inthekitchen
all in the
family
At Corrientes, happiness is shared
like pizza between friends.
By Shel Zolkewich
Chef Alfonso Maury waves his arm across the exposed brick wall of
his Exchange District restaurant, where a collection of photographs
tells the story of his youth. The 8 x 10s show Maury with rock
stars, politicians and a host of celebrities who visited the Sheraton
Buenos Aires in Argentina, where the chef cut his teeth at his fi rst
kitchen job and where his father, not coincidentally, served as offi cial
photographer. On the opposite wall is a display of the cameras that
dad used to capture the images. A moment later, his son Ivo, 22, calls
out a question from the kitchen. 23-year-old daughter Nadia answers
before her dad has a chance.
It’s no wonder it feels warm, cozy and–most of all–familial inside
Corrientes, the restaurant owned by Alfonso and his wife, Roxana. It
is the defi nition of a family affair.
This atmosphere seems only natural from a chef whose talents
were cultivated early. As a young boy in Argentina, he began
helping out in the kitchen. His mother, who studied cooking
with Argentinean culinary legend Petrona Carrizo de Gandulfo,
introduced him to the magic of cooking.
“I remember being about six years old and my mother asking me
what I wanted to be. I said, ‘a chef!’” he reminisces. In fact, he still
cherishes the book she cooked from: a 1954 edition of El Libro De
Dona Petrona.
This conviction never wavered, and chef Maury eventually made
a career working in Argentina’s kitchens, including years at the
Sheraton Buenos Aires. With a growing family and the need for
a little more income, he was lured by the promise of attractive
opportunities to immigrants in Israel. Just before the economy
10
ciao! / oct/nov / two thousand seventeen