MEET: NICK AFRICANO, MIRADOR, KINGSTON
Nick Africano, a multihyphenate restaurateur, certified sherry educator + musician, talks art, hospitality + bringing sherry to the American public.
Interview : Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
Location: Mirador, Kingston, N.Y.
Tastemaker: Nick Africano | IG: @nickafricano
Restaurant: Mirador, Kingston, N.Y. | website: miradorkingston.com | IG: @miradorkingston
Import business: En Rama Sherry Co. | website www.enramistas.com
Hometown: Normal, IL
Current city: Kingston, NY
Personal style: nice boots, nice hats
Currently listening to: I could listen to The Soul Stirrers forever
Favorite wine, spirit or N/A: Palomino!
Favorite classic cocktail: Gin martini
Favorite bar or venue ever: Blue Ribbon Wine bar by the Blue Ribbon group on Downing Street in the West Village (closed)
Biggest chef influence: Chef Seamus Mullen (Boqueria + Tertulia, NYC)
Industry trend that should end: Not every wine should be marked up the same…
Welcome to The Dishing’s Quick Serve interviews where we talk matters of taste with tastemakers in the hospitality industry and trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture and art. Today we’re talking with Nick Africano, singer-songwriter, certified sherry educator, founder of wine brand, Buelan Compañía de Sacas and En Rama Sherry Co., and the owner of Mirador, an Andalucian-inspired restaurant in Kingston. Thanks for talking with The Dishing!
I will very loosely sum up your backstory as singer-songwriter and recording artist turned sherry aficionado after early exposure at Boqueria, NYC, in 2008. From there you took a deep dive into sherry, started a sherry club, wrote the song ‘Mirador’ that would become the name of your sherry brand and restaurant. Plus, you started a U.S. sherry wine fair. We’ll going to get into all of that but, first, what was it about sherry that hooked you?
NA: It was the immediacy of flavor and the clarity of identity. Also, learning that it was from Andalucía, a place I had already been fascinated with felt too good to be true.
You’re a lifelong musician and you studied literature, Spanish literature and poetry at Macalester College. The paintings at Mirador were painted by your father, one of your biggest influences. It feels as if you are surrounded by art. At what point did you realize hospitality and the art world weren't two separate tracks, but could be integrated in a restaurant?
NA: I believe hospitality, at its best, is an exchange. An exchange of giving and receiving between the guests and the people working at the venue. I also believe that creative works are the same…they are, at their best, and most fulfilling, when they are an exchange, more than just a transaction or commodity. Also, as a performer, working in a restaurant we are constantly performing…and I don’t mean acting…I mean we are performing our jobs and our passions. It all crosses paths here for me: performing, creativity, education, inspiring people, taking care of people. I’m aslo a storyteller at heart…and here at Mirador I get to tell the story of Andalucia and sherry to guests every day.
Your company, Buelan Compañía de Sacas, a bottling project of barrel-selected sherries, is one of the only independent sherry bottlers in the United States and each new release is named for a song. This might be a big question, but how do you decide what story you want to tell with each new blend, the names you give them and the label designs?
NA: I really want everything about the bottling to be intentional. The names are names of songs that I feel have a similar ethos to the nature of the wine. The label designs are made by an Italian artist, Massimo Sirreli, who I met on the internet who had made a series of paintings of bulls related to Andalucía. “Buelan” comes from the bottom of a Goya drawing named “the butterfly bull” and at the bottom in old spanish it says, “Buelan, buelan, una fiesta en el aire”
It means, “they fly, they fly, a celebration in the air” . A bull that can fly, butterflies that can carry the weight of bulls. This image has been a north star for me for decades. An embodiment of hope, contradiction, and possibility. It informs the ethos of the brand overall… I want sherry to feel light, beautiful, artful, and accessible/possible. Not vintage and formal like a lot of the traditional labels. The songs, therefore, inform the bottling, and the bottlings inform which songs I use. It goes both ways.
