Watch “Transforming Taste” featuring Antonia Klugmann and the Lexus ES, made in partnership between Lexus and Vogue.
“Driving ES on the road that I know is amazing because it makes me feel everything is new.”
Antonia Klugmann is the chef and owner of L’Argine A Venco, a Michelin-starred restaurant with deep roots in northern Italy’s multicultural past. The daughter of two doctors of Austrian-Jewish and Pugliese descent, Klugmann found food later in life, only pursuing cooking after switching course three successful years into her law degree. It’s a bold move that’s a testament to her sheer strength of character—and she’s never looked back. After two years washing dishes, and an apprenticeship under Bruno Barbieri, she opened her much-feted first restaurant in 2006.
“I’m not a follower,” says Klugmann. “My style is personal.” Pure and unpretentious, Klugmann’s cooking celebrates the beauty of the everyday. Yet change is at the core of this chef's creativity. Like the Lexus ES, which has boldly redefined expectations, Klugmann sees her menu as a reflection of her own progressive personality. “It’s important to evolve every day,” she says. “To keep pushing.”
I'M NOT A FOLLOWER.
MY STYLE IS PERSONAL.
The complexity of Klugmann's food comes, in part, from her commitment to waste-free, nose-to-tail eating. Every part of the locally sourced produce is used—from fish to flower to pip, stem, and root—giving rise to highly distinctive flavors. Klugmann finds solace in her surroundings, taking inspirational trips to the region's many ghost villages and to her local suppliers, including a young female farmer and a family flour mill that's run since 1895.
“Up in the mountains or on a countryside road, it has so many varieties of road and I have to be comfortable. The ES makes me feel really comfortable and safe”, she says. At the wheel of the dynamic Lexus ES, one thing is clear: despite its roots in Friuli’s deep culinary heritage, Klugmann’s cooking never stops moving.
“Driving ES on the road that I know is amazing because it makes me feel everything is new.”
Antonia Klugmann is the chef and owner of L’Argine A Venco, a Michelin-starred restaurant with deep roots in northern Italy’s multicultural past. The daughter of two doctors of Austrian-Jewish and Pugliese descent, Klugmann found food later in life, only pursuing cooking after switching course three successful years into her law degree. It’s a bold move that’s a testament to her sheer strength of character—and she’s never looked back. After two years washing dishes, and an apprenticeship under Bruno Barbieri, she opened her much-feted first restaurant in 2006.
“I’m not a follower,” says Klugmann. “My style is personal.” Pure and unpretentious, Klugmann’s cooking celebrates the beauty of the everyday. Yet change is at the core of this chef's creativity. Like the Lexus ES, which has boldly redefined expectations, Klugmann sees her menu as a reflection of her own progressive personality. “It’s important to evolve every day,” she says. “To keep pushing.”
I'M NOT A FOLLOWER.
MY STYLE IS PERSONAL.
The complexity of Klugmann's food comes, in part, from her commitment to waste-free, nose-to-tail eating. Every part of the locally sourced produce is used—from fish to flower to pip, stem, and root—giving rise to highly distinctive flavors. Klugmann finds solace in her surroundings, taking inspirational trips to the region's many ghost villages and to her local suppliers, including a young female farmer and a family flour mill that's run since 1895.
“Up in the mountains or on a countryside road, it has so many varieties of road and I have to be comfortable. The ES makes me feel really comfortable and safe”, she says. At the wheel of the dynamic Lexus ES, one thing is clear: despite its roots in Friuli’s deep culinary heritage, Klugmann’s cooking never stops moving.
Antonia Klugmann
08 | Transforming Taste
Tom Kitchin
07 | Refining Taste
Michelle Bernstein
06 | Edifying Taste
Nicolai Ellitsgaard
05 | Pioneering Taste
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