From Struggles to Success: Chef Ricardo Castro's Inspiring Story
The salient point of this podcast episode centers on Chef Ricardo Castro's unwavering dedication to his craft as he navigates the culinary landscape. Ricardo, a classically trained chef with Puerto Rican roots, exemplifies the spirit of resilience and creativity, as he shares insights into his journey and the innovative techniques that define his approach to baking. In this conversation, we delve into the intricacies of laminated dough, exploring the transformative potential of croissants and cinnamon buns, which he reimagines with exceptional artistry. Ricardo's commitment to quality, devoid of shortcuts, underscores the heart and soul he infuses into every creation at Chef and the Baker, a beloved establishment within the Tampa food scene. Through his narrative, we witness the trials and triumphs that shape not only his professional life but also his personal ethos as a creator and a leader in the culinary world.
Takeaways:
- Chef Ricardo Castro embodies a profound dedication to his craft, emphasizing the importance of hard work and creativity in the culinary arts.
- In the realm of baking, particularly with laminated dough, Chef Castro showcases innovative techniques that elevate traditional recipes to new heights.
- The journey of a chef is often fraught with challenges, yet resilience and passion are crucial for overcoming adversity in this demanding industry.
- Collaboration and mutual respect between Chef Ricardo and his wife, Chef Rosanna, enhance their culinary endeavors and foster a successful partnership.
- Chef Castro illustrates that exceptional baking requires not only skill but also a deep understanding of the science behind the craft.
- Through his experiences and struggles, Chef Ricardo Castro exemplifies the commitment necessary to succeed in the competitive world of culinary arts.
Transcript
You've just stepped inside the Walk and Talk podcast, number one in the nation for food lovers, chefs, and storytellers.
Speaker A:I'm Carl Fiordini, your host, shining a light on the flavor, the hustle, and the heart of the industry.
Speaker A:We're the official podcast for the New York, California, and Florida restaurant shows, the Pizza Tomorrow Summit, the US Culinary Open at Napham, and the North American media platform for the Burnt Chef project, recorded at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get the first bite.
Speaker B:Find out more info atthewalk and talk.com.
Speaker B:if you've been following the show, you might remember when chef Rosanna Rivera joined me in studio.
Speaker A:Her story, her hustle, her flavor, unforgettable.
Speaker A:And sitting just off the mic that day, her hubby, chef Ricardo Castro.
Speaker A:Now he's back, but this time, he's not staying quiet.
Speaker A:Ricardo's a force.
Speaker A:Classically trained Puerto Rican roots and one of the sharpest minds in the kitchen.
Speaker A:He and Rosanna have built chef and the baker into something the Tampa food scene can't stop talking about.
Speaker A:But what I respect most.
Speaker A:He's all about the craft.
Speaker A:Zero shortcuts, all heart.
Speaker A:He's not just here to talk.
Speaker A:He's here to cook.
Speaker A:We're talking croissants and cinnabons, but not the usual kind.
Speaker A:He's flipping the script with some skills that show just how far laminated dough can go.
Speaker B:Let's get into it.
Speaker A:Chef Ricardo Castro, you're now on the mic.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you, man.
Speaker B:It's been a while since you've been here, and you know what?
Speaker B:I was trying to lose some weight, but that's not gonna happen.
Speaker B:It ain't happening.
Speaker C:You.
Speaker C:Wrong day for that.
Speaker B:No, it was a wrong day for that.
Speaker B:Dad picked the wrong week to stop eating croissants.
Speaker B:All right, let's talk a little bit first about what you did here today.
Speaker B:We talked on the phone.
Speaker B:Hey, Chef, what are you bringing to the studio?
Speaker B:Ah, you know, cinnamon buns and, you know, croissant.
Speaker B:I said, okay.
Speaker B:No, that's not what it was at all.
Speaker B:It was, you know, cinnamon buns, croissants, three different kind of croissants, bread, like, all sorts of stuff.
Speaker B:I'm glad you did.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:But can you talk a little bit about what you brought here today?
Speaker B:Like, first of all, for the foodies and the people who are into, you know, hearing this stuff?
Speaker B:What did you do?
Speaker C:You know, we did croissants, we did croissant in different styles, and I think that's What I wanted to highlight today was actually the utilization of laminated dough in different shapes for different things.
Speaker C:Crossroad is an obvious, you know, you roll that little triangle and then you get a nice beautiful kind of layers to go through.
Speaker C:But we did this panocopita croissant.
Speaker C:Just that little Greek inspired into the French.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Then we also did the chat shoe caissant and a different shape.
