Popovich Part I and the Recipe for Tastebuds Grilled Veggie Wrap
Honoring Steve Popovich, My Greatest Mentor
In my thirties, having no children of my own (yet!) and having a seven thousand square foot restaurant (Tastebuds) with a lounge and living space that could fit and feed an army, that is exactly what I did once a year! On or around December 23rd, I would rent a limo and collect all of my dozen or so nieces and nephews, and treat them to a giant slumber party at Tastebuds, and treat their parents to a night off, where they could have a romantic date, do some last minute Christmas shopping and wrap gifts without having to worry about the kiddos!
Amazingly, one year I was able to take the kids snow tubing at Jacob’s Field before cruising the Christmas light display on Public Square. Every year, we would all take turns popping out of the limo’s moon roof, braving the cold for a better look, before heading to Tastebuds, where we’d make pizzas, bake cookies, and play musical instruments, often parading through the restaurant, which I should probably mention, was closed during the holidays!
I hired a magician one year and rented a bounce house the next! A friend of mine set up a movie screen and projector every year and we’d watch Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Home Alone! There were two futons, six sectional couches, one sofa and two bedrooms with double beds, so there was room for everyone to sleep comfortably, not that they ever wanted to go to sleep!
The next morning, the limo would return to take us to breakfast at Main Gate Restaurant, a hidden gem in the basement if the North East Ohio Food Terminal, where I did a lot of my shopping for Tastebuds. If it was feasible, my friend Tony, at Sanson Company would give the kids a tour of the massive produce storage facility and he’d send us home with oranges! From there, we’d go to a museum, the science center, the aquarium or Mr. Kringles Inventionasium Experience in Tower City.
One year, as we made our way out of downtown, heading back to their suburban homes, one of my young nieces asked, “Where did you ever get the idea to do this?”
I honestly hadn’t thought of it until that moment, but I quickly realized that the idea came from Steve Popovich, a customer of Tastebuds who became a friend, bound by our mutual love of Hank LoConti (owner of The Cleveland Agora) and Sokolowski’s University Inn, the food and the owners! Feeling excited to share this moment with him, I snapped a picture of the little tots all cozied up in the limo, with my cell phone and sent it to him. We waited for a response, and it occurred to me, that he would not recognize my family. So I called him.
He sounded busy and a bit confused, but when I said it was me, his voice softened immediately and he gave me his full attention, apologizing and explaining that he was shopping at Whole Foods and couldn’t really see the photo I sent.
I told him that I was in a limo, taking my nieces and nephews home after spending the night at the restaurant making pizzas and watching Christmas movies and treating them to all kinds of great experiences. I said that I wanted to thank him, that we all wanted to thank him, because he was the reason and the inspiration for all of it!
Steve said, “Huh, wow! Cool mon, cool! Merry Christmas to all of you!”
Then, he asked who was driving the limo. I told him that his name was Gill. He said, “Tell Gill to hop on 71 South and keep going till it turns into I 65. Tell him if he can get you guys to Nashville, I’ll take care of the rest!”
What’s not to love about a guy who says something like that?
Steve died unexpectedly, six months later in June 2011. I consider myself one of the luckiest people on Earth, that I got a chance to thank him.
“Be Stubbornly Passionate about Your Beliefs”
-Steve Popovich Sr.
I was delighted to see that Steve Popovich recently received recognition from the city of Cleveland, making July 6th 2022, Steve Popovich/Cleveland International Records Day. To add to that honor, I thought I would share a story I wrote about how his words changed my life. He was my greatest mentor. He gave me the permission and the courage to live my life extraordinarily! I owe so much of my happiness to him!
I wrote the following story at the request of John O’Brien, editor of The Ohio Irish American News. He published a condensed version in March 2020, before life as we knew it had changed forever!
Free Falling into Ireland
There is a line in one of my favorite movies, The Field, (Sheridan, Jim. Avenue Pictures, 1990) where the main character, Bull McCabe, an Irish farmer (played by the incomparable Richard Harris) warns his son who shows interest in a tinker’s daughter, “Never trust a tinker boy. They lost their footing on the land and they’ll never get it back.”
As I prepare to move to Ireland, the most difficult decision I’ve had to make, is to sell the house I’ve owned for the last twenty-five years. I find solace in the fact that the greatest adventures of my life have all started out with one seemingly terrible or scary idea!
Luckily, I’ve been blessed with incredible mentors that have helped me turn fear into fuel, my greatest being Steve Popovich, founder of Cleveland International Records. Steve taught me how to live and although he passed away far too soon in 2011, not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and thank him!
Steve lectured me after catching me hard at work, painting the restaurant while I was closed for a two-week vacation. When I saw him approaching the restaurant, I propped open the door I was painting and I told him I was really sorry, but I was closed for two weeks.
