IN YOUR CITY Show With Kelley and Gordon
Weekdays from 4–6 PM on 590am and streaming at louinfo.com Join IN YOUR CITY Show with Kelley & Gordon two dynamic storytellers who bring the pulse of STL to the airwaves with a bold new vibe. They ignite conversations that matter with a seamless blend of relationship values, and business insight.
From celebrity interviews to community highlights, this show will elevate your mind and your brand with sophistication, style and impact.
This isn’t just a show, it's a powerhouse connection hub. It is the HOT LIST you want to make and the conversation you don't want to miss.
IN YOUR CITY Show With Kelley and Gordon
Exploring Carbon: A Membership Club Experience in Clayton, Missouri
Step inside Carbon Membership Club with us as we discover one of Clayton's most exclusive gathering places that defies conventional member club stereotypes. Tucked away on Bonhomme Road, this two-year-old establishment operates on a refreshing philosophy summed up by co-owner Kelly Chase: "It's not for everyone" – but those who belong find themselves part of a community where authenticity trumps pretension.
We sit down with relationship expert and nine-time bestselling author Rainie Howard, who shares transformative insights from her book "The Love Habit." Her L-O-V-E framework provides practical strategies for breaking free from toxic patterns like people-pleasing and learning to validate yourself rather than seeking external approval. Howard's wisdom on reinvention resonates deeply – the powerful reminder that you're never trapped in your current circumstances and always have the ability to create a new path forward.
The heart of our visit includes conversations with Carbon's passionate owners, Donn Sorensen and Gina Gamblin, who reveal how they've created a space where business leaders, community figures, and entrepreneurs can connect in meaningful ways. We're treated to culinary masterpieces from Michelin three-star Chef Gian Nicola Colucci, whose Italian steakhouse concept showcases local Missouri farm products alongside handcrafted pasta. His philosophy? "If you have a great product, you don't need to make other sauces." This dedication to quality extends to Carbon's impressive cocktail program, demonstrated by mixologist Shane Doeppke creative concoctions.
Most poignant is our conversation with Kelly Chase, fighting cancer with the same tenacity that made him a Blues legend. Despite his battle, his passion for building community through Carbon remains undimmed. "Just don't get married to the bed, get up and get active," he shares – a powerful reminder about resilience that transcends his personal journey and speaks to anyone facing life's toughest challenges.
You can see the Live Video To all of our shows at:
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Welcome to In your City Show. Wow, what a cool place we are at today to do this show it really is a hidden gem. No pun intended, because yeah, I couldn't find it on my map quest. What's the?
Speaker 2:name of it, carbon, carbon. And you see the carbon, the diamonds, you know it's like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's super, super cool. So we're here in Clayton, missouri, on Bonham Road. So if you're familiar with Clayton, if you're from Missouri, you're going to know where this place is. It's a membership club and we're going to find out, throughout the show, more about the location which is gosh, throughout the show, more about the location which is gosh. Is it already been a year that it's been here? I think so. Yeah, we'll find out and make sure on that too. So In your City Show is a show that actually we've got a brand new vibe that's going. I think it's kind of. I think it's a little sexy, don't?
Speaker 2:you. Yeah, a lot of exciting news on this show, yeah yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:We are between our magazines that we own, which is Clayton, Chesterfield and St Charles City, Lifestyle magazines that go out to forty five thousand of the most affluent homes every single month. We are storytellers. That's what we are, and we really wanted to bring a mixture of relationship, whether it be in your business, at home, with your friends, your family, and a mixture of I guess I don't know fun, excitement, energy, blending that all together, telling stories that go on in your city. That's what we're all about.
Speaker 2:We love telling stories.
Speaker 1:So many people that have the untold story, yeah, and sometimes we're the first to tell it, which is super exciting. There's been some really amazing aftermath of stories that we've shared that have made it all the way to the Today Show Today.
Speaker 2:Show Grace Strobel, one of our favorite stories ever. We can't ever quit talking about her. We love her.
Speaker 1:So welcome to the happy hour, and our hot spot, of course, is carbon, and I want to make sure that we get our question, because we do a question of the day. But the question is you just walked in to an exclusive, members-only lounge. What cocktail are you ordering to enjoy, or maybe impress? What would you order, gordon?
Speaker 2:Well to impress.
Speaker 1:Or well, to enjoy, or to impress, to be part of the vibe.
Speaker 2:I've always been the old-fashioned guy. I like the old-fashioned. Because I'm a little bit old-fashioned, you know what I mean. So it kind of fits me In some ways. In a lot of ways you know, as I get older, I just kind of like to stay back in the old-fashioned days.
Speaker 1:Something about putting the word old. Is there another word we could come up with in old-fashioned, new-fashioned, with a bit of past with it?
Speaker 2:Maybe something like that rather than to be get older.
Speaker 1:It's okay to get older, so I just learned because I love old fashions too. I don't like them smoke like you do, but um, it just looks cool with the smoke coming off. I like it better with a bullet rye, with a rye rather than a regular whiskey in the old fashion, which it does make a difference. In the taste it does, and I couldn't believe that we tried an old-fashioned before that was made with vodka, which is crazy.
Speaker 2:I've never had it right here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this it was a spritzer-type feel, I guess. I don't know if that's the right word or not. So we had an amazing event Got to mention our karaoke for wishes. It was quite incredible at the Marquee in Newtown what a turnout we had. The singers were phenomenal. You're an amazing singer. Everybody is quite impressed by your voice.
Speaker 1:No, not at all. In fact, you are going to fall over when I tell you after the show the text message I got from my niece they would like you to do a little. Mike Bublé, how do you say it? Michael Bublé, Bublé?
Speaker 4:for something.
Speaker 1:So you're going to probably I'm not sure, maybe run and hide after that, but okay, so I've got to let you know about the perfect Easter gift. So is this not cool?
Speaker 2:or what Did you mention about the carrier kit? Did you say we raised enough money? Oh, you know what I feel like.
Speaker 1:I was talking to our guest that's going to be on the show and telling her so much about it.
Speaker 2:I don't know One of the coolest things is we raised enough money to actually grant a child a wish.
Speaker 1:That's the coolest part. That was our goal, our huge goal, and that's what it was all about it wasn't about who was the star that night.
Speaker 2:Actually, Skylar was the star.
Speaker 1:She is the Wiss child that came to the event and we did not know that she was going to be singing. It was so impromptu and her mom said Skylar wants to sing. And I'm like, well, you do. And she said yes, and she sang happy, and I mean she sang that song like a champ she did. Oh, she let it down and, and everyone was just going crazy.
Speaker 2:Watch her made me cry what was even more impressive was that was on her first song choice, because we I don't think we had her first song choice, yeah, and she switched it to happy and she still knocked it out of the park but she had so much fun.
Speaker 1:She got back up and sang again. Yeah, and guess what she's saying tequila, oh tequila, she's 13, she had the whole place and everybody was screaming tequila, I was dancing. It was a great time. So I think we'll probably get sucked back into doing it again. It's a lot of work putting on an event. A lot of work, months and months and months, but totally worth it. Make a wish that it was the best event they've ever had a third party put on. Before they do their own, they don't want to cut down their own, but I think ours was better than theirs too. I've been doing things for them for 30 years, so I think it is so let's hop on over to this box.
Speaker 1:Okay. So Easter's coming up, all right, yes, and Easter baskets, they're cute, right, but wouldn't you rather have this? I mean, look at this, so this is sugar, a company called Sugar Plum. So if you go to sugar-plumcom, this is the company they do birthdays. Of course there's all kinds of things different treat boxes that you can get, but you get these adorable individual boxes inside and Kelly's going to rip it apart Sorry, she's like a three-year-old on Christmas Day. So every single box has a different candy, chocolates, pretzels, you name it and we can kind of open up as we move along. I don't want to open every single, you know one up, but aren't they precious? Um, these are butterflies. Those look like little.
