Two of the chefs at the helm of the best placed Brazilian restaurants among the 50 best in Latin America in 2022, disclosed in the early hours of this Wednesday (16), talked to the CNN Travel & Gastronomy about the importance of Brazil having 10 houses on the list.
It is the tenth edition of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, an annual list that has been held since 2013 and elects the best Latin American restaurants. The best positioned Brazilian restaurant in the ranking is the one in São Paulo The House of the Pig in Jefferson and Janaina Rueda 🇧🇷 The house ranked 4th and is considered the best of Brazil this year, according to the awards.
After the euphoria of the award and the celebrations, Janaína spoke about the emotion of receiving this placement in the ranking and also the responsibilities that this visibility brings to establishments like hers and other Brazilian ones.
“It is gratifying and of great importance to be on this list with so many Brazilians that we admire and like so much. It’s knowing that the mission from now on is to make people understand that Brazilian haute cuisine can be accessible, can be successful, can be inclusive and can tell a story. It can tell the story of my country, Latin American history, diversity, it can educate and through a menu, a menu, a gastronomic experience we manage to pass on a message”, said Janaína to CNN 🇧🇷
“It is a mission to talk about Latin Americans, but also our mission this year, after talking about Latin Americans, is to talk about Brazil, our six lines of biomes and tell a little about everything in our Brazil. I am very happy with my arrival in this place of speech, in this space of speech to be able to tell a little about Latin America and our country”, completed the chef.
The chef at Casa do Porco also highlighted how the award can play an even greater role for Brazil: increasing tourism.
“The greatest importance of this award is to promote tourism in Brazil, to promote tourism in all Brazilian restaurants
Janaina Rueda
The chef added: “Once we win an award like this, we get a podium and a place to speak, we manage to develop our tourist chain, our creative economy and cultural and gastronomic development in Brazil. I think this is one of the greatest importance today, reaching a podium that Brazil deserves among so many restaurants on this list”.
Oteque: 12th place and “horizontality in the team”
The second best placed Brazilian in the ranking is the carioca Oteque led by Alberto Landgraf , which ranks 12th. The restaurant is located in Rio de Janeiro and focuses on vegetables, seafood and fish.
The chef from Pará, now established in Rio, points out that the list of Latin American restaurants is important because it can give more visibility to Brazilian restaurants.
“A local list of 100 restaurants gave visibility to many more people who deserve this visibility. Even more so for Brazil, a country of continental size. Origin, from Bahia, Glouton from Belo Horizonte, [são] people who were there half hidden, pinching, but deserve visibility. The vision of expanding the local list is very cool”, said the chef, who spoke about Oteque’s position.
“For us it is important to always be present. The regularity of always being there is important”, he said about the ranking.
In addition to the award, Landgraf points to a trend that should be seen in restaurants in the near future. Valuing those who do the cooking in restaurants is the main “ingredient” to be advocated in haute cuisine.
“The trend today doesn’t have much to do with products, techniques, but with people. You see the warmth of the people, the movement, the approach.
Alberto Landgraf
The chef also argued that this horizontality within the kitchen has become increasingly clear.
“The world of dealing with the team, employees, a lot of people bringing employees, teams [aqui na premiação]🇧🇷 The medium is getting more inclusive. This horizontality within the team is being much more latent, visible, it was already from within, but now it is becoming more exposed. That’s what we’re going to see in the coming years: chefs and restaurateurs valuing the people themselves more.”
Discover the House of the Pig
With a funky decor, reminiscent of those delicious markets in New York, THE pig’s house is Rua Araújo, in the Republic, in the center of São Paulo.
A mix of bar, restaurant and grocery store, it has windows overlooking the street of its butcher shop and offers takeaway items, such as pork sandwiches.
As the name of the house says, the main star is the pig. Non-obvious creations conquer palates here, such as pork jowls sushi or reinterpretations, such as pigpoca (crackling served in a bag of popcorn with the house logo, which serves as the cover charge) and ramen, which has an incredible egg cured, nirá.
To accompany, a special menu of drinks, cachaças and beers, such as the dark and strong Horny Pig, whose name alludes to the house.
Dish that inspired the creation of the house, Pork San Ze , is smoked, tender and roasted for eight hours on a special wood-fired charcoal grill. It accompanies banana tartar, cabbage and bean salad, halfway between the traditional and the tropeiro.
It’s from the gods, and, for those who like pork, a must. So much so that it was widely praised by the starred Catalan chef, Ferran Adriá, when he tried it.
Before becoming a chef, Jefferson Rueda was a butcher. His skill can be seen not only in Porco San Zé, the star of the house, but also in the special cuts and sausages, sold in the small market that integrates the project, as well as bread, flour, smoked meats and, of course, sandwiches with pork meat. .
The cool design of the house is by Herbert Holdefer, who also designed the neighborhood neighbor Holly Burguer. The animal is represented everywhere, including a fun collection of pigs in all shapes and sizes.
Above the kitchen entrance, many gifts from chefs and friends who have already visited the house. The kitchen at Casa do Porco is completely open, where it is possible to see Rueda working alongside Janaína, who is also the chef at the award-winning Bar Dona Onça, a few meters away.
With scattered irregular tables, counter seating, bar and busy kitchen, it gives a cozy feeling, as if the chef is welcoming you into his home.
Service
Rua Araújo, 124, República, São Paulo – SP / Tel.: (11) 3258-2578 / Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 12h to 00h; Sunday from 12:00 to 17:00; Fast Food Window: from 11am. Reservations via site🇧🇷
Meet the Oteque
Oteque, by chef Alberto Landgraf, has contemporary cuisine with a menu that changes daily. Teque in Latin means place. With the idea of being “the place”, the name Oteque came up. And it deserves its baptismal name of “the” place.
The restaurant is located in the gastronomic Condé de Irajá, in Botafogo. Since moving from São Paulo to Rio, chef Alberto Landgraf has won awards with his house.
The environment is impressive: when crossing the small entrance door of a historic mansion from 1938, the visitor is faced with a large lounge, open kitchen at the back and air ducts in sight, giving a relaxed look.
Wooden tables, sophisticated glasses and cutlery and a good drinks menu show that refinement is in the details. And in food.
The menu changes daily, according to the freshest products of the day. The house only uses local suppliers, like the fisherman Antonio Amaral, who takes care of the daily selection of fish and seafood together with the chef.
Oysters vary according to the best production and arrive from Rio Grande do Norte, Angra dos Reis (RJ) and Santa Catarina, to maintain freshness the restaurant has an aquarium that keeps them alive.
All the vegetables are organic – even for the employees’ meals -, coming from producers in small farms; the meats are handpicked only from producers with the best practices.
Service
Rua Conde de Irajá, 581 – Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro / Tel.: (21) 3486-5758 / Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 7 pm to 11:30 pm. Information: [email protected]
Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
