Ignacio Mattos (43 years old, Uruguay) is one of the most prestigious chefs in New York. His restaurant Estela de él turned a decade old this year and, since its opening, it has not stopped accumulating awards, from the highest positions on the city’s critics’ lists to a Michelin star. It is a mandatory stop for any foodie in the world and an established place on the local agenda. His loyal clientele eat there two or three times a week, as they can measure with an app.
Today, ten years after the opening of his iconic restaurant on Houston Street, Mattos has four restaurants and a hotel: Lodi, in Rockefeller Center, inspired by the bars of Milan, with pastries and art deco; Altro Paradiso, with a main bar and Italian cuisine and Corner Bar, with the vibe of city bistros around the world, in key chic, inside their group’s hotel, Nine Orchard. All with an elegant and careful style, but fresh and never cold. The chef from the River Plate masters the art of subtlety: his dishes seem simple, but they are forceful, they have good product, delicacy in the plating, a precise technique and the surprise of flavor hidden in the heart of the dish.
Mattos quotes EL PAÍS in Estela. Upon crossing the blue wooden door, they indicate that we should wait for him at the marble bar, he arrives in the blink of an eye, with a calm and confident step, a white t-shirt as seen in all the publications, but one with a penetrating gaze, which cannot be seen. in any of his photos. Focused, ready to tell his recipe, and relaxed, as if he had all the time in the world. Whoever looks for a Uruguayan nod in it will only find New York, if the term is understood as the city that houses people from all over the planet who are not from there and share the same codes. But again, he is an expert in subtleties.
Order to share a raw bluefin tuna (freshest, from the sea) served with ‘pil oil’ style emulsion made of infused fish bones, squid ink and olive oil accompanied by Ponzu sauce; the emblematic endives with walnuts, anchovies and red ubriaco; zucchini with miso and pine nuts and the local classic, fried black rice with squid and romesco sauce, inspired by Chinese fried rice. The entire menu is inspired by the city, by the cuisine of its immigrants, “I wanted everything to feel very New York.”
He begins the talk by talking about current events: “Today, gastronomy has become a fetish and chefs are opening more and more restaurants. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the solution, but it’s one way to do it.” He is known as a chef who cooks and washes dishes if necessary, he often did so at Estela, although with four restaurants and 500 employees he acknowledges that he began to delegate tasks. “For 17 years I went to the market every week, I still go but to cook at home.” He believes that gastronomy is not for everyone, even so, it is still his place, but he is aware that time is of the essence and so is family. He has a 12-year-old son from a previous relationship and a 4-month-old son with his current partner, culinary artist Laila Gohar.
Mattos started cooking out of necessity. He lived his childhood between the countryside of Capurro and Santa Lucía, in Uruguay. “I grew up with a grandmother who never said ‘I love you’ to me, that wasn’t part of the vocabulary. But the way to express love was always through food,” he remembers. “My two brothers and I grew up in the countryside, with everything that entails: in summer we made peaches and plums in syrup, tomatoes, jams or wine. In winter I had to be skinning a pig in the cold or listening to it scream.” Then he became vegan and since his grandmother didn’t understand why, it was Mattos’ turn to cook. “From the age of 12 I saw that my friends did not eat well and I made bread and cakes that I later sold to them.” At 16 he worked in a catering service and went to live in Montevideo. “There I knew that cooking would be my thing. It’s not like I had much of a choice… I wanted to leave Uruguay and I had to be independent.” Fortunately, he fell into the right hands, at the right place and at the right time. He spent time with Michel Kéréver, one of Alain Passard’s mentors, and from there he moved on to Los Negros, Francis Mallmaman’s restaurant, where he started as stagier on weekends and stayed there for seven years. “I traveled with him doing different projects, it had a big impact on me, it is a spectacular opportunity to be able to try and experiment in other landscapes. In that sense, there are few people who do it as well as Francis.” Mallman states of Mattos over the phone that he “does not need pure innovation as a technique of expression, but rather uses the explicit universal flavors of him as the sole guide to his meals.” Furthermore, he was the first to hide the main ingredient in the presentation of the dish, making the act of eating a discovery.” And he defines him as someone who does and executes: “Mattos always had a reinforced respect for himself, which led him along the path of his truth, reflected in the gestures of his kitchen.”
Mattos landed for the first time 17 years ago in the Big Apple with Mallman, his mentor. “I came with nothing. With a job with Francis and nothing more, I left and came back with nothing. It was all through the connections I made in restaurants. I didn’t even think about conquering New York, it was always a matter of doing and achieving consistency.” Later he spent time at Zuni Café with Judy Rodgers (San Francisco); was stagier with Martin Berasategui in Lasarte; he roasted meats in Da Cesare, in Albareto Della Torre in Alba; In San Pablo he handled volumes of 1,600 place settings daily together with Paola Carosella; He reopened Patagonia Sur in Buenos Aires until it was his turn to return in a big way to the United States. “I needed another challenge, and the opportunity came up to go cook at Chez Panisse with Alice Waters in California. I spent a year and a half, in a period of many opportunities, but I realized that I wanted to return to New York, it was my home.” And he returned to New York.
He worked for five and a half years as chief executive of the Italian Il Buco and in 2011 the opportunity arose to open Isa, in Williamsburg. It started with a small wood-fired cooking menu, but with a much more refined touch, more experimental in terms of execution, with the idea of making it accessible—45 dollars a menu, plus wine—to be able to reach young people. . It soon became a place of worship where many of the most important chefs on the current New York scene visited— Fredrick Berselius, from Aska restaurant with a Michelin star; Contra’s Fabian Von Hauske and Jeremiah Stone; Pam Yung and José Ramírez-Ruiz, from Semilla. “There was a very interesting team and it scored a lot of people, but it was not understood by everyone and numbers rule.” Mattos, who was the great promise of critics, had to close his first restaurant, with a newborn son (Paco) and without having any idea what to do in a city that eats you in one bite and that has swallowed the most great chefs in the world.
“I found myself without a job and against the wall. Either she did it then or she never did it. I was clear that I wanted to have something different and my own. The whole Nordic era of Noma was beginning and everyone was copying it, so I decided to offer simple, well-made food, in an intimate atmosphere, but that felt like a party.” He opened Estela in June 2013, they survived the summer and after four months they couldn’t control the number of people. “It became the place where everyone wanted to be because there was no other casual, well-made place. In a year and a half we paid for it. Miracles exist and these types of things happen, she says. And, as if that were not enough, after a year and two months Barack Obama visited them and everything went off. “A delegation of 32 cars arrived, the streets were closed for two blocks on each side, helicopters, snipers, the people inside turned to see them, they applauded, it was like a soccer game, a true spectacle.” Since then he has been unstoppable.
As in his signature dishes, the flavor comes from the heart: Mattos learned to say I love you through food, and extended it to an elegant detail, to spending hours standing in the kitchen, to go for more, to create a universe hospitable, a place where people want to work and enjoy their creations, the dishes of this Uruguayan who had to live the American dream to honor the countryside where he grew up.
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