It was a great pleasure to be invited to this beautiful event again this year. It is a great to be where food lovers from all over the world travel to one of the most important wine areas in South America, the city of Mendoza in Argentina famous for its Malbec. I had the honor to have cooked in the Vina Zuccardi.
I prepared a menu by using their local products, not the ones representing my country. I thought that is interesting to show our way of working and understanding this profession by using products that I had never used before. A big risk that I wanted to take. This got me very close to the land of Mendoza and all the people who helped in the kitchen doing new things with their own products. A lunch for a 150 people was prepared, served and well appreciated. This was the menu:
Viscacha Consomme Bound with Chestnut Puree and Toasts with Viscacha Confit and with Candied Fig Vinaigrette
Grilled Sole Fillet, Leek and Potato Tagliatelle, and Bouillabaisse Reduction
Lamb Sirloin, Stuffed Endive, Pumpkin Marmalade, and Seasoned Mushrooms
Rodrigo Pacheco is a top-notch Ecuadorian chef who bases half his time in Quito and the other half in Banos, where he prepares meals made from fresh organic ingredients at Casa del Abuelo Art Hotel & Restaurant. He is also the executive chef at Cuisine Standard in Quito.
He has studied with some of the best, including Madrid Fusión in Spain, Alain Ducasse Formation in Paris, the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France, and the Instituto Inacap in Santiago, Chile among others.
He has done a Government Cultural Exchange in Canada and the Masters of Food and Wine tour of the world in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
representing Ecuador as an invited chef. Rodrigo was also a Culinary radio show host on Saberes y Sabores.
