He emigrated at 20, his restaurant Balvanera invites you to "dine like a gaucho" in New York and is now expanding in the US

Fernando Navas is an ambassador of Argentine cuisine in New York.

The boy from Punta Alta who migrated to the United States at the age of 20 made a long journey that even included a season at El Bulli, a renowned restaurant on the Spanish Costa Brava.

took hold and materialized in 2015 with

This is an Argentine cuisine venue that has

 and obtains

And as if that were not enough, the chef was

, a recognition of his work by the Argentine State.

“It is a compliment to me since

There are not so many Argentine restaurants, not so many people want to drink a good Argentine wine.

We offer the best lines but we also make small producers visible”, says Fernando Navas who,

How is Balvanera, Fernando Navas's restaurant in Manhattan

The facade of Balvanera, an Argentine cuisine restaurant in New York.

Argentine identity is inescapable in this New York restaurant.

Some eloquent details: the wine list is illustrated with a map of our country and its prominent wine-producing areas so that the diner knows the origin of the chosen drink.

And not to mention

that our most famous writer, Jorge Luis Borges, portrayed so well.

"For Americans it's a bit difficult to pronounce because it has three syllables, but it stayed that way. We tell customers that ask why the name came that it's an old neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires," says Fernando. 

El salón de Balvanera, a restaurant with Argentine cuisine in New York.

-Did you always want to have an Argentine restaurant?

Has the idea of ​​putting something that has more to do with local gastronomy ever crossed your mind?

-Not really... it was always Balvanera, but it is not an Argentine restaurant per se, rather my idea was always to give it an Argentine touch.

I see it more as a bistro that you could see in a city of Buenos Aires, Madrid, Paris and others.

We promote all Argentine wines

-we have more than 120 labels-,

not traditional or anything, but new things that I like to put on, and then, obviously, the topic of cooking.

Fernando Navas in front of his first restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

A restaurant run by an Argentine has to have meat

on its menu.

It is the required item, since it is one of the most outstanding and recognized raw materials worldwide.

Navas knows this and

To do this, he works together with Urien-Loza, a company with one hundred percent Argentine capital that is dedicated to the cattle and meat business.

Although 

displays a sign that says

In it you can see reflected all the knowledge that the cook was sowing with his time in other kitchens.

-What do you eat in Balvanera?

-Balvanera,

It has a dark wood bar with moldings with all the marble countertops.

It has mirrors and dim lights as if they were round balloons.

Good music is playing, there are many plants and lit candles.

What we want is for the person who goes to feel comfortable and have a good after-dinner meal.

Which is also a bit of our stamp in Argentina of not just going to eat and leaving, but eating, having a drink and then chatting and yes, having another glass of wine.

That's why it's a nice place.

Some of the dishes at Balvanera, Fernando Navas's restaurant in New York.

We have three or four cuts of meat, such as tenderloin, strip steak, and wide steak.

Milanese chicken, humita and meat empanadas, chorizo ​​and black pudding.

, grilled with roasted peppers, watercress salad.

But the menu is completed with many other dishes that I like to cook such as arancini, burrata, Iberian ham, grilled octopus with smoked chili emulsion and black olives and sautéed mushrooms, for example.

Within what is known as the "melancholy industry"

as well.

Now we are about to start using some cheeses that come from Jujuy like a goat's milk provoleta, goat's milk dulce too.

Balvanera has 8 years of experience in New York.

In this almost first decade, the Navas location

Also by

, American actor and film and television producer, who was tempted with the Buenos Aires menu and ate at Balvanera.

Although Navas assures that his search is to attract people for the food and the proposal and not so much for who came to eat at the restaurant, "because the famous are the ones who go once to have a drink and then never come back", for that explains "we seek to retain the loyalty of the people who come for a very Argentine proposal that includes an Argentine sommelier"

-How do you think you would have fared if you stayed in Buenos Aires?

Fernando Navas and his wife, partners in life and partners at work.

-Perhaps it is one of the questions that I always ask myself.

As I would have gone in Buenos Aires... and I think well.

I think I would have had different challenges than the ones I had but of the same level of difficulty.

The new Balvanera branches in New York and Pittsburgh

"My dream has always been, beyond having a restaurant, to promote everything related to Argentine gastronomy and wine in the United States. After being open for 8 years in New York, the path is to continue opening other Balvaneras, in commercial relationship with licenses or with other investors in other cities," says Navas.

There is little left for this goal to become a reality:

While they continue to project: they are ready to sign a rental contract to be able to open a third Balvanera in June 2024,

Balvanera will have two branches: one in Pittsburgh and one on the Upper West Side of New York City.

"The idea is to continue growing consciously

. Not just open to open, but to have constant growth at a steady pace. Being present in all the details of all the stores to come, they will not be franchises," says the chef. . 

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