Episode 170

Best Buns on the Beach - Surf City Smash

Published on: 4th June, 2025

In this episode of the Whiskey Whiskey Podcast, co-host Tyler Yaw and Chris Kellum sit down with George from Surf City Smash to discuss the journey of his restaurant, the importance of quality ingredients, community engagement, and the unique offerings on their menu. George shares insights into his transition from a financial consultant to a restaurant owner, the challenges faced in the food industry, and the personal touch that sets Surf City Smash apart. The conversation highlights the restaurant's commitment to quality, charity initiatives, and the vibrant community that supports them.


Transcript
Tyler:

Welcome back to the Whiskey Wisdom Podcast everybody.

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This is your co-host, Tyler Y'all.

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And today I am with Chris Lum

and our special guest today is

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it's George from Surf City Smash.

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Thank you so much for having

us in your restaurant today.

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We appreciate it.

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SSS: Oh, we appreciate you guys.

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Tyler: And so if you can't tell

the sign behind us, surf City

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Smash is where we're at today.

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This is the very first of three

podcasts that we're doing in Surf City.

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And special shout out to Brittany

Lineberry who's behind the camera today.

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To get all of this set up for us.

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This is starting to become an annual

thing and we hope to continue doing so.

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I hope you guys enjoy it.

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And without further ado,

what are we sipping on today?

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So

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Everyone: we got the chance to try this.

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Awesome mixers limited release.

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I've seen him around.

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Never got to try it yet.

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Have you tried it yet?

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I've tried it,

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SSS: yeah.

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I've had every release since 2013.

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Oh wow.

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That's awesome.

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Yeah.

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So yeah, this is the this

one was from last year.

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It's the 2014 24 20 year bourbon.

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Ooh.

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Yeah.

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Very good.

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Everyone: So let's check it out.

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Cheers.

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Cheers, fellas.

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Tyler: That is smooth.

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That's very good.

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SSS: So for some it's, it comes

in at 116 proof, which is a

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little much for some people.

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I was gonna say.

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Yeah, it's, it's definitely,

definitely hot, but it, it is good.

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Yeah.

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Well, so the on, on the Mixter side,

and one thing I do like about them

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is that they always put stuff in

the barrel at a higher entry point

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as far as their proof is concern.

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Lower entry point, I'm sorry.

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Everyone: Okay.

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SSS: Where other people water

their stuff down at the end, right.

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These guys enter their water

in in the beginning, which.

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Makes for a little bit bolder flavor,

makes for a little bit richer, but it

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also costs them a lot more to be able

to make their whiskey doing it that way.

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And I like to equate it to, like, if you

make a sun, a pot of Sunday sauce Yeah.

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And you add some water to those

tomatoes in the beginning,

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it's gonna get burned off.

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???: Mm-hmm.

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SSS: But then you could add

more at the end, but now you're

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gonna have a watery sauce.

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Yeah.

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Oh, I see.

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Yeah.

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So that's the way that I look at it.

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And that's the way people come down.

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They'll, they'll go in at a

higher, they can go up to 125

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proof as far as an entry point.

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Yeah.

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And then they water it down to

bring it down to that point.

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But these guys, they go in at 1

0 3 and build its way back up.

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So it's a more expensive way.

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It gets a lower yield, but it has

a one of my favorite products ever.

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Tyler: Yeah.

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That's awesome.

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Out of all of the ones that you've

tried, what was your favorite release?

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SSS: My favorite all time from them is

well, the, the:

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like one of the best bottles ever made.

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Yeah.

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But their most recent well,

it wasn't their most, their

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25 year, 2021 is incredible.

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Oh, wow.

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Their 2000 I believe it

was 14 or 17 25 year rye.

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Like they have That's right on my alley.

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Yeah.

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That's like, it's unbelievable.

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And they're both, you know, and

they're 116 proof, which you never see.

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Yeah.

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So they, they could have easily

watered them down to a hundred and

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gotten many more bottles out of it.

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Right.

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But it's, you know, what they

do over there is, is pretty

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Tyler: wild.

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And one 16, like, we just talked

about like that, that's a pretty

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hot whiskey, but it, it was

very smooth for being a one 16.

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Yeah.

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This, they did a good job.

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SSS: It's, you know, annually it's

one of the most anticipated releases.

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They actually don't release it every year.

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They, back in the day, they had

Willie, who was their master distiller.

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He, his name was Dr.

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No.

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Oh yeah.

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'cause he wouldn't release a

product if it wasn't Right.

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So every year they have, oh,

we're gonna release our 10 year.

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But a lot of years, their 10 year is

actually 11, 12, 13 year whiskey because

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it wasn't ready yet in their opinion.

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So they'd rather not produce a product

then produce a less than stellar product.

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Everyone: That's the, yeah.

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So do you take that

concept into business too?

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SSS: Well, I do it.

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I don't know if you notice, but

we, we cook anywhere from 60 to

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120 pounds of onions every morning.

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That's what you smell when you walked in.

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And I take that and I use the same type

of mentality where the only thing that's

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in there is, is onions, bacon, olive oil.

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There's no fillers.

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It's all reduced.

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Thy the, you know, the joke is it's bacon.

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Onions and thyme and my niece

says to me, you know, I never

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see you put time into it.

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But she thought it was

T-H-T-H-Y-M-E, but it's TIME.

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So we'll cook the thing.

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It says three hours, but we cook it for

10 hours, usually from seven or 8:00 AM

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to like five or 6:00 PM every single day.

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And now we actually have a guy

who cooks it overnight, so we

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have an overnight onion maker.

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Mm-hmm.

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That's amazing.

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To produce.

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Just 'cause we've been so busy, you know?

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Right.

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Thankfully.

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So that's a great problem to have then.

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Oh yeah, without a doubt.

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Everyone: Brittany was telling us

about this place one, unfortunately.

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'cause we don't live all the way up here.

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I don't visit it, but when she talks

about food, you know, it's good.

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Oh yeah.

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Yeah,

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SSS: we I, I always say trust

the people that are fittest

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because they're the stingiest

with what they put in their body.

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Everyone: That is true.

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Yeah, true.

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That is true.

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I already jumped ahead 'cause I smelled

food and I got really in interested.

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But tell us how we got where we're

at today because I know you're not

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from Wilmington Surf Surf City area.

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I, I'm not a

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SSS: surf city re you know, I, we

will be here four years this summer.

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I actually have a buddy Ben Fowler,

who is a whiskey friend mm-hmm.

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Through Instagram over the years and I

had never met him in person and he kept

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posting videos of his dad who lives on the

beach in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

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And I said, that's where I wanna live.

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And I took a look and went

over there and we almost bought

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a house in Atlantic Beach.

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And then someone said, you

know, check out Topal Island.

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You know, that they're, they're building

it up and expanding and, you know,

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it's becoming more for people that are

living here full time as, as opposed

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to having more renters in the area.

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And we both came down here

and we fell in love instantly.

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We we sold our house

before owning a house here.

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And I lived in Airbnbs all around town

trying to find the right house and

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right area that we wanted to live and.

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And now we're here full time and love it.

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Tyler: Yeah.

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Nice.

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Where'd you come from originally?

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SSS: I grew up, I lived in

Brooklyn, New York for 30 years.

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Okay.