You started the Feria en Rama sherry fair in New York at Hotel Chelsea in 2023. It has been endorsed by El Consejo Regulador, draws over 20 wineries from the Marco de Jerez, and is recognized as the biggest sherry wine fair in the United States. This truly feels like a culmination of your passion. How did you convince the first producers to come?
NA: My business partner, Kerin Bembry, and I just decided we were going to do it. I decided I would do anything possible to make it happen and provide a proof of concept. We financed/fundraised everything ourselves in the first year. And I had built years of trust from visiting the wineries in Jerez, working for an importer, bottling wine, etc. The winemakers and the industry took a leap of faith in coming to support… so did Kerin and the Hotel Chelsea, and it was one of most terrifying and exhilarating experiences to have pulled it off! I think the U.S. market interest in sherry is growing.
You're a certified sherry educator and at Mirador it seems you’re keen to introduce people to the differences between fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, and oloroso. Your sherry flights are a versatile way to make that introduction. What's the single biggest misconception new guests have about sherry?
NA: I always start with the same thing: “sherry is wine.” Many people don’t know to start there, with something that simple. Many think it’s a spirit or a cordial, or simply don’t exactly know what it is.
Your menu is a celebration of Spanish tapas and you’re often in the kitchen. What can people expect?
NA: We have a chance to focus on regionality, and we focus on classics from Andalucía. We branch out to the larger cannon of Spanish cooking but our focus is on Andalucia, and our seasonal plates are all influenced by the Hudson Valley and its bounty.
The conversation around alcohol has shifted significantly. Low- and no-alcohol drinking is growing, moderation is increasingly the norm, and the pandemic accelerated a lot of that rethinking. We’ve seen renewed interest in vermouth as a lower ABV option. Is sherry as naturally positioned to step into the spotlight?
NA: I think so, yes. It’s a perfect substitute for spirits to make cocktails more ABV. For example, a “Fin Tonic” (fino and gin). Super light, super refreshing, low ABV.
You told me about a cocktail you had in Spain — manzanilla sherry with tequila blanco and ginger—and you and head bartender Seth Jones replicated it at Mirador with pickled ginger brine and pickled ginger as the twist. For some, it will be a revelation that sherry belongs in a cocktail at all. How do you think about sherry as an ingredient?
NA: Sherry provides depth, salt, and umami! These days it’s more popular than every to include sherry in cocktails.
We always ask industry people about burnout and how they manage a work/life balance. Given all the prongs of your business life, how do you manage it all and what do you do to relax?
NA: Walking helps me relax, especially with my partner and her dog.
You were born in Illinois to artist parents. What are your childhood memories of home cooking or eating out?
NA: Eating out felt like such a special thing. It was a special occasion. It felt magical when we went somewhere. I always try and remember that when any guest walks into Mirador. How can we provide a bit of that magic.
What are three of your favorite spots in the Hudson Valley or Capital Region right now — one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner. Where are you eating in and around Kingston?
NA: I love diners. Dietz Diner for breakfast, Rosie for lunch, Chleo for dinner.
Imagine your ideal day or night out. If you could go anywhere with no limits on costs or reservations, where would you go and how would the day or night unfold?
NA: I love wandering, with a loose plan. I would go to Sevilla with my family and wander around all the tabancos and cathedrals and museums.
Nick, is there one sherry that was a “come to Jesus” moment for you or, if that’s too hard to isolate, is there just one you happen to really love?
NA: My come to Jesus moment was Gutierrez Colosia “Sangre Y Trabajadero” Oloroso. I call it my “Jimi Hendrix” sherry. When I heard Jimi Hendriz when I was 13, I thought “what the hell is that?!” And from there I discovered the blues, one of my favorite things. Sangre Y Trabajadero opened me up to the world of sherry in a similar way.
Thanks so much for talking to The Dishing and sharing your passion for sherry. We’re looking forward to seeing sherry take center stage in the drinks world.
