Puerta Cerrada Complications?

[la_guachita]

Puerta Cerradas. There are a few 'ex-pat' owned ones that have come and gone. Considering the low-overhead (no rent, no taxes, can only buy seasonal foods, etc.) they are a prety good gig.

Does any one know of Puerta Cerradas that have closed because the owners were nervous about AFIP or because of security issues or other concerns? Are there any that went ahead and opened a proper restaurant despite little incentive to do so? (I am aware Chef Mun moved on to Mendoza).

Does anybody find it odd that they get covered in major periodicals such as the NYT, while an underground restaurant in NYC that evades taxes and has no health inspections would get covered as a news phenomena instead of a dining feature?

 

[Ries]

Puerta Cerradas. There are a few 'ex-pat' owned ones that have come and gone. Considering the low-overhead (no rent, no taxes, can only buy seasonal foods, etc.) they are a prety good gig.

Does any one know of Puerta Cerradas that have closed because the owners were nervous about AFIP or because of security issues or other concerns? Are there any that went ahead and opened a proper restaurant despite little incentive to do so? (I am aware Chef Mun moved on to Mendoza).

Does anybody find it odd that they get covered in major periodicals such as the NYT, while an underground restaurant in NYC that evades taxes and has no health inspections would get covered as a news phenomena instead of a dining feature?

I dont know any of them personally enough to ask, but my guess, based on having been to several, is that they open and close based on the chef's personal lives. Security is not really an issue- they are low key. I mean, obviously, anyone can be robbed, but I have never heard of one being hit. How would they be more vulnerable than a regular restaurant, which has open, unlocked doors, an advertised address, and far more cash on hand?

I know that the woman who used to run Sifones and Dragones,Mariana, which was one of the earliest Puerta Cerradas, eventually closed it for personal reasons, and now runs a regular restaurant- she is at the cafe at libros de pasajes.
Several other of the puerta cerradas are pretty much real restaurants- treinta sillas, for example. So, yes, some of the chefs go on to open "real" restaurants.

As far as the New York Times, or other mainstream US publications, you are wrong- several of the hippest chefs in NYC and LA run very similar "pop up" underground restaurants, and they get mucho coverage. In fact, I just read a big article about a company that is trying to make these popups a national chain type thing- Dinner Lab.
https://dinnerlab.com
In the US, they often skirt the law quite widely. There is a famous chef in LA who started out with totally illegal popups, and now has a real restaurant- and he is a media darling, and has been all along. Ari Taymor- his restaurant, Alma, is very hip these days.
http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chefs_recipes/15331/Ari_Taymor.htm

then, there is this prodigy kid-
http://diningwithflynn.com

USA today mainstream enough for you?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/food-and-wine/news-festivals-events/2014/10/13/fall-pop-up-restaurants-events/17051915/

Its a worldwide trend.
In LA or NYC, startup costs for a gourmet type restaurant run into the millions, and that is a risk, even with rich backers, that many chefs dont want to take- so these quasi legal, informal, cheap experimental restaurants, some pop ups that are one time only, others semi-regular, are happening all over, but especially in expensive highly regulated cities like NYC or Buenos Aires.

Oh- and here is an article from the NYT, in which, 2 years ago, they claim that argentines stole the idea from the USA and Europe, where many of the chefs worked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/travel/the-pop-up-surfaces-in-buenos-aires.html?_r=0

 

[BaltRochGirl]

They aren't all illegal, I know Casa Saltshaker is a real business and I'm sure some of the others are as well. So that would mean health regulations on the kitchen and taxes.

Sorry to report that Chef Mun left Mendoza, I believe he's relocated to Germany now.

 

[lucha54]

Cocina Sunae also is legit - maybe as a monotributo but anyway, the sign is there hidden near the bathroom just cuz it's ugly and she has good taste.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Ari's main gig is car mechanic I think.?
He surely have very grease monkey finger nails, no way I can cook with that kind of uncleaness to serve a paying patron.
http://www.tastingta.../Ari_Taymor.htm

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

NOLA recently became a gastro pub. Which is a pretentious way of saying pub with food. Albeit good food.

 

[la_guachita]

Thanks for all the links Ries, I guess it is evident that I haven't been back to NYC in a while. When I lived there I had a newspaper restaurant review column and during Giuliani's regime, at least, they had health inspectors all up in their grills so that surprises me. I was going on what a girlfriend who moved back to NYC from BA told me -- that the hidden restaurants are the city's worst kept secret and usually contained within other business establishments or one-off events instead of on-going, but I'm glad to know they are proliferating.

They aren't all illegal, I know Casa Saltshaker is a real business. So that would mean health regulations on the kitchen and taxes.

Are you sure? I don't think coding laws allow a private residence to have a restaurant, so I doubt they get health inspections.

At any rate, thanks for the opinions, had an interview on the topic today and thought there may be some aspects I hadn't considered.