Michael’s wealth of culinary experience began with his Cuban family roots and growing up with the cultural influences of Miami. When he decided the waves he was surfing in Miami were the worst in the world, he planned a move to California where he planned to flip eggs and surf the best waves, but his journey only took him as far as Las Vegas.
He didn’t realize at the time that he had landed on one of the most exciting culinary stages in the world. In a few short years he found himself on the opening culinary teams of The Mirage, Treasure Island, and The Venetian in Las Vegas. Years later when his family moved to Colorado, he felt that he had found the most wonderful surfing in the world when he skied the mountains in Colorado. Michael still lives in Denver where he has worked as a long time culinary instructor at Johnson & Wales University. He still loves snowboarding!
During his career in Las Vegas, Michael won 5 gold medals in the annual Las Vegas Rib Competition. He also raised money while competing and winning 3 times, at the annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. During his years at Johnson & Wales, Michael was the coach for a culinary team that competed at the American Culinary Federation, and they won a gold medal for state of Colorado, qualifying them to compete for national championship. Michael met Tina, an elementary science lab teacher, in 2015. Together they share a love of good food, science, and teaching.
When the pandemic closed both their schools in March, they decided to turn their love of teaching to sharing cooking lessons with friends and family on Zoom. When he got a new pressure cooker, Michael decided to share his old one with his friend, Karen, along with some of his spices, a recipe, and a lesson in using the pressure cooker. When Karen’s family loved the spices, she encouraged Michael to start selling them. Not long after this conversation, Johnson & Wales became one of many businesses across the country that made the hard decision to close at the end of the 2021 school year. This seemed like a perfect time to start a new adventure, so now Michael is devoting his time to starting Angelo Spice Co. This seems the perfect way to share his talents for making spices, and to continue his passion for teaching people how to cook by posting videos to make the recipes.
Michael and Tina are still working at school during the week, but on weekends, they’re working on writing recipes and mixing spices to share with you! They know this is a time when many families are cooking at home more than ever, so they’re hoping to make life easier and more enjoyable by sharing some simple, easy to make food with these fabulous spices. Many are inspired by Michael’s Cuban family heritage. We hope you’ll enjoy them!