Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Chef William Milian's Journey: From Cuba Refugee to Hyatt Centric Executive Chef

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Chef William Milian's Journey: From Cuba Refugee to Hyatt Centric Executive Chef · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Cotespotti,
0:16
and today's guest is Chef William Milian.
0:19
In 1994, he made a daring escape from Cuba, building a small boat
0:25
with seven others. Their journey was fraught with
0:27
peril, leading to a year and a half in Guantanamo Bay before
0:31
finally arriving to the US in 1996.
0:35
Fast forward to today, and he is the Executive Chef and Food and
0:39
Beverage director at Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami.
0:44
This lifestyle hotel sits in the heart of Miami's vibrant
0:47
Brickell district, offering modern accommodations, A rooftop
0:51
pool and a unique dining experience at Khanya Restaurant.
0:56
The restaurant showcases Cuban inspired dishes, celebrating
0:59
local flavors and Miami's multicultural heritage.
1:04
Globally, the Hyatt brand has been recognized for its
1:07
commitment to top tier hospitality, earning respect as
1:10
one of the world's leading hotel groups.
1:13
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AD back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
1:58
today, the executive chef of Hyatt Centric, William Milian.
2:02
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:05
Thank you for having me. So, William, you left Cuba 1994,
2:12
small boat, seven other people eventually spending a year and a
2:17
half in Guantanamo Bay before arriving in the US in 1996.
2:21
Can you walk us through first the decision to leave Cuba and
2:25
then what that journey was like? Sure it was it was a crazy idea
2:34
to leave the, the country, especially, you know, in a, in a
2:37
little boat. But I, I think we have, we
2:42
didn't have like in, in Cuba. I didn't think I have any, you
2:47
know, like a future, like, you know, most probably young people
2:52
feel that way, especially I was 23 years old and I was, I was
2:56
with my friends and we talking all the time about, you know,
3:00
leaving the country. And especially because like, at
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that time we, we were into like rock'n'roll and grunge music
3:10
and, you know, alternative music was like in 1994, it was like
3:13
crazy. And we always like, this is
3:17
small group of people. Like not really many people in
3:20
Cuba really are into like that kind of music.
3:23
So we all know each other and we share, you know, things like
3:27
magazine, Rolling Stone and things like that.
3:29
So we always looked at, you know, the life that, you know,
3:33
in the United States. Like it was our, our dream to be
3:36
here, you know, because we, because we love it, Like we love
3:39
the country itself. And, and we felt that we always
3:44
talked about it, you know, like, well, how nice would it be just
3:49
to be there and, you know, and dreaming about being here.
3:52
And we didn't really even care. Like we never thought about what
3:56
job we're going to have. It's just like sitting on the
3:58
street and look, you know, like passing by what that was enough
4:02
for us, right? So it was my my 2 best friends
4:07
and I, we decided, you know, we just we, that we will leave at
4:12
some point. We didn't have an any strategy
4:14
or or any, you know. Did you tell your families was
4:19
like, were your, your families, your parents in on the plan?
4:22
No, they, they, they, they actually didn't know anything
4:25
about it when I left. And so, so, yeah, the, the, the,
4:31
the, the country got into a situation that was like in 1994,
4:35
it was really bad. It was a lot of riots, people on
4:37
the streets because you know, what happened on the, on, you
4:41
know, the Berlin Wall that, you know, then the socialist falling
4:45
down and everything. So the, the situation was really
4:51
bad. And Castro, at some point, he
4:53
was still alive at that point. He said, listen, you know,
4:57
United States is, is just creating all these.
4:59
And you know, if you guys keep going, I just going to open the,
5:02
the borders. I'm just going to remove my
5:05
coast guards and everybody could go.
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And, and sure enough, a few days later he opened the doors and it
5:10
was one of the biggest exodus of, you know, it was called the
5:14
the crisis of the rafters or something like that, because it
5:17
was like more than 30,000 people left and you know, little raft
5:21
and boats and things like that. OK, sorry, sorry to interrupt,
5:25
William. I just want to make sure I
5:26
understand. So follow the Berlin Wall.
5:28
There was this movement away from communism and socialism.
5:32
And so the same energy had kind of made its way to Cuba and
5:36
Castro. There were lots of riots, people
5:38
upset about the situation. They want changes too.
5:42
Castro's like, hey, fine, you want to go, go.
5:44
I take my Coast Guard out of the way and I'm not going to stop
5:47
you from trying to leave. And so 30,000 people make their
5:51
own little boats and rafts and set out roughly around the same
5:55
time. Yes, like it was in the lapse of
5:59
maybe 15 days a month because it was a big crisis.
6:03
And then the two governments start conversations and try to
6:07
stop the whole exodus because it was a lot of people.
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And at some point that, you know, that the conversation, I
6:14
don't know what happened, what the deal was, you know, behind
6:16
doors. But yeah the Cubans stopped the
6:18
whole exodus and United States ended up with like almost 40,000
6:24
people in Montanamo Bay. And so you were part of that
6:28
mass exodus. I was, I was part of that
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because it was you always thinking about it, you're always
6:33
dreaming about it. And this was like the great
6:36
opportunity, right? So, and, you know, it's still at
6:41
this point, like, like my, like I had two of my best friends.
6:45
We grew up together. We've been together since, you
6:48
know, we're kids. So we're still like best
6:49
friends. And one of one of them was he
6:56
tried to leave Cuba in a raft. And he was just like, you know,
6:59
he was going to go to jail, whatever.
7:02
And, and this person that had this little boat of for a, for,
7:06
you know, enough for eight people invite my best friend to
7:10
leave. And my best friend came and
7:14
talked to us and he says, hey, listen, I'm leaving.
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I'm like, why, why No, we want to leave too.
7:18
I say, well, there's no room. It's only 8 people.
7:20
And he said, you come with us because always at the end of the
7:23
day, somebody will retract because it's a big decision,
7:28
just like a crazy thing, right? So we go with them and sure
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enough, one person call out and say, listen, I'm not going, it's
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too crazy. And that the owner of the boat
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says, OK, you call me with me, but not, but not to me, my other
7:42
friend. And I'm like, listen, I talked
7:45
to my friends. I said I must stay.
