Celebrated Chef Tim Hollingsworth Serves Up Hot Tips For Success!

08/04/20

PROGRAM: ALWAYS EVOLVING WITH COACH MIKE BAYER

SHOW#: CM1034

GUEST: TIM HOLLINGSWORTH

(START OF PODCAST)

COACH MIKE BAYER: Welcome back to Always Evolving with me, Coach Mike Bayer. Today we have our first chef—Tim Hollingsworth—joining us. He’s not your everyday chef but one who held the title of chef de cuisine in illustrious French Laundry, which is considered one of the top restaurants in the world. In 2018 he won Netflix’s The Final Table, a global culinary competition series. His Instagram grew, his profile grew and now he owns a few restaurants in LA called Otium and C.J. Boyd’s, a fried-chicken stand that pays homage to his grandfather and his southern roots. But like so many other restauranteurs, because of this pandemic his restaurants are closed. Tim is ready to pivot and he is here with us today to talk about it. Thanks for joining me.

TIM HOLLINGSWORTH: Absolutely. Thanks for having me on the show. Super excited.

MIKE: And thank you, by the way I, you cooked me a steak that I ate last night that was so…

TIM: How’d you like it?

MIKE: Oh my God, it was so good.

TIM: Awesome.

MIKE: And literally I wanted to tell Rachel, my booker, “Let’s just have a chef on…

TIM: (LAUGHS) 

MIKE: …every single episode” and let’s see if we can convince them somehow to send us their cuisine but the steak was so good.

TIM: That’s awesome. That’s one of my, like, uh, favorite recipes. I actually grew up eating that, so…

MIKE: I mean, I don’t even normally like tri-tip and I ate the entire thing. I made a video, I videotaped it, uh, and I’m gonna post it on my Instagram. I’ll send you a copy, too, but it was…

TIM: Right on.

MIKE: …so good. So, so tell everyone—you, you didn’t go to culinary school.

TIM: No, I didn’t go to culinary school. I mean, I grew up doing construction with my father and um, kind of got a job to work separately, um, from my father. My father was, you know, I think had a huge impact on my life and my, my work ethic and everything, but I wanted to just do something a little different. I was finishing up high school, I got a job as a dishwasher and um, in my local restaurant they just happened to be the best restaurant in town and slowly worked my way up. Um, and then took a, took a trip to New York, you know, said this is the thing that I wanted to do for a career   and uh, went out to Hyde Park and, and I checked out the Culinary Institute and spent a week there and was like, “You know what, I don’t think this is for me.” Um, and then ultimately came back. I went to, decided I was gonna work for the best, so got, applied to The French Laundry and got a job.

MIKE: So you grew up in Houston…

TIM: I grew up in, I grew up in Northern California, so I was born in Houston and then from about second grade on I grew up near Lake Tahoe, Placerville.

MIKE: Got it. And so you went up to New York and, and when you say it wasn’t for you, you probably were going all excited, like, “This is what I’m gonna do” then you got there—what was different than what you maybe anticipated?

TIM: I just knew how I was in school and, you know, how studious I was, how…how I was at work, and how competitive I was and um, and my work ethic and I just made a commitment saying, “You know what I think this is gonna be…kind of a waste of money, honestly” um, “and I think I’m gonna, I think I’m just gonna surround myself with people that are better than me and work for the best” and just being sort of young and naïve and not really understanding what it took to, to do that job. I was, I was very good at the restaurant I was working at, but I’m in a small town, you know? So um, you know, moving to a place that’s, people travel from all over the world to work at and have, you know, pretty good pedigrees, you know, I’m working next to, guys I worked for—Daniel Bouloud, and, you know, Pierre Garniere and—all these, all these chefs from and then, you know, the guys are, one guy’s from Sweden, the other guy’s from Korea, the other guy’s from Japan. You know, it’s like, people just around me are from a lot of different places and a lot of different cultures and, honestly got a lot more experience than I did. But I put my head down and, you know, I, every single thing that I did I, you know, I ran. So, you know, I would run to the locker and grab my stuff and ran so I was, I was slower at other stuff but I made up for it in just the speed of moving around.

MIKE: When you applied did they have you cook them a meal?

