105 Mike Godlewski of EYV Restaurant

What happens when a chef builds an entire menu where vegetables are the main event, and then commits to it night after night, season after season? Chef-owner Mike Godlewski joins us from EYV Restaurant (Eat Your Veggies) to explain how vegetables become the star of the plate through classical technique, fearless creativity, and a clear point of view he calls “the steakhouse of vegetables.”

Mike breaks down the thinking behind dishes like his cabbage pastrami, plus the practical realities of cooking hyper-seasonal produce in Pittsburgh when ramps are fleeting, rhubarb arrives late, and winter means brassicas are what nature gives you. We get into local sourcing with farms and collectives like Three Rivers Grown, and why EYV chose an all-electric induction line for efficiency, precision, and keeping a small open kitchen comfortable.

We learn how a menu can stay fresh without becoming chaos, why EYV leans on a three-course prix fixe in the dining room, and how the open-kitchen chef’s counter turns service into something closer to a dinner party. 

If you care about farm-to-table dining, vegetable-forward cooking, or the behind-the-scenes craft of running a small restaurant, this conversation will leave you hungry and smarter. Subscribe, share this with a Pittsburgh food lover, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Doug 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How well do you do with feeding your veggies? What if all of the traditional preparation was turned on its head? That's the culinary magic that Chef Mike is creating at EYV restaurant. We learn how vegetables become the star of the plate by leveraging a network of local farmers and seasonal produce, balancing the everyday business of running a small restaurant, and still trying to give back to community. All that ahead, stay tuned. Thank you so much for coming over.

Mike 0:38

Thanks for having me. You know, longtime listener, first-time caller.

Doug 0:42

Oh, well, I'm so glad we got connected through Pam Luu, who we both know is an incredible social media manager. Fantastic. Love her to death. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on in the world of

Meet Mike G of EYV

Doug 0:56

food?

Mike 0:56

Well, I'm Mike Godlewski, and I'm the chef owner of EYV Restaurant down in uh Deutschtown on East Ohio Street. Um, a burgeoning restaurant row of things to come, even more that's already down there.

Doug 1:07

There is a lot going on right on East Ohio Street.

Mike 1:09

There is a lot, especially just I remember from when I looked at the space um back in like early 2020 spring 2022 till now just to see it transform. And I'm sure it's even more so for the people that have been down there, like at Bistro and Siempre just to see the street.

Doug 1:22

Yes.

Mike 1:22

When they went in there until now, it's like good things happening.

Doug 1:26

It's like a dining row. And so you get, I think you get more people as opposed to being sort of off by yourself.

Mike 1:33

Yeah, I I and being in there, it's a neighborhood too. So we have, you know, there's a for people to just walk around and have those options there. But the beauty of it is too, um, it's not all the same contract, it's not just like a cookie cutter, we're all trying to do the same thing and box each other out. Not at all. We're all doing different concepts from cuisine, style, ethnicity. And that's you have options, so it's not like you're you're hammered in it just also um eclecticness to the to the street.

Doug 1:57

So that's right. You mentioned you saw the space in 22. It opened in 2023.

Mike 2:03

We opened December 20th, 22.

Doug 2:06

Okay.

Mike 2:07

Yeah, what year is this now?

Doug 2:08

We are in 2026.

Mike 2:09

It'll be 20, yeah, 2022, yeah. It'll be four years in December.

Doug 2:12

So yeah, December 28th. Amazing. And uh for someone that hasn't visited uh EYV, uh eat your veggies, eat your vegetables. That's it. Whatever. It's a veggie forward restaurant. How do you like to describe it?

Mike 2:26

I I the thing that I've kind of settled on over and it's always changed because I think when we first opened, we were meat as garnish. Okay. Because I'm not a vegetarian. Okay. Um, but I think it's and that kind of just phased itself out naturally. I remember just looking at the menu one day and just like, oh, there's no like protein on here anymore. So like, well, let's just roll with it. Like, and that's kind of how I, you know, would write dishes anyway was start with produce and seasonal, then plug something in. So it made sense. But I like to say we're the steakhouse of vegetables. Yeah. So what are you going for a steakhouse for? Like the main center of the plate is your steak. So we do the opposite. We are the vegetables uh there. So that's kind of the we're the focal point. So sometimes we'll have a little, you know, confusion. We made sure to put it on our website that, like, well, are you vegetarian? And you know, traditional vegetarian, you expect, you know, tempeh, sétan, you know, a lot of grains, you know, things like that to be the center of the plate and like accompanied by that. But that's we're the exact opposite. We have very few that that's a feature on there. Right. Um, if it makes sense in the context of a dish, those will be on there. Like we have stewed lentils on right now, um, a roasted carrot. Um, that's like in the style of like an Umbrian, like roasted carrots and lentils, but that's like the but most of the grains, and it's like the stuff, like a little bit of starch. But yeah, the veggies are the star, and we try to make them shine.

Doug 3:33

I just looked this morning because your menu is changing all of the time. It is right. Usually usually it's not wholesale.

Mike 3:40

Um, so we have a couple staples on there, the farmer salad, cabbage pastrami, those two are kind of on all the time. And then we kind of some type of pierogi, but that's again seasonal. But for the first year and a half, that was just like the traditional potato one that we did. That was like my version of it. And I'm like, I I I I gotta get rid of this thing. Like, I think it's I'm too stir crazy. I think it's the idiot, but like it's what one of those things that from a business standpoint you learn like we need to have these signature things, but also it's more of I kind of lean against signature dishes because I always feel like you get stuck in the past and you're not moving forward, whether, you know, not moving forward, but like, you know, constantly we're trying to evolve and be better. And I just feel like if you're just staying there stagnant. So there's little tweaks and things that we do to those that are subtle for me, but like, well, this could be a little better here.

