ROCKLAND— Café Miranda’s Kerry Altiero has been selected Best Chef by Down East Magazine in their annual Best of Maine issue for 2015. The Best of Maine awards provide Down East readers the opportunity to nominate the Maine people, places and things that mean the most to them. Based solely on popular vote, the winners represent the best of Maine as identified by the people who know Maine the best: residents and longtime visitors.

From his early days growing up in the coal-country of Pennsylvania and racing motorcycles, right up until today, Chef Kerry Altiero, has decidedly done things his own way. In 1993, Chef Altiero opened Café Miranda a restaurant fueled by his passion for great food, multi-culture cuisines, his Italian heritage and Rockland, Maine. 

Café Miranda has long been a model of sustainability and has been recognized as an Environmental Leader by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Vegetables come from Chef Altiero’s own Headacre Farm as well as many other area area farms, while meats and seafood are sourced throughout the region.

Café Miranda and Chef Altiero’s team offers an evolving seasonal and culturally diverse menu featuring fresh local ingredients, house-made pastas, and signature foccacia bread made daily in Café Miranda’s wood fired oven. Chef Altiero was named the 2012 Maine Lobster Council Lobster Chef of the Year and was awarded the 2013 Harvest on the Harbor Top of the Crop – Best Farm To Table Restaurant. In 2014 Altiero released his first cookbook Adventures in Comfort Food. Additionally, Kerry Altiero is the co-host of NOSH, a VSTV food and cooking show.