Argentine chef Fernando Rivarola arrived in Guayaquil to lead a new gastronomic experience at Casa Julián

Prepare for this week two new gastronomic encounters by the hand of Argentine chef Fernando Rivarola of the El Baqueano restaurant, which comes to our city invited by Oro Verde Hotels to lead the experience that they have called “culinary art”.

On the nights of Wednesday, October 5 and Friday, October 7, Rivarola will cook with Ramón Salto, corporate chef of that hotel chain, to offer two four-handed dinners starting at 7:00 p.m.

“After forging himself as a chef in Italy and Spain, Fernando Rivarola returned to his native Argentina to develop a kitchen with native products”, explains the official bulletin. “In 2008 he partnered with the sommelier Gabriela Lafuente and together they created El Baqueano restaurant, currently ranked 21st in the Latin American 50 Best Restaurant, where he works with small local farmers and visits collectors and fishermen in all the ecoregions of that countryin his quest to discover native ingredients and present a menu in which the stars are first the products, those who produce them and then the chef”.

After settle in the Buenos Aires capital for thirteen years, the Baqueano moved to the city of Salta, with the aim of working in synergy and much closer to the producers, where thanks to the extensive renovation implemented now also incorporates an R&D department, a room for private events and the first culinary library in Argentina.

“Ecuador is like my second home because I visit it several times a year, but I have been in Quito, in Cuenca, also here in Guayaquil on a previous occasionso it’s like coming home”, commented the guest chef for this newspaper.

“El Baqueano is now a multi-space that has the first Gastronomic Public Library in Argentina inside. and its primary objective is that children from local schools have access to bibliographic material that is expensive, even for us cooks. The first 550 books were donations from Gabriela, my partner, and myself, and The goal is to have 5,000 copies in the course of a year through the support of other libraries in Argentina and the world.”, Rivarola commented on his project in his native country.

His workspace also has a research and development laboratory that seeks to be a virtual and physical meeting place where producers have a place to talk about their products, but also about their difficulties so that they find the necessary support through the philosophy of fair trade.

“In recent years something happened that we want to reverse and that is that the figure of the cook was placed on top of a pyramid as a kind of rock star and we are trying to reverse that figure and make sure that the producer is at the top of the pyramid, that he is the real star with his products”, emphasizes Rivarola. “He is the one who makes all the efforts and we, without good products, cannot do anything.”.

In this new gastronomic experience, will be offered an eight-course menu that will combine Ecuadorian and Argentine products, resulting in a display of dishes that will include crab and spicy taxo jelly, fish jerky in pork rinds, oysters, seaweed, shallots, llama crudo, encocao, lacto pikles, prawn, sea bass, shank of lambroasted mashuas, arazá sorbet, among much more, accompanied by a specialized pairing.

“Fernando arrived this week with 60 or 70 kilos of ingredients that the Oro Verde Hotels team has not seen. Then, We also make these invitations for this, so that the team has contact with products that they are not yet familiar with. and with chefs from Fernando’s career, because after all, Cooking is sharing and what we really want is to also contribute to your project. The kitchen is camaraderie and that is what we look for”.

More information about dinners at @casajuliangye (Instagram).