Episode 3

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Published on:

8th Apr 2025

Introducing Flobees: The Iconic Roadside Stand

In this episode of Ridgefield Table, A Peek in the Kitchen, host Jillian Fontana sits down with Nadia Blair, the co-owner of Flobees, a roadside food stand on Route 7. Nadia shares the story of how she and her husband Aaron decided to transform a nostalgic building into Flobees, which opened in January 2025. The episode delves into the passion and intentionality behind their menu, offering traditional comfort food with a nostalgic twist like depression burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, unique sauces and drool-worthy desserts. Nadia also discusses their commitment to sustainability and community, emphasizing their efforts to make Flobees a family-friendly destination. Additionally, the episode covers the historical and cultural influences on their dishes and the importance of the building's history to their concept. Don't miss Nadia's insights and behind-the-scenes look at this family-run establishment that's bringing a taste of the South to New England.

Transcript
Jillian:

Hello and welcome to Ridgefield Table, A peek in the kitchen.

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This podcast is sponsored by

the Ridgefield Theater Barn.

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The theater barn has recently

undergone a beautiful expansion.

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It's such a prized and cherished

part of our community, and if you've

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never been, definitely check it out.

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We're sitting here recording at

the theater barn in their new

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and improved podcast studio.

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So if you've been thinking

about starting a podcast, this

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is the perfect place to do it.

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This is Jillian Fontana, and today I'm

chatting with Nadia Blair of Floes.

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Floy opened up on Route seven

in January of:

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located in the old Carve building.

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So it's a roadside food stand and

I happen to personally drive up

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and down Route seven all the time.

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I love the aesthetic that

they brought to Route seven.

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It really needed a little brightness.

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And I was so lucky to stop by

and have a treat the other day.

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Nadia: Oh good.

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Jillian: So Nadia, tell me about

what made you and your husband

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Aaron decide to open up Flo Bes?

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Nadia: It was the building.

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So Aaron had been in the food

industry for over 20 years.

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So we met in Austin.

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I had gone to Austin for graduate school

and he was running a food trailer.

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With his best friend Rick, and they

had both just left fine dining, so they

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had gone to culinary school, they'd

been in some of the top fine dining,

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you know, restaurants in Austin.

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And they both decided together like,

you know, we wanna cook the food,

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we wanna cook and have fun doing it.

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Aaron and Rick had decided to leave

fine dining and open their own

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food trailer, and this was back in.

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2008 or 2009 when like food trailers

in Austin were like a brand new thing.

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And it was really cool.

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So I met him because his burger

trailer was right near the UT campus.

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And so, , we ate there all the time.

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Me and all my friends ate there

all the time and we hung out.

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and so that's how we met each other.

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The last 15 years has gone

by and we had five kids.

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And being in the food industry wasn't the

easiest thing when you have little kids.

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So he left the food industry and was doing

corporate management stuff for a while.

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And then we moved back up

here after the pandemic.

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And you know, that building

just kind of kept talking to me.

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And I, you know, I grew up around

here, so I grew up in Katonah and

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I've driven past that building.

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I don't even know how many times.

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And like you said, it looked.

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Sad.

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And it was just sitting there and it

looked sad and I felt like, you know,

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then it came up for sale and I felt like

we could really do something with it.

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And all of our kids are in school,

you know, all day now, and we

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kind of decided to go for it.

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Jillian: So you took the plunge?

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You had referenced that you

were in Texas, in Austin, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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And your husband had all of

this background in culinary

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and then doing the food truck.

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What made you decide to actually, bring

that food concept up to New England?

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Nadia: So again, it was

the building, right?

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So, you know, we cook all

kinds of food love everything.

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And this building just, I wanted

to honor what it was, which is a

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roadside stand, which is a really

like, uniquely New England concept.

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It feels like the way that we have them.

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So I, my family's from Cape Cod.

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So many roadside stands and like,

you know, lobster rolls and , fried

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clams and stuff like that, and

ice cream on the side of the road.

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And you know, there's a

really set menu for that.

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You kind of expect the same things.

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You expect some amount of like

fried seafood, hamburgers and

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hot dogs, soft serve ice cream.

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And it's really nostalgic.

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And even those buildings, the carve

buildings are really nostalgic.

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They tell you what to expect.

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So I wasn't gonna put like a pizza place.

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You know what I mean?

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It really was in so many ways, like

what can we do for this building?

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What does this building want?

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Like what could it be for the town?

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What could it be for everyone to enjoy?

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Like what is there a demand for?

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What maybe don't we have, which led us

to also, what are some of our favorite

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casual foods that now that we don't live

in the south, we don't get all the time?

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Like is there anything that I'd be , oh,

this would be so good if I could just.

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Go somewhere and get.

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A fried chicken sandwich.

