Pier Sixty-Six Restaurant Calusso on Apple TV
After being completely obsessed with The Bear, I found myself captivated by another restaurant series last year: Season 1 of Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars. I didn’t know it then, but production was actively filming while I was attending the 2024 Northeast MICHELIN Guide Ceremony in New York.
By the time the 2025 MICHELIN Guide ceremony rolled around, this time in Philadelphia, Season 1 had just finished airing. And suddenly, some of the chefs walking into that room weren’t strangers to me anymore. One in particular was Chef Jacob “Jake” Potashnick of Chicago’s Feld.
Knife Edge had followed Potashnick and his team through their pursuit of a MICHELIN Star. The series ended without Feld receiving one. Then, just over a week after the finale aired, I was sitting in the audience in Philadelphia when his name was called. Feld had earned its first MICHELIN Star. And a Green Star. I watched Potashnick walk onto that stage, visibly emotional, and understanding the weight of that moment differently because I’d watched the story that came before it. Without Knife Edge, I wouldn’t have known his story or understood quite as intimately as what that moment represented for him and his team. And yes, I absolutely looked around the room to see whether I could spot the Knife Edge cameras. Too hard to tell.
That’s what hooked me about this show in the first place. These aren’t characters. These are real restaurants and real people letting deeply personal stories unfold in front of the cameras. There is no script. The work is real. The ambitions are real. So are the pressure, dreams, and, at times, failures.
Now Knife Edge is back for Season 2. And this time, it’s coming to Miami and Fort Lauderdale with restaurants I know very well and with 2 Florida episodes: COTOA, Calusso, and Stubborn Seed.
It’s no surprise that all three restaurants have already earned spots on my Top 25 South Florida Restaurant Palette Awards list.
Located at the newly reimagined posh Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, Calusso was conceived as a polished waterfront dining destination with marina views. The menu moves comfortably through crudo, foie gras, seafood, and substantial preparations such as its aged bistecca for two.
But I paid attention for a different reason. It was Chef Jonathan Kaiser. Kaiser’s résumé includes the kind of kitchens that make you sit up a little straighter, with experience at Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, Ocean Reef Club in the Florida Keys and, most recently, MAASS in Fort Lauderdale. When I first visited Calusso, it was still very much a new restaurant finding its footing. But even then, the ambition was obvious. What came out of the kitchen gave the glamorous setting substance.
That’s significant for Broward. For years, conversations about South Florida’s highest-end dining have overwhelmingly centered on Miami. Calusso is part of a larger shift I’ve been watching north of the county line, where Fort Lauderdale is increasingly making a case that serious destination dining doesn’t require driving south.
And now, Calusso finds itself on the Knife Edge. Will it become a new addition to the Florida MICHELIN Guide?
For Kaiser, being selected for the series still feels slightly surreal.
“It’s super humbling to even be considered, let alone end up making it on the show,” he told me. “There are such great chefs that they feature from all over the world. There were some real ballers that were doing their thing and to see people win the stars and the work they were doing. I loved that season.”
He never imagined Calusso would be part of the story next. “Then you get a random email from the people doing the casting, and they were interested in us. I couldn’t even believe it.”
But beyond the international exposure, the opportunity carries a more personal significance for him. “It’s an honor to be on this show with all those amazing chefs, but to be able to represent my home, my hometown, is insane. It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The filming itself was another first. “I’d never worked with anything TV-wise before,” he said. “It was a pleasure to film and collaborate with all the production team. The whole experience was really interesting.”
Now, with the premiere arriving, Kaiser is eager to finally see the finished product alongside everyone else. “I’m really grateful to everybody that’s been a part of this. It’s been a great experience. I look forward to watching it with my friends.”
