Congratulations to Alex Atala, chef and owner of D.O.M. in São Paulo, just named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People!
Atala has long been a star on the world’s restaurant scene, since opening D.O.M. in 1999, the restaurant has regularly appeared on “best” lists, last year earning the fourth slot in the World’s Best Restaurants list.
Growing up Atala was a rebel, sporting a Mohawk, both an amateur welterweight boxer and a DJ at the seminal São Paulo punk club Rose Bom Bom, according to the Wall Street Journal. In the early 90s, Atala cleaned up his act and moved to Europe, ultimately enrolling in culinary school to extend his visa. After bouncing around small restaurants, Atala returned to Brazil in 1994, making a living cooking Italian food. In 1998, Atala opened his first restaurant, Namesa (now closed), and after talking to locals, he started to become obsessed with local ingredients.
The rest is gastronomical history. D.O.M. (named after the signs used by Benedictine monks to signal their homes were a place to eat and drink) is wildly successful and rightfully so. Atala uses indigenous ingredients with modern techniques to boldly show up Brazil’s Amazonian roots.
If you can’t make it into D.O.M., try your luck at Dalva e Dito, a casual restaurant with a gourmet store, or Riviera, Atala’s first bar. Both should be open in early 2014.