TIM: Some people they do. So it depends on what position that you’re applying for. Um, I was, you know, I was gonna be in the lowest position pretty much, uh, from a, from a cook’s perspective. So I was a commis, or a prep cook, um, so you don’t have to cook, cook for them anything, but um, I spent a day sort of going in and um, you know, I remember I spent about three hours in the garden in the morning, um, like planting and picking micrograins and then slowly moving into the kitchen, worked there and then uh, spent, spent the remainder of the day just kind of helping people out and floating around and, you know, I’m sure the chef was watching me the whole time and, you know, I was 21 years old and uh, I think, you know, he, he saw, just a little bit of the humility and hardworking kind of dad that I was and, and ultimately um, offered me a job.

MIKE: So uh, to give context to French Laundry and people would fly from all over the world and you went to work there—what was, why is that? And how much was food there?

TIM: Yeah I mean I think the, at that time I think the tasting menu was, I think right around $150 if I remember correctly. But, you know, people would fly, you know, all over the world to, to go eat there. I mean, I think it was Ruth Reichl’s article that came out. She was just very, very, um…did very well in the press and just, you know, “This is the best restaurant. You have to eat at it. Most exciting restaurant to open.” I think what, what about that restaurant was so special was just, um, you know, Chef’s perspective on food. It was, it was really, you know, you’re eating caviar, you’re eating, uh, foie gras, you’re eating the best steak you can buy. The best fish you can buy. All that kind of stuff, but ultimately, you know, like that fish comes in, in an ice cream cone and it’s, you know, salmon tartare and it’s, it’s essentially, you know, the idea of the famous cornet, which is essentially like, smoked salmon, a cracker and cream cheese, you know, that’s really what it is but ultimately it’s, you know, it’s a salmon cornet, which is a touille butter, French, French roe butter and it’s crème fraiche accented with red onions on top of it and then it’s chopped salmon that’s seasoned and presented like a cone, like at Baskin Robbins. Then those kind of playful notes, I think we’re, what really resonated with people and made that fine dining experience really approachable and kind of, you know, I don’t wanna say “comical” but, you know, just very relatable and, you know, just something that would make you smile. I mean, raw fish presented to you in an ice cream cone? You gotta laugh at it a little bit and, you know, say “This is pretty cool.”

MIKE: Got it. And how long did you work there?

TIM: I was there for…what was it? Twelve, 13 years.

MIKE: Wow. And so as you worked your way up, did, you eventually, what was kind of the, you were kind of head chef there by the time you left, right?

TIM: Yeah. So I worked, you know, my tenure there was basically working, I worked there for about three years, three to four years when I opened up Per Se in New York, which is his sister restaurant, um, also three Michelin-starred and then went back and reopened The French Laundry and was part of the small opening team that, that reopened it ’cause we closed it to open up Per Se and, you know, took the majority of the staff and whatnot. And then went back and worked there for a few more years, um, you know, underneath some very talented chefs, you know, a couple years later. I uh, I basically was, you know, was, was presented with the, the position of chef de cuisine and um, hard not to accept. (LAUGHS)

MIKE: Yeah, that’s amazing. Were the other guys, I mean, because you had no training in this were the other chefs like, going, is it kind of, were they, was there jealousy? Were people thinking, like, or do you feel like you’ve just proved yourself so everyone knew you were gonna be next in line?

TIM: No I mean, culinary school is culinary school. It’s like, you know, you, I’ve hired, I’ve hired a lot of people and, you know, if you came out of culinary school you basically you’re, you’re coming at it from ground zero. You have a foundation? Sure. But have you ever really worked the line? Have you ever really worked in a restaurant? Have you ever followed direction from chefs? It’s like, you know, to not…and Thomas Keller never went to culinary school…

MIKE: Yeah.

TIM: …you know what I mean? It’s like, it’s not that big of a deal not to have that formal training.

MIKE: Yeah it’s interesting because so I, one of the businesses I own is a treatment center…

TIM: Uh huh.

MIKE: …and um, I have uh, uh a bunch of psychologists and psychiatrists and doctors who work for me but I’m not a licensed professional or a doctor or psychiatrist so I mean I guess in a sense when I look at it it’s like a lot of these people get into the helping profession but they haven’t had the credibility—they haven’t had the street, they haven’t done the work, they haven’t…

TIM: Yeah.

