Inside Mike’s Bistro: Clientele, Costs, Culinary Roots, and Floyd’s Quick Drop-In

welcome to another episode of positivity I'm super excited to be here with chef Mike um one of the first restaurants that I was introduced to which was my by my brother schilly he was here last week when I was here and he was like we have to go to Mike's Bistro it's like he's like all the are there they have the best food the best soup the best like it's it's simple yet the best basically this is the most common word used in the yeah so I do think language the best give me the best what's the best is this the best what's the best what's the best drink what's the best wine what's the best steak so that's when what's the best restaurant yeah so like 5 six years ago he brought me here to Mike that was my introduction to restaurants people now know I I'm a food lover I have a channel where I review food every Sunday in LinkedIn I do a restaurant review post my my pay has food but this was my introduction to restaurants in New York City and you revealed to me that you are that you do you create the trends certain ideas and I want to talk about how how food Trends are created but let's jump into the juice question which type of people come here the most is it the is it is it fat people tell me Mike yes we have to have special chairs wooden heavy chairs we can't we have to have maximum only fat people so who do you have the most that's why I try to represent my have have the most money there's that's a very funny question I have no idea most of the time I don't know who has the money and who doesn't until they've been here a couple dozen times right and somebody points out and says you know who that is and I say now I do now I know is say like I preferred you didn't tell me because I'd rather know him as a guy who eats chicken and uh you know potatoes I don't need them love attention also they maybe also love recognition do you find that I think everybody wants to be recognized all the time it's part of our insecurity right and how do you make sure you have here hundreds of guests tonight I always make joke when somebody calls the restaurant and they say um I I need a quiet I need a a private area in the restaurant I say if you want privacy why are you going out you could stay home and have privacy I'll give you another one sometimes people say we're a group of 12 can we have a quiet table in the corner I say I don't know what kind of Corners you have in your house but where I come from a corner only fits two people you want 12 people in a corner and by the way you want a quiet Corner you're the noise right you're 12 people right how do you do how do you assure that every person gets a comfortable seat I mean is that how you build the restaurant oh so that's very that's very interesting okay everybody has their interpretation of what is what is the best the best you know this word the best what's the best seat do I have the best seat you know for some people sitting in the back room and nobody knows they're there and they get to hide for them that's enough of a restoration for them that's what they want some people they get energy from being within the people I have customers that say I want a table in the center of the dining room don't you dare put me off to the side right someone once told me that that's like a confidence move a person that's really confident is okay sitting in the center they don't need the corner they don't need but maybe when somebody goes on a date um they do want a corner I have a sarty family that's um absolutely gorgeous beautiful family you know beautiful looking beautiful acting all the above I love them so much mhm and they always insist on sting in the center of the dining room wow they don't like it when we put them on the side or anything like that and I understand why if I had a family like that if I had a family like that sitting I would love to have them in the center of the din room is I think it's malas I I think it is royalty when you can sit in the center of a room and uh and just not be not need a corner no they love it they love it and everybody's different there's no two people the same there's a type there are types and there's people from this area and people from that area but everybody is a little bit right little different um people come here for dates a lot obviously and we all know that when we go to a restaurant we always see that awkward date that date where you're like is it a first is it a second definitely looks like a first and then people start Jud people love people watching and a restaurant is a perfect place to do that and they're like are they going to go out again or not give me what are you do I had a table um playing Hanky Panky in the middle of the restaurant yesterday really yeah I did what did you do well it was Jewish Hanky Panky though not not not not guish Hanky Panky you you know I'll show you I'll show you like like this like there's a little bit of this going on and I actually saw another table observing their their behavior and for me I try not to show it on my face but this is my favorite thing to see is the interaction between people and the movement and the dynamic but I had no idea I don't know the story I didn't ask them I don't care to ask them I'm just happy that they feel comfortable that they could be themselves and I'm happy that another table found them to be entertaining you know and The Story begins and and that's life that life is what happens when you get off the couch and you go for a walk and you you sit down you know you don't only come to a restaurant for food it's always great it feels like a win when the food is good and you you paid for it and you like it and it's good and it's interesting that's that's a check yeah but really there's even another check is that the the I the softer experience right not the overt where you come in you have music banging and you know and you're sitting the little experiences that happen while you're waiting for the table and another table is coming out or you're walking in and you look so familiar to me cuz I probably saw you online and I greeted you right when you came in I truly thought that you were here two weeks ago and you tell me you hadn't been here in in a while in quite some time and then I I remember thinking to myself then how do I know him right and then suddenly we struck up a conversation which was brings you here today almost right and I I don't think that's accidental my friend zali was like if you get mik on a podcast that's a win everybody loves them everybody knows them trust me not everybody loves me trust me right now as I'm saying it to you there's a lot of people going that's right we don't love you why do you think that is I don't know is that I've been doing this 21 years ah so you feel like you've created just Mike's beastro 21 years I was the chef of the Prime Grill in 2001 right so I was already I came back to New York from Hawaii in in 2001 and I found myself falling into the kosher restaurant world it was never really that wasn't the agenda it just kind of fell in that way so you know through the way you know you meet a lot of people I don't remember offending too many people but I'm sure I'm sure I offended people of course I'm a human being um one of the number one questions that I get all the time from people is and I have my own way of answering it but the prices the restaurant give me a