Pastry Chef Nickey Boyd: From Baking Apprentice to Food Network

From dishwasher to corporate executive pastry chef and finalist on the Food Network's Spring Baking Challenge, Nickey Boyd's journey is a tale of grit, resilience, and exceptional talent. This week, Nickey joins us to share her inspiring story, recounting her rise through the culinary ranks and the challenges she overcame as a Jamaican-American woman in a male-dominated industry. Her entrepreneurial spirit and strategic approach to mastering her craft will leave you motivated and ready to tackle your own culinary dreams.

But that's not all—Chef Jeffery also introduces his innovative twist on the Florida classic, the grouper reuben. Picture a pan-seared grouper with a Latin spice kick, paired with togarashi slaw and topped with key lime mayonnaise and a hint of agave. As we chat with Jeff, we dive into broader themes of respect within the kitchen, particularly for pastry chefs, and the invaluable camaraderie formed through competitive cooking. This episode is more than just recipes; it’s a celebration of culinary creativity and solidarity.

Finally, we wrap up with a heartfelt discussion on the evolving diversity in the culinary world. From fierce cooking competitions to personal stories of overcoming adversity, this episode is a tribute to the progress and unity within the culinary community. Whether you're here for the cooking tips, the inspiring

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:04

Hello, food Fam. This is the Walk Talk podcast where you will find the perfect blend of food fun and cooking knowledge. I'm your host, carl Fiatini. Welcome to the number one food podcast in the country. We are recording on-site at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it First things first.

Speaker 1: 1:25

Last week it was story time with restaurant expert Krista Lepore. Everything from celebrity encounters to chefs to their relationships Front of the house, back of the house very interesting, check it out and be entertained. Go back and listen. I don't know about you, but I love feel-good stories and we have one for you today. Yes, our guest this week, nikki Boyd, went from baker's apprentice to corporate executive pastry chef to recently becoming a finalist on the Food Network's Spring Baking Challenge.

Speaker 1: 1:58

You know this was an uphill trek. Stay tuned. Pastry chef Nikki Boyd is on deck Chefs. We've been using Metro hot boxes, shelving and even their mobile prep cart around the studio and we couldn't be happier. Thank you, aj and Brianna. If you're planning on reorganizing your kitchen well, life will be easier. Be sure to contact our friends at Metro. Your partner in organization and efficiency, jefferson so like. Don't you appreciate where parts of the food industry is heading. I mean, 30 years ago it was very rare to have a female or a person of color running kitchens. Yesterday, chef Nikki and I spent about an hour on the phone, you know, just getting to know each other, building some rapport, and her story is one to be noticed. I'm excited about this episode, super, super excited about this episode.

Speaker 2: 3:03

And I know.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Side note, I'm super excited also about what you're cooking today, and we have a guest in studio, chef Jason F Lin. He's cooking too. Team Bronzy, yeah, that's right. Nobody knows what you're talking about, only some people. What are you talking about? They definitely do know. They listen to the show.

Speaker 2: 3:19

There's no listeners, we get no listeners every day.

Speaker 1: 3:21

What is no listeners every day? What is that? Tell everybody.

Speaker 2: 3:23

So what is it About? Three weeks ago, about a month ago, we went to a competition in Hastings, florida. It's a bacon, cabbage, potato competition for the ACF, and it was sustainability and no lights, no electricity. Well, lights, yeah, no stove electrics, let's put it that way and there's no running water. So we had to come up with something and do it. Uh, lance cook got uh silver, and then Jason and I got bronze, so we call ourselves team bronze. He says we're going to do this, we're going with that.

Speaker 1: 3:54

And I told you not to come home but here you are, You're here you know, yeah, all right so, but here you are. Yet you you're here, you know. Yeah, all right. So what do you? And you know what? It was a fun episode too. Let some people go back and listen to the episodes, man, like I don't know. They're all good, I don't have to tell you, but all right. So listen, what are you cooking today? Because you explained it to me and I'm ready.

Speaker 2: 4:15

Well, I mean listen. One of the things about florida is it really doesn't have an identity for cuisine, like if we always talked about it. If I say cheesesteak, people go Philly. If I talk about thin crust pizza, it's like New York or something else or like, maybe even like New Hampshire with Greek pizza, deep dish pizza, chicago or Detroit. So there's no indigenous like food for Florida. But everyone calls a grouper ruben florida. So I did my own version of this. We did some latin spiced pan seared grouper. Uh, I did a togriyashi slaw coast law to go on it. So let me go back the original grouper ruben swiss cheese, rye bread, thousand island dressing and a coast law seared, grilled or blackened or fried grouper. That's what you get locally. Uh, those are the choices.

Speaker 1: 5:06

So I wanted to take mine up a notch, so I did togarashi, which is seven spice japanese say that I don't know anymore if you're pronouncing right after vietnamese like I don't, you know what I mean he's, he's nodding his head.

Speaker 2: 5:18

I'm saying leach you are leachy like Lychee. Okay, wait, we already talked about that, because my neighbors that are from Vietnam called it.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Lychee, I have trust issues with you. Okay, I'm just saying, I'm putting it out there.

Speaker 2: 5:30

Well, you know I can't enunciate, that's fine. I can cook, though. You can throw down, definitely cook. That's why I gravitated to cooking. I didn't have to write or talk.

Speaker 1: 5:41

How you're becoming a professional podcaster is incredible to me, though.

Speaker 2: 5:45

Well, you know, when you have disabilities, you just keep on going. Keep on trucking, be determined to do something different with your life.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Challenge yourself. You've got to keep on cooking, and you know at the end of the day. Chef Jason did give it a nod.

Speaker 2: 5:58

I saw that the wheels of the bus just went off for jason no, john's going. Come on, get back on track. So the toriyashi is a really layered spice from japan. It's got black sesame, white sesame seed, some other different ingredients in there. Kick it up a little bit. I was going to do cajun, but I found I realized that my cajun spice is in the studio, so that's why I to. It's on the shelf next to the refrigerator. When Pooch was here, he needed it. So then I had to switch with that. Then I did a key lime mayonnaise to go into it with a little agave to give it some sweetness to it. And then I went with the Thousand Island dressing. I said, ah, we're doing mayonnaise ketchup, which is the mother sauce in North Carolina Mayonnaise and ketchup. And then there's their wickle pickles and then I chop that up, put it in there, some shallots to give it some spice, and then instead of using Swiss cheese I'm using Gruyere. So I can't wait.

