Hello APGD
Hello APGD is a neighborhood podcast that highlights the people who make the Audubon Park Garden District one of the most celebrated destination neighborhoods in Central Florida. We chat with business owners, community leaders, volunteers, long-time residents, artists, and other influential locals; documenting the untold stories of this magical place just minutes away from Downtown Orlando.
Hello APGD
Chef Tim Lovero of Coro Restaurant
Meet Tim—Chef-Owner of APGD’s next great restaurant, Coro; coming soon to the former B3 Cafe space. Tim started his culinary journey at Luma on Park, made pasta to sell at the Audubon Park Market, and worked with Chef Tony Adams on the Big Wheel Provisions food truck. After several years at Luma, Prato, and Luke’s; Tim’s return to Audubon Park is much-anticipated and long-awaited!
Intro: 0:11
Hi friends, thank you for joining us for another episode of Hello APGD, a neighborhood podcast about the Audubon Park Garden District in Orlando, Florida. I'm your host, Michael Lothrop, and my guest today is Tim Lovero; former chef at Luma, Prato, and Luke’s and Chef-Owner of Coro, a brand new restaurant coming soon to Audubon Park. Be sure to follow Coro Restaurant and be on the lookout for their website. If you'd like to be a guest on the show or if you'd like to be a sponsor, please feel free to message me on Instagram at helloapgdpod. Thank you for listening
Michael:
And with me today is Tim Laverro, former chef at Luma, prato and Luke's, and chef owner of Coro, a brand new restaurant in Audubon Park coming soon. Welcome, Tim.
Tim: 1:03
Good morning.
Michael: 1:04
Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. I'm very excited to talk to you and I know I've been getting a lot of questions about who's going in the B3 space, the bikespins and morto space, and I had Gene on the podcast. Gene Willard, a Willard appliance, your landlord, your building owner.
Tim: 1:23
Great guy, wonderful guy, right yeah, he's super, super sweet. Oh my gosh.
Michael: 1:28
Yeah, we bought a dishwasher from him this year and we just bought a Speed Queen washing machine. We're very excited about his appliances and just how he curates some of the business spaces in Audemars Park, the fact that he really tries to get somebody who is a good fit, and when I interviewed him it was actually the day that you signed the papers for the lease.
Tim: 1:50
Oh, wow.
Michael: 1:51
Yeah, so he didn't reveal too many details, but he's like, yeah, it's a chef who was in Maitland and I'm like I think I might know who that is.
Tim: 1:58
I know that guy.
Michael: 2:00
So I didn't pry, but I'm like, yeah, I hope that that's who that is. So you've got some history in Audemars Park as well.
Tim: 2:08
I do yeah.
Michael: 2:09
And so originally we know you from the Monday Night Market, which actually used to be Wednesday nights and you were selling pasta.
Tim: 2:17
It was. That was my first gig.
Michael: 2:19
Yeah.
Tim: 2:20
So I was working at Luma in 2010. And I was trying to start a food truck with Tony Adams, the big wheel provisions food truck, and it was just. You know, things take Time to get started and so I was just selling some pasta at the farmers market just to stay afloat, pay bills, that sort of thing, but also just like meet people and just be at the market.
Michael: 2:46
It was a great foot in the door right yeah, for sure.
Tim: 2:49
And I met a lot of people through that too. So it's pretty crazy. It's like full circle. Now I'm back in Audemars Park. Audemars Park is a part of Audemars Park where I've always wanted to be. By the way, it's like this is my bread and butter.
Michael: 3:00
Yeah, your bread and butter, so to speak. That's awesome. Yeah, it is full circle and you will be partially like a pasta restaurant too, right? That's one of the things that's cool.
Tim: 3:10
It's not going to be like. So Italian, like what I really used to do, like what my main thing was, but now I like dumplings and pierogies and yokies and yeah, it could go, either Asian it could go, russian it could go, italian it could go, yeah.
Michael: 3:27
I love that. I like multi-cultural, yeah, and it's just, you're going to use local seasonal ingredients as much as possible.
Tim: 3:35
Really try to like be creative with what I can get, like really get in there with the local farms as much as possible, for sure.
Michael: 3:42
That's awesome and we have such good local farms. You were telling me that you're going to be going to Ever Oak soon.
Tim: 3:47
Yes, on Monday.
Michael: 3:48
That's awesome.
Tim: 3:50
And then we have a processing of some chickens, which I've never done. So yeah plucking and doing the whole deal.
Michael: 3:56
That's hard work and gives you a whole new respect for the animal and the sacrifice. That whole process. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, chef, jess Tantillo of Red Light, red Light recently did that as well.
Tim: 4:10
I think that that's cool, that the partnerships, and obviously Mikey is a chef as well, oh yeah, and he knew him back in the day when he worked at the Ravenous Pig, so yeah, yeah, yeah, and then smiling bison and just so.
Michael: 4:26
Such a talent, such a huge talent all around and they do. They've been doing like some farm dinners there as well, which is super killer.
Tim: 4:33
I know I'm trying to get on one of those. That sounds fun.
Michael: 4:36
They sell out really quickly. So go to Ever Oak Farms website and check that out. Sign up for the newsletter, although this is bad, because now we're competing against anybody who's listening and goes to that it's all good. You know they need the support, we all need the support, so that's how that goes right. So I was just passing the restaurant, or the future restaurant. There's lots of construction happening there today.