restaurant that's not expensive or whatever and I always explain to them like have you like made a couple of calculations in your mind as to how much it costs for service for food for dinner like you're going out for dinner and average dinner is I think for two people is about between $300 and $500 and I always ask these people I'm like you're eating a a premium steak how much do you expect the Stak cost some $10 and you can now sell it for 20 do you like make the calculation in your mind so address those people what is it what what's up with people with the prices when it comes to restaurants that is a great question and how do you see it yeah I think we're coming off of a period of excess okay where people felt that they could have a lot of whatever they wanted there really was a sense of abundance uhuh you know you felt it unable when was that like the last 15 years or okay I would say the last 15 years you had a sense of upward more more more a lot of deals a lot of business things happen people were closing deals they were they were just bring it I've had people walk into the restaurant say bring me the whole menu give me every appetizer give me three of these four of these two of these three of these there was a certain confidence and it had nothing to do with the price it had to do with their income yeah and they got used to eating large cuts of protein and beef and and really let's face it if you go to the supermarket today and you want a 2 and 1/2 lbs of dry AG be from the supermarket you're paying 75 to $100 yeah right right right so now imagine getting on a plate with sauce with napkin with bread with a server with the with with oil with the frankly with with heat with air conditioning with permits with licensing with insurance with Ash yeah right time with space that's something that we offer here you pay a lot of square footage right 100% we open up the the seat so you're like one of the only restaurants that's right off the New York City it's very rare it's very rare to have a restant most of them are either in a basement or upstairs or we had a lot of suffering with this space and a lot of luck with this space that's that's what a restaurant is I interrupted you but you're saying the price is something Sor let's go back to that price so so the idea is you don't have to finish your meal with a with a pound of prime dry aged beef the equivalent would be you're buying money when you're eating something like that you know the SL right it's real SLA you know beef that's aged and Prime and domestic I mean we all know that that's real money so let's imagine that you're not buying food you're buying dollar bills and they're bringing dollar bills and they're putting it on your plate right but before those dollar bills came to you they cut it perfectly they put it in the refrigerator for a month they they got a special machine to cook it right then they have a plate and there's some sauce that go and they take the money if if you got $100 in uh in $5 bills on you say oh now I understand right but it's expensive because you're buying expensive things chicken is expensive but it's nowhere near the price of beef you can even have a piece of fish that doesn't compare to uh a 16 o uh beef or even ve you know ve prices are really high and you know if you're getting a V chop there's no such thing as a MSA a person can't sell you something for cheaper than he pays for it right so if you look at the menu today there's a lot of dishes that are not based around heavy weighted proteins MH we have a meatball that goes over eggplants that's in the 30s we can we can give you a duck leg which is a lovely portion it's in the 50 range yeah right I mean you're getting a brazed duck leg for $54 so a person could sit down and have a salad uh a soup a duck leg for under $125 and you just had three beautiful courses right the kind of coures that I would serve at any meal and any tasting right so you don't want to get too locked into big heavy pieces of meat because you're paying a lot at the restaurant and truthfully the restaurant is not Prof profiting as much on that so it's not it's not a double win it's a double loss wow but you know it tastes so good and it feels so good that's that's a beautiful answer you're basically saying if somebody has a money issue understand first of all understand that you're going out for the experience and the price that you're paying is usually usually reasonable as to what you're getting number one number two if you have an issue with the price you don't have to order the tamahawk steak for two every time you go out you can order an appetizer a soup uh uh you know and and and make that fit into your budget what was the most expensive bill that you had an individual uh couple or an individual table of I don't know 12 pay wine has a huge impact on that okay the other day um we sold a bottle of wine it was a 1994 Chalk Hill okay wow so we charged $4,000 for that you have here $4,000 bottle one we do many of them or a few or we had a $10,000 bottle where the proceeds were committed to a s ducka and that was the that was a Chalk Hill 1993 the first Chalk Hill ever made and it was great we wrote a wrote a check for10 to a charity for that oh wow but this one was was selected it was purchased there was a gentleman that was very there was two people that were Jewish one person that wasn't who fancied himself a wine connoisseur yeah and when we brought out three choices they selected this bottle $4,000 bottle and it's not $4,000 because it's the most delicious wine that ever existed it's $4,000 because we're holding it for 20 years you know we're holding that wine for 20 years did they just credit card it like what what was it on yeah uhhuh and the dinner the dinner turned out to be a you asked me that it was an expensive dinner it turned out to be $7,000 dinner for free people wow right but that's the wine the food was nowhere near these people don't blink when they spend I mean that's real real when you're closing when you're closing a100 million deal or you're entertaining a client that could affect a major this is It's a rounding eror right right I mean it's like the United States government how they could just you know lose a billion dollars here lose a billion dollars here samea are you still amazed by money does that talk to you do you like it when you see somebody come in dressed well a family a couple and they're just spending they're just like not looking they're like bring me the wine and bring me this or like bring me the whole menu does that wow you like are you Amazed by money I am still I don't know you know you're always grateful when God sends you uh gifts yeah you don't look a gift horse in the mouth yeah right and for every person that does that you know you might have three other four or five other clients that are that can't afford it so I always look at that as you need those clients the only thing I I ask is I hope they take the time to actually value it and I'm not sure if they do you know I I I I have some certain clients that spend very easily but are also very precise and they enjoy Crea ity and they enjoy the finer points and and it's really special you know I I had multiple clients where I would do a tasting for them every time they walk through the door and this was from covid and it was just it tested your creativity can you come up with something new but you know I should back up and tell you