenta’s path from Tokyo to New York bartending
15:30 — Pegu Club, Audrey Saunders and the interview that changed Kenta’s career
20:00 — Noah on Kenta’s approach and what cocktail recipes have been missing
25:00 — Precision in practice: ice, dilution, shake counts and consistency
31:30 — Noah on jiggers, teaspoons and making precision accessible at home
34:00 — Proof, brand specificity and why substitutions change a drink
38:30 — Noah & Kenta on choosing the book’s 100 cocktails

Info

The Goto Bartender’s Guide
by Kenta Goto and Noah Rothbaum

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

Recorded on location at the Martini Expo in Chicago.

Why This Episode Matters

• Colin Asare-Appiah takes The Guys inside Ajabu, the cocktail and spirits festival connecting bartenders across Africa and the wider cocktail world, and discusses Black Mixcellence and the Black voices too often missing from cocktail history.
• François Monti explains why vermouth deserves far more respect than the neglected bottle at the back of the bar and how Madrid’s cocktail culture changed the way he thought about both vermouth and the martini.
• Ryan Maybee traces the unlikely revival of J. Rieger & Co., from a pre-Prohibition Kansas City whiskey brand to a modern distillery and hospitality destination, and explains why their American gin deliberately looks to classic London dry tradition.

The Conversation

Colin Asare-Appiah talks about co-founding Ajabu, created to spotlight the ingredients, bartenders and rapidly developing cocktail cultures across the African continent. The conversation turns to his book Black Mixcellence, the importance of recovering Black contributions to cocktail history, the enduring legacy of Tom Bullock and the Pornstar Martini created by his late friend Douglas Ankrah. Colin also explains why he sees the martini as a timeless drink—and why his choice between gin and vodka depends on what’s on the table.

Belgian-born, Madrid-based writer François Monti joins The Guys for a deep dive into vermouth. He explains Spain’s culture of drinking vermouth on its own, his journey from Belgian beer to cocktails, and Madrid’s long history of serious cocktail bars. The conversation eventually becomes unexpectedly personal when Mark explains why he disliked his early martinis: old vermouth or virtually no vermouth at all, and the fresh bottle that finally convinced him that vermouth could be delicious.

Ryan Maybee tells the story of discovering the forgotten J. Rieger & Co. whiskey brand while researching the history of a Kansas City hotel and ultimately helping bring it back to life. He recalls the visit to Milk & Honey that changed his career, describes the easygoing Midwestern hospitality he brought to Manifesto, and explains the historical use of sherry in Kansas City whiskey. The Guys taste Rieger Gin before Ryan discusses the freedom of American gin, why his own version deliberately embraces London dry tradition, and the classic martini experience that showed him just how much presentation matters.

Guest Bios

Colin Asare-Appiah is a Ghana-born, London-raised bartender, drinks industry veteran and co-founder of the Ajabu Cocktail and Spirits Festival in South Africa. He is co-author of Black Mixcellence: A Comprehensive Guide to Black Mixology.

François Monti is a Belgian-born spirits and cocktail writer based in Madrid. His work has appeared in publications including Punch, and he is the author of 101 Cocktails to Try Before You Die.

Ryan Maybee is a bartender, restaurateur and co-founder of J. Rieger & Co. in Kansas City. He previously opened Manifesto and has played a significant role in the development of Kansas City’s modern cocktail culture.

Timestamps

00:00 — Back at the Martini Expo: three more conversations from Chicago
02:30 — Colin Asare-Appiah and the Ajabu cocktail experience
09:30 — Black Mixcellence, Tom Bullock and recovering Black cocktail history
17:00 — The Pornstar Martini, the cocktail canon and Colin’s martini philosophy
22:30 — François Monti: from Belgian beer to Madrid cocktail culture
28:30 — Why vermouth is more than a martini ingredient
34:00 — François’ martini revelation—and Mark’s problem with bad vermouth
39:00 — Ryan Maybee: resurrecting J. Rieger & Co.
50:30 — American gin, London dry tradition and Ryan’s martini moment

Info

Martini Expo

Colin Asare-Appiah — Ajabu Cocktail and Spirits Festival
Book: Black Mixcellence: A Comprehensive Guide to Black Mixology

François Monti — 101 Cocktails to Try Before You Die
Writing: Bottoms Up

Ryan Maybee — J. Rieger & Co., Kansas City, MO

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

Recorded on location at the Martini Expo in Chicago.

