20 Questions with The Modern’s Sarah Hsieh
In the Resy Questionnaire, we play a game of 20 questions with the industry folks behind some of our favorite restaurants. What’s your most memorable restaurant experience? Your favorite food movie? What restaurant would you want to time-travel for?
In this edition, we talk to Sarah Hsieh, the chef de cuisine at The Modern, who’s been leading the two-starred-Michelin fine dining kitchen since 2021.
The Resy Questionnaire
1. Favorite thing you’ve ever cooked?
I have fond memories of cooking Thanksgiving dinner and it continues to be one of my favorite holidays. While we typically have a traditional Thanksgiving spread, we always make turkey congee every year with the leftovers. It’s perfect after a long day of festivities and lots of board games.
2. Kitchen tool or equipment you couldn’t live without?
My mini spatula.
3. What pantry items would you bring on a desert island?
Jasmine rice, kosher salt, butter, chile oil, and garlic.
4. What’s your favorite place to get a slice in New York?
The tie-dye pizza (vodka, tomato, and pesto) at Rubirosa.
5. Favorite cookbook?
The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart. I got this cookbook back in 2007 (after reading it on the floor of a local Barnes & Noble) and it really started my culinary journey. It is my most tattered cookbook, which has survived countless New York apartment moves!
6. Your drink of choice?
A classic margarita.
7. Favorite food movie?
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
8. Your ideal dinner party guests, dead or alive?
Julia Child and Anita Lo.
9. What restaurant industry person do you admire the most?
I was fortunate to work for Thomas Keller for a few years. His restaurants and his work with the Ment’or Foundation create so much opportunity for young chefs in our industry.
10. The greatest restaurant experience of your life so far?
Le Meurice in Paris for my 25th birthday. The dining room, the food, the service, everything was impeccable.
11. Your greatest professional achievement?
Reopening The Modern after the pandemic was such an exciting challenge. I’m immensely proud of the team we have built and how much we have grown in such a short time.
12. What single dish best describes your personality?
Carbone’s spicy rigatoni: consistent, classic, and a little spicy!
13. If you could go back in time, which restaurant would you dine at?
Aubergine in 1995. I would love to experience a different era of fine dining to see how it has evolved.
14. Your favorite meal from childhood?
My dad’s tomato egg stir fry and mapo tofu.
15. Your wish for the restaurant industry?
I hope we continue to invest in our staff and remember that we can make a change through increased benefits and emphasis on work-life balance. It is possible to make really good food and have tons of fun while doing it!
16. What do you wish you did better? What do you do well?
I like to think that I am forever learning, and I hope it makes me better every day. Life goes by so fast and I have to remind myself to find the successes, as it’s easy to focus on the failures.
17. If you could eat through a city for a day, where would you go?
Singapore, to go to all of the hawker centers!
18. The one thing you can’t resist splurging on when you go out?
A fresh coconut water, opened on the sidewalk, while shopping through Chinatown.
19. What do you value most in restaurants?
Tasty food and warm hospitality!
20. It’s your last meal on earth, what are you eating?
The lobster sticky rice from H.K. Café in Flushing. It’s the best!
The Modern (and The Kitchen Table at the Modern) are open daily for lunch from noon to 2 p.m. and for dinner Monday through Saturday starting at 5 p.m. The Bar at the Modern is open daily for lunch from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. and for dinner Monday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m.
Noëmie Carrant is Resy’s senior writer. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy on Instagram and Twitter, too.
