Grandmother Esther pretty much ran the family gathering meals and holidays too. That’s easy: my time in the kitchen with my Grandmother Esther at her house in Miami Beach is probably the most defining of my childhood experiences particular to food. What are the dishes you remember from your childhood or your experiences as a young chef and how do these flavors influence your menu today? If I have time I will cook dishes from my mother’s native land and my high school cooking career in New Orleans, turtle soup, gumbo, jambalaya! Salads with lots of vinegar, my daughters love, pure proteins of steak and onions or fish with white wine and grapes. When you are cooking at home for yourself, friends and family, what is your go-to dish? I was at Cypress Room a few months ago and really liked it. I also like to eat healthy so I will go to small cafes and juice bars. I like to eat simple and usually ethnic so anything Asian hits the spot. When you have time to go out, where do you like to dine in South Florida? Then there is my partner who has invested millions of dollars in Oolite, (laughs) so I better be sure my focus is on the kitchen and the revenue platforms. Then there are my daughters Natasha and Anise and I have to set an example, from my heart, for them. But I have a girlfriend an incredible woman who began her own business from nothing into a huge success, beautiful, imaginative and strong. Well I’m human and healthy all right (laughs) and South Beach has some amazing specimens. While having a great team makes it possible to be a successful chef, is it tough to find a balance between the discipline of running a successful kitchen and the temptations of a fun location like South Beach for you and your team? Social media has brought the conversation of my family, friends, fans and foodies to my phone every minute so I would say we are closer in our relationships. I get pumped about things, a fish, mango, spiny lobsters, music, so there is that. I try to always engage or have a conversation.
I don’t overreach, I don’t advertise or blatantly promote.
I look at social media as a chat in the backyard, or at the bar with a friend who wants to try a new dish with a cold beer. How has your participation affected your relationships with area diners & local foodies? We notice you’re getting more active on social media. It is the tide worn limestone that is the essence of everything that makes up this quirky peninsula. Oolite – the bedrock upon which South Florida is built. “Oolite?” we asked when South Beach Magazine took some of the busy chef’s time away from making his finishing touches.
His fans and followers feel an intense loyalty to the chef who brought Florida Cookery to the James Royal Palm Hotel and now launches Oolite next to the New World Symphony Hall on South Beach. If Miami is a city that loves second acts, Kris Wessel’s resilience in this fickle culinary cauldron is worthy of something much stronger than love. Even after the New York Times called the restaurant one of the Top Five Dining Destinations in Miami, when the adjacent motel was snapped up by real estate speculators, Red Light was forced to close. Using local produce and fish he selected from the drift boats, Chef Wessel brought a unique blend of Creole flavors to his randy roadhouse and the rave reviews soon followed. The tiny storefront dining room gave way to a charming waterfront slip where manatees drifted by and the atmosphere only hinted at the magic stirring up in the kitchen. Undaunted by the neighborhood, the chef opened Red Light Little River, named in homage to the notorious nightshift. What followed that whirlwind of award-winning cooking and critical acclaim is something of a Miami legend because one of the city’s most successful chefs decided to roll up his sleeves and renovate a downtrodden motel on the Miami River where the only street traffic wore tight skirts and cheap shoes. Back home in Miami, Wessel enjoyed great success at Mark Militello’s Mark’s Place before taking off on his own to launch a European-style sandwich shop on Lincoln Road Mall, a Louisiana-themed bistro on Espanola Way and a Medeterranean eatery in the tony shops at Bal Harbour Mall.
Starting out with a bang straight out of Florida International University’s Hotel Restaurant Management Program, the young chef toured Europe to stage at Michelin-starred restaurants in Austria, Spain, France and Italy. South Florida foodies can’t help but cheer the trajectory of native son Kris Wessel who has spent a lifetime in pursuit of flawless Florida flavors.
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