#29: Behind the Bima - Special Guest: Chef Seth Warshaw

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's Wednesday night, 9:00, and that means we are ready to take you behind the Bema. I'm your host, Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg, joined with dear friends, Rabbi Simcha Bass and Rabbi Josh Brody, and a whole group in the kitchen making a lot of noise for our first ever Master Chef Josh Brody. Brody, what are we doing? It's 9:00 Wednesday night. We're going to take you behind the Bema. Behind the Bema. Welcome, everybody. This is yet another episode, and yet in so many ways it's different than every other episode we've ever done, because this this episode is on location. You don't see us in our usual spot, and you don't see us with our usual background, but we are in Boca Raton's newest restaurant. We want to thank the owners of Roadhouse newest hotspot. We want to thank the owners of Roadhouse and Carmela's for generously sponsoring this episode and offered the invitation. Any kosher restaurant South Florida? I'll tell you, when things get better, we'll fly somewhere to broadcast from there. Let us know you want to sponsor, want us to broadcast and feature your foods, we'd be happy to do it. We don't favor any over the other. We're very grateful to Roadhouse and Carmela's for sponsoring tonight and for hosting us and for the amazing tastings that we can't wait to bring to you and talk about that special menu. We're going to be joined soon. Yeah, when I when I walked in and I met I met the the the incredible chefs and owners over here, I said, "You know, I hear there's a bunch of restaurants. What what's going on here?" So, what's the story? He says, "You got to tune in to Behind the Bema tonight. You'll hear the story." That's right, exactly. So, um we we've got we've got some wild stories we're going to talk about tonight. We've got, first of all, our fans online. We appreciate we thank you your feedback, your stories, your comments. As always, you're welcome. If you're watching on YouTube, you're watching on Facebook, whatever platform you're following on, share your comments, share your questions, share your recipe tonight, share what you want. We'd love to hear from you, but our number one fan is actually present and we can't wait to introduce I'm not sure to him or her, but we can't wait to introduce it to you shortly. special guest tonight. A very special guest and we're going to we're going to bring him or her out very, very soon. We can't wait to bring on the executive chef and learn more about him and for the foodies out there, this is your episode. You're going to really love you going to get some great tips on cooking. We're going to taste and rate the food that we're eating and for the people in South Florida or those who plan to visit South Florida, you're going to see it with a lot of excitement. Roadhouse is one of five new restaurants all here at the fountains with Rabbi Rabbi Moskowitz, your background and those listening on the podcast can't see it. It's worth going on YouTube to find it, but that background's not fake. When I'm looking at you I'm like that's a fake background. fake and I don't think I don't think people realize how beautiful it is. Behind me you have actual You're You're right. It's gorgeous outside. You have actual fountains, which is the most relaxing sound in the world going on behind me. You have little bodies of water. It's gorgeous. You have bridges. I I mean it's it's it's paradise. It's beautiful. Thankfully I got the outdoor slot. This is Boca Raton. It's the Boca Raton synagogue movement. This is Boca Raton. There's a reason that everyone is moving to South Florida at record numbers. Really we should all move to Israel. This week was Yom HaAliyah. Of course that's where we all belong, but if you're not or can't yet be there, we should all be there one day and one day soon. This is a good place to stop in the meantime. Rabbi Brody, you had a you had a behind the bema story this week you wanted to share? Amazing. My kids had parent-teacher conferences at one of the schools. I don't want to say which one right now. So what they do is they set you up with a with a with a online interview just like this, a Zoom interview, back-to-back every 8 minutes you're with another teacher. And I'm telling teachers I knew and many I didn't know. I've never met them before, but everyone started I feel like I'm on behind the bema. That's what everyone started with. That's hilarious. First of all, should we do that? Should we ask our kids if we can do behind the beam of parent teacher conferences with their teachers. Sure. Stream stream our stream our conferences. I'm going to guess that that probably You know, it's a new thing today. I don't know if all schools do it. They invite the student to come with the parent to the parent teacher conference. Really? I haven't had that yet. When you were a child Jonathan Rabbi Brody, when you were a child, would you have ever taken your parents up on that? No, there's no chance. First of all, I don't My mom's listening, but I I don't think my mom ever got the notification about the parent teacher conference. I never got the email. It's like I got lost in the mail. I'm sure So, I'll tell you for me, I used to I my parents used to go and I remember I used to stay up and sit on the stairs right when you come into our house. The first thing hit is the stairs and I would sit on the stairs with like this fear, this anticipation when my parents came home cuz I had no clue what was coming through that door, right? Maybe Rabbi Moscowitz got an A instead of an A+. I always have it always says My wife always says when we were kids, so children would panic and tremble parent teacher conference night and now teachers panic and tremble. It's just everything is upside down and backwards. So, Rabbi Brody, you your name again our podcast listeners can't Hopefully they're rating and reviewing right now. Go on YouTube to check it out, but you put your name here as Master Chef Josh and I guess we're going to have two Master Chefs. First of all, I think the term is executive chef, but you you've already totally Yeah, you've already totally blown your cover, but I'm It's one notch higher is the Master Chef. Before we bring on our executive chef who really is a world-renowned award-winning Master Chef Executive Chef, let me ask you this. I don't know if you saw that Was it the New York Times? I hate to even mention them by name, but they had an article today, a lighter side of this presidential campaign, what's in everyone's fridge. Can you tell whether someone's voting Trump or Biden? Are they Democrat or Republican by what's in the refrigerator? Did you guys see that? I did not, but I do have a question. Rabbi Brody as Master Chef, what is your go-to dish? What do you cook about and the kids? That's exactly what I was going to go to, which is they said you could learn a lot about someone by what's in their fridge. And I saw on Jewish Twitter people are adapting that question by rabbis and rabbonim what's in their fridge. Like Reb Schechter who thinks that all milk or milk products are forbidden for very technical reason right now, and his wife and many of his kids don't follow. Rabbi Schechter's fridge would be all flayshigs. Other people might have milk. What so what would be in your fridge and really as Reb Moskowitz you were asking, Rabbi Brody if you're going to present yourself with that name, you better be able to back it up. So what is your go-to dish? What have you ever cooked? What's the what's the most recent thing you cooked? For a number of reasons, but I love barbecuing anything. First of all, I'm great not only at burgers and hot dogs, that goes without saying. Nice sliced down the middle of the dog, grill it nice nice char. Well, when's the last time you've ever eaten a hot dog or a hamburger? That's a We're talking about a vegan one or you're talking about a meat one? So I cook the meat ones. I know. Let's go There's a lot to talk about. Brody, our audience tonight are foodies from all over, so excited to hear. And they don't want to hear about your vegan diet and lifestyle. That's not what they tuned in to listen to. So give us something real that you cook. You said No, but I'll tell you, when it comes to making a good burger, when it comes to making a good steak, salt and pepper. It's all about the seasoning. Don't go on the sauces and none of none of this fancy nonsense. Okay. Put on the basics. Salt and pepper. Let's see Let's see if that holds up when when when executive Seth does Yeah, I don't know. Do they use sauces here? We're going to find out. I'm a breakfast guy. You give me eggs, pancakes, waffles, I am money. Ask my kids. I own breakfast. And by the way, I'll eat it three meals a day. I'll eat breakfast for dinner. I love breakfast foods. Hash, eggs on ups, chai, ovary, you name it. I'm the breakfast guy. Okay. What about you, Rabbi Goldwasser? with you, Rabbi Brody. I have to disagree with you on one important thing, and we will get a decision, final decision by the posek Seth Warshaw, which is the hot dog. You said slice the hot dog down the middle. No way. You got to make on an angle. Little slices. Open the hot dog let it expand in the bun. Those slices hold the ketchup or mustard or crowd or coleslaw, whatever is your preference. But let's bring let's bring the uh chef on to give us an answer. We're going to ask proper way to cut a hot dog. We're going to ask him. Before we bring the chef on, do we want to first bring on our number one fan? Who has our number one fan? I've got him. I think he's coming behind me. Where is my number behind you right now. Over here. right behind All right. As long as my as long as I do the eating tonight and our number one fan doesn't. There is a llama behind me. For those who are listening on the podcast, we told you there would be a special guest Oh my god. You never know what you're going to see on Behind the Bima. There is a live llama. It's a very I'm just saying For the our listeners who know me, know I don't do animals. This like I there's a good chance that I might run away right now. That thing comes There's actually a llama behind me. I can't tell you how many times I have done it. Why is there a llama behind me? I've gone to homes with Rabbi Moskowitz, you know, Shiva homes or other homes and if there's a dog within a 10 mile radius, Rabbi Moskowitz's head hits the ceiling, he jumps so high. So the fact that you are right now sitting next to a llama. Now the llama's not wearing a mask, but I think it's more than 6 ft away from you and you're outside so you're covered. Well, you know, had I known the llama was coming so close, I would have put a mask on it or a muzzle or something. Are you allowed to do that halakhically? But I'm a little bit uncomfortable. I'm holding it together cuz we're on live stream. But if that thing gets to Bring the llama to the master chef John. Bring the llama behind the bar. Oh, that's true. The animal show. The BRS animal show got postponed. It's this Sunday, but you get a little flavor of