Los Chocos: Closed-Door Dining in Mendoza
Run by a duo of two men named Martin, each meal is a dinner party. And though that may seem confusing at first, their system worked quite flawlessly: Martin 1 in the kitchen, Martin 2 in the dining room. Because seating is limited at the home-style dining table, dinner guests begin as strangers and by third course have forged unlikely friendships.
The Martins believe in cocina del terruño, regional cuisine, made with ingredients that are bought daily and sourced locally. “The concept of our kitchen is that we use Mendoza products that are grown in season,” said Martin 1. “Everyone already knows our wines are amazing,” he said with a confident grin, “now we want to show that Mendoza food is amazing too – and it comes from the same terroir.” Though closed door restaurants tend to ring of exclusivity, when I arrived at Los Chocos, every door was wide open. 
I sat patiently relishing the first course: homemade fry bread topped with chicken pate, caramelized quince, baby endive, and a drizzle of olive oil. And though it was a delicious combination of texture – the creaminess of the pate, the tender sweetness of the roasted quince and the crisp saltiness of the bread, my attention was elsewhere. Fixated on the saloon style swinging doors that led out of the dining room and into … well, I wasn’t exactly sure.
The source, I assumed. As Martin 2 would come and go on occasion, whisking bread, plates, and wine in and out, as the hinged doors swung in his wake. In a momentary lull between whisking in & out, I followed Martin 2 through the narrow threshold and into the bright light and sweet yeasty aromas of the back of the house. Unlike the slick stainless steel and clangs of cutlery that I had grown to accustom to in the restaurant business, this was something entirely different. Small by most standards, the house kitchen was unremarkably familiar: single oven, small sink, limited counter space, and across the room, hunched over the butcher-block island and four small clay bowls, Martin 1 sprinkled pumpkin seeds onto the roasted squash soup that would be our next course.
Having entered the kitchen fully armed with notebook and camera, I half expected to see a flurry of activity – a quick wipe down of the cutting boards, a dash to hide the dirty dishpans – but there was none. Quite the contrary. It was as though I had interrupted a kind of culinary tai chi that had been taking place on this side of the swinging doors. Beside the clay soup bowls, Martin 1 had arranged a pallete of garnishes: sweet chili confit, toasted pumpkin seeds, freshly shredded parmesan, cilantro oil and a dollop of heavy cream. Though he was ever so inconspicuously observed, Martin continued with what appeared to be a much practiced routine: plating each portion and placing each garnish with the same tenderness as of an artist sweeping his brush across a canvas.
After several minutes of staring at him work and trying to predict what flavors would appear next, I left him to his work. Back at the dinner table there was more wine to be poured. More travel stories to be swapped in between spoonfuls of roasted butternut squash soup, and still 2 more courses to go.
Braised goat roll over a bed of herbed potato puree and a micro green salad dressed to the delicious nines in a citrus vinaigrette. Roasted fruit salad atop a moist chocolate cake, served with a creamy cedron (citrus herb) sauce and…somehow, through black magic or careful coaxing, martin had made the sugar dance, turning tiny lifeless crystals into a waterfall of amber spindles and periwinkle petals. It was something fanciful. And though the fruit salad and brownie nestled beneath it delicately capped off the night’s flavors, the presentation was carried the meal across the finish line. For a moment, it felt as though the evening would end there, but the team of two Martins were not quite done. Before we were sent home – blue teeth, full tummies and all – they included us in a Los Chocos tradition: finger painting. Each of the guests in turn dipped his or her digits into an array of colors and left a finger print – or several – on the canvas at the foot of the dining table. 
“Every single night the table is full of different people. And they come here and get to know each other and exchange ideas. They´re different people, from different places, but they all like food & wine, so really already at the beginning they have something important in common,” said Martin 2. In the end the team of two Martins are left in the wake of their international guests stopping through, who leave with a piece of the Los Chocos flavor & warmth, and who leave behind a signature in the guest book and a tiny fingerprint on the wall. And somewhere, to the upper left, are three tiny pinky finger prints left in indelible blue paint, crafted by a lone journalist, wine drinker and seeker of delicious things. 
The Winning Wine Pairing:
Renacer Enamore 2011, paired with braised goat roll, rustic potato puree and micro green salad. A red blend consisting of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Bonarda crafted under the direction of Renacer Winery and Amarone producer Allegrini. Intense medium ruby with violet tones set the stage for soothing black fruit aromas, medium body, soft tannins and present – but not protagonistic – acidity. Enamore is aged 12 months in new French oak barrels, which impart to the wine warm spice notes that interplay with the concentrated sweetness of dried fruit aromas.