From Philly, to LA, to Italy, and Back with Marc Vetri

PHILLY VOICE

In this episode of The Chef Radio Podcast, Chef Eli Kulp talks with Marc Vetri, whose newest restaurant, Fiorella, was booming from the time it opened in February to the COVID shutdown.

Eli and Marc talk about Marc’s background as a chef and musician in LA, spending a few years in Italy, opening restaurants in Philadelphia, and how things have been going since the shutdown.

Eli: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Eli here. Welcome back to the Chef Radio Podcast. Here we are on the third episode of season two. We've got a great one for you. Somebody who I have been looking forward to interviewing for a very long time. We have Chef Marc Vetri joining us today on the show, really excited about that.

But before we go there, I do want to talk about a couple of things. First of all. Good Lord 2020. You just keep giving us the punches every day. You wake up and something's new this week. Well, just this morning, sadly, hearing the news of another officer involved shooting in Philadelphia, you know, I don't.

I don't know what the answer is, you know, you just see it over and over and you just feel that there's gotta be a better way than taking somebody's life. It's there's still a lack of value put on people's lives. And, you know, I might not have all the facts yet, but you know, my heart goes out to the family members and the people that, you know, this young man's life affects, including his children and, you know, not.

Not being able to grow up knowing their, their fathers, but you know, 2020, ah, God, you know, can you just stop please? Can we just stop, give it a rest 2020, you know, we could go on and on, but we're not going to, you know, it hasn't been all bad this week. At least for me, I was invited by Ange Bronca to her satay camp, our popup down to South Philadelphia on the rooftop of Irwin's, which is on the roof of the Bok building.

If you don't know the Bok building, check it out. It is one of Philadelphia's hidden gyms. They have the Bok bar and then they have Irwin's upstairs. Ange was invited by Irwin's to do, to showcase her cuisine. You know, I've mentioned her a couple of times and you know, her restaurant was shuttered recently due to COVID and landlord issues, which come on landlords, can you stop being pricks, please?

Just stop. I get it. Everybody's hurting for money, but what are you going to do with all these empty buildings? Like, what are you going to do with them? I don't, it doesn't make sense. Anyways. I don't want to get off track with that. The fact was Ange was doing a pop-up. They gave her the kitchen for a couple of weeks.

I think three weeks, all in all. And she is cooking some ridiculous food, best thing hands down was the durian. I guess it was like a puree that she did with a crudite. So if you don't know, durian is that fruit that a lot of hotels in Southeast Asia won't even let you bring them into the hotel because they smell so bad and airplanes and everything.

Yeah. it is a noxious smell, of death and vomit in its raw form, but in the right hands, it can be something delicious. And Ange did that and she was really telling us at the table how, you know, this is not food that you're going to find in restaurants. This is food that you're going to have to go and find in, you know, the kitchens of, you know, rural populations in the jungle, as she said, or in villages, and, you know, we're talking about fermented fish that she did fermented durian. She did this amazing smoked beef with curry on it. which was ridiculous. I just, I just finished leftovers today. Anyways, best thing by far I ate this week was Ange Bronca's amazing mastery of Malaysian cuisine.

Oh. And then she had that goat, the goat skewers, her famous goat skewers and chicken skewers, which are hands down the best sate you ever had. She's cooking it right over that charcoal, made of coconut shells that she imports. So truly authentic food. Cooking, being cooked right here in Philadelphia. So we are super lucky for you,

Ang, and, you know, we're, so we're so proud to have you here, and I know that you will land back on your feet, after  all is said and done. So I want to get to the episode, as well. So we had Marc Vetri, like I mentioned, you know, if you don't know Marc Vetri, then you probably don't know much about food in general, when it comes to who's doing what, especially in Philadelphia. 

He's an international chef at this point, you know, he's got restaurants in Japan, he's got a restaurant in Vegas, you he's, he's all around now. So he is truly one of the founding fathers of Philadelphia cuisine. And if you worked in Philadelphia, there's a good chance that you either know somebody that worked for him or you've hired somebody that worked for him at some point or another. I mean his restaurant, his most recent restaurant, Fiorella pasta down in the Italian Market has blown up.

You're going to hear him talk about that in the show, the waits, and you know, the- before, COVID how this thing was just rolling on a level we haven't seen in Philadelphia. So anyways, yeah, it was, it's really, really great to sit down with Marc. I never worked with them. I don't really, I never really had a relationship with him other than like a genuine respect for what he does.

Our paths haven't crossed that much, which is unique for Philadelphia because it's a small town. And, you know, so when I reached out to him, he was all in and I really appreciated him coming, coming down to the studio and recording with us. So, without further ado, let's get to the show and enjoy it.

Hopefully, you know, if you have any comments or ideas as always, you know, look me up on Instagram,@EliKulp or @ChefRadioPodcast, and you can find me there. Oh. And also go support the Patreon page. Right? There's some stuff up there that you can hear. That isn't on, on this one, that you'll be able to hear some behind the scenes and a little bit of just extra talk that I did with Marc. So, as always a big, thank you to everybody out there listening. All right. Enjoy the show. 

This is the Chef Radio Podcast

Each week. Groundbreaking chef talks.

Delivered to you, straight from the minds of the people who shaped the way we eat 

Eli: [00:06:29] These talks, these ideas and more on the Chef Radio Podcast.

All right, everybody here we are today. I have Marc Vetri in the studio. Marc. If you don't know him, you're probably not from Philly then, but Marc is one of the sort of founding chefs in Philadelphia, and he's really responsible for so many other chefs finding their way. And he's a godfather in the city and you know, I'm really excited to have him in here.

Marc, welcome to the show. 

Marc: [00:07:07] Hey man. Thanks for having me. That just means I'm like really old. So 

Eli: [00:07:10] Well, we're all getting old, then maybe even, even your students and your pupils are 

Marc: [00:07:15] Getting old, getting old. Yeah. They're all like, you know, 45 years old now. It's crazy. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:07:22] It's, it's one of those things where, you know, the time keeps marching on. 

Marc: [00:07:26] Time does keep marching. 

Eli: [00:07:27] You have not slowed down 

Marc: [00:07:29] No, man. 

Eli: [00:07:30] You're still cooking like 

Marc: [00:07:31] Slowing down's for the birds, man. Slowing down's for the birds.

Eli: [00:07:34] Right? Just got to stay busy. 

Marc: [00:07:35] You got it, man. 

Eli: [00:07:36] Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, Marc, as somebody who has been in Philadelphia your whole life, right? I believe. 

Marc: [00:07:44] Yeah. Well, I did. I mean, I actually left here in like 1990 for about eight or so years, eight years then I came back.

Eli: [00:07:51] Yeah. I want to talk to you about that too, because he spent a lot of time in Italy, but as you know, as a true Philadelphian, you know, you've, you've obviously made a massive Marc on the city. I remember. Sitting in a Del Posto when I was cooking there and went down to the, to Mark's  office and he had all the books up there and I pulled your book down and I still remember the one that stuck out to me.

And I think I tried to recreate it without, I don't think I actually did a very good job of it, but it was the mortadella mousse.

Marc: [00:08:26] Oh the mortadella mousse. Yeah the beignets.

Eli: [00:08:31] Yeah, that was great. I was like, Holy shit. Like, wow. I didn't think of that.

Marc: [00:08:35] It's like, it's like something that's like really just like, you know, really easy, like easy sort of thing. But then, you know, when you eat it, you're like, wow, that's just got lots of stuff going on, but you don't, you don't really like, you know, realize it.

Eli: [00:08:48] Well, I think for me what it was that little,that little item was kind of thinking about how do you use ingredients differently, but in a smart way? Yeah. You know, in a simple way that that still made sort of a profound impact to the diner and saying, wow, you can take this item here that we're so sort of used to, and, and you know, that usually it's sliced and put on, you know, some sort of antipasti when you turn it into this really cool little bite.

Yeah. 

Marc: [00:09:17] Thank you. Yeah. I mean, and those are the, those are always the sort of things, you know, that we, we sort of look for, you know, Because, you know, you know, we've all had everything basically, you know, you've all used this, you've all used that the offerings are always there. They're the same thing, you know?

