Feasting on seven fishes and holiday neighborhood love at Di Pasquale’s

It’s the holidays and time for traditions and trimmings so we ventured back to DiPasquale’s in Canton with former UMBC soccer coach Pete Caringi to ask Domenico DiPasquale about the Christmas tradition of the Feast of The Seven Fishes and bringing family together for good cheer and great food.

Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, highlighting upcoming events including shows at Honeys, Hail Thor, CASAS, Dundalk, Gertrude’s at the BMA, and Planet Fitness. He shares personal anecdotes about his Italian heritage, including a story about attending an Italian wedding and his grandfather’s Italian cooking. Domenico Di Pasquale explains the Feast of the Seven Fishes, detailing traditional Italian dishes like baccala, octopus salad, and pasta with ali kitada. They also discuss the growth and development in Canton, emphasizing the importance of community and family traditions.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Nestor to attend the Feast of the Seven Fishes at the for no location on December 23rd.
• [ ] Domenico to send Nestor the menu for the Feast of the Seven Fishes at the for no location.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, sponsored by the Maryland Lottery and GBMC, with six shows in 11 days.
• Upcoming events include shows at Honeys, Hail Thor, CASAS, Dundalk, and Gertrude’s at the BMA, featuring Seven Fishes with John Shields.
• Nestor mentions a New Year’s Eve party at Planet Fitness in Timonium, featuring a crab cake and fitness activities.
• Nestor and Domenico discuss the types of food being served, including pistachio cookies and Italian coffee imported from Italy.

Family Traditions and Christmas Plans

• Nestor shares his Christmas plans, including a family dinner with his son’s wife, John Shields, and a New Year’s Eve party at Planet Fitness.
• Pete Caringi talks about his family’s Christmas traditions, including a dinner prepared by his wife and a flip-flop arrangement with his daughter in Houston.
• Nestor recounts a story about attending an Italian wedding in West Philadelphia, highlighting the abundance of food served.
• Domenico explains the concept of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, emphasizing the importance of eating seven different types of fish.

Feast of the Seven Fishes and Family Roles

• Domenico describes the Feast of the Seven Fishes, which includes various seafood dishes and pasta.
• Nestor and Domenico discuss the different types of seafood served, including baccala, shrimp, octopus, and calamari.
• Domenico explains the significance of the number seven in the feast and the traditional dishes served at his family’s gathering.
• Nestor shares his personal experiences with Italian food and his mother’s cooking, which included more traditional Southern dishes.

Nestor’s Italian Heritage and Family Connections

• Nestor talks about his Italian heritage, mentioning his mother’s side of the family and their Italian traditions.
• He shares stories about his grandfather, Tommy Arena, who was a famous bugler at the racetrack and made Italian meals for Nestor.
• Nestor recounts his experience of finding his Italian family members in Philadelphia and reconnecting with them.
• He expresses his desire to learn more about his Italian heritage and traditions, especially since he was not close to his family growing up.

Panettone and Italian Breakfasts

• Nestor shares a story about discovering a delicious panettone at Oven Bird in Little Italy, which he describes as one of the best things he’s ever eaten.
• Domenico explains the different types of panettone available, including one with Prosecco and dried pear.
• Nestor discusses the challenges of preserving panettone and the joy of sharing it with his family.
• They talk about the tradition of having panettone for breakfast, which Nestor describes as a true Italian experience.

Domenico’s Family Business and Community Growth

• Domenico talks about the growth of his family’s business in Canton and the impact of the development in the area.
• He mentions the high occupancy rates of the new apartments and the need for more parking and expansion.
• Nestor reflects on the changes in Canton over the years, including the construction of new buildings and the influx of new businesses.
• They discuss the importance of community and the role of local businesses in shaping the neighborhood.

Nestor’s AI Class and Future Technology

• Nestor shares his experiences with an AI class, where he learned about using AI to create menus based on refrigerator contents.
• He describes how AI can help with meal planning and accommodating dietary restrictions.
• Nestor expresses his fascination with AI and its potential applications in various aspects of life.
• They discuss the ethical considerations and potential risks of advanced AI technology.

Nestor’s Upcoming Events and Personal Reflections

• Nestor talks about his upcoming events, including a Christmas caroling event and a funeral for a long-time friend.
• He reflects on the importance of family and community during the holiday season.
• Nestor shares his thoughts on the impact of AI on his personal and professional life.
• They conclude the conversation with a discussion about their favorite foods and holiday traditions.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Maryland crab cake tour, Seven Fishes, Italian heritage, Christmas traditions, Domenico Di Pasquale, Pete Caringi, Baltimore growth, holiday events, family gatherings, seafood dishes, panettone, lemoncello, Orioles fan, AI technology, community development.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Domenico Di Pasquale, Speaker 2, Pete Caringi, Speaker 1