7:47
I just going to go with you. And when the boat comes, because
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the boat's supposed to pick everybody up, you know, on the,
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on the shores, right on the, on. The you saying that when boats
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from the US side. Come to this, this is a boat
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that mine that my friend had, right?
8:02
So, but the boat coming from from harbor all the way to the
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beach pick us up and then we left, right?
8:12
So I told my friends, listen, I'm leaving.
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That's it. You know, there's no way around
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it. So when you guys jump on the
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boat, I'm also going to jump. I don't care.
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And he says, OK, let's go. And that's what happened.
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And it was crazy because my, I couldn't tell anything to my
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mother because her husband, which is my stepfather, died
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like a week before. And the, the, the day I left,
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I'm supposed to travel with my mom on train to take the, you
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know, my, the, my stepfather to his original city to get him
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buried or whatever. And my mom is like, oh, tomorrow
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we're leaving to the, to the city.
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I'm like, no, I'm not going. And she's like, no, what do you
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mean you're not going? So we have a big fire.
8:57
I'm like, no, I'm not going, I'm not going.
8:59
So I couldn't tell anything, my mom that I was leaving.
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I talked to a neighborhood that was the only person I talked to
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and I said, listen, I'm leaving tonight, but you know, don't say
9:08
anything to my mom until the next day or whatever.
9:12
And and that's that's why I ended up happening.
9:15
And So what kind described the boat?
9:17
Is this an inflatable raft? Is it an actual like?
9:19
No, this is a, this is a, this is a boat, a small boat.
9:24
It was, I think it was like 20 feet or 20 something feet that
9:29
they built and the boat have a small engine inside.
9:34
It was like a, like a tractor engine.
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And it was a really precarious, you know, ship boat.
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And it was, it was the, the, the, the, the trip itself was
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like it was really, really hard because we, we lost the, we lost
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the engine. It was only one engine.
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We lost it when we still see Cuba.
10:00
It was like less than 12 miles from Cuba and these are nice.
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So we can still see the reflections of the of the
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lights. So the engine broke, but we
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ended up fixing it and then we kept going and around 50 miles
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from, from Cuba, the boat broke again.
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And this time we couldn't fix it.
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So when the boat this is like, that's it that we're not moving.
10:28
The boat is still a little heavy and it's like sideways.
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So the, the, it's not a good position to be and there's no
10:35
winds or anything to, to move it, you know, like facing the,
10:39
the, the waves, right. So we see a Coast Guard passing
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by the airplane, and we like super.
10:47
Heavy U.S., Coast Guard or Cuba? No U.S., Coast Guard and we're
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like super heavy. We didn't know that It was like
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a really bad weather coming through and they just passed by
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and dropped some life jackets and we're like, OK, they're
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going to pick us up. You know that they already know
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we're here. Whatever.
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And it was like that night was crazy.
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It was like the the weather was really bad.
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The way was like I couldn't see the other side.
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Everybody was vomiting, you know, it was like crazy.
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I was holding to the side of the boat and it's like, you know,
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like I thought I was for real. I thought I was going to die in
11:27
Cuba. You're not in my, my, my, my, my
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generation is not much religion because, you know, we were out
11:35
with the revolution and religion was moved from the revolution,
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and you couldn't go to church or whatever.
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So I was not much of A religion person.
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But that night I was like, I was believing in everything.
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I was like, you know, praying to every God and everything.
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And it was, it was crazy. And the first boat that it
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picked up in the morning, 5:00 in the morning was, was our our
12:03
boat because it was like it was a really bad, the condition was
12:06
really bad for both. Like the raft stays floating
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always on top of the wave, but the boat can cut capsize.
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So it's not good. So probably 1 of the happiest
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day of my life. Once when I saw the big Coast
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Guard getting closer to us, it's like, and they pick us up, they
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pick everybody up. That was like one of the
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highlights of my my life. Like, like, they was like,
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amazing. Yeah.
12:33
So there is this mass exodus, but the Ocean's a big place.
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Did you see a lot of other boats?
12:39
Did you see a lot of other people trying to make the same
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trip? It is.
12:44
It is. It is interesting because the
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first time we stop, it's still night time that it was, we can
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still see the shore, we hear voices, we think we're
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hallucinating. And it's just like the, the,
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the, the, the sound travels really far on the, on the I
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guess over the surface of the water.
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And when it starts, when the, the sun start coming out, we can
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still see rafters everywhere, like, but none not crazy like
13:14
everywhere like it's an invasion, but you can see 234
13:18
raft, you know, and then we start moving.
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And then on the second time that we stopped, we have, at first we
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have a, it was like a, it was a really surreal like we stopped
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and the, the, this is 50 miles from Cuba.
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So there are raft that have been probably 2-3 days in the water,
13:43
right? And the, the, the raft think
13:50
that they're safe, safer next to a boat, which is not the case,
13:55
right? So they, they, we, we, we stop
13:59
so that we cannot move. So that the, the, the idea that
14:04
what they try to do is like they try to come to the boat.
14:06
So, but we have like a knife and things like that because we
14:11
don't want anyone jumping on the boat, right?
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So it's like, no, no, everybody, nobody, nobody.
14:16
But then it, the surreal part was like there was this raft
14:22
that had these two guys rowing 2 girls, 1 with a six month old
14:31
baby, another one with a 5 year old baby.
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And this old lady that looks like a painting.
14:39
The old lady was dressed in all black with an umbrella, like
14:43
black umbrella. And she was sitting in the, in
14:46
the, the, you know, the one that whatever, you know, the one on
14:51
this points or whatever the, the raft.
14:55
And she was just like standing there and then rowing and, and
14:58
you don't know if you're hallucinating or if it's real.
15:02
And they came and they said, listen, we got a flat workers
15:06
use the, the inner tubes of, of the tractor, right, to make
15:11
raft. And they say, no, we have this
15:15
one flat inner tube and we had two other ones.
