At first glance, the shores of Last Hope Sound (Seno Ulitma Esperanza) may seem like a strange place to build a wood-fired pizza oven. Puerto Natales is a sleepy town in southern Chile, whose corrugated steel houses, painted defiantly cheery shades of blue, pink and green, seem incapable of keeping out the cold of a Patagonian winter. In the central Plaza de Armas, a coal-black steam locomotive, once used to take workers to a meat-packing plant across the Argentine border, now sits silently on a pedestal, embodying the eerie quiet of the mostly empty streets. Puerto Natales is still adjusting to its role as a rendezvous point and home base for tourists planning treks in Chile´s magnificent Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve dominated by the 3000-foot basalt towers that give the park its name. But an ambitious young couple is eager to lead the way, one thin-crust pizza at a time.

    In December 2005, nine months after Max and Sandra met, Mestia Grande opened its doors. Two long, unfinished communal tables dominate the bright corner room, and the few decorations recall the building´s previous life; the original shop´s cash register, now polished and gleaming, sits on the counter, and cardborad poster found druing the renovation hang on the walls, advertising products like Victrola gramophones and Kolynos toothpaste.

The Mestia Grande menu reflects the simple, comfortable environment, and appeals to travelers from all over the world. Perfectly crunchy thin-crust pizzas, dressed primarily with olive oil, mozzarella and home-made tomato sauce dominate, supported by pastas and salads made with locally grown vegetables. There are a few nods to the restaurant´s unique environment; their signature pizza, the Mesita Grande, is draped with paper-thin slices of Patagonian lamb before being browned in the oven. Though tourists love the menu, Puerto Natales natives are still learning the joys of the thin crust, and breaking some unusual pizza habits. ´Some locals still order their pizza with extra cheese, ketchup and mayonnaise,´ Sandra says. ´Never mind.´

Thin, Thin Crusts in the Deep, Deep South

epicurious.com

    Mesita Grande, a new pizzeria in Puerto Natales, is the dream-child of Swiss-native Sandra Burgmeister and Max Salas Illanes, from Santiago, Chile. When they met, Sandra was a tourist adn Max was a tour operator. Three days later, they were in love—and in business. Sandra returned to Switzerland for a few months to learn the pizza business: she took classes at Pizzafachschule, a pizza academy in Zurich; she met with a wood-fire oven builder, and drew up plans; and raised the necessary capital from family and friends back home. When Sandra returned, she and Max rented the oldest commercial building in town, a general store built in 1916 right on the the Plaza de Armas, across the street from that locomotive.

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