Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Hey guys, how you doing? This is Steve Padernacht with Keller Williams Realty. And I’m back with another episode of SNP TV. And for those of you who don’t know, New York City actually shut down again yesterday for the second time in 2020 due to the Coronavirus and pandemic that’s going on throughout the country. So, I apologize about not being able to put out any episodes the past 2 weeks, but some of the businesses that I’ve been talking to have not necessarily been available. They’ve been just getting ready for this shutdown. As of yesterday, Governor Cuomo announced that we were shut down, and all indoor dining has been ceased in New York City. So, I’m here today with Steve from Blackstone Bar and Grill, who actually took a minute to sit down with us. And how are you doing?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I’m doing well. How are you doing?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: I’m doing good, man. I’m doing good. So… so, tell me a little bit about what’s going on here. How are you feeling with the second shutdown?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Well, this time around, it’s a lot different. It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially right before the holidays. I have a lot of staff, the… first of all, I had to lay off a lot of people. And having to go through this thing all over again, whether it’s needed or not, it’s a whole other story. But I think it could have been done a little bit differently, but it’s not going to be good, not for businesses.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Gotcha. So…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: And the community in general is not… its…
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Well, that was kind of my next question, what… what impact you think this shutdown is going to have on their communities? Especially this community in general, Riverdale, because that… you know, let’s… let’s talk to the elephant in the room. I mean, we’re both from this area, and we know this area the best. So, what do you think this impact is going to have on this area, specifically?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Well, for one thing, first of all, I think that the impact is going to be throughout New York City. You know, I think, for business owners is devastating, because it’s going to hold… it’s forcing people to stay indoors, okay, whether they’re cooking on their own or going to the supermarket or grabbing something real quick. But it’s… it’s depressing. It’s making the whole… the whole atmosphere, for business owners for one thing, that’s going to hurt them a lot. You know, not having the that 25% that we had did help a little bit.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: You know, you had at least you could pay your expenses. But now it’s…
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Given the fact that it’s wintertime, you know, at least in the summertime, when they shut us down, we were able to go outside and hang out outside. And then now, it’s… I don’t know. I mean, I see you have outdoor setup. I mean, what… what’s the plan with outdoor? Do you think that that’s going to actually help some businesses? What are some businesses doing to try to keep income coming in?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: We have an outdoor, but it’s not really… it’s not really geared for heavy-duty weather. You know, it was just September, October, November. That was okay. Having the outdoors will help some businesses, but not a whole lot when it comes to January, February, when you have in 300 weather, 200 weather.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: 100 weather.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Snow, sleet, what are you going to do?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: It’s not going to do much. And I think some people, since they have that structure, they’re going to be forced to try to make a go of it, and that might put a bigger nail in the coffin.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, you know, we were talking about this off camera, like there’s some businesses that are investing serious money into those outdoor spaces.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah, some of those things cost 25, 30,000.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, so…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: It’s not cheap.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: So, what happens? Somebody goes, and they invest 25, 30,000 into that, and then they’re just kind of adding debt to their bottom line. So, or it could be wildly successful. I mean, these are the problems that business owners are faced with today, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: You don’t know what the outcome is going to be? Me personally, I don’t think I’m going to go out when it’s 200 to sit outside so I could have a beer. It’s just not going to happen.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: So, I buy the beer and take it home with me. And it’s… it’s the… it’s not going to help the average restaurant on the street.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: That’s kind of what I was thinking too. Like, the big guys, they could probably, you know, handle it, but the small guys, it’s going to really… you know, this, this shutdown really kind of… it kind of puts a nail in a lot of coffins, right? So, like, if you’re borderline and you’ve just been getting by, you know, this shutdown can really break you at this point, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: So, last year, when the original shutdown happened, a lot of restaurants took the chance and shut down for 2, 3 weeks, a month. Some of them were closed for like 3, 4 months. The restaurants that were able to stay afloat managed. There was some outgoing, there was some delivery. Nowadays, everybody’s open. Everybody’s going to try to make a go of it. So, everybody’s going to take a little bit more from that pie. And everybody’s going to be struggling, fighting with each other, trying to make a go of it, and I think…