Tim: 5:01
There is yeah, there's always guys there, every single day.
Michael: 5:04
That's awesome we are moving forward.
Tim: 5:06
Yeah, yeah.
Michael: 5:09
And it's nice because it's not a change of use, but there's quite a bit that needs it goes into it. B3 was a restaurant that didn't necessarily need a hood, grease traps, those kinds of things, and so all of that stuff is going in now, right?
Tim: 5:25
Yeah, it's all basically in. It just needs to be hooked up and finished. So it's like after that it's just finishing touches. So we are moving way faster than we were a few months ago. That's amazing, so I'm feeling good about it, yeah.
Michael: 5:36
Yeah, and luckily we're kind of at a Timeline when we don't have the same level of supply chain issues with materials, construction materials and things. It's still a bit of a challenge, but not not as much as it was the past couple of years, right.
Tim: 5:51
Yeah, so that aspect was very yeah, it wasn't nearly as bad as what it has been in the past, for sure.
Michael: 5:57
Yeah, so this, this project kind of kicked off.
Tim: 6:00
We were looking at a space in college park in January and it just didn't work out, thank God, yeah. So I think my wife just happened to be driving by and saw a for rent sign in, I think right in the beginning of February and we met with Jean, who was like the nicest guy in the world. He kind of loved us like right from the get go. So it's like this this seems like it's almost meant to be. So we thought about it, we prayed about it and, yeah, we just came to the decision that it was a really good fit for us. It's like where I've always wanted to be.
Michael: 6:34
Yeah.
Tim: 6:35
But it's like within the last three or four years of constantly looking for places, I kind of gave up on this area, to be honest with you, because it just didn't seem like it was ever going to happen.
Michael: 6:42
There were zero vacancies for the longest Time. Nothing, yeah.
Tim: 6:46
And if there ever is a vacancy, they're immediately picked up by someone. Someone knows Like you have to have some sort of in here.
Michael: 6:52
Yeah.
Tim: 6:53
And yeah, it was just like really great Timing. So, yeah, we signed in February and have been working on things since then, for sure, wow.
Michael: 7:00
Yeah, yeah. So just knowing lots of friends who have open restaurants and the Timelines of things and the expectation and what actually comes to be, it's sort of like you never want to guess when that opening date is going to be so we won't even talk about those.
Tim: 7:16
I mean, you can think positively about it, but you're just going to kind of disappoint yourself. So it's best to like prepare for the absolute worst, make sure that you're okay to do that and then go from there, and then if something happens, you're like yes, we're doing it.
Michael: 7:31
Yeah, that's very true. Yeah, and you've talked to Gabby a little bit.
Tim: 7:35
Yeah.
Michael: 7:36
And she's a great resource because of all of her experience with project management and that sort of thing. So I'm glad that we made that contact as well.
Tim: 7:44
Yeah, definitely.
Michael: 7:45
So about 16 years now in the chef world 15, 16 years now. In culinary school or right out of culinary school you joined with the Luma team.
Tim: 7:56
I did right out of school.
Michael: 7:57
Tell me about that. How was that transition?
Tim: 8:00
So I was going to college, actually in Virginia. I graduated with a business administration degree and then I moved down here to be with my cousin. He was in a band and I was like I'll just go and follow them around, that'll be fun. What band was that Uh Beren von Behr.
Michael: 8:17
Oh yeah, I remember that band.
Tim: 8:18
Yeah, back in the day, Nice, uh yeah. So I did that for a little bit and then I was like I need to get into something, like I gotta support myself, and I've always been into culinary. So I was like I'll do culinary school. So I moved down here. I did like a few months where I did nothing. It was like pretty great. I just kind of went to the parks and, uh, so I went to culinary school. I did the express program, which was like just cooking alone. So I was done within like six or seven months. It was pretty fast. And then I asked him I was like what restaurant is the best restaurant that I can go to learn the most? And they're like Barna and Luma Unpark, like he's, you know, worked for Thomas Keller. He's has all these people that he's worked under and uh, yeah, so I met Brandon and I gave him my um, my resume, and they're like you know, I didn't have any cooking experience at that point, so it was like construction work. When I was younger it was the school that I went to and he's like okay, he like crumpled it up. He's like we're gonna start over. So, yeah, I just got in there. I worked a couple Saturdays like for free. Basically it's called Staging. I got to know the team, I got to know the flow of service. I really liked it and, like within I think, a couple weeks, they hired me and, uh, I worked there for three years and then I wanted to do the food truck thing. I thought I was ready to do my own thing. Uh, so I did that for a little bit, maybe only a year. That was really hard. That was really hard.
Michael: 9:45
I missed that food truck. I might not have been completely ready, I feel.
Tim: 9:48
I feel a little bit bad about the people that were working under me at that Time, but you know everything I take as a growing process for the most part, and I learned that's not what I want to do. I'd rather do like a brick and mortar.
Michael: 10:00
So around the Time, Chef Tony had a very specific style to of managing and that sort of thing. And, uh, yeah, very talented and like, yeah, the food I mean we were just talking about you guys catered our wedding too which was like wow like what history that's so, so very special, like that that particular Time. Um, there was a real magic to kind of what was happening in the food scene, and food trucks were kind of brand new to the area too.
