Small Lake City
Small Talk, Big City
Join host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.
Follow along for more!
Small Lake City
S1, E53: Pizza Nono/ Nona Bistro - Will McMaster
What if your hometown could transform into a culinary haven, sparking both nostalgia and innovation? Join us as we explore the remarkable journey of a young entrepreneur who breathes new life into Salt Lake City's food scene. From his humble beginnings at Litza's Pizzas Classic to the award-winning Pizza Nono and the vibrant Nona Bistro, we trace his path through bustling neighborhoods, cherished memories, and the challenging yet rewarding world of restaurant entrepreneurship.
Revisit the cherished pizza memories of your childhood and witness how they shape the quest for the perfect slice today. We'll take a trip down memory lane with iconic local spots like the Pizza Oven and Ratskeller in Sugar House, and balance the gourmet dining experience with the simple pleasures of fast food favorites like McDonald's. Our conversation celebrates community opinions on the best pizzerias and dives into the entrepreneurial spirit that led from homemade pizza experiments to the mastery of wood-fired ovens, reflecting on life in Salt Lake City, New York, and back again.
Discover the essence of preserving Salt Lake City's unique cultural landmarks amidst rapid development. We'll highlight the buzzing Ninth South corridor, the transformation of mundane buildings into beloved eateries, and the excitement of new ventures like "Notes," a natural wine and small plates extension of Nona Bistro. Beyond the culinary world, learn about the multifaceted lives we lead, from playing in a dad band to rediscovering old hobbies. This episode is a vibrant celebration of Salt Lake City's evolving culinary and cultural landscape. Don't miss out on updates about upcoming performances and menu changes that make our city a dynamic place to live and dine.
Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time
www.smalllakepod.com
https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast
IG/TikTok/Twitter/Threads: @smalllakepod
Instagram: @smalllakepod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast
TikTok: @smalllakepod
Other Platforms: https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com
So when he was in high school, like a 16-year-old, he had a job at Lita's Pizzas Classic, cooked a pizza in like a pizza oven, like a real commercial pizza oven, until Pizza No-No and moved right out to New York Cool, just wanting to like, yeah, get out, go somewhere. Early experience college kid from Utah and I just got rocked. I got rocked that scratched that itch of I want to be an entrepreneur. You know I had done a bunch of pizza parties and knew that I made pizza and I was like maybe I should know in a bistro, like turning a bungalow, and it was a preschool, actually used to be a Montessori school here. My career trajectory is definitely not traditional. You know I love to kind of see the trajectory of Salt Lake, I guess. I mean that's kind of why I think I got into it originally. It felt like a good time to be in the restaurant scene in Salt Lake.
Erik Nilsson:What is up everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Nilsson, and if you've been following along on the Instagram account, you know that we recently had the best pizza spot in Small Lake City Instagram story competition, where the winner was, to no surprise, Pizza Nono, his inspiration of starting a pizza place, how it came to be moving to New York and coming back, and him starting his second restaurant, Nona Bistro, and an announcement to an update to Nona Bistro. So lots to talk about, a lot of conversation about the food scene in Salt Lake that I think you all enjoy. A little bit of a process before we get there.
Erik Nilsson:Oh man, yeah, I haven't been to Loki Coffee yet it's uh, I I heard, because this like I feel like the central ninth area is like the area I'm trying to like explore more right. Like I mean everybody and their mom in salt lake and if you haven't yet, you need to. I mean get a breakfast sandwich from central ninth market. Yeah, I mean I go to normal co a good amount, uh, like dates and stuff, because I love ice cream and who doesn't? Um, but then there's like stuff like loki and like I mean especially like a lot of the restaurants. It is like that typical problem of like, oh, if I'm not, if I don't need something to eat, I can think of a million restaurants, right, and then all of us, as soon as I do need a place to eat, it's nowhere to be found.
Will McMaster:Yeah, no, the whole 9th South corridor along the Nine line is just um, it's really cool to see you know how everything's developed and I, I love low key over there. I think it's great. Yeah, and it's, yeah, it's and it's been super popular and, um, I walk over there, walk across the street, you know, almost every day and grab my matcha or coffee or yeah, but way to start the day.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, and it's fun Cause I guess when, like when I had Mateo on the podcast, he kind of we talked about how I mean you see Salt Lake now I mean especially Ninth South, I mean all the way from Tsunami on 9th and 11th all the way till almost like State. Now you can just drive down and be like all right, well, what restaurant? Like stop, stop when we're ready.
Will McMaster:Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's amazing you got pizza, sushi Central 9th down there and and I wonder if I think about and then you, then you kind of feed into the granary and, um, I really love how, I just love how the whole nine south has developed.
Erik Nilsson:It's great yeah, it's fun to see because I mean obviously there's a billion um like real estate projects going on, yeah, and it's fun to see like there's the ones like I mean dime a dozen of just okay, apartment building, cool, whatever, whatever, do what you want to, we get it your investment. But then there's the ones that it's like I mean, like Post District has done a phenomenal job, maven I mean Maven District's done great Also, where like STK and like the Charles and all of that's been super fun to have and like actually creates like a community around it instead of just like here's an apartment building.
Will McMaster:Yeah, super fun to have and like actually creates like a community around it instead of just like here's an apartment building. Yeah right, come give us money and paper, all of that, totally, yeah, yeah, um. Well, it's funny because, um, the building that pizza, no no is in.
Will McMaster:Originally, um, when I moved back from new york, um, it used to be just like an insurance office building oh, interesting um and you know you had, you had great harvest there at 9th, 9th, and you had pago was there and obviously the coffee garden. And then this, this building was just like a you know I actually had at the time I was doing a consulting job and I had an office in that building. Oh no, yeah, a friend of mine actually was the, is the now the landlord who, um, bought it and, you know, repurposed the building and it was kind of cool what they did. It's still the same building for the most part, um, but it just was, you know, it just had a bunch of it was kind of just a.
Will McMaster:you know there was a bunch of people had offices in there and um, so it was fun to see how that kind of came about as well.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, a little bit, a little bit better than a like an all state insurance place. Yeah, yeah, you'll get pizza and Actually all state was there.
Will McMaster:How did I know Right?
Erik Nilsson:But yeah, I mean it's been fun, I mean especially talking with, I mean, helen Wade. It's the founder of, like I mean, mazza was there, yeah, mazza. And in so many other places, I mean Great Harvest, which is now Vessel, and seeing how it's changed. And like I mean, obviously not all change is good, but it's fun to see that because it's so walkable, it's so accessible and it's fun.