Speaker 2:Um, colorful blocks, gordon's what gordon's hoping that's going to be in one of them chocolate eggs, okay because that's what that's.
Speaker 1:That's, his deal is chocolate, so he's going to be trying to find all the chocolate, but then, underneath it, it'll tell you what it is in each box and what they are. So isn't that super cool. It's amazing. I absolutely love it. So what a great Easter present. Just go to sugar-plumcom and you can order yourself a Easter box and make it simple, and you don't have to get all the little things all over. You know everywhere you're going, so okay. So I gotta ask um, are you? Obviously I know that you are, but uh, a cardinal fan. Yeah, and the opening season times even through the tough times.
Speaker 1:The opening season story I was shocked. I didn't know is this a thing that the first game that opened the season was in tokyo? The cubs, who were of course the World Series champs, beat the Cubs four to one. Is that normal? Because didn't we do that for football? They went to.
Speaker 2:London or something like that. They've been doing a lot for football. I think they may have had my gosh four or five games that were out of the country. It's great to introduce to other countries, you know, and they really get into it. They pack the stadiums when they do it. So I think it's really neat.
Speaker 1:So on the opening day there's going to be 28 teams, I'm sorry. Yeah, 20 teams and 14 games all in one day, that's a lot. That's an intense day of baseball. Okay, so there's one cool thing I want to make sure that I mentioned, and that's the Hollywood's museum. So we're going to need to go out to LA. They have an iconic ride exhibit, so it's a drive through time. And I know you love the Dukes of Hazzard, right, I love all those old shows yeah, so. Dukes of Hazzard, the Scooby-Doo mobile which.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love the mystery machine yeah all intact and Herbie's Love Bug will be there. This is a big deal People are coming from all over.
Speaker 2:I loved Herbie's. Love came out when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:Didn't you think it was real I?
Speaker 2:did. I thought it was. I wanted one. I wanted it to talk to me.
Speaker 1:All right, so I've got a little game for you. Uh-oh, let's see what you know so sadly. George Foreman oh, yes, we all have one of his grills, don't we? Yes, has passed away. Which is what a great guy. And grilling machine. That was his slogan and that was famous.
Speaker 2:Some of that stuff doesn't go together.
Speaker 6:Lean mean and let's grill up some steaks.
Speaker 7:He was lean and mean.
Speaker 1:at one time he got a little chunk of chunk there at times, but his grill master thinned him down though. All right, let's see if you know your slogans. The snack that smiles back.
Speaker 2:The snack that smiles back. You guys know I I'm gonna go with hostess cupcakes oh, that would be good, but it's goldfish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I guess they smile back. All right, the ultimate driving machine. I drive it. Bmw. That was a good hint. King of beers, budweiser, oh, that was fast, you got it. Is it in you?
Speaker 2:my mind's in a lot of places, but I'm not going to say it. This is a PG show, gordon is it in you?
Speaker 1:is it in you anybody know?
Speaker 2:okay, I have no idea.
Speaker 1:Gatorade, gatorade, okay yeah, I didn't know. The quicker picker upper bounty paper towels you got, you're killing it yeah okay, don't don't live life without it. But if you live with it, it will cost you every month.
Speaker 2:Some type of television.
Speaker 1:No, american Express, american Express.
Speaker 2:Oh, if you live with it, it'll cost you Every month with interest Don't leave home without it All right, the happiest place on earth, disneyland.
Speaker 1:Oh, you almost tied with each other. You did pretty good, actually, I'm proud of you. So we've got a great show coming up and want to make sure that can't wait to meet Rainy Howard. She is waiting to talk about her book. This woman is like she's got it going on Nine time bestselling author, ceo of a multi-million dollar publishing company you can ask, borrow money from her and has touched lives of millions through her transformative teachings on relationships. Don Sorensen cool guy, the owner is here. He is the owner one of the owners of Carbon Membership Club.
Speaker 1:He's going to show us what this experience is all about, this fabulous dining experience, the cigar lounge we're going to talk about that. And then, I am excited, the Carbon's very own Michelin star chef, which I have not got to ask how to pronounce his name yet, so Gian Nicola Colucci, and I don't even know if that was right, he's a three-star Michelin star chef. We've tasted his food, but I haven't asked how to say his name out loud.
Speaker 1:He's got to prepare some for us, yes, so we're going to see that and we're going to get a taste of Gordon's soul string, so that's cool as well. He is going to be with the music legend Pat Liston From Mama's Bride. You're going to get just a taste of it on our show, but then you'll be able to go to inyourcityshowcom watch the full version. And so there we go. So we're going to bring back, we're going to come back with Rainy Howard, we're going to talk to her, find out all that she has to give us advice on relationship. There's some things that I picked up in her book that I can't wait to learn more about as well. So we'll be back with more here on In your City. Lovely, swanky, sexy carbon right here in Clayton Missouri.
Speaker 1:Well, we have our hot seat guest right now on In your City Show, and it is Rainie Howard, and let me just tell you a little bit about her. She's a nine-time bestselling author, ceo of a multi-million dollar publishing company and has touched lives of millions through her transformative teachings on relationship. She empowers others to build impactful platforms. She shared the stories with the world. With over 17 years of experience, rainey is also renowned keynote speaker, host of the Rainey Howard Show podcast. She has touched the lives of millions, as we talked about, and her book I have with me right here, the Love Habit. Love is my favorite word.
Speaker 2:We have like that word all over our house Love, peace and joy, and the greatest of these is love.
Speaker 1:And the greatest of these is love. Thank you for bringing that in. Welcome to the show, Rainey. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to be here. I appreciate you, look lovely.
Speaker 1:I love the colors on you and you're just. You have a different hairstyle every time I see you, which is fun. I'm the same. We look back at pictures of our years together. I'm like, oh my gosh, I've had a different hairstyle every year that I've known you.
Speaker 6:And even one of the different colors. You have to switch it up.
Speaker 3:I get forged. Guys get new cars, I get a new hairstyle you have to switch it up. I get forged, guys get new cars, I get a new hairstyle.
Speaker 1:That's just the way it goes. So nine time bestselling, that means you have nine books out there. What did you decide that you love to?
Speaker 3:share. So I had a dream to become an author years before I became an author and I thought it was impossible because I'm like, I don't know any authors, I don't know where to start, how to do it, but I just remember one day just journaling and being in my quiet time like I would love to be an author one day. And I just began to get serious in 2015 and just went from there. I um. It was really organic because it started with me building an audience through social media and talking about things that people could relate to, like relationships. Um, one of my um blog posts went viral after sharing about my anniversary with my husband. At the time, I think we were because we got married pretty young I was, we were 21. We got married and so around the time I shared my anniversary post, people were like inspired. The post went viral and people was like asking relationship questions and like, wow, you're giving me hope, you know, and that's what.
Speaker 1:I'm looking for. I'm like what did I do with all my amazing questions I have? To ask you, I'm like I mean got married young and yeah.
Speaker 2:So relationships and having kids are kind of like the same.
Speaker 3:We just kind of jump into it without even knowing what we're really doing exactly and I really felt that way and I didn't know it would. Now, here we are I'm gonna date myself. We just celebrated 21 years way dated past you. We celebrated 21 years of marriage. We have two college students. But, yeah, starting off, you know, being young and trying to figure things out, you don't really know what you're doing. You know and just learning how to have a healthy relationship and how to thrive in your life. And so people were inspired by it and I just started connecting with more people, writing books and build this community of people who wanted to grow in their lives.
