 first episode of Fort Worth Forward. I'm Michael Crane and I'm excited about bringing this new program to you. As you may know I'm the current District 3 City Council member and when I was out campaigning for the job I just realized there are so many great things happening here in Fort Worth and stories that need to be told. So out of the desire to share the Fort Worth story Fort Worth Forward was born. Fort Worth really is an amazing place with incredible people important businesses and an unmatched creative class. I mean we're the 12th biggest city in the United States now approaching almost a million people and I'm going to steal a line here from our new Fort Worth Mayor Maddie Parker. It is go time in Fort Worth. It really is. Today we have an incredible lineup of people including the legacy group from Lake Como, Chris Cobbler from the Fort Worth Report and chef extraordinaire Stephonne Rochelle. So let's get started on this first episode. Thanks for joining us today on Fort Worth Forward. I'm excited to introduce our very first guest on this show, the legacy group out of Como. It's leaders encouraging greatness among Como youth are here with us and I they have done some great work they're encouraging the youth that are out there in Como to do great things and so I'd like to introduce you here you go. So thanks for joining us guys. Thanks for coming on this show just to tell us a little bit about what you are doing and and you know first I just like introduce yourself tell us a little bit about yourself and you know why you're a part of of legacy. Oh I'm William Young. I'm a graphic designer by degree born and raised in Como, Texas of course. I'm in charge of marketing and promotions. I just always wanted to do something for the community and legacy happened at the perfect time. That's great. That's great. Yeah. I'm Nolan Brooks educator been with Fort Worth ISD for almost 20 years. I love legacy. Legacy gave me a purpose in my community and being a part of my brothers that I meet weekly it just gives me the opportunity to give back and enjoy everything that community the community is made of. That's great. Montecue. Montecue Crudell came back home a couple years ago after almost 24 years in the military and so when Marcus put out the call you know for help with the cemetery you know I was I was there and it kind of spontaneously grew so and then from there we just kind of took it on ourselves to just to make make whatever happened happens you know so in the community that's it. That's great. That's great Michael. Michael Lockhart born and raised in Lake Como have a degree in Lake Trinus engineering technology. I joined legacy because it can give back to the community. I think a lot of us are in position now where we can take you know take what we learned through life and stuff and give back to the kids and hopefully they can avoid some of the shortfalls of you know missteps that other kids you know have or whatever so I really just joined it for you know to give the kids something back to give back to the community to help it out because I mean you know a better position now so. That's great it's great for the people viewing that don't know where Como or really Lake Como Texas is located you know it's it's a it's a special part for me for district three because it's it's its own little just great little place that's right there in the middle of lots of other things happening around it I think so tell tell the viewers a little bit about from your own perspective you know what Lake Como is and in a little bit about it. I'll start to me it's just family when you grow up in Como you know just about everybody in the community if they're on your street if they're on the street behind you you get to learn family when we're growing up you might get a whooping from somebody on the other street but they took care of us and that just became a family and as you go through this the school years you grow up together you you watch guys grow up and leave but they come back and just become part of that Como family so that's what it means to me yeah yeah what makes Como unique is the fact that we're not spread out right you know we were located in one spot and being in that one spot you have the the churches you have the the schools that we all attend and so we've known each other for all of our lives you know you go to Como Elementary and from there I usually go to the same middle school and from the same middle school to the same high school and so it's that connection that keeps us all connected because of the fact that you need this is how Como is situated being that it's in one spot and it's not so spread out there's no streets that break us up or have one part of the neighborhood on one side and the other side is all in that one location yeah that's great anything that yeah I would say is it's generational you know because my mother grew up with his uncle they went to high school together right our grandparents knew each other our great grandparents knew each other so it was it's more generational right and you have that sense of community right whereas you being young you had no room for error really right so I recall maybe throwing rocks in the street and the lady come out and say hey quit throwing rocks yeah say okay who does she know you're right and then she tell you I know your grandmother I know your great-grandmother they live around the corner over here she's got name and names you know it's like that and that's that's what he's talking about the family of Como right the family that's up you brought up parents and grandparents and great-grandparents any any good stories from that time I mean that they told you over the years of just growing up in Como that would be interesting to share I don't know if it will be a story but I remember walking home from school and if my grandmother wasn't able to pick us up or if grandfather when they would pick us up you would have a parent that would walk all the way from the bottom of Como have way to watch all of the kids walk down Horn Street to make sure that they got home and our parents knew that okay it takes probably 15 minutes from you to get home so you should be home in 15 minutes don't stop by the store don't you know don't go to a friends house it takes you 15 minutes and if you're not there in 15 minutes she was on the phone like have you seen right have you seen so that's that family that's that those those I just remember clearly like big mama was