Tim: 10:29
Yeah, we were one of the. I think it was like the Korean taco box or something like that, and then us and that was it and we were like you know, there wasn't the big food bizzars at that point. So it's like we would just set up shop downtown and I would do lunch, and then I would do dinner, and then I would do late night and I think, just doing all of that all the Time, not having any days off, I just got kind of burnt out. Yeah, so around that Time, thank god, brandon just happened. Brandon from Luma Park was opening up Prado and he's like I want you to come on board as a part of the management team. So then yeah, I've been with them since then as well.
Michael: 11:06
So I love Prado too. That's such a great place. I used to work at Antailer, weirdly, which occupied that space that Prado is in now.
Tim: 11:18
Really. Yeah, I didn't know that was an Antailer you wouldn't recognize it now. Not at all.
Michael: 11:24
But yeah, I worked in like the stock room and I, you know, got shipments in and prepared all this stuff. It was a weird job for me to have because obviously it's like formal business, women's attire and that's it.
Tim: 11:38
Yeah, so not. How did you get into?
Michael: 11:41
that my brother had a job there. I don't even know how he got the job and then it was like one of my first jobs. So you know my discount that I got there I never used.
Tim: 11:53
Does that make sense?
Michael: 11:55
Yeah, I didn't know anybody that was into wearing those clothes either. But yeah, a little bit of backstory about that space.
Tim: 12:02
That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can like imagine I can go back in my brain and walk through the restaurant when it was first being built out and I actually had to sleep there on one of the booths because you have to like make sure the fire is going in the ovens like for 24 hours without it dying out.
Michael: 12:20
Oh, wow.
Tim: 12:21
So I stayed there all night, me and a buddy of mine, and we just kind of like, drank some wine and made sure the fire never died and curing the oven is what it's called.
Michael: 12:30
Uh-huh, that sounds fun. Yeah, a little sleepover.
Tim: 12:33
Yeah.
Michael: 12:34
Not everybody gets that experience.
Tim: 12:35
In the dusty restaurant of still construction going on yeah.
Michael: 12:40
Yeah, Um chef, Lexi was on the podcast as well and she was talking about the old swine and sun space and they actually slept there on occasion when the hurricanes would knock out their power. And if they still had power there, they're like yeah, this is our family restaurant. We're gonna go for it.
Tim: 12:59
You got AC, you got food everywhere. There's no going without, for sure.
Michael: 13:05
Absolutely. Is it Prato or Prot? How do you pronounce it?
Tim: 13:10
I would just call it Prato, prato. Okay, yeah.
Michael: 13:12
I've been saying it Prato it's Meadow Does it. Yeah, oh, I never knew that.
Tim: 13:16
Yeah, the owner's daughter's name was Meadow oh, that's beautiful and then Luke's. His son's name was Luke, wow.
Michael: 13:23
Yeah, it's all connected. Yeah, that's really cool. So you are part of the opening team of Luke's in Maitland. I was, yeah.
Tim: 13:30
So I never thought I wanted to do that sort of thing. I was like super into rustic Italian food. I thought that's what I wanted to do always and, yeah, I just had this opportunity to work during the day and I really wanted to start a family. I started dating my wife towards the end of Prato and I was, you know, working crazy long hours, chef life, that sort of thing.
Michael: 13:51
Yeah.
Tim: 13:52
And Brandon once again came to me. He's like listen, I know you want to start a family and that's going to be your main concern. I would. I'm thinking about opening up this American style restaurant called Luke's. Well, we didn't even have a name at that point.
Michael: 14:07
But yeah.
Tim: 14:07
American style restaurant and I need somebody that's going to run it in the morning and but still is involved in all the creativity and that sort of thing. So it worked out really well because I got to spend the last seven years something like that at Luke's just running the morning shift but still creating things on the menu. And, yeah, I got to spend more Time with my family. I got to eat with them every single night. It was just like my work life balance became really important in that Time.
Michael: 14:37
Yeah, as it does, right For a lot of people.
Tim: 14:40
Very much so, and I see a lot of chefs that crash and burn because of that.
Michael: 14:44
Yeah, and I yeah, it's hard to find that. It's hard to find somebody who's willing to accommodate that life change and that schedule change. Actually, Chef Lexi was also talking about that with Swine and Sons, that the fact that it's really like a dayTime thing and the way that it's run now it's like she can actually have Time with the kids and yeah, she's got that balance.
Tim: 15:07
So I know I'm like getting myself into this now and yeah, but I think it's a little different. If you are owning it, you know your kids and your family, they can come in whenever they want.
Michael: 15:17
That's right. So yeah, that's so, so exciting.
Tim: 15:20
It is yeah, and eventually I'll throw them in the kitchen or, you know, have them wait on somebody you know.
Michael: 15:25
Yeah, I just interviewed Sunny from Domoo, okay, and yeah, he was talking about how he grew up in restaurants as a kid. It's a rare thing. There are not many careers that are like that, where you can just like have them around and exposed to the environment. I think that's such a magical thing. Very excited for you guys.
Tim: 15:45
Sure, thank you. We are excited as well, yeah.
