Fabio La Pietra has long had a nose for adventure, first as a 19 year old fresh out of Puglia and straight into Notting Hill’s Montgomery Place, then – in the pursuit of love – to Brazil. The Italian bartender has headed up Sub Astor in the buzzing Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo for the past 10 years, where each night he brings the South American country’s biodiversity to life. It’s that same drive and passion that has twice taken the bar to rank in the top 100 of World’s 50 Best Bars and, earlier this year, La Pietra sat on the World Class jury when his adopted city hosted the bartending competition.
Fabio’s trajectory speaks for itself: after following in his brother Mario’s footsteps into the world of hospitality as a teenager, he later trained under Agostino Perrone and Erik Lorincz at Montgomery Place where his London experience at the temple of modern mixology equipped him with a broad array of behind-the-bar wizardry to lead Sub Astor when the opportunity arose in 2013.
Beyond the boteco
La Pietra says: “My Brazilian adventure started when I travelled to São Paulo for the first time, when, through Erik Lorincz I had the chance to set up a guest shift in 2011. Sub Astor had recently opened as a sister project in Astor bar’s basement in the Vila Madalena district two years earlier.”
It might seem like a curious fit – the kid from Puglia trained by the world’s top bartenders at now-shuttered Montgomery Place to run a bohemian boteco (tavern) – but the hip-hop fan fitted in fast, and just as quickly saw how he could start shaking up Brazil. La Pietra’s timing was also impeccable: while Brazilians have long enjoyed drinking Caipirinhas and litre bottles of very cold lager, he landed at the start of São Paulo’s blossoming cocktail scene, one of the drivers in opening Paulistas’ eyes to a wider world of tipples.
“It was common enough to see cocktail bars around São Paulo in 2013, but given the enormous size of the city as well as customer demand, there were fewer than 10 in the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods,” he says. “Nowadays, though, we have a really energised bar scene that better reflects the city’s melting pot of people. There are so many concepts related to local culture, not just related to ingredients but also in wine and gastronomy. And many are tied to immigration, as people have brought concepts from different cultures such as Italian, Japanese and Lebanese.”
Shaking up concepts
While Sub Astor had already been open for a few years, there was an opportunity for La Pietra to jazz up the basement bar’s philosophy. Inspired by travels around the enormous country, to the Amazon and beyond, La Pietra convinced Cia Tradicional de Comércio, Sub Astor’s owners, to raise the stakes – and their cocktail bar game – so he began championing the little guys.
“My main inspirations have been based on travel adventures but also the unknown. In 2013, everything that surrounded me was exotic; there was so much biodiversity to be discovered – and shared – in Brazil. I realised we needed to get closer to producers and farmers in order for them to get their brands, images and names on to the worldwide stage,” he says.
One of the first fruits to capture his imagination was a pulpy one topped with a nut. “From the start, fresh cashew apples blew my mind because we are familiar with the nuts, but you’d never expect such a beautiful, pungent and flavourful fruit that’s also really aromatic. The aftertaste of fresh cashew is so impressive. That was my blueprint.
“Then there’s cambuci, one of the most versatile ingredients that’s endemic to the Atlantic Forest eco region in south eastern Brazil. As a single ingredient, it’s just perfect with brown spirits and agave because it’s so well balanced.”
Inspired by Brazil’s abundant pantry, La Pietra created The Mission, a project that illuminates the biodiversity of the world’s fifth-largest country through its six biomes via education and creativity, then rolls it out on the menu. Six Biomes of Brazil features signature drinks designed by the bar’s team with native ingredients such as açai, the tropical butiá and the fragrant umbu.
“We’ve created a network of ongoing activities with local producers, ethno-botanists and rural people living on their native lands, in order to give them, their stories and products the stage at Sub Astor.
“By exploring each biome and their riches since 2018, and inviting the world’s best professionals to interact with this beautiful nature, we can continue preserving our territory and local people – and that’s our main aim,” he adds.
Fruitful month
October was an exciting month for both bar and bartender and, given his fixation on the number 22 – the most powerful number in numerology that is tattooed in Roman numerals on his arm – the Italian might well have seen it coming. Following a hiatus, Sub Astor bounced back on to the World’s Best list, ranked a respectable 58, while La Pietra was one of the designated ambassadors to show the World Class jury and competitors the best of São Paulo.
He adds: “Being on the jury this year was very interesting as it took me closer to the World Class family and friends. And, as a person who represents Brazil, I wanted to be sure that everyone had as many tips as possible to visit our bars and restaurants and enjoy our wonderfully diverse city.”
As for the coming year, the plan is to simply continue on the same path with the bar. La Pietra says: “I’m planning to hold at least two big events, if not three, and invite people to visit biomes new to them but also to us, the Sub Astor team.”
