Southern Comfort: The Heart and Soul of Crisp in Rochester
Chris Lindstrom welcomes Wendi Loyet to the Food About Town podcast to discuss her journey from Texas to opening her restaurant, Crisp, in Rochester. The conversation dives into the Southern hospitality that influences the restaurant's atmosphere and menu. Wendi shares how her upbringing in Texas, filled with open doors and home-cooked meals, inspired her vision for Crisp—a place where patrons feel at home. The episode also touches on the restaurant's growth in the community, emphasizing how it aims to be a neighborhood haunt where people can enjoy signature dishes like chicken and churros.
Throughout the interview, Wendi reflects on the challenges and triumphs of navigating the restaurant business, particularly during the pandemic. The discussion highlights the importance of staff training and cultivating a team that shares a passion for hospitality. The episode illustrates her commitment to making Crisp a beloved local destination for both casual diners and special events.
Mentions
- crisprochester.com
- Crisp (@crisp_rochester)
- Roam Cafe (@roamcaferoc)
- Avvino (@avvino)
Mentioned in this episode:
Guglielmo's Home Grown Marinara Sauce
Guglielemo's Home Grown Marinara Sauce is available in your favorite grocery stores! Pick up a jar today! https://www.guglielmosauce.com/
Behind the Studio Door
Behind the Studio Door, hosted by Molly Darling and Christian Rivera, takes listeners on a exploration of artists and their creative processes. Through deep and meaningful conversations, they uncover the stories and experiences that shape the outward expression of their work.
Sweet Pea Plant Based Kitchen
Sweet Pea is a plant-powered kitchen helping you achieve wellness. Harnessing the power of food as medicine, we help you realize your happiest, healthiest self. Use promo code Lunchador15 for 15% off your order! https://sweetpeaplantbased.com
Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone.
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Transcript
I'm Chris Lindstrom, and this is the Food About Town podcast, Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, why Rochester?
Chris Lindstrom:Chris Lindstrom was a hoot.
Chris Lindstrom:He was just so much fun.
Chris Lindstrom:He never stopped talking.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, it was great.
Chris Lindstrom:Here's a good idea.
Chris Lindstrom:Have a point.
Wendy Loyet:It makes it so much more interesting for the listener.
Wendy Loyet:Then we don't need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere.
Chris Lindstrom:Is that clear?
Chris Lindstrom:Because I'm a pro.
Chris Lindstrom:That's what pros do.
Wendy Loyet:I'm a professional.
Chris Lindstrom:Look it up in the book.
Chris Lindstrom:But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm back.
Chris Lindstrom:And we are back with another episode of the Food About Town podcast.
Chris Lindstrom:Beautiful, beautiful fall day in Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:And I'm here with a guest.
Chris Lindstrom:Guest.
Chris Lindstrom:Why don't you introduce yourself?
Wendy Loyet:Hi, my name is Wendy Loyet.
Chris Lindstrom:And where are you from?
Wendy Loyet:I'm from Dallas, Texas.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Chris Lindstrom:And your establishment in Rochester is?
Wendy Loyet:Chris Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:And what are the plugs?
Chris Lindstrom:So where can people fit find Crisp, and where can they find you on all the social medias and things?
Wendy Loyet:We are at the corner of South Clinton and megs at 819South Clinton.
Wendy Loyet:We've got a little green awning on the corner.
Wendy Loyet:You can't miss it.
Wendy Loyet:That says Crisp Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And pretty much all of our handles, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, everything is just Chris Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:That's awesome.
Chris Lindstrom:So, well, let's.
Chris Lindstrom:Let's do a quick.
Chris Lindstrom:Let's do a quick dive into what, what is crisp as a restaurant and what's the style of the place?
Chris Lindstrom:So one.
Chris Lindstrom:What.
Chris Lindstrom:What.
Chris Lindstrom:What is crisp?
Chris Lindstrom:How would you define it as a restaurant?
Wendy Loyet:So when I dreamed it up, I wanted it to feel like you were really at home.
Wendy Loyet:Because when growing up with my grandmother and cooking with gr.
Wendy Loyet:My grandmother, the back door was always open.
Wendy Loyet:People would always come in.
Wendy Loyet:There was always food on.
Wendy Loyet:I just grew up that way in Texas or somewhere else in Fort Worth.
Wendy Loyet:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:And then we moved away and moved to Belgium, to Brussels for a while when I was a kid, my mother and I.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, because that, like, what you described originally is such, like, it's almost like the stereotypical, almost storybook Southern style.
Chris Lindstrom:Growing up with the open door, that hospitality, that.
Chris Lindstrom:That feel like.
Chris Lindstrom:It almost feels.
Chris Lindstrom:It almost sounds fake.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, in many ways.
Chris Lindstrom:But also it is way.
Chris Lindstrom:A lot of people did grow up.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, 100%.
Wendy Loyet:So I just wanted it to feel like.
Wendy Loyet:And I love hearing guests say, like, I feel so at home.
Wendy Loyet:It feels like we're in your home, like in a living room.
Wendy Loyet:So I just have always loved hospitality and taking care of people.
Wendy Loyet:I've been in and out of the business for 35 years.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So.
Chris Lindstrom:So how did you.
Chris Lindstrom:So when you ended up in Belgium, what age were you when you went?
Wendy Loyet:Seven and a half.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, wow.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:That's a bit of a shock to the system.
Chris Lindstrom:From Texas to Belgium.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, it was awesome.
Wendy Loyet:I went with my mother.
Wendy Loyet:We were there till I was 12, traveled all over Europe for her job.
Chris Lindstrom:So what kind of work did she do?
Wendy Loyet:She was an engineer on the F16 program for Lockheed Martin.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, wow.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Chris Lindstrom:But what.
Chris Lindstrom:What a.
Chris Lindstrom:What an interesting opportunity.
Chris Lindstrom:But bouncing around so much, it almost has that.
Chris Lindstrom:Almost has that military bounce around lifestyle.
Chris Lindstrom:Forces you to be very adaptive.
Wendy Loyet:Very, very adaptive.
Wendy Loyet:And I got to try so many good foods at a very young age.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Stay on cheese farms.
Wendy Loyet:She actually dropped me off at a cheese farm in Holland, really, for six weeks, and said, they're going to take care of you.
Wendy Loyet:You're going to learn how to make cheese.
Wendy Loyet:I've got a lot of traveling to do, and me tagging along, you know, in tow, was difficult.
Wendy Loyet:So I just lived on a cheese farm with these people who spoke very little English and got.
Wendy Loyet:They cobbled me some wooden shoes right away, and I learned how to make Gouda cheese and stayed with that family.
Wendy Loyet:It was an amazing experience.
Wendy Loyet:But truly is like, a root of why I love the process of cooking and making food and taking care of people.
Chris Lindstrom:And now you know for sure that even though you say Gouda here in America, you know that it's Gouda.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, it's.
Chris Lindstrom:How you know that?
Chris Lindstrom:But I think it's always.
Chris Lindstrom:It's always of reasonable taste to, like.
Wendy Loyet:Americanize it a little bit.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:We don't want to say, you know, oh, I went to Italy.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm like, no, just say Florence.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, no, you don't want to be that person.
Wendy Loyet:No.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Wendy Loyet:I can't say Monticello, which in Texas they say Monticello.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:I'm like, no, it's Monticello.
Wendy Loyet:Come on now.
Wendy Loyet:How do you say the instrument?
Wendy Loyet:And they're like, well, cello.
Wendy Loyet:Like, yeah, it's the same thing.
Chris Lindstrom:Same letters, please.
Wendy Loyet:Same letters.
Chris Lindstrom:Is there any other, like, so you bounce around.
Chris Lindstrom:Is there any other specific, like, food memory you have that just, like, burned into your.
Chris Lindstrom:Burned into your subconscious from your experience, bouncing around?
Wendy Loyet:I mean.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, the.
