Wie ich die Welt heute betrachte

Ich sehe keinen klaren Kampf zwischen Gut und Böse oder zwischen Ost und West. Ich sehe ein System, das müde und überholt ist. Die Globalisierung, wie sie in den letzten Jahrzehnten konzipiert und propagiert wurde, hat ihre Grenzen erreicht. Seit vielen Jahren sage ich, dass die Globalisierung nicht funktioniert. Ich sprach dabei vor allem über das System der offenen Grenzen, durch das Menschen verschiedener ethnischer Gruppen, hauptsächlich aus östlichen Ländern, in die europäischen Länder strömten – Menschen aus verschiedenen Regionen, ethnischer Herkunft, Religionen, Glaubensrichtungen und Bräuchen sowie aus unterschiedlichen Klimazonen! Das war und ist meiner Meinung nach ein Schmelztiegel, der aufgrund von Vorurteilen und Hass jederzeit überkochen kann. Der Beweis dafür sind die Ereignisse in Deutschland und England. Die Globalisierung hat Märkte und Menschen miteinander verbunden, aber sie hat auch Macht konzentriert, Abhängigkeiten geschaffen und stillschweigend entschieden, wer die Regeln aufstellt und wer sich daran hält. Ein Großteil der heutigen globalen Spannungen entspringt diesem Ungleichgewicht.

Lange Zeit nach dem Kalten Krieg

drehte sich die Welt um ein einziges Machtzentrum: die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre Verbündeten. Die Globalisierung folgte dieser Logik. Handel, Finanzen, Institutionen und sogar politische Werte wurden als universell dargestellt, obwohl sie in Wirklichkeit westliche Prioritäten widerspiegelten. Dies brachte vielen Wachstum und Stabilität, hinterließ aber auch tiefe Narben: Industrien gingen verloren, Gesellschaften polarisierten sich, und ganze Regionen hatten das Gefühl, die Globalisierung sei ihnen aufgezwungen worden, nicht mit ihnen.

Deshalb sehe ich Donald Trump nicht als Ausnahmeerscheinung, sondern als Signal. Seine Rhetorik war grob und oft spaltend, doch die dahinterstehende Botschaft fand bei Millionen von Amerikanern Anklang: das Gefühl, die USA hätten jahrzehntelang die Kosten der globalen Führungsrolle beklagt, während andere das System ausgenutzt hätten. „America First“ war nicht nur Nationalismus – es war eine Reaktion auf eine Globalisierung, die sich selbst für ihren Hauptarchitekten nicht mehr fair anfühlte. Diese Botschaft zu ignorieren, wäre ein großer Fehler.

Der Krieg in der Ukraine

hat einmal mehr offengelegt, wie zersplittert die sogenannte „Weltordnung“ tatsächlich ist. Aus europäischer Sicht ist er eindeutig ein Angriff auf die Souveränität und das Völkerrecht. Doch wenn ich über Europa hinausblicke, fällt mir etwas Unbehagenhaftes auf: Ein Großteil der Welt betrachtet den Konflikt nicht unter denselben moralischen Gesichtspunkten. Viele Länder erinnern sich an Jahrzehnte, in denen das Völkerrecht von mächtigen Staaten flexibel, selektiv angewendet oder schlichtweg ignoriert wurde. Dies rechtfertigt zwar keine Aggression, erklärt aber den Mangel an globaler Einigkeit. Die Ukraine ist zu einer Bruchlinie zwischen westlichen Erwartungen und globaler Skepsis geworden.

Selbst Diskussionen, die beinahe surreal anmuten – wie das erneute Interesse an Grönland –, fügen sich in dieses Muster ein. Bei Grönland geht es nicht um Landkäufe, sondern um strategische Positionierung und zukünftigen Einfluss in der Arktis. Der offensichtliche Grund dafür ist das, was der russische Aggressor in der Nähe der Grenzen einiger europäischer Länder tut. Die Tatsache, dass solche Ideen wieder offen diskutiert werden, zeigt mir, dass wir in eine neue Ära des Großmachtdenkens eingetreten sind. Der Glaube, die Geschichte habe sich von territorialen Grenzen und roher Macht entfernt, erwies sich rückblickend als Illusion.

In diesem Kontext

Ist BRICS weitaus wichtiger, als viele im Westen wahrhaben wollen. Es ist wichtig, sich vor Augen zu halten, dass BRICS nicht von den Vereinigten Staaten oder Europa gegründet wurde. Es entstand aus Ländern wie Brasilien, Indien, China und Südafrika, die oft als „aufstrebende“ oder „östliche“ Länder bezeichnet werden, aber in Wirklichkeit die Mehrheit der Weltbevölkerung repräsentieren. BRICS ist nicht durch Ideologie oder gemeinsame Werte vereint, sondern durch Frustration – insbesondere über die westliche Dominanz im Finanzwesen, in Institutionen und im dollarbasierten System, die lange vor Trumps zweiter Amtszeit begann.

So viel zur Globalisierung!

Ich sehe BRICS

nicht als einfache Alternative oder moralisches Gegengewicht. Die Mitglieder haben widerstreitende Interessen, unterschiedliche politische Systeme und eigene Machtambitionen. Doch ihr Wachstum sendet eine klare Botschaft: Die unipolare Weltordnung verliert an Bedeutung, und deshalb handelt Trump so, wie er handelt. Immer mehr Länder wollen Alternativen. Sie wollen Einfluss gewinnen. Sie wollen mitbestimmen, wie das globale System funktioniert, nicht nur Anweisungen erhalten.

Was mir am meisten Sorgen bereitet, ist nicht der Niedergang der westlichen Dominanz, sondern der Verlust von Vertrauen und Kooperation. Eine multipolare Welt kann ausgewogen und stabil sein – aber auch chaotisch und konfrontativ. Globale Probleme wie Klimawandel, Migration, Pandemien und technologische Umbrüche lassen sich nicht allein durch Blöcke und Rivalitäten lösen. Wenn sich Macht ausbreitet, muss sich auch Verantwortung ausbreiten.

Die eigentliche Herausforderung

besteht für mich nicht darin, zwischen der alten westlichen und der neuen östlichen Ordnung zu wählen. Es geht darum, die Globalisierung selbst neu zu denken – damit sie weniger arrogant, weniger hierarchisch und ehrlicher im Umgang mit Macht wird. Wir verlassen ein Zeitalter der vermeintlichen Führung und treten in ein Zeitalter der Verhandlung ein. Ob dieser Übergang zu Kooperation oder Konflikt führt, wird die Zukunft weit mehr prägen als jedes einzelne Land, jede Allianz oder jeder einzelne Führer.

Wünsche  allen eine schöne, stressfreie Woche!

Euer Blogging-Freund Ueli Köpf

I don’t see a neat struggle between good and bad, or East and West. I see a system that is tired and outdated. Globalization, as it was designed and sold over the last few decades, has reached its limits. For many years now, I have been saying that Globalization does not work. I was mainly talking about the open border system where people from different ethnic groups, mainly from Eastern countries, flooded into European countries, people from different regions, ethnic origins, different religions, beliefs, and customs, and climates!
That, in my opinion, was and still is a melting pot waiting to boil over due to prejudice and hate. The evidence for that is what is happening in Germany and England.
Globalization connected markets and people, but it also concentrated power, created dependencies, and quietly decided who sets the rules and who follows them.
Much of today’s global tension grows out of that imbalance.

For a long time after the Cold War, the world revolved around one center of gravity: the United States and its allies. Globalization followed that logic. Trade, finance, institutions, and even political values were framed as universal, while in reality they reflected Western priorities. This brought growth and stability for many, but it also left deep scars-industries lost, societies polarized, and entire regions feeling that globalization happened to them, not with them.

This is why I see Donald Trump not as an anomaly, but as a signal. His rhetoric was crude and often decisive, but the message behind it resonated with millions in the U.S.: the sense that the US. had been carrying the costs of global leadership for decades, while others took advantage of the system. “ America First” was not just nationalism-it was a reaction to a globalization that no longer felt fair, even to its main architect. Ignoring that message would be a big mistake.

The war in Ukraine

has further exposed how fractured the so-called “world order” really is. From a European point of view, it is clearly an attack on sovereignty and international law. But when I look beyond Europe, I notice something uncomfortable: much of the world does not see the conflict in the same moral terms.

