We’re feeling ever-so-slightly French on our last show of Charleston Wine + Food 2019, as we welcome two of the men behind Tiny Lou’s, a fabulous new bistro in Atlanta’s Hotel Clermont: Steve Palmer (owner, Indigo Road) and Jeb Aldrich (chef, Tiny Lou’s).
We also welcome Gillian Zettler, the incomparable Executive Director of Charleston Wine + Food to discuss festival highlights, the importance of diversity in the food space, and Steve’s project Ben’s Friends that hosted a festival after-party to create a safe space for those working in the hospitality industry who struggle with substance abuse.
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That’s heritag Ron network.org 15 to donate and enter to win today and make sure you donate before March 31st thank You welcome to HR and happy hour it’s 5:00 somewhere and somewhere is left for the last time Charleston this is our third special episode of HR happy hour that’s also on hrn on tour because we’re on tour at Charleston Wine and Food this is the end
Of day three we did it we’re excited we’re a little tired but we did it but we have no no no we got this we were only at F Beach till about 2 a.m. last night so we did it 3: a.m. it became 3:00 a.m. as Matt points out I would
Sound a lot better if joury hadn’t written such good songs is all I have to say Katie kicking this off can you tell the story about how we decided where we were going to end the night last night yeah I actually just I I just told julan
This so we were um at Vol Beach we went to the low life and had some really delicious cocktails and we really like had a hankering to go to karaoke so like I went on Yelp and I look there was like a bar down the street called St James
Gate and the first review said it was two stars and it said don’t be fooled this is not an Irish Pub this is a low rent karaoke bar and I was like yeah yeah let’s go so that’s where we uh we just beelined it there honestly and it
Was great it was it was a perfect choice it was really fun it only took an Uber like 15 minutes to get to us though but you know it’s fine we’re here we made it we made it back to Charleston um we’re joined once again well from our team we
Have Hannah foran and Eli susman in the corner what’s up guys hello hello what’s up signs of Life signs of life we got we have not been shouting out our engineer Matt and not nearly enough there’s no possible um Matt has been incredibly stalwart throughout this weekend um and
Uh really has not been allowed out of that chair uh for about 15 hours so thank you Matt you’ve been awesome that’s my bad for not budgeting you bathroom breaks I’ll do better next time try harder next year um we have Nate Collier from luer here with us because
We are in the luer studio and it has been incredible ble to partner with you guys this weekend welcome Nate I’ve had such a blast this is so much fun ready to uh round it up but also I do see Matt’s had the um under bgs and uh
Coffee and the water he’s doing great yeah and we’re super excited to have our guests for our final show of Charleston Wine and Food first up we have Steve Palmer who is part of our three timers Club you’ve been on all three of the past years welcome thanks for having me
We went to the Macintosh earlier this weekend and it was fantastic thank you so much got a great team great team next to him we have Jeb Aldrich who is the chef at tiny lose in Atlanta which is part of the Indigo Road Restaurant Group and an incredible restaurant welcome Jeb
Thank you and then we have the wonderful wonderful Jillian zler the executive director of Charleston Wine and Food you and the comfy couches I’m ready to fall asleep over here this is how we end it I know tradition um so we’re super excited to talk about a lot of
Things let’s kick it off by talking about like let’s get the festival recap from Jillian big big news was the Today Show was here the Today Show was here they came they saw They al rered it was a really really awesome experience we had great weather um I think we had record
Attendance I mean but I just think people have genuinely been really happy and um it’s just been a really joyful freaking weekend it’s been amazing uh I can’t ask you to pick a favorite event because that just would not be fair but what were the the highlights any
Highlights I just think I’m really proud of the diversity of the programming this year you know it was like a really well-rounded Wellness component that was brought in we did late night color bombing last night and a celebration of Indian flavors and um I mean I just I
Love looking around at these events that sometimes I think even people in the beginning start to Peg as like young folks events Millennial events and there’s people of all ages and all colors and all of that and that was a huge goal of mine when I got here and
It’s really cool to see such a tapestry of people at the festival uh Eli Hannah you guys went to the Holy City Shakedown last night the color bombing that Jillian’s talking about um do you guys want to give a little preview of or like a recap of what that event was like uh
It was a lot of fun it was a a hot mess though getting home to the house we’re staying in and trying to get all of the powder off of my body so that I wouldn’t destroy a lovely Julie who was staying with sofa