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Jillian: It makes so much sense

the way that you viewed this.

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You know, it's both a business

and a passion of yours, right?

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So you saw the building, which had really

sort of a throwback feel to it, right?

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What you think of an maybe going to

the beach and coming back and stopping.

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I grew up on Long Island, so

one of the things we used to

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do was stop and get ice cream.

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Mm-hmm.

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On the way back, and it

wasn't CarVal, it was Marvel.

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Mm-hmm.

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Ice cream we had near me.

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And it was such great memories, stopping

and getting some treats on the way back.

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So there's that passion

and that nostalgia.

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But what you also did was you

evaluated it as like, what's

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going to be a good business?

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Right.

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And instead of having

it be a hundred percent.

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Passion and your own particular desires.

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You blended the passion with the business.

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I idea of what would actually do well

in this area and what makes sense.

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Mm-hmm.

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Which, um, you know, was perfect

because when I stopped over, I decided

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to go for the chicken sandwich.

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Oh, good.

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Which was delicious.

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And you so graciously gave me some

ranch dressing on the side Now.

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You know, I'm not really a connoisseur

of ranch, I would say, but when I had

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this ranch, my world opened up a bit.

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It was very different from

anything I had had before.

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So I'd sensed some garlic in there.

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Would that be accurate?

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Nadia: Definitely accurate.

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I wish I could tell you

everything that was in that ranch.

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The ranch is a funny,

sweet, nostalgic space.

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For me, Aaron and Rick.

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So Rick actually, who owned the

trailer with Aaron, Rick moved

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up here to do this with us.

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Wow.

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We got the van back together.

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So he's Wow.

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Living in the cottage at our house

and like the three of us are,

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you know, well it was the two

of them, now it's three of us.

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We're doing this together.

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So each one of us has recipes on the menu.

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We've all brought stuff to the table.

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And that ranch is the ranch that,

the recipe that they've been making

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since they had the trailer in Austin.

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And that ranch was famous like.

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In Austin, like everybody loved it.

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All these college kids

ate it all the time.

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And I remember laughing really hard

because they weren't super secretive

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about the recipe or anything.

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But my friend Andy, had started

working for them at one point at

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the trailer when we were, you know,

after we were, um, done with school.

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And when Erin and I got married

at first he was like, oh, I can't

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believe you're marrying my boss.

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That's so weird.

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And then he asked me like, two days before

the wedding, he goes, does this mean

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that you know how to make the ranch now?

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Rick and Aaron just kind of went with it.

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They were like, I mean, yeah, I

guess she gets the ranch recipe

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now, but it was never meant to

be like that big of a secret.

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But that's always what I think

of when people are like, oh

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my God, the ranch is so good.

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And I think of poor Andy just

really thinking he finally

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had the in to get the recipe.

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Jillian: That's so funny.

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It really is special.

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It's unique.

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And, um, if you haven't given

it a try, I mean, I was, I

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was dipping the fries in it.

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I mean, it is the perfect

fry accoutrement, as we say.

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Nadia: What's funny too is we talked,

we thought is is ranches moment over?

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Jillian: It's not.

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It's here.

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You what I mean?

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Because you're bringing it back

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Nadia: When we were in college, you know,

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was it like again, like 2009, like the

late two thousands, whatever, everybody

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was putting ranch on everything, right?

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You were like getting

ranch with your pizza.

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You were, you know, and I thought, man,

does anybody even order ranch anymore?

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. Should we even put it on the menu?

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Jillian: Yeah, no, I think it's smart

because it just stands on its own.

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It's, it's so good.

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And I think, uh, ranch is having,

its day, it's coming back.

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Nadia: Well, and you can't eat

fried pickles without ranch.

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And when we put the fried pickles

on the menu, we had to put the

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ranch on the menu because I don't

know what else you would dip.

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Fried pickles in, but

it has to be ranched.

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So when the fried pickles went on the

menu, the ranch was safe no matter what.

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Jillian: So I also noticed this one

I haven't tried yet, but there's

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a remade uhhuh, and that's one

of those condiments or sauces.

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It's a classic French sauce, but

you know, it flies under the radar.

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Not a lot of places are putting it out.

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And so that's, that's, I mean, that's

definitely my next stop when I come back.

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Um, but have people been like

experimenting with that and enjoying it?

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Nadia: Yeah, definitely.

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So all the sauces are completely

made in house, so every single

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one we make from scratch.

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And the remade was made

specifically for the shrimp poboy.

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So it's got a little bit of heat to

it, but it's like a mayo based sauce.

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But it's got, a relish undertone.

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It's got a creole seasoning undertone.

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So you get a lot of different flavors

in this one sauce because you wanna

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add that sort of southern heat.

