His impressive list of accolades includes a 2003 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: New York City, having already won the foundation’s 1999 best Rising Star Chef honor. He has received consecutive four-star ratings in Forbes’ annual All-Star Eateries feature, named one of the 40 under 40 by Crain’s, and was hailed one of The Great Chefs of America by the Culinary Institute of America. Also named by the World Economic Forum as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow, this Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised talent studied at the Culinary Institute in Goteborg, Sweden, before apprenticing in Switzerland and Austria. Having made Aquavit a landmark in Scandinavian dining in New York City, Samuelsson has found additional success as the author of The Soul of a New Cuisine and New American Table. Most recently, Samuelsson was guest chef for the Obama Administration’s first State Dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India.
