022 Renewing Jimmy Wan's Restaurant Legacy

(00:35) What happens when a family-run restaurant transitions to the next generation? Join us as we chat with Todd Brezinski, co-owner of Jimmy Wan's in Fox Chapel, who shares the challenges and triumphs of modernizing a beloved family business. Todd and his wife, Kristen Wan, have made significant strides in both learning and leading the restaurant, with a move back to Pittsburgh, immersing themselves in the Fox Chapel location. You'll hear about customer favorites like General Tso's chicken, behind the scenes butchery, and how their upscale cocktail service sets them apart.

(12:27) Ever wondered how a restaurant empire begins? Todd recounts the history of the Wan family, from his father-in-law's move from Taiwan to New York, to the establishment of successful restaurants across multiple states. And discover the vital role community connections play in Pittsburgh's restaurant scene. Supporting local restaurateurs has been a cornerstone of their success, fostering mutual growth and loyalty.

(27:30) Plus, this episode serves up fun insights into summer grilling and wine pairings, along with a recipe of the week of Shrimp and Grits with a unique low country approach. Don't miss a bite!

Transcript

Doug: 0:01

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, doug Heilman. How did a 3 am baby feeding lead a couple into restaurant ownership? We'll hear about it from this week's guest. What are some of the best wines to pair with that smoky grill flavor? We have some ideas from our wine expert and how to keep shrimp as the star in a Southern recipe for shrimp and grits. All that ahead, stay tuned. Hey, thanks so much for coming on to the show. Would you introduce yourself and what you have going on right now in food?

Todd: 0:41

Sure, I am Todd Brezinski Right now. Right now, I am owning and operating Jimmy Wan's in Fox Chapel.

Doug: 0:48

And we should clarify because you don't sound like part of the family right away you are Kristen's husband.

Todd: 0:55

Yes, I am married to Kristen Wan. Yes, my father-in-law is Jimmy Wan and my brother-in-law is Jimmy Wan. Exactly and Jimmy.

Doug: 1:01

Wan Sr is a little bit more retired from the business, would you say, and his son might say he might not say that Maybe we won't say that.

Todd: 1:11

No.

Doug: 1:12

I mean yes.

Todd: 1:13

At the end of the day, you know, we're sort of going through, I would say, the generational transition that every business owner would probably like to do. Yeah, but a lot of times your kids don't want to do what your parents did, and my wife might feel the same way, but in general, you know, my father-in-law is stepping back and my mother-in-law is stepping back, my wife and I are stepping forward, and my brother-in-law has been there for 18 years, so he's already been there.

Doug: 1:39

We're sort of meeting him where he's at Right and for any of our listeners that are not familiar with Jimmy Wan's, there are two locations. There's one up in Cranberry and that's where Jimmy Jr has been managing for a bit.

Todd: 1:53

Right, yeah, so they opened in Cranberry 18 years ago, right, and actually my wife graduated college right when they opened, and so she helped open that location as well. She stayed in Pittsburgh through 2009, when they opened in Fox Chapel 15 years ago, and then we started dating around that time and she moved to New York where I was living in 2010.

Doug: 2:16

And that's an incredible run for a restaurant. A couple of things that are really sparking my mind right now is A the longevity of both places. Sparking my mind right now is A, the longevity of both places 15 years in Fox Chapel, 18 years in Cranberry. The positive side of this is that generational change is happening, because so often a lot of family restaurants, there isn't a next generation that wants to take it over. And it also sounds to me when we were talking earlier, you and your wife are sort of taking some of the reins around Fox Chapel and you have both sort of injected some newer things into the operations of it.

Todd: 2:53

the modernization of just how things run, yeah for sure, I think you know I have a consulting background which we could get into later. But you know, when I came in the first thing I did was sort of question some things which obviously ruffles some feathers. But also, you know, I'll use one example we use and tell me if this example is bad or not but in.

