July 11, 2024 • 29 mins
What happens when a passionate soccer player trades the field for a fine dining kitchen? Tune in to hear Joe Mikulich's incredible journey from his humble beginnings in a farmer-style household to becoming the co-owner of Anima by EDO and EDO Gastro Tapas and Wine. Hear the transformative story of how beer and wine classes at UNLV ignited Joe's passion for hospitality, leading him through early work experiences in fine dining and a significant stint at Bazaar Meats. Learn how mentorship and relationships played crucial roles in his rise within the Las Vegas culinary scene.
Discover the bold risks and rewarding successes that come with building a restaurant empire from scratch. Joe, alongside his partners, faced numerous challenges but ultimately triumphed with their Gramercy location, all while carefully choosing the perfect name—Anima. Get an insider's look at their future plans, including the exciting launch of a French and Spanish brasserie-style restaurant in Vegas. The strong bond and unified vision among these restaurateurs are key to their unique dining experiences, and we dive into their hands-on approach to crafting memorable meals.
True hospitality is more than just great food—it's about making people feel genuinely welcome. Joe shares invaluable insights into building a strong cultural foundation within a team, fostering respect and support that lead to low employee turnover. From branding and marketing strategies that prioritize organic growth to the lessons learned from entrepreneurial risks and failures, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for aspiring restaurateurs. Don't miss out on Joe's future projects, including a new Seattle venture and a potential nonprofit focused on health and fitness, promising exciting developments on the horizon.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase the
people in our city who make ithappen.
On today's podcast, we've gotsomething special.
I'm a big fan of this gentlemansitting with us.
We're going to be jumping intothe inspiring journey of a
restaurant owner, the path ofhis success, the challenges he's
overcome and the secrets behindhis two culinary masterpieces.
(00:34):
We're welcoming to the circleco-owner and partner of Anima by
EDO and EDO Gastro Tapas andWine.
We've got Joe Mikulich.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome, that's exciting.
That was the nicest intro.
I appreciate you, man.
Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But seriously, man, big, big, big fan of your
restaurant, specifically Animaat EDO.
We've had multiple guests thatwe've had on that.
When we spotlight restaurants,we asked them you know what's
their favorite restaurant, andthey bring it up.
But let's jump right in, man.
So what kind of inspired you toget into hospitality?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
right in man.
So what kind of inspired you toget into hospitality?
So I'm born and raised in vegasand, honestly, soccer was my
life.
Growing up I played soccer, itwas the only thing I cared about
.
So I learned from a young age,just like hard work reaps, like
a reward, and I and now that Igot out of soccer from growing
up I kind of, uh, pushed thatonto the business side, I guess.
So, okay, the hospitality pointcame um, I, I played for unlv.
I had no idea what the heck Iwanted to do and I literally,
(01:27):
like I had to declare.
A major Sophomore year camearound and I was like, hey, like
whatever UNLV is probably goodat, I'll go that route, yeah
sure.
I didn't know what I wanted, butif that was going to be a good
idea, I went for it.
So ended up falling in lovewith hospitality.
More on the beverage side, um,started taking like beer classes
and wine classes and stuff likethat, then worked my first
(01:48):
harvest and I was like man, thissounds like a lot of fun.
I was raised really like afarmer lifestyle.
My parents are very like, uh,rustic, uh, easy living, simple
lifestyles, okay, and uh, theykind of pushed that onto me and
I learned those like attributesfrom a young age.
So, um, it felt good to makeothers happy, um, and from like,
the simplest way and um, so Iquit playing soccer.
(02:10):
Um, with that hospitality degreeand me getting more into the
wine side, um, it was reallyeasy for me to use that um to
start working in fine dining inVegas.
So I, I think I started when Iwas 17 working in some fine
dining spots Wow, lower tierones, like things that have been
open forever.
And then, funny enough,actually, guys that you know,
(02:31):
yassin Laoubi oh, yeah, ofcourse, great guy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He's in Morocco right now, also a UNLV grad.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes.
We knew of each other throughthat and then just through
friends.
He also loves soccer.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He's a huge soccer fan.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Massive man Massive.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And he approached me.
He was like hey, man, I'mopening this restaurant called
Bazaar, would you be interested?
And he hired me as a serverwhen I was I think I was 21.
Wow, and.
I stayed at Bazaar for 10 years.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We were just talking about Bazaar.
You had to have been flying thewall because we were just
talking about Bazaar Meats.
No kidding, I swear to you.
Yeah, that's amazing.
You know, yassin.
Yassin's a good friend of theshow, good person to learn from
too.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh, he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Very knowledgeable.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
He's just a good honestly what he's doing now
with Barry and Marco and allthose guys.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
they because I want to go to the World Cup with him,
because it's going to be in hishome country, Morocco.
So my kid's a huge soccer fan,so that's great man.
So UNLV, huge hospitalityschool, right.
So getting your degree there,did you just know?
Hey, I'm at UNLV, I'm inservice industries, the Mecca,
obviously in Vegas with thestrip and everything Seems like
(03:42):
it would be a home run to getinto.
That sure you know degree.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You thought you were gonna go pro and then just said
hey, yeah, I mean, I did I, Iinjuries and just like, honestly
, I just wasn't good enough, itwasn't, it wasn't my, my path
and um, it was honestly thefunniest.
The first thing that kind of ledme to like get into hospitality
was I'd be in a restaurant, Ican't remember.
It was probably duringrestaurant week, ironically,
which is right now and, um, youknow, poor college student, I
(04:04):
went to a restaurant, I don'teven remember what it was.
I remember like looking aroundand I saw this guy walking
through the restaurant thatworks there serving wine in
dapper in a suit, and I was likeman, who is this dude, like I
don't know what he is?
Another restaurant?
Yeah sure, but I was like Iwant like he's like the.
I literally remember this.
I called him like the jamesbond that.
Okay, I want to be that guy andfrom the you know young kid I
(04:27):
was like that sounds fun.
I wasn't even thinking aboutlike the career.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And I started sitting wine that way, and then it was
you know kind of all she wrote.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know how important do you think that you
and LV experience is right,that's obviously a big
hospitality hub, like you guysboth mentioned.
But as you get older and youstart getting into the workforce
and you build that connectionwith your team.
But as you've continued yourcareer, how important are those
relationships you built in thehospitality environment that
benefited you now?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
No, totally yeah.
I mean, this city is so darnsmall.
I ran just from like justmeeting you guys today.
We know literally, yeah, 3, 4,ej we were talking about earlier
with Feature, shout out to EJand Feature and people want to
support people they know andthat they like, and I think that
, with this city being so small,I think it's very easy to build
(05:16):
a lot of traction if you do theright things, but it's also on
the downside if you do the wrongthings.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It goes quick.
Yeah, I agree.
Let's talk about the kind ofrestaurants, because you've got
two separate restaurants,obviously, one in Gramercy, one
in Chinatown.
Let's first start off.
The first restaurant opened in2018, right in Chinatown,
correct?
Yep?
What made you choose Chinatownfor this kind of style of food?
Sure, because it's a Latin, youknow, kind of Barcelona, spain.
(05:42):
Yeah, I'd say.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Spanish is pretty out there now we don't really.
I guess we call it free-flowing.
Okay, so I have.
My partner's name is Oscar.
