Born and raised in Miami, of Jewish and Latinx descent, Chef Michelle “Michy” Bernstein is the host of Local10’s Emmy-Award winning SoFlo TASTE and a fixture in the culinary world. Michelle’s style melds taste experiences from her travels around the world into her signature style of exciting, eclectic cooking.
“The food I love to cook is the food I have loved to eat throughout my life,” says Bernstein, a James Beard Foundation Award-winner. “Everywhere I have lived, worked and visited, I’ve picked up favorite ingredients, techniques and flavor profiles that I’ve brought home to SoFlo and incorporated into my style.”
Michelle has hosted SoFlo TASTE from its inception in 2015, winning an Emmy for her culinary tour of Cuba. Every Saturday morning, she brings SoFlo wonderful, flavorful recipes and techniques every home chef can adopt and call their own.
Besides SoFlo TASTE, these days Michelle’s schedule is more jam-packed than ever, juggling multiple projects with her husband and business partner David Martinez. Together, they own and operate Michelle Bernstein Catering, developing incredible menus from intimate dinners in private homes to elaborate corporate events.
In 2019, Michelle opened Café La Trova on Calle Ocho in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Café La Trova is a Cuban-inspired bar and restaurant linking traditional dishes with innovative style and technique. Bernstein and Martinez are also partners in the internationally recognized Miami Beach cocktail bar, Sweet Liberty, where Bernstein developed a creative menu of fun, interesting twists on American classic cuisine.
Michelle also regularly appears as a guest judge on nationally televised culinary competition programs, including Top Chef and Chopped and continues to make appearances on Good Morning America cooking segments.
Chef Bernstein also devotes time to causes she is passionate about, including Common Threads, a national program that she brought to the South Florida community to teach underprivileged children about cooking and eating healthy.