Speaker 1:So and looking through through your book, um, one of the things that I really liked about it is that, um you talked about, you can become addicted to living a life you don't like, and and I, since I read it, I thought about it so many times, cause I get really, you know, and I get anxiety and I get I got to take it back to one box at a time. I do 20 boxes stressing about things for six months down the road that she's got to do and it's like but I'm working on them up until that six months.
Speaker 1:That comes, you know, and there's a lot happening and you worry. I'm very empathetic, so I really take on a lot of energy from others and worry and so and it's hard to to kind of bring that down and and you can get in a habit. Habits are, habits can be great, habits can be really bad, yes, and you get into a habit of breaking down all the time when something doesn't go your way. Or you know you're, oh my gosh, just the simplest things of what am I going to wear. Or you know my hair doesn't look right or something. And then you get put back in your humble place. When you meet Skylar, you know, at the Make-A-Wish, whose life is just, you know, surgery after surgery or things that she's going through, it's like, oh wow, really I'm worried about you know what I'm going to wear. Or you know we worry about money, people, you know, we worry about our kids, we there's so many things that get in the way of life and we start getting addicted to worrying about it.
Speaker 3:Yes, you know, and you know the patterns. One of the things that I noticed is I had a big issue with people pleasing and I realized how it was affecting my relationships whether it was coworkers, family, you know where I felt like I needed to get other people's approval. So I was addicted to people pleasing and then it was. It was a habit that I had to learn how to break free from, because it started to deplete me. I felt like I was losing myself, I was exhausted and it was all about just serving other people and I had to learn how to say what is it that I want and just started to focus more on my goals and the things that that build more self-care in my life and social media doesn't help.
Speaker 1:It's like how many likes did you get? Oh, my gosh, nobody liked my post. It must be a bad one. Let me delete it, Cause I mean that's the dog or the baby yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, we've been put in this world where we're in the spotlight all the time, and how do we keep that image or that going? It's exhausting to worry about that. And in my case, you know, I've been through like many, many, many hardships whether it was, you know, my first marriage, or losing everything in 2008 and all these things and so I had to that's the other that I really loved reinvent, you know, because you can't be afraid to reinvent yourself. You don't have to stay in that same boat, in that same place. It's okay to change. And you talk about getting out of situations, being able to see the manipulation. You know that's the thing when you're manipulated, you don't see it. I mean, that's the whole point of the word, right? So you get away from it.
Speaker 1:Then you're like wow, how was I ever in that before? And someone will think they'll look at you. You're oh, you are one strong, badass woman. You know you're like, think of that. But we all have our own deep things, don't we? And people don't realize that we've fallen or we've come short of things or have been in angry moments or been manipulated. And people think you have it all going on and it's not always, you know, the case that it's okay to say you're not okay and what you can do to get out of that right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think we are so committed to a certain identity.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you can be in the flow of life and you're like this is who I am, this is what I do.
Speaker 3:But to reinvent yourself is to walk away from whatever you thought you were, that identity that's holding you back. So just being able to recognize wait a minute, this is keeping me in a place I don't want to be anymore. It's time for me to re-identify who I am and where I want to go and who I want to be. And so it's all about having a vision for yourself and for your future. And so it's all about having a vision for yourself and for your future. And it really does take you stepping back, because sometimes we're too close to everything and you got to turn down the noise, you got to cut off the social media sometimes. Sometimes you, you know some people in your life you may like, if people are dealing with manipulation, or maybe just people who are pulling onto them or draining them of energy, just make some space in order to see OK, this is who I am and this is where I want to go in my life in order to reinvent yourself.
Speaker 1:And we've been prepped and taught. Don't you think whether it's your job, where you're working, especially a long time ago, where you're?
Speaker 5:working, especially a long time ago.
Speaker 1:Now people quit because it's sunny outside. But there was a time where people really stayed with companies and were really dedicated to one another and you felt obligated to stay, to get that watch at 10 years, to get that you know, to be in that place. And then the same with a marriage man. You get married. It's like I mean, those are some heavy words, death do you part. I always tease and say there should be five-year contracts because no one would be upset. You're like, oh, we're coming up to the end, I'm done. Or oh, I want to renew. You know so we just had our five-year and I renewed so.
Speaker 1:But we grow up in these times, especially our you know age, that you have to stay committed and you have to stay where you're at and you have to stay in that marriage or stay in that job. And it causes so much damage internally and physically and mentally, depending on the relationship that you're in. And how do you see that? And how do you? I know you said to get quiet. Sometimes that's hard when there's so much bad noise going around you. But how do you, how do you see that and make that choice to, to, to walk away?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:I always tell people yeah.
Speaker 3:I always tell people that it's not about how many years you've been in a marriage, it's about the quality of the marriage, because I've always been the kind of person where it was like, if this is toxic or if this is not work, listen, it's okay to get a divorce if that's just not for you, if it's unhealthy and people endure some very toxic situations and it's like you don't have to go through that just to stay in a relationship.
Speaker 1:But it's hard when you're manipulated or it's hard when there's money or things that you have or children to be able to make that choice. I think it's probably super important. You've got to find somebody you can trust and have support, somebody that you can talk to, that's really has you know, your back, your care. What can someone get by reading your book? And it has so many great things in there so many things that resonated with me, you know. Tell us what they can get. Give us some relationship tips.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, I want to say one of the techniques in the book, the love habit, because it's a daily self-care practice to a happier life and healthier relationships. But one of the things is the acronym love L-O-V-E. L for listen, learn, learn to listen to your body, learn to pay attention to your mind, body and spirit, learn about you. And O is to optimize begin to create some type of plan that optimize what helps you to have a better mental health in your life, whether it's meditation or exercise or whatever that's best for you. And so you could find that out in the book.
Speaker 3:And then V is to validate yourself, because we often look for validation out of other people, just like we talked about with social media, looking for the likes what do you think about me? But learn how to validate yourself based on your own personal goals. And then E is all about experiencing the life that you desire by just embracing each and every moment of now, where you are presently, instead of thinking so far in advance. But practice breathing in and breathing out and taking in where you are now.
Speaker 1:It's such great advice. We're definitely sisters from another mystery because my when I was speaking, in that the word chocolate and all the letters had a word of what it meant you know, you were chocolate and then I also did love. When I did the golf and the I let people pick their own letters. That was what I did for that. But love is a chunk, so it's like we're so meant to be friends.
Speaker 1:So I look forward to so much more. So the love habit, it is a daily self-care practices for happier life and healthier relationships, and it really I want to say it is truly possible, no matter how bad your life can, is truly possible, no matter how bad your life can get, that it is truly possible to have true love if you don't allow yourself to stay in a situation. Give yourself some time to breathe and you can really find it. And when it comes to even reinventing yourself that word I just love it, because when things go wrong, you do have the ability to reinvent your life. You don't have to stay where you're at and who you are, and you're a prime example of that as well reinventing and finding out that you're an author. You never thought that was possible, and not only one book, but nine bestsellings. So that's incredible. I know that we have your information on the screen so that people can be able to get in touch with you, find out more and tell them a little bit. So you wrote your books, but you also do speaking.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I am. I am also a speaker and I have a podcast as well, so I enjoy all of that and just working with other people who want to grow as a business owner and author, and how to turn your book into a business, because a lot of people think that it just ends with the book, but there's so much more and I'm so excited to learn more too.
Speaker 1:We've got a meeting set up, so see where that goes. So, rainy Howard, thank you so much for being on the show with us and enlightening us and helping us to think more about our relationship and walk away from toxic mess and know that we can reinvent ourselves, and you just need to have some love in your life.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. I enjoyed this Wonderful. Thank you so much. We're going to be back. We are going to meet the owner, one of the owners of Carbon, don Sorensen. Find out about this incredible place that we're at right now, carbon Membership Club, which is fine dining. There's so much to it. We're going to let him talk about it more. So we'll be back with more right, gordon? Well, as we've been talking about throughout the show, you know that we're at Carbon Carbon Membership Club.