that any person that has ever gotten into this business thinking that this is going to make me Rich or I'm going to be wealthy that doesn't exist is what I'm saying you know nobody goes to culinary school and for $9 hour and travels and this and go through all this I can open up a restaurant and be rich because you talk to restaurant people now all the time tell me how many rich ones do you know no zero um and if they're if and if they're rich they're rich from something else 100% no I see it as a hobby I before I was open opened Weber media it's a passion yes so it's a but before I open Weber media I wanted to open a restaurant I love this like I love food I love seeing people eat and I love walking over to the table and say guys how we doing today you know what I'm saying how's everything there's something to it and I had this conversation with one of my uncles and he was like he was like look it's a great idea but the investment is millions of dollars like there's you start a business where you can just make money uh right away I think it's nice to have a restaurant if you're looking to sell catering uh if you want to be a caterer it's nice to have a restaurant with 20 seats so that you can call in the client and show them what you're going to Doone that's nice I don't know if there's big money big money relative yeah you know big money always puts you into an office right you know but I call big money is if one catering job can give me a a full night of table seatings I call that big money compared to what you're selling generally speaking do you do catering if if it fits and it makes sense I do it if I can accomplish it I do it I recently did a bar mitzvah in Curious Yol wow isn't that funny yeah well so what the client just I guess loves you the food and they want they wanted something they wanted something real authentic they wanted something that wasn't um kerish you know what I mean I find that uh the default to not knowing what you want is to give everything you know I say it's like somebody at home you know I see this a lot of times in uh Jewish households sadly it comes back to the insecurity situation instead of making dinner they make everything there's not one there's three there's not oneus there's Kus there's this dip there's that is this STP right and I've said this a million times if you've listened to me and it's not enough to have just uh a chicken and a and a cougo and a vegetable you need to have this kind of chicken and this kind of chicken this kind and also you got to have a beef but what if that person doesn't like that beef so I also have to have stuff cabbage right and that's every meal they serve the same thing it's everything at every meal all the time so nothing changes right um who is the biggest celebrity in your opinion let's start with non-jewish that walked in here I I think John batist wow okay I don't know him but I'm saying wow John batist is he is he is the music man today he's prob in my opinion the most respected um musician of the day really who else that's memorable for you maybe I know well Floyd Mayweather was here okay he's cool yeah he's big he's yeah especially amongst the yiden these days right yeah right right you know a lot of times people walk in here and I don't even know that that they're celebrities oh yeah like myself you didn't know anything you let's go back you're the biggest celebrity thank you but you don't know because celebrity comes in so many forms you have movie star celebrities you have Financial Legends you know oldtimers that walk through the door where the younger guys go do you know who that is that guy you know to me one of the biggest celebrities is Ronald louder mhm I I think he's a Jewish superhero yeah I mean he hits every note right he's a political um National I mean he's a hero he's a Jewish hero he does so much for the Jewish cause and you know of course he's a billionaire and he comes from a extremely wealthy family but when I see this guy I say wow this guy's in his 80s and he's still doing it he's doing it the right way and he's doing it hard and that to me is that's a real celebrity obviously you have your I call them um Local Heroes right I'm not going to mention the names of who the Local Heroes are we all know the ones that give those donations that we are all just so impressed with that support our neighborhood we have the people that give tremendous tedua you know those are incredible heroes or or it's funny just thinking out loud you know a guy like Ellie Beer is these days is a is a celebrity also right with United so but you have negative celebrities also the celebrities that you don't want to see yeah you know you have uh what's her name who's uh politicians right right you know they're I wouldn't call them celebrities they're like evil they're evil right everything from Governors to Mayors to Senators to senators from different states to Mike Pence to Mike Pompeo what are these lights for I see many restaurants have it this is the most important thing in the whole restaurant okay do you know that this silly little machine over here yeah has changed the entire industry tell me why you used to have to pay somebody to jump up on the ceiling and pin spot your table so that there was light on the table now you have a wireless light that puts light on the table okay and if you have a white cloth it gives you white it gives you ambient light right and you don't have to worry about trying to set the table directly underneath the pin spot genius if I want to make a party in my backyard I don't even need to get extension cord if I want to go to the beach if I want to have a romantic dinner with you on the beach I need a light I have a light and a table it's right there it it spread so beautifully by the way incredible where did you find those this is my fourth version I finally found this one I like this one now let's see what's wrong with this well you know what's wrong with this right okay I don't know yet when I find out what's wrong with this and then I'll replace it I'll find the next one but what's nice is it doesn't inhibit your your view right I agree but they break very easily yeah what is it is it like bucks that's my secret oh okay you know you can get it for 100 you can get it for 200 you can also find it for 30 you got to that's that's part of the restaurant business that's sourcing it's like it's like vegetables right yeah what happens somebody sits here has a great dinner an enjoyable meal out with their family spending $2,000 it comes to pay and the credit card just doesn't go through things that happen daily never Happ never happen to you I can tell you in over 20 years I never had maybe one situation where some I've only had two people walk out in 20 years I've never had a situation where somebody said I'm sorry I I can't pay there was only one nebuch situation that was but it wasn't like a normal human being it was somebody that that's very troubled uhuh it was more of a I'd rather not say it's embarrassing for for the whole situation and but it's not like a regular guy who just walked in and right no it's an amazing thing did you know that how many businesses do you know where you get to walk in take the person's time consume the product eat it actually eat it and then afterwards they say I know you ate everything and you've already we've already given you everything now can you please pay us yeah you know I go to the doctor