He's an amazing guy.
He's straight from Barcelona.
Our other partner the three ofus are kind of what makes EDO
Hospitality, so've seen actuallyhired my partner to be his
(06:06):
replacement.
At bizarre.
His name is Roberto.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Leandro.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay.
Great guy he's been in the cityfor a long time.
Uh, he became like my mentorand he was ready to leave the
trip.
So he's like, hey, I'm like, Igot this amazing chef from
Barcelona.
He's moving to the UnitedStates.
We were thinking about doingour own thing together.
Do you want to be a part of it?
It took a while.
We decided this is the routewe're going to go.
(06:29):
Edo was our first conceptInitially.
Honestly, it was very, verytraditional tapas, spanish tapas
, really.
Only there were some littlebits and pieces of some creative
stuff.
But Oscar was really trying tobe as mellow as possible just to
not freak people out.
Sure, uh, now, what we're doing, I think the the market really
dictated it, but I mean, wewould have people coming and
(06:50):
wanting to try more and trydifferent things.
And, um, oscar's on.
Honestly, he's my favoriteperson on the chef side.
He's so creative and, uh, helives and breathes a hospitality
and food and beverage, so like,what we're doing at EDO is so
vastly different than what westarted and what we imagined it
was going to be.
And so that's EDO, if you wereto ask me, is like our hub for,
(07:10):
like all things gastronomic,it's the creative center.
You know, as we're growing andwe have some other things on the
down the pipeline.
Now in Vegas, edo will probablybe like that R and D restaurant
.
It's probably going to turn intolike just tasting menu, where
this is where we get creative asmuch as possible.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Love it.
That's a good environment forthat, like in Vegas, I think to
your point.
It's hard to be as out therebut there's so much competition
where people are kind ofstriving for that.
Now and, if you like, howquickly did you figure that you
needed to like shift into thatdirection?
Because it is easy to like keepit basic.
But you know we were talkingabout earlier, like the bazaar.
Like you want to go somewherewhere you can have an
opportunity of experience andyou wouldn't do like you're on
(07:49):
vacation or you're wanting to goout on one time, one time a
week we can get burgers anywhere.
Like in a lot of time do I wantto try something wild?
Like how did you make thatshift?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
or it was.
I think it was a few things.
I mean a lot of it.
When we opened, there was a lotof momentum behind us, like oh,
two of these guys are fromBazaar and Jose speaks for
himself with regards tocreativity and we learned a lot
from that and I would still sayBazaar Me is one of the most
creative restaurants in thiscity, I agree, and if we can be
any sort of bit past that, Imean we're flattered.
(08:19):
But I think, with peopleknowing we came from there, I
expected a little bit like heybe more creative.
Show us what you got.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Take some risk yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And Oscar's definitely all about that.
He's definitely taken that very, very well.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I'm sure he was excited to hear it.
Yeah 100%.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And now it's polar opposite.
We're like hey man.
Shout out a little bit thisone's we love everything you do,
but this one might be a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, too much Occasionally happens.
Most of the time it doesn't.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, push the envelope.
Tell us what the EDO stands for.
We were talking about itoffline.
That was pretty cool, man.
How'd you come up with thatconcept?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We were, you know, I think, for us initially we
wanted the name of therestaurant for EDO to not just
be based on a cuisine, spanishor whatever, because we knew
Oscar's very creative and wehave plenty of Japanese cuisine
and whatever.
We didn't want to be bound byone culture.
So we were like, hey, why don'twe call it an acronym or a name
that the hospitality industryappreciates or recognizes?
So, having an extra day off, um, initially it came, it came
(09:31):
about with us when we were liketalking, like oh, like there's
no better feeling when you knewthat you were scheduled to work
this day and based on, like youknow, business levels, or
overstaffing, you got, you gotthe cut text.
Or like you got asked to takethe day off.
So, overstaffing, you got thecut text.
Or like you got asked to takethe day off, so you had like no
plans for that day.
So it's kind of like you havethis day and that feeling is
kind of fun to us.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, that's a hell of a day man, that's a good
story.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That's great.
Whatever you want, yeah, that'sgreat branding Very, very good
branding.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I can see the future of what you guys could do with
that A lot of different.
So in the world of businessright, you touched a little bit
about some of your partners it'sextremely hard, right, finding
the right partners to be able towork with.
Like, how did you know youwanted to work with these two
partners and make thosedecisions and jump in Because
the capital can be high,obviously in the restaurant
industry and overhead and all ofthat Not getting along?
(10:16):
You know a lot of thosedifferent things and obviously,
theft and people havingdifferent side.
You know businesses and stuff,but what made you choose?
Uh, you know them and and andlean on them.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Good question, Um, you know there's also there's,
there's always going to be, alevel of like uncertainty.
I think that's natural.
Um, you know, I've known theseguys for, I think, seven years
now.
Uh well, oscar, seven, robertoa little bit more, since I had
bizarre and um, yeah, I mean,initially it's like you know,
we're not, we didn't ask for, wedidn't get any funding from
anyone else, it's our own money.
(10:46):
Um, there's a lot of risk inthat too.
Um, I, I think, I think we wespent enough time together to be
like hey, like this is going tobe us, um, and we went through
a lot of hard times and we'vegone through a lot of stress and
now it's like now it's to thepoint where, like, things are
going so well that we'restarting to reap rewards and
(11:07):
we're starting to see thebenefit, and it's like man, I
did this for you, you're doingthis for me.
This is a very exciting thing.
I could never imagine leavingmy guys now.
That's awesome, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, and you guys have absolutely exploded at the
Gramercy location, right?
I think it's only been open forwe were talking about because
we went to the restaurant prior.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I can't remember the name of it but Kitchen Table
Squared, kitchen Table Squared,yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
So Chris and I have been there and had drinks at the
prior location, but I think2022 is when you guys opened
right.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
It's exploded since then.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
What do you think has been the secret to your success
?
Is it the branding andmarketing, or just people
knowing good food?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
You know, when we just had EDO, we had so many
people that were locals thatcame into the restaurant and, as
much as I love that restaurant,the parking is always very
crowded and packed Sure.
So we had guests coming thatlived up in our neck of the
woods that were like, oh man,this parking is such a hassle.
They wanted something new,something nicer.
(12:02):
And EDO is as great as I thinkit is, it's definitely a little
bit like a hole-in-the-wall,diamond-in-the-rough type of
restaurant.
So I think there's a differentdemographic that really wanted
something of us to go out there.
We want a different demographicthat really wanted something of
us to go out there.
We don't want to get after itright.
So we were already looking fora new location.
We were thinking about going toUncommons.
(12:22):
It just didn't work out there.
And then Gramercy came about.
The three of us all live rightin that area.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So it was very convenient.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And it just kind of all worked itself out.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, business side, we negotiated a great deal um
for like a second gen restaurantand kind of had to work with
what was already left there andthen make our adjustments to
what we thought was was suitable.
But it was.
It worked out very well okay,it's a great name.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
How did you come up with the name?
See, I didn't come up with theintriguing.
How did that one come up?
Yeah, so anima um.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We already knew that that restaurant was going to be
like a focus on theMediterranean, more specifically
, italy and Spain.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So we were like, man, we should come up with a name
that probably means the samemeaning in both Italian and
Spanish.
