Good bourbon and even better conversations. In this episode of A Seat at the Table, Chef Ken sits down with Dr. Scott Leverage – a distinguished gastroenterologist and president of Tri-State Gastroenterology Associates. Dr. Leverage shares his journey from an uncertain undergraduate to a prominent figure in medicine, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and support along the way.

Ken and Dr. Leverage reflect on the pivotal moments that shaped their careers, revealing how encouragement from those who believed in them helped each man find his calling. The conversation highlights how serving others can have a profound impact on personal fulfillment and professional growth – in both medicine and at the table.

Today's guest is someone that holds a very special place in my story.

Long before the at home chef was winning awards and appearing on television or serving clients across the area, there were a handful of people that took the chance on me.

One of those people was Dr. Scott Leverage.

Dr.

Leverage is a board certified gastroenterologist, president of the Tri State gastroenterology Associates, and one of the most respected physicians in northern Kentucky.

But beyond his professional accomplishments, he's been a loyal client, supporter and friend for many years.

What I appreciate most about Scott is that he believed in me before I fully believed in myself.

He saw potential when I was still figuring things out and building this business one dinner at a time.

Today we're going to talk medicine, leadership, family food, and what it means to serve others and.

And the impact we can have on people simply by believing in them.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Scott Leverage to the table today.

Scott, I'm so happy you're here.

Well, thank you for having me.

Absolutely.

This is exciting.

Yeah, it's really cool.

I figured since we have a past, Scott is one of my favorite, if not my favorite client that I've had over the years.

And I know that one year for your birthday, I did give you a very nice bottle of bourbon, and I figured it would be just fitting that we start with that.

So let's pour some of this.

Right.

Pour you first here.

All right.

That's healthy.

You drink all that?

All right.

Why not?

All right.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, it was a very nice bottle that you actually made a glaze for salmon with.

Yes.

And I couldn't believe that that was the ingredient that went into it.

For people listening, it was a bottle of Elmer T. Lee.

And now before you, like, destroy me in the comments for using that, you know, it was all part of the experience in the dinner that we were doing, because I gave a bottle of Elmer Tealey to Scott for his birthday that time.

And.

Yeah, so bourbon is always.

Every time I come to your house, you always are like, come on, come on, chef.

You gotta have a bourbon before we.

Before you take off.

And I always enjoyed that part of it, for sure.

You know, Scott, you're one of the most revered doctors in the area, and I've always wanted.

These are some of these questions I've wanted to ask you, but in.

When I'm cooking for you, I never get to ask.

And I know that these are just kind of selfish.

So allow me to hire away.

Yeah.

I think this one was just kind of like, when did you realize that you wanted to be a physician?

I didn't really have like that aha moment.

You know, like some people will have a story where something happened personally in their lives where they said, this is what I have to do.

I never really had that.

I kind of, I kind of really.

I knew I wanted to go into some sort of service to help somebody else.

I didn't know what that was going to be really.

When I went into undergrad, I went to Miami University.

When I first went there, I thought I was going to go into dentistry.

I had a good experience with our, with a orthodontist that kind of did all the work with me as a kid.

And I thought that was the pathway that I was going to go.

So.

But then I decided I really didn't want to work in somebody's mouth the rest of my life.

And now look what I do.

I mean, not to, not to make it weird, but I'm just saying.

So then I kind of transitioned and I thought, well, still kind of in health care, I was going down the pathway of veterinary medicine and I worked in an animal clinic during a summer.

And I thought this, this could be a really exciting sort of career choice.

But it wasn't for me.

What I found in that job was I really enjoyed talking with the people more than the animals.

Obviously you can't talk, but you know, dealing with animals.

Yeah.

And so that's when I kind of realized maybe medicine would be a better choice.

And then I had some mentors growing up, some good family friends that were physicians, my father in law, a physician.

And so I kind of saw that and what they did and that kind of really guided me in that direction to kind of go into medicine.

Then when I kind of got to med school, I really did not know what I wanted to do.

I thought maybe first pediatrics and then my first rotation, I did pediatrics and I said, no, this is not for me.

And then I went into internal medicine because I still really ultimately did not know what I wanted to do.

And it gave me a very broad, you know, sort of options out there.

You know, I could specialize in cardiology, nephrology, pulmonary, all these different things.

And so then when I got into my residency at UK was when I realized I like GI patients, I like dealing with liver patients, I like dealing with acute sort of problems that arise in the hospital.

I also like dealing with long term relationships with patients and that this subspecialty gives me that option to do that.

I also knew that I could not be in an office, sitting in an office day in and day out.

And so choosing something where I had an opportunity to do procedures or break up my day a little bit, use my hands, that really kind of solidified that GI was where I wanted to go.

Pretty competitive sub specialty when I went through the process.

