Marcus Samuelsson: Expanding Into New Markets

With more and more hotel companies looking to partner with high-profile chefs, this month HOTELS sits down with Marcus Samuelsson, a James Beard Award winner acclaimed for his work at Aquavit and Riingo in New York City, and talks with him about his plans to open a new seafood concept at the Affinia Chicago hotel in the spring of 2008.

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 11/1/2007

With more and more hotel companies looking to partner with high-profile chefs, this month HOTELS sits down with Marcus Samuelsson, a James Beard Award winner acclaimed for his work at Aquavit and Riingo in New York City, and talks with him about his plans to open a new seafood concept at the Affinia Chicago hotel in the spring of 2008.

HOTELS: With your diverse background and name recognition, you probably could open a restaurant anywhere. Why open in Chicago?

SAMUELSSON: I’ve always been a huge fan of Chicago as a food town. You know, going back to the early days of Charlie Trotter. I always thought it was amazing, living in Sweden and Europe, that this Chicago restaurant, this chef, was building this sort of palace of American food in Chicago. And what always impressed me with Chicago is that you have the high-ends, the Trotter’s or Trus, but you also have the very diverse American food, probably better than in almost any other city. Whether it’s just a regular hot dog, or a meat and chop house, and so on, it’s very deep in terms of food experiences. So to be part of another chapter of great food, you know, I think [will] be fun. That’s the way I look at it.

HOTELS: You’re known for bridging cultures and cuisines. What will you have to do differently in Chicago, if anything, from what you do in New York, and how will you bridge that gap?

SAMUELSSON: There are certain things that you are as a person that you just bring with you. It’s commitment to quality, commitment to do exciting food, fun food, and a fun restaurant. I would bring that whether I do a restaurant in Stockholm or Chicago (Editor’s note: Samuelsson will open another Aquavit in the Clarion hotel in Stockholm in February). Then, obviously you have to locally listen to what’s going on. So there’s going to be local hints where you are, but that’s anywhere. A restaurant has to be local to be important and local to reflect [the ingredients available] in the Chicago area.

HOTELS: The restaurant at the Affinia Chicago will be a seafood concept called C House. Can you share any more details?

SAMUELSSON: Obviously we are going to do a lot of seafood, but we also will have chops and meats as well. It’s not going to be a pure fish house. That’s something we thought about, and we have to incorporate [meat], so we will. About 35% of the menu will be meat. I have a menu in my head, but fine-tuning will be done at the end of this year and the beginning of 2008. We will cook everything here (in New York) first. It will be simplistic, approachable food built on great ingredients, and there, we will cook with what Chicago has to offer. We will put lots of work into the sides and initiatives around the protein. For example, we might do a grilled halibut with ramp vinaigrette. It’s simple, but we will decide what goes into the vinaigrette. Maybe with grilled asparagus [as a side].

HOTELS: What about the various features and the design/décor?

SAMUELSSON: It will be a fun experience—not a dress code restaurant. Design is by a Brazilian designer, Arthur de Mattos Casas. And you’re not going to be done by one experience. You can sit at the bar—we’re going to have a gourmet kitchen where you can see us cook (almost like a sushi bar without sushi)—you’re going to have a great bar scene, and then you can do private parties, so just as there are several ways for you to enjoy Aquavit, there’s going to be several ways for you to enjoy C House.

HOTELS: How often will you be on property in Chicago?

SAMUELSSON: I can tell you this: This year, I haven’t had a restaurant in Chicago, and I was in Chicago five times. That’s without a restaurant—there’s just so much that happens in Chicago.

HOTELS: With our culture’s current fascination with certain chefs and their personalities, will there be pressure on you to be at the restaurant even more?

SAMUELSSON: I don’t know—I think it’s more important to build a great restaurant that people feel welcome in, a real hospitable and fun environment. Obviously it’s important to find a local executive chef and a local general manager to run the day-to-day [operation]. And depending on who we team with locally, [guests] are going to find a connection with him or her too. I’m an important part, but I think it’s more important to work generally on a concept that people will feel drawn to and want to know more about. I love restaurants where you go and still feel like you want to go back to them. And that’s what I would like people to find.

HOTELS: Your restaurant group, Townhouse, will do more than just the restaurant—it will oversee roomservice, banquets and catering at the Affinia Chicago as well—but you have some experience doing this at The Alex Hotel in New York City. Will it be a challenge to do that outside your home market?

SAMUELSSON: There are other sets of challenges (with doing the house F&B instead of just a restaurant), but at the end of the day, having one executive chef ordering everything and for whom everyone works makes it clearer.

HOTELS: Do you envision more hotel partnerships in your future, or outposts at other Affinia properties?

SAMUELSSON: We have to be very careful who we work with. We are lucky with [the fit with] Affinia, but [in general] it must be a good group of people. At this point, we [need to] focus on this restaurant. Chicago is not a small town—it’s a big city, so we must do the first one right. We are in a position to have a dialogue [about more], but first we must get this right.