Why This Episode Matters

• Toby Maloney looks back at the first wave of the modern cocktail renaissance from Milk & Honey to The Violet Hour and explains why great ice, precise dilution and serious technique still have to serve hospitality.
• Jackson Cannon recalls bringing serious cocktails into a high-volume Boston restaurant at Eastern Standard, building a team around consistency and collaboration, and why, after all the technique and innovation, the guest still matters most.
• Federico Lombardi, formerly of Barcelona’s Paradiso and now working in the U.S., compares European and American cocktail cultures and explains the lesson that taught him why temperature, dilution and precision make the martini such an exacting drink.
• Dan Smith takes The Guys inside Chicago’s Queen Mary Tavern, where a 1940s neighborhood bar became an elegant cocktail destination without losing its soul and explains why, when every small detail of a martini comes together, “it is perfection.”

Banter

Before heading into the Expo, The Guys compare notes on their very compact Chicago hotel rooms and discover that the Moxy apparently shares Stage Left’s taste in wallpaper: monkeys smoking cigars and drinking vodka.

The Conversation

Toby Maloney goes back to the beginnings of the modern craft-cocktail movement, including becoming the first bartender hired at Milk & Honey and later helping establish The Violet Hour in Chicago. He and The Guys geek out over metal-on-metal shakers, why experienced bartenders can hear the quality and quantity of ice in a tin, and how dilution changes a drink. Toby also reflects on The Violet Hour’s influence, the danger of cocktail expertise becoming pretentious, and his newer project, The Elbow Room in Vancouver, Washington. Then he explains his unusual martini built around vermouth-and-sherry granita topped with frozen gin.

Jackson Cannon joins the conversation to talk about opening Eastern Standard in Boston in 2005, when serious cocktails were still largely disconnected from serious restaurant dining. He recalls the self-taught first generation of the cocktail revival, building consistency across a large bar team and creating buy-in rather than simply dictating technique. Looking at where cocktail culture has gone since, Cannon argues that technique and creativity aren't enough to sustain a career behind the bar. What matters most is still the guest: as he puts it, borrowing from Julia Child, “It’s not what’s on the table, it’s what’s on the chairs.”

Federico Lombardi compares the cocktail cultures of Italy, Spain and the United States, talks about creating drinks through the lens of chefs and food, and recalls the training that made him understand the martini as a drink in which every detail has to be right. 

Finally, Dan Smith explains how old movies first made him curious about cocktail culture, how The Violet Hour turned that curiosity into a career, and how a Polish neighborhood tavern sealed up for four decades became Queen Mary Tavern. He gets into the judicious use of salt in cocktails, the gin-and-rum Navy Strength Old Fashioned, and the Violet Hour martini that showed him what happens when dilution, bitters, temperature and technique all land exactly where they should.

Guest Bios

Toby Maloney is a bartender, author and longtime figure in the American craft-cocktail movement. He was the first bartender hired at Milk & Honey and later helped open Chicago’s influential Violet Hour. He is the author of The Bartender’s Manifesto and The Classic Cocktail Sessions and is now involved with The Elbow Room in Vancouver, Washington.

Jackson Cannon helped shape Boston’s modern cocktail culture as the longtime bar director at Eastern Standard, which opened in 2005 with serious cocktails integrated into a large, full-service restaurant. He later partnered in The Hawthorne and became an influential mentor to a generation of Boston bartenders.

Federico Lombardi is an Italian bartender who worked at Paradiso in Barcelona when it reached No. 1 on The World’s 50 Best Bars list. He has since moved to the United States and works behind the bar at Dante in New York.