Speaker 1:It is in the heart of Clayton, which is in Missouri, and this place is fabulous. We've been able to experience it ourselves and we even came in one night. We were out and said let's just stop in and get a drink set up at the bar, and it was cool. Yeah, I love it here, we love it. So it's a complete experience, experience. And now we're lucky enough to have two of the owners. Kelly chase isn't with us right now. He's in the picture, though, but we are going to talk to him, uh, personally. Uh, I think tomorrow we're going to meet with him, so, and I'm saying that and it's going to be on the show, so let's kind of scratch that part of the show.
Speaker 1:So we have gina gamlin uh gamlin. And then we have don sorenson, who we have known for quite some time. He actually was was one of the handsome men on our cover a few years ago, yeah, of our men's issues. So back at it again, but a different show we're going to clean that picture up.
Speaker 8:Good enough.
Speaker 1:Wasn't probably the most beautiful backdrop that we've got going on in here, but we're sitting in the cigar lounge. Is that what you'd call this, a cigar lounge? Yes, sure is?
Speaker 8:Gina looked at me lounge. Is that what you'd call this a cigar?
Speaker 1:lounge. Yes, it sure is. Gina looked at me like yeah, if you want to.
Speaker 7:What would you call it, Gina? I would call it the snack lounge. See, I said that too.
Speaker 2:I said, not only are there cigars in here, but there's nostalgic candy too, like from my day when I was a kid.
Speaker 3:I lost it when kid the bubble gum cigar.
Speaker 2:I was like that lasted me for an hour. I was like chomping on that so I can have a candy cigar while everyone else has the real one in here.
Speaker 1:Well, you can do just about anything at Carpet. So when you come in, there's a gorgeous bar. You've got the restaurant and dining kind of two different areas there. And then, of course, you come back here and there's a private cigar lounge that we're sitting in right now. Tell us a little bit about. Tell us about the room that we're sitting in right now, the experience that you have when you're in here. I see boxes on the wall, which tells me people have their own private cigar box. That's right.
Speaker 8:So the whole club is private, not just the cigar lounge that we're sitting in right now. But this is a place after dinner gets popular, Our members come in here and have the cigar of their own that they enjoy and of course you can see all the TV. So whenever the sport's on or anything like that, our members come and enjoy that.
Speaker 1:So okay, so we're sitting in the cigar lounge. It's absolutely gorgeous, love that. Whose idea was it to put the candy in that in here? Wow, just absolutely gorgeous, love that.
Speaker 8:Whose idea was it to put the candy in that in?
Speaker 2:here Gina's. Of course, All the good ideas are Gina's.
Speaker 1:So the three of you have known each other a long time. How did you come?
Speaker 8:together. So I've known Kelly since the day I moved here 16, 17 years ago. We met like that day I moved here and hit it off and became close buddies. And Gina, I think we met just maybe three or four years ago.
Speaker 1:Kelly introduced us and just started kind of thought about this idea to bring something that's private rather than just an open restaurant that you come in. Why did you choose to make a members-only club versus opening up a?
Speaker 8:restaurant. So this first, everyone needs to know that our dearest friend Kelly. This is his vision. It's been in his mind for a long time. All the elements are from Kelly, been improved on by Gina.
Speaker 1:Finishing touches.
Speaker 8:But this is all the elements of his live out every day in here.
Speaker 1:And he just he had this dream and said, hey, do you guys wanna to be part of this? And so the experience is a membership club, so when someone comes in here they can bring a guest with them, but you need to be with a member to be here. What kind of experience does that mean by being a member? What does that? I see we have your beautiful newsletter that comes out that talks about Piano Night Wednesdays. You do a brunch on Sunday. We came for a special Valentine's night dinner.
Speaker 2:Master's tournament day is coming up the 11th, yeah, friday so I'm going to make a big. I'm going to be here for that, yeah.
Speaker 1:There's even now this one. I just want to make sure I understand the Holman Motors isn't exactly at this location, or?
Speaker 2:It is. It'll be held outside. It is at this location. So my understanding is you guys block the streets off when the cars come in.
Speaker 1:Okay, carbon, you actually get to block the street. So who's got the clout to block a street off?
Speaker 8:Speaking of a great experience we have Shane coming in here with a couple of our special it is happy hour.
Speaker 7:I'd like to add three words that Kelly brought this club together, and the three words were it's not for everyone.
Speaker 1:It's not for everyone. It's not for everyone, and that kind of helps to explain and lead us into the experience even more so. So, okay, is this the French?
Speaker 6:French 75.
Speaker 1:French 75. So I'm so excited to try this. So we put a question out on Facebook which I will ask you all as well If you were to walk into a swanky, elegant, sexy membership club like Carbon, what would you order to enjoy? Or maybe you would order it to impress. What would it be? I think you ordered it.
Speaker 7:My favorite is tequila with a tad touch of water.
Speaker 1:And is that what you have right there? It is, yeah, so you're going to be a little quiet now. By the end she's going to be talking. Cheers to you, cheers to the world of you guys.
Speaker 8:Oh, thank you. Cheers to Kelly.
Speaker 1:Now I have to tell you a little secret. You need to pick somebody's eyes, and when you say cheers, you've got to look in the eyes.
Speaker 8:Gordon in your eyes you can be a queen.
Speaker 1:If you don't, you'll have been seven years of bad sex. Oh my gosh, she did not just say that, it's true. I was told by a wise old person. It looks like we're having a good time, I am not taking it it does not mean you have to be with Gord, it just means you, you know you want to. You don't want to have bad sex, right? I just want to make sure I share that information. Okay, and you have to drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and something I'm going to ask Kelly when I see him but and when we put him on the segment, is that one thing I really love? What Kelly said was that, even though this is a private club, everyone's accepted, it doesn't matter if you're a club member. You can walk in here in your work boots if you have to and if you want to, and as long as you're not a what An asshole. Then you fit right in.
Speaker 1:You've got one simple rule you can't be an asshole.
Speaker 3:Be a good human, that's a, that's a, that's a really really good rule, so, and I that's a really really good rule.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, and I guess with the private too also, you have the ability to have that privacy that you want as well. You know that people aren't coming around you and you know sometimes you don't want to be bothered. When you're having a moment or some time, you want to be able to have that quiet or that private time with that person or yourself if you're by yourself. You know Kelly likes to say it- is like-minded people.
Speaker 8:That's what we want in here. There's no big interview process or anything like that. It is. We want like-minded people, whether they be business leaders, community leaders, religious leaders, uh, sports figures, uh. You just have to want to be with everybody and get along yeah, you can find out some of them.
Speaker 1:We need more of that in this world, don't we Just?
Speaker 2:people getting along.
Speaker 7:The perfect combination between privacy and exclusivity, and social.
Speaker 1:Between those being part of the club and that how long has it been now that it's been here?
Speaker 8:Two years in.
Speaker 1:Two years, I couldn't remember what it was Wow, already two years. That's quite incredible. How long was the process getting in and getting it finished? A long time, a long time.
Speaker 8:I wish I remember. I don't even remember. I remember talking to Kelly about it over the years. I don't remember when it was when he said hey, you guys want to join me, but it's been a long time in coming. This has been in his mind for a long time. And then construction, of course, takes way too long.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always does it never goes on time Always does what has been enlightening or, I don't know, exciting. How do you feel being an owner of something so exclusive and unique to the city, to the state?
Speaker 7:I love it. I love the combination of networking. And you know, when someone comes in they think that they don't know everyone else, but soon after that you see them high-fiving and hugging and pretty much everybody. It's just a family and everyone knows everyone's name and it's just like a big family reunion. Yeah, it's really awesome.
