Kaylee:
There’s a new restaurant on Anna Maria island inside the Waterline Marina Resort. It’s called the Chateau Anna Maria. And depending on what night you go, you may find yourself watching the taping of a Food Network show while you dine. That’s right. Owners Jennifer Foy and Buddy Foy Jr. are the stars of Food Network’s Summer Rush. Jennifer and Buddy join us today via Skype to tell us more about the show and the Sun Coast’s new dining option. Thank you guys so much for chatting with us today.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Thank you for having us.
Jennifer Foy:
Thanks for having us.
Kaylee:
Of course. All right. So let’s get right into this. Tell us about Summer Rush. What’s the premise of the show?
Jennifer Foy:
Hey, hon.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
The premise of the Summer Rush show is to really highlight how difficult this industry is, and that was pre COVID. So obviously things got a lot more interesting that we’ll hopefully have on a season two. Our three families have three individually owned restaurants in the Adirondacks, in a small town called Bolton Landing, which is on Lake George. And we get a summer rush of business over a 60-day period that either makes or breaks our entire winter. So either we can get through the winter, or we can’t. And depending on the elements and the weather, the tourism and the traffic, and everything that goes wrong in this business, we just hope that enough goes right that we get to pay our bills.
As well, we’re competing against our family restaurants. My parents have Kate’s Italian Garden, my brother has Diamond Point Grill, and we have the Chateau on the Lake. And the three of us compete with one another, but at the same time, when we need each other’s help, we’re family and we got to help each other out.
Joey:
I love this concept. The minute that it becomes a family competitive game, it gets even more entertaining. Let’s talk a little bit about your decision to come down to the Sun Coast, because summer rush very common up North. But down here we have what we call season rush, which really happens over the winter. Tell us about your new location on Anna Maria and why you chose it.
Jennifer Foy:
We’ve been coming to Anna Maria for 20 years. My in-laws have a house here and we’ve always loved it. And we’ve always wanted to be down here longer. And this opportunity came about unexpectedly through our brother-in-law who lives down here. It was just a too good to be true. We couldn’t say no.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Yeah, we were looking at other locations in other cities, but we reached out to our local network and friends that we’ve met down here. Local doctor friend of ours heard that we were looking for an expansion. He reached out to his network. And I got to tell you, the local community really rolled up their sleeves. And they knew we wanted to keep our employees employed. We anticipated New York shutting down, which is happening, or at least a very limited business. We have a motivated chef. We have a motivated workforce. And we said, “You know what? We know it’s COVID. We got a TV show to help us. Let’s lean into this and let’s do whatever we can do to support the industry.” And we love the Anna Maria Island.
And I think we’re very blessed that we were able to create a great partnership with the Waterline, which is mainsail as a corporate entity. I got to tell you when we met with them and their partners, this is our first relationship of leasing. Our whole family owns our buildings. So to have a relationship where you’re renting, it’s like a marriage. And I got to tell you, it was phenomenal. The shared values and the enthusiasm and the motivation to work and get it done. We opened in 60 days.
Jennifer Foy:
Yeah.
Joey:
Wow.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
We met them. 60 days later, the restaurant opened, which was this last Friday. So we were doing construction and modifying with our look and feel, which is what Jen does. She’s the experienced creator. We were in here hammering nails before the contract was even signed. That’s how comfortable we were with Joe and Andrew. And we’re very blessed and very thankful.
Kaylee:
This is-
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Yeah. And they made us-
Kaylee:
[crosstalk 00:03:58] This is great. And it’s really just a beautiful atmosphere that we’re looking at as we’re seeing these pictures of the Chateau Anna Maria. So what will the Chateau Anna Maria be like? What’s the vibe that we can expect when we dine there?
Jennifer Foy:
It is a relaxed fine dining or a casual fine dining experience. It’s really more of … We want you to feel like a guest in our home. In our other restaurant, it was a home, and we made this location look and feel just like that one. It’s very comfortable. It’s a little elegant, but also industrial. But it’s all about the food and the experience and spending time with people you enjoy. We’re just here to service you.
Joey:
Well, I love the family dynamic, again. And so I have to ask, I know that running a restaurant can be very, very stressful and you have to roll with the punches. At the end of the day, do family members hold grudges or does everyone still hug each other and love each other even after a rough shift?
Jennifer Foy:
It depends on the day.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Well [inaudible 00:05:02] Italian. Italian’s always hold grudges. I’m an Irishman. We just forget about it. So we don’t hold grudges. We work hard together. We’re a family working … We’re a family of work ethic, how my father raised me and my mother, and Jen grew up in an ice cream business in an entrepreneurial family and a plumbing business, with her brothers and her dad as partners. And she’s always been in the kitchen with her mother. And at the end of the day, families fight and families love. At the end of the day, you hope that love conquers it. And it did with us. And we got out of a reality show or into a reality show [crosstalk 00:05:37] and we ended the season and we’re still talking.
