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Justin Brady: [00:00:00] From Iowapodcast.com, I’m Justin Brady, and Wicked is wrapping up in downtown. One place that got hit pretty hard was Splash Seafood downtown. There’s a reason we’re here, by the way, but first, [00:00:15] um, I’m joined with Adam Pepe, the Splash general manager. And funny joke, like, you, you were saying that people call you Pepe, but it’s Pepe?

Adam Pepe: Yeah, it’s Pepe.

Justin Brady: Pepe. It’s, it’s Italian, you know? Right, it’s Italian. It’s Italian. So anyway, that’s cool. Yeah. Um, [00:00:30] the- you’re also the wine director here. Yes. So we’re gonna talk about food and wine, which is gonna be really exciting. Yes. How did the Wicked thing go? You guys had a lot of people in here. You got some reactions on this, so we’re going to talk about this thing.

Yeah. But yeah, how’d it all go?

Adam Pepe: It went great. Um, we [00:00:45] definitely saw the influx in business for the civic center downtown, you know. That’s what kinda brings us a lot of our business. Yeah. We’re very appreciative of, of them. Um, you know, for three weeks long, that was pretty long show. Mm-hmm. So we did open up on [00:01:00] a couple Sundays, you know, just to capture that extra business, and definitely be there for our faithful, you know, Splash lovers.

So it was a great time. Um, we definitely did a themed menu, which was kind of one of a first for us, trying a new themed menu to see if that would [00:01:15] bring in a little more guests. It’s kind of fun. Get them a little more excited about the menu and stuff. Um, we did some decorations around the place. I mean, it was really fun.

And of course, our brand-new video wall. You know, it’s a 12 by 10 video wall. Um, it’s [00:01:30] actually kind of amazing. It’s got 125 pixels for every four-inch block that’s in there. So it’s a very clear, very nice picture, not something you see at, like, an Asian buffet or something, you know? But people are excited.

They get to see, [00:01:45] you know, things that they don’t get to see every day, as in, like, the coral reefs, the different kinda species of sea life that are down there, stuff like that. So-

Justin Brady: Yeah, I wanted to ask about that, because the, um, it’s almost, I’m calling it a digital aquarium.

Adam Pepe: Yeah.

Justin Brady: That’s what it feels like.

Yeah. Because for anybody who hasn’t been to Splash, [00:02:00] we’ll talk a little bit about this here in a second, but it is, there’s, like, this vertical build to it, where you almost feel like you’re under the ocean. You’re in a digital aquarium of some kinda thing. Mm-hmm. So I’m glad you brought up the wall. I wanted to talk about that.

Um, this is something that I know [00:02:15] you, I know the owner, Bruce, care a lot about, don’t talk a ton about it, but it’s the coral reef, and I know he, he loves to go fishing- Mm … down in the Florida area. Yep, yeah. Uh, and so this is one of the things that, um, he cares a lot [00:02:30] about, and he wants to kind of bring to Iowa to show them, like, this stuff is really cool.

It’s worth protecting. Can you go into that a little bit?

Adam Pepe: Yeah, I mean, the coral reefs have been around forever. I mean, they’re older than the dinosaurs, you know? Um, they’re actually tiny creatures called [00:02:45] polyps, and they create the, the reefs. Now, what they do is they create, like, an exoskeleton by filtering the seawater, um, that gives them almost, like, a limestone finish, you know?

And you know, the, the biggest, uh, reef is the [00:03:00] Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It stretches over 1,400 miles in the ocean So it’s real important for us to protect these things, um, ’cause they provide jobs, they provide, um, sea life, you know, to keep those endangered species alive. Um, [00:03:15] traveling, you know, just for the go, go scuba diving and check out some coral reefs.

You know, you wanna be able to see those things in their pristine form. And so we wanna really start, you know, focusing on protecting those things with, you know, our missions, keeping, um, you know, waste out of the [00:03:30] oceans and stuff like that, ’cause it’s really starting to deteriorate those coral reefs, so.

Justin Brady: Yeah, and like right, I know that not everybody is going to get down to see coral reefs or go scuba diving, get certifications, get on a boat- Mm … go check it out. So is this kind of your attempt? ‘Cause I notice for those [00:03:45] watching at home, you can kinda see the coral reefs, uh, plank. Is, is this kind of your attempt to show that off when people are at Splash?

Mm-hmm. Like, what’s on your plate actually, um, is, well, A, very complicated, but what’s on your plate depends on this whole [00:04:00] ecosystem being healthy. Is this kind of the point?

Adam Pepe: Yeah. Yeah, that’s definitely one of the points we wanna get across, you know? And it also just provides like another form of entertainment.

Um, you know, you can actually, like if you look right now, I’ve never seen one of those in my life. So-

Justin Brady: No, I haven’t either …

Adam Pepe: it’s just, you [00:04:15] know, kinda cool to see new things and show, show what’s out there, you know, for people to, you know, maybe plan an adventure. Maybe this’ll inspire somebody to get down to the Keys and go do some snorkeling or something, you know?

And definitely think about, you know, maybe being a little bit more healthy with our [00:04:30] environment.

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s, it’s super cool ’cause it’s razor sharp. Oh, yeah. It looks very… It, it’s, it’s really weird. It looks very real when you’re here. So it’s like if you’re eating down there… Do you have people request to eat near it, by the way?

Yep. ‘Cause it’s like right there.

Adam Pepe: Yep, and this is kind of our main dining

Justin Brady: area right here. They can’t see this, but [00:04:45] there’s like a dining room way down… Like I said, this is vertical. Like, the, the restaurant’s like built straight up, and there’s a window up there, too.