So you have to be like, okay, you know, how can I make this more interesting, but not by actually messing it up, but not by like losing it, you know? 

Eli: [00:09:41] Right. No, it's, you're still keeping the essence of, of the item, you know, but just turn it into something new and different. 

Marc: [00:09:49] Exactly. 

Eli: [00:09:49] Yeah. So I remember not being in Philadelphia at that point. And you know, that was my first real thought of Philadelphia cuisine, you know, so yeah, that was, that really struck me. 

Marc: [00:10:03] That's cool to hear. 

Eli: [00:10:03] It's those small little things, right? Like, yeah. You probably think back to like something that a chef taught you or that one little thing that, you know, you remember from a cookbook and you use that to sort of spark something else.

Marc: [00:10:16] Yeah. Like, you know, you know, when you live in Italy or when you look through things, you know. You're just looking for things that sort of, you know, they resonate with you, you know, and like, then you sort of make it, you know, your own, you know, and that's, that's really what, it's what it's all about. 

Eli: [00:10:32] Well I mean as chefs, that's what we do, right? Nothing's new. 

Marc: [00:10:35] Nah, we're not reinventing the wheel. 

Eli: [00:10:39] Exactly. But you take, you take a little bit of this, a little bit of that and a little bit of your own. Sort of knowledge and apply it in an original way.

Marc: [00:10:46] Intuition or whatever it is. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:10:47] Intuition, right? A gut feeling. That's so, that's so big. I think that's when, you know, when cooks become chefs, right? That's when you can, you start speaking your own language with food. 

Marc: [00:10:55] Yeah. Yeah. And it's hard. Right. You know, you know, you know, because you've worked with this guy, with that woman, with this person and, you know, they all have their own sort of their own style. And then you, from all of those years, you have to sort of make, you know, your own style, you know, and that's, that's not easy.

Eli: [00:11:11] Yeah, it takes time for sure. And I think. Well, I'm not going to get into young chefs right now. Yeah. They just, they just look on Instagram and steal everything, put it, put it back out. 

Marc: [00:11:22] Instagram is a good tool. 

Eli: [00:11:24] That's not how used to be. Gotta spend time in the restaurants. All right. Well, before we get too far down the road, your background, cause I haven't, I have a bit of idea and I've read your book and you know, things like that, but you know, tell, tell the audience out there- what is your background? How'd you get into cooking and maybe, I mean, you've, I've, you've done a lot so. 

Marc: [00:11:46] Yeah, I mean, I just, you know, sort of fell into it almost, you know, I mean, I used to, you know, you know, I'm from Philly, so my fathers, his family lived down, right down there, the, the Ninth Street Market.

Okay. You know, so the weekends we used to head down there and I was, you know, the big meatball dinners, lasagnas, broccoli rabe, sausage. And I, and you know, there, they were actually from Sicily. 

Eli: [00:12:10] So that's, that's your dad's side. 

Marc: [00:12:11] Yeah. 

Eli: [00:12:12] Okay. Cool. 

Marc: [00:12:13] And I just like fell in love with it. You know, I used to like want to head down early.

Nobody else wanted, you know, so I used to want to head down usually the one day early and maybe stay overnight and they'd be help them and just learn all these, all these. These amazing things. And I just fell in love with it. And then I, you know, I mean, this is like when I was eight years old, nine years old.

And I just always, you know, even, you know, when I was at home on the weekends and stuff, I always wanted to make things. And I just, you know, started messing around with things always. And then, when I was like 13, I think I, when I was like 14 years old, I started working at a restaurant just near my house, washing dishes. 

Eli: [00:12:57] That's the same age I started to washing dishes, exact same age. 

Marc: [00:12:59] Washing dishes, and I loved it. And I was like washing dishes and I was watching the line cooks slice and making stuff. And I was like, Oh, I want to get there. You know? And then, you know, One of the guys, let me have a knife. And he was like showing me stuff and it just kinda sort of organically evolved everything everywhere I went, I always like fell back on working in a restaurant, you know, everything I did. Yeah. So, 

Eli: [00:13:23] And now when did you go to Italy to start? Like, when did you know, like, okay, I'm going to do this and I'm going to like strike out on my own and go to Italy and LA and all that. 

Marc: [00:13:34] Well, so after school, it was 1990, I just finished Drexel University and I was like, you know what do I want to, you know, what do I want? And I also, 

Eli: [00:13:43] what was your degree? 

Marc: [00:13:45] Marketing and finance. Okay. All right. Yeah. Nothing. Well, I mean, well, there's a lot of Marketing and financing in. 

Eli: [00:13:52] Sure. There's some applications you can use it. 

Yeah, absolutely.

And I was also a, was a musician, you know, so I wanted to go out. To Los Angeles to be a rock star. And I was really, I was a guitarist stars. Yeah. So I wanted to go out there and there was a, the musicians Institute that I wanted to go to. So I said, mom and dad, you know, they were like, what do you want to do Sean?

After this? I was like, I want to go to music school. And they were like, Oh shit. but they were, you know, they were, they, they were always very, very supportive of me. so I moved out to Los Angeles and I was in the music school for a year out there. And how do I make money? I worked in restaurants, you know?

And so I used to go to music school in the mornings and then in the evenings, had to work in restaurants and then after VAT ended, it was 1991 and right around then Wolfgang was opening up the restaurant that was in the area, the restaurant called Grenada Grenada. Yeah. Yeah. So that was nice. 

I don't even remember that restaurant.

Marc: [00:14:51] No, that was, that was there for. It's like 20 some years. It was just this huge restaurant right on the water, you know? So I went there because I heard that he was opening there and I, then I really wanted, you know. 

Eli: [00:15:04] Well, he was the man. I mean. 

Marc: [00:15:05] He was a man back then. 1990, 1991. It was like, like he was the guy.

And, you know, so I went there, you know, it was just one of those, you know, sort of stories that we all have as like an older chef. Now, you know, you walk in there, the like, Yeah, we don't have anything. I was just like, I just want to hang out so they will let me hang out and I would just work. And then I went back every day for like six weeks and I just worked for free.

And then one day what happens, you know? Some line cook, doesn't arrive and they're like, Hey, Vetri get over here. You know? So then they offered me to work. So then I, then I actually started, you know, to work there and I loved it and I worked there for like two weeks. Oh, good. Yeah. Nice. And yeah, I just, that was getting a sort of my, my school, you know, that's where I learned how to slice of fish, how to make a stock, how a slice, you know, that's where I learned how to work the.

The wood oven. That's where I learned all of that stuff and I just loved it, you know? And then, then I was out there for, I left there and, you know, I sort of worked at some other restaurants. I was in the band also, you know, so we had like a studio things we had some-

Eli: [00:16:18] What was, what was the style of music? Is it rock?

Marc: [00:16:21] It was like rock and roll. Funky, funky, you know, Yeah. Sort of rock and roll. 

Eli: [00:16:26] I'm assuming you still play right? 

Marc: [00:16:27] I do. Oh yeah. A lot. Yeah. I love it. It's yeah. 

Eli: [00:16:30] You have a, you have a band now?

Marc: [00:16:32] I, no I do not have a band just in my living room band. Kind of, 

Eli: [00:16:37] Are you a vocalist as well? 

Marc: [00:16:38] No, I'm not a vocalist.

Not a good singer. You don't want to hear me sing the mics, I don't think well be able to handle it, not a good singer, but you know, I was out there and I was like, It was like 24 hours. Cause I was working in the restaurants and I was in the studio and then we had some, you know, some of the gigs in the evening, you know, so it was just like nonstop, nonstop.

And I just kinda was like fried. Like where, where am I going with this? And then I just met, you know, I was like, I really want to go to Italy. I was, you know, sort of like in, The restaurant more than I was liking the music industry right now. And it was just kind of one of those things where I started, you know, I started asking like some of the other chefs, I mean the line cooks, you know, what would you do?

And, you know, and a lot of them were like, Oh man, you got to go to France, got to go to Italy. And I was like, Oh, I got to go to Italy, you know? 

