Original subtitles

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain getting colder ♪

- ♪ La, la - ♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

- ♪ Sha la, la, la - Sha la, la, la, la ♪

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la

♪

I've been here before,

this coastline,

this city.

I was looking for something then,

but instead I found this.

♪

Uruguay,

the tiny, underappreciated South American country

tucked between Argentina and Brazil.

Only 3 million people live here,

half of them in the capital city of Montevideo.

I love this city. I love this country.

I mean, there's a vibe here that just...

It's unlike any other place on the continent.

It's the opposite of New York in a lot of ways.

Like, people aren't pushy here, you know?

In New York, everybody's, like, sort of

hungry and pushing and moving.

Here it's extremely laid back.

The only competition is soccer. Well-

- That's the only time that you get competitive,

and it gets extreme.

Ignacio Mattos is the chef/owner

of three very successful restaurants in New York City,

Estela,

Cafe Altro Paradiso,

and Flora Bar.

He's been a New Yorker for the past 12 years,

but he comes from here.

Uruguay is a pretty chill and relaxed place

where you just can disconnect from everything.

For me, it's a melting pot.

It's mostly Spanish and Italian immigrant food.

Bar Arocena in Montevideo's

Carrasco neighborhood specializes

in Uruguay's unofficial national sandwich,

the legendary Chivito,

24 hours a day,

seven days a week, since 1923.

A prince, a king, a Gargantua among sandwiches,

this terror-inspiring heap of protein

is built out of steak, ham, bacon, cheese,

hard-boiled egg, mayo, and garnishes.

That's, like, a perfect sandwich.

Now, last time I was here,

I have to admit that after about six days

I would've killed somebody for a vegetable.

I mean, I didn't see a single...

You're gonna feel like that very soon.

♪

"Nacho," as he's called by nearly everyone,

started his career at the age of 17

with a master of fire and burning wood,

Argentinean chef Francis Mallmann,

and stayed with him for ten years before moving to the U.S.

Working for Francis Mallmann, I felt at home.

They were just a bunch of outsiders

that they found a place where they belonged,

you know, finding this new culture and, like, new flavors.

♪

- How often do you come? - Every two years.

And how long do you spend here?

I usually spend a week.

- Why so little? - We live in New York.

You know what I'm talking about.

- Yeah, I do. - I mean, I love it here,

but it's... you know, you have to commit to it here.

But, you know, you were born here.

You spent your childhood here.

Do you feel the way I feel about this place?

It... it is special, right? I-I think it's special.

But I'm so far detached from it...

Right.

...but I can go back to that,

and I can just connect.

Well, we'll see. Over the next few days,

we'll see if you can just slide right back in.

Oh, we will. Oh, we will.

There's no other way out. There's no way around it.

You have to.

♪

♪

♪

Things to know about Uruguay.

It's progressive. Weed is legal.

Abortions are easily accessible.

Gay marriage, universal healthcare,

free education including college,

and democracy is no joke here.

96% of eligible Uruguayans voted in the last election.

Compare that to barely 60% here in the U.S.

There's something really special about this place.

You like it?

It's really one of my favorite countries.

It's really... Amazing.

Many Uruguayans could say that it is the worst place of the...

Well, a lot of it... That's weird.

Some of the Uruguayans I've spoken to

are very ambivalent... Yeah.

- About your country. - "I like it, but you know..."

And this I don't really understand.

I meet Carina Novarese, a journalist and editor

with the newspaper "El Observador"

at Escaramuza Cafe and Bookstore.

I think this thing that Uruguayan has

that is kind of pessimistic

and is always... Sometimes complains too much

about what we have comes from before.

1930s, '40s, and after the Second World War,

this was one of the Americas as they used to call us.

There are few reminders of colonial days in Montevideo,

but plenty of evidence that this is the chief city

of a dynamic and progressive country.

It was a pretty cool society.

Healthcare was free, cradle-to-grave.

Uh, education free. Also a very big medium class.

That is very important for Uruguay.

- Right. - That began to change

after the '60s and '70s.