Michael: 15:47
Yeah, so are you working on menu stuff? Right now I know you're doing farm tours and making those connections and things like that.
Tim: 15:56
So yeah, I've worked on a little bit of recipe development. I've kind of got like ideas of certain techniques and things that I want to do and then I just have to like kind of plug in which vegetables are in season at that point. Right, I've got like a menu format that I want to start with for sure.
Michael: 16:14
Okay Cool. Your culinary knowledge and experience being at three of the best restaurants in central Florida just are really well known for the quality of service and food and creativity. And actually we're going to Luke's on Sunday for a birthday brunch.
Tim: 16:35
So say hi to Ricky for me.
Michael: 16:37
Oh, your birthday brunch Go say hi to Irish, then Okay cool.
Tim: 16:40
Super talented guys, for sure.
Michael: 16:42
Nice, yeah, and we love going there. It's just such a such a great experience and the architecture of the building, just being in there in that space, it's pretty transformative and magical.
Tim: 16:54
So I agree.
Michael: 16:55
Yeah.
Tim: 16:56
I actually ate there on Saturday. I love eating there. Yeah, I bet, after like working there for so long and just like being a customer now, I feel like I've been to Prado a lot of Times but like I have never I've eaten at Luke's like maybe a handful of Times since those seven years have been yeah. So yeah, it was really nice. Hey with me and my wife and they really yeah, everything was great.
Michael: 17:17
Were there any like revelations, like going there as a customer that you didn't see from the other end of the spectrum? Was there like anything, that kind of popped out, that like, oh, wow, this is like part of the experience.
Tim: 17:29
I would say the servers, the waitress staff, that sort of thing. Yeah, you really see that side more when you're over there and it's really essential to having a good Time is having that person that knows the food well, knows the drink menu well and can just bring that good Time to you. I think, it's really important like that hospitality and I think that's a major thing that I'm going to be going for with Koro is just a slightly different feel of the hospitality. Like I don't want to give everything away, I kind of want it to be a little bit of a surprise when it comes about. But it's not going to be your normal average waiter-waitress kind of deal.
Michael: 18:08
That's cool. Oh man, I can't wait to check it out. It's like there's all these new things in Audubon Park and it's just such a great Time to be here it is and they're doing the whole revitalization of Corrine right. Yes, eventually. Yeah, it's in the works. It's in the planning stages right now. Securing funding is always a thing. Permissions for the road was like the big kind of hold up in the process. It would have been done many years ago had that not been an issue. Wow, many years ago. Yeah, because the county and the city owned different pieces of Corrine Drive, gotcha. It's not a big road but it's such a crucial kind of throughput to Baldwin Park, winter Park in Orlando and people use it kind of to cut through from mills to colonial and so, being that it's like four, basically five lanes with that middle lane people speed through here. So that's always been like safety has been an issue. So with the bike lane that's in now, that's a brand new thing and it's as a trial period for six months to see how that goes. I mean, likely when they redevelop Corrine Drive there will be multi-use lanes to have a pathway for pedestrians and cyclists and anybody who doesn't want to be in a car and feel safe about it too.
Tim: 19:37
Very nice, yeah, yeah yeah, it's important.
Michael: 19:40
So, yeah, lots of changes, lots of attention to the area. This is such a great neighborhood in general, you know.
Tim: 19:45
It is. Yeah, I've got friends that live like right over here as well, oh nice.
Michael: 19:49
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you've got lots of people here that you didn't realize were even in Audubon Park too.
Tim: 19:55
Like that's kind of the thing.
Michael: 19:57
This is where a lot of people want to be, so we're so stoked to have you join the family of businesses here that really make this place special, too, for sure yeah. So tell me a little bit about the staffing process and kind of what your expectations. You kind of alluded to that a little bit what you have, a team put together already.
Tim: 20:18
I do. Yeah, that's probably one of the most exciting things about this whole process has been just finding the right people at the exact right Time. It's been like almost like it was meant to be, just people coming out and just either asking me if I need help, literally at the end of last month. So, yeah, it's been really great. This is not just an average group of cooks. These are like all chef guys and women.
Michael: 20:50
They're at that level.
Tim: 20:51
Yeah, they are at that level Like I feel like I could probably give it to them to run at some point, like any of them. They're like that level, good, I mean that's the dream, right. Exactly. Some are really good at butchery, some are really good at pasta, some are really good with administration, some are really good with more of an Asian flair. And it's just like I have this great team that I feel I'm so blessed to even be able to enjoy this with, to be creative with, and we just like we met up the other day at a big facility. They had a commercial kitchen and we just kind of I was going through like expectations and just the way service goes and they were all just like super excited about it and just like throwing out ideas Like immediately. We just like had a connection of just creativity and sustainability and like what we can get and use and just lack of waste. So it's like we're already on like the same wavelength. So it's like I've never not to that extent worked with people that are like cream of the crop.
Michael: 21:59
Is. This are most of these people, people that you've worked with before at a restaurant. Okay, cool, very cool.
Tim: 22:05
Most of them are people that I've worked with. There's a couple of people that are newer but, like just getting coffee, getting to know them, me, kind of like throwing out my vision of what I want the restaurant to be. Like just people are very quick to like jump on board with that and like, okay, that's cool, not everybody else is doing that, like I want to do that, and it's like a way that we can grow.