serious right be home in 15 minutes and she's sitting in the window waiting for you to come across the field because you didn't ran down the hill because I only got 10 more minutes so yeah and I can I can say some of that extends outside of Como just I remember going to London Middle School and coach Woods you know he used to coach at Como High School he coached our parents he coached our parents and so I remember I think I was in trouble about something I was trying to explain something to him and he said you know you got that line look just like your daddy right there I knew I had clean but just that you know is is one of those things that that connection like Como and the residents and the people that lived in Como throughout the years and still having that oversight of the young kids as they even leave outside of Como right yeah I think you're talking about a neighborhood right you're really talking about and I think a lot of people want that these days that neighborhood feel that neighborhood they sort of figure out we have we've got a lot of great neighborhoods and in fourth overall but I think a lot of people sort of look for you know that neighborhood when they're trying to buy a house etc but y'all have a generational neighborhood that you I mean you probably know kids and grandkids now from friends or so right it's always interesting to know that there's friends of mine who kids I will say oh you know my you may know my dad you may know my mom and the fact that these kids also have kids is like my friends are grandparents so that's always a funny thing to me but everybody is so connected because like you said the generational connection that we have our parents and grandparents and friends and families that have migrated here and been here stayed here my mom still here yeah you know it's not going anywhere anytime soon so you have that you know connection that will always keep Como a tight-knit community sure yeah and even though most of us we probably don't live in Como right now but we're there probably three four times a week right just being in that environment because I mean it's just you just feel the love right you know you just feel the love when you come in and you wave at people you don't really know them but you wave at them anyway cuz you live in Como so I gotta wave right that's a requirement well I feel that same when I've gone through and you know lucky to be invited y'all's job for it than other events and just talking to people and waving peace and just you know understanding that there is a large fabric of life that goes on there where people know each other so about you Michael any other sort of I just like where that lot of them they might not know your name but they can look at them if like you are in this Lockhart son or your little Steve Harris's grandbaby or something yes ma'am you know and they they recognize you know from your parents or grandparents or something you know so just tighten it and everybody knows everybody so that's great yeah well you mentioned a little bit during this of the the cemetery cleanup and other things so what are some of the projects y'all undertaken as a as a group you know I know you're it's about empowering youth it's about some healthy lifestyle other things that you want to just I would say overall empowering the community right right to be a better place and build on that and so what other projects have y'all worked on together since you formed so we've come together to create the annual call watch fundraiser okay that was centered around trying to help bring awareness as well as donations to the local day care center that's been in the neighborhood for how many years since 1950 and that's the other thing like I said we've known each other all our lives because some of us started there you know as babies and you know grew up and went to kindergarten but as we start the car wash fundraiser surpassed our goal like tremendously because the neighborhood came out and we purposely also decided to do the car wash in an area that we want to change the narrative we want to bring some type of awareness to that particular location which is the car wash but because it's it's it's visible and we want to change the narrative of what it represents by bringing something good and positive right so we did the car wash and then in the fall we did the closing the coat sock and coat drive okay we wanted to give back to those that are less fortunate because we know those temperatures we're gonna drop and they dropped something serious so the timing of it was actually pretty good but we we had we had that now and we have you know the car wash and so we're we're all at this point trying to figure out the add a third or fourth you know community fundraiser because it's not a place where people are expecting us to do things that's gonna definitely give back to the community and that's what we're here for right right that's great any other things have y'all sort of popped up well we'll say that I was very excited as it came together there's always been some sort of July 3rd party that sort of happened in Como for a long period of time but y'all took the initiative this year to organize it and call it Como Fest and make it a family friendly event I had a great time out there myself and talking to people in the music and y'all maybe dance on the stage but it was a fun day I think everybody had a good time but just tell us how that idea came together of what what spurred y'all to say wait we we want to make this our major project what happened how did that come together well that was weird was brainchild yeah yeah so I hadn't been out and come on the 30 July years and in 2019 I had no plans I didn't go anywhere so I decided I want to come to the neighborhood to see if the 30 July was anything close to what it used to be in for us in the 90s like it used to be a big deal so I want to see if that big deal I want to be for our viewers to big deal in a negative or positive way positive it would be an opportunity for people to come and hang out because it'll be a black party right right right and I say that because it did get into a few times where it became out of control and etc right it wasn't I don't think what y'all wanted in the neighborhood right and it wasn't necessarily people from the neighborhood that were it was people coming from other places so anyway I put that out there as just as flavor for everybody understand maybe two part of this that came