Marcus Samuelsson. Photo: Matt Dutile; David Rockwell. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe
STIRRING THE POT WITH FLORENCE FABRICANT:
MARCUS SAMUELSSON
AND SPECIAL GUEST DAVID ROCKWELL
TICKETS $35 ($31.50 FOR MEMBERS)
For the final Stirring the Pot of the season, Florence’s guest will be chef, TV personality, philanthropist, and newly inducted member of Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts, Marcus Samuelsson. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden by adoptive parents, he first made his name as the executive chef at Aquavit restaurant. His food continues to reflect his African and Scandinavian background, richly seasoned with his New York experience. His restaurant portfolio is global with the latest, Metropolis, having been designed by Amagansett vacationer David Rockwell at the new Perelman Arts Center, supported by and named for East Hampton resident Ronald O. Perelman. Rockewell will join the conversation as a special guest.
Attendees are invited to arrive at 10 AM for a breakfast by provided by Citarella.
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Marcus Samuelsson
Marcus Samuelsson is the renowned chef behind many restaurants worldwide including Red Rooster in Harlem (NYC) and Overtown (Miami); Hav & Mar in Chelsea (NYC); Metropolis at PAC-NYC; Marcus Bar & Grille in Atlanta and its Live! flagship at American Dream (NJ); and several MARCUS locations including the Bahamas, Montreal and most recently Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Samuelsson was the youngest person to ever receive a three-star review from The New York Times and recently won a 2023 Emmy Award for the Short Form Program “My Mark.” He was tasked with planning and executing the Obama Administration’s first State dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has won eight James Beard Foundation awards as chef, author and TV personality. Additionally, Samuelsson has won numerous competition shows including Top Chef Masters and Chopped All-Stars and appears regularly on those franchises as a Judge. He also appeared as an Iron Chef on Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.
A committed philanthropist, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) which focuses on underserved youth. Samuelsson also co-produces the annual week-long festival Harlem EatUp! started in 2016 and later expanded into an award-winning TV series EatUp!: NYC aired annually since 2021. He is the recipient of the 2019 Vilcek Foundation Prize in Culinary Arts, awarded to immigrants who have made lasting contributions to American Society. In addition to The Rise, he is the author of multiple books including The New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef and The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem.
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 280,000 meals to those in need. Marcus is also the founder of the hospitality and media-focused Marcus Samuelsson Group (MS/G), which works to maintain Samuelsson's culinary and cultural pillars, creating outstanding experiences that celebrate food, music, culture, and art in all its endeavors from high-end restaurants and fast-casual cafes to media and experiential events such as EatUp!: Overtown, The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Fest and Honeyland. He has two audio projects with Audible, Our Harlem and Seat at the Table, as well as a podcast titled This Moment with Swedish rapper Timbuktu on Acast.
Photo: Matt Dutile
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Florence Fabricant
Florence Fabricant, a food and wine writer for the New York Times, contributes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, is a member of the wine panel and writes the pairings column for the wine tastings. She frequently writes features that appear in the Food section and also covers food and travel elsewhere in the Times. She has written 13 cookbooks. This spring, her latest, The Ladies Village Improvement Society Cookbook: Eating and Entertaining in East Hampton" to celebrate the 125th anniversary of LVIS was published by Rizzoli. Other books include Wine with Food, based on the New York Times pairings columns and written with Eric Asimov and The City Harvest Cookbook, both published by Rizzoli. She actually began her career as a food writer in East Hampton, contributing the column In Season to the East Hampton Star. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she has an M.A. in French from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds L’Ordre National du Mérite from the French government, is on the Board of Trustees of Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., and is a member of Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. (New York, NY). She and her husband, Richard, a retired lawyer, live in Manhattan and East Hampton, N.Y. They have two children and two grandchildren.
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David Rockwell
David Rockwell, FAIA Founder and President, Rockwell Group David Rockwell, FAIA, is the founder and President of Rockwell Group, a 330-person cross-disciplinary architecture and design firm based in New York with offices in Los Angeles and Madrid. Growing up in the United States and Guadalajara, Mexico, David was a child of the theater and was often cast in community repertory productions by his mother, a vaudeville dancer and choreographer. His sensibility is informed by both a lifelong passion for all things theatrical and an aesthetic appreciation for Mexican color and spectacle. Through this unique lens, he founded Rockwell Group in 1984.
Honors include the AIANY President’s Award; the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award; a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for She Loves Me; two Emmy Awards; the Presidential Design Award; induction into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America; inclusion in Architectural Digest’s AD100 Hall of Fame; Interior Design Magazine’s Icon Award; and recognition by Fast Company as one of the most innovative design practices in their annual World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies issue. Known for his commitment to non-profit and community organizations, David Rockwell serves as the Chair Emeritus of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS( DIFFA) and as a board member of City Meals on Wheels, New York Restoration Project, and the American Theatre Wing.
For more information, please visit rockwellgroup.com.
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe
Sponsors
Lead Sponsor: Ciuffo Cabinetry
Supporting Sponsor: Citarella
Media Partner: Purist
Performing Arts programming is supported in part by funding from The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and Monica and Peter Tessler. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: John and Joan D’Addario, Gabrielle and Gianpaolo de Felice, Ezriel Kornel, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Michèle and Steve Pesner, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Jayne Baron Sherman and Deborah Zum, Straus Family Foundation, and Susi and Peter Wunsch
