Paula Pareto or ‘La Peque’, nickname that his family gave him because of his petite physique, transcended the figure of the sport -who had her as olympic judo champion Rio de Janeiro 2016– and became one of the most beloved and respected characters in the medium. After he passed by MasterChef Celebritythe athlete inaugurated ‘Pareto Caffé’a family business that is already an icon of the San Fernando neighborhood and where it recently received a visit from Gabriela Sabatini.
How La Peque Pareto managed to open the place he dreamed of
“We always wanted to have a family restaurant, since I was a girl,” she confesses. Paula Pareto a PEOPLE, in a warm chat in the picturesque patio of the café that bears his name. “When I returned from Tokyo (2020), where I retired, I told my brothers that I wanted to invest in something and that if it was in a family project, better. My sister came with her husband every week to propose this for a coffee of specialty, although nobody is of the gastronomic stick, but it is something that we could get to do. In November 2021 they made me the proposal of MasterChefalready with this underway, but it was pure coincidence”.
Pareto Coffee It is located on Constitución, one of the main streets of the San Fernando district, in a historic gallery that features a delicate water fountain. There, La Peque, goes every Saturday (and some Sundays, while it is closed) to help in the kitchen. His parents -Aldo and Mirtha-, his sister Estefi and his brother-in-law Fede, his cousin Cami (as a waitress), his best friend Meli (barista) and his brother-in-law’s mother Moni, as a kitchen assistant, participate in the venture. The staff is completed by Pato as a waitress and Augusto as a barista and commander, who is also the son of his sports psychologist.
“This was a challenge because we weren’t used to it, I always said ‘If it goes wrong at least we try.’ Today is a dream come true,” says Pareto. “My sister is 100% involved, my mother always comes to lend a hand in the care and preparation, I help the cook with some things that she asks me for and my father only comes when the potatoes are boiling, to put things in order (he laughs) or sits down to have a coffee and keep us company”, he says with a smile.
Among the specialties of Pareto Coffee The “White cake” stands out, a famous dessert that Paula prepares since childhood and that she presented during her participation in MasterChef Celebrity before the critical gaze of the demanding jury. “We had to include the cake on the menu because people asked for it!” Reveals La Peque, while she serves a portion of the dessert that has white chocolate and almonds. “The jury told me that it was not good in appearance. Later they tried it and realized that it was (laughs). Martitegui told me to add some almonds, that it would give it a different texture and that would make it to make the palate richer”, he details.
The surprise visit of Gabriela Sabatini to the café de la Peque Pareto
A few weeks ago, the two greats of Argentine sports spent an afternoon pure talk and anecdotes in the Zona Norte cafeteria and generated a stir both on the networks and in the San Fernando neighborhood. “She came and sat down for a drink like a normal human being and the place just blew up.. It was a Saturday afternoon and everyone who was there took a photo. They couldn’t believe it! We bumped into Gabi at sporting events, but we were never able to talk so much because people chase her, she asks for photos. She is a sports idol, but now that I got to know her better I can tell you that she is a genius, she has spectacular humility. She has a gift of person that few people have, for me it is a pleasure that she has told me to come to know the coffee. I thought: ‘is it happening?’ I think she doesn’t realize what she stands for,” reflects Paula Pareto.
What did they have for lunch that day?
-Gabi is a fan of coffee and that afternoon she had two cappuccinos and ate an avocado toast and one of our nut alfajores. She told me that she is a fan of dulce de leche: “I like that they don’t skimp on dulce de leche,” she said. The truth is that skimping on dulce de leche is a bad word here, we always say that if it makes you sick, don’t ask for it (she laughs), but she (Gabi Sabatini) loved it. We are going to include “Gabriela Sabatini approved it” on the menu (she laughs). The truth is that we were all very happy, she met my family and we had a nice day.
Do you have a friendly relationship with other athletes?
-Yes, with Belén Pérez Maurice (national fencing representative) we recently got together to eat barbecue. She is one of the few fencers to have gone to three Olympic Games and is in the top 3 worldwide. In the Olympic Games you run into many acquaintances and hit a good vibe, like Lucha Aymar, Delfi Merino (hockey), Fede Molinari (gymnast), Fer Chiaraviglio (pole vault), Pilar Geijo (open water swimming)… They are all very good friends, we made good relations. Ceci Carranza (sailor specializing in the laser class) has also told me to come to the café. At the tennis open we had a women’s lunch and there arose the possibility that they came to meet. Santi Lange (sailor), another genius, champion and good friend.
