A Quickie With Michelle Bernstein
Why she loves meatloaf sandwiches, and never cooks with bare feet
Michelle Bernstein can remember a different kind of Ocean Drive. A place where you could stop into Café Milano for decent plate of pasta, or get a nice brie and hot French bread and tomatoes at News Café. And this month, she’s trying to bring a little of that back.
“I’d have paid you $5,000 if you’d have told me five years ago I’d be opening a spot on Ocean Drive,” says the chef and co-owner of La Canita, which recently opened its second location on the historic strip. “But it just happened. And if I’m gonna bring my family from Argentina out in Miami, I’m bringing them two places: Calle Ocho and Ocean Drive. And if you’re hungry, you should expect something decent.”
The new spot will bring fresh seafood and Caribbean flavors to Miami’s most famous street, and a dose of culinary excellence rarely found in the height of tourist town. She sat down with us and told us about all that, plus her love of meatloaf sandwiches Chinese leftovers.
Name: Michelle Bernstein
Position: Chef/Owner at La Canita, Miami Culinary Legend
Nickname: Michy. Or Michelita
Childhood leftover memory: My mother always made meatloaf. Her stuff tasted a little bit Latin in a very American way, but my favorite was taking leftover slices of her meatloaf and putting it on soft white bread with Russian dressing . And I never, I’ll never forget digging into that, the bread sticking to the roof of your mouth. She would barely warm the meatloaf and it would just be perfect, ‘cause you could taste the herbs and the shallots and everything and the meatloaf and that bread sticking to the roof of your mouth. And then that mayonnaise, ketchup that just worked . It might sound gross to some people, but to me it was absolute heaven.
Favorite restaurant to take leftovers home from: I’m a good Jewish girl that likes Chinese on Sundays, and I go to a restaurant called King Palace Chinese BBQ on 167th, they do the best barbecue duck.
My last meal would be: Publix’s fried chicken with a drizzle of honey and a side of stone crab from Joe’s. And a Key Lime Pie.
What music is playing in your kitchen? You know, I used to be a dancer before I became a chef. And for me, as long as there’s beat somehow, even Lenny Kravitz like, I don’t care. Just gimme something good. And if it doesn’t have beat, just take it away.
What do you wear at home in the kitchen? I only burn myself at home, so I always wear a long sleeve t-shirt. Always jeans and always shoes. I cannot cook barefoot. I’ve never been able to, it just freaks me out.
What is your favorite thing about the Miami restaurant scene? I love how diverse we are, but we really have the whole like, Latin thing down. And I’m not talking Cuban, I’m not talking like one style. Great Argentine, great Peruvian. Yesterday I wasn’t feeling great and I wanted a really good Colombian style chicken soup. I just ordered from a place I didn’t even know, and I went for broke and I got the beef and the chicken it wasamazing. Where else could you have that?
What is your least favorite thing about the Miami restaurant scene?
I don’t know what happened. Like when did we think that we should pay $24 for a cocktail?
Nothing is worth that, I don’t care who’s making it, what’s in it, unless I guess it’s topped the rim with a really good caviar. I just don’t wanna be a victim of gouging.
After work, what do you drink? A beer.
What would people be most surprised to know about you? I’m terribly shy. Two things pull me outta my shell. One is music and the other is food. And if I can talk about those things or have one of them playing, I am who you see. But if it’s just silence, I have a really, really hard time like conversing.
What are your go-to spots in Miami? I love La Camaronera. It’s always been my favorite. If I could have that fried shrimp once a month, I’d be the happiest person in my entire life. I love going to Macchialina, some of the best Italian food we have in town. But I really love Houston’s (Hillstone). I love consistency. I love when I go to walk into a place and you know what you’re gonna eat right when you get there. And it’s always exactly the same.
Most overrated culinary trend: I find so many people a cooking Asian food that have never been, don’t understand it, and it’s almost used as a crutch to me. Like, hey, let me throw this Asian food on my menu. I feel like there’s a lot of overuse in certain products, when did everybody start using Goji Chen and think that you can just put it on anything?
Favorite thing to cook at home: Desserts. I don’t really get to bake very often in the restaurants. I make pie once a week or I play with different cakes and things like that. A lot of people don’t know that side of me and I love it, and it’s kind of the gift I give to the boys.
If you weren’t a chef, what would you be doing: I would be using dances as therapy for kids, probably.
What advice would you give aspiring chefs: Learn about real estate, learn about business. Snd a really good HR department. Buy the spaces if you can, at least partially buy them, if you can. Because that’s gonna be what eventually will carry you through.
Biggest guest order pet peeve: “Medium Plus?” What does that even mean? Medium well? Ok fine, but what is “plus?”
Favorite city to visit for food: London. They have a lot of food that we don’t have. You wanna eat something incredible, a Bangladeshi restaurant or something deliciously African or high tea. It’s kind of the opposite of who we are to me down here.