Um but it was so fun yeah it was it was amazing there was really great cocktails were which were very unique uh things that I’d never had before and I had some really interesting small bites as well that uh I think people forget well I forget that when you come down to
Charleston it is not only about the traditional southern food that that people associate with the Southern United States and so it was as you just said wonderful to see lots of different types of people uh repping Charleston and repping the south in their own very specific unique way yeah absolutely um
Jillian mentioned the that there’s a big Wellness component to the festival and I think one big thing about that is the bin friend Afterparty that is the second year running uh third year third year tell us about the B you’ve been on the radio before we’ve talked about Ben
Friends we love a quick recap of the organization and then talk about the after party that you guys throw well first off thanks for all the support for the last three years uh so Ben friends is a a nonprofit that is uh specifically for the food industry that offers
Support access for people that are struggling with substance abuse so it’s people that are trying to get sober people that are already getting sober but it’s very specific to the restaurant industry it’s named in honor of Ben Murray who was a chef that worked for us that um committed suicide sadly while he
Was an employee uh so I’m proud to say in two years tomorrow we launch in Charlotte which is our seventh City so we’ve launched in Portland so we’re Coast to Coast um and it’s it’s really incredible it’s incredible because of folks like yourselves that have given us
A voice um and you know we had a Ben friend’s meeting this morning and it was packed and out of town people who are visiting the festival were there and the thing that I think that I’m most grateful for right now is the re just the receptiveness to the conversation um
People that don’t even identify with having a problem or needing help are still in our industry very always asking how’s binf friends going how is it so I’m just I I love that our industry in in more ways than just substance abuse you know I say this all the time we
Spend every night taking care of our guests but we’re just figuring out how to take care of each other um and I’m just so stoked to be a part of the moment so we have these sober After parties um and it’s really I mean there was Jenga there was cornhole there was
Pizza was it in dco at our Italian restaurant uh and it’s just a place for people to come some of the vendors here are sober and I we didn’t even you know we didn’t even make so they had a place to come and hang out and so um it it’s
Just a safe place good conversation good people uh and so yeah it was it was two nights ago at Indo so thanks to the festival for always being super supportive of that as well amazing um so I want to talk a little bit about tiny
Lose yes uh just just over a year old uh not even about not even a year June 12th will be one year Well in that time I believe that was it Atlanta magazine named you guys the best new restaurant we were yes we’re very fortunate I I can’t be impartial I have
To agree it’s fantastic and everyone should go to Atlanta to visit tiny loose tell us about it Jeff tell us about the food um so it’s a French Brasserie um the hotel Claremont was built in 1920 um so it’s got like an old history to Atlanta it’s very much attached to
Atlanta people it’s been around for a long time that neighborhood is very historic there’s a lot that’s G on it used to house old uh Ford employees used to Bon Venture Arms Apartments um for a long time it was kind of a different things Apartments a hotel and then kind
Of got went in the wrong direction um to say the least right I don’t know to say the least uh you know bar Flop House yeah you know um motel by the hour the Dark Ages you know we call it um then the city condemned in 2009 um so it sat
Empty for almost 10 years um and then Steve graciously was you know brought with the the project and we kind of moved forward with it um the food itself it’s 100 well it’s 100 seats uh we also have a Lobby Bar Rooftop Bar um food is
Very very you know focused on French you know bras you know steak freets but we also have tan um it’s a good mix of food with a a good amount a lot of of or a large amount of Southern ingredients so it’s taking French cuisine and
Then yeah we got to talk about the T let’s just we told this story on meet and 3 but in case any of our listeners haven’t heard you got to tell us the story tiny Lou so that’s tiny Lou right there um the whole story behind her kind
Of she used to be a dancer back years ago um in the 50s there was not a lot of history we could pull up on it but we knew she was Austrian um and they kind of searched the archiv and found some pictures here and there and that’s kind
Of where they came up with the name for the restaurant so um so when she came to Atlanta she was a dancer in Europe and so her tagline was the woman that famously refused to dance for Hitler so uh and then she and somehow ended up in
Atlanta and was a dancer at The Claremont Hotel amazing I love the tie in there and Jeb I have to ask it seems like a bold choice to commit to the tattoo like before the restaurant’s open it pretty bold but it’s also it’s like it’s you know
