“There’s something about the water which is magical to me,” says Dean James Max, the Executive Chef of 3030 Ocean, located on Fort Lauderdale beach at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa. Fortunately, his fascination with the sea made him the perfect fit for a chef education program on the m/s Paul Gauguin. Onboard the ship’s May 1, 2010 seven day sailing to Tahiti and the Society Islands, Chef Max will educate guests on his sophisticated, yet simple, modern American creations, full of fresh-from-the-ocean oysters, clams, fish, and crabs. While onboard, Chef Max will host cooking classes, culinary seminars and fishing excursions with Paul Gauguin guests.
His goal onboard runs in tandem with the theme of his first cookbook, “A Life by the Sea,” to enlighten guests on the benefits of a seafood-rich diet while assuaging their fears of cooking seafood. “The delicate nature of fish scares home cooks,” comments Max. “To cut down the fear factor, I intentionally kept the recipes simple but stylish. The book was a two-year labor of love aimed at demystifying seafood.”
In addition to 3030 Ocean, Chef Max is also impressively the Chef/Restaurateur for Latitude 41 Restaurant, Amp 150, Cheeca Lodge, and Brasserie Cayman. Prior to working at 3030 Ocean, Chef Max hailed from Woodside, the highly acclaimed restaurant in Brentwood, California, where as chef-proprietor he earned stellar reviews from publications such as Gourmet magazine and the Los Angeles Times, among many others.
