And now the 19 with Gretchen DeBacker, Matt Killam, and Kevin Mullin, Welcome to the 419, powered by WGTE and presented by Whetro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullin.

Gretchen Debacker, Matt Killam.

It is a, it's a toledo.com community calendar Thursday driven by TARTA.

I'm just we're all seem to be a little struggling today, but I've already.

It's only been one of us.

One of us is crabby.

And like I say, who it is, but they're wearing pink.

No.

No, he's saying you are.

I'm a little bit.

Really?

Yep.

Oh.

That's okay.

All right.

It's a team.

It's a morning team.

It's a morning.

I mean, think like I was.

Yeah.

This is just my personality.

That's what you would say if you're crabby.

Today.

Today, we're gonna take a look at the top five events.

So crabby.

Interesting.

I know he's offended.

I don't yeah, I didn't see that.

Well, but also, we're here to support.

I'm being nice to myself.

Yeah, and and you deserve it.

Yeah.

You do.

You do appreciate that.

We're.

Take a look at our top five events coming up this weekend.

Of course.

It's our toledo.com community calendar driven by Arda.

We'll dive into that, I see.

Hockey is on the top five on the list.

Like hockey seems to be like the hot sport right now.

Obviously the US, faring fairly well.

Yeah, at the Olympics.

Yeah.

But, Matt, you were saying that you have strong opinions on the Winter Olympics.

I do, largely because I have no opinions on the sports that they hold.

I think it is like, just another team to get Finland and Norway like, participation medals because they don't really compete in the Summer Olympics.

So they're like, we got a good I thought their basketball team was good.

Summer Olympics.

Norway's.

Yeah, they're so good.

It's that strong Norwegian basketball tradition.

You know the two Burns and brothers?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know, that would be no reason.

No, no, but it's offensive.

But watching, obviously the Olympics are always exciting.

They're.

I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War.

So.

Rooting against other countries.

Yeah.

In my in my blood, I, I do, like, enjoy the Winter Olympics more than I do the Summer Olympics.

You're kidding me.

Yeah, I just mainly mainly ice skating.

Like, I just enjoy the ice dancing.

Yeah, just as a as a thing to do on the weekends.

Yeah.

Okay.

What sports you like to?

The speed skating, all the skating.

Figure skating.

All the.

All the skating.

How about that?

Yeah.

The I don't did you skate?

No.

No no no.

I'm not particularly great.

They're unitards.

That's it.

I like the uniform.

That's right.

I think it's to me.

Yeah.

I think it's like most of the Summer Olympic events.

I did at some point in my life.

And so like.

Interesting.

The Winter Olympics is just so different.

Yeah.

From anything I've ever done.

And so I'm not moving.

I'm just getting a degree.

An MBA.

Right.

Not to graduate.

And I promise I will be in a better mood.

Were you watching your show up?

As you were?

We don't care if this is a place.

This is a safe space other than for Gretchen and I this morning, and I. I don't know what this is.

I like you the best.

This is a major portion, and it's the hardest.

Gretchen, where are you?

In the the birth order.

A second oldest daughter.

Okay.

In other words, the best.

I just think, like, I just I what you just did there was like.

Absolutely.

My third kid is at the moment, there's a disagreement between the two that one jumps into like, oh, I'm in first place now.

Yeah.

So you might be disagreeing with each other, but just remember that you like me best, right?

Yeah.

Oh, I guess I'm I'm third to.

Yeah.

You're in the middle.

I remember my older siblings.

Oh my goodness.

All right, so top five events.

What's what's on the calendar for this weekend?

Excited dotcom has brought us this, weekly calendar by.

Tada!

Oh.

So this week, glass City Wranglers home opener is this Friday, February 27th, and we'll talk to our guest, a little bit more about the professional basketball team moving to the Glass City Center for the first time.

So that should be a lot of fun.

Then we have, the Naked Magicians.

This is at the Valentine Theater match.

Are you performing or.

I was cut from the team.

Or the group?

Yeah.

It's actually, I thought it was magicians, so I came.

It's magicians.

That's right.

I thought it was musician.

No, it's magicians.

Oh, no.

I don't know what it meant.

You said that we should say it declaratively.

It is, but make it magicians.

Got it.

It's an illusions and comedy.

Are rated show at the Valentine Theater.

Awesome.

I Friday night, February 27th.

I have wanted to be a magician, like most of my life.

Is a little like card tricks.

Like, I try to.

I try to learn card tricks.

I cannot do the sleight of hand.

Yeah, and that's kind of an important piece.

Yeah, yeah, but I, there's rabbit blood all over me.

I have learned I've learned a couple of card tricks.

Okay.

And a few of them are like, what are considered like the math tricks?

Like, they always work.

It doesn't matter what happens.

I don't know, like, how are you able?

Are you allowed to talk about them out loud?

Sure.

You can't give away your secrets.

There's no secrets.

It's math.

But then math is good.

Whenever I do them in front of my kids, they're like.

They just get annoyed.

Yeah, because they don't know how it works.

Yeah.

And so they're like, explain to me.

I was like, how about this?

You hold the cards and you do it.

Yeah.

And then it works.

And they're like, but how did it work?

And I was like, I can't explain it.

It's some math ability and it involves Thirteen's and I can do math by 13.

When I was in fifth grade for some way, somehow I got, one of those rings that you put.

It was like this little plastic pouch of water, and it was a flower ring.

Yeah.

And so when someone.

Yeah, I thought it was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen, it was so weird.

I remember having it, like, having it be like a gag.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

That's an interesting idea.

It's just that memory.

Yeah.

We got to get to this thing.

Okay.

Third option this weekend, seed swap.

Which is happening at Scott High School.

It's totally free.

It's this Saturday, April 28th, from 12 to 3.

If I can reject.

This is an outstanding event.

It's been going on for probably close to 30 years, you know, grows, is an outstanding institution.

It's it's got high school.

There's seed swapping, obviously, but there's also, a lot of learning that can be done there.

People are interested in growing and there's experts there.

This is a great event, and even though it's still pretty cold out, we're getting to the point in the season where it's going to be time to plant your seeds.

