Great Restaurants Build Excellence with Chef Steve Warner

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In today's show, we sit down with Executive Chef Steve Warner to unpack how great restaurants foster a sense of belonging while running at full speed behind the scenes. We pull leadership lessons from service, culture, and excellence that carry straight into everyday life. 

• building a “family” feeling through shared pressure and shared purpose 
• hiring for attitude and noticing small details that signal care 
• treating dining out as a short vacation for guests 
• bringing energy to the room while still taking the work seriously 
• learning from kitchen disasters and staying accountable without shame 
• handling famous guests by keeping standards consistent for everyone 
• remembering Tom Farace's leadership and the ripple effects of kindness 

Show Guest:

Born and raised in Central Texas, Steve is the Executive Chef and Owner at Whiskey Ridge and brings decades of culinary excellence, leadership, and creativity to the role.

Over an incredible 35-year career, he's opened more than 60 restaurants, owned and operated successful concepts including Two Step Restaurant and Cantina and Osteria Two Steppes, and has held leadership roles at iconic restaurants including Eddie V's Edgewater Grille, Wildfish, ATX Cocina, Bulevar, and J Carver's.

He's led thousands of team members throughout his career and built a reputation not only for exceptional food but for creating cultures where people thrive.

A proud graduate of the University of Texas, Steve blends classic Texas flavors with innovation, curiosity, and a healthy dose of humor.

Transcript

Welcome To Couch Time With Kat

Speaker 2 0:00

Welcome to Couch Time with Cat, your safe place for real conversation and a gentle check-in. KWVH presents Couch Time with Cat.

Speaker 4 0:10

Hi friends, and welcome to Couch Time with Cat, Mental Wellness with a Friendly Voice. I'm Cat, therapist, bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and endurance athlete. But most of all, I'm a wife, mama, and someone who deeply believes that people are good and healing is possible. Here in the Hill Country of Wimberley, Texas, I've built my life and practice around one purpose to make mental wellness feel accessible, compassionate, and real. This show is for those moments when life feels heavy, when you're craving clarity, or when you just need to hear, you're not alone. Each week we'll explore the terrain of mental wellness through stories, reflections, research, and tools you can bring into everyday life. Think of it as a conversation between friends, rooted in science, guided by heart, and grounded in the belief that healing does not have to feel clinical. It can feel like sitting on a couch with someone who gets it. So whether you're driving, walking, cooking, or simply catching your breath, you're welcome here. This is your space to feel seen, supported, and reminded of your own strength. I'm so glad you're here.

Why Restaurants Teach Connection

Speaker 4 1:20

Let's dive in. What really happens behind the scenes in great restaurants? Why do restaurant teams often feel like family, as evidenced today? How do leaders create cultures of excellence, fun, resilience, and belonging? And what can all of us learn from that in our own lives? What if one of the greatest lessons about connection isn't found in therapy, but in a restaurant kitchen? Today's guest has spent 35 uninterrupted years in the restaurant business, opened more than 60 restaurants, led thousands of employees, cooked for celebrities, athletes, and dignitaries. He can even tell you how they like their steak cooked. And somehow he still believes the most important thing isn't on the menu. It's people. Today we're talking about leadership, joy, excellence, pressure, belonging, and why a great restaurant might actually teach us something about leading a meaningful life. Let's imagine it's Friday night. The restaurant is packed. Servers are weaving through crowded tables, glasses are clinking, someone is celebrating a birthday, someone else is on a first date. Oh, maybe someone's proposing to somebody the ring and the ring and the dessert. A family is reconnecting after a long, hard week. And somewhere behind those swinging kitchen doors, dozens of people are moving in a carefully choreographed dance. Orders are flying, timers are beeping, chefs are calling instructions, a tiny, a hundred tiny decisions are made every minute. And somehow, if it's a great restaurant, and Steve and I have been very lucky to work in them, the guest never sees the chaos. They just experience something that feels effortless. A wonderful meal, a memorable evening, a feeling. And maybe that's why restaurants fascinate me and why I'm always drawn to them because they're not really about the name of the restaurant or the type of food being served. It's about the people, the connection, and the belonging. It's about creating experience where we gather together and leave feeling a little more connected than when we arrived.

Meet Chef Steve Warner

Speaker 4 3:43

Today's guest is my dear, dear friend and chef, Steve Warner. And he is the head chef of Whiskey Ridge and several dozen other restaurants. And we are going to bring him in here shortly. First, I'm going to make him sweat a little as I read his bio. Born and raised in Central Texas, Steve is the executive chef at Whiskey Ridge and brings decades of culinary excellence, leadership, and creativity to the role. Over an incredible 35-year career, he's opened more than 60 restaurants, owned and operated successful concepts, including Two-Step Restaurant and Cantina, and Osteria Two Stepi, and has held leadership roles at iconic restaurants, including Eddie V's, Wildfish, ATX Cocina, Bolivar, and Jay Carver's. He's led thousands of team members throughout his career, including me, and built a reputation not only for exceptional food, but for creating cultures where people thrive. A proud graduate of the University of Texas, Steve blends classic Texas flavors with innovation, curiosity, and the best sense of humor. Hi, friend.

Speaker 1 5:04

Cat, uh, I'm not sure what you were thinking asking me to come on your show. But thankfully the guy can edit stuff out. And if you call me later today or tomorrow and say we're just gonna scrap the entire thing. I'm good with that. We could go get lunch installing.

Speaker 4 5:21

Oh my God. I'm so I'm so, so happy to have you here. What a fun, what a fun experience. What is it what does it feel like to hear me say your bio?

Speaker 1 5:32

Um that stuff's all made up. I didn't do any of that.

Speaker 4 5:36

That's not true.

Speaker 1 5:39

It's kind of funny. Um I don't think of myself like that. I'm not like driving around going, oh, look at what I did. It's just uh, you know, how you stayed paying the bills is like gotta get up and go to work. Yeah, an accumulation. Yeah, I would I would say that.

First Jobs And Finding The Fit

Speaker 4 5:55

What was your first job in the hospitality industry?