he asking my insurance immediately right at the front door right there's no don't worry we'll bill you later it's interesting concept why is construction does a contractor come to your house that a big deposit so what's the point how how come I think it's I think we're just desperate I think restaurants have like a desperate kind of I don't know what it is there's this this is beauty to a restaurant but there's also this sort of like um subservient sort of thank you so much for coming because so many restaurants fail that we're so afraid to offend the guest or it's because they want them to continue to order and if they don't pay it they can call the police wash dishes what are they going to do that's what I tell people Seth can you shut up I'm on a [Laughter] podcast no it's not I'm not talking to a studio audience I'm talking to him exactly um Mike tell me growing up a little bit of background your story as a kid were you already frying schnitzel baking cookies like at what age did you notice that you have this passion for food and what age did you notice you want to own a restaurant give me your history background but where did you there was never an age that I said I wanted to open up a restaurant even when I opened up the restaurant I didn't I still remember a conversation with my wife who who said why don't you just shut up and open up a restaurant something like that yeah and that's what motivated me because I said oh yeah that's what motivates me like I can't do it I'm going to do it you know and that's what actually got me into the next level but how did I get into food my family is aater came in 1974 I have Hungarian background Russian background cooking and food was Central to my to my existence I grew up with my mother making me hot breakfast and I came home to hot dinners and I ate ve as a kid and stewed food and all kinds of Hungarian foods and you know I didn't grow up on uh peanut butter and jelly I didn't grow up on cereal with milk my cereal was was hot and my my French toast was bundh you know and and that was real culture and I paid attention you know it starts with eggs M first you say I don't need anybody's help you have an independence I make my own breakfast yeah I decide how I want to toast my English muffin yeah I decide right and then once you become that you know to be a cook you're a little bit of a control freak right yeah you don't really want somebody else to touch your stuff and it it it goes through the whole thing you know to be honest a little secret I like to do my own laundry too because that thing starts early yeah you know I always make a joke and it's not a joke you're either playing in the band or you're dancing on the dance floor you're not doing both right it's very rare to be standing on stage playing and also be standing in the circle with the with the ball if you will right and it's that's a personality type I don't know too many people that are on both sides very well so oh no [Music] yeah okay that's okay um let me ask you um I want to finish your story a little bit so you grew up you had good food on the table that was kind of your inspiration good food uh you know and then and and you know just being in Brookland you know there were smells and it's it's the multiculturalism of my youth that probably created a foundation of what food is right when was the first time you cooked something I'd say the first thing I cooked was probably is you know you cooking is a simple thing sometimes it's simple as toasting bread right you know once you start to pay attention I like it like this I'll give you I'll give you an example I like to toast my Bagels before cutting them in half okay why why because I want a bagel that feels like it just came out of the oven I don't want a bagel that was cut in half and toasted on the inside I want a fresh bagel and the way I get a fresh Bagel is like put it in home and I do my English muffins like that also I do it whole yeah I do it whole yeah hey look it's repun you get out of the camera I leave this stuff in by the way cuz I love it it's funny keep it so it is very funny so so the first thing you cook was toast and then for sure eggs you know I I remember when I so give me the trick to eggs and what I notic for the life of me I can't make them look yellow the way they look on TV is that a thing how do I make them look yellow are you kidding me use a use a clean pan that's the first thing okay I do that all right right but I don't think it's about that to me my cooking of the eggs was more about I was very interested in the way onions and mushrooms tasted together so I became when I was young I was obsessed with cooking onions mushrooms and eggs and that probably originated from seeing my mother making Leo I don't know if you know what Leo is and the Leo was uh sometimes she'd crack an egg in it yeah and I and that's when I discovered that that tastes good and then I realized something about the relationship between mushrooms and onions and I started cutting mushrooms and onions small and sautéing it and putting an egg in and enjoying it and seeing that sometimes it's watery and sometimes it's not and I still remember when I add milk to the egg what happens if I don't add milk what happens all these things have an impact right repon just we're videoing I just want you to know okay it's okay I'm just letting you know back the back the eggs by the way so what's the trick there's no trick to eggs I don't know why your eggs aren't turning yellow I have no explanation get better eggs maybe what's where do you get better eggs bad eggs are paler right where do you get the best eggs you got to just find it you know no it's like more expensive the more you pay for it the better cuz not everybody's paying more for it no no no no when you're paying ridiculous pricing down yeah do you do that like for your restaurant you buy the most expensive eggs I'm not selling eggs like that if I'm doing qu EGS you know or I'm using my eggs for breing procedures it's you know eggs is a whole world I think I did a couple of videos on eggs yeah I think on on I think on kosher.com I did a I did a whole thing on a French rolled omelette right so when did you open your first restaurant so you started you notice that you have this passion for cooking mine that I'm a principal that I own the restaurants when did I open yeah what happened before you owned your own restaurant you worked in a restaurant I did a few openings oh really yeah but what was your first opening the First new restaurant I ever worked in was believe it or not in Hawaii oh wow is that where you grew up or why in Hawaii oh so you got to go back so I went to you grew up in Brooklyn I grew up in Brooklyn but then I went to culinary school and then I went to Northern California I cooked there for a year and then I traveled to Hawaii to cook there for a year to learn Asian food and over there I was part of a a new restaurant uhuh so I got to be part of an opening team there so that was your first that was the first opening that was the first opening why Asian food I'm just curious because growing up in New York in Eastern European household going to a French style culinary school you don't know anything about Eastern cooking you know about Western cooking you know you know I call it from Western yeah you know Western but Eastern cooking is totally different different flavor soy sauce you know ginger garlic and