Despite Mobil Travel Guide’s 4 Stars, Triple A’s 4 Diamonds, a James Beard invitation, Chef Bloise is a regular guy who spoke with me of family, good food, and a secret.

I had a chance to speak with the Michael Bloise, Executve Chef of Wish, the acclaimed restaurant in one of Miami's South Beach Art Deco buildings, The Hotel. As unpretentious as you could imagine, it was a joy to chat with him about his food, world cuisines, and what we like to eat.

A genuine food lover amidst the trappings of celebrity, here is a taste of the real deal, a gem!

Bon appetite!

Background

Michael is half Italian - half Vietnamese, so I asked him about what kinds of foods he ate growing up and how this background influenced his food.

Were you born in Fl? What were your favorite foods growing up?

I grew up North of Tampa, west coast of FL. Both my mother who is Vietnamese and my father's mother (Italian) were great cooks. I got to eat both kinds of food growing up. My mother was great, she cooked a lot of every day, kind of peasant Vietnamese food. I really learned a lot more about that later in life.

What were your favorites?

My grandmother's lasagna and chicken cacciatore are UN-beatable. Really amazing.

Chef Bloise has just returned from traveling in Italy. I asked him about travel and how or whether it influences his cooking.

Do you find travels spark and creativity? Do they inform the palate?

Well this was the second year of my "exploring my roots tour." Last year was Vietnam. Vietnam is amazing, it's pure and untouched by commercialism, well much of it is. It's still pretty un-jaded...traveling through country side is just amazing.

People ask if there's something I ate that I want to re-produce here. But travel does something different with me, It's not that there is something I want to create here that is just like I had there. Not as if there's something I saw that I want to recreate.

It's different. To me, that experience is almost sacred. I do try to recreate that feeling you get when you have that experience. I want to give people that feeling they had that makes them remember or re-experience that time they had the dish or the flavor somewhere else.

You know Vietnamese food is really clean food, you feel a certain way when you eat it. It has lots of sharp, pointy flavors with high accents and contrasting tastes.

Italian food, on the other hand, it's a comforting, round, feeling, you feel homey, loved. I try to capture all those feelings in my cooking.

Career - Did you always want to be a chef?

When I was a kid I wanted to be an Air Traffic Controller! I was good at math and my Dad was in the army, so I figured I'd join the army and do that. Then I hurt my leg and realized the Army wouldn't take me so I didn't know what to do. I was cooking quite a bit though, all my young punk high school jobs were in hospitality, so someone suggested Johnson & Wales (Culinary School). That, was that..

From "young punk" to chef

I asked about his path from Johnson & Wales to becoming Executive Chef at Wish.

Prior to his appointment, he served as executive chef of Miami Beach's Tantra restaurant, was executive sous chef a The Gaucho Room, formerly at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach, and served as executive sous chef under formere Wish chef E. Michael Reidt from November 2001 to November 2002.

Tony Goldman and Jessica Goldman-Srebnick of Goldman Properties invited him to talk when they were conducting a national search. He agreed and they decided he would do a tasting. The new owners were very welcoming. They listened to Michael's vision, the direction and theme he wanted the restaurant to take.

When he prepared a tasting for them and was convinced that each course was worse than the last. (There's a good lesson for us all here, it was a success.)

Michael is animated in his enthusiasm for the owners of Wish. "Tony is great to work for. They give me all kinds of latitude which makes all the difference. It's really a huge difference in a restaurant experience to have the kind of management that let's you execute your vision, very rare."

And now...

What's your favorite food to prepare?

I do enjoy braising pretty much anything.

What about braising?

Well, I always root for the underdog, so to take a humble piece of meat, something that might only be peasant food, to let it reveal its nature, coax the best out of it, that's what I really enjoy.

A lot of chefs have neither the time nor the inclination to cook at home. Is your kitchen is filled with takeout containers or exotic ingredients?

[laughs] No take out containers...I try to eat pretty healthy. Cheeses, juices, lettuces, I have an eight year old son so I really try to avoid having processed foods in the house, I don't really want him eating that kind of food.

Do you cook with him?

Yeah, he's pretty good in the kitchen, kind of natural.

Do you want to encourage him to be a chef? It's a pretty hard life.

Yeah, maybe I'll encourage him to go after something easier - like professional athlete or rock star. [Laughs again] Yes, I'm teaching to cook some, he's got good instincts.

Okay, what's your guilty food pleasure?What's the one thing you wouldn't really want anyone to know you like to eat?

I like American Pasteurized Cheese food...Kraft singles...I know that goes against everything I just said about staying away from processed foods...[laughs] but...

We agreed, they do make great grilled cheese sandwiches!