Steve Martorano UNFILTERED, Speaks On Family, Restaurants, GRINDING, Never Giving Up + So Much More!

internets welcome back to another episode of the premium peach show finally sitting down with somebody i wanted to sit down a long time with okay i could say a lot of things about this guy chef okay entrepreneur okay uh big teddy bear okay but he might crush you you know don't mess with him internets the one and only steve moderato listen it's a pleasure appreciate it it's a pleasure it's a pleasure to sit down you know for a while first of all for people who don't know steve maderano you're going to learn about them today for people who do know okay i want them to learn a little bit more when you think of steve moderano right and you think about coming out of philly to where we are today we're going to take them around the globe and i feel like we're going to inspire a lot of people you know and i think sometimes you're going to realize how much you have done with your journey sometimes i'll be honest with you when you're living your own life you don't realize how special it's been um the fact that 30 years out here in fort lauderdale cafe moderators everybody has come shaq uh uh i mean i could keep i mean name some of the people i do you know oh we started out 30 years ago with will chamberlain dan marino tony bennett when we went just had five tables now we've done stephen tyler to to sopranos to chas palmitari to kevin james to uh al pacino i mean forget it it's everybody the reason i say that for is because it's a family and what i mean by that when they come here you're getting that authentic listen we're going to get to the restaurant part what i want to do is i want to break down the journey of steve moderano born and raised in south philly born and raised in south philadelphia and mom and dad both with grew up with mom and dad me my mother my father and uh my grandmother no no sisters no sisters no brothers no right off the bat how today how when you look back on it how was it being an only child it was great because i learned to entertain myself i learned to um you know if you're going to have fun you're going gonna play say with army men or trucks you learn to play you know by yourself show it was like you need a crew of people around you to have fun and that's the way i lived my whole life alone you know not surrounded by a lot of people you know a lot of times we talk about family particularly in italian families and italian families are very loving and very get together and sometimes it's like too much like you know if you actually are married or date a woman that is outside of italian heritage um they'll probably get to a point where they get tired of going to these events all the time you know hundred percent they don't get it they don't get it they don't get cause listen my mother okay we'll have an event on friday night then saturday eat the leftovers sunday you're going to come out for dinner and then monday they're doing a barbecue absolutely i say listen absolutely you know absolutely i'll come every day but it's you know when you think about family and your mother and father here's the only thing i think about when we think about that age group who was their mother and father and how much did they love up on them or show them because you know look i love my mother and father but they weren't the most mama was but they weren't the most kind of how you feeling how you doing you know yeah my father was that way you know he never he never really he never really like you know he told me he loved me you know but you weren't getting those hugs he wasn't getting those things like your mother gave you right your mother always taught and and the greatest thing was when your mother wouldn't call you your name she would call your mom sure sure your father would call your dad you know and i did that when you know with mikey i said like you know recall come here dad come here his first name what was the fondest memory you would say of growing up with your mother and father what would you you know do you remember like some memories of going places or christmas or because it was it was yeah like you lived in a neighborhood and and you didn't have much at all not much at all actually do me a favor break down south philly for people at that time like give them the smell the understanding the the the like okay we had we had i lived i i lived on 28th in mckee in south philly um uh a lot of uh italians irish polish that we had the projects right across the street from us right then i have my father's mother who lived on seventh and fifth water that was like more italian but i didn't get it i didn't understand that until the godfather came in when that godfather movie came out and i watched the screen i said that's my grandmother's neighborhood that's what that's had the smell my mother my grandmother were moderate on my mother's side my grandmother on my father's side was more authentic i don't know maybe that's not the right word authentic you know but yes but more original more yeah but when i saw that movie i i just wanted to go to my grandmother's house and sit and smell and because it was dark in my grandmother's house you know and then i started realizing what my family had the respect in that town so it just brought everything to life and it was like that's what i want that's the way i want to live my life sure it's a movie but the idea of the movie and the respect is what i wanted so i came from two different so when i left my grandmother's my father's mother when i came home was more modern right who my mother's mother took numbers okay she did she took numbers classic right but our house was moderate yeah we had slip covers what did that do my father worked for his brother we had a very big um vending business oh nice john's vending it was and my father worked for his brother and he was you know he led money out whatever you had to do but i'm going to say this from the bottom of my heart my father got a my father's paycheck was 166 dollars a week now think about that i want the catholic school you got to pay for that right he had my mother and her mother living in the house she had to take care of all of us 166 dollars he had to do something my father was a savior so he would save and you know he put some put some money out on the street but i came from two different worlds not that i didn't love my my modern world which i did but i loved that old school italian real italian and the neighborhood was that way when you you uh you know i i i could hear it and i know it and and i remember it you know you loved it so much that you become enthralled with it right you become a part of it right you become like a thousand percent you know you know is it something that you wish you may have done something different you know you always you're one of the most heartfelt persons i ever met i mean that i mean that um i've seen you on tv shows uh uh uh you know not afraid to show their emotions not afraid to you know listen because i know but but it's real deal because it's the real deal and i will say this you know you think about you sometimes you'll say like you know you got no education look how far you've come but if you could have done something different you ever think back you would have like took a moment you ever think like you had a moment in philly that you could have went right and you went left you ever feel that you ever felt that before when you think back of your childhood i'm trying to make sure i don't understand that yeah of your question instead of getting involved in the street maybe you could have done something else but i did yeah but you cook yeah right no but but if you said to me what would you have done differently yes i would have studied and put my heart into school that i would have done me i couldn't care about school i passed through uh high school without going to class okay so i never had a i used to live in the ava room because uh at the time in the 70s there was vouchers for for gas you remember when again and my i my teachers knew who i was and they would ask for favors and we did i would go and ask them they got it done i never had to go to class never never but i wish i did so it was a stupid mistake if anybody young out there is watching go to school because yes at least you know i say this get an education or get a diploma sometimes i know people are thinking the diploma is different i'll say get it just to have it you never know cause you know at that age what are you