Who is Daniela Moreira, the Cordoba who conquered Washington and 'seduces' the Bidens with her delicacies?

Paula Lugones

01/25/2021 15:01

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 01/25/2021 3:01 PM

The Cordovan

Daniela Moreira

does not stop these hours to answer calls from journalists from all over the world, from friends, from relatives of her

native

Alta Gracia

.

They want to meet her, interview her, or simply share the joy that one of her

Washington DC locations

was chosen on Sunday by the new President Joe Biden to buy her post-mass lunch and take it to the White House.

As Clarín reported on Sunday, the Democratic president went around noon with his family to the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, in the charming neighborhood of Georgetown, and on the way out his huge delegation of armored cars

stopped at Moreira's business,

which is called

Call Your Mother

, at the corner of 35th and 0th streets.

On his return from mass to the White House, Biden ordered the caravan to stop at the premises painted pink and green so that his son Hunter could get off to buy a typical bagel, the star product of Moreira's business,

chef professional,

who has turned those fluffy bread rings into an iconic food in the American capital.

While his son bought him a toasted

smoked salmon and cream cheese

“bagel,”

the president stayed in the car with his granddaughters.

Daniela Moreira, the woman from Cordoba who owns the bagel shop "Call your mother" in Washington.

(Call Your Mother)

"My phone doesn't stop ringing," Moreira tells

Clarín

and

says

that his Georgetown store is busier than ever, despite being Monday.

Born 30 years ago in Alta Gracia, she has already opened

four stores

in this city and is on her way to the opening of the fifth.

She has been recognized by the prestigious

Forbes

magazine

as one of the 30 best female entrepreneurs under 30 in the United States.

A Boca juniors fan

like her father and also a Belgrano supporter, Daniela came to the United States

11 years ago,

after having studied Gastronomy in Córdoba.

First she worked as an au pair (babysitting in a family home to learn the language) and then she stayed to study at the Culinary Institute of America in New York State.

He later enlisted in the kitchen of Eleven Madison Park, Manhattan's famous three-Michelin-star restaurant that was voted the best in the world in 2017, and where he received training in

the secrets

of the ultra-gourmet world.

But he always wanted to have his own business.

And her dream began to take shape when she met her future fiancé, the American Andrew Dana, who had

a mobile oven

in Washington.

“In Alta Gracia my mother had a wood-burning oven and she always made bills and pizzas,” says Moreira who, although she came from working in a sophisticated food restaurant, teamed up with her boyfriend to open Timber Pizza first, then Call Your Mother Deli and later Turu's and Ballston Service Station, the latter in Virginia.

Moreira who, although she came from working in a sophisticated food restaurant, partnered with her boyfriend for a food chain.

Photo: archive

In the bakery, which was recognized as one of the best new restaurants of 2019 by US magazine Bon Appetit, Jewish sell products, but with

a "touch" of

Argentina

.

There are bills, breads, pastries.

But the star are the bagels that

have honey in the dough,

seeds, and are cooked in a wood oven.

Your job is not easy.

As he told this correspondent, he gets up every day at 3 in the morning, perhaps at 4, when he can linger a little longer.

Have a quick coffee, check some emails and start a tour of their Washington DC locations.

One block queues

At dawn the "baking", which started the night before, is almost ready, thanks to some of its employees.

Before the pandemic, its stores had

100-meter queues on the sidewalk

of customers who wanted to compare their famous “bagels”, that round bread with a hole in the middle, crispy on the outside and more rubbery inside, a typical delicacy from New York and Montreal .

Bagels with honey and wood-fired oven.

Photo: Call Your Mother

But the coronavirus initially changed the reality of Daniela and her business.

After having closed a couple of weeks at the beginning of the quarantine in the city, in March of last year, Argentina reopened its premises with a minimum number of employees, first to donate more than 1,400 breakfasts per day to the health personnel of two large hospitals in the area.

Unexpected popularity

Over time, they focused on the

take out

and that paid off.

The lines on the sidewalk returned - this time with social distance - to the point that they decided to expand with other projects, including

a food truck

.

They did not want to accept the subsidies intended for businesses affected by the pandemic because they were doing well and it did not seem fair to receive it.

That Biden has slowed down on his business this Sunday has given an

unexpected popularity to a business that could already sell 2,500 bagels on a weekend day.

The new president thus takes up a tradition that Barack Obama had, of

appearing at food outlets

in the city, especially hamburgers.

The previous president, Donald Trump, did not usually frequent the businesses of Washington, which is an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

When he went out, he preferred to go to his golf course in Virginia.

Biden's entourage stops to buy bagels in Washington.

Photo: EFE

“We are impressed, he just took office on Wednesday, after 4 very dark years for Washington DC.

That the first weekend he goes out like this, that he does not hide, it

is a joy

.

It shows that he is a president of the people, not of hiding, ”says Moreira.

And he expressed a wish: "We hope that he will return, but that he will go to many businesses and restaurants that

need a push

after everything that is happening."

"We have many friends with restaurants in DC, we want the Bidens to go everywhere, like Obama and Michelle, to be the beginning of a process of support for local restaurants."

Washington, correspondent

ap

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