 Welcome to the Maine course with me, Natalie Rock. Growing up in a small town in Minnesota, the only exciting cuisine was that of our state fair. Now that I'm in Maine, I am so excited to meet all the talented chefs that create such delicious and unique food. Come with me as I explore Maine and all the different foods it has to offer. Having us today, it's so great to be here. I would just want to get us started by asking how you guys got started in Westbrook. You know, the Frog and Turtle has been here for a few years. I just want to get some background and some history. Yeah, we've been here actually 15 years coming up this month. And it starts as any restaurant starts, you know, with a dream and a vision. And I had cooked for many years, working for different owners up and down the East Coast. And I finally got a chance to open a restaurant or take over a restaurant called Oofa in Portland with this gentleman, Todd Waters. And after about four years, I had bought him out. And it was a small like 40 seat restaurant and it was a little bit more higher end. And you know, it was all right, but it was always just going to be a paycheck. And then, you know, I had a new wife at the time and I'm a baby on the way. And I wanted to do something that was going to generate a little bit more revenue from the family. And we had bought a multi-unit out here in Westbrook. And so we were looking for new locations to move to. Our lease was coming up. We found this spot. It used to be Chickie's Fine Diner. And before that, it was the cornerstone. So it had some nice history to Westbrook. And it was a good prime spot. And we came in, we renovated it, made it our own. And after, I would say about eight years that Cody's had been dining from Oofa and followed us out here. They actually lived in Westbrook. And I was at the end of my wits of trying to be, can I be a chef? Can I be a restaurant owner? How do I do on boats? And the restaurant's getting great reviews and it's blowing up and we're busy. And I took Guy out for a cup of coffee. It was the best worst cup of coffee ever. And talked to him about, like, Guy's been very successful in the engineering field and with his company previous. And so I was like, hey, how do you do it? How do you manage it all? And I'm just, I just can't do boats. And he called me back up a couple days later and he said, what do you think about us buying in partnering and they came in with a very small percentage just as the joke was, if nothing else, we'll eat for free. And then after like about a year or so, we all sat down and we had a chance to buy the building and then doing, buying the building, they understood the next vision, which was to build everything you see up here and expand the kitchen. So we're able to produce the food necessary for two floors and yeah, it was really truly, truly awesome. And at that point, we've just been 50, 50 partners together and it's truly been a wonderful, wonderful experience. And, you know, I worked very hard for so long and then that really became the opportunity of a lifetime meeting the co-tees and having them come in. So, always super grateful. So Guy, you have a background in environmental engineering. I wanted to know if you had any background in restaurant. Only in high school. Three years at daring ice cream, scooping ice cream and a short order cut. So, but at the same time, it did give me some insight into the restaurant business, you know, working 60, 70 hours a week as a high school student kid. I did get to see and meet a lot of really great people in that business and to understand the commitment it takes. Definitely, definitely. For a restaurant. And as you are now a part owner of the Frog and the Turtle, how has your experience been owning a restaurant, you know, and being able to help management manage it? Are you falling in love with it more? Are you? Yes. Certainly, I think originally it was more of a silent partner role for Jane and I. And with COVID, it's been all hands on deck. And it's, and actually we've had to think outside the box to, for these last two years, to make sure that the lights stay on and the employment. We have a great staff here. They work really hard. Frog and the Turtle, that's a bit of a unique name. I have to know if there's a story. Well, as any good name, there's a story. So, when we first started looking at like our concept and what we wanted to do, like we broke it down to like different categories from your fine dining restaurant to your chain restaurant to your local pub to look at all the pros and cons of them all and what you liked about one, what you didn't like for other, like your local pub, the bartender knew your names, you knew your drink, but the food was never really that good. You know, your high-end restaurants, the food's awesome. Like, you know, it's pricey and this. So we were like, how do we make like an everyday eatery that still has chefs cooking from scratch, but you could get like a really amazing burger