together so the 30 July was just as important as the fourth with the parade you know taking place the next day however in 2019 when I decided to go out and see what it was like it was dead it was nothing like the streets were empty you may have few kids riding bikes but it was nothing going on and so much so that the police that were stationed out there to you know make sure everything stayed in line they were bored they were handing out water to have a striking of conversations just try to do something the past the time and so in doing so I felt like this was an opportunity that we could do something organize something to bring people together on this day that everybody celebrates just as much as the fourth sure and that's kind of how you know the idea come of us came to be because we want to bring people together to celebrate on the third and make it an event that people would look forward to because we knew on the fourth everyone will be with their families but come with self as a family so we want to do something that would put everybody together at the same time so yeah so tell us about some of the events that were out there kids on kids oh yeah we had the stage we had the car show we had vendors we had food trucks we had fun right if you miss come off as you missed the the big family of come on because that's truly what it was I was in charge of kids on and working with kids for over over the span of years kids love to have a lot to do and the ideal was if I give them a lot to do they'll sleep well when it's time to go home so they had plenty of activities they had plenty of things to climb and run and jump and basketball and and we had parents actually thank us after was like appreciated because when they went home I didn't have to tell anybody to go to bed they went so I was like job well done even after all the snow comes in a snow cold food vendors so it was great kids don't start out as four activities for activities turn the 40 you had you had some you know some praise worship there I think Leon Reed and and the community choir who's there what about what else was on the stage that Larry Lampkin yeah he's from Como was actually born on Bonnie two blocks from where we had the Como fest that's great some awards too right as part of it yeah yeah that's part of it you want to recognize the people in the community that have done things over the year and also those who've supported us right you know everyone include yourself they got behind us when it came to making this happen yeah this is a way of saying thank you well I'll say it was fun too what was the corner it was on so by the old family by a fair and so I found it interesting being there of hearing some of the stories of maybe your parents that maybe y'all had some fading memories of when that was a real right commercial commerce corner right there everything that was there at the time now there's an empty field or a couple of fields and but it'd be nice to see that come back in some way movie theater right that's what we can sit at downtown Como so movie theater furniture stores I mean Como was self-sufficient they didn't have to go anywhere else anything everything was either on by Nella other little stores or stuff throughout the community so yeah you know at one point it was it was 62 businesses in Como yeah yeah and Bonnie old was the like the economic hub of Como yeah so there was a like it was there a gas station there or a corner store and it was a restaurant gas station on Horn Street and by Nella next to the car works what they call a whole story used to be Ragsdale I don't know if it was something else before the end but it was Ragsdale yeah full service gas station well I know y'all are probably already in the planning stages for Como Fest in 2022 or maybe you've taken a rest right now but you will be shortly in planning stages so if people want to get involved in that is there a way that they could get involved in help in some way give them the website yeah they can go to legacy Lake Como.org join us join us form or they can wait until we start announcing it we'll send it out on social media and everything and give them ways to contact us and see how they want to help and you had vendor booths and other things there so yeah vendor booths food trucks volunteers yeah we had a car show yeah yeah it was and it was scaled back because of COVID we weren't really sure how much we were able to do with COVID so we scaled it back so hopefully next year it'll be a lot bigger and we can have more food truck vendors and more acts and everything and so yeah make it even yeah the beauty of Como Fest was that we catered to every genre every generation my mom is 87 to be 88 in a couple of weeks and she had a blast yeah I think I talked to her there yeah she had a blast but and that was the beauty of how we wanted to bring the generations together because it was something for everyone and in doing so people are looking forward to seeing you know next year what we do sure because we want to keep that same vibe and energy just know that you could come and have a good time but we had classmates that you know we had seen years that don't even necessarily come to the reunions but they came to Como Fest you know and everyone had a really great time so you know that's that was our goal that's I would like to piggyback on what we were saying was that I mean you had even different classes from Como High School class of 69 72 I saw class of 62 out there and they had their classroom union shirts on so the third was really like a big family reunion where everybody comes back you know before the fourth to enjoy the fourth of July but I say this we really wanted to change the narrative of what the third of July had become you know in previous years you know with like you handed on some of that out of control and this or whatever right and I believe we accomplished that you know with the Como Fest I agree with you I think you did too and I know there was we had a big meeting you know back last year with the police department about how they do it and y'all said guys we got this we can handle it we want to work with you sort of some traffic control but I know that our police department works with y'all it's scaled back over there and y'all y'all did y'all y'all handled handled it and handled it well and I would say this without their backing and the volunteers that we had we wouldn't have been able to pull it off like that so I mean a real thanks to the volunteers