Vanity Fair: Spike Mendelsohn and Marcus Samuelsson Are the "Next Establishment"

Right: Marcus Samuelsson. [Photo: USA]

Every year, Vanity Fair produces a list of 100 influential people from various fields and dubs them the "New Establishment." The list is usually full of CEOs and media moguls, so it makes sense that there wouldn't be a bunch of restaurant industry people on it, no matter how large their empires. We'd still expect to see Martha Stewart, maybe.

However, they also produce a list called the "Next Establishment," full of people on their way up. And this year it includes not one, but two chefs: Spike Mendelsohn and Marcus Samuelsson.

Spike is on the list not only for his potential to "[own] the Hill's dining scene," but also the pizza/burger restaurant empire in the works. [Ed note: not if Shake Shack DC has anything to say about that.] His inclusion is also maybe evidence that DC is truly the next major American food city.

Marcus Samuelsson is included for having won Beard awards, winning Top Chef Masters, and for having served as the guest chef for President Obama's first state dinner. Vanity Fair calls him a "co-owner" of Aquavit (he's apparently only a minority shareholder), and we don't know if we'd call two Marc Burger locations inside Macy's department stores, the restaurant C-House in Chicago, and a street food restaurant in a train station in Stockholm a "slew," but that's splitting hairs.

His Harlem restaurant Red Rooster, which hopes to open sometime this fall, will probably be a success, so there's that. Samuelsson himself has declared that he wants "Harlem to be converted to a brand." Nothing say mogul like branding!

· The Next Establishment 2010· Chef Marcus Samuelsson Wants to Turn Harlem into a Brand [-E-]
· All Spike Mendelsohn coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Marcus Samuelsson coverage on Eater [-E-]