And so I didn't know if it was going to even be an option.

Yeah.

But thank goodness it was.

And I love doing what I'm doing now.

That's awesome.

And you talked about, you know, not knowing what you're going to do.

Just knew that you're going to be in there somewhere.

Right.

What do you think was like the hardest part of the training and then learning through.

Cause it's a very arduous situation.

When you like, I'm gonna be a doctor, that's not like, oh, I'm gonna go down and get my doctor license and now I'm gonna go out.

I think it's more like the training and the time when I meet some of my clients that are doctors.

You know, I'm meeting them in their late 30s, 40s.

Cause they've spent an enormous amount of time.

What do you think was like the hardest part of that journey of becoming a doctor?

You know, honestly, if you sit there and you have a goal in mind and you think about how long it's going to take you to get there, it can kind of paralyze you.

I love that.

Right.

And so for me, what I did is I didn't look at it as this huge chunk of time or this expanse of time.

I broke it down into intervals and I said, all right, I gotta get through undergrad.

Let's do that.

Let's make that our goal.

Next goal, let's get into med school.

All right.

What's the process that it takes to get into med school and what do I got to do to get there?

And then med school, you kind of break down into a couple years or into different blocks.

The first two years you're in the classroom.

Yeah.

And that's hard.

I mean, I remember the first week I was in med school, the best analogy I got from, from a family friend that had gone through it was it's like taking a drink of water out of a fire hose.

And that's true.

Wow.

It really was, I would imagine.

And I struggled with it for the first couple months, you know, just trying to, what does my life mean now?

Like, what do I do on a day to day basis?

You know, And I treated it like a job.

I. Yeah.

I was in the classroom, and then when I came home, I. I studied, and it was truly a job.

And then your third and fourth years of med school, this is why you did it.

You're out there, you're doing rotations, you're actually seeing patients, you're actually bringing those.

Those principles, those things that you learned in the first two years, and now let's apply it.

Right.

So that gets you through med school, and then again, you chunk it through and residency, you get through your intern year, and now all of a sudden you have a doctor at the end of your name, you have an MD at the end of your name, which is a huge responsibility.

And that's scary when you first start out.

But you do realize when you're in training, it is that it's training.

Right.

You've got people that are.

That are there to guide you through that part of it, and you're supported.

And that's what.

That's what we all need when we're going through situations.

It doesn't matter what it is.

You need to be supported.

Right.

So, yeah.

And then, you know, I decided I wanted to kind of do an extra year after residency as a chief resident, where you serve more as kind of an administrative, you know, sort of role in teaching residents.

And, you know, and then beyond that, then was fellowship.

So again, I looked at it as little pieces of a puzzle.

I didn't look at it as a whole puzzle to begin with.

Otherwise it would have been really difficult to kind of get through.

Right, right.

And when I tell people that, I'm like, yeah, I did four years undergrad, you know, I did four years of med school, I did three years of residency.

I did one year as a fellow, as a chief resident, and then I did three years as a GI fellow.

And they're like, but that's crazy, you know.

But do you think that kind of, like, helped you in where you are now as the president of the Tri State Gastro?

And that's a whole nother role.

Right.

That's leadership.

That's taking what you learned, applying it now as the president, there's a whole different layer of now.

It's like, not only are you a doctor, but now you're almost a entrepreneur because you're having to develop.

You're having the administrative.

All kinds of different things that come with being that person.

What is something that you've learned in doing that now and being in having that role?

Well, first, I think you have to have the right people supporting you, too.

Absolutely.

And you got to Put the right.

The right people in the right place.

And at our practice, we absolutely have that.

We have.

Our CEO is phenomenal.

Our management, our managers at every level, you know, they do a great job, and it's a hard job, you know, and they do a great job, and they make my job that much easier.

And as president, you know, yeah, I'm president of the group, but all of our partners, we all work together, we all solve the problem.

It's not just me alone doing that, and I understand that.

And I don't want to be the only one doing those.

Making those hard decisions.

And we work very well as a practice together to solve, you know, anything that may come our way that.

That we need to kind of fix or.

Or look at how are we going to advance the practice, or what are the other options, other avenues that the practice needs to go.

We all do that together, you know, but again, it's about having the right people, right, that work with you.

And again, it doesn't matter what you're doing.

I agree with that 100%.

You know, same with me.

You know, it's.

I.

Yes, I'm the chef and I'm cooking the food, but I couldn't do it without the support and right.

And having the right people in the right spots, doing the right things all at the same time, it's like a symphony.

If everybody's playing their instrument the correct way, you just hear the music and it sounds beautiful.

All the years that I've cooked for you, I've gotten to meet your family.

I love your family.

I always look forward.

If I.

If I see Dr.

Leverage texting, I'm like, yes, that means I get to cook for him again.

One of my favorite clients.

