Feature

James Beard Awards, 2019 Semi-Finalist, “Outstanding Restaurant” In America

“It has been an honor and a joy to serve the guests who dine at NORMAN’S. For over 15 years we have treasured the most wonderful accolades from the press and beautiful words from the many diners who have come to us at The Ritz-Carlton to join us. This nomination stands as…

Feature

James Beard Awards, 2019 Semi-Finalist, “Outstanding Restaurant” In America

The Big Dog: A Podcast by Marion Kane

Courtesy: https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/norman-van-aken-big-dog-florida/

Marion Kane came to Miami to interview me for her podcast. We met at our cooking school, “In the Kitchen with Norman Van Aken”. The link will take you to the podcast. But first some words about Ms. Kane. Marion Kane has been a leader in the world of food journalism for…

Interviews

Kitchen Conversations: Edward Lee

On Thursday, April 11th I will be joining my friend and fellow Chef/Author Edward Lee at ‘Books & Books’ in Coral Gables to celebrate the publication of Edward’s heralded book, “Buttermilk Graffiti”. Our conversation will be moderated by the James Beard Award winning journalist Carlos Frias. Our conversation starts at 8 p.m….

Press

Pérez Art Museum Gala

Courtesy: PAMM Portraits (Pérez Art Museum Miami)

PAMM is gearing up for its fifth annual Art of the Party on March 9, 2019, the museum’s largest fundraiser event of the year presented by Valentino. This year, PAMM has the privilege of honoring artist Christo, whose work spans over a monumental six decades, alongside Miami philanthropists Dorothy and Aaron Podhurst. The…

Press

Time Out Market Miami

Time Out Market Miami will soon open in a stunning location just off South Beach’s Lincoln Road—at 1601 Drexel Avenue. Its mission is unique: Time Out Market will bring the best of the city under one roof—the best chefs, drinks and cultural experiences. Everything is curated and hand-picked to showcase the outstanding…

A Word on Food™Series

Caviar

Listen on WLRN

You don’t eat caviar because you’re hungry. But the portion set before us at a dinner in the late 1990’s was capable of staving off a serious quantity of pang. Hit the link to read or listen! My radio show, “A Word On Food” airs originally on WLRN 91.3 and 91.5 every...

French Onion Soup

Listen on WLRN

Do you love French Onion Soup? We do. Have a look, a listen, a taste. WLRN. ‘A Word On Food’....

Fish Sticks

Listen on WLRN

On Friday afternoons while I was in high school my mother and grandmother would get their hair done at the local beauty salon. My mother worked in the restaurant business so I imagine she did this before returning to the restaurant she worked at for the dinner shift looking like a million...

Posole

Listen on WLRN

Some words are known in Spanish as one thing and English in another. How many …. of you knew that? Pun intended. Read on!...

Shakshouka

Listen on WLRN

Shakshouka. It sounds like a dance. But it’s actually a delicious meal with a fascinating history! Here’s this week’s, “A Word On Food”. Thanks WLRN radio 91.3 and 91.5. Broadcasting from Palm Beach to Key West....

My Book ClubSeries

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

by Annie Dillard “Then one day, walking along Tinker Creek, thinking of nothing at all, I saw it —- the tree with the lights in it. It was the same backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost, only charged and transfigured, etc cell buzzing with flame … It was less like seeing...

Look Homeward Angel

by Thomas Wolfe I was saved from what fate I shall never know when a woman came to live with us when I was ten years old. She was my maternal grandmother. “Nana” was what we knew her name to be. It was ordained by others in the family long before I...

Ninety Two in the Shade

by Thomas Mc Guane I returned to live in Key West in the very year another resident of Key West released this book. I originally arrived to the last island out of America in ’71 and fell under it’s spell. It was like falling in love with a woman. But I couldn’t...

Instagram

@NormanVanAken

@inthekitchennva @three_wynwood @normansorlando @timeoutmarketmiami @npr

#fusion #newworldcuisine

“If the map of the world were a tablecloth, and I could choose a place at that table, I would sit at the Southern tip of Florida, at the nexus of North America and the Caribbean. My plate would touch Cuba, the Florida Keys, the Yucatan, the West Indies, the Bahamas, and South America. And, if time could tell, I would listen to the tales of voyagers, discoverers, traders and mystics who, in searching for “the Indies”, the Great Kahn and the riches of China, discovered something much more valuable and enduring, A New World of Culinary Treasures. Almost instantly, the cuisines of the Old World began to merge with foods of the new one; This evolutionary and inexorable fusion lies at the heart of New World Cuisine.”

— Norman Van Aken, July, 1993