Hey guys, welcome to good news York I'm your
host Matt major from growth mode content joined
by my festive sidekick Mike festive and and we
have a we have a guest we do and I'm really excited
because this is a Right out of the gate. I love
it an old classmate and friend of mine. Mr. Robbie
Cirillo Chef extraordinaire business owner another
mic arm. I know I know I ate my Wheaties this
morning. Watch out. I uh, yesterday after the
show we just I just snapped the thing in three
pieces. I did. I got one spare. After this, you're
going to have to hold the mic the whole time.
It's going out of my paycheck. I went to school
with Robbie, and we had a lot of the same friends,
and we were just talking before we started. He's
like, I remember two things about you in high
school. And whatever he mentioned wasn't that
bad. But I was telling him, I was like, dude,
I was an unmedicated kid with ADHD and childhood
trauma. And luckily, I put it into making people
laugh. But Robbie, amazing guy. I call a friend.
I've been on social media lately. And I keep
seeing this restaurant pop up, Stone Soup, American
Bistro. And I start seeing Herkimer, which for
those of you that don't know, that's where I'm
originally from, Herkimer, New York, Mohawk Valley,
shout out. And I thought, well, first of all,
I love Robbie. I want to promote his restaurant.
Second of all, it's in Herkimer where I'm from.
This is a no brainer. So here you are on Good
News York. So tell us a little, before we get
into Stone Soup, you know, we leave high school.
A lot's happened, obviously, since then. You've
been kind of in Rhode Island and different places.
How did you get started in this career? Oh, the
funny thing is, the first job I had was at McDonald's
in Herkimer. That's great. I worked there, too.
Yes, you did. You know, the best job I did was
drop chicken nuggets. Hold on, hold on, hold
on. The old McDonald's or the new one by Walmart?
The old McDonald's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The original.
Who ball pit? We used to play dice out front
of McDonald's. Who was the woman with the golden
shoes? Oh, God. You know who I'm talking about.
I do, but I... I'd walk in with my buddy Jansen,
and she would always say, oh, stay right there.
And she'd go give my buddy Mike and I these little
vanilla cones. I don't remember her name, though.
But I knew you'd remember Golden Shoes. Yeah,
absolutely. The funny thing is, so I went over
to next job was at Ponderosa, and I really liked
that I was doing that. We just talked about Ponderosa.
I was a dishwasher extraordinaire. I set up two
people on the dish machine. I was myself just
running around like it mean. Yeah. I was fantastic
at that. But then, you know, it was... I always
grew up in the Italian family. My grandmother,
she made really good Italian food. I'm actually
the first Sunday in America, my brother and I
came, we were adopted from Korea. The first Sunday
in America, we were making pasta with my grandmother
then. And as foods has always been in there,
the restaurant business, it kind of grew onto
me. I really liked the feeling that you get when
you're in the middle of a rush. cooking food,
slinging pans around. It's just one of those
natural highs that you really don't get anywhere
else. And I just truly fell in love with cooking
food. I've always been intrigued by it. Yeah,
so I've been in Rhode Island since 2001. I actually
moved down there with my best friend, Dominic.
And he went to school for culinary, and I just
went to the school of hard knocks for culinary.
I love it. And we were both able to... share
our experiences and we're able to, you know,
teach each other and Dom's, you know, he's just
one of the smartest, smart guys that, you know,
they tell you what to do and he can do it. I'm
one of those guys that show me how to do it,
then I can physically. Sure. So I just been in
the restaurant business down there for a long
time. Opened a bunch of restaurants, like 25
some odd states. Wow, really? Yeah, it was like
my 20s, man. I lived a real good life. It was
fun. I just got to travel. I had a, you know,
I had a restaurant in Rhode Island. It was Capitol
Grill. I'd go there. It'd be like the home base.
And then they fly out to like Orlando or Jacksonville.
Wow. And we open another restaurant. I'd be out
there for like three weeks and land and live
the life for a while. It was a fun time. Wow.
