Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hair and makeup's all done with you. They're nothing.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: You good? Yeah, I'm feeling good.
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Hey, everybody.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to Real Estate Makes Us Drink. Brian Quinlan here from Daniels Real Estate.
[00:00:09] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Brad Nickham from Nest Mortgage Group.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Bro, look at that shirt.
[00:00:12] Speaker C: Oh, I know.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Digging it. You've worn it on the show before.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: But my kids, Blake and Pam got this for me for Christmas.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Now that we're approaching warmer weather, it really hits.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it screams, go, baby, go.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Hey, you may notice next to me is yet another guest. Sir, tell the folks who you are.
[00:00:28] Speaker C: Oh, no. I am Jake Burgess.
Professionally, I own a few restaurants from the Fox Garden brand that encompasses Fox Garden in Fortville, Indiana, as well as the Fisher's location. We also have a fast casual spot inside Sun King Spirits in Carmel, Indiana. We recently purchased the world famous Bungies Tavern in Perkinsville, Indiana. And we opened a spot in Lapel, Indiana, as well, called Smokey's, which is fried chicken, pizza, and barbecue. So scratch kitchen food. I was a professional chef. I was a fine dining chef for a long time and basically got tired of wearing a tie to work and eating $60 steaks every day. So I thought, how do you give really, really, really good food and really good service in a relaxed atmosphere? So that's where our brand kind of took its legs.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: You started that with. Well, professionally, I do this. Is there something you do on an amateur basis?
[00:01:23] Speaker C: Well, I mean, you know, there's like, dabbled, maybe a little bit of everything, but no, I mean, that's kind of my. My identity. I've kind of put myself into the brand and into the restaurants, and so I kind of.
I'm. The Fox Garden. Jake is kind of where my.
My identity lies.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: I'm sure you're a very busy gentleman with all those businesses going on, so thanks for coming out here.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Greatly appreciate it.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: And with that voice, I'm surprised he's not helping you do games.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: I always said I had a face for radio, so we'll see what happens.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: All right. What tequila are you drinking today?
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Well, I just did a great interview with Juan Pena, the owner of Hola, Juan. Tara.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Sure, he's watching the show.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: I know he's not Tara de Libertad.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Which is a Tierra.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Tierra.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: You got the Libertad part.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Libertad.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: Good job.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Which is a really nice tequila. And then he also owns Prolifico, which is a mezcal brand and also a tequila brand is really good. So I figured I'd pour that blanco tonight and then For Jake, I poured him Sol to Noches, which is a Sotol, which is a whole different type product. You have to check that out on my. On my.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Super interesting. A little buttery. I can appreciate the introduction. Yeah, yeah. It's got a. I think it touches a lot of things. So really unique product.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Touches a lot of things.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Well, and let me put a plug out there for old Smokey in lapel.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Because I'm a rib guy, and I usually drive all the way to Nashville to eat at, like, the Peg Leg Porker. And your ribs are the best ribs.
[00:03:05] Speaker C: Oh, nice.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: I've been able to find anywhere in Indiana and rival all of the great places I've made out of.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: Good ribs are such that unique thing where everybody thinks they're supposed to be fall off the bone, when in reality they should have a little bit of bite to them, a little bit of texture, a little bit of kind of, you know, the fun. So when somebody appreciates it as much, it's nice to hear that.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: My issue with ribs is it's a lot of work for just not enough reward.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: So I. I tend not to order.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Them off the ribs for you.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Great. For a first date.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: I like barbecue. I like pulled pork, but I don't need the buns. That's fine.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Pull it yourself.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Anyway.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Fantastic.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Thanks for asking. So I have yet another Sun King beer. Hello, Kevin Smolar and our friends at Sun King. You know, I don't normally like IPAs. Brad.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: You.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: You. However, when we went to do our Sun King tour with Kevin, he introduced me to gfj, which is their version of an ipa. And I was like, this is really an ipa. It's really good.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: And so tasting it today, is it the same as when you.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: I did have a lot of drinks.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: That I'd say you might have been bordering on inebriated.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: No, there was no border. But no, it's. It's still good. It does have kind of that IPA bite to it that I tend to say they all taste the same, but I could drink several of these.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Well, thanks for Sun King for hooking us up with beer.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Thanks, Kevin. And I just want to point out I'm drinking this in my brand new to me Crow's Nest cup from Augusta, Georgia. As last week, I was down at the Masters practice round, and it was pretty sensational. How'd you shoot? There was no shooting. It was.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: You made it to practice. But I did.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: I made it to practice. I did not make the cut.
[00:04:41] Speaker C: The guy who brought his clubs a couple years ago no, he got tickets to. It was like a. There was a gentleman that was foreign, and he got practiced round.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: And he brought his clubs to Augusta, and they were like, hey, man, I got my ticket. And he's like, you get to watch us practice.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Appreciate your ambition.
[00:04:59] Speaker C: Yeah, he was gonna go play Augusta. They got tickets to go practice.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: I had never been there before, and many people afterwards asked me, did you get. You know, do you watch any players? You see any players? I'm like, I did not care.
[00:05:11] Speaker C: I was there to see the golf course immaculate.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Is unbelievable. And, yes, I did see players out there, you know, hitting golf balls around, and that was cool, but, you know, they're not. They're out there getting a feel for the course. They're hitting several shots from the same spot. It's just not the same as watching them play an actual round of golf. So in and of itself, that's cool, but I just didn't care. If no one was out there, I would have walked the golf course and been like, this is the most amazing.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: Now, do you get to have your phones on third on practice day? No. No cameras.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:38] Speaker C: Did you see any celebrities or anything?
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Not that I know of. Okay, supposedly.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Did you see dechambeau?
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Actually, I did not. My friends did because it was, like, right near the. It was within the last half hour of our time to be there, and the guys were just walking as we were kind of heading towards the exit, and they came around the corner, and there was DeChambeau on, like, 15, 16. 16.
[00:05:59] Speaker C: So did you play in the. How much. How much apparel did you buy?
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Oh, actually, I only spent, like, 335 bucks. This. This being one of them was 125 dol.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: Dollars.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: This is the best value on the course, man. Free a beer for six bucks, and I get to keep the cup. I mean, come on.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: I said they make them green so that if they were fall, you don't see it on tv. Everything is green, so.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Well, I'll say.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: This is.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: You know, the.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: The beers come in green, but the, like, sodas, they come in opaque sort of white cups, maybe just to tell the difference so they know who's drinking alcohol, who's not. I don't know. I don't care. I got a few of those.
I got to be there.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: Did you watch Traffic come in to see if you've seen Scotty Scheffler at all?
