In this episode of AFB’s Inform & Connect, Melody and Tony talk with Jordan Thomas, who runs the Twisted Tomato pizzeria in Del Ray Beach, Florida. Jordan shares his experience of going blind after serving ten years as a fire fighter in northeast Pennsylvania, and how the plot twist around losing his sight would eventually be the beginning of a new chapter in the Sunshine State, where he would open his family run pizzeria and bring along literally a slice of heaven from Northeast Pennsylvania, introducing it to the sandy shores of South Florida.
Find out how his pizzeria has become an anchor for the blind and low vision residents in his community, and how fifty-cents of every pizza sold is donated to the American Foundation for the Blind. You can visit the Twisted Tomato website to learn more about what Jordan is cooking up in South Florida.
To learn more about the American Foundation for the blind, visit our own website, where you can support our work and access a wealth of information on our advocacy, research, and programs that create a world of no limits for people who are blind or have low vision.
For questions about this podcast, email communications@afb.org.
Inform & Connect Podcast Transcript
Season 4, Episode 4 -- A Conversation with Chef Jordan Thomas
August 24, 2023
INTRO MUSIC FADES IN
Narrator: You are listening to Inform & Connect, conversations on blindness and low vision, a podcast of the American Foundation for the Blind. And now your host, Melody Goodspeed.
Melody Goodspeed: Hey everybody, welcome to the AFB Inform & Connect podcast. I am joined again with my lovely partner in crime, Tony Stephens, and we have a fun guest with us today. Well, we always have fun guests, don't we, Tony?
Tony Stephens: Yeah, we do. But this is a very fun guest because this guest resonates something in my heart that we don't really talk much on the podcast about.
Melody Goodspeed: Okay. What resonates in your heart?
Tony Stephens: That's food.
Melody Goodspeed: Oh yes, I agree. And you know what?
Tony Stephens: Not just any food, but the best food in the world.
Melody Goodspeed: It is. And you know what it is? It's comfort food too for me. This particular type of food that we're talking about, it's comfort food for me. I often have dreams of I just want to sit with a large pizza with all the toppings that I want and watch my favorite movie and chick flick away. That's what I'm saying. What about you?
Tony Stephens: Well, this is my Friday tradition every week since my kids were two and we started to let them watch television. And you mentioned it a second ago, what special food is, but it's hands down one of those last meal. If it's the last meal on earth, kind of asteroid pairing towards earth, what would you choose to eat?
And so we're going to get a chance to learn more, not just about the food, but the person that makes it and the loving hands that prepare it and help in a sense, not just bring food to the hearts of people, but it's actually helping the American Foundation for the Blind too, which has been an exciting thing that we came across. And we're excited to have the master chef himself online.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, I know. Without further ado, Jordan Thomas, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you?
Jordan Thomas: I'm good. How are you?
Melody Goodspeed: We're doing great. We're so glad to have you and I have to agree with Tony. We also have a Friday night pizza ever since I can remember as a child, that was the night you just knew it was happening. We are so excited to talk to you about food, pizza, and all that stuff. Can you tell us, Jordan, a little bit about you, where you're from, and all things pizza?
Jordan Thomas: So I am originally from a small town in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. It is the self-proclaimed pizza capital of the world. It's a very small town with about 6,300 people and they all specialize in this Old Forge style pizza.
Tony Stephens: Can you describe?
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, I want to know about this.
Tony Stephens: Old Forge versus Chicago or New York or Detroit.
Jordan Thomas: So the Old Forge style pizza is a square pizza. It's made in a cast iron pan. It's not a Sicilian pizza. It's not thick. It has a light and airy center. It has a plump tomato sauce and it has specialty cheeses that are mixed throughout it.
The story is, fun fact, that in 1905 there was a bar in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, and the bar was a coal miner bar. And this woman, known as Ghigiarelli, had her husband's bar and all the coal miners would come in there to drink. And what she wanted to do was she wanted to feed the coal miners. So what she did was she goes back into her kitchen, which was connected outside of her bar, her home, and she starts digging around and just the ingredients that she has on hand. She has this cast iron pan, she has flour, she has tomatoes, and she makes this Old Forge style pizza, which she had no idea it was going to change Old Forge and Northeastern Pennsylvania forever.
This pizza became so big, it's everywhere. It's so different. It's so unique how she made it. Every time I serve it, people are like, "I've never had anything like this. This is so different." It's very unique, I can't compare it. I can't tell you it's a Sicilian. I can't tell you it's Detroit. I can't tell you it's Chicago. I can't tell you it's New York. I can't tell you it's Connecticut. It is just all on its own, just a style of pizza.
Tony Stephens: Yeah, that's so exciting. So growing up, you grew up in Old Forge?
Jordan Thomas: And so I had-
Tony Stephens: Was that where you're from?
Jordan Thomas: Yes.
Tony Stephens: Yeah.
Jordan Thomas: I'm originally from Moosic, Pennsylvania, which is connected to Old Forge.
Tony Stephens: Right. I mean, was there a pizzeria you'd go to, your parents would take you to as a kid, and it became sort of that family tradition or what?
Jordan Thomas: So my uncle owned a restaurant in Moosic, and my mom and dad both helped him with it. And as a kid, I would get out of school and I would ride my bike down there because I just always wanted to. He was just this really cool guy. He just always had this different wing sauces, pizza, recipes, and the stuff that he would come up with. I just always wanted to be there.
And then as I got older, I worked there. And from there all through high school, I worked at another pizza place. A very good friend of ours owned a bunch of them in Pennsylvania restaurants and I worked for them all through high school. And believe it or not, when I was in high school, I actually didn't want to open a restaurant. Actually, I was a firefighter since I was 16, a volunteer. And then from then on, I was a firefighter all the way up until I lost my sight. I was going to be a firefighter. I was in the Fire Academy. My dream was to be an firefighter in New York City.
Melody Goodspeed: Can you walk us through a little bit about the sight loss and adjusting and going back to something that gives you such pleasure? Because I can definitely tell it does with the animation.
Jordan Thomas: Sure.
Tony Stephens: How far were you in fire training? I mean, had you actually had a chance to serve local firehouses in Pennsylvania or were you in Florida yet?
Jordan Thomas: I did. Actually, I was a firefighter for 10 years.
Melody Goodspeed: Wow.
Jordan Thomas: My father was a firefighter. My godfather is still the fire chief in Pennsylvania. My brother-in-law is still a fire chief in Pennsylvania. My best friend is still a fire chief in Pennsylvania. The two best men that were in my wedding are still currently firefighters in Pennsylvania.
Tony Stephens: So real heroes.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. And thank you for your service, most definitely, and your family. You guys are real heroes.
Jordan Thomas: To be honest with you, so while still being a firefighter, at Friday and Saturday nights, I would work at a restaurant in Old Forge for a family friend. He was an older man and even though I was still in Fire Academy, I wanted to help him. He was always really good to us. So I would go there and I would work on Friday and Saturday nights. And this place was zooming.