15:19
But you know, can you at least take the, the 2 ladies with the
15:22
two kids? And we say, OK, so we got the
15:26
ladies and the kids and, and they kept on rowing the both of
15:31
them with the lady. And I'm like, wow, this is
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crazy. This is like like, like it's
15:36
like literally like a surreal image that it's still have, you
15:41
know, in my brain. And that was it.
15:46
The next day we got picked up and, and we know after the fact
15:53
that you start going back and like I remember the Coast Guard
15:57
always like when you when they pick somebody out from the
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ocean, they sink everything like view on the raft, they sink it
16:05
on the boat, the same thing. Then they don't leave anything
16:08
floating. Why did they do that?
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I'm not sure, maybe because it was a lot of, you know, debris
16:15
maybe floating around if you left them.
16:18
I have no idea. But if it was, if it was an
16:21
inner tube, they got a big knife like a, the pole with the knife
16:25
and they just click on it and until they sync.
16:29
And if he was one of those, the one that would they made with
16:32
metal ones, they shoot with the AR15 or something that shouldn't
16:38
until they, you know, our, our boat, they, they asked
16:41
permission to, to send it on fire and, and, and they did the
16:46
same. They shoot at them and then they
16:49
put fire on it and they go around and around until the boat
16:53
sink. Did you ever find out what
16:55
happened to those folks that were rowing the boat?
16:57
Yeah. They they made it to the to the
16:59
base, yes. OK, so the Coast Guard picks
17:02
everybody. That's awesome.
17:03
So the Coast Guard picks you up and takes everybody to
17:06
Guantanamo Bay and there's, what did you say, 3040 thousand
17:10
people that spend a year and a half there?
17:13
Yeah, they're just trying to figure out what to do with you.
17:15
Yeah, they, they, it was like they divided into camps and it
17:21
looks like exactly like a concentration camp.
17:24
They're like tents. And then like there's like these
17:27
fence that they make and they made like probably for every
17:34
letter of the alphabet they have, you know, camp like IK,
17:39
you know the that's what they call it.
17:42
And every camp have over 1000 people and you get divided like
17:50
single man's going to a different camp.
17:54
So I was, my friends and I, we went into a different one and
18:02
and then that's it. One year and a half.
18:05
Like they did like like a lottery.
18:08
So for the people to come, you know, because they couldn't
18:11
bring 30,000 people at once. So they decided, OK, let's make
18:14
a lottery and we take everybody out, you know, like 300 people
18:19
on every flight, you know, like maybe two flights a week or
18:22
something like that. And where were they taking
18:25
people? Was it all South Florida or
18:28
different parts of the US? It it depends.
18:31
Like in my case when I got here and me and my my friends, my two
18:35
friends have family but I didn't.
18:37
So I told my friends I just got to go to Seattle, Washington or
18:43
Tacoma because that was one of the options.
18:46
Also Oregon. So they find you a sponsor and
18:49
then you decided where to go. And then the options were like
18:52
in Tokyo, things are done. I'm like, well, Tacoma, Seattle
18:55
is, you know, the crunch, you know, So we like, forget it.
19:00
I'm going there. And the first night we all got
19:04
together, our family, my friends, family, it was a big
19:07
reunion the first night that we arrived in.
19:11
Tacoma. No, in Miami, so I.
19:15
Did go to Miami, OK. Yeah, I came to Miami and then
19:19
from Miami they they sent you whatever you want.
19:22
In my case, I didn't have family.
19:25
So we have this this night. We we, you know, we have a
19:32
reunion, all of us. And everybody said I mean this
19:36
and don't go anywhere. Stay in Miami.
19:38
You know, it's a big community here.
19:40
Everybody can help you. And I'm like, OK, so I have an,
19:47
an aunt and I spoke to her and she's like, yeah, you know, I
19:52
signed the papers from you, you know, the an affidavit or
19:55
whatever. And you can stay with us for a
19:56
little bit until you, you know, until you get your, your feet on
20:01
the ground. And that's what I did.
20:04
So back in Cuba, you were studying graphic design in
20:08
university. You came to Miami and you didn't
20:15
look for graphic design work. You found a dishwashing job.
20:19
And there was something about that dishwashing job that really
20:23
sparked your interest in the culinary field.
20:26
Can you talk about that? OK, yeah, first of all, you get
20:31
here, you get anything, any job you can get.
20:34
So I'm really grateful that the hospitality opened that door for
20:39
me because there's a lot of growing opportunities.
20:43
You can become whatever you want, right?
20:45
So when I got to this washer, it was a Japanese restaurant.
20:51
And you can see right away the art, right?
20:55
Because it's a, if you think about it, the world's are both
20:59
the same, that it is a creative world or, you know, it's just
21:03
like, like even graphic design is a lot of creativity,
21:06
creativity. But I probably maybe I'm being
21:12
BIOS now, but I think the culinary will have a lot more
21:17
because it's, it's not only about color textures and
21:20
flavors. Is, is, is so much more than
21:22
that. You know, so, so yeah, I, I
21:27
thought it was like, you know, from my perspective as a
21:31
dishwasher, I'm like, you know, you're in the right spot because
21:35
you can see everything. You know, this washer is always
21:37
like everything come to you and makes you humble and at the same
21:43
time is really therapeutic. I think it is because like
21:47
really it is. I still do it sometimes.
21:50
And you know, do you yourself, you know, and your thoughts and,
21:54
you know, cleaning dishes and it makes you better.
21:58
But you can see the the creativity that it was there.
22:03
And I'm like, right away you fall in love with, you know, the
22:06
culinary wall. And I knew, you know, listen, I
22:12
need to fight for my, you know, for my spot and, you know, and
22:16
try to make it happen. And sure enough, like 3 months
22:19
later, they gave me an opportunity to say an
22:21
opportunity as a busboy, A bosser.
22:26
I'm like, OK, this is great. And then a few months later I
22:30
was a server. And at this point, I was really
22:35
good friends with the, the sushi chef.
22:38
He was a Japanese guy, Isamo great guy.
22:41
And he he was the one that actually fought for me to be,
22:45
you know, to help him and, and the sushi bar.
22:48
And I learned a lot from him. And the reason why is because in
22:52
the morning he had a he had a, he was a Carpenter also.