Will McMaster:Like that's what, that's my hope and fingers crossed moment of it all. Yeah, no, I, I hope so too. And you know, especially in this little quarter, you're almost forced to walk. It's not a lot of parking, but but, um, you know, I I'm a walker. That's kind of what I do for exercise, so I tend to just like walk the nine line back and forth all the time, like I'll walk from Nona to Nono. You know, almost every day, at least a couple of times, I mean that's a perfect walk, it's a perfect walk. Yeah, you walk to your Liberty Park, you stop and get a coffee. It's great.
Erik Nilsson:I mean and that's like my biggest thing, because when I lived in Seattle I mean similar to probably how you feel when you lived in New York it that's walkable because you get to I mean have such a better experience. It's so much more intimate. You get to see all the sights and smells and sounds and people, which is different than I'm going to get in my car and I'm going to go drive to City Creek and then do. It's just like a very different experience Again, like the more that we can make it walkable and enjoy it and get people on board of like hey, like this is how cities work Exactly, yeah, and that's kind of again.
Will McMaster:Work Exactly, yeah, and that's kind of again. You know, we lived in New York for a number of years and that's what I love about New York, I mean, and just being able to just walk. You know, that's my, basically my entertainment. I always say like I think that's where I'd like to retire, but although you know it's always getting more walkable, maybe we'll just I'll just stick around here. But just because I feelllivan's getting more walkable, maybe we'll just all just stick around here. But just because I feel like there's just entertainment and you know, getting out of your house and just walking in new york and there's just so much going on, yeah, you don't really need to have an agenda or have anything going on other than, oh, this is kind of fun, yeah and just let it go always just let it go, yeah, and then just you know you can.
Erik Nilsson:there's always stuff going on, seriously you might find a new restaurant and be like oh, I need lunch.
Will McMaster:Here's a great spot, exactly.
Erik Nilsson:Oh man, but yeah. So I mean well, I mean stoked to sit down because, again, there's been so much cool developments in the city as far as food goes and one of my favorite cuisines is always going to be pizza. It's been my comfort food as long as I've known. Like I remember like when I lived in Seattle there was, I mean, a ton of pizza there, but there's this place like a block away pizza by the slice, pizza by the pie, sit down, take out whatever and that was like my comfort place. I would just go in, I would get a slice of pizza. I would usually get more than one slice of pizza, and so it's changed from. I mean, growing up. There really wasn't like I can't even think of pizza places from like growing up outside of like ordering from Domino's, right right.
Erik Nilsson:And then, so now it's.
Will McMaster:There used to be a place this might be before your time called the Pizza Oven.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, I do, yeah, and like kind of Sugar House.
Will McMaster:Yeah, ratskeller, I don't remember the Ratskeller. Ratskeller when was that? Also, I think Sugarhouse, and that would have been like again. I think before your time the Ratskeller was like 80s. Okay, 80s pizza place, Just like a classic, like 80s.
Erik Nilsson:Classic Probably had some sort of like arcade games. It was thin crust.
Will McMaster:It wasn't like amazing pizza, by any means.
Erik Nilsson:But like amazing pizza by any means. But still I remember that as a kid, like going to the rat skiller and then the pizza oven, yeah, um, because, like, the only thing I remember growing up was ordering dominoes.
Will McMaster:Yeah, we would get. We would get dominoes every friday night at her house. Yeah and like, yeah, and I think I saw a quote. Someone said, like the. Now that I have three kids, it's like the, the reason your parents got pizza on friday night not because they were cool, it's because they were exhausted.
Erik Nilsson:Like listen.
Will McMaster:Yeah, it's like Domino's Friday night. Yeah, but that was yeah, that was kind of it Totally.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, and even still, like on Friday night, sometimes I'm like, listen, I don't want to do anything and thankfully now we have like DoorDash and everything where it doesn't have to be pizza, but I still there's something nostalgic about having a Domino's pizza, right?
Will McMaster:No, no, I I am not a pizza. I mean I, you know, obviously believe that we have the best pizza, but but I will eat the Domino's for sure, like their, their pepperoni pizza, I think, yeah, if it ain't broke, yeah, exactly.
Erik Nilsson:Like uh, because my cousin, he's a chef lives in uh outside of Portland, in like Lammett Valley, and I'll never forget there's this time, cause he usually comes down every other year, three to come, just like cook like a four course meal for the family, get everybody together. And it was when I was in college I was dating this girl and she would always give me shit for going to McDonald's and uh, and so she kind of goes to him. She's like now, jeremy, what are your thoughts on McDonald's? Trying to have this like gotcha moment. And he's like oh, I love McDonald's. He's like there's.
Will McMaster:Great French fries.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, there's shit, that's good, there's shit that's good, and then there's good shit and he's like it's good shit. I will go get a filet of fish, which shocked me. I don't know about the filet of fish.
Will McMaster:That's what I told him. I do get the cheeseburger with a little pickle on. There's no reason to be too precious or snobby, I think, in this world, because, like you know, there's good stuff where you know in a lot of different places totally including McDonald's.
Erik Nilsson:I mean even thinking about like, I mean anybody who follows any part of like, anthony Bourdain. It's not like he's like Michelin star or nothing. He's like give me, like, the gringiest burger place and we'll probably, will probably find one of the best burgers. Exactly, exactly, yeah, yeah. So you gotta be, you gotta be open, you gotta find new places. But one thing I've been stoked on is um wanted to eat at pizza.
Will McMaster:No, no, not McDonald's.
Erik Nilsson:Oh yes, absolutely, Because we do know pizza. No, no Is now that you everybody's agreed unanimous best pizza spot in Salt Lake, according to us.
Will McMaster:Well, this is the official source of the best pizza in Salt Lake is the Small Lake Pod. So we're taking it as that and we're very honored to be the best pizzeria in Salt Lake City. So this is fun and I'm glad you this was. It was fun to kind of follow along on social media and we got like more tense every round. You know, made it past the the first round, then you're in the semis and then you know the finals came and you know I was, I was a bundle of nerves all day.
Erik Nilsson:so no, it was.
Will McMaster:It was super fun to have and I love seeing people get opinionated and like everyone's no, it is funny because you know everyone's got their opinion about pizza and a lot of it's about where they, a lot of it's what their childhood pizza and everyone's like oh my gosh, you know this is crazy. You didn't include these people and there were a few people left out yeah um brick's corner.
Erik Nilsson:Probably should have been on there for sure yeah, it's like brick's corner was one, um, uh, the one, that's where it came up a lot, but it's like if you know, you know, if you know you don't, it's like sam's oh yeah, it's a great.
