Ben Bernstein: [00:00:00] This episode of Ramblin on the River is presented by BB Riverboats. What 

Sponsor Message: does summertime in the Ohio River Valley mean to you? From the deck of a BB Riverboat, it means a breeze on the water, lush views, and a historic cruise by the Queen City skyline. BB Riverboats offers an experience as unforgettable as This season, let our crew take care of yours as you cruise the mighty Ohio BB River Boats.

The river is waiting.

Moderator: You're listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast, presented by BB River Boats. The Bernstein family has been a predominant name in [00:01:00] Cincinnati's hospitality landscape since the 1960s, and this podcast will be a collection of the stories, tales, and experiences from their entrepreneurial endeavors in the restaurant and excursion boat business.

Join as they take you on a A journey through the family's history in their own unique style. Now, here are your hosts, Ben Terri and Alan Bernstein.

Ben Bernstein: And we are back one more week. Good morning. You haven't gotten rid of us yet. 

Terri Bernstein2: Welcome to the rambling 

Ben Bernstein: on the river podcast. My name is Ben Bernstein. Joined by my father, Alan, and my sister, Terri. You've been, I think the introduction, please stop. You're you beat something toad. 

Terri Bernstein: He never stopped. 

Ben Bernstein: Never, never, ever.

So my pool girls think that I [00:02:00] ought to be people are, people are turning their podcast off right now. 

Terri Bernstein: We posted a picture of your pool girls. 

Ben Bernstein: , yes, we did. It's the 

Terri Bernstein: picture of you with the pool. Oh, oh, 

Ben Bernstein: yeah, well, you 

Terri Bernstein: can't. That my mom was taking. Can you 

Ben Bernstein: speak, can you speak into the microphone? I am Sean, I am Sean.

There you go. I'm sorry. I'm, I'm sorry. This is now week number 14. And we still don't have it 

Terri Bernstein: together. 

Ben Bernstein: Is the logo on your mic turned the right way? No. We really, this is a professional establishment. Yeah. Very professional. We've 

Terri Bernstein: been arguing for the last hour before we could even get it started.

Ben Bernstein: Yep. We need some behind the scenes action. Oh, we could have video. Oh my goodness. Anyways before we get started, we'd love for you to go and give us a like, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, if you haven't done so already. 

Find us on our Facebook page and Instagram. Go to our website at [00:03:00] rambling on the river.com and shoot us an email at podcast@bbriverboats.com. We are actually one week. Late in saying this, Terri, but happy birthday. Oh yeah, happy birthday. She's getting closer. I know it's going to be a big one.

Terri Bernstein: The closer I get to 50, the closer you get to five years 

Alan Bernstein: and two months to the day after your mother and I talk all the time. About can you believe that we have , our daughter is gonna be 50 years old. Yeah, 

Ben Bernstein: still two more years. And I remember, I 

Alan Bernstein: remember the absolute day you were born. You, you were a tiny little six pounds.

Terri Bernstein2: Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: six pounds even. Even. But, and she was a tiny little baby. And actually. Apropos to this session, 'cause we're gonna talk a lot about El Greco. El Greco had a sandwich called the Terri Lynn. What was on that? And she was on the board. It was an face [00:04:00] ham and Swiss and had bacon 

Terri Bernstein: and a tomato and a smiley face.

It looked like a face. 

Alan Bernstein: And it, and we put a smiley face on the top of the bun. So Bernstein hot brand. 

Terri Bernstein: No, it didn't have cheese sauce. 

Alan Bernstein: It was a sandwich. It was called a Terri 

Ben Bernstein: Lynn sandwich. Let's get this out there right now. Okay. There's no such thing as an open face sandwich. Yeah! I understand that that is a generally accepted term.

But that's also bullshit. No! That's not bull. An open faced sandwich does not have a top on it. Exactly. And that is the number one thing. But there's a bottom part. That is the number one thing that makes it a sandwich. Absolutely not. To make it mobile and able to be eaten on the go.

Absolutely 

Alan Bernstein: not. Off 

Ben Bernstein: the 

Alan Bernstein: double! There's a lot of people that eat sandwiches with one piece of bread and they put it together. That is an 

Ben Bernstein: archaic 

Alan Bernstein: term. Oh, 

Ben Bernstein: that is. Anyway. You know what, go to any modern restaurant, you will never see an open faced sandwich [00:05:00] anymore. You'll probably find at Greyhound, probably some of the places that have been around for a long time.

Can we talk 

Terri Bernstein: about what else this is kind 

Ben Bernstein: of like the boneless we can get on a boneless chicken wing You can't call them they're not those are freaking chicken nuggets Boneless 

Alan Bernstein: chicken wing they 

Ben Bernstein: are not they're freaking chicken nuggets. There's no way What is with him, I don't know but you got me there is a great internet video this guy goes to like city council and makes this whole proposal about how we have to ban the use of the word boneless chicken wings. It's, it's fantastic. It really is fantastic. I mean, clearly a bit satirical, but well, it wasn't satirical.

I mean, he was, it was a real thing. It is a real thing, it's just, it's very funny, well, yeah, I'd 

Alan Bernstein: like to see that, that would be cool. Actually, we could probably 

Terri Bernstein: play it. So, the other thing [00:06:00] about my birthday? 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: I was born on Other than you getting almost to 50 

Ben Bernstein: years old?

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, you're that's terrible that's I'm going to chastise my son 

Ben Bernstein: before you say do you want to tell everybody About my Facebook post about your birthday. 

Terri Bernstein: No. No, I don't Stay away from Ben's Facebook page I had mouth surgery and I Yes.

Decided to take the phone under, 

Ben Bernstein: under anesthesia. Under 

Terri Bernstein: anesthesia. And somebody let me take my phone with me. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, boy. 

Terri Bernstein: So when I was laying in recovery, Hmm. Coming to 

Ben Bernstein: Terri's brain said, Hmm, what should I do? I know, take a picture of my, take selfies and send it to my brother , who has now held it over my head for about 10 years.

I have flaws 

Terri Bernstein: and blood. We're gonna put that in the. 

Ben Bernstein: No, no, no. Yeah, we are. I'm 

Terri Bernstein: in charge of the photos. 

Alan Bernstein: We need to do that. 

Terri Bernstein: Anyway, back to my whole point. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. 

Terri Bernstein: The cool thing [00:07:00] about my birthday is I was born on my grandfather, Jerry Holthaus' 

Alan Bernstein: Jerry Holthaus' birthday. His 50th birthday. Yeah, that's correct.

Terri Bernstein: So in two years he would be 100. 

Alan Bernstein: Mm hmm. 

Terri Bernstein: But I think that's really cool. Yeah. My daughter. Was born on my mother's birthday. That is right. She was supposed to be on my birthday and I might have whined a little bit that that was my birthday and I didn't want her born on my birthday. And then she was two weeks late and then was born on my mother's birthday.

Lincoln has the 

Video 1: opportunity to be a social leader in this country. We have been casually ignoring a problem that has gotten so out of control that our children are casually throwing around names and words without even understanding their true meaning and treating things as though they're normal. I go into nice family restaurants and I see people throwing this name around and pretending as though everything is just fine.

