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| The New American: Art and culture in the Bromo District (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
Attempts of establishing small retail on the first floor of their own buildings failed more often than not. The corner store at the bottom of the company's headquarters at the southeast corner of Franklin and Eutaw saw several small clothing stores pop up and close. The latest attempt of trying to make the space work involves an artsy food space dubbed New American. Two years in the works and after extensive investment into a full commercial kitchen, the space finally opened last Saturday for brunch. Fiona Sergeant, an artist turned restaurateur, oversaw every step of the renovation and who runs the operation. As can be expected, Fiona has a full theory for life and the restaurant is just a part of it. Below my interview with her:
Fiona, what made you open an eatery
on Franklin and Eutaw, what drew you to the area?
I think the first time I was in the area was probably back in
high school; I am from New Jersey, but I had a friend from Baltimore, and we
would go to music shows in beautiful loft spaces in the H+H building. I
continued to go to events around the area during and after college and had
always admired the Charles Fish and Sons building.
When I got serious about the idea of
starting a restaurant I realized how many people were always moving through the
area, but there weren’t that many good food options for sitting down and
relaxing. The space also seemed perfect for the sort of project I wanted to put
on.
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| Owner Fiona Seargent in her open kitchen (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
How did you get from Art to eating, tell us a bit
about yourself. Are you still doing art or is art and food one and the same for
you?
I think I probably started with eating
and then art, but it is hard to say which came first. They are both such
fundamental aspects of humanity. I think at the end of the day, most of my interests
stem from a fundamental appreciation-of and curiosity-in the project of being
human.
Growing up I had always wanted to be some kind of scientist
or designer; I wanted to participate in an understanding of the world. I would
also spend much of my time experimenting in the kitchen because it was the
workspace that was accessible to me.
After graduating from high school, I attended
MICA for interdisciplinary sculpture, a department that emphasizes exploration and
critical thinking in relation to our built environments, both physical and
psychological.
To me, the restaurant is a really interesting and accessible
form since everybody understands how to eat food, while Art can often seem more
exclusive. I enjoy the title of artist for its expansive meaning, but I am not
really interested in living through the gallery system. I have always been
attracted to the crossover aspects of life + aesthetics; I am very interested
in architecture + the design of furniture and functional ware. Restaurants seem
like the functional-ware mirror of cinema. It is something whose aesthetic
qualities are felt through corporal use rather than partially removed
viewing.
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| A touch of culture along the walls (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
Tell us about your theory of food,
satisfaction and the rise of the snack
“The Search for the Satisfying Snack in Contemporary
America” is the title of an essay I wrote as my thesis paper associated with my
undergrad degree. The essay did not have to be directly related to the
sculpture work we showed for commencement, but was more of a chance to consider
seriously anything we wanted to.
At first I had wanted to write a paper
that had to do with the American Identity, the concept of “the new,” America’s
huge physical scale + its dependance on media as a way of viewing itself/
communicating within itself, etc… but when I went to talk to the librarian
about how to research ‘the concept of the new’ he told me about a book by
Daniel Boorstin (former librarian of congress) called The Image which had been written in
1962. (Seems especially important to read nowadays…). In any event; I felt that
essay I had wanted to write had already been written to some extent, and by a
bit of a heavy hitter at that.
Then, for whatever reason, I refocused my attention as
America as the land of the snack, and the various relationships between the
American identity and form and that of the snack; something that is free from
strong historical ties or cultural restrictions to be whatever is relevant or
delicious at the time. I was also interested in the fad of the-100-calorie-snack-pack
as a limited quantity at an increased price on something that for so much of
human history had been a scare and much sought-after resource, calories. The
essay topic also led me to consider the ways in which the over-abundance of
choice/ presence of global reality + global media leads people to engage in
snacking behavior in most areas of life, not just food. People snack on
information, relationships, TV shows, music, and even food.
My friend Colin Alexander published an edit of the essay
through his art + criticism journal Post-Office http://baltimore-art.com/
I really enjoy writing and would like to get into a better
routine of it. I think it is a great way to suss out ideas and
connections/theories that would be harder to do all in your head.
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| The bar is part of the concept (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
What is the concept for the
restaurant, what is your niche?
The concept for the restaurant is an expanded view of
‘American food.’ It is also an ode to America and American food and American
culture and the dream of America. It is an ode to diners and pie and coffee and
cheesecake and immigrant cultures and Chinese take-out and pizza and frozen
pizza and all-day breakfast and hot fresh donuts and biscuits and gravy and
Patsy Cline and Erykah Badu.
I want to create a place that is founded on good juju. I want
it to be the place to go if you just don’t feel like being at home or it’s your
day off or you want a place to spend time with people you enjoy.
I don’t totally know what our niche will be yet, maybe our
niche is a physical one on the corner of Eutaw and Franklin streets. I want New
America to be a place of play + experimentation + appreciation +
pleasure.
Breakfast, Lunch, Bar + Brunch.
What will be your opening
hours?
