Chef Fer Serrano provides the taste and prevents food waste

I came to New York almost seven years ago. I was working at Pujol in Mexico, so I came here to Cosme, Enrique Olvera’s other restaurant. There I met chef Daniela Soto. She was the chef of the restaurant. I stayed there for about five years, and then the pandemic happened. We had to close everything. While we were closed, I went to Mexico for a month. When I came back, I started to feel burned out. I had time to hang out with my friends and family in Mexico this month, and I started thinking, “I’m missing something.” I considered taking a break from cooking, but part of me felt a little embarrassed.

When I started thinking, “Gosh, I’m not enjoying this anymore,” that’s when I said, “You know what? I can take a break.” I can’t feel this way towards something that gave me so much happiness. I took a year off from cooking to enjoy New York. I even got certified in Pilates. I worked on myself and started experimenting with different things. I found out that I like doing ceramics, and I even served. I was a server in New York for a year. I’m very shy, but being a server has helped me a lot. I still remember my first table. I thought it was important to be natural with guests. During that time, Daniela, who no longer worked for Come, contacted me and said, “One of my friends is opening this new rooftop in Williamsburg. They are looking for a chef.”

That friend was Leo Robitschek, who used to be our vice president of food and beverage. I contacted him and we met. I remember being so nervous because I had read about him and couldn’t believe I was meeting him. He started to tell me more about the project, but when he told me it would be in a hotel named after a dog, I immediately said, “Yes.” I’m such a dog lover. I didn’t even think about it. He said, “Don’t you even want to see space?” and I said, “Well, yes, but it’s a yes.” I was so excited.

Then he showed me the space and I fell in love with the view. They also let me name the restaurant. So of course I would name the restaurant after my dog. He is a corgi and his name is Nico. And here I am.

There’s a stigma around taking breaks during our work, and I think this is especially true with food, which can be very cutthroat and ‘go, go, go’. I think it’s so impressive that you were able to take this step back and start cooking again on your own terms.

It was the best decision I ever made in terms of my career. We are so used to this workaholic environment. With this break, I focused on my mental health and appreciated my free time. My motto with my chefs now is: “Don’t live to work. Work, but also enjoy your life.” With my team I focus on mental health. I don’t want them to get to the point where they feel burned out.

Tell me about the menu you developed at elNico and how you incorporate seasonality and flavors from Mexico into your food.

The menu is inspired by my travels. Since my brothers and I were very young, my parents really wanted us to taste everything. I remember the first time I tried an oyster. It was very mysterious to me. My father told me, “You won’t like it if you don’t taste it first.” Every time we went on vacation we always tried something new. I discovered new flavors and ingredients that I had never tried before. The menu has many dishes based on a holiday or a memory I have with my family. They are things they would love and that I recreate in my own version. New York is in many ways the food capital of the world. You can eat all over the world in just one city.

You talked about eating your first oyster, but is there a food memory from your travels as a child that sticks with you?

The first time I tried caviar I thought, “What the hell is this?” My father said, ‘Just try it! Enjoy!” He told me, “It looks like escamoles.” Escamoles in Mexico are ant larvae. Some may consider it the caviar of Mexico. They have nothing in common and look nothing alike, but he managed to give me something new try by reminding me of something I enjoyed at home.

You have trained under a number of high-profile chefs, including Massimo Bottura at Osteria Francescana, one of the best restaurants in the world. What techniques, ideas and flavors have you brought from these types of restaurants in other parts of the world?

Working with Massimo was my first experience in a kitchen. I was nervous, but he opened my eyes to the fact that food isn’t just food. You can get inspiration from a book, art or architecture. I learned from him that plating is just like painting. Thanks to him, I love playing with colors in my dishes.

From Pujol (in Mexico City) I learned more traditional ways of cooking and became more connected to my roots. I learned a lot of techniques, but I also opened my mind.

How does the food inspire the cocktail program at elNico and vice versa?

I have never worked so closely with the bar side of a restaurant. It was a pretty divisive scene most of the time. This has changed a lot with Christian (Rodriguez). I love that when it’s time to change the menu, we sit down and discuss the ingredients we’re going to use and our ideas. We are both looking forward to becoming a zero-waste space. For example, he made a gooseberry painkiller, which he was lactic acid fermenting. He just needed the juice, so he had the berries left. I tried it and thought, “Wow, this is a great flavor.” I started experimenting and developed our previous aguachile with lactic acid-fermented gooseberries.

If I use pomelo, and maybe make a pomelo granita, Christian will say, “That would taste great in this kind of cocktail.” In that respect we have a good relationship. We both want to know what the other does to get inspired.

Is working with a restaurant within a hotel different from a regular restaurant? If so, how?

It is very different working in a restaurant-restaurant and a hotel-restaurant. The main thing that comes to mind is room service, but at the end of the day it’s not just a restaurant. It’s actually even better because you get people from all over the world. You have people who have come to New York on holiday and can try your cocktails and delicious dishes.

What’s next for you and elNico?

One of Christian’s and my dreams is to see our restaurant in the list of 50 best bars. We’ve done a great job and our cocktails and food are great, so that’s one of our goals. When people ask if I want to open another restaurant, I say, “No.” I want to focus on this and make my team great. Every time they come to me and say they’ve never worked in an environment like this, it gives me the most joy.