Who is Marcus Samuelsson? Harlem-based celebrity chef on Netflix's Iron Chef owns more than 2 dozen restaurants

Harlem-based renowned celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson will be seen on Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend on June 15 on Netflix. The award-winning chef has more than two dozen restaurants under his name.

Marcus Samuelsson, along with new Iron Chefs Curtis Stone, Gabriela Cámara, Dominique Crenn, and Ming Tsai, will welcome Challenger Chefs to a face-off in Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. The Challenger Chefs have to cook some delicious dishes to become the first-ever Iron Legend.

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All about new Iron Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Ethiopian-born chef Marcus Samuelsson lost his mother during a tuberculosis epidemic a year after his birth. Samuelsson and his elder sister, Fantaye, were also separated from their family in 1974 during the Ethiopian Civil War. However, homemaker Anne-Marie and geologist Lennart Samuelsson from Gothenburg, Sweden, later adopted the siblings.

He has been passionate about food and cooking since his childhood days. After being inspired by his maternal grandmother to cook in Sweden, he developed a love for food. To polish his culinary skills, he joined the Culinary Institute in Göteborg, after which he apprenticed in Austria and Switzerland before coming to the US in 1994 as an apprentice at Restaurant Aquavit.

His culinary expertise soon made him the executive chef of Aquavit. Soon after, he became the youngest chef to get a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times. After that, there was no looking back for the master chef.

Samuelsson was named "Best Chef: New York City" by the James Beard Foundation in 2003. He is also the recipient of the 2019 Vilcek Foundation Prize in Culinary Arts. The award is given to immigrants who have made significant contributions to American Society.

He opened one of his most popular restaurants, Red Rooster, in December 2010 in Harlem and his second Harlem restaurant, Streetbird Rotisserie, in the spring of 2015. Samuelsson has reportedly created more than 200 jobs through both of his restaurants, with 70% of the workers coming from the neighborhood.

Since then, he has opened over two dozen restaurants in Nordic countries like London, Bermuda, Canada, New York, New Jersey, Washington, and Chicago.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Samuelsson “converted his restaurants Red Rooster Harlem, Marcus B&P in Newark, and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami into community kitchens in partnership with World Central Kitchen, serving well over 280k meals to those in need,” as per his official profile.

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Iron Chef Marcus Samuelsson's other ventures

Samuelsson, the Creative Director for the Kitchen & Table Restaurant Concepts, Eatery Social, and Restaurant Norda, is currently working with Buzzfeed Tasty’s talent programa as the Executive Chef-in-Residence.

The philanthropist has also been crowned champion of television shows like Top Chef Masters and Chopped All Stars and was the winning mentor on ABC’s The Taste.

The 50-years-old chef also co-produces the annual week-long festival Harlem EatUp!, celebrating the food, art, and culture of Harlem for the sixth year in a Telethon special on ABC.

As an author, he has written multiple books, including The New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef, Hustle in Harlem, The Rise and The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food, and others. His African-inspired 2006 cookbook, The Soul of a New Cuisine, won the title of 'Best International Cookbook.'

He is also the founder of the Marcus Samuelsson Group (MSG), working to maintain Samuelsson's culinary and cultural pillars.

Stream Netflix this Wednesday and watch Samuelsson give tough competition to the Challenger Chefs in the cooking competition, Iron Chef.