Doug 4:21

Just refreshes it.

Mike 4:22 Mike 4:22

Refresh, yeah. Um, but yeah, every three, you know, we'll change one or two items every three to four weeks. Okay. Um, we're gonna probably change a couple things this week or early next week. Wow. Um, we don't, yeah, don't do a wholesale thing. A just for one um from a labor standpoint, it's just me in the kitchen. Oh, um, so that's a lot. But also, you know, from you know, I always hated when you know you had to, you know, go over a whole new menu for for your staff and like, well, how am I supposed to take all this information? So if we did that, it would be like 10 dishes we would have to go spiel and try to learn like one or two. It's a little easier to you know to comprehend instead of having to like, well, what's new? Like these 10 things are new, it's new. Like, well, no, this one just came on. It's and you know, it gets the talk about the seasonality of it. This is why it's on, this is what's coming off soon. Um, so yeah, we use those as talking points, especially some people who are like, Well, I wanted to try that. I'm like, well, it'll be on for a couple more weeks if you want to come back or not. But like, yeah, we tell them like the staples that are on there, like, especially if something's hyperceived seasonal, like we're in ramp season now. Yes. Um, so like if we were leaning towards the ramps, get the ramps, like the pastrami is always going to be there. So come back for that and then you know, get your seasonal fix now while you can.

Doug 5:17

Uh you pulled one of my questions

The Steakhouse Approach To Vegetables

Doug 5:20

for later. I was gonna ask if there have been some dishes on since the beginning. Can we talk uh just a little bit about cabbage pastrami?

Mike 5:28

Yeah, this is in speaking of evolution. So on the version menu now, this is like the fourth version of it that we've had from when it first conceptualized. So we were doing this when we were doing pop-ups when um the old fan favorite and you know friend um Curtis Gamble at Station hosted us to do some pop-ups before we opened. And that was the origin like first kind of dish I jotted down in like a notebook or like my I think Apple notes. Okay. That was like kind of like spurred the idea for the like this restaurant.

Doug 5:53

Yeah.

Mike 5:53

Um, but yeah, we treat it just like beef brisket.

Doug 5:55

Uh all of the spices and the cooking brine.

Mike 5:58

It gets brined in this, yeah. Like it would so just take the same process that you would do for brisket and just swap it out with cabbage. So it's not gonna take as long as a cook. Sure. But the overall product, like the dish start to finish, I think takes 36 hours, like start to finish to like where it's ready to go on the menu. And that's that's a combination of all the components on there. It's not just the cabbage is the main one. That's the most one that takes the time. But yeah, there's always been some sort of you know, Ruben sandwich is kind of a Rastrami sandwich, so there's Thousand Island Hollandaise instead of, you know, that's your hot mayonnaise, pretty pretty much.

Doug 6:28

Amazing. Um, we've taken everything like up a notch, too. And I mean, that's it. I think when you say it's veggie forward, I mean it's it's vegetables as true stars and in such a different kind of application that anyone has thought about.

Mike 6:42

Well, I think it's more of you know, one of my mentors, he met um Chef Matthew Wood, he was he took took me under when I was like a young punk. But he had a very interesting way of looking at things and asking questions about, well, why does it this have to be this? Like, what is this? Like, like what so like one thing we talked about like was like sugar. Like, and so we I remember like I think a summer or two ago, we had you know an onion dessert on. Oh a chocolate a chocolate and caramelized onion dessert, but it was like, all right, well, like we made a chocolate mousse, but we used an onion puree that was you know caramelized as the sugar to kind of sweeten. I don't like really sweet desserts, but that's like one of those things, like, all right, well, onions have a lot of sugar. That's sugar. And it's just like looking at things out outside the box there a little bit, and it's one of those things where you get, you know, you get turned off and you you have to sell a little bit, like, well, I don't know, I just want to go eat veggies. I'm like, well, look at all the things that you know people love. Like, who doesn't love a nice tomato sandwich or french fries or mashed potatoes or corn on the cob or pizza? I mean, that's just tomatoes, yeah. Cheese, tomatoes. So we use cheese. And so like it's just, I think when you put those things in context of like what you love about veggies, and then you're like, well, I like that. Like, well, I guess, you know, but never having that presented in it to have it as a meal.

Doug 7:45

I have to say, since you have so many concepts going on, again, I always think about the newcomer. You are a dining place, you're open for dinner, right, through the week. No, not doing lunch. We're not doing lunch, no. Not doing brunch. We're not doing brunch, no.

Mike 7:59

No. And it's just the labor would kill us. Oh, sure. So to just prep all the stuff. It'd be I'd I'd live there more than I do now. So right. And you live there already. Yeah, already pretty much.

Prefix Dining And The Chef’s Counter

Doug 8:08

So you do some things like a prefix menu and also is it the chef's table? Yeah, yeah. So tell us a little bit about that.

