Brazilian makes ‘best pizza in Europe outside Italy’ – 05/19/2023 – Food

Born in the small town of Rio Pardo, in Rio Grande do Sul, the gaucho Rafael Panatieri decided that he would be a great cook at the age of 17. But, at that time, he could not imagine that 20 years later he would be at the forefront of the best pizzeria in Europe outside of Italy.

Today he is a partner at Sartoria Panatieri, in Barcelona, ​​Spain, which ranked first in the renowned Italian guide 50 Top Pizza 2023.

Opened in 2018, this artisan pizzeria with a sustainable philosophy already has two units in the Spanish city – and is the result of a gastronomic journey that began when Rafael Panatieri was still a boy, in Rio Pardo.

From a family of Italian origin, he says he had contact with Mediterranean ingredients and preparations from an early age. It was his grandmother, known for bringing the family together for big lunches, who sparked his passion for cooking.

Before deciding to be a chef, Rafael even passed an entrance exam to study veterinary medicine. He recalls that, at the time, being a cook did not have the recognition it has today. But, even in the face of uncertainties, he was lucky to have the support of his family to follow through with his dream.

“The only chef I had as a reference in Brazil was Alex [Atala]but at the time, the profession was not well regarded”, he tells BBC News Brasil.

After taking a cooking course at Senac in Rio Grande do Sul, Panatieri was sure that this would be his career. He then continued his studies at the European Center in Curitiba and worked in some of the best hotel restaurants in Gramado.

He was 22 years old when he decided to leave the country, and since he already had Italian documents, he landed first in Milan. After overcoming the country’s bureaucracy, already with the red (European) passport in hand, he focused on conquering his space in European kitchens.

“I knew that I had to work twice as hard not to be at home, and to learn the language quickly. I believe that my more ‘serious’ character helped me to be respected in every place”, says the chef.

Panatieri’s wife, Ana Carolina, moved to Europe six months later. A pharmacist, she had never worked in the hotel industry, but got a job as a chambermaid in Italy. He spent almost four years in the country, during which time the chef worked in restaurants in Sicily, Rome and Florence.

On a year-end trip, the couple fell in love with the city of Barcelona. They packed their bags, or rather the two backpacks they had, and moved there. According to him, the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Spanish city is more open to foreigners, and the cuisine is freer for innovations.

“I really like Italian cuisine for its base, for the tradition and for the affection they have with food, but at the time, aged 25, I wanted to have that vision in Spain of creative cuisine.”

The greatest representative of this movement at the time was chef Ferran Adrià, and molecular gastronomy developed at the El Bulli restaurant. Panatieri says he sent several emails to get an internship with the chef, but without success.

“When Ferran Adrià closed El Bulli [em 2011], people were already starting to talk about the Roca brothers. So my focus turned to getting to work with them,” he says.

Creators of the three-starred restaurant Celler de Can Roca, the brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi welcomed Rafael as part of the family. During the six years he worked with the Rocas, the Brazilian went from being an intern to being a chef at the Roca Moo restaurant.

“Representing a starred restaurant is the dream of many, that’s why my self-demand was daily. What nobody counts is that staying on the podium is more difficult than reaching it.”

It was among the pans at Roca Moo that Panatieri met the Spaniard Jorge Sastre, his current partner in the pizzeria, in 2016. The madrileño was yours sous chef (underboss) – and the two had a harmony that needed no words.

In 2018, they opened the first Sartoria Panatieri unit – a small door, number 51, in the charming neighborhood of Gràcia. A cozy space with a wood oven and a garden that would come to be known as the best pizzeria in Europe.

“I always dreamed of owning a pizzeria, but my experiences in starred restaurants took me down a different path”, says the Brazilian partner.

The award-winning establishment stands out for a philosophy of respect for local ingredients and sustainable practices.

“The idea has always been to create with local ingredients. Italian products are excellent, but we decided to look at our surroundings with care”, says Panatieri.

In 2021, the partners opened the second unit, this time in the bustling district of Eixample. Customers tripled – but Panatieri and Sastre decided to continue adopting the same artisanal and sustainable philosophy.

Reaching the Olympus of the 50 Top Pizza 2023 Italian guide is the result of work that goes far beyond dough and stuffing. The guide’s rigorous criteria also evaluate the restaurant’s proposal, the environment and the customer’s experience. The second place went to the pizzeria Bæst, in Copenhagen; and the third, with 50 Kalò, by chef Ciro Salvo, in London.

“We believed we were in the top three, but being recognized as the best pizzeria in Europe outside of Italy was a great surprise,” says Panatieri.

He says that before Sartoria he had never made pizzas, other than the ones he tested at home. But going through renowned kitchens helped him speed up this process. Together, the partners studied different preparations and, after several trials and errors, found the perfect formula.

“I wanted our pizza to be a complete dish, but with the dough instead of the porcelain”, he reveals.

The concept “from farm to pizza” (from farm to pizza), created by Sartoria Panatieri, values ​​the value of ingredients and also of local producers. According to the partners, the secret of Sartoria’s success is not in the wood oven – but in the rural areas that surround it the city of Barcelona.

“This philosophy means everything to us. It is the proximity to the producers that leads us to obtain the best ingredients, at the best time of the year”, reveals Panatieri.

An example is the handmade sausages from the ecological farm Dpagès, in Lleida, Catalonia. For the production of mortadella, fuet and Sobrasada, Gascón pigs are used, an Iberian breed in danger of extinction that the farm is working to recover.

The pizza dough is made with ecological flour – fermented for more than 70 hours.

“The wheat we use comes from the stone mills on the Cal Pauet farm, in Solsona. It is more expensive than industrial wheat, but it is what best fits our dough”, he says.

Retelling of a classic: the best pizza of the year 2023

The pizza with roasted cherry tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil hollandaise sauce was elected, also by the Italian guide, the best pizza of the year 2023.

“When talking about pizza, Margherita is the first thing that comes to mind. My idea was to make it in another way, but without disrespecting it”, explains Panatieri.

According to the chef, one of the challenges of using only local ingredients was replacing the traditional Italian San Marzano tomato, grown between Naples and Salerno.

As a solution, Rafael rescued one of the strongest memories he has of Brazil: his mother and grandmother transforming tomatoes from the Rio Pardo region into delicious sauces.

To reach the expected balance between acidity and sweetness, the chef then developed a recipe with local cherry tomatoes roasted in a wood-fired oven – and to finish off the rereading, he replaced the fresh basil with a hollandaise sauce with aromatic leaves.