S5 E71 Chef Jonathan Kaiser on Calusso, Pier Sixty-Six, and Raising the Bar in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale is having a moment, and Chef Jonathan Kaiser is part of the reason why.

In this episode, I sit down with the South Florida native and the chef leading Calusso at Pier Sixty-Six Resort to talk about his journey from early kitchen obsession to high-level fine dining. We dig into what he learned cooking under Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, why sauce is everything, the tiny details that make a restaurant feel truly luxurious, and what it takes to keep standards sky-high when you’re pushing serious covers.

Also: the origin story behind his Instagram name, his obsession with consistency, the cheese dessert I’m obsessed with, and the restaurants he actually sneaks off to when he’s not running a kitchen. Hint: it has the word PANDA in the name. Yup, that one.

If you’re curious about Fort Lauderdale’s culinary glow-up, what Michelin standards look like behind the pass, or why “luxury” is really just a thousand tiny decisions done correctly, this one’s for you.

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Cheers!

Brenda

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