Episode #165: Feeney Cooks Burgers with Paul at Louis' Lunch

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #165 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Paul at Louis’ Lunch.

It was great to cook burgers and talk with my #friend, Paul.

Paul has worked at Louis’ Lunch for the past 30 years.

We talked about:

Cast Iron Vertical Gas Broilers from 1898 (minute 1)
Feeney cuts onions and cooks burgers (minute 2)
“This is NOT Burger King. You don’t get it your way!” (minute 3)
Feeney eats the burgers that he cooked (minute 4)
Foxon Park distributed by Casanova (minute 5)
1994 (minute 6)
What makes Jeff a good #friend? (minute 7.30)
Coke Cola - NOT at Louis’ Lunch  (minute 8.30)
The Louis’ Lunch building was moved in 1974 (minute 9.30)
The Ketchup trick (minute 11)
3 Keys to working at Louis’ Lunch (minute 12)
Work day: First, Last, Best, Worst (minute 13)
Laurence Fishburne and Micheal Irvin (minute 14)
Yale and Yale basketball (minute 15)
Louis’ Lunch was a reading comprehension passage on the CMTs (minute 16)
Recommendation: Frisco’s Pizza (minute 17)
Upcoming events (minute 18)

Podcast Sponsors: 
Directline Media - www.directlinemediaproductions.com/
The Fix IV - www.thefixivtherapy.com
West Hartford Lock - www.westhartfordlock.com
Keating Agency Insurance - www.keatingagency.com
Goff Law Group - www.gofflawgroup.net
Parkville Management - www.parkvillemanagement.com
Luna Pizza - www.lunapizzawh.com/lunas-menu
PeoplesBank - www.bankatpeoples.com
Float 41 - www.float41.com
Maximum Beverage - www.maximumbev.com
Sally and Bob’s - www.sallyandbobs.com
Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford - www.mandelljcc.org

Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

All right, all right.

Feeny talks with friends, episode 165.

We're in a very special place.
What's up? Paul?

What's up?

Where are we?

Louie's lunch.

Louie's lunch.

261 Crown Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

I love this place.
You put me to work today.

I had to.

How'd I do? You did better than me.

Have you start?

Rookie. Move out. Insult one burger.

Paul knew right away.

You're like, hey, you forgot the saltines.

It was so good that you caught me.

But I had so much fun.
This is an amazing place.

This is like Disneyland, right?

It's been here forever.

And maybe it will change.

Maybe it won't. The minor changes.
Just a place to be.

This is the number one burger spot.

The original.

Confirm or deny.

Is this the original place of the burger?

Birthplace of the hamburger

sandwich cooked on the same grills
we cooked in the 1890?

Yeah, 1898.

These grills are 128 years old.

Vertical cast iron grills.

What's.

What's the significance of cooking them?

Vertical?

Because you have a flame on both sides.

So you're putting the burgers
in between the flames and it's

searing all the juices in the flames
on both sides at once.

Yeah, we'll get right to it. Let's see.
Look at this burger.

I made this burger.

That's the works I did with on both sides.

We call that the Feeny special.

We got the onion tomato.

We're going to eat another burger.

This is my fourth burger today.

And then you wash it down with a foxing.

Why isn't

parks meeting in the next town over

to a local soda company?

No. No

corn sirup, no caffeine.

It's good soda.

Yep. I think my guy Casanova distributes
those.

He's a podcast guest coming up.

If I could be wrong, could be right.

Let's see.

Tell us about 1994.

What happened then? 1994?

I came in here with my dad.

Like I did all this, and,
we sent it to Connor, and we had a burger,

and all of a sudden, Jeff
got a phone call from the alarm company.

Jeff's the owner.

So, alarm going off in his house.

He was single at the time.

So he, asked me if I could stay

and cook or help while he ran home.

And when he came back,

he says,

Marnie,
can you actually call me the next day?

What are you doing tonight?
You mind if you come in and cook?

And I've been here ever since.

Jeez. That's great.

And Jeff is fourth generation owner.

So, yeah, our motto is be a good friend.

Hold the door. Pick up trash.

Give compliments.

Be charitable.

What makes Jeff a good friend?

Jeff gave me the opportunity

to work at a job that I enjoy.

And since 94, I still love coming to work.

Why not shout out some sponsors?

I want to thank Stephania and Dave from
Direct Line Media how they do today Paul.

Excellent excellent.

Check that footage. We did some B-roll.

I made some burgers.

We got some behind the scenes footage.

Important bricks.

The office sign, the no ketchup
sign, the no Coca-Cola sign,

your spelling

of the, menu items,
anything you want to talk about?

Which one you want to talk about?

