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Truth In This Art (Sound)
Only a couple months no longer. Don't you? I think I recognize your.
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Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth. In this hour, your source of conversations connecting arts, culture and community. These are stories that matter. And I am your host, Rob Lee. Today I have a special episode with my commitment toward culinary arts. I have the pleasure of speaking today with a chef whose work reflects global influences and a deep commitment to seasonal, locally sourced ingredients.
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Rob Lee
As the chef and owner behind two Baltimore staples on the Hill, which has been serving the community for over two decades, and cookhouse, which is now in its fifth year, my guest is known for crafting memorable meals that blend classic technique and bold, contemporary flavors. So it is my pleasure today to welcome George Daly. Welcome to the podcast.
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George Dailey
Thank you.
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Rob Lee
George. George Daly. So, as we, open things up, this conversation, I want to start with sort of the simple customary thing. Could you introduce yourself to the listeners, sort of your background, a little bit of your story, and then I'll start peppering you with questions. All right. I said, pepper because that's an ingredient in kitchens, right.
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George Dailey
Okay. Got it. Well, my name is George Daly, and, I'm the owner of On the Hill and Cook House. On the hill we had for the last 20 years. Cook house. We open February 2020, which we have to close a month later. Yeah. It was it's, you know, it's been a crazy five years or so, but, my background, well, I come from Boston, actually, I come from Venezuela.
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George Dailey
I moved to Boston in 2000, I'm sorry, 1995. And, I started working kitchens there, worked my way up, met my wife there, had a son there. And then we moved here to Baltimore. 2004 opened on the Hill in 2005. And being in this neighborhood ever since. And basically sums it up.
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Rob Lee
And so being here in Baltimore in, in this Bolton Hill like neighborhood, I would imagine there's creativity always around here being so close to mica and yeah, so, so share a bit about the beginning. You mentioned Boston a bit. Talk a bit about some of your early times in the kitchen, some of those early interests, like maybe when was the first time you were in the kitchen, like making something, cooking something, or even being there with, a relative, a family member, and, hey, can you help me with this?
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Rob Lee
Can you cut those vegetables? Can you help me with this dish? Talk a bit about one of those early experiences in the kitchen for you.
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George Dailey
Well, my mom was an amazing cook. All my family, you know, my dad to, You know, my dad's in the business to, I've been around kitchens since I was little. I mean, I'm actually used to steal food from my mom's prep table, and, you know, I used to watch her doing stuff, and, I don't know, it was just always.
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George Dailey
It was. I guess it's in my DNA. I just, had, is love from watching my mom cooking and doing stuff, and I was just, you know, inspired by that. I thought, it was something I really wanted to do. My mom helped me, you know, a little bit and taught me a bunch of, you know, basic stuff.
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George Dailey
And then, I made the decision when I was, because I wasn't doing much in Venezuela was, you know, I had no, I was doing nothing in Venezuela, but it's just like, you know, I moved to to Boston thinking, okay, like, maybe I just kind of pursue my, interest in food. And that's how I started.
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George Dailey
But, yeah, I mean, I'm always with, since I was a little boy, I was in, you know, the kitchens and actually cook for my friends all the time when growing up, I was the, like, the head. I was the local chef over there. You know, gatherings and stuff. And I'm just, you know, love cooking for people.
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Rob Lee
What was one of the things you remember growing up that you remember your mom making that you really like that perhaps you like. I'm gonna cook this from our friends. Since you're you're you're the guy. You're the chef.
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George Dailey
Yeah, I know I have. You know, I have this funny story. Every time I would come home and I passed the kitchen, which was the first room in the house, and I look and I see this pot when I know when I. Every time I saw that pot, I know there was something really good in there.
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George Dailey
It's this particular pot. It was just like a, aluminum pot with a blue lid, I remember, and I'm like, oh, my God, what is in here? And, it was just something, always something special. There. My mom's, you know what? What dish she would make that it was just so special. It's just, you know, basically stews, stuff like that, like, very, Spanish.
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George Dailey
Lots of Spanish food. My grandmother lived with us, too, and she also helped in the kitchen, and she, you know, they were both cooking, and it was just something really special to look at. It was a tiny kitchen, not something, you know. And this was an apartment building in Venezuela. But, yeah, I mean, going back to your question, you know, there were so many dishes and I can't really recall, like, probably.
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George Dailey
Yeah, it was something, you know, I don't know. I don't know if, you know, probably. Yeah. Is, is, it's, meats to that is, you know, originally from Spain, but they, they carried all, Latin America. Meatballs. Meat love. I think that fit all, like, in more like a Spanish style.
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Rob Lee
It's very carnivore forward. I'm hearing.