Eli: [00:17:37] That's your roots, right?

Marc: [00:17:38] My family's from Italy. And then I actually like met one of Wolf'- he also owned a bunch of restaurants out there, you know, Valentino. His name was Mr. Selvaggio. 

Eli: [00:17:46] Mr Selvaggio  

Marc: [00:17:47] Yeah. He had a restaurant out there. He had a bunch of restaurants out there and. And I was, you know, sort of, sort of hanging out with him and you know, some other, some other line cooks one night and I was just saying to them, listen, I, I really love Viana Italy. And you know, he mentioned that he knows a guy who, who has a restaurant in Italy who.

Who has a room. You can, you can go work there and, you know, yada, yada, yada. So I was like, well.

Eli: [00:18:16] Sign me up. 

Marc: [00:18:16] How do I go? So, you know, we ended up sort of working it out. 

Eli: [00:18:20] Did you go to Sicily? 

Marc: [00:18:22] I went to the Northern Italy area. Yeah. Bergamo.

Eli: [00:18:27] Bergamo.

Marc: [00:18:27] Bergamo. Yeah. That's why I ended up. I walked in there and I ended up staying there for about two years. 

Eli: [00:18:33] Two years in Italy.

Marc: [00:18:34] Yeah. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:18:35] So what is it like, for those out there that aren't sure of that region? What is it that kind of is some of their, they're more recognizable foods that come out ofBergamo?

Marc: [00:18:45] It's a mountain region, you know, so it's, it's a heavier food. It's actually very, I think, you know, more like, you know, French food than it is like, you know, South Italy food.

A lot of red saw a lot of red, you know, like look in the South, they have lemons. They have, you know, this, the San Marzano, they have oranges, lots of citrus, almonds, knots, you know, all that stuff where it's like, North, they have a lot of, you know, animals that are just like, you know, on the mountain side, you know, so they all, they have all the milk from the animals.

They have the mushrooms from up there that are, you know. 

Eli: [00:19:19] Porcinis 

Marc: [00:19:19] Snails, Porcinis, you know. 

Eli: [00:19:21] I remember spending time in Brusha area. 

Marc: [00:19:24] Exactly. It's like 15 minutes. 

Eli: [00:19:27] Yeah, exactly. So like, and near a town Lumason. Coming down the Hill, one day, we're driving it was porcini season. We were kind of looking for some porcinis, but who he'd come by this truck, this guy in the back of this truck.

I mean, he's got porcinis that are like 12 inches tall. You, it was like, I remember the price was like six euros a pallet. Yeah. I mean, what would we pay that here? 

Marc: [00:19:50] We'd pay 30 bucks a pound. Oh yeah, yeah. 

Eli: [00:19:54] Yeah. Just like, Oh my God. 

Marc: [00:19:57] It was crazy. And then just living, there was just one of those things where. You know, you hear stories of like living in some other areas, like, you know, it's, you know, we're going to some of those Michelin star restaurants and like, and like France and you know, like you getting yelled at and don't touch this and don't know this and just watch the floor and just do this.

But in Italy, you know, whenever anything, whenever anything arrived, you know, the chef it'd be like, Marc, Marc, Marc, come look at this. Look at this fish. Here's where it comes from, said, look at this mushroom, you know, this guy. This is his land and Oh my God, look at this. And then he'd like, eat the seat, the seat, this, you know, they- 

Eli: [00:20:35] Just embracing you.

Marc: [00:20:36] They just welcome you. And it was, I just like, I just fell in love with it. 

Eli: [00:20:41] Well, it was as I've told this story before, but you know, I, when I came out to New York to cook in 2005, I had worked in, I worked first three restaurants I worked in were like French, like hardcore, French, like, you know, the chef, you know, just being a tyrant and, you know, just, yeah.

Reak more havoc than good. And, you know, just causing chaos all the time, yelling and screaming. And then I took a position. Well, Mario Carbone came and he would help us at this restaurant on the upper East side. It was, it was supposed to be Italian, but it really wasn't. It was a masquerade. It was like French- asian masquerading as Italian. It was, it was awful. It lasted about a year. 

Marc: [00:21:21] How do you French Asian masquerade as Italian? 

Eli: [00:21:24] it was a mess. And the funny thing was as Frank Bruni, from New York times when he just arrived back from Italy spending time, like I think seven years in Rome as a, as a New York times writer.

And he reviewed this restaurant. And he completely just, I mean, is, is it just railroad? It was just, it was just like awful review one star, but I met Mario Carbone because his girlfriend was a manager there and he would come in and help us with the pastas and stuff. And, but that was right when Del Posto was opening up.

So, I was like, you know, the one star review came out and I was like, yo, Mario, I gotta get out here. You know, it's like, it's all right, come trail at Del Posto. Oh, cool. So I. The first day I come into the kitchen and I got there a little early before everybody else did and came up to the kitchen upstairs and I walk in and Mark Ladner is sitting there and he, I remember it was, so it was so striking to me, this empty kitchen you've been in that kitchen.

I'm sure it's massive. It's enormous. So it was just Mark sitting at the, at the past and he had a salad spinner and he's just sitting there and kind of pumping on the salad spinner about like, you know, just like real methodical. And he takes out these microgreens, he kind of fluffs them on, on the past.

I'm like watching them like a chef, you know, I'm Eli, I'm going to be here today trailing. And he looks at me, he goes, "Right on, welcome!" You know, at that moment it was just like, all right, this is not like the norm. 

Marc: [00:22:58] That's not what we were raised with. And it's, and it kind of makes me, I mean, just a little bit sad because you know, you hear like, I mean, I hear the stories, right?

Oh, I was supposed to just kitchen and it was horrible. Like the chef yell so horrible, like work environment and I'm like, I don't, I never. I like never worked in a restaurant like that. 

Eli: [00:23:22] I mean the other sort of godfather and Philly, right? Le Bec-Fin. 

Marc: [00:23:26] Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. For tons of stories of him throwing tantrums.

I mean, love George, but Oh man, the stories is like nuts. 

Eli: [00:23:34] Right. And it's just one of those things where, you know, it's such a different. The difference is striking of working in an Italian restaurant versus like a French based restaurant? 

Marc: [00:23:46] I think so, man, I think so. I mean.

Eli: [00:23:48] You can't cook Italian food angry.

Marc: [00:23:51] No, it does not work. It does not work. 

Eli: [00:23:54] Well. It's just like, you need to feel it. And that's what Italian food is.

Marc: [00:23:59] 100 percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:24:01] Because you're working with Marc and the team there. Those really my, I spent over two years, like almost three years there. And 

Marc: [00:24:08] I love Mark by the way. 

Eli: [00:24:10] I know you guys are pals.

Marc: [00:24:12] Greatest guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I met him, you know, when he was working, I think, Oh no. He was the opening chef at 

Lupa. 

No, the first restaurant Babo. I think 

Eli: [00:24:21] He was, yeah. He was like a sous chef for Mario. 

Marc: [00:24:24] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then he opened up, he opened up Lupa 

Eli: [00:24:27] Lupa. 

Marc: [00:24:29] Yeah, but I've known him for 20 some years, you know?

Eli: [00:24:31] Yeah, no, he's a, he's a great dude. When I realized how they were cooking there and I saw how, you know, the, you know, the service went, you know, Sure. There was times when things would get a little bit Rocky and voices would get raised. Of course. I mean, you know, like there's, there's a, definitely a points where, you know, we have to, put a little fire under people's assets.

Sure. And you know, but in general though, like just, just the style, the food, the food, you know, being able to feel it talking with Marc, you know, he's open, he's great to have conversations about food and why. You know why Italians did it this way. And for me, that was just really mind opening. And 

Marc: [00:25:15] I think it's also helpful because, you know, you're not just like, you know, I'm the chef, here's the dish, you know, make it like this, you know, it's like, Hey, what do you think of this dish?

And you know, like we all eat it or like, Oh, you know what, hey chef, maybe, you know, you can use like some, some oregano in that, because this is served really as a work. 

