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[title]Federico Prieu went from cooking for Pearl Jam to spending nearly six years working with Cirque du Soleil. Today, that international experience has found a home at Avío, the restaurant he opened in Palermo alongside four partners, where he leads an open kitchen and oversees a menu that refuses to be tied to any single culinary tradition.
His experience shines through in the dishes: there are influences from the Middle East, Italy, Thailand, Japan and Mexico, among other cuisines, in a kitchen that evolves with the seasons and takes diners on a little journey with every course. The result is eclectic, generous cooking, designed for sharing and discovering new flavours without necessarily knowing what to expect when the food arrives.
A table that travels the world
We stopped by for dinner and started with a selection of starters. First came the baby squid, golden and crispy, with a refreshing squeeze of lemon, followed by arancini and beef tartare. The table quickly began filling up with different dishes, bringing with them a variety of flavours and textures.
But one dish stole much of the attention as soon as it arrived: the hummus. And not just because of its size. This generous portion comes with marinated olives, aubergines, preserves, onions, tomatoes, crispy chickpeas, pickled cucumbers, lavash and za'atar. More than a starter, it looks like a miniature Middle Eastern feast served on a single plate. It's one of those orders that makes you reconsider what the word 'starter' actually means.
The arancini follow the same passport-free approach to travelling the world: they're made with kabocha squash, blue cheese, walnuts, honey and olive tapenade. Golden and crispy on the outside, they reveal a creamy filling when broken open, making them one of those dishes you'll want to eat straight from the serving plate.
Elsewhere on the menu, you'll find mushroom pâté with brioche, prawn carpaccio with smoked olive oil and mango, and baby squid with garlic, parsley and tomato. The fun lies in ordering several dishes and letting the table shift from one culinary tradition to another. One dish takes you to the Middle East, another to Italy, and another to the sea.
And that's one of the best things about eating out: ordering something you're not quite sure what to expect from, only to discover that, against all odds, it's exactly what you wanted.
The chef who cooked for Pearl Jam and Cirque du Soleil
If anyone knows a thing or two about culinary journeys, it's Federico Prieu. Before taking the helm at Avío, he worked as a touring chef for Pearl Jam and spent nearly six years on various culinary teams at Cirque du Soleil, eventually becoming Kitchen Manager, responsible for cooking for performers with a wide range of tastes and nationalities.
That background helps explain a menu that never stands still. At Avío, international influences appear without hesitation: you might find Japanese karaage, seafood toast with habanero, schnitzel with potato salad, or a dish inspired by Middle Eastern flavours. The offering changes with the seasons, turning a meal into something of a journey through the world's cuisines.
You might also like: The best hummus in Buenos Aires
The name isn't accidental: Avío is an old Spanish word used to describe provisions carried by someone to eat during a journey. In this case, it also has a family connection: it was the word Lina, the grandmother of one of the partners, used for the packed lunch she prepared to take to school. A small supply of food for the road that ended up lending its name to the restaurant.
Wine, something sweet and the final course
Avío boasts a selection of around 80 wine labels, featuring wines from different regions of Argentina, boutique producers, established wineries and a few international options. There are also wines by the glass, organised by grape variety and production method. During our visit, we let the sommelier choose a bottle to match our food, and the choice paid off: it complemented the journey without stealing the spotlight from the dishes.
For dessert, the menu offers three very different directions: dark chocolate mousse with tahini and olive oil, quinces poached in port with cream, and Thai mango sticky rice with coconut, mango, mochi rice and pumpkin. Three distinct options that carry Avío's adventurous spirit right through to the final bite.
A restaurant worth looking around
Avío has a contemporary aesthetic, but a few details reveal that before becoming a restaurant, the space was a mechanic's workshop. The former inspection pit remains part of the floor, now covered with glass and illuminated, while some of the original metal drawer units have been repurposed to store cutlery.
The open kitchen completes the scene. From the tables, diners can watch some of the action unfold and appreciate that, here, food comes with a touch of theatre.
Another welcome detail is the acoustics. The tables are fairly close together, but the sound has been carefully managed, making it possible to hold a conversation without raising your voice as the evening goes on. A small gastronomic miracle.
Ultimately, Avío is one of those restaurants where it's worth looking beyond what's on your plate. There's the open kitchen, the history of the building and, above all, a menu that travels across different corners of the world without lingering too long in any one place. Behind it all is a chef with an unusual background, who went from cooking for touring musicians and circus performers to bringing that mix of travel and culinary influences to a table in Palermo.
And yes, make sure you leave room for the hummus.
Where: Lavalleja 1521, Palermo.