Argentina Nearshore Talent, Culture & Asados with Juan Barrero | Nearshore Cafe

Brian: Welcome to the Nearshore Cafe podcast, home to the most interesting stories and people doing business in Latin America. Welcome everyone to the Nearshore Cafe podcast, where we talk with business leaders doing business in LatAm. I’m your host, Brian Sampson. Our podcast today is sponsored by Plugg Technologies, that’s Plugg.Tech. Plugg provides software engineers all over Latin America for growing US companies.

Brian: I am really excited about our guest today, Juan Barrero. Juan, welcome to the show! It’s so nice to have you.

Juan: Hey Brian, nice to meet you, nice to see you. Very happy to be here in the show, and I really enjoy listening to the previous podcasts too, so congrats on what you’re building here.

Brian: Oh, thank you, thank you very much!

Brian: Well, Juan, this one’s special for me because you are from Argentina. I’ve spent a lot of time in Argentina, and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun talking about it. But not all of our guests have been there, and there’s nothing like hearing from a native on what it’s like. So, can you first just give a sense for where it is in the world? You know, geography, climate, stuff like that.

Juan: Great, yeah. I love talking about my country. When I was 17, I came here for a senior year to the United States as an exchange student, and my first speech—you know, in the United States they teach you how to pitch—and the first speech that I did was about my country. So, that reminds me of what I have to tell today.

Juan: Argentina is a country in South America. It is the eighth largest country in the world, which is a very, very, very long country, where you have all types of nature: mountains for skiing, for hiking, lakes, sea, beaches, waterfalls, glaciers, wineries. You have all these kinds of different weathers, all these kinds of different atmospheres. So, you have the Pampas. I’m from the Pampas, where the agribusiness and the cows and the meat from Argentina come from.

Juan: Argentina also has a 40 million population. It is a democratic country, of course. And what else? It has 23 provinces, which I’ve been in 22 of them, so I’m pretty much very passionate about my country, and I love my country. I left my country more for professional challenges and business challenges, more than because I wasn’t happy there. So, I’m still, with my wife, thinking about going back one day. We don’t know, but we consider that always because we love our country, and we still have our family there.

Juan: Well, yeah, Argentina is, I don’t know, it’s a Latin country with a mix of also European. Forty percent of Argentinians come from Spain, 30 percent come from Italy. So, we have that mix of food and quality of life, and things that Spanish people normally had. And then we have this crazy attitude of yelling like Italians with, “Hey, what do you want?” You know, just like that.

Juan: So, Argentina also has a lot of immigrants. It’s the third largest Jewish community in the world also. So, yeah, I’d say it’s a very fun country, with a lot of culture, with a lot of different things to do. Well, I love it. I’m not from Buenos Aires originally, but as a person that I’ve been in the most important cities in the world, Buenos Aires for me is top three. So, yeah, I love my country, and I love Buenos Aires, even though I’m not originally from there.

Brian: Yeah, I remember when I was setting up a business there, we were working with an attorney, and he said, “God is everywhere, but His office is in Buenos Aires.”

Juan: Yeah, it’s one third of the population. And it is, yeah, almost the international airport. So, if you want to be connected to the world, it’s always Buenos Aires, a really important city. But still, Buenos Aires is like the main city. It doesn’t happen the same in Brazil; it doesn’t happen probably the same in Mexico because Mexico has more like Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Brazil has other cities. In Argentina, Buenos Aires is very, very the main city.

Brian: Yeah, it really is a mega city. I think there’s like 14 million people in the surrounding area or something like that. How is it like? You know, it’s called the Paris of South America. It also kind of feels like New York sometimes. How would you describe it, and what other city in the world is it most like to you?

Juan: Well, the social life is a city that never sleeps, I think. The social life: theater, cinemas, restaurants, bars, all that thing, it’s amazing how many restaurants, how many theaters, how many cinemas, and how many activities for socializing, for everything, is kind of the identity of Buenos Aires, that a lot of things are happening all the time. So, that I think it feels like a little bit like New York, and it has this Recoleta neighborhood with more French style. That’s why you call it the Paris of South America.

