Friends Who Cook Together Own Azur Together

By Laura Myers

Chefs Drew Wenzel and Michael Mosi, co-owners of Key West’s off-the-beaten-path Azur Restaurant, have cooked together for nearly 35 years in Pennsylvania, Germany and Key West.

Wenzel, with family roots in Germany, and Mosi, of Italian and Hungarian heritage, met while attending Penn State University during the mid-1980s as chefs in an American-style restaurant, the Allen Room, at the Hotel State College.

“For about three days we sized each other up,” Wenzel said, recalling tense competition as “alpha” chefs. “Finally, we realized we could learn something from each other.”

That decision shaped the course — and menus — of their lives.

“We spent a lot of time trying to figure each other out,” Mosi said. “I’m a much more passionate and reckless kind of guy. Drew was more methodical and calculating. That’s the reason our partnership works so well.”

The two college buddies frequently gathered friends to cook, exploring the science of pizzas and concocting exotic dishes.

Both earned Penn State degrees — Wenzel in international business, while Mosi specialized in hotel, restaurant and institutional management.

“I went to Germany to complete my chef’s apprenticeship and Mike traveled across Europe,” Wenzel said. “I wanted to follow my passion and work on cooking rather than push a pencil.”

Travels throughout Europe, South Africa, Thailand, Greece and the Netherlands helped Mosi solidify his skills as a “purist when it comes to technique, ingredients, regionality and history of food and culture.”

In 1994 Wenzel and Mosi opened the 100-seat Graceland restaurant in Hamburg, Germany, serving up authentic U.S. southern-style cuisine influenced by Tidewater, Floribbean and Cajun-Creole trends of the time.

“It was an exciting time,” recalled Wenzel, who married in Germany, had a son who is now 21, and later got divorced.

Mosi traveled frequently to Italy and still visits family in the Tuscan town of Pistola, honing his Italian cooking skills. Wenzel split his ownership of Graceland in 2002.

After a short stint working a German wine festival, Mosi ended up in Key West, lured by the visionary owners of Antonia’s restaurant, and convinced Wenzel to join him.

Various other stints around the Conch Republic led to a call in 2006 from Eden House owner Mike Eden, who was seeking a redo of his then-defunct Cafe Med restaurant.

“We decided we should take all of our travels and all of the things we loved about food in Europe and be a coastal European restaurant,” Mosi said. “Twelve years later, we’re still inventing.”

Azur, a 1,400-square-foot, 60-seat venue with a staff of 16 at the corner of Grinnell and Fleming streets, attracts loyal patrons on Sundays and busy evenings.

Brunch fare includes Key lime pie French toast, eggs Benedict with fennel-cured salmon and crème fraiche or local yellowtail snapper and spinach, and Roesti — a Swiss potato pancake — with prosciutto and brie.

There’s also braised beef rib hash and eggs, toasted gnocchi frittata and the carbonara breakfast with linguine, Parmesan cheese and poached eggs.

Dinner specialties include pulpo or charred octopus, three gnocchi varieties — including the hands-down favorite of braised short rib, vegetables, mushrooms and pecorino —- and branzino, a European sea bass with cured tomatoes and Kalamata olives.

“Our food is the essence of our experience from throughout the world,” Wenzel said.

Ingredients such as fresh yellowtail or tripletail snapper and lobster are sourced locally, while octopus and fresh branzino come from Greece.

“Most of the time the fish on our plates was swimming this morning,” Wenzel said.

Both in their mid-50s, Mosi and Wenzel spend their limited spare time living the island life and discovering what other local chefs are creating.

“The culinary scene in Key West is exciting — it pushes us — and the culinary community is very tight here,” Wenzel said. “I love to see young talent fostered and nurtured.”

They’re still frequent global travelers, but also enjoy going to the beach and out on boats with friends. Wenzel is now married to Azur’s marketing executive, Jose Mendoza.

Future plans include an expanded creativity.

“We always say two things: If both partners agree all the time, then one of them is not necessary,” Mosi said. “And to make a small fortune in the restaurant business, you have to start with a large fortune.”

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