Instantly they'd start lining it up at four 30 and it would just be like full on at five o'clock, and there'd be nights where we'd sell out. And just put a sign out front. Just said, the well is dry. Feel the burn baby. Oh yeah. It's a slam dunk. Absolutely breathtaking. Welcome to the Bike to Bites podcast. I'm your host, Garrett Best. This is the companion podcast to the Bike to Bites television series. And why are we doing a podcast? Well, you can only cover so much content in a 23 minute television episode. This gives us a chance to dive a little bit deeper into some really rich content with a very special guest. And today's special guest is joining us from just outside of Portland in Cape Elizabeth, where we're going to talk about our Portland episode and all the great things that Chef Jason Williams of the well at Jordan's Farm is doing. I'm excited to get into this episode, but before I do, I wanted to take a moment to thank our sponsor plus for their support of the Bike Bites podcast. When your tomorrows are built on technology, you need to partner with Superior Insight, with expertise in cutting edge innovation across ai, security cloud and workplace transformation. E plus today's modern enterprises e plus where technology means more. Now, I'd like to take a moment to recap the Portland Maine episode. I started my bicycle ride at the Canopy Hotel in the city center, and I quickly took a brief turn around the block and headed over to the wharf where I got on a ferry and went over to Diamond Cove. Now, diamond Cove is the home of an incredible restaurant called the Crown Jewel, and it was there where I met up with the owner, Alexandra, and had perhaps some of the best mussels that I think I've ever had in my whole life. And after that, got on the bike, got back on the bike, went back over to the ferry dock, and headed back to Portland, the main city center of Portland. Rode my bike over to Luke's Lobsters. And if you have not been to Portland, Maine, and more importantly, if you've not experienced Luke's lobsters, you absolutely must do it when you're visiting there. The best lobster roll, fantastic. Fresh caught locally, phenomenally and simply prepared. In fact, I lend a little bit of a hand in preparing my own lobster roll, and it was fun from Luke's went over to a restaurant called Surly. Now remember where we are? We're in Maine, and Maine, by most people's recollection, is known for a great place to vacation, but it's also known for unbelievable fresh Maine lobster. So there was no shortage of Maine lobster in our trip to Portland. It started out with my experience at Luke's, and then it continued thematically as I went to my next stop, which was Sir Lee and Sirly took two of my favorite things and blended them together into a single experience, which was a popover, which is this really puffed pastry kind of bread like thing. And they stuffed it with Maine lobster and some cheese and some cream and some goodness. And that was fantastic. And thank goodness I had a long ride ahead of me over the Casco Bay Bridge over to South Portland, and then ultimately to Cape Elizabeth where I was going to meet up with Chef Jason Williams because that long ride was what I needed to burn off everything I had just eaten up to that point. So we ride over the bridge, we head out to the well at Jordan's Farms, which is this great little restaurant literally planted in the center of a farm. And that is where we are going to end our journey. And that is where we begin this podcast actually, because our first guest today is Chef Jason Williams of the well at Jordan's Farms. And Jason has had an incredible culinary journey, which started long before he ultimately ended up at the Culinary Institute of America, but then went on to do some great things, which we're going to dive deeply into today in our interview with him. So Jason, welcome to the podcast. Hello, how are you, sir? Oh, I'm awesome. I'm awesome. Certainly a lot more awesome having had the experience of eating with you. Thank you. I appreciate. That. At your restaurant, well, at Jordan's Farm, and I have to say what an incredible experience it was to be there. And for the listeners and the viewers that are watching, we're going to kind of revisit, go back a little bit about that experience. But before we do, I think I would love to hear from you about where did it all start for you? I mean, you're an incredibly talented chef. Did you always know that that's what you wanted to do, or did it? I. Kind of did. I mean, I kind of went for it in an early age, definitely junior high school. I was pretty committed to culinary arts was just, I don't even know if they still do this, but we had a home ec class in seventh grade, and we had a project where we were just assembling a Crue vegetable platter. And a girl that I was paired up with must have had some experience somewhere or a parent with some experience. She took a bell pepper and she just hollered it out and she filled it with a dip, and my mind was blown. I was just like, no way. Endless possibilities what you can do with food. And from that moment on, really, I kind of just clicked in and geared myself towards being at the best places as I could be and getting as much experience as I could. Do. What's so funny about that story that you just told me, for me, my interest in food probably started around the same Now I went a different path. I didn't become a chef, but I went into producing food and travel television. Because. I had this insatiable appetite for wanting to learn about what people do with that craft. Exactly. I guess it takes all of us to paint the picture and those that do it, which