Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY Ep 31. Feat. Rob Cirillo - Revitalizing Herkimer NY!

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Revitalizing Herkimer: A Culinary Journey with Chef Robbie Cirillo In this episode of Good News York, host Matt Major and co-host Mike Festive welcome Robbie Cirillo, a talented chef and business owner, to discuss his journey and latest venture: Stone Soup American Bistro and Beer Garden in Herkimer, New York. Robbie shares stories from his career, leading from fast food beginnings to running restaurants across the country. Now back in his hometown, Robbie is dedicated to revitalizing Herkimer's Main Street with his new restaurant, promoting local growth, and fostering a sense of community. Robbie's plans include expanding his restaurant and collaborating with other local businesses to transform Herkimer into a thriving, vibrant town once more. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 00:44 Robbie's Journey: From McDonald's to Culinary Passion 04:49 Revitalizing Herkimer: A Community Effort 11:53 Stone Soup American Bistro: Concept and Inspiration 14:40 Menu Highlights: Lunch, Dinner, and Cultural Fusion 19:11 Setting Yourself Apart in Business 19:26 The BOA Grant and Community Investment 20:13 Revitalizing Main Street 21:10 The Importance of Community Support 27:46 Future Plans for Stone Soup 30:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Hey guys, welcome to Good News, York. I'm your host Matt Major from Growth Mode content, joined by my festive sidekick Mike. Festive. And we have a guest. We do. And I'm really excited because this is a... Right out of the gate.

I love it. An old classmate and friend of mine, Mr. Robbie Cirillo. Chef extraordinaire, business owner. Don't break another mic arm. I know. I know. I ate my weed. this morning, watch out.

Yesterday after the show, we just worked. I just have the thing in three pieces. I did. I got one spare. After this, you're going to have to hold the mic the whole time. Going out of my paycheck. I went to school at Robbie, and we had a lot of the same friends, and we were just talking before we started.

And he's like, I remember two things about you in high school. And whatever he mentioned, it wasn't that bad. Oh. But I was telling him, I was like, dude, I was an unmedicated kid with ADHD and childhood trauma. And luckily, I was. Was? Well, is. I put it into making people laugh.

But Robbie, amazing guy. I call a friend. I've been on social media lately, and I keep seeing this restaurant pop up, Stone Soup, American, let me sure I'm saying it, American Bistro. Yes. And I start seeing Herkimer, which, for those of you that don't know, that's where I'm originally from, Herkimer, New York, Malk Valley, shout out. And I thought, well, first of all, I love Robbie.

I want to promote his restaurant. Second of all, it's in Herkimer where I'm from. This is a no-brainer. So here you are on Good News York. So tell us a little, before we get into Stone Soup, you know, we leave high school. A lot's happened, obviously, since then. You've been kind of in Rhode Island in different places. How did you get started in this career?

Oh, it's a funny thing is the first job I had was at McDonald's in Herkimer. That's great. I worked there too. Yes, you did. You know, the best, all I did was drop chicken nuggets. Hold on, hold on. Hold on. The old McDonald's or the new one by Walmart.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The original. The ball pit. We used to play dice out front of the McDonald's. Who was the woman with the golden shoes? Oh, God. You know what I'm talking about. I do, but I can't.

I can't. I'd walk in with my buddy Jansen, and she would always say, oh, stay right there, and she'd go give my buddy Mike and I his little vanilla cones. I don't remember her name, though, but she's absolute legend. But I knew you'd remember golden shoes. Yeah. Absolutely. But the funny things, so I went over the next job was at Ponderosa, and I really

And I was doing that. You just talked about. I was a dishwasher extraordinaire instead of two people on the dish machine. It was myself just running around like a pain. Yeah. Yeah. I was fantastic at that. But then, you know, I always grew up in the Italian family.

My grandmother, she made really good Italian food. Actually, the first Sunday in America, my brother and I came, we were adopted from Korea. The first Sunday in America, we were making pasta with my grandmother then. And as foods has always been in there, the restaurant business, it kind of grew on to me. I really like the feeling that you get when you're in the middle of a rush and you're cooking food and you're slinging pans around. It's just one of those natural highs that you really don't get anywhere else. And I just truly fell in love with cooking food. I've always been intrigued by it.