Yes.

The heavier things towards the end of the season.

Okay.

Fourth event is a huge event this weekend.

Sunday, March 1st.

It's the 19th annual acoustics for autism.

Ten stages, 107 bands, totally free.

Nicole, Corey and all of the huge team that puts on acoustics for autism do a great job.

They basically take over all of downtown Miami.

There's park and ride options, and all kinds of ways to support that event and support that cause.

Are you going to make it out there this weekend?

I'm going to try and get out there.

Yeah, weekends are like it's easier for me to commit to something during the week than it is on the weekends because of the camp stuff.

Because, yeah, because at that point I got to commit for everybody.

Yeah.

Got it.

So acoustics for autism.

It's again Sunday, March 1st of all the card tricks and sleight of hand.

All that that fills a whole weekend.

It's it's really just math.

Doing the art, doing the, the card tricks naked on the ice.

It's just really dangerous.

But I'll be at the ribbon this weekend if you want to come up.

And so, please, can you recall the Rangers?

Yeah.

Okay.

The final event from the toledo.com top five calendar, brought to you by today is called her Hockey Night at Toledo Walleye.

It is Sunday, March 1st, also in the evening.

And this is Girl Scouts supported event is celebrating women in sports.

They have an actual walleye game.

Some pre pregame things, photos on the, ice.

After some roundtable conversations about women in sports should be a good event.

It's all part of our toledo.com community calendar.

When we come back, we'll dive into another great event that's coming up right around the corner from Lourdes University.

Aaron Savoy, the chair of the art department, will join us to talk about the Sister Jane Mary lecture series.

We'll be right back on the 419.

Welcome back into the 419.

I'm not crabby.

Sure, that's maybe a little bit, but a lot of non profit people have to say that over and over.

Oh my goodness.

We're taking a look at our toledo.com community calendar driven by art.

One great event that's coming up this weekend.

That was not on our top five, but it probably should be.

We'll take that to be with John and the team itself.

Dot com is the sister Jane Mary Soros lecture series taking place at the Franciscan Center at Lourdes.

Aaron Savoy, the chair of the art department, Lourdes University, joins us.

Aaron, thanks for being here.

Thanks for inviting me.

I should be here.

How long have you been at Lourdes?

35.5 years.

Get out of town.

I have started when she was six, I know I was, yeah, I was six, but, yeah, myself and one other person, Mark Christiansen.

He's chair of the philosophy department.

Oh, you so.

So yeah.

That we are the two longest plays fit Lord Jesus.

How long you been talking to Mike about him retiring?

Oh.

He's not.

Yeah.

He was.

I have no idea.

Like, come on, Mark, he I said you're going to wait that last me.

Yeah, but now that we're at the same, like, it's a bittersweet time for you now at Lourdes.

So can you talk a little bit about what your plans are?

I, I'm not really sure.

To tell you the truth.

You know, I'm a little bit older employee, so it's trying to find things, higher ed can be challenging across the board, not just in small privates, but in the state schools as well.

And art can be a challenge, so I'm not really sure yet what I'm going to be, what I'm going to be doing.

I'm leaving next week.

I'm going to do a mural down in North Carolina.

So that's something, but I'm also a practicing artist, so I'm not just a teacher.

So I, I have my work in, national shows, international shows, and I also jury nationally as well.

Wow.

So I've been doing those things for, you know, 15 years and, coordinating art shows and things like that for quite some time.

What kind of work do you do?

What kind of.

Well, I do what I would call stylized realism.

And so, you know, it's evolved over time.

When I was in graduate school, I did a lot of figure work.

I studied under this, gentleman named Tom Hilty.

He was amazing artist and, so that was kind of figures was my thing.

But then I've moved from there.

I'd love the challenge of it, but not many people by figure work of other people to hang on their walls.

Right.

You know, so instead of me, I replace all my mirrors.

Yeah.

I was doing a bunch of them and selling them, too.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Makes you feel better that you're getting yourself to what Matt kill looks like.

What?

Tell me about.

Where are you from originally?

I'm from Bowling Green.

Okay.

All right, I'm Bowling Green, and, I went to Bgsu for my undergrad and grad school, and art is in your DNA.

You're right.

It's, My grandmother was an artist.

She graduated from Oberlin back in 1927, and she was an art teacher and my mother wanted to be a interior designer at college.

She went to Bowling Green, but my grandmother was little highbrow art.

And so she didn't really want my mom to go interior design.

She wanted to be a fine artist.

And my mom was like, forget that.

So she just dropped out of college.

Yeah, that's that'll show her, I don't know, show her a time battered mother daughter tradition of jamming.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So I love the idea of the juxtaposition.

Gretchen's world, which she has a marginal understanding of its uses, that your mother had a path that was certainly traditional to some degree.

And her Mother's Day got interrupted going into fine art.

Yes.

Which is usually the reverse.

Yeah, yeah, but I but my, So my whole life I was helping my grandmother like gesso canvases for oil painting, and she was part of, like, the Toledo artist Club and and they were back then in the day they would she was always doing Crosby Gardens, you know, and she would do at the old Southwark Mall.

They'd have these art displays.

And I was always her little lackey.

Yeah.

You know, so, I kind of grew up, but the family in general is very artistic.

I do have cousins that are interior design.

We have writers.

My uncle was a poet.

He was a university professor in Buffalo.

And so we have painters, poets, musicians.

I mean, we just have that kind of, yes, family.

But my father was a construction worker.

My father owned a construction company.

So I would have thought, you know, a little back backlash from my dad, but he was so supportive always of what I did.

So I was very fortunate to have that support going on.

That's beautiful.

Yeah.

What brought you to Lourdes?

So when I got out of graduate school, I just happened to go in for a show at what was a former Spectrum Friends of Fine Art, which used to be at Toledo Botanical Garden.

And I, while I was there, dropping out of work for a show, they're saying, oh, we need a part time gallery person.

I'm like, oh, really?

So I applied and I got that job and I met this woman named Beverly Damask and Beverly Damask.

She used to work for the diocese.

She was like in charge of kind of like the art for the diocese, for the schools.