Michael: 22:26
That's so exciting to have that start and you know people often talk about staffing and how difficult a Time this is after the pandemic and just how that's kind of changed mindsets and things like that and living wages and just all of these like how do you make that math equation work Because the input costs? And then you know it's like balancing all the things and making sure everybody's happy. And it's like it's. It's an ever-evolving landscape, it seems right now with restaurants. But to start at that level of just being on the same page with the staff, with having that shorthand and having the same vision, you know and like being able to build that team that, like you already can see this, is going to be a high-performing team. Wild. That's so, so, so cool.
Tim: 23:15
Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Michael: 23:16
So tell me about some of the other farms that you visited or that you plan on visiting. I saw that you Frogsong was one of the stops, right, yeah.
Tim: 23:25
That was my first stop. I've known John from Frogsong for years, since, like he started it, I feel like he was just bringing in produce. He would always come at like seven o'clock at night and we were like go away farmer. But yeah, throughout the years he's just frog.
Michael: 23:39
That's the only Time he can rest ill away, probably right.
Tim: 23:42
Yeah, really nice stuff and I love what he's doing over there. He's not trying to grow what everybody necessarily wants, so like I feel like that's my job as a chef to make those things that he's able to grow and grow well, make that the star of the plate.
Michael: 23:59
And to have enough demand to where it makes sense to grow those things too right, Absolutely.
Tim: 24:04
And that's just my job as a chef also is to educate people on what's good Like. I've been doing this a long Time and I know how to, and my team knows how to, make food good and if you don't think that you've had it at home really good, you know like throughout my career I've learned a good amount of technique to make things delicious.
Michael: 24:31
Yeah, those are really the elements right, it's that you start with the best ingredients that you can find.
Tim: 24:37
Yeah, very Italian mentality.
Michael: 24:39
Or even.
Tim: 24:40
Japanese, which I love as well.
Michael: 24:42
Pull from all of those cultures that contribute to that mindset, and this is like. So it's not one nationality of food. How do you describe a restaurant that is that?
Tim: 24:56
I mean, if I were to describe it it's just, it's new American small plates would be the best way to like strip it down to the bare bones. But I mean there's going to be a focus on the local farm, so I'm going to utilize as much of that as possible. It's going to be as sustainable as I can be within that small space. Just doing different fermented things, different pickles, different dusts, powders, that sort of thing, like try not to throw anything away, like make something delicious out of nothing. Like it's smart from a business standpoint. It's smart because it's kind of cool and it yeah, just like nobody wants to waste anything like, especially as a chef like I don't like wasting.
Michael: 25:37
Yeah, from a cost standpoint and from a respecting yeah, respecting the ingredients. Yeah, yeah, totally.
Tim: 25:44
And it's definitely not the easiest thing in the world because you have to find space for those things, you have to find space on your menu to put those things, but I think it's the right way and I think, if you do it the right way, it's the smart way of doing business and I think that a lot of restaurants should jump on board that sort of mentality so that we're not wasting.
Michael: 26:03
Yeah, I mean, it takes that creativity that's the other element too and the knowledge. Like you know, you've got the techniques, you've got the, the skills and and the recipes and you know what works together and so so you're building from that and you're plugging things in, as you were saying. It's like so you've got the templates, you've got kind of the ideas, and then you can experiment from there and kind of grow it?
Tim: 26:25
Yeah, very much.
Michael: 26:27
So as I was corresponding with you, um, I thought about the name Coro and it was very curious. Does it have anything to do with Cor in drive?
Tim: 26:37
No, I didn't even think about that. No, uh, Coro means chorus and Italian.
Michael: 26:44
Okay.
Tim: 26:45
Yeah, so I have a friend who is like a wordsmith feeler type person that basically does this for a living, like comes up with names for businesses, and he would just have we would just have like hours long conversation. He would just bring out all of everything within me and he came out with, uh, three or four names that I was like super excited about and, um, yeah, we just landed on Coro being the one that we went with.
Michael: 27:14
It's very musical. Obviously with uh an interest in music, right? Yes?
Tim: 27:20
So it's more about, like, the harmony of the, of the space that we're creating. So it brings in the musical elements, the design elements, the different ingredients on a plate, the colors that are on a plate, and my staff, which is full of hospitality, and it is almost like a song unto itself, like a chorus.
Michael: 27:43
Yeah, oh man, I love that Cause it is. I mean it's like, I mean I equate it to like a band, because every instrument is so important yeah, and it doesn't work without it, the personalities behind the instruments too. It's like you can have a very dysfunctional band and uh, it's, it's, it's going to come through in the music, usually right, it's like there's, there's something that's I don't know when. When you have everybody in sync and you see a show and like everybody's on the same page and having a great Time in the same way in a restaurant, like that's kind of that's the goal, that's what you go for.
Tim: 28:18
Sense of harmony, yeah, that everything is working together for this good of people having great experience.
Michael: 28:24
Yeah, yeah, cause it, and it depends on the customers too. Cause that that can totally affect your, your night If somebody's in there and it's, it's not. That harmony is. You know. You have to find the ways to like make it all work, even when things are maybe like a little off.
