Telling the folks at Koco’s Pub in Lauraville why the world loves them so much

It’s been a rough summer for our friends at Koco’s Pub with HVAC and crazy electrical failures on the city grid. But when you’re beloved like them, the world comes in for a social media crab cake rescue on hot summer nights. Let Marcella Knight and Eric Campbell tell you about Lauraville love while they serve Nestor the first oyster of his Maryland Oyster Tour.

Marcella Knight and Eric Campb…land Oyster Tour at Koco’s Pub

Wed, Sep 04, 2024 7:17PM • 47:35

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

oysters, crab cake, week, place, years, called, specials, island, put, prince edward island, eat, bridge, love, fried, big, learned, people, venezuelan, carroll county, tour

SPEAKERS

8

Nestor Aparicio, Marcella Knight

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, taussel, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour, but it’s sort of like bleeding into the Maryland oyster tour in this segment, I am about to participate in this segment in the first of 27 oysters in 27 days, because we’re doing 26 days, but she started me a day early. I actually came here today to Coco’s thinking, well, she doesn’t have an oyster, so I’ll do the crab cake tour with her. It’s before the football thing gets going, and Mark Viviano wanted to come, and resig was here, and then you hit me yesterday, like I got oysters for you. And I’m like, All right, well, I don’t I hope to have a 27th year, next year in Baltimore radio doing this. But thank you. And Marcellus here, I’m gonna get her mic working right. Eric’s here from Coco’s just a great place and a fun place to be. And you have that sign out in front nice, only nice people allowed. And I’m glad you let me in every time. And when I come, there’s something about seeing that that makes you behave when you’re here. I’m nicer when I’m here because of that sign. I think,

Marcella Knight  01:05

I think a lot of people are right.

01:06

Tries to bring the good energy here. Well, I’m

8

Nestor Aparicio  01:08

trying to bring good energy here. We’ve had a lot of it’s been a couple months since we got together, and you had this crazy summer with your air conditioning. And weekends, are

01:18

we allowed to cuss on this? Well, yeah, I

Nestor Aparicio  01:20

know you did it, but there was a you had a crazy song, crazy. You’ve won this best of Baltimore thing from this, this 100.7 in their festival, and you’re getting to go back and defend your crown in a couple of weeks in Carroll County. I went to the event last year. Liz tried to sneak me a crab cake when you had a really big line. And to show I’m an honorable guy, I’m like, I didn’t take it. I came over here instead, later on and had a crab cake. But your your place is just keeps percolating, right? I mean, and I guess it’s been a weird summer for you, because you were doing shout outs those couple of days here where they test the business, they test an entrepreneur, they test people, they test patience, correct? Yes,

Marcella Knight  02:04

8

absolutely. I

02:06

mean, running a business isn’t just, you know, coming up every day and having menu ideas or having the food in the building or having the cold drinks. This summer has been literally having the lights on and keeping it cool. What goes wrong? What can go I can go wrong. We’ve learned a lot about electricity. We’ve learned a lot about the infrastructure of Baltimore City. We’ve learned a lot about the infrastructure of our own building.

Nestor Aparicio  02:27

You were hitting stuff about, like, electric grids that are different in the city. I’m like, yeah, it’s America. We plug in. We don’t have same grids.

02:36

We don’t plug in anymore, hardwired. So I

8

Nestor Aparicio  02:40

mean, in this happened over the course of time on really hot days in July. You 39 years, you better write started in June. Okay, so 39 years of all the challenges, and there’s the basic, there’s crime in the city, there’s this, and there’s all of that, there’s snowstorms, there’s parking, there’s bike lanes, there’s taxes, there’s license, there’s all of that, like, there’s stressing

Marcella Knight  03:04

me out. But things

03:05

like covid, taxes yet,

Nestor Aparicio  03:07

8

but things like covid, you could prepare for taxes. You at least know they’re coming. You know, for me, it was three weeks ago when the flash flood came and the water started flooding into the basement, right? But that moment happens. We’re sitting there eating some dinner, and then the storm starts, and you’re like, Holy hell, what could go wrong in the last 15 minutes? I was happy a minute ago. I mean, it’s hard enough running a business, and you know this, this is, might be one of the more stressful. Covid sucked, but when years of Friday night, I felt awful for you.

Marcella Knight  03:38

It happened every time on a weekend, it was insane. It was and it was 100

03:43

Yeah, for sure, yeah, it’s, it’s just, it’s been a very trying summer, but I think we’ve got every bug we could have worked out with the issues that we had. So we’ll be back next. What happened,

Nestor Aparicio  03:52

can you dislike in a nutshell? Eric, you want to take this one on air. I want to get you on Mike, a little better. What

8

03:59

happened was, it was just a overall failure of the grid in our local area, and it caused our systems to run harder than they’re designed to run. So when they’re running harder than they’re designed to run, what happens? They break down. So then you

Nestor Aparicio  04:13

use more electricity than any other little bar. That would be like, probably a little bit more, because you run out a house in the neighborhood of the houses, right? Yeah. Okay, so

04:22

we’re on the kind of the same grade, but we have step up transformers in the building to supply us the power that we need for our equipment, and with just, I think, the overall power that was been pulled from every residential business in the area when it’s hot, yeah, it’s just put a lot of stress on the electrical component. So we had a massive transformer blow. We had our three phase transformer blow, we had our step up transformer in our basement. Blow, it’s just been everything. So hopefully, you know, everything’s new, so we shouldn’t have insurance.

Nestor Aparicio  04:50

8

I’m just gonna say, let’s say, Thank God for that. It got fixed. Yeah, we’re all here. You know, I worried about every one of my family and friends and my friends at a. Cheesy small businesses during covid that it made us stronger. I know I’m first time I sat and talked to you about it. It created some sort of resolved all right, we shut the place down for six months. We can figure out the next 48 hours to get hurt. And you were hitting me about AC. But I would also say, and this is where I want to bring you in. You are so beloved, and this business is so beloved that I would think that you really felt that 48 hours into I know you did. You sent me thank yous and stuff, and I’m thinking, Man, when my wife got sick, people rallied their ish around us.

Marcella Knight  05:35

Me out of the whole thing is that we realized how much people love us. Oh, everybody was trying to help us. Yeah?