Wendy Loyet:Well, yeah, my mom would go to this place called the Flying Dutchman.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:Every Friday night and meet up with her co workers.
Wendy Loyet:We would all eat.
Wendy Loyet:I was the only kid there because I think.
Wendy Loyet:But she worked with mostly men Engineers, so their wives would stay home with the kids, but I would be in tow.
Wendy Loyet:So I would eat dinner with them and then I would go upstairs above the restaurant and go to sleep with the owner's kids.
Wendy Loyet:And I just.
Wendy Loyet:That is burned in my memory.
Wendy Loyet:I love that feeling of you live above your restaurant and you're there all the time.
Wendy Loyet:Like, I just, I love that feeling and the smell of the food and fresh ingredients coming in first thing in the morning and.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Just adore it.
Chris Lindstrom:There's something.
Chris Lindstrom:So I grew up in a small family business as well, you know, not in the exact same way as a restaurant, but, you know, there is something, something very, you know, developmental about living that experience of the business was at our house.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:It was never.
Chris Lindstrom:Not present.
Chris Lindstrom:It was always part of life.
Chris Lindstrom:It was always part of everything that happened.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:And, you know, being in tow for that, you know, you're part of that business.
Chris Lindstrom:Whether or not, whether or not you're part of, you know, the engineering work, you're part of that whole experience because.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, you're a tight little family group.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Loyet:100%.
Wendy Loyet:Because she was a single mom, so we were just the two of us always.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a different kind of.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a different kind of a way of growing up where you almost have a different kind of responsibility.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:As like, you're not just a kid, you're part of the household.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, totally.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So when did you end up getting back to.
Wendy Loyet: Back to the US in: Wendy Loyet:So I'm a lot older than I might look.
Wendy Loyet: So like: Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:And then back to Texas to be closer to my grandmother who was ill.
Chris Lindstrom:And San Diego obviously being another defense contractor hub.
Chris Lindstrom:For those that don't know this, San Diego is another place where.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, you're, you're Lockheed, you're this, you're.
Chris Lindstrom:That you're ending up at.
Chris Lindstrom:You're ending up in San Diego at some point or another.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:It's like Xerox here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So back to Texas and, you know, that whole, you know, that experience.
Chris Lindstrom:So you're back to Texas in your teens.
Chris Lindstrom:So growing up in Texas and did you have an idea of where you were going to end up at that point?
Chris Lindstrom:Did you, did you have an idea whether or not it was true or not?
Wendy Loyet:No, I just have always been a fly by the seat of my pants kind of kid.
Wendy Loyet:Moved out right when I turned 18, didn't.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, I went to college, but I screwed around and dropped out and then went back because my mother was really not, like, domineering, but, like, just very focused.
Wendy Loyet:Like, you've got to have your college degree.
Wendy Loyet:You need to have a professional job.
Wendy Loyet:Restaurants aren't, you know, a professional job, so.
Wendy Loyet:And I was always working in restaurants since I was like, 15, I think was the earliest that I was hired and got a paycheck.
Wendy Loyet:Worked in them before, but didn't get a paycheck quite yet.
Chris Lindstrom:Were you running tables?
Chris Lindstrom:Were you?
Wendy Loyet:I was in the kitchen, washing dishes, busting tables, things like that.
Chris Lindstrom:So I.
Chris Lindstrom:Yes, because that's like, you know, the first instinct, you know, would be like, oh, were you.
Chris Lindstrom:Were you hosting?
Chris Lindstrom:Were you serving?
Chris Lindstrom:But, like, washing dishes?
Chris Lindstrom:You see everything.
Wendy Loyet:Everything you have.
Chris Lindstrom:You have this eye on how the whole operation works.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:From top to bottom.
Chris Lindstrom:I've never had the, you know, experience of working full time at a restaurant, but, you know, I would, you know, my buddy would say, oh, I need somebody to help out at a wedding.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, all I did was run tables and move dishes around.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I was already, you know, this was like two years ago, three years ago.
Chris Lindstrom:He's like, I need somebody to do this.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm like, okay, fine, I don't care.
Chris Lindstrom:Just run him running dishes, wiping them off, stacking them up, getting ready for the dishwasher.
Chris Lindstrom:But anybody who's been anywhere around knows how much that is the hub of we can run a restaurant.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:Not if the dishes are clean.
Wendy Loyet:Right, Exactly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And so I finally finished college, went into advertising and marketing.
Wendy Loyet:Um, but always.
Wendy Loyet:And it was a very slow, progressive.
Wendy Loyet:Like, I was a lowly copywriter, junior copywriter, moved up as a writer, but I always worked in restaurants in the evenings.
Wendy Loyet:And I loved it so much.
Wendy Loyet:So, you know, I stayed in advertising, moved up through the ranks.
Wendy Loyet:Communications, PR, marketing.
Wendy Loyet:And after about, right around 27 years, I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, I mean, that's.
Chris Lindstrom:That's not.
Chris Lindstrom:That's not a short time.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, that's a career for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:And that.
Chris Lindstrom:That's a.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a very interesting field because I love.
Chris Lindstrom:I love the art of communicating.
Chris Lindstrom:I love that stuff.
Chris Lindstrom:But the focus, Right?
Chris Lindstrom:And it's the focus and seeing things before they happen, knowing how to recover from challenging situations.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, that's really what it turns out to mean.
Chris Lindstrom:You're also a counselor, right, for the people working with.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because they have thoughts, but they don't really know what's going to work.
Chris Lindstrom:They.
Chris Lindstrom:They know what's going to work.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, they don't work for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:They always have ideas.
Wendy Loyet:Many, many ideas.
Wendy Loyet:And that's something I don't miss at all is the client facing aspect of that.
Wendy Loyet:I love being customer facing in the restaurant, but being client facing and advertising is an ass whipping.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Honestly, always.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So were you, were you in an industry with.
Chris Lindstrom:With marketing or was it kind of wide, meaning you could get anything from, you know, from a machine shop to a, you know, to a, you know, customer facing business or was it really focused?
Wendy Loyet:It was pretty focused.
Wendy Loyet:I was always in retail marketing.
Wendy Loyet:Okay, so like J.C.
Wendy Loyet:penney, Neiman Marcus furniture.
Chris Lindstrom:So you were definitely on the national scale.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So was that in Texas or did.
Wendy Loyet:You end up moving all in Texas?
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, wow.
Wendy Loyet:And then finished my career with a small boutique agency in la.
Wendy Loyet:But I was their east coast person, so I was remote before COVID Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:But my client base was all personal injury attorneys.
Chris Lindstrom:Wow.
Wendy Loyet:SEO marketing.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So brutal.
Chris Lindstrom:So you had, you know, you had the hammer, you had this, you had that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's always that.
Wendy Loyet:And they always want to be on page one.
Wendy Loyet:My God.
Wendy Loyet:Number one on page one.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, that's the only thing they care about is being visible.
Speaker C:That's right.
Chris Lindstrom:Because how do you differentiate other than I'm desperate.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:No, I find that interesting because the, you know, the national, the national size businesses is a very.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a very complex thing because it's not one business anymore.
Speaker C:No.
Wendy Loyet:It's a giant ship with a ton of moving parts.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:That all move really slowly because that ship moves really slowly.
Wendy Loyet:So.
Chris Lindstrom:So were you working with corporate or like divisions of those things?
Chris Lindstrom:And it's because I'm just intrigued because it's such a, such a world.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm not, I don't know.
Wendy Loyet:With JCPenney, I was in the court on the corporate side.
Wendy Loyet:Wow.
Wendy Loyet:With set, I was a 7 11.
Wendy Loyet:Also.
Wendy Loyet:Corporate.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, it was all corporate on the.
Chris Lindstrom:That would have been a lot of the, the heyday of J.C.
Chris Lindstrom: s and early: Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's like the amount of man, the amount of demand, the amount of advertising they did at that time.