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George Dailey
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, no we didn't. Yeah. You know, my mom, you know, vegetables were, you know, salads. We do salads. But, see, the Peruvians in Venezuela was, you know, that, that greatly available. Some proteins were okay, but, you know, side vegetables and stuff like that. Yeah, we we basically ate it all.
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Rob Lee
So you mentioned in Boston as well.
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George Dailey
Yeah.
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Rob Lee
So talk a bit about some of the training in some of the kitchens you were in before you got here in Baltimore, like some of the influences that played a role in your development as a chef because, you were touching on like earlier being in Venezuela, like just sort of verbally. Sure. Maybe of, like where you were going to go, but you knew you were interested in food.
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George Dailey
Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I, I had no idea what to, you know, when I went to. But my, my cousin was living in Boston, at that time and I said, you know, I'm just going to sell all my stuff and I'm just going to go and try all of them. Chase the American dream, you know, which I did.
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George Dailey
I mean, I started the, my first job in Boston was in a, an, an a deli. It was, called in the deli. I mean, it's it's it was like, but by then was like 70 years old. Well, yeah, it was an institution. I started there and deli counters, you know, with my broken English trying to help people.
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George Dailey
That that place actually taught me a lot. I actually learn a lot about, doing all the, Jewish, meats and fish and, you know, I mean, the place was so quirky, it had, like, all these people that were working there for decades. And there, you know, there were sitting there ways of doing things, taught me a lot.
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George Dailey
Then after that, I, I went, work, for a catering company called East Meets West. That also taught me a lot, you know, because prepping, prepping, prepping, getting rid of, you know, getting cooking for 100, 200, 300 people, I would, very helpful. Then when I was working in catering, I also was working in restaurants at the same time, I worked in the north end of, Boston, and I worked in Poland and,
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George Dailey
God, I forgot the name. It's been a while. Neo-Marxist think. No, not Martha's Vineyard. Sorry. It's, I don't know. I can't remember right now, but, Yeah, I mean, I, you know. I work in different parts of, you know, this hospitality industry, you know, restaurants, catering, personal chef. I did the whole thing. Yeah. I went back to England to work.
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George Dailey
My dad there for for a couple of months. Came back.
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Rob Lee
So we have Venezuela, we have Boston, we have Baltimore, we have England. And any other place that I'm not. I'm not an.
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George Dailey
No. I mean, we, you know.
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Rob Lee
Between because there's and I mentioned all of those because there's different food identities with within it and within those different places like I watch a fair amount of like cooking shows and I'm always curious. I'm like, what is the food of some of these places? That's sort of my entry point on when I visit. This place was their dish.
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Rob Lee
What would I want to try? So and is spending time and working in many of these places, are there different things that you've taken? You know, as far as your approach to food? You're like, I want to use that technique, or I want to use maybe that approach to hospitality and maybe apply it to, you know, because I said I was coming from on the Hill and we're here recording in cook House, that you've applied to any of the projects, restaurants you've been involved in?
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George Dailey
Yeah. I mean, you know, this and I tell you, I, you know, back then when I was in Boston, we didn't have I mean, we didn't have internet, obviously, but not like we do all that. So, like, if I had, you know, if I had this phone.
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Rob Lee
With.
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George Dailey
Me at that time, my God, things would have been much way different, you know? But, yeah, inspirations from, you know, like I said, working in deli. And I learned how to do, like, smoked salmon and, you know, for, for a long time here during the pandemic, I was smoking my own salmon out in the back and selling in little packages.
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George Dailey
So four ounces and with branding and everything and things like that. You know, you just have to be, you know, use what you, you have experience before, and apply it to like the, the cafe, you know, all these sandwiches so that we been doing for years. I mean, we had when we started, we had a complete different menu.
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George Dailey
And now, you know, we found the one that we, you know, know that works. Just like a variety of different things. Like me, you know, there's vegan, there's vegetarian sandwiches as many times as there's, you know, but they're all, you know, inspired for purpose of what I like to eat. And, over the years and trial and error, like what people like, what they don't like, what sells for their own style.
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Rob Lee
But what goes, what goes into that and that that process of devising and developing a menu you touched on a bit there on sort of refining and sort of tweaking as you go along. But, you know, I can say the last time that me and my partner, we're here, we're both in our Orioles garb. You might have you may have noticed that, but no, you got hundreds of people to come in here.
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Rob Lee
Right? And we're sitting there and, she has this, it's like the martini, and it was like a Caesar salad style. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, it's getting inventive here. What are we doing? And the menus changing, you know, here, like somewhat regularly. Right. And so what is the process that goes and do the development and refinement of menus, especially as they're changing or some they're more standard, like with on the Hill, I go there, I get the same thing every time.
