- 8 months ago
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00:00Elia Mediterranean restaurant Giants fans you've heard about it it's been trending this is the
00:13place where the Giants used to lock down future Hall of Fame coach John Harbaugh but it's not the
00:18first time that they broke bread and wine and dine a coach here this goes back to the Pat
00:23Shermer days so here's what we're gonna do today I'm gonna take you guys inside we're gonna talk
00:28to the owner we'll talk to the staff we're gonna go behind the scenes of the meeting to lock down
00:33John Harbaugh and potentially reset a franchise Tim how's it going nice to meet you on behalf of
00:43every single Giants fan Giants nation right now that's watching this is for you this is for you
00:49man bring it in our restaurant locked it locked in the big fish the big whale John Harbaugh man
00:56unreal you guys did it I don't know about that is that it's a collaboration with everybody and and
01:03they you know we just serve the food we just do hospitality we just try to ease the tension and
01:09make everybody feel at home in New York and New Jersey as New York New Jersey fans we're waiting
01:15for this moment well you did a great job because they say the fastest way to a man's stomach I mean
01:20to his heart is the stomach and through the food here the hospitality the vibes you guys lock them
01:26down so we're standing right here at the the host table the entrance is right there when you see these
01:32guys coming in Joe Shane Chris Mare the Giants brass and John Harbaugh first what was the first thing that
01:39kind of went through your mind and then what was that interaction like when you greeted them so you know
01:45we do a lot of the Giants interviews throughout the years that we've been here so we knew somebody
01:50was coming in because they called us the head offices so when we saw John you know the rumors
01:55on the street where there was John was in town so we had it so when John walked in they let John come
02:01in first we walk with them we welcomed them to New York New Jersey I called them coach we're ready for
02:07you to take over the team we kind of all left and we basically moved downstairs to the basement where he
02:14was going to have his meal because we try to keep him in and out so people don't you know get it or
02:20recognizing him and stopping him Mr. Mare came in after usually that's how it works uh Joe and uh and
02:28everybody came in with him and then Mr. Mare came right after I mean what was what was his greeting like
02:34like what was the the demeanor like was he was it kind of like he was still kind of feeling things out
02:39or did you know that something good was going to happen at this at this dinner well everybody was
02:44really positive which was you know it wasn't like a stiff meeting it was a positive meeting when I
02:50walked with him and I told him we're ready for you to take over the team he laughed and he says uh
02:55let's see it could happen you know it was it was a positive atmosphere always positive was there
03:01anything because you guys have had Pat Shermer Brian Dable a lot of coaches have come in to this
03:06restaurant a lot of celebrities as well was there anything different about the energy from these
03:12guys coming in than coaches in the past um to tell you the truth uh that I was telling all my staff
03:19when coach came in we felt like almost like we were like we knew him for many years he you know
03:25we said we're one big family we told them here with the Giants and he says I would like to be part
03:31of the family also was it a handshake dab bro hug it was actually it was a handshake and a bro hug
03:39yeah yeah Harbaugh's a bro hug yeah yeah who's got it better than us nobody all right so I would love
03:46to see the uh the private dining area sure that you took these guys sure enough I mean from you had me
03:51hello so I knew yeah as well can we go down there right this way thank you yeah this is good fella style
03:58yeah so we kind of explained to him that in the past uh the past Giants in 85 86 uh some of the draft
04:08uh pre-draft meetings were down here with all the coaches we have we you know the old owners have
04:13pictures of it when it used to be called Park and Orchard um uh Jim Fossil had a lot of his staff
04:21meetings down here Bill Parcells so it was it's a wine cellar it's like a man's cave it's uh it's you
04:29know not part of the of of the ambience out upstairs it's quiet they can talk they can have their
04:36conferences it's almost like a speakeasy absolutely man like so when you bring someone in here this is
04:42this is a celebratory environment correct this means like you know you spit in the hand and get
04:48the handshake we like to say it's only for family it's not open usually to the public we only have
04:53like a few parties a year or friends and family it's more like a family oriented uh atmosphere