MIKE: …you know, worked at the program where you did room checks every hour from midnight to 8am and have someone who’s threatening to stab you, you know? Like, and, and I guess that’s, I can relate to that because I think in a similar sense I think of the traditional route in terms of my career, you know?

TIM: Mm hmm.

MIKE: Um…so you, now you own a few restaurants in Los Angeles and you’ve had to open and close and, like, and I’m in Los Angeles, too, so we should be together but this coronavirus has kept us apart but like—what is going on in the restaurant business in LA with, with all this…it just seems very unclear what restaurants can do and…how’s the impact been for you?

TIM: I mean, it’s been devastating, you know? It’s like we’re basically, you know, go from being busy every single night, um, being one of the most popular restaurants in Los Angeles and then ultimately having to shut our doors, um, and, you know, everybody around us is shutting their doors as well. Um, that whole process has been, you know, really challenging because you’re thinking that, you know, you’re thinking about your business. You’re thinking about maintaining, and how you your re-open, how you come back, how you pivot from all this but you also have all the staff that work for you. We have 120 employees at Otium…

MIKE: Wow…

TIM: …that um, and that’s just at Otium and it’s just, it’s a lot of people and a lot of people that are relying on us and then, you know, given, given the certain parameters, we’re not gonna be able to open and have everybody come back to work. I mean, that’s, you know, that’s just, it’s not realistic. We, we don’t, we’re not gonna have the same business. We’re not gonna have, people are sitting six feet apart. Right now, you know, I believe it’s only outdoor dining so, you know, all of these things that are, that sort of crunch us, you know, I think are gonna ultimately explain, you know, or, or play out in a way that we’re gonna figure out exactly how, how we have to do it and I think, when you think of all the different restaurants that are, that are out there, everybody’s in a different situation. Everybody has partners or doesn’t have partners, different kind of partners, you know, that are, that are either in it or (STAMMERS) are less in it. People around them that, you know, can, can help support from, you know, maybe, you know like my partners are, are very intelligent and they’re able to, they’re able to help me in the things that I’m, you know, not as good at, you know? They help balance me and, um and challenge me and those sort of ways and I think that’s gonna be crucial but not, you know, not everybody has that person for them. And I think, you know, I think just looking at all the different restaurants, all the different scenarios, how much people are having to pay for rent, are they gonna be forgiven for that rent? Now there’s loans out there, PPP loans, um, you know, will that be forgiven? The, the minimum wage, or the unemployment runs out at the end of the month, um, which is pretty frightening—we gotta see what’s gonna go on with, you know, are they gonna rescind that? It’s a lot of, a lot of problems.

MIKE: Yeah, it’s, its’ been interesting. I’m in West Hollywood and the amount, every day it seems I see a new “For Lease” sign…

TIM: Mm hmm.

MIKE: …and then…

TIM: Mm hmm.

MIKE: …and then you look at businesses that are allowed to be opened. Like I could, and, I could if I wanted to, uh, go get my teeth cleaned…

TIM: Mm hmm.

MIKE: …uh, I probably go the dentist and get ’em whitened. Uh, I could uh, get my eyebrows done or a hair, like, haircuts are off right now but I know a lot of, some friends of mine, they go and get uh, Botox and fillers because…

TIM: Yep.

MIKE: …the medical spa is considered an essential business. Um, and it’s just, you know even there’s a smoothie shop right by my house. It has not closed down this entire time for one day.

TIM: Really?

MIKE: And the, the reasoning—yeah—and they literally are making smoothies and they have a fridge case with food and then they, sell the protein powder and then like, oils of oregano or something, right? Like, super, super basic, like, organic digestive vitamins and they literally, uh, have stayed open this entire time. Uh, and, and it just, it baffles me, so your, your restaurant did not have an outdoor area?

TIM: We do, but like, the, the amount of money that it takes to start up a restaurant and then stop and then start up again, you know, it adds up really fast. Um, especially for the size a restaurant that we have—we have, you know, 230 seats. So it’s a, it’s a big operation to be able, to, to start and stop and, and requires a lot of capital to do so.