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George Dailey
And I enjoy it every time. That's me in a nutshell. I always get the same thing, not out on the hill, but like anywhere I go to, you know, I always I repetition, but which is funny because I really like everything the same for me, for consuming me. Like if I like my coffee the same way I like my drink the same way I never deviate.
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George Dailey
But here, for some reason, I just decided to just like change it every week because, say, can't stand doing the same thing every week. It's very, I don't know, it's strange, but what was your question? What did you ask me?
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Rob Lee
What is the process of going through that change every week? Is it sort of like Thursday? All right. We have these ingredients. What are we going to try to make you want to.
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George Dailey
We we I normally prep like, for the week and that's Tuesdays. I'm here in the kitchen with my staff and we prep for the week and we choose like some, you know, we use a lot of sushi. You know, I don't know if we need to explain about sushi is, but, ceviche is, you know, cooking, a very, you know, control temperature.
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George Dailey
We do a lot of proteins that way. We bag them, we, cook them for many hours, and then we blast, chill them, meaning we cool them down really fast. And that's basically pasture icing. Sure. So I can have of a piece of chicken that I cooked. And you know, chilled. And I can have that for weeks.
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George Dailey
And as long as you don't open it is good. Yeah. So, you know, I tend to prep for a week and then if I have, you know, sometimes for two weeks, it's like, I'm going to have this dish thing, I'm going to have this dish this week and next week. So I'll prep like instead of 20 pieces, 40 or 60 pieces.
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George Dailey
And then when I am depleting from when I, you know, comes, Saturday, which is the last day for us on the week, come here on Monday and I check inventory and I go like, okay, the chicken do I continue or do I do something else. So I usually do something else. It's just I can go back and do the same unless if it's very popular.
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George Dailey
Yeah. You know, sometimes they stay on the menu for a while, like we, you know, we can having the, tartare for months. We tweak it away and we change it a little bit, but it's still the same. We had here our little wings, our chicken wings are phenomenal. And they're just just the wing it part, and we snip the ends, and it's just like it comes out like a lollipop.
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George Dailey
It's so good. I never could. We got rid of those people. Will not let me. So that just, you know, it's some dishes stay in the menu steak for each standard menu. But the rest like salads. We do salads. We I, I change it every three months. I do any kind of seasoning, and, the rest is whatever I want to cook.
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George Dailey
And when I mention, you know, having this the phone, there's, you know, you're on Instagram all day and like looking at stuff and, and suddenly you see something, you're like, oh, I can do, I can do that, but I can do it this way. You know, this is that's basically how I do things.
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Rob Lee
So you, you philosophy in that regard way, you know, having sort of very seasonal ingredients, like what is your philosophy, is it sort of you've touched on it's kind of like whatever you like, whatever you really are into. But also is it sort of we have really good produce here. Right? And in the state, is it sort of like this push of I need to have the ingredients saying, because I said this to Chef Neil from Corner Pantry, you know, I have this joke that I share with one of my other chef friends.
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Rob Lee
It's like, yeah, you know, got mediocre beef, put bacon and cheese on. It's going to make it taste so much better. Instead of letting the ingredients itself say.
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George Dailey
No, no. Yeah, I would definitely I, I would not do that. But yeah, I mean we stay with what's available. Yeah. We don't normally we're not doing anything with tomatoes until August, you know, when they can buy them from the farm here. And, and they're, like, incredibly good. I mean, I do tomatoes, like, I started July, really.
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George Dailey
And, but the rest of the year, I just canned tomatoes, things like that. In, you know, come spring, we always, you know, always work with sparrows and peas and, you know, Morales, we love morels here. We I buy them every week. Until now. They're just fading away. Now the the season is over. What else?
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George Dailey
Yeah, I mean, definitely in the winter, we go through more like, you know, stews and, you know, heavier, dishes. In the summer, we tend to be a little bit lighter and use this summer is for me, it's the my favorite because there's so much fruit is so much stuff. I here. Well, and, you know, you go, you know, you go while I'm creating stuff.
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Rob Lee
I like being able to create. That's why I kind of frontloaded a little bit about this area. It's something about this area. I'm from Baltimore, always lived here and, you know, didn't really know this area much. But I remember there was one time where we just happened to be rotating around and we saw like some movement over here that's like, she had dinner right here at this place called cook House.
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Rob Lee
Let's see what's what. And you touched on the phone a couple of times, the, the Instagrammable nature of things like. That's the interesting thing in the sparks. An idea. We were sitting literally outside at that table and it was a couple. It was like it was 2 to 1, two girlfriends. They they're there and they're like, would you guys get it?
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Rob Lee
I was like, of course I got steak frites. And and I think she had like two pork chops or something. And they're like, that looks really good. How is that? We just like trading notes or meeting people and connecting. And when we were last here, we were talking to other people sitting there enjoying a meal, and we're just trading notes about the food.