Okay, and I couldn't figure itout.
It was a wreck of my brain.
My partner, roberto, came upwith it and we were walking
through our cellar at EDO andthere's a famous wine from the
island of Mallorca, spain,called.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Anima Negre Black Soul.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
And he's like, why don't we call it Anima?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
And I was like man sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Honestly, I was so exhausted at that point.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You can call it anything, you can call it
whatever you want, and yeah, itkind of just caught on, you know
.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, that's funny, some things just make sense and
they feel right sure and that'swhat it comes down to.
But so two and a half years youguys have done it.
You got you guys obviouslyprivate, like you said, your own
money and everything.
Is this the goal?
To maybe like franchise andopen this up in la and chicago
and new york city and thingslike that?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
we do have some cool things, I guess.
I guess, um, it's publicknowledge now, but we have.
We have a third restaurantcoming to ve oh okay, oh awesome
, I didn't know that we're justwaiting on permits to get
construction started, but we'regoing to be where Cleaver is.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Paradise, right?
Yep, that whole development.
The owner's just putting somuch money into making that
beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yes, it's already got a huge fac Renovation has been
amazing over there.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, so that's going to be our third concept in
Vegas.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Same as Anima or Nope .
Speaker 2 (14:17):
This will be a focus on French in Spain.
Awesome, like a Frenchbrasserie.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Brasseria is going to be the name of it, that's a
really good name it's going tobe a focus on, I guess, owed to
like a more of a approachablefun atmosphere.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Okay, I don atmosphere okay.
Um, you know, I don't know ifwe're gonna do tasting menu
there, it'll be a little bitmore of like a big bar setting
more fun or atmosphere.
Um, yeah, it's the third.
Okay, how does this kind ofplanning phase work out?
Because it's not like you're topaki's point.
You're not just plug andplaying like you're building
brand new concepts or brand newmenus, brand new everything, and
you know, when you're goingfrom one to the next, like how
(14:50):
does that planning phase workfor you?
Is it a lot of tasting ahead oftime, a lot of pen to paper, or
is it more of a vision than athought?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I don't know if there's a right or wrong way to
do it.
I will say that we always Ithink restaurateurs always when
they're together we just kind oflike, in our free time, just
start spitballing ideas of whatlike oh, this would be a sick
name, this would be a sickrestaurant.
So we actually had the conceptof Brasserie already kind of
made and we were just like wejust need to find the right room
(15:24):
for it.
Again, going back to Oscar,this guy, we do a lot of new
menus pretty often.
We do wine dinners at Animaevery month, and Oscar and then
some of my newer guys that workunder Oscar that kind of run the
day-to-day ops for um, foranima, are crazy talented.
they're guys from robuchon oh,okay, now they joined our group
that are studs and uh, so wemake these special custom menus
(15:45):
all the time for these winedinners that aren't menus that
we have in the restaurantusually.
And uh, you do that enoughtimes.
I think you start getting youknow one winner every dinner.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
One winner every dinner.
Love that, yeah, that'sinteresting.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
That's hard.
That's a lot of work for Oscar.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
You guys do something really like it's excellent,
right, like you can go there andtalk, obviously, to your team
and you're like what do yourecommend, sure?
And I don't know how they do it, but they figure it out and
it's amazing how they've beenable to do it.
So, from your perspective,having this background right,
hospitality is everything.
Man.
What is hospitality to you?
Just being, obviously, you wentto school for it.
(16:23):
You've been now in the trenchesof building your own company.
What would you say is kind oflike true hospitality.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Man to me.
I think that true hospitalityto me is just making people feel
good.
I think that throughhospitality to me is just making
people feel good, yeah, yeah.
And I think there's plenty ofexamples of that, especially
here, in Las Vegas, where thisis like a, I would argue, a
hospitality hub, I agreeDestination for it, and there's
so many different experiencesthat I've had, and I'm sure
everyone has had, where they goto a restaurant and like, let's
(16:50):
say, for example, the food's notlike amazing, but for some
reason you still go therebecause the people there still
make you feel good.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And there's so many examples of that, and that's why
you have restaurants that havestayed for 30, 40 years old.
It's definitely, you know, thefood, I think, is a part of it,
but I've had plenty of bad mealswhere I'm like man, I still had
a really good time, and viceversa.
You can have the best foodpossible but if, like the
service and like the way youfell overall was not there, I
(17:18):
probably wouldn't go back.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, you know that makes sense.
You get a little more grace ifyou kind of put at least one
part of the package totally justeffort.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Man.
I really think I talk to myguys all the time about just
like effort.
Hospitality to me is just likean effort thing and kind of like
layering on that.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
you know, as you're expanding, right, and you're,
there's only the three of you,right, they're kind of this hub,
but you've done this togetherat one location to be able to
establish that, but as youexpand and your time gets pulled
away a little bit more, youdon't have the time to instill
that same level of customerservice or some of these same
metrics that you were used to.
How do you, as you're expanding, how do you try to build that
cultural foundation at these newlocations?
(17:51):
What have you done to try toinstill that?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
it's been, it's been a.
Really, if there's anythingthat I've taken away from going
from one restaurant to two nowit's it's that.
It's um, and I'm 33 like.
I'm not by no means like a proat this, but what it is.
What I found is successful forme is like creating a very cool,
cool culture where not onlydoes the team respect us, but
they also, um know that we havetheir back and I think we've
(18:17):
done a really good job ofcreating this family environment
to where, like, hey, we've gotyou, but we we want, because we
got you, we know that you can belike so much better.
And if you keep that mentalitywith my guys, like I mean, I, I,
I haven't lost a singleemployee server-wise at Anima
since we opened.
That's powerful Turnover is ahuge thing in restaurants and I
(18:41):
think it speaks leaps and boundsfor our group, not only myself
as a leader, but the rest of theteam.
We've become such a cool familywhere there's plenty of
restaurants they can go and theyknow this too that they can
make a lot more money.
We're not offering insuranceright now.
We will be very, uh, very soonbut, um, there's some, there's
(19:01):
another x factor that keeps themthere and keeps them happy, and
it's outside of the monetarything, which I think a lot of
people in vegas just go for onlythat and then their lives are
miserable.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's a very yeah, I applaud you to To not have the
turnover that is a strongstatement.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, this time, this culture right now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, we were just my wife and I were just talking
about that.
Most people would.
You know there's been studiesof people changing jobs on
purpose because they get theincrease you know from going job
to job.
But they don't realize, you,you know.
What I wanted to ask you aboutis branding.
(19:39):
So you guys have branded anddone that.
What's been like your best useof promoting, you know, your
companies and use of money?
Is it bringing in influencers?
Has it been, you know, doingthe traditional advertising?
What's been kind of working foryou guys?
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, this is a question that, if I knew the
answer exactly, yeah.
You know the riddle.
The interesting thing with usis we're not, we understand this
.
We're never going to be therestaurant, like the group, that
makes the most money.
Sure, we being a byproduct ofbeing like a restaurant that
(20:15):
tries to do like very creativethings and gastronomic and
things that are a little bit outof the ordinary, sure, we make
restaurants where, like peoplecan go and like also learn a new
ingredient or new, newsomething.
Right, you're naturally goingto kind of pigeonhole yourself
away from like the masses.