Yeah. And then it's I was watching a bunch of
kids. They went to culinary school and I realized
I was doing as well or better than them. And
I said, you know what? I'm just going to keep
on working my way through. And it became a true
passion of mine. And then 10, 15 years ago, I
started trying to work smarter, not harder. So
I'd help people open restaurants. And then I'd
consult for them how to be more profitable, make
more money, things like that. And I'd just been
doing that for a while. And then Faith and fate
my my family and my brother my parents got in
a bad car accident in October So I was going
back and forth from Rhode Island to New York
back and forth and that was like running three
different restaurants a while that one time as
it was there And then but about two years ago
The village of Herkimer asked me to be on The
board to try to get the DRI grant and that's
trying to develop and revitalize. Okay. Yeah
And every time I come home from Rhode Island,
the first thing I do is drive down Main Street.
Yeah. And I saw how it fell back and how, you
know, it's kind of deplorable. It's rough. It's
rough. But the thing for me, though, was I saw
the possibilities of what could be. Because of
all the different places that I've opened restaurants,
there's always a Main Street. And I swear, if
you lifted up Main Street from Herkimer and implanted
it somewhere else, it would be one of those thriving
places. So there was a small group of people,
like -minded people in Herkimer that had the
same passion that want to make Herkimer better.
And so we worked with the village of Herkimer,
worked with the mayor, and a lot of volunteer
work. And I was asked to speak in front of the
state, the committee board, to pretty much put
Herkimer on the table. And they wanted me, because
it's like, from Herkimer, left Herkimer. but
had a vision that I could see Herkimer be better.
And that has now become my secondary passion
now is I really truly want to make Herkimer.
I grew up right around the corner. Literally.
No, I know where you live. I grew up on Washington.
Across from L .W. Bills. Yeah, and I'm literally
right around the corner. Man, that was like,
I think our generation was the last time they
actually got to enjoy Main Street as what it
was. And the music shop, we'll buy CDs. Yeah,
man. And then Macy had his clothing store. Yeah,
Brian's Roast Beef Deli, the coffee bar. And
then King's Court Mall. King's Court. That was
the best. It was a great time. Bonnie's? Bonnie's?
Wait, what was the pet store? Still my favorite
craft store. I don't remember the name of the
pet store. Aunt Galicki owned a pet store down
in the basement. So listen, the great thing is,
so Joe Cellelli, he bought that building, and
it's the Munger's building. Now it's called Restored
and Renewed. And he's from Long Island. He and
I met, because we would have meetings for the
grant down in the basement of his building. And
that man has done so much for that building and
what he's trying to do for Main Street of Herkimer.
And he's not even from here. So it was really
contagious. Like, especially when I met him,
I'm like, I mean, Joe was, you know, he's probably
early sixties. Wow. But he's not even from Herkimer,
but he saw the opportunities, the same thing
that I see. And he's actually doing something
instead of being those naysayers that are from
Herkimer that complain about nothing's happening.
Right. Trying to fix anything. But then when
people try to do it. They'll be the first one
to say, wow, good luck with you. Yeah, you're
gonna fail. Blah, blah, blah, blah, you know,
but, you know, it's like that, you know, the
Monday morning, what do they call it? Monday
morning quarter, armchair. Armchair, quarterback,
whatever, right? Something worse to these people
that have never left and have no concept of the
possibility. Well, you know, some people haven't
left before, but I don't judge them on that.
Right. the opportunities that I was given and
seen because I've been out. And that's why I
wanna come back and do something again back in
Herkimer. And the only way I know how to make
my community better is in the restaurant business.
And if you were a new entrepreneur and you're
scouting places, maybe you wanna open a restaurant,
let's be honest, you wouldn't go, I'm gonna check
out Main Street in Herkimer. I think what...
I think the reason why you're going to succeed,
and I think the reason why you probably were
inspired is because you saw, we saw as kids,
the potential it had. Because it was awesome.
The main street. It really was. I mean, look,
there were definitely certain buildings that
weren't as good and as nice as the other ones.
But like we said, there were so many businesses.
There were people walking around. There was cars
going by. You know, it was just, it was alive.
It was. I just think it's incredibly, I don't
know what the word I'm looking for. I had an
apartment on Main Street when I was younger.
Did you really? Yeah. I just think it's really
commendable that you want to go back and be like
kind of the anchor to get it started. And I think
if anyone can do it, it's you, man. I think being
from there, him and I are from the Mohawk Valley.