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Rob Lee
It's a dialog engaged. So not only is the food here instagramable very flavorful, very good. Yeah. We're debating like where this ranks, this is like maybe number one, maybe one a as far as our favorite restaurants in the city. Thank you. But having those dialogs and those conversations in real time with people is something that I've noticed specifically here at cookouts.
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George Dailey
Well, we we always, you know, this is a very small place. As you can see, you know, this is the dining room, and that's it. You know, we. We debated when we first got this place, this place had an open kitchen and had no bar. So we thought, you know, if we ever gang this, we definitely have to have a bar there.
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George Dailey
It won't work at a bar. So, we sacrifice a lot of the seating for the bar. So we always said, well, let's do this. Let's do it like they do it in New York to squeeze all the tables together. And people have no other than speaking to each other. And that's, you know, the only.
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Rob Lee
Very friendly right now. Yeah, yeah.
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George Dailey
Yeah, yeah. You know, you know, you sit next to a guy, there's only you can almost like grab his food and eat it.
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Rob Lee
I may have done that actually.
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George Dailey
So yeah. Yeah. We we encourage that. We don't have common tables, you know, like a lot of restaurants will have, like, a long table and people will sit down, but we could, you know, put them together.
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Rob Lee
And there's a, there's an exclusivity to with it. It is a vibe like, you know, when we came the most recent times like, all right, we got to make sure we're here at this time because we want to get in and make sure we, you know, and and that's a is a positive in that way. And being able to come in here sort of having that, what's the word that the novelty of that first experience of like, oh, this is great, this move, the food was really cool.
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Rob Lee
All that good stuff. And then coming here the most recent time, that's like, what's the architecture doing in here? This is amazing. Really appreciating that aspect of it. From the candles to the high ceilings to the layout, appreciation to appreciating that element. In addition to the new, you know, menu items you were trying, it was like that was a that was a crab dish.
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Rob Lee
Oh, now I was like, this about this is delicious.
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George Dailey
What was that?
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Rob Lee
As you remember, I think that was.
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George Dailey
A soft okra.
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Rob Lee
Hey, crab it it wasn't a soft shell crab. I feel like it was almost a facade type of.
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George Dailey
Oh, I know, I know, this is the, this was, I made this, like I said, so many dishes that I just don't even know.
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Rob Lee
It was dangerous. It was delicious.
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George Dailey
Okay, this is the, the, this was the croissant with, a croissant, bread pudding with crab and bacon. And then they had, a meal on top and, you know, and some, bro, smoked trout grill.
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Rob Lee
I could have three of those. Like, what are we doing? It's like, this is what they had.
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George Dailey
It was very decadent, very negative. And, you know, again, it's things that I haven't done, you know, had I had all this croissant dough and what am I going to do with it. You know.
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Rob Lee
It's on there. Yeah.
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George Dailey
Yeah, yeah. We, we, you know, we didn't make the person's, we buy the frozen sheets of croissant, and I had them here for dessert one time, and then, you know, I'm like, okay, what am I going to do with this? And, you know, I gotta get rid of this. It has to come out of the freezer. So we did out.
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George Dailey
Any come out came out great. I mean, it was just really, really good.
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Rob Lee
So since one of the things I'm looking at us like festival sequence like this is like, but you're touching on this is decadent, this is rich. And and that's I'm looking at it. I was like, I'm not going to play with myself. I'm actually going to have this. I don't know why I'm acting like I'm not. And it was just really great.
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Rob Lee
And just the appreciate the creativity there. And then, you know, whenever we go to a place that has sort of an interesting menu because there's some places that the food really hits, but then the drink was a little like lackluster or drink menu is really good. Food is okay. Paris to Paris together. It's just all A1 and just trying two different drinks which are really good.
00;24;00;08 - 00;24;18;02
Rob Lee
And again, you know, spending that time to appreciate the architecture here. You touched on sort of some of the the space, I guess, sacrifices and benefit of the bar. What were some of the other considerations as far as because it's like the ceilings are really cool in here. I like the ceilings like the height, I like the candles.
00;24;18;02 - 00;24;23;10
Rob Lee
As far as the decor and the esthetic, what were some of the other thoughts that went into the atmosphere?
00;24;23;13 - 00;24;48;24
George Dailey
Oh, we, you know, we when we first got this place, we were we thought of just changing it out a little bit and not, you know, going to a crazy, you know, remodel. But then we went the complete, you know, opposite route. We got it the place completely. Actually, the floors were buckling and the, you know, it had to it had to be done.