I'm talking about boneless chicken wings. I propose that we as a city remove the Excuse me, I'm trying [00:08:00] to 

Ben Bernstein: Excuse me, I'm trying to make an argument here. Anyway, it goes on for two minutes. Oh, okay. That's, that's what I'm talking, it is city council. He went to his, his city council. Okay. Sorry. 

Terri Bernstein: Can you imagine being on the city council?

Oh, wouldn't be able, I wouldn't be able 

Ben Bernstein: to handle it. . You would? . Oh, she would lose it. 

Terri Bernstein: I would start, she would lose it, and I would not be able to keep it together. 

Ben Bernstein: You would lose it. So would I. Yeah. Were you finished? I was trying to, I was 

Alan Bernstein: trying 

Ben Bernstein: to find, are you sure? 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. All right. Well, we can get started.

Gather around everybody. It's 

Ben Bernstein: story time. All rambling 

Moderator: on the river. 

Alan Bernstein: You 

Moderator: sound 

Ben Bernstein: very special there when you chime 

Alan Bernstein: in, 

Moderator: all rambling. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, when I came out of surgery Wednesday, Tuesday, 

Ben Bernstein: Do you remember calling us? I think 

Alan Bernstein: so. I was under heavy anesthesia and mom had to walk me to the car to get in the car [00:09:00] and had to walk you 

Ben Bernstein: to the car.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Yeah, I was under, I didn't even know what was going on. And what did, what is up with this family? I called you, wait a minute. What are the 

Ben Bernstein: first thing that goes through your 

Alan Bernstein: head? I gotta call my kids. Oh I did, I wanted to say, it's story time. 

Ben Bernstein: That was a heck of an intro.

As my father has already alluded to, this week we are going to talk about I think consensus would say all of our favorite restaurant of our history. 

Alan Bernstein: This was my thought, that we ought to since we were a restaurant family, we ought to go back and start at, other than Gregory's Steakhouse, we ought to start at the beginning, how we progress through the restaurant industry, and in Cincinnati, we were.

a leader for many, many, many years really until my father passed away. But I just thought [00:10:00] that it would be fair since people know at least some of our older listeners they might not listen to podcasts, but we could go back and talk about the highs and the lows and the stories that.

Our restaurants did to make us may, maybe different restaurateurs. And it really is my idea. So if you don't like the show, if you don't like this show when we tell you next show at bb oh com. Now, now that not podcast.

Not podcast. That would be very fair. If anybody doesn't think this is interesting or fun or whatever, I don't think it is because I think it is interesting and fun. So this was my idea. I have allowed my kids to sort of produce about 

Ben Bernstein: time. 

Alan Bernstein: You started 

Ben Bernstein: participating.

Well, 

Alan Bernstein: yeah. I think that I have participated quite, I mean, quite handily I mean people don't listen to, and Terri, you drew into every intro [00:11:00] of the show. Take tuned in to listen to me. They, I would like to 

Terri Bernstein: say that we have only hit a comment about how wonderful Ben was. Oh, yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Said, and I responded to that email and I said, I don't think it is Ben who you meant.

I think it is 

Ben Bernstein: Alan who you meant, and I think she probably doubled down, didn't she? I don't remember. I don't know. She's 

Alan Bernstein: okay. 

Ben Bernstein: Anyway, so anyways, the El Greco was 

Alan Bernstein: Are very for other than Gregory steakhouse, you just have to forget the 1962 Gregory's all the way up to 1968. When dad bought, but now Greco was going to be a Gregory steakhouse.

It was all intended to, to remodel the inside to be an old Western. Steak, not 

Terri Bernstein: to change the subject here, but Beverly Hills supper club. Was that there before we put 

Alan Bernstein: yes. Beverly Hills was already there. 

Terri Bernstein: And [00:12:00] how long had it been in business? But 

Alan Bernstein: They were there, and they had shows, and that was their place.

Because it was right 

Terri Bernstein: up the street from where El Greco was. It's 

Alan Bernstein: maybe two blocks from El Greco, up on a hill. 

Terri Bernstein: Right. 

Alan Bernstein: And a lot of the 

Terri Bernstein: patrons went to both places. We were both on 

Ben Bernstein: Route 27. To give everybody an idea of where it's at. It's in Southgate, Kentucky. Correct. It's on route 27, 27. If you know where St.

Therese, the church, the church is, you know, and you, you pull through St. Therese and there's a big parking lot in the back. That's where El Greco was. It's 

Terri Bernstein: not really on the back, it's right there on the hill. On the 

Ben Bernstein: side, it's on the side of the church. The back, I mean as you're coming in. But it was very prominent 

Terri Bernstein: on the hill when you were coming up the hill.

Very much 

Ben Bernstein: so. There was a steep driveway that went up. Right there. And then a valet area. Yeah, that's right. 

Terri Bernstein: Cause dad used to valet cars. 

Ben Bernstein: To give 

Terri Bernstein: anybody who [00:13:00] is 

Alan Bernstein: old enough to remember Route 27, it was the main road to Lexington, Kentucky. So in order to go from Cincinnati to Lexington, you had to cross.

the 27 bridge and go out route 27 and about an hour and a half, maybe two hours back then you were in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Terri Bernstein: Wow. 

Alan Bernstein: So it was a main thoroughfare back in the day. And certainly in 1968 it was, it was before 471. It was before well the interstate system is in the 60s. So this is right at the beginning of the interstate system.

So Route 27 was a very busy highway. And that only plays into the fact that back in, in that time this was a very nice restaurant and when they bought it as Terri said, dad was [00:14:00] gonna make it a Gregory's steakhouse.

they bought it. And then as they went through the restaurant mom and dad said, you know, this is awfully nice. For those of you that do remember the main dining room had, it was a beautiful Sort of library kind of setting. It had a velvet wallpaper, a very cushiony wallpaper, a big fireplace in it, and it was a very nice room.

The main din I thought 

Terri Bernstein: the main dining room was further back. 

Alan Bernstein: No, that came later. Oh, that was an add 

Terri Bernstein: on? 

Alan Bernstein: At the beginning, absolutely, at the beginning. I remember the library room. Yeah, we hung out a lot. So that was the original dining room. That was the main dining room. That was it. We did have What did it 

Terri Bernstein: hold, 10 tables?

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, it was. I don't think it held a total. 

Terri Bernstein: What about the front room? 

Alan Bernstein: Okay, now wait a minute. Garden is later. The garden is later. [00:15:00] As you come in the front door, the library was off to your left, and the sala The library was off the bar. That was the library. This over here was the living room. The sala is the living room.

And that's where dad's artwork colo. The pre pre Columbia, you're talking 

Terri Bernstein: about the big room, like right outside the kitchen doors. M So when you walked into the restaurant, if you turn, why don't you paint 

Ben Bernstein: the picture for people that have never, okay. 

Terri Bernstein: Okay. You walk into the restaurant, there's the host stand, there's 

Alan Bernstein: a front door, there's a host of Stand with a Coat Check.

If back then we had a coat check 

Terri Bernstein: and the steps that went up to the. Weren't the steps to the No, 

Alan Bernstein: the steps are in the back. You're way, way out of, out of whack. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh. 

Alan Bernstein: When you came to the front desk, okay, you either went left to the library or you went right bar was, and the library was off the bar.