Many countries remember decades when international law was flexible, selectively applied, or simply ignored by powerful states. This does not justify aggression, but it explains the lack of global unity. Ukraine has become a fault line between Western expectations and global skepticism.

Even discussions that sound almost surreal, such as renewed interest in Greenland, fit this pattern. Greenland is not about buying land; it is about strategic positioning and future influence in the Arctic. The obvious reason for that is what is happening near the borders of a few European countries by the Russian Aggressor. The fact that such ideas are openly discussed again tells me that we have entered a new era of great power thinking. The belief that history had moved beyond territory and raw power was, in hindsight, an illusion.

In this context,

BRICS matters far more than many in the West like to admit. It is important to remember that BRICS was not created by the United States or Europe. It emerged from countries like Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, often labeled as “emerging” or “Eastern”, but in reality representing a majority of the world’s population. BRICS is not united by ideology or shared values; it is united by frustration, especially with Western dominance of finance, institutions, and the dollar-based system, all of which started long before Trump’s second term. So much for Globalization!?

I do not see BRICS

as a clean alternative or a moral counterweight. Its members have conflicting interests, different political systems, and their own power ambitions. But its growth sends a clear message: the unipolar world is fading, and that is why Trump is doing what he is doing. More countries want options. They want leverage. They want a say in how the global system works, not just instructions.
What concerns me most is not the decline of Western dominance but the decline of trust and cooperation. A multipolar world can be balanced and stable- but it can also be chaotic and confrontational. Global problems like climate change, migration, pandemics, and technological disruption cannot be solved through blocs and rivalries alone. If power is spreading, responsibility must spread with it.

To me, the real challenge is not choosing between the old Western order and the new Eastern one. It is rethinking globalization itself, so it becomes less arrogant, less hierarchical, and more honest about power. We are leaving an age of assumed leadership and entering one of negotiation. Whether that transition leads to cooperation or conflict will define the future far more than any single country, alliance, or leader.

This is a short version of the life of a Swiss Chef and Hospitality Consultant spanning over 55 years and seven countries.

Author Ulrich Koepf

My Life Story as a Chef and Hospitality Consultant

I was born in a small Town north of Switzerland, called Aarau, in 1950, the name of the town originates from the River Aare, flowing along the shores of the City.
After graduating school in 1966 my parents asked me the important question; “what do you want to do as a profession?”.. my answer then was “I don’t know yet”!

French it is!

They insisted that I learn another language, French that was, until I knew what I wanted to for my future, so they made arrangements in the French part of Switzerland, in a town called Neuchâtel, through a friend of my Dad’s were I could get started learning the language.

They asked me if I would prefer to go on a Farm or work in a Restaurant…after thinking about having to get up 5 am to milk the cows and clean the cattle stalls, I decided that the restaurant would probably be more suitable for me!

A few weeks later I traveled, with my parents together, to Neuchâtel, in the French speaking part of Switzerland, a beautiful place situated on by the Bay of Lake Neuchâtel, it was similar to a Brasserie type of restaurant in the centre of the town called Cave Neuchâteloise.

So here began my career as Apprentice de Cuisine, for one year I was helping around the kitchen, peeling & chopping vegetables, learning how to cook the basics and, at the same time, learning the French language.
There were two Swiss German fellows in the kitchen Werner & Hansruedi and, there was Raymond, a fellow from the French part of Switzerland, we all shared our own rooms above the restaurant. Then there was Felix, he was in his 60’s and was our dishwasher, I shall never forget him, because every time you gave him a pot or dish to
wash he got pissed off and mumbled away in French. Then there was Monsieur Baumgartner, from Basel, he was like an all-arounder, taking care of refilling the refrigerators with beverages, cleaning and fixing etc.. one day , I remember, I walked into the storeroom and there was Monsieur Baumgartner laying on the floor twisting and twitching. I just witnessed an Epilepsy attack! I shall never forget that day, how that grown man in his 50’s was laying there on that floor totally helpless.

The highlight of that job was going on the cruise ship on the Lake Neuchâtel providing Food & Beverage in the onboard restaurant also operated by our restaurant.

After completing the first year, I decided to stay and pursue the culinary profession and, to start a 2 1/2 year apprenticeship; my parents arranged for me to start at a Gasthof (Inn) in Teufenthal, a small village near my hometown of Aarau, so I packed up my bags in Neuchâtel and moved to Teufenthal.

Arriving at this Inn, I received a room upstairs, right above the Inn, the owner and his family also lived a floor below me.

The Inn was operated by that family, the owner was my boss in the kitchen, it was him and me, most of the time however he spent a lot of time in the restaurant talking to his suppliers and/or customers before service, while I was prepping and getting ready for lunch service.
He was also acting as a Judge for the State Exams for Professional Chefs, for the State we lived in.

The Screaming Teacher

One day, before leaving the kitchen to meet with one of his purveyors in the dining room, he told before leaving, to chop parsley and put it in the reach-in refrigerator on a specific shelf. I guess I must have forgotten which shelf he told me to put it on, because I was doing everything else at the same time, then during service at one point, he was reaching for the parsley, and of course the parsley wasn’t on the shelf where he excepted it to be.. he got so pissed off that this parsley was on the shelf above instead the shelf below, that he yelled at me like a crazy person and litterly kicked my butt! he must have had a few beers too many sitting in the restaurant beforehand talking to purveyor, because I smelled it on his breath!

I hated it from the beginning especially after listening to him, his wife and daughter fighting at nite on the floor below mine, so about 3 weeks later after being yelled at on a daily basis, I went to my room and said to myself; “Am I really ready to do this for the next 2 1/2 years?” I don’t think so …so I packed up my stuff in the middle of the night, called my parents and told them that I was on way home. I got on the last Train leaving to Aarau around mid-nite.

A few days later I contacted Monsieur Jacot in Neuchael where I was working in the kitchen before and asked him if I could return to his restaurant to start my 2 1/2 year apprenticeship with him because things didn’t work out in Teufenthal. Unfortunately, he was planning on retiring and selling the business within the year and, since my apprenticeship was for 2 1/2 years he said he
wouldn’t be able to take me back, however,he would find me an alternative place to start my apprenticeship in the area.

About a month later I started my apprenticeship at the Restaurant L’Hippocampe in Bevaix, NE, also on the Lake of Neuchâtel, in June of 1967.

The restaurant was on a hill overlooking the Lake, also on the hill, behind the restaurant was a Hotel with 60 rooms.
Mr. and Mrs. Banguerel, the owners of the restaurant welcomed me and showed me around, I had my own room in the adjacent building, in the kitchen there was Executive Chef Pierre, George the Commis de Cuisine, and also Monsieur Eugene Benguerel, the owner, whom worked in the kitchen during services and then at night around 8 pm he went home to change into a Tuxedo,went downstairs to the Nightclub-Dancing to play the keyboard with his Band.

Marching Orders!

Corporal Koepf

After graduating from Culinary School 2 1/2 years later, I went back to Aarau, my hometown, where I was working in a local popular restaurant near the train station until it was time for me to enter the mandatory military service for the 17-week training in the Infantry RS 205 as Heavy Machine Gun Operator. One of the worst moments was during the Army Medical Examination when I received the immunization shot into the lower column vertebra, I never forget the size of that blasted needle! I think they must have used the same type of needle to euthanize Cattle or Horses…loll

I was stationed in a small town called Liestal, near Basel, they were large wooden barracks where we stayed, something that reminded me of the Tv Series Hogan’s Hero’s; Bunk Beds, troughs outside, in front of the Barack, where we had to wash & shave summer, winter, snow, rain or shine, no matter what the weather was!
Absolutely no conveniences. The kitchen was equipped with 3 large 30-gallon heating kettles fired by wood. During kitchen duty, we had to get up at 5 am in order to start the fire under the kettles and help to cook breakfast for a company of 120.

After completing of the mandatory 17 weeks, I decided to accept the continuation as an officer and signed up as Head Chef Corporal which meant another 6 weeks of officer training in the city of Thun, and then another 17 weeks to payoff duty for the Stripes.

The 17 weeks in the army thought me how to be punctual, organized, clean and how to saw a button on my shirts ! And to shoot a semi-automatic rifle; for that I received the certificate of Outstanding Sharp Shooter.

