GGM: Where did you grow up?

MB: Outside of Detroit, Michigan, till age 20, then I moved to Florida.  

GGM: Did someone in your family influence your perception of food and cooking?

MB: I don’t have what you would call culinary roots, just memories of what my bubbia (grandmother) Ida, prepared when we visited her in Coney Island, New York. I remember spending summers eating knishes, kugel and stuff like that.

GGM: Tell us about your career.

MB: I started working in a Jewish deli, The Breadbasket, when I was 14. I went to a junior culinary program at Oakland Community College and it changed to Schoolcraft College. A pretty well known and respected culinary school. I met a guy there that was working at the Golden Mushroom, we became friends and he asked me why don’t I get a job there? I did. They had an apprenticeship program with ACF and I became an apprentice, which was great. You get to work all the stations. I was the only one there that would work the pastry station because I was interested in pastry. When the pastry chef left I asked to take the position and step up to the challenge. At the time I wasn’t the greatest pastry chef but I was learning and it was good experience. I did that for about 3 years.

From there, I came to Florida and went to RG’s. The executive chef left to pursue culinary food shows and the owners asked me to take his place. I was young, 21, and kinda cocky and said, "Sure, I’ll do it."

GGM: What was it like being an executive chef at 21?

MB: I had a lot to learn, as I didn’t have a lot of restaurant experience at that time. Working with owners was a challenge. We would clash about cooking, day to day operations were simple. They had it formatted (New American Continental) where it was easy. They were doing bistro type fare, no one was doing that back then. I was fortunate.

Now that I am a restaurant owner, I understand where the owners were coming from.  I’m not comparing us to Charlie Trotter’s, he has maybe 16 guys on a line and I have 5. We’re half the size, but you still have to know dollar for dollar how to run the business, especially now in an economy that is suffering.

I was talking to Chef Allen (Susser), of Chef Allen’s in Miami at the Taste of the NFL. We discussed how the economy is affecting business. He shared that you have to be more creative in how you are putting together a menu today.

GGM: Being an independent, like BT, you all support one another.

MB: When you do events, like an abilities fundraiser, you work with everyone (non-independents). I totally want to support the independents.

GGM: You open Mise en Place. You’re a chef. Why open a market/catering business instead of a restaurant?

MB: That was feasible at the time. We opened an off premise catering business with the lunch to go kind of thing. Small scale to see how it would work. We slowly evolved to a 4 unit restaurant business, little by little. It was interesting how we did that. We started with lunch and one dining room, then two dining rooms and eventually 3 with about 88 seats. We finally went to dinner and were doing quite well. People would wait outside in line. It was fun, I was on the line every night.

GGM: Did your experiences working with Chef Milos Cihelka (Golden Mushroom) change how you run your kitchen today?

MB: Yes, in a sense. You can’t treat people the way he did there. He was verbally abusive. I don’t mean that in a bad way.

GGM: Yet, you lamented that you didn’t work there longer.

MB: You’re young and full of yourself. When I graduated I just wanted to move on. Then I became a chef at RG’s. I remember that I could have learned more, paid better attention. At that point in my life, I wasn’t ready to make that commitment. I had access to so much and I didn’t realize it. It was a lot of trial and error after that.

GGM: Do you have a culinary confidant?

MB: Brian Polycn (Five Lakes Grill, Milford, MI) was Milos’ Sous Chef and mine. We started doing Taste of the NFL and he was there too. Five or six years ago we started to redevelop our relationship. He is an expert in charcuterie, if I have any issues about it I talk to him. He’s a guy that I feel I can call and ask him anything.

GGM: You’re highly respected within the food community in Tampa. Eric Neri had only great things to say.

MB: Eric is a great guy. I’ve stayed at the Don Cesar to get away and he always wows me with what he creates. We’ve been doing events together for about 15 years now. We did the Tom Pritchard Roast, the Fork Fight (charitable event for the food bank), we did Taste.

GGM: What do you enjoy most about your work?

MB: I’m a hands on chef and love working in the kitchen even now. I’ve been cooking my whole life. If I wasn’t doing that I’d feel like I was missing something.

GGM: You strongly embrace the ‘local’ trend as evidenced by your menu. What are the challenges in doing so?

MB: Local farms aren’t always set up for quantity. We haven’t gone totally organic yet, it is on the horizon. 

GGM: What trend do you wish would go away already?

MB: I’m tired of sushi, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that in a negative way. I love sushi, but sushi restaurants pop up everywhere. When I want sushi I go to Jeff Strane’s Samurai Blue in Ybor City. 

GGM: Do you have a favorite seasonal ingredient?

MB: I love using root vegetables like acorn and butternut squash. They are rich and sweet, great as a filling for ravioli and in soup.

GGM: What do you feel is the most overused seasoning?

MB: Cilantro

GGM: Most underused?

MB: Dill. I’d also like to see cardamom used more. 

GGM: What's your favorite dish on the menu right now?

MB: Coffee Ancho Adobe rubbed Venison Loin (served with Rabbit Empanada, Boniato Roast Corn Mash, Chimi Churri sauteed veggies and roast poblano red wine jus) 

GGM: What's your least favorite dish?

Chicken Liver Pear Port Mousse Pate (with fennel red onion radish salade and pinot verjus chutney). It’s been on the menu for a long time. It’s very popular.

GGM: We know you like pizza, any particular type?

MB: A workout buddy and I had a discussion about this recently, referring to a recent Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations) episode that took place in Chicago, he was at Burkes. When I go to Chicago I go to Gino’s East, it's one of my favorite places ever for pizza. One of the top five. Every city I go to I try to have pizza. Obviously there’s New York’s: Lombardi’s, Ray’s and Cappies, they're all great. Deep dish like Gino’s East compared to Lombardi’s.... I would have to say that I wouldn’t be able to pick which one is better. They are both so great, but they are different. If I were to put them next to each other, it would be a hard choice.

GGM: Is there a food you can’t bring yourself to like?

MB: Sea Urchin. It’s the flavor, the smokiness that I’ve never been able to embrace.

GGM: Favorite kitchen gadget?

MB: I’m pretty old school with gadgets. In the last year I purchased a Vitamix Vita-Prep Mixer and  I love it.

GGM: You’ve openly admitted that you’ve made mistakes. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done in a restaurant kitchen?

MB: Catering, we made a batch of brownies with 4 pounds of salt instead of sugar. (He has this funny look on his face as he recalls this. We just laugh together.) 

GGM: You have over 2,000 cookbooks, and you chose The French Laundry (Thomas Keller) as your favorite. What makes it so special?

MB: It’s a great book. When he came on the scene he was so respected. His techniques are amazing. Some of my favorite books are from the U.K. I also like Australian chefs, like Neil Perry and Peter Evans.

GGM: Best tip for the home chef?

MB: Whatever it is you are making, you should make it your best, even if it's meatloaf. You know, like your mother or your grandmother made, moist and juicy.

GGM: Do you think that a lot of chefs coming up through the ranks are missing that today?

MB: I totally think so. When we had our market we would test chefs and ask them to make a pot pie or a meatloaf. Some would make it kind of high end and it was not very good. Whether I’m cooking chicken wings or foie gras, I want it to be great. That’s all there is to it.

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