And she'd come in and talk about Lords.

At the time, I wasn't Catholic.

I knew I never heard of Lords, never heard of Lords.

So that would have been like in 1989, 1990, I guess it was.

And they were they were looking for somebody to come in and teach one class, part time drawing class.

And I hired, interviewed a sister, Jane Mary specific.

And so they hired me, and I was teaching part time at UT at the time, and they hired me at Lords.

And I just little by little, acquired full time at Lords.

And I've loved when you teach art, it seems like such a unique thing.

It's different than teaching an English course or different than teaching a math course, because you I would think that you would have to have some sort of inherent talent to be able to take up the lesson.

For example, if you were to try to teach me figure drawing, I wouldn't.

I don't think I would be able to do it.

How you driving?

Do you teach well and is is right and wrong answers in English and in math.

And there really aren't right and wrong answers in art.

Well, they're kind of are, because there comes a judgment.

If you've got to know some anatomy, you know, you got to figure out and understand anatomy.

Like this isn't for children, this show just to learn.

Okay, okay.

I just want to make sure there's FTC.

Right.

So like when when he's modeled nude for us.

That's good.

Yeah.

That was the first book.

The first ozempic was seeing the American people drop the weight and exponential rate.

Yeah, it's you guys to work.

That's right.

He'd like to experience the consequences of getting in your car.

Here's some slides.

Exactly, exactly where you are.

Exactly.

Yeah, but we have.

Yeah, we have we have things that we do.

But my biggest thing is you can have somebody that comes in and just kind of has an innate sense of understanding.

Right?

But it's the work that you're willing to put into it.

I mean, above about anything, it's the work that and so like when even I would have prospective parents come in and they would say, well, you know how I know it's going to be a fact?

I said, you know what?

I don't know your child yet.

I don't know their work ethic because that's the biggest piece is their work ethic.

And I said to them, it doesn't matter if you're a business manager or if you're, you know, anything, nursing, whatever.

It's your work ethic.

Because if you're not willing to put the time into it, right, you're not going to learn from it and you're not going to get the product that you need.

Let me ask you potentially unfair question.

The the when you're when you're meeting a student or being introduced to them, how do you set ceiling or have a conversation with them to teach them and inspire them, but also give them proper boundaries?

So if you met Gretchen, per se and she was taking a figure drawing class.

And you knew that she was going to work fairly hard at it, but had, you know, relatively average that best fine motor skills if I'm asking correctly, how do you encourage but also set proper boundaries and expectations for someone who was just an average artist at best?

Well, I would venture to say I would think about what is your goal.

And so when I first started at Lourdes, way back in the day when I was seven, I would have a lot of women that were in there that were doing it.

They just wanted a, a degree for themselves.

Right.

Their husbands were fairly affluent jobs and they just wanted to learn for themselves.

They wanted to get accuracy for themselves.

And so my first thought is what is your goal?

Right.

So I have a lot of students that were doing art therapy.

Their goal is not to be the best artist in the room, but they're still going to be art therapists.

They have to understand the concepts, understand the materials and the tools.

Right.

And so my first thing would be, what is your goal?

You know, what do you want to have at the end of the degree?

What is your purpose for this?

And then it's a matter of really, I think art is really about looking and seeing.

And that's the biggest thing is getting students to understand because like, you can be working with a student and you can sit down with their drawing and you can kind of point out things to them that they never noticed until you sat there and pointed it out.

So it's getting them to learn how to see.

And then also like there's times when I work, I'll sit down and, you know, help them out a little bit and they're like, you can just sit down and do this.

And I said, because I don't care.

Yeah, right.

And they're like, they're horrified, I don't care.

I said, but I don't care.

So I don't have what we call analysis paralysis.

Right?

I'm not so worried about what the products and I mean, I'm not tied into it emotionally.

I can just sit and say, this needs done, this needs done.

I'll tell you what.

Let me summarize that, Aaron Savoy's, model to teach you, you just do not care your words and the process.

So actually, I have to say, those are Patrick Dupré.

It's because Patrick teaches for us as well.

And Patrick loves that term, too.

Can you tell us a little bit about Sister Jane?

Mary?

Yes.

Sister Mary was an amazing, amazing woman.

So a lot of the sisters, I mean, she kind of was revered in amongst the sisters because she had gone off to college.

Right.

And so she had experienced world, the world where some of them came at 14, 15 years old.

And so she was like, I think around 25 when she came to with the sisters.

And so she already had that kind of like, you know, worldly view of life.

Right?

But she was just amazing.

I mean, it was about creating art.

And, you know, when I first came, there was a couple of times we would kind of like go back and forth a little bit about about our views on things because I was, you know, straight out of grad school, pretty full of myself, you know, and she was a senior that declared that her this the seasoned Polish teacher.

I mean, she'd even taught at Cardinal Stritch before she came to Lourdes.

Okay.

And so she was a power to be reckoned with.

She really was.

But as I progressed at Lourdes and I had my children and, oh, my gosh, I'd bring my kids over there.

She was like an aunt to them.

And the minute she could have a baby in her arms, you know, she melted like nobody's business.

But she was a firm believer in work ethic.

I mean, she worked up until about, I think, maybe four months before she passed away or something like that.

Not as many hours, but we always were taken students over there and they're like, if you can see this 80 plus woman still at her studio, like every day working, what work ethic is that?

Yes.

Right.

And so she was amazing, amazing mentor for me, along with Sister Sharon, that, was, you know, working alongside me.

We, the three of us were pretty much a strong piece in the art department until Sister Jane Mary retired and Sister Sharon became this general counselors.

This lecture series is named after her.

So can you tell us a little bit about it?

It's Sunday, March 1st.

It's the Lord's, I'm assuming Sunday, March 1st.

Yes, it's the Franciscan Center.

It's at 2:00, with the reception following at three with, Dan Minsky.

He is the director of the museum.

Oh, wow.

Which is part of our tackle group.

Right.

And, so the masa for you may not know, it's like the world's largest, museum for children's illustration.

So you see a lot of the book illustrations that you do there.

But he is also what he calls a monster maker.

