‘I was never a coconut candy’, says Carla Pernambuco after 30 years of career

It was 1992. Enrolled at Peter Kump’s Cooking School, currently the Institute of Culinary Education, in New York, Carla Beatriz Danesi Pernambuco was hired to serve Brazilian brunches at the Boom restaurant (defunct in 2012), in Soho. Until then, she was a journalist who liked to cook for her friends — and had no idea that she would become one of the most famous chefs in Brazil.

In the following three decades, Carla not only opened the Carlota restaurant, which turns 27 in September without revealing her age, but also put her name in 10 books and six TV shows. And all this long before the popularity of chefs was measured in likes and numbers of followers on social media.

During the pandemic, he entered the delivery universe, until then an illustrious unknown. He developed a line of frozen dishes, Carlota Polar, and four products with his brand, created in partnership with artisanal producers of coffee, honey, olive oil and dulce de leche.

At 62, married for 33 years to photographer Fernando Pernambuco, and mother of three, Carla has an agenda that will take any teenager’s breath away — not even her second heart attack, which resulted in the placement of a stent, was able to reduce the rhythm of this Scorpio woman who classifies herself as a “maniac-euphoric”.

Carla has just created a new food menu for Carlota, in Higienópolis, which will run between lunch and dinner. The menu was christened Estação Carlota, an ironic tribute to the noisy subway work attached to the restaurant.

At the same time, he oversaw the creation of the menu for the 1835 restaurant, which is part of the new luxury hotel Kempinski Laje de Pedra, in Serra Gaúcha — the hotel operation should only start operating in 2024, but the restaurant opened in November 2021. .

The chef also launched a new website and created a biweekly newsletter, with authorial articles. She is writing her 11th book, “Meu Coração na Mesa”, with healthy recipes focused on lowering cholesterol.

He started to develop a line of tableware for the Westwing decoration store, in partnership with his daughter, as well as a curry based on Amazonian ingredients, for the Manioca brand, and a chutney for the Soul Brasil brand. She has also become an Instagram celebrity with 151k followers.

On a stormy afternoon in São Paulo in early February, Carla received the sheet in the kitchen of Estúdio CP, a space that works as a school and creative laboratory, on the same street as the restaurant.

She recalled her trajectory and told, as an eyewitness, how the world of gastronomy and restaurants in São Paulo have changed in the last 30 years.

You are from Rio Grande do Sul, from an Italian family, but Asian influences have always been your trademark. How did this mix come about?

I was born into a family of Italians and Portuguese on one side, with a Uruguayan grandmother on the other. Everyone cooked a lot. I grew up eating homemade sausage, brain ravioli, tripe with white beans, lamb steak, all that strong stuff. It was a propitious environment for a person to become a cook. I recently revisited this gaucho kitchen to supervise the creation of the 1835 dishes, in Canela (RS): we made cheesecake with butiá syrup, sago ice cream, cheese pie with keschmier, the cottage that is eaten at the colonial café. It was exciting. The Asian influences came much later, from the time I lived in New York, between 1991 and 1994. I lived in three addresses, all close to Chinatown, and started going to Asian markets. I tasted everything and opened my mind.

What dish excites you?

I love a dough just in butter, with a little nutmeg. It’s my soul food. I’m also crazy about chicken soup, which I make in a different way, with angel hair pasta instead of rice.

How was the gastronomic scene in São Paulo when you opened Carlota?

Imagine there was no internet. What you saw in the city were maîtres’ kitchens, not chefs, with few women at the front. Spot and Gero were the sensation. I conceived Carlota as a relaxed place, with few seats and a huge counter, where people could buy takeout. The original name was Carlota Café. I hired three charming waitresses, who barely knew how to hold a tray. The desserts were from Isabela Suplicy. Then we were pushed into the world of gastronomy. I had worked with Joyce Pascowitch, at Folha de S.Paulo, and later as public relations for the advertising agency DM9. My husband was a fashion photographer. In other words, three tribes of opinion-forming friends, who helped Carlota to happen. When Josimar Melo wrote about us in sheet, it was crazy. Soon came awards, which made the house fill up, changed the profile of our audience and forced us to grow.

What do you remember from that first menu?

There was cavaquinha with manioc puree and salmon roe, which became a hit for the low price. We had no idea, I had to readjust when I understood how much taxes I would have to pay. The rolls have been around since the beginning and are still on the menu, as is the guava souffle. The crispy shrimp came out at one time, I fought with him for being a very greasy frying, but I received notes asking him to come back.

What made a restaurant ‘bomb’ back then?

Good food at a fair price in a relaxed atmosphere. To this day the recipe works. When you formalize the service too much, you scare off a large portion of the public. We’ve always been rated “the cheap of the expensive”, a great place to stay in my opinion. I can use good products, without abusing prices.

Did being on TV help?

