10 seats. 22 courses. 44 farms. And one chef. Mike Collantes, Chef and Owner of MICHELIN One Star Soseki, is doing his part to champion local food. Collantes’s Japanese-inspired dining experience began as a pop-up at the Edible Education Experience, a nonprofit kitchen and culinary garden. Working with the growers there inspired and emboldening him to challenge those around him. “I told one of the farmers, ‘this is Florida, there’s no asparagus that grows here, but then he plucked this beautiful, purple asparagus and I bit into it and the juices were running down my face,” he laughs.
He enjoys being proven wrong. It's also why he wasn’t sure he could find a good cocktail oyster in Florida (he did). Whether he’s making friends at the farmers’ markets or working directly with a variety of producers and purveyors, it’s the relationships he cherishes. “I love when they show up at our door with a handful of cucumbers or six pineapples, because we get to dream together.”
“I say this every night at dinner: everything we do is intentional,” he shares. “We’re telling the story of what it means to be a restaurant in central Florida, and it’s all about how many stories we can tell in one dinner service.”
Turns out, it’s plenty, as Collantes estimates that 85-90% of the ingredients are sourced locally. “All of our eggs, cheese, milk, even the signature scent in our hand towels that was created just for us…it’s all from locals.”
Collantes and his team also practice mottinai, a Japanese mindset that feels remorse with waste. “It’s not just about food waste—it’s also wasting time and energy,” he says. “We’re not a big operation. We’re an 865-square-foot restaurant with a 200 square-foot kitchen. But it’s about being mindful about what we can do within our means. We can all do our part.”
Hero image: Courtesy of Soseki