[00:06:41] Speaker B: I did not. We were trying to find Scotty Scheffler on the course as one of the players we wanted to see, but we Never caught up to him.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: He was stuck in traffic. He was.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: He was no longer. He was talking to the police.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: He no longer goes around any car.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: He does not stay. He probably just doesn't drive himself. Just stop doing that, Scotty.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: Good stuff. I'm glad you got a good. Definitely my bucket list. Spectacular super bowl and Augusta. I think me, a friend of mine, we. We did a. Anytime there's a game seven, we want to go. So, yeah, we bought tickets to game seven, World Series in NHL, so basketball, and then the Super Bowl.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: They're all which. Do you remember which World Series?
[00:07:21] Speaker C: It was the Astros and the Washington.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Oh, the Nationals.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: Yeah. The game ended off on Wednesday at midnight. We bought tickets at 1205 and flew down the next day because it was the game seven was. Oh, man. We got 14 minutes of sleep.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: It was great at Houston, right?
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. It was incredible.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Yeah. I was in Cabo St. Lucas. My friend owns Sancho's, and they, like, shut the bar down for the Astros to play there.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: And I have a Sancho's hat that. You've seen it. That's the Astros colors from that year.
[00:07:49] Speaker C: Yep. So masters and super bowl on my list. So be super neat.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Okay. Well, there you go.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: All right, start us off.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: So, Jake, tell us where you're from.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: I am from a little town called Fortville, Indiana.
Around here.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: Grew up in Fortville.
Do you want to know a story? That's Mount Vernon. Yeah.
You graduated 0404 for show.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: So my. My daughter is 36.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: Okay. A couple years behind.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Just a couple years behind you. Brittany Nickum. That's my daughter.
[00:08:23] Speaker C: So, yeah, so I was. My dad had an auction company, and it was a way for. What he always told us later on is that it was a time for us to be able to spend together. So my mom was the clerk, and my brother was the ring guy, and me and my sister were the concessions. And my. You know, so everybody on Friday night, we got to hang out. So when I was 7 years old, he gave me the last $100 he ever gave me. Said, go buy hot dogs and chips and soda and all that stuff. And so I went about $100 worth of stuff and then sold it at the auction. And then the next day or the next week, you know, we had to go buy inventory. So basically, he kind of was teaching me.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:57] Speaker C: You know, inventory and food costs and that sort of stuff at a young age. And then I kind of just had a knack for it. And when I was 15. I got a job.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Seven.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Seven.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Like seven. And I went and bought like. What is the seven?
[00:09:08] Speaker C: Yeah. So I remember as a specific story is that, you know, like back in the day, CVS or I think it was Revco at the time or whatever it was called, and they had like 399, 24 pack coke and you could only buy two limit, two. So we would drive like nine different CVS's to get the limit on the Cokes. And you know, it was cheaper for 3.99 than it was at Kroger at 490. So I mean, I was learning how to save a buck.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Side story, I'm older than you. My wife and I are both 51.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: She will often tell a story about when she was a kid, easily, like single digits. So eight or nine. Her mom would give her money to go down to the corner drugstore and buy her cigarettes.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: Is that crazy?
[00:09:50] Speaker A: I was like, what?
[00:09:51] Speaker C: Yeah, they're for my mom. Okay. Yeah.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Okay. Here you go.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Here's a nugget on. You know, he said, you're gonna make like a ding noise whenever there's another. A guest shares about success. If you've got kids, teach them how to own a business when they're 7 years old. Don't teach them, go to college and then hope you get a good job, work there because they.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: You could lose that job, you know, for sure. And there's. There's a difference between that and having a kid who has chores at home that you give them a regular allowance whether they do the damn chores or not. You give them five bucks a week. That's not the same as what you're talking about.
[00:10:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: This is teaching you a whole actual skill, a skill set.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: And it's not a bad idea to have the kids like in the back room sewing shoes together.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Right, right. Exactly. Well, then, yeah. So then I started a little pizza joint down called Mozzies when I was 15.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: You started that?
[00:10:40] Speaker C: I didn't start it, but that's where I started.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: There's a dishwasher. Work my way up. I was assistant manager, you know, when I was 16, 17. And then I went to college to get out of the restaurant. I was like, man, this is it. I've done this. I don't want to do it. And I had to work my way through college. So I worked at little restaurants around town or in, you know, went to Ball State.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: And can I ask, what'd you go to college for?
[00:11:01] Speaker C: I started in. I wanted to be on the radio I wanted to be a. I see why, or whatever. And I got up there, I was like, oh, they don't make any money. This is all.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: No, they do not.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: So then I went into money. I was like, I want to be a radiologist. I want to be on radiology.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: All right.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: And the girl.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: It took radio. Yeah, yeah.
[00:11:17] Speaker C: But the girl in front of me in anatomy class couldn't pass anatomy, so therefore I couldn't pass an atom. So I was. I wasn't very studious. I was just a hard worker. And so I could remember the frontal lobe. I could remember all the lobes and the arteries and that sort of stuff. So then I just like, oh, I'm good at restaurants. I went to food and hospitality, and about two semesters into that, I was like, this is stupid. I'm going to be an assistant manager in Applebee's if I do this degree. That's what it was. It was like, I know all this stuff already. So I literally. I dropped out of school. I found the best restaurant in Muncie. It was called Vera. And I went, worked for them, and I kind of just worked my way up. I. Five days after I turned 21, I moved to Valdosta, Georgia. I worked for some of the most talented chefs in the south there.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: What's up? Kenny Moore.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Worked at a couple restaurants down there and kind of cut my teeth and then moved back to Indy and made a name for myself kind of in steakhouses and restaurants around and basically was executive corporate executive chef of a fine dining steakhouse, Prime 47.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: And so was there ever chef school involved?
[00:12:21] Speaker C: Every time I was getting ready to go to culinary school, I would either get a raise or promotion. And so I was like, I learned on the job. Yeah. Like, yeah, this is. I'm getting paid to go to school, so. And I really kind of seeked out really talented chefs, and so they let me cut my teeth and they kind of garnished, you know, kind of took me under their wing and showed me things I needed to know. And then once I kind of got to the fine dining level, I was like, man, I. And I always want to open a restaurant, you know, and so I started to really dive into the stuff I wasn't good at. So I started to go to front of house meetings and budget meetings and, and, and, and, and so I kind of just was like a sponge on everything I could. And I was 27 years old when I opened my first restaurant.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Only mildly related. Have you seen the show the Bear?
[00:13:01] Speaker C: I have, yes. Yes. Thoughts That's. Yeah, it's the most. Pisses me off. But it's good me off that it's.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: In the comedy category, because that's B.S.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Yeah. But, you know, it's. It's. Yeah, it's definitely the most accurate for the industry.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Every time I hear the word chef in my head, yes, Chef is.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's. It's. I mean, you know, it's a hierarchy. But the industry has changed over the last 20 years. It's changed over the last 10 years. It's changed over the Last 5 years, and it's even changed over the last 2 years and probably even the last 8 months. This industry is nothing what it looked like 15, 20 years ago. It is definitely a whole different animal, you know, and so the evolution of what we do or how we do it is ever evolving, and so it's definitely keeps you on your toes and that sort of stuff. So, yeah, it's been fun, but it's definitely aged me. I used to be young, skinny and.