The office sign.

That Coca-Cola sign
however you want to start.

What's with this? Yeah. Coca-Cola.

so Coca-Cola sign.

So we used to sell Coca-Cola
and back in the depression,

similar to Covid, they used to

give you a certain amount.

Used to ration the soda,
the food, everything.

So we weren't getting our delivery
for several weeks.

And Jeff's father,
the third generation, called up,

and they didn't know what's going on
until I find out the salesman was selling

our share of Coca-Cola
to another vendor for more money.

So he got mad

and he called up
Pepsi and told him the situation.

Pepsi came down that day
and they've been here ever since. Wow.

Perhaps not holding a grudge.

No, not at all.

And Coca Cola has actually been in here
all the way up to last year.

Some big executives came in here and,

tried to

sell us,
and we just don't want to talk. Wow.

And then some of the bricks,
there's some significant bricks over here

from all over.

So when. So we used to be two blocks away,

and, back in 1974,
they decided that they were to

take their land back
to city for urban development.

They're going to build
a medical center there.

And they offered Jeff's
father a spot on the ninth floor,

and they're going
to demolish this building.

And he says, no way. This is this is me.

This is awesome.

So they took the building, they put it up
on stilts and it sat in a parking lot.

And it came within one
week of getting demolished.

The lady that owned
this property found out about it.

It was a big thing back then.
They had bumper sticker.

Steve Louise launches all over media
and she heard about it,

and she called her lawyer
to get Ahold of the Larsons and sell them.

This piece of land
used to be a rooming house here.

So they sold the land, and they they moved
the place over here and built it.

And a week later, the lady died. Whoa.

Good timing. Got lucky.

But you have bricks from Hawaii.

Everybody would always say,
what can we do to help?

What can we do to help?
And, pops, you always said,

if you're somewhere and you see a brick,
pick it up.

Don't steal it and bring it to me
and we'll build the building.

Wow. He did. And he has tons of bricks.

Even still, some left over.

Yeah. Bricks from the Great Wall of China.

We got the picture right here.

Great wall of China, brick. Boom!

Hold it there.

Now, that's an amazing little spot.

I swear there was a spoon on the wall.

Like, my memory is doing me a disservice,
but it was like a metal spoon,

I don't know. No. You sure? Nope.

Unbelievable. Up there.

Because every August,
we closed down for a spoon inventory.

Maybe you saw that.

What about some ketchup?

This is the ketchup.

If I ask for ketchup,
this is what you get.

Oh, God.

I'm Paul.

How long you been doing that trick?

Since 94.

I've been here.

Classic. You did that to me.

I went to Southern.

I lived here after southern.

And I remember that trick 10
or 20 years ago.

And I brought my friend Billy here,
and I said, hey, Billy wants ketchup.

And you did it. And I was like,
brought me back.

That's that Disneyland part.

And I have a beautiful picture

of my girls outside in the front
when they were young.

I didn't even recognize them today.

You know, that was like ten years ago.

So, we'll show that picture of my girls
right here.

Boom. There's Neil, there's Bridget.

Neil is out there in potato
salad right now.

Well, you sent me a picture
where they barely touched the window.

Yeah, they come up and she's all right.

Yeah.

So again, thanks to Stephanie and Dave,
thank you to some of our sponsors,

Direct Line Media, of course, Luna pizza,
maximum beverage, JK Mandel, JK

great place, people's Bank,

Brooke Law, Gorg law group,

fix IV, float 41,

Keating agency insurance and West Hartford
lock and West Hartford Lock.

What are three keys to working here?

Three keys. You got to be happy.

Yep. Friendly and is fun.

You ready to work?

Yeah, yeah.

And you have that. So all my visits here

for years going back I was like,
Paul's awesome.

You just make
everyone feel like a good friend.

And that's our motto.

And I'm honored to speak with you.

So it's really important.

You're a good friend. You're welcome.

You got funny jokes.

You do hit people with the ketchup trick.

You bust some, but some chops.

Let's talk about your work days.

So, your work days.
What was your first workday?

Your last workday?

Well, the last workday didn't happen. It,

your best in your worst, I got gotta.

I used to be here five days a week.

Now I'm down to three.

I work Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

And I'm working less
because I brought my fiancee in here.

I brought my son in here,
my cousin in here.

So there's more of us
working here than the assets.

So what about Feeny.

Can Feeny work here on Saturdays.

Starting next year?

I had so much. I'm starting here.

I just confirmed
you'll see me, Feeny and Louise.

Lunch, I love it.

What about the best day?

The best day is every day.

Oh, nice.

Every day I come in, I still get up,
and I'm excited to come to work

every day.

You ever have a bad day?

