Four in the afternoon, the restaurant empty, only a few employees and the owner. The place has a home atmosphere, on the walls old black and white photos of the owner’s relatives and one of the Racing team, the club of his loves, stand out. There is a pleasant silence.
We are in Mengano (Cabrera 5172)the rest of Palermo that obtained the Bib Gourmand Michelin and Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants distinctions and has been in the market for eight years. The host, Facundo Kelemenwho was also honored with The Best Chef Award, offers coffee and is about to tell the story that led him from the judicial field to gastronomy.
Facundo Kelemen is a lawyer, like his parents, and has a master’s degree in Business Law. In his father’s house he never had the need or intention to cook, except at a barbecue with friends. “My parents really like cooking and they love to cook. In fact, my mother studied at the IAG. At home they always cooked,” he says.
In the last semester of law school he went on a study trip to Valencia and there something began to move in another direction. “In Valencia we lived with a friend and we had to cook for ourselves. I started cooking and I really liked it. Then, when I returned to Argentina I finished my degree and, while I was doing my master’s degree in Business Law, I started studying gastronomy,” he remembers.
Already graduated as a lawyer, he worked in his father’s law firm and then in another firm. Until he made a decision that would change his life forever and that he does not regret. Today, he also owns the restaurant Chuchulocated in the National Railway Museum (Avenida del Libertador 405)which opened a few months ago.
He is married to an economist and is the father of Joaquín (4) and Rafael (2). “My wife really likes to eat. I think I made her fall in love with cooking for her.”
News: When did you decide to leave law to dedicate yourself to gastronomy? What was that step like?
Facundo Kelemen: It was something kind of unexpected. It wasn’t something premeditated. I really liked cooking and, on the other hand, I was no longer happy working in the law firm, not because of the place itself, but because law was no longer close to me. Then a friend told me he had the opportunity to open a bar three days a week and asked if I would be interested in going and cooking. I said yes, slammed the door in the studio, and went into the bar. It didn’t go very well, because we lacked experience, but it was fun. Then I did a substitute job at the Naná restaurant, in Vicente López, and worked for a year in Tegui. Then I went to New York with my wife, because she had to do a master’s degree, and while I was there I did internships for a year in different restaurants.
News: What interested you about cooking?
Kelemen: First, being able to work with your hands, that work seemed more valuable to me, the fatigue that comes from standing for many hours. I appreciated that. And as I got more involved, I became very interested in the creative part, imagining recipes, thinking about dishes.
News: Some consider it to be an art. What do you think?
Kelemen: For me it is an art in terms of plating, the different techniques that can be applied to cooking, and because it expresses the point of view of each cook. I make dishes so that I like them too, not just to satisfy the diners. I wouldn’t make something I don’t like to eat.
News: What is signature cuisine? Marketing?
Kelemen: When the kitchen has the imprint of a chef. But it is not just about creating a dish, it can also be reversing certain dishes with a certain imprint. I don’t know, you ask three chefs to make their version of the Maryland Supreme and each one is going to make a different version, surely. That for me is signature cuisine.
News: What is the cuisine that you like?
Kelemen: I like food that doesn’t have too many elements. For me, a plate with three products is more than enough. When they mix many things, the flavors are covered. I like to feel what I’m eating. And I like to make Argentine cuisine. I am never going to serve a huancaína sauce, for example, because it seems to me that they are going to make it better in Peru. I try to make food that represents the country.
News: How would you define Mengano?
Kelemen: I had seen in the United States the resurgence of casual cuisine with good products and good technique, and the resurgence of the bistro as well, but more modern. And it seemed to me that still lifes occupied that place a bit in Argentina. From there came the idea of making a kind of modernized still life with more creative techniques. This is how Mengano emerged, where we reinterpret still life dishes. We have a small menu, between twelve and fifteen dishes, and we try to make them much more careful and have things that surprise you.
News: What is your favorite of this letter?
Kelemen: If two people come, the ideal is to order several dishes to share and try a little of everything. In that case, I would order empanadas, tartare, gnocchi and rice. Of those, my favorite is rice with seafood. It is Carnaroli rice, an Italian variety, which we cook in two broths, pork and seafood, and let it dry in a cold chamber. The next day, we fry it in a very strong frying pan for service, there it forms a honeyed part, a crunchy part and, normally, we add scallops, squid and prawns.
News: This year he went one step further and opened a new restaurant, Chuchú.
Kelemen: Yes, it is a project that we made from the place, which is unique, the location is impressive, and it has a private terrace. In Mengano we have 35 covers and here, 140. It is a challenge to serve so many people and manage large teams. We make a simpler meal, with a much larger menu, we have 35 dishes, more or less, with options for everyone. It is a kind of still life bistro, but more classic. Classic things, but well made, with good products and thoughtful and tested recipes. A Milanese yes, but at what temperature do I fry it, what is the breading like, what is the English style, what is the egg, what cut of meat do I use, how far do I flatten it.
News: What are your must-have products?
Kelemen: A good olive oil is essential, a rich salt, rice and a good chocolate for sweets. At home I cook little, I try to do it on the weekends.
News: What about profitability? How profitable is it to have a gastronomic business today in Argentina?
Kelemen: It all depends on how much you fill it, especially if you have a restaurant. The ideal is a 30 percent profitability, but today that is not achieved. It should be between 15 and 20 percent. There is not much room to raise prices at this time and raw materials rose. The price of the covered product did not rise to the extent that raw materials rose. On the other hand, the quality of the products cannot be lowered, which is why the profit margins are reduced.
News: Did consumption go down?
Kelemen: Mengano more or less always performed very well with local and foreign audiences. I can’t tell you Chuchú because we opened two months ago and I have no point of comparison. But we are working quite well. Yes, there was a drop in tourism, before there was all year round and now less.
News: How much do distinctions and awards influence? What specific importance do they have?
Kelemen: As for the ego, a lot. But I always say that I am not going to change anything about the restaurant to have a star. I’m not going to change my cooking style. It seems to me that the focus has to be on improving the proposal without changing the essence. The first time we obtained the Bib Gourmand, two years ago, we had already been working very well and with the distinction there was an increase in cutlery. Then it stabilized and with the second distinction it no longer had that attraction.
News: Are you already thinking about your next project?
Kelemen: Yes, I’ve been thinking about it for three years. I want to make a kind of grill above Mengano. Only for eight covers, all around the grill, and all the cooking, even those that are not meat, is done there. It is a restaurant that is going to be very personal and I want to open it only when I am there, three nights a week. Something exclusive.
News: Cooking can be fascinating, but it has another not so pleasant part. It demands a lot of time and energy, there are usually problems with work teams, labor lawsuits and so on. Does that side B weigh on you?
Kelemen: The workload doesn’t weigh me down, I’m not thinking about the hours I’m working, I love being in restaurants. It bothers me that I can’t go look for my children in the garden because I have to do this thing, that thing and that thing, and maybe I can see them only on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday. I don’t have that much time to be at home, but I try to go a few hours in the afternoon.