Todd: 3:14

Fox chapel. We ordered produce from two different companies and we ordered the same things on Monday from one provider and the same things on Thursday from another provider. I said, why do we use two providers? Why not double our business and see, or double their business and see what we can get from them? And so those sorts of things just sort of went unasked for a long time. No one's fault, but what we tried to do was sort of just inject some new life, some new thinking into the restaurants so that we could approach, you know, the next decade with some renewed vigor for the restaurants.

Doug: 3:50

Yeah, perfect. I also think we should talk first about what the restaurants are known for in terms of, like, what are some of the most popular dishes or how you guys even describe the cuisine. It's not just Chinese cooking. How do you describe what's going on now and what are some of the most ordered things today?

Todd: 4:09

For sure. I think you know it's funny. When you've been around for as long as these restaurants have been around, I'm sure they've assumed many personas you know five, 10 years ago it was in vogue to say you were Pan-Asian, and so you see a lot of things refer to Jimmy Wan's as Pan-Asian. Nowadays Pan-Asian has more of a negative connotation. Where you think about, you know, an Asian restaurant that tries to do too much and so they don't do any of it well or they're not focusing on what you know the chef or the ownership you know truly does well in order to please the masses, and so in general in restaurants you've seen a move back towards authenticity and cuisine. I mean, just go up to Squirrel Hill and you can. You can see that as you walk down the road Right At Jimmy Wan's.

Todd: 4:56

I would say you know, we're a Chinese restaurant with a sushi bar, which is really what we do. There are some, you know, broader cultural elements that we bring into it, be they American or other Asian cultures, but at the end of the day the food is pretty authentically Chinese and Japanese or sushi. Our biggest seller by far it's not even really close is General Tso's chicken. Oh yes, at first when I showed up I was like well, how do we sell more of other things you know, besides General Tso's chicken? But over the months I've sort of realized that there's no shame in that. You know, like, stick to what you do well and you can, you can sort of branch out from there.

Doug: 5:38

But I don't want to leave out you. You all have a really good cocktail service at both locations as well, which I think gives you an edge.

Todd: 5:46

For sure, like the layer on top of the Chinese restaurant and sushi bar is it's also a little bit upscale. Right, you can go and get fantastic wines. We have an amazing cocktail program. You know fun fact Jimmy my brother-in-law up in Cranberry is actually the number one seller of Casa Azul tequila in the entire state of Pennsylvania, which is interesting to think that a Chinese restaurant in Cranberry is, you know, the number one seller of any brand of tequila. You know the family, and especially my brother-in-law, have spent a lot of time curating a pretty amazing beverage program that really lends itself to the cuisine. A pretty amazing beverage program that really lends itself to the cuisine. That sort of adds to the upscale part of it. It's a place you can go to grab a glass of wine with friends as well, as you know, have a big Chinese feast with your family, which is how we want people to use the restaurant I love it.

Doug: 6:39

I mean, I also want to say like when I have visited your locations, the plating, the styling of the food, all of that adds to sort of that upscale feel. Everybody's dish looks really good. Could you share just a couple of the biggest sellers? I know you mentioned earlier General Tso's chicken. Is there anything else that's just been on the menu forever or is always a fan favorite?

Todd: 7:02

A lot of our sort of dumpling offerings is always a fan favorite A lot of our sort of dumpling offerings. So, if we move away from the entrees, like what's core to what Jimmy Wands does, and something where we're relatively unique is that we've had the same chef in Fox Chapel for 15 years he's actually a dim sum trained chef and so he started by making dim sum for both restaurants and a few years ago took over the whole kitchen in Fox Chapel and I would say the work that he does with dumplings making them in house, making the variety of dumplings that he does, and how we plate those and serve those really adds to all of those elements that I was describing earlier.

Doug: 7:42

Yeah, and this is not an easy cuisine, right? There's a lot of labor intensive technique going on in the back of the house. Is that right? That is?

Todd: 7:53

correct, I have as many people in the kitchen on any given night as I do in the front. Oh, my goodness.

Doug: 8:00

And so you guys are doing your own dumplings, you're doing probably in-house butchering, you know all of the other mise en place that needs to take place and it's just, it's intricate.