Oh yeah. That's a good idea. That's a good thing. And nobody has like that ego of, of like, this is how we're going to do it. 

Eli: [00:25:43] Here's the recipe. Here's the technique. If you veer from it, you know, a millimeter you're going to get thrown in the trash. 

Marc: [00:25:50] It's not like that, you know, and it never was like that, you know? Yeah. When I was, you know, certainly, you know, In like in like 1998 when I opened up Vetri, I like one of the things, I mean a certain way.

And I was a little bit more like, you know, I want this like this, but you know, we always, you know, sort of, sort of learned, you know, together and just work out things, you know, with each other. 

Eli: [00:26:18] Yeah. I mean, the, you know, you have to be particular, I mean, as a chef, you're ultimately the one that's putting your, the final touch on it and allowing it to go to the dining room.

But yeah, there's, there's a certain natural element to cooking Italian food versus, you know, sort of classic French cuisine, which is. Very contrived, you know, kind of, how can you manipulate the product into what you want it to be? You know, these perfect roulade or the, you know, the, the, the perfectly peeled carrot.

Marc: [00:26:51] Yeah. Oh my God.

Eli: [00:26:53] Turning potatoes

Marc: [00:26:55] Turning potatoes, man, you'll never see that in my restaurant. I got it. 

Eli: [00:26:59] I don't even know the point of turning potatoes, I still don't even know. It makes no sense whatsoever. Leave them all. 

Marc: [00:27:05] Never got that. 

Eli: [00:27:06] Yeah. Smash them and fry em, right? 

Marc: [00:27:08] Exactly. Yeah. Like Waxman's potatoes, 

Eli: [00:27:12] Rosemary and garlic in there and you're good to go. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:27:15] That's all you need.

Eli: [00:27:16] So when you came back from, Italy, about how long before you came back and when you opened up Vetri? 

Marc: [00:27:22] About 2 and a half years. So I got back, I went to Alaska. That's a long story.

Eli: [00:27:27] Were you going for the salmon?

Marc: [00:27:30] Long story. 

Eli: [00:27:31] Okay. 

Marc: [00:27:32] And then, and I ended up back in that's actually, when I went to the New York area and, you know, I sort of moved around a little bit and then I ended up opening up the Bella Blue, which was on 70th and Lexington. Yeah. Yeah. So I opened up 

Eli: [00:27:45] The Bella Blue. 

Marc: [00:27:46] Just Bella blue and that place 70th and Lexington, we opened in 1996.

And yeah, I was there for two years, man. We opened that up. It was just like rocking, had a wood oven. We had some nice write ups. It was just, you know, I, I was just working my ass off, you know, or every day, you know, Six or seven days a week. Just like, I mean, I don't even honestly remember in New York. I mean, I was literally there for two years and I just worked, I don't think I even went out to eat, you know, I mean, basically like, other than like some, some late night sushi while I used to stop off at this one, like late night, you know, sushi restaurant.

Eli: [00:28:31] Was it down near like grand central area? 

Marc: [00:28:33] No, it was like, it was on the way home so I - it was it's. It's like 63rd, 64th and third or something like that. I don't even remember the name of it. There was this one guy and they were open to like three in the morning and I used to, so back then I had, some roller blades and I used to roller blade everywhere.

I was that guy, who used to hold onto busses, hold on taxi, rollerblade everywhere. You know, that's how I got to work. You know, Sue, so rollerblade into this, you know, Yeah. The restaurant at like one in the morning, one 30 right there. And you know, you know, the first visit, they were like, who's this guy, I'm like, I'm a chef.

And then they would be like, Hey Marc, come on. Yeah, let's go there like twice a week and just eat sushi. But, but that was it, you know, 

I just dedicated to the restaurant. 

Yeah. And I just worked and then it was like the end of 1997 and I was, you know, so I always had this thing in my head where. I wanted to open up a restaurant by 30 years old.

And, it was the end of 1997 and I was 30 years old and I was, and I was actually getting ready to, you know, to be 31. And I was like, man, I'm going to be 31 years old. I screwed up. Like I wanted to open up a restaurant, you know, by when I was 30 years old. And, and then. 

Eli: [00:29:57] You let yourself down. 

Marc: [00:29:59] Man. I got to leave and I got to go for it.

You know? So I met with the owner and I was like, Hey man, You know, it, it was like the end of the year. my, my birthday is on December 28th. I was like, I'm going to be 31 years old, man. I wanted to open up a restaurant. But then when I was 30, I got to give notice. And he was like, what are you talking about?

We're doing so great. We're doing this. I'm like, you know, You're making a lot of money and I was making a shit load of money. He was giving me like, you know, half money on the books, you know, how it works back then it was like, it's a bunch of cash or cash back then. Oh my God. Cash, you know, you know, and I was making a lot of money and I was able to actually save a lot of money.

And I was like, yeah, man. I know, but I got to give notice and you know, and he was like, how long did he give? And I was like, whatever you need a couple of months, I'm here for you. And it was like, all right. You know, so I think, you know, I ended up staying, I mean another like months, and then I left, I went back to Italy for a month just to work a little bit and just to sort of regroup.

And I got home in like March and I just started looking and I started looking in. New York. And I started looking in, you know, obviously it's Philly area. Cause I was like, yeah, maybe I'm going to move home. And obviously after looking at how much rent is, and that was, 

Eli: [00:31:20] yeah, a little bit, a 

Marc: [00:31:22] little bit different, a little bit different.

I was like, ah, you know, I was like, I think I'm going to move back to Philly. And then, you know, when you're opening, it's always like, you know, you have a lot of like, Voices like in your ear, like, Oh, I'll let you have some money. I'll I'll give you 20 grand. I'll give you a hundred grand. I'll give you this.

And I was like, all right. All right. So I started looking for, for something that would actually warrant. It's a large amount of money. And like, you know, once I found something and everyone was like, maybe I don't have that money right now. 

Eli: [00:31:54] Okay. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:31:55] Then it was, then I, then I actually walked in to the restaurant that I'm in now, which was obviously the original Le Bec-Fin.

When I walked in there, it was, it was actually called Chanterelle. 

Eli: [00:32:07] That was Chanterelle? The space you're in now 

Marc: [00:32:09] Chanterelle, yeah. Yeah, he was there. It was a Phillipe Chin. He was there for six years, I think. And you know, he, yeah, he wanted out wasn't large enough. And I walked in there and, you know, he was like, I want, I want a $75,000, you know, 50,000 bucks for everything in here.

And then the rest of the liquor license, I was like, all right. Okay. Sounds good. 

Eli: [00:32:36] Was that a pretty good deal back then? Were you 

Marc: [00:32:38] It was a great deal! 

Eli: [00:32:39] Yeah, that was a great, okay. 

Marc: [00:32:40] It was a stupid deal. It was like, Oh, well, I mean, yeah, he had everything in there. Like I didn't, I mean, the stuff was old 

Eli: [00:32:47] middle age. 

Marc: [00:32:48] He still had like really nice. Yeah, really nice silver, wherever, the nice plates, you know, the oven was still the original one from the back fin. Oh, wow. Yeah. You know, it needed, it. Did you know, it had a, a linoleum floor, you know, that was like rotted through the house. I had a little bit of work. I had some work on it, but, you know, so then I started looking for, for a loan and that was actually hard.

Cause I didn't, you know, cause then I was like, I don't want to use all these assholes money. You know? Like I want to open this up. I had a nice amount of money saved. 

Eli: [00:33:21] Well, working in New York, right? 

Marc: [00:33:22] Yeah. 

Eli: [00:33:22] Yeah. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:33:24] I was able to save up like 40, 50 grand. Yeah. I mean it was, that was amazing. So I ended up looking for a loan and I ended up getting.

You know, one of those, the SBA loans for $100,000 and I had my 50 grand and then I just maxed out like an Amex and this and that. And, I ended up opening for like a hundred and $150,000. Okay. 

Eli: [00:33:46] Yeah. So you, you put a little work into it then. Bringing it, it brings it. 

