The 85 South Show with Karlous Miller, DC Young Fly and Chico Bean - #BlackMarket- Nouveau Bar & Grill w/ Karlous Miller and Chico Bean

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

Karlous Miller and Chico Bean sit down with Ebony Austin and Rob Grover from Nouveau Bar & Grill in Atlanta! || Subscribe to 85 SOUTH on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/The85SouthShow || Twitter/IG: @85SouthShow || Our Website: www.85southshow.com || Custom Merch: www.85apparelco.com  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Join IHeart Radio and Sarah Spain in celebrating the one-year anniversary of IHart Women's Sports. With powerful interviews and insider analysis, our shows have connected fans with the heart of women's sports. In just one year, the network has launched 15 shows and built a community united by passion. Podcasts that amplify the voices of women in sports.

Thank you for supporting IHeart women's sports and our founding sponsors, Elf Beauty, Capital One, and Novartis. Just open the free IHeart app and search IHeard women's sports to listen now. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp

for the rest of my life what that meant. For My Heart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. But in 2014, the youngest escaped. Listen to the children.

Turning River Road on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace.

You discover the depths of your mother's illness. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the powerful stories I'll be mining on our upcoming 12th season of family secrets. We continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The OGs of Uncensored Motherhood are back and badder than ever. I'm Erica. And I'm Mila.

And we're the host of the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast, brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network every Wednesday. Yeah, we're moms, but not your mommy. Historically, men talk too much. And women have quietly listened. And all that stops here. If you like witty women, then this is your tribe. Listen to the Good Mom's Bad Choices. podcast every Wednesday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you go to find your podcast. What's the black market without a food court? I mean, you just put that one all the way in perspective. And what's a food court without sold? Come on, now? I mean, we got to talk about it, man. We got some special people here. Do you see this billboard beside you?

Yeah, it looked like the cover of a black novel from the 90s. That's what that looks like. Boy, you was this coach. That looked like something Sister Soldier wrote right there. Come on, man. That's how you, look at this. When you got this men, accomplishments you have to print it on the long paper yeah come on chico all the way chico man

we got very special guests in the black market with us today without further ado you know you see the grits yeah and i want to just start right there with the grits pick up from the grits and introduce yourself to the world right now well we don't introduce ourselves like this we new vote first and foremost new vote that's who we are yeah we appreciate everybody for recognizing us but we Nouveau. Right here is the owner, the CEO of Nouveau, Ebony Austin, which is my sister. Okay. That's what you all see right there on that Sheen magazine company, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

I'm her brother. I'm Rob Grover. I'm the director of operations for all the Nouveau brand. We just trying to do something great out here, man. This is your sister. Indeed. Your little sister? Yeah, she's a little younger. But she's been on her grind for a long time. her grind for a long time.

What's it like telling your big brother what to do? I don't. He pretty much runs it. Like, we think a lot alike. So I think when both people think a lot of like, it just makes it that much easier, right? Yeah. And you are from the south side of Chicago.

Negative, I'm from the west side of Chicago. Who fuck broke this? Who printed this wrong shit? Who printed this wrong-ass, wrong-ass shit? You got this lady all mixed up, really? You got the south side. and she's from out west 290 y'all tripping how do you know about that 290 man come on man i know about chicago man we go we're on our way to the shot man man that's in chicago

but transitioning from chicago it says in in you i hope this part is right did you always dream of moving to Atlanta or is that a typo too absolutely i love Atlanta you love Atlanta so what did that love come from uh i think i used to come down a lot for luda weekend and just to see the support that Atlanta would give when we would just come down for his charity event it just gave me a different love for Atlanta. I would go to the different restaurants and see that it was black-owned. We had different clubs

and you see all of these black entrepreneurs, these promoters, and just to see what black excellence look like, right? When you think of that, you think of Atlanta. And so for me, it was, hey, I need to get to Atlanta. Let me get my business set all the way together in Chicago and then the next move

would be Atlanta and that's just what happened. Hey, Luda be saving people because I'm Damn show did some community service over there at the Ludacris Foundation and got extra hours and credit. Shout out to the Ludacris Foundation, bro. Oh, yeah, you had to do it for some. You think I'm playing. I don't think you plan.

I had to do my community service. We're getting out greens for Christmas and turkeys and everything. Yeah, that's why I'm glad. That's why you write about Atlanta. Ain't no places to do no shit like that where I was living at. I had to go to the Goodwill with the white people. And they made you do every hour. Mm-mm.