Nestor Aparicio  05:41

I said to Jen, like, three and a half and like, Oh, my God, this the first time that the third time, but the first time, I’m like, Marcel’s got, like, her electricity. And all I could think about is looking at these crab cakes and thinking, Can we blow on? Can I run up to Royal farms and get some ice you know, I’m thinking about, like, when my power goes out, the first thing we do refrigerate the ice cream. You gotta eat the ice cream.

06:05

Sometimes. Just throw the power at your house. Eat

8

Nestor Aparicio  06:07

the ice cream. You know, you started, like, selling them and telling people to come by and get them, and then, like, three hours later, before dinner, I’m like, she sold out. I’m like, All right, so you, basically, you didn’t do the whole normal business, but, like, you had an APB, and I hope, did you stay mainly whole? You have a payroll, yeah, people, you feed a lot of families. Here you stayed whole.

Marcella Knight  06:32

We stayed whole. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  06:33

that’s a beautiful thing, yes, well, I mean that that there’s that’s aside from all the troubles and all of that, there was the part where the only way you can find out if people love you to have a tragedy, right? Literally, right? Yeah. So, Eric, what do you do here? Give me I saw you making sure electrician. When did you meet her? The

06:53

8

first time was 10 years old. You were a little bit. Grew up on the pool tables. They used to be here. Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  06:59

So how your neighborhood? You know,

07:03

slightly neighborhood up in Parkville. My mother lived there, and this was her little so

Nestor Aparicio  07:07

your extended family, yeah, no wonder you get so much out of these people. They, you know, they’re, they’re

8

07:11

part of the job here, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  07:13

So what was the first time you walked in here? You were 10. How you I probably one

07:18

of the lumps on the floor got leaked on by the roof that was leaking.

Nestor Aparicio  07:22

8

It did not look like this. I mean, you have a very homey, oh

07:26

yeah, Miss Joe is here. You know, always greeting people with a smile. Pool

Nestor Aparicio  07:29

table era.

07:30

Oh yeah, both. Pool tables, two. Okay, tables.

8

Nestor Aparicio  07:32

All right. Where were they?

07:33

You got one over here and one right here. All right. There

Nestor Aparicio  07:36

you go. All right. So you, you still picture it that way. Oh

07:39

8

yeah, yeah. See, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  07:40

that way as and I would say this, and squires is not a sponsor, but hello to the remedies family and everybody over there, the places that I went as a little boy. You know, I’m 55 now, and when I go into a place now, I remember it like amicis has grown three times and moved into two sides and built a bar and built out. You had a limited amount of space here. So the actual spiritual space is the same space you haven’t you haven’t knocked the wall out

08:05

yet. We got rid of a closet. Well, I

Nestor Aparicio  08:08

mean, it’s a lot more functional, right? Yeah, than

8

Marcella Knight  08:10

a water that’s where the Kids Corner was, actually, we had a kiddie corner. Kids would come in. So I

08:16

grew up, so I got rid of boys. That

Nestor Aparicio  08:18

was the kids table, yeah. All right. All right.

Marcella Knight  08:20

8

That was the kiddie Clinton 39

Nestor Aparicio  08:22

years. All right, so you win this thing last year, I went out and that was a crazy day. There was a lot of people. You had the park in Frederick County to get to Carroll County. And, yeah, the bands were there, and they’re gonna make it bigger and all that. I don’t, you know, like, God bless you all. I, you know, I have a crab cake tour, and in my mind I was gonna have a festival like that. The old Nestor would think that way that had 100 employees and like all the stuff that you do that I can’t do, I’m just not managed to do it. 100.7

Marcella Knight  08:50

put the stand together. Hey, I can’t do what I can’t do. That’s but I couldn’t. We all have our

Nestor Aparicio  08:56

thing managing people and managing large groups of people at a radio station, my places like WKRP, all my old employees hate me. I have no idea why, you know, but I tried hard, you know, even though it’s not what I was gonna have to do. But throw in these events, I did events. I’ve done bust I’ve done all these big, giant things for small business to sign up to do it. And I know you probably said, that’s not what we do. We right, you know. And I have a lot of small business what I said,

8

Marcella Knight  09:21

he’s the one that pushed for it. Well, I think it’s neat, and I

Nestor Aparicio  09:24

think it’s a great, perfect conversation, because I would have been a guy with a radio station. Hey, I’m doing this festival. Come on, man, you gotta be I gotta have you. I can have cautious. I gotta have you. I gotta have faith in my places to have all the best crab cakes so and I feel the way about my tour, and you know what I mean, I’m gonna be a Cooper’s. I go to my places, and it’s hard for you to do that kind of event, but then you win it. And the line was, I was there, I saw I couldn’t get one of your crab cakes that day. We have a large following, yeah, and that Carroll County is 50 miles from here, and you do online now, but your brand and doing an event. It like that, and winning and then rallying the troops go back again. I mean, I hope you sell twice as many this time, but everybody sold out of crab cakes. Can you Yeah, can you make that many crab cakes? Yes,

10:10

we can. We’ve all learned a lot from last year. We’ll definitely be more prepared. I think the whole group that put it together learned a lot from last year. They let people in earlier than they said they were going to. There’s some, there’s a couple stumbling blocks, but we’ve learned, and we will be back. We will be better. Well, there were a lot of people there. That’s all, yeah, we had a line from the jump. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  10:30

8

a it’s an amazing idea, which is why, and I love the guys who 100.7 in it, yeah. And like, there’s enough crab cakes and money and businesses and oysters for all of us. And really, I mean, we’re all in this together. Nobody’s, nobody’s got the sports radio or the the Orioles of the rave. We’re all trying to do this. And I think that’s the beauty of Baltimore positive and get out doing this. But you guys to be involved in that. It was a little bit of a shock to me, because it is, it’s a hard thing to give off,

11:01

right? It’s a lot. This is what we got. We got a 2000 square foot restaurant. That’s all we have, you know. And about

Nestor Aparicio  11:06

25 or 30 you how many of you are 2121 employees? Okay, yeah, so far off.

11:12

I think 15 were here, and five are up with us at the festival.

