Restaurants

Wilo Benet is the chef and owner of Pikayo, celebrating its 21st anniversary this year now in its new home at the Conrad Condado Plaza in San Juan.

In 2009, he stepped into the wine world with his DOBLEÚ wine, made of 100% Tempranillo grapes from the Rioja, Spain region.

Wines
In May 2009, Benet stepped into the wine world with his DOBLEÚ wine, made of 100% Tempranillo grapes.  The wine is elaborated by the "Bodega Ramon Bilbao" in Rioja, Spain and is aged for 14 months in new French and American oak casks.
The wine consists of an intense dark garnet-red with a purple rim.  Its impressive aromas of ripen cherries and plums develops to the range of candied fruit. Wine Spectator’s Robert Parker stated in the Wine Advocate 2009 Edition as a "Best Buy"; he also gave it 87 points. Benet teamed up with Au Bon Climat Winery and will offer his new label of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir this year.

Cookbooks
In 2007, he launched his cookbook, “Puerto Rico True Flavors”, offering more than 100 recipes, complimented by exceptional photography, inviting readers to follow his culinary journey. This best-seller was followed by his translation in Spanish, “Puerto Rico Sabor Criollo”. The books both in English and Spanish are now in their third edition. 

TV Shows
Wilo Benet’s new TV Show dubbed “SABORES DE ENSUEÑO con Wilo Benet”, is currently on the air in Utilísima Channel FOX Latino.  The show is based on recipes of his best-seller “Puerto Rico True Flavors”.  With an audience of 11 million people from Mexico to Argentina, including the United States, the show can be viewed in Puerto Rico in Onelink (Channel 171), on Direct TV (Channel 234) and in Dish TV. 
He has also recently appeared in high rating TV shows including “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern”, was guest chef at “Top Chef”, Bravo TV’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning #1 food show on cable, participated as a contestant in its spinoff series “Top Chef Masters” as well as in “Martha Stewart Weddings” amongst many others. 
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Wilo Benet is perhaps better known internationally for his works and accomplishments in the culinary field for the last 30 years. What most people don’t know is his long term passion for photography which was his first formal education at the Arts Institute of Fort Lauderdale, prior to attending The Culinary Institute of America in New York.

Benet's return to photography happened by chance, as in 1996 - by fate - he was required to take pictures of some his own dishes for a magazine article. That introduced him to the digital era of photography, one he embraced passionately from that day on.

Other of Benet's interests indirectly started providing the grounds for what would turn into a full blown passion for Nature Photography, specifically that of photographing birds. It all started with admiring all the bird species in many of the golf courses where he played, to the point where the camera was as important as the clubs for a complete round.

He has traveled extensively during his career, granting him the opportunity to shoot in many places such as Rioja, Spain, Washington State, Aspen, New York, Texas, California, Buenos Aires, Argentina and many of the Caribbean islands, among other destinations. Every time travel is required for culinary purposes research follows in the photography department, to properly pursue the region's specific areas of interest.

Upon learning of this hobby, Bahia Beach Resort commissioned Benet to document migrating and resident bird species in order to properly document and catalog the birds for the Audubon Societies' review and approval as an Audubon approved sanctuary.

He has devoted time to photographing food in its traditional way as well as in a very unique form, which he coined "Gastronomic Impressionism", using different mediums such as Canvas, Acrylic Paint, Photography and Digital Manipulation and Enhancement in a variety of combinations to produce stunning and colorful renditions of food in a partially abstract proposition.