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W N st am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. This is the Maryland crab cake tour with cookies and with panettone and with sausages and kielbasa. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Also our friends at GBMC getting us out on the road six shows in about 11 days. We still going to be at honeys and hail Thor before it’s over with, next week, we’re gonna be at CASAS and Dundalk with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gina Schock, honoring my dear friend Ed lower, who’s had a heart transplant in the last month. I mean, I got friends staying alive. We’ve been friends leaving us. And then next Friday, we’re gonna be with cousins, with family. We’re gonna be at gertrude’s at the BMA. My son married into the shields family, and John shields, one of the most famous chefs in town, he’ll do Seven Fishes with me. I’m down here deep DiPasquale. He’s doing Seven Fishes. Rodricks is going to be with me. He’s Portuguese, and he does Seven Fishes next week at Gertrude. And then we’re going to be doing party hats, New Year’s Eve hats with our friends at Planet Fitness on the 22nd in Timonium, brand new location. We’re gonna be having a costa scrap cake there and trying to work off all these damn pistachio What is this cookie? Dot. What is this? This a pistachio

Domenico Di Pasquale  01:10

with almond paste. These tasty, Chewy,

Nestor Aparicio  01:14

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well, I got some coffee. We are kind of coffee you serve in this joint.

Domenico Di Pasquale  01:19

We actually import that it’s called universal. Comes from Italy, yeah, my uncle does that, yeah, dark, dark roast,

Nestor Aparicio  01:29

cup, beaker. I’m in an Italian place. She keeps wanting to feed me.

Pete Caringi  01:33

That’s what we do. Feed him. You don’t come into Italian place without eating. All right?

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Nestor Aparicio  01:39

And drink is our seasonal what’s a Christmas for the cringy family? Which was Christmas gonna be like in your I’ve met your kids. I know your wife, by the way, I wore something for you. And a lot of times I stand up. I don’t know if I can get it into the shot. Yeah, my belt buckle is my belt buckle collection. I don’t know. I’m gonna take it off right now. I’m gonna hold it up. What band did you and I have dinner together at Ruth’s Chris with our wives in a booth before seeing Chicago? Ah, you like that? So I’ve been to dinner with him and his wife say, Choco. Do you see that? So I wore my scholar love. I wore my Chicago belt today, Saturday.

Pete Caringi  02:24

It’s father, the late, the late Johnny pachaco, Fourth of July, legendary soccer coach. He loves Chicago,

Nestor Aparicio  02:30

all right. So now to take my pants off here and I got my belt on. So what’s what’s a sausage? What’s it? That big sausage is Darren. We’re talking, let’s talk about your Christmas. What’s a Christmas in a because i i see you as paisa. I’m going to World Cup Italian. I’m figuring you have feasted the seven fishers, and you looked at me like, now we get polish, your boss and sauerkraut.

Pete Caringi  02:53

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My wife makes all the dinner. And then obviously, if we’re here, because my daughter lives out of town, so we kind of flip flop, be

Nestor Aparicio  03:06

here this year, your way, this year away, where’s away? Where’s daughter? Houston, it’s gonna be warmer. Well, it’s a little different when you go somewhere for Christmas and there’s, like, palm trees, you know, it’s a lot warmer.

Pete Caringi  03:17

Yeah, a lot warmer down there, for sure. But we all have the dinner. We, uh,

Nestor Aparicio  03:22

open the present. Is that ham, turkey? What are you doing?

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Pete Caringi  03:25

They have it all. I mean, I mean, he’ll tell you how many different plates you have. It’s you get fed, and then you get fed again. And then you sit there and watch football, and then you get fed again. The kids play with the toys, and then you get fed. Let me.

Nestor Aparicio  03:40

Let me give you an Italian story. And I was about to tell you about a wedding I attended in West Philadelphia, and I was going to say her name and you know her, Monica to candelose wedding. Monica, I love you. Monica Yankel La Crosse, stud, kids, husband who trained me. Monica got married, and she was my friend. She was the UMBC lacrosse coach. I had a UMBC lacrosse shirt, and he got pissed. He’s like, why don’t you have a soccer shirt? Why do you wear a lacrosse shirt? I’m like, well, Monica gave me a shirt, so I wear it. If Tom Sullivan would have given me a basketball shirt, I would have worn that. I gave him a bunch of shirts. I got a I’ve worn your soccer shirt, believe me, I wore it when, when UMBC pulled the big upset. I wore it around Disney World. The next day I had a UMBC soccer shirt. I was like, what? Really bright yellow, like the like the turf, so the bees were following me around because I was wearing yellow. So Monica got married, and this is before I was married. I was single, and I went to her wedding alone, stag, because she had really good looking lacrosse friends too. But this is 25 years long time, maybe 30 years out. You have to ask Monica when her wedding was late 90s, and I went up stag to this wedding. It was Italian wedding man, her family’s Italian, West Philly, Italian, like Villanova, and she’s listed. In You know, I love you. I have never in my life been anywhere, and I’ve been to commissioners parties in the NFL. I’ve been to parties where, like Roman gods, I was at a party that Castro threw in Cuba once. Whoa. I have never been to anything like an Italian wedding, like the amount of food that was served at Monica’s wedding. Still, 30 years later, I’m like, I’m talking about it, and I think of it Greek to Don’t get me started. I’ll be at Greek places all week. They just keep trying to let your booty grow. They keep bringing me more food. And you’ve been trying to feed me. But this Feast of the Seven Fishes, I’m trying to understand it. I don’t know that I like fish this much, and I know it’s got really weird. I said smoked mussels. I’ve talked about that yesterday, stuff that I have never I say weird, just stuff I haven’t tried, right?

