Butterfly Interview with Chef Ed

February 26th, 2009 Posted in business, cosas lindas, resources

Written by Shanie

While doing the research for our restaurant guide, we were lucky enough to get to know some of the owners of the great dining experiences around town. With friendships developing, we realized it would be great to do a blog post/interview now and then on the interesting and unique owners of Bariloche’s worthy companies.

Chef Ed, the very talented, food-passionate Irishman that is one-third owner of Butterfly sat down with me and let us in on what it is like to have a culinary masterpiece dining experience in the northern gateway city of Patagonia. Here is what he had to say:

SM: What do you feel is the premier aspect of Butterfly?

Chef Ed: The Concept. In Butterfly we serve a 7 course tasting menu every day, prepared daily with the best ingredients the market has to offer. The evening in Butterfly is a special occasion and we never do re-sits. The table is yours for the evening. It’s for people who love food and wine like we do and we want you to feel special. If you leave a top class restaurant and they didn’t make you feel special you may as well have stayed at home and cooked a steak with a good bottle of wine.

SM: With the three different cultures coming together for Butterfly, what do you feel is the major difference between Butterfly and other fine dining restaurants in Argentina?

Chef Ed: Everything in Butterfly is done with love, it actually has nothing to with different cultures. We are three people from different cultures who all happen to be very like-minded in how we want Butterfly to be. The three of us do just about everything and we do it all with love. I cook with love, Coni prepares the restaurant, greets our guests and serves with love, Sebi chooses our wine menu, and even waters the garden with love.

SM: What would you consider to be your signature dish?

Chef Ed: I’m always asked and I never know what to say. I always think I should just lie and say “Creme Brulee with lavender ice-cream” or “Bouillabaisse au Paupillotte”, but I just can’t lie about food. I have no Signature dish, I get bored too easily to cook the same thing over and over again. Also I love to be inspired by what the market has to offer or what my regular guests ask me for, as opposed to what I want to cook.

SM: Where do you find the majority of your ingredients?

Chef Ed: With meat I am blessed in Argentina (and with lamb even more so in the Patagonia). And believe it or not I have also been blessed with great fish, 1000km from the coast! My fish is shipped fresh twice a week from Buenos Aires, they only send me what is good and most of the time I get fresher fish here than when I cooked in Ireland. Other products have been a little more complicated. Fresh vanilla beans have been shipped from Madagascar to my house in Ireland and then been smuggled halfway across the world to Bariloche. Every time friends or family visit us we have a shopping list for them. Noilly Prat, Midleton Very Rare whiskey, Italian Saffron, Sebi’s wine collection, etc.

SM: How has the involvement of three cultures helped with creating Butterfly?

Chef Ed: I think we all balance each other out very well. Sebi is German and keeps everything well organized. Coni the Argentinian keeps everything more in context and keeps us all sane. As for me the Irishman, I try to get everyone drunk regularly.

SM: What is your favorite memory from creating the restaurant?

Chef Ed: We opened the restaurant a month before Sebi arrived, as he was finishing up his job in Switzerland. Coni and I did everything on our own and we were counting the minutes to his arrival. He arrived in a Taxi in the middle of lunch service with the terrace full. After a 12 second welcome and having traveled for 40 hours he was put straight to washing dishes and helping me in the kitchen. He was even pleased with the welcome he got, he expected nothing less!

SM: Do you have any suggestions for guests planning to visit Butterfly?

Chef Ed: Skip lunch and ring ahead!

SM: Is there a particular time of year that is better than others to visit Butterfly?

Chef Ed: May and November are without a doubt the worst time to visit Butterfly as we are closed. As for the best time, I would recommend a warm summer evening, arriving early to enjoy a drink on the terrace before dinner. I never get bored of the terrace or the view we have of the lake Nahuel Huapi

SM: What are the advantages to creating a fine dining experience in Bariloche?

Chef Ed: Bariloche has the great advantage of being incredible the whole year round. It is one of the very few places in the world with a fantastic ski area for winter and everything you could possibly imagine for summer. Mountains, lakes, snow, sun, restaurants, nightlife, rafting, trekking, climbing, etc. The list is endless. For the restaurant it gives us the chance to have two strong seasons every year. In Bariloche we have the best of both worlds!

SM: What are your favorite flavors of food to play with?

Chef Ed: There is just too much good stuff. Garlic, lemon rind, vanilla, dried tomatoes, chilli, smoked trout, hazelnuts, saffron, basil, lemongrass, sage, nutmeg, lavender, potatoes, salt, coriander seeds, coriander plant, sole, onions, eggs, sweetbreads, prawn shells, ox-tail, brie, osso bucco, baby squid… I have no idea where to start on which are my favorite. I go through phases. I dried a load of tomatoes recently so I’m on a dried tomato buzz at the moment (Dried tomatoes with confied garlic, or olives, or basil, or candied lemon rind, or all of the above).  With cheese, smoked trout or in risotto with roasted almonds and fillet of sole. In a few weeks it will be something else, I’m particularly curious about the new Peruvian/Japanese fusion movement and have recently got my hands on the Nobu cookbook to see what it’s all about. So that will probably be my next buzz.

Check out their website, www.butterflypatagonia.com.ar, for more information.

  1. 4 Responses to “Butterfly Interview with Chef Ed”

  2. By Alex Audisio on Feb 27, 2009

    Great Story…. and congratulations to Ed on his well deserved success !!!

  3. By Patagonia on Feb 27, 2009

    Thanks Alex! Don’t forget Sebi and Coni…the three of them have really created a special dining adventure.

  4. By Davis Notowitz on Mar 4, 2012

    Uhhm..Howdy there, A lot of folks will be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!

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