And so he's a sculptor.

He got his, MFA at Bowling Green.

And so he creates, like, mythology, Ohio, mythological kind of creatures that you hear about.

So it can be like a swamp from the Black Swamp Things.

And, his image that we have on the, on the postcard is, his, his rendition of Bigfoot.

But he does these creatures, you know, that are that are tied to myths in Ohio.

So if you look up his website, he's got some really interesting things.

And I had had reached out to say, hey, can we come down?

Because that'd be cool, come down to the studio.

But he said they were working on he was working on some, you know Top-Secret confidential thing, so we couldn't get into it.

Stick with them that came and tell us what that is today.

No, I don't know.

So this has been going on.

I mean, 15 years, 15 years, 15 years.

And George and Vickie Brimmer have always been the sponsors for it.

George had Sister Jane Mary in a calligraphy class.

Oh my goodness, way back.

Yeah, right before he graduated.

You have to get to get his art in.

And sometimes I'll wait until the end because they're scared.

And so it's kind of fun because that was the first time I knew of George, because my office was actually back then in the classroom of that space.

So I remember when he was in the class, but he so admired Sister Jane, Mary's idea of, you know, this is good, but let's do this now and we can do it a little bit better.

We can make a little bit, but not making you feel bad, but just making you realize even better, even better to do things.

That's how the show used to be, until Kevin came in.

I appreciate Sister Day, Mary.

I mean, I had the opportunity to to have a number of interactions with her that she had a connection to.

Cardinal Stritch.

Okay, and Cardinal Stritch for a number of years.

And, while I was there, she continued to donate artwork to their auction every year.

And so I had the privilege of coming and picking it up.

Oh, that's awesome.

And so just minimal interactions with her, but just a really, incredible, incredible person.

When you talk about the legacy of Lourdes, I mean, people talk about how beautiful that canvasses and there is art everywhere.

Everywhere.

And I, I described to somebody that the art that's on that campus, came from really predominantly one of two ways.

It was either, and I say this lovingly stolen by Mother Adelaide, right.

She convinced someone that she could take this and send it back to campus.

Or in many instances, the sisters made it.

And there's, you know, Sister Jane.

Mary, artwork all over that campus.

So, yeah, it's it's incredible.

It is, it is beautiful.

And I they would get, people from the community saying, hey, we've got this thing.

We think it would be great at Lourdes.

And they would go out as the sisters would go out, maybe, like, that's not really what we do, you know?

I mean, they would literally go look at the objects and if they didn't fit in their idea of things because there's a couple times I'm like, what do you mean you're not going to take this?

This is crazy.

You know?

But they had their idea of where they wanted things and how they wanted to present things.

And so it was pretty amazing.

So Sunday, March 1st at the Franciscan Center, the Sister Jane Mary's lecture series with Dan Charles, Enschede.

Yes.

If people want more information where can they find it?

They can find it on the Lord's website.

And also, our institutional advancement and also on my Facebook page for the art department.

Awesome, wonderful.

Thank you, thank you.

Hi.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

When we come back, we'll continue the conversation here on a Thursday edition of the 419 and toledo.com community calendar, driven by Tata.

Welcome back into the 419.

Part of a great job, Kevin.

Thanks, Matt.

I just want to, you know, I'm not crabby.

I mean, maybe a little bit when I say it like that.

Maybe.

That's nice.

So what we've been doing, all week is also a preview to Restaurant Week, which kicks off next week.

We are joined by Monica.

I was like, I'm gonna get right Monica.

Kurt from Kengo.

Yes.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for having him.

So I will just lead with this confession.

Okay.

So I crabby and crabby.

No.

I have never been to Kengo or Papa Cardo, and I want to.

There's been so many occasions where it was like, we're going to go, and then the lines out the door, and then it's.

Yeah.

And we have a really unorthodox, sign up system.

You know, it's not normal reservations either.

So you gotta know there's a little.

So if people aren't familiar, what are the what are the different restaurants and locations?

So we started with Kengo Sushi yakitori.

That's at 38 South Sinclair, a block down from the ballpark.

We just on the 15th, celebrated 11 years.

You're kidding.

Yeah.

How about that?

And in there for 11 years and then in 2021.

Side note, I was talking with Matt just a moment ago.

I have a consulting company wher I've only helped lawyers.

I didn't have any clients in Ohio.

That was my job, right?

I would travel all over the country and can go approach me.

And he said, hey, would you help us figure out an agreement between us and the guy they were going to consult with to open up this?

His dream of opening a ramen shop.

Right.

Like he's wanted to have a noodle shop ever since he was a good.

So I help them doing a cost analysis, looking at profit margins.

All those.

Well, first, I want to blow past this.

What?

You are a consultant to law firms, and the consulting is what?

Mostly marketing.

At that time, it was just like helping them market themselves in an ethical way.

Right.

And then it grew into business development too, because we'd have this influx of cases.

We'd have to like, restructure everything.

And so what is your background in legal marketing?

Legal market.

Yeah.

Yeah, that is an interesting niche.

I mean, I know that people think that, you know, if you're a marketer, you can market anything.

But that's not it's not.

No, it's very specific for lawyers because we have ethical rules that you can't approach.

There's all kinds of rules about how and when and in what way you can approach people to be your client.

And I was also trying to teach people to get away from this idea of talking about yourself.

Right?

Like you have to focus on your customer and your client, and you have to find out what their needs are and what's keeping them up at night and, you know, all these things.

So then when can go approach me?

I mean, I'm just going to help him draft something so he can take it.

I'm not a lawyer.

So he can take your time is in marketing now that you have a marketing back home from lawyers?

Actually, yeah.

How about that?

All right.

Cool.

So finally he after 45 minutes, he goes, well, you do realize what you just did, don't you?

I'm like, let me guess.

That other guy's job.

He's like, yeah, why don't you do it?

I don't know.

I said, I love you.

Well thank you.

Like I'm so sorry.

I don't know anything about restaurants.

I don't want to do.

Did you guys stay connected?

He is married to my sister.

I thought okay.

Yeah.