Speaker 1: 6:54

I can't either. Yeah, and then steak fries.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Yes.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Yeah, look fries. You know what I like fries. Yes, yeah, Look fries. You know what I like fries. But to tell you the truth, at this stage of my life. I'm not wasting the space man.

Speaker 2: 7:06

I know.

Speaker 1: 7:06

You know, give me the protein.

Speaker 2: 7:07

I want to, so you don't want me to do pasta next week.

Speaker 1: 7:10

That's different, because in that case, that's the main player. Oh, okay, yeah, give me the main player. Is what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 2: 7:18

Well, I'm also going to do some dishes for John, because he gave me a list, so that's why I'm going to do some stuff for him, like chicken.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Like chicken fronches. Yeah, we're going to, definitely we're going to bring good bread, though We've got to sop up that.

Speaker 2: 7:34

You know who to go to for bread. I mean, I can do it, but we all know who's. Even jason knows who we need to get the bread from.

Speaker 1: 7:40

Yeah, amy of course you know she sent over our uh happy podcast, uh podcast day task text, which is nice. Yep, amy, we're shouting you out.

Speaker 2: 7:50

You know, I mean like uh between you and fiona, I don't know well, I gotta give a huge shout out real quick to my buddy, chris cuby. It's his birthday today, so happy birthday to cuby, who's up in connecticut working his butt off.

Speaker 1: 8:01

You know you should start doing like the uh, the restaurant version of the happy birthday songs you know no I'm kidding we're not doing that ever, god, no, um, all right, without, without further ado. I think I'm going to. Uh, I think I'm going to bring on the cafe.

Speaker 2: 8:19

part of the Cafe Con Leche group.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Yeah, I think we're going to bring Chef Nikki on Chef, are you there?

Speaker 3: 8:27

Yeah, I'm here.

Speaker 1: 8:28

Welcome to the program.

Speaker 3: 8:31

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 8:32

So first of all let me just say congratulations on becoming a finalist on the Food Network show. That's awesome.

Speaker 3: 8:41

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 8:43

That's how we do it here. You know I mean it's kind of a cool thing. You know we're kind of a big deal, nikki. So you know you got to just kind of roll with it. Why don't you take I want you to take a minute and give the airplane view of who you are, what you do and how you got there.

Speaker 3: 8:59

Okay, so I'm Nikki Boyd. I am an executive pastry chef. I'm originally from New York, brooklyn, jamaican background. I currently live in Atlanta and I started out like anyone else, trying to figure out my direction, where to go, what to do with my life, and at 30, I decided I'm going to go to culinary school and see where that brings me and from there I just kind of worked my way around New York a little bit, jersey, moved to Florida in the middle of the pandemic, kind of got my stride. While I was there met my husband, who's also a chef, and we packed up and moved to Atlanta and here we are.

Speaker 1: 9:44

And your father was a chef too, right?

Speaker 3: 9:46

Yes, my dad is also a chef up in Nantucket. Actually, my mom is a great home cook. She had all the great cookbooks, all of the new gadgets that came out for home cooks to try new things. My mom had it all, and my grandma wasn't much of a cook or a baker, but I kind of learned a little thing or two from her as well. So a lot of my foundation is like from my family.

Speaker 1: 10:13

And it's. Which is amazing. The fact is, you're surrounded by chefs. You go to work, you're, it's the kitchen life. You go home, you're married to it. Yeah, it's, uh. I can't escape it. It's well, and why should you uh, especially when, clearly, you know what you're doing, right? I mean yeah, yeah, yeah I'd like to think so.

Speaker 3: 10:36

I have to remind people that often, like hey, I kind of know what I'm doing, but yeah yeah, yeah, but you were sort of a drifter in the beginning.

Speaker 1: 10:44

You know, it was only what, maybe 10 years that you've been in the, actually been in the business yeah, pretty much Right. So you were trying to find yourself and one day you said, man, I should cook. And then you went to the community. You went to um uh. You went to uh the the community uh college over there in in Jersey, correct, yes, and you said I'm going to do this Now you were. Were you a baker's apprentice before or after culinary school?

Speaker 3: 11:17

After so, before culinary school, and I remember exactly the last job I had before going to culinary school. After so, before culinary school, and I remember exactly the last job I had before going to culinary school I was a dishwasher. It was like a little kitchen inside of a school and I was a dishwasher there. I worked under another Black woman chef and I think that's where I got my inspiration to really take that step. And just seeing how she like commanded the kitchen and just worked with grace, I was just like huh, I kind of like that. So after being that dishwasher I was like all right, I'm going to enroll into culinary school. And then after I graduated, or before I graduated is when I started my apprenticeship.

Speaker 1: 12:43

And apprenticeship you're. You're basically in there, just you're learning, you're not. That's not even that's apprenticeship. You're not getting paid right.

Speaker 2: 12:52

No, you can get paid, but no, you. Generally it's like a stage you don't get paid, yeah, so wow.

Speaker 1: 12:57

And then, instead of going in you know the savory route, you decided pastry. How come Baking decided pastry?

Speaker 3: 13:06

How come baking and pastry? I think when I, while I was in culinary school and saw like the different types of styles of baking, I was thinking more of an entrepreneur, like what do I want to do for myself that can make me money if I'm like baking and I did like. While I was in culinary school I did start doing like bake sales kind of. Or would bake for my church and do cupcakes and little mini cakes for people and I would do it for free, just to kind of get my, get my foot in the door. And I did like savory. But I just figured in my mind, not knowing much about like the culinary world. In my mind I was just like, oh, I can start a business baking cupcakes, rather than how would I start a business as a savory chef?

Speaker 1: 13:51

Right. And what's amazing to me is because I, 10 years, is just like a like, really just a blip on the screen and to go from apprentice to you know regional, you know pastry chef for a restaurant group, a sizable restaurant group is pretty amazing to me. Not to mention, you know, you start getting into the accolades with you know magazine articles and moving into food network sort of status. I mean that's pretty amazing. What, what actually happened? What was it that occurred that brought it from ham? I'm in the kitchen over here and all of a sudden, bam, I got. I got the promotion and all of a sudden, bam, I'm on the Food Network. How did that? What? What went down? How did that go?

Speaker 3: 14:40

And so after my apprenticeships and two of them were in bakeries so I was like, okay, bakery seemed easy, early mornings, I have the afternoon to myself, like it was fun. But then it got kind of boring. So after my last bakery job I was like, okay, let me try out a restaurant now. I got a job as a pastry cook at a restaurant in Jersey City and I loved it. I loved the detail that got put into plating a dessert or being able to come up with so many different styles of desserts and taking something simple and elevating it. I love that aspect. So from there I kind of just latched on to whoever I could to learn more. And just every restaurant I worked in after that it was just like, okay, who's the best person in this restaurant aside from my pastry chef? Like who's the best that I can latch on to learn from them? And then keep going.