Yeah, so I've been in Rhode Island since 2001. I actually moved down there my best friend Dominic. and he went to school for culinary, and I just went to the school at Hard Knocks for culinary. I love it. And we were both able to share our experiences and we were able to teach each other. And Dom's, you know, he's just one of the smartest,

smart guys that, you know, they tell you what to do and he can do it. I'm one of those guys that show me how to do it. I can physically. Sure. So I just been in the restaurant business down there for a long time. I opened a bunch of restaurants, like 25 some odd states. Wow. Really?

Yeah, it was like my 20s, man, I lived a real good life. It was fun. I just got to travel. I had a, you know, I had a restaurant in Rhode Island. It was Capitol Grill. I had to go there. It would be like the home base. And then they fly out to like Orlando or Jacksonville.

Wow. And we opened another restaurant. I'd be up there for like three weeks and land and live the life for a while. It was a fun time. Wow. Yeah. And then it's, I was watching a bunch of kids. I went to culinary school and I realized I was doing everything.

as well or better than them and I said you know what I'm just going to keep on working my way through and it became a true passion of mine and then you know 15 10 15 years ago um I started trying to work smarter not harder sure so I'd help you know people open restaurants and then I consult for them how to be more profitable make more money you know sure that and um I've just been doing that for a while and then um faith and fate um my my family and my brother my parents got in a bad car exit in October. So I was going back and forth from Rhode Island to New York back and forth. And that was like running three different restaurants. Oh, wow. They had one time as it was there. And then, but about two years ago, the village of Herkimer asked me to be on the board to try

to get the DRI grant. And that's trying to develop and revitalize downtown Herkimer. And every time I come home from Rhode Island, the first thing I do is drive down Main Street. Yeah. And I saw how it fell back and how, you know, it's kind of deplorable. It's rough. It's tough. It is. But the thing for me, though, was I saw the possibilities of what could be because of all the different places that I've opened restaurants, there's always a Main Street.

And I swear, if you lifted up Main Street from Herkimer and implanted it somewhere else, it would be one of those thriving places. 100%. You know, so it was a small group of people, like-minded people in Herkimer, that had the same passion that want to make Herkimer better. And so we worked with the village of Herkimer, worked with the mayor, and a lot of volunteer work. And, you know, I was asked to speak in front of the state, the committee board to pretty much put Herkimer on the table. Yeah. And, you know, and they wanted me because, you know, it was like from Herkimer, left Herkimer. Yep.

But had a vision that I could see Hercimer be better. And that has now become my secondary passion now is I really truly want to make Hercmer. I grew up right around the corner. Literally. No, I know where you live. I grew up on watching. Cross from LW. Bills. Yeah.

And right, I'm literally right around the corner. And man, that was like, I think our generation was the last time they actually got to enjoy Main Street as what it was. You know, and I mean, Mr. The music shop, you know, we'll buy CDs. Yeah, man. You know, and then Micey had his clothing store. Yeah, Brian's roast beef deli, the coffee bar. And then Kings Court Mall.

Kings Court. That was the best. That? That was a great time. Bonnie's? Bonnie's. Wait, what was the pet store? There was a pet store.

I don't remember the name of the pet store. Uncle Licky owned a pet store down in the basement. So listen, the great thing is, so Joe Cholelli, he bought that building, and it's the Munger's building. Now it's called Restored and Renewed. And he's from Long Island. He and I met because we would have meetings for the grant down in the basement of his building. And that man has done so much for that building and what he's trying to do for Main Street of Harkimer.

And he's not even from here. So it was really contagious, especially when I met him. I'm like, I mean, Joe's, you know, he's early 60s. Wow. But he's not even from Harkimar. But he saw the opportunities, the same thing that I see. and he's actually doing something instead of being those naysayers that

aren't from Harkimer that complain about nothing's happening not trying to fix anything but then when people try to do it they'll be the first one saying well out good luck with you yeah you're gonna fan

blah blah you know but you know it's like that you know the Monday what they call it Monday morning or armchair armchair quarterback whatever right nothing worse to these people have never left and have no concept well you know some

some people haven't left before but I don't judge them on that. Right. It's the opportunities that I was given and seeing because I've been out. Sure. And that's why I want to come back and do something again back in Harkimer. And the only way I know how to do it, make my community better is in the restaurant business.