Right. That was right off to the left. That's correct. That's correct. And there was a little [00:16:00] tiny room. Which we called the casita With like five tables, but it was a very nice Intimate dining room right at the as you walk in you walk past the little casita 

Terri Bernstein: Which is where we had my mother's 30th birthday in that little room Remember, we bought her a convertible.

Alan Bernstein: Yes, yes. And we had a party in 

Terri Bernstein: there. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, we did. I remember it seated. 

Ben Bernstein: A Le Baron convertible. She always wanted That was off to the right when you walked in. When you walked right off to the right. That's what that 

Terri Bernstein: little room there, there's a little private room. There was the, 

Alan Bernstein: the front desk. Yeah. And there were two areas.

There was. The Sala and the Casita, which is just 

Ben Bernstein: everybody better be listening because there will be a quiz at the end of the show 

Alan Bernstein: and you have to know the proper 

Ben Bernstein: names and you'll have to draw it and submit it in order to, I'm kidding. 

Alan Bernstein: Okay. Now those were the three small dining rooms or the main dining rooms.[00:17:00] 

Off far to the right was a big room with windows overlooking Cincinnati. Yeah, you could see Cincinnati and that was the banquet room. So that really wasn't dining. Unless we had a banquet. 

Terri Bernstein: That's where I had my first birthday. 

Alan Bernstein: And like 

Terri Bernstein: my second and third. Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: probably. And I had like the 

Terri Bernstein: same cake two years in a row.

Maybe all the way up to 18, 

Alan Bernstein: 19. It had little clowns. You 

Terri Bernstein: don't remember ever having a cake? 

Alan Bernstein: I don't 

Terri Bernstein: think we celebrated bedspreads. Laughter I was the favorite child then. I 

Alan Bernstein: would say that your mother would disagree with that statement that we didn't celebrate Ben's birthday. 

Terri Bernstein: Have you seen Ben's baby book?

Mine is literally so full. It won't shut Ben's. He has one. It can't get 

Ben Bernstein: past the 90 degree Ben's 

Terri Bernstein: name on the front. [00:18:00] I don't even know if it says it's full name. 

Ben Bernstein: It was kind of the, the sign of my generation, like the participation trophy of baby books. 

Alan Bernstein: But anyway, so that was the party room.

And. We didn't use it. So we built 

Ben Bernstein: an addition for 

Alan Bernstein: the, 

Ben Bernstein: for the garden room, which makes a lot of sense because it was different than the entire rest of 

Terri Bernstein: the restaurant. Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: It was totally. Yeah. So now you have this nice decorated little restaurant. If we added up if you could see 30 in the library 30 in the, the sidewalk.

Maybe a hundred. May well would with the banquet room, . Was the bank, the banquet room? We 60? You said you didn't use the banquet room? No, we didn't. That's right. Now to your point, Ben, at the very beginning when we opened the restaurant as El Greco. 

Terri Bernstein2: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Now I'll remind people that before El Greco it was called the Isla Capri Isle of Capri.[00:19:00] 

Ala Capri? Well, no aisle thought it was Cap Capri? Yes. Okay. Which is a lot of things called Ala Capri, but, well, it's an Italian, it was an Italian restaurant. I actually be there in about it was a 12 

Ben Bernstein: months from now. 

Alan Bernstein: It was a very nice Italian restaurant. And the owner 

Ben Bernstein: was an Italian guy. Is that where you're Paul Deser?

Is that where some of the Italian influence came from? No. Where all of it came from. Okay. I don't know a thing about Italy. I mean, I'm just saying the, the recipes Yeah. And things like that. Is that where that, and I remember you, you should go to 

Terri Bernstein: Italy for a 

Ben Bernstein: I'd be there in 12. Oh, we could 

Alan Bernstein: do a road trip.

Yeah. And broadcast from Italy. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh, that would be fun. 

Alan Bernstein: I'm in. Okay. Let's anyway, and I remember the owner. That I got to meet when I returned from Ecuador. He would sit down for dinner and eat two pounds of spaghetti and marin with a marinara sauce. Two pounds. Now, [00:20:00] understand what two pounds of cooked spaghetti looks like.

Unrelated, he died at 41.

Ben Bernstein: Oh, that's not funny. That's a lot. Did he die young?

Alan Bernstein: He might have. I don't know, but every night It, what kind of bowl do you get to give to Ben? It was, it had to be the biggest. If you have a salad bowl for ten people, that's about what two pounds of spaghetti and marinara sauce is. And the marinara sauce was excellent, excellent, excellent.

So I'm going to tell everybody right now a secret to marinara sauce. I 

Terri Bernstein: know what it is. Secret. Do you know what the secret, do you know what it is? 

Ben Bernstein: The, the 

Alan Bernstein: secret 

Ben Bernstein: to marinara sauce. The, to the marinara sauce. That, to the really good marinara sauce get the, the bottle that's on the top shelf.

Nope, nope, nope. It's not a bottle of all I'm saying the, I was making premake the [00:21:00] No, this is number 

Terri Bernstein: one. Are the tomatoes. You gotta use the good. 

Alan Bernstein: A tomato. is, of course, it's a tomato based dish but, you know, the tomatoes have all kinds of variations, a lot of acid, a sweetness, so the tomato is very important, but the secret ingredient, and you might not like this, Ben, because you eat.

The marinara sauce. I know he doesn't love marinara. It's not my, it's not my favorite, but go on. It's not, it's 

Terri Bernstein: my favorite. 

Alan Bernstein: No, it's mine. Anchovies. The, you were getting into it. Yeah. Yeah. Anchovies. And the anchovies you cook. 'cause I know how to make el Greco's marinara sauce. You cook it. In the, in the same kettle that you make your sauce, 

Ben Bernstein: but 

Alan Bernstein: you have to saute it or you cook it to the anchovies are no longer whole [00:22:00] anchovies.

They are just a liquid like butter. Okay. Yep. And what happens there when you start putting tomatoes and. Your onions and all the things that make up marinara sauce. Yeah. That's the real secret. That brings out the flavor, not only in the tomatoes, but in the onions and celery and you know, all the things that you cook up.

And if you made it all in the same pot, you would, the first thing you do is sauté your anchovies down to them. A lot of sauces start there. 

Ben Bernstein: So I ordered the tomatoes. Like carbonara, don't you throw pancetta in and cook the pancetta, right? Isn't that carbonara? Yeah. I don't know. I'm pretty sure. But I'm saying, that's how a lot of the.

I mean, I don't know. 

Terri Bernstein: I know, but the secret is the anchovies. Most people don't think that anchovies are Because 

Ben Bernstein: that's marinara sauce. The secret to carbonara would be the pancetta. Well, I can't argue that because I don't know. Maybe it's not even [00:23:00] carbonara. That's just about Well, we'll get, we'll get some nasty email.

I watch a lot of recipes on tick tocks. Oh, okay. You are a professional. 

Terri Bernstein: Dad and I are going to make the tomato sauce and we'll see if we remember how 

Alan Bernstein: If you 

Ben Bernstein: have 

Alan Bernstein: a better recipe for marinara sauce, you can send it to us.

They don't have anything to compare to. Well, I 

Terri Bernstein: mean, a lot of people ate at El Greco. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yeah. I wonder 

Terri Bernstein: if they 

Alan Bernstein: All right, let's bring it back. When El Greco got popular 

Terri Bernstein: We'll videotape us cooking together. 

