Santiago Perez he transmits a certain tranquility when he speaks, he has a slow manner, a low tone, perhaps a product of his old life in the country. She was born and raised in Lobos, in a family of five brothers, where the father ran a dairy and the mother was the owner and lady of the kitchen. In this country context, homemade flavors and smells permeated the daily rhythm. “Mom prepared everything from breakfast to dinner.
There was always the smell of food when I entered the house and I always liked being in contact with the animals that we raised and slaughtered with my dad. In the meetings in the field I was in charge of starting the fire and cooking the animal, it was like a ritual, I really enjoyed that moment, it was like giving a gift to my friends”, he recalls in his talk with NOTICIAS.
After high school he studied gastronomy and at 21 he changed the tranquility of Lobos for the vertigo of the city. Already in Buenos Aires he made his professional path in the world of fires and today he is the chef of Flowers, the successful restaurant in Palermo (Gorriti 5870) with a gluten-free menu and native botanical species. There he shares work and creation with her partner for three years, the renowned pastry chef Chula Galvez.
News: What are the flavors and aromas of Lobos that were impregnated in you?
Santiago Perez: The aroma of eucalyptus, we had a forest of eucalyptus and in winter we always had tea, and the flavor and aroma of grilled lamb fat, well caramelized after several hours of cooking.
News: When did you decide that cooking was going to be your path?
Perez: When I finished high school, I first took the architecture entrance exam, but I wasn’t interested. A colleague who was going to study cooking told me why I didn’t sign up too and I signed up at the IAG (Argentine Institute of Gastronomy). I worked at La Cucha, a restaurant in Lobos, and when I settled in Buenos Aires, I went to La Panadería de Pablo, Casa Cavia and Orilla with Fernando Trocca.
News: Is Las Flores the first place where the kitchen has its mark?
Perez: This is the first time that I don’t interpret what another person wants to express by giving them food, but I show what I like people to feel and see with my kitchen.
News: How would you define your kitchen?
Pérez: I like the kitchen to transmit warmth and refer to nearby flavors. I always look for people to find a flavor or an aroma that hits them in their emotional memory. A kitchen where the technique is implemented so that each product shows the best it can offer without making it different.
News: An innovative element is that there are two scientists who are part of the gastronomic team.
Perez: Yes, they are the biologists Pablo Moroni and Joaquín Ais. They provide us with knowledge and evolution tools in our daily work practice. For example, understanding native flowers, what Native American products we can implement. Right now we have over 40 species in our garden, all native American and particularly from Buenos Aires.
News: The menu is gluten free. How did they manage to put together an entire gluten-free menu?
Perez: According to an analysis carried out by Pablo and Joaquín, per capita wheat consumption in Argentina is too high compared to neighboring countries. So, we decided to take it out and then we eradicate everything that contains gluten. We replace it with rice flour, sorghum flour, pea flour and various starches.
News: What are the dishes on the menu that should not be missed?
Perez: Wood-fired black pudding with hollandaise cream, a sauce based on eggs, butter and spicy seasoned cheese and smoked kale oil. The pappardelle of rice flour and potato starch stamped with wild flowers. As for desserts, the banoffee and pumpkin cheesecake with cinnamon and nutmeg.
News: Regarding desserts, pastry chef Chula Gálvez is your partner. How did you meet and what is it like working together?
Perez: We have been a couple for three years. We met opening for Orilla in Miami. I traveled from Buenos Aires and she was living in New York and traveled to take care of the bakery. We complement each other a lot and get along very well on a day-to-day basis.
News: What are the pluses and minuses of gastronomy?
Perez: The most complicated thing is the workload and working conditions, but that is changing. And when working with a lot of people, perhaps in suboptimal conditions, sometimes you don’t know the best version of those people. The most positive thing is that it gives me connection tools with people who might not have a bond, but who get to know me through what I transmit through what I do. That a person enjoys my kitchen without knowing me and that I get to transmit something to them is something magical for me.
News: What products cannot be missing in your kitchen?
Perez: Meat, pepper, garlic, olive oil, Asian seasonings – such as iusu powder, a very tasty Japanese citrus fruit, has a lemony, fresh, impressive taste – soy sauce, fish sauce.
News: What do you eat at home?
Perez: Lots of fruit and a lot of rice, baked more like a paella or with a salad. We cook.
News: Apart from gastronomy, do you have time for another activity?
Perez: When I was a boy I liked to draw, I drew caricatures, but about seven years ago I stopped doing it due to lack of time. And before starting the Las Flores project, I was in a kind of crisis because I realized that I had no hobbies, everything revolved around cooking. I’m going back to drawing classes.
News: Do you miss Lobos?
Perez: I miss its tranquility, I like the countryside to rest, but I don’t think I could live there again. I need the dizzying movement of the city.