it tonight. on Behind the Bima right now. Now can you pet can you pet a llama? Yeah. All right. Rabbi Brody, let's see you pet the llama. I tell you this llama is staring me right in the eyes right now. You know why? You know they're vegan. Rabbi Brody, on the sign behind you, the the llama is part of the icon. It's part of the logo of this new Yeah, we're going to have to find out why. I I think we're ready as the as the llama is now parading to Rabbi Brody, I think we're ready to bring on our chef. Are we ready? Can we say is it is this dinner tonight? Are you Are you the main course? Yeah. Is Is Is the llama Does the llama chew its cud? even know. We We We're doing a barbecue. Live from Road House right now. Live from Road House. We are honored and privileged to welcome executive chef Seth Warshaw, the creative design behind this new series of restaurants. And Seth, you know, we go back and it's great to see you again. It's great to be in your restaurant here in our town. Thank you. And we can't wait to hear so much more about what you have planned, these these five restaurants here in Boca. Talk a little bit about Rustica again. I was privileged to eat your food in Montana. This coming summer we'll be in Wyoming together, please God. I can't wait for that to happen. We're going to bring you on and off. First of all, we're already 10 minutes to the show and I haven't tasted anything yet. I'm a little parched. I'm a little hungry. I didn't eat for 3 weeks in anticipation of this show. But start out, Seth, even before we talk about you and your background, why is there a live llama on behind the beam? What It's a great question. So one night we were talking amongst our partners here. We were having a conversation about the logo and uniforms and everything. And in I said in ETC in New Jersey, you know, my servers wear bow ties. I forgot who it was, but they're like, "Let's put a llama in a bow tie." I don't know why. It was like 2:00 in the morning or something really ridiculous. And so it became an inside joke. So now there's a llama. And now there is a llama. So there's a llama on the logo and there's a llama here as part of welcoming welcoming behind the beam, behind behind the llama. So Seth, tell us about your background. You know, you're you're a well-known chef all over. Your restaurant in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is where I I up, Um, is is well known and beloved. Um, the the destination trips that you um, prepare for, your culinary delights in the summer are are sold out and I understand already for this summer even during Corona. Uh, one of them is already sold out. Did you always know you'd want to be a chef? Did you cook a lot as a kid? Tell us about your background, where you grew up and how you got into to cooking. And then you're going to settle our hot dog question. Okay. Um, so yes, I did cook a lot as a kid. I did not always want to be a chef. Um, I wanted to do in engineering psychology. Really wanted to work for car companies and design the ergonomics um, inside the car. The human computer interface, all that. Uh, that didn't work out obviously. Um, but I did love cooking always. I cooked a lot uh, as a kid I said and as I got older I cooked a lot at home. And then I struggled with finding my place. And um, I just started working in restaurants. Ultimately went to culinary school and it's kind of how I got here. Um, you know, ETC's been around now for almost 12 years. So, we've been doing it for a while now. That's really amazing. uh, answer, yeah. No, no, it's a quick answer, but you know, how did when you first started cooking, when you were looking for that outlet or you enjoyed it or let you escape to be in that kitchen cooking as a kid, who was your mentor? You know, was it one of your one of your parents? Was it a grandparent? Was it a bubby? Were there recipes? How did you get your style? Where did you get your cooking approach? No, I was I was not really allowed in the kitchen too much cuz I made a giant mess every time I was in there. Right. But it was more of the friends thing. I remember now that I'm thinking about it, the first dish I ever made we called the mega muffin. Um, I was probably 16. Uh, it was probably you know, 2:00 3:00 in the morning and it was an English muffin with mayonnaise, mustard and American cheese. Um, and we needed a lot of English muffins to go, you know, it was just the first dish and just it started from there. Just and then every day, you know, where where whenever we would hang out, we just start concocting, mixing ridiculous things. Most of it was really terrible. But we still joke about it amongst my friends who we still talk about the mega muffin. It's just a joke. That's amazing. And and when we when we were when we were kids and and you're younger than I am, but there wasn't, you know, I I don't even know if there was a Food Network, but there weren't it wasn't as popular to watch these cooking shows and cooking competitions. You couldn't watch YouTubes of of recipes and how to cook. So you really were learning it on your own. Do Do you have any formal education or background or are you entirely self-taught? No, no. I I I went to culinary school. I went to the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Yeah. Um 2007 or so. So it was like a 7-month program. It wasn't kosher, so that was really difficult. Um being around it and cooking and but not being able to do anything else. Um so I had some formal education there. It was a That was a very cool experience. you. I was there in 2009. Oh, really? Never. No. No, he was never there. Trust me. That's where you learned the hot dog trick. They change you know, every year they have a different recipe. Right. Right. So we'll we'll we'll come back. We'll come back to your background, but but Executive Chef said, could you settle that for us? To grill a proper hot dog, and I'll be honest with you right now. I live among the best cooks I've ever tasted in my life. So I if I went in the kitchen, it'd be a downgrade. My wife, my kids, they've inherited it. It's the best food. But the grill is my territory. I own the grill. I love the grill. And you know, the grill you come alive outside. So you take a hot dog, slice it down the middle or on an angle, slanted little cuts, open up that hot dog. What's the proper way to prepare a hot dog for the So I think either way is good. I I Very diplomatic, by the way. Very diplomatic. I I like to deep fry the hot dog or saute and I don't like to grill it. Yeah. Interesting. I do a whole different little little thing. Yeah, it a little more you get A little more crust on the outside. Tell us whoa whoa I'm concentrating now. But tell us what that what does that mean? What does that mean? How do you how do you deep fry a what is that Let's say someone doesn't have a deep fryer in their house. Okay, you can use a deep fryer. Uh in a saute pan. I mean, I like it in a saute pan. Uh oil, hot pan, and just you get you got to just be careful it will get dark really quickly, but you get a really nice even crust along it. Um I don't I don't grill all that often. Uh like you said you live at the grill. I I don't uh usually grill all that often. I like pans better. So, I'll make my steak for example. right? Uh yeah, I don't have a grill there though. Um Wow. Interestingly enough, yeah, we use I like cast iron pans. I find that you get a just a really nice even crust across the top rather than having to Uh but a lot of people a lot of people though when they come into the restaurant they start working there they're you know, like what do you mean you don't have a grill? Uh it's a steakhouse, but I I like the pans. I like the way the steaks taste. Now, let me ask you a question. And guys, jump in at any time. And we're about to interrupt to talk about what just arrived at each of our stations. I know. We're all by the way going to say it's very hard to focus right now because there's We're all in the same place. Just because of Corona, we're at different spots all in the same location, Roadhouse, Camino Real 7000. And um Seth, thank you so much. There are amazing mixed drinks, cocktails, uh different kinds of drinks. But thank you for this What's this drink that we're about to drink called? Okay, so that's the that's our our house signature drink. It's called a llama colada. Obviously playing on the llama theme here. It's a it's a pina colada and strawberry daiquiri. Wow. Delicious. Very good. Whoa. That's really good. That is popping with flavor. I would say fantastic mixologist Bob. He's uh He's a genius when it comes to the cocktails. That's incredible and refreshing. Seth, let me ask you a question. If you make steaks in a cast iron pan, what about the char? Don't your customers want to see char? On these cooking competitions, it's about the char. You need to see the marks, the char even, or you need to see a grid of char. Where does char come into your steak and your barbecue cooking? So it it So char really I mean the He's got a brain freeze. Okay, on a cast iron pan and I I'm trying to Okay. So on the cast iron pan is is really where you get more char unless you have a very very hot grill. You're not going to get that complete sear across the top. So you'll might get really nice hash marks, you know, the lines going both ways, but you don't necessarily get as even as a char unless you have like one of those super hot grills or the infrared grills, which a lot of steak houses do have, or a salamander, which is like the the broiler on top of the stove. If you have something like that, you can grill your steak and still get the sear. Uh but in this case, I don't have one. So we had to figure out a a good way to do it. Um and our grill just never got hot enough. We had a lot of burners in the kitchen. So I was like, well, let's do pans. Um so really if you get a really good cast iron pan, No, no, finish. Go ahead. The truth is each him drink for a second cuz I want to know something else. I just tried a pickle. I've I've eaten pickles in my life. I've never in my entire life had a pickle like this. Is that a pickle or sauce? The sauce is dynamite. It's a it's it's it looks like Yeah, I didn't know So what's fried pickles? Fried pickles. Um the pickles are battered in popcorn. Oh my And we they're deep fried. They're made in house. Um there's mustard seed and coriander, sugar, vinegar, salt. It's a quick It's more like a quick pickle than a long drawn out fermented pickle. Um and then you have It's a really good pickle. For those who are listening, whatever, it's a really good pickle. When you say the pickle's made in the house you mean you mean the pickle itself even before you deep fry it? The pickles made in house? Yeah, we buy we buy Yeah, we buy kirby cucumbers. Um and we make brine and we bring it up to a boil, pour over the cucumbers, they go in the fridge and then they just sit till they're ready. Um so the mustard sauce on the side of that, it's a homemade mustard uh with beer in it. It has to sit for about a week to mellow out and then you have some uh some garlic mayo as well. This is absolutely