doing anyway right you know i i like i told my daughter like i'm you know i didn't finish college you know i went to night school i was working two jobs you know i didn't have a chance to finish it but i'm blessed to be where i am today likewise look at you somebody didn't finish school uh uh four restaurants uh uh um five coming uh yeah well actually let's go over them moderators right now we're in the legendary over 30 years in lauderdale fort lauderdale florida pittsburgh just opened up in rivers casino which is an italian state house which is yeah and actually explain that what that means um as we grow to keep opening this kind of restaurant moderators like in fort lauderdale is it takes a lot a lot and i needed something to simplify it a little bit so every time i would go to a steakhouse it would always be the same the same size i said wait a minute why can't i come here and get a steak with hot and sweet peppers why can't i order a steak and get all the linguini and clams why can't i i don't know but i said i'm going to do it which we did and rivers casino took us along for the first one pittsburgh now we also have atlantic city at harvard vegas yeah who the [ __ ] this guy you didn't finish school because cuz what are you talking about you're in vegas atlantic city pittsburgh fort lauderdale and now i mean is this you you kind of made some of this announcement are you finally coming home what's going on there's a very strong possibility coming back to to philly with a a casual concept called uh joey's italian kitchen which is named after my my son who passed away rest in peace uh two years and um very casual so what i wanted to do i wanted to fulfill my son's his vision was to have something he loved fast fast food but good sandwiches yep and there's a lot of people who can't afford what what i'm doing here and i said well what let's just make it so everybody can have a taste of moderators right so that's the idea we'll keep it simple and less expensive and you could just have a great meal quality meal you know a lot of times you say it's expensive but you explain why for people no i've heard you say this and i heard you know look but i'm proud of that exactly explain what i'm saying explain to the people because the products top-notch because when i say when i say top-notch you can if you came into my restaurant here in full order you can just look at the kitchen that's open and see the quality what i use nobody uses at home let's go let's go over that actually because you know being that it's just everything entrepreneur food life first of all the macaroni uses gentel macaroni genteel it's the highest quality longest drying italian pasta that's in production today as far as i'm concerned 90 of people use homemade pasta i get it right i get it it's homemade i don't really like homemade just and don't like it i like a bite to my pasta and which we don't say pasta because we say macaroni yeah okay so i like a bite to it and we cook it to order now a lot of people say that but they cook it in the morning and then they reheat up sure we do it to order so if you order a rigatoni it's 15 minutes if you order buccatini it's 13 minutes if you order a penny it's 10 minutes it's all timing that goes part of this brand and we do that in all the modern rounds we put all the macaroni in the order what about the guy from boston yeah you get the uh what's it called the sausage right bianco's it's i'm in south florida because i love it i can't find good sausage we used to use ferraro sausage in south philly they closed as far as i was concerned the only one closer to that was beyonce and son in in boston and they ship it to us every week even even like the chris this is for a lot of deal you think 90 of people know no who live here not from new york or or no good quality sausage but i do so if you're going to eat a dish you're going to say no this is really good i had sizes yesterday over this joint wasn't as good as this because we take the time to get the best that's the truth because that's how you say it you know that's how listen what i want to say is this made to order macaroni nobody does that very i mean you say it they say and one thing i learned okay from you and that that that just watching and internets go to the instagram i think it's steve underscore moderator i'll go to cafe moderato as well one thing i love that you do okay you actually put me on it's crazy to say you know as a titan sometimes like we we're so stubborn we think we know it all no you can learn every day and and one thing i love that you do i put i've got my clams i want to give example you take the pasta the macaroni and you cook halfway put it in the in the skill in in the pan and then you cook the rest there who does cuts you tell me you know listen first of all ninety percent of people don't know what al dente is they think it was it was a way that i fired last week right i think there's a reason for that it's got to be firm the italians we didn't have they said they didn't have a lot of meat in italy right so like they wanted some texture macaroni has to have a bite to it so when people say it's it's too hard i laugh at them it's just what it is you know this is how we make you don't like it leave that's real easy but it's important because when i when i go out to dinner and and i ask the waiters listen i'm going to order this is this macaroni is it cooked now oh cook the water listen to me you if it's not right i'm only going to send it back to order 10 macaroni sure sure if they're not i'm going to send them back then we're going to have an issue and he says well you know they're cooked in the morning yes you know well as i say mushad means it's like you know soft like mush but i will say this you are a person who has created so many great wines yo cuz okay the one the new one that i keep on going with who don't want to be italian i mean no i don't even know i i didn't when i was cooking so on a video right and i said to myself you know i'm so glad i'm italian i got i got benjamin or gilly in the background singing singing on the on the radio and i'm cooking i said who don't want to be italian think about it every number one food in the world is italian so i don't want to be italian it's a it's a great cuisine you know you think about when you think about how people cook you know you got waiters chefs people here 20 plus years no no there's these guys 27 and i'm here third is that crazy think about it cuz and the other brothers here 20 25 years who's your 18 hour kid from philly because 40 years ago still with me i've i've had a lot of restaurant tours on you're more than a restaurateur okay people hear me out how did how do you establish that how do you have people first of all you built a brand that you have people working some people they're in and out they're not loyal they're not treated right well that's because you you have to treat people the way you want to be treated but they must give you respect if they disrespect you i got told the other day i got four back servers been with me 10 years and i set my station up here because i'm on the line every day and i said find me a joint that you know the owner the walnut is still cooking not at the bar drinking trying to pick up a broader the table he's he's he's in the kitchen cooking every you can watch him he's not hitting you can watch and they didn't set something up the way it was supposed to be set we take a picture we showed him it's the fifth time for all five i will fire each and every one of you if i walk in here one more time and this ain't the way i want it i'll close this place open up back with five tables rebuild it if i lose you guys but i'll do that if you don't follow what i want it's little details that make you successful it's not the big picture that everybody sees listen your house is clean move the couch that's clean if it's not moved you're just clean outside it's like wiping your ass you take a shower you don't wipe your ass you ain't clean but it's the little details that are so important that people forget all they want is this this comes if you really got passion in what you're doing you care about what you're doing you got to be like your guys you got to be in the trenches with your guys you got to show them and i think you inspire people believe it or not again you're a person like we spoke off here you don't take compliments well i don't mean that i mean i don't take compliments well no i know but what i'm saying is because it's inspiring you know