On a Friday night, I think they would sell maybe 125 trays. And on a Saturday, maybe like 150, it was small. In the place, in front of you, it was just a little cooler where the sauce and the cheese and the pizza toppings were. And there were two ovens, a cutting board table, and a window and the door, it was just really small, but he sold a lot of pizza and I had a great time doing it. I always had fun.
To be honest with you, when I was having a hard time or struggling, when I was there making pizza, I'm like, "This is so simple. There's no responsibility. I am not saving people. I don't have to follow codes." And when you're there, you're just kind of, as funny as it sounds, saucing and cheesing pizza and there's no responsibility. You're just kind of just sending out the door.
Tony Stephens: It's interesting, you always hear about firefighters being good cooks, right? There's a firehouse a block from me in downtown Baltimore where I live, and you can always smell them grilling out and stuff. I mean, I don't know if that's a stereotype or not or if you found that to be true in the firehouse. But I mean, I've always heard growing up that there's always good food in firehouses.
And I'm wondering if it's just that idea of service, right? I mean, it's a completely different world that you mentioned, much, much more low stress, but at the same point, you're just serving. It's a service role to be a restaurateur or a chef.
Jordan Thomas: So what they really are is they call them brotherhoods, and that firehouse is like your house. So those firefighters, they take pride. Every evening, they cook family dinner, and everyone sits down at this big table like a family and eats dinner, and they take great pride in what they're serving.
Tony Stephens: Yeah.
Melody Goodspeed: I can tell, Jordan, that you do that with where you are now in Florida, right? Because you are there. And can you walk us through, I love how you say that because family dinner is always a great thing, right? It's the everybody's running around hustling, bustling, and you get those half an hour to sit down and just preparing and being with people that you care about. And in both situations that you just said, you're saving people and you have to have that trust and camaraderie with the people that you're with. Can you talk us about your transition to starting your new chapter in Florida?
Jordan Thomas: Sure. So to be completely honest, in 2013, I was getting married, and I had gotten married, and I was on my honeymoon with my wife, and I had these flickers. My vision would come and it would go, and then it would come back. And I remember telling my wife, I said, "I think I just need to lay down. I think it's just a headache." And then as the days went on, I noticed it would go away and come back longer. And then we had came home and I went to see a doctor, and the doctor had said, "I don't know. We're going to schedule you for a specialist. It could be like a swollen lymph node or something like that." And a few days had gone by, and all of a sudden, it was just kind of lights out, and it didn't come back.
And I remember having this panic attack and they had taken me in the ambulance down to Danville, Pennsylvania to this big hospital. They took me into the emergency room. And what had happened, there was this very well-known doctor who was filling in from New York in Pennsylvania. And he kind of knew, as crazy as it was, he takes me into surgery and sees the blue blood cells. And he says that there is this tumor that has grown so large that it's crushing the optic nerve, "We need to operate."
And they operate and they remove the tumor, but the damage was already done. So I have a bilateral optic nerve damage, they call it. And from there, I crashed. From going from firefighting, I had a motorcycle, I squatted, I was very active. And to go to what you're at from what you go to, I kind of went into this kind of deep, dark depression where I just kind of didn't want to be around or talk to anyone. And I would remember trying to do the stuff that I did when I could see, being blind, and I couldn't, and I tried everything.
I went to visit this family friend, that restaurant that I worked at, I'd never forget this. A very old man, he says, "Jordan, you made so many of these pizzas. You could probably make them blind." And I go into his restaurant and this square pan, as crazy as it is, when you put the sauce on the pan, you guide your hand down the side of the pan when you're saucing it. And then when you are cheesing it, the same thing. So you necessarily can go down the left side of the pan and turn it, and then the right and turn it, and then the right and turn it, and then kind of go back and forth, and you can make this pizza blind. And I remember being like, "Oh my God, I can do this."
And everyone back in Pennsylvania, I feel like they looked at me different. They treated me different. They felt bad for me. I didn't want them to, I wanted to go. I told my wife and she said, she supports me in whatever. I said, "I need to get out of here." And she said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I need to go somewhere where no one knows who I am and what happened to me. And I want to open this restaurant. This is what makes me happy, I feel good when I'm doing it, and I want to do this." And we did.
We packed two U-Haul trucks, my brother, my brother-in-law, and I packed up, and I moved to Florida. And I looked and looked for a place, and about at a year and a half, finally, we locate one and I opened. And I'm making these pizzas, and I don't tell anyone that I can't see. And I'm in the kitchen and no one really knows.
And this woman comes in and she says, "If you don't mind me asking, are you visually impaired?" And I said, yes, I am." She said, "Oh my God, I knew it." I said, "Why?" She said, "I am friends with a reporter. If you don't mind, I really want to tell your story." And this reporter comes down, we sit down in the booth and we just talk. And she's like, "If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to. I will tell you this. This news can potentially make this business get extremely busy, and bring income in, and you'll have the ability to know, if you can think of it." And so I go home and I talk to my wife and I said, "Adrienne, this woman wants to..."
She said, "I think you should tell your story. I think you should tell everyone what you went through, how you got where you are. I think you should donate a portion of that money to two foundations." And when we sit down, we chose the Leukemia and Lymphoma because I had lymphoma, and we chose the AFB. And the reason why the AFB is because they don't only focus on people who are blind. They help people who also have visual impairments, which I feel like is very important as well.
I feel that back in Pennsylvania, some of the associations, they help just the people that are blind, and there are people who are pretty much almost blind. They can see shadows and they can see outlines, and they need help as well. And the AFB focused on both, and they help both people. So that meant the most to me.
So I decide to tell my story, and I take a portion of every pizza. What happens is every six months, or actually, coming up September 1st will be our first six months, our computer system will tell us how many trays of pizza we have sold. I mean, we're going into June, the last I checked, we, since the news, have sold 1500 trays, which it's busier now. So September 1st, it'll tell us, and we'll take half of that. $0.50 of $1 will go to the AFB, and the other $0.50 will go to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.
Tony Stephens: Wow. That is very, very, thank you very much for just thinking of us. And you raised a really good point about the low-vision community and how the overwhelming majority of people who have vision loss still have some sight. But you live in a world where everyone thinks you see absolutely perfect, because you don't walk around with a dog or a cane or sunglasses. And people just assume, but there's huge, enormous challenges. So thank you for just recognizing the fact that we try, at AFB, to really focus in on a lot of issues that impact people across the whole spectrum of sight loss. But thanks for the generosity. And I mean, what better way to witness, to being able to overcome your own challenges, and just giving.
Jordan Thomas: It's been so amazing. I just mailed an envelope out. Believe it or not, I get this yellow envelope in the mail to the restaurant. And I open it up and there's all of these checks to the AFB from camp counselors when I was 13 from my church pastor, from my coach. And they mailed all of these checks to me to send to the AFB. They were already made out, and I just put them in the mail, $25 here, $20 there, $10, $15.
And the story, even though it aired in Florida, everyone in Pennsylvania saw it. And we were able to raise so much money. It's amazing, it's just us making pizza. It's crazy. It's so unique, the pizza, and it's such a crazy story in how we got there and to do what you love every day. And the restaurant, the main passion is not only do I get to do what I love, but I get to do it with who I love.
