Speaker 1: My next guest restaurant is the Premier Comfort Food. Comfort
Speaker 1: Food Destination in New York City. As you will see
Speaker 1: from her Instagram page at Melbourne Harlem. Celebrities like nas
Speaker 1: Nick Cannon, her cousins sienns April, Ryan dil Hugely and
Speaker 1: many more all in your her American comfort food. I
Speaker 1: want to know what that is, you know, American comfortable.
Speaker 1: She's always seen on the Food Network, whether she is
Speaker 1: a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, cooking with the amazing
Speaker 1: host on the Kitchen, or trying to pick the winner
Speaker 1: and the finale. Are the worst cooks in America? That's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite shows. Those people really can't cook.
Speaker 1: Please work on the money making conversation, my girl, Melbolle Wilson,
Speaker 1: how are you like? You know? I had to put
Speaker 1: all those credits in there because some of them were
Speaker 1: just so worth talking about now now because Bobby Flay,
Speaker 1: that's my boy. Then you got the Kitchen, which you
Speaker 1: gotta come on there with a little nice little quick recipes.
Speaker 1: You gotta put out real fast so people can capture
Speaker 1: at home, and it's kind of like competing. Everybody taste
Speaker 1: and sample your stuff on the spot. So you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta have you act together and then
Speaker 1: but my favorite show, Worst Cooks in them a well,
Speaker 1: they truly are the worst cooks when they start out. However,
Speaker 1: you know they get in there with Amberrell and they
Speaker 1: throw down. They really learned how to cook. And uh,
Speaker 1: I've been really inspired and surprisingly happy with some of
Speaker 1: the results that have come out of that show. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you something. The ones that they cut early,
Speaker 1: they just can't cool. They they they somewhere destroying people's
Speaker 1: lives right now. You know what, I've been blessed because
Speaker 1: I've only done the finale on Worst Cooks and Worst Bakers,
Speaker 1: so I consider myself. But you're obviously through some of
Speaker 1: those early rounds, I don't know if your girl can
Speaker 1: do that, because you they're so bad you almost talk.
Speaker 1: You almost think they just you know, they just want
Speaker 1: to be on TV. Especially on the celebrity side. You know,
Speaker 1: you think they you know, it's like dancing with Stars,
Speaker 1: you know, that's the celebrities. You have to regular everyday people.
Speaker 1: But you know, if you're a cook person, you really
Speaker 1: know they don't that and what that's not what they do.
Speaker 1: You know, when they really do know, and you know,
Speaker 1: cooking is a labor of love and it's something that
Speaker 1: not everyone can do, but it's something that everyone can enjoy,
Speaker 1: especially when you get that skinnish product at the end
Speaker 1: on your plate. So um. And ultimately that's why I'm
Speaker 1: in business, because not everyone can and not everyone wants to.
Speaker 1: So well, well, let's talk about that. Okay, we we
Speaker 1: we Your intro starts you at you know, restaurant opening,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about your new restaurant that's opening.
Speaker 1: And I want to put that banner on my social
Speaker 1: media and fan club let them know because I go
Speaker 1: to New York a lot, and so you're definitely going
Speaker 1: to see my mud because I am truly a foodie.
Speaker 1: Now you're intro talked about comfort food, American comfort food.
Speaker 1: What exactly is that? Well, to me, American comfort food
Speaker 1: is food that evokes war and wonderful memories. It's food
Speaker 1: that transports you back to great times in your Everybody
Speaker 1: in the studio, everybody studio, they perked up their ears. Now,
Speaker 1: come on, Dow, come on, don't be messing with us
Speaker 1: like that. Now you can be that cheesy, gooey, delicious
Speaker 1: macaroni and cheese that your Matha used to throw that
Speaker 1: out with a k. Or it can be that tato
Speaker 1: salad that Uncle John used to make you know. It's
Speaker 1: just that transforms you. And I think these days and Jimes,
Speaker 1: we all need to be comforted and take him back
Speaker 1: to those times. Y'all, do potato salad at your restaurant. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't do potato salad. I do tato salad. It's
Speaker 1: a big difference. Now, you don't put no pe in
Speaker 1: front of that. Because I'm gonna tell you something that
Speaker 1: is a whole You would make me mad. Put some
Speaker 1: bad potatoes out the kind of know them in you
Speaker 1: because that's the first thing. Because I'm always searching for food.
Speaker 1: I'm searching for good potatoes that tato sat. But see
Speaker 1: I'm touching that she said tatus out because it's right
Speaker 1: my family from South Carolina. So that explains it, all right.