that came out for security for the kids for different events I mean they did happen they made it happen the community is what made it happen right you know that's right I would just like to add it took one man's vision and because Will had that vision he shared it with the group and it became all of our vision yeah so with all of us being on the same page not ever have an opportunity to do something like this before and not ever seeing it before right but just because one person had that vision it becomes our vision and now we can see what he sees and once we were able to see that anything was possible that's why our kids own let's blow it up because who said we can't right we say we can so let's make it happen who said we can't have a stage we say we can let's make it happen and that's why I love these guys because we we say we're gonna do it let's go make it happen I love that because what you've just plainly said is one person can kind of make a difference yeah and they figure out what that is and how they then draw people in to do that what that looks like I think sometimes we forget that we might get you know a little in our own head or just our life and you figure out you you forget oh wait there's you know we're doing okay maybe I'm doing okay better than I am and there are other people that might need that help and having that that one vision to do it and so kind of leading into that and I will wrap here but you know there are lots of great things there's such an energy right now and y'all are part of it going on in Como there's such an energy of change what's happening I think I'm not going to share there's lots of work that has to be done right but there is this energy that's happening and I think it's you know for overall but I can feel it when I'm down in Como and I'm talking to y'all and other pieces so if you you know five ten years from now where do you want to see come up your home your you know your your home your little where do you want to see what would you like to see change different better about Como late Como I'll take it yeah the hope and the opportunities that we probably didn't have when we were growing up the opportunities to grow the partnerships to come in and give us the chance to build our community like it used to be when we were small things that we didn't get chance to see we want to be able to see those businesses back in we want to be able to see families playing in the street and having fun and coming back together without having to worry about should I go outside or should I stay in just what we grew up with what I grew up with playing in the streets we don't do that anymore but we're trying to bring those things back to where the families can be the families of Como I would love to see that again I would just like to see more attention brought to to civics you know more civic engagement and with the youth you know five or ten years from now many of them would be a voting age so I know when I was in high school coming out at 18 there was no no one to say go push go you know register to vote except for my great grandmother because she voted on everything so but you know just that and more economic empowerment I like to see more of the residents of Como owning businesses and having businesses in Como and that way and hiring people from within Como to build that economic structure that we need right now I think that in ten five ten years to have maybe a grocery store or you know two or three different local stores owned by the residents right you know and that way you have some control over your commerce that'd be great yeah I just like to see the statistics like unemployment go down have some financial literacy have the education go up I believe Como Elementary was once like a D or F greater school but I think they've raised it up to a B now I saw them on Ellen and it looked like they're doing great things but the work don't stop with us there's other organizations out there that could do more where we can all work together make Como better and know what it is now so I believe everybody put in the work I think we can make it you know better for everything education jobs unemployment all that stuff we can get all that take care of it's great yeah economic development yeah better housing more housing you know I like to see affordable programs that are developed and around the youth to give them an incentives to want to be more than what they think they can and the opportunity to be able to offer scholarships to take on my side of Fort Worth because that was one of the things that with with me I know for what people don't like to leave forward and so the opportunity to be able to do that you know it's definitely something I know there could be life-changing so just having resources that could help the youth this to see the things that outside for and then could bring those back to help build up the community that's great great well I was thank y'all for coming today I want to thank for y'all for being in all that you're doing in your community I know that y'all your heart's in the right place and there's a lot of work we have to do I'm committed to continue to help do that with y'all along the way so y'all let me know how I can continue to help and thanks for all you're doing thanks y'all we'll be here now with Chris Cobbler who's the CEO and publisher of the Fort Worth report a free online newsletter that you can get and Chris I know you're fairly new thanks for joining us today I appreciate it thanks for having me Michael awesome I know you're fairly new to Fort Worth and you have some history in the newspaper business and other things and in Victoria right and there's a stint at Harvard it sounds like from what I see right a little bit about your background and how you got here to Fort Worth sure sure it's it's a fun story I've been in newspapers a long time way back since 1982 when I graduated from the University of Kansas and I've had a great newspaper career did have the opportunity to go to Harvard and study for a year as a community journalist study the future of news the digital future of news which is a key point and study how to promote a constructive community conversation about changing demographics all that really fits in here from there I went to the Victoria advocate where I was editor and publisher but what I what I learned that at Victoria and at Harvard was there big changes in local journalism and that's really what brought me here to Fort Worth