Right. You know, and if you were a new entrepreneur, right, and you're scouting places, maybe you want to open a restaurant, let's be honest. You wouldn't go. I'm going to check out Main Street in Harker. I think what, I think the reason. why you're going to succeed, and I think the reason why you probably were inspired is because you saw, we saw as kids, the potential it had, because it was awesome. It was.

I mean, look, there was definitely certain buildings that weren't as good as nice as the other ones. But like we said, there were so many business. There were people walking around. There was cars going, you know, it was just, it was alive. It was. And I just think it's incredibly, I don't know what the word I'm looking for. I had an apartment on Main Street when I was younger.

Did you really? Yeah. I just think it's really commendable that you're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this.

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See Store for Details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. You want to go back and be like kind of the anchor to get it started. And I think if anyone can do it, it's you, man. I think being from there, you know, him and I are from the Mohawk Valley. We talk about it all the time on this show. Yeah, we know it's in rough shape, but we are rooting so hard for it. So thank you for doing this, man.

I think it's awesome. If you could, I've been trying to picture exactly where on Main Street you are. Where is your spot? So Main Street, so remember Kings Court Mall? Yep. Yes. I'm literally on the, you're facing the Mungers building. I'm on the left-hand side, 140.

Okay, you're right on that block. Right on that block. Gotcha. Same as that block. I was thinking you were farther down by. No. Is it that where there was a parking lot between a bank and stores? Correct.

So the bank, okay. And then Micey used to have his clothing shop. Yeah, yeah. Right next door to it. And is that where your beer garden? The beer garden. So the beer garden is kind of cool, man. So when I first looked at this property, I was living right around the corner,

never visualized, put together that this courtyard that is the back of the village hall and the police station and the fire department and the mongers, it was right there, right behind this restaurant space. And when I talked to Joe Chaleli that owns the property, he's like, oh, he got to see him out back. And I'm like, out back. So I go back there. And my mind is like, holy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. You're seeing it.

Man, and, you know, we've had a couple events there now for a couple family friends. And the best compliment I got about the beer garden is like, I don't feel like I'm in Hercimer anymore. That is a good compliment. And it's like it's, it's just a different feel. You know, I brought in two storage, like shipping crate containers, two 20 foot ones. And, you know, we had to clean them all up. And we had my friend Luke Michael and I, we cut down the doors, a panel, put up new doors, repainted it. I end up getting astroturf from a high school football field downstate.

Nice. The company takes it out and they put new ones down and then they have, you know, they want to recycle. So they use the pictures. The pictures look great. Man, it's, it's going to be a fun time, man. And it's just people say it's great for Herkimer, which it is. But I think it's great for the valley.

Yeah. It's great for all of Herkimer County because, I mean, there's maybe three restaurants that have an opportunity to have things like this, you know. Yeah. Yeah, and everyone's so close together. You know, when we were kids, it was the joke, like, I'm from Mohawk. I'm from Herkimer. If you look at it now, it's like, we're all in the same spot.

So it's not going to be out of the ordinary for people from Frankfurt to want to go. And I'm glad you said that too. So the story's stone, stone soup. My kids love that, love that, love the story. And it's the original one was about two soldiers that get lost. in the woods and they stumble across the village. And it was the middle of the winter. And all they wanted was something hot to eat and a warm place to stay.

And the village innkeeper shut the door on them. The restaurant closed the door on them, so they had no food. And it wasn't only because of a little kid that wanted to help them. So that's where, you know, all we need is a pot to cook some soup in. We have some stones. We're to make stone soup. Yes. So the kid's mother had.

happened to be the farmer, which is like, well, I have some vegetables to put into the soup. And then the butcher, like, well, I have some meat. And then the dairy farms are why I have some cream. So it's so, it meant a lot to me because it's an old saying. It takes a village to raise a kid. Sure, that's right. But it took a kid to actually raise the village together. And, you know, it's for like all the Tri-Valley areas.