MIKE: Mm hmm.

TIM: I think that for us, um, the last week the numbers are, you know, creeping up and up and up and, you know, for me I’m like, “Well, there’s no way I wanna open right now and then be shut down.” So, you know, we don’t have a lot of chances at this otherwise we have to go raise capital. So, you know, it’s, it’s figuring out, the correct move, um, based on the liabilities that you have, you know? Like, are you able to get your rent forgiven? Are you, um, able to get it reduced? What, what are the other costs that are, that are gonna be reoccurring without you generating any revenue?

MIKE: I was gonna say—well what about, like, your fried…like C.J.’s? Like that’s the same problem?

TIM: Yeah. Well, that one, that one is more, that one’s more of a licensing deal so it’s, we’re looking, we’re currently looking for a location, um, you know, probably will hopefully end up with a good deal with all, with all the stuff that’s happening but, you know, I think that for that specific model it’s geared toward servicing, you know, LAFC and the Banc of California Stadium. So because of that and because of most sports and all that, you know, it’s like there’s, you know, there’s no point in, in keeping that going. Um, it’s not like a store, you know, it’s not like a storefront. It’s in a food hall adjacent, you know, really, touching the stadium. So, you know, for people to go around there and kind of pick up their food or whatever, it’s, it’s not ideal. Um, and plus it’s a, it’s a licensing deal so they’re, you know, it’s, it’s more of somebody else operating it and, and uh, myself really kind of managing it.

MIKE: What have you seen restaurants doing to get creative during this period of time?

TIM; I mean, I think a lot of people are doing the to-go, you know, you see, you see some of the best restaurants in LA doing to-go food for the first time. Um, they’re, they’re, you know, they’re producing experiences which is really great. You know, I had the privilege of eating, um, the French Laundry meal done by Vespertine, and that was incredible, you know? It was, it was executed really, really well and it was awesome to be able to see how they interpret—how Jordan interpreted it and um, you know, the memories that he had from being at The French Laundry and how that, how that was, how that was explained and that thought process was explained um, throughout the meal. So those little anecdotes kind of, you know, added to that experience. You actually had to reheat some stuff and do some, do some finishing touches but ultimately you had you know, you had a three Michelin star-meal in the comfort of your own home. And I think that was those are, those are really, really cool experience to be able to, to see somebody kind of pivot and do something like that, you know? I think that other people are, are um, you know, doing straight up, kind of to-go menu. That’s a lot harder to produce.

MIKE: Like, do you feel like you’re kind of stuck in sand right now?

TIM: No. I mean, I think it’s, it’s figuring out, it’s figuring out the right move. You know what I mean? It’s like you’re, you know, it’s like you’re Jiu Jitsu fighting or whatever and it’s like you’re sort of in limbo a little bit and you’re stalling and you’re figuring out where the opening is gonna be and where your move is gonna be. And I think for us, you know, right now we’re, we’re sort of, you know, we’re gonna heavily concentrate on to-go ’cause I think that…

MIKE: Mmm.

TIM: …that’s gonna be a strong business for us for a while. Um we’ll actually probably run multiple concepts out of Otium from a to-go standpoint. So, you know, I’ll test the waters with a concept like C.J. Boyd’s and see how it does for to-go and then that’ll help me determine whether or not that’s gonna be a good business to, you know, to look for a space for and invest, you know, the $500,000 it would take to open that restaurant.

MIKE: So I’m not, I’m the opposite of you in terms of cooking, right? Like I’m not a skilled, uh, chef—what, what are, for you, like your top five, um, essentials—because a lot of people also are cooking from home?

TIM: Yeah.

MIKE: So what are like your top five, uh, things I should get? Is it like, literally I don’t know, like…

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: …I make popcorn and rice cakes with peanut butter, right? 

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: And I have two kitchens, I have two kitchens in my, in my house. Uh, a beautiful kitchen that I was gonna use it so much because I was gonna be so inspired to cook with this type of kitchen but I haven’t…

TIM: How’s that working out for you? (LAUGHS)

MIKE: No…

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: What are the essentials? What are Tim’s essentials?