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And then we lived in Westchester

County, which is about 15, 20 miles

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outside of Manhattan for about 16 years,

and then the last four years here.

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Everyone: Okay.

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That's awesome.

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Upstate.

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Yeah,

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SSS: upstate.

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Well my, are you from upstate?

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Everyone: It's the running joke.

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So

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Tyler: from like our second

podcast on, we talk about people

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being in upstate New York.

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Got it.

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Well, you know, and I joke

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SSS: about that also 'cause

my friends I grew up with.

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Thought I was upstate being 15 miles out.

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My, my wife is from Watertown, New

York, which is the most upstate

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you could pretty much be without

falling in the waters of Canada.

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Everyone: Right.

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Yeah.

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But that was the running joke.

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'cause he is similarly from like New

York, like I think he grew up in Long

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Island, like just over Long Island,

Brooklyn, moving towards the city.

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And I always ask that question.

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I'm like, what is your

definition of upstate?

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Yeah, upstate is far right.

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Tyler: When the temperature

drops 10 degrees, you're upstate.

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The way that his name was Thaddeus,

he was talking about it and he was

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like, if you go out far enough and you

see cows, you're just in Pennsylvania

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for as far as I'm concerned.

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I love that.

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So when you came down here,

did you have the dream to

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start surf City Smash, or I did

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SSS: not.

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Yeah.

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I was a, a full service financial

consultant for 30 years.

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I owned my own firm for 23 years.

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Okay.

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What happened was I was in a, a

a burger club that we raided and

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reviewed burgers all around Manhattan.

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Oh, wow.

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And Long Island.

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So when I was kind of the whiskey guy.

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Oh yeah.

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So I was more on the whiskey

end than the burger side.

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But I, I had made a burger at

home and I was doing a, you know.

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We were, I was on anything

from Fox Business to NBC news.

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Like my clients would call me and say,

Hey, why are you on my TV in a New

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York City cab right now eating burgers?

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And they were just so confused by it.

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It was kind of like my alter ego.

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I.

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Yeah, but they, they it, it

became a part of my life.

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So I had some followers on Instagram and

people would comment like, oh, I want to

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eat your burger that you make at home.

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So the burger that we serve here

is the one that I made at home.

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Oh, that's nice.

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And people would contact me and be

like, they would google search, like,

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'cause I would call it Cafe Tap a, you

know, as a joke after my last name.

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And people would do like Google searches

and try to find my house, which they're

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looking on the geotag, which was funny.

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So we basically started teaming up

with different breweries and charities.

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So this burger I would go out

and I would say, Hey, you want

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to, you wanna try this burger?

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It's a hundred bucks for a ticket.

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You get unlimited burgers,

unlimited drinks at a brewery, but.

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Yeah.

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All the money's gonna go to

a, a charity of our choice.

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Yeah.

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You know, we we teamed up with a

company with social teas, which was

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a a New York based animal shelter.

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And, and they would save all different

types of animals, not just dogs.

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And we did New York City bully

Crew, which was a pit bulls.

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Right.

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And you know, we would raise

anywhere from seven to $10,000

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every single event we would do.

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It would just be, that's incredible.

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It was unbelievable.

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And we would just have, it would just

be a bunch of guys that like burgers.

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And I'd be cooking and we'd be drinking

mixers would always bring us bottles.

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Blackstone was very they, they, they

were incredible partners, so to speak,

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because they would send a griddle to

every location that we were doing.

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No way.

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Yeah.

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And I would build it and I, I would

season it, and then I would have a,

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you know, a Blackstone griddle, you

know, they'd come to my house and.

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And taking some videos,

which is pretty cool.

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???: Yeah.

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SSS: But Blackstone was such a big

proponent of what we, they loved what

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we were doing for the charities, loved.

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And then our biggest one we did

was I would cook for the holy

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Apostle soup kitchen every quarter.

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Oh, okay.

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In Manhattan.

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And I would say serve

up to:

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Wow.

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And then we had some events that we

did that, you know, that we would.

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We partake with those guys that

raised over a hundred thousand

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dollars for the soup kitchen.

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Geez.

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You know, there's the second

largest soup kitchen in the US

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and it was just unbelievable.

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So I gave away this burger

about 10,000 times before we

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actually opened this place.

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Oh

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Tyler: wow.

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That's amazing.

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Really got dialed in then.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You to learn.

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Learn how to figure it out.

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SSS: We actually gave away a thousand

burgers in town before, like we

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got delayed opening last summer.

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So during the summer of last year,

I gave away a thousand burgers.

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Wow.

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Like just walking, you know, whether

the police department needs 15 burgers,

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the local, next, local business.

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How many of you want for lunch tomorrow?

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So I was just cooking from my Blackstone

at home and just handing them out.

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That's awesome.

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Tyler: That's probably the best

marketing you could possibly do.

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That's awesome.

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And they also know if

they hate it right off

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SSS: the bat, they never have to go.

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But they didn't have to try it.

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But we we've been so

welcomed by this community.

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It's been incredible.

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We never had a winter.

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We opened in September and

winter never happened here.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's awesome.

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It's been unbelievable.

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Everyone: That is something that

I've noticed too, is the good

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businesses here don't have a winter.

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Like if you don't have a good

product or you don't have good

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social skills and marketing,

like you're super big, fall off.

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But all the people that we've

interviewed and all the places I've

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tried here have all been steady all

year long, which is great to hear.

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Yeah, it's,

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SSS: and you know, one of my wife's

biggest complaints about living

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here is like every place that we

eat will shut off, like their online

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ordering when the tourists come in.

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So I promise her that I will not shut off

online ordering no matter how, you know.

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We're ready.

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We're ready.

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You know, we've had a bunch of days

where we've done over a thousand burgers.

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I brought in a Philly cheese

steak that I saw that, yeah.

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That we've been making for, you know,

I've been making it forever, but it,

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it was something where I was just

family meal for us here and now it's

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become a staple, you know, where,

where, so you think it's like close,

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Tyler: close to like a, like a

patter, Ginos, or is it something

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a little bit off, off of that?

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SSS: So he's Pat and Pat and Ginos.

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I'm, you know, that, I feel like that's.

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You know, God bless 'em.

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They do an amazing visit, but

that's not my type of cheese steak.

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Yeah, fair enough.

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They, they do.

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That's more of a tourist one.

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Go ahead.

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You can have your green peppers than your

little dried pieces of meat at the end.

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That's not my thing.

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I I'm more, I love Angelo's Pizza,

Angelo's Pizzas, the you know, that's

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the one Philly cheese steak that

everyone should hope they could become.

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You know, they bake their own

bread, they shave their own beef.

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Like they're unbelievable what they did.

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Yeah.

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And now they have

Bradley Cooper, you know?

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Oh, that's right.

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I do remember that.

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I do remember that.

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So

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Everyone: you guys, one, for

those who don't know, this place

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is an amazing menu and it's all

very cut and dry to the point.

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Okay.

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Did you do that on purpose or

are you just gonna slowly expand?

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It, well, it was a little bit of both.

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Okay.

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One was, size

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SSS: wise, we're, we're probably the

smallest restaurant in this town.

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We're only 1200 square foot.

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I don't have a walk-in refrigerator.

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Oh.

