#4 - Country Boy and The School of Hard Knocks! (46:30)

Restaurant Reality Show

Interview with Chef Jason Godwin. Jason has over 30 years in the foodservice world and has help pretty much and cooking position one can imagine, in an efforts to live in and learn the best way to produce and serve food.

Jason is a guy from the country who has figured out food. His cooking style is inviting and delicious. He also happens to be married to my little sister.

I hope you enjoy learning some of Jason's life behind the kitchen walls:

Jason Godwin: [00:00:00] How's it been going?

Sam Knoll: [00:00:01] Good. Good, man. How are you doing? Are you working like crazy?

Jason Godwin: [00:00:07] Which is good, but it's kind of slowing down now. It's work. Yeah, season's kind of over so to speak, but there's still a lot more like a local summer is what we call it around here.

Sam Knoll: [00:00:18] That works.

Yeah. That'll keep you busy. Totally works.

, in all honesty kind of, um, to, to kind of roll through this, what I'd I'd like to do first is just have a few questions I can hit you with just because I want the people listening to know kind of what your background is, how you want about how you've gotten to where you are.

And, um, you know, so I kind of want to run through a few questions. Uh, we can go through those. And then, uh, from there, we, I think some of those may help kind of lead to whatever stories or the covid stuff you've dealt with at work or whatever it may be, you know, that, uh, that you feel like you want to share with everyone since that.

Yeah,

I think, um, you know, some of the things that when people see somebody works in a restaurant, they've got this nice level of achievement, you know, one of the things that people always wonder is, you know, like, so when did you start. Working in restaurants, you know, how old were you? 17, 15, 25. You know? So when did you, when did you get going in this whole business?

Jason Godwin: [00:01:40] And the restaurant industry, uh, got into when I was, uh, is really young. It's actually, I think first job, maybe 14, 15, uh, busing tables. Um, on the weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, you know, and, um, it was a way to kind of learn the value of a dollar as a kid, you know, and, uh, have a few extra bucks in the pocket to go out to the football game on a Friday night, or maybe to the movies with a girlfriend or something like that.

Um, but, um, yeah, you know, a first job and. Um, staying in the industry, so to speak, whether it be, um, you know, did that and got into, I think, uh, worked for like a yogurt store, you know, ice cream shop in high school, you know, nice. It wasn't probably until, uh, a say 19 or 20, 21, uh, started into it. And, um, For the most part I've been in it ever since.

Sam Knoll: [00:02:53] So. And I'll, I'm going to throw a little bit of background also, and, you know, for anyone that's listening, because I didn't even really explain who you are, you know, so this is, this is Jason Godwin, who is my brother-in-law. Um, and I thought, you know, one of the cool parts of. Of working in the, in the restaurant business was that then my sister married a guy who was also in the restaurant business.

So yeah, that was what that's, why I wanted to talk with you is I know some of your history, you know, and so I've always been impressed because you didn't just buss bulls and then start doing little cooking. You actually worked in some different types of restaurants to learn. Some detailed elements about it.

I mean, I know you did the, you did ask some bakery time as well.

Jason Godwin: [00:03:45] I mean, I've done a little bit, like I've done different parts. Um, started out baking as well. Um, you know, getting up in the morning. Going in doing like morning breakfast, you know, pastries, uh, and then rolling over to the bread side and making pies and cakes as well.

Um, you know, I enjoyed that. So pursued that for several years and then, um, got really interested in the savory side of things and started, started trying to train and learn a little bit about that as well. And, um, eventually, um, making my way up the chain of command, so to speak, and I'm running a few of my own places and even eventually partnering up to do a little gig for a bit.

So, um, but, uh, and I've been in front of the house back of the house. All over the place. So a bit of everything. Yeah.

Sam Knoll: [00:04:54] Yeah.

I'll talk with several people and a lot of people go to culinary school and, you know, uh, I actually applied, it was accepted and could've gone up to CIA where you went and, um, up in Hyde park and, um, and an opportunity to kind of train under a chef out of Atlanta.

