[00:00:00] Tyler: Hello and welcome to the Swell Season Surf podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Brewer. On this episode, our guest has been keeping the Rockaway community filled with butter and love. Since 2016, Tracy Belski reached the pinnacle of the New York pastry world. Having worked at notable restaurants such as the General Green Esca North End Grill and the Cook Shop, Tracy eventually realized she wanted to control her own kitchen and slow down her pace of living.

[00:00:33] . She walked away from the high-end food scene to start an underground bakery in the marina here in Rockway. Eventually a spot just west of Beach 87th Street became free and she opened the Rockaway Beach Bakery. A spot that has now become a staple for locals and visitors. Surfers replenish their burnt calories with delicious treats, such as croissant, loafs, [00:01:00]gorgeous scones, and the ever popular ham and cheese, everything.

[00:01:03] Croissant. It is an honor to welcome Tracy to the show, . She is our guest on this episode of the Swell Season Surf podcast. Tracy, welcome. Thank you, .

[00:01:15] Tracy: I am blushing. You're right.

[00:01:16] Tyler: Yeah, I told you you're gonna blur blush. I love to make my guests feel, you know, very welcomed and honored, you know, so it's, um, so, uh, just for all our listeners, we are recording here in the Rockaway Beach Bakery, and this place smells so freaking awesome,

[00:01:34] It's like, oh my God, it feels so good to be in here. I love it. .

[00:01:39] Tracy: I smell like this all the time. You

[00:01:41] Tyler: smell like that. That should I smell like this, you know, you should make a perfume

[00:01:43] Tracy: out of that. But once you remove yourself from here, it's not, it doesn't smell so good anymore. It's not so hot. It's not so hot.

[00:01:49] It's

[00:01:49] Tyler: not so hot. Is that that what your husband says? He's like, you smell like, no, he doesn't

[00:01:53] Tracy: say it. But I, as soon as I get home, I'm like, what's that? I'm like, oh, everyth. My hair smells like, everything spice. I'm like, that's not hot. I'm gonna, I'm [00:02:00] gonna take a shower. I'll be back.

[00:02:00] Tyler: I don't know. We could bottle that.

[00:02:02] You know, , I think you could make something out of that, you know, and be like . Yeah, something like that, you know? So little on goop. A little goop . Um, I wanna start with this question. Uh, let's just start. Why are your ham and Swiss, everything croissant so fucking good? What, what goes into them? You know, what, how do you make those so freaking.

[00:02:28] Tracy: Um, a lot of love goes into them a lot of time. Yeah. Uh, they take three days to make, it's a three day pro for any of the croissants. It's a three day process, so, whoa. Um, and a lot of muscle. We hand roll and hand laminate everything. Uh, laminate being the process of incorporating the butter and the folds into the dough, which creates the flaky layers, um, that a croissant is known for.

[00:02:50] Um, I don't, I don't know why that ended up being the most popular thing and the best thing, but I'm, I'm glad it is because if it wasn't for that croissant, I wouldn't have this store right now. That just [00:03:00] happened to be the thing that took off the most labor intensive item that I could possibly make. I'm like, it's not

[00:03:06] Tyler: the cookies that take like an

[00:03:08] Tracy: hour, you know, muffin.

[00:03:09] Oh, oh, you, you like this? Okay. I'll make more. Got it. .

[00:03:13] Tyler: Well, you know, well, first one thing I, I want to point out to a lot of listeners is, is I love the word laminating and how it's used in baking, but also in surfboard shaping. You know, you laminate your surfboards with, with resin in fiberglass. Yes. You know, you're creating layers of those and it's a very similar thing.

[00:03:32] I think

[00:03:33] Tracy: it is. I never thought about about that, but Yeah, you're

[00:03:35] Tyler: totally right. You know, it's like you're creating, uh, you know, this shell, uh, around, you know, the ham and it's like, same with surfboards and fiberglass. You're wrapping fiberglass around the goodness of the inside, that foam. And it's a, it's kind of a, I don't wanna say a similar process, but I love, I love that those words kind of cross over in those two different worlds.

[00:03:57] And when I was researching it, I was like, [00:04:00] laminating, . Oh, I could get onto that. Yeah,

[00:04:02] Tracy: yeah, yeah. It's cool. I never thought about that actually,

[00:04:04] Tyler: because it, like at it's just like hundreds of folds almost. It seems like, you know, it's like

[00:04:10] Tracy: crazy, honey. It's like hundreds. It's not hundreds.

[00:04:12] Tyler: It's, it's a lot. I mean, you're folding and constantly folding, so it's a multiplication aspect to it.

[00:04:18] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Uh, I think I know why the ham and cheese is so popular. Why ? Well, one because it's so fucking good. It's good , but, but two, it's, it's a wonderful grab and go item that, um, is savory and it's like a great post surf kind of, I mean, from a surfer's perspective at least it's a great post surf, uh, kind of breakfast snack type of thing.

[00:04:41] And it's good anytime during the day.

[00:04:43] Tracy: I agree. I agree. That's a good point. Sometimes you don't have time to wait for a bacon, egg and cheese or, oh gosh. You just like need something to get back out there again or, um, get to work or wherever you might be going or doing.

[00:04:54] Tyler: It's, it's a convenience food for sure.

[00:04:57] You know, it's, it's a fancy hot pocket. It is , it [00:05:00] is a fancy hot pocket. Where, what sort of ham do you use? Is that, like, is that a special ham?

[00:05:05] Tracy: Like, so I, I use ham from Restaurant Depot. Um, it's not a special ham, but I've been using the same ham since we opened, um, almost six years ago. Wow. Um, so yeah, it's just.

[00:05:17] It's like, it's called Black steer. Black steer ham. And if they're out of it, when my husband goes to buy it, yeah. Uh, I freak out because I, I only get it from the same place and I only use the same kind. And

[00:05:30] Tyler: so, so it's not like that kind run across the key foods across the street and get the boar's

[00:05:34] Tracy: head.

[00:05:35] I mean, you can, you can't, you can do that. But, uh, it also, so we, it's kind of weird. We, we hand sliced the ham. Yeah.

[00:05:42] Tyler: Um, you ham sliced

[00:05:44] Tracy: the ham hand sliced the ham . We had like a deli slicer, but honestly, by the time you clean the thing, you could, like, it takes like an hour to clean the thing and then it's just like, be like a pain in the butt to clean and then it, you always end up with this like weird button that you can't really use for anything.

[00:05:59] [00:06:00] And so we ended up hand slicing it and it just kind of improves our knife skills. And the ham that I buy happens to be in a square shape, cuz that's natural

[00:06:11] Tyler: because it's natural. You

[00:06:13] Tracy: know, it's natural, but it happens to be in the square shape that the croissant needs to be. So it makes it that much better. Yeah.

[00:06:19] Tyler: Wait, it's like veal, they put it in a box, you know, or like when those, uh, watermelons of square watermelons. Right. So about that, about that app . Uh, I mean it, it's, what do you like, let me ask then like, what makes a good croissant?

[00:06:36] You know, like what, uh, what, how is it, how do you define a good croissant? Cause I've had croissants and there are. , there's different textures, right? Yeah. Like there's the, the kind of balza kind of croissant where it's like kind of harder on the outside uhhuh, and really kind of doughy on the inside. And then there's some, I think like yours is like a more consistent, more consistent kind of texture [00:07:00] throughout

[00:07:00] Tracy: almost.

[00:07:00] Yeah. I think there's definitely, they can vary like, like crazy. They can be, you know, like really light and, and very Instagramable. Yeah. And then you eat them and you're like, it doesn't taste like anything like ,

[00:07:12] Tyler: uh, but it's just, oh my God, it's just crumbs.

[00:07:15] Tracy: It's just like air. Yeah. Like a, like Instagram photo.

[00:07:17] Like you're not really eating anything like, um, I think there's a, a couple things that make a really good croissant in my opinion. Mm-hmm. . Um, I think it, it needs to be flaky, but I think it needs to have like a nice balance of like flake and chew. Mm. I I think you need to be able to taste like the fermentation.

[00:07:34] Like you gotta taste the yeast. Yeah. You gotta taste the butter and you gotta taste the sugar. Like if you just ta if it just tastes like cardboard, then like there's like, you need all of those things. And I think to a achieve all those things, you need to put the time in and make it right. So there's the whole like, process of making it and giving it the time not only to rest between the steps of laminating and, and rolling and cutting and shaping.

[00:07:59] [00:08:00] You also have to proof it. Yeah. So proofing meaning you leave it out, um, For it to proof and to grow and for the yeast to get all active and it like doubles in size and then it'll get all poofy and buoyant and then it's ready for baking. Um, a lot of places will use a thing called a proofer, which I don't have the money for, or the space or the electric.

[00:08:19] So we just proof everything at room temperature, which varies throughout the year. So if we had a proofer, we could proof 'em in maybe 40 minutes. But, um, since we don't have a proofer, they proof longer. It's like two, maybe three hours, like this time of year, which I think it's almost like when you proof sourdough.

[00:08:36] Yeah. Like when you proof sourdough bread, the longer you proof it, it has more like nuance and flavor and it has more time for the flavor to develop. To develop. And I think that that helps out a lot. So like where we don't have stuff here at the bakery, like we don't have the proofer, but I think our croissants are better because takes more time and Exactly.

[00:08:53] It takes more

[00:08:54] Tyler: time, you know, and that, that allows everything to absorb much more. Yeah.

[00:08:59] Tracy: And just all the [00:09:00] flavors to develop and mill together and, um, yeah. You can't rush it. Uh,

[00:09:05] Tyler: is it, what's probably the most difficult time of the year then to, to prove or to, to make baked goods in here?

[00:09:11] Tracy: So I don't have air conditioning.

[00:09:14] Yeah. Um, so it's, it's, it's very, like, it will go from 40 degrees in the morning in here to like 85 up in the front by the window by the afternoon. It's really hard to control, so I'll be opening like front doors and back doors and windows and we'll have fans on. Um, but this summer. , it's easy because things prove fast.

[00:09:33] Mm-hmm. , but it's really hard to laminate and roll dough when it's 95 degrees and humid. But I just like got used to doing it. You know, I used to laminate dough in a marina. Yeah. So if I, with a beer in my hands, if I could do it there, then I could do it here in the store, then I'm paying a couple grand rent a month for

[00:09:50] But I, I don't know, in my mind, like if you told some French guy that like, we are making croissants with no air conditioner and by hand with no rolling [00:10:00] machine. Uh, and just like with, in an uncontrolled environment, they'd be like, no, no, you can't do that. . But I don't know, I think that makes myself and everybody that works here, all three of us, um, , that's just better, better cooks and better chefs, like being able to work around.

[00:10:17] Um, you work within like perimeters and like, not everything is perfect all the time. So you just gotta be able to work around that.

[00:10:25] Tyler: It's, well, it's like, um, I feel like sometimes like there's something to like H shape surfboards, right? Mm-hmm. and a lot of people like that because there are almost like happy accidents that happen and those end up actually being beneficial.

[00:10:41] Um, there's a, there's a really famous story of like Mark Aca Lupo who rode. , this board that rusty shaped for him in 1984, and like, he gained notoriety riding this board. One of the, one of the fins was like heavily canted the wrong way, and there was like a lot of, lot of visual kind of mistakes to it.

[00:10:59] [00:11:00] Mm-hmm. , but it ended up working really well because of that. And I feel like that's kind of a similar analogy to what you do. It's like those, those imperfections can actually add character and morph and different flavor to it.

[00:11:14] Tracy: Yeah, I think so. For sure.

[00:11:16] Tyler: Now, let me ask you this then. Like, what makes a a, a good pastry chef?

[00:11:22] Like if, if our listeners are listening and they want to get into pastry or don't do it. I'm kidding. Don't,

[00:11:28] Tracy: I'm kidding. I'm kidding. .

[00:11:30] Tyler: Everyone says that about whatever industry they're in. They're like, don't do it. That's true. That's true. Like even doctors are like, yeah, don't do it. You know, the only ones I think of maybe that say, don't say they're lawyers, probably lawyers and dentists.

[00:11:42] Yeah. Yeah. .

[00:11:44] Tracy: Um, what makes a good pastry chef? Um, I think you, you have to really, really love it and not like, oh, I like to bake and mix things. And, um, yeah, you have to like really love it. Like you have to like, eat, sleep and like live your [00:12:00] occupation. Uh, which, which I, I do, and I do it from kind of like a, a step back version or like my own version.

[00:12:07] But as far as like being a Petri chef, like in a restaurant, You have to be super committed. You really have to love what you do. You have to have a lot of patience. Yeah. You have to know how to manage people well, because there's a lot of managing within your staff as well as like all the other kitchen and restaurant staffs and all, like a lot of personalities.

[00:12:28] You gotta be good at math, you gotta like to wake up early. , uh, you gotta like to work long days, you have to get used to, um, you don't rely on remembering or going to anybody's birthday. You're gonna miss every family event and every holiday. Wow. And that's, that's kind of part, like, it's really great, but there's a lot of things that aren't so great.

[00:12:50] And that's kind of how the bakery came to be. I kind of cre somehow created this universe and world where I could do what I like to do. Mm-hmm. , [00:13:00] but kind of cancel out a lot of the negativity that came along with, um, the awesome ac occupation that I I I do have and did have in Manhattan. Um, but yeah, I think you gotta be like a little crazy.

[00:13:12] Like you gotta be a little fucking nuts. You gotta be super creative and, um, you gotta be able to take criticism. Mm-hmm. and Yeah. It's like a special kind of person, you know? And I look by you, you know, you say, everybody says like, no, don't do it. But like, I don't, I don't know, like you, you talk to chefs and like chefs will tell you like, my kids are never gonna be in the kitchen, you know?

[00:13:32] And I, I don't know. . I don't know if I can honestly be like to everybody cuz it's not for everybody. Yeah. Like, unless I really saw something in somebody, like be like, yes, you should quit what you're doing and be a, yeah, go be a chef and drop 50 grand on culinary school that you're never gonna be able to pay back

[00:13:50] Uh, you know, but like, would I treat it to do anything else? No. Like, I can't imagine doing anything else, but it, it's, it's hard to be like, [00:14:00] yes, you can do that. Like in an honest way. Like, yes, Tyler, you can be a pastry chef, like you're great and all, but I don't think you can be a pastry chef. . And I would probably say that to like most

[00:14:07] Tyler: people does.

[00:14:08] Does it ever piss you off when you hear people be like, Yeah. You know, I just, I made these cookies and I was thinking of opening up like this little, like bake shop, you know? Cause I do cookies really well, and I can do muffins and, you know, like,

[00:14:20] Tracy: no, doesn't like piss me off. I think it's like great that, like people, yeah.

[00:14:24] Especially in the last like 10 years, like all of a sudden cooking has been like elevated and now Yeah. Like if you cook, you're like, cool.

[00:14:31] Tyler: Yeah. I'm like, whoa. You're a rockstar.

[00:14:33] Tracy: You're a rockstar that you really are just works all the time. . Well, some

[00:14:38] Tyler: rock stars work all the time. That's true. You know?

[00:14:40] That's true. That's true to true a lot. You gotta work hard to, they're doing way more drugs than you probably

[00:14:45] Tracy: anything right now in my life. Yes. , I've calmed down a lot. No, I'm, I'm a good girl. I've calmed down a lot. ,

[00:14:52] Tyler: um, . Were you the rebellious chef there? Like ?

[00:14:56] Tracy: I was like, kind of, I mean, I still have my, my moments as far as, as [00:15:00]like being like a little wild.

[00:15:01] I'm from New Jersey. I don't know. . Like, I, I've had definitely had my moments and I, I could, I could hang, like I could hang, like I, I've lived in New York since. You know, like summer of 2000, like mm-hmm. You know, I made a joke the other day on my Instagram one. I'm like, if you don't know what the village voice is.

[00:15:17] Yes. Have you ev I saw that. Have you ever even lived in new you New York?

[00:15:20] Tyler: Are you, can you even consider yourself a New Yorker

[00:15:22] Tracy: then? I almost feel like lucky to, like I, I used to bartend before I started cooking and like, yeah, man, I was reading that I had, I had so much fun and like being like, everyone's like, oh, new York's dead.

[00:15:33] Or like, New York, this, like, I don't know, I had a great time and I had some really wild and fun times as a chef. Like after parties or just after service or like getting flown to like Pebble Beach to cook at the 18th hole. The golf course. Of course. And like, you know, and then like after parties with other chefs and then, you know, the chef of Gram c Tavern is on my flight and he's like, oh, here, we're gonna go here.