8

Nestor Aparicio  11:15

At my zenith at wnst, I had 16 employees. So I was a similar sized business probably 1820, years ago, and things that Saturday tailgate. Towson, let’s all go over tailgate. We’ve been working our ass off all week now a couple you told me you did an Oriole night this week as a company. You guys shut on Monday, so you did the Labor Day game. Yeah, that’s how that that everybody in here. Baz you know, at the bar, everybody loves the Orioles here. This is an Oriole bar without being a sports bar, but everybody in here loves yours. Yeah,

11:46

for sure, it’s a hometown place.

Nestor Aparicio  11:48

They won. Oh, you played the tie. Well, you picked the minor. You picked the worst team in history major league.

11:56

8

We wanted to make sure we had a W it was

Nestor Aparicio  11:58

very nervous the first inning. Yes, we’re like,

12:01

what’s going on here? Corbin didn’t look himself, but, you know, we rallied back, all

Nestor Aparicio  12:05

right. So I came up with this oyster tour, and I want to pay homage to Damien hunt down at Faith. She was in in the Amalfi coast this week, doing her 40 doing her 40th wedding anniversary. So she’s shot this week, and I was supposed to do the show Friday with her. You can’t come every I’m shut down, and I’m like, oh, that’s like the August week. It Coco’s. And that’s like, fourth, fourth of July at Pizza John’s. I

8

12:28

mean, which I made that mistake twice a pizza.

Nestor Aparicio  12:31

See what I did. I snuck away last week, and nobody knows I was gone because I programmed the station. I get ahead, I put my crab cakes at the door and say, I know you can’t do that. It’s good. They were gonna be good. Why did you’re so sweet to do this, to make the first thing. And you know, I want to do 2626 different ways. I’m not sure that I’m going to get a Gruyere Parmesan grilled.

12:57

What the hell else is on this thing? Compound butter and just a little squeeze of lemon. Do I

Nestor Aparicio  13:02

8

want to put the lemon on it? I would suggest, yeah, all right. Why? Why do you suggest that I’m

13:07

not a big oyster guy? Okay, I

Marcella Knight  13:09

begged him to do this for you today. Yeah,

13:12

brighten them up a little bit. By the way,

8

Marcella Knight  13:15

Nestor coming. It’s the oyster

Nestor Aparicio  13:18

tour, but it is right now. So, I would just say this the oyster recovery people, I’ve known a little bit about it, but Damien, when I do these, sits with Damis, third, fourth generation seafood. Her parents, grandparents were in the you know, talk about local businesses, and she loves being the fishmongers daughter and teaching me about seafood, and she started teaching me about the crabs and the rock or the catfish eating the baby crabs. Now, you saw the crab meat go to $60 a pound a couple summers ago. You had to raise your brand. We’re not doing $12 crab cakes anymore. Can’t you can’t do that. Right? And what the bay is about, and the conservation of the bay is the clean, cleanness of the water, right? The practices water. That’s what those do. These clean the bay. And I didn’t dumb ass from done dog. I never want the biology. I apparently made it through science in ninth grade, right? I did not know the science of all this. And about a year and a half ago, she brings me her sides in her like you’re bringing me. I had the crab, cream of crab. I have your, I think your shrimp. I didn’t get the shrimp today. We gotta fix it to take something. Yeah, all right, coconut shrimp. So I think that’s your best dish. No offense to your crab cakes, but I love your coconut shrimp here. So I’m always, she’s always, she serves raccoon and muskrat there in season, like she tried bringing me this, and the raccoon Sure, total right now. So she brought me a fried oyster about a year and a half ago. And I’m like, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a fried oyster. I’ve had a lot of raw oysters because I’ve been to bull roast when I was a kid, and they looked a little mushy and weird, and then they told me they put lead in the pencil. And I’m like, All right. Myself. So next thing you know, I got I’ve only had them one way in my life, cocktail sauce and a lemon all my life. I’m 53 years old time. And she brought me fried oyster. And I’m like, That tastes like fried chicken. You know, that’s good. And so I started thinking about it. She’s like, your oysters, oxygen ate the bay. What’s wrong with you? So she gets me going on this. And then I thought, Well, I’m gonna do an oyster. I wanted to do it last year. Didn’t do it. I wanted to didn’t do it. I wanted to do it in August. Problem with that, there’s no R, yeah, I can’t do oysters in August. So I said, Well, I don’t think that’s a, it’s that’s not a real thing. Yeah, it’s not. I’m gonna, I’m gonna get to that this month too. So I was gonna do October, but the Orioles be playing in the World Series, and I can’t afford to do that, sure. So say I’m going to do September, and I want to keep it more local, and then the oyster recovery people are like, no, no, no, you got to go to the Easter shore. You got to get on a Southern Maryland down of Solomon’s in that area, because that’s where all the oyster beds are you going to learn about oysters and what they do. So the month is about education. It’s about eating them different ways. It’s about me saying I owed only ever had I did have char grilled oysters at the Super Bowl in New Orleans 12 years ago. Chris Pike was with me at a media party, and the first time I ate it, I’m like, that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever I went down to Dragos and dropped 50 bucks and bought some while I was there, and I said, I’m gonna do that at home. And Riley’s oyster. Brian McComas, when my wife was fighting for her life, this was one of the items she couldn’t eat. Couldn’t eat raw meat, a lot of things, things that would have, that could parasites, yeah, have bad things, cheese. So we, when she first got fixed and the doctor gave her the blessing she wouldn’t have raw oysters, added Riley’s oyster, right? So, and he’s got, oh, we got the Avery this, and the chicken Tink that, and then PE Island. And I’m like, they just take, give me, give me some cocktail. And I’m like, All right, so all these chefy people want to do them. And I love oysters, Rockefeller, you know, I do that. Sometimes it cost us. They put all that spinach on there. I go crazy with that. So I, I have these are

Marcella Knight  16:59

my favorite. So

Nestor Aparicio  17:00

8

my problem with oysters is your problem with oysters, which is shrimp. Get that first crab cake, get that first meatloaf. Get that first burger. Get that first I’m getting your ribs tonight. I’ve

Marcella Knight  17:12

never had them. I was thinking about I’m taking home. I was just boxing up some ribs back there. I’m taking home. I’ve never wonder if nestors ever tried. I’ve never had your ribs. Customers that call me to make sure that we have ribs before they come here to eat. Because they come, I think a

Nestor Aparicio  17:26

little while ago, yeah, by the way, got one week left on, really

Marcella Knight  17:29

started to take off. Yeah.

