Son of a Blitch

Ep. 50 The Culinary Adventures and Authentic Stories of Brad Leone (Host of "Making It" & "Living Legends"

February 07, 2024 George Blitch Season 1 Episode 50
Son of a Blitch
Ep. 50 The Culinary Adventures and Authentic Stories of Brad Leone (Host of "Making It" & "Living Legends"
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In this celebratory 50th episode of the Son of a Blitch Podcast, George Blitch sits down with Brad Leone, celebrated chef, New York Times Best Selling Author ("Field Notes for Food Adventure: Recipes and Stories from the Woods to the Ocean"), and the host of his hit shows, "Making It" and "Local Legends". Brad is not just a chef and show host; he's an artisan of flavor, an explorer of the wild, and a raconteur of the highest order.

Leone's story begins in the scenic backdrop of New Jersey, where his early experiences with nature's bounty took root. It's here that his gastronomic ardor was kindled, alongside an enduring respect for the environment. Leone's reminiscences of fishing trips with his father and the familial art of cooking weave a narrative that underscores his profound connection to the earth and its offerings. These childhood recollections lay the groundwork for a burgeoning career that would eventually lead him to the esteemed halls of the Institute for Culinary Education in New York, hosting the hit show "It's Alive" with Bon Appetit, and eventually creating his own magnificent shows on his YouTube page.

He reminds us that the soul of cuisine is not just in the ingredients but in the stories behind every bite, the communities that nurture these ingredients, and the people whose lives are intertwined with the food we eat. His reverence for this interconnectedness is a gentle nudge for us to look beyond the plate and appreciate the vast, interconnected web of culture, tradition, and human experience that shapes our culinary landscape.

Brad offers a sneak peek into his upcoming season filled with journeys that trace the humble beginnings of ingredients to their delicious conclusions. Whether it’s the thrill of spearfishing near Boston or the aromatic adventure of tracking coffee beans from Mexico to his buddy's roastery in Nova Scotia, Brad's commitment to immersive storytelling remolds the way we think about food shows.

Through his tales of adventure, both in and out of the kitchen, Brad inspires us to embark on our own quests—to seek the unknown, to embrace the journey, and to savor each moment with the same zest with which we would savor a delectable meal. This podcast episode, like Brad's approach to cooking, is a reminder that the most fulfilling adventures often begin with a single step, a dash of courage, and an open heart.

To watch Brad's shows, "Making It" and "Local Legends", subscribe to:
YouTube.com/@BradLeone
IG: "Brad Leone"

To learn more about George Blitch, visit:
www.SonofaBlitch.com
www.MapMyRanch.com
IG: "TheSonofaBlitch"

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Son of a Blitch podcast. I'm your host, George Blitch, and today I had a wonderful conversation with Brad Leone. For those who are unfamiliar right now he has two shows on the YouTube's. On his channel you can go search for Brad Leone, l-e-o-n-e and you'll see his shows. There's two different ones Making it and Local Legends. Sometimes there's some crossover there as well.

Speaker 1:

He's gone out and meeting all these amazing people doing some really cool stuff. Season two is just about to start. In April he's had a wildly successful season one. So the Making it a lot of times, you know it's in his kitchen in his home in Connecticut where he's out there cooking, sharing all sorts of wonderful recipes and tips and tricks of the trade. But he's also going out and doing that in other places too. He's got a shoot coming up in L-A. He's going to be going up to Canada, down to Mexico. He's going to be a little bit everywhere. So it's not just in the kitchen, he's going out there and doing that. While he's out there, traveling, he's meeting incredible people, telling their stories, kind of being a conduit to this wonderful life and feel of whatever community he's out and apart of. There's just both fascinating shows and I highly suggest you go check him out.

