Marcus Samuelsson on Caviar for Breakfast, and How Rotisserie Chicken Is ‘Rock and Roll’
For months, chef Marcus Samuelsson has been teasing fans with pictures and menu suggestions hinting at what’s to come at his new New York City Harlem restaurant Streetbird Rotisserie. Streetbird, with its chicken-based menu, is the more relaxed sister post to his Red Rooster in east Harlem.
Devoteés of his Southern American food with hints of someplace else have been reeled in by Instagram and Twitter pictures of Streetbird’s beat-up marquee promising “old fashion’ but good!” and vintage shots of Harlem in 1970s.
Then there was a first-come-first-serve invitation Samuelsson sent via social media to a menu testing when he and his chefs took over a Mexican dive in the East Village on a slushy night in February.
But the new restaurant, opening this Friday, isn’t the only next big thing on Samuelsson’s spring agenda — he’ll be hosting Harlem Eat Up, a four-day food festival in Harlem the weekend of May 14. While Samuelsson and his wife Maya Haile were spending the weekend at the Cayman Cookout in January, doing some food festival market research and paling around with chefs Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud and the like, he stopped to answer a few questions about both, and also reminisce about the growing up in Sweden with all things home-made, from pickled herring to … jeans.
Why do you like events like this? Is it more than just good marketing?
It’s nice when there’s a lot of us. I’ve been thinking about this because we’re starting our own food festival with Harlem Eat Up, so I’ve been thinking about how to make it special for the chefs as well. It’s an opportunity to bridge chefs who have a Southern feel, like Jonathan Waxman and John Brock, to come to Harlem but make sure they’re taken care of.
What and when is Eat Up?
It’s a four-day festival starting May 14. It’s food, art, and culture. You can go to the Apollo, hear some gospel. There’s chef dine-out so you can go to these incredible restaurants — some are known, some are not that known. But our chefs will be in there. So Ken Orange will be in one place and Arnold Sanchez will host something else. It’s going to be in east, west, south, north Harlem. Herb Karlitz and I are going to do it. We’re lucky enough to get Bill Clinton to do the ribbon cutting. We feel good about it
Why did you want to start it?
Living in Harlem and starting the restaurant, I felt like I want to add things that matter to the community. We want to start cultivating hospitality staff that comes to Harlem to work in hospitality. Just as much if you’re a musician, you want to play at the Apollo. If you’re an artist, you want to have your art at the Studio Museum. Rooster is a part of that art world. And we’re opening Streetbird because there’s a need.
A need for what, exactly?
Delivery and takeout wasn’t happening. Stuff that we don’t do at the Rooster. Living in a community like Harlem is so magical but sometimes we’re lacking amenities. So this is an amenity that’s affordable and fun. And you can dine in, too. I felt that delivery is connecting [to the community]. The Dominicans have been doing it. The French were doing it. The Peruvians were doing it. It’s global. We didn’t invent that. But we’re doing it our way.
What’s are the big differences between Streetbird and Red Rooster?
They’re major. Streetbird is 90 percent chicken. Only two dishes on the menu are not bird. Pork and snapper. The rest is just rotisserie chicken with some great sides. We only have 40 seats, otherwise, it’s fast pick-up. We don’t have a rotisserie at the Rooster. We wanted a cousin restaurant. It’s of the culture but different. At the Rooster, we have a lot of institutional art — a lot of music that’s R&B, jazz, and gospel. Streetbird is going to be vintage hip-hop and graffiti.
Is there a dish you know right now is definitely going to be on the menu?
Today, I did something we’re going to do at Streetbird — scrambled eggs with sea urchin. We served them on this fermented tortilla. If you think about scrambled eggs and sea urchin, it’s the same texture for me. It’s a simple thing, but you hit creamy with sea urchin and scrambled eggs and you hit sour with this tortilla. You just fry a little bit of shallots on top that add a little sweet and crunch. That’s a delicious bite. Sometimes it can be this easy.
This is a gear-shift from the third season of The Taste. Do you like being on TV?