Will McMaster:But then it's like I think, yeah, sam doesn't sam's.
Erik Nilsson:I know I know sam he's great and but it's like great product nobody knows about, he doesn't have like it's, so it's hard to include everybody. And then someone there's always this guy who's like well, you know, it's not really fair. It's like there are different styles like guys. It's not that serious Like relax.
Will McMaster:I assumed you'd put months and months into preparation.
Erik Nilsson:Oh yeah, there was a whole scientific approach and I have my whole essay broken down and thesis. But you know it's fun. I'm excited to do more because, as I've done those, someone's like oh, let's do coffee, let's do burger, totally no it's fun and all these pizza places are great and I it was, it's got you know it was.
Will McMaster:It was just kind of cool to come on, come up on top at the end of the totally end of the day.
Erik Nilsson:So it's been fun for me too, because like I went I mean since having it, I I mean been to pizza. No, no, I went to slack water with a friend before a concert. I went to, um, uh, nomad east, and but then it's fun like I didn't no idea about, like velogio was one I didn't know about, and and then, now that I do know it, I hear about it all the time.
Will McMaster:Yeah, they do a good New York style pizza.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, that's what everyone said, Like if you want a New York slice, that's where you go everywhere else. I mean again, so many different styles, so many different takes and ways of doing it, but hard to go wrong, yeah. But so I know that obviously start I mean in Salt Lake City and the avenues, and was a family affair.
Will McMaster:Yeah, so pizza was originally. I think my brother, um, he's like six years older than I am, so when he was in high school, like a 16 year old, he had a job at Lita's pizzas Classic. Um, so he, he would bring home they let him bring home the dough at the end of the night. So I was at that time 10 or 9 or whatever, and, um, so that was kind of fun, he would bring home the dough and we'd make pizza.
Erik Nilsson:um, so that was kind of my original like excitement about making pizza and I'm sure it's cool to have, like, I mean, cool older brother has this job and he brings this home and you're like well, I want to play very cool, and you bring home the sauce and you're like this is so cool.
Will McMaster:Yeah, you know um, and we, you know I. I think that's where I kind of started figuring out like how to cook pizza in a home oven correctly, you know like getting, you know just blasting, you know, your oven to as hot as you can get it.
Will McMaster:Okay your oven to as hot as you can get it. So you have to go 500, as hot as it goes, and then trying to get. I didn't have a pizza stone at the time, but you'd get the Turn over a cookie sheet and just put the pizza on that. So, anyway, it started out as a 10-year-old.
Erik Nilsson:Did you learn all of?
Will McMaster:that that pizza might not. No, that developed because I moved to New York in my 20s and we lived there about eight years and that's where I really started like, okay, pizza's kind of I love pizza, obviously and we'd lived right next door, we'd lived like a few blocks away from Lucali it's like a famous pizza place and that's where I kind of started getting geeky into making pizza. But at home it was kind of you know, so the smoke. Every time we'd have friends over and make pizza and smoke, alarms would definitely go off because I'd crank the oven and we'd, you know, get cheese on the cookie sheet, um, but uh, super fun. So that's that. That's kind of how I got into pizza.
Erik Nilsson:So when you were doing it at home at first, like were you starting to experiment with things, or is it mostly just kind of like getting your Well.
Will McMaster:So I am not like a precise person, okay. So you know, I think a lot of people they're like all right, especially with you, know we're a little more precise. Obviously now that we run a pizza shop, like at the time, I was just like flour, water, yeast um olive oil and for the dough, yeah, it didn't, I didn't really have measurements mix it together.
Will McMaster:Yeah, it's like however it fit, you know, however it feels, you know, like, for me it was just like the touch. So I, I just, you know, use act at the active drive yeast, yeah, I didn't have at that time, I wasn't doing like a starter or anything, this is just at home. By the way, yeah, but so and then, so that you know it's just like actor, dry yeast, flour, water, olive oil, just kind of mix it in the bowl and then I'd let it sit for 24 hours and usually it'd come out Okay.
Will McMaster:Nothing's broken, nothing's broken and I was like this is cool, like I, well, you can make pizza dough. So I wasn't. I think you know, especially especially during that, I yeah I wasn't geeky about like measurements and that type of thing. But then you know, as you go along you're like all right, now let's try to start now, let's try to add like a sourdough starter and um, and then actually like maybe follow a recipe start measuring things a little, yeah yeah, yeah, exactly, but there's no, you know.
Will McMaster:But that's what's great about like, I think, pizza dough is. It doesn't have to be well, I mean, it does have to be perfect, but there is, there is some air. As long as you like, give the dough some time to ferment. Um, you know it can come out great and it's, you know, it's it's like from my, from that guy at luke holly, you know, who started his pizza place with with little experiences, like you know, classic, like new york guy, and they're like like, how did you just start a pizza place? He's like well, how hard can pizza be? And now he has the best pizza place in like the country. Yeah, so that approach was a little bit. Yeah, maybe a little. Anyways, that's kind of how I came about it, and then you just get better and better at it and um and to to that, to opening, to making pizza at home and having like friends and over, I had never cooked a pizza in like a pizza oven, like a real commercial pizza oven, until tell pizza, no, no.
Erik Nilsson:So you're like all right, I know how to do this at home. I can do it, yeah, I had it down.
Will McMaster:I had it down in our, like you know, stacked oven, but I had not done it in a pizza oven yet.
Erik Nilsson:So so that took a whole nother thing like wood, like you know, wood-fired oven and it, for example, where he, I mean, and his buddies, are working up at Alta, they're like oh, we're going to start making beer. There's this. If we're going to make lager, it needs to be cold. Here's this old mine shaft, let's put it down there. And then you talk to him now and he's like, yeah, perfection, always improving and going.
Will McMaster:And it's so fun to see people I mean similar. You're shocked. Better, early on, you're shocked. It just turns out you're like whoa, this is, you know, same thing with beer, like I've, you know. I don't know if you've ever made beer at home, but but you're like whoa, this, this is not very good, but I can't believe this turned out exactly. You gotta start somewhere, yeah, yeah. So that's it's.
Erik Nilsson:It's a fun process so I mean so you grew up in salt lake and the avenues, I mean. I mean you go to school at the? U. I mean at that point, what took you to New York? What were you doing for work professionally at that point?
Will McMaster:So originally so U of U graduate. My wife and I got married, as good Utahns do in our early 20s, like 23, and moved right out to New York. Cool, just wanting to like—. Yeah, get out and go somewhere For the experience. She got into a master's program in NYU in film and I did a program called Teach for America. Oh yeah, so I taught school to middle schoolers in the Bronx. Wow, For a few years.