Speaker 1:

You may be familiar with him from his time with Bone Appetite. It's live, a wonderful show that he was on for many years, very informative, very fun. I mean, he's just a fun guy, not a mushroom, he's a fun guy and you know I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention his book Field Notes for Food Adventure. Got it above me, it's over here, great, great book and kind of gives about a year in his life where he's traveling around and, you know, cooking and foraging and sharing some of the things that are kind of local to his area and each of the seasons. It's really, really fun. A great, great book. But guys, go follow Brad, check out all the wonderful things he's got going on. Again, he's just a wonderful guy. I really feel blessed to have a time to sit down and chat with him today I kind of get to know him a little bit better and to share all those projects with you guys. So, without further ado, here is the podcast with Brad Leone. Enjoy, hey, brad, how you doing today, man.

Speaker 2:

Good, Brad. Good to put a face to it. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, I'm really excited for you to be here. Listen, I know you're involved in some amazing stuff. You got some great shows right now kicking on YouTube and I kind of want to dive into those in a minute, but I'm going to put some suspense in the air. I kind of like to talk with my guests and kind of give listeners a little bit of an idea of where they're coming from as far as how did you grow up, your appreciation for your love of the outdoors and cooking and kind of having this outdoor lifestyle that you have, that you're sharing with so many and kind of just give us a little bit of kind of one-on-one when did you grow up, and we'll dive in from there after that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course, great man. So yeah, I grew up in New Jersey, in northern New Jersey, about an hour and a half little less from the Hudson River. Manhattan would be the first part we'd hit there. And yeah, it was, although being pretty close to the city, although New York's kind of like that unless you've had east or northeast for a while, but like if you go north or west or southwest right outside of New York it gets pretty country and pretty quick Once you get past Newark and up into the more rural and that top of New Jersey. If you think about it it's like a bit of like a pyramid on the top. I grew up right on like the top there, the top of the pyramid, right on the Diller River water gap where the Appalachian mountains and the Appalachian Trail kind of kiss through the top of the mountain. We got the Diller River up there and that trickles up and then a bit further away would be going up into if you went up to Hudson.

Speaker 1:

But right on there, so right on.

Speaker 2:

Pennsylvania was super close to where I grew up and New York was less than a mile away as far as the border goes.

Speaker 2:

So, a pretty unique kind of cool spot where it was very it was old farmland. There was a pretty cool little ski resort there for like for New Jersey or you know as bad as I wouldn't even consider that much of New England at that point, but just like east coast, northeast coast, it was, you know, a hill, but it was a really cool spot. This place was called Mountain Creek or Action Park back in the day and it was a school. It was a cool ski resort. Everyone worked there, everyone went there. It was just. It was fun. I think they made a movie about it. People died there.

Speaker 2:

It was a pretty neat spot, pretty unique kind of cool spot to grow up, for the most part before it became like most small towns, just like devastated with drugs and that's not a unique story to New Jersey by any means, unfortunately, but a really cool spot to grow up. And it really is where it introduced me a lot to like the outdoors. And that had a lot to do with my dad and how he was introduced to the outdoors at a younger age by stepfather and it kind of was just embellishment. He liked it and he you know as when I was little he introduced it to me, you know, whether it was bird hunting or small game hunting or we did a decent amount of fishing. Fresh water, salt water, was something my dad loved a lot more than freshwater fishing, but it was, you know, we didn't have a boat and we lived. It took two hours to get to like where you would want to go fishing, so it was like it was a whole thing, you know. But nonetheless he was kind of a little bit of like, you know, an anomaly in the state of New Jersey, like if you got talking to him and he heard his stories you'd think he grew up in like the Panhandle of Florida or something you know, like catching snap and turtles and making soup and going gigging for frogs and stuff. Like very not New Jersey when you're thinking, at least I haven't met anyone that was like, oh, that sounds like he's from New Jersey, you know.

Speaker 2:

But that's where I got involved with just the outdoors and the respect for it and kind of like if you kill something, eat it type of deal, whether it's a fish or a squirrel or an elk, for that matter. Right, and then just from for food, you know, I kind of got interested in the food world. There wasn't much fermentation at all when I grew up. It wasn't something that I did or my parents did, but cooking was kind of instilled in me at a young age and like the importance of just like sitting down with family and eating and having, you know, any foods better than no food, right. But like I was fortunate my parents, like they, cooked, they, you know I never got a frozen dinner on a trade type of thing, which, again, any foods better than no food for kids, right. But like it did, it was cool and it was important to see how special and important it is to have family cook further for each other, you know.

