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SOBEWFF: Menu Masters, Part 1

Cesar Zapata

Chef at: Phuc Yea (7100 Biscayne Blvd., Miami)

SOBEWFF Event (sobewff.org): Chicken Coupe, hosted by Michelle Bernstein; Feb. 25 at Jungle Plaza in Miami Design District. More than a dozen chefs will serve up their best fried chicken, along with homestyle sides and dessert. Six high-end Champagne houses also will be on hand with bottles of bubbly.

The Dish: Viet-Cajun fried chicken with sriracha aioli, lemongrass, Cajun spice and house pickles. โ€œThis is one of our signature dishes at Phuc Yea, and it really stands out to me because it showcases both of my favorite flavor profiles/cuisinesโ€”Vietnamese and Cajun. Once you bite into the tender chicken you immediately experience a rush of sweet, sour, spicy, bitter and crispy flavors.โ€

About Cesar: The native of Medellรญn, Colombiaโ€™s culinary journey began in earnest at Art Institute Houston, where he was exposed not only to regional barbecue and Mexican dishes but to the cityโ€™s robust Asian restaurant scene. Along with partner Ani Meinhold, Zapata launched Phuc Yea as Miamiโ€™s first pop-up concept in 2011. Five years later, the brick-and-mortar version opened in the MiMo district, where the modern Vietnamese mash-up remains as popular as ever.

Much-Deserved Honor: Last year, Phuc Yea earned Michelinโ€™s Bib Gourmand award as a restaurant with world-class cuisine as reasonable prices. Zapata calls it the โ€œmost pivotal moment in my chef journey โ€ฆ itโ€™s something Iโ€™ve always dreamed of.โ€

Fish Tales: Zapata calls the black cod at Phuc Yea his dish of the moment. โ€œCod is one of my favorite fish to eat and cook because itโ€™s so flaky, buttery, delicate and delicious,โ€ he says. โ€œAt Phuc Yea, we marinate the cod for 24 hours in a house char siu [Chinese barbecue] sauce. We then cook it in a cast-iron skillet until golden brown; itโ€™s served with nuoc cham [dipping sauce], garlic, fresh Thai bird chilies and fresh herbs.โ€

Kitchen Evolution: โ€œWhen I was a young chef I constantly would overthink and overcomplicate. Now, I cook from my heart and I only cook the things that I love. Simplicity has become an enormous component of my current style of cooking.โ€

Festival Feelings: โ€œIf there is one thing most chefs can agree on itโ€™s that food brings people together,โ€ Zapata says. โ€œSOBEWFF does precisely that. I love that participating in the festival means we are given the opportunity to cook alongside a diverse group of talented chefs and serve great food to the community that we love.โ€

On the Horizon: โ€œCurrently, we are working on creating a lounge in the lobby of the restaurant for people to drink and listen to music played on vinyl. As for the Mad Phucs brand as a whole, we just opened a stand at the FTX Arena. Weโ€™re continuing to raise awareness through the charities Iโ€™m involved with, including No Kid Hungry and Humans Who Feed Us.โ€

Contact: 7100 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; phucyea.com

Photography by Eduardo Schneider

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