Todd: 8:10

Yeah, I mean this. This is going to be very inside baseball, as I like to say, but one of the things that I think makes our food unique and good is that we start with whole chickens and so we go through between the two restaurants. We go through a thousand chickens a week, which is probably more chickens than any restaurant in Pittsburgh, but we start with whole chickens. We have a very specific chicken that we like to get. It's a three and a half to four pound bird. We've tried other sizes and they don't work, but what we do is we use that whole bird.

Todd: 8:44

So, you know, the chicken breast becomes tenders which go into our you know white meat preparations for general sews or orange chicken or any of those things. The sort of larger chicken breast gets shaved and that becomes the sort of sliced white meat for our chicken with broccoli and those types of dishes, the sort of sliced white meat for our chicken with broccoli and those types of dishes. The thigh becomes our chicken teriyaki, our chicken on the stick, which is also phenomenal, yes, the legs they get quartered and that becomes the dark meat for our general sews. The wings we sell our wings are phenomenal and then all of the remaining parts become the broth for our wonton soup, our chicken noodle soup and all of the other applications that we use. And so you know, people ask you know what makes things different, or why does you know? Why is our general so so good? Or why is or why are any of our dishes so good? And I think it really starts from whole bird preparation, like you said, and it's just the attention to detail and sort of quality ingredients.

Doug: 9:49

I love that story and also kind of coming back also to the point that nothing goes to waste in that kitchen.

Todd: 9:52

You're doing something with everything that comes in. Oh, it's amazing Like not to belabor the point, but watching the guys in the kitchen work when chickens come in is simultaneously horrifying but also like amazing to watch, like the, the sort of speed and efficiency with which they work. I mean, we're, we're, we're blessed in our restaurant to have key people that have been there for for very, very long in our kitchen. You know our top four guys have been there for 10 plus years. You know my top two servers have been there. I'm describing Fox chapel here, but our top two servers have been there. I'm describing Fox Chapel here, but our top two servers have been here for eight to 10 years. Everyone in front has been there for eight to 10 years. My head bartender has been there for 12 years, and so we have just amazing consistency across the restaurant, which that allows for us to stand the test of time, right.

Doug: 10:43

So Todd, you've described some of the aspects of the restaurant so well. I'd love to talk a little bit about the family, and do you want to start with your wife and tell us a little bit about her and her involvement in the business?

Todd: 10:57

Yeah, of course she's less of a public speaker and a little more nervous about things like this. She would have been rehearsing for weeks leading up to it.

Doug: 11:07

So you're the spokesperson today.

Todd: 11:08

So I'm the spokesperson a little bit, although you know, in the restaurant it's different. I think it's when you have the time to think about it that she gets a little bit more nervous. But you mentioned I'm the in-law. It's funny, when we approached my in-laws with this idea to move back from Dallas and take over the restaurant, their first response was sure, we've got a spot for Kristen. And I think my wife was like well, that's not exactly what we wanted, and so you know how we've accounted for that. A little bit is. You know, if you're in that restaurant on any given day, you'll see me.

Doug: 11:43

I've sort of put in a lot more on the FaceTime side, right, so that I can build up some of the credibility that you know maybe inherently comes with being part of the Juan family, right right, you know, during COVID and a lot of things got shut down, I know the businesses moved to more of a takeout and you were saying to me earlier that that's sort of when Jimmy Juan Jr sort of took over a little bit more of the business because it wasn't necessary for the whole family to be there. But then, as the restaurants have fully reopened and come back, it just felt like a good time to change over to the next generation and you and your wife were out of state, you moved back home and you're you know you're really getting entrenched in the business. For folks that don't know much about the the Wan family history, Can you give us a little summary of like some of the other restaurants, Cause I think there was at least one or so before?

Todd: 12:38

we can go. We can go all the way back. I'm I'm better at this, a little bit better at the history than even my wife is, and there's also a great, a fantastic article in Shady Ave Magazine too that touches on a bit of this. But my father-in-law moved here from Taiwan when he was 18, immediately went to work in restaurants in New York, sort of got the itch to go somewhere else, went all the way down to Florida, hooked through Texas. He actually bought his first restaurant in Iowa. Oh wow, it did not go well. He ended up coming back.

