What I know now: Mauro Colagreco, Mirazur
I was born in Buenos
Aires.
My maternal grandfather was Italian and my father’s side was a mix of Charrúa Indians [an indigenous group in Argentina], Italians and Basques from Bilbao. I come from a family that was always cooking; these were constant acts of love.
The pressure is always
phenomenal.
I was working with French chef Bernard Loiseau when he committed suicide. This was 2003 and he was one of the best but he thought he would lose his third Michelin star for his restaurant, La Côte d’Or. It was a terrible time.
I learned quickly that you need to survive the pressure while being in the public eye. I try very hard to keep my feet on the ground, because I don’t want to become an inflated public persona.
I arrived in France 19 years ago,
and I opened Mirazur almost 13 years ago. I was 29 and I knew no one. It was a huge risk. I didn’t know the products, the people, the culture. But I started to discover the mountains, the sea, the microclimates and biomes here; it’s extremely complicated and rich.
I felt like a little kid. I still do.
My style is Mediterranean freedom
cuisine. We have a menu but we have to be flexible. We work with the vegetables from our garden and with small producers and fishermen. So, we build a menu according to what we can access and what is best – this is what I call freedom.
Agriculture is the future.
If chefs want to bring about change we need to focus on how we produce food, because we are a part of the food industry and we carry that responsibility. The generation before us lost touch with the land; it’s been that way for two generations. I think about that a lot, maybe because I have small children. And working the land is hard work.
Every day I feel a little more French.
I’m a proud Argentine with Italian roots – my grandparents spoke to me in Italian. But the more time I spend in France, the deeper my love grows. It’s here that I get to express myself in my work.
Every chef should try to visit
Japan once in their lifetime.
Japan changed me. I’ve been seven times now. Japanese chefs are from another planet – in mentality, technique and handling produce. They’re hard workers, they respect people and the produce.
French Riviera restaurant Mirazur was awarded a third Michelin star earlier this year, but its chef, Argentine-born Mauro Colagreco, makes a point of keeping his feet firmly on the ground
I opened a burger joint in a country that loves steak”
The new generation of chefs is
more open-minded.
Traditionally, the French clientele can be less adventurous and chefs catered to that. But young chefs travel more, they mix, they want to discover. That influences the way they cook. My food isn’t like traditional French cooking at all.
Attitude is everything in the
kitchen.
And passion. You do need time to adapt to the kitchen’s demands. You’re expected to learn quickly but a good attitude is something you either have, or you don’t.
Menton [where Mirazur is
located] provided me with the
opportunity of my life.
The previous restaurant had been closed for years. It had a bad reputation. First, I rented the restaurant for two years, little by little, to see if I liked this place. Menton is a chef’s dream – you can go swimming in the morning and skiing in the afternoon. It’s the same for the produce. The downside is we have to close for three months a year during low season.
I needed a survival strategy in
the beginning.
I consulted a lot while we built up Mirazur. I expanded to China [Azur by MC] and later we opened Grill 55° in Macau and Carne in Argentina. Every market is different and we have to cater to that. [Mauro has nine restaurants in total, including a recent partnership with The Four Seasons in Palm Beach, USA.]
I love windsurfing,
but I only get to do it twice a year. And I used to paint. Nowadays I consider myself a gardener. The contact with the ground is an amazing feeling. I love relaxing with my wife and son here and try to also spend lots of time with my other son who lives with his mother in Argentina.
I opened a burger joint in a country
that loves steak.
I wanted to show that you can make a high-quality, fast-food product using free-range beef, not the stuff Argentines are used to, with small producers supplying everything else. Carne has been very successful and my sister and her husband are involved in the business.
mirazur.fr, @maurocolagreco