Hotel Spinne, Grindelwald, Canton Bern

In the meantime, during that time, I obtained a seasonal contract in Grindelwald, a Skiing Resort in the Canton of Bern, where I was Commis de Cuisine for one winter season at the Hotel Spinne. I was enjoying Ski Bobbing during my free time, the living quarters were shared with another guy from the French part of Switzerland, Marcial Martignoni.

Towards the end of the season, the owner of the Hotel asked me if I wanted to go to Zurich and work the new Cafe-Bar he just opened, it was located on the Limmat Quai in the Niederdorf, an area of City of Zurich.

After a few months in Zurich,

I received the marching order to go to officer school in Thun (BE) for a 6 week period. After graduating I went home for a while to work in a popular local brasserie as Chef de Partie before entering the second 17 weeks of service as Corporal-Head-Chef.
Unfortunately, with my luck I was assigned to the same old Barracks in Liestal (BL) where I completed my first 17 weeks recruitment service, instead of in a newly, modern build facility; of course, everything looked very familiar here!! As it turned out the twin brothers, Christian and Uli Stettler, also living in my hometown of Aarau, were also both Chefs by trade, happened to be in the same Infantry Company. However, they were field corporals, I was head chef corporal.

I remember

one night the Sergeant Major and I went out together on our army provided bicycles to visit two girls at their house that we meet a few days before in a nearby bar, we had a good time laughing and drinking all nite, and eventually dosing off it was 5:30 am when we woke up, and breakfast for the 120 troops was supposed to be ready by 6 am! I jumped on my bicycle and sped home to the barracks only a short distance away to find the two twins, Christina and Hanspeter, in the kitchen getting ready to fire up the kettles and cook the 30 gallons of hot chocolate!

Without changing clothes I jumped in and toke over. After the Commander heard of my tardiness he asked me to see him later that day in his office, where he issued a written warning to me! But it was all worth it!

After compleating the second 17 weeks of service I decided to go to Montana-Vermala in the Canton of Valais for one winter season.working at the Hotel Vermala, the head chef’s name was Wolfgang from Austria, we were the two of us in the kitchen..the only thing I remember from there was making Apricot Dumplings, and during my free time I was on the slopes with my Ski-Bob.

During my stay in Montana-Vermala I was in contact with a job referral company called Union Helvetia trying to find myself a position abroad somewhere, I wanted to trave and see the world.
I received 3 offers one of them was with the Norwegian-American Cruise Lines, but after reading the rules and conditions to get the job I decided to pass on that one as it sounded like a Gestapo environment, the contract & pages of rules and conditions contained in a 10 page handbook felt like I would be signing over my life and rights..lol, then there where two others, one was with the Hilton Hotel in Bogota, Colombia and the other with Holiday Inn in St.Georges, Bermuda, I decided to accept the one in Bermuda, a sub-tropical Island in the Atlantic, approx. 700 miles off the coast of new York.

Bermuda here I come!

Bermuda was a fantastic small island, 20 miles long and 1 mile wide at the widest point, with approx. 50,000 inhabitants. It has a subtropical climate, situated 200 miles off the coast of New York in the Atlantic Ocean. As of today it is still a British colony run by a British Governor.

Then in June of 1972 it was time to pack the bags and travel to Bermuda, I will never forget that day as my parents and my sister Maya took me to a restaurant in Biberstein, a small village near Aarau, called Captain Jo’s, the restaurant was built on a hillside and looked just like the side of a whole cruise ship, the inside was exactly as you where on a cruise ship, it even had a private room that simulated a storm electronically on high sea, people could rent it for pirate food drowning dinner parties!

As we were sitting there my parents and sister where crying our their eyes out as this was going to be my first trip and flight abroad, and to make things even more dramatic there was a song playing over the sound system “Junge Komm bald wieder” ( Jung boy come back soon) a German sailor song, that really made the tears flow!

A few days later I was off to Zurich Airport flying to London by Swissair, from there to Bermuda by BWIA.
As I just had left the Swiss Army and enjoyed my target shooting, it was only normal to me, at that time, to pack my chef’s knifecase including my 22 caliber pistol!

The Swiss Terrorist & Interpol !!

My departure was not just the first trip abroad and the first time on a plane, but also an encounter with Interpol, when I arrived at London Heathrow ; let’s remember now this is 1972, no word of terrorism, no carryon luggage checks, no xrays machines at the airport before leaving Zurich, and me totally innocent of the fact what the consequences there would be having a pistol and an assortment of knifes in my hand luggage! and also I didn’t know until I arrived in London that the day before my arrival, the Governor of Bermuda, his aid and his dog, were assassinated on the island at his Mansion!

After checking my luggage and sfinding my Chefknife set and the Pistol with it, all hell broke loose! I was detained by Interpol and interrogated for several hours, finally, after several phone calls to Switzerland, to check my identity, they realized that I really was not dangerous, and was whom I claimed to be, a chef going to work in Bermuda.

Of course I missed my connecting flight to Bermuda that day, and had to stay overnight to catch the next flight in the morning, however, the British Government paid for it!

The next day they handed the pistole to the pilot of the BWIA plane (so they said) and that I would be able to claim the pistole upon my arrival in Bermuda, of course after arriving, I never saw the pistol again, nobody knew anything about it when I arrived in Bermuda.

Arriving in Hamilton I was greeted by the Executive Chef Rene, (also a Swiss from Zurich) at the airport. My first impression driving from the tiny airport to St.Georges where the hotel was located, was something I never forgot, there were no large American cars in sight, everyone drives a compact car due to the fact that the restrictions on the island are very severe, there can only be one car per family/household, if you want to change or buy a new car, the old car has to be sold to a person that doesn’t own a vehicle yet or it has to be disposed of before buying the new one. That is because there is only so much space on that small island, 50 miles long by 1 mile wide.

Holiday Inn St. Georges, Bermuda

Finally arriving at the hotel I was shown to one of the 3 dormitory buildings on the property, where my room was waiting for me.
Soon thereafter I was working in the Supper Club kitchen of the hotel which was located on the top overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the view was breathtaking!
There were a variety of local, nightly shows such as Steel-Drum bands, Fire spitting acts etc. for the enjoyment of the hotel guests. My shift started at 2 pm until 11 pm, that gave me the time to spent most of my mornings & early afternoons on the beautiful Bermuda beaches!

I wonder where they are today? They don’t belong to me! The where the daughters of a friend of mine.

Talking about those beautiful beaches! One day I fell asleep on the beach, it had to be the day when I was in charge of cooking the staff meal for the cafeteria, and it happened to be Beef Goulash that day, arriving late I only had about an hour to cook Goulash for 80 people! As they say “Difficult situations call for drastic measures” nothing a box of baking soda couldn’t fix!! after a heavy foam up that goulash was ready on time!

One of the very few not so proud moments I have had in my cooking career but to avoid a cafeteria revolt I had to do what I had to do!

A couple of months later I purchased a Yamaha 125 cc trail motorbike from an Ecuadorian guy leaving the island and then the fun really began! What a beautiful island this is.. the subtropical fauna, the beaches, the white, clean houses, the friendly people all made my 2 1/2 year stay in Bermuda an unforgettable experience that I will treasure in my memories.

Thanksgiving Day

Especially three events are still carved into my memory today:
One of them was Thanksgiving when Thomas from Antigua asked me to join him visiting some friend’s on the island, he lived on the island for a while already as he knew a lot of people, I myself just arrived a few days before, I never forget as he toke me to 4 different homes on the Island where the families welcomed me to share part of their meal, in of them I enjoyed turkey, the next one some more turkey, the next one was desserts and then some more dessert! that Pumpkin Pie was to die for! It was something that brings a smile to my face even today, so many years later, this guy accepting me instantly as a friend, and also the families how they shared that time of that special holiday with me, a total stranger that didn’t even speak their language yet!. That is what Thanksgiving is all about!

Then there was Claudette, my Bermudian girlfriend, with her two little girls from a previous marriage, I had some good times with them and it was the best way to learn English. I even took her to Switzerland on vacation one year and that was certainly an eye opener for family and friends back home!

Hitting the Pavement

Another one was when I was walking one afternoon from the village back up to the hotel where I meet Bill on the way, a 250 pound Irish fellow, he was an engineer at the hotel, he invited me to join him for a drink at the Gun Tavern Bar, a cave carved into a hillside on the way to the hotel that was used during the 2nd world war to keep ammunition, now converted into a bar. He orders a bottle of Myers Rum with 2 glasses? This was 3 o’clock in the afternoon! Not able to speak too much English yet, I felt uncomfortable refusing to drink with him, between the two of us we went through 3/4 of the bottle! Well, I didn’t go to work for 4 days after that…I was sick like a dog! and haven’t touched Myers Rum ever since.