Speaker C:This is actually a round croissant and it's the same dough.
Speaker C:I haven't changed anything.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:But it's feel for, like, savory.
Speaker C:Now we're doing the tomato sauce and a nice egg on the top oozes out the egg yolk.
Speaker C:And then we just wanted to do something really sweet, which is the cinnamon buns, I think.
Speaker C:You know, as I mentioned, cbs, you know, cinnamon bun Sundays is what's happening in Sheriff and the Baker, starting already last Sunday.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:I believe it's becoming a humongous trend in Tampa.
Speaker B:Cinnamon buns do not typically get the respect that they deserve.
Speaker B:You get them at the local gas stations.
Speaker B:They're everywhere.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:You know, kids get them in school sometimes, but this isn't like those kind of cinnamon buns.
Speaker B:These are badass.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:There's no other way to do it.
Speaker B:Like John.
Speaker B:You know, I'm looking at.
Speaker B:I'm looking at some of John's photography work from.
Speaker B:From the shoot.
Speaker B:And I mean, look at that.
Speaker B:I mean, look at that.
Speaker B:I want to just take a bite out of that iPad.
Speaker C:That's on purpose.
Speaker C:There's an obsession that I have with real cinnamon buns.
Speaker C:I'll tell you a little story.
Speaker C:When I was younger, I was studying at the Culinary Institute of America.
Speaker C:I went to a Cinnabon store and I sat down in one of the stools, and I was literally looking at how they did the cinnamon buns.
Speaker C:I was eyeing the proportions.
Speaker C:I was eyeing.
Speaker C:What did they add that I don't add how different it is.
Speaker C:And they got their own thing going.
Speaker C:And they always had, everybody knows Cinnabon here.
Speaker C:But I wanted to create good ingredients, high quality flowers, cinnamon bun that you cannot get anywhere else.
Speaker C:And that's what we just created.
Speaker B:You know, there was a question that I was going to ask you today, but I have the answer already.
Speaker B:What's the most common mistake people make when they're trying to master croissants?
Speaker B:And you know what it is?
Speaker B:I'll tell you.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker B:How to say it.
Speaker C:That's the number one thing that's correct.
Speaker C:Croissant that's right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:They always looking for the, the, the American way to say croissants and stuff like that.
Speaker C:No, that's not, that's not the way.
Speaker C:Usually that.
Speaker B:John, you remember back down at Fort Lauderdale, croissant, Is it still there?
Speaker B:No kidding.
Speaker B:So I used to, I used to sell them produce 20 plus years ago.
Speaker B:And the owner of the shop is, he's, he's Belgian and his name's Bernard.
Speaker B:I hope he's still alive.
Speaker B:I haven't seen him in a million years.
Speaker B:But he said to me, because I would say croissant.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no, it's.
Speaker B:And he would, and he would do this thing with his, like if he.
Speaker B:People don't see me, I'm, I'm, I'm doing this thing with my wrist.
Speaker C:And here, like you hold it, a little spoon on a T, you know, and then you turn that wrist.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's croissant.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right, Bernard, I got you.
Speaker B:All right, so.
Speaker B:All right, man, let's talk about this cbs.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:What if I go to your place on a Sunday?
Speaker B:What am I expecting?
Speaker B:What do you.
Speaker C:So part of the obsession for me was how do I present cinnamon bunting to the people where they can actually feel they cannot guess these anywhere else?
Speaker C:So I basically proof on the spot and I bake on the spot.
Speaker C:And when I see through the window in the bake shop, that is going, that tray, the last tray that I baked down to like three, I've start baking the other ones.
Speaker C:So what I'm trying to get here is you need to taste the cinnamon buns the way I taste them in my kitchen.
Speaker C:And then your world is going to change.
Speaker C:I believe that's what we have achieved.
Speaker C:So at 10 o' clock, we open.
Speaker C:We open at 8 o' clock on Sundays.
Speaker C:At 10 o' clock is where the first cinnamon buns come out of the kitchen.
Speaker C:Last week there was a line.
Speaker C:So every single week I'm expecting there's going to be a beer line.
Speaker C:Now last time, and I didn't set this during, while we were cooking, we created classic cloth chocolate cinnamon buns.
Speaker C:But also we did a blueberry smear for half of the cinnamon buns we were selling.
Speaker C:And I could tell you we sold that like in four hours.
Speaker C:So now this coming up Sunday, we're gonna do banana Foster's cinnamon bun.
Speaker C:So if it wasn't good enough, now it's even better.
Speaker B:Let me tell you something.
Speaker B:John just made this face of ecstasy and he doesn't say two words.