00;24;48;24 - 00;25;27;08
George Dailey
So, but in terms in terms of decoration, this is tough. This is all my wife. Hello. Yeah. You know, we had some we have some sort of vision of having something classic old, we call it cookhouse because, you know, I mentioned before cookouts, this was it's also, a name for a kitchen. So, we thought, you know, putting, the wallpaper kind of Victorian, you know, doing some justice to this gorgeous, gorgeous building that's been here since 1860.
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George Dailey
Something.
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Rob Lee
So it's in a way blending sort of the the bones and the esthetic of that classic to meet the specific needs. It's a very, very specific, ideas that, that are there that makes it unique. It makes it yours.
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George Dailey
Yeah, definitely.
00;25;45;05 - 00;26;07;19
Rob Lee
So I have this one question. I got like two more sort of real questions. That one, one, Anthony Bourdain once said, chefs are nice people. Anyone who cooks, anyone who writes a cookbook. In my view, I'm going to assume they're on the side of the angels. You know, cooking is a nurturing thing. I personally feel cared for when I go to some of my favorite restaurants, like.
00;26;07;19 - 00;26;25;03
Rob Lee
Like I like I do like, I had this book right in front of me. I keep a checklist of, all right, who was great. I could get this to go, you know, for certain places. Or, maybe I'll go here once a quarter. But when I go to a place where I feel welcome, I feel good, and everything works, I think that's actually how hospitality works, where we're guests.
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Rob Lee
What are your thoughts and insights on sort of hospitality at large for you?
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George Dailey
Oh, I guess you know, you just said it. We we're kind of like doctors, you know, we basically has to have that, you know, bedside manner, towards customers. They're the ones paying that, you know, like the lights on them, you know. So yeah, we try it. You know, sometimes we're so busy we can, you know, go and like, treat you like you're supposed to.
00;26;54;05 - 00;27;16;18
George Dailey
But, yeah, we try hard. I mean, my staff is pretty friendly. They love, you know, they love to interact like my, you know, bartenders. They love to interact with people here. They. My staff, they're all, you know, we're all trying to do, you know, we try to treat you as family. Yeah, yeah.
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Rob Lee
And that's the thing, you know, the places that one returns to, it's like, do you feel.
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George Dailey
Good at it because.
00;27;23;04 - 00;27;41;05
Rob Lee
You know, is there are you do you feel invited, so welcomed? I mean, we're doing this eight year space. Like I said, the conversation will be different to doing our online and doing it in a space. It's a it's a more comforting thing, like I find when I do the online sort of conversation, folks are nervous in a different way.
00;27;41;05 - 00;28;05;01
Rob Lee
It's like, all right, I'm going to say something stupid. I was like, no, I am. I'm going to say the stupid thing. But it is, it's definitely something that that notes are taken in sort of the overall export, if you will, from the esthetic to the food to the menu, to the execution, to the social media. Because there are times I see, you know, items on the social media for cookouts, I'm like, that's a good place, that's good spot.
00;28;05;01 - 00;28;27;28
Rob Lee
They get it. And they get the full scope. So when I think of, you know, I want to go back a little bit actually to, to that to that kitchen set up. Like what are some of those insights, you know, that come from the kitchen that someone here on in the sort of front of house sort of enjoying their meal and enjoying that ambiance and esthetic and all that it might not get that goes into sort of the kitchen.
00;28;27;28 - 00;28;41;05
Rob Lee
Like, I know a lot of folks watch the show, the bear, they're like, oh, those are all kitchens like that. And or what is it like in the kitchen? Like doing a maybe busy Saturday service, for instance.
00;28;41;07 - 00;28;45;19
George Dailey
What? Like what what goes behind doors?
00;28;45;21 - 00;28;46;23
Rob Lee
Pandemonium or not.
00;28;46;23 - 00;29;11;24
George Dailey
Right. No. Well, I'm, you know, which is, we have a very efficient kitchen. It's just three of us in there. I do all the plating and stuff. I have my I have two cooks with me that give me the product that, you know, you do. You know, the protein and the sides. They give it to me and I put it together.
00;29;11;26 - 00;29;20;23
George Dailey
And that's basically, you know, four hours in the night doing that. But I don't know. I don't know what else.
00;29;20;25 - 00;29;40;18
Rob Lee
It's so it's so it's, the the efficiency is the thing that I, I hear and I, and I like that, like, when there is, I think you have like a number, you have a certain amount of folks that are going to be ahead of time. You know, you have folks that are going to come back that have made or checked in that many reservations because you guys don't do reservations.
00;29;40;19 - 00;29;41;12
George Dailey
You know, I.