8

Nestor Aparicio  17:31

So the oyster thing for me was it discovery and the conversation. And I get to go over and visit with John shields, who’s my cousin by marriage, and I get to go to Costas, and I get to go down to Cooper’s for the Fells Point oyster festival next week, I’m hosting all evening on the 26th at the piano warehouse Museum. They’re doing their all the oyster farmers come in that night. It’s their big gala. So I’m gonna sit and do the show and talk oysters all night. So your years very sweet, because you didn’t have to do this. And I know you’re not the oyster educational person. I’m trying to be, trying to learn a little bit, but you put this on the menu today to honor us, and we’re appreciative, and our friends at Liberty pure and the oyster recovery partnership. So the big thing for the oyster recovery, and you’re not, you’re qualified, but you’re not, because you’re not going to do oysters every day. But what they really try to do is get every Conrads, it has raw bar. Anybody that’s got a raw ball, save the shells. That’s the recovery. So you do know that actually did

18:26

my, one of my senior projects was on oyster recovery with the Patricia Campbell down at the Chesapeake Bay. Tell me about him.

Nestor Aparicio  18:33

Teach me. What

18:33

8

do you mean? Basically, they’re just trying to go around, sure to to save the shells. Because all they do is they grind it up. They put what’s called spat on there, which is baby oyster larva. You are teaching me look at you, you know. And that’s how they bring Yeah, I am a biology

Nestor Aparicio  18:50

because

18:53

I got brains. So they basically just grind up a shell, they put baby larva on them, throw it in the bay. And I’ve

Nestor Aparicio  19:00

seen these on the crab cake tour, and I want to give up a free crab cake plug, because, you know, I love doing this. It’s a the most remote crab cake. Well, the most remote crab cake I have was on Smith Island. Delicious. They put black pepper. It was delicious, weird. One of the most delicate, delicious crab cakes I’ve ever had was in Hooper’s Island, and I did it on the tour, and it was highly recommended place. It’s called Old salties. You have to go all the way to the end there. That’s why tastes are freaking good here. Now I know. So there’s a finger onto the bay on the west shore of the Eastern Shore. So you go to Cambridge, and you make a right, and you go through the most amazing you ever been, a Blackwater refuge.

8

19:47

I’ve driven through. Haven’t any time.

Nestor Aparicio  19:50

I mean, it’s one of the gems of our state. It’s just a beautiful birds. You’ll, you’ll feel like you’re in like New Orleans on a marsh. It’s. Beautiful. It’s flat, it’s almost Asian, and it’s it’s the way the water is. You could go down there and read a book and get mosquito bites, and then you keep going, and you go to Hooper’s Island, all the way down to Hooper’s Island. Now, my friend Chad, the crab man from Al seafood and Essex, his place burned down, you know, down the December’s run his whole family’s Hooper’s island. So he would always say to me, I get the freshest crabs because they’re coming from Hooper’s Island. And, you know, that’s pretty good Chad too, because he had that voice. We’re literally partners over at Eastwood. So I went down to Hooper’s Island. I went to old salties, and they gave me this crab meat that had just come out of the water, yeah, and it had the orange row in it, and it was just, it was like yours was creamy and delicate, and it was just delicious. And I looked out the window, and it reminded me we were kids. We would go through the harbor tunnel, and you’d see the salt, you know, salt and

Marcella Knight  20:48

pepper piles,

Nestor Aparicio  20:48

8

the piles of the salt, right? It was the shells in Hoover’s Island outside of old salties as, I mean, it looked like the pyramids, you know what I mean? And they it’s all the shells, and that’s do they process. That’s what they do. And I’m gonna go down there in a couple of weeks this month and see the operation. What you spat You spat on

21:11

shell? Alright? So they all start. I’m gonna

Nestor Aparicio  21:13

learn. Did you learn something?

Marcella Knight  21:14

I learned something. Well, last

8

Nestor Aparicio  21:16

time I had you want to learn about parrots and and and rescuing Paris. So you never know what you’re gonna learn on the show. You know, educational. 10 years old, grew up here at Coco’s. My appreciation you guys. I mean, I’m gonna eat it. You’re gonna eat one. I already had one. I’m gonna have a couple more. Then you eat well, I’m wondering how many

21:38

voices I’m actually gonna eat my paper. I guess seven

Nestor Aparicio  21:42

years of college down the drain. Yeah. What do you think? Do you like them? They’re delicious, and more than that, they’re unique. I don’t know that. I’m gonna have a Greer

Marcella Knight  21:50

8

taste the oyster. You know, it’s not just lemon. Yeah, I like lemon on it. But when you get them fried, anything tastes the same fried to me, whether it’s fried cheese depends what’s been fried or fried oysters, just or

Nestor Aparicio  22:04

calamari. Sock specials with you guys, because you put this silly thing on special for me, driving your kitchen crazy. I’m sorry, but you do burgers every week. I didn’t like your burger this week, too spicy sometimes, like it was a jalapeno, spicy cream. I’m out onion, I’m out jalapeno, I’m out Yeah, so, but when you

Marcella Knight  22:26

do and you’re from Cuba, right? No,

Nestor Aparicio  22:28

I’m Venezuelan. My people, I’m spicy enough, by nature,

8

22:34

doesn’t like spicy either. That really, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  22:37

I don’t just like spicy. I just like jalapeno, spicy. Here’s what I’ve learned, yes, well,

Marcella Knight  22:42

so there’s a new place that just opened up. A rep is a rapist. A rapist that’s

Nestor Aparicio  22:48

8

that’s that an arapa is a it’s the, it’s the national food of Venezuela. That’s what just opened up. So what it basically is, it’s a sandwich.