Speaker B:He doesn't make facial expression, nothing.
Speaker B:So the fact is this man will be at your shop.
Speaker B:I'm just going to tell you that.
Speaker B:So listen, you've said some things today, and I don't know if the average person who's not a baker knows them.
Speaker B:You said it's going to grow.
Speaker B:You said proofing, you said some things that are specific to your workflow in your life.
Speaker B:Can you explain some of that?
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:Every dough that you create, whether it's for bread or cinnamon buns, in this case, or including octocroissants, there is a bulk fermentation that happens.
Speaker C:So you make the dough, then you put it on a bowl or you put it on a plastic ball or whatever, and then that got to grow double its size.
Speaker C:Then you flatten that up, or what people used to call back in the days, you punch that dough and then it creates the, like it slows down the fermentation.
Speaker C:And then you can go ahead and create your shapes, what we call cotton shape.
Speaker C:And then you have to proof which is the second fermentation.
Speaker C:And this proofing is going to create the size of what you're looking for.
Speaker C:The cinnamon buns, we wanted them to be large.
Speaker C:These are not your grandma's cinnamon buns.
Speaker C:This is humongous.
Speaker C:Even the pictures don't give the truth of it.
Speaker C:But what we're trying to create is that you can go in there, get not just the best cinnamon bun, but the best size of the cinnamon buns that you ever gotten.
Speaker C:It is about trying to exceed expectations and probably just, just calm my obsession about cinnamon buns.
Speaker B:Chef, first of all, you're Puerto Rican.
Speaker C:Born and raised, okay?
Speaker B:But you're, you're cooking classical stuff and you're not just a baker, you're also a chef.
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker B:Talk about that.
Speaker C:So when I grew up, my mom used to make wedding cakes and pastries and cookies.
Speaker C:And for me it was, you know, very entertaining to work with her and then do all these amazing cakes that she used to do and be that person next to her.
Speaker C:Now when I decided to take this industry into a professional industry, I went to the Culinary Institute of America and I went for the culinary management program as opposed to what my mom wanted, which was she wanted me to do baking and pastry.
Speaker C:Now I'll tell you the rationale on a young 18 year old guy.
Speaker C:Why would I do pastry or baking or pastry if that comes natural to me?
Speaker C:And obviously there's a lot of people way better than me.
Speaker C:I'm not trying to say I'm the best.
Speaker C:But in reality, that was my train of thought.
Speaker C:So I said, you know what, I'm just going to become a chef and at the same time, with the knowledge I have of baking a pastry, it should be fine.
Speaker C:And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker C:I got a managed culinary management bachelor's degree at the Culinary Institute of America.
Speaker B:You can say all cooking is a science.
Speaker B:Baking and pastry, take it to another level.
Speaker C:Now we're looking at the science of how things are created, meaning those are created because you cannot.
Speaker C:I mean, the science of corn, for example, doesn't.
Speaker C:In a, in a saute, a pan and caramelizing, that's just called the Maillard reaction.
Speaker C:But there's nothing about it to create a dough.
Speaker B:For example, how long did it take you to nail the perfect croissant when you started and how did you feel about it?
Speaker C:I think most of the chefs that make croissant kind of, I mean, in the same train of thoughts.
Speaker C:And the answer is I'm still not there.
Speaker C:It's like if you tell Michael Jordan throwing that free throw, is that going to be 100% there?
Speaker C:He'll be like, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker C:But it's not 100% science.
Speaker C:Can I get better?
Speaker C:I know myself.
Speaker C:I'm my biggest competitor.
Speaker C:Yes, I can get better.
Speaker C:So basically, I'm still not there.
Speaker B:Is the answer Michael Jordan, by the way, who is the goat?
Speaker B:And it is no one else.
Speaker B:But Michael Jordan, by the way, will also compliment all the people that came before him.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Just as moments ago.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Senor Ricardo.
Speaker B:Chef, you said, hey, listen, there's way better people out there than me.
Speaker C:Big time, I think.
Speaker B:John.
Speaker B:John, are you looking?
Speaker B:John, we might have the goat right here.
Speaker B:I'm just saying it could be.
Speaker B:It's a possibility.
Speaker C:By far.
Speaker C:By far.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:I do have people that I look up to.
Speaker C:They're fantastic.
Speaker C:Chef.
Speaker C:Actually one of them by surprise myself, I learned that he was actually Puerto Rican.
Speaker C:Antonio Bashore, if he's listening to it, for me, he's the goat in terms of croissants.
Speaker B:So about a year ago, Florida, we got hit pretty bad with back to back storms, hurricanes.
