Brian: 0:11

All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast. This is part three here of our interview with Courtney from Salvador, Delhi. We're excited to learn more about what you love about Vero Beach. Before we get started, nobody was listening, but we were sitting here talking and you were telling and just revealing all these bad dreams and nightmares that you have about the restaurant. And I thought maybe that was only us that have like, you know, like when you're working somewhere and you have these dreams, like, oh no, I forgot to what you said. What what are some of those for you?

Courtney: 0:39

That there's got to be some psychology behind it, you know. But yeah, yeah, I I think from waiting tables for so long, it's like, she asked me for a water, and and she probably did, but it was two months ago, and you know, so now I've remember that. Sorry to that lady if I ever sit over there like dehydrated. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, she's still there. But yeah, no, it's you know, the job, and I'm sure yours as well is it's just so high stress, you know, everything is fast moving too, so it's yeah, it's easy to take it home with you, I guess.

Brian: 1:04

But have you ever like left and it's like, did I turn the oven off? Do I gotta go back to the room?

Courtney: 1:08

And that one is yeah, that's happened here once before. It wasn't me, fortunately, but yeah, we that's you know the the ultimate, yeah, I think nightmare.

Brian: 1:16

But all right. So, Courtney, tell us what do you love most about Vero Beach? Because you said you're originally from Vero Beach. So and and you've moved in New York, you've lived in Australia. What do you love most about Vero?

Courtney: 1:27

Yeah, I mean, like I said, being born here, I've watched it truly evolve and from the early 90s to now and how fast it's growing too. And I mean, even being part of this little airport district, this is new. Yeah, this is very cool. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I I just think the town itself is so special. It really feels like one of the last like great American towns, you know, if you will. And and it's just beautiful and the people are so great. It's you know, ups and downs where it's you know, if I go to publics, I know everyone. So it was there's that side, but then there's also this side of I know everyone, you know, so there's a real sense of community, which is awesome too.

Brian: 2:02

Tell us a little bit about the airport district, because I've been noticing that term being put out more often, like about the airport district. I think they got you guys just had something, some kind of celebration or something over at Indian Rover, I think about that.

Courtney: 2:15

So yeah, yeah. So that you know, we're kind of figuring out the branding too. Brooke Malone from Walking Tree was calling it Sova, so South of Vero Airport. I don't know if it's stuck yet, but spread the word.

Shawna: 2:24

I like that, yeah.

Courtney: 2:25

Um yeah, so you know, kind of like our Soho. This is our Sova. But cute.

Shawna: 2:30

So you would say, like, hey, let's head over to Sova. Is that how you choose it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Courtney: 2:34

Yeah, maybe work it out. But yeah, yeah. So I mean, but this whole area, especially, you know, we're open for lunch now. So I don't think a lot of people are aware that we're even here, first of all, you know. So then also being inside of a brewery, we're trying to really bring some attention, like, hey, there's great sandwiches, you know, in this giant warehouse. And and we've got some great neighbors too. Three bite tacos, you know, the distillery, like you mentioned, and cigar bar. Yeah, so it's it's growing, you know.

Brian: 2:57

It's that's very cool.

Courtney: 2:59

And we're a big fan of three bite tacos as well.

Shawna: 3:01

Yeah, yeah.

Brian: 3:02

Yeah, their food's really good there too. I forgot to ask you this earlier. You're talking about now, you're open for lunch too. Do you have any downtime between lunch and dinner? Like, how does that work? Because I mean, I'm I'm just curious. Like, do you are you're like sitting around going, all right, now what do we do for the next two hours? Or you're just you've got a plenty of stuff to do.

Courtney: 3:19

Yeah, there's never not something to do, you know. I and I it's funny, I was looking at like a sushi restaurant where they close at three, and I was a little bit envious because there really is no no downtime. I mean, if I get here at nine and I on an optimistic day leave at five or six, you know, there's maybe an hour in between where it's reset, get everybody, the dinner crew kind of like ready for that, you know, next part of the night. But yeah, no, you're just constantly prepping and cleaning and organizing and but it's it's nice because I mean the way I see it is I'm here and I'll I'm cooking. So you're gonna do what you love to do. You know, yeah, exactly. That's cool.

