Catching up with chef Marcus Samuelsson

Ten years before he won "Top Chefs Masters" in an upset victory, Ethiopian-born Swede Marcus Samuelsson conquered the New York dining world with his contemporary take on Scandinavian cuisine at Aquavit. Later, he took on the challenges of Japanese fusion (Riingo), gourmet hamburgers (Marc Burger) and modern American seafood (C-House).

This fall he's embarking on another ambitious project: an American, farm-to-table restaurant in Harlem. This love of American food culture was clear from his 2009 cookbook "The American Table," which interspersed innovative recipes with stories of regional foods and cooks.

We caught up with Samuelsson (before his big win) at the launch of a new line of cooking ranges he designed for BlueStar Ranges.

Q Tell us about your next restaurant project.
A It's going to be called The Red Rooster and we are going to take the same farm-to-table theme we have (at C-House) and it will have all the same love and care. It's going to be American food, but very democratic and affordable. I already have the space. It should open September-ish.

Q You have such a diverse background. What are your best food memories?

A Sunday dinners with my family at my grandmother's house (in Gothenburg, Sweden) where we all had our jobs to do. She might cook a pork roast stuffed with prunes and serve it with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts and carrots. Very basic. Maybe we started with a lentil soup and then had apple cake served with a sauce for dessert. It was all very rustic and made from scratch. We had luxury and didn't even know it.

Q What do you think about the Swedish cooking in the U.S.?

A I love meeting Scandinavian Americans and seeing Swedish restaurants in the States. But I do think there is a difference between the Scandinavian American cooking and the cooking in Scandinavia today. The cooking here reflects what food was like in Sweden 150 or 100 years ago with lutefisk and a lot of dishes we don't eat anymore. But then there are certain dishes like meatballs from Ikea that we all still eat.

Q What was it like to cook the Obamas' first state dinner?

A I worked very closely with the first lady months in advance to plan for the state dinner and think about what we would provide for the Indian prime minister. We also talked a lot about childhood obesity and health and what we could serve from the White House garden. When you are gathering food from the garden, the meal could not be more farm-to-table. It's amazing to be gathering food to cook that night and look over and see the Oval Office.

Q How have the first lady's campaigns changed the food conversation in the U.S.?

A Talking about food and health, inviting chefs to the White House and cooking with kids has done so much to get the conversation going. I think it is great that she has put these things all together talking about food and health and obesity. All you have to do is look at all the different blogs and the people joining the discussion to see that it's making a difference. I think we are on the right path and we can fix this thing.

Q What were your goals in designing a range?

A Heat! We have a 22,000 BTU burner while most people at home have 12 or 14. I wanted to blend high power and low temperature control so you can cook more precisely. Interest in food is at an all-time high, and so the consumer demands many of the same things we have in our kitchens. They want the same knives, they want the same cookware we have in the restaurant, and now we can give them some of those things on the range.

meng@tribune.com