Dan Smith is managing partner of Queen Mary Tavern in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village. His approach combines serious cocktail technique with the warmth and accessibility of a neighborhood tavern.

Timestamps

00:00 — Chicago, Martini Expo and the Moxy Hotel
03:45 — Toby Maloney: Milk & Honey, The Violet Hour and hearing the ice
14:30 — The Elbow Room, free pouring and Toby’s vermouth-granita martini
24:45 — Jackson Cannon: bringing craft cocktails to Boston
31:00 — Building bartenders, cocktail culture and hospitality
34:45 — Federico Lombardi: Europe vs. America and his martini lesson
42:45 — Dan Smith: The Violet Hour and the story of Queen Mary Tavern
54:00 — Navy Strength Old Fashioned and Dan’s perfect martini moment 

Info

Martini Expo — https://www.martiniexpo.com/

Toby Maloney — The Elbow Room, Vancouver, WA
Books: The Bartender’s Manifesto; The Classic Cocktail Sessions

Jackson Cannon — Eastern Standard; The Hawthorne

Federico Lombardi — Paradiso, Barcelona; Dante, New York City

Dan Smith — Queen Mary Tavern, Chicago

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

This is a Vintage episode from 2006.

Why This Episode Matters

• Rick Tramonto makes the case for fine dining that is polished and precise without being stiff or intimidating.
• The Guys tackle an enduring hospitality dilemma: when does accommodating one guest diminish the experience for everyone else?
• Tramonto reflects on restaurants as a place for nontraditional careers, mentorship and finding a sense of belonging.
• The conversation ends with the importance of cooking, family and gathering around the table.

Banter

Mark and Francis discuss a 2006 proposal to block cell-phone signals in movie theaters—and whether restaurants should do the same. That leads to the story of guests who opened a laptop in the Catherine Lombardi dining room and started watching a movie with the sound on.

The Conversation

Rick Tramonto joins the cell-phone debate from the perspective of Tru, where the philosophy was to cherish the customer and say yes whenever possible—until one guest’s behavior began interfering with everyone else’s experience. From there, he explains his approach to fine dining: maintain impeccable technical standards, but lose the stiffness, read the table and make people feel comfortable.

The conversation broadens into why restaurants attract people who take unconventional paths. Tramonto talks about cooking as a combination of art, science, craft and business, and about the responsibility chefs and operators have to mentor young people drawn to the intensity of restaurant life. He closes with the importance of home cooking, family meals and keeping people gathered around the table.

Guest Bio

Rick Tramonto is an acclaimed chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. At the time of this 2006 conversation, he was chef-partner of Chicago’s celebrated Tru restaurant and one of the leading figures in American fine dining.

Timestamps

00:00 Vintage introduction
01:00 Cell phones and dining-room etiquette
08:00 Rick Tramonto joins: when hospitality has to say no
14:00 Taking the intimidation out of fine dining
18:00 Restaurants as a path for nontraditional learners
22:00 Mentorship and restaurant culture
25:00 Family, home cooking and gathering around the table

Info

More about Rick

https://tramontocuisine.com/

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

Recorded on location at Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago 

Why This Episode Matters

• Grueneberg explains why being willing to step down in title to keep learning can be one of the smartest career moves in hospitality.
• Monteverde turns pasta production into part of the dining-room experience with its open pastificio, including filled pasta made to order.
• The restaurant’s batteria of balsamic barrels isn’t just decoration: Grueneberg sees the continuously aging, fermenting vinegar as part of Monteverde’s living soul.
• She also shares what comes next: Trattoria Lo So, Monteverde’s forthcoming second restaurant in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood, with longtime Monteverde chef Bailey Sullivan leading the kitchen.

The Conversation

Grueneberg traces the path from Brennan’s of Houston to Chicago, where she deliberately went back to garde manger at Spiaggia because she wanted to learn Italian cooking. She and The Guys talk about the value (and ego check) of taking a lower position in order to learn from the right people, as well as what Chicago’s restaurant culture gave her that she was looking for at that stage of her career.