Shawna: 3:50

Yeah. Yeah. And when you're busier, time goes by a lot faster if you're sitting around like time drags.

Courtney: 3:55

I I cannot believe. I mean, this past year I'm like it's we're almost halfway through October, and it's because my whole day is just full.

Shawna: 4:02

So when you're not cooking or managing the business, where do you like to go hang out or relax? Um, my couch.

Courtney: 4:08

No, I'm totally kidding. I mean, but slightly kidding, but yeah, no, we get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm you know on my feet constantly, so it's nice to relax. But I, you know, I love local businesses too. And so obviously being next to the distillery is great. So, you know, we'll have a a day shift and go over there. Their gimlet is the best thing in the world if you haven't tried it yet. Really? It's real, yeah, it's my new favorite. Um, but yeah, I mean, I try to make a point of visiting as many restaurants in Vero and trying all the new ones as as possible. You know, it's honestly like a you know hobby of mine. So yeah, us too. Look, you can make a business out of it.

Shawna: 4:41

Yeah, exactly. So Vero has such a strong sense of community and local support. How have you seen that show up since you started this restaurant?

Courtney: 4:50

Yeah, I mean, I've obviously I've known the community for a while just via kilted and other things that we've done. But yeah, I I think you'll see, you know, last year we had those tornadoes, and you really in moments like that see the community, I mean, absolutely rally. And it's not for some self-serving motivation, you know, it's truly like we love each other. And yeah, yeah. I'm I've I've been more impressed, obviously, living in New York City. You you do get some community involvement from different boroughs and whatever, but from seeing it from the perspective of this whole town is really cool. Yeah.

Brian: 5:19

Yeah, it's definitely a very unique about the community. Uh again, like business owners coming together and wanting to work together and help each other out and share ideas and critiques and stuff like that. It's very, it's very unique. And right now, so I mean, that takes me back to we were looking at at the beginning in episode one, where all this artwork that's on your wall. You have a lot of different pieces on your wall here. So maybe tell me, tell us a little bit about the art on the wall. Is this a collaboration? What's the story behind it? Sure.

Courtney: 6:27

Yeah, we um, you know, with the name, obviously we're art lovers, which is how we got to this this name. But uh, so we didn't want this to be a Dali museum. You know, we wanted it to be local art. So we love the name. We love Dali. So yeah, you'll see sort of like in the middle here, Brooke Malone, the owner of Walking Tree, did these. Oh Saskia Fuller, Luke, who I mentioned earlier, his mom did that like young Dali painting. Wow, which is stunning. If you're in the restaurant and you get a chance to look at it, the detail is stunning incredible.

Shawna: 6:55

Yeah, how did she do the eyes like that?

Courtney: 6:57

It looks like a photograph, doesn't it? Yeah. The um the mural, which I just am obsessed with, you know, love it behind the in the kitchen.

Brian: 7:05

That's so cool.

Courtney: 7:05

Yeah, Teela June, she's amazing too. And then Linda did these two on the south facing wall, and those are my cats. So yeah, I don't know if anybody knows that when they come out.

Shawna: 7:15

Give the uh give the cats a shout-out. What are they? Yeah, exactly.

Courtney: 7:17

Tanya and Bean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we've had Linda made these sort of planters and we've had people donate plants, and it's really, in my opinion, just a big local art collective, you know.

Brian: 7:29

That is cool stuff. Do you guys ever do like an art event like display out there? Like when you guys are like doing food and having drinks and stuff, like yeah, you mean the restaurant or yeah, like the restaurant.

