Talk Shop: Suzanne Lehrer Dumaine // Three Owls Market
ABOUT SUZANNE
Suzanne Lehrer Dumaine is a chef, cookbook author, recipe developer, and founder of West Village based Three Owls Market. After beginning her career in the magazine world, Suz left to attend culinary school, working as a private chef, and at the Food Network and Plated.com before opening her specialty market, cafe, prepared foods shop, and catering company in 2019.
Suz recently launched a broader delivery venture, Stocked by Three Owls, earlier this year, focusing on filling fridges for customers around the New York and Connecticut suburbs. AO is a *huge* fan of Stocked (she fills her fridge with it weekly – the chocolate chip cookies and chicken soup are some of the best she’s ever had!) so we were so excited to sit down with Suz and chat all things food.
In addition to having a nine month old and running a restaurant, catering business and food delivery service (in the middle of a pandemic, no less) Suz also co-authored the cookbook “Plated”, with Elana Karp, and has written for Time Out New York, Refinery29, and Serious Eats. We sat down with Suz to chat all things small business ownership and food – check it out below!
Describe your ideal menu in three words or less:
Salty, citrusy, herby.
What have been the three biggest influences in your life that helped you shape your restaurant:
#1) My dad, the most incredible, tenacious entrepreneur I know, for whom Three Owls is named (it was a bedtime story he used to make up), #2) a lifetime of visiting prepared foods shops and taking notes, #3) growing up in a house where cooking and entertaining was our currency for taking care of our friends and family.
How did you start your new company, Stocked by Three Owls, and what is your favorite thing about what you do:
I opened Three Owls Market in the West Village in 2019 as a lifelong dream to own my own prepared foods shop. Covid hit around our 1 year birthday, and a few months later my son was born. I found myself simultaneously searching for a way to get our Three Owls food to a broader customer base while also sitting at home with a baby wishing for prepared food to arrive on my doorstep. It was the perfect moment to create a delivery business focusing on “stocking the fridge” and especially care packages. My absolute favorite thing about what I do is why I got into this business: feeding people, and making them happy.
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
I met my husband, Paul, when I was just beginning my career in food, and while he works in a completely different field, he has been my rock and closest advisor on everything from legal advice to our sandwich menu to specific design details. He knows better than anyone when to encourage me and when to reign me in.
What does your kitchen say about you:
I suppose it says, “I love pots and pans and have too many, I hate unnecessary appliances, and since my kitchen is open, it says ‘come hang out!’”
Where do you find inspiration:
I’m incapable of walking past any food store and not going inside, so I’ve been cataloguing inspiration from food shops around the world and here in New York for a long time. Favorites are Fratelli Burgio in Sicily, Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack, Talbott & Arding in Hudson, and La Maison Plisson in Paris.
Who are your icons, either in life or in the kitchen:
Ina Garten, isn’t she everyone’s icon?! She built an incredible brand out of being herself and making cooking feel accessible, and it all stemmed from a prepared foods shop!
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Strategic planning for recipes that can be either made ahead or just quickly assembled at the last minute, serving a mix of things you made and things you didn’t, and a long cocktail hour.
Do you collect anything:
I love the idea of collecting things, and have started a few collections actually that I hope to grow. Among them are vintage ashtrays from hotels I’ve stayed in (which we track down on eBay), vintage watches, Erie/Griswold pots and pans, matchbooks, and hotel soaps. I promise I’m not a hoarder!
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration:
For design (other than @arielokin!) @davidnettosays and @houseandgardenUK
For travel: @yolandaedwards, @yolojournal
For recipes: @ottolenghi, @susanspungen. for fellow food businesses @poppysbrooklyn, @mgfoodstuff, @loavesandfishesfoodstore, @gjustabakery, @tattebakery, @alimentariflaneur.
For watch window shopping @its.cara.time
What cooking “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Best rule is making food crispy by leaving it alone and spacing it out; made to be broken is the “no fish and cheese together” rule, it definitely doesn’t always apply (anchovies and mozzarella, anyone?)!
What are you working on right now:
We’re all in on growing our Stocked by Three Owls program to deliver our prepared foods around New York, Connecticut & beyond! The response has been really wonderful so far. The notion of having a “stocked fridge” filled with great food that is designed to last several days is really resonating with our customers, and we love being able to reach people further than just our West Village shop.
Chef staples:
Equipment-wise, a great cast iron and a sharp knife; ingredient-wise, shallots, fresh herbs, lemons.
Favorite recipe/ingredient:
My favorite, somewhat secret ingredients in the kitchen are shallots, vermouth, and lots of fresh herbs.
Best cooking advice you ever received:
Timing is everything. It was my biggest takeaway from culinary school. It applies to almost everything about cooking -- from giving your steak time in the pan without moving it for the perfect sear, or timing your whole meal efficiently so you can actually enjoy making it without getting overwhelmed.
Best career advice you ever received:
Two pieces of key advice I’ve received were “never give up” from my father -- simple, but incredibly powerful when you stick to it; and the second was “always remember your boss is never thinking about you” from a friend’s mom -- I was 23 and it was a total revelation. It changed how I communicated with my boss and it informs how I communicate with my staff now.
Types of kitchen purchases you invest in, and save on:
Very few items are worth a huge splurge, splurge instead on the ingredients! One of my favorite cast iron pans was $40, and while I do have a fancy knife set I love, any knife, as long as it’s sharp, will do the trick. Copper cookware is a very fun investment, but be prepared to learn how to cook with it and clean it properly.
Your greatest extravagance:
Travel, always. I’m an obsessive travel planner (my friends often joke I should be a travel agent in another life) and daydreamer of where I’m going next. Highest on my list right now are Namibia and Piedmont, Italy.
Favorite places to shop for home/kitchen:
Cabana Magazine’s home goods shop, Jayson Home, Hay Designs, ABC Carpet, Food52. And lots of vintage hunting. E. Dehellerin in Paris is the world’s best kitchen shop.
Most prized possession and why:
A toss-up between pieces of jewelry with the highest sentimental value: a ring my father gave my mother when I was born, watches that belonged to my grandparents, and the earrings my husband gave me for our wedding.
Your business motto:
Believe wholeheartedly in what you are doing and obsess over making the best possible product, and people will follow. And never give up.
Your life motto:
Make every decision by deciding what you’ll regret more and go in the other direction.
Advice for someone just starting out in the kitchen:
Focus on learning core techniques rather than very specific recipes. If you can master the technique for, say, roasting vegetables or cooking chicken, then you have a blank canvas for a multitude of recipes when you switch out the seasonings instead of being locked into only one version that you’ve made.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: a perfect linguine alle vongole (extremely hard to find outside of Italy, taking suggestions for NYC if you have them!)
Drink: Champagne
Film: Any Sean Connery James Bond
Hotel: This is an impossible choice but Hotel Timeo in Sicily is up there.
City: NYC I love you!
Bedding: Matouk
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): almond milk latte with La Colombe coffee made by Three Owls. truly.
Playlist: Beatles anthology
Weekend Activity: Anything involving my husband, Paul, son, Arthur, and dog, Lorenzo.
Cookbook: I have to rep my own! Plated, the cookbook I co-wrote with Elana Karp. So incredibly proud of that book!