Erik Nilsson:I can't imagine teaching middle schoolers in general, yeah. If someone asked what your least ideal job in the world I would say like a middle school vice principal, right, and then you put it in. I mean in a Bronx, which was the whole point of Teach for America is to help those populations, but yeah, and that's one of those things where you know you go into it as an idealistic, you know college kid from.
Will McMaster:Utah and I just got, I got rocked, they chewed me up. Yeah, no, I was, I had no, the first. You know. The second year actually went much better and I felt like, you know, I'd learned how to teach school. But the first year was was pretty tricky. So I did that program in New York. And then we living in new york and we were like 23, 25 after teaching school, um, and wanted to just keep living there.
Erik Nilsson:So I um, somehow, uh, figured out like a job in finance I feel like you trip and fall in new york and there's a job.
Will McMaster:so I, you know, got in like a entry-level sales job, um, for like a Cool. So I did that for five years, um, and then then we moved back here.
Erik Nilsson:Those are two very stressful environments. Yeah, being middle school in the Bronx and be like you know what we're just going to go.
Will McMaster:I know and that was during the whole financial crisis and such.
Erik Nilsson:So it was kind of interesting as a 20-year-old to be here, front row seat of some of the most iconic moments of American history, right.
Will McMaster:But I love living in New York and we lived in both Chinatown, manhattan and then Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, and then everyone should go. If you're in New York and want the best pizza, you should go to.
Erik Nilsson:La.
Will McMaster:Collie in Cobble Hill. It's a great spot.
Erik Nilsson:I know that's like one thing. I mean everybody. You ask everybody in new york, or even people who aren't even new york, like, what's your favorite new york? Like pizza place, and everybody has it as an opinion. Right, but I would trust yours over most other people.
Will McMaster:Yeah, no, it's, it's a great spot and yeah deal, um, so obviously so.
Erik Nilsson:You're in new york, your wife gets her master's in film, you work in finance. I mean, are there for an important part of American history? But then obviously come back to Salt Lake at some point after. I mean cooking pizza at home and kind of having this fun little kind of widget to improve on and get better at. I mean, what brought you back to Salt Lake at that point?
Will McMaster:Well it was. I kind of got caught up in the financial crisis, honestly, in New York and we had we had our. Both of our daughters, who are now teenagers, were born in New York, so it was kind of like way where we were living in a one and a half bedroom apartment with two kids and we love, you know, we loved it, but we're like this is this is not sustainable, can't do this forever, yeah, yeah. So I came out here and started a little and that's kind of when I started my entrepreneurship endeavor. I started a consulting business in the financial field that I was doing in New York Cool. So you know, I was like I was a sales guy in New York, so all my accounts were in Salt Lake and Denver and California. So I started a little company, did that for about five years Fun.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, it's always nice. It's got to be nice having gone from I mean working for probably an investment bank that's got layers and layers of things and all of a sudden be like, no, I'm going to do my own thing.
Will McMaster:Yeah.
Erik Nilsson:Similar, but.
Will McMaster:So that was fun because I think that scratched that itch of I want to be an entrepreneur and kind of making that leap from getting a paycheck to like I'm on my own was, yeah, it's a little scary for sure, but that was kind of the leap. And then my wife started the same time she started her business Mabo Kids. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we both did that, started the same time. She started, um, her business Mabo kids. Okay, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so we both did that at the same time and we were just like small business owners and we've been doing it since. I mean, that's been. That was we moved back here um 2010, I think. So it's been 14 years of not having our own business Crazy, and obviously it's been going well yeah.
Will McMaster:Yeah.
Erik Nilsson:Which is well, cause, like I mean, it's very different, like I mean restaurant retail, but like, even starting like the podcast, it's funny Cause like you go into this thing where everything's anxious, you don't know what to do and then all of a sudden you're like, oh wait, little by little like things work, like you're like, oh well, I can do these things, like this does work out, and you kind of get this like unique, kind of like incremental confidence as you go through things and so it's fun to have that experience. I mean especially to see things work for such a long period of time. Totally. I'm sure it's got to be fun, especially having going through that with a spouse where you're like both small business getting started and like well, how was your day? Like it was pretty shitty because this happened exactly.
Will McMaster:So it's been yeah, it's been, it's been a fun adventure for sure. And then you know, starting the pizza place was, uh, super fun and so how did that come to?
Erik Nilsson:because I can't imagine I mean again starting your own business, consulting finance and working at the building that a pizza, no, eventually came to be? And right, was it just kind of this fleeting thought that just always kind of came back to you?
Will McMaster:or yeah, I think it was just kind of it was very opportune. You know, a friend of mine was renovating the building that we're in now in and um, I think it was just like one night we were out and trying to think like what, what should go in the space and you know, pizza came up and and you know I had done a bunch of pizza parties and people knew that I made pizza and and I was like maybe I should you know it was the time was like oh, that'd be kind of fun, like to do a pizza place. And then, like I think, like the next day I was actually no, I actually do want to do this, cool, so I just emailed them like you know, hey, I want to, I want to start a wood fired pizza place.
Erik Nilsson:That's so cool.
Will McMaster:What do you think he's like? He's like sure.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, all he's. All he's thinking is I have some of the space, yeah, yeah.
Will McMaster:Right, Right, Right. So that that was kind of. That was kind of how it started.
Erik Nilsson:So so I, so you decide to do it, which is like, which is great, because one thing I've been thinking about a lot recently is the value of being decisive. Cause, like so many people will sit and hum and ha and like cause I'm an overthinker. If you give me enough time, I'll probably talk myself out of it. But the people that can say, okay, I'm in, I'm doing this, let's move forward, especially the quicker you can make a decision with all the information at hand Right, those are the people that do cool things.
Will McMaster:Yes, and I hand right, those are the people that do cool things. Yes, and I, yeah, I mean, that's funny, you brought that up because I, I do think you just have to make a decision and just go for it, for sure, um, and because you can definitely talk yourself out out of it, um, and, and you know, getting into the restaurant business is not, uh, for the faint of heart for sure. So, like, just jumping into it was a little wild, but I didn't. I didn't know a lot of research and pizza did seem like this seems like a little smarter business model as far as, like, restaurants go. You know, pizza, high quality, good location, um, you know, simply, we have a pretty simple business model.
Will McMaster:It's not like you're reinventing the wheel of some new food infusion, whatever, and it felt like there was a kind of a need, especially on, you know, in ninth and ninth area, for like a wood fired pizza place. So that was kind of how it started.