Speaker 1:

Sure Well, and you kind of talk a little bit about it in your book Field Notes for Food Adventure, how you kind of grew up, you know in that hunting, fishing, you know trapping, this lifestyle where you were cooking a lot of stuff. I mean, even you have in that book some of your dad's original recipes written out which is really cool to see and so like you kind of have that lifestyle that was kind of ingrained and like there was a big kind of transitional point for you and I know there's. You know we're kind of glossing over for time here. There's a lot in your story and where you've gone and traveled and worked.

Speaker 1:

But I kind of wanted to jump into your time. When you kind of you're in New York City and then you're there at you know the culinary school, ioce, and you know kind of what inspired you to go into that direction and wanting to take that next step, and when you decided to join you know, the culinary school, did you have an idea of where you wanted that to springboard too? Or is this just like, okay, I'm immersing myself, I'm jumping in and we'll see where the ship goes?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I had an idea. Whether or not it was a delusional is another thing, but regardless it started the fire which is, at the end of the day, it seems to be kind of. You know, one of the hardest and most important parts If you want to change or do something is to just start do something. So to rewind and answer your question a bit, you know I was doing construction and you know college wasn't my thing, high school was barely my thing, and I was doing just kind of dead end jobs. You know it was in a union for a little bit but then got out of that and was just doing like. You know, back when, like, making $500 a week, it was like a thing you know, like that, like that, you know, and just living with a bunch of friends in Northern New Jersey and this whole farmhouse and it was a pretty artsy, kind of cool spot. But long story short, I was thinking I was cooking and gardening this whole time. It was always something that I did, it was just a passion of mine. And I remember there was these couple of girls that were hanging out at the house and they're like why don't you go to? Like and this is a true story. They're like why don't you go to culinary school or something? You know you're always cooking and growing food and talking about food and shit. Why don't you go to culinary school or something? And you know, stop doing what you're doing, you know, and that kind of planted the seed in. And then I looked into it and you know, I met a. She's my wife now, but I met a girl at the time that she was living in New York. She had like a good job, she was squared away, she wasn't a loser, you know, it was like a refreshing beacon of light. And I ended up moving, you know, found an apartment on Craigslist with six roommates in Williamsburg and this is you know, this is going back 13, 14 years ago or something like that and moving to New York and I, you know, took a loan out to a culinary school in Manhattan. This school called Ice Institute for Culinary Education and it was a good door opener man. It was just that. You know, I came in like I don't wanna.

Speaker 2:

I grew up working in some delis and restaurants and catering and stuff, and like I was aware of what that reality was and what that lifestyle and work was. You know, it wasn't just food network, which you know, back 15, 20 years ago, before the food really took, industry boomed as far as, like you know, being a celebrity or social media in any type of shit like that. You know, if you were a chef you were working nights and weekends and you it was hard and you still are. You know, that's still the name of the game. But you know I didn't, I didn't want to do that and you know and this is where I mentioned before whether it was like naive or a little bit of a Ignorant delusional was just like I want to go do something. I want to go develop the next flavor for fucking Doritos or something, or like the next like ice cream flavor for Ben and Jerry. I want to do more of this like creative development thing turns out their food scientists with like doctrines and stuff, you know, but like long.

Speaker 2:

But it got me into the school and it was kind of a turn and burn for me. I learned some stuff but it was like Kind of it was a little too quick for the way I would really retain a lot of information, but like colleges, it seems, for a lot of people, it got me a foot in at an opportunity, you know, and I did an intern. I was working at the standard drill and In Manhattan while I was going to school and this other place in Brooklyn called Enid's I don't know if it's there anymore in Green Point, but anyway and then I did my internship at bone appetite. Everyone else is going to like do their internships at these big, fancy restaurants. I know they're just gonna get ground up and either you're gonna love it or you're gonna be like fuck this, like this. I made a mistake like sheffing is not for me and which is a reality for, I think, a lot of people and but it worked out.