One could say that the prospect of

socialist, or God forbid, communist movements

in Latin America in the '60s

was an area of great concern for the U.S.

and its more authoritarian-leaning

allies in the region.

So the emergence of the radical National Liberation Movement,

known as the Tupamaros, was cause for alarm at the CIA.

A lot of things happened in the '60s

in the context of Latin America.

A lot of students, young people,

were very active in politics.

There weren't the low classes, as you could say.

They weren't the poor people who were doing this.

These are middle-class kids and highly radicalized.

Yeah. At the beginning, I think,

they really thought they could change the system.

With covert and overt support by our country,

a state of emergency was declared,

and a right-wing dictatorship

grabbed hold of the instruments of power

launching a period of repression that

lasted from 1973 until 1985.

Supported and often guided by CIA officers

trained in what we call these days

"enhanced interrogation methods,"

some of the most brutal bastards

in the ugliest military juntas on Earth

crushed minds and bodies in cells across Latin America.

What kind of people were finding themselves swept up?

- Especially teachers. - Teachers?

- Professors from university. - Troublesome intellectuals.

Sometimes lawyers or...

Something like 3% to 5% of the entire population,

uh, had gone through the prison system.

I mean, we're not talking about incarceration.

We're talking about... No, no, no, no.

They were tortured and then

kept inside a prison system

that was specifically designed to pretty much destroy them.

In the mid 1980s, the people of Uruguay had had enough.

Massive demonstrations and strikes finally

forced the government to hold elections,

and the military was swept from power.

We're now a democratic country since 1984.

- And how's it going? - I think it's going well.

We have troubles. We are in Latin America.

We'd like to believe that we are a European country.

We are not.

- But are you optimistic? - I am.

I am.

I don't see, like, a huge crisis coming.

But also when they came, you never realized before too.

♪

♪

When people think of this

often overlooked little country,

if they think of it at all, they tend to think of it

patronizingly as Argentina's little brother.

Not so.

And that attitude pushes people here

to think of themselves in many ways

as existentially in opposition

to their bigger, louder neighbor.

Where were you born? Are you from Montevideo?

No, no, I'm from Argentina.

Is it a big difference culturally,

Argentina and Uruguay?

Here, if you're a little bit courageous,

then you made it, you know? It's a scene here.

Like, to be flashy, it... it's a scene.

To be successful, it's not something that is one scene.

You got to do it quietly.

There's a saying, "[speaking Spanish]."

It means "Stay in the small thing," you know?

Right..

It's something that defines... Right.

Uruguay in a way.

Lucia Soria is the chef and owner of Jacinto

in Montevideo's old city.

She worked with Nacho back in the Mallmann years.

What was it like for a woman

working in the restaurant industry in the early 2000s?

I was very lucky because Francis, he had, like,

this army of women... no? Around him.

You were surrounded by women from the beginning?

Yes. Yes.

Is that an unusual situation in Uruguay do you think?

- I mean... - I'm not asking you, man.

You're... you're a man. I'm asking...

Oh, I sound like a woman.

The food here takes its cues from Spain and Italy.

Homemade gnocchi with mushrooms and pumpkin.

Prawns with avocado, apple, and wasabi.

Beef tartare with quail egg.

So when you were first planning the menu for this place

and thinking about the concept...

- Yeah. - What inspired you?

I wanted to have, like, a small restaurant,

but that you could have a very nice everything,

but small, you know? You want fish?

Very nice and a little vegetables, you know?

Right. This is the most vegetables

I've ever seen in this country all in one time.

We're all driven people

at this table. Yeah.

You know, you went all the way to New York.

You have how many restaurants in New York now?

Just the one? Two? Three.

- Three. - Three.

- Nice number, man. - You're not lazy.

- No. - It's just a little dump.

You could have seven.

I'm gonna guess you're like this too.

We're all driven people, so where is your happy place?

Well, I got married on Saturday, and...

- This past Saturday? - Yes.

That was the day that I felt happy all day.

But it's good because you cannot have happiness all the time, no?

Happiness is a thing that... No, no.

Happiness all the time is fascism.

- No. It doesn't exist, man. - It's oppressive.