At Monteverde, that education shows up in both the food and the room. Grueneberg wanted guests to feel what she calls “calm chaos”: a restaurant alive with music, smells, movement and pasta being made in full view. She explains why the pastificio was brought out of the prep kitchen and put onstage, how Monteverde handles both extruded and filled pastas, and why its seven-barrel balsamic batteria has become part of the restaurant’s identity.

The conversation moves into Grueneberg’s approach to Italian cooking “a traditional heart with a modern hand” from pork neck ragù to cacio whey pepe, and how traveling through Italy gave her permission to respect tradition without simply reproducing it. She also breaks news about Trattoria Lo So, her team’s next Chicago restaurant. Then, after dinner, Mark and Francis return to the microphones to report on whether Monteverde lived up to everything they had just heard. Spoiler: Mark finds a meatball worthy of discussion, which is not a low bar.

Guest Bio

Sarah Grueneberg is the chef and co-owner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago’s West Loop. She previously spent eight years at Spiaggia, rising to executive chef during a period when the restaurant earned one Michelin star for three consecutive years, and is a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Great Lakes. Her cooking combines Italian traditions with influences from her Texas upbringing, travels and training.

Grueneberg and her Monteverde partners are preparing to open Trattoria Lo So in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood in early 2027. Bailey Sullivan will lead the kitchen as executive chef, with Grueneberg serving as creative director. 

Timestamps

00:00 The Restaurant Guys arrive in Chicago and head to Monteverde
01:30  Sarah Grueneberg’s path from Houston to Spiaggia; taking a step backward to learn
08:00 — Chicago hospitality, “Midwestern nice” and building a restaurant team
14:00 — Creating Monteverde’s “calm chaos”
18:30 — The pastificio: fresh pasta, filled pasta and making it to order
21:00 — Monteverde’s balsamic batteria and how traditional balsamic is made
28:00 — Grueneberg’s approach to Italian cooking “Traditional heart, modern hand”
33:00 — The Italy trip that changed her career
37:00 —  Sarah’s new Trattoria Lo So and what comes next
39:00 — After dinner: The Guys review Monteverde, from meatballs to agnolotti

Info

Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio https://monteverdechicago.com/

Trattoria Lo So  Bucktown, Chicago; expected to open in early 2027

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

This is a Vintage episode from 2007.

Why This Episode Matters

• Father Greg Boyle explains how Homeboy Industries uses jobs, training and support to help former gang members build different lives.
• Rival gang members work side by side — and Boyle describes what happens when people who once saw each other as enemies begin to know one another.
• The conversation gets at something restaurants can do particularly well: teach skills, create pride in work and offer a path that doesn’t require a traditional academic route.
• Boyle makes the case for employment as intervention in one unforgettable line: “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”

The Conversation

Father Greg Boyle joins The Restaurant Guys to talk about Homeboy Industries, the Los Angeles organization he founded to help people leave gang life through employment, training and support. He explains how former rivals learn to work side by side, and how services such as tattoo removal and mental-health care grew out of the needs of the people coming through the program.

The conversation turns to the role of food and restaurants in that work. Boyle describes the pride that comes from making something tangible at Homeboy Bakery and Homegirl Cafe, while Francis reflects on restaurants as places where people can learn by doing, build skills and create a career without following a traditional academic path.

Boyle also talks about replacing hopelessness with the possibility of a future for people who have often been “planning their funerals and not their futures” and why, as Homeboy puts it, “nothing stops a bullet like a job.”

Guest Bio

Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. In this 2007 conversation, he discusses the organization’s work creating employment, training and support for former gang members through ventures including Homeboy Bakery and Homegirl Cafe.

