Chef Franco Antonio / House of Food Porn

The Story of ShuShi began back when Francisco Antonio Blanco, aka “Coach Blanco” aka “Chef Franco Antonio”, tasted sushi for the first-time and fell in love with its unique taste profile and explosive flavors—getting ready to graduate high school back in 1990 from Southwest Miami Senior High School, Home of the Eagles, the notion was born that he would learn to make sushi to save money and impress the young ladies. Wasting no time in buying the “Sushi Kick,” the rolling began at his home, then, at friends parties, where he would “volunteer” his sushi rolling skills for the love of food/art and ladies… You could say that life was great for young “Frankie,” as his close friends call him, with the exception of his parents refusal to eat the mainly raw ingredients found in the traditional sushi rolls he was making. Convinced that one day he would have his parents eating his sushi; Franco Antonio began his creative process and realized that he could take his mother’s own created traditional Cuban dishes (Blackbeans and Rice, Pork, Sweet Plantains, Avocado, Yuca, Mojo, etc.) and roll them in the form of maki rolls—appealing to their native palette. “Mama”, after tasting her son’s “Cuban Style” sushi with the ingredients mentioned above, loved the explosion of all the flavors in one bite and accidentally coined the name “ShuShi” because of her Spanish accent and being unable to properly pronounce the word “sushi”. Thus, it began, the exploration of world’s most popular cooked cuisines wrapped into robust sushi type roll called “ShuShi” as a distinction from the traditional that focuses on raw ingredients, ShuShi focuses more on traditional cooked dishes from all parts of the world. Although Chef Franco Antonio spent the majority of the professional life as a Supplier in the Wine & Spirits World, as well as coaching volleyball at the high school and university level, he would continue to host one or two “ShuShi” parties at friend’s homes throughout the years.  It wasn’t until the summer of 2012, when his ShuShi creations caught the attention and of some of his social media followers, and just like that, ShuShi Catering was born. His lifelong dream of owning his own ShuShi Tasting Room became a reality in the summer of 2016 when he Founded House of Food Porn, in the beautiful and up and coming city of Little Haiti.  There is where you’ll find Chef Franco Antonio brilliantly creating his ShuShi magic during his private, by booked reservation only, “Chef-Table” ShuShi Culinary Tastings. A native of Antilla, a province of Oriente—Cuba, he migrated with his family to the United States in the late 1970’s, at the age of six. The spark to what would become a life ambition and dream began in his parent’s kitchen—the epicenter of the home. His parents love for all types of cuisines and passion for cooking made family affairs both enlightening and mouthwatering.