Deep in the Weeds - A Food Podcast with Anthony Huckstep · A Deep in the Weeds Production

Damien Brabender - Time, Space, movement

·24 min·1 clip

A head-on crash on the way to the fish markets left Damien with avascular necrosis and a lifelong hip problem.

1. Deep in the Weeds - A Food Podcast with Anthony Huckstep centers on Damien Brabender and “Time, Space, movement.” 2. Anthony Huckstep hosts the conversation, and Damien Brabender appears as a former guest and Canberra hospitality figure whose injury changed his work. 3. The episode asks how Damien navigated a car crash, a broken hip, and the sale of Otis while staying active in hospitality. 4. Damien says he had been driving to Fishwood to pick up fish himself every day or every second day because he hated late, wrong, or poor-quality deliveries. 5. He says a driver ran two stop signs, hit him in a semi head-on, and shattered the femoral head at the top of his femur. 6. Damien explains that the loss of blood flow caused avascular necrosis, which he describes as the bone inside the leg slowly dying. 7. He says the first doctor told him he had strained something, but a second doctor said it sounded like a broken hip. 8. Damien says the surgeon told him there was no easy way of saying it and that it was a lifelong issue, not a simple break. 9. He says he initially thought he could do the surgery on a Monday and return to work, but the situation forced a different path. 10. Damien says he worked for about seven months on the broken hip before he could have surgery because the restaurant had to be sold first. 11. He says Otis was sold very cheaply because of time pressure, even though it had become a “foolproof recession proof business.” 12. Damien says the business was at its best, had two AGFG hats for five or six years, and also functioned as a training ground for young staff. 13. He says the restaurant was more than a business because it created friendships, involved building work he did himself, and supported a whole team. 14. Damien says he cared who bought Otis, wanted the right people to take it over, and tried to keep the full roster of staff in place. 15. He says he stepped back from Google reviews and social media because watching someone else run it would have been too hard. 16. Damien says the surgery used a Mako robot, lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, and did not require a catheter. 17. He says the operation happened on his birthday, and that same day his friend Leroy, who owned Caribou across the road from Otis, died. 18. The conversation moves in a reflective, practical style, with Anthony asking direct follow-up questions and Damien answering in detailed, conversational blocks. 19. People interested in Canberra hospitality and recovery stories. 20. People wanting light food talk without injury or business detail.

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