Pubbelly

For some little boys, cow tongue and frog legs constitute the stuff of nightmares. Not so for young José Mendín. Exotic ingredients were simply part and parcel of his great grandmother’s busy kitchen. As one of the first Puerto Ricans to graduate with a culinary degree, her vibrant kitchen inspired him and the grown up Mendín still refers to her tattered recipe books for sage culinary counsel. Though generations apart, Mendín also shared his great-grandmother’s appreciation of culinary education, earning a Culinary Arts Degree from Johnson and Wales University. After graduating, he worked alongside acclaimed chef Justin Murphy, melding Florida’s regional flavors and Caribbean spices within the hugely popular “Floribbean” cuisine movement at the upscale Turnberry Isle Resort & Club. Mendín went on to train rigorously with Nobu Matsuhisa henchman Thomas Buckley at Nobu London, spending four months under his “master” to learn the proper balance of Japanese influences within a hot kitchen. This training made him an integral part of Nobu Miami’s opening team as junior sous chef and would later set the foundation for his role as chef de cuisine at SUSHISAMBA dromo. Before joining SUSHISAMBA dromo, Mendín’s quest for culinary excellence continued when he traveled to Spain to work at Taller de Cocina Ramiro, a famed kitchen lab located in Castilla y Leon. Mendín continued his Spanish tutelage at the world-famous Meson de Candido in Segovia and the Michelin rated El Chaflan in Madrid. Recognizing many of his significant contributions, the restaurant elevated Mendín to the esteemed title of assistant corporate chef in 2007. In his new role, Mendín is eager to put his culinary signature on the menu at all SUSHISAMBA locations. Mendin in 2008 took the task of opening SushiSamba Strip at The Palazzo in Las Vegas where he got awarded best Asian Restaurant 2009 by The Las Vegas Review Journal. In late 2009 he left Sushi Samba and joined Mercadito Restaurants as Coporate Chef where he successfully opened Mercadito Chicago in September 2009 and Mercadito Midtown Miami in April 2010. At the sametime he consulted for Sushi Maki restaurants where he changed their menu and gave them a more contemporary and modern twist. “Although some of the cities in which we operate do not have seasons, I like to bring the seasons to them,” says Mendín, citing national purveyors he connects with, from Maine to Oregon, to create his dishes. A media darling, with coverage in Ocean Drive Magazine, NPR and “Despierta America” – the Hispanic version of “Good Morning America.”