I don't even.

I try to go back and look, I'm not even sure how many times, but just so many fun experiences that we have.

But I think this is a question a lot of people are listening, maybe trying to figure out, like, so all that time that he spent and all that work that he had to do, and even the work that you do now, how do you find balance being a physician, a husband, a father, you know, where.

Where do you find that?

Because I feel like a lot of people struggle with that.

Well, you know, for me, and I tell this to a lot of people, I love what I do, but it's not who I am.

That's right.

Okay, so first off, I am a husband and I'm a dad, period.

That then.

And I joined the prac.

I joined the practice that I Am in because there are very many like minded individuals.

A lot of the mentors, you know, the, the senior partners.

When I joined that, that's what they preached.

Wow.

You know, they preached that their family is the most important thing in their life and that that's what's important to me.

So that does make the balance of work and life a lot easier because I know what my priority is now.

That is not to say that my practice isn't also my priority and my patients aren't my priority.

Right.

Because they are.

Absolutely.

You know, but I chose the group that I'm in because I knew that it was going to give me that opportunity to be able to be at home with my family, to be at soccer games for my daughter.

You know, I really don't miss much.

Unless if I'm on call, I do not miss much.

I will never forget when Grayson, my daughter, was about four or five years old, she had a soccer game and I wasn't going to be able to make it because I was on call and, and I was at the hospital and I was rounding and I was like, you know what?

And I'm the personality where I got to get everything done before I leave.

Right.

Because it's just the way my mind works.

That's right.

And it's hard for me to step away from the hospital knowing I still have work to go back to.

And I decided that morning I was like, you know what?

You can make that game.

So I did.

And I show up.

I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she saw that I was there and her eyes got big and.

And she just, she kind of stopped playing.

To be truth.

To be truthful.

But she just said, daddy, you're here.

Right.

You know, and like, I know that's a little moment.

No, she won't carry that forever, Scott.

But I carry that throughout my career now where, when I, when I have those thoughts where I'm like, gosh, can I make it?

Can I do this?

Can I do that?

I think about that one moment and yes, I can.

Yeah.

You know, so I just keep my focus, I keep my priorities in line.

And thankfully I'm at a place where I can do that.

That's amazing.

I love that story.

I see sometimes online where how important it is to be present and be there.

And you don't realize that.

You see the kid is kind of looking and then they lock eyes with the parent at the recital or at the thing and they just immediately, to me, that's powerful and that's so important.

I love that.

Now, like I said, you're one of my favorite clients.

And we've done some.

I would say some regular dinners, and then we've done some crazy dinner, you know, and the whole time, you know, you're so focused.

Oh, I love this.

I love that.

And not a lot of clients kind of, like, know what they want to do.

Sometimes they just kind of give that to me.

Yeah, but you're definitely a foodie.

I noticed that right when I met you.

And then you enjoy cooking.

You know, where did that come from?

I.

You know, so growing up, I would say my mom and dad, they were.

They were great in the kitchen.

My.

I would say my dad was more the grill guy.

You know, my mom was.

Was great in the kitchen.

And then when my wife, Sarah and I, when we first started dating, and I would go over to her house, one of the things that her mom and dad did a lot was on a Friday, Saturday night, they would just go out, get a bunch of stuff, bring it back, and just cook it, you know, And.

And we would just sit around the island in the kitchen just watching them, and then we would eat it, you know, and so that maybe kind of started some of it.

I don't know really where it took off from there, but we love it.

I mean, that's one of our favorite things to do is as a family, really.

And my daughter Grayson's the same way.

You know, ever since she was probably five or six years old, we took her out to nice places, and she.

She really appreciates it.

She's one of those kids that.

She wants to get every appetizer on the menu, partly because I do, too.

And, you know, working with me.

That's right.

I have a endless appetite, so I can put it down.

Yeah, yeah.

Even if your guests don't.

Right.

So.

But it's just a great.

Like, a Friday night.

Saturday night for me is a quiet night where we just go and we get something, and we just.

We don't have to have, like, a recipe.

Recipe or anything.

I don't need a recipe.

We just like to throw something together.

Throw it together.

I love that.

And I love that.

For me, you know, the whole idea of my business is just getting people around the table and enjoying and sharing each other's.

Just their presence of being there because everyone's so crazy.

But when I was a kid, you know, Sunday supper was such a big deal, and we would get people together and sit down, whether it was at my grandmother's house or our house, it was about the food was humble.

Okay.

But.

But the togetherness and being together, listening, you know, to each other and what is going.

Going on with you, you know.

Oh, you got that in school.

Awesome.

That award or.

Oh, you did this in this game.

Whatever.

Like all that was so important.

And when I never remember anything we really ate, but I remember what we talked about.

I always remember like my dad sent the head of the table and my mom on the other end and my sister and I looking at each other and just those times together.