I've gotten so much help from the community, not just from Harcimer, that, you know, they really like the story of why I'm doing this restaurant, why the name of the restaurant is. And it's just, you know, everyone came together to help me make this restaurant. And that's what I want to do is make something that's going to enrich the community. That's, you know, and that's where that, you know, Stone Soup really came from. My daughter, this was, you know, two and a half years ago, reading the books,

like, Daddy, that's a great name for a restaurant. Oh. You know, and, you know, it's a funny thing is, after I signed the contract for the, for the restaurant space on the Facebook feed, the two-year hot thing, whatever, it was a picture of me reading. No. Wow. Doing it was crazy.

Absolutely crazy, right? And I'm like, wow, my God, this is meant to be. Yeah. You know, that's one of those things. That is, I do remember that story, actually. And I love that. The whole story. It seems like there's a lot of just fate happening for you.

There is, man. I am a man of faith and fate. I really am. things happen for a reason. It has in my whole life. I try to let things happen organically as much as possible, but sometimes you've got to press that gas pedal down. Yeah.

But, you know, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. You know, I've been trying to do something in Hercru for the last two years. You know, we had another property I was looking at up the street more, and it just didn't work out. And, you know, and just take it on the chin. Yep. Get back to the grind again, you know, and then, but, you know, it just, it happened.

That's great. That's awesome. Rob, I'm going to regret this because it's going to make me hungry. I'm already. I want to learn a little bit more about the restaurant. What type of menu you've got to place? Yeah, that's the next question. Yeah, so lunchtime.

I'm going to be doing lunch and dinner. The lunch menu is going to be a classic American fair. So, you know, looking at smash burgers, but, you know, sometimes I like a greasy smash burger, but then I like a juicy grilled burger. Sure. So we have both options for you. Cool. Some elevated sandwiches. And then grinders, but we call them subs up here.

large salads and appetizers for lunch. And then dinner, my brother is really passionate about barbecue. He's been doing it for a while. Wow. I had a restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, and I learned a lot about barbecue out there also. Yeah. So we'll be doing barbecue during dinner time.

And then when it comes to like the dinner entrees, obviously, you know, because of the experiences I've been able to have in the culinary world, I've noticed, you know, America as a country, we've brought so many different cultures in. And then, you know, so like when different, like my grandparents came from Italy, one of the two things that made them feel connected from where they're from is food and music. Those are two of the most important things to me. When it comes to a restaurant is having great food and you've got to have a great ambiance.

So when I noticed that, you know, back in the 80s and 90s, chefs used to smash it together. Sorry. No, you can swear. Good. Oh, sweet. Shit. Poop. But anyway, so, you know, it's, they were trying to get, find correlating flavors and ingredients from different cultures and try to put those together.

And they kind of went a little crazy on that and they called a fusion. Okay. I like looking at history of food and where it came from and finding those correlating ingredients and trying to make sure those flavors do have some sort of history together. Yeah. To put those together. But I really like, like, I have a Korean Bebanbaum dish that's going to be highlighted, you know. Then I have a Vietnamese drunken noodle dish. Wow.

I have a clobbering pasta dish. So I want to celebrate and I want to celebrate different cultures and dishes from different cultures. Yeah. And keep those rotating. For me, it's a good way for me to do like a test market. You know, it's like my food in Rhode Island did well, but is it going to do different, it's going to do as well in a different community. Yeah. So for me to be able to keep on rotating my specials have, you know, five or six set menu items that I think professionally they'll do well.

But then to keep on rotating specials from different cultures. That's brilliant. You know, and find out what works in this community, what works in this. you know, the Utica area, you know, try to bring, I don't want to make just, so people from like Herkimer in Little Falls, they go to Syracuse and Albany. I go to Syracuse and Albany. Sure. Why not have them come down to Herkimer? That's right. You know, why, people like, why are you doing a restaurant? There's only so many bowls of riggies one can eat. Man, you know what? And I mean, look, and I might set that limit personally.

Ryan has the P. Case, yeah. They make a great greens and great place. Yes. That's not going to be on my menu. Right, right. You know, there's all the restaurants. and the value they have it. I don't want to do that. You know, go support them. Yeah. So I'm all about being, I think when I was in Memphis, the best thing I learned.

I'm saying, it's great that you have a place that you can get something slightly different. Yeah, you know, and it's like, as much as I love those dishes. So when I lived in Memphis, you know, the, I learned about history and hospitality when I went down in Memphis. I expected blues and I expected barbecue.

