On Thursday, 3rd December, the culinary world came together virtually – and, where possible, physically – to celebrate a new edition of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. The digital ceremony culminated in Buenos Aires restaurant Don Julio being named No.1, which also marked the first time that top spot has gone to Argentina. 50 Best took the first interview with Pablo Rivero, Don Julio’s owner and sommelier, immediately after he earned the region’s highest accolade
When Don Julio was named The Best Restaurant in Latin America 2020, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, the people of the Palermo neighbourhood in Buenos Aires took to the street. The restaurant’s home since 1999, it was fitting that the whole area wanted to celebrate with the team. The restaurant’s win marked the culmination of a 20-year journey that saw the restaurant go from a humble steakhouse deeply rooted in Argentine tradition to the top of the region’s culinary world.
Inside the restaurant, owner and sommelier Pablo Rivero – one of the most recognisable faces in Argentine gastronomy – received each and every local with the same welcoming hospitality that has made Don Julio famous across Latin America. “The whole neighbourhood came down to congratulate us,” he told 50 Best, trying to make his voice heard over the celebrations, “and we can’t stop these people, who have known us for almost 20 years.”
Don Julio's steak and homemade sausages
Don Julio is, most of all, an incarnation of Argentine culture. Foregoing contemporary techniques in favour of a focus on cooking over fire, high-quality produce and outstanding service, it’s a perfect representation of what Rivero calls “a new luxury”. “This is a style of cooking focused on the product and on discovering the flavour of a unique place in the world,” he explains.
“The new luxury has nothing to do with whether [a restaurant] is expensive or not. It has to do with the work that is done to show a terroir through its flavours. This is an award to a gastronomic culture more than to a cuisine. And this is our culture in Argentina, the culture of grilling, of embers, of breeding, of wine, of friends. That's what Don Julio represents.”
Famous for its signature skirt steak, perfectly grilled over embers, as well as for its homemade sausages and impressive wine cellar, Don Julio sources all its meat within Argentina from Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle. It has long taken its commitment to sustainability and traceability seriously. For Rivero, the country owes the ability to focus on its culinary strengths to the example set by other, perhaps better-known, culinary cultures, which he calls “big brothers”.
“I am grateful to the great Latin American cuisines, like Peruvian and Mexican, that opened the path for us,” he says. “I am grateful to my great colleagues, who blazed a trail and inspired other cuisines to go back to their own roots. That's what’s happening in Argentina. Don Julio is simply the expression of this moment; it’s the restaurant holding the flag that it was given, carrying it with pride.”
Rivero (left) celebrates the victory with his team
With the Buenos Aires institution taking the No.1 spot in Latin America a year after Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco’s restaurant was named The World’s Best Restaurant 2019, it seems that the country’s culinary star is on the rise. Will Argentina be the next world leader in gastronomy?
“Latin America is already a gastronomic reference as a whole,” responds Rivero. “We are a diverse people and at the same time we are one. Often, we are considered on the periphery by the Western world, or a faraway place by the East. But I think we are a young people with a lot to give, a territory to be discovered – all of Latin America, from Mexico to Ushuaia.”
Like all restaurants in Argentina, Don Julio went through an extensive closure in 2020, at which point it focused on opening its butcher’s shop and putting in place the preliminary changes that will lead to its evolution into “Don Julio 2.0” in 2021. As a leader in the industry, it modelled an example of quiet focus and reinvention during the pandemic: a message that Rivero would like to share with young restaurateurs and cooks everywhere.
Don Julio in Buenos Aires
“We're going to stand back up,” he emphatically states. “People value our work. Maybe now you're feeling disheartened, but soon that fire is going to start again. It's inevitable, it's in our blood. Trust that new opportunity, it will make you better because the one who stands up after a fall is the strongest fighter.
“In my 20 years [as a restaurateur], there have been many difficult moments when I thought we were done. But after each storm, I felt much stronger. I know cooks and no one can stop a cook. No one can stop someone who lives to give love to others, to give pleasure and to make you feel good.”
During an exceptionally challenging year for the gastronomic industry worldwide, Rivero’s honouring of Don Julio’s victory to his peers is a reflection of how the community has pulled together. “I would like to dedicate it especially to my team, who have been through some very difficult, critical moments, but never gave up. I also want to dedicate it to all the restaurants in Latin America, especially those that had to close in my country.
“No one survived because they were better; no one closed because they were worse. Everyone had a different fate, because there are different problems in each city, in each restaurant, in each kitchen. Now, you may think you're done, but you're not done, because that fire inside will start again. There isn't a cook out there who doesn't want to be better. The key is trying to be the best you can, rather than better than someone else.”
Discover the full list of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, on the website, and stay tuned for more interviews with this year’s award winners. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for the latest news, features and videos.