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To this shrimp Po Boy, which is really

what makes it stand out from just being

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like, you know, fried shrimp on bread.

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And so every sauce on the menu

has sort of a reason it's there.

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And then you're welcome to mix and

match them with anything that you want.

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You know, like the ranch can't

have fried pickles without ranch.

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You can't have the po

boy without the remade.

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But we definitely see

people ordering a side.

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I'd say the two we get the most

of ordering on the side would

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be the remade and the ranch.

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And then probably the hot honey mustard.

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Jillian: So now we've really just

only dipped our toe in the sauces,

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but we need to talk about some of

the meatier options on the menu.

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So would there be like a standard,

that would be, your classic item

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Nadia: yeah.

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I think the burgers

are , the most iconic thing.

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We sell a ton of burgers, but we

sell just as many depression burgers

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as we do, you know, we call them

the basic b as many as there's a

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regular smash burger on the menu.

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You get two smash burger patties.

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The meat is, seasoned we season

everything ourselves and roll all

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the patties and, um, that's the

same burger seasoning that they've

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been making since the trailer.

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But the depression burger is our riff

on an Oklahoma fried onion burger.

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So during the Depression, you

know, Oklahoma's only industry

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was cattle, so they had beef.

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Mm-hmm.

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And not a lot else.

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And during the depression.

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When they really had to stretch that beef.

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A couple of, uh, you know, restaurateurs

decided to stretch it with onions.

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They would slice white onions super,

super thin and just mound them up

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on the grill and then smash a patty

into the onions really to stretch the

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beef because they couldn't get enough

beef, people couldn't pay for it.

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And so they were trying to like

cut their beef usage in half.

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Okay.

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So they would.

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Pile this, uh, this massive pile

of onions on the grill, smash

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half the amount of beef into it.

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Let the patty sort of steam through the

onions on one side, and then they'd flip

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it over and they'd griddle the other side

of the patty, and then they'd sort of

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seal it closed with a slice of cheese.

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Wow.

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See?

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And then, and we put pickles on ours.

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Okay.

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And so that burger is a single

patty burger, as opposed to like our

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other smash burgers come with two.

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But there's just something really

tasty about it, you know, even if

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you're not really an onion person

necessarily, there's something about

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the way that the onions like cook into

the meat and you don't really, you can't

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even almost tell that they're there.

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And it's so much onion, really.

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Um, so in Oklahoma they call it

a depression burger, but most

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places outside of Oklahoma, call

it an Oklahoma fried onion burger.

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Wow.

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So, but my favorite thing is that.

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So I love the food history of it.

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All right, so almost every dish on this

menu too has a history, has a story.

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The Poeboy has a great story in New

Orleans as to where that came from.

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, but I really enjoy having these

little pieces of food history

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that are so representative of

different regional cultures and

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historical moments and, you know.

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All of these different aspects of

American culture, across the map.

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But my favorite thing that started

happening when we put that menu out

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is all the teenagers that work for

us would read the menu and they'd be

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like, I love the depression burger.

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And one of them, so Sweetly said to

me, she goes, I just love that you

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called it that, because it really does

make you feel better when you're sad.

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And I was like, you know what?

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I love that.

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You know what?

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Like there's not, you know, that's great.

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Like.

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I would feel better, if I were sad you.

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What if I needed a depression burger?

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That sounds great.

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You know, like I'm, I'm here for that.

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Like rebrand the depression burger.

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But we.

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We do have it on the menu

too, that you can make it a

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recession burger and add bacon.

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Jillian: Okay.

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Nadia: Which I thought might have

been a hint, but that's okay.

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Right.

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Jillian: But actually, let's touch

on the fried chicken sandwich.

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I did a little research and I

know that you have your hand

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in the fried chicken sandwich.

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I do.

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Is that correct?

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Nadia: I do, yes.

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Jillian: So tell me about that.

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Nadia: So, yeah, the fried chicken

is my fried chicken recipe.

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So it's the fried chicken that I have

been making at home for my kids forever.

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You know, we have five little kids.

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They like chicken nuggets.

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They like, you know, they like chicken,

um, and you know, fried chicken's,

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just one of those things that's such

a good comfort food and you wanna

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be able to make it really easily.

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This is the way that I've been

making fried chicken for a long time.

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We tweaked it and, you know,

got it really perfected.

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'cause I was always sort of a

fly by the seat of your pants.

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I know sort of what's going in there,

but you know, it mostly tastes the same.

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Jillian: I know.

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I'm the same way.

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I can't follow recipe.

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Nadia: I didn't go to culinary school.

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I just cook because like,

that's what feels right.

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That's what I like.

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And so, you know, we,

Rick and Aaron, you know.

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Buckled it down and I have made

so much fried chicken in the

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months leading up to us opening

my sweet little kitchen at home.