22:57

It’s like that food. It’s like a beef patty. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  23:00

Pon, it’s Pon, it’s corn, it’s pan fried into a larger pancake, and then almost like an English muffin, almost like an English like an English muffin that’s made of almost cornmeal, okay, it’s tastier than that. My stepmother, my stepmother, made the greatest rapist ever chicken. And so you put anything in it, it’s like, it’s like a taco. You put anything in it you want chicken, beef, avocado, vegetables, beans and rice, steak, anything so and arepa is a Venezuelan sandwich. Literally, it’s a, it’s a Venezuelan taco it, you know, but it’s not a taco shell, and it’s softer than that, but that is when I try. I was in Hawaii and place pan fried, but, but not

Marcella Knight  23:51

like deep fried. It

8

Nestor Aparicio  23:53

the best arepas in Baltimore have been at ALMA Alma cocina, and they also have Venezuelan beer. They have polar it’s a polar bear, so it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a pilsner. So that’s the Venezuelan beer. So, yeah, I’m Venezuela, yeah, yeah. But so thank you.

Marcella Knight  24:12

Know about the new place opened and fell. I gotta go. So it’s, it’s attached to the sound garden

Nestor Aparicio  24:17

that’s on that side, on the horse side. Yes, I’m doing the show at Cooper’s next Friday, I walk over and get in a rape. I

Marcella Knight  24:24

8

want to bring them in for the crew. Every Tuesday, I bring in food from somewhere and find out what

Nestor Aparicio  24:31

everything, what I do within a rape is a find out whichever the most popular one is, like on Google, if the chicken was really good, or the pork, or whatever’s right that, because that would tell me, because it’s a stuff, and they

Marcella Knight  24:40

have something else there. I don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s done with a pancake. It says, Hmm, okay, so I want to try that too. Well, I heard it’s a really, it’s a popular place.

Nestor Aparicio  24:51

You know, if I had my press pass, I would take Albert Suarez there. We get a rapist together as Venezuelan. I don’t know Albert. You see Albert Suarez, don’t meet me at a rapist. We’re. Remember Cocos, you do specials here and and I’ve already picked your cocoa shrimp. I mean, people call me her for the crap. I talked a woman at the bar. I gave her a couple of I had lunch at the bar. She came in and she sat next to me, and she’s like, Oh, you got a sour that looks good. Oh, that cream of crab soup looks good. She’s like, do you call me her often? What would you get on the menu? And I said, get the coconut shrimp. And I said, get the cream of crabs soup. That you agree with that, or do you disagree? Yeah, forget the crab cakes right here, right But, and this is the point of the oyster thing. I never ordered oysters. Ever, ever, ever. I’ve had seafood businesses for 30 years. I was at the bar and I broadcast for 10 years they had oysters. I never got one. It just, if I did, maybe it was raw. They were doing dollar oysters on Monday Night Football, but I’d never experienced them in that way. And I think specials give the chef a chance to turn a cheeseburger into something too spicy for me. But you guys do specials. I mean, that’s part of your It’s Wednesday burger space. We

8

25:56

really do it for the locals, because we do know that a lot of people come here for the crab cakes, but we want to give the locals something a little bit different to try every week, so that way they have a different taste in their mouth. And, matter of

Marcella Knight  26:06

fact, Wednesdays become locals night, because of that, all

Nestor Aparicio  26:10

our embarrassed, because I never order a crab cake here unless you give it to me on the air. I take them home, and what I order here is like the coconut shrimp won’t go home. Yeah, I see these French fries come by, and I, I know I love your french fries, but I never order them because I never, like, sit down here and

Marcella Knight  26:27

8

eat french fries. I want them hot covid.

Nestor Aparicio  26:30

You get french fry during covid. French fries were not a carry out item. They

26:35

actually had to switch our fries during covid Because they they’re a little bit different with the the coating, because we’re doing nothing but carry out so they don’t the our old style did not hold up

Nestor Aparicio  26:45

well for I like your fries. Your fries are like, like the old Wendy’s fries. They’re like a real French fry. They taste like a potato. It’s a potato. I love potato. They don’t like those little pixie sticks. Forget that. I’ll get give me some odds. Potato chips. They do. They do they freeze out? Yeah, so, but I never have your french fries, but I want them. I even said Viviano laughed at me because two plates them came by. I’m like, grab one dip it. You

8

Marcella Knight  27:10

know how hard it is to deliver food to customers and not grab their fries. So

Nestor Aparicio  27:14

what are you doing for specials? Who decides on the specials? Right? Because you do weird stuff. I mean, you sent me home. That’s all you sent me home with, like this chicken you were doing on a grill outside, or a jerk. It was, what

27:26

was it? John, either one. Peruvian.

Nestor Aparicio  27:28

8

Peruvian, yeah, I was delicious.

27:30

Yeah, yeah. We do all kinds of specials. Wednesdays, generally our special day, because it’s our locals night. So yeah, you got to check our Instagram, check our Facebook, and we keep that updated on the happenings. It has the shipping work, which, what do we got to do? Just order that’s online? Yeah, we made it simple. Now, one click and we go, couple clicks, but yeah, all right, we’ll

Nestor Aparicio  27:48

get another one. You know, that is everybody that ships a crab cake has a favorite crab cake. And now you can say, well, I can send it to Minnesota, and it’s going to get there, and it’s going to be really good and fresh, and don’t freeze them. You miss Coco’s crab cakes, and you’re out of market. You know? It’s a quick it’s like Amazon. Literally, I’m blown away by that, and I’m sure that’s heartening for you, right? They send a package two days later, they send a picture. They’re happy. They have your food. It’s great. I mean, you should share more of

28:19

that. And it’s really that people sent over. We haven’t been in Baltimore for 15 years. We’re so thankful that you guys send, you know, crab cakes to New Orleans or California. Christmas is wild, but,

8

Nestor Aparicio  28:30

yeah, it’s great for game one of the World Series next month. Maybe there you go. You hold that hope. Don’t be that way. This

28:40

is the pitching has got me scared. That’s pitching. Not everybody

Nestor Aparicio  28:43

scared, but they hit the ball. Yeah, you don’t have to be the best team September 10 to win the World Series. You need to be the best team every night in October. You know, they will have arms, they will be major league arms, and then they’re gonna need hit the ball, and the bullpen is gonna need to be better than it’s been, yeah? And if it’s not, they’ll get eliminated. And that’s cool, but I like the fact that we’re playing ball. I like the fact that we’re in first place. Like the fact that was I like the fact that we’re pissed at the Yankees again in two weeks from now, we got big games. I love the fact that it’s intersecting with football when our football team’s really good, lousy coach seems lousy Orioles teams I’ve been on the air 33 years. This is the most prosperous September in the history of this radio station of the city. Got new ownership. I’m working through that, but that, you know, new ownerships treat me like the old ownership, which I’m writing about that all month, but, but at least I get to come out and be treated well by people like you, and I appreciate it. So I’m wondering when I eat these oysters, because I told because these oyster people are nuts, they’re gonna bring me six at ease and eight at ease and lemons, whoa. Slow down. I’m doing this every day. Yeah. So this was manageable. This is five oysters.

