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You'll remember him from Top Chef's Season 3, where he wowed the judges with his pork dishes and earned a nickname that will grace the awning of his soon-to-open barbecue restaurant in North Miami. We caught up with Kleinberg to talk about the restaurant, the economy and his new-found affinity for bulldogs.

MP: So, Bulldog BBQ. When are you planning to open?
Howie: We’re about a month away from opening. We’re finalizing our build out and getting details taken care of. It’s smooth sailing from here as far as I can see. We’ve been working on it full time for five or six months. Until you go through the process, you never know what kind of bumps you’re going to run into. We’re happy with where we are.

MP: Why a barbecue restaurant?
Howie: I did a lot of soul searching after the show. A lot of people were saying, ‘you need to go to New York, you need to go to Europe.’ And I said I want to do honest simple food and get back to what excites me about cooking: feeding people. And I think the trend I’m seeing is a lot of chefs are going into more comfort foods, especially with the economy the way it is.

There’s never been great barbecue or any real barbecue to speak of in this area. I used to spend summers in the Carolinas with my family, and when we came home, we could never find barbecue. One day, my partners and I were sitting around having a conversation about the restaurant, and it kind of sparked.

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Chef Jonathan Eismann recently re-opened Pacific Time, a longtime South Beach landmark, in the heart of the Design District. We had a chance to catch up with him between the lunch and dinner rush to ask a few questions about his new restaurant, its new home, and his favorite places to eat in Miami.

MP: How does it feel to be opening again in Miami?

JE: It feels like it did when I opened on Lincoln Road. It’s very similar. In 1993, Lincoln Road was kind of desolate; the design district is kind of desolate. You know, the best thing to happen to the Design District is Michael's. It really opened the doors. The Design District is becoming a great place for dining. There are a lot of good restaurants there.

MP: What do you consider a must try item on your menu? If we were to eat there, what couldn’t we pass up?

JE: I would say the butter-grilled asparagus or the roast leg of lamb with green herbs and goat’s milk yogurt.

MP: I know that you use a lot of local produce in your menus like Florida tomatoes or Key West pink shrimp. Have you been able to find any local beef or chicken?

JE: Not yet, I know there is some Florida beef, but I haven’t checked the quality of it and quality is very important to me.

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