TIM: I, you know, I think, obviously you have to have a pantry of ingredients, right? So you have to have uh, we like to grill a lot of the stuff that we eat here so we have an herb garden which, you know, has pretty much every herb that you can think of that are, that are  sort of standards. It’s gonna be like thyme, oreganos, um, different chives, parsleys, um, dill—all different  sort of things that you can take and sort of brighten something up with, which is really nice. Um, you know, if I’m making a roast chicken and I wanna add herbs to that, I go out and pick the thyme. If I wanna chop parsley at the end, I go out, I pick it and chop it. So those, those sort of herbs I think are standard.

MIKE: I, no—I need like, Dummies’ Guide. You have a garden of herbs, okay? 

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: I’m talking about, like, you know, uh, what would I get for me? I’m not gonna, like, like I can…I have a lemon tree, okay? 

TIM: Yeah.

MIKE: Like a lemon tree but like if I wanna pick up and, spices—is there a certain spice where you’re like, “You can’t really go wrong with spice,” besides salt and pepper, or like, even, like, I gotta be honest, this is off, off topic but the hardest thing for me when I go to a grocery store is like I’ll think that I’m gonna do something and then I literally, I’m like, “Okay, let me get olive oil” and there’s a hundred olive oils and I literally have no idea—no idea—and then the balsamic and I’m like, “Oh, I’m gonna make tomatoes and onions. I’m gonna add some oil and vinegar” I get completely disheartened because I just don’t understand, how do you know when you’re buying something, that it’s great?

TIM: I mean you’re, you don’t know without trying it, number one. Or without having tried it before, right? So you know, you go to a store, you see 20 olive oils, you know, you’re gonna, you’re gonna look in the range and there’s gonna be one that’s $30 and the one that’s $6, you know? You probably would assume the one that’s $30 is better and the one that’s $6 is not as good. But that $6 olive oil is gonna be something that, if you’re gonna cook, you’re probably gonna cook with that one and if you’re gonna be making a salad dressing you’re gonna be using the $30 one.

MIKE: Ah…

TIM: So it’s kind of, it’s not like one’s better than the other one. They just had different purposes. So if I’m frying an egg, you know, I don’t want the egg, personally me, I don’t want the egg to taste like olive oil. So what am gonna use? I’m either gonna use like a light olive oil, you know where it’s kind of just gonna be scented, or I’m gonna use a neutral oil like a grapeseed oil or something like that. Um, but I think, you know, this might, this might again, be a little bit too much, maybe but I would say using things, buying things that have, that, that give a depth and flavor. So, for instance, if I took miso and I added that to…whatever, you know? A soup base, a marinade, um, a vinaigrette—anything, anything like that, that miso is, is gonna give…gonna give a flavor depth that your vinaigrette didn’t have before. Or your soup didn’t have before. Uh, fermented soy bean paste, seaweed—things like that that are gonna give this sort of umami flavor, you know, if I’m making, if I’m making a soup or, or a stock or something like that I’m gonna throw seaweed in there     . Um yesterday, you know, I’m gonna trim the tri-tip, I took all that, you know, of the meat and the fat and everything off of that and I also trimmed some beef ribs which I have on the smoker now and, you know, I put that in a pot with water. Put a little bit of uh, of seaweed in there and, you know, just let that simmer. Now I have a base that the noodles that are in my fridge, or in my cabinet, I can, you know, make, turn that into a soup. So, you know, utilizing, putting the miso in there as a base, putting the seaweed in there as a base. Yeah you’re not gonna taste, you know, I don’t wanna, I’m not trying to make a miso soup, but a little bit goes a long way and gives you that depth and flavor where it’s like, it goes from tasting like water and meat to like, having a little bit of, you know, nuances where you’re like, “Oh, what is this?”

MIKE: I don’t trust reviews online, at least of restaurants.

TIM: Yeah.

MIKE: Like, like I find that like Yelp and you know, they may give a one-star and then all I care about, for example, is—does it taste amazing, right?

TIM: Mm hmm.

MIKE: And I’ll look at these reviews and it’ll show like a rating, but then I’ll look at the one-stars and it’s like, “The waitress was very rude to me” and I’m like, “You’re literally gonna rate the blood, sweat and tears of someone creating a business and takes so much work, so much art, so much creativity, so much risk and because one person in the restaurant wasn’t friendly, you’re gonna completely devalue the art that someone has crafted?” It drives me crazy.