29:58

8

Warn your wife. I. I’m

Nestor Aparicio  30:02

gonna let her know about that. I don’t believe in that anymore, not believe in the R,

Marcella Knight  30:11

but it’s fun. It

Nestor Aparicio  30:12

is fun. It tells them at fates, they have a shirt. It says, Forget Viagra. E, oysters. So we’ll be out visiting with everyone. This is as as great a place as I know in Baltimore. It’s Coco’s pub. Marcel is here. Eric’s here. Liz is gone. We got baz not around. We get he might still be on your soccer star has been avoiding me. She might still be here. She’s been running around. So we’re doing it all for the Maryland lottery, our friends at Liberty. Pure solutions. I want to solutions. I want to give them some love as well. Doug and everybody keeps my water clean. Jiffy Lube. MultiCare puts us out on the road. The oyster recovery partnership, our friends at curio wellness sponsoring the 26th anniversary and all the memories we’re going to make on the road. So five today, I’m going to add them up every day after 27 days to your point, think the over under on how many I’m gonna eat is probably 200 this month, dude, I’ve seen people sit knock back three, four dozen oysters in a bull roast. Think nothing of it like literally, right? Eating them out of jar, you know. And they are small items, like, I just ate five of them, and I’m still hungry. Yeah, hungry. So this is the way. So I want to plug all these cool places. We’re doing oysters, because a lot of I’ve never been to, and they’re little businesses like yours in Hamden. There’s a place called Dylan cellar, right? So I don’t even, I barely know where these places are, and this gives me a great chance to go get a brunch on a Sunday with my wife. Do something a little different. The orders are, the ravens are playing a four o’clock game. Couple weeks from now, we’re gonna, we’re gonna do all of these really awesome, nice local places that are doing oysters. So I’m at Gertrude. You’ve been to the pepper mill? Yes, oh

8

Marcella Knight  31:53

my gosh, I was

Nestor Aparicio  31:54

too young. You took your mother? Yeah.

Marcella Knight  31:58

Well, my parents used to take me there when I was young.

Nestor Aparicio  32:00

8

I’ve only been there once in my life. 25 years ago, I had lunch there. Yeah, they have a famous oyster stew, yeah. So there’s right there. You have a sign and a famous, really good food. I know I am going to Frederick on Saturday to the shucking shack oyster bar, that is. And I’m gonna have an oyster shooter. Different way to have an oyster. What do you think of that? Right? Sunday, and I’m really looking forward this, the urban oysters. A beautiful, great

Marcella Knight  32:29

oysters.

Nestor Aparicio  32:30

I’m doing a,

Marcella Knight  32:31

we were the food truck.

8

Nestor Aparicio  32:33

Well, here’s the crazy thing, like, you say oyster.

Marcella Knight  32:35

It was a,

Nestor Aparicio  32:36

I’m gonna go over and get some Gucci oyster, like you made me. But I’m gonna get, like, the French toast for brunch, you know? I mean, I’m gonna and the Ravens don’t play on Sunday. So we’re going all these great places. I’m gonna be Riley’s oyster next week. I’m gonna be at Dylan’s oyster cellar before the Pearl Jam concert next Thursday. So I’m a pregame with some oysters. Look at any better. We’re at Cooper’s and Fells Point next Friday for the Fells Point oyster festival that’s going on all weekend down there. Marvin Lewis is going to find me with the raiders in town next week too. So we’re looking forward to that. I’m going to be at the I’m going to be on the eastern shore, and then the Southern Maryland shore. We’re going to be at, let’s see here. We’re gonna be a faith he’s on the 20th. We’re gonna be at state fair on the 24th with Angela also Brooks, who is running for Senate. We’re gonna be a CASAS on the 27th and then we’re gonna be with the governor later on in the month as well, down in Annapolis. So nice, but I have a lot of oysters. Thanks for being busy. What do you know? What kind of oysters? These were like a name of the Chincoteague. They’re Chicka Tink, okay, all right. So I just want to, I’m just making sure that I’m my oyster snob.

Marcella Knight  33:39

8

I personally like Pei oysters. They’re they’re small Prince Edward Island. Yeah, so they’re delicious.

Nestor Aparicio  33:46

I’m gonna tell the story, my thing. I’m gonna tell a story five times this month. Well, because

Marcella Knight  33:49

I don’t like the real big ones, like, that weirds me out when they’re real big. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  33:53