Medicine is the other passion of Peque Pareto
When Pareto left MasterChef Celebrity, it was because of his work commitments with his career as a doctor. The reality show was scheduled to end in February, but due to television times it was postponed to March and she had to get out of the contest. “Now I am doing a subspecialty in lower limbs. I worked at the San Isidro Hospital until October where I did a residency in orthopedics and traumatology training and now I am at the Diagnostic Institute where I work with two medical teams doing lower limbs. In March I finish that and the idea is to remain linked to the same sector. In addition, I did a postgraduate degree in sports medicine,” he details.
-How do you organize yourself with your other professions?
-The medical part occupies most of my time. In addition, I teach at CeNARD (The National Center for High Performance Sports) in the Judo Selection. I start early, get up at 5.30 am and do 30 minutes of training at home before going out. At 7 am we start to operate, sometimes we finish around 6 pm and sometimes around 9 pm. There are days that I do consulting too. From there I come here (Pareto Caffé). On Mondays that I teach, I have some meetings, there are days that I have motivational talks in companies that are sometimes here or sometimes in the interior. I have judo trips, we go to competitions, training… I don’t have days off but I take them (Laughs)
-What is the reaction of people when they see you in the office?
-It’s tremendous (laughs). I thought I was retiring and they were going to forget about me, even my agent told me… And it didn’t happen! With MasterChef I had an exponential “comeback”, people cross me on the street and say hello. They call me: “champion”, they congratulate me, they ask me for photos. They kill me with love! At the doctor’s office it happened to me that once a boy was not sure if he had seen me or not, due to the effect of anesthesia, and in the postoperative period he tells his girlfriend “I told you it was her” and she tells me: ‘He told me, do you know who operated on me? Paula Pareto’ and she didn’t believe her (she laughs). This has happened to me a lot and I find it very funny.
Little Pareto’s passion for Judo
At the moment Paula Pareto teaches at CeNARD (The National Center for High Performance Sports) where he trains adolescents who are part of the national team. “There is a lot of potential. I have under 15 and under 18 students, but it shows above all with the senior team that they are the boys I am training with. I have traveled with them, I follow them and accompany them in the training stage “, he assures.
Are there many girls?
-The number of girls has increased in recent years, today there are the same number of men and women in the National Team, which is like a surprise…
-There has always been a prejudice towards women in sports…
I think it’s cultural. Today a little boy watches men’s and women’s soccer and he sees it in the same way, because he was raised that way. It’s the same on the subject of sexuality, my niece who is 8 years old once came to me and asked me “Aunt, I like boys, but if I liked girls, it’s okay, isn’t it?” She told me with a ease that surprised me, and the same thing will happen in sports. A little boy is going to see judo as a discipline of men and women. When I was a girl I was only one girl among ten boys, today it happens that there are five and five for example. Perhaps the prejudice of the parents continues to exist, but sport is sport. Imagine that something funny happened at the Olympics: in judo, which is a “men’s sport”, a woman came out champion and in hockey, which is a “women’s sport”, the boys came out champions, it was like a crusader.
When I was doing judo at the San Fernando Club, everyone said to me: “Are you going to play hockey?” Today it is good that sports are promoted more, so that children know even those that are not so popular. My dad started judo at the San Fernando club when I was 9 years old, he told me and my brother that he was good at learning to defend himself. It is a sport that gives you defense but without going to the blow. Today I still see who my coach was and we have the project of setting up a training center in the North Zone.
His time at MasterChef Celebrity
La Peque was one of the audience’s favorite participants to reach the final of the cooking reality show and from time to time, people ask her if she will join the new edition again.
-Did you continue watching the program after having to leave it?
No, I don’t watch TV. People still ask me if I’m going to join the next edition, but that’s enough (laughs).
Do you still keep in touch with some of your colleagues?
-Yeah! With Joaquín (Levinton): he is a genius. He always asked me questions outside the program, he asked me for advice on labor contracts (he laughs) and he said: “Do you think they are good or that they are going to screw me up?”, once he also asked me something about cryptocurrencies. He relies a lot on her sister, especially in matters of work, and I told him that I asked her (laughs) and he insisted: “But would you accept it?” He also wrote me about some cervical problem he has…! At least that was my area! Then I got in touch with Denise Dumas and Paulo Kablan, very geniuses, they are like uncles to me.
What do you miss the most about the show?
-When I was a girl I always cooked but I did it calmly, I took it as therapy. I didn’t cook like an expert, I made a steak with a salad like anyone else, everything I did there, I learned there. My family is mad because I introduced them to flavors they didn’t even know existed. Spices are a magic that I, for example, was unaware of. What I miss the most is the human group, it was an area in which I had never been, with people from other worlds, from other realities totally different from mine. I loved meeting those companions, they were all very divine.
-And what do you miss the least?
-What I miss less are the nerves, that uncertainty before going out to cook. The same one I felt before going out to compete.