I'm out there sweeping up. dust in front of the goodwill. It's like, man, this shit's supposed to have dust on it. It's the goodwill. This is crazy. So you say your business in Chicago, so did you start New Orleans in Chicago? No, so I started my own real estate investment company in Chicago. I wanted to kind of change the community of where I grew up in Chicago.

So I started with one property at a time, rehabbing properties, buying different properties, flipping properties, and then I kind of moved that on to another state and started building houses from the ground up. And now I'm in Atlanta building as well. I still have my real estate company. Okay, well, what made you want to go into the food? Did you have a love for cooking? I love people, most importantly. And knowing that I love people in cooking,

I just tied the two together and did two things that I absolutely enjoy. And that's where the restaurant came from. That's dope as hell, especially keeping it in the family, though. Absolutely. I love your pearls on your necklace. Hey. On your glasses. It just gives us a serious.

to it that just makes everything believable. I just don't feel like you plan. I'm not. You can tell you that. And it says you started during the pandemic, so, you know, you went through. I'm sure that was a very unique process starting your business and then everything shut down. But it says you paid your rent a year in advance, which is amazing. Because any black person that pay rent a year in advance is a special type of new year, man.

All the way, man. So you get kudos. for that. So talk about the process of making it through that point to get to where you are now. Oh, it was hard as hell. Just looking down Main Street, you think of all of these black-owned businesses, right? This on Main Street. And at one point, we had just kind of got a flow. And then all of a sudden, everything shut down. So you go from seeing hundreds of people outside and to seeing literally yourself outside. So there was times where it would just be me, my chef, and my bartender, like literally on a Tuesday, we would make $12. And that would

be because of the bartender buying food. So, of course, it was hard, but, I mean, those type of situations are only for the strong, right? If it don't scare you, then why even do it? And so, in my mind, I trusted God's plan, and outside of that, I knew that my staff was taking care of, not only that we have the rent paid up, but we had what that salary would look like for my staff for a year paid up. So my staff never really caught the pandemic because they were always in a good situation. I just like how y'all get that.

I mean, because you want it, but that. One of the things that her and I talked about a lot was how the pandemic was a blessed curse. Yeah. You know, everybody shut down. But this one here, soon as they said, open it back up, she opened it up. And that's where we found a lot of people that were looking for that escape to get out of the house. They had been in the house for a while. And it was like they just started coming to Nouveau.

Then they started telling another person, hey, y'all heard about that spot on Nouveau? that's spot in college park on Main Street. Man, they got a rooftop, they got a patio. They got this, they got that. The food is bussing. And then we started with the relationship with Mimosa Jams. Absolutely. Explain what that is.

So Mimosa Jams started out between her creation and our DJ name Allende and Kondo. And it became something where they said, hey, we need to get something to get the people together. We want to do a celebration of life. There's so much death going on. Let's get a celebration of life going on. So, our, we sell bottomless mimosas on the weekend. On Sunday, we do the celebration of life. And we have a host with the DJ and the energy inside of that place.

Well, if you walk in with a bad, and feeling bad, you will walk out of it on Cloud 9. He touches, the host touches each person in a certain way, whether it's a kid, whether it's an 80-year-old woman. We've had 80-year-old women in there dancing. Off the mimosis. them omotas and off that energy. You thought it was the energy. It's the drinks, man. The mooses do here, now.

There's the mimosas. They do so. It's the energy. That's the energy. That whole, the pandemic really was a blessing for us because that's how people started to truly know about us. Like, getting that escape. Come on, man.

How many of us were in the house like, man, I want to get out, man. But nothing was open. I went back to Chicago. She hit me and said, no, get your ass back down here. And I came back down, and the next thing you know, we were right there. And you said she don't tell you what to do. She's not. Now, you know, speaking of what you just spoke to about, you know, just the celebration of life

and having a division to be able to give people a different experience, like, does that come from? A lot of that come from which you guys' background is coming out of Chicago and the stigma that Chicago has. And you don't know until you go to Chicago is one of the most beautiful cities. world, the people, I mean, everything, like that stigma that they get about it being so violent, it's like that everywhere. And I don't know why they project that, but coming from the city and then moving to somewhere like Atlanta where the environment is totally different, do you feel like that's something that motivated y'all that want to give people here that

experience? You go out way more than I do. All right, so I love Chicago. Anybody that's from Chicago will tell you, hey, they love Chicago more than anything else. Like, I don't care What you say? Like, don't get me wrong. Atlanta's fly. I've been coming to Atlanta since 2006. Every year I came for Luda Day weekend with Luda and all them. We was together all the time.

