Hey Folks, our newest short film is here and it stars Ry Doon and Cheyann Dillon! We’re super proud of this one and worked extremely hard to get it made. If you get sometimes please have a look. 

Love, Jon & Ken 

IMdB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6039410/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

After reading about David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s new documentary “Tickled” premiering at Sundance, I was immediately intrigued by the subject matter, because it didn’t exactly sound true. But it is, and it’s totally crazy. One search and you’ll find out about the expansive empire of competitive tickling, and the harsh response from one particular tickling organization that sparked the beginning of what this film is about.

The IMdB logline reads: “Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.” 

A couple weeks later, I read that HBO acquired the U.S. television rights, while Magnolia picked up the North American theatrical rights, which is cool because I got to watch the film in an actual theater. I reached out to David in hopes of asking him some questions about the making of “Tickled,” and we got set up on a call soon after. This is one of the most interesting documentaries I’ve seen in awhile. It’s such a well-polished film, with an amazingly true story, and with two filmmakers searching for answers in bizarre territory.

Jon: How are you doing?

David: It’s been a bit of a mad house but we have a good attorney and everything is okay.

Jon: So, I sorta feel like everyone has already covered the subject matter of your film, so I put together some filmmaker questions to ask you.

David: Of course, I would love some filmmaker questions. That would be bloody great.

Jon: I went and saw the film last night and, I loved it. I got really into it and set the popcorn aside. I put it on the ground.

David: Oh, wow. Oh, god.

Jon: I asked some of the staff at the theater what they thought of “Tickled” and one of them said it was his favorite and the other said it was the most interesting documentary of this year. I thought that was pretty big.

David: I’ll take that.

Jon: When I looked online at your guy's Kickstarter, I saw that it was under the titled “The Tickle King.” Was that the original title?

David: It was our working title back when this was going to be a documentary for Kickstarter. I can’t remember exactly where that name came from but that was our working title.

Jon: It’s definitely a cool name for a film.

David: It a great name, but I think the reason we didn’t call it that was because, inherently, in that title comes a potential spoiler. We wanted people to go into this film as we felt going in, in that it was going to be a light-hearted journey, which is the same journey that Dylan and myself went on that went somewhere a lot darker.

Jon: Yeah.

David: But good. That’s a good question. Haven’t had that before, good work.

Jon: Oh, thank you. So, how do you go about pitching a film like this to people, not just online. You’ve got the Jane O’Brien response which was very harsh, but how else do you pitch this film?

David: It was complicated, when I was pitching in New Zealand to like the film commission and some other people to get extra funding, it was actually a really fun pitch because I was in the middle of it all, so at that point I had a lawyer from New York, and a lawyer from New Zealand writing to me and there was this impending trip of these three gentlemen coming from New York to New Zealand. So, basically my pitch was there’s a tickling competition happening in LA, you get paid thousands to tickle, all expenses paid, this is this crazy thing, now I’ve reached out to the company, and received a homophobic response, and then I’m now getting legal threats, and now they’re flying people to New Zealand to tell me not to make a film.That’s the film. That’s my pitch.

Jon: It’s a very original pitch. I don’t feel like anyone would have an idea like that.

David: No, and it was wild and I felt bad in a way, because I was pitching for a prize of ten thousand dollars for our post-production, and a lot of the people in the pitch competition had been working on it for months, and they had power point slides, they had cue cards, and then I just walked in a complete mess in shorts and T-shirt and just spoke about the story. It was just a really good story, and I ended up winning, and I felt bad for the other people who spent months analyzing every word of their pitch, when I was just in there ranting. You know what I mean?

Jon: Yes, I think you were destined to make the film. It’s very rich, the people in it don’t feel like fictional characters, but the way you explore their background allows for the film to feel like a good mystery novel.

David: Yeah, totally.

Jon: How long was the shoot?

David: We shot for two weeks and then went back and shot for three and half weeks, and that was in America. Then there was the additional pick up shoot where there was computer screens, or just stuff back in New Zealand.

Jon: So you had a couple breaks in between to figure out what the next thing was going to be?

David: Yeah, the first shoot was almost like a research trip in a way. It was going to be a shoot for the documentary but we found out so much that when we came back we identified who are subjects would be in the film, we knew who wouldn’t be a subject in the film, and we knew the rough outline of the story. We put a lot of that into planning of our next shoot, which would be our last, so we had to achieve very specific things.

Jon: The decision to co-direct with Dylan Reeve, how did that come about? Was it organic?