Adam Pepe: Yeah. I mean, we have tons of people. This is kind of our main area, but then we’ve also set up a couple tables up here, and we’re calling that our ocean view.

Justin Brady: Nice.

Adam Pepe: So we’ve actually [00:05:00] had people request to sit up here just so they have a, a better view of it, you know? It’s It’s something that’s new and exciting and, you know, we hope that it, you know, makes our guests happy when they come in and see something new and exciting to see.

Justin Brady: Yeah, I mean, it’s … If you wanna take a little [00:05:15] trip to the ocean and not take a trip to the ocean, just get dinner, um, this is probably the easiest way to do it.

I wanted to use that kind of as a jump-off point to also talk about, uh, some of the stuff in Splash that most people may not notice, or they do notice it, but they just don’t necessarily [00:05:30] think about it. Mm-hmm. Which is, A, it’s very much designed like you are in an aquarium. Yeah. Like I said, it’s, it’s like all these levels.

Mm-hmm. Very immersive. And so talk about that, but then also talk about there’s a lot of art around here that I think- Mm … most people just say, “Oh, that’s just [00:05:45] probably some, you know, generic art.” Right. It’s actually significant art. It’s, uh, it’s, it’s cool stuff.

Adam Pepe: Yeah. So the way the building was designed is actually like you said, like you are in the ocean or aquarium.

Um, the owner, Bruce, he had a mission. You know, he went to [00:06:00] the Keys. He loves the Keys, so he wanted to bring that back. Mm. Um, you might not be able to see it, but our wall over here has got a mako shark, and its color … And the color of the wall is blue. Now- Um, how that came about was Bruce went [00:06:15] out to the Jet Stream and had a picture taken of the Jet Stream, and that’s the color blue he wanted his wall.

Uh-huh. So he had that color matched.

Justin Brady: Really? Yes.

Adam Pepe: That’s crazy. To the Jet Stream. So that’s why that wall is blue. And if you notice, we’ve got a sailfish over here [00:06:30] and a marlin. Mm-hmm. Um, the preface-

Justin Brady: We can get photos of that and show people if they, if you can’t quite see it, we’ll get some photos, but…

Adam Pepe: And the preface of that is that the shark’s swimming in the water, the marlin’s jumping out of the water, the sailfish is diving, and it’s kinda [00:06:45] supposed to be meant to feel like an underwater scene.

Justin Brady: Yeah. It’s super cool. It, it, like I said- Mm-hmm … it’s got that immersive experience. There’s also, like, some, I, I, I don’t know if they can see it, but there’s art up there. Mm-hmm. Like, giant banners, and there’s art behind the camera as well. Uh, that’s [00:07:00] significant too,

Adam Pepe: right? Yes. So that was commissioned by Sailene Nong.

She’s a local artist who’s actually, I think she’s a little bit more worldwide known now. Oh. Um, she painted all of these canvases, all of the walls. Um, they’re actually [00:07:15] insured for, I believe, about a million dollars to half a million dollars. Um, so it is quite significant. Um, um, over here behind us, which you can’t see, we have two Alex Calders, and these are original Calders.

Um, that gentleman [00:07:30] was alive from nine- or 1898 to 1976. Um, world-renowned artist. He was one of the first people who invented the moving wind sculptures.

Justin Brady: Hmm.

Adam Pepe: Um, he’s also painted jets for Boeing. He’s also painted- Jets? … BMWs for [00:07:45] BMW for their first art series of cars. So he’s a very well-known artist. Um, so those are just kind of the more significant pieces here at Splash.

Justin Brady: Is, is he the same… Or one of those artists also painted a bunch of your walls too, I think. Um-

Adam Pepe: That’s the same Sailene Nong who did-

Justin Brady: Okay, Sailene

Adam Pepe: Nong … did the [00:08:00] canvases and then did all of the walls

Justin Brady: as well. ‘Cause that’s s- you’re basically surrounded by that, by that art, which is really, really cool. Mm-hmm.

And probably the last question is, um, you have a, I don’t know wine, you, you obviously know wine, a DRONA award and a Wine Spectator award. Yes. So [00:08:15] it’s not like, um, we create fresh seafood here, and then we just found some wine and threw it out th- Right … you actually know what you guys are doing- Mm-hmm … as far as the wine.

Can you talk about those two awards? Yes.

Adam Pepe: So the DRONA award is the Distinguished Restaurants of North America. [00:08:30] Um, it’s an award that is only, actually we’re only one of eight restaurants to have that award in Iowa. Or no, I have that backwards. One in three restaurants to have that in Iowa. Hmm. Um, it’s based [00:08:45] on your menu, so when you go to get this award, you have to submit your menu, your wine list, your drink list.

Um, they look at all of your service, like, um- how you say it? Like, basically they go through your service, steps of service to make sure that, you know, you [00:09:00] meet those qualifications, and then they kind of base it on that whether they give you that award or not. So we’ve been lucky enough to receive it for, I think, 25 years now, so.

Justin Brady: Adam Pepe, right? Yeah. Adam Pepe?

Adam Pepe: Pepe.

Justin Brady: Pepe. Adam Pepe- Yeah … [00:09:15] the general manager and wine director here at Splash. Uh, and of course, we at Iowapodcast.com really appreciate the collaboration. Mm-hmm. It’s been a lot of fun working with you all.

Adam Pepe: Yeah, yeah. Definitely.

Justin Brady: Thanks for being on the show.

Adam Pepe: Yeah, I appreciate it.

Thanks for coming out

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