So when we decided to do this and we packed up, me and my wife, my mom and dad said, "We're coming with you." And they did. And then my mother-in-law, she just recently moved. She's here too. And my father-in-law, he's on his way down. And I go to work every day and my wife runs the front of the restaurant. She does the books, she does the takeout. My daughter, she is a junior in high school. She comes in every night after school, she waitresses. My mom, she waitresses full-time. My dad makes pizza with me. It's a really-
Tony Stephens: A family affair.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, that's amazing. I love this. And one of the things I want to go back to, Jordan, is what you said, it's you're doing what you love. And I think in our blind and low-vision community, we are told by the public or other people what our preconceived notions of our own abilities. And I think that holds us back in so many ways thinking we can't have the things we really want and we can't be the person that we really want to be. And I just love that you're sharing, that you are loving, and that it's coming through so loud and clear even in your voice. But you could tell somebody that's going through sight loss, or even our listeners to this, what would you tell them to get started on their way to get to their passion?
Jordan Thomas: Oh, I get real emotional. I'm the subject, actually. I get a little-
Melody Goodspeed: I was choking up a little bit right now asking, so yes, I do too.
Jordan Thomas: So I am very happy that you brought this up. So the reporter that was at the news station has been there for 12 years. Her farewell day, she wanted to do a follow-up story because of something that she had gotten wind of, and I didn't tell anyone. It's amazing, and I'm glad that you brought it up because I think it's very important.
What I tried to instill is that no matter what, even with the visual, we have worth. And I had hired another blind person this week, it was his first week, and I'm training him and I have him making pizza boxes. And I'm going to train him to sauce and cheese pizzas, and he's one of the first, and I'm going to bring other ones in, whether it's to make pizza boxes or to sanitize menus or to roll silverware or to make pizza.
He came in and he was trying to go to TJ Maxx and they were giving him a hard time, and then he was working at a factory trying to separate screws and they were giving him a hard time, and he was just about to give up and it kind of broke my heart. And I explained to him, "I think the most important thing is that we all have worth," and if I could hire them all, I would. And I'm trying to help him. And he feels so good that he's needed, and he feels so good that he gets a paycheck and he's very grateful.
Tony Stephens: Wow.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes.
Tony Stephens: We hear those challenging stories, enough of people just trying to get back up on their feet, and to know that there's a boss that gets it...
Melody Goodspee...: I mean, I think what you said too, is we all have worth. And I think it's the core of us, especially when we go through something traumatic and I think it's all of us, not just vision loss, but any traumatic situation, we tend to lose that. I think it's our duty and our jobs as human beings, to pull that back out of people when they're down, is to show them that they really do have worth. That's great, yes. Jordan, you haven't told us where your pizza place is or the name of it.
Tony Stephens: Let's plug this place.
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, let's plug this place. You're advocating, you are making change. Let's do this.
Tony Stephens: It's Twisted Tomato, is that right?
Jordan Thomas: It's the Twisted Tomato. And the reason why it is the Twisted Tomato is that I feel like my life is twisted. When we were trying to think of a name, I feel like everything that happened my whole entire life is twisted. I said to my wife, "Let's call it the Twisted Tomato." And it's in Delray Beach, Florida, and it's in this little shopping plaza. And it's been a crazy, crazy ride. The logo, my 13-year-old nephew drew it for me. He wants to be an artist. We had him draw it on a piece of paper, we sent it to a company, and that's the logo that we go with. And he's very proud of it.
Every day of my life I feel like is an adventure, whether it is somebody coming in the restaurant that saw you on the news. I mean, the great part now, it's amazing. When I wake up every day, it's what we talked about, I'm needed, my phone rings, and it's the pizza, the cook. Or if somebody asked me a question, I feel like now I am the guy. And for a while after I lost my sight, I wasn't and I wasn't needed. And every day, I am. And it's not only the point of that, I think the most important thing is these people now feel like they can relate to me and they have somewhere to go.
We just had a gentleman, his birthday party was there, he's blind, 30 people. And the Braille Club, they come in once a week. We do musical bingo and karaoke on Tuesdays, and they come, 30 of them, and they love it. And they're all, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." They feel like they're comfortable there. And the Braille Club does their monthly meetings there, and we do catering for them. And they're just so thankful. They feel at home, they're happy to be there.
A couple other foundations, a lighthouse and another club and group, they come there and we're always trying to do different stuff. We do this musical bingo where it's like a clip from the '60s or '70s or '80s, and you guess what the song is. The reason why is because instead of a bingo card that you can't see, we do this musical bingo where if you know it... So we revolve it around people that have a visual impairment. And like I said, these people are so grateful and so thankful that they can come there and they feel at home. They're happy when they come, and I think that's the most important thing.
Tony Stephens: Going back to your name of the restaurant, which I love the name now, it has so much meaning.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes.
Tony Stephens: Because I mean, hey, the best books, hands down, always have a great plot twist, and to hear what you've done with the plot twist that your life took, right? But at the same time, going back to that sense of brotherhood and camaraderie, you talked in the firehouse and how cooking was part of that? I mean, you kind of have found a new family now and it's wonderful.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, I was just about to say that.
Tony Stephens: But at the same time, you're embracing that family and just really trying to support it. So good on that, Jordan. I mean, that's such wonderful news to hear. I mean, it's a fantastic plot twist. It's maybe not the ending for all of us. I lost my sight when I was 15. Melody, you were in your 20s? How old were you-
Melody Goodspeed: 26. And I lost it very similarly to you, Jordan, just like that.
Tony Stephens: Yeah. It's not the ending we thought we'd get, but hands down. So wonderful to hear that you've taken this plot twist and turned it in, the Twisted Tomatoes.
Melody Goodspeed: And Jordan, you're forever going to be in my heart and to my own twistedness. I'm going to think about that and smile.
Jordan Thomas: I feel like I had so many challenges every day. It's so funny. I had this discussion with my wife through the cancer, the blindness, and the moving. And then honestly, I told my wife, "If the restaurant didn't take off, I was going to write a book and I was going to call it, 'Is that all you got?'."
Tony Stephens: What's the closest airport? Fort Lauderdale or Miami? How do I-
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, we're coming. Tony and I are coming.
Jordan Thomas: So the Delray Beach is... Actually, the closest airport is Fort Lauderdale. It's about 25 minutes. And then there's also another airport, which a lot of people don't realize. The one that I actually use, it's called West Palm. And West Palm is actually about 10 minutes from Delray.
Melody Goodspeed: I have taken that one. Oh, this is fantastic. Well, you know what? We are going to have to spread the news of the Twisted Tomato here with our supporters in the area too to get you there. And as a matter of fact, we have one of our colleagues who lives very close to you and she's going to come visit, so she's going to let you know.
Jordan Thomas: That's cool. That's great.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, her and her husband are going to come visit.
Tony Stephens: Yeah. Well, just real quick before we close things up, the hardest transition into cooking in the kitchen for you, after losing your sight, having made pizzas since you were a kid in the family restaurant, your uncle's place, has there been anything you've been creative in overcoming a challenge with that you could pass on as a little cooking tidbit for people?