We talk about it all the time on this show. Yeah,
we know it's in rough shape, but we are rooting
so hard for it. Thank you for doing this, man.
I think it's awesome. If you could, I've been
trying to picture exactly where on Main Street
you are. Where is your spot? So Main Street,
so remember King's Court Mall? Yep. Yes. I'm
literally on the, you're facing the Mungers building.
I'm on the left -hand side, 148. Okay, you're
right on that block. Right on that block. Gotcha.
Same exact block. I was thinking you were farther
down by... No, is it that, where there was a
parking lot between a bank and stores? Correct.
So the bank, then the parking lot, and then Macy
used to have his clothing shop. Yeah, yeah. Right
next door to it. And is that where your beer
garden, the beer garden. So the beer garden,
it's kind of cool, man. So when I first looked
at this property, I, living right around the
corner, never visualized, put together that this
courtyard that is the back of the village hall
and the police station and the fire department
and the mongers, it was right there, right behind
this restaurant space. And when I talked to Joe
Cilelli that owns the property, He's like, oh,
you gotta see out back. And I'm like, out back?
So I go back there, I'm like, and my mind is
like, holy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. You're seeing
it. Man, and we've had a couple events there
now for a couple family friends, and the best
compliment I got about the beer garden is like,
I don't feel like I'm in Herkimer anymore. That
is a good compliment. And it's just a different
feel. I brought in two storage shipping crate
containers, two 20 -foot ones. And we had to
clean them all up, and my friend Luke Michael
and I, we cut down the doors, the panels, put
up new doors, repainted it, and ended up getting
AstroTurf from a high school football field downstate.
Nice. The company takes it out, and they put
new ones down, and then they want to recycle,
so they use this stuff. The pictures look great.
Man, it's gonna be a fun time, man. People say
it's great for Herkimer, which it is, but I think
it's great for the Valley. It's great for...
all of Herkimer County, because, I mean, there's
maybe three restaurants that have an opportunity
to have things like this, you know? Yeah. And
everyone's so close together. You know, when
we were kids, it was the joke, like, I'm from
Mohawk, I'm from Herkimer. If you look at it
now, it's like we're all in the same spot. So
it's not going to be out of the ordinary for
people from Frankfurt to want to go. And I'm
glad you said that, too. So the story, Stone
Soup. My kids love that, love that, love the
story. And it's, the original one was about two
soldiers that get lost in the woods and they
stumble across the village. And all the, it was
the middle of the winter and all they wanted
was something hot to eat and a warm place to
stay. And the village innkeeper shut the door
on them. The restaurant closed the door on them
so they had no food. And it wasn't only because
of a little kid that said they wanted to help
them. So that's where all we need is a pot to
cook some soup in. We have some stones. We're
gonna make stone soup. So the kid's mother happened
to be the farmer, which is like, well, I have
some vegetables to put into the soup. And then
the butcher, like, well, I have some meat. And
then the dairy farms are where I have some cream.
So it meant a lot to me, because it's an old
saying, it takes a village to raise a kid. But
it took a kid to actually raise the village together.
You know, it's for all the Tri -Valley areas.
I've gotten so much help from the community,
not just from Harcamer, that they really like
the story of why I'm doing this restaurant, why
the name of the restaurant is. And it's just,
everyone came together to help me make this restaurant.
And that's what I wanna do is make something
that's gonna enrich the community. And that's
where that stone soup really came from. My daughter,
this was two and a half years ago, reading the
books, she's like, daddy, that's a great name
for a restaurant. And the funny thing is, after
I signed the contract for the restaurant space,
on the Facebook feed, the two year hot thing,
whatever, there was a picture of me reading.
No, wow. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy, right?
And I'm like, wow, my god, this is meant to be.
That's one of those things. I do remember that
story, actually. And I love that. The whole story.