Speaker 1: So so this is good comfert food now. Now, so
Speaker 1: so what do you where exactly is the restaurant located
Speaker 1: the name of the restaurant, Where is it located? What
Speaker 1: are the hours? So the restaurant is called Melbourne's easy
Speaker 1: for me to remember, and it's on the southwest corner
Speaker 1: of one hundred and fourteen Streets in Harlem. So it's
Speaker 1: three hundred West one hundred and fourteen Street, New York.
Speaker 1: One zero zero to five are Instagram is Melba's within
Speaker 1: s Harlem and I'm born bread and Butter in Harlem,
Speaker 1: And that's why it was really important for me to
Speaker 1: open up in a community that I love so much,
Speaker 1: but the community that has changed racial back. I remember
Speaker 1: because I moved when I moved to you know, I've
Speaker 1: been in New York several times. I've moved to New York.
Speaker 1: I first started doing comedy and and you know that
Speaker 1: you couldn't even catch a cab north, you know you
Speaker 1: they wouldn't even they wouldn't take you north, let alone
Speaker 1: past Hall Ofm. You weren't. You weren't going there. That
Speaker 1: That's why they had the gypsy cabs and was really
Speaker 1: changed the game for Hallm and traffic with Uber. Uber
Speaker 1: was picking you up everywhere, and so that really really
Speaker 1: changed the game as far as transportation up there, because
Speaker 1: you you put your Uber in it, they come get you,
Speaker 1: pick you up on the corner, and you go back.
Speaker 1: That really changed the whole cab service for for for
Speaker 1: everybody in the city of New York, and so for
Speaker 1: New York. But I loved a buy Harlem was that
Speaker 1: they have always had these unique restaurants where you're going
Speaker 1: in you get good original food. I called the food
Speaker 1: that you have original food because of the fact that
Speaker 1: it does take you back, because so many times you
Speaker 1: can't good good vegetables, a good corn bread, a good
Speaker 1: good good you know, it's just good food. So let's
Speaker 1: go through your menu, and you're putting that together, the menu,
Speaker 1: because now you've got me hungry, and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: figure out when I'm gonna get back up from New York.
Speaker 1: And here's the deal about me, Milk. When I come
Speaker 1: to a restaurant, I don't want, no, I don't, I
Speaker 1: don't I pay. I'm one of these guys we challenge here.
Speaker 1: No no no, no, no no. You come over there with
Speaker 1: and then asked me to give me. I got that. No.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna really be mad at you because you're an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur and so so I always go in so tell
Speaker 1: me about and I appreciate that too, Thank youbody. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that that's the only way I work, you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Harve and I when we was traveling. We we
Speaker 1: we Hey, I got that. I got that because of course,
Speaker 1: you know that's at the end of the day when
Speaker 1: man comes or when the or when the when the
Speaker 1: phone company, because you know, I can't tell them I
Speaker 1: got that. Yeah, I need I need to write that check.
Speaker 1: So I truly do appreciate that. And when you talk
Speaker 1: about supporting small businesses, especially businesses of color, the way
Speaker 1: that we can make sure that we stay in business
Speaker 1: is through economic development, which means making sure that our
Speaker 1: dollars circulate within our community at least eight times. And
Speaker 1: that happens when people like you come into these communities
Speaker 1: and pay. So I truly thank you. Now here's the
Speaker 1: deal because like so so you know Aunt Silvia. So
Speaker 1: if you, if you, if you, if you've been in
Speaker 1: New York, you know about Silvia's. Okay. In fact, I
Speaker 1: remember when I had Steve Harvey do the cover story
Speaker 1: for our USA Today, the Life section. I made sure
Speaker 1: that interview was done at Silvia's. She understand how you
Speaker 1: gotta do stuff. You gotta you know, you don't always
Speaker 1: have to eat. But just seeing the name in Life
Speaker 1: Life Sections, Steve Harvey, the reporter was talking about the
Speaker 1: atmosphere and talking about the food and everything. I knew
Speaker 1: it was important that we have to give back and
Speaker 1: use our brand to to distribute information about certain locations.
Speaker 1: So I know about Silvia, now, Sylvia is when you're
Speaker 1: going there and get the heavy plate. Now if you
Speaker 1: if you you go up in the Silvia, we're gonna
Speaker 1: get back the mailbles and man. But she starts, SA,
Speaker 1: I sure did it. I started right there as they
Speaker 1: cash here and um. So when you talk about starting
Speaker 1: from the bottom, now we're here, um and not ashamed
Speaker 1: of it. Very very proud of my beginnings and my route.
