RON MIRANDA
Restaurateur Keeps An Eye On Dining Trends
STORY BY MATTHEW AUERBACH PHOTOS BY SUSAN LERNER
I
t was in Romeo and Juliet that William Shakespeare wrote: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Longtime Wellington restaurateur Ron Miranda was hoping the same would be true for his restaurant.
When Miranda changed the name (and the menu) last year from Nicole’s Village Tavern to Nicole’s Pasta & Grill, he was doing what he always does — following his instincts and his faith in reinvention to stay one step ahead of today’s trends while still pleasing people’s palates. Needless to say, it worked. Nicole’s remains one of Wellington’s most popular places to meet and eat. And Miranda is Wellington The Magazine’s fifth Entrepreneur of the Year Award nominee. Miranda has been involved in some facet of the food business for almost 30 years. The Youngstown, Ohio native moved to South Florida in 1982 with plans to work for Coca-Cola, but ended up getting a better offer from Holsum Bakery. He worked there for five years and learned the sales, manufacturing and quality control ends of the business. The dream of owning his own restaurant came to fruition when Miranda and his family moved to Wellington in 1994. “Back then, Wellington was much more of a bedroom community,” Miranda recalled. “It had a real small-town feel and wasn’t as commercialized as it is these days. It was the perfect place to open a restaurant.” So he did. Miranda purchased Michaels Pasta in the Courtyard Shops in August 1994. The first thing he did was change the name a bit. “When we bought it, it was being run by two guys named Michael, so they called it ‘Michaels’ without the apostrophe,” Miranda said. “I kept the name in honor of my son Michael, and simply stuck in the apostrophe.”
Michael’s Pasta quickly became a go-to spot in the village. Miranda took a hands-on approach to the menu, creating many of the dishes offered at the eatery. Seven years into his run, he opened Nicole’s Village Tavern. He ran both restaurants until selling Michael’s Pasta in 2002. “We moved from Michael’s around the time the big Italian chain restaurants started coming in,” Miranda recalled. “The town was suddenly saturated with chains. I realized there’s only so much water you can draw from the well... so we made the decision to concentrate on Nicole’s.” If Miranda named his first restaurant after his son, who do you suppose Nicole’s is named for? That’s right — his daughter. Nicole’s is a favorite haunt of residents and seasonal visitors alike. Ladies Night always packs the place, as does the Sunday brunch. The live musical entertainment is the icing on the cake. But for Miranda, the continuing success of Nicole’s Pasta & Grill is all about the food and the people who eat it. That’s the real reason for the menu and name change. “I’ve been talking with my customers intently for the past two years, listening to their feedback and tweak-
WELLINGTON THE MAGAZINE • MAY 2010
May-46-49 - Entrepreneur.indd 47
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4/25/2010 8:01:14 PM