22:56
And he used to do all these, he used to do like the boats and
23:01
the, you know, the take out, it would lid the tables, whether
23:03
you put the sushi, all the stuff.
23:05
But he also do like divisions in the restaurant, like Japanese
23:08
restaurant, you know, that they do like this Japanese division
23:11
that is like, you know, paper and wood, whatever.
23:16
And he always needed help in the morning.
23:19
And I used to go to school. But I, you know, I, I, there,
23:24
there were seasons that I go only Thursday and Friday.
23:27
I was studying English. So the guy was, you know, you
23:30
want to help me? I'm like, yeah, sure.
23:32
And we became really, really good friends.
23:35
And the good thing is like you go to do these installations,
23:38
you usually go for lunch because we work at night and we go to
23:42
these restaurants and they offer me offer them AUS, you know,
23:47
meals. But most of them are Japanese
23:49
restaurant. I don't know anything about
23:50
Japanese food. You know, I just came from Cuba
23:53
a year ago at this point. So he teach me how to eat
23:58
Japanese food and he, you know, I learned a lot, a lot from him,
24:01
you know, about eat it like I didn't like sushi at 1st and he
24:06
will give me like a little seaweed at work.
24:07
He said, just eat, eat seaweed. You know, once you get the taste
24:10
of the seaweed, you, you, you get it, you get it.
24:13
And then he gave me, you know, cooked stuff.
24:15
And then every Wednesday I said, I, I, he helped me because I, I,
24:20
I, I get together with my Wednesday.
24:22
Wednesday was my day off always. And I get together with my
24:25
friends and we do sushi at home. And he will give me like, you
24:28
know, like he will give me like, a lot of, you know, insides and
24:32
tips and, you know, and recipes that they don't share recipes
24:35
much. And, and eventually they lost
24:40
one of the guys and he talked to the owner and he said, listen,
24:44
he's been doing sushi at home on Wednesdays.
24:47
You know, I help him. And my boss is like, well, you
24:50
know, you still need I need you as a service so you can take
24:53
care of the people at the bar and you can just, you know,
24:55
learn how to do sushi so that. Was really your foot in the door
25:00
to food prep kind of on the on the path to becoming a chef?
25:06
And so through that you got interested, excited, inspired by
25:10
this. And at some point you decide,
25:12
hey, I'm going to go to culinary school.
25:13
I'm going to get serious about this.
25:15
Yeah, I was OK. So I worked for him for 10
25:20
years, for them for 10 years. I went to school, I did all
25:26
these Miami-Dade, you know, college, you know, school and
25:30
then the prerequisites and everything.
25:33
I don't want it to be becoming an RN because I like people, you
25:36
know, and I'm like, I'm going to be a nurse.
25:37
So, you know, it's a good, a good job on whatever.
25:41
But then I realized that it wasn't for for to be a nurse,
25:46
you need to be in the you start a program.
25:48
It's every day from Monday to Friday, from one time to one
25:51
time. And I didn't like that because I
25:53
need flexibility because in the mornings I, I, I, I, I have to
25:56
work sometimes. And I'd rather do, you know, two
26:00
or three classes a semester. So I, I study networking
26:04
administration, which is, you know, computers and, you know,
26:07
connecting computers and all that.
26:10
This in 2003. So I was ready to, for
26:15
graduation. I was like 3 classes away.
26:17
I need to take three classes. This is the hottest classes that
26:20
they are. So I left it for the, you know,
26:23
to the end because I want to do 1 every semester.
26:26
And a friend of mine said to me, listen, why don't you go to
26:32
culinary school? Like, you know, the Cordon Bleu
26:35
is opening. You know more.
26:37
This is your passion and you do it really well.
26:41
You know, I know you, you, you know, your sushi is amazing.
26:46
And I'm like, she planted that seed and I started thinking
26:51
about it. And the more I think about it,
26:53
the more sense it made because I talked to my friends and I'm
26:55
like, hey, by the way, you know, I'm thinking I'm all my friends,
26:59
like go for it. They, you know, it's a
27:03
completely different world. Like, you know, the, the
27:07
computer science is a really cold environment.
27:11
Everything is great. It's completely the opposite of
27:14
it. There's no much creativity, you
27:17
know, but the, the, the culinary was is the opposite, the
27:21
colorful, it's hot, you know? You're around people all the
27:25
time. So so I'm talking to my friends.
27:29
Boxes. Yeah, I take it to my friends
27:31
and listen, it goes most with you, more with you.
27:35
I'm like I drop out of college and I went to I went to check
27:40
the school only and when I got there, I fell in love right away
27:43
and they said, OK, sign me up. And then I started culinary
27:46
school and. So when you were in culinary
27:50
school, you're studying from 8:00 to 2:00 every day, then
27:53
working from 3 to 11. Only Wednesdays do you have off.
27:58
That's a pretty intense schedule.
28:00
How were you managing all that? What what kept you motivated
28:03
during that time? It, it was crazy, man.
28:11
I'm not sorry because I get emotional because my wife was
28:18
being part of it. She was there to support you.
28:31
And she had to wake up every day, five in the morning
28:35
together because I, I was never late to school.
28:40
I never missed a day. She, I don't know my clothes
28:44
because they check you in the morning.
28:47
And, and I'm, I'm really glad for her, you know, for all the
28:52
support. What is her name?
28:57
Isabel. Isabel, sounds like you got a
28:59
good one there. So it was hard.
29:09
It was hard. The most difficult, but was a
29:12
study time because there was almost none.
29:17
You finished school at 2:00 and it was intense.
29:20
It was on Monday to Friday. You go to school from 8:00 in
29:23
the morning to 2:00 PM. I, I founded the, the, the
29:30
competition team in the school and I was a little ahead of in,
29:36
in on the culinary side. I was a little bit of a head of
29:40
a lot of people because, you know, I'm working in in a
29:42
restaurant industry for a little bit, you know, but then I was a
29:49
sumo kulatian valeditorian on my class on my year.
29:53
So I did pretty well, you know, given the conditions.
29:58
But you study, I finish work and then go home and study and wake
30:03
up next day 5:00 in the morning and you sleep 3-4 hours and
30:08
that's it. That was the life of that was
30:10
probably the hardest time of, you know, of my career.