Erik Nilsson:So what were some of the? I mean, as you again, you make this decision, you have the space. I mean, what did that look like from I mean getting this idea started to getting it off the ground, or some of the pitfalls or things you learned along the way?
Will McMaster:Well, I mean, I think the first thing is just, you know, when you're starting a uh, a restaurant just under, you know that whole process of like building out a space and getting permits and you know health department and understanding that whole process.
Will McMaster:So I was kind of the I mean, both my wife and I, we like bootstrap everything. So it's like I was the contractor and I was going to the city and trying to figure out like construction permits and then going to the health department and figuring out health department permits and finding subcontractors to you know, like figure out how to vent this pizza oven. Because at the time when that pizza oven came in it was still kind of a newer concept like the wood-fired pizza oven. So even the city guys were like, well, I'm not sure how this vents, so just doing all that research. So that was kind of the first, I guess, endeavor of just kind of figuring out how to build out a space. Yeah, and then you're like all right, I've got the pizza oven built, now I've got to figure out a cooked pizza and a wood-fired oven, sure, which is new for you you were used to well yeah, I'd all build it, I'd all cook pizza in my home oven.
Will McMaster:So, um, um, yeah, so finding some, finding a crew and figuring out that whole process. So I had the dough mixer and and also just making pizza to scale. So, like you know, I I was good at making dough for, you know, 15 pizzas. But then, all right, now we've got to make 200 pieces tomorrow. So, like, like opening day, we're like, all right, I've got to make for 200. We're going to make we got enough pizza, like to last. So just, I'm like, just when you're, you know, when you're doing your ratios of your recipe, you're like, is this going to work? Like we're going to find out. D and I had a little help like one of our first employees, a couple of guys from Cetabello actually, oh cool. So they had a ton of experience Let me help you a little bit Doing that, yeah, yeah. So they definitely helped a lot in that process of understanding that and doing that.
Erik Nilsson:I mean it's interesting you mentioned that because the Baby's Bagels guys, for example, when they were going to start, they wanted to start a food place and it was between them. They're like, oh, we want to do their pizza place or a bagel place and their rationale was like, well, one is bread only and one is bread with other stuff, so we'll just do bagels. But it's interesting because bagels are a very fine art, and I mean especially when you think about elevation and humidity and art. And I mean especially when you think about elevation and humidity and like I mean again, once you go from them making bagels for the farmer's market to now having their own place and cranking them out every morning, right, like things change quickly and you have to adapt.
Will McMaster:So I'm sure it was the same way with again going from like a pizza party yeah, 15 to 200, yeah, and then just understanding, you know, the fermentation process, um, uh, you know, if it's a warmer day, you put less yeast and and we use a sourdough starter. So it's kind of a combination of that and just yeah, just right, when your space, just understanding, like, like the needs of pizza dough, it's, it is kind of fun to watch because it's like life and you're watching it, you know grow and I don't know I I love pizza for that reason Just how simple it is, but how, like, I don't know, just watching, for some reason, watching dough ferment is amazing to me.
Erik Nilsson:I don't know why, yeah, I mean, it's such a good wild process.
Will McMaster:That it's good for you. Like it's so much you know, you can put flour and water which aren't necessarily great, just, and then all of a sudden it turns out to this amazing thing that's good for you Concoction that we never would have thought Like, I want to meet the first person who's like all right, guys hear me out, Right.
Erik Nilsson:So I got this like live bacteria yeah, I mixed it with this ground up thing, and then these like and then being like now try it.
Will McMaster:Right, you know Right, right, exactly yeah.
Erik Nilsson:So the process, you, I mean, get a pizza oven in, even though it's a very new thing you start to cook this pizza. And like one thing I didn't notice until I mean I read a little bit more, as I mean pizza, no, no, no, no, it's Italian for ninth. And so I'm like, ah, the ninth pizza on ninth. Um, but I mean, like, how did those first, I mean little bit go? I mean lots of learning along the way, but I mean, obviously it went well enough and you enjoyed it enough to, I mean, open a second restaurant concept that we're sitting at right now. I mean, walk me through that process of seeing okay, this went well, I liked this, let's do something new.
Will McMaster:Well, I think I got that bug of like let's start. I mean, I've it's interesting because I've actually had a process of opening a number. I actually opened Emigration Brewing, oh, no, I didn't know that. Yeah, I was part of the-.
Erik Nilsson:One of my favorite pretzels.
Will McMaster:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was the partner that I had in that. He was a pretzel maker. He made amazing pretzels, okay, so initially. So, right after No-No, I opened that with a couple of guys, a couple of partners, and then we had a baby and you know it just was complicated.
Erik Nilsson:but because even with like I would stop on immigration brewing for a sec because it's such a cool place, yeah, because if you grew up in salt lake area you know I mean everybody and their mom knows about the diner right half of salt lake now has biked up emigration canyon at some point, with everybody road bikes now. But there was always that empty building right and you drive, you drive past, like and I would drive past and be like if I were to do something, what would I do? And it was always just kind of this thought. And then all of a sudden you see, like signing, going up and whatever, right, because I think there was something there before, but it failed.
Will McMaster:Well, there was the part partners that I was involved in like were all in on it. I mean it was they had found it and it was kind of more of their idea, but they had kind of wrote me in as the restaurant guy um to help them, you know, get that open.
Erik Nilsson:So um great pretzel like I love, I mean water's running. It's so great yeah.
Will McMaster:And even like the space, nothing like it, and it's so close. I mean, just be so close to the city and you're up in the Canyon and and then you can drive the park city from there. It's hard place to hate stuff, yeah, so, anyway. So, um, I'm not involved in that anymore, but um, so, so, so we opened that and then, and then, uh, after that, opened Nona Bistro, so I think I've I for some reason like this restaurant.
Erik Nilsson:This makes sense.
Will McMaster:And I like the I think that's the creative side obviously, like, like the turn thing, you know. So there was a big process of obviously obviously immigration brewing, of, you know, renovating that space and making it what it is. And then knowing a bistro, like turning a bungalow and, um, it was a preschool, actually used to be a Montessori school here um, um, into a restaurant. So that stuff just excites me, I guess, and I like doing that kind of stuff.
Erik Nilsson:So and I think, like I, like the kind of like process of your life, cause, like I, like you, do teach for America, which I mean altruistic reasons, like exposure to the world, kind of learn. Not not everything's like growing up in Salt Lake city, utah, right. And then you're like, okay, pragmatic work in finance, do all this, want to work for yourself. But then there's this like creative part that comes out that I feel like is your first experience with pizza, where you're like you have this thing that's like so simple yet so complicated. You can add your own twist. It brings people together and then you kind of catch this itch of this creative process. People see that and want to partner with you to do it, and it continues to motivate you today.