05:00down here we do have all of our wine collection and stuff so uh we came down here and you know he we
05:06told him about the history and story and we said we would like for him to be part of the history you
05:11know what I mean so where did everyone kind of sit can you kind of take me through sure sure so
05:17um uh joe showing said here joe shane say yeah shane yeah and then we had uh coach will see here
05:24okay obviously out of respect mr mara was always at the head obviously chris mara and uh tim mcdonald
05:31was over there and then uh brandon um brown was there and uh jesse armstead was there all right so
05:38it was only six people six people uh six just on this side the rest was empty okay and i mean when
05:46you when they sat down what was the vibe like when they got down here like what did john like what was
05:51john harbaugh's face like when he saw that you brought them oh he loved it he says well which is
05:56the uh more expensive side that's on towards the back is more expensive and he says this is unbelievable
06:02he asked us how many bottles we have about in the uh in the wine cellar we said it's about 24-2500 bottles
06:10of uh wine for what he just signed for he could buy it i'm sure he can i'm sure god bless him as long as
06:16he brings us to super bowl right absolutely have it for free if he brings us to super of course of course
06:21so when the meeting kind of kicked off like now what's your involvement like once you sit the guys down
06:27you get them a little acclimated get them comfortable yeah now what's your involvement
06:31like so i asked them if there's any if there's any allergies that uh anybody has at the table and
06:37then they said no so i can tell the waiter i told them the appetizers we usually uh send out the apps
06:44the ones that we think that they should have with the restaurant and that's how we usually do
06:48they just pick their entrees usually and uh i told them uh you know i'll be out of your way i can close
06:54the door i know i was at the door you tell the waiter how long you want them in here because
06:57they were going to talk about business obviously right marcello how are you what's going on my
07:02man nice to meet you how are you yes sir very good nice to meet you i was going to go by brandon
07:05i want to feel what john harbaugh went through so let me redo that and you'll see exactly where
07:10he was sitting right exactly i want to feel exactly what john harbaugh went through to make him
07:15want to sign to be the new york football giants next head coach can you kind of give us give us the
07:20spiel when you walk down here these guys they were just sitting around
07:23was it was it just uh conversation going laughter what was the vibe like when you walked so the
07:30way i felt i thought it was like a very friendly um and professional uh get together okay um i didn't
07:35think it was tense at all i felt like it was it felt like the john and john john mara and john
07:40harbaugh went way back that's what i felt like they were like you know going going decades and i think
07:44decades ago so did you know that john harbaugh was going to be down here like what did they tell
07:52you in terms of who you were going to be so in terms of what i was involved with i think that i
07:56was told that was very important meetings going on but i did not know exactly what it was and what
08:00was about so i was i was told after the fact do are you usually the guy the waiter that comes down
08:05and and and waits on uh the giants when they bring in a big fish or a coach or that's right i mean
08:13see him normally picks me to be the waiter for the year so you're the john harbaugh of the waiters
08:17you've got the resume it was you've got the super bowl so i have him yes so they were like bring in
08:23the righty bring in the closer um i mean you come in is there anything was there anything different
08:29about his demeanor than some of the previous coaches and like what what other coaches have
08:34you seen or waited on i am not gonna say who he was there was a few before him of course but i think
08:40that was the one that he was very nice to me he was very thankful about everything and he was
08:44grateful that we are the restaurant that we are in very very grateful talking about john john arbaugh
08:49yes that's correct yes guy absolutely so all right so he has very grateful he was and he was thanking
08:54me and saying this is one of the best restaurants he's been to so this is great yeah the thing that
08:58we felt that it was more celebratory was it was because usually at these meetings nobody really drinks
09:04so they usually drink like sprite or seltzer and water nobody drinks alcohol because it's a meeting
09:11and stuff and that night they uh they ordered a a rare a real silver oak so uh the waiter comes upstairs