scallions as opposed to onion celery and carrots mhm what's the difference which one is Eastern which one is Western and well when I say ginger what does it make you think of when I say Sesame what does it make you think of do you have any associations I'm curious when I say soy sauce what do you think of sesame chicken when I say soy sauce what kind of a person do you look do you look at do you think of which is interesting because I'm older than you so you have you're younger maybe you don't have the same Association when I say soy sauce what food are we probably eating I don't know me this is a miracle chicken you should know that this is a miracle right because I thought the I thought the answer was going to be soy sauce Chinese food okay but that doesn't come off your your lips so you see you're seeing a serious cultural shift in what you associate as being Asian product to use soy sauces as common ingredient tell me why do why do people love Chinese food Umami what does that mean it's just a very satisfying flavor that ginger garlic scallion soy Sesame chili all those flavors even MSG yeah you know shitaki it's addictive no it's addictive flavor and it's quick and it's uh relatively inexpensive right I don't know what it is Jews love Chinese food I know here's a question for you does China have Chinese restaurants or it's just restaurants China has Mandarin style restaurants China has sesan style restaurants so you understand what I'm saying right but why do Jews love Chinese in your opinion that's what I notic every you're walking on every sesame chicken and potato C I think it's cuz it sits nicely on a buffet yeah like you can put it up you know you can order the Chinese food you can put those little things underneath you can put it cover it when everybody shows up they can eat cuz the rice is not going to go bad exact and that meat once they they velvet it you know there's a technique of velveting chicken and velveting beef you know you noticed that the meat Chinese food is a little bit different feeling it doesn't get hard it's like they laminated it yeah that's what it feels like drrive freeze it's amazing right and they have a technique and it's it's not unnatural healthy though Mike I don't think it's unhealthy no no that Sugar the spices the doesn't have to be that way remember Chinese American Chinese food and Chinese food had nothing to do with each other we do a dish here very often called a Chinese style steam black bass okay it's one of the healthiest dishes I had it already and I learned it in you put serve it in that metal cage or something no am I'm confusing no no it's not even on the menu now I usually it's it's steamed in a pan I put ginger and scallion and chili on it with and I Splash it with hot oil you you served it in the past i' I've definitely served it 100 times in the last 20 years yeah I had I think I had this dish it's so light and so fresh and it steamed and it's it's a departure from the cooking that you and I grew up with like that's not what you're going to see in a Chinese restaurant these days when you think Chinese food you're thinking General to's Chicken you're thinking about Hunan beef you're talking about casu uh something or other beef and broccoli beef and broccoli with but the truth is why beef and broccoli the truth is I'm sorry go ahead truth is but that's not necessarily Chinese food that's American Chinese food when you see all those Chinese restaurants and they all have the same menu whether they're kosher or non obviously the non- koser ones have a lot of pork and shrimp on them but when you look at the structure of it and the style and the I'm not going to say it's junk food yeah but there's a lot of duck sauce there you know it's it's you know there's a lot of different kinds China is a huge Place what's American food yeah I I literally you see this is exactly what I just wrote Oh American American food what is so first of all I want to just understand this because I'm actually curious so Eastern is Asia and stuff like that Western is what western is uh Europe the New World Europe so our Paris yes we're definitely Western what's our foods like what is American food what baked chicken schnitzel American potato cou American food is being oh American Jewish food no no Western what's Western food potato C is already heish okay but what's West Brown food okay right you know our food is brown okay right that's heish yeah that's and what's Western food give me name me a few Western type of foods uh fish and chips okay you know I would call that Western for sure um hamburgers hot dogs is Western definitely I thought that's okay so what's American food um fet steak frats you know is is is Western what's American food yeah I don't believe in that I believe that there's American Regional Cuisine and I think that there's new American food which takes in all the influences for the last 20 years and the media and all the the knowledge that have been coming through I mean you know I cooked in Hawaii is that American mhm it is kind of right right and there you had Filipino Japanese Chinese Japanese when I was in Northern California we cooked a lot of French but that French had a lot of uh Mexican uh Latino influence a lot of Asian influence a lot of Curry influence and that you know California Cuisine is that anything goes new American culture but then you had you know remember that cuine is ever evolving would you consider Sushi to be American food these days no it's ch it's definitely Chinese right it's Japanese Japanese I me but the issue is I mean Asia I don't know these days I think that there's enough Sushi eaten in this country that it's American that it's been own that it's been they've owned it now it's like did Italy invent noodles I don't know yeah was well everybody thinks pasta is Italian right pizza okay but Pizza is Italian pizza pizza yeah remember pizza's also American it travels that's the beauty of food by the way Mike now as you're talking about it um even even this water right yeah it's a spring is it a spring from New York yes this is New York New York water but yes the culture of food travels but you know you have to be able to speak the language you can't just cook the food right we have dishes on our menu yeah that are inspired by my relationship with my team in the kitchen oh wow you know that because there's a lot of Latino yeah and there's great Mexican culture and I try deeply to understand what they're eating why they're eating it okay so this this this is the next question that I wrote is what's up with Mexican food cuz I feel like they're very into rice beans uh kind of like fast with I once went not at all there's a what not at all it's it's deeply informal dining I see to them it's all from what I've learned and I I I shouldn't I should speak with permission but this is what I've learned that when they eat corn corn is not just corn corn is a representation of who they are where they came from and it's it's sacred so everything is eaten with a corn tortilla so if you're eating soup you're eating with the tortilla okay so corn is their favorite food I once ate in a Mexican restaurant faite it's not favorite it's their most staple most basic thing Masa Masa and there were different kinds of corn you know the word Masa is that's the flower that comes the the that comes from corn that they make tortillas out of that you eat corn chips out of right it's all made