Todd: 13:11

He met my mother-in-law in New York and they decided to move back to Pittsburgh and opened a restaurant in Beaver. Didn't go especially well. They moved back to New York. Then they got a call from my grandmother-in-law, my mother's mother, about a spot in Fox Chapel that had opened up and if they wanted to come back. She thought it was perfect for them to open a restaurant and so they got together with an old chef and they opened Taip ei. That was about, I want to say about 38 years ago, 1986. With Taip ei they opened restaurants a few. There was one in Shadyside, one in Green Tree, I'm probably forgetting one, but they branched it out.

Todd: 14:00

They branched it out, they grew, but maybe not as successfully as they would have hoped. When my father-in-law got an opportunity and located a site in Cranberry 18 years ago, he opened that on his own with some other partners. And then, a year after Cranberry opened I mean back then, cranberry was, you know, fields and farms, maybe not completely, but not what it is today.

Doug: 14:30

I worked up in Cranberry from way back when they mostly called it Crider's Corner because there was like a gas station on the corner and then all these industrial parks started happening. I specifically remember when Jimmy Wan's Cranberry opened we went there a ton for lunch. I mean it was always excellent.

Todd: 14:42

Yeah, the family actually got apartments up in Cranberry because, you know, opening a restaurant, creating that base of customers I mean, it's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job and if you want to be able to even take a break for a minute, you need to be close by. And so that was 18 years ago. 17 years ago, jimmy left Taipei, so my father-in-law left Taipei, and then 15 years ago, we opened in Fox Chapel.

Doug: 15:13

Got it.

Todd: 15:14

What's funny enough is that's actually my wife moved back from college to open Cranberry and to open Fox Chapel before we sort of ended up in New York and then away from town for almost 15 years before coming back to Fox Chapel. This is Todd Brezinski from Jimmy Wan's and you're listening to the Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug: 15:35

All right. Well, let's get back to you know where you now step in. Like for you personally, what are some of the most interesting things you've learned about being a restaurateur?

Todd: 15:47

It's interesting I so I was an extremely picky eater when I was growing up, and so I, my favorite restaurant growing up was Chili's. No shame that I still like Chili's a lot, um, although I would say, you know, maybe not as great as its hay day. But I didn't actually start experiencing restaurants until after I graduated college. I finally had some disposable income. I didn't exactly have roommates that wanted to go out to restaurants, but I spent years in Boston sort of just going to places, sitting at the bar, having food for one and, uh, you know, sort of developing a love for different cuisines and different food items and all of that.

Todd: 16:26

Since then I've always been, you know, maybe what you would call a foodie although, you know, like Pan-Asian foodie is is one of those words that that goes in and out of style and when we lived in dallas. So in dallas like restaurant sort of functions more as like a status symbol, you know, and so it's. It's about where you go and you know how much you spend a little bit on dinner. Yeah, and moving back to pittsburgh, the most interesting thing has been it's all about knowing, it's about knowing the owners, it's about having a consistent experience.

Todd: 16:59

It's about sort of knowing who you're supporting connection yeah exactly, it's a Pittsburgh thing, I got to tell you. Pittsburgh, at the end of the day, is a collection of small towns and each town has, you know, so much community within it.

Doug: 17:13

Yes.

Todd: 17:14

Yeah, and you know that works to our benefit, where we've been adopted almost from day one as part of our neighborhood, as you know, part of the restaurant where we have developed these friendships and these relationships with longtime regulars in a short amount of time. Yeah, in Pittsburgh, that just goes such a long way.

Doug: 17:35

Yes, amount of time. Yeah, in Pittsburgh that just goes such a long way. Yes, so, todd, you just have me thinking as you are back and you're learning your restaurant business, are there other restauranteurs that you are creating bonds with? I mean whether they are just helping out with your business or coming into your business.