David: Super organic, man. We were lucky in that it worked, and that we both had different skill sets that complimented each other really well. I would advise anyone who goes into co-directing to really analyze why you’re doing that, we didn’t, it could have been a complete disaster. Also, I should tell you this, Dylan and I weren’t like great friends before this, we were more like internet friends. So, we didn’t even know if we would like each other traveling around America for five to six weeks. We had that added danger but what helped was that we were both being threatened at the same time, and I think that bonded us. We got lucky in that Dylan would do a bit of field directing, and I would do some field directing, and then I would do all the post directing, because Dylan had to go back to work. I didn’t have to go back to work full time. So, we just really complimented each other in a really fortunate way.

Jon: What was the hardest part about directing?

David: Two things, it was telling a really complicated story in a reasonably clear way, so people could understand what was happening, and finding what to leave out. There were a million interesting facts that we could have thrown into this thing, but if they didn’t help the story, we left them out. You can imagine a story that takes place over the course of twenty years, there’s going to be a lot of interesting things, but if it doesn’t service the story, there is no point.

David: Secondarily, it was more about the production, making sure we were doing everything correctly and legally, because we we’re dealing with someone who has a lot of money and we had to make sure we didn’t do anything illegal. And so we had to be super careful with any kind of recordings or conversations and that we were moving by the book.

Jon: How was the post-production process for you?

David: Dylan did a lot of the graphics, and technical stuff you see in the film. I focused on the story, moving the story and finding out where it would go. Which was great, because if Dylan and I were in the booth at that point, we would have ended up yelling at each other. (laughs)

David: But it just naturally worked out. Dylan would look at cuts and have his input, along with our wonderful producer Carthew Neal who was amazing and our editor Simon Coldrick who helped the whole thing come together.

Jon: Did you show any cuts to close friends to get notes?

David: No, I kept it very locked down. I very specifically didn’t want anyone else. In that stage you just want to tell the story that you know, and if you start taking on board other people’s comments early then it’s my belief that you will screw it up. I had people I trusted, like Carthew, Simon, Dylan, and our EP Justin and I did not want to add any other voices that early. Later on we showed it to people and we took on certain advice but in the early days when you’re still building a story, there’s a specific amount of people allowed to give input.

Jon: one thing I like about the film is that it doesn’t move too fast, and it moves at its own pace. What I noticed at twenty-five minutes into the film things had escalated and Dylan and yourself were making the big decision to keep pursing and then your voice over comes back in and says something like “I can’t believe this is all over tickling.” It was a nice reminder that hardly anytime had passed in the film yet things were already strangely serious. Do you have anything to say about the pacing of the film?

David: We were fortunate in that things just happened and it was great. It was difficult though to pace things out. It came out at the right length and at the right tone. What we added in the edit was space. We didn’t want to just come at the audience with facts continuously, but taking the time to breath, especially between different locations because you’re taking in a lot of information and so we just had to make sure we had some nice quiet spaces in the film. But, with the pace we just tried to mimic what happened to us in real time, and tried not to make things go too long. If there had been an interview happening for a long time we needed to have a scene happening. It was just balancing the interviews for the reality of what we were shooting, with our own road trip around America and trying to make that stuff paced in a logical way.

Jon: Well, thank you for talking with me. I think you’ve made a really great film, and I’m excited to see it gather more attention as it moves along.

David: Thanks, Jon. I hope so too, we’re rolling it out, and hopefully more people go and see it, and we can keep it out for longer.

David Farrier (@davidfarrier) and Jon Walkup (@jonwalkup) 

Edited by: Bri Klaproth (@briklaproth

I met viner/comedian Ry Doon back in March of 2016, after reaching out to him about starring in a short film I had written. He was one of the few people who actually responded. I’ve always liked the Vine app, and still keep it on my phone. I say that because I know a bunch of people who got rid of it after awhile, but the idea that you have just six seconds to be funny before the viewer swipes you away, still to me, seems fun and challenging in a way. What I enjoy about Ry’s comedy is all the wacky characters that he’s morphed into his account, and the fact that he can get laughs with just facial expressions. I’m not the only one who thinks he’s funny, just take a look at the 3.6 million followers he’s built up. I really don’t want to talk too much during this thing, so here’s the interview I did with my friend, Ry Doon.

Jon: So you started making Vines in 2013?

Ry: Yes, first month it came out.

Jon: Did you find immediate success?

