Emilia Saravia opens a small wood-fired restaurant in Buenos Aires

Emilia Saravia and Tatú Rizzi opened El Imperfecto, a restaurant in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Saravia moved to the city in 2011 from Salta, a northern province in Argentina, bringing with her a family tradition of long meals and regional cooking. The pair founded the establishment in 2020 during the pandemic, initially serving orders through a window before eventually opening the dining room to the public.

The restaurant features a limited capacity of 26 seats to ensure a personalized, intimate service for guests. Saravia chose this small scale to create an atmosphere that feels like a home. The name of the restaurant reflects the unpredictable nature of cooking with wood and a clay oven. Saravia explains that the use of quebracho wood means that the results of the cooking process vary depending on the moisture of the wood, making every dish unique.

The menu focuses on northern Argentine cuisine, including dishes like salteñas, which are meat and cheese empanadas from the Salta region. Saravia incorporates family recipes and traditional ingredients such as huacatay, quirquiña, and Cachi paprika. The kitchen combines these northern flavors with seasonal proteins like mollejas and langostinos. Saravia aims to bring more attention to the products and spices of the northern provinces to the capital city.