Speaker 2:

I did an internship at bone appetite magazine. They were in Times Square at the time and and I just kind of hit it off with everyone. I was the oldest intern I think they ever had, you know, I think it was like 28 or something. Everyone else was coming in like right out of. You know, I think they're 20 or something like that, you know and so I had a little bit of a, of a, of a. I've had a lot of jobs before.

Speaker 2:

I did this, you know, and I guess a little bit of Little bit of grit that some folks just didn't have coming out of school or whatever, and they kind and they liked it. I was again. I, I mean, I was roofing houses before this. I'll help you like, do what food stuff? This is great. Yeah, man, it's and it was. You know it was a Door in the day is Monday through Friday business hours, you know, and we're, and every time, every day is like different. It wasn't like a restaurant or it's a service. I was, I was actually learning a ton. It was a.

Speaker 2:

It was a really great experience, but it was an internship and I wanted a job, you know, and I didn't.

Speaker 2:

If I left there I was probably fucked. You know, if they're like, sorry, brad, that was cool, but like, thanks for interning, you know, like here's your pad on the ass. I don't know what would have happened my life sure it could have been, probably would have been very different, who knows, but Certainly but but but they offered me a job and it was basically just a glorified dishwasher, just assistant helper, do whatever, and it was great. You know it was. Whether you know, like I said, I've had a bunch of different hard jobs, whether it was union construction or, you know, working for some alcohol, like who's a construction worker and like building houses and decks and stuff, or you know I mean. So I was like this is awesome and I'm getting paid like the same, almost you know, like which, granted wasn't a lot. I think I started, you know, in New York. I think my starting salary there was $34,000, which, like you know, you ain't really getting too far in New York with that right.

Speaker 2:

Right, oh yeah, so I was working at night too and and then it just developed. It just started to snowball, but you know and right, things happened and it just kind of worked out and I did a few years just doing magazine. This is before the internet, kind of. Really, that wasn't like before the internet, Right right, right Before, like video and social media, and the internet was a big deal for what I was doing with Bon Appetit in that space. But then it started to trickle and we were doing Facebook videos and then it became like personality led videos and that's where I did a show then while it's alive, and that was kind of the start. It was definitely the start of my video career, you know if we could call it that, and it's been great man. So I worked there for a bunch of years and then I've been on my own my own production company now for a little over a year now.

Speaker 1:

And it's been going great. Well, congratulations to all that success, and especially with your new shows. Now let's talk about what you got going now with making it. There's just some incredible episodes. I really, really enjoy it. We were just watching with the family, the one for like school lunches, for like the kids. Last night it was my ideas.

Speaker 1:

That was a real funnel man. It's nice to see a little one in there too. It was cute. But yeah, let's kind of talk about like the idea for those who have not tuned in yet and I'm sure they will soon Talk to them about your idea of making it the foundation of that show and kind of what you might expect beginning to end. I know each one's a little different in everything too, and sometimes you're solo, sometimes you got some guests there too, but can I? Just give the 101 on that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so there's two shows. They give the ones local legends, which we'll get into, but then the other one is making it and they kind of can play off each other a little bit, which I really thought was cool and important and by that I mean like local legends, is more out in the field. Adventure storytelling tends to be longer format, where we can go and learn something about whether it's an art or a passion or whatever, or food, and be able to bring that back and cook with it or utilize it in the show making it. And that's back at my house. I'm here in coastal Connecticut on the border of Rhode Island. That's where I live and I built a little studio kitchen space and that's where we do the show making it.