Alan Bernstein: when El Greco got real popular, we used to make marinara sauce. At 60 gallons at a time. You had no choice.

Six zero gallons. It was in a big steam pot. And I think that had a lot to do with it. It was better than 

Terri Bernstein: the Mexican restaurants that made the salsa in the garbage cans that all had pesticides in it. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, I don't know anything [00:24:00] about 

Terri Bernstein: that. They used to make salsa in the big garbage cans, and those garbage cans That doesn't sound good to me.

Well, they, the 

Ben Bernstein: border The acid ate it away? 

Terri Bernstein: I see. And, and, yeah. Got a lot of people sick. Well, 

Ben Bernstein: anyway. 

Alan Bernstein: I'm not even sure where I was. Well, I know. Alright, we were at the Isle of Capri. Back to Isle of Capri. No, no, no. 

Terri Bernstein: We were talking about the rooms. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, okay. Yeah. The rooms. So now. All right. Now. We're up to the.

The bar. The bar ended at the side of the building. Right. Okay. And off to the side of the building was sort of gardens. It was sort of very nice. And the church, of course, was off far to the left. I mean, you know, across the street. So When we started to get busy, actually, a good story is when we opened El Greco, we would average about 15 people a night.

So you can understand there were some nights we [00:25:00] had 10 people and then on Friday or Saturday night we might have 

Ben Bernstein: had you know, 80. 

Alan Bernstein: So, okay. So it, it, when we averaged about 15 people a night, my dad used to say to mom and I. I find it hard to believe it was only 15. I'm telling you. Well, it was only the three of them. And I mean. Well, I mean, you didn't have a cook.

Let me address that issue because it's important. When we opened, it was a mom at the hostess desk, dad at the bar. I was the bus boy. We had a waitress named Betty. I keep wanting to say Betty Blake, but it's not Betty Blake.

Anyway, Betty was our waitress and we had a cook who was an alcoholic. And a lot of them are. Yeah. And he could not cook sober. He had no ability to cook if he didn't have his alcohol. And actually, the more alcohol he consumed, the better the food got. If you can believe that or not. That was [00:26:00] the total amount of employees we had.

Terri Bernstein: It's amazing you can pay all those people with only 15 customers. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, let's see if I can remember minimum wage was 1. 05. What was the 

Terri Bernstein: average meal? I bet we can find one. 

Alan Bernstein: 15, 10. 

Terri Bernstein: There's no way an average meal was 15. 

Ben Bernstein: What are you talking about? There's no, the average meal was not 15. Maybe the whole 

Terri Bernstein: check for a party of Yeah, 

Ben Bernstein: maybe check average was 15.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, I mean, I think spaghetti was 4. 95 or something. I don't know. I 

Terri Bernstein: don't remember. Well, I mean, at Gregory's Steakhouse, you had a steak for 99 cents. 99 cents. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, that's true. That's true. Okay. So federal minimum wage in 1968 was 1. 15. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, I'm sorry. 1. 15. I was, I said 1. 05, but it's 1. 15. And what does it say [00:27:00] about the average meal at a restaurant?

Let's see. Anyway it, it, it, that was the extent and of course, mom, dad, and I, here it is. 

Terri Bernstein: Spaghetti with marinara sauce, 4. 50, dinner was 5. 25, 

meat sauce was 4. 75, 

Alan Bernstein: Veal 

Terri Bernstein: was the most expensive at 7. 00, veal parmesan. During lunch and or a la carte and eight dollars and that was from 

Ben Bernstein: the beginning.

Terri Bernstein: Well, I mean, it's just the el greco I don't know that could have been in the 90s 

Ben Bernstein: here tonight, right? The point i'm talking about the average meal. It doesn't have A price an average price of a meal at a restaurant in 1968, but to give you an idea Two pounds of bacon cost 99 cents. A chuck roast was 37 cents per pound A pound and a half loaf of bread was 21 cents, and a quart of mayonnaise was 29 cents.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, just things [00:28:00] were, were obviously different, and, chicken was 29 cents a pound. There you go. Yeah. Go on. You could almost throw away chicken if you didn't, that's how chicken wings started. Go on. So you only 

Terri Bernstein: had 15 diners. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, the average was 15 diners and my dad would say, if we could only get to 25 average, we'd be really in good shape.

So we would get to 25 and then he would say, well, I think we need to try to make it 50. So we'd get to 50 and then 75 and then always 

Terri Bernstein: moving the bar. I wonder where you got that from. 

Alan Bernstein: Move the compass. Absolutely. And when it comes to you two, I continue to move it. And 

Terri Bernstein: we've never, you don't seem to catch up.

We have never hit it. We have never, 

Alan Bernstein: never, so now as we get up in the numbers all of a sudden we needed more space, [00:29:00] didn't have enough. So my dad came up with the idea that if we blow out this wall and we add it on to the kitchen in the back, we could go to a room that was pretty big. And he said we could plant flowers here and flowers there and make the walkway and the, the entryway.

Through a a garden, like not a garden. We didn't grow things. It was pretty flowers and ivy and things that made Yes. The restaurant really, it was, it smelled good. 

Ben Bernstein: It was 

Alan Bernstein: like 

Ben Bernstein: white sandstone. Mm-Hmm. like, yes, yes, yes. I don't know how else to de I don't know. But that picture, like the mulch beds, the quote unquote mulch beds of these, plant installations, there you go, that's the word I was looking for. So, 

Alan Bernstein: we would blow out that wall, and then you would walk through this beautiful garden to the room. And that [00:30:00] room seated maybe a hundred people all by itself. I 

Ben Bernstein: was going to say, that was bigger than the rest of the restaurant.

It was bigger than the rest of the restaurant. And I guess when you expand the kitchen, you're able to do that. The old kitchen, you couldn't have done that. 

Alan Bernstein: We had to move the kitchen back because it stomped at the library, 

Ben Bernstein: the original kitchen. If the original kitchen could have handled food, you would have probably sat the banquet room if it were empty instead of, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: So , we did all that and the whole room on all sides was glass, except for where you walked into it. So it was in a very nice view of the church and actually, mom was the one that said, you know, if we built a garden, a real garden outside that you could walk through the garden and and put a wall up, it would be a really nice 

Terri Bernstein: she loved a garden and, 

Alan Bernstein: oh yeah, [00:31:00] she was, she was a green thumb.

she loves several things. The animals was number one, I think even over the flowers, animals, , my mother and father just. Could not allow a pet or animal to suffer. 

So we built a garden in a wall and now everybody in the room, instead of looking at a church, looked at a beautiful garden. So that was neat room. It was really, really neat. Yes, there's no doubt about it. And that's where your graduation party was. I believe it was. Yeah. So then that all started filling up and we were pretty much into the big time on restaurants.

my father said to mom and I there are no restaurants open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. No, no good restaurant. You could go to maybe White [00:32:00] Castle or, you know some restaurants, but there was not a grow, a good dining restaurant open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And he said, I think we ought to try it.

And I said, Oh, you know, okay, not realizing what okay meant. So that next year we started promoting Christmas Eve and Christmas day and I don't know how dad had it. I had the intuition, but the two busiest days of the year was Christmas Eve and Christmas day. And when I say busy, I mean people waiting in line, and we had to cut the line off.

