Cooking and Travel Fit for Plaza III Chef Silverman

By R.P. Whittington

For Mike Silverman, who is the executive chef at Plaza III, The Steakhouse in downtown Jacksonville, it was a self-professed love of music and people that led him to become what he calls a "recreational traveler." At only 27 years, Silverman has seen more of the world than most people twice his age.

"I’ve kayaked La Jolla Cove in San Diego, rode off-road vehicles in the deserts like The Valley of Fire in Las Vegas and in Moab, Utah, hiked the Pacific Coast Highway including Muir Woods and Yosemite, went cave diving in Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, found adventure digging in the designated spots of the petrified forest for million-year-old wood samples, and have camped anywhere from Ocala to the Shenandoah National Park," Silverman said, who adds he has seen most of the United States in his travels.

"Sky diving in New Jersey, snowboarding in Lake Tahoe," he added. "You name it and I’ve either done it or plan to soon. I believe I’ve been in 40 of the 50 states so far, so there aren’t many left for me to see. I’ve also seen nearly every national monument – from Mount Rushmore to the Grand Canyon."

Silverman says it all started with music and becoming a roadie for local bands. While he was practicing the culinary arts, and doing the same on his acoustic guitar, the musical gigs took him on road trips to California, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.

"I would hop on the tour bus with the bands and see the sights," he said. "It was a great time and that’s when my love for travel and adventure really began."

Outside the U.S., Silverman has experienced water rafting and rope hiking in the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, Peru, has fished, surfed, sand boarded and gone waterfall jumping in Brazil, and even took part in four-wheeling in the dunes of Puerto Nuevo, Mexico.

So, it all begs the question: how does he find the time, and the money, to do it all?

"I’m an avowed multi-tasker, so I might work two or three jobs at a time, build up some cash and then take several months off to travel," he said. "Sometimes on the road, when the money would begin to give out, I would get a job cooking somewhere or work as a personal chef for someone."

Somehow Silverman was able to squeeze in cooking school between his traveling. He attended the San Diego Culinary Arts School, where he received the highest grade point average in the school’s history. He also received the Chef Peter Metz Award for Dedication and a Certificate of Appreciation for Volunteering, Charity and Competition Events.

His cooking expertise has allowed him to work as a personal chef for clients and restaurants in San Diego and Los Angeles, and most recently in Peru and Brazil, before he settled in Jacksonville and joined Plaza III.

As far as recommendations to other travelers, Silverman says it’s difficult to pick one place as "the best" he has even seen.

"They all have something special to experience," he said. "As far as a culinary experience, I would recommend Las Vegas. The restaurants there have the widest range of food imaginable. For beauty, the island of Florianópolis in southern Brazil is quite an exotic place worth seeing."

Florianópolis (also known as Floripa) is a small island off the southern coast of the Brazilian state Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.

"Machu Picchu in Peru, the lost city of the Incas, is also very beautiful," he said. "That’s really God’s Country."

Since settling in Jacksonville with his wife, Juliana, Silverman has been staying busy "laying down roots," which includes tending to his culinary duties and renovating a new home. But with relatives living all over the US, from New Jersey to California, and his wife’s family in Brazil, he will always have a reason to travel.

"My wife shares my love of travel, too, so there are a lot of trips we’ll be making later once things settle down a bit," he said. "For the next big trip, I think Europe’s on our itinerary."

Media Contact: Ron Whittington (904-563-0402)