CHEF ADRIANNE CALVO

These powerhouse bites are some of the first flavors introduced since Chef Adrianne’s opened in 2007.

My story begins in 1984. As a young kid growing up in Florida to Cuban born parents, I wasn’t running home after school to kick around a soccer ball or check out the latest video game, I was running into the kitchen to help my mom put dinner on the table.What I would learn later in life is these countless days spent watching her sprinkle a little bit of this and mixing in a little bit of that into sumptuous dishes that my family and I would relish in together is what inevitably started my drive to become a chef.

After a scheduling mistake in high school that landed me in a cooking class rather than a journalism class on THE day hospitality giant Johnson & Wales University came to do a presentation, my professional journey began. And yes…I do believe in fate! I entertained my competitive side with a slew of cooking competitions and was fortunate enough to be called upon by the Florida Marlins to cater the 2003 World Series. After graduating Johnson & Wales University I took a position with Five Diamond Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami where I learned first-hand from Executive Chef Patrick Lassaque the good, the bad and the ugly of the restaurant business. Shortly after, I landed in Napa Valley to stage with the great Chef Thomas Keller and Chef Cindy Pawlcyn. I still pinch myself that I was able to gleam even a sliver of knowledge from these remarkable chefs.

While some people thought a teenager had no business writing a cookbook, I had so many ideas, recipes, food memories I wanted to make a reality since I was a small child that a book seemed like a natural next step. I mustered together what I could and self-published my first book Maximum Flavor but the sales struggled. Did I bite off more than I could chew? Possibly. Then, as fate may have it, the phone rang and a producer with the Montell Williams show claimed to be on the other end (though I was convinced I was being pranked by a friend).

My story begins in 1984. As a young kid growing up in Florida to Cuban born parents, I wasn’t running home after school to kick around a soccer ball or check out the latest video game, I was running into the kitchen to help my mom put dinner on the table.What I would learn later in life is these countless days spent watching her sprinkle a little bit of this and mixing in a little bit of that into sumptuous dishes that my family and I would relish in together is what inevitably started my drive to become a chef.

After a scheduling mistake in high school that landed me in a cooking class rather than a journalism class on THE day hospitality giant Johnson & Wales University came to do a presentation, my professional journey began. And yes…I do believe in fate! I entertained my competitive side with a slew of cooking competitions and was fortunate enough to be called upon by the Florida Marlins to cater the 2003 World Series. After graduating Johnson & Wales University I took a position with Five Diamond Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami where I learned first-hand from Executive Chef Patrick Lassaque the good, the bad and the ugly of the restaurant business. Shortly after, I landed in Napa Valley to stage with the great Chef Thomas Keller and Chef Cindy Pawlcyn. I still pinch myself that I was able to gleam even a sliver of knowledge from these remarkable chefs.