Ry: No, it wasn’t overnight. What happened was, it was a very small community of viners back then and we found each other. I was one of the people putting effort into it. Celebrities were showing their views. Shit like that. I first got known for my Jay-Z impression, so that caught on and then started doing others like this thing called “It’s a beautiful day!” (character voice)

Jon: Yeah.

Ry: I would go around to people and say "I love you!" (Alex character voice)

Jon: And then the high society character came along?

Ry: Yes, and then in the summer of 2013, vine itself had become really popular, and I became one of the viners to follow.

Jon: So people started to recognize you on the street?

Ry: It wasn’t crazy. There were moments of craziness but it was never like, "Vine guy, what’s up?"

Jon: One of the vines I liked a lot was the random old man letting you know that he wanted to fuck you. Was that staged at all?

Ry: If there was one vine that blew me up, that was the one. And it was half staged. I went up to him as a stranger and asked “Do you want to dance with me?” and in real life he said “How can I help you? And I told him “Tell me to go fuck myself." So we did it again… “Do you want to dance with me?” and he said “Go and fuck yourself,” then I said “Why won’t anyone dance with me?” and then he improvised “Because I want to fuck you”.

Jon: Wow.

Ry: So it was fake, but he really did say that. And, he wasn’t trying to be funny, he didn’t get it, and it also doesn’t make any since. But it works.

Jon: That’s one vine that I still think about. I want to know the dynamic and how it all happened.

Ry: Half staged. Sorry. I’m open about it.

Jon: What vine isn’t staged? You-know? What’s interesting to me is the fact that you only have six seconds to be funny and that’s it. There are a lot of people who write off viners and are quick to say they aren’t funny, but at the same time they aren’t willing to try an be funny in six seconds.

Ry: Yeah, right. There’s just some resentful comedians.

Jon: When it comes to including random people in your vines…what’s the worst experience?

Ry: It’s nothing too crazy, thankfully. There was one time in Boston, I went up to a homeless man and I was wearing a wig and I didn’t try to hide the fact that I was also filming him and I said “Hi, how are you?” (in character voice). I was nice, I wasn’t like "fuck you, you’re homeless!” Never mean spirited.

But he did not appreciate me filming him. I told him sorry and I showed him that I deleted the vine but he was being insane, and he started coming after me with a bottle, I think he wanted to smash it over my head. He was shit faced. I started speed walking away. Thought I was clear. It was scary because he wanted to kick my ass.

Then I saw that he started to catch up to me again. I saw him five feet behind getting ready to swing this bottle and I was like “Fuck!” So, I jogged across the street and left. So that was’t cool. It was mostly disturbing.

Jon: Seems like he was really upset over nothing.

Ry: I understand, and I deleted it and showed him but it’s the risk you take. He was like, super drunk.

Jon: What would you say is your favorite character to play?

Ry: Probably, Cathy. Although, it’s the most pain in the ass to dress up. The character Alex is fun to do, but I have to put on a lot of make up. That’s the biggest pain in the ass.

Jon: You just smear a bunch of lipstick on?

Ry: Yeah, there’s probably an easier way to do that.

Jon: When you were determining what the character should look like were you putting on makeup and then just like eh, no, and decided to start smearing it on your face?

Ry: No, actually I did it as a tactic to distract people from seeing my phone.

Jon: That makes sense.

Ry:  So I made my face look crazy, so they wouldn’t see me holding a phone to my chest.

Jon: The immediate reaction is “This guy’s face is fucked up.”

Ry: Yeah, and to get reactions.

Jon: That’s good. I like that.

Ry: The whole lipstick thing… it’s super original. I’m the first person to ever do that. Nah, its not original, I didn’t do it to be hilarious. I was not thinking that way.

Jon: You were telling me that you used to beat box in college?

Ry: I was in bands for awhile. I played the saxophone growing up. I was in a band with my friends, starting in Jr. high.

Jon: What was it called?

Ry: We were together up until college. Back then we were called Brass. Which stood for Ben, Ryan, Adam, and Sarah. (laughs) Then in high school I played in another band called Cardoza. We were good, and doing pretty well. Doing gigs in Boston. Then we went to college, then dropped out of college and, then the band broke up. That’s when I started beat boxing more, I was by myself. I’m answering this so long. To answer your question, I started beat boxing in my high school band, which was incorporated into live shows, then I would do it in between set breaks, just freestyle stuff.

Jon: Did you do it for rap battles?