Something goes wrong or missing? No.

What about celebs?

How many celebs come in here?

We get a lot of celebs who come in,
half the time you don't recognize them.

And when they come
in, we don't make a big stink.

We don't even call them out.

We just let them have their peace
and they wait in line like everybody else.

Any any memories of one or. No.

We have,
Laurence Fishburne comes in a lot.

It's a great guy, guys.

He's a local regular here.

There's a lot of.

We here when Michael Irvin showed up.

Are you a Cowboys fan
who's a Cowboys fan? Yep.

The owners are cowboys.

My brother in law was with Michael Irvin
one time late night,

and he said,
someone in here was a huge Cowboys fan.

Lost it when they saw Michael Irvin.

Irvin signed a bunch of stuff. Jeff

what if Louis lunch Louis
the original walked in today.

What would he notice?

What would he what would stand out to him?

Depends what time you walked in.

If you walked in in the night,
you would turn around like,

what are you doing open at night?

They were only open up, 3 to 4:00.

They serve breakfast and lunch.

That's why it's called Louie's lunch.

Gotcha.

Jeff extended it to the night
time, No, new Haven is great.

And you're in the Library of Congress?
Yes. We are.

That's huge.

It's official.

This is the first place Library Congress,
the largest library.

They hold all the facts.

There's 170 million items in this thing.

And Louie's lunches in there.

What about Yale University?

That's a lot of our business.

Yeah, we love the Yale students.

They come in, they're like family,
and we get to meet new ones every year.

It's just a great thing.

It's just happiness.

What about the Yale basketball team?

I got a signed shirt for you.

Coming soon from the Yale basketball team.

My guy Riley Fox, number
nine, number 93 on the podcast.

Boom. We'll show the picture here.

So it's coming
your way. I'm very excited to share it.

And we,

I got the

bricks from China, and,
you got potato salad, potato.

So we make fresh every day.

We sell between 60

and 80 pounds a day,

on the weekend, on Saturdays.

It's good stuff.

Nice, nice.

Oh, and I'm a teacher.

There's a reading.

There's a Connecticut mastery test.

Back in the day, they'd have to take
a reading comprehension test.

Louie's lunch was a question.

Did you know that I know that, yeah.

I was a third grade teacher in Waterbury,
Connecticut, and I was like, oh,

it was like private and confidential,
so I couldn't take a picture of it.

But I was like,
it was the craziest, coolest thing.

You made it where every third grader in
the state was reading about Louie's lunch.

I know that because a lot of them come in

all the

time and, oh, we're we're here
because my child's doing a report on you.

So I right away.
Come on behind the counter.

Take a picture.
I let him go up with toast.

And then I say I want to hear your grade.

If you don't get an A I'm
going to come to your school.

Yeah.

That's so cool.

Great thing.

It's, it's just all fun.

Do you have a favorite teacher?

Favorite teacher was Albertine Schultz.

She was my middle school teacher, and
I was friendly order to the day she died.

That's so cool.

And he recommendations going on.

Do you do any other places
in New Haven or just.

I don't eat out much,
but I do eat out when I can. And

although

recommendations pizza
if you want to get into pizza

everybody goes for the three.

Modern Sally's Pepe's.

But there's a place called Frisco's
Pizza in New Haven,

and I think he's better than all Frisco's.

Where's that never been? Thomson Avenue.

On, Forbes out.

I'm sorry.

Forbes Avenue in New Haven.

And he does a lot for animals.

So, like, open a whole day.

And Sunday was animal trouble.

And he won't just give the profits.

We give every dollar that comes in,
tips everything, and donate it to animals.

That his pizza is so good.

All right, Paul,
we got some upcoming events here.

We got the Johnny's Jog on March 22nd.

Johnny Jack, friends with
will be doing the photo booth.

Come check us out.

Then we got the Lions Club.

These are the best pancakes around.

April 25th, from 8 to 12.

Lions club, they're good friends.

We have the Harford Athletic, July 11th.

We have the Yard Goats, August 15th.

And we have our fifth annual. Yeah.

Friends of Fini Golf tournament Tonks
this September 12th.

Love to have you
some sponsors, donations and volunteers.

any closing remarks?

No, no.

So, yeah, you're a good friend.

Saturdays are for friends.

Saturdays are for Louie's lunch.

I was honored to speak with you here.

Some golf. Do golf? No golf.

We're going to go to start.

Can we get some footage of some customers
coming in? Absolutely.

Well, it's been an honor and a privilege.
Thank you.

Let me get your cover photo.
Thank you so much.

I will say be a good friend on three, one,
two, three.

Be a good friend.

friends.

A free day.

Hey!