from type of Masa and you have different masa for different things you know blue corn makes a different kind of Masa yellow corn red corn I fat corn tender corn right but but what's Mexican food again it depends whether you're in Waka speaking of which you see one my uh Mexican boy just walked in you have different regions right so you have to start to understand it's like saying what's Jewish food right is Jewish food fari food is Jewish foodish food well people know they know the basics they know cougle they know chalant they know uh if you're if you're um you know mrai then you know so it's either kishko oron but kishka is a very one of the most famous but not K right right certainly not chant different yeah right which is a totally different thing but chicken soup is they're not eating chicken soup is are a pretty Jewish food right I don't know where or when is chicken soup a Jewish food that's a great question you fil the fish it's a good question I could tell tell you that Augustus es cafer has chicken soup in his French cookbook from uh from years ago but I guess it just makes sense take a chicken cook it in a pot eat the meat and enjoy the broth right it's all common sense right yeah and it makes you feel better yeah I once watched a movie one of these kids from the three stoos where you see they they serve they open a restaurant and they take this huge chicken and they pour hot water over it into a plate and they serve that as chicken soup that's very funny yeah it is when did you discover the Three Stooges when I was little but I like them the three you're bringing back the Three Stooges right I just love them they're good characters but do you study fre Jews you really I didn't know that amazing history wow yeah that's a whole another conversation that's that's that's American Jewish culture right there yeah yeah it's incredible um do you study history of food sounds like you were talking about oldtimers are you the older I get the more I want to I want to know about history but not just food history you need to understand culture and people in order to understand what they eat and why they eat it yeah I'll give you an example you can't just give a random guy a recipe to chones and think that he's going to be able to get there he has no idea what he's going for he doesn't know the origin of it why why do we eat ch right CH is a deeply um religious experience right and and it's there's a whole history to it right there's a whole religious history to it why we eat ch right and how old it is and what the origin is right so to understand Italian food you got to spend time with Italian people to understand Hungarian food you have to spend time with hungarians right there's no such thing right food is not just on a piece of paper it defines us like take an empanada right you've heard this term an empanada everybody thinks it's what's inside the Empanada it's really not true it's really what the Empanada is made of that defines the Empanada so an empanada in um in the Caribbean might be different than Empanada in Mexico which be different than the Empanada in Central America because they might use cassava while another one us a corn and maybe somebody just uses wheat yeah right so you have to understand why it's like [Music] um food tells the story of who we are where we're where we came from and how we survive right right everything you want to know about somebody you could probably learn by what they eat yeah right right um what about like uh Chef Ramsey the you know everybody talks about him I think he's like one of the most famous chefs do you like his approach do you feel that he's controversial do you think he's a good Chef he's a great chef it's obvious M he put in his dues he worked his Tas off if you go on uh YouTube you could see that he was scrubbing and working and he he gave himself and he gave now his own restaurant he lowered his head it's more than just restaurants it's his um one thing that you know is that was a different era that's when everybody actually you know believe me he never thought that he would be Gordon Ramsey he was probably just happy to get off the street and have a job and now maybe have a restaurant I mean the idea that he was able to build himself into a a massive brand is that is not what most people are going to have in their experience in life right do I agree with what he does if it was in a kitchen yes right on screen no um cuz on screen it's the purpose is not for Education it's for entertainment right can you see yourself going that route where you have your own show and 10 different restaurants in different cities and locations I have The Gift of Gab but I'm not traveling to I don't want to make my living [ __ ] on people you know excuse my friends but what about but no what about expanding would you open another restaurant like if you feel that it's necessary needed you have the money the energy listen we're open 21 years I'm shocked that we're still here I I'm I'm amazed so let right I want to get back to that so you were in Hawaii the first opening then you did a couple of more when did you open Mike's bistra in 2004 okay and it was in a different location I got my I got my feet wet I was part of the opening crew of the Prime Grill which was a big deal before your time right that was something else I was part of uh I opened the little cafe in um on Amsterdam Avenue and then I had to take on a a new idea on 67th Street a place called mcor this was back in 2003 and you know then I opened up mikro on uh 72nd Street so I got my feet wet with all these little things and seeing openings and I always tried oh yes I was also part of the opening team at a place called restaurant above which was in the Times Square Hilton back in two the year 2000 Co what happened to that place I have no idea I got pretty distracted in my own work right and so I got to see little openings and all the challenges of opening and before I opened my own place and I'd like to say that it prepared me but it did not okay tell me more about that like how challenging was it to actually open and what's your advice to other people opening it's so much more than food and food is so important you know you have to become a professional in so many things right away because it's a household and a household needs everything a household needs electricity a household needs uh proper cleaning a household needs um you know Plumbing knowledge a household needs air conditioning and air flow and HVAC and legal and and and that's really what I think the biggest obstacle to opening a restaurant is it's realizing that you don't even know what you don't know right and it takes a certain amount of Huts but to open up a restaurant why do you become a chef in the first first place right [ __ ] you that's why you understand is that how you feel do you feel like you just gave yourself out and this was your passion and hobby and you just did it it was never a hobby when I decided to go to culinary school after spending 3 years in in college that was a bold moment that was a moment where you say okay I'm going to go home and tell my parents I want to go to culinary school I hope they don't laugh at me right and I went home and they didn't laugh at me wow which is also a mini nce you know I thought I was going to get resistance I didn't get resistance and then before you know it you're in a totally different world because you know even