It seems like there's a lot of just fate happening
for you. There is, man. I am a man of faith and
fate. I really am. Things happen for a reason
it has in my whole life. I let try a lot things
happen organically as much as possible But sometimes
you got to press that gas pedal down. Yeah. Yeah,
but you know, it doesn't work doesn't work You
know, I've been trying to do something in her
car for the last two years, you know We had another
property. I was looking at up the street more
and It just didn't work out and you know, and
it's just take it on the chin. Yep Get back to
the grind again, you know, and then but you know,
it just it happened. That's great. That's awesome
Rob I come on I'm gonna regret this because it's
gonna make me hungry, but I got it. I'm already
I want to learn a little bit more about the restaurant
What type of menu yeah? Yeah, so um lunch time
gonna be doing lunch and dinner The lunch menu
is gonna be classic American American fare, so
you know you look at Smash burgers, but you know
sometimes I like a greasy smash burger, but then
I like a juicy grilled burger So we have both
options for you cool some elevated sandwiches
And then grinders, but we call them subs up here
large salads and appetizers for lunch and then
dinner my brother is Really passionate about
barbecue. He's been doing it for a while Wow
I had a restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, and
I learned a lot about barbecue out there also
yeah, so we'll be doing barbecue during dinner
time and then When it comes to like the dinner
entrees Obviously, you know because of the experiences
I've been able to have in the culinary world
I've noticed, you know America as a country we've
brought so many different cultures in her and
then you know So like when different like make
my grandparents came from Italy One of the two
things that made them feel connected from where
they're from is food and music Those are two
of the most important things to me When it comes
to a restaurant is having great food and you
got to have a great ambiance. So When I noticed
that, you know back in the 80s and 90s chefs
used to smash it together. Sorry No, you can
swear good sweet shit Poop yeah, but anyway,
so, you know It's they were trying to get fine
correlating flavors and ingredients from different
cultures and yeah to put those together And they
kind of went a little crazy on that, and they
called it fusion. I like looking at history of
food and where it came from and finding those
correlating ingredients and trying to make sure
those flavors do have some sort of history together
to put those together. But I really like, I have
a Korean bibimbap dish that's going to be highlighted.
Then I have a Vietnamese drunken noodle dish.
I have a calabrian pasta dish. So I want to celebrate
and I want to celebrate different cultures and
dishes from different cultures and keep those
rotating. For me, it's a good way for me do like
a test market. It's like my food in Rhode Island
did well, but it's gonna do as well in a different
community. So for me to be able to keep on rotating
my specials, have five or six set menu items
that I think professionally they'll do well,
but then to keep on rotating specials from different
cultures. Find out what works in this community,
what works in the Utica area. Try to bring, I
don't wanna make... So people from like Herkimer
and Little Falls, they go to Syracuse and Albany.
I go to Syracuse and Albany. Sure. Why not have
them come down to Herkimer? That's right. You
know, why not? That's what people like. People
ask me, why are you doing a restaurant? There's
only so many bowls of riggy's one can eat. Man,
and you know what? I mean, look, and I might
set that limit personally. Ryan has a pea case
pub. They make great greens and great greens.
Guess what? That's not going to be on my menu.
Right, right. You know? There's other restaurants
in the valley that have it. I don't want to do
that, you know? Go support them. So I'm all about
being, I think when I was in Memphis, the best
thing I learned about down there. I'm saying
it's great that you have a place that you can
get something slightly different. Yeah, you know,
and it's like - As much as I love those dishes.
Absolutely. So when I lived in Memphis, you know,
I learned about history and hospitality when
I lived down in Memphis. I expected blues and
I expected barbecue, but the history and the
hospitality was bar none. But the restaurant
community was so strong, because if you think
about this, so... Any larger city there's restaurants
everywhere and it's more people just foot traffic.
Yeah, sure That's the same vision I see happening
in any town any village is if you have more than
one option All it's gonna do is drive more people
that come into that area. We just talked about
this It might have been yesterday about you know
I live in Ithaca and I don't know if you've been
to Ithaca But the one thing Ithaca is known for
is its dining I mean we have more restaurants
per capita than New York and we have everything
from Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Italian, Japanese,
Greek, you name it, and it's all amazing. And
it's everything you're talking about. Foot traffic,
people, you know, from all over. It brings life
back. It brings life back. That's what it really
does. But we were talking about how, you know,
you think when people get this impression that
when other restaurants pop up, oh no, it's...
This is competition. It's like, no, this is good.
Well, no, Mike, I think it is competition. Competition
breeds success. It really does. Yes. You know?
