Chef Michelle Berstein and Frederic Panaiotis

Teaches at Astor Center

Since drawing the national spotlight in the mid 1990’s, Chef Michelle Bernstein has remained one of the region’s most well-respected and successful chefs/restaurateurs. 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 isn’t heavy handed or unnecessarily complicated,” says Bernstein, a James Beard Award winner (Best Chef South 2008) and author of Cuisine a Latina (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2008). “You don’t need heavy handed technique and over the top presentations to make a dish work. It’s about amazing ingredients, layered flavors and simplicity. Her style of cooking is inspired by my own food memories and it’s the simple, soulful cooking that stays that she remember from her travels. I cook the food I love and I think that love translates to the diners.” Frédéric Panaïotis is chef de Caves at the Champagne House of Ruinart, in Reims, France.