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We were continuously, you know, and,

and then after Labor Day in this

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small town, they only deliver food

to you Monday, Wednesday, Fridays.

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So because they consider That's crazy.

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It the off seasons crazy.

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Yeah.

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And so I was running, you know,

come Tuesday come, I'm running

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outta stuff by the end of the day.

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So we would have to come back and say,

all right, yeah, we, we've run outta food

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today and post aside and just 'cause we

couldn't keep up with refrigeration wise.

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And you know, with what's nice, you

know, starting now and this month,

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you know, they deliver six days a

week, you know, for the busy season

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considered for everybody else.

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But as far as the small menu.

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We're using a grass fed, grass finish

beef, which I can bet that Very good.

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Tyler: Yeah,

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SSS: not more.

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Within 25 mile radius, you're not

finding someone else that's doing.

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You might find some grass fed, but

it's not grass finished and I know

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how expensive our product is, and

it's similar to like the mixers model.

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I wanted to put out the best

product, try to make it reasonable.

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Our cheapest burger is $7 and 50 cents.

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Yeah.

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Our most expensive burgers, $14.

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Oh, wow.

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There's people that order off a

DoorDash and then they say, oh my

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God, your prices are so expensive.

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I said, please just order

online on That's good point.

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Yeah.

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You could buy five burgers

for, for under 40 bucks.

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You know, it's, it's, you know,

DoorDash, just the pricing is insanity.

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Gosh.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And, but like, they're the number one

people I see that people order online

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off of, you know, we're, one thing

that did surprise me, we're 60% to go.

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No way.

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That's crazy.

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Yeah.

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So that's one, one thing that caught

us off guard when I first saw I, I

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should have just opened up a window on

both sides of a kitchen in the middle.

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Everyone: Oh, I forget about that.

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That you can go that way too.

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So the reason why I ask that, because

I know prepping was a lot harder 'cause

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I worked in a kitchen for a little bit.

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But do people realize that

you guys shave your own, the

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meats for the Phillies or the.

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The North top sos or the third?

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Yeah,

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SSS: So basically every single day

what we do is our meat is never frozen.

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We handball our meat every single day.

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We slice our own cheeses, we slice

our pickles you know, and obviously,

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and then we make our own onions that,

you know, are taking us 10 hours.

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But we're, she's, you know, Dawn

is here and then we have two other

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prep people that help us with that.

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But Dawn is here every morning by

six 30 and she's, she is slicing.

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120 pounds of onions by hand.

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And you know, we are, we are we're

cranking out way more food from

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this tiny spot than we should be.

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??? (2): Yeah.

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SSS: And and to have a

tight menu has helped.

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Like, I would love to have like

a, a chicken parm sandwich and you

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know, like I have all these people

that complain that we don't have

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lettuce and tomato and raw onion.

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I just don't have the

capacity to do yeah, right.

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You know, and, and I tell people,

I'm like, if you have something that

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you want on a burger, bring it in.

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:

I have a, you know, the family that owns

the Caldwells that are awesome people

419

:

that they own the Burrito Shack in town?

420

:

Yeah.

421

:

They bring their own cheese, you

know, they have dietary restrictions.

422

:

They bring a vegan cheese, you know, or

non-dairy cheese that they wanted to use.

423

:

And I make their burgers

for them all the time.

424

:

I have two different families

next door that they always go to.

425

:

Salt Marsh Market next door.

426

:

Oh yeah.

427

:

They pick up their own sourdough.

428

:

They bring it in.

429

:

I slice it for them, I grill it, and

I put the burgers on the sourdough.

430

:

For them.

431

:

I'll do whatever you want.

432

:

That's awesome.

433

:

I'm just not gonna carry everything Right.

434

:

I'm like, you kind of don't

have the space for sure.

435

:

???: Yeah.

436

:

SSS: Yeah.

437

:

We don't, you know, I'll

show you guys around later.

438

:

It's like, you're gonna look

and be like, oh my gosh.

439

:

You know, you, you have to get on a

ladder to get a sticker sometimes, right?

440

:

Yeah.

441

:

It's

442

:

Tyler: so you, you have, I

guess, are you looking to expand

443

:

sometime soon then, since you

realized the, the capacity issue?

444

:

Or are you just really like kind

of where you're at right now?

445

:

SSS: Without a doubt.

446

:

Yeah.

447

:

I'm looking to, you know, I'm

hoping to have five to seven

448

:

of these along the coast.

449

:

Oh,

450

:

Tyler: sick.

451

:

SSS: Yeah.

452

:

You know, just because I do want everyone

to be able to try something that I, I

453

:

find this to be a unique burger that,

you know, you can't get anywhere else.

454

:

Tyler: Yeah.

455

:

Looking forward to try the

first one here soon too.

456

:

SSS: Oh yeah.

457

:

We open at 11.

458

:

Tyler: Yeah.

459

:

I'm so excited.

460

:

We're a few minutes away.

461

:

Everyone: In general, looking

at all the stuff that you've

462

:

come up with for your menu.

463

:

Sorry.

464

:

I'm a guy who thinks with my stomach,

as you can tell by my physique.

465

:

Where'd you come up with these names?

466

:

For like, everything.

467

:

Because I see like most of

it's location wise, but some

468

:

of it's like people's names.

469

:

It looks, oh,

470

:

SSS: yeah.

471

:

You know, my wife, even though she

came up with the slogan, best Buns

472

:

on the beach, does not eat the bun.

473

:

So we serve our signature Surf City Smash

Burger that has our three hour caramelized

474

:

onion, bacon jam, our surfer sauce

on it, our, our house sliced pickles.

475

:

And it's just exactly the same

way I've made it for at home for

476

:

10 years, no bun tons of pickles

and, and and right on a plate.

477

:

So that's the Sarah, the Riley

is named after my yellow lab.

478

:

She turned 11 on Christmas Eve.

479

:

And that is just a plain, you know, I see

people do all these pup cups around town.

480

:

Mm-hmm.

481

:

So I wanted to do like a,

a, you know, a dog plate.

482

:

So every dog comes in, they get a grass

fed patty for three bucks, no salt, no

483

:

cheese on it, and they're getting the,

probably the best meat they could find.

484

:

I was gonna say That's incredible.

485

:

Yeah.

486

:

It's incredible.

487

:

For three bucks, they can't, they can't

make it themselves for that cheap.

488

:

Right.

489

:

So it's just something that we love Dogs.

490

:

Maybe a little bit more

than we love humans.

491

:

And so this is like, and I like to

say in this community, like this

492

:

town is so dog welcoming that yes,

if you don't have a dog, people look

493

:

at you a little bit funny, like,

oh, did you used to have a dog?

494

:

They'll ask you, you know, kind of thing.

495

:

Yeah.

496

:

Like, you plan on getting a

dog, but this is the most dog

497

:

friendly beach I've ever been to.

498

:

And that was a big difference for us

from living here and then living like

499

:

at a wrightsville that doesn't allow

dogs year round, which is so lame.

500

:

Yeah.

501

:

Tyler: So looking at the menu, what's the

number one thing that you get on there?

502

:

SSS: My favorite thing is the

single Surf city Smashburger.

503

:

Okay.

504

:

From, you know, like I,

I could eat a double.

505

:

I just prefer the single because I could

put just as much of the onions and sauce

506

:

on a single that I can, on a double.

