The one that got away

Sue is a chef, blah blah blah. I sat down with her at her Meat-PAcking District resto, and asked her some questions while she fed me.

Jacqui: Blah.
Sue: When I started at the Rocking Horse the main stuff that people got was the fajitas, the burritos and the enchiladas and I was, like yeah, this is good but it is not really what I know. I did not really know what Mexican food was. After traveling in Mexico and spending a lot of time there, I started to recreate the dishes that were Mexican, authentic, that maybe Americans, unless they travelled there, did not know about or were not so hot to try. As a chef who is trying to lead and to guide and creating food that stands for something, it is important to take chances and put things on the menu like Passola, which is a very traditional dish in Mexico. It is a corn harmony and they eat it all year round even though it is hot; it is served hot, because that is how they are use to it. For me to put Passola…you know, the only time that I have been like really, really successful at just selling out of my Passola special is the Lobster Passola, because people hear lobster, and they go, oh lobster, I want it. You have to take chances and risks as chef because it is your responsibility to kind of educate the people who are eating there and say, hey look, try something new. And granted if you want to stick to the enchiladas, stick to them, if that is what you want. But it does not hurt for the curious person to try something different and I think they will all be quite surprised at how wonderful it is.