But Chicago, it's just something about it from the food to the environment to the energy. To the whim. No, Atlanta women, let me stop. Let me stop. That's got some heat, man. Yeah, let me go to Chicago women, you fuck around and get you some grits. That's the one you got to do it. But, like, truly, when you talk about, like, you said it best, they try to put this image about Chicago like, hey, it's all this, man, everywhere you go, you got violence, you know?

Poverty brings about violence, too. You know, the critical decision-making skills, you don't learn that in the hood. Like, you respond to a problem, man, I'm going to get at this dude, you know what I'm saying? So when you take that and you put that in these urban areas, of course it's going to be crazy. But then you got suburbs, you got downtown, you got all these places where it ain't happening like that. And it's great to live there. I tell people all the time, don't go to Chicago in the winter. Go to summertime shot.

Go summertime shot. Experience the lakefront. Hell yeah. This gunshot's in the distance. They're not close. The gunshots is down that way over the distance, man. And they're not worried about you. I didn't bet.

I just was in Chicago this past summer. And I forget what, I went to a Jamaican restaurant. I can't remember the name of it. But I just went out and then walked and just walked around. It was like people on the corner playing music and, you know, just black people everywhere. And it was, you know, I'm from D.C. and I grew up in a city that had that type of culture. And anywhere that I go that still has that type of feel, I love. So Chicago is one of the most beautiful cities.

But when you come from Chicago and come to Atlanta and see the difference, like you said. It's very different. And the difference, like, what parts of Chicago do you guys bring to Atlanta? Like, what makes you guys unique in y'all experience being here? The food, for one. We're going to say that right off the bat. Like, the level of taste that we bring as a brand is outstanding. We cook a little different in Chicago.

We cook a little different. The seasons hit a little different. Atlanta got some. You know, because they, in Chicago, we were from Mississippi. So a lot of them, you are. A lot of them. So we cook a little different. But most importantly, though, I think the experience,

It's kind of put you in that downtown vibe when you go to a rooftop party, a day party, right? That's kind of the experience that we want people to feel. But I also want people to come in with their families, their kids, and still have a great time. I mean, literally, we cater to people from nine years old up until your 70-year-olds that want to twerk inside of Nouveau. I mean, it's just really the different. That's what I say. I want to come host one of them Sunday devotions with bottomless mimosa. 70-year-old.

Just being there with a suit on. Get your ass in here. 68-no will come sign up for the twilight. competition, baby. It's going down, but you're going to stay up. That's what it is. It's going to be live. I want to host Nana Jam. One thing about

Atlanta? Did you just say, Nana Jam? Nana Jam. But one thing about Atlanta that I love, right? And this is a straight fact. In Chicago, we ain't helping each other. It's just not like that.

It's just in Atlanta, you might be doing something. You're going to pull her on here and get to expose her and say, hey, tell us a little bit about yourself. It's a lot of hatred in Chicago, especially when you have somebody that's successful. And then the politicians in a bureaucracy as far as getting a liquor license. If you ain't white, you're not getting no liquor license. I'm telling you that, like, you have to have a white partner. And if you don't, if you happen to get lucky, if anything happens, they shutting you down immediately.

Right. Absolutely. It's just, it's a weird. It's a segregated city. It really is. remember we as as black people we can change that yeah because just like you said we got this platform we want you to come on and tell everybody about it so when we do an event we can do it at your spot and then other people in the city can say oh i want to use that spot so we create we're going to create our own network that's what this whole thing is about it's falling about the network in the exchange of information because we're still a hundred years behind in communication Because it used to be against the law for us to congregate and speak and exchange the information. And that was not for a reason.

So all of this is new. We're still a young culture as black people. We're still a young people because we still got five, six, seven hundred years of discommunication. So we're still learning how to do business with each other. So learning how to talk to each other, how to treat each other, how to treat each other, how to respect each other. But as long as we have platforms like this, where we can come on and we can exchange this information. and you can drop your location and you can tell these people

where to support you and where to hit your website because there's people watching this all over the world somebody want to make them reservations and I want you to feel the impact of the people that's supporting us because they support the people

that we support that's why we appreciate y'all bringing your business to the black market and the black market is over now tell us where to get these goddamn grits so yeah the grits you can go on our website and order them as well.