Timestamps

00:00 Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries
 02:20 Rival gang members working side by side
 04:00 Tattoo removal, food and the dignity of creating something
 08:30 Learning the basic skills of work
 13:00 Restaurants, apprenticeship and planning futures instead of funerals
 16:00 “Nothing stops a bullet like a job”
 22:30 The Guys on good causes, good food and why quality still matters

More Information

Homeboy Industries https://homeboyindustries.org/

Elijah’s Promise School https://elijahspromise.org/promise-culinary/

Father Boyle’s book
G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles
by Celeste Fremon (Author), Tom Brokaw (Introduction) 

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

Why This Episode Matters

• Til Death The Speakeasy is literally hidden beneath a working funeral home outside Kansas City and unlike most modern “speakeasies,” it really isn’t generally open to the public. 
•  The room comes complete with a casket bar, an urn used to smoke cocktails, mysterious doors and at least one unexplained doorbell incident. 
•  The basement’s secret-drinking history predates its current owners: decades ago it reportedly served as a discreet drinking club for local Southern Baptists. 
•  What started as a cocktail obsession became a charitable passion project, raising money for organizations including Veterans Community Project and inspiring Til Death’s cocktail education program. 

Banter

Before heading underground, Mark and Francis find an object lesson in how not to communicate hospitality: a neighborhood restaurant whose storefront has slowly accumulated signs telling customers what NOT to do. As Francis puts it, the whole storefront seems to say: “Go away! Don’t do this! You’re all wrong!" 

The Conversation

Andrew Loos and Phil Worden join The Guys from Til Death The Speakeasy, a private Prohibition-inspired cocktail room beneath a working funeral home near Kansas City.

They explain how home bartending, Sasha Petraske’s cocktail movement and Kansas City’s bar scene inspired them to transform a forgotten basement into a genuinely secret speakeasy. Guests enter through the funeral home before descending through a series of doors which naturally leads Francis to start planning his own funeral and cocktail party there.

Andrew and Phil also share the stranger side of Til Death: an unplugged doorbell that mysteriously rang after an event, cocktails smoked in an urn and served on a casket, and the basement’s earlier life as a secret drinking spot.

Beyond the novelty, Til Death has become a vehicle for giving back. Andrew and Phil discuss their work with Veterans Community Project, along with other charitable events, and explain how Til Death The Academy teaches cocktail enthusiasts to become more knowledgeable bar patrons.

Guest Bio

Andrew Loos and Phil Worden are the team behind Til Death The Speakeasy. Together with their families, they run cocktail events, Til Death The Academy and charity fundraisers beneath Andrew’s working funeral home. 

Timestamps

00:00 The restaurant storefront that says “Go away”
05:45 Inside Til Death: a speakeasy beneath a working funeral home
13:00 Francis plans his own speakeasy funeral
15:00 Ghosts, an urn smoker and the basement’s secret drinking history
25:00 Turning cocktails into a charitable passion project
29:00 Veterans Community Project and the tiny-home model
37:00 Til Death The Academy 

Info

Veteran’s Community Project

https://vcp.org/

Til Death

https://tildeathkc.com/

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

This is a Vintage episode from 2006.

Why This Episode Matters

• Long before sustainable seafood became a mainstream restaurant conversation, Rick Moonen was pushing chefs and diners to think about where their fish came from and how it was caught.
• Moonen explains why cooking fish requires precision and why buying the freshest fish often means abandoning your shopping list and letting the market decide dinner.
• From beluga caviar to Chilean sea bass, the conversation shows how quickly popularity can put pressure on a species.
• And because this is The Restaurant Guys, a serious discussion about ocean conservation eventually leads to foie-gras potatoes and steaks stuffed with oysters.

Banter

Mark and Francis consider the economics of extraordinarily expensive restaurants and why a casino might happily operate one without worrying much about the restaurant itself making money.

Naturally, this gives them an idea: put slot machines downstairs at their own restaurant.

There is, unfortunately, the small matter of getting arrested.

The Conversation

Rick Moonen joins The Guys shortly after making the move from New York to Las Vegas, where RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay represented the biggest opportunity of his career.

They talk about why seafood can be unforgiving to cook, Moonen's effort to make home cooks more comfortable preparing fish, and how to shop for seafood by looking at what's freshest rather than arriving at the market with a fixed plan.

Then the conversation turns to sustainability. Moonen discusses the pressure on sturgeon and caviar, the enormous popularity of Chilean sea bass, and the responsibility chefs have when deciding what goes on their menus. His message extends to diners, too: ask where your seafood came from, ask how it was caught, and don't assume one person's choices don't matter.

