TASTE 2023 miaminewtimes.com 88 chef-driven restaurant or in a village ravaged by an earthquake. “It’s a vocation of serving others. I always ask people if they like the food I’m serving, and José wants to know that people are satisfied with their meals. The essence of being a chef is cooking.” When Hoyos opens Tacoto- mia, she intends to cook with her soul. “I’m super excited to just get back to basics. These are the recipes that made me fall in love with food,” she says, adding that the recipes are the same that her grandmother made for her as a child. “I spent summers on her farm near Veracruz. She milked the cows, she grew vegetables. The food at Tacotomia is Mexican food, but it’s different. It’s made with local ingredients.” Hoyos says that when Tacot- omia opens, her 84-year-old grandmother, Evelia, will be there. And she’s in for a sur- prise. “There’s a huge picture of her on the wall,” says Hoyos. But before she can feed a thousand people at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and introduce Miami to her grand- mother’s recipes, some people in Turkey need the comfort that a warm meal and a kind word can bring in the direst of situations. Hoyos says that working with WCK gives her life a balance that wasn’t there before. “Lately, I’m a little more aware of what life is worth. It’s crazy how much luxury we have and don’t even see it. It makes you appreciate things more. I’ve learned that in a man- ner of seconds, everything you think is so important can all fade away.” While she admits that trying everything is tough, Hoyos feels compelled to try. “I will open a restaurant. I will get things going. But if you have a shot at helping, why wouldn’t you? We all do what we can.” [email protected] key lime pie and stone crabs. Among the early cookbooks Favretto and her team have compiled, dishes share com- mon ingredients Miami chefs still use today, while others have been lost to both time and taste. Most materials date back to the 1950s and highlight the Semi- nole tribe and early Caribbean and Bahamian influences. Famil- iar fruits like papaya, guava, coco- nut, and mango are found in every manuscript, but also sea grape, rosella, and natal plum. Likewise, seafood such as crab, lobster, snapper, pompano, and grouper are there, but we no longer see the once-popular turtle soup, Everglades-sourced frog legs, gopher gumbo, or squirrel stew. A book dubbed “Living Off the Land” by Marian Van Atta that once sold for $1.95 shares reci- pes that instruct people how to live off Florida’s fauna and flora. Recipes include jams and tapioca puddings made with all manner of wild fruit, steamed coquinas (small clams), barbecued wild boar, and boiled armadillo served over dumplings or boiled potatoes. “What’s Cooking in the Ca- ribbean,” a spiral-bound book published by the Ladies Guild of the Foreign Colony in 1957, shares more familiar dishes — Domini- can recipes for yucca fritters or guava and jelly cheese rolls. “The Bahamian Cookbook,” a col- lection of recipes from Nassau women compiled by Leslie Higgs in 1974, points to our longtime love for dishes like fresh-caught baked grouper and conch fritters. And the “Seminole Indian Reci- pes,” printed in 1987, shares early staples like sea grape soup and alligator tail steaks. When they weren’t cooking at home, Miami’s early restaurant patrons ordered ev- erything from all- day breakfast items to lavish meals. A 1955 menu from Caribe Restaurant in Key West acts as a map and guide, highlighting points of interest like the Southernmost Point, Little White House, and Ernest Hemingway’s former residence alongside tips for local dishes. They include native Florida fare like rock lobster, red snapper, turtle steaks, and key lime pie. A 1950 Wolfie’s menu shares what a typical breakfast, lunch, or late-night meal would cost at the popular all-day Mi- ami Beach cafe and Jewish delicatessen that opened in the 1940s and closed in 2008. Located at the intersection of 172nd Street and Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, when it first opened, a single fried egg was 30 cents, “appetizers” like lox and cream cheese served with fresh rolls cost 65 cents; a “Hollywood” salad of mixed greens, chicken Ju- lienne, salami, tongue, and Swiss cheese was $2 for two people; and a daily special of made-to-order corned beef hash cost 75 cents. Best known for its overstuffed sandwiches, one of the most expensive items on Wolfie’s menu wasn’t the 95- cent combination of kosher corned beef and Roma- nian-style pastrami — the likes of which demand $15 or more today — but roast turkey with ham, Swiss, lettuce, and Russian dressing, which sold for $1.50. But it’s an illustrated menu shaped like a stein that offers a look at one of the area’s longest- standing restaurants, Old Hei- delberg in Fort Lauderdale. The nearly 80-year-old menu tells the story of founding owner Frank Foerch, who opened the original establishment sometime in the 1930s, a half mile from Gulfstream Park in Hallandale. His dream: to bring something “new, different, and original” to Florida, it states. At the time, the restaurant offered guests two live entertain- ment shows a night paired with live music, dancing, and an a la carte menu known for its pig’s knuckles, Hungarian beef gou- lash, Bavarian bratwurst, Wiener schnitzel, and roast prime rib. In the ‘50s, appetizers like the Florida fruit cup and chopped chicken liver cost 50 cents, entrees no more than $5, and a martini was 95 cents. Nearly a century later — and two owners since Foerch — din- ers can still visit Old Heidelberg, which moved to its current Fort Lauderdale location in 1986, according to staff. The walls at the entrance document the past through pictures, from black and white to color, sharing glimpses of the venue’s storied history. And while the menu has changed considerably over time, a few things remain the same: the goulash; a platter of housemade sausages; sauerbraten served with dumplings and red cab- bage; and a warm apple strudel. “Food says so much about a time and place,” sums up Favretto. “What we eat tells us a story, too. It’s a shared his- tory we can all appreciate.” University of Miami Libraries. 1300 Memorial Dr., Coral Gables; 305-284-3233; library.miami.edu. [email protected] The Savor Savers from p6 Tragedy Calls from p4 World Central Kitchen photo RECIPES INCLUDE BOILED ARMADILLO SERVED OVER DUMPLINGS.