Speaker 1 5:58

Oh, Bill Miller barbecue down in San Antonio. Um I don't want to say when, but I was a kid, I was fifteen, did a bunch of dump construction jobs for my dad growing up, and then um my brother and I used to stop on the way home. I think we'd been on a roofing crew where we were just running up and down a ladder with boxes of heavy stuff. We'd stop at Bill Miller and get uh sweet tea uh on the way home. Yeah. It was way before everybody's talking about their personal hydration and it got a collection of Yeti cups and all that stuff. Yeah. We didn't have packets with uh salt in it and all that.

Speaker 4 6:37

You didn't walk around with a Yeti.

Speaker 1 6:40

No. I know they hadn't been invented yet. Those were the days. They had a marquee sign spinning around um down there, and it said now hiring a dishwasher for $3.50 an hour, and that was 15 cents an hour more than I was getting paid. So I went and I told my old man, I said, I want 15 cents an hour raise, or I'm gonna go to work at Bill Miller. Ooh. And he said, Go ahead. Oh my bluff. So I did. Um I went and applied, and I got a job there, and I loved it. It was uh it was inside, it was still hot back there. Um there was no dish machine, it was a three-compartment sink. Um, but the dishwasher in that particular restaurant got to decide what radio station they played.

Speaker 4 7:27

Control. Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:29

So I got to listen to 99.5 Kiss, which was the rock and roll station. I didn't have to listen to the uh conjunto festival music. I hated that stuff at the time. And then I got half price on my food, and at 15 I could I could eat some Bill Miller.

Speaker 4 7:45

Um sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Speaker 1 7:48

I thought it was. Yeah. You know, I thought it was great. And never really got out of it. I quit that job at some point, uh, went to college, um, you know, worked different different jobs. I was trying to not be in the restaurant business, but finally, um I actually did a brief stint after I graduated in the radio business. I was trying to sell airtime.

Speaker 4 8:10

No, you did not.

Speaker 1 8:11

Yeah. Um I got fired for mostly being a smart aleck. No. Well, they they didn't have good ratings. It was this terrible station up in Austin called 99 uh Cool 9 Cool 99.

Speaker 4 8:24

I thought you were gonna say, but they didn't have a good sense of humor.

Speaker 1 8:27

Um They were gonna need one to keep me uh working there. I didn't get paid anyway. I think I got like um I might have got $175 a week plus a commission.

Speaker 5 8:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:38

And then you had to, you know, close a certain amount of business and then you got a I think a fifteen percent commission. Most I ever made trying that job was like $375 one week. And then um they didn't have good ratings. And so, you know, that's really what you were selling is how many people listen to this station, and you'd go, you'd finally get the business owner to talk to you instead of just shouting obscenities at you and throwing you out. And then uh you finally have to tell him, yeah, nobody really listens.

Speaker 3 9:08

Oh no. So He's like, Why are you here?

Speaker 1 9:11

Well, the my uh my sales manager, Susan, and I won't say her last name, but she was the first person in a series uh people that fired me.

Speaker 4 9:21

You know who you are, Susan.

Speaker 1 9:24

Um she called me in her office one Friday and she goes, uh, do you like it here? And I was an idiot, so I was honest, and I was like, No. And she goes, Well, why not? And I said, Well, I don't like these clothes I'm wearing, and I'm tired of people being rude to me and and throwing me out of their business, and I don't like this music, I think it sucks, and the ratings are terrible, and nobody wants to buy this, and I'm not making any money, and I just I don't like the place. And she looked at me and she goes, Well, Steve, I don't really think that you want to work here anymore. And I was like, No, I guess I don't. She goes, Well, you can go and you don't have to come back. And I said, Are you firing me? She goes, Well, based on what you just told me, it kind of seems like it's a good idea for you not to work here anymore.

Speaker 4 10:16

You walked yourself out the door.

Speaker 1 10:19

And then uh she I don't know, she knew that I'd worked in restaurants uh, you know, in the past, and one of their clients was a restaurant owner in downtown Austin, and she called that lady and she goes, Hey, I got this kid, he's an idiot. But he's got restaurant experience. So if you could talk to him. And then she called me and she goes, Go talk to this lady down at uh Colorado Street Cafe. And so I got a job down there that afternoon. She's like, Yeah, it was kind. I got a job baking. Yes, actually, Susan, thank you.

Speaker 4 10:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1 10:57

Thank you. You know who you are. Yeah. But that's um, you know, the beginning of the end of any other kind of attempt at at not being in the restaurant business. It just fit my personality. Um I'm a night owl, I like to stay up a little later so I could sleep in in the restaurant business. Um and then at that time the economy wasn't great. There wasn't a bunch of jobs out there, and especially with uh my very powerful English and history degree. You know, that was kind of like what I was just trying to get a degree.

School Detours And Work Style

Speaker 4 11:30

So you went to UT here in Austin. Well, not here, but in Austin, and you studied English, as you just said, and history. Why did you choose English and history? Those are pretty lofty. That's not a walk in the park.

Speaker 1 11:48

It was a lot of reading, but um I started out in the College of Business, and that's what I originally got into, and you had to take uh I think it was a total of eight hours of calculus. It was 403K and then 403L.

Speaker 3 12:03

Good for you.

Speaker 1 12:04

Sharp as attack. Oh, well. 403K I took and I made uh a C. And you can't go on to take 403L unless you make at least a B. So I took 403K a second time and I made the B, but then they informed me that they blended the two together and I was still below. So I had to I had to change to another school after completing eight hours of calculus.

Speaker 2 12:29

Oh no.

Speaker 1 12:31

Calculus wasn't gonna do me a bit of good anyway. So um fumbled around and finally my old man he he was tired, he knew what I was up to. I was headed down to Barton Springs Pool, cutting class and just doing normal college things, college kid things. And he goes, You need to finish school, go talk to a counselor and figure out how you can get out of school the fastest. I was like, Okay, yes, sir. Anyway, so it was an English degree. Um, and I actually liked it because you could just like they would tell you to read a book and you would go read the book and then you'd come to class and talk about it. Or you'd have to like read books and then write a report, or one time I took a creative writing class, I took a poetry class, and you you'd go and you'd just write a poem and take it in there, and then you'd read the poem. There's like twelve other kids in the class, you'd read this poem.

Speaker 4 13:23

Where was that when I was going to school? I don't know. I think it was there actually.

