What do you think when you're making a menu for

rum? I definitely, we lean to the Caribbean side of things.

So Caribbean or like Northern South America, Guyana, that kind of area.

But we went the Caribbean route, so we're leaning into a lot of Caribbean flavors.

I'm doing a play on a Jamaican curry.

I grew up, one of my best friends was Jamaican, and it was one of the highlights of going to his house was his mom would make this Jamaican goat curry, and I haven't had it in forever, and so I was super excited to throw that on the menu.

But things like that.

How do you deal with that as a chef?

and I just try to take little things from

here and there and anything that kind of just piques my interest or my mind I always try to stay very seasonal as I'm doing it as much as I can like we said we don't have like a huge farm industry here but we do California has its own seasons and there was a bit of an adjustment period i came from new york city like chef sarah and it's very different it's like the seasons out there are very stark things don't stick around for a long time and you just your your access to things is a little bit different i had to completely adjust my seafood knowledge coming out here because when you're cooking new york city you're not using much fish from the pacific ocean and then you get out here and you're like i can't get anything from the atlantic i'm gonna have to completely adjust how i view fish um But in a way, that challenge gives you inspiration to come up with new dishes, right? Because you're like, well, this fish doesn't taste like the previous fish I'm used to working with, so what can I do with this? So that's how I approach it.

There's deadlines help.

Being a restaurant that changes its menu four or five times a year kind of sparks creativity in the sense that, like, I've got to get rid of this dish.

I need a new dish because this product has disappeared.

I

the world grows in whatever way it is like it I hate using this word but like I feel like there's so much like fusion and like it doesn't need to be bad fusion but it just like you know people like there's so many like mixed race and like there's so many people here from all over the world and it could just be like from different experiences and everyone wants to share their experience right so it can be you know how you grew up or like how things that you've learned or places that you've gone and like you shouldn't have to say no to any of it because it has to fit into this square so I think that there's a lot to that and I think that with like the originality comes innovation because like you don't just want to eat the same things and you don't just want to make the same things so like we just naturally grow because we Like, we want to, and we kind of have to, and, like, you know, if we don't, then, like, what's the point? Like, you want to grow with everyone around you and build it all up.

Yeah, Shep Jackson here.

So anything new happening over at Ada's since we last left you?

Uh, I think so.

I, we've done a few menu flips.

Um, well, not a few, not a few entire menu flips, but we've changed a bunch of things for the season, for spring.

Um, I don't know if when you guys were there we had the hamachi or not.

Now we have a wonderful duck in a soy bone broth that's super, super delicious.

So yeah, there's definitely some new stuff to come and check out.

So tell him what he's missing out, or if you have any feedback for him style-wise.