Speaker 2:

And that's really just kind of the kind of more straightforward Brad by himself or with a guest, cooking recipes or projects or whether it's fermentation or an omelet, we try to have some fun with it and that's kind of that real, more just traditional recipe kind of forward, kind of how I like to cook, similar to like what I did with. It's alive a little bit and it's been going great. Man and I like having the guests on. Other friends are in town or I bring the show on the road sometimes. We're going out to LA next in two weeks and we're meeting up with a bunch of friends to do a couple of videos together and for both local legends and making it and it's been really great. And we've been working with a bunch of really cool brands which have been awesome, like Dac Dignetti, to name a couple, and they just been really awesome and supportive in making this stuff a possibility.

Speaker 1:

Dude, that's wonderful. I'm stoked to see all the new episodes are coming out. I kind of wanted to ask you a question. The idea of like going from it's alive, and you have probably, I assume, some structure there. People are kind of having, hey, we got to have these timelines and these videos, and sometimes I don't know if folks really understand like production. I mean, we have mutual friends like Meteor. Sometimes they'll shoot a year before until it actually comes in, but there's still a timeline with everything that's going on. When you transitioned to kind of running your own ship there, was there any challenges for you in any kind of capacity of maybe like scheduling. What was that? What were some of those things and how have you overcome them in this year of kind of rocking this out on your own?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean absolutely, man. Well, instead of just being an employee where I show up, we do the video and, granted, I'll give Conny and Asher a bon appetit, a lot of credit for me. They didn't really mess with me much, man, like something happened organically and like if it ain't broke, don't fix it, like deal. It worked and they gave me a lot of creative freedom. For better or worse. It was awesome. But then doing my own thing. So instead of a hack and I would just show up, they had a whole team of editing. They paid for everything. I had no headaches, other than creative, which is not too much of a headache. But when on my own now it's like an editing huge, it's like a band. Like I can't do this on my own. I'm sure I could, but I don't have the tools or the skill. I'm not an editor, I don't have the brain to sit down for 40 hours and zipper this thing.

Speaker 2:

I'm sure I may. You know what I'm saying. Like that's yeah, yeah, Of their own skill sets and it's its own job, and so, like building out a team, thankfully, I met some really great folks over the years and I built a team, a small team, to make these videos possible and we're learning a lot and it's evolving and it's expensive as hell to make the types of videos that we do. So, yeah, man, there are, there are a lot of challenges on it and, to be honest, we're not. It's only been one year and season one, for both episodes, for both videos were awesome and I'm happy with them.

Speaker 2:

But it's one of those things where you're always kind of trying to do it better and grow and evolve. And it's the internet too, right. So like it's gotta be good and there's a lot of really good people out there. So it's a. You know it's a, yeah, it's a full on business at this point. Oh, yeah, that's a career that's driven by creativity and, yeah, it's a pretty strange thing. Especially I got a family and stuff, so it's not just like it's me, you know, like, um, and it always there always is that little bit of like seed in the back of your brain where, like the internet's ruthless. They can just like. If they just stop liking you like, I don't have a job anymore, you know, like, so like there's that you know?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that it all makes sense, man. Um, kind of before we jump into the other show that we were talking, you mentioned their local legends. Um, I wanted to kind of just ask a couple of the questions about making it. Now, I know the collaborations. You had some other chefs on there Jesse Griffiths, one mutual friend of ours. Um, it was a really cool episode there. Uh, are there some other ones that uh, you have uh coming up? You can maybe give us a little teaser on too? Um, and then the other thing I was going to ask is there anybody who you have circled, you're like one day I want to cook with them, but has not kind of, you know, to maybe put that in the universe today? Is there somebody that you want to sit down and kind of do a show with?

Speaker 2:

Oh gosh, um, I'm so bad at answering questions like these. I really um, we'll answer that one last, but yeah, you know, I could probably come up with a list of a hundred, you know right right right, I say the same as like places to go. There's just just, you know, find point out of place and you can probably find something really interesting, sure, or a person you'd want to do something with. Um, but yeah, uh, what was the first half?

