Hey y’all, I’m so happy to share this piece on blujeen! It’s been one of my go to spots and Harlem favorites since it opened earlier this year. I had the chance to speak with the owner, Chef Lance Knowling, about the restaurant concept and how it came to be! Check it out below ☺
Meet Chef Lance. He has owned four restaurants, blujeen is his fifth. He is originally from Kansas City, went to culinary school, worked in many differently places as an apprentice, moved to Dallas (the great state of Texas!) in 1983, then moved to NY in 1988 and has been here since.
“I can open a restaurant anywhere in NY, but for me, I wanted it to be here. This, to me, is storybook.”
Tell us about blujeen! How did it start? Why Harlem? Where did the name come from? (I know, I know… I started off by asking five questions in one. I got called out too lol)
Chef Lance: It’s usually one question at a time. Haha. Well, blujeen is first and foremost a concept. It’s my interpretation of comfort food. With my background, training and experience and the kind of food that I like, but combining that with traditional techniques as well as classical techniques. I’m classically French trained. I wanted to introduce a different type of comfort food. A lot of the inspiration comes from my upbringing, my mother, in-laws and family, gatherings. I wanted to recreate that in blujeen. That’s really where the inspiration came from, I thought it would be a good vehicle for my type of cuisine, my type of food.
Why Harlem?
Chef Lance: I love Harlem. I’ve worked in Manhattan for years. It was one of those childhood dreams to own a restaurant in Harlem. I mean, I can open a restaurant anywhere in NY, but for me, I wanted it to be here. This, to me, is storybook.
Prior to blujeen, what were you doing?
Chef Lance: I’ve owned a series of restaurants named Indigo Smoke. All of my restaurants are blue something. I opened the first one in 2002, Indigo Kitchen & Bar, and I’ve always catered. That’s pretty much what I was doing until I opened up here. Our focus at blujeen is just the restaurant and catering. I don’t have the other restaurants anymore, I sold them. This is my focus.
[Fun fact! He catered Chelsea Clinton’s wedding.]
That’s is a huge accomplishment!
Chef Lance: Yeah, I guess so. I try not to get too caught up in that. It’s such hard work that it’s really just keep working. Don’t think about anything else, just keep working.
What keeps you motivated?
Chef Lance: If I’m going to be completely honest with that, my motivation is always food related. I’ll make something and I’ll love it and people will love it, then I want to do something else. I’m always pushing towards the next thing. I don’t know if that’s my character or what, but I’ve always been like that. I’ve been in the business since I was 17. It’s really the only thing I’ve ever done. It’s part of my makeup. That’s my motivation, to do something else, to do more.
You kind of touched on it, looking at this as a big accomplishment but not focusing on that and keeping it moving. For my peers especially, we look at where we are and it’s great, like we made it here but we keep pushing for what’s next. There’s a kind of a battle between complacency and contentment. How do you find the balance of pushing forward with new goals, but still being content?
Chef Lance: First and foremost, I’m never satisfied. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But I think that helps to keep from becoming complacent. Sometimes you sit back and you go, “that is pretty cool” or you read something nice about yourself or you hear a compliment that kind of keeps you going. But, because I’m never satisfied, I keep doing it. I don’t think I’ll ever become complacent. The most I would ever be, I would just quit completely. I’d find a beach somewhere, some lemonade or iced tea. I don’t know if that day will ever come. I work seven days a week and I don’t see myself doing anything else.
“Success is the end and I’m no where near the end.”
What have been some of the challenges in getting to where you are in your career and overcoming them?
Chef Lance: I think a lot of those challenges are still there. They never really go away, you just manage them differently. As you get older, hopefully you get a little smarter, a little more patient, which is not always a good thing, but you do become that way. A lot of the challenges and hurdles that I’ve faced in the business still remain today which is why we have the Black Chef Series. Personally speaking, I don’t think there has been a time in my life where I’ve said to myself, “I’m successful.” That’s never happened.
We all define success differently.
Chef Lance: I guess by some other person’s standard, I would probably be successful. I think I have so much more to do, I just cant look at myself and say you’ve done enough or this is the best you can do or you can’t do more. I’ve never had a day like that. That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when people like your restaurant or great things happen in your life where you say I’m really proud of myself. Success is the end and I’m no where near the end.
Interesting way to put it. I don’t think I’ve heard it that way before. You were talking about the Black Chef Series, it’s an awesome concept. What inspired it and how did it come about?
Chef Lance: I have lots of concepts and ideas for things. I talked to a few of my chef friends about it before I opened up. I was sitting with Chef Max and Alize, Max Hardy is a big part of the Food Bank of NY and other charitable organizations like that. We were talking about how we can combine charitable concepts with chef concepts. I introduced them to the Black Chef Series and they ran with it. They’ve done a lot with it. We have a nice nucleus forming to go forward with. Everyone is talking about the next one. Is there a winter series or a holiday series? We might take it on the road, we’ve received phone calls… a lot of great ideas around the Black Chef Series. We have to see what direction we want to go.
“I always wanted my restaurant to be that kind of place, where other chefs can come in.”
When I was coming up as a chef, there wasn’t anything like that, certainly not for black chefs. It’s always been difficult for black chefs to get noticed. I’m not just talking about black people who can cook, but chefs, people that have gone to school, have formal training, have worked at some of the best places in the country, have put in the time and they don’t get any recognition. When it’s time for them to make that next step, a lot of restaurants are unwilling to give them the head chef, executive chef title because they don’t want their patrons to see a black face manning the stove. It’s as simple as that. You don’t have to sugarcoat it. More and more black chefs are getting opportunities, but its very slight. I talk to the younger generation and they’re finding the same roadblocks. It’s difficult.