you're saying it but it's inspiring to go to work and see somebody how do you expect to tell somebody do something you won't do because someone's on the floor i watch you walk past it once i watch him walk past some place i grab both of them now watch me i'm going to bend down and pick it up if i see you walk past again you're fired now i've given people chance if the chance after chance one thing i learned i don't know about you guys out there once you get rid of somebody the chances of them connect oh you're cursing this one they're gonna [ __ ] up again and again stick it up your ass and get it again once you get rid of them get rid of them and don't look back that that's the truth there we go it's a gem from the one and only steve moderato you know we spoke about mom and dad so about what dad do what it was mama stay at home mom my yeah my mother stood at home and uh my grandmother worked she that's what my grandmother did she worked for her her son making slip covers my house had so much slip covers i had the runners you i don't even know what these guys were entrepreneurs at your house think about it think about it yeah we didn't use the word at the time right right right think about it you know again this is why i say you were in a good system you were inspired you seen this no no no you don't what the [ __ ] did you they were doing whatever they had to do right right because i had a i had a school bag made of slip covers where you put your books and you could see it but my grandmother made it for me so i had to go buy one you know you know obviously the moderato family especially in philly um and we'll get fully to them you know they have done a lot of different things uh businesses and and stuff you know when you think about mom and and and and and dad particularly uh when did that pass away he was he was 54. how many years ago was that my father died two weeks before i got married two weeks before i got married on my first marriage for two weeks i said i looked at that cloud i said i mean come on does that mean i'm not supposed to get married what happened here how could you do this that was the first dark dark thing about it but anyway no no no no yeah it's sad hey you know he just went to bed never woke up you know and rest in peace that's how i started my first marriage when you think back of uh dad you know dude my father was uh my okay my father was the guy my cousin used to say you know joe don't care if butter goes up three hundred dollars he didn't care my father was like i don't care where are you anybody's gonna buy it i'm just saying i want to buy it right you need gas i want to buy it my father put his family before him especially his brothers he put them before himself but he was a worker so i forgot that where i got that instilled my father you know he got up every morning i went to work my father never took a vacation if he did he went for 10 days to go hunting in the woods to get away from everybody that was it never took a vacation never wanted anything special so i watched my father work and i should say i don't want to be like that i want to be smarter than that i don't want to be a laborer it's not what i wanted to do you know but the way life goes you things that you didn't like about your parents you wind up being becoming like they become yeah you ever hear them all the time you ever hear them when you say something you know another thing too when you think about dad and that's special but even mom you know mom lived longer than dad you know and you think about moderators were you ever able to show her some of your success my mother was a tough brother my mother was she was man she was tough you know i would say i did my first tv show was danny uh tony danza yeah yeah yeah and tony cerrigo got me got me the legend and as soon as i got off the phone i'm on the phone in new york i call my mother mom i look fat mom no you look good man that looks fat no no no you look good so when i got home i said to her again mine did i look fat well you could have wore a different shirt than a striped shirt i said mom all right now you say that you tell me now i don't want to bother you but she was she was there from the beginning when i was cooking when i was making sandwiches in her basement and she would answer uh the phone and she would like you know your washing machine i mean if the old days had a hose going in yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah my mother would do my pots she would clean my i had a four burner stove and so she was part of that so she will break that down i want you to actually tell people so you were selling sandwiches what how old were you door to door listen the hustle listen interest you're gonna take a lot of things from this episode the one thing i want you to take is the hustle what it takes to make it okay it's not [ __ ] easy you know you think about it this is why i tell you you're living your own life you don't realize how inspiring it is you went from door to door hold on knocking or selling sandwiches how much five dollars because 30 years later we're in lauderdale i'm gonna say it again we've got moderators in vegas moderators in pittsburgh moderators in atlantic city a couple other things coming up i'm proud of you i'm proud of you and and and you sure there's no dream i know you see a lot of a lot of people go i have this vision i had this dream i had this goal there's nothing wrong with that to me you better have a b plan anyway right but i hadn't i had no b plan i had a choice in my life to go right or left when i made that choice i had no still had no money i didn't have a facility to go do a business couldn't go borrow any money i had no credit let's try just get in my head let's get flyers go put it on people's mailboxes put it on the cars pass by myself get up in the morning go pass them out myself with just a phone number what type of sandwiches what type of sandwiches the first ones were chicken collards and broccoli i uh chicken colored with mayo tomato and uh uh lettuce uh classic but i had great bread i used to got sauce i'm a brooklyn guy i'm a brooklyn guy but let me explain something to you saw cone's bakery first of all so a hundred and plus i don't even know the first one i've seen i've been i've been in there i've seen in the back i'm friends with uh danny uh from angelos uh he's married to the the the daughter first of all angelo is on south street on south 9th street right next to sarcones this guy's a [ __ ] incredible okay and he's a great guy okay uh but um that's like his inwards or whatever but anyway i went in the back look there's a hundred plus here i mean the [ __ ] things are 20 30 feet deep that they cook their bread in so so so door-to-door saw cones but here's the thing that i want to tell people and this is what happens in entrepreneurship you could have got stuck selling sandwiches for 30 years i'm just saying things people think like you know you go work a job they say well i really want to become a chef one day so i'm going to save enough money over here you can stay in that job for 40 years and never become a [ __ ] chef 100 cuz how did you get out of the philly how did you get out of going door to door how did you elevate you know when i growing up i wanted to be with i wanted to be part of something then to be part of something i had family that was part of something so i just and i love i love my uncle raymond loved him to love him to death i might say i might love them maybe as much as i love my own father and this might not sound right maybe even a little more that's how much love and respect i had for this man raymond mr raymond long john matarano and um he was what he was very close to mr bruno very close four obviously what about four amendments magazine country my uncle what are we talking about wonderful i don't want to say the name yeah yeah one of the richest guys he uh but anyway i had it i had an opportunity and but but there's the story the story before the the sandwich yeah i did that for five years and no electric bill no gas bill no rent right my mother paid for all that stuff i used to make 500 a week that was my profit 500 a week so i was married and i had my my first john uh my first son uh son joey my first wife worked at a bank so she had a little income coming in so i did that for five years and then i had i got married my father my mother says your father still would wanted you to get married it was a very crying marriage or was it a happy marriage so we might not go in