Speaker 1:What made you bring in the events? Where was that? Is that Kelly idea? Is that good marketing to bring in this social events, which that does bring people together?
Speaker 7:Well, I think everyone likes a party right, but it was a difficult find for us to be to stay exclusive but yet to bring others in. So it's a really fine line there, and we find that the members want non-members in and we need to let other people know that there are opportunities to join our club and see how cool it is. So we just thought every once in a while we'd let everyone in, although it's not for everyone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love how you keep saying, oh, it's not for everyone, the call to the day, I think.
Speaker 7:Kelly does have a shirt that says that I'm not for everyone, I'm not for everyone, and he wears that in the hospital room.
Speaker 1:Way to lighten up everything, right? So let me make sure I understand. So some of these social events that you have, they are open, some of them, to be able to have outside individuals come and experience the club.
Speaker 7:A member invites you. Yes.
Speaker 1:A member invites you. Okay, just want to make sure we're clear on that. We don't want to think that just because you're having the Carbon Car Show, that means that.
Speaker 8:Well, of course that's outside. We're closed down this whole street for it. People do wander around and on that one it's not as exclusive. People can come through and see all the beautiful cars.
Speaker 1:What's been one of your most memorable experiences or memory of the restaurant since it's been open? I'm sure there's several, but what's something that really stands out to you? That's happened here.
Speaker 8:That's a great question, I think, but it's an impossible for me. I think every day I come in here I'm just blessed, as Gina said, I take incredible pride in being involved in this with Kelly and Gina and what we've created, and I love every day Sorry, it's a cop-out answer. I love every day coming in here and seeing the smiles on our members' face and their deaths and enjoying great, unbelievable service. Our service people are really dedicated and love the place and love our members. Gianni, you're going to enjoy some great food here in a moment Just coming up yep, michelin three-star chef.
Speaker 8:Our food here is amazing and the drinks are incredible. All of our people are passionate. Shane, who you know you come in here more than twice and you're his best friend.
Speaker 2:It's remarkable, that is so true. It's like we've been in here a few times since we became members and it's just that feeling of like, when you walk in, you're just accepted immediately and you're felt like family.
Speaker 1:It feels like family. What is your favorite dish? Do you have a favorite go-to in your hair that you love? My favorite is the pea soup. Really, yes, never would have thought that would have. I didn't see that coming at all, gina.
Speaker 6:That's a three-year-old question. I don't even know we had pea soup.
Speaker 7:No, Gianni's amazing. So whether it's on the menu or off the menu, he's always striving to make you happy. It's almost like he can read your face and he just wants to serve you.
Speaker 1:Let me say the cheesecake that I had the night Valentine night was.
Speaker 5:It was the heart I was making funny faces, I'm sure Cut in half heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, each person got a side my steak was sensational as well.
Speaker 8:What I really wish everyone would appreciate is everything is made here, the croutons are made here, everything is made by Johnny and our great chefs here.
Speaker 1:Do you have a favorite?
Speaker 8:I'm going to not answer your question again.
Speaker 1:He's doing it again.
Speaker 8:I love everything. Look at me. It looks like I do too.
Speaker 6:I love everybody, everybody's my friend.
Speaker 1:Everybody's my friend. Wow, I love everyone. I'm everybody. Everybody's my friend Wow, I love everyone.
Speaker 7:I'm sorry she calls me out on it.
Speaker 1:Look at him she can do that when she looks like that. What did a kid?
Speaker 2:say to Tommy boy hey, Gilligan, did you eat the skipper?
Speaker 1:Are you saying that Tommy ate the skipper? No, I am, I'm just saying.
Speaker 6:Yeah, look in the mirror there, pal.
Speaker 8:I know I'm just saying Look in the mirror there pal, I know.
Speaker 1:He's going to go home and run now.
Speaker 2:That's one of their store codes.
Speaker 1:So if someone is interested and they want to be part of Carbon maybe they want to just see what it is Do they call, do they ask for a tour? Sit down and talk with somebody. How does the process work if you're interested in being part of Carbon?
Speaker 7:On our website there is a interested in becoming a member and there's a little form that you can fill out and we'll review Just a little form. See if you're a good fit yeah, because not everyone is.
Speaker 1:Oh, I want to get in. It's going to make me try harder, right.
Speaker 8:Yeah, to any member or any of us. Yeah, and we'll coordinate an opportunity for you to come and see it and experience it and see if it's for you.
Speaker 1:Don't be an asshole and you can be here.
Speaker 2:Just be good company. I'm ready to try some food. Are you ready? I'm ready to try some food.
Speaker 1:All right. So, gina Gamblin, of course, don Sorensen, kelly Chase we wish was sitting here with us, but we'll add a little Kelly to the show. Don't worry, you can see his picture. I'm sure there's probably not too many people that don't know who. Kelly Chase is right and he is the vision. He's the man behind this and this has been a dream of his for a long time. So we are glad to have it as our scenery of the show, to be able to be here, talk about it and to experience it for ourselves. So, carbon Membership Club again in Clayton, check it out. You'll be able to check that out for yourself. So, gina Don, thank you so much for sitting down, having a little cocktail with us, and now we're going to come back. I said how do I say your name, gian? Gian, you don't add the whole N to it. Canucci yeah, he's from northern Italy and so is my family, so we had a little bit to talk about before the show started.
Speaker 8:So thank you so much for spending some time with us, and we absolutely love it and we're grateful for you guys in our community and we're grateful for you guys being members.
Speaker 1:Oh, we love it. We are grateful as well.
Speaker 8:You are great leaders in our community and we love how you promote.
Speaker 1:Thank you, clip that, clip that and just put the whole entire show of Don said All right, and then we'll clip and put what Gina and Kelly say. It's not for everyone. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:All right, we'll be right back with Gian Gian Michelin star chef Kelly Chase built his reputation on resilience and as a fan favorite with St Louis Blues, he was known for his grit, determination and unwavering loyalty to his teammates Off the ice. That same toughness was fueled with success as a businessman, including his exclusive members-only club that has thrived for the past two years. But today Kelly is facing a very different kind of fight, one that demands every ounce of strength he has. I'm sitting here with him in the hospital and you know, kelly, taking on cancer with the same tenacity that you did on the ice. I want to ask you today it's like how's everything going with you so far with your fight with this cancer?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's funny because, just like every fight, it's a different kind of, a different strength and a different kind of a battle. But I'm doing relatively well. I got hit a little bit with the graphose disease that comes after a bone marrow match and it slowed me down. It was something that wasn't really in the script for me. It slowed me down, it was something that wasn't really in the script for me. But again, like you said, you have to go in with a mentality that you're going to get better. The process is long and it's hard for some people to understand it, and me included, because I want things done now, like I'm a let's get going kind of guy. But I've been very fortunate to be at Siteman's, where I think they have the best doctors in the world, and feel like, hey, it's just part of another little journey I'm going to have to take before I get back on path.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, through all the challenges, one thing that's remained with you and it's been a is your passion for building something special, and we're talking about Carbon Members Club. That's something that's special and dear to your heart. What inspired you to open Carbon Members Club?
Speaker 4:A couple of different things. I work for Discovery Land Company, which is a very exclusive club and company, which is a very exclusive club and company, and the one thing that I liked the most about it was how casual it was and how sincere people were and you didn't have to put on a $1,000 suit to fit in and you didn't have to, you know, go through nine interviews of people that are judging you on your character. Of that 20-minute interview, it was more of I wanted to be, I wanted to have a club where I thought anybody should fit in and have the opportunity to be in that exclusive club and also, you know, to coincide with what Gina was building with XO. I thought it would be a great playoff of one another. Now they're not matched together in the same proximity and location right now, but in the future I would expect that we could do that, and the reason that's important is is because I want like-minded people to be together.