He said he noticed the lights on and that he saw me through the window. He took a good long look at me, holding my paint pan and brush, sighed, shook his head and said, “I know you’re closed…but do you?” I laughed nervously, and explained that I close twice a year and use one of the vacations to scope out the competition and catch up with the maintenance of the restaurant.
He looked at me like he was mad at me, and asked, “Who did this to you?” He shook his head some more, then added “I bet it was your mother who did this to you!” and then he laughed, and eased my tension. “Ok, this oughta be good…who’s your competition?” he asked.
I told him that I had a few pretty good salads nearby, and just as I was about to name the restaurants, he cut me off. “Look kid, you are the best in the business. You HAVE NO COMPETITION, ok? So put down that paintbrush and get your butt to New York City! It burns my ass that you, a chef, have never been there, and take your mom and sister with you! They work hard for you, you should treat them too! And when you go, stay at the best hotels, and ask for their best room. Eat at the best restaurants and don’t be afraid to take limos!”
He asked if I had any money stashed, then laughed when I grinned, he said, “Of course you do, this is a cash business! Go and get it, ALL OF IT, and get out of town!” Don’t be afraid to spend it, you can always make more!
He said, “Money is no good when you’re old! You end up having the means to travel, but your body aches on flights and you prefer sleeping in your own bed to any luxury hotel accommodations. You can afford to eat at the finest restaurants, but you’ve got all these dietary restrictions. No, don’t wait. Spend your money as soon as you make it!
You are young, smart, and you’re willing to work hard. You can always make more money, but you cannot get back time. Treat yourself and travel the world. Do it now, and do it in style! You deserve it kid!”
I bought a three family house in Tremont in 1995, back when you could buy crack, a jacket stolen from your own car hours earlier, or foie gras and a bottle of Opus One, all on the same block! Becoming a landlord at twenty-four years old made me strong and responsible and taught me many hard lessons.
I have caught and released more than a few squirrels in the attic and ground hogs and raccoons in the yard. I have tracked awful horrific smells to dead birds in dryer vents and dead mice in heater vents. I have waded through feces and toilet paper in my basement while waiting for Roto-Rooter to come gouge me with emergency service fees then leave me to clean my basement full of sludge, pondering the items tenants consider flushable!
I have had to evict my share of nightmare tenants and have been threatened and slandered. I’ve been cheated and completely screwed over by contractors and have learned that appliances only break on weekends and holidays when service rates triple! Being a landlord prepared me perfectly for owning a restaurant!
After putting all of my extra money toward paying off my mortgage by my fortieth birthday, (because somebody told me it couldn’t be done 17 years earlier, I’m lookin at you Dick Lardie!!!) I began living the fabulous lifestyle that Steve Popovich insisted on, which included leasing (or as my accountant called it, “frivolously throwing away money”) a new Porsche every two years, living in luxury apartments, and renting limos for niece and nephew overnights and for special nights out with friends, employees or siblings.
I have not missed a play, talk, or concert that I have wanted to attend. I have locked eyes with Sidney Poitier in the Champagne Lounge of The London Coliseum at the St. Petersburg-based, Mikhailovsky Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake. I have seen Leonard Cohen from the second row of Cleveland’s Palace Theater and have gotten to drink Guinness back stage with the Webb sisters and his partner Sharon Robinson.
I have attended food conferences in Oxford, England, Ballymaloe, Ireland and New York City. I’ve been inspired, attending talks given by Maya Angelou, Carol Burnette and Chazz Palminteri and performances by John Lithgow and John Cleese. I’ve laughed till my belly ached, watching countless comedians and have been treated to the best hospitality in the business, by owner Nick Kostis, at Pickwick & Frolic Restaurant and Comedy Club. I’ve seen enough Cleveland Orchestra performances to know why they are the best in the world and I have frequented all of the best restaurants, museums and theater that Cleveland has to offer. I have gotten to travel to Ireland, England, France and Italy, and have taken the great American cross country road trip three times and camped along the East Coast dozens of times.
My house, that has afforded me all of these opportunities and more, has gone up for sale and with no plans to buy again, I will be hit with Capital Gains taxes that seem unfathomable! The Tremont house has more than quadrupled in value, which is unprecedented! Rather than dwell on the obscene amount of taxes I will owe, I have decided to start celebrating what will be gained!
I’m cashing in my chips while I’m young enough to turn those chips into unforgettable experiences for me and a magical and adventurous childhood for my son Ari. What I want now, money can’t buy. It’s time, which I no longer want eaten up by running a business or owning rental property, keeping up with lawn care, maintenance, leasing and staffing.
I want to be fully present for whatever my son wants to say or play! I want to linger in cafes and write while he is in school, or paint en plein air. And yes, I want to be surrounded by Irish music while talking and laughing with witty Irish folks. I want to dance and sing in the never- ending rain and be warmed by a good turf fire, a cup of tea or a glass of Midleton Whiskey!
Whatever the cost to my retirement or the taxes I incur, dammit, I say it’s worth it! I can think of a lot worse, then ending up a tinker in Ireland!
