Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond. I'm the founder and editor of Cherry Bombe magazine. Today's guest is Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, the chef and co-owner of Birdie's in Austin. It's one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country for good reason: great food and great service. But as important, Tracy and her husband, co-owner Arjav Ezekiel, are working hard to make it a thoughtful, sustainable place for their team and for themselves. We're talking paid family leave, health insurance, several weeks of paid vacation, and more. In an industry where that's still the exception, Tracy and Arjav are setting a new standard. It's one of the reasons Tracy is on our 2025 Power List, which you can find on cherrybombe.com and in our latest issue. Stay tuned for my chat with Tracy.
Today's episode is presented by Visa and OpenTable. Want a chance to nab that impossible-to-get reservation or be among the first at a buzzy new opening? OpenTable and Visa have teamed up to make your dining dreams come true. With the Visa Dining Collection, eligible Visa credit card holders in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico get access to coveted primetime reservations and culinary events through OpenTable. We're talking local legends, critical darlings, and award-winning restaurants at the times you actually want to eat. And that's not all. The Visa Dining Collection also includes special experiences like chef collabs, preview dinners, and celebrations, spotlighting incredible women in food. All you need to do is log into OpenTable, add your eligible Visa credit card, and unlock a world of delicious possibilities. The Cherry Bombe Summer Tastemaker Tour is one of those experiences that eligible Visa credit card holders have access to. Our tour included stops at Lutie's, the prettiest garden restaurant overlooking the grounds of Commodore Perry Estate in Austin, the lovely Wildflower Farms Auberge Resort in upstate New York, and The Ground, an enchanting place in Willamette Valley, Oregon state's wine country. Our final stop is the Frist Art Museum in Nashville on Friday, August 15th, and we have lots of fun in store for you. Restrictions apply. For full terms and to see if your card is eligible, visit the Visa Dining Collection's special events page on cherrybombe.com. That link is in our show notes. Restrictions apply. For full terms and to see if your card qualifies, visit the Visa Dining Collection landing page. The link is in our show notes.
Now, let's check in with today's guest. Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, welcome back to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Thanks for having me, Kerry.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's jump right in and talk about produce because I feel like summertime is a chef's favorite time, and Austin has spectacular produce. What are you cooking and loving right now?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Right now I'm loving our fingerling potatoes. They're just some of the best I've had anywhere. They cook super nice. Right now, we're featuring a vichyssoise, classic chilled soup, and that really, I think, celebrates them in a way that makes sense for our weather. And we're also putting on our fish set. So, yeah, I'm really excited about fingerling potatoes.
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, I have to laugh because I did not expect you to say potatoes. Because you spent a lot of time in New York City. So you know that our farmer's markets, when it's the heart of winter and it's so bleak, you just feel like it's onions and potatoes the whole time.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
So the thing is about Austin is our seasons are unique compared to the Northeast. Tomatoes, for example, are almost done because it's getting warmer, even though it is mild, we get sun goals and nice tomatoes around April, May, sometimes they're hanging around in June, but tomatoes, I don't fully as a summer ingredient here just because the seasons are very unique. And in September, really October, we'll see heirlooms. They just kind of are peppered throughout the year, so it's very different.
Kerry Diamond:
What else is coming in from your farmer friends?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Shishito peppers. Really yummy, not too many spicy ones to kind of blow it out right now. We have a niçoise course on our, the second course of our prefix menu, and that's essentially if you had niçoise in Texas, this is what would be on it. So it's like a soft cooked egg tuna that's cooked slow and low in the confit style with green beans, shishitos, cucumbers, the weeks we can get them, and this chunky kind of caper lemon vinaigrette and a Taggiasca olive, olive oil, chunky olives kind of throughout, but that just feels like we're in France.