the bahamas for for ten days right so i i i come home i said mom what are you what are you telling people i'm close people are calling say you're close steve they're telling me to make sandwiches i'm telling them you got married you're you're you're all there anymore i'm not making you no sandwiches you know you had the cool waiting when your mother was talking to her sister-in-law call waiting hold on hello is that steve's in the kitchen yeah but we're closed what do you mean you're close can't you make me something no you can't make you something this would go on so before you know it i saved up a little bit of money and i and i open up another takeout place in a jewish neighborhood in northeast philly now we had south philly which had a lot of italians a lot of irish a lot of polish yeah north philly had a lot of black people and southwest philly a lot of irish too northeast you had a lot of jews and what's the truth the jews are the ones that keep italian italian restaurants in business right they go out to dinner so in my mind my first wife lived in northeast village she took me to this one joint i said you're not saying just say [ __ ] it get out of here i say i'm gonna so i opened up something there but it was a mistake because everything was like 695 soup salad and dessert i i my quality of food couldn't i couldn't i couldn't do that and i did it for like four or five years and i just lost everything but in the meantime my uncle's is away but he's coming home so he calls for me so i go visit him and he says well i don't wanna come home you know i need you to drive me around you to drive i said um listen i've been out of this for a while i just want to go to work pay bill so i want to do i need you next i looked at him and that's that's what i did i said okay you're coming home he didn't come home then i'm saying well this ain't working out so i came to when i came to florida then he come home i was too i was already into this here thank god all right thank god right because who knows where my i said if if i there's a story here it's another story whatever if i did i'd be dead on jail that's the bottom line okay i accept it i accept that though yeah i accept it i know that's what it is but never in a million years was this situation here ever a dream or a goal it was to get up go to work and pay bills that's all it was no music no nightclub no just had five tables one stove i had a little speaker to listen to my philly music one tv watching movies that i liked when i was slow and i was the only cook at one dishwasher that's where this came from no as it grew the vision came sure and you became more insightful listen the journey is crazy you know you know what let's take a quick break we're sitting here with the one and only the entrepreneur the chef the good fella okay yo cuz who don't want to be italian the one and only steve moderato go nowhere we'll be right back hi this is armand asante it's my great pleasure today to be on the premium pete show to be being interviewed by the legendary pete gibralter i hope you enjoy it as much as i will internet and we're back my friend the one and only steve monroe listen off air you were telling a story that really to me was defined your life defined your career that story down you know when you were talking about your uncle and yeah so i i'm in philly we opened up lost it all the iraqi war were in the 80s when that's when that [ __ ] had real estate plummeted we couldn't get any couldn't make any money so i had what two choices one go on the street two go on the street that were my only two choices i had a very close dear friend of mine named ray bruce from south philly was a ball player went to alabama played for the jets was very close to joe near if they were partners they had joints in new york called the bachelor's three and he had a bachelor's degree here in fort lauderdale and mr pip so i've been to fort lauderdale for about two or three days three times in my life so i called ray how you doing how are you doing it's how you doing or something going back on the street he goes [ __ ] you you don't have four you got your cook i said i said i lost everything he says you got to come to florida come to florida you'll do great here there's no places to eat in florida now i got kids so i got to say to myself i got kids they got to go to school so i tell my first wife i says when are they going to go to school actually because they're going to go to coral springs i have a friend of mine that lives in coral springs and they got some kids we'll go check that out and you go look for a joint okay i go we stay for three days they're they're taking me to pizzerias with italian restaurants everybody's in bed nine ten o'clock at nine ten o'clock i kick her under the other thing i said the [ __ ] you got me here that's just not where i want to be it's not for me i'm going back home you sure i said yes the next day we're leaving to go to philly never to come back to florida was it in my didn't think about it yeah i loved it i loved the weather was great carl springs just wasn't for me and my business why i didn't call that guy ray why i didn't call my uncle just to say i'm here i didn't i didn't do it i don't know if i don't know if my mind was just working on like let's get my family situated but i called him the day i'm leaving he goes where are you i says i'm in florida where i said i'm in college springs these exact words when you're going to stop being a south philly jerk off you've got to come to fort lauderdale i said i got two kids so what's the big deal you go to school living for carl springs go back and forth to four for lawyers an out we're going to the airport forget about it right when you say you're going to airport you're going home go back home never to come back here guys i'm not coming why would i come back here just for a vacation he says just i got this little place across the street i know it's for sale there's no signs got five table i ain't got time right i don't want to be late for this airport i got these two kids they're crying as it is just do me that favor i said i can't as i'm driving from call springs to here he's blowing my phone up please just go look at this all right ray two minutes i'm gonna go look at it never just i pull into this parking lot because there's a pink awning what uh pink or not there's anything wrong i like the word pink so not everybody could wear pink but i like wearing pink sometimes i look in the window there's five tables i could see a pizza oven and a stove i said just for me can you imagine i don't answer the phone i get on the plane i don't come back here my life's completely different true story you know it's crazy to me that that again where we are today and how that moment you know and and thanks uh to to to uncle uh raymond man i mean rest in peace to uh i mean the legend i mean you know look people can say whatever you know they want to say i mean this guy um you know forbes magazine you know i don't know yeah yeah stand up guy too rest in peace um you know we were talking about it before but yo cuz it's one of the biggest things everybody they got hats yo cause everybody say hey yo cars now i know in neighborhood mo because there's cars did you get that familiar all your life did you use that we always use the neighborhood neighborhood meaning i you know it's funny too for some reason as an italian and i never really said this even if it was other friends i would tell people that my cousin if i was doing you know if i love them that much and if i want to do something with them didn't matter who they were kind of tell people to say i don't know if i could pass for your cousin you're my cousin and i would tell them listen it's just me my cousins and when you know i remember the first time i heard you say yo cuz but you have made it a vocabulary anything you [ __ ] do cuz your cameraman's name right sweetheart of a guy yeah i see him tomorrow and i don't remember his name isn't it better to say i'm sorry i forget your name again or say oh cuz how are you doing we're all ready yeah sure going on right so but your your own cousins you never would say carol uh dolores george you would say cuz come on let's go yeah it's just what it was but i own that i don't know cuz that's a beautiful thing listen i love hearing things like that when you say i own that there's a guy you know it's funny in the street where like sneaker culture type stuff this guy named jeff we got to do your sneaker yeah yeah i'm on that but