Speaker 1: So my aunt Sylvia literally laid the blueprint. You know,
Speaker 1: it was herself. It was Ophelia dvor who at eleven
Speaker 1: years old. Um, you know, I started working for her
Speaker 1: in her beauty bar, answering the phone, selling cosmetics because
Speaker 1: my cousin worked there during the week and my cousin
Speaker 1: was going on Saturdays. And I'll go with her because
Speaker 1: I wanted to get out of the house. So learning
Speaker 1: how to sell um and just being inspired by amazing
Speaker 1: women who defied the odds, who did not accept the
Speaker 1: word no and knew that no just meant they had
Speaker 1: to find another way to make it happen. They had
Speaker 1: to go over it, through it, or around it, but
Speaker 1: they had to make it happen. They were truly in
Speaker 1: the back phones for me and my success. Cool on
Speaker 1: the phone and she's the premier comfort food destination in
Speaker 1: New York City. And my girl malboll Wilson, uh my
Speaker 1: bore dear usually been in the nas April Ryan Nick Cannon,
Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald all, let's go. That's where we go. They
Speaker 1: get our comfort food. So I'm plugging at myself. I'm plugging.
Speaker 1: I'm already in the building. We'll be right back and
Speaker 1: hear about a new restaurant. Also of being the president
Speaker 1: of the Hospitality Allowance, the first female ever doing some things. Hi,
Speaker 1: just Rashan McDonald and you're listening to money making conversation
Speaker 1: on the phone is from straight out of New York City.
Speaker 1: She's seen the worst cooks, she's worked with the best cooks.
Speaker 1: She's been on this she is who she is man
Speaker 1: from the kitchen to Sylvia's, from being a cashier to
Speaker 1: her own restaurant called Mailbows with an ass. She's opening
Speaker 1: a new restaurant. Tell us about that new restaurant before
Speaker 1: we get into anything else because you're excited about it.
Speaker 1: Why did you feel the need to open another restaurant?
Speaker 1: We Shan's stupid uper excited about it. Um. One of
Speaker 1: the things about opening up a business in a community
Speaker 1: that you're born in, raised in, and that I still
Speaker 1: live in is I have a unique opportunity to lead
Speaker 1: by example, to show people within the Harlem community that
Speaker 1: we can open up our own businesses in our own
Speaker 1: community and succeed, as well as provide employment opportunities. That's
Speaker 1: a big deal for me UM to know that I'm
Speaker 1: providing a job and opportunity for people in the Harlem
Speaker 1: industry to feed their families. That's a huge deal for
Speaker 1: me UM as well as leading by example, UM, because
Speaker 1: for me, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Well.
Speaker 1: That's true and not true at the same time, because
Speaker 1: of the fact that, like you said, you started as
Speaker 1: a cashier, so you got to you got to see
Speaker 1: the basics, and then a lot of people stop there,
Speaker 1: you know, because you know, to get beyond that cashier's work,
Speaker 1: and also you get to develop a sense colinary skills
Speaker 1: to be able goal and also understand how to run
Speaker 1: a business. And so that's called effort, and you have
Speaker 1: to be consistent at it. And so you went from
Speaker 1: from like I said, when I used to go to
Speaker 1: uh Silvia's. You know they had a single open mic
Speaker 1: night type thing and they had the gospel broad So
Speaker 1: you know, these are different things that were instituted. Where
Speaker 1: were you up when all this starts happen when you
Speaker 1: still at the Silvia's at the time when these are
Speaker 1: being instituted, talked to us about because it was more
Speaker 1: it was an experience when you went to Silvia's. Well,
Speaker 1: I actually so funny story. Sunday was my short day
Speaker 1: of the week and Sunday was my big money day. Um.
Speaker 1: Back then, Sunday was my sixty dollar a day. That's
Speaker 1: when I made sixty dollars on Sundays and the rest
Speaker 1: of the week I would make forty dollars a day.
Speaker 1: And so Sunday was my big money day. I didn't
Speaker 1: work as many hours and I made um, you know,
Speaker 1: good money at the time. However, if we were slow,
Speaker 1: I would get cut. So I used to host entertainment
Speaker 1: events at different venues in the city, and so I said,
Speaker 1: why don't I start a gospel brunch at Sylvia's and
Speaker 1: I got the band to perform for free, agreed with
Speaker 1: my aunt that she would fed them, give them a meal,
Speaker 1: and it was a huge hit. And that's how I
Speaker 1: started the gospel brunch over at Sylvia's. And then I
Speaker 1: started an open mic night at Sylvia's also, which was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: It was one of the top open mics in the city.