did you know scunny? Yes, all right, so we both love scunny. We knew Scotty, right? Not your mom. Oh, by the way, I’m doing mama’s on a half mills. I’m gonna have an oyster there later in the month too. I don’t know what day I have some wild card days. I’m trying to put it all together, because a lot of it is about if the owners there, I want to come and say hello, make sure they’re open. You know all that, but I’ve done a lot of research. I’m just gonna be a great month, and I’m gonna spend time meeting people. Prince Edward Island. The weekend that skanny died, my wife and I were up in Moncton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and we were seeing Springsteen chasing. Springsteen played an Outdoor Show, and this thing called magnetic, not a concert. It’s my thing. Since sports threw me out, I chase concerts. I have more fun that way. Nobody loses. Yeah, I can have some beers. Everybody’s happy, right? So we went up there for this thing, and Scotty passed away that weekend, and it was kind of freaked me out a little bit, but my wife and I were gonna drive to Prince Edward Island. Now, Prince Edward Island is a it’s an island that was completely for all of humanity. You had to have a boat to get to it. It was a itch like the Smith Island. Like Smith island here, bigger than. At but it’s, you know, you can Google Prince Edward Island. Everybody knows Pei Island oysters, right? They have cannabis up there too. But don’t tell anybody. It’s Canada. Oh, it’s legal here. Now they’ll probably say that. Now I could say that. So went up to Moncton, my wife and I get in the car to drive to Prince Edward Island. So I was a longtime sports writer. You can find all this out in the documentary if you ever watch it, about my hockey days back in the 90s, and I met guys from Prince Edward Island that played on the team. Guy named Tyler larder was a little guy, scorer, left handed. Guy named Kent painter was a big defenseman. They were from Prince Edward Island. And they would always say, you got to come to the island, man, we got there. You get but you got to take a boat where I live. You got it. You got it. So you fly home and you have to get on a boat. Now we we got a ferry. We take the ferry to the islands boat. I’m like, That’s a hell of a way that’s like Gilligan’s Island. Like you imagine the night to get home, you had to go somewhere and get on a boat just to go home, or you’d have to stay on the island and never leave the island. And it’s a little island Provincetown here is nice, and only here it’s nice because of this. Doug McLean was just, he’s a beautiful guy. He’s a brilliant coach in the NHL, coaching Stanley Cup Finals, General Manager, smart guy like you. Eric, M, A, C, L, E, A N. He was a skip Jack’s coach in 1990 91 I knew him then, and he was, he was a father figure to me. You know, he was a professor, and he would always, you know, try to make me a better human. You got to come to Prince Edward so he does my show for years, and I had him on, and he said, You got to go to Prince Edward Island. So my wife and I drive to Prince Edward Island. We’re going to go to Prince Edward Island. We’re convinced we’re going to get we get there, there’s a welcoming house. And we went into the house and we watched the movie about how they made this bridge and the most wealthy man on Prince Edward Island, the Steve ba Prince Edward Island bequeathed a half a billion dollars whatever the project was like rebuilding our bridge, right? Way longer bridge than the Key Bridge, right? But way longer than the Bay Bridge, only really long bridge, the biggest project in the history of Canadian government ever, and it was built in like, the mid 90s. You know what I mean? It’s a modern, modern bridge. Because when I met these guys in 1991 they had to have a boat. Imagine that life, right? So we go out then how cold it is and where it is in the North Pole. It’s not that cold. It has actually some interesting winds from a climate standpoint. But we drove. We watched the movie. 30 minutes. People died. We tore it around. We saw the bridge, and we came out, and it was like $43 to cross the bridge. Look at look at the look in his eyes. That’s a look we had in our eyes. And we went out, and I looked at the bridge, and I thought, well, what the hell are we gonna do? We get over there? We were just gonna go to like the Cocos and pride Cocos of Provincetown and have a beer, you know, probably have fish and chips or something. I didn’t do it. We didn’t cross the bridge. You regret it. I regret it with tug McLean was cussing me out on the radio. What do you mean? So let me get this straight. He said this to me. He said, so we, we had a fairy that was $20 I said, Well, I would have taken the fair. I said, the fairy would sound like something would have been he said, You just, you Americans, you disgust me. So I’ve had Prince Edward Island oysters, but I ain’t never been to Prince I saw it. It looked really nice. Hold on a second. And I did this with Doug on the show. I did this shtick, and I looked up how much it cost to go across the bridge, and I did it again, and it went up. So, so how cross? Well, that is PE Island bridge. PE Island bridge. Let’s see how much to cost. It is. How much it cost the bridge, it’s $50.25 could you imagine that? That’s the first two axles motorcycles, only 20 bucks. So if you have an extra axles, so it’s $50.25 motorcycle, yes, but you’re right, it is Canadian, so I want to, I want to see if I can translate that. Oh, now it’s pretty compromise. It’s really, no, it’s not. It’s real strong. We’re probably, it’s probably, like, 39 bucks, maybe 40 bucks. I’ll Google it out, maybe 42

8

Marcella Knight  39:13

bucks. No, that’s crazy. I

39:15

couldn’t imagine. Okay,

Nestor Aparicio  39:16

so now you know why I didn’t. Because, like, it’s 50 bucks across the bridge. We’re gonna spend 50 bucks at lunch. We didn’t do it, so I feel like a jerk.

Marcella Knight  39:29

8

Later, I wonder what’s gonna have to make another trip.

Nestor Aparicio  39:32

The best cannabis and oysters known to mankind must be over. There must be well, if there were four of us like the cost, they’d like to drive in a Benji’s Marcel is here. We’re Cocos all brought to my friends at the Maryland lottery. I have destroyed the first five oysters of the oyster tour chink and take oysters.

Marcella Knight  39:52

I got your sixth one because I had one and there aren’t they supposed to be six to an order five, five.

Nestor Aparicio  39:57

That’s an that’s a new, new dozen. You. Yeah, they call that the land Yap. In New Orleans, they give you the 13th donut. That’s the land Yap. That’s the extra. What’s the name

8

Marcella Knight  40:06

of that donut place you were talking about? Where? Oh, krumpies.

Nestor Aparicio  40:09

Krumpies,

Marcella Knight  40:10

have you heard about Yeah, in hagers Is

Nestor Aparicio  40:12

8

he coming back tonight? I’m being serious. Is he coming back? Somebody left. He’s

Marcella Knight  40:15

already laughed, because he has a condo meeting at six o’clock. All right, there’s

Nestor Aparicio  40:19

a place in Hagerstown that it’s called krumpies. It’s famous. I mean, it’s in Google, the k, r, u, M, P, E, family business. It’s, it’s in the back of a home in an alley. It looks like Parkville. Totally looks like and they, they only sell their donuts at night. They open at seven o’clock at night. I mean, when I looked it up, I sent them away from like, This can’t be right, yeah, but it is. It’s in donut alley, Hagerstown. This is a great I plugged

40:52

a road trip,

8

Nestor Aparicio  40:55

if I’ve learned nothing else, on a crab cake tour, and doing it in I’ve done in August. The two years I’ve done it, just drive in the state in August, like you, you give your vacation here, and you probably go to Ocean City, or you get Delaware, where you go, yeah, Dewey Beach. Dewey Beach. If you just spent a week in the state of Maryland, going to Antietam, just see the battlefield. Go out to swallow. Falls past Deep Creek. Go to Creek. Deep Creek, Lake. Go, swallow, fall. Deep Creek, swallow. You been to swallow falls

41:24

many of times. Is

Marcella Knight  41:25

that where I went on the hike? Yes, okay. Is that one of the most in there? There’s waterfalls. His wedding was in Deep Creek Lake. You

Nestor Aparicio  41:32

8

think you’re in Hawaii when you’re at swallow falls? Would you agree with that?