Kerry Diamond:
That sounds so good. Tell people what you mean when you say you cook the tuna confit style.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
So what we do is we season up olive oil, so just a good quality olive oil for everything. I'm kind of an olive snob in a way, I love olive oils, and so we'll just season it with orange peels and thyme and parsley, garlic, finish it with basil. We'll just kind of steep that all together so it gets really aromatic. And then we'll season the tuna for about 20 minutes. We'll put it in that cold oil and then cook it until it's fully cooked, but it's kind of like the best canned tuna you've ever had. It's fun because we shifted from a la carte to a prix fixe menu three months ago and one of the main reasons was we just wanted more flexibility in the kitchen because we're so busy, which is a fantastic problem with our a la carte menu. And we were like, "What if we go to prefix? We can kind of play around with techniques and do new things." So last menu, we were hot smoking fish and this menu we're cooking tuna confit, and that's just fun to kind of see what else we can do.
Kerry Diamond:
We've got a lot of shishito peppers in the New York farmers' markets right now. How can folks make those at home?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I always go for the classic char at medium-high heat with salt. And then when you take it out, I toss it in a bowl, I either keep it simple with lemon and a little bit of finishing oil. Sometimes I'll throw in shallots or other herbs or olive oil-based vinaigrette to kind of fully season it. But I think with shishitos, less is more.
Kerry Diamond:
And do you need to put any fat in the pan?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah, I like to put a little bit of high-smoke-point olive oil to cook a lot lately. Graza is making this Frizzle, and I actually deep-fry in it as well, and it's very clean tasting, you don't get that kind of oily roof of your mouth kind of film thing that you get from canola and other kind of seed oils. So yeah, I've been enjoying cooking with that a lot lately too.
Kerry Diamond:
And the million-dollar question: what do you do with all the oil when you're done? When you're confiting the fish and frying fish?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah, we reuse it a few times. We'll just kind of taste it and make sure it still tastes nice. So yeah, there's always a way to repurpose it.
Kerry Diamond:
What did you do when you were cheffing at home here in Brooklyn, how'd you get rid of it?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Oh, whenever I was done using it? Honestly, Kerry, I was working like eight-hour weeks and I would typically grab a slice of pizza after work.
Kerry Diamond:
The chef life, right?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Let's talk about your olive oil obsession because I think similarly, a lot of us are obsessed with olive oil. One of the great blessings of Cherry Bombe is that everybody sends us their olive oil. So I've always got some kind of amazing olive oil. How did your obsession begin?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
When I was working in Chelsea many moons ago, I got to learn a single-varietal kind of small-production-style oil. And the first thing you kind of learned when you got on a PM line station as a cook, there was respect for the olive oils. And every olive oil has a purpose. On garde manger, we had a well kind of down below, it was a very long station and there were at least five bougie nice olive oils lined up. Each olive oil had its own dish it went on. And so you had the Ligurian, single-origin Taggiasca that went on delicate salads. Maybe you had one Tuscan for something that had a little bit more body and wanted a little bit more oomph.
And then Sicilian oils to finish certain pastas and certain meat dishes on the Segundi line. So I kind of just got to learn my palate and to see what I liked and to see how the quality of a finishing oil on a dish or even to finish a pasta kind of like as you're about to plate it and finishing it in that final sauce just really impacted the meal. And it's funny because I was at Del Posto for three years and I just learned, wow, olive oils is a place to really invest because I love to cook simply and it just makes sense.
Kerry Diamond:
How many do you have at home right now?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
At home, I have a Taggiasca bottle from Liguria. I right now have my favorite Tuscan oil, Capezzana, and I have my favorite Sicilian oil, Tonda Iblea, and then I have my cooking oils.
Kerry Diamond:
What would you rather have as a hostess gift? A candle or a bottle of olive oil?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I would probably rather have-
Kerry Diamond:
You could say none.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
It kind of depends. It kind of depends. I mean, I do love a nice candle, I'm not going to lie, but if someone goes to a vineyard and has a really unique small production olive oil from a place like that, yes, I would be so excited to try that. But it's just a random olive oil from the grocery store that's been staying there for a while, honestly, not so much.
Kerry Diamond:
So maybe somebody should bring you a book, is that what you're saying? No candles, no olive oil, just show up with a book.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
What are you reading?