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Man, I wish I'd had an actual deep

fryer instead of my cast iron pot.

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'cause I made so much fried

chicken to like dial it in, make

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sure it was consistent, make sure

I could turn it out exactly the

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same like way every single time.

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. But yeah, I'm really proud

of that fried chicken.

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Jillian: It's so good.

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So first of all, you get a

really generous portion mm-hmm.

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Of chicken breast.

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It's actually coming out

of the, outside of the bun.

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Yeah.

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Which makes for a nice little

nibble as you're going.

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And then the coating, which is,

I, it's a batter, I suspect.

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It's, is it?

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,

Nadia: so it's a buttermilk dredge and then a flour dredge.

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Oh, is it?

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So it's a two step dred.

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Oh, so it's brined.

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In buttermilk pickle juice and spices.

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And so after the chicken's,

b brined usually overnight.

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Then it goes into the seasoned flour,

back into the buttermilk, into the

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seasoned flour and into the fryer.

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Jillian: Okay.

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So, 'cause my perception was

that it was a batter, but, okay.

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That makes sense.

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Mm-hmm.

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You're almost creating a batter Yes.

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Going back and forth.

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Yes.

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Nice coating.

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And it's just gorgeous and crispy.

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And then there's a piece

of American cheese.

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Mm-hmm.

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Melted on top cheese and the pickles.

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And the pickles so good.

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My son is a pickle fanatic.

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Fanatic.

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Like if I forget to put pickles on

his lunch sandwich, he comes back

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and he lets me know that I forgot.

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So I definitely have to bring him for

the fried pickles 'cause I actually don't

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think he's ever had fried pickles before.

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Nadia: You could go to like the movie

theater in Texas and get Fried pickle.

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They were everywhere.

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And I was like, what is this?

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What are we all doing here?

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But it's great.

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. And.

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So we even specifically, like we

buy very specific pickles because

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they're used, you know, across

our menu in different ways, right?

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Like we're using all that pickle

juice is going in the chicken, so

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it's gotta be the right pickle juice.

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It's gotta have the right flavor.

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It's gotta be, you know, it's a

really important piece to everything.

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So then those pickles have to have the

same flavor that we wanna carry over

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to the sandwiches, to the hot dogs, to,

you know, whatever else are going on.

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The other thing that we do , one of

the things that I love that we have on

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the menu is a bird dog, which is Okay.

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Yes.

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Do tell, also use is the fried

chicken, which is something that

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we used to also make at home.

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And so one of the reasons too is I

didn't want, just the way that I don't

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wanna waste anything with pickles.

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I'm not gonna buy cans of

pickles to use the pickle juice

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and then not use the pickles.

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You know, I don't wanna

waste anything either.

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So when we buy our chicken, we can

break our chicken breasts down into

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our chicken sandwich portions, and

then I can break them down into chicken

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tender portions and I can even break

them down into chicken bites mm-hmm.

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That we can use in the, um, kids' meals.

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So all that chicken

gets made the same way.

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And so then you can take your chicken

tender and put it into a hot dog bun.

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And then we put in with a slice of bacon,

sliced jalapenos, shredded cheddar cheese,

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and then we douse it in hot honey mustard.

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That sounds unbelievable.

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And so, I mean, it's got some spice to it.

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It's got a little bit of heat.

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Um, another thing to do if you don't

like the hot honey mustard is you can

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ask them to put the queso on it instead.

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You're like extra indulgent double cheese.

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Um, but it's really, really, really good.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so, you know, I mean, I'm,

I'm a hotdog person, but only.

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Occasionally.

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Yeah.

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And I really like a simple hot dog.

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Like I'm not complicated.

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It's a tailgating snack

in, , South Carolina.

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Jillian: I haven't really been to

the south very much in my travels,

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so I'm definitely, a little naive to

all of these like cool comfort foods.

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So I'm

390

:

experiencing these things for the first

time with, you know, with everyone

391

:

else up here in Richfield probably.

392

:

Nadia: Well, that's what's

been fun, you know what I mean?

393

:

Like, I don't truthfully miss a

lot about living in the south,

394

:

but like the food's good.

395

:

Jillian: Yep.

396

:

So, one thing that I noticed, um.

397

:

Is your kids' menu offers so much value.

398

:

I love that because if you're just

getting, you know, some food for the

399

:

kids, it's price at like $8 for the

kids' meals and you're getting like

400

:

the, the Maine and then a side and then

a drink and I'm like, that is awesome

401

:

because sometimes you need to grab

some food for everybody in the car and

402

:

it can get really pricey really quick.

403

:

And I really appreciate that you

guys are, you know, doing us all

404

:

a little bit of a favor here.

405

:

Nadia: So

406

:

pricing was, I mean, literally

everything that we did

407

:

had intention, right?