So I was like, you know, you were going to see him at the family parties, right?

I'm like, look at this.

My my personal life was just like, I was going through a lot of challenges there.

I'm like, you know what?

I just yeah.

I don't want to disappoint you.

Yeah.

No.

Thank you.

He's like, come on.

So come on.

So for two weeks, finally I said yes.

And the rest is sort of history.

So I mean, it was from the ground up from the construction workers and the architects and the health department and.

Yeah, Columbia Gas, 100%.

It was once you know, that you I mean, that's a marketable skill to being able to get through that process.

So where is the from it.

So the so the ramen shop is immediately next door to Kingo okay.

So it's, 40 South Sinclair.

We have a the general public sees it as two different places.

Technically, it's connected in the back.

And so then, before the rubber job even opened, Hollywood Casino approached and go about doing a sushi concept there.

So then we did contract negotiations for shabu by Kengo, opened Kaito Ramen October 4th of 2022.

Opened Shabu by Kengo January 24th, 2023.

And then, as things were and.

And my sister had a new baby.

So Jimbo was like nine months old, I think when the restaurant opened or shabu opened.

And so things were finally calming down.

And the landlord, who is John applied which the apple building here, which is, you know, Toledo for you.

Yeah.

He approached Kengo.

He said, hey, I have this space two doors down.

You want first, right of refusal.

And Kengo came back and he told Amanda nice.

Like.

Yeah.

So we're gonna, open a Japanese fried chicken place.

And my sister and I just looked at each other like.

Sounds good.

When that conversation happened, you just slides in?

No.

Underneath the door.

Well, it already happened.

I mean, not to, like, not like not to throw cargo under the bus.

Think he was just like, he has these these amazing, awesome ideas for Toledo.

Right.

And then what is so special about the fried chicken?

So it's, everything on the menu is gluten free, with the exception of the Asian barbecue and the French fries or French fries.

French fries ins.

And we like.

I loved these ones.

But it's rice flour, and there's like a lot of ginger and garlic and soy in the brine.

We brine all the chicken.

Everything is twice fried, so it's really crunchy, but then really juicy also.

And then we make all the losses in house.

All the sources are served on the side so people can try different ones.

But, everything is made from scratch and it's just it's kind of Cleveland three, you know, the three unique businesses right there on, Adam Street must be east.

Make operations at least later.

I'm sorry.

What did I say?

That's okay.

It's really unique.

Really unique, isn't it?

It moves the streets all the time.

So you brought us a couple of samples.

You brought us some.

The potato salad.

That is from the, chicken place.

Yes.

And then we also have a slightly different version at the Kato.

At, Kato ramen.

Also, this potato salad is great.

No kidding.

And then you brought us some kimchi.

Explain what that is.

Okay, so kimchi is fermented, cabbage.

But I brought it because we just started this chicken sandwich.

It's just, like, out of this world has pickles on the bottom.

And then you get your choice of a topper so you can choose kimchi, which Kingo loves with Indonesian sambal, which is, I don't know if I got sambal or not.

The sauce.

And then in the Indonesian sample is a nod to my grandma.

She was from Indonesia.

I know she like it was.

Sambal was on her dinner table at every meal.

You're kidding me.

Yeah, it was really cool.

And so.

Or you can choose coleslaw.

So pick your top or pick your sauce, and it is like so.

And I could talk a little bit about the ethnicity of your whole family and go with.

So Ken goes Japanese parents came parents got married in Japan, came to America in the late 60s.

Had all three kids.

Ken goes the middle child.

My grandfather's from the Netherlands.

My grandmother's from Indonesia.

Congratulations on your big, winter Olympics.

As you pretty well know.

And so because of this, you know, multi generational multicultural history that we all have and because of the crazy way that I became involved with the restaurant, and because I've spent, I lived in Amsterdam for a while because I just wanted to go to school there.

Yeah, I wanted to go to school there.

I wrote a book about the whole thing.

It's called herd.

Yeah, it was just it's called Herd Risk.

And the recipe that rewrote my life.

And I know that, it's kind of dorky or whatever, but dorky.

I mean, truly tango seeing something in me and, like.

And my sister seeing and something in me that I didn't see in myself at the time, I mean, totally changed the whole course.

Or like birth order for your family.

I'm the oldest of three girls.

Yeah.

And your sister is also an entrepreneur.

She opened up her own gym.

Right.

And where does this, nobody's road is a straight shot, right?

So I do want to talk a little bit about how this book started, and the story in it, but talk to me about your folks.

They're 1,000% supportive.

They're entrepreneurs.

They throw ideas.

What was that?

So I think my dad, is a millwright, and he worked at Detroit Edison.

And while for most of his career he worked at Edison.

But, I mean, growing up, it was.

You work hard.

You're kind of others.

You don't talk about yourself.

You do what you can for the community, and that's it.

It doesn't matter what you do.

It doesn't matter.

Like, you know, if you went to college, if you didn't go to college, it didn't like the focus really wasn't on that.

So they always just kind of supported us, whatever we wanted to do.

I mean, I came home one day, I was like, mom, I want to move to Amsterdam.

And and she's like, yeah, I'm not surprised.

And I'll probably see I yeah.

She goes, I didn't think that you would ever move back.

And my dad is just like, he's a very stoic, like, serious person, you know, like me.

Yes, yes.

And he's like, well be careful.

Yeah.

You know, it sounds like a bad thing.

Yeah.

So they're just.

And Papa, goes, dad who Publicados is named after.

He, started three restaurants.

Yeah, New York City when they first came here.

And that was always, you know, a part of their lives.

How did they how did Kinko's family get to.

So Kengo, had been contracted from a bunch of different, restaurants all over the country to come in.

In a weird way, he sort of taught me, like, what he did, you know?

So he would come in, he would develop the menu, which that's not what I would do, but, develop the menu, train the staff, open everything up, get the restaurant on the ground, and then move on to the next one.

And so he was, recruited by Vince, the owner of Sakara, to do that.

And so Kengo was the one behind introducing.

Interesting.

Which explains, I mean, opening as many restaurants in such a short period of time as he has, like, he's a builder, right?

