Episode #126: Feeney Talks with Helen Brower and Cesar Contreras (Sally & Bob's)

Show Notes

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #126 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Helen Brower and Cesar Contreras.

It was great to talk with my #friends, Helen and Cesar!

Helen and Cesar ownSally and Bob’s Eatery.

We talked about:

Podcast sponsors (minute 2)

3 Keys (sponsored by West Hartford Lock) to owning a restaurant (minute 3)

Cesar’s favorite meal to cook (minute 4.30)

Carne Asada & Avocado Eggs Benedict (minute 6)

Helen is always happy! (minute 7)

Google reviews (minute 9)

Supporting Friends of Feeney (minute 10)

Brooke Goff (minute 11)

Cesar’s favorite restaurant and 4 dinner guests (minute 12.30)

Where in the World Wednesday - Mexico (minute 14)

Mariachi Band (minute 16)

Instagram pictures (minute 17)

Supporting The Miracle League (minute 18)

Buying and expanding Sally and Bob’s (minute 21)

The “Newlywed Game” (minute 22)

Favorite superhero (minute 28)

Favorite teacher (minute 29)

Crazy Questions (minute 30)

How did Friends of Feeney start? (minute 38)

Upcoming events (minute 40)

Recommendations (minute 41)

Playhouse on Park (minute 42)

Matt’s calendar of scenery photos (minute 43)

Shoutout to Tommy Ray’s Barbershop (minute 45)

Feeney’s favorite breakfast at Sally and Bob’s (minute 46)

Cesar’s homemade hot sauce (minute 47)

“Shout out to our customers!” (minute 49)

Podcast Sponsors:

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

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.

It's tea time with friends at Sally
and Bob's.

This is good stuff.

This is Feeney talks with friends.

Episode 126 with some wonderful guests.

What's up? Cesar? Hi. How are you?

What's up? Helen? Hi. How are you?

We're at Sally and Bob's on
ten North Main Street.

Very excited.

This is my wonderful place to eat.

As you can see, we're going to sit down
with some good friends.

They're a little nervous right now.

How are you feeling?

Come on. A little nervous?

Yeah.

How long you been doing Sally and Bob's?

A little over eight years now.

Eight years?

Eight years?

Yep. A new eight years as well. Yeah.

That's great.

So just to review, last podcast
was episode 125, and we had Greg

and Chelsea on their Doing the Connecticut
Beer tour for a cancer free future.

They're at 11 different breweries.

That starts on February 1st.

So go back and check out Greg.

Look at that.

See that foam of the beer?

It's the shape of Connecticut.

Did you know? Yeah.

That's pretty cool, right?
Yeah. It's nice.

I like it.
What's your favorite beer? Says?

Modelo. Modelo? Yeah.

See, modelo might be on tour.
All right. All right.

You got to go check it out. Check it out.

Again, my name is Eric Feeney, founder
and president of Friends of Feeney.

Our mission is to help
children and families

in that need assistance
after heartbreak or tragedy.

I use this podcast
Fini talks with friends,

and I talk to wonderful people in
the community that are doing great things.

And as you heard, the our friends here
have been in the community

for eight years.

I'm so excited.

So too.

Yeah.

We'll do some.

Some sponsors.

My sponsors are Direct Line Media,

The Fix, Evie Keating Agency Insurance,

Golf law Group,
Luna Pizza, people's Bank, Parkville,

Market, float, 41, Maximum Beverage
and West Hartford Lock.

With that being said, West Hartford Lock.

What are three keys
that make you great at your job?

Three keys.

I go first. Yeah. You go.

I think

building relationships with our customers
and everybody who comes in here,

we try to welcome them in

form. Friendships.

Not just. They're not just customers.

Everyone who comes in
and usually becomes a regular.

I know we just talked about that.

Who was our friend that you brought food
to when she sprained her ankle?

Patty Albee, Patty Albee,
check out that podcast.

She's the,
administrator of friends and family.

And we talked on that podcast
about how nice Helen was.

You want to go in about that?

Talk about that.

Patty's a good friend and a good person.

She does a lot for everyone.

She had fallen and hurt.

And her hurt her ankle.

So my husband and I were talking
about something we could do for her.

And we knew she couldn't

get out of the house, so we decided
to make her favorite sandwich

and just drop it off for her
so she could have it.

And she loved it.

She talked about it on the podcast, and
I'm glad we get to talk about it again.

So that's one consistent,
being a good friend.

It's all part of the motto,
be a good friend.

Definitely. Yeah.

Two consistent.

Yeah. You know, being,

try to keep the way you have the one line
and keep it going.

Going and going same way, you know? Yeah.

Your meals are consistent.
Yeah. They taste the same every time.

Yeah.

I make sure.

What's the trick about consistency?

You have to check everything.

You know,
you have to be there all the time to check

everything. Yep.

To make sure everything is the right way.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Consistency.

Being a good friend.

And our final key.

I think we know what you're doing.

Know what I mean?

You like what you're doing
and you really love it.

I think it's easier for you.

You know, you don't you don't
get too stressed because you like it.

Yeah. You're

my, my

best pay is when the customers
go out and smile and text me.

Everything was delicious.

You know, the

make you feel very good.

Yeah. So this.

That's good. Yeah. Keep it consistent.
Yeah.

I hear.

I mean, I was just here, everyone. Thanks.