507

:

And I want to have, you know, I'd

rather eat two singles than one double.

508

:

That's just my preference.

509

:

And then the Surf Philly you know,

our surf Philly, I bring in the bread.

510

:

I bring in the meat from Philly.

511

:

It's our 10, you know, our

caramelized onion bacon jam.

512

:

And then I use a, a Cooper's cheese,

which is a sharp cheese that we bring

513

:

and slice ourselves every morning.

514

:

Mm-hmm.

515

:

And we put four ounces of

cheese on our cheese steak.

516

:

It's like the cheesiest

cheese steak in town.

517

:

You could real cheese steak.

518

:

I like to say if I can't throw

it against the wall and have

519

:

it stick, I don't want it.

520

:

But we, I can't eat the whole thing,

but without taking a nap afterwards.

521

:

So I'd rather if I, if I could

eat anything every day, it would

522

:

be a single Surf City Smash

burger, and half of a Philly.

523

:

Tyler: It's a good, good

524

:

Everyone: combo there.

525

:

I know what I'm asking for.

526

:

Right.

527

:

SSS: Which

528

:

Everyone: one

529

:

SSS: are

530

:

Everyone: you

531

:

SSS: going for?

532

:

Everyone: Oh, I'm definitely into Philly.

533

:

There we go.

534

:

Good question about

535

:

SSS: go.

536

:

And then we also have, there's

a guy bill that works here.

537

:

He helps me run this store.

538

:

Mm-hmm.

539

:

Since day one has been

a great ally friend.

540

:

I play softball with his wife.

541

:

That's how I know him.

542

:

And another unique thing.

543

:

And his, so we have Mr.

544

:

Bill's Patty Melt that's named after him.

545

:

That's our Grassfed burger

cheeseburger on a grilled cheese.

546

:

And we use Martin's potato buns for

our, and we lost Chris on a Yeah.

547

:

On his last golf.

548

:

Like there, I like that

we've taken him out.

549

:

But we we, we use our Martin's

potato buns for our burgers.

550

:

Good.

551

:

And then we I like to put my signature

move where we toast the top of the

552

:

buns as opposed to inside of the buns.

553

:

And then we solve them and we finish

them with a little bit of salt.

554

:

???: Oh.

555

:

SSS: And then and then on the Mr.

556

:

Bill's patty melt and grilled cheese

size, we use Martin's butter bread.

557

:

Okay.

558

:

And that's kind of been my, my

go-to for as far as a grilled

559

:

cheese has been concerned.

560

:

Tyler: Nice.

561

:

Why to why toasting the top of it then?

562

:

SSS: You know, for someone

that rated in review burgers.

563

:

For so long, I've kind of became

the guy that would say, oh, you

564

:

need, this is a great patty,

but you need to change the bun.

565

:

Ah, you know, I've actually had major

chains like change the bun that they

566

:

were using based on a review that

I love, which was That's awesome.

567

:

Is incredible to me.

568

:

You know, a little guy that's, I'm just

like an instagramer back in the day.

569

:

Like there was no influencers back

in the day when we were doing that.

570

:

Right.

571

:

But we influenced Bun, like it was cra.

572

:

We have a buddy, he named himself

Johnny Buns, but he doesn't,

573

:

he doesn't know anything.

574

:

He just has good hair.

575

:

Right?

576

:

Yeah.

577

:

He doesn't know anything about the buns,

but I would, you know, I was such a

578

:

bun snob that it became like a thing.

579

:

Like I'm like, Hey, this burger's great,

but you should maybe want to tweak.

580

:

You know, people do those big brioche

buns and they get all excited about it.

581

:

Yeah.

582

:

And it just takes over, you

know, it overwhelms what the

583

:

burger should be all about.

584

:

Tyler: So you probably influenced Dave

Portnoy to do the one Bite pizza test.

585

:

Well, you know, in, in my,

586

:

SSS: I love, I, I love the One Bite, but

it's, but Dave did steal one of my, so

587

:

my Instagram was Booze n burgers a ND.

588

:

Yeah.

589

:

So he started to show on Booze

n Burgers with an n ah, and he

590

:

did it with Glenny balls, who,

you know who has since left them.

591

:

And I've met Glenny in public

and I was like, dude, you just

592

:

basically robbed my name and.

593

:

I did a post with a picture

of him and I am like the

594

:

original and then the imposter.

595

:

He didn't That's awesome.

596

:

Yeah.

597

:

And I put it out.

598

:

I'm like, yeah, dude, you're,

you're the imposter trying to be me.

599

:

Right?

600

:

But yeah, Glenny didn't do well.

601

:

He didn't, he doesn't

know any, which is funny.

602

:

He doesn't know anything about food.

603

:

He doesn't know anything about food,

doesn't know anything about, he's like,

604

:

I'm gonna drink this brown liquid.

605

:

That was kind of like his review yeah.

606

:

Yeah.

607

:

He didn't know what, he didn't

know what he was doing, but.

608

:

Seemed like a nice guy.

609

:

Right.

610

:

It's, it's always better to have the

611

:

Tyler: original anyways.

612

:

Oh yeah.

613

:

Everyone: Sorry, I'm just thinking

about all the, the fun things.

614

:

Go ahead.

615

:

Financial

616

:

???: industry.

617

:

Financial industry.

618

:

Mm-hmm.

619

:

What have you learned about finance as

620

:

SSS: you come into the

restaurant industry?

621

:

Yeah you know, my only concern

is the bottom line, you know?

622

:

Yeah.

623

:

We, I want to have the

put out the best product.

624

:

And, but also you need to

make it worth your while.

625

:

But the thing I love the most here

is that we now have employ 43 people

626

:

in this town, in this little spot.

627

:

And that's impressive.

628

:

We have, you know, I have 16 year

olds that are making, you know, the

629

:

one that just walked in that they're

making over 20 bucks an hour and

630

:

they're, they're loving life and Yeah.

631

:

You know, they're, they we are.

632

:

We are, I think I have the highest payroll

in the whole town at any given time.

633

:

We have 12 people that are working

here for this little tiny spot.

634

:

'cause I didn't realize I would need a

bag person, someone to just wrap burgers

635

:

and wrap fillies and then put 'em in a bag

and, you know, so there's positions that

636

:

became created after we started working.

637

:

Yeah.

638

:

You know, like, I'm like, ah, then

we'll just bring food out to people.

639

:

But no, that's not the case.

640

:

That's interesting.

641

:

You know, and and the other

thing I love is that we have four

642

:

groups of moms and daughters and

dads and sons that work here.

643

:

Oh, no way.

644

:

Which is just like, unbelievable.

645

:

Just happened.

646

:

That's really, really cool.

647

:

Because I grew up in Coney Island.

648

:

Mm-hmm.

649

:

On the boardwalk selling hot dogs.

650

:

You know, I always say, you know, I

used, I used to stand there all day and

651

:

yell out chicken, shrimp, french fries,

hot butter, corn, all be Frank's cotton

652

:

candy all day long to people walking by.

653

:

And I worked there.

654

:

It was my uncle's store

and my dad worked there.

655

:

My sisters worked there,

my brother worked there.

656

:

So I know, like working with family,

how crazy it could be, right?

657

:

Yes.