Wendy Loyet:Tons.
Chris Lindstrom:Is staggering.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:In a completely different way than it's done now.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Completely different.
Wendy Loyet:When I started there, I was writing the catalog.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, really?
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, wow.
Wendy Loyet:The one we all used to thumb through and dog ear the pages for Christmas.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:A little bit younger, but I mean, I Do remember sitting down with, you know, the electronics catalog?
Chris Lindstrom:I'm trying to remember the name.
Chris Lindstrom:It wasn't the Radio Shack one, it was the other.
Chris Lindstrom:It was the other one, like consumer something or other.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I can't think of what it is.
Chris Lindstrom:But you know, it was another one of those like, you know, catalogs.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, here's all the electronics coming out.
Chris Lindstrom:Here's this.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:When magazines were the thing, it was how you learned about the industries was totally magazines.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's, you know, that, that style of marketing was so specific.
Chris Lindstrom:And then you saw that evolution of essentially that style going away or losing its effectiveness gradually over time.
Chris Lindstrom:And then it just hit a cliff of, oh, you can't do it that way anymore.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:My last seven, eight years of my career were solely focused on organic search engine optimization for websites.
Chris Lindstrom:What a jarring switch.
Wendy Loyet:Because I'm not a technical person, but I would, I was the client facing person over the digital team.
Wendy Loyet:So I would have to put into layman terms for the clients all the technical stuff that these developers don't.
Wendy Loyet:They don't speak English.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And I don't mean like they don't speak English like American.
Wendy Loyet:They just don't.
Wendy Loyet:They speak tech.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Wendy Loyet:And so I learned a ton about deep, deep dives into websites.
Chris Lindstrom:Well.
Chris Lindstrom:And I think that's also a very.
Chris Lindstrom:It's one of those skills that is sometimes comedically derided is being the, you know, it's that office space thing.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, I talk to the people so you don't have to talk to the people 100%.
Chris Lindstrom:But also it's a very valuable skill being able to work with multidisciplinary groups, working with customers on their wavelength, working with engineers, working with managers, working with the people, Making sure your office is clean.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Being able to work with everybody and not only working with them, but knowing them.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Is knowing people is such an important skill with everything that we do.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:100.
Wendy Loyet:And like living in Europe gave me a lot of help and education about meeting new people, dealing with new people, learning new languages, tasting new things, being.
Wendy Loyet:Being in uncomfortable situations all the time.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:You know.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, and it forces you to move quick.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that, that, not flexibility as much, but that ability to almost bounce between and not feel like you're lost.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because I think that's where a lot of people end up feeling is like, oh, I don't belong anywhere.
Chris Lindstrom:And I know I felt that way for a long time because I wasn't.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm really good at doing the work.
Chris Lindstrom:But My maximum spot is being in the in between.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Able to grab, grab a thread, tweak it and move on to the next and just move on and keep on going.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Now I don't really like the nuts and bolts of things.
Wendy Loyet:I like coming up with ideas and then working with a team to execute it.
Wendy Loyet:I don't enjoy as much anymore the like minutia of things.
Wendy Loyet:I like things to move fast and change and I love change and that's why I like the restaurant business so much.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, let's, so let's go into, let's go into your transition from Texas to Rochester because that, that's a story that I've heard you tell.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:A few times.
Chris Lindstrom:Because that's kind of the story that ended up being told not about you, but that was like the defining characteristic was this journey.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about it for a few minutes and then we're going to go into really diving into the restaurant and understanding what you do.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about that transition from Texas to Rochester.
Wendy Loyet:So my wife is an actuary and when we met 20 years ago, even though I was an English major and I pretend that I know the definition of a lot of words, I didn't know what the hell that was.
Wendy Loyet:And so that was a funny kind of meet cute thing.
Wendy Loyet:And she's still a pension fund actuary today.
Wendy Loyet:She has a full time day job but she runs the books for the restaurant and she was recruited by Manning and Napier.
Wendy Loyet:So we moved up here.
Wendy Loyet:I was remote for the agency in la.
Wendy Loyet:I could work from anywhere.
Wendy Loyet:And so that's when I became their east coast person.
Wendy Loyet:I was their central time zone person when we were in Texas, but moved over to the east coast side of things when we moved here.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's, it is a big, it's a big change culturally from.
Wendy Loyet:It reminds me.
Wendy Loyet:Well, the climate and the trees and the hills and the seasons remind me a lot of Belgium.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Wendy Loyet:I love that about it.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's like this is all I've known from living in places because I grew up in Buffalo and I've lived in Rochester for a little more than I lived in, you know, the Buffalo area.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's what, it's what I know, it's how I'm, how you're, how I'm built.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, I'm built in a Rust Belt kind of way.
Chris Lindstrom:And that, that's been my mentality is that, you know, that grind that, hey, we hate everybody that doesn't like us kind of thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Which is a very different.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a very different attitude.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, I don't know.
Wendy Loyet:Texas pretty much thinks it's its own country.
Wendy Loyet:And if you're not, you know, if you're not from Texas, where are you even from?
Wendy Loyet:So now they definitely have some major state pride.
Chris Lindstrom:Completely fair.
Chris Lindstrom:So.
Chris Lindstrom:So moving here and then, you know, hitting.
Chris Lindstrom:Hitting the pandemic.
Chris Lindstrom:But, you know, what is, you know, what have you found more positive about the experience of moving to Rochester that you didn't expect coming in?
Wendy Loyet:That it's a really culturally diverse city.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:With a lot of arts, a lot of amazing festivals, so many things to do.
Wendy Loyet:And only 253,000 people.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:You know, not millions.
Wendy Loyet:It doesn't take.
Wendy Loyet:Like, we lived in the suburbs of Dallas, but really only 12 miles from the city, and it would take two hours to get there to go to a basketball game or something.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, wow.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So that was very unexpected.
Wendy Loyet:When I came here, people were like, oh, five o'clock, traffic.
Wendy Loyet:I'm like, we're doing 55 miles an hour.
Wendy Loyet:That's not traffic, guys.
Wendy Loyet:We're moving.
Wendy Loyet:So that was like a fantastic big city feel with diversity, but small city getting around kind of thing.
Wendy Loyet:I love that.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, and I think the point you brought up is.
Chris Lindstrom:Is one of the things I.
Chris Lindstrom:There's a lot of us not fighting against, but we're all.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a little bit of an uphill battle is the mentality that you mentioned where your perception was, there's so much to do, there's so many opportunities.
Chris Lindstrom:There's so many, you know, so many cultural things to go to and otherwise, and things for everybody and things for, you know, discrete groups all at the same time.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's something I think we're all still pushing against is that mentality that there's nothing to do here.
Wendy Loyet:I know.
Wendy Loyet:I hear people say that all the time.
Chris Lindstrom:Isn't it weird?
Wendy Loyet:There's nothing to do, there's nowhere to go out to eat.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, there's so much to do here.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I think it's one of those.
Chris Lindstrom:Especially if you grow up there, that you know.
Chris Lindstrom:You know it from your perspective from you as that time period where you.
Chris Lindstrom:All you see is the opportunities in the world.
Chris Lindstrom:All you see is, yeah, the big.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, we can go to the big city.
Chris Lindstrom:There's so much more there.
Chris Lindstrom:There's so much to do.
Chris Lindstrom:But you.
Chris Lindstrom:You lose the perspective of opportunity because opportunities different.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:There's.
Chris Lindstrom:There's the big opportunity there.
Chris Lindstrom:But there's 20 times the people going for the same opportunity.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, here, there's so many things you can do because we aren't that big.
Speaker C:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You can make a bigger impact by just saying, yes, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And they were on a great lake.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Wendy Loyet:I never hear anyone talk about it either.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, legitimately from my house, we can be at what is borderline and ocean.
Speaker C:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:In under 10 minutes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:It's wild.
Chris Lindstrom:It's one of the.
