A celebrity chef lends his new Overtown restaurant to José Andrés for coronavirus aid

Marcus Samuelsson’s celebrity-owned Overtown restaurant is finally opening this week in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic — with José Andrés’ volunteer staff cooking meals for those out of work.

Samuelsson, owner of Harlem’s Red Rooster, has lent his as-yet-unopened Red Rooster Overtown to the staff of World Central Kitchen, Chef Andrés’ nonprofit organization that served more than 3 million meals in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and earned Andrés a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

Andres’ staff, together with the would-be Red Rooster chefs, will create packaged meals for workers laid off from Miami’s food and restaurant industry, which was paralyzed when dining rooms were ordered closed. But anyone who comes to the restaurant will be fed, they say.

“We feed people. We feed the hungry. That’s what we do,” said Karla Hoyos, Andrés Miami representative with World Central Kitchen, who was laid off as head chef of Bazaar South Beach when the SLS Hotel closed to contain the outbreak.

Hoyos’ crew is aiming to start setting out meals as early as March 27 from noon to 4 p.m. She said they are using a small staff of nine, which practices a safe social distance, to prepare and set out meals for pickup.

The meals, which include a one-pound sandwich, hearty salad and bread, will be free to those who cannot afford it, but the organization is asking for donations to help pay the laid-off local staff who will be preparing them.

Sameulsson’s restaurant, at 920 NW Second Ave., has been a slow-moving, much-hyped passion project in the heart of historic Overtown, and it was finally expected to open at the end of March.

The coronavirus outbreak changed that. Instead, Samuelsson turned his Harlem restaurant into a hub for World Central Kitchen, which posted a picture to Instagram.

Ellen Bowen, the Miami director for the organization Food Rescue US, which delivers unused, unsold food to local food pantries and homeless organizations, saw it and contacted Samuelsson’s staff about using his restaurant as an outpost for World Central Kitchen.

Bowen, who also runs the website MIAbites.com, worked with Andrés’ World Central Kitchen last year when it provided meals to the local Coast Guard out of food trucks during the government shutdown that left federal employees out of work.

Bowen found a private donor that would pay local purveyors for enough food for 1-2 weeks and a salary for the local out-of-work staff.

“I’m hoping there will be another foundation or some big donor who will contribute,” she said, “so we can keep this going.”