MeKa Catering

Social & Corporate Events in South Florida

Melissa Hidalgo Biography
Chef Melissa Hidalgo was born and raised in Lima, Peru. Her passion for food started at a young age. She grew up in a family where food was always the main subject and focus of the day. Her grandparents had a catering company and she remembers helping them out as they prepared cold canapés. She was always curious and impressed by the chef’s abilities to make garnishes for decorations in platters out of fruit and vegetables. Carlos Hidalgo, her dad, owned a seafood restaurant, and while Melissa’s sisters would spend time in the dining room. She would always stay in the kitchen trying to help out. Her favorite pastime was to clean the squid, even when she got ink all over her.
At age 12, Melissa and her family moved to Miami, Florida. At that time, she already knew she wanted to become a chef. Right after high school, Melissa went to Le Cordon Bleu in Miami. She started her internship with the Michael Mina Group in Arcadia, San Jose, California. After having the opportunity to learn every aspect of the restaurant business, she moved back home and transferred within the company to Bourbon Steak Miami. There she was very like to learn from great chefs and after 2.5 years she moved within the company to RN 74 in Seattle. After a year there, she was offered and accepted a Sous Chef position in Bourbon Steak in Scottsdale, AZ. She has a very special place in her heart for the Mina Group, because every restaurant she worked at; she had the pleasure to work with extremely talented chefs.
In 2013 Melissa moved to Los Angeles to work with Gordon Ramsay at the TV show Hell’s Kitchen. After that she went and worked at one of his restaurants in LA managing the kitchen. She was able to learn a different aspect of the culinary world by working in TV shows. In a LA, she also had the opportunity to work as a Culinary Producer Assistant for a Food Network Show and also competed on a pilot show and won. After years of traveling, Chef Melissa decided to move back home to Miami, where her family resides. Her present goal is to use all her experience and knowledge to create unforgettable meals at South Florida events.