where twenty twenty six or seven years ago our daughter was born in Denton so I'm we're actually kind of back home back home great to be back home but it's changed a lot in that time boy I was Fort Worth grown and changed in that time so it's exciting to be here we're really enjoying it so folks if you're not familiar with the Fort Worth report it's an online newsletter that you get every day they've got reporters that are out there and so you know Chris I just want to talk to you about what's the mission of the Fort Worth report sure and I had we certainly have the the newsletter and also the website website to report report.org so you can go directly sign up sign up to the newsletter that's right at Fort Worth report.org and encourage everybody to do that but our mission is is we boil it down to to sort of three key points where we're all about educating engaging and empowering people through local journalism we really look at local journalism responsible local journalism as a public service good so and where people are involved and educated and empowered that we just have a healthier community and that's really what local journalism is all about there's a lot of growing research that talks about that and people where there is robust local journalism they're more civically engaged and government just works better so that's what our mission is to do those those things. Yeah you do talk about that that people are more civically engaged if they with local journalism maybe more than big larger national publications right but here is talking about what affects you on a daily basis maybe. Right exactly what is really critical is that people don't feel connected to their community you know countries and the community start breaking down really people are more polarized they they retreat to their whatever particular camps they're in there's more confirmation bias just things just don't work as well but when they are involved I mean when you know your neighbor it's a lot harder to demonize them and and when you when you know all the hard work that they're doing you know we come together as a community and work on on looking at solutions so that's what our local journalism is really based on is that solutions oriented part of it because we're locally owned and we're solutions focused and we're free because again because it's a public good. Yeah I mean you talked a little bit about this too and some of the things I've seen you write that you know the business model of for-profit newspapers is kind of dead. Yeah it's broken I hate to say it because it's broken and pretty much on life support at this point and it's it's sad to see because I've had a little long career in that but and I think it is essential but there's no no no turning back in that and that all the advertising you look at your local newspaper there's hardly any advertising in it because all the advertising has gone to digital and their Facebook and and Google and Amazon they all control the digital space and when you're when you're for-profit newspaper chasing advertising you you operate a lot differently have to you have to first just cut staff to the bone and which is what's happened and then you have to just go after as many clicks as you can get and you can cover in crime news and things that are sure to generate web traffic and that's that's not what we're about so we don't cover breaking news we think there's plenty of other that kind of shootings and stabbings and those kind of stories out there we're covering the meat and potatoes of journalism you know local government education arts and culture the things that make Fort Worth Fort Worth and that's what our readership research showed that people want us to do that's what they want to see. Okay what are some top stories that you're kind of covering right now? Well one story that we really I thought was really interesting and important is about the charter schools I've gone out in the community lots of community leaders and others have talked about how do we improve public education that's a backbone of where we are and anywhere and Charter Schools Rocketship Academy is one of them that's got a lot of promises prominence it's before the State Board of Education right now to get approved our reporter Jacob Sanchez did a big in-depth deep dive into that talk to people pros and cons there they're pros and cons of any issue but so that's the important part that we're emphasizing that we're just fact-based straight ahead not biased in any way just nonpartisan right not trying to take sides not we don't have a traditional opinion page you might see a newspaper where we tell you what to think about the news we're just providing the news to you and and letting the readers make up their own mind that's great that's great well it begs the question to because if you're not for profit then the funding has to come somewhere right and I know that you've gotten funding from the Burnett Foundation Sid Richardson Foundation Amy Carter Foundation and looks like Texas Health Resources even funded a health reporter for you yeah so yeah tell us something about that about the outreach and then how you know how else the funding comes to you right yeah being a non-profit model doesn't mean you you don't need revenue not every everybody who works in non-profit know you need revenue and our revenue mix is is through foundation state local national giving through individual giving through sort of a mix of corporate sponsorship and advertising and events having events we plan to do now that we're all out of the pandemic knock on wood and and membership I think if think about a lot people are familiar with the public broadcasting model of KERA are the biggest the core of what we do is is with the membership model because if even just a small percentage of the 2.1 million people live in Tarrant County want to voluntarily contribute to the Fort Worth report we can grow to a very sizable significant newsroom sustainable newsroom because we don't have the legacy cost structure and debt of a print newspaper any revenue we generate just goes back to paying the local journalist here embedded in the community to do the work and that's that's very achievable there almost 300 of these local non-profit news organizations across the country now this is a big growing trend because of what's happened in the for-profit newspaper world that's great I think that's probably what you mean you have heard you say it's community owned