And vibrant. Now I'm just old, tired, and fat.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: You know, if you want to run a marathon with us, we're running one in January. That's a great way to slim down.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: I'm literally on a. On a path right now that I've kind of talked to myself over the last, you know, two weeks from, like, I just. What are you doing? You know, where I was, you know, years ago, we were just so active and fun and that sort of stuff. And I'm like, I need to get time for vibrant again.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Time for action.
[00:14:21] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: I love Brad Schaefer. He's a great guy. But Prime 47 has never been the same since. You aren't down.
[00:14:27] Speaker C: No, no, no. They do. They do a great job. They've definitely. They've evolved as well, and so it's fun to see them. We're still friends and, you know, we support them. They support us. So was Brad involved when Brad was on his way in? When I was on the way. Okay, so he had a small piece, I think maybe when. When I was there. And then he was just. You kept growing and growing and growing and growing, growing. And I was kind of on my way out. So me and Brad, we know each other. I still call him for tickets and reservations.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: He's a great guy.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: So he can get your tickets to probably Taylor Swift's house.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Wow.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Did cost you an arm and a leg?
[00:14:57] Speaker B: It would not. Not to bring it down, but I've not been to any of your restaurants.
[00:15:03] Speaker C: It's all good, man.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: No, Brad has talked about them multiple times, and there will come a time when we're gonna go.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: There are a ton. You know, the industry and the. In the. And the food scene has really grown, and so, you know, you find your places that you like. We've kind of been a destination restaurant. The fact that we are in Fortville and, you know, that sort of stuff, it's a little off the beaten path. But I tell people, you know, I'm 31 minutes to downtown Indianapolis. I'm 3.1 miles to Geist Reservoir. I'm, you know, we're kind of in that. We're three miles of 69. You know, we're just so close to everything that it's like, you know, it's not that far, or, hey, we're gonna go have an experience.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: So I will say, for me, I'm on the south side.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Yeah. So, well, your two turns. I tell people, 65 to 70, you're right there.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Is there anything south side Indy?
[00:15:47] Speaker C: So I'm working a project now. We've got our finger in a little thing. This is not.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Is this breaking news?
[00:15:52] Speaker C: This is not. This. I shouldn't. I shouldn't bring this up. I shouldn't bring this up. But we are looking at it, and we get the opportunity or the calls weekly, monthly. Paige, come here. Come here, come here. You know, it's my. It's my. It's what I can handle. And it's like, I don't want to dilute our brand, first of all. I don't want to, you know, stretch us too thin. And so when the right project comes alive, the right project comes. Like, right now, we've got a really cool opportunity that would be probably right on the south side.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Area 69 and 465.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Yeah, we'd have a spot about 10 minutes from you if it goes through. But it's. It's. It's hard to. I'd love to be down.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: It starts with a.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Like a burgers and engine.
[00:16:29] Speaker C: I'd love to be from anywhere from Bargersville to, you know, to Plainfield to, you know, what's that Five Points Road or wherever that's. I'd love to be in those three areas. I mean, I think that they're. I think that there's a lot of cool stuff going on, and I think it's still a little bit of a food desert and so for sure.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Especially your type of restaurant.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: Yeah, and I'd love to be there. It's just the capability the capacity that I can do, and I don't have that. And it's like, I'm so passionate about our industry that if I don't. If I can't do it right, then I don't want to do it.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: So tell me about your. Your facility in Fortville is phenomenal.
[00:16:59] Speaker C: Yeah, it's fun.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: How did you, like, when you opened there?
People still thought the fort closed down. When the military left, they. Fortville wasn't what it is today. Today, there's simply great restaurants, and it's got a great downtown vibe to it. But how did you find that building? And what did it take to turn that building for where Fox Garden is, into a restaurant?
[00:17:22] Speaker C: Yeah, no, it's kind of a funny story. If you got a few minutes. I think we do.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: We do.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: We got time.
[00:17:26] Speaker C: But. So I was. There was a restaurant there. There was a bar there called the Georgetowner.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: And it was a freezer to fryer, Friday night fights kind of place where, you know, it was just. It was. You went in, there was a little rough and tumble. Cigarettes, freezer to fryer.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: I've never heard that.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: So much sense. Ye. And it was kind of one of those places. And I was like, man, this is just so underutilized. I said, man, I'd come home and visit mom and Dad. I grew up in Fortville, so I'd come home, visit mom and dad or whatever. I'd be like, man, I want a burger and a beer. You just couldn't do it. You couldn't do it unless you wanted to fight or if you want to smoke or, you know. And I was like, I just don't want that. And so I was kind of on my way at the steakhouse, and I had my hat in a couple of different places that I was applying for, and this place came available. So I went in, I talked to the guy, and he had just bought the building. And he's. I was like, what do you do this man? He goes, well, I rented it out, and he'd rent it out to another guy. And I said, well, here's my number. If anything falls through, give me a call. He said, well. So I called me a month later, and he's like, dude. He goes, this fell through. I've got a couple people looking at it, you know, give me your loi. So I gave him a little loi and came back and came back and came back, came back, his friend like, dude, I apologize.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: What's loi?
[00:18:34] Speaker C: Letter of intent.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: Yeah, so here's What I'll do, here's what I can afford. Here's all, you know, here's what I want to do. Commercial. I didn't know what the. And I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was 27 years old. I'm just Googling, like, how to open a business, you know?
[00:18:47] Speaker A: And so you couldn't even put it in chat. Yeah, exactly.
[00:18:51] Speaker C: So I go and I finally bug him enough, and he's like, dude. He goes, you have the least amount of experience. You have the least amount of money. He's like, but you won't leave me alone. He's like, I want to offer it to you. So I said, badass, man. So, yeah. So I cashed out my 401k, I cashed out my savings, I cashed out every dollar I had, and I opened fox garden in 17 days. Wow. On the 17th day, we had our POS system or point of sale system come in.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: That one.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: Okay. We had our point of sale system come in. And I called my partner at the time and I said, hey, dude. I said, is that point of sale getting installed today? He's like, yeah. And I said, well, we're opening at 6:00. And he was like, what? I said, I don't know. I'm out of money. We're broke, dude. I don't have any dollar. So he was like, we're opening tonight. So I put a little Facebook thing out and I said, hey, you know, soft opening today, 6:00. I called my buddy's dad. He's playing music. 6:00. Person at the restaurant. 6:15. Nobody. I'm like, I screwed this up. 6:30, 6, 45. I've got my 401K.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Says 01K.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. So 45 minutes later, the restaurant's full. Oh, wow. I don't even have a heat lamp. You know, I'm cooking food. I've got a me and one other guy back there. He's never even seen the menu. I'm like, dude, just put lettuce on this and that gets a reduction. And go fry those potatoes. And you know. And he's like, this is the bear right here.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: It was funny as.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: Yeah. And so I had a. I had a 50 steak on the menu. And it was. It was the same steak we had down at the steakhouse. And everybody, the whole time I was open to this restaurant, like, you are crazy. You're an idiot. Nobody's gonna spend 50 on a steak in Fortville. You. You. What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?