Jordan Thomas: Yes. I have been burned many, many times.
Tony Stephens: Sure, you're fighting fires.
Melody Goodspeed: Hand in the air on that one too.
Jordan Thomas: I told my wife, I always make a joke to her. I hear on TV the crime scene there with fingerprints. I told my wife, I said, "I don't have any left, they're gone."
Tony Stephens: Any quick tips for blind-
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, any tips for us? Because God knows I need it.
Jordan Thomas: To be honest with you, as funny as it sounds, people are so amazed. They're like, "How do you..." I don't take my stick to work. And they're like, "You move around." Believe it or not, I have adapted so much. I count the steps. I can walk you through this restaurant and you'd be like, "Oh my God."
I feel that when you have a passion for something and you are so motivated at it, you can adapt no matter what. And I can, I maneuver around that kitchen and I take the proper safety procedures. A good friend of mine is a chef at the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale and we've been friends forever. And he came up and we have things, whether it's believe it or not, as funny as this sounds, everything works out.
So being a firefighter, it's so funny. When we opened the restaurant, I'm burning my hand and I'm like... And then you get this cooking net or a towel, but the pan is still too hot. It's so funny. I called my brother-in-law back in Pennsylvania, and I remember being a fireman. I said to my wife, "Adrienne, when I was a fireman and I would be in these burning buildings, I would wear these firefighter gloves and I couldn't not feel anything." He sends me these pair of firefighter gloves and that's what I grabbed the pan so I don't get burned.
Melody Goodspeed: That's great.
Tony Stephens: Brilliant. A good pair of gloves will go a long way in cooking. I've learned that just when you're trying to feel your way around the oven with your spatula or something, it's nice to be able to actually grab something.
Jordan Thomas: And I'm grateful. My dad, God bless him, is 76 and he won't take a dollar from me, and he just wants to be there. And he works the oven with me every day. He picks me up. I wake up every day, my son, we live in a community. I'm so grateful that when I walk out my door, actually, I walk about maybe a hundred steps and there's this gate, and the gate has a key and you open it. And right on the other side of the gate is the crossing guard, and my son goes to school there. I have a six-year-old, Landon, and I have a daughter, Ava, who's a junior. She goes to Lake Worth Christian School.
So every day, my son always wants me to take him. And so every morning, I wake up and I walk him to school. And my dad's already waiting for me, and we go there together. And me and him prep the pizza station together, and I make all the pizzas, and he runs the oven, and he pulls them out and cuts them and boxes them for me.
Melody Goodspeed: That is awesome.
Tony Stephens: So good, and now I'm so hungry.
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, Tony and I are starving. We talked about that.
Jordan Thomas: Now, I'll tell you so when we get off of the phone, I'm going to have my wife send you the new news link. I will tell you this, a company reached out to me, regarding this Old Forge style pizza and how everyone, the media, people in different parts of Florida, Orlando, and then people in Texas, and actually, California, they wanted to try this pizza and they wanted to support the cause.
And I got with the news and we had reached out to this company back from Pennsylvania, a good friend of mine, and starting this Monday was our first day today. Four of them went to California, two of them went to Texas, and two went to Michigan. We have a website that is www.thetwistedtomatodelray.com. And you go on there and you click, and you can get our red, our white, our double-crusted, or a pizza kit, and it's flash freeze, and it ships right to your house on dry ice, and the dollar from that goes to the AFB as well.
Melody Goodspeed: Wow, that is awesome. And I will be going on there and click and ordering that because I was talking-
Tony Stephens: We're going to take orders right away.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, you are totally. Oh, that's awesome.
Tony Stephens: Next time I need to eat before recording a podcast.
Melody Goodspeed: I know. Well, yes, we are talking about our favorite comfort food. Jordan, it's been so great to have you. And thank you, just even from my own personal heart, just sharing your story and overcoming, and not just overcoming, but living and loving. It's wonderful, and thank you.
I follow you on Facebook. Have people wanted to reach out and check you? Can you tell us about your social media handles? I know it's Twisted Tomato and I follow you and your post, and they make me happy.
Tony Stephens: So we're on Facebook and Instagram, and we have our website. My wife, she reads me everything, I comment back, and I answer everyone in Messenger. And most recently, my daughter who's 17, she's like, "Dad, you have to go on TikTok." And I'm just like, "I don't even know what that is." She's like, "Dad, it's the thing."
Tony Stephens: Oh, people would love that. I mean, just from a blind chef.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. I think we need a YouTube channel as well, but I'm just adding that for you.
Jordan Thomas: So she had set me up, and we get this stand and we put the camera up, and I did. I went live on there making the pizza, showing people that they can do it, and people were going nuts. And they were like, "Oh my God, this is so cool." And these people reached out. That's actually how the gentleman that we have working for us now, he told me the story about TJ Maxx, and then he told me the story about him not getting this job. And I was like, "I've been there, man." I was like, "Listen, you can do this."
And I'm going to teach this. My goal is I am going to... His name is Drew. And right now, he comes in on Fridays, his caseworker comes in and sits with him for the four hours on Fridays. But my goal, I'm going to have this guy in that kitchen making pizza, I promise you.
Tony Stephens: Nice.
Melody Goodspeed: That is incredible. That is awesome. We can't wait to put our orders in. We also can't wait to come visit. I actually really want to come and try this bingo thing, and just come to say thank you from the American Foundation for the Blind, for bringing awareness and showing the world that we can break barriers, and most importantly, that we all have self-worth even in our darkest of times. And thank you so much for being with us today. This has really been a lot of fun. And yes, I'm starving. All right, one last question, what's your favorite pizza topping?
Jordan Thomas: So believe it or not, I get that a lot, and everyone asks me, they're like, "What's your favorite pizza?" Believe it or not, we make this pizza that you'll never find anywhere else in the world. It's called a double-crusted white. It doesn't have sauce. It's a white pizza, not like an open white pizza with the cheese. So it's fresh dough and it's made in that square pan.
And what it does is you fill it up with whether it would be seasoned broccoli or spinach or shrimp and hot peppers. And then you fold it over and it's like four inches high, and it's double-stuffed with cheese and your toppings. And it comes in these six cuts, and it's my favorite pizza. Everyone that I've ever given it to is like, "Oh my God, I've never had anything like this in my whole life." And that's my favorite pizza rather than the red. I am the double-crusted white with broccoli. It's my favorite pizza.
Melody Goodspeed: Okay, now I'm starving. That sounds amazing.
Tony Stephens: Well, Jordan, thank you. So wonderful.
Jordan Thomas: No, thank you for having me, anytime.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. This has been a blast and we are visiting and we will definitely have you back in. We're going to keep up with you. Guys... Oh, go ahead.
Tony Stephens: Yeah, no, and thank you for your generosity to give back to both AFB and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. I think giving back is so incredibly important because it's the way we support each other. And we just want to thank you again and thank you to all of our listeners. This is again, the American Foundation for the Blind, Inform & Connect podcast. We thank having Jordan Thomas with us today, and we hope you've enjoyed our time, and I think we all need to go get some pizza. Have a good one, guys. See you later.
