It’s been so cool to see how the Old North End has evolved into this real restaurant scene over the past few years. What made the Old North End the right neighborhood for May Day?

“As far as the Old North End, I think it's one of those things where you started to see all these restaurants popping up…Taco Gordo, obviously Pho Hong was kind of an institution out here, Gold opened up, Pizzeria Ida. It's just one of those things where the neighborhood was really kind of coming alive.

“When we were looking to open the business, I'd always thought about the Butch + Babe's space as being a really beautiful space in the Old North End, and thought it was a really cool opportunity when that came across. I wanted to do a full-service restaurant, and basically every restaurant in the Old North End is a counter service, kind of fast-casual model. And we were like, cool, we'll be the only one in the neighborhood that does full service, small plates, a lot of intentional wine and cocktails, and just be really thoughtful about that as an approach to our service.

“I think in the long run, it's paid off, because there are so many great restaurants in this community, and we kind of set a different tone for how we wanted to execute our service model and our food and all of those things. So it was cool to do that, and then have the support of every other restaurant here, because we weren't opening a ‘turn and burn’ burger joint. We're not taking customers or guests away from other fast casual businesses.”

Is there something that surprises people when they come to May Day, or a dish that best reflects what you're all about?

“I think what a lot of people are most surprised by is our hospitality. We're a very big hospitality-forward restaurant. I've worked in a lot of restaurants and I've eaten and drank in a lot of restaurants in different communities, and I've been to restaurants in certain cities where you walk in and you're like, ‘Oh, this is a cool wine bar and they've got fancy small plates,’ and everybody is dressed in the clothes that they feel comfortable in, and then everyone's an a**hole to you. And that sucks…I hate that restaurant. You can't charge $15 for a glass of wine and then not know anything about it and not care about somebody's experience with it.

“So that was a huge thing early on for us…being really, really hospitable, and making sure that everybody feels comfortable. If you have dietary restrictions, aversions, if you want a cocktail slightly different than how we make it…we are very open to people just experiencing joy in May Day, and that's a huge thing for us. So I think people are pretty commonly surprised by the level of service and thoughtfulness that we put into that.

“As far as food, our menu changes pretty regularly. We do the patty melt on Sunday nights, which has become pretty cult-y as far as people really showing up for that. We have people who religiously show up every Sunday for their patty melt, which is pretty funny because I grew up eating them in Georgia. I was like, ‘We’ve got to have something that gets people out on a specific night of the week.’ We used to do it every night. Then we started doing the $10 Sunday night ones and it just became pretty popular. And then we hand make all of our pasta. We do a lot of collaborative work with local farms, so we do farm dinners or farm highlights.

“I think the comments we get the most are, ‘I didn't know what to expect and I was blown away by the hospitality and the service.’”

Your menu and wine list are constantly evolving…how do you know when it's time to change things up? And after five years, do you think about growth beyond this space?

“Right now, I'm lucky enough to have Ashley Maynes…she's the beverage director and Assistant GM, I worked with her at Dedalus, and she’s constantly going out and tasting wine. So she's really on that grind, which is great, because I've gone through that period of my life and gotten to the other side, and it's awesome that she’s so enthused and wants to just try everything and get out there…the day-to-day operations of running a business can take a lot out of you. So it's nice to have somebody that's fired up. She's probably changing the wine list weekly, if not bi-weekly."

“We print our menus on site, so we're fairly limber in that kind of execution, which I'm really happy about…and you have to be. I think if you want to have a creative, inspired team, you've got to be able to say, “Okay, cool, we didn't get the delivery today that we thought we were going to get, but we got something different, and we're going to do a different dish today and that's how it's going to be executed.”

“Right now, chef Sloan (Miller) and sous chef Aren (Berkenbush) are both really killing it, and it's really inspired in the space. It's August in Vermont…that's the best time to be a chef or cook in this community. I've always felt if somebody wants to be creative and wants to do something different or unique, I’m a huge advocate of supporting that…that's kind of what restaurants are to me. People just taking chances on themselves and their food and their visions, and I 100% want to support that. If somebody comes to me and says, ‘Hey, I've got an idea, I want to try this out,’ I'm like, ‘All right, let's taste it.’ Let's go from there. And then let's put it on the menu.

“It'll be five years this spring, which is pretty crazy. Right now, there's nothing solid or secure, but I definitely go to restaurants and think, ‘Oh man, I'd love to try and do something like this.’ It's also one of those things where I feel like I'm just recovering from opening the restaurant five years ago, and you kind of keep that in mind too, and think about how you want to strategize for what's next.

“Right now, I have a team that is very talented and very good at what they do, and that's an amazing thing to have…not a lot of people can secure that and make that a part of their workflow. So for me, it's allowing for more opportunities. This industry is one of those where, if you want to create a life and an income and consistent upward mobility for team, you've got to expand.

“That's kind of been one of our things, unfortunately…we get people who come in and it's their first management job, or their first time writing a wine list, or their first time ordering food and learning how to be a sous chef or a chef. And they grow and develop, and some of them get accolades and nominations through this space, and then they get offered a job with a higher salary and benefits. I'm like, ‘Well, damn, that sucks,’ but I get it, and I understand that.

“But for myself, if I'm helping grow these people to that point, if I open another business, does that provide more opportunity for somebody else? Probably. So that's also something I try to think about and be mindful of…our ceiling here is a little low, and I wish that there was more for people to be able to do. And I have to push myself to grow something new if people on my staff want something new.”

Bonus Question: What's something people are always surprised to learn about you?

“A lot of people don't know that I grew up in Georgia, outside of Atlanta. People always assume I'm from Vermont or from Burlington or something like that. I was born in Western Mass, but I grew up in the southeast from the age of 4 to 18, and then moved back here. I take it as a compliment that a lot of people think I'm from here. That's always something that people are a little surprised by.”