Tim: 28:41
Exactly, and things always go a little off in a restaurant. Nothing is a perfect, no one is perfect, and it's like you have to think about all of those things that could possibly happen, your pitfalls, and then come up with a way to make those people want to come back. And I think that was like one of the most important things as I was going through my business plan of like how this is all going to work Because, like I said, the service is just a little bit different than you know, just having waiters and waitresses, yeah.
Michael: 29:11
Yeah, I think that the food scene, the restaurant scene in central Florida has really evolved in the past five, 10 years. Like it's such a profound way, and so people are used to the elevated style of cuisine and of service and those are the places that really stick around, you know? I mean, one of our favorite restaurants in town is the Strand.
Tim: 29:35
Yeah, they're doing very well.
Michael: 29:36
Oh it's, it's so wonderful and such wonderful people, and I love the smallness there.
Tim: 29:41
Yeah, that's that kind of vibe that I'm going for, and it's not like super pretentious either. You know it's very approachable.
Michael: 29:46
I feel that you didn't have restaurants like that in the area 10 years ago. You just you just wouldn't find it. You'd find it in other cities. But, like, there's just so much talent here now and so many people doing awesome things, so you have the audience for it, you have the appreciation for it, and then you get to make all of those those little details like really pop. Um, I saw on your Instagram that, uh, you'll have plates and bowls by Kim Sager of thrown by hand.
Tim: 30:17
Yeah, she happened to just reach out to me Like I think it's always been my dream to like have my own plateware design, but like I never thought it was possible. And she reached out and she's like I really want to be a part of this and I was like awesome, I want you to be a part of this. And we just kind of worked together. I kind of gave her ideas, she gave me, I gave her like a color palette or whatever that we were thinking, and I went over there and she spawned a few plates and she's shown me like a lot, a lot of stuff and, yeah, super excited about using her plateware. Yeah, Kim.
Michael: 30:49
Kim is amazing. She's been uh she's been a vendor at the Monday night market at Stardust uh, for several years now she's. She's one of our favorite people. So such such a talent, her stuff is so beautiful, so I can't wait to see that in a restaurant environment too.
Tim: 31:04
Yeah very much and I feel like she went a little bit against the grain of what she normally does to like fit my style and I was like. I was like she can do it, she can do anything. She's really talented. SomeTimes we need, we need that push.
Michael: 31:18
She is, she's such a great person, like personality and just so warm and um, what a, what a cool thing to be working with her and to to actually like push her maybe out of her comfort zone a little bit, cause she does like what she does so well.
Tim: 31:33
Very much so.
Michael: 31:34
So I can't wait to see what that looks like too. That's cool, and you have got custom knives that are locally made.
Tim: 31:40
Yeah. So I met Alexander I think, maybe just like a Facebook market kind of add and he was, uh, just getting started on making knives, just got his own home forge and I saw his page had beautiful knives on it. So I just reached out to him. I was like, hey, I know this is like a long shot and maybe I can't even afford it, but at some point I would love to have knives made and I think that you could do this very well. So we kind of came up with a design, that that we thought would work with the other cutlery. And, yeah, it's just, he made a beautiful knife that I was super stoked on.
Michael: 32:14
Yeah, I was checking out his Instagram, so it's sloat S L O A T Alexander. His stuff is incredible yeah. Like that's so cool to be able to bring in those local people that are doing awesome stuff, and it's very much stuff Like find, find the love, like find what people are doing and what they love and like bring that in and make it part of what you're doing. Yeah, we don't always think of those things. When it is like you know, the first thing obviously is like you have to make this work financially but, like the inputs, it's like you're going to have to buy plates and knives regardless, and things that last and that are well built and that are beautiful, but to be able to get them like kind of custom made by local people.
Tim: 32:59
Yeah, that's such a gift. Yeah, it really. Yeah, I didn't think it was going to be possible at all. To be honest with you, I thought like maybe a couple of years down the road when we're flowing and making money, you know. But yeah, it just worked out that these people either reached out to them or they reached out to me and it just yeah, it's been a great relationship, yeah.
Michael: 33:15
It's just like right place, right Time. And you've you've been in the area so long and made all those connections, you have this reputation. People come to you and to have your own thing. After working for other people for so many years, it's like this is such a big step, Like so many ways yeah. Like how has the emotional kind of ride of this been so far? It's like obviously mostly excitement, I'm sure.
Tim: 33:43
It's definitely a roller coaster of emotions, just the whole building process working with the city, working with construction companies, working with all the different principalities, that sort of thing. So it has had its ups and downs but, yeah, I'm just really excited to get this thing open and just share with the community what I love.
Michael: 34:06
Totally yeah, and I know that people are very excited to see what, what is in store for that space because they B3 was there for so many years and did such a great job and Jen is great.
Tim: 34:19
She's actually helped us like with all like like some of the permitting processes, getting our licenses, like we're doing that sort of thing. Yeah, she's been great.
Michael: 34:28
That's so cool. Yeah, that was part of you know, when I interviewed Jean Willard he's like, yeah, it just their story reminded me of Jen and Daryl. It's like you know this, this young married couple with starting this restaurant, and you know they've just started a family fairly recently, so that the parallels are kind of there. That was like you know, and so your kids are how old now?
Tim: 34:53
So I have a six month, a two year old and a four year old. Wow, yeah, I'm in the thick of it, for sure.
