Something happens when you cross the red revolving door that indicates the entrance to the Ritz, a restaurant installed in a two-story house on Alameda Franca, in the Jardins region, in São Paulo, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on November 17th.
The biggest symbol of the address, the red door acts as a type of portal for visitors, who leave the gray São Paulo to find, inside, the red sofas, marble-topped tables and blackboards with city landscapes drawn in chalk. that give a retro feel to space. Atmosphere that dialogues with the cool soul of the restaurant, which, with its four decades, is still trendy.
The house, opened in 1981 by the couple Maria Helena Guimarães and Arthur Guimarães (1941-1989), was a pioneer in several aspects, such as offering wine by the glass, giving the customer the option of choosing the hamburger meat point and hiring university students like waiters.
To understand the history of the Ritz, you have to travel to 1960s London, where Maria Helena, Marilove, and Arthur lived for seven years. There, they taught Portuguese and worked in restaurants as “do everything”, learning the backstage of the business. They experienced the cultural effervescence of that time and brought, in their luggage, influences from the cosmopolitan capital that they would incorporate when opening their own restaurant, in São Paulo.
The idea for the red door also came from London, and the inspiration came from an advertisement for a 1970s pub that Maria Helena saw, whose jingle said: “Two lovely red doors”.
Maria Helena says she learned how to cook in the race. Along with her husband, she welcomed friends at home for lunch and dinner—people like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Zé Celso and Norma Bengell. She says that at one of those dinners, she heard Gil say, about one of his recipes: “Anyone who doesn’t like this couscous is dumb”.
In 1974, they returned to Brazil and decided to open their own business to earn money. They started, in 1980, with a snack bar, the Sandwich, which had only 13 stools, and served pies, soups and freshly made cold sandwiches.
The venture was successful and the duo saw that they needed to expand the business. The opportunity came when a friend offered the dot at 1,088 Alameda Franca to make the Sandwich into something bigger.
Thus, in 1981, the Ritz was born, a mixture of pub and restaurant for simple food, installed in a two-story house that used to house a dye shop. The menu combined family and travel recipes and incorporated dishes from other countries, such as hamburgers, brownies and pasta, and Brazilian dishes and snacks, such as rice balls —Maria Helena’s mother’s recipe— and meat croquettes. But, who made the fame were the hamburgers.
The restaurant became an extension of the dinners the couple hosted in the 1960s and 1970s in their London kitchen. With them came the distinguished guests, and, in a few months, the place became a hit.
“It was all great fun. The Ritz opened and became a center for poets, for intellectuals, because we already came from an artistic world”, says Maria Helena. “It was by word of mouth. When we opened, it didn’t have this status as a restaurant. Afterwards, cuisine became fashionable.”
More than a place to eat, the Ritz has become a space to see and be seen, a meeting and celebration that has marked and continues to mark generations.
The couple would also open the Radar Tantã concert hall, in Bom Retiro, which served as a stage for the rock scene in São Paulo, and, in 1985, the America chain, which changed the city’s concept of fast food. In 1994, Maria Helena would open Spot, another hot spot in the city.
In 1990, the Ritz began to lose the shine of the golden times and Maria Helena, involved with the America restaurant, saw that it needed to renovate to recover customers. He then invited new partners, who remain until today: Lygia Lopes, who helped design recipes for a new menu, and Sergio Kalil, who took care of the salon.
Even renovated, the menu kept the clientele’s favorites, which continue today, such as the chicken pie with salad, the rice balls and, of course, the hamburgers.
The tables and the bar counter were once again frequented by a varied public. “It was one of the trendiest restaurants I had. No one would walk into the Ritz and say, ‘Whoa, this isn’t for me.’ Things were very segmented, and the Ritz was a place for everyone,” says Kalil. The site was also known for becoming a meeting place for the LGBTQIA+ community.
The house’s wait staff was made up of university students, coming out of courses such as philosophy and theater, who recommended everything from dishes to movies — and were frequently commented on for their beauty. “It was a help to earn money and continue studying”, explains Maria Helena.
On the 20th anniversary of the Ritz, the partners opened a second unit, in Itaim Bibi. In 2011, a third came out, at the Iguatemi mall. In 2020, it arrived at the Market Place shopping mall, while the Itaim Bibi unit closed to make way for a real estate development.
And then the pandemic arrived. “The delivery was very strong, so we managed not to fire anyone”, says Maria Helena. Like many other businesses in the sector, they made loans. The long-lived restaurant withstood the crisis caused by the pandemic, which caused the closure of places that had been operating for decades in the city, such as Marcel, Abu-Zuz and Pasv.
Forty years later, the Ritz maintains an eclectic audience and a young and trendy aura, while maintaining tradition, but without fear of renewal. The house’s longevity, the owners believe, has to do with the good service and quality of the food.
“We went through so many periods and we survived, navigating. Food is something that brings people together”, says Maria Helena. “It’s cool that in this country, where it’s so hard to get anything done, a place can survive for 40 years.”
Kalil is already thinking about some plans for the future. “I think there’s still one more Ritz in town,” he says.
Exceptionally this Wednesday night, the 17th, the restaurant will be closed for a party for the employees of the house.
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
