Caroline Stuart - Food of Miami

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Jonathan Eismann, the chef/ proprietor of Pacific Time, cooks Asian-influenced American food that has a French sensibility. Eismann, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was given the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence in 1994 and is featured in the Discovery Channel series, Great Chefs of the South.

At The Tides Hotel, Chef Christophe Gerard has combined traditional French techniques with the distinctive ingredients South Florida offers. At the Tide's Twelve-Twenty restaurant and at the terrace cafe, Gerard inspires diners with his expertise, using the best fresh fish, vegetables, fruits and spices, giving them a Mediterranean touch.

Chef Paul Gjertson of the Deering Bay Yacht & Country Club has lived in South Florida for the past twenty-four years. He is a graduate of Florida International University, School of Hospitality Management and worked his way through he ranks from line cook, to sous chef, to Chef de Partie.

Chef Carmen Gonzalez is the former chef/proprietor of the critically acclaimed Clowns restaurant in Coral Gables, Florida. She graduated with a degree in culinary arts from the New York Restaurant School in 1986. In 1995, Gonzalez founded The Feeding the Mind Foundation, a scholarship program for battered women. The foundation provides two-year scholarships to Johnson & Wales University for women from Dade County's shelters.

Cindy Hutson, chef of Norma's On the Beach, taught herself to cook as a teenager by watching The Galloping Gourmet and other cooking shows. She developed her New World Caribbean Cuisine by experimenting with lighter versions of traditional Caribbean dishes when she was living in Jamaica.

Jan Jorgensen and Soren Bren-dahl's restaurant, Two Chefs Cooking, began as a cooking school and cook shop but expanded in response to student incouragement. The restaurant was named the Best New Restaurant in Miami in 1997 and Best Cooking School 1994-1998 by New Times Magazine and one of the Best of South Florida in 1997 by South Florida.

Mark Militello opened Mark's Las Olas in 1994. The dishes on the menu are a refreshing combination of Caribbean ingredients and Mediterranean techniques. Mr. Militello was named one of the 10 best new chefs in America by Food & Wine in 1990, one of the best of the year by Bon Appetit in 1995, seafood chef of the year by Simply Seafood and was given the Golden Spoon Award by Florida Trend in 1997.

Chef Pascal Oudin was selected by Food & Wine as one of America's best new chefs in 1995 and by Esquire's restaurant critic, John Mariani, as one of America's new chefs to watch in 1995 while director and executive chef of the Grand Cafe at the Bay Hotel. Mr. Oudin has opened a new family-style dining concept, Sweet Donna's Country Store Restaurant & Bakery.

Chef Doug Shook discovered his love of cooking in the California wine country in the early eighties. Since 1985 he has indulged his passion at Louie's Backyard, one of few restaurant kitchens in the world with an ocean view.

Chef Dawn Sieber, a graduate of the Baltimore International Culinary Arts Institute, came to Cheeca Lodge as executive sous chef and was promoted to executive chef. At Cheeca Lodge, Sieber has created menus that blend traditional Florida Keys recipes with her own style of "new American" cuisine. Sieber has appeared on the CBS This Morning Show and, more recently, on the TV Food Network's In Food Today show.

Chef Allen Susser opened Chef Allen's in 1986, adapting his training from the New York City Technical College, School of Restaurant Management, and the Florida International University, to the the bounty of South Florida's ingredients, creating New World Cuisine. At his restaurant, Susser continues to develop this cuisine, which combines regional cultural influences and the flavors of the Caribbean. Chef Susser's restaurant has won praise from local and national food writers and the James Beard Foundation awarded him the Best Chef in America in 1994 for the Southeast Region. He is the author of New World Cuisine and Cookery, and his most recent book, The Great Citrus Book.

Executive Chef Claude Troisgros brings his imaginative.and modern French-based cuisine to the Blue Door at the Delano Hotel. Chef Troisgros, the son of a celebrated chef and restaurateur, was trained in France and spent almost twenty years in Brazil. Troisgros divides his time between Miami and Rio.

Chef Norman Van Aken is the owner of the award-winning Norman's in historic Coral Gables section of Miami. The New York Times called Norman's "the best restaurant in South Florida." Chef Van Aken is considered the "Father of New World Cuisine" and has been the recipient of two James Beard Awards, The Robert Mondavi Award, GOJs Golden Dish and The Food Arts Silver Spoon. Van Aken is the author of four cookbooks, including the Julia Child/IACP nominated Norman's New World Cuisine.

Chef Efrain Veiga opened Yuca in Coral Gables in 1989. Yuca (which stands for Young Upscale Cuban American) was one of the first restaurants in Florida to feature the ingredients of basic Cuban cooking in innovative, non-traditional ways, elevating the cuisine to a level it had not seen before.

Chef Johnny Vinczencz presides over Astor Place, at the Hotel Astor in Miami Beach and Johnny V's Kitchen in South Beach. After working in banquets, catering, and as chef of a popular Southwestern restaurant in Atlanta, Vinczencz relocated to South Florida and worked at several other area restaurants before becoming chef at Astor Place.

Todd Weisz is executive chef at Turriberry Isle Resort & Club, overseeing the resort's five restaurants and six kitchens. Chef Weisz ensures that only the freshest ingredients used, including produce grown in the resort's garden or native Miami and the Caribbean.

Caroline Stuart's food prepared by Allen Smith and Glen Wilkes.