Speaker B:Listen, I have a lot of people in the industry that got hurt real bad with that.
Speaker B:I mean, you're in one of them.
Speaker B:Everybody suffered.
Speaker B:Some people worse than others.
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker B:You had just basically just started, chef and the baker and something terrible happened to you during this, you know, mayhem.
Speaker B:Mayhem with the storms approaching.
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker B:Can you share a little bit about that?
Speaker C:Yeah, sure.
Speaker C:We opened the South Tampa, chef.
Speaker C:And the Baker we open it, I will say two weeks before Helene hurricane that destroyed the inside of the store.
Speaker C:I had to like throw away like, like literally two weeks old coolers and things like that and then start all over.
Speaker C:But then it came.
Speaker C:Milton.
Speaker C:There was a second hurricane back to back.
Speaker C:Literally I think it was two weeks in between.
Speaker C:And I had an accident where I actually lost a little piece of one of my fingers.
Speaker C:And I don't know if it was anxiety that wasn't paying attention or it was that the employees were trying to do stuff, you know, with me and, and I pay attention to them as opposed to the machinery itself.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, unfortunately that's what happened.
Speaker C:It was not able to be put back.
Speaker C:So I guess for the rest of my life I'm going to be with nine and three quarter fingers.
Speaker B:It just goes to show that this industry is, is built on people who love a specific or particular craft, a creative craft.
Speaker B:And you're embodying that.
Speaker B:You and your wife are like the dynamic duo of chefs.
Speaker B:Both high, high level, high end, doing big things, great career, still going.
Speaker B:How are you separating two chefs?
Speaker B:Because chefs have egos.
Speaker B:Two chefs in the same place, married, business deals, all sorts of things.
Speaker B:And you guys like, on the surface you seem pretty good.
Speaker B:I'm impressed with you two.
Speaker B:Genuinely.
Speaker C:I think, I think is about respect is the number one thing.
Speaker C:I respect what she does and I know what she does good and sometimes better than me.
Speaker C:And then at the same time she understands the boundaries of where she can play against me in terms of, you know, I'm a better baker, she's a better chef and that we respect.
Speaker C:And I ask her for questions and try to make her inclusive of what I'm doing.
Speaker C:If it is culinary in the same way, even though she's a terrific baker, she will ask me about something that she wants to do in terms of bakery.
Speaker C:That's the number one thing.
Speaker C:The other thing is just to be able to turn off our minds when we go into our leisure time, which doesn't always match with your home, doesn't mean that.
Speaker C:But sometimes we go in our vacation and we're able to turn that off, that little drive into kind of creations and we love to try other chefs creations and match it up with ours and at the same time give the recognition where it's deserved.
Speaker C:We are always, or at least I'm always looking to her every single time.
Speaker C:She's, she's, she comes out with an idea and I look at it as a business side, as a chef side, not as A husband side.
Speaker C:So there's.
Speaker C:There is somehow a switch when we can go back from husband and wife to business and sometimes business partners.
Speaker B:The name of your bakery is called Chef and the Baker.
Speaker B:Obviously, you've got momentum.
Speaker B:Things are happening, and you guys are growing.
Speaker B:How do you.
Speaker B:How do you personally measure when a concept is truly working?
Speaker B:Is it as simple as, hey, look, there's a big line outside.
Speaker C:You know, that will be the.
Speaker C:The Instagram part of it.
Speaker C:If there's a line outside, Instagram is happy.
Speaker C:That's a very good, important part right now on business nowadays.
Speaker C:But obviously, the bottom line is one of those that tells you whether you're doing good or not.
Speaker C:And then we always look for that simplicity, because it is not about Chef Ricardo in that bakery doing that cinnamon bun.
Speaker C:It's about Nancy.
Speaker C:It's about Mario.
Speaker C:It's about all these beautiful people that work with us creating what I designed.
Speaker C:But people are eating it thinking that I'm the one baking it.
Speaker C:It's about consistency.
Speaker C:That Big Mac that you're eating nowadays, what is that 50 years later or something like that?
Speaker C:Does it look and taste the same way as the inventor that created the Big Mac?
Speaker C:And he didn't make it.
Speaker C:He didn't make a million, you know, burgers.
Speaker C:Somebody did.
Speaker C:And that's exactly when we call that a success.
Speaker B:Last week, we had Chef Thomas Manzik here in the studio, and one of the things that he mentioned, because I asked him a similar question, and he said, if they're performing and I'm not there, I've won 100%.
Speaker B:You, sir, are the creator of what your team is preparing and putting out, and therefore, they are an extension of you.
