Marcus Samuelsson Goes Casual With Streetbird

When Marcus Samuelsson opened Red Rooster in 2010, he convinced the fashion world to travel uptown — way uptown — to Harlem, hosting parties for Balmain and Edun, as well as attracting even the most obstinate of downtown regulars for date nights. Now, with his second New York City restaurant, Streetbird, opening Friday, he’s primed to woo the masses — and the neighbors. “It’s the little cousin, the little brother, the little sister,” says Samuelsson of his rotisserie-chicken concept on the corner of 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. “[Red] Rooster is a commitment. You have to make a reservation. Here, you don’t. You get off the subway, jump in, get your bird and go. We’re completely embedded in the neighborhood,” he continues. “Post-Rooster, I thought, What are we not doing? What’s not in Harlem now? How would it look? I wanted it to look more raw than Rooster, but yet have style.” Style has become synonymous with both Samuelsson (he’s been on Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed List two years running) and his restaurants. Walking through the Streetbird space, his eye for design detail distracts him more than once. “What we need to do now is these smaller moments within the

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