Ry: Yeah, at parties. It was also a way to get girls too. I was bad at that. I beatboxed at a party once and this girl came up to me and said “That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen” (laughs) I responded with “Thank you!” I didn’t know what to do.

Jon: When I first talked to you were telling me that your career was blowing up thanks to vine and so you were able to sell out your shows, but you’d only been doing your stand up act for two years. Can you talk about the struggle between living up to the vine expectation when people come to see you live, but also how you stay true to your stand up material?

Ry: I started doing stand up three months before vine came out. I started to become recognizable in public, and I would be at an open mic just sucking and being horrible at stand up, and people would recognize me from vine. People would have this idea in their head that I was super funny, because I was funny on vine and was “well respected,” as much as you can be on vine. So they would see me being awful at an open mic. It was mostly painful for me, stand up is so vulnerable and I felt even more vulnerable, and was like, they think I suck now. I became better at stand up over time, but it’s still I’m funnier on vine than I am on stage. Arguably, at this point.

Jon: You’ve started to incorporate your characters into your set?

Ry: I just started to do that more. It’s a struggle to bring the wackiness of my vines into my stand up. But, I have done live vine shows, where I promote it on the vine app and let everyone know its all ages, and it’s on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s designed for my vine audience. Those would sell out. I would do stand up as a character like Cathy, then traditional stand up, then do a video segment where I would show some of my vines, and show horrible comments people left me. In one of the shows I did a bit with Cathy were she was like “uh oh, I’m getting so nervous, but I’ve prepared for this, sound guy, please play the video.” Then the screen comes down and it was Cathy talking to Cathy. It brought me back to that feeling of presenting projects in high school.

Jon: Are you working on any new characters?

Ry: Actually, after this short film we’re making (us) I plan on killing myself. So no.

Jon: So it’s a picture lock on Ry Doon?

Ry: Doon out. No, I do have new characters that don’t really fit on vine. I have some SnapChat characters, when I play with the filters. One of my characters is a British dude who’s like “I don’t like it” ( British accent). He’s got emo hair. It’s fun. I have a character named Caleb, who likes to “pay homage” to mostly everything. Did you have any skater friends?

Jon: Oh, yeah.

Ry: I know a lot of those people, that are like “Don’t fuck with the locals, man.” (character voice) They’re super into the weather.

Jon: I think your Alex character need his own show. I was watching your Alex vines and I showed it to my girlfriend and we couldn’t figure out what accent you were doing? But it was so funny.

Ry: What did you think? Where you like what the fuck am I watching?

Jon: I thought it was funny. The way you were pointing the camera at different objects like your backpack but you would say it like “pack-pack!”. The accent is just madness. I think there is something to be explored there.

Ry: I’m not sure what to do with it yet.

Jon: Maybe that character just wants to be understood.

Ry: Maybe he has the mind of a three years old “Back pack, right?” (character voice)

Jon: Have you auditioned for Saturday Night Live?

Ry: I have. I’ve sent in two tapes. They watched me, and liked me. It was a dream come true, to even be in that position to have your manger present a tape to those producers, and also to get feed back.

Jon: That’s awesome. Can you tell me which characters?

Ry: Yeah, typically they ask for three characters and three impressions.

Jon: Right.

Ry: I did a fake cholo character, which wasn’t really a well established character. I wanted to show I could jump to two different voices. Cathy, fake cholo, and high society. I did five impressions last year, I did Ira Glass, Jay-Z, John Oliver, Bill Burr.

Jon: You can do Bill Burr?

Ry: Only him yelling or whispering. (laughs)

Interview by: Jon Walkup (@jonwalkup)

Edited by: Bri Klaproth (@briklaproth)

For more of Ry Doon’s work: https://vine.co/rydoon (@rydoon)

The sadness of the Jon and Ken show continues on with guest appearances by Travis Ross and Ry Doon. 

Want more of the Jon & Ken web series? Well, say no more. Here’s a list of all the videos from their youtube channel. 

Bearded Youth Presents - 1000 Ways to Break Up 

Thanks for the Couch - RYAN - EP 2

Thanks for the Couch - TOMMY - EP 1 

“1000 WAYS TO BREAK” is a new web series about breaking up, starring Richard Eggly. WATCH HERE: https://goo.gl/9xPk3z

Back in 2013 Jason took to Indiegogo to find funds for his short “Invaders”. His method of campaigning breaks down all the typical aspects of filmmaking but in a hilarious and completely self-aware manner. Most filmmakers miss the opportunity to share their individuality and voice during the crusade to raise money, which is a huge mistake in my opinion. The details of Jason’s perks included him liking every Facebook post you make for one whole year, and also writing your name on a scrap of paper, and throwing it to the wind for the man/women of your dreams to find. Okay, enough about raising money.

