Sebastián García had finished high school and was studying cooking.
But an almost casual meeting made him meet one of the heroes of the Argentine cocktail bar and
his destiny changed
.
Today it is his name (or, technically, not his name) that is at
the top of the bars
.
Its Presidente de Recoleta is among the hundred best bars in the world.
And he took an unusual leap:
he returned to his neighborhood, in the GBA
.
Almost no one calls Sebastián García Sebastián García.
He is Seba García or
El Cantinero
, the name he adopted when he began to forge the personality that made him
different at the local level
.
As he told
Clarín
in an interview when Presidente entered the 50 Best World Bars in 2018, only a year and a half after opening in a petit hotel in charming Quintana,
he chose to be El Cantinero
, because "many times you went to see the international bartender and did not meet your expectations: with the bartender you go without that expectation and
it can blow your mind
”.
Who is Seba García, The Bartender
Seba García, the "elegant bartender", opened a bar in the West.
Photo: Martin Bonetto
For him, the bartender is a normal person, but in a suit.
And that he stands out for his good cocktails and for something fundamental: priority in service.
While Presidente (today ranked 61st in the last 50 Best and the year before, ranked 21st), where he is creative director and one of his three partners, continues with local and international expansion plans,
El Cantinero made a gamble
: it also opened With two more partners, another top-level bar in the West.
The place from which
he never left
, because from his childhood family home in Castelar, now the family home where he lives with his wife and his five-year-old son Gael, is also in the area, in Ramos Mejía.
Every night he leaves and returns from Recoleta to Ramos in an application car, working on his cell phone on the way there and sleeping on the way back, when the sun is already rising over the Autopista del Oeste.
How is the new bar of El bartender in Parque Leloir
Night begins to fall in Nob3l Bar. Photo Emmanuel Fernández
The Sun and also the Moon are in
Nob3l, his new bar in Parque Leloir
, those actors who do not appear as protagonists in the cast but who end up breaking it.
Nob3l is a
rooftop
on a third floor -the maximum height allowed in constructions in the area-- with an open view where the Sun says goodbye at sunset, dyeing the sky with its colors and the Moon illuminates the whole night, more or less hidden among the trees.
Parque Leloir is a neighborhood in the Ituzaingó district that pays homage to Luis Federico Leloir, the third Argentine Nobel Prize winner, who won the chemistry award in 1970 for his work on sugar nucleotides.
And that, if we talk about gastronomy, he has another scroll to his credit:
he was the inventor of Golf sauce
.
The trees of Parque Leloir are part of the view from the rooftop.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
Today it is a
gastronomic pole
that is exploding in the West.
More and more restaurants and bars are opening and Nob3l's goal is to raise the bar to the same standards as the award-winning President.
For example, García had a huge counter built in the center of the kitchen – in which he already anticipates pop-ups with prestigious chefs – and invested heavily in the ovens or in his chiche, the vacuum machine.
The bar
also honors Leloir
with his name (the "e" of the Nobel is replaced by 3 as a nod to the three partners) and with many other small and large details.
The menu has a photo of the scientist, in the elevator that leads to the rooftop a screen shows videos of him working and
the private space of the bar -as in Presidente is the library-- here is a laboratory with shelves full of flasks
, those containers of glass that have a certain triangular shape and are used to mix chemical solutions.
Dim lighting and good gastronomy in a bar that honors a Nobel Prize winner.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
What to drink at Nob3l
Nob3l's motto is “reactive mixology”.
It is
another tribute to Leloir
, due to the reactions that occur in chemical processes, but it is also linked to the reaction.
“It has a lot to do with the post-pandemic, with
reactivating again with something new
.
And the cocktail bar also generates a reaction when it comes to trying it ”, explains El Bartender to
Clarín
.
Obviously, the cocktail menu is one of the strengths of the bar.
There are almost thirty (between $1,200 and $1,400), which are structured into four large groups.
The Negroni, an inevitable classic.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
On the one hand, the
appetizers
, with essentials such as the Negroni, the Aperol Spritz and the Branca Cola.
Classics follow
such
as the Gin Tonic, the Gimlet and the Amore Milano, a Garcia trademark that carries Johnnie Walker Black Label, Campari, Angostura, pink grapefruit, lemon and mint.
The
house cocktails
include, for example, their own versions of the Negroni (with grapefruit and berries) and the Gin Tonic (with aromatic herbs and grapefruit skin oil. And the ending "for stylish drinkers" also suggests
slightly more risky versions
of families of cocktails such as Juleps or Cobblers.There is also a
wine list
by the bottle and by the glass, short but with those infallible labels.
Details.
The ice of the cocktail with the logo of the bar.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
“We made a
mix of signature and classic cocktails
.
When I write a letter, it has to have a lot of spice, but it's also a way to meet the public.
We made a very versatile menu and the response surprised us, so we are going to add more recipes.
We already have many clients who came to the bar several times”, says the bartender.
And it does not escape one of the issues of the moment: the recent entry into force of the zero alcohol law in the Province.
“We have to be
responsible when it comes to educating the client
.
Before, if you didn't drink alcohol, the options were soda or water.
We are working on a whole menu with non-alcoholic cocktails not only for the designated driver but also for those who do not want or cannot drink.
And we have free parking.
The other day a customer told me 'I want to drink'.
I told him to enjoy and leave the car, and that the next day he would come looking for it.
What to eat in Nob3l
The kitchen menu also sought versatility.
In savory dishes, Blas Pugliese, who was part of the President's team, rules.
When reading their names,
old acquaintances
appear in this type of proposal, such as several of the entries: cheese platter, hummus, ceviche and sweetbreads, but with an
upgrade
in the quality of the product and its treatment (and
there are also lujitos, such as the oysters
).
The cheese board, a classic that is part of the entries.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
The same happens in
sushi
, with pieces that are well thought out from the taste and careful in the execution.
The main courses are few but forceful: the must-see is the
600-gram rib eye
that comes out with spiced butter, criolla sauce and roasted sweet potatoes and is to share.
Rib eye, one of the main recommended.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
Although García says that they wanted the bar to stand out equally in all areas, he concedes that where Nob3l stands out from the rest is in
sweets
, with the head pastry chef Lorena Durán, the bartender's partner.
“When we started thinking about desserts, I realized that in
the world there are no bars with good pastry
.
That's why I said 'We're going to give it prominence, to take it to another
level
,' she points out.
The Campari macaron, star of the sweet menu.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
The star is the Campari macaron
.
“People already come looking for it,” says García of the hearty macaron filled with an ice cream made with the traditional Italian appetizer and grapefruit, accompanied with frozen raspberries.
A refreshing and original surprise that stands out on a menu in which the classics also have their return (such as the chocolate volcano with Old Fashioned reduction).
The dessert menu was designed by pastry chef Lorena Durán, García's partner.
Photos Emmanuel Fernandez
“Opening a bar in the West was a wish I always had, but I didn't want to fall for something like that.
20 years ago I dedicated myself to gastronomy, but I think that the last years trained me to be able to
have a class bar in the West
.
I wanted to do something that I like, a place with aesthetics, style, service, and thinking about the details.
To my people the best, always
”, closes El Cantinero.
Nob3l Bar is located at Martín Fierro 3290, Parque Leloir. Open from Wednesday to Sunday from 8 pm. Instagram: @nob3lbar.
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