Brian Lizotte talks about himself, his passions and his business during a quiet interview in February 2023.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Okay, three, two, one.
00:01 Good afternoon, we're talking to Brian Lizotte
00:06 at his very famous venue here in the heart of Newcastle.
00:10 When does your day start, Brian?
00:12 - I get up at least between six and 6.30 every morning.
00:16 I'm awake.
00:17 - What's your first drink of the day, Brian?
00:21 - I drink a huge glass of lemon,
00:23 fresh lemon juice and water.
00:25 - Do you have breakfast?
00:28 - 75% of the time.
00:31 - What's usually on the breakfast menu?
00:33 - Breakfast menu could be some sourdough with avocado
00:37 and lemon and tomato and cucumber.
00:40 Kind of a Turkish breakfast is one of my favorites.
00:43 - You only live a couple blocks from the office,
00:45 is that right?
00:46 - I do, I just live about 100 meters from the restaurant.
00:49 - Is it easy to leave the office at work?
00:51 - It's getting easier and easier all the time.
00:57 - What's your favorite alcoholic drink, Brian?
00:59 - I'm a little bit partial to a good Pinot Noir
01:04 and I don't mind the odd medicinal gin and soda as well.
01:09 - When does your day end?
01:12 - My day ends normally when I am so tired
01:16 that my clock tells me that I should go to bed.
01:20 - What's the last thing you do at night
01:23 when you close the club?
01:27 - Put the alarm on.
01:27 - How much time do you spend with the artists
01:32 who play your venue?
01:33 - Not enough sometimes.
01:35 Probably I like to take their dinner order
01:41 and often I will clear their plates
01:45 and see how they enjoyed their meal
01:47 and that's my special time with them
01:50 and look after just catching up with them
01:53 and seeing what they've been up to.
01:54 - Are they a fussy mob when it comes to eating?
01:56 - Musicians travel on their stomachs
01:59 and the biggest thing is that I've learnt
02:03 and my mantra has always been look after the artist
02:06 and the rest of it looks after itself.
02:07 So feeding musicians is an integral part
02:10 of making sure that they come out on stage
02:14 and do a great show.
02:17 - Some of them like particular concoctions
02:19 for their voice, don't they?
02:21 - They do, we've been very famous
02:22 and we have a special little tonic
02:26 that I've just actually drank.
02:27 It's a lemon myrtle,
02:29 some of the most beautiful native Australian plants
02:34 that there is from northern New South Wales originally
02:37 and yeah, it's called lemon myrtle
02:39 and it's got a great citrual medicinal effect
02:43 on an artist's throats
02:44 and I've fed it to just about every musician that there is.
02:48 - What's your favourite show of all time
02:51 here at the Newcastle venue?
02:54 - Jim, I was hoping you wouldn't ask that question.
02:56 It's a terrible question to ask a person
02:59 that had 25 years of looking,
03:01 oh, 35 years of looking after musicians.
03:04 I would have to say because he's just coming,
03:08 one of my favourite all-time artists is Eric Bibb.
03:11 It'll be a Sunday that will be the most incredible,
03:17 it'll be the gospel according to Eric Bibb that Sunday.
03:24 - Would you still like to get to play the venue?
03:27 - I've been chasing Paul Kelly for far too long.
03:30 So if you're out there, Paul, come and play my room.
03:32 - How often do you get to pick up your own trombone?
03:36 - A question I didn't want to answer.
03:40 Not often enough.
03:42 I suppose when I've been prompted,
03:44 when I've got artists that I will get up with,
03:47 I brush up my chops,
03:49 but I do plan to be before I pass this earth,
03:53 I do plan to be a better trombone player is my goal.
03:56 - You still guide the menu here at the venue
03:59 as you always have?
04:01 - I still have something to do with the menu.
04:03 A lot of the signature dishes have my recipes thrown in.
04:08 I like my chefs to be creative
04:11 and as the food trends change and whatnot,
04:14 but yeah, I'd like to say I've always got a finger
04:17 in the pie, so to speak,
04:18 to make sure that the quality controls there.
04:21 And yeah, hopefully that's being done.
04:24 - You have a few things on the menu
04:25 that have been here since day one?
04:27 - They have.
04:28 A lot of my sauces and signature dishes have been on,
04:32 you know, a lot of them using Australian native ingredients.
04:34 So that's always been a highlight for us also.
04:38 - Do you eat your own food?
04:41 - I do.
04:43 I love cooking and I do a lot of my cooking at home as well.
04:46 And I love cooking for friends and family.
04:49 So I do like my own food, believe it or not.
04:53 - Which favorite dessert?
04:55 - Ooh, dessert.
04:56 That's one thing I've stayed away from lately,
04:58 but I am a bit partial to a good tiramisu.
05:03 a good tiramisu.