Chef Shuffle

Marcus Jernmark Leaves Aquavit After 5 Years

Marcus Jernmark was named executive chef at Aquavit in 2010.
Marcus Jernmark was named executive chef at Aquavit in 2010. Photo: Marcus Jernmark/Twitter

Marcus Jernmark, the talented Gothenburg, Sweden, native who was promoted from executive sous-chef to executive chef at Aquavit in midtown a little more than four years ago, has left the kitchen at the midtown restaurant. “These years have been very rewarding,” he writes in a Facebook message to customers and staff, “and even though I am happy to move on you will always have a special place in my heart.”

Owner Håkan Swahn’s restaurant opened in 1987, and is perhaps still best known as where Marcus Samuelsson kicked his career into high gear. Jernmark’s style retained the Scandinavian established by his chef predecessors, but simultaneously ventured off into New Nordic techniques and the kinds of foraged-ingredient territory championed by peers like René Redzepi and Fredrik Berselius, earning Aquavit a Michelin star. Jernmark has not yet announced his next plans, but Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reports that he’ll spend some time this summer in the kitchen at Amass, former Noma chef Matt Orlando’s Copenhagen restaurant.

Back in midtown, Swahn informs Eater NY that Emma Bengtsso, who served previously as Aquavit’s pasty chef, is the new executive chef at the restaurant. He tells the blog that Jernmark left the restaurant two months ago.

Related: Marcus Jernmark of Aquavit Talks the New Nordic Cuisine

Marcus Jernmark Leaves Aquavit After 5 Years