though I grew up in a unique Universe because you know Yiddish was my first language but I was so American that I forgot my yish wow so I had to gain my yish back in later life but you know I'm hanging out with Italian Irish kids you know from kids from Bor Park and then going to camp in the summer with tone kids and you know Co and life was like one big goulash right now I'm but I was always surrounded by still dominated by Brooklyn Yiddish kit and going to sh and seeing a kosher pizza store and a kosher bakery now suddenly you're out now you're surrounded by only non-jews you can count on one hand how many Jews were in the entire school right and it's culinary school so suddenly you got your hands you know in a pig's tus you know what I mean and you're like what am I doing here it's so foreign you know it takes a second to be like and you know you're unique Mike cuz you're you're a chef like you said you went to school but you're also owner and that's a whole different game level and I think that's what you just described um and that's beautiful um do you do you ever eat out how does that work what are you doing want to go out I don't have the appetite right now I don't really care so much about going out as much as I'm interested in products you know the truth is I have off on Fridays right yeah you'd say what do you do on Fridays ironically I buy fruit really yeah that's your go for me that I'm I'm looking around for something I'm looking oh can I get a great piece of fish you know last shabis you know I found myself I went to Market I picked up a a piece of fatty tuna I saw whatever fruits were available and that's what I I came home with that was that passion never ends that cooking passion can somebody develop a passion for cooking I think anything that you learn about becomes interesting to you if you don't know about it it's never going to be interesting right nothing you ever play a video game yeah it's not fun when you don't know what you're doing yeah those first couple of rounds of like you're what I'm supposed to push what button to do what yeah right that's not fun right riding a bike if you don't know how to ride a bike is not fun you know when it gets fun yeah when you get good at riding the bike then kids start run they're all over it right yeah nobody likes to do anything that they don't know about or they're not good at yeah right and that's and that's the whole thing the more you know the more fun it becomes you know my my wife recently started baking Callas so I first she was just following a recipe right and you can only imagine what a jerk I am yeah I was I was just going to ask comp in the kitchen no competition because I'm just looking at her I'm like I want you to read a little bit about Brit she's like just shut up shut up I just want to make holl to have fun but you know after I pushed on her a couple of times now I'm looking at her and I said I said you see look at you you know you're making like professionals right now and I said and don't act like you weren't you didn't hear me you heard me and right now yours look amazing and you're having fun doing it because you know what you're doing and you're good at it right what's your tip for Kala for all the mothers watching and they want to make a good kala stop adding so much sugar is not supposed to be cake yeah don't be afraid to need it shouldn't be Crum like a cookie it should be like fabric you ever have one of those bigas you know the you know it's braided and you get that one piece where you could pull the whole strand you almost want to wear like a scarf you know you know you want just just go like that you know how is like it's that kind of bread you know you know we were watching a video in the back room from 40 years ago and there was a nice h on the table and somebody who's young 20 years old goes that's a nice kala yeah I remember thinking to myself that's the exact kala that they're making today same Kal from 40 50 years ago I recognize the shape the you know the Bila you know the one that's small on the bottom and big on the top you know the ones you get at the the Reb the littleb you know what I'm talking about yeah I love them what would you say is your favorite part of owning the restaurant day today people yeah you love connecting with people I always see that you like literally you start up a conversation with everybody and it's I only start up if if they put if they pull me in I try not to I you know I got good advice from somebody know when to walk away and I looked at him recently and if he's watching this video he's going to know exactly what I'm talking about I say I say you consider yourself a friend you thought I was spending too much time at the table and you didn't tell me I said what's the matter with you why' you tell me Mike leave be me so now I'm like super careful not to over um I welcome I understand but you know you could see the food at the table better than you could see it in the kitchen when I'm at the table and I see the food drop and I see people's response to it and I see the plating style and I can see that it how it's you know it's one thing to see the food in the window yeah but you know a lot of Chef's experiences end right there yeah it's not my problem anymore right it's not my problem it left my window right let the manager deal with it right right that's the difference between being an owner and being an employee I track it from the entrance to the out to the back right in my imagination I have to see what's happening and and then when you're at the table talking to somebody and the food comes there's no hiding that's a level of confidence and and at the same time terrifying cuz you're sitting there when something comes out and it looks like crap to you and the guest has it and you have to say that's not right yeah that's not right I I'll be right back I'm sorry they forgot to but this this did you ever do that what do you think I don't think so I think per I'm sorry all the time you know why because food is not perfect uhhuh and people are not perfect and that is one sport going on back there you know it's not one guy cooking stirring a pot and saying you you bring a soup to table too you know there nobody just going like that you ever see there shows on TV now nobody's going okay here's the soup and there's a guy waiting I'll take the soup to him no it's a whole production sport do you make do you design the production do you design the plates everything I guess a good good food presents itself and I'm still of the belief that I want a white plate I don't need you I don't need to impress you with a bowl that has glitter and it's handmade and they're not eating the plates you know I'm more interested that you have a clean glass than a funky glass all right and a white plate and a white cloth where I could see if God forbid something fell in there's a lot of people walking around there's a lot of debris there's a lot of potential for things to go wrong how you going to see it you're going to see it right here with the light right yeah what's your personal favorite food finina really I love Savory finina like I can eat that all day to me it's even even a higher level than fetuccini with like butter you know and cheese s finina and I and I have to eat it slow because I can patience also and you leave it there for one second longer and it's too heavy oh no I've mastered finina Mike um do you cook a lot shabas