TOTT: Miami Beach Gets Farm To Fork Treat At Malibu Farm
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – With the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop, Malibu Farm, a farm to fork concept created by Chef Helene Henderson in California, expands her successful "fresh, organic local" motto to the east coast to Eden Roc Miami Beach.
"We want Malibu Farm to maintain the casualness of how it originated, but still give it some of that night-time glam of Miami Beach. It's super fun. In Malibu, everyone is rolling around in their workout clothes. In Miami its heels and hair, right?" Helene said joking.
Born from Helene's cooking classes and intimate dinner parties in her expansive California garden, Malibu Farm found its first home on the Malibu Pier six years ago.
It had an instant following from surfers along the pier to big-name celebrities.
"I had one dinner as a fundraiser for a local school, and then everyone was like where is the next dinner? Somehow Pink would roll in and Beck would roll in, before I knew it these dinners started taking off," she explained.
Henderson's style, including the look and feel of the restaurant, goes back to her roots.
"I'm originally from Scandinavia so I want everything to have Scandinavian chic so it's clean, natural color and very light," she said.
The food? Sustainable, fresh-off-the-farm fare along with an extensive wine and cocktail menu. It's vegan, non-vegan, something for everyone.
"For me, the modern family has one person that's vegan, one person on a special diet or gluten-free and one person who just wants to eat a burger. Kids are picky too so we wanted to include a little bit of everything," she said.
In the kitchen, Helene prepares our BLT Kale Caesar Salad.
"Just a year round perfect salad for South Florida. It's not overdressed," said CBS4's Lisa Petrillo after tasting.
"We like to keep it super light and have a nice balance with kale so you feel like you're doing something super healthy but not so healthy," Chef explained.
Next, the Chicken Burger Patty with white meat chicken and a bit of bacon and ricotta cheese rolled in. On the side, cauliflower mashed potatoes.
"So many flavors. I always think of a chicken turkey burger as being boring. This is heaven on a burger," Petrillo said.
Finally, the avocado and ricotta whole wheat pizza with a little kick of a jalapeño pepper on top.
"Really nice, I would have never known to put avocado on a pizza. I haven't seen it before," said Petrillo.
"It's like avocado toast," said Helene.
"On pizza it's way more fun," said Petrillo.
Malibu Farm is open 7 days a week serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
For more info visit https://www.malibu-farm.com