Mike 8:18

Our standard menu is a three-course um prefix. So we kind of modeled it after um restaurant week style menu. Um, just due to the success of that. And we did that because before, you know, before we had we we were, you know, the standard app, large entree. Um, and just with trying to gauge like what people would eat like on an entree size, like a lot was getting like coming back or getting to go. So then, you know, we would change it up, you know, for restaurant week, and then we leaned into more well, people always want to try so much stuff, like it's hard if you're just getting an entree. So we just did everything like we call them mid plates, like like between an appetizer and a large appetizer, like somewhere in there. And then it was getting, you know, and then that became a problem of well, you know, six people were gonna get like one just the pastrami and we're gonna share it. Like, well, like, and then like like, well, we're not full. I'm like, well, yeah, you got one thing and you split it between six people. Yes. Um, Tom Click, you has a great, I think, podcaster chat about that about sharing plates like that anymore. Like, like you're not gonna get the full what you wanted out of it. So then it was like, well, restaurant recorked well, and like, you know, people are always concerned about you know being able to try multiple things in the coming season. So I'm like, let's just do that. Like, we've we tried it, I think we started it last April or last May, I think. And we we just made the deadline. Well, could it must have been April, because I think the deadline was to run it to through restaurant week for a couple months and then see, you know, what the feedback was. If it wasn't working, then we would pivot. But um, we haven't moved away from that. It's been a year now, it's been over a yeah. So um, yeah, I mean, we do offer a la carte at the bar, aluminum menu. So if you just want to pop in and get a quick bite, um, you can. So we didn't want to take that option away from people, but we've had a lot of success with it.

Doug 9:46

That's great. So the prefix is for the general dining room, a la carte at the bar. Yeah, but then you do have this thing called the chef's counter.

Mike 9:54

Our kitchen is wide open. Yes. And that was more that was by because the space was completely gutted. There was nothing there. So um hindsight being chwen't way, there are some things I would have done differently. Once you get in there, but like it looks different on paper. Then you get in and you're like, oh man, I really messed this up. But um, yeah, but the consequence you were coming to dinner in my house. Yeah. Because you essentially are. You're in my house. You know, I spend just as much time there as I do at my home. And that was kind of the vibes. I curate the playlist, I've been working on that since I think 2018. Amazing. Um, so people that's the one thing we get a lot of people like, can we share the playlist? Like, what station is this? I'm like, oh, I just plug and play, like it's it's going, it's on our Amazon playlist. But yeah, so I wanted the kitchen open. Like if you went to someone's house for dinner, you wouldn't be like, stay in the living room, don't come in here while I'm cooking or whatever. So it's like we want that, and it's nice, you know, you want to see your guests. I mean, I always hated that divide of that wall where like you were just like in the back as the help and you didn't really see who your guests were and right, you know, see them having a good time and you know, vibe off that energy. Um, but there's we could seat up to five and you get the whole menu.

Doug 10:47

Wow.

Mike 10:47

Pretty much to taste.

Doug 10:48

Yeah.

Mike 10:49

Um, we also offer a seasonal tasting five course tasting menu as well. Oh, that's amazing. So if you want to just hit the seasons and come back for the greatest hits later, you can. Um, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. Um, I enjoy it. You know, sometimes it's a little, you know, when you have a full restaurant and you're trying to, you know, spiel and and do all this stuff and cook at the same time, it gets a little hairy, but you know, it's nice to push yourself and get a little challenge.

Doug 11:09

You know, get the get the blood pumping. That's right. You're the ultimate dinner party host in that moment. You know, I'm thinking now if I was sitting at the counter or having the prefix, you mentioned

Seasonal and Local

Doug 11:18

the ramps right now. You probably have to rely on some staples all the time that are available, right?

Mike 11:23

Yeah, commodity stuff that we need. But yeah, we're in this weird thing. Like, I've been looking to change the one dessert that we have and sesame chocolate pot of crumb with sunchok ice cream. And sun chokes sunchoke season just ended like a couple weeks ago. Okay. And I was waiting for rhubarb, and finally, like, we're getting rhubarb in I think later this afternoon. So it was like that we're divided, like, oh, I want to push it early, but like you're kind of running it, but then you're looking like, oh, it's end of April, like sunchokes end of April, but like we're fine. It's just like, hey, this is what we get. Like someone we had, I think, um in the winter time, we had gave us a great feedback or something. Like, well, there's a lot of you know, brassicus and cruciferous vegetables on the menu, like, well, yeah, it's it's January. This is what's available we can get.

Doug 11:58

Like, um, like we're like, we're looking to spring too, but like we, you know, we're we're working with you know, your nature gives us gonna be serving a tomato salad in December. No, no, no, right, unless we're unless we're in California time where they're exactly, or someone creates some really cool like indoor growth something here. Maybe maybe so you keep sparking this question I wanted to ask later, but I'm just gonna ask now purveyors. You know, you are really highlighting what's in season, uh, what's the freshest. Can you talk a little bit about your partnerships? Like, where's everything coming from? Do you, you know, you're supporting local farms in the region? As much as we can.

Mike 12:37

We have a wide ranging. Um I'm trying to go down. Well, actually, I just taught Jotto from Cold Co Farm. We were just texting about turnips.

Doug 12:43

So over in Verona.

Mike 12:44

Yeah, Verona. Um, Be Wilder. Yes. He's a good friend. Um, Fun Gal Farms. We get um Lions Mains mushrooms are fantastic. Um Bounty Beneath, their mushrooms are great as well. Bounty Beneath is from up my direction in Worthington, P. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I think they just moved it up there too. I think they've got it to a bigger space. Um, we started working last year with Three Rivers Grown. They're great. Um, yeah, Neil, who used to run, I believe, was Penn's Corner farmers back back in the day, which he did a great job. And he does a great job now with it. So that's and that's a I love that one because it's kind of, you know, farmers that because that that's a big process of, you know, if you're a small little farm having to deliver that stuff, yeah. Just the infrastructure and finding people to do it, that's a big thing. And that's a nice option that these farms that maybe don't have the resources to do that have an outlet to feature their product to not only, you know, restaurants, but also on a on you know, a home side level, they have a separate for that to buy as well. So that's fantastic.