Domenico Di Pasquale  05:50

It doesn’t have to be smoked. It’s just you have to at least eat seven, because it’s a lucky number. It’s it’s all seven’s a number, oh, seven sacraments, seven muscles. Okay, so, no, like seven of each different, different fish. Yeah, and we actually celebrated at my aunt’s house in Highland town. We all pack up in a small town home, and it’s a feast.

Nestor Aparicio  06:12

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So you’ve been doing Seven Fishes all of your life? Yes, all right, so Christmas Eve, domenico’s here. He is the Son you run the place of your day. Who runs a place? It’s a it’s a group effort. Me, my dad, my mom. What’s your official role? Do you have a job description and family work like that? But I’m trying to get my clone.

Domenico Di Pasquale  06:29

My role is just the bus chops, you know, just make sure

Speaker 1  06:34

he’s the next in line,

Nestor Aparicio  06:36

yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s got it easy. Probably got a hard Oh, he’s got it hard. Oh, I’m always thinking about, why do you think my kid doesn’t work for me? Right? Seriously, right? I mean, you know, yeah, he’s a nice guy. He’s nicer than me. It’s why he didn’t work for me.

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Domenico Di Pasquale  06:47

We my dad and I worked together. We bought heads all the time. But, you know, it’s a yin and yang kind of thing, you know, would it

Nestor Aparicio  06:53

make a good sitcom? Would it make like a guitar? Yeah, we should have GoPro, like the choppers guys, you know, like one of those television shows here do that, that’d be good. All right, so your feast Seven Fishes is different. It’s not a set meal. It can be any Seven Fishes.

Domenico Di Pasquale  07:08

Or no, yeah, it could be any Seven fish. We just have the ones we like. What is for now,

Nestor Aparicio  07:14

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by the way, because you started that

Domenico Di Pasquale  07:16

for know is where we used to be. It’s where we used to be located, and it’s now like a restaurant with pasta, pizza, cocktails. It’s your home space, yeah, exactly. All right, so we have the building already, so we just decided to do something with it for the community. Yeah, totally different concept from here, but really fun atmosphere.

Nestor Aparicio  07:36

All right, so let’s go through this, this here, and tell me what these are, and explain these dishes to me as so I don’t have to AI them, because I don’t know what seafood Aaron Chini might mean. I know what Aaron Cheney. Do you know what Bacalar is? Bobby baccala was in the Sopranos?

Domenico Di Pasquale  07:50

Yes. So baccala is salted cod. So when you get it, it’s almost dry cured, and you have to soak it in water for three days, and then you cook with it. So normally, you do this in like a tomato broth store. So one of my favorite

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Nestor Aparicio  08:04

I grew up in rednecks in East Baltimore, and my mother boiled every overcooked everything, you know. So I love my mom, mom, you know, I love you. And she made some things that I really loved and some things that I really missed. Now she’s gone, but we were not exotic. My dad was poor from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Irish family. My mom grew up in a deep south Abbeville, South Carolina, so a lot of her cooking had more of a Southern, black, Southern kind of tradition to it, and but we never did smoked anything. We never did salted fishes. Fish in my house was my dad picking up some perch frozen, and my mom would just do something with it, salmon cakes. Now religious my family fish on Friday, 52 weeks a year in my house, it wasn’t like you’re gonna go to hell or jail, but my parents served seafood on Friday, pasta on Thursday. Thursday was always Italian. Friday was all I mean, I mean, I was kind of house I grew up in my Yeah, this is the same. So I a lot of things that I’ve come to in life, Asian food, things that I love have come to me by trying it so salted fishes, I think of anchovies, right?

Domenico Di Pasquale  09:15

It’s not like that at all. Not like that at all. Very tender and fleshy, meaty.

Nestor Aparicio  09:23

I mean, I want to try some new things. I mean, I’m always down with that. I’m gonna try your new coffee here in a minute, too. All right, so seven, Seven Fishes. Bacala is salted fish and potato bruschetta.

Domenico Di Pasquale  09:34

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Okay, well, you soak it. It’s not as salted, because you soak it for so long, the salt comes out and re high. So it’s fishy. Yeah, no, it’s not fishy at all. No, okay, yeah, seafood energy. What kind of seafood you put in that? We’re gonna put shrimp in that. And the arancino rice balls that you deep fry, and it’s stuffed with like cheese, the seafood

Nestor Aparicio  09:56

grilled prawn trapanace, you.

Domenico Di Pasquale  10:00

Uh, grilled, I mean, they’re just giant, yeah, grilled shrimp,

Nestor Aparicio  10:04

all right? Ensalada de popo.

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Domenico Di Pasquale  10:06

That is octopus. Octopus salad cold you have in the No, this one we oh, we’re gonna grill to order. So it’s not going to be served cold. Grilled calamari. It’s not cold octopus. Yeah?