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my god. I'm reading a book that made me think about you for a second when you were talking about being at Del Posto. It's called “Tart.” And it's by an anonymous author who writes in the U.K. under the name Slutty Cheff. That's chef with two Fs, but in a lot of her kitchens, she's the only woman. And it's not like the book was written 20 years ago. And I found that so interesting because I think just by nature of what Cherry Bombe does, it seems like there are so many more women in the kitchen, which is true, we know that, but I guess there's still a lot of kitchens that are mostly guys with one or two women. What was your experience when you were in New York?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Every kitchen was a little bit different. It was certainly male-dominated. And I started cooking in New York in 2007, is when I started my externship and I was the only female in that savory kitchen. At Del Posto there were a couple females, but it was mostly male. Blue Hill, we actually had a moment where we would have all ladies' nights sometimes, which was cool. And then I feel like Gramercy Tavern had a really nice 50/50 ratio a lot of the times and I felt like that had a really nice energy about it. And then at Birdie's, we have about a 50/50 mix. I mean, it kind of varies year to year, but we're around 50/50, which I think is a good balance.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll be right back with today's guest. Our next Jubilee conference is taking place in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 28th. If you are new to Jubilee, it's our conference that’s all about connection, community, and celebrating the creatives who make the world of food and drinks so vibrant. Head to cherrybombe.com for tickets and more information. If you're a Bombesquad member, be sure to use your ticket link for special pricing. Not a member? You can still join and receive the private link. All the details are at cherrybombe.com. The link is in our show notes.
Let's talk about Birdie's origin story. How did your place come about?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I had a dream of opening a restaurant. I met Arjav opening a restaurant called Untitled in New York, and we kind of met, fell in love, we're very aligned with what we wanted to do professionally.
Kerry Diamond:
You two met at Untitled, which was the restaurant at the Whitney, the new Whitney. Some folks might remember that. It's on the west side of New York and is a beautiful restaurant. So you started working together, did you start dating?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
So Arjav and I became really good friends. We both lived in the East Village. We would take the L train home at night home together or walk home. We were friends and are more. And then we realized we wanted to open a restaurant together and really have a life together. I was pushing to move to Austin, Texas, he was really pushing for Portland, Oregon and we couldn't agree where to move. And so we flipped a coin because we'd gotten into so many fights.
We signed a lease a month before COVID dropped, and that gave us a lot of time to really figure out what we wanted Birdie's to be. And we were really inspired by kind of the casual vibe of Austin. We knew we didn't want to open a traditional restaurant model because we felt like for us it was broken. I knew it was really important that cooks and dishwashers had a living wage and were very equal in that. And it just kind of gave us the time going through that to just really put the pieces together. So Birdie's opened four years ago last week. And we just celebrated that.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, right, it was your anniversary. Congratulations.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Thank you so much. And yeah, we're a counter service restaurant really as a response to what I felt like was I learned so much working in fine dining and had an amazing education, but I also felt like a lot of things weren't right about it. And we had a responsibility and an opportunity to do them. So that was just really, really important for us that we can have a sustainable model, offer insurance. We close for a month a year and pay our team actually a little bit more because we pepper and breaks throughout the year when we're just feeling wiped out. And really having a lean labor team allows us to do that and our cooks and dishwashers and everybody just makes a healthy living wage and it feels really good.
Kerry Diamond:
When you two met at Untitled, that was a Danny Meyer restaurant. Danny is well known in hospitality circles for being one of the deeper thinkers about restaurants, that a restaurant's just not a restaurant and all his writings, his book “Setting the Table.” I know has been an important book for so many chefs and restaurateurs. Did working for Danny Meyer start you thinking this way or was it a process and you just picked up bits and pieces of knowledge and wisdom at all the places you've worked?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I think throughout your career, no matter what career you decide to go in, you're always learning things that are amazing and you're also learning things that you don't want to do for yourself one day. I think just the entire time I was like, "Ooh, that technique is really smart. I'm going to use that." And "Oh, that communication moment was not good. I will not do that when I'm a leader." I think you're just kind of collecting information as you go. And I certainly learned a lot from working at Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer's Group, and with Mike Anthony. I was with them for five years between Gramercy Tavern and Untitled. Coming to Austin, just a great city for entrepreneurs and you can kind of just do whatever you want in a way that you can't necessarily do in a city like New York. Because there's just a lot of structure and things you can't always get through in wanting to be creative.