[00:15:58] We're gonna go here. We're gonna go here. The fourth [00:16:00] restaurant in New Orleans, we're like taking tequila shots. And we're at this pizza place and we already had Prosecco and this is like our fourth meal and it's literally 3:00 PM in the afternoon. We flew in that morning. Oh my gosh. And I'm like, excuse me.

[00:16:12] And I basically, I go to the bathroom and vomit and then like, I'm like, okay. And they're like, that some space. Yeah. I got some space like dessert. I'm like, no Beignets, no. And they're like, no, they're shot. I'm like, fuck, I can't say no. I got it. Like, I'm the youngest one here and I'm not that young. Like . Um, yeah, I don't, I kind of digressed, but um, yeah, I had a lot of fun.

[00:16:31] I got into, I got into some trouble for sure, but I think I got into trouble. before I, I really got serious about my career. Yeah. So I feel like I made all my, my mistakes when it was still okay to make mistakes. Yeah. Actually, so like one of my like, main goals, so when I was younger, I got into a lot of trouble.

[00:16:49] When I was, two weeks after I turned 18, I had gotten go on a DUI in Eastern Pennsylvania. I drove out there dating some douche bag was sober. We're [00:17:00] like, oh, let's, let's go smoke a blunt around the lake. Okay, Tracy, you drive. And I'm like, okay. And anyway, I'm looking for a certain Beastie Boy song. Crashed my car, got a DUI two weeks after, two weeks after I turned 18.

[00:17:13] Um, point of the story, it was in the, the newspaper, the local east newspaper. And it was like Tracy Biki at 18 crashed his car into cinder block wall, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, and this is like, Google was like just a thing, you know? It was like, this was like two, this was 2000. Yeah. The end of 2000.

[00:17:31] And I was like, oh man. And I remember being like, I don't know what I'm gonna do in my life, but like, I gotta do something big enough that when you Google my name, this never comes up . And I know that's kinda like a silly thing, but I'm like, this is motivating. It's like, oh my God, the internet is a thing and the internet's gonna be here forever.

[00:17:47] And all the bad things I do is gonna be, are gonna be here forever now. And now if you Google me. It takes a long time to find that dui. So Yeah,

[00:17:55] Tyler: I, I got to like page 10 on Google when, and you didn't see it ? Yeah. You still didn't find it, you [00:18:00] know, , there was, there was some other Tracy Belski from somewhere else, you know, now

[00:18:06] Well, let's, let's, let's go a little back here. Um, you know, first, like, did, was there, do you think there were like skill sets in your youth that, that you kind of honed or developed that, that translated into pastry being a pastry chef that, that you were just naturally good at or things you gravitated towards, uh, when you were younger?

[00:18:29] Tracy: Um, I think when I was younger I was just totally obsessed with food. Like me and my whole family, like everything was over revolved around food. But I can never cook, like, ever, like really? I couldn't even make toast, like, which was crazy. But my, my mother was a great, um, cook and my grandmother was a baker and all the women in my family bait and cooked.

[00:18:50] And, um, when I started bartending, I started cooking. And originally cuz my art background, I like started seeing the cakes. Like you went to Prat? I did. I went to [00:19:00] Pratt and I think Pratt absolutely gave me like a heads up, like, or like a one up on, on. Making, being a pastry chef, like a second career. I went to a culinary school.

[00:19:12] I was 24. I was like one of the oldest people in the class. Like I was the only one that was like married in, in her class. I'm like, you're married, how old are you? I'm like, I know, I'm like 47. No, it was like 24. But I, I got married in Vegas by Elvis. It's a whole, uh,

[00:19:25] Tyler: mother. I think we have to digress. We have to kind of do a detour there.

[00:19:28] Okay. And then we'll go back. Yeah. Uh, let's, what was that about? Was that like, had you and your, your husband been dating for a while? Or was it more of a whim kind of like, Hey, I

[00:19:41] Tracy: could have both, I guess. Um, oh really? So we had both worked at the same snowboard shop. So I worked at Princeton Ski Shops back in the day.

[00:19:48] You

[00:19:48] Tyler: worked at Princeton? I did. You do know My dad owned, uh, sundown skiing surf shop in, in Long Island, and Princeton was a competitor of ours.

[00:19:57] Tracy: We were like the only

[00:19:58] Tyler: one, like, we were like the, I used to go to that [00:20:00] giant stadium Yeah. Sale. I worked for Airwalk as well. Oh wow. As a tech rep. And I remember working that Princeton, uh, event at Giant Stadium.

[00:20:07] So that's

[00:20:08] Tracy: classic. I actually got the job. I was going to Pratt and one of my high school friends from Jersey was like, there's a pa there's this after party for , the, um, stadium sale. Cuz she worked at the Princeton's he shops in Clifton, New Jersey. Oh yeah. Where I'm from. Yeah. So like, I, like all my friends worked there in high school and I, I never worked there, but I knew everybody that, that worked there.

[00:20:30] And my friend Christine, I remember I hadn't talked to her. Since I graduated high school. She's like, there's this party. Do you want to go? And I was like, well, I'm in, I'm in Brooklyn. She's like, I'll come pick you up. I'm like, pick me up. I was like, fuck yeah, I'll go to this after party. So she picked me up and brought me into some after party and I, I got offered a, a job Wow.

[00:20:48] To work at the Princeton Ski shops in Manhattan. Wow. And I didn't need a job. I was like bartending, making lots of money at the village idiot for free Free gear.

[00:20:55] Tyler: And free gift classes. Exactly. Exactly.

[00:20:57] Tracy: and that . So I was like, sure, I'll [00:21:00] sure Brian, I'll work at the, the snowboard shop. I'll, I'll do like three

[00:21:03] days

[00:21:03] Tyler: a week part-time.

[00:21:04] That sounds great.

[00:21:05] Tracy: Yeah, it was great. So I worked there for four years and, um, my now husband, he snowboarded also, but he worked upstairs and like skis and tennis rackets and shit because he was full. He was year round. So he was hard goods. Yeah. So they made, well, I was hard goods, so snowboard was downstairs.

[00:21:19] It was very segregated. I know. Just like Aspen, , . So I was downstairs in snowboards and he was upstairs in like skis and tennis rackets and all that stuff. And um, yeah, we were dating for like two, two and a half years. And he, at the time he was working, he works in the music industry. Mm-hmm. , he was working with this band.

[00:21:38] Uh, the Killers, you may have heard of . Uh, yeah.

[00:21:41] Tyler: Don't they have a tour coming up too?

[00:21:43] Tracy: We, we, they played in Atlantic City last week actually. . That's awesome. Um, so he was working with them. So he had a good relationship with the people at the Palms Hotel in Vegas. Mm-hmm. because they had a music studio there.

[00:21:56] And he had a trip planned to go to Vegas in June [00:22:00] of 2024. , um, to see another band and he's like, babe, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go see this band. And we could like stay at the Palms. And I already talked to Zoe, the concierge, and we should, we should get married when we go there. You should come with me. We should get married.

[00:22:16] Cuz then you could have health insurance. And I was like, . Cause that was like a big thing for us. We were like snowboarding and I was like throwing myself off handrails. Yeah. And like, I'm gonna do, I'm from New Jersey, like course, I mean, yeah, I could ride powder, but did I get to ride powder? No. No. . So I learned how to ride handrails, ice and park, you know?

[00:22:31] Exactly. And, and he's like, babe, we can get insurance. We should, we should do it. We, we can get married by Vegas. I was like, what are you talking about? Cause I'm, we, we had never talked about getting married and I, I was never really like the kind of person that was like, uh, when I get married, my dress is going to be like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:22:47] And it's gonna be like this and this person. Like, I, I'm just not, I never, yeah. I literally never thought about it. Uh, and I'm like, you're fucking nuts. So what are you talking about? And then, you know, a couple days later, so, babe, have you thought about it? We should get married. I'm like, you are out of [00:23:00] your fucking mind.

[00:23:00] And then like after like a couple weeks, I'm like, Fuck it. Yeah, let's do it. ,

[00:23:07] Tyler: where's my ring? And he's like, here's, here's a, here's a ring popped. You know, or .

[00:23:11] Tracy: Well wait. So we actually, so we went to Vegas and we didn't tell anybody. And like the, the day before we were going to, um, the Graceland Chapel where Ace freely from Kiss got married and I believe Jay Leno renewed his vows there.

[00:23:23] Not that, that's not cool points or anything. Well,

[00:23:25] Tyler: you know,

[00:23:26] Tracy: take it on the chin. We're like, oh, we need rings. You know, so we like took an Uber to the mall, and, uh, so we're at this jewelry store and I don't wear jewelry. . Yeah. I appreciate it and I like it, but I just like don't have a lifestyle that, um, it's conducive for it.

[00:23:39] Yeah, exactly. So we're at, we're at the mall and they're like, what size ring are you? And I'm like, I have no, I, I have no idea. So the guy gives me like, rings to try on and I'm like, yeah, I think this one fits. He's like, honey, that's the wrong hand. . I was trying him on the, my right hand and I literally didn't even know.

[00:23:55] honey, that's

[00:23:56] Tyler: the wrong hand. And why is it on your thumb? [00:24:00]

[00:24:00] Tracy: used to be just like bought white gold bands and then, you know, Next day when we, we got, we got married, but it's not like people are like, oh, you, do you remember? Were you wasted? Like, it's kind of a process. Like you have to go to the courthouse and wait in line and fill out all this paperwork, including like, do you wanna change your last name?

[00:24:17] Which would've been like, oh, check. And really easy. Yeah. And I was like, no, no, I'll do it later. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, well now I'm never, I got home and I was like, wait, I have to do what? I was like, all right. A bosky for life, but , it's like, his last name is Schnitz, so it's like a Bosky schnitz. It's like, ah, whatever.

[00:24:31] It's fine. No, you're good. But then at that point, no offense, your husband Yes. . No, exactly. at that point, um, I was gaining notoriety as a chef and people knew me as Tracy a Bosky. So I also, at that point, I was like, ah, I don't wanna mess this up. Maybe this is actually working. . Yeah. Maybe this career is gonna like, really do it.

[00:24:51] Tyler: Wow. So Elvis married you though?

[00:24:53] Tracy: Yeah. We got married by Elvis. There was actually, what was the song? Well, he sang lots of songs. ?

[00:24:58] Tyler: No. Was there a particular [00:25:00] one that, that you guys now like, hear and you're like, oh, remember

[00:25:03] Tracy: that? Mm. Maybe not in that way. Maybe like a love, maybe like a laughing like, oh my God, do you remember that?

[00:25:08] have that DVD that nobody will ever see. Ooh

[00:25:12] Tyler: mm-hmm. . Oh, you know what? I got a thing to transcribe it to digital. If you need ,

[00:25:16] Tracy: you might even think about that. I'm like, I don't even have a dvd. DVD player that works. .

[00:25:20] Tyler: I can, I can hook you up and then, and then we'll spread it online.

[00:25:23] Tracy: You'll, yeah. Right.

[00:25:27] Yeah, so Vegas by Elvis didn't tell anybody. Wow. And then got home and I was like, oh shit, I gotta tell my family. So I had my dad pick us up in Hoboken, cuz they live in New Jersey. And I was like freaking out. And my dad's like, super cool. Ted's super cool. So . Yeah.

[00:25:43] Tyler: Ted, you comb him by, by his

[00:25:44] Tracy: first thing, only one talking about him to other people.

[00:25:46] His, he's big badge head, but, um, , he's like kind of infamous, but here he picks us up and um, you know, we're in the car and he's like, oh, how was Vegas? We're stopped at a light. I'm like, oh, Vegas was awesome. And you know, I'm like hiding my ring on, [00:26:00] on the right hand. And he's like the correct hand, I should say Yes.

[00:26:03] And he's like, oh, Vegas was good. I was like, yeah, you know, guess who I ran into in Vegas? He's like, who? I was like, Elvis, Elvis. And he was like with this like face and like was quiet and was looking around and. , did you get married? I was like, I did . And he was like, and he was like, quiet and like his mouth dropped open, but, and then like two seconds later he was like, wait a minute, does this mean I don't have to pay for a wedding?

[00:26:30] Keep buying those Schwinn bikes. Dad,

[00:26:32] Tyler: your dad sounds pragmatic. . Yeah. Yeah, for

[00:26:35] Tracy: sure. Um, yeah, that was, but it was funny cause we were 24 and we were like babies. But now, so I'm 40, he's gonna be 41. Uh, so we've been married for, it's gonna be 17 years in June, but like, it's almost like every year that goes by it becomes a better and better idea.

[00:26:52] Yeah. Like, like, you know, like five years after everyone's in their late twenties, early thirties and everyone's like getting married in the normal [00:27:00] way. Yeah. And they're like, oh, his mother and my mother and the band and cry and all Alex and I, my husband are just like, high five. Good idea. That was the best idea.

[00:27:11] It really was. I highly recommend it. . And you save a bunch of money

[00:27:14] Tyler: listeners. There you go. Yeah. Get married by Elvis in Vegas. Yep. You won't regret it at, you won't regret it. Especially if you have a bender that night before. . So going back now, um, you, you were a bartender and, and you were also going to Pratt.

[00:27:34] What, what sort of art were you, were you studying? Actually, I'm kind of curious cuz I didn't see a whole lot out there on it, so I was kind of curious like where, where were, were you painting, photography? What was. Your process that you

[00:27:47] Tracy: enjoyed? Well, I really like, what I enjoyed doing was still life. Like I, I can draw or paint a bowl of fruit and like be really content and happy, but like how does that translate into a career not so great.

[00:27:59] Tyler: Would you, [00:28:00] did you do that like all night? Uh, drawing thing that they do with the nudes over there in past all night drawing thing? Yeah. You don't know about this? No,

[00:28:08] Tracy: I drew nudes, but the all night drawing thing with the nudes is Red

[00:28:12] Tyler: Bull. When I used to work for Red Bull, we had to go, Pratt had this thing, what, where all, it was a 24 hour draw athon thing and had nudes in every room.

[00:28:20] And we went around like hooking people up with Red Bull, you know. Oh my God. I was

[00:28:23] Tracy: probably like doing drugs in my dorm room or something. that was, I didn't try so hard at Pratt, like I failed art history. , um, what was the question? ,

[00:28:34] Tyler: but what were you, so

[00:28:36] Tracy: you were into still life? Oh, so I, my that's, I like went to art school cuz I wasn't good at anything else.

[00:28:42] Like my grades sucked and I like applied to all these fucking schools. I went to all these like meetings and like drew all these like tests for all these other schools. Like I didn't get into any school but Pratt Manhattan. And I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to Pratt Manhattan, you know, so I lived.[00:29:00]

[00:29:00] On the Brooklyn campus. I went to Pratt Manhattan, but like I was 17, I just moved to Brooklyn. I I could buy Newports in fucking forties anywhere I want. I'm like school. What is that? What? I'm my girl. Is

[00:29:11] Tyler: it about you Clifton Girls and Newport Lights? It's a jersey. It's a jersey. My wife too. It's like, oh my God.

[00:29:17] Yeah. I knew I liked her ,

[00:29:20] Tracy: but, um, I, so I went, I went for, um, I got my BFA in fine Arts with a focus and illustration I wanted to do after, you know, two and a half years of fucking around. I'm like, oh, I can do children's books. Like, and I, I think I developed a style in between bartending and working at the ski shop and doing whatever, having keg parties, the keg toga parties and

[00:29:45] It's epic. It was, it was epic. You know, my grades don't show the epicness of how epic my life was outside of school. But I, so I wanted to do children's book illustration, but right when I graduated school, like Madonna had just put out a children's [00:30:00] book and like, I'm like how everyone was doing it. Yeah.

[00:30:02] I'm like, how can I compete with that? And then all of a sudden I had to think about freelancing, which I didn't know how to put myself out there at the time. Mm-hmm. and, um, maybe didn't have the balls to do that. Yeah. And like didn't feel comfortable doing that. And

[00:30:15] Tyler: it's a weird thing to talk about yourself and have to promote yourself too,

[00:30:19] Tracy: right?

[00:30:19] Yeah. Especially when you're not like super confident in what you do. And like, I went to art school cause I was good at it, but like does, like honestly going to art school, it made me not wanna do art .

[00:30:28] Tyler: You know? I went to the new school for writing Oh. And made me not want to write. Yeah. You know, it was like, uh, I don't like these people critiquing me and saying I suck at this.

[00:30:38] You

[00:30:39] Tracy: know, . Yeah. Like I'm, I'm super thankful that I went to art school. Like I think if everybody could afford the ridiculous experience, like I feel like you go to art school and you, you look at everything in like a new light. Like I feel like I'm like a completely different, it sounds kind of crazy, but I feel like I'm a completely different person from anybody that did not go to art school.