incredible. I'm happy to be a big pickle uh fan. And this is a Well, the dill brigade is uh It's kind of a play like on a bread and butter pickle. It's amazing. So, is there a chef that you love watching? Is there a chef a chef that you you say this is the kind of guy I like I like imitating a little bit? Yeah, there's so many. Um there's so many. There's obviously all the big names in in the food world. You have Grant Achatz, you have Eric Ripert, you know, you have Thomas Keller. I mean, there's just so many uh list. But there's so many people to learn from. Uh right now I'm I'm gotten really into baking bread. Um so there's Chad Robertson and there's uh Chad Robertson from a lot of uh a lot of cool really cool things in the food world. Those are fascinating. And now everything's so accessible on Instagram. Do you think that you could beat Bobby Flay? What would be your signature dish if you had to take him on mano a mano? I don't know. I mean, don't they give you like a choice of a couple ingredients or is just a signature dish? Uh I don't know. He's a great chef. He's a great chef. You You name your signature dish and then he's got to compete and make it. I could I could probably I I I could get lucky and beat him, but I don't know. He's a great chef. What would his signature dish be, man? I would go with the fried pickles by the way so far. I would go with the fried pickles. All right, fair enough. Fair enough. So Seth, let me So, I don't know that if I were opening a restaurant, I would think to fry pickles, make my own mustard and put beer in it and have it taste this good. For people out there, explain to them like what's the thought process when you're opening a restaurant and you're creating a menu? What People see the finished product, right? They see it when it's going to be on the menu, they see when it's coming in front of them. What goes on behind the scenes? From when you first conceptualize a dish to how you when you bring it to fruition, what are the stages that happen that that people might not be aware What are some behind-the-scenes action that takes place in a restaurant that our listeners would be really curious about? Um that's a great question. I mean, you know, it starts at the concept of the restaurant. Um you know, what kind of restaurant do you want to be? So, this one Roadhouse is is a interesting um concept. It it it's it toes the line um along a bunch of things, but it you know, we were trying to go with a food that was very easily approachable and very um what's the word? Familiar. Um so, you know, when you're designing your menu, you have to kind of figure that out first before then you can start putting in the, you know, menu slots as to what kind of dishes you want to have. So, fried pickles just a classic good Roadhouse side of the road kind of restaurant thing you want to have. Um and then you work your way down, you know, what are the things that make sense in that with the name and the decor and the concept and then you then you start testing, which is really where the hard part is. It's also the most fun part. Um the amount of food that I put to help anytime you want with that. I still can't get over there's a there's a llama behind Rabbi Moskowitz. It's just I can't get over that. He smelled the pickles. What is the theme, Seth? I'm sorry I'm sorry to interrupt you. What is the theme of Roadhouse? If you had to characterize or describe, what's the vibe? What's the environment? Energy? ETC is a steakhouse. Teaneck Teaneck's very yesterday. I love Teaneck. It's part of my childhood. It's part of yesterday. Everyone's coming to Florida, So, South Florida, Boca Raton. What's tomorrow? Tell us about the theme of Roadhouse. So Roadhouse, I guess if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be like a gastropub. Which is which is, you know, something along the lines of uh something along the lines of your traditional um bar and grill. Something along those lines. It's not exactly what it is, but if I had to fit the menu into something, it would be along those lines. So let's talk a little bit about the menu. how we set the menu up. Sure. I don't know where my menu went. Tell us about Tell us about some of the dishes on the menu. Tell us how they got their name. You've got some creative names on this menu. How do you come up? You You said you experiment. You sit in the kitchen. You try it out with different people. Does it come from Is there like, you know, when you were in school, you had the the students' textbook and you had the teacher edition? So do chefs in the back kitchen have a teacher edition where they're like throwing a little of this, mix a little of that, and then just tell everybody you came up with the recipe. How do you come up with the recipes? Right. So first you you you have to know exactly what exactly you decide on what kind of dish you want to do. So let's just talk about your fried pickles, for example. So we have to decide what kind of pickle we want. We want a full sour, we want a half sour, we want a bread and butter pickle, and garlic pickle, dill pickle. I mean, you know, there's a billzillion kind of um uh pickle varieties. So we decided we want to go with something a little on the sweeter side. So okay, bread and butter. Then we decide, okay, we're going to deep fry it. We've gone through like six or seven kinds of batter or dry breading that we were going to go through to figure out, okay, which is which gives the pickle gives you the most pickle flavor while keeping crispy for the longest. You know, and and at what temperature do you need to fry it at? Um so we tried flour, we tried cornstarch, we tried flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. We tried um cornstarch, egg, and cornflake uh you know, cornflakes. We've literally tried every variety. We were we're making popcorn, you know, for the for the restaurant when you sit down to instead of a bread. So, once we had popcorn, I was trying with a different dish and it was pretty terrible. There were kernels getting stuck, so we were going to scrap the whole concept and then I was like, "No, I'm going to figure out a way to incorporate popcorn into a deep fried dish." So, we just blended it up one day and we I was like, "Let's try it with the pickles." Cuz nothing was really working and and then we liked it. And that's how and that's kind of how it goes. And then you tweak it as long as you like. You know what Thank you. Is it It's really interesting how I just want to ask about spicy food. I love spicy food. The hotter the better. Do you find that that's becoming more and more popular now? Like like customers are requesting it. Eat small. Call bring on the heat. Bring on the heat. It's a great It's very dependent on who you ask. Through our testing phases, I've burnt out a several pallets with some of the heat levels. So, we toned it down and then some of our feedback from other testing was "You're saying it's this, but it's not spicy enough." So, we're trying to find find a good balance of heat. I mean, you don't want habanero hot. I don't think anybody's just going to like it. It's going to hurt in your mouth. It's going to hurt on the way down, you know. So, trying to find the balance with heat, but yeah, I definitely think people other chefs are pushing the the envelope on how much spice or heat rather are being incorporated into dishes. Amazing. Like it used to be that it had to be sweet. You know, now now the the heat levels are rising. It's for sure. That's amazing. You need to have an Ashkenazi and a Sephardi menu or just, you know, put a star next to some of the dishes. They could order different levels. Seth, let's let's talk to you. First of all, we want to hear about all the other restaurants. We want to We want to taste more of the food that's going to be coming out. We want to talk more about your background and your and your vision. There's a lot more to learn from you. This is our on-location show with a guest throughout the whole episode and I got to tell you there's a lot of people watching, a lot of people tuning in, and a lot of great comments on the screen. Really So excited. I want to wish a happy birthday tonight. Ed Reichenberg is spending his 54th birthday with us and a llama watching about how to properly cut and uh in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in in a in a in a in a in a in a in a ready for Rabbi Goldberg who's going to be riding the llama in about 20 minutes. Listen, a few more of these uh a few more of these so this is great. I want you know, whoever comes to this restaurant, this is your first order. Really? This is amazing. Yes, and you know, as Rabbi Goldberg referenced, there's so many shows on TV now that the Food Network, Cooking Channel, it's like it's exploded as a genre of television. And people feel like they get an inside glimpse into restaurants and into chefs. What's something now that we're actually speaking to a real live chef? What's something that people might not know about the industry, about what it's like to be a chef, about what life is like in the kitchen, the stress of it? Do you feel stressed you put out a a dish and you're giving it to someone? Like is is it like giving birth to a baby? Like this is my baby, I'm delivering it to you and I want you to enjoy it. What are some things about the restaurant that people might not know? You I can go backstage, right? I can go right back to the kitchen and you can see everyone, you know, in full action right now. Behind the scenes. So, I mean Behind the bema. I guess it I guess it really just depends on what stage you're at. I mean, you know, especially the stage that we're in at Road House right now, yeah, it's very it's very near near and dear to you and, you know, sometimes you have to face the fact that you just made a bad dish. And no matter how much thought or time you put into it, I mean, each of these recipes, you know, the hours I sat in front of the computer and then started to cook them and then you serve it and everybody eats it and they're like, "Yeah, this is pretty terrible." So, you know, it's it's it's it's hard to hear but you know, if you can be objective about it cuz that's the whole you know, you have to be. You know, you go back to the drawing board and and you start again. You adjust what you have to. I guess if people want to know what a restaurant's like, I mean, it's it's it's long hours, you know, I love it. I love what I do. I'm so blessed to be here and have this opportunity. I love Boca, you know, it's I'm from New Jersey, Teaneck, the Garden State, you know, Parkway does not look like over here at all. Nothing personal against New Jersey or anybody who's there. We love New Jersey. We're we're from New Jersey. Elizabeth. I just you know, Boca's nice. So, you know, it's a lot of hours. It's it's hard work. I burn myself regularly. You get cut sometimes, you know, during a very crazy busy dinner service, it can get a little overwhelming. Especially, you know, it's your fourth day of the week. You slept for you know, 4 hours, 5 hours the night before because it was busy the night