Juan: For me, as a foreigner—because I was a foreigner, of course—in January, summer gets a little bit more… but it’s still like the weather is perfect, the nightlife, the restaurants, the food, and it has the connection to the world. I’ve always been a person who’s in the world, so for me it has a lot of tourist people coming, even though it’s really far for everyone, because I think Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, one of the cities in Argentina. So, Argentina is really South, so it’s really far away for Europeans, for Americans, for Asians, from Africa, and for everyone.

Juan: So, it has a lot of tourists; it has a lot of things to do. You know, you never end. Like, sometimes it’s the same when you go to Paris and you go to New York, you never end knowing the full city. You know, you never know everything. So, I don’t know everything in Buenos Aires probably. So, that’s, I think, the motivation about Buenos Aires.

Brian: That’s a great, great way to tell it.

Brian: Well, it’s particularly interesting because you come from an agricultural province, and Argentina is known throughout the world as, at least in my opinion, the best beef in the world. Can you share a little more about what that looks like, and maybe why the meat is so good?

Juan: I think the culture of how we, first of all, the grass and the tradition that we have of cattle and breeding, and all this industry about the cattle industry, I think it gives a sense of a real knowledge about how to breed the cattle. And also, Argentine beef is more grass-fed, and we are very famous for how we cook it. You know, we take, we leave the meat in the fire for two, three, four hours, and we leave it there. We don’t cook it; we just leave it above the fire there, and we don’t cook it. And that’s probably the most special thing that people get surprised by because of the time we spend.

Juan: And for us, the time we spend doing the Asados is more like the cultural thing that we really love. You know, just, “Okay, I’m going to do an Asado. It’s going to be my time,” you know? Like, “It’s going to be my time for me. It’s going to be the time that I can spend with a friend drinking something while the meat is cooking,” right? So, it is also a very important cultural, the Asados.

Juan: Actually, I organized in Miami a dinner every month that is called “Parrilla con Amigos,” like barbecue with friends. And we cook it like that, two, three, four hours, normally. It depends, but sometimes we’ve cooked for four hours; sometimes, because we didn’t have that much time, two hours. But I invite people for this Parrilla con Amigos to try the Argentine way of cooking the beef, and the people love it.

Juan: And I think people love that about Argentina, go to see how we do it. And the best way, like people ask me, “Hey, where should I go and eat the best beef in Buenos Aires or in Argentina?” And I always try to, when people come, and I really know them, I try to do myself a barbecue for them, an Asado for them, because it’s different like going to a restaurant, going to a parrilla, versus doing it at home, right?

Juan: So, the experience about joining a group of friends, a group of people that is going to go for an Asado, and one brings the salad or others bring the wine, and people are starting to come to the house, and then you end up with a long after-dinner talking. So, the culture about doing it at home is always different, and I’ve done it many times for foreign people who say, “Hey, I want to try,” and I don’t want them to not experience that part because I think it’s the one which is pretty different.

Brian: I really want to echo what you’re saying, Juan, about just the time together, right? For me, in my experience, there were a lot of Sunday Asados when I was there, and you kind of spend the whole day together. It’s not like the States. The States is very rushed; you’re in, you have the meal, and you’re out.

Brian: Yeah, so there’s this anticipation with the fire. It takes some hours to get going, but you’re present; you’re not on your phone the whole time. You’re talking with each other, you’re laughing, you’re building connection, community, which I think is a huge part of the culture there. But even when you go to a restaurant, it’s really designed for a long experience. Maybe you finish the meal in an hour, but you’re there for another three. Your phone is not out, you’re drinking wine, you’re talking. Can you maybe just talk a little more about the importance of that and that cultural element that makes Argentina so unique?

Juan: Yeah, that is one thing that I really like about Miami is that I still have some of that part of the Latin American culture that I think is more like, yeah, friendship, family. And as you mentioned, we don’t have any starting hour. Like, if you’re asking in a WhatsApp group, “Hey, we are going to do a barbecue with friends,” and you ask, “What time should I go?” you don’t have a specific time. People here, normally… first of all, we will do it on the same day. We decide it on the same day, and probably a lot of people join.

Juan: And here in the United States, you have to set up two weeks in advance at least if you’re going to invite someone, and with a starting hour, and then an ending hour. So, that’s a big difference there, and I don’t miss that much. One of the things that I like about Miami is that I still have a little bit of that sometimes, with a mix of the US, with the part of the US that I really like too.