That's busy. Because dad believed if anybody was standing in line to come to the restaurant, they got served. 

Terri Bernstein2: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: So, we had to stop it because we [00:33:00] would have never closed. Right. So finally, and, Dad lived up to that to the day he passed away, that if somebody came to your restaurant Stop! I'm making an exclamation 

Ben Bernstein: point.

You're, I'm going to teach you how to edit. Go on. 

Alan Bernstein: It might be a totally different show if I'm at it. So that's just sort of the tenaciousness that dad had about hospitality. It was, if they come to our restaurant, we are gonna feed them. And he did that all through the year. We advertised closing at 10, and if somebody walked in one second 

Ben Bernstein: to 10, we served them there.

I don't know how many restaurants, I mean, some certainly. Now I want to tell you there are many that would, I went to 

Alan Bernstein: Fort Wright Family Restaurant, family Restaurant. Now I'm not slamming them, but I went there they close it too. 

Sponsor Message 2: Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: I Went there at [00:34:00] 1 30. Yeah, and they said I'm 

Ben Bernstein: sorry, sir 

Alan Bernstein: just to give you the opposite They have weird, you know who 

Terri Bernstein: always gets you in no matter what time. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: Shelly. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah Well, that's true. And Shelly has a very similar mentality to a restaurant because it's all about hospitality.

It's all about making somebody feel good. And your mom and I called Shelly about a month ago or two, we were at somewhere late and hadn't eaten dinner. And we called her after they were scheduled to close. It was like nine. 905 and she took us , even afterwards. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Shame on you. 

Alan Bernstein: No. It was, we were hungry.

She, she did it 

Ben Bernstein: because that's her, 

Alan Bernstein: but shame on you. Well, it, it, 

Terri Bernstein: it, we didn't feel 

Alan Bernstein: good. We ate in a hurry and left in a hurry. 

Terri Bernstein: All of our restaurants over the years, we always, you should have gotten it 

Alan Bernstein: to go. Well, Mom didn't want to do that, but the funny [00:35:00] thing is, I parked, you know where I let Mom off all the time?

You just parked there. I just parked at her wedding. So Dad's mentality about operating a restaurant was certainly different than today. 

Terri Bernstein: But over the years, all of our restaurants, we were always like that. You would not turn the grill off. You would not do anything until 

Alan Bernstein: we closed at eight o'clock on Christmas Eve, eight o'clock.

Yeah. And. I was there till midnight. Yeah, you were probably a little bit later than you normally are. Well, you always close at 10. People kept piling in. And they just kept coming and coming. And Dad said, we're going to continue to serve them. So we did on Christmas Day, we closed at 8 o'clock. And I didn't get home until after midnight.

See, 

Terri Bernstein: I wish restaurants opened at 5 o'clock on Christmas Day. Because it seems like by the evening, because you've already done all the stuff in the morning, by evening you just want to go out to [00:36:00] dinner. You don't want to, you know, and there's never anywhere to go. 

Alan Bernstein: And I will tell you, the two busiest days of our year at El Greco was

Christmas Eve and Christmas 

Terri Bernstein: Eve. Maybe we should do Christmas Day dinner. On our cruises. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, we do Christmas Eve, and I think our Christmas Eve, the first cruise, I was on it. I was the captain. 50 people. On a, on a Christmas do about 200. And we do now over 200 people, our least 

Ben Bernstein: attended holiday. It is, but it, it's never really 

Terri Bernstein: pushed it.

Pushed it. We haven't like 

Ben Bernstein: everything 

Alan Bernstein: else. Well, it gets marketed the same way. We usually have Santa and we have some carolers. Although I've been critical of the carolers. We do not 

Ben Bernstein: have carolers. 

Terri Bernstein: Yes we do. We do. Every year. What are you talking about? 

Ben Bernstein: Where do we get carolers from? 

Terri Bernstein: Well, last year George, the murder mystery people all dressed up and stood on the bow and sang.

We've had different ones over the years. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. [00:37:00] 

Terri Bernstein: Every year we've had carolers. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, I mean, how many 

Terri Bernstein: have you been on 

Ben Bernstein: several? A lot of times I'm the captain. Well, I'd have to go back to there are two very famous stories. One, we've actually already told, which we'll get to. Okay. But number two, when you What? You're 

Alan Bernstein: forgetting one thing before the stories. Okay. The thing that made El Greco the popular place to go 

Sponsor Message 2: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Was our advertising. And here's what we advertised.

Ben Bernstein: I would argue this, but yes. Okay. Why would you argue this? The advertising is great. I would say the thing that made people come to El Greco 

Terri Bernstein2: was healing was the 

Ben Bernstein: diversity of the menu. Okay. And how mom, mom, dad, how quality the menu was. You could get any number of things.

There were so many, except all of our restaurants 

Terri Bernstein: did well when, when [00:38:00] the family was in the restaurant. 

Alan Bernstein: But one of the things that made us famous was our advertisement, rather that be to us or your logo. Yes. And here it is, since reco, or since the Is of Capri was an Italian restaurant.

So here is what it said, an Italian restaurant with a Spanish name. What is it? What does that mean? The Greek? El Greco? Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Is that the Greek? In 

Alan Bernstein: Spanish. Right. In Spanish. With a Greek partner. Because he was still a partner at that time. What was his name again? 

Ben Bernstein: Gregory. Gregory what? Palliora. Palliora.

There you go. Yeah. An Italian restaurant with a Spanish name with a Greek partner 

Alan Bernstein: hosted by a Jewish couple. Yeah. Featuring Ecuadorian ceviche. 

Terri Bernstein: Yum. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, that's, that's good. I 

Terri Bernstein: make it really good. 

Alan Bernstein: French onion soup, [00:39:00] American steaks, and Swiss fondue. And that was the advertising 

Terri Bernstein: that had to be my grandmother that had to be grandma.

No, 

Alan Bernstein: actually, I remember this very vividly. We were meeting with the agency. I was there. Mom and dad were there. And we had an agency that is very similar to the two guys that we had. Remember the two young guys, Adam and, and yeah, those guys back then, there was two guys that were. in an agency over on 9th Street in downtown Cincinnati.

They were sort of rebels. You know, just sort of out there. And we met and my dad said, What if we have illustrations in our Ad yeah, it would make it different because ads were usually writing or really your 

Terri Bernstein: slogan. Wasn't that a slogan? Yeah, I would say yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: whatever. Yeah, then the guy said well, why don't we play [00:40:00] off?

Of not only the images, but we could play off the fact that you're all mixed up 

Terri Bernstein: and 

Alan Bernstein: do it that way. And that's how they came up with this. And it 

Ben Bernstein: couldn't explain it better. It could not explain it better. I mean, the menu was so diverse. I mean, from Ceviche to a steak dinner to veal parmesan and garlic spaghetti, like it was just, 

Alan Bernstein: yeah, no doubt about it.

It was and I think you're right, Ben, that the popularity of the restaurant was because you could get so many different things and they were all good. 

Ben Bernstein: They were all great. The advertising slogan, whatever you want to call it, was, was neat. But yeah, I, I don't think that's what, okay. So now let's go to your thing.

We called one Snort. There are two, two infamous stories. Mm-Hmm. . One of which we've already told on here, but we're gonna tell it again. Yeah. 'cause it's worth telling again. 