And it sounds like that's kind of what you guys are creating at your home.

Yeah, when I'm not there.

I mean, obviously when I'm there, it's very high end and very nice.

No, but I mean, like I said, we've done a lot of dinners together and some of have been one in particular.

I remember I was going to bring this memory up because I just love it.

You know, Scott, it was kind of a build up when we did dinners.

Right.

I did the first one that was very memorable.

And we can talk about why that was so memorable.

But you were like, as time it just got progressively bigger over time.

So we had a regular dinner which was like appetizer, first course, second course, and you know, dessert.

And then Scott's like, well, maybe we do something a little bit different.

Like.

Okay.

And I think, and I mean, I might.

I. I think I'd have to check my menus because I have all my menus still on my, on my computer, but I think it ended up being like almost an eight course situation.

Eight or nine course situation.

Yeah.

And.

And I think by about the third course, your guests were like, what the heck is going on?

We got, we got several more.

Yeah, it kind of goes back to that.

I like to try a lot of different things, you know, and that dinner, I do remember each course.

It was no joke.

It was a full course for each course.

Yeah.

I. I mean, we, we started out with oysters and then we had.

You did tempura fried squash blossoms.

That's right, we did do that.

And then it was an arugula and a watermelon and feta cheese salad.

Salad.

See, I still remember this.

You're.

You're amazing.

And I've shown these pictures to a lot of people.

We did a halibut.

Piece of halibut.

We did a filet with crab meat on it.

Okay.

We did a seafood gumbo.

A fetuccini with muscles.

Yes.

And I think you finish it off with the apple crumb.

Yeah.

The stuffed apples.

Yeah.

Are you kidding me right now?

And we got wheeled out of the.

House and let me put it on the record right now that Scott finished.

I didn't bout his guest, but Scott finished everything.

Everything.

Everything.

You put it away.

It was a tour de force.

It was amazing.

And it still goes down as one of the most interesting dinners I've ever done.

We.

I've done, like, multiple, like, tapas or small course dinners.

I did a pasta one for actually, it was a musician, and he wanted just like, really small little Italian courses, small plate.

And that was probably.

I think it was like nine courses, I think is what ended up being crazy.

But it was smaller bites, though.

Like, it was a smaller set.

Yours was full on.

We're plating it up, ready to go.

And I was like, after the third course, I'm like, they don't.

They don't know what they're doing right now.

And then if I see someone do that now, some people will be like, well, we're going to.

I want to have this and this and this.

And I'm just like, all right, we'll see if you can pull it off, like Scott, because.

Because, you know, it can be done, number one.

You know, it can be done.

But a lot of times, people kind of get over their head because by the time I served the dessert, they're like, oh, I can't do it.

You know, but.

Well, that was an impressive dinner, though, because, yes, that was not easy for you.

And I know.

And I understood.

I had fun, though.

Yeah.

And it was a challenge for you.

But you certainly stepped up to that challenge, plus some.

Yeah.

And I think what you have done, too, over the years with me and working with me is you have always been able to stretch me beyond where, you know, you're kind of like, tell me something you haven't done before, or, you know, I want to do this.

And I'm like, oh, yeah, absolutely.

I know how to do that.

I've never done that.

Like, I know.

You know what I mean?

So it's.

But we never know that.

No, we never know.

I would never know.

I try to do things in a way that, like, you know, I'll practice it ahead of time, but, like, I want to.

I always want to keep stretching, you know, out and doing things I've never done.

And you.

You guys have always brought that to the table.

And I know we.

We talked about the first dinner, and I think the first dinner was, like, the most memorable one that we've done.

You know, I know that you had heard me through my mother in law, who you saw and you guys talked and she couldn't stop talking about me.

Thank you, Marge, for doing that because it created this relationship.

But I love the first time we cooked together because the story is really what it's about.

It's not the food.

We talked about the food one that dinner, but this was more about the experience.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it was a surprise birthday party for my mother in law.

It was her 60th birthday and we actually had my two brother in laws and their families.

One came from South Carolina and the other one came down from Cleveland.

And she had no idea that they were going to be there.

And it's hard when you live that far apart.

Yeah.

To get everybody together all at the same time.

Right.

And so when you have those moments, it's.

It's special.

It doesn't matter what it is.

So she arrived.

We had all the families drive down the street, so she had no idea they were even there.

And then she comes in and we act like everything's normal.

Hey, we're getting ready to go out to dinner.

And then actually, you know what, let's just stay in for dinner.

Like, let's not go out.

This is.

Yeah, this is going to be better.

Let's just stay in.

And oh, by the way, we got this guy from the at home chef, Chef Ken.

He's going to come in and he's going to cook for us.

Really?

Yeah.

He's gonna come in, we're gonna do this.