It's oppressive. You're not doing anything.

But if you have a few moments a week,

will you just go, "Oh, shit. I'm happy"?

- Yeah. - It sneaks up on you.

♪

Which is more satisfying,

eating a good meal... Yeah.

Or cooking a good meal

for somebody you really care about?

I think eating.

I... I actually enjoy both,

but I don't want to hear anything.

I don't want you to talk to me.

I just want to see your expression, like,

seeing you're connecting

without having to have a dialogue about it.

I'm not sure.

Cooking for customers, that's a different experience.

Making an omelet for someone... Mm.

The morning after. Just stay in.

Yeah. It's really the best.

The guy that I marry,

I was with him for the first time.

And I cooked three eggs, two asparagus,

and five cherry tomatoes with my heart.

And we had this small but very beautiful

breakfast, brunch, lunch.

It's the best thing ever. You're gonna make me cry.

- You know? - You're gonna make me cry.

There's some basic urge that made

all of us at this table want to cook.

- Yeah. - There is a desire to

say something you can't say, to nurture.

So basic, and it's so beautiful that it's so basic.

♪

♪

Hablan por la Espalda got together in 1996

when they were all just teenagers.

They were considered pioneers

of the DIY hardcore movement here.

Two decades on, they're still one of

the country's most popular bands.

And they recently opened for Iggy Pop.

♪

Right, so what does everybody do here? What do you do?

- I'm psychologist. - You're a psychologist?

This will come in useful later.

Musician and a... I'm a writer too.

- Writer and, uh, restaurateur. - Yeah.

I work in post production.

- Post production? - Yeah.

That could be... actually this is a very useful table.

Fermin, the lead singer and songwriter,

grew up with Nacho.

Tuca and Valentin play guitar.

What do people like to listen to in Uruguay?

It's a very musical country, I think.

You know Candombe? Yeah.

Okay, that's our, like, our native rhythm.

And the folklore from here, it used to be called...

"protest music..." Protest music.

So it was, like, late '60s, early '70s,

was the most popular music.

But then came the dictatorship. Right, so no more of that.

And everybody had to leave the country.

Yeah, dictatorships are usually,

like, usually bad for music. Yeah.

They're good for the underground music scene,

but not so good for the...

Not for the popular music.

Do you want to smoke? Yeah, sure.

- I brought some. - Excellent. Good idea.

I... I am permitted to smoke weed on camera now.

- Yeah. You are in Uruguay. - I am observing local custom.

♪

Proceed to smoke weed.

It's cool. Everybody's doing it.

Somebody call the elfin Jeff Sessions.

He'll shit himself.

How long has weed been legal here?

- One year. - A year?

- One year, yeah. - A year? Awesome.

But here, like, you could smoke in the street...

- Always. - For always.

Do you have dispensaries?

Do you have stores that you can go through?

Yes, that's the problem here now.

The pharmacies cannot sell because the...

- The international banks... - Right.

Don't want to accept drug money.

So if I were to open a marijuana hydroponic farm...

You can have your club.

All right, when... When we starting this?

I don't know, man.

Let me smoke another joint.

There, you got it.

♪

♪

What to do next?

Pizza and beers, yo, at Bar Las Flores.

So, uh, here's an interesting question.

What is the national pathology of Uruguay?

- It is the envy from... - Envy?

Yes, Uruguayan very envy.

You always envy, like...

I cannot envy a very big guitarist, guitar player.

I cannot envy Paco de Lucia.

I will envy this kind of guitarist

that plays almost like me, just a little better.

- Just a little better. - Just a little better.

Yeah.

The envy is between brothers.

Right. Is this a destructive envy?

Do Uruguayans want other Uruguayans to succeed?

- As long as they're far enough. - Yeah.

Not my neighbor. Not in my neighborhood.

This is an honest man. I really like you.

I love this Uruguayan. He's in Mexico. He's great.

I feel like I'm talking to myself.

♪

The pizza here is a bizarro stoner hybrid

topped with thin chickpea flatbread.

Why? I don't know.

Makes sense though.

The one on top of there is a fainá.