We will be open Sat-Monday 10-3pm for Brunch and Wednesday-Friday from 9-3 Breakfast/Lunch
The Bar will be open from 5-10:30 on Wednesday and Thursday and from 5-midnight on Friday and
Saturday. These hours might shift around a little as we figure out what
makes sense.
** Also important: we will be hosting two sweet little
Valentines day events!
There will be a singles mixer with
drinks + music + snacks from 5:30-8:30pm on Feb 14th, and then there will be
one dinner seating for couples and those in love at 8:45pm; reservations
encouraged w/ extra seats at the bar.
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| New American: The art of living (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
Is there an online menu to share
Here is a google drive folder of our current typed menus.
Things will continue to evolve, but I hope people can come to rely on us for
good taste.
our yelp page : https://www.yelp.com/biz/new-america-baltimore
What was the biggest hurdle for
opening a restaurant in the small former retail store?
The biggest hurdle was likely just the building of the
kitchen + the creation of the restaurant as a functional + pleasurable space. I
naturally enjoy designing spaces and situations, but it was definitely a
relatively stressful process of continually learning new twists and turns of
the reality of the situation and the process of assessing the trustworthiness
of people + figuring out the ways of the system. I definitely understand why
people get into opening many restaurants/ serial entrepreneurship since it is
its own skill set/ knowledge base.
Overall I am pleased with the way the space turned out, and I
am excited to continue to tweak it and allow it to live. It definitely is
exciting to see sketches become real and be able to sit within a project that I
have been attempting to realize for so long now. I am just hungry for more….
Can you share the order of magnitude
of investment that was needed before you were ready to serve your first meals?
All I can say right now is that I definitely didn’t know what
I was in for, but I also knew how little I knew and am now thankfully on the
other side. The project from concept to opening took about 2 years (much longer
than hoped for) and a few times as much as financially expected, but now I know
for next time. I am definitely much more in debt that I would have liked to be,
but I am also extremely excited to finally be in business and feel that it is a
risk worth taking. I love the space + the neighborhood + the opportunity to
share delicious things I’ve been thinking about with others + to work with such
an inspiring and good-natured team of people.
I feel very strongly that now is a time to sew seeds and
loose sleep. I am intersected in putting on large scale projects in my life,
and I am also someone who learns best by doing. Although this project did have
its set-backs and moments of anxiety + minor despair, I don’t really know what
else I would be doing right now if not this (maybe I’d try to get into the wine
industry…). I feel like I have been pushing myself to grow + train my reflexes
over the past couple of years, and I am excited to the forward momentum as this
endeavor finally moves on to a state of public operation.
What is Fiona Sergeant Industries? What are the other
endeavors going on?
Fiona Sergeant Industries is what I decided to write as my
place of employment on Facebook while I was still in art school because I
realized that above all else, I wanted to be working in the service of my own
enterprise. I have many interests and can be interested in almost anything, so
it is important for me to always try to bring myself back to center and assess
what it is that I am interested in doing. Fiona Sergeant Industries is a way of
remembering that no matter what the job or task at hand, I am always working on
a larger scale endeavor that is the project of my life.
For the future I am interested in helping to establish a
ceramic + fabrication studio in Baltimore, establishing a retail scenario to
help promote small scale designers + thinkers, expanding to other cities +
other continents, setting up a media publishing organization/press, and
hopefully someday owning/taking part in a winery since I think the tradition of
wine production + consumption is a wonderful aspect of humanity + our relations
to the land, culture, and history. I am hoping that if I can even achieve half
of my goals, I’ll have lived a worthwhile, or at least enjoyable, life.
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| Savory lentils and roasted veggies on a rustic table (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
What is your favorite food? Will it
be available at the diner?
Like most people I have many foods(+memories) that I love
more so than any singular favorite, but a few of my favorites are apple pie,
yeasted waffles, cereal and milk, pesto on pasta(and everything else), BLTs,
hong kong style crispy noodles (coming soon…), and char siu baos (in
R+D).
I think a huge reason why I wanted to open the restaurant is
to have a reason to think about what would be good to eat and then have a place
to share it with other people. I think of the diner as a bit of a theater for
ideal things to eat or at least some things to consider. I am also interested
in hosting some events in order to give others a platform to call the sensory
shots.
New American is open Sat-Monday 10-3pm for Brunch and Wedn-Fri from 9-3pm Breakfast/Lunch
The Bar is open from 5-10:30 on Wednesday and Thursday and from 5-midnight on Friday and Saturday. These hours may still shift.
Valentines event: 2/14: A singles mixer with drinks + music + snacks from 5:30-8:30pm
Location: 429 N Eutaw Street, (Southeast corner at Franklin Street) access through the lobby.
Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
Fiona Sergeant: The Search for the Satisfying Snack
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| The New American still needs exterior signs (Photo: Klaus Philipsen) |
Nice promo. Good luck with the venture. The location might be ahead of it's time for our fair city, but hopefully not too far ahead.
ReplyDeleteThis Gal has the drive and ambition to accomplish whatever Life throws at her. I hope other businesses will join the neighborhood and take part in building the area up AGAIN! Tony44 NJ
ReplyDelete