After about six month on the Island, Greta from Germany, working in the front desk department, was leaving the island and decided to give me her dog to take care of as a going away present! Well I didn’t want to be rude not accepting her going away present! After receiving a few complaints by the general manager of the hotel saying that I couldn’t let the dog roam around the dormitories I decided to tie up the dog on a long leash behind the building I lived in. A couple of months later the dog was pregnant and gave me five more puppies!

I guess she had some male visitors and probably couldn’t defend herself or run away on time to avoid that situation! After that I decided to give away the doggies to someone on the Island living in a house with a garden.
Another event occurred the summer of 1975; I got on my bike during my break at the hotel and drove down the hill towards St.Georges, I was going very slowly as there were tourist staying in the hotel walking along the street up and down on both sides from the hotel to village of St. Georges and back, so I had to drive in the middle of the road, coming around the corner I hit the beverage truck also driving in the middle of the road head on; I was thrown off my bike and suffered from a bruised lower back, my head was safe as I wore a helmet, I landed in the hospital of the US Naval Base in St. Georges where I stayed for three weeks with back injuries. I remember all the visitors from the hotel that came to see me, my girlfriend Claudette, and staff members I was working with.

Bahamas here I come!

A few months later, I decided to leave the island to accept a job offer in Freeport, the Bahamas at the El Casino.

This place was like a food factory..we served between 400 – 700 dinners a nite, all a la carte items, sauteed, cooked to order! The island itself was pretty boring, totally flat, not a hill in sight just a lot of beautiful beaches and a shopping mall in the center of town. That is where I bought my first American car a 1969 Chevy Impala, it’s also where I received my first lesson on how to fix a transmission! The damn thing was leaking all the time; I don’t remember how I was able to fix it and then drive but I remember finally selling it to an English dealer from the Casino, then went on to buy a yellow Chevy Vega.

It was on this Island I meet my wife Nazarine through my friend Roland that worked with me at the Casino and also on a part-time basis at the Holiday Inn, he already lived on the island for a while before I arrived.

A memorable moment

that makes me smile every time I think about it up to today is when my friend Patrick and I drove home from work on the highway in Freeport to Taino Beach where our house was, him with his Pontiac and me in my 69 Chevy, I was driving on the left lane about 2 car lenghts in front of him and he was driving on the right lane behind me.

Suddenly, looking out of the passenger side window I saw a single car wheel rolling by! “What the Hell!” looking in the rearview mirror I saw Patrick’s car standing on the lane with one wheel missing on the front left! I guess someone forgot to tighten the wheel bolts!! That was an unforgettable moment…looking at that wheel passing me by on the highway driving at 50 miles an hour made me laugh for days, Sorry Patrick, even though it was an unfortunate situation for you at the time, but for me it became a nice memory of the time we spent in the Bahamas together..

Towards the end of one year and the end of the contract with El Casino I was approached by the Maitre’D of the Casino Jose M., he told me that he had a friend in Miami who told him that a private club was searching for a chef team in Miami Beach to open a private dining club, he asked me if I was interested, I told him that I was, so I asked my friend Patrick whom I worked with in Bermuda and came to the Bahamas together, if he was interested to join me to go to Miami Beach for a job interview. For a whatever reason, (which I still don’t understand as of today since a year later he turned up in States anyway) he declined the offer, I then asked Roland if he was interested to go with me, he of course agreed right away.

USA, the Land of Opportunities

A few weeks later we traveled to Miami where we were picked up at the airport by a Hungarian by the name of Leslie who was working for the owner of the new private club. After arriving in Miami Beach we meet with Mr. M, the owner of the Club. He asked me and
Roland to cook for some friends of his that evening so he could taste our food, don’t remember exactly what we cooked but they liked it and we where hired consequently. We stayed in Miami Beach for a few days and then went back to the Bahamas to render our notices and to pack up.

A few weeks later we moved to Miami Beach, where we lived in a condominium building off Biscayne Boulevard and 69th

Well, here I was in the USA! My final destination for a while, working at Club 41 on Arthur Godfrey Road was a great experience, I meet and cooked for many celebrities from Telly Savalas, Petula Clark, Dahlia Lavi, Red Buttons, Rock Hudson, Shirley Bassey, Red Buttons, William Conrad, and the Miami Dolphin players. During the first months after arriving in Miami Beach, the owner of the club arranged the necessary formalities with the immigration for me and Roland; for that we had to show up several times at the Immigration department to file documents in order to receive our green cards for residency. I never forget towards the final stage of filing for residency we had to go back to the Immigration building, there where long lines of people cueing outside of the building waiting in the heat for hours to get called in, Roland and I, however, where pulled through a side door bypassing the lines of people waiting and went straight to the Immigration department chief to get our final green cards! That is when we realized that our new employer had some pull in this town!

The Four Star Club 41

During the next 3 1/2 years I was working hard to make Club 41 one of the best restaurants in North America, Roland left after the first year and pursued his own path, then towards the end of 1979 the owner decided to join Club 41 with his The Forge restaurant next door and make it one large entity.

I assumed the position of Food Director at The Forge after the change was implemented which was a complete change as far as cooking; that place was pumping out 300-400 dinners a night aswell, it was a food factory. I had a few guys in the morning prepping all the food and at night the line guys pumped it all out. I hated it! There was no pride in pumping out that amount of food, you literally had to slap the items on the plate to keep up the pace.
Great for the owner but not exactly what I went to culinary school for.

Then in August of 1980,

I got married to my wife Nazarine and went on a honeymoon to Europe for 3 months. During that time I decided that I didn’t want to go back to pump out 400 dinners with a style of food I really couldn’t appreciate and enjoy, so I wrote my resignation to the owner while I was in Switzerland.

Back in Miami, I contacted Steve V. in Fort Lauderdale who approached me months before while I was still at Club 41 and offered me to take over his new restaurant Cafe September in Fort Lauderdale.

Bomb Treats!

As I was ready to start at Cafe September Steve V. called me telling me to lay back and wait, there were some issues with the owner of the Forge Restaurant, and that he received bomb treats! it was better that I stayed home until things calmed down.

Apparently, the Forge owner didn’t appreciate Steve V. stealing me away from Miami Beach! Whether this story was true or not I shall never find out but that was the story I was told.

Finally a few weeks later I was ready to start at Cafe Septembers, a beautiful entertainment club with a 15 piece live band and singers. The restaurant was tucked away in the back of the club seating 42 people, original Miro paintings on the walls, 14 karat gold silverware, Baccarat crystal glasses etc. the place was a jewel! and so was my food going to be!

European Gourmet Trip

In the summer of 1981 we closed Cafe September for 6 weeks, Steve V. told me to go to Europe and check out all the first class restaurants in France and Switzerland to see what their style was in order to keep up with the trends, Naz and I visited Freddy Girardet in Crissier, The H‰berlin Brothers in Alsace, Paul Bocuse in Lyon and Restaurant Stucki in Basel among others.
Some of the memorable times at Cafe September was serving Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach, David McCallum, Wendy’s owner Dave Thomas just to mention a few.

My very own nightmare, Truffles Restaurant

Coming back to Florida I was hot and full of ideas which rewarded me with many accolades, recognition and stars until 1983 when Steve V. sold the club, at that point I decided to open my own restaurant “Truffles” in Miami with my friend Roy together as the Maitre’D, Roy was married at the time but I knew or thought that he was divorcing his wife, one day, while we were working to get the place organized and ready to open there was Roy’s new girlfriend working on the wooden walkway leading into the restaurant, when his wife showed up asking me who that girl was working on the walkway? I told her it was a friend of Roy’s, anyway needless to say that started a very unhealthy, bad situation for Roy, me and the restaurant.

We had a really good run for a year until Roy’s wife decided to sue him for his share of the restaurant ownership and throw him out because his 50 % part collateral with which we opened the restaurant was on her name! what a mistake for not telling me he had an affair while he was obtaining part-ownership with his wife’s collateral! Not long after, on a weekend she arrived with a band she was playing with and started playing music during dinner hours scaring away our dining clientele, after a few weeks not being able to deal with this woman and her decisions, I decided to leave the restaurant as well.

