Mission:

Barros Luco was created to introduce New Yorkers to authentic Chilean cuisine. We work hard to keep the food and menu as authentic as possible and prepare every item fresh and from scratch; with special attention to the breads and sauces. More broadly, our goal is to promote the unique and rich identity of Chile’s culture and cuisine to the US.

How Barros Luco came about:

It wasn’t long after I moved to New York City that I began to miss my favorite Chilean dishes, like the Chacarero Completo topped with melted cheese, avocado, tomato and string beans or our famous empanada de pino. I couldn’t understand how in Manhattan you could find food from pretty much every corner of the world, yet there was no place to get any of the foods I had grown up with. I knew of a couple of places outside of Manhattan, but unfortunately, they were too far to travel to regularly. After a short time it dawned on me; why not open a Chilean restaurant in Manhattan? It would be a great way to introduce New Yorkers to the unique cuisine and culture of my country, as well as a great way to satisfy my craving for Chilean food. Plus, I was tired of the limited lunch options which mostly consisted of pizza, deli, Mexican or Chinese.

While I was pursuing a career in Finance, the idea of opening a Chilean eatery was always in the back of my mind. It wasn't until I was attending NYU Stern for my MBA and taking entrepreneurship classes that I decided to seriously explore the idea of opening a Chilean restaurant. So I signed up for Stern's 10th Annual Business Plan Competition in the fall of 2008 and began figuring out what it would take to make my dream come true.

Then in March 2009, after being laid off from a large international bank, I decided to take my chances with opening my Chilean eatery. All my work on the business plan showed me there was no better time than the present to put my vision into action and do something that I could really be passionate about. So in April I took off for Chile and spent 3 weeks researching, eating and even taking a bread-baking course.

Once I got back to NYC in May, I got to work on finding the right location for my concept and a Chilean chef who would understand what I wanted to accomplish and be able to help execute my ideas. Luckily, my father knew of a chef on Long Island named Juan Pablo Pizarro, who had trained in Chile and came highly recommended. He had been operating a small Mexican restaurant and was open to meeting with me. After a couple of meetings, I knew I found my chef, and JP was excited to take on a new challenge and get back to his native cuisine.

Then, exactly one year after the start of the NYU Business Plan Competition, I opened the doors of Barros Luco to hungry New Yorkers.

Gracias,
Carlos