In the final chapters of Hemingway’s beloved classic, A Movable Feast, (Hemingway, Ernest. Vintage Classics, 2000.) he writes about the days when he and Hadley were very poor, and very happy with nostalgia. He reminisces about skiing and how they would spend hours climbing, for the thrill and rush of the descent! I feel like he was giving us the key to living a good life. So many of us just keep on climbing, giving ourselves heart attacks before reaching the summit. What if you just turned around half way up and went “wheeeeee” all the way down, laughing and having a ball?
This is how I view my move to Ireland! Sure, I’ll have to start all over again, but not with nothing to show for it! My son and I will have glorious memories and a divine understanding of why we climb!
Funny Story…
So I’m making my way out of the Palace Theater with Steve Popovich Jr. hours after the Meat Loaf concert, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the album Bat Out of Hell, ended and it suddenly occurs to me that I had valet parked my car. In all the excitement of getting to go backstage after the show and meet Meat, I had lost track of time. I was relieved to see my car sitting right out front, but wondered how I would get the keys. Playhouse square was deserted. Steve laughed thinking that I was kidding about the Porsche being mine, but then a valet appeared from a darkened storefront. As he handed me my keys, he said “I was so worried about you! I wondered where you could have gone. Nothing is open this late.”
I apologized, thanked him profusely and gave him a huge tip for waiting for me. I asked Steve where he was parked and I offered him a lift since it was a few blocks and there was no one around. He hopped in and complimented me on my taste in cars. I said, “It’s not a car, it’s an experience!”
Just then I screamed with delight at the realization that his dad was the reason I drove a Porsche! I recited the speech Steve gave me about spending my money as fast as I make it, and treating myself and traveling in style. When we arrived to the lot, Steve Jr. pointed to an old, rusted out Ford Taurus (if I remember correctly!) and laughed, saying “Yeah…I don’t think we got the same speech!”
The Recipe for Tastebuds Grilled Veggie Wrap
Steve Popovich was on a plant based diet, and would always ask for the veggie wrap minus the wrap.
For the Hummus
1 Can Chickpeas (15 ounces) Drained Not Rinsed
1 TeaspoonChopped Garlic
2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Olive Oil (highly recommend Cento, available at Gallucis)
Place chickpeas in food processor and drizzle lemon juice over them. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Add garlic and pulse till ground. Turn on low speed and add olive oil in a steady stream through opening in lid, then turn to high speed for 20-30 seconds to give the hummus a creamy texture.
Recipes for Roasted Garlic Oil & Balsamic Reduction can be found in previous post’s portobello mushroom recipe.
The Veggie Wrap
1 Medium Zucchini Cut in Half and then cut into 1/2 inch half moons. (It is shown differently in the photo, because I only had 3 skewers!)
1/2 Red and 1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper
6 Large Mushrooms Cut in Half
1 Medium Red Onion Peeled, Trimmed and Cut into Wedges
1/2 Cup Hummus
1/4 Cup Balsamic Reduction
1/4 Cup Roasted Garlic Oil
8 Ounces Mixed Salad Greens
4 12 Inch Tortilla Wraps (preferably spinach flavored)
Lightly coat zucchini, mushrooms and onion with roasted garlic oil, leaving the peppers bare. Slide veggies onto skewers and grill till soft and slightly charred. Let cool, then slide off skewers. Starting with the onions, being sure to trim and discard any part of the root, roughly chop all of the vegetables and mix thoroughly in a bowl.
Smear 2 Tablespoons of hummus onto each wrap, then place a small handful of mixed greens on top of hummus. squeezing out any liquid, spread a cup full of the grilled vegetables over the lettuce. Top with a heavy drizzle of balsamic reduction. Fold the sides of the tortilla inward while pulling up the bottom, roll up like a burrito tucking the sides as you go. Enjoy!
And Finally…
I haven’t listened to this song in ages, it is truly a masterpiece and funny as hell!
Gaining the confidence to spend my money on life’s great experiences, knowing I can always make more, has truly made my life extraordinary. Lately, I feel that money, as well as time, is best spent on children. What a thrill it is, to play a part in forging memories that will last a lifetime, for Ari and his friends. The experiences Steve Popovich created for his grandkids are legendary and his legacy lives on through his son, Steve Jr., who I am so proud to call friend! There is so much more to say, but I’m afraid I have reached the length limit for email. So, I must leave it here for now.
To Be Continued!
Thank You for Being Here Again my Friend!
Cheers!
Bridget
Wow, this is truly an incredible read — what an AMAZING aunt you are!! I bet your nieces and nephews miss you so much! Thanks for sharing such compelling pieces. I used to work very close to your restaurant and when I heard of it’s closing I was so sad. :( Nothing will ever hold a torch to Tastebuds, Steve was absolutely right.
Please please please share the recipe for the BBQ chicken wrap sometime?