408

:

Every detail is the three of us.

409

:

Um, working together and

like talking everything out.

410

:

And one of the things that was important

to me, you know, the perspective I

411

:

was always bringing to the table was

like, I'm the one with all the kids.

412

:

Like I'm the one that's taking

the kids to dance, and soccer

413

:

practice and robotics and whatever.

414

:

And I'm the one that

after swim every week.

415

:

We have to stop at like, you know, the

taco place or the burger place or the

416

:

pizza place or the burger place and

the taco place and the pizza place.

417

:

'cause nobody wants the same

thing when you have five kids.

418

:

And you just can't fight the fight.

419

:

And I could spend like $75

just getting them takeout.

420

:

And so it was important to me that

we offered sort of a kid's portion.

421

:

'cause that's the other thing,

like I have kids that are even

422

:

12 that they're not going to eat.

423

:

Like a full-size burger.

424

:

Right?

425

:

Yeah.

426

:

And they don't need it.

427

:

So one of the things with the kids meals

is you get like a half portion of fries.

428

:

Because my kids never finish them.

429

:

No one can share, but like

then they don't finish them.

430

:

That hate throwing away food

that everybody goes, I'm done.

431

:

Yep.

432

:

I had my three fries.

433

:

I'm good.

434

:

And you're like, really?

435

:

Yeah.

436

:

Jillian: So it's really appreciated

from one mom to another.

437

:

Tell me about these, interesting

sweets that are of the frozen nature.

438

:

what is this snow bee?

439

:

Nadia: Another southern

callback, snowballs are the

440

:

southern answer to a snow cone.

441

:

So snow cones are more traditionally

sort of like crushed or like chopped

442

:

ice which is like what we get up here,

443

:

In New Orleans, they make a thing

called snowballs , and you freeze

444

:

these giant blocks of ice and then

they are essentially shredded.

445

:

Or shaved, I guess.

446

:

And it's really fluffy, so it comes

out like snow and you can like mold it.

447

:

. And you could fully make a

snowball with it if you want.

448

:

And it has this really, really fluffy

texture that then also like, I mean, I

449

:

watch my kids make snow cones every summer

and they just, it's like filled with

450

:

syrup at the bottom and like, that's fine.

451

:

They're having fun.

452

:

Mm-hmm.

453

:

I don't care.

454

:

Um, but what's neat about the texture

of this ice is that you can really,

455

:

it holds the syrup all the way to

the top Because it's more Okay.

456

:

It's almost like unflavored sorbet.

457

:

You can really like smush it together.

458

:

Light and fluffy really.

459

:

Light and fluffy.

460

:

In New Orleans, they do

some fun stuff with it.

461

:

There's, they put sweet and

condensed milk on it, and you

462

:

can kind of make it like creamy.

463

:

So we do have that as an option too.

464

:

But Aaron grew up in Houston, so all

along the Gulf Coast, these snow cones,

465

:

the snowballs are really, really common.

466

:

And we had this one gym, gyms was

this, um, snowball place right by the

467

:

pool, , in our neighborhood in Austin.

468

:

And when our kids were tiny,

like Aaron would take them and

469

:

they'd go get snowballs together

and, you know, that was for them.

470

:

The way that like going to get,

you know, soft serve at Carve an

471

:

iconic childhood thing for us.

472

:

And.

473

:

So, you know, I, we kind of

joked about it as most of these

474

:

ideas start with me and Aaron.

475

:

I said we should do it.

476

:

And he was like, oh my God.

477

:

Yeah, we should, like, let's,

let's bring that up here.

478

:

We even imported our

machine is from New Orleans.

479

:

Jillian: That's great.

480

:

Well they're really, they're gonna be

a hit this summer, that's for sure.

481

:

Driving along and I'll definitely

have, you know, my kids try it 'cause

482

:

I want my kids to have these different

food experiences and I love that

483

:

you guys are bringing these things

up here so we don't necessarily

484

:

have to go to Texas or Louisiana.

485

:

Very hot.

486

:

So where does the name Floy come from?

487

:

Nadia: So, Floy, um,

it's my mother-in-law.

488

:

So Aaron's mom is Florence Blair, and

when Aaron was in high school in the

489

:

nineties, there was a really famous

infomercial for the Flowbee, which

490

:

is like this hair cutting tool that's

like a vacuum cleaner attachment.

491

:

And it like.

492

:

Cuts your hair,

493

:

when Aaron was in high school, they

were all clothing, this Flowbees

494

:

commercial, I guess Beavis and Butthead

did like a sketch about it really.

495

:

And George Co Colony apparently

still uses one and apparently

496

:

people are still using them.

497

:

And so as teenagers do with Erin's mom,

her name being Florence Blair she became

498

:

Floy, , not sure truthfully that she loved

it, but she kind of got stuck with it.

