Leo Graziano began working at his family’s butcher shops in Buenos Aires, Argentina when he was 8 years old. Growing up at his father’s knee, he helped make sausages and cut steaks, and accompanied the other butchers on truck rides to the slaughterhouse. He watched as loyal customers, mostly fellow Italian Argentinians, stopped by every day to buy their daily meat.
“When immigrants got to Argentina, they were amazed by the abundance of the products. Nobody had ever seen so much beef,” said Leo.
Beef is the most important meat in Argentine cuisine. The fertile Pampas region surrounding Buenos Aires produces the high-quality, grass-fed beef Argentines have been grilling over coals for centuries.
But there’s a more important ingredient to their success.
“We believe in family. Being Italian, we like to keep the family together,” said Leo.
His early education in the butcher shop ignited a passion for keeping their family traditions alive. That passion would prove vital in the coming years—when Leo had to help his father restart everything from scratch.
Coming to America
The late 1970s and early 1980s were tumultuous times in Argentina. Decades of economic decline were exacerbated by the fallout from the Falklands War. General lawlessness, combined with the military junta’s dictatorial actions, had turned Buenos Aires into a very dangerous place, Leo said.“Everything was uncertain. There were lots of kidnappings, and my dad was having trucks full of meat stolen on a monthly basis,” he said.
Democracy was somewhat restored by the mid-1980s, but the economic situation continued to worsen. Mario Graziano made a decision. He packed up his family and his business, and headed for the United States. Leo was 17 years old.
“It was hard to leave friends, but at that age, you’re very adaptable,” he said.
Gauchos of the Parking Lot
The landlord explained that the market’s previous tenant had established a thriving side gig of grilling up kebabs and other meats on the weekends. He suggested Mario do the same. He didn’t need much convincing.For Argentines, “grilling is a way of life,” said Leo. The tradition of asado—a simple grill constructed over a bed of glowing hot embers—can be traced back to the Gauchos, Argentine cowboys of near-mythical stature. They would grill steaks over the embers for lunch. The Graziano family, like many others, adopted this tradition and transformed it into a special, day-long event in which the whole family would gather, build a fire, drink, and grill.
Calling upon experience from their years of those family gatherings, the Grazianos set to replicating the experience in the parking lot of their small market.
They set up a long, communal table, provided milk crates for seats, and erected a wood-fired grill. Soon, the mouthwatering scent of grilled steak filled the neighborhood, drawing in crowds of curious customers. It didn’t take long for weekends to become the most popular time of the week at Graziano’s.
Rather than flavoring the meat with complex marinades and seasonings, Argentines put all of the focus on the quality of the steak itself. Graziano’s sources all of their beef from a small slaughterhouse in Argentina’s Córdoba Province. Argentine beef is antibiotic- and hormone-free, and grass-fed and grain-finished, which makes for a more flavorful, nutritious, and well-marbled steak.
“There’s no extra embellishment. It’s just salt and fire. That’s all you need to grill in Argentina,” said Leo’s daughter, Melissa.
Expanding the Empire
Owing to the popularity of their weekend grilling, Graziano’s quickly expanded from its original location. The family purchased another marketplace with an adjoining restaurant, establishing their first formal steakhouse.Just as his father had done, Leo immersed his children in the culture of their new restaurant.
“My brothers and I sat in playpens in the corner while my parents were working,” Melissa recalled. “They never kept us separate from it. We grew into it every day of our childhood.”
As Graziano’s continued to expand, Melissa began to play a more active role in the business. She got used to meeting customers, engaging with the cooks and servers, and learning the workings of the kitchen at her father’s side.
“Work ethic was instilled in me from a young age. Our family approach is, ‘You’ve gotta start somewhere.’ We needed to work our way up like everyone else. We developed the love we have for the business because of that,” said Melissa.
While Graziano’s spent its early years primarily serving Miami’s Cuban and Argentine communities, by 1998, as more Americans from across the country began to move into the area, the business’s popularity skyrocketed, and the empire grew. Today, the Graziano name is recognized across Miami.
At the family’s three steakhouses, beef is the main event. However, other menu items, like shrimp and octopus baked in a wood-fired oven and served with chimichurri, are also popular. Provoleta is another family favorite: It’s an entire block of aged provolone cheese cooked directly on the grill, turning it into a gooey dip.
At Lucia Pizzeria, Neapolitan-style pizzas mix with classic Argentine empanadas, for a taste of both sides of the family’s Italian Argentine heritage.
They dive even deeper into this heritage at their seven markets scattered across Miami. These “mercados” offer smaller fare such as beef empanadas, burgers, panini, pasta, salads, and desserts, along with an extensive wine list. They’re focusing their expansion efforts on these markets, rather than new restaurants, hoping to open a new one every two years.
A Legacy to Be Proud Of
At the end of the day, Graziano’s remains the family business that began all those years ago in Buenos Aires. The family core extends to the cooks, bakers, servers, and staff at all their locations. Some team members have worked for the brand since Melissa was a child. They watched her grow up, and now get to relive it with her son.“The other day he was folding napkins with the servers. It’s almost like a Montessori school restaurant,” Melissa said.
That familial atmosphere is what Leo believes keeps the next generations returning to the business.
“For us, family is the most important thing. We still get together for all the birthdays and we cook the same things we cook at the restaurant,” he said. “Every one of my kids had the chance to experience working for another company. They know what else is out there, and they came back to us.”
“I like to think of Graziano’s as a legacy brand,” Melissa added. “To be part of that fills you with pride. I’ll say to someone, ‘My name is Melissa Graziano,’ and they will say, ‘Oh, like the family business?’ That’s the stuff that makes you want to make sure it stays a legacy brand forever.”
Their legacy lives not only in the name, but in the food at the table.
“I think it’s important to keep the family traditions alive,” said Leo. “We want to keep sharing them with our family and our customers. We bring our family traditions to their table.”
Tips for Grilling Steak, Argentine-Style
In Argentina, grilling is an all-day event.“It starts with the fire,” said Leo Graziano. “It’s one of the most important things when you grill. Don’t use briquettes; go with wood or natural charcoal. This will help keep flames down because there are no chemicals.”
It is vital to build a hot fire and let the wood or charcoal burn to embers, glowing red and blisteringly hot. Then, and only then, do you put your steak on the grill. There is no heat adjustment in this style of grilling. It remains consistent throughout the entire process.
Getting the best quality steak is important. Look for excellently marbled meat raised without hormones or antibiotics. Argentines use nothing but high-quality flaky salt to season the meat. They like to let the steak speak for itself.
When the steak hits the grill, leave it alone for a while. Don’t flip it too much. There are a few signs to tell you it’s done.
“If you want a medium steak, wait until the blood starts to come out of the top, then flip the steak to get it grilled on the other side,” said Leo. “For medium well, let the blood pool a little longer before flipping.”
A lot depends on the thickness of the steaks. The thicker the steak, the longer it takes to cook. If you’re using a skirt steak or a similar large cut, Leo recommends cooking the whole steak first, allowing it to rest, and then slicing it.
“This helps lock the juices in and keeps the meat from drying out,” he said.