Todd: 17:51

We have a lot of restaurant owners that are regulars at Jimmy Juan's.

Todd: 17:55

And through that we've actually changed how we visit other restaurants because we want to support sort of our good customers and friends and people that we've met through the restaurant. So you know I'll give you some examples. Like Kevin, who owns Knox's Tavern, is a is a regular at our bar and you know Knox's Tavern has now become a family favorite. You know Local Provisions and Scott Pekarsik I mentioned yes, they, you know again he comes into our bar. Funny story we actually used to go to a different Italian restaurant but then we met Frank Pasqualino who owns Pasqualino's in Penn Hills.

Todd: 18:30

And now that's our family Italian restaurant on Sunday nights when we all go out.

Doug: 18:35

Did you mention that Jamilka and Diane from Lilith stop in to eat quite often?

Todd: 18:40

Yeah, for sure. And it's funny that a lot of industry folks do love Jimmy Wan's but they also like sort of tucking away in the corners and just having a nice meal. So you know Adam Milliron and who's a fantastic food photographer and a good friend of ours and a regular at the restaurant, he sees people all over the restaurant and he's like, oh, that's so-and-so from here and that's so-and-so from there, and it really is quite the legacy at Jimmy Wan's but also like it's, you know, restaurant people supporting restaurant people, which is which is great also.

Doug: 19:11

Such a Pittsburgh thing.

Todd: 19:13

So, todd, where did you grow up? I grew up in Northern New Jersey, okay.

Doug: 19:18

And where did you and Kristen meet?

Todd: 19:21

So we met at Boston College Okay. We both went to college in Boston.

Doug: 19:25

Uh-huh. And then you said, you moved around a little bit, so from Boston where did you all head?

Todd: 19:31

Kristen came back here to open the restaurants. Yes, I made my way to New York. I had a career in finance, working at a hedge fund. Okay, kristen moved out and joined me, and then I we left to go to Chicago where I went to business school. Out of business school, I went into management consulting with Boston Consulting Group, and so we moved to Dallas where we had two girls. And it was sort of right after the birth of our second daughter that we realized the importance of having family around. And that's when my wife will tell you this. That's when I approached her with the idea of moving back to Pittsburgh and taking over the restaurants. It was one night at about 3 am after feeding the baby. So maybe not, maybe not when you do your best thinking, but I sat on the idea for about two weeks and I still felt good about it.

Doug: 20:24

So you're really part of the catalyst, of of your family moving back and her being able to be a closer part of the family restaurant.

Todd: 20:31

Oh for sure, you know I I've said this many times and we've talked about sort of the generational shift.

Todd: 20:37

There aren't many opportunities to, you know, take over successful small businesses in a reasonable way, and so they're they're a little bit less interested in being a part of it going forward, whereas, you know, I'm a bit of an outsider in many ways, and so I think I had a good assessment of sort of what this could do for our family and how we could sort of branch out from here. You know, fun fact is my wife and I are about the same age right now as my father-in-law was when he opened Taipei. Oh, wow. And so whenever we're sort of feeling down about you know all the complexity that we've added to our life, I like to think of that, and you know all the success that he's had and just think about we're already building off the base that he has established and my in-laws have established over the course of, you know, 30, 38 years. I have customers every day who say we've been eating here since Jimmy opened Taipei and that's amazing, how many opportunities do you get to do that?

Doug: 21:46

Yeah, please inherit this legacy. Please keep it going, because people love it.

Todd: 21:50

Exactly and it's funny. You know, in Pittsburgh you probably see more of that than anywhere else I've lived. It's just there is a bit of that coming home feeling like a lot of our friends in our neighborhood or that we've met in various social settings, like they are folks that left for college or left for you know, their sort of early adulthood and then returned home when they had kids, because Pittsburgh is a fantastic place to raise kids.

Doug: 22:18

I agree. So, todd, let's, let's move forward. What are some of the goals that you see ahead of you? You and Kristen have your eyes more closely on the Fox chapel location, and Jimmy Juan jr has his eyes a little bit more closely on the Cranberry location, but you guys are all working in concert.

