Food and wine lovers have raved about Chef Marbin Avilez’s simple, elegant cuisine ever since his Fort Myers Beach eatery opened its doors three years ago. “Bayfront Bistro is as good as its million dollar view,” enthused The News-Press restaurant critic Jean Le Boeuf, adding that the meal constituted one of his most memorable dining experiences of the year.
While the chef is often mistakenly called Marvin, his true name, Marbin, reflects his Nicaraguan heritage. He came to this country 20 years ago, escaping persecution by the Sandinistas. Traveling by foot across the mountains of Honduras, he made his way into Mexico and then finally the United States, where he was granted political asylum.
“My great-grandmother inspired a love of cooking in me that lasts to this day,” he said. “Her job required her to work long hours feeding three meals a day to the transportation department workers who were building roads.”
Early memories include helping her clean rice when he was just 4 years old. He says she was the skilled chef who taught him how to cook at a time when local and seasonal were the only culinary options.
Chef Marbin’s style of food could be called eclectic and he doesn’t shy away from the word “fusion.” “I’m always seeking out new cuisines and flavors and wondering how I can mix up the tastes,” he says. “I don’t believe in one style of cooking, and I like to come up with new recipes.”
The paella at Bayfront Bistro is one example of his many-sided approach to cuisine. The rice is jasmine, not the traditional short-grained rice, and he uses andouille sausage in place of Spanish chorizo.
“Jasmine rice is the prince of rice because the texture is so delicate and it absorbs the flavors of the lobster stock I use in the paella. The spicy andouille gives a New Orleans flavor to the dish. It takes more than six hours to make.”
The salsa recipe that Chef Marbin shares with Wine, Food, Friends readers involves tomatoes — lots of them. In season, with their flavors at peak, he says he loves to create dishes that don’t require cooking, leaving the vitamins intact.
The salsa harmoniously blends four different varieties of tomato — ugly heirloom, grape, yellow and tomatillos — that creates a versatile salsa that can be used as a snack before dinner served with yucca chips, as a topping for fish or pork chops, spooned onto a baked potato, or mixed with pasta. Find the recipe for this and another for Chef Marbin’s eggplant bisque on my blog at news-press.com/rose.
Visit Bayfront Bistro at 4761 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach. Call 463-3663.
source: News-press
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