Chef, restaurant owner, culinary consultant, author, and TV personality, Michelle Bernstein, has been pleasing palates for over twenty years. A Miami native of Jewish and Latin descent, this passionate culinaire has dazzled diners and critics alike with her sublime cuisine and a personality as bright and vibrant as the Florida sun. “My food is luxurious but approachable,” says Bernstein, a James Beard Award winner (Best Chef South 2008) and author of Cuisine a Latina (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2008). In April 2011, she launched her vibrant new collection of cookware and cutlery sets, “Michelle B.”
Experience in the kitchen has made Michelle one of the most sought-after chefs in the television industry. For two years, Bernstein co-hosted The Food Network’s Melting Pot, where she introduced many Americans to the art of Nuevo Latino Cuisine. Bernstein would return to the Food Network years later to battle Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America, from which the Miami chef emerged victorious. Currently the host of WPBT’s Emmy-nominated Check, Please! South Florida, Michelle still manages to make appearances on a variety of national television shows, ranging from Top Chef and The Today Show to the Martha Stewart Show.
Diners can sample her signature haute cuisine served up in a warm, unpretentious setting at her namesake restaurant Michy’s, which opened in the “upper east-side” of Miami in 2005. Michy’s is what Bernstein says she has always dreamed of owning; a cozy and approachable restaurant with her husband David Martinez. The neighborhood haunt was quickly dubbed one of the “Top 50 Restaurants in the Country” by Gourmet and “Best New Restaurant 2006” by Food and Wine. Practically within walking distance from Michy’s is their second Miami venture, SRA. Martinez, a chic, eclectic tapas restaurant in the city’s burgeoning Design District. Just a few blocks away, Crumb on Parchment, offers a casual, cozy cafe serving breakfast, lunch, and mouthwatering baked goods handmade by her mother, Martha. In 2009, Bernstein and Martinez caused a culinary stir in the northern part of the South Florida region, when they launched Michelle Bernstein, an upscale, seafood-driven concept located at the gorgeous Omphoy Ocean Resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Alongside her restaurant ventures, Bernstein continues to consult for Delta Airlines, for which she creates in-flight menus for First and Business Class Elite. She also launched the Miami chapter of Common Threads, an after-school program dedicated to teaching underprivileged kids ages 8-11 to cook, socialize, and eat healthy, one recipe at a time. Bernstein was recently named one of “The 25 Most Influential Women” by People en Español (October 2011), in the issue honoring Hispanic women who have risen to the top of their fields.