Speaker 3: 15:34

And I kind of just did that for like, like my whole career. And then now I had a goal too, like I've always had goals where I'm like, hey, this is what I eventually want to do, or this year, this is the goal I'm setting for myself. And while I was in Jacksonville I was like how cool would it be to be a corporate pastry chef, so where I'm running four or five or multiple locations, different cuisines, and kind of just pushing myself like outside of my own limits, because obviously I'm Jamaican so I have like we have a certain style of cooking and baking. Then now here I am a pastry chef for a Japanese restaurant, two Italian restaurants, a steakhouse. So it's like just doing something that I know would push me past what I think I know and just keep learning. And that's how I got to where I'm at now.

Speaker 1: 16:23

That's so cool and you know part of our conversation. Yesterday we were on the phone for about an hour and it you know I don't know that we're going to take it exactly there, but it got pretty hot. So obviously you're a female and you know African-American. Coming up in this industry isn't easy and we all recognize that. And the fact is you blew it up Like you didn't just like, hey, I'm going to make a go of it. And here I am. No, no, no, no, no. You said, hey, I know X, but now I'm going to learn Y, z, a, b, c, d through the whole letter chain. So now you're learning it all in your category in pastry and baking. That's fantastic, but how challenging was that? Oh, of course You're very welcome. How challenging was it in your experience, from the beginning to where you are now?

Speaker 3: 17:28

Um, so it came with a lot of challenges. Like I wouldn't say that you know me being female or my skin color is what made the challenges happen, but, um, it definitely played a part. And once I got into a position or a role that played a part in when I was in culinary school, I was like learning next to people who were fresh out of high school. So, you know, the opportunities for them were different than they were for me, because at the time, like I lived alone, I had to pay rent, I had to pay bills, I had to take care of myself, as opposed to these 17, 18 year olds who live with their mom and can go like work, work for pennies, work for like $5 an hour, $10 an hour, whatever the minimum wage was back then, whereas me I'm like, okay, I can't do that. Even though these are the top restaurants in the city, I can't work for pennies. I need to work to be able to survive and live. So it was hard to go into a kitchen where all of the people were younger than me, and sometimes my boss was younger than me, and I'm just like, all right, well, I'm here to learn, so teach me whatever you can teach me.

Speaker 3: 18:36

But then, as I got further in my career, is when all of the other obstacles came, where it's just like oh well, you don't know anything because you didn't work here or you didn't go to this school or you're. No one ever came out and said I'm old, but you know, they treat you that way, where it's just like I don't know, but it's like I feel like I thought it would get easier the further I got and I feel like it kind of got harder because obviously, when you're at a lower level, people treat you like you're at a lower level. But then when you, once you get up to a higher level or in a better role, you would think they start treating you better or respecting you more and they still treat you like you're a lower level person. So I think that's where, like, the obstacles and the hardships came in, where I'm just like, oh damn, okay, cool.

Speaker 3: 19:26

And I think that's where my drive also came from, where it's just like all right, well, since you want to treat me like this, I'm going to show you that I'm better than you. And it's not even just like a I'm cocky kind of situation. It's like, no, I worked my butt off to get to where I am. So I'm going to demand respect without even saying it, like my resume is going to speak for itself, like you're going to see that even if you're a savory cook, I can cook better than you, you know. So I had to like really push myself to that point of no one's going to give me respect. I have to, like I have to respect myself enough, but I also have to demand it in how I work.

Speaker 2: 20:02

Yeah, it's funny, excuse me, I know it's funny because last week we were talking to somebody. We're talking to the front of the house and the back of the house, the wall. Not many people talk about the wall within the kitchen. How do you balance the savory side and the pastry side when you're in your restaurants like?

Speaker 1: 20:22

there's. There's a different mindset.

Speaker 2: 20:24

Those cooks are totally different than pastry cooks absolutely like in every restaurant.

Speaker 3: 20:30

It's a universal thing that in every restaurant I've ever worked in, pastry was the least respected. They would. They would eat our prep like everyone would eat our prep and think it was OK. They would use our station if we're not there and leave it dirty or just a whole bunch of things. That would happen where, and I think that's where my people call it me being aggressive. That would happen where, and I think that's where my people call it me being aggressive and I don't know how to take that.

Speaker 3: 20:55

But this is where, like, like right now I have about five, five employees at all the locations I work at and I have to keep beating into their head.

Speaker 3: 21:03

Like, listen, guys, like, if you don't demand respect from these people, they're going to walk over you. They're going to come to your station and just take things without asking you. They're going to, like, talk to you crazy. They're going to eat your prep. They're going to do all the things because to everyone else, pastry is kind of like at the bottom of the food chain where, honestly, we are not. We are the last people that the guests experience, we're the last meal they have and we make the lasting impression, aside from the server. So it's like we should be like more respected than we are. So I think what I started doing was just like, like I said, like demanding that respect, like letting them know, like listen, at the end of the day, I can do your job, but you can't do mine, so this is where we're not the same and that's like where I was going with that, because a lot of times you see what, like we talk about.

Speaker 2: 21:55

when a restaurant loses sales, the first thing to go is marketing. What's the second department to go, like?

Speaker 3: 22:01

pastry. Pastry, oh yeah, when I was doing rid of the pastry chef and they'll teach one of the line cooks how to plate a dessert, or they'll even like they'll.

Speaker 2: 22:12

They'll get rid of the entire dessert um the entire pastry department and they'll start buying desserts and have a line cook plate it so I was at the american culinary federation I don't remember where we were at a national convention and duff was on stage and we were asking questions and I asked the question. There's two, what I feel there are two, um, lost art forms, or one that's losing and one that we've lost. One is butchering and the other one is pastry chefs. And he looked at me like I was crazy. But think about this you just said, if you have, sales are down, the pastry chef goes, then where do they turn to when the pastry chef goes and they can't have the consistency, yeah, they buy it, they buy it and then do it. So the buying aspect of it they're looking at it the ROI, it's a lot easier to go to your broadliner and go hey, just give me four of these chocolate cakes, seven of those, and whatever it is, and that's all it is.

Speaker 1: 23:04

I mean my opinion, and I could be wrong on this, but it seems to me pastry and baking it's more science than you know.

Speaker 2: 23:12

A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: 23:13

Yeah, yeah. So if you're looking at it from that perspective, there should be equal respect or more. You know they're like alchemists in there. You know what I mean. You know why, exactly, and.