is you and those that try to capture those that are doing it, which is what I was doing. Oh man. I used to race home from school to catch great chefs, great cities on TV back in the day. So I understand the filming part too, because it was so cool. They'd go into people's kitchens and film. That's. So visual. I mean, food is food. Part of food's attraction is that it's not just how it tastes and how it smells, but the visual presentation is so important and we got to experience some of that with you when we sampled some of the dishes on the farm. So I think for me, it's kind of fun that you and I have that shared little bit of history in terms of where we got the initial spark for what we do. That's awesome. Yeah, definitely. So it started for you there. Where did it lead you from that point forward? I mean, obviously you went through high school, you graduated and then what? Yeah, and I geared my high school classes a lot around culinary arts too, and I was working at an establishment, so I was getting credits for my senior year of high school for culinary arts classes. I was working at a restaurant with some good experience, and that was a Scott Willard in West Austin, New Hampshire on the Whittier House, and that was my first introduction. He was a Culinary Institute of America graduate. So he kind of opened my eyes to what more was out there. I grew up in a kind of small town, New Hampshire, so my vision was really just what I knew in front of me, which was like a ski town environment kind of. So native New Englander your whole life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Born in Foxboro, Massachusetts and then moved up to New Hampshire, an early age in third grade, and kind of stayed there until it was on to college, which was I ended up going to a culinary suit of America thanks to Scott Willard. He kind of vouched for me and got me into the school. That's no small feat. Yeah, yeah. And it was a great experience. I was there and I opened my eyes instantly to a whole new world. Your first days there at culinary school, you're in what they call stage kitchen where they put you up on the stage and you just eat these multi-course classical French meals. And I had never experienced that stuff before. Coming from New Hampshire. My scope was small. What? They didn't have a Michelin Star restaurant in. They, they got some great restaurants for sure, but it was mom and pop and small town for sure. But yeah, so it was just got into it and went to culinary school at CCIA a. And. So you graduate ccia a, and then what happens after, because it's not like you graduate CIA and instantly you're a chef, right? Well, you. Are. Technically a chef, but. Yeah, it's a big wake up call and there's all different kinds of avenues that you can explore with culinary arts. There's all different levels to it, whether it's mom and pop, whether it's Michelin star, whether it's hotels or however you want to take it. So I had grown up wanting to be a snowboarder, probably first and foremost. So that was always my big passion. So after culinary school, I kind of went, I knew I could find work because everybody eats, which is great. So I knew I could get a job anywhere. And I ended up moving to Lake Tahoe, California kind of sight unseen just with $700 and my bike in September, I think I moved out. See. We share something in common. Your bike. You took your bike? Yeah, from 700. Yeah, I had my mom bike, so I was good to go. And it was like two days after my 21st birthday, and I just got kind of dumped in Trucky California and no clue what I was going to do next, and just kind of made it work. Just dumb luck and good people along the way and ended up working for a bunch of different restaurants out there. Probably spent most of my time with TS corporation at Jakes on the lake in Lake Tahoe. So again, ski towns kind of like that fast paced food, nothing upscale really yet. So you're doing everything you loved at that moment in your life. You were snowboarding. And living 21 and I had a good job. I was a manager at a great restaurant, good views of Lake Tahoe. I was snowboarding all day long and then working at night and just grinding it out and every day learning something, and it was really good experience. There was a lot of people, so it was big management experience and stuff like that, which is kind of completely opposite of what I do now. Now. From a big management position at a restaurant, you're running a small boutique restaurant on a farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Right. Exactly. But I kind of worked at a couple of different places in Tahoe on resorts as well. I resorted, it's now Palisades, but I was a resort at Squa Creek at the time I worked there, and that's kind where I started into fine dining. They had a restaurant there s, which was my introduction to fine dining beyond what I was exposed to at culinary school. So I did that and then ended up hurting myself just getting a couple knee injuries. And that took me to. Question Ray, real quick question. Before the knee injuries, did you find that your experience from the moment you stepped into the culinary arts or culinary institute, CIA, did you find that the experience that you were now having in real life, in practical life, in that world that you were in, do you feel you were prepared? Did they prepare you well for what you jumped into? They expose you to it for sure, but I mean, and it's a fast paced world out there. Everything's changing so quick, but they definitely give you a brief exposure so you're familiar with it, which is nice. And then obviously school is what you do with it. They can show you everything, but if you can't it out or maintain it and stuff like that, or just have that sense of pride in what you do, that's kind of a lot of what the food business is, is just taking those extra steps and not cutting corners and using the best stuff and just details, details, details. So I don't know if that's something you can teach or not, but the CIA definitely exposes you to all the, opens up a lot of doors or puts you in the room with a lot of different people and stuff like that, which is nice. Nice. So we're back to. Your knee injury. So now we're back to your knee injury. It blew up both knees and ended up, me and a friend ended up moving out to the islands to Hawaii, moved to Maui just to kind of get out of the mountains and do something different. Maybe. Something different than skiing. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it was just, and knee and Andrew were good it down in Maui and I had the ability to, because I'd worked with TS restaurants, they have a bunch of restaurants out there as well. So I was able to transfer out there to the Hula Grill, which was a TS Peter Merriman restaurant, and ended up breaking my neck just because I didn't understand the ocean. I guess just a New Hampshire kid, just foolish. Are you kidding me? No, not at burst fracture and C five vertebrae. When did this happen? Pretty soon when I moved out there. And that was a big, what do we do now? But Ts was super great to me. They put me up and the logo booth, so I was selling merch on the beach there for the restaurant while I was in the neck brace and just doing a lot of floating in the mask and staring the fish. Oh my goodness. How long did that recovery take? That was a three month process before that was really cleared for any kind of back to kitchen work. So I was three months at the logo booth, just kind of, which was a great place to be injured. I'm on Cali Beach in Maui and just selling t-shirts, kind of. Recuperating and selling t-shirts and enjoying the sun. Yeah. So yeah, thanks to them for that whole. Any long-term effects from that injury or no, you were after? Yeah, definitely not so much anymore, but for a while, definitely the range of motion was tough to get back. Took a lot of PT and yoga and. That's horrible. When you're on your feet, you're in your industry, you're on your feet all the time. Yeah, all day long and stuff like that. And it is what it is. It's how you, there's mats, fatigue mats and good shoes and all that stuff, so I'm not going to complain about it. So. You recover in Hawaii for three months, sitting on the beach selling merchandise, and then you make your way back into the kitchen at some point. Back into the kitchen? Yeah, three months later, as soon as I could. As soon as the doctors let me, and I was back in the kitchen just trying to make things work again and get back on my feet. Yeah, one thing led to another, did a couple of different jobs in Hawaii, worked for Royal GCI at a restaurant called Nicolina in ka, which was, or up a little bit north of that, I'm blanking the name right now. So that was a good experience and again, more fine dining experience there. Met my daughter's mother in Maui. She happened to be from Maine. I was from New Hampshire, she was from Maine. We met way out in Maui, so that was kind of cool. That's kind of cool. Wow. What brought you, is that ultimately what brought you back to Maine? It sure is. Really? Okay. Yeah, it comes full circle. It's kind. Why. Weird. So you come back to New England this time, you're no longer in. New Hampshire? No, no. Actually ended up going to Napa Valley first. From Maui? Yeah, from Maui. I ended up, I really was into wine knowledge and not from the sommelier kind of wine pairing thing, more just from the ground up. My uncle is a straight up Italian and he used to make wine in his basement and stuff like that. So I've always been interested in it. So I just wrote a bunch of Hail Mary letters to different wineries in Napa Valley and ended up all of them, pretty much wrote back saying, sure, harvest apprenticeship for 2004. So I ended up going with Cake, bread Cellars, and I spent the whole, the 2004 vintage, just doing kind of what they call cellar rat stuff. So I was doing the punch overs, just working with the product all the way up. Everything from harvesting or I wasn't really in the fields, but from the moment it's dropped on the docks from the pressing and all that stuff, lemme. Tell you, that's not easy work. I have a friend of mine who owns a winery up in Ukiah called Masu, and his name is Jake Fetzer and he is the grandson of the famous Fetzer wine family. But he's growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay up there, and I've been out to their winery and I've done the punch downs where you stand up on the tanks and you got a harness on you so you don't fall into the tank and you're literally punching the grapes down in the tank. That awesome experience for sure. Hard work. Hard. Work. Yeah. Yeah, hard work. A lot of cleaning, a lot of cleanup for sure. But yeah, that was a lot of fun and super good experience, and I loved it and it was beautiful. There's Napa Valley and just harvest season, so there's hot air balloons and everything's magic for sure. So that was a lot of fun, but I missed the kitchen, so I don't know. The wineries are awesome. It was great. But I guess maybe been so used to that instant gratification of the kitchen where somebody can thank you for what you made that day. Instantly it was really, I guess I missed that. Whereas with the wine, yeah, it takes a couple of years for someone to thank you. Yeah, yeah. Five years later you get it at the store and you're