About

The Genuine Hospitality Group is more than a collection of the finest restaurants in South Florida and Ohio. It is a group of people that believe in providing food and service consistent with the vision of TGHG’s founder, chef Michael Schwartz. And at the heart of that vision is the word “Genuine”. Our Genuine philosophy informs everything we do from the kitchen, to the dining room, to our business offices, to our efforts in our community, and perhaps most importantly, to our aspiration to be an employer of choice.

Chef Schwartz has had a storied career and is known as one of the finest chefs in America, garnering numerous awards and accolades and having launched and run numerous successful restaurants over the course of his long career. Hailing from Philadelphia but residing in Miami for decades, Michael has become an integral part of the cultural fabric of South Florida.

Of course, Miami is known for its beaches, weather and nightlife. Chef Schwartz had a belief that Miami residents and tourists alike would respond favorably to a more genuine upscale dining offering, as he puts it, than had been previously available. And so, he dreamed of a restaurant focused on the bounty of local products we have here in South Florida, both in the ground and the sea, combined with fair prices intended to develop a very regular customer base. Layer in Michael’s world class technique and influences, his relationships with farmers, fisherman and artisans, and an emphasis on world class service, and Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink was born in 2007.

MGFD was a pioneer in the so-called Farm/Sea to Table movement and it was an immediate hit. Named one of the top new restaurants in the country by the New York Times and the winner of a James Beard award as best restaurant in the south, recently, MGFD was among the Beard Awards’ final 15 nominees for best restaurant in America. The culinary philosophy of “fresh, simple, pure” (integrated in MGFD’s logo) informs all the food we serve. We are maniacally product driven, and that approach is perfectly explained in Michael’s favorite expression “the key to good food is good food”.

The word “genuine” is the lens through which we inspect everything we do in all our restaurants and in our business, and sometimes is easier to explain by what we don’t want to be. Pretentious. Ostentatious. Contrived. Fussy. Arrogant. Our goal is to provide an experience that is much greater than the sum of the parts. Every detail should be mindful and intentional down to the implements on your table, the music you hear, lighting, service, taste and of course, the price. It is the accumulation of these details that we hope will leave the customer blown away while not knowing exactly why.

We hope you come visit any of our restaurants from our casual Harry’s pizzerias to our waterfront Latin inspired restaurant Amara at Paraiso, and judge for yourself whether we live up to these goals. And if we do, hopefully you won’t even notice until after your date, family meal, special occasion or business lunch when you say to your companion, “wow, that was really good – I would go back for sure”. That’s all we could hope for….