Yeah. It really does. But it's also a network.
And you're all creating something together. Absolutely.
You know, I think, you know, isn't it business
101? It's like, if there's four steak houses
within five miles, don't open another steakhouse.
Like, I think it's great that you're, you know
what I mean? That you're not doing greens and
you're not doing riggies. And I think that's
what's going to set you apart. And I just hope,
you know, Have you thought about ways that you
could get other businesses to come to Herkimer
or whether it's a restaurant or not? It's a great
segue. So actually yesterday, the Village of
Herkimer in Herkimer County, there's another
grant that they've been working on. It's called
the BOA grant. It's a Brownsfield project. So
what they do is they bring a group of investors
together, development investors together. And
they had a great turnout at the Herkimer College
yesterday. They had about 250 people there, just
investors. Then they had a meeting over at the
Munger's building, actually, after that meeting.
And they did a walking tour of Main Street. And
so what the Boa Grant does, they put on a lot
of the buildings that have nothing in it. It
was a simple thing. They put a big window sticker
with, you know... opportunities, you know, they
had, like, shadow characters of dining and standing
at a bar. Gotcha. So they did that on Main Street,
and they had, uh, we had about 65 people yesterday
walk up and down Main Street. Kind of stage what
there could be. Correct. And they went all the
way up to the, uh, to the old jail, walked back
down towards, across Main Street, down the courthouse,
and then they stopped at Stone Soup. And they
all came into the restaurant, and they wanted
to use my restaurant. Like, listen, here's a
kid from Harcamer. that left and came back to
Herkimer. Here's a great example of investment
opportunity. And one of the best things is kind
of like a backhanded compliment is, I didn't
expect it to look like this. Really, you know?
And it started off with the facade of the restaurant.
It's like, I mean, the restaurant was 65 % turnkey,
but I really want... I want to set a precedent
on you. So that's why I put a lot of time and
invested a lot of capital into that facade of
the restaurant. And it looks gorgeous. The brick.
The brick and the wood, you know, and I just
wanted to make it stand out. And I hope that
exponentially business owners that are on there
now and then future investors on Main Street
see, hey, this is a standard here. Let's try
to follow suit at least. So, you know, then getting
back to the, uh, the bowl grant yesterday, um,
you know, we had people from, not even from Herkimer,
which was fantastic, you know, and it's, they
were in the restaurant, they were able to go
out back and the storm held off long enough for
us to be able to enjoy it outside in the, in
the beer garden. Um, my brother made some barbecue
for him and things like that. And, you know,
it was, it was a good time. And I had a lot of
people from the County think, Hey Robbie, thank
you for letting us use your restaurant. because
it was it was one of those buzz worthy things
where like yeah actually they they saw like matt
collis was part of the group matt my boy and
i mean they're celebrating 50 years on me collis
hardware still there 50 years dude like i i still
walk in the back door from and all the houses
that because my father did the same thing yeah
so i still walk in the back door matt's there
all the time and matt was you know he's the collis
family the collis hardware is another prime example
of hey 50 years on main street in Herkimer. They're
still doing great. The funny thing is, we're
walking past College Hardware, and the guy walks
out, just bought a lawnmower. They go, Mel, everyone's
gonna buy a lawnmower. We've been doing just
fine. Yeah, exactly. Right. But it's, you know,
like, Pete's Pub, Brockmore is doing a real great
job over at Endzone Pub, you know? Astro Rogus
right around the corner. There's gonna be a smoothie
shop where Dom's Deli used to be right around
the corner. This is what I'm talking about. And
it's really, it's one of those times where I,
when I've seen restaurants, pop up in communities,
it's almost like sometimes you're too late to
the party kind of thing. Yeah. I've been wanting
to do this and it popped up fine on them. Here's
a chance to do it. So I want to be on that ground
floor and take that shit running. Yeah. I mean,
very exciting. Right now, you are the bar. And
I think that's... Congratulations, dude. You're
the bar of what Main Street could be, you know?
