10 Smart Tips Chef Eric See Learned from Cooking In the Queer Community
Inspired by cornerstones of inclusivity, fluidity and creativity.
Ursula
Ursula, chef Eric See’s New York-based New Mexican-inspired restaurant, first gained notoriety for its popular takeout hatch chile breakfast burritos, but steadily grew a following for its inclusive spirit and queer pop-up dinner series. Now that See has re-opened Ursula at a new Brooklyn address, he’s not only able to offer ample seating, plated dishes and brunch, but also deepen his commitment to amplify queer voices, too. Here, See shares how his own cooking has been influenced by the queer community and how home cooks can think more expansively about queer food.
Ursula
Reconsider Under-Loved Ingredients
Aside from the occasional pickle, See had never been keen on dill. But he reconsidered big time when he hosted Jessica and Trina Quinn, founders of the pop up series Dacha 46, for one of Ursula’s first queer pop-up events. “They do Eastern European style cooking and use a lot of dill. The first dish they served me was so loaded with dill, I thought ‘I don’t know if I’m going to like this.’ But it ended up being one of the most memorable dishes all year, and a flavor I wanted more of.” For Ursula’s new menu, See developed a green goddess-inspired salad starring an herbaceous dressing made with dill, cilantro, capers, cucumbers and green chilies. To cap it off, he added a flurry of fresh dill to further brighten the dish and complement the toasted pepitas garnish. “It took me reimagining the use of dill through the lens of Jess and Trina Quinn and the way that they presented it in their dishes to find practical uses in my own kitchen.”
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
Working within the New Mexican culinary canon, See is no stranger to peppers. There are around nine different standard varieties of red or green chiles in New Mexico, many of which figure into the red and green chile sauces that accompany Ursula’s smothered breakfast burritos. When Jessie YuChen hosted their Taiwanese pop-up, Lil Taipei, See was introduced to the lip tingling sensation of Sichuan chilies. And during Hender Gonzales' Peruvian street food pop-up, See discovered aji amarillo, a Peruvian yellow chili pepper. Gonzalez leaned on the pepper to bring a fruity heat to squash soup and See was then inspired to recreate his own version with local honeynut squash blended with chimayo red chile and aji amarillo.
Embrace Fluidity and Be Playful
See wants home cooks to embrace the idea of fluidity in cooking. “The idea of queerness is about upending societal norms and standards,” See says. To that end, he hopes that home cooks can find freedom of expression in their own cooking. “Be playful with your food, have fun with your food. Don’t be caught up on following a recipe or not substituting ingredients.” This notion extends to the idea of using what’s available to you. If hatch green chiles aren’t within reach, roast or char a jalapeno to bring out its sweetness and you’ll not only approximate what’s called for, but create a new flavor profile.
Ursula
Build a Better Breakfast Burrito
Although See wants home cooks to embrace fluidity and personal expression in their cooking, he says that he does have some rules when it comes to burritos, a category that’s important to him. You won’t find sour cream, lettuce or rice in a New Mexican-style burrito. That said, he offers important tips to help home cooks build a better breakfast burrito. First, season every component (which is great cooking advice no matter what you’re making). Second, don’t add too many dry ingredients, or it won’t hold together. “In New Mexico, the standards are green or red New Mexican chile, eggs and hashbrowns. Usually cheddar cheese and bacon, sausage, beans or carne adovada,” See says. And most importantly, toast the tortilla after rolling it. “It really enhances it. It’s counter to how you receive a to-go burrito in New Mexico, but we’ve become known for a burrito that’s toasted on all sides to give it a little texture.” Above all, See advises, “Make what you want to eat!”
Don’t Toss Veggie Scraps
The secret to some of the most flavorful components on Ursula’s menu is that they’re made from scraps. Take the carrot sandwich, starring sweet, roasted carrots and a bright, herbaceous carrot top chimichurri. “A lot of people don’t know that carrot tops have flavor and nutrients,” See says. “They have a flavor similar to parsley, so they make a great substitute for parsley in any dish. You can blanch them and turn them into chimichurri, and they make a great pesto.” For a flavorful liquid for cooking grains or making soup, See advises saving herb stems and vegetable trimmings such as onion skins and carrot tops to make a vegetable broth once a week. “You can really throw whatever you want in there, even stems of jalapenos for spicier broth.”