Whatever. The last table of the night, the guy orders a $50 steak, and I'm like, hell, yeah. So I'm like, I cook it perfectly. I've got great marks on it. I cook exactly the temperature I'm gonna deliver it. I'm bringing out to him. I'm like, I didn't order steak knives. Oh, I didn't order steak knives. So I'm bringing out the guy sitting at the bar. I'm thinking, man, what can I do?
[00:20:38] Speaker A: So pick it up and hold it in your hand.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm like, that's the way I walk into him. Like, well, I gotta tell my grandma's personal steak knife. I'm gonna go grab it for, like, what do I tell this guy? So I, like, put the steak down. Like, give me one second, sir. I'll grab that steak knife for you. I go back and open up drawers and stuff. There's like, a broken tipped serrated knife back there. I'm like, maybe I can lie about this.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: None of your fancy chef knives, right?
[00:20:58] Speaker C: So I bring it out to him, and he goes, dude, he's cutting with a butter knife. Dude, I'm cutting a steak with a butter kn. Man, this is the best steak I've ever had. Holy smokes. I never thought I'd have a filet in Fortville and cut it with a butter knife. This is unbelievable. By the end of the meal, he called, like, ten of his buddies. The next day, they all came in, got a $50 steak. They raved about how great they all.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Eat it with butter knife.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, they all did. Yeah.
And I. You know, that night I'd ran to the restaurant warehouse, but he's like. And he made them all use a butter knife the next day. And so that was kind of our claim to fame, that we became known as a steakhouse, because, you know, we have really great product, and you can cut your steaks with us with a butter knife. And so. But it was my. My mess up was definitely something that kind of gave us an identity and let us really kind of be known for what we do and what we do.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Well, we were about day 20.
[00:21:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: You'd been open about 20 days when I went and had that steak.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: That's funny.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: So then. And then you were. You still have the steak, but you also have this pork chop.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: This. This pork chop like that. I would. I would trade a limb.
[00:22:01] Speaker C: Yeah, no, it is for that pork chop. It is definitely unique and delicious.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: What makes a steak worth 50 bucks or more in the price.
What the menu says. Jackass.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: Yeah, there's different grades to steaks.
You know, Black Angus prime is 2% of all the stakes. All the cows in the world. So not everybody, not all cows could be graded this way. So the grade of steak, the quality of steak.
Excuse me, but yeah, that's what basically is kind of.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: I got a better answer for you. The taste.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: Like when you sit down and you have a great steak, you know?
[00:22:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: It's not Ponderosa with a butter knife.
[00:22:44] Speaker C: It's not Sizzler knife.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Is.
Yeah. I mean, I hear this often at restaurants. Grass fed beef.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: Don't do it.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: I mean, is. Is that grass?
[00:22:53] Speaker C: Is that a thing he nailed? It's, you know, where I talked about kind of the evolution of the restaurant industry forever. You know, people like local and people like, you know, sustainability and people like these things. I tell people, just because it's local or sustainable doesn't mean it's good, you know, and so, you know, it's gotten grass fed. Just sounds good. Sounds.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: You know, like, oh, it's so healthy. But I'm like, it's, it's not as flavorful. It's not as marbled. And you're right. I mean, it does have some grass flavor to it.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Really. It tastes wild game.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: I want.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: It's wild game.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: Meaty, grain fed, big fat Angus cow that's got all of marbling and fat and juiciness and that sort of stuff. As, As a grass fed, it does kind of lean it out and make it more healthy, but as we know, healthy, it isn't always delicious.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: So give me a cow that's never stood on the ground, that's been fed Heineken and rubbed every day. I think we call that wagyu. That's the good stuff, right? Yeah. I want my cow to live its life never touching the ground.
[00:23:49] Speaker C: And that steak, I was just in Vegas and there's a steak there at the prime. The prime and inside the Bellagio. And I think it's $800.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: What? The hundred dollars.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: And it's a wag. It's a. It's a Japanese wagyu something.
And it's. It will. When you get to that grade of a, of a. Of a steak, it will melt in your hand. The temperature of your hand. You'll start to. You could wash your hands with the, with the.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: I ate a place in Nashville where they. We had four different types of wagyu cooked at our table on a 1200 degree Himalayan salt block.
[00:24:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: And we got to see the birth certificates.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: And everything. And then, you know, they would.
On that salt block and then it would just literally melt in your mouth. It was so good.
[00:24:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: It's kind of delightful, actually.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's very delightful. We went on our anniversary to the Cane in Nashville, Tennessee. It was spelled Kanye, so I really wasn't expecting much.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Yeah, right. For sure.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: Everything.
So. Yeah. So that was the. That was the start of Fox Garden. And then we were. Wanted to do. You know, we were 21 and over when we opened.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: And everybody would come in and say, man, we should bring our kids. We wanted to bring our kids. We want to bring. You know. And so I felt like we were missing a market. Segment of the market. I figured. I thought we were missing the teenager to 20 year olds. And so I tried to open a restaurant in Fortville, the Fox Garden family in Fortville. And that didn't work. And so we found what used to be called Samari's. It was an Italian joint here on olio Road and 100. 1600 Fourth Street.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: And that came to fruition kind of quickly too. And that happened. And then Sun King happened. And then, you know, what's your.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: What do you have at Sun King?
[00:25:29] Speaker C: We're called the Den Inside Spirits down in Carmel. Yeah. It's a. It's a Fox Garden, but fast. Casual or counter service, but still no freezer. So our goal is to have our food out in seven to eight minutes. So almost fast food, but done well. So our menu kind of lets that happen.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: You know, we. We probably should shoot a show.
[00:25:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: At Sun King in Carmel and eat at the Den. Let's go and put that all together. That's a summer project.
[00:25:58] Speaker C: They're going to be opening one in Westfield as well. And we're going to take that kitchen as well.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Cool. So we'll have to do that one too.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: Yeah, that'll be fun.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: Let's go. We're gonna have to hook up some Sun King events.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: Real estate makes us drink on location.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So tell me how the. The lapel restaurant came about, because it has some similarities to me is Fox Garden School.
[00:26:17] Speaker C: But the.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: The food there.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: The music venue that you have set up, talk about that property.
[00:26:22] Speaker C: Smoke is such a fun spot. My dad was Smokey Burgess.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: No kidding.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: Yeah. So there was a famous baseball player played for the Pittsburgh Pirates named Smokey Burgess. He was a catcher. And when my dad was like seven or eight years old, he told me that he wrote this Guy a letter. He's like, hey, I'm a catcher. You know, I'm like, you. I can't run fast. Like, all my buddies call me Smokey Burgess. And so this guy wrote him back a letter, said, hey, kid, you don't go ahead and use my name, you know, whatever. So in the phone book, my dad was Smokey Burgess. They brought him a Smokey. So when I was 7, that Smokies was our. Was my concession stand.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Oh, his concession stand.
