1 00:00:00,633 --> 00:00:01,566 - Hello Marcus! 2 00:00:01,566 --> 00:00:03,100 I don't know if you remember me. 3 00:00:03,100 --> 00:00:05,933 We took a picture together at the Birch Coffee in the Bronx. 4 00:00:05,933 --> 00:00:07,266 - Oh great. 5 00:00:07,266 --> 00:00:08,133 Thank you! 6 00:00:08,133 --> 00:00:08,966 - I'm not stalking you. 7 00:00:08,966 --> 00:00:09,900 I live here in Austin. 8 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:11,133 - [Marcus] (laughs) Good! 9 00:00:11,133 --> 00:00:14,266 - Um my question to you is that um, 10 00:00:14,266 --> 00:00:17,666 are there any cuisines that you don't know much 11 00:00:17,666 --> 00:00:20,166 about yet that you are curious about? 12 00:00:20,166 --> 00:00:21,666 That you still want to explore? 13 00:00:21,666 --> 00:00:25,766 - Abssolutely, so I went to Japan as a 19 year old, 14 00:00:27,033 --> 00:00:29,100 and I go back very often. 15 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,200 There's like 15 different specific cuisines in Japan. 16 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,466 I adore them. 17 00:00:37,466 --> 00:00:39,533 I don't know a lot about them. 18 00:00:39,533 --> 00:00:41,200 It's really lost in translation. 19 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,500 For every trip I feel I go, I understand less. 20 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:45,466 Right? 21 00:00:45,466 --> 00:00:46,766 So it's really a magic chamber, 22 00:00:46,766 --> 00:00:48,666 but for a chef, it's amazing cause 23 00:00:48,666 --> 00:00:50,666 you learn and learn and learn. 24 00:00:50,666 --> 00:00:53,433 I'm just in the beginning of understanding 25 00:00:53,433 --> 00:00:56,200 and learning fully Ethiopian food. 26 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,300 My wife is teaching me that. 27 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:00,166 It's not just how you chop. 28 00:01:00,166 --> 00:01:02,633 Since food is connected to a spiritual compass, 29 00:01:02,633 --> 00:01:04,466 or can food can be tribal, 30 00:01:04,466 --> 00:01:05,733 well guess what? 31 00:01:05,733 --> 00:01:08,733 For an adopted kid, you always search for that. 32 00:01:08,733 --> 00:01:09,966 - How much time did you spend in 33 00:01:09,966 --> 00:01:11,666 Ethiopia before you were adopted? 34 00:01:11,666 --> 00:01:12,900 - Only two years. 35 00:01:12,900 --> 00:01:14,866 - So you have really no real memories. 36 00:01:14,866 --> 00:01:17,433 Did you not have a Japanese restaurant in New York? 37 00:01:17,433 --> 00:01:18,833 Ringo was the restaurant that you, 38 00:01:18,833 --> 00:01:19,833 while you were a - Mm-hmm, yeah. 39 00:01:19,833 --> 00:01:21,333 Chef at Ringo? - Yeah, yeah. 40 00:01:21,333 --> 00:01:22,533 But that was presumably more of 41 00:01:22,533 --> 00:01:24,000 an Americanized version of Japanese food? 42 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,600 - Yeah, even it was an experience that absolutely. 43 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:32,200 It was really a dilute between American and Japanese food 44 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,500 that I still think is fascinating. 45 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:35,333 Yes ma'am? 46 00:01:37,100 --> 00:01:38,533 - Um, hi. 47 00:01:38,533 --> 00:01:41,933 My question is about your recipe. 48 00:01:41,933 --> 00:01:43,566 I think you figured out the recipe 49 00:01:43,566 --> 00:01:46,400 of the American melting pot. 50 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:50,066 And how you take all the different cultures, 51 00:01:51,466 --> 00:01:55,033 and you beautifully create the American recipe. 52 00:01:56,466 --> 00:02:00,200 So was that a journey that you learned over time? 53 00:02:03,566 --> 00:02:07,233 Or was it something that you were born with? 54 00:02:09,833 --> 00:02:12,400 - You know, I think it's a blend of the two. 55 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,700 Obviously, being adopted, having my parents are white, 56 00:02:16,700 --> 00:02:20,866 my cousins are Korean, my other cousins are French Canadian. 57 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:23,366 - You are the melting pot. 58 00:02:23,366 --> 00:02:25,100 - My auntie's Jewish, 59 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:27,833 so just get to the dinner table, 60 00:02:27,833 --> 00:02:30,966 there's a lot of different approaches. 