25 March 9-15, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | Miami Beach Live! is back with four weekends of fun, sun, fitness, and sweat. The City of Miami Beach has partnered with various organizations to provide diverse health and wellness events happening all month long. Whether you want to get in on the action or cheer others on, there’s an event for you! Check out MiamiBeachLive.com and get in on the fun. M OV E . W I T H . U S KEEP IT MOVING ALL MONTH LONG miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | It’s a Family Affair Val Chang opens Maty’s in Midtown. BY NICOLE DANNA I t’s hard to believe that just two months ago, Miami chef and restaurateur Val Chang wasn’t even thinking about open- ing a new restaurant — let alone one dedicated to the women who have been instrumental in her love for Peruvian fare. The 31-year-old tells New Times that a ca- sual conversation with the space’s previous occupants — the recently shuttered Sour Seed Bagels and Thatch — blossomed into an op- portunity to work together on a new venture. For the past five years, Chang has worked alongside her business partners and family — her father, Fernando and brother Nando — producing some of the city’s most innovative Nikkei cuisine with their Miami Design Dis- trict establishment, Itamae, and casual eatery B-Side located inside Wynwood’s 1-800-Lucky market. Today, fans of Itamae (which received a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod in 2022) are in- timately familiar with Val’s backstory. She is a talented chef who immigrated with her family from Chiclayo, Peru, when she was 10. She grew up watching her father cook at a sushi restaurant, which inspired the family’s restaurant. What they may not know, however, is her early life at home: memories of feasting on dishes prepared by her paternal grand- mother, Marta, alongside the family’s house- hold cook that inspired an appreciation for the homemade recipes that now take center stage at Maty’s. For the past few weeks, working day and night to rethink the Midtown Miami space while composing a menu of Peruvian staple dishes, Val says she’s excited to share a glimpse into her childhood via an ambitious new project. “Nando and I really wanted a place where we can both express ourselves creatively, and this is my take on my grandma Marta’s cook- ing, but also my maternal grandmother and the other two women who helped shape me into the chef I am today,” explains Val. “Even the menu will be written in my grandmoth- er’s handwriting. It’s all about keeping that tradition alive.” The indoor/outdoor restaurant will debut later this month, with a tentative opening date slated for March 13. When it launches, expect the menu to highlight traditional Pe- ruvian cuisine, with all its dishes inspired by Chang’s family, informed by her professional training, and imbued with her style and punchy flavors. “The food that created me will be the food created here,” says Chang, who will use fam- ily recipes to create the menu. “Maty’s will be about celebrating Peruvian cuisine, not rei- magining or redefining it.” While the debut menu has yet to be re- vealed, the chef shared a few of her signature opening dishes with New Times, including one close to her heart: a hearty chicken stew known as pollo guisado that her family often ate on Sunday. At Maty’s, the dish will include secret rec- ipe tweaks from various matriarchal influ- ences, be it ingredients like chicha morada, soy sauce, beer, or aji amarillo — each one a secret “touch” offered to the chef by friends and family members. The menu also will focus on Peruvian sta- ples like tiradito and ceviche, each made with fresh Florida catches; salads that highlight lo- cal, seasonal produce; and a bevy of dishes served at the Chang family dinner table like the yuca rellena stuffed with Wagyu strip steak, Alfonso olives, and raisins — a recipe that dates back to Chang’s great-grandmother. “As an immigrant, I’m always trying to find ways of connecting to our home, to Peru, and it’s my goal to give the world a little taste of that right here in Miami,” sums up Val. “This is the food closest to my heart, and I want to honor that by executing it at the fin- est level without losing the soul and love that makes the food what it is.” Maty’s. 3255 NE First Ave., Miami. Opening March 13. Reservations can be made via resy.com. [email protected] ▼ Café Maty’s photo Miami chef Val Chang will open Maty’s — named after her paternal grandmother — later this month in Midtown Miami.
