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Chef Douglas Rodriguez, the globally acclaimed Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine, blazed the trail and has inspired Chefs around the world and his culinary creativity has changed the image of Latino food in America.

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Chef Rodriguez, 50, a son of Cuban immigrants, was raised in Miami. He grew up with the sights, smells and tastes of Cuban/American cuisine and developed a passion for food early on. By the age of 13, he had a collection of cookbooks, pots and pans, and was developing and preparing original concepts. At 14, he landed his first restaurant job as a summer apprentice at The Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami. After high school, he gained more experience at the prestigious Hilton Hotel Fontainebleau in Miami Beach before honing his skills and techniques at Johnson and Wales University in Providence.
 

Returning to Miami, Rodriguez worked at the Sonesta Beach Hotel and Wet Paint Cafe. In 1989 he opened Yuca, an upscale Cuban style restaurant in Coral Gables. Yuca was a success, and at age 24, Chef Rodriguez was a celebrated Miami chef, winning the “Chef of the Year, Miami” award from The Chefs of America and receiving his first and second “Rising Chef of the Year” nominations by The James Beard Foundation. While Yuca served distinctly Cuban cuisine, Rodriguez constantly studied new flavors, ingredients and ideas from his staff, which hailed from a variety of Latin American countries. Soon after, he headed straight for New York City.