It’s also kind of appropr it’s you know people say you you got one shot at this you know you got one shot to come in and do this right and it was kind of was we went all in you know everybody there went all in we have a great team an
Amazing team we kind of came together we have an amazing pastry chef as well Claudia she she crushes we had Claudia on happy hour on Friday yeah she’s great um one of the most humble talented people I know um we work 26 yeah uh we work really well together and we have a
Great team and it’s just it’s not just the people from you know it’s a lot of locals so during the week it’s it’s filled with locals and people associated with this property and it’s kind of like when you’re trying to achieve at the festival here and the diversity it’s all
Walks of life I mean you’ll walk you’ll have a tattoo artist from the down Street then you’ll have someone in their 70s um and it also just kind of French food kind of is brings back Generations it kind of took like a break for about 10 years we feel like where just there
Wasn’t a lot of French cuisine and but when I started cooking everything was it was very French technique driven French style service fine dying that kind of thing it kind of went away for a little bit and now it’s starting to come back again so it’s really PE you know it fits
The property it brings the young the old everybody back to Atlanta um on to that property so it’s really it’s working really well um Steve how did you and your in Indigo Road decide that that would be a project that you’d take on so um you know growing up in Atlanta
I mean I’ve been a native U I’ve been in well I’ve been in Charleston for 30 years but I grew up in Atlanta the the infamous Claremont Lounge which has been up open and operating even during its condemned years um it’s just an Atlanta there’s an Atlanta institution there are women that have
Been dancing there since the 70s um you know when any bar that Madonna hangs out at Mumford and Suns gets thrown out of Anthony Bourdain filmed his show so this Lounge existed beneath a condemned building for the last 10 years um French for me so even here in Charleston three generations of
Restaurant tours ago when I first got in the business even the southern chefs had all trained under French guys and they came back here so they were using French technique and we began the Claremont 7 years ago that’s how long it took to restore this hotel and I being of that
Era you know the last decade it’s been I think a lot more Asian influenced there’s you know chefs are influenced the line are so blurred now which makes it really incredible but um I just felt like French was going to have a comeback you saw L cuckoo in New York open two
Years ago and that made this huge Splash and um I you know I it it was my favorite nonprofit project for seven years so it’s definitely been a labor of love um but but it’s just been so well received um and and very little to do
With me and mostly to do with jab and Claudia and the whole team but uh it’s a project that we we hung in there with and and it was frustrating but now uh I’m just the food is beautiful and it reminds me of when I first got in the
Business it’s not pretentious at all if anything it’s the the check presenter says above where the ladies Dance I mean it’s there’s no there’s no yeah there’s no there’s no pretense but the the food is definitely French and it’s fun um Jeb you worked at uh Joel which was uh a
Very very big deal kind of French restaurant in Atlanta for a time it was how yes it was very much so yeah how how did that like shape your cooking uh because the other places you’ve been have been more like traditional I would say yeah it really shaped my cooking I
Mean I was prob one of the only three Americans that work there um and it also opened up a lot of doors for me as well um you know I work with these guys he would literally essentially they were comeing in from all over the world Singapore all over the world they would
Come and we work in this kitchen he had them actually they would stay in the apartment complex up the street um but it was amazing you walk in this kitchen it’s all French Brigade style you know we had three or four guys on each station you know I got one guy he’s just
Hand in garnishes over you know and he was very refined um but I learned so much and that’s kind of what really propelled me to to move forward in this business for sure it opened up doors I moved to Austria after that I moved to Italy after that it just opened up all
These doors for me you know going in the experience and that kind of that level of cooking you know that this was right after you know when French food you had Arno at the at the Ritz Carlton too and he he still had you know Gunther was
Still in town things like that so um it’s kind of it’s cool to bring it back to Atlanta though and especially bringing to a hotel where you know Hotel restaurants don’t really they typically don’t do well in Atlanta um we’ve kind of come in and definitely changed that
Behind the wall here some wo girls to back up your uh your answer there um Jillian one thing we have to talk about is that uh way back when we talked in New York a while back we we realized that Friday of the festival is going to