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Going after the same customers.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah, every… there’s a limited amount of people.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: You gave a good example before. So, there’s 100 customers that are out there buying food, and there’s only 1 restaurant open, they’re getting 100. Now, you got 5 different places open, so it’s… it’s rough all the way around. How do you see this impacting Blackstone specifically?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Well, for us, it’s going to… we’re strictly going to be doing pickup and delivery.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Okay.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: We shut down the outdoor dining for the time being, because it’s really not geared for harsh weather. We don’t have one of those sophisticated structures. So, we’re just doing pickup and delivery. I’m not sure how… how… if we can sustain ourselves with just pickup and delivery. We managed last year, but this time around, like I said, there’s… it’s going to be tough for go. So, I was thinking maybe after the holidays, or after the Superbowl, we’re just shut down for a month, maybe 2, until it actually… you know, they open up the door, and we could serve people inside. Because we’re not going to make it with just… with just the outside.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Well, you know, you bring up a very interesting point, because a lot of people don’t realize that just having the doors open, it costs money, right? So, like, you know, you have insurance, you have, obviously a payroll.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Payroll.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: You have medicine, you have water, you have, you know, your share of property taxes for… if you’re… if you’re leasing the space. So, you know, it might make sense for some business owners to just close down for a month or 2 and kind of regroup, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: You just have to figure out how much of an acceptable loss are you willing to take. Are you willing to take just a loss of being closed, and just pay those expenses, or stay open, have those expenses anyway and take a bigger loss with payroll, and ConEdison and all the added… all the added stuff that comes along with running a business day to day?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, you’ve… you’ve been in the business a while now. How long you’ve been here already?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Well, at this location, I’ve been here for 7… it’s going to be 7 years this coming May.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Okay. And what was here prior to this?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: It was Hudson’s. This was a landmark, a Riverdale landmark. I used to love this place. Coming here was great.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: I do remember Hudson’s.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I’ve been coming to Hudson’s… I’m a Riverdalean. So, I’ve been coming to Hudson’s before I was old enough to drink.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Oh, really? Well, we’re not going to… we might edit that part.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Well, I had a restaurant. So, they had great burgers here back in the day. Oh my God, it was great.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I hear. I heard Hudson had great burgers.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: That’s true.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: So, is that why you opened up a business here in Riverdale? This is where you’re from, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Raised in Riverdale. I was born on Fordham Road, but raised in Riverdale on a couple of blocks away. Went to school here. Ran my father’s business Blue Bay Restaurant on Johnson avenue for… worked there for about 20, 25 years. And then when it was time for me to do my own, I went out and Hudson’s was up for sale. I was able to purchase it and just remodel it.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: So, how did that feel, being able to open up a business in the same place that used to hang out at? How did that… how did that feel?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: It was great. Over the years, so many times you have those long nights over here going, “How great would it be to own this place?” And when the time came for me to own the place, I was like, “Wow, this is…” you feel like a million dollars. So, you think you won already.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Not knowing what you’re getting into.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah, yeah. I didn’t actually. But owning a business in your neighborhood, second to none.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I… I’m going to say 80% of the community, I’ve known them in some capacity. Whether I know you just in passing, or I know you by face or I know your mom, your dad, your… your sister, your brother, it’s an amazing feeling.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Anybody who walks through the doors, you kind of…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah, you know something about them.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: You can put a finger on it, right, like, “Wait a second, your cousin used to be such and such, right?”
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: “I used to hang out with your dad. I went to school with your uncle.” Oh, it’s great.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Do you feel a certain sense of… because for me, I’ll get to the question in a second. But for me, like I love hanging out near home, because you get that real community feeling. You know, like you come in here and, you know, it’s very cliche, but you know, you want to go where everybody knows your name. But like, you walk in the bartender says hello to you. You’re here to say hello to everybody. I mean, do you feel a certain sense of responsibility to the community to kind of try to keep the doors open?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I do. I do. A lot of people have reached out in the last couple of days. “Steve, what’s going to happen? Do you need anything?” I don’t want to just shut it down. I have staff that, even though I have laid off some people, a lot of other people have stayed on. And I can’t just let them go. I have to end up all my staff, I gave them one day each just so they can have something or they’re able to do something. I had some stuff… staff that was working at other restaurants and they were like, “Steve, I lost my other… my other job. What am I going to do?”
“Alright, stay on. What… I can’t just let you go.”
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: It’s hard because like, you know, you feel that certain sense of like, “Okay, I wish I can give you 5 shifts, but I can’t. I’m going to just give you 1, so at least you know, you have something… you have something to go home to your family or to your kids, or to whatever.”
