Dennis Max
Owner

Restaurateur Dennis Max, one of the region's most successful culinary entrepreneurs, helped redefine South Florida's cuisines in the 1980s with groundbreaking restaurants such as Café Max, Max's Place and Maxaluna. Credited with bringing California-style new American cuisine to South Florida diners, at its peak, Max's Unique Restaurant Concepts operated 17 restaurants with 1000 employees. Max got his start in the restaurant business in the early 1970s while working at the national theme-oriented restaurant chain Victoria Station. After five years spent learning the ropes and developing an eye for culinary talent and honing his now-legendary business savvy, he and like-minded associate Burt Rapoport relocated to Fort Lauderdale, where they helped to create Carlos and Pepe's, the first California-style Mexican restaurant in South Florida.

Next came Raffles at Dadeland Mall, Max's first attempt to bring a California cuisine restaurant concept to Miami. A favorite gathering spot for young professionals, Raffles was an overnight success, eventually spawning an additional 10 locations in Florida and Atlanta.

In the early 1980's Dennis' own Unique Restaurant Concepts was founded. The inaugural project,Café Max, opened in 1984 in Pompano Beach, sparking a culinary revolution.

Successful from the outset, the charming new restaurant generated unprecedented interest in the fresh, new cuisine from California as well as the space's casual chic environment. Max built on this success, following with a string of ventures – Max's Place in North Miami, Maxaluna in Boca Raton and Brasserie Max in Plantation, positioning Unique and South Florida on the national restaurant industry radar, launching the careers of young chefs who grew into national names including Mark Militello, Oliver Saucy and Charles Saunders.

Rapoport returned to the fold and the business continued to grow throughout the 1990s – first with Max's Grille at trendy Mizner Park in 1991 and then into Miami Beach's Art Deco District with ventures like Astor Place and Max's South Beach and now with the opening of the farm to fork concept, Max's Harvest, in Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach.

Chris Miracolo - Click here to contact
Executive Chef

Having been bitten by the culinary bug early in life, Chris knew by the age of 20 that he wanted to make cooking his life. After foregoing culinary school to spend time under the tutelage of South Florida's premier chefs such as Mark Militello, Norman Van Aken & Peter Boloukos, Miracolo met Dennis Max and Chef Patrick Broadhead of Max's Grille and helped them open Max's Place in Bal Harbor as Executive Sous Chef in 2000.   Miracolo then ventured west to Dallas to work at The Mansion on Turtle Creek under Dean Fearing, and Abacus under Kent Rathbun before moving to Denver, Colorado to open Rhapsody at Clear Creek in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Upon his return to South Florida in 2005, he rejoined the Max's family and worked at Max's Grille as Patrick Broadhead's Executive Sous Chef until 2009 when he left to head up Himmarshee Bar & Grille in Ft. Lauderdale. He is very pleased to rejoin the Max's family as Executive Chef at Max's Harvest in Delray Beach's Pineapple Grove.

Patrick Broadhead
Chef/Partner

Executive Chef, Patrick Broadhead was born and raised in a small Midwestern town, where as a young man, he first discovered the joy of cooking over an open fire with the Boy Scouts making dutch-oven cobbler. He held on that joy in cooking through out his formative years and through college. Among others, Chefs Emeril Lagasse and Tyler Florence inspired him to follow their same path at Providence, Rhode Island's Johnson and Wales University where he graduated in 1994. Now having acquired his culinary foundation, Patrick spent time traveling between Cape Cod and Florida while gaining a strong background in creating seafood dishes. It was then elevated by the level of quality available from the delicacies he found in the waters around Florida.

When Patrick began his journey with Max's Grille in Boca Raton as a line cook, the Executive Chef told him he would also hold that humbling & proud title one day. True to that insightful prediction, Patrick had the title of Executive Chef at Max's Grille Boca Raton for many years, bringing his own distinctive style to his menu concept for this restaurant.

Patrick is now a distinguished Executive Chef and Partner, and oversees all menu creations for all of The Max Group of restaurants. His vision is one of ever-changing, exciting dishes which reflect the freshest flavors of the seasons. He does not have a particular favorite menu item, but instead loves to be inspired by the ingredients which are the freshest on the market. He is personally passionate about the styles of Mexican, Latin-American and especially the rustic, simple peasant food from the streets of Brazil. He brings his unique and inspired culinary tastes to all of the restaurants that he oversees.

Patrick is married to long-time love Silvana, and has a son, Luca. He enjoys gardening, and is fanatical about the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Flamengo of the Brazilian football league.