Finally, the conversation returns to the friendship between Moonen, Mark and Francis through their years in the Red Meat Club including one memorable cookout featuring potatoes cooked in foie gras fat and carpetbagger steaks stuffed with oysters.

Guest Bio

Rick Moonen is a chef best known for his work at The Water Club, Oceana and RM Seafood, as well as his longtime advocacy for responsible seafood sourcing. In this 2006 conversation, he was also working on his cookbook Seafood Without a Doubt.

Timestamps

0:00 The price of luxury dining
5:30 Rick joins: leaving New York for Mandalay Bay
9:00 Why cooking fish intimidates home cooks
13:00 How to buy fresh fish and cook what's in the market
15:30 Sustainable seafood, caviar and Chilean sea bass
21:20 The Red Meat Club, responsible sourcing and an upscale cookout

Info & Links

• Rick’s book Seafood Without a Doubt 
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/how-to-choose-sustainable-seafood/seafood-guides
• Perry's Restaurants — Rick Moonen currently serves as Master Development Chef

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

This is a Vintage episode from 2012.

Why This Episode Matters

• Chef Paul Virant explains how preservation can extend truly seasonal cooking well beyond the growing season.
• Canning and pickling can deepen a restaurant's relationship with local farmers while creating new possibilities in the kitchen and behind the bar.
• Preserving peak-season ingredients isn't necessarily cheaper. The value comes from flavor, identity and having something uniquely your own.
• From pickled vegetables and aigre-doux to cocktail ingredients, preserves can become ingredients rather than simply condiments.

Banter

Mark Pascal and Francis Schott visit DeBragga & Spitler and get a hands-on look at dry-aged beef at different stages of the aging process. They talk about why properly aged meat costs more, what actually happens to a piece of beef as it ages, and why tasting and comparing things side by side is one of the best ways to learn.

The Conversation

Chef Paul Virant joins Mark and Francis to talk about The Preservation Kitchen and the preservation program that became a signature of his acclaimed restaurant Vie.

For Paul, preserving wasn't simply about opening a jar of pickles alongside a dish. Brines, pickled vegetables, preserved fruits and sweet-and-sour preparations became building blocks in his cooking adding acidity, contrast and unexpected flavor to everything from roasted meats to cocktails.

The conversation explores the practical side of cooking seasonally in places like Chicago and New Jersey, where the growing season doesn't last all year. Paul and the Guys discuss buying directly from farmers, preserving crops when they're at their peak, reducing waste and creating a restaurant pantry that reflects the local harvest long after summer is over.

They also get into the economics. Preserving food takes ingredients, jars, storage and substantial labor, and it often costs more than simply buying a commercial product. The payoff is something different: exceptional ingredients captured at their best, stronger relationships with farmers and food that belongs uniquely to your restaurant.

Also: home winemaking gone wrong, preserving fruit with spirits, using every drop of a pickling brine, and Paul's beer-jam Manhattan made with Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.

Guest Bio

Paul Virant is an acclaimed Chicago-area chef known for his focus on seasonal Midwestern ingredients, preservation and relationships with local farmers. His restaurant Vie earned a Michelin star and operated in Western Springs, Illinois, for 19 years before closing in 2023. Virant currently operates Petite Vie in Western Springs, Vistro Prime in Hinsdale and Gaijin in Chicago.

He is the author, with Kate Leahy, of The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-doux, originally published in 2012.

