Smoky Sam's interview

Tindle News

Interview with Nicole Crawley and Sam Levi, the co-owners of the new Smoky Sam's Smokehouse in Castletown

Transcript

00:00I'm Sam Levi and I'm Nicole Crawley and this is Smokey Sam's BBQ, a new

00:05restaurant opening in Castletown from Wednesday the 12th of February.

00:08It's been emotional and you know myself and Sam will both agree we're

00:15definitely chefs not carpenters, joiners, plumbers but we've had an amazing team

00:21behind us that have helped you know turn around like two months is a pretty tight

00:25turnaround for a restaurant refurb but we were just like we really want to be

00:30open by Feb and you know next month we open back up at Foraging Vintners so

00:35it's been a quick turnaround but I feel like it's been good.

00:39Yeah it was, we couldn't honestly be thankful enough for everyone that has actually

00:43helped us and you know really pushed on and everyone's pulled some pretty late

00:46nights for us and you know it's been amazing to be honest.

00:49Yeah so last year we collab like when it's partnership collaboration kind of

00:53thing with Foraging Vintners and so primarily we were at their winery and

00:58then when they opened up at the Cozy Nook they really wanted someone to do

01:02the evening food so no bakehouse run in the morning and they do like teas,

01:06coffees, their pastries that everyone knows and loves and Foraging Vintners run the

01:10bar and they were like oh there's just a gap for the evening so we were like oh

01:14like yeah we're more than happy to take it on and you know it we flew for it, it was

01:19amazing. This year we won't be there, we thought having three venues was

01:22probably gonna be a bit too much and so we're just gonna solely focus on the

01:28Smokehouse and Castletown and then we'll be back at Foraging Vintners

01:32mid-March throughout the summer.

01:35I suppose really for me it was with Foraging Vintners you're

01:38walking in, the building's established, you know everything's there, the kitchen's

01:42ready to go, you know it's really just more of a push on getting everything

01:45ready and also kind of figuring out our systems. This has been, like Nicole was

01:50saying, two weeks ago we were carpenters, joiners, plumbers, you know it's

01:54just been a completely different ballgame I guess really.

01:59We've both like opened so many restaurants before, like we've both been involved with

02:05opening new places that that part for us isn't scary, it's the, you know, an

02:11electrician's talking to you about oh I need this bulb and this wire and you're

02:15like I don't know what that is.

02:17Is there a difference?

02:20It's like us asking for a chef knife and a paring knife and then being like what

02:24you want about. So this is the bit we're really excited about now, like

02:29obviously we're super nervous but as soon as today came we were like oh we

02:33have to do so the first plate of food and we're fine. But no, we're really

02:37really excited and super grateful as well.

02:39Oh it's been crazy, like we put it up on Facebook and I was like Nicole we need

02:44to like, we need to like pay for the advert and all that sort of stuff, try and

02:47garner more interaction and Nicole was like no no we'll just leave it and see

02:50what happens and we thought you know we get 80 likes or whatever and then in the

02:53first two days it had like over a thousand and we were like oh my god like

02:57so overwhelmed.

02:58We were like busy doing things, I think I was working in an event, like a

03:02private catering event and my phone was like on the side and it kept flashing me

03:05like you now have 300 likes, you now have 400 likes, you now have 500 likes and I

03:10was like oh my god what's going on and you know the comments and the messages

03:15that we got were amazing and I think the island is ready for somewhere that can

03:19be super super casual but also like you can see with the restaurant it can be

03:24really intimate and like date night vibe but if you want to come after work and

03:30have a pulled pork sandwich and a beer or a soft drink like we want it to be

03:34accessible for everyone. So I think the fact that we're going down that route

03:38has made people even more excited.

03:41So where we were with Forage Event is that they were the drink supplier, we didn't have

03:47anything to do with the drinks from that kind of side so taking on the

03:50restaurant has allowed us to be creative with drinks and the bar and and the food.

03:56We've now got a grill sections, we're doing like steaks and stuff like that

04:00and yeah we've just got a more diverse menu I'd say here which is exciting.

04:06We've obviously got to create a drinks menu as well so all our beers we're

04:10going to try and focus them all around local producers using Bushy's, Carew,

04:14Noah, again Forage and Mint is tying in them links that we've already got and

04:19as summer grows we'll obviously expand to other breweries on the island and

04:23then our cocktails we just want them to be like just solid classics that people

04:28really enjoy but there's a little section where we've done some twists so

04:30we've done like a smoked D-State hold up so we've smoked pineapple and passion

04:34fruit just to like a little nod to us we don't want them to be like crazy

04:39smoky or anything like that we just want them to be like a super tasty cocktail

04:42but with a little bit of our flair and then we've got an amazing wine list from

04:47all around the world and a really good non-alcohol section.

04:52Obviously now having the bar we had to you know account for having that side of it as

04:56well so I think all in all including us is 16 or 18 staff which is quite a

05:02sizable team.

05:04And has training started tonight for that?

05:06No, it started last Sunday.

05:08So last Sunday Drew from Kiki's came down and did a really intense cocktail

05:13training for us which was amazing and Monday was front of house training

05:17Tuesday was wine training.

05:19That was my favourite one.

05:21And then last night we did a food menu training just so the staff know what

05:28they're serving what's in the dishes it's just something we're really

05:31passionate about is we want people that come and experience our restaurant to

05:35have that really high-end service in a really casual environment like yes

05:40you're just eating buffalo wings and a can of coke but you know you're really

05:44well looked after and you're taken care of and it's really important to us and

05:48it just makes you feel nice having been looked after no matter what you're eating.

05:54So we'll be open Wednesday to Sunday 12 till late food will be served

05:59Wednesday Thursday and Friday 12 till 2.30 5 till about 9.30 and then Saturday

06:06and Sunday we straight through 12 till 9.00 the bar closed I think 11.00

06:1211.00 in the week and then the weekends we'll probably keep it open till like half 11.00 12.00

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