A few months later she had to close the business. She ruined it within a short period of time.

For me it was my first financial disaster; would I have done it differently today? absolutely, knowing what I know today I probably would still be in that business.

Off to the Dominican Republic

But life goes on and so I was contacted by Steve V. to come back to Cafe Septembers as he also had to take it back from the people he sold it to, therefore in 1984 I started my second turn at Cafe Septembers until 1987, when the club and restaurant was sold for a second time, that is when we moved to Santo Domingo with Steve V. to build the Hotel Jaragua, Casino, and European Spa.

On my first trip to Santo Domingo upon arrival, I experienced the airport where the porters actually got into competition fights as to whom gets your suitcases and/or taxi! but Victor our assigned driver by the company rushed us out of the spectacle and safely into car waiting.

My assignment while the hotel was under construction was to accumulate connections and contacts for local purveyors where I would able to purchase supplies, local meats, seafood and produce for the hotel. The most memorable place was Constanza, where with the hotel truck at 5am we drove 3-4 hours from Santo Domingo to Constanza, a place 1283 m above sea level, there were plantations of berries, fruits and beautiful vegetables growing all year round, when arriving in Constanza one thought you were on a different island, it’s lush, green landscape and the incredible tropical flower fields were breathtaking.
On my second trip my wife Naz and son Alexander moved with me to Santo Domingo, we stayed in an apartment across the road from the hotel construction, I remember the times when we got up and tried to take a shower, my wife was standing in the shower all soaped up when the water suddenly stop running, so I had run downstairs and pump water from a well outside of the building with a bucket run back upstairs to pour over her to rinse her off!

But that became a routine that we got used to in a short period of time, including the power outages on a daily basis!
Then there was Hurricane Hugo during which I thought the apartment building was going to blow away!

Boring Spanish lessons

Over the next few months I toke Spanish lesson with a guy called Jose, in order to be able to hire my staff of about 60 people in the kitchen department, I also had to oversee the installations of the equipment in 8 food service outlets across the property, one morning I decided walk through each restaurant outlet when I noticed that in two of them, the Manhattan Grill and in the Latino, there were two ceramic golf ball size pieces missing on the Salamanders handle (Grills), I assumed that they probably were lost, misplaced or just fell off during transportation from the States, so I inquired with the maintenance department and the installation crew but nobody knew anything about those parts. The are protectors at the end of the handles with which the cooks can move the grill drawer up and down from the heat.

So a few weeks later, after the opening of the hotel my wife and I toke a taxi in front of the hotel to do some errands in town, as the guy toke off I recognized the red, round golf ball size ceramic ball on top of his stick shift handle!! Aha, now I knew what happened to my grill handles from the hotel!

With the opening of the hotel my busy schedule now started, I had over 60 employees in the kitchen department, in order to communicate in Spanish, which I still wasn’t good at, I hired a Dominican Sous Chef Juan, two Swiss sous Chefs Patrick and Alfred, one from the French part and the other from the German part so between the English, French, German and Spanish I was able to bullshit my way through the first few months until my Spanish evolved! I have to say those were some interesting, awkward and funny department meetings I had to conduct!

Thanks to the many supervisors and department heads that granted me a lot of patience and understanding during my Spanish learning process running a food & beverage department at the same time!

Promotion Time

Between 5 theme restaurants, a New York type of Deli, Room service, Banquets, Pool Bar BBQ and an Annex building with 60 pax. capacity including a support kitchen, it certainly was a challenge I was about to undertake!

Together with my crew we also won all the top prizes of the Dominican Culinary Competition 3 consecutive years.
2 1/2 years later I was promoted to Director of Food & Beverage with over 200 employees during the peak season. I was rewarded with the Executive of the Year Award.

Being able to personally cater to Mr. Henry Gault from France, the founder and president of the famous GAULT-MILLAU Rating Guide was another great opportunity.
Naz and Alex also had a great time meeting lots of famous people, having breakfast with Sigfried was one of the highlights for Alex, Siegfried made his coffee mug disappear in front of his eyes with a magic trick! he really did, don’t know how but he did!

Catering to Movie Stars

The motion picture “Havana” featuring Robert Redford and Lena Olin was filmed in and around Santo Domingo, Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford stayed in our hotel and I was personally responsible to cater to them during their stay at the hotel. Nazarine had a small part in the movie during a casino scene with Robert Redford.

In 1990 I initiated, in collaboration with Mr. Anthony Bayarri, the first Dominican Chapter of the French Gourmet Society “La Chaine des Rôtisseur” .

During the final days in Santo Domingo George M. kept in touch with me telling me he was planning on opening a place in Fort Lauderdale. That was to be the next project upon my return to the US.

Back Home and Hurricane Andrew

I had the option to remain in the DR and take over the nightclub management which didn’t seem the right thing to do for me at the time. We then decided to return to Miami so our son Alex could start school there.

As I returned to Miami and a break, I was trying to find an appropriate job which took me quite a bit of time, however, I didn’t mind taking some time off and spending it with my family. Through a friend of mine I found work at the homestead private club in Homestead where I was helping the chef for few months in the banquet department, and then came Hurricane Andrew and all hell broke loose, the day the hurricane hit Florida I was at home putting up the shutters on the house and getting ready for the storm. I will Never forget that day. The whistling and blowing off the walls around the house was really scary we were hiding in the back bedroom inside the closet, we thought that the house was coming down on us, after several hours of blowing and rattling we were finally able to come out of the closet (lol) we didn’t sleep at all that night. At sunrise, I went outside to check the damage the storm left behind, when I walked out of the front door one off the three large ficus trees was in front of my doorsteps covered the entire front lawn, ripped it right out of the ground including roots standing in the air 6 feet high. The house didn’t sustain any major damage only a few tiles missing on the roof and some damage in the backyard through a large mango tree branch that fell on the fence.

It took me and Alex four or five days to clean up the tree debris and bring the house back in shape. But at least we had firewood for a couple of winters!

A few days later when I returned to the homestead country club to see what was going on there all I found was the ruins of the club building, the six-ton air-conditioning units that were on the roof were nowhere to be found they blew away! and left a huge hole on the roof and therefore damaged the entire club and building all the way through.

After dealing with all the clean up a friend of mine told me that the owner of the Kaleidoscope Restaurant in Coconut Groove was looking for chef, so since the Homestead club didn’t exist anymore and Bistro Mezzaluna wasn’t ready yet (more of that below)I decided to take the job even if it was just for a couple of months.. I will never forget that nightmare…the day I started there was no chef on hand, I guess he must have quit, the owner gave me a menu and introduced me to a Jamaican guy standing in the pantry area smoking a cigarette! I had no clue what the presentation of the food was supposed to be, nobody showed a thing, I was in the weeds with the first check coming in, the dining room was full and me alone behind the line not knowing shit from shinola! until today I still don’t know how I got the food out of that kitchen, nobody seems to have given a darn. Anyway, I decided to quit that nightmare before they got used to me.

It just amazes me how some people run their restaurant, and that place was packed everyday! God knows what these people saw and liked in this place with the way this kitchen was run, it couldn’t have been the food!

A few weeks later the chef from the same Homestead private club called me and ask if I wanted to come and help him in the banquet department at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida where he just started, that is where I met Brian O, in the meantime Bistro Mezzaluna was being built in Fort Lauderdale, George M. called me on a daily basis to keep me updated on the progress of the restaurant while I was working at the Biltmore, then in October 1992 I put all my efforts into the opening off the Bistro Mezzaluna, and we were an instant success.

The pressure of fame and reputation

Having the reputation, exposure in the gastro circle, all the publicity and accolades from local and national publications put a lot of pressure on me performing to my utmost best, which meant putting in a lot of hours and making a lot of sacrifices. My day started between 12 noon and 1 pm until 11:30 sometimes until 2 am 6 days a week.

During the setting up of the corporation George M. and I agreed that I would provide a certain amount of funds to the company in order to obtain a 25% interest in the company, and so it was setup in the contract, I was warned by close friends to George M. that he always goes over the budget no matter what project he undertakes; and I should have known that and how it works because the same thing happened to me when I opened Truffles Restaurant in Miami, it always turns out to be more than what you anticipated! Anyway a few months into construction George called me to tell me that he needed to raise more money to finish the job and asked me if I could also put in more funds, I told him that I couldn’t, my reason being: A few months before the finalizing of the contract George, Nazarene and I were sitting at Houston’s Restaurant on North Federal Highway having a lunch meeting during which George asked me what kind of food I thought we should feature at the bistro, I gave him some ideas which where traditional French bistro fare such as stews, meats, pasta, pizzas and in the season also to feature game specialties such as rabbit and venison..well as soon as I mentioned venison George turned into a raving maniac, turning red and screaming at me telling me I was crazy and to go back to Europe to cook shit like that! I told him to calm down that it was merely suggestions!