And as someone, again, who's from the Mohawk
Valley, and Matt is too, and especially from
someone who's from Herkimer, I think that's why
this means so much to people, what you're doing,
because we all know what it was and what it could
be. Absolutely. And it takes someone that has
seen that to be able to try to not even replicate
it, but to bring life back. And, you know, here's
the other thing that people forget about. Yeah,
okay. Herkimer, New York. anyone outside of this
area would be like, oh, it's in the middle of
nowhere. It's really not. It's right off of the
thruway. And it's one of the very few exits.
Literally in the middle. Yeah. Between Albany
and Syracuse. Right in the middle between Albany
and Syracuse. If you ever need gas, because I
lived across the gas station right off the exit,
you know how many tour buses I saw stop there?
You know, it's one of those few exits where you're
not driving three miles once you get off to go
get gas or food. It's right there. So it can
draw people from all over the place. And State
Street's busy. So it's got potential, man. It
really does have potential, you know, and it's
like, like Jimmer Adams, you know, he's a Herkimer.
Carpet store, he's still there. Yeah, Johnson's
Carpet, you know, so he took that over. He could
have gone anywhere else, but he's from Herkimer
and he had an opportunity to take that building
over and business over. He worked there, I mean,
for like 15 years, you know? And Johnson's Carpeting,
shit, that's been there forever. Ever. So it's
a great thing. It's a core group of people and
it's awesome now that They're from Herkimer,
too. Yes. We have the same vision. They want
to do it. And now it's to the point where it's
like, let's do it. You can talk about doing something,
but you've got to get a plan and then put it
into action. You're better together. The most
important thing. We mentioned this yesterday.
Just do it is the key that so many people miss
out on. Just do it. It takes a lot. Some people
are scared to do something because they've not
a percent right and then there's people that
like me before it's like Robbie Do you really
want to leave Rhode Island sure yeah to do this?
Yeah, and it was maybe a five minute conversation
with myself, but sure there's you know this sometimes
man It's just yeah, take that leap of faith kind
of thing and just got to do it You know what's
what's interesting and you mentioned in a lot
of people unfortunately locally don't get this
I didn't get this when I was a local person growing
up in the valley and work in a local computer
store and just seeing how people are interacting
and their thoughts on money and all these different
things. You know, they see the state of the place
and it's in decline and it looks like hell and
their thought is, this is worthless. It's the
opposite. The reality is, if you're a businessman,
if you're an investor of any sort, you see a
place where the real estate is dirt cheap. There's
ample workforce. And it's right in the middle
of the state where this massive, massive expansion
is happening on both ends. Correct. So there's
no choice. And it might take a little longer
than in Syracuse or in Albany, but soon all these
people who can't afford a house in Syracuse and
Albany. Yeah, micron. Because we run out of them.
Dude, absolutely. This is where they're going
to land. And the smart folks know, like you,
is get in, grab that dirt cheap real estate today.
It's opportunity. Make it something incredible.
You'll have the audience for it before you know
it. You're so right. And by the way, thank God
for the Matt Collises and the Jimmer Adams that
just grin and bear it and stayed there because
it made it easier for you to come back and not
be the lone soldier on the block, right? And
now I think with you guys all together, and you
know what's crazy? The name of your restaurant,
as you said before, Stone Soup American Bistro
and Beer Garden, the story of how it takes a
village. And that's literally what is happening.
The village is coming together to raise the community,
man. I'm sorry. It makes you feel good, right?
Yeah, I wanna run through a wall. Did you mention
Pete's is still there? Oh, there, man. Pete's.
Crazy Otto's is still there. There's a lot of
stuff that is still doing well. Pete's was my
favorite. Dude, they had to close down for about
a month, because I built it next to it. Started
crumbling all back of it. Yeah. Yeah, but they
open that they open up back up a couple weeks
ago back in the day some stories from like oh
when it was You know glory days brownies Albany
Street Pete's It was awesome, but you but if
you had told me you know 15 20 years ago I like
dude Pete's is gonna outlast all these I'd go
you're crazy Yeah, and they have man. Yep, and
they have and I wish nothing but the best for
you for everybody This is so exciting, man. We
are rooting for you, and you've got to come back
on any time. Before we go, though, where do you
see yourself in five years? But what's your vision
in the near future, or maybe the distant future,
for maybe Stone Soup, but also for Main Street
and Herb? It's like a business man I am. There's
that one, three, and five -year plan. My immediate
hope is... the building next to us to buy that
out, knock the wall down between that and the
restaurant's base now to grow that out. And then
upstairs, there's a second floor. We can turn
that into a private dining and then put another
kitchen upstairs because on the second floor
of Mungers, we'll have the largest banquet facility
in the county. So that's, yep. And then Joe Cilelli,
he has another retail space that is at the very
end of Mungers. There's a parking lot between
Woolworths and this little spot. And my favorite
dessert is affogato. I like gelato and espresso.