Michael: 35:00
In the thick of it.
Tim: 35:01
Indeed, those are very different stages, yeah, and I'm also trying to open a restaurant, so I've got a lot yeah.
Michael: 35:10
And and you've got the support that you need to make it actually happen too, and that's that's crucial, right? It's?
Tim: 35:16
like you've already kind of seen where you need to have those boundaries as far as the work life balance and being there for your family and I know I'm going to have to put in a lot of hours, I know it's going to be a lot, but we're trying to start it out with all of that in mind by giving us our days off. So I'll I'll be closed on Sunday and Monday and those will just be my, my family days. Nice, if I have to do a little bit a half day on Monday just to get ready for Tuesday, that's just what it is. That's fine. I'm okay with that. But as long as I have a solid day on Sunday where I can go to church, be with my family and do the things that are important to me and my family, then I feel like that life balance will be there and they can come in, like for family meal, and I will encourage, you know, my staff to bring in their significant others for family meal Cause I want this to be more of a family dynamic.
Michael: 36:07
That's so cool.
Tim: 36:08
I mean, kitchens are just like rough places, you know. Like there's not always the nicest things said and done to you, because it's a high stress environment and I'm trying to like plan ahead to have a space that is safe. You know Everybody's respected, everybody's opinion counts, everybody puts forth their best effort and we treat people with love and kindness, and it took me a lot of years to figure that out. I don't think that I was the best leader for several years and just through working with different kind of leadership, I've grown tremendously just as far as feeling empathy and putting myself in other people's shoes. It's just like a really good learning experience the past few years, and it's definitely brought me to this point that I'm able to do this and have confidence in doing it.
Michael: 36:59
Yeah, absolutely having that mentorship and a positive working environment can change everything, right? Do you remember a Time like in your career when it really did kind of click in your mind of this is how I should be doing it, even though a lot of kitchen cultures kind of have this Was there. Was there a Time that you can remember that that change happened?
Tim: 37:25
or yeah, I mean, working with people is not always easy. SomeTimes you bump heads with people, whether it be in a creative aspect, in the way as a leader you just kind of have to lead everybody Like in their own way. Yeah, so I worked with Derek Perez, who's now at Four Rivers. He started Luke's with me and I feel like he just kind of like opened that door that you need to. You need to manage everybody in their own certain way. It's like some people need to be pushed a little bit, some people need to be not baby, but you know, you gotta, you gotta watch your words, watch how you, how you approach things with them. So it's like constantly Just looking around and and really getting to know these people. You know like it's not just about Just about the food, which is what I thought it was for years. You know, like, put out good food, put out good food, put out good food, but like at the end of the day, if no one's happy, like nobody's gonna want to be there, that's right. So I feel like yeah that it took me a little bit longer than it should have to figure that out. But yeah, I think Obviously I have a long way to go. But it sounds like you've come a really long way so far and that's like very much so, like I my my leadership was was, uh, it was hard growing up in this industry, you know, like it was very old school mentality so, like you know, things weren't said nice politely to me, you know. And um, yeah, I just Remember how I felt then and now I try to to be how I felt, like to know that and and respond the right way.
Michael: 39:02
It's a very emotional thing, right. You, you are very connected to your work and I think that that that's a common thing everybody wants to do. Really well, everybody wants to put out, you know, the best dishes possible, and Everybody is kind of learning, at a different trajectory too. And to make that Okay to where, like, all the food that's going out is is going to be exceptional and people still have the space to learn and those opportunities and and Just finding where people's strengths are like, where they're like okay, you're, you're ready to, to do this, and I don't, I don't have to worry about it, you know and you feel confident in it. This other part, we need to, we need to train a little bit more on that and just saying that in a way, that's okay to where it's not like, oh, this sucks, what are you doing?
Tim: 39:52
Yeah, exactly like I'm not saying it like that, exactly. It's hard because I'm in it. I'm in an industry that expects perfection with Unperfect people, right? So it's like you have to think about every single scenario where things can go wrong and figure out how to make it work within that, and still the guest being happy with the final experience right and me being happy with the final experience you know right, Right and just the Timing of everything too.
Michael: 40:20
You can have a great dish and it goes out and it's cold and you're like well.
Tim: 40:26
That's not great, it's not great. Yeah, exactly.
Michael: 40:29
I um, I don't know if you watch the show the bear, I've seen it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's crazy, it's like yeah definitely nightmares of Beginning days at luma. It's pretty crazy, I bet yeah, yeah it um, I think for, for those of us who haven't worked in the industry, the way that you have like Very illuminating of like the personalities, the things that can go wrong, the things that I mean it's ramped up, of course a little bit.
Tim: 40:55
Of course it has to be, for sure it has to be, but there are definitely Times like oof. I remember that.
Michael: 41:00
Yeah, I uh, like I was looking through your instagram and gabby was like what are you laughing about? I was like, oh, this, this post from, was it 2008? No, it was 2013. First ticket of the day, six of everything to go, and it just shows this picture of this like Walgreens receipt or whatever you know, just like this, I mean this giant ticket and I mean that's, that's a catering job like, and you've got to get all the other food out in the restaurant while this is also going on. Tell me about that day. Do you remember that specific Time? Was that? Is that something that, like happened frequently?
