Hot this month Tour de France, exotic escape rooms, Comic-Con couture, garlic goodies JULY 2018 Altered From YouTube oddity to Ocean’s 8 co-star: Awkwafina’s complicated rise to stardom “I want to use the senses to create ego emotional peaks” CHEF JUAN MANUEL BARRIENTOS ON MIAMI’S FOOD SCENE Cowboys of the Caribbean HOW ST. LUCIA FELL IN LOVE WITH COUNTRY MUSIC BRIGHT LIGHTS, SMALL VENUES THE MINI-BAR BOOM OF ADELAIDE’S LANEWAYS DISTRICT 001_COVER-5.30.rev2.indd 1 13/06/2018 19:01 M I A M I SPICE The world is in love with South American cuisine. But you don’t have to go there to see what all the fuss is about. South Florida, it turns out, has more than its share of fine South American chefs AMERICAN WAY – 51 051-059_MiamiFood.indd 51 13/06/2018 09:49 Tomahawk steak with chimichurri and criolla sauce. Below: The dining room features a chandelier that fl ickers when lightning fl ashes in Buenos Aires LOS FUEGOS FLAMING STAR A native of Patagonia, Mallmann Fire made Francis Mallmann famous. grew up in an intellectual family. With nine restaurants around the After pursuing a music career in world, the Argentine chef is regarded California, he returned home to as a master of the asado, the classic his roots, studying the culinary Patagonian method of grilling techniques of his native country. meat over an open flame. Invented Now, after a memorable episode of by Pampas gauchos in the 19th Netflix’s Chef’s Table, he has become century, the practice traditionally an international ambassador for involved skewering food on a metal Argentine style. “I saw the power of frame and grilling it outdoors over taking our culture to Miami.” a slow-burning fire. While such a As the flagship restaurant of the primal technique may seem out exuberant Faena Hotel—itself the of place in one of Miami Beach’s center of the $550 million Faena more resplendent dining rooms, District on Mid Beach—Los Fuegos Mallmann’s Los Fuegos restaurant is suitably eye-popping, with crimson exudes the theatricality and passion carpeting, leopard-print upholstery inherent in the style. and a massive circular chandelier AMERICAN WAY – 57 051-059_MiamiFood.indd 57 13/06/2018 09:50 QUINTO URUGUAYAN CHARMS Seats overlooking Some of the most celebrated grilled the plancha and meat, fish and vegetable dishes in kitchen; charred the Southern Hemisphere can be carrot medley found in a wooden seaside shack in the village of José Ignacio on Uruguay’s Atlantic coast. The digs that flickers when “My restaurants might be unassuming, but Parador La lightning flashes 4,400 Huella, which sits at No. 22 on Latin miles away in Buenos hold a torch that America’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list, is Aires. Despite the represents the a sensation. extravagance, however, The restaurant’s second outpost, fire is still the star. heart of South Quinto La Huella, opened two years “Asado is the classic America.” ago on the fi fth fl oor of the sleek way to cook with your East, Miami hotel. The location might Francis Mallmann family and friends, seem a world away from the original and the center of the eatery, but its co-owners—Martín gathering is always the fire,” says Pittaluga, Gustavo Barbero and chef de cuisine Cristian Menendez. Guzmán Artagaveytia—have gone “It is the soul of Mallmann’s cuisine: to extreme lengths to ensure that the It’s about using fire to get different rustic charms of their beach shack are flavors and aromas. We use many “duplicated but not diluted.” techniques, such as cooking with The parrilla, a traditional open- the flame, the embers, the ashes or flame grill, is so crucial to their the smoke.” mission that the team flew in the To that end, Mallmann has designer who built the Uruguayan installed a hanging grill for slow grill to oversee the construction in cooking, a cast iron plancha, which Miami, resulting in the 12-foot-by- gives a nice crust to seafood and 4-foot grill, which can handle up to vegetables, and a traditional grill, 12 whole fish and 30 steaks at once. which imparts a characteristic smoky They’ve also brought in battered, flavor. Nearby, an 11-by-3-foot wood- years-old skillets and pans from burning oven—custom-built in Texas Parador La Huella, along with the to Mallmann’s design—dispenses mother dough they use in Uruguay breads, pizzas, local fish and a to bake their breads and pastries. cornucopia of meats, from rib eyes “I just tried to soak up all the and lamb chops to skirt steaks and spirit,” says Quinto La Huella’s sausages. Fusing Mallmann’s many executive chef, Nano Crespo, who methods of cooking, the oven— trained in Uruguay before opening dubbed “the piano”—is the only one the restaurant in 2016 in Miami’s of its kind in an urban setting. Brickell Neighborhood. During the Curious guests can sidle up to training Crespo was overwhelmed by an outdoor counter to watch the the simplicity of La Huella’s cooking kitchen’s choreographed bustle: technique. The fainá, a chickpea “It’s an authentic experience for flatbread common in Uruguay, was our diners,” Menendez says. “They especially arduous to master. “It was enjoy the contrast of elegance very simple, a few ingredients, and I and ruggedness.” couldn’t get it right at first,” Crespo FUEGOS CENTER: MICHAEL WEBER; LOS FERNANDO AYORA; JUAN LEFT: JESS SWANSON WORDS: ERIC NEWILL; QUINTO WORDS: 58 – AMERICAN WAY 051-059_MiamiFood.indd 58 13/06/2018 09:50.