Speaker 1 13:28

At UT?

Speaker 4 13:28

Yeah, it was in 403L and 403K.

Speaker 1 13:33

Yeah, I don't know. Um But it just it didn't it wasn't like a whip in, it didn't seem like work, you know. It was kind of fun. It was kind of fun.

What Makes A Restaurant Great

Speaker 4 13:44

Steve, when most people go into a restaurant, they really only experience the dining room. What do you wish people actually knew about what happens? What makes a restaurant great?

Speaker 1 13:57

Well, I think probably Cat, like any organization, it it's um it's the leadership in there, like any a family dynamic is gonna benefit from that. And and we saw that working with Tom for so many years, but we also you know tell the listener who Tom is. Tom Farachi was my partner, it among other things. Eddie V's Fifth Street, the original one, back in the early 2000s. He was a business partner of mine. Down in San Antonio, we built a restaurant together, and we're we're just really good friends. Um and I'll, you know, I'd still say things Tom said, jokes he said, corny stuff, dad jokes, all that kind of stuff. And and to me, it's just still funny. But he he was actually the reason that you and I are friends. He hired you. You were a kid. I think you were going to UT, is that right?

Speaker 4 14:50

That's right. He hired me as a hostess. I was 18. And um I interviewed. I was doing a wine internship that summer, and so I was doing ride-alongs with Bridget. And so I was working under her and learning the ropes, and I really don't remember how it happened. I think Bridget said you should work here, or Bridget told Tom she should work here, something like this. But I I remember I was in an interview with Tom Faragci, and I was so nerdy. Oh my God. I mean, why did I own two-inch pumps? I don't know, but that's what I wore to the interview, a little business casual situation.

Speaker 1 15:32

I would say knowing Tom, that's probably specifically why you got hired there. It's because you owned those shoes.

Speaker 4 15:39

I look like a little grandma. I don't, I just I just showed up grandma-like, but 18, and he interviewed me and he put me through some tests, so to speak, that and I didn't know he was putting me through tests, but he sat me down at a table and he moved the plates and the napkins to the side as we were doing our interview. And as we got up and we shook hands, I moved the plates and the napkins back to their in front of the seat where they were supposed to be. And that was the winning move for me. Then he asked me if he could borrow my pen, and I had a pen. That was number two. And then I walked past a piece of trash on the floor and I picked it up. And he later told me that those three things were the reason he hired me.

Speaker 1 16:28

Yeah, those uh those those are things he would be on the lookout for, and what it tells uh what it told him and what it tells everybody is uh I'm paying attention to details and I care. Um and you can it's really hard to teach people to stop and pick that trash up off the floor, even though they work there. That's how you make your money, by the way. Let's take care of the place. Um So if you see that, that's really Tom was a big fan. He would say, I uh we don't hire experience or we don't hire resumes, we hire attitudes.

Speaker 4 17:01

That's right.

Speaker 1 17:02

Um and boy was he right. In my opinion, he was, you know, he had that uh that deal figured out.

Speaker 4 17:08

So, listener, when I met Steve, I was 18 and he was a big chef and he was very loud and that's a fact.

unknown 17:17

Yeah.

Speaker 4 17:19

And not mean. I definitely don't think he was mean. Um I definitely don't think you were mean. Let me talk about your standing right here. But you were very commanding, and I was not gonna screw around. Like Steve was the boss. Steve was chef, and we were listening.

Speaker 1 17:39

Well, I think, you know, to s and I agree that that was me, and to a certain extent, I still have that gear, although it's less uh It's a good gear, I like the gear. Less prominent, but m mostly that's like a survival thing and a problem-solving thing. It's like we got a lot of work to do, and we gotta get it done really fast. And so somebody needs to prioritize that and assign it. And that was kind of that's kind of the chef's job as far as, you know, from a food standpoint, and it bleeds over a little bit to front of the house. Like, okay, the food is made and it's sitting, it's got to get out into the person that's gonna buy it from us.

Speaker 4 18:22

Um here's a here's a kind of an in the weeds question. And earlier you said leadership, but I want you to expand a little because you truly run an amazing places, and you're amazing. You are self-effacing, but you're excellent at what you do. So, what separates a good restaurant from a truly exceptional one? Give me an example. For example, at a good restaurant, this could happen, but at an exceptional restaurant, this other thing happens.

Speaker 1 18:54

Well, I'm probably gonna get in a little bit of trouble with uh other professional chefs with this one, but in and I learned this.

Speaker 4 19:02

I'll protect you.

Speaker 1 19:04

Probably. Thanks, God, I feel safe. I probably learned it like the first day uh that the two-step was open. That was my first restaurant that I actually owned. Um, and I was in big trouble with it. I had no idea what I was doing. I borrowed way too much money. I we we built this giant restaurant. Tom was there helping. Um, I had a guy run in the kitchen, Carlos. He was awesome. And I was working on the Expo line, it was right up by the front door. And just uh as a happenstance, I had to seat some people at a table. They were staring at me. I'm not in a chef coat, so I can't hide back there. So I just went up and said hi to them and I got him to the table, and it was real awkward. And I thought, oh shoot, they gotta be in a good mood. I gotta get them to smile on the way to the table. And it kind of struck me like the most important ingredient there is uh is the service, because it it can be a hard job, the the service side. You don't know when you go up to that table, did y'all win the lottery today? Or did you get divorce papers filed? Did you wreck your car? That's right. You know, so you gotta are y'all having a business meeting and you don't want a lot of or you kind of in a little bit of a riff with your girlfriend when you got in here, and I gotta get y'all back to having fun, right?

Speaker 4 20:28

Yeah, it's a roll of the dice. Where are they emotionally or mentally?

Speaker 1 20:32

Yeah, you gotta get that sorted out.

Speaker 4 20:33

Frame of mind. That's better. Frame of mind.

Speaker 1 20:35

Yeah, I think so, frame of mind. But you gotta get that sorted out pretty quickly. Um and you gotta get it headed in a good direction because uh you're you know, people say it all the time, but I believe it. It's like it's a couple hours worth of vacation time that you're in there for.

Speaker 4 20:50

Um Wait, what do you mean by that? I've never heard someone say that.