Chris Lindstrom:One of the biggest freshwater lakes in the world.
Chris Lindstrom:And like, the infrequency that I'm next to it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, I can be at the beach.
Chris Lindstrom:At a beach where you cannot see the other side of it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:In under 10 minutes.
Chris Lindstrom:And the amount of times I touch sand there per year is probably two.
Chris Lindstrom:But we all, we all lose that.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, I grew up in Buffalo.
Chris Lindstrom:I cannot tell you the last time I purposefully went to Niagara Falls.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I don't remember the last time I went there.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, we've been there.
Chris Lindstrom:It's an hour away from here.
Chris Lindstrom:It's one of the world's great things that people travel all around the world, isn't it?
Wendy Loyet:One of the wonders of the world, the moderns.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's an hour and change away from here.
Wendy Loyet:Right here.
Chris Lindstrom:I legitimately don't remember the last time I went there.
Speaker C:Yeah, we went last year.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And in the summer when I have a day off, I grab my chair, my umbrella and a book and I go and I sit at.
Wendy Loyet:On the beach.
Chris Lindstrom:Wow.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I think it's amazing.
Wendy Loyet:I'm shocked that people, you know, don't, don't do it.
Wendy Loyet:But I get when you grow up with it, like, people go to Dallas, Texas, and then they see like cow town and they move longhorns through the city.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:At like 3 o'clock in the afternoon every day, as you do.
Wendy Loyet:As you do in cow town.
Wendy Loyet:And nobod from Fort Worth ever goes and watches that.
Wendy Loyet:But then if you're a new person there, you're like, whoa, this is crazy.
Wendy Loyet:These are huge animals.
Wendy Loyet:They're just walking them through the city.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So you should get used to it here.
Wendy Loyet:And then you just kind of don't go anymore.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:They are big old animals, aren't they?
Wendy Loyet:Enormous.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, it's one of those things where like, like people know that they're big and then you stand next to one, you're like, oh, my God.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, these are.
Chris Lindstrom:And the same thing like with moose or wolves, right?
Chris Lindstrom:People like, oh, yeah, it's a big dog.
Chris Lindstrom:No, no, they're monsters.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:These are terrifying giant monsters that live in our world.
Chris Lindstrom:Like you can go to the Adirondacks and there are moose in theory.
Chris Lindstrom:And they're so big.
Wendy Loyet:It's wild.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, it's.
Chris Lindstrom:I, I really like that perception of things and say, oh, you know, we have so much bigness.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And the Finger Lakes and the close proximity to New York City or to Maine or to Vermont.
Wendy Loyet:Like in Texas, if you drive for nine hours, you're still in Texas.
Wendy Loyet:You might be in a different climate zone, but you are still in Texas.
Wendy Loyet:And so here there's so many things you can just hop in the car and it feels a lot like Europe, like Western Europe.
Wendy Loyet:You can hop in the car and be in Holland in an hour.
Wendy Loyet:You can hop in the car and go to France.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, that's how I, when I was little, what we did a lot on the weekends and I love that.
Chris Lindstrom:Here you can be in Toronto in three hours.
Wendy Loyet:You can be in Toronto, whole nother country.
Chris Lindstrom:What an amazing city.
Chris Lindstrom:I was just there again a couple weekends ago and like, what an amazing world level city.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:That's three hours away.
Chris Lindstrom:It's closer than Cleveland.
Chris Lindstrom:It's closer than Pittsburgh.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's like essentially in our backyard and it's, it's amazing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So again, so you ended up moving here and, you know, pandemic hits and you're learning to be here still.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:As that, as that happens and you're figuring out, you know, at that point you're still working.
Chris Lindstrom:Are you consulting or were you full time working?
Wendy Loyet:Full time.
Wendy Loyet: We moved here in: Chris Lindstrom:So was that something that was already brewing in your head or was it something about changing your location that sparked that?
Wendy Loyet:It, it definitely sparked.
Wendy Loyet:Is it.
Wendy Loyet:It seemed like a mountain I could climb here.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And in Dallas I wanted to do it, but it was gonna be on a much different scale.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Really expensive.
Wendy Loyet:A difficult market because it's so saturated.
Wendy Loyet:I was going to have to come up with another plan, be it catering or private.
Wendy Loyet:Private chef, things like that.
Wendy Loyet:And here it seemed like, okay, this is, I feel like this is a market I could do something really different and special.
Wendy Loyet:And it feel like I've got a little bit of home in my restaurant and I can mark.
Wendy Loyet:And I also felt like with my marketing expertise and like I can market this town.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And get everybody to know about our restaurant.
Chris Lindstrom:I love that.
Chris Lindstrom:So I think we're going to do, we're going to take a break and we're going to dive back in to learning about Crisp as a place and the journey over the last few years.
Chris Lindstrom:So take our break and we'll be right back.
Chris Lindstrom:And we're back with the second half of our conversation talking about Crisp in the South Wedge again.
Chris Lindstrom:Where's the location?
Wendy Loyet:819 South Clinton Avenue at the corner of South Clinton and Meigs.
Chris Lindstrom:Awesome.
Chris Lindstrom:So at, you know, at this point you're, you've come to the not decision, but you've gotten to the point where you're like, hey, we're going to do this.
Chris Lindstrom:We're going to open a restaurant and it's here in Rochester.
Chris Lindstrom:So when you were, when you were going through that process, did you already know what your concept was coming in or was that like part of the discussion?
Wendy Loyet:No, the first thing we discussed, we wanted to do something together, Both quit our jobs, vow crunch those numbers and realized one of us had to keep our job.
Wendy Loyet:And since I had more experience in hospitality, that I would quit my job.
Wendy Loyet:And the first concept was completely different than what we opened now.
Wendy Loyet: And I quit my job in: Wendy Loyet: osta Rica in the beginning of: Chris Lindstrom:Wow.
Wendy Loyet:So I had a good 14 months to figure out something else.
Wendy Loyet:What were we going to do?
Wendy Loyet:What was it going to look like?
Wendy Loyet:What was it going to taste like?
Wendy Loyet: here it really evolved was in: Wendy Loyet:And then we found our space in 21 and then we opened in 22.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So, yeah, that's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's an interesting thing having.
Chris Lindstrom:And it doesn't sound like it was downtime per se.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, no, busy, busy.
Chris Lindstrom:And it seems like that's kind of the way you, way you tend to be.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, I like to stay busy.
Chris Lindstrom:I can't.
Chris Lindstrom:It's hard for me to turn off that side of things.
Chris Lindstrom:I can do something that appears to be relaxing, but my brain is always like, why aren't you doing the thing?
Chris Lindstrom:Why aren't you doing another thing?
Chris Lindstrom:Why aren't you doing another thing?
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:So you're working through figuring out the concept and how did you know in the end what was it about this concept, which is really Texas and Southern hospitality?
Chris Lindstrom:Obviously I can hear it and I can see it in Your face when you talk about that, how much it means to you.
Chris Lindstrom:But was that really what sold it, or was it something about that nostalgia as well?
Wendy Loyet:The food is so good.
Wendy Loyet:And our core menu, our.
Wendy Loyet:The recipes that we haven't changed since we opened are my grandmother's recipes.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, that's awesome.
Wendy Loyet:And so.
Wendy Loyet:And they're so good.
Wendy Loyet:I knew people would like them.
Wendy Loyet:So that it just sort of shaped the menu and then really kind of shaped the brand and.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, and it just kind of evolved from there.
Wendy Loyet:I think it takes a little while.
Wendy Loyet:Like, I think we're a little different than we were when we first opened.
Wendy Loyet:I think it takes, I think, like a year to two years to figure out really who you are and how you want to do things.
Wendy Loyet:So.
Wendy Loyet:And it's evolved, and now we've really kind of hit a stride, and we are who we are.
Wendy Loyet:Like, I don't think that will change.