30:14
Yeah, having to go culinary school and, you know, but it
30:19
have to be done. It have to be done.
30:21
How long did that period last? How long was culinary?
30:24
15 months 1515 that is a. That is a mad Sprint and what
30:31
was graduation like did was just the big weight off your
30:34
shoulders. It was amazing.
30:37
It was amazing because it was a lot of, I never care about, you
30:43
know, being some of Latin valedictorian.
30:46
All the stuff came by itself and I never really care to be honest
30:49
with you, but there was a lot of competition in, in our class.
30:53
It was different class and the same year and everybody's
30:56
competing and, and one day, one day they talking and group of
31:03
friends are talking to school and one and a professor said,
31:10
no, you guys don't worry about you guys.
31:12
You need to worry about him because he got a 4.0 GPA.
31:17
The. Point is, yeah.
31:18
And everybody's like, what? They couldn't believe it, you
31:21
know, especially because you have your accent, you know, You
31:25
know, you might. My vocabulary, I mean, my
31:28
grammar is amazing, you know, and my vocabulary is really
31:33
limited because of my special imitation.
31:37
Because in Cuba, you know, I come already with that, you
31:40
know, that in Cuba we speak really bad.
31:43
It's even the Spanish is, you know, we don't have that many
31:47
sounds. So it's really, you know, so the
31:50
English I was, was part of like a problem for me.
31:54
But people thought that that because of my, my accent or
31:58
whatever, I might not have, you know, a good grammar, writing
32:02
skills. But you know, that was, I was
32:04
really good with all those two. So I did pretty well in school.
32:08
Like, you know, I'm really proud of, you know, while we
32:11
accomplished, you know, that's incredible year and a half,
32:15
yeah. Do you think there were other
32:19
people in your class that had the same kind of insane schedule
32:22
that you did, or were most of those people focused just on
32:25
school at the time? Yeah, nobody.
32:28
And for you to come out on top of the class, there are people
32:31
that have all the jobs, like part time jobs, and I don't
32:36
know, maybe they'll have full time.
32:38
But to be the summa kunaya, the balladatoria?
32:41
No, no. That's really impressive.
32:45
Wow. OK, so we're fast forwarding a
32:47
bit, but you were the opening chef for the second Hyatt
32:53
Centric in the world, and this was also your first executive
32:58
chef position. Walk me through the challenges
33:03
of launching a brand new hotel concept while also stepping into
33:09
a leadership role for the first time.
33:12
It's crazy. It is crazy.
33:14
It is like, I really enjoy it, but the challenge is, is like, I
33:22
have no word to describe it because you, you know, most chef
33:29
have their egos and you know, and I have my ego as well.
33:32
You know, back in those days and, and I always thought like,
33:36
you know, you see all the chef, you work for all the chef and
33:40
you think I could do a better job.
33:43
You always think like, you know, I need to get my cake because I
33:45
could do a better job. I could do a better job, I could
33:47
do the job. And you don't realize it until
33:50
you're in that position. How much takes from you and all
33:57
being in the hotel was really challenging and hiat is amazing.
34:02
They, they give you a lot of support.
34:05
Concord, which is a management company, they also give you a
34:09
lot of support during the, during the opening.
34:13
By the end of the day, you're on your own emotionally and, and
34:20
nobody can help you with that. And that's the most difficult
34:24
part because people come in to help you and you have task force
34:30
coming to help you and needs a lot of help, but they're still
34:33
like they they are chef or all the property, but they're still
34:36
waiting for your command. It don't matter because it's
34:41
your manual. It's you know, So what I like to
34:44
do when I get, you know, help, I usually make sure, you know,
34:50
they do the receiving the delivery, you know, the
34:54
dishwasher area, which is one of my head peeps.
34:58
You know that I want it because dishwasher area, it's really it
35:04
controls the flow in the restaurant.
35:05
So it's a really critical position that people don't pay
35:08
attention to it. But it really, you know, control
35:11
the flow over every over every hotel over in restaurants.
35:15
You know, you don't have glasses, you don't have silver,
35:17
whatever it is, you know, so I always get, you know, I like to
35:22
put somebody in that position, make sure, you know, that chef
35:26
that he's taken care of. And, and after that, it's just
35:30
like you're on your own, you know, try to, you know, build
35:35
the team, you know, and set the standards and, and, and if you
35:39
lucky enough to have like a, you know, a demo kitchen so you can
35:45
try some recipes before you come on board.
35:47
I mean, that's if you're very lucky.
35:50
In my case, on my first property, we have a kitchen that
35:53
we rented and we did some recipes.
35:55
So when we got ourselves into the hotel, it was just like
36:00
straight into training, but not on the second hotel.
36:04
So but it was a lot of challenges and but the most, the
36:09
most challenging part, I think it was the most for all told
36:14
that you know, it takes a lot from you.
36:18
It takes a lot from you because you know, it was my first time
36:22
and I'm thinking, you know, this is easy because I open hotels
36:27
before I'm really organized. I can organize kitchen and and
36:31
everything else. But when we got everybody in
36:34
every direction asking you for things and menu and you know
36:37
sales team, then it's menu for the pre opening our group or VIP
36:41
whatever. It's crazy.
36:43
It's crazy. Your head spinning.
36:44
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we we have gone from one
36:49
giant challenge to the next in our storytelling of Chef
36:53
Williams life here, you know, getting out of Cuba, you know,
36:58
on on death's door. I don't think that's being
37:02
melodramatic that going to culinary school and working full
37:07
time at the same time, getting a few hours of sleep for 15 months
37:10
straight and now stepping into a leadership role for the first
37:14
time while opening a brand new hotel, only the second of its
37:19
kind in in the world. As you think back on each of
37:22
those, I don't know, does one of them stick out to you as more
37:26
challenging than the others? Leaving the country was by far
37:32
the most challenging things I've done in my life and probably the
37:36
best decision I've made because it makes me who I am today,
37:40
makes me resilient. It makes me patient.
37:42
Because you have to stay one year and a half in Guantanamo
37:45
Bay. It it makes me a lot of things.