Jordan Thomas: Thank you so much.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to Inform and Connect, the podcast of the American Foundation for the Blind. Be sure to subscribe and like wherever you get your podcasts. And check us out and even consider making a tax-deductible gift today, go to afb.org. AFB, creating a world of no limits.
To learn more about the American Foundation for the blind, visit our own website, where you can support our work and access a wealth of information on our advocacy, research, and programs that create a world of no limits for people who are blind or have low vision.
For questions about this podcast, email communications@afb.org.
Inform & Connect Podcast Transcript
Season 4, Episode 4 -- A Conversation with Chef Jordan Thomas
August 24, 2023
INTRO MUSIC FADES IN
Narrator: You are listening to Inform & Connect, conversations on blindness and low vision, a podcast of the American Foundation for the Blind. And now your host, Melody Goodspeed.
Melody Goodspeed: Hey everybody, welcome to the AFB Inform & Connect podcast. I am joined again with my lovely partner in crime, Tony Stephens, and we have a fun guest with us today. Well, we always have fun guests, don't we, Tony?
Tony Stephens: Yeah, we do. But this is a very fun guest because this guest resonates something in my heart that we don't really talk much on the podcast about.
Melody Goodspeed: Okay. What resonates in your heart?
Tony Stephens: That's food.
Melody Goodspeed: Oh yes, I agree. And you know what?
Tony Stephens: Not just any food, but the best food in the world.
Melody Goodspeed: It is. And you know what it is? It's comfort food too for me. This particular type of food that we're talking about, it's comfort food for me. I often have dreams of I just want to sit with a large pizza with all the toppings that I want and watch my favorite movie and chick flick away. That's what I'm saying. What about you?
Tony Stephens: Well, this is my Friday tradition every week since my kids were two and we started to let them watch television. And you mentioned it a second ago, what special food is, but it's hands down one of those last meal. If it's the last meal on earth, kind of asteroid pairing towards earth, what would you choose to eat?
And so we're going to get a chance to learn more, not just about the food, but the person that makes it and the loving hands that prepare it and help in a sense, not just bring food to the hearts of people, but it's actually helping the American Foundation for the Blind too, which has been an exciting thing that we came across. And we're excited to have the master chef himself online.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, I know. Without further ado, Jordan Thomas, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you?
Jordan Thomas: I'm good. How are you?
Melody Goodspeed: We're doing great. We're so glad to have you and I have to agree with Tony. We also have a Friday night pizza ever since I can remember as a child, that was the night you just knew it was happening. We are so excited to talk to you about food, pizza, and all that stuff. Can you tell us, Jordan, a little bit about you, where you're from, and all things pizza?
Jordan Thomas: So I am originally from a small town in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. It is the self-proclaimed pizza capital of the world. It's a very small town with about 6,300 people and they all specialize in this Old Forge style pizza.
Tony Stephens: Can you describe?
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, I want to know about this.
Tony Stephens: Old Forge versus Chicago or New York or Detroit.
Jordan Thomas: So the Old Forge style pizza is a square pizza. It's made in a cast iron pan. It's not a Sicilian pizza. It's not thick. It has a light and airy center. It has a plump tomato sauce and it has specialty cheeses that are mixed throughout it.
The story is, fun fact, that in 1905 there was a bar in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, and the bar was a coal miner bar. And this woman, known as Ghigiarelli, had her husband's bar and all the coal miners would come in there to drink. And what she wanted to do was she wanted to feed the coal miners. So what she did was she goes back into her kitchen, which was connected outside of her bar, her home, and she starts digging around and just the ingredients that she has on hand. She has this cast iron pan, she has flour, she has tomatoes, and she makes this Old Forge style pizza, which she had no idea it was going to change Old Forge and Northeastern Pennsylvania forever.
This pizza became so big, it's everywhere. It's so different. It's so unique how she made it. Every time I serve it, people are like, "I've never had anything like this. This is so different." It's very unique, I can't compare it. I can't tell you it's a Sicilian. I can't tell you it's Detroit. I can't tell you it's Chicago. I can't tell you it's New York. I can't tell you it's Connecticut. It is just all on its own, just a style of pizza.
Tony Stephens: Yeah, that's so exciting. So growing up, you grew up in Old Forge?
Jordan Thomas: And so I had-
Tony Stephens: Was that where you're from?
Jordan Thomas: Yes.
Tony Stephens: Yeah.
Jordan Thomas: I'm originally from Moosic, Pennsylvania, which is connected to Old Forge.
Tony Stephens: Right. I mean, was there a pizzeria you'd go to, your parents would take you to as a kid, and it became sort of that family tradition or what?
Jordan Thomas: So my uncle owned a restaurant in Moosic, and my mom and dad both helped him with it. And as a kid, I would get out of school and I would ride my bike down there because I just always wanted to. He was just this really cool guy. He just always had this different wing sauces, pizza, recipes, and the stuff that he would come up with. I just always wanted to be there.
And then as I got older, I worked there. And from there all through high school, I worked at another pizza place. A very good friend of ours owned a bunch of them in Pennsylvania restaurants and I worked for them all through high school. And believe it or not, when I was in high school, I actually didn't want to open a restaurant. Actually, I was a firefighter since I was 16, a volunteer. And then from then on, I was a firefighter all the way up until I lost my sight. I was going to be a firefighter. I was in the Fire Academy. My dream was to be an firefighter in New York City.
Melody Goodspeed: Can you walk us through a little bit about the sight loss and adjusting and going back to something that gives you such pleasure? Because I can definitely tell it does with the animation.
Jordan Thomas: Sure.
Tony Stephens: How far were you in fire training? I mean, had you actually had a chance to serve local firehouses in Pennsylvania or were you in Florida yet?
Jordan Thomas: I did. Actually, I was a firefighter for 10 years.
Melody Goodspeed: Wow.
Jordan Thomas: My father was a firefighter. My godfather is still the fire chief in Pennsylvania. My brother-in-law is still a fire chief in Pennsylvania. My best friend is still a fire chief in Pennsylvania. The two best men that were in my wedding are still currently firefighters in Pennsylvania.
Tony Stephens: So real heroes.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. And thank you for your service, most definitely, and your family. You guys are real heroes.
Jordan Thomas: To be honest with you, so while still being a firefighter, at Friday and Saturday nights, I would work at a restaurant in Old Forge for a family friend. He was an older man and even though I was still in Fire Academy, I wanted to help him. He was always really good to us. So I would go there and I would work on Friday and Saturday nights. And this place was zooming.
On a Friday night, I think they would sell maybe 125 trays. And on a Saturday, maybe like 150, it was small. In the place, in front of you, it was just a little cooler where the sauce and the cheese and the pizza toppings were. And there were two ovens, a cutting board table, and a window and the door, it was just really small, but he sold a lot of pizza and I had a great time doing it. I always had fun.
To be honest with you, when I was having a hard time or struggling, when I was there making pizza, I'm like, "This is so simple. There's no responsibility. I am not saving people. I don't have to follow codes." And when you're there, you're just kind of, as funny as it sounds, saucing and cheesing pizza and there's no responsibility. You're just kind of just sending out the door.
