Suzanne Cupps

Coming Up

Suzanne Cupps trained at Institute of Culinary Education before stepping into the rhythm of New York kitchens as an extern at Gramercy Tavern in New York, NY. From there, the education stayed practical: cook at Annisa in New York, NY, then cook at Gramercy Tavern in New York, NY. The sequence shows how a career is built in layers, with timing, balance, and consistency learned through the daily demands of service. In 2015–2017, she served as Head Chef at Untitled at the Whitney in New York, NY, then rose to Executive Chef at Untitled at the Whitney in New York, NY (from 2017). That progression marks a widening scope of responsibility, from managing the kitchen’s pace to shaping the work at a higher level. Today, Suzanne is chef/owner of Lola's, where the job combines leadership with the practical demands of cooking for service.

Where They Are Now

At Lola's, Suzanne Cupps works with the longer view of a place that has to operate cleanly night after night, while still allowing her cooking room to register clearly. Seasonal ingredients, impeccable sourcing, and quiet complexity define the frame around her food, with vegetables kept near the center rather than pushed to the side. That approach reads as measured and direct: attention to texture, freshness, and balance without excess. Her own answer to the forever-meal question lands in the same register: rice, fish, fresh herbs, and the familiar forms of poke-inspired type thing, chirashi, or crab rice.

Signature

Suzanne's signature dishes include Naan with carrot masala, BLT, pork with tomatoes & peaches, Roasted Carrots, Chicken Liver Mousse, Pickled Red Cabbage, and Sourdough Breadcrumbs. The range points to a cook who works comfortably across registers: the recognizable and the less expected, the seasonal and the deeply savory, the directness of Roasted Carrots alongside the layered bite of Chicken Liver Mousse, Pickled Red Cabbage, Sourdough Breadcrumbs.

In Their Words “Any kind of rice bowl, with fish. So it could be a poke-inspired type thing, or chirashi, or crab rice. Something that has fresh herbs, with rice and fish. That’s the kind of thing I would want to eat for the rest of my life.” “I didn’t start out in my career as wanting to cook because I liked food. I loved more of the environment.”