Courtesy: The fruit that changed Miami's food scene forever - Miami News Times
THE MANGO GANG The Mango Gang was born after a run on Miami Beach. The ‘pregnancy’ of course took much longer. But on a specific morning in 1992 I finished my run from 1440 Ocean Drive to Joe’s Stone Crab then back and returned panting to the steps of The…
A Conversation on Curiosity, New World Cuisine, Mentorship, and a Life Spent Chasing Flavors. There are chefs who run successful restaurants. There are chefs who write cookbooks. There are chefs who earn awards and accolades that place them among the best in their profession. Then there are chefs who fundamentally…
The Ultimate Tex-Mex and BBQ Experience James Beard Award Winning Author and Co-Founder of ‘Saveur’ Magazine, Colman Andrews. “I’ve been doing food tours in Europe with Aborígens for four years, but this is the first time we’ve done one in the U.S. ‘Aborígens’ is a small but well-known enterprise that…
Hello Friends! I am happy to tell you all and invite you to the gala party we are having in Orlando on October 19th at ‘Osteria Ester’ the award winning restaurant in Orlando operated by the James Beard Award nominated company founded by Jason and Sue Chin, the powerhouse duo…
As the video will relate this has to do with a dish I created and I named, “My Down Island French Toast”. When I was a young chef coming up the French lauded delicacy of foie gras was not allowed in fresh form in the United States. This created a…
This if from the IACP Substack known as “The Edit”. Annelies Zijderveld is the journalist there that conducted it. Good conversation and I thank her! My experience with IACP tracks back to April 1992. I remember loads of the restaurant industry’s “who’s who” in town for…
Over the past months the number of our cooking classes have been accelerating. April has been a whirlwind! And we love it. An aspect of them that is different from the years we were operating out of a brick-and-mortar place in Wynwood named, “In the Kitchen with Norman Van Aken”…
We’re on a mission to build a more sustainable, innovative, inclusive, and collaborative food & beverage industry. Lengua features an annual conference, exclusive pop-up dinners, and talks about food business, marketing, and innovation. —Nidal Barake 2026 marks the fifth anniversary of the food centric conference featuring food’s thought leaders, restaurateurs,…
It is my deep pleasure to be on the cover of ‘The Miami New Times’. Journalist Michelle Muslara penned the story which you can access via the link. It is gratifying how she understood my success has been a story married to the culture of Florida. Without that union my…
KEY WEST TIME TRAVELING by Norman Van Aken “The days drift by, they don’t have names… “– Jimmy Buffet, “I Have Found Me a Home” Read on Substack…
If you have signed up on my Substack thank you. I f you are new to Substack you can subscribe to mine on Substack for free at NormanVanAken1. Please see my #linkinbio Paid subscribers get everything. Start with the free content but if you enjoy, hit the upgrade button and…
I was a guest on this podcast hosted by Amy Drew Thompson, the beloved food editor of The Orlando Sentinel and ‘Biggie’ Bencomo. Listen on your way to eat something delicious! I so enjoyed the great questions these two curious, intelligent, food and restaurant community leaders. A wide ranging conversation…
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…
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…
The reasons I have selected this as one of my Treasure Cookbooks? It’s all in the video!…
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…
