Chef Luis Pous of the Little Palm Island Resort & Spa in the Florida Keys.

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In a sense, Chef Luis Pous left one beautiful island for another. The innovative chef fled Cuba in 1997 and less than 10 years later he took over the kitchen at the Little Palm Island Resort & Spa in the Florida Keys.

In the intervening years, he defined his style at New York’s Hotel Plaza Athenee. It’s a style that reflects the aromatic flavors of his native Cuba, the structure of a French kitchen and the bounty of his current setting.

That bounty is glorious seafood. At 40, Pous approaches the daily catch with respect. “When it comes to fish, my feeling is the simpler, the better,” he said during a recent visit to West Palm Beach.

That restraint is evident in the adjacent dishes. He uses mostly fresh herbs and citrus in his ceviche and tiradito. That’s not to say he can’t throw down a mean Cuban sandwich. (Of course, his version features seared foie gras.)

Two years after Pous landed at Little Palm, the restaurant was named one of the top five hotel restaurants in the world by Travel + Leisure.