Nestor Aparicio  10:16

See, when I see ensalada, I’m thinking, that’s a cold. I’m glad I’m glad I’m talking to you about this, because all these things I look at this, I’m like, I ain’t eating this, you know, then it’s not even the Dundalk in me. It’s just sort of like, I know what this is. Poached lobster over beluga beans. Beluga beans are, like, butter beans. Like, like, yeah, now my wife puts those in soup. They’re delicious. All right, stuffed calamari. There’s two octopuses on this out of the seven here, no octave.

Domenico Di Pasquale  10:42

Octopus and calamari are different. Calamari squid, octopus, eight arms. I’m getting this calamari.

Nestor Aparicio  10:50

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I gotta get Nancy down here to educate me and translate clams. Post solipo Chi Tada,

Domenico Di Pasquale  10:59

that is our pasta entree with Ali kitada. What’s Ali kitada? It’s, it’s pasta, but it’s pressed through guitar strings. Okay, so it’s a square shape instead of round, when you like a spaghetti,

Nestor Aparicio  11:15

okay, yeah, so it’s a square spaghetti, yes, smaller than Guinea though, yes, yeah, like a teeny weeny

Domenico Di Pasquale  11:23

linguine. I might change the name to that.

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Nestor Aparicio  11:26

Well, it mean a hell a lot more than pussypogeta. With being around here, I’ll tell you that right now.

Domenico Di Pasquale  11:30

Kitada means guitar. So it’s an it’s an instrument you use to make the pasta the shape of it,

Nestor Aparicio  11:36

pussy. What’s puslipo? What is that

Speaker 2  11:40

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give me get the damn trans chef over here.

Nestor Aparicio  11:43

No, I’m just gonna put this in translated to Italian. Is what I’m gonna do, what it does. But you said, Get your file. It’s clam, something guitar. My translates. Gonna not know what to do with that. Clams are eating guitar. Phase of the seven fishers at four. And you so I would think, and this was just me thinking a little drive down here. I didn’t think about another restaurant or you, sir. I figured people will be coming in here to have a Feast of the Seven Fishes and find things they can find here that they probably can’t find in other places. Yeah. Is that true?

Domenico Di Pasquale  12:14

Yes, but it will be held at the for no location. So I do have wine there, but not not we don’t have groceries or anything like that. All right, yeah, well, let’s get up there. That means you have to come here first, get all your stuff, and then you go up there for the feast. When is the feast? Anytime, December 23 All right, yep, where’s four? No, four. No, is the old location?

Nestor Aparicio  12:34

I’m like, my wife’s with her family. Yeah, I’m trying to do something family oriented. Well, I was trying to bite myself to Pete’s house and he’s going to Pete’s house, and he’s going to Houston, so I’m not going to his house for dinner. Anybody wants to fight me over for Christmas. Send me the menu, if I know what it is, if you’re sending me guitars, if you can translate, I can come over and eat. So your family’s meal, and you’re an Italian guy, and do you do Feast of the Seven Fishes in your family? Yeah, and is it? Give me some examples of what that would even be, because I find I’m Italian. By the way, you got me a gig. Pete, you weren’t here. I told Dom This when I got here. You’re famous. I mean, you were in a Final Four. Let me see your if I Google, you people know who you are nasties. So what happened was, I did the show with you, and the Italian people found out about it. The associated Italian charities, they had me come out to Pappas and speak, and I’m like, you’re talking to me. And they’re like, you’re Italian, aren’t you? And I’m like, Yeah, I am my mom. Like, right off the boat might so that was in July, because hot as hell the day I was here, I remember that was here, I remember that was like 100 degrees, and I got a call from Mike. He invited me out to speak. And I’m like, and I’m and I got a little nervous, you know, I mean, I get invited out to speak sometimes, but like, these were all Italian people, and they all knew me, and I knew 30 of the men in the room through the city, and I didn’t know they were going to be there. And I showed up. I’m like, You knew I was a speaker, and you showed up anyway. They’re like, you’re gonna be good. You’re the best speaker we’ve ever had.

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Speaker 1  14:07

So can we have them come here?

Nestor Aparicio  14:10

So they gave me this gig, and they tell me that I’m gonna speak, and I’m like, What do I have to speak about? Well, you’re Italian. Talk about your Italian Ness. So, and this is God’s honest truth, you know, I’m sort of a bastard child of a raised in a weird way, and my mom had a lot of off the field issues. My Italian mom died 10 years ago. My mom had a rough life. You know, my real mother, my root not the mother that everybody knows in love, my real mother, and she was Italian, so also aided zaninos. By the way, very my mother hung out at zuninos right by her house when she was a girl in the 60s and 70s at Colgate. So in September, I got invited to do this speech because of what I did with you here. And they heard me at deepest qualities. And I mentioned I was Italian. I have never thought about my. Italian this, right? Because you think of me as, what, Venezuelan, right, right? You think, because I mentioned that and Italian, but I am Italian to my mother’s side. My Italian mother met my Venezuelan father in Dundalk, 1965 they got married, or Lady of Fatima, by the grace of God, the Luke harpoos, he feels and Joseph Lee feel, right?