37:51
I, I'm really happy that I, my initial career was in a Japanese
37:57
restaurant for 12 years. I spent 10 years at Sonesta
38:00
Beach Resort with those the first restaurant and I, I opened
38:05
another Japanese restaurant for two years.
38:07
And then I'm really glad that that that happened to me because
38:14
it teach you a lot of discipline.
38:15
Japanese people, the deep sibling is really key and it
38:22
makes me patient, it makes me disciplined.
38:26
So it gives me all that stuff, you know, and it held me
38:31
tremendously in my career. But yeah, looking by looking
38:36
back, I think leaving the country for sure it has been the
38:42
the the most difficult decision. Do you think that trip, that
38:46
decision to leave and what you went through over the next year
38:49
and a half created some battle scars that without them, maybe
38:56
you wouldn't have had the confidence to take on the big
38:58
challenges that you did once you got to the States?
39:01
Definitely, definitely. Yeah, yeah, not, not only, yeah,
39:04
the, the trip itself, you know, and but Guantanamo Bay was not,
39:09
was not easy. You think about it.
39:11
It's this is like a you're like in a concentration camp in it's
39:16
like, you know, like you'd like, you're like in prison like, but
39:19
you know, my at first part of my time there and I, you know, in
39:25
Montano, I was doing because I, you know, I had the background
39:28
of graphic design. I was doing tattoos, you know,
39:30
and, and things like that. And you know, it's like you like
39:36
in prison, you need to, you know, you're only with your
39:39
thoughts. You never know if you're going
39:40
to come. So it's like you happy because
39:44
you left because you know that you have a better future for
39:48
sure now, even though whatever you're going to end up, they
39:51
don't want to keep in Guantanamo.
39:52
They have to send you somewhere else, right, either even if they
39:55
don't want you there. And they pass by every day in a
39:58
truck and they say nobody's going to travel to the United
40:01
States. So if you want to go back, just
40:02
go to the office, fill out your paper every day with the
40:05
megaphone and and you get your thoughts.
40:09
You just like, listen, we're never going to go anywhere.
40:12
I might as well just go back. You know, some people get.
40:17
Think about about those things like I have friends that
40:20
actually left. I went back to Cuba and me and
40:25
my 2 best friends, we always together, we just you know, like
40:28
we lift each other, you know, like if I was down, I was not
40:33
not thinking straight. So my two friends would lift me
40:36
up and same thing, you know, and, and, and definitely that
40:42
shape you, you know, because you know, you become a better
40:45
friend, you become a better person, you know, it's a lot.
40:49
So how long were you there before they started sending the
40:52
first people to the US? Probably after six, 7-8 months,
41:02
they started with families and kids.
41:05
And then after they finish with all families and kids, they feel
41:08
like like a lottery, you know? But my friends and I would say,
41:13
OK, we're going to live together, so don't matter what
41:18
lottery number you get, we're going to go together.
41:23
So one of my friends have one of the last numbers on one of the
41:29
last flights. So we decided to change our
41:33
numbers to come together and we ended up leaving like the second
41:37
flight before the last. Wow.
41:41
So we're were there some people who were after the last flight
41:45
were still left there were not going to get a chance to come or
41:48
the island was cleared. Either people had gone back to
41:51
Cuba or they had been able to go to the US.
41:53
And any Guantanamo itself, we're probably going to be the whole
41:58
podcast itself because that place was crazy.
42:01
That place was crazy. But we, me talking with my
42:06
friends all about it, like we did really well.
42:10
We did much better than many people there.
42:13
So, and we're glad for that. Like I started doing tattoos,
42:17
but then I, I had a girlfriend. I found a girlfriend in the
42:21
Navy. She was from Mexico and she got
42:25
me a job at the hospital in the base.
42:29
So I was working in the hospital on the base.
42:34
You know, I got a nice big diploma from the Navy.
42:39
You know, it was, it was amazing.
42:41
So besides all the, you know, the pasta that were happening, I
42:45
had, you know, my mind was always, you know, in a nice
42:49
place because, you know, I can get to go to work every day.
42:53
And, you know, so it was, it was good.
42:56
So it wasn't as bad as other people had it.
43:00
So you worked in the hospital, Is that where you got the
43:02
equipment to do the tattoos? No, the that tattoo was first.
43:06
The tattoos we go to. So my friend and I, we say, OK,
43:12
so we're here. There's nothing else to do.
43:14
Let's just get full of tattoo. I'm like, OK, they know because
43:19
I did a tattoo back in Cuba when I was in graphic school.
43:22
And this is like, I don't know if we have time for this, but
43:26
this guy was in prison and we got an eagle, you know, an
43:30
eagle, You know, I make an eagle like going, you know, when they
43:33
go down to grab the prey, right? And they which is the most
43:39
important position that he's coming down the eagle to grab
43:42
things. But it was done in a prison and
43:45
it was missing the legs because, you know, in prison it's illegal
43:48
to do tattoos. So the police came and they
43:50
stopped it and the guy back chip away and he got now an eagle
43:54
with two little pieces of, you know, without, without the legs.
43:58
And I'm like, listen, I do the legs for you, man.
44:03
You know, I didn't know anything about tattoos, you know, but I'm
44:05
like, OK, I'll help you out. So I, I made the legs for him
44:09
and now he got a really ugly bird because he looks more like
44:14
a chicken because he was like, you know, done in a prison and,
44:18
and the, the lines are really thick, you know, and now he got
44:23
like beautiful legs, you know, that it makes some sense the
44:26
whole thing. But it, but I know at this point
44:29
like you know, now I don't care to make tattoos they don't
44:35
bother me. You know, the smell of the blood
44:37
or whatever, it don't really matter bother me.
44:39
So we went to the Infirmary and we asked for needles to do just
44:47
regular, you know, sewing things right.
44:49
And they, they gave us this little pack that have 4 needles
44:52
inside and I make, we call it Moletta, which is like, you
44:55
know, you, you cut. It's like the way to do like old
45:00
school. It's not a machine.
45:01
It's just like you do by hand like in Hawaii.
45:05
Still do. Things like that.
45:06
And what do you use for the pigment?