Todd: 22:37

Yeah, we. We're basically talking every day about sort of Jimmy Wan's the enterprise. You, know, and. But then Jimmy has more time and connections spent in Cranberry and Chris and I have more of that spent in Fox Chapel. Yes, but the idea is sort of to make you know, to standardize where we can you know. It's very clear that the restaurant started with the same blueprint, but when you have different kitchens and different eyes on everything, they've drifted apart. Like part of our goal is to have them drift closer together.

Doug: 23:07

Yeah, Like there may be one or two menu items that are slightly different. Or maybe, to your point earlier, it's about those long-term customers and you. You know, maybe the taste in cranberry are a little bit different and so we might put a filet on or something like that to just change the menu up.

Todd: 23:23

But oh for sure, like you, customers are not shy to tell you whether they, like you know, the hot and sour soup and cranberry better than is in Fox chapel, even if it, you know is is almost imperceptibly different to most people. You know, people have their favorites and honestly like part of it. It's just the ambience you know like and I don't mean that to say that either restaurant. I think they're both beautiful restaurants and a great place to eat.

Todd: 23:45

But if you're used to someplace, the food tastes more familiar and if you're less used to someplace, like so much of taste and what you appreciate from restaurants is context, and so you know you could tell me we, and we, chris and I, have had people in Fox chapel stop us when we're at other restaurants to say, oh, since you guys are back, the food is so much better. And you know, nothing has changed. To be clear, we haven't changed any recipes, like there's more specials, et cetera. But if you got General Tso's chicken a year ago and you got it today, it is the same recipe with the same chicken. Um, but when you, when you feel the effort and the that my wife and I have put into the ambience and the staff and training and all of that that can heighten, you know even the same food absolutely I completely agree.

Doug: 24:33

Just knowing that this next generation is there it gives it a whole new feel and possibly to some folks, a whole new taste. I'd love to just jump forward. So you guys are in the business now. Any place you want to take the restaurants, what's on your mind?

Todd: 24:50

For sure. I mean, my wife and I are ambitious. We moved here, you know, because we wanted to do a lot right, like we wanted to own our own business and see where that took us. You know, right now we're sort of in the phase where we're seeing, you know, how we can make the two restaurants operate more efficiently, just for our own time. You know there's there's a potential next phase which is, you know, opening another Jimmy Juan's, or just opening another restaurant, or, absent that, opening another business. So we're looking at a whole range of opportunities, but right now we're focused on making Jimmy Wan's the best experience it can be, because we think there's a lot more potential in both restaurants.

Doug: 25:27

Yes, so, Todd, I'd love to give you a moment to go ahead and tell everyone where they can find Jimmy Wands and how they can follow you if they want to see your social feed. All of that good stuff.

Todd: 25:39

For sure. So right now it's a good time to follow both Jimmy Wan's Fox Chapel and Jimmy Wan's Cranberry on Instagram. We're in the middle of the 15th anniversary for Fox Chapel, and so we're doing a big giveaway with a bunch of food influencers and people in the food community within Pittsburgh that we know and, like you know in general, that's where we like to keep our customers updated on new dishes and just what's going on in the world of Jimmy Wan's. All right. And then the website, too it's just jimmywans. com, All right jimmywans. com.

Doug: 26:10

That's easy Right, easy enough. All right, todd, we are down to the the last question. I don't know exactly what your answer will be for this, but the name of the show is the pittsburgh dish. What's the best dish you've eaten this past week?

Todd: 26:25

I'll give one homer answer, which is so.

Todd: 26:29

My chef walked out of the kitchen the other uh last weekend and he just asked me to try something without any context, and it was a black truffle soup dumplings, and they were amazing like from from the first, from the first batch, and and he doesn't even like truffles he sort of thought that the truffles on their own was disgusting, but he sort of knocked it out of the park and so that's part of our new specials right now. Um, the non-homer pick is my favorite other local restaurant and we don't get out much, so most everything is within a five-minute proximity of Jimmy Wan's and Fox Chapel, but is the Spoon Burger at Local Provisions, which is, you know, for me, the best burger in Pittsburgh, although I'm working on trying some more.