Ursula
Consider the Quick-Pickle Method
Instead of serving potato chips with sandwiches, See opts for vegetable escabeche to bring crunch and flavor to the plate. Ursula’s escabeche features quick pickled cactus and a rotating roster of veggies, including peppers and onions. “We chose escabeche because it’s a great vehicle for using vegetable scraps or things that weren’t going to be used in time.” Try applying this quick-pickle tactic to a variety of veggies that might be languishing in your crisper drawer, such as sliced carrots, onion, cauliflower florets or thinly sliced radishes. The escabeche-inspired quick pickles make a fine accompaniment to grilled fare, grain bowls and, of course, sandwiches.
Meal-Plan with Plant-Based In Mind
See counts inclusivity as another cornerstone of the queer community, which is why there are ample vegan options on the menu. “If you make dishes vegan, plant-based and allergen-free, then it’s easier for everyone to be able to enjoy so you don’t have to make separate things.” That same restaurant menu philosophy can be applied to meal planning at home, too. See advises starting with a plant-based forward menu, and then incorporating add-ons for meat-based protein or animal fats. He’s a big fan of mushrooms and recommends using maitake mushroom to make vegan carnitas, slicing king oyster mushrooms to make ‘shroom steaks or shredding them on a box grater to make a stir-fry. Still not convinced? The big slivers of king oyster mushrooms See uses on Ursula’s fried mushroom sandwich has such a satisfying, meaty texture, he’s had multiple vegan diners send it back thinking it was actually chicken!
Define Your Own Authenticity
See intentionally brands Ursula as New Mexican inspired cuisine because he believes that food is representative of a time and place. “I’m bringing cuisine that’s hundreds and thousands of years old to the East Coast and presenting it through what’s authentic to me and my lived experience,” See says. “The food and ideology are not static because I am now here in New York presenting things that ancestrally are rooted in the Southwest, but also with what’s available to me here or what I’m inspired by here. So, we have that freedom and flexibility to work through the evolution of the cuisine.” To that end, See serves traditional dishes like taquitos, fried rolled tacos, served in a homey way on a bed of shredded lettuce like you’d get from a takeout spot in New Mexico. But he also serves nontraditional dishes that are still inspired by the people and land of New Mexico, like a bread plate with sheep’s milk ricotta, red chili harissa, chili oil, toasted pine nuts and toasted bread. “Each individual’s lived experience shows up in our cooking whether or not it’s intentional or subliminal,” See says. “Every interaction that we have, everything we eat does inspire the next wave of dishes that we create.”
Ursula
Be Intentional In Your Sourcing
When See built out Ursula’s new space, he intentionally turned to the queer community. “Any of the creative energy coming into the space I wanted to come from queer people as well,” he says. “I wanted to make it as gay, as queer as possible.” To that end, See worked with designers Win Collier and Smith Hanes to bring the space to life. They hung permanent pieces from artists Edmund Liang and Max Yardbird, whose work See displayed at the original Ursula as part of a rotating gallery featuring queer artists’ work. For the beverage program, See hired John deBary to develop the cocktail menu and sommelier Peter Redmond to put together a wine list and conduct staff training.
Be a More Informed Consumer
Ursula’s spirits and beer lists were curated to showcase social sustainability and brands that are either queer, black, femme, women, POC-owned or worker-cooperative owned, and highlight them as such on the menu. “There are some that might not hit all the points, but we wanted to have a certain accessibility to our community, in a literal sense in Bed-Stuy, knowing there’s an economic divide in the queer community,” See says. “We wanted to make sure everyone felt welcome and feel comfortable with their purchase in deciding where to put their money.” Next time you’re stocking your fridge or bar cart, do some sleuthing to find brands that align with your values, too.
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