Brent Moore Shows You The Hot Naples Restaurant Scene

My Name is Brent Moore. I am a 34 year old chef who is truly passionate about not only food but everything that revolves around a great meal. My philosophy on food is simple…find the freshest ingredients possible and treat those ingredients simply, as to not hide their natural flavors.

I now have about 20 years in the restaurant business under my belt. While most of this time has been spent slaving over the stove, a few of those years have been spent as a bartender.

Florida is a reflection of its people and geography, with the state foods being Orange juice and the Large mouth bass. As the likes of Ponce de Leon, Soto, and Narvaez explored in and around the 1500s, they brought their own seeds for oranges, lemons and other tropical fruits. Searching for gold, this fruits grew wild throughout the state. The first group of permanent settlers were Minorcans, Greeks, and Italians. In the late 1700s they were asked to grow indigo, but then found fishing was a lot easier. As they tried to grow Indigo, they realized their native staples like lemons, eggplant, and olives grew very well. The permanent settlers culinary influences were established by citrus farms, and black beans and Garbanzo beans from Spain. From the American settlers they developed Southern cuisine of salads, and quantities of citrus.

My cooking career began when I moved to Crested Butte, CO to ski for a season. When I quickly realized that getting a bartending job was next to impossible, I decided to take a position as a cook in a high volume, turn and burn restaurant located at the base of Crested Butte Mountain. In order to secure the position I have to admit it was necessary to embellish a bit on my cooking abilities. My first day was interesting to say the least. I was thrown cold on the grill station (by myself) and preceded to put out over 600 meals for lunch – all from my station. This was crazy – the yelling, the screaming, the almost unbearable heat, these people do this every day!!! Insane…However there was something I absolutely loved about all of it. I had finally found where I belong.

When I finished the season turning and burning burgers and chicken sandwiches, I decided it was time to move on. That’s when I ended up at Soupcon, “French for ‘a small space’ “. Soupcon, in my opinion was the best restaurant in town. We served new American cuisine using classic French techniques (which I still use to this day). Soupcon was one of those pinnacle points in my cooking career. All I wanted to know was more!! When I wasn’t cooking, I was reading about cooking. When I wasn’t reading about cooking, I was thinking about cooking. This is what inspired me to attend culinary school.

I researched many different schools (there’s a lot out there). My decision was to attend Colorado Mountain College in Vail, CO. CMC is a 3 year program run by a network of working chefs. While attending classes, we were required to complete a 6000 ACF certified apprenticeship. The main reason I choose this program is I felt it was imperative to gain hands on experience while leaning the necessary classroom curriculum. While at CMC I worked at Cordillera and The Loge at Vail. The majority of work at The Lodge was at their Mobile 4-star restaurant The Wild Flower.

For the next couple years I was a personal chef. Being a personal chef brought me to many different areas of the world, including Menerbes, France. Experiencing different food cultures and philosophies not only expanded my repertoire, it greatly increased my appreciation for the global obsession with, you guessed it, FOOD.

My next move was to Naples, FL where I worked for Cuisine Management. During my stay with CM, I undertook several challenges. In particular, one of my projects was to implement an entire line of upscale to-go and catering event menus. This eventually lead me to the position of Executive Chef of their restaurants, Bayside Seafood Bar and Grill, where I completely revamped the menu while earning 3 ½ out of 4 stars from The Naples Daily News.

My next move was to the Northeast where I worked as the Sous Chef for David Burke and Donatella in Manhattan and David Burke’s Fromagiere in Rumson, NJ. This was truly a unique experience that I wouldn’t change for the world.

I am currently living in Naples where I do menu and recipe development, food and wine events, cooking demos, food writing and almost everything else food related.

It’s been a great ride so far…we’ll see what the future brings.

Cheers