[00:26:58] Speaker C: That was the auction house. So when it came for sale.
I won't share all the details. When it came for sale, some weird stuff happened, but I'd wanted to be in Lapel. I thought that I could pull from Anderson, Noblesville, Newcastle, Pendleton, all these places that were also food desert. And so I thought that being kind of centrally located, I could find it. And so it came for sale. It happened quick, and it kind of was one of those things where it just felt right. I called my dad. We went down to Pax Veran, which is in Lapel. They do a great job. Brewery. That place is incredible. Some of the best beer in Indiana as well. No shade to Sun King come to.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: This side of town.
[00:27:37] Speaker C: Yeah, no shade. No shade to Sun King, but. But they do. They do a great job as well. And so I remember going down there, and that was actually dad's second auction company that he had this guy turned into a brewery. So I called him, I said, hey, Dad, I said, I got this lead on your old auction house and your first auction house. And I said, I want to open. I want to name it Smokey's. And he was like, hell, yeah, man. You know? So that came together pretty quickly as well. We opened that, and it was just the food I wanted to eat, the way I wanted to eat it. So we do pizza. I love. I love a thin crust. Yeah, I love a thin crust pizza. Like fresh veggies and fresh, like a lot of cheese. Cheese on top. So I basically created this pizza that I like, you know, and then I love fried chicken.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: The fried chicken there. I can't eat chicken. I'm literally. My wife loves the fried chicken.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's just. It was just. It was just fortuitous and very. It meant a lot to me to open that place and kind of give tribute to dad as Fox Garden, which I don't know if you're familiar or aware of, but Fox Garden, my partner at the times, his mother's main name was Fox.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: Oh, cool.
[00:28:39] Speaker C: And my mother's maiden name was Tea Garden with An eye. So we combined Fox Garden together. And so that's how that. That came available was I was driving down the road one day and I was like, fox, Fox. Fox Guard, man. That's cool.
So yeah, I was gonna name it Jane's Place or Plain Jane. It's kind of give tribute to mom and it all kind of came together one day and then. So Smokey's is after dad.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: That's very cool.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: So that's kind of the. The.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: And you have an outdoor music.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: Yeah, man, that's such a cool spot.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Just rocking. We've went and watched several bands there. My friend' hall and. Oh yeah, Chris is. Chris. Exactly. Good friends of mine. So it's a lot of fun.
[00:29:12] Speaker C: No, it's. It's a great venue, it's a great space. It's a fun time. It's just, you know, it's everything. It's a lot of people that love Fox Garden end up going there. Like, dude, this is my favorite restaurant. You have. So the ribs.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: I'm telling you, the ribs.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: So several times.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Do you still do the. The open mics Monday we're going to. In the summertime.
[00:29:32] Speaker C: Yeah. So I know I keep kind of talking about the same points, but you know, the industry's changed and so we're trying to figure out how to make a.
A fast casual esque place in a small town work as far as Fox Garden where I'm just a little bit. Have a little bit more revenue just for the price of the food and the location, that sort of stuff. Smokies needs a little bit of love. And so we've changed hours to kind of. To counteract some of those things. And so that place is very dependent on the weather. So once the weather breaks that place just really.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Maybe I can get Brian to drive up here this Friday night and we could go eat Tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow, Friday.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: So at Smokies, do you have regular nights for live music? And I say that because my friends on the south side love going to places for live music. So we would make the trip.
[00:30:24] Speaker C: No, for sure. Yeah. We. I just got our list and our schedule coming up for the summer so I can tag it on the. The podcast, whatever. Just kind of.
[00:30:33] Speaker A: Can I ask if the Jay Baker.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Band is going to be Jay. Jay does. Jay has not played at our places, actually. Why? Good friend.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: What is going on with Jay?
[00:30:41] Speaker B: I. Jay, you have to book him.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: For 2027 right now.
[00:30:45] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. A lot of our place is a one man band as my space is so limited. Yeah, Smokies is the one place that I can do a larger. A larger band. But no, Jay's. Jay's. You know, I mean, he is just so famous. He's just so great, and he's so great at what he does. But our venue. Yeah, our venues don't necessarily always allow for.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Plus he has like 300 people come with him every time he plays.
[00:31:08] Speaker C: Oh, that's awful. Yeah, but no, it's. Yeah, I mean, you know, we've talked about it, but like I said, I. I want to make sure that. That to have, you know, Jay. And Jay Baker J3 or, you know, whatever you're doing to get Cory Cox.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: In there every once in a while.
[00:31:23] Speaker C: He plays a little bit. Yeah, we got.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: Corey's a Fortville guy with a. I'm.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Waiting for you to get Riley Green to come over there.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Well, my friend Riley Green is. Is.
[00:31:31] Speaker C: Where's Riley from?
[00:31:32] Speaker A: A little bigger rally from Alabama.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: And Riley is.
He actually just got. Just posted yesterday. He is actually one of the highlights at CMA Fest, Nissan Stadium. Like, I watched him play a bar. The Hard Rock, the. The Chevy Bridgestone stage to the Chevy Vibe stage to now Nissan Stage. Pretty freaking awesome. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
[00:31:57] Speaker C: There's so much talent in music and, you know, this area produces so many talented people. Central Indiana. I mean, the talent and music that comes out of this area is just out of this world.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: We need more venues to highlight the music area.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: It's like, it seems to be growing. Like you're saying how that industry is changing, that I find a lot more places are getting live music.
[00:32:21] Speaker C: Yeah. And. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Which is cool.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: Yeah. When I opened Fox, I went to Nashville for like two weeks and just pick and chose. Okay. So I called Fox Garden, which. You haven't been there. We're gonna.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: We're gonna. Yeah.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: But no, I mean, it's. It's a. It's a very shotgun style restaurant similar to Nashville, where I call it Musician Ass on the Window. That's my. That's my advertising.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:42] Speaker C: You come in, you're gonna know there's music. I don't have to have to advertise music. We have big windows that open up and you can hear from outside. But, you know, that's what I always. That's what I felt like Nashville was so great at was that you could. That was free advertising, you know, and so I stole that and I stole a thousand things from a thousand different people opening restaurants. And, you know, imitation is the biggest form of flattery. And so I, I imitate a lot of things and I see a lot of things that I do now imitated, but neither here nor there. But that was kind of the idea of, of Fox Garden was to make it a Nashville esque restaurant.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: It has a style. There's. There's a piece of the bar that reminds me of Nudies.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Even though Nudies is what, the longest bar in Nashville. But you have this old school, like rundown mystique, you know, and downstairs the bar is.
