Today we’d like to introduce you to Vincent Catala.
Hi Vincent, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
When people sit at my table today, whether it is in a villa in Miami, on a yacht in the Bahamas, or in a small family kitchen, I always hope they feel one thing first: that there is a story behind the plates.
My story as a chef started far away from Michelin stars and private jets. It began in the South of France, in my great-grandmother Loulou’s kitchen. I was a kid watching her cook with what the garden gave us that day: tomatoes still warm from the sun, herbs just cut, flowers she knew how to use like perfume. She taught me that food is not only about technique; it is about respect – for the product, for the season, and for the people you are cooking for. That feeling has never left me.
At sixteen I walked into my first professional kitchen. I was not talented yet – just hungry to learn. For the next decade I worked my way through restaurants in France, from simple houses to one, two, and three-Michelin-star brigades. Those years gave me my backbone as a chef: precision, discipline, and the obsession with details that nobody sees but everyone feels in the final dish. Service after service, I learned that “almost” is never enough. Either the plate is right, or it is not.
After ten intense years on the savory side, I decided to challenge myself again. In 2007 I went back to school and earned my pastry diploma. It opened a second universe for me: structure, temperatures, textures, the architecture of desserts. Being both a cuisine and pastry chef is now part of my identity – it lets me design an entire experience, from the first amuse-bouche to the last mignardise, like a complete story with a beginning and an end.
My career took me out of France and into the world – Europe, North Africa, Canada, the United States. I cooked in luxury hotels, fine-dining restaurants, and high-end events. I became known for something that goes back to my childhood: my work with edible flowers and aromatics. That passion brought me to television projects in France, Morocco and Canada, to gastronomy festivals, and into magazines. I spent years giving demonstrations and masterclasses, not only to show “pretty plates,” but to explain how flavor, color, and emotion can live together.
Teaching became another big chapter of my life. In Miami, I worked as an instructor in an international French culinary school, training young chefs in both cuisine and pastry. I loved it. I always tell my students: recipes you can find anywhere; what I want to give you is attitude – respect, curiosity, and the seriousness of the job. When you put your name on a plate, it has to mean something.
Over the years I also collaborated with high-end gastronomic brands, created recipes for products, and supported competitions. But slowly, something inside me started to ask for more direct connection. I wanted to see the faces of the people I cook for, to feel the energy of a family around the table, to create not just “covers” but memories.
That is how EverCook Miami was born.
Today I am a private chef, based in South Florida, bringing almost three decades of experience into private homes, villas, and yachts. I design tailor-made dinners, long tasting menus, holidays, and special events for clients who want restaurant-level cuisine without leaving their house. My cooking is rooted in France and the Mediterranean, but it travels – Japan, the Middle East, Latin America, the U.S. – always with one clear line: clean flavors, strong technique, and emotion.
With EverCook, there is no “standard” menu. I listen first. Who are you celebrating? What do you love? What are your memories with food? From there, I build. Sometimes it is a 7-course Michelin-style journey, sometimes a family-style feast, sometimes a week of cooking on a yacht for a family with kids, dietary restrictions, and different tastes at the same table. The challenge is always the same: make it look easy for them, even if it is complex for us behind the scenes.
After 27 years, I do not pretend to have a “final signature dish.” My real signature is the way I approach hospitality. I care about the energy in the kitchen, how my team behaves, how we respect your home, how we leave everything cleaner than when we arrived. I am transparent with my clients, I keep all receipts, I treat my staff like family – because I believe the way we work is part of the taste of the food.
People sometimes ask me: “With your background, why choose to cook in private homes instead of staying in big restaurants?” My answer is simple: because this is where the emotion is strongest. When a guest cries quietly at the table because a dish reminds them of their childhood; when a family says, “This was the best New Year’s Eve we ever had”; when a couple tells me they will talk about this night for years – that is my Michelin star now.
From my great-grandmother’s stove in the South of France to three-star kitchens, from TV sets and culinary schools to intimate living rooms and the decks of 50-meter yachts, I am still chasing the same thing: that moment when food, place, and people click together and time slows down for a second.
My name is Chef Vincent Catala. I am a French chef, a teacher, a creator, and the heart behind EverCook Miami. I cook to build memories – one table, one family, one night at a time.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My story starts in the South of France, in my great-grandmother Loulou’s kitchen. That part is beautiful: a kid watching an old woman turn garden vegetables, herbs, and flowers into something magical. No stress, no ticket machine, no shouting. Just love, time, and food. That kitchen gave me my first dream.
The reality came later.
At sixteen, when I entered my first professional kitchen, I discovered very fast that the romantic idea of being a chef and the real life of a chef are two different worlds. I was the little one, the last one, the one who has to prove himself every second. Long hours, low pay, zero glamour. You are tired, you burn yourself, you cut yourself, you get screamed at, and you come back the next day because somewhere inside you, you know: “I want this life.”