Domenico Di Pasquale  15:20

Okay, so I know. So did you find anything out with your about your family? Here’s what I did.

Nestor Aparicio  15:27

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I don’t have any family. Like, I just that’s like, that’s why I’m trying to bite myself to beats ask for Christmas. I don’t really have any family. My son, that’s about it. Got some Venezuelan cousins that live. One lives in Houston. So my mother’s Italian her father from the old country, Tommy arena, was my grandfather. He told me his life story in the 1990s at Jasper’s. I was not close to my family so much, but he told me his life story coming over, joining the army before he was old enough. So I started thinking about these stories about my grandfather, who, you know, to me, wasn’t the nicest man. You know my grandfather, right? My Italian grandfather. So it’s not like I’m putting that away. It’s just nobody’s ever asked me to talk about my Italian Ness, ever. And my grandfather used to bring me out to his house in Reisterstown and make me Italian meals in the kitchen. He would make sauce, make pizza, and he spoke Italian. He would get the Don Pepino salt like he’d make the pizza. So he was real Italian. Now he blew the bugle at the racetrack. My grandfather was famous in the racing circles, arena, A R, E N, A arena. So he came from the old country. He blew the bugle at the racetrack. He had the Tommy arena band, and they, he always wanted to be in Lawrence welks band. That was, he played the trumpet, played the bugle. So that was my grandfather. And I’m like, that’s all I know about it. Like if I sat and told you, he told me his life story when I was in my 20s, I wish I would have taped it, because I had the ability. I didn’t do it. So I don’t I only know what I recall, and I didn’t spend a lot of time with him in my life. So I get asked to do this Italian thing, and I’m like, he had a brother in Philly. He took me to Philly. His brother was a baker in Philly. His name was Frank arena. So I googled it, did you? And he he passed away in the 90s. He had a son who was like a crazy uncle to me, who once took me in his basement, Philly. His name was babe. I looked him up. He died in 2003 he’s got a sister who’s alive, and all of these people your age, the next family who make pizza, and they’re bakers. So I found them all on Facebook the week before I went to give the speech, because I’m like, I wonder where they are, what they’re, all equals people. You know, they’re Philly people, but so anyway, I got cousins, so I haven’t reconnected. I don’t even want to portray that, but I found them so being here with you and talking about Italian things, because I talk about Venezuela and Aparicio, that why I’m here. But like, I have this whole Italian thing, and I’ve never done a Seven Fishes. I’ve I don’t have an Italian family other

Speaker 1  18:03

than Pete. It’s bringing back. It’s bringing you so you guys are bringing him back. When I

Nestor Aparicio  18:07

hear these stories, I’m thinking, this is the way my grandfather, my grand, my grandfather’s sitting here, spoke to this and that. But I never experienced that, because I wasn’t full from a family full of love in that way. You know? I mean, so that’s why I like this kind of what was your Give me your feast of Seven Fishes.

Domenico Di Pasquale  18:23

Yeah, like I said, we are packed in a small town house, which is great. We’re all together about 30 people, and we start with the anti pasta always. But this time, instead of meats and cheeses, it’s seafood based. So we’ll have, like, smoked salmon, anchovy, little, little things to snack on. But then fish. Yes, it’s fish, fish.

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Nestor Aparicio  18:46

I mean, well, see, in my house, I grew up, we had a ham, yeah, and we had sauerkraut and Kabam. I mean, that was, that was the holidays. That’s why I asked you, what do you do? You like everything, and I’m like, but people have idiosyncrasies. You know, my adulthood, I make green bean casserole because my best friend Mike fountain’s mother made it every Christmas, and I loved it, so I adopted, I brought it in, yeah? You know, people bring things into their meal, but when you’re a talent, you know, Italian, we do it same way, you know. So I love

Domenico Di Pasquale  19:11

tradition, yeah, and then after that, we do pasta. Normally, there’s some type of seafood in there. I don’t know what my aunt’s gonna do this year. We’ll have salmon, cod, sometimes swordfish, rockfish. And then we always finish off with salad, but that’s not see if you don’t, you

Nestor Aparicio  19:30

finish off with desserts. And then, yeah, obviously,

Domenico Di Pasquale  19:34

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we started within our family. We started our own. Do you know what Strega is? What Strega. It’s a liqueur, yellow liqueur. I can bring it over, but we started lemon cello here. Oh, yeah, limoncello, of course, there, if you want to know. So you make that, you

Nestor Aparicio  19:52

make this is 45 bucks. You drinking it little. You drink it like little things, right?

Domenico Di Pasquale  19:56

It’s, yeah, I mean, it’s super it’s sweet, though it’s not. Harsh at all. How many proof is this? Great question. A lot. Don’t ask. Too many. Don’t ask you just drink it. Just put it over eyes.

Nestor Aparicio  20:09

Yeah, give me a slice of ice on that too. I want a chili. So can you get some ice? I want to tell you you’ve got panettone out here. And I just want to tell a panettone story, because it’s in the bot and Tony come down here to deepest qualities you see it

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Domenico Di Pasquale  20:25

in this is actually Pandora doesn’t have the dried fruit inside of it or the cream.