Right.

And then doorbell rings, and it's her two other sons and their families.

Right.

And it was just an awesome experience.

And then, then you come in and I meet you and.

Right.

Meet your wife, Julie.

And what a great night.

I mean, like you said, we were sitting around a table, we're telling stories.

You guys are dodging all the nieces and nephews running around the kitchen, probably shooting Nerf guns at you.

It happens.

We're used to it.

And you just go with the flow.

Yeah, go with it.

But what I loved about that was, you know, we're sitting there in the dining room, and in between courses, I remember you said, hey, you know what, guys, we got about 15, 20 minutes.

Why don't you guys get up, move around, get up, move around, come into the kitchen if you guys want to, you know, chat.

And that's what we're excited about.

Right, too.

So we come in there and why are you using that, Ken?

Why are you using that, Ken?

And you're telling us where you're sourcing all your stuff from.

And it's mostly local.

And you've developed all these relationships with people in this city, and it's neat to hear that.

And it gives us an idea where we could go maybe to get this special ingredient or that ingredient.

And, hey, why are you cooking and doing this this certain way?

And you were able to give us that without being like, you know, over the top and crazy.

You gave it to us in a way we could understand, you know?

Absolutely.

And it was fun.

Yeah, I think it was fun.

And you, like, clean our kitchen afterwards and it looks better than it ever has and, you know, take the trash out.

That's amazing.

If your trash is full.

And then like, we can't find a garbage can.

We just take it to our house.

We're like, we'll just throw it away.

It's fine.

We do that though.

You know, it's just, I think that was like what I enjoy most about my job.

Yeah.

You know, the food is kind of like just what I use to create that.

Well, you just said food creates that, but it's.

You can't create it without the food, obviously.

But, you know, the part of meeting the family and having relationship, like you said earlier, you really went into your part of medicine because you wanted to have those long term relationships.

And for me, cooking allows me to establish long term relationships with people.

And that is one of the things that I enjoy so much about my job.

And I enjoy it when I can have people who appreciate it.

And I think you and your family have always appreciate it.

And that's what I love on the food thing.

And, you know, this is another question, like I said, I just want to ask to kind of just understand, you know, what's your favorite guilty pleasure food?

What do you.

Because I know I have mine, but like, I'm, I'm curious.

Like, if you're like, calories don't matter.

I just want to eat this.

I want to like, you know, it's.

Definitely going to be a sweet of some sort.

It's usually going to be like a vanilla cake with icing.

Like, I'm honestly, I'm a big fan of just a regular old sheet cake.

Really.

It doesn't matter what it is.

That to be special.

Write that down.

Sheet cake is a next dinner.

Yeah.

What kind of icing are we putting on that vanilla cheese?

Cream cheese icing?

All right, all right.

You've redeemed yourself with the cream cheese.

For me, it's not very.

So I love confetti cake.

Yeah.

Like, confetti cake is like, my favorite.

It's, like, very childish and ridiculous.

I love Funfetti is what it's called, I think.

Funfetti.

But growing up, my favorite was yellow cake, chocolate icing.

Like, my mom could make whatever kind of cake she wanted as long as it was vanilla cake, chocolate icing.

I love that.

Sweets.

You know what I mean?

I get it.

Sweets to me are like.

If there's sweets in the house, like, they.

I don't care.

I'm probably gonna have them.

Like, life's too short, Right?

Yeah.

You know, we've talked about the food, but, you know, you as a person, who do you think, as a whole has had the most influence on you as a person?

Hmm, That's a good question.

I think you could probably break that down to probably different stages in my life if I had to think about that.

Yeah.

Obviously, my mom and dad growing up, for sure.

I mean, great role models, great marriage, philanthropists in the community really show you kind of how to be a good person.

Right.

That's a very simple thing to say, but it's hard to do.

Right.

I mean, to make the right decisions in life is not always the easy decisions.

But my mom and dad set that foundation for us, for all, for my siblings and I. I think professionally there's a couple key mentors that I've had.

My father in law, a huge one, seeing what he did throughout his career and being very successful and also doing it the right way, really caring for his patients and making good decisions.

Sometimes tough decisions, but right decisions for his patients.

I look at some of the senior partners in my group, and there's two in particular that really stand out.

So before I interviewed one of the Senior partners, Ross McHenry, he called me up at my house, and I was on the phone with him for about an hour and a half.

And I got off the phone and Sarah, my wife, asked me, like, who are you talking to?

I was like, I was Talking to this Dr. Ross McHenry's up at Tri State, and we talked for an hour and a half about the families of the partners in the group.

Right.

Yeah.

And we talked a little bit about the practice, but it was mostly about the families and what that meant to him.

And so then I use that as kind of the springboard for, okay, this is how I want to practice, and this is what I want to make my priority, you know, moving forward.