Doug: 27:11

There's a lot to try. Could you remind folks where is Local Provisions?

Todd: 27:15

Local Provisions. Is in that Fox Chapel Plaza, right sort of catty corner to Alta Via?

Doug: 27:21

That's right, best Bites this week. Todd Brezinski of Jimmy Wan's. Thanks so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me. As grilling season ramps up, let's check in with Catherine Montest and see what she's drinking when she's out at the barbecue. Hey, Catherine, welcome back to the podcast. How you doing.

Catherine: 27:41

I'm really well, doug, it's great to see you again.

Doug: 27:43

You too, and we're in the height of summer right now. I know a lot of people are doing grilling and barbecuing. What wines are on your mind that go with that barbecue season?

Catherine: 27:56

Wow, barbecue season. Oh, it's so much fun. I'm thinking barbecue. You put a big juicy hamburger or a big juicy steak on the grill and it gets all those luscious grill marks and such on there. One of the best wines to go with a great big meaty burger or a big meaty steak is Zinfandel oh yeah, are wey, steak is Zinfandel oh yeah, are we talking a red Zinfandel? We're talking red Zinfandel. Okay, we're not talking about the white Zinfandel that mom used to drink.

Catherine: 28:25

Right she was transitioning kind of into wine and away from soda pop. No, we're talking about delicious, rich, luscious Zinfandel. It's mostly grown in California.

Doug: 28:39

In California it's like the Lodi Valley. A couple of my favorite Zins are from that area.

Catherine: 28:45

California, absolutely Lodi Valley, One of the ones that I really enjoy, and I brought a bottle of this for you today. It's from a winery called Armida, and last time my husband and I were out in California we ended up upon their winery and we liked it so much. We get a case from them two or three times a year.

Doug: 29:07

Wow, this is really saying something.

Catherine: 29:09

It's really delicious. It's got bold red, ripe fruit flavors. You're tasting raspberries, strawberries, even some plum in there. And the nice thing about the Zinfandel, and why it works so well with steak, is steak's going to be kind of fatty and the acid level in the Zinfandel is just high enough to cut through that. And when you balance the fattiness of the steak with the acidity that's happening in the Zinfandel, it pops and brings even more of those fruit flavors into your mouth with the wine.

Doug: 29:45

That sounds so good. I was also wondering, you know, when we are grilling we have those smoky flavors and those charred flavors, and does that also then tend to work with the Zinfandel?

Catherine: 29:55

Absolutely. Your palate is so good, Doug. It's really kind of dazzling with the things you just come up with so very quickly.

Doug: 30:04

So Zinfandel good with grilled meats.

Catherine: 30:07

Absolutely and grilling, since you've got the grill hot and maybe not everybody likes the big bold red that slaps you around a little bit. Another way to go is to slice up some citrus I'm talking lemons, limes and oranges Pop them on the grill, get a couple little char marks going on those and you're going to mix those together with a bottle of Grenache, and I also like to add a bottle of Cava, which is a Spanish version of champagne, so to speak. So you make a sangria. Oh, so this is my favorite summer sangria and I'm planning on serving this in about two weeks. We're having folks over for ribs. Grill the citrus two of each and put them in a bowl or other serving thing, and a bottle of Grenache, a bottle of Cava, all of your fruit, a cup of simple syrup and a cup of brandy, and you just give it a stir, throw a little ice at it.

Doug: 31:09

I was going to say you need to chill this one.

Catherine: 31:10

You're going to want to chill it.

Doug: 31:11

It's sangria, and I think this is like the perfect quote, unquote summer punch, when you said get a big bowl, oh yeah.

Catherine: 31:18

It's definitely a summer punch. It's just absolutely delicious. And you bring those little smoky notes in to the wine, it's absolutely divine.

Doug: 31:27

It's so different. I haven't really ever heard of a grilled citrus sangria.