Everything was great.

Is. It's common, common phrase
here at Salem.

You feel.

You make you feel very well.

Very, you know, nice.

It's nice that people love it.

Yeah. Where'd you learn how to cook?

Here.

Oh, nice. In a diner.

I was actually. Was goal wrong down there.

Oh, nice. Yeah, that's. There's one.

Nice.

And what's your favorite meal to make?

Mexican food. Mexican food.

So best serve my.

Oh, nice. Yeah.
Can I put that on the menu?

We have it.

Oh. You do? Those are.

We do. On the assumption sometimes.

Gotcha. Yeah.

Speaking of the specials, I just had
the Kani asada steak and avocado eggs.

Benny. Oh, that was phenomenal. Thank you.

What's the. What's the secret?

The Chipotle day hollandaise sauce. Yes.

I have no recipes.

I just make it.

And the way I think it taste good

is how I bring it to people. You know?

And a lot of people love that.

And never all the ingredients we have
is fresh.

Yeah.

So the meat
I have a guy that he he cut the meat

like from fresh for the big piece
and you do it and everything come out.

I asked Helen on Sunday,
what's carne asada mean?

Carne asada is,

I use a special cut and you gotta cut this

different weight.

Okay, so, you know, everybody in the chefs
say when you kind of

go, you kind of something.

When there's a line like this,
you got to go against the line.

So is what we do with my, my meat okay.

And it gets very tender no matter how well
done it is, is not going to get tough.

It's going to be so tender.

No, it was great
all the way through. The meat is the

the key.

It might be my new favorite meal and I'm
we're going to see my favorite meal later.

But that Carmen carne asada
is giving it a run for its money.

What's the trick with hollandaise sauce?

Is that just mayonnaise and egg whipped,
or am I wrong?

I'm gonna put some, hot sauce. Okay?

And, a little touch of, lemon juice.

That's a key for the hollandaise sauce.

I want to say happy hollandaise.

So you're the face of the franchise,
Helen.

How's that feel?

You greet everyone.

You're always smiling
and so happy and friendly.

Thank you.

You're like a teacher, you know?

No matter what's going on in your life,

you got to present yourself
happy and smiling and.

Right.

What's the trick behind that?

Well, it's kind of easy here.

You know, a lot of people that come in
here, most people that come in are

in a great mood.

They want to come in, have a meal,

sit with their friends
or sit with their family.

And that's when everyone's nice
that comes in here.

So it's easy to be nice
when people are nice to you.

You know, you got it.

What's your favorite?

What's your favorite food on the menu?

I'd have to say

probably the rancheros that he makes

and and the chilaquiles that he makes.

I got to try these, too. Next time.
Yeah, yeah.

And I love the pancakes, too.

Pancakes are really good.
How are they so fluffy?

What's the trick?

Secret,

All right, well, keep it a secret.

When I. When they look like me,

fluffy

again.

We're at ten North Main Street
with Helen Brower and Cesar Contreras.

The number here is 86023653292.

How many pickups do you have?

Do you have a lot of pickup
online orders or.

We don't do online orders,
but we do a lot of takeout over the phone.

Yeah, that was my next question.

You don't do UberEats.

We don't do food delivery services.

We tried it in the past, and it just
didn't wasn't a good fit for us.

So we've decided just to

deal with
regular takeout and dining and only.

That's funny, because I just had
an experience with my coworkers.

It was my friend Leah Clayton's birthday,
so Carolyn O'Neill

and I, we were going to splurge
and buy her Chipotle.

It three.

So we had a burrito,
a salad, and a burrito bowl from UberEats.

Guess how much that was. $45.

$68. 68. Wow.

So there's fees.

Then there's the delivery fee.

So for three meals to get delivered
and literally from Chipotle to walk,

it is like five minutes.

I could have ran out and got it,
but it was like, I don't know, 70 bucks.

Yeah, they charge a lot and Uber Eats.

Sometimes I feel I'm not trying to smoke,
but I don't know your experience.

But my experience is like
sometimes the meals aren't correct.

And I'm like, who do you go to?

Who's the fault Uber eats out fault?

Or is the restaurant?

So I could see your reasoning for
maybe not.

Yeah.

We had we had some issues
with different delivery services,

but unfortunately the restaurant
always gets blamed,

no matter whose fault it is.

And that's

it's not always the case,
but your Google reviews are great.

Thank you.

I've seen a lot of five stars
and a lot of all positive messages.

And I see that you, you know,
you always write back. Thank you.

I always try to respond because they took
the time to to write the review for us.

So and then I see a lot of famous celebs
on the wall.

Who else.

Well you got the Harvey
your colognes the best boss.

Oh nice. Yeah.

Well I got to do to get on the wall.

Take a picture with me.

Yes. Yeah.

All right.

Success! That's all right.

Oh, and you, you guys always are.

So the question was,
do you support friends of Fini?

Do you remember sometimes that you've
supported friends of Fini in the past?

Sure. We've done
so many great fundraisers.

I've dropped coats.

I've donated bottles and cans.

Did a tee sign for, your golf tournament.

You do so many wonderful things
and so many different things that there's

so many ways that people can donate

that maybe one other,
one person couldn't do it,

but someone else can figure out
another way to do it.

I want to thank you.

Yeah. You've been a great friend
for all these years.

We just celebrated our four years
Facebook, friendship last week.