before. You're on your feet since 10, 11 in the morning. You know, the fire is 130° behind you. You're standing over the fire. You know, there's 35 tickets hanging. People are screaming for food. Our waiters are coming in. It's been too long. This table's complaining that, you know, and all of these kinds of things are happening and if you don't keep cool and your head, you explode, you know. Um There are there are so many Seth, we have we have so many more questions for you and there is no question there's a lot of pressure. In some ways being a chef is like being a rabbi. You know, you do your cooking behind the scenes in the back but everybody's eating your drasha and you're only as good as the last drasha. You're only as good as the last the last dish that you cooked and and the feedback can be harsh. It's like new here and the feedback can be the feedback can be harsh and difficult. Here you go, guys. There's a lot of people here that are making reservations and they say they're all coming but I wanted to tell all the people out there if they really want the full experience, they should invite the three rabbis with them cuz we'll tell them the background. We'll give them all the insight that you're not even getting on behind the people. We'll even bring the llama if you invite us. But let's just think about it again. There's a million directions I want to go in here. I want to talk about non-kosher versus kosher cooking. We want to talk about like how Moskowitz touched on running a a kosher restaurant, kosher customers. We've got a We've got a dear friend of the show who's been on the show, our good friend Chef Gersch Schwadron in Boca known as the chef. You're the executive chef. He's the chef, the the chef. So, Gersch used to have a restaurant, I think it was in St. Louis, and on the back of the receipt it used to say, "Thank you for coming. Was anything okay?" That receipt actually was once featured on the Johnny Carson show, he told me. He's very proud of that. "Thank you for coming. Was anything okay?" Sometimes the Jewish people, kosher consumers, sometimes can be difficult, you know. "Thanks for coming. Was anything okay?" So, you know, sometimes, you know, you put This is unbelievable. You put your heart and soul into what you're doing. Rabbi, you got breaking news. You got to try this. You never tasted Is this the cauliflower? All right, I'll ask the next question. What What is this? What is this next thing? The buffalo cauliflower. What is it? It's sweet. It's crunchy. It's Deep-fried deep-fried cauliflower. Uh buffalo sauce and guacamole. As simple as it gets. Holy cow. Um That is crazy. By the cauliflower, guys. And you know You know what's great? It's not just one little piece. You get a bowl that's like It's a whole meal. This is the rabbi serving size over here. This is amazing. So, I'll tell you who's not going to be happy right now. Our three wives are not happy right now. I'm just telling you. So, it's walking me to my wife's side of the bed right now. Walk us through this dish. I don't want to spill it all over my But walk us through the dish. What What What's in it? How'd you come up with it? It's got some nice heat. It's got the right amount of acidity. There's no char. I just wanted to say that word, but obviously there's no char. It's cauliflower. I just like that word char and I like barbecue. Um but tell us like how'd you come up with it? What's in it? This is a must order when you come here by the way. Unbelievable. It's so we I don't know remember how many years ago it was but one of my one of my I think it was my hostess at the time. She said, "Seth, we need to you know, we were change up our menu every season in EPC." So we're just trying to find something a little fun appetizer and she's like, "I saw this on a show. I don't remember exactly." So she's like some sort of buffalo. I think she may have even mentioned buffalo cauliflower and we just took the idea and we ran with it. Um the sauce my it happens to be my wife's recipe. Um she made these chicken poppers for Shabbos once and I fell in love with the sauce and I was like, "That's totally going on the buffalo cauliflower at the restaurant." Um it's kind of how the dish developed. It's been on the menu for uh six or seven years now. I get yelled at when it comes off the menu so it's kind of just stays on. I figured it's a really good dish. It's a really The record will never take it off and I want you to know I think this is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. No offense to my wife. Oh, you're in trouble, dude. So I figured Uh Rabbi Brody, uh Rabbi Moskowitz, you're going to be sleeping with a llama tonight. Let me tell you I'm drinking some chocolate drink with cauliflower. You got to taste this. Yeah, tell us the drink. What What's What's the next uh uh Okay, so that's chocolate chocolate espresso. Chocolate espresso. Espresso coffee, vodka, and cream, quote unquote. Wow. I can have that as my after dinner and I can have that as my coffee when I wake up in the morning. How do um Chef Seth, how do How do these things pair? How do you pair Will your staff be able to recommend how to pair which order which cocktail with what food what goes does this buffalo cauliflower with the whatever we just drank, which is outrageous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So, a lot of tasting. Um, that's when it gets a little crazy sometimes if you forget to not taste too much of the alcoholic drinks. Um, by three or four you're like, okay, we got to pick this up another time cuz you can't see straight. Um, but alcohol in that? No, it's breakfast. It's fine. You're good. Yeah. Um Amazing. But, uh, yeah, so you just a lot of tasting. I mean, you figure um, what flavors pair well together and you kind of just you want some if you have something like the buffalo cauliflower that's a little sweet, it's a little spicy, then you want to do something with that's very nice and refreshing and cool. It's really it's really good. follow us. You know that I'm getting texts from all of my friends offering me their couches tonight. Yeah, you're a big shot, by the way. You might You know, we're going to get to apologies a little sooner with Principal Larson, but you might want to model for him what a proper apology looks like or muscle. Before we get to that, though, Chef, first of all, let's talk about this menu. Um, is the menu going to be a fixed menu? Does the menu change on a regular basis? What is it that um, motivates or provokes the menu to change? But, let's let's look at this menu. You got starters, you got the fried pickles, we had the buffalo cauliflower was insane, the gravy hash, which is pulled beef sriracha aioli, sweet pickle salad, corn flake crunch. You got a wicked waffle, maple bacon jam and fried chicken, chicken popper tenders, the drunken pretzel beer mustard dip. You got the Coney, crispy beef mandarin orange barbecue apple, marinara. You got flatbreads, you got different salads, we can skip the salads cuz our wives are not here tonight. Entrees, you got How do you I'm going to embarrass myself right now. F R I You just betrayed me, by the way, on the couch after that comment. Frites? Frites. Frites. Frites. Oh, frites. Okay, frites. Oyster steak french fries and I love oyster steak. You got the triple crown. I understand the goat. I heard we might be tasting the goat tonight. The greatest of all time, no longer Tom Brady, for now on it's fried chicken, candy, beef, bacon, spicy mayo, purple cabbage and a dash of mesh. You got a lower east side, a Cubano, a Moroccan burger, Southern burger, Roadhouse burger, three Amigos. You got a rack of ribs. You got the early bird. Early bird is not a reference to any age demographic. It's batch cocked Cornish hen, roasted corn and a warm potato. Basically for the for the people who don't want to experiment, they don't want the cutting edge, they just want a you know a straightforward dish. They're also they're also welcome. They're also invited to Roadhouse, right? Then you got your sides, the the juices. So what I want to ask you and and and again, any restaurant invites us, we'll read your menu, we'll taste your food, we'll promote what you're doing. We're excited to help the whole kosher community. Um but Seth, I don't want to talk about the menu per se but I want to talk about how it affects you, people's reaction to it. What happens when when when somebody sends back a dish, if somebody doesn't give you the best, do you take it personally? If the restaurant has a slow night, is it a personal experience? You know, cuz that's what we have in common as rabbis with you. You put yourself out there. You write a drasha, you write an article, you give a shiur or you come up with a new dish. It's your creativity, it's your kishkes. It's coming from inside you and if you don't get the best reaction, how do you say you know what, that's not my life? You got a you got a wonderful wife and children, you got a family, you're an eved Hashem, you're learning. I know you're a a real yiras Shamayim. You say you know what, that's my job and I enjoy it. It's my it's my uh my passion but I'm not going to let it define me. How do you do that? Um so far I haven't accomplished that. But um you know, me neither with my drashas by the way. I take I take everything personally unfortunately. Um but I really try to you know, it's more about where the person's coming from when they tell you the criticism. You know, if if they're genuine about it and they're just trying to be constructive then that's what it is. You know, I can always be better. I always try to be better today than I was yesterday and try to be better tomorrow than I was today. Um so in that regard, you know, if if it comes from a good place, you know, maybe do this or that or just doesn't work or whatever the situation. So, then I really, you know, then it's okay. But, if somebody's just trying to break me down, uh it hurts. It hurts, you know? And listen, if I'm fully confident in what I did, then I I brush it off and I I move on. I'm never going to make everybody happy. I tried, but I'm never going to make them. Yeah. Is cauliflower still outrageous, by the way? saying it may have it may have been worth starting behind the Bima just for this cauliflower. I know. Is it worth Is it worth the groveling you're going to have to do later? So, it's actually interesting. I may or may not have gotten an update from those who are watching within my house that if I bring home leftover cauliflower, then all is going to be forgiven. That all is forgiven. So, who's mentioned now? But, fair Marco, it's time to go and everything's going to be fine tonight. Let me just say, by the way, that um the the fact-checker has weighed in. It was Leno. It was Jay Leno, not um Who did I say? What's that guy's name? What's that guy's name? The old guy. It was not Johnny Carson, it was Jay Leno. The fact-checker has weighed in. Let me also say that not Joey Newcomb, but his mom has weighed in wanting to know whether there's a crack from the pickle. And the pickle is deep-fried, so there's not a crack, but it's