[00:30:57] Cuz you, you, you look at everything [00:31:00] differently. Yeah. Like you can look at like the sidewalk and be like, wow, the coloring of this mold is beautiful. Mm-hmm. or like little things like composition and like, you know, color and even like thought process and um, having to work around, um, limitations and being able to take criticism.

[00:31:18] And I think like, I think art school, like, yeah, I'm still paying for it even though like, and I don't, I do like art in the cooking form, which I'm also still paying for the cooking school . But I don't know. I just like, it sounds kind of corny, but like, I think everybody should have to go to art school for like a year and I think they would be a much more open-minded creative.

[00:31:36] Person that could like, think on their feets a little bit, feet think on their

[00:31:39] Tyler: feets . You get, you get a sense of, uh, appreciation, I think for creativity. Yeah. You know, and appreciate how hard actually it can be. Uh, I think like, I, I definitely feel like that, uh, you know, going to even writing school and, and like learning to write, like, you're like, fuck, this is actually really difficult to [00:32:00] do a really good pros and or to write a good article.

[00:32:03] Mm-hmm. and you gain much more appreciation for the craft. I think especially with art, it's like looking at a sidewalk. You're like actually like, man, whoever did this did this really well, actually. Yeah. They made this mold greater. Exactly. They flattening, you're like, you can appreciate the, the, the artistry that went into it actually.

[00:32:22] Yeah. Yeah. You know, that, that, that's like huge. What is, so then you're bartending, but I read, so I was reading that you just got inspired by watching a lot of cooking competition shows. Oh, we have bartending. We were talking about bartending. Yeah. You were bartending, but you were, you were also like watching a lot of cooking shows.

[00:32:43] Is that

[00:32:43] Tracy: correct? Yeah, so I, I graduated from Pratt kind of like accepted and I. I'll admit it. Like maybe like just giving up kind of Yeah. And not really putting myself out there. Mm-hmm. . Um, and you know, I was bartending, I bartended throughout school, uh, culinary school as well. But you

[00:32:59] Tyler: were [00:33:00] having too much fun.

[00:33:00] I was having a lot of fun. And to be honest, New York and Brooklyn particularly was so fun around that time. Oh yeah. It was such a great time. Oh, it's so fun. You could get away with a lot of things. There was a lot of like places you can go and you just didn't have to worry about annoying people and there was a lot of empty spaces that could be done creatively.

[00:33:20] There was a lot of freedom. Yeah. I feel

[00:33:22] Tracy: like it was just like a different, different kind of still a little edge too, you know. Oh, absolutely. Def definitely just like a different different world. Um, but, uh, you know, I was bartending and I, you know, I was only working three, maybe four days a week, or nights, I should say a week, um, if I was lucky.

[00:33:38] So I had all this free time and I had, I had all this money , so, you know, I had working husband. I'm like, oh, maybe I should make my husband a nice meal. Like all of a sudden I'm like, is this what a housewife does? Like, I love this, but I just like, I, you know, I started like cooking and getting into cooking more and.

[00:33:56] And then, but what really got me into it was watching these like cake shows, like these, [00:34:00] like, like even food television. Mm-hmm. was like just kind of becoming bigger. Yeah. And like doing, like, the crazy cakes were becoming bigger. So I saw that and immediately was like, oh, I can do that. Like, I can, I can sculpt and I, I can, you know, like I'm an artist.

[00:34:13] Yeah. Um, so, you know, I went to culinary school and then once I started doing those cakes, I was like, it, it kind of brought me back to art school, like illustration. It's like, no, I'm not gonna be painting this stupid ball of fruit that I really wanna paint. I have to draw this like, really lame prescription bottle for this ad because that's what I'm getting peed to do.

[00:34:33] Yeah. And same thing like with a cake. Like, you're gonna make somebody's like really ugly wedding cake that they want and it has to be what they want and it's not necessarily what you want. Yeah. And then all of a sudden it's not so

[00:34:41] Tyler: fun. Right. Um, it, it doesn't push, it's not pushing that creative boundary really.

[00:34:46] Tracy: Yeah. Yeah. It's just not enjoyable. And if, you know, if I was gonna like, drop another student loan on something, I was gonna be something that I really wanted to do. Um, and while I was still in culinary school still bartending, [00:35:00] I had taken, I went on a trail, which is, um, they don't, they don't really exist anymore.

[00:35:04] But you would go and like, I worked for like 10 hours that day for free for one of my mentors. Yeah. Um, who is a. pastry chef that was consulting at a restaurant gig in Manhattan, right across the street from Princeton ski shops. Lovely. On 22nd Street Street. So I spent a lot of time on that block, rest in peace, Princeton, right.

[00:35:23] And at the end of that free shift, I was like, buzzing with adrenaline and like shaking. And I was like, this is awesome. This is what I wanna do. Like, I, I guess I wanted to be a maniac for the rest of my life and not sleep and eat . Like I, for some reason, like just the high pace and the adrenaline and all the different things going on at once.

[00:35:41] I was like very drawn to it.

[00:35:43] Tyler: Well, the community too, I think ha must be, it sounds appealing to me, you know, like being in that chef kind of community, it feels like almost like a club. I don't know if you're,

[00:35:55] Tracy: if you're on the good side of the club Yeah, of course.

[00:35:57] Tyler: Yeah. You know, I mean, of course. Yeah. But I mean, [00:36:00] it, it, it sounds like, you know, when you read like Anthony Bourdain or whatever, like there's this like underground scene almost, and you feel kind of punk in some ways.

[00:36:09] Tracy: Yeah. You know? Yeah, for sure. For sure. I think now a lot of that has changed for the better. Yeah. And it's weird. I feel like weird about it. Like, I'm like, you know, man, I went through some fucked up shit, or like, people have said some fucked up shit to me, really? Or I dealt with like, some really crazy situations that where I thought it was normal, um, and it wasn't normal.

[00:36:27] But I'm also like, I'm okay. I'm not like, I'm, I'm traumatized. Like, yeah, I don't know. I think it made me a stronger person. I think in some aspects maybe it. The best. Um, but now I think that's changing for the better. But also like a part of me is like, oh, but it's not badass anymore. It's like if you cook now you're not punk anymore.

[00:36:46] Like ,

[00:36:47] Tyler: like it is not a rebellious aspect to it. Almost chefs

[00:36:50] Tracy: aren't throwing plates. Like is it even a real kitchen if you can't like yell and throw plates? Like I, if the male

[00:36:55] Tyler: chef doesn't, you on the ass , are you even punk ? [00:37:00] Like I've done joking. I don't, I don't approve of that listeners at all. By the way, ,

[00:37:04] Tracy: I've definitely worked for some, some chefs.

[00:37:06] Um, you know, I, I worked for Mario Batali. I was just gonna ask, uh, uh, and you know, I I, I gotta be honest, like, you know, I heard some stories. Um, to me Mario was always amazing. Yeah. And you know, I, I also think Mario's smart. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm an executive manager at a restaurant. Yeah. Like, you know, like he, you know, there'd be like one time he was eating in the backyard, so I knew he was coming in, like Mario was coming.

[00:37:33] Like, we needed a pack of Marl bro lights. Wow. And a deck of cards. I'm like, what? This is like 2000, I don't know when like smoking was still like a thing. Yeah. Before Bloomberg got it got kicked out was they were sat, they were sitting on the patio and they're like, Mario was coming in with Gwen Stefani and um, Gavin Rossendale.

[00:37:51] Wow. Who they were still together at the time. Yeah. So it was a while ago, and I, I wanted to be Gwen Stefani when I, I wanted I, you curl my bangs and jump up and down in front of like, I [00:38:00] wanted to be her. And when I was younger I thought Gavin Rosendale was like the hottest thing ever. And I was like, oh my God, they're coming.

[00:38:06] They're like, we need a deck of cards and cigarettes for Mario Vital. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. . And he was always like, I don't know. He was always like, nothing but, but nice to me. Yeah. Uh, you know, heard stories, but as far as like, when I was around, um, I was, you know, around some crazy chefs that would like yell and like, wow, they, they're having a bad day.

[00:38:23] Like everyone's having a bad day. Um, . But I dunno, like I, I'm also like, I'm a pretty thick-skinned person. I also sometimes consider myself like, I can hang with the guys. . Like, well,

[00:38:35] Tyler: well, I think there's, um, certain personalities can, can, can roll with those punches. Yeah. And can, can almost like, not take it to, to, to a level where it's, it it affects them.

[00:38:48] Mm-hmm. , you know, and that, and that's not a slight against people where it does affect them. Right. Because it, it's very real. Yeah. But I think, uh, there are certain personalities where it's just like, You put up a tough [00:39:00] front and maybe people don't fuck with you as much potentially because of that. I don't know, maybe, maybe, you know, I, hard for me to say is a white tall male who's like bigger than most people, so I can't really comment too much.

[00:39:13] You know, , and

[00:39:13] Tracy: then, I don't know, I bartended like, in like very like male dominated patron bars. Uh, like I, I, I bartended at, um, I bartended at like couple coyote ugly kind of bars. Oh, get outs? Yeah. Like when I was like 17, like yeah. Like, not even like

[00:39:31] Tyler: she did doc holidays or whatever at all. So

[00:39:33] Tracy: I worked at the Village idiot.

[00:39:34] Oh, okay. When I was nice. I got a job there when I was 17 . So taken shots and then be like, oh my gosh, I, I worked on my birthday and I'm like, take a shot with me for my birthday. They're like, how old are you? 21? I'm like, mm-hmm. 18. It's like 30 18 . Like, um, I worked at, this was a very, um, very short-lived, but um, it's not there anymore.

[00:39:56] I was on, um, 10th Avenue [00:40:00] and 17th Street. It was called Red Rock West. Oh. And it was like, I thought you gonna say hogs and heifers? No, it was right there though. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but I got, it was the only job I ever got fired from for not dance. I wouldn't dance on the bar because I hated it. Like, I didn't wanna do that.

[00:40:13] Like, I was really, like, I can, yeah, I can take guys money all day long and like get them to spend money on alcohol and make money for the bar and myself, but like was not about to jump on that bar and dance. I was like not having kinda demoralizing you, you know. You know, I'll put a, like a, I'll wear a tank top, but I'm like, I'm not dancing on the bar.

[00:40:30] And my like second shift solo, they stuck me at this like little back bar near the bathroom. And I started at 10 30 and I'm like, how do I like get the crowd going at 10 30 when there's these girls on the bar like shooting fire out their mouth and like doing like jigs with their cowboy boots and shit.

[00:40:46] And I was like, man. And I was like, I don't care. I'm not dancing on the bar. I'm just gonna like make money and sell alcohol. And then all of a sudden the head bartender whose name was also Tracy comes up and I was like, oh shit. I'm like, how long have you been here? She's [00:41:00] like, long enough. I haven't seen you on the bar once yet.

[00:41:03] And I was like, oh, just what's this warm enough?

[00:41:07] Tyler: You didn't, you didn't see me just before.

[00:41:09] Tracy: Yeah. And I got fired. .

[00:41:12] Tyler: See, I would've gone full Peewee Herman, you know, from PeeWee's, big adventure. Get like the cal, the boots and

[00:41:18] Tracy: everything. Do you feel like now, like now like I, like I wish, I mean a lot of people could say this, I wish I have the co I had the confidence of myself now when I'm 40.

[00:41:26] When I was like 20 something, like I'd be all over that bar. Like nobody would have any money in their wallet. . Like, and I wouldn't do it in like a Horry way. I would just like charm the money out of everybody and like, just entertain everybody. But like, you know, if you were, if you had that confidence when you were younger than, what's the point of growing up?

[00:41:42] Tyler: Now you do it with pastries. ,

[00:41:44] Tracy: now I'm doing, now I'm doing pastries.

[00:41:46] Tyler: Yeah. Now you do it with pastries. Oh, now I do it. Charm the heck out of us. And. Gotta go in and get a, get a

[00:41:52] Tracy: pastry, you know? I feel like, I mean, I feel like I could write a book just on like the bars alone. I also, I worked at this bar, Dakota Roadhouse downtown.

[00:41:59] Oh yeah. So you [00:42:00] read Anthony Bourdain's Snow Reservation? Yeah. You know the chapter that was called Bigfoot? Yeah. So I worked for him. He was one of my mentors. Oh. He owned this bar that I worked in downtown. And sp like talk about like working for somebody and like having them like really get in your head, like worked for him.

[00:42:16] And I, I think I developed anxiety from working

[00:42:19] Tyler: for him Because you wanted to please. Because he was just

[00:42:22] Tracy: like crazy. Yeah. He was just like so crazy and like, everything he did and he was like very particular and O c d and one day I was like, you know what Andy? I was like, I'm not coming to work tomorrow.

[00:42:33] And he's like, oh, you're not Princess. He called me Princess. I was, it was Polish Princess was the full . And then like, I'm like, whatever, love, love it. Whatever. I'll make this $400 a shift and you can call me fucking Princess . Yeah. Yeah. Um, but he was never like, disrespectful and like, uh, I, I guess like that.

[00:42:50] Yeah. That was kind of disrespectful of it. And, and he was just like old school. And I was like, you know what? I'm not working here anymore. And I went and I got another bartending job mm-hmm. . And then I realized, I'm like, wait, why don't [00:43:00] you do this? Why don't you do that? And I'm like, oh, all these crazy things that this guy told me to do was for a reason.

[00:43:06] Mm-hmm. . And like, I was never, was never late. Like I was never late after working for this guy. And I didn't know I didn't cook. I didn't know about that book. I didn't know anything. I didn't know that he was like this guy that people knew about. Yeah. And, and I went back and I. . I went, we went back and I sat at the bar.

[00:43:21] He's like, princess, what are you doing here? And I was like, you know, Andy, I, I came back cause I wanted to tell you that I thought you were fucking nuts when I worked here and I didn't understand all the procedures that you put into place and all that shit in that book. Yeah. Like, you know, like he'll let somebody bring the delivery in and then be like, oh, you're late.

[00:43:37] No, you can take it away. Like, yeah, everything is totally like, spot on with this guy, spot on. And I was like, you know, I, I understand why those procedures were in place and, and I appreciate all those things you taught me. And I'm sorry that I, I left the way I did. And he was like, oh, well Princess, thank you very much.

[00:43:54] And I ended up like, keeping in contact with him. Nice. And, uh, he would even come [00:44:00] here, he would drive out here really? And come to visit me and, you know, I

[00:44:04] Tyler: thought he was Did he still call you Princess?

[00:44:05] Tracy: Yeah, he did. He did . Um, and it was like, kind of crazy, but now, like, he ended up being like a really important like, mentor figure in my life, even though I think he made me not sleep for like a year and a half.

[00:44:17] Tyler: Wait, it's, it's, it's funny, like I feel like there's, there's a very fine line right between, um, you know, abuse and, and, and being, being like kind of in an abusive type of relationship almost. Mm-hmm. , you know, obviously not. You know, it's more mental. But you know, there are also, like, there are just people who, who have a particular way of doing things.

[00:44:39] There's a reason they do it. Mm. Um, and maybe they don't have time to explain why they have to do it all the time. They just do it, you know, and, and you learn and then you realize later on, like, oh gosh, that's why he had me doing this, or that's why I was doing that. Yeah. And, and you, you then gained some perspective mm-hmm.

[00:44:58] and appreciation [00:45:00] for it. Totally. You know, those, those, I mean I've worked for people like that and it's like profound, you know, it has a huge effect on you and, but it, it drills in like, I think for a lot of people, a good work ethic. Yeah. Which is really, I don't know if it's good or not, you know? I know, I know.

[00:45:16] To be honest, but Yeah. You know, but it's like, it, it, it does, I mean, look like, you know, you, you have your own pastry, you know, bakery and everything. Yeah. So, I mean, clearly it, it worked in many regards. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna ask, like, Glen, when you decided to go to pastry school and, and what was that conversation like with your husband?

[00:45:35] Actually, I'm like kind of curious. Like, I'm always curious about relationships and dynamics and like how, how that works and how people kind of work, uh, between each other and how they communicate.

[00:45:47] Tracy: Um, he was totally supportive of it cuz I had been like talking about it and watching the silly shows and everything.

[00:45:53] So he's like, yeah, you know, go for it. And um, yeah, it really wasn't an issue and I would. When you go to [00:46:00] pastry school, you bring home everything you make.

[00:46:02] Tyler: So he gained a lot of

[00:46:04] Tracy: weight during . Maybe. Maybe We had, we had, um, we had blunt Sundays. Oh. So I went, so I went to school and bartended seven days a week.

[00:46:13] My gosh. Because I couldn't, oh gosh. I, you know, I, I had to like, pay rent and everything. Yeah. Um, and so I went to school on Sunday mornings and I, I got out at like early, like one 30. So I would get back to my apartment in Fort Green, Brooklyn. And my, um, my husband and our friend Nick Snow would be there and they'd have a blunt ready and like the jets would be on.

