Russian fairytales meets Brazilian pigs when Igor Grishechkin of CoCoCo in Saint Petersburg cooks with Jefferson Rueda of A Casa do Porco in Saõ Paulo.
The two chefs creates a 4-hands dinner of 6 courses Friday January 17th at Jefferson Rueda’s W50B-accoladed establishment in the República-district of Brazil’s biggest metropolis.
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CHEF PROFILES
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JEFFERSON RUEDA
Starting out as a butcher, Jefferson Rueda made his name at Italian restaurant Pomodoro in São Paulo, before moving on to Attimo, which entered Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants at No. 32 in 2013. He gained international experience at El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, and opened A Casa do Porco (House of the Pig in Portuguese) in 2015.
A Casa do Porco is a celebration of pork in myriad forms. At a farm in his hometown of São José do Rio Pardo in São Paulo state, Jefferson Rueda rears local pigs on a natural diet of whey and vegetables.
After slaughter in his own slaughterhouse, the chef then makes use of every part of the animal in inventive dishes such as pork jowl sushi and homemade blood sausage. The atmosphere is more fun than fine dining, with a main room adorned with miniature pigs, colourful décor and interesting artefacts from the chef’s travels.
At A Casa do Porco guests can go for pork-based à la carte or even takeaway sandwiches from the fast-food window, but those who wait in line for this no-reservations restaurant should order the O Porco É (Pork is…) degustation. It includes Rueda’s signature pork tartare and crispy pancetta crackling with guava jam as well as the Porco San Zé main course and a version of his wife Janaina’s signature feijoada stew.
Community-focused husband-and-wife team Jefferson and Janaina Rueda are on a mission to make their restaurants accessible to all, and a 10-course tasting menu here costs around $33. On the à la carte menu, the showstopping Porco San Zé main course comes in at just $13 and is a complete meal of crispy pork belly, beans, cabbage and banana.
The Ruedas have concentrated their family of restaurants in a small corner of downtown São Paulo, so diners can hop across the road for a casual hotdog at the Hot Pork kiosk or an ice cream at Sorveteria do Centro. For a more laidback dinner with superlative cocktails, there’s also Janaina’s Bar da Dona Onça.
A Casa do Porco ranks as World’s 50 Best No. 39.
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IGOR GRISHECHKIN
If you know Russian culture, literature, poetry and history then you quite easily can understand Igor Grishechkin’s universe. But even if not, you cannot but help being amused by his cooking’s playfulness, almost as telling fairytales to a child.
Through creativity he has set a clear culinary path by telling grand tales of Russia’s history though his dishes. From the opulent era of the Tsars, over the Communist Soviet Union, to a tantalising New Russian Cuisine partly shaped through the struggles of embargoes. Of a proud heart he cooks the very soul of his home country.
This results in an experience that narrates stories of Russian yesteryear in the present, conjures the spirit of especially Saint Petersburg that delights your inner-child and only cooked with pristine products from the North-Western part of the world’s largest country.
The restaurant’s appearance, alike its cuisine, is modern and undeniably Russian. Bright, ethnic, clear and ironic. Velvet and wood, gold and dinner china, mirrors, shining crystals and hovering black feathers of the restaurant’s symbol; the hen.
A reference both to CoCoCo’s strong collaboration with local farmers and their produce. Over-all the details of Cococo’s decor creates an alluring image of a jewellery box you want to continuously look at, bewitched and mesmerized.
CoCoCo opened in 2012 and is the brainchild of celebrity, style icon, global diner and patron of the ballet, Matilda Shnurova. With a nymph-like elegance befitting of the Silver Age of Russian poetry Matilda and Igor have created Saint Petersburg’s most fashionable and forward-thinking restaurant.
CoCoCo ranks as World’s 50 Best No. 104.
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DETAILS IN SHORT
Who: Igor Grishechkin & Jefferson Rueda
When: Friday, January 17th 2020
Where: A Casa do Porco, R. Araújo, 124 – República, São Paulo
Menu: 6-course tasting menu
Reservations: +55 11 3258 2578 or through www.acasadoporco.com.br
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The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 5000+ global diners around the world.
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