Miami Living Magazine features the best Miami has to offer. Click on any magazine below and enjoy. You can download our free app on iTunes. Ideal for iPad and iPhone users.
Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/56799
FOOD "Keep the dish simple, but packed full of flavor through the use of fundamental ingredients," said Taylor. His approach is centered on creating flavorful dishes through the use of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. Taylor is the perfect match and the natural choice to lead the evolution of the chic South Beach restaurant. He has a lot of knowledge inside the kitchen and a fresh perspective to take on this restaurant and celebrity staple. "I am loving the new position here at STK; it is a great place —so proud to be a part of the staff," he said. Taylor grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and at age 19, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. However, his interest for the culinary arts began long before that. "I became a chef because of my love for food that started at a young age. I would cook with my parents regularly when they would entertain family and neighbors. After I graduated high school, I worked in the kitchen at my stepdad's family restaurant and fell in love with the kitchen and decided to pursue a professional career," said Taylor. When he was a teenager, he began working at his family's Hungarian restaurant. This experience would give him the necessary foundation, and teach him the skills needed to run a kitchen. Here, he discovered his passion for the industry. In 1999, he interned at Peaks Resort & Spa in Telluride, Colorado for a year. In 2000, Taylor moved across the country to Islamorada in the Florida Keys, where he accepted a position as a line cook at the award-winning Pierre's Restaurant —where he worked for four years and eventually became the Executive Chef. There, he developed a new appreciation for local seafood and game fish. In the summer of 2005, Taylor returned to Colorado as the newly appointed Executive Chef of The Keystone Ranch. For the next three years, the wild game focused restaurant earned two "number one" ratings in the state's Zagat guide. Taylor was getting great recognition. All this attention was noticed by Miami restaurateur Sean Brasel, who in 2008 offered Taylor the position of Executive Chef at Touch Restaurant in Miami Beach. Taylor's culinary expertise did not go unnoticed, and after a year at Touch, Taylor took on the role of Chef de Cuisine at Brasel's Meat Market steakhouse in Miami Beach. Taylor perfected his cooking techniques with various cuts of meats, delicate seafood, and season produce. He developed a unique incorporation of lemongrass that was more contemporary American than traditional Asian. In 2011, Taylor was ready for a new challenge, and with three years of experience at the trendy eatery he accepted the position as Executive Chef of STK Miami, which he won over 15 skilled competitors. "STK has always been one of my favorite restaurants in Miami," says Taylor. "I admire its stylish adaptation of American steakhouse classics and was honored when The ONE Group approached me with the opportunity to bring a new energy to the menu." He has already added a new sea bass entrée with passion fruit glaze, oyster mushrooms and pickled onions, and a lobster "Rockefeller" with leeks, spinach, jumbo lump crab and béarnaise to the menu. As well, he changed the tuna tartar to a fresher tuna with avocado and cilantro. And still to come, a new Braised Angus Short Rib presentation. At STK Miami, Taylor is adding new levels of flavor to modern American cuisine through his passion of locally sourced seasonal ingredients. He is definitely pushing the restaurant forward by incorporating a variety of local seafood and game fishes to the menu, all while staying true to the restaurant's core steakhouse fare. Visit STK Miami at 2377 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. There are also five other locations around the United States in NY (one downtown and another in midtown), LA, Las Vegas and Atlanta. For more on STK Miami, visit: togrp.com/stkmiami or The One GROUP at togrp.com ML MIAMI LIVING 81