Brian: 0:11

All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. This is part two here with Courtney from the Salvador Deli. Yes, I thought I'd let Shauna say it case I butchered it.

Shawna: 0:20

He's got it. Yeah.

Brian: 0:22

Shauna loves this part. I believe I just heard you say that before we hit record. But in this episode, we're going to talk about the day today. And I understand why you probably love this more about for you, because you love cooking and stuff where I'm like scary. Like when it comes to the scary world. Yeah. So Courtney, tell us a little bit. What does a typical day look like for you?

Courtney: 0:41

Yeah. So we're open lunch and dinner and you know, coming out of the off season now into the regular season. So the day starts with prep, just nonstop prep. So it's usually, you know, figure out your list and get going and then have a little lunch rush into dinner and and then you're out. Or, you know, you would assume it's that way. For me, I always compare it to like a video game where I'm like, okay, the end goal, like the boss, is like to leave, right? Yeah, yeah. But there's a million things in between. So like walk to the back to get an onion. Someone stops you. You know what I mean? So it's a very distracting, uh, distracting day, but it's very fulfilling at the end. So yeah. Do you do the same menu for a whole month? Is that what you do? We rotate our menu often. So we'll do specials. It's funny, we have like the chicken bow buns and the pork bow buns we've had on. We were having some trouble trying to figure out how to, you know, keep them hot and steamed and everything. So we took them off and the town went crazy, you know. So they they come back on, they're not going anywhere. That's on my list of favorite things, too. They're great. So we have our staples and then we like to add things as well. And we're very team oriented. So everything here is encouraging people to create their own recipes, to contribute, you know, it's amazing. Sort of our philosophy is, you know, that's called the smart too. Kaizan. So it's sort of this philosophy that everyone's contribution is for the greater good. But that is so cool. Not to get too hippy-dippy, but yeah.

Brian: 2:00

How do you like with people like on your team come up with new ideas? Like, how do you go about tasting and doing all that?

Courtney: 2:06

Yeah, it's I mean, usually presented, okay, we have this thing, what are we gonna do? And you know, so Jason, like I said before, Caz will jump in on it and of course the community, which is the best part. So yeah, I love that. Yeah, it's it's I mean, it's easy to get caught up in the day today, too. So personally, I love having you know this team that are so enthusiastic and they help create. And yeah, it's that's amazing. I love our people. We, you know, it's a little family.

Brian: 2:31

I love that. That's really cool. Like, I know like our son, he's worked at some restaurants and he loves cooking, but that was one of the things that a lot of places he was at, you didn't get to do that. And he always had great ideas, and we would like he would tell us about it. Like, we would go to where he ever he was cooking, and he'd be like, Oh, I add balsamic vinegar to that and do this. And I'm like, I don't know. He's like, just try it, Dad, and then I'll try it. I'm like, Oh, this is really good.

Courtney: 2:53

Yeah, breaking out of your comfort zone a little bit.

Brian: 2:55

Yeah, it was cool to hear that you encourage that and you allow your team to be a part of it. I'm sure that helps with the team morale as well.

Courtney: 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, everyone kind of has their hand in it, so it gives them a little sense of ownership too, and it's yeah, it is highly encouraged. I mean, there's some people that come in and they're like, I don't cook at all, you know, and so it's not, you know, required, but yeah, definitely welcome.

Brian: 3:16

So, what are some of the things that's on the menu that have come from from your team?

Courtney: 3:20

Other people, yeah. Uh, so we started doing this like macaroni salad of the week, which this sounds silly, but you know, we eventually had a poll going, so all the customers would say which one was their favorite. So, you know, everyone's got their their hands in those things. But first thing that comes to mind is one of our most popular sandwiches, the BLT. I have to give full credit to Jason Ground because that was his idea among many. And yeah, it's that's one of our best hits. So that's awesome.

Brian: 3:43

Oh, that's awesome. See, Jason was worried we were gonna say bad things about him.