or you could get really a pizza with like top ingredients on it, like pancetta and stuff. Things that you just really weren't seeing, you know, 18 years ago, 15 years ago and in the search of it and looking at stuff, you know, the internet's kind of coming up big and like we started hearing about all these gastropubs in Europe and just really looked at kind of duplicating that formula because we were like, wow, it's pretty much what we're doing. It was just finally someone put a name to it. And so, you know, that's what we went. We don't really focus so much on the gastropub part of it anymore. We just kind of just say we're a pub, but the original gastropub was called the eagle. So we wanted to pay like a little bit tribute to that. So we wanted to use animals. We're French, Canadian, my wife at the time, Heidi, you know, we're both, she was from Northern Maine. I was, you know, Sanford on the Midtown. So we knew it was going to be the frog and at first it was going to be the frog and pig. And then we were like, I don't know. And then we were thinking about frog and toad because they were both aquatic animals that Heidi was like, well, nobody likes toads. They're ugly and they're disgusting. And I just don't see it. And she's like, what about turtles? And they're like right there. It was like that beam of like, I'll go go go go go. You can see them both hanging out on the, you know, the log together. They're not enemies. They're both in the pond together. So, you know, the frog always kind of represented our French, Canadian history. The turtles are like everybody else. So you're all coming together, hanging out in the pond together, speaking. That's kind of it. If anyone knows me, I'm kind of like a mile of minute all over the place. Like a frog, Heidi is very methodical. So she was kind of like a turtle even though she's a French, Canadian too. So like they're just with tons of plays. This is French town that we're in. So it kind of worked that the river was right there. And then, you know, that's kind of the history of it. That's great. It was cool. Like everybody would call us up and like, that is the worst name. Nobody is going to go to that. They're going to think you're like an aquarium shop. Like the mayor at the time is like, hey, you know, you're like talented and all in Portland. But our restaurant was Oofa. We were expecting the restaurant to be called Oofa. So everybody from Portland would come out here. And I was like, don't you worry, man. They're going to come for the food. We'll be OK. I mean, a guy can have his shirt on at the golf course. I'll have a hoodie on. I'll be at, you know, Wells Beach or a gunk or something, someone will be like, oh, my God, frog internal. I love that place. You know, like the branding just works super well. That's great to be able to be recognized out in public, especially so far away. So I had some questions about your community involvement. It seems like you guys do a lot of your music. I see your stage is set up outside. We've got some great shots of it. Would you mind speaking a little bit to that? Yeah. First, the stage outside. That's I discovered downtown Westbrook. I'm fortunate enough to sit on the board of directors for that. So they're working big to bring attention to Westbrook's downtown. And the thought process of it is, does the downtown grows, all of Westbrook grows. So that's them, me and my buddy, Mike, who's on the board as well, from Glacial Meteors. We've been just planted together. So they're very good at the design, marketing element. Us having knowledge of getting bands. We've been really good at booking the bands. And that stage started as a little eight by eight platform, two inches off the ground on the sidewalk three years ago to what you see now. And we've just keep fundraising all the businesses up and down Main Street. They truly believe in it. And they've given sponsorships. And the nice thing about it is it's all local small businesses really putting their heart and soul behind it. You don't have any of these giant multi-billion dollar corporations hitting your check. It's like every mom-and-pop business around here really truly believe and edit it in our process of being bred in Westbrook as Main Street Music City because we have a rich history of music here from Rudy Valley all the way through to today. So speaking a little bit more to the pub side of things, what kind of menu do you guys offer? Any sort of special dishes or anything like that you guys are known for? As James mentioned at the beginning of French-Canadian cuisine, including a pub menu, things standard fare such as poutine. And when my son comes here to eat, he always orders a large just for himself and everybody else can share another dish. And it's all from scratch. And I think that is where the flavors and the creativity of the chefs that we have here really bring out the food, the ambiance of the food and things. And it's why I think that as James describes the restaurant