Alan Bernstein: Okay. 

Ben Bernstein: The other, talk to [00:41:00] the mic now. I'm sorry, I was looking. Go ahead. The other one, one of your first jobs at El Greco. After you started driving, was a valet driver, and you weren't the best at that job.

No, I was not. In fact, you broke cardinal rule number one. Well, of a valet driver. 

Alan Bernstein: You have to, now put it in perspective, but valet service was important because of the age of our customer that they needed place to drop off the car. And so it was more of a necessity valet parking.

I did it because it was, Dan thought it was a part of the restaurant that I ought to, you know, get experience for, we were, again, we were pretty popular now, so it was a fair amount of cars. We would fill our parking lot almost every night. But [00:42:00] a big Cadillac came in and that's when they made big Cadillacs back in the 60s and 70s.

They were tanks. They were boats. They were boats. They were. And so this guy came in in a very nice Cadillac, I assume brand new, and went in and I parked the car. And the procedure for parking the car was to park the car, take the key out of the ignition and lay it underneath the driver's seat.

How 

Terri Bernstein: did you not lock keys in the car? 

Ben Bernstein: I'm sure that happened quite a bit. 

Terri Bernstein: How did you not lock? 

Ben Bernstein: Locks didn't automatically lock. Yeah, these are not automatic locks. 

Alan Bernstein: You can't lock a key in an automatic lock. A car, they won't let you. Mine does. It will let you lock it? 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah, with the key in the car.

Alan Bernstein: Wow. So the guy comes out to get his car. He was done. Very nice couple and he said a lot of people come out and [00:43:00] say, I have a Cadillac and you know, they're joking, you know, they have a little Pinto, a Ford Pinto or a, you know, something and they would go, Oh, I got a Cadillac and probably worked before and you ran around the building and there was no Cadillac.

You'd come back and say, okay, now that I ran around the building. And they would say, well, it's a Ford Pinto over here. And they dodge, dodge dart. Yeah. so the guy comes out and says, I have a Cadillac. Then I run around the building and no Cadillac. So I said I came back to the front and I said, sir what kind of car do you have?

And he said, it's a Cadillac black with a, you know, and I went, Oh God. So I run around, I can't see. The Cadillac. You don't see one. I don't see one. So, I run in the back door to see Dad. And I said, Dad, I think we have a problem. So, Dad ran out to be the valet. That 

Terri Bernstein: sounds like me. Because when I have a problem, I'm always like, Dad![00:44:00] 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. So, Dad goes out and says, Sir. What kind of car do you have? And the guy explained it and he comes back around and dad said to the guy, sir, you've run to my son around two or three times. And now this is my second time. And the guy said, sir. I have a Cadillac and dad says there is no Cadillac so he said come come on back inside and we called the police and you know report the stolen Cadillac in the meantime dad says Alan since you allowed to have this car stolen you're going to drive this man home.

I said, okay that's fair. He says, sir, where do you live? He says in Dayton and did you drive your Cadillac? No, I didn't have a Cadillac. I had a [00:45:00] Volkswagen, yellow Volkswagen convertible. So dancing, 

Terri Bernstein: three of you with his wife. No, I 

Alan Bernstein: had to use dad's car. He wouldn't let me drive him in my convertible.

That's what I was 

Ben Bernstein: getting at. 

Alan Bernstein: No, no, no, no. So I thought he meant Dayton, Kentucky. He did not mean Dayton, Kentucky. I had to drive him all the way to Dayton, Ohio, drop him off, drive all the way back. This is at the end of the night. And they found his car the next day down in Newport. Oh, goodness. Yeah.

Grandpa used to drive Cadillacs. Huh. Yeah. He did. So did Grandma. Yeah. Yeah. he liked Cadillacs. He really did. He thought they were well built cars. 

Terri Bernstein: Grandma had a Cadillac all the way until she died. Until 

Alan Bernstein: she died. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. 

Terri Bernstein: She had a little stint with a Corvette that she. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yeah.

That was it. Yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: And they stole her Corvette. 

Alan Bernstein: They did. At the ballet and coming and landing. They did steal [00:46:00] it. 

Ben Bernstein: Do you remember her spilling blue cheese in the back of that car and how awful that car smelled? In a Corvette. In a Corvette. Huh? No, I don't. She used it for, for catering.

Yeah. , I mean, yeah. And, and it was like a blue, it was something I I, and oh, blue cheese is terrible. And then, and then it was the middle of the summer. I was gonna say when it gets hot. Started Really? And that car never smelled the same ever again. I can smell it right now. Like I, that's how Oh, oh.

Alan Bernstein: Just because, you 

Terri Bernstein: know what? 

Alan Bernstein: Blue cheese. A blue cheese and, and heat is not good. Not good. So that's, that's my valet 

Ben Bernstein: story. Needless to say, it was probably your last day of being a valet. 

Alan Bernstein: I was promoted to the dishwasher in the kitchen. 

Ben Bernstein: I bet you were this next statement is going to be a, a weird one to make, but.

Moving on to the next story. Grandma was famous for her blow jobs. 

Sponsor Message: Yes. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, 

Alan Bernstein: It was a snow job very poorly [00:47:00] mispronounced because a lot of people came to visit the restaurant because of Shirley that, and her misstating what, She did to this gentleman. But it was a busy night and dad was bartending and he had two or three people deep at the bar and he was an awful, oh, he was terrible.

I mean, You know, to make a martini. I know where you 

Terri Bernstein: got it from. 

Ben Bernstein: I was good. I was good. I think the last time we said the story, or told the story, I believe you chimed in with the same exact thing. Did you tell 

Alan Bernstein: the beer 

Ben Bernstein: story 

Alan Bernstein: where I drank all the beer? Yeah, yeah, that's, that's so a gentleman came up to the bar and said bartender, we have been sitting for a half hour and no one has come up to our table.

This is the worst restaurant and, you know, on and on. And of course, there's all these people. There's 25, 30 people at the bar. Oh, yeah. So it wasn't a huge bar. So [00:48:00] he, no, it was not a huge bar. So a dad yelled, it was just across the way to the hostess stand where mom was. And he said, Cheryl, come over here.

So she came over and he said the guy at table 10 is having a terrible situation. Please go and see what the problem is. So she went. And met the guy and he proceeded to tell her. So she, she arranged everything and got him all situated. And about, I don't know, 25, 30 minutes later, he goes, she goes up to the bar, my mother, and it's still packed and she goes, bench.

I just gave that guy at table 10 the greatest blowjob anybody's ever given. And the bar went silent. What? Silent. And he said, no Sheryl, you mean a snow [00:49:00] job. And she said, no Benj. This was a blow job and everybody at the bar just cracked up and of course, obviously it was a snow job. Sir, can I sit in her section?

Yeah, that's what they all said. They said, we want her section. We want her section. So that made my mother a very famous character At El Greco, there were 

Terri Bernstein: lots of famous characters. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, there were there were but my mother and father Certainly very 

Terri Bernstein: johnny caruso 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yeah Well john, we finally had to hire if since dad was so bad.

Yeah, we had to hire a real real bartender And we had to hire a hostess and Marianne Bancamper was the best. Rest in peace. May, yeah, may she rest in peace. Her daughter Peggy is down in Florida and her son is a musician. I do. Two sons. Yeah, two sons. And they're [00:50:00] both musicians, aren't they?