Speaker 1: And that was on Thursday nights and we would have
Speaker 1: everybody that was anybody would come by and our host
Speaker 1: at the time was Shelby j who later on, as
Speaker 1: we all know, went to sing with the One and
Speaker 1: Only Prince, So we've had some great people. Jay Z
Speaker 1: would come by troll vocally. I mean, we would have
Speaker 1: everybody that was any anybody would come through there and
Speaker 1: sing with us. Well, you know that's just smart. Now,
Speaker 1: how did you come up with these marketing ideas? We
Speaker 1: just got a curiosity, trusted your instincts because people are
Speaker 1: afraid to change. All I do is served food here,
Speaker 1: don't want here, no jokes, and nobody's singing a new gospel.
Speaker 1: They're going to church for that because you all know
Speaker 1: that if on a Sunday, this is this is true
Speaker 1: across America on Sunday if there's a restaurant out there,
Speaker 1: and sure if good food. Once church let out, if
Speaker 1: you're not in that restaurant, you are in a long line. Well,
Speaker 1: well it was. It was a great marketing. M I
Speaker 1: be on my part. You know, I'm from Harlem. I've
Speaker 1: always been a hustler in a good way, you know. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's what being from Harlem has taught me. Its taught
Speaker 1: me how to hustle in a positive way, how to
Speaker 1: let the things that people see as adversities work in
Speaker 1: my favor. So I tell people all the time, being
Speaker 1: black and a female and born and raised in Harlem
Speaker 1: is the best thing that could have happened to me.
Speaker 1: I don't look at it as a detriment. I look
Speaker 1: at it as a stepping stone because it's allowed me
Speaker 1: to to get into doors and to you know, use
Speaker 1: my brainiacs. And when people would say, oh, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna do this because I'm female and because I'm black,
Speaker 1: I'm like, and that's exactly the reason I will do
Speaker 1: this and I will succeed. So it's just it's looking
Speaker 1: at supply and demand. For me, it was okay, the
Speaker 1: churches let out, what's the band? What are the bands doing.
Speaker 1: Everybody's coming to eat at these establishments. Let's carry that
Speaker 1: music on. Let's offer the band, you know, fair wages,
Speaker 1: fair pay, and a meal, and you know, they get
Speaker 1: to play for another three hours and people come and
Speaker 1: they want to hear those So let's say you didn't
Speaker 1: get a chance to go to church, you can come
Speaker 1: into sility Is and hear that gospel brunch, um, you know,
Speaker 1: from one to three and that And that was my idea.
Speaker 1: That was my concept, and later on went on to
Speaker 1: take it to Windows in the World downtown and it's
Speaker 1: something that I also did at Lola's, which was one
Speaker 1: twenty Street at the time down town. So it was
Speaker 1: a huge success and something that I thoroughly enjoyed. Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: let's talk about this. We kind of talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about the menu a little bit because I'm going
Speaker 1: went through you know, I kind of I'm a I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a a multitasker, so I'm looking up some
Speaker 1: articles here, you know, finger licking ribs and barbecue sauce
Speaker 1: and mail but trays, three mac and cheese, savory sweeten Savor,
Speaker 1: small hush puppies, alcoholm sour cream, pound cake. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go kids to the start cooking right now for you, Chase,
Speaker 1: right now. Hush Puppies loved him to Hush puppies. I'm
Speaker 1: just a nut for hush puppies. Oh my good cole slap.
Speaker 1: And then do you do corn bread there? Because I
Speaker 1: might get on the plane today. Do you can call?
Speaker 1: So that's my achilles here. I only do corn bread
Speaker 1: by request. Um My kitchen a small we seat over
Speaker 1: a hundred and so cornbread is not something I do
Speaker 1: you every day. Um, it's important for me to keep
Speaker 1: my prices at a certain level. And for me, it
Speaker 1: don't matter. I'm paying for it. I'm I'm put this
Speaker 1: your question in for corn bread. I'm not gonna pay
Speaker 1: for corn bread. They're gonna tell me no, but that
Speaker 1: corn bread is supposed to be free, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: eat a lot of it, and then they're gonna get
Speaker 1: old and and my corn's gonna be hot. You know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be piping hot. So I'm ain't know like that.
Speaker 1: So absolutely normally corn bread. But if you're coming out,
Speaker 1: I promise you I'll get in that kitchen and make
Speaker 1: some corny corn bread. Just feel we're we're gonna, we're gonna,
Speaker 1: we're gonna play this out because everybody knows me. I
Speaker 1: just went up to my board, saw him in Seattle.