Speaker 2: 23:27

I'll tell you why because I love both. No-transcript you are wired differently than anything that you can possibly think of.

Speaker 1: 23:59

Well, you know, when you look at it, though you you're talking about, I can see where you would, where you would buy from your supplier if you had a giant banquet, or you know there's.

Speaker 2: 24:12

I see that there's areas, applications, where you would want to do that right I'm sorry, I'm laughing because I wish that happened to me when they sold tiramisu for 600 people, right, no, but then I had to make it yes, that's a party right there, but but when you're talking, when you're talking about a restaurant, you know, or just like your your standard size, uh, eatery man, make, make him make it because it tastes better.

Speaker 1: 24:36

Like you can't compare. You know, when you have a good, when you have a good pastry chef, you can't compare quality to something that you're going to bring in from your broadliner like, give me a break.

Speaker 2: 24:45

Like you can't do that and I'll be honest with you, my favorite chef's table episodes are the ones about pastry and Jody Rocha, the Rocha brothers. There's no other. There's no, he see, there's no other. He's one of the best pastry chefs in the world.

Speaker 1: 24:59

And it like so when we we've done a lot of video, I'd walk and talk media, you know, or different series and everything. And the best, some of the best footage is pastry. It's beautiful Shows like the colors that can't like with with your video, your camera doesn't get better.

Speaker 2: 25:18

I look at John. Tell them what John said when we were looking at the rack catalog.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Well, I didn't, I didn't catch it.

Speaker 2: 25:23

You want to say it. He said we were looking at something, I was looking at a square plate, and then they had this round the dessert had squares and they had squared it off, but one was like a log, like cylinder, cylinder, and he goes that's plate would be great with Robert's desserts.

Speaker 3: 25:43

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:47

But that's like the, the intricacies, like that's what I mean. Pastry is in a different wavelength, like all chefs are wired differently. The guys like Jody Rocha, like Stefan Raymer from Walt Disney, henri from the Chocolate Guy, those guys are completely on another level than most people, than most people. So what I think about sorry, what I think about pastry must be going around. It's like listen, I have an excuse, I'm an old Jewish guy.

Speaker 1: 26:24

I'm like I'm looking around. I'm like, do I have to edit this today? Like what?

Speaker 2: 26:28

the hell is going on here.

Speaker 3: 26:29

Oh my God, I feel like we're in a nursing home. Do you need some water?

Speaker 2: 26:32

No, it's not water. It's not water, it's called allergies.

Speaker 1: 26:36

It's summer in Florida. It's called nursing home is the next stop. That's what it's called.

Speaker 2: 26:41

That's what my doctor said yesterday or two days ago.

Speaker 1: 26:46

Get back on track.

Speaker 2: 26:47

So, anyways, pastry is where the different mindset is, but when you have somebody that can bind the two of them. So do you do savory, chef, or no?

Speaker 3: 26:57

I used to. I don't care to work the line ever and I've done it. Actually, one of my jobs I wanted to try out a country club because I'm like all right, I've worked in restaurants, I'm tired of working service, tired of getting off at midnight. So I worked at a country club in Jacksonville and they were being bought and they were like okay, we don't want a pastry chef. So you either work savory or you have to find a new job. And I was like I am not working savory. And in between me, finding a new job, I had to. So I had to learn saute, I had to butcher meat, I had to break down chickens and all that and it's like all right, cool, it's not a terrible thing.

Speaker 3: 27:39

But I do take my pastry mentality and bring it to savory where it's like I can make you a dish that might look like a dessert, but it's not, it's something savory. But it's also the way my mind works with flavors. Like I incorporate a lot of savory into my desserts. So if I'm making something savory, I'll incorporate something sweet or what you think would be sweet, but I'll like add a different twist to it that you like it'll like it'll be a mind boggler, like you'll eat it. You'll be like, wow, what am I even freaking eating, you know? But yeah, no, I'm good on savory like my husband's a no, I'm good on savory Like my husband's a savory chef. So I'm good on all of that. Like we, we compare ideas, we brainstorm together, but I think I'm good on all of that.

Speaker 2: 28:22

What about, um, the show itself, what I did recognize that episode of the spring, uh, spring breaking championship. Those were some really good competitors. The spring, uh, spring breaking championship, those were some really good competitors. Oh, absolutely, I mean like I, I had alex, number one. I there's every time. I saw alex, up until where things started going a little bit south for him, and then I was like okay, what about steven? And then what about robert? And I'm like there's nikki, there's nikki in the background, all you heard was nikki, your favorite profiles nikki, your favorite, and that's all we heard, so talk about some of that.

Speaker 3: 28:56

And that's how I felt about it too. Like I remember in the very first episode, after seeing how everyone baked, cause I love French, french techniques and French cuisine. So when I met Alex and started seeing how he bakes like he's old school French and I was like, yep, he's my biggest competition, like I didn't see anyone else. It was like the entire time. It was like every time they asked me who do you think your biggest competition is?

Speaker 3: 29:22

Alex, like everyone was great, but I know, because I know my style and what I like to do and what I'm pushing myself to do, I'm pushing myself to do. I'm like Alex is it? And I want to, like I learned a lot from Alex. Like he's amazing and he was such a good competitor where it's just like hey, alex, do you have a recipe for this? And he's like sure, you know. So, yeah, like, yeah, he was it. Like that's why I was surprised that I even made it as far as I did, but also made it as far as to have to do a bake-off with him and beat him out. I was just like what is life right now?

Speaker 2: 29:55

In fact, it was tiramisu that you beat him out on.

Speaker 3: 29:59

I'm so sick of freaking tiramisu. You know what? I'm so sick of tiramisu.

Speaker 1: 30:05

Hold on a second, I am too. Even though it's delicious, I'm sick of eating it. I've had it all my life, you know, and yeah, but wait a minute, I'm talking about homemade stuff. I'm not talking about you know, I'm talking about homemade. Awesome, delicious tiramisu.

Speaker 2: 30:20

I don't want to eat it anymore no, but I was going to say is remember when we're in dallas for the world food championship and the family um, russell's mom made that tiramisu that deconst, deconstructed tiramisu. That was one of the best tiramisu's.

Speaker 1: 30:32

I've ever eaten. Yeah, yeah, I recognize the deliciousness of it. I just don't want it anymore. I don't want cannolis anymore.

Speaker 2: 30:40

Oh my God, If my friend Don Rizzo heard that, he would just literally you tell Rizzo.

