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Behind the Line at Wish

Chef Marco Ferraro from Wish, winner of Miami New Times' "Best Outdoor Dining" award in 2007, one of four "Best of's" we've awarded the hotel/restaurant, says "I'm Italian. Our cuisine is contemporary-American with a global influence. We do new-American food with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. Local is great...

By Jacob Katel

January 13, 2009

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Chef Marco Ferraro from Wish, winner of Miami New Times' "Best Outdoor Dining" award in 2007, one of four "Best of's" we've awarded the hotel/restaurant, says "I'm Italian. Our cuisine is contemporary-American with a global influence. We do new-American food with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. Local is great. At the end of the day it's not so much what you're using on your dish, it's the quality of your product."

Chef Marco Ferraro, Sous Chef Sergio Wicle, and Line Cook Greg Kunath

"The job of a chef is not so easy," he continues, "to find a place where you're happy at work, I definitely hit the mark here. My dad tol' me, 'Marco, make sure you love what you're doin', cause you're gonna be doin' it 40 or 50 years.' Everybody here loves what they're doin. We all treat each other like family. This is not an easy business, especially for the line cooks. When everyone's happy, the food is good, I try an keep it that way, if not, they ain't workin here. I'm not the office chef, I do what I gotta do."

Chef Marco drops knowledge on 20-year-old line cook Andres Kaifer, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, New York City.

Wish has been open since November 1998, but line-cook Greg Kunath (pictured in hat) says "I don't think we're getting older, we're just getting better." Wish is Chef Marco's first executive chef position and line-cook Brian Nasajon (pictured with pork chop) says "Chef is the man. He's chill, he's got his shit together, he's there with us when we need him on the line, seriously, he's the man."

Sous Chef Sergio Wicle, a Wish employee since 2000, preps and creates a salmon tartare.

Click here to view the full slideshow.

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