Karime Lopez of Gucci Osteria was for Gelinaz Stay In remixing Frederik Berselius .

Growing up in Sweden Berselius wanted to be an architect until he started working in kitchens. He moved to New York in 2000 and worked at Aquavit and Per Se before, in 2011, with fellow chef Richard Kuo, opening a three-day-a-week restaurant called Frej in Williamsburg. Frej became Aska in 2012, which rapidly gained plaudits for its new Nordic approach before closing in 2014, reopening in new larger Williamsburg premises in 2016.

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What was most challenging and what was best about it?

The challenge was working on an unknown menu for only one service, however it was a really special experience with the whole team joining together to create innovative ideas. It was refreshing for all and we had lots of fun!

What do you think to have the guest chef from who you got matrixes and you in common and what are the greatest differences between you two?

I really liked the format in which they shared their matrix ideas – this allowed us to be extremely free to experiment and do as we wanted, by simply following a few key words that were provided to us. As far as what we have in common… perhaps that we are not very complicated!!

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I really liked the blinis with roe and crème fraiche. We incorporated a nice potato salad – true comfort food. The chef didn’t provide any instructions or a photo to refer to, so it was a lot easier as we were completely free to experiment. They only mentioned the three ingredients.

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The dish we did for Gelinaz won’t become part of the regular Gucci Osteria menu, however as we all shared various ideas to create the matrixes, some of our tests may be incorporated into the menu…