09:20to me he goes they ordered uh they ordered some wine and i said who ordered the wine and i said uh he
09:25goes i think the the joe ordered the wine i said usually they don't drink are you sure they ordered wine
09:31yeah and he goes yeah yeah they ordered wine i said all right let me go downstairs i said you guys
09:35order wine he goes yeah yeah give us the wine tim so then i felt that's when i felt that you know
09:40okay the tensions we always joke around we say the meetings are down here usually because it's always
09:47cooler than upstairs because of the wine cellar so if you have tension you know because you know the
09:53tensions are high when you're interviewing somebody it's a little cooler down here and we said it's the
09:57best room to interview people you know i mean yeah not nervous yeah yeah arms are sweaty you know
10:03how it is yeah just sit back uh have a nice glass of red and then and talk business and talk super
10:09bowls is this red yeah he had a silver old cab napa valley it was a 2017 vintage that he had okay so is
10:19that more of a like a celebratory thing or is that something that like a your typical wine connoisseur
10:26would order you know it's not a cheap bottle of wine not for sure so you know i will consider as a
10:33little celebratory you know anything over four hundred dollars i think is celebratory how much
10:37does something like this go it's 490 490 for a bottle wine joe you picking up that check right
10:43right that's right that's right it's on you guys so did everyone had some of the wine was it like
10:51all in cheers like the social media boomerang uh not everybody had the wine i don't think uh jesse
10:58didn't have the wine jesse armstead or um bernan brown bernan brown i did it i think everybody else
11:03had and uh and joe picked the wine joe picked the wine yeah hey hey hey joe's feeling it because he
11:13probably felt you know what i've done something i think he yeah he deserves it he did it they went all
11:19in for this one absolutely i really want to feel like him right now um can you give us the whole
11:24spill how you presented the menu how you presented the food and wine to these guys absolutely so the
11:29way we say to our guests is this that we are a very modern greek restaurant specialized in fresh seafood
11:33our menu is not limited to seafood we are have amazing steaks great house-made pastas and the
11:38appetizers that we have are all meant to be shared we are a scratch kitchen so which means everything is
11:43made fresh into order so we do take complete orders whenever you're ready to order now in addition to the
11:47menu there are some specials that i want to share with you okay uh there was a three specials there
11:51was a halibut there was a steak and there's also another fish called fagri and also a chicken so the
11:56fagri is a european uh bread snapper good for two and it's served with lemon potatoes uh we have the
12:01halibut which is the other fish the halibut is served with sauteed vegetables a little bit of jambolam
12:06crab meat as well as romesco sauce uh then the chicken today is a beautiful uh organic breast chicken
12:12pan seared down skin up it goes in the oven nice and crispy a little mashed potatoes vegetables
12:17wasn't about something damaged sauce and the steak today that was a beautiful seneca ribeye with a
12:23little french fries on the side that's about it sounds delicious um being crab cakes the last 18
12:30years i'll have the halibut i'll have the halibut the halibut's amazing i think you're gonna love it
12:34absolutely was he kind of like that or was that a little off no it was because mr marr or mr marr
12:39because i think he was the guest i wanted to be honest with you i think he ordered first and he
12:42ordered the halibut okay and uh and then john all right was the last one to order and he also
12:47ordered the halibut okay and one of those things so i was very happy that they bought the halibut
12:51because it was absolutely fantastic it really was so yeah usually we we we like them to you know have
12:57a regular menu but because it was we the rumors were and the buzz was that it was it was john we decided
13:05that as uh as a restaurant that we're gonna go off menu in fact chef went to the fish market in the
13:13morning and when he saw that there was a a huge halibut because you know the halibut's are huge and it
13:19was uh it was wild uh alaskan halibut he got it and he says you know if nobody orders it would run it
13:25a special for the weekend but this is the fish you know halibut's like a thick oh it's almost like a
13:30steak it's like a thick fish so we got it and chef created the menu and and that was it and we went
13:38with three dishes figuring if he was going to eat steak chicken or or fish louis what's going on man
13:44hi there buddy i feel like i'm standing next to royalty man like you you sir you should be up in