Speaker 1 20:55

Well, if you come into the restaurant, um it's like a little break from from the normal life. Like I don't have to go to H E B and get food and bust up that kitchen and break it down and clean it, and then they don't want salmon again tonight. They had that two nights, or you know, whatever the thing is. You can just go in there and there's a million choices and everybody can get whatever they want there. Um, you don't have to clean it up, you just have to pay for it. Yeah. Um, but it can be fun. It doesn't look like your own dining room or living room, and you get to talk to some friendly people, hopefully. So I really think that that's uh you know, I think that's why you asked me if I would come on your radio show. I was telling you, like we have some, you know, sometimes like a serber will come into the restaurant and just say, Hey, how are you doing today? And for the most part, I go, Oh, good, I'm great, or you know, because they now they kind of know, okay, if he asks, don't go over there and tell him I'm okay or I'm tired. Um but also I'll stop and tell them. Don't come in here and tell me you're tired. You come in here and you say, I'm amazing. Thank you for asking. And they get creative with it, you know. They'll be like, but don't take my word for it, Chef. Ask everyone else. They'll tell you the same.

Speaker 5 22:15

Oh, good.

Speaker 1 22:16

And they get they get some good hyperbole in there. I've heard uh phenomenal, feel sorry for people that are not me today.

Speaker 4 22:25

Um who's got it better than me?

Speaker 1 22:29

Yeah, I don't know. You got a pretty good cat. But yeah, they say stuff like, you know, they they have fun with it. Um and that's really because you you want them to, you're they're representing you and your business. You want them to go over to that table and bring that sunshine. Um and if they if they walk in and they're allowing themselves to be tired and just okay, it's like, what if you know, you're gonna take that energy over to the table. That's your customer.

Speaker 3 22:55

You're trying to get, hey, I'm trying to get some money from you, so I'm gonna smile and be nice. That's right. Trying to get a big fat tip.

Speaker 1 23:02

Yeah.

Speaker 3 23:03

Do you know about tips? That's not good. I can't be good.

Speaker 23:11

I don't understand your question, ma'am.

Tipping Culture And Service Respect

Speaker 3 23:19

That's gotta stay in.

Speaker 4 23:20

Okay. Percentage that somebody should leave a tip on a risk on service.

Speaker 1 23:30

So I'm I have a let me let me figure out how to describe this person without used to be 20%.

Speaker 4 23:37

Is it more now? I'm confused. I need a referendum on tipping.

Speaker 1 23:42

They like to ratchet that thing up. It's like, do you want to tip uh 22, 25, or 30 percent? And it's like, I'm just getting my oil changed. I don't understand what uh when did the tipping at the at Jiffy Lube come in?

Speaker 4 23:58

Yes, yes, yes, yes, that is true. I'm like, what?

Speaker 1 24:02

Yeah, they do that. I I think that you know, is it does tip stand for to ensure proper service? I what is it?

Speaker 4 24:13

Oh no, Steve, I have no clue. You guys don't have here's the moral story. You guys at Whiskey Ridge don't have referendums on proper tipping.

Speaker 1 24:24

No, I think for the most part, uh people know how to tip. If you had a good time and your service was good and you enjoyed everything, uh take care of that server. And there's there's not a limit. Uh as the servers have told me, there's no limit like percentage, don't worry about that. Now there's a a lower limit that that they'll support. Yeah. Uh that seems to be like around 20%. But also I think that they understand if they give if they give better service, they they make more money. Totally. It it seems pretty common sense.

Speaker 4 24:54

Okay.

When A New Place Finally Gels

Speaker 4 24:55

Is there a moment that you realize when you're working in a restaurant like, ooh, this has gelled, and this restaurant is off to the races?

Speaker 1 25:06

Yeah, it's uh like a non-standard measurement. But whenever that restaurant produces a child is usually to me, that means, okay, it's a good restaurant. That means somebody a couple has met at the restaurant. They didn't know each other before, and they've decided to spend time with one another.

Speaker 4 25:26

Oh my God, I thought you meant actually when there's a spin-off of the restaurant, so wildfish to Eddie V's.

Speaker 1 25:32

No, I told you it was a non-standard measurement on my part. Okay. But to me, and the that time frame seems to kind of sync up with you've you've gone through enough people that maybe maybe we made an error uh hiring or we did something in our training, we couldn't reach them and get them where we needed them. Um also I'll kind of call it like we got that stupid look off our face where we're not scared, we see a big number on the reservation book, we're not nervous about it. People are gonna show up to to their shift and work hard, they're gonna be happy, they're gonna get pizza or you know, whatever the thing is. Um and that usually just kind of happens around the nine-month, uh, 10, 11, 12, 1 year mark.

Speaker 4 26:25

Okay. So it takes about a year to gel.

Speaker 1 26:27

Yeah, but also that's you know, that's about what it takes to get a baby. So it's it's just whenever I whenever and it happens every single time. Every restaurant I've ever opened, inside that first year, there's a restaurant baby.

Speaker 4 26:44

And truly, like somebody has a baby that that's on staff.

Speaker 1 26:49

Yeah, that's what they do. They meet each other, they're out having fun.

Speaker 4 26:54

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 26:54

They're young kids, you know, 20 somethings, and you know, they get uh I don't know if I've got any. Yeah, I don't think I've got any restaurant grandchildren. I hope to be retired by the time something like that happens.

Speaker 4 27:09

Wow. Yeah, I so let's go to the fun chemistry. I guarantee that the energy between me and you is probably completely different than the energy that I've had with any other guests. If it's just because we are slightly inappropriate and we are irreverent.

Speaker 1 27:33

This is my shined up radio appropriate stuff.

Speaker 4 27:39

But but behind but behind the mic, off mic, we can say some jokes.

Speaker 1 27:46

Rock and roll, freaking.

Speaker 4 27:47

We can say some things. It's super duper fun, but we know each other on that level. Like we have gone through those things before. And even though you were my, I was gonna say you were my senior, you were my authority figure, right? But we can still just kind of just kind of jump into it. And we kind of allow that space for ourselves.

The Glue Of Restaurant Friendships

Speaker 4 28:11

Neither of us are precious with our feelings either.

Speaker 1 28:16

I wouldn't think so.