And so it's like, all right, let me let me build let me get the system going.

Yeah.

Once that's moving, you know, I mean, there's the folks that are capable of building aren't interested.

They really don't have as much fun, maintain it.

Yeah.

And so it's like, the cool thing is too, he's just built such a community of like, I mean, all the employees we really, truly feel like they're our family members.

I mean, we go to everybody, you know, all the different things.

Yeah, exactly.

There's a chapter in the book.

The last chapter of the book is about that.

But he's just people just want to be a part of it.

Yeah, they do.

They really do.

They're drawn to this whole vibe.

So you guys are participating in Restaurant Week?

Yes.

Yeah.

So we have, different.

I mean, the sushi one is awesome.

It's like 35 bucks.

You get six pieces of chef's selected sushi, a snow crab salad or a spicy tuna roll, and then seaweed salad and, miso soup for 30 bucks.

I mean, it's just going to be.

Are all the locations participating?

Yeah.

If someone has never been to Kenko before, like Kevin or they've never even tried sushi before or they've never tried Japanese cuisine, what's the what's the point of entry meal?

So like, we get a lot of people who are so terrified to come there because they don't.

They think that it's all raw fish, and it's that we have a whole section of yakitori which is skewered like veggies and skewered meats.

And I mean, they have bacon wrapped like bacon wrapped mango and bacon updates.

You can have asparagus that is just to die for.

All of the sushi is so fresh.

That's incredible.

It is.

Serrano is my favorite.

What's that?

It's a yellowtail.

A little bit of cilantro, some garlic and serrano peppers.

Oh, there's a little bit of a. The first time I ever had sushi.

I just I could not get my head around the seaweed.

Wrap your nori and I was just like, I can't I can't do it.

So, so you just finished wrapping it.

Kroger.

And you have trick.

You know, it's.

So it was it was made with rice paper.

Yeah.

And so then I was able to, like, get into it that way, and now I'm fine with it, but it was like I had to get over that, that hurdle.

Okay, I'm going to put you on the spot here.

I'm going to edit out this is not a live show, as you probably already guessed.

And that was huge.

Like relief.

Oh go ahead.

But your favorite item or items, can you run through them?

What's your favorite?

Okay, so I can go pick this, fresh salmon.

It's the hamachi serrano for the role.

And then I tell people all the time I've eaten an embarrassingly large amount of our chicken meatballs.

They.

I mean, if I were to see it all together.

Yes, it you would deny it.

I would I wouldn't want to close on a couple things.

And again, at the risk of putting you on the spot, but you did write a book about so there's some inkling that you were comfortable talking about it.

There's a lot of vulnerability in writing a book up about yourself.

Do you mind talking a little bit about this story and the moment that you wanted to tell it?

So, yeah, it's kind of so long story short, I always had this story kind of on my heart, and people would always ask, how did you get involved with the restaurants?

And I would just go through the little spiel, but I've always kept journals and, I went through it, you know, a breakup.

And last year that wasn't it wasn't necessarily about the breakup.

It was about the fact I probably wasn't like we were going to have kids, and then we weren't going to have a kids anymore, you know, like, that's fine.

Well, we were supposed to go skiing in Alaska and as you do as.

Right.

And so this is like this goal of mine.

And the trip was already planned.

You know what?

When we broke up, we were supposed to be together.

I, I'm going to get my money back from the trip.

I'm going to book a two week solo vacation to Europe to finish this book.

And that's what I did.

That's amazing.

That's a it's like a it was like this.

Yeah.

So basically you dumped this bozo just because you want to get out of hell.

I was like, just, well, he done to me.

And I still wanted to go, but I was trying to figure out a way to.

He made the best of it so much that he wasn't going to show up.

Yes.

On the plane.

Yes.

You know, that didn't work.

Well, that's very brave.

That's incredible.

Run through restaurants and locations one more time.

Can't go.

Sushi and yakitori.

38 South Saint Clair.

Kaito ramen on, it's 40 South Sinclair.

So immediately next door, Papa Kato's Japanese fried chicken two blocks north, I think north.

No one knows.

Yeah, 42.

So Sinclair and 3030 South Sinclair.

They're all one block over from the park.

But the best thing to do, since we don't have a waitlist, since we don't have reservations, is just go to the restaurant, put your name on the front door.

There's a dry erase marker hanging there.

Your name will stay on there until you show up.

We see when we open up according to who's on that list, you can call us.

I love it after five.

Give us your phone number, we'll text you in.

The table's ready, but just.

And I'll look at the show, and it's worth it.

You know it's worth it.

People.

Really great experience.

We don't have the waitlist on the front door, Papa.

Cardoz.

Yeah, but I've been writing my name on the front door, so that's why you have.

It's the wrong door.

Yeah, we got the phone call.

Anika, thank you so much.

You guys.

Thank you for having us.

We're really excited.

All right, when we come back, we will continue our preview of Restaurant Week with the real work behind Restaurant Week.

I know we talked to you over there.

Oh, of restaurant Week, but Danielle is coming on the show whether she likes it or not, and she won't.

And maybe.

All right, it's the 419.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back into the 419.

We're doing a preview of Restaurant Week.

And we've got our friend Danielle Johnson from Leadership Toledo.

Yeah.

The woman behind the woman behind Restaurant Week.

That's what they tell me.

This is your.

This is your baby.

This is my baby.

Yes.

46 eight.

That's what they said.

Restaurant.

Name them.

All right.

Now.

Oh, I will forget something.

Yes.

You have the 48.

Which is your least favorite?

Oh, not my least favorite I love them.

Talk to me about, we've obviously been previewing Restaurant Week, but if folks are familiar with Restaurant Week, what is it and why is it so important?

Yeah.

So it's a week long celebration of local cuisine, that Leadership Toledo gets to be the beneficiary of.

And so we have 48 partners.

And for me, I love highlighting local food.

I've lived in a ton of big cities, and people always say Toledo doesn't have great food and we absolutely have great food.

And so we get to highlight that and get people really out and supporting these organizations that live in this community.

Their kids go to school in this community, and they want to see it'll be a better place.