13:50the ring of honor because you delivered or cooked the halibut that signed john harbaugh so everyone in
13:57giants nation is thanking you so kind of talk to me about how it all started throughout the course
14:02of that day okay did you know he was coming in here we know something we uh we know somebody from
14:08the giants that coming to the restaurant we don't know exactly who was it okay that's that's how it
14:13started uh that day we started always early we go to the fish market we saw a beautiful piece of fish
14:19we brought it to the restaurant uh at that point we don't know exactly what was it until he was here
14:25why that fish though like i imagine there are probably other halibuts like why pick that piece
14:31of fish okay the reason that i picked that one because there was a wild caught fish you know
14:37super nice about 60 pound fish beautiful uh super fresh so i want to deliver always the best quality
14:44for my customers and especially for that special guest all right so now marcello comes up to you
14:50yes he's like all right the you know we got some steaks for for this side of the table we've got
14:55two halibuts for you know the owner john mara and then we also a halibut for for uh for john harbaugh
15:01now what now what's going through your head so now uh comes to me you know especially me when i go out
15:09i'm a little scared to order fish because sometimes you know when you cook a little bit
15:14the fish you overcook it a little bit it's done you know so we have to be make sure it's nice fresh
15:21flaky and all this stuff so we have to match it up with something that they really we have we make a
15:26sauce we make a sauce in the morning just we have to pick it up the the vegetables and we choose some
15:32organic cauliflower some asparagus something that i know he's want to like it because the way that
15:38these guys eating it so they better be careful what they so now that you found out that you it
15:44was your halibut that you cook is what he ordered and he ate absolutely loved it uh do you wish you
15:50would have done something different do you wish you would have known it was for the the potential
15:55next giants head coach i think i think there was always an exciting to cook for anybody but especially
16:01for somebody like him um i think i would stick with the same fish i would stick with the same fish
16:08but i'm surprised he ordered you got seafood because you've been down in baltimore for 18 years
16:13you get tired of the sea i think he asked the waiter what do we uh specialize in and we told him we
16:17specialize in seafood so that's what uh that's what he ordered and uh and then we let we kind of let
16:23him alone they had their uh their uh dinner we were a little uh we were told that he has to leave
16:29the building by 7 15 to make the flight so then when they were all done eating i came down right
16:36before dessert told him how was the food how's everything and then so out of out of a joke i i
16:43i joked around and i said you know as a giant fan and i'm sure everybody in the room wants to know
16:50before we order dessert are are you ready to sign and i i winked at him and he kind of like uh said you
16:57know everybody started laughing a little bit being nervous and he says uh i think i think so he goes
17:03i said if you don't think so we could always take you to the back we can have a conversation and we
17:07won't let you leave the building so we kind of all joked around and that was it they ordered the
17:11desserts and on the way out you know we we you know he said goodbye to me and i said uh i hope you
17:18i'll see you again and he says i'll see you again so i kind of felt okay that he was ready
17:22so there have been other coaches here other head coaches have come through here players free agents
17:28would you say this one felt the most right out of all the other experience you've had with the
17:35giants it just felt more like family you know what i mean so i you know a lot of people ask us why
17:42why we do so much stuff with the giants or the giants like us here you know my wife owns the
17:48restaurant i run it for her we say it's a mom and pop operation and kind of like like the maras and
17:55mr tish and but the matters run the giants as as a mom and pop operation it's it's their baby and
18:03they're there and they're always there you know at the facility and you know we love that of the
18:10meaning of family you know some people we see it wrong but you know a lot of people talk about they
18:15can make big good decisions but for me the the mara family i see it as i i want to make my family
18:20like that you know everybody works for the family you know it's it's great you feel like it's family
18:24here between this restaurant and franchise yeah yeah yeah yeah what happened you know we are local
18:29restaurant we are family owner restaurant so we always have connection with the people around here
