Norman Van Aken: First "American Visionary"

By JULIETTE ROSSANT I just got a nice note from Anna Elena Pedron, PR and Marketing manager, which included an official press release about her boss: The 2005 South Beach Wine & Food Festival will honor world-renowned chef and local culinary legend Norman Van Aken with the inaugural American Visionary Award. The revered master—praised by Gourmet magazine, the James Beard Foundation, The New York Times and others—first earned notice as the leader of the so-called “Mango Gang,” a small group of highly creative chefs who put South Florida cuisine on the culinary map. The American Visionary Award will be presented to Van Aken by Richard Booth, Vice President and General Manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of South Florida at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival BubbleQ, a champagne-drenched gourmet barbecue extravaganza that takes place from 7:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 25, 2005, at the Delano Hotel, South Beach. Hosting the event are Ian Schrager of Morgans Hotel Group, Jeffrey Chodorow of China Grill Management and his wife Linda, along with Georges Blanck of Moet & Chandon, publisher Jerry Power of Ocean Drive, and publisher Julie McGowan and editor-in-chief Dana Cowin of Food & Wine. NBC Today Show host and cookbook author Al Roker will also be on hand for this very special night. I remember Norm from a long way back... My mother was an early fan of his among New York's Foodies and wrote about him when he worked at Mano in Miami Beach. We met at the 19th American Wine & Food Festival in Los Angeles (Barbara Lazaroff invited me), where he was a star among many other stars, and I was struck at once by his easy-going manner -- and tasty food! Since then, we have kept in touch, and he was a source for Super Chef. I continue to marvel at his inventiveness with Caribbean, Latin America, and Asian cuisines. Also, I watch his career -- particularly since he made the move into "superchefdom" by expanding his restaurant empire, which includes Norman’s in Coral Gables and Norman’s in Los Angeles, Norman's in Orlando, and, soon, Ocean Reef Resort. Cooks and readers across the coutnry know the self-taught Norm through his four amazing cookbooks. Previous articles: Les Enfantes Terribles devient terriblement vieux After the Hurricane, Norman Van Aken Breezes Gently In Wolf Wines & Dines, or Puck's Party