So, and our marketing is kind ofinteresting because, like we're
(20:36):
us putting a billboard up,we're gonna attract a lot of
people, but it might not be thepeople that uh, really are are
understanding of like what, whatthey're about to get themselves
into, sure, okay, um, so we, wewe're a little bit more
organically and how we like growthat okay, um, we, we put a lot
more emphasis towards likebuilding our team, like our, our
(20:56):
, our staff and our culture.
Um, of course, we like haveinfluencers and we are in like
great standing with food writersin las vegas.
Yeah, I think that's the mostimportant.
I think another big part of it,too, is like we take care of
our industry when they come tothe restaurant, like we, we lace
them up because we know that,like you know, it's it's kind of
(21:17):
a.
It's hard to like break downthe equation exactly, but I know
that if I take care of you,you'll have a voice and you'll
talk to other people that willalso be probably going to your
restaurant and, like you know,going to us.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
That's awesome, yeah.
What would you suggest to eatthere?
So let's say you go to a NEMA.
What do you eat?
Or you know for our listeners,or or, if it's for you know,
gastro, what would you suggestfor them to sit down and?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
eat the first time.
If you were coming for thefirst time, I would say a
tasting menu.
Okay, yep, both are built there.
You know, we, I think we'relike one of the like.
It's a very low point of entry,like cost-wise, to like an
amazing, like spread of like.
You know, the best of what wehave.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That happens most of the time.
That's really what, like mostof my guys try and sell, because
it's a fun way to taste a lotof things without one getting
too full.
Yeah, you know, we want you tolearn something.
You're not going to likeeverything exactly.
That's not the point.
The point is like, hey, likeyou're trying something you've
never had before, um, in acreative way, when you know and
and we do have a bunch of peoplethat have done that before,
(22:19):
they love us and they will cometo the restaurant now and
they're like, hey, like theprice point's not an option like
you just do, do whatever youguys want to do, and obviously
that's like the home run.
Sure, that's the fun ones.
Um, on the regular menus, Ithink it's moving into
summertime.
I'm in a much more of like afish kick I usually like a steak
guy okay um yeah, and I wouldsay I'm a big ribeye dude.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So steak houses I definitely miss, but in
summertime it's just too danghot.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah and heavy.
Yeah, you start sweating whenyou walk out.
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So there's a Branzino at the restaurant, there's a
Dorada at the restaurant.
That are both amazing.
Okay, that are a little bitlighter in a food coma type
thing.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's good man.
Mentorship is huge for both ofus and I know you mentioned
Yassin and some other kind ofmentors.
But what's kind of the biggestlesson that you kind of learned?
Building the hospitalityBecause, I mentioned, you're 33
years old.
It's still a lot to learn, justlike us, but what would you say
is the biggest lesson you'velearned from some of your
mentors and coaches?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Man, I would say, and I think this is like a I don't
know if it's a generationalthing, but I think a lot of
people get their ego in the wayof, like, trying to learn and
sometimes, um, I've I've alwaysbeen like a for the most part, a
pretty quiet, uh person and Ithink, because of that, like I
you know, there's a famous quotelike you um, I'm going to botch
this, but there's a lot ofpeople that don't listen to.
They listen to reply, not tounderstand, and I've always been
(23:47):
like someone that just likejust absorbs what people say.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I've learned so many good things and bad things, but
it's all, it's just informationSure, and I've learned so much
and, like I think I've grownmostly because of that with the
mentors that I've had.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I'm glad you said thatListen versus understand, right,
I have a hard time with thatbecause I've talked, but you're
right, you do need to listenmore.
Yeah, that's great For businessadvice.
You know we obviously talkabout small business owners.
You've been able to build thison your own capital.
You know what would you sharewith them?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
If you feel strong about wanting to do something,
go all in, fail fast and thenlearn from it.
We've made plenty of mistakes.
I think everyone that's inbusiness has made plenty of
mistakes.
We learn from them and you hopethat you remember them and you
don't make them again.
But that's how we grow.
There's way too many examplesof it.
But people make.
(24:48):
You have to make mistakes.
You have to be willing to learnfrom them and just take the
risk and grow Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Patrick Brennan has been in my mind since last time
I talked with him and he wassaying in one of our last
podcasts he was saying like,look, you can always go back to
the corporate world.
Like and he caught me off guardwith that because it's true
like he's like, let's just takethe risk and, you know, throw,
throw the dice and see where ithits so because you can always
go back and you don't want tokick yourself, worst case
scenario.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, it's a beauty of a life, right for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, so we were talking about restaurants, right
?
I'm a big foodie, I love tohear it about, and we want to
know from you for sure what isyour favorite restaurant in
Vegas, or what would you suggestsomebody that goes to
especially being a homegrown, Iguess she's one, one or you can
give a couple.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Up to three.
Yeah, up to three.
I think that's why we're goingto have some people call me up.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
We just want to know, because we want to know where
to eat at.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Also, I know I guess Go on your social media page for
honorable mentions, Lee yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I'll give three.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I've always had an amazing experience at Raku, Raku
okay.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I think it's a sleeper in the city for Japanese
cuisine oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Raku's great.
It's been around for forever.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
They just close on their dessert spot.
That's the best dessert spot tohave ever been to, excellent,
yeah, I used to go with all mykids all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
It's like super traditional, wholesome people.
They're very amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, Raku's great.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I would say that actually this is going to be a
funny one, but for casualcuisine I love Viva Zarepa's.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What is?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
that it's a Venezuelan food.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Oh yeah, I used to get all the time delivered to my
house.
It is really good.
Yeah, on.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Las Vegas Boulevard.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yep, yeah, I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So Sean had a part.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Okay, I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then if I had to say one more, I would say
Bizarre Meat man.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Three gems, okay, awesome, I think you gave three,
except for Bizarre Meats.
I know people mentioned thatbefore, but the other two I
don't think anybody's mentioned.
Give them a try.
That's awesome, man, good stuff.
What else are you focusing on?
I know obviously you've got thethird restaurant coming up off
of Paradise, but maybe somethingthat we forgot to ask you, that
you maybe want to leave us outon.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We're grinding.
This year, we've been blessedwe're going to partner with a
hotel group in Seattle.
Oh, okay, it's going to happennext year, but the conversation
is already being had.
Sure, we'll be opening up arestaurant and a hotel in.
Seattle, probably Q2 next year.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Good stuff.
Congratulations on that, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I'm still into fitness heavily.
It's a big part of my life, soI'm probably going to be
creating like a run club in LasVegas.
Get out of here, okay.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Good stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I love charity work, I love volunteering and stuff
like that.
It's a big part of my life so Iwant to do my own nonprofit
eventually.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Okay, that's awesome, that's fantastic, yep.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And doing something about the health.
Maybe this run club will belike the jumpstart to it.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, I don't know if I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, that's all man.
Congratulations man being ableto do it and grow to another
market, which is great, andSeattle's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's a great city.
Great market yeah, for sure,great city.
A lot going on, but it shouldbe good as far as the style of
cuisine in.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Seattle similar type of setup too.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, we're going to be us.
It's going to still have ourname on it and our swag.
Okay, we will have to likefocus on, you know, ingredients
from Seattle and around nearbystates and stuff like that, but
it'll still be like our twist.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It'll have our identity.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Awesome, yeah Well, definitely follow what these
guys are doing.