I worked my way through one, two, and three-Michelin-star brigades. People hear “Michelin” and they think about glory; but they don’t always see the pressure behind the star. The level of expectation is extreme. One mistake can destroy a dish, a service, sometimes your position. I had chefs who were incredible mentors, and I also had hard, violent moments, mentally and physically. There were nights I went home asking myself: “Am I strong enough? Do I really belong here?” But those kitchens forged my discipline and my standards. They also taught me one important thing: if you survive this, you can survive many things.
Later, when I decided to go back to school to become a pastry chef, it was not an easy choice. I was already established as a savory chef. Starting again meant accepting to be a beginner one more time, to put my ego away and go back into learning mode. There is always a risk: what if I fail? What if I’m not good enough on this side? But I’ve learned that growth and comfort don’t live in the same room. So I went. I worked, I studied, I doubted – and I came out stronger, with a new language in my hands.
Travel brought more opportunities, but also more obstacles. Working in different countries meant starting again each time: new language, new culture, new market, new team. It sounds exciting (and it is), but it’s also heavy. You arrive in a new city, you know nobody, you don’t understand all the codes, your diploma from Europe doesn’t automatically open doors. You have to prove yourself again and again. Sometimes you are overqualified on paper and under-trusted in reality.
Immigrating and building a life in Miami was one of my biggest challenges. I arrived with experience and dreams, yes, but no network, no family support system, no “easy path.” I had to learn not just how to cook for people, but how to build a business: contracts, invoices, taxes, permits, websites, marketing, social media. In the kitchen, I knew exactly who I was; as an entrepreneur, I had to learn by doing, by making mistakes, by being disappointed, by losing money, by trusting the wrong people sometimes.
There were moments when everything seemed to hit at the same time:
– Clients canceling last minute.
– Events collapsing because of situations I could not control.
– Equipment breaking in the middle of service.
– Partners who made promises and disappeared after.
– Staff issues, no-shows, people who didn’t share the same ethics.
On the personal side, being a chef and a father is one of the most beautiful and most painful contradictions. The job is nights, weekends, holidays – exactly when your kids are off, when your family is together. I missed birthdays, school moments, family dinners. Many times I came home at 3 or 4 in the morning, exhausted, and I saw my kids sleeping and I thought: “Is it worth it? Am I doing the right thing?” Learning to be present as a father, even with a crazy chef schedule, is still a challenge, but it is one of my main priorities today.
Founding EverCook Miami was not a magic solution; it was another big risk. Suddenly, if something goes wrong, there is no “restaurant name” in front – it is my name. If a staff member makes a mistake in a client’s house, it is my responsibility. If the numbers don’t work, it’s my problem. I invested time, money, and energy with no guarantee of success. There were slow months, especially in the beginning, when the phone didn’t ring enough and I had to manage stress, fear, and pride.
I also went through moments of burnout. When you say “yes” to everything – restaurants, private dinners, events, teaching, consulting – your body eventually sends you the bill. I had to learn the hard way that saying “no” is sometimes necessary to stay alive, healthy, and creative. Rest is not laziness; it is part of professionalism.
Team building has been another big obstacle and lesson. To deliver a Michelin-level experience in a private home, you need the right people around you: chefs, servers, dishwashers, partners you trust. And trust is not automatic. I have had incredible people in my life who gave me strength, and I have also had disappointments. People who left at the wrong moment, people who didn’t respect the guest or the work. Each time, it hurts. Each time, you have to protect the client, protect the brand, and keep going. I learned to become not only a chef, but a leader – clear, fair, sometimes tough, always human.
Even success brings its own challenges. When you start working with VIP clients, CEOs, athletes, high-profile families, the stakes go higher. Security, discretion, timing, precision – there is no place to hide. You can’t be late. You can’t be sloppy. You can’t break down in front of them even if behind the scenes something went terribly wrong. You smile, you manage, you adapt, you protect the moment. And then later, you go home and let the stress go.
But here is the beautiful part: all these obstacles shaped me. The difficult chefs in my early years taught me resilience and exactness. The failures taught me humility. The immigration path taught me patience and strategy. The business mistakes taught me clarity and boundaries. The nights I felt alone made me understand how much I need my family and my team.
Today, when I enter a client’s kitchen with my knives and my boxes, I don’t just bring recipes. I bring twenty-seven years of work, risk, and lessons. I bring all the service nightmares I survived, all the dishes that went wrong before they became right, all the times I thought, “I can’t do this,” and did it anyway.