Will McMaster:Yeah, I think so, like I consider myself. Yeah, that's what I find the most joy in is being creative and um. So, yeah, and my, my career trajectory is definitely not traditional and I might have a little to do with my add like going back oh same thing with with different stuff. But I but it's definitely what I look back on. I'm like that's pretty cool, like I was. You know, I was actually thinking that day, like because I was a DC intern also.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, no way Through Hinkley.
Will McMaster:Yeah, and that was during 9-11. And I worked in finance during the financial crisis and then I worked in restaurants during the pandemic, so I've kind of hit all of them in the perfect or the unperfect.
Erik Nilsson:Somehow you went through them all, yeah.
Will McMaster:Somehow I survived all these things.
Erik Nilsson:You just love just adding this massive degree of difficulty to everything.
Will McMaster:Yeah, exactly so. So whatever I mean, it's, it's been, it's been an interesting career for sure.
Erik Nilsson:So when you started, I mean the idea with Nona Bistro, because I mean I love this space, I mean it's so unique compared to, like a lot of the other restaurants. But I mean, when you saw this and I imagine there's an initial point where it's almost this blank canvas of what, what do I want to do, how do I want it to feel, what I want the restaurant to be like, I mean, how did you think about that in comparison to no, no, because I mean no, no, obviously pizza primarily side, like salads, seasonal side. But compared to this, I mean, where did you want to take, I mean, food from there?
Will McMaster:Well, I think it started um, because initially my wife, um with her business, was occupying the main space um of the house. So I think the initial kind of it was this is they're all during covet too. So we're like, oh, everyone, everyone wants to be outside like this, so we eat. This is what we do, we eat outside. So I think, like that was kind of the I'm like, oh, and I, you know, I looked at this backyard and at the time it was just like kind of this garage was there, which is a metal door. It was just like an industrial garage and we're like this could be kind of cool. We should just turn it into a backyard restaurant with the garage. So I think it started out with that.
Will McMaster:Food aside, I was just kind of thinking this would be a really cool place to sit and have food and drink Totally, of thinking like this would be a really cool place to sit and have food and drink totally. Um, and then I also got really excited about the wood-fired oven because I just love cooking in it. So I'm like let's cook everything. Out of getting another oven, we're getting our pizza oven.
Erik Nilsson:I got a good deal this time, I know how to install it was like 2020.
Will McMaster:I got a good deal on another pizza oven so I'm like, all right, we're gonna cook it. We're not gonna cook pizza, we going to cook everything out of the pizza oven. So that's what. That's kind of how it started like rustic, like wood fired, fair, um, small plates, um, you know, we we do like a steak and, um, uh, like a breaded chicken and a few things, so so that was kind of how it, how it started um, and then we had a friend I should definitely need to mention, sarah winward, um, who was very integral in both actually immigration brewing in here and helping us design the space, and she's just kind of a genius as far as, like you know, everything outdoors and plants and growing things.
Erik Nilsson:So like I can learn so much, but I need some help with this one.
Will McMaster:Yes, right, right, exactly. So she was a huge help with kind of making this place, you know, beautiful and making it what it is.
Erik Nilsson:That's one thing I love about this area because, again, like I mean the whole, I mean I've yet to have someone agree on a naming, because some people call it Central Nine, some people call it Maven, there's probably two or three other names, but it's fun because a lot of it is, I mean houses, I mean even going like, thinking about like Viet Pham, who started Forage years ago as one of like the first fine dining restaurants Two doors down. Yeah, it was like right there, yeah, right, and so it's funny how new it is, but yet there's so much history in kind of molding it into something better, right?
Will McMaster:I mean, who knows if it's better, but it's different and I think I like that. I like that about cities, mainly because, like you'll go to New York and things just change all the time and and sometimes sometimes you know it's. It's maybe maybe some people don't would have rather had the Montessori school, I mean. I'm just saying like it's different for for everybody, but this has been fun, like, uh like for us to have created this, I guess.
Erik Nilsson:So yeah, yeah, and it's, and it's definitely a good addition to the area, Cause I mean, it's changed so much, even continues to change, like even driving past and seeing that I mean skillets is going in where, um, oh, what used to be there.
Will McMaster:Uh.
Erik Nilsson:Barrio, yeah, Barrio. And so it's fun to see because I always have this. I don't necessarily like nihilistic view of like Salt Lake food scene, but like I mean a lot of places go out of business, which is true of any restaurant scene, and I always love when, like a restaurant will go out of business and someone's like oh, I can't believe so-and-so went out of business. I was like, well, when's the last time you were there?
Erik Nilsson:They're like four, no wonder, yeah, since I've moved back to Salt Lake in the past five years everything has changed so much and there's been so many great restaurants and even just thinking about I mean Ninth South again, like we're talking about, I mean like Mateo's now here. Manolis is my favorite Greek place and we have this. We have, and even on like the dessert side, if we have normal ice cream right there, we have Chubby Baker and so it's fun.
Will McMaster:Veneto, manolis yeah, it's really great, like I, these are great restaurants. Veneto, manolis, mateo yeah, I love it.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, so that same cousin I was telling you about. So when I lived in Seattle, he's the one who kind of taught me about what I term like adult nights out, where it's like oh, we have a reservation here, let's go get drinks and appetizers here, then let's go grab a drink and let's go have dinner, and then let's go grab a drink somewhere else, maybe go grab dessert. And so it's like this four or five stop night, and I mean usually you're drinking the whole time. There's always food involved, but it's a good time.
Erik Nilsson:And so I would go down to visit him in Portland. We would do stuff down there. He would come up to Seattle, we would do it. And so every time he comes into town I'm like Jeremy, let me plan the night. And so he came in this summer and we did. We got drinks at barnum and then went to uh mateo to have dinner, yeah, and then we went. I mean we just had a house for kind of like snacks and drinks after that and he was like this reminds me of like pre-pandemic portland, like everyone's out, this is fun.
Will McMaster:And I'm like well, and it reminds me a little bit of brooklyn, honestly, like when we lived in. We lived in brooklyn in, you know, 2008, 2007. And the city's just grown. You can just feel the energy and excitement around the food scene, like I, you know, I think the food scene is changing for sure and like getting exciting and a lot of stuff is happening in Salt Lake between the art scene, food scene and, you know, I love to kind of see the trajectory of Salt Lake, I guess.
