Founder of Multicultural Metropolitan Cuisine
   
 While other kids were reading Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery books, Michael H. Flores was filling his free time reading cookbooks for children and beginners.

Starting at age 9, Michael made it a point to be in his mother’s kitchen on weekends and holidays, meticulously working on recipes for Spring Bonnet Cake decorated with gum drops or Individual Pizzas made out of biscuit dough.

Today, Chef Michael has taken a childhood passion for cooking and turned it into an evolving lifelong profession in the culinary arts. More than a gourmet, he’s a creator, innovator and entrepreneur, a man who is using his talent to give back to the community and to spread the philosophy of fine food and healthy living across the continent.

The resume of this culinary star is long and diverse. Cook book author. Gourmet instructor. Owner of a San Antonio-based company that develops and markets the Chef Michael line of gourmet products, including sauces, dips, candied jalapeños, pickles, and a bloody mary mix. He can be seen cooking on the morning show Great Day SA found on San Antonio’s CBC affiliate KENS.

Chef Michael calls his style of cooking Multicultural Metropolitan, a melting pot of aromas, flavors and tastes that reflect his own travels, experiences, cultural background and family history.

Whether they are scintillating side dishes such as Calimari Jasmine Rice or Mashed Chipotle Sweet Potatoes, mouth-watering main courses such as Tamarind Cured Beef Tenderloin with a Gorgonzola Pumpkin-Seed Salsa, or decadently different desserts like Capirotada a la Celina or Mexican Chocolate Truffle Tart, Chef Michael explores the boundaries of cuisine with a signature style that delights and dazzles the senses.

But the road to becoming what the media called “a culinary whiz kid” started from a deep-seated family tradition. Chef Michael has a tin card file full of hand-written recipes that his grandmother used to keep in a wooden box. By the time he was a freshman in high school, he was running a baking business called Michael’s Cakes etc.

A decision to spend college tuition money on a trip to New York proved fateful for young Michael, who discovered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. He left traditional college behind and enrolled at the CIA in 1992. During his time at CIA, he interned under the tutelage of the acclaimed Chef Susan Spicer of Bayona, widely regarded as New Orleans premier restaurant.

After earning a degree and honors from one of the world’s best culinary schools, Chef Michael made his mark in Texas. He quickly was tapped to become chef de cuisine at the Four Diamond restaurant Polo’s at The Fairmount, and soon after was named Executive Chef at Barcelona’s Mediterranean Café, where creations like Mediterranean Nachos, Moroccan Guacamole and Tamarind Beef became South Texas sensations.

At Barcelona’s, he took advantage of his growing influence to co-found a charity event called “Nutcracker Sweets,” now an annual celebration of creative chefs and their holiday desserts benefiting the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter of Bexar County.

But the kitchen had been home for far too long, so Chef Michael sought new adventures in cooking. He traveled the country teaching and learning, consulting and cooking. He has created meals for members of the Presidential Cabinet, for the Napa Valley Wine Auction, and as guest chef aboard the Orient Express.

It was during this time that Chef Michael decided to start his own company (Mis En Place, French for “everything in its place,”) to create, produce and sell his own line of gourmet foods. The result is a booming dot.com business where his products are being sold to customers around the world through the site www.chefmichael.com. It has become a must stop on the Internet for foodies looking for a taste of
the exotic and eclectic at home. His products are found in boutique gourmet food stores and on the kitchen shelves of everyone from 5-star chefs to fans of the Food Network.

“It was really a place for me to have income in between jobs, but the business got so big, I decided to dedicate myself to it starting in 1999,” Chef Michael says. “I love it. It gives me a chance not to be stuck in the kitchen. In the kitchen I still meet people, but I enjoy traveling around the country, promoting the products and talking to the customers.”

One product is especially dear to Chef Michael’s heart, TOMatillo Salsa, named after his younger brother Tommy, who has Down’s Syndrome. Part of the proceeds from the sale of TOMatillo Salsa go to the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation which assists people with developmental disabilities.

“There’s no reason that home-cooked meals have to be bland, unhealthy or time-consuming,” Chef Michael says. “My cuisine and personal line of gourmet products are all about celebrating life and the people in it through cooking.” The need to spread that message led Chef Michael to his next project, the self-published cook book “My Family, My Friends, My Food.” First printed in 2003, the book has sold out at major book stores whenever Chef Michael appears for a signing. With a foreword written by friend and mentor Susan Spicer, Chef Michael shares his culinary philosophy, his life’s story and opens his heart to readers by telling of the stories behind the recipes, like the recipe for Herb Roasted Beets in Balsamic Vinegar, which he created after teaching cooking classes at a fund-raiser for a Church in San Antonio.

“It’s kind of a compilation of recipes that I’ve grown up with, grown up tasting, grown up cooking, and that I prepared in restaurants,” he said. “They are dishes my grandparents would eat, and new ideas that I needed to get out of my brain and onto paper.”

Chef Michael’s creations also reflect his travels and love of blending diverse international cuisine; he slyly calls “MexiTerranean,” a pleasing mix of Texas, Mexican and Mediterranean flavors.

Recently Michael launched (literally) a new culinary program called “Learn Aboard!™” Here, patrons can learn how to prepare regional specialties while enjoying the view of the beautiful sites on the winding banks of the unique river in the heart of the Alamo City?on a Rio San Antonio Cruiser.

The future of Chef Michael H. Flores holds the promise of more cookbooks, bigger audiences and continuing innovation, whether they are growing his line of gourmet products, creating even bolder recipes or discovering untapped resources for reaching out and touching people’s lives through his cooking. For more information, visit http://www.chefmichael.com/.