Recipe for Success

By Martin Haro '05

Chef and owner Rolando “Roly” Cruz-Taura ‘93 is going back and forth from the main dining room of Fifty Restaurant & Lounge to the downstairs kitchen: It is a mid-January Friday afternoon and the restaurant, located at the end of the fourth block of South Beach’s Ocean Drive, is preparing for an influx of guests clamoring to taste one of the restaurant’s specialties.

In other words, it is business as usual.

Together with his wife Ana Cruz-Taura ’94, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management graduate has found the perfect recipe for success in the competitive restaurant business – and in life.

At work, Roly has kept things simple in a small yet warm space (an adjacent indoor-outdoor lounge will open soon). His Progressive American menu speaks for itself and showcases the best America has to offer by combining the flavors and ingredients that showcase what American food is today, with the influence of various ethnicities and the great variety of food product available in a global market. The dining experience at Fifty Restaurant & Lounge – so named in reference to the 50 states – pays equal amounts of attention to presentation as it does to preparation.

The Calamari Trio, for instance, combines buttermilk calamari, baby Turk & Caicos conch and chile rings with grilled squid stuffed with spicy braised oxtail and chilled calamari and a baby octopus cocktail in an effortless dance of flavor and taste, served simply yet elegantly in a manner that allows the food to be the star. And that is just one of the many “small plates” or appetizers on the menu; Roly’s menu includes pastas, steaks, fish and chicken, with an emphasis on featuring the best in U.S.-grown or produced ingredients.

At home, he and Ana, a graduate from the College of Business Administration’s MBA program and regional community development director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, make it work by encouraging and supporting each other and their two sons, Rolando, 13, and Carlos, 11.

The recipe is quite simple: Do your best, have your partner’s back and enjoy good food while you are at it. And remember to “Feel the Pride” – the Cruz-Tauras and their children are dedicated Golden Panthers. They are football season ticket holders and frequent visitors to the Frost Art Museum and the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at University Park, where Carlos has played the cello with the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Concert Orchestra.

An ideal combination

Roly and Ana met in 1990. She was starting her MBA studies; he was coming back to FIU to pursue a degree in hospitality, following several years of study in mechanical engineering and a brief transfer to Georgia Tech.

“The hospitality program at FIU was great,” Roly said. “At the time it was either Cornell or FIU. It turned out to be a great decision and I received a lot of hands-on experience. The program filled in the gaps of what I knew already. It was very enriching.”

His wife agrees.

“It impresses me when we host barbecues for 20 at home and he grills 20 steaks and everyone gets their steak cooked exactly like they want it,” Ana said. “Roly really enjoys being a chef – and he is very, very good at it. Me, not so much….”

Ana is more of a businesswoman; she helped her husband put together a business plan for the restaurant, which gave her the opportunity to be a part of the project. She admits her MBA degree was, “the best investment I ever made.”

“In 1994, when I graduated, the College of Business Administration was beginning to receive all these accolades, so I feel that the value of my degree only has increased since I went to FIU and Roly’s, too,” she said. “I see great value in all of the achievements of the university’s alumni.”

For his part, Roly has found success in the emerging South Florida culinary scene, having worked with renowned local chefs such as Mark Militello and Allen Susser and having opened Fifty Restaurant & Lounge last May with business partner Hassan Jalali. He recently participated in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s annual fundraiser, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

“The Festival is great,” he said. “It’s great exposure, of course, and the fact that it benefits my alma mater is even better.”

For more information on Fifty Restaurant & Lounge, visit www.fiftyonline.com.

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