Speaker B:In essence, it is you preparing and cooking and baking and everything that you put out through the extension of your team.
Speaker B:That's leadership and a great team.
Speaker C:And Rosanna still is a lot in the employees, particularly, she wants the employees to be better than us, because there has to be a moment in time that one of these employees is going to come in and say, chef, next flavor should be butter pecan.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:My mind thinks that way.
Speaker C:They need to think the same way.
Speaker C:I'm thinking, so if they can already beat me on that, I mean, they're the ones that really carry the business.
Speaker B:At some point, they have to take the torch.
Speaker C:They do, big time.
Speaker C:And it is extremely proud moment for us when we see that change.
Speaker B:We love it as a family.
Speaker B:You and Rosanna have seen national spotlight moments, but you're rooted locally now.
Speaker B:You're here, you're Tampa.
Speaker B:At this stage, what matters most, Recognition, stability, legacy.
Speaker C:So that's an interesting question.
Speaker C: e part of the food network in: Speaker C:We beat Bobby Flay show.
Speaker C:Chef Rosanna beat Bobby and she was everywhere in Tampa, in the news.
Speaker C:And we did literally did like a little PR moment then.
Speaker C:I was obviously, I was a loser on that campaign, but I actually was part of many things that she was actually going over there.
Speaker C:And then I did during the pandemic, I did Disney plus and we're doing like cakes, something food Tastic was the name of the show.
Speaker C:And all these things brought us still back to Tampa to be able to say, this is our city, this is where we shine.
Speaker C: know as we've been here since: Speaker C:People may remember the previous restaurant used to be called Piquant.
Speaker C:We are the same owners of chef and the baker.
Speaker C:And so if you like Piquant back then and you go to chef and the baker today, there's a lot of similarities on the things that we're doing.
Speaker C: make today, and it started in: Speaker B:If you could talk to a younger version of you, fresh out of CIA, what would you tell them about what's coming?
Speaker C:The you need to be very resilient, which I am pretty pretty much very resilient, but more meaning trying to.
Speaker C:To pass this resiliency to more people under your belt.
Speaker C:I think that is what I will tell.
Speaker C:Can you pass that resiliency attitude to the new generation?
Speaker C:That this is what I will tell to that little young Ricardo, because it will make you more successful.
Speaker C:More people understand how hard it's going to be and how.
Speaker C:How much we actually going to have to put of our families and our little time and our vacations to be able to be where we at.
Speaker B:I'm going to add something for you to that.
Speaker B:You need to remind him about the catering van and the fire.
Speaker C:Oh, God.
Speaker B:What happened?
Speaker C:I actually was doing a delivery one day on one of our minivans.
Speaker C:We used to use a minivan for delivery.
Speaker C:And I had a delivery of croissants and bread and things like that.
Speaker C:And I also was taking some catering items from one location to our warehouse.
Speaker C:As I'm driving in North 275 on the Howard Franklin Bridge, people kept honking at me and I was going slow and I was on the right side or the right lane.
Speaker C:So I'm like Think, thinking why they keep, you know, honking at me, you know, and then they.
Speaker C:They will pass and.
Speaker C:And I will be like, you know what?
Speaker C:If you.
Speaker C:If you want to go faster, just take the other lanes.
Speaker C:I'm doing the right thing.
Speaker C:Slow cars going to the right side.
Speaker C:Well, all of a sudden, somebody from the third lane actually started honking at me.
Speaker C:And that's when I realized something's wrong.
Speaker C:So once the Howard Franklin Bridge finished going north, I stopped right there in the shoulder down the little.
Speaker C:The glass on the other side of the passenger door.
Speaker C:Then a big flame came inside the minivan, and I got scared.
Speaker C:Of course, I grabbed my hat and never leave my hat behind.
Speaker C:Cell phone.
Speaker C:And ran out of the car.
Speaker C:Look back probably like 30 seconds to a minute, and my seat is full of fire.
Speaker C:And the car has 15 foot flames up in the air.
Speaker C:And 275 smell like a French bakery.
Speaker C:I mean, it was just everywhere.
Speaker B:In a situation like that.
Speaker B:Leave the gun and take the cannoli.
Speaker B:All right?
Speaker B:Leave the hat.
Speaker B:Leave all that stuff, man.
Speaker B:You know, get the goods.
Speaker B:Get the goods.
Speaker B:What are you talking about?
Speaker B:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker B:Okay, so the van catches on fire.
Speaker B:That was a huge event in your culinary life.
Speaker B:But then you had a situation with, like, hot oil.
