For ICE Grad and 2025 James Beard Award Nominee Suzanne Cupps, Success Is a Marathon (vs a Sprint)

In 2024, Chef Suzanne Cupps realized a lifelong dream — owning a restaurant in New York City. That restaurant is Lola’s. 

Named for Cupps’ grandmother and rooted in Cupps' years of cooking in New York’s best kitchens, it was an instant hit with both diners and New York’s top critics, and Cupps herself was shortlisted as a 2025 James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best Chef: New York State.

But if you think Cupps’ was an overnight success, think again. Her journey from culinary student to celebrated chef/owner is proof that making it in NYC is a marathon, not a sprint — and sometimes, the race starts in an unexpected place.

At South Carolina’s Clemson University, Cupps was a math major with plans to become a math teacher. However, a post-college temp job at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria pointed her towards hospitality.

She soon enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at ICE, and after graduating in 2005, went on to work for culinary icons like Anita Lo at Anissa and Michael Anthony at Gramercy Tavern. Under their mentorship, Cupps sharpened her cooking skills, cultivated her vision, and defined her leadership style.

We asked Cupps about the day-to-day aspects of running an NYC restaurant and how to forge a lasting career in hospitality. Here’s what she had to say.

* The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

ICE: What do you consider your biggest professional achievements?

Chef Suzanne Cupps: Each step of my culinary journey has been great. Working and learning at Annisa and Gramercy Tavern, and running the kitchens at Untitled and 232 Bleecker were all important parts of my story. The big jump from sous chef at Gramercy Tavern to chef de cuisine at Untitled was one of the biggest achievements. And getting to work so closely with Michael Anthony and Danny Meyer gave me the insight to help me [get] to where I am now — owning my first restaurant. Opening Lola’s has been my greatest challenge and most rewarding experience. The recent semi-finalist James Beard nomination is something I was not expecting, but am very proud of.

ICE: To what factors do you attribute your success thus far?

Chef Suzanne: Great mentors and peers, dedication to craft and learning, and staying in the same kitchen for years before moving onto another one.

ICE: When did you know you wanted to pursue food as a career? 

Chef Suzanne: Not until I had graduated from college and moved to NYC, when I was 25. I majored in math with a minor in education and had thought about being a math teacher, but I realized it wasn't the path for me.

I was placed by a temp agency in human resources at The Waldorf-Astoria, where I first was introduced to a career in hospitality. I worked there for two years, also helping with the Front of House (FOH) in their steakhouse, which got me interested in restaurants. A co-worker went to ICE for recreational baking classes and spoke highly of the experience. I had started cooking a bit at home and the combination of all those experiences pushed me towards trying something new.

ICE: What has been the most rewarding thing about opening your own restaurant in New York?   

Chef Suzanne: Seeing the restaurant come to life in ways I never imagined and getting to create a menu that I’m excited about. Also, taking risks with new ideas and recipes that I haven’t tried before.

ICE: What does a typical day look like for you now? 

Chef Suzanne: Some mornings it’s opening the restaurant, making the bread and pastries, butchering the fish. Other days it’s starting at the Union Square farmers market and picking out produce— then wheeling it back to the restaurant in a cart. It’s always an active afternoon producing dishes for the menu, working with cooks, thinking up new dishes. That’s followed by expediting dinner service, talking with guests, doing orders, and cleaning up. There’s very little down time. I’m generally standing for 12 to 15 hours in the kitchen.

ICE: What would you say to people looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

Chef Suzanne: Find a kitchen with a strong leader that can teach you— and stick it out. There are many hard and long days. Pick your head up and learn from cooks working beside you. This industry can be very rewarding, engaging and fun, but success is rarely easy to come by.

ICE: When you think of ICE, what is the first word that pops into your mind?

Chef Suzanne: Beginnings.

ICE: Can you explain that?

Chef Suzanne: I had never stepped foot in a professional kitchen, and I was immediately excited about the opportunity to do something very different than I had ever experienced.

ICE: And what was the transition out of culinary school like? Did what you learned at ICE help you make that transition?

Chef Suzanne: I learned basic knife skills, kitchen terms, and techniques, none of which I had known coming in. It allowed me to have the confidence to interview in a New York City restaurant. The externship was very helpful in the transition to a kitchen, with less pressure than going into a line cook position.

ICE: How do you use mentorship, which is a value that most chefs and people in the industry really care about, especially at a culinary school? Did you have mentors, or are you mentoring someone now?

Chef Suzanne: My first mentor was Anita Lo at Annisa. She was on the line every night. Her knowledge of techniques and flavors and her willingness to patiently teach me how to cook [created] the perfect environment for me to start out in. I worked for her for six years, and that gave me the strong foundation I needed for the next step. 

I went to Gramercy Tavern next and worked under Michael Anthony. The kitchen was much larger, but Mike was also present and passed along an excitement for local produce and sourcing. He promoted me to sous chef and taught me how to manage and run service, how to look at all the details of a kitchen, not just the cooking part. He took me to Untitled with him as chef de cuisine, and I learned even more about how to open a restaurant, oversee multiple spaces and create my own menu.

Now that I’ve got Lola’s, I’m excited to hire cooks who want to learn, and to introduce them to new ingredients and ways of working and experiences that will [help them] progress to the next level. Being a mentor is the most important part of my job in the kitchen.

ICE: Is there any single lesson that you learned at ICE that you still use in your work today? Maybe a recipe writing hack, a time management trick?

Chef Suzanne: I think the most important lesson from my time there is to have awareness in the kitchen. To know how to move around gracefully, use all your senses, and understand what is going on around you.

ICE: Do you have any advice for people who are considering culinary school?

Chef Suzanne: It’s a great way to be able to practice in a controlled environment and to get a full overview of cooking. It also allows you to get your foot in the door, maybe to a place you wouldn’t have been able to work without any experience.

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

What is your favorite kitchen tool? Small rubber spatula.

Salty or sweet? Salty.

Favorite food holiday? Thanksgiving.

Favorite food city? Charleston.

In order of preference: cook, bake, eat? Cook, eat, bake.

Favorite cuisine? Japanese.

Go-to “easy” recipe? Crab fried rice.

Go-to “wow” recipe? Seafood chowder.

Most frequently used non pantry essential ingredient? Carrots.

Summer, spring, fall or winter, which one is your favorite food season? Summer.