Nestor Aparicio  20:33

So I went to oven bird and look, this is no secret. My wife goes home for the holiday. She’s in New Hampshire with her family, right? Hi, Max. I love you. Max is here from all shows gonna get spicy next hour, even we don’t have spicy sausage. Here I went to oven bird in which is one of my favorite bakers in Little Italy, literally, right? So I went in there about five or six years ago. And my wife’s always gone the week before Christmas. Two weeks before Christmas, she goes away, and I sit here at work and watch the cat and have Christmas home alone. Then she comes home, we have Christmas together. So we, you know, we make a lot of food, make a lot of leftovers. It’s great. But I was alone, and I went into oven bird that week for Christmas, and I looked up on the counter, and it was just this beautiful bread. I looked at it. I looked at it. Have you been to their Highland town location? No, it’s really nice. All right, it’s beautiful inside. Well, I’ve had him on the show. Keeler, yeah, upstate New York guy, a farm. How do you say small? You say that like Starbucks, vent, a dopia. Dopia. Dopo is that? Did I say it? Right? Is that small? Topo?

Domenico Di Pasquale  21:42

No. Dopio means double. Oh, which was small, piccolo, piccolo.

Nestor Aparicio  21:45

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I know they don’t have that. It’s dope. You salute. There you go. Yeah. All right. So I go in, and I was getting her to get a muffin, and I looked up on the counter, and it was just beautiful bread. It was a whole big and I looked at it, and I wanted to poke it, I wanted to touch it, and it was sort of glistening with things in it, and fruits and whatever. And it said panettone on it. And every panettone I’d ever seen looked like it was in a box. It looked like it was made last year. Looked like if I hit it with a chisel, would disintegrate, right? This thing looked like I wanted to eat it. And I took it home, and I was alone. And the next morning, I make I’m a Nibbler in the morning, I get up three in the morning, and I gotta have a little something sweet with my coffee, just something like these cookies are gonna be when I wake up at three, um, every day,

Speaker 1  22:35

so actually, still in the air. So

Nestor Aparicio  22:39

I took a bite of this bread. And I’m like, that might be the greatest thing I’ve ever it had liquor, it was sweet and it cherries.

Domenico Di Pasquale  22:47

That’s a true Italian breakfast. You’re becoming more Italian every day.

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Nestor Aparicio  22:51

I’m half Italian, so you got an Italian in you 75% Oh, I’m not 75% I’m 50. I’m 100 Okay, so I ate it, and then I’ve never had anything like it since I even went back the next year and got one. Was it the last one? It wasn’t nearly as good. It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten in my life. Freshman and I ate it for like, five days, and I was trying to save it for my wife. And it’s bread. The more you save it, yeah, it gets dry. It gets worse. By the time she got home, she ate it. She’s like, it’s really good. I’m like, You should have tasted it when it was fresh. Then she’s like, Well, I wasn’t here. And I’m like, well, I’ll get you one. Nestor and I talked to tequila about it, and he said he started soaking the brandy and the cherries like a nova. He said it was an unbelievable undertaking, not a profitable one for a business, to make that bread, but it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever had in my life. Yeah. So when you said to me, you want panettone, I’m like, Well, depends what kind of panettone. The one I had was one of the greatest. But I do. I like some fruit in my bread. I do. I mean, that’s little hollow, cranberry, some nuts, things like that. I love that. So, panetts, you have different kinds, or you make house, or what are we doing here?

Domenico Di Pasquale  24:04

Oh, we don’t make any, but there’s tons of different kinds. This one’s my favorite. Okay, has like, a Prosecco. It has wine in it. It has a Prosecco, like cream filling and dried I think it’s pear. This one the other night, I want it to my honest house. We It was

Nestor Aparicio  24:21

so good, see, and it’s not, it’s big for a human over a week, yeah, you got to bring it to someone’s house. Yeah? I mean, this is what happened to me. Yeah, I looked at the thing, and I’m like, I’m gonna be eating that every day for a week, and on day seven or eight, it’s gonna be dried out. Notice, you know, so and so, that’s why, like, would I have a slice of it? Yes, but it’s the problem. You attend. US Italian. Pete, we break too much food. And I told you, is that a gift for him? I told him something I should have told him. Pete, he said. I said, yesterday, I did the show at Fay Lee’s. I took Houston. I stopped at Koco’s. I took leftovers. My refrigerator is full. I was at Pizza John’s the other day, and I’m home alone. And he’s Italian and he’s he already offered to wrap the sausage up. Do you want this? You want? I said, Whatever you give I want to give you everything. It can’t be fresh, other than a couple of cookies, because I cannot eat anymore. I’m doing a show tomorrow at an Asian joint down in Hale Thorpe, and I know she’s giving me pot stickers. I know this. So people are nice to me.

Pete Caringi  25:20

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Pete, you still have that bike at home, not yet you can get on a treadmill.

