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Michael Beltran
Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas

Restaurant Diaries: Pastelitos and menu overhauls with Michael Beltran

The Time Out Market chef takes us on a busy day of running his mini Miami restaurant empire—and we can barely keep up

Falyn Wood
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Falyn Wood
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March 2021: Leña is no longer at Time Out Market Miami, but you can find chef Michael Beltran at Ariete.

Welcome to Restaurant Diaries, where we go behind the scenes and into the weeds with the chefs, restaurateurs and talented folks hustling hard at Time Out Market Miami. This week, a dizzying day with Ariete’s Michael Beltran, whose growing restaurant portfolio also includes Chug’s, Leña at Time Out Market and the soon-to-open Navè in Coconut Grove. He chronicled his very exhausting—and highly productive—day for us, as he zipped around the city, drank copious amounts of coffee, planned logistics for a company-wide pastries overhaul and even squeezed in a morning training session at the gym. (As told to and edited by us.) 

RECOMMENDED: Guide to Time Out Market Miami

Alarm goes off at 6:15am...

Luckily, I prepared my bag before going to sleep last night. So technically, my day starts before I go to bed the day before. I make my Panther coffee pour over and then review closing emails from the restaurants: Ariete, Chug’s and Leña.

By 6:30am, I’m out the door and on my way to my morning training session. (A year ago, I picked up boxing and now I train at sunrise.) One of my trainers, Jacob Hasbrouck or Walzer Bien-Aime, is usually ready to put me through it.

Meet up with Pastelito Papi

After the gym, I shower up and head over to the Grove to meet with my sous chef Gio at Chug’s Diner around 7:45am (people know chef Gio as Pastelito Papi). We sit quickly and discuss some specials for the week. At the time I write this, he has three incredible pastelitos in the works: jerk chicken, vegetarian tamale and a Johnnie’s BBQ McRib collab. We also have some things in the works for Chug’s: our daily happy hour specials and dinner menu roll-out.

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Walk-through at the new spot, Navè

At 9am, I walk over to Grove Garden, which is home to our flagship restaurant, Ariete. Next to Ariete, we’re in the final stages of building our newest restaurant, Navè. My business partner and co-chef Justin Flit is already there waiting for some equipment to be installed. Justin and I have a meeting to pick plates for the upcoming opening, so we sit and go dish by dish, discussing our options and putting together a list. This sounds easy, but it took a few hours. We also did a quick walk-through of the newly installed raw bar. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited for this one!

Coffee break and catch-up with Chef Matt

At noon, it’s time to make the 15-foot walk over to Ariete, where I have a quick coffee with my longtime chef de cuisine, Matt Hockin. Chef Matt and I have been putting together a huge overhaul of the Ariete menu, our biggest and most ambitious to date. (It recently launched and has been awesome and so much fun. Make a reservation and come check it out!)

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I also have a meeting scheduled with my commissary/operations chef Veronica Valdivia, as well as our new corporate pastry chef, Devin Braddock. With Devin just joining the family, there’s a lot of logistical things to discuss. Since she’ll be overhauling our pastries company-wide, this is a very exciting meeting. (Pretty much any meeting where I can talk about fresh donuts, oatmeal cream pies and a bunch of fancy desserts for Ariete, Chug’s and Leña is a meeting I’m into.)

More coffee, admin stuff and off to Time Out Market

A 2pm, I walk back over to Chug’s to grab an American coffee and check in with the kitchen and management team after the lunch rush, then load up to head out to our corporate office. I arrive by 2:30 to grab some paperwork that needs reviewing. (I prefer my office time to be a quick in-and-out if possible.) Luckily, I have the unique luxury of my corporate office being blocks away from a couple of my favorite spots for lunch: Mignonette, B-side Sushi or Sakaya Kitchen.

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By 3:30pm, I’ve made it to Lincoln Road to visit the Time Out Market, where our newest little gem Leña resides. It’s an all-wood-and-charcoal-fired kitchen where we have also just changed up the menu. I meet up with Enzo Calipa (general manager for Chug’s and Leña) and Nunzio Fuschillo (our chef de cuisine at Navè, who also helped with Leña’s opening). I work with our cooks to perfect some of our newest items: the wood-roasted pineapple and burrata, char-grilled mushrooms with josper fried egg and chimi. All these dishes are new to the line guys, so it takes a while for Nunzio and me to get them all on the right track. Right as dinner service is getting going, I check in with Chef Nunzio before making my way back to Coconut Grove to the Ariete prep kitchen.

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Wrapping up in Coconut Grove

I arrive back in the Grove at 8pm and prep out a few kits for some of the new items on the Ariete menu. Chef Veronica and I discuss some logistical things about prep, et cetera. By 10pm, it’s time to wrap up and head home. Goodnight!

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