499

:

And that's all Aaron refers to her as.

500

:

Jillian: Really?

501

:

Today.

502

:

Like even today?

503

:

Today.

504

:

Nadia: Even today.

505

:

I mean, he'll call her mom.

506

:

Yeah.

507

:

But like when he talks about her, he's

like, you know, he talks about Floy.

508

:

, but when we bought the building and

I was starting to conceptualize.

509

:

What I wanted to see it grow into is

that I wanted to honor the nostalgia

510

:

of all the eras that it had seen.

511

:

So it is from 1957, but when you talk

to people in town about this building,

512

:

everybody's feedback is different.

513

:

Right?

514

:

They're like, oh, I grew up going

there in the back of my dad's, like

515

:

1967 Chevy, and nobody had seat

belts on, and you know, like mm-hmm.

516

:

And then you get somebody who

was, I worked there when I was

517

:

in high school in the eighties.

518

:

I remember listening to such and

such music outside, you know, or.

519

:

Everybody has this really

different nostalgic, you know,

520

:

decade that they attach it to,

which is totally makes sense.

521

:

So we didn't want to

hold it in the fifties.

522

:

I wanted to give it sort of this makeover

that honored all of its history mm-hmm.

523

:

So that everybody that came could see

something in that design or in what we've

524

:

done that evoked that nostalgia for them.

525

:

So whether that was 1982 1993,

There's a little something in the

526

:

design, in the aesthetics that

reminds you of your childhood.

527

:

That's brilliant.

528

:

Yeah.

529

:

And everybody after 2005 is screwed.

530

:

I can't be nostalgic for, yeah.

531

:

Well that's impossible.

532

:

But in any case, we had joked

that, I didn't wanna name it

533

:

something like Flows or Mels.

534

:

And then.

535

:

Made a joke that we should call

it Flowbees because it kind of

536

:

hits the fifties and the nineties.

537

:

Jillian: It has just a

whimsy , that you would associate

538

:

with like a roadside stand.

539

:

Mm-hmm.

540

:

Or like a carefree spirit of

just like flying down the highway.

541

:

Is you'd expect people and like

poodle skirts and like roller skates.

542

:

And I was like, I don't, that's

not how, we're not going that hard.

543

:

Right, right.

544

:

And then the color stripes on the

side are, you know, a little bit.

545

:

To me, seventies or eighties, right?

546

:

Mm-hmm.

547

:

Is that sort of what you're going for?

548

:

Yeah, exactly.

549

:

But the color tones are a little

bit fresher than that too.

550

:

So I don't know.

551

:

I really like how you kind of

brought everything together.

552

:

It's really cool when you drive

past and I'm like, wow, this

553

:

really, you know, you spruced it

up, you put the, the stone wall.

554

:

Yeah.

555

:

And then of course there's the

back area, which if anybody hasn't.

556

:

I've seen it yet, which I can't

imagine somebody not driving past it.

557

:

But now you have all the picnic tables in

the back and then what's the little stand?

558

:

Is that Restrooms?

559

:

Nadia: It's restrooms, yeah.

560

:

And then there's something, so

again, that was a mom thing for me.

561

:

Yeah.

562

:

Is that like inevitably I would go

somewhere with my kids order, $70

563

:

worth of food, and one of them would

look at me and go, I have to go

564

:

. And there wouldn't be a bathroom.

565

:

Yeah.

566

:

And I'd be like, I don't know.

567

:

Like you're just, you don't

know what to do, you know?

568

:

And it's the worst.

569

:

And or a kid gets a

snow cone and they get.

570

:

You know, they're purple and red all

over their face or whatever it is.

571

:

Like we weren't required to put bathrooms

in, so I did give up one of our parking

572

:

spaces, but I just felt like if I wanted

people to enjoy being there and be able

573

:

to eat their food, hang out in like this

patio area, listen to some music, let

574

:

their kids play in the dirt, whatever

it is, and then go get ice cream.

575

:

The things I need as a

mom is I need bathrooms.

576

:

I need a changing table.

577

:

And I need a water bottle filler

because my kids apparently are camels

578

:

and like they need to drink water

24 hours a day and everybody has

579

:

a water bottle with them anyway.

580

:

Yes.

581

:

There's no need for you to have

to come back and like buy water.

582

:

You're, and then the plastic cups,

you don't need to be throwing

583

:

out plastic cups and use Yeah.

584

:

I, I.

585

:

Really appreciate that and thank

you for being forward thinking.

586

:

Well, sustainability was part of it too.

587

:

Yeah.

588

:

Yeah.

589

:

So, um, actually like 85% right now

of our packaging is all compostable.

590

:

Oh, wow.

591

:

That's fantastic.