TIM: Well I love you for this, just so you know. (LAUGHS)

MIKE: Oh okay (LAUGHS). You gave, but like do you—what do you make of that? Like, I think it’s crazy.

TIM: So what we do in the restaurant is we sort of try to, Yelp used to be this, kind of this, this evil, right? Where people would go and look. You know, you’re in a new city, you travel, you’re in a new city, what restaurant’s gonna be good, you know? First thing that’s gonna pop up is Yelp and, you know, this thing has like, 1500 reviews, you’re gonna be like, “Oh hey—there’s a lot of people that go here.” There’s like 45 people reviewing it, maybe not a lot of people, right? You’re gonna see like, sort of, you know, how these, how the reviews play out. You’re gonna read a couple reviews you’re gonna understand that yeah, somebody just didn’t like somebody. Somebody had a bad experience that day, you know? Somebody’s, you know, “Six people are talking about the chicken and how good it is—maybe I’m gonna order the chicken” all those sort of things but I think for us restaurants, we,  we have a love/hate relationship with somebody like Yelp, you know, where if you don’t have, if you don’t have four and a half stars in LA, forget about it, you know? You need, you have to keep that rating really, really high and um, so the way that we can combat it is we started, you know, using our own reservation systems to, to leave people the opportunity, ’cause ultimately people just wanna be heard, you know? You go to the restaurant, you had a bad experience from the waiter or the waitress, you know, (STAMMERS) you wanna express that feeling. So if, if Yelp is the only outlet that you have? Then you’re going to use Yelp. But if…

MIKE: I don’t know, I’m like, “Listen…

TIM: …but if I send an email that says, “Hey…” you know, “I hope you like your experience please tell us how it was” and you take the time to fill out that survey, you feel like you’re being heard.

MIKE: Yeah. I don’t know. I’m like, “If you had  a bad experience with the waitress call a friend.”

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: I mean, if you don’t have a friend to call, that’s your problem. Don’t use Yelp as an outlet to express your frustration, ’cause it’s so misleading and you can buy reviews so it’s not…

TIM: Yeah.

MIKE: …even that accurate anyway. It’s like, I can go have everyone at my company go review a restaurant and suddenly, like, the same thing applies in the book world where there’s this site that go to called Good Reads…

TIM: Uh huh.

MIKE: …and um, Good Reads basically, you don’t have to read the book, even, and you can leave reviews and give whole summaries. So if someone just doesn’t like you, they’re gonna give a ton of reviews and I just think the whole thing is so silly and it can really affect and hurt a business, uh, because if you get one of these crazy, sorry to use that, that’s not a mental wellness term, but if you get one of those people who’s, make it their mission to, like you’re like, “Look, they had a bad meal, they maybe gave you a refund—chill out, dude.”

TIM: Yeah, our goal. I mean we, we cook to make people happy. We wanna, you know, you don’t open up a restaurant like Otium, you know, because you don’t like people.  You know what I mean? It’s like you, we want people to come into the restaurant. I want people to have the best time. I wanna make people happy. I want people to, to eat something for the first time and, and like, “Wow—this is so good” and open up their minds and maybe they’re gonna go to another restaurant and try something else and, and, you know, broaden their horizons when it comes to food and I think to me that’s, that’s a really successful business. Um, and I think that, you know, when people are going out there and they’re taking stabs at restaurants and, you know, you’re right they’re basically picking apart somebody’s blood, sweat and tears and, you know, maybe the restaurant just isn’t for you. This has been on a lot of restaurants, very famous restaurants that I’ve gone to that are like, “This is, probably isn’t for me” you know? Do I think that it’s a bad restaurant? No, not at all. It’s just not necessarily my style, you know? It wasn’t a bad meal.

MIKE: So tell me about cooking at home with the Traegar grills.