Catherine: 31:32

Well, I hope you try it this summer. You'll be glad you did I love it. Catherine, I hope you try it this summer. You'll be glad you did, I love it.

Doug: 31:36

Catherine, thank you so much.

Catherine: 31:38

My pleasure Doug, Always good to see you.

Doug: 31:40

You too. You can learn more about Catherine and even book a private event. Check out her website at wwwyourfairywinemothercom. If you've been following my personal social media at Doug Cooking, you know that I'm one of the home cook contestants on this season of The Great American Recipe on PBS. I'm giving a call to my other fellow contestants from this season to see what they're cooking at home. This week we talk with Tim Harris in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and get his take on shrimp with cheesy grits. Let's give him a call and learn a little bit more about this dish. Hello, hey, tim. Doug, how's it going? It's great. How are you doing today? Doing really well. Doing really well, my friend. How about you? I'm doing great. And, tim, I want to talk about this cheesy shrimp and grits recipe that you sent us. Thank you so much for the recipe.

Tim: 32:38

Oh, no, thanks for the opportunity, thanks for asking.

Doug: 32:40

Yeah, tim, is there anything about this shrimp and grits? That really is your spin and makes it a little different than some of the other versions in the South.

Tim: 32:49

Well, a lot of Southern versions will use a sausage, andouille sausage, smoked sausage. I use bacon not just to get the grease to start the roux, but just kind of to like level it down. I want the shrimp to be the star of the show, yeah, and the same thing with the cheesy grits. I use the Colby Jack instead of like a sharp cheddar, because I just kind of want a mild cheesy flavor in there. I don't want the grits to be overpowered with cheese. I kind of want the shrimp and the gravy to be the star.

Doug: 33:13

It sounds so good and for any of our listeners that haven't seen the recipe yet on the blog, the grits are pretty straightforward. You start out with, actually, chicken broth. You add the grits when they're almost done and thick, you add half and half that shredded Colby that you mentioned and some butter and I think really the star here on the top is the shrimp gravy. So, like we just said, you're starting out with a few strips of bacon. Do you cut the bacon up first before you render out like the fat? Is that how you do it? I?

Tim: 33:41

like to leave it whole strips just to kind of render out the fat of it, and I cook it extra crispy, get extra crispy strips out of it before I set those aside, and we keep the fat in the pan and that's what I'm going to start my saute with.

Doug: 33:56

And so you're putting some onion in there, and then eventually tomatoes, butter, garlic and white wine, and then, just to make sure you don't overcook the shrimp, we're adding the shrimp like near the very end. Is that right?

Tim: 34:09

Right, if your gravy is kind of thinner than you'd like it. You'd like it a little thicker. You can I use a sift a little, just a little tablespoon or so of flour, kind of like just pick up the roux a little bit more just to thicken it up a little bit, cause you know, once you add the shrimp in there, that will they will draw some a little bit of moisture out of the shrimp. You still want them nice and juicy, but it'll still draw some moisture and it'll kind of thin it back out again. It's not like a dinner gravy.

Tim: 34:32

It's more like just kind of like a looser gravy to kind of mix in with the grits and everything. I love it.

Doug: 34:38

Tim, this I mean it sounds delicious, and you sent over some pictures. They look amazing and I know you have so many other recipes, especially like in barbecue. If people want to find and follow you and your food, where can they find more about you?

Tim: 34:52

Oh great, yeah, you know I love grilling and I love the barbecue. You can find me on Instagram Dapperdadskitchen is my handle, Tim Harris. The same thing on Facebook. I also have a website, which I just launched, dapperdadskitchencom. That will get you to all my social media as well. And another great place to find me is going to be cooking alongside you on season three of PBS's Great American Recipe.

Doug: 35:16

Oh, that's right. We will be on this season Monday nights or on pbs. org or streaming on the PBS app. Tim Harris, thank you so much for this recipe and thank you for being on the Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me, doug. If you have a recipe, share it with us. Just go to our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our share a recipe form. That's our show for this week. We'd like to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.