[00:33:29] Speaker C: You definitely can't replicate Fox Garden as It's, you know, 125 years old. You know, the stairs, creek when you walk in, the walls, talk to you when you're there. You know, I mean, it's just one of those things where scary. We tried to, we tried to replicate it with Fox Garden family, but you know, we're in a, we're in a, a shopping center. We brought the food and the service and that sort of stuff, but high ceilings and that sort of stuff doesn't necessarily work with what our, what Fox Garden is.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: I'm only going to help you out in one area. We're going to have at least 15 additive free, traditionally made tequilas that need to be on your bar.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: So we've come to that part of this show when we pull something down. Well, yeah.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: So I mean, going along with, you know, listening to live music and having a good time oftentimes is shots. So we're going to take a break, set up our shots. We'll be right back. I'm Brian, your Indianapolis realtor. If you are looking to buy or sell a house in the Indy area, I'm your guy. If you're coming from out of state, want to make a move to the Indy area, I'm your guy. Check out the show notes for a link. We can get in touch and get you started. Thanks for watching. Now, back to the show. All right, well, we are back.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: Are we back?
[00:34:39] Speaker B: You know, when it comes to tequilas, Brad, you know, I'm not usually a fan.
[00:34:43] Speaker C: No.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: You threw out the idea of Fortaleza today and I perked up. I'm like, I actually like the Fortaleza.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: This isn't a tequila. I break out just for anybody, is it?
[00:34:53] Speaker B: Not just for anybody.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: And I do this, I do this because I know that this is available.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: He knows better. He's not bringing it out for me.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: It's more available for restaurants than it is for off premise.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: This is restaurant off premises liquor stores. And Fort Delays has done a great job of Flying bartenders to Tequila Mexico and sending them through a process of showing them how traditional tequila is made versus your Don Julios or your Claz Azuls. And showing them why to utilize a brand like this in your drinks. And teaching bartenders the difference between traditional and authentic and industrial tequila. And this is easier for you to get in your store than it is for me to find in a liquor store.
[00:35:38] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: And it is something that if you put it on the shelf, you know, there's that big blue bottle that people order because it's a fancy blue bottle, the bell. But this is a tequila that people go, what is that?
[00:35:48] Speaker C: Right?
[00:35:48] Speaker A: And then they find out, holy cow, this is good.
[00:35:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: So I. I gave you a lot. 126R Fortaleza Reposado. Cheers and cheers. And tell me what you think of this as tequila.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: Absolutely.
Got some coke, right?
Come on, Brad. I'm just joking.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: Now. Now I have to make him a batanga. I gotta make a botango.
[00:36:22] Speaker C: Now. That is incredible. That is very, very nice. That is very nice. Yeah, no, that's. That's great. I don't think you're gonna find anything.
I don't. I can't imagine find anything bad here, but. No, that is incredible. The.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: The agave flavor in a cocktail.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: Yeah, right.
[00:36:35] Speaker A: If you make a paloma or a cantorito or I make a lalo, I make it with Lalo Tequila. Lalo Lemon drop martini.
[00:36:44] Speaker C: Do you have a favorite cocktail? Favorite tequila cocktail, or does that change to. I don't. I feel like it's a really dumb question.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:36:52] Speaker C: Somebody had 300 bottles of tequila. Like, what's your favorite?
[00:36:54] Speaker A: So I. I do more tequila sipping than anything, and I don't have a. Have a favorite tequila. I have cherished tequilas, but I have go to. It's like Tapatito 110. This is a go to great agave.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: I want to try the one that's. That's aged in the widow Jane barrel.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Oh, that. That Tequila ocho and Widow Jane's amazing as well. Okay, cool. El tesoro is like a go to. It's what I'll pour on a regular basis. But I do get so many tequilas like this.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: This how you tell the difference?
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Well, you don't have that flavor.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: Impressive.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: There's so many differences in the way it's made and how. You know, the agave they use and the yeast they use and the time frame and the islands. Ver lowlands.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: And it's okay if you haven't seen his show on YouTube or social media. But holy. The amount of information that just comes out of his head. And he can pick out the different. And he could be completely BSing the whole thing. Who would know, right? But it's so impressive.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Not too long ago I did a blind and I picked three of the four. I said, what? Three of the four tequilas were blind. I was at a steakhouse downtown Indianapolis. Tony Steakhouse. Our friend Reuben, who's been on the show.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: What's up, Ruben?
[00:38:01] Speaker A: Ruben.
[00:38:01] Speaker C: Just chat with them last weekend.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Isn't he great?
[00:38:03] Speaker C: Yeah, he's great.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: So he popped over to our table and he's like so excited. He's like, I got this tequila for you to try. You gotta try this. So he poured it, he gave it to me. I took a drink up and he's like, tell me what that is. And I was like, is that Vulcan on Yeho? And he goes, no, it's Vulcan repo.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Damn, that's impressive.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: But it's drinking a lot of tequilas and knowing the profiles and really knowing the, the brands and how it's made.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: It's definitely. Yeah, definitely somebody.
[00:38:30] Speaker B: I have not passed the blind beer test.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: No.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Any way shape or you could pick.
[00:38:36] Speaker C: That is what you can pick my.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Okay, so this is probably my favorite part because there's this restaurant in Perkinsville, Indiana that is so famous and we, we used to go there in tailgate. You spent the day. Actually the funniest thing, the older I get, the earlier I eat. One time we got there to tailgate and they're like, like we got there, it was like 4:00 and they said we have two openings, 4:30 and nine. We're like, we eat at 4:30. We ate at 4:30. It was amazing.
[00:39:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: And so we would go do the tailgate out front. You hang out, you have this great time with people and then you go into this bar tavern restaurant that I think was built when Paul Revere was telling everybody the yellow jackets were coming.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: The yellow jacket. Interesting history.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: The throbbing purple Acesville school.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: They're getting better.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: The, the food was amazing. And then Covid happened and it changed the way that you went there. And all of a sudden I got a message, hey, have you heard?
Jake bought this restaurant. And I'm like, that's only going to take amazing to the next level.
[00:39:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: And we've been there twice since you've owned it. Once was during one of the birthday parties where you were actually there. And it's great seeing. So tell us about this famous unbelievable restaurant.
[00:40:02] Speaker C: So Bungies Tavern. Yeah. Building was built in 1854. When you buy real estate, you know that anything before 1900 will just say 1900 pretty much on the title. Yeah, this one said 1854.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:40:13] Speaker C: So it opened in 1933. 1934. 30, yeah. 1934.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Right after prohibition, Right, Yeah. Yeah, that'd be right.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So, yeah. So right at prohibition. I think they were operating during prohibition. So there's always stories of capones and Dillingers and that sort of stuff being there. But anyways, Chuck Bungie opened it in 1934, and he operated it as if, you know, it was kind of like a rough and tumble kind of place, you know? But if you wanted to. If you were 14 or 15 or 16 and wanted a six pack of beer, you knew where to go. Yeah, yeah. You go there and be like, hey, Chuck, you know, give you a six pack of beer, whatever. So, yeah, it kind of became, you know, just the local hangout. And then in 1999, a guy named.