Doug 13:37

Just to remind our listeners, Three Rivers Grown is uh it started with Clarion River Organics, sort of a collective. Yeah. And as you're saying, they help to bring a lot of small producers together, uh local, like hyper-local sometimes, but now you can order as a restaurant owner from sort of like their catalog and it's coming together. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, it's a little better than uh maybe national food distribution. Not to say we don't have to use those two, but I mean, if you can get it local, I mean why not?

Mike 14:05

Why not? Doesn't mean local is always better. You know, sometimes you know at Cropman, you know, but you know, we'd we just you pivot away from that. But you know, I mean it just makes sense to not have something that's been sitting in a truck for a week or you know, like when we get the turnips tomorrow or tomorrow and the greens, they're harvested like that night or that morning. Like they're out of the ground, fresh. And like, and then we and that's the you know, we run, you know, sometimes we run an issue. We we kind of, you know, I think how we balance the menu up pretty well. We're prepping every like one to two days, and you know, we're ordering just just enough what we need because we don't have a walk-in core, so our space is already pretty limited. So we really have to dial in what we order for storage. So they're not even sitting in our colours for a week. Usually by the end of the week, we're you know, it's done, unless it's like really slow, and which is a problem sometimes because sometimes you'll get one item that you plant, you forecast it will be balanced, and then all of a sudden the first you know, four tables all order it and you like you sell out in like the first hour and you're like and you're like, and it's not one of those, it's it's what's just tough for us. It's not like you can just go back and like, well, I'll just I'll just cut some more fish or I'll just you know butcher another fillet of beef.

Doug 15:03

Like, no, it's it's done. Like, we it's not till tomorrow. Like, oh my goodness. Well, I mean, and that's the thing with you keeping this menu so fresh, so local, ever changing, it's hard to forecast because you're always changing it up.

Mike 15:15

Few and far between that happens anymore? But it does happen because it's like, you know, life is gonna happen. You know, you can't what can go wrong will go wrong. And that's it, but yeah, I mean it's it's it is what it is. We try to explain that the best we can. I'm like, you know, empathize and like like at it. Like if you had your heart set on that, yes, and it's sold out and like it's by 7:30, 8 o'clock. Like we try to communicate that, like, listen, this is you know, we're just mean, you know, we prep based on our reservations, so and you know, to focus for a couple walk-ins and go from there. But if it hits our you know early, it's it's it's it's tough. It's tough. Yeah. You know, the I think it's the hardest it's ever been trying not just operate a kitchen and a restaurant, just a restaurant. I guess I remember after the you know, the more everyone told me the first year is the hardest. And then I'm like, yeah, it was pretty hard. But then I remember like year two to three, I'm like, it was way harder. Like interesting. Hi, this is Mike Godlewski from EYV Restaurant, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 16:09

I

Planning During the Pandemic

Doug 16:10

was thinking too, you were doing some pop-up, so you didn't you didn't have the pandemic to get through either. This all happened toward.

Mike 16:16

We yeah, we were at the tail end because were you in a planning stage? I was a planning stage pre-COVID.

Doug 16:22

Uh-huh.

Mike 16:22

Um, and that kind of went on hold. I think it was 2021, I think I looked at the space. Got it. 2022 we started we were originally supposed to open May 2022. Okay. But we did have lingering effects of COVID in the sense that the supply chain was still a mess. Right. Um, and then every week, you know, you'd be because you're waiting for permits or something like that, and some piece, you know, like our hood, you couldn't order until you had this, you know, I think a some permit or something like that in place. And then, you know, it went from like, oh, $25,000. Like, like, all right, next week it's 27, 20, and then like it just kept going up. And every week it was just everything was going up more or delayed. And like it blew up, like just that waiting and cut and price hikes, like blew up our budget. Like, we had to cut a lot of stuff out. We had to we had the crowdsource to raise some more money because like otherwise we weren't getting the doors open. Like it just it was just a killer.

Doug 17:06

But the pandemic itself, that lockdown kind of moment didn't squash your idea. It did.

Mike 17:12

I was ready to quit. Really? I was gonna, I was gonna re I was looking at to reapply and go to law school. Really? Yeah. My goodness. Yeah, I was over it. And then I think it was of like like this is done, like we're not coming back. You know, I mean, the early days too, doom and goon, like how to like this is just gonna crush people, and you know, there wasn't a lot of government assistance going on until later. And at the data was going to, you know, the bigger groups, um, it was harder for smaller independent people that really needed to get it. Yeah, um, so I'm like, this is done, it was over. And then like it kind of switched of trying to just be more, you know, seeing your friends like posting, like, we need help, or you know, this. And you're like, well, all right, well, let's get back in the game and help people out and see what we can do. And that kind of like lit the fire back a little again. Okay. And kind of like, I guess some restaurants called it like the change how like culture and everything operates. They called it like the reset. Yes. And I think that's kind of fallen by the wayside overall, but you know, that was the general idea. I'm like, let's try to improve um conditions a little bit. I mean, some days are better than others, yeah. But you know, that that was the goal. I'm glad you hung in. Uh yeah. I mean, you're you're you're always hanging in in this business. You're always, you know, like that the picture with the cat hanging on with the little claw there, like like hang in there. We can't do it.

Doug 18:16

Like, like uh, you know, the other thing I was thinking about as you were talking about building the restaurant, you're getting the the sourcing the vegetables. I think I came across another article. Are you all induction?

Mike 18:27

We are, we are electric.

Doug 18:28

Tell us a little bit more about that decision.

