Jason Restivo was my GM at the Old Pink House in Savannah, Georgia — the guy who would disappear for five minutes and come back to a dining room with a bottle of wine on every single table. He was also the reason I got the job in the first place when someone else in management wasn't so sure.

Now he owns Sobremesa on 40th and Abercorn — a restaurant he built out of a wine bar that used to be a dentist's office, in a neighborhood that used to be a gas station, in a district that had absolutely nothing going on when he opened Atlantic back in 2016.

Spoiler: Starland is now the food mecca of Savannah.

We got into it all — how he left California real estate behind for a Victorian house in Savannah for $146K, what it was really like to run Atlantic with 40 staff before COVID shut it down, why he thinks mentorship is the whole point of the restaurant industry, how he got staff members out of debt and into their first homes, cell phones vs. fine dining, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette, and his daughter heading out into the world at 17.

Plus — he dropped out of engineering school to be a busboy in a thousand-dollar suit and never looked back.

⏱ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Reconnecting After Years
02:57 The Evolution of Starland District
05:50 Opening Atlantic: A New Dining Experience
11:46 Transitioning to Sobre Mesa
14:54 Savannah's Restaurant Scene Growth
20:02 Nostalgic Memories in Savannah
20:25 Introduction to the Podcast Journey
23:09 Nostalgia and Memory in Wine
26:05 The Art of Service and Mentorship in Hospitality
27:37 The Importance of Mentorship in Hospitality
28:34 Transformative Experiences at the Pink House
29:33 Empowering Staff for Success
30:45 The Evolution of Interviews
32:08 Small Business and AI
38:14 Family and Parenting
43:56 Networking and Building Connections
49:57 Memorable Experiences and Celebrity Encounters

🎙️ 20-Year Timeout — reconnecting with people from the past, unscripted and unfiltered.

📲 Website: https://www.20yeartimeout.com

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20 Year Timeout is a podcast where I reconnect with people I have not spoken to in over twenty years to see what time has done to our stories.

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