Speaker 4:In St Louis, you notice a big drop off in a lot of areas where there's sort of a certain area where you wouldn't oh, I would never live over there, and then right next to it oh, that's a great area. And to me, in order to have any continuity, you have to have people that are like-minded thinkers, but also people that care. Also people that care. So I thought, well, what a great place I've seen at Discovery, at Gaza Ranch in particular, where I work Massive deals, business deals, put together over a beer napkin. And I just thought if you could get young people, young entrepreneurs, older people that maybe have gone through their vision already and would like to help a young person, and they're sitting there having a drink and the next thing, something good comes out of it for the city, then we've just made it a better place. So St Louis having a I don't know massive airport that doesn't get used enough there has to be solutions for stuff like that.
Speaker 4:And who are the young people that are going to solve those issues? And who are the people that are going to get down and talk about it and then do something about it and be active, rather than because it's very easy to say you know well that problem will go away or they need to do something about it. Well, who is they? If you live in this city and you care about this city, then maybe you should have a hand in rebuilding some of the things that are slipping away, and so for me, that's kind of how I envisioned it just people coming in and then also not having an expensive price tag.
Speaker 4:That's kind of how I envisioned it just people coming in and then also not having an expensive price tag. You know our cost, plus 20% on our food. Yeah, we have an initiation fee, but if you come in and use the place, it's very likely that you're going to run into good people and you're going to like the atmosphere. You're certainly going to like the atmosphere, but you're going to like the pricing on it and go. You know what? Let's just go to the club, it's easy.
Speaker 2:You're right and you know what. Me and Kelly, we just became members, yeah, and we absolutely love it and it's so true. We've been there three times since we've become members and each time I've met someone new. But and each time I met someone, someone new but it's just like the way they make everybody makes you feel, including including your clients that are already members they just make you feel like family and you feel to associate and learn things from older guys in business and make deals. Did any of that ever play a part in your life as a young hockey player, where you had someone you looked up to that was a mentor or someone that you could be around? That kind of made you feel the way you're trying to make these young entrepreneurs feel by being able to be around people that can be mentors to them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, in 94, during the lockout, and I was going through the process of getting my green card and trying to become naturalized as a citizen and I was able to work, you know, go do stuff with Anheuser-Busch and I was able to go with Steve Merritt's group and Merritt's Travel and learn a little bit about them. And then I got into the real estate business as just kind of an internship with Sansone Group. So that summer was filled with me learning different trades, knowing in the back of my head like I'm not a very good player, I'm not going to play forever and I want to learn about some things that in business that could help me. When I was done playing Selfishly at the time I was learning from me or I thought I was Unselfishly. Now, looking back, I think I've been able to transition fairly well into the community after playing because I understood more about St Louis. I understood more about why we should drink Anheuser-Busch beer here, why we should use our local people that have built businesses here, because they're responsible for the growth of the city and the community.
Speaker 4:I held a whole awareness around here of it. So for me that's sort of where it started. And then when I hear good ideas. Look, I'd never been in a nail salon in my life and Gina talked me into coming in and it was a charity event. It was strictly a charity event and talked me into coming and seeing this place of hers and I didn't have to be in it very long to understand the business part of it like how successful XO could be but it was the team that was built around it and it was the people that she had assembled to be a part of the group that made me go wow, this is an impressive place. So getting involved in that, while I had this idea of carbon in my head for the last three years, I think helped propel me into diving deeper into a business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know what you said earlier too. It's like XO and Carbon. They're kind of a little mirror image of themselves together, because when you go in they're both got this beautiful which. I don't know who designed both of them, but they both got this I had some help.
Speaker 2:But they're just beautiful, they're exquisite somehow, I think. But they're just beautiful, they're exquisite, they're luxury, and it's hard to combine luxury and and inviting at the same time sometimes, because some people see something that's so luxurious and they don't feel like it's going to be inviting. But that's not the case either with carbon or XO, because me and Kelly got the privilege of going to XO for the what was it? The Japanese new year, lunar new year.
Speaker 7:It was great you know, and it just XO for the. What was it? The Japanese New Year.
Speaker 2:Lunar New Year. Lunar New Year it was great, you know, and it's just the vibe and the atmosphere. It's so welcoming and you look around and you see all kinds of people, you know, just enjoying it and having a good time. It's got an amazing med spa. We got to tour the med spa, which is amazing, but we also got to eat the food and have some great drinks. What was the one that I had, with all the bubbles coming out of it? Bubbling Berry, bubbling Berry.
Speaker 2:I saw somebody else have it and I'm a diva, so, kelly says she doesn't need a girlfriend, because she's got me, because I go shopping with her. I drink girly drinks, and so we enjoyed it. We really had a good time and you could actually take both of them, put them together, close together, and you would think they kind of go together. You know, because just the way you guys designed it is so classy.
Speaker 7:They do One big difference XO is for everyone and carbon is not for everyone.
Speaker 2:There you go. I always love it when you say that it's not for everyone. It's not for everyone, I'm not for everyone. I'm not for everyone. That's my line. I'm not for everyone.
Speaker 4:But you know what I think and Gina, you can talk about this too who we think is world class. So not only do you have a club against the club, one's a public and one's a private, but we also wanted to do the job of making sure that people understood it was their club, and once we got to a certain head count, we didn't decide who the members were anymore. The members decided who the members were. So that way, if you wanted someone in Joe Blow to be in the club, okay, joe knows the rules from you. The responsibility is now on you to principle him, and that way we can kind of just step back and learn Now.
Speaker 4:We may have made a mistake, I think, early on, maybe cutting the membership off a little shorter than we should have, but we wanted to make sure that we were able to deliver service Right, and I think we've been able to do that now and prove to ourselves that that's the case. So we would love to see as many members as we could in there and create that you talked about a vibe earlier. Create that vibe, that feeling of hey, it's a piano night, it's a big night, it's going to be fun.
Speaker 2:I can't wait. We haven't been able to make piano night yet, but I want to do that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but again, it's more a feel for creating that vibe, and that vibe might start at 10 o'clock on Thursday night, it might start at 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon you never know when the vibe's coming. And that's what we're trying to create. We just want people to come in there and enjoy themselves and have a good time and then bring their friends in there and their friends join. So that's sort of the whole premise of it.
Speaker 2:Give me. This is for both of you. Give me, we'll start with Gina. Gina, give me a memorable moment or story from the club that stands out to you.
Speaker 7:Well, I've had many memorable events there, but I think one was maybe a DJ for Melanie's birthday and we had the DJ play until 4 am. That was a party. So you just can't do that just anywhere.
Speaker 4:Definitely the Super Bowl. Went in there just a few guys wanted to watch the game and it ended up being a great Super Bowl and just hanging around in there and everybody getting that feel in the cigar room like this is quite a place to watch the game. That and the Four Nations, the hockey, four Nations Cup.
Speaker 2:I was there for the last championship. That was fun.
Speaker 4:Who knew that that game of all things was going to draw an audience that hockey had never seen before? So I think just finishing up the evening of the Super Bowl was probably the best.
Speaker 2:Gina, this question is for you. If there's one thing you want people to know about Kelly, not just as a businessman, but as a person, what would it be?
Speaker 4:Oh boy, don't tell what an ass I am.
Speaker 7:Well, I think anyone that knows Kelly knows that his honesty is one of the best things about him, and he knows who's great for the club and who's not, and he's not afraid to say you're a great fit and maybe you're not. So I think that's what keeps our club great.
Speaker 2:Chaser, this one's for you. Just our last question of the day. Okay, what message would you share with others who might be facing their own difficult fights right now?
Speaker 4:just it's hard for me to say right now because I've been guilty of it, but just don't get married to the bed, get up and get active.
Speaker 4:As much as you can be active, be active and then just have a sense of you have to have a sense of grit or determination or whatever.