Speaker 1: 30:44

Donnie Rizzo. You tell Rizzo that I said that I'm tired of cannolis and I'm tired of tiramisu and you're not going to change my mind, he'll eat yours, trust me. Don't you stay away from my food. I don't like either.

Speaker 3: 30:55

I don't like Italian food at all. Sorry, sorry guys, I'm not a fan.

Speaker 2: 31:01

She's more into ackee and saltfish and bimmy.

Speaker 1: 31:04

Wait a minute, wait a minute, slow down, nicky, nicky, nicky, nicky. I thought we were pals. Hello, so listen. By the way, my grandmother's oxtail would compete with your oxtail. No, no, no oh yeah, I'm telling you right now.

Speaker 3: 31:21

No, I won't say my oxtail, but I don't think your grandmas can compare to my mom's or my dad's.

Speaker 1: 31:27

My grandmother's oxtail. I'm sorry Listen, everybody who was making oxtail were poor. And guess what?

Speaker 2: 31:35

they all taste.

Speaker 1: 31:36

They all taste good and my grandma's was fantastic let me tell you something.

Speaker 2: 31:39

I'm not making oxtail now because it's not well, now, no, no, now it's another.

Speaker 1: 31:43

Now it's another story, but I'll tell you.

Speaker 3: 31:45

if you want really good oxtail, you have to go to nantucket, go to stubbies and my dad is there whipping some up If you want some good oxtail that's where you can go.

Speaker 2: 31:56

When you come down back to Miami you can go over to my wife's uncle Alfred. He's the chef over in an Asian restaurant and he has the best Jamaican oxtail probably I've ever had Hands down.

Speaker 1: 32:11

That's why I knew about Aki and saltfish. This sounds like a lot of challenges going on here. That's real all right, let's bring it back. Let's bring it back to the food network. So that was what in a? So in your life, do you, do you rank or rate this food network experience? Um, is it in the top tier, was it? It just like? Okay for you, like what? What was that about?

Speaker 3: 32:34

It was definitely top tier, like it was definitely one of those things where, aside from all of the craziness that happened around it, I can look back and really be like wow, like I accomplished something that I set my mind to, and it's not just a per, like yes, it's a personal goal, but it's a goal that I was able to showcase on, literally on national TV, you know. So it's definitely one of those things where I can like be like I was on food network. You know a lot of people can't say that.

Speaker 2: 33:07

Talk about like getting in from beating Alex and the social social media aspect of it, because I saw some stuff going around on social media. I mean there's got to be tons of drama this because it got bad, where one of the judges had to come out and actually say yeah, it got, it got rough.

Speaker 3: 33:26

Um, I you know, I think people they watch from this, this view, where it's like, oh well, alex was better the entire season and now they pretty much made it seem like the network made me beat Alex and it's like, no, if you pay attention and if all these people who had so much to say were true fans, they would know from way back when, when the freaking show started, that each bake is a new bake. So no one's comparing, hey. So alex did great this entire season, but he had one bad bake. Let's make him win rather than. Or nikki was kind of, you know, up and down and boom, here it is. How did she beat alex? It's it's, every single bake is a different bake. So for us, going into that bake off, it's just like. Like I didn't know where my mind was. I just knew I was there for a reason. I know I'm like I'm gonna do what I've been doing. I'm gonna do what I do every day in my kitchen and that's put out good desserts. Make something that is me putting myself on a plate, and that's what I did. Make something that is me putting myself on a plate, and that's what I did. You know, like alex is very traditional. I'm very untraditional, so you know it's like, okay, here's a key lime pie, cool, you're gonna get a key lime pavlova, because I'm gonna like that's how I bake, that's my style, you know. So, getting to that point and beating him, it was like I was shocked. He was, he was fine with it. We hugged it out, we talked it out, all that. He's just like. You deserve this.

Speaker 3: 34:56

The internet took it to a whole different level. Alex was better than Nikki. Nikki shouldn't have won, nikki only won because she's Black and that's what from. And I know I kind of didn't pay too much attention to the comments that were being made even before we got to that point. I think at one point, when we were top five and the Food Network posted our picture on their page, I had someone comment like oh, I want any of those people to win except Nikki.

Speaker 3: 35:23

She looks ignorant. And it's like you're judging me based off of what you see on TV, which I don't know what people saw to think I was ignorant, to think I was mean. There were people that said I was a bitch to Robert and it's like how, how are you getting that from a few clips that you see every now and then. So I think people just go in with a bias. It's a good thing and a bad thing. You have people that go in with a bias, like, okay, I'm a brown person, I I'm gonna root for the person that is brown because they're a good representation of me. So then on the flip side, on the negative side, you have the people who do the same thing, where it's like I'm definitely not rooting for this person because she's black. So it's.

Speaker 3: 36:03

It's the sad reality and the things that came from it the, the comments. People literally like put these things as their post on social media, to the point where, like I was upset because I'm just like in a moment where I make it to the finale, the top three, and I should be celebrating, I'm here like blocking people from trying to send me messages, like hate messages, or blocking comments, or like just kind of speak in my mind without directly coming at these folks, because, at the end of the day, like they don't deserve my explanation, but still I need, like I wanted to express how I was feeling about it yeah, but it wasn't just the two, you just wasn't just you, it was also the other two also had it too.

Speaker 2: 36:43

They was. It was like a whole setup for it. From what I understand because that's what the judge said you got there because, based upon what you produced and how you produced it, and then went back to the rules, yeah, nikki, yesterday we talked a little bit about this and you said it right.

Speaker 1: 37:00

You know, in competitions, in life and whatever, get judged by what you put out. Yeah, yeah, and I feel like you're right on the money there, there's going to be ignorant people from every side, from every color, from every religion, from every everything. And you know, unfortunately now, with the advent of smartphones and social media, all of these people have a voice and and or an outlet, I should say, to voice some sometimes very, you know, um, very ridiculous or insulting opinions, and that's what we deal with. I mean, I do, and I told you this too yesterday I scour the comment sections constantly, all over, because I just kind of want to get a feel for what people think. Now, the only challenge is you never know, like, if these are. You don't even know what's real anymore. If these are bots, if it's made, you know like, is it paid for? Like nobody knows anything. Social media is like a black hole. You know what I mean. It just sucks up everything Like galaxies. You don't even. It's like galaxies, you don't even it's.