That I worked with for a few months. Um, and, uh, another chef at, in New York that I worked, we had to learn a couple of different styles. And from that point on just trying to try to educate myself. Um, there's a school of hard knocks. Yeah.

But you know what, it's, it's really interesting because, um, over the years I've worked with, with, with cooks and chefs who had gone to school and others who hadn't totally different ideas of which way is important and what they got out of it.

Um, I think where you did it finding. So some very talented chefs to work under is equally, if not better than what you get from culinary school. I mean, because you're, you're getting so much more from each of them as opposed to culinary school where you're, you're breezing through classes left and right.

Um, you know, it's plus the other thing that happens is you go to culinary school and you graduate. And the first thing that happens is anywhere you go work, they're like, Oh great. This guy went to culinary school. He thinks he knows how to do everything. We're going to show him that he doesn't. And it's almost a black Mark on your, on your record.

Did you have to work through it? You have to go second time around. You have to go prove yourself. Yeah.

Jason Godwin: [00:06:36] And I've definitely worked with some people that, that are really good and really know their stuff. And then I think a lot of people that I've worked with that have that formal background, um, you know, a lot of the things I've learned from a hands-on approach as well.

Um, but I mean, I'm not going to knock a formal education. I think it's, it's a great, great thing. No matter what you're going to pursue. Um, Uh, I, I just chose the ladder, you know, uh, yeah. Baptism by fire.

Sam Knoll: [00:07:07] Well, you're, you're a father with some kind of young kids, so you can't knock the education thing yet. Oh, it's great.

Yeah, absolutely.

Jason Godwin: [00:07:16] Matter of fact, I get the kids in there and we, you know, we're rolling pastries and you know, my daughter and I doing that and it's awesome. It's fun, man. Definitely fun.

Sam Knoll: [00:07:27] Cool. Well, let's see. Um, Let's see, so I know you you've, you've done, like you said, you've done some of the pastry work.

You've done some pretty high end, fine dining as well. Uh, your restaurant that you did, um, I thought was an interesting mix. It wasn't high, high, fine dining. It was a stepped down just a little bit, but it lets you play with and do what you wanted to do. I mean, how would you categorize that restaurant?

What would you. Was that, did you view that? I forget, like it's more of a brew pub type thing, or what would you have called that?

Jason Godwin: [00:08:05] Yeah, more like, um, you know, the whole phase of the gastro pubish kind of affair where it's a little bit nicer in a more casual kind of pub setting, um, you know, featuring a lot of the.

I grew up in the country. You have a lot of farms and we always had formed table, you know, and it wasn't until later on that people decided that let's call this. That was, that was that subtle hint became jealous way of life for us. But, um, you know, just supporting like local farmers and then our really did a big push for local breweries back before the big, you know, local craft scene really took off, um, Especially in this area, we helped bring a lot of the local breweries from other parts of the state down to this area.

And now, uh, think even more so in the area we are starting to get, or have been getting over the last decade, uh, several breweries popping up all around town. So, you know, we were kind of in the early stages of that and that's kind of what we were pushing the, uh, it was a weird, weird time too, when we were doing that.

So it was a. Now the economy, it was kind of rough back then in the early two thousands. Yeah, that was, that was a rough time for the economy here. Right. So we were just trying to like still get people a good, good quality food at a, at a good casual price, so to speak. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was, it was awesome.

Sam Knoll: [00:09:35] But, um, well, I let's see, I have a couple other questions here then. Um, Here. This is one that I always get asked when somebody finds out that one culinary school worked as a chef, you know, they always say, Oh, what's, what's your favorite thing to cook? Or what's your favorite type of cooking, you know, and I always kind of poo poo that a little bit.

It's like how, I don't know, it's like cooking with the local stuff wherever I am, or, you know, but how do you, what, what's your answer to that, that question? What do you enjoy

it's kind

Jason Godwin: [00:10:14] of the same, you know, it's kinda depends on what I'm in the mood for and what I'm doing. Obviously I really, over the years enjoyed cooking fish and, um, Yeah, I live on the coast too.