And I think certain laws are put into place for a certain reason to protect people, which is amazing. But I think they should really look at revisiting a lot of them. Things like tipping out cooks and dishwashers in New York, you can't really do unless you're interacting with them for more than 50% of the time. And I don't know, Austin doesn't have that rule. I think working with someone like Danny and kind of seeing how he worked, it's first and foremost leading with kindness, and that is a big part of who we are at Birdie's, but also working with other people. Brooks Headley at Del Posto who is punk rock and ‘I'm going to put vegetables in dessert, not because it's weird, but because it's delicious,’ and I'm going to think for myself. And I think just being around people who are really brilliant, just it empowered me to just be who I want to be.
Kerry Diamond:
So you're getting ready to open Birdie's. Walk us through the opening of the restaurant. Did you have any concern about how Austin would receive Birdie's? Because it seems from the outside that you were hit immediately.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Thank you. Thanks. It's funny because as someone who's really lived with a lot of anxiety my professional career and afraid of making a mistake, I think I picked up a knife 20 years ago the spring and felt ready. And I felt like everything might not be perfect, but we can make it delicious. The team in the dining room is hospitable and warm and I think it's going to be personal. And I think I was more confident in my life than I'd ever been opening Birdie's, even though it was yes, a little chaotic. I don't really recipe test, so we were just kind of going for it, but it was still organized enough that it flowed. I was making orecchietti on the pass the first day, kind of all throughout service, and the menu was very ambitious for a simple menu with a small line, but it felt so right.
Going through my career, I didn't really get promoted quickly. I always did my time and maybe then some. I could kind of reflect on why that was, but we all just have our own path ultimately. I think I went through certain experiences because I was a woman at that time in professional kitchens, and I felt like four years ago when we opened Birdie's, I felt like I was just ready to do it and I learned enough that we could create the space that was my dream and our job's dream together. And it felt really magical and it felt special and it felt like we were just living. And that to me is just, I don't know, truly living your dream.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm so happy to hear that. Go back a sec. You said you don't recipe test. There might be some folks out there in the audience that were like, "Wait, what? How can you be a chef with a restaurant and you don't recipe test?"
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I mean a few things. If we haven't done it, we'll do it once before we go. We're trying to do it once before opening day, but it usually doesn't happen. I think we just have a lot of confidence in what we can do. If we're doing something we've never ever done, we'll give it a whirl before just to make sure it's not an epic flop. But we cook simply, but it's all rooted in technique and things that we know well. And so it's essentially, it's just putting things together in a way that makes sense.
Kerry Diamond:
And confidence. Obviously, you're confident in what you're doing.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah, I guess I am. Yeah. And it's funny because you live your life a certain way, and I think about many years cooking and I was extraordinarily insecure and I felt like I had something to prove. Everyone was watching me more than other people because I was a woman and, "What does she got? Why is she here?" It was kind of like that energy sometimes in some kitchens. And I felt just like, okay, I got to really do my best and then some to make sure everyone knows that I deserve a spot on this line. I did that for so long that it just was baked into me that like, "Oh yeah, I know what I'm doing." And at Birdie's, I have a lot of confidence that we're going to figure it out. We have an amazing team of humans who are talented and smart with great palettes, who are passionate and driven and kind that we all want to be together. So I just have confidence we're going to figure it out together.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about the switch from a la carte menu to a set menu. Do you feel like that's less fun for you? I know there are economic reasons for doing that and organizational reasons.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I think it's more fun. I think the first week, just like the first week of any new menu, it's stressful, and the week before as you're preparing for it and writing new prep sheets and allergy sheets and getting things together. I think it's a lot of work that week before, and tasting together and training your team to make sure they understand what they're looking for. And even within, our menus are around a month each, even within in that month, things can still change seasonally.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, I was going to ask how frequently you change the menu. So it's basically monthly?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah. And nothing's ever set in stone day one, like this has to be it for the next four weeks. It's like if something's not working, we're going to change it. If cucumbers are out of season will shift to green beans or whatever that evolution is naturally. Having that prix fixe menu really just gives us more flexibility in terms of what we can cook. So that feels really nice to be able to express ourselves in a more creative way.