45:08
We made our own. We, we burn plastic and we take
45:12
the smoke of it and every time we make ink, my friends who made
45:18
the ink for me, I had to try it on my own body before I use it.
45:21
So we, so I have little spots everywhere of like, you know,
45:27
of, of ink. But it was, it was crazy, you
45:31
know, and then there was no cigars.
45:34
They don't give you, you know, they give you one cigarette per
45:37
day. And that money was a cigarette.
45:39
People will pay $5 for a cigarette.
45:41
That's it. You know, so people don't, who
45:43
don't smoke, save them to make tattoos or give them to a
45:46
friend, whatever. So right away, you know, 2 weeks
45:49
later I have enough cigarettes to buy a razor machine.
45:53
And that's when I got the machine.
45:56
Where does somebody get a razor machine there?
45:59
Like. How are people getting these
46:00
other things? I understand that they're from
46:02
the outside. They're giving you the
46:03
cigarettes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:05
Like, like, like me when I was doing tattoo, I tattoo a lot of
46:08
people from the, from the Army Marines, you know, So yeah,
46:13
people, Marines are really nice people and they, they give you
46:18
stuff away, you know, like in my case, I'll charge like, you
46:22
know, like alcohol was prohibited.
46:24
So we'll charge, you know, give me a bottle of Jet Daniels and I
46:27
do whatever, you know, I make a tattoo or curl sneakers,
46:31
whatever, you know, things like that.
46:32
But wow, of of that nature. OK, Well, in the time that we've
46:36
got left, because I think you're right, we could spend the entire
46:39
podcast on Guantanamo and you know the way that you got here
46:42
to the States. But I want to make sure that we
46:44
put a little bit of a spotlight on what it is that you're doing
46:46
today. Talk us through it.
46:49
What's special about this restaurant?
46:52
OK, so. This is a Cuban restaurant.
46:55
They, they call me. They say, listen, we're building
46:57
a Cuban restaurant. I think you're going to be a
46:59
better fit, the best fit for this.
47:00
And I'm like, listen, I'm Cuban. I never work in a Cuban
47:03
restaurant. So this is not the, the, the,
47:06
the, the best decision, but I think about it.
47:09
So I went and talked to my mom. She's like, listen, go ahead.
47:12
This is, you know. Your mom.
47:14
So your mom got to the stats. Yeah, my mom, I ended up
47:16
bringing my mom and Barbara later on, like a few years, like
47:19
10 years later, Yeah. So she said, yeah, go ahead.
47:23
And then we then we, you know, the decision was already made a
47:30
Cuban restaurant. And in my head it's like, OK, I
47:33
already working for hire. I know the philosophy, you know,
47:36
and I'm like, OK, we can do something really nice here.
47:42
More elevated thing, you know, that the traditional Cuban food
47:45
you're going to stay focus on what it is.
47:48
You know, it's a Cuban cuisine. You know, we're going to stay
47:51
through to it. It's a humble cuisine, you know,
47:54
but at the same time, we're going to elevate it a little
47:57
more, you know, because this is who we are as a hiya.
48:01
So we created this Cuban restaurant.
48:06
The restaurant is doing pretty well.
48:09
We we have a traditional Cuban cuisine in a more elevated, but
48:15
we're not afraid to also use ingredients from South America
48:21
because Miami is a really like a melting pot.
48:23
It's, you know, it's a lot of different cuisine, like Peruvian
48:27
cuisine, Mexican cuisine, They're really huge cuisines
48:29
right now. So we decided we're not going to
48:33
be afraid to it. You know, there's anyways,
48:35
ingredients are hard to get that are from Cuba, like a Hikachusa,
48:39
for example. You know, it's something that
48:41
you didn't need to go homestead to get it, but me as a chef, you
48:44
know, we don't have the time to go homestead like every time you
48:47
need the Peppers, right? So that kind of Peppers.
48:50
So, oh, there's supermarkets now that are selling, but it's not
48:55
common, right? Like if a regular, well, maybe a
48:58
vendor would not bring it to you.
49:00
So we have all these amazing Peruvian Peppers.
49:04
So listen, we're just going to adapt it and introducing an art
49:09
cuisine and give it a good use. We're not going to be afraid to
49:12
use them. And as soon as we stay, you
49:15
know, true to the kiosk cuisine. So people who are familiar with
49:20
Cuban cuisine, they'll recognize some of the flavors, some of the
49:24
ingredients, but they'll look at it and they'll say, yeah, this
49:29
isn't 100% Cuban because you've infused all these other cultures
49:35
into the cuisine. It depends.
49:42
There are some dishes that are really stable that we don't like
49:46
Vaca frita. How do you make it better?
49:49
You know, doesn't have to, you don't need to add anything
49:53
because it's a so simple dish. You need to bring anything from,
49:57
you know, any of these countries.
49:59
You just need to make it right, you know, and perfect and we try
50:04
a lot of different recipes and we end up using SUV.
50:07
You know, we now suvi our bagafrita and it's the best
50:10
bagafrita you can get in Miami is our bagafrita because it's
50:14
may low temp cook and so the the beef is really tender and crispy
50:19
on the outside, but inside is really most which is a really
50:24
challenge when you do like a frita, right the chance to dry
50:28
it up. I say you know so the.
50:29
Ingredients are the same, but you've introduced this novelty
50:33
of cookie sous video. Yeah, yeah.
50:35
In some cases it's just the technique.
50:38
In some cases it's just a little addition of these.
50:41
And people don't, don't. It's like if if you're using
50:46
Ahika Shusha in Kira and I decided to insert of Aika
50:49
Shusha, I use Ahia Mario. It's so subtle that people would
50:55
not people not say this doesn't have cashews, they have jaja
50:59
marillo. But at the same time it tastes
51:03
really good. I mean, it's like you'll be
51:04
like, OK, this is a really good dish or whatever, you know, And,
51:09
and at the end of the day, that's all it matters, right?
51:11
So. So it's still very authentic.
51:14
You just elevate it. Like you said, it just tastes a
51:16
little bit better, like, oh, this is the best version of this
51:19
dish I've ever had. Yeah, what is the what is the
51:24
dining experience like aside from the cuisine?
