After decades in fallow – culinary innovation in Chile has accelerated in recent years and no restaurateur exemplifies this more than Chef Rodolfo Guzmán of Boragó. Chef Guzmán, a native of Chile, is giving voice to a culture and cuisine so deserving of our attention – one that until recently the world seemed to ignore. Boragó offers guests a deeply researched multi-course tasting menu derived from months of work scouring the length and breadth of Chile for ingredients and methodically testing these ingredients for flavor and aesthetic properties. To understand Guzmán and Boragó, one must understand the geography of Chile from where these ingredients come.
Chile is located on the southwestern coast of the South American continent. The country is narrow – approximately 60 miles wide in most places, and extremely long with a coastline of over 4,000 miles. The country is divided into 16 regions spanning Región de Arica y Parinacota bordering Peru in the North all the way to the southern-most Región de Magallanes in the Chilean Antarctic. Climate and geography are diverse with the Atacama Desert to the north, which is one of the driest places on earth, the snow-capped Andes Mountains which mark the western side of Santiago in the central part of the country, and the damp and biologically diverse Chilean Patagonia to the south spanning Los Lagos (region 10), Aysén (region 11), and Magallanes (regions 12). Chile’s leading export is copper which is found in Atacama followed by Salmon, which is farmed in regions 10, 11, and 12. Chile is the world’s second largest producer of Salmon after Norway.
Borago is in Santiago where 40 percent of the population of 18 million live. Since visiting the restaurant, it has relocated to a new home in the Vitacura district of Santiago. Chef Guzmán emailed me an announcement about the new location in March 2019 with excitement and joy. In addition to the restaurant, he has built an incredible state-of-the-art culinary research and development center which is destined to be one of the most important labs in South America.
Like other globally renowned chefs, he and his team conduct experimentation with native ingredients using culinary science. They also explore, and in some cases, revive techniques learned from indigenous peoples like the Mapuche Indians whose delicious smoked pepper known as Merken graces tables throughout the country. It is fascinating to see modern Chilean cuisine being developed as we watch. In the coming years I predict Chile will become known a world class culinary destination and someday in the future Chef Rodolfo Guzmán will be lauded as one of the founding fathers of this accomplishment. Boragó is delicious and Chef Rodolfo Guzmán a brilliant inspiration.
Layers of Sea Weed Punta de Tralca
Borago
Av. San José María Escrivá de Balaguer 5970,
Región Metropolitana,
Chile.
