On August 5th of 1986 we drove up to Miami from Key West. I was the Executive Chef/Partner of “Louie’s Backyard”, which was by many folks reckoning the most beautiful place to dine on the Island and arguably the best. I was accompanied by my wife, Janet our pastry chef…
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TREASURE BOOK, ‘THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FISH COOKERY’
Back with one of my All Time Treasure Books. This was written by the legendary, A.J. “Al” McClane. Google him if you like. He should be as well known as Grizzly Adams and a whole lot more real life. His friend Curt Gowdy had this to say, “Al McClane was…
A Treasure Cookbook; Prune
The reasons I have selected this as one of my Treasure Cookbooks? It’s all in the video!…
TREASURE BOOK, ‘GRAMERCY TAVERN’
Chef Tom Colicchio was the Chef/Partner of ‘Gramercy Tavern’ in NYC when he invited me to come up and do a “Share Our Strength” dinner with him in September of 1999. We’d been to the beautiful restaurant and the more casual ‘Tavern’ side a few time by then and were…
Treasure Book: Jean-Louis Palladin
In February of 1996 I was invited to participate in the first ever International James Beard Dinners in Mexico City. The other chefs included Thomas Keller, Susur Lee, Jean-Louis Palladin, Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless and Todd English. Like I say, ‘the first‘ of these. We were all excited for the…
A TREASURE BOOK; PAUL BERTOLLI, “CHEZ PANISSE COOKING”
I have had the great pleasure of knowing or at least meeting many of the folks who are in my Treasure Books series. That is not the case here but hopefully it will be rectified one day! Goodness knows I have admired Paul Bertolli’s craftsmanship from afar in the form…
NORMAN ON “THE PERFECT BITE”
Howdy All! I recently joined The Trotter Project as the newest Board Member. I have posted on this great organization before and no doubt will again. In the process of joining I met a very bright professional who is also part of it. Her name is Sarah Perkins. In addition…
‘THE WAY WE COOK’, SAVEUR
I believe it was in 1994 that Saveur Magazine began publication. I was in the midst of beginning to write a cookbook for Random House titled, “New World Cuisine”. While writing a book it is very hard to do almost anything else. It is simply way too time consuming doing…
TWO ‘FOREVER MEMORY’ NIGHTS
From The Jacques Pépin Foundation. A recap! February 18, 2025 at Sereia in Miami, FL Diners at the beautiful Sereia restaurant were treated to an incredible six-course meal crafted by Miami’s top chefs, including Henrique Sá Pessoa, Norman Van Aken, Miguel Massens, Michael Beltran, Danny Ganem, Michael Schwartz, and Soraya Caraccioli-Kilgore. The menu of dishes inspired by Jacques…
Outstanding in the Field and 4 Roots Farm Dinner
In a dynamic and sure to be delicious collaboration CEO of ‘4 Roots Farm’, John Rivers announced an event with the Farm and the roving, imaginative group knowns as, “Outstanding in the Field”. The meal will feature a tour of the amazing, multi-dimensional property that ‘4Roots Farm’ is and then…
CHEF JACQUES PÉPIN SALUTES ‘GET COOKING’!
Hello Everyone! Stacie Archer, my partner in our non-profit, ‘Get Cooking’ and I are happy to provide and update on our progress and share this beautiful video as well! Stacie is tirelessly working to help find more ways to extend our mission. for more information on that please go to…
TREASURE BOOK SERIES: STAFF MEALS
The video expresses much about why I consider this a treasure book. Let me prelude it by saying when you are a restaurant owner or the chef of one this book is a godsend. We know how tough this business is. The general populace has learned much about this over…
‘THE FOUR SEASONS’, A TREASURE BOOK
I bought this book or it was given to me while working with Charlie Trotter and Carrie Nahabedian in Lake Forest, Il. at ‘Sinclair’s’. If it was a gift it probably came from Gordon Sinclair who owned the restaurant along with businessman Marshall Field IV. Gordon was great at sharing…
OUR NEW TASTING MENU, “RETRO … WITH A TWIST”
At our restaurant, “NORMAN’S” in Orlando we continue with the tradition I began years ago in Key West and then continued as we grew. We recently celebrated our Second Anniversary at the new location just off Sand Lake Road. As many of you know we were located within the Grande…
TREASURE BOOK, ‘WHY WE EAT WHAT WE EAT’
Outside of cookbooks the two books on cooking that transformed my thinking and thus my life as a cook were the one I’m featuring here, “Why We Eat What We Eat” by Raymond Sokolov and “Culture and Cuisine” by Jean-Françoise Revel. I also love, “On Food and Cooking” by Harold…
A Video Message from a Hero; Jacques Pépin!
I hope all of you who receive my posts will enjoy this one from the legend of legends… Chef Jacques Pepin!…