it's worth it's unbelievable. It's an amazing taste. There's really good taste is what there is. It's really good. Yeah, Robert Brody, what do you want to ask? How do you come up with the names? You know, was it Is that just you or do you have a little group that comes together? And is there any chance of coming up with, let's say, the BTB burger? Ooh, behind the Bima burger. I love it. BTB For sure, we'll run that as a special. Um that'd be great. I have a We have a great naming great naming department. Um I I uh I deferred it to them, and they did a fantastic job with it. Um And, you know, they came up with all the names. I might have had one or two ideas that were decent. Um but, they they did a great job. Donny and Devorah did a fantastic uh uh, a job coming up with all the names. I'm sure there were other people who were involved in the naming. I don't know, you know, I don't want to leave anybody out, but but they really did and they and when they presented it to me I I'm a little I I was a little hesitant in first, honestly. Um, Well, I think it's Is there nepotism? Is it like the Donny Burger? All right, I see the cocktails are kicking in for my buddy. Seth, let's go back Let's go back in a different direction. Let's Let's go back in a different direction. First of all, we got Again, we're going to We may go over an hour tonight because First of all, we're still great food, but we may go over an hour tonight. But I'll go with all Let me tell you, the comments are flying in and we got We got huge people watching. You know, people right now are like Ben Shapiro, who? You know, 30,000, what what? At least that's At least that's why I fire works. I'm just saying. to him. He That guy's fascinating, so I would Behind the Bima, we've had Behind the Bima episodes that speak to your head, Behind the Bima episodes that speak to your heart, Behind the Bima episodes that speak to your soul, and tonight is a Behind the Bima episode that speaks right to the stomach, and we're seeing what the Jewish people want and where the popularity is. So, it's really it's really outstanding. So, you know, we talked about this menu, it's outrageous. We talked about the theme here at at Road House, what you're trying to accomplish. But our listeners want to know, you know, you're successful. ETC is a uber successful restaurant in the tri-state area. You beautiful life, beautiful family in in in New Jersey. Why? Why come down to Boca? What is it about Florida? What is it about Boca? Why are you here? Why is it worth it? And what's the vision? What are you and your amazing partners What are you planning on doing with this area? As I said, we have wonderful restaurants in Boca and we're so grateful and everyone should support them, particularly during these uh, pandemic times. What are you trying to add to that? Um, what what are the vision for the other restaurants that are coming? Um, the I loaded a lot of questions in there. What brings you to Florida? So, the the thing I I mean, I love life. Uh, funny enough, a bunch of years ago, I guess 2013 or 14, um, with another restaurant actually right here in this little area that we're in. I was going to join and start cooking here. I wanted to move down here. I didn't, you know, I just had enough of New Jersey at that point and and I really wanted to come down here. I had some friends here. Um and everybody was talking how wonderful Boca is. And so I tried. I came down here for a week. I spent friend the week at a friend's house down here. Um and it ended up not working out, obviously. Um so I went back home, but then this opportunity came back up in the exact same place and I was like, "I'm getting a message here and I got to, you know, I've always liked being here. I'm trying to get the best of both worlds." You know, our whole family's in New Jersey. My wife's family, my family, you know, that's where we've been for, you know, a long time now. So I'm trying to get the best of both worlds, you know, the proverbial eat your cake and, you know, have your cake and eat it, too. Um and so I'm coming down here and it's such a unique um opportunity in this specific in the fountains, you know, area right here. It's such a unique opportunity. There's there's so many, you know, five restaurants that we're going to be doing and there's no commute between them other than walking out into the sun, getting, you know, iguanas running away, um you know, from from you. So it's just an awesome Like I was trying to open, you know, in in the past I had a restaurant in Lakewood and I had a restaurant near my house and some days I had to drive from my house in, you know, central New Jersey to Lakewood, which was an hour, and then back to Teaneck, and then back to Lakewood, and then back home. You know, 300 miles in a day. It was insane. I literally am 30 ft from every door here. So the opportunity was just so amazing. I have, you know, so thankful to the people who helped me make this happen. You know, and so so that's kind of where why I wanted to be here. I just want to ask one clarification, Seth, before you continue. Yeah. The restaurant is not open tonight. I think the official opening is tomorrow night. But for our our again, our listeners on the on the podcast, um you don't see this, but we're here in the restaurant. Everyone should just know that the restaurant's not open tonight. We are all spaced. We're far from one another. And that's why, you know, we're taking all the precautions. Um most are outdoors. I'm the only one indoors. And everyone outdoors, including the mixologist, are very far from anyone else. And and that's why we're being We're being very careful. very very close to me. I'm just pointing that out. is way too close for you. Although, I don't think there's a lot of research yet on what the llama can carry and what it can transmit. Seth, tell us about What are the other four You keep using the number five. What are the other four places that are going to be opening? And why aren't they all places that So, huh. Um I've always wanted to do dairy. Um I love eating dairy. Um owning a steakhouse has afforded me the ability to eat a tremendous amount of steak. And um I'm you know, I'm I'm here to it. So, it's hard to continue to eat steak on a regular basis. And I I just I love cheese. Um and I've always wanted to cook with it and butter. Cuz you ever Back to your earlier statement about cooking non-kosher and everything, any chef that I've ever had the pleasure of working with who is not Jewish, who cooks non-kosher, who's worked in non-kosher restaurants, their their first thing is like, "Where's the butter?" Or where's the cream? Or where's the Parmesan cheese? Cuz that literally goes in everything, no matter what. Your mashed potatoes, butter and cream. We're you know, we're very uh hindered with a lot of those types of things. We try to make it the work make it work the best way we can. But you know, um some of those ingredients are just not replaceable. Um so what's on this this dairy restaurant you're opening. That's Carmela's? Yeah. It's called Carmela's. idea What's the vibe? What's the energy? What's the menu going to be like there? Price points? So, it's uh going to be a little different than the Roadhouse. It's going to be a little more, um, uh, what's the word? I don't want to say fine dining, but it's just a little more, you know, um, the towards, you know, a little more eclectic menu, I should say. Um, so we're going to have pasta and and pizza and uh, some interesting appetizers. Um, the the focus there is going to really be on trying to use ingredients, you know, the dairy products that you don't see all that often or you can't always uh, find access to. Um, and and try to turn the the try to take some of the classic dishes and, you know, do a little play on them. Um, the pizza we're going to try to use sourdough uh, straight for the pizza, natural leavening rather than yeast the dough. So we're going to try to play with with some of those uh, yeah. That's a good one. The blue lagoon. The blue lagoon. examples. It's really it's this looks really good. Give us some examples. Again, I'm not dairy. If you see me in the dairy restaurant, it's because I have to apologize for something cuz otherwise you're not going to see me at the dairy one, but um, you love dairy, dairy doesn't love me back. So give us some more examples. What are the pizza's a little different, salads, fish, what other kinds of stuff? Yeah, salads, salads, fish, appetizers. I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last part. What what are the kinds of, you know, unusual that you wouldn't find in every daily dairy kosher cafe? Um, again, my my my kind of point of view here is I like to make things that are that you would recognize but do it in a way that is different. So for example, one of the dishes I'm just working on is a is a um, an eggplant parmesan, which is straight up typical, but I want to do it in reverse. So I want generally speaking with eggplant parmesan, you deep fry the eggplant, you have your tomato sauce, and you have your melted cheese. I mean, just standard, right? So, I want to make the cheese the crispy part. I want the eggplant to be the sauce, and the tomato to be, um, you know, kind of whole. So, just things like that is kind of the direction I want to take that in. I mean, we're definitely going to have your more fettuccine alfredo and and things like that, but, you know, um, try to take things in those directions. A mac and cheese, but just with our spin on it. Just make it a little more exciting for me, cuz, you know, I want to I want to I want to be excited about what I'm cooking. I want to try to, you know, just do things a little bit different. I love it. One of our, uh, listeners, our different Sam, says, "You know why that animal's here? Because Roadhouse, llama low." It's a very Sam. I don't know I don't know what the gematria the gematria of llama is, but, you know, llama llama low. So, you got Roadhouse, which is this cutting-edge, you know, creative, meat. You got the Carmela's, which is the dairy. But, I'm getting a lot of texts, people are like, "Okay, what are the other three? Are there three of the spots? What's going on in these other three?" so so, right next to Carmela's, we're going to have, uh, Rave. It's going to be the sushi and pizza. Your typical takeout sushi, pizza. Definitely going to have a try to have, you know, uh, a lot of more interesting pies. Um, a little different than Carmela's. It's going to be more your 18-in, you know, by the slice kind of pie. Um, and then, um, so that's that's kind of right next to Carmela's. Okay? Um, um, okay, so you have no disrespect to the llama, but I'd want to introduce you to the goat. Uh, that's the next addition you got there. And for the vegan people Wait, we'll come back to the other restaurants in a second. Tell us about, oh, what do you guys have out there? All right. So, the goat you mentioned, so it's a nice day. It's it's fried chicken. Um, you know, we actually sous vide, um, the dark meat. We sous vide, uh, I I I I know what sous vide is, but for our