So I was going to mention that too.

We've been friends on Facebook
for four years. Yeah.

But you've been helping friends of Fini
for a lot longer, and I can't.

I can't thank you enough.

You have donated
gift cards to our fundraisers again.

You have donated cans.

You were a sign
sponsor, just like you said.

So thank
you so much for the continued support.

It truly means the world.

You guys are good people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And speaking of good friends,
we mentioned golf.

Remember,
we saw each other at the Brook golf party.

How was that?

Oh, it was fun. Cool. It was nice.

It was a nice time.
She's a very nice person.

Her staff is nice.

She's nice.

And, her party was really fun.

Yeah, we got a picture with Santa.

We gotta get that framed.

We should frame. Yeah.

There you go. Oh, I like that.

Okay. That's going to be on our wall
next week.

I'll frame it for you, I have to.

Yes. Coming up soon, but no. Brooke.

Office of sponsor of the,

the podcast.

We're trying to get her to be the sponsor
for the golf tournament.

Okay, we're going to show you this video.

You want to give her a little.
Give her a little something.

Come on, Brooke, be a sponsor. Oh, yeah.

And thank you.

Thank you for everything. Yeah.

Our motto is be a good friend.

Hold the door.

Pick up trash is not yours.

Give compliments and be charitable.
You do all of that.

Brooke does all that.

If any other reasons,
that makes Brooke golf a good friend.

She always gives back.

She's a she donates to a lot of different
fundraisers to charities.

And and all for good reason.

You know, she's she's a really
she's somebody who wants to help people.

Yeah. So, this is gonna be.

Might sound like a silly question,
but what's your favorite restaurant?

Like, what kind of food?

Yeah, I know anything.

Anything you want. Favorite restaurant?

Oh, that's hard.

And there's a follow up question.

You can have different for me.

Yeah. Frida. Oh, nice.

For Mexican food?

Definitely.
Yeah. Freedom. Freedom is really good.

And there's good people too.

Are very nice people. Yes. Very nice. Yep.

We got to get them on the podcast.

Can you hook that up?

Yeah. Oh, sure.

They make an avocado.

You ever have their avocado margarita?

No. Oh.

Whether I go for the food.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

During Covid, they used to put them

in a little sippy cup,
like a bag to go like a Capri Sun.

Really?

I would walk my dog, get a spicy margarita

or avocado margarita,
and they're like, nice people.

Nice. Very nice.

The food is fantastic.

Yeah. Good people.
Yeah. Their kids went to walk it.

Oh, okay.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Nice.

So you have Frida.

You can eat with four guests, dead
or alive.

Who? You and what?

Anyone in the world ever.

Only four.

I'll give you 5 or 6 if you want.

My wife.

My son,

my parents. Yep.

And my grandmother. Oh, wow.

All family, I love it.

Yeah. Family first. Yeah.

Cheers to that. Cheers. Cheers.

Helen. Sam.

So sweet.

I can't top that now.

How do I top that?
I keep moving on. Moving on.

That's the best. Great answer.

Points all the way.
All the way around. Yeah.

Great answer.

All right actually

let's talk about some pictures
on Instagram that we have collaborated on.

I have

you mentioned where in the world.

Wednesday
when you guys were just in Mexico.

Ex okay.

I am at what is it?

Sochi. Milko. Sochi. Milica. Yeah.

Sochi. Milica.

Can we talk about Sochi? Milica
and the boats?

It's a very,

It's like a lake.

Okay, but they had different,
like, routes to go.

And you going to look in the
and the vault,

and then you go inside, and then you have,

other ones
that have, like, mariachis for drinking.

So you just go and have fun for, you know,

you're ready for one hour,
two hours for out away.

Yeah.

You rent and you go and then they
put your name on it sometimes.

Hello. Hello. Names?

My mum.

Make sure the her name, is Princess
Choke. Eat.

Okay. They're all different names. Yeah.

Okay, I see that. Yeah. Nice.

Yeah.

You can customize and then you go,
and then you have.

Fine.

You go inside over there,
and then they sell food, drinks,

music, live and you just relax and go.

You love the mariachi band too, right?

Yeah.

Tell us about what happens
when you go to see your mom.

Every single time I go to see my mom.

I bring mariachis.

I always go surprise her.

They don't know when I come in.

So when they hear the messages,
they know I'm.

I'm there. So.

So all the neighborhood is like,
oh, you know,

I'm like, yeah, he's always here.

Mariachis here. Yeah.

And I love how you surprise him too
if you don't let them know. No.

Because you went over Christmas. Yeah.

And then you went for two weeks
and then Helen went down for a week.

For a week?
What happened when Helen went down there?

What'd you bring?

Mariachis.

Like I
and she don't even know that it was.

Surprise, surprise.

Oh, you got surprised by the man? Yeah.

Oh, Alessandra and I were coming.

It was nice.

We got to get mariachis.

Do you know any up here? No. Oh. Come on.

I mean, I have a mariachi band
when we do a fundraiser.

Right.

Friends of Phoenix here.

Mariachi.
All right, let me find that one at you.

Let's do it. Yeah. Do it.
And then you also.

That's where in the world you also sold,

magnets and hats for us.

February 25th, 2021.

Put magnets out for a donation.

You are Friday's
featured friend on August 8th, 2021.

You guys had the hat, so. And here's.

