A CHILEAN CHEF’S PANDEMIC VICTORY STORY
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How Victory Blamey Finally Achieved Her Dreams
Gotham Grill & Bar was once beloved in New York City. It had consistently high-quality food, mainly thanks to its past head chef and owner, Alfred Portale, who cooked in the kitchen himself for 34 years (not always common for famous chefs). Then, in 2019, news spread that Portale planned to leave for a new endeavor and would hand off the restaurant to a 39-year-old Chilean native, Victoria Blamey. New York media and customers alike had explosive reactions. On one hand, the media hailed Blamey for taking “a great step forward for all female chefs” and bringing a new era for the famously consistent establishment. Still, Blamey found this praise shocking. She didn’t realize just how big of a deal these changes would be for some of Gotham Grill & Bar’s frequent customers (whether it was her gender or her adjustments to the menu and silverware). She’d worked at some of the best restaurants all over the world with no issues like these in the past. However, Blamey would tell 50 Best Stories that Gotham Grill & Bar became a “traumatic experience.” Blamey was constantly criticized, bullied and belittled by customers. “I received a lot of hate emails, letters that were addressed directly to me, and really terrible comments that were not even about the food, but more like, ‘Why did I get out of bed to come here when she’s cooking?’” says Blamey. Gotham Grill & Bar was shut down when the pandemic began, which was a scary time for many chefs anyway. But things changed for her as she began to find new opportunities to embrace her true cuisine: Chilean food. Only a few months after closing Gotham, people invited her to events where she could serve her own food, her way. She created entries that reflected her Chilean heritage, including dishes that utilized seaweed (long a staple of her country’s cuisine) and particularly its stipe, the often-discarded stem. Renowned American restaurant critic Ruth Reichl said, “The astonishing seaweed stipe and rhubarb combination, like pasta of the sea and garden, [was a] feast of new flavors.” Now, she plans to open up a neighborhood concept in downtown Manhattan with a la carte offerings downstairs and private-tasting menu service upstairs. “It will be an expression of what I’ve been doing. We are going to have a voice in what we cook, we are going to try to be socially responsible … a lot of aquaculture: seafood, mussels, clams and also vegetables and grains.” Despite her recent historical challenges, it’s a relief to see that some of the unique chefs are being rewarded for their dedication and for accomplishing their dreams!
CANDLES CELEBRATION JINGLE JOLLY
MISTLETOE ORNAMENT PRESENT SANTA
SLEIGH STOCKING WASSAIL WREATH
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