[image]
[title]There are places that are stuck in time, other historical establishments that have turned into take-away fast food spots, and then there are places that are a piece of history. Trattoria Napolitana Véspoli is one of the latter.
Through the trattoria’s cash register have passed lecop, patacones, lecor, quebracho, and Argentine pesos with all the designs that have circulated. Politicians, athletes, actresses, Marplatenses without cease, and tourists from all over have tasted its dishes, regardless of generational distinctions.
Since 1972, Trattoria Napolitana Véspoli has operated in the La Perla neighborhood, on 3 de Febrero street, as a cornerstone of the national gastronomic history. What has undoubtedly not changed since then in the country’s first sorrentineria are the sorrentinos.
You might also be interested in: The best places to eat in Mar del Plata
“The sorrentino didn’t have the edge of the pansotti dough, nor the meat filling of the agnolotti, nor did it have ricotta like the cappelletti. It was a half-sphere with substance, made with a secret dough as soft as a cloud, filled with cheese and ham.” This is how Victoria Higa describes them in her novel Los sorrentinos. There, she humorously and with a bit of fiction, portrays the story of this large Sorrentino family with Marplatense DNA, whose meeting point is good food.
Currently, several decades after its creation, the sorrentinos are still served the same way. The Véspoli sorrentino lacks the edge that makes them look like little hats, and they are still filled with ham and cheese, although now with a vegetarian option of ricotta and spinach. Always in portions of six, served in a steel dish with so much sauce that it almost covers them.
“They’re calling from table four, kids,” says Pablo. “Meme, they’re calling from table nine,” he adds a few seconds later. Pablo Barrenechea, Patricia Véspoli’s husband, has his eyes everywhere. In this inherited house, now his trattoria, no detail goes unnoticed.
How Trattoria Napolitana Véspoli Was Born
Since the Véspoli surname arrived in Mar del Plata in the early 1900s, there’s one thing that has united all the family businesses: hospitality. Many Italian families who arrived in the same migratory wave dedicated themselves to fishing or the textile industry. In contrast, the first generation of this Italian clan born in La Feliz focused on hotels, restaurants, and casinos.
In their hotels, they already served Italian dishes, but it was the first sorrentineria in 1960 that made the surname famous, not only for its dishes but for what Pablo, its current host, calls “the added value.” “In gastronomy, you take an exam every day. To make a sorrentino, an omelette, or a milanesa, you’re always being tested.”
“In gastronomy, you take an exam every day”
In that same dining room, always full of customers, a much younger Pablo, still a student, sat down to eat and saw Patricia Véspoli managing the room. He asked for her number, a date, and never again sat in the trattoria as a customer. Although he had other studies and projects throughout his life, Pablo Barrenechea now continues alongside his wife the legacy of Chiche, their last host, as if Véspoli blood ran through his veins.
Between Literary Fiction and Gastronomic Reality
In Virginia Higa’s novel, Chiche is the star of the story. The tale begins and ends with his mandate. A character full of mystique, with his own lexicon and a passionate obsession with pasta and the trattoria. Although Pablo clarifies that the story has its fictional touches, he also mentions that many things are true. It’s curious that when reading it, it seems like Chiche and Pablo are made of the same material.
You might also be interested in: The Best Specialty Coffee Shops in Mar del Plata
Although cooking has nothing to do with his work, Pablo can recount the sorrentino recipe from start to finish and explain the details that make them exceptional. He knows all the secrets of the Italian recipes, that land of his in-laws that he has never visited.
Like Chiche before him, he completely rules out the possibility of a branch. His philosophy is that for things to go well, you have to be present. And Pablo is. Every day of his life, at noon and at night, until he goes to sleep upstairs in the trattoria, just as Chiche once did, to repeat it all the same the next day.
The Key to Maintaining the Essence in a Time of So Many Changes
Over the years, the trattoria has had small changes. New paintings have been added, others protected with anti-reflective glass, but always to make everything feel just as it always has. “It’s about maintaining the image and the idiosyncrasy of the business, keeping up the tradition. And that’s what we pass on to the staff,” explains the owner. But the times of Chiche are not the same times in which Pablo, at 72 years old, now carries on the business.
Mar del Plata, like every big city, has undergone a significant transformation after the pandemic. Many iconic establishments closed their doors, while others chose to transform into a fast-food model.
“Mar del Plata, like every big city, has undergone a significant transformation after the pandemic”
Today, in a context where consumer trends are strongly tied to viral TikToks and there are more QR codes than physical menus, Pablo chooses to run his business without an active account on any social platform or a menu in a QR code. His social networks are others.
“If you come to eat, I want to be with you and talk to you. I don’t want to avoid using a cellphone, but I prefer to have a menu like they have in Italy,” says the host frankly. He, like previous generations of the Véspoli family, has been very popular on social media, but in the analog ones.
“If you come to eat, I want to be with you and talk to you”
The family business thrives in summer with a long waiting list of tourists, but what makes it successful year-round is the large local influx, who not only enjoy the food but, in many cases, know the owners. The couple actively participates in the Mar del Plata community and claims to have friends in all industries, to be on good terms with the press of any political inclination, and even have a very good relationship with their suppliers.
But there’s something that Pablo is very sure of in this new era: a good host opens the doors to everyone. “We are united by food. We want the people who come to eat well. We treat everyone equally. We are hosts; we don’t ask about sex, religion, or political views. We are open in that regard,” says Pablo.
“We are hosts; we don’t ask about sex, religion, or political views”
And so, with the passing of the years, with countless summers of tourists lining up, film festivals filling the trattoria with cinephiles, and winters with the dining room full of locals, the trattoria continues to operate, maintaining its essence, taking care of the after-meal, the gathering, and the good food, but above all, the good sorrentinos.
Where: 3 de Febrero 3158, reservations at 02234953850.