You should put fainá on top of the pizza.

Really?

♪

We call this pizza no cheese now.

- Yeah. - He's a vegan, so he's...

Really?

I don't know if I can work with you.

22 years, I'm vegan.

- Vegan? - Yes, in Uruguay.

Wow, that is a revolutionary position.

They used to be vegan too.

- Yeah. - You are such an asshole.

He used to be very vegan militant.

So what did you eat?

- Pizza. - Yeah, but no cheese?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

And this is on health grounds, or you hate to herd animals?

I don't know.

Okay, if you had to kill Fred Durst or a cow?

- Oh... - Or a cow.

Fred. Fred.

Look, this one. Iggy Pop or a cow?

I like Iggy Pop,

but I will have to kill him.

- No? - No!

No.

Oh, no.

- I just saw him live. - You're a monster.

You are not my therapist.

♪

♪

♪

All right, meat. I want meat.

And this is the place. You want meat?

Yes. Yes, I do.

This must be the place.

His friends say Marcello Quiben looks German,

hence the name of his small neighborhood restaurant

"Parisa el Aleman."

The beating heart of the place is, of course, the Parisa,

a grill where dripping meats of many kinds

are slowly cooked over glowing wood coals.

Why is this an Uruguayan thing? Why here?

I mean, I know you're a cattle country.

I think the first settlers, when they came in,

they realized there was nothing else but raising cattle.

- Right. - And they let it grow wild.

- Uh-huh. - And they over-populated.

And, you know, gauchos, they would roam the land,

and they would kill it on the spot and actually cook it...

- Right there. - ...right there on the spot.

And actually, like, a lot of times with the skin on.

Really?

Morcilla, or blood sausage.

Oh, now this is what it's all about for me now.

Every great culture does this.

It's moist. I love it.

Right when you kill it, it's pretty amazing.

Look, when they kill me, that's the way I want to go.

You know, keep the heart beating,

pump the blood into the bucket,

let the village women come and make sausage.

Then chorizo.

Then steak... gotta have that.

In this case, rib eye.

You should spend more time in this country.

I don't know. I've been gone for 17, 18 years.

Yeah.

It feels kind of like the same.

That's the magic about this place.

It's like, it feels like traveling into the past.

I don't see Starbucks on every corner.

I don't see McDonald's. It's sort of unspoiled, right?

This is pretty awesome. I mean, am I missing something?

Is there something that really sucks about this country

that I don't... I've not seen?

I think this... it's a society that's, like, very patriarchal.

Ah.

And it has a lot of colonial tradition that overshadows...

Yeah, but compared to what? Compared to who?

Who's doing really great in that department?

Denmark?

It's, like, the happiest country on Earth.

I hate happy.

I mean, you want to be surrounded by happy people?

Do you notice how melancholic this place is and nostalgic?

It's like you walk on the street,

and you just, like, feel it. Yeah.

It's, like, the melancholy, it's...

I like that.

♪

Nacho Mattos grew up

about 45 minutes north of the capital

in Santa Lucia, a small town of 16,000 people

surrounded by farmland and cattle and sheep ranches.

I think as a child, it was an incredible place to grow up.

You know, I like escaping and going fishing on the river,

and that's pretty safe, you know?

Like, the doors were always open.

But I didn't feel like I fit in at all.

And I needed to find a place and a way to express myself.

We were raised as very liberal,

but at the same time, it's conservative.

As a teenager, it was kind of like everything the same.

It's just, you didn't feel that interesting.

And yeah, it wasn't fun as a teenager.

♪

His family own a dairy farm just outside of town.

Nacho's mother, Gloria, runs the farm

along with his brother, Leandro.

Nacho's sister, Rocio, lives in Montevideo

but comes home often for family meals like this.

What's the name of this town? You grew up here? This house?

- Santa Lucia. Yeah. - You grew up in this house?

Yes. For the most part, yeah.

It's beautiful. Why would you ever leave this place?

It's fantastic. He never liked this place.

- No? - No, never.

I felt like he had, like,

anger of being on such a small town.

He always had, like, been on the front.