Speaker B:What was that?
Speaker C:Actually, this happens before.
Speaker C:I was actually 12 years old, getting ready to go to camp, summer camp.
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden, there's this big pot of oil on top of the stove, and my sister is right next to it.
Speaker C:So I'm thinking she's gonna cook with it.
Speaker C:And then I see smoke coming out of that oil, and I'm like, no, no, no, you can't do that.
Speaker C:So my sister, younger than me, so I grab the paint, and then I move to the side, towards the right hand to go to the sink and throw the oil in the sink.
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden, all the oil came into my hand, my leg, my calves, and the rest.
Speaker C:Just history.
Speaker B:And you still have some of those cars today?
Speaker C:Yes, right there, actually.
Speaker C:You can see where the oil was dripping down on the side of the arm still.
Speaker C:And I'm, like, about to be 51 on August 28th, so.
Speaker B:I know a lot of chefs.
Speaker B:I have 10 years of, you know, in the restaurant experience.
Speaker B:You, sir, have had your share of crazy accidents.
Speaker B:Horrible ones at that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Why do you stay in this business?
Speaker B:What made you stay?
Speaker C:The reason I stay, because this is what I was meant to be.
Speaker C:I was supposed to be a chef.
Speaker C:I was supposed to be a baker.
Speaker C:And I want to Keep doing it.
Speaker C:And I'm not going to stop until literally I decide by myself when I'm going to stop.
Speaker C:That's what people call retirement nowadays.
Speaker C:But what I'm looking for is to create and put what's in my mind on a plate, on a bakery basket.
Speaker C:I want everybody to have the same look at bakery items the way I look.
Speaker C:God damn.
Speaker C:Kids make fun of me because employees want to tell me that I need to be in a bubble wrap.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:But they see the passion, they understand what I'm trying to do.
Speaker C:So I'm trying to put that in context where people can get the passion.
Speaker B:You know, a lot of times when we share historical moments of our lives that were very emotional at that time when they occurred, it really dredges up a lot of old feelings.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But even more so to people who are what you would call a creative people who, you know, chefs are a creative.
Speaker B:Singers, musicians, artists, photographers, all of these people are creatives and they have a passion that is in them.
Speaker B:And the way that it comes out is in whatever that art form that they have is whatever that skill set is.
Speaker B:That's how they come out.
Speaker B:You happen to have multiple creative skills.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:You're a baker, you're a chef.
Speaker B:You can say those are similar, but they're really not.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:But you're a musician, you play multiple instruments and you come from a family of people who are musicians and creatives.
Speaker B:It's a DNA thing for you, correct?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:In terms of the baking and the cooking come from my mom as a baker.
Speaker C:Fantastic chef, by the way.
Speaker C:And my grandma was actually also culinary chef as well, but not like studied.
Speaker C:She was just in the school.
Speaker C:I mean, in her house.
Speaker C:A lot of people don't know this part of the story.
Speaker C:My mom used to do what used to went to high school and doing home ed.
Speaker C:And the instructor was actually Chef Rosanna's grandma.
Speaker C:We did not know these when we got together.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker C: ady know each other from like: Speaker C:Had no idea, obviously.
Speaker C:So there's a lot of history within both of us DNAs in the cooking and baking side, in the musician side.
Speaker C:I have an.
Speaker C:I had an uncle that was the drummer for a salsa band, One of the actually the number one most popular salsa band in Puerto Rico called the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.
Speaker C:And he was a drummer, as we call in Spanish, El timbalero.
Speaker C:So that was my uncle and in my dad used to play with other Bands that were also super popular and they were traveling around the world.
Speaker C:This one was called Tommy Olivencia or Roberto Rowena.
Speaker C:And he was a bass player for those two bands.
Speaker C:Right now my brother is the owner of a band here in Tampa that we've been having for 13 years.
Speaker C:I sometimes go and help them, but I'm so busy I cannot.
Speaker C:I actually cannot go there.
Speaker C:Altar and.
Speaker C:And it's called A Son de Plana.
Speaker C:And it is Puerto Rican style music that we do mostly during the Christmas time, but it's actually gets hired all year round.
Speaker B:Did you meet Rosanna in Puerto Rico?
Speaker B:How did your family.
Speaker B:What's that dynamic?
Speaker B:How do they know each other?
Speaker B:And then you come here?
Speaker C:No, actually we met in Tampa.
Speaker C:We did not met in Puerto Rico.
Speaker C:We were in the same places at the same time during the years, but didn't know each other.
Speaker C:Whatever they call that six feet of separation.
Speaker C:Separation.