Man, I've always had a greatexperience I'm not just saying
it because I reached out to you,but great service literally at
both of your restaurants.
So I applaud what you guys aredoing to support you.
I'm looking forward to theParadise restaurant opening up
100%.
Love to check that out,appreciate it, but what's some
of the social handles for peopleto check out the?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
restaurants and things yourself.
Edo is at EDOTAPAS.
Anima is Anima by E-D-O.
Perfect.
My personal is Joe Mikulichawesome.
J-o-e-m-i-k-u-l-i-c-h.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
That's it well, we appreciate hanging out with us
man, we support you and check usout at thevegasurcom.
So appreciate your time, man.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Thank you man, such a pleasure great stuff, yeah.
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase the
people in our city who make ithappen.
On today's podcast, we've gotsomething special.
I'm a big fan of this gentlemansitting with us.
We're going to be jumping intothe inspiring journey of a
restaurant owner, the path ofhis success, the challenges he's
overcome and the secrets behindhis two culinary masterpieces.
(00:34):
We're welcoming to the circleco-owner and partner of Anima by
EDO and EDO Gastro Tapas andWine.
We've got Joe Mikulich.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome, that's exciting.
That was the nicest intro.
I appreciate you, man.
Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But seriously, man, big, big, big fan of your
restaurant, specifically Animaat EDO.
We've had multiple guests thatwe've had on that.
When we spotlight restaurants,we asked them you know what's
their favorite restaurant, andthey bring it up.
But let's jump right in, man.
So what kind of inspired you toget into hospitality?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
right in man.
So what kind of inspired you toget into hospitality?
So I'm born and raised in vegasand, honestly, soccer was my
life.
Growing up I played soccer, itwas the only thing I cared about
.
So I learned from a young age,just like hard work reaps, like
a reward, and I and now that Igot out of soccer from growing
up I kind of, uh, pushed thatonto the business side, I guess.
So, okay, the hospitality pointcame um, I, I played for unlv.
I had no idea what the heck Iwanted to do and I literally,
(01:27):
like I had to declare.
A major Sophomore year camearound and I was like, hey, like
whatever UNLV is probably goodat, I'll go that route, yeah
sure.
I didn't know what I wanted, butif that was going to be a good
idea, I went for it.
So ended up falling in lovewith hospitality.
More on the beverage side, um,started taking like beer classes
and wine classes and stuff likethat, then worked my first
(01:48):
harvest and I was like man, thissounds like a lot of fun.
I was raised really like afarmer lifestyle.
My parents are very like, uh,rustic, uh, easy living, simple
lifestyles, okay, and uh, theykind of pushed that onto me and
I learned those like attributesfrom a young age.
So, um, it felt good to makeothers happy, um, and from like,
the simplest way and um, so Iquit playing soccer.
(02:10):
Um, with that hospitality degreeand me getting more into the
wine side, um, it was reallyeasy for me to use that um to
start working in fine dining inVegas.
So I, I think I started when Iwas 17 working in some fine
dining spots Wow, lower tierones, like things that have been
open forever.
And then, funny enough,actually, guys that you know,
(02:31):
yassin Laoubi oh, yeah, ofcourse, great guy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
He's in Morocco right now, also a UNLV grad.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes.
We knew of each other throughthat and then just through
friends.
He also loves soccer.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He's a huge soccer fan.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Massive man Massive.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And he approached me.
He was like hey, man, I'mopening this restaurant called
Bazaar, would you be interested?
And he hired me as a serverwhen I was I think I was 21.
Wow, and.
I stayed at Bazaar for 10 years.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We were just talking about Bazaar.
You had to have been flying thewall because we were just
talking about Bazaar Meats.
No kidding, I swear to you.
Yeah, that's amazing.
You know, yassin.
Yassin's a good friend of theshow, good person to learn from
too.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh, he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Very knowledgeable.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
He's just a good honestly what he's doing now
with Barry and Marco and allthose guys.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
they because I want to go to the World Cup with him,
because it's going to be in hishome country, Morocco.
So my kid's a huge soccer fan,so that's great man.
So UNLV, huge hospitalityschool, right.
So getting your degree there,did you just know?
Hey, I'm at UNLV, I'm inservice industries, the Mecca,
obviously in Vegas with thestrip and everything Seems like
(03:42):
it would be a home run to getinto.
That sure you know degree.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You thought you were gonna go pro and then just said
hey, yeah, I mean, I did I, Iinjuries and just like, honestly
, I just wasn't good enough, itwasn't, it wasn't my, my path
and um, it was honestly thefunniest.
The first thing that kind of ledme to like get into hospitality
was I'd be in a restaurant, Ican't remember.
It was probably duringrestaurant week, ironically,
which is right now and, um, youknow, poor college student, I
(04:04):
went to a restaurant, I don'teven remember what it was.
I remember like looking aroundand I saw this guy walking
through the restaurant thatworks there serving wine in
dapper in a suit, and I was likeman, who is this dude, like I
don't know what he is?
Another restaurant?
Yeah sure, but I was like Iwant like he's like the.
I literally remember this.
I called him like the jamesbond that.
Okay, I want to be that guy andfrom the you know young kid I
(04:27):
was like that sounds fun.
I wasn't even thinking aboutlike the career.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And I started sitting wine that way, and then it was
you know kind of all she wrote.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know how important do you think that you
and LV experience is right,that's obviously a big
hospitality hub, like you guysboth mentioned.
But as you get older and youstart getting into the workforce
and you build that connectionwith your team.
But as you've continued yourcareer, how important are those
relationships you built in thehospitality environment that
benefited you now?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
No, totally yeah.
I mean, this city is so darnsmall.
I ran just from like justmeeting you guys today.
We know literally, yeah, 3, 4,ej we were talking about earlier
with Feature, shout out to EJand Feature and people want to
support people they know andthat they like, and I think that
, with this city being so small,I think it's very easy to build
(05:16):
a lot of traction if you do theright things, but it's also on
the downside if you do the wrongthings.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It goes quick.
Yeah, I agree.
Let's talk about the kind ofrestaurants, because you've got
two separate restaurants,obviously, one in Gramercy, one
in Chinatown.
Let's first start off.
The first restaurant opened in2018, right in Chinatown,
correct?
Yep?
What made you choose Chinatownfor this kind of style of food?
Sure, because it's a Latin, youknow, kind of Barcelona, spain.
(05:42):
Yeah, I'd say.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Spanish is pretty out there now we don't really.
I guess we call it free-flowing.
Okay, so I have.
My partner's name is Oscar.
He's an amazing guy.
He's straight from Barcelona.
Our other partner the three ofus are kind of what makes EDO
Hospitality, so've seen actuallyhired my partner to be his
(06:06):
replacement.
At bizarre.
His name is Roberto.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Leandro.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay.
Great guy he's been in the cityfor a long time.
Uh, he became like my mentorand he was ready to leave the
trip.
So he's like, hey, I'm like, Igot this amazing chef from
Barcelona.
He's moving to the UnitedStates.
We were thinking about doingour own thing together.
Do you want to be a part of it?
It took a while.
We decided this is the routewe're going to go.
(06:29):
Edo was our first conceptInitially.
Honestly, it was very, verytraditional tapas, spanish tapas
, really.
