Mineiro chef commands kitchen that has had a flame lit for 35 years

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Sausages smoking over a wood stove, clay pots and copper pots, in a simple and rustic atmosphere, form the setting of the Xapuri restaurant, in Belo Horizonte. In charge of the kitchen is chef Flavio Trombino, 53, son of the founders. Ten years ago, he took over from his mother, Dona Nelsa, at the helm.

Born in Lagoa da Prata, located in the center-west of Minas Gerais, the chef lived in several cities during his childhood, accompanying his father’s work. In Trombino’s adolescence, they settled in the capital of Minas Gerais and, shortly afterwards, in 1987, they opened Xapuri, in the Pampulha region.

The chef learned to cook as a child, influenced by his family. According to him, in his house, everything always happened around the table. No wonder, the parents ended up opening a restaurant that soon gained fame and became the main source of income for the family.

With pride, Trombino shows a framed newspaper page, hanging in a prominent space on the wall of the space. The text was written by journalist Marco Teodoro, known as Marão, Xapuri’s first customer, even before the official inauguration.

At the time, the place still didn’t have a sign and was called by the owners of Atrás da Moita, because there was a thicket of grass that even hid the building from anyone in the street.

Trombino says that Marão stopped to ask the family for information, who were planting flowers in the garden and arranging the last details for the inauguration. Invited to enter, he was delighted with the food and decided to write about the restaurant.

“It’s a properly hidden place, around Pampulha, where the food is cooked on a wood stove, the cachaça is top notch and you have a view of a corral and a chicken coop”, he wrote.

During the first three years of the business, the chef worked in the kitchen alongside his parents.
Afterwards, he decided to become a professional horseman, which he had been practicing for some years, and had to leave Xapuri to dedicate himself completely to the sport.

Thus, for more than 20 years, he followed the kitchen from afar. But in 2013, when his mother started having health problems, he decided to return home and take over as successor to
Miss Nelsa.

The food is marked by simplicity, with emphasis on pork and chicken. The traditional cassava dumpling, stuffed with mozzarella, is one of the most requested dishes by the regulars.
The wood stove, used to smoke the handmade sausage, was lit 35 years ago, at the inauguration, and has never been turned off, according to the owner.

“It’s been the same stove since the beginning. During the night our bottoms, meat broths and chicken broths go to the wood stove and are simmering slowly. So, literally, this fire doesn’t go out”, says the chef.

At Festival Fartura, he will be present at Restaurantes do Brasil, where he will serve two dishes. One of them is typical of the cuisine of Minas Gerais, the traditional pastelzinho de angu accompanied by pepper jelly (R$ 30 – portion with 5 units).

The chef will also bring a sandwich that he christened a mutt with a beast (R$ 35). This is a recipe to which he intends to give an authorial touch.

In addition to homemade brioche bread, it includes handmade sausage, a family recipe, arugula, mustard and red onion caramelized in jabuticaba vinegar with brown sugar.

For Trombino, in addition to being able to take his food to other people, the festival in São Paulo is an opportunity to exchange experiences and learn from professionals who inspire him in the kitchen.

“The expectation is always very good. It’s an opportunity to meet up with great friends. I’ve been participating in this type of event for ten years, and after participating in so many, we end up becoming friends with people. Festivals leave a very strong legacy. important for gastronomy with all this exchange of knowledge.”

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