Erik Nilsson:So yeah, it's fun to see and like especially I mean someone like you who gets to see so much more behind the scenes and get involved with projects, or at least I mean more involved in the food community than 99% of the people. I'm sure it's fun seeing all of that validate kind of as everything's progressing and growing, cause I mean I can only know what I know which is on kind of like that face level of seeing what's opening and closing and going from there. But I see enough excitement so I'm sure it's.
Will McMaster:Yeah, and it's obviously hard. I mean, it's a it's a hard industry to be in, for sure. Like that's not, like I said, it's not for the faint of heart to be in the restaurant industry, but but it's an exciting field for sure and it's exciting time, I think, to be. I mean, that's kind of why I think I got into it originally is it felt like a good time to be in the restaurant scene in Salt Lake, as you saw, kind of a growing city. We started NoNo in 2017, so it's been a bit. And just to even see like night to night change in the last, it's been almost eight. And just to even see like night to night change in the last, it's been almost eight years now, yeah, um amazing like I wish I could almost go back to, because I mean growing up.
Erik Nilsson:My mom would always get bread from great harvest, get in a burst and make french totally no, I admit.
Will McMaster:Yeah, I love I have missed great, I missed the turkey sandwich at all because they would roast their own yeah, turkey breasts. So I missed the turkey turkey sandwich there and I miss Mazza down there. I mean, we live right by the 15th and 15th and Ollie's such a great guy so we go up there, but I missed the one on ninth.
Erik Nilsson:Um, but it is interesting to see you know just how things like I wish I could take us go back in a snapshot from when I was in like high school, where I would go to barbacoa to get a burrito during lunch at ease, and then now to being like, oh, like, Well.
Will McMaster:I remember there used to be a Brackman's bagels in the barbacoa space when I went to high school. It was right when and then that turned into Einstein, but it was Brackman bagels and then I think Einstein's bought them. That makes sense, but it used to be a bagel place there, oh.
Erik Nilsson:I didn't know that, yeah. And then I mean I like that you brought up like 15th and because the 15th and 15th area is like my favorite, because I told you this, but like was living on Laird and 15th and working from home, so like lunch most days I could use a Caputo sandwich really bad edit an episode of the podcast and not want to be at home. So like I'm going to go over to Cassandra and have a glass of wine, Right, or I mean same thing with going to Mazur, Like it's such a fun area, Like again, walkability, great community, yeah, and so it's like that. I mean what's going on here? And especially when you look at kind of great spot.
Will McMaster:I love it and it's interesting. Um, I'm just going to bring this up just because I thought about it, but, um, so, just because we're talking about salt lake and, um, my grandma actually my grandparents lived on when I growing up, lived on kensington, okay, so right around the corner, and they, I think they bought their house in 1920, yeah, yeah, and lived there their whole life Like they. They died there, they they were. I think they were in their thirties, probably when they bought that house or and my dad was born there, maybe in their twenties lived there all, all their life and died in that house. I have memories as, like a five-year-old going there used to be a buy-right where Einstein's bagels.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, interesting.
Will McMaster:I didn't know, one of those old, you know what old school grocery, like grocery shops, yeah, and I remember sleeping over at her house and, um, like I didn't have a toothbrush. So you go around to buy, go around, yeah, you know, bought the toothbrush, um, but that felt like, you know, that was in 19, that was probably late 80s, but that felt cool, like I don't know, there was something about that. The walk even the walkability back then was was great, like just go walk over and, yeah, get yourself a toothbrush and it's almost.
Will McMaster:I think that you know that.
Erik Nilsson:You know that area is just so cool yeah, and almost reminds me like I think I don't know if I just made this realization or just me catching up with the rest of the class, but like I feel like when we have those experiences of being like, oh, there's a's a walkable neighborhood, I can go and do this it almost brings back this like nostalgia, of like the childhood part, of like, oh, I'm walking to my friend's house, I'm biking to my friend's house, or like kind of just interacting more and cause, I agree, like that 15th and 15th area is such a good template for I think any project anyone thinks about in Salt Lake, whether it's going to be something as big as like the post district or I mean the neighborhood that I think is next in the crosshairs to me is like Marmalade district.
Will McMaster:Yeah, totally.
Erik Nilsson:And so the more that we're like, hey, okay, we don't need like, stucco apartments, we need community, we need walkability.
Will McMaster:Marmalade's great, I love and you know you've got all those old houses and it's great spot and I think that that's think that's another perfect place for that kind of stuff.
Erik Nilsson:Whoever's listening. That's what we need Walkability places.
Will McMaster:Yeah, and the other thing about and I'm just talking about Salt Lake stuff, but also one of my favorite places in Salt Lake by the 1550s. Have you been to Allen Park, the old Hobbitville? Yes, and that used to be in high school. It used to be like that was a really really weird, strange place, but now I go there all the time, just like I.
Will McMaster:I hope that I'm excited that the city has some plans for it, because I just think it's a great like intersection of like art and um and um, like parks, and it just feels very like, um, unique to salt lake yeah um, so I'm I'm hoping that they're going to do something with it, cause there's all these little little houses in there and and they've, and the guy who um started that has all these mosaics and great, like poetry and um stuff about nature. It kind of speaks to me at least. So I'm like, oh, this is cool. Anyway, just these little things about Salt Lake I hope we can preserve, while you know seeing development as well, I guess.
Erik Nilsson:Because, like I'm such a big like and I say it all the time but like I don't consider myself a Utahan, I consider myself a Salt Lake citizen. Yeah, Because like, the further you get away from Salt Lake, I'm like you know, maybe not quite as much my people, but the thing I think that's like an overarching theme that also I think we need to prioritize is just keeping the culture, and so I mean even I mean with that as an example, like I can't imagine what it's like walking through there with your kids being like well, so dad used to sneak into here yeah and they would chase me out.
Erik Nilsson:And now we're here, off on this nice walk and, yeah, like the more that we can have these cultural places and I'm not necessarily saying that every place we used to sneak around in high school needs to have its own, yeah, um, public landmark, but I mean, those are the places that give this place heart and soul, and culture and I hope we can kind of preserve that as we.
Will McMaster:You know, as you see it, because you know you get, and then you get concerned about environmental factors, obviously with the great Salt Lake and all that. But but I think it is, it's still, it's an exciting time in Salt Lake and it just, I'm hoping, you know, there's enough vision, with some of the development that's going to go on downtown, that we can kind of preserve some of the unique features of Salt Lake. Agreed, you know so Totally.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I mean thinking about your hand in that growth and change and development. I mean, is there any other restaurant concepts that you want to do?