like, oh, cool. But then I have some from that 2004 vintage that I'm holding on for when my daughter graduates from school this year and stuff like that. Oh, that's. Very cool. That's. Very cool. Yeah, that's very special. It's a great moment in time. But I was eager to get back into the kitchens and did a brief St. Ravinia restaurant in Napa Valley, and then a kind of longer stint at a verse Soleil, which is a Michelin resort, awesome experience there. Chef Curry name, and oh man, that place was a lot of fun. And really that's where I saw super fine dining experience and stuff like that, which was really nice. And I learned a lot there for sure. And I was working with a lot of fish and doing a lot of cool product, and they had nice gardens there and everything. So. That brings you, so you've done your time at Bear's, right? And then was that right before you decided to come back to New England? Yeah, we were actually going to go to St. John in the Virgin Islands was the next step. And we were in the process moving cars back there. So me and Jen, who I met in Maui who was from Maine, we were like, okay, let's go back to let's go St. John's. Tried a different island, sounded super awesome, all about it, but we ended up coming back to Maine interim, so we brought all our stuff and kind of staged up in Maine and before we were going to head to St. John and just, I hadn't been back for a long time, so it was so nice to just be back in New England and I hadn't really spent much time in on coast. I was just in Mount Washington Valley, so it was awesome. And we ended up going to St. John with intentions to move, but pretty much a couple weeks in there we're like, let's just go back to Maine and maybe think family, think different or whatever and set it up because Portland then was like, oh man, I came here and I'd come from California and Napa, where all the restaurants were just really kind of mega corporate restaurants. And I came back to Portland and they were all like chef owned and really cool doing awesome things, and you could just feel the love was different, the energy was different and all the restaurants then, and so I loved it, but we ended up going to St. John got there was different than Hawaii, so not really what we were expecting and ended up just saying whatever, let's go back to Maine. Moved to Maine and then started working at Back Bay Grill for Larry Matthews and just really put my head down there and I don't know everything that I learned and with him was just kind of a magical time for me for sure. It was a good three year run, which was the longest I really stayed at anywhere. I was just all about the experience and bouncing around and learning as much as possible, but I just let it all sink in. I mean, that brings up an interesting point. Do you think the culmination of your experiences, I mean you've had quite the journey, right? Do you think it's that culmination of those experience that has led you to doing what you are doing today and doing it so well? Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's all influenced, everything I do today is influenced from what I've seen or what I've picked up on or what I didn't like about the industry that I wanted to change for myself. So yeah, a hundred percent for sure. But really everything kind of just hit home and I think that's where I became a chef there. Everywhere else I was just cook, but everything kind of made sense and it was a good experience for. Sure. At Back Bay Grill. Back Bay Grill. That's where that's the moment you felt like you had arrived? I did, and I thought I could do it hard work or whatever. I knew what it took. He was a great mentor as far as just a business person and chef and everything. Just a good dude to work for and made it all made sense and was there to support me when I was ready to start my own thing. So yeah. So you. Stayed there for, how long did you stay there? I think I was there maybe a little over three years. Little over three years. And then at that moment you decided you were going to do your own thing? Yeah, I left there to do my own thing and I kind of bounced around and just think I really wanted the time for it. So I knew what I kind of wanted to do at Back Bay Grill. I was shopping a lot at Jordan's Farms and kind of doing what I'm doing now. I was just shopping there daily. Larry had given me just a debit card that gave me a free run there to buy whatever I wanted at Jordan's. So that's where I started really building that relationship for over those three years and got to be where Jordan's was just letting me shop out of the back and hand pick everything, which was a huge bonus in my world to get everything the right size and before it'd seen refrigeration or anything like that. So that was great. So he opened those doors for me and I just started building menus at Backpay Grill based on what I was finding that day. And that place had a great reputation. So the clients were really trusting of Larry and then became really trusting of me and we weren't doing anything that's so farfetched that you would just be like, oh, what's that? We weren't trying to scare people or shoot over their heads by any means. It was all just good food done. Well. When did that aha moment come that said. Oh man, my last night at Back Bay Grill. So yeah, probably me and Larry, Larry took me downstairs to the wine. So we had a nice bottle of wine and I was like, what if I just did a donation only kind of spot in the middle of the farm, whatever, and just see what happens and if it doesn't work I can just wheel away and it just all came and clicked. Then right then I was just like, all right, everything