And this this event has grown over the past.

How many years?

16 years.

16 years.

I think you originally started with just a few.

Just a handful.

10 or 11.

Yeah.

And I started in 2019, and we were upper 30s at the time.

So we've grown a little bit over the last several years.

Yeah.

We have new restaurants in.

We have eight new restaurants in this year.

And so we have some of our longtime partners like Rosie's has been in since day one.

So yeah, it's been a great.

So what's your pitch to the restaurant?

I'm assuming you're the one that goes out to get them.

First of all, you you do, you do some type of research or get information to find these new places to join.

Yes.

When you're going out to meeting with these locations, what what are you telling them about?

So I'm talking to them about leadership Toledo and who we are as an organization in this community, and letting them know that any proceeds from this will go to our youth program.

So help us keep those tuition free.

And then I'm talking to them about just being a part of this community and what that means, and letting them know that some restaurants have told me it is their busiest week of the year.

Wow.

So being prepared for that, making sure they have the staff to cover that, and then just to have fun and to be creative and let us know how we can support them to get more people in the door.

What when you're, you know, as you're looking at kind of the, the menu of restaurants, right?

Is it are you trying to balance different types of restaurants?

I want to have a little bit of everything.

I want to have a good diverse menu selection.

I want there to be some high end.

I want there to be family friendly.

And then maybe a few surprises in there as well, maybe locations that you've always wanted to see.

For instance, we have Jamie Cafe that's joining us this year for the first time, and they're in the Innovation Center, which we were all on pins and needles wondering what will happen with that building.

So now you have an opportunity to go in and get an inside view of that building.

So it's a little bit of everything we have.

And who was here, who has gluten free and dairy free options?

We want to make sure restaurants have vegan options and not just side dishes.

We want vegans to be able to go in and have a meal with their friends.

I have a friend who's vegan, and so I have to be very conscious of that.

When we're going out to dinner, I want to make sure she can eat and not just eat sides.

And so we have restaurants that offer all of that.

So it's a little bit of something for everyone at a risk of putting you on the spot.

So there's eight new restaurants.

Yes.

Who are who are some of those eight new recipes?

So, Jamie cafe, Jacoby food truck, Toledo pickle.

Stay out of the kitchen grill.

The Kangal restaurants on Saint Clair have joined us and and, access restaurant and bar, which is on the campus, and I'm missing one.

And you'll have to get it.

Yes, I'm forgetting you.

Do you all have?

I just wanted to say, since most of them.

If people want the full list.

Yes.

Restaurant Week toledo.com.

There's also a very fun passport that is supported by Destination Toledo.

So you can download that passport and it'll help you find where you want to go outside of town.

You want to go on?

We'll have breakfast, have coffee, have dinner.

All of those options are available.

And then if you have the passport, you get some side benefits, right?

So every time you go to a restaurant you want to check in, you get 100 points per check in.

And then you can use those points for gift cards at the end of the week.

So we have three tiers of gift cards.

And you just keep going and checking in and you sign up for those gift cards.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

How long have you been with Leadership Toledo?

I started with Leadership Toledo in June of 2019.

And was this your job from the start?

This, this this position?

Yes.

It has grown as nonprofit world does.

But I actually was in the program was in the signature program 2017, class of 2018.

Best class ever.

Nice.

And I was working somewhere else, and I got a call from a friend of ours, Bryce Roberts, and he's like, hey, this is going to be a position opening up, and I think you should look into it.

And consider it.

And I did, and they can't get rid of me now.

And there was this before this.

So I was in sales.

So I just moved back to Toledo in 2014.

I spent 11 years in Chicago before that.

And so this is completely different from what my life was in Chicago.

I was in fashion.

I love to dress people and fix their closets and make them look pretty.

You want to be the show stylist?

I, I can't do that.

We need me, but I don't.

Yeah, but these guys, I get it, I need help.

Yeah, that's what I did before I came here.

And I kind of reinvent myself being back in Toledo.

I'm from here originally.

I left for about 20 years.

And so coming back, I went into sales work for Buckeye Broadband for just a little bit.

And then this opportunity came along and my first time in nonprofit work.

And it is so rewarding and such a wonderful city.

And how much do you love the office space downtown?

Oh my goodness, it's so good.

It's so good.

We've been there almost two years.

We two years in July, and there's really great exposed brick.

We're right downtown in the warehouse district that is really growing.

Where across from the Erie Street market.

From Souk, which I go to way too often now.

Possible.

Oh my goodness.

Now I'm always.

And everyone that works is Souk knows me because I'm there.

Where like, here's Danielle.

Food's so good.

What is the thing that you're going to do once, once Restaurant week is over?

To relax, you take a week vacation.

Do you leave?

I have not slept in two months.

Yeah.

So we start planning this.

I started having conversations in August.

It really ramped up and for me in January, and so I haven't really slept, so I'm looking forward to sleeping.

Yeah, I got a book from the library a month ago.

I would love to read that.

I feel that overdue at this point.

You might want to look into that.

Let you like re check it out for you.

Yeah.

There's no longer late fees.

There you go.

You're fine and we'll keep doing it.

Let someone else want it.

Okay.

What is what is the week look like for you?

Restaurant week?

Like walk me through because.

Because the planning.

Obviously you have to have a plan going into that I do it's not going to happen.

And I have been scheduling meals with friends night.

And so Monday morning and I have to do a couple shows, I'm just making sure everyone is where they need to be.

I like to be available just to make sure everything's working on Monday.

But as a staff, we go out every year for lunch on Monday, and then I have dinner with friends scheduled for the whole rest of the week.

And so I will be doing that.

We have a fun alumni event on Tuesday morning at play 21.

We're going to go have coffee and meet up with some alum.

And, yeah, I'm just eating all week.

So I was about to make a joke about missing my invitation, and then she said there was an alumni thing.

There's a lot of my things up for it, so you don't have to RSVP.

You just show up between 830 and 9.

So anyone that's a graduate of the Leadership Toledo program can come hang out with us?

That's right.

21 830.

Are there ongoing projects that that that those graduates, that that group of people that have graduated from the program do together, or do you regularly meet up?