Uh-huh. But the history and the hospitality was bar none. But the restaurant community was so strong. Yeah. Because if you think about this, so, any larger city, there's restaurants everywhere, and there's more people just foot traffic. Yeah, sure.

That's the same vision I see happening in any town, any village, is if you have more than one option, all it's going to do is drive more people that come to that area. We just talked about this, it might have been yesterday, about, you know, I live in Ithaca, and I don't know if you've been to Ithaca, but the one thing Ithaca is known for is it's dining. I mean, we have more restaurants per capita than New York,

and we have everything from Vietnamese, You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com.

He's Ethiopian, Italian, Japanese, Greek, you name it, and it's all amazing. And it's everything you're talking about. Foot traffic, people, you know, from all over. It brings life back. It brings life back. That's what it really does. But we were talking about how, you know, you think when people get this impression that when other restaurants pop up, oh, no, this is competition. It's like, no, this is good.

Well, no, Mike, I think it is competition. Competition breeds success. It really does. Yes. You know? Yeah. It really does. But it's also, it's also a network and it's, and you're all creating something together.

Absolutely. You know, I think, you know, isn't it business 101? It's like if there's four steakhouses within five miles, don't open another steakhouse. Like, I think it's great that you're, you know what I mean, that you're not doing greens and you're not doing riggies. And I think that's what's going to set you apart. And I just hope, you know, have you thought about ways that you could get other businesses to come to Hercom or whether restaurant or not? It's a great segue. So actually yesterday, the village of Herkimer and Herkimer County, there's another grant that they've been working on.

It's called the Boa Grant. It's a Brownsfield project. So what they do is they bring a group of investors together, development investors together. And they had a great turnout at the Herkimer College yesterday. They had about 250 people there. Wow. Just investors. Yeah.

And then they had a meeting over at the Munger's building, actually, after that meeting. And they did a walking tour of Main Street. And so what the Boa Grant is, they put on a lot of the buildings that were, have nothing in it. They, it was a simple thing. They put a big window sticker. Yeah. You know, with, you know, opportunities. You know, they had like shadow characters of dining and standing at a bar.

Gotcha. So they did that on Main Street. And we had about 65 people yesterday. Kind of stage what there could be. Correct. And they went all the way up to the old jail, walked back down towards the cross Main Street. the courthouse and then they stopped at Stone Soup and they all came into the restaurant and they wanted to use my restaurant like listen here's a kid from Herkimer that left and came back

to herkimer great example here's a great example of investment opportunity you know and a lot one of the best things is it's like a kind of like a backhand compliment is you know I didn't expect it to look like this really you know right and it started off with the facade of the restaurant it's like I mean the restaurant was 65 percent turnkey but I really want, you know, I want to set a precedent on me. Yeah. Yeah. So that's why I put a lot of time and invested in a lot of capital into that facade of the

restaurant. And it looks gorgeous. Thank you. The brick. The brick and the wood, you know, and I just wanted to make it, it stands out, you know. And I hope classy joint. Right. And I really hope that exponentially, you know, business owners that are on there now and then

future investors on Main Street, see, hey, this is a standard here. Let's try to follow suit at least. Yeah. You know, so then then get back to the Boa grant yesterday, you know, we had people not even from Herkimer, which was fantastic, you know, and it's, they were in the restaurant, they were able to go out back and the storm held off long enough for us to be able to enjoy it outside in the beer garden. My brother made some barbecue for him and things like that. And, you know, it was a good time. And I had a lot of people from the county think, hey, Robbie, thank you for letting us use your restaurant. Because it was one of those buzzworthy things.

were like, yeah, actually they saw, like Matt Collis was part of the group. Matt. And, I mean, they're celebrating 50 years on Maine. Collis Hardware still there. 50 years, dude. Like, I still walk in the back door from the home house is, because my father did the same thing. Yeah. So I still walk in the back door.

Matt's there all the time. And Matt was, you know, he's the Collis family, the college hardware is another prime example of, hey, 50 years on Main Street in Herkimer. They're still doing great. Dude. You know, the funny thing is we were walking past college hardware, and the guy walks out, he just bought a lawnmower. They go, Mel. You know, everyone's going to buy a lawnmower.