Oh, here's Helen delivering cans.

Yeah. To,
we're going to have all these up.

Stephanie is going to put them all up.

Oh, and here's us

hanging out outside in front.

Oh, yeah. Now. Yeah. Yeah.

You missed the outdoor seating.

I guess it's.

Yeah. A lot of people like to sit outside.

I like to sit outside as well.

You know, I like warm weather.

Yeah.

Oh. Right here. Then we had a sock.

You displayed our socks.
We had a sock contest.

That was really cool.

We just played our socks.

Oh, and then this one too.

This is something else in in Mexico,

the pyramids of de to to.

You pronounce it? Yeah.

Teotihuacan is, when the Aztecs.

Okay, the main city was okay,
and then Mexico City is like a city.

Beautiful.
That's a pyramid, right? Yeah. Pyramid?

Yeah.
Did you walk all the way up the stairs?

We weren't allowed to
because it was during Covid.

Wow. My son.

Before I bring him up all the way
up, you can see

they went for a year before,
and they went, oh, Alessandra.

And then after that. Yeah.

And for the Kobe they stop you get
you can not go anymore.

Well he he didn't she tried to okay.

It was a lot of steps.
I probably couldn't do it anyway.

How's Alessandra?

Where is he?

Come on. I thought he'd
be probably at the gym.

That's my guy.

Yeah, he's doing great things.

He's a guy.

I just saw him recently
at the Miracle League.

You guys were handing out
candy at the Miracle League.

Trick or treat. Another wonderful event.

You're there every year? Yes.

How many years now?

I think four years now.

4 or 5?

Yeah, something.

Mike Machado, who runs
that, is a wonderful person.

He's also on the podcast.

Go back and check out the Mike
Machado episode.

You know, you donate to fundraisers.

You you just great people. I can't
thank you enough.

Thank you.

I'm really excited that you're here.

You have you've had this place since 2016?

Yes. December 2006.

So in 1969, who bought this place?

Who? Who owned it? In 1969?

Sally and Bob.

Sally and Bob.

That was about who got who had it in 1983.

So their daughter Rhonda and

her husband Ron had taken the reins then.

And then when they retired, that's
when we took over.

Very cool.

Good answer.

You know, you you know, your stuff.

Of course you do.

And how was that transition?

Buying a new business. And it was scary.

I think, you know,
I was waitressing locally.

My husband was cooking pizza locally,

so it was something very new for us.

But the opportunity came and

we decided just to try it, you know,
and we did.

And it's been awesome, you know?

But we're still learning.

We have a lot to learn,
but it's been great, honestly.

It's the best thing we've ever done.
It's our dream.

Living your dream.

It's like

if you enjoy your job,
you never work a day in your life.

That's it. Yeah. And you.

You love cooking? Yeah.

And you're always so happy.

Well, that's my I love talking to you.

He said. I talk to everybody.

Hey, did you get paid to do
it? There you go.

Great job.

That's so cool.

And then we always run into each other
at the best of West Hartford.

Yeah.

Congratulations on that.

How many years have you won that?
Thank you.

Five. Five years. Yeah. Five years. Yeah.

20. 21.

22. 23.

24. Killing it. Five years in a row.

What?

What thinks what makes you think
you have won for five years in a row?

What's the, the reason behind that?

I think it's a hard worker
and a consistent what we do.

And. Loving. Loyal. Yeah.

Consistent. You love it.

We don't like it.

I didn't

sometimes start going down for it.

But when you like, when you want to do it,
when you look forward to going to work.

Yeah.

And let's talk about this expansion too,

because it was cut off at the post.

Yeah.
And what was this area that we're in now?

What was the shipping insurance company.

Okay.

That, unfortunately went out during Covid.

And then with that opening,
you saw the opportunity to expand,

which that was scary as well.

It's like buying a whole,
you know, starting all over again.

We don't know.

We don't know the unknown.

I don't know.

Yeah.

You don't know if you can fill it
or not. Fill it.

And how's it been working? Great.

Very good. Honestly, it's been great.

It's still a way.

I thank my husband because he was.

He wanted to jump, and I was more.

What if we don't? This.
What if we don't? That.

And he's like,
you never know until you try.

So you have to you have to try.

Let's try it.

Better than regretting not trying it.

So. Yeah.

And honestly, it's worked out very well.

Almost like you.
You don't lose until you quit.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, like, well,
what if if if, this is not.

If, you know what I mean.

Do it or don't do it.

Just do it.

I like it.

All right.

Ready for this game.

So this is this is going to be

all right.

This is going to be like the Newlywed
game.

Are you ready?

So I'm going to ask a question.
You got it.

You're going to try to agree.

You're going to have a Helen.

You're going to have a Helen.

You're going to have a Caesar and you're
going to have a say is all right.

When I say, say
like who always wins at monopoly

or who always wins the games,
you got to pick one or the other

and hold it up, okay.

Okay. And you got to go quick.

You can't look at each other
and think about it.

And we're going to see, you know,
how long you guys been married?

We've been married.

It'll be ten years in November, but

we've been together for 22 years.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

Me, too. Wait.

Nice. Yeah.

Yes. I'm not. I'm not.

I mean, I haven't made him. Wait.
What are you talking about?

I'm not that easy.

Yeah, I, I actually, we joked about this

at Brooke Goff's house
because we dated for seven years.