Marc: [00:33:50] $75,000.Yeah. You know? Yeah. I mean, it's not that much work, you know, nowadays, but, even then it was a lot, but yeah, but it was all me and like, you know, like I would find one guy to help.

My father helped, friends helped, you know, we did everything, you know, we ripped up the floor, we stuck down a new floor, you know, I stuck down a new, you know, what floor for the dining room. And I just learned how to. How to figure it out, you know? Yes. Open up a 1998 Vetri with $150,000 in now. 

Eli: [00:34:22] Did you, was Jeff a partner from the beginning?

Marc: [00:34:25] No, no, no. So I actually hired him. Yeah. He was in, he was in New York. He was actually working for, for Aramark or for restaurant associates whose work? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's worked for Aramark. And then I think the last, like two years he was actually working for the restaurant associates and he was, he was actually a really good friends with, with Adam, my younger brother.

Eli: [00:34:49] So how did they know each other? Was he from Philly? 

Marc: [00:34:51] No, he, he went to school with one of Adam's high school friends. Something like that. And then, and then they all ended up in like New York together and then they used to eat at the restaurant together that I was at, you know, so I met him and I was looking for, I mean, a manager and, you know, he was looking to get out of restaurant associates and he was looking for.

Really, he was actually looking to get out of New York. So I was like, come to Philly, man, helped me open this. I can like, I can give you 500 bucks a week and you know, you can, you can be a server or you can be a manager and you can just help me do this thing. Yeah. You know, 

Eli: [00:35:28] I mean the whole thing was, it seems very grassroots from the very beginning.

Marc: [00:35:32] Yeah. I mean, it was literally. Me and him, he hired like two servers and a bus boy who was actually still working with us. 

Eli: [00:35:42] What was his name? 

Marc: [00:35:43] His name's Rostow

 Rostow? 

Rostow he's been with us for 22 years, man. 

Eli: [00:35:48] Wow. And what does he do? What's he do now for your company? 

Marc: [00:35:51] He's a bus boy still. I mean, yeah, but I mean, he's like, he's everything, he's not a bus boy.

He didn't want to be a server. I mean, we offered him to be a server. I mean it's thousand times he just, yeah. He doesn't want to be a server, but, he's amazing. He's he's, you know, when, when he's not there, it's not the same restaurant. 

Eli: [00:36:09] And he's at Vetri? He's been? 

Marc: [00:36:10] At Vetri. Yeah. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:36:11] Wow. Yeah. Unbelievable. 

Marc: [00:36:13] There was a moment there, you know, so remember we used to be opened only, six days a week and you know, for the first like 12 years or so, and yeah.

You know, we had one bus boy and he was there every shift, six days a week, just like we all were, but he was there every day. Well, you know, then obviously once we have the seven days, he started working five days. Right. Somebody else, but still, yeah. But yeah, we opened up, you know, and, and that was it. You know, I had like, Two line cooks in the back.

And that was it. It was like, it was like eight of us.

Eli: [00:36:54] All right, we're going to take a quick break and I want to give a shout out. This will be our weekly, pro bono shout out. I want to give to Kalaya this week, Kalaya Thai restaurant and Kalaya Thai Market. They're doing fantastic stuff. You haven't been there, you have to check it out. They are pulling no punches, and they are cooking amazing food that, as an American, who's never been to Thailand has never tasted this type of Thai cuisine, too often it's a whitewashed with, ingredients that are more pleasing to the American palate, than what is true actual Thai food. I know that Chef Nok does not pull any punches and doesn't care if you don't like really funky food or really spicy food. It is what it is and she's not going to change it. So I respect that a hundred percent. That's what people want. I want more of these cuisines to really focus on what they're cooking and not what they think Americans want, because we want the authentic, real deal. So a big shout out to Kalaya Market and Kalaya Restaurant definitely check them out. If you haven't already.

You've had some notable line cooks that worked for you. And, you know, I've worked with some just, you know, coming through, you know, working at my restaurants as well, but you know, you, Mike Solomonov 

Marc: [00:38:18] Michael. Yeah. Michael, who else? obviously the guys who actually, whoever me for a while. Jeff Show, Brad Spence, Dionicio Jimenez, who owns, what's it called? El Rey. Chip Roman. 

Eli: [00:38:31] Chip. Yes. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:38:32] Jim Burke. 

Eli: [00:38:34] Yeah. Yeah. We've had a lot, a lot. A lot of guys come to your kitchen. 

Marc: [00:38:37] A lot of guys come through the kitchen. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:38:39] Well in Philly, Philly is such a small, big city anyways, you know, and if you're, if it was probably you or Le Bec-Fin were the two sort of avenues, a lot of cooks who wanted to kind of get into fine dining, would go, right?

Marc: [00:38:54] Yeah. For the first I, yeah. You know, for the first like five or six years. Yeah. It was us basically. And then, you know, then other things started to happen like around. 2003, four, I think then, then a modest started to happen. And then, you know, then a lot of other restaurants started to open up and there was a lot of options, but you know, for the first five, six years, it wasn't there wasn't a lot.

Eli: [00:39:18] So what do you, what do you think of Philly now versus 20 years ago? As far as the food scene as a whole?

Marc: [00:39:24] It's amazing. I mean, there's, there's, there's everything here now, you know, There wasn't back then there was, there was, you know, some nice restaurants back then, but you didn't have a lot of options.

But I think, you know, I think once, you know, folks from New York started to realize how much things were here, you know, no doubt, you know, the rents here, you know, how easy it was to live here. You know, I think, A lot of the like hooks started to actually moved down here and then open up things, you know, and that's, and there was a lot of restaurants that opened up, you know, especially over the last 10 years.

Eli: [00:40:02] I mean, I, you know, when I came down, it was. Yeah. From New York in 2012. That was, yeah, that was one of the attractive things that, that really made me want to come down. 

Marc: [00:40:12] Sure. So, and it was pretty hopping then, you know, he had a lot of chefs down there by then, and, you know, I think Philly was starting to make a name for it.

Eli: [00:40:21] No, yeah. I was confident because I had already seen, you know, Greg Vernick was there, Michael Solomonov was doing his thing. I remember eating at all these restaurants. I came down here at first, you know, and then there was Peter , who I'd worked with. I worked with him at that ill-fated Italian

He was actually a sous chef there and that's how we met. But, that's fine. Yeah, no, there was, I was more confident. There was enough going on down here that I felt confident that it was, it was a good move. So in 2015, you had built this company up into seven or eight restaurants? 

Marc: [00:41:00] Seven restaurants. Seven, yeah.

Seven. 

Eli: [00:41:02] So just 15, you, you and Urban Outfitters came together and you were like, they decided to purchase your, a big chunk of your company. Something that's I'd never seen before. 

Marc: [00:41:13] Neither. I don't think anyone's ever seen it. I don't think, I don't know if they will ever see it. 

Eli: [00:41:18] So what happened there? So again, you obviously have close ties with Urban Outfitters.

Sure. Because they're from Philadelphia. 

Marc: [00:41:26] Well, they're in the Navy yard and you know, the owner's used to eat at, you know, the, the, the restaurant lot, you know, and then we used to have the event on there for Alex's Lemonade Stand, you know, so we had a really nice, you know, relationship with them. And we were looking finally, you know, we had always sort of self, you know, funded everything, you know, Hosteria, Meese and everything.

We always just, you know, we've always got a loan from the bank. We never had investors. We just were like, okay. We're going to make the rest. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. So we'd never had investors. 

Eli: [00:41:59] Weren't tied to any investors ever. 

Marc: [00:42:01] Well, never had an investor, you know, we always, like, I always wanted to, you know, I always like refinance my house, remortgaged my house, you know, it was always like, wow, I'm all in.

Eli: [00:42:13] All the risk was yours, but all of it, all that means all the reward is 

Marc: [00:42:17] that, does your riskn equals reward or equals massive fucking failure? You know? 

Eli: [00:42:25] Well, you're betting on you roll the dice. You're betting on yourself. 

Marc: [00:42:28] Exactly. 

Eli: [00:42:29] Betting on yourself. 