So I really would like to put an Italian, call
it affogato, fresh gelato, sorbets, and espresso
shop there. This is restaurant number one. I'm
a restaurateur. I'll always be a chef no matter
what. But my age now that we're getting at I
wanna be a restaurateur and that's for me to
build something for my children and still help
the community at the same time. The only way
I do that is the restaurant business. So we'll
be growing within our four walls, hopefully be
able to knock down another wall. But we have
a lot of things planned up for this year, as
soon as the weather gets better for us. Our grand
opening's gonna be when my kids are out of school.
I definitely want them to cut the ribbon down.
You know, if I had live music stuff back there,
maybe someone I know to the right of me might
be able to play some music for us. You know what
I mean? I may have done that before, yes. Yeah,
of course. When you play music, a little bit.
My brother and I were really excited for the
opportunities that we want to do. The opportunities
are there. It's just we want to do it. You are.
Yeah, we're getting there, Mike. Dude, I'm so
happy for you. I'm so proud of you, man. You're
a friend of mine from high school. That's a bond
you always have, right? And now you're a friend
of the show. So you've got to come back on and
talk more about this. Absolutely. Yeah, Robbie
Cirillo, Stone Soup. Make sure I say American
Bistro and Beer Garden. Yes, sir. On Main Street
in Herkimer. What are the other plugs? What do
you want to plug? You know what? Addresses, social
media, what do you got? Yeah, so you can find
us on Facebook and Stone Soup on Facebook. And
then if you guys want, I'm looking for another
full -time line cook and just maybe one or two
more servers. Mike's not really good at cooking.
You can email me at RobertNom. I'm really good
at this either, so I might need... At EdatStoneSoup
.com. And then, yeah, I don't want to plug away
the restaurant itself too much, but I just want
to thank the community. I've had so much help
from the community. And Hurricane Murray, we
will make it. We will. Sorry, did you have a
date for the grand opening, or is that still
a little... So we're gonna be doing a soft opening
in two weeks. We'll be doing just lunch. And
then we'll do, the following week, we'll do a
soft opening of just dinner. and then the following
week after that, we'll be doing the full lunch
and dinner kind of thing. Grand opening, it's
like playing darts, right? You have a bullseye,
and then you throw it, you can hit it a little
to the right, you can hit it a little to the
bottom. So I just want to make sure that I have
all the ducks in row, I's and T's. I don't want
to do this wrong, I want to do it right. Yeah,
and you will, and you are, man. You struck me
as a guy that... that we're gonna see. If we
come to the restaurant, you're getting your hands
dirty in the kitchen. Absolutely. I had a feeling.
You were always that way, man. I am, you know,
and it's like, I'll be popping back and forth,
but, you know, fortunately I have my brother
that he's gonna be my right -hand man in the
kitchen. Um, but, uh, yeah. We'll have to come
down and shoot an episode there. I was just gonna
say, yeah, we definitely... Maybe we'll do it
for the grand opening. Check out the restaurant.
Do it, do it right in the beer garden. You'll
have us, man. I'd also love to, uh... Dude, I'd
love to connect with the other folks and maybe
we'll do like a little video tour of the Munger's
building and things like that. Absolutely. We
can do like a downtown Herkimer opportunity special.
Guys, look at this. Because I'm glad you said
something about line cooks because the brilliancy
of Matt, he said part of this show is he wants
to connect employees and employers, people looking
for jobs, employers looking for employees. I
mean. In my world, or in any world, I just feel
like the most loving thing you can do is give
somebody a job, or an opportunity. I know some
talented cooks in the valley, too. We gotta share
this clip. We'll do as much as we can for you,
but we're rooting for you, pal. Anytime you want
to come back, you got something, whether it's
your restaurant, whether it's good news about
Herkimer. Absolutely. We want to hear it. I love
the fact that, you know, good news York, I love
it. Then I had one on Facebook. And it's all
about, it's just good news happening in New York.