We'd be doing just fine. Yeah, exactly. Right. But it's, you know, like Pete's pub, Brock Moore is doing a real great job over an end zone pub. You know? Asteroga's right around the corner. There's going to be a smoothie shop where Dom's Del used to be right in. Right.

This is what I'm talking. And it's really, it's one of those times where I, when I've seen restaurants pop up in communities it's almost like sometimes you're too late to the party kind of thing. Yeah. I've been wanted to do this and it popped up finally and I'm a curious chance to do it.

So I want to be on that ground floor and take the shit running. Yeah. I mean, very exciting. Right now you are the bar. And I think that's, congratulations, dude. You're the bar of what Main Street could be, you know?

And as someone, again, who's from the Mohawk Valley and Matt is too, and especially from someone who's from Herkimer, I think that's why this means so much. much to people what you're doing because we all know what it was and what it could be. Absolutely. And it takes someone that has seen that to be able to try to, not even replicate it, but to bring life back.

And, you know, here's the other thing that people forget about. Yeah, okay, Harkerman, New York, anyone outside of the Sarajevo, it's in the middle of nowhere. It's really not. It's right off of the through. And it's one of the very few. Literally in the middle. Yeah. Albany and Syracuse.

Right in the middle between Albany and Syracuse. if you ever need gas because I lived across the gas station right off the exit you know how many tour buses I saw stopped there you know it's one of those few exits where you're not driving three miles once you get off

to go get gas or food it's right there so there it can draw people from all over the place and state streets busy so it's got potential man really does have potential you know and it's like Jimmer Adams

you know he's a carpet store yeah Johnson's carpet you know so he took that over he could have gone anywhere else But he's from Hercimer and he had an opportunity to take that building over and business over. He worked there for like 15 years, you know. And Johnson's carping shit. That's been there forever.

Ever. You know? So it's a great thing. There's a core group of people. And it's awesome now that they're from Hercimer too. Yes. Yeah. You know, that want, they have the same vision.

They want to do it. You know, it's like, and now it's through the point where it's like, let's do it. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of things that you can talk about doing something. Yeah. But got a plan and then put into action. You're better together. The most important thing.

Yeah. We mentioned this yesterday. Like, just do it is the key that so many people miss out on. Just do it. It takes a lot. It's, some people are scared to do something because they've never done before.

Right. And then there's people that, like me before, is like, Robbie, do you really want to leave Rhode Island? Sure. Yeah. To do this. Yeah. And it was maybe a five-minute conversation with myself.

Sure. There's, you know, it's sometimes, man, it's just, you got to take that leap of faith kind of thing and just got to do it. You know what's interesting and you mentioned in a lot of people, unfortunately, locally don't get this. I didn't get this when I was a local person growing up in the valley and working a local computer store and just seeing how people are interacting and their thoughts on money and all these different things. You know, they see the state of the place and it's in decline and it looks like hell. And their thought is this is worthless. It's the opposite. Reality is, if you're a businessman, if you're a investor of any sort, you see a place where the real estate is dirt cheap.

There's ample workforce. And it's right in the middle of the state where this massive, massive expansion is happening on both ends. Correct. So there's no choice. And it might take a little longer than in Syracuse or in Albany. But soon all these people who can't afford a house in Syracuse and Albany. Yeah, Mike run. We run out of them.

Dude, absolutely. This is where they're going to land. Yeah. And the smart folks know like you is get in, grab that dirt cheap real estate today. It's opportunity. Make it something incredible. You'll have the audience for it before you know it. And you're so right.

And by the way, thank God for the Matt Collises and the Jimmer Adams that just grin and bear it and stayed there because it made it easier for you to come back and not be the lone soldier on the block. Right. And now I think with you guys all together. and you know what's crazy, the name of your restaurant, as you said before. Stone Soup American Bistro and Beer Garden, the story of how it takes a village. And that's literally what is happening. The village is coming together to raise the community, man. I'm sorry.

It makes you feel good, right? I want to run through a wall. Did you mention Pete's is still there? Oh, there, man. Feesiotto's still there. You know, there's a lot of stuff that is still doing well. Pete's was my favorite. Dude.

