Julian Belon
Born in Venezuela to Cuban parents, and raised in Miami, FL, Pastry Chef Julian Belon recalls fond childhood memories of his Father preparing pastries, cakes, and other confections for all the family’s parties. Inspired by his father’s love of cooking, he made his first foray into the restaurant world at the age of 16, working on the hot line at prominent Miami Beach Restaurant and Beach Club, Nikki Beach.
With little interest and hardly any real experience in baking or pastry-making, Julian’s focus was on the savory side of the kitchen working line. Then, one fateful day, Julian was assigned to work a shift with the Pastry Chef at Nikki Beach, during which he recalls first appreciating all the creative abilities the ‘sweet side of things’ has to offer. It was in this moment that he recognized the endless possibilities of how artistic one small bite-sized piece of food can look, while being packed with so many flavors. From that point on, nothing was going to stop him from achieving his newfound goal of becoming a Pastry Chef.
Julian hit the ground running, working at various cake shops until he landed his first Assistant Pastry Chef position at the Miami Dade Culinary Institute. It was here that he was able to develop desserts for Norman Van Aken’s restaurant, Tuyo. Absorbing knowledge and experience like a sponge, he found a new love in chocolate, learning techniques from how to make the smallest chocolate plaques, to petit fours to large extravagant chocolate showpieces.
From there, Julian moved on to the Mandarin Oriental Miami, honing his skills, working alongside Master Pastry Chef, Fredrick Monnet. Julian marks his time there as a true privilege, being a part of a world-class team and establishing the Mandarin Oriental as a AAA 5-star hotel. During his tenure at the Mandarin Oriental Miami, he developed dessert menus for the hotel’s 5–star restaurant Azul, as well as serving on the opening team of restaurant La Mar, under ‘World’s 50 Best Chef’s’ recipient Gaston Acurio.
Following this incredible experience, Julian became inspired to create, with goals of becoming a lead chef where he could bring his new unique and challenging ideas to life. He began his search for an opportunity where creativity was highly encouraged and landed at Artisanal, one of Open Table’s Top 100 Restaurants, in the mountain town of Banner Elk, North Carolina. Here, he was finally able to freely put together dishes he had only dreamt of. Constantly creating, experimenting, and working on new techniques, he pushed himself to perfect his craft on a daily basis, which he continues to strive for today.
Upon returning to South Florida, Julian was recruited to revamp the pastry program at the esteemed private club Ibis Country Club, before accepting the Corporate Executive Pastry Chef position at the wildly creative restaurant group Barton G. Under the direction of Barton G. Weiss, Julian was responsible for the development and design of some of the industry’s most imaginative desserts. Barton G.’s ‘no boundaries’ philosophy put Julian in a position to nurture and challenge his visionary abilities, just as he set out to do when he first realized his goals as a Pastry Chef.
Following his time at Barton G., Julian took an opportunity to get back into the hotel industry, working within JW Turnberry Miami, which was voted No. 1 resort in Florida for three consecutive years and counting. As the Senior Pastry Chef, Julian was able to create and execute menus for Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina, Corsair, and three other food outlets. Alongside his team, he catered to banquet events from as small as 20 guests to well over 2,000 guests. Also, in his tenure with Marriott he was chosen as one of the chefs to be part of “Marriott Masters.” This granted him the unique opportunity to cook for Marriott himself as well as the board members of the company during their annual board meeting.
Finally, in 2022, Julian was recruited to lead Damn Good Hospitality’s brand-new dessert concept, Damn Good Sweets. He fell in love with this position based on the Group’s commitment to creativity without limits and looks forward to creating whimsical and imaginative desserts for the Delray community and beyond. He not only brings his imagination to the Damn Good Sweets menu, but also, to the other restaurants in the Damn Good Hospitality portfolio, with the implementation of rotating specials and seasonal additions. Julian vows: no guest will ever taste the same version of a dessert twice.
When Julian is not working, he loves to enjoy outdoor activities like camping and fishing with his wife and son.