Be on International women’s day and so talk about the programming that took place on Friday in honor of that well I want to take a second and shout out to my team which is comprised almost entirely of women we have one token man not on purpose but that’s the way that
It shakes out right now um so I think as a team we we’ve been talking for a while about ways to encourage a diversified lineup at the festival and how we we do that because a lot of even the chef choices are kind of born from local chef
Chef and who they’re inspired to work with so I have to give kudos to the local Chef Community here in Charleston that after that conversation and we talked about ways we could do that you shared with me Equity at the table and using that database as a way to be able
To um make sure people know great female Talent is out there you just you need to be willing to see where it’s existing um and we I wrote a letter and sent it out to all of the chefs that were doing signature dinners during the festival
And said hey I’d like for you to consider inviting someone that doesn’t look like you and I really didn’t say much beyond that and here’s a list of people that we think would be great for your consideration and they Rose to the T they Rose to the occasion and I and
I’m really proud to say that I want to say it’s 60% of the folks that are participating this year 70% are women wow and Awesome and it was 30% before that and I’m a woman who loves women and you know it it was just the way that it
Was so diversity sometimes has to be intentional and I’m really really proud of that this year yeah um can you talk a little bit about some of the signature dinners that happened this year that were uh that maybe brought in some uh new Fresh Faces to Charleston Caroline
Glover came for the first time this year manit was back again um gosh uh Naomi pomoy was here I mean the the list kind of goes on and on but um it’s just to me it’s always really magical that there are hundreds and hundreds of people including everyone that’s in this room
That it takes to make the festival happen and un ly everyone decides to be in Charleston for 5 days to do it and that’s I mean I think that’s when people overuse the word epic but I think that’s pretty freaking epic I would I would second
That I I I would love to know because I feel like we started hearing from the lake Crusade folks about the studio being built like much earlier than I thought I I would love to know a little bit about how this whole culinary Village comes together because it’s it’s
A maze of wondrous Delights and it there’s like there’s a there’s a twostory first in South Carolina structure over there two story tent yeah I didn’t even know that was possible yeah well you know they wanted to make a splash um here in The Culinary Village
And I said well what if we did a two-story tent not even knowing if the city would let us do it and thankfully everybody was on board Architectural Review Board here twoe buildout um people are having a blast I have an amazing event director Ally Miller who
Reimagined I think this whole space and the way it flowed and an amazing team of people I mean it it’s I it’s really kind of unbelievable I don’t think there’s much more unless we start adding two story tents everywhere I don’t think there’s much more that we physical
Boundaries of Marian square but um I mean the sky is the limit I think that you have infinite room for growth in the oper Direction I mean this podcast space is also really amazing and we’re so thankful to Nate and L who you know we were hearing about people podcasting in
The back seats of cars and closing bathroom doors and there’s all this great content being generated and you guys have been such amazing Partners here at Heritage so to have this cool space built out and SNY our local rent rental company custom building this wall so everyone could see and listen it’s
Really cool yeah we haven’t really mentioned but so we’re next to the Open Table industry lounge and people can pick up um wireless headphones and tune in to hear what we’re doing as we’re sitting here we’re waving at a couple they wanted a little bit of like a
Roberta’s flare you know we wanted a little nod to that next year Pizza we will we got out there Amen to that um is it almost that time did we even give them a warning this time I feel like everyone’s pretty familiar with trivia we do a little bit of trivia
On HR and happy hour I fail every everybody wins trivia um Nate has been kind enough to be My Trivia co-master um so yeah we can just go ahead and jump in how’s it going to work today cat today it’s going to be traditional everybody’s on on the same
Team everybody helps and in honor of a little crossover that I feel like happened today between French cuisine tiny L and the fact that we are here in Charleston um we are going to do trivia about Charleston’s French Quarter which is um basically the original walled City of Charleston its
Borders are Cooper River on the East Broad Street on the south Meeting Street on the west and Market Street on the North so and so far only cat and Nate have seen the questions and so you guys have also Hannah Eli and technically me even
Though I’m pretty sure I will be no help to help you I don’t know all right I was born in Long Island and grew up in Vermont so I’ll do my best very familiar with the French I’ll do my very best all right uh so question number one is