listen cause there's a guy named jeff staple and he has a pigeon that's his logo the pigeons called staple right it's been out for 15 years guy has done very well for himself he put a sneaker out there was a riot over anyway the point i'm trying to make is he traded he trademarked pigeon [ __ ] wow so when you see the splat so his hat has a staple in the back it has a [ __ ] he owns a trademark so anyway i love hearing stories like that i love i i love people who make llc's after things like meaning they open a business i just say if it was like uh i'm making this up but like raymond raymond's the best llc you made that because this is the guy at the time that told you to do it so you made it in and in front of you or or you make like your kids names llc i love [ __ ] like that man um and i love trademark stuff like that so yo cuz listen it's a it's a beautiful thing um you know you're moving around a lot of hardships a lot of dark times you know you lost your father that's my mother how how far longer uh my mother's four years my son's two years you know you get married you lost your dad you know two weeks how do you how do you stay married like without you know how do you you know you walked into like a a a you know i don't mean this verse to her but you walked into like a disaster your mind is not right you know how do you you know and this ain't only for that but yeah there's something else to this story listen i i did i loved my yeah i love my first wife when i when i met my first wife because she um her her mother had just died of cancer that's how i meet her never met the mother as i'm dating the father dies of a heart attack that's two a period of time after like a year or so after her brother dies in a house fire now this girl's family's gone not that i love her i loved her i go home you know my father says to me you got to do the right thing i'm 26 everybody got married at 26. i'm concerned you really shouldn't get married to your 32 or 33. that's just me any reason why you say that so you get a little bit more time i think time you know people change they're not the same and then they wind up staying people stay together for the kids that you ain't got no life they ain't got no life you wind up cheating you why not doing stupid things that you're not proud of because i'm not proud of a lot of [ __ ] i did in my life but you you got to wait but but when i grew you had to be 26 25 that's how your mother got married your father got married it was just get married and you got married for what reason you didn't get married because you loved it you got married to have kids your mother wanted grandchildren your father wanted grandchildren you got married so i have nice envelopes at the wedding questionable some italians hang out sometimes give me a toaster carter wait 55 ahead i think i one envelope i gotta fight out why not because mankowski uh the comedian sebastian uh he has this uh uh this thing where he talks about you know italians there's such very uh uh uh judgmental people i mean they go to you know they got 200 in the card for the wedding chicken palms dry take 50 out you know uh because it's do you like what i said to you five dollars for a wedding i didn't say like today when you got older no no but you know italians have that book my mother knows exactly what somebody gave dave when when someone got married i say mom that was 20 years ago price goes off right right right but you know they don't know that you know listen throughout everything food food became your life food is a way of life you know one thing i love about growing up an italian family big you know big family big everything's food feed eat eat eat but food is a way of life food is a way of conversation food is a way of connecting the whole world is based upon a table yeah that people say break that down well we live in two different worlds now to i see it i first of all i see it here i see uh kids on their phone with their parents that are having a conversation they don't want to be bothered they want to drink enjoy themselves their kids entertain themselves now when i grew up if you you could you couldn't leave that table until you were done and you had a conversation how was your day any problems you have you know your mother would tell the father with things that were going on there was a conversation the art of conversation is not around no more that's why we're in the position we are today there is no conversation sure that's one thing i i think that the italians are still trying to hold on to there are still some that want to have this but we're living a whole new world and it's a sad world that we live in sure you know what's the hardest and this is a tough this is like one of those questions as so what what's the hardest thing about being a restaurant owner what would you say some of the hardest things that that took you to overcome which i'm still overcoming i'm only as good as the last meal that i make um i could i cooked for a guy for 10 years and i didn't see him for a year he comes in hey how are you doing how am i doing i'm going we we have been steve i came in here you know i had to feel more around and peppers were a little burnt what see nobody says anything you know peppers were a little burnt you've been coming for 10 years you had a good meal one meal you didn't like you stopped coming for a year because peppers weren't burnt think about that think about your judge every time you put something out you're judged and in this business there's no real reward it's always trying to please that next person and okay how difficult is it for someone to say thank you just say thank you not difficult that's that hard everybody that walks into this restaurant i don't care who you are one person two or ten i send food free food over to their table as a gift that you walk into my house there's a high percentage of people don't even say thank you don't even why my my catholic roots say to me why are you doing it are you doing it to get a thank you or you're doing it because out of your heart you want to do both both really both but he but my conscience would say well steve then don't do it no steve you got to do it because that's what you do and if they don't say thank you [ __ ] it but there are people that do say thank you and it's appreciative they're the ones that overcome their mother issues that you have that's the sad part that's really a sad part you know another thing we we breezed over it but some of your employees we said 27 years you know that's a problem for restaurant owners getting people to work getting people to stay with you i mean look there's a restaurant but listen you could come in tomorrow and all of a sudden this one he uh hurt his leg this one you know what i mean i'm sure you heard it all that happens but you know what the problem is it's the restaurant owner it's the it's it's the big corporate and i don't want to say names big corp they don't want to pay i just put a hundred thousand dollar [ __ ] chandelier with a thousand dollar painting on the [ __ ] wall i'm gonna pay the guy that's breaking his balls over here fifteen dollars an hour he's gotta wait for two [ __ ] kids tell me how's that work how does that justify you wanna i got a ferrari i worked my balls off for that ferrari everybody here all own a house one guy ariel benitez's son just graduated from boston um architecture what's the number one in boston ah brown maybe i don't know but it's the number one in boston an immigrant came from el salvador sausage they got number one sausage over there because boston yeah i know i love boston i love i love boston i love nick red sox no i don't i don't follow baseball but anyway the point is they put all their money into what this [ __ ] is but they don't pay the help even the big restaurants in big corporate they want all this got all they want to get it all they want to pay a guy 15 16 an hour how do you expect the guy to get ahead how are you expecting to break his balls for you yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna pull up on a ferrari walk in everybody okay and everybody's taking a bicycle [ __ ] home everybody's taking a bike home i'm a grown man taking a bike home no you work with me you're going to get paid good money now if i'm a partner with something and something else that's another raw laws that you got to deal with right because it's corporate but this [ __ ] is mine my guys make great money great money because you know you're you're one of a kind man i'm proud