658

:

And like, you know, everyone's just poking

the next bear kind of thing, walking

659

:

by and, and if family member messes

up, like, I don't have to say a word,

660

:

like the parents jump all over them.

661

:

Like, yeah, give 'em a little,

what do you think you're doing?

662

:

So I don't have

663

:

Tyler: to say anything in front.

664

:

It's a win win, right?

665

:

Yeah.

666

:

Win.

667

:

So in your, in your past career,

you're working with a different

668

:

Blackstone and now you're working

with the Blackstone grills.

669

:

That's that's true.

670

:

Yeah.

671

:

Yeah.

672

:

SSS: We went from Blackstone owner

and all the mutual funds and the

673

:

Dodgers to right, yeah, yeah.

674

:

To working with griddles,

675

:

Tyler: not, not a bad change.

676

:

Everyone: That's it.

677

:

So one I don't cook very often.

678

:

You can ask my wife, but

I do like some good food.

679

:

Why do people, is it just.

680

:

The best way to cook a smash burger is

on a griddle versus an actual grill.

681

:

I've always been curious about that.

682

:

That, well,

683

:

SSS: the, the number one thing

is you can't really smash on a

684

:

grill because it'll fall through.

685

:

Okay.

686

:

But the, the, the way that you could

sear and render fat on a burger, on a

687

:

griddle is the most, you know, everyone

says, oh, you know, I go to a steakhouse.

688

:

I got this beautiful char on it.

689

:

Well, you got the char because of

the, the heat, the indirect heat,

690

:

like it's, that's being placed on it.

691

:

And then the, the.

692

:

The way that it's being seared, you know,

seals in all the moisture brings out the

693

:

fat content and it's able to render down.

694

:

And then the easiest way to explain

it is if you take butter and you

695

:

leave it in a pan and you keep cooking

it, it has those brown edges around

696

:

it just from a piece of butter.

697

:

And that's exactly what

you're getting from the fat

698

:

rendering down that in the meat.

699

:

That's creating it and it's

basically, it's, I like to

700

:

say it seals in the juices.

701

:

Some people don't, but that's

the way I like to think of it.

702

:

Everyone: I like that.

703

:

SSS: Yeah.

704

:

Why have all the goodness fall

through to the griddle and, yeah.

705

:

Everyone: Understandable.

706

:

SSS: Yeah.

707

:

Everyone: That's why I have

to ask the silly questions.

708

:

Tyler: I guess the big question for a

lot of our listeners, since they are

709

:

mostly from Wilmington, when's a surf

city smash coming down to Wilmington?

710

:

SSS: It, it may not be one, but

you know, I've looked in Porter's

711

:

neck, I've looked in Hampstead.

712

:

You know, I would, ideally, because

I live in North Topville, I'd love

713

:

to have one on the island first.

714

:

???: Yep.

715

:

SSS: You know, that one wouldn't be a

year round one because I have I dunno

716

:

if I told you, but we've worked here

seven days a week since September when we

717

:

opened, and I've missed three days so far.

718

:

Mm, geez.

719

:

Yeah.

720

:

So dedication.

721

:

Yeah.

722

:

My knees hurt.

723

:

I just bought another pair

of new shoes trying them out.

724

:

See, you know, I'm 50 years old doing

this, so it's you know, I have, I

725

:

don't know how much long of a run

I have working 360 days a year.

726

:

But I do wanna, I do want to get

closer to our, our, our base that

727

:

comes here because we have a, I don't

get any business from the island being

728

:

so close to it, which is so strange.

729

:

And living there, like, you know,

we have on, in, on Facebook, we have

730

:

almost 10,000 likes and follows.

731

:

And I saw the other day, 79 of them

live in North Topal where I live,

732

:

79, like everyone is from Snes

Bury and Hamstead and Holly Ridge.

733

:

And, and and then we do have a,

you know, a girl, Lauren, Lauren

734

:

Suitcase has been super kind to us.

735

:

So she has brought in.

736

:

You know, she likes our cheese

stick, likes our burgers.

737

:

Her husband, the first time he came

here, ate five burgers and they

738

:

have brought in so many people and

we're so thankful for them giving

739

:

us shout outs and continuously.

740

:

And it's been unbelievable for, you know,

the Wilmington crowd that comes here on a

741

:

like, Hey, you're our Sunday drive and we

wanted to try it out, which is amazing.

742

:

That's awesome.

743

:

Tyler: You know you got a good, good

burger when you have people coming 30, 35

744

:

minutes come out, get, I know we have so

745

:

SSS: many people from Jacksonville.

746

:

We have a guy, this guy Joel, that

comes from Newburn with his wife.

747

:

It's unbelievable.

748

:

Yeah.

749

:

And he, you know, he, he's

hoping for a Newburn restaurant.

750

:

That's why he keeps

coming in here piece by,

751

:

Tyler: well we put one in Newburn if

we already have you coming down here.

752

:

That's it.

753

:

Everyone: 'Cause my

brain has already jumped.

754

:

I looked at the menu walking in and.

755

:

A sea that you have desserts and it

says, ask about your daily ice cream.

756

:

Your correct.

757

:

So Chris would notice

the desserts right away.

758

:

I had, of

759

:

SSS: course I noticed that.

760

:

Yeah.

761

:

So my, my favorite ice cream sandwiches

are a company called Nightingale.

762

:

Okay.

763

:

It's a husband and wife team

out of Richmond, Virginia.

764

:

And I had a ton of them and I love

them all from their banana pudding,

765

:

one to their cookie monster.

766

:

They're all incredible.

767

:

Their key lime pie one is great.

768

:

However, since I introduced the Philly

cheese steak, I had to get rid of them.

769

:

Like people say to me like, yeah,

'cause I'm taking, it takes up all of my

770

:

freezer, fridge, all of my makes sense.

771

:

I don't have enough refrigeration.

772

:

And then people say to me, same thing

like with the lettuce and tomato and

773

:

the onions, you could just easily do it.

774

:

Well, I wouldn't get rid of my ice

cream sandwiches if I could easily

775

:

do it 'cause they're incredible.

776

:

Everyone: Yeah.

777

:

SSS: One thing that is good, that

Salt Marsh market next door, and also

778

:

with Salty Turtle next door, they all,

they all now carry the, that ice cream

779

:

sandwich from Nightingale and it's the

best ice cream sandwich you'll ever have.

780

:

I would take it home and I would cut

it in six and say, oh, I'm gonna,

781

:

and I would eat all six slices.

782

:

So I like, ah, I thought I was gonna

ration it out, but it's the best.

783

:

Never rations.

784

:

No.

785

:

Tyler: We're gonna have to

go and try those out now.

786

:

SSS: Yeah, they're great.

787

:

Everyone: I mean, I, based on all the

drinking we do during the episode days,

788

:

we'll need something to kind of cut that.

789

:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

790

:

Need some stuff to lessen the load.

791

:

Yeah.

792

:

Need

793

:

SSS: a little bourbon, little

Philly cheese steak, little

794

:

burger, and a little ice cream.

795

:

Never hurt anybody.

796

:

Nah, not at all.

797

:

I do have someone that, that

makes us our little logo cookies.

798

:

Mm-hmm.

799

:

Those are one of the, our

desserts that we have.

800

:

It's a, this guy Ricky that

works here buddy of mine, his,

801

:

his wife Kim, makes Kim shook.

