The Inside Dish on Top Chef Marcus Samuelsson
Born in Ethiopia and adopted and raised in Sweden, Marcus Samuelsson has bridged cultures and cuisines his whole life. This much-celebrated chef cooked up fame and fortune as the executive chef and co-owner of Aquavit, a New York City hot-spot for fine Scandinavian cuisine.
Samuelsson’s unusual biography adds extra spice to Aquavit’s culinary reputation. He was born in Ethiopia, orphaned by a tuberculoses epidemic when he was three, and adopted by a Swedish family. He attended culinary arts school in Sweden and apprenticed in Austria and Switzerland before traveling to the United States. Samuelsson started out as an apprentice at Aquavit, but by the time he was 24 he had become the executive chef–and the youngest chef ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from the New York Times.
Marcus Samuelsson Spices up Scandinavian Cuisine
In 2003, the James Beard Foundation named Marcus Samuelsson the best chef in New York City in 2003, and national praise for his fine cuisine continues to roll in faster than he can roll Swedish meatballs. His philosophy on cooking? “Food is one of the highest levels of art,” says Samuelsson. “It has to look good and taste good. It’s two-dimensional, like a Picasso painting.”
In recent years, Marcus Samuelsson opened two additional restaurants in New York City, Riingo (which serves Japanese-influenced American food) and Scandinavia House, a Scandinavian Café. Meanwhile, he continues to revamp Aquavit’s menu. Samuelsson brings a contemporary flair to traditional Scandinavian techniques and ingredients with such dishes as fois gras ganache with cured quail, brioche crusted salmon, venison loin with juniper sauce, and even horseradish dumplings. This critically acclaimed chef also gives us food for thought as a spokesman for UNICEF.
Sources:
New York Times “IN THE KITCHEN WITH: Marcus Samuelsson; From Africa to Sweden to Aquavit”
Aquavit Restaurant Official Website
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