[As published in West Palm Beach Magazine]
- Chef Rick Mace offers rustic, simple culinary techniques with refinement and elegance.
- His Florida-focused barbecue joint shows off the Sunshine State’s barbecue fusion with a superb blend of local styles.
“The food story of the South is very unique,” says Chef Rick Mace. “It is one of one of the richest food heritages that we have in our country.”
Chef Mace, the owner and executive chef of Tropical Smokehouse, is eloquent and uses his high-pitched, raspy voice to its fullest potential, the way Al Pacino does to make a point. “There are things, in and of themselves, that are recognized by the world, such as Bourbon and country ham—things that started as subsistence products that were done in common households, and they’ve been practiced, preserved, and respected to the point where there is now a stage for that type of thing.”
Chef Rick Mace – a Great Lakes man – grew up on his family farm in Ohio, where he learned to appreciate simple foods and simple flavors. His taste buds developed as his culinary career took off and hit a steady incline. He started working with Chef Daniel Boulud, a renowned French chef and the eponymous owner of Daniel, a two Michelin star restaurant based in New York City. That set Mace on a trajectory to success.
Boulud, who also owns restaurants in New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, London, Singapore, and Dubai, passed on to Mace his simple, yet elegant, French cooking techniques. It didn’t take long for the young chef to take that training to heart and develop a style of his own with elegance and finesse. —Read more