Chris Lindstrom:I love that.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's.
Chris Lindstrom:Let's talk about.
Chris Lindstrom:Let's talk about at least one of those dishes.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about one of the dishes that, you know, is really inspired by your, you know, by your grandma's, you know, by that food.
Chris Lindstrom:What.
Chris Lindstrom:What's one of those.
Wendy Loyet:The chicken and churros.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about the construction of that and how it comes from.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm always.
Chris Lindstrom:I always love the process of, you know, taken from, you know, family recipe to something that's served in a restaurant, because it's always.
Chris Lindstrom:It's never exactly the same, but it still carries the same mentality, let's say.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So talk about the original and how that, you know, that dish.
Wendy Loyet:So I just started playing with her fried chicken recipe.
Wendy Loyet:I really liked chicken and waffles, but I wanted to do something a little different.
Chris Lindstrom:So when she was making, was she a cast iron, shallow fried kind of lady?
Chris Lindstrom:Yes.
Chris Lindstrom:Which is very, very Southern.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, that.
Chris Lindstrom:That style where it's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's not.
Chris Lindstrom:Not deep fried, but it's really.
Chris Lindstrom:It's got that.
Chris Lindstrom:Got that cast iron contact.
Chris Lindstrom:You get that extra heat in there, so you get the different kind of crisp and color that you don't get in just a deep fryer.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, for sure.
Wendy Loyet:And now, like, for scalability, we obviously deep fry, of course, but started playing with that and then playing with different heats.
Wendy Loyet:Levels of heat for hot honey.
Wendy Loyet:And then started playing with some recipes for churros instead of waffles.
Wendy Loyet:I looked all over the US I couldn't find anybody doing that chicken and churros.
Wendy Loyet:And so I started testing it on my neighbors and asking them to come over during COVID and taste this combination.
Wendy Loyet:And resoundingly, everybody really loved it.
Wendy Loyet:And as far as, like our menu now, we have what I would call fancier things.
Wendy Loyet:But that is still peculiarly, that is the number one selling dish month over month still.
Chris Lindstrom:So is.
Chris Lindstrom:Are the churros still in the form of a churro or are they different format?
Wendy Loyet:Well, when we first made them, we made them long, like a typical.
Wendy Loyet:But a typical long churro is like a breadstick almost.
Wendy Loyet:It's not a pastry.
Wendy Loyet:And this is more of a pastry.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's one of those weird textural things, because churros are so it's such a textural contrast dish because for all intents and purposes, so getting into the weeds on what.
Chris Lindstrom:What is a true.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, it's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a shoe pastry.
Chris Lindstrom:So it's, you know, it's a, you know, it's, you know, hot water and eggs and butter and stuff and flour.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's really what's giving that lift, that there's a little bit of creamy texture inside.
Chris Lindstrom:You get that just aggressive crisp bordering on crunch.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's a fine line between crispy and crunchy.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's like a fine crunch, not a hard crunch.
Chris Lindstrom:And then you get that outside of like the sugar and the cinnamon.
Chris Lindstrom:You get that crystallized sugar, and then you get the outside crunch, and you get that little bit of softness inside.
Chris Lindstrom:If they're great.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And then that's a fleeting moment as well, because it goes away in minutes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Well, we have found that if we make them into bite sized, not too big, not too small, the balance of custard, like inside and crispiness on the outside is pretty much perfect.
Wendy Loyet:And they hold.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, that's awesome.
Wendy Loyet:I can make a dozen of them and they'll hold for 30 minutes and be perfect.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, that's awesome.
Wendy Loyet:So we can scale that too.
Wendy Loyet:And then they go perfectly on the plate with the chicken now.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, because that's another thing where it's essentially you're talking about contrast, Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You're talking about crunch on the outside, you're talking about juicy on the inside, you're talking about seasoning inside, outside.
Chris Lindstrom:And it can never be one or the other.
Speaker C:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:It has to be all of those for it to be great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's why I love talking about dishes in detail, is the fine details.
Chris Lindstrom:Change it from something where, like, you could lose a third to a half of those and it would still be Good, right?
Wendy Loyet:Exactly.
Chris Lindstrom:But would you be proud of it?
Chris Lindstrom:Would you know that you've done what you're supposed to do?
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:That's why I love places like crisp.
Chris Lindstrom:They're like, oh, we've thought about the size of the churro piece because we don't want to lose that ethereal nature of, you know, it's.
Chris Lindstrom:There's only so many moments where you get that greatness.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And I love those kind of dishes where it's simple.
Wendy Loyet:It's a really simple dish.
Wendy Loyet:It's so yummy.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:The first year we were open, we got, as I know a lot of restaurants do feedback, quote, unquote, or recommendations from guests on, you know, that we should be serving it with chocolate.
Wendy Loyet:Cause they're churros.
Wendy Loyet:But that doesn't go with the fried chicken and the hot honey.
Wendy Loyet:The reason it is what it is.
Wendy Loyet:And we did a lot of explaining and, you know, in kind, trying to be sweet about it.
Wendy Loyet:But, like, I would always say to someone when they would make their recommendations, oh, where is your restaurant?
Wendy Loyet:I'd love to try it.
Wendy Loyet:And they would say, I don't have one.
Wendy Loyet:I'm like, oh, okay.
Wendy Loyet:Well, thank you.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, bless your heart.
Wendy Loyet:Bless your heart.
Wendy Loyet:Thank you so much.
Wendy Loyet:Can I get you a glass of bubbles?
Wendy Loyet:So.
Wendy Loyet:But now, two and a half years in, we get a lot less suggestions, which I'm.
Wendy Loyet:I'm happy that people like it so much.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And have, like, settled into, like, okay, this is how they do it.
Wendy Loyet:It's really good.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And we'll just keep ordering it.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So aggressive friendliness is a great.
Chris Lindstrom:Is a great dissuader of people.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I learned that hardwired for that from Texas.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, and I think that's kind of also.
Chris Lindstrom:It's one of those things that people talk about is like, there's this.
Chris Lindstrom:It's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's not even passive aggressive.
Chris Lindstrom:It's just aggressive friendliness.
Chris Lindstrom:That's the veneer on top of everything.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's not as much.
Chris Lindstrom:Here it is and isn't like we have.
Chris Lindstrom:There's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's a little different kind of directness.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I like that, though.
Wendy Loyet:Me too.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:In Texas, there's, you know, if you get up from the table, you know they're going to be talking about you.
Wendy Loyet:But in Rochester, when you come back to the table is when they tell you about.
Wendy Loyet:Tell you what they think of you.
Wendy Loyet:And I like that.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, I really like that a lot.
Chris Lindstrom:Agreed.
Chris Lindstrom:So now I love that dish.
Chris Lindstrom:And like, you know, it always, like, spurs ideas like.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, means you could change flavors, you could change this, you could change that.
Chris Lindstrom:There's so many options.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I just want to talk about the space for a minute, though, because I remember.
Chris Lindstrom:I don't think I actually went into the space it was before, but in a very nice way.
Chris Lindstrom:You actually had a good base built from the prior people that were trying to make that work in that they actually built a lot of.
Chris Lindstrom:They did a lot of the infrastructure, or a lot of at least the veneer of infrastructure that I saw to make the place more modern from where.
Wendy Loyet:It was before the landlords did.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, did they?
Chris Lindstrom:Okay, that makes sense.
Wendy Loyet:They finished it out because the two.
Wendy Loyet:The two gentlemen brothers were going to open a cafe and then decided now that we finished it and it was a pretty bare bones kitchen because it was just going to be a coffee stop cafe.
Wendy Loyet:But they, like, cleaned the bricks and did that stuff and made a very small bar, but just decided they didn't want to be in the business.
Wendy Loyet:Restaurant business.
Wendy Loyet:And so.
Wendy Loyet:Yes.
Wendy Loyet:And then rented it to Brick and Ivy.