Speaker 1: June Baby was trying up there, went up there. So
Speaker 1: when I say I'm gonna do something, I go and
Speaker 1: do it now because he get on a Tuesday night
Speaker 1: so you can experience a live music. Okay, cool, this this,
Speaker 1: this is all good. This is a really really good conversation. Okay.
Speaker 1: So so when you talk about you said in a
Speaker 1: small kitchen, you said about it, you said it seets
Speaker 1: about a hundred people under the nine. Okay, the new
Speaker 1: restaurant what what what? What's the capacity going to be
Speaker 1: on that? I'm so excited. The new restaurant is the
Speaker 1: spot that seats seventy and it's seafood. It's all the food. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, instead of going to city out and you
Speaker 1: can you can stay in our neighborhood and come to
Speaker 1: Melvin's three minutes away from the original space. And it's
Speaker 1: paying homage to the black fisherman because when we change
Speaker 1: to this country as slaves, a lot of us came
Speaker 1: from the coast and we had fisherman skills and so
Speaker 1: we learned how to fish, and so it's it's paying
Speaker 1: tribute to women. We have a team of amazing women
Speaker 1: that are that are partners with me in this venture.
Speaker 1: We have our fishmonger is a female who were super
Speaker 1: excited about our our some We have a female so
Speaker 1: that's doing the whole wineless who's from how Harlem that
Speaker 1: was just written up in Food and Wine magazine. Shan
Speaker 1: McCoy are executive chef m Chef Mimi, who is phenomenal,
Speaker 1: who lives in Arlom, has a huge sea food background.
Speaker 1: And then there's me. So it's women coming together to
Speaker 1: celebrate food and we're super duper excited about it. It
Speaker 1: will be open the first week in February. And while
Speaker 1: it's gonna be amazing, Okay, cool, So you're timing my visit.
Speaker 1: You're timing my visit to New York. I got that meeting.
Speaker 1: Can do two restaurant stops, that's right, Okay cool. Now,
Speaker 1: just a natural transition because I want to talk about
Speaker 1: you becoming the first African American female to be the
Speaker 1: president of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. Let's tell
Speaker 1: everybody what the New York City Hospitality Alliance is not
Speaker 1: the hallm but the New York City Hospitality Alliance. And
Speaker 1: while I well, I've been a member of the New
Speaker 1: York City Hospitality Alliance since its inception. And what it is,
Speaker 1: it's over three thousand restaurants, um, all based in in
Speaker 1: in the five boons of New York City. Is everyone
Speaker 1: from Tao to Lavo, to Nobu to Rebecca Grill to
Speaker 1: Sylvia's to b LT Steak. So it is the most
Speaker 1: premier restaurant here in the city. And we lobby on
Speaker 1: behalf of the needs of not just a restaurant, but
Speaker 1: the nightlife venues, you know, from from d L to
Speaker 1: um oh god, God, I can't even to Marquee, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to the Gold Bar and some of the
Speaker 1: biggest and best places in the city. And we lobby
Speaker 1: on behalf of of our of our venues, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: The city sometimes under Mayor to Blasio can be very
Speaker 1: difficult to business owners um in terms of fees, commercial
Speaker 1: property taxes, etcetera. So we lobby on behalf of of
Speaker 1: New York owned restaurants and nightclubs. And this is the
Speaker 1: first time not only that they've had a female as
Speaker 1: the president, but a person of color in general as
Speaker 1: a president. So I'm super duper excited and just coming
Speaker 1: upon my year one tenure as the president of the
Speaker 1: New York City Hospitality Alliance. Well, I want to group
Speaker 1: congratulations to you, first of all, and secondly for coming
Speaker 1: on my show. You'll be seeing me, I know, Super
Speaker 1: Bowls of February. Second, so the week of February nine,
Speaker 1: I would be in New York City to visit both
Speaker 1: of your restaurants. One of the restaurants I'm especially ordered
Speaker 1: that corn bread. Put that out there, and then give
Speaker 1: me some good seafood at the other restaurant. But again,
Speaker 1: continue your success. Um again, You're special because you wanted
Speaker 1: it and you earned it, and I'm gonna support you
Speaker 1: not only by a visit, but any social media post
Speaker 1: that you want to have please let me know and
Speaker 1: I would definitely post the social media when your restaurant,
Speaker 1: your two A few restaurants open to New York City
Speaker 1: first week about February. Okay, rest I thank you. One
Speaker 1: will talk soon, but we'll see each other soon, Okay, Amen,
Speaker 1: God bless thank you,