Speaker 3: 38:12

And it's like like we talked about yesterday. You know we can think that, okay, it's social media, block it out, it's just bots, it's fake, it's whatever. But the reality is a lot of what the a lot of the things that were being said are things that I've either either heard from other people in person or have experienced. You know, like I told you yesterday, like I had a white chef tell me he didn't think that I had two college degrees because he had none, pretty much insinuating like, hey, because I don't have it as a white man, then you shouldn't have it. And I've had that. And I read between the lines. Sometimes I'm way off, sometimes I'm on point, because it's like when you hear it enough, it's just like, well damn, why can't I have anything Like I had.

Speaker 3: 39:02

I've been to Nantucket multiple times. I love Nantucket and we all know Nantucket is not for not for cheap, broke people. So because my dad lives there, I used to visit it a lot and I remember I brought back a bottle of wine from the vineyards up there. I brought back a bottle of wine for one of my chefs and he literally looked at me and was like how have you gone to Nantucket and I have not been yet. I'm like what do you mean? Like my dad lives there, I hang out there every summer, like, and in that moment I was kind of like naive to what he was saying, but it was just like oh okay, now I get it Like. So it's a thing that happens often and, like I said, we can look at what is said on the internet and kind of just like be like oh no, maybe it was just bots, it's fake, it's not real, it's just internet trolls. But it's the reality that the things that were said on the internet is what people think or even say out of their mouth in person.

Speaker 1: 40:00

It's stupid, the whole thing is stupid.

Speaker 3: 40:02

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 40:03

You know, because the truth is we all have to share and I'm keeping it culinary too right now. We all have to share, and I'm keeping it culinary too right now. But we all have to share in this thing, gosh, any saute, whatever, being a server, your knucklehead host or hostess, like whoever, everybody has to kind of, we all live together and we all have to work together and we all have to get along. But you know, I want to take this back to what I said in the opening monologue, because it's a feel good story. The reality is you, you, you have beaten odd, odd over odd. You, you, you have beaten odd, odd over odd, over odd over odd. You, you've come a long way and you know, I remember 30 years ago how the kitchen was. You know I was, I was young, um, I was more than 30 years now. Golly man, I hate doing math, I hate math. So obviously that's why I was laughing. Yeah, that's where you're laughing.

Speaker 2: 41:10

So you're thinking you're in your 20s or 30s and you're not.

Speaker 1: 41:14

When I was 15 is when I started as a busboy or whatever, 35 years ago.

Speaker 1: 41:18

Yeah, shut up, yeah, but I remember, just from back then and being in the business, I remember how it was and I remember you didn't see female chefs, you didn't see persons chefs, you didn't see persons of color as chefs. In fact, most of the kitchens were Caucasian-ish. You know, they were Male-dominated, yeah, male-dominated. So, but now you go, any kitchen you go to today is very diverse, you know, and you can say you know, and spirits, you know cocktails and whatnot. All of these things bring people together and I think we've come such a long way and I'm thrilled that of where we are today. I mean, it's not perfect, nothing's ever going to be perfect but man, we've really come a long way. So this is a. This is in spite of the, in spite of the negativity that, nikki, that you dealt with on the show over there. Man, it's so awesome and it is positive. So congratulations again on that.

Speaker 3: 42:29

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 42:31

You know I'll go back to, and I have this saying, and Jason's going to shake his head when he hears it Racism is the religion of the ignorant bottom line. If we all teach other about our cultures and our differences, then there is none and we don't have to fear it. We break down barriers and the way to do that is at a table in community. When you do it because you've done it all your life, battling it, as you were stating, it's not just on the show, you just were. You. I didn't see it, I was naive to it, but then you've gone through it, you. Some of the greatest stories you hear about people, the greatest chefs, is the trials and tribulations that they did to get to where they're at and that you've. Yeah, so congrats, thank you.

Speaker 3: 43:12

I am, especially with something I said yesterday was um, like one thing I always look at is like how does me and I said this uh, what's your name, carl, sorry, um, I said, I said how.

Speaker 3: 43:27

Like one thing I always look at whenever, especially when I'm like in a situation like where people are judging me based off how I look, or am I qualified or do I belong in the room, because you know they are in the room too like one thing I look at is how does me being me stop anyone from being them?

Speaker 3: 43:46

Like how does me being like awesome, you know, because that's what I, that's what I present. Like I walk into a room like I own it and it's not to be cocky, but it's to say like hey, I'm here, you know, like my presence is here. Like I walk in and with like such poison grace to where it's, just like I'm going to walk into every room like I belong there, because I know there's people looking at me like I don't. So I always wonder, like, how does me being like overly zealous about what I do, me being, you know, passionate about my work, me being passionate about being a strong black woman how does that stop anyone from being them, you know. So it's it's it's sad, it's sad, but, like we said, it's positive. You know, I, I look at a lot of.

Speaker 1: 44:33

I think I can. I can, I think I can lay down a little bit of an answer to that, because obviously, yeah, there's ignorant people who do look at you, know genders and colors and all that stuff, but I think universally there's a lot of people who, when you do have passion and positivity and that means you have confidence, they automatically hate you, no matter who you are, because they don't.

Speaker 2: 44:59

Insecurities in themselves Exactly.

Speaker 1: 45:01

They can't process the fact that they are lower than you and that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. If you possess those traits, they look at you and they hate you. Now they may not outright hate you, but secretly they do, and I think that's a big part of it.

Speaker 2: 45:20

What was the? What was the winning like a reward for those part of it? What was the winning reward for those, steve, and who won? What was the prize?

Speaker 3: 45:27

For winning the show $25,000.

Speaker 2: 45:32

So I'm going to say I watched the Great British Baking Show. It's great. There is no prize except a dish and I get to be the baker for that season, so there's no monetary amount. What I was surprised about with your episode specifically with a $25,000 reward on the line right, our award on the line. You guys got along so great Was that like that was not acted out. That was you guys just like you bonded correct.

Speaker 3: 45:56

Yeah, we, we all definitely bonded on, like cause we were there for so long, we were there for so long, having to see each other all the time, like so we had. We had no choice and like I'm an introvert, I I'm a hermit all I need is a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and a good tv show. Leave me alone. I will be locked in my room. And for the first couple days we were filming, I literally did that while everyone was going out and hanging out and getting to know each other. I was like nope, I don't want to know anyone, I'm here for a purpose and that's it. But then, as I started talking to everyone, we started like sharing our work, stories and things like that. We started like developing this friendship where we are still friends, like we all still talk. But yeah, it was all real, like it's. At the end of the day, it was just like all right, we know we're here for a reason, we know we're competing, um, somebody has to win.

Speaker 1: 46:52

So it is what it is the show producers probably hated the fact that you all got along. You know they know, they loved it, do they really? Because usually they, they look for the, they look for that, that, um, that angle.