Juan: But, yeah, for us, friendship and family are really important, I think, Latinos in general. But the culture, and also this Italian, “La Familia,” is really important. And every Sunday, we go, for example, to our parents’ or to a barbecue, and we all come with our… depending on which stage of the family you are, but if you already have kids, all your brothers and sisters come with their kids, everyone meets in the house of the grandparents.

Juan: And so, it is that culture. People sometimes don’t want to leave the country because they said, “I don’t want to miss this in my life,” and it’s so important. Because it’s like, at the end, for me that I’ve always been living abroad—at the age of 17, I left my hometown. I never came back because I was living in a small hometown. For me, it’s more like a natural living abroad or living in another city, so I don’t miss that that much.

Juan: But I’m still in Miami. I still build that family kind of, so I’m very intentional about it because in Miami, I still meet Sundays with friends that I try to build a relationship like family with them. For me, it’s really important having that connection—a chance to stay sitting in an Asado, to lay my body on their couch, you know? Like, if I’m not having a real connection with them, I can lay down on the couch of their house, you know? Right, like I want to fall asleep after a siesta, after I eat good beef and a good glass of wine, right?

Juan: So, yeah, for us, that connection is really important, and you build it that way. You build it that way if you don’t have time to build it, you don’t have time to talk. And that’s one of the things that I do with the dinners in Miami is just, I don’t let people talk about work and who they are because I’m asking them almost to introduce themselves in a personal way. So, you get real connection because you’re not like, “Hey, I saw three companies,” or “I have this investor,” or “I’m an investor,” or like, you don’t know. Everyone is on the same level, right? And that happens when you are on Sundays or in those barbecues; everyone is on the same level, no one is above. So, making that momentum is really important. So, you can still do that in the US, but you have to be very intentional, like I do that.

Brian: That’s great. Yeah, a great answer.

Brian: Before we jump off of food, I wanted to ask you about your favorite steakhouses. Coming from an Argentine, that’s a big recommendation. What are your favorite steakhouses both in Miami, and then also, when you return to Buenos Aires, which ones might you recommend for others to check out?

Juan: Okay, for Buenos Aires, I think Don Julio is the best one, and it’s very popular, but they are really good. And even if you want to buy their meat to cook it in your house, you can buy it also, and they have this amazing presentation. You still think like when you’re buying beef, you think you’re buying like a Burberry box or something, like a very luxury thing, which it is. And if you go to Argentina, it’s not that expensive. Like, if you, I don’t know, probably you can do a barbecue, buying the for, I don’t know, for eight people, buying the barbecue in Don Julio, and you still spend only $100. So, for people, yeah, it’s not that, it’s not that expensive at all, and it comes like in a box, like if you’re buying a luxury leather or any luxury brand, right? I don’t want to mention anyone, but Don Julio is really good.

Juan: And here in Miami, what I like a lot is Fiorito because it has more like, probably it’s not my favorite beef, but the atmosphere. Every time I want to feel the Argentinian vibe at dinner, I go to Fiorito because if you’re in Fiorito, like, the night before Argentina was playing the World Cup, I went with friends to Fiorito because we were so excited about what was going to happen the next day that we wanted to keep feeling the Argentinian vibe. And even there was a drum there, and I still, I got a drum, and I started to sing songs, and we felt at home, you know? And that’s why I like Fiorito because it makes me feel a little bit like home.

Juan: It’s more like a… I don’t know how to translate that… like a *bodegón*. A *bodegón* is more like an old, um… I don’t know, you know what I mean? Probably you can help me to translate what a *bodegón* is. It’s like an old restaurant, you know, like an old-fashioned restaurant. I don’t know. Okay, it’s more like a very casual place. And so, I like Fiorito, which is good. But yeah, it has a lot of La Cabrera also, which is good and which is important in Miami. And Miami brings a lot of brands from Argentina, so a lot of Argentinians, we are always, as the market is so small, thinking how to explore what we do and what we have learned. So, I think a lot of brands from Argentina are based in Miami. So, you have La Cabrera, which is pretty good.