[00:46:32] And that's also when I started watching football. Cuz I was like, okay, I brought home all the pastries or, yeah. So yeah, we would eat pastries and watch football and smoke a blunt. And then like, I would bring the pastries home, um, and like, just hand them out. I would sometimes on the train, like if I saw like a homeless person, I'd be like, here you go.

[00:46:51] Yeah. They're like, what is this? I'm like, it's lemon cake with a lemon glaze. I was like, thank you, . Um, when I, when I told my family I was going to culinary school, they were like, [00:47:00] what ,

[00:47:01] Tyler: because I didn't cook. Tracy. You can't even make toast . That's

[00:47:05] Tracy: pretty much what they said. They were like, what? Like, okay, whatever.

[00:47:10] Um, and now they're like pumped, like, yeah. Yeah. They're like, you know,

[00:47:16] Tyler: Thanksgiving's awesome. Right.

[00:47:18] Tracy: But, you know, it's, it's kind of fucked up. Like, I'm so busy here for Thanksgiving. Yeah. And that, like, I don't, well I don't do Thanksgiving at. . So it's when, you know when you're married, like you gotta like start splitting up the Yeah.

[00:47:30] Holidays. So Thanksgiving we do with my husband's family and it's usually like pretty low key. Um, so no, I did make pies. It varies on the year. Yeah, it varies on the year. But yeah, I mean they just get excited. They're, you know, cuz they, they're just into it. Yeah. Like, they just like cooking and it's something that they can relate to with like their little lady friends and shit, you know,

[00:47:50] Tyler: Well I was gonna ask like, did that change your relationship with your, your mother and your grandmother?

[00:47:54] Maybe because of, because they did enjoy cooking at a young and, and [00:48:00] you didn't, and I wonder like if that that changed it at all or gave you some something connect

[00:48:05] Tracy: on Um, well it's funny, so my grandmother, um, so I'll have, I have a couple pictures here that you've probably seen coming in. Um, there's some things it's Grandma Helen's.

[00:48:15] Yeah. Like Grandma Helen's coffee cake or Grandma Helen's, uh, plum cake. So those are actually my Grandma Helen's recipes. Yeah. My grandma Helen passed away when I was a year and a half, so I never really knew her. Mm-hmm. . But I have these like photocopies of these like typewriter recipes Wow. That I like actually use.

[00:48:32] Um, which is cool. You know, I've adjusted them like there's no, there's no salt they use like shortening or lard because it was like in the depression era. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I actually used her recipes so it's like, I feel like I like know her and I think like they like that too. Um, and then I just recently found out, or not recently found out about, so, um, I'm.

[00:48:54] Really good at making ice cream. And I'm, I, I,

[00:48:57] Tyler: I was gonna get to that. Yeah, go on. Yeah. Well, I'll [00:49:00] talk. So

[00:49:01] Tracy: I found out my grandma Rose, um, who she passed away probably like, maybe like two, three years ago now. But I knew that she had worked, um, for Welsh Farms when I was younger, which is a ice cream like factory in New Jersey.

[00:49:15] But I just never thought about like what she did Yeah. At Welsh Farms. I'm like, yeah, she worked at the ice cream place. Like I had no idea. And when, I don't know, I just never thought about it. And then I was talking to her about ice cream when she's in her eighties. And yeah, she's like, oh, well I was the, she busted out these , um, she busts out these photos of like, like newspaper articles, I guess.

[00:49:38] So she was the, the head taste tester, like quality control for Welsh Farm. So she was the one that like, cut the court in half and make sure that the toppings were all like, and you know, that this vanilla, the Madagascar vanilla bean was better than the Tahitian. And I was like, what? And she's like, I was an integral part of the operation.

[00:49:57] You didn't know this. And I'm like, no, I didn't know this. And [00:50:00] it like, made so much sense because I, you know, like my first job ever was working at car. And I'd be like wanting to get outta work to go like drink beers with my friends and be like, scream .

[00:50:10] Tyler: So good. Fuji the whale. And be like, cookie puss.

[00:50:14] Cookie pus. Who doesn't love

[00:50:15] Tracy: cookie pus? Oh yeah. A 15 year old working at Carve Waits, waits for the one time a year somebody calls and orders a cookie puss and says, hold on one moment. And then gathers everybody, all your other 15 year old friends that work there. It's like, guys, guys, it's happening . And you put it on speaker and you say, I'm sorry, what were you calling to order?

[00:50:31] And the customer says, I'd like to order a cookie pus and 15 year olds ensued and pee themselves and then eventually take the order for the cookie pus. I love that. But you know, I worked at Carve and then, you know, when I was a Peachry chef, one of the things I was known for making were, I was ice cream and ice cream sundaes, crazy ice cream sundaes like creamsicle and like thin mint cookie and sticky bun and popcorn ice cream sundae, like you name it.

[00:50:57] Oh man, . And then I'm like, how did I know [00:51:00] this? I'm like, wow, that's so cool. Like, oh,

[00:51:03] Tyler: that's amazing. First, that's like the dream job, right? Right. Like what do you do? I taste test ice cream for a living. Yeah. I, uh, get to make sure that it tastes good. . Yeah. I'm quality control. Oh my gosh. Like how dreamy is that?

[00:51:20] Yeah, I bet she had some amazing stories. Yeah, I

[00:51:26] Tracy: don't that, I mean, that was the only one I heard about the ice cream, but, uh, yep.

[00:51:30] Tyler: That's so cool. . So there, there you are. You, you, you then like get out of, of uh, pastry school. Like what's it like then, like making that transition into the real world of it all and being thrown into it?

[00:51:46] Tracy: Um, you're real broke for a real long time. , I think I bounced like, man, I bounced so many rent checks, uh, like so many rent checks, uh, that Wow. Our landlord , we were only allowed [00:52:00] to pay our rent with a cashier's check . Wow. That's how many rent checks I bounced. So you're really broke for a long time. Um, and it's just kind of weird.

[00:52:09] You're like, you like kind of come out thinking you know everything and you learned all these things, but then everything that you, you taught like, or that you were taught, like, you're like, I'm gonna go into this restaurant and they're gonna have all the containers I need. Mm-hmm. , all the supplies and the deliveries are gonna be on time and people are gonna be on time and the communication is gonna be there.

[00:52:28] And then you work at a place and you realize like everything that you learned, not everybody practices it. And you're like, what the fuck? ?

[00:52:35] Tyler: Is it like the.

[00:52:37] Tracy: Is it like, it is so much like the bear. I'm obsessed with the bear. This show is amazing. It really hit home. Like, I like am obsessed with the bear, but also that goes back to like, is it healthy?

[00:52:47] Like, I'm like, oh my God, yes. This is so good. It's not like this anymore. And I'm like, but wait, isn't that a good thing? That's not like that anymore. But I really like, it really hits home and I'm like, God, that was so cool. Like, but was it cool like [00:53:00] Yeah. It really, it really is like the bear. Like, and then like, yeah.

[00:53:05] Yeah. I mean, it, it it is, there's like drama on all these levels. Expectations that don't get met. People are yelling and then you're just like this really green kid from the culinary school.

[00:53:16] Tyler: It's, it's, but what's interesting is like there are a lot of pastry chefs in New York City. Yeah. Yes and no. Yes

[00:53:24] Tracy: and yes and no.

[00:53:24] It's like, you, you think? Yes. But I think like, like a lot of other, um, occupations, it's kind of like a small world. Like Yeah. Like we all know each other. Like we all know each other. Um, so there like there are but there

[00:53:39] Tyler: aren't. You all talk shit about each other too. No, no, no. . Gta. So-and-so's pie. Oh my god.

[00:53:46] No. No. Just a little too much salt. Let me

[00:53:48] Tracy: just think. , I feel like the piers are pretty supportive. ,

[00:53:52] Tyler: you, you worked at Esca under David. Pat. Pat, uh, pastor Neck. Yeah. Pastor Neck and [00:54:00] like, so. , uh, played a pivotal role right. In your, in your cooking, in your totally, your skill. Like he pushed you and challenged you to try to do something different now.

[00:54:11] Absolutely. What was that experience like? Like, uh, and how did you get that role like? It's, it's incredible.

[00:54:18] Tracy: So I was working for Nick Morgan Stern, um, the only pastry chef I actually worked for at the General Green. Yeah. And, um, we were working on his ice cream company, which was called Green Ice Cream.

[00:54:28] Now he, he owns Morgan Stearns. Yeah. Which is huge and successful. And yeah. So I was making ice cream with him and his pastry chef for the General Green. And, um, you know, I had started looking at, at jobs and, uh, I applied to four jobs. Three of them were sous chef positions mm-hmm. , and one was the executive past chef position at Esca.

[00:54:49] Wow. And the only one I got a call back from was David Esca. Wow. And I set up a tasting with Dave from Esca for this executive Patriot chef position, which I was not really in [00:55:00] a, I I didn't have the experience, especially managing people. Like I, I was like a one woman show everywhere. Yeah. Like, I worked at a lot of different places and I had experience, but it was all like, I did everything myself kind of thing.

[00:55:10] Yeah. I didn't have to manage anybody. and I, I did the tasting and I remember I did the tasting and, you know, some things like went wrong, like my cake didn't wanna unmold, but I was like, oh, it's okay. I gotta put the whipped cream on top, you know? Yeah. And I remember the space was so small and there's like fish scales flying, and at the end of this, I, at the end of the tasting, I, you know, I gave Dave the food.

[00:55:31] I remember being like, man, I am so outta my

[00:55:34] Tyler: league right now. Was was it like Top Chef? Was it like, you know, here's our meal, what I've prepared for you with your arms behind your back, and like

[00:55:41] Tracy: a, a little, a little, you know, I had like, he, you know, you had like x, Y, and Z to make, and then he was sitting at the bar, and then I had to present to him in between lunch and dinner service.

[00:55:50] And, you know, I, I felt like fine about what I made, but I think I had the realization. I'm like, this was like really a great experience. But I know I'm like way, way in over my head. [00:56:00] I'm like, but I'm really glad I did this. This was like super eye-opening and I think I can do this one day. And, uh, you know, I, I came back to talk to him, um, at the end of the, his last dish that I gave him.

[00:56:11] Yeah. He was like, this was really good. He's like, why don't, why don't you get changed and we'll talk? And I was like, okay. All right. So I got changed. I was like, I think he liked it. . I think he, maybe this

[00:56:20] Tyler: went better. What'd you make him? Um, do you mind if I

[00:56:22] Tracy: ask? So you had to do, uh, a plated dessert. Um, one kind of gelato I did.

[00:56:29] Um, which was kind of like sophisticated, an old lady, but I, I went that route on pur on purpose. I did for the gelato. I. bourbon prune. Ooh. So it was, um, the prunes were soaked in bourbon, and then there was bourbon in the base with vanilla. And, um, it was an upside down apple cake for the plated dessert with salted caramel, caned, walnuts, and then whipped cream to cover up the cake.

[00:56:52] That didn't. I got a little Dr.

[00:56:53] Tyler: It's got a little d Sorry. Understandable.

[00:56:55] Tracy: And I, I think I had to make like a cookie or something. I don't remember the rest of it. But those two [00:57:00] things I, I remembered and then, you know, I got changed and he's like, so, uh, that was good. That was good. What uh, what are you doing on Thursday?

[00:57:08] And I'm like, what am I doing up? I was like, uh, nothing. Why? What's going on on Thursday? And he was like, why don't you come in for dinner? And as soon as he said that, I was like, oh my fucking God, I'm gonna get, he, I got this job and he wants me to come eat here cause I've never eaten here to know where I'm about to work.

[00:57:25] And I'm like, oh my God, . Wow. And I made the, he made the reservation for my husband and I to come in and we had a three and a half hour meal. Uh, like, I don't even know how many courses. Like, and Dave, like Dave is, he's such an incredible chef. But he, he's for people that don't know, he is the first, um, American chef to make crude.

[00:57:48] He's the first chef in America to make crude. Now you see crude and it's basically like fucking seviche. Yeah. It's got like pomegranate in soy and like 50 different ingredients. Yeah. Like Dave went to Italy with [00:58:00] Joe Bas and Mario Batali, and they drank grappa and got fucking wasted and discovered crude.

[00:58:04] And he brought it to America like 20 something years ago. Wow. And now like every chef makes crude . Um, but it was, it was intimidating. So all of a sudden I had this, this job with this like really well known chef at a, at a New York Times three star restaurant. Yeah. That was very busy. And I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.

[00:58:22] Wow. Um, and, but it was, and he knew that he, he knew my experience and like he really took a chance hiring me. And he would, you know, food cost was not a thing. It took, it was hard at first. It took a while to like change over the menu and to develop a style. Like you can know how to cook, but like, as far as being able to take different flavors and components and put them together where it works and make sense over and over again, like, that's really hard.

[00:58:46] Like, not everybody can do that. Even if you can like, technically cook. Not everybody like has it in their like mind to be able to like do that and have the creativeness or the creativity to do that and to like make it or like really understand [00:59:00] flavors. And he, like, he would order, like, he'd be like, here's a case of rambutans.

[00:59:04] Like, make something with it. I'm like, what the fuck? Fuck is, what's a rambutans? A rammon is like, it looks like a hairy leche. Yep. I've seen them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, and then he, so he challenged me by just getting me these in. And telling me to work with them and like playing around with them. And then also it was a challenge because, um, most places, you know, you wanna make raspberry sorbet, you order like containers of fruit puree and you add sugar and blah, blah, blah.

[00:59:28] You have raspberry sorbet and everybody's raspberry tor sorbet tastes exactly the same. Um, but we use no puree. So like it's, most people don't think like, okay, I'm gonna make something with, you know, mango. Yeah. Like how many people know how to cut a mango? Maybe mango's not the best, but like, it's hard ,

[00:59:45] Tyler: but mango is hard cut.

[00:59:46] Yeah. Like, I passion

[00:59:47] Tracy: Screw it up. People don't think about it until you go to cut it. Like, oh, I'm gonna make something with peaches. Do I like, do I cook it? Do I not cook it? Do I leave the skin on? Do I take the skin off? Does it have to be right? Does it have, does it have to not be right? Didn't

[00:59:58] Tyler: it? I was reading also like, [01:00:00] it's like there's like 18 seasons in a year almost when it comes to all the different ingredients.

[01:00:05] Tracy: Is that something? Yeah, there's definitely micro seasons. Micro seasons, yeah. Super into like the very like season, like the seasonality. Like it's not just, you know, fall, winter, et cetera. Like there's, you know, like the very beginning of spring and, and Dave like really, um, like he really, really embraced that.

[01:00:23] And we got really great ingredients from all these different farmers. Like I have, this actually just hung this picture on the wall the other day when I, somebody gave me that picture, um, years ago when I worked at Esca. It's a photo of like the side entrance of Esca. and there were these two farmers, uh, Charlie and Lana that would come from Hudson Valley Upstate.

[01:00:45] Mm-hmm. . And they would sell things in the back of their truck, but they owned a farm. So we would buy cases of things from them every day and they would come down. And then when they came every Friday, Dave and I would go shoot the shit with them. And Yeah. Um, when I got the photo it was like, this photo sucks, you know, whatever.

[01:00:58] But now that, like ESCO's closed. Yeah. [01:01:00] And I don't even know if Charlie and Lana are alive anymore. Yeah. And I'm like, this is an awesome photo. I'm gonna like hang it up. But like, yeah, just like having these like really fresh ingredients to work with and like figure it out. And, um, yeah. And I was having a really hard time at first and he, he went away.

[01:01:15] He went to like Licia Spain, or as he would say when he came back, COIA, . I was gonna take Leia, COIA Spade, , and then everything is with the list for like months after that. I'm like, I get it. He went to Spain, Dave, I get it. I get it. .

[01:01:28] Tyler: Yeah. You're into the catalunian type of Spanish. Okay. Whatever. .

[01:01:32] Tracy: And I was like having a really hard time getting the old desserts off the menu and I'm like, here I am.

[01:01:37] I like, feel like a failure. My pastry chef at this new restaurant and I, I have the old pastry chef's desserts. I can't like make something that the chef like likes, but I also like, I just didn't get it. And like, you know, trying to do that your first time and then also. Throwing in Italian cuisine, cuz that makes it like very different.

[01:01:52] Yeah. Like they have like a different kind of like, style. It's like more rustic, which makes it like a little hard for like a fine dining restaurant. And he went [01:02:00] away and he came back and I worked on a bunch of things and I did a tasting for him. And I remember him smacking the table real hard, but like, cause that's like, he, that's, that's Dave.