Speaker 2: 47:05

You know to push some shows yeah, a lot of shows do yeah yeah.

Speaker 3: 47:09

But yeah, even if you look at like some of the previous seasons, like a lot of them got along as well, like a lot of them like if they're in each other's cities, they'll go hang out and things like like they like I used to look at it like that too, like how are they friends? Like they're supposed to be competing for money, but then I got into it and it's like okay, like I see how I I thought we were friends until you hit me with it.

Speaker 1: 47:29

You don't like the italian food thing like I. I was. I forgot your name. I said I didn't like italian food.

Speaker 3: 47:34

I ain't saying I don't like italian people. Oh, I'm just not. I'm not a fan of, I'm not a fan of Italian food. I'm more of a rice person, so I like Asian food, I love curries, I love anything with a sauce that the rice soaks up, and I guess this is for me, being the islander. But I love anything with rice and you put a meat or something with the sauce on top and it's just spicy, sweet, all that. That's what I like, so nothing against it's just flavor, sweet, all that.

Speaker 2: 48:04

That's what I like, so nothing against. It's just flavor. The flavors are different. Man, scotch bonnets bring a whole nother flavor, bro, I'm out of here Exactly. I can't even do that for them. I can't bring scotch bonnet sauce in here because they don't think they can handle it. What are you talking about? That one couldn't, he can't I can't talking about I have guava and cucumber in mind bro, bring it on all right, I got the plants popping them off, so I'll bring it.

Speaker 2: 48:29

What am I afraid of you? Good to get, bring it, you just want to eat?

Speaker 1: 48:32

yeah, feed me, damn. What are we talking about, oh?

Speaker 2: 48:35

I have a question for you, since you're a baker and you're jican Cassava pudding. Can you make cassava pudding?

Speaker 3: 48:43

I can.

Speaker 2: 48:46

I need that recipe on the fly. That is like the dopest stuff. No, no, no.

Speaker 1: 48:50

Forget the recipe on the fly. She's got to come here and make it. Okay, get her butt down here, then she's in Atlanta. It's not even that far, yeah it's fine, it's Less than that.

Speaker 2: 49:02

It's like six hours to South Carolina, Nikki you going to come down and cook or bake Sure?

Speaker 1: 49:06

Or bring some cassava pudding, or bring cassava Well, yeah, bring the pudding. But then we're going to do some real beautiful colorful.

Speaker 2: 49:13

You have no idea about the cassava. It will change your life. It's that good.

Speaker 3: 49:18

I love cassava pudding.

Speaker 1: 49:23

I'm not down for any more life changes, man, you know what I mean. Like I just I'm looking for some smooth sailing. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2: 49:26

like that's what I'm looking for at this stage, you know, oh yeah oh, really yeah yeah, I'm tired of like christopher cross now instead of food fighters.

Speaker 1: 49:33

Yeah no, always food fighters, man. But you know, we'll do a little crisscross, christopher cross as well. You know a little sailing awayailing away to where I'm going. Oh my God, take me away. Nikki Chef, what's next for you?

Speaker 3: 49:50

I don't know. I feel like I've reached an area and a stage in my life where I'm content Whatever comes next, like comes next. Like I've reached the parts of my goals where I was just like I'm like all right, this is what I want to do, this is what I want to achieve, this is what I want to accomplish, like little things too. I remember when I moved to Atlanta, I was like I want to be an eater. I didn't do anything special to be an eater other than just exist and boom. Like they reached out to me like hey, we would like to do an article on you, and I'm just like wow, so I think I've reached where I've wanted to go. Now, anything else that comes by is just a bonus and I'm excited to see what else falls in my lap or what else knocks on my door or anything. I'm, I'm, I'm open. How does? Yeah, I don't know what's next. How does that?

Speaker 2: 50:45

the win, or how does it being on the, the network and the show, how has that affected the life at home, the dynamic, anything like? How does he handle the like?

Speaker 3: 50:57

uh, the pr for you he loves it like my husband like. So the way we met husband. Like so the way we met. There's a short story. The way we met was when I moved to Jacksonville, florida. He was, um, he was one of the chefs at one of the restaurants I applied for and he hired me. We never worked together, we we didn't date and work together or anything Like. He hired me. By the time I started working he was already gone from that job. He moved on to something else and we stayed in contact and started dating. Ever since then, he always so. Anywhere we went anywhere he met people.

Speaker 3: 51:31

He's like this is the best pastry chef in Jacksonville and he always like just put my name out there, put my name in rooms that I wasn't in. So he like, from day one he saw the potential in me and saw that I would do great things. So now that we're actually living it like he's just sitting in it and just smiling like good, I'm finally happy that people can see in you what I saw day one when I hired you. So and I put him on too like he's he's at a point in his career where he's just like I don't need any of that, I don't need any accolades, I don't need to be recognized Cause I did my, I did my part, I paid my dues. I'm good, I just want to cook. But every now and then, like if someone says hey, do you have anyone you want to recommend for an article or for a story or whatever I'd definitely throw his name in there, because we've got to win together.

Speaker 1: 52:22

The food scene in Jacksonville. St Aug Augustine is pretty strong. It's a super foodie town, is it St Augustine is? Did I miss something?

Speaker 2: 52:35

Jacksonville is a little less.

Speaker 1: 52:38

Jacksonville has some areas. It's South Atlanta.

Speaker 3: 52:41

They're getting there.

Speaker 1: 52:44

St Augustine Is a foodie town and I was shocked at that too. I started going up to St Augustine a few years back and started to Get to know Some of the local chefs Over there and it's pretty serious. It's like the community, the people who actually live there. It's a real foodie town.

Speaker 2: 53:08

There's actually a baker up there. She was on the the dr zeus bake off and she's been oh, rebecca reed, yes rebecca, thank you, I couldn't remember that is my home, so funny story.

Speaker 3: 53:19

She's the one that threw my name at the people at Food Network for them to reach out to me for the show.

Speaker 2: 53:25

She told me that story because I was telling her about how we had Robert on the podcast when I was in Hastings where we talked about bronzy team bronzy. That's where I met her. She was actually doing bacon like a dessert but it was savory. She was the only one doing a dessert with bacon, making it savory Popcorn and all this Like it was a trail mix, but it was really good and everyone else was doing something with it.

Speaker 2: 53:48

It was a savory dish and she's just a. What's her name? Rebecca. We need to get her on the show. She wants to come on the show. She's been on several cooking championships, yes.

Speaker 3: 54:04

She champions, she. Um, she won chop sweets a while back and then she was a finalist on the dr seuss show. But yeah, she and I are really good friends like we. Every now and then we'll text, but we're both like super busy so we keep missing each other.