Joey:
And it’s something we can all relate to, of course. Well, welcome to the sun Coast. The Chateau Anna Maria is located at the Waterline Marina Resort on Anna Maria Island. You can find more information about this location, and their Food Network show summer rush by visiting their website, the chateauonthelake.com, and you can find a link to the local restaurant. Well, they’re going to stick around and make a recipe for us. So stay with us. They will be in the kitchen a little later on.
Speaker 5:
Welcome back. We had a chance earlier in the show to meet at the Foy family. They are the stars of the Food Network show Summer Rush. They are also the owners of a new restaurant called Chateau on Anna Maria. [Joey 00:06:20] and [Kaylee 00:06:20] are in our Rice’s Appliance Kitchen to learn more about the menu with Buddy Foy, Jr. and Jesse Foy.
Joey:
Great to see you both. What are we making today?
Jesse Foy:
Yeah. Nice to see you guys too. Today we’re making a Florida black grouper. We’re doing it with a mango, a black bean mango salsa, and frisée salad on top of it.
Joey:
It looks incredible. Now, when it comes to making Florida grouper, how do you start? Walk us through some of your expert tips?
Jesse Foy:
So, we got a nice white fish with the Florida grouper. We want to pan sear it on a nice skillet pan, right? We’re going to make sure that pan is very hot. Preheat the pan, olive oil. You throw the fish, salt, pepper it. I mean, sorry. Just throw a little bit of salt on it. Don’t over season it. You throw in the shallow pan and you let a cook. You want to do three to four minutes on each side. And while you’re doing that, we do a cilantro herb butter in there too. And when you glaze it on top, the reason why you glaze it on top, you could get that nice crisp look on top of the grouper. When you’re finished doing that, you throw it in the oven for about five minutes, right? And how you check to see if a fish is done. You want to make sure that fish is really firm. All right? When that fish is real firm, you know that fish is done. [crosstalk 00:07:41].
Joey:
Now have a question … When you are preparing, I know, certain types of seafood, it’s important to make sure to dry them before you cook that [crosstalk 00:07:48] Is grouper one of those?
Jesse Foy:
Yes, it is. It’s very important to dry. You want to damp dry that. The reason why, when you go to cook it, when you pan sear it in the pan, if you don’t do it, if it’s not dry, it’s going to boil. You don’t want your fish to boil. You’re not going to get that nice crisp look on top of that grouper.
Joey:
Well, this grouper looks incredible. I’m going to interrupt you for a second because I want to know how it fits into the entire menu at the Chateau Anna Maria. What can we expect on the menu?
Jesse Foy:
Well, I’ll let Buddy answer that question.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
So Chef Ty is our executive chef, Jesse handles our Chateauathome.com business, as well as he helps [inaudible 00:08:29] out the kitchen, and he’s a partner of the business. So we let Chef Ty create menu and we run his vision. So our chef’s a Floridian chef. He’s been on Lake George for five years with us. And he is more excited to cook fish for people that know how to eat fish, in his words, not mine. We love our fish well done in upstate New York, and I got to tell you, it drives Chef Ty absolutely crazy. So the menu here will be a lot of seafood, French inspired, and Chef Ty likes to focus on dishes that the protein runs the profile, and everything else compliments it. So not a whole lot of business going on at his plates. And the compliment of the flavors will actually bring out the protein.
And then I work with Chef Ty with pairing wines with his creations. And sometimes we do that in reverse. He’ll ask me what I’m thinking for wines in the evening or [inaudible 00:09:23] boards or special wine we brought in for the week. And then he’ll create something around the region where the wine comes from. And black grouper was a big deal for Chef Ty. It’s something we cannot it in Lake George, New York. And I know as soon we arrived here and he got on the fish vendors, and he was all about the black grouper versus the red grouper, a little sweeter, red grouper. Black grouper-
Joey:
Well, speaking of the grouper, I want to come back to the recipe a little bit. I love the wine idea too, but Jesse, now so you’ve got good sear on it. How do you choose what to serve the grouper with? What are your thoughts with sides?
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Well, the sides like you said, we want to make the fish the focal point of the dish. So we think with an infused mango black bean salsa, it really complements the fish really well, it gives that little sweetness like Buddy said. This grouper is not as sweet as red grouper, right? So with the red grouper, it’s a mild fish. And with that sauce, it just complements it perfectly. And then we do our mango glaze on the side, which is the gastrique. And then we throw it on top with our greens, which is a frisée. We’re going to plate this right now.
Kaylee:
So it just sits on top of that salsa so that you can get that in every bite you take of the grouper? That’s delicious.
Joey:
Looks incredible. Looks good enough to eat. And we are very excited that you are now here on the sun coast. Of course, the Foy family, bringing the Chateau Anna Maria to the Sun Coast, the newest restaurant in the Foy family. And we’re glad that you’re here. We’re also happy that you’ll be continuing on the Food Network with your season two of Summer Rush.
Speaker 5:
How exciting to have a new restaurant right on the beach of Anna Maria Island. It is at Waterline Marina Resort, and you can find more information about Chateau by visiting their website, chateauonthelake.com.