Javier Bardauil remembers family gatherings growing up in Argentina where beef, chicken and other staples like chorizo and morcillo were slow-roasted over a large open fire as part of a South America ritual called asado, similar to the American cookout.
Barduil, now a popular Motor City chef, has spent the past two years introducing Detroit to the ancestral asado technique, which has come to define his minimalist cooking style.
He will continue to consume the city in the throes of his fire-fueled formula with Puma Detroit, a second Argentine restaurant expected to open this July at 4725 16th St. in Core City.
“The fire defines me,” Barduil said. “My own approach on food with fire is my signature. It’s the way I express myself. So fire, through my simple way of cooking, it’s who I am.”
Puma Detroit will sit across the street from Bardauil’s first creation Barda, which became Detroit’s first Argentine restaurant when it opened in 2021.
Barda was a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for best new restaurant. Puma Detroit will inherit a lot of that fiery South American flair, but it will be a much simpler rendition of its upscale predecessor.
“Barda is my alter ego. Puma will be more casual,” Bardauil said. “When I first came here, I was trying to do something similar with Barda but I couldn’t. The building, the economy, the COVID. All of those things were against me when I was trying to build a restaurant and make it more accessible. That’s why the idea was growing in me and I’ve been trying to bring this idea alive.”
No gas is used in Barda’s kitchen. Chefs only cook with wood fire or charcoal. That same standard will apply at Puma Detroit.
Bardauil specializes in what he described as a more primal way of cooking that he said is inherent to his homeland. That’s juxtaposed against the red neon lighting and upbeat house music that shapes the atmosphere at Barda.
“In Argentina, there’s no way that you can cook without fire,” he explained. “So the opposites are very strong in the sense that it’s like people are having dinner in a disco. That’s why the message is very powerful and we are trying to do the same with Puma.”
While Barda is his lifelong nickname, Bardauil christened Puma Detroit after the South American cougar, which migrated to the northern continent at least 200,000 years ago. According to conservationists, the highly adaptive big cat has one of the most abundant species populations in the Western Hemisphere.
“Choripan, for me, is like the puma. It’s coming from the south to conquer you guys,” Bardauil said with a chuckle. “People from Detroit embraced the idea so fast and I so honored to be here and getting this very warm welcome from you guys. Michiganders are really open-minded. That’s something I can tell because I brought here something that’s really different and it was a success. It was really amazing for me.”
Puma Detroit will become the latest addition to a corridor that already includes Barda and the Detroit Institute of Bagels. Just two blocks away, Paradise Natural Foods’ plant-based café is poised to open on the campus of the LOVE Building later this year.
“I think we are building a really nice spot in the city,” Barduil said. “It’s already a destination place now. But soon, it will be really crowded and I think people will come here just to hang out in the bars with all the options.”
Like Barda, Puma Detroit’s menu will feature choripan, a traditional Argentinian sandwich filled with grilled chorizo sausage.
A ceviche bar in the center of the restaurant will serve different versions of sushi native to Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and other South American countries.
A variety of beers will also be on tap at the full-service bar to round out the experience.
“We’re going to try to keep the wow factor alive the same way we do at Barda,” he said. “It’s still south American, there’s still fire. I think it will be very similar in the energy.”
