Khaled Ibrahim, Executive Chef of The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami, is responsible for the hotel’s entire culinary operation including banquets, in-room dining, and the hotel’s signature Bizcaya restaurant, for which he recently introduced a new, expansive Sunday Brunch and new Mediterranean-influenced dinner menu with special emphasis local seasonal herbs and farm-fresh Florida produce to enhance natural flavors at this neighborhood gathering spot.

Upon graduating with a degree in accounting, Ibrahim entered the job market in his native Cairo in 1990 when unemployment was high and available accounting positions were low. A friend at a local hotel suggested he work in the kitchen until he found an accounting position. Without formal culinary training or previous kitchen experience, Ibrahim began to cook under the tutelage of a Cairo mentor, who taught him the skills and techniques of the craft. After a few months, accounting was a distant memory to be replaced by a culinary odyssey that included 11 promotions in 17 years from cook to Executive Chef. In 1995, he opened the first Marriott in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt as the Chef de Partie.

In 2000, Chef Ibrahim moved to the U.S. as Restaurant Chef at the Tampa Airport Marriott and in the same year the American Culinary Tasting Institute honored him with the USA Culinary Excellence Award. In 2003, he became Assistant Sous Chef at the Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott, and a year later was promoted to Executive Banquet Chef at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. In 2010, he was named Executive Sous Chef at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay before becoming Executive Chef at the 115-room Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami.

Chef Ibrahim draws inspiration from his Mediterranean homeland and infuses his love for Mediterranean cuisine into Bizcaya’s new menu, in which he replaces the standard bread presentation with homemade pita bread paired with homemade babaganoush, hummus and olive relish, and adds light, yet satisfying items such as falafel, fresh seafood or vegetarian pasta, and “simply fresh fish” that is made the way guests want it – char-grilled, pan seared or blackened, with their choice of sauces and sides, always using local seasonal herbs and farm-fresh Florida produce to enhance natural flavors.