Only there were some littlebits and pieces of some creative
stuff.
But Oscar was really trying tobe as mellow as possible just to
not freak people out.
Sure, uh, now, what we're doing, I think the the market really
dictated it, but I mean, wewould have people coming and
(06:50):
wanting to try more and trydifferent things.
And, um, oscar's on.
Honestly, he's my favoriteperson on the chef side.
He's so creative and, uh, helives and breathes a hospitality
and food and beverage, so like,what we're doing at EDO is so
vastly different than what westarted and what we imagined it
was going to be.
And so that's EDO, if you wereto ask me, is like our hub for,
(07:10):
like all things gastronomic,it's the creative center.
You know, as we're growing andwe have some other things on the
down the pipeline.
Now in Vegas, edo will probablybe like that R and D restaurant
.
It's probably going to turn intolike just tasting menu, where
this is where we get creative asmuch as possible.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Love it.
That's a good environment forthat, like in Vegas, I think to
your point.
It's hard to be as out therebut there's so much competition
where people are kind ofstriving for that.
Now and, if you like, howquickly did you figure that you
needed to like shift into thatdirection?
Because it is easy to like keepit basic.
But you know we were talkingabout earlier, like the bazaar.
Like you want to go somewherewhere you can have an
opportunity of experience andyou wouldn't do like you're on
(07:49):
vacation or you're wanting to goout on one time, one time a
week we can get burgers anywhere.
Like in a lot of time do I wantto try something wild?
Like how did you make thatshift?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
or it was.
I think it was a few things.
I mean a lot of it.
When we opened, there was a lotof momentum behind us, like oh,
two of these guys are fromBazaar and Jose speaks for
himself with regards tocreativity and we learned a lot
from that and I would still sayBazaar Me is one of the most
creative restaurants in thiscity, I agree, and if we can be
any sort of bit past that, Imean we're flattered.
(08:19):
But I think, with peopleknowing we came from there, I
expected a little bit like heybe more creative.
Show us what you got.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Take some risk yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And Oscar's definitely all about that.
He's definitely taken that very, very well.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I'm sure he was excited to hear it.
Yeah 100%.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And now it's polar opposite.
We're like hey man.
Shout out a little bit thisone's we love everything you do,
but this one might be a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, too much Occasionally happens.
Most of the time it doesn't.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, push the envelope.
Tell us what the EDO stands for.
We were talking about itoffline.
That was pretty cool, man.
How'd you come up with thatconcept?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We were, you know, I think, for us initially we
wanted the name of therestaurant for EDO to not just
be based on a cuisine, spanishor whatever, because we knew
Oscar's very creative and wehave plenty of Japanese cuisine
and whatever.
We didn't want to be bound byone culture.
So we were like, hey, why don'twe call it an acronym or a name
that the hospitality industryappreciates or recognizes?
So, having an extra day off, um, initially it came, it came
(09:31):
about with us when we were liketalking, like oh, like there's
no better feeling when you knewthat you were scheduled to work
this day and based on, like youknow, business levels, or
overstaffing, you got, you gotthe cut text.
Or like you got asked to takethe day off.
So, overstaffing, you got thecut text.
Or like you got asked to takethe day off, so you had like no
plans for that day.
So it's kind of like you havethis day and that feeling is
kind of fun to us.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, that's a hell of a day man, that's a good
story.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That's great.
Whatever you want, yeah, that'sgreat branding Very, very good
branding.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I can see the future of what you guys could do with
that A lot of different.
So in the world of businessright, you touched a little bit
about some of your partners it'sextremely hard, right, finding
the right partners to be able towork with.
Like, how did you know youwanted to work with these two
partners and make thosedecisions and jump in Because
the capital can be high,obviously in the restaurant
industry and overhead and all ofthat Not getting along?
(10:16):
You know a lot of thosedifferent things and obviously,
theft and people havingdifferent side.
You know businesses and stuff,but what made you choose?
Uh, you know them and and andlean on them.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Good question, Um, you know there's also there's,
there's always going to be, alevel of like uncertainty.
I think that's natural.
Um, you know, I've known theseguys for, I think, seven years
now.
Uh well, oscar, seven, robertoa little bit more, since I had
bizarre and um, yeah, I mean,initially it's like you know,
we're not, we didn't ask for, wedidn't get any funding from
anyone else, it's our own money.
(10:46):
Um, there's a lot of risk inthat too.
Um, I, I think, I think we wespent enough time together to be
like hey, like this is going tobe us, um, and we went through
a lot of hard times and we'vegone through a lot of stress and
now it's like now it's to thepoint where, like, things are
going so well that we'restarting to reap rewards and
(11:07):
we're starting to see thebenefit, and it's like man, I
did this for you, you're doingthis for me.
This is a very exciting thing.
I could never imagine leavingmy guys now.
That's awesome, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, and you guys have absolutely exploded at the
Gramercy location, right?
I think it's only been open forwe were talking about because
we went to the restaurant prior.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I can't remember the name of it but Kitchen Table
Squared, kitchen Table Squared,yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
So Chris and I have been there and had drinks at the
prior location, but I think2022 is when you guys opened
right.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
It's exploded since then.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
What do you think has been the secret to your success
?
Is it the branding andmarketing, or just people
knowing good food?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
You know, when we just had EDO, we had so many
people that were locals thatcame into the restaurant and, as
much as I love that restaurant,the parking is always very
crowded and packed Sure.
So we had guests coming thatlived up in our neck of the
woods that were like, oh man,this parking is such a hassle.
They wanted something new,something nicer.
(12:02):
And EDO is as great as I thinkit is, it's definitely a little
bit like a hole-in-the-wall,diamond-in-the-rough type of
restaurant.
So I think there's a differentdemographic that really wanted
something of us to go out there.
We want a different demographicthat really wanted something of
us to go out there.
We don't want to get after itright.
So we were already looking fora new location.
We were thinking about going toUncommons.
(12:22):
It just didn't work out there.
And then Gramercy came about.
The three of us all live rightin that area.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So it was very convenient.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And it just kind of all worked itself out.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, business side, we negotiated a great deal um
for like a second gen restaurantand kind of had to work with
what was already left there andthen make our adjustments to
what we thought was was suitable.
But it was.
It worked out very well okay,it's a great name.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
How did you come up with the name?
See, I didn't come up with theintriguing.
How did that one come up?
Yeah, so anima um.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We already knew that that restaurant was going to be
like a focus on theMediterranean, more specifically
, italy and Spain.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So we were like, man, we should come up with a name
that probably means the samemeaning in both Italian and
Spanish.
Okay, and I couldn't figure itout.
It was a wreck of my brain.
My partner, roberto, came upwith it and we were walking
through our cellar at EDO andthere's a famous wine from the
island of Mallorca, spain,called.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Anima Negre Black Soul.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
And he's like, why don't we call it Anima?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
And I was like man sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Honestly, I was so exhausted at that point.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You can call it anything, you can call it
whatever you want, and yeah, itkind of just caught on, you know
.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, that's funny, some things just make sense and
they feel right sure and that'swhat it comes down to.
But so two and a half years youguys have done it.
You got you guys obviouslyprivate, like you said, your own
money and everything.
Is this the goal?
To maybe like franchise andopen this up in la and chicago
and new york city and thingslike that?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
we do have some cool things, I guess.