Jason Kupfer’s short opens in the familiar home invasion sub-genre territory, but quickly displays it’s own sharp comedic timing with marks of an original absurdist atmosphere. Take a look for yourself and see why this short has received massive success at film festivals and in the online horror community. Jason was nice enough to let me interview him about “Invaders.”

-First off, congrats on all the success of this short. "Invaders" is something that stuck in my mind after the first viewing. As the writer/director can you talk about where a film like this comes from?

Mortifying phobia. I think home invasion films are probably the most effectively terrifying to me of all horror sub-genres. The original Funny Games and a relentlessly brutal Spanish film called Kidnapped have traumatized me for life. I guess because of that, I was masochistically drawn toward doing my own home invasion film, but I was much more interested in presenting it from the perspective of the invaders themselves. The inevitable mask-selection conversation that we'd then have to sit in on (and which you never get to actually see in films like The Strangers or You're Next), just dilutes the mystique and humanizes these guys to the point where they become completely un-intimidating. The ridiculousness of the situation just kind of spun out of control from there. I think the other movie-invaders are successfully disturbing because they're genuinely sadistic motiveless boogeymen and ours are more interested in just emulating that sort of archetype.

-The conversation the two men have about picking the right mask to wear is a hilarious scene, that also sets a nice tone for the film. My favorite is the moment with the knife and the squirrel mask. What was the editing process for that scene like?

It was actually far trickier and more time-consuming than editing the second half of the film, surprisingly. We had a lot more coverage and options with the car exchange, so there was a lot to play with. It was mostly about easing into the film and finding the pacing right of the bat without feeling too rushed into the situation. The shot that actually took the most time to get precisely right, edit-wise, was Jordan's hand knocking the car into neutral during the brief knife-fight.  The idea was for it to register just quickly enough subconsciously, so that it's not excessive heavy-handed foreshadowing. When the car drifts away at the end, those handful of earlier frames hopefully payoff without having completely telegraphed that moment too far in advance.

-Can I have an Invaders doormat?

I gave all the props away as rewards for our fundraising campaign. My mom actually wound up with the Invaders doormat, so you'll have to take it up with her. Do you like those "Wipe Your Paws" mats? I can probably get you one of those.

-I loved where you decided to put the camera. The short as whole is filled with great visuals that feel like paintings. When you worked with your director of photography what kinds of visual aids did you use?

We flew our DP, Marco, in from LA, so we just worked remotely until the day before we shot. We did some story-boarding and shared a basic sort of moodboard back and forth with everything from Wong Kar-Wai to Nicolas Refn and Dario Argento. General color palette, lighting, framing (and even credits and poster art) were all essentially locked in before he even set foot on location for the first time.

-I know everyone has asked you about all the blood in the film but I have to know how the conversation went down about flooding someone's lawn with gallons of blood?

Technically, it never did go down. We had casually mentioned "some liquid spray", but the owners of the location weren't super interested in the details and were fast asleep when we finally shot that scene. The blood we did shoot with on location was a much more watered down formula with soap, so it just washed away without issue. We blew out about 100 or so gallons, but ran into a lot of technical issues and ended up having to re-shoot the practical blood stuff for the closing shot in our producer's yard (and later composite that in). We went full-syrup version there and completely flooded his yard with over 300 gallons of blood. We don't talk as much as we used to.

-What was your favorite audience you watched it with?

Our premiere screening was at Fantastic Fest, and is still my favorite. Fantastic Fest is pure chaos personified and we met the most amazing people and filmmakers there. We even ended up winning the runner-up for Best Horror Short. If we didn't have a single screening after that, I would have been ok with it. I did get to do Q&As with Juggalos and a guy who had sex with a dolphin at other festivals down the road, so I'm relieved that wasn't the case

For more details on Invaders visit: http://invadersfilm.com/

For more of Jason’s work visit: http://jasonkupfer.com/

By Jon Walkup 

“Lose Yourself” in this culinary experience…        Esteemed food critic, Diana De La Torre reviews new West Hollywood restaurant, Shady’s Place.