kind of made sense. And the next morning after that bottle of wine wore off and stuff like that, I really just started fine tuning it and just going from there. I got permissions from Jordan's. I was like, if I build this trailer, put it right here. It's not going to interfere with any of your things. I'll work in your off hours from the retail food market, stuff like that. So for the listeners and the viewers that are watching, let's just be real clear what you did. You approached the folks over at Jordan Farm. After a relationship with'em, after you built the. Relationship with, yeah, you built a relationship with 'em through the Back Bay Grill and you're buying from them and you approached them and you basically said, I want put a restaurant on your farm. It was essentially a food trailer. So I mean, I built it off of a flatbed trailer essentially. Here's the blueprints actually right behind me. You can probably see probably a part of it. Oh, that's great. We'll grab a picture of that. We'll show the people who are watching what that looks like. We'll. Put that up on the screen. It's pretty neat. And I just pitched it to them. I was like, what if we put a trailer here, do some picnic tables and stuff like that, and we'll just see what happens. And I did that in 2010, September of 2010. So just real brief, it was the very end of the season, but kind of the height of harvest season. So I had a lot of options and stuff like that, and I just did three entrees and maybe an app or something like that, and I had a box out there, so you could just pay by donation. The box just said, do what you think was right on it. That's amazing. Yeah. And it was BYOB at that time too. Did you have to make a reservation back then? No reservations all walk in home. Just walk. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that was the September, 2010, so only open for six weeks that season. But that was just a big goal of mine was just to be open that year. I don't know why, but. So obviously everything, all the fresh ingredients, the vegetables, the fruits, they're coming directly, the herbs, they're all coming right from the farm, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's always been the same. What about your proteins and things of that nature? How committed are you to the philosophy of local? I mean, as committed as I can. I got a little tricky over covid years and stuff like that. I lost a lot of producers, but I've had a lot of the same producers for a long time, which is great. Through Back Bay Grail, even with those relationships have been, so now we're going on like, geez, 17 years or something like that. So yeah, Tom Hasty, who raises all my pigs for me, we got a pretty good routine where he lets me know. I let him know what I'm going to do next season if I'm going to change anything that's going to change my numbers around and stuff like that. I'm basically pre-ordering live animals now and then they're all set up for intervals over my season. Same with lambs and beef. If I can get local beef and stuff like that, I always work with Gabe Clark. And of course there's no shortage of seafood. Seafood's easy. I mean, it's right in your. That's a good one. But yeah, it's tough with the inspections and stuff to go full local just because you do have to have USDA inspections and stuff like that. I wish I could source everything from right here and I can a lot, but I just start as small as I can and just work outside in a ring. Are these local farmers that are raising these proteins, like the lamb, the pigs, are they processing at a, obviously they're at A-U-S-D-A facility. They do, but those dates are super hard to get, so that's a whole problem on its own as far as, that's why we do it so far in advance just because I know the dates that they'll tell me what dates they're going to be, and. So you really have to do some planning. You really do have to do some planning on your end. I mean, that's why kind of my menus are blind too, which is nice. Then I can roll with it because I do little whole animal butchery. I'm not just opening of one cut of meat. I kind of do the blind tasting menu so that I can just utilize the whole animal. So. Explain that blind tasting menu for those that are listening and watching is that they come to your restaurant and they don't know what you're serving that day. Is that correct? No. Nope. They don't. I love that. I. Absolutely love that. It's kind of funny. There's a sign at the bottom of the street that has all the vegetables hanging off of it that are for sale at Jordan's farm in the farm stand. So that's a pretty good preview of my menu as you're coming up the hill. I rode up that hill and I saw that sign. Absolutely. And you know what, and you've now since have expanded beyond just the trailer. Tell everybody how, so that was 2010 when you started with just the food trailer with the last six weeks of the season. How did it grow from there? The rest was all just solving problems as they crept up and really taking the off season to reset and think about it become, I got great word of mouth because it was B-O-I-O-B and because it was a donation thing, and I had a lot of friends in the industry and stuff like that. So 2011 season started out getting really busy and we were doing big numbers, but then because there was no reservations and nothing like no covered spaces, it became a fair weather spot essentially. And it would get super packed when we opened at five. So it would kind of do a lot of damage to the farm stands business just because it would block up the parking lot when they're still open for their stuff. And it would just dump a lot of people on the