00;29;41;14 - 00;30;08;06
Rob Lee
Did maybe that original check and eat any space that sort of move, and maybe wait around and come back and so on that are in the area. And I know that is you touched on the efficiency of having an efficiently run kitchen. It kind of limits any of those hiccups and those miscommunications that can happen to happen to sort of other places of, hey, we may have burnt this or we need to change this, this, there's an allergy or whatever the case might be because of that efficiency.
00;30;08;09 - 00;30;15;06
Rob Lee
Is that a big piece of just what enables you guys to be so successful?
00;30;15;08 - 00;30;18;28
George Dailey
Well, I don't want to sound cocky, but,
00;30;19;01 - 00;30;20;00
Rob Lee
Please, I'll take you to.
00;30;20;00 - 00;30;43;19
George Dailey
Place works because I, you know, I'm the owner and the chef. I do basically everything around here, and, that's, you know, I do it because I love it, you know? If I would have to delegate what I do, then I don't think it will run the same way. Got it? I don't I mean, nobody's going to care as much as you, the owner.
00;30;43;21 - 00;30;52;24
George Dailey
You want to make sure everybody, you know, every dish that I play, I mean, I'm one, you know, I'm I'm looking at it as just perfect. You know, I.
00;30;52;26 - 00;30;55;25
Rob Lee
Like that you're looking down as you're saying, as if you're looking at a plate.
00;30;55;25 - 00;31;12;26
George Dailey
Yeah. Like if somebody is watching, nobody's watching me doing what I'm doing right now. But yeah, I mean, I look at every plate and I look at I'm looking to make sure everything is great. And when I'm if I'm not here and I don't believe that that will be, you know, that's good.
00;31;12;28 - 00;31;33;19
Rob Lee
That makes sense. You know, I know and we talk about sort of efficiencies and ways to do more with less. And I look at it from this standpoint when I go through and I'm prepping and coming up with questions, if I'm not actually writing the questions, I'm like, hey, ChatGPT using technology, hey, help me with some questions for this guest.
00;31;33;21 - 00;31;52;13
Rob Lee
And it's like there is misinformation. Literally I need to now edit what the robot wrote right. Versus me writing the questions and let the robot sort of maybe improve the functionality of it. Right. But I need to touch it each time, right. I think you can't just off load. And that's what I'm hearing from you to say, hey, you got this, that you could do it.
00;31;52;20 - 00;31;55;18
Rob Lee
But at the same time, you need to be involved. You need to see it.
00;31;55;24 - 00;32;20;12
George Dailey
I have to be here. I have to be, you know, and and this is what I again, this is why it works. I mean, I'm a chef operated restaurant that, you know, I'm overseeing the whole thing. And, the day that I start doing that, I try to, you know, delegate more. I, you know, I don't know if it will be the same restaurant.
00;32;20;14 - 00;32;32;20
Truth In This Art (Sound)
Right? No no no no no no no no no no.
00;32;32;23 - 00;32;53;03
Rob Lee
So I want to I want to move into sort of my last got last couple of questions. But these are what I call my rapid fire questions. These are the fun quick questions didn't require much thinking. So you can take off the thinking cap right now. I never had one on either. So here's the first one. And these are sort of whatever the quickest answer that comes to mind.
00;32;53;05 - 00;33;00;04
Rob Lee
Running restaurants is hard night, you know? So I hear about the the margins. It's like you say, you're always in, that you hear a Sunday.
00;33;00;04 - 00;33;02;00
George Dailey
Sorry. That's okay.
00;33;02;02 - 00;33;12;17
Rob Lee
How do you truly start your, your day when you're not in the kitchen? Let's say it's a Monday. Let's say it's a day that you're not doing service. How do you start your day? Generally?
00;33;12;20 - 00;33;28;29
George Dailey
Well, coffee for sure. You know, and I start I go to my computer and I start going, okay, what am I going to do for next week? That's my life. That's amazing. And I will wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, did I turn off the oven?
00;33;29;01 - 00;33;30;03
Rob Lee
That's actually.
00;33;30;06 - 00;33;50;12
George Dailey
Crazy stuff, you know? Or I wake up in the middle of night. I'm like, oh, maybe I should be doing soft shell crafts this week. Yeah, this is just all I do is think about food all day long. And then when I'm not thinking about food, I'm making food at home for my family. And, you know, it's just like, that's all I do.
00;33;50;14 - 00;34;01;12
George Dailey
But to. How do I start my day? I start coffee in hand computer and I start researching. What am I going to do for the week? So it's a Monday.
00;34;01;18 - 00;34;07;09
Rob Lee
So it's almost like being a normal office guy is like, yeah, I got my coffee, my laptop, what am I doing for the weekend? Right.
00;34;07;10 - 00;34;16;20
George Dailey
Well, I still have to do a lot of office stuff all day long. You know, I, you know, I do payroll, pay the bills. I mean, everything is. Yeah.
