Boragó

Rodolfo Guzman is another young chef seeking to develop a restaurant centered around a menu featuring foraged vegetation and other unique local ingredients, a formula that earned Denmark’s René Redzepi a #1 rating in the world by London’s Restaurant magazine.

The restaurant is located on Nueva Costanera in the affluent neighborhood of Vitacura, within a stone’s throw of several of the city’s most celebrated restaurants, including famed Chef Gaston Acurio’s La Mar.

There is a rustic yet modern, minimalist feel to the décor. No white tablecloths. And no menu, per se. Only a seven-course and a ten-course tasting menu. I opted for the smaller seven-course menu on my first visit to Boragó. I was fortunate to be seated in direct view of the huge glass window behind which Mr. Guzman's little army of culinary gnomes assembles each of the courses with tweezers in hand. I envisioned that this is what the view would be if I were a fly on the wall of Santa's workshop.

Each course is delivered by one of the many waiters who explain the “concept” of the course.

Before the first course was delivered a paper bag with a single maraqueta roll was delivered. As is customary, but not intended, the roll was dry and tasteless. And the sauce accompanying it was not much to brag about either. But after all ... it’s just bread. Let’s give the place the benefit of the doubt.

The first course was a creamy purée of wild mushrooms foraged from the forest somewhere on the outskirts of Santiago. It was nestled in between these little leaves that were tasteless but edible none the less and a dusting of some brown and green powder that had some symbolic meaning ... something to do with the dry dead plants on the forest’s floor and the green living foliage. This course was pretty tasty but by no means a home run. Clearly not something you intentionally order at a restaurant if you found it on the menu.

Up next was an array of bright green “sea asparagus” foraged from the edge of the ocean. These little green gems had a somewhat unique and satisfying taste. But again, nothing close to as flavorful or fulfilling as the delicious farm vegetables I’ve picked up at the farmer’s market.

There was a third course that I missed getting a photo of and it was equally unmemorable so I can’t describe it.

The fourth course was a bean paste spread over and cooked on hot rocks creating the image of a lava like rock at the ocean’s edge. To this a seaweed broth was added. I urge you to look at the photo of what I’m describing and ask yourself, "Does this look remotely appetizing?" The appearance got even worse after I scraped some of the paste off the rock and dipped it into the broth as instructed. By the third bite the broth looked more like mud. I closed my eyes and took a bite. And do you know what it tasted like? Mud! I think I was 3 years old when I last put a big bite of mud in my mouth but I had a flashback ... and that's the taste that came to mind. What was Mr. Guzman thinking when he came up with this one?

Things could only improve from here. The next course, if I understood the server correctly, was venison (although she described it as “deer” in the interpretation) which, again, if I understood her correctly, was braised in the milk of the deer. This course was executed well, and the venison was tender and not gamey. It was presented with a milky white foam and a little branch adorned with wild blue berries. This was a beautiful presentation and an acceptable execution of the venison (although at this stage of the dinner, still with the lingering taste of mud in my mouth, I would rather have had a big thick-cut filet mignon, but that was not to be).

The dessert course was my favorite of the bunch. It was an ice cream, which I believe the server indicated was flavored by a white strawberry, known as a pineberry, which is a cross between two cultivars, one indigenous to Virginia (USA) and one indigenous to Chile. I would have loved to have seen the actual white strawberry as part of the presentation, but I suppose that they are likely using some extract derived from a time when the berry was in season, making display of the actual fruit impossible. Nevertheless, the ice cream was delicious as was the little red orb served alongside. It was just as delicious as it was beautiful on the plate.

So to recap, out of seven courses I had one excellent course, I had five visually and conceptually interesting courses that were a little short on taste and one course that was down-right inedible. Now I ask you ... are those the numbers you would expect from such a highly rated restaurant? This meal was not cheap either. CLP $34.500 for the seven-course meal, $1.700 for the mineral water, and $4.500 for a glass of wine. That’s about US$66 at the exchange rate in effect at the time.

For a total bill of CLP$40.700 I gave the waiter $50.000 and never received the change. I waited for about 15 minutes and then quietly left the restaurant. That is a 23% tip retained in a city where 10% is customary. In my ten years in Latin America I do not ever remember a waiter failing to return my change from a bill other than this single occurrence.

Chef Guzman, is, no doubt, talented. And the service was admirable. But if ever there was an example of failing to apply the principal of “form follows function”, this meal was it. This was a dog and pony show that put Mr. Guzman’s artistic concepts above the most basic rule in restaurant management … Serve food that tastes good!