Gaston Riveira He is spare, shy and with a sense of humor. He recognizes himself as a juggler and a sufferer of the SME disease. He is thinking about his business all the time. His father saw him as a man of law, but his passion for fire prevailed over the rugged paths of justice.
News: What identifies it?
Gaston Riveira: The kilos, it’s a cross that I always carry, the red glasses, the kitchen, the chef’s hat, the passion for food, going out to eat and enjoying it, and the family.
It’s after four in the afternoon and there are still people eating at La Cabrera, the grill that Riveira created in 2002 in Palermo (Cabrera 5099 and 5127) and that expanded throughout the world, in places as diverse as Asunción, Manila, Miami and Cartagena, among others. The conversation with NOTICIAS takes place in that area, between clients who extend their lunch almost until snack time.
The Argentine chef and businessman is only passing through Buenos Aires for a few days, he is already accustomed to the itinerant life. He will then return to Malaga, where he lives with his wife and youngest daughter, but perhaps first he will have to supervise one of his various ventures. When asked how he manages to not go crazy with so much work and responsibility, he says that he is a little crazy. A madness that leads him to always think something new. A madness that allowed La Cabrera to be distinguished four times among the 50 best restaurants in Latin America.
News: Is it true that as a child you wanted to be an international chef?
Gaston Riveira: Yes, I always liked it. I didn’t really know what it was, but it caught my attention.
News: How much did your grandfather influence that choice?
Riveira: My maternal grandfather and my mother, they both liked to cook. They made roast, Milanese, ravioli with vegetables and brain, pizza, my grandfather cooked chestnuts, quinces cooked in the oven with red wine and sugar. I participated and had a hand in what they left me. And when I was 15 years old I started in a restaurant called Don Juan, in Recoleta. In the summers I would visit that kitchen and cook with the chefs, who would show me, teach me. I liked it.
News: Did your dad want you to be a lawyer?
Riveira: Yes, I was going to go that way, I insisted a lot on that. I thought it was a good future for me. To me it seemed like a career that I could do, sit down and study, but I liked gastronomy.
News: When did you decide that this was going to be your path?
Riveira: Always. My first cooking class was with Alicia Berger, I was eighteen years old. I also took a course at Buenos Aires Catering and a postgraduate degree at the Argentine Institute of Gastronomy. Then came the Menem era, where you could travel, and I took the opportunity to take some courses in Lenôtre in Paris and in Sottomarina, Italy. I also did stages in Italy, London and São Paulo, and with Alex Atala, in Brazil.
News: He also worked with prominent people in Argentine gastronomy.
Riveira: Yes, I was with Darío Gualtieri at La Brasserie de Las Leñas and at Amapola. And I worked with Gato Dumas at La Bianca. It was working and learning at the same time. I was also at the Hyatt and with Pedro Muñoz at a restaurant in Anchorena and Córdoba.
News: What kind of cook is he?
Riveira: I am a cook and a cook is the better the more cooking techniques he knows. The more technique you know, the better you cook.
News: What do you think of signature cuisine? Is it marketing?
Riveira: For me it’s marketing, it’s like when the author doesn’t know very well what to put in the letter. That is signature cuisine.
News: Why did you decide to have your own restaurant, with all that that implies, and what was the original concept of La Cabrera?
Riveira: I was working at Buenos Aires News and there was a project to go to Honduras to a hotel that Christopher Lambert was going to build, but then I didn’t go because the project didn’t work out. I stayed in Buenos Aires and it seemed to me that it was time to look for a little corner and look for it alone. That’s how it was.
News: And with what concept?
Riveira: The same, what we have until now. La Cabrera is a grill that at the time gave a twist to the grill, essentially.
News: What are the secrets?
Riveira: We use round iron because it decants better the fat, espinillo or some splinter of fruit tree to better perfume the meats, in Mendoza they also use the jarilla, which is like a sprig of thyme, it is very delicious, at the end of cooking it sets. We work with the grill at about 15 cm high, as if it were a griddle, and we put more or less heat on it. To do this, we put the palm of our hand on the grill and see if we can count to five. It is the homemade thermometer that we have. The cooking point is chosen by the diner. All this makes the difference, the added value and the garnishes, which are all cooking techniques.
News: You say it’s a baroque bistro.
Riveira: Yes, we are a neighborhood baroque bistro. We are menu, atmosphere and service. As for the menu, we are meat, we are cooks, we are homemade and we are raw materials. As for service, we are a relaxed, distinguished and different service. The idea is that the waiter is a kind of family doctor, who recommends and advises you on what you are going to eat, whether a half portion or a whole portion is best for you, whether it is enough to share, and so on.
News: What type of meats do they use?
Riveira: As a backbone we use Argentine Angus from the south of the province of Buenos Aires, which is where the best pasture is. What happens is that the soybeans rushed to the fields and now the animals do not eat as much grass and are fed more with free-range food. It is what is called feedlot, but it should not be ignored, because it is of excellent quality.
News: What are your favorite cuts and what do people prefer?
Riveira: I like the middle part, the central part of the animal, there is the eye, the steak, the roast, there are all the barbecue cuts. And the cut that people prefer is the eye of steak.
News: What do you think of veganism?
Riveira: It’s a trend, I respect everything. Everyone likes to eat their own way and if they come to my business I try to make sure they leave happy with what they ate. People deserve to eat what they want. If you like vegetables we make grilled vegetables.
News: Did you plan to expand your business in so many branches and in places as different as Manila and Lima, for example?
Riveira: It was instinct more than anything, nothing else. Those who talk about family businesses say that many times the woman is the one who believes in the project, and in this case it was my wife who believed in La Cabrera and that is how it expanded, also based on what the client asked of us. People who came from outside, ate here and said they wanted to take it back to their country. It was the people’s request. The first branch was in Asunción, Paraguay. Today we have ten branches in the country and thirty-three in total in nine countries.
News: What is the business model like? Are you the owner of everything? Are they franchises, are they companies?
Riveira: We have everything. In some I am the owner in partnership with others and others are franchises.
News: Do you supervise everything?
Riveira: Yes, I travel to the different branches and so does Camila, who is my right hand.
News: How do you manage to be in everything? How do you handle stress?
Riveira: How does the juggler keep all the balls flying? Practicing, training, there is no other rule. Train, like soccer players, the same. We train all the time.
News: What is side B, the one that the client does not see?
Riveira: I tell you in a cooking recipe: 500 grams of labor lawsuits, 300 grams of municipal fines, 400 grams of gross income, 500 grams of AFIP inspectors, 700 grams of taxes. You mix that with two or three eggs and you get the best recipe for eggs on the plate.
News: Before you were talking about your wife, you say she is your inspiring muse.
Riveira: Because it is. She is also in business, she handles the legal area, she is a lawyer.
News: And your daughters?
Riveira: I have three, but they are not involved in the business. Carmela (21) is elegant like a Cabernet Franc; Lola (19) is intense as if you had a ping pong game in your pocket, she always sends me messages, and also intense like a varietal wine, but aged; and Francisca (13) who was like a late harvest, because she arrived when the winery was already closed. The older ones study in Madrid and the little one goes to school in Malaga.
News: Next important project?
Riveira: Take care of me. Lose weight, do the corresponding studies, take care of my family. At a work level I am very happy with who we are and I want to take care of who we are.
News: Are they the best?
Riveira: We are the best on the block.
