Q&A with Chef Sean

What has been your journey into the culinary world and what led you to working with Manuela?

I’ve always had an interest in food and cooking. I started baking cookies on my own at a young age out of the Betty Crocker cookbook and spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house cooking with her (80’s latchkey kid!). My jobs in high school were all in restaurants and it kind of stuck with me. I flirted with culinary school out of high school but I wasn’t as serious as they wanted me to be. I kept working in hospitality throughout college and post college to pay bills while I tried to do other things but I realized I felt most comfortable in the kitchen. It came a point of “I like doing this, I’m kind of good at it and I should give it an honest shot”. I moved to New York as a form of culinary school with the goal of moving back to Michigan in 4 years and open my own place back home. That was 17 years ago. 

I had decided to leave my previous employer and was talking to a lot of people about various roles and nothing seemed to click for me. Out of the blue a friend reached out and said that they knew of a group opening a restaurant in Soho that was made for me. I looked into it and immediately agreed that this was the opportunity I was looking for and that I needed to be a part of it. Thankfully they agreed and here we are. 

What has inspired the menu at Manuela and what can guests expect from their dining experience?

The menu and approach for Manuela has been a collaboration and one of shared experiences. It starts with the name on the door. Manuela. Iwan and Manuela are known for their love of hospitality and hosting friends and family in their home. I think the overall approach is to try to recreate that feeling of being in someone’s home, gathering around the hearth and eating food that is thoughtful and honest, not overly fussy. It starts with really great produce simply cooked with a good vinaigrette, freshly caught seafood that doesn’t need to be manipulated to the point that it is something else because the product itself is so good.

How do you envision the role of chefs in promoting sustainability within the industry

If we as Chef’s are not doing it who will? We cannot do what we do without having a healthy ecosystem – Healthy farmlands, rivers and oceans. We can all see what global warming and the destruction of the planet has done to our food system. I tell the staff that if we can help move the needle even a little bit, it really does matter. We should be doing the best we can in our environment. I take a pragmatic approach to it and know that we cannot be 100% perfect all of the time but we need to do the best we can, wherever we can, every day.

What specific sustainable practices will you implement in this new restaurant?

The biggest one most will know of is that we are in house composting (not a garbage can that gets taken out every few days). We will be producing 20-25 gallons of usable compost per day at our peak that is going to our friends at Project EATS to use on their farm plots throughout the city. Other sustainable practices come down to sourcing and partnering with farms, farmers, fishermen, etc. who share our core set of beliefs on sustainability, regenerative farming practices and using what is in season.

How do you plan to source ingredients locally and ensure minimal environmental impact?

It comes down to research and talking to farmers. We have spent hours and hours talking to farmers and fishermen in the region on sourcing, seasonality and what’s good for the environment. I’ve learned so much more this year on what really is available to us here in the Northeast. It is actually pretty unbelievable the access we have to amazing produce, seafood and meat that all comes from this region. 

What strategies will you use to minimize food waste in your kitchen?

This is something we have been planning and talking about for months within our group of chefs and sous chefs. Restaurants, at times, can be quite wasteful and on top of that the margins are quite small so chefs have to be resourceful in utilizing every bit of product that comes into our kitchen. For example, we make our own hot sauce. We buy peppers from the farmers market, ferment them for 30 days, puree them into a sauce and strain. We are left with 2 products: a hot sauce and the leftover pulp. We could throw the pulp in the trash or compost and call it good. The thing is that there is all of this fermented chili pulp left. We dehydrate it and then pulse it in the blender and have chili powder that gets used in a couple dishes, as well as in offerings at the bar. We are also producing our own vinegars, oils and ferments with leftover items in the kitchen to try and reduce waste as much as possible.

How do you plan to teach your staff and customers about the importance of sustainability?

All staff have the opportunity to come to the farmers market with us, volunteer at Project EATS or help with our in-house composter to get them involved and tie it all together. If our staff isn’t educated or invested, then how can they honestly tell these stories we are trying to tell. Effective communication and education of the why and the how is key. I can talk until I am blue in the face about what we are doing for sustainability but if we can’t explain the why and the how, and make it relatable, it all gets lost.

What role do you see Manuela playing in the local community?

I hope that we can become a real part of the community here in Soho and the greater lower Manhattan community. I want us to be a place where people come to gather, celebrate and meet not only on special occasions but a place they know they can come to any day of the week and feel a part of. We are really trying to reflect not only the amazing community around Soho but also the wonderful community of artists, farmers, and artisans in the region.

Is there anything that excites you about Manuela that hasn’t been addressed above?

At the end of the day, it is the people that I get to work with day in and day out that have made my time here special so far. I get to work alongside some very talented, passionate and inspiring people that make me want to be better and I can’t wait to share all of it with the guests that come through our door.