   A new year, a new restaurant.  Eminem themed restaurant, Shady’s Place, opened it’s doors to the public on January 1st, 2016. Located in trendy West Hollywood, Shady’s Place was welcomed by most, picketed by others. Opening day, a line awaiting the restaurant doors to open stretched over 2 city blocks. One anxious patron said, “ Finally, a little piece of Detroit is coming to Hollywood!” Another soon-to-be costumer said she had been waiting in line since 3 am. But not all were as pleased to see an Eminem themed restaurant open in their neighborhood. Local club-goer, Dillion Jones said, “Everyone knows that West Hollywood is the go-to place for homosexual night life. People feel safe and free to be themselves here. It is beyond my why an openly gay-bashing rapper would want to open a restaurant on our turf.”

       Restaurant owner and head chef, Phil “Machine” Montoya, stated months before the restaurant’s opening that, “Shady’s Place is in no way owned, promoted or endorsed by rapper, Eminem. In fact, we’re not even sure he knows about it. All we wanted to do was celebrate the rappers life and bring some of 8 Mile to LA.” When we reached out to Eminem and his team about his thoughts on the upcoming restaurant, we simply received,  “No comment.”        But let’s put all the turmoil aside for now and take a step inside Montoya’s creation, Shady’s Place. From the outside, it looks like someone has parked their trailer on the curb and forgotten to pay the meter for 15 years. Restaurant designer, Sasha Norton said she and Montoya worked closely to make sure that even from the sidewalk, Shady’s Place made you stop and think, “We’re not in Hollywood anymore.”        Step inside, and you’re simply in awe of the personal detail from floor to ceiling. Intimate photos from Eminem’s life cover the walls, from family portraits to baby photos of his daughter, Hailey. A replica of Eminem and his now ex-wife, Kim, hang above the velvet-roped VIP booth.  “We wanted a really organic feeling to consume the costumers as soon as they stepped inside. My goal was transport people into Eminem’s life. When you eat here, I want it to feel like you’re eating at Eminem’s childhood trailer park. And I really think we achieved that,” stated Norton.        Now let’s get down to the real reason people are visiting Shady’s Place, the food. Montoya said he’d been working on the menu for close to 7 years. “I really wanted to put my blood, sweat and tears into the cuisine. I did a lot of research. What are Eminem’s favorite foods? What did he grow up eating? What do Detroit natives love to it? And I’m proud to say, you can find it all here.”

       The presentation is something to be desired, as all entrees are served on a TV dinner-style tray. Shady’s Place also features a full bar, where world-class mixologist, Skyler Faye, concocts some of the most tempting cocktails I’ve ever seen. I decided to go with the I’m Sorry Mama Mojito, which was equal parts refreshing and delicious.  I started my meal with a charming and “punny” appetizer, a simple bowl of M&M’s. Chef Montoya laughed when I asked about this menu choice. “It was an easy decision. I just thought, you can’t have an Eminem themed restaurant without actual M&M’s. Plus, we’re encouraging people to eat candy before dinner. Major crowd pleaser.”        For my main course, I had quite a cornucopia to choose from. Mom’s Spaghetti, served with freshly baked garlic bread and a bed of baby arugala seemed like a delightful choice. The menu also featured Shady’s Baby Back Ribs, served with home-style mashed potatoes and cornbread. I decided to go with something on the lighter side, the Cleaning Out My Closet Crostini. This understated yet elegant dish was a treat to my palette. Four delicately thin slices of French bread toasted and drizzled with olive oil, then topped with an assortment of artisan cheeses and seafood pâté. This dish was satisfying yet allowed me to save room for the main event: dessert.

       Chef Montoya managed to create a whimsical array of desserts for Shady’s Place. I was dying to sample two desserts on the menu from the very moment I’d heard about the new restaurant, so I ordered them both. I started with the oh-so-decadent Marshmallow Mathers. An airy, whipped ‘smores cake with mounds of fluffy marshmallow butter cream and chocolate ganache. This dish is sure to please anyone with a sweet tooth, and then some. Finally, I ordered the dessert to end all desserts, the 8 Mile High Mud Pie. Chef Montoya wasn’t kidding when he named it after the hip-hop stars popular movie, the dessert literally consisted of 8 alternating layers of coffee ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and an Oreo cookie crust. Topped with a heaping layer of whipped cream, this dessert was the perfect end to a night of culinary perfection.        Chef Montoya asked if I’d be back to visit Shady’s Place again and I simply answered, “This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.”

By Bri Klaproth