Jean-Georges Vongerichten, a renowned chef and restaurateur, brings his culinary vision to Miami Tropic, inspired by the city's vibrant, multicultural landscape.

With over 60 restaurants worldwide, he aims to capture Miami's essence through a menu that highlights local seafood, tropical fruits, and bold spices. The restaurant's design will reflect the tropical beauty of its surroundings, creating a relaxed atmosphere that invites diners to savor a celebration of flavor and creativity, embodying Miami's lively spirit.

His signature cuisine abandons the traditional use of meat stocks and creams and instead features the intense flavors and textures from vegetable juices, fruit essences, light broths, and herbal vinaigrettes. Jean-Georges’ culinary vision has redefined industry standards and revolutionized the way we eat. 

With over 60 restaurants worldwide, he aims to capture Miami's essence through a menu that highlights local seafood, tropical fruits, and bold spices. The restaurant's design will reflect the tropical beauty of its surroundings, creating a relaxed atmosphere that invites diners to savor a celebration of flavor and creativity, embodying Miami's lively spirit.

Chef in the Making

1957-1973
Lunch in Alsace

Jean-Georges’ childhood home was like a mini restaurant. Every day, his mother prepared lunch and dinner for 12, 20, 40 guests at a time (for her family and her husband’s employees), while her children peeled potatoes. From her, Jean-Georges learned to appreciate quality ingredients, avoid waste, and the art of building flavor. But as a child, he was a “bad altar boy” — stealing cigars, and once, a motorbike, skipping school, and rebelling at every turn.

On his 16th birthday, his parents took him to Auberge de l’Ill, a three Michelin-restaurant, where his father asked the celebrated chef Paul Haeberlin if his “no good” son could help do the dishes. Jean-Georges began an apprenticeship that would set the course of his life. Briefly stationed on an army boat, the young chef was introduced to new spices and ingredients that sparked a lifelong love of exploration.

A Vongerichten family meal
Young Jean-Georges stands in front of his grandmother.
1973
Auberge de l’Ill,
France apprenticeship.
1976
L’Oasis apprenticeship.
1983
Mandarin Oriental,
Bangkok opening
1983
Travels to Singapore, Osaka,
Geneva, Lisbon, London
1985
Le Marquis de Lafayette,
Boston opening
1986
Lafayette,
NYC opening
1991
Jojo, NYC opening
1975-1985
Dinner in Bangkok

Jean-Georges continued his culinary education in Southern France at another Michelin-starred restaurant, L’Oasis, under revered chef Louis Outhier before heading to Lyon to train under chef Paul Bocuse. He was recruited back to Outhier, who sent him to open restaurants in the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, the Meridien Hotel in Singapore, and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong, experiences that defined his cross-cultural cooking style.

Oui, Chef
The legendary French chef Paul Haeberlin, left, with his protégé Jean-Georges.
1992
Vong, NYC opening
The Lipstick Café, NYC opening
1995
Vong, London opening
1997
Jean-Georges Restaurant, NYC opening
Nougatine, NYC opening
Vong, Hong Kong opening
1998
The Mercer Kitchen, NYC opening
Prime, Las Vegas opening
2001
Market, Paris opening 
2002
Vong, Chicago opening
2003
66, NYC opening
1985 – 2009
Live from New York

In the 1980s, Jean-Georges opened 10 restaurants under chef Outhier, including Lafayette, in New York, in 1988, which earned a rare 4-star review from The New York Times. In 1991, he ventured on his own with JoJo (his childhood nickname), which became an immediate sensation, followed by Vong, Jean-Georges, The Mercer Kitchen, Prime in the Bellagio Las Vegas, Spice Market, Perry Street, and the list keeps going. At each new project, he explored new concepts and inventive menus, creating restaurants with their own unique character. Unlike the French chefs who came before him, Jean-Georges refused to be confined to his homeland cuisine, cooking with the rebellious and playful spirit of his childhood. His canonical 1990 cookbook, Simple Cuisine, inspired a generation of chefs.

