Ivan Azar

The Climb

The fundamentals of service were formed at Fierro Hotel Boutique and Restaurant, where Ivan Azar began as a cook. That kind of kitchen work asks for precision, pace, and the ability to keep control under pressure. In that setting, the essentials were not decorative: timing, repetition, restraint, and the steady persistence that supports any serious cooking. He did not stop at the shift. He worked and studied at the same time, building knowledge through practice and formal effort, and widening his understanding of technique and product through both. Seafood and fish prep in Buenos Aires added another layer to that foundation, a line of work that rewards exact handling and punishes shortcuts. From there, Ivan Azar moved to Mendoza, Argentina, and joined Casa Vigil in 2019. The step did not signal a break from the craft so much as a deepening of it: more responsibility, more authority, and a career pattern shaped by repetition, curiosity, and apprenticeship rather than sudden ascent.

Today

Ivan Azar is Executive Chef at Casa Vigil in Mendoza, Argentina. In that role, he carries the standards built earlier in his career into the restaurant’s day-to-day culinary work.

Signature

Ivan’s signature dishes include Uspallata Potatoes Soup, Trout - Saffron - Watercress, and Cured Silverside + Tiger's Milk and Artichokes + Zucchini. The range points to a kitchen that works with contrast and clarity: potatoes, trout, watercress, silverside, tiger’s milk, artichokes, and zucchini arranged as direct, readable combinations rather than clutter.

In Their Words “I did not teach myself. I started working and also decided to study to expand my knowledge.” “I asked everything; I was annoying, with a strong desire to know.”