I never imagined I’d be on TV at 8 p.m. It’s a privilege. But being with Tony [Bourdain], Ludo [Lefebvre] and Nigella [Lawson] — it makes it fun. They’re super smart in the space. Being able to represent Harlem on a nationwide schedule is amazing.
Would you ever ask an especially strong contestant to come work for you?
If you’re lucky enough to get your foot in, then it’s up to you to figure out what to do with it. So I think it’s up to them.
It seems like there’s a fraternity of chefs even though you’re basically competing for business….
Daniel [Boulud], Sven [Elverfeld] and I were talking about this last night. We can finish each other’s sentences without having worked in the same kitchen. But we know what it’s like to work in a three Michelin star kitchen or to understand what cook is up-and-coming and when he or she has got it.
Who inspired you in the kitchen?
Two people: My grandmother and Charlie Trotter. My grandmother gave me basic fundamental stuff. There was a stockpot on the stove that was always on. And she taught me stuff like, you don’t taste just a little bit; you pour sauce out in your hand. She didn’t know she was a fancy chef because she cooked for us, but she really was very sophisticated. And then I got to travel more than she did so I called her and I would give her a play-by-play of what I cooked. “This is what purple sage looks like. This is what kefir lime tastes like, and this is what lemon grass smells like.” Things she had never experienced. She knew ginger. I could tell her, “It smells like your soap.”
What about Charlie Trotter?
Charlie gave me a lot of advice, and I’m grateful. He tasted my food and said he was going to help me out. Not so much praise but more like good and helpful. And honest — brutally honest. Before I ever met him I had his first cookbook . The way it was shot. The way he talked about food. Like, wow. Most cookbooks before then were French. Then to have an American guy that young, talking that way. What? What is this? Game-changing.
What flavor or scent is your Madeleine Proust?
For me it’s around salt and herring. Everyone was a fisherman in Sweden. Smoking herring, mackerel. You don’t know what next winter is going to be like. We grew up in the city, but we went to the summer house where my father was born, and we pickled everything ourselves.
Do you still do a lot of pickling?
Yeah. But when you ask me that balance between the sour and sweet, it takes me to my childhood.
Favorite dish growing up…
I love meatballs because it was something I made with my family. Even when I was six I could do the breadcrumbs. But then also something like rotisserie chicken, because no one could make it in the house, because we didn’t have a rotisserie. That was like a little bit rock and roll. My mom gone crazy! I come from a house where my mom and my grandmother would say, ‘Ok, you want Levi’s jeans? We can make that.’ They went to the store to look at them and then I’d get almost Levi’s jeans. Everything was made for us except rotisserie chicken and sneakers — they could not make those. Converse and rotisserie chickens. Everything else was passed down from my sisters or made. It’s, like, great. I’d go to school and be like, ‘It’s almost like the sweater that my friends had.
But in hindsight it’s so much cooler that you had homemade jeans and food.
Oh my god — so lucky.
At what age did you know you wanted to be a chef?
Six. I say this because it was so clear to me. It’s what I’ve always done. At six, I was cleaning the boat, pickling fish. This is just what I did. My sisters didn’t end up being chefs. They’re both in health care. I thought I would be a soccer pro or a chef.
What are five things that are always in your kitchen now?
I have this Swedish cod roe called Kalles Kaviar. It’s like a breakfast spread.
Caviar for breakfast sounds decadent! How do you eat it, just on toast?
It’s not fancy but it’s good on scrambled eggs. It’s great. So good.
What else do you keep?
My wife always makes sure we have an Ethiopian spice blend and cottage cheese that she makes. I always have smoked salmon or gravlax. You should always have champagne. It’s boom! Surprise. Middle of the week.
What’s your favorite snack?
I didn’t grow up on snacks. We weren’t allowed. As chefs, you’re tasting all the time. I love — it’s not really a snack but I love a really good empanada. Or on the weekend if you go to East Harlem and you get a tamale. That’s like in between a meal and a snack.
More Marcus!
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