Speaker 1: 54:11

But yeah, that's my girl nikki, that tell me the truth, though she's got the goods she can throw down, oh absolutely dude.

Speaker 2: 54:18

Yes you, this dr zeus was no. Like they had to make worlds. Dr zeus themed stuff and they had. There was three competitors per each team. One was a baker, one was a sugar person, the other one yeah, god, it was, and these guys had to work and they just met that day. It wasn't like they picked them and they were like okay you three.

Speaker 2: 54:34

Exactly you were, it's like taking cafe con leche and adding a sugar in it. You know that kind of's. You'd have no idea what you were doing with it. But she, she's really talented, really talented.

Speaker 2: 54:46

Like I said you put savory and a pastry chef together as one, you're not gonna there. There's no stopping that person. There's just so. The flavor profiles they come up with is just so deep, so complex. It's ridiculous, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to get into pastry myself, because having that science behind the flavor and how the reactions go and then some of the things you can do in there mind-blowing I think you should get into pastry. No you want me to bake for you?

Speaker 1: 55:13

Yeah, that's exactly what I want.

Speaker 2: 55:16

No, Nikki, did you just hear what I said? He just wants me to bake for him.

Speaker 1: 55:19

Yeah for the show. To bake for him. Yeah For him. That's for the show.

Speaker 3: 55:22

For him, that's the best practice Bake for someone you know and they'll be brutally honest with you. Like you got to do it.

Speaker 1: 55:28

See, Nikki. See, you redeemed yourself, Nikki.

Speaker 2: 55:31

Oh wow, we're back.

Speaker 1: 55:33

We are back.

Speaker 2: 55:34

Yeah, but I can't do any Italian stuff, sorry, whatever.

Speaker 1: 55:39

Nikki, won't let me Listen. I'm not going to go to you for Italian stuff.

Speaker 2: 55:42

Yeah, and you know the Cuban stuff.

Speaker 1: 55:43

You can go to your mother-in-law, that's right, I don't need to worry about this.

Speaker 2: 55:46

By the way, did you tell her that the flan was really good?

Speaker 1: 55:49

I did and you know. By the way, john, the entire family was blown away by the pictures, the photography of the flan.

Speaker 2: 55:58

Amazing.

Speaker 3: 56:07

Yeah, I don't know if nikki knew that we had a battle, flan we had.

Speaker 2: 56:09

It was really a battle, yeah, like a battle of flan royale.

Speaker 1: 56:10

Nobody, because it was so different, I did a smoked flan. No, no, no, wait, a minute, hold on time out, wait, nikki, wait, stop, stop, stop, stop, everybody stop. Let's get this correct. My mother-in-law, an old Cuban woman, made a traditional flan and it was fantastic, as usual. As per usual.

Speaker 2: 56:31

By the way, she doesn't listen to the show.

Speaker 1: 56:32

No, but Jeff, he decided to do something really funky and he did a smoked flan. Now, it was not like a flan at all, but it was effing amazing. It was really delicious but it was not flan. So did you know to say who won the flan? Like no, my mother-in-law did.

Speaker 3: 56:55

of course she did it was a rule, though it depends on the rules true?

Speaker 1: 57:00

well, that's true too. Look at the end of the day, you're going to have to come to the table with a traditional flan. If you want to. I can't because I'm not traditional. See, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 57:11

Here's the reason why I wasn't born and raised in a Cuban household. I don't have the traditions of it. So when you're talking about it, I don't want to. I don't want to do an injustice to a cuisine. I'll take bits and pieces and make it my own cuisine, as in smoked flan, and then I. That's why I asked robert for his flan recipe. I have a flan recipe, but my recipe didn't have cream cheese, and so I wanted to take it to the next level. I will never bastardize another cuisine. I can't. I want to show respect to it as much as I can, and I just shut him up.

Speaker 2: 57:46

I did I don't have to say that Right there, I don't see it Mic drop. Somebody call him.

Speaker 3: 57:51

Honestly, I think I would have smoked something too. That sounds like it's up my alley.

Speaker 2: 58:05

Like I would have definitely pulled out the smoking gun and smoked a flan. I actually froze the cream.

Speaker 3: 58:08

Here's what I did I actually? Froze the cream cheese and literally threw it on the smoker and let it smoke, what yep huh.

Speaker 1: 58:11

Okay, nikki, I'm not. I'm not lying to you when I tell you that it was delicious I didn't like it because you're, you're judging. No, you're a weird, you're you're self-deprecating. No, no, it's not self-deprecating.

Speaker 2: 58:23

It's because what I didn't like about it had a shell that was too thick on the on the top of it, the dome. I wanted something that had that crunch to it, like almost brulee not, but there was crunch, I know, but it was just too, you know, and I had salted caramel too on it.

Speaker 1: 58:37

That's what I did you see what I'm, you see what I gotta do here, you know, do here. I have to roll up a newspaper, hit him on the nose and say you lost.

Speaker 2: 58:47

But now here I am with a towel and I'm wiping his face and saying no, it was delicious man. Version 3.0.

Speaker 1: 58:53

Man golly, I tell you what.

Speaker 2: 58:55

Version 3.0.

Speaker 1: 58:56

Where's my newspaper?

Speaker 2: 58:57

I've got to do it again. I want to perfect it the way that I want it. All I've got to do it again.

Speaker 1: 59:01

I want to perfect it the way that I want it. All right enough. Enough Silence. All right, listen. All right, nick chef we've got to get you here at some point and we're going to do really cool stuff.

Speaker 2: 59:15

Not August or September, it's too hot.

Speaker 1: 59:18

Well, yeah, but at the end of the day, we need to get John and Nikki together.

Speaker 2: 59:22

Oh yeah, the food photography. Oh, forget it.

Speaker 1: 59:26

All right, nikki, how does everybody find you? What's your preference Instagram? What is it?

Speaker 3: 59:32

Yes, instagram is where you'll find me, chef underscore Nikki. Underscore Nikki is spelled N-I-C-K-E-Y and that's where you'll see all of my things, all my pictures, little reels, stuff I do at work.

Speaker 1: 59:49

It's going to be fun. Listen again. Congratulations on the Food Network. Congratulations on everything. You're awesome. We're going to wrap up now. Chef Jason, thanks for coming in. I can't wait to see what you're cooking up here today. Also, Bacon-wrapped filet. Bacon-wrapped filet. All right, john's giving me the roll. All right, jeff, john, jason, nikki, everybody. Thank you and we are out. Thanks,