Speaker 4:It's hard for a lot of people because they're by themselves and they don't have a lot of guests or visitors, but I think you know you have to believe in that you're going to get better and have that positive energy around you and then get up every day and try and do a little bit of something just to make sure that you're keeping that edge, because you're going to have down times emotionally, and I try to have them when no one's around, because sometimes it's harder to show leadership if you're emotional and it's okay to be emotional once in a while. My emotion used to be anger at all costs. There was no other. I didn't have any other emotion. And now I would say controlling your emotions, just putting them in the right, right box and letting them come out at the right time, is the most important thing for anybody that has to go through it. Try and keep those emotions in check and and when you're going to have those bad days, try and have them by yourself well, brother, I just.
Speaker 2:you are an inspiration to all of us and I appreciate both of your time today, and we can't wait for those of you who want to be a member at Carbon. What do they got to do?
Speaker 4:Gina, just come on in Get by this one, Honestly just come in.
Speaker 4:Come in and just check it out and say, hey, I come into, I wanted to take a look at your place. I heard about it. I want to come in and take a look at it. You know, we've asked. In the history of it, I think we've only asked one person to leave, and a couple have moved out of town and said that it didn't work for them because they were moving, and one close friend of mine, which I completely understand. So, um, if you're asking me, just come in and check it out. You'll be amazed, and you know we're 30 or 40 um members away from being in a spot where that vibe's there every night yeah so come on in and be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, thank you both so much, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We're like at the coolest part right now. So a carbon, of course. Here in Clayton Missouri we have Shane Debke. He is the mixologist here at Carbon and he's the one who brought in so a lot of people have commented that they love the French 75, which I had never heard of until asking people about their drinks.
Speaker 6:Tell us what's in this. So, french 75 is going to be a tequila gin or your choice of gin, lemon juice and a sparkling wine.
Speaker 1:You know what's funny? I'm not a gin person, did you?
Speaker 2:taste it. I'm not a gin person at all.
Speaker 1:It is fabulous, it's delicious, isn't it great? Yeah, yes, it's so good. Make sure you don't have grapefruit on your face. It's fabulous. Okay. So what else? Gordon has the old-fashioned yes. Is that smoked or regular?
Speaker 6:So that is just regular, Okay, Yep, regular bourbon. I use an Angel's Envy a couple dashes of bitters and then a demi syrup Super smooth.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what else have you brought here? And, of course, the chef is behind us right now. You can see a few dishes which he's going to talk about. He's back there preparing even more, so we thought we'd find out about the cocktails.
Speaker 6:So yeah, so a couple cocktails I made. This is actually on our cocktail list it's a Red Arrow, it's going to be a tequila, egg whites, raspberry and then a blood orange syrup.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:So, with some raspberries to top it off.
Speaker 1:No absolutely.
Speaker 6:And then we also have a martini. In this martini it's going to be a Boboas, obviously in the bottom, and then there's also going to be a vanilla house-made syrup.
Speaker 1:What type of martini is that?
Speaker 6:So it's going to be vodka, it's got vodka, and then it's going to have a vanilla syrup along with coconut water.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, my daughter Casey would love that.
Speaker 6:So yeah, definitely sweet, but very smooth as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she likes the princess drink Indeed.
Speaker 6:And then this is actually a spin-off of the old-fashioned, but it's going to be a house infused uh, foie gras fat, uh, bourbon. So we let it sit in there for a couple of months, be able to infuse with the different juices, with the fat of the foie gras, um, and then obviously strained, and then we're going to make this one.
Speaker 1:Well, that could be our new word of the day. What is foie gras? Uh, duck, duck, foie gras. We're going to be very, in very good mood here shortly. Absolutely keep adding all this. Really the greatest, the greatest personality.
Speaker 6:And then this one actually will be come with a mousse bouche as well.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, Love it look at that all right, give me my phone over there.
Speaker 1:We gotta go, we gotta get it well, I, I think we'll, we'll get this on film. You got your, got your camera. Okay, let's, you're gonna y'all. Let you open it as soon as he says he's ready.
Speaker 2:Okay very cool absolutely beautiful, perfect.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much appreciate it.
Speaker 6:Learn a little bit about the drinks.
Speaker 1:Nice meeting you as well appreciate your time. Enjoy the rest, shane debke, mixologist, and look at all this oh my goodness, wow.
Speaker 9:Eeny, meeny, miny moe, and you brought the actual animal so, yeah, I brought this one for the reason we are working really well with our supplier. You know this concept behind the club member, private and having something a little bit unique Of course run around the food, the concept. So when we were talking in the beginning which kind of concept we're going to bring, I said let's bring Italian steakhouse. It's always been a kind of thought since the beginning came in St Louis, because St Louis is really big, all Midwest is really big in meat, they love meat, there is a lot of meat lovers and steakhouse is always being popular.
Speaker 9:But we are in St Louis, there is a huge Italian heritage. I'm Italian. So I say let's fusion these two concepts, american and Italian, and try to bring the best product with a elegant presentation, great flavor and, as much as we can, the right product. So I started to looking around with different friends chefs, which was the, with different friends chefs, which was the great quality of meat. Finally, I found that this product comes from a root family farm here in Missouri. It's a small farm oh wow, I love that Family production where they started to produce, you know, the same corn, veggie, all this kind of stuff, and then at some point they started to grow also animal, but of course feed the animal with their product so they can control all the chain of the production and you can see from the meat. For this reason I brought it the marbling we have here.
Speaker 1:Say one thing wrong the marbling here is incredible.
Speaker 9:It looks like a kind of uh vagu beef no, from japan, but is a local product. So we're talking about angus cured and growing in the right way, no organic, biodynamic. So I'm I follow uh really well this kind of product and the point to present it is because we age. I receive the product is 45 days age already after it's been killed and I keep other between 25 to 60 days in my dry age cooler 60 days in my dry age, cooler. So of course we reduce the quantity of water inside in the product, we concentrate the flavor and for this way there is this kind of oxidation of the product all the way around. And then we refill and we have a beautiful tender product.
Speaker 9:So, sincerely, I always believe if you have a great product, you don't need to make other sauces and stuff like this. I combine with some Bordelaise sauce and some Holland sauce, but the main product has to be the meat. The main product has to be the meat. The main ingredient has to be the meat. So I don't like to cover of sauce, I don't like to put other product.
Speaker 1:I don't like that either.
Speaker 9:Yeah, because you need to taste the product like it is. I remember when I was 19 years old, I started to do this job after the Navy and I was working with a famous chef in Italy and any time we receive a piece of meat he was asking me Syred, don't put anything? I said what do you mean? No butter, no oil, no zero, because the meat needed to taste and give you the flavor it has. And so slowly I started to understand what was his idea. You know I say can you taste the grass? You can you taste this, can you taste that? You know you started to discover a different world. You know, anytime I do here or where I was before, the guys the same look me like I used to look him. You know. They say are you crazy? Why I don't put a little bit of butter, herbs? You know I give flavor, no garlic. I say no because you need to understand the flavor of the meat. Then of course, you can add whatever you like, you know. But anyway, this is uh so?
Speaker 1:so what is this plate right here? So?
Speaker 9:a wellington is is one of the most popular old dishes. Now we're talking about beef filet. Wellington is almost 100 years old and of course many people like to go back in this kind of historical plate. Here we brought the lamb Wellington. So same procedure of the beef Wellington. We use lamb from Australia. I really like the product because, different than the Scottish or the American, one has a nice sight but still have this background of a little bit wild flavor not too much, so it's not absolutely strong, but as this kind of interesting flavor or lamb. So for this reason I I use Australian. It's wrapped with classic mushroom and herbs base and then wrapped in peffi pastry here.