Tim: 41:41
Yes, oh boy president I don't know if he's still the president, but a full sale, I think okay, I've met him. Yeah, he loved Um Prado so much and he would do that every once in a while. I was like like gary jones Is here, he's, yeah, yeah, he wants all of this food for his party that he's hosting. We just push it out. I mean it's, you know, from a business standpoint, smart. Yeah, nothing wrong with that.
Michael: 42:06
Yeah, and he would always do it in the beginning of the day, so it was never like a huge deal.
Tim: 42:10
Yeah, I remember, because you're still like, if it's like a friday night, you're still trying to get all your guys ready to go for, you know, a 300, 400 plus cover night. And then this is like right at the get-go, it's pretty, it's pretty intense. Yeah it sets the mood for the rest of the night.
Michael: 42:28
You're like all right, let's go fast.
Tim: 42:29
That's the, that's the balance, going fast but not sacrificing quality. So it's like it's definitely a balance there, just like anything else.
Michael: 42:36
Yeah, and managing stress, because it's it's like okay, the speed needs to increase. We don't like you can't cut any corners. You have to do everything right, like try to minimize the mistakes, know how to recover from mistakes and and when it's unrecoverable and pivoting, anyTime something gets 86 or Substitutions, things like that, like there's there's so much that goes into this type of work, particularly, and uh, it takes a personality, a certain type of personality who embraces that challenge and really loves it, like thrives in that environment. And it sounds like you are surrounding yourself with other people who are like minded of that. Like this is how we expect to kind of treat each other, like it's going to be great, but also like we're not going to sacrifice, we're not going to just make it about the food, it's about the people, it's a family environment. You know the things that we say, the respect like and just being being open and nice to, to everybody, you know, and like that's such a good foundation and I think that that that's a rare thing. Maybe it's it's becoming less rare.
Tim: 43:52
I think people are definitely, yeah, jumping on that For sure.
Michael: 43:56
Yeah, because it's important it's.
Tim: 43:57
so yeah, you can't lose people like it's not the easiest to Get good staff these days that really know how to do things to a high level. Yeah and if you do, you know you have to compensate them quite a bit yeah absolutely yeah, and they're definitely worth it.
Michael: 44:14
Exactly that's the thing it's you can get the great people up front, pay them well, incentivize them staying, make it a great work environment, and you won't have to keep retraining people, right? That's sort of the the mistake.
Tim: 44:30
I think company like I don't just have this restaurant in mind. I have like a million different things in my brain that I would love to eventually do you know like this is just my first one.
Michael: 44:40
Right, that's so exciting. Yeah, it's totally. I mean, sunny from Dome is a perfect example of that. He's got seven restaurants. Now he's very young and he's got seven restaurants, it's like. That's inspiring.
Tim: 44:54
That's a great story Very much so.
Michael: 44:55
Yeah, and all began in Audubon Park too. Well, Tim, thank you so very much for your Time. I'm so excited just about everything that is coming. Tell me the websites and the social media that people go to to find your restaurant.
Tim: 45:15
What is my Instagram handle? Coro restaurant.
Michael: 45:18
Yes.
Tim: 45:19
I don't have a website yet, working on that. It's hard to have a website without pictures.
Michael: 45:23
Yeah, I mean a lot. I think a lot of restaurants now just mainly focus on Instagram, Some of them on Facebook too, but I think Instagram is really the spot. So Coro restaurant on Instagram Yep, so follow and like and all of the things.
Tim: 45:42
Yeah, we're working on the website now, trying to get pictures together. I'm actually going to do the zombie fest right in front of the restaurant I was going to ask you about that.
Michael: 45:51
That's awesome. It was like last minute, so I was like all right, I'll get a couple cases of oysters.
Tim: 45:55
I'll sling some oysters do a little PR hand it out for free. So yeah, we'll try to do something a little bit different, not just you know what everybody else is doing. That's awesome.
Michael: 46:06
This will be released after zombie tober fest, but you'll, you can say we did zombie tober fest. It was amazing. That's very exciting that you're doing that. I was going to ask about that. So, yeah, that's perfect, it's. It's our biggest event in the neighborhood.
Tim: 46:24
That's what I hear.
Michael: 46:25
Yeah, so people listening to this. In the future, when this is released, we'll be able to verify that, so yeah, that was really cool. Well, Tim, thank you again so much, and we'll see you around the neighborhood.
Tim: 46:38
Yeah, sounds good, thank you.
Outro: 46:50
Hello APGD, a neighborhood podcast, is brought to you in part by Stardust Video and Coffee, Audubon Park's beloved neighborhood cafe, bakery, bar and meeting place, located at 1842 East Winter Park Road. Our theme song is by Christopher Pierce, and special thanks to Tre Hester for all his help in making this podcast a reality. This episode is brought to you in part by Audubon Park Community Market. Join us every Monday from 5 to 8 PM, rain or shine, in the parking lot of Stardust Video and Coffee. This weekly gathering of makers farmers, gardeners, fishmongers, ranchers, artisans, entrepreneurs, neighbors and friends brings the very best of Central Florida to you every week. We do hope you enjoyed this episode. If so, please click subscribe and leave a review if you'd like. We'll see you next time.