802

:

She makes all of our, sugar

cookies, that they're pretty cool.

803

:

And then I have a local baker that I

bring in our donuts every single morning.

804

:

And we pretty much sell outta

donuts every single day.

805

:

Yeah.

806

:

Or That's incredible away.

807

:

I love giving 'em away too.

808

:

Yeah.

809

:

Have Brittany in the background going.

810

:

They're so good.

811

:

They're so good.

812

:

Yeah.

813

:

It'll make you feel good.

814

:

Yeah, they're good stuff.

815

:

But yeah, I would love

to have more desserts.

816

:

Scoops ice cream.

817

:

I'm a huge fan of them.

818

:

They're, they're local to here.

819

:

And I would love at some point similar to

the way that I make my, my burger buns.

820

:

Mm-hmm.

821

:

I've tested and made my own ice cream

sandwiches using their ice cream, and

822

:

it would basically be, it's on a sweet

roll, like a either Hawaiian Sweet

823

:

Roll or on the Martin Sweet Roll.

824

:

And I butter the, and sugar the top

instead of salting it and a scoop of

825

:

air ice cream in it on a, on a warm bun.

826

:

It's incredible.

827

:

But that does sound really good.

828

:

But again, I don't have

the room right now.

829

:

Yeah.

830

:

To do that.

831

:

Tyler: It's always good to have the

problem, too many ideas and not enough

832

:

space and just grow right on into it.

833

:

SSS: Yeah.

834

:

Like my, my chicken parm is pretty good.

835

:

I, I make a, a, a great like, like

filet mignon with the onions, with

836

:

fresh moot sandwich that like.

837

:

Yeah, I could taste it right now.

838

:

And I You said a little, Hmm.

839

:

I'm like, it's incredible, but I just

don't have the capacity to do it.

840

:

Tyler: Have you always loved cooking?

841

:

Has that been like a passion of

yours since, since the get go, or

842

:

is that something you grew into?

843

:

SSS: Yeah, so my, my dad is off the boat

from Greece and my mom is from Italy

844

:

and so I had the best of both world.

845

:

Since In your blood?

846

:

Yeah.

847

:

It was best of both.

848

:

And I would tell my mom like,

Hey, you have all the recipes.

849

:

And then I perfect them when I, even

when I was a kid, like just like, you

850

:

know, she used to make a shrimp with.

851

:

With feta and dill and rice dish,

like for my dad, a Greek dish.

852

:

And I switched it to orzo instead of rice.

853

:

And I like the dish.

854

:

She even likes it better.

855

:

Yeah, I

856

:

Tyler: say that sounds pretty good.

857

:

Yeah.

858

:

Yeah.

859

:

So I

860

:

SSS: was like, oh, see, look at that.

861

:

And so we still make that, you know, my

mom passed like 22 years ago and we still

862

:

make it every year for Christmas Eve.

863

:

And that's like, everyone's like kind

of one of their go-to dishes that we do.

864

:

And a lot of the moms that I grew

up with in Brooklyn, New York were

865

:

just such great cooks that she they,

they all get a little shout out every

866

:

Christmas Eve I'll make their dish.

867

:

So

868

:

Tyler: that's neat.

869

:

Love that that's, that's always kind

of part of the cooking stories that

870

:

I hear when people become like chefs

and just like really dive into it.

871

:

There's always something personal

behind it that kind of brings out

872

:

the passion in 'em that makes them

want to continue doing it further.

873

:

SSS: Yeah.

874

:

I have a buddy Freddy then when I

told him I was opening a restaurant,

875

:

he said, oh my God, are you

gonna have your seared scallops?

876

:

I'm like completely something serious.

877

:

Completely opposite.

878

:

Yeah, completely different.

879

:

Yeah.

880

:

He's having them at my house.

881

:

He's like, those are the

best scallops I've ever had.

882

:

So I'm like, all right,

883

:

Everyone: I appreciate that.

884

:

Oh my gosh.

885

:

So we've talked about your past a little

bit, and you've gone through kind of

886

:

multiple phases of life with the financial

industry, rating burgers all over,

887

:

and then now having your own business.

888

:

But my question is, what does

success actually look like for you?

889

:

SSS: It's, it's kind of so

for someone like myself and my

890

:

wife, we don't have any kids.

891

:

Okay.

892

:

So I kind of just, yeah.

893

:

I just wanna leave a mark

somewhere, I guess financial world.

894

:

You're, you know, one thing I

liked about New York, New York,

895

:

you're never in the best shape.

896

:

There's somebody always

in better shape than you.

897

:

Mm-hmm.

898

:

You always had something, you're, you

never will make the most money of any, you

899

:

know, someone's incr, you know, you could

do very well in New York and living like

900

:

the low end of the room kind of thing.

901

:

Yep.

902

:

And so you're not gonna stand

out in any capacity or leave

903

:

a legacy in any capacity.

904

:

I did start a pizza and

burger spot in:

905

:

Mm-hmm.

906

:

I'm no longer involved.

907

:

I got, we were bought out in 2019

and now there's 24 locations and

908

:

I kind of find that to be cool.

909

:

Oh, wow.

910

:

Yeah.

911

:

And if I could do something like that with

this and, you know, pictures of my Godsend

912

:

and my dog and have them all around

the states would be incredible to me.

913

:

Tyler: Yeah.

914

:

That's neat.

915

:

Yeah.

916

:

SSS: So that's kind of what

I, you know, that's the goal.

917

:

Yeah.

918

:

I would love to have the name go on.

919

:

My niece Drew the little logo guy on

a napkin about a year and a half ago.

920

:

And it's really is a family, family

run and friends run business.

921

:

Yeah.

922

:

Tyler: Yeah.

923

:

That's neat.

924

:

I love the logo too.

925

:

So she did a great job.

926

:

Yeah.

927

:

Yeah.

928

:

Perhaps

929

:

SSS: the the original photo

hand drawing one is lit up in

930

:

the bathroom, what she made.

931

:

Yeah.

932

:

So that's cool.

933

:

It's right next to actually

Brittany's photo in the bathroom.

934

:

Everyone: Oh, there

935

:

???: you go.

936

:

Everyone: I mean, it's not of Brittany.

937

:

It's the one that she's taken, right?

938

:

Yeah, Brittany.

939

:

Yeah, that's correct.

940

:

Yeah.

941

:

Oh my gosh.

942

:

I just, that's funny.

943

:

No, I keep seeing like videos from

people who are, like, they walk

944

:

into a bathroom and it's just a

bunch of people like making faces

945

:

because they blew up the toilet.

946

:

So it's like, oh, see that?

947

:

So that's what I was picturing.

948

:

Oh, that is funny.

949

:

Well, in, in the bathroom there's a

950

:

SSS: Brittany take, took a photo, an

awesome one at the Surf City Pier.

951

:

Mm-hmm.

952

:

That we have in there that

she had framed for us.

953

:

The one, the logo for my

niece and then all of my dog's

954

:

best friends from the beach.

955

:

So Riley's that's best friends from

the beach are all, there's photos of

956

:

them on, on the beach in the bathroom.

957

:

Tyler: Oh, that's pretty cool.

958

:

SSS: Yeah.

959

:

Tyler: So after looking forward

a little bit to take a look back,

960

:

if you were to tell your younger

self one thing, what would it be?

