PLATFORM BY JBF
Found in the brand-new Market 57 food hall, Platform by the James Beard Foundation is a state-of-the-art show kitchen, event space, and educational hub for outstanding culinary arts programming.
Culinary Events & Programs
Featuring a rotating number of chefs-in-residence, the show kitchen will host pioneers of the food and beverage industry—James Beard Award winners, nominees, and semifinalists—as well as incredible emerging talent curated from the James Beard Foundation’s community.
EVENTS
Experience the best of American food culture and the people behind it through our classes, demos, panels, dinners, and more. Buy tickets to our events now!
GET TICKETSTHIS MONTH AT PLATFORM
This September, fall into an exciting lineup of culinary adventures. Timon Balloo kicks off the month with an exploration of the new American table through his family’s roots that cross continents and cultures. Next, Climate Week comes to Platform for a series of talks, classes, parties, and dinners highlighting food-centric solutions to climate change. We’ll round out the month with a weeklong residency from Italian culinary pros from Apicius International School of Hospitality, and a decadent harvest moon dinner from the team at Bessou.
Chef in Residence
Our Chef-In-Residence program brings exciting culinary voices from across the nation to Platform for a week of programming in a variety of formats and price points (including at times free!).
James Beard Award Semifinalist Timon Balloo
The culinary heart of chef Timon Balloo’s food draws from a broad range of global flavors. From his Chinese and Indian-Trinidadian heritage to his classic European training, to the diverse kitchens where he built his career, each step along the way has led Balloo to become the chef he is today.
In 2019, after years of working with iconic chefs in Miami, helming the kitchen at Sushi Samba in New York City, and earning accolades as chef/partner of SUGARCANE raw bar grill, Balloo opened his first independent concept, Balloo: Modern Home Cooking in downtown Miami, a tribute to his heritage. Balloo has garnered multiple national distinctions, from being recognized by the New York Times as one of the “16 Most Influential Black Chefs in America” to a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best Chef: South, to becoming the 2020 recipient of the Johnson and Wales Honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts.
After a challenging two years of the pandemic, Balloo decided to scale down the size of his operations, closing all but one, the newly launched The Katherine in Fort Lauderdale. The Katherine was named Best New Restaurant by the Miami New Times and Balloo was named a James Beard Foundation Best Chef: South semifinalist for the third time. Balloo’s accomplishments are a testament to the passion and love he has for this industry, and he will continue a culinary story that celebrates culture, food and flavor while bringing together what inspires him at the core.