Speaker C:We had that in Puerto Rico, actually.
Speaker C:I was actually one of the chefs at a law.
Speaker C:I don't know if it's a club for lawyers in Puerto Rico and her dad used to go there as a lawyer.
Speaker C:I had no idea who he was.
Speaker C:Obviously back in days, we came to met here in Puerto Rico at the Art Institute of Tampa.
Speaker B:So your families knew each other from Puerto Rico?
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker B:And you met here.
Speaker B:That's amazing.
Speaker C:That is crazy.
Speaker C:Yeah, we didn't know.
Speaker C:We were like, literally at one moment in time, I'm actually with Rosanna's grandma and I'm changing a light bulb.
Speaker C:At their house here in Lake Wales?
Speaker C:Actually, no, in Lakeland.
Speaker C:And at that moment in time, I didn't know.
Speaker C:So when.
Speaker C:How do we figure it out?
Speaker C:Was when all of a sudden Rosana's grandma passed away.
Speaker C:If you Puerto Ricans, you know, your parents are obsessed with the.
Speaker C:The obituaries.
Speaker C:So my mom asked right away, oh, what's her name?
Speaker C:You know, when she passed away?
Speaker C:And I tell her the full name.
Speaker C:And she was like, wait, what?
Speaker C:And I'm like, yeah.
Speaker C:And she was like, you got to be kidding me.
Speaker C:I'm like, no, where is she from?
Speaker C:I'm like, well, she used to give classes in Ponce, which is a southern part of Puerto Rico.
Speaker C:And then she goes, no way, this can be true.
Speaker C:And asked me to tell her the name.
Speaker C:And I said, well, her name is Hilda.
Speaker C:And that's when she realized, oh my gosh, that was my home ed culinary instructor when I was a little girl.
Speaker C:And that's when she goes like, wait, her mom name is Hildeen?
Speaker C:I'm like, actually, yeah, she told me only people that knows her calls her that.
Speaker C:She's like, yeah.
Speaker C:And then later on, I think it was on Father's Day, we all got together and they saw each other for the first time.
Speaker B:You know, you have this thing.
Speaker B:You have family members that are musicians.
Speaker B:You have family members that were, you know, of that restaurant life.
Speaker B:All of them told you, don't do these things.
Speaker B:And here you are.
Speaker B:You did all of them.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You're a rebel.
Speaker C:Yeah, Actually, when I was young, I actually wanted to learn how to play guitar.
Speaker C:And my dad was, like, really good at playing the bass player and all these, you know, music.
Speaker C:Music bands that I mentioned.
Speaker C:So I said, hey, dad, you want to teach me how to play guitar?
Speaker C:I got guitar.
Speaker C:And he goes like, no.
Speaker C:I said, why not?
Speaker C:And he goes, well, I don't want you to lead that life.
Speaker C:And then I became a chef that works on the holidays, and I became musician by myself, but I had to teach myself how to play guitar.
Speaker C:This is the same way I taught myself how to bake.
Speaker C:A lot of people think I went to college for that.
Speaker C:And I took two classes, actually, I could name three classes, total about four hours or whatever that.
Speaker C:Usually the classes are four or five hours each of baking and pastry.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:I never took a bread class.
Speaker C:I never took a croissant class.
Speaker C:None of that.
Speaker B:You were taking that all your life?
Speaker C:Well, what I was doing, though, When I was 17, I was waking up at 3am in the morning to go work, actually at 2am in the morning to work at 3am on the French bakery in Puerto Rico.
Speaker C:So I actually have a chef.
Speaker C:His name was Chef Rudy.
Speaker C:I don't even know his last name, which was from Austria.
Speaker C:And he taught me a lot about what the bacon and pastry was all about.
Speaker C:So I actually.
Speaker C:What I did have was experience that I took and learned.
Speaker C:And I'm very good about looking at something and saying, oh, I could do that, and if not, I could figure it out.
Speaker C:And I don't know what it is that it becomes easy.
Speaker C:And that's a family joke because everybody, every single time mom goes like, hey, we're gonna do this cake.
Speaker C:I'm like, oh, yeah, you just do this, this?
Speaker C:And she goes like, of course it's easy for you.
Speaker C:But that.
Speaker C:That's the reality of baking.
Speaker C:And pastry for me, is awesome for everybody.
Speaker C:It's just for me, that's the way I see it.
Speaker C:And then it's probably like a musician like John Baptiste can see a piano and A guitar.
Speaker C:And Alicia Keys can play piano and guitar and all these other things probably in that little part.
