Friday, January 27, 7:00 pm
Members $125, guests $150

Aquavit is the restaurant that single-handedly put Scandinavian cuisine on the New York City food map. It is also the restaurant responsible for making its chief luminary, Marcus Samuelsson, a household name. For over ten years, Samuelsson has won over diners with his version of Swedish-inspired haute cuisine. Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown of Gotham magazine praised the culinary feats of Samuelsson and executive chef Nils Norén, writing that the menu at Aquavit “plays seafood, citrus, goat cheese, caviar, and a million other flavors the way Mozart ran through notes.”

Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, Samuelsson began cooking when he was 14. He trained at the Culinary Institute in Göteborg and went on to work in Switzerland, Austria, France, and the United States before Hakan Swahn tapped him for a position at his New York City restaurant, Aquavit. Samuelsson quickly proved himself and, at only 25 years old, was named executive chef in 1995. Soon after, Ruth Reichl of the New York Times awarded Aquavit three stars, writing, “Samuelsson is cooking delicate and beautiful food, walking a tightrope between Swedish tradition and modern taste.” William Grimes repeated the honor in 2001, awarding Aquavit a second three-star rating. In 1999 the James Beard Foundation named Samuelsson a Rising Star Chef, and in 2003 he won Best Chef: New York City. Samuelsson is the author of several cookbooks and presides over a number of other New York City restaurants, including Riingo, AQ Café in the Scandinavia House, and Henry at the World Yacht.

Samuelsson appointed Nils Norén executive chef at Aquavit in 2003. Norén, who had worked under Samuelsson for five years as chef de cuisine, was raised in the port town of Gävle, Sweden. After graduating from culinary school in Gävle, Norén worked as executive chef at Restaurant Riche and as chef de cuisine at Restaurant KB, both in Stockholm. He also coordinated cooking classes for Restaurant Akademin before returning to Aquavit, where he had worked briefly as sous-chef earlier in his career.

The partnership of Samuelsson and Norén has only garnered more positive attention for Aquavit, especially since the restaurant’s much-discussed relocation in February of last year. “The food…continues to be excellent,” wrote Oliver Platt of New York magazine, “In fact, it’s arguably better than before.” Now that Aquavit has successfully set the stage for one culinary star, it may be time to raise the curtain on another.