961

:

SSS: My thing would've been to move to

North Carolina eight to 10 years sooner.

962

:

Oh yeah.

963

:

And I will never, ever

regret where I grew up.

964

:

I loved it.

965

:

I wouldn't want to grow up there.

966

:

I wouldn't wanna raise someone there now.

967

:

Right.

968

:

But once I moved here I realized that

there is a much easier way to live in

969

:

a beautiful setting with great people.

970

:

Tyler: Oh yeah.

971

:

SSS: And you know, the wildest, wildest

thing, and I tell people, and no one

972

:

can believe it, the first year we lived

here, our electric bill at our home.

973

:

And our home was 200 square feet

smaller where we lived for 17.

974

:

Oh yeah.

975

:

It was $8,000 less the first year.

976

:

Tyler: Oh my

977

:

SSS: gosh.

978

:

And people don't believe it.

979

:

And to the point where I thought I was

stealing electric from my neighbor.

980

:

Yeah.

981

:

I'm like, does this okay?

982

:

Yeah.

983

:

Does this look right?

984

:

But our electric bill and everyone

who lives in New York says, oh, well

985

:

that's how much electric costs, but

apparently it doesn't cost that much.

986

:

Tyler: Oh, wow.

987

:

SSS: You know, our electric bill was

anywhere from 600 to 1,150 bucks a month.

988

:

Wow.

989

:

In living in New York.

990

:

And I tell people, when you're coming

down here, don't look at the taxes,

991

:

don't look at your bottom line.

992

:

I am a number.

993

:

Your bottom line is so much different and

what you need to make to survive and live

994

:

comfortably here than it is in that state.

995

:

Yep.

996

:

Absolutely.

997

:

That's why the, you know,

I saw a report yesterday.

998

:

Everyone's still fleeing

and continue to flee.

999

:

???: Yep.

:

00:34:16,121 --> 00:34:19,331

SSS: You know, so people are listening to

their friends and some people like me, the

:

00:34:19,331 --> 00:34:21,071

friends and family haven't followed us.

:

00:34:21,940 --> 00:34:25,121

I'm like, if you wanna live

easier and awesome and like walk

:

00:34:25,121 --> 00:34:28,541

the beach in the morning and

watch the sunrise, come on down.

:

00:34:28,541 --> 00:34:28,601

Yeah.

:

00:34:29,471 --> 00:34:30,551

Well, not all of you.

:

00:34:31,016 --> 00:34:33,041

Yeah, just my favorite people.

:

00:34:33,071 --> 00:34:33,190

Yeah.

:

00:34:33,190 --> 00:34:35,231

Just so I love it.

:

00:34:36,491 --> 00:34:39,551

Tyler: I'm, I'm originally from

Pennsylvania as the pa, and I came down

:

00:34:39,551 --> 00:34:43,661

too, and just like you said, like the

taxes and everything else, it's just you

:

00:34:43,661 --> 00:34:45,761

can live such a better life down here.

:

00:34:46,101 --> 00:34:50,116

With just, I guess the other

part too is it's so fast paced.

:

00:34:50,665 --> 00:34:52,645

The further up north

you go, it seems like.

:

00:34:52,945 --> 00:34:55,165

And so coming down here was, it

was an adjustment too, because this

:

00:34:55,165 --> 00:34:57,235

guy was used to like everything

being done like right away.

:

00:34:57,355 --> 00:34:59,725

You don't necessarily get that

down here, but you kind of get

:

00:34:59,725 --> 00:35:02,365

accustomed to that like way of life

that's like, Hey, you know what?

:

00:35:02,365 --> 00:35:03,295

It might take an extra day.

:

00:35:03,565 --> 00:35:05,305

It was like, but you also

get the extra day too.

:

00:35:05,605 --> 00:35:05,755

SSS: Yeah.

:

00:35:05,995 --> 00:35:09,355

So when we came down, we renovated our

house and it took 18 months of something

:

00:35:09,355 --> 00:35:10,375

I thought would be three months.

:

00:35:10,405 --> 00:35:10,585

Yeah.

:

00:35:10,915 --> 00:35:14,425

And then when we opened this spot,

it, it ended up taking nine months.

:

00:35:14,635 --> 00:35:14,965

Oh really?

:

00:35:14,965 --> 00:35:15,775

Just 'cause it's different.

:

00:35:15,775 --> 00:35:17,725

Like, you know, we we, we

rented this space and they're

:

00:35:17,725 --> 00:35:18,506

like, yeah, everything's fine.

:

00:35:18,595 --> 00:35:20,066

Like there was no running water.

:

00:35:20,506 --> 00:35:21,010

Oh, oh.

:

00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:25,000

So we had to get permits to

rip up the backyard first rip

:

00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:26,381

up the sidewalks in the back.

:

00:35:26,830 --> 00:35:26,950

???: Mm-hmm.

:

00:35:27,140 --> 00:35:30,261

SSS: And last June and July I

was, well, what my plumber says

:

00:35:30,261 --> 00:35:33,111

is I was the only owner he's ever

seen dig the trench with him.

:

00:35:33,111 --> 00:35:36,620

So we dug the trench from the back

all the way to the soda machine.

:

00:35:37,011 --> 00:35:37,310

Wow.

:

00:35:37,341 --> 00:35:37,971

In the front.

:

00:35:38,290 --> 00:35:39,070

And it was hot.

:

00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:40,210

There was no air in here.

:

00:35:40,270 --> 00:35:42,100

Like there was no air

condition, no electric.

:

00:35:42,100 --> 00:35:42,760

It was awful.

:

00:35:43,091 --> 00:35:43,571

Geez.

:

00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:47,120

So yeah, we, we we sweated

out some pounds that day, he

:

00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,601

and I, and but now here we are

:

00:35:48,931 --> 00:35:50,250

Tyler: literally blood,

sweat, and tears in his face.

:

00:35:50,341 --> 00:35:50,461

Oh yeah.

:

00:35:50,461 --> 00:35:50,790

On the,

:

00:35:51,270 --> 00:35:54,571

SSS: well, speaking of one thing, and you

know, I, I do get welled up a little bit.

:

00:35:54,691 --> 00:35:58,381

My dog being old, she would always

sit under the Blackstone with me and

:

00:35:58,431 --> 00:36:01,131

you know, and she was smart to do

so sometimes I would drop stuff on

:

00:36:01,131 --> 00:36:02,810

purpose, sometimes on accident, right.

:

00:36:03,111 --> 00:36:05,901

You know, she's a, a yellow

lab that sheds and yeah.

:

00:36:06,305 --> 00:36:09,366

When we were building this spot and

before they put all the floorboards

:

00:36:09,366 --> 00:36:13,756

back in and the trim, I took all of

her hair and I put it underneath the

:

00:36:13,756 --> 00:36:16,996

griddle, and then we put, oh, that's

the so she'll always be underneath that

:

00:36:16,996 --> 00:36:18,976

grill when I'm cooking in this location,

:

00:36:19,026 --> 00:36:19,446

Tyler: oh, that's cool.

:

00:36:19,476 --> 00:36:19,686

It'll

:

00:36:19,686 --> 00:36:23,108

SSS: always be like my favorite

spot to be, you know, and, you

:

00:36:23,108 --> 00:36:25,506

know, hopefully we have like five

more years of her, but Right.

