After residences at US restaurants Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Fulgurances Laundromat earlier this year, Victoria Blamey – formerly of New York’s Gotham Bar & Grill, where she was the first female executive chef in nearly 35 years – is busy finding her own culinary voice. 50 Best hears from the Chilean about her experiences as a female Latina chef in the US, her plans for her first own project and hopes for the hospitality industry in the future
When Victoria Blamey took over Gotham Bar & Grill in New York as the first female chef in nearly 35 years, she quickly made headlines in the New York media. Her appointment was hailed as a ‘great step forward for all female chefs’ and a ‘new era' for the famed establishment. In reality, it was a “traumatic experience” for Blamey, who was continually criticised, bullied and belittled by customers. “I received a lot of hate emails, letters that were addressed directly to me, and really terrible comments that were not even about the food, but more like ‘Why did I get out of bed to come here when she’s cooking?’ There were a lot of obscene things. It was very personal. It became much more about who I was than the food,” says Blamey.
To these people, it didn’t matter that the Santiago-born-and-raised Blamey toiled for years at some of the world’s best restaurants, including The Vineyard at Stockcross in Berkshire, UK (her formative experience); Interlude in Melbourne; Mugaritz in San Sebastian (the most revelatory about herself); WD-50 and Atera in New York; and ABaC in Barcelona. Or that she had started cooking at the tender age of seven, baking chocolate recipes with her mum, after developing an interest in food from her great-aunt, who would serve pig trotters at teatime and make spicy mustard jam and salted almonds from scratch.
Reflecting on it now, Blamey muses, “[I made] a couple of mistakes for sure. I didn’t realise what the institution meant for so many people and I didn’t realise that it would be such a dramatic change for them – a Latina female chef coming into this kitchen that had not changed chefs in 35 years.” Still, she views her time at Gotham Bar & Grill as foundational. “It wasn’t a good experience in my life, but it was good for my career,” she reflects.
Surf clam, Milkweed caper and dulse, from Blamey's Blue Hill at Stone Barns residency (image: Evan Sung)
A new beginning
The pandemic forced the restaurant to close. A few months later, Blamey embraced a new opportunity: the Chef-in-Residence series at Dan Barbers’ Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where visiting chefs present their cuisine using produce from the Hudson Valley. Here, she had the freedom to be herself and to showcase her own style of cuisine, which often reflects her Chilean heritage. Her use of seaweed, long a staple of her country’s cuisine, and particularly its stipe – the often-discarded stem – became the talk of the town. “The astonishing seaweed stipe and rhubarb combination – like pasta of the sea and garden,” described renowned American restaurant critic Ruth Reichl on her Instagram page, “[a] sensual feast of new flavours.” Just as importantly, it furthered the conversation on the importance of sustainability amongst seaweed fishermen, foragers and corporations, especially with the growing effects of climate change.
“[Stone Barns] gave me the freedom to actually wear a t-shirt that just says ‘Victoria Blamey’, and not be worried that I’m going to be classified, or I [that] don’t fit the mould,” she says. “It was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had in my career.” She likewise has fond memories of her time at Fulgurances Laundromat, an incubator for rising chefs in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighbourhood, where she was the opening chef in residence for the Parisian import. “Fulgurances gave me the [chance] to continue what I was doing at Blue Hill,” she says.
Victoria Blamey (image: Evan Sung)
A restaurant of her own
Blamey is looking forward to opening her first restaurant later this year: a neighbourhood concept in downtown Manhattan that will offer á la carte upstairs and a tasting menu in a private dining room below. “There are no skeletons, no people I have to pay respect to – it will be my own,” she shares. “It will be an expression of what I’ve been doing. We are going to have a voice in what we cook, we are going to try to be socially responsible – a lot of aquaculture: seafood, mussels, clams and also vegetables and grains.”
She plans to continue showcasing her heritage, but not the typical Chilean food people might expect. “I think it’s an expression of who you are and where you’ve been – of your experiences,” she says, emphasising that while she flies the flag high, she has never worked in her home country. She also wants to communicate meaning through food. “We often attach luxury to caviar, foie gras and lobster, and I always wonder why a bowl of beans, grown in Pennsylvania in the most responsible way, is not more valuable than foie gras.” She plans to approach all these with her cooking style, which she describes as “with a sense of consciousness, but also with a lot of fun”.
Donko shiitake, seaweed-kraut and sugar kelp from Blamey's Blue Hill at Stone Barns residency (image: Evan Sung)
A hope for the future
Post-pandemic, Blamey has a long wish list of changes she would like to see in the hospitality industry. Most of all, she hopes that customers can understand the value of a plate of food. “When people [complain] that [a dish] is so expensive, well, it is expensive to open a restaurant and to pay people the right amount,” she reflects.
She would also like more understanding towards the restaurant industry. “Are we really supposed to be knocking down every single chef or kitchen culture – or is it more about understanding what it is that we do and how to do it better? Yes, there’s a lot of harassment and toxic environments, but not everything we do is like that. We should have a more mature way of looking at things and not knock [everything] down.” An inspiring chef with much to offer the culinary world, Blamey is set to continue on her upwards trajectory – and to inspire many to follow.
‘50/50 is the new 50’ is a content series created by 50 Best and supported by S.Pellegrino with the shared aim of promoting equality, inclusivity and balance in the hospitality sector and beyond.