Speaker 1:

of it, just the idea of, like, you know, you've got all these chefs that you've worked with and and I was just kind of curious if there was some other you know folks, I mean you're coming into LA here. You mentioned a couple of weeks and, um, you know, this is probably. This episode will probably air in February here. So you know, just if there were some other people that are coming in, some teasers of some of the other collaborations you got kicking.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so for season two, we're kicking off um, uh, in April, which would be a lot of fun. Uh, and for the first episode, we got together with my buddy, maddie Matherson, from up in Canada and I brought him out to, um, the Boston area and what a buddy of mine. Uh, this cat, charlie, charlie nutting, and we brought him, we went spear fishing, or we tried like hell, and uh, we got some crabs and some lobster and uh, this other scuba diver guy stopped buying and gave us some scallops and uh, so we got in the water. It was, it was a tough day, it was bad visibility. Uh, we certainly had a work for him. There was a storm a few days before we showed up and I think it kind of like a, it screwed up the viz, but it also kind of just, I think it just kind of shut down the fish a bit. You know, I've been up in that area, but that guy, charlie, he you know, he knows what he's doing and he was, he was working hard.

Speaker 2:

Uh, we got some fish, not what we were exactly targeting, but kind of a happy accident. They were these really delicious fish that I don't really get down by me. Uh, long story short. That'll be season two, episode one of local legends. And then I got, I kidnapped Maddie and brought him back to my house and we took all that uh, all of our bounty from the sea and we made some of the best. We made like one of the best dishes I've had in a very long time. It was awesome.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, I can't wait to see that one. I, I, we got a bunch of travel.

Speaker 2:

We're doing a coffee down in Mexico, uh, where we're starting up with my buddy and Dean petty up in Nova Scotia, and we're going to uh, he's got a coffee roast uh roastery up there and we're going to start there and go all the way down to Mexico. Or we're going to start in Mexico, go all the way up to Nova, just do like a whole, follow the coffee bean from start to finish and make like a local legends uh, uh, like limited edition coffee bag, which would be cool. Um, yeah, we got a bunch of stuff, a bunch of stuff, uh, uh, planned out, man and um, excited for it.

Speaker 1:

Dude, I'm excited for it too. I love the idea of you're going out there and meet the people who are doing this in their area. You get a good sense of you know that vibe, that city, whatever it is that they're producing I mean the New Orleans one or the glass blowing that was huge and what a story she had, wow. And then you know New York, niko, and going around and kind of seeing some of the folks there uh, you know that was it was as Tiger hood, wasn't it? Is that his name? Like, I mean, these are really cool. You know local folks that that you're kind of shining a spotlight on, and and I really love that idea.

Speaker 2:

You know what, as far as, like me, it's a, it's a risk and I like making those videos. You know, like New York, niko, I mean, for, maybe for a few reasons, like it's not our best performing video, I think it's an awesome video, it's. I like those stories. Um, it's not exactly. Not every video we make is uh, just like by design, just like internet, like fodder. You know what I mean. Like not everyone's going to click on these specific things, you know like, but but I like it and I and it's, it's, uh, it's, it's a muscle the longer. You know, just making grilled cheese or lobster, blah, blah, blah, blah, or this or that, and like, and God bless, I'm glad there's a lot of variety out there and people make a lot of really cool videos. I just don't have it in me to do the little, the recipe kind of chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, you know, and that are two minutes long. They do great and it's just I melt your brain. It's like just easy to watch and it's entertaining and just quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. But I have a soft spot for the longer format and character development, like that's kind of where.

Speaker 2:

That's the stuff I grew up, uh, watching a bit. You know, as far as um inspirations go, like obviously Bourdain was, it was a huge and I've, you know, a huge inspiration for me, for what? For what I'm doing, and like he didn't even he didn't make a cooking show, you know, he made a human show it was about, you know, he didn't cook anything, you know, but but he was just very he just, you know he was the way he spoke and the way he described things and the way he traveled and there was a darkness to him and you know, obviously he had some demons, but like it was a longer formatted type of more character kind of driven story and that was arguably one of the best food shows ever made, right. So like trying to like fill those big shoes a little bit and then, like in that world I've always loved, I just want to make things that I want to watch a bit, you know, and like yeah, and like how it's made or dirty jobs or things like that, where it just kind of shows you a little bit of someone else's world.