Marc: [00:42:29] You know, but as you start to get older and you have, you know, a wife and you have three kids, and then, you know, you want to open up.

Yeah, something else. And then you already have like your one house remortgaged with extra money out on it. And your other house refinance with extra money out on it. You kind of like. I got three kids. I got my houses, Morgan's out to the wazoo, you know, and then you're just like, you know, I don't know if I want to like add anything to that.

And that was right around. So we opened up the first, pizzeria and, that thing went wild. It was just like a huge super hit, 

you know, we were doing crazy numbers there and you know. 

Eli: [00:43:15] That's the one up in Fairmount, right? Yeah. Originally?

Marc: [00:43:17] The Fairmount one and, you know, So we were looking to open up a lot of those.

We were like, this is kind of something we can scale. This is the thing that's, that's really going to make. It's like, you know, money, you know, and you know, so we wanted to open up a lot of those, but we were also thinking, Hey, I don't know. I want to start like, you know, having another loan from the bank and refinance my house again.

Or have, you know, Jeff Benjamin refinance his house again. I guess we were like, let's. Let's maybe find some, some investors for this and like open up a bunch of them, you know? So we sorted them out with a whole bunch of, you know, some, some financial guys, but they were all like, Hey, we'll give you $3 million for like 60%.

And we were like, no fucking way. We're not going to do that. You know? So, and then I think, I think what happened was urban outfit has heard that, you know, you know, we were looking for something and they were like, We'll give you $3 million for 15% or something like that. And, and, you know, you know, we want to speak with you.

I mean, about where we want to put them. Cause we're thinking maybe, you know, we're going to sick them. They are near our stores or maybe in our store. It was, it was, 

it was all just, maybe we'll do this. Maybe we'll do that. And then we were like, well, that sounds awesome. Cause they don't want a lot of it is they're going to give us this.

The same amount of money. And so we said yes to them. So we opened up then the written house one, and then we were getting ready to open up something else. And that's when the shake shack thing happened, they went, they went on the Market and they just made like whatever and they made, you know. 

Eli: [00:45:03] Yeah, yeah. The, the valuation. 

Marc: [00:45:06] The offering. Yeah. And I think Urban side of thinking, you know, man, we can, maybe you make this thing into something like that. Open up a lot of them. So they were like, Hey, we want to own all of the pizzeria. So we were like, okay, you know, what does that look like? I don't know. I don't know, make us an offer this and that.

They were like, okay, well we'll make you an offer, but you know, you guys are going to have to run it for us. You're going to have to leave the other restaurants. We're like, wait, we can't leave the other restaurants. I bet you, I got to three. I got to meet. Got, Speedo. I was a host for it. Morris town. I mean, yeah, you got a lot going on.

Yeah. They're like, no. So then they're like, all right, let us, let us sort of, to sort of think about it. And then they were like, okay, how about if we just swallow up your whole restaurant organization. 

Eli: [00:45:56] Purchase your whole portfolio.

Marc: [00:45:58] We're like what? Like, and they were like, they're like, think about it. Let us know.

Yeah. So we were like, thinking about it. I was like, all right, well, I don't know, you know, this is amazing. So I was like, all right. Yes. You know, but I'll never sell you a Vetri. Like you can have everything else, but I'm not going to say about you because that's my baby. And, you know, You know, if this thing falls apart, I'm going to have to have that.

Right. And that's, you know, that's, that's mine. Wow. You know, so they were like, all right. And then we negotiated for nine months. And, you know, we, we thought it was, it was over multiple, multiple times, you know, you know? 

Eli: [00:46:43] Yeah. 

Marc: [00:46:44] We fought. And then their, their first offer was actually with Vetri. And I was like, what the fuck did you not hear me the first nine months of telling you that?

So I walked out of there, so I walked out and then I thought it was over. And then three days later they were like, okay, okay, no Vetri, you know, and then yeah. Then we started that again. So, yeah. And yeah. 

Eli: [00:47:06] I mean, it's, it's an unprecedented sort of move in the restaurant industry, but I mean, not, not a, not a dumb move at all, because obviously you're, you're allowing yourself to, I feel maybe I'm putting words in your mouth.

I feel like that allowed you to really start. Almost having fun with new ideas or, or allowing yourself to kind of have the freedom, you know, he's thinking like Fiorella and you know, that feels like you're having a lot of fun, right? Yeah. 

Marc: [00:47:34] Well, I am having a lot of fun right now, but, but that did, that sort of happened after, that actually left them.

I mean, that was awesome. We had a lot of fun. I mean, I actually realized early on that, you know, cause that whole sort of, you know, working for a larger organization, wasn't really, you know, My thing. I learned a lot there. It was, it was, I mean, an amazing thing. And, I love those guys, but it just wasn't for me.

Yeah. So I signed up leave in about two years in and, you know, then I was just like, okay, what's next? You know? And then obviously the, the, the, the veteran Vegas thing happened. And then I actually started thinking about the Fiorella thing and. That was about two years in the making. 

Eli: [00:48:20] So let's talk about Fiorella, because I feel like it's sort of a love letter to pasta, right?

Like that's, that's kind of what it is. And it is the space itself is a sort of storied South Philly, Iegendary. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:48:32] Fiorella sausage. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:48:34] So yeah. Tell us about, give some history. 

Marc: [00:48:38] It's not even where it is. It's it was more like the idea, you know, I mean, obviously. It was actually Mark Ladner, who actually started me sort of thinking about it.

Cause you know, he left to open up his thing and I just thought, you know, you could make this, you don't have to make your sauce on one side, you noodles on the other and then just say, okay, what kind of sauce you want? What kind of news do you want? You know, here's your stuff. Or you can really have and go.

So I would. Like, I would just kind of look at the Vetri line and, and I would think to myself, well, the noodle station, you know, when you work there, you're getting the orders, you know, gimme, gimme for this three of this, two of that. And you're getting everything up and in less than five. Yeah. 

Eli: [00:49:27] That's pretty quick, 

Marc: [00:49:28] you know, you know, 

Eli: [00:49:29] Especially with fresh pasta, it's a fast station.

Marc: [00:49:31] So I'm just thinking, why can't you make a restaurant out of that? Only that one, you know, sort of station, you know, so one day, you know, so we have the, the upstairs of Vetri. 

Eli: [00:49:44] Right? You use that for what? Private dining. Yeah. 

Marc: [00:49:48] Why don't we have this sort of announcement where we say, Hey guys, you know, this evening, we're doing this thing, the Vetri Noodle Bar, you know, we're going to have four pastas on the menu, three salads. You just walk up, you wait in line. And then, you know, I think we had a 14 seats up there, you know, so, so we would just do it. 

Eli: [00:50:11] Right, right. 

Marc: [00:50:12] Yeah. So say announced that at like 9:00 AM on a Friday morning. And I think by four o'clock, that was like a line outside of like, 

Eli: [00:50:22] wow, 

Marc: [00:50:23] 50 people.

And I'm like, What the fuck's going on, you know, we're all like, we're all starting to get scared. We're like, Holy shit. And we started seating people, 14 seats, and it was just like, and it was me and it was, two other chefs. And like, you know, one guy was expo and he was making all the apps and then me and the other guy were just making all the noodles.

Every new luck came out and we were, everyone was lined up, you know, and then we'd be okay. Another four people there. And I'm two people there in the three per layer and they wrote down the order and they would just give it to me, like make it, throw it out and say, you know, eat it, get the fuck out. And we ended up that night with 14 seats.

There was like a three hour wait, but everyone was happy and everyone was waiting. And I think we ended up doing a hundred and 60 covers 

Eli: [00:51:17] 14 seats, 160 covers

Marc: [00:51:19] 5 hours, five hours. It was just crazy. It was basically every 

Eli: [00:51:24] 10 turns. 

Marc: [00:51:25] 30 minutes. Yeah. Does every 30 minutes. Wow. And we just cranked. And I was like, and from that, from that moment on, I was like, this is a restaurant.

