“My food is a photo album of my travels – a way to bring to life the aromas and the tastes. I can’t deliver the crowded streets, or the ryokan, or other parts of the experience, but I can give you the flavors.”

And Jake Klein does, in a modern setting that takes you away from the pressures of life in New York, yet provides a view of Rockefeller Center and the city beyond that is spectacular.

Pulse has become the special, almost private meeting place for television and publishing executives, hedge fund managers, investment bankers and fashionistas who work in the area. It’s where they go for the real meetings, when they don’t want to announce who they’re meeting with... and when the food counts.

Jake’s fresh, bright, bold flavors are the result of his childhood in Miami, combined with his heritage and his wanderlust. His mother, a food writer and publicist specializing in food and restaurants, instilled in Jake a love of quality ingredients and the tastes of the region: Caribbean spices and fresh fish, fruits and vegetables that are at once sweet and savory. Jake’s stepfather is the IACP/James Beard Award winning author, television host and Barbecue University creator Steven Raichlen, known as America’s grilling expert. Jake grew up around Miami spices and both indoor and outdoor grilling - just as is found in Asia.

After a few years in college majoring in economics, Jake spent several years cooking in Florida, working at Jada, Pacific Time and Lure in Miami. He received great accolades and actually surprised his mother at one point... not telling her he was working at a particular restaurant, much to her shock when she visited the kitchen!

Then Jake spent a year and a half as chef of a Caribbean restaurant in Hong Kong. Odd? Not really… Miami and Hong Kong are on the same latitude and they use similar ingredients: ginger, soy, garlic, condensed milk correspond with the ginger, soy, cloves and all spice of jerk seasoning. Being in Hong Kong put Jake closer to Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. He traveled extensively throughout Asia then and continues to visit and explore the region. With his love of Japanese cuisine, especially Japanese grilling techniques, is it any wonder that he prefers Japanese knives because of the precision?

Back In Miami, Jake yearned for an environment where his skills and talents would be truly appreciated; where the culture of food demands and challenges the chef and the palates of people for whom he cooks. After a stint at Pacific East in the Hamptons, followed by Heartbeat in the W Hotel in NY, his consulting experience in Washington DC and the past three years at Pulse have brought Jake’s creativity to a new level. His is a unique marriage of Asian and Caribbean flavors. “You eat with your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It’s a complete experience.” He adds to that experience with an exciting choice of tableware from Korin and designs his menu to provide true satisfaction using ingredients that aren’t heavy and don’t send you to the office or home ready to fall asleep. It’s an authentic palate that Jake has created for Americans and it incorporates the things America loves: the finest, freshest ingredients available, grilling and Asian cuisine.