Switching gears a little, let’s talk the food you make. What’s your favorite dish to make? In general, it could be at home with family, for holidays or at this restaurant?
Chef Lance: Well you see that’s two different things. There’s professional cooking, there’s business and friends and family… that’s a completely different attitude.
Can you talk about the difference a little?
Chef Lance: A restaurant is a stage, it’s a performance to a certain degree. You’re doing things to appeal to multiple people. You want to make food that is personal. You’re creating, that’s why you have a menu. You have people who are gluten free, who are vegetarian, people who don’t eat pork. A professional has to create dishes for all of those people and they all have to taste good. That’s where the profession comes in, multiple people can come in and enjoy your work. At home, you don’t really care about that. When you cook at home, its what you want to eat. At home I might make that shrimp and grits, three, four, five different ways because I’m going to eat it regardless. Ultimately, we always revert back to what mom and dad fed us growing up. That’s a part of flavor memory. That never goes away no matter what. What you’re fed as a child never goes away.
I don’t know what your heritage is but…
I’m half Indian, half black, my dad is from India and my mom is from St. Louis.
Chef Lance: I’m from Kansas City. That’s BBQ country. The earliest food memories I have are all around BBQ, grilling, fire. I still like that and there’s a lot of those elements in my cooking: charring, fire roasting, grilling, because I like that edge. You could never go wrong with me if you give me some good BBQ. Ever.
Texas BBQ.
Chef Lance: I’m not going to fight with you on your blog. I’m just going to say ok, but I can’t concur. (← He knows the truth! :))
Speaking of your menu and how home has influenced it, Helen’s Pull Apart Bread, that’s my favorite!
Chef Lance: Everybody loves it. It’s bread and butter baked together. That is my mother’s bread, we grew up eating it. My mom gave me that recipe and taught me how to make it. On our new brunch menu, the Pull Apart French Toast is stupid. It’s the only pull apart French toast in the country, sauteed apples with a little caramel sauce. It’s already a best seller. All the flavor is still there, the butter, the yeast bread, done like french toast.
(My mouth was watering) Do you have a most popular dish? From friends if you’re cooking at home and at the restaurant?
Chef Lance: Well my friends and family like anything I make.
Haha, I can understand that.
Chef Lance: We just changed our menu. I would say on the new menu, our most popular appetizer is the shrimp and grits. And our most popular dinner entrée item right now is the grilled boneless short ribs with a smoked gruyere scalloped potato which is really really good. That’s been moving like hotcakes. Actually, it might be the blackened salmon first, then the short ribs.
I had the salmon at my birthday dinner, SO GOOD… the salmon basically melted in my mouth!
Chef Lance: Yeah, people love the salmon. We’re always going to change, keep it fresh. We always try to stay as true to inspired comfort food as possible. I don’t want it to be just totally traditional.
Create with purpose. That means creating for eternity, being timeless and creating beyond the superficial, money and fame. How are you creating with purpose?
Chef Lance: I was just having this conversation with someone yesterday. Last night, our last two customers asked, “how’s it going?” I said it’s going pretty good. We can always do better. Every day we come up with stuff to better define ourselves as a restaurant, to better define our food and to get better. People will ask, “Did you come to NY to make more money?” I say no, I made plenty of money in NJ. I don’t do anything for money. I didn’t open tthe restaurant with a financial plan like this is going to make me rich. Of course bills have to be paid, people have to be paid, that’s just part of the course.
“My mother is an artist and she’s instilled that in us, do things you love. Do things you like and stay committed to that. Whatever you need will come”
Earlier you said your restaurants all have some form of blue. Where did that come from?
Chef Lance: I like blue so I’m always playing with it in some kind of way. There’s always a double entendre and a double meaning for everything.
These ladies inspired me for a couple of reasons and that’s why the photographs are all from the 50s. I always knew what was happening in the world. My parents made sure we understood, but I wasn’t jaded. How do people going through what my parents went through, get together and have dinner parties and fondue and still deal with all the things in the world? That was inspirational. That’s why blujeen doesn’t mean the color blue. The blu is blue, “I’m feeling a little blue.” And Jeen is typical “Jean” from the 50s.
Do you have any advice for this generation? Times have changed but not quite at the same time. That feeling of bluenees still exists to some extent.
Chef Lance: I’d argue that it’s exacerbated even. We didn’t have social media. Now kids are bombarded with it. In many respects, you may have to be a little stronger than we were. I think young people today have to have a different type of filter where they can see these things and not go out and start killing people because that won’t fix anything. If you go down that path, you have a lot of people to kill. Violence is not the answer. The best way to fix the situation is education. It’s hard when there aren’t enough resources, family situations aren’t conducive, but that’s where the answer lies. I would like to see everything that’s happening motivate people to do more for themselves by any means necessary. Go to school, get a mentor, be a mentor, whatever it takes to change the situation. Young people today have to be strong and committed.
That’s great. Wrapping up now, what’s next for blujeen? What should we be looking out for?
Chef Lance: Fall items on the menu this month and we’ll be launching a new Black Chef Series soon, either Fall or Winter. The next series, the chefs will be local. And just look for more blujeen stuff!
Thanks Chef Lance! Go visit him at blujeen and say hi! Check out their Sunday dinner, it’s a perfect night out with friends or family 🙂 Enjoy the food, it’s delish. (Get the salmon and shrimp and grits and the pull apart french toast if you go for brunch… must haves!!)
❤
Moti Laine 