I only want to do this amount of seats. And I only want to have a small menu. And this is a restaurant where. So line cooks, they can interact with, you know, the folks eating there and you can make this thing and it can be this incredible thing. And I looked for two years basically. And, and then like, obviously a funeral spot opened up and I like.

And I walked in there and I was like, Oh dude, this is it. Do it. It's going to take some, you know, but. 

Eli: [00:52:04] So did you turn the counter into a bar? A seating bar? 

Marc: [00:52:08] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just one long, one long seating bar. And then the line we had this six burner stove and the end of the, the boiler. That's it. Only equipment.

Then the hood obviously, and that's all, that's there. Six burner stove and a boiler. And we just, and we opened that up, you know, this year it was on Valentine's day. 

Eli: [00:52:32] Was it 2020? Yeah. It hasn't even been a year yet. 

Marc: [00:52:34] It's not been a year. Oh, wow. Here we are. Valentine's day and we were only open. We were like, let's just kind of have one line crew and you know, we're going to open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and that's it right now.

And we would, we would, I can do 120 and I, we had a 20 seats there. We do 120, 140 a night every night. It was like nonstop. Here's your pasta? Here's your check, move, move, move. You know? 

Eli: [00:53:02] So would you drop check after the pasta? 

Marc: [00:53:04] Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. We would just be throwing people out. Yeah. Wow. They love it. 

Eli: [00:53:10] Is it funny how people respond to certain things they do sort of based on.

It's not just the food, but the experience and that sort of almost newness, even though that's, that would be considered kind of rude or disrespectful in another restaurant. But you set that tone, you set that tone from the beginning. 

Marc: [00:53:28] Right away. We're like, Hey guys, man, I needed it. And they saw folks like, right.

Like I would literally be like you to wait. Right behind them and they'd be like, okay, we gotta get out of here.  I'd be like, yeah, but. 

Eli: [00:53:43] Oh, God 

Marc: [00:53:44] We were only open for a month. And then obviously the whole thing hit. And then, you know, so now we have lots of seats outside, you know, so it's not quite the same thing. still amazing, you know, but now they eat there.

We don't wait. We don't just like throw them out right away. They can actually sit and eat. 

Eli: [00:54:03] You'll you'll get back to that eventually. 

Marc: [00:54:05] Hopefully I don't know. 

It's a weird year. 

Eli: [00:54:09] It is a weird year now. So what is going on with, you know, we're, we're here in basically the first week of October. It's been, God, Alan's been now seven months, something like that.

The. The struggle is real, for sure. You've been very vocal about your opinion on, on opening reopening restaurants and the fact that the local government is really just sort of guessing. And it seems that, you know, it contradicts itself often, you know, When did you feel like you had to really sort of step into that role and speak for the restaurant community and start to, you know, talk about what's going on, you know, and why we're not opening?

Marc: [00:54:57] Yeah. I mean, I mean, obviously this happened and obviously, you know, we had to sort of, you know, shut everything down, you know, and then, you know, we moved to just making, some sauces and some noodles and stuff. And like, that was, that was, But as I think the months went on and everything started, you know, to sorta lower and, and, you know, I think, you know, you started to realize a little bit like, you know, Hey, the mask Wang works and, you know, as you know, I mean, I'm not a huge fan of the mayor, which, which everybody kind of knows that by now, but, but, you know, I honestly think that like his mask wearing, like, you know, making it, like you gotta wear a mask was like, Was amazing like that really, I think stuck us way ahead of everybody else, you know?

I mean, obviously works, you know, but I, 

Eli: [00:55:52] Philadelphia for the most part has, has kept it relatively low.

Marc: [00:55:55] It's been the same since may. I mean like, like, you know, and there was, you know, sort of moments in there where, you know, it was it's, it it's leveled out and yeah. I mean, it's like, it would certainly. Rise up another 30 or 40, but that's not really like, like, it was always, you know, you know, from 80 to 120 new viruses to 130 to 50 to saves.

I mean, it's always right in there since may. Like it's like, and then, you know, I thought by the end of may, it gets kind of like some folks are getting open. Some folks aren't getting open. Yeah. I thought, Hey, let us have a shot. And it was, you know, and then they, they actually made the announcement that, Hey, we're gonna let you guys open.

Eli: [00:56:42] And so the first one was in June, I think. Right. 

Marc: [00:56:45] It's all so, it's all so blurry now. I mean, I don't remember. 

Eli: [00:56:50] The first one in June and then they pushed that back. 

Marc: [00:56:52] They let us open the, the outside then, and that was great. Yeah, the issue was for Fiorella. That was obviously awesome because, you know, do we have a whole large outside area, but for Vettery, you know, there isn't, there's no where to eat outside. 

Eli: [00:57:07] It's an option. 

Marc: [00:57:08] But then, you know, so I was like, okay, I'm still in this, you know, this is okay.

But then, you know, he announced, you know, we could open and then, you know, so we're like, okay, we started hiring a lot of folks back. I had, I had everybody who was on, who was on salary, like still on salary, you know? So I was using up all the money, all the stimulus money. I was like, you know, and I had a bunch of servers back helping out with like, you know, you know, some other things, you know, so everyone was like, Making money.

And then, you know, we're, we're getting ready to open and all of a sudden, you know, because I think it was like Florida started to spike up or somewhere in there. They got, they got nervous here. Yeah. Which is two totally different things. You're like, you have an area that's. Not wearing masks, they're gone out cause they're having raves or having parties.

Everyone's just like making out with each other, having orgies down there and like they're getting COVID. Go. 

Eli: [00:58:14] Go figure, right? 

Marc: [00:58:14] Go figure. Right. We're being safe, we're being responsible. And then they said, no, you're not allowed to open. Well, you know, we already spent thousands of dollars, you know? Making everything ready. Getting the food, making stuff. 

Eli: [00:58:31] You were already prepping stuff. 

Marc: [00:58:32] Of course. But yeah, we were four days out. Yeah, you don't just open. 

Eli: [00:58:37] Oh yeah. You don't turn the key. 

Marc: [00:58:38] We can open today. Okay. Stick the lights on we're open. Like, Oh, you need like. 

Eli: [00:58:43] You know, your mise en place. 

Marc: [00:58:44] You know, a week and a half to figure it out at least.

And it was, you know, it just. For me, I just thought it was kind of thoughtless, you know, and just like not, not, and just the fact that the mayor and the governor, they don't, but they don't really ask us anything. They don't really, you know, invite us to any of the discussions. You know. 

Eli: [00:59:05] That is, that is weird.

Marc: [00:59:07] They just look at us like, you know, so we just want to make money. We, you know, we're not interested, you know, Well, we're not interested in, you know, whether we harm the staff or anybody. Who's one of my clients. And it's just like, I mean, you know, that, that's the farthest thing from reality. No doubt about, I mean, our, our organization's basically are.

Like our family, you know, and that's, that's how we think of them, you know? So it was just really super frustrating for me. And to make it even more frustrating, I actually had the Vegas restaurant open, obviously limited seating, 50%, half of the, and you know, just watching them, like, you know, we had, everyone was being super safe.

Everyone was wearing masks spread apart and you know, yeah, we're open there now. You know what 20 weeks now, you know, we serve 1000 a week. So, I mean, what did we serve? 20,000 folks there? Know we haven't had any issues now because we're being safe about it. Like there, you're not, it's like there is a way to open up restaurants and to be safe.

Eli: [01:00:16] Yeah. I, you know, we we've seen, we've seen that. I think. You know, they they'll put out statistics, like, you know, core of the people that have gotten sick visited restaurants. Well, does that mean the restaurants made them sick or does that mean they just went to a restaurant and they got sick later and now use it yeah.

Marc: [01:00:36] By hanging out with somebody else. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, like where's like. So we've been open here now for, for a month. I mean, where's the big, where's the, the big spike that was actually, you know, it's supposed to happen, you know, like there isn't any, right, because restaurants, tourists here are being responsible.

You know, you, you sit at the battery and you're like far away from someone we have, we also have extra things up. Everyone's wearing masks. Everyone has their face gobbles on like, it's a super safe place. You walk in there and. And even those who are like a little bit like nervous who like want to give it a shot, they leave.