[01:02:09] He's just like all day long. And he's like, that's what I'm talking about. You finally listened . And I'm like, ok. He's like, they're all going on the menu. And I'm like, great. Great. Um, and then, and then it got, it got like e I like got into a stride and it got easier from there as far as like creativeness.

[01:02:27] But

[01:02:28] Tyler: that must have been, that must have been so enjoyable though, because it's not monotonous, you know, it's always, you're always having to be pushed to create something

[01:02:37] Tracy: new. Yeah. And even it can be monotonous, like you can fall into that. Yeah. But like, you know, if you're, if you're making the same rhubarb dessert every rhubarb season, like you're not doing yourself any justice or the customers of the restaurant.

[01:02:51] Mm-hmm. . Um, cause you're not pushing yourself or your staff. You're not like learning anything new or trying anything different or like thinking outside the box more and you're not like progressing. Like [01:03:00] it's kind of this bad thing that I do. Like every time, you know, I'll be like running, running, running really busy and then all of a sudden when everything falls into place and it's like a well oiled machine, I'm like, okay, what's next?

[01:03:10] You

[01:03:10] Tyler: like, what can I throw a spanner in words, you know? All right, let's, let's shake it

[01:03:14] Tracy: up again. It sounds like a terrible idea and like a bad way to live your life, but that's kind of what I've always done,

[01:03:18] Tyler: like creative destruction. Yeah. , sometimes you have to destroy to, to recreate and, and build something new.

[01:03:25] Yeah. Which is kind of

[01:03:26] Tracy: beautiful. Like, I'm like, so it would be six years, um, in a couple days that the bakery has been here. Not in this spot. Thank you. Thank you. It's kind of crazy . Yeah. And I'm like, oh, I've finally got it to a place where like I can take two days off and like I have staff that can run it without me.

[01:03:42] Yeah. I can go to Costa Rica and they could still be open. I'm like, I wanna start another business. . That seems like a great idea.

[01:03:49] Tyler: Wonderful. You know, but I mean, that's, that, that's like your, your, your personality. That's your drive. Yeah. You know, that's what keeps you engaged. Otherwise, it, it will get [01:04:00] stale and you may end up resenting it then.

[01:04:01] Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Totally. Totally. I think that's really the key to, to a good work. I don't wanna say work-life balance, because that's not the case, but, but to being, to, to being passionate about what you do. Mm-hmm. is to be constantly trying to almost reinvent all the time. Yeah. I wanna ask then, like, how was that transition there at Esca with managing people and how did you, how did you learn to handle that?

[01:04:28] Because that's a, that's a whole new set of skill sets and. fucking

[01:04:35] Tracy: hard. Yeah. , I, I think that was probably the thing I had the hardest time with was managing, uh, I'm a strong personality, um, from New Jersey, , and I, and, but also, like, I don't, like I can be real good at confrontation. Yeah. But I don't really like it.

[01:04:50] Yeah. Um, and I try to avoid it. Yeah. But then I'll go from zero to 60. Um, so I had a hard

[01:04:56] Tyler: time. You keep it in until you

[01:04:58] Tracy: Yeah, exactly. Explode. Exactly. . [01:05:00] But it was, it was hard when I first started at Esca, um, it was just a team of two. I had to manage. Yeah. But even then, like there's a lot of different personalities, uh, in the kitchen and it was, it was really hard.

[01:05:11] And then being a chef that's not super confident and everybody knowing mm-hmm. Like they can, they can like, they can breathe that they could smell that not confidence. And then like, I'm, you know, I was, I was like 26 years old Wow. When I got hired for that job, or like 20, I don't know, maybe 27 still or something.

[01:05:28] And I look, when I was 27, I looked like I was 20. So , I would be like, you are that pastry chef. And like, they could feel like, and then I was like self-conscious and, you know, you don't want, you don't know how to like, really like tell somebody how to do something or how not to do something and you want it to come out.

[01:05:45] Right. Um, but you can't be friends or be nice to people cuz like they will, they will take advantage of you and they will walk all over you. Unfortunately, it's, and that's something that I learned, like you can't be friends with people. Like when I first started at North End Grill, I remember. , you're [01:06:00] an executive.

[01:06:00] Like this is like you're starting in a new place. Like you cannot be friends with people cuz this the, the lines are, there's no lines

[01:06:05] Tyler: drawn. You could be friendly. Yes, you can be friendly, but going out, hanging out, being buddy buddies, fraternizing is, is definitely you. There's a line. Yeah, absolutely.

[01:06:15] There's a line. Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I've learned, I feel like I, I learned a similar thing managing my family business. Like, you, you want to be their friends and then you realize I can't because they're totally gonna take advantage of that.

[01:06:26] Tracy: Yeah. And at the end of the day, like you're still the boss, which is still like, weird to think like, you know, I'll be showing like one of my work or something and they'll be like, I'm just nervous cuz you're here.

[01:06:34] And I'm like, it's still so weird to me to be like, I'm the person that's like, oh fuck, she's watching me . Oh my God. And I'm like, duh, don't be nervous. It's just me. Like one day they're like, you know, when you say that, it doesn't help. Yeah. I'm like, that's fair, . I'm like, that's, that's, that's fair. Um, and, and then, then I get to North End Grill and all of a sudden I have six people Wow.

[01:06:53] To manage. Wow. And like, it, you know, they're all women and that's like a whole nother level of like [01:07:00] hardness.

[01:07:00] Tyler: You said that I didn't .

[01:07:02] Tracy: No, no. I'm just being honest. It was really hard. Like, uh, you, like now I have like lots of female friends, like lots of all kinds of friends. Yeah. Like, everyone's my friend, but like younger, like, I had like all my friends work, I hung out with the dudes.

[01:07:13] Yeah. Like, I hung out with the dudes. Like, um, but yeah, it was, it's just, it's really, it was, it's hard managing people and there was no like book, nobody, like, you just have to do it and you have to make mistakes. trust people and not trust people and ask the right questions. And um, yeah. You just l learn.

[01:07:31] Uh, I worked for, um, chef Floyd Cardos at North End Grill. He was the chef that had hired me there. Mm-hmm. . And I remember we had to talk to one of my employees cause he had called out, but then had posted on Facebook that he had just gotten home at five in the morning, which the cook that covered for him was quick to show me that morning.

[01:07:48] Yeah. You know, chef Floyd was like, we gotta, we gotta talk to him. Yeah. I'm like, okay. So, you know, we go into like the private room to talk to. Not intimidating at all. And , you know, when we start talking and I'm like, I [01:08:00] realize, or Chef Floyd made me realize that I started arguing with him and he said to me and like, just one, one thing, but it really like resonated.

[01:08:08] And he was like, it's not a pissing match. Yeah. And I was like, you're right. It's not a

[01:08:12] Tyler: pissing match. Yeah. You're the one in charge. That's it.

[01:08:14] Tracy: You know? Yeah. And like, I don't have to argue. Yeah. And that I, I just listen and Okay. I, you know, um, this is really hard managing people and, and not in even working with other ex executives and other people is, is hard.

[01:08:29] Yeah. Um, well,

[01:08:30] Tyler: well you, you know, I imagine like you have to learn to communicate with, with a lot of those chefs, which Yeah. Could be challenging in itself already.

[01:08:40] Tracy: Yeah. And I feel like there's always kind of this like pastry versus savory thing, um, at most places. Like, uh, it, it's separate. you like, oh, you know, oh, you, you wanted this butter for tomorrow.

[01:08:56] Oh, we're not gonna, we don't need that. And then I'm like, well, where's the butter? And they're like, oh, we needed to [01:09:00] save money. I'm like, okay, well how am I supposed to make your waffle batter? Yeah. Like, um, yeah, there's like this disconnect. And it's hard too because, um, pastry is very different from savory.

[01:09:11] Yeah. And, uh, depending on what kind of mood the, the executive savory chef of the restaurant is, um, they might not like understand what you're doing. And not to say that the piece chef is always right, but it's just different. It's like this different kind of thinking, and it's hard to see eye to eye a lot.

[01:09:26] Well,

[01:09:26] Tyler: being a, like a, a savory chef mm-hmm. , I imagine it's a little, it can be a lot less, um, precise. Mm-hmm. , you can, you can ad hoc and ad lib, um, on the spot with a lot of things. Yeah, absolutely. Whereas pastry, it feels like it's way more precise. Yes. And you need specific ingredients. You can't just substitute certain things because the thing may not rise without it or it may not, you know, you know, have a certain texture then that you need for that to be the proper pastry.

[01:09:59] Right. [01:10:00] Definitely. Definitely. It, it, that, that. . That's why I suck at cooking pastries. I've never been good at math and I'm not very precise, and I just like to throw things in and be like, that tastes good, .

[01:10:12] Tracy: You know? Yeah. You definitely need some, some patience and have to, um, discipline too. Discipline. Yeah.

[01:10:17] And you gotta like work within the guidelines, but also you need to be able to think quickly on your feet. Um, like, okay, we don't have this ingredient. Yeah. Like, well, we gotta figure something out. Or which may, that may not always be possible. Or like, oh, like dried reasons. We don't have those, but why can't we use cranberries?

[01:10:34] Mm-hmm. , maybe it's like something simple like that. Mm-hmm. . Or maybe it's like, oh, something really not simple, but yeah. It's definitely like a different kind of mindset on how to think about things.

[01:10:44] Tyler: I wanna ask then you, you, you had also the experience of working at the Union Square Hospitality Group and Danny Myers is like, he's so influential.

[01:10:55] Yeah. You know? Yeah. I mean, shake Shack is, you know, has [01:11:00] changed the game with like, a lot of fast food Yeah. And everything. And I'm, I'm curious like what impact that had on, on your skillset, you know, had on, because it's a very, it's a very, um, he goes for this very warm hospital environment, right? Mm-hmm.

[01:11:16] like, it's very customer-centric. Yeah. You, you find

[01:11:18] Tracy: the Yes. Yeah. . Exactly. It, it's like the thing. Yeah. You find the, yes. Um, so I, so originally, um, you know, I was at Esca for four years. Yeah. I was just kind of like ready to like, do, you know, go and do other things. And like I, four years is a long time for a pastry chef to be at a restaurant.

[01:11:36] Cuz like people, they move around and it's just like what we do, like onto the next kind of thing, project, whatever. Also the restaurant life, the lifespan of a New York City restaurant is some, is a lot of times not that long. In ESCO's case, it was very long. Yeah. Um, but I don't know. I was at this point and I, I wasn't, I was thinking about leaving.

[01:11:53] Um, and, but you know, it didn't really make any moves. And then, um, one of my peers, um, a [01:12:00] writer and another pastry chef, um, Shona Lighton mm-hmm. messaged me and, and I had looked up to her. I only knew her from like social media cuz social media was like kind of new then, like Twitter just came out. Yeah.

[01:12:10] Which is Banana Instagram just came out, which was crazy. And she was like, Hey, she's like, gram Mercy tavern's hiring a pastry chef, looking for a pastry chef. Um, you know, myself and a couple other pastry chefs thought of you and no pressure, just wanted to like, I can hook, I can put your name in there if you want.

[01:12:27] And I was like, I thought about it. I was like, wow. And then, and then I like, thought about it and I was like, oh my God. Yes. Like that's the next step. Like I wanna be the pisha chef at Gramsy Tavern. Like my, like Americana kind of like nostalgic. I'm like, I can do this. And, and I, I had her. Of put me in touch with somebody that got me in touch with the executive chef at Gramercy Tavern.

[01:12:49] And, and I had read Danny Meyer's book mm-hmm. . And I was like, I wanna work for Danny Meyer. Like, I wanna find the Yes. And I wanna, you know, I wanna work for this incredible group. And I [01:13:00] somehow made it to, um, I had, I spent a lot of time at Grammarcy. I did, I did a tasting, uh, and it went very well. And it was like me and another, um, very successful peer of mine who ended up getting the job.

[01:13:12] And he was, he, but this is the thing, he was the better chef for the job. Yeah. And he's just leaving now. And that was like 10 years. Wow. But when I, when I thought I was getting the job, and I told Dave and he was like, totally pissed off and put my job on Craigslist, like five minutes later. Holy shit. But then when I told him that I didn't get the job, he was like, ah.

[01:13:31] He's like, I was rooting for you. And I'm like, I, I appreciate that . But then I was also out of a job . Yeah. Um, but I, like, I was crushed when I didn't get that job and I didn't understand why I didn't get that job. But now I look back and like, I see what I created here. And like, there was a reason things happened for a reason.

[01:13:49] Yeah. There was a reason why I didn't get that job. And I, I just don't think I would've. the right person for it. But I did end up working for Danny Meyer North End Grill. Yeah. Um, in Battery Park. [01:14:00] Um, was looking for a pastry chef and Floyd Cardo was the chef. Yeah. And I, I knew him from like TV shows and I was like, he seems so cool.

[01:14:07] So, you know, I was like, okay, I'll do, I did a tasting two days after grammar seek. Cause I didn't wanna put all my eggs in one basket. Yeah. Did a lot of tastings. But, um, I actually like turned down Chef Danielle for two jobs during this whole process. Um, . But, so I, um, where was I

[01:14:27] Tyler: sorry, you, you ended up going to

[01:14:29] Tracy: do tasting?

[01:14:30] Yeah, so I did a tasting at North and Grill, and that went really well. I didn't get the job at Gram Sea. And, uh, you know, chef Floyd was like, what are you doing? Come here. Are you coming here? Yeah. We would love to have you. And I was like, okay. Okay. . That's awesome. So I, you know, I started at North on Grill and um, and it was awesome.

[01:14:47] Like, you know, they had all these like, really cool classes and it was like, and not inauguration, it was like, um, oh, your manager day, you go out to eat and like you drank the Kool-Aid. I drank the [01:15:00] Kool-Aid. I was like, really? It's culty, almost like really into the Kool-Aid. And

[01:15:04] Tyler: it sounds like almost like certain people who go to work at like Patagonia or whatever, you just become, it's like a community that you become part of almost,

[01:15:12] Tracy: right?

[01:15:12] Yeah. Yeah. And after I work there for a while, yeah. I started to see things that I'm like, wait a minute, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid if I don't wanna drink the Kool-Aid anymore. What I read in the book and like what we're talking about, I'm not seeing Mm. And I'm like, I don't, I'm like seeing a disconnect and like, and then Chef Floyd left and another chef came on and um, that was hard.

[01:15:38] Everybody working with the new chef and I, I just started to not wanna drink the Koolaid anymore. Mm-hmm. And I saw a completely different side of it that I wasn't, I was like really surprised and like, kind of bummed too, because in my mind that was like, you go and work for that company that's than like you're at the, it's like, it's like them and Danielle, you know?

[01:15:59] Yeah. Like, you're at the [01:16:00] pinnacle. Um, and I, I hated it. Wow. I started to hate it and I don't know if it was cuz it was under a different chef, you know, I think that the, the dif the new chef that came in, that had a lot to do with it, but it just wasn't, you know, there was favoritism and like, sometimes finding the Yes all the time does not make sense.

[01:16:20] Like, somebody wants to squish their sauce for their steak. We don't have wishes or sauce like the sous chef leaving the line and taking 35 minutes to make wishes or sauce. That probably sucks. It's probably not the best. Yes. No. Like, I don't know, like, I can't think of like super good examples. The

[01:16:38] Tyler: customer isn't always right.

[01:16:40] Customer isn't always right. When, when I would adjust people's skis and bindings, you know, , it's like, This little kid is telling me they're an expert, you know, and they've only skied at Bel Air. You know, you're like, all right, come on. Your did den Really shouldn't be cranked up to 10. Solaris still open.

[01:16:58] What is be air still open? [01:17:00] Yeah. Oh yeah. Love Bel Air. It's like, sorry. It's the most affordable mountain, you know, I think. Oh, okay. Yes.

[01:17:05] Tracy: It's, it's a state run mountain. That's where everybody goes because on the weekends, uh, hunter and Wyndham is, Windham is the one. Yeah. And it's too expensive. It's like 160

[01:17:13] Tyler: bucks.

[01:17:14] It's crazy now. It's crazy. An epic

[01:17:15] Tracy: pass. You know, that's why I stopped, I stopped snowboarding, honestly, when I like stopped working at, at the shop, because I didn't ride. It's too free. And like, but then that's where surfing came to play. Well, I was,

[01:17:26] Tyler: I was getting to this like, where, how did surfing enter your life?

[01:17:30] Then let's get into the real interesting stuff, you know, , bro. So

[01:17:33] Tracy: this is swell season, right? Not a, this is chef's table. . No,

[01:17:37] Tyler: no, exactly. .

[01:17:38] Tracy: So I, so I, the first time I went to Costa Rica a million years ago, it was probably like 12 years ago at this point, with my, my husband, we had taken a surf lesson in like Montezuma.