Speaker C:So, believe it or not, one of the things that I started doing this even before I really dove in extremely hard on baking and pastry was actually fruit carving.
Speaker C:I will see the people in Thailand doing soaps, and I'm like, that sounds like fun.
Speaker C:And here I am trying to do a little flower.
Speaker C:And so.
Speaker C:And then I did a watermelon something.
Speaker C:I started doing potatoes, and then I started doing all kinds of stuff.
Speaker C:And all of a sudden, that's my other part of doing fruit carving.
Speaker B:I just found out today about the musician stuff.
Speaker B:But I knew.
Speaker B:And I knew because you're never without your fedora.
Speaker C:Never.
Speaker B:I've never seen you without a fedora, ever.
Speaker C:Customer has asked me if I sleep with it.
Speaker B:And they're always a different one.
Speaker B:I mean, you've got some good taste with the hats, man.
Speaker C:I have 48 total hats.
Speaker C:Actually, no, 52 photo hats right now.
Speaker C:The last ones I got.
Speaker B:I mean, what's that rotation look like.
Speaker C:Between fedoras, baseball caps and newspaper boy hats?
Speaker C:Is literally like 30.
Speaker C:I mean, 60% federal.
Speaker C:As a man, 20.
Speaker B:And I call the newspaper boy hat a guinea hat because, you know, let's see.
Speaker B:All the time, like, I have my.
Speaker B:Like, they're picky blinders.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, my growing up.
Speaker B:My family's Italian, New York, whatever.
Speaker B:And growing up as a kid, everybody wore those things.
Speaker B:And I have some, like, my dad's and my uncles still.
Speaker B:I love them.
Speaker B:They're great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Fedoras come from my grandpa.
Speaker C:My grandpa used to be a limo driver in Puerto Rico.
Speaker C:So he used to always have a fedora.
Speaker C:And I don't know, I always liked him, and I never stopped.
Speaker B:I've never seen you in a baseball cap.
Speaker B:I'm just saying, literally.
Speaker B:And I'm, you know, we've seen each other, but it's only been a fedora.
Speaker C:It's always a fedora, and it's never.
Speaker B:Been the same one.
Speaker B:I'm just saying.
Speaker C:And I think I go into my incognito way without a hat.
Speaker C:That's where most people don't recognize who I am.
Speaker B:Who's that guy?
Speaker B:Chef Ricardo.
Speaker B:You've had a pretty amazing culinary life, a life in general.
Speaker B:You've done a lot of stuff.
Speaker B:You're still going, which is pretty amazing.
Speaker B:In spite of all of the struggle and real heartache and challenge.
Speaker B:What's next?
Speaker B:What are you and your beautiful wife going to do now?
Speaker C:Well, probably right now.
Speaker C:We're pushing harder than ever.
Speaker C:Most people don't know, but Rosanna's sister is what I would call a mad ass.
Speaker C:She used to be the CEO for Krispy Kreme, so I have a lot of respect for her craft and how much she knows about the business side, that I don't know.
Speaker C:She used to be the CEO for a brand called Small Sliders.
Speaker C:That is.
Speaker C:It's amazing.
Speaker C:And right now we're kind of trying to figure it out, something that's going to happen probably before the year is over.
Speaker C:And it has to do with all these brilliant people.
Speaker C:So Rosanna is going harder in her catering brand, obviously, as well with Chef and the Baker.
Speaker C:We going really hard with Chef and the Baker.
Speaker C:Really new things are going to happen in the vicinity and we're excited, super excited to share with the Tampa community and who knows, maybe more other places.
Speaker B:Would be great to meet her.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, you should meet her.
Speaker C:She's fantastic.
Speaker C:She has a great amount of experience and I look up to her in so many different levels.
Speaker B:She sounds sincerely amazing.
Speaker B:I. I can't wait to actually meet her.
Speaker B:And I think I might.
Speaker C:I think those two sisters are powerful.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker B:And you guys are a hell of a trio.
Speaker B:All right, listen, we're going to be in California for the California Restaurant show from the 3rd to the 5th, and we're at booth 6:33.
Speaker B:How do people find you, by the way?
Speaker C:You can go into chefandthebaker.com we're actually online and also in Instagram at Chef Underscore and the Baker.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And don't forget to check out hospitality bites with Ms. Colleen Silk.
Speaker B:That is our first podcast that we brought in under the Walk and Talk media umbrella.
Speaker B:We are still stoked because there are more coming.
Speaker B:And John, again today.
Speaker B:Freaking amazing.
Speaker B:I'm gonna post some stuff that you had put put out there, and it's gonna be bad as.