right right the community can play a role because they can be a member right there are the pieces right yeah we're having a community founding donor campaign right now again go to Fort Worth report org and you can see all about that but we are very responsible and responsive to the community because we are community owned and that's a huge piece of who we are and why people should check us out that's great that's great well I've said this to I think that we have to do whatever we can to meet people where they are where they're getting their news where that is and again it may be through this source it may be online and maybe somewhere else but I think we hit all the channels part of the reason for us doing this talk show to just bring in interesting people interesting things happening so can we hopefully can reach more people in different aspects I appreciate what you're doing thank you and how you're getting out and just you know keeping some some politicians honest sometimes that's important to do and it again it just it's the checks and balance of our system it's way it was meant to be to have you know Thomas Jefferson talked about it about having a how important an independent press was back in the founding of our country and it's still true today it's we've gone through a lot of disruption with local news which makes it even even more important that we we support local journalism now that's great well how can people find you work where can they find you well you go to Fort Worth report org go to our website and you'll see it'll pop right up you can sign up for our newsletter and every weekday morning you'll get this newsletter blast and it's free I mean there's no obligation you don't have to do anything you don't have to contribute if you don't want to because again it's a it's a public good so we just encourage people to go to our website sign up for our newsletter be sure you let us through any spam filter that you might have and then you then you're good to go and then you can contact us the email or we have a nice co-working space set up at Trinity coffee house over on Weissenberger Street so encourage people to come by have a cup of coffee and talk about the news and what matters to you that's great well thank you you've got a great team over there doing some great work and we appreciate it all right thank you Michael thank you we'll be right back hey welcome back I'm here with a really special guy that's been a great friend of me Stefan Rochelle who is executive I'm gonna get this right executive chef director of culinary and owner at wishbone and Flint he has won I think every award that you can win top chef best atmosphere best restaurant the list goes on and on and on so I'm really actually excited to have Stefan on here he's been a friend of the community so Stefan welcome thank you so much how are you doing extraordinary I haven't had that that moniker yet that's a new one extraordinary chef extraordinary that's what I've caught around as yeah we're very blessed to be part of the Fort Worth community yeah try that restaurant group to my partners Cobb-Rison and Wallace Owens we've tried to put a cornerstone and be a great steward of the community that's kind of what our goal is here so yeah you are you are in so many ways tell let's back up for a second yeah tell us your story how'd you end up here and to be a chef what was the was that a lifelong dream to own a restaurant and be a chef my dad was always in the business now I said I was like I'll never do it I'll never do it he worked 90 hours a week and so I worked front of the house through college and bartended and made a buttload of money and was like oh yeah then I got bit I love cooking and I just kind of fell into it and it's like I'll never do this I'm gonna go do these other things I worked IT sales or with manpower sales for about four years hated it I hated being in a box it's like the great thing about being in the restaurant business is it's it's never the same day right to like twice right right it's organic it changes on the on the daily and we have a lot of fun with it right it is what you make it so yeah you can be stressed out and miserable all day or you can really own in the fun side of it and let that branch into your staff and create the culture so that's what we try to do was there a certain moment other than this what sounds like was not a very creative job certain moment where you said that's what I want to do that's where I want to be it's really when I started dating my wife we did a lot of dinner parties yeah everybody's like oh I'm only coming if Stefan's cooking yeah and then that's kind of where it's stuck and then she's she really kind of empowered that that passion was like you should really look into doing this is a career because you're really good at it she she has been like your biggest she is my biggest really talk about her a little bit let's talk about yeah she's a good godfair woman and she keeps me in check that's right it's like I mean your wife's the same way it's like if you don't have a strong little woman behind you I mean I mean they push you that's right and it I'm very blessed to have that so yeah and she's great and two kids two kids born to brindley grace and Liam James we kind of affectionately called brindley the hospitality director have tried it like there you catch at the restaurant she's touching tables and saying hi and we talked about this your kids are young too it's like was the other day I was like stranger danger right right right and she's like oh his name is Michael he's not a stranger I was like that's not how it works because you got his name doesn't make you a stranger it's like she cracks me up but she's also like my biggest critic he really it's like we talked about embarrassing stories it's like I create these dishes at home I'm like all right I'm gonna put this on the menu and she's like it's not very good at four years what I can't wait let me tell you the attitude and that'll be awesome I mean Liam James I mean that kid is he's a hurricane yeah it's like she is so like prim and proper and she sits and she crosses her legs so talk to you like this and he's just like destroying everything in his back I mean the pediatrician says like six seven like two thirty I'm like oh great so I need to buy a grocery store right that's right that's right that's why you're in a restaurant apparently yeah I mean this kid eat like six eggs the other days too like were you like