Will McMaster:Are you all tapped out on that? Well, I feel like I did my restaurant, I mean, I think, between Nona and Nona. That's been really exciting for me and I'm feeling really good with these two spots. And we're opening the front space of Nona this week. Oh, cool, timely, yeah. So it'll be part of Nona Bistro still, but it's called Notes and it's more of a natural wine focus and small plates focus. So so you can, you know you can um, it's still the restaurant, so it's not a bar, but you can, you can come and grab a glass of wine, um, before you have dinner back here or before you go to Manoli's or Mateo or any of these places.
Erik Nilsson:And again, perfect, yeah, yeah.
Will McMaster:First stop of an adult night out yeah, go grab a glass of wine, have a bite, exactly Because that's one thing I love is and we're kind of keeping aperitivo hours, so kind of that aperitivo front step of just you know, get some potato chips and a glass of wine, yeah.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I mean that's what we need more, because even like wine bars think of right now. But I mean that's my favorite place. I mean go sit down and have a glass of wine. Again a little aperitif and kind of start your night. Or if it's just catching up with a friend, it's always a good alternative because you know, I usually prefer a glass of wine over like a beer or a cocktail. Yeah, where we can have the beer.
Will McMaster:Totally, yeah, exactly. So, um. So yeah, that should be kind of a fun um addition for sure. So, yeah, and it's super. I mean, I don't know if it was the same. I think I probably not. The same person who designed the outside here is inside there. But level, you've done. It's a cool space. Cozy quaint yeah, that's, you can thank my wife and yeah, we've kind of just yeah, I had a little part in it, but it's been fun to do for sure.
Erik Nilsson:So, outside of starting wine bars and restaurants and pizza places, what else do you like to do when you're not working?
Will McMaster:What do I like to do? I have a lot of. I mean, I'm in a band oh, no way, I'm a dad band Kind of a. You know, we have like six of us now. Actually we're all like in our mid to late 40s and we've been playing for like six or seven years. What kind of music is it?
Erik Nilsson:You play. I'm so curious.
Will McMaster:I didn't know about this part. Yeah, I play the keyboards and a little guitar, cool. So I'm kind of more of a peripheral member, I mean, like it's. It's just, I'm just a, I'm just happy to be part of the band. You know, true, um, so I don't know how to, how to describe it like, um, americana, like, kind of like we have one, one or two guys in our band that actually write lots of music, oh cool, but we do, we do a lot of like neil young covers and um you know, john prine, bob dylan type of stuff, grateful dead, yeah, that kind of that kind of stuff, that's amazing, yeah.
Will McMaster:So so we, we do that. I mean, you know, occasionally we'll pop up like not many people ask us to play, but but we do. But we do like we're gonna play at fisher brewing in a couple weeks, um, and we, we play here. Sometimes we, we have like an acoustic set that we do like more soft stuff, and then we're going to play at Little City in a couple of weeks. Cool. So I do that. That's awesome, yeah. And then I don't know, I've been playing golf this summer.
Erik Nilsson:Haven't we all? Well, actually.
Will McMaster:I've picked up golf Like I used to play as a high schooler, and then I haven't played as much, but this summer I've been trying to play golf a little bit more Cool I mean great way to spend time outside with friends.
Erik Nilsson:Like me and my friends have all come together over it and I hurt my shoulder on the 4th of July. It's like separated my shoulder so I couldn't play for two months. So I played for the first time after two months on Saturday. Oh wow. And it was like I compared it to once winter ends in salt lake and like the like it's the first day above six. You're like, oh, this is what dopamine is again right, exactly, it was the same thing. I like swing and like my shoulder doesn't hurt, like yeah. You're like, oh, it feels good, I'm back, daddy's home yeah, exactly oh yeah, that's.
Will McMaster:It's kind of addictive for sure. So, um, um, so yeah, you know kids, we have two teenagers and a five-year-old. So I've got a senior in high school, a freshman in high school and a five-year-old. That'll keep you busy. So that keeps us really busy. No, that's awesome. So, yeah, we have a lot going on. I mean, it's kind of a crazy time of life for sure.
Erik Nilsson:Crazy isn't always a bad thing. Yeah, yeah, right, right, that's awesome. Um, but so we'll want to end with the two questions I always ask everybody at the end of every episode. First, if you could have someone on the small lake city podcast and hear more about what they're up to, who would you want to hear from?
Will McMaster:um well, I mean another. If you're talking about the restaurant world, maybe, like scott evans, he, he has a lot of part of he, you know, owner of pago.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, cassatt he's actually the um. Yeah, this is the second time. He's it's time.
Will McMaster:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah no, he'd be great, he's. He's the guy, I think, as far as the restaurant world go yeah, um big hand in a lot of the great places right, right so scott evans deal.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I'll reach out to him, and then second, if, uh, if you want to find out more about, I mean, pizza nona, nona, pizza No-No Nona Bistro, or Find your Band just kidding, yeah right, what's the best place to find more information?
Will McMaster:Well, just Instagram, social media that's where we don't we go get all our information on social media. That'll work, yeah. Or website you can order online with the pizza place, and we're going to actually be. We haven't really switched our menu for like seven years. If it ain't broke yeah, it ain't broke, but we are going to we actually are going to tweak it, cool. So. So big news we're going to add a couple of new pizzas and take off a couple of pizzas, cool, um. So wait for that in a couple of weeks, um, and and then, uh, yeah, so we're, we're just excited.
Will McMaster:I like I'm feeling now that we're kind of cruising on both these places and they're open, and I'm not building out restaurants like we're really excited, just I'm just excited to like pizza, pizza, like, get, you know, I've been, um, I've been making the dough lately. Like you know, right, in a restaurant you always have different things. You end up doing, yeah, like, sometime you'll be, you know, cooking pizza, or sometime you'll just be doing the back of house stuff, or or, or, like accounting or something. But recently I've been, you know, making a lot of the pizza dough. So I go every morning and you know, um, make the dough, so that's really meditative and enjoyable and and I'm trying to like all right, I want to get get this perfect, so um it's good to go back, to get your hands in the dough and where it all started and motivated Right.
Erik Nilsson:I don't know. It's a lot better than accounting, trying to find meaning.
Will McMaster:Trying to find meaning, hey, aren't we all?
Erik Nilsson:But it's like I said. I mean being creative usually leads to great things, both for you and the people you create things for. And I mean everybody could agree to great things, both for you and the people you create things for. And I mean everybody could agree. Being pizza no, no, it was a great addition to Salt Lake, known to bistro is great. I'm excited to come grab a glass of wine soon, um, at the new front space. But yeah, I mean I'm excited for what else to come, excited for the new pizza menu, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Will McMaster:All right, well, thanks for having me on.
Erik Nilsson:No.
