FLAVORS OF KEY WEST INSPIRE VAN AKEN'S SUCCESS

By Carol Shaughnessy

KEY WEST, Florida Keys - In 1971, a young Norman Van Aken first tasted caramelized plantains in a little restaurant in Key West. He recalls watching a woman with strong, scarred hands slice the strange fruit, drop the pieces into a hot skillet, mash them slightly and serve them with roasted pork, onions and lime.

Eating that simple meal was a transforming moment for Van Aken, now an internationally acclaimed chef whose trademark New World Cuisine is based around the vibrant flavors he found in the island city.

After the resounding success of his Miami restaurant, called Norman's Coral Gables, and innumerable professional honors including being the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard "Who's Who" in the culinary world, Van Aken has returned to his Key West roots.

His intriguing new Tavern N Town, located in the luxurious Beachside Resort & Conference Center that recently opened at the entrance to the island city, is poised to become another Van Aken success story. Yet perhaps more important to the engaging and articulate chef is the fact that, at last, he has come home.

"I sometimes say that falling in love with Key West was like falling in love with a woman," Van Aken says. "It's not about some practical issue; it's something that is almost beyond words - a sense of well-being, of your soul's identification."

Raised in a small town in Illinois, he initially made that identification after hitchhiking to Key West at the behest of a transplanted boyhood friend. While he later returned north, he came back in 1973 with his future wife, Janet.

"Back in those early days, I would just walk the streets of Key West or ride around in a little Conch cruiser, and it didn't matter if I was going anywhere in particular - I just wanted to soak it in," Van Aken recalls. "The little lanes and the houses and the smell of flowers and the pace were something so different to me."

Though he had always imagined becoming a writer or playwright, in Key West Van Aken discovered that his true calling was not literary but culinary. After sojourns elsewhere to hone his talents, in 1985 he took over the kitchen of Louie's Backyard, a gourmet haven in a historic house on the island's Atlantic Ocean shore.

In the café he opened upstairs at Louie's, Van Aken began experimenting with what would become New World Cuisine, immersing himself in the Cuban and Bahamian flavors and ingredients he had first encountered years before on the island.

"Key West is the birthplace for the New World Cuisine," he says. "Without Key West, I would never have had that structure, the early influences, that made it so important. Key West gave my food a personality that, had I stayed in Illinois, it never would have had."

That personality is supremely evident at Tavern N Town. Offering two diverse dining experiences, the elegant Town and more casual Tavern are connected by an open theater kitchen where guests can watch Van Aken and his team work their culinary magic.

Diners at Tavern, which opened in October, can enjoy a blend of tapas, steak and fish house specialties, seafood and sushi. Town is slated to open Dec. 15, offering a menu of fine dining choices that meld New World Cuisine, fresh local ingredients and Van Aken's stellar creativity.

The concept of having two restaurants grew out of the chef's desire to explore more than one facet of his culinary personality.

"I think there are two sides to all of us," he says. "There's our blue jeans and our dress-ups, our acoustic and our plugged-in rock and roll. I wanted to be able to work both sides."

Tavern N Town, however, isn't the only project on the busy Van Aken's plate. He's also overseeing the cuisine of Beachside's poolside Blue Bar and the resort's banquet and catering functions.

Author of four respected books on cuisine, he's working on two more - as well as a memoir requested by a publisher - and is often called on to make national television appearances.

Sharing the work and its satisfactions are his wife and partner Janet and their grown son Justin, who followed in his father's footsteps and is now the pastry chef at Tavern N Town.

Whenever he's able to snatch some free time, Van Aken can be found kayaking, playing pool, reading, listening to live music in local hangouts, biking along narrow lanes and simply enjoying the island where his culinary journey began.

"It's the air, the clouds, the water, the warmth of the sun, the old houses and the winding little streets," he says, citing the elements of Key West that appeal to him most. "When I'm here I'm just happy like a kite, just bobbing around in the sunlight."