61 00:02:30,966 --> 00:02:33,800 But, so that's what's given to me, 62 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:39,900 but then the journey of traveling through Americas, 63 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:43,800 and looking at that I felt that the food scene, 64 00:02:45,166 --> 00:02:49,533 which from a back of a house view, is very diverse, 65 00:02:49,533 --> 00:02:52,200 but the representatives of it was not diverse. 66 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:53,733 There wasn't enough women, 67 00:02:53,733 --> 00:02:55,466 and that for me is like what are you talkin about? 68 00:02:55,466 --> 00:02:58,600 All the great people have taught me have been women. 69 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,033 There wasn't enough voices from 70 00:03:01,033 --> 00:03:03,766 all types of people of color, right? 71 00:03:03,766 --> 00:03:05,000 Whether you were Vietnamese, 72 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:06,233 whether you were Indian-American, 73 00:03:06,233 --> 00:03:07,533 whether you were African-American. 74 00:03:07,533 --> 00:03:10,700 How come it's that Johnathon knows noodles 75 00:03:10,700 --> 00:03:13,333 and Indian food and soul food 76 00:03:13,333 --> 00:03:16,266 and that's clearly not the case. 77 00:03:16,266 --> 00:03:18,500 So I felt well, I was always waiting, 78 00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:20,466 well maybe there are gonna be more voices of that, 79 00:03:20,466 --> 00:03:23,000 but through internet at least, it started, 80 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:24,333 and you got more voices, 81 00:03:24,333 --> 00:03:26,700 so you have Chang you're talking about one thing, 82 00:03:26,700 --> 00:03:29,100 then you have other young chefs 83 00:03:29,100 --> 00:03:30,666 connected about something else, 84 00:03:30,666 --> 00:03:34,100 so we are getting to much, much more diverse dialog, 85 00:03:34,100 --> 00:03:35,866 and it is a much better reflection 86 00:03:35,866 --> 00:03:39,266 of the Americana we live in today. 87 00:03:39,266 --> 00:03:41,433 - [Brunette Audience Member] Thank you. 88 00:03:41,433 --> 00:03:43,733 - Steve, we have time for one more? 89 00:03:43,733 --> 00:03:44,666 They're telling you no. 90 00:03:44,666 --> 00:03:45,466 Okay well I know you have... 91 00:03:45,466 --> 00:03:46,433 - He's coming up. 92 00:03:46,433 --> 00:03:49,033 - This'll be really quick. 93 00:03:49,033 --> 00:03:51,700 I just watched Luke Cage on Netflix. 94 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:53,133 Is it you being part of the community 95 00:03:53,133 --> 00:03:54,700 that ended up with your restaurant 96 00:03:54,700 --> 00:03:58,866 as really the only food thing in the entire series? 97 00:03:58,866 --> 00:04:00,866 Cause they go in restaurants, but they never eat. 98 00:04:00,866 --> 00:04:04,300 - Yeah, well they filmed that for a long time, 99 00:04:04,300 --> 00:04:06,066 and everyone really in Harlem, 100 00:04:06,066 --> 00:04:08,233 people called my restaurant the office 101 00:04:08,233 --> 00:04:10,700 because everybody just congregates there, 102 00:04:10,700 --> 00:04:12,366 and that's ground zero, 103 00:04:12,366 --> 00:04:14,300 and then they go out from different things, 104 00:04:14,300 --> 00:04:19,133 and you know it's a privilege to have the place there, 105 00:04:19,133 --> 00:04:22,300 but half a block away from me, 106 00:04:22,300 --> 00:04:25,166 is a woman that's only been in business for 55 years. 107 00:04:25,166 --> 00:04:27,966 Her name is Mrs. Sylvia Woods. 108 00:04:27,966 --> 00:04:30,133 Down the street from me is another small, little restaurant 109 00:04:30,133 --> 00:04:33,100 that's been open for 77 years, Lenox Lounge. 110 00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:34,900 And I wouldn't be on that corner 111 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:38,466 if I wouldn't be tucked in between those two guys. 112 00:04:38,466 --> 00:04:40,166 - But it is the case that you can't go to Harlem these days, 113 00:04:40,166 --> 00:04:42,966 and have any cred without going to Red Rooster. 114 00:04:42,966 --> 00:04:44,133 Alright please give Marcus Samuelsson... 115 00:04:44,133 --> 00:04:45,200 - Thank you so much for having me. 116 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:46,566 - Thank you all very much. 117 00:04:46,566 --> 00:04:48,233 We'll see you again.