Speaker 4 28:18

But why does that happen? Every restaurant friend that I have from working at Eddie V's, I still adore. I love, I saw someone I drove 40 minutes to go have lunch with Jason yesterday. I still see Brandon. I still see so many people that I worked with 25 years ago. What is that glue? What is that fun fairy dust? What is that?

Speaker 1 28:41

Yeah, I don't, I don't know if I could explain it. I mean, I remember the first time I experienced it. Um people are gonna laugh at this one, but in the early days uh of macaroni grill, it was actually a good place to learn to cook. Everything was a hundred percent scratch, baked our own bread, spun our own pasta. Um and I don't, you know, I can't say what they're up to these days. They had quit there for a while. Um, but that, you know, so like I'm learning a trade is how I, you know, kind of thought about it in the early days. But we had this um, it was called the saute line, but it's like three men or women on the on the saute line, and each person had a different part in each dish. So there was, you know, the first guy would start the item and then he would pass it over. Each guy had his own oven. Um the second guy would deglaze the pan or put sauce in it, or you know, whatever his steps were, and then he would hand it down to the third guy who would finish it and put it in a bowl or on a plate, and then pass it across the counter. Um, and then the guy on the other side would that was your expeditor, but he would assemble all the stuff. Um and you had different stations, you had a pizza station, you had a pantry and a grill. So you may have you know all food going to one table, but it comes from four different workstations. So that that was kind of a hard job. So but you you'd get you know, you'd get a lot of people coming through there eating. It was a popular place at the time. And so you, you know, I I was young, maybe 22, 23, something like that. Um, and I was driving in, I had two jobs at the time. I had the job that Susan got me at the at the Colorado Street Cafe down there, downtown. But I was driving up Mopak and I was so I was just looking forward to the shift. Um, and there was a couple of guys in there, um, Brett and Sean and Chuck, and they'll anybody from that era in that restaurant will laugh and remember those guys. But you know, I knew what was gonna happen when I got there. Um that there was gonna be some over-the-top compliments. We were wingmen for one another. And so, you know, kind of like if you're about to feed 800 people in the next four hours.

Speaker 4 31:15

800.

Speaker 1 31:17

Uh, that's been maybe an exaggeration. It felt like it. It could even if it was only 400, that's still a lot.

Speaker 4 31:22

It's a lot, yeah.

Speaker 1 31:23

Um, but you, you know, you want to feel like kind of capable and confident, and and so but also we were joking around. Um, there was also maybe some ladies there that we liked, and so we'd want to help our buddy uh along. So like if she would come up to the line, you know, Chuck would ask Chuck was a good one for it. They all were, but Chuck would be like, Brett, did they have to close the gym when you got done working out because the weights were so tired? Um and where, you know, he's we're all calling one another chef, or like, hey Chef, we're gonna need a little more coat next time, okay. Um there for each other. Yeah, yeah. We were trying to help it along. And they would even, you know, we would get dumb with it. You know, we'd be like, uh oh what with Halloween right around the corner, you could just take your shirt off and go as Schwarzenegger. But you would, I mean, you would have to you would wait until whatever girl he liked to say that. So she was with an earshot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You had to be building that guy up. Um but it's you know, it's kind of like the same thing when I'm asking servers, how are you doing when they get there? Um you know, you want people to feel good.

Speaker 4 32:44

I love that you said I that you were looking forward to the shift. That in itself is nice. What a nice thing to be looking forward to work. I particularly love work. Um, and I don't remember a day truly where I didn't want to go to work at Eddie V's, like just didn't. Or ACL Live. I enjoy that. I enjoy being with people, I enjoy working my butt off, I enjoy everything about hospitality, you know, making somebody feel welcome and giving them a special experience. And I think that that's important as part of the excellence culture, is that you want people who want to work well.

Speaker 1 33:28

Yeah, a hundred percent. I think um, you know, you want them in a good mood. There's and it's probably hard to kind of quantify, but if people don't like you, um it's cost it's gonna cost you money. You want to be nice to them. It needs to be genuine. Uh you need to have a a true concern about their uh their well-being. So if something's really bothering them and they let you know, you don't want to give them the old check, check that at the door speech. Um on the one hand, on the other hand, it's game time and we're here to do we all came for the same reason today to make some money. Might as well have fun while we're doing it. Um and and so that's that's really for me, and I think in my experience, like anytime I was not looking forward to going to work, kind of had to think, okay, well, you're one of the people responsible for the place. Okay, so it's kind of on you that you've now created this or allowed this thing uh to happen that that makes you not look forward to going in. So you need to go in and immediately uh get to work on that thing. Uh and it it'll kind of guide you. But really, it's um that's kind of crazy to think I've been doing it for 35 years. I was driving up today and I was looking forward to it. I'm gonna put prime rib on and we're gonna cut these stakes, and I'm gonna talk to Ray. And you know, one of the guys there, his his girlfriend teaches Ray's kids at school, and you know, so we're just we're laughing, making fun of each other, and it it's good. It's a good time.

Speaker 4 35:08

You're listening to Catch Time with Cat. I'm Cat, and today we're talking with Chef Steve Warner about leadership, excellence, connection, and great restaurants. Okay, Steve, you spent your

Excellence As A Daily Choice

Speaker 4 35:20

life. I don't think that you would characterize it like this, but I really see it this way. So my perspective wins. You've spent your life pursuing excellence in a way. What do you think that drive is? Where does that come from inside of you?

Speaker 1 35:39

Wow, I don't I couldn't tell you where it comes from. Um I know when I do something that I think is not as as good as it can be, um it it bothers me. And it bothers me, uh and this is really kind of on any level. You know, we've got uh there's a linen company there. Uh everybody uses them probably. You know, there's a handful of them around town, but the same one. And one time we had a substitute driver, our normal driver, went on a vacation. The regular driver comes in, he's got a big smile, he's super friendly. Um he counts up, you know, what we're gonna need. He comes and talks to us about what he's gonna leave. Uh he does a really good job, and he's super happy. And if you think about this job, it's like it's a ton of heavy lifting. It's a box truck he's driving around in Texas in the summer in the heat. Uh, it's a really hard job. This guy's so stoked. Then when he went on vacation, we got the substitute driver. Whatever our normal driver does, you know, brings uh brings a little extra magic to his delivery job. This guy did not do that. And it's like, oh man, I just had to spend four minutes with this guy, and I did not like that, right? So so it's like just whatever you're doing. You got dressed, you left the house, this is what you've chosen to do for the day. Um let let's be let's be great at it. Let's have fun. And if there's if there's somebody out there that is doing it better or a better uh stake or you know, whatever you're up to, better service. Okay, well, let's learn what they're up to. Let's let's take that and use it to improve our own.