Timestamps

00:00 Dry-aged beef and why artisan food costs more
 05:45 Paul Virant on preserving the seasons
 11:30 How preserves become part of the cooking
 15:30 Working with farmers and preserving the harvest
 17:45 Beer-jam Manhattans and unexpected uses for preserves
 25:45 Why preserving isn’t cheaper, yet it’s still worth doing

Info

Paul’s book
The Preservation Kitchen
Paul Virant with Kate Leahy

Paul’s Places (all in Illinois)
Petite Vie 
Vistro Prime 
Gaijin

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]

Why This Episode Matters

• Nicholas Harary explains why he chose to reinvent one of New Jersey’s most acclaimed fine-dining restaurants before the business forced him to.
• A surprisingly technical look at what separates great ice cream from mediocre ice cream: butterfat, overrun, and the cold chain.
• Nicholas, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott debate whether traditional fine dining is dead or simply evolving.
• The conversation turns to Michelin: what its stars mean today, how the Guide’s expansion model complicates perceptions of independence, and why restaurateurs should always focus on the customers in the room.

Banter

Mark and Francis return from Sonoma with stories from Paul Hobbs’ 35th anniversary, smoke drifting across wine country and conversations with winemakers about what actually causes smoke taint. They make it onto Martinelli’s famously steep Jackass Hill where tasting zinfandel grapes directly from vines behind a wine he has loved for decades proves considerably more appealing than actually working a harvest.

The Conversation

Nicholas Harary and his wife, Melissa, opened Restaurant Nicholas in 2000 and spent two decades building it into one of New Jersey’s defining fine-dining restaurants. But Nicholas had already begun another chapter. What started in 2018 as a small seasonal ice cream shop where their kids might work became Nicholas Creamery. On opening weekend, police were directing traffic while Nicholas realized the 300 gallons of ice cream they had made weren’t going to be enough.

That leads to a deep dive into ice cream: why controlling temperature matters, why Nicholas had a freezer truck custom-built, how butterfat and overrun affect quality, and what happens when you melt different commercial ice creams side by side. Nicholas also explains the elaborate process behind flavors such as bourbon barrel-aged coffee chocolate chunk.

Then the conversation moves from ice cream to reinvention. Even after Restaurant Nicholas had its best year, Nicholas could see diners changing. Rather than gradually dilute what the restaurant had been, he closed it and rebuilt the concept as the much more casual Nicholas Barrel & Roost. His philosophy is simple: if your business looks exactly the same five years from now, you may have a problem.

Nicholas, Mark and Francis debate whether the version of fine dining they grew up with is gone and what has replaced it. They ask what gets lost when restaurants begin designing for the camera as much as the diner. Finally, they tackle the Michelin Guide from changing definitions of a Michelin-worthy restaurant to the financial arrangements used to bring Michelin into new markets before Nicholas offers his advice to younger chefs: concentrate on the people inside your restaurant, not the people outside talking about it.

Guest Bio

Nicholas Harary is the chef and restaurateur behind Nicholas Barrel & Roost, Nicholas Creamery and Nicholas Wines. He and his wife Melissa opened Restaurant Nicholas in 2000; during its 20-year run, the restaurant received an “extraordinary” from The New York Times Harary later transformed the space into the more casual Nicholas Barrel & Roost while expanding Nicholas Creamery across New Jersey.

Timestamps

00:00 Sonoma, smoke taint and Jackass Hill
08:08 Nicholas Harary joins the Guys
09:50 How Nicholas Creamery unexpectedly took off
14:40 Why the cold chain matters for great ice cream
17:00 Butterfat, overrun and what you're really paying for
21:05 Jersey flavors and bourbon barrel-aged coffee ice cream
23:30 Why Nicholas walked away from fine dining at its peak
28:25 Is fine dining dying or just changing?
34:45 What does a Michelin star mean now?
42:15 Michelin, Sysco and the appearance of impartiality

Info

Nicholas Barrel and Roost

https://www.barrelandroost.com/

Nicholas Creamery

https://www.nicholascreamery.com/

Nicholas Wines
https://www.nicholaswines.com/

Oct 23, Friday - Winemaker Dinner w/ Neri Capponi of Villa Calcinaia Winery

Oct 26-31 - Spooky Bar

Oct 27, Tuesday - Robert Simonson book signing cocktail party

More info - https://www.stageleft.com/events/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular

https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/

Magyar Bank

https://www.magbank.com/

Stage Left Wine Shop

https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Our Places

Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/

Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/

Reach Out to The Guys!
[email protected]