that no yeah I'm like I don't even eat breakfast I ate breakfast right it's like this kid just in his path he's like the kids have a snack drawer it's like empty constantly I'm constantly putting stuff in the snack drawer that's great that's great it's great he's the kids are awesome I love them it's a it's kind of made me take a step back and realize there has to be balance right in life because I'm a workaholic I love to work I love to be in the business I love the the purpose of it but my kids and my wife make me take a minute and go okay I need to slow down and realize that this is where I need to be because I used to have a lot of resentment to my dad because he worked all the time but I understood why and I'm trying to figure out how do I keep that mentality and keep it together where I'm home and I'm present and I'm not constantly at work right and so it's awesome it's a it's a good problem to have to figure out that's right yeah I think we all have to figure out that balance right that we could work and I think a hundred percent but is that where we want to be at the end of our life right and the great thing about Fort Worth is there's so many things that are family friendly that we can do together that we can still have adult time with our friends but have the kids too right I mean anywhere from like Friday on the green the museum district cultural district all that stuff it's like it's really cool and built for everyone to be involved right and I love Fort Worth it's great that's awesome I've worked other cities and I always come back home that's great do you have a certain philosophy for your cooking like what you're looking at what you're trying to create as part of that we call it local worldly so wishbone and flint was kind of based on this is kind of like the baby it's the dream global cuisine with Texas ingredients right really trying to take food from everywhere and we take inspiration from everywhere it's like foods like music you're never going to create something brand new that's right it's always been done before you're just putting your own spin on it and chefs it affectionately call it inspired but it's really taking all these flavors and techniques and all these things and really just showcasing what comes from our great state and our coastal waters I mean we have I mean you have four seasons in the same state at the same time it's true yeah and the plethora that comes off the Gold Coast on Gulf Coast it's just like I mean you can get tuna swordfish all these deep sea fish and then you get the coastal waters you get snapper and speckled trout and redfish and all the crustaceans and oysters and bivalves it's just it's such a plethora of items that are so good yeah and there's only about a month of breakfast and you're making me very angry very crazy I mean at wishbone we really do focus on the Texas ingredients there are a couple proteins that come from outside the state but that's just more I want this dish on here and I mean obviously if you can get scallops in Texas you don't want scallops in Texas things like that so you just tank the scallop industry in Texas we have a lot of fun with it has to be playful there needs to be some sort of resonance and story to food right that's great that's great so I want to talk about a really dark time for you yes really for Fort Worth because this is called for Fort Worth forward right but you left us for a period of time I went to Houston I thought I was better than I was let me tell you right now talk about a humbling moment and God keeps you in check it's a I thought I was too big for my bitches is what it was so I thought I was gonna go change the world in Houston which is probably I put it up there with Chicago and San Francisco and the Northwest is some of the best culinary scene in the country the diversity the size of the city you can get every single aspect of food there and I went down thinking I was gonna be a little fish in a big pond and change the world and in reality we went down and we won every award we plan to win but my clients all hated me because I didn't have the vision to see what my clients all wanted interesting I was cooking for me I wasn't cooking for them interesting it was a very selfish movement and it was a little like a piece of humble pie put me in check and my wife was pregnant with Brinley at the time when we moved to Houston it was it was a hard hard ten months yeah and gives really speaks to the people and the people of Fort Worth it open arms and welcome me back I was like hey you need to come home did you was there a different perspective when you left and came out hundred percent so like all right take like a half roasted chicken dish for example right so I was in Houston I was doing with this like roasted beet puree and orzo and all these special stuff and it's like I sold like ten of them a week and when I came home I was like I can't put people aren't gonna eat beats like there's not going to right maybe in a salad or whatnot until they're ready to eat so it's like I put a wild mushroom I think you've just signed the beat industry so I served it with a wild mushroom risotto and blistered Swiss chard and it's like my number two seller entree on restaurant so it's like it made me really take a step back and listen to people and not cook for me cook for them interesting because really that's why we do it is to make food for other people right so why am I forcing you to eat what I want to eat right you should eat what you want to eat you're paying for that's right that's right that's a good for a good philosophy you know I know personally just shifting a little bit owning a restaurant is no one man you know we tried it and I leave it to the professionals to do it hard man it'll chew you up and spit you out and it did it did for me it's rough man it's like and it doesn't always work I mean there's 50 million pieces that all have to fit in at the same time and people say location location location I don't necessarily agree with that statement but there's so many moving parts and timing timing is probably the biggest thing right are you in the right area at the right time and we've really got lucky with wishbone is to at the beginning of the upswing of the near south side and and Southman Village and like look at the perseverance of people like Sarah Castillo that's right she was the first person to sign a lease in that market yeah and was almost the last of us to open to open but she's kicking tennis