Tony Stephens: It's interesting, you always hear about firefighters being good cooks, right? There's a firehouse a block from me in downtown Baltimore where I live, and you can always smell them grilling out and stuff. I mean, I don't know if that's a stereotype or not or if you found that to be true in the firehouse. But I mean, I've always heard growing up that there's always good food in firehouses.
And I'm wondering if it's just that idea of service, right? I mean, it's a completely different world that you mentioned, much, much more low stress, but at the same point, you're just serving. It's a service role to be a restaurateur or a chef.
Jordan Thomas: So what they really are is they call them brotherhoods, and that firehouse is like your house. So those firefighters, they take pride. Every evening, they cook family dinner, and everyone sits down at this big table like a family and eats dinner, and they take great pride in what they're serving.
Tony Stephens: Yeah.
Melody Goodspeed: I can tell, Jordan, that you do that with where you are now in Florida, right? Because you are there. And can you walk us through, I love how you say that because family dinner is always a great thing, right? It's the everybody's running around hustling, bustling, and you get those half an hour to sit down and just preparing and being with people that you care about. And in both situations that you just said, you're saving people and you have to have that trust and camaraderie with the people that you're with. Can you talk us about your transition to starting your new chapter in Florida?
Jordan Thomas: Sure. So to be completely honest, in 2013, I was getting married, and I had gotten married, and I was on my honeymoon with my wife, and I had these flickers. My vision would come and it would go, and then it would come back. And I remember telling my wife, I said, "I think I just need to lay down. I think it's just a headache." And then as the days went on, I noticed it would go away and come back longer. And then we had came home and I went to see a doctor, and the doctor had said, "I don't know. We're going to schedule you for a specialist. It could be like a swollen lymph node or something like that." And a few days had gone by, and all of a sudden, it was just kind of lights out, and it didn't come back.
And I remember having this panic attack and they had taken me in the ambulance down to Danville, Pennsylvania to this big hospital. They took me into the emergency room. And what had happened, there was this very well-known doctor who was filling in from New York in Pennsylvania. And he kind of knew, as crazy as it was, he takes me into surgery and sees the blue blood cells. And he says that there is this tumor that has grown so large that it's crushing the optic nerve, "We need to operate."
And they operate and they remove the tumor, but the damage was already done. So I have a bilateral optic nerve damage, they call it. And from there, I crashed. From going from firefighting, I had a motorcycle, I squatted, I was very active. And to go to what you're at from what you go to, I kind of went into this kind of deep, dark depression where I just kind of didn't want to be around or talk to anyone. And I would remember trying to do the stuff that I did when I could see, being blind, and I couldn't, and I tried everything.
I went to visit this family friend, that restaurant that I worked at, I'd never forget this. A very old man, he says, "Jordan, you made so many of these pizzas. You could probably make them blind." And I go into his restaurant and this square pan, as crazy as it is, when you put the sauce on the pan, you guide your hand down the side of the pan when you're saucing it. And then when you are cheesing it, the same thing. So you necessarily can go down the left side of the pan and turn it, and then the right and turn it, and then the right and turn it, and then kind of go back and forth, and you can make this pizza blind. And I remember being like, "Oh my God, I can do this."
And everyone back in Pennsylvania, I feel like they looked at me different. They treated me different. They felt bad for me. I didn't want them to, I wanted to go. I told my wife and she said, she supports me in whatever. I said, "I need to get out of here." And she said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I need to go somewhere where no one knows who I am and what happened to me. And I want to open this restaurant. This is what makes me happy, I feel good when I'm doing it, and I want to do this." And we did.
We packed two U-Haul trucks, my brother, my brother-in-law, and I packed up, and I moved to Florida. And I looked and looked for a place, and about at a year and a half, finally, we locate one and I opened. And I'm making these pizzas, and I don't tell anyone that I can't see. And I'm in the kitchen and no one really knows.
And this woman comes in and she says, "If you don't mind me asking, are you visually impaired?" And I said, yes, I am." She said, "Oh my God, I knew it." I said, "Why?" She said, "I am friends with a reporter. If you don't mind, I really want to tell your story." And this reporter comes down, we sit down in the booth and we just talk. And she's like, "If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to. I will tell you this. This news can potentially make this business get extremely busy, and bring income in, and you'll have the ability to know, if you can think of it." And so I go home and I talk to my wife and I said, "Adrienne, this woman wants to..."
She said, "I think you should tell your story. I think you should tell everyone what you went through, how you got where you are. I think you should donate a portion of that money to two foundations." And when we sit down, we chose the Leukemia and Lymphoma because I had lymphoma, and we chose the AFB. And the reason why the AFB is because they don't only focus on people who are blind. They help people who also have visual impairments, which I feel like is very important as well.
I feel that back in Pennsylvania, some of the associations, they help just the people that are blind, and there are people who are pretty much almost blind. They can see shadows and they can see outlines, and they need help as well. And the AFB focused on both, and they help both people. So that meant the most to me.
So I decide to tell my story, and I take a portion of every pizza. What happens is every six months, or actually, coming up September 1st will be our first six months, our computer system will tell us how many trays of pizza we have sold. I mean, we're going into June, the last I checked, we, since the news, have sold 1500 trays, which it's busier now. So September 1st, it'll tell us, and we'll take half of that. $0.50 of $1 will go to the AFB, and the other $0.50 will go to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.
Tony Stephens: Wow. That is very, very, thank you very much for just thinking of us. And you raised a really good point about the low-vision community and how the overwhelming majority of people who have vision loss still have some sight. But you live in a world where everyone thinks you see absolutely perfect, because you don't walk around with a dog or a cane or sunglasses. And people just assume, but there's huge, enormous challenges. So thank you for just recognizing the fact that we try, at AFB, to really focus in on a lot of issues that impact people across the whole spectrum of sight loss. But thanks for the generosity. And I mean, what better way to witness, to being able to overcome your own challenges, and just giving.
Jordan Thomas: It's been so amazing. I just mailed an envelope out. Believe it or not, I get this yellow envelope in the mail to the restaurant. And I open it up and there's all of these checks to the AFB from camp counselors when I was 13 from my church pastor, from my coach. And they mailed all of these checks to me to send to the AFB. They were already made out, and I just put them in the mail, $25 here, $20 there, $10, $15.
And the story, even though it aired in Florida, everyone in Pennsylvania saw it. And we were able to raise so much money. It's amazing, it's just us making pizza. It's crazy. It's so unique, the pizza, and it's such a crazy story in how we got there and to do what you love every day. And the restaurant, the main passion is not only do I get to do what I love, but I get to do it with who I love.
