Antonio Bachour grew up in Puerto Rico and was hooked on pastry from a young age, thanks to a childhood spent in his family’s bakery. He went on to graduate from Johnson & Wales, and then spent his first few years honing his trade in Puerto Rico as a pastry cook at Sand Hotel and Casino and Westin Rio Mar before moving on to the Ritz-Carlton in San Juan, where he was pastry sous chef for two years. 2001 found Bachour States-bound, in Miami Beach, as pastry chef at Talula. And soon he was trying his hand at Italian delicacies at both Devito South Beach and Scarpetta in New York and Miami.

In 2009, Bachour was asked by KNR Food Concepts to be a part of the opening team at the W South Beach Hotel, and particularly Solea. Shortly after, he took over responsibility for all pastries for The Trump Soho hotel and its restaurants. Dessert Professional Magazine selected Bachour as one of their “Top 10 Pastry Chefs” for 2011. Now, we're fortunate enough to have Bachour as the executive pastry chef at the new St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort creating desserts for the restaurants Atlantico and J&G Grill, and also for hotel events.

Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate with us! Shout-outs to Gramps Bar, Burger Beast, Ms. Cheezious, HipPOPs, 42º Below Vodka, Mandarine Napoleon and Domaine De Canton for make it extra special…

South Beach just got even cheekier. Over in the South of Fifth neighborhood, collaborators Jamie DeRosa and Michael Regenbogen are reconstructing our notions of what constitutes a contemporary American dish.

“Tongue & Cheek to me is whimsical, it’s fun,” explains DeRosa. “We have a play on words on a lot of things. We have a pudding pop on the menu that’s a popsicle. It started out as a chocolate popsicle and someone said, ‘This is better than a Bill Cosby pudding pop.’ And that became the name.”

Other mouthfuls on the menu include a Beef Cheek burger that arrives sans the usual trappings (no lettuce, no tomato, no onion). “No frills, no thrills,” as DeRosa says. Of course, DeRosa and his team are serving up plenty of cheek and tongue variations, including a poutine.

Even the cocktail names are creative. Try a Bourbon for Apples, with bourbon-soaked apple ice cubes floating in a cooling concoction, or the strawberry-and-gin-based Walking Dead (DeRosa is a fan of the AMC television hit). Like any good South Beach establishment, Tongue & Cheek also features a molecular margarita with an overflowing liquid nitrogen preparation.

“I think the name and the ambiance and the more welcoming vibe that you get when you come into Tongue & Cheek matches the food,” DeRosa explains. “For us it was important to have art and music and food and service be one.” It’s all in an effort to keep Tongue & Cheek a neighborhood hangout that appeals to locals. For instance, every day at 5pm, guests can sit down for a family-style meal of comfort-food morsels like grilled cheese and hoagies. It’s Tongue & Cheek’s way of giving back to the community.

Check out the video above to get a glimpse of the restaurant’s witty art by local Miamian Claudio Picasso and hear what’s on the daily-rotating family meal menu. Then stop in and grab a seat at the snack bar serving nostalgic bottled sodas and made-to-order small plates presented in old-school cafeteria trays. They have tongues wagging.

In order of appearance:
• Isaac Grillo of Haven
• George Motz of Burger Land
• Jamie De Rosa of Tongue & Cheek
• Jose Mendin of Pubbelly
• Carlos Larcada of Pao Town
• Anthony Fellows of HipPOPs
• Alejandro Ortiz of ACME Bakery
• Carlos Centurion of Bulla
• Andrew Carmellini of The Dutch
• Alberto Cabrera of Bread and Butter
• Chef Bee of Khong River House
• Richard Hales of Sakaya Kitchen
• Sef Gonzalez of Burger Beast
• Thomas Connell of Fontainebleau
• Yannis Janssens of Lee & Marie’s Cakery
• Daniel Serfer of Blue Collar
• Antonio Bachour of St. Regis Bal Harbour
• Robert Ferrara of Swine Southern
• Hedy Goldsmith of Michaels Genuine
• Mercy Gonzalez of El Rey De Las Fritas

At Trenchermen, good things come in pairs. With award-winning brothers Patrick and Michael Sheerin behind the unconventional menu, it’s easy to see why two heads are better than one at this venture.

Chat Chow TV spoke with this spritely duo about how they’ve elevated comfort food to a new standard.

“A lot of things that we do with our food has kind of taken stuff from what we’ve always found comforting and then trying to elevate it to a definitely creative and definitely a somewhat inventive way,” says Michael.

And with so much innovative training under their sleeves, these brothers are delivering masterful, mouthwatering dishes (watch the video above to see why the Pickled Tots are one of the most reviewed and celebrated dishes in the joint).

Patrick earned his cooking chops at fine establishments around Chicago (The Signature Room at the 95th and Four Seasons, to name a few). In the beginning, Michael followed suit, originally standing in as a morning butcher to Patrick’s pastry chef position at Toque. The two moved around the restaurant world, sometimes together and sometimes honing skills separately, until they found their way back to one another at Trenchermen, their first restaurant together.

“We just wanted to create a restaurant that was at its core really fun, fun to be in, but from a food and service standpoint, more in the fine-dining realm,” explains Patrick. “There are two sides to it, where they’re dining on the one side and it’s still in the convivial and casual sense but it’s more of a dining experience. Whereas we have our a bar, a big, beautiful bar which […] definitely provides more of that convivial atmosphere. But like we said, it’s very warm, very inviting and for lack of a better term, sexy at night. Definitely the lights come down. The candles get lit and it’s kind of a great place to hang out.”

So, pull up an antique barstool around the rich-wood, squared bar—the place’s central focal point—and enjoy a stirred-not-shaken Desperate Vesper (an ode to James Bond with Plymouth Gin, Lillet and Jeppson's Malört) under the recycled green-glass hanging lanterns. Very sexy, indeed.