Cheap beer. They had to close down for about a month because the building next to it started crumbling the back of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they opened back up a couple weeks ago. Back in the day. I could tell you some stories from the couple days. When it was, you know, Glory Days, Brownies, Albany Street, Peaths. It was awesome.

But you, but if you had told me, you know, 15, 20 years ago, like, dude, pizza's going to outlast all these. I'd go, you're crazy. And they have, man. Yep. And they have. And I wish nothing but the best for you, for everybody. this is so exciting man we are rooting for you

and you've got to come back on any time before we go though what do you I'm not gonna where do you see yourself in five years but what's your vision in the near future or maybe the distant future for for maybe stone soup but also for Main Street and her

I know so I like a businessman I am there's that one three and five year plan um are my immediate hope is the building next to us to buy that out, knock the wall down between that and the restaurant's piece now to grow that out.

And then upstairs, there's a second floor. We're going to turn that into private dining and then put another kitchen upstairs because on the second floor of Mungers will have the largest banquet facility in the county. So that's, yep. And then Joe Chaleli, he has another retail space that is at the very end of Mungers.

There's a parking lot between Woolworth's and this little spot. Okay, I got Woolworths. Okay, and my favorite dessert is Afigado. I like gelato and espresso. So I really would like to put, you know, like an Italian, call it. I don't think I've ever- Called it Afrogato.

Fresh gelato, sorbets, and espresso shop there. This is restaurant number one. I'm a restaurateur. I always be a chef no matter what, but, you know, my age, now they were getting at, you know, want to be a restaurant tour and that's for me to to build something for my children and still help the community at the same time yeah the only way i do that is the restaurant business and so you

know we'll be growing um within the our four walls hopefully be able to knock down another wall um but you know we have a lot of things planned up for this year um as soon as that you know the weather gets better for us yeah our grand opening is going to be when my kids are out of school they want definitely might them cut the ribbon down um You know, live music stuff back there. Maybe someone I know to the right of me might be able to play some music for us. I mean, I may have done that before, yes. Yeah, of course.

But, you know, it's... A little bit. Yeah, so there's a lot of things. My brother and I were really excited for the opportunities that we want to do. We really want to... The opportunities are there. It's just we want to do it. You are.

Yeah. We're getting there, Mike. Dude, I'm so happy for you. I'm so proud of you, man. Like, I just... You're a... friend of mine from from from high school that's a bond you always have right and and uh now you're a friend of the show so you got to come back on and talk more about this absolutely um yeah Robbie serillo

stone soup make sure I say right American bistro and beer garden yes sir on main street and her what are the other plugs give what do you want to plug you know what addresses social media what do you got so um you can find us on facebook and um uh stone soup on facebook and then um if you guys want I'm looking at for another full-time line cook and just maybe one or two more servers. Mike's not really good at cut it. You can email me at Robert NOM. Really good at this either, so I might need. At eat at stone soup.com.

And then, yeah, it's, I don't want to plug away the restaurant itself too much, but I just want to thank the community that I've had so much help from the community. And Herkimer, we will make it. We will. I'm sorry. Did you have a date for the grand opening or is that still a little there? So we're going to be doing a soft opening in two weeks. We'll be doing just lunch.

and then we'll do the following week we'll do a soft opening of just dinner and then the following week after that we'll be doing the full lunch and dinner kind of thing grand opening it's like playing darts right you have a bullseye

and then you throw it you can hit a little to the right you can hit it a little to the bottom so I just want to make sure that I have all the ducks and row eyes and teas you know and I don't want to do this wrong I want to do it right

yeah and you will and you are man And you strike me as a guy that that we're going to see. If we come to the restaurant, you're getting your hands dirty in the kitchen. Absolutely. You were always that way, man. I am. You know, and it's like I'll be popping back and forth. But, you know, fortunately, I have my brother that he's going to be my right hand man in the kitchen.

But, yeah. We'll have to come down and shoot an episode there. I was just going to say, yeah, we definitely will do it for the grand opening. Do it down at the door. You'll have us, man. I'd also love to. I'd love to connect with the other folks and maybe do it. We'll do like a little video tour of the mungers building and things like that.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We can do like a hometown Hercimer like opportunity special. Like guys, look at it. Because I'm glad you said something about line cooks because the brilliancy of Matt, he said part of the show is he wants to connect employees and employer, people looking for jobs. Employers looking for employees. I mean, in my world or in any world, I just feel like the most loving thing you can do is give somebody a job or, you know, or an opportunity. I know some talented cooks in the valley, too.

