NEW YORK: Fredrik Berselius might be the renowned chef and owner of restaurant Aska in Brooklyn, New York but it was not necessarily what he aimed to do in life. “Growing up, I wanted to be a professional snowboarder. I never imagined that I might one day become a chef as much as I loved food.” That feeling of being constantly in motion to be able to remain relevant may come from going down those snowy hillsides in the middle of nature with his friends. He considers these to be the best memories of his childhood but moving forward and improving on a daily basis is what keeps him going.
It was his sister, Michaela (now married to renowned Scottish chef and entrepreneur Tom Kitchin), who introduced him to the the industry and from there it was no turning back. He would visit her in London as a teenager when she was studying hospitality and had friends who worked with legends like Alain Ducasse and Pierre Koffman. “We all spent a lot of time together when I would visit her and it opened my eyes to the industry in ways I had never considered before. I would listen to stories about cooking at that level and all the pressure and excitement that came with it. It was like putting on a performance every night. I found it fascinating and it planted a seed,” Frederik says.
He moved to New York in 2000 and always dreamt of opening his restaurant but it took longer than he wanted though the experience he got at places like Aquavit and Per Se have served the purpose of surpassing hurdles faster that normal.
He opened the first Aska, Swedish for ashes, in its first rendition in 2012 and within a year had earned a Michelin star. In the summer of 2016, Aska reopened in a new, bilevel space located in a restored 1860s warehouse building in the shadows of Williamsburg Bridge. Within a few months, the restaurant received a second Michelin star. A former warehouse, the striking building is painted black and the stylish theme continues inside with polished dark wood, a cellar lounge and garden.
Opening Aska was was not an easy road as Frederik himself recalls. “It definitely didn’t happen overnight and there were several times I was close to pushing the ‘go’ button, yet the circumstances ultimately weren’t right. I dreamed of this restaurant soon after I started cooking and it took a long time to make it a reality. In 2011, after the lease on a space in lower Manhattan fell through, I along with a former chef colleague of mine opened a restaurant called Frej that operated three days a week in a space we shared with a bar and café. It started with no press and only the two of us cooking and serving all the food, however within a few weeks the word started to spread and the New York Times and others wrote about us.”
We quickly outgrew the original space so it made the decision to move a necessary one for me.
That gave birth to Aska in the same space. The decision to close the location was taken in 2014 because Frederik knew he needed a proper space to keep evolving. “It was definitely a huge risk to move and reopen Aska in a new location, especially when we were at a peak, but I felt that we quickly outgrew the original space, so it made the decision a necessary one for me. What I hoped would be a swift process ended up being a prolonged search that ultimately led us to where we are now. I fell in love with this particular space the moment I found it, although it required a lot of imagination to get it where it is today, and we did quite a major renovation and reconstruction to the space as it had never operated as a restaurant before. The building is from the 1860s and in addition to our main dining room has a cellar, garden and private dining room. I wanted Aska to have a home that we could grow with. I wanted a space where the food, service and atmosphere work in harmony. The philosophy remains the same but this space allows us to take the experience to another level.’
‘I am always trying to consider the whole experience and put myself in the guests’ shoes. Hospitality is very important to me, and it’s never only about the food – at Aska it’s about creating an experience where food is the focal point, yet everything around it impacts that experience. In developing a vision for the space, I wanted to keep it simple and minimalist with little distraction, natural materials, clean lines, focused lighting and a few thoughtful accents here and there that tell part of our story. The design aspect has always been important to me – it is more than just a concept pasted to a moodboard – we consider every detail so that there is a meaning or purpose behind everything we do or anything you see at the restaurant.’
Today, Fredrik is one of the most successful Nordic chefs in the United States and around the globe, celebrating ingredients from his surrounding region as well as drawing on his Swedish background to offer something unique to the dining environment. ‘At Aska, we continually go out of our way to find exceptional ingredients to work with, most of which come from New York and the northeast. One place in particular that I love to look to for ingredients and inspiration is the pristine nature of the Catskills, where I also try to spend as much time as possible when the restaurant is closed.”
He says the natural landscape surrounding New York and especially when you drive several hours north of the city reminds him of areas you can find in Sweden, and many of the ingredients are similar. “When I am there it always makes me feel reconnected to where I grew up, and I try to bring those flavours and feelings back to the restaurant. Many people forget that there is incredible nature surrounding New York. That’s what we hope people will get a taste of that when they visit Aska – to create an environment where people can come to the restaurant, have dinner and hopefully be transported in a sense.”