[01:17:48] Mm-hmm. . And, you know, we were being pushed into waves and like, I fucking loved it. Yeah. Like, I loved it. But growing up when I was younger, I. A month at Orley Beach, um, which is right north of Seaside Heights. Yeah. For a [01:18:00] month, every summer. Awesome. Like three houses from the beach. My family rented this house like every year, and I look forward to it.

[01:18:06] I would fucking cry in the station wagon every year when we left, I'm like, you just can't wait for next year. And like, love the water, love the ocean, like love the beach, just being around it. And I was a big, uh, body boarder. Yeah. So, uh, the, um, Mike Stewart Mock 7 43 when it came out, which was, it was probably like a $300 fucking boogie board when I was like, dude, 11 years old.

[01:18:28] Fucking Amen. The first one. Amen. I still have it. That's awesome. You look, my world are coming in. Um, so I had that and I could do, you know, I could do a barrel roll and I could like do 360 s and like I understood. So you

[01:18:42] Tyler: had, you had that knowledge, that intimate knowledge of how a wave works and how to read it slightly.

[01:18:46] You know, I felt

[01:18:48] Tracy: super comfortable in the water and I actually, so in like seventh grade, I had a subscription to surfer and surfing. Yes. And I remember being in homeroom with my magazines. I had surfer and [01:19:00] surfing and I'm like flipping through, not reading anything. I'm not reading anything. I'm like, oh, I like these reefs.

[01:19:04] These reefs are really cool . Like, I didn't read, I remember reading U Boots, you know? Yeah, exactly. One of like, the only articles I read was about Duck di like big wave duck diving. And I had no idea what that meant, but I read the whole article and I'm like, yeah, don't diving. That's, that's it. And I remember I was reading the magazines in homeroom and the person behind me was like, whoa, do you surf?

[01:19:24] No, but I'm gonna and my parents would not buy me a surfboard. Like I grew up going to like, remember Gros? Yeah, yeah. Brave

[01:19:33] Tyler: New World. Oh well. Brave New World. All these awesome. Still great. Oh. Oh, still there? Oh, I gotta get down there. Yeah, they

[01:19:39] Tracy: would like Max, I would, I would go and I'd be like, mom, dad, this surfboard.

[01:19:43] And they're like, no, you're gonna fucking kill yourself. You're not surfing. So I was not allowed to surf. So then I took this surf lesson when I was 25 years old. You know, like everybody else that lives in Rockaway used start surfing when you're like having a midlife crisis. Of course. .

[01:19:56] Tyler: Or, or, or for a quarter life

[01:19:57] Tracy: crisis.

[01:19:57] Quarter life crisis, yeah. [01:20:00] and um, My first day at North End Grill, I'm standing in the family meal line after I said to myself, I'm not talking to anybody, I'm not gonna be friends with anybody. Um, my now best friend Meredith was behind me in Family Meal Line and she's like, what's your top three favorite movies?

[01:20:14] Like, try, because she knew it was my first day and like the, and the GM was like, yeah, what's your top three favorite movies? And we started talking, say Blue Crush. No, I did not. I actually never saw Blue Crush until I met Meredith and she made me watch it . But um, so we started talking about movies and bands and she's like, I love that movie.

[01:20:29] And then somehow surfing came up. She's like, oh, I drive out to Rockaway to surf. And I was like, I wanna surf. She's like, we should go to Rockaway to surf. I'm like, yeah, let's do that. So her and I became friends. The only one I became friends with, um, you know, that was the only fraternizing area I did. But we would come out here in the morning before work and honestly, we, I didn't know what we did for like three years.

[01:20:49] I think we just like rolled around in Whitewater. Like I, I bought for the first board I ever bought, I bought in bringing teen New Jersey. It was um, a Ron John six, four fish. [01:21:00] Very,

[01:21:00] Tyler: very nice.

[01:21:01] Tracy: That's nice Ron, because you learn, cuz you learn on a six four. Of course, that's the best thing to learn on. There's no instruction

[01:21:06] So I think for three years we like rolled around in the whitewater. We'd be stuck in traffic on the way to North End Grill. She'd be like, oh, can you call them and tell them we're gonna be late? I'm like, I'm an executive. I don't have to tell anybody if I'm gonna be late, but I'll call and tell them that you're gonna, you're gonna be late

[01:21:20] And I'd be like, rinsing my wetsuit out. And like the prep sink or like the GM would be like, Tracy, there's fucking sand all over the damn office. Like your fucking wetsuit. She's like, you're fucking wetsuit.

[01:21:30] Tyler: She like, sorry, this is salt that I'm gonna add to my flavors. Okay. , .

[01:21:35] Tracy: Um, and I don't know, at some point I think I was like so bad that I like, was like, I should get better and like realize what everybody else was doing.

[01:21:42] And yeah, I'd see like Deion in the water and Deion would be like, we'd be hanging out like at someone house, someone's house afterwards. And he'd be like, and then I'd look up and fucking Tracy is about to drop in on a closeout on my fucking head. Dion. If I knew I don't clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing.

[01:21:58] And he knew that, you [01:22:00] know, but somehow I. Just started trying and paying attention. And did you become

[01:22:05] Tyler: a Deion disciple?

[01:22:06] Tracy: No, actually . I, I, I like, I love Deion. Dion's great. Uh, I love feeding him. Yeah. Um, I, I've done, I did a trip in Costa Rica during the Pandemic, um, with his brother Andrew. Yeah. Um, ranch.

[01:22:19] Ranch, Andrew Rancho Andrew. Yeah. Which I didn't stay there. Um, but he would like pick me up every day. We'd surf and, and it was awesome. And actually, like, my husband and I ended up like really getting along with Andrew and his wife Tessa. And like, we, we have actually have to, like, sometimes we're like, we can't hang out with them because we are like, not gonna get, we like didn't get on a plane one day.

[01:22:39] We like, literally were like, we're not gonna get on this plane. They convinced us to not get on a plane. Um, so I've, I've done, um, I did a week with, uh, Andrew Dion's brother, but Dion's always really nice and like he'll, you know, he'll be like, Hey, I got this picture of you Nice. And I'm like, wow, cool. Or he'll be like, do this more.

[01:22:55] Don't fucking do that. Or like, what? And I'm like, okay. And honestly, like if anybody in the [01:23:00] water says like, gives me advice nicely with like a nice delivery, of course, I am very thankful for that. Yeah. Because, I'm not an expert, you know, like, I really like it and I, I, I wanna get better. It's, I'm, I'm not gonna go pro or anything, you know, but like, it's always nice to

[01:23:14] Tyler: improve, you know?

[01:23:15] Yeah.

[01:23:16] Tracy: You know? Absolutely. Like, it's, it's nice getting like tidbits from people that actually know how to surf and they're nice. Um, as long as it's

[01:23:22] Tyler: not patronizing, you know, that's the thing, right? It's like, oh, hey, surfer girl. You know? Uh, you might wanna just like pat a little faster next time. Okay. .

[01:23:32] Tracy: Well, that's, a lot of times you'll get like, you, you know, and they, they're like the machismo guys in the water, and they'll do it to each other too.

[01:23:40] Of course. It's, they're, they don't realize that they're doing it to a female, but when you're like, it's your wave and there's 10 people watching you and you're going to paddle for it, and maybe it's not a two to three day, maybe it's a little bit bigger, and they're like, go, go. Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle.

[01:23:55] Like, that's not helpful. Like Yeah, I know. I know. I have to fucking paddle. Oh, I have to paddle. Really? [01:24:00] Wow. Thanks. Like,

[01:24:01] Tyler: note to self . Uh, yeah. Like don't hoot people on, I guess now. No, no. Hooting people, people

[01:24:07] Tracy: honestly get it. Go who're. Just like paddle harder. Paddle. No, don't tell me to paddle harder. like, no.

[01:24:13] What did you do? Like, not that you really listen in the moment, like you kind of listen, but it, it

[01:24:18] Tyler: distracts you a little bit. You can, yeah, for sure. Yeah. It's distracting. It's distracting. . See, and your husband too, then surfs, so, no, no, no.

[01:24:25] Tracy: He, so he did the lesson with me, but after that he just, Wasn't like super into it, but also like, as you probably know, you know, you people will go, you know, you go to surf in Costa Rica and like somebody takes you somewhere and like they push you into wave.

[01:24:39] Like, that is so different from like going out surfing on your own, which I think people realize pretty quickly , um, that it's real different and, you know, we moved here and like Rockaway is very about surfing. Yeah. Which I think is cool. And also it could be a little much mm-hmm. . Um, especially when somebody doesn't surf.

[01:24:57] Tyler: Oh gosh, yeah. Had my wife . [01:25:00] She doesn't want to hear about it sometimes,

[01:25:02] Tracy: you know. Yeah. Or even when you do surf sometimes it's like, oh, okay. I'm not like, you know, like Alright. Right. Those other things. So they, uh, he, he does not surf, but he is very supportive. Um, we're really good like on vacation together.

[01:25:15] Yeah. Like, we'll go to Costa Rica for a month. He'll be like, what time are you surfing today? Like, you know, we only have one car like I. What am I gonna bury the fucking keys in the ground and forget where I buried them? Cuz that happens . Um, it does. Yeah. I buried Cologna. I was in, um, I was in Tamarindo like last year.

[01:25:32] I'd never, I'd been like everywhere in Costa Rica, I'd never been to Tamarindo. And we only had a week. We're like, fuck it, let's go, let's check out this tamarindo place that everybody says is not that cool. Um, so we're at the chamber and, uh, I wanted to go to Ply Grande. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, you just, you know, you swim across the river and you take the boat back.

[01:25:47] It's like, you know, a thousand colonies or whatever. I'm like, okay, cool. So I like took some co colonies and it was low tide when I was going out there and I was by myself like a six two hyp crypto. And I was like, fuck it, I'm just gonna, I didn't know what I [01:26:00] was doing. I'm like, we're just gonna paddle across.

[01:26:02] So I paddle across, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna bury, bury my cos here for my boat ride back. So I surfed there for a little bit, uh, had a good time meet this like, really nice older man named Steve from Alabama. And Steve, uh, I was like, all right Steve, nice to meet you. And I'm like, I'm gonna go now. So I go and I'm trying to dig in holes, looking over like, damn cos and I can't find it.

[01:26:22] I'm like, there's like, I'm like a dog. There's holes everywhere. And I'm like, fuck, it's high tide. I have to swim across this damn river on a short bird with the fucking alligators, which I. I now, I think I would do it without worrying. Like, I don't think you're actually gonna get bit by an alligator right there.

[01:26:35] You never know. We're at the time. I was like, I dunno. I was like, fuck if I get bit by an alligator, my husband's gonna be so mad at me, he's gonna be like, I fucking told you so. And then my new friend Steve was like, Tracy, what you looking for? And I was like, I'm buried my colons for the boat ride back and I can't find him.

[01:26:50] He's like, how much? I was like, it's just like a thousand. And he's like, well that's not even enough to get on the boat. Wow. I was like, oh. He's like, I got you. Come on. I was like, okay, cool. Oh, that's nice. So then he [01:27:00] paid for my Cologna on the boat. Um,

[01:27:04] Tyler: but yeah. So your husband doesn't surf, but he surf. He's very,

[01:27:06] Tracy: he supportive.

[01:27:07] We'll go to Quick Rico. He'd be like, what time are you going? I'll drive you down the mountain. Cause I can't drive stick. I just hate driving

[01:27:12] Tyler: too. Me too. I can't drive stick either. He's fantastic. I know. And then

[01:27:15] Tracy: like, you can't leave anything cause I know it's stolen and Ugh. Um, yeah, it'll be like, oh, he'll hold my phone and he'll be like, okay, what time should I pick you up?

[01:27:22] like, awesome . That's awesome. Yes. It's,

[01:27:25] Tyler: it's nice. So how, when was, when was that moment then when you guys decided, uh, we're moving to Rockaway? How did that come about? Because that's like, that's a big thing. It's a big step. It's a big thing. It was like a, you're leaving the city life to a certain extent.

[01:27:40] You're not quite Long Island or New Jersey, you know, like in a suburbs, but it, it, it's a little bit more of a

[01:27:46] Tracy: trip. It's definitely farther. Yeah. It's totally farther. As my dad would say, it's $34 in tolls each way. . That's how, that's how he would tell you how much further it is. Well, I, you know, I was coming out here and surfing or rolling around in Whitewater[01:28:00]

[01:28:00] Yeah. And, you know, I just like really enjoyed how, how much, when I surfed, um, I didn't think about work and it was like one of the few things that I could do in my life. Um, at the time being a pastry chef that I could really just focus on surfing. Mm-hmm. . And I wasn't like thinking about the menu or work or like whatever it may be about work.

[01:28:21] It was like literally the only time I can like relax. It was like my zen my time. And then even like being near the water and out here, like I always wanted to live at the beach, but never thought that that would be a viable option. Right. Um, and I'm like, man, how can I have like more of a separation when I leave this crazy Manhattan restaurant environment?

[01:28:39] And then I get back to Fort Green Brooklyn and like, I can't even walk my dog cause she's like eating chicken bones and there's like 30 other dogs in the same block and it's like loud and concrete everywhere. I'm like, how can I like come home and be like, Ah, like, I feel like I'm not working. Mm-hmm. and I feel relaxed and like myself.

[01:28:55] Um, and I was like, wow, you know what, if I moved out here, [01:29:00] you know, I'd be floating in the water in the sixties and Arn by the sea was just being built. And they're those like the pipes were there. Yeah. And I'm like, I wonder how much these are, these are kind of nice. And yeah. I looked into it and at the time they were cheap as fuck.

[01:29:12] Uh, they were very affordable, like a thousand dollars cheaper than when I was paying for a one bedroom in Fort Green, Brooklyn. Yeah. Which Fort Green is like bananas. Yeah. Um, and I somehow convinced my husband to move out here, . And yeah, like a year later we, we moved out here and, um, I think it was like super important and awesome for my wellbeing.

[01:29:32] Tyler: does your husband, like, what is, uh, his work now? What does he, does he work from home or is he, did he have to do the commute into the city as

[01:29:39] Tracy: well? So he was doing the commute for a while. He was driving in, um, he was, um, at the time he was working for, um, John Varvatos was a fashion designer. Yeah. Had his own label.

[01:29:49] So he ran his label Oh wow. For him. Um, and then he also, uh, did a and r for, uh, various major record labels, like, um, [01:30:00] universal and Island. Def Jamy. Oh. Like, like Jay-Z gave him a pair of shoes. Sweet. What S Carters, is that what they're called? . Um, so he was doing that when we first moved out here. And then, uh, pandemic kind of like messed up a lot of music stuff.

[01:30:13] And, um, he, so after pandemic he started doing tour managing, so now he's a music tour manager. So he's home a lot. Yeah. Until he is not home. So he'll go on tour for weeks at a time with various bands. Uh, yeah. It's, it's cool. Um, that is awesome. Yeah, so right now he's working with like three, four bands and um, you know, he'll be home for a couple weeks and he's home with our 14 and a half year old dog.

[01:30:37] Mm-hmm. . And he, he, he helps with the bakery. Like he'll do the Restaurant Depot and he does a lot of like the computer stuff that I can't do , uh, um, and then other than that, yeah, he'll, he'll go, he'll be traveling across Lake, um, the US or um, maybe it might be like a European tour. . Yeah.

[01:30:55] Tyler: Building up those miles for you guys.

[01:30:57] Yeah. Yeah. .

[01:30:58] Tracy: Yeah. I definitely, [01:31:00] uh, you like for my 40th birthday this year, like he was starting a tour and the first date was in Key West. He's like, well, let's go early. Yeah. Like my flight's paid for, I got the hotel as a discount, so we went to Key West for my 40th. Sweet. Yeah. So there's definitely pers I get to go to shows all the time and I feed, I like to, I'll bring like, you feed them, I feed the bands.

[01:31:19] Yeah. , I like to bring boxes of pastries. Um, like the, one of the bands he's working with, the Fruit Bats. Um, I love the Fruit Bats. Yeah. I love them too. Amazing. I didn't know where they were until he started working with them. Now I'm like, oh my God. They're, I

[01:31:31] Tyler: love their stuff.

[01:31:32] Tracy: It's amazing. Yeah, they're so good.

[01:31:34] So they, they're playing a show, um, on four 20, uh, at Music Hall Williamsburg, but they played last year and I brought them a box of like weed leaf shaped cookies. Mm-hmm. , but they didn't, they didn't have any weed in them. It was just, it was four 20. So I was like, oh, give them weed cookies. And then I thought about it and I was like, wait a minute, Alex is like backstage with walkie-talkies.

