INTRO BY NICKY SUMMER: Those who live in Barcelona – or plan to visit this summer – are in for a treat as a new restaurant and bar has opened in the city with none other than Argentinian operator Alex Resnik (former right hand man to California based super-chef Wolfgang Puck) at the helm. I first met Alex at ’CUT’ at 45 Park Lane in Mayfair, London, when I was invited by a member of The Dorchester Collection team to a ’SPAGO’ pop-up hosted by Wolfgang and with Alex in attendance. Now, with his newly opened Florería Atlántico’ just opened in Marquès de l’ Argentera – close to Parc de la Ciutadella – Alex is on the brink of his own restaurant success and is proving the fact that it’s never too late in your career to start a new endeavour. Here is Alex describing the concept of the restaurant/bar in his own words:
NS: ”Alex, how would you describe yourself?”
AR: ”I’m an obsessed and passionate lover of the hospitality industry… madly in love with creating a positive guest experience, building relationships and creating magic! I have a lengthy history as an operator in restaurants and hotels and I’m responsible for looking after everything to do with our business – from service, culinary and mixology, through to financials and developments after the opening…”
After 24 beautiful years working with Wolfgang Puck, literally ’side by side’, I left his employ back in March 2022; he opened a door for me – he opened a world to me – and he gave me a life for which I’ll be forever grateful…”
Alex Resnik, Floreria Atlantico
NS: ”What was it specifically that prompted you to open your own restaurant?”
AR: ”Life starts at 63!’ My friend Francis Mallman told me when I made the decision to depart from WP Group, that ’dreams are to be lived’ and to never stop adding layers to a personal legacy. Well, I wanted a new layer in my own legacy and therefore partnered with people I love deeply, Tato Giovannoni and Chef Mauro Colagreco…”
NS: ”Why did you choose the location you did? Why Barcelona?”
AR: “The restaurant is in the heart of ‘El Born’ in Barcelona, however I did not choose the city or the location – Barcelona kind of ‘chose us’! Organically, everything fell in place sequentially – a great location presented itself to us, at that time by an Argentinian family that could not operate the place, and an offer from them was made to us to take it over – the opportunity fell to us from the sky, beautifully and poetically… it was just meant to happen!”
NS: ”Has the cuisine remained Argentinian and how’s the restaurant laid out? I’m trying to visualise it…”
AR: ”On the street level, we have ’Brasero Atlántico – an ‘a las brasas’ which as an Argentinian ‘bistro’ and it’s a tribute to how immigrants to my country used to eat in the early days of the arrivals to Buenos Aires… it’s what what we call ‘parrilla al paso’ – grilled food, stop and go, a fun dynamic, deliciously simple, and using some of the best local ingredients with a few Argentine touches on the meat side; steaks and preserves are all part of the menu. In the basement – as in our sister restaurant in Buenos Aires – we have the world-acclaimed ‘FloreríaAtlántico’ bar and restaurant, serving a full dinner menu, paying homage to the sea that transported those first immigrants to Buenos Aires. This includes whole fish, crudos and seafood that are the very core of the cuisine offered. In summary, a we have a restaurant with a bar upstairs, and a bar with a restaurant in the basement – pretty cool, I’d say!”
NS: ”It sounds like you have a fantastic concept, Alex… how did you find your chef, and who is he/she?”
AR: “Our chef, Leo Lanussol, built and executed the culinary vision with my partner Tato and myself – a gorgeous exercise over the past few months of exchanges, trial and error – even some fascinating disagreements – until we found what we were looking for, and at the end, our ’habemus menu’ had been created! Chef Leo came to us after 10 years working with the celebrity chef ’extraordinaire’ Narda Lepes and subsequently opening his own groundbreaking ‘Proper’ in Buenos Aires which is housed within a former mechanic workshop. He’s an amazing human being, an that quality totally translates into his cooking – he’s a brother to us…”
NS: ”Who do you think your cuisine is going to most appeal to? To me, it sounds like there is something on the menu that’ll appeal to almost everyone; for example, I love the fresh whole fish idea… it sounds healthy and absolutely delicious!”
AR: ”As we opened just recently, we’re not aware yet of an exact ‘client profile’, however guests from our industry are already coming in to the bar and restaurant, along with locals and neighbours. Starting from early June onwards, we expect to start seeing the ‘out of town guest’ side of our business, as we’re located in an area that’s very attractive to overseas visitors!”
FLORERIA ATLANTICO BCN ON INSTAGRAM:
@FloreríaAtlánticobcn
@BraseroAtlanticobcn