to uh uh know you you know the journey man is special man the journey is over you know i know i say you know god in your life god in your life um praise the sin are you ever so in your life you're sitting right on your left hand side because you know i mean everything you've been through steve i mean this you know with everything you've been through and you know i've had my days of dark dark times and sometimes i always say confusing sometimes i say dark cloudy um i'll tell you what lose the sun you see see a [ __ ] duck see how dark your life is when you gotta get up in the [ __ ] morning and still go to work for no purpose you don't have a [ __ ] purpose i don't have a purpose to get up and go to work because i can't leave it to [ __ ] nobody that's god and his love i don't deserve his love he died on that cross so i could live i'm still the biggest sinner in the world but those dark moments and dark days that you can't get through it look at me but you can't get through it and you sit and you pray you don't hear [ __ ] you just gotta get deep down inside and it it lifts you up to say what else do you know what to do but move forward i don't know and then god comes in and he quiets you down and so it's going to be all dead all day it's going to be all right a close friend of mine says the sun shines in the morning so when you go to bed and it's you're like wanna you don't think i wanted to put it you don't think i wanted to do this my son my firstborn i wanted to put a gun in my [ __ ] head but guess what i ain't a coward i ain't a punk i gotta worry about like it's easy for me but everybody around me suffers because i killed myself tell me that's a punk way out so i put the gun down said a prayer say my rosaries every day and and you get through it guys yeah she won't talk about my son or my mother my son no no no it wasn't you know listen i also want to say too you know he's your angel you know what you do cause listen i don't think you forget about food for a second what you do is you're taking care of people that's your purpose you're right that's your purpose my purpose now to take care of people you know and and and as tough as it is in the tears you're a strong man for it it has made you a better person as me listen it people feel it you know you i tell you what's his name uh from atlantic city uh lou said steve monterrano's in atlantic city everybody comes out steve moderato's in vegas people coming out people love you for you because you're real and and and they want to help with the pain you feel too i know i understand i i i know they i know i know they do right and and but you know what it's like when you work every day and you're you're in an open kitchen and you just want to get through the day and every day somebody they're trying just to be nice hurt about your son what happened i don't talk about it heard about your son you're in my prayer now how do you continue to cook and continue to talk to people put on a smile on your face when that happens every day but you're right what doesn't kill you will make you stronger right so yeah he is my angel i believe that with all my heart i will see him again that's why joey's italian kitchen pasta pizza is coming casual for the whole country to enjoy it's gonna be beautiful and but guess what but that was the name of my joint when i started out yeah i put joey's italian kitchen right so it's gonna be listen i look forward to it i think people are gonna listen i think we're in a day and age where people are gonna eat that up you know it's simple it's affordable simple affordable it's authentic authentic and and the quality will not get cut guys you're making me cry because you're making me cry you know you know i really i really uh i mean this i admire you as a person see people don't know me right you know my reputation in fort lauderdale really is with people that live here it's like who's he think he is why is he got tattoos why is he driving around in a car why why and they don't know me see i'm i'm not um people judge you really quick and yet they don't know you it was an old timer here a week ago listen to this an old timer i see him i say hello i never really talk low you know i would hear things that he would say not hurtful things just like what's he thinking or whatever i parked the car got a call free i sat down with him it was one of the greatest conversations that we had he looks at me go steve how come i didn't know this about you like my perception was well don't judge don't judge somebody unless you get to know them you know that's that's true you know wait wait let's i got to talk about one thing it's my you know i haven't i 17 years i have a new life pellegrino i know pellegrino all the moderators carry it 17 years 17 years i met i met a jamaican girl i think about that mom more love your mother name's marsha but more and if it if it wasn't for her maybe this could have happened because she she she kept me grounded and my son loved her loved her with all his heart and she's the she's the the rock to this whole business she's the one that keeps me going when i'm down lifts me up when i'm down prays for me when i need it she's been my best friend my wife she's my life everything so my point is sinatra said love his greatest wife the second time around right and that's this i don't know the other person in this woman i love i love you i i love your relationship with her too you know and i love particularly you're an old-school italian guy right you transcended but you're an old-school italian guy and and and you know look some uncles or cousins or older people may have not approved many years ago of you dating a jamaican woman you know i tell people all the time people ask me listen my daughter's mother 21 21 years old puerto rican you know so you got to see with one eye open too yeah absolutely trinidad my my way now trini my son's six years old they're from trinidad let me tell you something people always say how did your family react today i said listen both of my sisters are gay my father let me tell you what a [ __ ] guy he was he got they had a real marriage he invited all the people from his work wasn't embarrassed but i knew he could have been in my mind this guy could have did that let me tell you what you want you want to know something yeah you love your mother i love her to death would you die for your mother i'll die for you absolutely i love my mother a thousand times more than you love your mother so how much more do you really love you love her a lot and i love mayan thousand times more when she heard i'm i was dating a jamaican girl that my mother died she was 86 years old old school you know what i mean by old school language what they called each other whatever i looked at my mother with as much love in my heart that i could have given anybody it's my mother i would die for her you ever call her that again mom i'll never speak to you again i walked out the room the next day we were going to vegas my mother came marshall was there but marshall never met my mother there after the meeting of the two my mother says remember those great georgia character this is perfect for you just like that true story gosh am i ashamed of why i spoke to my mother like that of course i'm ashamed of how i spoke to her but it was her generation she didn't know no better like she didn't know a different word she didn't know what else to say well listen you know you got to go against the grain you got to go against the grain you know you got to break the chains you got to you know listen look look i'm going to be honest i've told this story plenty of times too okay i grew up in coney island okay i moved over to bensonhurst i remember uh playing sega i had friends they says you can't have these friends over here and so we're friends this is ishmael this is my other friend kids i grew up with what do you mean friends can't come here so you gotta break the chains you know that's what i love that i did right when i went to high school it was a mix of everybody we had the blacks you have the whites and i never never remember i remember this i saw this one big black kid named cheesy i know he's going to play football like me i walked right over there guys i ran into his crowd i walked over to him i said my name is steve martirano what's yours they call me cheesy how you doing cheesy what are you doing for lunch what what are you doing for lunch i'm like i lived around the corner from bishop newman i says i'm to take it home for long because in my