The effects of the pandemic on the South Florida restaurant industry were hard-hitting, but Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s dedication to support it was even stronger.
In March 2020, he was slated to open Red Rooster Overtown, but plans were quickly put on hold. Instead, Samuelsson partnered with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen and used the location as a base for distributing free food to those impacted by COVID-19.
“It was so difficult to project what tomorrow was going to look like,” Samuelsson recalls. “But we realized we had to be there in Overtown and we had to serve those most in need.”
For Samuelsson, however, giving up on Red Rooster was never an option; it finally opened in December of that year. “Everyone could have walked away. It would have been easier to walk away. But everyone was like, ‘No. You know what? We’ve got to do this. For the city, for the community, for each other.’ So that’s what we did.”
He gives great credit to investor Michael Simkins and the CRA (The Southeast Overtown/Park West Redevelopment Agency) for their unwavering support — even more to the customers who have given the new eatery a chance and the staff who has shown up to serve them.
“The customers, I’m so grateful to them, because they’ve stayed with us through this journey. They’re game and they want to have this experience. And our staff, coming to work is a different experience for them as well. I take a lot of humility out of this. I don’t take tomorrow for granted and I do think we can get stronger together. This is obviously the biggest challenge we’ve ever seen but it’s been really positive to see people come together.”
Prior to the pandemic, Samuelsson gave thought before opening a Miami outpost of his wildly popular Red Rooster, whose flagship is in Harlem, New York. While the menus have notable differences, both celebrate comfort food that connects to local culture.
One thing he was sure of — he couldn’t rely on his celebrity status alone.
“Fame can only go so far. When you start in a different state and a different place, you really have to deliver and you have to start from scratch,” Samuelsson explains.
“For me, I have so much respect for the hospitality community in Miami. And the history I’ve had here, coming to South Beach Food & Wine and being part of what [The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder] Lee Schrager’s been building for 20 years. I finally felt like I had enough of a dialogue to have a restaurant here. But it’s already a busy marketplace. We had to ask, how do we add to that?”
The answer, a Red Rooster Overtown that has, according to Samuelsson, “a fresher, lighter menu. The appetizer section is very different. We’re using a grill much more. We’re using hydroponics. We have our own farm on the property, we don’t have that in New York.” Those seeking some of Red Rooster’s signature dishes, however, needn’t worry. Samuelsson’s cornbread, mac and cheese, hot yardbird chicken and shrimp and grits are there as well. The brunch menu also features a range of homestyle classics.
Like the New York flagship — which has a downstairs speakeasy featuring live performances — Overtown will also showcase live acts and DJs. “Culture is one of the ways we’re going to get the engine back,” says Samuelsson. “Tourists, conferences, people traveling. Right now, our patio has been the biggest relief for us. Who knew that the patio would be what saved the restaurant? In one way, it’s made us much more Floridian, which is positive. And, again, the customers have been amazing. The customers have been supporting restaurants more than ever and we need that. There’s forever gratitude.”
They’ve been coming to Overtown, undoubtedly, to experience some of Samuelsson’s uniquely joyful food and spirit, both of which have solidified his 30-year reputation as one of the world’s most innovative and exciting chefs.
Born in Ethiopia, he was orphaned at the age of three by the tuberculosis epidemic and raised by an adoptive family in Sweden, where he went on to have a more idyllic childhood and where both the climate and culture influenced his first understanding of food.
“I grew up on the west coast of Sweden,” he recounts. “The climate is pretty cold with short summers — but it was all about nature. On my father’s side, there were fishermen. I was around food and nature constantly. Cooking and dealing with food was something we did a lot in my family. Swedes are also traditional with their food, the herring and gravlax. Other than that, it’s very open to other influences — Swedes travel a lot, they go to America, they go all over Europe.”
His first real culinary inspiration was his maternal Swedish grandmother. “Going to her house, it was always fun, there was always something cooking,” Samuelsson reminisces. “There was action there that I really liked. Then it was Wolfgang Puck. I was like, ‘Wow, here’s an Austrian guy making it in America.’ That was so foreign and so big to us.”
When Samuelsson made it to the U.S., he started as an apprentice at Aquavit, a top New York restaurant renowned for its Scandinavian cuisine. At the age of 24, he was promoted to executive chef and became the youngest to receive a three-star review from The New York Times. He also received the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: New York City. Beyond Scandinavian fare, he became recognized for inventive cuisine inspired by philosophies over the world, including his Ethiopian birthplace.
“The food in Ethiopia is very connected to a spiritual compass. You eat meat to celebrate, in breaking fast or for a big wedding or birthday.”
He was tapped, in 2009, to work with the White House in overseeing President Obama’s first state dinner, in honor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. “It was a huge honor,” reflects Samuelsson. “The Prime Minister of India was vegetarian so we focused a lot on vegetarian food, although everything wasn’t 100 percent vegetarian. But it was a wonderful evening.”
Since then, he has opened over a dozen restaurants worldwide in Canada, Scandinavia, Chicago, California, New York City, London, Sweden, Bermuda and, now, Miami. He is the author of two cookbooks, a memoir and the book “The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food,” which celebrates the contributions Black talent and Black traditions have made to modern-day cuisine.
Take, for example, Leah Chase, of New Orleans’s Dooky Chase. Says Samuelsson, “She had a restaurant for 75 years starting in the segregated South, but she still opened, she still served everybody. She changed the industry and made a path for me.”
In recent years, television has given him an even higher profile. Among his many appearances, he’s hosted the award-winning PBS series, “No Passport Required.” He outmatched his peers to win Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters” and The Food Network’s “Chopped All Stars” and was the winning mentor on ABC’s “The Taste.”
Even at his seasoned level, he admits the competition can be nail-biting. “You see the ingredients and you want to do your best. You should get a little bit nervous. If you’re not nervous, you’re not playing hard enough!” he laughs.
He now serves as head judge on Peacock’s “Top Chef Family Style,” hosted by Meghan Trainor. “It’s a cooking competition for the whole family,” says Samuelsson. I’m excited to be part of it.”
When it comes to his own brood, Samuelsson says it’s his wife Maya who does a lot of the cooking.
“She makes these amazing Ethiopian stews that we can feast on for days. Or we’ll go to the farmer’s market and grill as much as possible. It’s very simple. We have a big grill and we cook a lot of vegetables.” And like most parents, he tries to get his son Zion, 5, to try more of them. “I wish he ate more vegetables,” Samuelsson sighs. “Right now, his favorite dish involves cracking eggs because it’s fun. Anything that he can crack and smash. He cooks more than he eats, he likes making a mess.”
It probably won’t be long before he appreciates having a Michelin star chef in the house especially when it comes to one of his father’s specialties: Samuelsson’s chicken and waffles. He won’t divulge all his secrets but Samuelsson will say this, “You have to double fry. The first fry is really to coat it and cook it through. The second fry, you want to fry it in a little bit higher heat to get it crispy. It’s such a great dish you can eat any day of the week. Especially these days when the days are kind of like, ‘Who knows if it’s Monday or Saturday,’ right? It’s all up in the air. Why not have brunch mid-week?”