Kerry Diamond:
How has that helped you from an economic point of view? What's your cost of goods these days?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Okay, Kerry, I don't food cost anything. We have a small space, we have 75 seats, and I'm a mom of a toddler and I don't have a ton of free time and I want to really do things that bring me joy and leading my team, spending time with my team. And so I'm not a numbers person. We'll do our quarterly meeting with our accountant. If our food cost is under 27%, I'm like, "Hey, we're good. I'm not going to food cost every dish. Certainly I'm not putting that time." I'm going to do what I love. And if we have a problem, we can reflect on that and fix it. Of course, we're still a business and we need to be responsible. I just kind of can look at a menu like most chefs can and say like, okay, there's potatoes on this dish, which is one of my favorite ingredients.
And then you have something more expensive in this other dish, but as long as holistically it's a balanced menu mix of different price things. That makes sense. Then that in conjunction with you're not being wasteful, you're using everything. For example, we blanch vegetables every day. The next day we use those vegetables that were blanched rather than serving to our guests, it's still very tasty and we'll eat that for family meal. And so we're not wasting, but we're still serving the best to our guests. And I think it's just for us at Birdie's, it's working, and I know it doesn't work for every restaurant, and I'm not saying everyone should roll like that, but Birdie's is a unique place. I think when you have a small menu that changes so much, food costing is a little bit different game.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about the decision to start taking reservations, because Birdie's has not been a restaurant where you can make reservations. You pretty much just show up and wait your turn.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
So we're still very much a counter service restaurant first and foremost. We're not changing that, but we did partner with OpenTable and we're really excited to offer a couple tables a night, a month out, so that way if someone is planning for a special occasion, they can look on the platform and hopefully can get in so they don't, if there is a line that night, they don't have to wait. But we also want to encourage people and know that there's only a couple of reservations available per night. So if we're booked through those two reservations, you can still show up and you can still get in.
Kerry Diamond:
That's going to be a very coveted reservation. So you said a month out, you open the books for the reservations?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, great. Well folks, if your dream is to go to Birdie's, set your alarm. But you can show up and get a table pretty much.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah. You can still show up and get a table, exactly.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Friday, Saturday, sometimes we have a wait, it kind of depends on the season. But Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, some nights people just walk on in.
Kerry Diamond:
Good to know. I know this is sensitive, but you decided to have a baby and that very much impacted your life in the kitchen. Can you talk about that journey a little bit?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah. So I was 39 when we opened Birdie's. My husband and I tried to get pregnant. It wasn't happening for us for a few years. We did six IUIs, two IVFs. It was just a lot of drugs and they have to put in your body that I really didn't know anything about IVF until I did it for myself. And yeah, any woman going on a fertility journey, it's tough. And there were nights I'd be expediting on the pass because I didn't have a sous chef at the time. So I was expediting every single night and at seven o'clock had to inject me with the medicine and run to the walk-in, stop the line and then run back to the pass. I remember there was one tough night and someone complained, something happened, but someone complained about the wait or something was happening and I was just feeling really ill because of everything.
And I was upset because I didn't want to disappoint our guests, but then I was also like, you know what? If you're giving your best, if you're doing everything you can do, that's okay. You just have to let it go. And I think I learned how to take it easy on myself through that process, because I was such a perfectionist before and felt like I just had to be a 12 out of 10 every time. And look, life happens and we're all just humans doing our best. And we were so thankful to get pregnant through IVF, which was such a blessing. And then I didn't know you could get really sick. And I still didn't have a sous chef at that time. And so it was hard for me to smell my food, taste my food. It was all just making me throw up.