Yeah. 

Both of them. Yeah. Both of them anyway Mary Ann band camper Betty the, the waitress was famous. She worked there for many years after we took over Miss Gloria and Miss Gloria was a great cook. My mother and her got along great and mom gave her. A lot of the great recipes and, and things that So was everything grandma's recipes?

Most everything. My mother was a great cook. But wasn't Gloria known for certain 

Ben Bernstein: things too? Didn't she? , 

Alan Bernstein: mom 

Ben Bernstein: gave her all these things. 

Alan Bernstein: The scampi, the sole pierre at El Greco was the greatest. It was the greatest. What was, what? It was halibut that was breaded and seasoned. And people would just die over it.

Why, is soul fish? No, it was halibut. But why was it soul pier? Well, they called it soul pier. I do not know why. That's a good point [00:51:00] because it was halibut. I thought maybe it was, you know, the frishes franchise way back when used to have a fish sandwich. Well, they still do.

It's not. Well, yeah. Yeah. Well, no, it's not. You're right. And they used halibut. Yeah. And it was delicious. It wasn't 35 a pound. I thought 

Terri Bernstein: soul was a generic term for white fish. It 

Alan Bernstein: was. It could have been. No, if you Google it, fish called soul. You're right Terri, it was more of a whitefish that was, you know, it was a 

Terri Bernstein: generic term for whitefish.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, yeah, so I 

Terri Bernstein: remember that kitchen, well I've been thinking about the kitchen while we've been talking about the floor plan, but when you walked past the banquet room into the kitchen, Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: There was a laundry room. 

Terri Bernstein: There was a laundry room. But when you then came into the kitchen was the salad area where they did the hot slaw.

At the beginning. And the cheese, wasn't there cheese bread there? 

Alan Bernstein: No, the [00:52:00] cheese bread had to come from the line because it was hot. But. But 

Terri Bernstein: it was like cold salads and the, and the really good hot slaw. Hot slaw. We were known for our hot slaw with the bacon. It was 

Ben Bernstein: absolutely outstanding. There was a big kettle that sat there.

There's not many places that sell. still do the hot slaw? Well, 

Alan Bernstein: the only one I can tell you, no, no, greyhound grill. 

Terri Bernstein: In 

Alan Bernstein: my opinion has equal to El Greco's hot slaw equal. 

Ben Bernstein: Where it's like the greyhound grill. Yeah, they're like bacon nuggets. Oh, I don't know how they do I don't know how they do that. They roll the piece up and then fried.

I do not know how they do it But there's another place we go that has hot slaw too, and I can't remember. It's not as good as graham 

Terri Bernstein: I thought well, I think waltz Yeah, I think it's 

Ben Bernstein: waltz. 

Terri Bernstein: I'm pretty sure it's 

Alan Bernstein: and they did have a good one I know it was definitely not as good as el greco's and graham.

What were some of the other? Nerds 

Ben Bernstein: Veal Parmesan. Veal Parmesan was absolutely. I'm sorry. [00:53:00] The big side dish there was garlic spaghetti. Yes. Which is so simple and easy. And not 

Terri Bernstein: one 

Ben Bernstein: person, not one place I've ever seen have it. It is, it 

Alan Bernstein: is so simple and so delicious you cannot believe 

Terri Bernstein: it. Now that we, I mean, not going back to Shelly's, but every time I get, Chicken parmesan there.

I always ask for garlic. Yeah, and 

Alan Bernstein: they go very well together. The compliment of those Tremendous. We, we, we were big in stakes before stakes were really popular. And my father Researched buying stakes. I mean, he, he would research it and we found a little. Guy in Covington that cut custom steaks and we started, you know, ordering some just to taste them and get, and we, we, I don't know that we made them famous so that they were [00:54:00] very successful, but we started using the steaks and we would do steaks 20 different ways.

You could get garlic chunks of garlic grilled on top of the steak. You could get peppercorns and put it in a skillet, and it was a good one. We used to take a, a needle , well, yeah, but it, what it did is it made the steak poor and we would put, pound the state, the pepper into this.

Absolutely delicious. 

Terri Bernstein: That does not sound good. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yeah. And then we made one with a marinara sauce and a broiled tomato with garlic and all that. Excellent steak. Onions. That was called cebulia. , that's a Spanish word for onion. Yeah. And we had filet mignon. We did a lot in steaks and it was we had a great Greek salad.

I mean, my mother made [00:55:00] them. And they were excellent. It was just, 

Ben Bernstein: and then controversy hit and the whole veal. Oh yeah. We, we sold my book. Well, I already told you, my mother was an animal. Yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: but the controversy did not happen until we were at Mike Fink, because the sign was at the center and it was towards 

Ben Bernstein: the end.

It was towards, maybe it was both, but I 

Terri Bernstein: remember the big sign when you walked into Mike Fink, About the veal and the cows and the 

Ben Bernstein: we stopped serving veal it we did My mother shut it off. I mean one day boom. I remember that no more as a kid. Yeah Oh, that's a stuck up kid. I want my veal parmesan even today You're gonna have to eat chicken parmesan if 

Alan Bernstein: you can afford veal.

It's it's a great item. Yeah, it's a great item. 

Ben Bernstein: Very very 

Alan Bernstein: And then we had some desserts that were always, I don't remember any, I'm 

Ben Bernstein: not a big dessert person, well no you're not, I don't remember any desserts, but we, I remember them from the Mike Fink, the do it at your table stuff, Cherries Jubilee, [00:56:00] Bananas Pfizer, but there was Mike Fink, but there was Mike Fink Alaska too, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: but mine was fire everywhere, we, 

Terri Bernstein: we did set a card on fire.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. And you pushed it out. Oh, that's it. The mic thing. I had to push it out. We'll get to that in different stories. Yeah. But mom made a strawberry shortcake kind of Dessert yeah, that was just beyond my description of how good it was man, well anyway, that was I think we ought to bring el greco back Maybe we do an 

Ben Bernstein: el greco cruise.

You can 

Alan Bernstein: oh we oh I don't know. I I Not a lot of people can remember el greco now. It's It might be 

Ben Bernstein: a one and done cruise. Yeah. One time specialty cruise. It might be, it's not a bad idea. Just to some, I mean, it's over 30 years 

Terri Bernstein: ago. Now, 

Ben Bernstein: I know you fill up one cruise zone. You D you do table, sir.

It would be, 

Terri Bernstein: Oh my God. That would be impossible. 

Ben Bernstein: It would be hard. It would be hard, but it sure would be [00:57:00] nostalgic. All right. Well, that's a, that is El Greco. We're going to kind of do a little series here. Kind of do this kind of episode with All of our restaurants in all the successes and the failures, but we're going to move on.

Moderator: Now it is time for rambling on the rivers.

Word of the day. 

Ben Bernstein: This is a fun one. This is a good one. This is 

Terri Bernstein: one of dad's favorites. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, it's been a nickname of mine for 

Terri Bernstein: Other than Shooky Lips. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, yeah, but let's see, how long ago? It was Maybe a year and a half. Half. 

Ben Bernstein: It's two years. Well, first off, the word that we're talking about is freeze dried and not the typical term of freeze dried.