Wendy Loyet:That was there for a minute.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it carried over a lot of, you know, carried some of that design over as well.
Chris Lindstrom:But obviously you've put your touch.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And everything.
Wendy Loyet:We completely redid the bar, the walls, the kitchen is completely redone.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm part of what I want to talk about for a minute.
Chris Lindstrom:So that.
Chris Lindstrom:So the neighborhood also doesn't have a lot of what I would call restaurant restaurants.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:There's a lot of places to eat, but there's not a lot of restaurant restaurants in that area.
Chris Lindstrom:Actually, very few.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I'm hopeful that more will come to the Avenue.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And to South Avenue, too.
Chris Lindstrom:Agreed.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because they're really.
Chris Lindstrom:There's.
Chris Lindstrom:There's vanishingly few.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, hey, we.
Chris Lindstrom:We all love the playhouse.
Chris Lindstrom:I mean, they've done such a great job with that area, and there's a lot of places to go and eat and drink.
Chris Lindstrom:But I think Crisp is offering something very different to the neighborhood.
Chris Lindstrom:Can you.
Chris Lindstrom:Can you give me the.
Chris Lindstrom:Not the pitch, but, like, what.
Chris Lindstrom:What is Chris bringing to the neighborhood with the.
Chris Lindstrom:With the restaurant and everything else?
Chris Lindstrom:How would you very quickly describe that?
Wendy Loyet:We want you in that, especially the neighborhood.
Wendy Loyet:We want you to come sit wherever you want to sit, sit at the bar, come in your paint clothes, come in your tuxedo, but sit down, watch the tv, hang out with friends.
Wendy Loyet:But we wanted it to be a neighborhood haunt, that people felt like they could come on prom night or they could come on Sunday afternoon to watch the football game.
Chris Lindstrom:I think that's a really nice place to be.
Chris Lindstrom:Is purposeful, but not precious.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, that's great.
Wendy Loyet:I love that.
Wendy Loyet:Purposeful, but not precious.
Chris Lindstrom:I've been using.
Chris Lindstrom:I've been using that word a lot, you know, precious recently.
Chris Lindstrom:Because I'm.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, I care hard about everything I do and the people I'm around, but I never want to be so.
Chris Lindstrom:So insular where I feel like I'm losing the ability to enjoy things that aren't quite as perfect as I would want.
Chris Lindstrom:And I think that's.
Chris Lindstrom:That was the vibe when I went in, because it took me a little while.
Chris Lindstrom:Because for a hot minute, Crisp was so busy every.
Chris Lindstrom:Every weekend.
Chris Lindstrom:Every weekend, night and hell, from Thursday through the weekend was so busy for what, year?
Chris Lindstrom:Year and a half, two years?
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, it was crazy how busy it was.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, it's busier now, even.
Wendy Loyet:It's been about 35% year over year, month over month growth.
Chris Lindstrom:Is it really?
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, I mean, it is.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And now, like, Thursday nights weren't that busy.
Wendy Loyet:Now they are.
Wendy Loyet:Sunday nights were dead, but now they're slammed, so that's amazing.
Wendy Loyet:And we're doing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And lunch.
Wendy Loyet:Lunch wasn't very busy, but I was so determined to serve lunch because there's so many people that work in that area.
Wendy Loyet:Why wouldn't you call for pickup or come in for lunch?
Wendy Loyet:And we've got to be there anyway, prepping for dinner, so why wouldn't we be open for lunch?
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And be so.
Chris Lindstrom:And be tight, be efficient.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You won't.
Chris Lindstrom:You can't serve the same menu, but you.
Wendy Loyet:We serve the same menu.
Chris Lindstrom:Do you really?
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Lunch, dinner menu all day long.
Wendy Loyet:Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:See, I see.
Chris Lindstrom:My.
Chris Lindstrom:My engineer brain would immediately think to, how can we make lunch super efficient?
Chris Lindstrom:But I suppose if you're so dialed in on the menu that it doesn't matter quite as much.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Everything's made from scratch.
Wendy Loyet:And so it's a lot of prep.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, a lot of prep.
Wendy Loyet:And since they've got to be prepping all day long on Thursday for Thursday night, Friday night and such, they come in on Wednesday and prep all day for Thursday.
Wendy Loyet:So we're prepped up and ready for lunch on Thursday, but prepping, you know, for the rest of the weekend.
Chris Lindstrom:So are you a Thursday to Sunday place right now?
Wendy Loyet:Thursday to Monday.
Chris Lindstrom:Thursday to Monday.
Chris Lindstrom:So you're open on Mondays as well?
Wendy Loyet:Yes, Sundays and Mondays we do brunch during the day.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And then dinner in the evening.
Chris Lindstrom:So you're getting an industry brunch in on Monday.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:That's got to be kind of nice, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And it's not as many industry people as I thought it would be.
Wendy Loyet:But, you know, we're still pretty new to Rochester.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:In that I don't know everybody in the industry, and they don't know me.
Wendy Loyet:So it's not like they're just coming because.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, like, I'm really good friends with Drew Nye, who owns Rome, and I worked over there for him, and he knows everybody.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Right.
Wendy Loyet:So if he, you know, had a Monday brunch, it would be packed with industry people.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, ours isn't, but it's packed.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, we do a huge brunch on Mondays.
Wendy Loyet:It's just regular folks.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I never would have thought, like, a Monday brunch being the thing, but I suppose that makes a lot of sense for people who are, like, either either industry or on industries that run over the weekend.
Chris Lindstrom:The retail.
Chris Lindstrom:You retail people who are working all weekends that need that respite.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Or like, on Sundays, you had such a big Sunday fun day.
Wendy Loyet:You got a hangover on Monday, Come in for brunch on Monday.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about the rest of the menu a bit.
Chris Lindstrom:So definitely angling towards that, you know, Southern comfort with a little bit of a hybrid, modern twist.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Why don't you bring up another dish that's kind of like a mainstay on the menu that has been kind of not consistent, but, like, the mainstay right.
Wendy Loyet:Now, the braised beef and carrots.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:It's my take on, like, beef bourguignon, but more Southern style.
Wendy Loyet:Not.
Wendy Loyet:I don't know, not as fancy, I guess.
Chris Lindstrom:So would.
Chris Lindstrom:Would you call it pot roast or would you.
Wendy Loyet:Not when I see it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:When I see it plated, I'm like, looks like pot roast and carrots and potatoes, but it is braised, so we just call it braised beef and carrots.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:You know, keep it a little modern than just pot roast.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:But something like that is, like, you can't.
Chris Lindstrom:You can't say anything about that dish other than that is comfort.
Wendy Loyet:It is comfort in a bowl.
Chris Lindstrom:And, you know, it's so interesting how, like, your perception of comfort can change over time.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:I know for me, you know, mine has changed as, you know, my exposure to, you know, the world's cuisines and everything else where, you know, sometimes my comfort does edge towards, you know, my nostalgic foods that I ate as a Kid, you know.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, poor.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, poor food that we were eating when I was a kid.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, I have nostalgia for that stuff, but my comfort food is that.
Chris Lindstrom:But it's also, you know, Ethiopian from Zamata, down the street from.
Wendy Loyet:Oh, yeah, that.
Chris Lindstrom:That's also comfort food to me.
Chris Lindstrom:That tastes like Thanksgiving to me, for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:And I love that you're also balancing between something that is so classic and then modern stuff and modern twists on those things at the same time.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Wendy Loyet:Like our.
Wendy Loyet:Our one and only pasta dish is called Heaven in a Bowl.
Wendy Loyet:Because that, to me, like a bowl full of pasta and some cheese and some sauce.
Wendy Loyet:Like, that's heaven.
Chris Lindstrom:So you doing, like, classic Italian sauce?
Chris Lindstrom:Are you doing just what.
Chris Lindstrom:What's.
Chris Lindstrom:Or is it rotate?
Wendy Loyet:This season we're doing a classic Italian.