Mike 18:31

That was was an early thing. It was more of like, what's an environmental? Like, yeah, you're not using gas. And you know, my my pivot point was like, yeah, but I'm like, you know, we don't, you know, where's that energy come from the power veils electric thing? So if it's coming from fossil fuels, yeah, like you know, so is it better yet? But it was more of a the space was small, right? The kitchen was open, so the gas and everything gets hot. It makes it really hot. So A, I wanted to keep it cool, but B, also it's just more efficient. Induction burners.

Doug 18:57

I mean, it's it's more precise. Can you like dial it in?

Mike 19:00

You can, you can. Um, there's a really high-end poly science makes one that like you can really dial it in. But it's just more efficient. I think I think well that the numbers escape me now, but I think for the amount of whatever you know, energy that you know a gas stove uses, you only use like 40% of the energy to paint the stove, but induction's between like 80 and 90. So you're using your energy more efficiently as a gas flame, it kind of hugs the phone, so you're gonna get hot spots with induction. It's just it's magnetics, yeah. It kind of just takes on the whole surface of the pen. You get a little more even on your pen and not have as many hot spots. And yeah, it's always a little learning curve, too, because I was, you know, my whole life was cooking on gas. So like the first you know, you have that natural mental timer and clock when something's on the stove, and then all of a sudden you turn around and like, oh, it's burned over. So it took a little while to like dial in like those two, but now, yeah, it's great. I would have 10 out of 10 would recommend.

Doug 19:45

Well, what about cleanup?

Mike 19:46

That's also too good. So, you know, cleaning great, so you just you know, scrub it down, you can lift it up, and then you know, and that was a that was another thing for us too, because our space is so small. So we had to figure out how to utilize. So uh well, so one of our inductions is on top of one of our you know, hot hold chambers. But if we had a gas stove, we couldn't put that on top of the stove. Like it would, yeah. So it's like it's also a from flexibility, yeah, yeah, efficiency, you know, all multiple things. I love it. Um that was more of my time seeing how you know it could work staging in kitchens in Manhattan.

Doug 20:14

I had met Chef Chris Galarza.

Mike 20:16

Chris Galaza, yeah, great. Yeah, we were like a promoter. Yeah, he's the he's the oh my god, I can't remember the name of the company now that he works.

Doug 20:22

The organization.

Mike 20:22

Yeah, oh my god, that's um, but yeah, he's great. He goes into kitchens and helps you know transition and shows the benefits that um he reached out with us early on, or I reached out to him, I can't remember who, um, when I was looking into it. Um he was a great valuable resource.

Doug 20:35

And you started to go there, I think. Had you experienced induction in like your early chefing?

Mike 20:41

Uh no, it was we had a call. Always portable ones when I was at the Duquesne Club for like to use to make things in like the cold side Garmerage area. Okay. Uh, but not like a turn and burn like hotline. But like I'd go to, you know, stage um, I think when I went to Dirt Candy, you know, you know, also earned, you know, she's a vegetable restaurant as well. There, um, probably one of the pioneers leaders that does she doesn't get enough credit either for you know being the forefront of that and not just for veggies, but just the quality of food and chef that she is. Um, Amanda Cohen. And she was one of those things people are speaking, you know, also seen about, you know, initially, like no tipping in her restaurant. Like she paid everyone a wage, just a really positive environment to be there when I was there. Um, but uh everything with there was induction. Amazing eccentric. And I'm like, well, like they're cranking out here, you know, a nine cores prefix, doing a hundred some covers a night, and like it's just it's just going. Like, so it can't it can be done. And then you know you're doing it. I mean, yeah, I mean, you know, it's that's the you know, the one of the weird things about you know, restaurant, you know, kitchen people and hospitality, you know, it's it's more of a just no is never usually an answer because like what do you do? You just you just figure it out, like at the end of you just gotta keep going and plug along.

Doug 21:42

So uh you have me thinking too when you were mentioning some of your early career. We haven't talked about your career yet. And when I look at your menu, uh how you write it, I mean, I see uh a skill and study I don't have as a home cook. Can you you know tell us a little bit about your culinary career? Like, where did This all start. Well, I'm originally from uh Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Mike 22:03

So just a little bit below scranton for the for you office fans. Or baby penguins. Yes, exactly. Um, and this is all I've done. Like, I think really, yeah, I went to culinary school right out of high school. My original plan was to backpack through Europe. Okay. And like grab the Michelin guy, then just like, all right, let me try and just knock on the door and work, you know, because I was kind of doing quick math, you know. I mean, I don't know how accurate it was being 18, you know, delusions of grandeur that, like, well, like if I spent this much on loans and I put this much on credit cards, I'm probably coming out ahead and I'm getting a better experience. And um, and I were bringing it up, and my parents like, well, like you can go do that, but like, you know, you should go to college, but if you do that, you know, I don't know, you know, should you can come back and stay in the house, or you're gonna have to get a job. So they're sort of softly kicking you out. It's not like you can have to stay, yeah. But if you're in college, you can kind of stay type of thing. Okay. Um, so I just did the local community college back at Luzerne County community college, two-year program there. Probably so smart from an economical standpoint. It is. Um, I always tell over that too. Um, if you feel like you want to go, especially how expensive culinary school is now, is like even that, go get a certificate like for a year and just get the basics. I mean, CACC also does a great program. Yes. Um, Westmoreland Community College. Yes. That's a fantastic program. Also, another one that I kind of wish I knew about then, where you're not spending any money, is the um the Green the Green briar Apprenticeship Program. Oh, I don't know. Which is it's a fantastic program. Wow. Um, Rich Rosendale came out, he did the Boku store a couple years ago. Um, Chef Keith Kokenauer, who's one another mentor, um, Duquesne Club, executive chef forever, gold medals and culinary Olympics. Like, he went through that program. So it's a fantastic program.