So I just know there's a couple people from my class on our board, so I get to see them once a month.

But we have some groups that get together for lunch every month, so our class of 24 is probably the most active.

They meet each other, they have a set place once a month.

They go there, they try to get together for that.

I still meet with my project group, once a quarter.

We try to get together for.

Great.

So you have to be intentional people.

Yeah, sure.

But it's it's a fun time.

Yeah.

Good.

Can we put you on the spot?

Sure.

I know this is what you.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Yes.

Now, time for Gretchen's wacky.

Who's saying it?

I thought you were going to do it.

I was so excited.

Because you were.

Because I don't have the second here.

No.

In.

Okay, let's do it again.

I will help you with the.

Okay.

All right.

So I'm going to ask you four rapid fire questions.

You're going to tell Gretchen your favorite thing in or about Toledo.

Okay.

And then she's going to walk you through the nine words.

And we're going to realize how great Matt really is.

Okay.

We should also acknowledge that Matt had to leave early for a commitment.

So he's we didn't fire him.

He didn't want to hang out.

That's right.

Okay.

Yeah.

The folks this on on YouTube or on, connects probably can see that.

Yes.

That Matt got significantly better looking, in the second.

But if you're on the radio.

Yeah, you may have been like, I don't even typically quite.

I'm weirdly enjoying the show more.

I do have my good natured, Metropark stickers just to represent it.

All right, here we go.

Rapid fire questions.

How many best friends do you have?

Oh.

Best friends.

I have really great friends.

I would say about five.

Nice.

Yeah.

Who's the most competitive person?

You know, of.

I don't know the answer to that.

I don't know, I don't know.

Okay.

All my friends are pretty competitive.

Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but cannot throw away?

Oh, Hills, I know what to wear those, but I still hang on to them.

Just as absurd if they hurt.

And finally, what's the best compliment you've ever received?

That I am a kind person, and I enjoy that.

I take my claim on that.

And it's very true.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

What's your number one most favorite of what you would consider to be the best thing about Toledo?

The food.

The food is so good here.

And I have some favorites.

So the food is great okay.

Now we're going to I'm going to do my part.

Yes, we're going to try to get to nine words that describe Toledo or the region to you.

Okay.

Metro Park.

Okay.

The Toledo Museum of Art.

Okay.

I'm going to give you three for that.

All right.

The food.

Okay.

The collaboration.

The homeliness, that's a word.

It is, it's close to an international airport, which is important for me.

I need to be close to international.

One more.

The people are awesome, people.

Awesome.

Danielle.

Thank you so much for all of your help getting all of these amazing guests and food show for us.

My pleasure.

We really appreciate it.

So we got a couple jobs for you moving forward.

You're going to be the stylist for the show.

Done.

I can do that for word pieces.

And then, I think we also going to need you to book restaurants, going forward all the time.

Oh, great.

Yeah.

We just decided we need snacks.

Oh, great.

I know some great partners now.

Like people I know people.

All right, well, one last pitch for Restaurant Week.

Why should people get out?

I always tell people it is the easiest way to support this community.

You go, you eat in the restaurants, then give us a, portion of their sales.

So go out and try something new.

Be patient, tip generously.

These are people who live in your community.

So where can people find more information?

Restaurant Week toledo.com.

All the information is there.

You can get the passport there as well.

And if they want more information on leadership Toledo leadership toledo.org.

Awesome.

Okay, I know you guys just it's fun.

You're the best.

Thank you so much.

Of course.

All right.

We'll see you back tomorrow.

When you tell us what we're supposed to wear.

Yes, I'll be here.

All right.

When we come back, we'll wrap up this Thursday edition of the 419.

Stay tuned.

Welcome back into the 419, wrapping up a Thursday edition of the program as we took a look at our toledo.com community calendar driven by Arta and the top five events happening.

We'll take top six events.

Yes, happening this weekend.

And of course, the big event kicking off next week with Restaurant Week.

There's a lot.

I mean, we have to make a plan or you just get overwhelmed.

You're going to need a breakfast, lunch and dinner plan.

I feel like you need a plan to get through the weekend.

Right?

We like.

All right, so I've got, Glass City Wranglers Friday night, returning to downtown, playing at the Glass City Center.

That's awesome.

That's going to be a really cool venue for them.

The Naked Magicians, Friday nigh And then, seed swap acoustics for autism.

This may be a really dumb question.

It.

But the Glass City Wranglers are a new professional, relatively new professional team, right?

Yeah.

Yes, but who do they play?

Is that dumb like other other regional professional teams?

Yes.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

You just say they just intrasquad scrimmage.

No, I didn't know like like just teams are.

It's like the, town 13 used to have the, the, 13 ABC all stars like Lee Conklin.

The guys go out play.

We just challenge other neighborhoods for who was there like a Globetrotter.

It's a no.

It's a it's a professional basketball team.

And there's other professional teams that come in across the country.

Yeah, yeah, they've been around.

So we've had professional basketball in Toledo, for a while and it's sort of ebbed and flowed.

Glass City Wranglers really is a first class organization.

They've been working.

Yeah, they've done great.

And so I think the partnership with the Glass City Center, is going to be great for them as well.

Toledo loves its basketball.

And so I think this is, a neat way for us to do that.

And having a professional sport in town improves the the lower levels.

Right.

So having the walleye makes our hockey, you know, our high school hockey better.

Same thing with mud hens.

And so I think having the varsity Wranglers here, you know, helps level up basketball.

It gives local players an opportunity.

And it isn't all local players, but there's a number of great local stars that are on that team.

That folks would recognize from playing high school or college ball, in the area or coming through the area.

They get a chance to, to come out and see and support, of course, all of our top five events, you can find the top 5@toledo.com if you missed any part of the show.

There's now four great opportunities to enjoy it.

7 a.m.

on YouTube, 3 p.m.

on FM, 91, 6 p.m.

on Connect channel 30.4.

And of course, you can download the new app to enjoy the 419.

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks to all of our guests.

We'll see you back tomorrow on the 419 powered by CTE, presented by Retro Wealth Management.