Is everybody 

Alan Bernstein: tomatoes [00:58:00] or freeze dried de or freeze dried that it was freeze dried Ben. Yep. This is, and, and the reason freeze dried 

Ben Bernstein: al. Freeze dried out. I'm sorry. My nickname was freeze dried because I was freeze dried out. That's right. Because Ben and I, 

Alan Bernstein: It would resemble each other. It would be very hard for me to deny that Ben is an offspring of mine.

So, I used to call him. Clearly 

Terri Bernstein: didn't milkman. 

Alan Bernstein: No, he didn't. He thought he did. He thought he was from the stork or, you thought you were from a stork. 

Terri Bernstein: I didn't. 

Alan Bernstein: You've only had sex 

Ben Bernstein: twice in your life. Oh, man. 

Terri Bernstein: No, they never had sex. It came by stork. 

Ben Bernstein: Okay. A stork delivered both. Whatever you need to keep saying.

But anyway. Freeze, dry it out. Freeze, dry it out. Explain it. What more do I need to explain? You would always say, Throw them in the [00:59:00] microwave, add a little bit of water. Oh yeah, that's right. And poof! I forgot. There's Al. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: There is Al. That, you're right Ben, I And he affectionately uses this for many people.

Alan Bernstein: Now, 

Ben Bernstein: yeah. They don't even have to look alike. Anybody that looks like their parent. They don't even have to look alike. Well, sometimes, you're right. It's, it's, 

Alan Bernstein: it's, it's, 

Ben Bernstein: it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, If you are that person's kid, and you're of the same gender, you're a freeze dry.

Absolutely. Absolutely. There's been a lot of Absolutely. That is one of his favorite favorite uses. Yep. That was a quick one. That's alright. Moving on. Yep. Yep. 

Moderator 2: Welcome to As the Paddle Wheel Turns. Our look at pertinent current events happening right now in the world.

Alan Bernstein: I would not say world on this one. Oh, I could be. It depends 

Ben Bernstein: on how you look at 

Alan Bernstein: it. In a 

Ben Bernstein: few weeks. [01:00:00] Actually, it will be It will be, when this airs, it will be tomorrow. Oh? Well, tomorrow? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It'll be a week from now. October 17th through 20th. Blink Cincinnati is coming coming back for its latest installment.

Alan Bernstein: And it is supposed to be spectacular, and there is no better way, in my opinion now I'm 72, almost 73 than to ride a BB river boat, watch the drones and the lights and the bridges. 

Terri Bernstein: One, they have a laser bridge this year. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, a laser, where is it, which, which bridge is that? 

Terri Bernstein: On the. 

Ben Bernstein: Taylor 

Alan Bernstein: Southgate? 

Terri Bernstein: No, I think it's the Purple People Bridge.

Is 

Ben Bernstein: that a freaking shark with lasers on his head? The 

Terri Bernstein: laser bridge is going to be the most amazing thing to cruise under. Okay. Kirkpatrick, our 

Alan Bernstein: President of the Bureau. There you go. There you go. 

Terri Bernstein: And there's huge [01:01:00] installations everywhere. They've added new port this year. 

Alan Bernstein: Yep. 

I think, personally, two years ago, my favorite was the drones.

You couldn't have a better seat for a drone show. Yeah. As long as the boat goes to the drone show. Well, we have to make sure that our captains are fully up to speed on what is happening. 

Terri Bernstein: I think, I remember the laser light show on the bridge, it has music. Do 

Ben Bernstein: you not think of Austin Powers every time you say laser?

They're freakin sharks with lasers on their heads. 

Terri Bernstein: No. 

Ben Bernstein: No? The only thing I remember, 

Terri Bernstein: er, that I quote all the time from Austin, is when he's in the golf cart trying to turn around. 

Alan Bernstein: What is that? 

Terri Bernstein: He has to pull up, back up, pull up, back up. He had to Austin Power it. Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, God. Dr. Abel. 

Sponsor Message 2: It's about the sharks.

When you were frozen, they were put on the endangered species list. We tried to get some, [01:02:00] but it would have taken months to clear up the red tape. 

Video 2: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads. Now, evidently, my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done.

Terri Bernstein: That was dumb. 

Alan Bernstein: I think it was apropos. Yeah, I'm laughing. My generation's laughing. But, 

Terri Bernstein: In Blink 2022, it attracted No, 20 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, 22. 

Terri Bernstein: 2022, it attracted over 2 million attendees in 4 days. It's a pretty big deal in our city. It is a 

Alan Bernstein: big deal. And they're 

Ben Bernstein: expecting more on this one. What are the different zones of view?

No, I think there's fives. But Terri, is there five? So there's Finley market, Finley market, the 

Terri Bernstein: Finley market and OTR zone, downtown zone, the bank zone, Covington zone and Newport 

Alan Bernstein: six of them. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: So three of them, you will be able to see. [01:03:00] along the riverfront and the drone show and all the other 

Ben Bernstein: things.

So October 17th through the 20th, Thursday through Sunday, 7 

Terri Bernstein: to 11 PM. If 

Ben Bernstein: you did want to come on a riverboat cruise, we're going to have two cruises each day one from seven to eight 30, the other from nine 30 to 11, which should be prime viewing for not only the drone show, the laser show and freaking laser beam on their head.

And Newport 

Alan Bernstein: and Covington and and the 

Ben Bernstein: bridges. But I will say, you know, two years ago, if you're comparing the two, there's going to be a lot more river focus for

you know, 7 to 8. 30, 9 to 11. 30. Should be very, should be a lot of fun. 

Terri Bernstein2: 9 

Ben Bernstein: to 11. 9. 30 to 11. Yes. You said it the opposite way. When mom and 

Terri Bernstein: dad finally go out to dinner. 

Alan Bernstein: When what? 

Terri Bernstein: Mom and dad, they eat so late every night. 

Alan Bernstein: No, we don't eat that [01:04:00] late. 7. 

Ben Bernstein: 30 maybe. It's pretty late, isn't it?

I'm in bed by eight. There's food on my table at six o'clock As early as I can do it. All right. Any other parting thoughts? Anything? Well, we hope you come down and enjoy Blink and, next week we'll talk about one of our other restaurants. Well, we don't 

Alan Bernstein: have to. If you want to do something else, we can, we can do them in a, you know, in a series, so.

I mean, next would be Mike 

Terri Bernstein: Fink. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. I mean, we could. The next one in order would be the Mike Fink. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: That one we may have to do in three or four parts. Yeah, that may be. I thought this might be a two parter. 

Alan Bernstein: It probably could have been. Yeah, and there is more, but, again.

Thanks for pounding the table again and again. That was 

Ben Bernstein: an exclamation mark. Alright. On that note, we got to get out of here driving me nuts. We'll see you next week.

Moderator: Thank you for listening to the rambling on the river podcast presented by BB river boats. [01:05:00] Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like, subscribe and follow us on all your favorite podcast platforms.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB Riverboats. 

Sponsor Message 2: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day. Watching high school sweethearts tie the knot or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful years together. A group of old friends reuniting for one more adventure or young minds embarking on their first.

At BB Riverboats, we believe a cruise on the mighty Ohio is where lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at BBRiverboats. com. Journey 

Terri Bernstein2: [01:06:00] Aboard.