Like we kind of talked about earlier about that work, life balance.

Yeah.

So hopefully I can be that mentor to somebody else.

Yeah.

Is what I'm Is kind of where I'm at in my career now.

14 Years in.

Yeah.

And, you know, where.

Where do I go from.

From here.

And it's kind of in the middle of my career, and I hope to be maybe that person for one of the younger partners coming in.

But don't you feel like at that point, like, I feel like for me, I've been doing it for like 12, 13 years, and now I'm starting to see people come up and come through and like, oh, I want to do this, I want to do that.

And people.

At first, it kind of caught me off guard.

People are like, contacting me and saying, you know, what should I do for this?

Or what should I do for that?

And how do you want to do this?

And at first I was like, ah, I don't know.

In these competitive situation.

But, you know, it dawned on me that it was an obligation.

That learning the way I learned throughout the years of how to do my business and how I take care of clients so well isn't something that, like, I'm like, I'm not gonna tell anybody.

Forget you took me 10 years to figure this out.

I think in getting out of being selfies, selfish like that, and just being like, no, you know what?

It's important to share this information with people.

It's important to kind of help them.

And that is the season I'm in at this point.

If somebody's coming through, I can walk them through everything that I do and help them.

And I love doing that.

But it's weird because you don't realize that's happening.

Right.

There's no switch that flips where you say, okay, I am at that point in my career now where I can be that person to somebody.

That's right.

We don't.

It just happens.

It does.

And when I first started, I remember looking at some of the.

Some of the partners thinking, golly, man, they really know what they're doing.

They know how to run a business, they know how to take care of patients, all this sort of stuff.

And then I was just talking to a couple of my partners that are kind of similar stage in their career as I am.

This was.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've had these discussions, and part of this, we just had a.

We had a partner that just retired.

So it's kind of bringing about some of these discussions.

But we're there and we are the ones now that they're looking at saying, man, they really kind of know what they're doing, and we want to guide them through the process of.

This is how you establish yourself as a solid physician, as somebody who does the right thing, who looks out for patient first.

And if you can do that every single day, you're going to do the right thing.

I think, I think it's that weird moment where you're a mentor, but you're a mentee.

You know, I'm looking at people, and when I started, I'm like, oh, I want to be just like this guy or that guy.

And then it just developed to like, well, now I'm like, who I am.

And people that are coming up, I'm like, why?

At first I'm like, why would they ask me a question?

What are they?

There's poor people, and I feel so bad for you.

No.

But then it dawned on me.

More and more people are like, hey, I'd love to pick your brain, or I'd like to do this.

I'd love to do that.

And I'm saying, just, just let me help you with whatever you need help with.

You know, I don't have any walls up anymore.

If somebody wants to know how I do things.

What you would, There's a secret sauce.

I don't know.

A secret sauce.

To me, there isn't a secret sauce.

You know, everyone has their own way of doing things.

You have your own way of being the doctor you are to your patients and how you are with them and being patient with them and being calm with them and thorough and smart.

You know, for me, it's just like to create that experience, that experience that you had the first time I cooked for you.

That was all that was important to me.

That's all I care.

And that's what I try to teach is like, you know, like, just have fun, you know, and, you know, for you, it's a little bit different.

You know, you have people's lives on the line.

Not usually people's lives on the line when they're, I'm cooking for them, but at the same time, they're paying for an experience and they want you to follow through.

So when, when kids are running around or dogs are running around, or, you know, it's loud or there's just, I've seen it all.

It's about, yeah.

Going with the flow with that and just enjoying yourself.

Well, and you need to, I, I, I'm impressed with how you're able to go into a situation.

You have no idea what you're getting into.

Yeah, right.

You have no idea.

It's not like, hey, send me a picture of your kitchen.

Let me know what you know.

I think the last time you were at my house, I had to have an accessory burner because my stovetop wasn't working right.

And guess what?

And you went with it.

Guess what?

We have the made in cookware, which works on induction and anything else.

Shout out.

Made in.

I have a two.

Yep.

He has a two.

So made in.

Shout out.

We love you.

We'd love to have you as a sponsor.

I'm just saying.

So here we are.

We're kind of towards the end, and I love ending things with quickfire.

I love quickfire.

Questions.

And I have some here for you.

Some like FC or Ohio State football.

I'm pretty sure that's fc.

I mean, they're different sports.

They're different.

If I had to choose one, definitely FC Cincinnati.

Yeah.

You have wonderful seats, by the way.

Scott.

Scott called me up and was like, hey, do you want these seats for fc?

And I'm like, I don't know.

I've never been to an FC game.

And I said, sure, let's go.

And they were awesome.

The people sit around.

You're awesome.

And I really understood, like, what.

What it was all about, like, the excitement of it.

The three of us, Sarah, Grayson, and I, we love it.