It's kind of convoluted, but not really. I guess the real story is that a gentleman bought it and gutted it. His name was. It's eluding me right now. Obviously.
They'll come back to me. Anyways, he bought it, spent two or three years on it, just gutting it and making it all Indiana. So everything in there is Indiana. The panelings, Indiana. The light fixtures are from an old church in northern Indiana. The back. But I mean, everything is just the most Indiana bar ever. And he and a gentleman named Tony Huesler, which was the executive chef at the Glass Chimney, which was super famous, super caramel. And then he went and opened Jim Davis's restaurant up in Muncie called Foxfire. The creator of Garfield.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: I was gonna ask that.
[00:41:45] Speaker C: And then. So Jim Davis opened restaurant in Muncie because he'd have all these people from New York and California and LA come in. He's like, there's no place to eat. I can't wine and dine him. So he opened his own restaurant. Restaurant. So Tony went and did that, and then he came and operated, bought bungies and operated that for 25 years. And it just became this destination. I tell everybody it's St. Elmo's and Bungies. I mean, those are the two restaurants, Indiana, that you either want to go to, you've been to, you've heard of, you want to go, it's your favorite, whatever. But it's 12. 12 tables. You know, I can fit 58 people in there. At a time.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: And so that's where the tailgating became so infamous, where you'd come up and be like, I don't have a table. So. So people just have beer outside. So they start drinking beer outside.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: They would eat.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: Can you come in the restaurant? Bring the beer outside?
[00:42:32] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:42:33] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:42:33] Speaker C: So then you would come in and you would eat, you'd party in the parking lot, and you come in for dinner. And then, you know, you'd have a great time because you're half cocked, you know, and then whatever. So like you said, during COVID the regulations and stipulations, you had a separation. So they started taking reservations. And what they found out is that their revenue and they started making more money because people were like not shit faced when they came in. They weren't full from the parking lot, from charcuterie boards and whatever they were eating. And they actually come in and not just sober up because you'd be drinking the parking lot sometimes for five or six hours. So people come in, split an entree and drink water.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: You know, I'd much rather have a reservation.
[00:43:12] Speaker C: So now we take reservations. And what we saw is that people still tailgate, but you're not tailgating for six hours.
[00:43:18] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: We still came like an hour and a half early.
[00:43:21] Speaker C: I tell everybody, I said, come an hour early in the parking lot, have a good time. Because there's, you know, a couple weeks ago there was 40 people in the parking lot, you know, just before dinner. And it's the most Indiana thing. So it is. So yeah. So Tony had. Tony had created this monster and just really focused on. When I opened Fox Garden, they called us the bungies of Fortville because it was same thing. It was like a destination. It was super small, it was really good food, unassuming.
And so when I met Tony, I. I was just a huge fan of his. And I just kept kind of on him. I said, hey man, you want to sell this? I'd love to be in the conversation. And he was going to give it to his daughter and she started a family and she's like, dad, I don't know if I can do this. So he's like, called me one day, he's like, dude, you still interested? And I said, I mean, yeah.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Yes, I am.
[00:44:06] Speaker C: So it took us about a year to come to terms. And then once we came to terms, we've had it about a year and a half now. And so, you know, like I said, he just did such a good job with creating it and maintaining it. That it was just an honor and a privilege to kind of continue the.
What he created. People ask me all the time, you're not gonna change. I've changed a thousand things, but nothing that's forward facing, you know, nothing that changes the quality of the ingredients. I mean, I tell people about the keys. You know, we have the same staff, the same menu, the same.
Then you have. Everything's the same. Just. We just try to enhance it. So if you haven't been the.
[00:44:41] Speaker B: What's the food at Bungie?
[00:44:43] Speaker C: So it's a. If you've ever been to Fox Garden, which you haven't. For the second time. For the second time, he hasn't been to Fox. But it's a chalkboard menu I've got. It's not the menu, but it's everything. But it's all entree. So no sandwiches. But it's everything from the world famous Perkinsville pork, which is by far the best pork dish I've ever had anywhere in the world.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Best pork ever.
[00:45:05] Speaker C: Yeah. And then the pork chop is great, but we have fresh cut steaks and fresh seafood and homemade pasta and, and, and, and, and fresh seafood.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: You got a pond out back.
[00:45:13] Speaker C: Well, it's on the White River. On the White River. So catfish is, weirdly enough, none of.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: Those fish are white.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: From that dirty water.
[00:45:22] Speaker C: So, yeah. So I mean, it's a chalkboard. Everybody gets the same. The world famous tomato soup. It's a red gold tomato soup that is by far the best tomato soup I've ever had. And then, or, or a wedge salad. And then everything comes with the same two sides. They change every night. And then you get your protein. And then at the end you get the world famous sugar cream cake, which is just. I mean, people buy it by the, by the cases now. You know, people like, can we get this for my birthday? Can we get this for this? Can we get this for this? So it has definitely become the, the staples of the restaurant are just so. That's cool. Unique and cool.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: All right, here's another thing you'll think school. Who makes your pies?
[00:46:01] Speaker C: Yeah, so my mother, Jane. Jane's famous pies. She. She comes in every morning and, and makes homemade pies for us. And so she's kind of become her own little celebrity that, you know. And I've made them side by side with her. I've made them. I follow the recipe and I'll taste aside. And it's nowhere near as good. It's that extra little.
[00:46:20] Speaker A: Those change up like at Fox Garden.
[00:46:21] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: Say, what. What is mom's pie today? And they'll tell you what mom's pie is.
[00:46:25] Speaker C: Her pecan pies, everybody's.
[00:46:27] Speaker B: Is she making in a day?
[00:46:29] Speaker C: I think she told me she made 900 and something pies last year.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: There's a sugar cream pie.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: Sugar cream pie is out of this world. The pecan pies is incredible. The key lime pie, I don't know how else to tell you this, but it's. I've been to Key West, I've been to Florida. It's. I've never had one as good. I know it's my mom. I'm a little biased, but it is incredible. And then her apple. I mean the apple pie, just.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: That's my favorite, the apple pie.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: We had a lady used to come in, she'd get a piece of cheddar cheese on top and her cheddar cheese on an apple. Apparently that's what they did in the 30s and 40s. And she would say, there's what she say. Her line was, it's wrong, but it's a slice. A slice without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze. And so she made us. So she. So you put cheddar cheese on top of your apple pie. You put it in the oven, it melts on it. And then the saltiness and the sweetness.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: Yeah, you got a savory sweet. That's like the.
[00:47:21] Speaker C: I've still never done it.
[00:47:23] Speaker A: I. I'm gonna have to.
[00:47:24] Speaker C: I'm gonna have to. So you gotta say, I'll take a piece of cheddar.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: You throw like a scoop of ice cream with it.
[00:47:28] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, absolutely. All mode.