Doug 23:30

So from the Luzerne community college, where do you go next? And and what I really want to get to is why all the veggies? Like, like, where does this come from?

Mike 23:41

They never set it out that way of wanting to cook. That was just wanting to learn and absorb. So I would buy every cookbook when I had spare money to get my hands. And this was not in the day of like YouTube and it wasn't out there. I think the closest resource you had, I'm gonna I'm gonna show my age here a little bit, was um that like had you know useful information, was eagle it.com way back in like you see people talking about like the early days of a Linia and Lboe on there and like recipes. I just thought, you know, stuff like all these different forms, and that was like the only real resource you had. Either you had to go, either, you know, A, go to the restaurant or or B, hope if they had a cookbook out to kind of you know see what they were doing there. Wow. Um, but yeah, my Matthew Wood, he kind of took me in his wing, but he was the chef at a couple of restaurants around there, and then I followed him down the northern Virginia, uh, Manassas for a little while.

Doug 24:21

Okay.

Mike 24:22

Um, dipped my toe in the water of maybe going to live and work in Philadelphia. Um, I had a job lined up at Laybeck Fen and kind of backed out the last second, kind of got in my own head, like, oh, I don't know if I could do this where I'm like up to the par of that level. Yeah, that level and kind of, you know, kind of step back a little bit. Um we're glad you're here. Yeah. Or, you know, do I meet my wife if I don't, you know, if I take that job and I get stuck in Philly? So um yeah, everything happens, you know, the universe unfolds as it should, is my go-to motto. Did you ever do the backpacking through Europe? No, I never did. I've never been to Europe. No, that's still on the wait, wait, wait, wait. You've never been to Europe yet? No. We need to change that. I well, I I I know. It's well, it's just the it's the hard one. You're you know, a young cook. I think you know, the most I ever made coming up, even when I was a sous chef in some places in you know, my early 20s was nine, ten dollars an hour. Yeah. And this is in you know, mid-2000s. So like used, and you're just you know, you were just married to the job, and I was just I just couldn't get out of the kitchen. Like, I just took every ship that was there all the time because that's what cooking is. Some people want to know how to how to become a good cook. Cook, yeah, cook. It's all it's all muscle memory and repetition, it's what you need to do. Like, so if you want to be a better, you know, knife skills, well, use your knife skills. I tell, you know, I used to sit in my apartment, you know, when just gonna be quinelle ice cream. Oh my god. I used to just I remember, you know, reading how to do it in the French laundry cookbook when I was like 19. So I would just sit in my apartment with like five pounds of butter softened and just quinelling it and then dropping it like in my free time. Like what normal human being does this? I don't know, but like I just had to know how to do it.

Doug 25:47

Like Mike, you are obsessed. I so this I I want to go back a second before you made the decision to go to culinary school growing up in Wilkesbury. Like, what when did you start to cook, or what was food life like as uh a youngster?

Mike 26:02

Um, yeah, I mean, you know, mom usually generally made a dinner, dad was the grill. She tried to have dinner on every night while working, you know, a full-time job with three kids, three boys, um, all within the same, you know, with a year of each other. So we were little, you know, tyrants. Okay. So I I can't even imagine having to deal with that. You know, we'd go to our grandparents for Sunday dinner. Awesome. Um, that was kind of one of I don't know, I don't think it took into it, but maybe subconsciously, that was like one of my grandfather's kind of things

The Spark to Culinary

Mike 26:27

he always wanted to do. Um, you know, he was a coal miner. Yeah, it's all like that whole wage of migrants of people that immigrated to um America from you know, he came originally from Poland. Yeah. Um and you know, got a coal mining job with his family and like, but he like he always, you know, loved making breakfast. He always wanted to do like a diner. Oh, so that was kind of something that I don't know if that was subconsciously read. So it wasn't something like, oh I gotta do this because he wanted to do it, or like it was just kind of just had because I used to say for years, I'm like, I've never opened a restaurant, like it's a crazy person's dream. Like, what's wrong with you? Like here you are. Yeah, and here, you know, you know what? You know, I I eat crow so much, so it's like, you know what, let's just let's just keep it going.

Doug 26:57

Did you cook as uh, you know, a young person, as a teenager?

Mike 27:02

Yeah, so there's that looks press grand, is the land of, you know, there's an old joke, you can't go a block without seeing a bar or church and a pizza place. Uh-huh. Um, so there was a Italian restaurant, their pizza is um Colarusso's, but they're more old forge style, and that's where their main restaurant was, but they had a location that was like maybe a half mile from my house. I could walk to it.

Doug 27:19

And what's the name again?

Mike 27:20

Colarussos. Um and 15, you're looking at what are you looking at? What's the most thing? Getting a car. Yeah. Getting your license. So I'm like, all right, well, I need to start saving some money to buy a car. So we walked in there, we used to get their pizza every, you know, every Friday's or so, and then like, hey, do you need any help? I'm like, yeah, we need a dishwasher. And then I started dishwasher when I was 15, like most people in the center, the gateway drug into the industry. And yes, you know, I remember sitting sitting there and again, all the dish done didn't want to do that, but the cooks would, you know, that were there would want to go out and smoke cigarettes. So I would just start subtly paying attention to like when orders would come in, like, well, how do you do that? Like, I made sure the dish pit was always cleaned up so I can kind of just hang out and watch.

Doug 27:53

Yes.