Oh, Kerry, I was wearing an N95 mask even when COVID was turned down, when you could take your mask off, I still had to wear it and I had to trust my team. It really forced me to fully trust my team to taste. And thankfully I had like Heejae, my exec sous chef, who's been with me since day one. She knows my palate well and she has a great one. And she was tasting for me because everything was making me ill. It was definitely a long journey. I promoted her to sous chef a month before I had our son Remy. And yeah, it was really a life transition. And ultimately, we're so thankful to have our son and our family and our amazing team because when we needed them they all stepped up and were incredible.
Kerry Diamond:
That's amazing. Well, I'm so happy for the three of you and little Remy. That's so sweet. Did you name Remy for “Ratatouille?” I feel like you told me that one.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah, I think we subconsciously did. We just love the name and I have some French blood, so I don't know. It felt right.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, well, it's one of my favorite movies. So I think that's adorable. Do you have any advice for other women who are maybe thinking about maybe they own their own business or they work in a kitchen and they really do want a family? Is there any advice you can give to folks who are maybe trying to navigate a journey like this on their own?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Maybe prepare for the worst. Fully educate yourself on everything that could happen. I didn't know you could get really sick. I didn't know about that. I had people who I'd known who were a little nauseous but can't get out of bed until 4:00 PM because they actually have to be at work to expedite. I think just get all your ducks in a row as much as you can. And knowing not everything's going to be perfect. And that's something about parenthood, I've just had to kind of, I don't want to say let go a little bit, but I was always, before someone who over-prepared and becoming a parent now, I kind of have to just roll with that a little bit more. And I show up sometimes and I'm not the over-prepared person I once was. I'm just kind of present and real and me, and that's it. So I think prepare where you can, but also know it's just going to teach you a lot about yourself.
Kerry Diamond:
And how is Remy today? Is he a good eater?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
He's a fantastic eater. Loves pasta. He's getting back into vegetables, thankfully because he took a break from vegetables. He went from eating boiled greens to hating them and now he's back to being curious about pea shoots and other things like that, which feels great as a chef parent. He loves eating in a way that Arjav and I both do. So he's definitely our kid.
Kerry Diamond:
That's great. Is he in the restaurant much?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
He's in the restaurant almost every day, kind of running around early on. Sometimes he'll eat dinner at Birdie's. We have a fusilli with basil, pine nut pesto. It's a tongue twister. He calls it green paw, so he comes into Birdie's, he's like, "Mom, green paw." And then he wants ice cream. And some nights, the ice cream machine might be broken for a little bit because you can't give him sugar every single day, but he loves it.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you're saying it's broken for Remy, it's not broken for everybody else, right? I get it.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Broken for Remy sometimes.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, that'll work for a little while until he catches on. Well, I have you giving advice. We have to go back to when you said that you and your husband flipped a coin to decide whether you were going to move to Portland, where he's from, or Austin, where you wanted to go. I can't imagine flipping a coin to make such a monumental life decision. Were you prepared if it came up Portland?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I was. I think we just got to this place of, we were fighting a lot about it. We're both very strong-minded. It was like, "Look, if we want to stay together, open this business, become married, we were engaged at that time, we're just going to have to make a choice and lean in and that's it." I was ready to move to Portland. I thought Austin was a smarter place to move and just felt right in my heart for some reason, even though I love Portland. And yeah, it's worked out.
Kerry Diamond:
I can't believe it. I feel like there's an advice book in there, Tracy. If you ever get tired of the chef thing, I feel like you can write an advice book called Flip a Coin.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah. I don't know, I've always Kerry, believed a lot of going with your gut and I don't know, just listening to yourself I think is really important.
Kerry Diamond:
And if not, flip a coin. And you two did not save the coin. You told me that.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
We should have saved the coin.
Kerry Diamond:
You should have. I would've loved if you walked in and there was a little framed coin up there and it's like the coin that started it all.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
That would've been great.
Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of Portland, you did go to Portland and you mentioned that you had something, did you say it was a morel pizza?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. That's killing me. Where did you have that?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Lovely's Fifty Fifty. I love it. We always go every time we're in Portland. No reservations, you just show up. So get there five or 10 minutes early. But it's fantastic. A lot of just kind of simply prepared seasonal vegetables that are really delicious. I love it.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow. Tell us about that pizza though, because I'm going to think about that pizza for a long time, even though I have not had it myself. Was it a white pie with morels on top?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah, it was a white pie with morels and I'm typically a red pie kind of gal, so it takes a lot for me to say that was my favorite. I just think everything they do though is delicious and really lets the ingredient shine. And there's the right amount of restraint shown through their cooking there.
Kerry Diamond:
Ooh. But morels on pizza, that is next level.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That is not an ingredient I've ever seen in Texas, morels.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
No, we do not have them here.
Kerry Diamond:
No, morels. And what are you two doing this summer? Are you getting any time off?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Yeah. So every August, we close for two and a half weeks, and we're getting out of town. So Arjav and Remy and I are, we're going to Northern Italy and we're going to go to Venice, which we've never been to. So really excited to see that place. And we're staying in a little borough in the north that's a little bit off the beaten path, so it's not going to be a complete tourist madness, I think nonstop, which will be good. And then we're going to the Dolomites. We're just going to kind of explore that area and go to a vineyard or two. And I don't know, I'm just really excited to see that part of the country because I've never been, have you been to the Dolomites?
Kerry Diamond:
I have not, but I've been to Venice once and I think it was October and the city was flooded. It was crazy. I'd never seen... But magical. It just feels like something out of a fairy tale.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Got it. Yeah, I've heard sometimes it's amazing in the fall and then sometimes it floods.
Kerry Diamond:
What else is on the itinerary?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Parma for a few days and then wrapping up in Milan, and I've never been to Milan either.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, that sounds amazing. Do you know all the places you're going eat?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
We have a few reservations lined up. And yeah, I think the thing I'm most excited about for though is just the little grandma spots and all of the regions are a little bit different, even though they're only a few hours apart. I think it's just something so special about Italy and that some regions in the north, polenta is the thing. It's not about pasta because wheat doesn't really grow there. And then the mountain cuisine, you get this Swiss and the Austria and the little German influence in the Northeast. I just think it's so cool how they all have their own mini culture within. So I'm excited to kind of learn and experience that and maybe bring back a piece to Birdie's.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, gosh. I hope you share a little on social media because I want to follow along. And you might think I'm psychic, but I'm having a little bit of a premonition about your trip. Do you know what I see in your future?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
Olive oil.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Oh yes. I thought you were going to say like rental car disaster or something.
Kerry Diamond:
No, no. I'm just-
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I was like, I don't know Kerry.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm messing with you. Obviously, it's going to be a lot of olive oil in your future and you'll probably bring some back. But no, that sounds like so much fun. Okay, we're running out of time. I'm going to ask you our final question that we ask everybody. You can't pick your husband. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity? Who would it be and why?
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
I would actually love to catch up with Danny Meyer because I don't know him well, but he was always very friendly throughout the restaurants and he had a whole lot going on. But I would love to chat with him and continue to learn a lot and have a great conversation.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I love that answer. That's a good one.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Thanks.
Kerry Diamond:
I've always wondered if Danny thinks about his book “Setting the Table?”
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
That's a great question. It's something that we give to, that book we give to Birdie's employees a lot if they haven't read it. And it's funny how so many different industries as well use that book. So yeah, it would be really cool for him to revisit it and see what's transpired since he wrote that.
Kerry Diamond:
Tracy, what a gift to have you on the show a second time. I love talking to you. I have so much admiration for what you've built. I love your restaurant and I appreciate you sharing your personal story and being willing to give some advice too.
Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel:
Thank you so much for having me, Kerry. Appreciate you.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. If you find yourself in Austin, visit Birdie's and say hello. In the meantime, if you're a fan of our show, be sure to follow Radio Cherry Bombe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube and leave a rating and a review. Let me know who you'd like to hear next as a guest. I'd love to know your suggestions. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Special thanks to Good Studio in Brooklyn and The Studio Portland in Maine. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu. And our talent guru is Londyn Crenshaw. Thanks for listening, everybody. You're the Bombe.