Having won the accolades, Frederik knows he needs to keep challenging himself while setting new objectives for himself and his team. ‘Restaurants are an evolving entity, so it doesn’t end with receiving a review or releasing a cookbook. Things are always moving and it’s definitely been an adventurous journey so far.”
Stagnation is never an option. We work really hard every day and then we do it all over again the next day, learning as much as we can in the process, improving and refining as we go, because there’s no real stopping.
He says that as a chef and owner, you set goals and then set new ones and grow from there. “We want to be better than we were yesterday. I think it is important that we always continue to challenge ourselves. As a team that’s the intention we set, because how else can you grow. Stagnation is never an option. We work really hard every day and then we do it all over again the next day, learning as much as we can in the process, improving and refining as we go, because there’s no real stopping. The transient nature of running a restaurant is part of what makes it appealing to me. The work we do requires us to be fully present in every moment.”
His work ethic is underpinned by a desire to reach his version of perfection which ultimately boils down to making people happy. “Sometimes it feels like we’re chasing rainbows, but I think we can get there. Goals are fundamental to success. Perfection is a subjective notion, yet the idea of it is something most of us strive toward. Many years ago, I worked at Per Se with Thomas Keller and I still hear his voice in my head about always doing your best and staying driven, that at the end of the day, while we’re constantly striving toward this idea of perfection, it’s ultimately about making people happy. It’s so true, and it is why we do it. It’s important to recognize that.’
Nature for Fredrik is a source off inspiration. “It is the relationship between where I have come from and where I am now, here in New York. This is central to what drives the narrative at Aska. Cooking has always been a medium for me to feel connected to where I’m from. At the same time, it requires you to be fully present in the moment, similar to many other forms of creativity that I find inspiring. I have always loved art and loved creating in general. My sketchbook is never far from reach, and for a period of time during my early days in New York I apprenticed with an oil painter. So art inspires me, and working with my hands in general, merging craft and creativity. I love designing spaces and furniture as well.”
His love for nature comes from growing up in Sweden and spending times outdoors whether in winter snowboarding or spending his summers at his grandfather’s summer house. It was here that he learnt about foraging, learning about wild plants and berries. “Now when I am cooking, I have all these memories and all these reference points from times spent in nature, of being taught what was poisonous or edible, what grew where and why and when. At the time for me, of course it was fun and magical to play around in the forest, but I didn’t fully appreciate it the way I do now being a chef and working directly with ingredients that require being so keenly aware of nature and the changing seasons.”
That love of nature has seen him forge a close relationship with farmers and suppliers for Aska, including an urban farm near the restaurant that they have partnered with since opening. ’We work directly with the farm to cultivate different plants that we can harvest on a regular basis. We plan the season in advance, deciding which species we will grow and how much. Since it is a relatively small area of land, we have to plan wisely, and we often choose plants that are not always easy to find from other farms, such as Salad Burnett, Yarrow, Sorrel, and a variety of flowers. Most we grow direct from seeds, but sometimes we have transplanted, including from the wild. Since the farm is only a two-minute walk from the restaurant, having this resource so close to us allows us a rare opportunity for a New York restaurant to have direct access to fresh ingredients that have not been transported other than by our own hands. It also provides our team the opportunity to learn about the process firsthand, observing the plants’ life cycle through the season and better understanding the effects of weather, time and other factors. In addition to the farm, we also have a small courtyard garden at our restaurant where we grow a variety of herbs that we can use in our menu.”
So what are the objectives for his future. “I want to build on what we already have here at Aska and continue to enhance the experience. We are always searching for ways we can grow and evolve, as a team and as a restaurant as a whole. In New York there is already a push to be at the forefront, to keep moving forward, and you must keep moving to remain relevant. Also for the longer term, I want to be more involved in building community around food and nature in part by developing a regenerative agriculture farm in upstate New York. Building a farm, for many chefs is a dream, and it is certainly one of mine. We are slowly starting to develop some land a few hours north of New York (in the Western Catskills) where we’ve planted numerous fruit trees and experimented with a variety of other plants. Of course, there is also an abundance of delicious wild ingredients growing there that we now serve at the restaurant,” he says.
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