[01:31:51] And I was like, Alex, make sure they know that there's no weed in the cookies. He was like, that's a good point. I should tell them. . That's awesome. [01:32:00] Yeah, so it's, it's nice. He has, you know, like the bakery is Rockaway, I should say. In January he is like dead. So I closed this year, the whole month in January.

[01:32:09] Yeah. So him and I just like hung out with our old ass dog, like, just like did nothing and everything like it was awesome. So we have like similar downtime and similar busy times. So

[01:32:20] Tyler: what was the breaking point for you? , uh, when you decided like I'm over this high-end dining scene, like

[01:32:28] Tracy: there was a bli, there was a blizzard, , and it was like a, a very defining moment.

[01:32:33] Yeah. Um, so there was a blizzard. Uh, I was working at Cook Shop, um, and I remember the day before I, I saw that there was a blizzard and I'm like, man, the A train is not like the, a train's not gonna run, you know? Yeah. And I said to one of the owners of Cook Shop and I said, you know, mark, I'm a little worried about getting to work tomorrow.

[01:32:52] And he's like, well, I can pay for your, your, I'm like, I'm, I'm a little worried about getting home cuz they're gonna shut down the subway. Yeah. With like, no, like, just [01:33:00] all of a sudden like, no warning. And he's like, well, well I can, how far is it I can get you an Uber? This man is from Manhattan. Yeah. He

[01:33:07] Tyler: doesn't get it.

[01:33:08] What I'm like and driving an Uber and a blizzard's

[01:33:10] Tracy: not funny. Right. And like that, the day of the blizzard, you were not allowed to drive. They shut down the subways at like X time and you weren't allowed to drive after five 30. Mm-hmm. And I, I remember being like, ah, I shouldn't go in. And that morning I, I had snowboard goggles and all my gear.

[01:33:23] I wore Snower pants and I remember I was on the a train going across Jamaica Bay and like, you couldn't even see all the windows. No. There was so much snow. And I was like, what am I doing? Like why am I doing this? You're gonna get stuck. And I got to work and I re, I had Twitter open on my phone and I kept re refreshing it cuz at the time that was actually the most up-to-date way to know what was going on with the train.

[01:33:42] And all of a sudden out of the blue, I'm just like, fuck Damnit. And everyone's like, what? I'm like, there's no fucking any trains. Well, you can take an Uber. I'm like, no, you can't take an Uber because you're not allowed to drive after five o'clock. Yeah. So, you know, then everyone's like, okay, we gotta like get the normal.

[01:33:58] People are like, we have to get the [01:34:00] staff home so they can, the staff can get home. Yeah. Cause they're shutting down the subway. And then I hear the chef and the owner being like, man, well we can keep a few people, we could really kill it on delivery tonight. And I'm like, no, this is not like a matter of making money.

[01:34:14] Yeah. Like, I can't even fucking get home right now. And I remember I had the next two days off and I was like, fucking leaving. I'm fucking, I like I was, I told my husband, I was walking home and he was like, you're not walking home. I'm, but I'm walking home. I don't care. Like I looked it up, it's, it's 17 miles.

[01:34:30] I'll be fine. . And he is like, I called JT and Whitney, our friends in Fort Green where we used to live. Yeah. He's like, they're expecting you . They're gonna go there. They have beers for you. And I'm like, I'm gonna walk. And then I ended up, I went there and I think I was like sleeping wasted by like seven o'clock that night.

[01:34:50] And my friend Meredith was also forced to work wherever restaurant she was working. And we were like, okay, the train's gonna start running the next day and we're gonna get on that first [01:35:00] train. So we like met up underground in the trains. And then at that time you could take the trains to like Euclid Ave.

[01:35:05] Mm-hmm. . And then we like got an Uber. And finally like a day later we got home. But I was like, what am I doing? Like what am I doing? Like this is not like, no. Like what am I doing? And then another really defining. was, I got home from work super fucking late and I, you know, just like a friendly neighborhood thing.

[01:35:23] Yeah. I always wave high to the gentleman that worked in the booth at that. Yeah. At the 60th train station. We always just wave high to each other. And you know, I came home that night, I waved high to him. The next morning I go to go to work and I wave high and he like, looks at me like puzzled with this like half high.

[01:35:39] Yeah. Like, what the fuck? And then I'm like, oh my God, he's still on his eight hour shift. And I'm like, I saw him coming home from work. Wow. And now I'm going back to work and I'm like, what am I doing? And I wasn't like rich. I actually like, I feel like being a woman, you know, they talk about like the pay disparity.

[01:35:54] Yeah. It's not the same. Like, I probably should have been making a lot really more money as a pastry [01:36:00] chef. And one of the reasons why I left U S H G was I was there for, um, two years winning awards and getting lots of press for the restaurant. Um, and they would not give me a raise . What? They would not gimme a raise.

[01:36:11] And I'm not even one to ask for a raise. Like, I don't know, I'll

[01:36:14] Tyler: get you to stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Yeah.

[01:36:16] Tracy: I mean, yeah, no. They're like, oh, well here's this really nice knife. I'm like, I don't want this. I'm gonna take this fucking knife and . I don't want the fucking knife. Show me the money. And like, I don't know.

[01:36:27] It was like, yeah. I was like, yeah. I was like, what am I doing? Like what am I, I'm like, this is, I'm not like happy I'm never home. I live in this awesome place that I don't get to enjoy. Mm-hmm. , I don't know anybody. Like I didn't have any friends here cause I was like always working and I didn't know anything.

[01:36:43] everybody would be like, oh, you've been to this place? I'm like, no. Or you know this person. I'm like, no. Like, what do you know? I'm like, nothing. I don't know anything. .

[01:36:51] Tyler: I just know surfing out at this beach and lic king in the water. Yeah. and getting turned in the white water. Yeah. I mean, so, so then [01:37:00] you, you, you quit and then did you have like a, a plan or was it kind of like, like kind of just you, you, from what I read, it sounded like you, you connected with Whitney AK of Wit's End.

[01:37:14] Tracy: I did. Um, so the one thing I had to look forward to when I got off of work on Saturday night, on my early night was like, I think I'd be showered and ready to go out at 9:00 PM Yeah. As my husband and I would go eat at Wits when it was like, which is delicious. The OG tiny spot next to, um, Playland.

[01:37:33] Playland, yeah. When Playland was open. Yeah. And, you know, my husband would be there every night, but I was working and we went and we became really friendly with wit and everybody that worked there and like, you know, thought it was like some of the best food in Rockaway. Definitely. Um, and we became friendly and wit had opened Slice of wits up at Reese and, you know, he's, he told me, he's like, you know, I wanna talk to you about this project at the marina.

[01:37:55] I'm like, marina what? Marina? I never, I, I didn't know anything . And I went to the marina with him [01:38:00] one day and we're standing in the shack.

[01:38:04] Tyler: She's walking across, she's getting a picture. Here we go. And it's this, uh, tiny little, uh, you know, shack here. There's no insulation. It's just wood. Yeah. It's basically

[01:38:17] Tracy: plywood is, it's kinda a shack at this little marina.

[01:38:20] Um, kind of like it though. It was awesome. And you can see, he's like, what do you think if we partnered on this space? He's like, you know, there's a lot of people that keep their boats here. I could have it in the morning and you know, or you could have it in the morning, you could do bakery, and then I could have it at night.

[01:38:36] Burgers. People will catch fish, bring it in. We'll grill or fish for him beers. And I was like, I don't know. And I was standing in this shack, like thinking about like what I've done to build my career up to this point. Mm-hmm. , uh, and like, you know, my salary and like I, my health insurance is paid for, my husband's health insurance is paid for.

[01:38:57] Yeah. All this like, security and cushion, you know, I'm [01:39:00] standing there and I'm, as I'm standing there, I watch the A train go across Jamaica Bay, the a train that I like dreaded getting on every morning. And I was like, I don't know. I don't know. Like, you know, I'm a very, um, regimented person. Yeah. Uh, so that was like, I was like, I don't know about that.

[01:39:18] And I was like, ah, thanks for the offer, but, uh, I don't think I can do that. You know? And I kept thinking about it. Thinking about it, but then the day with the blizzard. Yeah. And. The day where I saw the subway guy and I was like, what, what am I doing? And I'm like, you know what? Like, why couldn't I do that?

[01:39:35] Yeah. And I, I talked to Whit, I was like, whi, I was like, I wanna do it. Let's fucking do this. He's like, yeah, yeah, , okay. And I don't think he, he thought I was actually gonna do it. And then I remember going up to Reese Park and uh, I said to him, I was like, wait, I did it. He's like, what'd you do? I was like, I quit my fucking job.

[01:39:53] He's like, no way, bro. . I'm like, way, he like gave me a high five. And I think he was like, [01:40:00] oh shit, she actually did it. It's like, this shit's on when I, um, and then we started to plan the, the marina, which we called Old Man Chill. And um, you know, I, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We, we, we split a bunch of equipment, so it was an uninsulated shack and he's like, okay, first things first, we need water.

[01:40:18] I'm like, what do you mean we need water? He's like, there's no running water. I'm like, just running water . So I spent my first week off, um, from quitting my job, uh, digging, digging a hole, uh, three foot by six foot hole, um, next to water. So it's like gravel, uh, for the septic tank. So I, in like 95 degree weather, me and this guy Anton, that used to work at Wes, um, dug a fucking septic tank,

[01:40:42] And then the guy came and told us it wasn't big enough. dig it more. And then they put the water and they're like, okay, now we need a hot water heater. I'm like, hot. What? This is all these, these things I like never thought about. And then I'm like, okay, let's hook up the oven. So the electrician's like hook up the.

[01:40:58] There's, the only [01:41:00] way we're able to hook up the oven was to turn the power off in the whole marina to wow power this 50 watt electric oven . It was like, get an electric oven, single phase. I'm like, okay, single phase electric. I had no fucking idea. So this like, you know, couple thousand dollars oven, brand new, all shiny, could not use it.

[01:41:17] So I ended up, I would bake things in my apartment and then ride my bike with like two TJ Max bags full of containers, like to the marina six days a week. I was there from like seven to like 11 30, 7 to 12. And God, I would start out, I dunno, I just made some croissants and shit. Like, it wasn't like opening a croissant bakery was not the plan.

[01:41:37] Like I like my, I didn't want my arms to look like this. Like on purpose really?

[01:41:40] Tyler: There's two tickets to the gun show right there. Yeah.

[01:41:43] Tracy: Everyone's like, oh you must surf lot. I'm like mm-hmm. Surfing. Yep. That's exactly what it knock, not the door rolling. That's totally it. . Oh, and I would start out, you know, I'd be there with coffee just myself making coffee and mm-hmm i'd, I'd sell like one croissant.

[01:41:56] And like, it's funny cuz like I have the book that I write on the numbers in. Yeah. And it's [01:42:00] like the first like week, it's like $27, like $6, you know. But I was like, oh whatever. And then the fisherman started buying stuff and like there was like an article or two written famous Peach chefs opening a bakery in Rockaway.

[01:42:14] And here I am like hiding in a shack in a marina and. People started like looking for this secret bakery and out of respect for the marina and the people that had boats there, and just the whole like, culture that was there. Yeah. We didn't wanna ruin it for people so we wouldn't give out the address. I love that.

[01:42:28] The fucking New York Times, this woman from the New York Times called me to do a story and I was like, no, I'm sorry we can't give out the address. And now I'm like, fuck, I should have, what the hell's wrong with me? You know, they're like, we wanna do portraits of the fisherman. I'm like, man, you really fucked that one up.

[01:42:40] Tracy . But um, but you know, we didn't ruin this like really special place. Secret spot. Yeah. It was like a special place. Yeah. Like the, the people that had boats there, they're like, parents had boats there and like, I don't know, it's like this like weird special thing and like, I don't know, I love all like the old guys there.

[01:42:57] Like, it was like me and a bunch just seven year old man hanging out. I [01:43:00]fucking loved it. Like, and like 1130 would roll around and, you know, sell out of like the pastries and then, you know, old man Dee would be like, you wanna go to the Tamaqua and go on the boat ride? I'm like, yeah, let's fucking do it.

[01:43:10] And I'd come back from the boat ride and like Whit would have a band and there'd be a party at Old Man Chill. And like, it was like the best summer ever. It was, was really cool. You're

[01:43:20] Tyler: like John fau in that movie Chef or whatever, you know? I never saw it. God, I heard it's good. Oh my God, it's great. You know, but you're like that character almost like peak, you know, being that going from the, this high end peak cooking experience and then just being like, I'm in a fucking cook out of a, of truck or, or his shack, you know?

[01:43:40] Yeah. Just, and just, it's almost, but it's. this wonderful story of like starting fresh again and build, you know, you have that reputation already, which was great. That definitely super helpful. . Well, it definitely helps, you know, and also it doesn't hurt that you make great food, you know? . Yeah, . So, I mean, that definitely helps.

[01:43:58] And I also think like [01:44:00] we, we crave that underground thing, you know? Yeah. I think a lot of people, like, you know, we all love the idea of the speakeasy. Mm-hmm. , we all love the idea of discovering something that other people don't know. I mean, especially if you're a kid of the nineties, like you like bands that other people didn't know about it first, you know?

[01:44:20] Yeah. It was all about the underground. And then when they got popular, like, oh, they sold out, they're not cool anymore. They sold out, you know, posters, uh, yeah. You know, but that's kind of a very similar thing, and I think that's so cool that you've got to do that, you know, and you've got to, you know, kind of cut your teeth doing it in a really fun

[01:44:39] Tracy: way.

[01:44:39] Yeah. And it was really cool. And it was like really like interesting way to like connect with the community and just like know who people are. Mm-hmm. , like Whit would always be like, oh, this guy, that guy. I'm like, I don't know who that is. He's like, do you fucking know anybody? I'm like, no, I don't. No, I don't know anybody.

[01:44:54] And you know, if it wasn't for that, like I don't know how I would, I don't know if I would've met all [01:45:00] these people in Rockaway. Like now I like fucking know everybody. Yeah. Which is like, it's great. I love it. But like without that experience, I don't think I would've gotten that like real community aspect.

[01:45:10] Um, anyways, just like cool. Like it's not, it doesn't even sound real. Like I remember the health department one day, .

[01:45:17] Tyler: Sorry, I was gonna ask like, oh,

[01:45:20] Tracy: so another reason why we didn't wanna give out the address? Yeah. Cuz it was like a completely illegal operation. Yeah. Like clean and we were doing everything like fine, but like up to New York City standards, like not Okay.

[01:45:30] And I remember, um, Brian Otto, uh, yeah, yeah. Who, uh, has a bunch of auto shops and properties around, um, Rockaway. He came over to the parking lot of the marina where I was at the Best Buy. He's like, okay, don't, don't look, don't like, get nervous. He's like, but you see the guy over there talking to Nicki, the owner of the marina with the iPad.

[01:45:49] And I look, look up and I'm like, yeah. He's like, he's from the health department. And I was like, oh my God. He's like, I told you, don't get nervous. Don't, don't act like you see him. And I'm like, fuck. He's like, you just gotta get outta here. Get outta here. I'm like, ok. Ok. And [01:46:00] I remember closing the windows so fast in the shack and like, I actually had my Jeep that day.

[01:46:04] Wow. And I like was like, screw, I like peeled outta that parking lot. And I was like scared to go back. So I went, I was like, I can't go back. Whit was like, just go sell stuff at Reese for a day. Yeah. So I went and like sold stuff at Reese. Nobody knew it was there. I didn't make any money and I was like, shit, I gotta go back.

[01:46:19] And I went back and everything was. They never

[01:46:21] Tyler: found us . You're like, it's funny. Like it's, it's also interesting with the marina too, like you with Ben, Sergeant Dr. Claw. So it's a different marina. Yeah, I know. But it just like the whole, like, chefs being underground. Like he went for our listeners, if you're not familiar with Dr.

[01:46:40] Claw, you know, Ben Sergeant, this guy would drive around on a motorbike and would, would basically serve fresh lobster rolls off his motorbike , you know, it was the coolest thing, you know, it's like amazing. No, you, you had these underground food kind of semi criminal [01:47:00]esque, you know, where

[01:47:01] Tracy: did these like Marina Chef Rats come from?

[01:47:04] Yeah, I know, I know. You're super cool. I know it's weird, but totally like, look, I'd be like laminating, like croissant, like in a bikini drinking a fucking Coors Light. Like, like, it was like that's, it's just Tuesday. This is normal. Like, so

[01:47:17] Tyler: I'm surprised no one's approached you for like, uh, a screenplay. You know, like that's a, that's a whole show or

[01:47:23] Tracy: movie.

[01:47:24] I agree. Hey, I'm open. Uh, I read your story actually. Like I have this dream of writing a book and, um, you should, I have like six chapters done. Cause I got like, I have fucking stories. Like I got stories for days and not only like, like chef stories, like bartending stories, like. , you know, like, uh, that time I mentioned I got in trouble when I turned 18 deep d i stories, I didn't take care of it.