[00:47:29] Speaker A: Yeah, There you go.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:31] Speaker B: A slice of apple pie is my jam. I ain't throwing any cheese on it. I actually don't want alamode. I like the pie all by itself.
[00:47:37] Speaker C: Ok.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: There you go. Well, you do have a kind of a shallow profile. His flavor profile is like a shallow gene pool.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: It is so poor.
[00:47:46] Speaker C: I'll remember that when you come into Fox Garden.
[00:47:48] Speaker B: Yes, correct. Yeah, steak is good.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: He'll take the pork chop with no seasoning.
[00:47:53] Speaker C: Hey, hey.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: I don't even do that.
[00:47:55] Speaker C: I've been in this industry long enough that I like to cook the food the way you like to eat it. Where. You know, I had a guy come in and get a 12 ounce wagyu steak one time. Butterflied, well done.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: No, he did not.
[00:48:04] Speaker C: And he said, said. And he got a side of ketchup with it. He said, you can't take the Terre Haute out of a Boy. And I said then that was the time in my life that I finally was just like, you know what? That's how he wants to enjoy it. I'm gonna cook it how he wants it. And so people ask me, do I get offended by people. I'm like, dude, I want to cook it the way you want it.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:22] Speaker C: It might not be the way that I like it, but I love people like utterly. Mushrooms. Like, no, you don't like canned mushrooms. Let me cook you a mushroom dish where I like the texture. Like, shut up. Let me just cook you. Yes. See when you come in, I'll, I'll give you a perfect man.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: I'm getting a taste for the terra.
[00:48:36] Speaker A: Hoga, like fried up like a little piece of railroad tie and put on there. Say, it's just Korea.
[00:48:40] Speaker C: So funny if I tell you who, it's funny if I tell you who it was. It was, it was Hilbert. It was the guy.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: It wasn't Stephen Hilbert. Serious?
[00:48:48] Speaker C: Yep. He's from ter, right?
[00:48:50] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah, I forgot. He's from ter. He's not watching the show. He.
[00:48:53] Speaker C: No, he was. But. Yeah, I'll never forget it. I remember where he sat and he's like, I'll take that. And I was like, you know, it was my first $110 steak I ever cooked, you know, or whatever. And he was like, I want that butterfly butterflied well done. And a side of ketchup.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: And ketchup.
[00:49:04] Speaker C: And I was said, all right, dude.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: Is there a chance you could just throw it on the floor three or four times?
[00:49:09] Speaker C: Oh, the, the requests you get from people are, are incredible. In our, you know, in the restaurant I had a guy telling, I want that crispy on the inside. So I poked a bunch of holes in and I threw the fryer and I was like, this guy's gonna, he's gonna be mad at me. And he goes, that's the best steak I ever had. I was like, all right, dude.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Okay, so we're, we're medium rare people. Yeah.
[00:49:26] Speaker C: I'll eat it raw. I don't care.
[00:49:27] Speaker A: Good steak.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: Move a little bit when you little live. And some water. He probably would have made it medium rare.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: More of a medium guy now, but not a huge difference between the two.
[00:49:35] Speaker C: Yeah. Now, good steak, like I said, if you're eating good steak or good proteins that, you know, quality of food, the. You want that, you want to taste it.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Well, I'm going to say thanks for coming on.
[00:49:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: I know how busy you are and running all these restaurants and.
[00:49:49] Speaker C: Yeah, well, thanks for the tequila.
[00:49:51] Speaker B: Is there. And we'll put this up here on the screen. Is there social media people can follow?
[00:49:57] Speaker C: No, we don't do social media.
[00:49:58] Speaker B: No, no, real.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: He does. He's lying.
[00:50:01] Speaker C: This tequila's got me going, man. I know.
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Tell me how good are we switching up the tequila?
[00:50:06] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited to share it with everybody. Yeah. So follow us on the. On the interwebs. Obviously, our Facebook and Instagram are our best places to navigate through, kind of see what we're all about.
[00:50:21] Speaker B: Each restaurant have its own.
[00:50:22] Speaker C: Each one has its own. And then our website is just foxgarden Garden with an I dot com. And then that brings you into all of our concepts. So you can definitely check that out. But yeah, I mean, you know, it's. The idea is to. Is to give quality food and great service and a relaxed atmosphere, and those three things is what we kind of focus on.
[00:50:42] Speaker B: And so when I come to Fox Garden, I don't dress up.
[00:50:44] Speaker C: You don't have to dress up. No. But you might be next to somebody who's dressed up. And that's the thing. I mean, at Foxgard, you'll see somebody in swim trunks off the lake, and you'll see somebody on their first date or an anniversary, and they sit side by side and you know they're gonna get. You're gonna get the same service and the same quality food, and you come as you are. I mean, awesome know, so you could.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: Even do like an adult prom and dress up and come one.
[00:51:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you do that.
[00:51:03] Speaker C: No, you have to wear a funny hat. That's what we require.
[00:51:05] Speaker B: Oh. So I did not bring the funny hat today, but I.
[00:51:09] Speaker A: You know those big dome hats.
[00:51:11] Speaker C: Yeah. I did a. I told a girl one time, we were at a party and I was having a big party, and I told her, hey, we're having a. Having a party. Come over. It's like, oh, everybody's wearing funny hats. So she came over. She's like, I stopped at three places and she came in and she's like, she's the only one wearing a funny hat. And we were like. Like, it's one of my claim to faves. I just thought that was just.
[00:51:28] Speaker A: There's nothing better than telling the one. One perfume party.
[00:51:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: And they come in dressed like they're from Harry Potter or something. Yep. You're like, oh.
[00:51:37] Speaker B: Why are you dressed like that clown?
[00:51:39] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So funny.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: I meant casino party.
[00:51:41] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So funny hat party. Put that in your back pocket and tell somebody I'm ready.
[00:51:46] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:51:47] Speaker C: Good stuff, guys.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: All right, so what are you doing tomorrow night? You want to go to Smokies or Fox Garden or one of those restaurants? Tomorrow night?
[00:51:54] Speaker B: That will not work for me. We'll talk about that off air, but not tomorrow.
[00:51:58] Speaker A: I bet Jake will host us at one of these meals.
[00:52:00] Speaker C: I'd love to. Yeah. I'd love to. I'd love to bring a bottle in and sweet chat with our guys.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: So I'll bring a bottle, too.
[00:52:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:07] Speaker A: All right. I will not.
[00:52:09] Speaker C: Jake, cheers. Appreciate you. Thanks for having me.
[00:52:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I appreciate you very much. Thanks for making such great food.
[00:52:13] Speaker C: Absolutely. Nice meeting you.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: And check out all of the various social medias to follow Jake and all of his restaurants. And of course, give us a like and share this episode because we're awesome and you loved it.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:52:27] Speaker B: All right, we'll see you next time on Real estate makes drink. Cheers.
[00:52:30] Speaker C: Thank you. Cheers.
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