amateur listeners, what does sous vide mean? Okay. Sous vide is a fascinating cooking technique. You vacuum seal anything you want and it gets cooked in a water bath with an immersion circulator at a very specific temperature for generally a long amount of time. And because there's no oxygen in the bag, these there's really no water loss. So you really the flavor just kind of keeps concentrating in itself and the texture as well remains extremely moist and extremely tender. It also, you know, there's various things. You could sous vide short ribs, for example, which is something you braise for a long time, but you can go as far as 3 days. And it and it at that point it really changes over the whole eating experience. The short ribs, you can cook them medium rare, but they'll still melt melt in your mouth when you eat them. That's amazing. So what are we sous viding here? I've got So how do you prepare that in advance? If you if you don't know who's ordering what, how do you sous vide something a couple days, couple hours? So we're not doing that here. It's a lot more that's a lot more complicated. But you you sous vide it and then you kind of just have to learn what your part numbers are going to be. I mean that's the that is the secret to any good restaurant is figuring out, okay, how much do we need? Right now I'm just trying to figure out, you know, okay, what's the maximum amount of this we're going to serve at night and then have those things and hopefully not run out of them. And then as the days goes on, you're going to see which ones are more popular dish and which ones are your less popular dishes and then you adjust accordingly. Now I just I I taste something smoky. Smoky and like a little bit like candied. What was that? You nailed it. Candied beef bacon. So the beef bacon, you know, which I I like to make everything myself. I really tried not to buy, you know, already processed things. So we just you know, we'll cure and beef plates and then we'll we'll we we actually sous vide that overnight. Um and then we cold smoke the beef bacon. So, you have beef bacon, you have sugar, and it's just caramelized together just to give it a little extra you know, the deep fried chicken it's very rich. So, you want something a little sweet, you want something a little smoky, you have the coleslaw which balances out the you know, the sweet and the fattiness from the chicken, the richness, and you want all those things to be nice and balanced. I was going to say cuz when I eat this dish, the word that came to mind was balanced. You have a lot of different flavors together. You have the the you have the the mashed potatoes on the bottom which is like a little cooling effect. You have the smoky, you have a little bit of the candied, you have the chicken, and when you put it all together there's like a perfect bite in there, right? Right over here there's like a perfect bite in there. And when you get all of them together, it's like a party in your mouth. Well, I was warned in advance that you've got to in every in every forkful, you need the slaw and the candied bacon and the little mashed potato and the and the like you just said, the blending of those flavors is just outrageous. And it gets what So, what's that called? The goat? The greatest of all time. That is amazing. I'm I'm told I use the word amazing too much on the show, so I'm going to try to cut back on the use of the word amazing. Although, this is not going to help me. Tell us about the drink. What is in this drink? So, you have vodka, peach schnapps, and blue curacao. Blue curacao? Salability? What's blue curacao? What is that? Blue curacao is it's it's a It's just it's blue, I I believe. Yeah. It's really delicious. So, we were going through the orange flavor. What happens in the orange flavor? In in the event that you actually do run out of something, some some some cut of chicken or beef, do you ever find yourself running to the local kosher supermarket to to pick up a couple pieces? I've always wondered that in a restaurant business. Yeah. I mean, not hopefully not during dinner service, but I I luckily every kosher restaurant I've ever worked in has always had a place not too far to grab things. So yeah, we've been going to one of the local supermarkets. You know, we need a just a little bit of this, we need some hard to find ingredient. We'll run there. In Teaneck we have Glatt Express is right behind us. Um here we've been visiting uh the grow a lot uh to get things um as right here. So uh yeah, so we go to Yeah, yeah, you just go and I mean you end up paying retail for it. So somebody will pay for it. Yeah, yeah, you know. won't like that so much. Right. But yeah, it is what it is. It happens. So tell us So tell us more. You told us you got Roadhouse and and our our watch our listeners are hearing our reaction and those watching are getting to see the food and I'm sure they're salivating. I understand you're sold out already for tomorrow night, opening night, but taking reservations beyond that. So you got that, you got the dairy place for again those who strangely like dairy. Tell us about Uh you got right. So you got pizza, sushi, poke bowl takeout. You got sit-down dairy, salad, and fish and so on. You got Roadhouse, that's three. What are the other two? Okay, so we have It's called Eden Wok. Um it is going to be Chinese takeout. Very straightforward. Uh yep. Um and then um a little later on in the year You can't sit down? You can't stay there? It's only takeout? What is It'll be a few tables, but it's not a sit-down kind of restaurant. No waiter service, nothing along those lines. Will the Will the lunch special be the same pricing as the Chinese place in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is I think a $1.99 for the lunch special? They're still on the price from 1982. Right. No, they've upgraded since then. They've upgraded since then. No, that is one of the best Chinese restaurants there. Um But um and then next next to that in between Roadhouse and Eden Rock, will be a restaurant we're calling Okin Ember. That's going to be a lot more like ETC. That'll be open, hopefully, late December, early January. Wow. Yeah, so what's the timeline of these restaurants? When is Carmelo's opening? So, Carmelo's we're hopefully opening November 19th, Thursday night. Um Uh the the other two around December time for Rave and Aiden Rock. And then Okin Ember early late December, early January. That's the that's the plan. Um Restaurants are are fascinating that they, you know, have a mind of their own. Understood. So, tell us more about is like a runaway train. That is my kryptonite. Churros? Churros. There you go. Hold on. Hold on. We're not up to churros. You're going too fast. We got something. I'm I'm like I don't know what to do with myself. Chef, you got the two thin guys the two thin guys over there that take one bite and they move on. Slow down. There's a lot to get to. I know. One of my family members just texted me was like, "Watch it, Ma's doing stuff cuz, you know, But hold on. Hold on. You got to go back. Just finish Okin Ember for us. Okin Ember you said is similar to ETC. Give us an idea of what's what's the menu, what's involved in Okin Ember. So, the menu is still very, very much in the idea stages. Um I can't even give you an idea of where I'm going with it yet necessarily. Um I'd like it to be, I guess you can call it my playground in a sense. Uh thank you. Um I really want it to be um just uh you know, it's definitely going to be out there. It's a lot of the dishes are going to be uh from left field, which may scare some people. Um but I really want to try to, you know, um Will it include llama? If we we'll ask the rabbi at the tables here. All of you can play along with us. If we can, nothing against the llama guy, but if we can, why not? Right. Um but I want to try to use, you know, different techniques for cooking. Um very interested in a lot of the modernist um techniques. You know, using um agar agar, which is not terribly modernist anymore, but, you know, uh liquid nitrogen. Again, a lot of these things that are coming into the kosher um restaurant scene have been getting done for a very long time. But there's there's a lot of really cool techniques to do things. The challenge there, though, is getting it to taste well. Um you know, because uh so that's really where I want to find that middle ground with that kind of a restaurant. So which restaurants our listeners want to our listeners want to know hold on one more second. I'll get to you in one second. Our listeners want to know what's open lunch, is anything open breakfast, dinner? Um when can people tap into this? and Rave will be open lunch and dinner. The first night will just be dinner, Thursday the 19th, and we'll figure out our probably be open for lunch Friday, and then so on and so forth. Uh the Chinese will be open for lunch and dinner. Um the Roadhouse and Oak Oak and Ember will not be open for lunch, at least in the near future. Got you. And everyone wants to know also when when your family member owns not just one restaurant, but five restaurants, does anyone in your family ever have to cook again? Does everyone expect dinner's coming home, lunch is coming home? Bring over some breakfast. The neighbors can come and get. So my uh my um my wife does all the cooking at home. Uh nobody expects me to cook. You know, it's very hard when you do it all day. You know, uh so friends though sometimes if they come to our house for Shabbat lunch when that was a thing, um you know, uh they would expect have they come with the expectation that I did the cooking, but like I said, I don't You don't You don't give them a menu? No. I'm not I I have we have four burners at home and I use all four at the same time. And that freaks everybody in my house out. So, you know, I stay out of the kitchen now. You know, I'll make myself breakfast in the morning everybody's out of the house, you know, restaurant you have a different schedule than you know, regular work life and school and all that. So, but yeah, I usually people don't now don't expect me to bring food home. We're going to get to desserts in a moment. But Seth, can you even trust a thin chef? Are they even trustworthy a thin chef? What do you eat? When you get home for dinner, what's what I mean how do you if you could order anything off your menus, what would it be? What's your favorite ingredient to cook with? What's your favorite food to eat? What's your go-to dish? What do you what do you eat when you get home? Or what do you bring with you home to eat? So, you'll be appalled. I don't eat my own food. Um I I am the simplest eater. I'll have egg whites with cheese for breakfast in the morning. I eat for dinner I'll get you know, I'll have a bowl of cereal. I'll have something left over from Chavez, honestly. I I I you know, the restaurant I'm tasting the food all day. You know, it's so hard to it's so hard to you know, then eat it again as a meal. Once in a while, you know, for me to see I'll I'll take a ribeye home or a gnocchi or something like that. Once in a blue I'll treat