
Hugue Dufour in a relatively calm moment at M. Wells.
Today Seven Questions turns its attention to Hugue Dufour, who, along with his wife, Sarah Obraitis, created the wildly popular gastrodiner M. Wells in Long Island City.
Where are you from originally and how long have you been living in Queens?
I am from a place called Lac St. Jean, which is in Québéc. I moved down here to Queens two years ago more or less.
What made you move to Queens?
I met Sarah maybe six years ago. We were dating, me being in Montréal, her being down here. We wanted to be together. We kind of flipped a coin and Queens won. Sarah wasn’t speaking French so that would have been harder for her.
What are some of your favorite things to eat in Queens?
There are different things. Where I’m from it’s so white, we don’t have any Mexican food. Coming down here you have all sorts of influence and all sorts of cultures. I like to to go to Nixtamal to grab some tacos. There are amazing places in Flushing for Korean fried chicken. I also like to go to Astoria and have Greek sometimes. There’s cool Indian food as well.
Any chance you'll add Korean fried chicken to the menu at M. Wells?
Everyone’s doing fried chicken. I feel like we’re inundated with fried chicken. I want to make a nice chicken. I once did the smoked chicken. I want to go towards that…covered with paprika. That’s one I want to perfect.
Do you have favorite places to shop in Queens?
I can’t wait for the farmer’s market, the one in Sunnyside and even the one by our place on 48th Ave. I also send one of our cooks Caroline to the Korean markets to buy gochujang for the BibiM Wells. I love this place in Astoria for materials, Build it Green. I’m always there.
For a guy whose food is often unapologetically fatty, you're quite trim. How do you do it?
I seem really calm perhaps, but it’s just like the duck technique. I don’t know if you’re aware of the duck technique. The water surface seems really calm and, like, quiet, but underneath you see the little paddles are going crazy, you know. I’m really nervous, but I keep everything inside. I don’t know; I must have a great metabolism too because I eat a lot.
Where do you look for inspiration when creating new dishes?
This is a hard question. It’s a lot of things. Sometimes it’s a new piece of equipment. The other day I saw this thing on the Bowery. You know the vertical spit that you do gyros on. It was like $100, a nice one. I want to get it.
I want to make sandwiches like that. All sorts of meats stacked up, even with foie gras on top leaking all over the meat. Usually you do chicken or lamb with a big tomato on top. I would like to do even leaner meats like rabbit stacked up, but with foie gras and a big chunk of bacon in between basting the whole thing. And then you carve it and you make a nice sandwich with nice hummus.
M. Wells Diner, 21-17 49th Ave., Long Island City, 718-425-6917
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