Shawna: 3:48

You know, I was just listening, I was trying to remember to what book it was, and I'm not a hundred percent sure. But the author talks about how people get sold out for something or more bought in, maybe is a better way to say it, when they're allowed to help contribute. So it's such, I mean, it seems like it's natural to your personality. You're so, you know, sweet and open. And so I don't know if that's hard for you or not, because I could see how, you know, you're running something, it's yours, it's your baby, how hard it could be to let other people like get in, start messing around with things. Yeah. But it it's such a a beautiful thing that you're doing. And like you can tell how it's like building a little community, you know? That's very sweet. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely.

Brian: 4:28

Yeah, I don't think we've ever been here. Everybody always has a smile, like they're you can tell they're enjoying it. And that says a lot when you as like when as a customer coming in.

Courtney: 4:37

Well, thank you for noticing that. Yeah, I definitely I've worked in restaurants for so long, and so I really like one of the most important things to me was to have an environment that I would want to work at, you know. So, and maybe to a fault sometimes, because I am definitely the good cop to the bad cop of Windows more, but I feel pretty pretty confident that we've built that space. And so thank you for recognizing that. Oh, yeah.

Brian: 4:57

And I know if I mean we're recognizing other people are like your customers are, so that's that's an awesome thing.

Courtney: 5:02

Yeah, it's very special.

Brian: 5:03

Well, I mean, now that we're talking about all this food, everybody's gonna be getting hungry.

Courtney: 5:06

Yeah.

Brian: 5:06

So as long remember, if it's Monday, they're closed, but you can come and you do brunch on Sundays, is that correct? We do. Yes. So we've been to a brunch and I was just gonna say, I'd love to talk about brunch. Yes, we'll talk about brunch and we'll talk about some of our favorites. Okay, let's hear your favorites first and then I'll it's always gonna be at the top, is I love pizza. And when I saw you had pizza, I was like, all right. Now I did test, I wanted to test because I knew there was there was something on your pizza. I'm like, oh, I can't have that. I asked if I could have it without that because I'm like, let's see if it's fresh or not. And you're like, oh yeah, we don't have we can leave that off. I'm like, nice.

Courtney: 5:36

A nice test fresh. Yeah.

Brian: 5:38

That's a good way to test if someone is you know, taking a frozen. And it was delicious. It was delicious. And I would have to say that was one of my favorites. It always will be as a pizza.

Shawna: 5:49

Uh, by the way, I think you ordered at least once the gluten-free crust, right?

Brian: 5:53

Yes, I did. Yeah, and that was really good.

Shawna: 5:55

You couldn't even tell. We were like, this might not be gluten-free. It's way too good.

Brian: 6:00

That's exactly what we said. Yes.

Shawna: 6:01

Yeah, thank you.

Brian: 6:02

It was delicious.

Shawna: 6:03

Okay, so the potato bowl for brunch. Love that. Though it's so good. That's the one with the tasso gravy, right? Exactly.

Courtney: 6:11

That's uh that's Kaz's recipe, this tasso gravy. That's so good. He won't give me the recipe. And I even though I write his paycheck, but yeah, no, it's okay. Some things are sacred. I understand, you know, it's his it's so sweet.

Shawna: 6:23

And then um, well, the bell buns, I love those. I've only tried the chicken, but I want to try the pork ones too, right? Yeah. Just to see the difference.

Brian: 6:32

Okay, with knowing what some of our favorites are, what would you say are some of your favorites?

Courtney: 6:38

Yeah. So this right now, salads. Of course, I just, you know, I work here all day, so I have to be very careful about what I'm eating. But yeah, but yeah, no, I love the um the beaten goat cheese salad. It's my favorite. That's kind of a fall that that replaced the watermelon, so you'll have to try it. Oh, totally. Yeah, it's great. My husband's from Italy. So the Michelangelo is like a little nod to him. And I think that's probably my favorite sandwich on the menu, not just because I'm partial, but yeah, it's fantastic. It's kind of like our take on an Italian. So yeah.