Courtney: 7:39

Yeah. I mean, we've done you were talking about collaborations with local businesses. We did uh one for Safe Families for Children with the cigar bar and pepper and salt. And but yeah, so that was, you know, we were all out here and that kind of felt similar where it was like a you know, a big showcase of everybody's stuff. Um, we did an event at McKee Botanical Garden. That was great. Oh wow. So we had five different stations set up throughout the garden and people could, you know, pair that with wine and it's fun. That was great. But the biggest thing is uh working with Orca, so the local research group. Yeah. So we've we've done fundraisers. So we sponsored what's called a pollution mapping station. So we would actually go out and do some field research. So we would collect samples and bring it back to their lab. And you know, they they're incredible, they're all about community focus and trying to get people understanding the lagoon and you know how to there's so many interesting things here.

Brian: 8:27

I know.

Courtney: 8:27

And that that's Vero for you. You know, you you meet one person, they connect you to, you know, so it's yeah.

Brian: 8:32

What we love most about doing this is we always get to learn so much more about the community and what's going on. And we're like, man, this is such a cool place that we get to call home. It's awesome. Yeah, it is.

Shawna: 8:42

Okay, so if someone's listening and they haven't come to visit you here yet, what would you say to invite them?

Courtney: 8:47

Come with an open mind. And you know, if you're not open-minded, we'll find something for you, of course. But but yeah, no, it's really it's a fun experience. And being inside of this facility too, inside of Walking Tree, is just so cool. Like we have so many people that come here for the first time, they're like, what do you mean it goes all the way back that way? You know, so it's it is just a really special space. And yeah, we're we want to meet you.

Brian: 9:07

What are your guys' hours? Because you're saying that you're doing lunch and dinner now, and what days of the week are you open?

Courtney: 9:12

Yeah, so close Monday because I need a nap. Yeah. Um, but we're open for lunch Tuesday through Friday at 11. Okay. Um, until close, we close at nine weekdays, 10 weekends, seven Sundays, and then we're open at noon Saturday, Sunday. Okay, nice.

Brian: 9:29

Why don't you go ahead and share your website so everybody knows how to find out, yeah, find out about you. And then also if you're what social media is that are you on? Are you on Instagram?

Courtney: 9:37

Instagrams at Salvador Deli Vero Beach, all one lowercase. Uh websites salvadorely vb.com, Facebook, DoorDash, all those things. And then you can, you know, email me if you ever have inquiries about K branding or questions. Awesome. Yeah.

Brian: 9:52

And if anybody's like, what was that address? If you don't remember, just go to myverobeach.com. You can search, just type in the Salvador, and you're gonna find it right there. It pops right up there, and you get a link to your website. Yeah, yeah. And they can contact you stuff there as well. So all right, so as we get ready to wrap up this episode, this has been a great interview. You've done awesome, Courtney. Thank you.

Courtney: 10:10

Yeah, this is lots of fun.

Brian: 10:11

Now, is the is that on Halloween? Is that the big event? Is it on Halloween?

Courtney: 10:15

So they I think in the past it's always been on Saturdays that they've done it, but Halloween falls on a Friday. Okay, so this year the big uh party will be on Friday night, and then there's a second um Saturday like big band. Okay, and the theme is Cowboys and Aliens, which I love. Yeah, I'm like that. I want to be both, you know? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'm like trying to figure out how to do that in a kitchen without a cowboy hat on, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian: 10:39

As we get ready to wrap up, what what would you say? What's your hope for the future?

Courtney: 10:43

Yeah, I mean, expansion obviously is always a goal. Uh really building our catering, I think is something we've learned that we've absolutely love doing. So, you know, I've I've always been sort of really into event planning as well. And so I'm I'm enjoying doing these kind of like rehearsal dinners and seeing everybody happy. And yeah, so that's lots of fun too. But yeah, just you know, keeping it going.

Brian: 11:03

Well, uh, we've really enjoyed having you on the podcast. And if you guys have enjoyed the podcast, make sure you click subscribe and be sure to leave us a review. That helps all your other friends here locally in Vero find your local podcast. With that, Sana.

Shawna: 11:16

Thanks for listening, neighbor.