You can go to Shopify, and there's Nouveau Bar ATL as well. And then all of the proceeds go to HBCUs. I went to HBCU. Which one? So I went to Lainston University. We went to Lansing. Absolutely.

And I just remember the struggle, right? I remember working two jobs barely keeping my scholarship, keeping my grades up. I remember my mom telling me like, yo, you're going to have to figure this out. I'm not going to pay your tuition. I'm not helping with financial. You're going to have to figure this out.

Same thing my mama told me. Yeah, but in that, right, it gives another beauty of strength, right? That we don't even know that we're getting, right? Until we are actually at another age and now it's time to perform. And now little things, you just look at it and you keep going, right? Because now you feel like you're unstoppable at this point, right? And so for me it was like, okay, how do I finish school with no support, right? What does that look like?

And so I never want people to go through what I went through. went through. So when we did Nouveau and my grits would do so well, I said, hey, you know what? I want to give back to the HBCUs, but not once a year, right? I want to give back every single day that Nouveau is opening. And what that does is, it looks like my grit line. Every single purchase goes, Nouveau don't see none of those dollars. It literally goes to other African-American students that had the same struggle that I had growing up and going into college. So for us, this grit line, that's my baby, because this is my way of giving back to people. that looked like me.

I'm not going to say how many years ago. Why not? You sure or shit. That's a blessing. Look at how good you're looking on the goddamn look at this. Look at you. Yeah, they don't just put everybody on the front of magazines. Exactly.

You should be, and that's another thing. I want to speak to that, just to be proud of the progression and the transition that you made, no matter how many, how long it's taken, how many years it's been. It's a blessing because look at you. You know what I mean? You look like it's bigger than just. just what you're putting on paper or what you're selling to somebody.

When they see you, they see that you are the, you know, personification of what success looks like. Girl, you got pearls on your glass. Exactly. And that level of progression that you've made is the motivation that not just the money. The money is great. Don't get me wrong. You need that. But you need also the motivation to know that there's somebody that I can look at and see that has walked this journey and made it to a certain point.

So I can be motivated no matter what it is I go through because I see. you. I see a winner. I see a success story. So that's beautiful, man. We can't let y'all get out of here without you giving some advice to the young black girls who are watching this and you drop some game on the young black men who might be watching. I guess for me, I say this all the time. When I think about myself, I told people all the time, just do it. Whether you're scared, whether the finances are there or not like figure it out, just do it. Whatever it is that you go to sleep thinking about, you wake up in the morning and thinking about whatever it is that you're extremely passionate about,

just do it, be consistent in it, and trust God. The rest is history, though. Once you do that, the rest is history. Once you do something every single day, you learn to perfect it, right? You learn the mistakes that you've made. You learn the things that you've done right. And most importantly, you're at some point, it'll reach where it needs to reach, right? Because you're trying it every single day.

But the key is being consistent in doing it. For me, it's more so of, man, listen, everything that glitters ain't gold. For all our young brothers who are out here trying to live a certain way because of what you're seeing on Instagram and all that, man, that ain't real. That ain't real. What's real is getting up every day, making a goal for yourself and focusing on it. Like, man, what somebody got today don't mean they're going to have it tomorrow. What you work for every day to get to, man, you can achieve it. I don't care what you.

When people really know somebody's story, you got a story like you just talked about earlier. Like, man, I had to go through this. I had to go through that. And you're here now. Same with you. Same with me. I got a story that, man, it's probably going to come out one day that they're able to tell people like, everybody go through trials and tribulations, man.

Don't give up. Just keep on striving, man. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep pushing all the way, man. This is beautiful. Thanks. So, main street location and now the Jones Borough and y'all just did a firehouse. Was it a fire house subs or was it a firehouse? Like an actual firehouse. It was the actual firehouse museum. Okay. So, and let me, let's, let's give her her flowers because. Okay. Everybody around was telling her, now don't put nothing out there. Don't put nothing out there. And she said, that's exactly why I'm going to put something out there. And when I tell you, the blessings have flowed from that space, like, I don't know if y'all even heard about

like we do the R&B Thursdays out there where acts everybody from Tank, Vito, Tamar, Cressette Michelle. Kay Michelle. We've had so many talented acts come out there and perform. I'm about this time. Man, y'all are going to.