On the way home Nazarene and I looked at each other and said “Holy shit and we are going into business with this maniac??” I realized that George almost seemed to have two different personalities. So I had to decide at that point whether to get involved at all or not, however the initial funds were already committed anyway, but it made my decision easier not to re-invest anymore after he asked me to do so during the construction.

George gave me an ultimatum; put in more funds or sell back the initial stocks so he could get another investor to finish the project, so I did…and he brought in a new investor J.H., he put in the necessary funds in order for George to complete the project. I then agreed to remain as the Executive Chef with a salary, bonuses and with an agreement that I would have the right to buy into the business at a later stage.

Bistro Mezzaluna, Fort Lauderdale

All the word of mouth advertising, the posters on the windows and the rhetoric going around town among the gastro circle that Chef Ulrich and George are opening a restaurant in town created an anticipation of the opening of this restaurant that made it an instant success! The 95 seats where occupied nightly keeping me very busy creating specials, new designer pizzas, great bistro fare and pastries.. All products were made on the property.

The name Mezzaluna spread like crazy around the county, numerous famous people such as Larry Hagman, Lee Majors, Emeril Lagasse dined frequently at the restaurant. We received numerous awards, national and local recognition in publications.

In the summer of 1994 I decided that it was time to initiate a conversation for me to become a working partner in the business, after all, it was my food, efforts and busting my chops that made the business what it was; people come once maybe twice to admire, observe and experience the new design, look, architecture and atmosphere of a new establishment, after that they return only because of the quality and consistency of the food presented and the service!

Nazarine, my wife approached J.H. to ask him if he would object to finally make Ulrich a partner under the same conditions that were discussed in the beginning, he was totally for it and agreed to those terms, with George’s agreement and OK of course, however George didn’t appreciate that Naz approached J.H. about this issue before asking him, George still wasn’t ready to give me a partnership, there was always an excuse to postpone even though the sales of the business could certainly have support it, anyway a few months later J.H. passed away and George was then on the hunt for another new investor that is when things started to change… one night there was the new investors girlfriend sitting there for dinner all by herself in a booth, it was towards the end of the night, she already had a few drinks, she invited Naz and myself to sit with her for a drink, the conversation she brought up was all about her friend, the new guy, and George asked a range of questions about their relationship, questions, and issues that made us feel very uncomfortable….we realized that the whole charade was a setup in order for them to find a reason and an excuse to have Naz fired.

The next day George approached me saying he didn’t appreciate all the negative comments we made the night before about him and the new guy and that they decided to let Naz go!

Well, that really made up my mind, at that point I decided I didn’t want to be involved with that kind of relationship and was ready to move on even though after a couple of weeks George approached me now offering me 25% partnership in the business! However it was too late, I already made up my mind to leave.

About two months before the incident with the new guys girlfriend two guys came in for dinner and approached Naz talking about their new project and asked about me, they approached me a few days later to offer me a partnership as Vice President F&B Operations in a new venture which involved the Picasso name. I meet them at their office in Hollywood, Florida to hear all about the project, it was a theme restaurant concept called Cafe Picasso International, the first unit to open in Guadalajara, Mexico under a franchise contract with the owner-operator of Freedays, a restaurant company with 43 units all over Mexico and owners of a major Bank in Mexico.

The Picasso Project

So it was that I gave notice to George to leave by the end of June 1994 to get onboard with the Picasso project. That project was the most exciting and challenging task I undertook in my life! Not only did it give me the self-esteem, confidence, and a sense of importance as a person in charge but also a pleasure to develop, create, design and execute a food and beverage concept that hasn’t been seen or done yet.

There was Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe and several other theme restaurant concepts around that period but they all concentrated more on the entertainment and the merchandising rather than on the culinary aspects, Cafe Picasso emphasized on merchandising but the food was the main focus.

The project in Guadalajara was created in a freestanding building, the design of the building was created by a Mexican Architect, the inside was designed and created by Charles Lallouz, the man is clearly a genius, not only having the capability to create such an interesting concept design but also to be able to put it all together and make it a reality.

I was involved in many of the outsourcing trips throughout Mexico in order to find craftsman and artisans who were able to re-create all of Pablo’s designs and creations.  Cafe Pablo Picasso was an Homage to Picasso, a museum displaying all of his creations from paintings to sculptures, potteries, clothing, and jewelry etc.

Guadalajara, Jalisco

The menu I created for the concept was designed to be displayed and served on the dinnerware which had Picasso’s different designs imprinted on it, that alone was a challenge itself! The menu in Guadalajara was adopted to the local tastes and habits, it contained certain Mexican specialties and was designed to accommodate ingredients from the local markets.

I hired an Executive Chef from Puerto Rico, Daniel Correa, to run the kitchen.
I remember on opening day during lunch when the first customers started to walk in the waiters came running to me and the chef asking for hot sauce!? We realized that the Mexicans wanted hot sauce on the table for every meal! So we scrambled to create a couple of gallons of hot sauce, during the preparations of it Lucien, one of my partners, walked by the kitchen and saw the big bowl with that red stuff in it “Oh tomato sauce?” he asked, Chef Daniel responded, “Yea want to taste it?” Lucien takes a big taste with his middle finger and turned red immediately, coughing and choking cursing us out for not warning him that it was a puree of the hottest pepper there is! Ouch..
I have only good memories from those days, working with the staff there was great, they are all hard working, loyal and kind people. During the year after the opening I made several inspection e foo to Guadalajara, the one I really don’t want to remember was when I decided to have dinner in the shtaff cafeteria downstairs of the restaurant, I usually ate in the restaurant dining room in order to taste to taste the food, but that day I decided to eat with the staff downstairs, the menu was Chilaquiles, a Mexican Lasagna made with Queso Blanco and a Refried Bean Puree. Well, I was sick for an entire week, something in that lasagna didn’t agree with me, I couldn’t move for a whole week, couldn’t even call my wife that I wasn’t coming home yet cause there was no phone in that apartment where I stayed and my cell phone didn’t work.

During the next quality control trip to Guadalajara I was active in the kitchen trying out some new menu items with the crew, I was wearing chefs clogs, the dishwashers just finished mopping the floors, which were white, glossy ceramic tiles and very slippery when wet! I slipped and hurt my right hand ankle, I was in such pain that someone drove me to the nearest clinic to have it x-rayed, the doctor there told me “it’s just sprained, don’t worry”” wrapped up and sent me on my way.

The next day I was on a plane back to Miami, still in pain. About 10 days later still not being able to walk properly I decided to go to the doctor in Miami to get a second opinion and another x-ray, now the doctor tells me that my heel is broken but it was too late to anything about it because three weeks passed by since I broke it! So today I still have a really bumpy right foot heel because it never grew back the right way!

Mexico City & The Commisary

After a successful opening in Guadalajara, the Mexican franchisee asked our company to participate in the transformation of some of the units of “Freedays” into a new concept, apparently, the US based restaurant group Friday’s sued the Mexican based restaurant group Freedays for imitating and copying their trademarked concept. The court gave the owners 6 months to convert 13 of the 43 units into another concept, otherwise, the fine would have been 1 million dollars per unit!

My task was to organize a team of chefs to go with me to the Commissary/Headquarters in Mexico DF in order to re-create a menu change for all 13 units, each Chef form the 13 units came to the commissary, one at the time, to help and create the new items for the menu, the basic ingredients where all prepared and packaged in the commissary then shipped to the units by truck.

The schedule was arranged so that we would, for the following 2 weeks, change 2 units in the different suburban zones and counties of Mexico. The trucks where loaded, ready to leave at 6 am, me and two guys from my team in one truck and 3 in the other, the Chefs of the targeted units where ready on standby to receive us with the materials for the new menu items, there was no interruption of service that day, the units where open on time for lunch, thanks to the collaboration and efficiency of the staff in each unit and my support team, we accomplished all 13 units in a short period of time.