51:28
Explain what the inside of the restaurant is.
51:31
We have, we have the, the restaurant is really nice.
51:36
We are located on the second floor of the the highest centric
51:40
and the space itself is really nice.
51:42
It's you have a bar in the middle divided and we have a
51:44
lounge area and the restaurant area all divided by the bar.
51:49
We have a lot of art that we brought in from opening.
51:55
We we have these really famous muralists.
52:01
He made murals from Colombia. He did amazing mural and art
52:07
almost. It's a whole wall.
52:10
It's like 2 side wall and it's like the mural is amazing.
52:15
It's really representative of the Cuban culture.
52:17
It have all the elements of the Cuban culture with all the
52:20
colors. It's really colorful.
52:24
We have these towers that we built, we sent, we put an order
52:30
and this guy in Germany did it for us.
52:32
It was like this enormous tower that we built with that cigar
52:36
boxes and it's amazing. It's, you know, this two art
52:41
installations that we have in the restaurant.
52:43
Besides that, we have these plates that we sent out to local
52:48
artists. This is like 8 years ago and
52:51
they're a nice place 'cause it's tradition if you have to put
52:54
plates on the walls, you know, so we send it out to different
52:58
artists in different places and they, they paint their, their
53:03
own verses of, you know, Q1 little things or, you know, like
53:08
AI don't know a Chevy 57 or cat or fish or whatever.
53:14
They did their own interpretation, whatever.
53:16
And so we have one wall that is all that and service is amazing.
53:21
We have, we have the same, we have a group of people.
53:26
It's almost like a family now. We've been together for the
53:30
longest time. We have either front and back of
53:34
the house. So in that sense, you know, we
53:40
service is really important to us.
53:41
I think that at the end of the day, that's what's going to get
53:48
the only thing we're going to have left problem is, you know,
53:52
it's all changing things and new techniques and now with AI all
53:58
these things changing, but I think that human connection is
54:01
the only thing, you know, that I think it's going to remain and
54:06
and people still go places looking for that and and I'm
54:12
glad that that we doing a good job there.
54:16
Do you guys use AI in any way in what you're doing creative
54:21
language on the menus or I don't know?
54:25
Most of the I is to review menus.
54:33
Menus are, you know, we build our menus and then in my, in my,
54:38
in my, in my personal, this is my personal appearance.
54:43
The way we use it is I build the menus and I I give it to AI to
54:49
make sure the capital letters and spacing and that L dot is
54:54
correct and spelling things like that.
54:57
And that's the only reason that we use it.
55:01
I play around with that menu items, but it's not that great
55:05
in my opinion, not yet, but I'm probably going to get there
55:07
because we give you like one day.
55:11
I was like, OK, let's do give me some options for, you know,
55:16
appetizer with truffles. And it gives me all these weird
55:20
things that not necessarily, you know, are appealing, you know,
55:26
like tasteful, you know. So I ended up not using
55:32
anything, but it was testing, you know, to see how good of a
55:37
bad it is. And my opinion, building menus
55:41
is not there yet, but I'm helping you, you know, cleaning
55:46
the menus is amazing. Yeah.
55:49
How about some future projects that you're either working on or
55:56
coming soon? Things that you're excited
55:58
about? We are, yeah, we are really
56:02
excited. So we are revamping our dinner
56:06
menu like which is on November 1st.
56:09
We redo the brunch, the lunch and the breakfast menu.
56:17
It was a big overhaul on those 3 menus.
56:20
And the good thing about it is that they connect each other,
56:24
right? Because you had the lunch and
56:26
then you got breakfast and then brunch coming out of pretty much
56:30
both of them. But the DNA menu, we're really
56:36
excited about it because we, we, it's a lot bigger than what we
56:42
normally do. And we, we have a lot of new
56:47
interesting dishes coming up and, and yeah, I think, I think
56:51
it's going to be a hit. And also we're doing the, the
56:56
bar menu as well. So to, you know, to pair our got
56:58
together with what we're doing new cocktails.
57:00
And whatnot. Yeah, but it's a whole whole of
57:03
the dinner menu. But yeah.
57:06
Nice. Well, Chef William, I've just
57:08
got one more question for you today.
57:10
But before I ask it, I want to do a few things.
57:12
First of all, anyone who wants to get in touch with Chef
57:16
William, we are going to include a link to his LinkedIn profile
57:20
in our show notes. William Milian.
57:24
MILIAN and as a reminder, if you want to get more restaurant and
57:29
hotel employees access to benefits that won't hurt them
57:32
financially and carries a financial upside for the
57:35
company, reach out to us at Add back benefits.com.
57:38
And finally, if you'll take just a moment to leave us a comment
57:41
or review on your favorite podcast app, you will hold a
57:44
special place in my heart forever.
57:46
Thank you. So last question for you, Chef
57:48
William. A year from now you and I
57:50
reconnect and you are celebrating something big.
57:53
What is that something that you hope to be celebrating one year
57:57
from now? My biggest goal is to be one day
58:08
the best human restaurant in Miami.
58:12
Being the best, the best Cuban restaurant in Miami is like
58:15
being the best Cuban restaurant in the world, period, right.
58:19
So that to me is probably more important than you know,
58:27
Michelin or anything like that. This is this is huge.
58:31
So we really working hard and towards that goal and hopefully
58:39
one year from now we can. How is that measured?
58:42
Is there an award that comes out from somebody or just maybe a
58:47
general recognition in the restaurant community that this
58:51
is the place? No, either way, either way
58:54
either or like, you know, I know this either way.
59:01
Like since we recognize, you know, the, you know, we want to
59:06
be in the big leagues on, you know, the queuing community.
59:09
So as soon as we recognize it really matter where it come
59:13
from. Yeah, to be honest with you.
59:15
I love it. Chef William Milian from Hyatt
59:18
Central Brickell in Miami, FL I want to be the first to thank
59:23
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
59:26
I really appreciate it. Thank you, Anthony.
59:29
Thank you for having me, for letting me share my story.
59:32
Thank you. Folks, that's a wrap on another
59:35
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
59:37
Thanks for learning with us today.