Most kids growing up in the 70s would bypass bedtime by sneaking in a comic book or Judy Blume’s latest best seller. For Chef Michelle Bernstein, or “Chef Michy” as she’s affectionately known, it was her mother’s cookbooks she’d pour over well after lights out.
“I would grab onto her cookbooks, and I would fall asleep reading about things that I’d never heard before like Beef Bourguignon and things that we never ate but I was always fascinated [by],” Bernstein says.
In truth, it seems inevitable that Bernstein, the 2008 James Beard Award Winner for Best Chef: South, would grow up to become one of Miami’s most venerated culinary figures. Percolating with enthusiasm and energy around the topic of food, Bernstein attributes her early connections with food, family and life to her mother, Martha Bernstein.
“I was very spoiled. I’m a Latin Jew and everything in our home was always at the dinner table: every conversation, every good/bad/sad/ugly truth that came out was at a dinner table. Morning, noon and night there was always something to nibble on — some fresh food coming from my mother’s hands. I was very fortunate to have an incredible cook as a mom,” she says.
Her mother (who passed away in 2016), hailed from Argentina and came to Miami by way of Minnesota, where she met Bernstein’s father. Bernstein recalls how her mom would come home after work and prepare a full-fledged meal for the family every day. We’re talking a protein, starch, salad, along with a few sides.
“My friends would come over and say, ‘But usually we have one dish, you guys have five dishes!’ I never thought it was that big a deal, I thought everybody ate like that!”
And while her mother’s South American heritage served as the initial introduction to global cuisine, it was Bernstein’s own travels that helped shape and define her vibrant, multicultural culinary style. As a teen, she participated in an overseas high school program in Israel meant to last a few months. It transformed into a year-long residence spent connecting with family and exploring new foods.
“I learned a lot about Russian food because I hung out a lot with my Russian cousins [in Israel]. I was starting to make stuffed cabbage and borscht — not make it but be there when they made it — and fell in love with those delicate Eastern European flavors,” Bernstein says.
A few years later she headed to her mother’s homeland where she was taught iconic Argentinean cooking techniques, like the proper way to do a true “parillada” (the country’s mastery around a grill) well as as well as “curanto,” or cooking under the earth.
In 1992 she graduated from Johnson & Wales University’s culinary program, eventually landing a job with the Mandarin Oriental in 2001, expanding her travels, this time to the Far East.
Photos Courtesy of Michelle Bernstein Catering
“They wanted to learn my Latin food and I wanted to learn their food. So, they would send me to places like Malaysia, Seoul, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand — and I would work. Nobody spoke English — I would immerse myself into these kitchens with these guys and, what do you do? You relate through food!”
Miami benefited from the culinary patchwork Bernstein built as her own repertoire. She opened the restaurant Azul in 2001, which notable food critic John Mariani from Esquire deemed “one of the best new restaurants in America.” That was followed by “Michy’s” in 2005, her first venue to open with partner and husband David Martinez. It garnered the title of “Best New Restaurant” from Food & Wine in 2006 and “Top 50 restaurants in the country” from the venerable, now defunct, Gourmet magazine. Sra. Martinez followed in the Design District in 2009 (receiving the same love from Mariani), then Crumb On Parchment (2011), Seagrape (2015), Café La Trova (2019) and Sweet Liberty, the award-wining cocktail bar. The latest venture, La Cañita — which means, “little sugarcane” in Spanish, celebrates tropical flavors from Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Puerto Rico, while adding influences from Central and South America.
Along the way Bernstein created her own catering company, Michelle Bernstein Catering, and, after a string of television appearances that include a battle on “Iron Chef America” versus Bobby Flay (yes, she won), she currently hosts two television shows: “Check, Please! South Florida” (PBS) and the Emmy-award winning production “SoFlo Taste” on Channel 10. She regularly acts as a guest judge on “Top Chef” (Bravo TV) and “Chopped” (Food Network) and continues to make appearances on “Good Morning America” (ABC) cooking segments.
There are a lot of moving parts to Bernstein’s life, but when asked which is her favorite baby, her answer is automatic.
“My favorite baby is my son. He’s number one,” she offers, before adding, “Well, he and my husband fight for number one.” The family lives in Miami.
She’s talking about eleven-year-old Zachary, and as she does, it is clear the love and dedication she received from her mother is something she’s passing on to him.
“Making sure that everything is taken care of in the home, comes first,” she explains, adding that she has the most fun outside the kitchen when she’s with David and Zack.
Of course, she’s quick to note that her professional success could not happen without the commitment and dedication of her team, a short list of confidants she’s come to rely on over the years.
“We’ve worked together, the longest has been with me for 14 years and the shortest is about 8. We tackle everything together — we’re very honest — everybody can tell me what they think, and I will tell them what I think and we attack it all together,” she says.
She’s as busy as ever now, but always keeps her humility, and her drive, in check.
“You’re only as good as the last meal,” she says. “I have never-ending energy for learning, for getting where I need to be better, I need to know more — I need to constantly, constantly be refreshing my own stuff,” she says.
Philanthropy also plays a prominent role in Bernstein’s life. She’s been on the board of Common Threads, a nonprofit providing children and families with cooking and nutrition education, for four years now and likes to help other causes, such as World Central Kitchen, as well.
“I feel like anybody that might need a little boost or food or advice — I go. It’s hard for me to tell you all the organizations I work with — there’s at least 10 to 15 I choose a year — I just always feel like someone always needs help,” Bernstein says.
Looking forward, she’s excited for the dizzying array of projects in the works. They include Michy’s Chicken Shack and Lunchería, two fast-casual concepts due to open in a few months. Bernstein is also set to reopen Sra. Martinez, this time in Coral Gables, by the first quarter of next year and she’s also working on a private club in Newport Beach, Calif. Beyond that, is a busy travel schedule for events with Michelle Bernstein Catering and Sweet Liberty and Café La Trova, both rcognized on the World’s 50 Best Bars list over the last several years (Café La Trova was also recognized as one of the Best Restaurants and Bars in the country by GQ and Esquire, respectively). Still, she manages to stay laser focused on the now, noting how Miami has become the darling city for foodies around the world.
“We’re having quite the moment. Everybody wants to be here,” she adds with a chuckle.
It’s no wonder, she continues, explaining the ease of living in South Florida, versus, for example, New York. “When I used to live in New York I felt like I was fighting every day, whether it was to make enough money to eat and survive and, let’s not even talk about forging ahead and trying to make something.”
Bernstein acknowledges her style has changed over the years, becoming more grounded and honest with her food. “You realize you need less to have more of an experience.”
That process is heavily rooted in using local, fresh produce, which, not only helps the community thrive, but garners the best flavors.
“I think everybody, especially the chefs in the community, are really all about that.
You look at somebody like Niven [Chef Niven Patel from Ghee Indian Kitchen] and his Indian food and the fact that he harvests a lot of what he cooks in his own farm — how beautiful is that? I think it is an approach that is now very much here to stay. It’s not something that we need to direct people into, I think that’s just how it is now. It’s amazing!”