41:36

Maybe not Hawaii. But yeah, there’s somewhere

Nestor Aparicio  41:41

I’ve been to the waterfalls. It reminds me, wonderful. Yeah. I mean, we have a beautiful state, and I just gave you the black water and all that stuff. But getting out and doing stuff, the oyster tour allows me to do that. The crab cake tour allowed me. And the thing that I learned so much is driving Eastern Shore. There’s a place called Suicide bridge over that’s got a great crab cake. It’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s like, you go to this Trump sign and that Trump sign, and there they are, and then there’s a bridge. And how much is that bridge free? Yeah, you know that bridge is interesting. It’s suicide bridge, because they have the little quarter you put in where you can feed the ducks, you know, because they have the ducks to come up, and they have a ferry. Oh, yeah. I mean, Eastern Maryland’s awesome, and it’s the crab cake that led me to you, that’s lead me to all these places and lead me to the oysters. And I have no idea what I’m going to come up with the next 26 days, but I’m going to go to probably about 15 or 20 new restaurants, all local, meet some new people, learn a little bit about oysters and have some fun. Yeah, how about that? That’s

42:38

what Maryland’s all about. Marcel is here, Eric’s here.

8

Nestor Aparicio  42:40

We’re Coco’s pub. They run the joint. You can order them here. You can curbside them when our air conditioning is running. You can even come inside, and that’s today. You know air conditioned. Terry recign has been here twice. Your air condition so chilly in here freezes in

Marcella Knight  42:55

I’m free sweatshirt on today.

42:58

We want to show it all we got it fixed, or showing it back to a habitable temperature soon, but

Nestor Aparicio  43:05

8

now an air conditioned company, our friends at the Maryland lottery, friends at Liberty, pure solutions. Please. Support our sponsor. Support Cocos. Come out here. Take care of local people. Got great people here to serve you and and also just to ship them. If you’re catching this from out of town, stop by and what’s the date on the crab? We

Marcella Knight  43:22

didn’t talk

43:23

about festival is october 26

Nestor Aparicio  43:26

Oh, so it’s that, yeah, what day game two at a World Series?

8

43:30

I think games, we’re gonna win. We’re gonna win the festival and the World Series. So

Nestor Aparicio  43:36

I gotta put that in my calendar, because that’s out of Carroll County with Brill Hart and the 100.7 group.

43:41

The suspect festival is coming up. I think it’s Saturday, 26

Nestor Aparicio  43:46

8

game two, game two. Yeah, so I don’t know that be here. Whether that’s going to be in Philadelphia. I’m making that

Marcella Knight  43:51

up. It’ll be here. Okay,

Nestor Aparicio  43:53

don’t you want the Phillies again? Like we want to rent at 83 Yeah, because

43:57

my brother in law, my brother in law, is a Phillies fan, so we went to Philly’s game on Father’s Day.

8

Nestor Aparicio  44:02

I’ve always felt like I wanted to beat the Redskins, or whatever they’re calling themselves this week in the Super Bowl. But then I thought if we lost to him, it’d be like, hardball.

44:09

His brother, yeah, be like, oh. But also, the Redskins are never gonna make

Nestor Aparicio  44:13

it. That’s a good point. Or the commanders, whatever they’re called This Week, um, I gotta sign off. Mark Viviano was here. Resig was here with six. Wife was here. Liz was here. She waved and said, Goodbye. Where’s baz here today? Oh, he’s getting my eggnog ready. Yes, he is holiday. Next time I come in here, it’ll be Christmas.

Marcella Knight  44:35

8

I know I was thinking about that on the way in today’s

Nestor Aparicio  44:40

gonna be I come in here a couple times a month, but next I’m doing the show in here. Come on by Cocos laraville. They were in beautiful Hartford road. Come back to the city. Support the city. Come see Pearl Jam. Go see Springsteen. Next week. Sticks isn’t down next week,

44:55

seeing all of them.

Nestor Aparicio  44:58

Can’t see them all Springsteen. It’s. Six and Lake Street dive are all the same night. My wife is in love with Lake Street dive, and they’re playing Merryweather. And you know what I told her, take the car and have a good time. So I think I’m going to see sticks actually instead of springs.

8

45:15

I gotta write that line down. Newly married, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  45:19

take the car and have a good time. You’re newly married. How long you been married?

45:23

It’ll be a year at the end of this month. All

Nestor Aparicio  45:25

8

right, so I’m gonna give you some funny advice that came to me from a guy named Al McGuire. Al McGuire is a famous basketball coach, Hall of Fame coach, coach at Marquette. He was on television for many, many years, doing college basketball for 30 years. He called college basketball and Kevin Byrne of the Kevin Byrne press box that I’m banned from at Raven stadium, Kevin Byrne should be ashamed. Appalled you all should be. But nonetheless, the Kevin Byrne press box, Kevin Byrne was the PR director for Marquette, and the year they won the championship, and Al was the coach, and when, when I got married, Kevin told me this story, and it’s funny, probably a little off color, but funny, Kevin got married during that period of time, and they just won a national championship, and Al said, Hey, Kevin, I’m giving a speech down in Chicago. Come on down. It’s gonna be, you know, booze and this and that, food and whatever, come on down. I’m giving a speech coach. It a year, whatever it was. And Kevin’s like, I just got married man, you know, I gotta stand. He’s like, listen, in any successful relationship, there can only be one happy person. You need to make sure that you fantastic. So

46:47

this all wrong? Yeah, you know, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  46:49

right? Marcella, who’s happier you’re right, exactly he told me that too. I’m there,

Marcella Knight  46:56

says to our dog all the time, who’s the most special person in the whole wide world, Mommy. So there you go.

8

Nestor Aparicio  47:04

My cat loves my wife more than me. My cat loves me. My cat, who’s

Marcella Knight  47:10

number one? That’s what he says. Who’s number one. He says, who’s number one.

Nestor Aparicio  47:14

Joe Jackson song called, be my number two. Won’t you be my it’s a sad, sad, you know, song, but I always say I’m number two, you know, for my kitty cat, but I love her. Anyway, I love Cocos, too, and they’re number one back for more and after this, yeah, you.