Growing up in Little Havana, Ariete’s Executive Chef and Owner Michael Beltran watched his Cuban exile grandparents bring people together with food. Whether on regular nights at the dinner table or special occasions like nochebuena with extended family, Michael learned to love not just the meals, but the community that formed around them.
While he loved food, young Michael’s energy tended to be focused on sports. While playing college football in Virginia, he got his first taste of professional kitchens. On returning to Miami, he brought a defensive lineman’s competitive spirit and team ethic to a new craft and career: cooking. He honed his skills at some of Miami’s most celebrated restaurants, under South Florida culinary greats like chefs Norman Van Aken and Michael Schwartz. If Beltran family cooks had instilled in Michael a love for food as a tool for deepening relationships, his professional mentors opened his eyes to high-level technique and the possibilities of cuisine as a vehicle for storytelling.
Chef Beltran’s, twice named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South, and 2021 StarChefs Rising Star, Ariete Hospitality Group’s Ariete is now honored with a 2022 MICHELIN guide star. Chug’s Diner, Chef Beltran’s take on a Cuban – American diner, is also honored with a 2022 MICHELIN guide Bib Gourmand, and Navé, his seafood and pasta driven restaurant, currently holds a special mention in the MICHELIN guide.
Bryant was raised in a household where canning, pickling, and making your own ketchup was a way of life. His parents are of French, Greek and Irish descent and a home cooked meal prepared by his mother, was part of their everyday. Going out to a restaurant was reserved for only the most special of occasions.
Bryant began working in kitchens at the age of 15 at local joints and steakhouses. Once he decided his career was in the restaurant industry, he moved to Richmond where he was immersed in the southern food scene on a professional level. In 2005, Chef Bryant moved to Los Angeles in order to gain further fine dining experience with, James Beard Award Winning Chef, Norman Van Aken. Two years later, he moved to South Florida as Chef Van Aken’s Executive Sous Chef and later on, he took the helm as Executive Chef. In 2011, he took a position at Yardbird Southern Table. After its first year open, Yardbird was nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. He went on to become the Executive Chef of 50 Eggs’ third concept, Swine Southern Table and Bar.
Chef Bryant then turned his attention to a small gastro pub in Coral Gables, The Local. Once viewed as a dive bar, Chef Phil turned it into one of the premier dining spots in Miami through daily changing menus and locally sourced ingredients.
In recent years Phillip has taken on the role as a Corporate Chef for Ariete Hospitality Group.
EMAIL – TEXT CLUB
Exclusive Deals And Special Info!
