Seamus Mullen
Photo: courtesy Food Network
With two consecutive victories under his belt on The Next Iron Chef, Boqueria’s Seamus Mullen is certainly a sharp contender for the title. So far, versatility has been his secret weapon: the Vermont native may specialize in regional Spanish cuisine, but he has shown that he can cross cultures as easily as cutting through an onion. The Buzz caught up with Mullen to chat about competition and the state of Spanish cuisine in NYC.
Zagat Buzz: Why do you want to be The Next Iron Chef?
Seamus Mullen: It’s a huge honor, one of the biggest cooking accolades that you can accomplish, as well as an opportunity to compete against the best chefs in the country. And it’s fun! Competing in Kitchen Stadium is really fun but also challenging. It’s a different dimension of cooking from what we do in the restaurant. It takes me back to when I was in high school – I was very athletic and played soccer and hockey. I forgot how great that exhilarating feeling of competition is.
ZB: Is there anything from kitchen stadium that you would like to bring to your own kitchen?
SM: The urgency in kitchen stadium is unavoidable. And that’s a great thing to have in your own kitchen – a sense of getting food out really well and as quickly as you can without making mistakes. Another thing is to cook every meal as if you’re going to be judged right after, because in the restaurant, you never know who you are cooking for.
ZB: What is the most important thing that you learned from The Next Iron Chef experience?
SM: To trust my instincts. The times I went with my gut, I always succeeded. When I second-guessed myself, I had some trouble.
ZB: What was the hardest part of the competition for you?
SM: I have rheumatoid arthritis and that became a serious issue for me to contend with. It was exacerbated by stress, and I probably went through one of the most stressful things you can imagine going through.
ZB: How did you overcome that obstacle?
SM: I just pushed through. There wasn’t much else I could do but push through. It certainly made things difficult.
ZB: In terms of Spanish cuisine in NY, how is it evolving? Do you think it’s going to turn more towards tradition or follow along the path of chefs like Ferran Adrià?
SM: I think right now that New Yorkers, with the change in the economy, are gravitating more toward traditional, homey foods and revisiting a place over and over that comforts them. A lot of these restaurants like El Bulli – you can’t go there more than once a year, or even once a lifetime, because it’s impossible to even get a reservation in the first place. In NY it’s very difficult to run a viable business that way, so we try as much as possible to develop a community of diners who will come back.
ZB: What’s next for you? Any more Boquerias on the horizon?
SM: We are looking, and we have a couple of things percolating, but there’s nothing I can really speak freely about – yet.
– Kathleen Squires