Speaker 5 37:35

Yeah.

Speaker 37:36

Sorry, Cat. You invited me.

Speaker 4 37:39

This is perfect. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay, let's talk about things that go wrong.

Kitchen Disasters And Hard Lessons

Speaker 4 37:49

Do you remember a kitchen disaster?

Speaker 1 37:53

Oh, quite a few. I mean, you don't do 35 years without some uh pain and suffering.

Speaker 4 38:00

Do you want to talk about one or two?

Speaker 1 38:02

There's, you know, I call them widow makers, but there's there's been a handful. And it's always it's always like uh in looking back, it's always pretty predictable. Um my first executive chef uh job. Ooh, which was where? It would have been a macaroni grill up in Arlington. And so let's think. People are gonna be horrified when I say this number. It was probably around 1994, maybe 1995.

Speaker 4 38:36

You were so young.

Speaker 1 38:39

Um, but that don't forget, I was also very, very dumb.

Speaker 4 38:44

No, Steve, I did not believe they decided to let me run their kitchen. How old are you?

Speaker 1 38:50

Uh I would have been like 25 years old at the time.

Speaker 4 38:54

That's young. That's a lot of responsibility. You were obviously very responsible.

Speaker 1 38:59

Uh I didn't handle it that well that day. But it was uh the restaurant was one of these ones where they'd uh Brinker had bought macaroni grill um and they were opening a bunch of them, and they'd open another one very close to this one. This one had done well when they first opened it. They opened a second one, I think they call that cannibalizing, but they it was just too close, and so people were going to this other newer location instead. This thing was doing, I think there was some weeks we were doing like $32,000, which by the way, that's not making any money. Um, even in those days. That's that's a terrible number. Um, and then here comes Mother's Day. So I was brand new. I'd been there maybe four months or something, and I'd kind of gotten I'd kind of gotten okay at scheduling and ordering and you know, weren't working at that job at the $32,000 uh a week uh range. And then here comes Mother's Day, and I had no I had no way to know. And we did like $18,000 in one day, and it was horrible. And I went to Walmart like six times to buy, we're out of broccoli now. You know, it was just and it went on forever. I mean, there was never there was never an end in my mind. I I was there for sure from seven o'clock in the morning until eleven o'clock at night, and it was just a beating. And it would, by the way, it went horrible for the the people that brought their poor mom in there.

Speaker 2 40:32

Oh no.

Speaker 1 40:33

Um so I've I've seen maybe seven or eight of those where you just you for whatever the reason you weren't prepared uh for what was going to happen. It always comes with high, high volume. Um and you know, it's like you run out of one item, you miscalculated, you didn't pay attention to the details, you didn't, you didn't, you weren't diligent. And it's always almost always self-inflicted. That first one kind of maybe not as much my fault, just because I hadn't I didn't know what I was doing. Um youth. But after that, you know, you kind of you kind of need to be able to see it coming. Um but then I call it uh I call it the drive home. And I remember I was driving back to my apartment. I had this terrible apartment um that uh a guy I worked for, Clay. Clay got me this apartment. He told me he had this, he's from Wichita Falls. He said, Hey Bo, I'm gonna promote you to executive chef. Uh you're gonna move to Arlington for me. You okay with that? I'm gonna pay you $24,000 a year, salary plus bonus plus medical insurance. Um I reserved you a U-Haul truck. You go get your truck, pack your stuff up, and drive up tomorrow. I found you in the apartment. Um I need you to pay me my deposit back, and then uh you're gonna start work on a Wednesday. It's like um, Clay, it's it's Monday night, and I'm still at work in Austin, and you're saying that I gotta pack up and move tomorrow Tuesday and be at work on Wednesday. He's like, Yeah, that'll that's good.

Speaker 3 42:13

And did you?

Speaker 1 42:14

Yeah, the apartment I did I did as close a version as as humanly possible to that. Um and the apartment he rented me uh was one of these, you know, and there's a zillion of them, but it's just like 900 units on the side. It was at a huge highway intersection with a a What 60 yards off my window. Um and so not only could I smell Whataburger at all times, because there are 24 hours, I could hear people ordering Whataburger and then they're getting repeated back to them all night.

Speaker 3 42:57

So that's a number one with cheese.

Speaker 1 42:59

Yes. So like I drive I was driving back to that apartment and I was just thinking, I was like, well, I'm gonna figure out something else to do for a living because I I don't ever want to do that again, and I don't know what I'm getting paid, uh, but whatever it is, it's not worth that. So and then I went in the next day and I quit, and Clay talked me out of it. I stayed. Oh it's like F that, my man. He's like, no, no, you did great.

Speaker 4 43:24

Clay's like, sit down.

Speaker 1 43:26

I don't know what happened to Clay. He was running the Oasis for years up there in Austin.

Speaker 4 43:31

Oasis.

Speaker 1 43:32

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 43:32

I don't know where I don't know where he went, but he was oh, he was so good. He was so good.

Speaker 4 43:37

That's very sweet. Hi Clay. If you're out there, hi Clay. Okay, let's talk famous people.

Serving Famous Guests Like Humans

Speaker 4 43:45

Let's talk famous people and clients. Like coming into the restaurant. Are they fun? Are they needy? Are they high maintenance? Are they a combo? Do you love it? Do you do you push it? Way, what's your vibe?

Speaker 1 44:02

In my experience, and and there's been a a pretty good list of them, both recent and in in the past, and it's everybody, politicians, athletes, actors, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. They for the the vast majority of them, they just want it treated like a normal person. Yeah, that's so true. They don't uh you know, it's like try and find a place that they're not gonna get a lot of attention by other people in the restaurant. Because you can go through and tell your your crew, like, hey, treat them like you treat everybody else. That's what they want. And for the most part, I I believe it is. The the wild cards are your other customers. They'll go right, they'll get up from their table, they run right over there and interrupt them, and it's like, hey, they're with their family, knock it off.