I'm coming. I'm being working this. Yeah, don't get me at night. Come on. Come on. For real, we got a sneaker ball coming up on Thursday. Tank is performing.

We have some other special guests performing. I'll see the kicks. Oh, the sneaker ball. I don't want us to come through. Yeah, we go. Yeah, we go. Yeah, we do.

And I got my shirt off like my dad. Yeah, it might be unfair. We come to me. Who knows? You can't get them. You can't get it. But God bless. Hey, man, we more than appreciate y'all stopping through the black market, man.

Drop the website one more time, let them know where they can reach y'all and all that. Don't forget, too. Social media, everything. We're going to do something for the community for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas, we're going to put some people in houses for Christmas. We're going to do laptops, Xboxes, PlayStation. This is our third year doing it.

So our Christmas event is definitely going to be amazing. Coming down there to get me one of them houses. Come on. Listen, I take it. I take it a turn. We got a house. Our website is www. Nouveau Bar.com.

What's the Instagram? Nouveau Bar A-TL. Yeah. Nouveau Bar A-T-L. And we definitely want, you can make your reservations there. You can purchase things there. on our social media platforms, everything. Well, wait, wait,

before you ring that bell, before you ring that bell, I see the ring and ring and ring and coming. So I want people to know a lot, like they know about the brand. We're getting our brand up. I need people to know about her. See, she won't promote herself.

Like, so we have, you see her on that magazine cover for one, but follow her at Ebony Akira on Instagram, At Ebony Akira. We're about to make people know what this woman is doing. What type of effort she's put in this community? She's not going to tell you that she bought all these books from black authors and gave them to schools. She ain't going to tell you all that. She's going to tell you all the things that she knows.

That's what you're supposed to do. And that's why I'm doing it. Do it. You feel it. What is you? Ebony Akira. So it's E-B-O-N-Y-A-K-I-R-A. Go start back with the old pictures, Chico.

I'm going. Go, you know how we do it. Go way back. He's going to go away out there doing out west 290, the goddamn Chicago. You already know. Listen, listen, I'm not about the city. I know about the city, man, all the way. Yeah, he knows for real for work.

He stopped footworking. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, that's what I want people to really get an idea of who she is. Like, she's not going to brag on how much real estate she did. She can brag on this show. She don't like to. Bragg. Give us a.

I'll just say God is amazing. We know. And I think I'm an example of what young people can do. I came from the west side of Chicago off of Independence, off of the 290 where everybody that you seen, majority of them was on drugs. And then the other half was trying to figure it out.

We were taught that, hey, you're going to go to school, you're going to work a 9-a-5, and that's life. And for me, that just wasn't enough. So when people look at me, I do want people to see that anything is possible. My faith in God is extremely high, of course. but, I mean, to have the real estate and where I've come from

and to have properties that's in my hood. I didn't want to go to the suburbs. So all the properties that I purchased are in my hood. And that's the beauty of it. So for other young people, I just want people to know that it's possible

you're a step away from your dreams. That was the classiest. That was the classiest brand. My properties are in my hood. I didn't want to go outside of my hood. Yeah, we love it. Hey, man, I've been ring the film. You be ringing the ball.

Bring it. It's over, man. Join Iheart Radio and Sarah Spain in celebrating the one year anniversary of Iheart women's sports. With powerful interviews and insider analysis, our shows have connected fans with the heart of women's sports. In just one year, the network has launched 15 shows and built a community united by passion. Podcasts that. Amplify the voices of women in sports. Thank you for supporting IHeart Women's Sports

and our founding sponsors, Elf Beauty, Capital One, and Novartis. Just open the free IHeart app and search IHeard Women's Sports to listen now. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant. For My Heart Podcasts in Rococo Punch,

this is The Turning, River Road. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls, and force them into a secret life of abuse. But in 2014, the youngest escaped. Listen to the Turning River Road on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebeney,

the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebeney, and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace.

You discover the depths of your mother's illness. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the powerful stories I'll be mining on our upcoming 12th season of family secrets. We continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The OGs of Uncensored Motherhood are back and badder than ever. I'm Erica. And I'm Mila.

And we're the host of the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast, brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network every Wednesday. Yeah, we're moms, but not your mommy. Historically, men talk too much. Women have quietly listened. And all that stops here. If you like witty women, then this is your tribe. Listen to the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast every Wednesday on the Black Effect podcast network, the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you go to find your podcast.

This is an IHeart podcast.