as a white tablecloth restaurant without the white tablecloth. And it really does bring in the diners that are looking for that next level of dining for their food and things. So the desserts, we have one of the desserts, a teardrop of happiness that's been on the menu since the beginning. It's a go-to for any occasion. It's all chocolate. So it's easily the pick of the list. But it's a menu that changes seasonally. The crepes, for example, in the fall and the winter. So things a little more hearty. Fresh seafood. We have fresh seafood deliveries. Whole salmon that the chefs fillet each day the haddock, for example. So it's a menu that has specials every day along with just freshness of the meats and the fish poultry. Yeah, definitely. It sounds delicious. Do you have a personal favorite? So when we're able to get fried clams for the food. He's making his head. Your brother's going. So for me, I love spicy food. And so what I do is they make their own sauces for the chicken wings. I have them sauce up my fried clams. Oh, that's great. But no, the steaks is actually truly, for me, it's a meat and potato person. The steaks here are awesome. That's great. James, do you have a favorite? Yeah, I think it's all across the board. Good. Whether we're doing our house-made street tacos in some places, you can only get chicken or pork. We'll allow people to mix them up. And they're always blown away, like how much thought and process goes into a $17 entree. The taco shells, the tortillas are hand-griddled to order, and made, the pulled pork one, we got four hours of a braising process to shred it. And people have these, and they're like, man, this is insanely good. And that sauce is made in-house. So I think sometimes some of our moderately priced items like really showcase the skill and attention that a chef can have to that, like another that always has to be the $72 tomahawk steak, and I think that's why we're busy, especially mid-week all the way through. Everybody's like, I don't have to check the bank account before I come here, but I got to save the charcuterie board and cheese plates here. If you like charcuterie and cheese, it's a step above what anyone else is doing. A lot of places will buy hard salamis, they'll buy patties from a high-end purveyor and to put them on the board. We're doing everything in-house. So it doesn't matter if we have a hard Genoa salami, we've made it in-house. A pancetta, we've made it out. Spicola, which is similar to a prosciutto, will have a leg of lamb hanging and curing in-house. Patties, everything's made from scratch. Even Guy talked about the fried clams. Even the dredge, we don't buy a dredge. The insanity of my head is we have to make it in-house. We make fresh bread every day. Ice creams, we'll make ice cream. Our own bacon, we make our own bacon just because I'm like, I don't want our food to taste like anybody else's food. Yeah, it definitely gives it that unique aspect, that unique frog and turtle sort of taste that people love so much. So speaking of the future of the frog and turtle, where do you guys see yourself in Westbrook the next five, 10 years? I know. For me, I see myself standing in the corner over a six-burner range cooking, you know? I love to cook, you know? It's a challenge in market as we, for the last three years out of everything that you've weathered and that they keep throwing at you. But, you know, I always, my philosophy has always been small steps, long journey. So, you know, you do exactly what you know well. You try to look at the market. You have six months projections. You have yearly out projections, but I mean, as far as expanding, we expanded, you know? So you don't really have much bigger, we're never gonna open a second restaurant. We're not gonna, you know, do it. You're not gonna put a third story on. You just try to keep refining what you do well and keep the energy level for your staff there. And hopefully that you're always a good steward to your community, which is important to us as well. I think one of the areas that will help us succeed is the way the city has been growing. We have the development just across the street with harvest. There'll be the hydroponics and the fresh vegetables that we'll be able to get year round. The city has been looking forward so that the growth is in a controlled way, but at the same time, it's bringing a critical mass down here. And that's what we need to be successful here. We have our reaches. James said, you can go to Kennebunk, even Massachusetts and elsewhere, and they've heard of the frog internal. And so having people down here, that's part of the equation. And so the city has been very helpful over the years in making sure that they're helping us reach those, those ends that we're looking for. Thank you, Guy and James, for having me and speaking with me today. It was great learning about the frog and turtle and make sure if you're in Westbrook and you need some poutine or some live music, please stop on in.