That's our.

That is our thing.

And Sarah played soccer in college, and Grayson's obviously, you know, she plays a ton of soccer with.

With King's Hammer.

And so soccer is our thing.

And it is quality time.

It is.

It's all about the time.

It's all about that experience with.

With each other and the memories that we've had in some games I will never forget.

And we will always be in that moment together seeing that game.

And they're great memories.

Sitting in the seats, freezing cold, super hot.

Of course, your seats, when the sun gets kind of over or shaded.

Right.

Thank goodness.

Because the day we did go was super hot.

Right.

But we had a. I totally understand the FC thing.

Totally get it.

Day one at the end, with extra time.

It was just exciting.

You're welcome back anytime.

Because I. I would love, love to go back to another game, but the problem is you've spoiled me.

Because your seats are super nice, and it.

It's a nice setup where you have.

I love it.

Early bird or night owl?

Are you an early bird or are you a night owl?

You think?

Probably early bird.

Yeah.

That just comes with.

With my job.

Your job.

You know, I do like to get up, be productive, and feel like I've got the rest of the day.

To do whatever.

I. I don't like staying out late, Staying up late, wasting the next day because you're old.

That part of it too, right?

Yeah.

I'm like Cinderella.

I gotta be home at midnight, you know?

So I think we've.

We've enjoyed some Blanton's here.

Shout out, Buffalo Trace, we love them too.

What's your favorite bourbon?

Do you have one?

Do you love you like, you've tried?

Honestly, my favorite bourbon is one that I don't feel guilty about opening the bottle and drinking.

There you go.

You know, I used to get into the hunt and trying to find this, and, you know, then you feel bad when you open up a really expensive bottle.

Right.

And so I don't know why that is, though.

Like, why is that?

It's just sitting there.

If I have all these bottles down in my basement, I'm like, All right, I'm 53.

It's like, even if I started drinking, like, heavily, like, to a problem where, like, I'm gonna have problems with family members, I'm still probably not gonna finish all this bourbon.

Like, what.

What am I doing?

Right?

My friends.

You're gonna sell it?

No, no.

But my friends are super happy because they're already asking me, like, so what's the protocol when you die?

Like, what.

Who gets what?

Is there a list?

Do we need to have a tent in the front of your house?

Like, I don't know what that.

I don't know what they're saying, but it's.

It's.

It is interesting.

I always enjoyed.

I think bourbon is like, as long as I'm, like, enjoying it with somebody else.

Correct.

You know, I think.

I mean, that is a good setup to have another drink.

Absolutely.

Actually, a couple years, probably about five or six years ago, Sarah bought me a really cool gift for Christmas.

And it was a barrel, Right?

Just a bourbon barrel, small barrel, 5 liter barrel.

Yeah.

And what I'll do is I'll fill it with a cheap bourbon.

I'll let it age for about eight months, and then I empty it, and it changes the profile.

And that.

That's kind of fun to sample it as it's going along this process too, you know, over the year, over the months.

Yeah.

So that might be my favorite ones that I create.

The ones you create.

I think just sharing with people is, like.

Is the most important thing Now.

What's one food?

I have my own, and my wife knows what that one is.

But what's one food that you refuse to eat?

Like, you're like, what comes to the table.

You're like, no, it's not happening.

It hasn't happened a lot.

But liver.

Oh, I can't do liver.

And part of that is the GI doctor coming out here.

I know what the liver does.

Okay.

And so I just don't want to have anything to do with eating something that.

Yes, you know, yes, that.

Yes.

That function.

That.

That detoxifies your body.

Right, right.

I don't.

I don't want that.

So anything.

Liver, I stand.

Stay clear of.

Okay, so no liver for Scott's next.

Yeah.

What's yours?

Mine is a very weird one, and it's gonna surprise a lot of people.

I literally will eat anything.

I.

You just bring anything out, eat it.

I hate baby corns.

There's a little baby corns.

They're unnatural to me.

They don't make any sense to me.

And I.

If I.

If I. I've been seeing them.

They were trendy back in, like, the 90s and stuff, along with, like, palm shoots and stuff.

And then they kind of went away.

And now I'm starting to see.

I just saw on Top Chef they had baby corns on something, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Like, I would love to get rid of the baby corn.

The ones that come in the jar and they're like this big.

I hate those.

I can't be around them.

They don't make any sense to me.

Favorite movie?

What's your favorite movie?

I've got a couple.

Braveheart.

Braveheart is always up there.

Yes.

Dumb and Dumber.

I hate to say that, but.

Dumb and dumber.

Dumb and dumber.

Anytime it's on.

Yeah, I'm watching it.

Love.

It's a feel good movie.

Yes.

You know, and then for whatever reason, this one is just from growing up in high school, my buddies and I.