We've got to share this clip. Yeah, well, we're going to, we'll do as much as we can for you, but we're rooting for you, Pat. And any time you want to come back, you got something, whether it's your restaurant, whether it's, you know, good news about Herkimer. Absolutely. We want to hear it. And I love the fact that, you know, good news York. I love it. Then I had, you know, went on Facebook.

And it's all about, it's just good news happening in New York. 100%. And it's just, I'm like, this is perfect. It's a perfect thing. That's why I sought you out. You know, again, you're a friend from 100. high school and you're doing something great. And that's what this show's about.

When Matt started this, I mean, is there, just like you said, you go to downtown Main Street, right? And you go, oh, God, look how bad it. No, it's an opportunity. You read social media, you read the news. It's all negative. It's all doom and gloom. There's an opportunity for good news.

And that's where we're here. And it's not roses and sunshine. We can say shit. We can say fuck. We want to highlight this stuff because it's important. And that's what matters, man. It is. And, you know, you've got it even a little tougher in your area. But here we are in Syracuse, we got this Micron thing happening. It's the biggest thing in the history of ever. Yeah. As big as theory can. And if, but if you go online, you still got, you know, a steady contingent of it'll never happen. And, you know, these people I'm convinced are going to stand in the factory.

You know what it's going to have always. People always want to see you can't do this. You can't do that. It drives me even more. Yeah. Same. Same. Now I really want to get it done. And that's why we love highlighting it, you know, and we're talking to businesses. We're talking to comedians and entertainers and just trying to share the awesome things about the entire New York City. And if we can connect. Glad to have you. People together, too, you know, obviously having you on the show is great and we're promoting your restaurant.

If you end up getting a cook from this or maybe someone sees this and they come to your restaurant, like even if it's one person, then we did our job. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm just so, I'm so happy. I mean, it means more to me. than most people because it's where I'm from. Yeah. And so I can't say it enough.

I'm rooting for you. I'm proud of you. It's great to hear a story about it being built up. Yeah. It really is. Rather than something bad. So, you know. Go to Main Street and Herkimer or else.

Yeah, Robbie Cirillo, Stone Soup, American Bistro and Beer Garden. I'll leave you with a funny story. Let's do it. Main Street and Herkimer is where I first encountered you. Oh, fuck. What was I doing? You were you were

You were singing in a band On the stage at Brownies And I was standing there going Who's this asshole with all these girls around him? Like what? He must think he's something special You did always have quite an entourage If I remember correctly

Doug was my first band Actually technical Willie was my first band But Doug Honestly we've gone back and forth When we were younger sharing memories Of hanging out at the coffee bar And then like I said later Brownies and Glory Days

Which that building doesn't even exist anymore which is crazy. I always loved this guy. We would only cross paths every now and then. He was familiar and I was from Hercra. We had a lot of mutual friends, but not really good. But you remember when you would walk in the coffee bar and you'd smell clove cigarettes? You'd think, what assholes do?

Charms. Yeah, you'd go, what asshole smoking it? It was this fucking guy. It wasn't exclusively me. Like, we had a whole, that's where I got the idea. You admitted it and I was the thing to do. I still love those things. I hated those.

They banned them. They banned flavored cigarettes. So they got rid of them. Now you can get them, but they're slightly different and they call them cigars. Very slightly different. You can polish a turd. I mean, you can't. I know what a yummy.

They were good. They would snap. They would snap when you inhaled. It was like snap, crackle pop. I don't know. Anyway, enough about cigarettes. What are we doing? Robbie Cirillo, again, Stone Soup, American Bistro and Beer Garden on Main Street in Herkimer.

Is it 118, Maine? I botched that one. Don't go to 118. Only a couple blocks off. You'll find it. We can edit that. Yeah, exactly. 148 Main Street.

I love you. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you. All right, we'll be back after this, whatever this is. We don't have breaks, but we'll, yeah. We've got to get some. We'll get some breaks.