Yeah, my wife and I, and you guys have us
definitely be 12 years.

Yeah.

Nice, nice. Now, you know, it's.

It worked out.

No one, no one waited. But it's happening.

All right, so are you ready?

I'm going to pick either or. Okay.

We'll start off with the easy one.

Like, who takes the longest showers?

Okay.

And I'm going to check how many you got.

Right. Oh.

Can I borrow that pen again?

You mind? Do you need it?

All right,
so that's a tie. You get a point.

Every time you tie, you get a point. Okay.

Longest shower.

Who is the most competitive?

Okay.

Who cried the most

during the proposal or the wedding?

All right.

Three for three.

Who is the shopaholic?

What is that shopaholic about?

You buy a lot of things.

Always shopping. Shopping. Buying things.

Five stars are for to win.

Save loads of shopaholic.

Who has the worst handwriting?

Says Who is most likely

to steal food from your plate?

Who takes food?

Helen. Taking people's food.

Who's the most adventurous person?

Man, you guys are good.

See there.

So that's one, two, three, 4 or 5, six,
seven in a row.

Who's the funniest out of you?

All right, well,
I thought this would be a lot harder.

Who was most likely to look at their phone

during a date?

Well,
let's talk about that phone to say that.

What kind of phone do you have there?
You have?

Oh, there.

Galaxy. Falsy.

And it opens up
and it has the picture right?

Yeah. You got the good phone.

Who was the first one to say I love you?

Helen.

Helen. The love.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

Who's the best kisser?

All right.

Say that again.

Who gives the best massages?

Jeez.

This is too easy.

Who spends the most time getting ready?

Say, is our

takes too long
getting ready for those listening at home.

Yeah.

Helen gives the best massage is saved
as the best kisser.

Helen said I love you first.

Says I
was most likely to look at his phone.

He's the funniest.

He's the most adventurous.

He steals food, he has the worst
handwriting, and he's the shopaholic.

Yeah. Tell him, cried.

And say there takes the longest showers.

Yeah.

Who's the first to fall asleep at night?

Man, what time is that about?

The pensive.

Because you're up.

I mean, you open here at six
in the morning every day.

Yeah.

So you have to get here for five
ish, right?

You get here earlier
this week and weekends even earlier.

We're here, like for 430.

So you get up around 3:00 in the morning.
Yeah.

3:00 in the morning.
Oh come here. Take it.

Takes long showers. Yeah.

Like in the morning.

Takes long showers, takes forever
getting ready.

You're
probably busy giving them on the side.

Yeah, yeah.

Who hogs
all the covers on the bed at night?

Oh. Come on, come on, let's go.

We got our first disagreement over
who hogs the covers.

Oh. You guys can talk about this later.

Stop stealing the covers.

Leaving the couch tonight?
Yeah. Hahahahaha!

No covers all of that.

Who's most likely to forget birthdays?

Says,

Who's the best gift gift giver?

Who gives the best gifts?

Oh, is are quick with that one two.

Who's the night owl
like who stays up the latest?

So just, Helen.

Yeah.

Who's the better driver?

Oh, wait, you guys are Helen best driver.

Helen stays up late. Best gifts.
Gift giver.

Who takes the better pictures?

Says are with the good phone.

Yeah, exactly.

Who's the best cook?

Yeah. Better.

Who's the messiest?

Oh, say I Zafira.

Who asked who out first?

I don't remember I think

probably say their best.

And who's their most romantic.

Okay, Helen, for the romantic sometimes

who's most likely to get lost?

Who does more work at Sally and Bob's?

That's healing.

Well,

that's easy.

Yeah.

You and

Helen put up both season and Helen

and Susan says, I just said me.

All right, we had that one.

So you went.

They were 26 of them.

You went 25 out of 26.

Hogging the covers.

What do you think of the game?

That was good.

Of nice, fun. Fun.

Oh, it's,

Oh, yeah, we got we did.

Oh. Based on the funniest podcast. 123.

You know, she likes superheroes.

So who's your favorite superhero? And,

what's your favorite superpower?

If you could have any superpower,
what would it be?

And who's your favorite superhero?

I'm gonna say flash.

Flash.

Because I was super fast,
I could get a zillion.

Think it's time to welcome
someone around here, like, you know.

Yeah, I say Superman.

So you're kind of like flash
bouncing around.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like Superman.

Superman, I think.

All right, flash, it's too funny.
Do you agree?

It's the fun. The Superman
and flash. What? What do you say?

Good choices.

You good choices.

Favorite moment with a friend

or favorite teacher?

With a friend?

Yeah.

I'll say I had a lot of favorite moments

with teachers in the past couple of years

with my son's teachers.

Because,

it's so nice to hear a teacher

compliment your son with manners or.

How kind someone is.

And that just makes you feel good when
someone compliments your kid like that.

And there's been multiple
teachers and and I think.

Knowing that you do a good job
and having a teacher

tell you that your kid this way
or that way is, is a nice feeling.

So I'm going to say that,

hey, you have a good kid too.

So and but that positive reinforcement
and is important.

Thank you

friends teacher fam.

I think the favorite moment
is going to get married.

Nice.

She was my friend. That wasn't my. Whoa.

That was that wasn't it? Guys on a roll.

I know you are killing.

There's no the people for a moment.

Who's going to have dinner with right now?

Whose favorite moment?