Nestor Aparicio  25:24

No, I’m hot yoga and playing a fitness. I’m doing a show, playing a fitness on the 22nd and I’m gonna get clean for 26

Speaker 1  25:31

and you got to bring them back. Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  25:34

All right, I’m having delicious lemon shell. All right. Max is staring at me. She’s still complaining about the officiating. I’m gonna square her up on that. We’re six and seven. That’s what the record says we are. We don’t we don’t whine. We’re Baltimore. We don’t complain about the officiating here. But I’ll talk to her in a minute about movies and such. Petey, last thing for you before I let you go shoot. You’re an Oriole guy, right? Tom, yeah, okay. Pete Alonso, come on. I don’t know a bigger Oriole fan.

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Pete Caringi  26:00

Absolutely love it. Love, love, love bringing Pete in. How many is

Nestor Aparicio  26:07

he gonna hit next year? 40 I was gonna say 38 I’d be okay with 3838 being dumb, and I’ll be happy. Team got better this week. It ain’t my money. Go spend

Speaker 1  26:17

it. Let’s go spend it.

Nestor Aparicio  26:20

8

We got much better, and we’re not done yet. You know, we’re really good. Two summers ago, you’re not we’re not done. Two summers ago, my old pal, Pete coring, she’s retiring from UMBC, and I’m trying to keep his mind active, keep his mind sharp, with these kids in the watch the game. I invited him down to Essex to do the show. We did the show mcfall’s rod and reel down in the middle of Middle River, far deep Essex back river is what I would call it. You came down that day, and here’s a mistake I made. I thought I’m gonna invite him down on a Wednesday afternoon. The Oriole game will be on, and I can keep an eye on the Oriole game and shoot the breeze with Corinthian and we’ll do the show. And he’s distracted by the coffee, the sausage, the cookies, the lemon show. He’s distracted by everything because he doesn’t have a gig anymore. We got to get you employed and get you busy. I was

Pete Caringi  27:07

there ready to talk to him, and then he started talking about food, no no

Nestor Aparicio  27:13

for two hours. And I’m like, Pete, you’re retired. Tell me about UMBC. Ah, damn double. Like double play. What do they he’s talking to the television in the middle of my show. So he loves the Orioles.

Pete Caringi  27:26

Orioles soccer. Big Oreo fan. My whole life,

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Nestor Aparicio  27:30

I couldn’t get him to stop watching the game in the middle of show. And finally, even I’m taking a break, I’m gonna go to the bathroom and we’re gonna do this between innings.

Pete Caringi  27:39

I’m a big Baltimore fan. I’m Baltimore. I’m very positive about Baltimore.

Nestor Aparicio  27:44

I’ve heard that about you. Pete cringey is here. I like him. My AI clone likes him. Domenico’s here as well. Two of you, oh, part of the legendary, deepest quality family here in East Baltimore, from Highland town to Canton. Last thing for both of you, and this is important, because we’re neighborhood people. I’m from Dundalk. I used to, used to drive to Highland town, try to find girls, go to house, nurse, learn to play the guitar at Jaeger’s.

Nestor Aparicio  28:13

8

All the thing, you know, Mr. Rivera’s pizza in Highland, to all the things that I loved, you know, Epstein, all there, all of it was there from ekato’s right on through right Canton, and what it has become, and where your family has built a business here in the middle of this sort of Soho sprawl, like it’s sort of a New York Ian kind of thing. I had no idea. I almost moved into this in three years ago, when I moved out of downtown, we looked at these apartments back here. It was kind of constructiony, and they didn’t even have Chick fil A back then. You know, they had a target though, you your family moved in here, and now you’re in the shadows, and we’re getting the sun in our eyes and all that. This won’t be a problem a year from now, because there’ll be a seven story building here. I’m blown away. And I was here six weeks ago, dude, I was there six weeks ago, getting food with you, getting