Situated at the northwest corner of the French Quarter is the city market comprised of a series of sheds how how many blocks does City Market stretch Steve’s counting Steve’s counting that is wrong it’s higher I was going to say three but I don’t know a little higher really four and a
Half we’re do doing the mental math this isad they respectfully disagree with you you’re in 89 I’m the one that should know I also thought it was three as a local so I did not know the answer to that question so don’t feel bad she does her research on these questions
Right where I’d respect I don’t know I I don’t know I I mean I I drank a lot on Market Street in the 990s I think I know those I think I know those streets I think it’s two I think it’s two or three we we’ll do some research not all we’re
Going to contest this question back okay question number two the Dock Street Theater was built in 1809 and was originally a hotel like the Clair M at the time it was on Doc Street of course but what royal sounding street is it located on today uh I’m in a doc Street Theater
Royal sounding street it’s got to be Prince or King it’s prince it’s on Church Street no not yet no got it Royal sounding nameen there you go ding ding ding yeah Jeb Alders ladies and gentl who went to culinary school here at Johnson and Wales in the 1990s nice work
And studied all the maps uh okay question number three the second oldest home in Charleston is notable for its distinct color that symbolizes a historic link between Charleston and Bermuda what color is it Hannah wants to Adventure guess is it yellow it’s not yellow oh teal it’s not
The house no it’s not teal yellow was going to be my guess sky blue it’s not sky blue pink it’s all it’s pink Katie got it right or was that Katie or Jillian I didn’t say anything well done julan after I get after I guess yellow guess what it’s named The Pink House
Bo the French Quarter is boarded on the east by Waterfront Park what fruit sits a top at signature Fountain pineapple pineapple yeah softball Jillian thater ladies and gentlemen nice work yeah that was that was the lightning round all right last question you guys are doing a very good job the Pirate
House was built in 1740 as a home for a French Merchant named Alexander Peru or parano what appropo symbol of the sea adorns its facade an anchor that’s correct nice work wow just like that Steve group effort congratulations think we have some PR is there L is there Lake
Crusade coming to my house orely as much as you want we’ll put some lioret in our Heritage Radio Network tote bag and you’ll be ready to go that’s it um all right any Jillian any final thoughts about the Festival this year and also we’re obviously going to have to plug
The dates for next year yes God that means I need to look them up on my phone cuz my eyes are crossing there’s a really big sign out there that has them so oh my gosh um all I would just say is is thank you it it definitely takes a
Village it’s an awesome awesome weekend you plan all year for it which the people in this room totally understand that process and how long it takes to get everything ready um but there’s definitely a lot of people who who don’t realize that and it is a labor of love
And Charleston is Magic and we love that we get to have this link to Brooklyn and celebrate with all of you guys and I hope that we’re sitting around this table with a 5 seven nine Tim timers Club awesome so thanks thank you so so much we love coming here it’s a
Highlight of our year every single time thanks again for having us to be great Partners thanks Nate too from loved being here this is so much fun lots of cool people lots of good food but the people for sure make this thing happen no doubt it’s really magical um where
Can people learn more about tiny lose uh well you can go to the Indigo road.com or TIN Tiny loose.com yeah either one either one go to Tiny loose everybody out there go it is l l the have the the faga torsan with the cocoa nibs man life changing so good um
Just don’t if the Super Bowl’s in town maybe don’t go because yeah not so much when the Super Bowl by ludic that was that was not we were not all rapping at the end of that going that was amazing we can’t wait to do another Super Bowl
Week that was absolutely not what we were saying all right well uh thank you all for joining us we’re like the happiest tired that you can be I think we can all agree on that um 2020 2020 that’s crazy 15th anniversary year next year that’s a
Big one right that’s big how are you ever going to top yourself I guess figure it out all together in April at The Nomad we’ll we’ll start plan watch she’ll top it she will Top it I can’t wait I can’t wait um on Charleston 2019 yep for thank you so much thank
You thank you charlon having us absolutely we’ll see you next Year thanks for listening to Heritage Radio Network food radio supported by you for our freshes content and to hear about exclusive events subscribe to our newsletter enter your email at the bottom of our website heritag rwork connect with us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Heritage Radio Heritage Radio network is a nonprofit
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