During my time in Mexico City I had a great time meeting some great people, I was the spokesperson for the commercial on National TV for the new concept, I had the pleasure to dine at Spago’s, Wolfgang Puck’s unit in Mexico City and the opportunity to see and experience that great vibrant city that didn’t seem to sleep at night.

After the completion of that project, the Mexican Franchisees asked to be involved as investors in the upcoming, planned units in Canada and the USA with 1 million dollar investment in each unit.

In 1995 we opened the second Picasso unit at the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada under another franchise contract with a Canadian restaurant group. During the construction of the unit, the sh started
to hit the fan? It so happened that the contract my two partners, the brothers, had with Claude Picasso’s Estate contained some fine print that was overlooked or ignored and now challenged.

The Picasso lawyers came to the Guadalajara unit to collect evidence from the restaurant boutique in order to build a case against our company. 3 weeks before the opening in Edmonton a judge put a court order in effect that prevented us from opening under the name of Pablo Picasso, there again Charles Lallouz made it happen, all the Picasso logos on the products in the boutique, the chairs in the restaurant, the menus and the paintings had to be overwritten or removed… the opening was postponed for three weeks and then opened as Modern Art Cafe instead of Cafe Pablo Picasso. The new concept now allowed local artist and painters to display their art on a monthly basis.

The Picasso estate demanded a royalty fee from every unit we opened in return for using the name, therefore it was decided to change the concept and the name.

In 1996 we opened the third unit which was company owned, together with the Mexican investors, in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida.

Unfortunately, greed found it’s way into the partnership, in order to integrate the Mexican partners into the corporation there was a lot shuffling going on and some partners got the short stick in the process, I was one of them.

After several attempts to regain my interest in the company I decided to move on, It was one of the toughest decisions I had to make, after investing 2 1/2 years of my time it wasn’t easy to just walk away, however as it happened 6 months later they closed down the business. Don’t know up to today what became of that enterprise. The building is still empty.

During the time of the opening of the Canada unit I received a call from Richard, S.V.’s partner, asking me If I was interested in joining them in a new venture, S.V. was building a new restaurant/nightclub in his building in Fort Lauderdale, with that in mind I was also able to put pressure on the brothers trying to get what was promised to me with the Picasso deal in the first place.
With no positive result however.

Hot Chocolates Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale

In October 1997 I started to work on the Hot Chocolates Restaurant & Night Club concept in Fort Lauderdale, as a partner, which opened sometimes during November 1997.

Hot Chocolates was on the second floor of a circular six-story building on the intersection of North Federal Highway and Oakland Park Boulevard, the interior built out with coal stone, the furniture was in tan color with live orchids everywhere, arriving by car you drove through a covered entrance where the valet park your car, arriving on the second floor by elevator you arrived in the lobby department, to the left was the entrance to the Night Club-Dancing with a live 12 piece band playing songs of the hit parade, to the right was the entrance to the 110 seat restaurant, inside was a beautiful looking bar, on the right side a private dining room for 12 people, at the end, overlooking the dining room was the open show kitchen.

With a crew of six, I created a menu consisting of New American, European and Californian Cuisine. Rated as the best new restaurant in Broward County.
My partners,were still traveling back and forth, sometimes for several days, to the Dominican Republic attending the Casino in the hotel and, Richard to New York attending his recording studio business.

Around 4 1/2 years later my brother in law Heinz decided to open up a restaurant in North Miami Beach and ask my wife Naz if she wanted to be a part of it, they started setting up the concept and asked me if I could help them with the menu to get started.

At that time my sister in law Shanaz was working part for me at offfice of Hot Chocolates and through conversation with Richard, she mentioned that they were planning on opening a restaurant together with my wife. A few days later my partners asked to have a meeting in which I was told that I was jeopardizing and violating the shareholder’s agreement I had signed with them, in which it stated that I could not be involved in any other venture within a certain distance from Hot Chocolates. The restaurant in question was however in North Miami, nowhere near Hot Chocolates in Fort Lauderdale! and therefor no competition!

I told them that I had no intention to be physically involved in that business only in a capacity of advising my brother in law and my wife before the opening for the menu developing and setting up, and I had no intention to leave or neglect my duties as a partner at Hot Chocolates because of it.
To make a long story short… S.V. decided to sell the place shortly after that, to a concept called Bush Seafood, and so I had no choice but to join my brother in law and my wife in the new venture in North Miami Beach.

Needless to say, I was updet due to the fact that they were both attending their other businesses on a weekly basis, one in New York and the other in the Dominican Republic, but me on the other hand, wasn’t allowed to just consult for my family’s new business venture!

The Lack of Passion

As I always said… there are different reasons why people get into the restaurant business, some do it for tax reasons such as some the Super Stars who invest in concepts such as Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe etc. then there are those who think it is cool and prestigious to own a restaurant so they can invite, entertain and show off to their friends, then there are those who have too much money but no common sense, and then there are just a few that do it because they have a passion for the business!

The only person I meet so far with the latter of the three reasons is George Mayo, that man got into this business not primarily for the money but for the passion of food, retailing and for the challenge and excitement in creating the best establishment around. Everything he touched or was involved with was successful.

The Family Business

The family business Martini’s Bistro & Bar opened in October 2002 after a few problems such as the fire that occurred a months before the opening in the architect’s office on the second floor next to the restaurant. We suffered major water and smoke damage through the fire. Insurance covered most of the damage but delayed our opening for a couple of months.

At the beginning of 2006 Heinz decided to leave the restaurant because we had a hard time keeping it afloat financially, Naz and I decided to stay and manage it ourselves to keep it going, I hired an assistant in the kitchen; and started to collect comment cards form all the customers by giving the staff an incentive to collect them at the end of the day and giving them prices for a certain amount retained and turned in, the names of the customers we entered into a monthly raffle in which they could win free or reduced-priced dinners for their birthday and or anniversaries, I also send out a monthly newsletter with a variety of promotions, discounts and in-house information about the restaurant, staff, and events.

That really kept us going for another year, then when a neighboring restaurant on the bay was forced to sell due to the development of their property into a condominium high-rise, we were able to sell Martini’s Bistro to them.

After selling the restaurant I was approached by Swiss Chalet Fine Foods in Miami to represent their product lines to food service establishments all across Dade & Broward County.

It was a nice change traveling around the county visiting a variety of hotels, restaurants, and clubs and gave me a break from behind the cooking line.

Through my travels as the Swiss Chalet Rep I met the owner of a hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, he was in the midst of construction of a new seafood restaurant and offered me to come on board to oversee the renovations and setting up the place for opening. The new restaurant concept was gonna be called “Catch one” on Washington Avenue, it was a protected historical building renovated into a restaurant. I was supervising the construction, creating the menus and hiring staff getting ready for a target date to open which was constantly delayed due to the slow work & progress by the contractors and the fact that it was a historically protected building, there were a lot of issues with the local authorities in order to get the permits approved.

About 6 months into the process, and still not an opening target, I received a call from Bob, a wealthy man out of Boston that owned a Gourmet Deli and a Restaurant Pa D’Gennaro’s in Fort Lauderdale, he heard about me from locals and new the restaurants I was involved with before, he asked me if I was interested to take over the gourmet shop next to his restaurant in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, so Naz and I went to see him to talk about the details, he offered us to take over the shop with salary for both of us, a 1 year contract with the option to buy it after 1 year.

I then contacted my friend Reiner Lawitschka, also a Chef, (he passed away in 2017) he was looking for work and wasn’t doing anything at the time expect to play on the stock market, I asked him if he was interested to take over my position at Catch 10 in Miami Beach, because I was interested in taking over the shop in Fort Lauderdale, he agreed and so Naz and I accepted the offer in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and started getting things in place for an opening. Reiner jumped in at Catch 10, however, the place never openend I guess I had a good gut feeling again!

The menu at Pa D’Gennaro’s Gourmet Deli was targeting local people to order their food over the phone and pick it up later, there was a lot of walk-ins as we only had a few window seats and tables outside. The problem was that there were only 4 parking spaces in front of the business, and when the restaurant next door opened at 5:30 the parking lot was packed, there wasn’t anywhere to parking for our pickup customers.

When the contract was up we decided to give it up as we didn’t see a profitable future for the shop.