So yes, my story has nice parts: Michelin stars, TV, festivals, teaching, private yachts, beautiful mansions. But behind every pretty picture, there is a lot of sweat, doubt, sacrifice, and discipline. And I think that’s exactly why I value every single event today. I know what it cost to stand here.
I am also proud of the battles. The obstacles didn’t stop my journey; they gave it weight. They turned cooking from a job into a mission: to use everything I learned – the light and the dark – to create nights that my clients will remember for the rest of their lives.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in **tailor-made tasting menus** with a strong French and Mediterranean base, layered with influences from everywhere I’ve cooked or traveled – Japan, Italy, North Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and of course Miami. My background is both **cuisine and pastry**, so I don’t just think in terms of “main course + dessert”; I design the entire journey, from the first amuse-bouche and cocktail bites to the final mignardises. People know me for plates that are refined and technical but still warm, emotional, and generous – dishes that feel like a story, not just a composition.
What sets my work apart is the combination of **Michelin discipline** and **deeply personal hospitality**. I spent years in one-, two-, and three-star kitchens in France, so the standards for organization, cleanliness, timing, and consistency are burned into me. At the same time, I’m not hiding in the back of a big restaurant anymore – I’m in my clients’ homes, talking with them, adapting live to their families, kids, guests, and energy. I’m as obsessed with the way my team behaves in your living room and the way we leave your kitchen at the end of the night as I am with the cooking itself. I’m also very transparent – I keep receipts, respect budgets, and see every event as a long-term relationship, not a one-shot job.
I think I’m most proud of two things. First, the **memories** we create. When a family tells me, “This was the best New Year’s Eve we’ve ever had,” or a guest gets emotional because a dish reminds them of their childhood, that moment is priceless. That’s my real “star.” Second, I’m proud of the people I’ve helped grow – from students I taught in culinary school to young cooks and servers who have worked with me and gone on to build their own careers. I know how tough this industry can be, so seeing them evolve with confidence and good values means a lot.
At the end of the day, my work is about more than beautiful plates. It’s about walking into a space – a home, a yacht, a rooftop – and transforming it for one night into something unforgettable, without stress for the host. I bring almost three decades of experience, a lot of battle scars, a lot of passion, and a big sense of responsibility. My goal is simple: when the night is over, I want my clients to feel that they didn’t just “have a dinner” – they lived a moment they’ll talk about for years.
Any big plans?
For the future, my goal is very simple and very big at the same time:
keep growing as a chef and entrepreneur, but even more as a father and a human being.
Professionally, I want to continue building **EverCook Miami** as a strong, long-term reference for luxury private dining – not just in South Florida, but in other key destinations where my clients already invite me: New York, the Hamptons, LA, Europe, the islands. I imagine EverCook as a “traveling restaurant” and a small family of chefs and staff who share the same values: high standards, respect, kindness, and real passion for hospitality.
I’m also working towards creating **more structure around the brand** – things like clearer seasonal collections of menus, special series (Culinary Travel, Mediterranean Roots, Flower Cuisine), and eventually, why not, a small book or online masterclass where I can share not only recipes, but the philosophy behind them: how to cook with emotion, discipline and respect for the product.
Another big plan is to keep **investing in people**. I’d love to formalize more training: taking young cooks and servers, giving them the tools and mindset that were sometimes missing when I was their age – technical skills, yes, but also communication, humility, and self-respect. I see myself, more and more, as a mentor as much as a chef.
But the biggest change for the future is inside, not outside:
I want to design a life where my **kids** and my **family** are not “around” my career, but at the center of it.
This job takes a lot: nights, weekends, holidays, stress. I’ve missed moments, like many chefs do, and I’m very conscious of that. So one of my main goals now is to use my experience and my business to create **more balance and presence**. I want my sons to grow up seeing not just that their dad works hard, but *why* he works hard – and how he treats people along the way.
I want them to see:
* A man who keeps his word with clients and staff.
* A man who admits his mistakes and corrects them.
* A man who works with passion, but never steps on respect, kindness, or family to get “success.”
My dream is that they grow up as **men with strong values** – respect, loyalty, curiosity, humility – and that they understand that whatever they choose to do in life, character matters more than status.
So my plans for the future are really two parallel lines:
* keep pushing EverCook and my craft to a higher level, building beautiful experiences and a solid company;
* and at the same time, keep becoming a better father and example, so that everything I’m building has real meaning when I look at my children.
If in ten or twenty years my kids can say, “Our dad cooked incredible dinners, but more than that, he taught us how to be good men,” then all the big projects, the events, the nights in the kitchen will have been worth it.
Pricing:
- 130
- 240
- 350
- 500
- 800
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.evercookmiami.com
- Instagram: @evercookmiami
Image Credits
vincent catala
