The specials are where Ruiz gets to showcase a bit of South American flare. (Ruiz recommends ordering four plates for three people.) Dishes are small, served tapas-style and meant to be shared. Three variations of grilled flatbread pizzas take their leave of South America to offer flavor profiles like prosciutto, stracciatella, confit tomatoes, and pesto ($18) or eggplant, ricotta, Bartlett House hot honey, mint, and marigold ($17). Perhaps most authentically Uruguayan, the shaved leg of lamb is served with house-made chimichurri ($22). Louis ribs ($21), dry-rubbed wings served with salsa verde ($18), and charred mixed vegetables ($11). The latest menu at Embers includes ancho- and honey-barbecue tossed St. “That is a whole challenge to get what we need every week from one supplier compared to a distribution company.” “We wanted to work with local farmers as well,” Ruiz says. The menu, designed by Poiarkoff with consultation from Ruiz, seeks to strike a balance between classic Uruguayan techniques and the American palate, taking into account sourcing limitations. “He said to me, ‘I have this idea for Bartlett House-I would love to do a summer program with your grills and your cooking, to show our clients a different type of kitchen.” In the kitchen, Ruiz met the group’s executive chef, Michael Poiarkoff, who shared a love of wood-fire cooking. Seeing as he had little more experience than a year at Gato Dumas culinary institute, he accepted. In 2021, Ruiz got an offer to work as a line cook at the Maker Hospitality Group, which includes the namesake hotel in Hudson and the Bartlett House. I was going to be their guy coming with the parrillas.” Then COVID happened-and kept happening-as the grills sat idle. “I had a spoken agreement with an events company. “I was the first to use that style of grill here in the Hudson Valley,” Ruiz says. Plancha, infiernillo, parrillero, asador, the dome-before he knew it he had a line of parrillas that spanned styles from griddle to broiler. “That is where I started working with my blacksmith, Unlimited Metalwork, to design what I was looking for, looking at designs from Mallman and others from here and there.” In Uruguay and Argentina, grills, or parrillas, have a separate brazier where wood or lump charcoal is burned to prepare embers that are then shoveled under the grill to moderate temperature. In 2019, the couple bought a small farm in rural Columbia County, which they envisioned using as a potential wedding and event venue where Ruiz could offer Uruguayan-style grilling as a catering option. His previous career in law enforcement didn’t allow for the life of seasonal migration the couple wanted, so they switched to hospitality to be able to spend time with family in both hemispheres. The path to Embers wasn’t a direct one for Ruiz, who, with his American wife, had previously run a seasonal craft beer bar in the beach city of Punta del Este.

The pop-up is so named for the style of cooking-big hunks of meat cooked low and slow over embers, as opposed to the Brazilian or American penchant for high-heat searing.

Though radically changing American dining customs is a bit out of reach, Ruiz did set out to bring a taste of that tradition to the beloved Ghent cafe Bartlett House’s first seasonal, outdoor dining pop-up, Embers. It’s totally different than, ‘OK we’re going to be seated by the table by 6:30 and everything comes out.’” It will be in stages-just little dishes every time. “You spend the whole afternoon or evening there, and at different times a piece of red meat or a veggie or provolone cheese will come off the grill. “The whole concept is more about being together with family and friends around the fire than the food itself,” says Uruguayan-born chef Leo Ruiz. In Las Pampas, where red wine practically flows like water and beef is king, the asado is a long, slow, sacred affair and a regular part of social life. Like their Argentine cousins across La Plata river, Uruguayans are master grillers.

Midtown cabous