Chris Lindstrom:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:But typically we change it every fall, winter, and spring, summer.
Wendy Loyet:Okay.
Wendy Loyet:Typically, it's a cheesy, delicious bowl of cheesy pasta and peas or carbonara or cassio e pepe or something like that.
Wendy Loyet:But this.
Wendy Loyet:This season, we went with a classic Italian.
Chris Lindstrom:So that's really.
Chris Lindstrom:Seems like that's kind of the story is you're going to be comforted when you come in.
Wendy Loyet:For sure.
Wendy Loyet:For sure.
Wendy Loyet:I don't lean so hard on the Southern influence.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I lean much harder on the brand to be comfort.
Wendy Loyet:Every dish, even the south wedge salad, you know, it's kind of bathed in homemade blue cheese and then bacon and then crispy onions and all that.
Wendy Loyet:It's really good.
Wendy Loyet:And it's kind of like comfort, even with a salad.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, that's a textural.
Chris Lindstrom:Every one of those, you know, like we talked about before, every one of those ingredients could be mediocre, and the whole dish would be good.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:But if you do them all right.
Wendy Loyet:An entire half a head of lettuce cut in half, it's this monster of a salad.
Wendy Loyet:It's so good.
Chris Lindstrom:So let's talk about.
Chris Lindstrom:Let's talk about comfort.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's also.
Chris Lindstrom:Part of that is environment and attitude.
Speaker C:Yeah, Right.
Chris Lindstrom:Because we can.
Chris Lindstrom:We can go into a restaurant and, you know, as somebody who sounds like you're also a serious diner, when you go out, you're paying attention.
Chris Lindstrom:You're really reading the place.
Chris Lindstrom:When you go out, when you're trying to, you know, come up with all of your practices for how your.
Chris Lindstrom:How your restaurant was going to feel.
Chris Lindstrom:I can say that when, you know, when the wife and I went in for a meal, that this was.
Chris Lindstrom:We felt very taken care of.
Chris Lindstrom:It felt like, you know, the wait staff was paying attention, that it wasn't overbearing and it wasn't a put on.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And that.
Chris Lindstrom:That was the feel I got.
Chris Lindstrom:And, you know, I guess, you know, when I originally thought about the place, like, oh, it felt like they were trying to be fancy.
Chris Lindstrom:And then when you went in, like, oh, no, it wasn't.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, there's the.
Chris Lindstrom:The quality.
Chris Lindstrom:They're caring about everything they do, but it does.
Chris Lindstrom:It wasn't that at all.
Chris Lindstrom:It wasn't.
Chris Lindstrom:It wasn't a veneer of fanciness or anything.
Chris Lindstrom:It wasn't a put on.
Chris Lindstrom:This was, we want to be good, we want to be nice.
Chris Lindstrom:We want to feel like it's a place you want to be at, but that none of you put on.
Speaker C:Right.
Wendy Loyet:I tell the staff you are putting on a dinner party tonight in your station.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:All your tables are getting a dinner party, and you have a full staff behind you to make it the best dinner party you could ever execute.
Wendy Loyet:You have a kitchen staff, you have a chef, you have bartenders.
Wendy Loyet:And so their job is really to get familiar with and engage with.
Wendy Loyet:I wanted them to give an elegant service, but also the familiarity that comes with going to a diner.
Wendy Loyet:And that lady behind the counter goes, hey, honey, what can I get you?
Wendy Loyet:I want them to be able to connect with the guests and feel familiar with them.
Chris Lindstrom:I think it also kind of felt like they had the leeway to be themselves.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, totally.
Chris Lindstrom:Which I don't think is.
Chris Lindstrom:I.
Chris Lindstrom:I think it's something that's a little undervalued and a little under represented sometimes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:In restaurants that have that, you know, that the finer expression that they lose.
Chris Lindstrom:You lose the people.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Like, we.
Wendy Loyet:Our uniform is denim, but I tell every single person, like, we have denims that you.
Wendy Loyet:You're welcome to have one and wear.
Wendy Loyet:Or you can go and buy your own.
Wendy Loyet:You can wear a denim vest.
Wendy Loyet:You can, you know, spice up your outfit, express yourself in however you'd like, as long as it's ironed and it's clean and it's crisp looking.
Wendy Loyet:Crisp is kind of the.
Wendy Loyet:The word at large.
Wendy Loyet:They're like a crisp attention to detail.
Wendy Loyet:But I want everyone with their purple hair, green hair, whatever, to really feel like they can express themselves when they come to work.
Chris Lindstrom:I think it also makes people feel like they belong.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:In a place, because the people there are acting like people.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Loyet:We're not robots.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:They're given a dinner party, you know, and the host or hostess definitely deserves to emote their personality.
Wendy Loyet:All evening as well.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, I think that's also your.
Chris Lindstrom:When you're talking about.
Chris Lindstrom:If you think about the best dinner parties you've been to, they're not austere, they're not.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:They're not tight.
Chris Lindstrom:There's this flow.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:There's this flow.
Chris Lindstrom:And part of that flow is that people need to feel like they're part of that whole experience, that whole journey.
Chris Lindstrom:And everybody, including the host, except the host, you can see if they're feeling harried.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:If they're feeling like they're not part of that flow.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:Because you know right away when you walk into a restaurant and things aren't going well.
Wendy Loyet:Well, you can read it all over their face.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:You can see.
Chris Lindstrom:And, like, if you're paying attention, you can always tell when.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, well, things aren't going good today.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Either you're having a bad day or the restaurant's having a bad day.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And we are.
Wendy Loyet:And we definitely have them.
Speaker C:Of course.
Chris Lindstrom:Well, I think people need.
Chris Lindstrom:It's also the grace of knowing that, hey, they're trying and that, like, I wrote restaurant reviews for three years in City.
Chris Lindstrom:I wrote some negative reviews.
Chris Lindstrom:I tried to be technical versus emotional.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:And because I.
Chris Lindstrom:It was never an affront on the place.
Chris Lindstrom:Sometimes I.
Chris Lindstrom:It felt.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, I always feel bad not writing the negative, but I so want things to be good.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:It's.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm.
Chris Lindstrom:I want.
Chris Lindstrom:I really desperately want places to be great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And when they don't, it's.
Chris Lindstrom:It's so disappointing.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's not.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm not angry at them.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm just sad.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:That there was that opportunity to do something that they.
Chris Lindstrom:That they should be proud of.
Chris Lindstrom:And that's always.
Chris Lindstrom:My mentality is, if I could sit down in a room with them, the question I would want to ask is, have you eaten the food recently?
Chris Lindstrom:Are you proud of it?
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:Are you proud of what you've done?
Chris Lindstrom:I don't feel like I would have to ask you that question because I know.
Chris Lindstrom:I know the place is you and your attitude and the food and the vibes and everything else.
Chris Lindstrom:And.
Chris Lindstrom:Hell, you know, it's something I saw, even the evolution of, from opening to, you know, when we went in and eat was the cocktail menu evolved as well.
Wendy Loyet:For sure.
Chris Lindstrom:Because it was, you know, I'm a serious cocktail person.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm a spirits judge.
Chris Lindstrom:I'm a serious cocktail person.
Chris Lindstrom:I saw from the start to later on, it evolved.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:It got more creative.
Chris Lindstrom:It got more, you know, it seemed like they were not more serious, but playful.
Chris Lindstrom:More playful.
Chris Lindstrom:More attention.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because at first it seemed like it was a wine place.
Wendy Loyet:Right.
Chris Lindstrom:And then that evolves.
Chris Lindstrom:And you can do wine and.
Chris Lindstrom:Yes, you can do good cocktails as well.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's like, oh, we learned something.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, for sure.
Wendy Loyet:That's why I say, like, it.
Wendy Loyet:It took us about two years to kind of figure out exactly who we wanted to be.
Wendy Loyet:Because I always wanted it.