A New Path
Menus at Jean-Georges’ restaurants reflect his playful ingenuity and well-traveled palate.
2004
Spice Market, NYC opening
Jean-Georges, Shaghai opening
Bank, Houston opening
2006
Perry St., NYC opening
Café Martinique, Bahamas opening
2007
Chambers Kitchen, Minneapolis opening
Mercato, Shanghai opening
2008
J&G Steakhouse, Scottsdale opening
Matsugen, NYC opening
2009
Market at Hotel Shangri-La, Vancouver opening
Jean-Georges Steakhouse opening
2010
abc kitchen, NYC opening
The Mark, NYC opening

Dune at the Ocean Club, Bahamas opening

2010-2016
Expansion & Exploration

As he continued to expand his reach across the country, Jean-Georges was declared the most influential chef of the decade by New York Magazine in 2005. He wrote award-winning cookbooks, earned a constellation of Michelin stars, and developed a reputation as remarkable as his food by tapping his deep understanding of the restaurant world and pairing it with his forward-thinking vision. 

Untethered to tradition, his next projects reached beyond the typical restaurant structure, with ABC Kitchen — a farm-to-table restaurant inside a luxury home furnishing store — hotel partnerships, a fast-food chicken brand, and destination restaurants such as The Sand Bar in St. Barths and Le Dock in Fire Island. 

Head of the Table
Once a protégé, now Jean-Georges has become the mentor to a new generation of ambitious chefs. 
2011
Simply Chicken, NYC opening
Sand Bar, St. Barths opening
On the Rocks, St. Barths opening
2013
ABC Cocina, NYC
JG Tokyo, Japan opening
2014
The Inn at Pound Ridge, New York opening
Matador Room, Miami opening
Tropicale, Miami opening
Mercato, Moscow opening
2015
Seared, Mexico opening
Suviche, Mexico opening
Jean-Georges Kitchen, Dubai opening
2016
Jean-Georges at Topping Rose House,
Bridgehampton opening
Mercato, Hong Kong opening
Le Dock, Fire Island opening
2017
abcV, NYC opening
Public Kitchen, NYC opening
Louis, NYC opening
Jean-Georges Steakhouse, Las Vegas opening
Jean-Georges Beverly Hills, LA
The Rooftop by JG, LA opening
Tangará, São Paulo opening
Jean-Georges at the Connaught, London opening
London The Dempsey Cookhouse & Bar, Singapore opening
2017-2022
Bigger & Bolder

As Jean-Georges evolved his business over the years, many pillars remained consistent: a commitment to organic, locally sourced ingredients, sustainable practices, and an obsession with quality and guest experiences. He made waves with the opening of abcV in 2017, a revolutionary plant-based restaurant that upended the standard for vegan dining in New York.

Recently, in the city’s seaport, he conceived a sprawling culinary destination in the Tin Building with 12 dining venues, a gourmet market, fishmonger, butcher, and flower shop. The lively space, inspired by both the French markets of his childhood and the historic New York fish markets, is constantly crowded with shoppers seeking the freshest catch, fine cuts from the butcher, and tables at the restaurants. Yet with 60 restaurants worldwide, Jean-Georges still can’t help but keep asking: What’s next?

The Tin Building
Jean-Georges transformed Tin Building into a culinary destination and a vibrant homage to New York’s waterfront heritage.
2018
Vong Kitchen, Jakarta opening
2019
The Paris Café, NYC opening
The Fulton, NYC opening
Jean-Georges Philadelphia opening
SkyHigh, Philadelphia opening
2020
The Connaught Grill,
London opening
L’Italien, Marrakech
opening
L’Asiatique, Marrakech
opening
2021
Mercato, Dubai opening
Marigold, Keswick opening
La Piscine, French Riviera opening
2022
Tin Building, NYC opening
Happy Monkey, Greenwich opening
Drusie & Darr, Nashville opening 
The Pink Hermit, Nashville opening
Curiosa, Qatar opening
2023
Four Twenty Five, NYC opening
Jean-Georges at The Shinmonzen, Kyoto opening
2024
abc kitchens at The Emory, London opening
Jean-Georges at The Leinster, Dublin opening
Chez Margaux, NYC opening
2023-PRESENT
Today’s Special

For the first time, Jean-Georges is imagining not only how guests will enjoy the space for one meal, but how residents will live alongside it at Miami Tropic, with a restaurant with an engrained community and neighborhood. The food market will anticipate their needs and desires, with a coffee shop and bakery, flower shop, easy takeaway options, and impeccable, personal service. The dining options will offer a table for casual family dinners, special occasions, or a quick drink — there will be everything, for everyone. And it will all be right downstairs

abc kitchens
The cuisine at Chef Jean-Georges' abc kitchen reflects a passionate commitment to the freshest organic and local ingredients possible.

Jean-Georges Around the World