Jose Mendin is a Chicken Parm Kind of Guy

Florida is home to a lot of restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Miamians aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food players to share their recommendations for a feature dubbed Dining Confidential. Know a chef who wants to share some top dining spots? The tipline is open.

Jose Mendin is the culinary director of the Pubbelly Group and owner/chef at Pubbelly, PB Steak and Pubbelly Sushi – you've probably heard of him. After moving from Puerto Rico to Miami at the age of 20 to attend culinary school, Mendin worked at spots like Veranda Restaurant at Turnberry, Nobu Miami and Nobu London. Later on, he joined the SushiSamba team as chef de cuisine at SushiSamba Dromo and after two years was promoted to assistant corporate chef. Afterwards, he helped open Mercadito's Miami and Chicago outposts and two years later partnered up with Sergio Navarro and Andreas Schreiner to launch what has become his Pubbelly empire. Now, he's working toward opening his latest restaurant, L'Echon Brasserie – that is, when he's not chowing down on chicken parm at Steve's.

I have a weakness for the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich at Steve's Pizza in North Miami. It's the perfect comfort food and the best chicken parm I've ever had. They bake the whole thing for warm, melty, crispy goodness, and their pizza sauce is completely addictive. I'll go on my days off with whoever will go with me --my friends, my son - whoever. I used to live in North Miami for years, so I love the neighborhood. It's a Miami classic that always delivers satisfaction.