TIM: Traegar grills, yeah, they’re um, they’re awesome company. I grew up, you know, with my dad cooking on Traegar and, um, we’re, you know, again from Texas and, you know, a lot of, a lot of barbecue and, and smoking meats is what we did, uh, growing up, especially on the weekends, so you know, I think, um, getting in with Traegar’s they’re, they’re just, like so versatile, you know? They’re, they’re versatile. They’re easy to use. I mean, this morning I was up at six, started the Traegar, I had beef ribs that I marinated overnight, put ’em in there, I cracked the, I’ve opened it once since then, you know, I got a thermometer in there, probably needed about three more hours and then I’m gonna wrap ’em and then keep them going and, you know, I’ve just gotta make sure that pellet, you know, grill is, is uh, it has pellets, it has the fuel it needs. It’s plugging in and then, you know, I have my phone. I can, I can adjust the temperature right here, right now if I wanted to.

MIKE: How big is the, is the grill, like, it, so this is like to grill meat and fish and veggies and…

TIM: Yeah. So they have different, different ones in different sizes. So the one, you know, the one at the tri-tip was made on yesterday, um, was on a Traegar 1300 and I actually used my ranger as well just ’cause I was a little short on time so the ranger is more of a tailgate thing so I had two of them going. I have one that’s, you know, this big and then one that probably can fit six, six chicken, three racks of rib and some veggies. So…

MIKE: Mmm.

TIM: …a decent size one. Um, the one, you know, the one I have just on smoke, kind of low and slow, the other one I have hot and put some smoke on that, that tri-tip and then, and then mark it on, on the big guy.

MIKE: Are, are these the type of grills where you have, like, wood chips and stuff?

TIM: Wood pellets.

MIKE: Wood pellets.

TIM: Yeah. So it’s got a wood pellet, you plug it in and the, you plug it in so you can, you know, you can manage your digital, um, settings, um, you can also do that on your phone. Once you sort of ignite it, so that, the ignition process is gonna feed and ardor to, to feed the pellets into this little sort of, um, little hole and that thing, you know, it ignites (SFX) throwing a little flame, basically lighting those pellets and then those pellets are gonna be what, what fuels your fire. If you smoke, you know, if you’re smoking at 165 degrees, the pellets that you have in there, you use a lot less. You have probably like 20 hours’ worth or smoking if you fill up your, your complete box. And then if you, if you uh, if you have it at like 500 degrees then you’re gonna burn through the pellets a lot faster. You probably have like six hours.

MIKE: Yeah. I always have this fantasy, like I have a house, you know, with the pool and everything and I always picture that I would have like, friends over and I would be at the grill and, I, you know, honestly it wasn’t me at the grill, like a friend who knew how to cook or something, but…

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: …everyone’s been encouraging me to get a grill so I’m definitely gonna check out the Traegar grills ’cause those sound like they’re pretty easy to use and you know the, the steak last night was just incredible that you cooked and that was right up my alley and perfect. I shared two slices with Tony who went and picked it up, um, because he was salivating and complaining to me, coincidentally on the way over that his favorite restaurant had a, he couldn’t get in there ’cause there was a line at this restaurant so he was really hungry so I was like, “All right, it’s fine—I get it.”

TIM: (LAUGHS)

MIKE: “Do you want some of this tri tip?” But uh, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast. Um, you know, everyone can check you out on your, your Instagram is @ChefTimHollingsworth, right?

TIM: That’s correct.

MIKE: And if anyone wants to connect with you, is that the best way or…Facebook or website?

TIM: No, Instagram is by far the best…

MIKE: Instagram is by far the best. So everyone—follow Tim Hollingsworth and um, really appreciate you coming on Always Evolving. Once your restaurant does reopen, you will be contacted by me as, when I come in with some friends and enjoy the food there, so…

TIM: For sure—we can’t wait to have you in.

MIKE: Well thanks, buddy.

TIM: Thanks for having me.

MIKE: And everyone, um, reminder Tuesday I have my free empowerment group—5pm Pacific time every week I have a different amazing speaker, sometimes I run it. Also we have our private Facebook group for Coach Mike Bayer, hopefully you guys join. Stay safe, stay hungry or full…or fulfilled if you can get the type of food that Tim cooks and we’ll talk really soon. Thanks, everyone. Stay safe. — Subscribe, download and we’ll be having more podcasts out every week with incredible people. So I’ll talk to you guys soon.

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