myself to a buffalo cauliflower, you know. Um Um but they used to be the saying, you know, never trust a skinny chef. But nowadays, you know, being in health you know, being healthy and getting older, you know, want to you know, so a lot of people though it's not as common now. Every most most chefs I know are fit, you know, um and healthy. Rabbi Moscowitz Seth, let me ask you a question. So, we have a lot of aspiring chefs on our show right now. A lot of listeners who again as we said food never chef on kitchen. What's the number one mistake you think the average person makes when preparing food, whether it's for a Shabbos table, whether it's for a Sunday barbecue. What is the number one mistake that people make and how should they correct it? Um probably not using enough salt and pepper. And not preheating your pans. Those are probably the two big mistakes. Why do you have to preheat pans? What's the What's the wisdom in that? So the word sauté means to jump. I believe in French. So if you're going to sauté something, you want if you if you don't get splattered with a little bit of oil on the side of your pan, that means your pan wasn't hot enough. And also now if you're there's some things that you have to cook in a cold pan like duck breast. You want to render out the skin, you want it to slowly go through that stage. But if you're sautéing green beans and you put it in a cold pan, by the time they're done, they're overcooked now because you can't do it quickly, right? Um so when you sauté things or you're doing it in a pan, if you want to get that nice brown skin, you know, crust on your chicken or your steak, for example, if you put it in a cold pan, by the time you get it brown now, it's overcooked. Uh so having a hot pan is always crucial to proper cooking. Again, there are definitely exceptions, but I would say that's probably that's probably the rule of thumb there. What am I eating right now? Is it crème brûlée? So as as I said as I said the bar the the the cocktails, we have a fantastic bartender, we have an amazing pastry chef. Um and uh she's she's going to be a pastry chef for for all our restaurants. So you have churros. Um You have churros, that's with a a a chocolate dipping sauce, kind of with cayenne, I believe, uh coconut, crème anglaise, and I'm drawing a blank on the third. Here's a cherry. It's like a cherry sauce here. Like a strawberry sauce. Strawberry, yeah, it's It's actually all over my laptop right now also. But it was worth it. When you poured it to the strawberry one, it spilled, right? Yeah, but it's all over I saw I just I saw you got it pulled out. I want you know my my MacBook is going down, it's going down with the sauce from this churros cuz that's how good There you go. And then I believe you have a coconut creme brulee as well. That's That's the one in the ramekin. So Sarah is I mean I just met her a few weeks ago, but she's she's fantastic. She's a really amazing pastry chef. Just her ideas and her technique and her execution is is is awesome. I'm I'm really happy to be working with her. Really delicious Learning a lot already. Really delicious and really great addition to our community. Like I said, we have great restaurants. We're happy to add more. We're so grateful Seth executive chef of five new restaurants in Boca Raton that people from all over South Florida. You anticipate that people are going to drive from all over South Florida. And there are a thousand people moving to Florida a day. So People are coming. They're coming from all over. to be that the future Yeah, it is down here. You know, and I definitely anticipate people coming from all over Florida. We hope to become, you know, a really solid destination for all all of your dining needs. We're just going to stop asking questions now because that's how that's the greatest compliment we can give you. I know. Let's just eat for the next We're out of questions cuz we just want to eat the food. It is Everyone just watch us eat. The churros They're really good. They're layered in your mouth. They're layered in cinnamon and sugar and they're hot and they're mushy They're a little crispy on the outside. They're mushy on the inside. You dip them into the sauces and it like pops with a flavor. It's really good. I'll tell you if you saw Rabbi Brody Rabbi Moscowitz and Rabbi Brody, they weigh about 85 lb each wet. So, I wouldn't necessarily combined. So, I wouldn't necessarily take a lot of food advice from the two of them. I, on the other hand, when you take one look at me, know that I'm an authority on on good food. I'm a foodie. And but all three of us will tell you that this is great and it bodes great for what's to come. And we're seriously excited for this and all of our restaurants again, anyone wants to welcome us rapid broadcast from there to taste, to share, to promote, to interview. Seth, you've been great. Anything you want to leave our our guests with? What else should people know about cooking in their own homes? What should they know about kosher cuisine? And you know what we didn't touch upon? Let's spend 1 minute on what you do in the summers when you take this show on the road. I spent a week with you in Montana, Glacier National Park, and I ate that week I was the scholar in residence, um but I gained about 20 lb. I was a different scholar in residence when I left Montana. a motion they should have a program or associate rabbi. That's saying program or associate rabbi. So, we did we did Glacier National Park a couple summers ago and you have an eye on doing Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Please God this summer should all be well. All I remember on that trip, Seth, is that every night you served like five courses and each one was more spectacular than the next. And every night I thought there's no way he could outdo what he did the previous night. Talk about that trip and what you try to do in terms of your culinary ambition at those events. What are some of the cooking styles or foods that you do on those trips? Oh, Don, we lost you. You still there? Am I the only one I lost? Can you hear me? Now I hear you, yeah. Got you. Okay, sorry. Montana Montana and Jackson are are just spectacular places. I mean, I really believe and like I said before, I don't really eat my own food all that much aside from tasting it a lot, but I think everything tastes better there. I don't know if it's the altitude. I don't know what it is. I mean the air smells like um it just smells amazing. It's just It's It's just really um a special place. So, we try really over there. I mean, obviously Yitzy, uh my partner over there, we've been friends since we're, you know, little babies. Um and he's he put This is his baby. This is his brainchild. Uh he puts together an unbelievable program where, you know, you get to visit the parks and he puts together all the activities for you and he designs it. He really a menu of of things to do every day, whether it's white water rafting or kayaking or zip lining or hiking. Uh I remember seeing pictures of you guys uh you Rabbi um and and uh some others, you know, hiking in the snow. You started at 72° and then you were at 45° in shorts. I think uh you know, some of the people with you. But, um so, you get to do all those spectacular things, but when we get to do the cooking there, I really try to find uh there's a local produce uh mark right down the block from uh at least in Montana in North 40 where they have just really great ingredients that are local. We try to do as much like that as we can. Um and, you know, I just really try to do as much fun things as we can accomplish. Uh that that is my most so far to date my most fun cooking that I've done. Our first year, we actually, just because of kitchen constraints, we actually had to cook everything outside on two Home Depot barbecues. And because of it's we're in Montana all the way north, it didn't get dark till 10:00 p.m. So, I was able to cook outside. I mean, it was crazy, but it was just so much fun to do things like that. And I just love the travel and the It's the whole thing. We got to pack everything in New Jersey and we ship it in a frozen truck and it shows up on time and we rented last 2 years ago the mobile kitchen, which is just a whole unique trip to cook in anyway, you know, air conditioning and hot water and koshering it and, you know, we have the most unbelievable mashgiach who comes with us um uh Marcel, you know. And it's just an um from the Orbi. By the So it's just an unbelievable fun time. And I just we try to I get to really experiment with so many different uh dishes over there, you know. So every day Classic describes we say in Kelokeinu there's no rock like God and the Gemara says really Ain Sayar Rabbi Lamm has joined me here. Thank you Rabbi Lamm. Ain Sayar Kelokeinu there's no artist like God and when you see Glacier National Park And when you see what we will see hopefully Jackson Hole it's extraordinary and it's matched and maybe even only surpassed by your food. So we work it off all day long with hiking and white water rafting and and working out and then we rewarded with your dinners at night with the food that melts in your mouth. It's been fantastic. So Seth thank you for joining us tonight. And you might be the guest that's been with us the whole duration whole duration of a show. Can't thank you enough and we want to wish you and the others who started this uh this beautiful beautiful enterprise. We want to wish you bracha and hatzlacha and have success. Your success is our success. It's the community's success. So we wish success to you to all the restaurants in Boca and throughout South Florida. And yet it's another reason come to you know we're going to soon be broadcasting live to an audience like some of the famous shows that you know of on Wednesday nights when the um when the pandemic allows us. So there are a lot of reasons to move to Boca. Behind the Bima and these restaurants are among the top of them. So Seth thanks for joining us. Bracha and hatzlacha. I'm slurring my words now. We're going to we're going to wrap it up with a couple more quick topics but thanks so much Seth. Thanks for being here. Thank you so Thank you Seth. That was phenomenal boys. That was great. That was great. I can't finish everything. I got to first off This might have been out of the picture but I'm still working on this one cuz I I know it was really good. Everything was delicious. I'll tell you what else is is humility. It was great. Such a nice guy. Met him at the first time. I know you've known him for a while, but such a humble guy and and you know, when you see that passion come through for food and that excitement to bring new dishes and twists on classic dishes and it gets you excited to eat it. It gets you excited for the for the food that's going to be around in Boca and the destination that this is going to become. You know, we used to have to go south for like, you know, obviously we have great restaurants here, but some great restaurants down south. Now, you know, between all the restaurants here and now these five opening up, Boca's