property instantly. They'd start lining it up at four 30 and it would just be full on at five o'clock, and there'd be nights where we'd sell out the first and second or 2011, 2012, just pretty much an hour or two. We'd do 70 people through there and me and one other person in the kitchen and just put a sign out front, just said, the well is dry and go on. People. Would be. Cursing their way down the street as they realized that what they were hoping to happen just couldn't happen that. Night. I mean, I was killing myself. I was doing the best I could, but it was just like we'd start from scratch every day and I'd load up as much prep as I physically could do before we opened, and then the coolers would be drained by the time I put that sign up. So it was just like hamster wheel and hard to plan for because if you got three days of rain, nobody was coming. So it was like next came the gazebos, which gave me a little more reservation space, covered seating. They're beautiful. And we sat in one of those together when we had our time together and it was. Phenomenal. Yeah, they're awesome. That was a huge addition for sure. And those are so nice. And it started off with, I think I just had the two large ones. So for those that are listening, it's on the farm, there's the main trailer where you started, and then you've added onto that, right? Correct. A. Little bit. Now there's four gazebos, too large, too small, and a chef's porch area that's really nice too. Bar. And a bar area. And you can actually sit in those gazebos and enjoy your dinner on the farm. And we did it at sunset. To say that it was magnificent would be an understatement. Yeah, yeah. You're kind of dispersed right in the flower field, and it's nice. It's just different. It seems like I've been, so you see the trends of the restaurants just going into, they're just so crowded and places to be seen kind of thing, and it wasn't comfortable. They're too loud, they're too noisy. Yeah. The only one I wanted to be seen by were the bees. That was fine with me. Yeah, exactly. And I just wanted more space. Bring it back to being about who's at your table and your experience there, and just a comfortable, safe environment and being able to hear each other and stuff like that. I think that's, restaurants run such a tight margin. It's tough to, I can't say anything bad about them trying to maximize capacity and all that stuff. It just wasn't where my head was at. I wanted to smooth things out and just. So it's no longer. Well, we're going to talk about how did the pandemic affect you? Oh, man. It was kind of set up for it because I did have, they're all spread out tables. So you did okay. I did okay. I no longer did turns on 'em, so I just didn't do the turns on the gazebos anymore. So it was just yours for the night, which was great. And people felt so safe. It was the closest one to you is 30 feet away or whatever, and you're outside partially too, so they're protected, but they definitely have airflow through them from the farm, so I got lucky there definitely. I mean, it was hard, but I had compared to other restaurant friends and stuff like that. You worked through. It. You worked through it. Yeah, I was really psyched. But now's. No longer, no longer walk-ins anymore. Right. It's all pre reservations. All reservations only now. Yeah. Yeah. And that opens, when do the reservations open for people to be able to get themselves? January 1st? Yeah, January 1st. Every year they open up. So I mean, geez, what is it? The 15th? I'm probably 50% sold out for the season already, so it's kind of been wild and I'm so grateful for that. So it's working and it's been really nice. I got a lot of pushback from that whole process. I started that whole reservations only thing in 2019 right before the pandemic and got a lot of pushback that season. But then the next season when the pandemic hit, it was like, whoa, this is kind of perfect. So I got lucky there. And I would imagine, so now you have reservations, I would imagine now you also have no longer donations, only it's pricing based. On No, no, it's all prepaid through a talk system, a reservation system and stuff like that, just because it became such a hotspot. And then people would kind of book reservations, but then no show. And when you're dealing with only a few tables a night, that's such a big hit to the staff and to myself. So now it's all prepaid with a nice cancellation policies. So let's paint the picture if we can, for the listeners. The viewers. So you sit at the end of my route right here, Cape Elizabeth. Right. That's where I ended my route. I started in downtown Portland. Right. Paint a picture for where you're situated geographically in regards to the city of Portland. What makes it so unique and so special? I mean, Portland, for those that have not been there, or even for those that have been there, is a very, very special place. It is a very special place. And within that special place, you sit within a very, very cool and unique geography. So I would love for you to talk a little bit about that. Yeah, I mean, super lucky that I landed here. That was the girl that, my daughter's mother from Hawaii, Jen, she was from Cape Elizabeth. So she introduced me to this place. So when we came back, we moved back here, we kind of sat down some roots, had a child, but Cape Elizabeth is just like, you're 15 minutes outside of a nice working city with beautiful restaurants and waterfront working waterfront, so great fishing places, world-class seafood purveyors. And then we're just over the bridge like 15 minutes away. I don't know how long it took you to bike here. I think probably under a half