The Celebrity Chef Who Wants to Reset New York’s Downtown Dining Scene

livemint.com:

Shortly before the September 11 attacks, chef Marcus Samuelsson was cooking at a charity event at Windows on the World inside the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Days later, he watched it collapse on television. “It really messed with me," he recalled over lunch on a recent Thursday.

In the aftermath of 9/11, questioning the continued relevance of fine dining, the then 30-year-old Samuelsson considered leaving his position at the helm of the high-end Scandinavian restaurant Aquavit and returning home to Sweden. His mother urged him to stick things out in New York and suggested that he move from Midtown Manhattan to a less impersonal part of the city. The chef gave Harlem a shot and went on to open Red Rooster, a comfort-food spot with a perpetual party atmosphere that became an overnight success and a crucial milestone in upper Manhattan’s burgeoning cultural scene.

Last year, when the Perelman Performing Arts Center—PAC NYC, for short—approached Samuelsson about a potential partnership, he saw an opportunity to help pull off something similar for Ground Zero. The result, opening this month, is the latest addition to downtown Manhattan’s redeveloped World Trade Center site. “This project moves theater, art, dance, food downtown," Samuelsson says.

“Downtown has many things. It does not have that." The mammoth marble-clad structure will be home to a diverse, inclusive and modern mix of performances across three theater spaces and a lobby stage. Samuelsson, who has served on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art and Harlem’s Apollo Theater and counts many artists among his inner circle, is planning a culinary program to match.