He's been called the Thomas Keller of South America. He has three restaurants: in Mendoza in Argentina's wine country; the famed Patagonia Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and the third is in Uruguay. USA Today and The Times of London have named his restaurants among the top ten places to eat in the world.  And the guys seems to cook mostly with raw fire while somehow looking a bit like a  South American version of Ralph Lauren. 

Francis Mallmann is coming! Francis Mallmann is coming!

Born in Patagonia, Mr. Mallmann grew up in the Andes. He did stints in some of the finest kitchens in France, but grew tired of the fine-dining scene and went back to his roots and to cooking with what he describes as his "mother tongue: fire."

His latest book, written with Peter Kaminsky, is "Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way." It celebrates open-pit cooking, grilling over wood fires ala gauchos,  and even features slow-cook dishes such as "7 1/2 Hour Lamb Malbec with Rosemary and Lemon".  It got a knockout review in the New York Times just a week after this article about grilling over fire featured Mallmann and Kaminsky in a big way. 

He's even got a huge feature in the June issue of Food and Wine magazine ("Gaucho Grilling with Francis Mallmann", page 98) that's loaded with pictures of the chef and friends and family firing up meats and sipping Campari cocktails in and around Mallmann's house in the countryside of Uruguay. It's enough to make you want to grab your passport and an "Ov Glove" and head straight to Montevideo.

Mallmann starts his tour of the Central Market Cooking Schools next week. (The class is done in partnership with Banfi Vineyards.) All classes are in the evening from 6.30 to 9 pm:

• Dallas beginning Monday, June 8
• Fort Worth Tuesday, June 9
• Austin North Lamar on Wed June 10
• Thursday, June 11 at Houston
• San Antonio Friday, June 12

Search for details and read the full menu and class highlights via the online Cooking School Calendars.

There are still seats available for this special evening!

 -Aimee D., eFoodie editor