Domenico Di Pasquale  29:01

sausage for my wife. How fast they build that thing. It is

Nestor Aparicio  29:04

this neighborhood and what has happened. And this is not an endorsement for Ed Hale in any way. And if Ed wants to come on endorse himself, he come on the show. Because I love Ed. I loved my life, but I used to sit with Ed at Port east. Port. Port was called port East was called and when he had first Mariner, the first five minutes he had first Mariner, it was in the port east building. The tower wasn’t there. And Ed Hale and I sat in his office. Once a month we’d have lunch together because I was trying to learn how to build a business, and I didn’t know anybody more successful than Ed. Right? 1990 something, something. Right? 1994 5678, Ed befriended me and always liked me, was always kind to me and always gave me the best advice I’ve ever had, advice I didn’t listen to that I should have, that would have made my life better, including, don’t sit on your condo board. That was one of Ed’s pieces advice. Don’t Don’t be the condo board president. Don’t do that. So I didn’t do that. He drew me the blueprints of everything this. Going to be we’re going to have ships in here. We’re going to have ports, we’re going to have cruise ships. There’s going to be a target one day, and there’s going to be development. You’re going to see people going to want to live in this area. And I looked at him, and I didn’t think he had three heads. I thought he must be smarter than me at a million dollars. And I didn’t, right. But then he took me with a construction hat, into the tower as it was going up, and he took me up to the top of the tower, when there was nothing scared the shit out of me, man. It was wind blowing through. It was cold, and it was construction up in that bare building that’s been up most of our lifetimes. Now feels like it’s been there 20 years, right? But he told me all this was happening all these years ago. And as I sit here right now, you’re here, I’m here, you’re here, they’re here. Everybody’s here. The shopping is here. And as much as the first time around, like I’m looking at the green turtle and thinking that was some Mexican thing before, things have changed and some businesses have come and gone. But this is real, and you’re in the middle of it, we’re not going anywhere, and you’re gonna drink the fruits of this for the rest of your life and your family’s business because you moved into the neighborhood that’s coming, not going, right, literally, right. This neighborhood’s coming. I said that out loud. Talk about this a little bit, because I bet your business is picking up a percentage point every day or week or month, just because there’s just more more action down here. This is a great place to be. I might wind up living in that building before it’s all like literally people say, Will you move back to the city? Matt Gallagher’s give me, I said, When I’m ready, I don’t know when the right opportunity comes in. My time in life comes. I’ll move back to the city. I love the city.

Domenico Di Pasquale  31:29

Well, we’re happy with everyone who lives around here. They’re telling me all the management teams at all the properties are telling me they’re at 90% capacity. So they’re filling these things up. I mean, that’s why they’re building 420, more units. Yeah, wow. But I always think, I think we’re gonna have to open another spot with parking, because this right here is for this community, and we need to go to other communities and expand. That’s what I think so well, this is,

8

Nestor Aparicio  32:01

I mean, the cranes move their men on a crane 60 feet from my head right now, above this building, above my car. Be careful up there, fellas. Don’t drop anything down there. I got insurance, though. Thanks for hosting me. As always, Max is gonna come over here. Max, you hungry? Oh, my God. What a place this is to be hungry. I went through this. I gotta feed you. I’m gonna leave you guys with a little AI because I want to blow your mind with an AI thing. I’m in an AI class. I have a clone now it’s I love you guys. I love Max. I can’t wait to go home and play with it more. And I have Christmas caroling with my 89 year old middle school teacher tonight in Sparrows Point. I have a funeral to go to. I love you. Sam Miller and your husband, your family. She was art modell’s personal assistant for many, many years. She lost her husband. So I’m doing all this stuff and but the AI thing, it’s occupying my mind in my spare time the last month, because I’m seeing things it can do that I’m I’m not thinking about it blowing up the world, or all the awful things it’s going to do. I’m thinking about how I can use it. Use it. This is the neatest part. So I took this 12 hour sort of TED Talk. It’s a Tony Robbins thing. So you give you the why not, the how. Here’s why it’s going to help you, and then I’ll show you how to do it. So you’re not asking, What am I doing or how? So the first day the teacher comes on, he speaks like Neil’s the man who’s saying my wife’s time. He’s like German. He’s got a German accent. He said, I I have a picture of my refrigerator. Why would I take a picture of my refrigerator for AI? Well, I have two young children, and all they want to do, like Max and like Nestor, is eat. All they want to do is eat. And they come, Daddy, what can they make me? What’s What do I have to eat? So I take a picture of my refrigerator, what’s in it? Just one picture. I put it up, and it gives me a full menu of every possible thing I can make, including dressings for salads. I see eggs, I see oil I can make a it gives me an entire menu in one second of everything it sees in my refrigerator, and then I will say menu for my children. And if it knows my children have an intolerance to peanuts or don’t like celery, or they don’t like mustard, takes it. And I’m sure it blew my mind. I’m like, what? And that had nothing to do running my business, but it was kind of a wow thing. So the AI thing has gotten me crazy. That’s all sounds like it right now. You took a picture of my freezer. I can make a whole bunch of things. We just got your sausage in it. So we’re down here deeper squalies. Max is going to come in. We’re going to argue about sports, food, baseball. My Best of Baltimore award. She’s already giggling.

Speaker 1  34:41

Baltimore magazine, one of my

Nestor Aparicio  34:43

she runs Baltimore magazine. She’s the Editor in Chief, chief. She’s chief. You either got to run a fire department or a magazine to be a chief. I’m the Chief of all things at Maryland lottery giveaways, we’re giving Raven scratch off the way down here. My friends at GBMC kept me alive, and I’m appreciating. It for that. I’m gonna try to kill myself here through the holidays, because I’m gonna keep eating food. I’m gonna be with fantastic Asian folks over at the honeys. They’re gonna give me pot stickers tomorrow. I’m gonna be at Costas next Thursday with rock and rollers. I’m gonna be at Gertrude so you know, I’m gonna be well fed with John shields next week, and we’re gonna be a planet fitness trying to get skinny. But I’m gonna bring over a Greek salad from Costas, but I’m going to bring some crap cakes over as well. Back for more is Maryland crab cake tour. We were in Canton, and the sons of my eyes, like Superstar Billy Graham, back for more here in the construction zone at DiPasquale, stay with us. We’re feasting on Seven Fishes.