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‘Exotic Spice’ Padma and ‘Ethnic Feast’ Marcus Samuelsson Among Most Stylish New Yorkers

Ethnic Feast, meet Exotic Spice.
Ethnic Feast, meet Exotic Spice.haha Photo: Patrick McMullan, Gina James/Graylock/Retna


When Esquire picked Bar Veloce’s Thomas Crowley one of the “Best Dressed Real Men in America” this month (and posed Simon Hammerstein and David Chang in pricey duds for its “Angry Young Men” spread), we realized that restaurateur style doesn’t stop at Batali’s clogs and Bobby Flay’s mom jeans. Now Us Weekly has posted its list of the “25 Most Stylish New Yorkers,” and we know a couple of the names.

Though we’re not surprised that Padma is dubbed an “exotic spice” (“wearing body-skimming silhouettes, she heats up kitchens with an earthy sensuality”), we had to raise an eyebrow at seeing Ethiopian-born Aquavit honcho Marcus Samuelsson described as an “ethnic feast.” (Who wrote this stuff? And why isn’t Stephen Colbert described as “vanilla ice cream”?) Samuelsson brags about his designer kicks before offering up this nugget: “I think vanity is important. Because, you know, with chefs, vanity is what makes our food.” We can already see Rocco DiSpirito quoting this to the next couple of models he meets.

25 Most Stylish New Yorkers [Us Weekly]

Related: When Chefs Play Dress-Up

‘Exotic Spice’ Padma and ‘Ethnic Feast’ Marcus