Thus, calming the spirit and stirring the appetite with the sea air, the diner is as he is in better conditions to enjoy the long and meticulous, reflective and surprising menu that Barrientos prepares with his brigade of chefs.
The diner, explains to Efe the Colombian, must cross the door of “El cielo” without expectations, that is, as if Dante had left written on the lintel of the entrance the phrase “Those who enter, abandon all expectation”, but not to renounce the pleasures of the table, but to immerse, he clarifies, in a culinary experience that stimulates the senses.
“‘Elcielo’ is an experience in which each dish tells a story, a provocation based on the roots of Colombian gastronomy, a precision cuisine full of new emotions,” is how Barrientos defines his proposals both in the Miami restaurant and in the two he commands backed by his family in Medellín and Bogotá.
Barrientos sleeps only between two and four hours each night, in an apartment just above the restaurant, so that the immersion in the running of the establishment is total: from the attention to suppliers that appear with the most exotic products to the control of every detail of the service in the restaurant.
“I am very strict with my team, but calm,” confesses Barrientos, who, after the revolt of an adolescence and years of life on the edge, discovered at age 19 that his passion was cooking.
He says that he went to Argentina to learn the trade and techniques of oriental cuisine under the baton of chef Iwao Komiyama, who then moved to Spain, to the Arzak restaurant, “a great experience”, fundamental for the Colombian. And back to his homeland he opened, at age 23, the first branch of “El cielo”.
He takes up the evocation of his time in the kitchens of Arzak, where he learned all kinds of modern cooking techniques. “It was my awakening to the kitchen and to understand a restaurant inside, an inexplicable, decisive experience that has brought me here (Miami),” he acknowledges.
Then he goes on to point out what has been the most important menu he has made in his life, not because of the political weight of the character, since he has prepared banquets for several presidents, but because of the value of personal gratitude and admiration that it entails: the dinner tribute to Arzak and his team that he recently made in “El cielo” in Miami.
“It was the only night I’ve been nervous in my life, when Arzak came to my restaurant with Andoni Aduriz, Quique Dacosta (Arzak’s intimate Spanish chefs) and the senior staff of his house. It was very nice. He loved the menu,” he says with undisguised pride.
“The greatest satisfaction for me is that the dish has a story, but with the obligation that it tastes, phenomenal, rich, to the client,” clarifies Barrientos (Medellín, 1983).
What is to be eaten? Nothing to request the menu. We are in the hands of the chef, as he says, without venturing expectations.
First they bring to the table an invigorating carajillo of Antioquia brandy foam with bitter drops of coffee and citrus peel. Could it be that the menu begins at the end? The unknown is immediately cleared with the service of a glass tray with croquettes and dumplings.
Then appears on the table “The tree of life”, an Amazonian artisanal sculpture in whose crown rests a fragrant wafer of yucca. At the base, a small bowl with tomato sauce, coconut, onion and yucca to lightly dip the hot bread.
It is followed, among other dishes, by the “crab-brulée”, a kind of salty “crème brulée” based on crab milk with a caramelized layer and topped with meat and a crab croquette; the piece of Escolar, a rare white fish, with fried quinoa in pineapple, lemon and mango aioli and a passion fruit vinaigrette and cassava croquette, or the grilled pork tenderloin with banana sauce and a garnish of spinach and flower petals.
The most daring (and provocative) dessert is the disrespectful egg that arrives at the table in the classic market egg. The diner has no choice but to peel the shell until its treasure is exposed: a cream of vanilla panacota and passion fruit with a boiled egg texture.
This hyperactive cook makes time for everything. One of his most beloved projects is the foundation “Heaven for All”, which he founded with the purpose of offering an opportunity to the less fortunate in his country.
“Every semester a hundred kids do cooking practices in ‘El cielo’, they receive gastronomy courses” that help them to direct their lives, explains Barrientos, who was enthusiastic about the idea of offering this way of learning and social inclusion to former FARC guerrillas.