hour. Yeah, it wasn't that long. And I went over the Casco Bay Bridge. Beautiful. And then you go through South Portland and it starts to get greener and greener as you get a little further away from the city. And. Then for those that are listening and watching right now, I want just kind of paint the picture of who are going to ride this route. We start in the city of Portland, right on the waterfront. It's literally on the waterfront. The city's located on the waterfront, and you leave the center of the city and on a 20 minute bike ride outside over the Casco Bay Bridge at the South Portland and towards Cape Elizabeth, the landscape just starts to change just so you get this urban, really cool city vibe on this great waterfront. Kind of like Boston, right, in that sense. But then you leave it and you head out to farmland, and then I land where you are and it's just insane. So you get to experience both, and I think that's what makes this ride really special. Yeah, it's such a nice place. And there's tons of coastline here in Cape Elizabeth. We got the beautiful lighthouses. Went up to that lighthouse. That's. Fantastic. Iconic. Yeah, I've been here ever since. Just kind of really set up roots here. I love it. It's the center of the university right now. I think Portland, for people who are not familiar with its culinary scene, it has a lot to offer. People think, oh, it's on the waterfront, so it's all going to be seafood. There's a plethora of restaurants that offer up. Yes, seafood is abundant and wonderful and beautifully prepared at many of the restaurants we visited. We went and left the city, the main city center, and we got on a ferry and went out to the crown jewel. Nice. And I know you're familiar with that restaurant. Sure am. Alexandra, who's the owner there. I will tell you, I kid you not, some of the best muss that I think I ever had were at her restaurant. They were beefy. They were in this beautiful broth that she did with Onion. The Bens island Mus probably. Oh yeah. With onions and saffron, and it just was fantastic. Then you get back on the ferry, you come back into the city, and we continued our journey. We went to Luke's Lobsters, we went to Sir Lee and Sirly took two of my favorite things and put them into one incredible experience that I got to taste while I was there, which was a popover stuffed with Main Lobster. I mean, come on. Yeah. Looks insane. It was insane. Insane. But I think Portland has a lot. You've now been in the area for, you've been back to the area now for quite some time. You've established a restaurant there. What do you think sets Portland's culinary scene? And I say Portland, I mean Portland, and its surrounding areas, including where you are. What do you think sets that apart from let's say, some other cities? I mean, I think it was rooted in, like I said, that chef owned passion, and I think that's what kind of put it on the map for food scene, for being a food town. That and the access to insane seafood and land agriculture, stuff like that. Yeah, I think both those things together just really made things explode around here. And. The views aren't that shabby either. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it's vacation, man. There's no place I'd rather be. And spring, summer, fall, really, winters can get a little long. But. You talk about those mom and pop shops, and I think one of the really cool things about Bike to Bites and what we've done when we've traveled across the country and is we truly try to put a spotlight on some of those mom and pop shops. That. Are not part of any kind of big restaurant chain establishment or hospitality group, but some of them are. But a lot of the people that we feature are these restaurateurs and these chefs that are just doing a really good job at what they do and serving their communities. Yeah, exactly. And that's really what it takes. And it gets harder to compete as Portland changes and things develop and more of those restaurant groups come in, it's harder to buy up those nice wines or that product from the specific thing just because they have more buying power. If they're multiple restaurants ordering versus me, my little farm seasonal spot, obviously distributors or farmers, I don't blame them, are going to take that one that's consistent. That's year round, that's buying multiple, that's seeding a thousand people a day or whatever. Versus my little 50 person a night farm dream. And it was a dream. And I will tell you what you served me that day was fantastic. You started out with the field beans that you chart on the wood grill and you had some pepper and some eggplant puree, and then I think you then came out with a Casco Bay cod and with arugula, king oyster mushrooms and a lemon butter sauce. Where do you derive your inspiration from when you bring out dishes like this? Is it truly influenced by what's on the farm? That, and I feel like the weather plays a huge part in it just because I can make those menus up daily and mean has got some sporadic weather. So if it's all of a sudden 60 degrees and chilly or something like that, that's a huge what I'm feeling, making that day for everybody or whatever. And I think that gives me such a leg up. I'm not writing this elaborate menu and then sourcing the ingredients and then just kind of force feeding it to people and selling it through a fancy wording on a menu description. You don't know what you're really getting. I'm just trying to make good, honest food, and I think that translates really well. What's interesting, you talk about when we eat and when we enjoy great meals, it's really how well do you tickle all of the senses, right? It's the