THESE STUDENTS CAN TAKE THE HEAT. PHOTOS COURTESY FIU SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY / MITCHELL ZACHS

Raising the Steaks
FIU Students Join Celebrity Chefs in preparing Feasts Fit for South Beach

By Lee Molloy

On a recent Tuesday at Florida International University’s (FIU) School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, more than 30 students crowded around desks in a conference room with a sense of purpose that made the place feel more like the command center for a military operation than a classroom.

Here though, chefs and culinary coordinators took the place of captains and colonels. These were the first of roughly 160 students that would gather to receive orientation for BubbleQ, an event being organized by the students themselves for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SBWFF) on Friday, Feb. 26, and held on the beach at the Delano, 1685 Collins Ave., in Miami Beach.

At BubbleQ this year, Perrier-Jouet Champagne will wash down all the barbecue foods being prepared by some of the greatest grillers in the business, including Food Network superstar, and winner of the 2009 SBWFF lifetime achievement award, Emeril Lagasse.

Michelin Star-winning chef Mauro Colagreco will also rock the grill, along with local celebrities in the restaurant community: Allen Susser of Chef Allen’s in Aventura, Jonathan Eismann of Pacific Time, and Miami’s own grill guru, Howie Kleinberg of Bulldog Barbecue. FIU’s Chief Instructor, Chef Michael Moran, made the stakes clear to the students. "We’re ambassadors," he said. "Not just for the school, but also for the festival."

Moran is used to semi-ambassadorial roles, having been the executive chef for King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. "I’ve cooked for most of the leaders of the world," he told The Lead. "Including the Queen of England and the President of Italy."

After working at FIU for two decades, Moran has seen many changes in the culinary landscape of Miami, including BubbleQ at the SBWFF, which he says has grown from roughly 400 guests and six chefs in 2001, to 29 chefs cooking for 3,000 guests this year. "BubbleQ is one of the events that really got the whole thing rolling," Moran told The Lead.

"We used to do all the preparation at the school, but we outgrew the kitchens," he says, adding now they have to make use of the "biggest kitchen in the city" at the Miami Beach Convention Center. "It’s about as big as it gets," he says of the event. Ultimately, Moran thinks BubbleQ really benefits the students. "We have a tremendous pool of talent here," he said. AJ Mindermann is Chef Moran’s right hand.

Mindermann is an FIU graduate and was asked to come back as a teaching assistant. He says that what makes the SBWFF so special is the fact that it is run by the students. "Students come to this school specifically to work at this festival," he said. One talented student is junior Dayanna Camere, a hospitality major. Although Camere is taking cooking as a course requirement, she is still excited about getting some one-on-one time with a celebrity chef.

"Emeril would be nice," she says when asked who she would like to work with. But "I’m just looking forward to the experience," she said. "It’ll be fun." Bianca Rojas, currently in her final semester toward her master’s in hospitality management, is working as the Assistant Culinary Coordinator. Rojas must tackle the human resources nightmare of putting 160 students into gainful employment for almost a week prepping food and working as chef aides at the actual event. "It looks like a lot of responsibility, but I wouldn’t have done this for four years if the payoff wasn’t good," she said, explaining that the reward wasn’t financial, but rather "a sense of camaraderie, and being able to create lasting friendships." Sitting next to Rojas is one of those friends, Francesca "Frenchy" Mingo, a senior working BubbleQ for the second year.

"Last year was amazing and I was asked to come back this year," she said. "Although it is fun to create almost 30,000 tasting portions, the work is hard," she says. "We put in almost 80 hours in one week - It’s tough work." Along with getting to work with someone perhaps famous for their own line of steak sauce, students who work the SBWFF get scholarship money for their efforts. The students clock in and out to record their hours, and at the end of the semester receive their pay in scholarship funds.

In 2009, the event raised roughly $2 million for the FIU School of Hospitality and the Southern Wine and Spirits Beverage Management Center at the school. When the event is finished, any food that is left over that will go bad will be collected by South Florida charity Feeding South Florida (previously known as the Daily Bread Food Bank) for distribution to the needy.

"Last year we were able to recover about 2,500 meals," Moran told the students in the makeshift command center. "Which is something we can be proud of." Find out more about the South Beach Wine and Food Festival events.

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