|
 Michelle
Bernstein never dreamed of being a star in a world of celebrity
chefs when she started out as a professional ballerina. In fact,
in her weight-conscious field, food was the enemy.
Still, she was
fascinated with the “science of food,” and enrolled in a
nutrition class to learn more about how it could help her
perform better on the mat. Then the Miami native reached a
turning point when, on the advice of her mother, she enrolled in
a cooking class at Johnson & Wales University. It wasn’t long
before Bernstein traded in her ballet slippers for a set of
knives and began a fabulously successful career in the
male-dominated world of fine dining.
Bernstein’s
cooking is a blend of styles and cultures gleaned from her
unique background as a health-conscious Jewish-Latina growing up
in Miami.
“The food I
love to create is simple, yet satisfying and healthy,” said
Bernstein. “Pure, clean flavors melded with traditional
accents.”
Last year,
Bernstein opened her namesake restaurant, Michy’s, in Miami’s
hip Upper Eastside. It’s already been listed in Gourmet
Magazine’s “Top 50 Restaurants in the Country,” Food &
Wine magazine’s “Best New Restaurants 2006” and Bon
Appétit magazine’s “Top Hot List 2006”; it was also named
New York
magazine’s “Hottest New Restaurant” and received a four-star
rating from the Miami Herald.
Bernstein is
also the consulting chef for Jeffrey Chodorow’s Social Miami at
the Sagamore Hotel in South Beach and Social Hollywood in Los
Angeles, as well as Delta Airlines Business Elite Class.
Bernstein’s
star began to rise almost immediately as she worked in such
award-winning restaurants as Red Fish Grill, the Strand and
Tantra in Miami Beach. She worked under renowned Chef Jean-Louis
Palladin at the Watergate in Washington, D.C., a two-star
Michelin restaurant. She went on to further sharpen her knives
at world-class Alison on Dominick and Le Bernardin in New York
City. A position at the helm of the Mandarin Oriental Miami’s
celebrated restaurant Azul marked her grand return to Miami.
When not in
her own kitchen, Bernstein is busy gaining fame in front of the
cameras. For two years, she co-hosted The Food Network’s
Melting Pot; she was a winner on the
Iron Chef
America
series; and just last week she appeared as a celebrity chef on
Bravo’s Top Chef finals in Aspen. Houghton Mifflin plans
to publish a cookbook in early 2008 that explores her Floridian,
Argentine and Jewish heritage. |