18:34from the from the giants from the eggs from everybody that he wants to meet business and we really
18:39appreciate all that stuff talk about the pressure that joe shane was in throughout this coaching search
18:44and having to deliver him what if what situation have you felt more pressure in running the
18:49restaurant for your wife or delivery or making sure john hall ball had the best experience ever
18:56to make sure that he signed listen uh i don't know you know back in the days i used to get a lot of
19:03attention when we you know when we had a lot of these meetings but you know after a while you know
19:08because you know even with joe show and we were like very we're very close you know like uh we work
19:15very hand in hand for sure so i felt like another family member of mine came downstairs and he's having
19:21a meeting for for his business you know like i i never i never look at it as uh a celebrities here
19:28and but the vibe was it was very positive and and very you know a lot of smiles you know i mean so
19:35it was a more more festive than other other meetings when you're done for the day you got out of here for
19:42the night you get in your car you're about to head home did the giants fan in you feel proud like you
19:49just witnessed something and you just were a part of something to tell you the truth as soon as they left
19:55i got on social media to see to see what what's going on out there did it did he sign did he not
20:02sign you know what what's going on and uh on the uh before they uh uh joe left first with with uh
20:09uh with coach they went to the airport and then the rest of the group got out and as they were leaving
20:16i i i bothered tim all the time i said tim how does it look we got him we got him he said we're
20:21gonna get the deal done it goes so i i you know and i and then and then i went home and then i opened
20:27up uh like an hour later they said uh joe left without committing or sorry he's going to the titans
20:33like oh my god maybe we messed up you know like that and then the next day it was uh you know in the
20:40paper that he's he's not going to the titans and then it was amazing it was a great feeling but for you
20:46to feel like oh my gosh we messed up that really that really means you felt involved with the
20:51process we we like i like to feel that to feel that that i'm involved i like to you know make uh the
20:58giants when they come in here especially for a meeting like that to feel like at home and that
21:03i'm involved uh because i'm part of the hospitality and to see if uh you know their their bellies are
21:08full and they had a good meeting are you going to feel like you had a part of it yeah of course
21:13of course of course 100 percent i think because you know all the negotiation that happens here in
21:18the restaurant for two days on the road uh the sign that happens here and you know we always part
21:24of the of the giants the players the team always come over here to the restaurant so we always
21:29appreciate the business and to be part of the community too i'll be honest with you i didn't know
21:34how big this was until now what it became but i was uh definitely thank my boss that i was grateful
21:40to be part of history as well so of course i was very grateful and i felt very very very important
21:45for this well it took all hands on deck to deliver john harbaugh to uh east rutherford to be the next
21:52head coach for the giants we thank you know the bears we thank joe shane but really we got to thank
21:56thank you thank you no i didn't do it thank you i'm just i'm just a restaurateur why wouldn't you want
22:01to go back to baltimore or anywhere else yeah seafood is you know and he's tired of the crab legs
22:07over there thank you thank you guys thank you so much thank you thank you thank you and uh just one
22:15thing just for all the people and the fans and our clients and the restaurant yeah we decide to run
22:21that special for the next three days so we have it whoever that he is that day we will have a special
22:27today tomorrow and a sunday so you can call it the young harbaugh special okay the halibut yes
22:33the official fish of the new york giants thank you very much buddy you guys just got the behind the
22:41scenes access on what it took for the giants to land the big fish john harbaugh is their next head
22:47football coach thank you ilia mediterranean restaurant for the behind the scenes access
22:52so we could tell the story we're talking about the vibes the entrees the food the wine everything it
23:00took to land the guy who's going to come in and reset the franchise hopefully the next time we're
23:06back here it's a celebratory dinner because he brought us the super bowl because we don't want
23:10to come back here and shoot another one of these videos for what 18 years at least
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