head i've got to become friends here if now we're just going to be fighting each other sure as i'm taking them in my neighborhood neighbors with the door like it's like what's going on what's this black guy doing in our neighborhood lived across the street from the projects but they never came in for the projects they stayed there we stayed there we didn't go in there to come out my mother saw us coming she opened the door my mother said he's in here for lunch anybody else coming and i said no come on in she embraced that kid fed him more than one time well also because of uh you know when you have what you grow up around the uncles the grandfathers what is what is explained and and i think when you take it for face value you see more uh sunshine you know listen um the journey has been uh incredible you know you think about but i do i do want to say you you talk about how much you love ma how do you with everything you go through right and i want to be honest you're an old school guy so what i mean by that you're type of guy you may cut your thumb you put a [ __ ] masking tape go to the [ __ ] emergency whatever okay here's what i'm saying the reason i'm saying that have you ever thought about you know even going to therapy just to talk to someone of everything you go through because how do you with everything you had happen in your life when it's when it's just you how the [ __ ] do you deal with that and how do you still be a husband how do you be a good businessman you know look you could be mad at the world cuz you can wake up every [ __ ] morning you could lose your mind you could go fight somebody right now go to jail for 10 [ __ ] years it was everything did that yesterday stupid but i did yesterday so my point is you know there's people that deal with a lot of stuff right now that may be listening you know how did what would be some of your advice i guess that's what i'm saying let's see because you you just said it i'm an old-school italian guy right so i i it's not easy okay it's not easy just put your whole [ __ ] life out on so you're my therapist today right so i had a good day with you i let things out maybe was inside me right so i know today is going to be a good day do i believe in therapy i do i think it does work is it for me is it for me i believe in prayer more than anything in this world i think if it was a point where i got solitude i was not coming to work and not dealing with people i think yeah i need to go speak to somebody there are times and i said to myself i should go speak to somebody but i do have a deep a deep prayer life again i don't know if it if that's the right thing or not the right thing but i know that if you do need help if somebody needs help but you don't have that prayer life for somebody to really go talk to you need to reach out and just let it out it isn't what he's gonna it's not what he's gonna tell me it's what you let out that just been keeping up inside you for a very long time that's that's where i see hey listen you got to get it out because if it eats you up it wins you know let's take the time now to go over some of your favorite dishes particularly some of the most amazing dishes at moderators first of all uf i want to thank you for making me a bucatini lover now for those who don't know that's a macaroni or a pasta however you want to call it i love linguine i love spaghetti you know i love folly i love uh you know i i love uh uh um um or or or would you say or cate you know but buccatini it's a sigi macaroni sicilian macaroni special thing but we grew up corner yeah and now that's one of my favorites give me some dishes some of your favorites if me and you were coming to here i was bringing you here for the first time this is now somebody else's joint but i know it as soon as we sat down we said we got to get the meatball and salad now i brought them i brought the meatball and salad that was what when you had dinner on sunday you never had that for an app that was after your macaroni your mother brought out the bronzer she brought up the sausage the meatballs and a big salad is that the way you ate your mac that's how i did yeah okay i said why don't we do the meatball and salad as the appetizer now i did that 40 years ago you know how many restaurants have copied the meatball salad but they can't copy this on the food network a year ago there was a show called best thing i ever ate and jeffrey zarkarian the chef best meat boy ever had gourmet magazine gave us the best meatball in the world my point is the way i cook my meatball make my meatballs just the way my grandmother did you talked about pots and pans and the same frying pan yep that my grandmother and that's what and that's and that's what makes it good you know we can't we can't do this episode without having this conversation because you know as as much uh admiration respect and love i have you we have to uh explain the breakdown of uh sauce and gravy hey and no i just want to say what what i feel and then you tell me if i'm right because we never had you know growing up growing up right my grandmother would call it gravy when she would you know no no she would put bra joel in the pot meatballs in the pot spare ribs in the pot i got somebody from new york says that now it's [ __ ] great all right that's right it's a sauce a sauce clam sauce yeah right i mean that's just what it might not have saw yeah yeah i like the word sauce but but it doesn't listen people want to fight me no no they want to feel me guys listen the philly guys are so serious about this gravy as a brooklyn knight i say holy [ __ ] you're right they want to [ __ ] argue with you it's crazy if your mother makes a good sauce i don't give a [ __ ] what it is it's good that's all that matters but don't put me down because that's the way i we were born and raised same thing with crabs when you make some people say crab sauce you get it that's okay that's even okay that's personal i'm not going to argue sure we call crab grapes yeah yeah but the sunday grave with meatball brazil spirits pig's feet picture picture yeah i used to love pigskin with the hardboiled again with the two packs listen uh but that's the difference steve moderato's favorite dish there you go you wanna you got a minute for like a three minute story yeah come on i don't know if you keep eating crush no not taking my life change cooking i would love to hear it in philly when i didn't have no restaurant experience never worked in a restaurant never was taught i went to business school all i know is cook like your mother cooked right so we used to grow up eating progreso clam juice progression because even today if there's a can in my house i'll eat that [ __ ] right out of the can that's how much i like progresso and your mother used cantaloupe macaroni it was made in america they rinsed it off like that that's what you were born and raised on so i would pre-cook my macaroni in philly and uh i didn't even have marinade sauce i made a sunday gravy i would saute shrimp put the gravy in there [ __ ] nose it was red it was a typical italian kind of kind of thing a me and a friend of mine go to new york city we're on mulberry street i see a line around the corner from birdo's clan house that was on the corner i said to my friend what the [ __ ] they giving away he said it's six in the morning they're having their truck their truckers they're gonna clean i can't be that good when i go back two o'clock i walk in i sit on the counter i order linguine clams i see this guy shuck a clam i see the guy throw salt in the water i see a guy get the czecho macaroni i see him dropping in the pot i see him frying garlic to a light toasted brown with olive oil red pepper flake and parsley i see him pour the clam juice in it put a lid on it took the macaroni out he didn't toss it they just put it on the in the ball back then and they pour the sauce changed my i went home and i shut everything down we're not cooking like this number what are you talking about we got to cook everything in the order every cut up steve how are we going to do that five different pots five different pots we're not having gravy with shrimp we're making a marinara sauce when we're when i got into the talking to the to the guy sierra marzano tomatoes i didn't know yeah yeah beautiful that change if i didn't go to invernos who knows how i'd be cooking and i probably wouldn't be in the business today that's that's a true story and berno's claim as the original showed me how to do linguine clams or cook