It's kind of one of those things and, um, you know, but, uh, you know, I, I like game game as well. Um, yeah, I grew up, like I said, I grew up as a country boy, so I ate a lot of vegetables. We had a farm, a family farm and, um, Spend a lot of time shucking corn and peas and beans and picking potatoes. And, um, just, I guess this a good old Southern style, you know, coastal Southern cuisine.

Very probably be my favorite, you know? Yeah.

Sam Knoll: [00:11:08] Yeah. Which is awesome. I love that. Um, let's see. So, so now, You've kind of you've stopped the cooking side of things. And what, what would you call this group of restaurants you work with now? Is it all kind of a Hispanic or what would you

Jason Godwin: [00:11:31] yeah, more of like a California Mexi, um, Like a Southern California Baja style, Mexican with, uh, you know, some parts, a little bit of a Tex Mex flare, um, and one of our spots, but, um, yeah, this group's been around for 26, 27, 27 years.

Sam Knoll: [00:11:52] I think. I didn't realize that. Wow.

Jason Godwin: [00:11:56] And, uh, I've been with these guys for about six years now and, um, kinda stepped out of the kitchen. And taking on more of a front of the house GM role. Um, but I'm still, you know, hands in everywhere I can be, um, to help out wherever, whenever, um, this is a good, it's a good group.

And, uh, it kind of really fits the lifestyle because still lifestyle as well.

Sam Knoll: [00:12:22] Yeah, the coastal element. I like that. And that's a, I grew up with some of that too, and, you know, kind of growing up on the water. I think once you have that as part of your life, you know, you never want to let go of that. Yeah, I saw you guys down fishing off the beach the other day recently, you know,

Jason Godwin: [00:12:42] kids and our fishing out yesterday.

And you know, we're going to go today, but it looks like the hurricanes coming through it is. Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably kick that and wait it out. But anyways, um, yeah man, can you tell me and get bottle of water and just. Be a part of that, you know, that's right.

Sam Knoll: [00:13:07] So we got to move you back into the, the boat ownership world, you know?

Jason Godwin: [00:13:12] Yeah. We're, that's all not on the list in your free time. Right? Talk about it. It's talked about daily. We just talked about it a little bit ago, so yeah. That's cool.

Sam Knoll: [00:13:25] Well, that's good because then we'll come down and visit.

Jason Godwin: [00:13:28] Yeah, uh, OPB is other people don't other people's boats.

Sam Knoll: [00:13:37] Nice. Well, so I was wondering, so over these years, and this is always the interesting part. So as I did I talk with other friends about stories they may have, you know, um, I know one of the things, I guess there are two things that I would ask about one is kind of how this whole pandemic and this COVID thing has affected you in the restaurant you're in.

And what all is taking place. But, so what, how has the COVID element, what has that done to your restaurant?

What did you have to, how did the restaurant change? What are y'all doing differently? How has that worked?

Jason Godwin: [00:14:20] Uh, with the COVID, you know, you had to step back and take a look and I'm always with a lot of folks, try to reinvent your concept and what you were trying to do, um, how to take what you were doing and putting it in a box to go box taken out.

Yeah. Um, and then once we were able to open back up to 50% capacity, Um, just making sure that not only the guest that were coming into the restaurants felt safe. Um, but, uh, really most importantly, our staff felt safe and that's what, that's what we, you know, it's what keeps us going is good, working happy staff.

Um, so we had, you know, a lot of 'em, you know, Precautionary measures as far as like the cleanliness, um, following the th the three W's, uh, that's co so commonly, um, repeated throughout and, um, no, just making sure that everyone was following the guidelines and we've stuck pretty strong to it, you know, we've.

We dealt with it, uh, being in a coastal town, once again, you do see a lot of tourists, so you have people coming from all over, but you have to be really, really careful what's going on. Um, but yeah, you know, it's nice that we've kinda, I feel like we've kind of gotten used to it. We were in a groove now. Um, If we could maintain this takeout business, um, and then throw in a hundred percent again, that would be a good thing.