tennis yeah so good yeah if you haven't gone you need to go eat there the food is fantastic and the atmosphere cocktails are great yeah if you like mezcal go to teenies it's great it's true I mean what she's done in that market with Christian and Glenn down there is is awesome and the great thing about the near south side is like we're all in each other's restaurants all the time that's right showing support that's great and we joke about the fact that ten years ago we were all working for other people yeah and now we all have our own places between Sarah Glenn and Christian and Shannon across the street a bearded lady and then Sarah and Matt Hobox and then us and Coco shrimp and get funky picnic and then a newcomer to Fort Worth but it's like he's lived there forever is tober over Trav's to over at Nickel City right it's like he's been part of the crew forever so it's like we have this great cohesive relationship in that neighborhood to make Fort Worth better culinarily right right and as we all open second and third concepts we look at what Marcus is doing in Mule Alley right and we're all opening things that aren't taking away from other people we're generating more foot traffic to the neighborhoods we're in right right and that's what I love about the scene in Fort Worth is we're not are we competitive absolutely but we're competitive for the greater good of the city culinarily that's awesome because we've changed the scene here I mean ten years ago in Fort Worth it was meat and potatoes well when we were talking about coming back and we looked around and said there's just not much here yet yeah but you saw it slowly over the last decade just changed where there is a culinic culinary people are paying attention to us people are looking at you know writing about our restaurants writing about you other folks to some that you mentioned yeah just how the food scene has changed here and for the better yeah it's like and I'm so happy to see Gino back in downtown yeah yeah I love you mean I'm not driving to develop well and that's great you sort of hit on it a little bit the whole South Main area the revitalization there that's happened you know part of that was government spurred to help that happen but all of it's been private industry too that come in to renovate those buildings and make the changes there that we need so you have a place to do a restaurant and you know there's you know I mean I can go on there's everything there's a tiki line there's everything down that hundred percent there's a tie-in coming yes do you want to preview that yeah I mean we're doing a wine dinner on Monday night that's a kind of a showcase of what's to come with Tray Mowgli which means three wives be next door 401 South Main Main Street entrance that's kind of our family style high-end Italian concept okay so there's nothing like that down there there's I mean he'll motor just open downtown but this is a little bit different concept lots of private dining which there's not any private dining release based on right South Main right so we can kind of fill that gap that's needed right and then Parker County I saw something yeah open a pandemic restaurant it'll be fun all that it's great staffing is probably our biggest issue but that's a whole nother demon so yeah we're just excited to be able and blessed to be able to have the opportunity to do so yeah well I want to thank you in a lot of different ways from the community because you do a lot of just charitable work yeah helping nonprofits in a lot of different ways you know I tried to bid last week on something but it went through the roof and it got too rich for me it's fun so I appreciate that some of the things that you're doing there maybe what's the most memorable thing that you've done I mean we have a couple things that we're really really proud to be part of food philanthropy obviously super happy to be partnered with that every year and we've always been hand-in-hand with Hope Center for Autism Susan and Glenwood what they do is fantastic my wife's oldest nephew was autistic as bridge more into an Asperger situation now so that's close to our heart and Brie ran Miracle League she was director for them forever so special needs kids are really really close to us and so again it goes back to being a steward of what we do if you're not giving back and helping out make other people better what's the point and so we're very happy and blessed to be able to have the ability to do so that's so it's real hard because I have a hard time saying no and as you know I mean it's we get into event season and things like that everybody especially now going coming out of a pandemic everybody's in such dire needs and straits we try to do as much as we can but we just can't do everything yeah and so it hurts sometimes and we pray for everybody and we do what we can where we can and when we can well I I hope I for one but I know a lot of people in the community thank you for that you know Susan and Glenn that you mentioned have done Yeoman's work with unbelievable stuff they do stuff that they just it's out of their own pocket yeah scraping things together and lots of small nonprofits are like that to any of our bigger nonprofits and you've done a lot of work to support that so we'll do everything we can so absolutely so we're glad to have you here and for work I'm not going anywhere we're not letting you leave again yeah we might branch out a couple cities and do some things but I'm not I'm not leaving so it's a I learned my lesson there yeah well thanks again absolutely thank y'all check out wishbone and flint and other concepts Berry Street ice house part of county house trade mobley and then a trade mobley yeah yeah we got lots of stuff coming there's a lot there's there's something for everyone so check it out check out his restaurants we appreciate you thank you very much and then get out and support your local restaurants and small business because we those of us that made it through the pandemic there's a lot of us that still need help and so do your do your best to get out and support as much as you can great please good points great thank you for being here thank you thanks for watching this episode our inaugural episode of Fort Worth Forward I really really hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have putting it together for you I look forward to continuing to bring you more interesting people and their stories as we work to move Fort Worth forward thank you