So when we decided to do this and we packed up, me and my wife, my mom and dad said, "We're coming with you." And they did. And then my mother-in-law, she just recently moved. She's here too. And my father-in-law, he's on his way down. And I go to work every day and my wife runs the front of the restaurant. She does the books, she does the takeout. My daughter, she is a junior in high school. She comes in every night after school, she waitresses. My mom, she waitresses full-time. My dad makes pizza with me. It's a really-
Tony Stephens: A family affair.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, that's amazing. I love this. And one of the things I want to go back to, Jordan, is what you said, it's you're doing what you love. And I think in our blind and low-vision community, we are told by the public or other people what our preconceived notions of our own abilities. And I think that holds us back in so many ways thinking we can't have the things we really want and we can't be the person that we really want to be. And I just love that you're sharing, that you are loving, and that it's coming through so loud and clear even in your voice. But you could tell somebody that's going through sight loss, or even our listeners to this, what would you tell them to get started on their way to get to their passion?
Jordan Thomas: Oh, I get real emotional. I'm the subject, actually. I get a little-
Melody Goodspeed: I was choking up a little bit right now asking, so yes, I do too.
Jordan Thomas: So I am very happy that you brought this up. So the reporter that was at the news station has been there for 12 years. Her farewell day, she wanted to do a follow-up story because of something that she had gotten wind of, and I didn't tell anyone. It's amazing, and I'm glad that you brought it up because I think it's very important.
What I tried to instill is that no matter what, even with the visual, we have worth. And I had hired another blind person this week, it was his first week, and I'm training him and I have him making pizza boxes. And I'm going to train him to sauce and cheese pizzas, and he's one of the first, and I'm going to bring other ones in, whether it's to make pizza boxes or to sanitize menus or to roll silverware or to make pizza.
He came in and he was trying to go to TJ Maxx and they were giving him a hard time, and then he was working at a factory trying to separate screws and they were giving him a hard time, and he was just about to give up and it kind of broke my heart. And I explained to him, "I think the most important thing is that we all have worth," and if I could hire them all, I would. And I'm trying to help him. And he feels so good that he's needed, and he feels so good that he gets a paycheck and he's very grateful.
Tony Stephens: Wow.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes.
Tony Stephens: We hear those challenging stories, enough of people just trying to get back up on their feet, and to know that there's a boss that gets it...
Melody Goodspee...: I mean, I think what you said too, is we all have worth. And I think it's the core of us, especially when we go through something traumatic and I think it's all of us, not just vision loss, but any traumatic situation, we tend to lose that. I think it's our duty and our jobs as human beings, to pull that back out of people when they're down, is to show them that they really do have worth. That's great, yes. Jordan, you haven't told us where your pizza place is or the name of it.
Tony Stephens: Let's plug this place.
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, let's plug this place. You're advocating, you are making change. Let's do this.
Tony Stephens: It's Twisted Tomato, is that right?
Jordan Thomas: It's the Twisted Tomato. And the reason why it is the Twisted Tomato is that I feel like my life is twisted. When we were trying to think of a name, I feel like everything that happened my whole entire life is twisted. I said to my wife, "Let's call it the Twisted Tomato." And it's in Delray Beach, Florida, and it's in this little shopping plaza. And it's been a crazy, crazy ride. The logo, my 13-year-old nephew drew it for me. He wants to be an artist. We had him draw it on a piece of paper, we sent it to a company, and that's the logo that we go with. And he's very proud of it.
Every day of my life I feel like is an adventure, whether it is somebody coming in the restaurant that saw you on the news. I mean, the great part now, it's amazing. When I wake up every day, it's what we talked about, I'm needed, my phone rings, and it's the pizza, the cook. Or if somebody asked me a question, I feel like now I am the guy. And for a while after I lost my sight, I wasn't and I wasn't needed. And every day, I am. And it's not only the point of that, I think the most important thing is these people now feel like they can relate to me and they have somewhere to go.
We just had a gentleman, his birthday party was there, he's blind, 30 people. And the Braille Club, they come in once a week. We do musical bingo and karaoke on Tuesdays, and they come, 30 of them, and they love it. And they're all, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." They feel like they're comfortable there. And the Braille Club does their monthly meetings there, and we do catering for them. And they're just so thankful. They feel at home, they're happy to be there.
A couple other foundations, a lighthouse and another club and group, they come there and we're always trying to do different stuff. We do this musical bingo where it's like a clip from the '60s or '70s or '80s, and you guess what the song is. The reason why is because instead of a bingo card that you can't see, we do this musical bingo where if you know it... So we revolve it around people that have a visual impairment. And like I said, these people are so grateful and so thankful that they can come there and they feel at home. They're happy when they come, and I think that's the most important thing.
Tony Stephens: Going back to your name of the restaurant, which I love the name now, it has so much meaning.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes.
Tony Stephens: Because I mean, hey, the best books, hands down, always have a great plot twist, and to hear what you've done with the plot twist that your life took, right? But at the same time, going back to that sense of brotherhood and camaraderie, you talked in the firehouse and how cooking was part of that? I mean, you kind of have found a new family now and it's wonderful.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, I was just about to say that.
Tony Stephens: But at the same time, you're embracing that family and just really trying to support it. So good on that, Jordan. I mean, that's such wonderful news to hear. I mean, it's a fantastic plot twist. It's maybe not the ending for all of us. I lost my sight when I was 15. Melody, you were in your 20s? How old were you-
Melody Goodspeed: 26. And I lost it very similarly to you, Jordan, just like that.
Tony Stephens: Yeah. It's not the ending we thought we'd get, but hands down. So wonderful to hear that you've taken this plot twist and turned it in, the Twisted Tomatoes.
Melody Goodspeed: And Jordan, you're forever going to be in my heart and to my own twistedness. I'm going to think about that and smile.
Jordan Thomas: I feel like I had so many challenges every day. It's so funny. I had this discussion with my wife through the cancer, the blindness, and the moving. And then honestly, I told my wife, "If the restaurant didn't take off, I was going to write a book and I was going to call it, 'Is that all you got?'."
Tony Stephens: What's the closest airport? Fort Lauderdale or Miami? How do I-
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, we're coming. Tony and I are coming.
Jordan Thomas: So the Delray Beach is... Actually, the closest airport is Fort Lauderdale. It's about 25 minutes. And then there's also another airport, which a lot of people don't realize. The one that I actually use, it's called West Palm. And West Palm is actually about 10 minutes from Delray.
Melody Goodspeed: I have taken that one. Oh, this is fantastic. Well, you know what? We are going to have to spread the news of the Twisted Tomato here with our supporters in the area too to get you there. And as a matter of fact, we have one of our colleagues who lives very close to you and she's going to come visit, so she's going to let you know.
Jordan Thomas: That's cool. That's great.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, her and her husband are going to come visit.
Tony Stephens: Yeah. Well, just real quick before we close things up, the hardest transition into cooking in the kitchen for you, after losing your sight, having made pizzas since you were a kid in the family restaurant, your uncle's place, has there been anything you've been creative in overcoming a challenge with that you could pass on as a little cooking tidbit for people?
Jordan Thomas: Yes. I have been burned many, many times.
Tony Stephens: Sure, you're fighting fires.
Melody Goodspeed: Hand in the air on that one too.
Jordan Thomas: I told my wife, I always make a joke to her. I hear on TV the crime scene there with fingerprints. I told my wife, I said, "I don't have any left, they're gone."