No doubt. No wonder every chef wants to go to TV. The programs awaken in people the desire to cook and go to restaurants, they become part of the world of food. But I just like to make recipe tutorials, I’m not a fan of reality shows. I think the formula is exhausted. I don’t like the way they’re handled, putting people out in those situations publicly. That tense atmosphere just gets in the way. It already exists naturally in the kitchen, no one needs more pressure. After the cardiac episodes, I even moved with my team. It was tough, now I’m more relaxed. All I don’t want in life is tension.

You’ve had other restaurants, like the Carioca branch of Carlota and the society at Las Chicas. Why did you give up on them?

I left Rio de Janeiro due to problems with the owner of the property, but it was very important to have spent those 11 years in Leblon. I won important awards and gave international visibility to the restaurant. Leaving Las Chicas was an option: I wanted to shrink in size and take care of only Carlota. Fortunately. Having sense and being content with being small only helped to face the pandemic.

How has your relationship with food critics been?

Criticism is necessary and I maintain great relationships, I even become their source suggesting guidelines. Josimar Melo’s text, for example, was fundamental for Carlota. He’s acidic, but I’ve never been a coconut candy, so that’s okay.

And with digital influencers, is the relationship the same?

They are welcome because they represent a democratization of content generation and information sharing. I hope they honor their opinions and have evaluation criteria, regardless of financial rewards.

Has the public changed in these three decades?

Much. When I opened Carlota, I saw couples of businessmen preferring greasy dishes. Today, there is a growing health concern, everyone asking for lighter side dishes. I already sell more fruit juices than soft drinks. Fish have become bestsellers and sweets have less and less sugar. But making diet dessert doesn’t work, nobody asks.

Why do you work on so many fronts at the same time? Is it your personality, or is it not possible to make money from the restaurant alone?

I’ve always been a multitasker, I get excited about things. And, look, I’m resting on doctor’s orders! I was only able to balance a career with my three children because of the support network I always had around me, especially my mother, who passed away two months ago. Today, my daughters Floriana and Julia are my support.

What is your opinion about the relationship between famous chefs and advertising?

I’m not against it and I’ve done a lot. I was an ambassador for Tramontina, I did campaigns for Pão de Açúcar, Pratika and Varig ovens, I created TV shows sponsored by JBS, I developed recipes for Pomarola. But you can’t link your name to any brand. I already did a campaign, years ago, for a margarine brand. I accepted with my heart in hand, because margarine is never a good product. Today I wouldn’t do it, but at the time I was out of money, with the tickets arriving. That’s why I don’t judge, I understand the human side of those who accept.

His guava soufflé has been widely copied and is always featured in articles about the authorship of recipes. Is there still room for this kind of discussion?

For me, it was never an issue. The best thing to record authorship of a recipe is to publish it. And always do better than others. If people like it, there’s no stopping them from copying.

What was your buoy not to sink in the pandemic?

The mental float was the creation of the products, which occupied me a lot. The financial one was delivery, which I launched on March 18. Designer Daniel Kondo was impeccable, he created the packaging free of charge. But I fired 15 people and borrowed money to pay the terminations, because I don’t have a partner-investor. I had 400 bottles of wine in stock, I had to negotiate with suppliers. Some were partners and paid in installments, others were not. At least I own half of the property. If it was in a shopping mall or had several units, it would have broken. Current governments have not helped at all. The federal… No comments, right? But the state government also failed to look at the small business owner. We are little fleas treated like big companies. The pandemic was a joke. Of course, restrictions had to be implemented, but they closed the restaurants and did not control public transport. We pay a gigantic bill by ourselves and the result is there, a lot of broken people. Now comes the elections, everyone will get what they deserve. Nobody will be reelected.

Were you afraid of dying when you suffered the heart attacks?

Not dying, but having a stroke and having serious sequelae, like my mother did. I changed my routine. Today I do yoga, pilates and walks, I rethought the food. The next book, which should become a platform, will be about this: how to eat delicious food based on ingredients that are good for your health. I’m not crazy to say that no one can eat fried food, but there are balanced ways to do it. Eating less meat, for example. I have just created a brustolada polenta made from Creole corn, which goes to the table with a creamy mushroom sauce and a grilled eringui mushroom, like a steak.

What remains to be done?

Some time ago, me and Néli Pereira [mixologista e pesquisadora] we wrote a project inspired by the work of critic Jonathan Gold, from Los Angeles, which revealed kitchen talent on the outskirts of the city. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s something I want to do. And having a beach house to go to from time to time.

What will São Paulo’s restaurants look like 30 years from now?

I see everyone eating better. The food will be more and more healthy. We only got used to eating so much meat because it was a cheap product, but that has changed. Everyone will have to eat more vegetables and consume fish sparingly, because the planet can’t take it anymore. Sophisticated places won’t go away, but most establishments will be simpler. This excess of service in the salon, typical of Brazil, will end. It will be possible to work with leaner and better paid teams. That’s why I keep thinking: am I even smaller than I already am?