Legendary Chef Norman Van Aken to Return to Coral Gables with Norman’s 180

by admin ~ October 21, 2009

Chef Van Aken’s New Restaurant Set to Open This Winter

MIAMI, FL - October 21, 2009 - Legendary Chef Norman Van Aken is making his much anticipated return to Miami with Norman’s 180, a chic new restaurant set to open in Coral Gables this winter.  The restaurant will be located in the heart of Downtown Coral Gables in the Westin Colonnade Hotel at 180 Aragon Avenue.  

Taking a new culinary and conceptual direction with Norman’s 180, Chef Van Aken will present a more casual dining experience that features a culinary concept he describes as “broadly American,” designing a cuisine and style that pays homage to the incredible diversity and creativity of food found and made in America. 

The Norman’s 180 menu will be a simple expression of ethnic diversity while building on the success of Chef Van Aken’s original namesake Coral Gables restaurant which introduced “New World Cuisine” to Miami in the mid-1990s.  Chef Van Aken’s masterful culinary style has historically reached beyond the Americas to the rest of the world to bring the best of each continent to his tables.  Norman’s 180 will share the spirit of culinary diversity but will be interpreted locally, as it will also be among the first restaurants in South Florida to offer “farm-to-table” foods, with its menu featuring locally grown and seasonally fresh ingredients.  

Offering both small plates and full-course meals in the dining room, Norman’s 180 will feature chef-driven, sophisticated food and provide patrons with a unique dining experience and value.  Dishes will include small plates, salads, pizzas, bowls, sides, and sweets.  As he has done with his other successful restaurant projects, Chef Van Aken will focus not only on the food and its presentation, but will offer a multi-dimensional dining and entertainment atmosphere with live music featured on the weekends.

The menu, images and more details will be available in December 2009.  For more information on Norman’s 180, please contact Megan Raphael at megan@mediashoppr.com or (212) 867-8778 x232.

About Chef Van Aken

World renowned chef Norman Van Aken is known internationally as the founding father of “New World Cuisine,” a celebration of Latin, Caribbean and Asian flavors with traditional European technique and is also credited with introducing the concept of “fusion” to the culinary world.  In his cooking, Chef Van Aken creates an interplay between regionalism and restaurant technical knowhow which is unmistakably revealed through the menus at each of his establishments.  In 2003, Chef Norman Van Aken was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who” of food and beverage in America and in 2005 the foundation nominated his restaurant in Orlando, Norman’s, as the “Best Restaurant in America.”  Similarly, The New York Times claims that Chef Van Aken is South Florida’s best chef.

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