taste, it's the smell, it's the texture. But one of the things that I think is undervalued, and in your case it's over accentuated in my opinion, is environment. The environment, the environment is part of the experience of what you're enjoying at that moment and how well you're enjoying it. To be sitting out in a gazebo in the middle of a farm with fresh, wild flowers growing all around me and the bees humming and the sun setting in the Casco Bay on Cape Elizabeth. I miss it. Oh man. It is absolutely part of the experience, the dining experience and that food memory that is created as a result of it, which makes it that much more enjoyable. You have created a picture esque experience that I think anybody who would come to your restaurant would absolutely enjoy. The food stands by itself, but then when you marry it with everything else it is, and your passion, you love what you do, you get up every day. I was there, you were smiling, you were excited to have everybody there. And it wasn't just because a camera was there. I think it's how you operate in any given day. Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes when everything's hitting on all cylinders, the environment, the food, everything like that, it can be super magic. What keeps me going pretty much every day. I've definitely felt that there before. I'm just like, oh man, this is awesome. I'm so grateful. I can't wait to take my wife and my adult kids when we usually, we used to vacation in Maine every year when the kids were little, we would go up to Booth Bay Harbor and my brothers and I would rent a house and we would stay there with our kids, and it was very, very special. But what I experienced with you was also very, very special. And I can't wait to share that with them because I got to get a reservation, but I better hurry up before they're all gone. But it's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Thank you. And the food was just fabulous. Last question for you, and it's one that I'm curious to doing what you do, and you've been doing it for so long and doing it well. What continues to drive you? Where do you continue to derive inspiration and passion for what you do? Oh man. I mean now, geez, now that I've seen a long time of the restaurant and this thing, I've had kids that I remember coming to the restaurant that are now coming in as adults that are just like, this was just memorable as a kid. I can't wait, like you said, to take their family and stuff like that. So I'm just soaking all that in right now, and that's kind of been huge, which is kind of cool. So seeing it come full circle where when the people that first started coming to the restaurant now coming back and having children, it's almost like a rebirth of just energy, right? And the restaurant's grown up so much too, from what I've told you to what it is now. And they can feel that. I mean, I'm sure everybody that's been with me throughout all the steps kind of now understands why they were made, whether they maybe didn't understand 'em at the time. But I think now everything just kind of flows and it's matured restaurant and it's, it's got its footing now, so I'm comfortable and I can kind of start taking more chances with food. I've got the trust in everybody, and I just feel like that's keeping me going. And it's a lot of fun. I mean, I get to be at this beautiful farm watching the flowers going, working with the freshest products, kind of making whatever I want to make every day. So how could you not just be passionate about that? It's pretty special. It is pretty special. And for listeners and viewers that are watching, Jason, how do they find you? Where can they find you? Whether it's on Instagram, the website, give everybody some information on how they can make a reservation and come see you at the farm. Yeah, although snow up there is pretty magical as well, so there you go. There you go. Well, Jason, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate your time today, and for everybody who's listening, they absolutely need to come to the Well at Jordan's Farm. What an experience. So thank you so much. All right, you too. Take care. Thank you, Jason. Wow, that was a treat, being able to catch up with Chef Jason Williams again in this podcast and dive a little bit deeper into his career and all the exciting things that led him to where he is today, the well at Jordan's Farm. For more information on this episode, as well as other episodes in this series, head over to our website at bike to bytes podcast.com. You can also find us on YouTube at Bike to Bytes. Be sure to give us a like and subscribe while you're there. And if you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, we would appreciate a five star rating and a glowing review. It really does help spread the word. Check out our Instagram at Bike debits tv, and be sure to follow my personal Instagram at Garrett Abe, where I post shots of my daily rides and interesting places I visit. If you're interested in watching the Bike Debits TV show, please visit bike de bytes.com. We also have some really cool stuff of Bike de bytes, apparel, and some other things that you can check out. While you're there, I'd like to thank our sponsor. E plus E plus helps organizations harness the power of technology for truly transformative results from AI and security to cloud and workplace transformation. Plus brings you the right solution at the right time, in the most efficient way. E plus is on the front lines of today's modern enterprise. Check them out@eplus.com. And remember, pedal eat repeat. We'll see you next time. Feel the burn, baby. Oh yeah. Is a slam dunk. Absolutely breathtaking.