Top Chef in South Florida Celebrate Your Kids! - HERLIFE Magazine

in the culinary world. “I was home on break for college, and
feeling like nothing had really taken a hold of me yet. I hadn’t
felt that passion that I had felt when I was dancing. It wasn’t
until my mom and I were cooking in her kitchen that an idea
sparked. She turned to me and said, ‘You should think about
going to culinary school…maybe you could be on TV and teach
people about healthy eating and how to cook?’”
That was in 1992, and female chefs were few and far
between. Still, Michelle thought about what her mom said and
decided to do some exploring. “There happened to be a new
culinary arts school opening up less than a mile away from
where my parents lived. Mom and I decided to stop by and
see what it was all about. When I walked in and began to look
around, I got these butterflies in my stomach. I still wasn’t sure
what it was all about, but I knew I was in love. I enrolled and
took a leap into this new world.”
It wasn’t an easy journey for Michelle. She was a tiny,
petite girl trying to fit into what was then a very male dominated
world. “The guys in school would make fun of me and tell
me I would never be a chef. The environment was tough and it
was a constant struggle…I was a fragile, petite former dancer,
which definitely did not fit in to this testosterone driven field.”
Michelle began working outside of the culinary school
at Mark Millitello’s, Mark’s Place Restaurant in North Miami.
Starting out at the pizza and salad station, Michelle spent a lot
of time observing and watching the other guys. She learned
a lot and after 1 ½ years, she had advanced her way up to the
back line. It was then that she was confronted head on with a
chef who would inadvertently help shape her into who she is
today. “There was one chef in particular, Doug Reese, who was
especially hard on me. He’d walk past me and shove me against
the wall, and was constantly rough with me. He did everything
he could to make my life miserable. One day, he pulled me
aside and said, ‘If you want to be in this business, you’ve got to
gain some weight and get some muscles on you. You can’t be
asking people to carry stuff for you all the time and you need to
toughen up.’”
“Doug was right and was a major influence in my life. I
began weight training and became strong enough physically
to hold my own on the line. The path to becoming a chef was
physically and mentally hard. There has been a lot of misery,
frustration, hospital visits, burns, cuts and more…it isn’t an
easy profession and is definitely not as glamorous as one would
suspect. It requires a certain amount of testosterone and inner
fire to succeed.”
It was several years later that Michelle met her husband,
David Martinez. “We met when I was a chef at the Mandarin
Oriental. I had low self-esteem and even though I was doing
well as a chef, I still lacked a certain amount of confidence. It
was David who gave me the courage and inspired me to stand
alone…to break out from under the names I was working for
and to make a name for myself.”
Michelle has proven that she has what it takes to succeed
in the industry. Her husband, David, has taken a supportive
back seat, helping Michelle to open three successful restaurants
(Michelle Bernstein’s at the Omphoy, Michy’s and Sra. Marti-
12 HERLIFEmagazine.com