Shawna: 7:04

I'll have to try that too.

Courtney: 7:05

And he approves of the pizzas, by the way. We're kind of limited by equipment. So we don't have a hood, a fryer, you know, any of those things you would probably see in a brewery. A lot of people expect French fries, you know. And so we have what's called an Alto Sham. So it's kind of like a giant air fryer. Uh-huh. So like our tots are actually sort of a healthier alternative. And nice to know. Yeah. It's been kind of a challenge figuring out with your equipment what to do, you know. So but a fun challenge. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian: 8:11

So okay, so with being in the brewery, how does that influence your menu like during like the seasons?

Courtney: 8:17

Yeah. So I mean, obviously, we're in October, we're doing brats right now. Um, like you said, the salads earlier, that's obviously seasonal vegetables and whatnot too. But um, coming, you know, in the colder months, we'll start to do some soups. And yeah, so we really love to lean into cozy season, obviously. I like that. Yeah. These are our favorites because, you know, obviously we love the restaurant the day-to-day, but we love to cook. So it's fun to do, you know, different things. So we'll bring the grill outside and do burgers and street corn, you know, for for wrestling that's actually happening this weekend. Yeah. So yeah. So we'll, you know, change it up a little bit and like their big Halloween party that's also coming up, you know, still trying to figure out if we're gonna be outside, inside both, you know. But yeah, yeah, that's see, that's cool. That's cool.

Brian: 9:00

I like that. It it kind of gives you the opportunity to really test some new things out too during those special events.

Courtney: 9:05

I love that. We do um in-house catering also. So through that, I mean, we've had baby showers, rehearsal dinners. We're doing a full wedding in December, which is scary and so exciting, you know. But that's super exciting. Yeah.

Brian: 9:17

So then people do they usually have like their event here at Walk and Tree. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Shawna: 9:22

So when you're creating or naming a new dish, where do you get inspiration for that?

Courtney: 9:26

Um, yeah, same, you know, we're in this creative space, right? So, like the Michelangelo has said, my husband's name's Alberto. And so originally we asked him, can we name it that? No. So the Michelangelo, a little nod to other artists. Yeah, actually, I think a customer told us, you gotta name something Delhi Llama. So we, you know, said, Okay, you got it. I love that. Yeah, it's clever. Again, it's this team, like sort of, you know, everybody's got a little play on things. Yes, yeah. The Linwood pizza that we just put on recently, if you haven't tried it, it's great, was named after Luke, who I mentioned earlier, too. So he's yeah, his name is Linwood. So yeah. What's on that pizza? It's candied jalapenos, bacon, pickled onions, and Alabama white sauce. It's the biggest hit we've had. Yeah. That sounds amazing.

Shawna: 10:11

That does sound good. Yeah, you've really threaded the needle beautifully because it's elevated, but it's not intimidating. It's delicious without having too many strange ingredients. Like it's just, yeah, it's a really good mix. Yeah. Yeah. We've tried to check every box, you know.

Brian: 10:24

So, okay, so one more question as we get ready to wrap up this episode, and then we're gonna get into Vero Beats. How has transitioning from being an employee to a business owner been for you?

Courtney: 10:35

Yeah, it's definitely a challenge. You know, also going from uh an employee to a business partner of my former boss, who's also my friend, you know. It's crazy to kind of go from this world of I know exactly what I'm walking into, I know exactly what I'm doing to this every day is something different, scary. Kitchen equipment breaks, you get a phone call, toast down. You know, there's I I always say I'm never off, ever, you know. So, but I'm slightly controlled freak too, you know. So there's there's part of this where I don't think I allow myself to be, but yeah.

Brian: 11:07

With that, uh, I'm excited to get into part three where we're gonna learn more about what you love about Vero Beach and some of the collaborations that you have. So everybody, if you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you click that subscribe and leave us a review.

Shawna: 11:18

And with that, later, neighbor.