I couldn't fit in here, so I get out of the house,

and I actually call her

and say that I wanted to go to culinary school.

"This is what I want to do.

I need support, and I pay you back."

And one year goes, and I drop it to work for Francis.

I... I love that you went from being a vegan to

working with Francis Mallmann... Yeah, yeah.

...who's, like, you know, the Satan of vegans.

What was at the dinner table when you grew up?

Mom wasn't that... it wasn't that skillful in the kitchen.

- Oh, that's cold, man. - I know, but it is true.

She was the one in charge.

So you grew up eating a lot of Italian food?

Yes.

Nacho's grandmother, Ercilia, was born here,

the child of Italian immigrants.

I grew up around my grandmother,

like, constantly cooking.

And that was her form of affection

and a way of, like,

showing that she cared and she love you.

♪

Her tucco, her version of Sunday gravy,

is made from porchetta, cured pork ribs,

and hunks of beef simmered for hours.

There's also matambre,

a local specialty of rolled stuffed beef

served alongside Russian salad.

So when did you start cooking?

I think... I think it was, like, my mom get divorced,

and I realized that she needed help,

and I start cooking as a way of support.

- Mm-hmm. - Then I decide to become vegan,

and she was like... She threw the towel.

And I was like... and and she stopped cooking for us.

So I start taking the initiative, and I start cooking.

Well, you had to because

you were the only vegan in all of Uruguay.

♪

How often does he come back?

- Two years? - It's been two years?

- Mm-hmm. - I like it. I like it.

I like it in a different way. I like it far away.

If he would find the thing to do here,

like, he would be happy,

but the things he wants to do are not here.

♪

Si? Yeah, it's good.

- It's so comforting. - Yeah.

This makes me happy.

♪

♪

♪

Fishing from kayaks is... is amazing.

First of all, it's easy, really easy.

You don't need any motor or nothing.

It's just bring the kayak to the shore

and paddle in.

♪

A couple of hours east of Montevideo, the coast,

and the seaside towns of high-gloss,

big money, Punta del Este,

and the slightly more laid back Jose Ignacio,

once a sleepy fishing village,

and now a Hamptonian vacation hotspot

for the money class from all over the world.

♪

Cantina del Vigia, thankfully, is open in the off season.

Diego Robino is a film producer and occasional fisherman,

and Clo Dimet is a chef and owner of

a posada in Jose Ignacio.

So what town is this? Where am I?

- This is Maldonado. - Maldonado.

And this is, like, the capital of all these fancy beach towns,

but this is where the working class people live.

It's the city where most people live all the year.

Cantina's chef/owner is Federico Desseno.

Like Nacho, another Francis Mallmann veteran.

Diego brought some fish he caught today.

We got empanadas with corn and shredded slow-cooked beef.

Ooh, nice. Love it.

Oh, I'm liking this meal already.

There's goat cheese and spinach croquettes.

- Mmm. - Nice.

- Look at the catch. - Oh, look at that.

- This is the catch of the day. - Beautiful.

♪

So today Diego went on one of the roughest day

in the ocean to get fish somehow.

We're talking about, like, hard work.

I mean, the kitchen is hard, but like, fishermen...

No, the fact that you are alone in the middle of the ocean

with all this destruction around you...

That's why we play soccer.

There are two wood-fired ovens producing

this thing, provoleta, a beautiful slab of cheese

which puffs up and inflates in the heat.

Wow.

Whoa, and this is the cheese?

The history... This is the cheese.

Normally if you're doing a grill with friends,

this is the only thing you will get that is not meat.

Whole-roasted suckling wild boar.

♪

Wow, that's spectacular.

And whole-roasted fish.

♪

- Whoa. - Fish.

- Fish. - Wow.

And milanesa.

Here in Uruguay, not veal as in Italy,

but a pounded, breaded, and fried hunk of beef

covered in tomato sauce, ham, and melted mozzarella cheese.

Oh, more cheese. All right.

Milanesa.

This is milanesa napolitana.

- Right. - And it's a typical dish.

And the people here eat a lot of milanesa.

- We grew up with this. - All the people.

Holy moley.