00;34;16;26 - 00;34;25;17
Rob Lee
How do you do it? Yeah, I mean, I when I wake up in the middle and I usually have a notepad like this, I have, like, I want to put the chef does here or what this artist does. I mean.
00;34;25;17 - 00;34;38;07
George Dailey
To do that, I do. You know how many times I thought of, like, I need to have a book in ideas pop in the middle of the night? Like, you know, I don't sleep very well, obviously. And, I just, like, I should just sleep because then I.
00;34;38;07 - 00;34;53;16
Rob Lee
Forget that that's one of the things that when you when I find, like, you write it down because something is about the phone, when you put it in the phone, you have this inclination to edit and you don't keep the full idea, but you put something in, you're like, you wrote it. You're like, why did I have rolling that dish initially?
00;34;53;16 - 00;35;15;14
Rob Lee
Why did I take it out? Maybe it still does work with this ingredient. And I etched it out where I raised it. You know, that idea has gone forever, so nope. That's a good. You touched on, you know, cooking at home as well. So, you know, if your life story, what had a signature dish, what would that be?
00;35;15;16 - 00;35;26;02
George Dailey
Boy, that's a question I had been asked before, and I can never answer, you know, so it's really don't have one dish that I could, you know, be.
00;35;26;02 - 00;35;28;00
Rob Lee
Tasting menu of a like.
00;35;28;02 - 00;35;36;16
George Dailey
And it's, it depends on the time of the year. I don't know. Man.
00;35;36;18 - 00;35;43;29
Rob Lee
It's mean mine's. It's like usually fried foods, right? It's like if I got, like, a side of French fries, that's just. That's my, like, French fries.
00;35;44;01 - 00;36;06;10
George Dailey
I to to me, my favorite meal is breakfast. Okay. After that, I'll eat. You know, I nibble. I don't eat, really eat during the day, but to me, a hearty breakfast is just, you know, and I try to do a lot of breakfast items here for, for dinner, you know, poached eggs, this and that. I love eggs.
00;36;06;10 - 00;36;12;15
George Dailey
Eggs? It's one of my favorite things. And any way of form, I love them all.
00;36;12;17 - 00;36;16;28
Rob Lee
So, so so this is egg forward. Part of this is the signature.
00;36;17;01 - 00;36;34;21
George Dailey
You use a lot of eggs here, which me right now we were having. A toast with brandy, which is, with salt cut salt cod. Yeah. And on top a fried egg. And she's so, so perfect, so delicious, so simple. You know.
00;36;34;24 - 00;36;49;15
Rob Lee
Does the just as an aside, does the, Jose Andres egg dish do that work? Is that a real thing where it's just whips the eggs, microwaves add a little, Kewpie mayonnaise on top? He. It's apparently is a gone viral. Really talked about it on.
00;36;49;17 - 00;36;51;04
George Dailey
Actually. No, I haven't seen it.
00;36;51;06 - 00;36;58;26
Rob Lee
Yeah. You talked about it in your room. He's like, this is the perfect arm. Ladies like you just whip some eggs, a little olive oil in a glass ramekin, put it in the microwave.
00;36;58;28 - 00;37;21;17
George Dailey
Well, microwaves are great tool. And it's, you know, you can do with, with a powerful microwave with, like a, you know, the ones we have here, you know, over 1000W or whatever. You know, many things are dehydrating in the night. You know, obviously you're not going to cook at stake in the microwave, but, there's a lot of stuff really cool, like trendy stuff you can do with the microwave.
00;37;21;19 - 00;37;26;23
Rob Lee
So I feel like there's gonna be a part to this conversation if I truly tell me about the gospel of the microwave.
00;37;26;23 - 00;37;28;09
George Dailey
Yeah, know.
00;37;28;12 - 00;37;51;06
Rob Lee
So this is the the the last, last question I got for you for today. Okay. Beyond the plate, what is one passion or pursuit that really inspires you creatively? Like beyond the kitchen? You know what is something like creatively that really catches your attention? Are you a visual art guy? Design? Is that a thing for you? What is another creative interest you might have?
00;37;51;08 - 00;38;20;23
George Dailey
I know I always, like, I always say, you know, like cooking for me is my superpower. It's just basically what I, what I do and, I other than cooking and I don't know, fishing, I love, I love to fish. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But I never get the chance. We used to have a cabin in in West Virginia before I had this place, and we used to go every week and take the dogs for fishing.
00;38;20;23 - 00;38;32;20
George Dailey
It's one of my favorite things. And of course, then I decided to have a restaurant. No more cabin, you know, man. Yeah, we sold it. We couldn't go.