right in a restaurant i used to go to birdos all the time one of my favorite spots i'll tell you i never got the hot sauce i never i understood hot medium it was always dark like cooked too much i remember joe the 66 wfan it was a sports radio in new york um it's actually bro i think by e espn now there's a guy named i don't think he's a broadcaster anymore i spent many years named joe joe patingo they used to do it they said so umbertos would take an ad out you gotta hit his hat he like um bertos and he would go on clam house you got to go there for the you know that you know give like a little ad and and and i loved it was the best oh i loved it i used to go there all the time i love the atmosphere i love the culture i love i love i love the uh the way they treated me you know well i won't be honest with you one thing i'm real proud about and then when i talk about restaurants everywhere i go now i meet people we go eat we go talk about business so food is a way of life you know i sit down and go i've eaten all over because you got to sit and talk right you know it's such a beautiful excuse it's beautiful isn't it you know what i mean have a good meal everybody comes together that's the way it's supposed to be that's why it should be like that in a restaurant so when the kids are playing with their things and it's loud i tell them shut it off or you got to leave shut it off friday night saturday night fort lauderdale moderators turns into a [ __ ] nightclub what's up i used to be a dj because the fedora comes out no no the feather i see i see not when i'm working here but but but really what's really growing even even bigger than us is my wife's uh cake company lilly cakes yeah lilly cakes yep there's the plain of action i think i see the key lime pie there's like a strawberry cheesecake red velvet not italian cookies not italian desserts all american desserts and it's named after my mother whose name was lily and her grandmother which name was lillian so she put lily cakes but we have them in all our restaurants but the casual it's going to be that next to a lilly case bakery so we're going to have two things which is going to be great so you'll be able to come and get the desserts and get food to go moderators lily cakes joey's italian uh kitchen i mean listen there's a lot you know it's funny because we we we go from the beginning of a a young baby steve matarani who came out with 14 pounds 20 ounces you know uh uh um had to be a c-section you know uh big boy but i say he is a big teddy bear and i mean that you know and what i mean by that is your heart is pure gold you know this is your calling you know sometimes we don't understand you know sometimes we don't understand why things happen the way to happen you know i'll be honest with you you know a lot of episodes that i've done before you know sometimes you know they're so pure conversations you know people will uh uh you know things will happen people cry or people you know this is the first time where i ever [ __ ] had a tear come to my eye and the reason and i mean that in a sad way i want to say in the happy way that when you hear lily cakes when you hear moderators expanding and when you hear you know joey's italian kitchen coming you know what that is is is is called never giving up you know never ever stop believing in you because he won't want that he will want that no he wants this right here to be bigger and bigger you know and that's what we're going to do and we're going to take it to the next level and and that's what you know that's another reason why i wanted to to come here because you know and sit down with you and do an episode and let people know who the [ __ ] moderators is but more importantly who's steve moderano is more than somebody your cause more than a meatball salad more than a bucatini okay more than a more than a gravy we also have to understand how hard it is you know for somebody to get up every day we talk about the bronx tale the working man is the tough guy you know that's that's what it's about you know making something out of nothing because moderators is just your last name what the [ __ ] we talking about these people love the [ __ ] restaurant people bring their little kids and they want to come and take a picture of me because the parents showed them the video that's gets me through the day but what this brand does i don't know if there's other brands out there i constantly put people out there if you need prayer you direct message me and i'll pray for you i'll say a rosie for you do you know they go well how many guys working for you like or to help you ain't nobody helping me i answer every single prayer request and i pray for them you know how many people come in here and say to me steve your prayers helped i had to do [ __ ] god's doing but you know just taking the time to pray for them that everybody thinks it's it's it's a it's a it's a it's a thing you know it's just a thing and it's not which is a brand that cares about people and wants to help people and inspire people not to give up and keep moving forward i mean the journey has been special and it's still going i i mean i keep on i keep on saying this but we're gonna leave off with two things it's impossible to put somebody's journey in one episode but i'll tell you this was powerful even just to hear um how you push through how everyone here is treated right the homes people getting home wanting to do better for people the ferrari uh talk because this is a great conversation you know it's real right no but i'm saying it's a great conversation two things we're gonna leave with because this is what i feel as you would want to give to the people two things first i want you to speak to someone right now who is uh trying things out maybe you got a restaurant a couple of tables i don't know maybe it's doing well sometimes not doing well what's some advice you would give to them first of all do not concern yourself what other people are doing you're not concerned about what another business or you think your competition is the only competition you have is yourself embrace competition because it keeps you on your toes you don't want to be the only guy in the neighborhood don't give up on that dream that you have and don't compromise do not compromise for anybody if there's a hundred people saying you're doing something wrong and you know in your gut you're doing it right you continue to do what's right do not change for anybody quality is the key biggest key then that is the small details do not pass up on small details things like the bathroom people go into the bathroom to see you i go if it's bathroom is dirty now if i go when there's 15 towels i'm going to give them 10 minutes to go clean it i'll go back to see but keep things clean and treat your workers with respect and don't compromise your product because somebody wants you to change it stick to your gut and just stick to your gut and keep god in the center of your life and pray the rosary pray the rosary because you know listen i don't know i don't know how much more there is to say but i will say i want you to make sure if you've never been to monorails come here not because you only want to eat for the experience right for the experience to understand you know how this man is cooking making people happy you know mom dad your son this compliment people give you resist it reminds me reminds me of my grandmother reminds me of my what you can't get a bet what goes up my ass is the meatball lady who says my meatballs are better than yours how many did you make i made 30. i just made 400. you make 30 you try to tell me yours is better than mine oh you're crazy listen listen okay moderators lauderdale pittsburgh atlantic city vegas and coming soon all heart because the one and only the one and only the legendary okay real deal right here steve moderano [Music]

Channel: The Premium Pete Show

Views: 12,212

Keywords: premium pete, podcast, italian, restauranteur, mental health, philly, steve martorano, george martorano, steve martorano jimmy kimmel, steve martorano steve harvey, cooking, food network, philly cheesesteak, hustle, interview, italian food, petes pasta sauce, goodfellas, godfather, sopranos, growingupitalian, mob con, meatballs, pasta, fettucine, depression, premium pete show, George Martorano, Long john Raymond Martorano, Mafia, Mob, Inspirational, Entrepreneur, Advice, Self help, combatjack

Id: TZolr4yh0Jk

Length: 69min 14sec (4154 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021