The Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking, released on November 15, 2022 in Yucatán, Mexico, was a celebration for Brazilians, especially for São Paulo residents.
Among the ten restaurants that made the list of the 50 best in the continent, there were three newcomers, all of them from São Paulo – Metzi, in 27th place, Charco, in 35th, and Nelita, in 39th.
At 33, Nelita’s chef and partner, Tássia Magalhães, seemed the most surprised of everyone in the audience. “When I found out that I would receive the award, I couldn’t believe it, because I had opened the restaurant just over a year ago.”
Tássia should have gotten used to it by now – everything in the life of this woman from Guaratinguetá happened like that, too fast.
At the age of 19, with a diploma from Senac fresh under her arm, she got her first internship at the extinct Pomodori, an Italian kitchen house where Jefferson Rueda was emerging as a revelation chef.
She left there 10 years later as the sole owner of the house, with a collection of awards on her shelf and her name on the Forbes Under 30 list.
“When I was offered a partnership, I didn’t have a penny in my pocket. As the restaurant was full of debts, I committed myself to taking them on if I had complete control. That’s how I bought Pomodori”, she says.
Between 2018 and 2021, after leaving the house, Tássia opened new and very different businesses. The first was Riso.e.Ria, specialized in rice, inspired by the scrambled eggs that his mother improvised for family dinners. Then came Uno Masseria, which occupied the same kitchen and sold pasta only for delivery.
His most accurate card, however, was the creation of Nelita, with authorial cuisine, opened in May 2021 in Ferreira de Araújo, one of the most gastronomic streets in Pinheiros.
With 44 seats, including bar and counter, the house has a feminine soul and only women in the kitchen – men, only in the salon team, led by husband and partner Daniel Steinle. The name is a tribute to Tássia’s mother, Vani Helena.
“I discovered that Nelita is an affectionate nickname for Helena, in Italian. I had just lost my father and I wanted to honor my mother while she is still here”, he justifies.
The exquisite work with the masses, a legacy brought from Pomodori, continues to be one of its trademarks. But you shouldn’t expect classic Italian cuisine from her.
The menu, which Tássia renews twice a year according to the seasons, travels wherever she wants. It ranges from the comfort provided by caramelle, pasta served under a velvety pumpkin cream and buffalo ricotta, to the orientalized power of foie gras with green apple and matcha.
The daring mix of ingredients is a constant in her creations. Over the asparagus candied with beurre blanc, a butter-based emulsion, the unctuousness of the lard gains the pungent company of the botarga.
January is the last month to try these dishes – starting in February, Tássia promises total renewal. Spoiler alert: one of the new dishes will be scallop/guanciale/beurre blanc/saqui honey.
As for the tasting menu, where the chef takes even more risks, it changes only once a year, always in May, in the month of the house’s anniversary. Inspiration comes from multiple sources, from books to crockery and other objects that Tássia registers around.
“I love fashion and art and I draw ideas from different universes. A jewelry box can become a dinnerware and a recipe. But the look is not the most important thing, which has been common in these times of social networks. I don’t give up on flavor. “
The sequence currently on display, called Memorable Times, was developed by many hands, based on the life stories of each of the cooks on Tássia’s team.
Her favorite dish, she confesses, is the cabbage ravioli with angu, which comes to the table in a piece of wood that resembles a stylized mini-stove.
“Michele, my head of production, told me that she was angry with a wood stove that her mother built and didn’t have time to use. That’s how the dish was born, which is an explosion of flavors.”
The year 2023 promises to be intense. Tássia avoids setting a date, but promises to reopen Riso.e.Ria and Uno Masseria, this time in separate spots and in more ambitious formats, as soon as she finds the ideal spots.
Meanwhile, Nelita is doing well, thank you. December saw a full house and many foreigners on the reserve list, attracted by the international award – closed for recess, the restaurant reopens on January 10th.
Being in the 50 Best makes a difference in revenue, but Tássia guarantees that’s all. “I think the award is even more important for the team that works with me. I can’t lose focus and become a hostage to my ego.”
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