Geez.

Making me look bad.

Oh. Oh, we had sponsors.

Now we have some crazy questions.

Are you ready for queasy questions? Okay.

And what do we have to do to get Sally
and Bob's to sponsor the podcast?

You want to sponsor our crazy questions?

All right,
so we'll talk about that later okay.

What's your favorite sport?

Soccer.

Soccer. Oh
these are written by kids to my students.

Oh nice. Okay.

They have to start it with a capital
letter and with the proper punctuation.

And then they tell you
their favorite breakfast too. So.

Okay.

Favorite
breakfast is a bagel with cream cheese.

What's your favorite drink?

Say modelo.

You know, good answer.

What's your favorite app
to watch on your phone?

Oh, you know what it is for me.

Yes. For you.

TikTok

success I love it.

What's your favorite drink?

What's your favorite ice cream?

Mine is coffee.

My strawberry.

Nice. Three people asked the the.

You have a lot of kids wanting to know
your favorite ice cream. So.

Do you sell pancakes.

Yes. Delicious ones. Yeah.

Their favorite
breakfast is eggs and bread.

Did Mr..

Does Mr. Feeney visit you.

Yes, yes.

How old are you?

You don't have to answer
if you don't want to.

All right.

Moving on.

I like soccer because soccer is very fun.

And once I was so proud of myself
and my team.

One, two.

All right, not.

Have you ever eaten cheesy fries?

Yes. Have you ever been to Orlando,
Florida?

Just. Yes. Have you ever seen a lion? Yes.

Have you ever seen a white tiger?

Yes. Yeah.

Is this your dream job?

Yes. Yes.

Do you have to wear a uniform?

Kind of, I guess t shirts.

Speaking of which. Yeah. Look,
I like your t shirt, right?

Yeah, I'm feeling good.

Thank you for this.

Their favorite
breakfast is eggs and bacon.

Do you sell ice cream?

Do you have pancakes?

Why did you buy Sally and Bob's?

That's a great question.

To make our dream come true.

Yeah. Good answer.

How many recipes do you have?

I have no idea.

What's the too many hit between here
and all the Mexican food that I know.

So it's a lot less think because I.

Their favorite breakfast is pancakes.

I like pancakes because
they're really tasty with maple sirup.

That's why I like pancakes.

Their favorite food is eggs and bacon.

What's your favorite color?

Black.

Blue.

What's your favorite subject in school.

And art.

Just like your subject.

Math reading
writing science social studies,

art, art. Yeah.

He was actually an artist.

Nice. Yeah.

Speaking of which, who designed
these beautiful things on the wall?

I like that a lot, too.
You had the expansion.

You painted it color.

I like the color you have.

Can we get the eggs or the eggs in there?

You want to explain?

Actually, he's
scissors got an incredible eye.

He chose the color, the graphics.

Let's see everything.
We're going to move it a little bit.

See these eggs?

The three amigos?

Right.

Who's who's CNA?

I know the answer.

You see how he's in the front though,
right?

You see how he's the big guy?

I did give that to him.

And the fluffy one he's left. Yeah, yeah.

And then you get the breakfast.

Eggs and potatoes, toast,
sausage, ham, bacon

and pancakes.

What was the inspiration on the artwork?

Just something fun, something different,
something comfortable.

And people come and they go, look, these.

You want to go a place to enjoy?

Yeah. Not to say like, like more. Yeah.

I want something funny, something
fun, fun, exciting, creative I like it.

Coffee and friends.

Yeah.

I'm going to sneak in
one day of Fini on the boat.

Okay.

Coffee and friends of Fini friends.

That's not a bad idea.

You know, I'm just

going to hire someone.

What's your favorite animal?

Dolphin.

Dolphin.

Turtle. Turtle.

Do you like monkeys?

Yeah.

How many workers do you have here?

That was a good question.

I like the want to know that one too.

Between front, front of the house

and back of the house.

Part time, full time, like maybe

16, 17 mice.

Yeah.

We have a lot of part timers
and a couple of full timer. So.

What's your favorite special?

This week, mine is the, carne asada.

Yeah. Eggs. Benny I didn't I didn't.

One of the most popular is,
lobo rancheros.

Yeah. Is it everybody or the soap?

Eggs?

Yeah. Oh,
a lot of people like the soap. As to.

All right. Remind me next time. I'm
definitely trying. Yeah, yeah.

Their favorite breakfast is pancakes.

Favorite food?

The lemon ricotta pancakes
with the blueberries are really good, man.

We should have had that.

Should they got that out?

Are we gonna get my breakfast too? Like,
I show my favorite breakfast.

And my favorite breakfast is challah
French toast.

You guys do the hollow French toast?

Yeah, I said challah. Oh, boy.

A bacon and eggs.

Do you guys sell ice cream?

Do you have parfait?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

You make cake.

We don't make cake. No.

Do you know who ratatouille is?

Yeah. Does ratatouille work here?

Kid wants to know sometime in the back.

Can you give me the recipe for.

Do you guys sells spaghetti and meatballs?

No, no.

Do you think you can make a pancake
donut with bacon on it?

Call it the bacon donut.

Pancake and give me credit for it.

It's a great idea.

Let me try. And I'm.

Do you like cats?

Yeah.

What's your favorite TV show?

Criminal minds

I like soccer, sports.

Sports? Yeah.