Consulting Jobs

During the last few months before leaving the Deli this bar owner from Arlington. used to come frequently as a customer, asking me if I was interested to travel to Washington DC to help him as a consultant to open a new place he was doing, so for the following 6 months I was going back and forth from Miami to DC overseeing the opening of “Sobes”, in Arlington, VA, there again the owner couldn’t decide what to do to get this place going as far as a proper manager, service personnel, advertising, creating a buzz etc….after approx. 6 month he decided to put things on a hold.

So I was back in Miami, taking on a job in South Miami with Sodexo Corp. a French foodservice company, as the Kitchen Manager. We provided meals for 3000 people between the hours of 11:30 am & 2:30 pm, ranging from a self-serve station with a variety of daily specials, sandwich stations, grill station, salad bar, soups, and pastries. It was a challenge to order, cook and organize that volume of food 5 days a week!

I had to get up 6 am and drive 45 minutes to work every day which after a while got really tiring.
Almost a year into the job I received another phone call from Bob W. offering me now to take over the restaurant as the Executive Chef because the acting Chef decided to leave, well I couldn’t refuse that offer, I accepted. A few weeks later I started in Fort Lauderdale at Pa’Degennaro’s Restaurant.

Pa D’Gennaro’s was a 110 seat full-service restaurant, it looked like a real American steakhouse like Ruth Chris or Bennigan’s, the menu consisted of Northern Italian Fare with such traditional items such as Chicken Piccata, Zuppa Di Mare, Eggplant cakes, great Steaks, Veal Chops and a list of daily specials.

We served daily approximately 70-120 dinners.
The unfortunate situation with this concept was that the owner hires professional people to operate the restaurant but doesn’t let them do their job, he insisted on micro-managing the place.

One cannot build a “white horse” in an off the beaten track location, with 9 stations spread around a two sided kitchen, two dinning rooms and expect it to run it with a skeleton crew seven days a week.
This is where the scenario “too much money & no sense” comes into play.

During that time Nazarine and I also took over a Greek Deli on the Holy Cross Hospital property. This little coffee shop was open from 8 am until 3 pm and served most of the hospital staff and visitors for breakfast and lunch. In the morning, before going to my job at Pa D’s Restaurant,I stopped at the shop with my wife and prepped all the Greek specialties such as Spinach Pies, Gyros, Greek Cookies, Moussaka, Soups, Salads etc. to get my wife set-up for lunch shift.

That Little Greek Shop

kept us busy from opening to closing. When the decision was made to move back to Switzerland, we were able to sell the shop to a Greek family that was very interested to purchase it for a while.
Now we live in Switzerland where we enjoy the family; my Mom passed in December of 2023 at the age of 100, my sister is 78 and got re-married in August of 2017!

My wife and I travel around  Europe, and I enjoy doing food, travel  blogs and videos.

Your Blogging Friend Ulrich Koepf

Cuisine Nouvelle (or Nouvelle Cuisine) was revolutionary in the 1960s–70s in France—lighter sauces, fresher ingredients, artistic plating—and it really spread worldwide in the 1980s. If you were introducing it to South Florida back then, you were truly ahead of the curve.

Florida’s dining scene

at the time was still very much about hearty, classic Continental dishes and comfort foods, so lighter, visually striking plates probably felt “too modern” for many diners. But pioneers like you helped set the stage for what eventually became the norm—fusion food, farm-to-table, and health-conscious menus.

Long before avocado toast

conquered Instagram, I was in South Florida, standing at the helm of Café September as Executive Chef. Inspired by Michel Guérard—the father of lighter, spa-friendly cuisine—and Georges Blanc,  and Roger Verge, whose artistry redefined French gastronomy, I brought their philosophy of freshness, elegance, and lightness to a region that still measured success by the size of the steak.

It was a bold move.

South Florida diners of the time expected prime rib portions that could feed a small village, baked potatoes buried under sour cream, and sauces thick enough to plaster a wall. Into this world of abundance, Café September dared to serve reductions that whispered flavor, vegetables that celebrated their own identity, and plates composed like edible artwork.
Not everyone understood. Some guests were enchanted—finally, a touch of Lyon, Vonnas  and Mougins in Miami. Others squinted at their dishes and asked, “Is this the appetizer?” But beyond the puzzled looks, the recognition came—and it came loud. My portions were not as small as it was customary in Europe, but the style of preparation was the same. I still infused some traditional influence into every dish, also inspired by Godfather of French cuisine Paul Bocuse, whom i visited in Lyon and met personally in Miami.

South Florida Magazine named me Best Chef of South Florida. The Sun Sentinel praised our bold departure from tradition. Cuisine Magazine  of South Florida and Restaurant Institution Magazine featured us nationally. We earned the prestigious Golden Spoon Award, and Café September was recognized as one of the 100 Best Restaurants in the USA. The Miami Herald awarded us consistent three and four-star ratings, further cementing our place among the region’s top culinary destinations. For a shining moment, our little restaurant didn’t just belong to Florida—it belonged to the culinary conversation of the entire country.
Looking back, I see Café September as a pioneer’s outpost. We carried Guérard’s, and Verge’s  lightness and Blanc’s artistry across the Atlantic and planted it in subtropical soil.

Being ahead of your time can feel lonely, but it also means you get the rare privilege of serving the future before anyone else knows they’re hungry for it. And that’s exactly what I did.

Your Blogging Friend and Chef Ulrich (Ueli) Koepf

Now the joke is on me since I am, apparently, more German than they are!

Now I would have to travel to Munich, the main city hall and archives, to get more info as to why, how, and when he emigrated here, and why we landed and settled in Switzerland.

That’s Karma!

The A-Team

Where are they all now, 54 years later?!

The second page is a price list of provisions calculated for 100 Soldiers, that I had to use during my time!

Swiss Army Staff 1971

Nachdem ich mich an die Insel gewöhnt hatte, dauerte es nicht lange, bis ich eine Freundin aus Bermuda fand; zufällig besaß sie einen Englischen Morris Minor, Baujahr 1963. Damit hatte ich meinen ersten Führerschein – auf Englisch! Den zweiten Führerschein machte ich einige Jahre später in den USA.

Da die Insel nur 50 Meilen lang und an der breitesten Stelle 1 Meile breit ist, dauerte es nicht lange, sie in wenigen Minuten komplett zu umrunden. Das Problem war jedoch, dass Linksverkehr herrschte, genau wie in England! Während der zweieinhalb Jahre, die ich auf Bermuda lebte, geriet ich oft in knifflige und gefährliche Situationen, in denen ich mich daran erinnern musste, links zu bleiben. Eines Tages fuhr ich auf der South Road in Richtung Hamilton, der Hauptstadt, als mir plötzlich Motorradfahrer von links entgegenkamen! Es waren drei Amerikaner mit Mietmotorrädern, die früher rechts fuhren!

Glücklicherweise betrug die Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung nur 30 Meilen pro Stunde.

Wegen des Platzmangels und der engen Straßen auf Bermuda sind nur Kleinwagen erlaubt, und nur ein Auto pro Familie auf der Insel!

Ich stieg von meinem Auto auf ein Yamaha-Motorrad um, mit dem ich ein Jahr später frontal mit einem LKW zusammenstieß und mit einer Rückenprellung für vier Wochen im US Army Base Hospital auf St. David’s Island landete.

Aber die Engel waren bei mir, nichts ist gebrochen, nur mehrere Jahre Therapie, und mein Rücken hält mich noch heute! 😇

After getting used to the island, it didn’t take long for me to make a friend from Bermuda; she happened to own a 1963 English Morris Minor. And with that, I survived my first driver’s test in English! I got my second license a few years later in the USA.

Since the island is only 50 miles long and 1 mile wide at its widest point, it didn’t take long to drive around it in just a few minutes. The problem, however, was that they drove on the left, just like in England! During the two and a half years I lived in Bermuda, I often found myself in tricky and dangerous situations where I had to remember to stay on the left. One day, I was driving along South Road toward Hamilton, the capital, when suddenly, some motorcyclists approached me from the left! Three Americans on rental motorcycles had been driving on the right!

Fortunately, the speed limit was only 30 mph.

Due to the lack of space and narrow roads in Bermuda, only small cars and only one car per family are allowed on the island!

I switched from my car to a Yamaha motorcycle, which I crashed head-on into a truck a year later, and ended up in the US Army Base Hospital on St. David’s Island for four weeks with a bruised back.

😆

But the angels were with me; nothing is broken, just several years of therapy, and my back is still holding up today!

Your Blogging Friend Ulrich Koepf