I guess, um, it's publicknowledge now, but we have.
We have a third restaurantcoming to ve oh okay, oh awesome
, I didn't know that we're justwaiting on permits to get
construction started, but we'regoing to be where Cleaver is.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Paradise, right?
Yep, that whole development.
The owner's just putting somuch money into making that
beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yes, it's already got a huge fac Renovation has been
amazing over there.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, so that's going to be our third concept in
Vegas.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Same as Anima or Nope .
Speaker 2 (14:17):
This will be a focus on French in Spain.
Awesome, like a Frenchbrasserie.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Brasseria is going to be the name of it, that's a
really good name it's going tobe a focus on, I guess, owed to
like a more of a approachablefun atmosphere.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Okay, I don atmosphere okay.
Um, you know, I don't know ifwe're gonna do tasting menu
there, it'll be a little bitmore of like a big bar setting
more fun or atmosphere.
Um, yeah, it's the third.
Okay, how does this kind ofplanning phase work out?
Because it's not like you're topaki's point.
You're not just plug andplaying like you're building
brand new concepts or brand newmenus, brand new everything, and
you know, when you're goingfrom one to the next, like how
(14:50):
does that planning phase workfor you?
Is it a lot of tasting ahead oftime, a lot of pen to paper, or
is it more of a vision than athought?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I don't know if there's a right or wrong way to
do it.
I will say that we always Ithink restaurateurs always when
they're together we just kind oflike, in our free time, just
start spitballing ideas of whatlike oh, this would be a sick
name, this would be a sickrestaurant.
So we actually had the conceptof Brasserie already kind of
made and we were just like wejust need to find the right room
(15:24):
for it.
Again, going back to Oscar,this guy, we do a lot of new
menus pretty often.
We do wine dinners at Animaevery month, and Oscar and then
some of my newer guys that workunder Oscar that kind of run the
day-to-day ops for um, foranima, are crazy talented.
they're guys from robuchon oh,okay, now they joined our group
that are studs and uh, so wemake these special custom menus
(15:45):
all the time for these winedinners that aren't menus that
we have in the restaurantusually.
And uh, you do that enoughtimes.
I think you start getting youknow one winner every dinner.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
One winner every dinner.
Love that, yeah, that'sinteresting.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
That's hard.
That's a lot of work for Oscar.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
You guys do something really like it's excellent,
right, like you can go there andtalk, obviously, to your team
and you're like what do yourecommend, sure?
And I don't know how they do it, but they figure it out and
it's amazing how they've beenable to do it.
So, from your perspective,having this background right,
hospitality is everything.
Man.
What is hospitality to you?
Just being, obviously, you wentto school for it.
(16:23):
You've been now in the trenchesof building your own company.
What would you say is kind oflike true hospitality.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Man to me.
I think that true hospitalityto me is just making people feel
good.
I think that throughhospitality to me is just making
people feel good, yeah, yeah.
And I think there's plenty ofexamples of that, especially
here, in Las Vegas, where thisis like a, I would argue, a
hospitality hub, I agreeDestination for it, and there's
so many different experiencesthat I've had, and I'm sure
everyone has had, where they goto a restaurant and like, let's
(16:50):
say, for example, the food's notlike amazing, but for some
reason you still go therebecause the people there still
make you feel good.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And there's so many examples of that, and that's why
you have restaurants that havestayed for 30, 40 years old.
It's definitely, you know, thefood, I think, is a part of it,
but I've had plenty of bad mealswhere I'm like man, I still had
a really good time, and viceversa.
You can have the best foodpossible but if, like the
service and like the way youfell overall was not there, I
(17:18):
probably wouldn't go back.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, you know that makes sense.
You get a little more grace ifyou kind of put at least one
part of the package totally justeffort.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Man.
I really think I talk to myguys all the time about just
like effort.
Hospitality to me is just likean effort thing and kind of like
layering on that.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
you know, as you're expanding, right, and you're,
there's only the three of you,right, they're kind of this hub,
but you've done this togetherat one location to be able to
establish that, but as youexpand and your time gets pulled
away a little bit more, youdon't have the time to instill
that same level of customerservice or some of these same
metrics that you were used to.
How do you, as you're expanding, how do you try to build that
cultural foundation at these newlocations?
(17:51):
What have you done to try toinstill that?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
it's been, it's been a.
Really, if there's anythingthat I've taken away from going
from one restaurant to two nowit's it's that.
It's um, and I'm 33 like.
I'm not by no means like a proat this, but what it is.
What I found is successful forme is like creating a very cool,
cool culture where not onlydoes the team respect us, but
they also, um know that we havetheir back and I think we've
(18:17):
done a really good job ofcreating this family environment
to where, like, hey, we've gotyou, but we we want, because we
got you, we know that you can belike so much better.
And if you keep that mentalitywith my guys, like I mean, I, I,
I haven't lost a singleemployee server-wise at Anima
since we opened.
That's powerful Turnover is ahuge thing in restaurants and I
(18:41):
think it speaks leaps and boundsfor our group, not only myself
as a leader, but the rest of theteam.
We've become such a cool familywhere there's plenty of
restaurants they can go and theyknow this too that they can
make a lot more money.
We're not offering insuranceright now.
We will be very, uh, very soonbut, um, there's some, there's
(19:01):
another x factor that keeps themthere and keeps them happy, and
it's outside of the monetarything, which I think a lot of
people in vegas just go for onlythat and then their lives are
miserable.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's a very yeah, I applaud you to To not have the
turnover that is a strongstatement.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, this time, this culture right now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, we were just my wife and I were just talking
about that.
Most people would.
You know there's been studiesof people changing jobs on
purpose because they get theincrease you know from going job
to job.
But they don't realize, you,you know.
What I wanted to ask you aboutis branding.
(19:39):
So you guys have branded anddone that.
What's been like your best useof promoting, you know, your
companies and use of money?
Is it bringing in influencers?
Has it been, you know, doingthe traditional advertising?
What's been kind of working foryou guys?
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, this is a question that, if I knew the
answer exactly, yeah.
You know the riddle.
The interesting thing with usis we're not, we understand this
.
We're never going to be therestaurant, like the group, that
makes the most money.
Sure, we being a byproduct ofbeing like a restaurant that
(20:15):
tries to do like very creativethings and gastronomic and
things that are a little bit outof the ordinary, sure, we make
restaurants where, like peoplecan go and like also learn a new
ingredient or new, newsomething.
Right, you're naturally goingto kind of pigeonhole yourself
away from like the masses.
So, and our marketing is kind ofinteresting because, like we're
(20:36):
us putting a billboard up,we're gonna attract a lot of
people, but it might not be thepeople that uh, really are are
understanding of like what, whatthey're about to get themselves
into, sure, okay, um, so we, wewe're a little bit more
organically and how we like growthat okay, um, we, we put a lot
more emphasis towards likebuilding our team, like our, our
(20:56):
, our staff and our culture.
Um, of course, we like haveinfluencers and we are in like
great standing with food writersin las vegas.
Yeah, I think that's the mostimportant.
I think another big part of it,too, is like we take care of
our industry when they come tothe restaurant, like we, we lace
them up because we know that,like you know, it's it's kind of
(21:17):
a.