Do you like bananas? Yes.

Do you like roller coasters?

Yeah. Oh, nice.

Yeah. No.

No. Do you have a secret menu?

No, no.

Have you ever had a customer

ask for a personalized dish?

Sometimes.

Yeah, yeah.

How about when I turn 46?

Do you remember what you did? Yeah.

You see, I don't even know.

Oh, yeah.

Mean we did it on Breaking Bad.

Walter White did it in the movie.

In the show Breaking Bad,

So I had the bacon.

You do the scrambled eggs,
and you crack the bacon into a 46. Yes.

Oh, yeah.

You were sitting right over there. Yes,
I did that for me.

Oh, is there time for

favorite color?

Boom boom boom.
All right. That concludes crazy questions.

Were those crazy enough I love how
you incorporate your students questions.

Nice I think that's great.

Yeah.

You know it's real world writing
I love it.

Do you have, questions for me?

What am I you do.

What are you doing now?

Nice.

So I'm a third grade teacher, and,
12 years ago, one of my students

lost their dads and, you know, I.

I'm from a divorced family,
so I know how it was not to see my dad

every once in a while, but I could never
imagine never seeing him again.

So I felt I had to do something.

I had twins, that family had twins.

So we did a GoFundMe.

We raised money and,

you know, and
since then, we've been helping families

ever since we just raised over $225,000,

and we just helped over 90 families
in 12 years.

But, yeah,
back to just back to the family.

We did GoFundMe me, but go fund me taxes.

The recipient
takes a portion of every donation.

So the following year,
one of my students lost their dad's

in Hartford to gun violence.

So I was like, you know what?

We'll we'll start a nonprofit.

And we've been again

helping families ever since, working
with wonderful people in the community.

Very generous, thoughtful
people like yourself.

So thank you for all your support.

You know, we should thank you.

You're thoughtful, generous
with all the time you put in.

You come back.

Thank you.

I appreciate it's busy,
but it's a good busy.

Yeah.

You know,
I could be playing on TikTok, right?

I'm kidding.

Oh, I also thought this would be cool
if I created something like this.

Put that up, and that'll be our podcast.

So when people wait,
they could scan this and watch our just.

Yeah. Learn more about Friends of Feeney.

We'll put maybe this picture
or our picture like above.

Maybe something.

We'll have this in our Christmas cards.

Christmas
picture up there. Right. Perfect.

And we got some upcoming events.

Can I hang this up, too? Of course. Yeah.

So I'm going to ask all these questions
that you have to say.

Yes, because you're on camera.

Can we hang this up?

So if you're available. Yeah.

For friends of any night, February 28th

at 7:00. It's our Wolfpack game.

It's our fourth annual game.

We have kids
giving high fives to the hockey players.

It's a great time.

We have to stop at Sally
and Bob's in the window.

And then we have our golf tournament.

Hopefully you would sponsor
another team sign September 13th.

Check that out. Yeah.

Of course.

That's upcoming events.

Do you guys have any upcoming events?

No not really.

Just waiting for warm weather.

Do you have any recommendations?

Are you list what's your favorite,

TV show?

I know you say you watch soccer

or are you reading a book
or do you listen to podcasts

or what's your favorite TikTok?

Are you listen to
what's the tick tock? What?

Which one's funny?

I just look at all the Mexican comedians.

Yes, you

get the stress from the works
for the. Yep.

You know what I mean.

They start laughing or whatever,
you know, is something that they

the stairs away
from there. So I use it for,

for a, social person.

Yes. Scrolling
your TikTok algorithm, would you?

So you just like comedian.

Yeah. Yeah. Mexican media. Yeah.

This nice.

Yeah. You need to laugh.

You got it? Yeah.

Everyone needs time. Yeah.

Any recommendations?

No one.

I like comedians,

but I like going to play house on park
and watching the comedians.

Nice.

They do a great, great set
sometimes I've been that BYOB comedian.

I've been to a couple.

Yeah, that's a great place.

Tracy doesn't want you there.

They do a great job there.

The 50th podcast
and the 100th podcast was there.

Okay, so 50th podcast.

I had Ty Scott and Andy,

the 100th podcast.

I had Javier Colon,
Frank Whaley, who plays, he's in like

Pulp Fiction,
Field of Dreams, he's in CSI.

Okay.

And a couple other special guests.

But it was a good time at Playhouse Park.

So thank you so much for everyone
at Playhouse on Park.

I'm going to recommend our last guest.

Greg Hammond wrote this book.

I read the first 25 pages.

It's really good.

You can do more that matters.

So thanks, Greg, for suggesting this.

I suggest you get it.

Again,
that and I suggest that you go to the.

Maybe we can meet at the brewery tour.

Would you go meet me someday?

They're going to do one at New Park
or we. Hi.

Roasting and Brewing in West Hartford.

Yeah.

One night, stop by, but
take your time, think, plan and do more.

That matters. And that's from Greg.

Oh, and I just got this, too.

This is my guy Matt.

I see him taking pictures.

He takes wonderful pictures
and he loves hiking.

So check out this calendar.

Look at all these.

He goes to Vermont.

A lot of that first one is Quebec.

Look at that one.

Nice. Nice Massachusetts.

Yeah he goes up.

And the craziest thing
he climbs these mountains by himself to

Vermont.

Vermont, please stay on the trail.