Speaker 3 44:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1 44:52

Um, but there's uh there's been a handful that you know they want they wanted this or that, and it's kind of like a well, maybe you ought to get uh back to the house and get your private chef to do that for you. Because I got I see you're here, and if I look at two hundred dollar bills at the end of the night, I won't know which one you gave us and which one one of the other 600 people that ate here gave us. So why don't you just that menu, that thing you're in your hand, that's a list of what we offer.

Speaker 4 45:30

It's not like uh options or like a suggestion, a starting place.

Speaker 45:36

It's not you're not doing like a scattery thing with your uh with your meal here.

Speaker 4 45:42

Were you nervous the first time you had to prepare food for someone famous?

Speaker 1 45:48

I don't really remember, but probably. I think it was uh he was a pitcher um at the time, very famous. He just wound up in a macaroni grill. And it was up in Arlington. He pitched for uh for Texas Rangers. And the the everybody, the managers, the staff, everybody was really putting a lot of pressure on that thing to go well. And it's like if you hadn't told me who it was and been over here going, that's for you know, if you'd have just sent the thing through It's for LeBron James, don't mess it up. Yeah, same, you know, same thing. There's all the there's a little bit of that, but you just gotta manage it. Uh you you know, tell them it you gotta treat them like a normal person because it is a normal person. They do some extraordinary stuff and they've got some achievements. Um they probably have high standards, so let's you know, good job. Let's let's focus. Yeah, it makes sense.

Speaker 4 46:51

Keep it tight, everybody.

Speaker 1 46:53

But also everybody that's in here eating probably has some high standards.

Speaker 4 46:56

Oh yeah. I know. You're such a good leader. So good job, good job. I remember the last not the last, the first time I sat somebody famous, I was I mean, I think I was sweating. I think I sweat the whole time. I think I was a little shaky, you know. My voice was up in my throat. I hope you have a good night. You know, it was you get a little starstruck and then and then you get over it.

Speaker 1 47:19

But yeah, I think uh you know, probably where that that ended for me was uh and I'd never I like I never went out to say like, I'm a huge fan, I'm so happy you're here. Um it that just felt like uh like I was crossing a line that that they they were trusting that they could come in here and not get bothered by, you know, this dummy coming out here. But you know, every now and then it did wind up like I would I would be on friendly terms with people, um, and just from talking to them, uh kind of forget uh they're regular people and they want they don't want a bunch of nonsense. They just want to come in and get some food and enjoy themselves and take a little break from their life.

Speaker 4 48:05

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And something that I learned from you guys from Tom and when I was um a hostess and then eventually the manager was I'm there to be excellent. That's it. It doesn't matter who I'm being excellent for, that's not the point. The point is to be excellent and to lead a team well and to welcome guests and to just give everybody the best possible experience of the night. There was never any teaching in terms of you have to be nicer to X person or Y person. No, it's you are excellent across the board because that's who you are, no matter who walks in the door.

Speaker 1 48:44

Well, I think excellence is a good thing.

Speaker 4 48:46

Um yeah, I do.

Speaker 1 48:48

You know, that's that's pretty good.

unknown 48:50

Yeah.

Speaker 4 48:51

And I mean you guys taught me, so. Well, how about this?

Speaker 1 48:56

If if you if you just practice trying to be excellent for everybody, then it's a little less intimidating if somebody, you know. So we used to call them fat cats. I'm not sure we're supposed to say. I think we can say that. You can still call out these people come in and they've got, you know, like I said, they're famous or they've got a lot of success, a lot of achievement in life. Um it'd probably be easier to to give them an excellent experience if you you practice it on the other 500 people that came in that day or you know, whatever the number is.

Speaker 4 49:30

Yeah, absolutely. It becomes who you are. You're not putting on a show.

Speaker 1 49:34

Yeah. I would say that.

Why He Still Loves The Work

Speaker 4 49:37

When you look back over 35 years, why do you keep coming back? Is it the fun? Is it the camaraderie? Is it a combination? Is it that you are just interested in the hospitality business as a whole?

Speaker 1 49:55

Well, we gotta go back through the entire show now and change, because I don't like that 35-year number getting thrown out there so many times. So we'll just go back and we'll make up a new number. It'll be 17. 17 and a half years.

Speaker 3 50:11

Um have pride.

Speaker 1 50:13

No, I it doesn't I mean it is work, but it doesn't seem like I don't dread it. It doesn't seem hard. Um I picked this occupation. It didn't like uh I wasn't conscripted into it. You can make money and it's not torture. And I've known some people, I'm really close. I've got family members, and they they got like Sunday dread, they don't uh they hate it, that they're you know, and it's groundhog day for them. They make a great living, they do well, but they're I think they're truly tortured um you know, to a certain extent by their by their existence. And my brother, you know, some of the stories I tell him about, you know, from work, he's like, Yeah, what? I'm like, yeah. He goes, Don't y'all have a HR department? I'm like, Yeah, well, we kind of have an HR department, but or self-policing. You know, we're self-policing, and they do a good job for the most part, and so-and-so didn't complain about it, so well, we're just kind of gonna tell them don't do that again. Um You know, and it's not like we're not gonna s now you can't work for big corporations and do that, I found out. But um they uh you know there's a certain amount of rules and regulations, but it's basically okay, let's be respectful and and show people dignity, uh, but not just to our guests, but uh the beer driver. Yeah, he gets he's gonna get that shine.

Speaker 5 51:47

Yes.

Speaker 1 51:48

Um bartender coming in there for work, he's getting, you know, let's shine everybody up. Um Farachi was the king of it, but everybody that comes in the building has to be better for it. You you remember this? And his response was always people, how are you today? Wonderful in you. I got a I get his his accent wrong, but that's perfectly his brother, his brother says the same thing. Oh my god. I heard it. I was like, oh my god, that is Varagi over there, isn't it?

Speaker 4 52:19

Wow. I got this, I have never showed it to you, but I got this ring made after Tom died. Oh and it says grand on it.

Speaker 1 52:28

Ain't life grand.