:

00:36:25,506 --> 00:36:25,566

Yeah.

:

00:36:25,896 --> 00:36:26,406

That's sweet.

:

00:36:26,616 --> 00:36:28,296

Yeah, she's my, that's my baby girl.

:

00:36:28,386 --> 00:36:28,536

Everyone: Mm.

:

00:36:28,626 --> 00:36:29,166

That's awesome.

:

00:36:30,246 --> 00:36:31,566

'Cause we are at, at the end.

:

00:36:32,226 --> 00:36:36,546

Can you give a shout out to whoever

you want to and let everyone know

:

00:36:36,546 --> 00:36:38,436

where to follow you guys on socials?

:

00:36:38,586 --> 00:36:38,826

Yeah.

:

00:36:38,856 --> 00:36:41,636

SSS: You know, one, one thing I would

like to do is IG love to give a shout

:

00:36:41,636 --> 00:36:44,606

out to all the families that have helped

me here, that work here, you know, from

:

00:36:44,666 --> 00:36:48,206

bill and Nikki that, that like put in

their blood, sweat and tears and they

:

00:36:48,206 --> 00:36:50,876

bring the job home with them when they

shouldn't be bringing the job home.

:

00:36:50,876 --> 00:36:52,526

And I know that they care so much.

:

00:36:52,986 --> 00:36:54,126

Dawn that cares so much.

:

00:36:54,126 --> 00:36:56,946

Like there's so many great

people that work here that care

:

00:36:56,946 --> 00:36:58,566

about this business doing well.

:

00:36:58,566 --> 00:37:00,336

It's just unbelievable.

:

00:37:00,396 --> 00:37:02,766

I'd love to give a shout out

also to like Salty Turtle.

:

00:37:03,216 --> 00:37:03,366

Oh yeah.

:

00:37:03,996 --> 00:37:09,066

And, and hidden Ships have my

QR codes inside of their place

:

00:37:09,066 --> 00:37:10,386

and we deliver right to them.

:

00:37:10,536 --> 00:37:11,046

Oh, that's fantastic.

:

00:37:11,046 --> 00:37:12,606

They've been a partner since day one.

:

00:37:12,606 --> 00:37:13,956

They said, we want you in here.

:

00:37:13,956 --> 00:37:14,346

We do.

:

00:37:14,346 --> 00:37:17,006

You know, I want to thank them

for doing that for, you know,

:

00:37:17,006 --> 00:37:18,026

they didn't have to do that.

:

00:37:18,026 --> 00:37:20,006

And, you know, it's a

great little partnership.

:

00:37:20,126 --> 00:37:21,626

You know, they don't ask me for anything.

:

00:37:22,196 --> 00:37:24,356

It's unbelievable what

they've been able to do.

:

00:37:24,356 --> 00:37:26,636

And then my, my people next

door at Salt Marsh have always

:

00:37:26,636 --> 00:37:28,046

supported us since day one.

:

00:37:28,406 --> 00:37:32,976

So you could find us at, on

Instagram at Surf City Smash.

:

00:37:33,586 --> 00:37:35,956

Pretty much on every platform

we're Surf City Smash.

:

00:37:35,956 --> 00:37:35,986

Okay.

:

00:37:36,046 --> 00:37:39,616

We're not Smash Burger, which everyone

likes to call us even though they do.

:

00:37:39,956 --> 00:37:42,596

We get about six people a week that

come in that they ordered from the

:

00:37:42,596 --> 00:37:46,256

Raleigh Smash Burger because they just

talk into their phone and they like,

:

00:37:46,256 --> 00:37:48,536

yeah, I talked to you on the phone, but

we don't actually don't have a phone.

:

00:37:49,131 --> 00:37:52,551

There's no phone at this location,

so if you made a phone call to

:

00:37:52,551 --> 00:37:54,231

put in an order that wasn't to us.

:

00:37:54,441 --> 00:37:56,181

Yeah, we are Surf City Smash.

:

00:37:56,181 --> 00:38:00,381

We are located at 100 Charlie

Medland Drive in Triton Village

:

00:38:00,381 --> 00:38:01,731

right next to salty Turtle.

:

00:38:02,391 --> 00:38:05,381

And then you can find this you

know, drinking whiskey at BOO

:

00:38:05,381 --> 00:38:07,391

and Burgers Yeah, on Instagram.

:

00:38:07,391 --> 00:38:09,191

That's my personal stuff,

so that's awesome too.

:

00:38:09,191 --> 00:38:09,311

Yeah.

:

00:38:09,311 --> 00:38:10,811

So that's all my, my, yeah.

:

00:38:10,811 --> 00:38:13,871

I chug some 25 year mixers

right out of the bottle people.

:

00:38:14,186 --> 00:38:14,276

Oh wow.

:

00:38:14,276 --> 00:38:15,086

Find that interesting.

:

00:38:15,086 --> 00:38:15,326

Yeah,

:

00:38:16,886 --> 00:38:17,516

Tyler: I would say so.

:

00:38:17,666 --> 00:38:17,876

Yeah.

:

00:38:17,936 --> 00:38:19,586

But yeah, thank you so

much for bringing this too.

:

00:38:19,646 --> 00:38:20,426

It was incredible.

:

00:38:20,486 --> 00:38:21,206

I liked it a lot.

:

00:38:21,206 --> 00:38:21,296

And

:

00:38:21,296 --> 00:38:24,026

SSS: also I have to give a shout out

to my wife who's owns this place.

:

00:38:24,026 --> 00:38:25,076

Otherwise she would kill me.

:

00:38:25,076 --> 00:38:26,216

So that's the Sarah coming.

:

00:38:26,786 --> 00:38:29,766

Come on in and get the Sarah, you

know, eat a burger without a bun.

:

00:38:30,396 --> 00:38:30,966

Tyler: That's perfect.

:

00:38:30,966 --> 00:38:31,326

I love it.

:

00:38:31,326 --> 00:38:32,016

Thank you so much.

:

00:38:32,016 --> 00:38:32,496

I appreciate it.

:

00:38:32,496 --> 00:38:33,066

SSS: Thank you guys.

:

00:38:33,066 --> 00:38:33,756

I appreciate you.

:

00:38:33,996 --> 00:38:34,176

Yeah.

:

00:38:34,176 --> 00:38:35,616

And thanks for Brittany

for setting this up.

:

00:38:35,706 --> 00:38:36,396

Tyler: Yeah, absolutely.

:

00:38:36,426 --> 00:38:37,026

Everyone: Thanks Britt.

:

00:38:37,146 --> 00:38:37,536

Cheers.

:

00:38:37,596 --> 00:38:37,716

Cheers.

:

00:38:39,426 --> 00:38:40,806

All right, you guys, we'll

catch you in the next one.

:

00:38:41,331 --> 00:38:41,781

Tyler: Cheers.

:

00:38:43,826 --> 00:38:44,336

Thank you.

:

00:38:46,611 --> 00:38:46,821

Thank you.

:

00:38:46,821 --> 00:38:47,056

I appreciate it.

:

00:38:47,086 --> 00:38:47,376

Yeah.

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Discussing life's most fascinating topics over a good glass of whiskey.
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Tyler Yaw