I think for awhile that people are going to be still doing the takeout until they're comfortable. Um, I continue to tell staff that if people were coming out, they're comfortable. So let's make sure they have a good time and make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to do, you know, but yeah, it's definitely affected us in the sense that you had to step back and say, wait a minute, let's rethink what we're doing.

And, um, you know, kind of go from there. Yeah. Yeah. You were kind of, I feel like it's just how it is, you know, it's how it is for now and changing anytime seen, honestly,

Sam Knoll: [00:16:49] I was talking with another restaurant tour earlier today and I mean, that was exactly it, you know, and it's, so it is just figuring out, okay, well, we can only have a handful of people in our restaurants now, so we can't rely on that.

So how do we do take out, but not just take out. It's like we have to do it really well, you know? And, and he's got a higher end restaurant and, um, you know, so again, how do we even. Put a, put this food in the box. So it looks like as the same quality that you want people to get when they're sitting at a table.

Jason Godwin: [00:17:28] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's tough. Especially if you're in, if you're in the higher end, you know, I was actually talking with, um, with the restaurantour, one of, you know, what I'm talking about, cause I worked for them for many years and they, uh, they, um, No cater my wedding and, um, yup. They're higher end.

And, uh, you know, I was, I was talking with them about it. And then, um, you know, that was exactly what they were saying. They're like how our biggest challenge has been taking what we do in house. You know, the timing on it, the, you know, the, some things can be done here. Somethings could not be done in a box.

Um, same thing.

Sam Knoll: [00:18:14] You have to adjust your menu even.

Jason Godwin: [00:18:16] Biggest challenge. Yeah. For them, which I would imagine it would be, you know, um, even with the casual cuisine that we're doing, some things work better in house than they would to go. So, um, but you still try to, uh, I think the biggest challenge that we faced, uh, especially when the restaurant was closed to the public was just the ticket times.

Oh really well, people are still going to eat out, you know? And you may go from a 15 minute to 20 minute ticket times staying. Yeah. You're free to be ready be here, yada, yada too. And it's going to be about 45 minutes to an hour, you know, so then you're trying to time it out. So when the people do come and pick it up, it's still going to be hot, you know, and it says close to that quoted time as possible.

Sam Knoll: [00:19:03] So, so with those. That's an instance then, correct me if I'm wrong, where somebody's like, say I want to eat it five o'clock tonight. And I placed my order now at 2:30. So you've got to watch. Is that what you're working towards then is making sure that the phone

Jason Godwin: [00:19:21] we're working on just the phone's ringing man.

And, uh, we're we, you know, we may be on a two hour wait for takeout orders. So easy. That's where the challenge is.

Sam Knoll: [00:19:35] I would say it's just the volume of what's coming in.

Jason Godwin: [00:19:40] Right. And then, and then, then they open up to 50%. So now we're, obviously we're trying to like time out the dine-in at a, at an appropriate time, along with the people we're quoting on the phones within appropriate time and with the utmost quality, whether it be in house or at a house.

So, um, That's probably the biggest challenge. It's a great challenge to have.

Sam Knoll: [00:20:06] It's a lot better than, than having no challenge.

Jason Godwin: [00:20:10] But, um, um, yeah, that's probably been probably the toughest thing that I noticed was just adapting to the takeout orders, probably, you know, Yeah, it's pretty wild. Well, so let's see.

Sam Knoll: [00:20:25] Um, any stories, anything come to mind that, uh, that you might want to share the bizarre things? Any, I mean, it was interesting when I kind of started to put this book together. I said, you know, when folks come to this site, I want stories that are happy, that are sad. That are inspiring, that are dumbfounding that are, you know, it's kind of whatever, anything come to mind.

I know they're in there. This is, if you and I were sitting out by a fire,

Jason Godwin: [00:21:00] I was going to say a lot of the stories, some of the best ones probably came from when you and I were in the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey, trying to cook up some family Christmas day.

Sam Knoll: [00:21:09] Oh God.

Jason Godwin: [00:21:10] Burning creme brulees for like the 15th time at your grandmother's house or something. Um, Anyways. Yeah. I mean,...