And they're like, so happy. They're like, Oh my God, thank you so much. 

Eli: [01:01:18] I was going to say, do you think the, you know, you see a service wearing face shields and mass and you know, as a human we're like, okay, that means you're in a doctor's office and you're having surgery now that we're seeing it in restaurants.

It's normal. Now, do you think people are. Does it, you think you just sort of, after you're sitting there a while it just kind of wears off, like, 

Marc: [01:01:41] I think it's kind of normal, like, you know, We have them wearing these, the face goggles, you know? So they look just sorta like, you know, your, your, your, your, your eyeglasses, but a little bit larger and a little bit thicker.

So, you know, so it's not like this, Oh my God, you have this like huge plastic shield coming down the chin, it looks normal. And it's just, you know, the issue is what the mayor doesn't understand, what the governor doesn't understand is that they just look at us as like, well, you're just eating. So. Why can't you eat at home?

Why can't you just go to the Market? Right. We're not just eating that's a, a, you know, lifetime like memory. These are like memories. You're, you're having interactions you're out. And, you know, there was just not

Eli: [01:02:32] It's the experience, right? 

Marc: [01:02:34] Experience of everything, you know? 

Eli: [01:02:37] It's it's fundamental to a lot of people's lives now. 

Marc: [01:02:39] Of course it is. Yeah. 

Eli: [01:02:40] So, so many people, especially in the city, right. People don't come and live in the city and pay the extra rent so they can sit in their apartments. 

Marc: [01:02:47] It's a whole experience you're going to like, remember those, those, those nights out for the rest of your life, you're going to interact with folks. You're going to.

You know, you're going to celebrate things. It's a whole thing. It isn't, you know, only that, Oh, you can eat well, you can eat at home. Like they don't understand that. And they'll never understand that. And that's why they don't ask us anything. And that's why I, I really like, you know, nobody else was, you know, nobody else was really saying anything about it, you know?

So I just was like, all right, well, if, and I, you know, I understand that, you know, like you're a young chef, you know, you're a little bit, feel a bit nervous to like, to like, say something that, you know, some folks might not like, you know, maybe, you know, maybe selling max is going to get mad at you and like, Not have you on any of their idiotic lists anymore.

Like for me, who gives a fuck? I don't want to be on your stupid list anyway. 

Eli: [01:03:43] Right. Doesn't matter. I mean, you, you have, you have your own following and people respect you. I think, you know, people, I mean, you've, you've seen people respond to your posts. People are not happy about what you're saying. 

Marc: [01:03:59] Yeah. Some people aren't, but you know. 

Eli: [01:04:00] A lot of people are too. 

Marc: [01:04:02] Most of them are honestly like, if you like read all of them, but yeah. There's a lot of folks who are unhappy about it. There's, there's a lot of folks that are like, ah, you know, you want to murder your staff, you want to murder, like, you know what, but those who matter, they don't mind. And those who mind, they don't matter. You know? And that's just how I think about it. You know, my workers, my squad, the folks who eat there, we all do everything together. We make all of the decisions, you know, together, they're happy to be working. Yeah. 

Eli: [01:04:33] Yeah. So it's not a forced labor. You don't have a locked in the basement, allow them to come out, allow them to come out, work service and go back in.

Marc: [01:04:42] Yes. Not quite. 

Eli: [01:04:44] And that's the thing that people don't understand is that, you know, and you know, it's not for everybody. Like some people maybe feel like they're more at risk where they have a family member. That's fine. Yeah. That's absolutely fine. But for the people that are responsible that do respect, like, you know, you come into the restaurant, you take temperature, you know, we're doing contact tracing there's apps for that now.

And you know, so I think there is, there is a way to responsibly. Well, of course, 

Marc: [01:05:07] and there's nothing wrong with it, you know, if you don't like. Feel safe about it. You know, we had one guy who was, who was working at Fiorella, you know, and then we had only the outside seating. And then, you know, we said, okay, we're going to open up like six seats inside, which isn't a lot of oil.

He didn't feel like, you know, he didn't feel safe. So he said, you know, chef, I don't think I'm going to work anymore. And I was like, Hey man, you're always welcome back. We love having you. When you feel safe, you can always, you know, you can work here. Right. And he's the nicest guy and we love him. And he ate there the next night with his mother and we, we have a good relationship, you know?

So it isn't like, Oh, you don't want to work here, get the fuck out. You're an ass. No! It's just like, Hey man, whatever you want, whatever makes you happy. 

Eli: [01:05:54] Right. Right. Right. So, all right, well, we're going to start to wrap this up, but I was wondering. Is there any like trade secrets or any recipes, like, like how do you make, like, what is, what is it about your meat ragu that makes your meat ragu special?

Marc: [01:06:08] I don't know, man. You know, it's just like, you know, good ingredients, you know, and, and, you know, just, just making things right. You know, I don't like I don't have any like secret sauce or a special- 

Eli: [01:06:22] Do you do a? 

Marc: [01:06:23] Special herb or like, I don't know. 

Eli: [01:06:26] Do you do, do you do a bolognese at Fiorella? Or do you do to meat sauce, meat, ragu?

Marc: [01:06:30] Well, so we developed this, Fiorella sausage ragu that we saw. It's like a mixture of like the bolognese recipe with like just a, just a simple sausage ragu recipes. So at the end we add like a, the milk and everything. Yeah, so it's kind of a, yeah, it's a hybrid. it's really good though. It's really, it's really good.

Eli: [01:06:51] Is sort of the signature?

Yeah. 

Marc: [01:06:54] We wanted to use kind of, you know, we, you know, the video old owner, he actually let me have all of the sausage recipes also. 

Eli: [01:07:03] So you're, you're still continuing the, the sausage? 

Marc: [01:07:05] Well, we haven't yet. Obviously we wanted, but you know, within this whole thing happened, but we are making the one sausage, the fennel sausage, and that's actually what we make the, the regular with. you know, so I, so I spent about a month figuring out like a really awesome recipe for that. and I found that, If I use like certain vegetables and then I add the, the milk in that, it just kind of really like makes a nice, makes a nice ragu.

Eli: [01:07:31] Do you, is it like a, do you like a white mirepoix? Like what are you what's your basis for that? 

Marc: [01:07:36] The mirepoix for that is a fennel, then a normal one celery, onions, and then a carrot. So, but we add fennel to it. 

Eli: [01:07:42] So you do put the carrots in too though? Okay. Nice. Do you grind everything or do you use? 

Marc: [01:07:48] No, we slice it usually. Yeah. 

Eli: [01:07:50] Gotcha.

Marc: [01:07:50] Yeah. It's a lot of slicing, we think a lot ragu. 

Eli: [01:07:53] Right? Yeah. A lot of hand. A lot of hand. Yeah. 

Marc: [01:07:57] Yeah. But it's good. That's cool, man. You gotta come in, man.

Eli: [01:08:00] I know. 

Marc: [01:08:01] It's really, it's really good. 

Eli: [01:08:03] I'm thinking about that. Maybe this week.

Marc: [01:08:05] Yeah, man. They'll let me know. I'll be around all week, so. All right, cool. Yeah. I would love to have you in there, man.

Eli: [01:08:10] That's great. Well, cool man. Thank you. 

Marc: [01:08:14] My pleasure. Thanks for having me. 

Eli: [01:08:16] Yeah, for sure. So, people, if they don't know, how do they find you? What's was your Instagram? Marc Vetri? 

Marc: [01:08:23] Everything's Mark Vetri. 

Eli: [01:08:24] Everything's Mark Vetri.

Marc: [01:08:25] With a C though. 

Eli: [01:08:26] Marc With a C. Don' t make that mistake.

Marc: [01:08:28] My Instagram, my Twitter, everything. 

All right. Cool.

Eli: [01:08:36] Thanks for listening to the Chef Radio Podcast. If you'd like to support the show, please leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts, it helps others find the show and allows us to continue to make great content. The Chef Radio Podcast is produced by RADIOKISMET. Post-production and sound design by Studio D Podcast Production. And I am your host Eli Kulp.