Mike 27:53

Um, and then you know, they're like, Oh, this order came in. I don't was going out for a smoke. I'm like, Oh, I know how to do it. Like, go smoke, I'll do it. And then, like, so then took they took more smoke breaks so I could, and then I jumped in there and eventually one didn't show up. And um, the owner was like, Oh man, like who's gonna fill in? I'm like, Oh, I know how to do it, I'll do it. And he's like, And he's like, you know, all right, let's see it.

Doug 28:09

So my goodness.

Mike 28:10

And then I never looked back. That was uh 2002, summer, summer 2003. Somewhere in there, I don't know. It's all bursts. It all yeah, time's a flat circle, it all bursts together.

Doug 28:19

Well, then, you know, as you said, you go to culinary school, you follow some chefs, you do the learning. When do you come to Pittsburgh?

Mike 28:26

Um, we came here in 2009, November 2009. Okay. And that was more of and and so we both, my wife and I both, now my wife, we were living together, and our lease was up on our apartment. Um, we were down visiting some friends at the time. They were, you know, a bunch of them were going to Duquesne. Here in Pittsburgh. Yeah, here in Pittsburgh. Um, so yeah, and you know, I'm diehard steelers and penguins fan. Yeah. Um, so I've been down to the city quite a bit, familiar with it. And um, we were down here hanging out, and we just you know just had a great time. Like, what if we just moved here? Yeah. And she's like, okay, and like we kind of talked about it, and then like we just did it. We just moved. Love that you did. Yeah, and that was in my heart, was you know, top of the list was trying to get a job at the Duquesne Club. Um, just researching it and all that, and just like like this. I think this is somewhere I can go and get my butt kicked. And that's what you were looking for. That's what I was looking for yeah, like because I before we moved down there, I was an executive chef at a restaurant. This the chef got fired. Wow. I was 21, yeah. The chef got fired, and uh and they just like well, like you're it. And I'm like, okay. And like I did that for a year, you know, it was a lot of fun. I made a lot of mistakes. That's what um, but yeah, just that's what learning is, but yeah, but it was it was just like for a while, like, man, and I'm 22. I'm like, man, like I shouldn't be this burnt out already, like yeah at 22. And I'm like, this is just too much, and just to you know, things kind of just fell into place kind of after that. And so it was like everything, you know, worked out.

Doug 29:37

Was the Duquesne Club the first solid job you had here then in Pittsburgh? It was the only job I've had here. Oh, before you went out on your own. Yeah.

Mike 29:45

Well, I did a little stint between um, I was the opening chef at the foundry and the North Shore. I was there for a couple years, and then um being there and putting all the work in, you know, great space, the owners there. Um, and Andy, uh, Michelle and Rob, they're they're such great people too. So that was hard to put my notice in there. But again, like we started a chef's table in that kitchen. Okay. And like again, I think I remember the first like three or four courses were just vegetables. Oh, and then look moved into proteins later on. But that was like like, oh, this is kind of like I like doing this. Like it's challenging, it's fun, you know, you're working peak seasons, and that's where that idea kind of started to you know sputter. And you're like breaking rules all the way because you're doing your vegetable. I mean, I had some young punk, you know, skateboarder growing up. I was all about breaking rules. So I love it. Um for being someone that you know performs well in the hierarchy and structure of a kitchen, you know, sometimes I was someone go, I got a problem with authority, like this. Like, you tell me no, I'm just gonna do it. So it's a motivator, yeah. But not in a kitchen though it was always yes, chef. Like it's like, so that was that that was always a weird dichotomy, like, like you're so like in the eat outside and you're just like a maniac. And I'm like, it focuses you. Yeah, well, that's uh that's what it's like. It's like my ADD brain, and like I'm like having conversations with my wife and just stop talking mid-sentence because something pops in my head and she's like, Yeah, and I'm like, What? She's like, Are you just are you done? Like, and I'm like, Oh yeah, what are we talking about? And like you're processing other stuff, yeah. Just going in there, but yeah, it's just that you have a task to get done and you're just moving along and I I thrive in that.

Doug 31:05

Side question Do you enjoy watching the bear? Have you watched the bear? Uh I have, I think it's well done.

Mike 31:11

Okay. Um, especially the first two seasons. Um, but it's it's stressful. Yeah, it's it's stressful watching it.

Doug 31:18

I cannot watch it, and I've never worked. I mean, beyond like dining halls in college, I haven't worked in a professional.

Mike 31:23

At least the first one. I think the one that I was like was the most like one that might because I watched it first, and then my wife kind of caught like the tail end. So she's like, Well, I'll go back and rewatch it with you. And like, I'm so ingrained, like, especially with how accurate was the person. Like, I was somebody would like move my hands, just motion, like while I'm sitting there, I'm like moving, like, oh and then like she's like, What are you doing? I'm like, What are you doing with your hands? And I'm like, huh? And I'm like, Oh, I don't know. Like, and then I'm just like, that's just just muscle memory, and you're just watching things go down and then but the stressful one that you know they they let the to-go orders go live and the printer's printing just constantly, constantly. And I'm like, I'm like, somebody turn it off! And why would you not just turn it off? Like it's already done, like you're not making that. Like, turn it off. Like, hopefully, you're not having those moments at EYV. Uh duck on a pond.

Doug 32:03

Okay.

Mike 32:04

Duck on a pond.

Doug 32:04

Okay, okay.