Wendy Loyet:I always want it to continue to be a nice, tight brand.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So it's recognizable.
Wendy Loyet:People know what to expect when they're coming.
Wendy Loyet:But I do want there to be a little element of surprise.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Like, at every dinner party, you may go to someone's house, and you know what?
Wendy Loyet:They always cook.
Wendy Loyet:And, you know, it's good or it's amazing, but there's always some little tiny element of surprise that you can look forward to, and I love that.
Chris Lindstrom:So you mentioned the lessons that you learned over the first two years.
Chris Lindstrom:What's one of the things that, like, is a really clear.
Chris Lindstrom:This is something we were learning, something we changed that I feel really good about today.
Wendy Loyet:Staff training.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Because when you're really passionate about your project and your restaurant and that brand and what you've created in your mind before the doors even opened, before you hired your first person, and you hold it so tight and so hard that you just.
Wendy Loyet:I didn't communicate, I don't think, as well as I do now to staff what's important to me and what's required of the job.
Wendy Loyet:I think I was considered nitpicky and overbearing and micromanagey because it was just so important that we get it right.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And now the team that.
Wendy Loyet:That we have and that most have been there for a long time, we work so well together, and I see how they execute everything, and it's just freaking.
Wendy Loyet:It's amazing.
Wendy Loyet:Like, they just.
Wendy Loyet:I feel like they take such good care of me and Val now and such good care of Crisp.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:It's that.
Chris Lindstrom:That's a lesson I really appreciate, and I'm trying to learn and be better at that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because I think it's.
Chris Lindstrom:I think it's easier sometimes it's not right, but it's easier when you care.
Chris Lindstrom:Hard to just point and point and point and point.
Chris Lindstrom:It's.
Chris Lindstrom:It is easy.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:It's easy to be the editor.
Wendy Loyet:It's really easy to poke.
Wendy Loyet:Poke holes in everything.
Wendy Loyet:It's really hard to come to work every day and have someone poke holes in everything.
Wendy Loyet:You're doing.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:Really hard.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Lindstrom:We were recording earlier, so we were recording earlier an episode of Polygooglyamo show here, and we were talking with Chris Benelli, who closed Rock Brewing a year or so ago, and we kind of ended off with a question that I'm kind of intrigued with sometimes.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's never.
Chris Lindstrom:It's not like a.
Chris Lindstrom:It's not a gotcha question or anything like that.
Chris Lindstrom:And I'm stealing it directly from Mythical Kitchen's last meals.
Chris Lindstrom:The last question he always asks is, are you happy?
Chris Lindstrom:Are you happy?
Chris Lindstrom:Are you happy here in Rochester?
Wendy Loyet:Me?
Wendy Loyet:Oh, yes.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, Exuberantly.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:I love it, and I love what our restaurants turned into, and we're looking at opening something else and looking at some other business opportunities.
Wendy Loyet:I love it.
Chris Lindstrom:And I love what you're doing with the community as well.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Chris Lindstrom:That you're so specifically reaching out to specific groups.
Chris Lindstrom:You know, you're expanding, you know, you know, the visibility of your community here in town, but also, like, bringing in, like, a friend, Dario Joseph, bringing in comedy to the back room at Crisp.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:What a great idea.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, we love it.
Chris Lindstrom:And.
Chris Lindstrom:But what fun.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, why not?
Speaker C:Why not?
Chris Lindstrom:Like, you've got the space.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:And it's not booked for events, you know, five days a week.
Wendy Loyet:It's booked about two or three days a week.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:So Thursday nights, we do a lot of events like that back there.
Wendy Loyet:And I'm trying to cook up a really different fun thing soon.
Chris Lindstrom:That's so cool.
Chris Lindstrom:I love that, too.
Chris Lindstrom:So also, if you're looking for space to do your special event, I always have a sub.
Chris Lindstrom:I always have a subset of spaces that I push people towards, you know, when they're having their special event.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:And they have a diverse crew of people.
Chris Lindstrom:There's a few places I recommend them to reach out to, because there's only so many places where I feel that I'm giving them a place I can stand behind that does things well.
Chris Lindstrom:They know they're going to get taken care of.
Chris Lindstrom:Like, one place I've recommended for years is Aveeno.
Wendy Loyet:I love Tim and Janine.
Wendy Loyet:I mean, so sweet.
Chris Lindstrom:They're such.
Chris Lindstrom:They're such good people.
Wendy Loyet:And we love that restaurant.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's.
Chris Lindstrom:But it's a place, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:It feels very analogous to me where, you know, if I know if I send somebody over there with a party of 15, that it's a special event.
Chris Lindstrom:They have people that like this, they have simple taste.
Chris Lindstrom:They have all different things.
Chris Lindstrom:They got kids.
Chris Lindstrom:I know if I send them There, I will never hear a complaint.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Because I know they've been taken care of.
Chris Lindstrom:I've sent so many people there for special events because I.
Chris Lindstrom:When you have to send somebody.
Chris Lindstrom:Right.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, sure.
Chris Lindstrom:You want to be confident.
Chris Lindstrom:Yeah, I can stand behind that.
Chris Lindstrom:They're going to have a good experience.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:Crisp.
Chris Lindstrom:Another place I'm sending people now because I know you've got the space.
Chris Lindstrom:I know you got the team, I know you got the food.
Chris Lindstrom:I know the people, if they go there, from the nerds to the people who have, you know, generic taste, they're going to be taken care of.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:There's something for everybody for sure.
Chris Lindstrom:And having that event space and having that ability for, you know, people like me who get asked that question all the time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Chris Lindstrom:I love having another option to send people.
Speaker C:Me too.
Wendy Loyet:Thanks.
Wendy Loyet:I appreciate it.
Chris Lindstrom:And it's, it's, it's a great thing to be able to say that.
Chris Lindstrom:Anything else people need to know about Chris before we wrap up for today?
Wendy Loyet:That we have a patio in the summer.
Chris Lindstrom:Oh, I love that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Wendy Loyet:We put an awning on the building so we can seat eight, four tops out there and then push them together.
Wendy Loyet:But it's been out there since last summer.
Wendy Loyet:But just getting that word out there that we have that side.
Wendy Loyet:It's a 25 foot wide sidewalk and we've got 20ft of it wide.
Chris Lindstrom:Wow.
Wendy Loyet:Yeah, so it's a big, it's a nice big.
Wendy Loyet:Completely covered and there's lights, LED lights on the awning.
Wendy Loyet:So you're, you know, it's lit up at night.
Chris Lindstrom:That's awesome.
Chris Lindstrom:So, yeah, let's put out the plugs one more time and then we'll close out this episode.
Wendy Loyet:Okay.
Chris Lindstrom:So Crisp over on South Clinton and open, you said, Thursday through Monday.
Chris Lindstrom:And social media, where people can reach out if they have special events or other things like that.
Wendy Loyet:Chris Rochester.
Wendy Loyet:Every single handle you can think of, including Yelp and Google.
Chris Lindstrom:Consistent.
Chris Lindstrom:There's the marketing right there.
Chris Lindstrom:So thank you so much for coming over.
Chris Lindstrom:Really appreciate what you're doing.
Chris Lindstrom:And if you're listening and want to listen to another show on the Lunch Door podcast network, I'm going to recommend you check out what something that's launching very soon.
Chris Lindstrom:That's nights and weekends, which is a new music show from the Sound.
Chris Lindstrom:They're doing amazing work so far.
Chris Lindstrom:They've already recorded a few episodes, hopefully launching in early December.
Chris Lindstrom:So pay attention to that.
Chris Lindstrom:And we'll be back next time with more on the Food About Town podcast.
Chris Lindstrom:Wait a second, Wait a second.
Chris Lindstrom:Need to hit the button.
Chris Lindstrom:This has been a presentation of the Lunchroom Podcast network, Stay Crispy, Rochester.
