Audio By Carbonatix
A veteran Miami restaurateur, Myles Chefetz owns some of
the hottest eateries in town — all of which are within a block of one another.
First came the eclectic Nemo, which was followed by the amped-up diner Big
Pink. Chefetz really hit his stride six years ago with Prime One Twelve, which
reinvented the steak-house concept. Good luck getting in there; the wait is
often two hours, even with a reservation. Other successful culinary forays
include Shoji Sushi and Prime Italian. Most recently, he has debuted the Prime
Hotel and Lounge, cementing himself as the king of South of Fifth Street.
While Miamians have long acknowledged Chefetz’s restaurant-mogul
status, he was recently recognized as a semifinalist for the James Beard
Foundation’s prestigious Outstanding Restaurateur award. As a longtime friend
and fan of Myles, I sat down with him to get the skinny on his James Beard
nomination, the secrets to his success, and the deviled egg craze.
New Times: Congrats on
the James Beard Award. I think I was the first person to tell you about it.
What was your reaction?
Myles Chefetz: I was more surprised than anything because I
don’t have a PR company. I fly under the radar because of that. I don’t
publicize myself personally. Many of the other nominees have New York
connections, and the James Beard Foundation is out of New York. Stephen Starr
has New York connections, for example. I am not really involved with the James
Beard Foundation. How did they get my name out of 21,000 names? .
What has been the key
to your success as a restaurateur?
I have a real passion for food
and the business. I have an unusual understanding of what people like. I
represent the masses.
It’s a combination of
elements: the way food looks, the way it tastes, the variety of food, and the
way a menu mixes together. The ambiance in the place should not be
overwhelming, yet it makes you feel good. There are a lot of subliminal things
that hit the senses.
I have a crazy attention to detail. The restaurant business is
all detail. It’s more than that, obviously. It’s taking care of people. It’s
understanding hospitality. It’s getting that right mix of showtime every night.
I turn to Prime One Twelve because that’s the one that’s been the huge success
that one can only dream of in a lifetime. That has to be the same show going
all the time. It’s a tireless effort.
Is it ever quiet at
Prime One Twelve?
No. I’ve been busy for six years. We’ve always had a wait
except for a couple hurricane evacuation nights. Only on mandatory hurricane
evacuation nights. Regular hurricane evacuation nights we were still on a wait.
What mistakes have you
learned from along the way?
I’ve learned not to jump at every deal. I was very
aggressive when I was younger. As I’ve
gotten older, I’ve realized that there is a huge time opportunity cost with
every deal. When I was younger, people would throw money and locations at me. I
thought if it didn’t cost me anything, I could make a lot of money from this.
The mistake that I learned is not to jump at every deal.
I’m much more
conservative today. I’ve realized I only have a certain amount of deals in me.
I’m not a deal junkie. People think that I am because I have so many
restaurants, but they are all very methodically planned out now. Each restaurant has an impact on the other restaurant. I was going to open a place in Las Vegas and New
York. Coincidentally, the economy turned. But even before that, I was nervous
about not being here because I control my restaurants so well by being here.
The double-edged sword is that everyone wants to see me. When I’m not there,
which is so rare, people get upset.
How often are you at
your restaurants?
I go sometimes 30, 40 nights in a row. The only thing that
has stopped me in the past was getting physically sick, which is not the way
that one should do it. There have been a few nights that I am going to take off
and then I get a call that so-and-so is coming in and wants to see me. So I end
up going in anyway. Plus I live here. I live eight seconds away. With traffic,
it’s a ten-second commute.
Why are all of your
restaurants clustered so close together?
The obvious reason is that I’m lazy. No. I can keep better
control. I also like this area. When I opened Nemo 15 years ago, this was
slated to be the luxury, high-end residential area. It has evolved into that.
It’s accessible. I get offers all of the time from different areas of Florida,
whether it’s Palm Beach or Aventura, but I don’t have any interest in it. To
me, it’s like why not be here just to take make a couple of extra dollars? It
doesn’t make sense to me.
Which is your most
successful restaurant?
Monetarily, Prime One Twelve. It’s not only nationally
known, but it’s internationally known. Prime One Twelve took the steak-house
concept to another level. It was the first modern steak house in the United
States. Now look at how many places are copying it. It spawned almost an
entire industry.
You’ve found other
restaurants that have copied your menu right down to the font.
Yes, I have. In fact, I think they’ve just photocopied the
menu. They haven’t even bothered to reprint it. I’d like to send them menu
updates from time to time.
What do you think of
all of the steak houses that have opened in Miami?
It’s good to a certain extent. But the market is overloaded
and they won’t all survive. When I opened Prime One Twelve, there was only
Smith & Wollensky here. There was Tuscan Steak, which was more Italian.
Now we have five modern steak houses here. With the recession, obviously they
start to get redundant. I don’t know that there are enough people to go around
for all of them.
How are you weathering
the economic downturn?
I’m really fortunate. I took an old retail concept and
meshed it with a restaurant concept. The old retail concept is that retail
brings more retail. It’s like the mall concept. By creating Prime One Twelve
and Prime Italian across the street, and now the Prime Hotel, it becomes a
whole event. It gives people more reason to come to my corner. My business is
actually up. This year, I’m up 18 percent from last year. I’ve been fortunate
not to be hit by the recession.
Do you know how many
people would kill to be in your position?
It’s a double-edged sword, I have to say. This is the real
proverbial “be careful what you wish for.” My life is so run by that restaurant.
Not that I’m necessarily running the restaurant, but the restaurant runs me. It
is so busy every night that I don’t get a break. I could take a break, but it’s
demanding. You wish for this runaway success. But me being neurotic and always
wanting things to be as close to perfection as possible, it’s very hard to
leave. Two nights ago, for example, I didn’t go in. That was the first time in
40 days. I got a text from a customer telling me that the cheese biscuits we
make at Nemo were undercooked. My first thought was, OK, I’ve seen them like that
at times. My second thought was, Had I been there, I could have rectified the situation
immediately. I would have gone into the bread warmer and taken out ones that
were cooked properly.
Do you keep up with
food trends?
Absolutely. South Beach has changed a lot in the last five
years. Back when I opened Nemo, it was very artsy. People in the ’90s were
looking for food with 100 ingredients. A lot of those people have moved out. If
you look at a restaurant like Joe’s Stone Crab, for example, Joe’s is very
approachable and understandable food. I’ve gotten more into that as I’ve
evolved as a restaurateur. It’s not all about me pushing and forcing a concept
on people. It’s giving people what they want and doing it really well. It’s
understanding what the people want and what your market is. At Prime One
Twelve, I cover all ethnicities. It’s a very diverse menu and I’m constantly
working on it.
You were one of the
first people to do gourmet deviled eggs, and now they are on everybody’s menu.
It’s unbelievable. Not only are they on every menu, but they
are truffled deviled eggs with the caviar. I’m seeing them everywhere. When I
was growing up, I loved deviled eggs. I used to eat them in the elementary
school cafeteria with the paprika on them. A steak house, to me, is high-end
comfort food. It’s things you always ate growing up. Like the tater tots. I had
them when I was a kid. So I came up with the idea to do tater tots. Now they
are on tons of steak-house menus. They are all over the place.
Tomorrow, in Part 2 of our Q&A with Myles
Chefetz, we get more in-depth on celebrities who dine at Prime One Twelve, his new hotel, and other
upcoming projects.