100%. And it's just, I'm like, this is perfect
for that. It's a perfect thing. That's why I
sought you out. You know, again, you're a friend
from high school, and you're doing something
great, and that's what this show's about. When
Matt started this, I mean, is there, just like
you said, you go to downtown Main Street, right,
and you go, oh God, look how bad it, no, it's
an opportunity. You read social media, you read
the news, it's all negative, it's all doom and
gloom. There's an opportunity for good news.
And that's why we're here. And it's not roses
and sunshine. Well, and you've got to... We can
say shit. We can say fuck. But we're... we wanna
highlight this stuff, because it's important,
and that's what matters, man. It is, and you
know, you've got it even a little tougher in
your area, but here we are in Syracuse, we got
this Micron thing happening. It's the biggest
thing in the history of ever. Yeah, it's the
biggest thing here. But if you go online, you
still got, you know, a steady contingent of,
it'll never happen, and you know, these people
I'm convinced are gonna stand in the factory
and go, it's never gonna happen. Prove them wrong.
That's what I've always, people always wanna
see, you can't do this, you can't do that. It
drives me even more. It's hard, I think. Same.
Now I really want to get it done. Same. That's
why we love highlighting it, you know? And we're
talking to businesses, we're talking to comedians
and entertainers and just trying to share the
awesome things about the entire New York City.
And if we can connect... Glad to have you. ...people
together too, you know? Obviously having you
on the show is great and we're promoting your
restaurant. If you end up getting a cook from
this or maybe someone sees this and they come
to your restaurant Like even if it's one person
then we did our job. Absolutely. Absolutely.
I'm just so I'm so happy I mean it means more
to me than most people because it's where I'm
from. Yeah, and so I'm I can't say it enough.
I'm rooting for you I'm proud of you and it's
great to hear a story about it being built up
Yeah, it really is rather than something bad.
So, you know Go to Main Street in Herkimer, or
else. Yeah, Robbie Cirillo, Stone Soup, American
Bistro, and Beer Garden. I'll leave you with
a funny story. Let's do it. Main Street in Herkimer
is where I first encountered you. Oh, fuck. What
was I doing? You were singing in a band on the
stage at Brownies, and I was standing there going,
who's this asshole with all these girls around
him? He must think he's something special. You
did always have quite an entourage, if I remember
correctly. Doug was my first band. Actually,
Technical Willie was my first band. Honestly,
we've gone back and forth when we were younger
sharing memories of hanging out at the coffee
bar and then, like I said, later brownies and
glory days, which... That building doesn't even
exist anymore, which is crazy. I always loved
this guy. We would only cross paths every now
and then. He was familiar, and I was from Hercules.
We had a lot of mutual friends, but not really.
But you remember when you would walk in the coffee
bar and you'd smell clove cigarettes, and you'd
think, what asshole is doing... Jarums? Yeah,
you'd go, what asshole's smoking it? It was this
fucking guy. It wasn't exclusively me. Like,
we had a whole... That's where I got the idea.
You admitted it, and I was fine with it. I still
love those things. I hated those things. They
banned them. They banned flavored cigarettes,
so they got rid of them. Now you can get them,
but they're slightly different, and they call
them cigars. Very slightly different, still tastes
pretty much the same. You can polish it, turd.
I mean, you can't... But they were yummy. They
were good. I don't like cigarettes even. They
would snap when you inhaled. It was like crack,
snap, crackle, pop. I don't know. Anyway, enough
about cigarettes. What are we doing? Robbie Cirillo
again. Stone Soup American Bistro and Beer Garden
on Main Street in Herkimer. Is it 118, Maine?
148, North Maine. I botched that one. Don't go
to 118. Only a couple blocks up. You'll find
it. We can edit that. Yeah, exactly. 148 Main
Street. Buddy, I love you. Thanks for coming
on the show. Thanks for having me. All right,
we'll be back after this, whatever this is. Yeah,
we don't have breaks, but we'll, yeah. We gotta
get some. We'll get some breaks.