00;38;32;22 - 00;38;51;05
Rob Lee
Yeah, I've never done fishing. I noticed that that's. It's like if folks are doing their sort of, like, outdoorsman move, like the fishing, the hunting. It's just like it's something about. It's a peacefulness. It's a serenity there. And it's a competitive thing there too, because it is a sport for a lot of in a lot of walks of life.
00;38;51;08 - 00;39;16;03
George Dailey
I just love to be by myself, you know, put, you know, headphones on, listen to some music, throw the line and just wait and do nothing else. And just breathing the air and being outside, it's just so peaceful. And it's just I miss it so much now. I mean, all sorts of fishing most mostly, you know.
00;39;16;05 - 00;39;40;23
George Dailey
River fishing and pond fishing. Not not like, surf fishing, though we don't I don't do that. But I love I love the, I love the fact that I even if I don't catch anything, you know, it's just there and waiting and waiting. How am I going to get a bite? You know, I don't know. It's something some, it's boring for a lot of people, and I think it's just great.
00;39;40;25 - 00;40;16;21
Rob Lee
I mean, there's something about. I wrote this, this piece years ago when I was looking for a job in podcasting professionally, and, I wrote this blog about, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. So I spoke about just taking long walks, just nature walks, hikes and things of that nature. And it's really a serene period. And in fact, when I walk, let's say if it's an hour, hour and a half, I got to have something like this with me because inevitably I'm going to get hit with an observation or thought that turns into a question, that turns into a series of questions.
00;40;16;23 - 00;40;33;22
Rob Lee
Initially, you know, sort of that serenity that, that boredom I take to train everywhere. So I do interviews in DC. I've recently rediscovered taking the Mach train because I'm a little broke. I can't afford the Hampshire is so expensive. I was taken to a cellar, right? And I was like, yeah, I'll spend $50 to go to DC.
00;40;33;26 - 00;40;52;02
Rob Lee
Like you could spend eight. You go to DC, right? So it's a longer ride and I make sure I have this. There's no internet on these trains. There's no outlets for my MacBook. So I'm there sort of with my thoughts for an hour. And it's just like, I can read a book that's usually something, or I'm listening to an audiobook.
00;40;52;04 - 00;41;09;08
Rob Lee
But inevitably this is all this stuff. This right on this page came from my last trip on Thursday from DC, and I was like, oh, I got like a dozen questions, like, right here. Yeah, because my thinking is open at that time. So that space and I hear all the time from people, the market is boring. It takes a long to get to where you're going.
00;41;09;08 - 00;41;30;11
George Dailey
Right? You have to disconnect. You have to disconnect a little bit. You try, I try, but you know, it's almost impossible. But, yeah, you get, like you said, you go on your train, you have your notebook and you have internet and you don't, you know, you have nowhere to plug your your computer. Perfect. No problem. I'll start writing whatever I'm thinking right now.
00;41;30;13 - 00;41;54;22
George Dailey
Yeah, I apply that. But, you know, more like an a computer. You know, I start or I have a, I have a, a big note on here with all possible dishes. Yeah. Things that I, you know, I see around and go like, oh look, this guys are doing the lobster this way. But what about if I do it this way.
00;41;54;22 - 00;42;02;01
George Dailey
And I put it on the phone and I'm like. And then I sometimes I go back to the notes and go like, what? What was I thinking?
00;42;02;03 - 00;42;16;03
Rob Lee
I had lobster the other day actually. Yeah. Oh, home. I was like, I did a, I did a self-care day on Friday. I was like, let me get a facial, get a haircut, get my ears pierced. And I had lobster. I was like, what am I doing? Taking care of myself? Like, that's loud.
00;42;16;05 - 00;42;18;23
George Dailey
Sounds like a day to me. Yeah.
00;42;18;26 - 00;42;40;09
Rob Lee
So that's kind of it for all of the questions that I have for today. And in the final moments, there's two things I'd like to do. I want to thank you for the hospitality, you know, invited me over. Thank you. And, and two, I want to invite and encourage you to share any final thoughts and where folks can check out cook House on the Hill, anything that you want to share, any final moments, website, social media, any of that stuff?
00;42;40;11 - 00;43;02;10
George Dailey
Yeah. Well, you know, you can always check us out. You know, just Google cook House rule on the Hill Cafe. You will have many options to, you know, going to Instagram, Facebook or whatever. Our websites, are connected to each other to, you know, you know where to find us here in Bolton Hill. There's no one else.
00;43;02;12 - 00;43;20;23
Rob Lee
And there you have it, folks. I want to again, thank George Daley from On the Hill and Cook House for coming on to the podcast and inviting us here, actually running us here for the conversation here at cook House and for George, Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods.
00;43;20;25 - 00;43;21;23
Rob Lee
You just have to look for it.
