Sebastián Weigandt: “It is a great job to educate palates”

2024-01-31 19:52:00

The emotion was great. Although she had been working in the field of fine dining for years and undoubtedly aspires to gastronomic excellence, Sebastian Weigandt He never imagined that he would be awarded in the very first landing of the Michelin guide in Argentina. However, his restaurant Saffron He established himself at the end of last November as one of the four people from Mendoza who entered the list, along with two others from Buenos Aires. And so, he became part of one of the most exclusive rankings in the world, which shapes gourmet tourism and puts his name at the top of the gastronomic podium.

Since then, interviews, mentions, calls and even reservations have multiplied. Perhaps that is why this note finds him in the Dominican Republic, where he traveled to rest for a few days with his family. “I don’t know if I expected the news, I do know that I wanted it very much,” he reasons from a distance, some time after the revelation.

News: Would you say that this award gives more freedom or generates more pressure?

Sebastian Weigandt: It is an enormous distinction and at the same time a great responsibility that one must know how to carry. Because you have to continue being up to par. But I like the pressure, I enjoy that state. It’s like I have more goals and I set higher limits for myself. I want to be with Azafrán in all possible awards, as long as they comply with what Azafrán wants to tell.

News: Does the business equation change after this?

Weigandt: Thank God we have been very full of people for a long time, but even so that volume has increased and so has the waiting list, we have between 30 and 40 people per day signed up. That also gives a very interesting work projection for investments. If you win a star, there are a lot of other things that come with it, like staff in better working conditions, it’s not just the award photo. The idea is that it adds up for everyone.

News: Azafrán is almost one of the award-winning restaurants that is not inside a winery. Do you feel that this has more merit?

Weigandt: I think so, because we have a small back, we do not represent a brand, but Argentine gastronomy and all the country’s wines. I don’t know if it has more merit, but it is different. I also understand that if a large winery wants an award, they can say “we’re going to hire 15 more people,” and I can’t do that.

News: Did the choice of Buenos Aires and Mendoza seem natural to you or did you feel that other destinations were missing?

Weigandt: It seems super natural to me. Mendoza has been a very strong force in gastronomy and has made very important growth and a very great contribution as a tourist destination in Argentina. I would have added Bariloche, because the guide looks for a gastronomic destination, so there must be many proposals. Córdoba has a lot of growth, as well as Salta and Jujuy, but it is no use just having one or two projects, there have to be several for it to work. Now the gastronomic entrepreneur has to keep a cool head and make good investments for this to grow. What the Michelin guide brings us is another type of tourism, a much broader vision on the map, it positions local gastronomy at a very high level, and we have to get the most out of all of that.

News: Saffron in its beginnings had another style of food, more comfort food. How did you get into fine dining?

Weigandt: When I partnered with Matías, owner of Azafrán, it seemed to me that the path was different. I had been doing fine dining and I thought about changing, about having smaller, more competitive work teams, and he gave me the absolute freedom to be able to accomplish all that. At first it cost a lot, the first three months of opening after the pandemic was hard, because people came looking for the previous things: empanadas, the giant piece of meat, and they found something nothing to see. We had to put a lot of effort into the project without getting depressed because people didn’t understand it, and maintain the idea. Today we are happy because we defended our ideals and it turned out very well.

News: What interests you in fine dining? I read it saying that it is food for thought or to understand, what would that be?

Weigandt: It’s not something more elaborate, perhaps there is a more difficult composition of flavors and it is for a certain audience. We like to be complex, but at the same time tasty. The idea is to tell from Mendoza, today Azafrán works with 90% local products. The other 10% are products from different parts of Argentina that I have a crush on, that are not there because they are trendy, but rather have an ideology behind them. I want you to go out to eat and find flavors and textures that you wouldn’t find at home. That you take away something cultural, that you leave with a very personal vision of Mendoza and its gastronomy.

News: Is there anything about educating the consumer in this whole process?

Weigandt: 100%. It is a great job to educate palates. The most important thing is to explain why we are doing this. And it’s okay if we don’t like it, in that case Saffron is not for that person.

News: How much does it cost to eat at Azafrán today?

Weigandt: There is a four-course menu for $87,000 with pairing and a seven-course menu for $124,000 with pairing.

News: What is your creative process like?

Weigandt: I believe that creativity should never be forced, it comes. I’m a big fan of writing down triggers, but I can get them watching a movie, listening to music, eating, talking to someone. There are many ways, there is no specific process to think about how to change the letter. We have an R&D team where we brainstorm ideas to try to reach the goal that is in my mind, but in that process 50 different things happen, and more interesting edges than the original idea can emerge. There is a continuous creative process, we are constantly trying to innovate. And we wait for the seasonality of the products, to use them at their best.

News: How dynamic is the letter?

Weigandt: At most, it can be fixed for a month and a half. But there are dishes that haven’t been modified in a year, because the hits have to always continue to be there. For example, the tomaticán dish, a black rice dish that comes from Santa Fe, and the carob and goat macaroni. People come looking for that and then try other things.

News: And what do you eat?

Weigandt: I’m dying for a Milanese, for a potato pie, for simple food. But I’m also dying to go eat at a fine dining restaurant. For going to Aramburu, to Trescha, places that I love and I think it’s super positive that they have had stars. I like to eat, I enjoy sitting in a restaurant and also in the top restaurant in Argentina and the world. I breathe gastronomy.

News: How did you get started in the kitchen? What were his first concerns?

Weigandt: It all starts with my maternal grandmother, who was a great cook. She spent hours and hours making dishes, and she also had a sister who worked in a kitchen and another who was a pastry chef, so she was a big influence. And living alone with my brother, I made cakes, hamburgers, we cooked together. That began to awaken many things in my life, and one day I told my mother that I wanted to study gastronomy. He looked at me strangely, because it was 2001, there wasn’t the boom that there is today. These days I even find it funny, because there is a very big voice and vote among the chefs, we even contribute cultural ideas, something that doesn’t seem so good to me…

News: Do you feel that chefs have become very present, almost too much? Some are spoken of as rockstars.

Weigandt: Yes, and there is a level that is good and another that I do not share. It is not necessary to comment on everything. It seems to me that talking about gastronomy is fine, talking about politics or getting into other topics, not so much.. Or let someone who really knows do it. For example, Narda is a great speaker and a person who can talk about many other things besides gastronomy. Afterwards I don’t know if there are so many more. I have heard Narda’s talks about hunger and teamwork that seemed super important to me. In other cases it doesn’t happen. And it happens here and in the world too.

News: Would you see yourself in the future with your own TV show or releasing your book, for example?

Weigandt: I don’t see myself in a TV show, but never say never. I do see myself in the future making a book of products originating from Mendoza and techniques in this regard.

News: In 2023 he turned 40 and received a Michelin star. A very round year, what do you ask of 2024 then?

Weigandt: Health, work, may my team and my family be well. I’m not one to ask for a lot, but we are going to continue working to obtain a lot. The idea is to continue searching for what Michelin awarded, try to aspire to another star in the future, and continue growing on a professional level.

News: You come to Buenos Aires a lot to do pop ups and alliances with other chefs, would you think about putting a version of Azafrán in the city?

Weigandt: No, not crazy. I really like where she is in Mendoza, how she is and life there. Yes, I like to travel and cook with colleagues and I will continue doing it as many times as I can, but Azafrán is from Mendoza and will always continue to be from there.

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