592

:

So the utensils are compostable.

593

:

Mm-hmm.

594

:

The ice cream cups, the snow bees cups,

the food paper, the stickers that go

595

:

on the paper, you know, on your, you

know, sandwich to tell you what it is.

596

:

The paper bags

597

:

.

one of the projects I'm even doing today is when you return your cans at Flowbees,

598

:

I take all those cans and I return

them for the 10 cent deposit really?

599

:

And then we're gonna

collect all that money.

600

:

And we have already worked with the

Ridgefield Public School District,

601

:

and we're gonna donate it to

Ridgefield Public Schools to pay off.

602

:

Any associated cost with school

lunch, debt, or hardship causes.

603

:

So kids who weren't able to afford

the band trip or the field trip,

604

:

or the band uniform or whatever

it is, Ridgefield doesn't say no.

605

:

And that means the school

district incurs that debt.

606

:

We're going to take that money

from our cans, just a little

607

:

extra encouragement to just make

sure you pop it in the recycling.

608

:

So the recycling mins are just

easily findable all over, right?

609

:

Yeah.

610

:

So every one of our, those two little

service stations, there's three service

611

:

stations and one is trash because

everything you can throw in the trash.

612

:

And then the other one is just

like a circle that Perfect.

613

:

You can just pop all the camera.

614

:

Wow.

615

:

Thank you.

616

:

Yeah.

617

:

And so we're even going to, to sort

of like promote that a little bit

618

:

more because obviously it's been cold.

619

:

So we haven't had a lot of people

like hanging out at Flowbees.

620

:

For the week before Earth Day, so the

15th to 22nd, if anybody brings 20 cans.

621

:

They get a free ice cream.

622

:

Oh, that's great.

623

:

Are, we free to bring our own cans

that are not coming from Floes.

624

:

Sure.

625

:

Yeah.

626

:

Like I'm thinking Girl Scout Little

Project, you know, or something like that.

627

:

For that, for that week.

628

:

That'd be awesome.

629

:

Awesome.

630

:

So yeah, today one of my projects

for the rest of the day is I'm gonna

631

:

go, Aaron brought all the cans home

that we have at Flo's right now.

632

:

Mm-hmm.

633

:

I'm gonna go through 'em all.

634

:

I'm gonna take 'em all and do like

our first massive, can return.

635

:

That's so cool.

636

:

And we'll start.

637

:

Hanging onto those receipts and

we'll see how far we get this year.

638

:

Jillian: So it's funny you

bring this up because I actually

639

:

was unaware about aluminum.

640

:

I had recently just been researching

something personally, and it's so much

641

:

more costly and inefficient to actually

mine aluminum versus just to recycle it.

642

:

You're using it and it's just

the most sustainable thing as

643

:

long as it's being recycled.

644

:

So I, I just kind of.

645

:

Learned about that.

646

:

So it's amazing.

647

:

Nadia: you know, we spend so much time on

Cape Cod, it's where my family's from and

648

:

a lot of the towns on Cape Cod don't allow

you to sell things in plastic anymore.

649

:

Can't buy plastic water bottles.

650

:

You can't buy, there's no plastic bags.

651

:

'cause obviously you're

surrounded by the ocean.

652

:

Yeah.

653

:

Right.

654

:

Like the impact of that is direct.

655

:

You take that bottle and you go to

the beach and you leave it there.

656

:

You know, you take those straws

and you leave them there, you know?

657

:

I get it.

658

:

And so that was the first

place I'd ever gone.

659

:

I went to a restaurant, on the Cape and I

got water and they gave me a can of water.

660

:

And it's kind of jarring the first

time you get like still water in a can.

661

:

You're like, what?

662

:

Like, let's feel as excessive

and then like you start thinking

663

:

about it and you're like, this

actually makes a ton of sense.

664

:

Why am I using plastic when

like the can is so much better.

665

:

And you know, so.

666

:

That's got my, my head spinning

about it and it stuck and I was like,

667

:

well, if we're ever gonna do it, then

that was one of those little ideas

668

:

that was always sitting in my head

669

:

One of the things that we get asked

about a lot so the history of the

670

:

building is from 1957 to 77, it

was a carve owned by Tom Carve.

671

:

And then when his lease was up, um, Oman

actually had leased him the property,

672

:

oman's the building next door and.

673

:

He wouldn't, he wouldn't

negotiate his lease for the

674

:

entire 20 years that he was there.

675

:

So then when his lease was up, they

wouldn't negotiate with him at all.

676

:

So the, I believe Felix

was 19 at the time.

677

:

He was the manager of the CarVal.

678

:

And so Ulman offered him

the lease and he took it.

679

:

So that's when in 1977, he was

like 19 or 20 and he changed it

680

:

from Carve to Ridgefield ice cream.

