July 8-14, 2004

food

World on the Street

OUTSIDE INFLUENCES: Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised chef Marcus Samuelsson, a fan of global, populist tastes, sits in Washington Square's garden space. Photo By: Mike Mergen

Chef Marcus Samuelsson hawks global street cuisine at Stephen Starr's Washington Square.

by A.D. Amorosi

Whether talking up his love of music, the competitiveness of soccer or how these things subliminally inspire what he does as a world-class chef, Marcus Samuelsson is driven to risk.

But risk that works: Coming down to Philly from New York restaurants Aquavit and Riingo, he's currently taking a gamble in modern street food, whose payoff can be found at Stephen Starr's 11th restaurant, Washington Square.

The intense, Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised Samuelsson was trained in French classicism at Sweden's legendary Culinary Institute in Göteborg; now intimate with the dual notions of Scandinavian cuisine and design, he has taken the concept of race-babbling culinary ethnicity and turned it toward fine dining.

In Samuelsson's world, the pickled cod of Sweden, the feverish chili of Mexico, the Kobe beef of Japan, the peanut of Africa and the sour broths of Thailand meet. With the internationalism of Casablanca, the world's textures and tastes feed into Samuelsson's universal food court.

"Fish and chips is English," he exclaims. "But there's that Southeast Asian vibe. Everything is tweaked. Every country — twisted." On his menu you'll find watermelon endive salad with serrano ham and goat cheese; Vietnamese brisket sandwich; Kobe beef with green papaya and soy nuts; deep fried fish and tamarind sauce.

When Samuelsson started training at 16, fine dining was singularly connected to the French. "We know there's fine dining within Italian, Japanese, Vietnamese and South American cuisine. But people still think of French as the cuisine. You wouldn't say music was great because it came from one location."

Like his musical heroes Miles and Bowie, Samuelsson strove to create an intersection between cultures and tastes, modernism and traditionalism. It was a drive beyond the parochialism most foodies place upon French cuisine. That effort is also true of the way he created a whimsical concept outside of what is Scandinavian or Swedish cuisine.

What is that cuisine? "A lot of pickling. A lot of fish — salmon, cod. A lot of game — venison, boar, duck. Sweet and sour," he says. Also pre-eminent among Swedes is minimalist design aesthetic, adapting a dish's design to accommodate the visuals of the plate as well as the varied textures, vinegars and sugars.

Manhattan's acclaimed Aquavit, a restaurant Samuelsson co-owns, started off upon its opening in 1995 as very Swedish — "very traditional, very expensive." But his partners allowed him to take liberties. The food (at least for a Fifth Avenue restaurant) became freer. He moved from cured to raw, from cod to hamachi and tuna. The same thing was true of Riingo, the second-generation Japanese restaurant he opened in January. "I'm not second-gen Japanese," he said, describing the challenge of picturing what the modern Japanese-American in Manhattan might eat. "I had to imagine, What does their refrigerator look like: catsup and raw fish?"

Upon visiting São Paolo, Brazil, he found a mix of the Portuguese and the Japanese; sushi with chilies. That blend is what Samuelsson wanted to achieve.

"My menu is an essay on where I've been, what I've eaten from every street corner and beach in Copacabana, Tokyo or Dakar."

Food becomes funkier and relaxed in Samuelsson's multicultural mix of fine dining and street eating, a combination that is fashionably unconfined, non-rigid. And his food becomes an outgrowth of his customers' tastes, rather than enforcing one taste upon them. "Street food is direct, based on high flavors and immediacy," says Samuelsson. Washington Square's tapas-sized portions are executed by full-time chef Eric Simeon.

The tastes are sharp, even pungent and complex. But they're also sneakier and subtler than he's stated. "It's pot luck. Either you'll like it or you won't. At Washington Square, we're creating 'wow.'"

Looking around the high ceilings and garish gardens of Washington Square, Starr found a perfect spot for Samuelsson's radically imperfect cuisine, one unidentifiable to anything singularly ethnic. "This location isn't Brazilian or French. It's modern yet timeless," says Samuelsson. "Food for this should be, too."

For Starr, the stately location — the N.W. Ayers building, a legendary art deco bastion — had to fit the modern tapas-bar ideal. The New York-based Rockwell Group gave the garden a breezy op/pop feel, laced with white concrete bars and trellis backdrops, and a maze of alcoves faced with tiles designed by Todd Oldham. Inside the high-ceilinged space, you move from its charcoal bar through three muted-colored dining rooms — a first surrounded by couches of black velvet, pony hair and leather, beaded metal chains and rattan wall sheaths; a second royal-blue room with blue sofas, worn walnut floors and blue crystal chandeliers; and the third room featuring Filipino designer Kenneth Cobonpue's rope-covered hanging chairs and Mission-style tables.

"I knew it was going to be sexy, the design," says Starr, who had intended this spot for Arcadia, a new take on the supper club. "But I thought of Marcus, I knew his schtick and realized that would be perfect here."

While Starr says most chefs are dorky and monochromatic, Samuelsson is smart, hip and pop culturally multicolorful; much like Washington Square.

Of the eclectism, Samuelsson says, "The design of the space is as open-minded as my food."

Washington Square, 210 West Washington Square, 215-592-7787. www.washingtonsquare-restaurant.com.