Mike 32:05

There's always smooth on the top. There's always crazy. There's always fires to put out somewhere that you're, you know, and that that's when I know. And I think every day before you know service starts, there's always, you know, I always have the butterflies in my stomach. That's good though. You need it. But that's one of the and I think I can't remember his name. He's the he was the pastry chef at La Bernadine for a while. I think he teaches at the French French Culinary Institute now. Or that name's changed, but I can't remember call his name. Um, but he's like, he's like, yeah, he's like, I know I'll know I'll hang it up. He's like, but every day is like, you know, if I'm doing this for years and I will I still get butterflies. Yeah, he's like, he's like the butterflies go away, I know it's time to hang it up. Like it's done.

Doug 32:37

Like, so that's right. Well, I'd like to move us forward too. So hopefully the butterflies are still going. They're still going. They're still going. What is on the horizon for EYV? Any upcoming events, uh, anything you're looking for ahead this summer, any goals?

Mike 32:54

Um, I always joke, I say, like, keep the lights on. Yeah, that's good. That's goal number one. Yeah. Um, and we just kind of play it by ear as opportunities come and go. You know, we, you know, being that's you know, we're such a small space, it kind of limits us to what we can kind of do, especially off-site, um, especially if there's fundraising or trade events that we'd like to do, but they you know, sometimes fall on a weekend, so it's kind of hard to justify closing a weekend to go do that without just yeah, yeah. So you kind of you know, try to contribute another

Helping Beyond the Restaurant Walls

Mike 33:19

way.

Doug 33:19

But you do do actually a lot of other cool things. I know you've been a guest chef at Community Kitchen Pittsburgh.

Mike 33:25

We just did that dinner on the 28th. So it just finished that like a week or so ago. Yeah, a couple weeks ago.

Doug 33:29

So you are teaching other people kind of like how this is working. And have you also done Phipps Conservatory? I have. I've done that for a couple of a few multiple, a lot of times now.

Mike 33:37

I want to say two years, but that doesn't seem right. But some I thought it does. I don't know how to ask tests about that one.

Doug 33:41

I think she had me just do my first class. Yeah, how did it go?

Mike 33:43

It went. I saw the pictures that I think. Yeah, it was okay.

Doug 33:46

Uh you know, again, first time you make some mistakes and it's about fun. I mean, it's super fun. But you're getting out there in the world on days you can. And I can, yeah. And showing what's possible with fresh produce and sort of the skills you've built along the way.

Mike 34:00

So, yeah, that for that. And you know, we're always trying to support you know good causes when we can. And that's that's more so try to you know, give back. This is you know, the you know, pretty much, you know, do people actually need restaurants on paper? No. Um, it is a business, so you're you're trying to you know at least break even. But we'd like them, we'd like to make a profit. But like, how do you give back?

Doug 34:18

Razor thin marginal.

Mike 34:19

It's it's smaller every year. Yeah, you know, like even that just you know, you know, margins look at you know what what the inflation percentage has gone up from January till now. Well, the price our prices didn't go up, yeah, but everything else has gone up. So your your margins think so that's it's tough and hard. And so you but you you try to make a balance. So like we still want to give back. I mean, I'm always the first person if someone asks, like, hey, can you help volunteer or or donate? Yeah, like sign up. And I think that's just the restaurant community in general, especially here in Pittsburgh. You ask anyone for like to help out for a car or something, like it's always, yeah, we'll figure it out how to make it work. So absolutely the chef community here in the hospitality industry here is really fantastic.

Doug 34:52

So good. Mike, let's remind listeners uh number one, your location and hours again.

Mike 35:00

So we're located at 424 East Ohio Street, Deutschtown. Um, we're currently open Wednesday through Saturday, um, Wednesday, Thursday, 5:30 to 9:30, um, last reservation or seatings at nine, and then Friday, Saturday, 5:30 to 10, last seating at 9:30.

Doug 35:17

Excellent. And if someone wants to find you and follow you on social media or your website, could you give us those?

Mike 35:24

Yeah, they can hire a private detective. Um, or you know, it might be a little more cost effective and easier. Um, you can find us at um EYV underscore restaurant on Facebook and Instagram. Um, also on our website, EYVrestaurant.com. Um, if you want to get in touch with me personally, there's a little contact um form there too to shoot me an email about questions or anything like that.

Doug 35:42

Even private events and stuff. Private events, yeah, we do those.

Mike 35:44

We can't we cater to a wedding for a hundred plus people a couple Augustes ago. So that was a great experience. Yeah. That was a lot of fun. Um great people too. They just had their baby, I think, a year ago. So yeah, they're on their own parenting Monad. They're fantastic.

Doug 35:58

Wonderful. Well, Mike, I always like to ask uh traditional ending question. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish that you've had to eat this past week?

Mike 36:16

It's not gonna be a a shocking decision for going on page, but it was that whatever new crunch wrap is on at Taco Bell. What? Really? I love that answer. That's the last uh dining experience that I've had. Yeah, going out to you.

Doug 36:31

Oh my goodness. Well, I mean, how can you beat a crunch rap? It's got all the things.

Mike 36:35

That's one of my guilty pressures, Taco Bell. I know. I'm like, I'm guilty. I I like I love Taco Bell for the reason that it's that they are unapologetically, we are Taco Bell and this is what we do. Yes. And like we're just gonna do this, as opposed to like, you know, when people are like, oh, we can get a salad here at McDonalds. Like, no, we're Taco Bell, we're putting stuff in a Dorito, get down here.

Doug 36:54

I respect it. Well, it's been so great to get to know you and talk with you today. Likewise, thank you for having me on. It's been it's been a pleasure and an honor. Chef Mike Godlewski of EYV, thank you so much. Thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish. Thanks for having me. Hopefully, talk again soon. If you enjoyed the show, we would love for you to become a monthly monetary supporter. Just click the link at the bottom of this show's description or visit our website at PittsburghDish.com and tap the support button. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.