681

:

And from 77 until I believe 2017.

682

:

Felix owned it and he took so much pride

in that building, in those machines.

683

:

It became like the stuff of

legend that he kept this carve

684

:

machine going for so long.

685

:

We do get that question a lot

is like, oh, I hope they're

686

:

still making the same ice cream.

687

:

And it's like, I hate to break people's

heart, but like they haven't been making

688

:

that ice cream since at least 2017.

689

:

Mm-hmm.

690

:

But people seem really, really happy

with the ice cream that we are making and

691

:

we've been having a lot of fun with it.

692

:

So, you know, we obviously

have chocolate and vanilla.

693

:

Strawberry was so popular as our

seasonal flavor in February that

694

:

Rick and Aaron won't let me.

695

:

Let it go because we sell almost

more strawberry milkshakes

696

:

than vanilla or chocolate.

697

:

, so our January special flavor for soft

serve was Maple and I had always planned

698

:

doing one special flavor a month,

but the strawberry was so popular.

699

:

They're like the strawberry has to stay.

700

:

So this month in March, it was cheesecake.

701

:

And then there's always like a

special sundae that goes with that.

702

:

So the cheesecake was inspired 'cause

it was a nice compliment to like this

703

:

Guinness chocolate cookie that I made.

704

:

And we made a Guinness chocolate

syrup and then caramel on top.

705

:

But like going into April,

we're gonna do a lemon.

706

:

And so the lemon special is gonna

have a cookie that accompanies it.

707

:

That is an Earl Gray and

lavender sugar cookie.

708

:

And then.

709

:

You'll get that with a

honey drizzle on top.

710

:

So it's kind of like a nice cup of tea.

711

:

Which kind of fits for me

with like the April weather.

712

:

And then this will be the first month

that we're also going to make it

713

:

in ice cream sandwich form, so you

can get two of those sugar cookies.

714

:

Your lemon soft serve in the

middle and a little bit of drizzle

715

:

sandwich between two cookies.

716

:

Jillian: I think you're offering a lot

of different, like frozen treat options.

717

:

Mm-hmm.

718

:

You can do soft serve if you

have hard scoop ice cream and

719

:

then you have the snow bes.

720

:

Correct.

721

:

Yeah.

722

:

So that, that's plenty of options.

723

:

I don't know what anybody wants.

724

:

Nadia: And our hard ice cream is great.

725

:

Yeah.

726

:

So like, we don't make

our own hard ice cream.

727

:

We only have 770 square feet, we put

in a full kitchen . So, you know, we

728

:

really packed it in and you know, so it's

why we have limited flavors of things.

729

:

I also think simplicity is better.

730

:

Like again, with kids when they have 75

choices, like my kids will stand there

731

:

for an hour before ordering vanilla.

732

:

But Longford makes incredible

ice cream and so it's been so

733

:

nice to partner up with them and.

734

:

I think people really like their

ice cream and it's been really

735

:

great and they have so many choices

and their ice cream's great.

736

:

And then we also have Rice

Krispy treats and chocolate cake

737

:

if you don't want ice cream.

738

:

We have fun Fetty rice crispy

treats, which or my recipe.

739

:

And then a Texas sheet

cake that is made with Dr.

740

:

Pepper.

741

:

Texas you typically put

like chopped pecans on top.

742

:

But another thing is like our

kitchen right now is nut free.

743

:

Something for everybody.

744

:

Jillian: I now I have even more

things I need to try off the menu.

745

:

But anyway, be sure to stop by fall

bes, the warm weather is coming.

746

:

There's plenty of seating outside.

747

:

Thank you so much, Nadia.

748

:

This was so fun.

749

:

I If you like this episode of

Ridgefield Table, A Peek in the Kitchen.

750

:

There's many more.

751

:

So you can just go to the episode

webpage, or you could find Ridgefield

752

:

Table a peek in the Kitchen on, Apple

Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify.

753

:

An audible.

754

:

Thanks so much to join us next

time, and if you like this

755

:

podcast, give us a follow.

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About the Podcast

Ridgefield Table
A Peek in the Kitchen
Don’t know where to dine in the 75+ eateries Ridgefield, Ct? Hear from the owners, chefs, and industry pros about their best kept kitchen secrets, aspirations and hot new menu items. Hosted by sommelier & hospitality veteran, Ridgefield resident Jillian Fontana. Brought to you by the Ridgefield Restaurant Network and the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce.

About your host

Profile picture for Jillian Fontana

Jillian Fontana

Jillian is a certified sommelier and hospitality veteran who loves to entertain, cook, travel and of course dine out. Her hobbies include herbalism, fermenting and dry-curing, writing, and trying to ski. She is a resident of Ridgefield, Ct and her greatest loves of all are her two kids and husband.