But no, it's a great calendar.

The great Christmas gift
from New Hampshire is a beautiful picture.

Yeah.

Do you like hiking?

Yeah, when I have time.

Vermont? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, and I got you a gift to.

Experience.

Mexico.

Oh. That's nice. That's for you.

I know you like Mexico.

Thank you very much.
I really appreciate it.

So my daughters are learning Spanish.

Well,
they they take, like, honor Spanish and,

so. And then.

But the time I took Spanish
in high school,

I didn't really know much,
but I went to Cancun for a week.

I learned so much Spanish.

Because you're there. Yeah. Inclusion.

That's the best way to learn.
Oh, yeah. That's how I learned

English or Spanish.

Right?

English. Gotcha.

To learn a different language. Yeah.

When you're just it's nice day to day.

And you,
that's how you have to learn it, you know.

And I thank you I really appreciate it.

Thank you man. Yeah I hope you like it.

Anyway, Oh, and then I've been saving
the most important question

to the end.

Who's got a better beard?

You know, I have to say, my husband.

Yes, because he was so nice
to me. The whole cat.

But dinner,
the best day of his life was the wedding.

Who's your barber? Right downstairs.
Yeah. Tommy.

Come on, give him a shout out.
Give Tommy a show.

Tommy. Raise.

Tommy.

Tommy! Ready?

Yeah.

Very good people. Danny. Nick.

Jessica. Frank! Danny!
Everyone down there?

Yeah. They're awesome.

They're very nice.

Nice people in there. Do a good job.

That is a nice place for me. Yeah.

Yeah they do
well as long as they're perfect.

Yeah I know what I'm saying. So yeah.

Yeah they're very nice and

you're gonna look at this.

It's nice.

Maybe we could do a podcast.
Can I get a haircut

and then give me the podcast
and do a haircut at the same time?

Yeah. Yeah, I bet you that'd be fun. Yeah.

It's nice.

Yeah. They're good people downstairs.
Good people.

Yeah.

Oh, and then last but not least,
I got to show you my favorite meal.

Stephanie, would you mind handing me
and we could explain what's going on here?

This is.

So this is an eggs, Benny.

So. Yeah, I'm in on it.

So this is an eggs Benedict with corned
beef hash, right?

It's also.

Could this be an Irish Benny
because of the corned beef hash.

I got that. Yeah. Beautiful.

I tried to wait, but I already did
some catch up in hash browns.

And this is the hollandaise sauce
that we talked about.

Yeah.

And is homemade. Gonna be hash.

Is it homemade corned beef hash.

So good.

The one thing about that though
it pops on the beard.

Yeah a hollandaise sauce.

And on Sunday had your carne asada one
and I was like

went through like four napkins
because it's like

but this is so good.

Thank you.

You have to try it
with the homemade hot sauce.

Oh and the homemade hot sauce. Yeah.

And we got to bottle that up
bottle and sell it.

What, you're gonna look for it this year?

Definitely wanted to have this.

So Cesar makes his own homemade hot sauce.

This is my daughter, Neil. His favorite.

She was, like, homemade, of course.

Yeah. When you asked what?

What hot sauce?

What about, like, that poor, nice

and just.

Oh, my God, like,

so is that what you like to do it?

Yeah.

Hot sauce.

Oh I someone up, man.

Your brand new book. I'm making a mess.

That's okay.

It's from Mexico in my, like, hot sauce.

Now did it did we miss anything?

Anything you'd like to add?

Any questions?

Remarks?
Some people you want to shout out.

Alessandra,
I got a nice compliment from his teachers.

You have a great kid.

You have a wonderful business here at.

Thank you, ten North Main Street.

You've been here for eight years.

6 to 2 every day.

7 to 2 on Sundays. Yeah.

I just noticed you got a waiting room
over in this side now, too.

Well,
it's the lobby for the for the building,

but it comes in

useful on the weekends
when you have a long wait.

So it's it's been good.

And as far as a shout out,
I think we'd like to shout out to everyone

who's listening, who comes in here
and supports us over the years.

You know, this was something new for us.

So we're grateful
and we appreciate everybody

who comes in here and supports
everyone who supports small business.

Yeah.

You know, that's that's what you gotta do
now is support small business.

And we're lucky
we have a lot of great customers.

I want to thank I want to
thank all the customers because zero

without them this will be happen.

And and the neighborhood is very good
neighborhood.

A lot of people help here.

And there was a hard fought area
and then a people help.

Oh yes. Nice.

Wonderful community. Oh yeah. Definitely.

So I because you live here.

Yeah. Obviously living and work in West
Hartford. Yeah.

We've we've been here
I mean we've had the restaurant

for eight years,
but we've always lived in West Hartford

and we've always worked in West Hartford
before here.

So our son goes to
school in West Hartford. So

it's a great community.

I've noticed that even with friends of
Feeney, the community is very supportive.

Yeah. Businesses are supportive.

And so thank you for

why you're out there liking like
and share this podcast and subscribe

to the Feeney Talks With Friends
podcast on Spotify or YouTube.

Come on, be a good friend and, subscribe.

We've got some wonderful guests here.

We just sat down with Citizen Helen
and can't thank you enough.

Thank you know, thank you.

Any closing remarks you got your closing
remarks and you thanked everyone?

Yeah.

So on three will say be a good friend.

One, two, three be a good friend.