Speaker 9:We present it with three-way cauliflower. So we have the green is roasted, the purple is just shaving and cured with olive oil and salt, a couple of asparagus and at the bottom we have this cauliflower puree from the yellow cauliflower. So heirloom cauliflower in three ways.
Speaker 1:Smells intoxicating. Last but not least we have this Like a little volcano.
Speaker 6:I love it, I do everything in-house.
Speaker 9:So I like to see the production from zero to the real product. That one gave me this passion, this love for this job. So we make the pasta in-house and I basically combine shrimps with the cacio e pepe, the classic recipe from Rome, a really intense flavor of ground pepper, a touch of sage and of course I combine it with a little bit of shrimp sauce to give a little bit more shrimp note inside.
Speaker 1:Everything is a work of art. That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 2:The presentation is off the charts.
Speaker 9:I mean, yeah, that that is uh the the full, the full point here. No, I remember, uh, travel around the world, uh, go to michelin star restaurant in france, in italy, in england, here in the United States. So we need to stay on the par. We need to try to give them the same feeling, also if they are home, also if, in the end of the day, they don't like too much this fancy stuff many of them they like more easy stuff, but really tasteful, really good. So for this reason, for me it's really important the quality of the product as a base and work with the right ingredients.
Speaker 1:Sure right and I think that was one of our questions that we had. What's one ingredient you consider sacred and you will never compromise on?
Speaker 9:I grew up in Italy, my family from south of Italy. I was born and raised in north of Italy. We are really big in using the herbs, so if you travel around the world you can have a different influences. But in Italy, wherever you go, you have this smell of rosemary, bay leaf, sage, and for me that's really important. I season my meat with herb salt. I have some herbs butter in the way that everything reminds me of my house. Everything reminds me of this smell. This perfume reminds me of this one. I used to live in Capri, in Capri Island. I was a chef in a beautiful hotel over there and it's beautiful. Wherever you walk there is this bush of rosemary. You smell the rosemary all over the rosemary.
Speaker 9:I love the smell of rosemary so for this way, for me that is a product, one of the product for me so what does it mean?
Speaker 1:I mean I know most people a Michelin star chef. That's quite a title to have what dish or what brought you to that level?
Speaker 9:so again, what dish or what brought you to that level? So again, when I was with this famous chef, I was telling you before you know, you are 19 years old, you just I was finished the school, I joined to the Navy. My idea was to travel around the world and you know, at that age you want to destroy the world. You think you can do whatever. You do any mistake, people forgive you, and you keep going. I was trying to look for the right direction. I was looking for a mentor to give me the right direction, and this guy helped me a lot. But at some point I had to go with my will. He, just after three years with him, he said now it's time you walk with your legs. I said okay, so what do I have to do? So luckily, I had this opportunity to work with Lydia Bastianich in New York City and there I discovered no Michelin star but more the luxury style, this point to work for celebrity people, high level, high speed in a luxury city, and I opened my mind. So I said this is what I want to do Discovery three Michelin star chefs. Learn from them, started to grow with them, work with them and at some point it become automatic, bring you in a kind of a way where you cannot get out. You just need to keep going, because or you give up completely or just you need to keep going, because or you give up completely or just you need to keep going. And that one brought me there. So, after Lidia Bastianich, I ran the Grand Hotel Quisisana in Capri, where all around me was only celebrity people, and then from there I moved to London, uk, with Four Seasons and then the Daniele Hotel in Venice. I had the opportunity to work for the most important people in the world and then at some point this one you need to continue to do it. Be creative, understand what you really want to put on the table. Everything comes by itself. Everything comes by itself. Everything comes by itself.
Speaker 9:So when, two years ago, I decided to move to St Moritz in Switzerland, I had this opportunity to run this beautiful hotel in the middle of the mountain, 2000 meters above the sea, the Kempinski Hotel. I was running four different cuisines we had the Jewish cuisine, we have French cuisine, we have Italian restaurant and we have also the gourmet restaurant. No easy, because of course I'm one person executive chef, run everything, control the cost, control the labor, control the recipe ingredients supplier. You need to surround yourself with the right people and I had sous chef for each kitchen and, of course, together they put on the table what was their idea some adjustment. They said this is the right direction for the Italian restaurant, this is the right direction for the French restaurant, this is the right direction for the gourmet restaurant and the gourmet restaurant.
Speaker 9:Finally, after one year, we received the Michelin star. That was. We knew it was the right direction, we knew it was coming. You know, of course I didn't imagine so quick, but you know it's a great celebration for me, of course, as executive chef, but for all the team, for the hotel, for you know the energy, the power we put inside in this job, because sometimes we see the food we are really good to criticize but we don't believe or we don't understand what is behind. You know timing, labor hours.
Speaker 5:No, we don't count.
Speaker 9:We don't count this one.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 9:So for this reason, I believe who want to start to do this job need just to have a lot of patience, understand the direction and keep going, Just keep going, Straight. No.
Speaker 1:Keep going from Italy, switzerland to St Louis. Carbon must be amazing if you're here in St Louis instead of Switzerland or Italy, right Another reason to come to Carbon. Exactly to experience the exquisite food that you prepare here. It's amazing. So we thank you so much for taking time to show us your work of art and you're going to have to experience it for yourself. It's quite amazing.
Speaker 3:Thank you for sharing your time with us, Janet Gianna.
Speaker 1:Colucci, michelin star chef right here, an elegant, swanky, lovely, sexy, beautiful, incredible experience here at Carbon Membership Club. We appreciate your time so much, thank you.
Speaker 9:Thank you for sharing. Thank you.
Speaker 1:The smell is intoxicating.
Speaker 4:Stick my face in it.
Speaker 1:All right, we will. We'll be back. Of course we're going to hear a little bit of Soul Strings and then, of course, you'll be able to see all of that on In your City Show. I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 2:Now tell me, this is Pat's book 13 Notes to Life. Now, when I saw the title, it was intriguing.
Speaker 5:I'm going to let you tell me what the title means and how it came about. Well, a good friend of mine, bill Waterhouse, owned a bar in Dogtown called the Waterhouse and his dad's name was Marion, just like John Wayne, and he was an old electrician and he used to come. He's a really good guy, but very pensive guy. You know. You'd think, yeah, just some old union electric. The guy ran deep, you know, and he was sitting there one time at the bar and I sat down, mr Waterhouse, I was actually going to school across the street here at the time. So what's up? He said, you know, I was just sitting here thinking, if you go octave to octave, because he played little keyboards, there's 13 notes in all if you count both octaves.
Speaker 5:And from those 13 notes every song in history has been written, from Bach to the Beatles, and it's all different. And how do people do that? I remember sitting there At first I got really emotional, like I'm doing now, but then I thought, oh yeah, a little music boy going to music college or went to music college. Yeah, I was already out of music college. I'd never thought of that. How absolutely mind-boggling that is.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. I didn't either, until I saw it.
Speaker 5:Just that stretch of notes every song and people are still writing them and I credited him with that in the book because Billy Waterhouse has passed away and his wife one time got aggravated at me for using it. She said nobody even knows. I said, marie, you have to read the whole book. And when she read the book in the front, I do give Mr Waterhouse credit for it because he was a neat guy.
Speaker 2:So she was okay with it.
Speaker 5:Yes, she said I'm sorry, I didn't say that.
Speaker 1:What an incredible happy hour, I should say, that we've had here at the Carbon Membership Club.
Speaker 2:Food, drinks, incredible guests incredible venue.
Speaker 1:That's been delightful, so we thank you for having us here to be able to host In your City show. It's such an incredible place. Look at the food we're about to dig into it. So thank you for joining us. And what we usually say to end each show, I guess we should say ciao and and with just talking to the chef, gianni Colucci, and, but usually, cheers to you all. Thank you.