Tony Stephens: Any quick tips for blind-
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, any tips for us? Because God knows I need it.
Jordan Thomas: To be honest with you, as funny as it sounds, people are so amazed. They're like, "How do you..." I don't take my stick to work. And they're like, "You move around." Believe it or not, I have adapted so much. I count the steps. I can walk you through this restaurant and you'd be like, "Oh my God."
I feel that when you have a passion for something and you are so motivated at it, you can adapt no matter what. And I can, I maneuver around that kitchen and I take the proper safety procedures. A good friend of mine is a chef at the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale and we've been friends forever. And he came up and we have things, whether it's believe it or not, as funny as this sounds, everything works out.
So being a firefighter, it's so funny. When we opened the restaurant, I'm burning my hand and I'm like... And then you get this cooking net or a towel, but the pan is still too hot. It's so funny. I called my brother-in-law back in Pennsylvania, and I remember being a fireman. I said to my wife, "Adrienne, when I was a fireman and I would be in these burning buildings, I would wear these firefighter gloves and I couldn't not feel anything." He sends me these pair of firefighter gloves and that's what I grabbed the pan so I don't get burned.
Melody Goodspeed: That's great.
Tony Stephens: Brilliant. A good pair of gloves will go a long way in cooking. I've learned that just when you're trying to feel your way around the oven with your spatula or something, it's nice to be able to actually grab something.
Jordan Thomas: And I'm grateful. My dad, God bless him, is 76 and he won't take a dollar from me, and he just wants to be there. And he works the oven with me every day. He picks me up. I wake up every day, my son, we live in a community. I'm so grateful that when I walk out my door, actually, I walk about maybe a hundred steps and there's this gate, and the gate has a key and you open it. And right on the other side of the gate is the crossing guard, and my son goes to school there. I have a six-year-old, Landon, and I have a daughter, Ava, who's a junior. She goes to Lake Worth Christian School.
So every day, my son always wants me to take him. And so every morning, I wake up and I walk him to school. And my dad's already waiting for me, and we go there together. And me and him prep the pizza station together, and I make all the pizzas, and he runs the oven, and he pulls them out and cuts them and boxes them for me.
Melody Goodspeed: That is awesome.
Tony Stephens: So good, and now I'm so hungry.
Melody Goodspeed: Yeah, Tony and I are starving. We talked about that.
Jordan Thomas: Now, I'll tell you so when we get off of the phone, I'm going to have my wife send you the new news link. I will tell you this, a company reached out to me, regarding this Old Forge style pizza and how everyone, the media, people in different parts of Florida, Orlando, and then people in Texas, and actually, California, they wanted to try this pizza and they wanted to support the cause.
And I got with the news and we had reached out to this company back from Pennsylvania, a good friend of mine, and starting this Monday was our first day today. Four of them went to California, two of them went to Texas, and two went to Michigan. We have a website that is www.thetwistedtomatodelray.com. And you go on there and you click, and you can get our red, our white, our double-crusted, or a pizza kit, and it's flash freeze, and it ships right to your house on dry ice, and the dollar from that goes to the AFB as well.
Melody Goodspeed: Wow, that is awesome. And I will be going on there and click and ordering that because I was talking-
Tony Stephens: We're going to take orders right away.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes, you are totally. Oh, that's awesome.
Tony Stephens: Next time I need to eat before recording a podcast.
Melody Goodspeed: I know. Well, yes, we are talking about our favorite comfort food. Jordan, it's been so great to have you. And thank you, just even from my own personal heart, just sharing your story and overcoming, and not just overcoming, but living and loving. It's wonderful, and thank you.
I follow you on Facebook. Have people wanted to reach out and check you? Can you tell us about your social media handles? I know it's Twisted Tomato and I follow you and your post, and they make me happy.
Tony Stephens: So we're on Facebook and Instagram, and we have our website. My wife, she reads me everything, I comment back, and I answer everyone in Messenger. And most recently, my daughter who's 17, she's like, "Dad, you have to go on TikTok." And I'm just like, "I don't even know what that is." She's like, "Dad, it's the thing."
Tony Stephens: Oh, people would love that. I mean, just from a blind chef.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. I think we need a YouTube channel as well, but I'm just adding that for you.
Jordan Thomas: So she had set me up, and we get this stand and we put the camera up, and I did. I went live on there making the pizza, showing people that they can do it, and people were going nuts. And they were like, "Oh my God, this is so cool." And these people reached out. That's actually how the gentleman that we have working for us now, he told me the story about TJ Maxx, and then he told me the story about him not getting this job. And I was like, "I've been there, man." I was like, "Listen, you can do this."
And I'm going to teach this. My goal is I am going to... His name is Drew. And right now, he comes in on Fridays, his caseworker comes in and sits with him for the four hours on Fridays. But my goal, I'm going to have this guy in that kitchen making pizza, I promise you.
Tony Stephens: Nice.
Melody Goodspeed: That is incredible. That is awesome. We can't wait to put our orders in. We also can't wait to come visit. I actually really want to come and try this bingo thing, and just come to say thank you from the American Foundation for the Blind, for bringing awareness and showing the world that we can break barriers, and most importantly, that we all have self-worth even in our darkest of times. And thank you so much for being with us today. This has really been a lot of fun. And yes, I'm starving. All right, one last question, what's your favorite pizza topping?
Jordan Thomas: So believe it or not, I get that a lot, and everyone asks me, they're like, "What's your favorite pizza?" Believe it or not, we make this pizza that you'll never find anywhere else in the world. It's called a double-crusted white. It doesn't have sauce. It's a white pizza, not like an open white pizza with the cheese. So it's fresh dough and it's made in that square pan.
And what it does is you fill it up with whether it would be seasoned broccoli or spinach or shrimp and hot peppers. And then you fold it over and it's like four inches high, and it's double-stuffed with cheese and your toppings. And it comes in these six cuts, and it's my favorite pizza. Everyone that I've ever given it to is like, "Oh my God, I've never had anything like this in my whole life." And that's my favorite pizza rather than the red. I am the double-crusted white with broccoli. It's my favorite pizza.
Melody Goodspeed: Okay, now I'm starving. That sounds amazing.
Tony Stephens: Well, Jordan, thank you. So wonderful.
Jordan Thomas: No, thank you for having me, anytime.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. This has been a blast and we are visiting and we will definitely have you back in. We're going to keep up with you. Guys... Oh, go ahead.
Tony Stephens: Yeah, no, and thank you for your generosity to give back to both AFB and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Melody Goodspeed: Yes. I think giving back is so incredibly important because it's the way we support each other. And we just want to thank you again and thank you to all of our listeners. This is again, the American Foundation for the Blind, Inform & Connect podcast. We thank having Jordan Thomas with us today, and we hope you've enjoyed our time, and I think we all need to go get some pizza. Have a good one, guys. See you later.
Jordan Thomas: Thank you so much.
Narrator: Thanks for listening to Inform and Connect, the podcast of the American Foundation for the Blind. Be sure to subscribe and like wherever you get your podcasts. And check us out and even consider making a tax-deductible gift today, go to afb.org. AFB, creating a world of no limits.
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