i. Biography
Ivan Azar’s work reads as accumulation: long shifts, steady repetition, and study carried alongside service. Since 2019, he has held the role of Executive Chef at Casa Vigil in Mendoza, Argentina, a position that reflects a career built through kitchen discipline and the habit of pushing his technique forward while already inside the trade. The arc runs from study paired with employment to seafood and fish prep in Buenos Aires, and then to the responsibilities of a current executive post.
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.
Career - Cook — Fierro hotel boutique and restaurant - Chef — Casa Vigil, Mendoza, Argentina (from 2019)
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.”
FAQ What is Ivan Azar's current role? As of 2026, Ivan Azar is Executive Chef. What recognition has Ivan Azar received? Michelin one star (2024).