It's hard to like break downthe equation exactly, but I know
that if I take care of you,you'll have a voice and you'll
talk to other people that willalso be probably going to your
restaurant and, like you know,going to us.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
That's awesome, yeah.
What would you suggest to eatthere?
So let's say you go to a NEMA.
What do you eat?
Or you know for our listeners,or or, if it's for you know,
gastro, what would you suggestfor them to sit down and?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
eat the first time.
If you were coming for thefirst time, I would say a
tasting menu.
Okay, yep, both are built there.
You know, we, I think we'relike one of the like.
It's a very low point of entry,like cost-wise, to like an
amazing, like spread of like.
You know, the best of what wehave.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That happens most of the time.
That's really what, like mostof my guys try and sell, because
it's a fun way to taste a lotof things without one getting
too full.
Yeah, you know, we want you tolearn something.
You're not going to likeeverything exactly.
That's not the point.
The point is like, hey, likeyou're trying something you've
never had before, um, in acreative way, when you know and
and we do have a bunch of peoplethat have done that before,
(22:19):
they love us and they will cometo the restaurant now and
they're like, hey, like theprice point's not an option like
you just do, do whatever youguys want to do, and obviously
that's like the home run.
Sure, that's the fun ones.
Um, on the regular menus, Ithink it's moving into
summertime.
I'm in a much more of like afish kick I usually like a steak
guy okay um yeah, and I wouldsay I'm a big ribeye dude.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So steak houses I definitely miss, but in
summertime it's just too danghot.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah and heavy.
Yeah, you start sweating whenyou walk out.
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So there's a Branzino at the restaurant, there's a
Dorada at the restaurant.
That are both amazing.
Okay, that are a little bitlighter in a food coma type
thing.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's good man.
Mentorship is huge for both ofus and I know you mentioned
Yassin and some other kind ofmentors.
But what's kind of the biggestlesson that you kind of learned?
Building the hospitalityBecause, I mentioned, you're 33
years old.
It's still a lot to learn, justlike us, but what would you say
is the biggest lesson you'velearned from some of your
mentors and coaches?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Man, I would say, and I think this is like a I don't
know if it's a generationalthing, but I think a lot of
people get their ego in the wayof, like, trying to learn and
sometimes, um, I've I've alwaysbeen like a for the most part, a
pretty quiet, uh person and Ithink, because of that, like I
you know, there's a famous quotelike you um, I'm going to botch
this, but there's a lot ofpeople that don't listen to.
They listen to reply, not tounderstand, and I've always been
(23:47):
like someone that just likejust absorbs what people say.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I've learned so many good things and bad things, but
it's all, it's just informationSure, and I've learned so much
and, like I think I've grownmostly because of that with the
mentors that I've had.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I'm glad you said thatListen versus understand, right,
I have a hard time with thatbecause I've talked, but you're
right, you do need to listenmore.
Yeah, that's great For businessadvice.
You know we obviously talkabout small business owners.
You've been able to build thison your own capital.
You know what would you sharewith them?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
If you feel strong about wanting to do something,
go all in, fail fast and thenlearn from it.
We've made plenty of mistakes.
I think everyone that's inbusiness has made plenty of
mistakes.
We learn from them and you hopethat you remember them and you
don't make them again.
But that's how we grow.
There's way too many examplesof it.
But people make.
(24:48):
You have to make mistakes.
You have to be willing to learnfrom them and just take the
risk and grow Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Patrick Brennan has been in my mind since last time
I talked with him and he wassaying in one of our last
podcasts he was saying like,look, you can always go back to
the corporate world.
Like and he caught me off guardwith that because it's true
like he's like, let's just takethe risk and, you know, throw,
throw the dice and see where ithits so because you can always
go back and you don't want tokick yourself, worst case
scenario.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, it's a beauty of a life, right for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, so we were talking about restaurants, right
?
I'm a big foodie, I love tohear it about, and we want to
know from you for sure what isyour favorite restaurant in
Vegas, or what would you suggestsomebody that goes to
especially being a homegrown, Iguess she's one, one or you can
give a couple.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Up to three.
Yeah, up to three.
I think that's why we're goingto have some people call me up.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
We just want to know, because we want to know where
to eat at.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Also, I know I guess Go on your social media page for
honorable mentions, Lee yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I'll give three.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I've always had an amazing experience at Raku, Raku
okay.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I think it's a sleeper in the city for Japanese
cuisine oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Raku's great.
It's been around for forever.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
They just close on their dessert spot.
That's the best dessert spot tohave ever been to, excellent,
yeah, I used to go with all mykids all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
It's like super traditional, wholesome people.
They're very amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, Raku's great.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I would say that actually this is going to be a
funny one, but for casualcuisine I love Viva Zarepa's.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What is?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
that it's a Venezuelan food.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Oh yeah, I used to get all the time delivered to my
house.
It is really good.
Yeah, on.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Las Vegas Boulevard.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yep, yeah, I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So Sean had a part.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Okay, I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then if I had to say one more, I would say
Bizarre Meat man.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Three gems, okay, awesome, I think you gave three,
except for Bizarre Meats.
I know people mentioned thatbefore, but the other two I
don't think anybody's mentioned.
Give them a try.
That's awesome, man, good stuff.
What else are you focusing on?
I know obviously you've got thethird restaurant coming up off
of Paradise, but maybe somethingthat we forgot to ask you, that
you maybe want to leave us outon.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We're grinding.
This year, we've been blessedwe're going to partner with a
hotel group in Seattle.
Oh, okay, it's going to happennext year, but the conversation
is already being had.
Sure, we'll be opening up arestaurant and a hotel in.
Seattle, probably Q2 next year.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Good stuff.
Congratulations on that, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I'm still into fitness heavily.
It's a big part of my life, soI'm probably going to be
creating like a run club in LasVegas.
Get out of here, okay.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Good stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I love charity work, I love volunteering and stuff
like that.
It's a big part of my life so Iwant to do my own nonprofit
eventually.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Okay, that's awesome, that's fantastic, yep.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And doing something about the health.
Maybe this run club will belike the jumpstart to it.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, I don't know if I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, that's all man.
Congratulations man being ableto do it and grow to another
market, which is great, andSeattle's awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's a great city.
Great market yeah, for sure,great city.
A lot going on, but it shouldbe good as far as the style of
cuisine in.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Seattle similar type of setup too.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, we're going to be us.
It's going to still have ourname on it and our swag.
Okay, we will have to likefocus on, you know, ingredients
from Seattle and around nearbystates and stuff like that, but
it'll still be like our twist.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It'll have our identity.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Awesome, yeah Well, definitely follow what these
guys are doing.
Man, I've always had a greatexperience I'm not just saying
it because I reached out to you,but great service literally at
both of your restaurants.
So I applaud what you guys aredoing to support you.
I'm looking forward to theParadise restaurant opening up
100%.
Love to check that out,appreciate it, but what's some
of the social handles for peopleto check out the?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
restaurants and things yourself.
Edo is at EDOTAPAS.
Anima is Anima by E-D-O.
Perfect.
My personal is Joe Mikulichawesome.
J-o-e-m-i-k-u-l-i-c-h.
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
That's it well, we appreciate hanging out with us
man, we support you and check usout at thevegasurcom.
So appreciate your time, man.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Thank you man, such a pleasure great stuff, yeah.
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