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By JEFF HOUCK jhouck@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2008

Updated: 10/24/2008 05:12 pm

HOLA, MICHELLE
Michelle Bernstein gets the question a lot.

What does a girl with a nice Jewish name know about Latin food?

A lot. Trust me.

One look at her new cookbook, "Cuisine À Latina" (Houghton Mifflin, $30), will make that clear.

The Miami-raised daughter of a food-loving Argentinean mother, Bernstein is fast becoming nationally known for her Latin-fusion cuisine. As the chef and co-owner of Michy's in Miami's Upper East Side with husband David Martinez, she won the 2008 James Beard Foundation's Best Chef in the South award.

Bernstein is just starting to break on a national level with appearances as a guest judge on Bravo's "Top Chef" reality cooking series and cooking demonstrations on the Clearwater-based Home Shopping Network.

Bernstein's first splash came as executive chef at Azul at the lush Mandarin Oriental in Miami with a menu that earned her notice from Food & Wine and Gourmet magazines.

In 2008, Zagat gave Michy's the highest rating for all South Florida restaurants.

She came to Tampa earlier this month as part of a tour for the cookbook and to promote a line of artisanal shredded Mexican cheeses made by Sargento.

Knowing that she loves ceviche and Latin street food, I invited her to have lunch at El Taconazo on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa.

Served on a bed of tortilla chips, the cold octopus and shrimp salad was a great start to the meal. Bernstein said she also loved the tostada served by the restaurant known among fans by its shorthand nickname: The Taco Bus. Craving ice cream, we swung over to Snack City on Columbus Drive to sit in the sun and eat a scoop of strawberry.

Over lunch, we chatted about the South American flavors in her food, the best techniques for making empanadas and about how the food scene in Miami is suffering economically just like everywhere else. Still, she and Martinez are planning to open another restaurant, this time with a tapas-style menu, in North Miami's trendy MiMo neighborhood.

You can listen to my Table Conversations podcast interview with Bernstein (amid the din of noisy restaurant machines) by going to my blog, The Stew, at tinyurl.com/the

Stew) or by subscribing for free at iTunes.

EXTREME PORK ACHIEVEMENT

Jim Webster was hesitant about entering Mario Batali's Ultimate Grilling Challenge. First, he had entered only one other recipe contest before - the Build a Better Burger challenge - and didn't even place. Second, he didn't much like the idea of having to submit a video. He's not much for being in front of the camera.

But the idea for the dish he wanted to submit (Pig-Wrapped, Pig-Stuffed Pig) and the prize of cooking with Batali was too strong a lure to resist.

Good thing he gave in.

After weeks of campaigning online and in-person pleading at the Ybor City Saturday Market, Webster won the contest. He'll be grilling with Batali at a tailgating event on Nov. 2 outside the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth.

Webster, who works as a copy editor at the St. Petersburg Times, says part of the idea came from wanting to make an alternative dish to the turducken. For the uninitiated, that's a deboned chicken stuffed inside a boneless duck, which is then stuffed inside a boneless turkey.

Another inspiration came from an episode of "The Simpsons," in which Lisa tells Homer that she's going to be a vegetarian. When he asks whether that excludes bacon, pork chops and ham, she tells him that they all come from the same animal.

"Oh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal," he says.

Webster's version had him stuffing a pork tenderloin with his own sausage made with toasted fennel seed and orange zest. He then wrapped the tenderloin in pancetta and put it on a grill, basting it with a sauce he made with juice from the zested orange and orange marmalade.

The winner's name was announced on the "Rachael Ray" show on Oct. 17. The show aired at 2 p.m. in Tampa, so Webster had a friend in Miami hold up the phone for the 9 a.m. broadcast down there.

When they announced his name, he says, "I went a little crazy."

BRINGING BACK CHARLIE'S

In August, Whaley's Market closed after 75 years on Howard Avenue.

Earlier this month, that closing had a trickle-down effect when Charlie's Wine Cellar and Wine Bar, located next to Whaley's at 533 S. Howard, announced it would be closing after 18 years in business. Owner and operator Glynn Giacone cited the loss of Whaley's as the reason.

In early October, Todd Whaley reopened a new, scaled-down version on Kennedy Boulevard. Whaley formed a partnership with Paul Ruel and took over the old Paul's Meats at 3917 W. Kennedy Blvd., just west of Dale Mabry Highway.

Now Dixon Smith, the former general manager of Charlie's, is trying to raise investment money to renew the lease and restock the wine shop and wine bar.

"I know economic times are tight right now, but so many of you have asked me to try and reopen Charlie's," Smith said in an e-mail Wednesday. "To this end, I have a few investors already on board and want to offer all previous customers an opportunity to own a piece of Charlie's."

Interested? Contact Smith by e-mail at PartiesbyDixon@aol.com or at (813) 944-9792.

To watch a video of Webster making the recipe, go to www.mariobatali.com/grilling contest/.

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