Michael Bennett, born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to first generation Floridians, has spent most of his professional life in the food and hospitality industries. Michael began working for his family who owned and operated Fort Lauderdale's first restaurant north of Sunrise Blvd., where he learned his great work ethic and respect for Florida food products. Michael's grandfather was the family's first restaurateur, operating petite south Florida restaurant purchased after emigrating from Ohio in the 1940's.

Michael started cooking professionally at a Tampa Bay seafood restaurant, the New Orleans Oyster Bar, while attending the local college. He transferred to the Culinary Institute of America to pursue his true passion and then again found himself in Florida to complete his externship in the budding village of New Port Richey, Florida.

After leaving the CIA, for most of the next 11 years, Michael's lifestyle revolved around intense periods of kitchen management followed by months of O.J.T. under the tutelage from Miami's most well known chefs. On each of these journeys - he sought out the most exotic and chic dining environments. During this time, Michael was fortunate enough to have catered to nearly all of Miami's most fashionable clientele.

In 1991, the 26 year culinary landmark in Fort Lauderdale - The Left Bank- recruited Michael to be its Executive Chef. The restaurant experienced critical acclaim under Michael's watch, earning rave reviews and Food and Wine accolades from the media and public alike. The restaurant received its first Four Star AAA award, Mobil award in 2002 and Wine Spectator's Grand Award of Excellence the same year.

Michael's culinary status has been highlighted in publications that include The New York Times, Ocean Drive Magazine, National Culinary Review (cover feature), Zagat Review ("best of"), "Where" Magazine's Best of 2000 as well as many other local newspaper features. He has appeared on television cooking segments including The Today Show-South Florida, among others. Miami New Times magazine featured Michael as one of South Florida's pivotal figures in the Florida's exotic tropical food chefs.

Chef Bennett is a firm believer in giving back to the community. Michael has taught seminars to his peers and to teenage students. He has actively participated in dozens of local and national charities, benefiting many wonderful causes-some for hunger relief, others in search of cures, many of them to benefit children - his particular passion. Michael was the architect of the "Kids in Distress" chef's campaign that feed and housed over 300 troubled families in South Florida.

Since leaving Left Bank in 2004, Michael opened the highly visible Solo on the Bay, formulating the areas first "Restro-Club" that was rated "top ten" out of hundreds of South Florida nightclubs. Some of Michael's past and present clients comprise celebrities from the entertainment industry including; Wilt Chamberlin, Roger Stubb, Oprah, Jayda and Will Smith, Michael Caine, Daryl Hanna, George Hamilton, Walter Cronkie, Morgan Freeman, Elton John, Madonna, Trina, Beyonce and others...

In 2006, Michael and his family made an exodus 1200 miles into the Caribbean, repositioning himself in the British West Indies to broaden his subsist vibe for the food he loves. After a year of investigating this region's culinary attributes, he ventured onto other Islands in the Caribbean. His journey led him to the "Forgotten Island" of St. Croix just 30 minutes away from San Juan. Tropical-exotic produce has plenty of room to flourish on the Island, a perfect place for Michael's investigations into the EXOTIC cookery of the Caribbean! In February of 2008, Chef Michael was awarded Best Restaurant Brunch in the Caribbean.

These travels have led Michael to pen a cookbook named "Underneath a Cloudless Sky". It encompasses more than three years of tropical cookery experiences into 150 plus pages. The book concentrates on educating readers how to pair the known (a lot of common seafood selections) with the unknown (uglifriut, mamey, atemoya, etc...). Michael has been very busy in the past year penning another project named; "In a land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks". It is a food preparation manuscript as well as authentic stories of how Caribbean gastronomy reaches infamous proportions.

Michael returned to the mainland and focused his efforts in the north Florida culinary region. He wanted to bring tropical cuisine to a new part of Florida, the "Forgotten Coast". In this newly re-discovered area of Florida, Chef Michael developed another regional base to launch an off-shoot of his culinary foresight,r ecently been deemed "Cape Fusion Cuisine" by the local media.

Chef Michael says, "Cape Fusion Cuisine is a mixture of the local north Florida seafood specialties; like Gulf of Mexico black grouper, Apalachicola oysters, St. Joseph Bay scallops and Gulf of Mexico wahoo-blended in a unique and sometimes twisted style of the tropics and metropolitan Miami." Also that, "plates are artfully presented with a splash of South Florida's neo-classics of Floribbean cuisine." This new culinary endeavor proves that what was once new and different (referring to New World Cuisine) is the basis of our new "Southern" American Regional cuisine.

-- "Underneath a Cloudless Sky". It is a 180 plus page cookbook describing what it is like to be a chef on the New American Riviera. 40 plus FULL color TROPICALLY -inspired recipe pictures and all for under $25.00. After you read this recount of working in South Beach, you will feel as though you have witnessed the birth of a new Cuisine. info@foodBrats.com