Chef Cindy Hutson

Chef Cindy Hutson, passion for cooking but with no formal training defied all the odds, and with the help of her partner Delius Shirley, opened Norma’s on the Beach—one of the most successful and memorable eateries on Miami Beach. Rave reviews touted Hutson’s cuisine as “the best Caribbean restaurant in South Florida” and international support from USA Today, The New York Times, London Times, Chicago Tribune, Chef Magazine and Eater, who named Hutson “Chef of the Year” (2012), helped set the pace for what would develop into a thriving culinary future. More than 20 years later Hutson and Shirley have built a culinary empire with the successful opening and operation of more than eight award-winning concepts. Currently, the dynamic duo run their seventeen-year-old love-child, Ortanique on the Mile in Coral Gables, Florida, which opened with Esquire and Bon Appétit acknowledging it as one of the “Best New Restaurants” and Condé Nast Traveler awarding it as one of their “Hot Table” concepts; and their six-year-old Ortanique on the Crescent at Camana Bay on Grand Cayman Island, which has been praised by Caribbean Journal as one of the “Top 50 Best Restaurants” in the Caribbean and In February 2016, Hutson along with Shirley opened Zest, a contemporary fine dining concept, and Zest MRKT for “grab and go” in downtown Miami’s Southeast Financial Center. Hutson published her first cookbook, From the Tip of My Tongue (Story Farm), which received the prestigious 2015 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for “Best Woman Chef Cookbook in the United States.”