Dr. Ferdie Pacheco and Luisita Sevilla Pacheco Seen Eating...Tomato Soup at Buena Vista Deli

Courtesy of Ferdie and Luisita Pacheco

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The Pachecos are a true Renaissance couple. Dr. Ferdie Pacheco is known as "The Fight Doctor," and most famously as Muhammed Ali's physician and corner man. A famous talker, Pacheco was also a TV sports analyst for decades. He's also a prolific painter and writer. At 83, he paints and writes every day. His latest book, Tales of the 5th Street Gym, about the legendary "University of Boxing," was released earlier this year.

His wife, Luisita Sevilla Pacheco, was a flamenco dancer with her own school. As a girl growing up in Colorado, she dreamed of being a Spanish dancer. When flamenco artist Jose Greco came to town, she auditioned for him. He kindly advised her to get some training. Her parents sold their life insurance and sent the fourteen-year-old to Sevilla, where she learned Spanish, and became a dancer. She took on the dancing name "Luisita Sevilla." Ferdie says that when he saw her dancing, he knew that he was going to marry her. This month, the Pachecos celebrated their 40th anniversary.

Interview after the jump.

Courtesy University Press of Florida

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Luisita typed and helped out with all of her husband's books. They've even collaborated on two cookbooks: The Columbia Restaurant Cookbook and The Caffe Abbracci Cookbook. Ferdie Pacheco will sign copies of Tales of the 5th Street Gym at the grand reopening of the gym this weekend. The gym will be open to the public this Saturday and Sunday. You can also catch the Pachecos at Books & Books Miami Beach on October 5.

New Times: What are some of your favorite restaurants?

Ferdie: We've lived in Bay Point for six years and we could never find anywhere to eat around here. We'd go to the Gables, we'd go to the Beach, and now we're starting to find good little restaurants in the Design District.

Fratelli Lyon is one.

Luisita: He loves veal marsala or veal al limone at Fratelli.

Ferdie: Buena Vista Deli has one thing and one thing alone -- tomato soup. It has excellent salads. It's like being in a little place in France. It's not elegant, it's a neighborhood place.  No problem parking, no problem anything, just a nice little place.

Luisita: And they have a pork sandwich that is delicious. They have all kinds of paninis and baked goods and cheeses. It's a delightful place to go because you just sit there and read the newspaper and a lot of young people go and discuss interesting things.

Ferdie: We go to Soyka's.  My wife loves it. Meatloaf is the main thing I like there. Good crowd. A lot of people go in there.

Abbracci is my standard for Italian food. We wrote a book about him [Nino Pernetti, the owner]. So we're loyal to him, and it's very good.

Luisita: After we did the Columbia restaurant cookbook, we asked Nino, because we were real fans of Caffe Abbracci and we'd been going there since my daughter was little. In 1992, we asked him if I he wanted to do a cookbook with us and he says, "Why would I do a cookbook? Then people would steal my recipes and then they wouldn't come to my restaurant." [laughing]

But about three years ago, he called us and asked us to do it.

Do you like to cook?

Ferdie: I have the world's greatest cook for a wife. She is just a master of cooking. I learned long ago that I was lucky to have her. We stay home because her cooking is better than any restaurant. But it is nice to go out every once in a while.

What's your favorite thing she cooks/to cook?

Ferdie: She does a great veal. She knows that the secret to great cooking is time. You let meat soak. You cook it for two or three hours. You don't just throw it on a pan and get it hot. It's slow simmering, it's basting. It's love and care, and boy she does that.

She also does a great red bean soup.

Luisita: Mexican enchiladas--I like to cook them, but he doesn't like to eat them. He doesn't like spicy foods, so I save them for my mother.

He loves Spanish food. He loves shrimp enchilada with the good yellow rice. He doesn't like paella, but I make a nice chicken one. I make everything.

I made a veal last night and it took me two hours. I like to cook things very slowly in the oven. They come out so moist that they just melt in your mouth.

What's in your refrigerator?

Luisita: I have olives, eggs. I don't have a lot of cutlets like ham because I try not to eat too much of that. I have veal, or steak, or chicken to cook and I have a lot of tomatoes and avocadoes.

I have a mango chutney that I made with Pauline Winick [executive coach and former executive vice president of The Miami Heat]. I have bottles and bottles and bottles. You can serve it with chicken, pork, steak or put it on toast with cream cheese. I have a tree here but there weren't a lot of mangoes this year. So, I go to the Haitian grocery store on 54th Street. They have the most delicious candy mangoes. I buy them by the box.

It takes a long time -- at least 8 hours. You have to let it simmer, and you have to clean the jars. That's why I like to do it every year with Pauline. We're thinking about making "Miami Mango Chutney" and selling it, but we don't know if we're going to do that. But we have a nice gift for Christmas and Hanukkah.

What did you have for breakfast today?

Ferdie: I have the same thing every morning. I have a Cuban coffee with milk and piece of toasted Cuban bread with butter.That's what I've had every morning since I was a kid. I love it.