Speaker 2:

You know, I kind of dig that and the food space being so an outdoor food lifestyle, whatever genre, bullshit. But you know there's just so many stories out there and people doing incredible things. I'm just fortunate that you know I like to and people like to at least enough people like to watch and hear me. You know, experience that with them. Because I like to make videos where I'm not necessarily just teaching people things I'm no expert or anything by any means but I'm curious and I like to kind of and I get along with people and I can bring good things out of people. So like it tends to make a good video.

Speaker 1:

No, it really does, man. I mean, and it's highly entertaining. I've watched a bunch with my family, sent it out to much friends, all the feedback, like I love that longer format where you're really able to introduce people and kind of get a good idea of a feel for what it is and learning that skill, I mean even just a glass bowl and just like seeing kind of the A to Z, even though it's like kind of you know a quick, you know snippet, you're really getting to see what that's about and kind of learning some of the you know verbiage and that and it's just, it's very educational. But overall all your shows are fun and formative and I mean you've got a great personality, work well with others, so it's cool to see those collaborations and just some amazing meals as well too, man. So I really enjoy it. I'm looking forward to season two. Make sure everybody tune in and doing that.

Speaker 1:

You know, before we sign off I do have a couple of questions left. One is about your own legacy, and you know it's kind of a big question too, so you can answer however you like. But I'd like to ask my guests as far as like what you kind of want to be remembered by, and you know with who as well. So, like personally, professionally, what do you think about your own legacy? Is that something that kind of is something that's in your everyday as you're producing all this amazing content, putting that out in the world? Is there any kind of a bit of that where you're kind of consciously thinking about that while you're doing this?

Speaker 2:

Well, maybe, subconsciously, you know, I guess I never really.

Speaker 2:

It kind of freaks me out a little bit, the word legacy, you know, not freak me out like make me nervous, but freak me out like it just seems a little egotistical in a sense, you know.

Speaker 2:

But no, I mean, I guess maybe I'm just I'm overthinking that like I guess at the end of the day, I want, you know, down the line, I would want my kids to respect what I did for a passion or as a just, as a person you know and like. And it's a weird world we live in where a lot, everything you do, especially stuff like what I do for a living, it's on the internet and until, like, the internet dies, like that's like, you can like see that stuff forever, right, you can just look it up and watch it forever. So to have to put yourself out there and on that, so much. And I don't think a lot of people you know realize that like the side effects or the consequences of that. So just to try to be a good person and to where you know, when I'm in 30 years from now, god willing, you know my kids are into me and I'm into the life I lived and that I put out to the world. You know, I guess.

Speaker 1:

Right on, man. Well, I know that a lot of folks are probably gonna want to, if they already aren't following you. They wanna figure out where it is that they can go to watch your shows. Let's give you YouTube handle, instagram handle, any place where people can go and find you and your website, and all that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, websites bradleonicom and Instagram. Just write my name in there, brad. I think it's just at bradleoni and the YouTubers is youtubecom slash, right? That's the slash.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, backslash.

Speaker 2:

Backslash bradleoni, and that's L E O N E. The E is not silent, but that doesn't matter when you're typing, it's true indeed.

Speaker 1:

Well, man, thank you so much for joining me today and chatting about this. I wish you nothing but the best for season two and all your endeavors. Thank you so much for sharing your talent with the world and giving us a good smile and a laugh along the way. Man, I really thoroughly enjoy your show and, yeah, everyone else. Go check out all of the amazing shows. We got local legends, we got making it and they're all on the YouTubes for you.

Speaker 2:

Hey, appreciate it, bud, and thanks again for having me on the podcast. Looking forward to coming out.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, man. You take care. Have a great day.

Speaker 2:

All right right on YouTube man Cheers Adios.

Speaker 1:

Delete the fashion, fill it up with.

Brad Leone's Journey and Culinary Adventures
From Delis to TV
YouTube Show Challenges and Conversations
Collaborations, Travel and Legacy in Food

Podcasts we love