“Seen Eating” is a Miami Dish interview column that provides a brief glimpse into the food habits of pillars of our community. Of course, I am the subjective judge of who makes a pillar of our community. To me, they are the people who make living in Miami more interesting, sane, and worthwhile.
Nicole Chipi does promotions and marketing for The Vagabond, a downtown nightclub. This weekend, the Vagabond celebrates a year of existence as the club for the hipster everyman (Their slogan is “You are no one. You are everyone.”). This Saturday night, the perennial party Back Door Bamby celebrates with a guest appearance by DJ Jellybean Benitez (of discovering Madonna fame) and Sunday will feature a Rent Party with Spam Allstars. You will surely see Chipi dancing and taking pictures among the crowd; she studied photography at the University of Florida. When she’s not taking pictures or channeling Tim Gunn with honest yet diplomatic makeovers, Chipi can be found in her South Miami kitchen cooking some trademark “classic Chipi dishes.”
Breakfast this morning:
I had a pizza bagel that I make for myself and my girlfriend. She’s a pizza freak. I take a regular-sized bagel, cut it in half, spread it with a tomato paste that I make myself, shredded cheese, and pineapple.
You make your own tomato paste?
Yeah, basically it’s just crushed tomatoes and oregano. I keep it frozen.
Top three favorite places to eat in Miami:
If you’re looking for something in the Lincoln Road or South Beach area, Yuca is the greatest place-a nice fusion of Cuban and nouveau. Food-wise, they keep things pretty classic, but the arrangement and presentation keep it on the upscale tip.
Sushi Matsuri, on Bird Road, is the freshest sushi I’ve ever had in Miami. It’s amazing.
And then, for day in, day out, I have to say The Daily on Biscayne. It’s quick, it’s fresh. They have everything there, and the people are really nice. They remember you. A lot of industry people eat there so I always run into a lot of club/industry people there.
Favorite foods to cook?
These are some of the Classic Chipi dishes I make: One is crab rangoon. I buy the pastry sheets, flatten them out, put cream cheese, crab, chives, and fry those.
One of the things I also make that goes well with the crab rangoon is chive flowers. It’s a long stalk of a chive that’s flowering at the end. You can buy them at the Asian grocery store. You cut off the dry parts at the end. Then, you stir fry the chive flowers with a little bit of Srichacha hot sauce and shrimp, and serve it with rice or pasta. You can put snow peas in there. You can add onion. It’s got that chive taste, but it’s a little more subtle. People always love it, but I don’t know why that many people aren’t familiar with it. I spent a lot of time in Asian stores in Gainesville. There were three of them near my house there. I would investigate what people use for their daily cooking.
The other thing I do is a very labor-intensive seafood bisque. It’s an all day cooking situation. I use the same tomato paste, shrimp, and mussels. Depending on whether I’m feeling rich that week, I’ll throw in some lobster. I leave it simmering all day with a little white wine and garlic. Then, I serve it over rice or pasta. It’s something that my mom always made.
Where do you take all of your out-of-town guests?
When we have visiting DJs, it usually works on a sliding scale of how long they have to eat after I pick them up at the airport. Typically, for dinner, I’ll bring people to Soyka on Biscayne and 55th. Soyka is amazing. The service is premium. The ambience is relaxing. It’s not so fancy; people feel comfortable there. The food is amazing, home-style. There’s something for everyone there so if I have a vegetarian DJ, which a lot of them are, that’s a safe place. Or I’ll take them across the street to Andiamo, the pizza place.
Do you eat a late dinner?
I have to say no, because if I eat once it’s past a certain hour, I get the jitters right before the club opens and I’ll have an upset stomach the whole night.
I have to eat before 6 or 7. I was raised in a Cuban family and you don’t eat after 5:30. You know, if you’re a Cuban family, there’s family members that you have to pick up at the retirement home and they have to be back by a certain time. So you eat early and then you get on with the rest of your day.
Favorite thing to eat after a night at the Vagabond?
I hate to say it, but my favorite thing to eat after staying out really late is to go through the drive through and get a hash brown. I hate McDonald’s, but if I need it to make it home, I’ll do it. If I’m still hungry when I get home, I’ll dig for some Ben and Jerry’s.
