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Reevaluating @ 500k
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Here
Posts: 31,322
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Douglas Rodriguez
Douglas Rodriguez was born to Cuban immigrants and raised in Miami. His exposure to the smell and taste of his mother's cooking and his surroundings led to an early discovery of his passion. He was only 13 when he became inspired by cookbooks he scooped up at garage sales; he brought his first set of pots and pans. At 14, he landed his first restaurant job as a summer apprentice of the Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami. By the age of 17 he had memorized L'Escoffer and other food classics. His career proceeded on a straight trajectory. After high school, he became a breakfast cook at the prestigious Foutainebleu Hilton Hotel in Miami Beach. He left to hone his skills in classic techniques at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI.
Upon graduating he returned to Miami to be the Saucier at the Sonesta Beach Hotel. His first big break came when he was named chef of the new Wet Point Café in Miami Beach. His cuisine and reputation soon gave him the opportunity to open Yuca, an upscale, Cuban-style restaurant in Coral Gales. At 24, he was a celebrated Miami chef, winning the "Chef of the Year, Miami" award from the Chefs of America, and receiving his first and second "Rising Chef of the Year" nominations by The James Beard Foundation (1991 and 1993).
While Yuca was serving distinct Cuban cuisine, Douglas was picking up recipes, ideas, and ingredients from his kitchen staff who came from a kaleidoscope of Latin America countries. Soon he began experimenting beyond the standard Cuban, "Florribean" of "New World" cuisines. He left Yuca to go on a three-month culinary voyage of Spanish-speaking countries often eating as many as eight meals a day. The rest is history. His passion, curiosity and now knowledge about all Latin foods and ingredients have ballooned beyond his culinary heritage. He not only had perfected his very own style, he had originated a cuisine he dubbed "Nuevo Latino" making him the pioneer responsible for a trend that's even hotter today. He went straight to New York and on Valentine's Day 1994, the Rodriguez's opened Patria, which would become the hub for his rapidly popular "Nuevo Latino" cuisine.
Since the opening of Patria, Rodriguez has received accolades from The New York Times, Gourmet Magazine, The New Yorker and a host of other publications all drawing the same conclusion: Rodriguez' food might be unfamiliar, but never, ever boring. In September 1996, The New York Times' restaurant review awarded Patria a coveted three-star rating! In 1996, Rodriguez received The James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year Award. In 1994, Rodriguez was elected as the Culinary Master of North America, and in 1994 New York Culinary Master by the Fine Beverage and Food Federation. In 1995, he was nominated for his third "Rising Star Chef of the Year Award" from The James Beard Foundation. Now, chosen by Newsweek Magazine as one of the 100 Americans who will influence us all in the coming millennium, Douglas Rodriguez is continuing to blaze a tail with Nuevo Latino cuisine as author of cook books Nuevo Latino, published in October of 1995, Latin Ladies, published in November of 1997, and Latin Flavors on the Grill, Fall of 2000. In May 1998 Chef Rodriguez was honored by Johnson & Wales University; he received the degree of Doctor of Culinary Arts, honors cause, in recognition of his sublime creativity and outstanding professional achievement. Most recently, Rodriguez was honored by the 1999 James Beard Foundation Restaurant Award nomination for "Best Chef: New York."
Today's New York's hottest Latin restaurant, Chicama at ABC Carpet & Home, is a Douglas Rodriguez creation, as is the recently opened Pipa, a taparia, and now OLA in Manhattan & Deseo in Scottsdale. In 2001 Alma de Cuba opened, to rave reviews in Philadelphia, in conjunction with restaurateur Stephen Starr.
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