going to be the destination. You'll see it. People are going to be coming here from all over Florida and around the country. Please God. Let's just wrap it up. We're already over time, but our audience is still with us, which says a lot about our audience and thank you so much for being with us and rating and reviewing and sticking with us. Two more quick topics though before we send everyone off for the weekend. We've got an amazing, please God, we're going to have incredible incredible guests lined up for next week, which we will announce soon. But to wrap it up, first of all, big news today. My oldest daughter, my Racheli, was born in Jerusalem in Shaare Zedek Hospital and her American passport for the 20 plus years of her life, 21, 22, how old is she? For however long she's alive, her United States passport just says Jerusalem, does not say Jerusalem, Israel. Because until now Jerusalem was so-called disputed territory and the position of the State Department of the United States of America was a refusal to say Jerusalem was part of Israel and it's bothered me the duration of her entire life and there was a Supreme Court case over it uh that was uh tried eyes of a Tovsky and um and you know, I was only jealous I didn't actually do that case on behalf of my daughter, but today was enormous news, which is that from now on the United States passports of those born in Jerusalem will say Jerusalem, Israel, which I'm also grateful now not only applies to my oldest daughter Racheli, but to her son, my einikel, my grandson Ari Zvi, uh that his passport now too will be changed to say Jerusalem, Israel. That is big news. We're very grateful for it, very excited about it, and it's really correcting a wrong. And uh shout out to Farley Weiss, our own member, who for many years, many decades, worked on the Jerusalem Act, Jerusalem Embassy Act, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And this is an extension of that. So, Farley, I don't know if you're listening, but big thanks and shout out to you. Other topic I wanted to just uh close with tonight was the uh Principal Latson, who our listeners have been following that story, Principal of a local Spanish River High School, who in an email said he was unwilling to acknowledge the Holocaust definitely happened. This was 2 years ago. He was fired by the Superintendent of Schools. Uh it it too was appealed, and it was ruled unlawful, and the Board of Education voted to reinstate him, but there was a reconsideration of that, and we talked about last week how thousands, and it's not an exaggeration, of our members stepped up to leave messages, to show up in person, to appeal to the board to revisit that decision, to overturn it, and to send him packing, because to deny the Holocaust is an anti-Semitic act. And you one should be 100% clear. If you deny the Holocaust, that is an anti-Semitic act. You're hurting and causing pain. You're damaging people. We live in the most densely Holocaust survivor part of the of the uh country. And in the very same place where so many Holocaust survivors live, to deny the Holocaust, it's not only offensive, it's it's a it's a hate act. It's an anti-Semitic act. So, Principal Latson put out a video today, yesterday, I think it was today, where he offered an apology. Um and I'm curious what our listeners think about it. I watched the video, 3-minute video on YouTube. He issued an apology. And the part where he said, "I shouldn't have said that, and I was wrong, and I want to apologize to the people that I hurt." I had him. He was with me. He had me. I like to hear that. Yeah, the problem was he went to the end. Problem was he transitioned right away, and he said, "If you think this is a good apology, please call this number, and also leave messages with the Board of Education." So, when the person says, "I'm offering an apology." And if you agree that that was a good enough apology, then you close the door so I can get my job back. It wasn't just a right, it's to get the job back. No, he didn't just wasn't just saying call the board of education. He wants to get his job and it And that's means the entire apology and certainly as a Jew and certainly in the as you said in the densely populated area that we live in, um it doesn't resonate, it doesn't sit so well. Um we like authentic apologies. We like authentic apologies without qualifications. That just says, "You know what? I did something wrong and I apologize." And the second you qualify that, and the second you make it for your personal needs or your personal end grand does end grandizement, that's when it doesn't sit so well with us. Yeah, the well the fact checker has weighed in. Apparently, my daughter is 22 years old. But, I agree with you. It violates the basic rules of apologies. Apologies have to be unconditional. I'm not apologizing on the condition I can get my job back or so that I can get my job back. He also failed to explain. He also failed to explain what took 2 years. 2 years of silence. 2 years of no apology, no acknowledgement. 2 years. What took 2 years? And at the end of the 2 years say, "Look, I was wrong, but here's what I was thinking, here's what I meant, here's how I was misunderstood, here's what I intended." 2 years of silence is inexcusable. So, I'm grateful there was movement and apology, but it was not sufficient in my opinion. Now now what's the lesson for our listeners, Rabbi Goldberg? Because you speak about apologies a lot, right? Obviously, that's a common topic on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. What is the message for our listeners? If you're going to apologize, what? How do you own up to your mistakes? Yeah, you got to own up. The apology should not come with a but or however statement. If it does, it's not a real apology. It's got to be unconditional with no ulterior motive or agenda. It's got to be sincere and from the heart. It's got to reflect remorse. You should take personal responsibility, take ownership over your actions, and it has to have a commitment for the future not not to repeat it. And it failed to measure up to that. So, you know, with that, we'll see how this plays out. I just say also, one of the things he kept referring back to two or three times he talks about the law. Makes it sound like based on the law, the legal aspects of this case, there's no reason he should ever have been fired and there and they should definitely have been rehired without question. And it's just because of a group out there, this case the Jewish community that's making such an issue about it that there might be an issue. But Right. But you take a look at the letter of the law, he's saying you shouldn't be fired. But that's the whole point, he said something wrong and absolutely shouldn't have a job. How can you have someone that denied the Holocaust? Woah. I just lost my train It's interesting, one of our one of our listeners asked how long after the act is the apology acceptable? Only after. See, I don't think there's a termination on that, right? In other words, right? We believe that you can apologize when you want to apologize, when you're ready to apologize, when you're ready to own up and that's going to happen for different people at different times. That to me is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that it has to be authentic. It has to be unqualified. It has to come from the heart. It has to be not an apology that was written by lawyers because of some legal considerations. It has to be something that you truly regret. I mean, think about the Rambam, right? It has to be something you truly regret and that you want to do better going forward. I'm with you 100% and you know what, there is no statute of limitation. You can apologize 100 years later, but when you do, you better explain why you were quiet for those 100 years. If you're quiet for two years, you got to include that in the apology and explanation. So, it did not meet the standards to me of an apology. We'll track the story and we'll let you know. We wanted to invite him on tonight to offer a clarification. Um, however, um, I didn't reach out to him directly, I reached out indirectly and that person told me his lawyers would never let him come on. So, that also tells you a lot right there cuz if you want to speak to the Jewish community of South Florida, everybody knows that Behind the Bima is the best way to do it. So, Principal Latson, the invitation is out there and extended to you at any time. Uh, wanted to also get to I wrote an article this week about should rabbis be telling people who to vote for. It had a lot of traction, a lot of feedback, a lot of pushback. We don't have time for that as we are already overtime and by the time that we meet next week, one week from today, the election will be over and we may or may not know who the next president is. Now are you Now are you excited for the election to be over? Right? Like can you Are you the type that like I cannot wait for this conversation for us to go back to normal, for people to stop fighting with each other over it? Or are you going to be afterwards? Honestly, what I can't wait for is for the show to be over so I can finish all the half-eaten food that's all over this table. But But I will tell you that I can't wait for the election to be over. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to debate it. I don't want to speculate about it. I don't want to defend it. I don't want to persuade. Let it be over. Let's rally around whoever the president is. He's all of our president, whoever it turns out to be. And we should all hope for the best cuz that president's success is our success. And I can't wait for that time, whenever we will find it. And by next Wednesday night, we are an apolitical show. We don't talk politics. But whoever we announce the We We might get the exclusive announcement of who the next president is on this show. We might. think right now, Seth Warshaw could be the next president as far as I'm concerned right now. There you go. There you go. Um I give a very special thank you again to executive chef Seth Chef Seth Warshaw. A thank you to Roadhouse for hosting us on our first uh our first Behind the Bima on location. Thank you for delicious food tonight. We appreciate it. And uh we look forward to continuing these conversations and expanding the culinary opportunities in our greater community, please God. We should all dine together. Seth should feed us from the korbanos of the Beit Hamikdash in Yerushalayim Nice. with a lot of char, the right acidity, the right heat on the delicious korbanos that will come off the mizbeach. The The machavas? Yeah, we had that. No grill. Hamikdash Beit Hamikdash had Yeah, the Beit Hamikdash had those uh hot grill. What was that called? The um What's that called? They didn't sous vide anything. Plant, no sous vide. not sous vide anything. That's true. Anyway, we leave off with lama lo, why not? On behalf of Rabbi Moscowitz, Rabbi Brody, everybody stay happy, stay And all the fans out here tonight, make some noise! Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy. We'll see you next