The Crow.

The crow.

Really?

The crow.

Random.

Very dark.

Totally random.

Super dark.

Yeah.

You know what the cool thing is about the Crow was the soundtrack.

Oh, yeah.

The music for the movie was unbelievable.

Yeah.

This one I'm not gonna let you off the hook on because I love asking this question.

I try to ask it every single time because I think about going to dinner and who I would want to cook for.

The one person would always be my dad.

He died when I was 24 and never got a chance to cook for him, like, in the way that I do now.

I love to cook for him.

What is one person, living or deceased, that you would love to share dinner with?

I'm glad you asked that, because I Don't think I brought this up earlier, but kind of when you were asking about my, you know, why, why I like to cook, why I like to eat, all that, I'd have to talk about my aunt, my Aunt Chrissy.

And so my Aunt Chrissy, growing up, when we would come, she lived out in Long Island, New York, and she lived with my grandmother.

And anytime we would come to visit as kids, she would just cook up a.

We said she always cooked for an army.

And anytime I smell peppers and onions and Italian sausages, I don't care where I'm at.

Right.

Yeah.

It's that visceral, that emotional response that I get.

And I just like, I'm back as an eight year old in my, my aunt, in my grandmother's kitchen.

Yeah.

Just waiting to eat these.

You know, she made homemade ziti.

You know, I appreciated it at the time, maybe as a kid could, because you're hungry.

But now looking back at that, I, man, I would appreciate that so much more.

Yeah.

You know, and to be able to sit at a table with my aunt, to rub elbows with her in the kitchen as she's cooking, how great would that be?

I mean, it's the same way with my grandmother.

You know, my grandmother and my dad, they passed away before I started my business and started cooking for people.

And really coming out as this is this cook who could make whatever for whatever.

And I often think about it when I like, man, I would love to, like, sit my dad down and go, okay, what do you want?

And having that experience where he would be like, Ken.

Yeah, like, really?

This is what you do?

This is your job?

People pay you to do this?

I'm like, yes.

He's like, okay.

My grandmother, I think, would appreciate me referencing her as a inspiration and knowing that all that time and effort she put in to make these amazing meals when I was a kid didn't go unnoticed.

That legacy is about people continually talking about what you did.

They say you die twice, you die first time, and then you die the last time someone says your name.

And for me, I just always want my grandmother and what she did for us to always be that part of the legacy of.

It wasn't like she was creating these Michelin star dinners, but what she was doing is getting us all around the table with homemade, really heartfelt food.

And that's what I always remember.

And that was what was always important to me.

Yeah.

You know, when my aunt passed away, my mom gave me a knife that my, my aunt used to use in the kitchen.

And I Use that almost every time I need to chop something in the kitchen, right?

And it's a.

It's a good memory.

I think about her every single time.

And it's Aunt Chrissy's knife.

So we'll be making something, and I'm like, you know what I'm going to use and Chrissy's knife.

And that's what I do.

I love that.

I love that so much.

I mean, that's what we're trying to do with the.

That home chef is great memories, right?

At last, a lifetime.

And it sounds like outside of, like, cooking for you, we both have our individual memories that we'll hold on to forever.

You know, here's a closing question.

If everyone listening today could take away one lesson from your life, what would you want that lesson to be?

I think it's balance.

You know, it's really hard.

I think no matter what your career path may be, no matter what's going on in life, it's balance and staying focused to what is the most important thing in your life.

And for me, it's.

It's my family.

And, yeah, it's cliche to say family comes first, but it's easy to say, hard to do.

And so I try to make that a focus of my life every single day.

And so I think if you.

If you can keep that in mind, it'll.

It'll steer you in the right direction.

No matter what decision you have to make in life is family, friends, relationships, that's what's important.

You know, it's interesting because you say it's amazing lesson.

I think that somebody listening today is going to resonate heavily with that.

You know, for me, when it's like my birthday or something and people are asking me what I want for my birthday, all I really want to do is spend time with my friends, my family, and people that I'm close to.

It's like things are diminishing returns as you get older.

I think as you get older, you recognize that the time spent with people because you start realizing that it's so small that you only have a few times a year, you get to spend time with that person.

You want to make sure you maximize it.

So it's like, I think that's a wonderful lesson.

You know, Scott, I am so excited we.

I had you on, you know, when we were thinking about some of the first guests that we wanted to have on, I had someone say, hey, have a long time client on, and there was no one else that I could think of.

Well, thank you.

I'M so excited.

You have been instrumental in shaping what I am today and what I've done, and I just wanted you to kind of just have a little talk outside of the kitchen.

And thank you so much for coming.

Having a seat at my table, that was awesome.

Boom.

Dude, was it all right?

Yeah, dude.

Are you kidding?

Thank you so much for watching and listening.

I really do appreciate it.

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