like do you invite guests or stuff like that or you like or you just forget about cooking and you just live a life it's quite the opposite I really don't have much of a desire to see too many people on the weekends because you know you get energy from people during the right but you need at the middle of shabas you ready you get energy from not being with people it's too much right yeah not saying it's small talk but you know I feel like this is you know I've seen people I have customers that have been her over 100 200 times wow you know David would you agree with that statement would you say we have customers we have a significant amount of customers we have 100 customers that have been here a 100 times would you agree with that statement easily people come here like one night after the other I've had customers that have eaten here 5 days a week for four years straight really yes unbelievable it's a whole another life it's like a family I it's we had a I'll don't say the name I don't care they won't be embarrassed the gibber family has been eating with me for 20 years I had the pleasure of serving um the grandparents the children their children it's like three generations and the history is unbelievable it's unbelievable I still remember um one of them as a 13-year-old now he comes in with his wife and his kids and it's a it's an Indescribable feeling you know when people ask uh what are you going to do if things go bad in New York it's not so much the money that I'm right missing even though of course everybody needs to make a living it's it's a sadness like no no I don't want I don't want this to end this is this is a good thing you know I have a I have a couple a mother and a daughter that come in this is where they connect right clearly the daughter is more religious than the mother but this is where they sit down this is where she has a cocktail this is where we I can I could sit here and I could tell you we could sit here for for days and I can give you personal stories of people that have come from Medical Treatments yeah people that are here that are dating people that are divorced and looking for another wife you know I there was a there was a gentleman here that he walked in and he was dating and and I told him the first day I said that is your wife right there oh wow your wife is here today and I placed a $1,000 beted on it and and I collected really yes he was sitting with her already or he was just came dating random girls right he was going on shid dates how did you know that this girl is for him she was just randomly in the restaurant no no he took her out he took her out and I saw that this is the one this is the one and it and it was wow and it was and that's just one St one of so many so many so many stories the other day we had there's a lot of beautiful stories that happen that you don't even first of all theh that happens here sometimes is outrageous yeah right and the other day a woman walks in from the street and I and I took me by surprise she walked in and I felt like she was lost but at the same time I then realize that she was in Special Needs yeah and I remember she comes through the door and she sits down she starts looking at the menu and then she asks me um where the homeless shelter is she didn't call it the homeless shelter but I know it's the homel Shel and I'm thinking myself why is this woman with special needs sitting down in the restaurant looking at it at this place is way too expensive right so I you know internally I made a decision right there no matter what happens you're going to be nice to her you're going to be kind to her you're going to be hospital to her and if she doesn't have any money to pay then so be it wow right and I took it upon myself you know what boy was I surprised she sat down she was the best customer she was so intelligent even though she sounded yeah right she was so patient she didn't order anything crazy she ordered plain pasta in a bowl right so I adjusted the price and then she ordered a dessert and she ordered a drink and she got up and she said thank you so much for taking care of me all right and she was so and and I remember walking out going you know I wish all my customers were as fine as that person and kind and you know and and you get surprised sometimes you're talking to people that are that you think are on the highest madrea really all they want to do is just just talk just a little conversation you know it's beautiful there's a certain beautiful beautifulness to all of this the stories are Emma tonight I have a gentleman who's coming in with uh soldiers I'm not going to mention his name I'm not going to mention who but he has his own little private Seda that he does and these stories will will shatter you right but tonight he's coming in and I have I'm going to be making them a special menu they're coming in at 8:00 and this guy is just an amazing B Sedaka and he does it quietly Secret and but some of the things that come in are unbelievable lately I've been included in amazing tck you know I you always have to remember that Sloan is right around the corner so I always say not everybody here is here to party yeah you know it's not always you know sometimes sometimes they got to eat you know they just came back from treatment they just want good wholesome food and that's what I serve I serve wholesome food chicken that's juicy seasoned you know yeah green vegetables seasonal vegetables I'm not trying to give you Kazar as they say you know and it's been received until now I hope we we continue going you know yeah Mike your story is really fascinating and uh thank me too I'm shocked when I tell it sometimes hope I make it well thank you for sharing it with our thousands of listeners thousands of listeners yeah hell yeah um yeah and thank you for everybody that listened um and uh Mike any final words final message that you want to tell the people the story is ongoing yes see you here and then you'll get the story is truly ongoing it's ongoing I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow I don't know what's going to happen today right you know and to me that's the that's the real story yeah the real story is that classic dining should always have a a great place in in kosher and experience you know one of the jokes I say is juicy chicken never gets boring and that's the story I want to tell I'm not interested in giving you that once in a-lifetime high I want to be part of your kishkas every day you know tar I want to be tuder yeah I'm giving you Torah now right I love it and that's it I appreciate you coming it's nice to to get to know you thank you I appreciate it um thank you so much Mike thank you so much everybody that listened I want to remind you that if you can join the membership um there's deleted scene not deleted extra content that we record from every podcast uh that goes out to those who are a member it's $10 a month and it truly uh helps me out helps out the channel um and over here we're also going to put out an extra piece of content for those who are members um reminded to please like the episode share it with a friend that can enjoy subscribe to the channel Means A Lot leave a comment uh and enjoy all the other episodes and come by the Mike's Beast thr and uh mention mention Ellie mention my name and you'll get just special treatment that's enough I'm curious I'm curious right I'm curious so yeah thank you so much yeah