Yeah, you know this is good cold, too, right?

First thing in the morning?

Cold? It's great.

See, you have an instinctive sense in this country

of what people need.

♪

♪

How much you loving Uruguay?

You still loving it, or you change your mind?

I love it. It's beautiful, so laid back.

You haven't changed that...

Your mind a little bit? No.

Feel tense about anything, I smoke a little weed.

I feel better.

Yeah? I'm getting hungry actually.

Yeah, what's on the menu tonight?

Got some quinoa? Maybe some quinoa.

I don't think it exists, quinoa, here.

You might see it in some health store.

Yeah. I don't even know what it is.

I don't know that I've ever had it.

It's like, I used to really like kale,

I used to love kale, but now I don't want to eat it because...

You'd become pretty annoying.

They're making, like, smoothies out of the shit.

Are we doing steak?

If we can do steak, that's what you eat...

That's... that's what we have.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was thinking just off the top of my head.

"What do I want tonight? Uh...

How about meat? Yeah, yeah, meat."

I know where to go. I've actually never been.

This friend told me about it.

But the funny thing, it's a drive-thru.

Drive-thru steak?

I know. Like, I'm... surprised as you are.

Cocktails? Do we get cocktails in the drive-thru?

I doubt it, but I'm sure we can get some beer.

- All right, steak it is. - Let's do it.

♪

Diego wants you to know that his other car is a Ferrari.

♪

Hey, what's up, man?

Hey, so far it's working.

I think they use this in the desert.

Yeah, they're pretty common here, right, like, on the beach?

Not good for winter.

No.

♪

♪

Las Nenas for drive-thru steak.

A beer or...

- Cerveza. - Yeah, beer.

Okay, gracias.

♪

Gracias.

Do we have, uh, knives and forks somewhere?

Inside of each box.

They're there. Oh, okay.

You need potatoes.

Yeah, I got potatoes in there.

Yeah, this could be a challenge.

Hey, the meat's good.

You should bring your own cutlery, you know, next time.

Yeah.

♪

La Caracola is a party space on a strip of sand

about ten minutes outside of Jose Ignacio.

The ocean on one side, a lagoon on the other.

During the high season,

it's a regular hangout for over-the-top asados.

Today Nacho is supervising a meal for a bunch of friends.

Hey, guys.

What's going on in here?

Hey. How's it going?

- Very good. - So this is Martin.

- Hey, how are you? - How are you?

Martin Pittaluga is the co-owner of La Huella,

a restaurant in town that also serves

as the mother ship for this place.

- Right? - Man, what a spot.

- I mean, you look at this... - The weather is good?

The weather is difficult, but it's beautiful.

You'll stay the whole day.

You know, you arrive at 2:00, and you leave at 9:00.

Nice. So, jefe, what's cooking?

♪

So it's one of the spots in the fire oven.

Wow. Look at that, a whole fish baked in salt?

Yes.

♪

Some whole rib eye slabs.

Rib eyes. Wow.

Some suckling pig. It's not some snack.

That's no snack, man. That's a meal right there. Wow.

You want to help in the kitchen, or...

- The carving, yeah, man. - All right.

Everybody's here.

Fermin, the guys from the band, Lucia, Federico, Diego,

and it's time to eat.

Oh, yeah. Come on, it's perfect, right?

Right.

So how long has this place been here?

Like, about 12 years.

It started as, like, a shack or a house or a...

It used to be a little house on the beach with a bar.

You're not allowed to build here anymore, so

I bought all this land, and that's the only thing we can do.

♪

- Man, the food is delicious. - Yeah.

Look at us out here on a sandbar, middle of nowhere,

eating like gods.

But this is what I love about Uruguay, no?

Then you suddenly... You take a drive,

even, like, one hour and a half...

And you're someplace different.

And you're in a different world.

Good to see. I mean, this is really exciting here.

I love it here.

Every day he asks, "Are you sure?"

Every day. Every day. Hold on. Hold on.

- Do you really love it, Tony? - Every day.

- Do you Really? Really? - Shut up, I asked you once.

He says this... He says this every day.

Every day.

♪

♪