Speaker 4 52:30

That's right. And I wear it on a pinky, just like he did.

Speaker 52:36

Um well, I told that story uh for him, but that that that girl that has what the TF stood for on his pinky ring. It was too good. It was too good.

Speaker 4 52:51

Tom Barrachi.

Speaker 52:56

He's just looking at her saying his name.

Speaker 4 52:59

Tom is loving every second of this. Tom, we love you and we think about you every day. You're listening to Couch Time with Cat. I'm Cat, and today we're talking with Chef Steve Warner about what makes restaurants magical, why great leadership matters, and the human stories behind every great meal.

Joy At Whiskey Ridge Today

Speaker 4 53:19

Okay, we're gonna land the plane here. What do you think?

Speaker 1 53:21

Cat, when are they gonna start? Uh, where's the phone? We're gonna start taking calls on uh recipes and cooking techniques.

Speaker 4 53:28

Yes. Do you want to do a live show where people can call in?

Speaker 53:33

Um I'll do whatever you ask. That's on you. I was just trying to make a joke.

Speaker 4 53:38

Okay. What's bringing you joy these days at Whiskey Ridge?

Speaker 1 53:45

For for years, um, I was out of what I would I would call like day-to-day operations. I was one of these stooges that came in like with a clipboard and a flashlight, and I'd be looking around your restaurant, and we'd be making marks on a piece of paper, and okay, we've got to get this cleaned up or your labor's higher. You know, it's like I'm there every three or four weeks and not really not really doing enough work to get enough respect or to make a good connection with people. Because that's really like you're you're in there doing that work with them. Uh you you can ask them, you can say please and thank you. When you're just kind of showing up, and there, you know, we we were trying we were trying to run a lot of restaurants with not a lot of people. Um, and so I get it. It's and I never liked those people when they came into uh, you know, whatever restaurant I was running. Um and it was fun, you you know, and I I loved certain aspects of that could because it was different. We had different concepts we were working on, we were going to different places. Um but the if you just run in the one, you can really kind of make a little home for yourself and you get to decide, okay, this is this is the food that we're gonna make, this is who's gonna work here, this is what they're gonna look like or talk like or act like. Um and so, you know, I think I said something similar earlier. It's like if I'm going to work and I'm not looking forward to it, it's it's really kind of on me and and the other people that we're running. We come in every day to run this business. Um, we're here to make a living, just like everybody else that comes in. So let's make it nice for us. Um, and we're I think we're past a year and a half or maybe right at a year and a half. And so we've, you know, we're kind of hitting that mark where, you know, it's good. It's a good thing uh to go into work. And, you know, it's like I look around and I see, you know, whoever on that station. I'm oh good, Andy's here. And then I go to talk to him, hey man, how are you doing? Oh, crudo, he tells me he's hung over today. I'm like, okay. And I go over to the bar and I say hi to whoever's back there setting up. Today that guy had a black eye and he had a bag of frozen peas on his eyes. I said, What happened? He didn't remember. Okay. Well, I gotta get a Red Bull and take it over to Andy. Was he with you last night? Yeah, you know, so but uh it's entertaining, it's it's a good time. Um, but there's also like there's a there's a seriousness to it that you want to take the job seriously because it's like, you know, Mother's Day was crazy. We served it had to be over a thousand people. We had 959 on the book, and you're uh at the end of it, that's what we'd had come through, and but we don't count what sits at the bar. Okay, so those people came in with money and mom. Yeah. Okay, so they didn't go across the street, they didn't go, they came here. And so let's let's be respectful of that that they've given us this uh this opportunity to, you know, make a little memory for them and their family, right?

Speaker 4 57:05

It's the coolest it's not quite a juxtaposition, but on the one hand, everything is so light and fun, and on the other hand, everything is not serious, but taken seriously. So it's not like you're thinking, oh, this is such a heavy thing, but you do it really well and really with excellence and precision. And on the other hand, because you're doing that, then you can be light. It's it's um I feel like they're two opposing forces, but done really well at the exact same time.

Speaker 1 57:45

Well, that's I mean, that's the goal, and hopefully, and I really think we do. Hopefully you get you get that thing uh accomplished enough um, you know, to to have good luck and to stay in business for a long time and be able to go to work and enjoy it and not have it kill you. Uh we're human, we make mistakes, stuff happens, some things happened last night that it's like, golly, how did that happen uh in a place that I'm in charge of? You know, it's like dang. It still happens, but um, you know, you just you you gotta remember, okay, I gotta go back and get it right today. Um, just short-term memory when you screw things up, and just don't repeat that thing.

Reflection Question On Belonging

Speaker 4 58:26

Um listener, here's your reflection question for the week. I would love to encourage you to think about who helped create a place where you felt like you belonged. Maybe it's a chef, maybe it's a restaurant owner, maybe it's a coach or a teacher or a family member. But what was so special about that moment or that experience for you? And maybe you reach out and send them a little note, just send them a little thank you. That's what Steve was for me, that's what Tom Faraci was for me, and that's what I try to be here in Wimberly for anybody who comes to Bright Light, or for anybody who comes to Couch Time with Cat, or if I run into you at HEB, that is my goal. My goal is to create a sense of community and connection and fun and belonging and just where we can let out some steam, but also have a little fun. Where is Whiskey Ridge?

Speaker 1 59:23

Uh, it's in Driftwood, if you know where yeah, if you know where Hay City Store is, we're right across the street from there.

Speaker 4 59:28

Um can we get a reservation easily?

Speaker 1 59:31

Yeah. Open table.

Speaker 4 59:32

Thank you for spending this

How To Connect And Support

Speaker 4 59:34

time with me. If something from today's conversation resonated, or if you're in a season where support would help, visit me at Gautheahollam.com. That's C-A-T-I-A-H-O-L-M.com. You can also leave an anonymous question for the show by calling or texting 956-249-7930. I'd love to hear what's on your heart. If Couch Time with Cat has been meaningful to you, it would mean so much if you'd subscribe, rate, and leave a review. It helps others find us and it grows this community of care. And if you know someone who needs a little light right now, send them this episode. Remind them they're not alone. Until next time, be gentle with yourself. Keep showing up and know I'm right here with you.