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Something.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: It’s really truly remarkable like what small businesses are really doing here during the pandemic. I mean, you know, first and foremost, you want to make sure everybody’s healthy, right, obviously. But second to that, you want to make sure that you’re able to give the community and give people a sense of hope, right? I mean, like, you know, this new vaccine just came out yesterday, do you think that that’s going to help us? Do you think that that’s going to…? What do you think of it?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Eventually, everybody’s going to be vaccinated and it will help. I think by June, July, they said, everybody’s going to have access to the vaccine at least.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: June, July.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Okay. So, that will help in terms of reopening the city.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: At least make please make the general public feel more safe, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: In general, is going to make everything safer. That’s assuming everything works the way it’s supposed to work.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: On the other side of this, once we come out of it, who knows what the landscape is going to look like? Forget about the businesses, I’m talking overall, how the community is going to react, because think about this. Before this, you were able to go to the game, and the guy next to you was screaming and raving and you would high-five.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Are you going to be able to do that now?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: What’s going to happen, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Are you going to be able to go to the movie theater and have the guy sitting right next to you while you eating your popcorn?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Very true. I didn’t even think about that. Yeah, I mean, the whole world is going to be changed, right? So, like, I went to the movies, I went out in Jersey, and they have, you know, social distancing. But like, you know, they literally have like a row separating people, and all these seats separating people, it doesn’t feel the same.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: But that’s now. What’s going to happen next year? Or is that going to be the norm going forward? Or are they going to say, “The vaccine is here. You’re good to go now. Don’t worry about it,”?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, think about our future generation, the future generation of kids, like when they grow up, they’re not ever going to know what it’s going to be like to go to Yankee Stadium and watch the ballgame and give the high-five and, you know? You know, oh my lord, hopefully, we get back to normal at some point, right>
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: You know, Sunday night, the last day before the indoor dining, I had a ton of people coming in, and just to give them… to say, “Steve, we’re here. If you need anything, give us a call.” They just happened to be walking by. They would pop in it. They’d almost… they were… all the people were like, “Can we sit down?” last day is like the Last Supper kind of thing, you know?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah/
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: We don’t know how long is it going to be. They tell you it’s going to be for at least 2 weeks, but you don’t know if this is going to be a month, 2 months, 3 months.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Originally.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Last time… yeah, originally, it was 2 weeks.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: It ended up being 4 or 5 months.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: So, what’s the… what’s the plan moving forward here? I mean, like so you are open for delivery and takeout? So, if somebody wants to support, what are they doing?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: They can go to our website. You can order online right off our website, which is blackstonebargrill.com. Or they can give us a call at 347-346-6004.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Okay.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: And we’re only going to be open from 5:00 to 11:00. We have limited hours now. We have to shut down. And we’re going to play by ear to see how things will work out for us. If we need to limit our days, right now, we’re open 7 days a week, but we’re thinking maybe closing down on Monday, just to limit payroll.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: I guess you got to kind of take it by… play by ear, right?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah. You don’t know what the… what… how this is going to play out.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, yeah. You’re actually the first person I’m going to try this with the first interview. So, for those of you who have been watching the videos, what I’m going to start doing at the end of the videos is I’m going to start doing a trivia. And I’m going to ask 5 questions. So, for every question that the person gets correct, I’m going to donate $25 to your favorite charity. It’s going to be multiple choice questions, pop culture, pretty simple stuff. You should be able to get most of them.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Should be a softball, lobbing it up for me.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, yeah.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Let’s go. Lob it up.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Alright, alright. So, let’s start with this. Alright in the Wizard of Oz…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: You got me.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: … the tin man…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I’ve never watched Wizard of Oz.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Well, it’s multiple choice, so you can get…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Okay.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: You can get lucky if a chance. You have a wonderful chance.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Okay.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: In The Wizard of Oz, the tin man wanted to see the wizard about what, A, his brain, B, an oil can, C, his heart, or D, a dog?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Is it an oil?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Well, I…
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: I think it’s an oil can.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: That’s your guess, B?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Yeah.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Okay, that’s not correct.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Wow, okay.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Hope for 1, alright. How many blue stripes are on the American flag, A, 6, B, 7, C 13, D, 0?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: 0.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: You are correct. Alright. So, 1 out of2. Alright. What is the color of Donald Duck’s bow tie, A, red, B, yellow, C, blue, or D, white?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: B, yellow.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: That is incorrect.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Really?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, no it’s red.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Is that standard?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: It’s standard.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Is that always?
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah. Well, so in the early episodes, it was black, like the first like 1 or 2 episodes. And then it was always red after that.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: No shit.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Yeah, Donald Duck. Yeah, hot mics, man, it’s alright. Alright, in what city can you find the Liberty Bell, A, Washington D.C., B, Boston, C, Philadelphia, D, New York City?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: C, Philly.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: There you go. Okay. 2 for 4. Alright, last question. Forrest Gump famously quoted and said, “Life is like…” A, bag of lemons, B, a handful of roses, C, a pocket or lollipops, or D, a box of chocolates?
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: A box of chocolates.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: There you go. Alright, dude. So, you got 3 out of 5. That’s 75 bucks going to your favorite charity. I really appreciate your time. And listen, man, whatever I could do to try to help you stay on… stay above water here.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Steve, thank you so much for doing this, and thank you for putting Blackstone out on your… on your podcast.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: My pleasure, man, my pleasure.
Steve Catechis “Riverdale Restaurants” “Blackstone Bar & Grill”: Appreciate it.
Steven Padernacht “Riverdale Real Estate”: Dude, take care man.