[01:47:47] And maybe I got pulled off of a plane coming back into the country when I was 24 and maybe I had to spend a night in jail. And that was a whole thing. And that's a whole chapter. And I made

[01:47:56] Tyler: all these friends in jail. Does that

[01:47:57] Tracy: happen? That's the true story. The [01:48:00] chapter's called Troubles. Um, . But yeah, so I, and it's, but it's fucked up cause I don't have a lot of free time and I don't think anybody else can write it cuz it has to come from me.

[01:48:09] Um, so the only time I actually write it is when I'm in Costa Rica. So once a year I write a couple chapters. But

[01:48:14] Tyler: you, you know what you do. What do I do? Get yourself a mic. The

[01:48:18] Tracy: voice. The voice thing. Right?

[01:48:20] Tyler: And you just start talking into it and then it'll translate it and then you can go back and edit.

[01:48:24] You know, that's,

[01:48:24] Tracy: yeah, I should do that. Cause it's much easier than

[01:48:26] Tyler: We better you start a podcast about it. , .

[01:48:29] Tracy: I'll leave, I'll leave that to you. . I'll leave the podcast to you.

[01:48:34] Tyler: Um, I wanna ask, like, you've been in Rockway now for some time. Yeah. And I'm curious, like, how do you feel about being part of the change in the area?

[01:48:45] Uh, what changes do you like, what, uh, changes are you apprehensive about?

[01:48:50] Tracy: So, um, if you've been to the bakery, you know, instead, very interesting area. Yeah. Um, it, it's not always the easiest area, uh, but I [01:49:00] really like where I am, um, because I, I don't wanna be the business that. Changes things, um, so that the neighborhood changes where all of a sudden like people can't like afford their rent cause the stupid hipster bakery moved in.

[01:49:15] Yeah. Like, that's not what I'm trying to do. Like my goal is to have a business where everybody can come to and where everybody can feel comfortable coming to. Like we have things, uh, everything's very affordable. Every Yeah. I mean, we have things from a, a dollar, you know, up to things that are not a dollar.

[01:49:29] Yeah. Um, so I, I like the idea that it's in a place where it's available to everybody and it's for everybody. Um, and I like where it is too, because like I'm right between like rippers and surf club and I, you know, it's right on the Boulevard and um, it's nice like, you know, you get out of the water. Like if I was on one 16th street, I don't know if like I'd be able to feed as many surfers.

[01:49:54] Yeah. Like, I like, like if I can't get in the water, I at least wanna hear about it and feed people that get to get some when I can't get some . [01:50:00] Um, so, you know, I think it's definitely changing. I think the development, like, you know, we need things. There's things that we need. Um, I think the rent in the housing is getting kind of crazy.

[01:50:16] Yeah. Like if I even, like for me right now, like if I had to move, like I rent, I don't own, if I had to move, like I wouldn't be able to afford a two bedroom like I have now because I've been in it for a few years. Yeah. Like the rent has gone off like really, really crazy. I know it's not just Rockaway. I know it's like a New York thing in general country.

[01:50:32] It's globally and everything. . So I guess I don't like, like the, the prices, like, I like Rockaway because it's so diverse. Like, I'd like it to stay diverse. There's things about it I don't like, I don't like, you know, it is divided. It's very diverse. Mm-hmm. , but also very divided. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I think some of that has to do with the infrastructure and just how fucking Robert Moses Yeah.

[01:50:56] Built things and how like, there's two different trains splitting the [01:51:00] peninsula. Um, you know, I don't know if that will ever change. I think that could change for the better. Um, I just hope that, you know, everyone that, um, is coming to Rockaway moving in just, um, realizes that this was a place before they got here.

[01:51:13] And, um, I think every, everybody embrace it. Yeah. Embrace it for what it is. And you know, I hear some people complaining like, it's so dirty. Like, yes, it's dirty, but what was that like? We're in fuck New York City. Yeah. Like . Yeah. But like, where, where in New York are you gonna go? That it's not dirty. Like

[01:51:29] Tyler: I don't think it's that dirty.

[01:51:31] I don't actually, you know, to me I'm like, it's windy. . It's windy. It's windy, it's a bit of dog poop. But, uh, you know, that's, that's, you know, pretty standard for New York. And to be honest, I see way less rats out here than I did in Brooklyn. That's true

[01:51:46] Tracy: actually. That's true. Um, I hope we can get more year round options.

[01:51:52] Yeah. But it's, you know, being a year round option, it's really hard. Everybody wants Rockaway to have more consistent things. Like I hear people. [01:52:00] You know, and I agree. Like, wow, we live on this peninsula and there's no fish store. Yeah. Like seafood store. But then like, here I am in in March and you think like, oh, it's not that slow.

[01:52:10] But I'm like, this is why we don't have a fish store. Cause if there was a fish store, they would be throwing their fucking fish out like every day. Yeah. Like Rockaway. So there's, I think I read there's like 230,000 people that live on the peninsula, but I don't know where 215,000 of them go January through March.

[01:52:26] Because it is, yeah, it's a seasonal beach town. But there's, there's a lot of people that live here full-time. But it's, it's crazy how different it is. Like I would, I would like it to be more consistent year round. Yeah. Because it is a year round residential place. It's not like the Hamptons. Yeah, it

[01:52:41] Tyler: is.

[01:52:41] You know, it, it's exactly. You know, it doesn't, like, I don't, I don't think, I mean, I don't know, but I don't think there's like a whole lot of air. I mean, there are some Airbnbs, but I think it's a lot harder nowadays to do that. And I don't know. It is, it is interesting, right? Like there's [01:53:00]definitely, since we've moved out here, I'm one of those people who have moved out here, , you know, but I've been coming here for a long time.

[01:53:06] Okay. Right, right. . But you know, it's definitely, you're like, oh, ah, this would be great if they had this here, or this would be really nice. And I think a lot of people would enjoy this, you know? Yeah. From all walks of life, you know, and I'm not hoping for more. High-end stuff even, you know, I want just like some basic things for, for some, for a lot of the people here, you

[01:53:26] Tracy: know?

[01:53:26] Yeah. But, and then, but I understand why we don't have those things. Yeah. Uh, I mean, you know, I closed for a whole month, uh, and I'm, I'd like to think that we're pretty consistent here. Yeah. Um, you know, with our hours and like staying open. But, uh, it is Rockaway's a very, very hard, um, town to do business in.

[01:53:43] I mean, New York City in, in general is hard, is really hard to be a small business. Uh, and then, you know, through Covid Covid and everything, and then the aftermath of Covid and you know, now inflation and all the things, uh, you just gotta roll

[01:53:58] Tyler: with it. It's, it's not easy [01:54:00] as a small business owner, is it?

[01:54:01] Yeah. Joe, um, I want to ask, there's a, a thing I read somewhere about the croissant project. Oh yeah. So

[01:54:09] Tracy: what is this? The croissant project? I actually, I haven't done it in a little bit. Um, the croissant project was something that I started doing, Mimi my, like second or third year out here where I would collaborate with other local business, other local food businesses to do a special croissant that was available, uh, one time thing.

[01:54:28] Yeah. Um, so, you know, I did one with Andrew from, um, taco Away Beach. And uh, I did one with Breezy from Breezy's Barbecue, um, put brisket in a croissant. Um, oh my God, I want that. That's the most popular one. So that one we've actually done a couple times. We'll do it like once a year, whatever breeze feels like.

[01:54:47] Smoking some brisket for me and then I'll be okay. Okay. And he'll bring it still hot. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's pretty awesome. And then like, we will put it on social media and um, everyone will line up. Yeah. People will line up for it. Uh, it's really good though. [01:55:00]

[01:55:00] Tyler: I want like an croissant, empanada. I don't know if that's possible.

[01:55:06] Yeah, you could do that. It'd be interesting. Yeah. Just throwing it out there. Some ideas. Yeah. The

[01:55:11] Tracy: the thing, you know, the thing with croissant dough is like, you gotta think about what you stick in it. Yeah. Because, um, the more, more moisture something has, it's gonna release all that steam and then the inside's gonna get kind of like, there's nowhere for that steam to go.

[01:55:24] So it gets kind of like gummy and wet and like doughy in

[01:55:26] Tyler: the middle. So it needs to be like a dry aish kind of, uh,

[01:55:30] Tracy: yeah. Or you can like bake it and like fill it after kind of thing. Mm-hmm. or like a donut. Exactly. Yeah. And we've done that. We've done like some special croissants and stuff. I always think of these like crazy special croissants.

[01:55:40] But then like summer comes and like I could barely like, keep up with the croissant production . Cause we don't have, like, a lot of places we'll have, um, like a, a laminating machine. Yeah. So it's basically like a giant roller. But these machines can, like, I mean they can get up to like 80 grand for this fucking machine.

[01:55:57] Oh, holy. Holy. And like I got these two arms that are totally capable [01:56:00] of making 80 grand instead of spending 80 grand. Like, that's serious. I just don't have the space for it. I, I don't even know how to use one to be honest, but um,

[01:56:10] Tyler: Just need to make, make one somehow. Like an auto, like a something manual one, like a kind of a thing, maybe.

[01:56:16] I don't know. .

[01:56:18] Tracy: Yeah. I mean, they, they have these machines that will like roll the dough for you and put the layers in. You just kind of like feed it through. Cheating. Yeah. It's kind cheating. But it's also, it is like, it's different, you know, because our croissants are handmade. Like they are, they're different and they're not all exact.

[01:56:31] Like there's a consistency in the sense that they're always good. Yeah. And they're always gonna be like cooked to the same way and taste the same. But like, sometimes they're as big as my head because they're like, Hey, I'm done . And that, you know, I'd rather them be too big and too small. , you know, they're unique, handmade.

[01:56:49] Tyler: Um, all right. We've been sitting here for a while and this has been awesome. Um, oh, we have, my favorite one thing is, um, I have a [01:57:00] couple questions. Last questions. Mm-hmm. , what's your favorite food spot in Rockaway? Favorite food spot? Yeah. Place to eat around

[01:57:07] Tracy: here. I love rippers. Yeah. I love rippers. I rippers, uh, when I would first start to come out here to surf, you know, I'd be in the sixties mm-hmm.

[01:57:15] and I'd be like, there's this, there's this place that I used to go to, you know, and they have these like Bud Light, lime Maritas that are really good. I'm like, it's not that far. We could walk and like 25 blocks on the beach with boards later. . My friend was like, what are you doing? Like, trust me, it's worth it.

[01:57:32] It was just like one of those places where I'm like, Place is magical. What have I lived here? Like, I know it sounds silly, but I just like, I love, I just love rippers and like, it's awesome being outside on the boardwalk. And I think Dom is awesome and they are actually, um, they're very close to the bakery.

[01:57:47] So in the summer if I have anything left over, like they're, they get first dips, I'll go and bring them, uh, bring them a box of pastries and, and you get your

[01:57:56] Tyler: nice cheese frogs and your

[01:57:57] Tracy: burger, you know? Yeah. I like, I like the hotdog and the hot dog. [01:58:00] You have a hotdog . I like a big, I'm like a big hotdog person

[01:58:04] The past couple years I get this like, thing for hot dogs.

[01:58:06] Tyler: Um, I, I love hot dogs. I used to love going to crypt dogs. Oh yeah. You know, with the bacon wrap? Tea bacon wrap one. Yes.

[01:58:14] Tracy: Oh, yes. Is grift dogs still there?

[01:58:17] Tyler: I don't know. I don't think so, but that was really good. . Um, okay. And, uh, do you have a favorite pastry to make?

[01:58:27] Like, what's your favorite pastry to make?

[01:58:30] Tracy: I love making ice cream. Does that count?

[01:58:31] Tyler: It's not, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dessert, you know. What do you, what's your favorite thing to make is ice

[01:58:34] Tracy: cream? I, I love making ice cream, so, um, a lot of people don't know that I know how to make ice cream, but I really like making ice cream and I'm going to start making ice cream

[01:58:43] Tyler: Ooh. And do you have a favorite, uh, pastry or dessert that you like to eat?

[01:58:52] Tracy: That's a tough one. I go through phases. Mm-hmm. . Um, lately I've been a real big, like. Guava. Cream cheese, Danish. Mm-hmm. . [01:59:00] I have one in Tupperware over there, uh, that I'll probably eat as soon as we're done. . But I also eat like, I'm like, oh, there's a ham and Swiss leftover. I should eat this while I'm cleaning.

[01:59:10] And I, I don't know, I go through phases right now. It's guava, cream cheese, Danish, um, and peanut butter cookie sandwiches.

[01:59:16] Tyler: Anything. Peanut butter for me is like, it's my, we, I'm not allowed to have peanut butter in the house, you know, it's just, is somebody allergic or? No, it's just, I will eat it all. Got it.

[01:59:26] I am one sitting. I will spoon it. I will put it in my yogurt. I'll put it in apple sauce. I will put it in my cereal. No self-control. I have no control over my peanut butter intake. So it's either dried peanut butter powder or no peanut butter at all. Got it. Because it's too dangerous for me, . But

[01:59:44] Tracy: I also like, you know, obviously I like, I appreciate the finer things in life, but like, I'm a real big, like, I like eating crap.

[01:59:51] Like, I like travel with slim gyms. Like I love Slim gyms. I love slim gyms. Like, I love pickles. Like, I thought you would

[01:59:58] Tyler: be like, I love [02:00:00] Popeye's across

[02:00:00] Tracy: the street here. I do love Popeye's. So we do, I, I buy Good the girls' lunch every Friday. Um, the, the girls that work here and um, last week I was like, can you hold it, hold me to the Popeye's Promise.

[02:00:12] I was like, next Friday, can we please have Popeye's for Family Meal? I'm like, I'll buy if you go get it, ah, it's the best. But my thing is like, if you forget, Dressing or the ranch dipping sauce. You're fired. . Popeye's is on me. Just don't forget the ranch . But yeah, like I, I could appreciate Popeye's. Like, I, I'll go home and make, uh, Coco v mm-hmm.

[02:00:33] and then eat fucking McDonald's the next day. .

[02:00:36] Tyler: That sounds like an interesting combination. Yeah. Like appreciate some fries in the song, in the cup of sauce there, . That would actually be real good. It's not bad, I'm just saying. Yeah. The fruits. Yeah. Well, uh, Tracy, this was so much fun, . I had such a blast, uh, learning and, and hearing your whole story.

[02:00:54] It's so awesome and I do think you should write a book. Thank you. Um, for our [02:01:00] listeners, uh, where can they find you? Uh, what's, where, where can they find Tracy here?

[02:01:05] Tracy: Um, so he's your shameless plug. You find me at the bakery usually. If I'm not here, I'm probably in the water. Um, please don't ask me if I have croissants on me.

[02:01:14] I don't have croissants in my wetsuit or cannolis. You know who you are. ? Um, yeah, the, so Rockaway Beach Bakery is open year round, Tues Tuesday through Sunday, eight to four. Uh, it's 87 dash 10, so it's between 87th and 88th Street right across from the Key Foods. Um, I'm on Instagram as Rockaway Beach Bakery.

[02:01:38] You, if you really wanna be daring, you could follow my personal account. It's at Tracy Belski. It's a lot of dog. It's like my dog and surfing . That's all it is. Um, and then also, um, in the next few weeks, so probably, um, mid, mid to end of April, you'll be able to get Rockaway Beach Creamery Ice Cream, which is my new ice cream project, but I'm starting, um, [02:02:00] it will be at Coastal Market, which is, uh, right across from the Rockaway Hutz Hotel.

[02:02:05] Oh. Uh, so you'll be able to get ice cream that I make. Oh wow. Um, sold there. Uh, and you'll, you'll know it's, it's us because the logo, uh, is, it's this surf, it's the silly surfer chef. Um, but instead of a croissant, it's a pink ice cream cone barrel. I love

[02:02:23] Tyler: it. . Oh my God. I can't wait to have that . Uh, Tracy, thank you so much.

[02:02:28] I really, again, this was awesome and, uh, really appreciate it and I appreciate all that you do with the community and all the food that you provide us. And, uh, not only that, just the welcoming atmosphere that you provide. Thank

[02:02:42] Tracy: you. Thank you. Thanks for having me and listening to the stories that maybe you didn't wanna hear.

[02:02:47] I love them all.

[02:02:47] Tyler: Okay. I got plenty of them. . All right. And listeners, uh, don't forget to follow at swell season Surf radio on Instagram. Or you can go to [02:03:00] www.swellseasonsurfradio.com. And, uh, this is Tyler Brewer, and we'll check you on down the line. You woo.